《Collide Gamer》
Foreword
Foreword
Yello,
The following story demands some context, so let me provide it to you. It started in 2017 on a website called CHYOA. As you might guess from the name, it focuses on branching, Choose Your Own Adventure type stories - with a universally lewd twist.
There, a fellow author called Despaxas, started a story called The Gamer, CHYOA edition. It was inspired by a manwha that was fairly popr at the time. Very little of the original premise survived, but still that was the inspiration. Much as we have grown to view that original work as terrible in quality.
Talking about terrible in quality, my writing back in those days was quite subpar. Nevertheless, I started writing a branch on this story. This branch was and, at the time of me writing this foreword, still is my primary project. It has grown tremendously over the past six years, reaching a length of over 3 million words through near-daily releases, and will likely double in length before I am finally done with it.
As I wrote and write it, my skill improved and improves. Where it starts, it is terrible. I will not subject you to this terribleness and have therefore deigned to rewrite the first 326 chapters to closer match my modern standards. They will not quite be there, only so much I can do with the basis of my past awfulness, but it should be readable at least. Please, do judge at your own discretion.
The story is a single continuous one. Other branches of the premise were written by other authors. Whether they make it here or not, I do not know. If they do, expect me to advertise them here. We have done a lot together, or next to each other, and it would be amiss of me not to respect themunity built together.
Why do I post the story here? Well, primarily for the reach. This story was also what created the opportunity to be a full time writer through its poprity. I dont know if I can catch lightning in a bottle twice. Regardless, if I want to live off writing alone, I will need to advertise and there is no better advertisement for my body of work than my body of work.
So I hope you enjoy. I hope this story will entertain you, in its ups and downs, and that you will find that this rabbit hole is to your liking. Maybe, when you hit the current chapters, you will even find it appropriate to send me some contributions. This story expands by an average of 50000 words a month, so I will say that, if you like reading this, it''s money well invested.
But first, you should sample the product.
Announcement
Because people keep asking this: Yes, the ENTIRE story will be on this site eventually.
Chapter 1 – Exceedingly Average Beginnings
Chapter 1 C Exceedingly Average Beginnings
It had all changed at some point yesterday. It had been the average birthday for John Newman C that was to say, his mom had congratted him and he had spent the rest of the day gaming. Pleasant, all things considered. A bit anticlimactic that 18 began just like 17.
The day after his birthday though, that was a different story.
John rubbed his eyes. Must still be asleep, he thought and stretched. He pinched his leg and winced at the pain. Then his eyes drifted across his dirty room. Neither factors were anything short of real. Still, this couldnt be right. Might as well? he pressed ept and then yed out whatever else this strange dream would have to offer.
Out of the bed and up to his closet. The integrated mirror in the door showed a reflection of himself. Anky and thoroughly unimpressive specimen of a man C he knew that much. John didnt care much about sports and what little interest may have remained was thoroughly killed by Franks efforts to humiliate him.
More interesting than himself was the little description floating over his head though.
John Newman
Lvl 3: Student.
The Gamer.
His name, a level, a ss, a title, it was like this world just turned into some MMORPG. The dream at least sticks to the theme, he considered and flexed his mental muscles. If it was an RPG, then certainly there should have been a
There it was. It said something unttering about John that his only Skill was that he could pleasure himself. He chose to ignore that and instead tapped on the other two Skills for a closer description.
Gamer''s body: Your body is like that of a video game character. Wounds on you are merely for show, as they heal near instantaneously. Damage is instead represented by your depleting HP bar. Mana is given a definite numerical value.
Gamer''s spirit: Actions you take will sometimes create new Skills that can be upgraded through practice and other conditions. You may be offered Quests. Your abilities have been tranted into Stats, your life experience into Experience. Levelling will grant you Stat Points to distribute.
A look at his Stats reflected what he was: anky dude totally out of shape who spent all his time studying, ying video games and watching porn. He was not ugly. He wasnt attractive either. When it came to looks he was so average he could have posed for the dictionary definition. Brown hair, brown eyes, no interesting features.
Swiping further through the character screens, he soon found that average face looking back at him. Strangely, this depiction of him was fully naked. His boxers were slotted into a square around his body. There were slots for nearly every type of item he could wear. An empty list informed him that his inventory could hold up to 24 items.
This is a really coherent dream, John mumbled to himself, his tone bordering on confusion. He put a finger on his boxers on the screen and dragged them over to his inventory.
Suddenly he was naked.
The piece of clothing had disappeared from his body. His rather average, if not slightly small, dick hung out in the warm air of the room. He did his best to ignore it. The morning wood made that somewhat difficult, but when he wasnt taking care of it he preferred not to pay attention. No need to have more reasons to feel terrible before he went out to school
The dream could at least give me an upgrade there, he wished, while exploring the rest of the menu. Out of interest, he tapped on his boxers in his inventory.
Sleepwear boxers: this pair of cheap boxers is used as sleepwear by The Gamer. They are heavily overdue for a wash and reflect the general state of poor hygiene in the room. Stop relying on your mom for theundry!
Skill gained: Observe lvl1
Observe: Here, let me open your eyes a bit. Look at something or someone to find out details about them. Higher levels reveal more details.
The dream was getting ever stranger. The little snipes the system took at him were oddly personal, as was the degree of detail it knew about his life. This could be associated with his subconscious telling him to at least clean up his room, but wasnt all of this a bit too true to life?
John scanned his room. His figurines in the shelves, dusty but still valuable C particrly that A2 one with the production error. A true collectors item, that one. There were scattered paper towels and snack packages he hadnt cleaned in days or weeks and they were all exactly where they were supposed to be.
And wasnt it supposed to be impossible to read in a dream anyway?
John scratched the back of his head. There was no oddity to the sensation. His fingers grinded through short, slightly greasy hair. He wed a little harder and again felt pain. He took a step and moved. He dragged the boxers back to his character and they appeared again. Then they disappeared again when he reversed it.
He looked at his rm. It gave him the same time of day he usually woke up on a school day. A Monday, a sted Monday, and he was roughly three minutes behind schedule. Not that it mattered much if he was exactly on time. Ashcroft was an unusual school in many ways C mostly that it was a prep school more closely resembling a typical day school. Private, extended education.
And he had all of these thoughts, all of the dread of going there, without waking up. Nothing in the room was unusual. Nothing about his state indicated he was still asleep.
Which means this is real life? John thought, thenughed. That couldnt be it. Good things didnt happen to him outside of video games. But what if my life just became one?
The question sent his mind whirling in all directions. Metal parts creaked when he half fell into the bed again. Endless possibilities drifted by his minds eye. If this wasnt a dream if these system messages were real and told the truth then he could be whatever he wanted.
I just need to practice and grind and I can master anything I want to, even stuff I suck at, he thought. Just like professions in everyst MMO grindfest.
The sane idea that this was still a dream wrestled with his wish that it was real.
Screw it, Ill just assume that its real. Whats the worst that could happen? I wake up and then nothings changed, John said and jumped to his feet. First step, getting that Quest done. Easy EXP and a little bit of a view into how this works in practice.
The life of the Gamer had just begun.
Chapter 2 – To Touch Himself was Semi-Optional
Chapter 2 C To Touch Himself was Semi-Optional
The primary mystery at the moment was who exactly wasmenting on his life as he lived it. There was too much sass in the messages so far to assume it was a purely mechanical power that had just been granted to him. Whatever or whoever was sponsoring him, it had an attitude. It also made John unpleasantly self-aware.
Jerking off was an integral part of his preparation for the day. Ashcroft was a prestigious private school for students who had already graduated high school. It was also filled to the brim with sexy women his age andbining his frankly ludicrous sex drive with his non-existence for the other sex meant that he was screwed if he didnt take care of his needs regrly.
That something was watching him to confirm whether he did the Quest or not made the morning session awkward. Still, for the EXP, he was willing to jump over that hurdle. Cant hide from God anyway, he thought, once he was under the shower, and pictured the female students of his academy. From the average woman, to the sexy art teacher June, all the way to that bully-bitch Vanessa. He remembered the short skirts and stretched blouses of the school uniform.
After he had done the deed, he opened his eyes to the almost taunting description of what, exactly, the Masturbation Skill did. Right behind it was a second window.
Masturbation: Your hands-on experience allows you to get hard pretty easily. Your ejaction is notably stronger than normal and your balls refill totally in 2 minutes up to 20 times a day.
Endurance +1: Frequent masturbation is a kind of workout, I suppose. The time you can hold while stimted before climax is partly derived from your Libido score (negative) and Endurance score (positive).
John dismissed the windows with a mild grumble. It was lost in the sound of the running water. A little bit more scrubbing and he found checkmarks next to two of the five Quest goals. He increased that to three out of five through a quick sit on the toilet.
After he had returned to his room, he grabbed his school uniform. Lets see, he thought and attempted to put it into his inventory. He almostughed in delight when an empty window opened and the shirt disappeared inside C alongside his hand. There was no sensation to that. Wherever his hand was in time and space, it left his skin feelingpletely neutral. He drew it back no problem and checked for his shirt in the inventory. It was right there and then it was covering his chest. Just like the boxers earlier.
He put on the rest of his school uniform that way, just basking in the novelty and strangeness of this power. Then he put a number of usual and unusual items into his inventory. His phone, keys, wallet, followed by spare clothes and a couple random knickknacks he had flying around that mighte in useful. He hoped the inventory would expand with time. 24 slots were not that much at all, now that he was throwing stuff in there. Some of the items took several at once. His mind was creating all kinds of exciting excuses as to why he would need them. A question also surfaced.
Why have I never heard of anyone else having something like this? A question that needed answering. If he was the only one with such powers, hed be best advised not to advertise it before he had some insurance. If he wasnt the only one with such powers and everyone else was hiding them, he was best advised not to unt them. One way or another, best if I keep it low in public for a while.
Breakfast was thest item on the agenda. That something this trivial was a Quest was stupid. Then again, how much dumber was getting ready for the day than carrying an item fifty metres between two people who would rather pay a stranger than leave the house? RPGs had their weaknesses.
Alright, first moment of truth, John thought, as he headed downstairs. Soft noises hade from down there for a while now, as they did every morning. The smell of a delicious breakfast yed around his nose, inviting him to elerate his steps. If mom can see the status over my head then thatll be interesting.
He certainly could see it above hers.
Brenda Newman.
Lvl 9, Housewife.
MILF
Brenda turned her head his way, smiling the usual way. Her eyes stayed focused on his face, making no indication she saw anything unusual about her son. That aside, her status created a bunch of questions. Were level 3 and 9 very low or average? Was there a reason his mom was level 9 beyond being older? What were the criteria for people to level up, when they didnt have a system? And, most importantly, who the hell decided that his mom should have the title MILF?
Of the few things John was certain of, ack of interest in incest was one of them. In other words, whatever this system was, it was not his subconscious.
Personal disinterest in tangoing with the Oedipusplex aside, his mother was an objectively attractive woman. Large bust, on the shorter side, a pretty face, dark hair and eyes, and only in herte thirties. Whoever John had inherited his average looks from, it wasnt her.
Morning sweetie, Brenda greeted him. Slept well?
I had some trouble waking up, he responded, half-mumbling, as he sat down. He lost very little time wolfing down his breakfast. Eggs on toast and orange juice, a ssic. The moment thest gulp of juice was down his gullet, the window popped up confirming the Quest aspleted. A-anything to do today?
Just the usual, his mom responded. Her eyes never focused on the Quest window. She did trace the motion of his hand when he dismissed it though. It wasnt odd enough for her toment on. Hopefully Ill catch your father today hes working overtime at the moment, she sighed the sigh of the lonely housewife.
W-well, I guess hes doing what he has to, John stammered and opened his Character Sheet. Even then, no reaction. They continued their idle chatter, while he checked the changes.
He now was at 272/600 EXP to get to lvl 4. If he got other easy Quests like this one he would level up quickly. That was a huge if. Usually RPGs provided levels most effectively through grinding monster fights. Would that be the case here? Would he have to cut down swathes of random enemies with sword and magic?
Magic! This Character Sheet said he had a Mana Pool but so far the only magical thing he had gotten ess to were these windows. Further experimentation was required. Bad as he felt for using his mom as a guinea pig, he shot an Observe at her.
Brenda Newman.
Lvl 9, Housewife.
MILF
37 years old
Mother of: The Gamer.
He could only see this, he had no ess to her Character Sheet or inventory and got only little info (and nothing he didn''t know beforehand). Further levelling of the Skill was likely required.
While getting ready to head out, he used the Skill on everything he could. Each time he did, he lost 1 MP. Pretty terrible design, not to include the cost in the description, he chastised whatever deity would listen.
Of course with the low cost and the mild buff from breakfast he had it barely put him at 50/60 MP when he left the house to take the bus. His current regen rate was 0,5 MP/minute, doubled to 1 MP/minute by the buff. Reason why he called it mild was that it was a t buff. Unless MP was generally low in reality, he expected this to plummet into obscurity before long.
Observe did tick up to level 2, but whatever upgrade there was seemed incredibly marginal. On what scale are we operating anyway? 1 to 10? 1 to 100? Individual per Skill? The questions just kept piling up. Standing in the doorway, he opened his inventory again. A new line caught his eye.
2.54$
The money from his wallet had been extracted to the inventory, or at least what little of it there was. He had spent his allowance and some of his lunch money to buy things on Steamst Saturday and somehow managed to burn through his birthday moneyst night. He was broke once again, lured by the attraction of some fantasy world and polygon girls in skimpy clothes.
If he went to school like that he would have to skip lunch, or he could take something to eat before leaving. It would be stale by the time he ate it, but food was food. Ast and ufortable solution was to borrow from his mothers purse before leaving. He would put it backter when she paid him his allowance
Decisions, decisions.
Chapter 3 – The Crafty Solution
Chapter 3 C The Crafty Solution
Well, isnt there a different solution? he thought and went back indoors.
Something wrong, sweetie? Brenda asked, on her way to the bathroom.
Just grabbing a little something for the ride, he told her. That was the only exnation she needed to nod and leave the kitchen behind. Once she was out of view, he filled a ss with water and put it into his inventory. Minor experiment time, he thought and made a half-bouncing circle around the table. When he pulled out the ss again, it was entirely unchanged. No spill, no signs of any motion whatsoever.
John smiled and poured the water into the sink. He filled it with orange juice instead and ced that in his inventory. It stood to reason that, if it wasnt affected by him moving, that it was stowed away in a spacepletely isted from this one. Perhaps it was kept inplete stasis. He would know more about thister. If the orange juice came out at fridge temperature, that would make his inventory an incredible tool.
A window popped up. He was in the middle of throwing edible things into his inventory. Peeled carrots, leftover noodles with pasta sauce, and an apple. All things he could excuse having gone missing without arousing suspicion. He heard his moms returning footsteps and put one of the carrots in his mouth for effect.
Youre still here? she asked, slightly disapproving.
Yeah, sorry, I was still hungry, he said, around the carrot.
Just get that bus. We dont want you to bete, do we? she took the bite out of the words by smiling. She even waved him goodbye when he was out the door. His neighbourhood looked as usual: clean. He and his mom lived in a sizable house on the outskirts of one of the many Springfields the USA had to offer. The ce was dominated by single family houses like their own. John didnt mind it here. It was boring and the inte was good. A more adventurous boy would have had rtively fast ess to the woods. He wouldnt have minded joining his dad in DC either.
As he walked along, he read the window.
Achievement Unlocked: Not a bad Idea!
You used your brain to solve an easy situation. Congrattions!
+1 Wisdom
+1 Intellect
I feel a bit mocked by this. John thought and pressed away the message, just as the school bus pulled up beside him. A quick look at his MP identified that it had dropped down to 30. Constantly using Observe was taking its toll. Am I going to experience mind fatigue if it reaches 0?
John took a seat in the rtive istion of the back. He looked at his schoolmates inside the bus and checked out their levels. The lowest one he saw was a fat dumb kid he knew from high school at level 2 and the highest one was level 12, the leader of the schools hockey team. With his measly level 3 he was at the bottom of mediocrity though, as most people ranged from level 3 to 5. He thought about using Observe on the people to level it further but decided that he had ample time for thatter. He wanted to find out something else first.
He clicked around his Character Sheet for a bit. If anyone had watched him it would have looked very stupid. He used his backpack and the seat in front of him to conceal the movements from the few random gazes that wandered his way.
Is there a definition for my Stats somewhere? he wondered. Depending on which game one was ying Agility increased armour rating, sometimes Strength increased Health, sometimes Health Regen, a few times even both. Knowing the resources at his disposal would be very important for. for.
For what exactly? His mind had been filled with possibilities earlier, but that had been the same as the expectations he had for No Mans Sky after the first trailer: all ideas and no rity. What goal would he set for himself? What, specifically, did he want if he didnt wake up in the next 10 seconds?
No idea, he confessed to himself. Lets find out simpler things for now.
He finally found a little question mark at the top right corner of the Stat segment. He first touched it, then a Stat. A window popped up afterwards. One after another, he got the details on all of his Stats.
Strength: 8 (+ 0)
Strength is used to represent raw physical capabilities, such as lifting weights or punching harder. It increases the HP recovery/hour by 0,05 (STR*0,005) and gives +1 Inventory Slots for every 10 points.
Agility: 15 (+ 0)
Agility describes how nimble and quick a character is. Increases general speed, dexterity, and reflex time.
Endurance: 7 (+ 0)
Endurance shows how much punishment the Gamer can take physically. It increases his HP total by 35 (END*5). It also gives the Gamer a higher uptime during physical activities and shortens the recovery time needed for Gamers Body to recover stamina.
Intellect: 25 (+ 0)
Intellect shows how smart a person is. Increases logical thinking and problem-solving skills. It increases MP total by 50 (INT*2). Helps increase thought speed.
Wisdom: 10 (+ 0)
Wisdom describes how much the Gamer is able to use what he has learnt in a productive manner. Helps increase information digestion speed. It increases MP/minute by 0,075 (WIS*0,0075).
Charisma: 5 (+ 0)
Charisma is used to represent how likeable a person is when he acts and speaks. High Charisma results in easy negotiations and persuasions. Charisma also represents pleasantness of voice and attractiveness.
Libido: 19 (+ 0)
Libido represents how horny the Gamer is. While higher numbers mean that a person cums faster (Libido increases sensitivity) they also mean that the recharge time is lower and loads arerger.
That answered more questions than he had thought. It was very convenient that they also gave him the little math that was used to calcte his MP and HP. He closed all of the Stat windows and had a look at his resources.
Health Points: 45
Shows how much Health the Gamer has. Base 10 + 35 from other sources. Regenerates at the rate of 0,265 per Hour.
Mana Points: 60
Shows how much Magic the Gamer can use. Base 10 + 50 from other sources. Regenerates at the rate of 0,525 per minute.
That was slightly disappointing, the form to show how his regeneration came together wasnt shown. Whatever had designed this interface either didnt want him to know or had gottenzy. It was also interesting that the number he saw now went three digits after thema. A bit more detail than he had previously been privy to. Was all of this in active development as he used it?
The question, like so many others, remained unanswered.
Only school was a certainty.
Chapter 4 – Literature Class
Chapter 4 C Literature ss
Dull. That was the one word to describe everything his first ss was. Mrs Flung was a 60-year-old woman who was not sexy at all and looked dull. She taught the subject of traditional English literature that was, most of the time, dull. The book they were speaking about today was about the bombardments of the Nazis and spoke about how the grey of the clouds was a good sign as rain meant that the nes wouldnte. Interesting topic but Mrs Flung managed to make that dull as well. Her voice drew out the sybles and blended everything into a slurry.
John passed the time by using Observe on everyone in the ssroom, especially the hot girls. There were plenty of those around. Being a private school with limited ess, most of the people here came from wealth and had been well-nurtured. He actually was one of the poorer people around. His father was an engineer, which was a position that paid well, but it couldnt quitepare to bankers and car dealership owners.
His seat was in the back of the ss, next to the window. Prime position to go unnoticed by his ssmates and the short-sighted teacher. He tapped away the Observe windows as he opened them, reading the titles, and finding out nothing new. Halfway through the ss, the Skill levelled up.
Observe Lvl 3: Now reveals how friendly a person is towards you.
Interesting, but also pretty sobering. He looked at the hot girls in his ss again and none of them were higher than 10 on a scale that went from -200 to 200. The few that were above 0 were known as the generally nice girls. They probably had higher scores with everyone else.
John sighed silently. Nothing unexpected here. He wanted girls to like him, but between Vanessa poisoning the well and his own awkwardness there were no chances of that happening. Video games wouldnt disappoint him like people that didnt have time for him. Hisputer would remain his sce. To be fair, he enjoyed his sce a lot.
He looked outside the window. There was not much use in paying attention to ss. He had read the book already and with his high Intellect he would be able to recollect most or all of the answers to the questions Mrs Flung could fling at him anyway. She knew that, he knew that, he usually got a good grade in this ss and they both moved on with their life.
From where he sat he had a nice overview of the schools courtyard, including therge sports field. It was summer and one of the indoor halls was closed for renovations. That left multiple sses out and about, runningps, ying football, or doing general athletics.
The only interest that John could muster for sports came from the way the women moved as they exercised. Youngdies, working up a sweat as their bodies heated up under the sun. Their white shirts slowly became more transparent. Yet, they kept on moving. Breasts swayed with every step. Delicious bubble butts shifted, d tightly by yoga pants. The fantastic juiciness of the female behind went through all stages of rxation and tension, trembles moving up from their deliciously sculpted thighs and
Okay this fantasy was getting out of hand. Already he felt the twitching of his member in his pants. Optimally, he would avoid having a wanking session in the school bathroom. Too much could go wrong there. He tried to listen to Mrs Flung to calm down. Between being horny and being bored, his brain nudged him to the former. His eyes trailed back to the window.
If only I could be down there, instead of up here, he thought, ogling the distant forms of the women. He tensed in his seat. Wait, maybe there is a way to be down there?
He had gotten some weird magical powers, might as well try and check if he could create another Skill. Concentrating on his eyes, he kept staring. In his imagination, his eyes became more powerful, more urate, until it was like he was practically attached to one womans butt in particr.
She stuck it high into the air as she waited for the signal to start running. He could vividly imagine how the motion made her pants ride a little deeper between her cheeks. How much I would love to be that piece of cloth right now His mind enviously side tracked.
New Skill gained: Possession Lvl 1:
Allows the caster to take control of an inanimate object. Costs 10 MP on activation and 1 MP for every 10 seconds after the initial 10.
Not what he had nned but this should work just as well. Actually, now that he thought about it this was even better. If he took control of a girls pants he was as close to her as he could ever hope to be. He peeked over to his mana bar. Only 15 MP. The drawback of using Observe all the time. Still that would make for a whole minute of being next to a girls behind. He picked a target with as wonderful a behind as he could estimate at this distance and cast the spell.
It was a weird experience. One part of him remained in the seat, the other travelled in a blur of colours to his target. It only took a second. Then he was the girls pants. For the most part. He still could feel his real body and if he wanted he could shift his attention between them.
He didnt want to. On this side, he was firmly clinging to a nice and squishy backside. His senses worked perfectly, anchored to the waistband of the pants. He felt the roundness of her butt stretch the fabric and the soft jiggle when she took a step. A wave of disappointment washed over him when he discovered he couldnt move. It made sense, he was a piece of cloth. Still, in his horniness, he wished it was different. This was magic after all.
All I want to do is tease her by grinding against her actually, now it dawns on me that I am being extremely creepy, John thought, a pinch of reason cutting through the horny fog. Well, Im already here so might as well train the Skill.
He would enjoy every second he could, clinging to this butt. That was a fine deal all in all. While he was carried around the track, he had a look around. Observe he couldnt afford, but the standard status above the heads remained active.
Level 4 Sports Fan Level 3 Heiress of the candle shop Level 5 Closet Pervert Level 2 Fat dumb dude,st of which he envied because he actually got to be down there. Then he stopped envying him as Frank and his goons descended on him.
To Johns surprise, somebody stepped in. A stunning redhead with green eyes. She was vaguely familiar. If he recalled correctly, she always entered the bus a few stops after him. Today, he had missed that, since he was too busy reading up on his mechanics. He hadnt known that she was brave enough to stand up to the local king of the jocks. She gave them a sternly worded piece of her mind.
He was too busy staring at her status to follow her words in detail.
Lady Moira Brighton, Lvl 17
Instinctively he fired an Observe at her. A mistake. A hot pain shot through his brain, settling in his optical nerves, before fading away. The redhead noticed that something was up, stopping her lecture of the disinterested bullies. Her head turned in his general direction.
JOHN NEWMAN! Just as he cancelled the spell, the unusually loud voice of Mrs Flung shouted at him.
Y-yes, I am very sorry. He apologized immediately. I z-zoned out, what is it? The defence that he had been in two ces at once wouldnt fly. The ssughed at his expense. Nothing unusual there.
Mrs Flung ignored it, like the teachers usually did. Please, read page 175 for the ss.
Of course. He flipped through the pages, ncing outside the window for a moment as he did. He could have sworn there was a single person, distanced from the rest of the students and teachers, looking up at him.
Chapter 5 – A New Quest.
Chapter 5 C A New Quest.
John spent the rest of the ss sitting around, keeping his head low and regenerating mana. With the extra Observe he had thrown at Moira it had sunk to almost zero. By the end of ss, it was back up to seven. Not enough to Possess something. No problem, because he had just been given a strong hint that he was not alone in having ess to magic.
Which reduced the chances of this being a dream.
And drastically increased the chances of him being in danger.
There was a fifteen minute break between this and his next ss, which would be art by Ms Summers (Or June as she preferred to be called). He considered checking on the state of the orange juice, if only because he was thirsty. A window appeared and gave him a different task.
New Quest: Stalk the Warden
Find Moira Brighton and follow her around for three minutes without getting spotted.
Reward: 350 Exp.
Optional: Masturbate while remaining unseen
Reward: 1000 Exp.
ept?
John stared at the window. In thought, he tilted his head. That optional reward was just ridiculous but so was the condition bound to it. Also, what exactly was a Warden of the Golden Rose? Questions forter. Regardless of all that, looking for Moira was probably a good idea. She had sensed him, or at least he thought so and spotted him afterwards. From what little he knew about her, she seemed to be in the pdin archetype of a person. In other words, if he wanted to reveal himself, she was as good a choice as he would get this early on. Really, this was lucky.
Or he was horribly wrong and he was courting death.
Do I want to just go back to my video games today or do I want to do something for a change? the thought urred involuntarily to the Gamer. A momentter, he had tapped the ept button. Hopefully he could get the Quest reward, then approach her. Optimally, she had only sensed his presence, not exactly where he had been at the time.
Finding Moira was a bit tricky though. He knew that she just had a sports ss but that didnt make it easier. Typically, the sports sses ended about twenty minutes early so that students had the opportunity to take a shower. If she was somebody who showered quickly she could be anywhere by now. If she showered for as long as possible he wouldnt get a chance to talk to her before the next ss started. Which would be a shame because looking at Junes tits was one of the few enjoyable parts of school.
Either way the dressing room was the best bet to start the search. He made his way there, doing his best to stay away from the public eye. After all, Frank was on the loose. After getting blocked from a victim, he must have been in a foul mood.
New Skill gained: Sneaking Lvl 1
You sneak, make less noise during movement and are generally harder to spot. Useful to suppress your already tiny presence. Costs 1 MP per 10 seconds.
He looked at his MP: 11. This meant he could do it for 2 minutes exactly when taking regeneration into the calction. Not bad, probably. He still had to find her though and as such turned thest corner.
Where she stood, just leaning against a pir. Rapidly, John took a step back. Did she spot me? He crouched, activating the Sneaking Skill. He was just about to consider a tactical retreat, when a window opened.
Target found, stay within ten metres for the next 3 minutes or the quest will be failed.
Oh fucking fantastic John moaned into his mind. Its one of those Quests. Great thing was he didnt get a little map with a circle in his interface or anything else useful like that. He just had to guess where she was. He could use Possession on a pir to look at her. But just once, for twenty seconds and she had sensed him earlier. No reason to believe she couldnt repeat that. In this situation, his best bet was keeping quiet and staying right where he was.
She stepped around the corner, arms crossed.
What are you doing? Moira asked, eyebrow raised. She seemed more puzzled than offended.
John sighed and pressed away the giant QUEST FAILED! pop-up. There goes my free level. He thought and straightened up. At least he had the wisdom not to take his dick out. That would have been impossible to exin. Sorry, just thought I dropped something. He lied hastily.
Uh-huh the redhead looked unconvinced.
John took a deep breath and sorted his thoughts. The best idea he had was toe just straight out with it. Weird question but what is a Golden Rose?
Moira looked at him with suspicion for half a second. Suddenly, her hand was on his cor. Even with the instinctual struggle he put up against her waspletely overwhelmed. Like a wagon getting towed by a truck, he was dragged to a dark corner of the corridor. Moira at least had the decency to shove him softly against the wall.
Who are you? she asked.
J-John, John Newman. He stammered. Her emerald green eyes drilled into him. The stern expression on her face did the rest and the words just blurted out of his mouth. Sorry, its just, well, I can see the words Warden of the Golden Rose above your head.
Now Moira looked confused again. I have never heard of such a spell. She muttered and finally let go of his cor.
John pulled at it a bit to fix his uniform. So, you do know spells? he asked. This wasnt what he had wanted. In hindsight, going straight at it was actually pretty stupid. I need Charisma, he realized. I suck at people. That aside, this was going quite well.
Of course, I do, if you are able to use such weird spells you should be able to feel my mana.
Actually I just woke up today with this weird spell. Part of a set of Gamer powers, at least the windows tell me that. John exined to her. Ive been experimenting all morning and then I kinda stumbled over you during ss.
You were the presence I felt earlier! she dered.
She skipped on the attached to a girls butt part and he felt it best to bury that particr truth as quickly as possible. Yes, I thought you tracked the power back to me so I tried to find you and exin myself. At least he could construct a believable half-truth quickly enough. Also, I wanted to find out what is going on.
Moira shook her head, No, my Order has others who would seek you. Youre wise toe to me out of your own volition. She once more crossed her arms over her decently sized bust. We would have found you.
Then who was watching me? John wondered, Just paranoia? Probably
But you say you awoke just today an Innate Ability with nothing to trigger it or perhaps a true Latebloomer? she looked at him with narrowed eyes. Tell me, what do you want to do with these powers?
I dont know, John responded honestly.
if Lorelei was here she could judge you properly, Moira mumbled and rubbed her forehead. You do strike me as an innocent soul. Johns browser history would disagree. He nodded anyway. Very well. Listen, your life will depend on it. You have entered the Abyss.
Chapter 6 – The Abyss
Chapter 6 C The Abyss
God was real and alive. That was the first revtion. That was, some variance of what could be called the Creator was alive. Some called it Living Providence, others Natural Law Sapient, Principle or the Origin. Moira and her Order called it the Lady. The name most people used and the one John found most pleasing was Gaia. Supposedly, Gaia was the source of all powers that people were capable of, natural and supernatural.
The ce where people exercised their magical power, their superhuman strength, and their fantastic feats, was called the Abyss. A hidden society, in the loosest sense, underneath all of human history. Disconnected and yet right next to everyone else.
Dragons, gods, ghosts, mages, and so much more, all of them were real within the Abyss. Entire parallel countries existed, ruled by guilds that were nations by another name. They hid from the eyes of the mundane people through dimensional pockets. So called Protected Spaces and Illusion Barriers. Moira spoke like there was a difference between them. She was also too much in the flow of things for John to get a question in.
The Illusion Barriers were created to differentiate the real world from the Abyss. In her infinite wisdom, Gaia had dered magic and mundane separate, protecting the innocent from the overreach of warlocks and demiurges. That was Moiras framing of it anyway.
The way this manifested was terrible luck. For example, if John were to use his powers to make peoples wallets disappear in front of their eyes the world would see it fit to make a car crashe his way. However, if he was subtle about it and no one noticed that something was off Gaia would not intervene. It was a matter of vitingmon understanding of reality.
Moira went on about how there were generally two types of supernaturally capable people in the Abyss. One was the Innate Ability holder. These were the people who were granted powers by Gaia herself. These powers were given at birth and shaped by what a person had experienced in their life. Only when they awakened did they take their certain form.
As most of Johns life consisted of ying video games, and watching porn didnt make for a particrly effective power, Gaia had made him the Gamer in real life. That part, he followed easily.
The second type were those that trained to master any generally avable ability. These people had to learn martial arts, magic or other techniques on their own. They were almost universally weaker than those with Innate Abilities. Nothing stopped someone with an Innate Ability from also learning martial arts. For every rule, there was an exception, however, and one would be advised not to underestimate those born without powers.
Over the generations people had gathered into ns, guilds, orders, and other organizations to protect each other and work towardsmon goals. These goals ranged from simple safety to more specialized activities, such as magic research, information broking or gathering ves.
The name Abyss wasnt for show. Mundane people were safe from the wicked and terrible that had been born with immense power. Same could not be said for everyone else. Where there wasnt some kind of strong, central guild to impose some kind of order, opportunistic raiders and narcissistic researchers had every freedom to act in ordance with their desires. Just having mana meant one was useful as a living battery. A bad day and one could be killed inside an Illusion Barrier, the body forever lost after the pocket dimension was closed. Kidnapping and mercenary work were standard business in the Abyss, especially in the USA. The new world was low on powerful guilds, unlike Europe and Asia, where aeons had led to the establishment of major powers.
You can return to a safe life. Currently your mana is so faint that I cant feel it and you should have it stay that way. Moira finished her exnations. Even if you are a Latebloomer, you should be capable of avoiding detection if you do not grow any stronger.
John pondered about what he just heard. You keep saying Latebloomer what exactly is the difference there?
The longer an Innate Ability lies dormant, the more expansive and powerful its capabilities, Moira informed him. If your ability awakened when you reached the age of 18, it must be truly powerful.
and youre telling me to just go back to live a normal life, knowing that? John asked.
Yes, Moira stemmed a hand on her hips. Even if you have the potential to be powerful, you are not right now. It would be best to head back. My Order is one of the few mercies you will find in this life. Only the powerful get to dictate what happens to them.
Uh-huh, John mumbled absent-mindedly. Then he shook his head. Ill stay in the Abyss.
Moira was taken aback. Didnt you hear me, its dangerous!
John shrugged, All I have to do is be strong, right? He eximed and smiled. Something about his expression caused Moira to stare at him with wary eyes. Dont worry, I dont want to do anything terrible! he was quick to assure her. I-I just well, I just feel like this is an opportunity to turn my life around.
Of course, the extent of that motivation went further than escaping his crappy school life. If the Abyss was as loose as she said in government and moral affairs then maybe he could chase the most unlikely dream of all? For him to gather a harem. A polygynous group of gorgeous women who loved him as much as he loved them. It had been a fantasy he had harboured since puberty. Now he could push his Charisma to a point where he was capable of holding a proper conversation and his power to the point where he could protect such a harem.
It would be dangerous, yes, but why not try? Why not exploit this opportunity he had been given? What life was this, even?
Moira was shaking her head in disbelief. Either you are a simpleton or just very na?ve. Be that as it may, I think we have to return to - She looked at her watch. Bloody hell! She eximed in a very udylike moment.
John looked at his own and understood. The lesson was already half over. The exnation did take a while. John mumbled.
Moira grumbled, a dusting of red tinging her cheeks, My perfect record.
Already ruined, sorry, He said flippantly and earned a very pissed off look for that. He didnt even need Observe to seed to tell that thatment had just cost him a few Rtionship Points.
Moira closed her eyes for a moment and forcefully calmed down. Anything else you want to know then? she asked. Even if she did not like him, she did seem to stick to the whole helping the innocent creed.
How do I create these Protected Spaces? John asked, he felt that was important.
Protected Spaces? Not at all, youre no Fateweaver. Moira rolled her shoulders, then raised a hand up. For Illusion Barriers, it is rather simple. The Lady provides the energy for the space, we just have to request her aid. Hold your hand up like this and let loose a short pulse of energy.
New Skill: Mana Power Attack Lvl 1;
Crude attack with mana. Scales with INT. 10 MP per usage.
John just barely managed to have the attack explode in his hand instead of sting the roof of the outdoor corridor. It stung for a moment, like pouring disinfectant over a wound. Before he had the chance to inspect the damage. It had already healed. A minor misfire, I suppose that happens with the uninitiated? Moiramented.
Sorry, let me try again, John raised his hand again and this time put more pleading intent behind it.
New Skill: Create Instant Dungeon Lvl 1:
Thats the proper way to ask for help. Create an Illusion Barrier. May or may not be filled with monsters, depending on the creators wishes. 5 MP on creation.
New Skill: Escape Instant Dungeon Lvl 1:
Leave or undo an Illusion Barrier you control. It may be impossible or very difficult to leave an Illusion Barrier you do not control. 5 MP on usage.
The world felt different. No wind, he realized after a few moments. There had been constant mild breezes apanying this summer day. Now that they were in a limited space, there was no airflow. Moira wasnt there either. It seemed she was patiently waiting for his return. He had no reason to leave her waiting.
Once he used the Escape Instant Dungeon Skill, this copy of the world shattered into pieces. An odd disy, to have his entire world of view burst like a pane of ss under too much pressure. Moira was back and so was the wind. Hey, it says I can have them be filled with monsters. What does that mean?
Moira crossed her arms. Exactly what it says. Humans create an energy we call Faith, in life and in death. Some of that Faith takes the form of monsters. If you give them a ce to vent their frustrations at, like a Protected Space, they will. Granted, in non-Natural Barriers, they are little more than phantoms. She checked her watch again. Youll be fine on your own, right?
I think so, John said with a nod. If Im if Im not, can Ie to you for help?
You may, Moira said with a nod. It may be wise of you to consider joining the Order. We would show you hospitality and protection as much as we can do that with everyone else crawling around this town. In any case, I need to make my case for beingte to the teacher. Remain just, John Newman.
Ill try to? John responded and watched the redhead leave. The skirt didnt allow him to catch too much of a view of her butt. Youve been creepy enough for today. Come on, start acting like a guy that deserves a harem, he told himself and started to turn where? Do I really head back to ss after all of that?
Chapter 7 – Testing the Instant Dungeon
Chapter 7 C Testing the Instant Dungeon
Genuinely, why would he go back to ss now that he had learned magic was real? There were the expectations of his parents on the side that was pro attending his next ss. Against that stood the chances of running into Frank, a future as an office worker, and the chance to be a big deal in a fantasy world. A really big deal, if this Lateblooming was all Moira made it out to be.
Much as John appreciated his parents, the answer was obvious.
John marched off school grounds. The little nervous knot he felt in his stomach at this was overpowered by his sheer excitement. Experimenting with the Skills he had just gotten would be awesome. He had always wondered what it would be like to shoot an arcane bolt for real.
His steps carried him outside of the city. It was a bit of a walk, especially in the heat of the day, but he eventually hit the shade of trees. The temperature dropped, the trees got more numerous, until he was in the forest proper. This was far from any prying eyes. To stumble into rangers or ying kids was unlikely C and wouldnt remain an issue for long anyway.
John raised his hand and created an Instant Dungeon. He thought about a weak monster as he did. Skeletons, big rats, goblins, the general tutorial enemies. The world became silent. With the Instant Dungeon created, no gusts of wind touched these fake trees to make their leaves whisper.
Seems like it worked. John mumbled. His MP was now at 45. Not a proud number, but hopefully enough to y around a bit. He scanned the perimeter. No enemies in sight. Carefully, he took a step. He whirled around. He had asked for skeletons or big rats and he didnt know yet if this was the World of Warcraft starting zone or the Dark Souls tutorial. Best not get surprised.
Always trying to look in every direction. He moved ever so carefully around the trees. There was no discernible difference between the real forest and the copy he had made C had asked Gaia to make. That was probably the point tho-
2 EXP Gained.
Wait what? Confused, he tilted his head even more than before. There was still nothing around him. He took arge step back.
1 EXP Gained.
He looked down and found the source of his Experience. Tiny little things crawled on the forest floor. They had the form of little pinecones with arms and legs. They were crawling towards him at a snails pace. He used Observe on one that was doing its best to punch his shoe.
Seedling Lvl 1
HP: 2 MP: 1
Tiny forest spirits that take hold of pinecones and other seeds. They are the baby stage of treants and dont possess power. This is the best you can handle right now.
He had idently killed two by stepping on them. The EXP granted was measly. Measly EXP was still EXP. He started to jump from one of the pinecone Seedlings to the next, crushing them under his shoes. Each crunch rewarded 1 to 3 EXP and slowly he climbed towards his Level Up.
One problem though: his physical condition was terrible. It didnt take long at all for him to get winded. Moving got gradually more difficult. After ten minutes he had to sit down on a mossy stone, breathless. Come on Gamers Body, do the stamina recovery thing, he pleaded. His limbs felt like they were made out of lead.
Achievement Unlocked: The Muscle of the Operation 1
You slightly trained your body. Finally going to use another piece of meat than your dick?
+1 END
Fuck you. John gasped and wiped away the sweat from his forehead. That achievement was interesting. From the 1 at the end he guessed that it was repeatable. That made the hopping around here even more worthwhile, now he could farm minor EXP and the asional Endurance Point.
The lip it was giving him was also interesting. Was this Gaia speaking? Moira had said all powers stemmed from her, so that seemed likely, but who knew what a creator deity did personally and what she delegated.
While he waited for his stamina to recover, he had a worthwhile idea. Why not level Possession while he was resting? Not like he had anything better to do. He looked at a stone and used the Skill. Now he looked at himself resting while looking at himself being a rock. It was weird.
He stayed as the rock, even as Gamers Body kicked in. John took a relieved breath, like a video game character who shed a status condition. The weight of his limbs swiftly went back to regr and he could move once again. He had to cancel Possession to go back to stomping. The dual perception was too disorienting for his senses to keep it up.
Once he was petered out again, he recast the Skill. Once recovered, he went back to jumping around. Back and forth like that, for as long as he had MP. When he was out, he pulled his stored sustenance out of his inventory. Cold and unchanged, he thought, tasting orange juice and carrots. No warming up or drying out. Seems like they really are in stasis? He left a single piece of carrot in there to see if there was any kind of rotting that would go on.
On a full stomach, he resumed the training. He continued the back and forth patterns for a long while. Eventually, a few windows opened.
Achievement Unlocked: The Muscle of the Operation 2
You slightly trained your body. Keep going and one day somebody might find you desirable!
+2 END
(Reces The Muscle of the Operation 1)
Possession Lvl 2:
10 MP -> 9 MP Activation Cost
You may now move slightly while possessing an inanimate object.
Achievement Unlocked: Seedling Stomper
Dont you feel sorry for the weak little things? I guess not.
Level Up! Congrattions you are now Level 4.
He pumped his fists. Aw yeah, thats what Im talking about! he shouted freely into his forest. Excited, he opened his Character Sheet. The level got him a whopping 5 Points to spend. Not bad at all for this bit of work. Especially whenbined with the 2 Endurance he gained. Aside from the Seedling Stomper Achievement, which had no Bonus whatsoever, this had been really productive.
There was a new thing to think about now though.
What should he put his points in?
Chapter 8 – Wisdom
Chapter 8 C Wisdom
The question was directly rted to another one: What did he want to do with this new power? Build a harem, sure, but dead men did not get the chance to even talk to women. Best to invest in security first, lookster.
Strength was the obvious choice if he wanted to fight with his fists and close weaponry. Agility would help him be more stealthy and nimble. Endurance was a pretty good thing all around, since he liked being alive. Intellect and Wisdom would help his mana pool and regeneration, thus allowing him to use more skills. Charisma would help him get less hated andstly Libido would probably allow him to jerk off all day.
That did sound pretty tempting but so did the thought of having the ability to use his Skills more regrly. Currently he was getting Skills easily, but experience with game design taught him that such acquisitions slowed down past the early game. The Skills he had all required MP to train and to make them better.
He looked at his current Skill list. His eyes fell on the three that he could use to define his style.
If he wanted to be a traditional mage surely Mana Power Attack was the way to go. The Skill was costly at 10 MP per usage and its damage scaled with INT. Upping the damage and gaining more MP to throw more of them at once, ending a fight with a barrage before the gap could be closed, was certainly an option.
Sneaking on the other hand would nudge him towards the rogue ystyle. If he picked that he should raise Agility. He would need the speed and finesse to exploit it when he made it into stabbing range.
Possession could make him some kind of summoner, in the abstract sense. The Skill should allow him to use disposable bodies as his fighters. Those minions would be an extension of himself, so summoner wasnt the proper term. Puppeteer, maybe?
John nodded to himself. Yeah, that sounded good to him, both puppeteer and summoner. He wasnt that interested in jumping around the frontlines and doing all of the impressive stuff. Staying at the back and coordinating efforts was more his style.
One level worth of points wouldntmit him fully to that direction but what was an ocean if not an assembly of drops? Best get started on his preferred build early.
If he wanted to follow that direction the first thing he needed to do was level Possession. Currently the Skill only allowed him to move slightly. To make levelling Possession more effective it would be best to have it run permanently. After all, if I have it running all the time I could do something else on the side as it levels on its own. He thought and opened the Character Sheet.
For higher Mana Regeneration, he would have to put his points into Wisdom. To have Possession run permanently he would need a regeneration rate of at least 6 Mana per Minute, as the skill cost 1 every 10 seconds. That was roughly 12 times what he currently had. A long road.
Well, we all have to start somewhere he thought and put all five points into Wisdom. His Mana Regeneration went from 0,535 to 0,57, a marginal increase but an increase nheless. With that decision out of the way, he thought about what else he could need in the future. If he wanted to have disposable bodies fight for him maybe other kinds of minions would be helpful? He also needed defensive tools. Everyone with a braincell knew to rush the summoner.
What he needed most of all however was a way to earn more EXP. Stomping these little Seedlings was time intensive and it wouldnt get better in the future. Sure, currently the Exp needed to get to the next level was forgiving but traditionally games needed more and more EXP. Simultaneously, these little things would probably drop to only giving 1 EXP each within the next few levels. He was going to exploit them for as long as he could. Best to have alternatives lined up though.
John currently only knew of two sources of Experience: Quests and this Instant Dungeon. As he had no control over Quests, grinding was the more reliable one. He sighed, it seemed that Seedling stomping was still his best bet. Maybe the system would offer him better enemies after he levelled a bit.
This is the weirdest early game Ive experienced in a while, John thought and mumbled a few curses before smiling slightly. Even though the early game was confusing, it still was rewarding. That he could allocate his Stats as he desired was already a huge boon. He could shape himself into his ideal form. If he needed to experience the awkwardness of crushing pinecones for that, he would take it.
In any case, it was gettingte and his mom would wonder where he was eventually. The best way to keep her from finding out that he had skipped school was toe back at the usual time. Once his mana had regenerated enough, he used Escape I.D. (shorthand for Instant Dungeon), and headed home.
Chapter 9 – The next day of school
Chapter 9 C The next day of school
In the end, John had just been testing his Skills between mana-regenerating rounds of League. An oddlymon way to end his day, considering what else had happened. He felt simrly when he woke up in his bed and went to the bus. It all felt so painfully normal after everything else.
The most interesting part of his morning had been the popup after waking up. It had informed him that all resources had been fully regenerated after a good nights rest. Does that mean I heal all the way to full from 1 HP instantly if I sleep well? he wondered. Because that sounds abusable.
Speaking of abusable, he was sorely tempted to use Possession on a piece of debris on the floor. The goal would be to peek up the already short skirts of his schoolmates. He shifted repeatedly in his seat to try and put that urge aside. For one, he was trying to be less creepy and, more importantly, Moira was on the bus. The redhead shot him a nce and that was all the interest she took in him. Seemed like she was content as long as he didnt stir up trouble.
It was the prelude to a quiet morning with great potential. John had told his mother that he had longer sses today and wouldnt being home until veryte. Never did John think that he would be lying to stay away from home for a bit longer. Two days ago, he would have begged for a quicker return to his gaming hobby but right now he wanted to test the limits of his new real-life counterpart instead.
Eventually, he did Possess a piece of the floor C but he kept his staring to a minimum. His Libido did get the better of him here and there. In his defence, there were just so many juicy thighs around, ttened on the barely cushioned seats of the school bus.
John was suddenly ripped away from his thoughts when somebody sat down next to him. Even from his position as the ground he could see that there were more than enough lonely seats avable. He broke the spell to have all of his attention on the scene. Nervously, he swallowed and looked at who it was.
His nervousness loosened a bit, when he recognized Thomas. He was the boyfriend of Johns ss president. Earnest, hardworking, and too busy with his studies to partake in the bullying activities of Vanessa and her jock ass kissers. John knew him because he often peeked in to check on his girlfriend. Out of a grown habit, he used Observe.
Thomas Jefferson C Level 7
ss President of ss E, Age 19
Thomas aspires to do hisst name proud. He would be shocked to know that his bloodline can be traced back to the third president of the United States. It is a convoluted one, though, involving losing thest name and then regaining it from a different family two generationster through random marriages.
Rtionship: -23
He is president of his own ss too? Also, what is up with that backstory? John asked himself.
Thomas aimed to answer another question entirely. John, I hear you were absent from sses yesterday? He surely heard that from his girlfriend.
There was no use in lying so John said, Y-yeah, what about it?
You wouldnt happen to have hung out with Jane, would you? The name didnt ring any bells. His confusion must have prompted Thomas to be clearer. Jane Hollmey? She vanished around the same time as you did.
John was honestly confused. Jane? Who the hell was Jane? That was as much a widespread name as his own. No, sorry. I just felt a bit under the weather and went home. Another lie, but only half of one.
Thomas nodded. Okay then. I just found it a bit weird and to be frank you both have horrible reputations.
Thanks, John hissed through grit teeth.
Thomas shot him a concerned nce and hastily stood up. d that we got that cleared up, he stated and marched back to his girlfriend. Sheughed at something he said when he was back. John had the feeling it was another joke at his expense.
You just be happy I am almost out of mana or I would untie your shoces or something. John brooded on those thoughts for a moment. Maybe I should do something to deserve a horrible reputation.
He tried not to dwell on it. Optimally, he would have no reason to care about any of them in a few weeks time. He would be a powerful mage and theyd wonder what happened to him. Until then, he was left with the question of who Jane was.
She couldnt be a particrly hot girl, otherwise John would have leered at her at one point or another. In his mind, he kept a catalogue of every hot girl at his school. A juvenile usage of his above average brain and still the most productive thing to do in most of the sses.
He caught Moira staring at him, her expression enigmatic. Had she informed herself about him in more detail? Had she learned the truth or the rumours Vanessa was spreading? In either case, she remained outwardly neutral. Perhaps he could ask her a few more questionster. There was so much about the Abyss he still wasnt clear about.
Most important was the question if he could just talk about the Abyss publicly. Was that enough to upset Gaia or would the people around put it away as a LARP conversation? Until he had confirmation on it, he would wait for a chance to catch her alone. Best to avoid messing with the supreme deity.
Achievement Unlocked: Dont y with things you dont understand.
You realized that earning the ill will of something almighty is stupid. By all means have a bit of Wisdom.
+1 WIS
There it goes with those snarky messages again. John thought and closed the window. He wouldnt cry about it though. If he kept getting Wisdom in return, he would take textual abuse.
He finally arrived at school and walked to his ssroom. He would try to find Moira during lunch break. The 45 minute break after his midday sses should be plenty of time to ask some questions. At the very least it would be better than getting on her bad side even more by making her miss another ss.
Achievement Unlocked: That Rose has mighty Thorns.
You realized that pissing off a girl that can break your neck by pping you is a bad idea. By all means have a bit of Wisdom.
+1 WIS
John clicked away the window with a sour smile. Of course, he was happy for every bit of Mana Regeneration that he could get. Still, two times in such quick session was ridiculous. Had Gaia recognized that the Skills were overpriced and now tried buffing him towards a working stage by handing out Wisdom for free? That would be appreciated. Certainly, it would make her better at responding tomunity feedback than most developers. More likely was that the two times were just coincidence. Three times would be enemy action.
Still, Riot could learn from God. John thought and clenched his fist in feigned anger. He was once again reminded of the existence of the little, dirty, mushroom throwing, blinding dart spitting, rat-hamster hybrid spawn of Satan that was Teemo. Fuck himand Yasuo. He thought as he entered his ssroom. He took his seat by the window and looked out into the, currently, empty field. Really tempted to attach myself to a nice round butt again...
The temptation was not rewarded with opportunity. No sports sses were held during the morning lesson, at least no outdoor ones. While he listened to the lesson, he kept his MP regeneration from being wasted by casting Possession periodically. He was rewarded for that eventually.
Possession Lvl 3:
9 -> 8 Mana Activation cost.
You may now move a bit while possessing an inanimate object.
With glee, he stared at the window. Everything wasing together nicely for him. Gradual improvements and eventually that harem would be his. The bell announced the first break of the day. Three times it would ding, then they could get up. One, two-
John suddenly found himself in an empty ssroom. His ssmates had disappeared, alongside the soft motion of air from the AC. The third bell never came. The only alert John received was another window in front of him.
Trap Barrier C You have been forced into an Illusion Barrier.
Shit! John thought.
Chapter 10 – Lowlifes
Chapter 10 C Lowlifes
Further information followed.
You do not have control over the Illusion Barrier. Escape is impossible at your current level. Defeat the enemies or convince them to let you leave.
Who? Why? How did they find me? I just got these powers yesterday. Did information really travel that quickly? Did Moira sell me out? She didnt seem the type. Then again, I dont really know her. Thoughts raced through Johns mind. To his surprise, they were rtively calm ones. An effect of his increased Wisdom, perhaps?
Whatever it was, he was thankful for it. He analysed the situation with a calm mind. His schoolmates were gone, vanished into thin air. He sat alone in a copy of his ssroom, even the scribbles on the chalk board at the front were the same. This was still the school he knew, just as the forest had been yesterday, but eerily silent. Whoever had snatched him up was not close yet.
There was no time to lose. He didnt know who was attacking him or even if he was being attacked. In any case, he deemed his best chance at survival was to hide until they lost interest. If they could find wherever he was, well, then he was fucked either way.
Roof? No, thats a dead end. Downstairs? I might run into them. Lets find somewhere to hide on this floor, he resolved and activated Sneaking. Every little bit counted. The ss F room is located above a thick hedge and they have lockers. I can hide there and jump out of the window in an emergency.
John hastened towards the door. His hand reached for the handle. Then, there was pain.
Three long, bony fingers had wrapped around his right arm. They gripped with bone creaking intensity, just short of causing actual damage. John looked at the greenish ck, thin limb. In desperation, he pulled, but it was unmoving. He traced it back to where it was anchored in the wall, extending from a shadow cast upon it.
A second arm surfaced, then a spiderlike head. Red eyes stared; theck of pupils deeply unnerving. A set of mandibles and fangs clicked in a happy manner. The creature belonged in a horror game, extending segment for segment out of the wall. It wasrger than him, thin and chitinous. Its lower half seemed like a legless centipede. Observe, he willed himself to do something.
Wall Shadow, Level 23
A monster of the Shadow Lurker family. It hides within walls and shadows. It stalks its prey until it spots weakness, then strikes aggressively. Currently bound to an opportunistic biker gang.
Level 23. Thats it, Im dead, he thought.
The Wall Shadow turned its many-eyed head. John followed the gesture. He heard the trampling of heavy boots. Then he saw her. Moira, in full te armour, her red hair bound up into a ponytail. She turned the corner at a speed that would have made Olympians stare with disbelief. Arge shield was attached to her right hand. With her left, she raised a great warhammer.
The shadow skittered once, then let go of Johns arm. Like a bobbit worm, it retreated nearly instantly back into the wall. The hammer mmed into the ster, cracking it open. Dust and debris flew around.
Moira quickly drew her hammer back. She struck an imposing figure, in a radiant armour that form-fit her figure, from the medium sized breasts down to the long legs. A red tabard covered the chest te, on it a symbol of a golden rose. She was positively radiant, her presence pushing back surrounding shadows. More than the armour or her weapon, it seemed to be the shield that caught her light. Silver and gold, the defensive armament exuded an aura of ancient power.
Are you okay? Moira asked and turned her back to him. Shield raised, she gazed down the way she came from.
Yeah. But... t-the hell is going on? he asked, hating himself for the stutter. Moira sent him aforting nce and he hated it even more.
Exactly what I warned you about, somebody is trying to kidnap you and sell you to a Mana Factory. Moira said, keeping the shield in her right hand raised. And it sounds like theyre approaching.
Are they? Another voice asked and two more people came around a corner. One was arge man. He had shaven, brown hair, barely more than a stubble. Combined with his ck tank top and the camouge pattern cargo pants, his muscr frame was imposing. He must have been in histe thirties, judging by the mild wrinkles around his steel blue eyes.
The voice, however, belonged to the girl next to him.
She had neon pink, dishevelled hair. Seriously dishevelled, to the point that it left the realm of reasonable bedhead and became an artform. Something that chaotic should not have been able to look that silky. It probably would have reached all the way to her back, had it not ran criss-cross and curved towards the tips. Most of her hair stopped at the neckline. A few select strands, of a deeper colour, went a lot further, as if they had a mind of their own.
That pink hair framed and partly covered her beautiful face. Almond eyes betrayed an Asian heritage. In her blue irises, a soft pink lustre yed around the pupils. Her lips were almost as pink as her hair.
The shoulder-less top she wore half revealed the ck bra underneath. She had petite breasts, a B-cup by Johns uneducated estimation. The inwards swing of her midriff left nothing about her t stomach to the imagination. It was followed by the alluring outwards curve. The woman had hips to kill for, the bottom to a pear figure that transitioned into a nice pair of thighs, bnced perfectly between thick and long. The tight yoga pants entuated every aspect of her bottom half. In other circumstances, he would have prayed to every god that shed turn around and bend over for him.
He had more pressing issues though. A quick Observe on both got him a little more context.
Travolta Meyer, Lvl 19
Leader of Collide
Age 37, Founder and current leader of the small guild Collide, who are all about finding interesting uses for their powers. Headstrong, enjoy with caution.
Rtionship: -10
Jane Hollmey, Lvl 15
Fun Loving Rave Girl
Age 19, Daughter of an Abyss Auction Employee. Innate Fighter with affinity to light and member of Collide. Her love of techno, skimpy outfits and shy dancing fighting style earned her the name Rave.
Rtionship: 12
Observe Lvl 4:
Now reveals current emotions of the target Observed as well.
Jane? John asked himself. Same Jane Thomas talked about? Howe I never saw her before? Not only was she a total, presumably half, Asian hottie but neon-pink hair was not exactly camouge.
Rave! Moira shouted at the pink haired girl. Always stirring trouble!
Well, duh, it is in the title, Moi-Moi, we collide with people. Rave tauntingly stuck out her tongue, revealing a little piercing. Whacha gonna do about it?
John made the mistake of blinking. Moira stormed at the two and Rave took a step forward. The warhammer swung in a horizontal arc over the ducking strangers head. Immediately Rave went for an uppercut. Moira narrowly pulled out of the path of the attack. A swift exchange of blows followed.
Its more than punches. John barely realized. Their movements were too quick for him to follow properly. Analysing carefully, he spotted technicolour lights dancing around the neers fists. Even when she didntpletely connect, the energy impacted on the armour.
The two seemed evenly matched. Rave was swift and unpredictable, Moira efficient and thorough in her defences. The caveat had to be added that Moira was confined in her swings by the corridor. Through shield and armour, it was effectively transformed into a stalemate.
There was a whole different problem, though, that everyone apparently forgot. The two girls were swinging at each other and the burly man just watched with crossed arms. Thebat eventually brought the two fighters to a dark corner of the corridor. Watch out! John shouted and jumped into the fray. Rave and Moira turned his way, for a moment.
He tackled the pink-haired woman. It barely brought her off bnce, but the switch in attention was enough for her to kick away the wsing for her feet. She stumbled off to the side and, with him attached, fell to the ground. John felt heat rush to his face, when he realized he wasying on top of the bombshell.
Ey, Gamer, ya could buy me dinner first. Rave winked.
Uhm, h-how about tomorrow? John managed to get out before Moira grabbed him by the cor and ripped him out of the way of another swipe by the Wall Shadow.
Achievement Unlocked: Baby Steps
You actually flirted with someone! Nice going!
Charisma +1
Why would you make your own creature attack you? Moira asked.
Our creature? Excuuuuuse you, princess, I aint using monsters to fight for me!
Could we please look at this objectively?! John begged, And not attack each other when theres a horrid spider monster on the loose thats more powerful than either of you?
A, ya sound mighty confident about that. Rave held one foot up as she said. Two, that would mean not pissing off Moi-Moi here. She jumped to her feet and held up two fingers in a victory sign. And not pissing off sticks in the mud goes against my principles. Thirdly, whats the worst that could happen?
Regan tears me a new one, Travolta finally got involved, his voice deep and gravely. We will listen. A Wall Shadow is not an opponent I want to take lightly.
Rave pressed her lips together, the pink colour draining from them. Fine, Baldy, She checked her blue-painted nails and stepped back. Moira herself took a deep breath and rxed. So, John? She turned to him.
My ability told me that the Wall Shadow is currently bound to a group of bikers C are you two bikers? He actually had to ask. One girl certainly had punk aesthetics and the other fit the general mould. They did shake their heads though. If you can believe p-please do believe me that does make them innocent, right?
Yeah... Moira admitted and red at Rave. She still asked for it though.
I wont miss a chance to give ya a spanking. Rave stuck her tongue out again.
ENOUGH! Travolta shouted into Raves ear, which caused her to take a step back,
OW! Baldy, that wasnt nice.
Jimmie managed to get himself shut out of the illusion barrier because he needed to buy cigarettes and a Wall Shadow is stalking us. Also that bunch of bikers this kid mentioned. You had your fun, now it''s time for priorities! Travolta looked at Moira, Girly, I think its best if we work together on this.
Moira nodded. Theres much to answer for, but your misdemeanours pale inparison to this attempt to assail an innocent person.
Whatever, as long as we get to have fun. Rave rubbed her left ear. Hope ya shape up to be useful, Gamer.
That wasnt the first time she called him that. Why do you know my title?
Cause I went and eavesdropped on ya, duh. Rave confessed with a big grin. It was directed more at the annoyed redhead than at him. Before further questions could be raised shouting echoed from the nearby staircase.
Chapter 11 – The Rockers
Chapter 11 C The Rockers
Arge group of leather d thugs poured into the hallway. They were, in every sense, the stereotypical disy of a biker gang. Rough faces, leather jackets, torn yet sturdy pants and heavy boots were the default. Their hair was a bit more diverse, ranging from mohawks toplete baldness. A guy with short, spikey hair led the group. Annoyed, he clicked his tongue when he saw the four of them standing there.
Hey, Hey, Hey. You mean the Wall Shadow still didnt take you out? And we even paid our guy extra to rent that thing. He scratched the side of his head with a wand that ended in a crystal ball. John looked over their heads. Their levels ranged from 8 to 10, not a threat to the three people currently with him, would it not have been for their sheer number and the Wall Shadow still hiding somewhere.
Who are you? Moira demanded to know.
Ja, out with it. Rave added and started tapping her foot to some rhythm.
Just a Bunch of Rockers. The spikey haired leader said. Who need some money to tune their bikes. See, flying tires arent cheap. And theres only one step up from feeling the wind in your hair on the road, you know? He said and giggled. Then he pointed at John with the wand he was holding. But a little birdy at this school sang us a song that theres a valuable asset to steal here. Youll get us good money if we sell you to a Mana Factory, John Newman.
Rave wrinkled her eyebrows. There is an information broker at our school? For realzies?
Rave, you useless piece of garbage, why dont you notice such things?! Travolta cursed at her.
Stop yelling at me, Baldy.
Will you both shut up and deal with the situation at hand? Moira intervened, in response Travolta punched in her general direction. Dodging aptly, the Warden followed the fist as it sailed past where her head had been and into that of the Wall Shadow. The monster screaked and pulled back into the wall.
Seems like Baldy has the situation covered. The spikey haired leader said.
Oy, thats my way to tease him, get your own! Raveined and shook her fist. More curses were exchanged until the biker finally stopped and said. Enough of this, give us the Gamer or well take him. He raised the wand and the Wall Shadow peeked from the ceiling and hissed at the smaller group menacingly.
I found the interesting thing first! Rave dered.
I will never let the innocent be tortured in one of those factories! Moira stated at the same time. The two got into their respective battle stances.
Travolta on the other hand turned to John. Yo, Gamer. Can you confirm that the wand is what I think it is?
Already have C a-and it is, John stated. Observe had been used the moment heid eyes on it.
E-Rank Monster Controller
This item allows the user to gain and maintain control over a Level 30 or lower monster. Attached to a mundane handle.
Its the monster controller, John confirmed.
Fucking annoying, the Wall Shadow would immediately turn on the weak prey if they didnt have that. The massive man cursed. Bah, seems like well just have to try and punch through.
Travolta got ready to join the frontline. Across the divide, the gang leader raised the wand. The Wall Shadow peeled out of the ground, unfolding a total of four thin arms. In their totality, they spanned the width of the hallway. The trio of fighters would have to get through that monster and beat the entirety of the gang.
Quickly, John grabbed Travolta by the arm. The older guy turned his steel eyes onto the Gamer, who flinched back. Gathering his courage, he quietly said, Let me try something. I might be able to destroy that wand if you protect me.
Fucking fine. Rave, Girly, distract them for a bit, Travolta whispered further down the line.
Dont ya tell me what to do, Rave shot back, but changed her stance ever so slightly. The beat she tapped with her heel was a little slower.
You wont attack or hand him to us? Fine, then we areing to get him. The spikey haired leader said. Get them! On themand several of the bikers rushed forwards. The Wall Shadow dropped back under the floor.
Moira and Rave met the Rockers halfway. Shield raised, the Warden mmed into them. Their advance stopped the moment they witnessed one of their own get flung back down the corridor. The one guy further ahead took a swing at Rave with a crowbar. A sidestep, then a flying knee to the stomach, and the assant stumbled back into the crowd. Other members of the gang cautiously advanced. Individually they could do nothing to the two women, but together they could overwhelm them.
Travolta stomped on the ground. Sneaky fucking insect, he cursed under his breath. It seemed the Wall Shadow was set to get John first. The Gamer himself was lost in different thoughts. His body was with his temporary allies, but his mind was in the sweaty palm of the enemy leader.
Gross and advantageous, he thought and carefully went about his work. While the enemy leader concentrated on the fight, he was slowly, gradually, wiggling out of his hand. All he needed to do was get the guy to drop the controller. Vaguely, he was aware of the game of cat and mouse Travolta and the Wall Shadow were ying. Whether it was the control or Johns clear vulnerability that made the monster so focused on him, the Gamer wasnt quite sure.
With as much force as he could produce, John shoved the controller out of the bikers hand. Immediately, shocked eyes of the holder turned downwards. This must be what a dropped smartphone feels like, the Gamer considered, while shifting the weight as much as magic allowed. Desperately, the biker reached down, but he wasnt fast enough. The ss top of the wand, that actual control focus, mmed on the ground and burst like a bubble.
The cracking sound vibrated through the hallway. Fighting stopped for a moment. Everything went silent. John returned to his body in full. For a moment, he only felt satisfaction.
Then four arms ripped out of the wall. Vengeful ws gripped the spikey haired leader. They sunk through leather, pressed crimson out of holes punched through the jacket. The thug screamed, screamed louder than John had heard any man, woman, or child scream ever before. It was a terrible sound and it was still more pleasant than the silence that followed.
After pulling his target against the wall, the Wall Shadow wrapped its arms tightly around his former master. The biker struggled to breathe. His bones popped and broke. His ribcage became thinner and thinner, his face first red, then a disgusting shade of purple. Blood spurted from his mouth. John could see, in every vivid detail, how a man died when his organs were slowly squeezed and ruptured.
A sound like a spiders giggle escaped and the gang leader was released. He copsed, no life left inside him. The clothes prevented the true extent of his mangled state from showing but John knew. The sounds still bounced inside his mind. Blood pooled underneath the body.
The Wall Shadow turned to the other Rockers and made a hissing sound. Menacingly, it disappeared back into the wall.
One of the rockers screamed and finally broke the silence. He ran away, others closely following him. They realized that they were now stuck between three stronger opponents and a monster that could strike from anywhere at any second. What they forgot in their panic was that a shattered retreat made it so much easier to pick them off one by one.
Good job, kid, Travoltaplimented calmly over the screams of the fleeing gang.
Thanks? John mumbled, eyes glued to the corpse.
Course we still have to deal with that thing, therge man said and rolled his shoulders. Seems like it got control over the barrier.
It will thin the numbers for us, Moira stated, as the shouts of terror grew fewer. Fitting for a bunch of sinners. Undone by their hubris. A life lived beyond the Ladys grace is a life ended gracelessly.
John swallowed. Abyss, the word was stuck in his mind as he looked at the deep crimson staining the clean hallway of his school.
Ya fine, Latebloomer? The question caught him unprepared. Ya gonna see a whole lot more corpses now that your name is out there.
Yes my name is out there now, isnt it? John realized. There was no choice anymore. He was part of this world now. Either they got him or someone else would. As the realization kicked in and thest screams died away, he focused his mind on the present. It was surprisingly easy. Wisdom advised to deal with these facts after he was safe. We should relocate.
He turned to find Raves hand near his shoulder. The pink haired woman raised an eyebrow, then smiled.
Good idea, Travolta stated. Too many fucking walls here. Where to?
The roof, John answered immediately. It needs shadows and walls. The roof has the least of both.
Chapter 12 – The Roof
Chapter 12 C The Roof
A group of the assants had fled upstairs. They were mangled corpses now. One sleeve was always torn. Three streaks always ran across the torso. One was a sign of where the Wall Shadow had grabbed its victim, the other where its thin, wire-like arms had crushed the life out of them. Pools of blood filled the hallway. The group advanced through them without a care. Only Rave leapt over them in her flip flops. John had tried at first but after he had failed once it no longer mattered.
The Wall Shadow had enjoyed the hunt with either terrifying calction or instinct. Each of its victimsy exactly three of Johns steps away from each other. The Gamer beheld all of that with calm curiosity.
He knew that was unnatural. There was a question on his mind: Was this how the Wall Shadow chose to disy them, or was this just the distance they managed to cross between attacks? From that question stemmed another one: Why is that the question on my mind? Shouldnt I feel disgust or pity? Even for people who tried to kidnap me? They are human, after all.
Yet all there was, was an uncaring, brooding calm that filled that emotional dullness. Adrenaline pumped in his veins. His heart beat hard and steady. Was this part of the Gamer powers or was this part of him? Was this bad? Would he prefer being a sobbing mess in the corner? Wasnt this the intelligent way to react? Should he question an objective advantage?
John and Moira were at the centre of their advancing group. Rave was at the front, Travolta in the back. Like that, they made their way up the flight of stairs. The Wall Shadow was either still cleaning up the stragglers or it was waiting for an opportunity.
Rave kicked open the locked door. It didnt give much resistance, breaking out of the hinges and falling over. Sunlight flooded in, then they stepped into the sunlight. An immediate sense of relief filled John. Now there was only a wall under their feet. A lot easier to cover all attack angles this way.
What now? Moira asked.
Ya asking me, Moi-Moi? Rave threw a questioning nce at Travolta.
We need to find the Wall Shadow and kill it before it finally finds an opportunity to pick one of us off, The shaven man said. Any suggestions? The three remained silent.
John cleared his throat. I might have an idea. He said, But I have no idea if it will work.
Rave pinched him in the right cheek. It hurt. Ah, what the fuck, Ja-? he started and stopped when the girl mmed a hand on his mouth.
How do ya know my name? she whispered and threw a nce at Moira. The redhead was intently listening. Ya better be real careful about what ya say next.
You best be careful about the threats you make, Moira warned.
Or what? Travolta growled. Fists were clenched and the shaft of a hammer clutched. The words hung in the air, while Rave slowly took her hand off the Gamers mouth.
I see your name floating above your head! John answered in truth.
Interesting, so the ability isnt limited to what they want disyed, Moira stated. Here I thought I would have to bring Lorelei to school to find our troublemaker. Ja C now what might the rest of your name be?
Nice going, jackass, Rave hissed at him, like an angry cat. Tell her my real name and Ill rip your- The rest was left to Johns imagination, as Rave and John were suddenly yanked back by Travolta.
Four arms closed around where they just stood. Disappointed, the Wall Shadow clicked with its mandibles. It was standing upright, revealing the rest of its body. Its head with the four arms just underneath extended into a centipede-esque tail. It connected all the way to the shadow of a venttion shaft. Quickly, it retreated.
Wall Shadow truly literal theres less shadows out here, so its got limited attack opportunities. He nced at Rave. She was still close, but together with his panic went the immediate enticement with her presence. All that mattered right now was a n that got him out of there. After that he could consider what happened. She has light powers if we can cut the shadow at the right moment.
Achievement Unlocked: Know Thy Enemy
You figured out the weakness of an enemy.
INT +1
The Achievement only served to confirm his train of thought. He grabbed Rave by the shoulder. What ya doing, Johnny Walker? she growled, still mad at him.
I need you to use your light ability when the Wall Shadow nextes out, he said. Can you fire something like a limited shbang? If her answer was no, hed have to check with Moira instead.
Why? We are in the midday sun Oh, oh I get it Rave blinked. Duh, its literally in the name, how can anybody not get it? Imma y ball with ya. Good thinking.
John smiled drily. As you said, I got it after thinking for a second. Its not like I can just do anything with this power you know?
Rave raised an eyebrow, Eh, no monsterpedia or something?
That was actually worth a try. Open Monsterpedia, John said. Nothing happened. Rave looked in anticipation, again he shook his head.
Useless damn power. She eyed the shadows with a smile. So far the monster hadnt shown itself again.
My powers are game-themed, but I dont think everything I do trantes to game mechanics. Like, I dont think I can just say create party and invite Rave.
Party Invite has been sent. Party name is Party (Default).
Well, damn, because I needed to look anymore clueless, John thought while Rave stared at a window that had suddenly popped up between them.
Would ya look at that, theres an interface. Sheughed and pressed yes. Ya really got one interesting ability. Well talk about that moreter though. The wink she gave him made him inclined to agree. How ya nning on luring the monster out? Weve been looking mighty vulnerable for a lil bit.
John tried his best at a confident smirk. He failed. The facial muscles just refused to curve all the way into a joyful expression. Thats the easy part just trust me on this. Before Rave could respond, he stepped away and raised his voice. Moira, so about her name.
The Warden had been watching the two of them whispering with curiosity but had honoured their privacy. Now that she was being addressed directly, that changed. Yes?
Why do you want it so desperately? John asked and nonchntly stepped in the direction of the venttion shaft. He tried not to think about it. His eyes were entirely on Moira.
The Warden rolled her shoulder. Collide has been a source of minor troubles for months and the Order would prefer to know where to find its members, should their misdemeanours ever be vitions of the Ladys designs. She and herpanions are nothing but trou-
Moira stopped and raised her hammer. Before she could do anything, a bright light exploded behind John. A shrill screech froze the marrow in his bones, He jumped to the side. Not that he could have escaped the arms had they beening for him.
When he stared at the venttion shaft, he found the Wall Shadow squirming and thrashing like a fish out of water. Its elongated body ended in a stump, the rest of it getting ejected from the shadow the monster had anchored itself in. The shbang had been even more effective than John would have thought.
The Wall Shadow tried to prop itself up with two of its arms. They were strong, but clearly not built for the task. Its tail flopping about uselessly, the monster tried to fend off the three fighters that immediately descended on it. Hammer smashes, fists engulfed in lights, and sheer brutal swings pelted the crippled creature. Its speed wasnt nearly as impressive when it had to bnce on two arms.
John just stood back, while the more experienced fighters beat the monster to a pulp. Eventually it was all broken chitin and exposed, purple flesh. It twitched one more time, then the life left its eight eyes.
+1542 EXP
Level Up!
Level Up!
You may now leave the Illusion Barrier.
John looked at the windows with disbelief and relief. Two levels, when he had done basically nothing. Did he have Rave epting the party invite to thank for that or was this another tutorial gift?
Just in time, the break is almost over, Moira stated and nced at the two members of Collide. I will acknowledge your deeds today and simply remind you to fall in line. Springfield will be safer if the Order eliminates the Bloodfallen and its subsidiaries.
We aint anyones subsidiaries, Moi-Moi, Rave shot back.
Moira just shot her an annoyed nce. It wandered on to John. Tell me her name now. It will go a long way in proving that youll be an asset to the Order of the Golden Rose.
A-asset? John stammered and furrowed his eyebrows. The monster was dead and the calm was receding. Not in a way that triggered a panic attack, thankfully, but his stammer was back. He almost would have preferred the panic attack.
Certainly, now that you are part of the Abyss you will require protection. The Order is the strongest faction in town. Once our full forces arrive from Britain, well be the only faction in town. Moira stared at Travolta. Something that ought to be remembered.
Okay, but have ya considered that youre no fun, Moi-Moi? Rave asked. I call dibs on the guy, hes interesting.
Your bad influence will steer him from the righteous path.
Exactly! That sounds great!
Can you stop bickering? The Latebloomer is old enough to make his own decisions, Travolta growled. All eyes suddenlyid on John and waited for him to speak up.
He, however, remained silent. The decision before him felt momentous. A split in his path that defined the rest of his run C except there was no reloading on this one.
Seems like you will need to think about this for a bit. Moira said, in a calm and understanding tone. I will be waiting after school at the gate.
Rave got right up to him again and this time there was no monster to distract him from the fact that a gorgeous girl his age was so close he could feel her body heat. Ill be waiting right here. she purred into his ear. Freedom and adventurey in that tone; danger and an uncertain future. Come back to the roof after school if ya wanna join the fun club.
Travolta just nodded and pulled a couple of ss vials from his cargo pants. He stomped over the Wall Shadows corpse and filled them with its gooey fluids. Ill think about it, John pressed out, his throat dry. Moira nodded and left the Illusion Barrier. The pair stayed. John raised his hand and was out himself. A window hovered in front of him.
New Quest: Pick a Side.
Join the Golden Rose
Join Collide
Or
Deny them both
Reward: 200 EXP.
ept?
Where do I go from here? he thought.
Chapter 13 – Collide
Chapter 13 C Collide
John walked back to his ssroom. No one paid attention or seemed surprised when he walked in. Apparently, his vanishing had gone unnoticed. Is this also a part of Gaias powers or is my Charisma just so low that nobody cares? John wondered as he sat down. Secondster, the teacher entered.
The subject was biology. One of the more interesting sses on most days. Today, he uncaringly went through the pages of the book that was handed out. His mind was elsewhere. Obviously, it was elsewhere. Not ten minutes ago, he had been in a life or death situation.
Just outside the door, in the hallway, in the Illusion Barrier covering this ce,id the broken corpse of a man. It was so close, yet so far, an entire border between reality and fantasy away. The image was still vivid in Johns mind. It was sober, clear, gruesome, and when John thought about it too much he felt like puking.
Before it became overwhelming, he turned away from the memory. Seems like it is me, he thought. He had sometimes wondered what it would be like to be in such a situation. To bear witness to a terrible situation, to be the hero in one, even. Adolescent fantasies, of dragging women out of fires, even if it cost him an arm. Things like that. The sober expectation had been that he would have been stuck to the floor in reality. Maybe I have a bit more willpower than I give myself credit for, he thought.
He didnt feel untouched by the events.
He felt unbroken by them.
He had gazed into the Abyss and the Abyss had shown him its surface. Blood and broken bodies had been the membrane. The contact left him a little stronger, literally and figuratively. When hepared the danger there to the lonely life he had led so far yeah, he actually preferred the danger. At least he wasnt wasting away in his own skin, spending eight hours a day in a facility that taught him little and offered him up on a silver tter to the local bullies.
Because at least in thebat he had agency.
Agency I have the choice. Johns thought turned to the two options he had at the moment. Which side should he join? He knew next to nothing about either but yet he had to make the decision. To risk going forwards without allies was too dangerous. He was too weak and knew too little not to bind himself to someone. Once he was stronger, he could revisit any agreements he made unless there were any blood voodoo curses involved. Lets start with gathering what I know.
Moira and her Golden Rose were apparently the local straitced good guys faction. She had not hesitated to inform him about the Abyss, had not tried to take advantage of his weakness, and even protected him during the attack. Plus, she was an exceptionally sexy redhead in pdin armour. That was sexy as hell. Everything he had seen indicated that the Order of the Golden Rose was the stronger of the two factions. Now he didnt know what rank Moira specifically had, but she wasnt much weaker than Travolta, who was the leader of his guild.
Collide itself was also interesting, however. Collide is all about finding interesting uses for their powers was what Observe had told him. That sounded more up his alley. They seemed to be a small group of individuals who just wanted to have fun. Also Rave was just hot. Nice legs, big butt, slender top, and an attitude. The only negatives John could find was that he wasnt big into the piercing.
There was the question about their moral character. Rave had openly admitted to eavesdropping on him and Moira. Her and Travolta also had reacted that fast only because they were keeping tabs on him themselves. What did they want to aplish with that? He was pretty sure they didnt want to kidnap him C otherwise they could have ganged up on Moira after the Wall Shadow was dead. So they may have been bad, but they werent terrible. The local punk types.
It seemed to be a standard RPG choice: Thewful good guys or the ambivalently bad guys. Good and bad were as nuanced as ever. Either go with the Golden Rose and be protected from the negative influences whilst bing part of the moderate part of the Abyss or go with Collide and be more out there but also enjoy more freedom, John summarized the choice to himself.
It all boiled down to the question of greater freedom or greater security. Well, in parallel there was another question that was of equal importance to his horny brain: pink techno girl or redhead pdin?
When the final bell rang, John had made his choice. He would toss his hat in with Collide. Greater safety would have been the smarter way, perhaps. However, John did not want to step into a wild fantasy world to be part of a rigid order. Doubly so when the goal to get a harem was still lingering in his mind. Would the religious order approve of polygyny? Almost certainly not.
Therefore, he went up to the roof. It was nice to walk up the stairs without the constant danger of a nightmarish mixture of a spider and centipede looking to crush his bones against the concrete wall. He still looked over his shoulder sometimes, just to make sure.
Once he reached the roof he looked around. There were the venttor shafts, the sky was clear and the sun reflected brightly on the white tiles. A single girl sat up there. A brte, with long, slightly wavy hair. Bangs covered much of her face. Her nose was buried in a book. When John approached, the face that looked up at him was slightly different from the Rave he was used to. The name over her head, however, did not lie.
So, ya decided? the girl asked.
Yes, the Gamer confirmed.
Quest Complete: Pick a Side.
You decided to join Collide.
John dismissed the windows.
That name tag stuff sure is dangerous, Gamer. Rave said and waved a hand above her head. Thought youd be confused for at least a second.
I would have been. John said and pointed upwards. You, uhm, still cant see that?
Nope. Thought the group would fix that, but nope. Whatevs. Lets go, I wanna get out of here before Moira checks this ce.
As John followed her back down the stairs. He did his best to stare respectfully at her skirt. He wanted the yoga pants back. The entire time, he had been so preupied with other things he still hadnt gotten a proper view of her butt. So, how are you doing this whole Illusion thing?
Dad bought me an enchanted piercing when I asked for it. Rave turned to him and stuck out her tongue, once more revealing the metal bit at the tip. Its more minor shapeshifting for the hair. Face is all illusions though. And I still gotta change my clothes. She tapped her school bag twice.
Doesnt Gaia punish people for using their powers in public? John asked.
Only if ya get caught by the mundanes. I always look like this in school, so, she shrugged and cleared her throat. Normally I do speak a little clearer too, if I speak at all. You have to keep up the persona and all that. Stupid Moi-Moi.
Alright, he got that confirmed two times now, so he could take it as gospel. Where are we going? John asked. They werent heading for the main gate.
We are going out the back, dummy. Rave answered. Cant have the princess see me with ya, she isnt that dense. Especially after your scrawny ass almost gave my first name away. She suddenly stopped and pushed her finger in front of his face like it was a pistol. If I get caught because of you, Gamer. Tchk-tchk. She made a loading noise. Then I take ya with me. She pulled the imaginary trigger and a small sh of light blinded John for a moment.
He blinked away the shapes that had been burned into his retina. J-John, he stammered.
Huh?
My name its John.
Yeah, I can read, the party menu is still open, Rave dismissed him. I just prefer Gamer. The Gamer C nerd prime C brainiac supreme. Pick any of those. Birth names are for friends and family, she sounded a little bitter at the end there. She went back to walking and her voice went right back to upbeat. Lemme show ya to Collide headquarters. Ten bucks that youll love it!
Chapter 14 – An Old Arcade
Chapter 14 C An Old Arcade
John looked around. They were in the better part of town. To be more exact: they were in the newest part of town. Just ten years ago this entire area had been a run-down shithole. His mom had made it very clear that he was to stay away from it as far as possible. John was able to see this district slowly change over the course of the past few years. Nowadays there were only a few construction sites remaining. Everything else had been bought up, torn down, reced with modern housing units, and then sold to the highest bidder. Now it was a secondary centre ofmerce and living in the city. It was clean, neat, and very public. Everything that he would describe as the opposite of what he had expected of Collides headquarters.
Were almost there. Rave grinned at him, clearly eager for his reaction. With the brown hair and the school uniform she looked so in, yet the fact that a girl smiled at him made John smile back instinctively. It really didnt take much for his heart to beat a little fast.
Didnt expect you to have a house in such a nice area, John managed to get out, almost without a stammer.
Oh, MY house is ultra-nice but Collides HQ is special. Rave responded and they entered an alleyway between two buildings. Brace for impact!
The warning came a bitte as John made one step and the alleyway suddenly disappeared. The buildings on each side of him were gone, reced by a rusty fence that surrounded a run-down house. It was two stories high, the walls wererge and made from wood, and ancient graffiti covered much of them. Around it was a wildwn, trampled paths going through it here and there.
You have entered the Illusion Barrier Collide HQ C The Old Arcade
Yeah, thanks, I got that. John thought and tapped away the message. At his side Rave stretched, arms raised high. The motion pulled her shirt up just enough to get a view of her t stomach. Rarely had he seen a midriff that erotic. Just enough fat to take the hard definition away from her athletic shape.
While she rxed from the stretch, her hair curled. Strands went left and right, running criss-cross. The colour shifted from in brown to the bright pink he was used to. Simultaneously, her face lost the nudges and changes that made her appear average and revealed the true bombshell that had always been underneath. Way better.
John was stunned.
A little more effort than rk Kent and his sses, John thought and watched the light mage roll her shoulders. Shes thirty times more attractive like this.
Come on, lets get inside, she pulled at her skirt. I wanna change.
The inside of the building was, as the message had said, an old arcade. One big room made up almost all of the first floor. The ceiling was high, white tube lights would have provided illumination if needed. The walls were ck at the base and had been sprayed over by local artists of thest generation. Arcade machines stood along the wall right from the entrance, then turned in an L-shape. Effectively, they walled off the back quarter of that side. Among the arcade machines stood two PCs on a single,rge table.
Left of the entrance was arge conference table. On it was a half-filled ashtray and ying cards. At the table sat Travolta together with a bored looking guy in his early twenties, both of them holding a hand of the same cards. He had short ck hair, only visible at the back of his head. The rest was hidden under a washed out red cap. He wore a red t-shirt and ck pants. Even cker spots covered the fabric, some shimmering like paint, others seeming to be machine oil.
Between the table and arcade machines was a huge amount of empty space. At the back of the room was a metal staircase that spiralled up to the second level. Rave was heading for those stairs as John used Observe on the guy he didnt know.
Jim Jimmie Johnson, Level 12
Arcano-Tech Dreamer
Mechanic of Collide. A guy who constantly runste because he needs to buy more cigarettes, otherwise reliable though. An earnest soul whoins a lot. Ran into the Abyss by ident due to an Innate Ability that lets him work with Illusion Barriers better than most.
Rtion: 0
Emotions: Bored, Wondering
Ey, guys, brought the new guy. Rave just said as she headed up the stairs. y nice.
Shut up Rave. Travolta and Jimmie said as one in a bored tone. The mechanic grabbed a card and tossed it onto the pile.
Travolta looked up from his hand for long enough to ask, You decided to stick with us then, Gamer?
Guild Invite: Collide
ept Decline
John clicked the button at the same time as he answered Yes, causing a new window to pop-up.
Great. Here are the rules: Dont tell anybody where we are located and help the members when they are in trouble.
John raised an eyebrow. Thats thats all?
Thats all, we are a pretty loose bunch. Well, I guess you also shouldnt do any shit thats too shady. We make trouble for ourselves, not some random assholes. If you need money, be careful who you take it from. Travolta made a throwaway gesture. If you can steal stuff from people that deserve it, steal the stuff, if you can make stuff, make stuff, I dont fucking care. We just want to find something interesting to do with these weird powers we have.
The sound of footsteps of metal echoing through the room announced Raves return. She was back in her previous outfit and John finally got a view of her ass in yoga pants.
He had never seen a bubble butt as perfect. Two spheres of symmetrical roundness, jiggling with every move, like firm jelly. There was no unevenness to its shape. It was neither too obscenelyrge, nor did itpromise on any of its roundness. If John hadnt been an ass-man before, he was now.
Looking stunning as always, Rave. Jimmieplimented.
Stinking like tobo as always, Jimmie. How did ya manage to run out of cigarettes EXACTLY when they attacked, huh? Rave shot him down as she pulled back a chair.
John scratched the back of his head. So, I will be on my way then? He said, prompting a slew of suspicious looks.
Where ya going? Rave wanted to know. It dawned on him that this looked like he was ready to go to Moira with extra intel.
The truth, therefore C not that he would have withheld this answer. The forest outside town, I want to try and get more Experience Points.
The pink-haired girl pondered for a second while looking into his eyes. Light danced around her iris, mesmerizing him with just how gorgeous it was. A spark of pink surrounded by an ocean of bright hair. He was feeling that dangerous pull at his heartstrings that he had denied himself for a while. Would she be different?
Sounds more interesting than the card game. Imma tag along. She walked the few steps over to him and whispered into his ear. Ya wont deny little me, right?
John was all too aware of the tightness in his pants.. Yeah, yeah of course you cane with me! he said, too loudly, too enthusiastically.
Chapter 15 – A worthwhile tag-along
Chapter 15 C A worthwhile tag-along
So this is it? Rave did not even try to hide the disappointment in her voice. Moving her foot slightly to the right, she crunched another Seedling. 1 EXP was rewarded to both of them. They all gave that amount now.
Out of precaution John had opened the same Instant Dungeon asst time. Well, I didnt want to shamelessly exploit your higher level, he said.
Rave made a dramatic motion, What? Dont think I can carry you? Dont answer that. She stepped on another Seedling. Just gonna tell ya that this aint worth it. I cant even spot the pixel of this bar moving. The Wall Shadow was worth way more.
Since entering the group, Rave had been able to see her Stats and gain EXP. Both were features of the party. They had confirmed that by having her leave the party, kill a few Seedlings, then join a new one. No Experience Points had been gained in that gap, meaning that it was all his system. Also, the group was called Rave Party now. That had gotten a small giggle out of her.
Tell me about it. I got two levels from that thing. John said. He still hadnt spent the points he had gotten from the level ups.
Can ya make any other monsters? Rave asked after exterminating the rest of the Seedlings around them.
Cant you? John asked. I thought Abyssals in general could do that.
Nah, takes special Protected Spaces and I aint capable of making those. Might be able to invite some really spooky, harmless ghosts if I try hard enough. Rave shook her head, sending her fascinatingly chaotic mane flying. I aint a Fateweaver. Maybe we shouldve forced Jimmie to tag along.
Would you have liked that? John asked cautiously. He still knew nothing about their rtionships to each other.
Jimmie is good for teasing and thats about it, Rave responded with augh. Hes just talented at the whole barrier stuff. That was good to hear, because it sounded like she was as single as he was. Granted, a total babe like her could stop being single tomorrow and he could not.
Lets see John turned his attention to his windows. He opened the Skill for any clues.
Create Instant Dungeon Lvl 1:
Create an Instant Dungeon with or without monsters.
5 MP
He pushed his finger on the word monster and a list of avable dungeons popped open. What kind of game developer doesnt colour differentiate links from normal text? This game is busted. John thought and went through the options.
It says I can make Ghost, Rat and Goblin dungeons as well. John said after reading the short list.
Ghosts? Make that! Rave eximed.
John was slightly confused, Why though? Ghosts are usually pretty annoying enemies with their whole phasing through walls and physical immunity. Rats are the starter enemies in any traditional RPG.
I thought ya already knew about my power thanks to that Observe skill of yours. A couple of lights flickered around her hands.
But do you deal Holy Damage? he asked.
Rave sighed and gave him a one-handed shove. He wasnky, yes, but she was a woman and shorter than him. Despite that, the single hand managed to send him on his butt. It was a painfulnding, on arge rock about the height of his knees. The pain lingered only for a moment, then Gamers Body extinguished it. The one HP lost was the mildest of bothers.
How about ya trust me I can murderize them? she requested.
Johns desire to survive fought his desire for her. Barely, the former won. I-If youre wrong, Im the one whos f-fucked, he stammered. Im weak, I dont want to want to He trailed off, when Rave walked up to him.
How about I convince ya? Ya show me something interesting and I blow your mind? John was about to ask whether he understood the very obvious implication correctly. Before he could try to get that sentence out, she was on her knees. A finger trailed up the bulge in his pants. Think this is going to work?
Yes! John nodded eagerly. Rave switched from a single finger to her hand. Up and down his crotch, her hand rubbed. Even the indirect touch was mind-blowing. His eyes got stuck on her glossy, pink lips. What would they do to him?
Rave unzipped his pants, then pulled at the belt and underwear. A bit of shame rushed through John when his dick popped free. It wasnt tiny but Youre on the smaller side, huh? Rave asked. Thement was expected and it still stung. Better for, I dont do this often.
Y-you dont? John asked. The idea that Rave was easy had been forming in his mind. Now there was hope that he was just special. It was only that he didnt feel like he had done anything special yet, had he?
Nah, ya gotta be this interesting for me to give ya the time of day. She drew a line in the air, a bit above her head. And you, she sultrily said and grabbed his hard cock, made today pretty interesting. Imma do this for ya one time and then ya keep me entertained. Ya got me?
John groaned, the words as sweet as the pleasure of her strokes. There was, however, something that rubbed him the wrong way. One time? he asked out loud. No not just once
That was about as much as he put together coherently. Rave raised an eyebrow at him. Her hand slowed while she thought about his words. John thought about a way to put it more clearly. That he wanted her. That he couldnt have it just be once when it was her. A small part of him wanted him to beg. The rest of him refused to do so.
He was confused. All of this was so sudden. This offer, this pleasure, this situation, he wasnt equipped for any of it. The only thing he knew was that once was not enough. He would want more. Ill prove myself, he said those three words with certainty.
Hmmm, now ya kinda look like the guy in the battle again. Rave smirked, then bowed towards his crotch. Her full lips came closer. Her breath yed around the head of his cock. Dribbles of precum gradually turned both her hand and his shaft slippery. A new drop oozed from the tip.
Raves tongue touched the underside of his swollen ns and slowly licked upwards. The touch had been wonderful C the lick was pure bliss. Clenching his teeth, John barely willed himself not to cum then and there. Prove yourself, he chastised himself. If I want a harem, I cant cum on her face in three seconds.
Rave must have noticed his struggles. The up and down pump stopped and for a few moments she barely did anything. Her breath was all that caressed his manhood. In her eyesy amusement. If he could have chosen, he would have wanted to see adoration there. For the first day, he would take amusement.
She opened her mouth and finally wrapped her soft lips around the tip of his cock. Just a little deeper, she glided. That little and John was in heaven. Warm and moist heaven. This was nothing like masturbating. His hand couldntpare to the wet, smooth walls of her mouth and the ring of her pillowy lips.
Ill prove myself, he repeated in his mind. So I can get this whenever I want.
The tip of Raves tongue rubbed against the underside of his cock. A massage thatsted even as she sucked him deeper in. The seal of her lips was sometimespromised and lewd, slurping sounds were the result. Less than halfway down, she stopped and twitched. John had seen enough deepthroat porn to recognize a gag reflex.
Drawing back, she let his cock pop out. That good? she asked, coughing mildly. Eagerly, the Gamer nodded. Course its good, she said, more to herself than him.
She really did seem inexperienced. What exactly her limitations were, John still didnt get, but this felt a little better knowing that it was a rare privilege. It almost made him thankful that he was packing a little less than average.
Rave nodded to herself and opened wide again. She swiftly sucked him back inside to where saliva marked where she had left off. A little deeper, she glided. A little more of his cock was in her mouth. Distantly, he felt the twitching of her throat. She held her head there for a moment, then slipped back until only the swollen head was still in her mouth.
It was the beginning of a rhythm. Rave went back down once she had caught herself and sessfully went a bit deeper again. Little by little, she went down. When she wasnt busy trying to ept him into her throat, her tongue swirled around the sensitive ns.
Johns knuckles were white. His breathing was ragged. He refused to cum before she took all of him inside her. Each second made it harder to resist. The point of no return was right in front of him. Pleasure washed him forwards against his will. He wanted to bask in this for longer.
He looked down, to find Raves eyes closed, choking on his cock. Her light pink lips shone a bit in the light cutting through the canopies. Even strained, her face was gorgeous. Somehow, none of her wild mane got in the way of her service. She almost had him all the way down. Just like he was fighting his urge to cum, she was fighting her gag reflex.
An urge to put a hand on her head and shove her the rest of the way down rose and was suppressed. He wanted to do it. He really wanted to do it. Take control and see how far he could go. Without her consent, however, that was doomed to go poorly. This position was more than he deserved at this time and he would ride out until the end.
An end that was forcing itself upon him. His balls were ready to erupt. Every fibre of his being looked forwards to the first time he pumped his cum into a woman. Just as he caved, he reached his goal. Raves soft lips pressed against the base of his cock. He was fully enveloped by mouth and throat. Her eyes opened, sapphires of unparalleled beauty, looking hazily at him. As if he needed any more reason to cum.
Mind and thought were wiped away by pleasure. Spurts of semen rushed out from his hard cock. A surprised yelp reverberated around his cock. The vibrations only heightened his climax. A long groan escaped him. More and more of his cum gushed out. It must have been the biggest load hed ever produced and all of it went down Raves throat.
Reason slowly came back in. His field of view became clear again. He realized that Rave had glided up most of the way, only keeping the tip in her mouth. Regardless, when she separated from his cock, she did so with ast gulp. No presentation of an empty mouth, but her coughing was proof enough.
Ey, ya dick. She cursed between two rasped breaths. Warn me next time.
Sure. John involuntarily grinned and nodded. This meant there WAS a next time in her mind. Well, its only fair that you get to choose now, he said, with a hint of confidence in his tone. He hadnt felt this good in always. You did blow my mind.
Definitely blew the second brains out, she giggled. With the back of her hands, she wiped off her mouth. Get your pants back on, then ya can let me have a good time.
Is isnt that uhm the other way around usually? he suggested.
Hepletely bungled on the delivery, but she stillughed. Youre so awkward.
Chapter 16 – Ghosts, as promised
Chapter 16 C Ghosts, as promised
Pants back on, John had to ask, But do you deal holy damage? There never had been answer to that.
Dont think holy damage is a thing in reality. Rave tapped her chin. Its all elemental stuff or arcane stuff or punch stuff, ya know? He did not know and she continued before he could ask. Anyway, nothing sacred about me. Dont need it though, ghosts are super wimpy. Youll see in a sec.
The expectant gaze made it clear that she was done talking. On to fighting then, the Gamer thought. He focused his mind on the word ghost, as he created a new Instant Dungeon. Just like previous times, the wind suddenly ceased. The constant small skitters and chirps that filled the forest vanished, like a candle me snuffed out between two fingers.
However, the forest was not unchanged. A gentle fog drifted between the trees. Broken by the canopies, the summer sun still provided enough light to pierce through the swirling mist. Visibility was inhibited at a distance that didnt matter. John felt like he had been drawn into a horror movie set at the wrong time of day.
Small pockets of fog swirled in circles. The thin moisture was drawn into one spot, until the blurry outline of a persons face emerged. Stretching, the face pulled into existence an ethereal body of blue energy. Two arms extended out of the sides. Like tattered cloth underwater, its form moved as it drifted towards him and Rave.
Lower Ghost, Level 11
The personification of lesser regrets, clinging to this world. These regrets range from a letter never sent to a person never punched.
I mean, I would like a bit more than trivia, John thought. Really got to level Observe up more.
More faces peeled from the mist. Mouths opened, holes of darker blue, teethless and empty. Unheard screams filled the air with a chilling touch. Levels ranged from 11 to 14, far above him and almost at Raves level. You sure were ready for this w-what are you doing?
Ya never listen to music while ya work out? Rave was untangling the headphones of her MP3-yer. She gave him a side nce and giggled. Of course ya dont.
Okay, I may deserve that one, but can we focus on the issue at hand?! John thought and kept his eyes on the Lower Ghost that was hovering towards him. They were slow, if there was any silver lining to this.
Rave put one of the earplugs in and left the other dangling. Nope, nah, nein, not that one, she tapped through her music library. The Lower Ghosts began to circle around them, like a pack of wolves. John couldve stretched out a hand and touched the closest one. Oh, that ones a banger!
A faint beat echoed from the dangling ear plug. Not loud enough for him to recognize the song, just enough to give everything a rhythm. Rave rolled her shoulders, then took a deep breath.
Ya wanna see something fun? she asked.
I would like to not die, John responded seriously, no trembling nor additional volume in his voice. Wow, I really do well under pressure.
Rave grinned. Dramatically, she raised her hand. When she clenched her five fingers into one fist, a blue aura suddenly enveloped her. It rose a few centimetres from her skin, looking like a mixture of fire and translucent gas.
That looks like a downgraded version of the aura from that Dragonball show? John asked, still too focused on the monsters to give it as much attention as it may have deserved.
Ya watch anime?! Rave asked, excited.
Uhm, no, sorry, just clips? John confessed. First time ever he felt like he should have dabbled in the medium.
Urgh, Rave tilted her head in frustration. Ya should. Its very tsugoi. Anyway, this is an Aura. Ya remember Moira telling ya about martial arts and stuff? This is the base for those. I can throwsers and punch people really hard, am I not just the most amazing thing youve ever seen?
Yes, definitely, great battle mage, but could you maybe stop cooking me over here?! John barely managed to get away from a warning swipe of a Lower Ghost. These monsters were forgiving, he had to give the tutorial that much. Also, can you exin to me what the hell your ent is?!
That just slipped out among the adrenaline, but it made Raveugh. Its my ent. You got me?
John did not get anything. This girl sucks at exining things! he thought, as he threw himself to the ground to escape a more threatening swipe of the ghosts ws. A good decision on two levels. One was that he dodged the attack, the other was that Raves roundhouse kick went over his head.
Her foot barely slowed when it came in contact with the enemy. Dragging through, she ripped the Lower Ghost apart like a wet paper towel. Its face contorted into a regretful visage, while its whole body unravelled into nothing.
55 EXP
That was pretty good actually. Only about 8 more of them and he would reach another level.
Only ten? Dude, this is bonkers bad. Rave did not share his enthusiasm.
Well, little things add up, Jane. John idently used her real name. She didnt mind or didnt notice. Plus its worth it for me so t-thats good, right?
Rave hummed, tapping her heel to the rhythm of the song. Guess youre right, she half-sung. Her voice was wonderfully steady, not missing a single, ascending note. Finger pointed at another ghost, she fired a thin beam. Theser punched a hole through another ghost. It burned outwards, consuming the entire entity in a matter of seconds.
49 EXP
See, I told ya these would be easy. Rave eximed and stemmed her hands on her hips. She kept low tabs on another Lower Ghost, but the monsters kept approaching very slowly.
But why though? They are they are really close to your level.
Really? You should call your system designer. Only annoying thing about ghosts is that ya usually cant touch them. Rave pointed at the blue Aura that was around her. This takes care of that though. She pointed at the next Ghost that was trying to attack them and shot it with another beam of light. Not that I need it. Just wanted to show off to ya, newbie.
Please decide between ya and you already, Johnined again.
Aw, ya sound like Baldy! Rave said, How cute of you.
John felt the red rise to his face and stood up. He barely bit back the Thanks, you too, response that wanted to leave his throat. Instead, he said nothing and let her deal with the remaining ghosts. Guess its MMO NPC logic? The enemies are appropriate to be fought at that level, not a threat at that level is that just for Instant Dungeon enemies or all enemies?
John had the luxury to ponder those questions, while Rave cleaned house. All he really needed to do was stick close enough to be in saving distance and far enough not to get hit by a stray punch. Getting carried sure was neat. She was dragging him out of the low levels at rapid speed.
More shes of lights, more kicks and punches, everything to the beat that so faintly reached Johns ears. Well, I need to level possession anyway, John thought and fixed his gaze on that dangling earplug.
He became the rubber cover of the earplug. Next to him, the song existed quietly C only to crank all the way up when the drop hit. The beat and the melody surged to a new pace and with it Rave picked up the pace. sts of light turned another ghost into nothing. She charged, leapt, and drop-kicked through one enemy then cut through thest with her elbow.
The part of the forest they were in was now free of fog. More ghosts were likely lingering further out, but for now it was safe. Raves Aura was extinguished. Was kinda interesting, she said. Ya got something out of this?
Y-yes, John responded, excited.
Level Up!
Another five Stat Points for him. Ive got to take the time to spend them, he reminded himself. As he closed the window his eye fell on something on the floor. Oh h-hey, it dropped something, He said as if that was the most normal thing in the world.
Rave eyes went wide. Wait, really?!
Clearly it was not normal.
Chapter 17 – Ectoplasm and Loot in general
Chapter 17 C Ectosm and Loot in general
John picked up the jar. It was filled with a whitish-blue liquid. Turning it in his hands, it moved really slowly, betraying a high viscousity. Observe hopefully would give a little more info.
Ectosm
The remains of a ghost, a concentrated mass of magical energy. Can be consumed to restore 10 MP instantly or be used in crafting.
Nice. John said.
Whaddaya mean nice. What is even happening?
John looked at her with a raised eyebrow, You mean dropping items is not normal? In a world where people could ess monsters by creating pocket dimensions everywhere, loot didnt feel that out of ce.
NO! Rave shouted, Ya moron, okay, wait, I need to exin this... It was amusing to John to see her this flustered. He really needed that exnation though.
So, these Ghosts are made from lingering regrets, in other words the mana of the deceased, you understand that? John nodded. Great, so, when ya Fateweaver people get ess to monsters it I dont even know how it works exactly. Something about just borrowing the energy for Gaias flow, or whatever. Now think about it: Where does that iteme from?
That exnation was a mess and a half, but he gleaned enough of its content to understand what she was getting at. You are telling me my ability, without any cost on my part, created a magical item out of thin air.
Rave nodded intensely. You know how many people would kill for that? Monster drops are rare, Gamer. Usually ya gotta be the first to stumble over a Natural Barrier to get them. Instead, Gaia just throws the stuff at you, lucky bastard. The insult was delivered in a cheeky tone. Now show me what ya got.
Y-you already s-saw, right? he stammered. For the love of just stop it! he told himself. Everything I want to sayes out so terribly!
Rave rolled her eyes, Okay, walked right into that one now can ya tell me?
It says its Ectosm, I can restore mana with it or do some crafting with it. John exined what Observe had revealed to him.
How much mana? Rave asked.
10 not that much, John put the jar into his inventory.
Ya do something so interesting, but it produces something so borin. She sighed and turned back to the mist.
We could keep rolling on the loot table. Or we could just get more, John suggested. Sure 10 wasnt that much, but if he could get several of those jars he could keep Possession up for longer. Speaking of Possession his mana was about halfway drained now. He decided to keep it running until his MP depleted. Rave was giving him that much safety. Still havent tested the Mana Power Attack, he realized. So many things are happening all at once
Alright, lets keep cutting through these things then, Rave decided. I wanna see what happens when I level up.
And so the techno lover kept killing ghosts and the Gamer kept walking behind her. They both had fun. She because she got to keep fighting, and he because he got to watch her bubble butt jiggle and tense. Staring felt less awkward after what they had done earlier. The only times his eyes left her was when he picked up the additional Loot. There was another Ectosm and a talisman.
Talisman of Lesser Pity
A useless piece of silver. Looks nice though.
Probably worth a bit too. The implications of that were very interesting. If his Innate Ability kept producing things he could sell in the mundane world, then that meant he could make an ie. If he could make an ie, would he ever need to go back to school? With that exciting possibility in mind, he put the talisman into his inventory as well.
Possession didnt get another level while they kept going. While the Skill did not, the Skill user did.
Rave had levelled up too. Hmmm, my Stats went up, she hummed happily, but they auto-assigned, that kinda sucks.
So the system doesnt absolutely apply to her. What are your Stats anyway? the Gamer wondered.
Ah, ya know, the usual for a petite girl like me, Rave said dismissively.
Maybe I can check if I level Observe some more? John asked himself. He turned to his own Stats instead. He now had 20 points piled up. Why are they called Skillpoints on this anyway? They are not used on the Skills Well, naming issues aside, stuff is working as intended, I suppose.
Kinda wished it gave me more Intellect, or Strength Rave mumbled. What do ya wanna do with your points? Probably some mage stuff to power up your telekinesis?
John blinked in confusion, Telekinesis?
Rave rolled her eyes, The thing you did to make the rocker let the control wand slip.
Ah, John made an understanding sound. Yes, that certainly could have looked like telekinesis. Well, effectively it did the same in that particr circumstance but he doubted he could make things hover. No, that was a Skill called Possession. I kind of put a part of my being into the remote and then wiggled out of his hand.
Wha- that is weird How did that feel?
Sweaty. John made a grimace as he remembered the hand of the rocker. Then he remembered the corpse. The image was like the memory of eating something sour. Unwee, but not incapacitating. Generally though, being in two ces is interesting. Difficult to keep control of both bodies, but getting easier. Guess I have Gamers Spirit to thank for that.
A ghost appeared from a nearby bush but was quickly eradicated by a sh of light from Raves hand. These things really are no challenge to you are they? John asked.
Nah, you could say Im their kryptonite. Rave shrugged. I also get to fight them semi-regrly.
You do? I thought you couldnt make Protected Spaces.
Its a moderately sized city. Lots of lingering regrets and other emotions around here, gathering and creating Natural Barriers. Travolta keeps clearing them to get well, the stuff ya got with a jar and such stuff. She tossed her hair back. Still, it had not once gotten in her eyes. At this point John was convinced there was magic involved. Gotta do that anyway, otherwise the monsters keep growing until they burst out of the barrier and cause some kind of disaster.
What kind of disasters? John asked, the whole thing sounded dangerous. I mean h-how even? Ive never heard of any monster attacks.
Duh, Gaia nukes the monsters after they vite herws, or whatevs. Mundanes see it as little and big misfortunes. Anything between a building aging faster than expected to a hurricane. All depends on the monster that makes it out.
Huh so you really do something good by taking care of them.
More of a side benefit. I beat their faces in because it''s fun. Also, Baldy has a crystal that absorbs the energy of these things when they die. She shrugged. I aint against helping people, but if we dont get there, the Order will take care of it anyway. Theyre the local clean-up crew.
Thats Moira and her family, right? John wanted to be sure.
Thats the one. The whole absorbing the energy of the dead deal is part of why she doesnt particrly like us.
That made sense, to a certain degree. What does Travolta need that energy for anyway?
Do you ever stop asking questions? Rave sounded annoyed by now, I dunno though. Dont care either. Lets just kill more stuff!
John looked at his watch, H-how about we pick this up tomorrow? Rave blinked then looked at the disy of her MP3-yer. The time seemed to surprise her.
Eh, sure, she agreed with a shrug.
Chapter 18 – The next day in the Headquarters
Chapter 18 C The next day in the Headquarters
John was early. Way too early, in fact. Either that or Rave waste. Whichever it was, he was alone with Travolta and Jimmie. The duo was once again sitting on the conference table, ying cards. He just stood near the entrance, scratching the back of his head. He wasnt sure what to do.
Stop just standing there. Travolta grumbled and threw a card down. Draw four, Jimmie.
Is that Uno? The question apanied his steps. With no better idea, he sat down at the table.
Jimmie did as he was told, although with some minor curses.
You were in such a hurry yesterday to hang out with Rave He paused to give him a nce, practically spelling out he knew exactly why that was. that we didnt get to properly introduce each other. Travolta said, Names Travolta, I look over these fuck-ups and now you too, I guess. He pointed at Jimmie with his chin. That is Jimmie, he keeps this building running.
Yo, Jimmie just said, busy sorting his new cards.
John knew his name already, but he just rolled with it. P-pleasure.
Silence as Jimmie and Travolta kept ying cards. So, where are the others? John asked.
There are no others, its just us three. Travolta said. Well, four with you now.
John was a bit shocked, he had thought this organization to be, well, more of an organization. From those numbers and their nonchnt attitude however it looked more like this was the afternoon hangout for people with supernatural hobbies. To his further surprise he was entirely fine with that. They didnt offer a whole lot of protection, but if they managed to stick together and survive so far, that was good enough?
Its good that we are this small though. Jimmie tossed a new card on the pile. If you get big within the Abyss some people may start thinking you are a threat. Threats get taken care of. He shed a grin at John. Travolta here is not particrly talkative and Rave sucks at exining anything. If you have any questions, just ask me. I know what it feels like to just stumble over the Abyss one day.
John took that offer without hesitation. Uhm, yeah, one question I wondered what this ce is. Ive heard about Protected Spaces but. He trailed off and looked at the very buzzing AC. I dont get how its here? Dont the barriers just copy whats there?
Yeah, and twenty years ago, there was an arcade here. Someone made a copy of it before it was torn down. Illusion Barriers generally disappear immediately or quickly after everybody leaves them. Protected Spacesst longer C thats what makes them protected.
Costs a lot too, Travolta grumbled. Could only afford it because Regan gave me a loan. Now I have to watch his crazy bitch of a daughter all the time. The insult was delivered with the soft sharpness of a friend.
That answered how Rave knew Travolta. Jimmie picked right up there. I kinda ran into Travolta early on when I stumbled into the Abyss. He offered me a ce to stay, so I did. Also draw 2.
Travolta quietly pulled the cards from the deck. With no immediate other question that came to mind, John just levelled Possession. Interestingly, neither Travolta, nor Jimmie seemed to notice. Rave hadnt given any indication either. They didnt have the same sensitivity Moira had disyed. Either that, or they were just happy ying cards and saying nothing.
As Johns mana dwindled away the two finished their game. I''ll be going then. Jimmie said afterwards. Hospital entrance needs maintenance. Travolta just nodded and John didnt feel confident enough to ask.
Rave arrived momentster, still in full disguise. Howdy guys! She greeted in an overly cheerful tone and directly headed up the stairs again. When she came back down she had changed both clothes and hair colour. Had a pleasant talk?
No. Travolta said and grabbed a cigarette from the almost empty pack on the table. Jimmie must have forgotten them there. Without hesitation, he lit it up.
Well, I learned a thing or two. John answered.
Rave strut over. He hoped it was to him, but it ended up towards Travolta. She started rubbing his shaved head in an act of friendly molestation. Youre always such a meany, Baldy.
I swear one of these days I am going to punch you. Travolta said and pped her hands away from his stubby-haired head.
Doubt it. Im too cute. Rave gave his head one more tap. Wanna get out of here? I really want to see if we can punch more ghosts.
Travolta perked up at that. Huh? You found a Natural Barrier?
Nah, just his ability lets him summon some, Rave said and Travolta waved off. Wanna get out of here?
Y-yeah! John agreed quickly. Once outside, a question surfaced. Why didnt we tell Travolta the whole story?
Cause Baldy gets nosey and I wanna check your stuff without him going on about research that and power this, Rave told him. A finger jabbed him in the shoulder. Youre my entertainment, Gamer. That still rubbed him the wrong way, but he would rather be a girls entertainment than nothing at all. Sorry for taking that long by the way. I got a surprise call from my dad.
John gave her a curious nce. Is that a rare asion?
Kinda, he is away on business trips most of the time, Rave said.
Travolta said he was looking after you for him, Johnmented on the whole thing.
Rave crossed her arms in front of her petite chest. HIM looking after ME? Yeah, right. She dismissed that thought as they stepped out of the Illusion Barrier.
What happens if anybody is standing outside the Illusion Barrier when we leave? John wondered.
Same thing that happens when you suddenly get pulled into one: mundanes will just make up some excuse. Gaia isnt out to kill everyst one of us ya know? Shes prettyx, really. They turned a corner and immediately walked three steps backwards. Shit. Rave mumbled. What is she doing here?
Moira Brighton walked down the street with the kind of annoyed look that John hade to associate with her pretty features. She was wearing a yellow shirt andfortable blue pants, both of which looked good on her, neither of which John allowed to distract him. The second she spotted the two of them there would be well it would be a pain in the sides, in all due likelihood.
She really dislikes you people this much? John asked quietly.
Us people, Gamer, Rave returned. Come this way. She grabbed him by the hand and they went through the side streets. Seriously annoying C that princess. Rave cursed, Am I right?
She doesnt seem that bad. John tried to stick to a neutral position here.
Rave looked at him with a disapproving gaze before sighing. Ah, whatevs, just stay away from her and we wont have any problems.
Jealous? John asked.
Annoyed. Rave specified. Its all well and fun teasing her but when she finds out where we are located she and her dad can track our activities. We would be forced toply with their guidelines.
That does sound unpleasant. John admitted.
Ex-act-ly! Rave threw out each syble and with them her bad mood. Enough of the unpleasantries however. Lets go kill Ghosts!
John smiled as well, Yeah, for the EXP!
And so they went to continue their grinding.
Chapter 19 – By the end of the session
Chapter 19 C By the end of the session
No blowjob at the start this time around C or at any other point. Much to Johns dismay, but he had said he would earn the next. In the service of doing so in the future, he soaked up all the EXP and kept training Possession.
Were cutting things here, Rave announced suddenly, after sting another ghost into oblivion.
John checked his watch, mildly confused. It was barely past 5 PM. They could get another two hours in at least before he needed to head back. Okay? Any reasons?
Ja, two of them. The Asian bombshell raised the index finger of her left hand. A, I wanna take a shower. The other index finger got raised up as well. Two, my dad ising for today and only today. Not gonna miss him.
So, that was what the call was about? John asked himself and nodded to Rave. Okay, I will do some solo stuff then.
You aint gonna do squat. Rave said, grabbing him by the hand. Or, well, dont know whatcha gonna doter but for now youreing with me.
Where are we going then? John barely had time to use Escape I.D. as he asked. He wasnt entirely catching up to what was happening again. Rave always moved too fast for him and he wanted so desperately to change that.
My house!
The announcement had John blush, for a reason he couldnt quite ce. After they left the Illusion Barrier, he buried himself in his windows to be distracted from his own nervousness. She was really moving way too fast for him. Yet, all he wanted was to keep running along and see where this was going. It beat school, porn, and even videogames by a mile.
So close to a level, he thought and checked his other recent gains. Observe was level 4 now, enabling him to see a rtionship description in addition to the number. That eliminated his need to guess why someone liked or disliked him.
Possession was up to level 5, which had been an exciting one.
It now allowed him to use the Skill on medium sized objects. What was medium sized was a bit arbitrary, but it was alsomon sensical enough that John could instinctively know in most cases. He had achieved this Skill level by increasing the uptime of the Skill through using the Ectosms. Consuming them had been as easy as sticking a finger in. The gooey liquid had been absorbed through the skin.
Both Create and Escape I.D. had levelled up, but that had only decreased the cost by 1. Nothing too exciting.
He looked up from his windows when Rave let go of his hand. Theck of warmth was disappointing, but also expected. It had only been two days and rtions didnt deepen that quickly. Thats what he told himself on one side. On the other they had already exchanged more intimacy than John had ever enjoyed before. It was honestly a bit confusing. He knew little about Rave and she was still lighting up his life. His problem was that he wasnt sure if she was that way with everyone.
Thankfully, he had a way to make things less uncertain.
Jane Rave Hollmey, Lvl 16
Fun Loving Rave Girl
Age 19, Daughter of an Abyss Auction Employee. Has an Innate Ability of light magic. Shes a member of Collide. Her love for techno, skimpy outfits and her shy fighting style earned her the name Rave.
Rtionship: 56
Rave thinks of you as the Gamer and likes checking out your unique powers. She is not quite sure about your personality, since you seem to be a shy nerd. She likes your asional disys of calm confidence. In general, is just fooling around with you because youre the only one avable and shes young and bored. Never hurt anyone to be spontaneous. Probably.
Emotions: Nervous, Horny, Anticipating
There he had it. She primarily saw him as a novel Innate Ability with legs. It hurt his pride a bit, but at least he had an in with her. If he could show her that he was more than a shy dork, maybe this could be more? Her rtionship score was at 56 now, so that was pretty promising. Now he just needed to get that shy dorkness actually beaten.
He could invest in Charisma. He had been about tost night. Then his hand had wandered up to Wisdom. Then to Agility. The decision paralysis had made him put it off all day and he still wasnt entirely sure.
Almost there, Rave said and pointed at their destination.
Rave was such a bright personality that he had expected her to live in some kind of sparkling mansion or colourful arthouse. He found the total opposite of that.
It was a corner building. Four stories tall, painted entirely grey, with inoffensively white window frames, a milky white ss door, and no decorations whatsoever. The entire building radiated boredom in a way that John felt he should have noticed before. He was in this part of town sometimes and something this inoffensive should have caught his attention at least once. He vaguely noted that no one around ever seemed to look at the building, not even the pair that waited next to them at the streetlight.
They walked across and entered the house. The hallway was as dull as the outside. It could have been copy pasted into just about any apartment building in the entirety of the US of A. Once Rave turned the key into the apartment, however, that impression did a 180.
It was like stepping out of a businessplex and into the dream of a drug fuelled artist. The walls were sprinkled with hundreds of colours for the initial stretch. The corridor bordered on an 18th century European library, a room with a Hot Toys collection, an indoor pool, and several closed doors that John was scared to peek behind. Only the kitchen looked normal.
Somehow, this was exactly what he had expected. Wee to my home, the Vi de Weirdo, Rave dered, as spread out her arms. My dad is a collector of things, she offered the barest exnation.
I guess? Johnmented, awestruck as he made a huge turn around a very big, very beautiful and very delicate looking Chinese vase. So, your dad owns the entire floor or?
He owns the whole building, but he gave me the first floor when I turned 18. Much as he is gone, all of this might as well be mine. She opened a door and peeked inside. Havent done anything with most of it. Way too much space I did throw his stupid wargame figurines into the basement though.
As someone who had always wanted the money and time to get into wargaming, he felt a bit offended by that statement. He was too overwhelmed by the environment toment on it though. Even if it was a mixed bag of rooms, there was a strange cosy beauty to all of it. And you choose to hang out in that dusty old arcade instead?
Ja, now, ya go to the video game room, ya nerd. Ill take that shower.
Rave immediately vanished into the maze of the rooms, leaving John to, once again, scratch the back of his head awkwardly. It only dawned on him after a few seconds that he forgot to ask, W-where is the video game room? No answer, Rave was already gone, and he was just a mumbling, lost Gamer, standing around. Well, guess I just got to find it? Wonder if he collected any old gems
Chapter 20 – Old Gems, the unexpected kind
Chapter 20 C Old Gems, the unexpected kind
It was surprisingly easy to find the room. A couple of doors checked and there it was. A single window, almostpletely covered by arge, ck curtain diminished the sun to a dim twilight. Two of the small rooms walls were covered withrge shelves, rows upon rows of video games on them. The third wall, right from the entrance, had a TV embedded into a third shelf. That one was filled with consoles and cables instead. A desk in the corner had a modern gaming station, with a PC that was as much LED as metal, and two monitors.
The wooden floorboards creaked as John stepped inside. There were two chairs in the room, one by the desk and another by the shelves. The seat of choice, however, was the sofa in front of the TV. A dark red one, with a retractable bed folded into its leg space. It would probably fill half the room if it was drawn out.
John was a little jealous, he wished he had a gaming room that was this cosy. His gaming chair and moderately powerful rig suddenly felt entirely inadequate.
John turned to the collection of games and wandered along. He didnt own a lot of physical games himself, so seeing a Steam library in real life like this was pretty cool. There were popr titles like God of War, World of Warcraft, Ori and the Blind forest, mixed with a lot of indie games that John had never heard of. They were neatly organized by genre and then alphabetical order. John continued through the titles with glee. For digital only titles, Raves dad had put USB-Sticks into packets with self-printed covers.
Maybe I can y a round of something? I hear girls take long showers John had no idea how reliable that info was, considering it was purely from the series he watched on the side while gaming. Even if she takes a while, Civ 5 would be overkill huh? He noticed a part of the shelf that was covered with a ck ss panel. Two metal rings indicated that this part was supposed to be locked. Theres no way right? He pulled it open.
It was exactly what he thought but didnt expect. Five rows of porn looked him square in the face. It started with some Japanese Visual Novel games and ended with softcore BDSM videos. John recognized some of the titles of thetter category. Despite his better judgement he pulled out one of the normal porn videos. Busty Ball Busting Bitches 5 said the title. Of course every B and even the round part of the 5 had nipples protruding from them. Cheesy porn cover design 101.
Big tits, huh?
Jesus! John jumped, tossing the DVD into the air. Rave caught it effortlessly. I swear I just picked a random one! he promised in a hurry.
Only then did he realize that Rave was covered in nothing but a towel. Her hair was still wet from the shower, yet many of the strands of her nonsensically wild hair were already sticking out again. Another hint that, whatever was going on with it, was not natural. No hair looked this enticingly messy on its own.
Single drops of water dripped from the tips of her hair. They pearled down her neck and then soaked into the white towel. It was wrapped tightly around her curves, like a dress with a miniskirt, reminding John all over again that she had hips and legs for days. If he tilted just a little, he probably could have caught a peek of her pussy. Does she have pink hair down there too? he wondered. His spine gradually curved sideways.
Rave spun the DVD case on the index finger of one hand and grabbed his chin with the other. Ey, Gamer, whatre you doing?
Great question, what was he doing? He went red when he realized he had actually been trying to get that peek. What am I doing? W-what are you doing? he returned the question, eyeing her barely d form up and down. What is your dad doing? Who leaves their daughter with a collection of porn?
Ya dont seem to be unhappy about it. Rave smirked and nodded towards his pants. His head was still fixed by her grip, but he didnt need to look to feel his throbbing erection.
Well, no I am not, but that doesnt answer my questions. Come on, you cant show up like this and just tease me! heined in his mind. Was he that much fun to tease?
He showed me the stuff when I turned eighteen. Said I have the inte might as well know what we have in the house in case the router shuts down or something. The DVD case was still spinning on her index finger. Now, did ya just try to peek at mydy bits, bad boy? Rave said in a low, amused tone. There was the tapping of her foot again. A steady, impatient rhythm.
Y-yeah. John admitted and Rave let go of his chin.
With swinging hips she walked over to the TV and took the DVD out of its case. Slowly, teasingly, she bent at the hips. The towel rode up, showing John bit for bit of smooth thigh. He gulped, breathing heavily just from the tantalizing journey of the wet cloth. With a knowing smirk, she bent a little bit further. The towel slipped over the curve of her perfect ass and showed him everything. The pretty pink lips of her pussy were still moist from the shower. Trimmed hair of an even brighter pink decorated the top of it. Otherwise, she was smooth.
John had just started to enjoy the sight, when she suddenly straightened up again. Distantly, he noted the sound of a CD drive closing. Dadsing in an hour, so we might as well watch the movie.
You want to watch porn with me? John stated, slowly.
Yep, now get on the sofa, Gamer. Rave took two steps back, dropped down on the sofa and pat the seat right next to her. Without any more questions and praying to Lady Luck he plopped down right next to her.
He wasnt even listening to the corny porn dialogue. How could he? He was way too busy NOT tantly staring at Rave. Instead he threw nces at her - constantly. Her legs crossed, Rave rested her head on her palm, watching with boredom. So, you like those kinds of women? She asked and gestured at the screen.
John actually looked at the blonde that was getting pounded for the first time. The actress was the typical pornstar. Big, certainly fake, tits, long hair, juicy ass, bordering on oversized, and a face covered in make-up resulting in a very stic beauty. She was fit enough to look good, but not any fitter. The current scene depicted her slobbering over a big dick while throwing empty dirty talk around whenever she got a chance to breathe. You like that? Nice dick. Oh yeah. All of that, delivered with the minimum of passion.
Well, I like to watch them fuck. John answered honestly. He felt like he was treading on thin ice all of a sudden. The blonde on the screen stood up and bent over a chair, rubbing her pussy as she pleaded for the man to prate her. A sharp, overyed moan when he did.
She does have a nice butt. Rave admitted.
Not as nice as yours! John blurted out.
Rave giggled, Oh, want to see it again? He nodded strongly. Well, tough luck I dont feel like it anymore. Rave teasingly pulled at the towel. For a moment he dared hope he was going to see her boobs but then her hand lowered again.
This is torture. John thought, his underpants were probably soaked in pre-cum by now, The best kind of torture but still torture.
Rave opened her legs wide and stretched. She wiggled with her toes, the smooth skin of her legs reflecting the changing lights of the pration scene in front of them. He gulped, she sighed. Ya are, like, ultra-dense, ya know? she asked. Here I am, sitting naked, teasing the life out of you and yet you arent meeting me halfway. Johns head was spinning, what the hell did she mean by that now? Should he ask? Could he ask? Why him? What had he done to deserve this?
Rave looked at him. Her fingers drummed on the couch. The pink light in her eyes danced. Her lips slightly parted, letting a sigh out slowly. These glossy lips, he remembered how they had wrapped around his dick. He wondered how it would feel to Can I? he asked himself, while he was already leaning towards her. She did not stop even when their lips met.
Clumsily his lips pressed on Raves. It startled him for a moment when she pressed back passionately. Her tongue darted forwards. In kind, he responded, trying his best not to embarrass himself during his first kiss. She tasted sweet and fresh, like peppermint voured bubble-gum.
The doubts went quiet. Only desire for her filled his mind. Her taste, her smell, a hint of rosewater, it was just too much to think about. He wanted more. To press her into the soft leather cushions under them. The leather creaked, when he was toppled over instead. I liked that, she whispered into his ear. Then she sat up.
John looked at her, open-mouthed. Straddled over his crotch, wet and in the towel, she was a picture for the gods. Instead, she was there just for him and that made him feel confused all over again. Why? he finally croaked out the question. Why me?
Raves hand stopped halfway up to where the towel was tugged into itself. She tilted her head, quizzically. First, she seemed to look at him, wondering why he would ruin the mood with that question. He wondered that himself. If his dick had a voice, it would have been throwing a lengthy litany of curses at him right now. Second, she averted her gaze and actually thought about it.
I dunno, she responded flippantly. Youre here and I want it, I guess.
The answer was unsatisfying. It was so little. It almost made him doubt her, but Observe had told him enough for that to match what it had said. He was just conveniently there and interesting, while she was needy. She doesnt have a lot of friends either, does she? John realized. There was no way he would be the number one choice for a babe like her. She couldve had anyone off the street.
Before he could ask more questions, she tugged at the towel. It glided off her with a whisper. Her naked body was a view that he would burn into his memory forever. Her clean, smooth, evenly coloured skin, just a tad tanned. Her breasts were small and firm, two little mounds with erect, pink nipples at the top. The t and athletic stomach in all of its wonders, from the inwards curves of her side to the subtle shifting of her muscles. Her hips, hovering above his crotch, in all of their width. She was the embodiment of an attractive, nubile woman. She ran one of her hands down her thigh, showing the firm yield it had to offer. Between her legs, her gorgeous pussy was swollen and the only part of her body still glistening with fresh wetness.
If John had been capable of taking screenshots in real life, he would have done so at that moment.
Rave licked her lips and slowly crawled forwards. He had thought this would be another blowjob or something more. When she stopped with her lower pair of lips above his face, he knew what was actually happening. Strangely, it made him feel relieved. For him to repay her for yesterday just felt fair and fairness was easier than confusion.
Whaddya think? She purred in a seductive tone.
You You are beautiful. He whispered.
Do I look better than that stic bitch in the movie?
How could she evenpete?
Even if I dont have giant tits?
Well, hers are too big and fake yours could be a tad bigger but I dont mind. The b-best boobs are the boobs I get to touch. He had no idea why he blurted all of that out so openly. The only thing that introduced any hesitance was his stammer. Any mistake he thought he made, Rave dismissed with a giggle.
Well, maybe Ill grow a little more. Who knows? She said with a smile. Now ya got two choices, we either keep talking, with you having the greatest view of your life. Oooorrr, she circled her delicious looking cunt right in front of his face, ya can try to answer those questions of yours with because ya make me cum like crazy with that tongue, how would ya like to prove youAaah!
Aughing, surprised moan filled the room, when John grabbed her ass and dragged his tongue through her slit. She tasted down there just like the kiss had. Up and down, through her outer folds,mitting every bit of the heat and the unique sensation of her swollen womanhood to memory. He wanted more of it. More of her taste, more of that heat, more of her twitching folds and more of her moans. His tongue pushed deeper into her. Fluids cascaded into his mouth. She sighed in delight and he shivered. Her voice was pure music to his ears.
A hand brushed through his hair, intensifying the tingles. Oh, oh yes. She gasped. Youre way better at this than kissing, tiger. A criticism and apliment. He would fix the former and for now focused on thetter. All those hours of porn had to pay off with something. Enthusiasm rose with her cries. He pulled back a bit, to give her clit a bit of dedicated attention. The tip of his tongue drew narrow circles around it.
I need to be even better! he told himself. I want these cries to be all mine. She wants me to make her cum like crazy with my tongue? Then Ill give her that and more. The wish created a reaction. A window popped up.
In a moment, all that second-hand knowledge he got from watching became actual experience. Muscle memory, acquired in an instant, letting him realize what he did wrong and what he was doing right.
What the Ah!? Raves moans reached a new, higher pitch. asionally, it copsed all the way down to a low groan. Both were wonderful to listen to. All of those overyed sounds from porn, he was finally getting to hear them himself. He never wanted to go back. Oh, Gaia, yes, right there tiger, she crooned and tilted her head back.
Two hands were running through his hair now, pressing him tightly into her cunt. Softly curved, his tongue slid back and forth inside her, repeatedly prodding a particrly sensitive spot he had found. Constant quivers enveloped his tongue. The soft wet walls of her quim leaked slippery juices. The lower half of his face was drenched.
The quivers got more intense by the second. They travelled up her rolling midriff. She was gyrating, grinding against his lips. Dont stop, do not stop, she gasped.
John did stop.
Raves fluttering eyelids opened wide and she shot him a disapproving nce. For some reason, he did not feel intimidated or even uncertain. He stared back. For a few seconds, they were frozen like this. Come ooooon, she pleaded. It was so nice to tease her back for a change. Then, ever so slowly, John got back to stirring up her insides with his tongue.
Biting her lower lip, Rave hummed yfully. The gyrating returned as he elerated. Her slender, bottom-heavy form was in constant motion. She was basically belly dancing on his face and he got to look up that rolling midriff all the way to her petite, firm breasts. Louder, much louder than before, she moaned. Some were clean, simple notes, others bordered on grunts, pushed through clenched teeth.
It all led to a long scream. The folds of her vagina mped down around his tongue. The spasm rippled outwards. Tightening the glorious roundness his fingers had sunk into. Her spine curved, her chest deted, while the air was pushed from her lungs. Eyes clenched shut, her whole body tensed. Little jumps made her quiver periodically. The fingers in his hair wed at his scalp.
A few seconds into her orgasm, hepletely stopped moving. He just watched, deeply satisfied, at the first orgasm he had caused. When she resumed breathing, every taxed inhale and exhale was because of him. When she slumped forwards and smiled at him, the satisfaction on her face existed because of him. When a little aftershock made her squishy thighs press into the sides of his head, he had earned that.
Wuh, buddy, pal, she purred. Ya definitely gave me an answer to the why. She shot a nce over to the video. The porn was still ying. Aint that an idea, she hummed.
John hated to take his eyes off her, but he wanted to know what she was talking about. On the screen, the actors both had their faces practically glued to the others crotch. He looked back to Rave, who was already in the motion of turning around.
One second he was robbed of the warmth of her pussy, the next it dominated his entire face. That perfect bubble butt covered his entire field of view. He groaned appreciatively from that alone. Ya so deserve this, the pink-haired woman said and unzipped his pants. She pushed his legwear halfway down his thighs.
Her slender fingers wrapped around the base of his cock. Barely, he managed to keep licking her pussy, while awaiting what she would do to him. Didnt notice that before, but ya got that perfectly upright dick, huh? she asked with a chuckle, tilting his erection towards her lips.
Johns tongue was too busy to form an answer and when she licked down from the head, he was only capable of groaning anyway. He could feel the little nub of her tongue piercing glide down his length. The tiny sphere of metal was just as slippery as the rest of her hot tongue. She went all the way down to his balls. She stopped just shy of them.
Ya shave, thats nice C but ya should get rid of these. She gently pulled at one of the hairs on his sack. Looks way out of order. He made a mental note of looking into ways to fix that. For the first time in his life a woman was telling him directly what she didnt like and he would listen closely.
Raves other hand wrapped around his dick and slowly went up and down. He was already so close, he would have wished she just started sucking him off already. Unfortunately, she was feeling chatty. Tell me, tiger, she hummed, his brainpletely taken by the up and down of her hand. How often did ya masturbate to me since yesterday?
John felt the shame creeping back into his face. He would have rather kept eating her out than answer that question. That delicious quim, however, was pulled out of reach of his tongue. Why do you ask? he wanted to know.
Just cu- she licked the tip of his dick. -ri- she kissed the side of the shaft. ous. Then she finally wrapped her lips around his member.
The heaven of pleasure visited him once again. As she glided down his shaft, the words just flowed from his lips, Three times yesterday, two times today!
Raves surprised hum reverberated in his cock. For just a moment she let go again. Ya can cum a lot, huh? she noted, then went right back. She did the same as yesterday, slowly easing herself down his shaft. How often would she have to practice until she could take him all the way down the moment he wanted her to? Would this rtionshipst until she had that many opportunities?
John would certainly try.
Her upper lips hit the base of his cock and her lower lips sunk back down. John eagerly grabbed her ass again. The changed angle was a whole different experience. Bent over like this, twitching, her ass was round, firmer, and covering all of his face. God, shes perfect, he thought.
Moans vibrated her throat. He was putting it all into the deep pushes of his tongue. He found the same sensitive spots he had used minutes ago and discovered entirely different ones. Wiggling, thrusting, and licking her pussy in proper worship, he coaxed a cascade of sweet love juices and groans out of her. The bobs of her head became a bit sluggish in response to her pleasure. They never stopped, though, and he was already so close
He pushed his mouth as deeply into her cunt as he could and tongue-fucked her at the highest pace he could muster. Raves voice turned up to a muffled, gleeful shout. She elerated herself. A reward, doubtlessly, and yet counter to what he wanted to achieve. Just barely, he held on. Her ass quaked under his wing fingers and then they both wentpletely still.
Pussy juice gushed into his mouth, just as cum spurted from his shaft. The sensation he had desperately craved since yesterday, he was rewarded with it all over again and then some. To be enveloped by ass and thighs while pumping spurt after spurt of cum into a gorgeous girls mouth was unparalleled.
His orgasm ended long before hers. John didnt mind. He got to view her spasm from the aftershocks for almost fifteen seconds and that was almost as satisfying as cumming in and of itself.
And just when he thought the evening had peaked, Rave got off him. She knelt down by the side of the couch and opened her mouth, presenting the thick white load she had gathered. Ever since the Masturbation Skill had started refilling his balls, no load he had shot had been anything short of porn worthy in its volume and quality. She closed her mouth, then gulped it down.
That show was for the second orgasm, tiger, Rave said and stood up straight. And Ill forgive ya for not warning me again. That was great! Hips swinging, she walked over to the window.
I can I can only agree. John said and watched as the naked Asian bombshell let in some fresh air. One window in real life was open and he suddenly realized that another one of his systems was hovering in front of him.
That was new.
Chapter 21 – John thinks with his d*ck
Chapter 21 C John thinks with his d*ck
Aaaaaahhh, the Gamer screamed inside his mind. Percentage bonuses are way too powerful to just pass up on but another part of him reared its head, Youd not be at the low end of average anymore When are you going to have another chance like this?
He looked up at Rave. She hadnt minded his size, orck thereof. Then again, so far she had only taken it in her mouth. Thest thing he wanted when he did get the chance to have actual sex with her was for her to ask Is it in yet?.
Im not that small, he reminded himself. There was no logical reason to crave the dick length that much.
Ya staring C and not in the sexy way, Johnny, Rave pointed out. She made her way back from the window, every strut a distraction. Whatre ya thinking about? With those words, she plopped back down on the couch.
I, uhm, just got an Achievement that g-gives me a choice between two rewards, he exined vaguely. If she found out what he had trouble deciding, he would have begged for a Skill that let him sink into the floor. One is so much better in the long run, b-but the other helps me with a current problem.
Youre min-maxing IRL? John nodded. Deeply, Rave inhaled, making her chest stretch. NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD! she shouted and for a moment John was reminded of school. The sneers, the shoves, the ripping of lunchmoney out of his hands. Laughter as heid on the floor. Then Ravesughter filled the room and all of that was wiped away.
She swayed left to right, pping his shoulder, then fell against the backrest of the couch. This wasntughter at his expense. It wasnt even derisive either. She was just having a good time with him around.
And as the light caught in her pink hair, turning the chaotic strands into a halo of white, Johns heart skipped a beat. He could feel it in that moment, his lustful interest in her because she was hot shifting into something more wholesome. Shes just perfect, he thought, I want to be with her I want to hear more of this see more of her smile.
Rave put her elbow on the couch and smiled, herughing fit ebbing away. She shot him a radiant smile. Not even DBZA, ey? Ya gotta watch some anime.
Uhm, yeah, sure? he agreed in a quiet, distracted tone. He was too busy listening to her voice to hear what she said.
The choice he had been mulling over was entirely out of his mind, when she crawled on top of him again. His cock hardened again. The two minutes his seed needed to be fully restocked had long passed. Hovering over his pointy erection, her crotch seemed different. Not as puffy and definitely not as wet.
Lemme make this real easy for you, Rave purred and put her breasts right in front of his face. First option, left boob. Option B, right boob. Ya gotta choose in the next five seconds or ya never, ever will get to touch either.
Thats supposed to make it easier?! John blurted out.
Rave didnt care about his objection. Five. The window flickered over in front of Rave''s boobs, the ept buttons aligned with her nipples. Gaia obviously enjoyed this teasing. Four. His brain was on fire. How was he supposed to think with a stunning girl like this on top of him? Three. She teasingly shook her shoulders. The window was translucent and yet not. John could see her petite boobs jiggle ever so softly. Twooooo her drawn out voice was a warning.
Ah fuck it! John thought and went for the right option.
Two feelings dominated his being. One was the softness of Raves right boob. There wasnt much to y with, but what there was, offered the second greatest sensation his hands had ever experienced, second only to her butt. Squishy and warm, her heartbeat drumming behind. Rave pressed stronger against him, legs rubbing against where the second feeling was running its course. The increase in his size was apanied by a mild increase in girth. It was a warm, tingly sensation and faded quickly.
Diddid your dick just get bigger? Rave was weirded out and astonished at the same time. She climbed off him, while he blushed, hard. Like an interested cat, she gave his manhood some pokes. Hard again, bigger, your body is weird. She leaned in a little closer. Aint really small anymore not big either still thats interesting?
N-not as interesting as you, John blurted out. Yeah, that was the best I had, wasnt it?
Rave chortled, Thank you, Gamer. Anyhowzels, I need to brush my teeth and take another shower she contemted for a moment. ya wanna join? At least that was an easy question.
The bathroom was as weird as most rooms in this building. Meaning that it was entirely themed to be a bathroom. White tiles covered the floor and most of the walls, that much was normal, what was not normal was the sheer amount of different bathroom equipment. There were two toilets, one a traditional western one and another one of those one would squat over, three sinks, each with different kinds of hot-warm regtion, two showers, ss door and curtain, a bathtub and two jacuzzis, one of which had a TABLE built into the middle and a small pool in the middle of it all. Necessarily, the room was enormous. John was starting to wonder how deep the house extended into the block.
Your father is i-insane, John said, no longer able to hold it back.
Yeah, insanely awesome C ya see what he raised? Now Rave pointed at him. Clothes off!
Y-yes, maam. John had meant it to sound enthusiastic. It came out sheepish. He could practically see Raves interest waning. That his naked body was more bone than anything else certainly didnt help.
Didnt know what else I expected cant ya use that ability of yours to get some muscle, Gamer?
I dont know? P-probably?
Ya should find out, stoopid, she said flippantly, heel tapping on the floor. She walked over to one of the jacuzzis.
D-didnt you want to take a shower?
Changed mah mind, Rave slurred and waved him over. To follow that bubble butt was natural. Go get in there, Gamer.
John could feel the heat of the water where he stood. Today had gone too smooth for him to chicken out right now. With some caution, he climbed into almost painfully hot water. Rave let him soak in it on his own for a little bit, giving her teeth a quick once over. He had never considered toothbrushing to be an erotic activity, but when a woman like her did it, what didnt be one? When she finally entered the hot tub, she sighed contently. Perfect temperature.
How? John thought. He felt like he was sitting in a rice cooker. However, he also sat opposite of Rave in the smaller of the two jacuzzis. Swallowing hisints, he did his best to rx. Even in this heat, or maybe especially because of it, he shivered when she poked his chest with her big toe.
Tell me, Johnny, why did ya choose Collide over the Order? she asked out of nowhere. The mischievous glint in her eyes made it a curious question, rather than a serious one.
Well, I, uhm, wanted freedom over security was a p-pretty h-hard choice though.
Cause ya werent sure whether ya wanted the redhead or the half-Asian punk chick, hm? Rave teased him.
Half? Hm, now that she mentions it I, uhm, admit that was part of the question
Ya definitely picked right, didnt ya? Her big toe brushed up and down his chest. Better me than that prude little princess with her superiorityplex.
U-uhm y-yeah. John wasnt sure when this had be apetition, but Rave was definitely winning it.
Moi-Moi is bo-o-riiing, Rave eximed and pulled her foot back. The water softly rippled from the movement. She stood up and then sat down next to him. Wanna make out?
John was feeling a little better about getting to experience all of this, after he made her climax twice earlier. Still, that she constantly dictated the tempo was leaving him unsatisfied. I dont want to be an errand boy for her I want do I just want her or do I still want that harem? The question was difficult to answer. For now, he would just roll with it and see where it went. Yes, he answered the easier question.
Their kissing was slower this time. No pornstar moaning in the background and no horniness on her side to take things further. Just the amazing sensation of her soft lips pressing against his. A constant joy drummed in his chest, so much greater than the lust he had felt before. Im in love, he realized fully. Then he remembered she had said his kisses were unsatisfying. Why dont I get a Skill for this? he sent a bug report to the developer. In the meantime, he tried to make up for it with his own efforts.
Amidst the heat inside and outside his body, he felt a bother at the back of his head. An annoying tingling that demanded to be acknowledged. Uncertainty pressed against it and eventually yielded. He put his arm around Raves narrow waist and pulled her close. The other hand glided down her midriff and found her pussy again.
Rave moaned appreciatively into his mouth and reciprocated in kind. There was a difference in how her hand wrapped around his cock, doubtlessly originating from the increased size.
Wrestling tongues with Rave, he slowly leveraged the hand width he had on her. Her moans grew a little louder, after she tilted her head back. The pumping of her hand became faster. Already as red as he could be, John gave into the urge and joined her moans. Through half-closed lids, he looked at her wless skin and beautiful face.
No Skill for fingering, but what he had learned about her sensitive spots still applied. When she came first, that filled him with an immense satisfaction. Before he could gloat, his cum spurted into the hot water. Rope for rope of white, getting swirled and drained by the constantly cycling bathtub. The bills for this ce must be insane, he realized, in that post-orgasmic moment of rity.
Then the kiss broke. I almost wanna fuck ya right now, Rave panted.
Give me two minutes and I am ready. John had not been more serious about anything in his entire life.
I said almost. Herughter took the wind out of his sails. yfully chiding, she smacked the back of his head. I told ya I aint that loose. Know Im not making the best case for it she looked down at herself, but I draw the line at sex. I gotta be real bored or really happy for us to go there. Or, ya know ya could shape up to be boyfriend material.
That sounded like a challenge. S-so what am I right now?
Entertainment, she told him t-out. He didnt know why he kept asking, expecting a different answer when he had barely changed at all. All that happened so far was because she felt like it. He hadnt initiated or earned anything yet. Not really. Lost my virginity kind of on a fluke screwed with the same guy a couple more times shouldnt have done any of that ya can wait a month or two. Well see how ya shape up.
John took a heavy breath, for many reasons. Ultimately, he just nodded. Even if he wanted her immediately, she was being reasonable and maybe just maybe that would give him the time he needed not to feel like he was more than a novel boytoy she was dragging around.
Chapter 22 – Daddy Hollmey
Chapter 22 C Daddy Hollmey
Home, sweet home, where are you Jane?
The voice made John freeze up. Her dad was home and the Gamer was standing stark naked just outside the jacuzzi. Both he and Rave were in a haste to get dressed. For him it was a matter of panic. For her, as was all too soon revealed, it was to see her father as quickly as possible. She stormed out of the bathroom while he was still busy figuring out which side of his shirt was the front.
Rave didnt get far. Her father was right behind the door. Throwing her arms around him, she shouted, Im d youre back, daddy!
Hello d, I am Dad, he responded without a second of hesitation.
The first impression John had of her father was the urge to facepalm. He chuckled at the same time. Dad jokes were the greatest and most terrible medium on the. Of course, all of what he felt was filtered through the confused terror he felt.
I take it you had a nice shower?
Took a shower and then a bath, actually.
Oh? Well, I hope your getaway vehicle is big enough to carry both. That one took a moment to register, but John nervously chuckled again. Hello, young man, Raves dad finally acknowledged John.
H-hello, John responded.
Regan Hollmey, Lvl 46
Abyssal Power Dad
Age 47, a member of the Abyss Auction. A fairly sessful coordinator of local enterprises in and around Springfield. Rich and a free spirit, he loves to collect things and make bad puns also known as Dad jokes.
Rtionship Points: 2
Emotions: Proud, Proud, Curious.
Proud two times? John wondered, while Regan ended the hug with his daughter, giving John a proper view of the man.
Regan Hollmey was a man of average height, with brown hair and a dense three-day beard. Had it not been for the dark rings under his eyes, he would have looked pretty good. His outfit matched his house: a coat like that of a private detective mixed with a modern business tie and a green fedora sitting on his head. A leopard-pattern strap was wrapped around the felt hat. Frankly, he looked weird.
Now what do we have here a boyfriend? Regan asked, although there was a glint of recognition in his eyes.
Nah, just someone interesting I picked up.
Interesting well, I guess mundanes turned Abyssals are typically interesting. John Newman, correct? The Gamer? The thusly addressed Gamer turned even more rigid than before. How? Regan read the question from his mind. Your intel package is all over the Abyss Auction. You mustve been quite unlucky to run into an information broker so quickly.
Enough about him, Rave poked her father in the chest. How long are ya staying?
Only until midnight, Regan confessed with a long yawn. Have to drive out tomorrow. How about we go eat something before I crash? His eyes turned to John. You can stay.
John wanted to say no. A whole bunch of things about Regan unnerved him. The high level, his house, his jokes, and the uncaring attitude he had towards the fact that somebody left the bathroom with his daughter. He wouldve felt morefortable with a shotgun aimed at his head.
However, the way Rave looked at him urged him to stay. John resigned himself to a mumbled Okay.
Regan happily pped his hands together. Great I already brought pizza anyway. He said and pushed his hand into the air. Reality rippled and a momentter he pulled a pizza box out of thin air. John was dumbstruck, he thought only he had that ability. I am afraid it has gotten cold though. Regan added, causing even more confusion. Inside his own inventory things were preserved in their current state.
Its a dimensional pocket, they cost a lot but dad gets his sponsored from the Abyss Auction. Rave whispered into his ear.
Now, now children, you can flirt when I am gone. Regan said and marched towards one of the dining rooms. It was the rtively normal kitchen John had noted C the only thing that was off about it was that it looked like the interior belonged in the sixties.
Regan opened the box to reveal a pepperoni pizza. A blue aura rose from his entire being. What made John ready to dart towards the door was channelled only into a thin energy de at the tip of the mans finger. With a couple of swings, he had sliced the pizza into eight evenly sized pieces. A rather unorthodox usage of martial arts. John thought. The aura disappeared a momentter.
So, what is the Abyss Auction? He had heard the term before, both in person and through Observe. Time to finally get details.
Ah, a good question young man, however a better question would be why Jane didnt show it to you yet.
Because he has no money. Rave answered between two bites of pizza. Like, none, even less than Baldy.
You shouldnt talk about Travolta like that.
Why not?
Because he owes me money. So, unless your friend here already took out student loans, he has more than Travolta.
Rave nodded, Good point.
What was this? How did he go from receiving a handjob in the bathtub to speaking to these two about Travolta on a breakfast table. The whish was even stronger than the contrast between the white polka dots on the red tablecloth.
Show it to him when he gets some money then. Regan concluded. Now I want to ask a question!
YOU NEVER ANSWERED MINE! John nervously shouted in his mind, but sheepishly nodded.
How did you two meet?
Well, after I stalked Moi-Moi for a bit I randomly heard the Gamer here speak about his abilities and then. She recounted the events from her perspective. At the part with the Wall Shadow, Regans expression darkened.
Well, they got what wasing for them. Regan just said as he heard that the monster had killed the summoners. The story ended with the two proposals between the guilds John had received.
You know I would be a lot happier if you would train in safe conditions. Finally, some normal daughter-father conversations.
But safe is so booooooring. Raveined and wiggled her feet under the table. Also, there are no good martial arts teachers in these parts.
True. So, Gamer, you joined Collide then. It wasnt a question. Travolta must have been very happy about that.
He actually looked very indifferent.
Did he scream at you yet?
John made a puzzled expression, Ehm, no?
Then he is as happy as the grump ball gets. Speaking of Travolta, he ising with me. That seemed a bit more important than to be mentioned in such an offhand manner.
Jimmie too?
No, he is booked already. The Apothecaries are really eating all his time. They continued eating and chatting for a bit, father and daughter. John hardly managed to chew the one piece of pizza he had grabbed. His mouth remained dry. Ill be leaving my daughter in your care, John. Do not disappoint me.
More like leaving him in my care, Raveughed over the threat and grabbed another slice of pizza. John didnt feel like eating anymore.
Anything else going on while I was gone?
We got a new history teacher. Rave said, You know who.
Oh? Well, as long as we stay away from her we shouldnt run into any problems. She has an agreement with me after all.
John was left in the dark what that exchange meant. New history teacher? That could only be Ms Wentworth. W-what about her? he asked cautiously.
We dont know the details but we have worked out a deal that we stay out of each others faces. I suggest you do the same unless you want to end up like this. He pointed at the half-eaten pizza. Confusing and yet clear enough.
Ill stick to ghosts John mumbled.
Chapter 23 – Mommy Newman
Chapter 23 C Mommy Newman
John had left after Rave had encouraged him to. A few pleading nces had eventually managed to convey the message. She had brought him to the door and said, Thank you for keeping mepany. Gets pretty dull around when everyones doing stuff. Ill see ya tomorrow.
No goodbye kiss, but the hug he got was enough to lift his mood back to previous levels. It had been a wonderful day. If this was the future then the Abyss looked pretty bright. Even with the corpses, the blood, and the danger.
While he returned home, he cast Observe on anything even remotely interesting. For one, he wanted to level it. Additionally, he hoped he hit the information broker that was apparently on him. Finally, it popped up.
Its maxed at five? John thought, confused. Masturbation is at 18 is it special? No, Possession is also at 5 and it''s still gaining progress to the next level. Maybe Observe is the special one? It does seem rather useful. Its only been blocked once so far.
It was a little bit overpowered that he could get as much as a hint of someones power and backstory at a single nce. In terms of information gathering capability, it must have been up there. Maybe he should consider getting into the whole info broker thing?
No, I really dont want to snoop around strangers for a living, especially if they dont deserve it, he thought and turned his mind to a more present issue: It was 9 PM. He had given his mom an excuse this morning, but it hadnt covered this much time.
He quietly entered his home, hoping his mom had gone to sleep already. That was immediately dashed. She sat in the living room, staring him straight in the face when he entered. To get an idea how to best weather the storm, he used his new and improved Observe.
There was a lot there he regretted knowing. It was a little relieving to know that his own Libido was not some freak ident of nature, but every other detail he could have lived without. Especially the bit that implied she knew about what he did in his room then again, how could she not? John Benjamin Newman, she cited his full name. You are well past the time you told me you would be back.
Considering what her Observe said, he could appease her with the truth. I hung out with a girl.
Immediately Brendas demeanour changed. Really? You did! The joy she disyed put a dent in his pride. An earned one, but still.
Yes, really, he mumbled.
Is she nice?
The best, John said immediately. Shes all colourful and bright and she has that sassy side to her that just He realized he was gushing and turned as red as he could. Shes really fun to be around.
At your age, most girls are fun to be around, Brenda said, her happy tone slightlypromised by worry. Im not going to tell you that she isnt any of the things you said, just take care you dont delude yourself into thinking shes an angel just because shes attractive, okay sweetie?
Okay, John said with a strong nod. For all of the butterflies currently whirling in his stomach, he did want to keep those words in mind. If there was hurting out of this, he wanted to be prepared.
And dont let it affect your studies! she warned him,ughing a little bit. Alright, thatll be all then. Dont make it a habit toe home thiste. And that was all she said about it. She stood up and left the living room.
John followed her example and headed upstairs. Once in his room, he sat down in his gaming chair. Out of pure habit, he turned on the PC. The soft whir of the fans pushed away at the silence. He stared a hole into the air between him and the monitor.
My studies, John thought. Again, he considered if school was even worth it anymore. Did he really want to get a day job when he could be messing around with Rave an extra eight hours a day? Sounded like he was better off dropping out than getting prepared for something he didnt care about anyway. He could just live off Loot, grow stronger and do what, exactly?
His goal to get a harem had been an impulse. Now that he was hoping to get with Rave, it seemed so much more distant. A potential harem of sexy women lost a bit of its appeal now that he had chances to have one woman that actually existed. Everything beyond that awesome techno lover felt greedy and John still wanted it. Even if the dream was tilting more towards realism, he would want it if it could happen. It just died as quickly as it came as his primary motivation.
I should distribute my Stat Points, he thought, just likest night. He had 20 of themying around. Wisdom for the path I already picked, Wisdom and Intellect or maybe I should dump it all into Charisma? But Rave said I should get some muscles do I really want to do something just because she said it? Maybe I should just get everything up? I dont know.
The decision paralysis still had him strong in its grasp. In the end, he procrastinated on it, instead turning around and ying a couple of rounds of whatever game he was mentally awake enough to pay attention to. After a while of that, he went to bed. He still hadnt figured out anything. Not what he wanted his Stats to be, not what to do with these emotions towards the girl with the bubble butt, and definitely not what his future would look like.
But it was just the second day since he got these powers.
Chapter 24 – At the old arcade once again.
Chapter 24 C At the old arcade once again.
He was the one that waste today. He had spent the whole day brooding. At one point during school, he had spotted a disguised Rave in the hallways. She mimicked the shy student pretty well, her nose always in some anime booklet. Surprisingly, no one messed with her though. John avoided her too, but only because he didnt want Moira to get the right idea.
When he did make it to the arcade, he was greeted by shouting. THIS IS BULLSHIT! Jimmie screamed at the top of his lungs. WHY DONT YOU TAKE DAMAGE?! WHY DO I TAKE SO MUCH DAMAGE?!
Maybe ya should, as they say, git gud? Rave asked. She was right next to him, the two sitting at the twoputers by the arcade machines.
How do they have inte in here? John had to ask. He couldnt imagine cables or signals making it through to a pocket dimension. The problem was that he had to be wrong on that. Last he checked, League of Legends did not have Peer to Peer connection. John peeked over Jimmies shoulder. Why why the hell are you building armour against Jax? Thats not even a Frozen Heart and youre ying Tryndamere? I could u-understand R-randuins Almost got through that without a stammer, damn it, he cursed at himself.
No one asked you, Jimmie barked back, while hammering keys. Ive been ying this for 5 years, I know what Im doing.
What rank are you?
Silver 4.
John could not suppress the amused snort. Defensively, he raised his hands when Jimmie gave him a warning re. Okay, okay, John took a step back, then moved over to Rave. She smelled better anyway. Softly sweet, noticeable but not intense. D-didnt know you p-yed League. Her items made a lot more sense, even if it was the standard build.
Right back at ya although I couldve guessed as much, she responded. Wanna y a 1v1 after I bash his brains in?
You arrogant bitch, how about you- ARGH, THAT ABILITY IS SO BUSTED! He had run straight in, only to have his auto attackspletely nullified by Jaxs E.
Please tell me you counter picked, John tried to see to ast shred of potential dignity for Jimmie.
Nope, he just neeeeeded to y Trynda, like an idiot.
HE CRITS LIKE A TRUCK! Jimmie shouted at them both.
Means nothing if I dodge all auto attacks, Rave actually took her hands off the keyboard, while the two champions hit each other. Inevitably, she won. She was ahead in gold and her character countered his.
Would have guessed you yed more L-lux, Jinx or Vi, John confessed.
Rave rolled her eyes. Jax beats people with amppost. Amppost! Thats so rad, it''s almost as hrious as I am sexy.
Okay, I give up! Jimmie dered and quit the game. Fuck you Rave, I have to go to work. Do adult things, instead of getting good at this shitty game.
Have fun, Jimster. Rave responded with a careless smirk. We can y something youre decent at next time. Smash Bros, maybe?
Whatever, the mechanic walked off, taking his negative attitude with him, and leaving the seat next to Rave open. She kicked it, so the seat swivelled in his direction.
Any excuse yourete today? she asked, after he sat down.
J-just sses, he reported.
Just skipem, she responded outright. Im only going cause dad insists I do the higher education basics. Waste of time, but ya know the way parents are.
My mom is around, so difficult.
I guess, Rave shrugged. This probably was the negative influence his mom had warned him about. It didnt quite register as such when he had been having the same thought. Knowing about the Abyss changed things a lot. So, you any good? Rave pointed at the screen.
Dunno, havent yed League since w-when did Klede out?
The techno lover swiftly looked it up. August 2016, almost a year.
Yeah, s-sounds about right. I couldnt stomach Teemo any longer so I switched to Dota 2.
Rave looked at him funny. Isnt there Uber-Teemo in Dota?
T-techies isnt that bad or, well, hes worse, but the entire games different. If y-you dont mind that Im rusty, you can add me. L-let me just see if I remember my p-password. John logged out of Jimmies ount and started typing. He knew his ount name by heart. The password was harder. He used 10 different ones, just for the sake of feeling a bit safer.
Whats your name then?
xXxSephiroth_666xXx.
Rave nearly fell out of her chair, she wasughing that hard. Ya serious?
N-no, John responded with the biggest grin he could muster. He wasnt used to making the expression and the corners of his lips trembled nervously.
There was nothing quite as satisfying as the jokending. Raveughed even louder, until she actually fell out of the chair. As she rolled on the concrete floor, John noticed she was wearing a miniskirt today, instead of the usual stretch jeans or yoga pants. He had the easiest view of her bright pink panties for a few seconds. Then she pulled her legs back and athletically jumped to her feet.
New... shoes? he asked.
Totes, she responded with a wide grin. They both knew where his eyes had actually been. Just so happened she actually wore sneakers today. Had enough of the pine needles making it into my flip flops.
We could always train in the city, John suggested. Now that he had a better grasp on the way the Illusion Barriers worked, going out into the forest felt a tad unnecessary.
Kinda dont want to risk the Order stumbling over our butts. Forest is safer, Rave countered.
Are we doing anything bad? John wondered, only for the pink-haired half-Asian to get delightfully close.
We could be, she whispered, then backed away immediately when he blushed. Man, ya really are so easy to mess with, Gamer. Anyway, username, now.
Its J-Jeehan.
Is that with or without the stutter? The question didnt require an answer, she already had sent the friend request. Kinda stupid nickname, not gonna lie.
Neonlights wants to add you to their friends list, it said on the screen. I dont think you have room to talk John mumbled and epted the request as well as the invite that came soon after. He looked at the selection screen. The h-hell did they do to Galio?
Made him OP as fuck. Now pick something.
It was blind pick, so Rave could have been going with any manner of duellist monstrosity. John decided to pick it safe, under that assumption. A tank would be a good choice. Sure it would take ages to push down the towers on the map (In good old 1v1 fashion it was Howling Abyss, which was slightly ironic) but not dying was more important. He decided to go with Malphite, threw some runes together and soon they were thrown into the game.
She had picked Teemo. W-why?
Dont be hating, Teemo isnt that good against Malphite.
I will d-destroy you, rat yer, John eximed, the hatred for that rat was all consuming.
Try me! Rave challenged.
12 minutester.
THIS IS BULLSHIT! Rave screamed as he slowly poked down the Nexus.
Johnughed the dirtiestugh he had all his life. Ahahahaha. Rave you should never try to face off against the Gamer. This is my territory!
Not the reason why I lost! Raveined and rubbed her legs together. Her face was beet red and she was breathing hard. Ya damn cheater!
To her credit, he had been cheating a slight bit. After getting poked for two minutes, he had decided to punish Rave for her audacity by trying something he had been fantasizing about. A quick look under the table and he had Possessed her very visible panties. Then, he had been vibrating against her pussy. It probably wasnt as effective as a proper vibrator, but it did enough to distract her. That his attention was split hardly mattered. League of Legends was a game he had so many hours in, even a year break didnt break the muscle memory.
He was the victor of the match, he had gotten to y with Rave the entire time, and he had gotten a Possession level. It was the whole package of awesome. I just realized I didnt stutter at all during that victory deration, he pat himself on the proverbial back. I can do it.
Rave stood up on mildly shaking legs. You she swallowed and took the half step towards him. As much as he wanted to ensure she came at least once, he was out of mana. The vibrating stopped and she gasped in both relief and disappointment.
Yeeeees? John asked, teasingly.
Youreing overter. A handnded on his shoulder as he said that. She squeezed the practically exposed bone under the t-shirt. Ya being a bad boy and now ya gotta get me outta the mess ya got me into.
John could only smile more. He still wasnt sure what to do with his life, but even without upping his Charisma it seemed he was getting the hang of hanging out with her. That was the most important skill he could acquire at the moment anyhow. W-we could do it now?
Ya already made me cum, tiger, she said and let go of his shoulder.
I did? he thought. He had been too concentrated on the game and the act of pleasuring her to notice. Dammit he chided himself. That wasnt something he wanted to miss. She was gorgeous when she was all flustered and spasming.
Thats a lesson learned. Just wanted to mess with ya a bit and now I gotta change underwear.
Never pick Teemo w-when Im around! I didnt get to Diamond 2 for nothing.
Neeeerd, Raveughed and gave his head a yful tap. Gonna be back in a moment.
John stared at her as she walked away. He discovered a distaste for skirts. While seeing so much of her legs was nice, the way the yoga pants had stuck to her ass had been so much better than the way the skirt stretched around her bubble butt. The contemtion distracted him long enough, he only remembered he had the upgraded Observe to use on her when she was almost up the stairs.
His Rtionship Score was still improving and now she liked him for more than his powers. That was arge step in the right direction. Also a hint to dial it back on the Teemo hatred. If he had these kinds of hints earlier in his social life Vanessa probably still wouldve ruined it all for him.
Whatre ya looking at? Rave asked after she came back down. To her, he must have been intensely staring into the air. That she knew about his windows in general must have tipped her off though. New Achievement?
Y-your Stats, he confessed and realized a second toote that she had been touchy about the subject before.
You can do that, Johnny? her tone was serious.
Already toote to take back what he had said. I, uhm, unlocked it yesterday Y-your Agility is really impressive!
Yeah, sure, ya wanna look at my Agility, she rolled her eyes. Red dusted her cheeks.
W-why are you so embarrassed? John didnt get it. Somewhere in the back of his antisocial brain he knew that was a stupid question, but he really didnt get it.
Nothing to do with you.
I-is it the Libido? 13 cant be that bad I have 19
Yeah, well, my Libido is higher than my Wisdom and I dunno what that says about me but I dont like it. She crossed her arms and gave him a hard stare. Ya wanna keep asking questions, Johnny, or can we do something fun?
W-we can go fight ghosts, he assured her hastily. Whatever nerve he had just touched, he felt it best if he backed off and let her have her way for the rest of the day. With the interaction they had previously, he was already calling today a victory on the seeming less like a doormat front.
The grinding session that followed had him reach level 9. They found another talisman and he got another level of Possession (just lowering the activation cost further, down to 4 MP). Technically they also found a few Ectosms, but John just kept using them.
Afterwards, she was in a good enough mood that she did still invite him to her ce. They yed Dancestar for a bit. John had been against it at first, but it did give him Muscle of the Operation 3. After they had worked up a sweat, John got a little bit pushy and offered to eat her out again. He wanted to endear himself and giving worked better than receiving. Plus, he did like making her cum.
She took him up on the offer and repaid him with a handjob. Not quite as good as the previous days, but good enough to make John happy. A wonderful Wednesday, all in all.
Chapter 25 – The Weekend
Chapter 25 C The Weekend
Draw Four. John said.
Draw Six. Jimmie countered.
Draw E-eight. John fired right back.
Draw twelve! Jimmie triumphantly roared.
Waitsince w-when can you put +4 on +2s? John questioned and reached for the rulebook.
House Rules. Jimmie said and crossed his arms.
Yeah, no, you c-cant just introduce h-house rules mid game... John muttered as he went through the pages. No, nothing of the sort in here. D-draw Eight or give up.
Give me that.
You guys are soaaaaame. Rave shouted over from the arcade machines. The constant noise of smashing buttons and moving joysticks came from the wall of old game systems.
You w-wanted to stay a bit. John reminded her.
Jimmies like a cat, if ya never pay any attention to him at all hes gonna get all fat and lonely.
The mechanic was lighting a cigarette as he went through the small rulebook. As if I need you guys forpany. He grumbled and adjusted his cap.
You would just keep working on that robot of yours.
Is there anything wrong with that?
It just shows that ya got no game whatsoever. Even the nerds hanging out with more girls than you.
Jimmy didnt respond to that insult, only threw John a semi-jealous nce. The Gamer pretended not to notice. ording to Observe, Jimmie had a bit of interest in Rave. It was understandable, who wouldnt have an interest when they were hanging around a woman like her? Whatever he was feeling for her wasnt strong enough to actually act on it though. He also wasnt the guy she had lost her virginity to. Apparently that had been some mundane party goer that she since had cut all ties with.
John had been learning a few things between Wednesday and the weekend. About Jimmie, Rave, and just how to behave in general. He still put his foot in his mouth more than he was happy to admit. He still had a stutter. He still had no idea what to do. Yet, there was improvement. Quicker and more notable than at any point in his life.
He was starting to wonder if he really needed those powers or if he had just needed a motivator to leave the house.
Okay, I give up. You win. Jimmie tossed the manual and his remaining cards on the table. Ill go work on that robot. At least it doesnt give me lip. While he walked away, two windows popped up in front of John.
The Quest had popped up after Rave had told him they would stay in the arcade a bit. He hadnt aimed for the Optional goal and he wasnt sure if he had cleared it or if Ravesments had done it. No matter, the system had rewarded him with the easiest EXP since the first Quest. If only these popped up more regrly.
Okay. I have several questions. John thought. First-off, why do things always happen like this? Second, What the hell are those rewards? Third, what even is a Skill Evolution Point? Is it worth foregoing an extra item, more experience and a bigger dick?
New Achievement? Rave asked as she jumped over. Literally, she jumped on top of one of the arcade machines and then over to where he was sitting. It was in a realm on par with or beyond that of Olympian athletes. John didnt even question that part at this point.
The human brain gets used to anything after three days, was a saying he had heard before and he believed it held true in his case. Even the image of the mangled corpse no longer popped up in his mind uninvited. This was just what his life was now.
Or another Quest? Cause when ya said ya got one to annoy Jimmie, I was pretty hyped about it.
Y-yeah youre really good at guessing what I think, you know that?
Not hard when youre staring into the air instead of at my butt. Dont think ya got more in there than nerd and horny. She tapped his cranium a few times. Anyway, do we have to annoy Jimmie more? I love doing that.
Ehm, n-no It He cleared his throat. It wants me to have sex p-preferably with you.
Hah, good luck with that. Rave bowed down next to his ear. Ya doing pretty well for the first week though She suddenly shot up. John was concerned for a second, then she hummed. Huh, weve been hanging out how many hours?
About 40, John answered nearly immediately. He had done the math yesterday because his thoughts were circling around her most of the time anyway. Theyd been out and about together every day from when school ended up until 9 or 10 PM. His mom hadnt said anything about it after the first time and Raves ce was always empty.
Nerd. She gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. Still, I saw more of ya than I usually see of Jimmy or Travolta in a month or ever. She bowed back down and whispered in his ear. Youre definitely on the right track, tiger.
And just like that all of his blood went downstairs again. Being a-around you could be hazardous for my health. Johnined as he adjusted his pants to be a little less constricting. Now it was his turn to notice her stare at a window in the air.
Nah, your HP is fine, she stated, having checked the party interface. Also youre catching up to me, so Im doing a good job carrying your butt.
John had reached level 12 on Friday. Much of the past two days had been spent doing the usual, with the only difference being that he actually provided supportive fire now. With Mana Power attack, he could kill a Lower Ghost with five shots. He also only had the mana for six shots.
Rave had reached level 17. Took her a massive amount of ghosts murdered, but a level was a level.
So, you finally gonna do it?
Uhm? He was still mentally caught on the whole Lose your Virginity Quest. I dont unless- Ow! He stopped when she flicked his forehead.
Your Stats, Gamer. Get your mind out of the gutter, she reprimanded him.
Right, r-right, he agreed sheepishly. He had told her about his inability to choosest night. The answer she had for that was that she was going to: Drag his butt to a decision, because she was way too interested in seeing what was going to happen.
John wasnt sure if he appreciated her reasoning being more curiosity, but he did need the shove to finally make a decision. It was beyond inefficient to sit on these points for so long. He was artificially keeping himself weak.
He looked at his Stats. The summoner build still was what he had resolved to do, but the attack of the Wall Shadow had been a wake-up call regarding the dangers of having a familiar stronger than himself C and of the chaos ofbat in general. Are there summoners in the Abyss? Like p-people that use l-loyal familiars?
Depends on your definition of loyalty, I guess. I know theres some necromancers, although most people ya know, murder them pretty quick. Nobody likes having a guy looking for corpses in the neighbourhood. Theres golems and such, those dont typically question their creator, I think? Elementalists, like me, also can contract elementals and those rtionships are supposed to be friendly. Something about elementals liking to hang around this ne, dunno.
The single reason John regretted not having chosen Moira was that Rave truly was awful at exining things. Why? the techno lover asked.
Because I am feeling cmitted to Possession and am thinking a-about what I can work towards that works with it. Rave tilted her head, so John borated further. I-if I could possess a really s-strong body, like a s-summoned spider or a g-golem, I wont have to get as deep into Physic-cal Stats.
Sounds like ya need to learn how to enchant stuff, Rave thought. Wait a second.
Rave dashed off towards the staircase. She vanished upstairs. John wondered what was up there. He hadnt yet had an excuse to go there. Far as he knew, it was where Travolta lived. On her way back down, Rave jumped over the railing and ran back over. She presented him with a book. Basics of Supernatural Crafting the title read. Not knowing what else to do, John took it.
Baldy was reading thisst year, he wont mind if its missing. Ya can borrow it, maybe learn what ya need, I dunno. Rave shrugged.
Okay? John asked and looked at the window with a puzzled expression. There is no reason not to, right? he asked himself and pushed the button.
Just like that the book was gone. Wha-? Rave said, Did you put it into your inventory? John wasnt listening, he was way too busy getting used to the fact that his mind was suddenly filled with an entire books worth of words and the understanding rted to those words.
Hello? Earth to Johnny. Rave snapped her fingers in front of his face a couple of times. Finally, he snapped out of it.
S-sorry. I justwell I just learned everything in that book instantly.
Raveughed, then stopped when he didntugh with her. Bullshit.
No really, it said it was a Skillbook so I could instantly learn it. John tried to defend himself.
No, no I believe you. Its just bullshit is what it is, ya know? Rave looked like she had seen somebody burn a shed full of 100 Dor notes. I mean - wat?
Understandable reaction. Do you have any more books?
None Baldy wouldnt miss Im afraid. Rave calmed down and startedughing. That is ridiculous though.
Agreed. He wasnt sure yet if these two Skills would actuallye in useful for anything specific. He didnt see himself as a crafter long-term. In most games he yed, he was happy to do the resource grind but he preferred buying the items in exchange for the currency he earned doing that. Better to have it than not though. S-so I can g-get the Skills I need.
If you have the books. Rave reminded him, Which cost a lot of bucks by the way, you just evaporated around 5000 dors.
Johns eyes almost popped out of his skull. W-w-w-w-what? US dors?
Yeah, it was one of the cheaper ones, I know. Rave said.
John tried to single out the sarcasm in her voice but there was none. How is there so much money in this? How does no one notice THAT?
Moneyundering. Rave just said. Its how a lot of people in the Abyss keep their head above water. Shellpanies and all that. Dunno, ask my dad, the Abyss Auction takes care of most of it.
That information was almost more shocking than the attack of the nightmare centipede in his school. What the hell? He thought the Abyss would use some fantasy currency, but they used USD as well? How did that even work? John did his best to remain calm. Past the initial shock, that was pretty easy. His thoughts evened out and his heartbeat followed. Okay, so if I have the mo-money, I can get more books and get a better buildit might t-take a long time but once I get there things will be easy so I should c-choose a build now. John decided. If I stick with Possession I need to have a body that c-can fight as my frontline and protection Skills to keep my actual body safe. That is the core. I guess something like a mana shield would be the best for protection. Rave just stayed silent while he mumbled to himself. Stealth could also be useful but it takes too much mana to level right now.yeah ites down to mana again. I guess I need to up Int and Wis.
The decision was made. He had 40 points to distribute. He put the majority into Wisdom, raising it from 15 to 40, he also raised intellect from 25 to 35. After a nce at Rave, he put thest 5 points into Charisma. He was making progress with her but doubling his miserable Charisma was hopefully going to make him less inept. He feared that, once the novelty wore off, Rave wouldnt tolerate him just for the asionally good joke.
The effects were stupendously good. His Mana Regeneration rose from 0,5 all the way to 4,5 thanks to a new mechanic he discovered.
His Mana Pool had simrly exploded. Although his Intellect had already been 25, it seemed the system had required it growing at least once to register that fact.
Wow, I can actually see that, Rave stated. So ya spent all your points?
Yeah, John responded and smiled at her. No quiver to the side of his lips, no uncertainty in it, he just smiled like a normal person. Somehow, that was enough to make Rave blush a bit. Got way more mana, how can you see that?
Can ya repeat that? Rave asked.
I got way more mana, can you see that?
Rave tilted her head. One more time?
Is this some kind of joke I am not getting o- wait a second my stutter is gone. My stutter is gone! John jumped to his feet andughed. He had been fighting that damn thing since childhood and at the click of a button, it was eliminated. Without thinking, he turned to her and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Thank you!
Raves blush went from slight to manifest. I just did what I wanted to anyway, dont make it such a big deal, she told him, while tugging at her hair. You put points into Charisma too, didnt you? You have way less she stopped for a moment and rubbed where tired and gically unfortunate people had bags under their eyes. these.
Yeah, put it to 10! Rave wrinkled her forehead. It was at 5.
Huh I didnt think ya were that bad, Rave said. Just he awkward.
John felt like kissing her all over again, but he reined himself in. Ehem, he cleared his throat. so, what did you mean by seeing my mana grow?
You cant do it yet? Basically every Abyssal has like a second sight or whatever you call it? Its just a very basic thing that lets you differentiate the mundanes from the Abyssals. Kinda like you can take a glimpse at the power of their soul. Some people can do more with it. Like, the Order has seers who can trace anyone.
John shook his head, he had never heard of that. Moira had mentioned something simr, but he thought it was more limited. Maybe it''s been reced with Observe? Wait, how did Moira no- Ah, right. He stopped when Rave stuck her tongue out and presented the piercing again. Wait so if everyone can do that He let out a deep sigh. I just made myself an even bigger target for mana factory goons, didnt I?
Yup, congratz. Absolutely no way ya getting out of the Abyss now C guess youre stuck with me. Speaking of getting stuck with me, wanna go while its still morning?
Sure, he responded with a deep nod.
Chapter 26 – Camping!
Chapter 26 C Camping!
The n was simple: use the weekend to grind from dawn until dusk two days in a row. To that end, Rave had suggested that they just stay out in the forest. Losing time going back and forth between their homes was annoying, her words. John agreed after he found out how easily they could stay out for two days. The concern of food and afortable ce to sleep was alleviated by her presenting him with their tent.
In its folded state, the item looked like a normal pop-up tent, about half a metre across and ready to be thrown down. John could readily ept that, by magic shenanigans, there was all of that utility packed into it. He still didnt know how the kitchen would function, it definitely wouldnt have ess to the electricity grid. A gas stove, perhaps? Gasoline generator? He would just have to wait and see.
How did your mom react to this anyway? Rave asked, while they stepped into the forest. They took the usual route, following a hiking path until they were deep enough that no one could have followed them. The sun barely made it through the canopies.
She said she was happy that I was out with a girl asked me if I knew how to use protection. Then she bought some condoms for me.
Rave snorted. Your mom sounds awesome.
Well, she got pregnant when she was 18 and had me when she was 19, so I guess she just wants to be sure. A turned head and a raised eyebrow made him continue. Yes, I am for real.
And youre still an only child?
No need to try again when you get it right the first time C or if it went horribly wrong. He gave Rave a wry smile. Dunno which one I fall into. John was feeling chatty. To be capable of running his mouth without constantly stumbling over his words was liberating beyond belief. What about your mom? You never talk about her.
Cause I dont wanna. Raves gaze was transfixed on the forest floor in front of them.
John took a couple of big strides, to get next to her. The pink-haired half-Asian woman was frowning. Something... bad? he prodded carefully. If you dont want to talk about it, its fine, but Id like to well, listen to it if you got something bothering you. Help, if I can.
Rave stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a long, empty faced stare. Huh. She tilted her head slightly.
What?
Just wondering why it surprises me ya would say that youve been a pretty nice guy this entire time. She tilted her head the other way. Was it just the summerly warmth that made her face so red or was there something more? John had a desire to know and a desire not to use Observe to find out. It was confusing.
Rave eventually returned to moving and he kept up with her. They walked in silence for a little while. The leaves and needles crunched under their steps, remains fromst autumn that had not yet broken down. When she took a deep breath, John was all ears.
My mother is a giant fucking bitch, the curse words surprised John. Rave hadnt used a lot of those since he had met her. Never was satisfied with anything anyone around her ever did. Three years ago she and dad had a giant fight and finally divorced. It wasnt pretty and she took my sister and then just left us. Younger sister, she added at his surprised expression, then chuckled weakly. Dunno if shes as hot as me, perv. Ya shouldnt touch her anyway.
I didnt
Ya asked with your eyes. Ya speak a lot with those. yfully she poked him in the cheek. Ya know, your face is fascinating.
That made his features burn hotter than the sunrays. H-how so?
Like, now that ya dont look super tired ya just look so normal? Rave took the wind out of his sails. Like, if ya asked me: draw the most basic male face C Id draw you. Dunno, youre just so yeah, normal.
Well, better to be average than ugly, I guess? he tried to see the upside. Also, are you sure you wouldnt draw a hideous stick figure? Do you even have any artistic talent? He gave her a mild smile.
Raveughed. Jerk! she punched him on the shoulder. It hurt a little bit. It was a nice pain, for as little time as itsted. I can sing, Ill have ya know! Vaguely, John had already known that. When Rave sang along with her songs, it always sounded good. Anyway, my mother is in Denmark or Japan or wherever and she can keep her ass over there and out of my life.
John knew not to drill any further and instead just followed the motion of her adjusting her backpack. She was carrying a lot more than John. Most of what he needed, he had stuffed into his inventory. What little remained was in his school bag. He had offered to switch bags with Rave, because it felt like the proper thing to do. With a gentle shove, she had reminded him that she was the stronger one in this rtionship.
Alright, this looks good! Rave dered. They had found a nice clearing, way off the beaten path. No one would have found them here. Doubly so once they put the Illusion Barrier up. Can ya open a small Illusion Barrier right here?
You can deliberately make small ones? John asked.
Man, keep forgetting ya dont know the most obvious stuff. Yeah theres like anything between a single room to an entire city across in terms of Illusion Barriers.
And we dont just use a normal sized one here because?
Cause I dont wanna get attacked by ghosts as I sleep.
Alright so, correct me if I misunderstand this, but you are implying that things from one Illusion Barrier can settle over into an adjacent one? She shook her head. Then could you please exin it like I am three years old? Very slow and thoroughly? He hesitated for a moment. You do kind of suck at exining things.
Wha- I liked ya better when ya had a stutter! Rave eximed. Now ya dare criticize me?
Well, its true.
Anyone ever tell ya you say well way too much?
Well, John trailed off, then realized what he had done. The two of them exchanged a long nce. Then she snorted. Even the beginning of herughter made him break out in amused tones. Amidst their giggles, John took a step forward. Rave did the same and they leaned onto one another for support, until theughter subsided.
Alright, so, Rave cleared her throat, then raised one finger as if to mimic a stern teacher. If theres, like, two Illusion Barriers in the same spot, and ya dont control them, theyll fuse into one eventually. Gaia doesnt want the world to be littered with empty barriers, or something like that, so she makes it so they gradually break down. Which reminds me: well have to make really sure we dont sleep outside the tent barrier.
Because if we dont, the tent will get swallowed up with the closing barrier? And if that happens your dad will kill me?
Yep. Ya can learn stuff without me?
He looked at her for a moment, then decided to just do what his heart wanted. He took a small step forwards and put his arms around her waist. Its not as fun without you there.
Ohh, bold move. I like it, Rave smiled and scratched him under the chin. Each wiggle of her index finger sent little shivers down his spine. By the by, I ask ya to do it because youre obviously better at it. Ya might not be a Fateweaver, but ya got more mana in you. Must be all the Int and Wis.
Ill try then, John let go of her. The little hug already had him fully energized. She kept egging him on to be more assertive and finally that was sticking. Now it was time to try and impress her. He raised his hand. Concentrating on the wish to make a smaller Illusion Barrier than usual, he used the Create I.D. Skill. The airflow stopped.
Rave was pulled in alongside him C a feature of the party system. She took a few long steps, before suddenly stopping. Yup, thatll do. Good job, tiger.
God, I love that word, he thought. Every time she called him tiger was like a straight injection of serotonin into his brain. Even swimming in that happy high, he had a question. How do you know I did it right?
The walls right here. The revtion caused John to take several steps. The existence of a wall was logical, Gaia wouldnt create an entire copy of the earth each time someone was in a local skirmish. It was just the first time that John bothered to confirm its existence.
His outstretched hand met resistance where Rave stopped. It was like the kind of window that stores used to separate the air within the building from outside, just without the draft. The dense air solidified further the more he pushed, like he waspressing a sponge into rubber. If it could be made any harder, he did not know. He reached the end of his physical ability and was pushed back. Interesting.
Dunno if I should bother telling ya more about it, since Im so terrible at exining stuff, Rave joked.
John bowed his head deeply. Please, great teacher Rave, do inform me.
She hummed and tapped her pink lips with her finger. Alright, but only because youre fun. Raising his head, he smiled softly and waited for her exnation. She raised three fingers on her right hand. Theres three ways to escape Illusion Barriers that ya cant just leave. Number one, she pulled the ring finger in, ya knock out or kill whoever is in charge of it. Illusion Barriers are controlled either by the guy with the strongest mana in the barrier or the strongest monster in it. Unless theres a Fateweaver around. They are basically always in charge. Kinda is their whole shtick.
John nodded. He still hadnt really met a Fateweaver (although Jimmie apparently had some of the basic skillset), but he did know that they were the Illusion Barrier architects of the Abyss.
B, Rave pulled the middle finger in, ya can try to surge your magical power for a moment and brute force your way out that way. The guy who has the strongest mana in the barrier may not have the strength to keep ya in if you just try hard enough. Kinda like armwrestling for mages.
Arm wrestling is more of an endurance sport, John threw in.
What would you know about that? she pinched his thin arm. Cant believe ya didnt put any points in Strength, for real Anyway, finally, ya can try this! Rave pulled thest finger into her clenched fist and hurled a punch at the invisible wall. As she sank deeper, far deeper, than John had pushed into the edge of the barrier, a spiderweb of white cracks spread out into reality. Eh, didnt quite get through, she said and pulled her fist back. Ya can try to punch a hole into the wall and just walk out. More mana the controller of the Illusion Barrier has or if its a reinforced Protected Space, that gets way harder though. Its just the way us meatheads deal with the stuff. The cracks gradually closed, starting at the furthest away until the dense ring of cracks at the centre was swallowed up.
Understood, John nodded and pped, apuding. Very good exnation.
I do my best, Rave flicked a few of the extended strands of her hair over her shoulder. He still didnt get how it could be so perfectly messy.
With no further distractions, Rave put down her bag and unstrapped the popup tent from it. The dark green item still looked unassuming, even after Rave had pulled it out of its stic case. Rave ce it on the ground in the middle of the clearing. Then she took a few quick steps back. Did I forget something? Rave pulled out the manual. Right C Shaving is for losers!
The popup tent suddenly jumped. Its folded form spread out twice, then thrice, then four times, five times, until it was impossible to reason that much material had been stored away in so thin a package. It was still t, as itid itself out in arge rectangle. Then, with a sudden POOF! a three metre tall ceiling shot up into the air, drawing solid walls of metal up with it.
To call it a tent would be aplete misnomer. It was a shipping container that had been disguised as a tent. It wasrger than Johns room at home! The thing even had two windows! Lets go inside! Rave chirped and grabbed him by the hand.
He let her drag him towards the wooden door. As much as he was epting of this fantasy world he had found himself in, he was still stunned when he saw things like this.
The inside was spacious and cramped in equal measure. It was arge, single room apartment, with only the bathroom cornered off. Everything else, from the kitchen to the bedroom, existed within the rectangr space. The bed was easily big enough for two people. The kitchen had arge fridge, a stove and a sizable workspace. There was a wardrobe with a sock drawer and a couch with a big TV in front of it. The walls were covered in white wood. This was basically a cabin in the woods.
Johns eyes were inevitably drawn to the only contraption around that looked wholly out of ce. It was like a mixture of a chimney and bad cable management. A hole in the front allowed something to be ced inside.
This is not a tent, he dered.
Its totes a tent C a 400 million dor tent.
John nearly keeled over. That was a sum he couldnt even fathom with his student brain. There was more money in these four walls than most of Springfieldbined.
Youre cute when ya behave like a mundane. Rave suddenly pressed a kiss on his cheek. That snapped him out of it and he went back to looking at her. The tent was more valuable than even most cargo ships John had seen in his life. She was priceless. Ya wanna marvel at my dads money ore kill some spooky bedsheets with me?
I want to be with you, he thought. Lets go with the spooky bedsheets.
Chapter 27 – Ghost Slaying
Chapter 27 C Ghost ying
Mana gathered in his palm. A calm flow of energy spread down from his brain, tingled in his lower spine, then made its way to his hand. There, it seeped outwards. Vtile energies condensed into a formless bubble. Once it reached the power the Skill allowed, it wasunched. On impact, it caused the ephemeral body of the Lower Ghost to dissipate.
Ey, youre down to three shots per ghost, Raveplimented. Thats way better.
Doubly so with how liberally I can use the spell now, John agreed with a happy hum. 152 mana with regeneration at 4,5 a minute meant he could actually do this on his own now. Im not useless anymore.
Rave suddenly jumped up to him and punched through the distorted face of another monster. Are ya? she asked teasingly. He was too stunned by her being right in front of him to answer. The sight still robbed him of his breath. I always wondered how that worked.
John found his voice again after she backed off a little. How what worked?
Ya attack the ghosts with mana, right? And the ghosts are made from mana, right? John wasnt sure if that was entirely correct but his understanding of realitys magic system was still pretty rudimentary. He just nodded. So why can ya hurt them like that? How does that work?
Well, if I p you with a steak, you get hurt too, right?
Rave tilted her head and looked at him like he was a childrens book about bunnies that switched to an exnation of why the authors daughter needed a liberal arts degree in the middle. Huh?
Youre mostly made out of protein, so if I p you with a steak, ording to that logic, it shouldnt hurt you, right?
Oh, I get ya guess that makes sense. Did you just pull that out of your hat?
John shook his head. Imented something to that effect on a reddit thread once. Most upvotes I ever got.
They continued in their undead extermination for a long time. A very, very long time, especiallypared to the usual. Usually they farmed for four to five hours, before calling it a day and hanging out at Raves ce for the rest of the evening. Today, however, they had started shortly before noon and were still at it when the sun moved towards the horizon.
John pointed his palm at another Ghost and conjured a Mana Power Attack. The blue ball flew from his hand at the monster. It glowed slightly in the fading light of the sun that painted the forest in pastel red. The ghost turned towards John and gradually drifted towards him. They were a lot less imposing after he had spent so much time ughtering these slow-moving entities. Two more sts and it was dead.
Ya should really try to get a better Skill in the future. Rave pointed a finger at another ghost. A beam of bright light shot out and unmade the creature in a sh. I mean, youre down to three attacks but it still sucks. The name and everything. Mana Power Attack C sounds like its mistranted or something.
Yeah, I know. John sighed. Considering he was catching up to Raves level, his only means of direct attack should not have dealt this little damage at this high a rtive cost. It was better now. It was still bad. Each attack needed two seconds to prepare and the projectile was bright blue, shy, and not that fast. In an actualbat situation, he wouldnt be able to hit anything that wasnt point nk.
Then have you tried making it, I dont know, not suck? Rave asked, a streak of light twirling around her fingers. You have an Innate Ability, cant ya use it to influence stuff?
I dont think thats how mine works. Its all tranted into game mechanics. I cant just will a mechanic to do something different C and I did try. He shot another Mana Power Attack at a ghost. Seems like the drawback for my powers being heavy on utility is that I dont get to just decide what shape they take. Skills do what Skills say they do. I can reshape the attack just as little as I can strain myself to make Possession take hold of living things. He sighed. I also dont get Skills whenever I want. Seems like Gaia just gave me a starting package and now I have to figure it out.
Ya can really talk a lot, Rave hummed.
Does it bother you?
Nah, its just that I had chalked ya up sopletely as introverted.
That did give him pause. He needed to think about it for a moment. Now that she mentioned it, he had felt none of the typical social exhaustion. That wasnt a new development for today though. Hanging around with you is just simple. It feels right, he confessed.
you know what, same, Rave responded in kind. Then she drastically changed the topic. Gained any Achievementstely?
No and I think theyre just Gaias way of making fun of me anyway. Just like some Observe descriptions. I looked at a pebble recently and it had several dozen paragraphs of descriptions.
Really? What was it? Rave sat down on a toppled over tree.
Alright, before I start, Ill tell you that I checked and it was just a normal pebble. With that cleared up, he took a deep breath. The Mithril Pebble of Pig-Smiting. For you see, long ago that pebble was forged in the fiery pits of Tartarus by the grand cksmith of Lucifer himself in a time before the world began John rambled on for three minutes or so. It was one of those moments where his high Intellect came in handy. He had memorized the entire thing, hoping it would make for a good joke. And thus, the Guardian of the pebble passed from this world leaving behind the pebble for the Gamer to find. +1 to making pigs angry when thrown at them.
Rave, unexpectedly, didntugh. Instead, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Did you just rip-off SAO Abridged?
John tilted his head. What now?
SAO Abridged, Something Witty Entertainment? he still didnt understand. The anime parodies? Rave asked differently.
I told you I dont watch Chinese cartoons, so I have no idea what you are talking about.
Rave let out a scandalized gasp. Ya did not do that! Imma rip your world asunder!
You already have, John thought.
Alright, thats it, were educating you after we get back to the tent.
That TV has reception?
And Netflix and Crunchyroll!
Okay, thats it C how do you have electricity and inte and plumbing inside a container in the middle of the forest? I can deal with the Harry Potter self-unfolding giant tent, but I need more details.
We already have inte at the arcade, dunno why this is bothering you now.
Its been bothering me the entire time, but this is just too weird. Its a container in a pocket dimension, in the middle of a forest, in a county that has terrible wireless and you cant send electricity like that in the first ce!
Its Fateweaver stuff. Ya know they just hook stuff up and then it works alright, I can see what ya mean when ya say Im not good at exining stuff. She stopped for a moment. Just ask Jimmie about it.
I will, John mentally resolved. Then he got distracted by her crossing her legs. The mini skirt rode up a bit and revealed her panties again. Perhaps it was the long day, perhaps it was that he hadnt been in the habit of masturbating since he had been capable of getting with her, perhaps it was both, but that was all it took for him to get excited. Alright could I convince you to still show me things?
Like my boobs? Rave asked, her sultry tone reflecting his needful one. Ya already saw plenty of those and they aint that impressive.
Never plenty of them and all breasts are beautiful. They deserve to be marvelled at as often as possible. Everything on you deserves to be. Youre just wow. The thoughts flowed out freely.
Oh stop it. Rave smirked and looked off to the side. Slowly her eyes rolled back to focusing on him. Continue?
You have the greatest butt in the entire school C no, world.
I do? Rave stood up and inspected her own backside. You mean this butt? she turned around. The miniskirt did not do it justice. It hid that wonderful valley between the twin spheres. Every little wiggle of her hips made it clear that she knew exactly what she had.
Its just perfect, John said. Round everywhere it should be, has a beautiful little crease where it meets your thighs, and yet is so smooth. So firm. Its just the right size to draw attention and not sorge it''s out of bnce with your slender art piece of a body.
Youre actually a real charmer, tiger, arent you? Rave sashayed over to him. A hand ced on his shoulder, the other on his crotch, she squeezed the bulge. Ya know, I can actually feel the difference since ya got bigger, she whispered in his ear. Then she continued. Where do ya pull all of that from, hm?
I wanted to say all of this to you for thest two days but I just didnt feel confident until I could really talk to you, John groaned. The little motions of her palm were enough to make him shiver. Her blue eyes gazed up at him, pink dancing inside. Her pink hair caught the red of the fading day.
He knew more now, about himself and her. Leaning forwards, he got ready to im her lips as his. There would be more to this kiss than a lustful, thoughtless entanglement. He could feel it.
A terrible cold gripped his shoulder. The ghastly face of the undead creature rose up between them. Anger rose up inside John. By the time he was starting to formte his response, Rave had already punched clean through the entity, her fist engulfed in the blue flickers of her Aura. Fucking mood killer, she cussed.
Johns rage died as quickly as it had risen. His mind reeled for a moment. So, want to- he started, trying his best to salvage the situation. As the ghost faded from existence and the sun fully set, a new window demanded attention.
Chapter 28 – Spectre
Chapter 28 C Spectre
Whats happening? Rave asked and John looked up from the window.
Thick shadows bubbled from the floor, swirling and converging. A swirling mass of darkness, flowing through the trees. What light of dusk still peeked over the horizon was smothered, as the strands of ck interwove, growing into onerge gathering.
It says a boss monster spawned, a Spectre C and that we cant get out until it''s dead, he exined quickly.
Oh? The techno lover grinned broadly. Lets get to it then. The ck mass gathered above their head now. Rave sted it with aser that lit up the forest. The gathered darkness rippled under the impact, but did not seem harmed. Welp, that didnt do anything.
The ripples intensified, then suddenly smoothed over. Eight needle-like fingers tore out from the inside and then ripped the cocoon of ckness open. A face pushed out. A hideous face, with no eyes nor hair. A toothless maw parted wide and the Spectre screeched. Unlike its lesserpatriots, the boss monster could be heard. Its scream was like nails on a chalkboard. Its green form emerged fully from the dissipating spawning point.
Oh great, there are Elites in this game was Johns first thought.
Raves first thought was a bit more sensible. Dodge! She screamed and tackled him. They tumbled over the forest ground, escaping the Spectresnding. It caught itself, tattered form hovering, and immediately turned to chase after them. Long, gnarly ws reached out for them.
Rave sted the hand with a wave of light and heat. Her MP, barely taxed after taking care of schmucks the whole day, rapidly decreased from this onught. A cascade of primal, angry sneers apanied the Spectre flinching back. It used its hands to shield its face from the light.
John got on his feet quickly and helped Rave do the same the moment she stopped channelling her spell. Then they ran. Taking deep breaths, Rave kept slow to be at his side. Her MP recovered in small bursts.
Once they got to a basic,fortable distance, they looked back at the Spectre. The monster was thrashing around, splintering wood and scattering earth. This is bad, John stated. The physical power the creature disyed was worrisome even for Rave and if the description was to be believed, this monster was stronger than the Wall Shadow.
Ya dont say. Rave answered with a big grin. Aint that what makes it great?
John could not share her immediate enthusiasm. He had been this close to achieving something and now he was staring at a new face of death. It is level 25 and Elite, whatever exactly that means, John told Rave quietly. His agitated breathing was contrasted heavily by the controlled in and out of his party member. We might die here.
Aint no use worrying about it. If it happens, it happens C lets just fight until we win, Rave rolled her shoulders. The bursts of mana regeneration became a bitrger. She was almost back to full already. She stared at him for a couple of seconds. Hey, Gamer, are you afraid?
John stared back. No C I just dont want to die.
Then were in the same boat, tiger, Rave pped him on the back. Come on, ya cane up with a n, right?
Johns mind moved rapidly. His thoughts were smoother than ever, with the improved Intellect and Wisdom. The Spectre was slowly recovering, but it hadnt spotted them yet. Grabbing Rave by the arm, he dragged her towards a nearby trench. The two of them pressed tightly to the ground. Can you do that sh attack repeatedly? he asked. Rave nodded. Alright, basic kiting strategy then. Ill throw Mana Power Attacks at it, you can throw somesers in there too if you are confident you have the mana. We let it chase us for a bit while using more attacks. Then, once it''s close, you blind it. Then we hide again, regenerate mana, and position ourselves for the next attack. Rinse, repeat, victory. Sound good?
Thats mynguage; Rave grinned and kissed him on the cheek again. Rather than tingles, it filled him with a grim determination. He refused to die in the tutorial.
They jumped out of the trench. Its back towards them, the Spectre only noticed them when theser hit it. A Mana Power Attack followed immediately. Rave shot a couple more times, while John only got a second shot in. The projectile missed, the Spectre storming towards them as quick as its flight allowed. Cant be missing these, every shot might count! John scolded himself. Man, I would love an HP bar for enemies.
They started running, keeping as much distance between them and the monster as they could. Raves mana decreased, then jumped up again. The pattern to her regeneration was too irregr for John to understand.
The Spectre extended its hand, close enough to grab them now. Rave! John shoutedmandingly.
Ya got it! the techno lover sted the Spectre with a scattershot of technicolour and heat. The Spectre screeched, Rave followed John to a safe distance. He guided her to a hiding spot. She was dealing all the damage, he was concentrating on getting the operation to run smoothly.
The Spectre was busy thrashing around again. Easy two phase bossfight, John thought, easing up a little bit. We can do it. It is strong but slow and crowd control works.
Yep, just gotta keep this going, Rave agreed, shifting around next to him. Man, I forgot what danger feels like C ya gotta love it.
John let out a slightly nervousugh. Youre a bit too into this.
Ya dont like it? she asked with a grin.
I feel like I shouldnt, but I cant think of anything about you thats not hot. The words just left his mouth and they both grinned, like partners in crime.
They jumped back out the moment Raves mana was topped off. This time, the Spectre spotted them immediately. John aimed carefully at its centre of mass andnded both of the shots he had the opportunity to. Then they started running again. John focused on finding the next hiding spot. The creature approached quickly. There was barely a metre between it and them. Rave!
Right! Rave shouted and turned to give the Spectre a third faceful of concentrated light. Whether it was a minute difference in the execution or if the Spectre had learned, who knew. Fact was that it brought its w down not to secure a hold of her body, but only to take her wrist.
Grabbed, her hand was forced down. The force exploded into the body of the Spectre and the forest floor underneath. Dried out branches and leaves suddenly caught fire. The Spectre screeched, in triumph and pain. Rave, screamed only in thetter. Where the hand of the boss sped her arm, sickly green mist drifted from her skin. Her HP decreased by a tenth, then gradually drained further. Her MP was getting depleted way faster. The boss was seeping both from her form.
No C no, no, no, no, John mumbled, his eyes dashing around. These monsters didnt neatly let go of their targets when attacks hit. Throwing a Mana Power Attack at the Spectre achieved nothing C at least nothing visible. It did not even acknowledge him, as it slowly drifted away from the mes.
Let C go! Rave growled, struggling against the firm grasp. She threw punches and kicks, but without her mana they achieved little. They just bounced off the solid surface of the creature.
Its tangible! John realized and with that the path to victory. He ran to the spot the Spectre had just been at and looked around. He found arge branch with many smaller side branches, all of them alight. It was difficult to lift, but that didnt matter. It burned his hands as he ran, but that didnt matter either. Dedication and adrenaline were all he felt at that moment.
The Spectre only acknowledged Johns existence when the branch was mming into its head. The boss screeched and swiped at John with its offhand. Johns HP immediately dropped 29 points, leaving him with only a third of the 60 max he had. He flew through the air on his own. He barely even cared about his body. His mind was elsewhere.
The Possessed branch wrapped its many burning sidearms around the head of the boss monster. Like a wood Facehugger, it held on tight and pressed the fire right into the ectosm of the creature. There was nothing for it to see but glowing hot orange. Screeching in pain, it wed at its face with both hands.
Releasing the techno lover from its grasp in the process.
Alright, now ya pay, Rave stated. Her chest rose and fell in deep breaths. Her mana ticked up inrge chunks. Unmoving, too busy tearing chunks of entangled wood off itself, the boss was a prime target. Enveloped in her Aura, she rushed forwards and rammed her fist into its chest. Inside its translucent body, she opened her hand. Sparkling lights danced around her wing fingers. Each an explosion that made the Spectre contort in pain. A hole was seared into the middle of its being, rapidly growingrger.
With onest, blood-chilling screech, the boss monster disappeared fully. The splinters of the burning branch fell to the ground. John broke the Possession that still connected him to thergest chunk of the branch. Then he ran over. His HP was decreased, but Gamers Body made it so there was no pain at all.
Rave sat on her butt on the forest floor. There were no outward injuries. The life energy had been sapped straight from her, leaving her unblemished. Tired, but joyful, she turned his way with a big grin. Victory for the Rave Party, she dered and tossed up two fingers in a V-shape.
Chapter 29 – The Spoils
Chapter 29 C The Spoils
Relieved, John finally noticed the cascade of windows. That was a haul that could hardly be put into words. He deserved his share of the experience a lot more this time around, so he took it dly. Beyond the Stat Points to distribute (he refused to call them Skillpoints, no matter what the Character Sheet said), he also got two Achievements.
He decided to put the point for the Achievement into Charisma, then put five points from his levels into Intellect and Wisdom respectively. He saved the remaining five points forter. There was too much on his mind to decide if he wanted to keep raising either of the Mental Stats or something else.
Thergest reason why he was distracted was that Rave was safe. The sense of relief he felt at that could not be understated. The second reason was almost as pressing on his mind though. The boss had dropped money. Not a little either. 20 grand in a thick bundle of hundred-dor bills. Any question he had on whether he could live off grinding monsters was irrevocably answered. Unless it was fake. He would have to verifyter.
The other item the boss had dropped was simultaneously less and more exciting.
John put the money into his inventory and watched the USD counter in it skyrocket. To go from 2 and a half dors to more was he didnt even know what it was. He felt weird. That was more money than he had held in his entire life up to that point. Considering what he had to do to get it, he felt he had earned it. Still, it was an odd sensation to suddenly have the capacity to buy most things he had ever wanted.
He looked at Rave. She had been following his movements quietly ever since she had thrown up the victory sign. You alright? he asked. He wasnt used to Rave being this quiet for this long.
Ya done picking up the stuff? she asked, her voice oddly calm.
Y-yeah, he responded. He did not mind that his stutter returned for a moment. This felt like an appropriate time to stutter.
He scratched the back of his head until he noticed she was waving him closer with her index finger. He came hither and then even closer, when the motion continued urgently. When he was practically kneeling next to her, she suddenly threw herself at him.
Lips, soft and warm, pressed on his deeply. Her tongue touched his and stirred him out of his startled state. He was always ready to make out with her. The sweet taste of bubble gum filled his mouth and he pressed up against her. The passion was deeper than it had ever been before. He wrapped his arms around her narrow waist. Gradually, he managed to sit upright. Her legs were wrapped around his waist. She sat in hisp and ran her hands through his hair.
Neither of them were willing to stop. John felt like something was slotting into ce, something he had wanted his entire life, and if he backed away now he would forever lose it. Their kiss became calmer as it went on. There was less motion. Less lustful moans. It was all reduced to slow, tender movements and the smacking of their lips next to the dying fires.
That was awesome, Rave whispered. You can be a pretty good kisser.
If you will keep letting me practice, John returned quietly.
Youll do a lot more than that, she purred. Were going back to the tent and then youre doing me. Johns eyes went wide. A hand pressed on his lips. Yes, Im serious. Yes, I thought about it. Ya know, ya might be awkward and a total perv, but ya never were selfish about it. Plus, youre honest and fun and honestly fun. She kissed the tip of his nose. Ya wont make me regret it, will ya?
No, he promised, with every fibre of his being.
Chapter 30 – Proving Capable
Chapter 30 C Proving Capable
They were in the tent for all of five seconds and Rave had already pulled her top over her head. It sailed off somewhere. John did not check. Dragging items into his inventory as he walked, he became naked bit by bit, while Rave left a trail of clothes on the way to the bed. In a naked embrace, they fell onto the bed.
A knot of messy bodies, they wrestled with no true goal. John only knew he wanted more of her. To touch more of her skin, a bit sticky after a day outdoors. To smell more of her scent, the slight peppermint note still clinging to her. To taste more of her, the salt and the sweetness of her being. They werent as clean as usual and nothing about that bothered him.
John did not care to even think about anything. When she framed his face with her hands, he just did what his instincts told him and pressed his lips on hers all over again. She was underneath him. Possibly for the first time, at least actively, he found himself on top.
He loved it. From the way her arched back pressed pebbled nipples against his chest to the feet that crossed behind his waist. Her cunt was pressing against his erection. She was as wet as he was hard. Immense heat radiated from her pussy lips, while he grinded against them. Mindlessly, he was moving his cock back and forth, sliding up and down her outer folds, thering his manhood in the mixture of precum and pussy juices.
Rave moaned into his kiss, when his thumb found her clit. With slow, constant circles, he added to his thrusts. Grabbing her ass with the other hand, he inched ever closer to heaven. The juiciness of her behind spilled between his fingers.
With her entire body, she pushed against his dick. Rhythmically, she gyrated her hips, matching his pace. Already this was more than John could have ever dreamt of. She was so hot, so wet, so willing. The blood in his veins pumped. This was every bit an affirmation of a life worth living. Lips, glossy with their mixed saliva, opened and closed. The kiss continued, no break eversting long. Hazy eyes reflected his own. Sapphires dulled with lust and ignited by passion.
A flicker of reason rose in Johns mind. Condom, he mumbled into the kiss, turning his head to find his backpack.
Rave turned his head back, Ya dont need it C I wont get pregnant.
He was too horny to distrust her on this or ask for further details. Electricity danced up and down his spine with every little motion he made, pressed so intensely into her quivering quim. Her heels pressed into the back of his hips. I want to-
I need you to put it inside, Rave gasped at the same time. Visibly, she had to make the effort to loosen her legs so he could pull back enough. John grabbed his cock. Angling the tip like he had seen so many times, yet never gotten to do himself, he rubbed it against herbia before slowly thrusting forwards. Yeeeesssss, Rave cried out loudly, overpowering his own groans.
The head of his cock sunk into her, then the upper parts of his shaft. His hand returned to rubbing her clit. Every coaxed out gasp was another reason to love her. Juicy, her ass trembled on his palm. All of her was trembling under him. That bottom-heavy frame of hers was sprawled out for him to see. The firm, petite breasts, the t midriff, and the wide hips that he was bing one with more and more.
Deeper, tiger,e on, Rave panted. She ran a hand through her pink hair, while giving him the sexiest gaze he had ever seen. Every centimetre he prated further was a struggle. She was tight, her wet folds trembled, and for all the lubrication John was not sure how far he could go. His entire being felt like it was being enveloped by the heat of her insides. The pleasure made even his non-existent thoughts swirl. Oh yes! she moaned.
He was all the way inside her.
John only realized that when he pressed against her thighs. There was nowhere deeper to go, he was pressed as tightly against and into her as could be. Windows opened at the edge of his vision. He ignored them all. The only thing that mattered was this moment. The bliss was barely evenparable to her mouth. He had survived, he was advancing and he needed to pump his load into her so desperately.
There was no resisting the impulse.
Balls tightened and he groaned. Twitching inside her, he spurted wave after wave of seed into her. Jolts of pleasure bounced through his mind. At first it felt fantastic, then the realization crept in. Johnny, please tell me you didnt just? Raves voice asked him while thest of the orgasm was spilling into her. The reality of the situation was
Yes, he admitted and grabbed her curvy hips with his hands, but Im not done. Proving his words, he slowly pulled out, revealing his still rock-hard erection. Whether it was willpower, high Libido, the sheer need, or youthful vigour, he was still hard and ready to prove himself.
Yes! Rave shouted, when he plunged back into her with more confidence. The pleasure of being enveloped by her all over again rippled through his being, but it was manageable. His fingers sunk a little deeper into her bubble butt and began the rhythmic in and out of her that he had craved since first seeing her. Oh, tiger, yes, thats it! Just like that, dont stop!
Hecked the braincells for any response. Every part of his brain was upied by the unsophisticated wish to pound her into the mattress. The curving of her writhing back. The travels of her hands, ruffling the made bed and crumpling the sheets when she wed at it. Her breasts rose and fell. Each thrust made her heave heavily, made her moan louder, made her shouts a little higher pitched. The pink crowns of her lovable chest cut through the air.
Yes, yes, yes, yeeeees! all motions came to one explosive end. Stop, just C a mooooooomeeeeent! A drawn out shout made John cease his motions. He would have needed to stop anyway. Her cunt was clenching down on his shaft and made it almost impossible to pull out.
Rave was gorgeous while the spasms had a hold of her. Expression nk with bliss, torso writhing, thighs pressing into the sides of his hips C all of it gorgeous. Each pulse around his shaft drenched their joined sexes a little more. And like that, he waited, sheathed fully inside her, until she said a single word.
More.
John tightened his hold on her hips and bowed over her. He knew he would, or should, be sore all over his thin body after this, but he did not care. Willing to wreck himself, he fucked her as hard and fast as he had to offer. You like this? he managed to ask that simple question.
L-l-l-l-loooo-o-o-o-ovvvvvve iii-i-i-it! she screamed. Her words were scrambled, the constant PLAP! PLAP! PLAP! shaking her down to the vocal cords. He changed the angle slightly and her eyes went wide. There! Right there! Ke-e-e-eeep go-i-i-i-i-ing!
John had to vite that request for just one moment. To reach that spot that drove her crazy he repositioned himself. Bowed over her, her cunt and heart-shaped ass rolled up, he pressed back down into her. When he went back to it, he could see the overabundant wetness spill from her cunt. Her arms wrapped around his neck and they found each other in a sloppy, heated kiss. It was broken repeatedly by moans and cries.
A-a-a-aaaa-hhh, Rave was beyond words. As drunk on the moment as she was, she only cared for each time he prated her tight tunnel deeply. Keeping the pace, hitting the spot, making her scream, John had never felt more powerful and aplished in his life. It was intoxicating, almost as addicting as the sensation he rapidly raced towards again.
This time there was resistance. He was not done until she came a second time. Driving hard and fast into her, he filled the room with the echoes of flesh pping against flesh. Fingers wed at his back. Breasts pushed against him. The hormones and adrenaline of their victory rushed through them both. John could practically smell it in the air, what he was doing to her. All of his body was primed to pump her full with another full load. His balls had long since refilled.
Raves whole body went tense. Her pussy mped down on his cock. A different request apanied it this time: More.
As best he could, John slowly pulled out of her clenching cunt and then hammered down in one swift descent. Over and over and over again, until her toes curled and her eyes rolled up. An expression he had thought only existed in images, staged or drawn, was right there underneath him. Her O-shaped mouth, her half-choked moans, her fluttering eyelids, the sight was too much and he could hold back no longer.
Balls deep inside her again, his cock tensed and pumped her pussy full with a second load of white hot seed. Cumming inside her after having fucked her silly was so much better even than the previous orgasm. Each spurt felt like a long overdue release. Each second felt like an eternity. Each breath felt like it was the start of a lightning storm of bliss ravaging his insides.
It all ebbed away. Slowly, gradually, until he pulled out of her. A part of him wanted to continue. He knew that he could continue. The rest of him was too tired. He plopped down on the bed next to her. Groggily, she blinked. Her lips parted. If she had anything to say, she was out before she managed to do so.
And he passed out a secondter.
Chapter 31 – A Slew of Messages
Chapter 31 C A Slew of Messages
John awoke for two reasons.
One was the sun shining into his face. In their hurry, neither he nor Rave had even considered closing the curtains and so the sun was ring in through the window.
The second was that something was pressed against his chin. In his sleep-drunken state, he imagined that it was Rave. They would have a romantic waking up, her snuggled up to him, with a kiss to greet the morning. Only as he blinked awake and was about to press his lips onto her, did John realize that he had been half right. It was Rave. However, feet were not good at kissing.
Rave had turned around in her sleep. Completely. She was sprawled out over John in the most lovable mess imaginable. The foot finished dragging over his face. Nooooo, Jimmie, stop building Michael Bay movies they dont even taste good, she mumbled. For future reference, John made a note of Rave being prone to a lot of motion during sleep. The talking nonsense he deemed as rtively normal.
John was wondering if he could fall asleep again, when he was softly kicked in the temple. Even soft kicks to that particr area rang and although there was no damage, he was wide awake afterwards. Well, I am thirsty anyway, he thought and carefully untangled himself from the half-Asian bombshell.
Once outside the bed, he stopped for a moment. Rave was sprawled out, except for one of her legs that was angled in an odd way. It looked ufortable. Her face was at peace though. She was neither a snorer nor did she drool. The only spot on the bed was almost certainly from where the excess of his seed had dribbled from her overnight.
I really did it, I slept with this! John thought, staring at the absolutely gorgeous creature before him. Her hair still looked the same as always. Whatever she did to make it look this stylishly dishevelled, it wassting.
John felt like letting out a victory scream, but he had a little bit ofmon sense. Simrly, he did not start taking care of his morning wood. Instead walking over to the kitchen and gloating in silence. He found a ss and the tap and tried to get himself some water. Nothing came out. That was mildly concerning. He decided not to start worrying until Rave woke up. Instead, he checked if their field rations contained some more packaged juice alongside all the jerky.
He found some and sipped on it while checking the windows that he had ignored yesterday. There were a few more than he had thought.
He had gone with the dick sizest time he was offered a choice. Part of him wanted to repeat that. However, John was feeling fairly confident in his sexual ability at this moment. Last night couldve been a disaster but hed managed to make her cum twice and shed looked very satisfied at the end. A primitive part of his brain still would have liked the bigger tool. His ego didnt outright demand it at this moment.
Then there was the matter of the alternative. 5% Charisma had been really good. What a Skill Evolution Point was, he did not even know. The name gave a good idea. Only having it would confirm his suspicions. Lets go with that one, John thought and pressed the left option.
And the weird things just kept rolling in. Rtionship screen? Okay? Sure, he wanted to try and get to max rtionship with Rave anyway, he was feeling very attached to the girl whom he had just lost his virginity to. Both because that had happened and because she was so much fun to be around.
Attached enough to drop his ns to create a harem?
Yes. Yes, he was. He would still hope for a harem though, but not if it meant he couldnt have her. Maybe he could broach the subject carefully at some point in the future? This felt like a dangerous talk to have. Made a lot of sense that so few people in history had harems.
Okay, nice, but this raised his Libido and he was kind of afraid of what would happen if it got too high. Also, curious. If WIS and INT were anything to go by, something would happen once the Stat reached 25 base. So much to consider, he thought. I need more mana. Id also like to not be this anymore. He looked down at his thin form. By the miracle of Gamers Body, he was not sore all over, but he had struggled mightily to perform and he wasnt sure if he could do that reliably, without the adrenaline of a near-death experience circting in his system.
Anyway, there were still more windows.
And with all that his Stat Screen now looked like this.
He would distribute the Stat Pointster. For now, he needed food and clothes. Jerky was avable, but if he ate that now they wouldnt have any more during the grinding. Clothes first, he thought and pulled fresh ones out of his inventory. The ones from yesterday, he left there. The preservation of his inventory meant they would be just as sweaty as when he had peeled out of them.
Dressed in a ck shirt and blue jeans, both slouching off hisnky form, he walked up to the stove and yed around with the nubs. No reactions. No water and no power, was Rave wrong? Is this ce broken? He had several cans ofsting food in his inventory and he did not care to eat any of it cold. Although he probably could. Well, lets just assume Rave was right, which means there must be a switch or something.
His eyes moved quickly to the weird contraption at the centre of the room. It was so utterly out of ce from a design and utility perspective that it must have had something to do with the odd way this ce was supposed to work. Observe would provide rity.
That answers electricity and water. Im still not sure how the inte works in here. John trotted over to the machine and inspected it a bit more closely. Guess I just stick my hand in there? he thought, looking at the hole in the front. With no other idea, he did exactly that. He found a handle inside and grabbed it. A soft sucking feeling, aimed at his mana, was the consequence. An odd sensation, roughlyparable to sucking at his teeth. He let it pull at his mana.
The apparatus sprang into action with a series of nking noises. John heard gears turn inside the metal shell, the air began to softly vibrate around his hand. 6 Mana per Minute? John thought and checked his Character Sheet with his free hand.
Thanks to histest stat increases he was regenerating 5,4 Mana/minute. After equipping the Ne of the Haunted Woods that went up to 5,9. Just out of boredom he calcted how long exactly he could sit there.
So I pay 0,1 every minute with my mana pool of 182. 182 divided by 0,1 is the same as 182 times 10 so I can sit here for 1820 minutes, that in hours is 30,3 repeating. So, I can sit here and give mana to this thing for about one day and 6 hours.
Gaia could gently go find a cactus to sit on. This calction was very important, -6 MP/minute was exactly the same as Possessions cost. Now he knew he could actually keep levelling that while he slept. Provided that he could keep the Skill running while he was unconscious.
How would that work? Would his body be sleeping but his mind be active? Would that allow him to have reasonable rest? What did the Achievement mean by right next to him anyway? Rave was still lying in be-
Morning! Rave suddenly hugged him from behind.
GOD ALMIGHTY! John eximed, jumping hard enough to bang his wrist against the generator. His left wrist. The right was still holding onto the grip.
Janes fine, John, Rave joked, No need to start worshipping me or anything.
Wait, did she just call me by my actual name. Wait, wait, did she just tell me to call her by her actual name? Observe, I need advice, John used the Skill quickly.
Okay, okay, wait, wait, what? Wait. John suddenly felt very conflicted about the development of his life. Not in the I shouldnt be doing this but in the This was actually too good to be true kind of way. A girl had a crush on him? That was possible?
New Achievement? Rave asked.
U-uhm, yeah, he lied. He did not know how to broach that he had just learned about her having a crush on him through Observe. He wasnt sure if she felt that would vite her privacy. John considered Observe as an extension of his ability to read people. Some people were better at it than others and he had a window that made it all certain. He wasnt sure if Rave would share that viewpoint though. More importantly, her eyes were beautifully sparkly things that he could just gaze into for hours. She was kneeling next to him, covered only by the nket she had carried with her. Where have you been all my life?
Thats gonna take a moment to answer, Rave chuckled. I was born in Ennd, but we moved to Rex Germanaie C uh, Germany, when I was about five. Then we moved back to Ennd after a few years. Then we moved back to Germany, but never stayed in any city for long. We gradually went south to north, lived a bit in Denmark, then Sweden. When I was about fourteen, my parents started to fight a lot. Mom took me to Japan to show me the history of her family or whatevs, but I ended up just staying with my grandparents while she was busy, then they divorced. I wanted to stay with dad and we moved here about one and a half years ago. So, yeah, thats where Ive been. She got a little closer and added, in a whisper, Dont think Im going anywhere else any time soon.
Suddenly, the lightbulb above them sprang to life. The room just had a bright idea.
Rave snorted. Thats terrible, she giggled. Youre terrible. She stood up, leaving the nket behind. Stark naked, she strutted over to the light switch. Dad must have forgotten to shut off the lightsst time he was in here. She did it for her past father. Can ya keep going for longer?
I can just sit here for 30 hours.
Ya mathed that out? He didnt even need to answer. Nerd, she chuckled. And pretty impressive.
You cant do that?
Not even close. At this point John would have loved to know what her numbers were. There was an HP and MP bar for her in his interface, but they came without numbers. Assumedly, other people werent as easily broken down into numbers as he was. He already knew that was the case from the Stats. Raves Intellect was fairly high, for example, but she wasnt smart in the same way he was smart. She didnt care much for numbers or technical learning and there was nothing in the Stat that reflected that. Id have to take a bunch of regeneration breaks.
Right, how do you regenerate mana? I saw it go up and down repeatedly yesterday.
I do the whole breathing thing to stimte my mana flow. Its pretty quick. Downside is if I do it while casting magic my flows get crossed and I shred myself from the inside. So, ya know, gotta have my breaks.
Youre too pretty to die.
I know right? Anyway, ya say ya can keep feeding it 30 hours straight? Because thats some bullshit. Rave smirked as she walked over to her backpack. But youre my source of BS right now. Now, if ya can just keep sitting there, imma go take a shower. Hips swinging, she walked past him. He was entranced by the sight of her jiggling bubble butt the entire time. Keep being interesting! she said, before entering the bathroom.
The door closed and he was alone. His stomach growled. Can can I get up and use the oven? he asked. No answer, just the sound of falling water as he was left alone with a boner and an arm stuck inside a mana generator. Curse that hypnotizing butt and its muting powers!
Chapter 32 – Skilling
Chapter 32 C Skilling
While he had to wait, he could just as well distribute his Stat Points. He was tempted to dump all of it into Wisdom and call it a day. By standard RPG logic, a milestone at 25 implied that he would get another bonus at 50. That would only take 5 points, so he allocated those first to test the theory.
And now his Mana Reg was 8,5 MP/Min, 9 if he kept the item equipped. This meant that he could keep Possession up endlessly and still have 3 Mana to spare. Would it be possible to have two Possessions active simultaneously? A question for another time.
10 more points to spend. It would probably be wise to get Strength and Endurance to 10, he thought as he pondered over the window. Neither contributed directly to his gamen. Last night had proven that it was valuable to be diversified if things went off the rails though. Plus, he did want to stop being a total wimp.
There was an immediate tingle all over his body. His back hurt for a moment, then he realized that a minor pain he had been experiencing for a long time was gone with it. A correction of his posture, born from back muscles that he did not have before. He pulled at his shirt to see that he had the basic definition of pectorals. Looking at his arms, there was a mild bulge where the wire string of his biceps had been. Wow, it worked, he thought, excitedly. So this is what muscles feel like.
Worlds worst tutorial. I almost died twice and I still have next to no clue what is going on. John dismissed the window and pulled up the second page of his Character Sheet.
It revealed that he had gained 4 kilograms of muscle. It must have been evenly distributed. Not a surprise, there was nothing to any of him that had been remotely trained. 4 kilos sounded like a lot, until he considered just how underweight he had been. At least I look and feel less like a skeleton now. He poked at various parts of himself and found himself repeatedly surprised when there was the firmness of rxed tissue covering his bones. I hope Rave will like this.
Five points still remained. Mana Regeneration was no longer an issue, so he didnt have to chase that immediately. Altogether his build was in a good spot right now, he needed Skills more than Stats to aplish something. He decided to put thest 5 points into Intellect as well, so he was closer to the next milestone there.
The shower was still running. Previous experiences told John that she would be in there for a while. Lets check the inventory for something to do, he thought. He had 8 Slots worth of canned food, that Artificial Crystal thingy, two silver nes, seven Ectosms, and his clothes in there.
Looking at his inventory, the thought urred that he could Enchant the nes to get some progress on that Skill. He had originally wanted to sell them. With the 20000 dors sitting in his inventory, that no longer felt like a necessary path. Might as well see what the crafting business was about. Gear was another avenue to get stronger, even if he would have preferred not being the crafter.
Is the Quest reward useful for crafting? he wondered and pulled the crystal out.
It was a beautiful, diamond-shaped gem of a deep ck colour. It was about as long as his pinkie and t on both sides. John carefully let his thumb glide over the surface. It was perfectly smooth, not a single imperfection.
Living Material Attribute? John thought with interest. Because of the Skillbook he had absorbed, he actually knew what that meant in detail. It was used in items that could self-upgrade as they were fed better and better materials. That it was on a crystal was unusual though. I dont think I can make a proper item with this right now, maybe if I get Create higher. He put the crystal away for the time being and pulled out the nes. Those and Ectosm, he did not care about sacrificing for the sake of levelling.
A straightforward interface. Turning Only Show Best off quadrupled the length of the list, because of all the lesser variants. He swiftly toggled it on again. Then he tested the Use Item button. It offered him to use Ectosm to reduce crafting cost by 10 each. Terrible deal, he dismissed it out of hand. He selected a Mana Regeneration Enchantment and it popped on over to the left side of the window, taking up one of the empty Slots. He confirmed the Enchantment and three quarters of his mana vanished.
John clicked yes, called it Experimental Ne 1 and hung it around his neck. A new window opened up.
Okay, so he couldnt just stack tons of nes and their bonuses. Sad to see and yet expected. Another showcase of standard RPG logic. He chose the old talisman as it had the better bonus. Then he took another look at his Equipment window in detail.
Okay, so that was the list. As a long-time WoW yer, no shoulder pads felt like a sacrilege. That aside, it was a good list. What he wanted most in life was a very sturdy pair of underwear. He was rather attached to his manhood, especially now that he got to use it. That did make him wonder if he could be emascted? Would Gamers Body prevent that from sticking? If he ever found out the answer, it would be after a terrible incident.
He took down the new talisman and used Create on it to see if he could make a ring out of it or something.
Bummer. He ced the Talisman in his inventory and pulled out the other one. This time Create was usable.
Usable it was, but he was out of mana. Not like he was in a hurry. He put that talisman back as well. After a couple more minutes of sitting there, a Ding filled the room, followed by an announcement over the TV speakers. The mana battery is fully charged. You can now remove your hand from the device.
He did as instructed and now had absolutely nothing left to do. There was the obvious problem of his hunger. There also was the woman of his dreams taking a shower. Certainly he could slip in there with her? It wouldnt be the first time they shared cleaning utilities.
Chapter 33 – Into the shower [Erotic Content]
Chapter 33 C Into the shower [Erotic Content]
Rave likes confidence, John thought and headed towards the shower. Her liking confidence wasnt the only reason to disy it. It helped though. Attractive women were the motivators to end all motivators. He stripped right back out of his clothes and walked over to the bathroom door.
The shower was in the corner of the artificially lit room. Two walls of milky ss obscured the moving form of his dream girl. Even blurred by steam, her curves were pure allure. He stopped closer and knocked twice. Room for one more? he asked with as much suaveness as he could muster. Less than he wanted, more than he thought.
Mhm, dunno, Raves silhouette raised a hand. In his minds eye, he could see her index finger tap on her chin and that yfully contemtive look she put on when she had already made a decision. Why dont ya try and find out?
John smiled, pulled the door open, and stepped inside. The wall of steam immediately dampened his skin. Swiftly he pulled the ss close behind him. The running water was hot. Not quite as hot as the bath had been, yet hot nevertheless. All bearable to be in his own little world with her though.
The shower was not made for two people. They had to stand chest to back, to both be in the stream. Thest remains of shampoo were washing out of her pink hair. When it was wet, John could really see how much volume there was to it. She smiled over her shoulder, doubtlessly feeling his dick pressing against her backside. This is how ya want to start the day, hm? she winked at him, then turned her face back to the water. Continue.
John licked his lips and wrapped his arms around her torso. To explore her curves all over again remained a privilege, no matter how well he had them mapped out already. He kissed his way up from her shoulder to her ear.
That tickles, she giggled. Trying to be romantic, tiger?
Maybe? he whispered. Is it working?
Mhm, I wonder, she purred. One of his hands moved to her breasts. The water made his palm glide effortlessly over the smooth mound. He found the nipple, pointy and enticing. Softly, he rolled it between two fingers. Rave let out a low moan. I do like that. Her butt rubbed up and down his dick. A gratuitous reward, for a service to her curves that was reward in and of itself.
How about this? he asked and nibbled on her earlobe. Her shoulder pushed him back.
Nah, that aint doing it for me. Try lower. Back to her neck he went, kissing every bit of skin he could reach once and then once again. Lustful sighs echoed over the running water. Whats that other hand up to?
Good things, he promised her and curved two fingers inside her. The constant stream of water washed away the wetness on her lower lips, but her insides were ready. She gasped.
So aggressive today, she purred. Did popping your cherry do that much for ya?
John tensed up a bit. He didnt remember telling her he was a virgin. How did you?
Hey, even I pick up some stuff. She rested her head against his neck, while gazing up at him. John Newman, local nerd, in looking and always staring with tired, pervy eyes. An unassuming guy in a school full of rich hotties and studs. Often bullied, rarely approached. Course ya were a virgin. Nobody would give ya the time of day. He felt red hot and it was not because of the shower. Rave turned around on the spot and put her arms around his neck. And ya made me ahegao in real life, so I think I should thank all of them for keeping ya avable for me with all their gossip. All ya needed was some motivation.
John wasnt quite sure what she meant by that. His new powers and the way he could grind to gain more? Herself and the very obvious interest he had in her? Perhaps she had caught onto his dream of wanting a harem somehow? Im absolutely overthinking this, he thought and just nodded. A momentter, he tasted her lips again.
Rave grinded her crotch against his erect penis. Warm water washed over them. She got on her toes, so he could align himself. Oh wait a second there, tiger ya upgraded when I wasnt looking, she gave him a once over. Still kinda thin, but thats much better, she purred after giving his shoulder a squeeze. She stopped at his dick. Did that get bigger again too?
Achievement for losing my virginity, he told her openly. Another centimetre.
Rave suddenly dropped down and looked at his dick intently. Just five days ago, the scene of a woman like her squatting in front of him and staring at his crotch would have turned him crimson. He wasnt quite sure yet how he would react with other women. With Rave it just felt right. Special and yet totally normal. The difference two centimetres make, huh? she mumbled. Her eyes trailed down a little further. Oh, that reminds me! Wait here a second.
Dashing out of the shower, Rave left him there perplexed. When she returned, she held a bottle of some kind of shampoo. Alchemical hair removal for male intimate zones, John read thebel. You got that for me?
No, I got that for me, cause I hate having your ball hairs tickling me, Rave told him and squirted the shampoo-like liquid onto her hand. Before John could try to justify that he did not want a razor anywhere near that part of his body, she was already thering him up. She worked his shaft and balls with the slippery fluid, one a lot gentler than the other.
Up and down her hand moved, at a rapid pace. Rave bit her lower lip yfully, her eyes following his changes in expression. Im going to Rave I want to
Youll be ready in two minutes again anyway, she purred and worked his cock until he pumped the first load of the day all over her face. On her soaked wet hair, the thick white of his cum was extremely visible. Rave closed her eyes and just let it shower her, a lewd grin on her face.
Is that part of the instructions? John asked jokingly.
Nah, I just like to mess with ya. Rave licked her lips and caught some of the cum running down her features.
You dont mind the taste? John wondered. He often heard that cum wasnt pleasant. For his part he was not and would not be tempted to even try, so he could only trust the hearsay.
It''s kinda yucky, not gonna lie, but it''s not terrible. She put the shower back on and rubbed the lotion off his skin.
John watched, fascinated, as his hairs simply evaporated. From the bothersome hairs on his sack to the stubbles that grew in his shaven pubic area. All that remained was smooth, hairless skin. His dick had never looked this good. No part of him had ever looked as good as he did today. You really are a blessing.
I know right? And Moi-Moi thinks Im a bad influence, Rave shook her head and got back up. The cum had been washed out of her hair and so they were right back to where they started. Use it once a week and itll stop the hairs from growing back.
Will do, he answered, then pushed against her. What now?
I dunno, tiger C what now? she challenged him. Their lips were closing in again. A paper would have fit between them, nothing more. Ya wanna show me more of that aggressive side?
Oh, Ill show you, alright, he whispered and then surged forward. Hard, he pushed her against the shower wall. Rave moaned into his mouth. Little thrill seeker, he thought, when she grabbed his head with both hands and pulled him in even deeper. Their tongues were wrestling. Admittedly, that was all he was really doing with the kiss. He was way too concentrated on aligning himself with her entrance and then pushing inside.
Hmmmm, not sure if Im a size queen but if ya keep growing I might be one, Rave gasped when he was all the way inside again.
John wanted her to be whatever she wished, as long as she became that alongside him. Well, that wasnt entirely true. He didnt want a dominatrix or anything too out there. He wanted her to feel good because he was doing things to her.
Starting at a crawling pace, he elerated with the flow of their love juices. In and out, watching her every little reaction. He tried to find that spot again that had driven her mad with passion yesterday. Either it wasnt essible at this angle or she just didnt feel it as much. There had been a lot going on yesterday. This isnt good enough. I need her to shout my name. I want her to pant and writhe all over again. Climax after climax, until she cant even fathom another man.
The desperate plea and the focus on his action intertwined in the creation of a new Skill. He stopped suddenly, to read the description and to deal with the sudden surge of muscle memories he got. Whatever window ya staring at, it better be worth stopping in the middle of this, Rave grumbled.
It should be, John stated and dismissed the window. With newfound confidence, he held her by the narrow waist and thrust up into her. The impact made her cute little tits bounce and send drops of water flying off. The shower kept streaming down Johns back. Its purpose seemed to be only to heat the little chamber up to match the fire in their bodies.
Not a moment passed and John pushed back inside her. Legs slightly bent, face buried in her neck, he started pounding her hard. All instincts pushed him to match Raves greed with intensity. The martial artist could take anything he could dish out anyway.
Oh, wha- ye- u- aaahhh, Rave let out a stream of incoherent noises. Half-started thoughts that John was interrupting by rutting into her. Short fingernails scraped over his back. Her thighs were constantly trembling. She barely stood, almost entirely hanging from him. The little boosts in Strength and Endurance had been direly needed for this.
John felt every spasm, every shiver that went through her. This was what he wanted. The moans, the caressing of his hair, the closeness. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. Three wordsy on his lips, but he could not bring himself to say them. Not there, not now. Im he started another sentence instead.
W-with, c-cum with me! Rave shouted in a high-pitched tone.
It was only a matter of seconds, then her quivering quim clenched down on his cock. The writhing of the walls pushed him over the edge, stuck deep in her tight snatch. For the first time that day, he painted her insides white with his seed.
They both swayed dangerously. Bnce was difficult. Breathing was difficult. All was white lightning and steam. They were unified in instinct and lust, until they diverged. Johns orgasm ebbed away, hers continued for another five seconds, the aftershocks for much longer than that.
She swallowed audibly, blinked slowly to get her gaze back into focus. Wow just, wow, she gasped. Wasnt quite yesterday but ya really got a talent for this. Can ya do that again?
I can do better, he promised. I got a Skill for it.
Raveughed. Oh, thats just bullshit! Ya gonna ruin me for everyone else.
Thats the n, John thought.
Chapter 34 – Breakfast, finally
Chapter 34 C Breakfast, finally
Little bits of steam rose from the tomato soup. John stirred it asionally with the wooden spoon he had brought along. Finally, food, he mumbled. He was positively famished. Wonder if I can get hungry enough to get a debuff.
Ya earned it, Rave shouted over. She was sitting on the couch, trying to get the inte connected to the TV. She was doing all of that in a short, loose orange top and ck yoga pants. It was almost as alluring as seeing her naked. Almost. Technomancers gotta have to get this running, she mumbled. Cant live without the inte, thatd be torture.
John could only agree. He tried to focus on the meatballs in the soup, rather than Rave. It was difficult when she was stretching and shifting on the couch with all the grace of a bored cat. Right, do you want half of the money by the way? he asked. I couldnt have done any of this without you.
Nah, Im good. Thats like 10k? Aint that much for me. John was still not quite sure how money in the Abyss even worked. Neither was he sure how wealthy Rave was. Her father was obviously loaded and apparently she had rtives the world over? Yes! Its working! Rave victoriously dered, just as John filled the meatball tomato soup into two bowls. Hah, dad left the browser openst ti- Oh.
John almost forgot about the heated bowls in his hands in response to Raves tone. The sudden copse of any joy made him hurry over and check what was on the screen. It looked like a new version of Amazon crossed with ebay. The typical buy and sell interface. The words Abyss Auction Online were written where the logo was supposed to be.
Intel on Dangun n raids on southern Japan, Hollmey tributes, was one tab, currently unclicked. The one they were currently in showed a ring being sold. A wedding ring, if the solid gold was anything to go by. The words Lightning and Love were engraved on the inside. The ring had been put on auction two years ago and bought, whether by Regan or someone else the page did not say. The page may have been left open, but he was logged out.
She sold the ring, Rave said in a growly tone. Who sells their wedding ring? What kind of bitch does that? John did not know what to say, so he just ced the soup on the table. Its a wedding ring she whispered. Ya gotta respect that much fucking bitch. Rave suddenly tilted over and fell against his shoulder. Urgh, she groaned, while John sat there, frozen. He was just lucid enough to put an arm around her waist in an attempt tofort her. Ya ever regret being rted to your own mother?
Cant say I do, no, John reported. I dont have anyone in my family that I regret knowing.
So Im all alone in the world, huh?
No! Johns forceful answer made her turn her head. No he repeated, softer, and squeezed her side. Im here, I dont want to be anywhere else.
You really dont, huh? Rave tilted her head softly and looked at him. Hey you really arent here just because Im hot, are you? Before he could answer that, she suddenly backed off and nervously chuckled. Stupid question, dont answer that. Lets just forget this ever happened. She closed the tabs.
John sat there stunned. He wanted to reassure her more, wanted to answer that question, and he had no idea how to go about it. She started eating the soup and with that the moment had passed. I love you, was what John wanted to say to her. Why is that so hard when it''s so clear? You wanted to show me that SAO thing? he offered her a path back to the normal mood.
Later Rave mumbled. They ate in silence. It was the first ufortable one that John shared with her. Any ideas he had to cheer her up felt like they were just going to annoy her more. Aaaaaaaahh! she suddenly shouted, kicking the air. Stupid dad still thinking about stupid bitch mom- AH! She threw her empty bowl on the table and, hair flying, turned to John. You, John, give me something to do C now!
Maybe you could punch something? he suggested carefully.
Maybe perhaps have you considered, Rave chattered mockingly. She stood up on the couch and, towering over him, pointed straight at his face. Stop being indecisive, Johnny. Come on! But yes! Lets punch something and ya gonna treat me like a princess all day, ya got that?
Yes, maam? John realized he was sounding all sheepish again. He swallowed and dragged that assertiveness back to the surface. She liked that. No more of the doormat. If treating you like a princess means punching ghosts in the face until you get tired and then screwing you until you forget this entire morning, I can do that. That what you want to hear?
That is ex-act-ly what I wanna hear, tiger! Rave jumped off the seat. Ya forgot one thing that I want though.
John had no idea what that something was and she was not telling him. Just going with what his intuition told him. He stood up and hugged her. Arms wrapped around her upper torso, he just held her and whispered. Im here because youre my friend, he whispered to her the thought closest to the truth he could express. I havent known anyone before who would make me feel thisfortable. Im not just saying that because of what we do. We could stop right now and Id still like to be around you, Rave. I yeah.
Jane, she corrected him. You call me Jane, you liar.
Liar?
Youd love to throw me on that bed and go again right now.
Yes, but I wont do it if it means hurting you.
Raves arms brushed up and down his back. You can let go of me now.
You would have to first.
I dont wanna though.
Neither do I.
Liar, ya still wanna do the bed thing. I can feel something not so small pressing against me. Its not a roll of pennies.
How am I supposed to not get a boner here?
Ya could try thinking of me as an old wrinkly dude.
Youre way too cute for that.
Rave just hummed, swaying back and forth and he with her. There was a melody to it. An earworm that he did not share, but eagerly was part of. This aint what I wanted, by the way. After a short pause she added. Its better though.
Ill find every better in the world for you.
Alight, now this is getting cheesy, sheughed and let go. Reluctantly he did the same. What I wanted to hear was: Hey, lets kill that Spectre thing again! C So thats what were gonna do.
Rave, thats a terrible i-
Jane! she shouted and stabbed his sternum with her index finger. You C call C me C Jane, Johnny. If ya dont, Ill set your pants on fire.
Sorry, just habit Jane, Johnplied quickly. We are still not doing that Spectre thing again though. Not before we have a few more levels.
Ya disobeying orders from your princess?
If you were a real princess, Id have to send an envoy to the prince of Aragon to arrange a political alliance.
Youre such a nerd, Rave chuckled and gave him a crooked, toothy smile. If ya dont do what I want, imma tell daddy about what happened yesterday.
John felt the blood drain from his face. The image of Regan effortlessly slicing the pizza with his finger was still fresh on his mind. Y-you wouldnt
I have ya by the balls, Gamer, Rave purred and squeezed his crotch, literally. Now ya gonna do what the princess wants or not?
You really know how to act the part of being spoiled rotten.
I know right? Raveughed, the squeezing turning into a soft message. Come on, we dont have all day.
They absolutely did, that was the whole purpose of camping out here in the first ce. Fine he relented reluctantly and walked away from her to get his shoes.
Oh, dont be such a downer, Rave said, almost pleaded, as she followed him. Ya were such a nice guy just moments ago.
I dont like seeing you hurt.
Neither do I like getting hurt, but if ya just do stuff thats safe ya gonna die of boredom. She sat down next to him, slipping into her sneakers while he tied hisces. How about I cut ya a deal: if we kick the Spectres butt before sundown, Ill let ya take pictures.
John knew he was being manipted and he knew that it was way too easy and still he asked, intrigued, What kind of pictures?
What kind ya like? she hummed suggestively and bent forwards. Her loose top dangled, giving him a clear look at the ck bra underneath. Before sundown, she reminded him. Her eyes were almost entirely pink at the moment, filled to the brim with mischievous light. We best get started quickly.
Chapter 35 – Smalltalk, boss fight, big talk
Chapter 35 C Smalltalk, boss fight, big talk
For the record: I still think this is a terrible idea! John shouted as he sted the face off a Ghost. With his boner gone, he had enough brainpower to question what they were doing all over again. Still, he was sting the Lower Ghosts away as quickly as MP regeneration allowed.
Stop being a baby, John. Rave, enveloped by her Aura, kicked straight through another ghost. They had been killing Ghosts like madmen for the past four hours, in stark contrast to their rxed attitude of the day prior. It worked out, didnt it? A group of Ghosts got instantly annihted by a cone of blinding light.
You almost died, John drily stated.
Almost, exactly. Rave sidestepped the attack of a Ghosts w as she regenerated her mana. I have been thinking by the way.
About the fact that your dad is going to kill me if he finds out that I put you into dangerous situations? He asked.
I aint telling if ya dont give me a reason. Rave giggled and showed the ghost her pierced tongue in a yful gesture. Then she dodged again. If it does happen, thats so your problem.
John took care of the ghost with two Mana Power Attacks. That is so irresponsible of you!
Nu-uh, its your weird powers that made it spawn after all. Rave burned away a new monster that peeled from the mist. Also my dad wouldnt kill you
Well, that is nice to hea-
That would be way too easy, he will probably force you to do some worse stuff. Rave made a horrifying expression. You should see our basement, he has this collection of.
John held his ears closed, Lla, I dont want to hear that. Nothing bad is in the basement of your weirdo father,l.
Rave softly knocked him over the head. Dont call daddy a weirdo.
You were fine when I called him insane, John pointed out.
There is a difference of magnitude here. She exined between killing two Ghosts. Their evaporation was quickly followed by a Wuhu, Level-Up! which meant that Rave was now Level 19.
It took them another three hours to spawn the boss. The window popped up and once again darkness started to gather. It was way less impressive or spooky in the daylight. This is just progress raiding all over again. John mumbled as he waited.
What was that? Rave asked.
Well, have you ever yed an MMO?
Tried Guild Wars for a bit, wasnt for me though.
Well, in MMOs there are raids with extremely strong bosses. The first time you kill a boss it is awesome but over time it kinda loses the vour. John watched as the cocoon of darkness started rippling as the boss inside started manifesting. Like, the spawn animation is way less cool the second time.
The scream of the Spectre filled the air as it fell to the ground. This time the two of them had already taken a position far away and immediately started showering the Spectre in attacks. The Spectre sluggishly turned towards them and started hovering over. They started running. Same style asst time. John said as he threw Mana Power Attacks without aiming much. He had enough mana right now.
The Spectre didnt manage to dodge them all and took all of Raves attacks as well. John was confused. The boss seemed to be actively bothered by his attacks this time, whats more it moved so slowly they could kite it in circles for hours and the only reason to blindside the Spectre would be to gather some breath. It seems very sluggish. Rave said in a disappointed tone. John nodded and looked upwards.
Probably the sunlight. It seems really weak to the element, so it''s probably debuffed during the day? he theorized.
Urgh, that makes this way less thrilling might as well go punch it if it''s so slow! Rave suddenly turned and charged straight at the boss.
John had no opportunity to stop her. Leaves and pine needles flew in her wake. Aura igniting, she leapt and punched the pale green monster square in the face. Not so tough now, are ya? She ridiculed and quickly followed up with a roundhouse kick.
The Spectre tried to grab her but John was already on that. Using a Possessed branch not ame this time, he first swung at the boss and then wrapped his temporary second body around the arm he connected with. Annoyed, but not overly hindered, the Spectre shed the clinging wood fairly easily.
A convenient time for a level. Letting go of the branch, John instead Possessed a small tree. Like a wooden tendril, the rooted nt wrapped around the Spectres other arm. Tighter and anchored to the floor, this one wasnt as easily removed.
One arm tied almost literally behind its back, the Spectre tried to fend off Rave. Jumping left to right, the techno lover danced around its attacks and beat the unlife out of it. It still took ten minutes of engaging and disengaging, but they eventually saw to the boss monsters demise all over again.
Second boss kills really arent that exciting he sighed and reprimanded himself for being so overly worried earlier. Then again, he had the debuff and a well-ced tree to thank for the ease of this kill.
It made a good punching bag though. Rave said as she watched the being disintegrate.
So, are you feeling better?
She nodded strongly. A lot. Im hungry though. Do your thing and lets head back.
John agreed on both ounts. First, he checked his own EXP gain. He got another level earlier today and thanks to the massive amount of EXP the boss had just awarded him (although not as much asst time) he was only 140 points away from the next level. He put the points into Intellect immediately and his mana exploded.
Next milestone probably is at 75, he thought. Should I chase that or get some other Stats up? Endurance and Charisma, maybe? A question to be answered when he next had Stat Points to distribute.
Second was the loot. The Spectre had left him with another stack of cash, only ten grand this time though, and two items, both of which he quickly Observed.
He equipped the gloves and stored the Ectosm and the money in his inventory.
Your mana just did another massive jump.
Yeah, I crossed a threshold and it bumped up the scaling efficiency. He waited for a moment, for her to inhale and then, perfectly matching her, said, Bullshit.
Rave looked confounded for a moment. Then sheughed. Dont ya mock ma gag, ya jerk! she slurred and threw her left arm around his shoulders in a chummy fashion. She really did seem all fine now, but only one way to make sure.
He barely suppressed a sigh. She was still angry. Should he act on that? Was it his ce to pry in her business? In the past he would have said hell no and gone home to watch some nice VR porn. She was different. She was everything he had ever wanted and more. After she had pulled him out of his shell this past week, the least he owed her was some care. Are you still angry about earlier?
Raves smile froze and died down. Ja. She took a deep breath. Urgh, I hate this. She walked away from him, back turned towards him so he couldnt see her face. Its been two years since he used that tent. Why am I bothered by something that happened two years ago? There was a pause, but John sensed she wasnt finished. I never liked mom. She was always on trips, even more than dad. When she was around, she only ever asked about how I was performing or how I liked singing ss. Okay, sometimes she didnt ask stuff, she was berating me instead. Never a nice word on her lips.
Rave put her hands behind her back. She kicked a rock down a nearby slope.
I dunno if we were ever really a family. They both worked so much. When my mother left, dad was always sad. We were always moving. I only had my parents and my sis and we rarely ever saw each other. When they got divorced, I thought dad would finally be a little happier but he still cares and now hes gone all the time too I thought I was done with my mother, at least then I see that she sold the ring and. How am I supposed to feel knowing that Im the daughter of such a bitch? Is that me in twenty years? She turned back to him, her eyes wet, but no tears falling. Answer me, ya useless moron, she lightly jabbed him in the stomach, trying her best to smile.
I dont know, he confessed. I can only listen and be here for you.
Oh shaddup, corny bastard, Rave mumbled and boxed him a second time. Still too weak to deal any damage. Why am I even talking to you about this? Ive known you for barely a week. Do you have an answer to that?
Well It seemed like a bad idea but he might as welle clean now. It might be because I have raised my Charisma, or because Observe shows me what you currently think of me.
Oh, bull - shit! This time the punch hit hard enough to make him stumble a step back. His foot got stuck on a root and he fell. She came down on him like a sledgehammer, grabbing both of his wrists and pinning them to the floor. Fuck you, John, she cursed at him. He did not struggle against her grasp. Ya think I just like ya because ya tapped a button a few times? Or that you having a bit more insight than ya should have would make me swoon over every word thates out of your mouth? Are you just a bunch of Stats and cliff notes? Ya think so low of me Im just entertained by that little? Interested in that little?
Of course not! John shouted back at her. The sudden outburst of anger had her startled enough that he could press against the iron grip of her slender fingers and sit up. How could I think any of that about you? You saved my life, youve cared about me, you keep daring me to do things I didnt know I could even attempt and each time you prove that it''s worth it just to see you smile. You make the best out of every moment I shared with you, beautiful like I dont even know. Hard, he beat his chest. But what the hell am I? You only cared for me because I was new and interesting, so what changed? How could any of this be because Im doing it? Why was I chosen for this power? Was it just randomness that gave me this chance? Why me? What significance do I have in all of this besides just existing? Would anyone else just have met you and ended in the exact same position anyway? Do you have an answer to th-?
Johns eyes went wide when he felt her lips on his. All built-up doubts, all the emotions that he didnt even know had been boiling under the surface, suddenly smothered by the warmth. The struggle of their arms ended and they found each other in embrace again. Two confused young adults, holding onto each other for warmth and purpose.
Ya idiot, she whispered, their lips distancing only a finger width. They sat forehead to forehead. Just stop doubting yourself. You lived, you learned, so move on. It was you who figured out the Wall Shadow, you that kept saying all the right things to me, stammer or not, you that saved me even when youre still weak and inexperienced. You were brave and you are here with me. No one else. Your powers dont make you who you are and Im sorry if I ever made you feel that way.
John swallowed, fighting back the tears just as much as she seemed to. Your mom doesnt define you either, Jane. Youre you and I He was so close to saying it. He tried over and over again, but the nervousness tightened his vocal cords each time.
Use that Observe thing on me again. Rave broke the silence. John wasnt sure why she would ask him to do that but he followed her instructions.
What does it say? she asked, quietly and calm.
It- It says you love me.
Thats pretty unfair towards me, isnt it? To just throw my feelings into your face without asking me if I was even ready for them. Her lips curved in the saddest, most radiant smile ever.
Janewould you, maybe, want to go on a date sometime? Not killing monsters, just something normal. John asked, his voice bumping around the sentence still unsure what he was supposed to say.
She snorted. By Gaia youre just such a yeah, sure, we can do that but first you gotta say four words. Four words and Im yours.
With a deep breath and a calm that forced itself over the tingle over his entire being, he readied himself. I love you too.
Chapter 36 – Everything had changed
Chapter 36 C Everything had changed
Four words could change everything about a rtionship. Yet, a rtionship that had changed at the base could still be the exact same on the surface. After a shared kiss, they had gone back and nothing had changed about their conduct. The air between them was just clearer now. Lighter and sweeter and John was starting to wonder if someone had turned down gravity just a tad.
So, whats for dinner, tiger? Rave asked, as they entered the tent. Because Im so hungry I could eat something big, dunno.
A horse? John suggested.
Nah, I had horse before and I didnt like it.
John walked up to the stove and turned the switches. Were out of power again.
Then get to the generator. Ill do the cooking.
Finally doing a womans job?
Oy, ya wanna see what these hands can do to your dick, scrawny boy? Rave wiggled her slender fingers.
I experienced that this morning, cant be that ba-
Imma break it.
Thats bad would you break your favourite toy because youre annoyed?
Absolutely C plus Gamers Body would just snap it back straight, right?
Id rather not find out.
Then ya gonna shut your mouth. Men are for generating mana, not for talking. If youre nice, Imma buy ya something pretty. Rave shed him a disarming grin and then went through the collection of cans John had brought along. Nope, nuh, Nein, Iie, ingen. She tapped each of the cans.
John, meanwhile, gripped the inside of the mana generator again. Between nces at Raves C at his girlfriends butt, he opened the newly acquired Rtionship window.
That seemed kind of useless.
Alligator! I could eat an Alligator! Rave suddenly shouted as she stirred whatever she had thrown into the pot.
That is exotic.
Yep, had it once, it was awesome.
Where?
Back in Japan. My granddads a chef. Well, he was. Hes retired but still he sometimes cooked stuff like that. John nodded, so at least her grandparents were norma- I remember that one time he cooked a kraken, good stuff.
And there his expectations went again. Why did he even still try? Rave looked like she knew exactly what he was thinking and winked over her shoulder. John had to ask, So, is your whole family affiliated with the Abyss or what?
Yeah weve been in the Abyss for dunno, never listened when mom went on a tirade on the Hollmey n history. We are like middle ss in the Abyss. Rave exined.
Yeah, about that, I still dont know how the Abyss exists. Are people in it mostly the children of other Abyssals or how does it work? Rave scraped the contents of the pot into the two bowls and gestured for him to follow her to the table. She put on some techno music, then exined as they ate.
So most of the Abyss is made up of people who are the children of other Abyssals, she exined. Like at least 80% of it all. Then you have the magical people, elves, dwarves, all of that jazz, scattered around the globe. The tiniest fraction of the Abyss is people like you. People born in the mundane poption who have Innate Abilities.
I suppose born Abyssals are typically stronger?
Nah, born Abyssals are typically weaker, Rave told him.
Wouldnt Innate Abilities that get passed down-
They dont get passed down, Rave interrupted him. I dunno how Innate Abilities work, but theyre not gic or something. Its something with your soul. Like, maybe it''s more likely that ya get one if your parents have one, but its not guaranteed or anything. The vast, vast majority of Abyssals are schmucks who are barely any stronger than mundanes. Theyve just been raised with magic around them, so Gaia aint protecting them.
Huh, that sounds like it sucks so wait, were stronger than most Abyssals?
I am, dunno about you right now. Maybe if ya got some better spells. She shrugged. Doesnt matter much though. We might be stronger than most people who just live in the Abyss, but if ya meet any actual fighters wed be bottom rung right about now. I mean, the bikers were even weaker, but ya should assume Baldys level at least.
Which actually brings me to a different question C what about guns?
What about what about guns?
I mean, no offense, but youre not faster than a speeding bullet.
Nah, but Im faster than most people can aim, Rave told him. I mean, theres some people in the lower levels who use guns and that kinda works for a little while, but eventually the enchantments and the skin just gets too tough.
Just use Abyssal metals?
I mean, ya can try, dunno why they dont but Id guess theres a reason. I know some people use gun-swords, but those usually only have one shot. She stabbed one of the ravioli in her bowl. Sorry that I cant answer all your questions, tiger.
John bumped into her with his shoulder and she bumped back. That went back and forth for a little while, until she surrendered and he thought of another question. So, the bottom of the Abyss isnt that different from mundane life.
If ya ignore the constant threats of getting kidnapped, killed, or enved, yeah, Rave responded chirpily. Although theres all those guilds that kinda run Abyssal nations. They got more or less of a handle on things. Kinda hard to control a popce that can open pocket dimensions wherever.
I can imagine, John agreed. So the top of the Abyss are those guilds?
I mean, a few, yeah. Theres a bunch of minor regional guilds that no ones ever heard of, then theres like state-ish guilds and then theres really established guilds that have existed really long. Youd be surprised how many of them exist in parallel with modern nations. Ethnicities binding together and all of that stuff. The strongest ones are called the Divided Gates, its basically like the UN.
Oh? So what are those? John asked, interested. Grand strategy was one of his favourite game genres and the state of the Abyssal world sounded interesting. Is the US in there?
Nah, in the Abyss history is power, kind of, because powerful people get super old.
They do? That was the first John had heard of it.
Oh, I didnt mention that before? The stronger you are, the slower ya age. Mana in the body keeping ya in prime condition and all that. Theres people in the Abyss thatre like thousands of years old. Then theres gods and all that stuff.
The implications of that were tantalizing and terrifying. So, if my level gets high enough I be basically immortal? he wondered. To live forever with a harem and to potentially watch all of them die if they cant keep up with me or to wither away while they get more powerful than me.
Rave continued her exnation. If your guild is old, it probably has a bunch of terrifyingly powerful people taking care of it. The US is all local warbands trying to keep their local share of the pie or foreigners like Moira and the Order trying to get a foothold. Heard Lincoln got close to unifying it all.
Abraham Lincoln? John asked.
The same C youd be surprised how much of the Abyss is tangled up with real history. Anyway, ya want me to list the Divided Gates or not? I at least know those by heart. He nodded and she broke them down quickly. First and foremost ya got the Two Empires of the World, as they call them: the Mandate of Heaven in China and the Sons of Rome in Italy. Theres the Illuminati in France
For real?
For realzies. Anyway, Prometheus is much of Greece and some of the surroundings. Theres the Dangun n in Korea, the Great Sultanate in Turkey and beyond, the Purest Front in Brazil, the Sons of Odin in Scandinavia atrge, the Blood of the Proleteriat in Russia and here and there in eastern Europe-
Are they Soviets?
Yeah, ya know, history might be power but some people still get kookie new ideas. Howe youre bothered by that but not by the Nazis?
Theres Nazis?
Purest Front didnt give it away?
I dont think pure implies nazi immediately, especially not in Brazil. Who is in Germany then? Rex Germaniae? She shot him a confused nce. You mentioned them in passing before. The name is also a giveaway.
Youre pretty good at remembering stuff, Raveplimented and he scratched the back of his head. His memory was one of the few things he had counted as his blessings even before he got his powers and it had only gotten sharper since. Anyway thats all 10, I think? Yeah.
Surprised Great Britain isnt on the list or Japan for that matter. Or India. Or that the Nazis are in Brazil.
The Abyss of GB got annihted during World War 2 by the Nazis and the Japanese, Rave exined. It was a whole mess. I dont remember the details but all the ideological fanatics from Rex Germaniae formed a private army and joined with other fanatics from Japan and ravaged the ind. They were too afraid to stay there though, so the Japanese then went back home and the Nazis fled to South America. Japan then proceeded to meet the same fate, getting annihted by the Mandate of Heaven and the Dangun n after an initial series of victories the Dangun n raids Japan to this day, preventing any organized Abyss from forming there. She stopped for a moment. No idea about India. Colonization broke their kneecaps, maybe?
John digested all of that. So among the Abyss strongest powers are Nazis, Soviets, vengeful Koreans, vikings and the Holy Roman Empire?
Uh, not sure about thatst one, but yeah about the rest.
What a confusing world John said andughed. I kind of love it. This is all so strange and I cant wait to understand it all while Im with you.
We should ask my dad if he has some books for you to check out when we tell him that were a thing now. Rave smirked at him. Were a thing now, right?
Yes! John agreed immediately. It dawned on him that they hadnt actually stopped to talk about what exactly they were now. They had just done like always and gone with the flow. Should I bring up the harem thing now? He elected not to. He was too happy enjoying this right now to bring up something new. Will your dad be mad?
Prolly not. I dunno. Only had a mistake thatsted a few weeks and a mistake thatsted a few days before. She looked at him long and longing. Ya wont be one of those, will ya?
Ill do anything I can not to be, he promised. Anyway, what do we do now? We have to go home at some point
Yeah quickie while were still somewhere I can scream my lungs out without bothering anyone?
Chapter 37 – Yep
Chapter 37 C Yep
John wolfed down what few raviolis remained and then followed her to the bed. She hadnt even waited for his answer and just ripped off her pants and shirt, leaving her in her underwear. Climbing on top of her, the Gamer was ready to make out with his girlfriend. A finger was ced on his lips. Nuh-uh. She pushed him back. Im the spoiled princess today, remember, tiger?
Right, John agreed and backed off. Whatever do you want, mdy?
First get me out of these clothes. Rave instructed. He was happy to do that. He had slight problems unhooking her bra. Eventually he managed. Next, he wanted to pull down her panties but Rave stopped him with her knee. No hands. She demanded.
That would prove challenging, but he was willing to try. His teeth gripped her underwear by the waistband. Best he could, he dragged upwards, his face brushing over her smooth thigh. For a bit, her panties stuck to her crotch. He had to go back and forth between the two sides, until he managed to remove the bothersome cloth in its entirety.
Good boy, Rave hummed. The two words made John feel weird. He liked thepliment, but he did not like the choice of words. It was tooplicated to unravel in that moment. Instead, he obeyed the demanding touch and gave her pussy a nice long lick. Just a quickie bit, she purred.
Using his fingers to prate her and his tongue to y with her clit, he got her to croon and moan. Rave moved her body in all those mesmerizing ways that showed off her perfectly t stomach. She was just so gorgeous.
Alright, on your back tiger, she told him. I aint a pillow princess. John obeyed her quickly and soon found her kneeling by his side. While ying with his cock, she asked. Imma give ya a choice C which way you want me to face?
He only had to consider for a second. I want to see that bubble butt bounce.
Good choice C not that there was a bad one, she purred and straddled him. That perfect ass was right above his cock. Back arched, the roundness of the twin, firm spheres was all the more pronounced. Altogether, her backside reminded him of a wonderfully crafted violin. Curvy bottom, narrow waist, slender shoulders. Never done this with anyone before, Rave confessed while aligning her glistening entrance. And Ill only say that once C I havent done that much with anyone before. Lets try whatever we wanna try, okay, tiger?
Ill never get tired of trying things with your body, John gasped. She smirked over her shoulder and gradually sunk down.
Hmmm, this isnt bad, she half-sung as she descended. This isnt bad at aaaall.
Once her wetnesspletely enveloped him Rave started rocking her hips back and forth in slow swaying motions. It was Johns turn to just lie there and w at the sheets. His eyes were drawn like a moth to the me to the butt gliding over his hairless crotch. Nothing more mesmerizing existed.
Then she suddenly raised up her hips. Up and up, revealing more and more of his now glistening erection. The way her pretty pink folds clung to him while he slipped out was nothing short of addictive. Once only the upper third was still in her, she descended. That perfectly round ass of hers went t where it smacked down on his body. As it jiggled back into shape, they both moaned.
Gotta pick up the pace if this is a quickie, tiger, Rave dered and immediately drew back up. Come on, put that Skill of yours to use.
What did I do to deserve you? John put his hands on the swing of her hips. Her next descent, he met with a thrust. Her glorious backside rippled even more. He wanted to see more of that and quickly positioned himself for the next thrust.
I dunno, but ya giving a bunch of good reasons right now, Rave responded with yful moans. Together, they worked out a rhythm of impaling and being impaled. It was a rapid pace, too rapid tost long, but it wasnt meant to anyway.
They elerated and elerated, until they physically could not anymore. The entire bed was creaking and the mattress shaking. Raves wild mane moved up and down with the rest of her body. Never was she still, always was there a ripple travelling up the meat of her ass. Johns thumbs pressed into that abundant bubble butt as he raced to the finish line, only held back by the need to hear her cries.
When they came, they came together. No words, just certainty in the tone he heard and in the nce she gave him. Mutual understanding, shared tension and then relief.
Hips bucking up, pressing into her, as she hovered and her toes curled, he came. Spurt after spurt, he filled her, trusting that her words during that first time held true and that he did not have to worry about the consequences of pumping her absolutely full with anotherrge load. Balls tightened over and over again, synchronized with the clenching of her folds. The room was almost quiet, while only the tiny gasps of empty lungs made it past their lips.
Sweaty and satisfied, Johnid in the bed. A bit too hard, Rave fell on top of him. Beyond the initial impact, her presence was wee. Skin stuck to skin, as he embraced her. Together, they basked in the afterglow.
Christ, what a day, John sighed dreamily.
Yeah I almost cried earlier I hate crying, Rave whispered.
Does it ruin your make-up?
Ya know I dont wear any, she returned.
He hadnt known that for sure, since he did not know what rules Abyssal make-up yed by. That she was this beautiful by nature, had hair this pink and lips that glossy was just unfair, gically. Then again, now that he thought about it, neither Jimmie nor Travolta had any major issues with their looks either and raising his Stats had majorly diminished his own shorings. Even Regans only major w was sleep deprivation. Was magic an assurance of good looks?
His thoughts were apanied by the pleasant scratching of a hand behind his ear. Hey, John? A hum, just to indicate he was listening. Think were rushing all of this?
Probably but I dont know much about this whole being in love thing
Yeah, me neither lets just keep it simple. Are you my boyfriend?
Yeah, are you my girlfriend?
Yeah. Case closed. Rave stopped scratching and thus deprived him of something he wanted more than most other things in life. Too bad he couldnt punish her for it, considering she was all the things he wanted more. Alright, guess the fun times over. She pped his thigh. Get up. We gotta change the sheets. Dont want dad to see the mess we made.
They spent the next half hour cleaning everything up, then folded up the tent by the same arcane means that had unfolded it in the first ce. Hand in hand, for as much as the trail allowed, they walked back to the city and to Raves house. Ity in her eyes that she wanted to ask him inside and in his heart he just wanted to follow. The tiniest bit of responsibility pulled them apart C after one more, two more, three more kisses.
Practically floating, John returned home. The sky was getting red, by the time he stepped up to his house.
Chapter 38 – Skill Evolution Thoughts
Chapter 38 C Skill Evolution Thoughts
Wee home, sweetie! Brenda greeted her son, the moment he closed the door behind him. She emerged from her part of the house and looked him up and down. How are you?
Great! he responded truthfully.
You look like it you look really healthy. Going outside gave you a bit of colour. She nodded a few times to herself.
John had gotten the slightest bit of a tan, but what she was noticing was certainly everything the increased Stats had done to him. It must have been just mild enough not to trigger any rm bells with her or Gaia was preventing her from doing so.
Hope it was fun? Did you hang out with that girl some more? Brenda asked.
G-girlfriend, John corrected and his mom happily pped her hands together. We finally got together today.
Oh my, Im proud of you! Just make sure you dont take the rose-tinted sses for granted, alright sweetie? she walked over and gave his chin a motherly pinch. It''s easy to fall in and out of love when youre young, so think a lot about what you see in her, alright? And bring her over sometime soon!
I will ask her, John promised and yawned. Can I grab something from the fridge?
Yeah, there should be leftovers. I still cooked for two. Old habits and all that. Excited, she tapped from one foot onto the other. Oh, I just have to tell your father about this! You go ahead and eat and y your video games. Sounds like you earned it.
John wasnt too sure what to make of the way this news spread so quickly from one parent to the other. Besides that, he was happy to follow his moms rmendation. Taking the leftovers with him, he vanished in his room.
The smell of his room was rancid, after hanging out with Rave for two days. The scattered objects all around, the umted dust, none of that had ever bothered him. Now he imagined Raveing over and seeing all of it and he immediately turned red. Ill have to clean this up, he thought and put the backpack down. He was vaguely aware of the bottle of hair removal in there. Is there a simr product for other areas? he wondered. He wasnt a fan of the armpit hair or anything below the neck really. He could have been a fan of a beard, if he was capable of growing one.
Permanently removing all of that would be nice. To rub his smooth skin against Raves, to feel as much of her as possible, it was a fantastic mental image and remembered sensation.
Ill start cleaning up my life tomorrow, he thought out loud. He had gone through enough today. Time for video games, food, and Youtube videos about the importance of tadpoles to the ecosystem.
While his PC was booting up, he opened his Character Sheet again. Nothing new there, just the Skill Evolution Point still lying around. What an SEP was useful for, he might as well find out right now.
Tapping the counter caused a couple of + signs to appear next to a select few Skills. None of the Passive Skills were avable and neither were Observe, the two I.D. Skills, Enchant or Craft. He tried Create I.D. anyway, just to see what the system would return.
My choices are Masturbation, Possession, Sneaking and Mana Power Attack, he listed to himself.
Sneaking was out immediately. He had not used it at all over thest few days and his Stat choices had not moved in the sneaky direction. This was likely going to be a dead Skill he just had lying around.
Masturbation should be out immediately, but there was a greater than 0 chance it could upgrade into something that made him even better at sex. Not a pressing issue and Rave seemed pretty satisfied with what he was doing to her, so he put that aside after considering it for a second. Maybe once he had hisbat build more figured out. He couldnt have sex if he was dead.
The choice really came down to Possession and Mana Power Attack. Both were the backbone of his strategies.
Mana Power Attack certifiably sucked. Possession was pretty useful even in its current state. Problem was that he had no idea what the SEP would do exactly. Would it upgrade an aspect of the Skill or just create a better one? Would it tag on a new effect? Why was there no tooltip exining this?
Theputer was booted up now and called distractingly with the whirls of its fan. John, however, resolved not to let decision paralysis immobilize him for a week again. He would make a choice before he started gaming.
Chapter 39 – Possession
Chapter 39 C Possession
In the end, he wanted to lean towards the summoner/puppeteer angle more than he wanted a better version of an arcane bolt. Therefore, he pressed the plus next to Possession and saw what would happen.
A choice between three options. That was pretty nice. The Gamer did love his customization.
Body Swap was not only a great tool for fighting, the amount of chaos he could create in the enemy ranks would be legendary. It also effectively made him immortal as long as he swapped into younger bodies again and again. However, that was immoral as all hell and Rave had told him he wouldnt have to worry about it if he got more powerful anyway. There also were questions that came along with that Skill. Would his own body just die? Did his Stats get transferred over or would he have to level up again and again? What happened if an enemy resisted the Spell? Wouldnt he effectively murder everyone who he used this on? Didnt sound like his kind of deal. Even if he acknowledged the power of it, he did not want it.
Control was a bit further up his alley. Controlling living things as well meant that he could pull off all kinds of shenanigans without leaving his own body behind. It was, however, just as morally ambiguous. Mind controlling his enemies he could somewhat justify, as long as he did not be the aggressor. It still was outside hisfort zone.
The third option was very interesting. Not because of its power, he had no idea about how good this Artificial Spirit was, but because it created a new Skill entirely instead of recing Possession. Since Possession already did what he wanted it to, that it stuck around waspletely satisfying. There would be nothing lost if he picked this option. He could, somewhat safely, assume its powerpeted with the previous 2 options. Rarely were RPG mechanics ever bnced, but the devs did try.
The cost of Artificial Spirit was negligible. 1 MP per minute was nothingpared to his current regeneration of 9. If he assumed the Artificial Spirit could serve at least as a moderately powerful guardian, then he would have his familiar and a reliable frontliner. A bodyguard that would never be anywhere but by his side.
John remembered the Artificial Crystal in his inventory. If he used that he could make the Artificial Spirit be capable of self-upgrading through the Living Material Attribute. Maybe Gaia wanted him to do that? Or was it himself who did that piece ofbination work?
The question made him swallow. Was all of this his doing or was he just dancing in the palm of a higher power? Gaia was obviously amused at his exploits and keeping tabs. Sure, she was an omnipotent deity, so keeping tabs on him wasnt anything specific to him individually, but it still begged the question. Why did he have this power and why did she keepmenting on what he did? Did he deserve this blessing?
Stop doubting yourself, he mumbled and then chose Artificial Spirit.
The knowledge affiliated with the Skill flooded into his mind. A crystal like the one he had was not only good for creating an Artificial Spirit, it was required. Without a crystal core, the magical matrix of these entities could not be sustained. It was effectively the hard drive for their soul. Coincidence, fate, or deliberate help?
No answer given, John looked around the room for something he could use the Skill on. Technically he could use anything as a base, but the Artificial Spirit would resemble that base for most of the time. Even as they grew and changed, they would be drawn to keeping to an approximation of that first form.
Standing up, John moved over to his small collection of figurines. He had Kratos, Ezio, the Dragonborn, Samus Aran in her armour, and A2 from Nier:Automata. He picked up thest one. If he was going to create a bodyguard, he might as well make it an aesthetically pleasing one.
The figurine was akin to the original design in most aspects. An Asian woman with long, messy white hair and attractive features. Her breasts were on the smaller side, her body slender, with a nice backside. She was naked, in the sense that she wore no clothes, but the character was an android and all of the lewd bits had lost their skin coating and revealed the ck metal underneath. It created the impression that she was only wearing lingerie, stockings, and long gloves. Really a masterpiece of design.
Where Johns figurine differed from the character were the eyes. A production error had caused the irises to be painted green instead of blue. A thousand of these had shipped before the distribution was stopped and a recall and recement offered. John had kept his as a collectors item. It probably was worth a pretty penny.
The pose of the figurine had A2 in the middle of flicking her hair back, her face in a passive aggressive expression. No weapons and no base she was glued to. It was, without a doubt, one of the hottest video game designs in history and the best he had ess to. Maybe this could be my second haremette? John thought, then shook his head. That was wrong twice over. Whatever he made would have limited faculties to start with and he wasnt going to add a female-shaped object to any harem. Also, he hadnt talked with Rave about it yet. Cant be faulted for wanting a pretty face around me though.
First step was tobine the figurine with the crystal. Craftings Reshape option should have him covered there, provided it all worked like he expected it to.
That sounded exactly like what he wanted. Confirm was pressed and the Artificial Crystal pulled from his fingers. It collided with the torso of the figurine, then slowly was absorbed into it. The figurine expanded slightly, disced material at the centre moving elsewhere. The paint miraculously survived the entire process. In the end, he had one slightlyrger figurine, as tall as his hand.
So far so good. What followed were two agonizing minutes of waiting for his mana to recover. He distracted himself by putting on some music. It didnt work. He was too curious to see what woulde of this.
Immediately, when the MP had recovered enough, he used the Skill. Instinctively he knew that he had to fill the basic soul with some instructions. A soul without purpose did not exist. Every human was born with the desire to live and procreate. It wasnt universally maintained. Few people stuck with that alone as they grew older. Would his creation be the same? I want a loyal servant that will protect me to the best of her ability, he thought and the Skill activated fully.
The mana vanished. He waited. Nothing happened. What the hell Gaia, is your code broken or?
Creator? A voice rang into his head. A neutral, almost timid, female voice pleasantly ringing in his head.
Ehm, hello? John asked towards the figurine.
Yes, Creator? It appeared it had worked after all. Best to confirm with Observe.
Okay, a new kind of screen. Probably because she was some weird mix-up between item and non-item. Ridiculous though that the name broke the Interface. He would need to do something about that.
Can I rename you? he asked with a smile.
What is a name, Creator? the voice asked, while the figurine moved for the first time. The passive aggressive expression shifted into a smile that mimicked his own. There was a light to those green eyes now. A dull one, but a life nevertheless.
Basically, it is what people address you with.
So, your name is Creator?
No, my name is John but you can call me what you want.
What I want? The figurine asked, I should be a loyal servant that protects you to the best of my ability. Is this my want?
Wanting is to have the wish to achieve something. For example, if you want to get to the edge of the table, youd have to achieve that by walking there. The figurine turned her head to the part of the table he pointed at. The motion was, albeit on a much smaller scale, akin to that of a human. His expectations and life experiences had imbued her with a basic understanding of how to behave.
I want to be a loyal servant that protects you to the best of my ability. Will having a name aid in this mission, Creator John?
I would say so.
Then rename me as you see fit, Creator John.
Now that he had consent, he realized he actually had nothing prepared. Swiftly he scrambled his brain. Luckily his thoughts were so much faster these days. The name of the item was Artificial Crystal of Life, Youth and Sin How about I shorten that? Art. Cry. L. Y. S. Aclysia. Aclysia. That sounded like a good name.
Aclysia, she repeated in his mind. As you wish, this will be my name from now on, creator.
A new Attribute had appeared there. Learning Spirit C what it did was likely in the name. He found it more interesting that she had Stats now. The perv in him immediately noted that she had a Libido and the potential arising from that. The rest of him was more interested in what the Stats in general would do to her. An Intellect and Wisdom of 1 implied a near totalck of mental faculties. She was capable of basic reasoning though C or at least of asking questions. Then again, so were three-year-olds.
For now, John decided to double down on the aesthetic aspects. Say, what are your thoughts on high-heels, stockings, and French maid outfits? he asked.
Whatever do you want my opinion to be, Creator John?
Perfect.
Chapter 40 – In school, for a change
Chapter 40 C In school, for a change
John was very, very happy with himself. The best thing about having 9 mana regeneration was that he could run both Artificial Spirit and Possession indefinitely C even while he slept. He had opted not to do that for Possession though. He had been bored out of his mind, existing as his mouse pad while sleeping C and that was the first 10 minutes. Eight hours of that would have driven him mad. Regardless, both Skills had levelled tremendously.
When he headed out for school, he put Aclysia in his inventory. The little mental connection through which he spoke to her was interrupted by the act, but it was still there. He would ask her about how the inside of the inventory waster.
Once he reached school grounds, he broke Possession. He was still afraid that it could be used to track him. Moira would have no trouble finding him anyway. Neither would that information broker who had reported him the first time around. No need to invite more influences into his life though.
With nothing else going on, he sat on mana overflow. An annoying state of affairs. Better than the alternative, but still annoying. In general, he was very happy with himself though. Life was great.
Thatsted until a hand came mming down on his desk.
Hey there, John.
John knew who the hand belonged to before he even looked up. A sigh apanied him putting away his phone. Next to him, broad and bulky as ever, stood the blond footballer Frank Dickinson. The boyfriend of Vanessa, the queen bitch of this school. Together, they made up every reason that Johns life had been terrible since middle school.
Hi, Frank, John said with resignation. If he was lucky, this would go the easy way. Frank would make a couple of jokes at his expense, take him into a chokehold, demand some lunch money, and screw off to make out with his stupidly hot girlfriend after he got it. If he wasnt lucky it would be best if he smuggled his phone into his inventory. He would also find out if Gamers Body knew not to activate in front of mundane people.
Still ying that dumb candy crush game, huh? Must be the best you can do if you cant crush pussy. Some people giggled at that. John hoped it was because Frank was disying a ridiculous amount of meathead malevolence.
For his part, he leaned back in his chair and red. A bad move, he was vaguely aware. Frank was physically superior to him and it wasnt like he could throw spells at him in public. Should have picked up more Strength, he cursed himself and did another stupid thing. What do you want, Frank?
The jock tilted his head. His brain probably registered that Johns voice was different, without realizing that was because the stutter was gone. After the moment of wonder had passed, the altercation continued as predicted: with Frank putting his arm around John. Thats such a good question, pal! Im so happy you know to ask what your good friend wants. The arm went tighter, until Johns windpipe was constricted. Pressure built in his head. And your good pal Frank wants some money. So cough it up, Nerdman. These gains dont mai-
Yo. Frank was interrupted by someone. John was vaguely aware of a familiar hand tapping his tormentor on the shoulder.
What? Cant you see Im talking to my friend here.
Youre talking to my boyfriend, so how about you back off? Frank was stunned for a moment, the entire room was. Then the arm loosened and John got to take a deep breath. His coughing was nearly the only sound in the room.
Jane is this smart? he asked his disguised, brte girlfriend. He noted that the facial illusion wasnt there anymore. Now the only difference was that her hair was brown and reasonable and that the pink light in her eyes was missing.
Before Rave could answer, Frank startedughing. The nerd got himself a girlfriend. A in, aggressive little twat at that. The jock turned to the ssroom, arms spread out like he was a diator that was about to have a glorious duel. John considered every petty trick Possession allowed him. Frank turned to Rave and inspected her more closely. Man, you got nothing on Vanessa. How about you hang with me instead? I know some guys with yellow fever.
The door to the ssroom opened suddenly. In stepped Thomas Jefferson C the ss president who had approached John a few days ago. Hey, Marianne, want to- Oh, he noticed the scene. For a moment his eyes lingered on Frank. Then the coward looked elsewhere. Jane? What are you doing here? The air in the room changed subtly.
Jane? Party wrecker Jane? Frank turned back to the brte. Man, youre a legend, why would you hang with this loser?
That must have been what Thomas had been referring to when he told him that Rave had a horrible reputation back in the bus. That conversation was only a week ago but an eternity had passed between then and now for the Gamer.
Rave stood there and tapped her heel in an agitated beat. John prayed that someone would stop Frank from escting the situation even further. He prayed even harder that nobody would do anything. What? Am I not good enough for you to answer? Frank asked, anger raising his volume. Got a stammer like your boyfriend? Youre probably just as usele-
In one swift motion, as quick as world ss footballers, Rave kicked the jock in the crotch.
The collective male poption in the room jumped in empathy that Frank did not deserve. The tip of Raves shoes decreased his likelihood of siring children by at least a few percentage points. A choked sound that could have passed as a death rattle escaped the jock.
Rave drew her foot back. Frank took one, two, three steps and leaned onto Vanessas desk for support. The queen bitch of the school watched her boyfriend keel over and copse to the ground. If he hadnt passed out, he must have wished he had.
The blonde, admittedly gorgeous, woman immediately shot to her feet. What the hell?! Do you know who youre messing with?! she shouted.
Do you? Rave returned with a raised eyebrow.
Lets just get out of here, John finally decided to break the silence. This was everything he could have wanted C short of him delivering the kick himself. Grabbing his school utensils, so they couldnt be messed with while he was gone, he stepped past Vanessa and Frank. Thebined social and physical threat they presented suddenly seemed so small. Once they were out in the hallway, he blurted out. God, I love you.
I told ya, Jane is fine, she said cheekily and pulled him towards the stairs. Just before they went up, she stuck out her tongue at Moira, who happened to be there. Have a nice day, Moi-Moi!
What just happened? John asked, while they went up to the roof.
Baldy came back this morning and told me Collide is now under the protection of the Bloodfallen. Theyre the other local big yer and the Order wont risk a war over tiny ole us, Rave exined. Moira has her prissy little hands tied, so we can meet during school now.
Really? Thats great! John was ecstatic. Almost ecstatic enough to ignore the question on his mind. Can we trust a group called Bloodfallen?
No idea. Could be edgelords, could be vampires, if those are real. Thats Baldys problem, we aint got anything to do with them. A pretty flimsy protection from Moiras influence, but John would take it.
I love my life right now, his girlfriend said once they got to the roof.
Well, I love you, John said again, breathing the fresh air of another summers day. What did they mean by party wrecker, by the way?
Oh, ya know, first guy I was doing stuff with was a total asshole and I may have tossed him into a table C that broke. The losers there all thought it was my fault. Rave turned to him. Thats then though and nows now. Dont wanna think about that anymore. I just wanna think about you, Johnny. Were a couple now.
Instinctively, John felt that something was off. She only used Johnny when she was annoyed with him in some fashion and the smile on her lips had something dangerous. Were a couple, yes, he confirmed. The smile on her expression dropped and left behind was impatience.
Who the fuck is Aclysia, Johnny? she asked the question.
John blinked, then facepalmed. The party menu, he realized. Aclysia was right there underneath his name. Without context, it looked like he had invited a new girl to their party. We need to exchange phone numbers, he said.
How about ya start with exining? Rave said.
Ill show you, it will be quicker, he promised and raised his hand. They found themselves in an empty Illusion Barrier. Then he reached into his inventory and retrieved the Artificial Spirit. Aclysiaid unmoving in his hand for a bit, stiff like the inanimate object she used to be. Then she blinked once and stood up in Johns palm. She was a littlerger now, courtesy of having eaten spare pieces of stic and metal John had around while he had been sleeping.
Wow, wait, what. Rave stepped closer and looked at the little woman. That is both creepy and incredibly cute. What is that?
John told her the whole story, about how he got the Skill and how he was in the process of levelling her.
An artificial spirit that can grow and learn? Rave summarized the whole thing with a baffled expression. Your bullshit never ceases to amaze me. Thats some advanced stuff. Where did you even get a Crystal like that?
It was the Quest reward for fucking you the first time. John answered truthfully.
Wow. Those Crystals are worth upwards from half a billion... I think.
Half a billion, he groaned. Numbers in the Abyss made no sense whatsoever. How did the US economy withstand all of this currency flowing around in the fantasy world? That means for fucking you I could have retired in a nice mansion. That isbullshit.
Ja. Rave agreed. Ja, it is.
His girlfriend stubbed Aclysia with a finger. Can she talk?
I dont know, she speaks to me via telepathy. John raised the little stic woman to his face. Can you talk to Jane?
Aclysia tilted her head quizzically, then turned to his girlfriend. She opened her mouth as she had seen them do. Nothing came out. I dont know how, Creator John, she informed him. Please provide me with additional materials. I require size to fulfil my purpose.
She says she cant. Wait, let me try something. Aclysia you can reshape your body, right?
Affirmative, she responded.
John thought hard about the way the human vocal organ worked and tried to send Aclysia a mental image. You would be better at protecting me if you could speak to people. For the effort, he was rewarded with a window.
I cannot do that, Creator John. Aclysia apologized at the same moment.
Okay. So she cant talk yet, I need to raise her stats.
Okay, how do you do that? John shrugged, Honestly, I have no idea, she has no EXP bar so I assume that she gets stronger when she eats more and stronger materials. Ive been feeding her what I had around. Was wondering if I should go to the tool marketter, buy as much metal as I can carry.
Makes sense, I guess? Might be easier to just ask Jimmie though C We can do that after school. When are you done today?
16:30.
Nice, Ill meet ya at the gate then. She ced a quick kiss on his cheek.
Wont you get detention for crushing Franks hope of procreation?
Do I care about detention?
That was fair enough.
Chapter 41 – At the usual hangout
Chapter 41 C At the usual hangout
Dodge this! Rave shouted, hammering the buttons on the arcade machine. The pixted characters on the yer versus yer machine moved in ordance with the inputs.
I can and I will! John dered. He made true on those words and then executed a wlessbo that saw Raves character sail to the ground. And so I win again!
Rave pped him on the ass. That was, strangely, not that unpleasant. Probably because it was she who did it. Ya know ya take this way too seriously, yeah? Raveined.
Well, you should have thought about that before you decided to seduce the guy who has literal game powers. What about me shouts only games for fun? He gestured at the Legend of Zelda t-shirt he was wearing that day.
Aint nothing to do with ya Possessing the analogue stick to minimize your reaction times.
While the yful bickering continued, they moved over to Jimmie. The mechanic waspletely preupied with watching Aclysia. Like a pet owner throwing their favourite rodent a piece of lettuce, Jimmie picked out pieces of metal and handed them to Aclysia. Broken utensils or remains from cut-outs, Jimmie had a whole lot to offer.
Ever so gradually, Aclysias size increased. Wonder what happens when she reaches the appropriate size, John wondered.
Excess materials of Artificial Spirits with the Living Material Attribute are stored in a sort of pocket dimension. They can draw from that to cycle out parts of themselves or to regenerate if theres material loss, Jimmie responded immediately. Didnt think I would see one in person so quickly. These things are fascinating!
d ya get something in return for the metal stuff, Jimster, Rave said.
I wouldntin if you repaid me some more. With a nce at John, he added. Maybe introduce me to some single girls sometime?
Ya know I know even less people than you. I mean, I know a bunch of people from bar conversations, but thats not enough to drag you in well, could take ya along when I go clubbing sometimes. Rave spotted Jimmies sour expression. Why do ya even want me to introduce ya to a girl if you dont like raves?
To be fair, neither do I, John weighed in. Except the one, but shes different.
Oh, oh, I see how it is. The geek and the nerd dont know how to have fun.
Speaking of having fun, you two staying here or are you going out again to do couple stuff? Jimmie asked. He had been neither surprised that they had gotten together nor seemed to begrudge it. Either he didnt believe it wouldst or John had clicked better with Rave than even the Gamer had initially thought.
Travy should be back any minute, Rave answered absent-mindedly.
Metal feels different. It suddenly ran into Johns brain.
In what way? the question confused the two people around him. The figurine, about thirty centimetres tall by now, kept eating.
It tastes different.
Is that good or bad?
Am I supposed to have preferences, Creator John?
What is she saying? Jimmie asked, eagerly.
She is wondering about the difference in taste between stic and metal. John told Jimmie as his eyes kept darting back and forth.
Really? What does she like more?
She doesnt have an opinion on the matter. I think she isnt smart enough to make decisions yet.
Then make her smarter. Jimmie requested forcefully, analysing the animated object on the table all over again. This is so cool, I am such a geek for stuff like this!
You really are. Rave said and fell onto one of the chairs. She created a pair of lights above her hands and made them rotate around each other. Too bad ya cant build yourself a girlfriend.
You mean like your boyfriend can? Jimmie snorted.
What? Think she can measure up to me? Rave stared intently at Aclysia. She is kinda sexy. Shes A2, right? Ya gonna keep her like this or stick her in a French maid outfit and give her a giant weapon?
Please tell me youre doing that, Jimmie, for once, aligned with the techno lover.
Definite yes on the maid outfit. Well have to find weapons for me to give them to her.
Nice! So, go make her smarter.
Do you know how? John asked.
Basic theory on Living Materials is that they get stronger as they absorb more material, particrly if its mana rich. So maybe if we feed her something with inherent magic or something enchanted?
That actually sounded sensible. John pulled Experimental Ne 1 from his inventory. Eat this Aclysia. The little woman dropped the screw she was eating and took the enchanted item. Although still white, the tiny chompers she had were as hard as the iron she had devoured previously. After she was halfway through, three windows popped up. To be exact, the same window popped up three times.
Jimmie, you were exactly right. Johnplimented the guy. While the mechanic puffed his chest up, John opened the Artificial Spirits Character Sheet. Jimmie wanted her to speak and that was sensible to start with. He raised Intellect by 10 and spread the other points evenly.
Aclysia, can you talk now?
A few momentster, Aclysia opened her mouth. Yes, Creator John. She sounded a bit squeakier than she had in his head. I feel different. Aclysia looked at her hands like she was surprised to see them there.
What do you think you like more: metal or stic? Jimmie asked with interest.
Aclysia turned to John. Would metal or stic be of additional aid protecting you, Creator John?
Metal, probably, John responded truthfully. He didnt want to fill her little head up with lies.
Aclysia turned back to Jimmie. I suppose I like metal more.
No real advancement in that regard it seems. The mechanic sighed and fell back on his chair.
But she can speak now and shes he cute. Rave tickled the little womans tummy. No reaction, Aclysia just kept chomping on the ne. What little magic had been in there seemed to have all been lost now. Like seriously cute. Id sleep with a girl like her. Threesome, maybe? she grinned over at John.
The Gamer did not get the opportunity to ask whether she was serious or not. Travolta chose that exact moment to burst in through the door. John vaguely heard harsh rain and winds behind him. A thing he had learned with the advent of the summer storm was that weather in reality was mirrored by the Illusion Barriers in the area.
Fucking dammit! the ornery, middle-aged man cursed. Who the fuck allowed the weather to rain on me. Fuck, Im soaked.
At least ya dont have to dry your hair, Rave quipped.
Fuck off, Rave. Travolta shouted and pulled his tank top off. He didnt have any qualms staying shirtless in front of the rest of his guild. While wringing his shirt out, he noticed that John was staring above his head. Travolta looked up. Something in my hair?
Oh, no, sorry, just spaced out for a moment, John lied. What had made him stare was that Travolta was 22 levels higher thanst time. That required an Observe.
What was Thana? He had the sneaking suspicion that asking wouldnt be smart. Besides Rave, nobody knew how much information he could get by simply Observing people. Speaking of Rave she looked at John with a raised eyebrow. She must have realized he was looking at a window.
Everyones here thats C whats that? Travolta asked and put his shirt back on.
Shes called Aclysia, Rave responded. John made her, shes an Artificial Spirit.
For fucking real? Travolta eximed and stomped over. He stopped just short of picking Aclysia up, instead only observing her from up close. How the fuck did you have the money and Skill for that? he asked.
Uhm, I kinda just was able to do it? John responded, then decided to go a bit more into detail. Gaia provided me with the crystal and I got the Skill off a different mechanic. Ibined the two and there she sits. Im still testing out what happens.
Travolta silently listened to that. He put his shirt back on, then gave John a once-over, as if he had never seen him before. Youre a bit more filled out you get items and spells? he mumbled his thoughts. Your powers are really interesting. Man, to be a Latebloomer He trailed off again, his jaw circling as if he was chewing on something firm. Ill be upstairs, dont break anything. With those words, he suddenly and quickly walked away.
John wanted to ask about the Bloodfallen, but by the time he had mustered the courage, the opportunity had passed. At the same time, Jimmie sighed. I probably should get to the hospital. Can never catch a break. He was about to light a cigarette on his way outside, when he was reminded of the rain. He cursed, put it away, then got moving anyway.
Guess that fills our interaction quota with the weirdos for the day, Rave joked.
I dont think we have any room to call anyone weirdo. I mean, what was it we nned to do today? Watch anime, only so I can understand the parody of it, then check out the Abyss Auction?
Yeah, so lets go! Watching Chinese cartoons is my favourite pastime.
Oh, so its okay when you say it!
Chapter 42 – The answer to all things
Chapter 42 C The answer to all things
What do you mean he just forgot?! Johns voice bounced around the videogame room. He had just sat through the most jumbled, oddly paced mess he had ever experienced and then the end was the most unsatisfying answer he could have imagined. The only thing worse than this would be if it turned out he was dreaming after all and he was one breakfast away from his usual extortion by a thoroughly uncowed Frank. This is offensively bad!
Aclysia peeked out of the box of materials that Jimmie had left them with. They had taken it along to Raves ce, since they had been assured it was all junk. Creator John, are you in need of defending?
No, just keep eating, John ordered her. A bit too forcefully, but Aclysiacked the proper understanding to misunderstand his tone.
Affirmative, Aclysia vanished back into the box. asionally, there was a rustling sound, when she picked a new piece up. The emotionless devouring of scrap continued. She wasnt gaining levels with this, but at least she was gaining mass.
You have no idea how much Im enjoying your seething, Rave grinned. She had spent most of the anime watching him instead. Now her elbow was on the backrest, serving as her support while she gazed at him. Those blue eyes were an argument for Gods existence or Gaias favouritism. When she looked at the time, she sighed. Kindate now, so well have to do the abridged version another time.
Does the abridged version have an answer? John needed to know. His mind was quickly putting together a n.
Kinda? Its parody though.
Good enough. John did not need a great excuse to hang out with her for longer. He pulled out his phone and selected one of the two saved numbers. Yeah, hi, mom. I want to stay at my girlfriends ce tonight. Yes, we will be going to school. Yes, she goes there too Love you too, bye. He ended the call and put his phone away. Problem solved, we are binging all of this. Im not leaving without answers.
Rave scratched him under the chin. Ya know, much as I love ya being all firm and stuff, ya probably shouldve asked first. She ced a kiss on his cheek, while the embarrassment overtook the anger. That had been a bit hasty. I forgive ya tho. Before we do that, lemme show you the Abyss Auction though.
Uh, yes, lets do that, he agreed. They got up and moved over to the PC. From the incident in the forest, he already knew that it was an inte site. The PC booted up in less than two seconds. God bless SSDs.
Nerd, Rave chuckled. She entered a convoluted IP into the address bar by hand. Johnmitted it to memory. Intellect should keep it there. He wondered how much higher he had to go for his ability to recollect to be wless. Alright, gotta get ya an ount. Any wishes for the name?
I usually use Jeehan.
Thats stupid C youll be the Gamer.
Isnt that really obvious though? Johns doubt sneaked in his voice.
Dont matter. If ya think ya can stay anonymous on the Abyss Auction for 0,2 seconds, ya dont know what youre messing with. If it aint direct trade person to person or guild to guild, everything goes through the AA. They got more money than all the gods. She put the name in, then instructed him, Put your hand on the PC.
Alright? John reluctantly followed her order. The machine hummed for a little bit. A progress bar on the screen appeared. What is happening?
A technomancer is using the aura scanning parts in the PC to scan your aura. Lowercase a, Rave told him. Your soul signature, if ya will. Its unique so it''s more secure than any password.
And theyll always know where I log in from, John posited.
Yeah, but that aint really different from the rest of the big tech sites, is it? Rave rxedly tapped her heel on the ground.
John had no retort to that and the scanning eventually finished. Guess I am unplugging all my microphones and stuff when Im not using them.
They can only read your aura if the equipment is built for it though. Youll probably need a new phone if ya wanna use it wherever ya go. The scan finished and Rave gestured for him to stand up again. Ya want books, right?
That would be a start. Something defensive.
Just defensive? Rave asked and looked at him. Ya know what I would do if ya had a mana shield or something like it right now?
Sidestep my attacks and harass me with swift blows until Im out of mana? John responded in a thoughtful manner. Yeah, optimally Id like something that does both defend and have some offensive usage but he nced over at Aclysia I was willing to y on buying time and hope my Artificial Spirit takes care of it.
How about ya just get another familiar? Theres books on elemental summoning, Rave put the words into the search bar. Usually elementals are restricted to people with fitting Innate Abilities or ya need to do years of study now she nced over at Aclysia, ya got that Latebloomer BS. If ya want defence and offence mixed, how about an earth or water one?
All of this sounded right up his alley. An extra familiar would work nicely with the summoner route he wanted to go with. Yeah, lets go with an elemental.
What do ya say to the nice girl that gave ya the tip?
John straightened up and looked around the room. What nice girl? he asked and was punished with a pinch to the backside. Ow, okay, heughed and bowed down. Thanks, Jane, you are the love of my life.
There ya go, Rave purred and they went browsing.
They stuck to the beginners guides, everything else was out by default. Expectedly, that restricted them to a very small selection. There were themon four: earth, water, wind, and fire. On a slightly higher price bracket, there was light and shadow. Everything beyond that was advanced or very specific.
They were basically restricted to the basic four, with the money John had at the moment. Rave hinted she was willing to chip in, but he didnt want to be indebted to his girlfriend. Earth or water, John mumbled. Each book was 25 grand. Earth would probably be more versatile we dont hang out by the river ever.
I mean, what do ya wanna see there, cargo ships drifting by? Rave asked. Anyway, ya gonna take the earth one. Girlfriend knows whats best for ya.
I dont remember giving you this privilege.
Dont think I earned it, tiger? Rave hummed and any resistance he may have had melted away. He was willing to see where this went.
How do I pay though? John asked, just as Rave clicked the instant delivery button. His inventory screen opened and he got a request for ess by the Abyss Auction. Huh? I thought I was the only one with this ability?
Youre the only one with that ability, Rave said and turned to him. Whatever exactly your weird mixture of stuff is. Ya aint the only person with an ability to hold money though. Ability to transfer money ain''t new.
He clicked confirm and then his acquired wealth dropped to a mere 5000 USD. Still more money than he knew what to do with. Considering the prices on the Abyss Auction, he did not anticipate that feelingsting.
A couple of minutester, there were three quick knocks against the only window in the room. John turned to find a drone just hovering there. It was clearly magical, from theck of rotors to the little tendril it used to tap against the ss. The package was secured underneath the body.
Rave opened the window, took the package, and the drone flew off. Basic stealth enchantments C unless they fly into a car, mundanes wont see them, she exined and handed him the package. There ya go.
Does stuff always arrive that quickly? John asked.
Nah, dad being the local manager just means this location gets free instant delivery. Normally it takes like three to five days. This way it takes 30 minutes max.
Right the Abyss Auction has all this wealth, all this information and it''s not in the Divided Gates?
Oh the Abyss Auction is very strict about neutrality. Theyre in it for the money. Theyre one of the three great nonbat organizations. Rave listed them off. A, ya got the AA. Two, ya got the Fateweavers. Thirdly, ya got the Apothecaries. Ya find people affiliated with these three basically everywhere.
While she said all of that, John pulled out the book.
He clicked yes and his brain was filled with knowledge.
To use that Skill he needed a summoning circle. That was what his new knowledge told him at least.
Another book gone C so it worked?
Yes, I get it now well, I get something, John responded to her. You wouldnt happen to have an empty room somewhere? With a smooth floor? And some chalk or other kinds of removable paint?
Rave justughed. What, ya forgot my dad is cray-cray? Might as well show ya those torture devices I was threatening ya with.
They descended into the basement. John was feeling a bit anxious to find out what exactly was in store for him if harm ever came to Rave. He was shown arge, empty workshop. The stereotypical garage of a working man, except underground. Stuff was scattered about, paint and other tools stocked in shelves. A ss disy was the only fully clean and orderly ced thing in the room.
Johns eyes sparked as he observed the contents. Figurines, hundreds of them, in varying sizes. A whole bunch of Warhammer 40k miniatures. The Space Marines were particrly pronounced, taking centre stage. Wow! Im absolutely unsurprised your dad made them Blood Ravens.
Oh oh no, Rave whispered. Ya like this stuff? she asked and gestured towards the workbench. A whole assembly of partly painted miniatures was sitting there.
Yeah, 40k is aweso- Wait a second, you were threatening me with the fact that your dad would force me to paint miniatures? John just realized and Rave gave him a grave nod. Call your dad right now. Call him and tell him I almost got you killed. Immediately.
Rave rubbed her temples. Why did my heart pick a nerd? I couldve guessed this would happen she mumbled. Never been this dry in my whole life. Urgh! she stomped off and grabbed a bucket of chalk from a shelf. Here, do your thing so I can remember that youre fun.
The Imperial Codex does not sanctio-
Stop, stop right now, or were not sleeping in the same bed tonight.
Two days into my rtionship and I have already received old wife threats. Not sure if good or bad, John thought. Since Rave seemed actually bothered by the 40k talk, he closed his mouth and got to work.
It was an interesting experience. He wasnt terrible at drawing but doing a perfect circle and replicating runes without the slightest error by instinct wasnt something he thought he would have been able to do before. The white circlepleted, he put his hands on the edge. Careful not to blur the lines, he sat there calmly and activated the Skill.
Rocks crept up his fingers. His feet. His arms. They enveloped all of him in a hard crust, then the insides were hardened too. All of him became part of rock and stone. He was an unmoving object, in a way like Possession and yetpletely different. Rather than his mind overtaking an object, he felt like was tapping into something greater.
The elemental ne of earth answered his call. A myriad of tiny, genderless voices echoed in his mind. Bit by bit, they were filtered out, until only one remained. You wish to contract me? it said, calm and innocent. Somewhat like Aclysia, he thought.
Yes, he responded, with no mouth and yet out loud.
You wish tomand a fragment of the earth?
Yes, he answered once more.
Then face what you seek to control.
In an instant, his spiritual form copsed into a pile of sand. He was a mere one of them, bing part of a stream that was offered to the world. He was part of a vast desert, until the winds picked him up and carried him far. He felt how he lied on the shore of an unknown coast. He felt the waves wash over him. They imed him, eventually, pulling him into the ocean. For an eternity and the blink of an eye, he was a drifting piece of sediment, moving and settling as the tides demanded. By happenstance, he eventually was caught up in an undersea volcano. He was melted and became theva that shifted in the earths crust. In an eternity and a blink, he spewed forth. He cooled into rock and stone, an ind on which life bloomed. In due time, he was ground to splinters, pebbles, and finally grains of sand again.
Do you still wish to join us? The voice asked, after eternity ended.
I do. He found his voice again and opened his eyes as a calm satisfaction radiated from the voice. In front of him stood a small girl who looked maybe four years old. She looked unknowing and uncaring, her earthy brown eyes empty, her brown hair unkempt, a yellow dress covering her carelessly. She was humanoid, yet not human at all. A piece of shaped y.
I will be our piece of you, she spoke quietly with the wisdom of a realm she now separated from. A grain of sand, separated from endless stone. Greetings summoner.
Greetings. John said and stretched out his hand. In ordance with the ritual I offer you my name. I am John Newman and I wish to seal a contract.
In ordance with the ritual I hear your name and give you mine. I am Gnome and I ept your contract. The elemental touched his hand. Her skin was cold and hard, despite its paleplexion.
Summon me soon, John, with those words, Gnome vanished, the ritual concluded.
Ya made another cute thing wouldnt want to sleep with that though.
Yeah, not gonna lie, would have preferred a sexy Asian woman she did look Asian maybe shell upgrade with time? Shes a freshly splintered part of an elemental ne, maybe she needs time to berger? Putting those questions aside, he turned to Rave and wrapped his arms around her. I still got the cutest thing right here though.
Ya lucky I like your corny lines, tiger, Rave whispered into his ear. Now, lets go to my room and make out. SAO Abridged can wait.
Chapter 43 – Her Room
Chapter 43 C Her Room
John had not been to Raves actual room before. They typically hung out in the video game area instead. The order in which their rtionship progressed was jumbled. John was fine with that.
Stepping into her room was like being embraced by Raves entire personality. Everything from the fuzzy red carpet to the techno merchandise stering the walls was shy and colourful. He recognized Monstercat and Tomorrond, everything else was outside his frame of reference. Two windows allowed light to flood in, illuminatingrgely unused beanbags and arge palm nt that made sure the corner it stood in didnt feel as empty. A gamingptop upied a ck table, right next to her absurdlyrge bed. The mattress was barely visible under the myriad of pink and ck pillows.
The air was pregnant with his girlfriends scent: sweet with a note of peppermint. There were some items scattered about, some dust on surfaces that were rarely used, but by andrge it was clean. It only made him feel worse about the mess he still had at home.
Ya like it? Rave asked, after closing the door. Nervously, she twirled one of the long strands of her hair around her index finger.
Its exactly how I would have imagined your room, John responded and smiled at her. I love it.
Rave let out a little breath of relief, then grabbed him by the hand. Great. Now. She guided him to the bed and then shoved him onto the pillows. After a few small bounces, he came to a rest. I think I owe ya some photos.
John had actually forgotten about that. With what else had happened after the second Spectre fight, it had slipped his mind. Now reminded of that promise, he grinned and pulled out his smartphone. How about you strike some poses for me? he requested.
Rave smiled at the camera. A wolfish, hungry smile, that only vanished when she started stretching. One arm raised to the ceiling, the other holding onto the elbow, legs straight and hips ever so slightly pushed out. The loose top revealed the belly button of her athletic midriff. Stretch jeans were mildly wrinkled around her bnced thighs. The phone made a clicking sound.
Raves hands wandered behind her back. Smiling wide, she bowed forwards. Johns heart throbbed at the cute, gleeful expression she gave him. The loose top this time gave him a nice, deep view down her chest, showing off the white bra she wore today. The phone made a clicking sound.
Rave turned around, ced her feet far apart, and put her hands on her hips. A shift and her butt became a pronounced work of art, one cheek stretched, the other underlined by a deep crease, both round and drool-inducing. She smiled over her shoulder, mischievous and waiting eagerly. The phone made a clicking sound.
Take your top off, his pants were straining by now.
Rave grabbed the lower edge of her top and pulled it off in one smooth motion. John had never appreciated how gorgeous a womans back could be until he saw hers. The smoothness of evenly coloured skin, the little depression of her spine, the shifting of her shoulder des, all of it was a reminder that he was staring at a woman in the prime of her life. She tossed her top over her shoulder. Itnded right next to John. He took another photo, while opening his pants. The zipper had be a terrible confinement.
Rave stood there, back still turned towards him and asked, Whats next, tiger?
Giving her orders was a rush. Pants next, he stated. One swift motion and she peeled out of the tight legwear. After kicking it aside, she returned to the previous pose. Now he could see her heart shaped pillow of an ass in all of its glory. The white thong barely hid anything. You always colour coordinate your underwear.
Rave shrugged with a giggle. Its a bit of work, but it''s worth it. Ya wanna talk about that or-
Turn back towards me, he interrupted her. Slowly.
Each moment of her facing him wasmitted to the phones drive. Hungrily, his eyes roamed over her curves, taking in her petite, still covered breasts and long legs. That midriff was just perfect, defined enough to show she was healthy and yet subtle enough not to make her too fit. A little bit of wetness showed in her white thong.
Lie down on the bed, John instructed. Rave sashayed over and brushed the side of his face in passing. An eager nce wandered down to where he was stroking his cock. He had gotten rid of his pants and started masturbating almost unconsciously. Rave climbed onto the bed andid down on her stomach. Legs angled, spine curved, she offered another shot of her ass. Roll over. Rave did and the camera kept clicking. Teasingly, she bit the tip of her index finger. Touch yourself.
Finally, Rave purred. Middle joined the index finger and she sucked both until they were glistening with wetness. Then she reached down. She pushed her hand under the thong. A sultry gasp escaped her, when she slipped into her hole. The little piece of underwear did practically nothing to hide the slow movements of her self-pleasuring.
John got a perfect shot of her. Eyes half closed, lips parted in a moan, face distorted in lust. That was a photo he would keep forever. Use your second hand too. The strings of the thong stretched, pressed deep into the sides of Raves hips, as it was pulled further upwards. It made room for both of her hands. Wet noises filled the room when she fingerfucked herself while rubbing her clit. John took more and more photos as he kept watching. His own masturbation matched her pace. Take off the bra, he moaned. Rave stopped what she was doing for a moment to follow his instructions.
Her perky, pink nipples revealed, she got back to work. Raves body started to softly wind in the pillows. Pleasure coursed through her, recing her teasing nces with eyes full of longing. They wandered between the camera and his cock.
John moved closer by instinct. First, he took close shots of her pussy. The constant rubbing and lust turned the pretty pink of her lips into a reddish shade. Sexier, rawer, and still so gorgeous. The fingers pumping in and out of her petals were wet C although no longer because of saliva.
He moved upwards, slowly, taking close-up shots of her entire body. Finally, he arrived at her face. Her flustered cheeks and depraved eyes. He couldnt resist and sat over her face, his dick just above her glossy, full lips. Suck it.
Immediately, she followed the order. Glossy pink lips wrapped around the head. Her tongue probed the underside of his ns, then moved in circles when she found the sensitive spot. Rave may not have gained Skills like him, but she learned what to do the normal way. Moving her head in small, swaying motions, she sucked him in deeper. More confident and more expressive than she had been the first few times.
Her head glided back and forth. Still, that chaos of her pink mane didnt get in the way. Slurping sounds filled the room. Rave put as much of him into her mouth as the angle allowed. The phone kept on making clicking sounds. An albums worth of depravity was being created. Tingles rushed up his spine. Through half-lidded eyes, she kept staring up at the camera, up at him. As the wet noisesing from her pussy increased in frequency, her gaze eventually became distant. She was still looking in the direction of the camera, but no longer at it.
So close to climax, Johns cock popped out of her mouth. Panting heavily, Rave moaned, Im cumming! She was spasming underneath him and he was too far gone to muster the patience to wait. The perfect fapping material right there in front of him.
Rubbing himself topletion, he shot rope after rope of his semen over her gorgeous face. As she was getting covered, she gasped andughed, still writhing in her own orgasm. Cum soiled her face, her finely swung eyebrows, and soaked into the strands that ran criss-cross across her face.
Thest photo he took was of her moving her fingers towards her face. Some of the semen running down her features had been scooped up. Face flush, in the middle of panting, her tongue extended like she was about to taste a great delicacy.
She knew how to drive him wild. He repaid her many times over for the sight.
Their rtionship was off to a good start.
Chapter 44 – Arc 1 – Author’s Note
Chapter 44 C Arc 1 C Authors Note
HELLO!
That is a little teaser for the next Arc which will start on the 17.07.2017. After the initial one, Chapters wille out every four days. Why every four days? Because I will now decrease this to Side-Project status to get back to some other work I have been neglecting for way too long. That means that instead of the 1-2 Chapters you got for the each of the past days we will now be doing one chapter every 3-4 days.
Now for what I will do instead (Shameless advertising iing): First I will head over to Chronicles of Arcton and finally write aplete Arc for that story. That should take 1-3 weeks I think, but I cant bepletely sure. After that I will finally get back to work on what my actual main project is: The Ug branch of To Prove Superiority.
This is probably great news to some and bad news for most of you, seeing as this is by far my most popr work at the moment, but thats the way the cookie crumbles. I hope you enjoyed the First full story Arc Rave Grind and will return to see Arc 2 As above so below.
Here is a little extra.
Focus Character of the Arc: Rave - Extended Insight.
Jane Rave Hollmey. What a girl, eh? She is way more popr than I had actually anticipated. She also has a way more dominant role in the story than I originally nned but I liked her character so kept using her for pretty much everything, which resulted in the love plot. Yep, the love plot was actually an ident. Funny thing really.
Doesnt matter much though. So how did Rave spawn in the meanderings of my brain? The usual way actually: With a song. This might confuse some of you but most of the stuff I write about is inspired by music. The piece Rave is based on is the Arty Remix of Worlds Collide by Nicki Taylor. I wanted to reveal this in story but never got a good opportunity so I am dropping this off here. The song was also the naming inspiration for Collide the organization, which I built after her to have her be affiliated with something.
The decision to make her father be part of the Abyss Auction came as I wanted a ticket into that part of the world. It was more of a necessity in all due honesty but it worked out. It also gave me the opportunity to introduce some speech quirks because of her constant travelling in her early life. These speech quirks, as many of you have probably observed, are inconsistent. For once I can say that that is on purpose.
Decision to her parents divorced was one of logic as well. I didnt want to introduce even more characters when I was already having trouble giving the ones I had (cough Jimmie cough) screen time. Instead I used it to give Rave a bit more depth. Will Nariko Hollmey ever enter the story? Yes. When? I dont know yet but not within the next three arcs in all probability.
Why Light powers? Well, it was a toss-up between light and sound powers. Light won in the end because I didnt think I could make sound interesting in the long run, while I do have some more ideas for light. Sound Power is pretty likely to appear at one point or another though. Doubt it will be prominent though.
Lastly I will leave you with a picture. This picture was the base for Raves looks. I generally dislike sharing pictures for characters because I feel it takes away from the imagination of reading (Except for pictures drawn specifically for a story, best by the author himself) but in this case I have to concede that I was inspired by this picture A LOT, so it would be unfair not to share it here.
That was the Extended Insight for Jane Rave Hollmey. If you have any more questions or criticism regarding the character I will be happy to read and answer.
Funatic OUT!
Chapter 45 – Arc 2 Start – Accelerate
Chapter 45 C Arc 2 Start C elerate
A week had passed since their little photo session. As much as they had tried to spawn more Spectres over the weekdays, they had not been able to put in the necessary time since. Between school and the desires of young love, they had been mostly preupied. Over the weekend, they had gone camping again and that had allowed them to kill another 2 Spectres. John was up to level 20 now and Rave to level 21.
All new points had wandered into Wisdom and there had been another useful drop to raise his casting capabilities a little higher still.
That this was the bottom of the possible Loot did make him wonder what else he was missing out on. Anyway, with the ring equipped his MP regeneration was boosted all the way to 10,8 per minute.
Thanks to that, he had been able to keep Earth Elemental Summoning and Artificial Spirit active at all times. When he had additional mana to spare, he levelled Possession. Despite initial focus on the Skill, getting his familiars more powerful felt more important. Especially with how most Possession levels did not seem to actually do anything.
At level 20, the description had changed to rge size. After that, nothing new had been added. Either further effects were hidden, such as making the spell harder to dispel by enemies, or this was everything he could do for now.
Keeping Gnome active all the time sounded more advisable. The higher the Skill level got, the more efficient the mana he sent to her became. Gnome herself had no power, it appeared, she required his MP to move earth and stone around. John hoped this would change eventually or that her Stats would be high enough that she would be a worthwhile asset inbat regardless of magic.
Aclysia, he kept active because he had no other choice. He was unable to set the Skill offline. Not that he would have if he could have. No reason to slow the advancements.
Aclysia had grown to the size of a very small person or a very big dwarf, depending on ones point of view. Her explosion in levels hade from John feeding her every bit of loot he did not want and every bit of enchanted trash he produced to level the Skill. An exciting bit of development had been when she had eaten the Green Ectosm. It had given her the Phasing Attribute, allowing her to harm intangible beings like the ghosts. It had also given her a +5 bonus to Intellect. Feeding her a second Green Ectosm had not done anything. Apparently this did not stack.
Finally Rave had progressed like this.
Bothersome was that there was a recent trend. Whenever he used Observe to find out what was on Raves mind, Gaia insulted him for it. He was just using the tools that he was given, what was so wrong about that?
John was considering that question, while the bus engine hummed. They were riding the line to a game shop at the edge of town. As an avid Steam user and anti-social shut-in, John had never visited it. It was actually kind of exciting that he would visit a ce of his people C even if the reason was entirely removed from nerd-dom.
Apparently, the shop was an Abyss Auction outpost. Rave had told him the Abyss had all manner of fronts and shellpanies, and now John would finally see one of them. Having a parallel society like this had not yet stopped being intriguing to him, even if much of it was a magical version of regr life.
Any reason your dad would call us out here? John asked, as they walked down the unclean streets of downtown.
Dunno, Rave responded. His girlfriend was in a pink summer dress today, her feet only in sandals. She looked gorgeous.
Everyone who saw him, in his in ck shirt and loosely fitting jeans, must have wondered how he could have hung out with a babe like that. He had no satisfying answer for them. Apparently he was funny, or something?
I know Travolta visits the ce sometimes, otherwise I barely knew it existed. Well see what its about, I guess. She shrugged, while the shop came into view around the corner.
It was every bit the rundown building at the edge of town that John would have expected to see. A neon sign in the window, currently not switched on, spelled out the name Orthodox Gaming. John doubted even half of the tubes would be working if the owner decided to switch them on.
A piece of wood had been half-drilled, half-taped to the bottom left corner of the door. It sealed the hole someone had, very enthusiastically, kicked into the ss. Miraculously, the rest of the door was still intact. Still, it made the ce uninviting. Which probably is the point, John thought.
Inside the shop, it smelled like fresh stic. Board and card games were orderly put into the surprisingly clean shelves. A table at the corner allowed for people to peek inside the books that were disyed around it before making the purchase. stic figurines were arranged in rows inside the ss vitrine that also doubled as the counter. Behind it stood a middle aged man with a half bald head. He looked like a gust of wind could carry him a thousand miles away, thin as he was and with his slightly hunched back. A brown hoodie and a pair of sses on arge nosepleted the look.
Hello, it is rare to see new customers around here. His voice was nasally, only adding to his nerd past his prime appearance, Do you want to see the cosy section? I hear that is popr with you youngsters. W-which I like! He hastily added thest bit. Rave raised an eyebrow as the shop owner hastily mumbled an apology.
Ehm, no, actually. John tried to save the man. He felt a kindred soul here, awkward and nerdy as the guy was. Actually Regan Hol-
Regan Hollmey! The shop owner interrupted him, his voice suddenly clear as day and several octaves deeper. That must make you The Gamer, John Newman. I have heard of your ability. The shop owner straightened his back and only then did John realize how tall the guy actually was. Not as tall as Travolta but pretty tall nheless. Needless to say I am jealous, Gamer abilities would have been very interesting. You and Jane shalle with me.
He put on his brown hood, which against allws of physics covered the upper half of his face in nearplete darkness. It all felt a bit overacted and yet it worked. When he walked towards a slim door, almost hidden between two shelves, John and Rave followed. They entered a back area filled to the brim with machines that looked like bank terminals. Passing them, they were led down a flight of stairs. At the bottom was a ck door, on it a disy that showed numbers from 1 to 20 and the words upied or unupied next to them.
Layers of Protected Spaces? John guessed.
Correct, Newman, the shop owner spoke forebodingly. We have copied the same room twenty times so that all may use these faculties in privacy. Do not worry about the time of your exiting. As you can see. He gestured towards a framed piece of paper hanging from the wall. We are Fateweaver certified.
John actually recognized the name that had signed the certificate. It was Jimmie himself. A date in the corner reminded the owner how long the barrier reinforcements were good for. So thats what he does all the time, he thought. Not surprising, but good to learn.
The owner turned a key in the lock, trembling as if he had done some great deed. It is done, he dered and pushed the door open. With a deep bow, he beckoned John and Rave to enter. Once they were past the door frame, there was a pull. John gave into it and appeared next to Rave in their private copy of the room.
They were greeted by a tense air. Regan and Travolta stood on opposite sides of a massive table. Both had their arms crossed and both were flexing. To any mundane eye, Travolta seemed the more threatening figure. Arms like tree trunks, a military tank top and fitting pants, his head bald and his face serious, he seemed like the spitting image of the guy you do not mess with. Regan, however, wearing a ck sailors cap and an 18th century military uniform, in addition to flip flops, was the stronger of the two C Barely, after Travoltas sudden ascension in levels. Besides that, Travolta looked more dangerous, but to mess with the insane man usually was just as inadvisable.
Gruffly, Travolta growled and leaned forwards. Regan sneered. The tension grew. Neither was willing to break eye contact.
The hell is happening? John thought.
Chapter 46 – The God-Emperor of Mankind
Chapter 46 C The God-Emperor of Mankind
Suddenly Travolta mmed his hand on the table. YOU CANT BE FUCKING SERIOUS! he screamed, then mmed his hand down a second time. Both times, the table in its entirety shook. Unmoved by Travoltas rage, Regan rolled his shoulder.
You know that I am. The Emperor did absolutely nothing wrong. It was all Magnus fault. All he had to do was listen.
Are you listening to yourself, Regan? Magnus tried to warn him!
Did the Emperor know that?
He would have if he listened for half a fucking second! Whole Horus Heresy C over in a fucking moment if the cunt had just given Magnus the benefit of the doubt instead of throwing the greatest temper tantrum in all of existence.
Perhaps Magnus just should have stopped meddling with something he did not understand.
Magnus understood perfectly well what he was messing with.
No he didnt C and if the Emperor hadnt reacted the way he did we wouldnt have the setting we both love.
So you admit its shitty writing? Put there only because what needed to happen rather than what should have happened?
No, I think the Emperor was secretive for good reasons and Magnus then ruined everything in an instant. Traitor should go to hell C oh wait, he already is there! Regan finally broke his unmoving stance to m his hand on the table as well. The only person worse than Magnus is Lorgar!
The two middle-aged men kept shouting at each other and Rave pinched the bridge of her nose. What are they on about? she mumbled to herself.
See, there is this universe called Warhammer 40k which represents a grimdark future of humanity where we are ruled by the immortal psyker the God-Emperor, who revealed himself in the thirtieth millennium. He needed to do that after the Golden Age of Technology copsed in order to guide humanity towards a better future. After unifying the deste nuclear waste of Earth, or Terra as it was now called, he created 20 Primarchs, super-humans with near godlike abilities, from his own genes. These were however scattered throughout the gxy by the ruinous powers known as neesh, Nurgle, Tzeentch and Khorne. As he went on his gxy wide crusade he also wanted to find his sons who were tomand the elite force of his army: The Space Marines, super soldiers made from the Primarchs genes. The first he found was Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the Lunar Wolves. With his help the Empe-
Okay, okay, stop! Rave shouted. I just realized thats what the stupid miniatures are about! Never, ever bring that up to me again.
John frowned a little bit, he had just started getting into it. Raves dislike of 40k was disheartening. He would have loved to have an animated discussion with her about it like Regan and Travolta were having at that very moment.
Long story short: Its aplicated sci-fi universe where people throw insanely overpriced stic miniatures at each other. John summarized what was supposed to be a three-page rant in a single sentence.
Raves expression went nk. Im a desert.
Maybe I could get her hooked on the Warcraft lore instead? John theorized. Rave was a weeb, certainly he could pull her a bit into the nerd territory for all the anime he would watch for her? It would only be fair.
And that is why the Ultramarines could beat an army of Custodes when they fought Chapter versus Chapter. Regan closed another one of his many, many statements.
Oh hell no! John had to intervene. Heads flew around as Travolta and Regan finally took notice of them. The Custodes are the Emperors personal bodyguard and superior to Space Marines in every single way. Without their Primarch the Ultramarines could never hope to win against them.
Finally some fucking sense! Travolta growled.
Regan wagged his finger at John. You are forgetting that the Space Marines are group based forces while Custodes fight individually. In an engagement the Ultramarines are sure to have the upper hand.
You seem to forget that Custodes are not only highly trained soldiers but assassins as well. They would simply find the enemy Chapter Master and dispose of him as well as his stand-ins within an hour. As great as the Ultramarines are, they are nothing without amand structure against the individual skills of the Custodes.
Johns counter argument was supported by Travolta, who added, The Custodes also have millennia of experience while the Ultramarines only follow the Codex Astartes. They have no fucking chance.
Regan clenched his teeth so hard that his lips turned white. Jane, I dont think I approved of your rtionship with this young man.
Yeah, well, I am regretting my choice to date him right now. She admitted.
The air in the room changed drastically, the disapproving nce of Regan turning cold and hard. You are? he asked and stared into John in a whole new way. Previously he had been something his daughter had picked up for entertainment. Now he was an actual stay in her life. You are dating my daughter?
Ehm. Yes? John turned to his for-the-moment-still girlfriend. Because she wasughing. Triumphantly.
Hurray, different topic. Rave attached herself to Johns left arm. So, dad, I have a boyfriend. Great news, right?
John had held hands and all that with her in public before. Doing it in front of Regan had the redness rise up in his cheeks.
Well, I havent seen it in the newspapers. Regan said, trying his best at a dad joke while also being baffled. So, are you twoafter only two weeks He mumbled.
Actually, it was barely one John admitted in a simr mumble.
Are you calling my daughter easy, young man? He got a stern question.
No, I mean yes? I meanwe just had a prettyRave-mantic moment? Silence. Rave giggled. Her father burst out in full onughter.
A Rave-mantic moment you say? For that pun, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. With a smile on his otherwise serious face. Ill hear the details from my daughter. John, step out for a minute.
Dad! Rave protested.
Noining youngdy. We will talk this out like a family. Actually, Travolta you go as well.
Sure thing, Regan. Travolta was already on his way to the door, evidently not caring to be part of any of this. He grabbed John on the way out. Youe with me.
Thisll be fine, probably, Rave assured him, while they separated. An uncertain smile was thest thing he saw before the door closed again.
Travolta practically dragged him all the way out of the building. Once outside, the not-at-all-gentle giant lit himself a cigarette. Thanks for being reasonable down there, Collides leader stated. Regans always all Emperor this, Emperor that but then he also thinks the Custodes are garbage because some of them got killed by an Eldar in the Beast Arises.
Which we all know isnt the greatest series of books when ites to details.
Are there any, really? Travolta grumbled into his cigarette. Ill tell you when Regan is done with his daughter cant believe he didnt notice you were dating yet. Was obvious from day one.
Was it? John asked.
Travolta took a deep inhale, then breathed out a path of smoke. Dont pat yourself on the back for it, kiddo. Raves been bored out of her fucking skull forever and Jimmy cant hold a conversation with her without getting pissed and stomping off. Moment you managed to keep up with her shenanigans was the moment you had her. No fucking clue if that makes you special. Doesnt really matter either. Travolta tapped his cigarette and ash fell to the pavement. The fewest people are born special. Some people are the Apex, the rest of us have to carve a fucking ce out with our choices. Even if anyone who got a bit of patience couldve started dating her, youre the one that got it, right?
Right, John agreed. All of that felt more profound than he had expected from Travolta. How are you doing? he asked carefully.
Fucking dreading the moment, I have go back down there and y Blood Ravens versus my Necrons. Havent had luck in months. He finished up the cigarette. Although thats changing recently. Whole Bloodfallen alliance was a much needed break.
John quietly threw Observe at the man.
Trav had gained another 4 levels over the past week. That was all that had changed, as far as John could see. Perhaps all of this was fine? A title like Bloodaddict did not indicate fine but what did John know about the Abyss?
Hey, kiddo let me give you a word of advice from one man to another, Travolta said. On one hand, dont fuck this up. You never know when you wake up in your thirties, wondering why you got nothing permanent in your life. Travolta dropped the butt of his cigarette and stamped it out. And also, dont ever think that youre done just because you have fucked up all the time so far. Were humans and humans are never done improving.
Travolta wasnt even looking in Johns direction as he said that. The questions that still lingered at the back of his mind, this was another time not to ask them. Every nonverbal queue told John to leave the middle aged man to his pondering.
Ill think about it, he finally responded. Ill check out the games they got.
Travolta just nodded.
Chapter 47 – Some small talk
Chapter 47 C Some small talk
Back again? the shop owner asked, once again in his nasally voice. The hood was off, the baldness on disy. Travolta still smoking?
Yeah, John responded.
Door is still keyed into the correct room, you can just go back downstairs, the fellow nerd informed him.
Actually, Ive been banished. Father daughter stuff. Travolta will let me know when I can go back in.
Ah. Worried old men trying to understand young girls in love. Those are the most annoying conversations that can be had. I guarantee neither of them is having fun right now.
Are you speaking from experience? John wondered. The shop owner made a wide gesture at therge disy of mangas along the wall, many of them of the female oriented variety. Ah. John made a semi-understanding sound. He would take the opinion of the shop owner on the matter at half value. Great shop you have here.
Thank you. The fa?ade is uninviting, but thats how it is supposed to be. Carl puffed up a bit. Easier to get the aversion enchantments running if the interest in the shop is low to start with.
Probably why Regans house is grey top to bottom too, John thought. Just because he had nothing better to do, he threw an Observe at the shopkeeper. The text above the head of people was gradually disappearing, John found. It was probably a tutorial crutch or something.
Level 15, not particrly impressive. How quickly that impression changed, the Gamer caught himself. He had almost gotten a stroke when he had first seen Moiras level. How many weeks until he was stronger than Regan? This whole Lateblooming thing meant that his powers had much greater potential and growth than most others.
Did you just use spying magic? Carl asked. Startled by the question, John looked up. You develop a knack for such things over time. Dont worry, I wont hold it against you.
Thank you? John wasnt sure how to respond to that. He decided to change the topic. Anyways, so the actual purpose of this shop is being an Auction outpost and you still keep things neat here?
You could call it my hobby. Regan takes over most of the business contacts, I just make sure this ce keeps on running. Most of the services are automated. He grinned a little bit. Working for the Auction is a way to stay out of trouble, Gamer. I rmend it. No one wants to kill or enve the person that works for the ve market.
Johns stomach knotted up at that revtion. He hadnt browsed the Abyss Auction extensively yet. You could buy people on the site? Kidnapped individuals on sale on the inte, a fact casually disyed in conversation? Thats vile, he stated.
Carl shrugged. Definitely, but what am I going to do about it? No, Im content just seeing interesting peoplee in and go out. Like you, John Newman. Latebloomers are an exceptionally rare sight.
Lots of people are taking interest in me
Because the intel about you is fresh and cheap. Youre broadly interesting and will remain so for as long as new info keeps flowing. Carl shrugged. Again, Latebloomers are rare. Theres typically only a few dozen in a generation and most of them get picked off before their powers mature. There are eyes on you. Important eyes. Everyone is wondering if youll stabilize.
John shuddered and turned to the window. Was the information broker around right this second? Was the file on him still getting expanded? I dont like this.
Few people get put into situations they like in the Abyss.
Wonder who put me in this situation though? John mumbled, giving Carl a pleading nce. The shop owner recognized his intent to coax some details regarding the information broker out of him. With a neutral smile, Carl let silence spread.
The door opened. John half turned, expecting to see Travolta. Instead, a woman entered. Her ck hair was bound into a ponytail. Her face was on the roundish side and had a certain maturity to it, despite her being not that much older than John. Under an open leather jacket, a pair of decentlyrge tits stretched the fabric of her Iron Maiden shirt. Leather pants and heavy boots rounded out her look. She was either a goth or a rocker chick. Therge guitar case over her shoulder pointed towards thetter.
More important was the question of which exact cup size she had.
D it was. The more baffling revtion however was that she had never experienced the D. A tasteless joke, John admitted to himself, but she looked like one of those girls out of Buy a Russian Wifemercials. How was she still a virgin? It was that moment that made John think of his harem aspirations. Rave had shown joking interest in a threesome before, maybe there was some hope here?
Why are you staring at me so much? the woman, Victoria, asked. Her voice betrayed only a hint of an ent. Russian? John had no idea, the only Russian ents he knew were from game dubs. It only said she was of vic descent and the Soviet Union had epassed a lot of vic countries. He had to answer a question first though.
Sorry, just expected somebody else.
Victoria gave him an annoyed re, green eyes filled with disapproval. She walked past him. The length of her jacket sadly denied him a look of her butt. That was always the second most interesting part in a womans body to him. First was the face.
I hear you sell bullets? she asked Carl. That question inbination with her title made John guess that the guitar case wasnt really a guitar case. As unfamiliar as he was with the Abyss, hiding weapons in guitar cases was a staple of movies and there was no reason reality couldnt copy fiction.
That confirmed it.
We sell everything. We are the Abyss Auction after all. You will find a terminal in the backrooms that will give you ess to our site with the special bought locally discount. Carl answered in his nasal tone.
Victoria nodded and turned around. Come with me, Gamer.
John stared at her. For a few seconds, he was undecided. Naivety and attraction were fightingmon sense. She wouldnt try anything with Travolta by the door, inside an AA outpost, he reasoned to himself. Together, in silence, they walked to the backroom. So, you bought information about me off the Auction too?
Yes. Before you ask, I have no idea who the informant is, only that the person is getting rich off you. The answer was swift.
John sighed, being wise to that much. The John Newman, LATEBLOOMER-Information bundle sold for two thousand dors at the entry level. He had purchased it as well at this point (actually, Rave had) and the amount of stuff known about him was staggering. Name, address, daily schedule, even that he was in a rtionship was out there, although it seemed that Regan had protected Rave from being mentioned by name.
The only two things John knew about this information broker however were that he was going to his school and that he had personally met with the Rockers, all of whom died so that lead was dead in the sand. Neither of these two things were facts, just fairly certain deductions.
He would need to find some way to shut the person out of his life at some point or another. The only way he found to do that was to use Create I.D. like crazy. His ability to generate Loot was still hidden, which indicated that the information broker had not followed them into any Illusion Barrier so far.
They say you entered the Abyss a mere two weeks ago and yet you already seem stronger than people who spent years training.
Yeah, I hear that all the time as well. Seems like I got lucky. John answered.
Lucky, huh? Being outstanding in the Abyss is only a good thing if you are able to protect yourself. Victoria pushed open the door and walked over to one of the terminals. Otherwise, you are likely to end up like this.
Rows upon rows of faces were listed like a selection of articles on any other site. Each person had their own short bio, outlining, at minimum, physical characteristics and sometimes giving a hint of their entire life story. The rest of the details were promised on purchase of the person. Everyst one of them had the tag ve for Sale. There were a ludicrous amount of pages.
Victoria closed the tab and started to search for ammunition instead. Collide, thats your guild, right? Guy outside is your guild master? The question startled John, after what he had just seen. He just nodded. Hear youre under the protection of the Bloodfallen now. Good move, no one should want to get on their bad side. Victoria clicked on the order button. The machine rattled and only a minuteter, a hatch opened. Grabbing her package, Victoria headed back to the door. I will see you around, Gamer.
Yeah? Bye? John still wasnt sure what was happening. The Abyss is full of crazy people.
Chapter 48 – Checking out the Cosplay Section
Chapter 48 C Checking out the Cosy Section
John returned to the storeroom, still a bit confused and more than a bit concerned. The same site he used to buy Skillbooks was offering human beings. The Abyss Auction didnt do the kidnapping itself, but
What am I going to do about it? John thought. The answer, as of this moment, was nothing. How strong would he need to be to change this? Seems like for all the fantastical gadgets the Abyss has, it hasnt innovated much in moral technology I suppose it is more difficult when equality between people is so obviously just a myth. In my life so far, the difference between mundane people wasnt that big. Now there are people who can create a fireball and people who can submerge city blocks.
John scratched the back of his head and sighed. He had only heard what the upper crust of the Abyss was like so far and Rave, for all her perks, was not a reliable narrator. He needed more intel. He wasnt even sure what the max level was. Because if it was 100, he was racing to that point at frankly concerning speed. If it was 1000, then the gulf between most Abyssals and the absolute top was so vast that might makes right became a very difficult principle to disprove.
To take his mind off theplicated aspects of life, John browsed the inventory. There was the new Dark Souls board game, which John was mildly intrigued by. He had his misgivings with parts of the design of the original (bosses were incredibly hit or miss on how fun they were), but he couldnt deny the atmosphere. A poster for Hearthstone Fireside Gatherings was hung up in the card game section. John passed it by, he hadnt touched card games since Yugioh had introduced synchro summoning and since he had run out of friends to y it with.
John inspected some of the figurines, wondering if he could eventually make something of this detail with Craft. Currently, what he imagined rarely came out correctly. The material was strained or details went missing, creating weird blobs if he wanted anything beyond a certain level ofplexity. Levelling should fix that. Sadly, Craft was a costly Skill and not his priority. Gaining another Mana Regeneration bonus at Wisdom 75 was going to fix that, he hoped.
Eventually, his steps brought him around the walls. Outside, Travolta was smoking what must have been his fifth cigarette. Might as well look at the cosy section? Carl suggested.
John instinctively wanted to deny him, then he remembered he had somehow acquired a girlfriend of the kinky variety. Cosy probably wasnt out of the realm of possibility. He nodded and was brought to another side room.
The cosys on disy were almost universally for women. John pictured Rave in his minds eye, wearing any and all of them. She would, without a doubt, love to try and he would, without a single shred of doubt, enjoy watching the spectacle. Even if he had no idea who all of these anime characters were. Still, if only he had a girl with him to try these outfits on right now
Whats your customer protection policy? John asked, contemting his options.
Carl formed a slow and awkward smile. The Abyss Auction has a strict policy on not offering information on its customers. We maintain strict neutrality.
Great. John reached into his inventory and pulled out Aclysia. It was a bit of a hassle. Aclysia was big enough to reach his chest now and primarily made out of steel that he had acquired by various means. While she was still in his inventory, that wasnt an issue, but once her feet were out, he practically dropped her.
Aclysia remained frozen for about five seconds. The mental connection to her was a total void. Then the mind within stirred to consciousness. She shivered all over, as if ced next to a warm fire after spending time in the cold. Slowly, she got up, took stock of the situation, and then silently stood there.
There had been slight deviations from her figurine origins. The eyes were clearer, the shape of her face less clear cut, and her hair was not one solid block. A figurine she may have started as, but she appeared human. A human who was too small for her leggy figure, but human nheless. Only the way her exterior was designed, with the exposed chassis aesthetic pointed at ack of biological origin. Also the lingerie-esque appearance made it impossible to present her to the public. Touching her would have also revealed theck of warmth or fleshy squishiness one would expect.
Huh, normally when men ask that question, its because they want to try on the female outfits, Carl confessed, scratching the parts of his head that still had hair. Im notining though. I see you created a golem on the basis of A2?
Yes, John answered out loud. Lets go with that, he added quietly. No need to advertise that it was actually an Artificial Spirit. Im upgrading her in size as I have the opportunity, a half lie, but good enough, you wouldnt happen to have an outfit her size? One that could grow with her maybe?
Not here. His voice dropped several octaves again, bing deep and gruff. Putting on his hood again, he gestured conspiratorially. Follow me. I will show you to the inner chambers.
Through the pulling of a hidden lever, an even more hidden hatch was revealed. Carl pulled it open all the way, then descended thedder. John and Aclysia followed. Three metres down they went, before they emerged in another room. How big is the undergroundwork of this shop? John wondered.
It was a cosy library, vastly more expansive than the disy above. Sorted carefully and stretching wall to wall were racks upon racks of different outfits. This is my pride, Carl dered. Grabbing a tablet, he scrolled through a few programs. He tapped a button and a pedestal rose twenty centimetres from the floor. Please put the littledy here.
Sure, Aclysia, you heard him, John instructed.
Affirmative, Aclysia stated.
She can talk? Carl asked, astounded.
John just shrugged, trying to use his ignorance of many things Abyssal as his defence. It worked well enough, no further questions being asked. The obvious thing to try on for her would be the 2B outfit, John stated. Tobine those two would feel simply correct.
Carl nodded and quickly found everything about the outfit that could be gathered. From theplicated, ck main dress with the feathery sleeve decorations to the ck and white leotard that was worn underneath. It even had the decorated boob window. Carl found proper gloves and stockings to go alongside it. All of it, however, was toorge for Aclysia.
Never doubt my products, Carl assured him. These will perfectly fit whoever wears them. See for yourself.
John had Aclysia put on the clothes and sure enough they shrunk until they were a proper fit. Now little Aclysia was dressed in one of the most stylish and alluring outfits in videogame history. For reasons of Johns personal enjoyment, they skipped on the headband. For reasons of practicality they skipped on the blindfold.
This is almost perfect! Carl squeaked. To see a man in his forties nerding out was a bit odd, but John fully understood. It wasnt often one could see a perfect replica of a videogame character. A2 in 2Bs dress was a scene many wanted anyway and Aclysia fulfilled it with clean skin, brushed hair, and a passive expression. She honestly looked more like a long haired 2B than A2 now. Only real difference between them and her, besides size, was the eye colour.
There was also a bit of awkwardness to the clothes because of the underlyingck of skin tes in certain areas. You wouldnt happen to have a few kilos of unneeded stic sitting around, would you? John asked. He wanted Aclysia to reach proper size already and material was as much of an issue there as levels. Metal was doing it, but stic would be nicer to the touch. Eventually, he would have her eat silicone or whatever else was as close to the proper sensation of human skin as he could find.
Well Carl hummed, then nodded to himself. He walked away for a moment, then returned with a couple of boxes. He opened one of them and revealed a bunch of wigs. These are duplicates or pieces I couldnt get right. I would be willing to part with them, for a price.
How much for these and the costume? John asked.
They are all enchanted to resize. A cheap version of the enchantment, but an enchantment nheless. If you just want stic-
No, I will take these, John interrupted. Any magic he could pump into Aclysia would help him twice over. He wanted her to get as powerful as possible as quickly as possible. He withdrew the money from his inventory and handed it over. Carl quickly counted it and John pulled out his phone.
For once in his life, he looked up 2B porn not because he wanted to do something with it, but because he wanted a nude model for Aclysia to simte. Once he had found one that both had the bodacious body type he wanted and had been shot from a satisfying number of angles, he showed them to Aclysia with the simple order to shift her appearance to match this. ording to what he understood of Artificial Spirits, limited shapeshifting from their created form would be possible.
Aclysia said nothing to the contrary, neither did a window pop up to warn him about it. Only keep your head as it currently is, he finished the order.
Affirmative, Creator John, Aclysia signalled her understanding. With that, she began eating the wigs.
JOOOOHN! A voice made its way down from the hatch. WHERE ARE YOU HIDING YOUR SCRAWNY ASS? REGAN SAYS WE CAN HEAD BACK IN.
Bad but not the worst timing. Aclysia would need time to eat all of this and it was too much for John to load in his inventory. Can I just leave her here for a moment? he asked.
Ill keep watch. Mostly to make sure she doesnt touch anything else, Carl confessed.
The selfish motive made it easier to believe he wouldnt try anything undue. Not that John was sure he could do anything undue with Aclysia. The Artificial Spirit did have the superior Strength Stat and she was made out of metal. Very difficult to mess with. In terms of conversation, she wouldnt offer much either. Aclysia only really reacted to his questions or statements.
With a nod, John headed back up thedder.
Chapter 49 – Back with his girlfriend
Chapter 49 C Back with his girlfriend
John expected to be beheaded the moment he entered the room. Instead, he found Regan and Rave drinking light beer. Regan was in the process of setting up his Blood Ravens, while Rave sat on a red sofa in the back.
Ah, there you are, Regan dered, his voice reverberating with cheer. Walking over, he offered his hand to the Gamer. Not knowing what else to do, John took it. Forcefully, he was pulled into a hug. If you ever bring my daughter into such a dangerous situation again, I will rip out your intestines and use them as a jumping rope.
John had never gulped so intensely at something someone in such a weird get-up had said. Understood, sir, he responded and was let go. Travolta shoved his way back into the room and the two started ying.
Finding his happy ce, John plopped down next to his girlfriend on the couch. Youre in big trouble, arent ya? she asked with a giggle.
Yes wait, thats your fault, he whispered back.
Why would that be?
Well, you could have not told your protective dad that you almost died.
Are ya telling me to lie to daddy?
No I mean maybe I mean Hemunicated nonverbally that they already had skimmed over things here and there. When his eyes finally came to a still, he realized that Raves were reddened. At that, he clenched his fist. Did you cry?
No answer to that, just her shoulder rubbing his. Just keep my mind off the stupid stuff here, okay?
John forced himself to rx, there were many good reasons a daughter would cry when having rtionship talks with her father, right? I think I can do that, he whispered back and they exchanged a kiss. It tasted like a secure future.
Can you be quiet over there?! Travolta shouted. This is important.
Why exactly are we here again? John asked, slightly annoyed. The tone made both of the older men in the room send him a warning nce. The Gamer averted his after a second of staring. Youll be strong enough eventually, Latebloomer, he told himself. If the things everyone said were true, he just had to bide his time.
Regan finally supplied an answer for what this meeting was actually about. Travolta and I have to speak about something that concerns you two as well. The whole Bloodfallen business.
Did anything bad happen? John asked, immediately alerted.
No, Regan shot back, while shuffling some figurines around. Everything is as expected. Which is to say that no one bes anybodys protector without something in return.
They want tribute, Travolta continued. Money, materials, intel, something that makes us worthwhile to keep around. As the leader, Ill obviously shoulder most of the burden. I still need you to chip in. John and Rave nodded, that made enough sense. Jimmie will do some work for them, so hes being valuable that way. Rave, your old man wanted to ask you personally what you prefer. The tall man gestured impatiently at Regan.
Calcting whether or not his army was appropriate for the battlefield size, Regan mumbled. Question is whether you want me to foot that bill or if youll do it on your own.
How much we talking about? Rave asked.
Twenty-five grand a week, Travolta threw in.
John only felt a tad of surprise at the sum. I really am getting used to this.
Rave shrugged. Got enough saved up for that. No need for ya to weigh in, dad. Gotta stand on my own two feet and all that, right?
Regan pouted slightly, the prospect of not providing for his little girl visibly saddening him. Right, he mumbled. Then he followed with a deep sigh. This is the Abyss. Who knows, next month I might be dead?
He said it casually and Rave didntugh. It was a real possibility, with the unpredictability of this world. With that matter covered, all eyes moved to John.
I will need the money from you as well. Travolta said. Or materials ofparable value. You can provide, right?
John looked down on his hands. To pay that amount he needed to kill three Spectres a week, when he could only reliably kill two without missing sses. Either he skipped out on school once a week, every week or he would have to start farming something that dropped more. Either way, he could do it.
I can start next week, he promised, having just given his money to Carl.
You better fucking see to it. His choice of words belied what could maybe be called a smile.
Dont be such a grumpball, Baldy. Rave said and protectivelyid her arms around John. Ya gonna scare my man.
I am not that big of a scaredy cat! John denied that. As if to prove that, he locked eyes with Travolta. I will have it, dont worry.
Travolta nodded harshly. That is all I wanted from you anyway.
Yeah, you can go now. Regan did a shoo-shoo gesture. Jane, I trust you to be back home for dinner.
Pizza? Rave asked in a hopeful voice.
Pizza. Her father confirmed.
The couple rose from the sofa and went on their way, leaving Travolta and Regan as they started another shouting match. John wanted so badly to turn around. Weighing in on nerd discussions was such a rare treat
What did you do to pass the time by the way? Rave put his mind off it. Raised hands, and they left the Protected Space, emerging back in the shop.
I bought a dress for Aclysia from the cosy area. Also wigs. Lots and lots of wigs.
Why that? Rave wondered.
Well, I needed more stic to finally fix those ck surfaces of hers. John exined.
Well, that sounds like an incredibly bad idea.
Why? We already found out that she can manipte the stic to make it feel like skin. Well, it felt like skin texture wise but didnt have the same stic attributes. I probably should just buy a sex doll and have her eat that. Should have all the necessary materials to emte.
Yeah but this is an Abyss shop, right? Rave asked.
Yeah, and?
And what will ya do if getting all the levels from the enchanted stuff makes her grow real big?
Given how slow its been so far, Im not too afraid of that, John responded, just as a certain window popped up for the fifth time.
Certainly was a good purcha-
There you are! Carl shouted, when he spotted theming up the stairs. Come with me, quick!
Rave shot him a told ya nce and they hastened into the cosy vault. There they found an about two and a half metre giant of an Artificial Spirit standing underneath the ceiling.
Hello, Creator John. I have fulfilled the task. Aclysia said. To showcase she chose to lift her skirt and pull aside the bottom of the leotard underneath. It was a marvellous disy of smooth thighs and the appearance of a vagina. John was fairly certain that past thebia there was no hole though.
Well, thats good? What happened? John asked.
Carl confirmed the obvious theory. Your Artificial Spirit, he made it very clear he knew now what he was dealing with, gotrger as her magical power increased to the point where she could sustain control over more materials C which led to her eating faster. You forgot to give her the wanted size.
Aclysia tilted her head in what seemed to be an act of confusion. It could also have been her wanting to see what was happening a bit better. John on the other hand was wondering if the difference between his limited enchantment capabilities and wigs that could adjust their size was really that massive. More important was dealing with this though. Aclysia, can you be smaller again?
Affirmative, I can move materials into storage, Aclysia stated.
Fantastic, please shrink until you''re about my size maybe a bit taller. John didnt necessarily have a thing for taller women he actually had no real preference when it came to size. The instruction was given purely because her having more reach would be helpful inbat. At least he hoped so.
It was an odd sight. Over the course of several minutes, almost a quarter hour, Aclysia went from 2,50 metres to 1,82. That made her the tiniest bit taller than John. Satisfied, he gave her a signal to stop there.
Left behind was a truly perfect cosy of A2 and 2B crossed (again, eye colour put aside). Rave whistled quietly, Ya really made your own side chick C ya trying to make me jealous? she asked yfully.
Maybe a bit? John teased back. Much as they said these things, Aclysia still had a Libido of 0 and John did not intend to make herpetition to his girlfriend. Not until he had resolved the harem question anyway.
I think this is perfection, Carl dered and walked a few circles around the still as a statue Artificial Spirit.
After they had let the aged nerd get his fill, they moved out. Aclysia was ced back in the inventory. A bit of a hassle at her new size but they got it done. Tad of a waste toe all the way out here for that talk. Was kinda worth it in the end though, Rave voiced her thoughts as they walked away. Ya distributed her levels yet?
Ill do thatter currently thinking about how to get the money. Ill probably have to start farming something that has more of a payback. John rubbed his chin.
Spectre was getting super boring anyway. Rave folded her hands behind her head as they walked down the street. All we do is blind him and beat him up. Spawning the guy is harder than fighting him it whatever.
She wasnt wrong. It took them upwards of five hours to spawn it and only about five minutes to kill it at this point. He could even do it on his own, throwing Possession and Gnome at it to keep it immobilized. The EXP it gave wasnt that impressive anymore either. Something new needed to be done.
Chapter 50 – Early Risers [Erotic Content]
Chapter 50 C Early Risers [Erotic Content]
A most-fulfilled sigh filled the bedroom. John was happy, immensely happy, more happy than one should have been capable of being on a Tuesday morning. The potential troubles of the day slowly permeated into his mind. They were discarded easily. John sighed a second time. This time it sounded almost like a moan.
Warm, blissful, wet, a cascade of sensation coaxed his mind out of its groggy state. It all originated from his crotch. Something was bobbing up and down, creating tingles along with it. I must be having that dream again where I raise Aclysias Libido to 25, the Gamer thought. An attempt to hold onto that dream was futile. Not in the way that holding onto dreams typically was. There was simply nothing to hold onto. Wait, what?
Eyes opened to a familiar white ceiling. It was his room. When he moaned again, it bounced off his wallpapers. Blinking, drowsy but awakening rapidly, he tilted his head downwards.
He found his nkets raised in unusual ways. A familiar, naked backside, too perfect to be mistaken, peeked out beyond the lower edge of the nket. It was raised high, wiggling ever so enticingly. The hot, moist sensation made his entire being tingle.
John threw the nket aside and revealed his horny girlfriend. Lips stretched around his decentlyrge cock, she was in the middle of a bob when she looked up at him. Corners of her mouth curled ever so mildly, while she gave him a V-sign with her fingers. John certainly felt like he had won every lottery out there, while Rave sucked and licked her way up until his cock popped out. Gooey strands connected them.
About time! sheughinglyined, recing her mouth with her left hand. The tight grip and sensuous pumps kept Johns heart beating hard and fast. Was getting kinda stuffy under there. Ya gotta change your sheets.
John was all too aware of the state of the bed and of the gorgeous woman who was way too good for it. W-what are you doing here? he stammered.
Ya not happy? Rave countered with a purr. A quick kiss to the tip of his cock had John nearly forget the conversation was even happening. This not-so-little guy seems to be real happy Im around.
Im very happy to see the person I love most first thing in the morning. John only realized how corny he sounded after the words had left his mouth. He blushed a bit. Rave giggled. I just really didnt e-expect you? I would have changed the sheets if I knew you wereing!
Youre lucky ya got what I want most right here. Rave opened her mouth wide again and went straight back to sucking him off.
Any further questions John had were wiped from his mind. With rapt attention, he followed his girlfriend taking his cock into her throat. Glossy, full lips glided down his shaft, betraying the regrity with which they had engaged in this. Lubricated by spit and precum, she slipped past the halfway point. After that, she struggled a bit. Bit for bit, she pushed further. A mixture of gags and moans reverberated through his dick. Then she pressed against the base.
Quivering, slimy walls tightened around Johns cock. He basked in the stimtion for as long as itsted. When she could keep it up no longer, Rave quickly slipped up again. Coughing and breathing, she blinked away the tears of asphyxiation. Getting better at this, she said to herself, then went straight at it again.
Slower, taking her time, she sucked his entire manhood into her throat again. John, instinctively, raised a hand. The urge pushed against thest bits of uncertainty, then he put his hand on the back of her head. For a moment, Rave nced up. He brushed through her soft, pink hair, and softly pressured her to go deeper. Casting her eyes down, she concentrated on doing exactly that. At the side, she cupped his balls and rolled them in her hands.
Once she was all the way down again, John closed his eyes and basked in the scene as a whole. His girlfriend, glorious, giving him a blowjob, wonderful, with a deepthroat, fantastic, in his own bed, magnificent, in the morning, fundatercious. He had run out of actual words at the end. Most of his blood wasnt exactly avable to the thinking department right now.
The pressure on his dick was wonderful, second only to mming into her tight cunt. All around, the heat of Raves mouth and throat surrounded him. Caved in cheeks and tiny strokes of her tongue added to the little circles she moved her head in. She gagged and moaned, struggling to stay down but enjoying that she seeded in doing so.
Jane, I am The attempt to warn her for once was cut short. Spurts of cum pumped into her throat. Rave opened her eyes wide in surprise. She remained in position however, even curling the base of her tongue up to provide further stimtion. A huge jet of seed pumped up into her gullet in response. For a few seconds, he was in heaven. Then he dropped down to the ce that was akin to heaven. Rave carefully went back up, milking what was stuck in his shaft through pressure.
Rave coughed again, as she sat up. All had gone straight down, so there was nothing for her to present. First she raised a finger. one of these days I will crush your balls for failing to warn me. John nodded, slightly fearful she would actually make that threat true.
To ease her mood he pulled a ss of water from his inventory. He kept one there overnight because it got pretty hot in his room these summer mornings. Rave took the ss with a thankful nod and started drinking. John also grabbed a few tissues from his nightstands, as awesome as that deepthroat had been, it was a rather sticky reality that he would need to clean his dick.
Rave raised three fingers and lowered the ss. When she next spoke her voice sounded way more stable. B, next time is my turn.
John nodded a couple of times, that was just fair. Not sure when he would have the opportunity to sneak into her house to deliver a morning licking, but he would try. Hope you enjoyed the cleanliness?
Definitely, Rave hummed and took another sip, swirling around to get all of the taste out of her mouth. John had done as she had wanted and removed the rest of his body hair alongside what had been previously taken care of in the pubic region. It was a bit odd to have smooth legs, but he wasntining. If youre a good boyfriend, I might do it again anyway.
Johns heart skipped a beat. How did she keep doing that? Not that he wanted it to stop. Rave emptied the ss and gave it back to him. After putting it away, John leaned towards her.
What would a good boyfriend do in this situation? He asked with a nce at her naked body.
Rave slowly lowered herself in reaction to himing closer until shey underneath him. Try figuring that out yourself, ya useless boytoy. She teased as his face hovered above hers.
Mhm, you know that I am useless though. Johnined in a yful tone. I will need some tips, would you rather I do this? He kissed her neck up to her ear, Or this? he added with a whisper and rubbed his re-hardened dick against her wet pussy.
Rave crossed her legs behind his hips. I think that second thing is a way better idea, tiger. She kissed him on the mouth. His hips pressed forwards, easing into her pussy.
If the deepthroat had been heaven her pussy was super-heaven. A stupid analogy, for sure, but John didnt care as his needy girlfriend kept her lips locked with his. Muffled moans echoed, as he pressed into her lower lips. Gradually, tantalizingly slow, he parted her folds and made her ept him all over again. Raves voice rose into shouts. It was clear which of the two wanted it more and for once it wasnt John. Athletic curves writhed under him. Her spine arched when he pushed thest bits inside. Hard nipples pressed against his chest.
Sensing how close she was already, John did not stop. The moment he had hilted inside her, he was already pulling back. The pink inside her blue eyes danced with liberated ecstasy. Demandingly she squeezed his sides. He had to give her what she wanted. His pride demanded it.
No words were exchanged, no pause given C John fucked her. Hard. After pulling out, he rammed back into her. Sweet honey sttered from her pot, soiling the bedsheets with the overflow. Each thrust was easier than thest. Faster and faster, the hard thrusts followed one another. The bed went from the asional creak to constant shaking. Flesh pped against flesh, filling the room with the sounds of lovemaking and the sweet smell of pheromones.
Rave threw her head back. Lids fluttered, the eyes behind them hazy. High pitched, sharp moans rose above even the constant PLAP! PLAP! PLAP! of the repeated prations. Yes, tiger! Harder! Thats i-i-i-iiiit! John, oh yee-ee---- JOOOOHNNNN---!
Lips mashed back together. Her pussy was mping down on his shaft, but the overflow of love juices kept him capable of moving. She did not ask him to stop. Whatever he was doing to her, she did not want it to end. Eyes rolled up, she did not look like even being capable of perceiving its end.
A half-slurred, Moar, in his mouth made it clear that she understood what was happening. Ever obliging, John gathered all the strength he had in his wiry body and fucked her right into and then through the next orgasm as well.
He was rutting into her, hammering her at a pace and strength he could not have approached before. All the while, his Skill gave him the expertise to keep hitting those sweet spots he had scouted out with such care. He had her in a multi-orgasmic haze and it felt glorious. These were the sounds he wanted to coax from Rave. The lovable, depraved, almost insane squeals and shouts of a woman in the depths of ecstasy.
Im not done until her outline is a permanent part of the mattress, he told himself, feeling an orgasm approach. Breathing taxed and difficult, he held onto that thought. He gripped it to make it reality, almost as hard as Raves folds gripped onto his cock.
However, when his dumb-fucked girlfriend began squirting, that self-control was gone. The realization that his cock and bed were getting drenched by several shots of clear juices from her now gaping cunt made an unparalleled euphoria rise through his being. With onest plunge, he unloaded in the depths of Raves cunt. The deepest, primitive recesses of his mind cheered at the thought of painting the insides of her fertile womb white.
The rest of him was rigid, stuck in the moment of bliss, feeling her nubile form pressing against him. Vibrating at as high a frequency as human beings could, Rave was beyond moans. She was silent, eyes only half visible despite being wide open. Her outstretched tongue was exposed to the air, seeking Johns for another kiss. Ast gush of pussy juice drenched them where they were joined.
Spurt for spurt, he emptied the full load into her. Then he bowed down and gave her that kiss. Hand running through her hair, he whispered, I love you, again and again while she came down from the orgasmic high.
Chapter 51 – Talks over a breakfast table.
Chapter 51 C Talks over a breakfast table.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEP.BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
The very unromantic noise of his rm ripped them out of their haze. In a bout of petty anger, John stared at the device. Possession let him take control of the casing. He rolled the rm off the nightstand and made itnd on its deactivation button.
The loud noise gone, John was a little happier. He turned his gaze back to Rave and looked back. She had since regained control over her quivering curves. Moment ruined, sheined.
Yep, John agreed with a sigh and rolled off her.
Oh wow, Rave said when she looked at the mess they had made. Johns sheets had needed a change before, they definitely did now. Ya really made me squirt. Ahegaos and this, she poked his thin arm, ya dont look like the part, tiger, but ya do know how to make a girl scream.
John first chuckled, then he turned beet red when he realized where they were. Did mom no, she probably hopefully didnt hear anything he thought, against better judgement. So, what are you actually doing here, Jane?
Just felt likeing over your mom let me in, Rave answered the next question on his lips. Ya didnt get her looks, gotta say. Anyway, where do ya keep your towels? Ill need a shower.
John pointed her at his closet. In doing so, he saw the pile of Raves clothes on his floor. So you didnte in here naked, he joked, to keep his mind off the question of how much his mom had heard of what had just transpired. I wouldnt have been surprised if you just walked around nude.
I aint no exhibitionist, John, his very naked girlfriend said as she looked through his clothes. Also, I thought itd be messier around here.
Much like Johns body, his room was in better order than before. Since masturbating was no longer a pressing need and he had other things to do, he had been making it a pastime to Possess pieces of trash and roll them into the trash bin. He had been vacuuming every corner the same way. The sheets, he was stillzy about. Otherwise, his room was cleaner than it had ever been.
John dressed himself with the fresh clothes he had ced in his inventoryst night. Then he checked the two windows that had opened up during their morning engagement.
Hey, you know German right? John asked.
Ja. What about it? Rave half turned her chest to him, holding one of his shirts. Did she have any idea how sexy she looked, holding that boring ck thing, with his cum dribbling from her cunt?
What does, He cleared his throat, Pardon my butchering of words: Morghen Sdund hart gold im Munt, mean?
Literally it means Early hours have gold in the mouth. Its an idiom along the lines of The early bird catches the worm, Rave exined.
Aaaah. John now understood the pun. Different question, why do you need one of my shirts?
Girlfriend tax, she responded, only to actually grab one of his towels. Completely naked, she headed for the door. Imma find your bathroom.
It only dawned on John that his girlfriend was now walking around the house his mother was in not wearing a shred of clothes, when said girlfriend was several steps out already. He hastened after her, then pointed her at the correct door. He went in there with her, although he was out of the shower way before her and then went to brush his teeth. Rave was still taking her absurdly hot shower, when he headed downstairs.
Brenda was setting the breakfast table, cing an extra te down for his girlfriend. John Newman! she sternly wagged his finger at him.
Yes? The Gamer wasnt quite sure what had earned him her ire. Had he been too loud? Definitely, that was definitely it. The shame rushed into his face. I-Im sorry, mom, I just went with it and
Hm? Oh, the sex, Brenda chuckled and waved off. Just dont do it when Im trying to sleep. Im rather proud of the way you made her sound. Guess youre much like your father in being in but capable.
Mom! John nearly keeled over from embarrassment.
Brenda only seemed amused by his reactions. Anyway, I told you to introduce your girlfriend to me! she resumed her stern talking-to. Instead, she came out here to us. Invite her over first, young man. Be a bit more proactive! She eased the tone of the words with a broad smile. You beat the stutter; I think you can do whatever else you put your mind to.
Scratching the back of his head, John considered all the ways he already had be more proactive recently. If his mom advised he should stick to thatne, he was probably going to take it. I know, mom.
Good. Dont let this nice girl leave you behind. Its difficult to find such dedicated partners.
Not sure if nice is the first word I would use for Jane, but otherwise absolutely, John thought.
Where is she by the way? Still in the shower? A wiggle of Brendas ear indicated she heard the water running. The Gamer just nodded to that. Ah, to be young again his mom giggled. He chose not to contemte what she meant by that.
Ten minutester, Rave came down the stairs. Her hair was brown and wavy, equally good looking as it was mundane. Disguised and in her school uniform, she was still way out of Johns league. I borrowed your hairdryer, Mrs Newman, hope thats fine, Rave said when she sat down at the breakfast table.
No problem at all C and please call me Brenda, she insisted. Take whatever you like. After a thankful nod, Rave scanned what the table had to offer. She went for cornkes and milk. So, how did you meet my son.?
Jane, she introduced herself. Kinda just looked at John one day during a break and he was kinda interesting. We got talking and he said all the right things. Under the table, she rubbed his foot with hers. The rubbing turned into a fencing match. Dunno, kinda just fell in love. Oh, then there was this asshole that bothered him. I kicked the dick in the dick.
Brenda and John both froze mid-movement. That he had been getting bullied for years was something the Gamer had kept to himself for he did not even know why. That is okay? Brenda began to move again. And then you two just got together?
Yeah, John decided to join in. Just kind of happened. His voice turned dreamy when he turned to Rave. Dont know why she likes me so much, but I do love her.
Aww. His girlfriend fidgeted in her chair.
Brenda chuckled. Ah well, when I was your age I had my share of incidents too. You kids just be careful not to cause too much trouble. Now, Jane, tell me about yourself. The only thing I know is that you go to the same school as my son.
John sat there as Rave told a normal-person version of her life history, which was pretty much the same as the Abyss version. Important difference was that her parents were International Business People instead of representatives of some shady underground magic auction that sold everything from parrots over to bullets and ves.
I take it you live in a good house then? Brenda asked.
Ya could say that, its a corner building in the renewed district. It looks like the epitome of boredom though.
Brenda tilted her head at Raves exnation. There is a building like that? she pondered.
Yeah, but its not that great. Well, its good enough for me and dad is mostly out on trips.
Johns father is gone most of the time as well. Brenda scratched the back of her head and let out a deep sigh. The kind that immediately alerted John that there was bad news. Regarding that actually. She turned to John. Your father and I are talking about moving.
John started choking on the orange juice he was drinking. He had prepared for something minorly unpleasant, not that. Say whuat? he croaked and felt Rave grab his hand. Their fingers intertwined, neither of them looking down.
Yeah, see, his position in DC will probably turn permanent and the higher-ups have lined up a house deal for us. Itd make for an excellent investment for retirement. His mom poured herself a cup of coffee. I dont want to be away from your father for much longer, it''s been difficult but we were wondering if you were old enough to stay on your own here anyway. Given the current situation.
Damn right I want to stay! John raised his voice. Sorry he mumbled when he realized the tone he was taking.
Brenda only smiled. Its okay, sweetie, I get it. In terms of you staying, we worked out a few demands though. Ill leave for DC next week, on August 21st, and be gone for the entire next month. When Ie back, I want to see the house clean and your grades in top shape. Well send you money to live and you will have to be responsible with it. If you dont meet that, youreing back with me to DC at that time.
John nodded without hesitation. A few weeks ago, this may have been difficult, between hisck of household experience and his addiction to video games. Ironically, now the grades could be the biggest problem. Depends on how much time he wanted to keep spending in school. If it was just about tests, he was confident though. I can do that, he assured her.
Im sure you can sweetie, Brenda pinched his cheek. Ill be packing my bags soon oh, it will be stressful to leave you on your own She shook her head. Enough of this, though, you need to get going.
John checked the clock, runningte was indeed a threat.
Chapter 52 – They don’t even go
Chapter 52 C They dont even go
Rave clung to his arm to an almost ufortable degree. She squeezed his limb as if he was going to fly away the moment she let go. Ya gonna stay, right?
Shouldnt be too difficult to satisfy the criteria, John talked in a calmer, a little deeper voice in an attempt to calm her down. With my INT and WIS, I will pass the tests without issue. I dont really need a lot of money and keeping the ce clean should be easy too cant have it be dirty if youe around again.
Yeah hey the school bus slowly rolled up to them. Wanna skip today?
Uhm, you heard the grades part of the ultimatum, right?
Ja, but ya also need to take care of Baldys stuff and levels. Rave sounded like she was grasping for reasons. She dide up with a couple good ones. Plus, do ya really need your parents approval to stay if ya get enough money to buy a house? Ya can just move in with me!
That suggestion was a bit shocking, on two levels. One that Rave put the pedal to the metal again and casually suggested he stay at her ce permanently and two that she suggested he just ignore his parents wishes. De-facto she was right. Even ignoring moving into her spacious ce, putting aside the money needed to rent an apartment would beughably easy even just grinding the Spectre.
The bus approached and John considered it thoroughly. After the shock of the morning, spending more time with her sounded wonderful. One day wouldnt hurt, right?
Ah, the temptation of material goods, John thought, as he counted the number of 0s. Is she going to start Armageddon if I take the Quest? Are you making me choose between humanity and my own advantage? In the end, wise fear won out and he refused the Quest. He truly did not need the encouragement to hang out with Jane.
GET IN ALREADY! the bus driver shouted.
Rave stuck out her tongue, then turned to John with a broad smile, as he pulled her away. Apologetically, he waved at the driver, who just scoffed and closed the doors. The Gamer could imagine hearing a kids these days.
John still wasnt sure what Gaias investment in his life was or what exactly she wanted, but it seemed his refusal of the previous Quest had put her in a good mood. When the supreme deity of reality smiled upon him John was going to question it a lot. Not enough to look a gift horse in the mouth though. He tapped the button.
Did ya just get a Quest to hang out with me? Rave asked, a mildly displeased undertone in her voice.
I did, but I declined that one and then I got another one, John told her and gave her the more urate rundown of what each Quest contained a momentter.
Murdering stuff is always fun. Rave gave him a carefree smile. One that he realized was mirrored on his own face. He didnt believe he would have ever felt this great about skipping school. Lets go to the arcade first tho. Gotta change my clothes.
John looked down on himself. Fighting in the school uniform indeed sounded like a horrendous idea. If his mom wasnt wise to the fact that he had skipped school, she definitely would be when he came around in torn clothes. I didnt pack a spare set of clothes, he realized, when he checked his inventory. Kind of forgot about that because something was distracting me this morning.
Mustve been mighty distracting, Rave purred.
Nah, I just get distracted really easily. His girlfriend bumped into him, while he chuckled. Well, I cant go back home to grab things. Mom isnt going to leave until she gets groceries.
Just ask Jimmie if he has some spare stuff.
John nodded slowly, that would work. They were about the same size. Question was only if Jimmie was willing to part with something likely to get shredded. Would be really nice if Gamers Body extended to the clothes. Lets hope hes there then actually, where does he live in the building? Upstairs is Travoltas turf is there a basement?
Yup, yup, Rave responded chirpily. Theres a shed in the back with a staircase. He lives like well, he lives like a guy. Bed in the corner of his workshop.
Did not sound terrible to John, but he was part of the category of guys. Might as well, good opportunity to get to know Jimmie, he decided. He knew very little about the guy, despite seeing him almost every day for the past two weeks. Same could be said about most of Johns ssmates though. I just am not that social. While were on the topic of Jimmie, that makes me think about the hospital and the Apothecaries. What are they even treating there? Abyssal battle wounds?
Nah, Abyssals dont have wounds after battles usually.
Huh? John looked at her funny. The image of the mangled corpses rose in his mind again. Crushed to bits by the thin arms of the Wall Shadow. How?
Gaias trying to keep things hush-hush, remember? Kinda hard when people run around after a fight bleeding out all over the city. Wounds close when ya leave an Illusion Barrier. If ya enter another one too quickly, they open back up though. Its not a free healing ticket. Kinda like she saves the state in which ya entered the barrier and the one you left it in and applies it depending on where ya at.
Huh, thats neat.
Dad told me to go to the Apothecaries if I lose a limb though. Apparently itll go all necrotic if ya dont take care of it. Something about an interrupted soul causing physical rejection. You, meanwhile, she poked him in the ribs, get to just regenerate fully wherever you are. Gamer stuff is BS.
Really no rhyme nor reason to these, the Gamer thought. Still interesting that you kinda get a version of Gamers Body.
d ya find it interesting. I feel kinda stupid I forgot to tell ya.
Well, I do have double your Intellect. Really, I should be thinking of asking better questions.
Aint I lucky my boyfriend is such a brainiac? Rave asked sarcastically.
Out of us, Im the lucky one, John insisted.
Ya really are, Rave responded in a teasing tone.
Ahead of them, the alleyway that led to the old arcade wasing into view.
Chapter 53 – The Mechanic and the Sniper
Chapter 53 C The Mechanic and the Sniper
See ya in a minute. Rave sashayed away from her boyfriend. He hated to see her leave but he loved to watch her go. With one final wink, his bubble butted girlfriend vanished up the stairs.
John left when she was out of view, ready to find that shed in the back. He had never really explored around the property, courtesy of how short his average stay here was. Following the wooden walls of the old building to the back, he did eventuallye across an extension of sheet metal. Through a crooked door, he stepped into a tiny room that had only two things inside it. A staircase leading down and an arcane fuse box.
Arcane, in this case, was the proper word. Runes were carved into the metal and surrounding wood, glowing softly with blue and purple. The cables inside the box were equally material and immaterial, thetter just starting somewhere in the air, gradually turning solid, until reaching where they were slotted into the mechanisms. Observe let John know he had finally found the answer to how this ce had electricity, water, and inte.
Not sure how a fuse box supplies running water but I guess thats just magic, he thought and stepped away. He didnt want to touch it and identally cause an explosion or for the plumbing to fail. He didnt need Travolta bending him like a pretzel.
John went down the stairs and reached a crude wooden door. It was more a rectangle of pressed wood than a real door. Behind, he heard two voices, one male and one female. The Gamer knew he should be thest person surprised that Jimmie managed to attract the attention of a girl, but he still was. Carefully, he opened the door. Hello?
Jimmie, he expected. The cap-wearing, brown haired mechanic looked as typical as ever, in his oil stained pants and with his redneck tan. The ck haired, leather jacket wearing woman next to him was unexpected twice over. Jimmie and Victoria turned their heads. Oh, hey John! the mechanic greeted with unusual enthusiasm.
Hello, Gamer, Victoria added, coolly.
The two stood next to each other and they did paint an oddly fitting picture, in a way. The mechanic and the rocker chick was certainly a pairing that was more expected than not. That being said, next to each other was as close as it seemed to be. If there was anything romantic going on, bodynguage did not betray it. A greedy part of John told him that meant he still had the chance to deflower Victoria. He chased that away, he was a happy man as it stood. Instead, he looked around the workshop.
It wasrger than he would have thought. The concrete hall was dull when it came to decorations. A poster of a hot woman holding power tools had been taped to the wall here or there. Otherwise, only the manifold shapes of metal being bent into wanted shapes or torn into scrap filled the room. A conspicuous metal hatch was at the feet of Jimmie and Victoria C a rectangle long and wide enough to serve as a grave, had it been an open space.
Come closer, I wanted to show this to you too, Jimmie urged him and knelt down next to the hatch.
Show what to me? John asked.
My suit! Jimmie dered, opening some kind of console in the floor.
Are you going to prom or? John started, only to be interrupted by the rattling of metal.
The hatch began to rise from the floor, revealing itself to be more of a casket. Aside from the welded sides and the hinges at the top, it was smooth steel all around. Once it had reached a metre in elevation, the top of the casket opened. The halves of the top smoothly glided to the side, revealing a suit of armour. No, less armour and more a man of metal, designed to tightly envelop whoever was wearing it. Little arcane bits and wires were visible all over the ce.
You are building an Iron Man suit?! John marvelled. Utilitarian and unpainted as the design was at the moment, he still recognized the resemnce to the superhero.
Yeah! Jimmie eximed.
While John nerded out and Jimmie boasted, Victoria remained stoic. Does that even work?
Only a bit Jimmie admitted in a small voice. With a few skilled twists and turns, he decoupled a gauntlet from the elbow. I dont really have the materials to make it as impressive as I want. After putting the gauntlet on, he pointed his palm at a nearby piece of wood.
Buzzing and faint light emitted from the steel gauntlet. A hole in the palm concentrated the energy. It shot out and burned a pitiful hole into the surface of a wooden test log. Eeeehhh John couldnt help butment with his disappointed reaction. That was even less powerful than a Mana Power Attack.
Screw you, man! Jimmie was right back to his usual tone. Not all of us are Latebloomers that can just learn how to make Artificial Spirits in a week!
Could you not? John requested, as harshly as he could muster, while ncing over to Victoria. He had been keeping Aclysia under wraps so far and he wanted to keep it that way.
Dont mind me, I will find out in due time anyway, the gunwoman stated. I joined your little club.
You did? John was a tad surprised. Well, that exins why youre even here but I thought you didnt want to be associated with the Bloodfallen?
I said I dont want to get on their bad side. Joining one of their subordinates is getting on their good side, Victoria retorted. After a long dy, she added. I hope.
Jooooooohn! A shout followed by the sound of two feet hitting the ground. The Gamer turned around to see his girlfriend recovering from the jump down the stairs. Whadareya taking so long for? Oh, hey! The techno lover, today wearing a light blue shirt and equally blue yoga pants, noticed Victoria immediately. And you would be?
Victoria Beloozero, I joined today.
Did ya? Neat. They call me Rave. Okay, Jimmie and you call me Rave. She shrugged the entire situation off immediately and walked her way over to John. Only after taking his arm, did she give Victoria a proper scan. With that outfit, were doomed to be mortal enemies. Ya know, metal vs techno, the eternal rivalry.
Victoria wrinkled her forehead. Jimmie groaned. Rave, its really impressive how much nonsense cane out of a mouth that pretty.
Its really impressive how little your robot can do even now. Lemme guess, everyone was like wow until they realized it packs less of a punch than my pinkie? That was an urate summation, John had indeed seen her fire more impressivesers with her little finger.
Hey, it might not be powerful yet, but its still arcano-tech!
Whatevs, Rave waved off.
Victoria, however, seemed very interested. This is arcano-tech? I heard that that takes a lot of skill to handle.
Adjusting his cap with a bashful grin, Jimmie nodded. Does indeed C one small mistake and BOOM! he made a dramatic motion. Whole workshop explodes.
And only the workshop, Rave whispered to John. Building was reinforced when Travy moved in.
John let out a little sigh of relief. He had just started to wonder if he was hanging out above a bomb each time he visited this building.
Gimme a bit more credit here, Jimmie demanded, iling about with the hand in the gauntlet. Ive been working on this thing for years now and no mishaps. Im still in one piece and so is everyone else.
Alright, Jimmie, I give ya that youre pretty good at the whole arcano-tech thingy, Rave said drily. Every word made Jimmie push out his chest a little further. Ya can stroke your ego with those words. Try to enjoy it, since ya got no girl who strokes your dick for ya.
Jimmie opened his mouth and closed it, For heavens sake, Rave, will you let me have anything? Just the tiniest crumb of victory?
Ya are still better than me in Smash Bros.
Not worth that much!
Neither is your robot, yet here you are.
Enough! Victoria intervened while massaging her temples. Do these two always bicker like this?
You get used to it. John told her. He still hadnt worked out exactly why Rave was this mean to the mechanic, but their rtionship didnt seem to suffer for it. Now that I have a moment of silence, Jimmie, can I borrow some clothes from you? I want to go farm some stuff.
Jimmie smirked at him, only now noticing his get-up. Skipping school, huh? Yeah, take some stuff but you owe me! He guided John to a corner where a bed and a closet stood around. They had been there for so long, they had assumed the same aesthetic as the rest of the workshop.
I sure do, John agreed. Thanks for all the metal again.
No problem, how big is she now by the way?
Aclysia reached over two metres yesterday. Rave reported. It was fun.
We found out she could shrink afterwards. Shes in my inventory right now. John borated as he checked the contents of the closet. To save inventory slots, he had the Artificial Spirit reduce her size further after he had gotten home.
John took a normal ck shirt and jeans which fit well enough. Using his inventory, he just swapped his current clothes with the new ones. No need to find a space to change, one set of clothes was simply reced with another.
Alright, show me! Jimmie rubbed his hands together in anticipation, once the Gamer was back with the group. The Iron Man suit was sinking back into the floor at the same time. All eyes were on John and he hesitated for a moment.
Well, she already heard and shes part of the guild now, John thought, with regards to Victoria, then pulled Aclysia from his inventory.
As per usual, the Artificial Spirit took a few moments to readjust to being in this realm. Her eyes were wide at first, her body stiff. Then she took a deep breath in and stood up. Breathing was something she did since she had gained vocal cords and it helped a lot in making her seem human. Currently she was at knee height, so no one would take her for one at that size.
Hey, can you be big again? John requested.
Yes, Creator John, Aclysia answered. Over the course of five minutes, much less time than yesterday and yet still a notable amount, she grew until she was slightly taller than John. This is the height I was allocated yesterday. Is this satisfactory or do you wish me to
No, no, this is fine, John said.
to go to my maximum size, Creator John? She finished the original sentence, despite the interruption. I will remain like this then.
Really odd to see these little showcases ofcking Intellect and Wisdom, John thought. Maybe she cantprehend a proper action reaction pattern yet? Or is it herck of social experience? Perhaps both? I guess I should raise your Stats while I already have you out, John said. Since he wasnt keeping secrets, he felt like showing off. Both Jimmie and Victoria followed the scene with keen interest.
Chapter 54 – How to build your Android (Tank)
Chapter 54 C How to build your Android (Tank)
25 points avable. A sizable chunk and enough for John to go over his decisions again. Because he wanted a tank, there was a reasonable order of priority he should put the Stats in.
- Strength: Traditionally, tanks favoured Endurance or other defensive Stats. The reason why John elevated Strength above Endurance was that this was reality and there was no such thing as a convenient taunt mechanic. If Aclysia couldnt threaten an enemy into engaging with her, she was useless no matter how many punches she could take. Plus, since she would be taking a lot of damage, the Stat that increased HP Regeneration should have its uses.
- Endurance: Even if he reasoned that Strength was slightly more important, he did understand that Endurance was still high up there.
- Agility: Simr to Strength, this was needed to keep Aclysia relevant for the enemy. If they could just ignore her due to herck of speed she wouldnt be able to fulfil her task.
- Wisdom: Of the two Mental Stats Wisdom was the one that had more relevance in fighting as it should make her able to retain more fighting experience. Maybe a bit more Wisdom would also increase her social understanding.
- Intellect: Aclysia wasnt supposed to be a caster, so she had no need for the mana. However, Intellect would probably be needed to make intelligent decisions when John couldnt give her orders. Not that high on the priority list but still something to consider.
- Charisma: He had no intention of having Aclysia do much in the way of talking, nor did he need her to be particrly interesting for other people to look at.
- Libido: He put thisst in the ranking of reasonable Stat priorities. Subjectively, he wanted to put this way up there, if only to see what would happen. First, he had to have that talk with Rave though. Plus, he wanted her to develop more of a personality. If even possible, he wanted the decision to sleep with him to be a choice, not a robotic duty. Making her a working tank was more important in any case.
With all that in mind, it was time to divvy up the Stat Points at hand. Libido, Charisma, and Intellect were skipped out on. Only Intellect was slightly tempting at this time and he simply had other things to raise. Of the four Stats remaining, Wisdom stuck out because it wasnt even in the double digits. He alleviated that, pushing it to 10.
What happened, Creator John?
The Gamer raised his head to inspect Aclysia. She stood there, nk faced as ever. I raised your Wisdom, he exined to her. Do you feel different?
No? she answered uncertainly. It was the first time he heard this tone in her voice. Matter of fact, it was the first time she really sounded like she had any emotion beyond servile.
I guess I crossed another threshold? he asked himself. Unsurprising, there should be something at 10 for each of these. Would really appreciate it if this game woulde out of Alpha and be consistent in what I get windows for.
Creator John, what is wisdom?
Ah, this again. John scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to really answer that. Its a difficult concept to summarize. He looked to the other people in the room for help.
Jimmie responded first. Basically, it describes how much a person has experienced. A wise person is someone who knows a lot of stuff by heart.
Guess experience and kinda, like, knowing the rhythm of life? Rave exined as poorly as ever.
Wisdom is to know what must be done in order to preserve what is important, Victoria presented with certainty.
Something like that, John agreed.
I will attempt toprehend these answers, Aclysia stated and then fell silent. That was Johns signal to turn back to her Stats.
20 points remained. To raise her Wisdom even higher seemed unnecessary, best to let her grow ustomed to what sapience she now experienced. That only left her Physical Stats to be raised. Strength was currently the highest and, as per his priority list, it should remain that way. Endurance should supersede Agility though. He decided to go 5 into Strength and Agility, 10 into Endurance.
Huh, that warranted another look at his A2 clone.
Mhm, nothing out of the ordinary I think. John thought, Consumption instead of Experience, weird that I dont get a number on that but Gaia isnt the most consistent developer anyway. Well, at least it gives me a rough estimate. The HP Reg could be a bit higher all things considered but. Wait, does that say HP per SECOND?! He identally slipped his thoughts as he stared at the window.
Whats going on? Rave asked in response to her boyfriends sudden outburst.
Well, uhm, you remember how I have HP regeneration instead of normal healing?
Yeah? Because the number is so low its one of the few parts of your ability that isnt total bullshit.
Rightwell Aclysia here heals 0,6 Health per second, that is like He quickly ran the numbers thanks to his high Intellect. roughly 5400 times my regeneration speed.
Rave looked slightly impressed and Victoria raised an eyebrow. Jimmie however simply shrugged. And?
And that is impressive? John suggested.
Not really, shes a golem. As long as she has materials to replenish herself with, quick regeneration is the default.
Ah, Johns enthusiasm was slightly curbed, although he maintained that such a rapid regeneration was incredible. Doubly so because this meant her uptime would be impressive even without a healer around. Yeah, that makes sense.
Okay, with that business taken care of, lets go out!
Go out? Aclysia rose from her contemtions to ask.
Ya know, to farm some more.
We will harvest crops? Aclysia wondered.
No, well go kill some more ghosts or other monsters, John told her.
Ghosts ghosts Aclysia mumbled, eyes closed as if she was trying to recollect something from a long time ago. I vaguely recall the feeling of danger fulfilling my prime directive She tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. She seemed to be bothered by something. After that cold dark vast emptiness
Youre still in the early stages, your memory will probably be better as we go on, John assured her. Anyway, she meant farming in the videogame sense.
Ah, the repeated killing of respawnable enemies or harvesting of resource nodes to amass Loot and Experience, Aclysia rattled off a definition. Probably because it was he who had created her, she had a rudimentary understanding of most gaming terms. What shall we be fighting? she wondered.
I dont know yet, John responded.
I understand. Thank you for answering my questions, Creator John. Her tone was, once again, neutral.
Can we go now? Rave asked, impatiently tapping her heel on the concrete. I aint here to hang out with Jimmie.
Get bent, Rave.
Ill do thatter. His girlfriend poked Johns shoulder and he blushed.
While all that went on, Victoria stepped up to them. Guitar case over her shoulder, she asked, Would you mind if I apanied you? Im interested in this whole Gamer thing. Most of us dont get a lot of chances to see a Latebloomer in action.
John wanted to agree immediately, yet he stopped himself. He remembered that they were skipping mostly so he could have a day with Rave. Sorr- he began, ready to exin he wanted to spend the day with Rave (+Aclysia).
Yeah, sure, whatevs, Rave agreed with a carefree shrug. Ya cane right along.
John was massively confused. Still, the decision was made and he wouldnt beining. The three of them left, Aclysia back in the inventory, and Jimmie returned to tinkering.
Chapter 55 – The Harem Talk
Chapter 55 C The Harem Talk
They waited at the bus station in silence. John really wanted to ask Rave about the why but he could hardly do it with Victoria around. Okay, he could, but it would be rude. We really should find a better way to travel, John started an easier topic.
Think ya could learn teleportation magic with that bullshit ability of yours? Rave suggested.
Is there a book about stuff like that? John asked, excited at the prospect. Teleportation magic sounded awesome.
Probably? We can check the Auctionter. That got a nod out of John. Next to them, Victoria worked on some pockets attached to her guitar case.
The bus rolled around the street corner and came to a halt. Victoria stopped in her fidgeting and grabbed John by the shoulder. I will buy the tickets. You let mee along, after all, she stated.
The suggestion was friendly, but the way she pulled at his shoulder felt off. He wasnt sure if that was because of the way she grabbed him or because he still wasnt used to strangers touching him. In either case, she made her way past him to buy the tickets. He barely managed to stop her. Uhm, students ride free, he exined to her.
Ah, she cleared her throat, then marched in and bought her own ticket.
John and Rave went to the back of the bus. Barely anyone sat there, so they had a nice bit of privacy. This was doubly true after Victoria chose to sit down two rows away and put headphones into her ears. Again, John was left wondering if she was being rude or respectful.
Finally, John had the opportunity to ask a question, Why did you allow her toe?
What? Ya didnt want her to tag along? Rave responded, the two of them agreeing on a conspiratorial quiet.
No, well, kinda? I thought we wanted to just hang out today.
The hanginges after the murdering. Its just urgh, now I gotta do the whole emotions stuff again. Rave leaned in closer, until he could hear her soft breathing against his ear. He put an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder to encourage her to continue. Ya probably remember I aint the most liked girl in town.
I would argue youre not the most known girl in town. If the people knew you, thered be no way they would dislike you.
Aww, you can be sweet. Ya get a kiss for that. Her lips pressed on his cheek. And a pinch for interrupting me. Pain stung his right side. Back to what I was saying: I get along with Baldy and Jimmie. I dont really think theyre friends though Id like to try and make a few more. We only have each other right now.
That was true enough. John wasntining about it, he wasnt exactly a people person. Rave, however, seemed like she was a starved socialite. If she wanted to do this, he understood.
So, I thought I might as well try to hang out with her. Dunno, she kinda strikes me as lonely too, so shell probably appreciate it. She might even put out, who knows? Rave giggled.
John swallowed hard. Are you implying what I think you are implying?
If ya thinking threesomes, which your pervy brain doubtlessly is, then yes, Rave purred into his ear. What, ya think guys are the only people with sex fantasies? We can be seriouster in life, lets have some fun ya know, if theres the opportunity for it.
This is the time, John thought. In the back of a bus, with a vic gunslinger and his girlfriend on route to a grinding location, the stars had aligned. Actually I was wondering he cleared his throat. Would you mind if I tried to build a harem?
Rave backed off a little and looked at him. He didnt even try to hide how nervous he was. Thats a bunch of steps up from just having threesomes when theres a chance, she pointed out, her voice quiet and sharp. Exin, Johnny.
I dont want to cheat on you, John started with that. But Im young and I always dreamt about it and now I have the kind of body that could keep up with several women. He vaguely gestured towards his crotch. So, Id like to try to have several women.
I do believe the word for sleeping with women besides your girlfriend is cheating, Rave stated drily.
N-not if you agree to it. He tried to be as assuring as possible. This wasnt going terribly. He had feared just bringing the topic up would have her leave the room. You already implied youd be happy to have a threesome with Victoria or Aclysia.
Again, threesomes are different, tiger. Wed just be pulling someone in we can both agree on for a night. Youre asking for a harem. How would you feel if I was regrly seeing other guys at the side?
Id break up immediately, John confessed with a sigh. He had that much self-respect. There was an argument to be made here that it was different between men and women and him and her for a bunch of reasons. John wasnt looking for an argument though. Look, I just wanted to ask. Because Im not trading you in for that chance. If it''s you or the attempt to make a harem, Im staying with you, Jane. I love you. Just wanted to know if it was on the table.
Its on the table, Rave responded very slowly and methodically.
Johns heart drummed in his chest. Wait, what? he thought, the words slowly registering. Wait, what? he repeated out loud.
I trust you, tiger. One of her slender fingers rubbed up and down his corbone. I believe you when you say youd keep me over the harem, so imma trust you to make one C on a few conditions. First, youll introduce me to all the girls youre seeing C best before ya screw them. Second, if I dislike any of them, ya end it with them. Third, Im your only girlfriend, even if ya get a bunch of haremettes. I have date, cuddle, and fuck privileges, meaning I get your time first. Quietly, she added. Luckily for you, ya do have that instant ball refill.
John was ready to deliver a joyful agreement. When he opened his mouth, Rave swiftly pinched his lips so he couldnt actually speak.
I aint done, John, she said. Two more things. I want you to at least try to build this harem for us, not just you. You best find girls that are as bi as I am, cause I wanna have at least a part of that fun. John nodded eagerly, he had been nning to do that anyway. The only thing that was hotter than a harem around him was a harem around him that also loved itself. A writhing sapphic union that he would be the only man in. Lastly, when I say this whole harem thing aint working for me anymore, its over. No ifs or buts. She let go off his lips.
Thats all? John asked.
Yeah, what? Rave tilted her head. Something obvious I forgot about?
I just expected you to smuggle in the whole sleeping with other men thing in there to shut me down.
Yeah, couple problems with that C are you bi? John shook his head. There ya go. I wouldnt want to put ya in a situation ya wouldnt enjoy. Plus, why would I need other men when ya make me go cross-eyed? Raves finger travelled along his corbones. Again, if ya make this harem for us, I wont beining. I always loved how other girls looked. Cant wait to actually have fun with one.
As she licked her lips, John once more wondered what stroke of fate it was that delivered him into the arms of this woman. Gorgeous, demanding, encouraging, and as sexually deviant as he was. I really do love you, Jane, he said all over again.
Ya best remember that, cause if you go back on that agreement, imma break your balls and turn into a lesbian catdy that visits parties to seduce hot women and ruin them for men. Rave nced at his crotch, where his manhood was straining the oil-stained pants. Ya only heard the seduce hot women part, didnt ya?
Can you me me? My wonderful girlfriend just told me we should build a harem together.
Guess I cant fault ya for being a little excited, but you really are a hopeless perv.
Aha, but I am your hopeless perv! John dered triumphantly.
Yeah, sheughed and gave him a quick peck on the lips. My beloved, hopeless perv. So, we gonna seduce that neer?
Well try. They nodded at each other, while the bus slowly came to a halt.
Chapter 56 – Choosing a target
Chapter 56 C Choosing a target
Seduction was the goal, but neither John nor Rave made any overt moves. For one, they were too busy bantering back and forth as they usually did. Victoria being quiet the entire trip into the forest did not make it easier. Her eyes darted around the ce the entire time, as if she was expecting an ambush. Difficult to even try and flirt with a woman who hid difort under a surface of neutrality. She did answer when spoken to though.
So, why did you want to join us? John asked.
I already said: I am curious about your powers. Isnt that enough? Victorias gaze lingered on him a while, challenging him to say no.
Go easy on John, hes always questioning stuff, Rave chimed in.
He wont always get answers that he likes though. For some reason, she put emphasis on the always. Quickly, she averted her gaze, scanning the forest for the umptieth time.
I can see how her Charisma is so low not that Im one to talk, John thought. Hot as he found her, talking to her was almost a chore. At best she seemed disinterested and at worst abrasive. He focused on talking to the woman he shared a bond with like no other. It was even deeper now that they shared the goal of creating a harem. Who, on the entire Earth, could be luckier than he? I guess this is deep enough, John eventually announced. There was no way anyone would find them out there. Lets see our options
After opening his Character Sheet, he tapped on the Create I.D. Skill in an effort to pull out that list again. He not only found it, it was actually overhauled.
That was an interesting development. A whole Tier system for the enemies. Tapping around a bit revealed that the Tiers epassed level intervals of 5. In other words, Tier 0 was 1-5, 1 6-10, 2 11-15, and so on. The two white options were the ones that John had fought before, so he assumed that was the disys way of telling him those were considered cleared.
The Gap sounded ominous and there was no tutorial telling him what was up with it. Did difficulty drastically increase after it? Because he would get it if that was the case, but hed like to be informed beforehand. There was no walkthrough he could look up for things he didnt know about.
So, the strongest thing I can create are Treants, they should be on average 5 levels higher than the Ghosts.
That puts the strongest of them at our Level. Rave mused, Sounds boring.
Well, I like boring when diving into the unknown. John scratched the back of his neck. What do you think Victoria? From a pure level perspective she, together with Aclysia, was the bottom end of this party.
As long as I can shoot it I am fine, Victoria stated and rolled her shoulder. The guitar case moved with it.
So that IS a weapons case? Rave blurted out, I couldnt believe it.
Yesbut how do you know?
I had a hunch yesterday, y-you know, when you bought the bullets. John quickly lied. Thankfully his high Wisdom Stat made him quick to think of believable lies. Unluckily, his Okay-Charisma made him not exactly the best presenter.
Victoria seemed to buy it though, And you told her about that?
Im his girlfriend, in case ya didnt notice. Of course he would tell me. Rave yfully criticized.
I see. Victoria just dropped the topic and turned back to John. So, Treants it is.
Mhm, a dumb question but if I st them with sunlight do you think they will get some kind of drug rush from it? Rave pondered in a nonchnt tone.
I think they will burn, actually. Recollections of what bursts of her ability did to the forest floor were as fresh as thest grinding session.
But maybe it will be like they overdose on cocaine or something.
I wonder if you can smoke Treant leaves while we are on the topic of drugs. Rave continued her non-sensical questions. Has been a while since I smoked.
You had weed before? John was a bit more shocked than was necessary, he just didnt think of Rave as somebody who smoked. Then again, she was a party girl.
Just a tad. Didnt dislike it but I also wouldnt go out of my way to get some.Ya looking at me funny.
Just a bit surprised is all. John shook his head. Sorry, just the remainders of the stupid PSAs bouncing around my head.
Raveughed. I was offered some at a party. Never met the guys again. Doubt they did it to get me hooked on crack though.
Same party where you demolished a table? John asked with a grin.
Nah, that was after that, fun fact the club I went to-
Would you please, in her damned name, stop talking? Victorias ent became heavier, as her voice became louder. I thought we were here to farm or whatever you call it.
Wow, calm down there Winter Soldier. Rave reprimanded her. We are sweet talking here.
You are taking too lo-
Who do you mean? John interrupted.
He was surprised he did it. He was surprised by a lot of things he did these days, but interrupting a stranger, especially one as stern as Victoria, would not have entered his thoughts until recently. The question took the wind out of Victorias sails. Mean who with what? she asked, slowly forcing herself to stare at him.
You said in her damned name, who do you mean? Who is her?
You know Gaia, Victoria answered swiftly.
Do I know that? John wondered. Something about this just didnt feel right. Was he being paranoid? Just because I might be paranoid doesnt mean they are not out to get me
Can we continue now? Victoria forced the conversation to move on and John let it pass. He had no idea what he would have kept asking or why he would have done so.
Yes, yes, John agreed and closed the I.D. window. Arm stretched to the sky, he held the word Treant in his head. That was enough. The woods went silent, as winds immediately stopped. There you go, all nice and where is she? The Gamer did not see Victoria around. It took just another second for her to pop up. Right, not in the party, he reminded himself. Happy?
It is a start, Victoria stated and brushed some of her ck hair back. With that single gesture, John was reminded of his weakness for women. She was one pale, gorgeous creature. She slipped the guitar case from her shoulder and opened it up.
The lid kept John from seeing what happened inside the object. Fact was that Victoria vanished halfway into the case. When she came back up, she did so with an assault rifle in hand.
While that was going on, he also pulled the tiny Aclysia from his inventory. Stiff, then slowly turning conscious again, she moved. Their mental connection went from static to clear. The order to start growing to her proper size was acknowledged, then the questions started. Where are we?
In the forest. Were going to fight Treants.
What are Treants?
nt-based monsters. You should be familiar with them. They oftene in the appearance of trees and such.
Affirmative, I am familiar with these monsters, Aclysia stated. That was the basic gaming knowledge at work again.
Rave did a couple of stretches, bending her legs and her back in all manners of poses. It wasnt meant to look sexual, but the Gamer couldnt help but stare anyway. Once she noticed, his girlfriend made it just a tad sexual. So, whats the goal? The question snapped him out of his drooling. We fight til were tired, until the boss spawns? Gimme a goal.
Quest says we should kill 25 Treants and the boss for bonus Loot. So, lets aim for the boss monster.
Shall I stay within ten metres, as per usual, Creator John? Aclysia asked.
Yes you remember that? he asked carefully. That was the order he had given her each time they began a fight. Typically, it had needed restating, like all orders.
When he brought it up, Aclysia looked even more confused than he did. I I do? she confirmed. A vague memory, a habit. It is imperative to my mission. I shall be a loyal servant that will protect you to the best of my ability, Creator John.
The Gamer gave it a slow nod. Since youre a little smarter now, could you decide what to call me? Creator John is a bit cumbersome.
Whatever would you prefer? Aclysia asked.
Creator, John, Newman, each of them works for me.
Why Newman? Aclysia wondered. I know the other two.
Newman is my family name.
Ah a family name would it truly be fitting to address you with a name that you share with others?
Well, the rest of my family isnt he- John started and was stopped when a loud, creaking voice echoed through the woods. A scream of bark parting and hatred rising.
Youuuuuuuuuuu! it bellowed.
Chapter 57 – Seedling Stomper
Chapter 57 C Seedling Stomper
You. A voice like rattling branches scratching over ancient bark echoed through the woods. It dripped with disgust as thick as sap. I can feel the taint of sin on you
Can you be more specific? Victoria asked the disembodied voice.
.The male amongst youHe has killed younglings. So many younglingsand the one with the stupid pink hair
Ya take that back, Im cursed to look this good! Rave cracked her knuckles.
she has sinned as well
Is this good or bad? John thought out loud. Getting the boss to spawn quickly was fundamentally good. They had the people and the levels on their side. What he was missing, however, was intel.
The bark of a nearby tree started to bulge and stretch. A being emerged, an upright creature with a densework of roots serving as its legs and two branches extending as its arms. It was shorter than John by about a head. Brown and gnarled bark served as its skin, matching the tree it was birthed from. The nt itself returned to its natural state. Only a cross-shaped mark betrayed the emergence of the monster.
Monsters and the boss? John thought. That could be an issue.
If Gaia could stop stealth patching stuff, that would be great. I mean, I just wake up one day and the info above peoples heads is gone. John mentallyined.
Can ya believe what that thing said?! Rave shouted angrily.
John looked at her, the normally yful pink lustre in her eyes was deadly serious. Only time he saw her more agitated was on the day they had gotten together. Then and now, he shared her agitation. After all, the voice had just said something terrible. It called your hair stupid.
IT CALLED MY HAIR STUPID! Rave was engulfed in a blue, me like aura. I am going to punch that thing in whatever it has for a face! She eximed and stormed at the Treant.
The monster had barely any time to react. One punch brought it off bnce, its roots bending and stretching to keep it upright. It swung back like a punching bag. Rave proceeded to use it like one as well. Again and again, her knuckles mmed into the wood. Splinters of bark flew in every direction. When the insides of the creature were exposed, Rave pushed her open palm against the opening and incinerated the monster. What remained after the shotgun st of light quickly turned to dust in its own right.
Rave extinguished her aura and took a deep breath. Her mana ticked up again. Simultaneously, John checked out how much he had gained from that. 52 EXP, not that bad, he thought. If 50 is the average, itll take me 51 more enemies to level up. Thats double the enemies I need for the Quest. Should go pretty well together with the boss though Gnome, could you take care of that?
Yes, John, the earth elementals voice echoed in his thoughts. Much like Aclysia, she felt calm and undefined. There was more to her, the wisdom of a ne she was no longer a part of, but also less. When she wasnt spoken to, she just observed and learned.
The order given, the elemental manifested in her small form. Mana flowed through their connection to her, as she faced another Treant stalking towards them. Two hands raised, she formed his mana into the attack his mind envisioned.
Two walls of earth erected left and right of the approaching enemy, a mere momentter they crashed together. The Treant caught in between was squished, branches and roots stuck out like the legs of a squished insect. Gnome pped her hands together and a second pulse went through the earthen walls, cracking wood between them.
EXP bestowed confirmed the kill. John checked his MP. The whole ordeal had only cost him around 60 Mana. Gnome in corporeal form and Aclysia together taxed his mana regeneration of 11,02 by 11 C in other words, he was basically at 0. With 331 MP Max, he could kill about 5 of the enemies this way before he ran out. He would still be left with two additional bodies when he did though. Plus, he could always shift Gnome back to incorporeal when she wasnt needed, which decreased her upkeep cost by 5.
Ghosts had died quicker (not necessarily easier, because Mana Power Attack was annoying to aim). Still,pared to where he was a week or two ago and now, hisbat capability had expanded massively. With Gnome and Aclysia, he probably could have defeated the Rockers on his own. Not the Wall Shadow though, without Rave he wouldnt have had a way to ovee its gimmick.
Whats the n, tiger? Rave asked, additional Treantsing into view all around. Like the Ghosts, they slowly walked towards them, like the basic enemies in a Bullet Heaven game.
Lets do some more tests first. Aclysia, can you try and kill that one on your own? He pointed at the nearest Treant.
Affirmative, Creator, Aclysia stepped forwards.
Hey, she picked a title, John noted mentally. A sense of pride filled him, alongside a sense of anticipation. With the harem talk gone over sessfully and her gradually ascending to proper sapience, perhaps there was a chance here after all? All depended on whether or not he would believe she was capable of falling in love and did so of her own volition.
Such thoughts were quickly pushed aside when Aclysia broke out into a sprint. For a human, she was fast. For an animated assortment of metal and stic, she was extremely fast. For an Abyssal, at least those John had seen so far, she was of average speed.
The Treant twisted in response to her straightforward charge. Its arm whipped across her side. The Artificial Guardian bent from the impact. That was the entire reaction C there was no pained cry, no change in her expression, and no interruption of her fist hurling into the creature. The impact cracked the bark at the torso.
What followed was a primitive slugfest. Neither opponent cared to dodge and both only delivered straightforward blows. John kept a close look on Aclysias resources, ready to send someone else in if it ever looked dicey. Aclysias Strength and Endurance served her well, however. At the end of this exchange of stubborn blows, she stood the victor. About a third of her HP was gone, but with her regeneration it would be fixed in a manner of minutes.
No EXP for her guess it really is limited to her eating things, John thought. Does that hurt? John asked, pointing at the many cuts and bruises on her surface. Cuts on her stic surface revealed metal bones underneath.
What is hurt? Aclysia asked in turn.
Ah, I guess you cant feel it then? John thought out loud.
What makes you say that, Creator? Aclysia tilted her head inquisitively.
I believe, if you could feel it, youd know what I was talking about.
Aclysia tilted her head a little further. Rather than ask further, she pondered the answer she had been given. The Gamer, meanwhile, was certain he knew what being hurt felt like. The many tears thebat had ripped into Aclysias outfit ached in his heart. The perfect cosy C ruined. Probably not the smartest idea to take expensive clothes into a dungeon.
BANG! BANG! BANG! The series of gunshots made John turn around in a hurry. His father had taken him to a gun range once before (and only once, neither of them had particrly enjoyed being there), so he knew the sound.
Victoria was behind him, sting holes into another Treant. John was witness simultaneously to the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of a gun in the Abyss. The repeated sts of raw kic force kept the creature at bay. Each shot ripped more of its wooden body out. Beyond that, however, the monster kept on moving. It took Victoria over ten bullets to finally dispatch the creature. A less stupid and more nimble target and shed run out of ammunition rapidly. If she shot at Aclysia, the bullets would probably do next to nothing, considering the Artificial Spirits steel innards.
During the entire thought process, John could not help but stare at the womans breasts. Each shot made them jiggle under her shirt. It was a pretty fantastic sight. He caught himself before she noticed and beheld Rave instead. He was allowed to stare at her as much as he wanted. She was staring at Victorias tits.
Once the Treant was dispatched, the gunslinger checked her weapon. Another weakness was that a single jam would spell her doom. Rave and Johns weapons were innate, they couldnt be taken from them. Guns were definitely powerful, especially at this level, but they would be a bad investment as they went further up the magicaldder.
Still could have gotten some good grinding done on my own if I had gotten my hands on a firearm, the Gamer realized. A handgun and he could have sted some rats into smithereens. But where would I have gotten the money for ammunition? Right, before I forget, Victoria?
The stern woman turned around, demanding him to continue with a re.
Ill invite you to my party now. Please ept, he told her.
The window appeared in front of Victoria. She backed away in surprise, then read its contents. No, she stated as she pressed it away. I dont trust your powers enough yet to just enter this party. Her tone made it clear she was not going to argue on this.
John clicked his tongue. Fine then, he said, meekly, then he continued harsher. If he was going to be more assertive, he had to start somewhere. Dont kill anything, in that case, or youll be messing with us getting Experience. He then turned away from her. It was not a great sign that she joined the guild but not the group.
Chapter 58 – The (Minor) Tree of Life
Chapter 58 C The (Minor) Tree of Life
John had not given the I.D. any guidance on howrge it should be. He wasnt allowed to do that anyway. When he spawned them with monsters, Gaia dictated the scope of the Illusion Barrier. The unknown dimensions were one thing that hindered their search. The other was that almost every tree in the medium density forest was a potential spawn point. The only ones that werent were those that were either too thin or that had already produced a Treant, marked with that cross shape.
Some of the higher level Treants had the basic intelligence to mimic the appearance of a regr nt. Shooting Observe at everything around until he stumbled upon a Treant was annoyingly unfeasible. Sending Aclysia ahead to take the initial strikes was themon strategy. The Artificial Spirit could take the hits without issue. Rave was right behind her. The two women then crushed the enemy, while John and Victoria hung back. The vic woman kept her weapon ready, but honoured his request to not act where she wasnt needed. John was experiencing some mixed feelings about his own generalck of action. On one hand, he felt like he was doing nothing, on the other, anything Aclysia or Gnome did could be attributed to him.
I would feel a little less useless if these fights were harder. A backline coordinator is valuable if theres something to coordinate, he thought.
Dont those leaves look suspicious? Victorias question pulled him out of his thoughts. He followed the direction of her eyes. Now that she pointed it out, there was a tree with red and white leaves in the distance. It seemed oddly low to the ground too, for a forest that was older than the nation that had colonized these grounds.
Good eyes, Johnplimented. He had tried to warm up a bit to the gunslinger after their earlier altercations C with little sess. She seemed to try to hold a conversation here and there, but failed miserably. Maybe some basic niceties would chip away at that frosty exterior. Aclysia, lead the way.
Yes, Creator, the Artificial Guardian responded and mechanically turned towards their new destination. Her cosy was covered in gaps by now, revealing (what appeared to be) smooth skin underneath. If only that big bubble butt had been made out of something that could jiggle.
Siiinnnerssss The faux-ancient voice hissed through the leaves, confirming that they had found their target.
Up close, the tree was even more out of ce. It looked unnaturally healthy, even for this time of year. Its dark bark and red and white leaves rose intensely from the surrounding browns and greens. What truly identified this flora as magical, however, were the three faces that shifted over the surface of the bark.
That Loot table looked juicy and John got a confirmation that first kill bonuses were a thing. I kinda want that Lance Hardwood, just to see what it is. Also, the Hoe of Hoes? John thought as he looked over the rewards.
The level he wasnt too fazed by. Monsters appeared to be generally weaker than people, following the standard MMO logic. If one either matched the Stats or was capable of dealing with the gimmicks, it was reasonable to defeat them.
If Johns gaming experience was of any use here, fighting a giant tree meant they would deal with a lot of branch swipes and root grabs. Well try to keep our distance and slowly whittle it down, John instructed.
my children gather to me the Tree of Life whispered into the woods, its voice now gentle and beckoning. A cocoon of roots and branches extended from the ground, soon fully enveloping the boss monster. Its own branches were tucked away, making it safe but harmless as it sat there.
John whirled around, immediately guessing where this was going. In the distance, dozens, maybe a hundred, Treants formed from the forest floor. They lurched forwards, creating a loose circle that soon turned solid. Arms entangled and fused, while Victoria covered them in a spray of bullets.
Chunks of wood scattered everywhere. No matter how much lead the gunslinger pumped into the creatures, they did not go down. The presence of the Tree of Life, their linked vitality, or Gaias game mechanics prevented them from perishing. The advance stopped when the ring had entrapped them fully. The Treants closed ranks and just waited, effectively constricting them into an arena. John sent Aclysia towards the wall to investigate and she was quickly osted by a series ofshes. He drew her back before she could take serious damage.
.Sinnerss The Tree of Life hissed again. You will have to pay for your transgressions. against tree kind I smell the sap of my children, younglings and adults alike, on you the forest will have its revenge!
John scanned the battlefield. There were three other trees inside the arena, otherwise it was just standard, brown, even forest dirt. Nothing to be used to their advantage. While he looked around, the trees began to distort in that now familiar way. Three new Treants emerged and they left no mark.
My rootsgive strength to my children. The Tree of Life monologued. Our onught will leave you as fodder for the next generation. While the first three Treants began to shamble towards the party, the trees already distorted again.
Those gotta go first! John eximed. We cant be swamped by enemies.
Cover me, Victoria demanded and set her weapons case down. The lid flew up.
John had no idea what she was about to pull out but if she had something with more firepower he wouldntin.
Ill try to take out the first one! Rave shouted and stormed off to the closest spawning tree. John couldnt have stopped her if he wanted to.
Rave stopped on her path only to reduce the already created Treant to splinter and ash. It only took a few swings and a guided st. She knew well how to deal with these things by now. Then, she began toy into the tree itself.
d in her aura and with shing lights around her fists, she cracked open the bark. The supernatural power was disyed all over again, as this athletic woman punched a hole into the tree with her bare knuckles. John was in love with everyst one of her motions, but he was way too concerned about a potential loss to let that entrance him. Jane, your mana is running out! Retreat!
Tsk, Rave vocalized her unhappiness, but backed off. She had ripped a sizable chunk out of the old trees trunk. Returning to the group, she took deep breaths to recover her mana. Aclysia was fending off the second Treant. The third hadnt made its way to them yet. Im going back in once I get my mana back.
John just nodded, that would be the necessary strategy.
On the cocoon of the Tree of Life, the three faces appeared. Their lips moved, but the voice echoed from all around, You hurtmy childrenbut the woundsshall heal The gap in the tree Rave had made began to shimmer green. Slowly, gradually, the splinters righted themselves and the tree began to regenerate.
Fuck! John cursed. It was time to try other solutions. He used Possession on the tree, maybe he could break it that way or at least unearth it.
Shit! He cursed again. Okay, one more idea but this is going to cost a lot of mana. GNOME! He called upon the earth elemental.
Yes, John? the unconcerned voice of the elemental echoed in his mind.
Dig out that tree! He instructed as he narrowly dodged the strike of the third Treant. It had gotten past Aclysia and Rave, so the Gamer had to distract it. Once the second Treant was dispatched, Rave took care of the harasser with a roundhouse kick.
Grrhhh The angry snarl of the Tree of Life let John know that his strategy was paying off. Gnome had undermined the tree on one side. Red, thick roots in the ground pulsed with green energy. It seemed the boss monster was trying desperately to keep the spawner standing, but gravity was a harsh mistress. Therge nts weight gradually pulled it over. It creaked and cracked, roots snapping, and then toppled over entirely. It smashed into the cocoon, then rolled off and came to a stop. No more distractions and no more Treants from that one.
NOOOO, MY CHILD!! The voice boomed through the forest. YOU WILL PAY, SINNERS! MURDERERS! DEVIANTS! FIENDS!
Out of the way! Victoria shouted. John obeyed first and checked second. An actual bazooka rested on her shoulder, as she took aim at a second tree. Being out of the way was not good enough, the Gamer decided, and threw himself onto the ground when she pulled the trigger. A wave of fire and heat washed over him, apanied by a rain of wooden splinters. When he raised his head again, he did it to the scene of a second tree toppling over. Reloading.
Nice! Rave stopped in her fight for a moment to give the gunslinger a thumbs up. Victoria did not even seem to acknowledge it, too busy pulling out a new projectile.
One spawner was perfectly handleable. The mood around the arena rxed, while Aclysia and Rave camped out the repeated Treants that surfaced, beating them to a pulp within a few seconds of their existence. No Experience for these, John noted. Evidently, Gaia was preventing at least the most obvious exploits. For the time being, he kept Gnome incorporeal. He was out of mana now.
Ready to fire! Victoria informed everyone. They all backed off from thest tree, then the gunslinger pulled the trigger and turned thest of the trees into a smouldering stump. When the upper half hit the ground, the impact left the ground shaking. The quake only ramped up as the tree came to a rest.
You The Tree of Life rumbled. .YOU.YOU DARE TO BRING FIRE AND ASHES TO THE HOME OF THE TREES! YOU ARE THE GREATEST OF ALL SINNERS!
The ground burst, a myriad of red roots wrapping around Victoria. In her shock, she dropped the bazooka. Tendrils lifted her from the floor, constricting her limbs, gripping her midriff tightly, and pressing down on her windpipe. It was thatst thing that was most rming of all.
John ran over and pulled at the roots. With his Strength of 10, he wasnt of much help, but he could at least loosen the one root crushing her neck. Victoria stared at him, wide eyed, and took a desperate breath when he managed to get her just enough room to breathe. Aclysia and Rave arrived swiftly and began to actually rip the roots apart. The gunslinger fell to the ground again, coughing and heaving.
Aclysia, watch over her. John instructed, while the cocoon around the boss finally went down. Jane and I will take out the boss.
SINNERS!!! The Tree of Life swung its branches at them like giant swats. Their size and girth was intimidating, but their speed was not. Even John could dodge them, which meant that Rave had an exceptionally easy time. Swerving left, then right, she effortlessly threaded through the attacks and arrived at the trunk.
Lucky for me, ya got three faces! the techno lover dered. And all of them look very punchable! This is for my hair!
Her fist crashed into the woman-like visage of the three faces. The deep voice turned into a high-pitched screech, as the smooth wood cracked. THE PAIN! THE PAAAAAAIIIIIIN! the boss wailed.
Its working, John shouted.
No?! REALLY?! Rave screamed back, sarcastically. He deserved that one. Losing no time, she mmed her fist into the mask of the man second.
IM A TREE OF LIFE! I CANNOT BE BEATEN LIKE THIS! Thest mask, that of the child, retreated up the bark as roots expanded up to restrict Rave.
Sorry, youre just a Minor, John tried his best at a punchline, as he raised his hand and fired a Mana Power Attack. His target was neither fast nor small and his aim was good enough. The unstable arcane energy mmed into the childs face and ended the Minor Tree of Lifes existence. Screams of agony and anger came to an abrupt end.
Roots and branches curled inwards, like an octopus that was shrivelling up within seconds. Then, the monster began to dissolve into ash and dust, bing one with the nothing Johns Skill had pulled it from. With it went the wall of Treants around them. Tranquility filled the forest.
Whew, that got dangerous for a moment, Rave dered with a smile and rolled her shoulders. He was very happy that she hadnt heard his punchline. The more he thought about it, the more embarrassing it became.
John only kept looking at her for as long as he needed to make sure she was alright, then he turned to check on Victoria. There was a whole cavalcade of windows that he did not pay attention to at the moment.
The gunslingerid on the forest floor, rubbing her neck. Nosting marks seemed to have been created, which was good to see. John stepped up and sighed in relief. Sorry about that I-
I want you, Victoria interrupted him.
He blinked a couple of times. Had he just heard that right? Sorry can you
I C want C you, she repeated slowly, certainly. Right here, right now. Both of you.
You heard the girl, tiger, Rave encouraged him, hugging John from behind. Someone likes the saviours.
John gulped, this was happening way faster than he would have thought. Then again, everything good in his life recently had happened much faster than he would have thought.
Chapter 59 – Sweet Victory [Erotic Content]
Chapter 59 C Sweet Victory [Erotic Content]
Rave seized the moment while John was still stunned by the opportunity. Right there, right then, a deflowering in the middle of the forest? Did adrenaline do that much to her?
Not burdened by such doubts, Rave descended on the gunslinger. Hips were straddled and hair brushed back. The two gorgeous women, one so bright in her appearance and choice of clothing, the other so dark, gazed at each other. Even then, Victorias green eyes retained their usual hardness. Last chance to change your mind, Vicky, Rave purred.
Shut up and continue, the ck haired woman mumbled, a hint of eroticism in her voice. The two slowly leaned towards one another. There was a hesitance there, mixed with an erotic exploration of the unknown. It must have been the first time either of them kissed another woman.
When their lips met, it was chaste. For all of two seconds, then Rave demandingly pushed against the pale pink lips of Victoria. Mouths opened wider and wider, until tongues joined the mixture. Wet smacking of moving lips and the little gasps of making out filled the summer air with a different kind of heat.
Rave kept pushing, manoeuvering Victoria first out of her leather jacket and then gliding a hand under the womans shirt. Centimetre for centimetre, John got to see the shapely midriff of the 21-year-old woman. Like Rave, she was in prime condition, her skin wlessly smooth, her muscles subtly visible. Soon the ck fabric of the shirt was pushed over the sizable mounds of the gunslingers breasts, revealing a in beige bra.
Skillfully, Rave unhooked the piece of underwear and yanked it aside. Soft smooth hills, crowned by peachy pink are jiggled into view. As the techno lover kneaded thoserge breasts, the kiss continued. Above, the perfect ass wiggled enticingly.
To say John had a hard-on was an understatement. All blood that could fit in it had transformed his cock into a steel rod. There was his girlfriend, making out with another woman, and both had their legs parted for him to join.
Rave broke the contact with Victorias lips only to kiss her way down her neck. Skipping over the pushed-up shirt, she soon arrived at the gunslingers breasts. Her nimble tongue drew little circles around the erect nipples. Say, tiger, ya want me to have tits like this? Rave smiled over her shoulder, cupping and jiggling one of Victorias breasts. Big, bouncy and soft?
Well kinda? John found the courage to speak up. Are you still annoyed by what I said back then or are you just teasing me?
Little bit of both? Rave suggested with a giggle and peeled out of her pants and panties. Ya still owe me for this morning.
That was thest straw that broke the hesitations back. Stepping forwards, he knelt down on the forest floor. If this was happening, he would not say no. He trailed a hand up Victorias leather-d thigh. The smooth material was warm from the supple flesh underneath. His digits jumped from her legs to Raves. Taking her naked waist in his hands, the Gamer leaned in, just as his girlfriends hand pushed into the tight confines of Victorias pants.
Two sharp moans filled the forest. One of a virgin feeling the touch of another woman, the other of a girlfriend getting prated by the seasoned tongue of her boyfriend. She was as wet as he was hard. They were equally turned on by the situation. Whether this was the beginning of his harem or just a casual threesome, John had no idea, but it was the realization of a deep craving regardless.
Fervently, he licked and teased Raves cunt. The note of peppermint overpowered the smells of the forest. Sweet sounds, sweeter than he would have thought the ever-displeased Victoria could produce, filled the forest.
John nced over to a nearby pebble on the ground and cast Possession. He was far from displeased with his current position, pressed into Raves perfectly round ass, but he wanted to see more of what was happening. The position of the rock allowed him a different viewing angle.
Rave was moving back and forth between ying with Victoriasrge breasts and exchanging deep kisses. Hips pushing off the ground, the raven-haired woman grinded her hips against Raves fingers. Their expressions became gradually more depraved. Rave eventually stopped moving entirely, too busy wiggling her bubble butt against his face to do more than finger Victoria mindlessly.
A gush of pussy juice was the announcement of his girlfriends peaking bliss. Lapping it all up, John kept pressing her weak spots at a constant pace. Fingers pressed into the surface of her tense butt. He tongue fucked her through her orgasm, coaxing screams from her that made the woman underneath stare with envy and disbelief. If it had only been a spur of the moment decision until then, it was a certain decision now.
Sto- Raves word was interrupted by her own moan, but he caught enough for him to slow his oral service and stop entirely after a few seconds. Hmmm, arent you ever the pleaser, tiger, she purred with post-orgasmic tranquillity. Down below, Victoria whimpered. She couldnt have been too far herself.
And who pleases me? John asked in a deep, needful way.
I wonder? Raveughed and turned around. The lips that had made out with another woman were now pressed on his. A love was within that gesture, a passion that was much stronger than the sapphic engagement he could still taste on her. They exchanged a short, deep kiss. All the while, Rave pushed against him, slowly making him lie down on his back. Ya trust me?
With all I have, John confirmed.
Rave shed him a grin, then pulled away. With a few swift grasps, she opened up his pants and pulled them down far enough to unveil his manhood. It was still a strange sensation to look at his dick and feel a distant sense of pride about it. It was of a decent size, clean and hairless, and stood perfectly upright.
So, Vicky, ya wanna watch me take care of Johns little problem? Rave asked, giving his cock a few sensual pumps. Or you wanna try it for yourself?
Dont call me that again, Victoria demanded, her tone still lustful. Rapidly, she got rid of her leather pants and the in underwear right with it. She had nice and thick thighs and an apple bottom that may not have been quite as curvy as Raves, but was still shapely and round. Fully discarding the rest of her clothes, she stood naked next to his girlfriend,rge breasts slumping in all their firm softness. Her cunt was of a reddish pink colour, a tuft of ck hair around it, soaked with her pussy juice.
When she began to squat down, Rave backed away. Biting her lower lip, the pink haired, pear shaped bombshell just watched while Victoria aligned his dick with her entrance. John reached out and squeezed Raves ass. She trembled in excitement. What better reaction could he have asked for from the love of his life, watching another woman deflower herself on his cock?
Victoria sank down slowly. She wasnt quite as tight as Rave had been during their first time, a tad confusing but all bodies were different. Clenching hot walls enveloped him bit for bit. No hymen, it must have been broken either by toys or other activity C Johns sexual fantasies hoped it was the former.
Ooooh, yeeeeees, Victoria moaned, her eyelids fluttering. She tilted forwards, until her squat transitioned to kneeling. Deeper and deeper, she took him inside. Her mouth was wide open. Her tits dangled from her chest, two teardrop shapes of softness. When she was all the way down, she stopped and spasmed. Muscles tensed and released all over.
Her first pration had pushed the vic woman all the way to orgasm.
Did you n that? John asked his girlfriend breathily.
I wish I did, thats hot. Rave licked the taste of Victorias juices off her fingers and trembled. Alright, ya got the view, now I get my girlfriend privileges.
John didnt need to ask what she meant by that. Swiftly, she straddled his face, gave him that wondrous view of up her t tummy, and up to the firm rises of her petite chest. Beyond that, she smiled, while running her hands through his hair. Without a single word, he pushed his tongue back into her delicious cunt.
From the side, he still got to see Victoria as she put her hands on the ground for stability. She was trembling, barely started to go back to contain herself. With animalistic vigour, she raised her hips and plunged back down, sending a ripple through her body that made her delectable tits bounce.
The motions got ever more daring, ever more intense. Each bounce was apanied by louder and louder moans. There was an expression of disbelief, changing back and forth with the typical sternness. Only lust was constant and it grew more intense as the former virgin rode him on a wild chase of her next orgasm.
Rave, simrly, pressed against his lips. Where Victoria was slouched forwards, his girlfriends spine was arched. The curve of her stomach pulled the smooth skin taut and made her midriff a heavenlyndscape of little definitions. Yes, tiger! Ri-i-iiiight there, she gasped encouragingly.
Victoria had her second orgasm first. Riding him, while he thrust up into her, she mmed down on him onest time and then went rigid. The folds all around him quivered and clenched, rubbing the length of his cock with all their drenched heat. It was all he needed to cum himself. Spurt after spurt of cum, pumping up into one womans cunt while he continued to eat out the one that let him have a harem.
Raves breathing elerated. Hearing Victorias orgasmic gasps, no screams sadly, must have made her own bliss surge ahead. Loudly, she moaned, animating herself until she joined her boyfriend and the gunslinger in orgasm. All three of them were tense, their sexes overflowing. Johns balls kept tensing as he lost himself in the undiluted joy that was pumping a woman full with wave after wave of thick cum.
After what felt like an eternity, he sunk back to the ground. The absence of ecstasy made him all too aware of the little pine needles and leaf litter poking his butt. A knowing, trembling grin was shot down at him. Next time youre on the bottom, John told his girlfriend.
Nuh-uh C if ya want to have sex in the forest, you can risk rolling onto a pinecone, she bantered then looked over her shoulder. What she saw, the still trembling and barely bnced form of Victoria, made his girlfriend visibly quiver with an aftershock.
Unceremoniously, Victoria suddenly got up. Then, she marched over to her clothes and started dressing. I really dont get this girl, John thought. I also never really got Rave am I getting this lucky twice?
I guarantee ya got an Achievement for this, tiger, Rave purred, pulling his thoughts elsewhere.
Chapter 60 – A Flood of Windows
Chapter 60 C A Flood of Windows
After watching Victoria and Rave put their clothes back on, John turned to the veritable flood of windows he had received.
Money was way less enticing than a weapon for either him or Aclysia. Plus 20000 was a lot but it wasnt the world. If he could just keep farming, he would be able to easily clear the weekly tribute he needed to pay Travolta.
I get the feeling Gaia is mad at me. John said as he closed thest window.
Why is that? Rave asked, wiggling her butt a bit so the waistband sat morefortably.
Well, she just gave me an Achievement that sounded like an angry grandma whose calls I have been ignoring for a month. He exined and adjusted his own jeans. I should probably give these a wash before I give them back. John patted some pine needles off his back, his eyes wandered onto Aclysia.
He had honestly forgotten the Artificial Spirit was around for a second there. She was a low presence at the best of times and hadnt moved from her spot since he had ordered her to keep watch over Victoria. His mind had, understandably, been elsewhere.
Now that he was looking in her direction, Aclysia took it as her opportunity to ask, Was this sexual intercourse?
Uhm, yes, John wasnt overly surprised she knew what that was. What she did or did not know was a bit spotty, but sex was so fundamental to John that a creation of his not knowing what it was would have been odd. Still, he felt like a Twitch Streamer that left the stream running by ident and was caught watching porn.
Why do you engage in it? Do you wish to procreate?
No, Victoria was first to answer.
Feels really good, Rave responded soon after and John confirmed that with a nod.
What is feeling good? Aclysia wondered. This was, once again, taking a difficult direction. To the best of his Wisdom, John tried to answer.
Well, we generally separate the things we do into good or bad, even if that doesnt always work. As an example, your purpose is to protect me, correct? Aclysia nodded. If you failed at that, that probably would feel bad.
I understand the idea fills me with a sensation of unpleasantness like receiving damage earlier. So she could feel pain, or at least a muted variant of it. Or she stopped and shuddered, a new disy of emotion he hadnt seen before, being put into your inventory.
John blinked a few times, Could you borate on that? What do you feel when youre in my inventory?
Nothing, Aclysia spoke, her tone as void as the meaning of the word. I am left in timeless darkness. My awareness persists vaguely. I know I am where I can neither serve nor react to any dangers you may face. My chest constricts. Sometimes I see your hand, pulling things out of the darkness. Time freezes when youre gone. There are no breaks between the appearances of your hand. Still, in that nothingness, I feel empty and alone.
Youre sad, John realized. Sad and full of dread whenever I leave you in my inventory?
Sadness dread Aclysia spoke the words, as if to taste their meaning. Slowly, she nodded. I believe this is the case.
John looked to the ground. He could empathise with those emotions. They echoed what he had felt when sitting alone in his seat at school. The ss or the break, time barely existed during them. He was just waiting until he had the opportunity to head home and y games. And when I pull you out, what do you feel?
Like I am once again given the opportunity to fulfil my purpose. After the dread fades, I face you, Creator, and ready myself for the duty.
Sounds like that makes you happy.
Happy Again, Aclysia tasted the word. I believe so. I will contemte.
John felt guilty, watching her stand there. Both for the torture he had unwittingly put her through and for the state of limbo between sapience and instincts she seemed to be in. Was it just experience in emotions that shecked or should he increase her Mental Stats further? He wished he had the answers, but he was an inexperienced creator.
Contemting the questions himself, he turned to the Loot. Many items were scattered over the forest floor, where the Minor Tree of Life had been. It was time to check on what the final haul of this grind was.
5 Magical Saps
6 Treant Barks
30045$ in total
By the way I levelled up too! Rave eximed with a smile.
Which means we have level parity now, John pointed out.
One of Raves eyebrows shot up and she checked the party interface. Nah, thats stupid. I can still whoop your butt.
For a couple more weeks, maybe, John responded and red challengingly at his girlfriend. She red back. They stood there like that, until she startedughing. It was too sweet a sound not to join.
The truth of the matter was that levels only reflected Stats. Thebat experience and Skills Rave had ahead of him were not listed in the purely mechanical recounting of the numbers. The uracy of Stats was difficult to gauge anyway. For John and Aclysia, for those directly part of his system, they could be taken at their full value. For everyone else, they were more like estimations.
Yeah, yeah, well see, Rave waved the topic goodbye. Stupid Latebloomer stuff.
John checked his Character Sheet. Not to distribute the Stat Points, there would be time for that in a minute, but to see if he even had the inventory space to transport all of this Loot. The answer to that was a resounding no. He was already at near full capacity.
That Dragonscale was taking up most of his inventory space. I wanted to check the Quest rewards anyway, he thought. I can decide how to handle this afterwards.
Reaching into his inventory, he grabbed the Dragonscale. It was as simple as that being the thing he wanted to grab. Then he pulled and out came a giant red lizard scale. Dark blue swirling patterns decorated the surface of the teardrop shape, two-finger thick object. He kept pulling and pulling, stepping back once then a second time. Huh, this is pretty liIGHT!
He should have known better, after previous experiences with Aclysia. Once the scale was fully out of his inventory, the weight suddenly kicked in. He had to let go of it and he still felt the sudden pull snap something in his wrists. Dirt and forest debris scattered, when the scale came to a rest with a dull sound, as if he had just dropped a concrete b. Gamers Body fixed his wrists a momentter.
What is that? Victoria asked a simple and expected question.
A Dragonscale. Gaia gave it to me as a reward, John answered honestly. After all else that had happened today, he didnt feel like hiding things from her.
The answer left Victoria open mouthed and staring. Eyes darted between the object and him. Rave giggled and leaned onto Johns shoulder. Ya see that face? Thats the face you made whenever I told ya anything about the Abyss.
Are you telling me my powers are as weird to the Abyss as the Abyss is to mundanes?
Im telling you your powers are bullshit.
Crude but apt! Victoria agreed, then cleared her throat to get her tone back under control. Did you get something else?
Yes, actually, lets see if it is any good.
What he held in his hand was a European longsword. Long grip, long de, and a moderate guard. It was forged from light steel and the brown leather wrapped around the grip made it pleasant to hold. John could hold it alright in one and in two itidfortably. Even with the Lightweight enchantment, it wasnt really made for him. Jane, want to take a swing?
Oh, can I? Rave grabbed it and immediately took a stance. She swung it around randomly a few times. It looked impressive, although John wasnt certain if that was because she was just fast or because she was good with swords. The final swing sent the de a third through a nearby tree trunk. Its way lighter than it looks. Also is it just me or does it glow golden?
Lightweight and holy enchantment, respectively, John exined.
Pre-enchanted Loot. Yup, total bullshit. She turned away from the sword. I was never one for weapons though. Are those gloves any good for punching?
Nope, they make nts grow faster.
Yeah, ya can keep those. I take care of one nt and thats enough for me.
Do you want something, Victoria? John asked the gunslinger. Her fire support had been really handy during that fight, he would be remiss not to offer something.
I would like to make my money back for the ammunition. Give me the shield, it should sell for enough. The Gamer looked at the Rare drop. Just for rarity, he would have loved to keep it. However, he wasnt sure what to do with a shield and he had made the offer.
It repairs itself, if thats important for the price.
Victoria nodded. How do you know all this?
John hesitated, but Rave quickly responded. He has a Skill that lets him see some limited stuff about people and objects.
People? Victoria suddenly looked deeply worried. Did you use it on me?
Scratching the back of his head, he admitted, Yeah. It told me you are the Granddaughter of a family that fled the Soviet Union and that they got into the Abyss because they needed money. Also, that you didnt trust me at first.
Less now, Victoria hissed and grabbed the shield. Ill see you tomorrow! With those forceful words, she left the Illusion Barrier.
John groaned and turned to Rave. Did you have to reveal it to her? he asked.
Yeah, cause it''s kinda screwy that you can do that, Rave responded. Longer ya keep it a secret, the more itll hurtter.
Im already doing it less, John grumbled. Personally he still viewed it as part of him, to be used like his eyes, but he could see Raves point so he tried to not do it as much. With a long sigh, he added. Youre right, but its also been a day. I dont think we should trust people that we know for a day with everything I can or cant do.
Ya wanna build that harem? Ya gotta take some risks with other girls, Rave stated. I think well be fine. Today went pretty great, all things considered, right?
She had him there. Threesome, levels, Loot, today had a whole bunch of good things. Right alright, lets deal with this problem though, he pointed at the Dragonscale. I doubt you want to carry that and I cant put it back into the inventory even if I wanted to. He scratched the back of his head. He could use Craft on it, but with how low his level in the Skill was that felt like a waste. Neither Craft nor Enchant were ever going to be his focus. There was another option that felt more worthwhile. Aclysia, can you eat that?
Chapter 61 – Sapience
Chapter 61 C Sapience
Three hours. It took three hours for Aclysia to devour the thing in its entirety. The first few bites took the longest, as her teeth just werent hard enough to do more than nibble. Once she had gotten enough to reinforce her teeth it elerated a bit. John and Rave killed the time by fooling around and telling stories. John had much less to tell, but somehow sheughed even at his stupid gaming rants.
Once Aclysia had swallowed thest bit of scale, the flood of windows came in.
These he was already used to. The following was new and frustrating.
Man, John grumbled and dismissed the window.
Waddup? Rave wondered.
Aclysia cant get over my level and the Dragonscale would have given her more than the five she got from it. He tossed his hands into the air theatrically. Not like I could have done anything differently, but it still bothers me.
Ya live, ya learn, ya move on, Rave said with the certainty of a mantra.
That was the easiest choice he had to make yet. The Dragonscale was so superior, it didnt even warrant thinking about. Interesting was the currently in the wording. Could he gather more bonuses from materials down the line? If so, how?
The Attribute was a bit moreplicated.
This choice wasnt that hard either. Clearly, Strong Mana was the one he was least interested in for Aclysia. Ironhide and Inner Fire, he could guess fairly easily. Fire Immunity was just absurd to get this early. Elemental Resistance 3 was just in good.
What John found interesting as well as disturbing was the fact that he could remove Learning Spirit. What would happen if he did? Would Aclysia get stuck at her current level of learning or just forget everything and be a mindless puppet, unable to do anything but what he ordered? He wasnt interested in finding out. He wanted her to be her own person, for many reasons. The ulterior motive was that he could flirt with a real, existing A2 once she had established herself as herself. Beyond that he just wasnt interested in a mindless puppet. Possession was there for the throwaways.
After she was done eating, Aclysia was three metres tall. She grew to max height to eat the scale more efficiently (after asking for permission) and grew even taller while eating the scale. She stopped at three metres though so that was either her current or her absolute max height. Either way John didnt like the pain in his neck he got from looking up at her. Can you go back to being normal sized again? He had her standing at the preferred height after two minutes. Thanks.
Youare wee? Aclysia responded with uncertainty.
John smiled at her progress, then decided to move on all of the things he had stored up at the moment. There was the Skill Evolution Point, the 25 Stat Points Aclysia had avable and the 10 he had.
He decided to start with himself. Evidently Possession needed more attention in levelling if he wanted to use it on enchanted items or wrest control from someone else. First and foremost, he needed more MP/Sec for that endeavour. A constant trend and expected, considering he kept acquiring new things that needed upkeep cost.
I cant reach 75 Wisdom with my current points. He sighed to himself. Another efficiency boost was likely to take care of his problems. That would have to wait until the next grind though. Between the time they had spent wandering the forest and then the time they spent waiting for Aclysia to finish eating, it was now well into the afternoon.
All 10 points wandered into Wisdom. That put his MP Regeneration at 12,5 per minute, which would allow him to keep Gnome (Incorporeal), Possession and Aclysia running all the time. That would leave him with a miniscule 0,5 regeneration beyond that which meant that he would burn through his Mana Pool when he had Gnome go corporeal.
Still, he could constantly level Possession now.
Ya know I can feel that, right? Rave asked.
Part of the goal. John smirked at his girlfriend. The most entertaining thing to Possess around had been her bra and he was now gently rubbing her petite breasts.
Ya better watch out or Imma pin ya down. Might make this the first day we have sex four times.
Youre already nning 2 more times?
Im high maintenance. Rave crossed her arms and smirked at him. Yaining?
Would not dream of it. John put a quick kiss on her cheek, then returned to his windows.
It was time to use that Skill Evolution Point. With a click, he checked if there was anything new among the avable choices. Possession was listed again. So was Sneaking and Mana Power Attack. Of the two new Skills he had acquired since thest usage, Artificial Spirit and Earth Ele. Summoning, only thetter was avable. However the + next to Gnomes Skill was silver instead of gold. Curious, he tapped it.
Interesting. He searched for the knowledge of the Skillbook in his brain to find a reason for this. A passage came to the forefront of his thoughts: To increase the strength of an elemental the Summoner and the Summoned Spirit must develop a high amount of trust and be attuned to each other through shared history. While the strengthening of an elemental can be forced, it usually results in crippled elementals that may never reach their full potential or, arguably worse, taint the elemental through contact with the ne of the Lorylim. Such tainted elementals are damaged at the core and will have a difficult time recovering, if they arent infested to the core.
Whats a Lorylim? John asked Rave.
Uhhh, weird question out of nowhere dont really know how to answer that either. Have never seen one and would like to keep it that way. Rave tilted her head. Dad says theyre kinda like spongey Lovecraft creatures?
That sounded highly unpleasant and best avoided. In clear game terms, all of this tranted to: get the Skill to a proper level first or risk unleashing something unspeakable. John decided he would get the Skill higher.
That meant his decision came down to Possession or Mana Power Attack. He had a rough idea what to expect this time around and the other two options Possession had offered at the time were not things he wanted. If they even were there again. Evolving Mana Power Attack, on the other hand, was downright necessary to get something usable. Sure, he had his familiars, but he would like something he could use independently of them. A press of the button and the next window opened.
Okay, those were some interesting choices. If he understood these three Skills correctly Option 1 would make him a middle-ranged mage that supported with suppression fire, Option 2 would turn him into the mage equivalent of a Sniper and Option 3 would support a simr fighting style to Raves where he got up close and unloaded a devastating close quarters st.
He pretty much immediately crossed out Option 3. Sure, it sounded awesome but at this point changing to be melee focused was unwise. He had made Aclysia as a tank, his girlfriend was a melee DPS and Gnome did have her own, fairly solid Physical Stats C even if he did not use her as abatant yet. No, he was happy to be a backliner, summoner, and coordinator.
One Mana Ray had the same cost as ten Mana Bolts, so he reasoned that the damage of Mana Ray must have been impressive to make up for it. Mana Ray was also described as precise and thest thing John wanted was to have his mana be worthless because he failed to hit. Another issue was friendly fire which, in reality, he could not simply turn off. Yeah, Mana Ray it is, he decided.
Rave, I just got an upgrade for Mana Power Attack! He proudly eximed.
Is it any good?
It better be, it costs 5 times as much MP. John said and pointed his hand at the tree Rave had tested the Sword of Glory on earlier. He activated the Skill and just like with Mana Power Attack energy gathered in his handfor three whole seconds.
Man, this takes lo C Oh wow! Rave shouted out when a blueser rushed out from Johns hand and hit the tree with enough force to rip open the wound Rave had left. What had been a simple gap was widened into a charred hole. Crackling, arcane lightning jumped over the splintered and malformed innards of the tree in blue and light purple. The tree slowly copsed in on itself.
That ispretty impressive. Rave said, after the tree hit the ground. And you can use that how many times in a row?
Currently six, but I need about four minutes to regenerate without any passive spenders and about nine with my usual two. I really need more MP Regeneration, John exined the whole process. Now I have one more thing to take care of. He looked at Aclysia. How to spend your points?
He really wanted to increase her Wisdom. Her state of near sapience made him ufortable. It was that uncanny valley feeling. The confused look she gave him only furthered his resolve. Despite his priority list, he would push Wisdom all the way to 25.
Aclysia, you might feel weird in a second. He had no idea how much that warning would help. With that basic courtesy given, he pressed the button 15 times and then looked for her reaction.
Aclysias expression went through many emotions. Fear, wonder, understanding, satisfaction, sadness before finally arriving at a vacant despair. W-what She looked at her hands like she was seeing them for the first time. In some sense, she probably was, much like an animal that came to understand that it was looking at itself in the mirror. Creator John No, wait, just Creator, what is this?
Well, I raised your Wisdom to 25, in my experience 25 is the threshold for a lot of stuff in this system. John tried to exin in a calm tone.
The Artificial Spirits fingers trembled. Through their mental connection, John could feel her realize the weight of existence. A mere echo of that felt crushing. I am your creation. I always knew that. I always was just that but what else am I? she asked herself. A few seconds passed and she forced her digits to clench into fists. Why am I speaking my thoughts without expecting an answer? Is this being awakened? Creator, why have you given me this capacity? How will it aid in my mission to loyally serve and protect? She questioned him with a tone more reminiscent of her usual passiveness, although with a shiver of uncertainty in her voice.
It probably wont, the Gamer told her, he raised a hand to stop her, but she asked anyway.
Why then?
Because I think its the right thing to do. Because I created you as a guardian that wont make me feel paranoid, but I dont mind you being yourself too. He tried his best at a reassuring smile. I dont have any certain ns for you, Aclysia. Im improvising on this. I know that isnt the most satisfying answer, but Im wed too.
A long silence, during which Aclysia repeatedly opened and closed her hands. She took a few steps. Turned on the spot. Bent her neck until it would have broken on a human.
I need time to think about this. Think abouteverything. She hesitated for a moment, looking at the ground then back to John. Can I make a request, Creator?
You can ask anything of me, even if its selfish, John encouraged her. He wanted to see her further develop into a new person. If he could make her loyal because she wanted to serve him, not because of her mission, that would be optimal.
Can you not put me into your inventory on the way back?
Aclysia was one of the few secrets he still had from the rest of the Abyss. The second he left the Illusion Barrier with her, that was likely gone. That made him hesitate and she mistook his silence for denial.
Please. I dont want to be in there again. I dont want to be alone again. I understand now, its not just that Im away from my mission, its that Im alone. All alone. She pleadingly grabbed one of his hands with hers.
She was warm.
stic skin and metal bones, but still she was warm. Her green eyes shone with insecurity, her entire being trembled with dread. How could he even hesitate. He swallowed to wet his lips and cursed his low Charisma. Apparently, he still couldnt speak the way he wanted to. I wont put you into the inventory ever again.
Aclysia let out a quick relieved sigh. Thank you, Creator, she expressed her gratitude.
Hate to ruin the moment, Rave chimed in, but if ya want to have her walk around, ya gotta fix up her clothes.
John and Aclysia both inspected her. The dress was indeed torn in multiple ces. Too many to walk around publicly and definitely too many not to get the police called on them. There was a scandalous amount of underboob on disy.
Why is theck of fabric a problem? Aclysia asked. Increased understanding did not equal spontaneous knowledge.
Your cosy is outstanding enough, but showing too much skin is gonna garner all kinds of attention. We dont want attention.
Is your pink hair not outstanding as well?
Yes and thank you.
You are wee? Aclysia looked more confused at the end of the conversation than at the start.
Anyway, that is a pickle I cant use Craft on enchanted items yet, so I cant just repair it.
We could open and close Illusion Barriers as we move, Rave suggested.
We have to walk quite a bit, but I guess that could work as a final solution.
Ya seriously gonna link your inability to pack extra clothes to the death of millions of people? Rave teased.
You know I didnt mean it like that.
Do I?
I thought I decided to date someone with a modicum of brainpower.
If I may suggest something? Aclysia interjected in their banter. If the appearance is all that matters, I could consume this outfit and recreate it in part or in full as my exterioryer.
That is an excellent suggestion, John told her. Good thought, Aclysia. The Artificial Spirit showed the slightest of smiles, as she preened at his words. Is that possible though? Wont it deviate too much from your base form?
I believe it should be possible. I would ask to remove some of the unnecessary decorations. She gestured at the feathery bits on her sleeves that were, although stylish, also highly unnecessary. Fabric further away from where my exterior would be will likely be incapable of being controlled and lose much of its tactile feedback. It would be simr to regr clothing, I suppose. Just a part of me.
Alright, go ahead then, John said and Aclysia immediately stripped out of her clothes. The naked appearance she still had underneath was no longer that of an aesthetically pleasing doll. It was hers. That made all the difference.
Chapter 62 – Hangout
Chapter 62 C Hangout
Your dad still home? John asked, while Rave searched for her keys.
The trio stood in front of her home, the dull grey walls hiding the crazy colourful jumble within. A couple of people shot them curious stares. None of those stares were directed at him. Much like the dull building, he was ignored, standing between two Asian women (half-Japanese and Japanese in design, to be more urate) of outstanding looks, colours, and outfits. Rave in her skimpy outfit, Aclysia in her cosy, the shortness of her skirt bordering on provocative. They were bound to attract lustful, condemning and confused eyes C sometimes all three belonged to the same person.
Hes in town until the end of the month, if thats what youre asking. Rave put the key in the lock and turned it. But hes not around right now. She gave him a little wink.
Wonderful, John hummed. It was pretty early in the daypared to when they usually made it to her ce. They probably could have grinded out another boss kill if they had really wanted. That would have involved dealing with the spawning face without a bazooka though. Doubtlessly doable and a pain regardless.
Important was that he had gotten the money and a few key advances. Aclysia asked, Why does it matter that hes gone?
Because Jane and I n to have sex, John told her, while they walked into the hallway. That didnt suffice for Aclysia, so he expanded. Its really awkward to do sexual stuff in front of parents.
I dont mind that much, but Johns super shy about it.
Why? Aclysia asked.
Because incest is a bad thing.
Why?
Because of gic defects, for a start.
Why?
Just google it, chatterbox! Rave put a period to the line of questioning, just as they entered her personal area of the spacious house. The outcry made John chuckle a bit.
Google an inte search engine, Aclysia summoned the knowledge from what she had been bestowed with during her creation. She blinked a couple of times, like someone that dragged out a distant memory. It is bing easier to ess thismon sense information.
I probably need to raise your Intellect so you can drawmon sense conclusions too, the Gamer said and scratched the back of his head. Sorry if your early life is a bit messy because of me.
I do not mind, Creator it is not displeasing, just confusing. She looked at him quizzically. It urs to me progressively that you are a person, not my task. I wonder where this knowledge leads? John would have loved to know just as much as she did. Are my questions annoying you, Creator?
Sometimes, but Id rather you ask them than you stay confused, John admitted.
And Id rather not have our couple time interrupted by all the talking. You! Rave pointed at Aclysia, who once more tilted her head. Youll do the googling thing. John trotted after his girlfriend, as she pushed Aclysia to the video game room. Ya know how to use this? She softly kicked the side of theputer.
Yes, Aclysia responded with a strong, if mechanical, nod. Computer and software interactions are among my more intense inherited knowledge.
Great, then ya can use the browser and look into all your questions. John and I are gonna hang out in my room.
If you need something, you can always contact me. John tapped his head. The mental connection was still intact and, although they hadnt distance tested it so far, the building wasnt so enormous that it should be taxed.
Aclysia nodded, then sat down and began with a pretty heavy question: What is sapience?
She would probably be upied reading answers to that alone for at least twenty minutes.
John and Rave walked away, leaving the stic woman in the chair. Once in Raves room, they took their usual positions. She sat down by the table and he grabbed one of the beanbags, pulling out his phone to check on his mobile games. They fully intended to engage in lewdness. That didnt mean they had to do it immediately.
Jumpa uploaded something, Rave mumbled in the semi-excited tone only someone in front of theputer used. A clickter, a soft female voice sang repetitive lyrics over a strong beat and a fast melody.
Honestly surprised you dont have giant speakers in this room, Johnmented, while his finger swiped over the disy. He primarily yed logic games these days. He was enjoying the novelty of his increased Intellect, although he reckoned he would get tired of it eventually. The puzzles werent as engaging when he could solve them almost intuitively.
We have a sound room, I just go there if I wanna turn it up.
Shouldve expected that, John halfughed to himself. A momentter, his girlfriends feetnded in hisp. Her toes wiggled to the beat. I should apologize to Victoria tomorrow
Yeah, ya should, Rave agreed, her eyes on the screen of herptop.
I still dont think you shouldve told her though.
Huh? I thought ya agreed it was better to tell her early thante?
I agree with that point in general, but I still dont really trust Victoria, John responded. I only met her yesterday and the entire Abyss loves to find out things about me they shouldnt.
Ya only met me two weeks ago and that worked out fine.
Yes, but youre special C besides werent you the one that kept my Loot abilities from Travolta initially?
Yeah, because hed get nosey, not cause ya cant trust him, Rave responded, now looking at him with furrowed eyebrows. Ya gotta be more spontaneous if ya want to have fun in life, Johnny. Nothing bad is going to happen.
They stared at each other for a little while, then John let out a long sigh. I just hope youre right, he budged. He didnt want to have this fight and trusting in Rave hadnt steered him wrong yet. He would keep an eye on Victoria covertly.
Minutester, Rave clicked her tongue disapprovingly. John figured the argument was about to re up again, but she instead waved him over. If ya wanna look at something actually worrying, check this out.
John was annoyed the moment he peeked over her shoulder. On screen was the Abyss Auction. Specifically, the page of the information bundle about him. Rave had bought the highest tier by now, of her own volition, so she got all the updates immediately. Through her, he was clued in. They did it in hopes of finding the culprit eventually C or at least get a clue of their methods.
Disyed was a picture of Aclysia, followed by a short list of what she could be. Every suggestion was the name for some kind of golem or elemental, so they were pretty close. The photos close to the house were blurred and Rave had been skilfully edited out of all of them. Her dads protection still hung over her.
We need to take care of that stalker eventually, Johnined and stomped over to the window. He drew the curtains shut. He had no idea if that did anything, but he would try.
Hes a slippery cunt, Rave agreed. Problem is he has either really good equipment or pretty good abilities C or both. Its gonna be a pain.
Well, we can guess he also sold that monster control rod thingy. He cant be an absolute pushover if he can tame monsters around that level whats so funny? At some point, Rave had started to giggle.
The guy enabled thement section. Listen to this: That John Newman fellow has absolutely no taste in waifus. We all know that short hair is superior. If I could create a golem like that, it would look like shorthair Senjougahara, the greatest of all waifus.
John groaned and rubbed his forehead, Fucking weebs.
Ey, dont ya mock my animes C Ill rece ya with a body pillow! Rave threw a joking threat in his direction.
Before John could put together an appropriate or hriously inappropriate response, the page refreshed automatically. Both their attention was pulled back to the screen. Would ya look at that, he added a link to a Discord server for top level customers
The Abyss uses Discord?
An Abyss Auction subsidiary made Discord Abyssal version is more secretive and customizable though, Rave responded. Cause it''s lined up with the AA, they wont sell anyones private intel. Traffic is nicely hidden under all the mundane stuff too Wanna check it out?
That was a great question, did he want to join a Discord server where a bunch of strangers were chatting about his life? Not really, he groaned, but we might learn a bit more about whoever is tracking me
Chapter 63 – Big Players
Chapter 63 C Big yers
John had no idea what to expect from this. He had heard all about the interest people took in Latebloomers, but so far that interest had been distant. It was, therefore, with no small amount of interest and dread that he followed Rave logging in and joining the server.
Neonlights has entered the channel
Neonlights: Howdy~
Really? Howdy? John asked.
Shaddup Im the one writing so I get to pick the lines. Rave stuck out her tongue but kissed him on the cheek afterwards. That did lift his mood considerably.
Are you the only one on the channel?
Nope, he is just blocking my viewing rights right now. They can see what I typed but I cant see them or their answers. Just as she said that, she was sent a PM by the admin.
SecretBlonde: Hello. Not to seem rude or anything but I need to confirm your validity to be here. Tell me which of the premium members you are on the Auction site, otherwise I have to ban you for safety reasons.
Neonlights: Its Rave.
Neonlights Username was changed to Rave.
Rave was granted the member status.
Announcer: Wee to The Gamer Discussion Thread Happy to have you, Rave.
GrimPatron: Greetings, Rave.
Princess_of_Steel: Salutations.
SecretBlonde: Hello Properly
~
KingGravity: Ah, another sheep joins the herd.
Minerva: An enlightened day I wish you.
Blood: Greetings, Comrade.
TorchCarrier: What @Minerva said.
Anathema: Omnessiah bless youI hope anyone got that.
I did! John said despite knowing nobody could hear him. He scanned the list of names and what had been written so far. None of that looked too terrible. Anyone I should know about? Johns voice trailed off when he saw Raves frozen expression.
Yeah she mumbled, her voice a tiny fragment of her usual confidence. With her finger, she pointed at the list of members. The name she pointed at belonged to no one that had spoken so far.
Romulus, John read out. The man founded Rome, from the legends?
Yeah the very same and Apex of the Abyss. The strongest single person there is, leader of the Sons of Rome, the Pax Romana and emperor over most of Europe.
While he digested that information, another direct message popped in their inbox. The icon made it clear who it was. Slowly, Rave moved over the cursor and then clicked.
Romulus: I am only here to watch, Gamer. Dont expect any answers from me.
Rave took her shaking hands off the keyboard. This iswow. She exhaled. Okay, lets just stick to reading for the moment, I need to get that out of my system. The Apex is looking at us
John wanted to ask how he knew it was them, but the usual rules of information being safe likely did not apply to the absolute pinnacle of the Abyss. As the saying went: thew is like a spiders web, the fly gets caught and the wasp goes free. Any convention could be ignored if one had enough power.
Anathema: You guys think that the Gamer himself is also here?
Princess_of_Steel: A smart person would be. My personal guess is that it is you, Anathema.
Anathema: WOW! Just because I said Omnessiah?
KingGravity: A quick google search reveals that that is some nerd shit C so yeah, you are on the top spot.
Princess_of_Steel: Suchnguage is unbing of nobility, Maximillian.
KingGravity: Blurting my identity out just like that?! Are you having a bad day LYDIA AUGUSTA VON HOHENZOLLERN?
Princess_of_Steel: *Lydia Augusta IV von Hohenzollern, do it right. Also, yes. Id much rather take care of finances right now. Instead, I have to hang out here just to keep track of what you are up to.
KingGravity: You could just marry me and this whole dumb rivalry between us would be done. Id fuck you right up the arse the way you like it every night. You might be unbearable but you got a nice body.
Princess_of_Steel: Aughable proposal. Dont waste my time in such a manner.
GrimPatron: HAH, you two are funny. That alone was worth spending the money. Also, everybody knew who you two are, pretty hard not to. :D
Who are they? John asked with confusion. He knew the Hohenzollern dynasty and that they were the rulers of Prussia and the second German Empire thanks to videogames but otherwise he had no clue.
Ehm, I know that Lydia is the Heiress of Brandenburg and the granddaughter of the current ruler of Rex Germaniae so that KingGravity guy is probably Maximillian von Habsburg? Theyre the two chief contenders for the throne, if I remember correctly? Dunno, havent followed German politics in a tad.
GrimPatron: Well, even though nobody will be able to witness the truth of this, I am f Strongliver. Just fair to tell you.
John looked at Rave. She shook her head. No fucking clue who that is.
Anathema: If I tell you that I am a High Fateweaver you wont believe me anyway, so why bother
SecretBlonde: I am afraid you just did, lol. Also, I wont give away my identity for obvious reasons. ^^
Blood: It doesnt matter who I am. I am just one of us.
TorchCarrier: And Id much rather you and your toxic ideology would go away.
Minerva: Indeed.
Blood: Comrades, I am disheartened by your twisted world view. We are only fighting for equality.
Minerva: @TorchCarrier, Lets just ignore the guy. Arguing with these people never gets us anywhere.
TorchCarrier: I agree, my friend. From your name I take it that you are with the French?
Minerva: Oui. I take it you are Greek? It is great to find another seeker of knowledge in these pits.
TorchCarrier: Indeed.
TorchCarrier: But please tell me youre not the Rat.
Minerva: I am not the Rat.
Anathema: Thats exactly what the Rat would say!
GrimPatron: What rat?
Blood: Well, if you two cannot see the error of your ways you will be purged when our timees again. We might be weaker than we were fifty years ago but we are stronger than we were ten years ago. We will never give up, for our cause is the only just cause and our resolve is undying.
Anathema: Yeah, you could say it is a ghost wandering Europe.
Minerva: LOL
TorchCarrier: Nice one!
Princess_of_Steel: Rather tastefully delivered.
KingGravity: Bwahahaha
GrimPatron: I drink to that joke!
Anathema: Thank you, thank you.
John pulled away from the chat as the debate changed into insults and banter. Okay, so we got the strongest being in the Abyss, nobles from Germany and Austria, a guy with a strong liver, a High Fateweaver, some weird socialist guy and two people who got a hard-on for knowledge as well as the informant. He concluded that little session. Rave let out ast exasperated breath and nodded.
Yep, this is all pretty- Another private chat opened.
SecretBlonde: Tell your BF he can join the chat too, lol. Ill give him an exception from the naming rule. :-P
Rave: Creepy Stalker!
SecretBlonde: Naw, dont hurt my feelings I am just running a business here.
SecretBlonde: If you want to stop me, just git gud.
Unbelievable. Raveined, You gonna take him up on that?
Probablydoes this program exist for mobile?
Its Discord, literally, just download the App and then a technomancer at the central will recognize that somebody with powers is on the other end and flip you to the Abyss version.
The exnation left John shaking his head. Technomancers seem to be the kings of the Abyss.
They definitely have an easy time finding jobs. Rave admitted. They get rolled over inbat though.
John downloaded Discord and set up his ount. The process was simr to the first time he logged into the Abyss Auction. Thankfully he had upgraded his phone with the necessary bit of hardware to allow aura scanning. It was little more than adding a second SIM card into the device.
Jeehan has joined the chat.
SecretBlonde: Oh wow, you use the same name as on the site. Bold.
Jeehan has been granted member status.
There was a flood of wee messages from the other chatroom participants. John was about to type something sympathetic back when he received a mental call from Aclysia. I require your help with something.
What is it? Aclysia told him, causing John to half giggle and half be dumbfounded. To Rave he said. You are not going to believe this.
Chapter 64 – Browser History
Chapter 64 C Browser History
Aclysia sat in the chairC naked. Technically she had been naked when they had left her there, with the dress being an outgrowth of her skin and all that, but that wasnt the point. At that moment, the Artificial Spirit was the perfect fusion of the body of the cosy and the face of the figurine,bining in that wonderful facsimile of the videogame character. Long legs, juicy thighs, wide hips, medium-sized breasts (although leaning towards the smaller side) and a heart-shaped face with green almond eyes that looked at them curiously.
John allowed himself just one inspection of her butt. That significant cushion of roundness and size. It was even more pronounced than Raves. That was somewhat to its detriment and somewhat to its advantage. The additional size made it a big, bouncy backside and that was alluring, but it didck a bit of the bnce Raves ass had. In Johns opinion, his girlfriend was 10/10 and Aclysia was 9/10. That near perfection fit her design wonderfully though, so the Gamer had no intention of asking her to adjust.
Once John had closed the door behind them, the Artificial Spirit stood up and, hands folded in front of her crotch, executed a mechanical bow. Greetings, Master.
Okay, hold the phone C Master? Rave intervened immediately.
I recalled repeated fascination with French maid outfits in rtion to my person. Researching the subject has led me to believe that the proper designation for Creator John Newman would be Master, I was to y the role of the loyal servant as a maid. Is this not pleasing? Aclysia looked at the screen for a moment.
The state of Johns pants immediately identified whether he found it pleasing or not. Look, ehm, he cleared his throat. You can call me whatever you want, we already went over that.
Aclysia straightened up and considered for a moment. I believe Master has the proper ring to it, she stated.
Why? Rave asked.
While John Newman is my Creator, I gradually consider myself less as his creation as my mental faculties expand, she exined. I am his creation in the sense that he has started my existence, this is undeniable. However, he creates neither my thoughts nor does he direct my actions. To call him Newman feels impersonal. To call him John is non-reflective of our rtionship. Master carries the correct implication that I am a loyal servant.
The lengthy answer was fascinating. She really can self-actualize now, John thought. Every new discovery was exciting. There was a slight tingle at the back of his head that warned him of the AI revolution. He ignored it. He had no intention to give Aclysia reason to rebel. Alright, but you should know that Master isnt really fit for the public.
I have read and informed myself on the sexual connotations. I will restrict myself to the title in private and John in public, if this is approvable?
The speech was still stilted, as was her bodynguage, but the conversation felt like a conversation. John nodded, a little smile ying around his lips. That sounds good. If thats the way you want to address me, Im fine with it.
Thank you, Master, Aclysia bowed again. Her breasts were static throughout the entire movement, while the hair fell in a cascade of silvery white. She was so close to human and yet so far from it.
The sight brought John to the actual reason why she had requested his presence, Anyway, you called me to exin masturbation, right? He nced over to the monitor, where a JAV of a woman in a maid outfit, masturbating, was currently paused.
That is correct, Master. The females in the videos I scanned appeared exceedingly pleased with the act. Replicating the motions has given me no such results. I have also realized my bodycks certain sticities.
Well, see John sorted his thoughts to give as best an exnation as he could.
No, Nein, iie, you two wait a second. I have a question first C Aclysia?
Yes, Mistress? the Artificial Spirit turned to the pink haired woman.
Who crossed her arms, Yeah, no, you call me Rave.
I understand, Mistress Rave.
Oh in Gaias.ehem. Rave cleared her throat and let go of that discussion for now. Please tell me step by step how you even ended up watching porn?
Yes. Aclysia bowed a third time and sat back down, opening the browser history. After reading the Wikipedia article on sentience and sapience, I visited a philosophy discussion about the true nature of such. What differentiates the thinking animal from the one guided purely by their nature? I then went to research other words that often came up in the discussion such as Morality, Identity or Instinct. I looked at Morality first, finding a lot of articles about definitions and acts during human history. Might I voice a question for a second, Master? John nodded, I found the history of an individual called Adolf Hitler and thought it to be abhorrent by my own moral standards but thement section was filled with the sentence Hitler did nothing wrong. Are there truly many people that support this murderer?
Ehm, its a meme.
Meme are you referring to the term coined by Darwin or what is called a Dank Meme as part of inte culture?
Rave giggled. John wheezed and scratched the back of his head. This sounded so utterly ridiculousing out of her mouth. Thetter, he just answered. Its a joke people use to get a rise out of other people.
Aclysia hummed, a pleasing and even sound. I will reflect over the nature of humour then. Continuing my report. The research of Identity wasrgely uneventful. However, I found many people pointing at the question of Artificial Intelligence. After researching the term I found that I myself would fall under the category of such a thing and therefore wanted to ask if I could ever be fully integrated into human society. My question was denied by the need for an ount, I dared not to set one up without your permission, Master, therefore I moved on.
Lastly, I researched the word Instinct. I found that humans have a lot of needs they want to fulfil by nature. The work of a Maslow was particrly interesting as he put these needs into an easily understandable pyramid. I found that I shared a lot of these basic needs but had trouble understanding the higher ones. I find eating to be a good usage of resources as it allows me to rece weaker materials in my main body with stronger ones, I prefer knowing that I have a shelter and ever since consuming the Dragonscale and acquiring Body Heat I have felt happier. Although that one might be a coincidence as the timing falls together with my understanding of what happiness is.
I further understand the need for Security. I do not seekbat situations and prefer being in a stable environment that allows me to concentrate on gaining more information instead of being afraid of dying. I have a hard time exactly understanding what fear is but I think it is the feeling I get when I think of you vanishing, Master. To lose my purpose.
John listened with keen interest and Rave appeared simrly engaged. That Aclysia was still nude was mildly distracting, but the words were more important than naked non-flesh. This was a speed run to bing her own person.
However, I then found myself unable to really understand the feeling of Belonging. I am vaguely aware that I wish to be by your side. I realize that this is because of the mission you engraved in me. I am to protect you and serve you loyally. I understand that this reces the animating force regr people would have, such as the need to eat or seek out activities of joy. My tasks do not require love, which is aplication in understanding that emotion. I put that aside to look at thest two parts of the pyramid and found myself in basicpliance with the needs of Recognition: Achievement Mastery and Fulfilment.
Bothered by my inability toprehend love I started to research the term. I found out that no one was truly able to pin-point what love is. I was then made aware of various distinctions, such aspanionate love, love for ones family, children, and so on. I decided to narrow in on the kind of love between two adults without familial rtionship and was able to establish a number of guidelines. It is typically above friendship. It is needed in a romantic rtionship. It typically involved a sexual side. Remembering observations of today and your behaviour in general, Master and Mistress Rave, I decided to further research thatst point.
And here we go, John thought, now knowing exactly where this train had gone off the rails.
I had already observed the physical manifestation of love, so I thought further research on this was a low priority.
Huh? John nced at the Asian pornstar on the monitor. That isnt adding up.
However, after researching the anatomy of the act, I found myself unable toprehend the topic atrge or in detail. I sought out the thought process involved in awakening sexual desires. In doing so, I stumbled upon arge-scale discussion site called Reddit.
Oh God no, John muttered under his breath.
I found that a subreddit called Gone Wild was suggested thanks to
Stop talking! Rave intervened, but Aclysias habit of finishing her sentence still held strong.
an ount called Neonlights still being logged in. Yes, Mistress, I will halt exnations for the time being.
John was a tad confused. Whats the big deal, Jane? he asked. I know you like looking at women, we had a threesome not five hours ago and you were very eager to make out with her. Is this supposed to shock me?
Ehm, well, it aint that easy. Rave drew circles on the floorboards with her big toe.
What, you uploaded pictures of you there? John asked jokingly. Her silence spoke volumes. For a moment, his eyes went wide, then he thought about it. And?
And? Rave faced him, slightly confused.
And what? I know that you had a sex life before me and you werent shy about it before. He shrugged.
Yeah, but that was when I thought youd just be I dunno what I thought youd be, but now were well were a we and that makes it kinda embarrassing she mumbled.
Youre mine now, right? Thats what matters. John pulled her in a hug,bing through her hair as he talked. They can all be jealous that they never get to see anything more of you. Because Im not letting you go but I want those pictures.
Okay, first off, thanks? Rave said with a mixture of relief and confusion, B, you already have pictures that are WAY better. Didnt show my face to the inte after all.
I will be the judge of that. He separated from Rave and looked back to his Artificial Spirit. Aclysia, would you tell us thest bit of the story?
As you wish, Master. Aclysia affirmed and picked up where she left off. From Reddit I found my way to a guide for sex positions and was revealed to a form of self-pleasuring called Masturbation. To better understand sexual urges, I decided to try it. However, I couldnt feel a thing. I tried to look at videos for guidelines and got rid of my clothes for ease of ess. When I was at an impasse, I decided to call you. Aclysia stood up, the browser history no longer needed, bowed again. I humbly ask you to exin to me the process of masturbation, Master.
John took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Basically, what she was asking for was to understand sexual pleasure. At this time, she wasnt even capable of feeling it in the first ce. The remaining 10 Stat Points he had banked could fix that. He had nned to spend them after he had seen how her improved Wisdom panned out. This technically qualified.
What are ya pondering about? Rave whispered into his ear. I think this is a very easy decision.
Its very easy to say what decision I want to make, John admitted. In the end, he gave in to that urge. Not without a few concessions to his conscience though. Aclysia, before we do anything else, I want to ask a question: you understand that this isnt required to serve me, right? You dont need to understand pleasure to protect me either.
Aclysia tilted her head and then asked a very important question. Would it not please you if I was capable of sexual service?
Yes, it would please me a lot, John thought, but that was to manipte her mission statement in a way that made this her duty. That doesnt matter. What matters is that it is not necessary. Any decision you make regarding your lust is yours and yours alone, understand? He tried to find another angle. It would be best for your mission if your loyalty as a servant came from a genuine desire from within you to be a servant. I dont want a servant that takes the role because they are obligated to. Understand?
To be a servant only if the role fulfils me Master. A loyal servant is a servant that serves out of their own volition, Aclysia mumbled, then slowly nodded. I believe I understand. You want a maid, not a doll what if I were to decide that I do not wish to serve you anymore?
The question was presented neutrally and John let out a slow breath. He had known it was going toe at some point, because he kept nudging her in the direction of self-fulfilment. Then we would have to talk about what you want and whether we can continue side by side or if theres a way for you to go free, he told her.
I shall contemte this answer Master, a tiny, approving smile yed around her lips as she bowed fluidly. I understand that my understanding of sexual pleasure is not needed to serve you. This endeavour will be for myself.
Ya got the morals sorted out? Rave asked.
As good as I can, John responded with a sigh. Now, before I raise your Libido to 10, which hopefully should give you the capacity to feel pleasure, we have to sort out a few different things. The Gamer took the position in the chair and opened the Abyss Auction; he had a few materials to order.
Technically, he didnt need to make her all squishy in the proper ces if she was just going to engage in masturbation. The horny side of Johns brain had already decided to prepare her for the eventuality that sex was the logical next step. Besides, he had the excuse that she was going to move around the public now, which meant her being all solid would tip some mundane person off eventually.
I need to get you the proper soft areas before I bestow upon you those desires.
Bestow upon you`? Raveughed, Can you sound any cornier?
I always wanted to say that. John defended himself and looked through materials.
It didnt take long for John to find what he needed. He was far from the first person in the Abyss to build a golem that could have sex. Super-Rubber. 100% Flesh like. Want to build a human doll? A pleasure golem? Look no further! That was the advertisement and just what he was looking for.
Mhm, so I need enough for your skin and some extra jiggly stuff for your nice bits. John sized Aclysia up for purely tonic reasons and then went back to the Computer. To have all of it be the same material would have been to belie the multi-facetted firmness and squishiness of the female form. He needed material to simte muscleyers, fat, and the mixture of both, alongside differentyers of the epidermis and the insides of her holes. He found most of it in the Frequently bought alongside section of his initial purchase. In the end, he was $7028,40 poorer. Those were the best materials he could afford.
It took ten minutes for the drone to knock on the window. It was muchrger than the ones he had seen previously, fitting as the box was simrly enormous. It barely fit in through the window. Once it was inside, John ripped it open. Alright, Aclysia, three simple steps. First, eat all of that. Second, make your skin fromyers of different rubber, silicone for breasts and butt, firmer rubber strings for muscle fibres, and keep the metal skeleton. Be as close to the human physique as you can be with these materials. No, you dont need to replicate the shape of organs. Third, tell me when youre done and then I will raise your Libido to 10. I assume thats when you get to form a vagina or at least feel pleasure.
Affirmative, Aclysia agreed and went to work on the first step. She grabbed one of the many bs of gtinous rubber and wiggled it a bit, curiously, before getting to eating. Doesnt taste very good she mumbled.
Rave pulled on Johns sleeve. I had enough of watching Clysia here eat for a day. Wanna make out while we wait?
There was only one answer to that.
Chapter 65 – Sexdroid Update [Erotic Content]
Chapter 65 C Sexdroid Update [Erotic Content]
John was a horny man. A fairly obvious statement. John tried to be a moral man. He had suffered too much at the hands of people who took whatever they wanted to be like them. Whether he seeded in that was up for debate. A philosophical question he was not in the state of mind to have.
His dick felt like a banana coated in honey. For twenty minutes he and Rave had been making out and for twenty minutes they had kept their hands mostly to themselves. Well, Rave had kept her hands mostly to herself. John was appreciating every nook and cranny of her body. Her little gasps and loud moans were too enticing not to coax them from her repeatedly.
I am done, Master.
Those sweet words sent a shiver down Johns spine. That singr title was revolutionizing his entire view of the world. Breaking the kiss, he and Rave turned to look at Aclysia. There was little to see upon inspection. Only when they beckoned her over, did the subtle shifts and trembles of realitys jiggle physics be apparent. Her thighs were to die for. Every step, they rippled.
Aclysia stepped in front of the couch and orderly folded her hands just below her navel. Immediately, John got handsy, too far in his libido to consider anything besides the need to touch the woman in front of him. The thighs were as meaty as they looked. Like her ass, Aclysias legs were thicker than Raves. She was taller and slightly more bottom heavy. Her waist wasnt quite as slender topensate, her shoulders a tad wider, her chest a tadrger. Beyond that, their figures were remarkably simr. A t midriff with soft definition, a shallow depression running down between her abs. Her cunt waspletely hairless, the lips the same pretty pink as her nipples.
For a whole minute, he indulged himself in just squeezing her all over. The resistance of the smooth skin of her thighs and how the mimicry of flesh and muscles yielded was just like the genuine thing. The swing of her wide hips and the concavity of her waist. The ribs were metal, but felt no different, bending ever so slightly where they were thin enough to take the ce of cartge. She was warm to the touch, the Inner Fire providing as much. Her breasts were perhaps the least human, the firmness of silicone just a tad above what was natural. Her nipples were erect not from arousal but because they were made that way.
Turn around, John ordered and Aclysia did. Her long, straight hair cascaded down her elegant back, the tips reaching all the way to her ass. The enormous, juicy ass, a perfect recreation of a 3D model that John had spent hours staring at while ying Nier:Automata. The plump cheeks were weighed down by gravity, creating a deep crease where they met her thighs. A natural underline of the heavy roundness.
Following a sudden impulse, he gave the ass a smack. The sharp sound echoed in the room, her fat ass was forced into motion, rippling from the impact and sensuously settling over the course of a few seconds. That was heaven.
Do ya have a thing for spanking? Rave purred into his ear. Her own hands were exploring the Artificial Spirit.
Yes, John confessed. He hadnt really acted on it yet, he was still uncertain what exactly out of his porn experience he should bring into the bedroom. Less for ack of Raves willingness, after the harem talk he was certain she would at least listen to him whenever he brought something up, and more for a question of what he himself wanted now that he had ess to possibilities.
Seeing that round ass, he had just needed to smack it once.
The satisfaction of the act was diminished by the utterck of reaction on Aclysias part. Even if she might enjoy it, at the moment she did not have the capacity to. Turn back, he told her and Aclysia obeyed. Rave stood up and kept squeezing her here and there. Seeing his girlfriend y with another gorgeous woman for the second time today was just wonderful. Ill put the points in now.
Opening Aclysias Character Sheet, he tapped the Libido button. Once, nothing happened. Twice, nothing happened. Thrice, her lips parted softly, as if she wanted to ask a question. The fourth point, nothing happened. But the fifth
Aclysia opened her mouth, speaking this time, I feel tingly? Her voice was uncertain.
Hmmm, do ya? Rave cupped one of Aclysias boobs and then dragged her tongue from the bottom over the white-haired womans nipple. A mild moan escaped the Artificial Spirit. It was a sweet, almost melodic sound. Did ya like that?
I felt pleasant in an unknown way. Aclysia had the undertone of mild excitement.
Well, its about to get better, John announced and tapped the button for the sixth time, while Rave kept licking Aclysias pink nipples.
On the seventh, the gasps became a little louder. The up and down of her breathing grew more pronounced. The eighth created a new phenomenon, as her skin began to flush with excitement. Blood she did not have, but Johns magic evidently ignored that little issue. Aclysias wonderful thighs trembled softly. As the ninth point was invested, Raves hand travelled down to the hairless cunt. John was stroking his cock as he watched and invested the final point.
It worked out even better than he intended. He had been right on the vagina and it even simted love juices. It would have been awkward if they went this far and then failed at having lube. Its done.
Aclysia let out an audible moan, as Rave pushed a finger into her. At first she met a wall, but the Artificial Spirits hole was rapidly forming. Bit by bit, the single digit sunk into her newly formed folds. As they werepleted, Rave circled around Aclysia, keeping only her hand in its ce. How do ya feel? she whispered into her finely swung ear.
I Mistress Rave I dont yes it feels oooodd
In a good way though, right? Rave purred and got a bobbing nod in response. Ya wanna feel even better?
Aclysias hazy eyes wandered to the finger that was sliding in and out of her now glistening hole. Is that possible? she asked, then let out a prolonged sigh when a second digit joined the first. The other hand yed with the Artificial Spirits left boob.
I thought ya did some research. What made all the gals in those videos really lose their mind? Rave hummed. Green eyes wandered from the fingers to Johns cock. Now ya get it. Ya should take what ya want. Rave pulled her fingers out and gave the servant a little shove.
Aclysia stumbled forwards andnded on top of John. Her body was less heavy now, the excess steel and stic stored somewhere it didnt add to her. All he felt was a warm body. Had he not known her true nature, he wouldnt have noticed whatever little discrepancies there were. Her left eye was partly hidden by strands of silky white hair. It only made her more gorgeous as she gazed up at him. The haze in her emerald eyes betrayed the depth of the lust she felt for the first time in her life.
Can I kiss you, Master? she asked with those reddish pink lips of hers.
Yes. John was already leaning towards her. When their lips met, she froze for a moment. Then his probing tongue snapped her out of it. Hesitating, she attempted to copy his motions, parting her lips and wrestling with his tongue. He tasted a sweet aroma with a metallic note in it. It was unusual, but not unpleasant. Hard, he grabbed herrge ass and let his fingers sink into the juiciness. The magic that animated her simted even the tensing of the muscle fibres. You dont need to do this, he managed to assure her, in spite of his need for her to do this.
But I want to, oh so eagerly, Aclysia gasped and then delivered the final blow, Master.
Crooned, the title set Johns loins aze. Urging her upwards, he felt her breasts glide over his chest until she straddled him properly. The engorged head of his cock pressed against her ready folds. A soft rocking of the couch made Johns eyes flicker to the side for one moment. Rave had plopped down next to them and was openly rubbing her own crotch. No way Im missing this, she purred.
Assertively, John reached over and pulled his girlfriend into a kiss. She moaned intensely into the union of their lips. Aclysia echoed the sound. May I serve you, Master? she pleaded submissively. Through their mental connection washed the genuine desire to do exactly that. Not just for him, but for herself. It turned her on immensely to be his to desire.
Not breaking the kiss, John sent a confirmation through this bond. Making out with his girlfriend while he had his second threesome and second deflowering in one day C that was a sensation he would etch into his being forever.
Aclysia was tight. Too tight, in fact. He only made it a few centimetres deep before the crushing pressure of her wet folds made it feel like she was driving his dick into his body. The distress caused an immediate change and the Artificial Spirit loosened her insides until she impaled herself properly. Good girl, he thought.
T-thank you, Master, she responded. It wasnt his intention to send the thought, but she had received it anyway. Her lower mouth drooled, her upper mouth gasped, and Aclysia enveloped all of him with her warm folds. All of Master is inside me, she let out a satisfied sigh. Ah, I understand why humans need this Im so full
John broke the kiss with his girlfriend, to smile at the Artificial Spirit. This is only the beginning, he promised her. To the sound of Rave rapidly masturbating, he grabbed Aclysia by the waist and then made her bounce on his cock.
Aaah! Aclysia tensed all over, the new sensation too much for her to handle. Where active thoughts failed, her instincts did not. She plunged back down on his cock. I want it to all be inside of me I want you to keep moving how can I have both? she thought out loud. The question soon was reced with another realization. Master Master something is building up. I- AHHHH! she shouted at the ceiling. Oh, my body is it''s on fire! Master, I am I dont I want mooo-o-o-o-reee!
John was already ramping up his speed, mming up into her and making her pretty body produce all kinds of depraved sounds. As the ecstasy grew, so did the fire inside her. She was hotter than a human now, although not by an rming margin. Up and down C up and down she went, unceasingly, her hips moved both by the repeated impacts and the desperate shaking of her hips.
Oh, Master. Masterrrrr. MASHTAAAAAHHHHR! her voice derailed into a slurred mess of half-correct sybles. Her ass and thighs rippled, her nipples cut through the air, her long hair flew and fell, all while she turned into an animal in heat. I caaaahnt. Mashtaaaahr!
Im close too. Lets finish together, he gasped.
Aclysias hot insides were rubbing the length of his shaft with perfect tightness. She was made for him, literally, by her own will. She spasmed, desperately driving back her release. Her high-pitched moans mixed with Raves. The pink-haired womans fingers were a blur, pumping in and out of her cunt at rapid speed.
Pleashe, pleasssshe, Mashtahrr! Aclysias tongue lolled out. Her eyes rolled up. She became a moving, screaming being existing only to ride his cock for the brief seconds between that dumb-fucked face surfacing and him thrusting up into her onest time. He held onto her bubble butt with all he had and released.
Rave tensed into his side, moaning throatily. Aclysia wentpletely rigid, her cunt gushing clear juices all over him and the couch. His balls tightened, over and over again, painting her folds white with an enormous load. Each and every spurt was intense. White dots danced in his field of vision.
Calming, breathing heavily, he copsed into the seat. Aclysia copsed with him,ying limply on top of him. asional aftershocks made her quiver. Same was true for Rave, who rested her head on his shoulder.
I understand Ipletely understand now, Aclysia muttered. Thank you for showing me, Master.
Chapter 66 – What a lovely Tuesday it had been
Chapter 66 C What a lovely Tuesday it had been
Aclysia returned to her research after they all calmed down. They left her to it and returned to Raves room, after a short trip to the washroom. John loaded the burrowed clothes into the machine, to return to Jimmie tomorrow. After a few more hours of hanging out, he put on his school uniform and got ready to head home.
Is it really fine that she stays here? John asked while putting on his shoes.
Dont worry about it, tiger. Dad wont make a fuss once he learns where shes from. If he even sees her. Shell probably just sit there all night and check stuff out.
Yeah, no idea how I would exin that to my mom, John sighed and scratched the back of his head. Taking Aclysia back home with him would be the start of a very odd conversation. How much would Brenda condemn him if she found out he had screwed three women in one day? Quite a bit, perhaps? He actually wasnt sure and he didnt care to find out.
She aint part of the Abyss, so you gotta deal with that, Rave shrugged. Just how the cookie crumbles.
I guess. John let out a long sigh.
Hey, this is fine with me. I can make her do my chores and stuff. Start the maid training. Rave got a little closer and purred, Shed make for a good first gal in the harem, right?
John could only smile at the reminder of how good life had been to him today. Dont you abuse the authority you have over her, he cautioned her. Even if I told her you get onemand that supersedes whatever I say, she is her own person.
Oh, Ill be nice to her, Rave licked her lips in a very overt manner. How John wished he could stay he probably could from next week onwards. What mom was there to notice he wasnt home at night when she was in DC?
John tightened hisces and got up. A quick goodbye kiss and then he opened the door. See you tomorrow?
Totes, Rave responded with arge smile. Be safe, tiger.
He returned home without further incident. He awoke the next day without further incident. He went to school without further incident. He even apologized to Victoria without further incident. He gave Travolta the money and some other valuables.
One eventless day turned into two, two into three, three into a week. The day his mother left Springfield came about. He saw her off to the small airport in the city, then he returned to an empty house.
He bought some clothes for Aclysia that she could wear in public without attracting more attention than her beauty already did. The hair stayed white, with the kinds of colour people could turn their hair these days, it stood out but not to a degree that rmed mundanes.
John aced tests, ignored res by his former bullies, enjoyed the homelife with a woman who adopted ever more maidly standards, and just generally was having a good time. All throughout that, he grinded a few more levels out with Rave and Aclysia, sometimes Victoria. He even got Wisdom to 75, providing another upgrade in his MP regeneration.
Things were good.
Chapter 67 – Another good day
Chapter 67 C Another good day
I cant believe it finally dropped! John dered.
Ya still on that? Rave asked.
They had once again skipped school. After John had scored a perfect grade in everyst one of his tests, he didnt care much to attend. When he did, he just browsed through the books that were handed out,mitted the entire thing to memory, and barely listened. That would be enough to get him through the year. For once he was thankful that his teachers didnt care much about him. Ashcroft was a private college prep school and attendance wasnt strictly mandatory. Because it was an investment to attend, teachers would still call parents if their children were absent for a while. That was, the teachers would call if they felt like it. John doubted anyone would really miss him.
The skipped morning went to grinding. The Tree of Life wasnt that effective anymore. Seven kills were needed to get a single level-up. Still, because they didnt need to ughter Treants until it spawned and because they had be proficient at chopping down trees they repeated that particr boss fight ad nauseam.
Which finally had brought this item into Johns possession.
It isnt even that useful, Rave continued.
Well, no, but its still worth money. Also, my innerpletionist likes it to get every drop once. John defended his glee. Making money had be a lot easier after he had figured out how easy it was to put items on the Abyss Auction. Much like money, he could, upon granting ess, just have the items be pulled from his inventory. He couldnt even begin to fathom the magicalwork that had to exist for the service to work through basically every device. Then again, he could hardly fathom the expanse of the electricity grid either. These systems, grown over generations, were just that impressive. Besides that, now the only item I havent gotten yet is the Branch of Knowledge. I really want to know what that does. It must be pretty good to be Epic.
Nah, we all know Epic items always suck. Rave said while rolling her eyes in ridicule.
We also know that a higher level always equals a better person. John teased the fact that he had reached a higher level than her.
No, your powers are just pure BS. Ya have no chance at beating me.
Want to test that? John dared, as they stepped into the Protected Space that served as Collides HQ. The old arcade stood in the untended green area, a half-forsaken lot that John was starting to look at rather fondly.
Oh? Rave stared at her boyfriend and he stared back. At this point, he was confident that he could at least put up a good fight, thanks to all the Skills he had gathered. No using Aclysia though!
I have been informed that I am a crucial part of Master''s battle strategy, Rave. Aclysia chimed in. She had been following them at a steps distance, ever diligent and proper. Rave had managed to get the mistress out of her a couple of days ago.
Yeah, she is my tank! John protested.
She is a tank alright. Rave stormed around on her heels and threw a punch at Aclysia. It hit the maidly woman straight in the chest. All Aclysia did was take a half step back to counteract the force of the impact. Rave, meanwhile, hissed, O, and waved her wrists around. Seriously, what are you made of, pure metal?
Not pure metal, no, Aclysia responded. Her sense of sarcasm was still rather low. That aside, Aclysia had double defences. When they entered abat situation prepared, she could revert all the changes she had made to feel human to the touch and turn herself into a very aesthetic block of animated steel. This,bined with the Ironhide Attribute boosting her physical defense, made her practically impervious to any basic physical attack.
Between the three of them, at this moment, Aclysia was probably the strongest 1vs1 fighter, purely because of that defence. The Sword of Glory gave her some pretty good reach and what little damage she did take, she counteracted with her HP Regeneration. All of that said, they were still fighting enemies beneath their current level. John was not willing to test how steel held up against higher Abyssals. For all he knew, she would be ripped apart like paper.
With my Aura I could take out one of ya guys. Rave finished rubbing her fist. But not both of you.
You actually think that you could knock out Aclysia? John wondered out loud.
Probably. Id have to angle for a good dismemberment, but I think I could do it. Rave then pointed at John. Or I could just take you out. I could definitely run circles around Aclysia and then knock you down. Your defences are garbage.
John wasntpletely sure about that. He could probably defend against her with Gnome for a rtively long time, maybe even forever. It depended on whether Rave could tear down the earth walls faster than his mana regeneration replenished them. Still, he would have to find a better way to secure himself eventually.
Well, without a healer around Id rather not try anyway, John said, way too dangerous. Dont want to hit you with Mana Ray.
And I dont want to get hit by that. Ravepletely agreed. The Skill was bonkers. It ripped apart Treants in one go and left nothing but a crackling mess of wood. The range also increased by four metres per level. If he assumed that his skill went up to level 100 that meant that Mana Ray would hit a max range of 500 metres. A half kilometre, straight beam that travelled with impressive speed. He would need to find out how to get better eyes because with that kind of range and projectile, sniping was only a question of how well he could aim.
I should probably invest in some new skillbooks. He changed the topic.
Like, what do you want? Rave asked as they walked towards the door of the arcade.
Probably should get the other basic elementals to increase my versatility a bit. Other than that, some defensive or mobility skills. I should get some items that properly increase my Mana Regen first though.
Whys that? Cant ya create something? Mhm, slight problems with that, John answered as he set foot into the building. Levelling Craft and Enchant is a bitch. It costs a bunch of MP and the rewards are not that great. I mean all my materials got used up making this one ring.
Its not even that good and doing stuff without Ectosm just isnt worth it. He pulled back a chair and sat down on the conference table.
And Ectosm farming would be super boring Ravemented and nted her bubble butt on the table. John watched it go squish on the hard surface.
Yep. Maybe I should try getting the Achievement for Tier 0 Undead to see if the Spectre spawns instantly. I doubt it though, Ghosts are Tier 3.
How about ya work on oveing that Gap already? She asked and yfully kicked the air. One leg up, the other down, back and forth like that. We outlevel Treants so hard you could beat the boss on your own by now.
Mhm, yeah we could do that as well. Would need to level Create I.D. some more then. John mumbled and looked around. Where are the others by the way? Didnt think Victorias appointment would take that long. The Russian (yes, he had finally asked) sniper had excused herself for some ominous appointment and didnt bother to tell anybody what exactly it was. Okay, she had no obligation to, Jimmie didnt tell anybody what he was doing at the hospital either but at least he told them where he was. There is a reason why her Charisma is so low. He thought and sighed. Victoria still denied joining his party but still tagged along because it was good money.
Jimmie is probably down below and Baldywell lets make the test. Rave breathed in and then shouted in the direction of the stairs, WE HAVE YOUR MONEY, BALDY!
There was some rummaging and then a loud curse. Rave giggled. John had the decency tough into his fist. A few minutester Travolta came stomping down the stairs. FOR FUCKS SAKE RAVE! He screamed angrily, I almost dropped what I was working on.
What would that be? John probed.
None of your fucking business is what it is. Travolta jabbed right back. Now give me my fucking money.
The transaction was made and Travolta grunted in satisfaction. Good, fucking Bloodfallen are a major fucking annoyance.
Better with them though, right? John asked.
Yeah, still I dislike being at the beck and call of somebody. We also might be pulled into some of their shenanigans. We shouldnt be, given we just pay protection money, but you never fucking know. Travolta counted the money bill by bill. By the way, Regan and I were going to paint some miniatures on Friday. You want in?
What, really?! John asked, while Rave groaned.
Do you have to? his girlfriend wanted to know. Not even do the painting C sure, go ahead, Ill just y around with Aclysia then. Do you enjoy Warhammer, Aclysia?
I have not yet engaged in the activity.
And already youre more fun to be around than these nerds.
Shut the fuck up, Rave, you got about as much taste in entertainment as your old man does in interior decoration.
Says the guy living in a rundown, outdated building. Seriously, if it werent for the magic, this ce coulde down any sec-
John almost dropped out of his chair when the entire building quaked. The sound of a nearby explosion followed half a secondter. Wood and ss rattled, Travoltas feet hit the pavement as he stormed towards the door. The trembles ebbed away. Jimmie! John and Rave realized simultaneously and ran at the open door. The guild leader was already turning a corner.
Chapter 68 – “Arcano-Tech – A small mistake and BOOM!”
Chapter 68 C Arcano-Tech C A small mistake and BOOM!
John was at the tail end of the group. The shed had been practically blown to smithereens, the welded metal cracked open at the seams. Only the fuse box was unharmed, either by a miracle or by arcane wards. Running past, John rapidly descended the stairs.
The workshop resembled a scene from a war movie. The case that Jimmie had stored his suit in was curled open like a dried-up flower petal. Explosive force had cracked it wide open, disintegrated much of the edges, then swept through the surrounding room. The metal scrap and projects that now were metal scrap all had been pushed to the walls by the shockwaves, then partly drawn back to the centre by the rebound. Rather than the smell of gunpowder and dust, the air was filled with an electric stench and a blue-purple mist. An asional crackle arched.
Arcano-tech C a small mistake and BOOM! John remembered what Jimmie had said back then. At the time Jimmie had been very confident about his skills to handle the machine. The destruction in front of him made John ask himself if that kind of attitude could even be allowed when tinkering with something this dangerous.
Searching for Jimmie wasnt necessary. Travolta had long since spotted him, tossing pieces of metal aside until he could pull the mechanic out from under them. Pieces of his suit were still on him, until Travolta pulled them off. Jimmie must have worked on them until the veryst moment.
Jimmie, hey! Travolta shook his housemates shoulder. No reaction from the mechanic. Rave stood a few metres back, a hand hiding her mouth. Concern was inly visible on her face and there was every reason to be fearful. Pieces of metal turned shrapnel had embedded themselves in Jimmies chest. Worst was a wound to the head, however. Fuck Travolta took his pulse, then grunted with the mildest bit of relief. Hes alive. We just need to get him out of here!
Right, Gaia fixes injuries on exit, John reminded himself.
Travolta lost no time and picked up his friend. The way this barrier was constructed, all he needed to do was get him to the edge and run out. Abductors extracted unconscious people from Illusion Barriers all the time. At least John was told as much.
Prioritizing speed overfort, Travolta tossed Jimmie over his shoulder like he was a sack of hot potatoes. Then he ran back up the way he hade. Before following, John took stock of the room one more time. The epicentre of it all had been the suit storage, there was no doubt about it.
By the time John caught up with Travolta, therge man had put Jimmie down against the wall in the alleyway. Even the clothes were put back in a presentable state. No injuries remained, but the eyes stayed closed and the skin pale from the blood loss. Gaia did not undo all damage. Come on, buddy, Travolta growled, as if he could scare the unconsciousness out of the mechanic. Youve been through worse.
John spotted movement at the end of the alley and immediately raised his head. Victoria, in her usual clothes, had turned the corner. For a moment, it looked like she would go back the way she came, then she instead strutted up to them. What is going on? She took one nce at Jimmie, then stared at Travolta, wide-eyed.
The workshop exploded, Travolta responded, still busy inspecting his friend. We got him out of there, that healed his wounds but hes still unconscious.
John used Observe in the vain hope that it might reveal something.
It was indeed a vain hope.
Fucking dammit. Travolta cursed. If only I had some more of that stuff.
Stuff? Rave asked.
Ive made an elixir, of sorts C not important, Travolta dodged the question. Was he referring to the blood of Thana? Was he unaware that was the name or simply unwilling to tell them? Was John misguided on all this and it was just an elixir of sorts? Either way this wasnt the time.
Victoria disagreed. And you are sure you have nothing of that stuff left? It sounds like it could help him.
Yes, Travolta barked.
Really?
YES! Travolta shouted. You think Id hesitate to help my friend, brat?! Dont fucking question me. Not after I offered you shelter!
They stared at each other, until Victoria slowly nodded her head. Hes not waking up, Travolta, Rave threw in eventually. We have to call the Apothecaries.
Fuck. Yes. Do it, Travolta gave the order, still kneeling next to the mechanic. It was doubtful that Jimmie heard anything, but the guild leader still mumbled encouraging little things.
Ambnce will be here in 10 minutes, Rave reported.
It was a dreadful wait. Mundane, yet more nerve wracking than most things John had done since entering the Abyss. When the ambnce came, two men hastened down the alleyway with a stretcher. A third approached them, a muscr young man, a few years older than John, with short brown hair and brown eyes. Hey, Im Herman, he introduced himself in a solemn tone and offered a calming handshake to everyone. When the offer wasnt taken by anyone, he just smoothly moved on. Well see to it that your friend gets the help he needs, you have my word.
For the money well pay you- Travolta began.
I know Apothecaries have an ill reputation C and with good reason in some cases, Herman interrupted and tried his best at a calming smile. You have my personal promise we will worry about his health first and the payment second. To the point: can you tell me what happened? Itd make the diagnosis a bit smoother. They gave him the quick rundown. Sounds like we will have to deal with a typical case of arcane poisoning.
Whats that? Travolta asked.
Working with the kind of arcano-tech that requires direct interfacing requires the body to go through some changes. Particles of mana are injected into the body, utilizing the same arcane frequency as the crystals that power the artifice. When a particrly intense ripple of arcane energy washes over people that have modified themselves this way, the residue in the bloodstream changes into something harmful. The good news is that this is a fairly standard workce injury C even if this case is more severe than usual. We should have him stabilized in no time. Herman looked at them in turn, eyes lingering on John for a second, before staying on Travolta. I would suggest you apany me to the hospital. I might have further questions about the circumstances.
Travolta nodded and followed Herman back to the ambnce, leaving John, Rave, Aclysia and Victoria standing where they were. Dont touch anything while Im gone! Travolta stated, then he was off.
We really shouldnt, John said and scratched the back of his head.
Poor Jim, Rave mumbled. Guess were going to your ce?
Yeah, John said and turned to Aclysia to see how she was dealing with this. He felt a mildly ambivalent confusion from her. That was better than most alternatives. What will you do? he asked Victoria.
The gunslinger shot him a nce, I dont know, she responded and walked away.
Must be shaking her harder than she is letting on, the Gamer considered, then shook his head. The trio followed Victoria out of the alleyway, then went their own way. After an hour of lounging around in a tense mood, Rave got a call.
Jimmie is stable, Travolta gave the good news first. Out for four days, roughly, but theyll patch him at a discount because of all the work he does around here.
Thats good, Ravemented, relieved.
Its weird though Travolta mumbled.
What is?
Jimmie didnt screw up once in the years I knew him. Not C once, Travolta stated. And now he has a fuck up of this proportion?
Everyone got a bad day, Travolta, Rave responded, and one bad day is all it takes when youre working with mana crystals.
Perhaps Ill look into this. The click of the phone made it clear that the conversation was over.
Man, major bummer and we were having such a good run, Rave grumbled and tossed her head back into hisp. Ya need more meat on these thighs, it''s like a pillow made of bone.
And still youy there Johns joke was half-hearted. Jimmie will be fine, right?
The Apothecaries got him C as a customer. Thats as reassuring as it gets.
Guess we''ll just enjoy our day then? John tried. It was difficult to change back into regr mode after what had happened. After another hour and a good selection of videos, they managed though.
Chapter 69 – Business as usual
Chapter 69 C Business as usual
SecretBlonde: So, how are you doing now that Jimmie is in the hospital?
Jeehan: If I tell you, you will just sell it with a big headline The Gamer is Sad today!
SecretBlonde: You know me so well~
John clicked his tongue in annoyance as he closed the private conversation on his phone.
Just ignore him, Rave said, still looking at her own phone. They were currently on their way to school. She had stayed the night and the morning was nice. Walking the whole way had been an easy decision. Aclysia stayed in the house and made sure it was clean.
I wish I could wait, how did you even know who I was chatting with?
I live rent-free in your head, Rave responded matter-of-factly.
I would threaten you with eviction, but I dont think thatd work at all. Youd pop up again like a cursed item. She giggled at that. The sound made his heart feel light. Once it ebbed away, John let out a drawn-out sigh. I guess its progress that it took him a few days to find out or her. Who even knows?
Two days had passed since the ident. It was now Thursday. During these two days, they had neither seen Travolta nor Victoria around. In the case of the guild leader, at least they heard him work upstairs at times. Victoria was just gone entirely. Not that this behaviour was unusual for her.
Johns phone vibrated, pulling his attention back to the group chat.
SecretBlonde: Hey yall, just got the information that the Gamer is sad today!
Princess_of_Steel: To think that I paid for this.
Blood: Please only write when you have something of substance.
Minerva: I wonder why he is sad? Do you have any information on that?
SecretBlonde: Somebody in his circle of affiliates got hurt.
GravityKing: Well, sounds weak but also understandable.
He forced himself to put his phone away. its pretty hard to ignore people talking about you all the time.
Not like you can do anything about it, Rave said and pulled out her phone as well. So, you might as well have fun with it.
Rave: So how are you guys doing today?
Princess_of_Steel: Small talk? Is that the purpose of this ce?
Princess_of_Steel: I might as well humour you. I am waiting for an associate. She has the annoying tendency of getting distracted petting wild animals.
GrimPatron: Drinking. Very drubk.
GravityKing: Unlike Lydia, I know my station. Unless you are someone influential I see no reason to answer you.
Rave: Well, maybe I am? ^^
GravityKing: Then I should be able to find SOMETHING about you on the auction.
Jeehan: Dont you think that somebody really influential should be able to hide details of their life from the auction. @GravityKing.
Rave smiled at John. Yeah, okay. He admitted. Maybe this is more fun than just taking it all in. He was rewarded with a quick kiss to the cheek.
GravityKing:...I would like to say nobody important hangs out here buuuut @Romulus is here soooo. Okay, I am doing fine.
Anathema: Currently in New Zend. I dont like the weather.
Rave: What are you doing there?
Anathema: High Fateweaver Stuff. My NDA says I cant tell you more, sorry.
Anathema: Also visiting my older daughter while Im in the area.
Minerva: Sounds like what the Gamer would say in order to get attention off himself.
Anathema: OH in the God-Emperors name I AM NOT THE GAMER OKAY?!
GravityKing: Yeah, right, Lol.
Anathema: Just tell them @SecretBlonde.
SecretBlonde: And lose the one advantage if have over you guys? I think not :O
SecretBlonde: *I have C stupid autocorrect.
Minerva: To answer the question though, I am not doing so hot. Mostly because I am going through these old WW2 Files and the loss of life makes me sick. Get this though: Apparently the Germans had a magical-drug strengthened unit stationed in Normandy.
Princess_of_Steel: And?
Minerva: You dont find an elite force strengthened by some Abyssal drug weird? I mean Gaia would normally lose her shit.
Princess_of_Steel: Assuming it has been diluted to a sufficient degree, the mundanes would be incapable of noticing. Frontlines did not typicallye with the opportunity to chemically analyse thepounds.
Minerva: I suppose. It is described as rust water by the reports. Must have tasted pretty awful.
Princess_of_Steel: Probably Mengeles doing. The madman''s work is notplete until he has tainted every aspect of his heritage. A vast array of cruel inventions which the Russians then stole. @Blood can probably tell you all about it.
Blood: The Soviets only did what was necessary to remove the threat of Nazi Germany from the vds.
KingGravity: Yeah right. You NEEDED his experiments to win the SURFACE war. Alright. /s
Princess_of_Steel: What Maximillian said.
These two can agree on something? Rave was surprised.
Probably only when they need to defend their country, John mused and tucked his phone away as the school gate came into view. I find it much more interesting how much of the Abyss gets over into the real world.
Mhm, nah, cant say its the same for me. Rave was about to put her phone away as well when she got a call. What does Baldy want now? She asked and raised the device to her brte head. Yello What? Slow down Travy, what has? They stepped through the school gate and a window appeared in front of John.
Chapter 70 – The Annoyance
Chapter 70 C The Annoyance
Rave looked at her phone as her connection was suddenly cut. Shit, she mumbled, and he just called to warn us.
We''ve been pretty unlucky recently, John stated, eyes scanning for enemies. He tugged at the mental connection he had with Aclysia. No reaction. The typical state when he was inside an Illusion Barrier and she was not. Even if she did guess something was wrong, it would take at least twenty minutes to get to them.
From the sound of it he just went through a fight of his own. Rave exined as the two of them looked around. A full-on trap barrier, huh? She exhaled with tension.
Whats the difference from a normal one?
They only pull in selected targets and block mostmunications. My phone normally shouldnt lose connection even in a barrier.
In other words, someone was targeting them. The name of the barrier had given as much away anyway. If Aclysia was with us I would feel a lot safer John mumbled. Where are the ene-
Rooftop! Rave suddenly warned him. Immediately his eyes snapped up and saw a ck dot on the t roof. Pointing his hand up, he shot a Mana Ray as quickly as he could. The attack stopped midway through the air. A momentter, the loud boom of a gunshot echoed through the air. So much for us being unlucky! Rave grinned dangerously and charged towards the school.
Running serpentine, she dodged a second gunshot, then leapt towards the schools wall. In an impressive disy of her Agility, she scaled the three storeys. John wouldve been enticed by the sight if he hadnt felt the searing pain of a gunshot piercing his ribcage.
-37 HP
Barely, he caught himself mid run. The pain was terrible, but disappeared swiftly, leaving only a hole in his uniform. A second one and thats the end of my lease on life! John thought. He breathed just the slightest bit easier when he made it into the building.
The relief was short-lived. A stone sword swung for his head
Having expected some kind of assault, he managed to dodge that at least. The sword hit the ground and John positioned himself a few steps back. The assant was a cloaked figure. Skeletal hands held onto the ck sword. A ck skull peeked out beneath the hood.
John kept his distance and stayed on the lookout for any other assants. ck bones rattled, as the golem began his attempt at another strike. Here goes nothing, he thought and cast Possession.
The Soldier Golem stopped with its hands raised high. Now they were Johns hands. He lowered them, just as two more Soldier Golems charged into the opening area of the school. Quickly, math ran through his head. Currently he had 290 Mana and regenerated 21 and paid 12, that meant he still had 9 Mana per Minute to spare.
Strategies opened up with his resources taken stock of. Either he could support his newly acquired frontliner, or he could use Possession to get the numbers advantage. He had already turned this from a 1vs3 into a 2vs2. Only problem was that he hadnt tested yet if he could Possess two objects at once. I need to do more testing and less fucking, he scolded himself and tried.
Okay, that was that n gone. No reason to despair though. He diminished his presence inside the Soldier Golem until he was just an influence on its target selection. The natural abilities of the creation did the rest and it met the charge of its kin.
Gnome! the Gamer reached out to his earth elemental and then turned her corporeal. The little girl in the yellow dress manifested right next to him. Her stature was unimpressive, but what he needed wasnt appearances, but results. Grab its leg!
Gnome obeyed with the sheepish neutrality of a being not quite intelligent enough to know what was at stake. Regardless, when the second enemy golem missed its swing at John, the earth elemental secured a hold on its skeletal leg. The golem attempted to set after John and instead mmed into the ground length-wise, the weight of the earthborn being too much to drag with it.
John pulled the Sword of Glory from his inventory. He had barely any experience with the weapon, but even he could hack apart an immobilized target. While he dispatched one enemy, another one joined the fight. Two overwhelmed his Possessed ally.
Whirling around after cleaving the head of the shackled Soldier Golem in two, John pointed a finger at the more intact of the two. Wololoooo, he made a wheezing sound and the newly Possessed golem swung for its formerrade. Possession only working one at a time wasnt a huge drawback if he could keep using them as sacrificial pawns.
Two golems wrestled with each other, until Gnome stomped over and pulverized the skull of the enemy one with a heavy drop of her foot. With that, the initialbat seemed done with. Which meant it was time to hurry up the stairs and check on how his girlfriend was faring.
Sending the golem ahead and keeping Gnome close as insurance, John advanced deeper into the building. More of the enemies were scattered about inside. Since he already had a working strategy and they supplied him with disposable bodies alongside the enemies, he only had to make sure he wasnt overwhelmed by numbers. The Soldier Golems had nothing in terms of actual cohesive tactics, which meant he was miles ahead of them by coordinating attacks between himself, the self in the golem, and Gnome.
Before long, he had pushed his way up to the roof. He carefully peeked out of the open door, not wanting to eat a load of lead. The Soldier Golem stepped out first.
Up there he found Rave in a melee fight with somebody who obviously didnt want to be in one. The person disengaged over and over again as Rave set after him or her. John wasnt able to tell. The person was wearing another one of the thick ck robes and had the hood pulled deep down, an unnatural shadow covering the face.
Smoke suddenly filled the air, emerging from the person. Over here! John shouted, and Rave dived into the cover of the staircase. The two of them expected to be assaulted with more gunshots, instead, John got a window.
They left the barrier together as soon as John dispatched thest golem and Gnome was incorporeal. All they found was the empty rooftop. However or wherever the person had left the Trap Barrier, they had done so in a manner that gave them the opportunity to hide.
That was weird. Rave said and walked over to him. What took you so long?
The building was filled to the brim with golems. Had to hack my way through those first, John told her. Surprised I pulled it off, honestly. Im halfway dead.
Raves eyes moved in search of his HP bar. Oh damn, you really are thats not good.
No, no its not, the Gamer responded and fixed the bullet holes in his uniform with Craft. Luckily, the projectile had punched straight through, or he would have had to worry about lead poisoning. Probably. He didnt know what Gamers Body did about things stuck in him.
All in all that wasnt the worst Rave looked down the chain link fence surrounding the rooftop. Guess were skipping today though.
Yeah. Call Travolta, we have to find out what this was about.
Chapter 71 – If only he knew
Chapter 71 C If only he knew
Travolta had told them to meet him in a few hours. Apparently he wanted to take care of some other business first. John wanted to get things out of the way, but he also doubted they would get attacked again. Trap Barriers, apparently, cost a lot of money and as long as they stayed away from public ces they frequented, they should be fine.
One option that John got (mostly) ruled out was his stalker.
Jeehan: Did you set up another abduction attempt on me?
SecretBlonde: Lol, no. Thanks for the free intel though. Also, I would have never tried the first time around if I had known what kind of cash you would attract even without getting you into some Mana Factory.
Jeehan: You mean that selling information about me is more profitable than selling ME?
SecretBlonde: No, I mean that it is less risky. Especially once I realized you were a Latebloomer. Look, Im already on your bad side, but I dont need you to get angry enough at me to be a vendetta target after you break out of the Mana Factory they stuff you in. Romulus is interested in you too. Im just here to make a quick buck, not to get into any bigshots sights.
SecretBlonde: Ill extract your profile for all it is worth and then disappear nice and quiet into the night and never bother you again. Ill be richer and Ill have done nothing to you that warrants tracking me around the globe. Doesnt that sound nice?
It didnt sound nice at all, but the logic was solid enough that John was certain that he/she/it wasnt to me for this one. Still a morally ck individual, ready to sell him or intel on him to anyone with enough cash, but their words lined up with their goals. As far as John knew.
With that lead gone cold, they went to the arcade.
To his surprise, John spotted Victoria at the table. There were a couple of knife cuts on her. Gaia closed wounds when leaving a barrier, but reopened them when entering one again. It wasnt a full restoration.
Travolta, on the other hand, looked fine. As fine as a giant man at the edge of an explosion could look. His expression was tense from barely held back anger. There you fucking are, he growled, repeatedly tapping the wood of the conference table with one of his thick fingers. Sit down!
Calm down, Baldy. Rave and John sat down. You getting all angry wont fix this.
Well see about that, Travolta growled. He raised a hand to his head and screamed. Everyone at the table halfway rose out of their seat. Fuck, one of them bashed me over the head terrible fucking headache, he told them. Ill deal with it in a bit fuck With bloodshot eyes, he looked back up. Each of us was attacked today, he returned to the topic at hand. I was returning from the hospital. They got me right up this street. Travolta gestured vaguely in the direction of the Protected Spaces entrance. You two were at school. John and Rave nodded. Where were you, Victoria?
The cemetery, she responded immediately.
Why? Travolta demanded to know.
I dont have to tell you. Thats the rules I agreed to.
Travolta flew out of his seat and brought his hand down on the table with such force that the opposite end of it rose almost two metres into the air. It came crashing back down with a loud noise. The solid wood remained intact, but the point had been made. Travolta stood at the end of the conference table, bowing fowards, teeth bared. There was something predatory in his behaviour.
This isnt a normal fucking situation, brat! Travolta shouted. You said you needed protection! That you wanted an in with the Bloodfallen! I have done as fucking much as I could for you! Answer C the C fucking C question!
All eyes rested on Victoria, who stared back at Travolta, green eyes hard and unmoving. I dont have to answer shit, she finally said and stood up.
You leave now, I better never fucking see your ass again, Travolta threatened.
Fine, Victoria agreed aggressively and headed out the door.
Rave sighed when she had left. Did ya have to alienate one of us? she asked.
She isnt one of us, Travolta hissed, holding his head again. Unlike your boyfriend over there, she never made the effort to get along with us. You get a lick of influence in the Abyss and the leeches starting. Fuck humans. Fuck her. I doubt that shes got nothing to do with this.
Travolta!
WHAT, RAVE?! You got a better idea? You think that bitch shows up on our doorstep, suddenly theres trouble and thats just a coincidence?! They stared at each other for a little bit, then Rave turned her head to him.
John hated what he had to say, Sorry, Jane already her expression changed from anger to that stunned look of betrayal, I have to agree with Travolta on this one.
What? Raves quiet voice dove a dagger through his heart. You think shes responsible for all of this?
I dont know if she is. I dont know if she has anything to do with Jimmie blowing up or these attacks, but shes not doing anything to clear her name. Shes definitely suspicious.
You two are stupid! Rave crossed her arms.
Who do you think is behind this then? Travolta challenged her. Come on, since youre so full of smart ideas.
Moira.
Travolta burst out intoughter and fell back into the chair. The Order is a bunch of zealous fucking holy water gurglers that deserve to get beaten up with a Bible. An oddly specific set of curses, John found. What theyre not, besides religious nuts, is deceitful. They hate how we do things, not what we do, and if they wanted us removed William would juste strutting in wearing his absurdly shining armour and crush us. Travolta shuddered. Fuck, this headache is killing me. He forced his hand back to the table.
Rave threw her hands into the air. I dont know C who else could it be? Are you seriously gonna distrust Victoria over this?
Yes. Travolta crossed his arms. Yes, I will distrust the person that never shows up. Yes, I will distrust the person that never tells anyone anything. Yes, I will distrust the person that is acting suspicious as all hell.
She got hurt too?
Doing what?! She never told us! Travolta returned. Way I see it, there are three possibilities. Either shes involved directly and is betraying us C if she didnt join just to arrange this C or shes the target of these attacks and not letting us know, or some third party is just stirring up shit and shes being a bitch about it. We might as well look into her.
Rave opened her mouth again, but John put a hand on her shoulder. He hated the way she looked at him when he shook his head. Hes right, Jane.
The open mouth turned into a thin line. You seriously annoy me right now, she said and left the table. Swift steps carried her towards the door.
Where are you going? Travolta demanded to know.
What?! she whirled around to shoot him a poisonous re. Ya gonna throw me out of the guild too? For a moment, she remained like that. When she went back to leaving, she mumbled, Ill be outside.
The door closed behind her with a bang. She is getting way too fucking emotional over this whole thing. Travolta grumbled and lit up a cigarette. His eyes were a little less bloodshot after a couple of puffs.
I cant really me her. John kept a look on the door. He would be lying if the thought that Victoria was guilty was pleasant to him. To trust her was something he wanted to do, for many reasons that werent logical. All of the Mental Stats he had raised let him look at this with rtive calm. Victoria behaved suspiciously. They had been attacked by a sniper. Those two factors alone were enough to make this a necessary investigation.
Well, whatever Travolta mumbled. Ill prepare myself for the next attack. Guess this meeting is adjourned... Therge man stood up and slowly walked towards the stairs. sorry about it, kid, but the miniature painting will have to wait you should check on your girl.
I know. John sighed. Travolta left him alone in the room and John sorted his thoughts. It was difficult to consider what to do next. They had never had a fight before. Not a real one anyway. He wished he would just agree with her but he didnt and he couldnt give in either. This was too important.
Rave waited outside, arms crossed. The pink lustre in her eyes was consolidated into a thin ring around the pupil. Her heel tapped the concrete of the walkway in a steady, urgent pattern.
Travolta closed the meeting. That was the best way John had to start with.
Okay, Rave acknowledged shortly. Her fingers tapped in the same beat as her heel.
Jane, listen, I-
What? You are going to stalk Victoria? She intervened immediately. I dont want to hear it. She fought with us didnt she? She even slept with us on a few asions, sure shes awkward and abrasive but she keeps hanging out with us She kicked a loose chunk of concrete into the nearby grass. Unbelievable.
None of those are good reasons to trust her C and you just think it''s Moira because you dislike her. John raised his voice a little bit. Her sticking to Victorias innocence was getting to him. It was one thing to stick to a point of view, another to just dismiss all other possibilities that didnt fit the narrative.
At the very least Moira is actually an enemy!
Well I dont know what Victoria is! John shouted back at her. For all I know she could be a spy, she never told us anything!
Oh great! You go and look into Victoria then, while I confront Moira! Rave was ready to go but John grabbed her by the wrist.
Wait, Jane, listen to me for a second! he demanded. Rave pulled her arm free but waited, her bitter expression only half turned towards him. One deep breath. I am going with you.
Rave looked at him with confusion, What, but you said
Yes, I know. I dont think that Moira has anything to do with this. Neither she nor the Golden Rose look the type. John rubbed his forehead. Thats what I think, okay? But I am willing to at least help you on this. You mean the world to me, Jane, I wont just let you storm off into danger alone. HOWEVER! He raised a finger. If it turns out you are wrong, we are looking into Victoria, understood?
Rave stood and stared, then suddenly raised both hands to her head and started messing with her hair. No matter how much she pulled or ruffled through, it remained as perfectly chaotic as ever. Urgh, this sucks. Why cant we still havest week?! shemented and threw her head back to shout in annoyance. Okay, whatevs, yes, Ja, okay, fuck it. She finally agreed. If Im right, you kiss my feet and buy me something fancy!
John smiled as their first fight found a somewhat happy ending. I can live with that. Lets go to my ce. Well find Moira around school tomorrow.
Chapter 72 – Taking the Edge off [Erotic Content]
Chapter 72 C Taking the Edge off [Erotic Content]
Were fucking, Rave eximed the moment they stepped into his home.
What? I mean, yes, okay, Im notining, but? John was silenced by his girlfriend pressing her lips on his. He got the signal to not ask any more questions and instead hugged Rave tightly. Contact with her still made him tingly all over. Pressing herself against him, arms slung around his neck and a leg rubbing against his dick - Rave knew exactly what she wanted from him right now and that she would get it.
Wee back, Master. Aclysia must have heard them and greeted them at the entrance with a bow. I have cleaned the apartment as per your wishes. Can I expect that
John and I are going to stay alone for now.
my services are required in the bedroom? I understand, in that case I will continue with my chores. Aclysia finished her initial question, then her response, and only then began to walk away. Please do call me if you change your mind.
You have such a needy servant. Rave yfullyined.
I also have a needy girlfriend, he whispered back, but I am just the guy for my situation. They kissed again. A short one this time, followed by Rave taking his hand and pulling him towards his own bedroom.
They passed the bathroom. Aclysia was in the process of stripping, the cosy outfit, her usual get-up, getting absorbed back into her and leaving her naked. She did not bother to close the door. John had the feeling that she left it open on purpose. Hot water running down her form was likely the least of the reasons why she was bing friends with the showerhead.
Needy indeed, John thought.
Once inside his room (which was clean to the point of absurdity, Aclysia be thanked) Rave pushed him onto the bed. You are getting rewarded. She purred. John grinned from ear to ear.
Oh, for what?
For showing some balls and not letting me storm off angrily. She wiggled her hips in a bit of a dance, as she pulled off her top.
And whats my reward?
Rave kicked away her pants, making him lick his lips instinctively. Mhm, let me see your dick and I can tell you.
Johns pants opened on their own. Almost autonomously, they wiggled down his legs, jumped off the bed and folded themselves neatly. Diddid you just use Possession to undress? Rave asked. John kept his stupid grin and instead of answering her question, Raves bra suddenly went freediving. His boxers were tossed aside.
Rave justughed and kneeled down between his legs, on the floor. A long lick up the underside of his cock was the first reward. Youve be so big, she flirted with his erection. Started kinda small, now youre what?
16 centimetres, he told her.
Hmm, thats pretty good, Rave hummed and wrapped her hand around the lower half of his cock. Definitely growing into a size queen with ya. Wonder how much bigger it can get before I wont be able to do this anymore.
She wrapped her glossy lips around the head and sucked. Her tongue swirled around in circles. A steady stream of precum pumped up the shaft. Rave tasted it greedily. She had gotten ever more debauched about this, as she got more used to the taste and his diet increasingly contained strawberries. After a few more seconds of stimting only the tip she slowly moved her head downwards.
Only past the halfway point did she run into difficulty. Deepthroats werent quite as regr as John would have loved them to be and even the training she had gotten so far didnt suffice to get all the way down all the time. She was getting better, but it wasnt quite that easy.
The apparent difficulty was why John loved her for going through the struggle. Slowly, only backing off a bit here and there, she took all of him inside. His cock glided into the slippery insides of her tight throat. The walls convulsed around him. Gag instincts told her to pull back, but she overcame them.
Rave looked up at him with her pretty blue eyes, teary as they got by forcing herself to remain down there for as long as possible. He groaned in bliss at the sensation. A hand brushed through her pink hair.
Even a superhuman needed to breathe eventually and Rave pulled back until she could take a few breaths through her nose. Only that far. She was careful that his dick never left her mouth. For a few minutes, she bobbed up and down only in thefortable area. Her tongue made up for the epassing warmth of her throat.
All the while, she was giving his sack gentle attention. It didnt do much for him on a sensation level, but the tender touch and intent he received eagerly. Suddenly, she took a deep breath and went all the way back down again. Lips to the base of his cock, she pulled back a bit, then went all the way back down, never letting him out of her throat no matter how much her eyelids fluttered.
Oh Fuck. John grit his teeth. Jane, I am so close. He pushed out and was rewarded with Rave shoving her face all the way down and remaining there. The only motions now were rhythmic gyrations, done with practically her entire body. The little movements in addition to the tightness pushed him over the edge quickly.
With a groan, he pinned her head to his crotch and came. Spurts of semen pumped straight into her stomach. Rush after rush of seed ran down her throat. Throughout it all, Rave kept sucking him in, her tongue pressing him against her palette and massaging the pulsing shaft. Ast strand of semen pushed out of his dick with force, before Rave finally pulled back. She pumped his softening dick a few times and licked the drop of cloudy liquid from the tip.
That was the first half of your reward. Rave licked her lips and stood up. She pulled down her panties. John couldnt help but notice the wet spot in the middle and grinned. Their rtionship was making her a bit more perverted, he noticed, and he was there for all of it. Think you can go for a second round?
John grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto the bed. Shended on the side and quickly rolled on all fours, facing him with her wonderful ass.
Just give me a moment to recharge. John said behind her. He spread apart her pretty pink lips with his thumbs, his hands on her firm backside. His tongue ran along the revealed moist walls of her pussy. He loved her sweet taste, he loved how good it made her feel and even more he loved the responses he got.
Oh yes! she shouted, followed by short, high-pitched moans. Her voice quivered with excitement as the thrill of pleasure rocked through her body. Quivers travelled up and down her body each time Johns skilled tongue connected with the sensitive spots inside her. JOHN! She screamed when the tip of his tongue suddenly swirled around her clit. Her hands dug into the cushion, I want to cum, yes John,e in. Push that tongue inside me. She begged.
He didnt deliver.
With a slightly devilish grin John pulled back. I thought this is my reward, he teased, as Rave looked back at him with a disapproving glint in her lustful eyes.
Dont ya grow cocky on me, John. She breathed heavily with need; wiggled her bubble butt in a tempting motion. I wanna have something a bit thicker than sass.
Mhm, I wonder. John aligned his cock with her pussy. Could you be referring to THIS? He pushed into her with a single thrust. That swift impalement pushed Rave over the edge. She threw her head back in a cascade of hair and screamed. How wonderful it was to have a house to themselves C and a loudly masturbating servant.
John put his hands around her hips, pulled his hips back, then drew her hips towards his crotch as he thrust forwards. Again and again and again he filled her hot, tight slit with his cock.
Squishy wet sounds joined loud moans. The vocalizations of lust were only interrupted after the orgasm had run its course and only byrgely failed attempts at forming words. Oh.for Aaaaaah!.... Her hands wed into the cushion and she screamed a few words into the mattress. Oh Johnyou.you.
What about me? John groaned as Raves orgasming snatch mped down on him so hard that only the ridiculous amount of lubricant the orgasm also provided made movement even possible. Am I fucking you silly? Do you want me to stop? He asked but he knew Rave better than to expect that sort of answer.
Noyou..mmhhmya dick..I just. Rave spasmed all over again as a second orgasm followed right after the first. Her spine arched down, emphasizing the roundness of her ass even further. Her arms gave in and then she was face down ass up in front of him. Her fingers dug into the sheets. OH YES! Her scream reverberated from the walls. I justOh Gaia, you are on point today. She finally got her message out. Fuck me just like that. deeper. harder!
John was happy to deliver on that request and fucked her as hard as he possibly could with how tight she was at the moment. So strong was the resistance he had to go through that he felt himself drifting closer to the point of no return each time his dick prated her all the way.
Rave whimpered and screamed in quick session, her body unable to handle what was probably her third orgasm in a row. At this point neither was John and he counted down for himself. Three strokes, that was all he could manage.
Once, he buried his dick inside her all the way. Raves body jumped and she squealed. Her body suddenly broke back into the bed as her arms gave in but she screamed and mped onto his dick nheless.
Twice, his hips met hers with a loud smack. The round ass under his hands jiggled, the soft flesh casting shadows where his fingers greedily dug in and interrupted the perfect spheres of her backside.
Thrice, he prated until he was balls deep and then he came for the second time. His seed coated her insides and filled her with an enormous load that swept all the way into her womb, painting everything white with his semen.
Every spurt was direly necessary. Bowed over her, pressed into her ass and her depths, he let the moment wash away all thoughts. Over and over again, he shot his seed into her quivering quim. She wasnt quite squirting today, but her turned face was dominated by a lewd grin regardless.
John did not get to leave the bed for several more hours.
Chapter 73 – The Accused
Chapter 73 C The used
Okay, where is that female dog? Rave eximed, ring at each of the leaving students as they passed them by. She and John waited at the gate. Inevitably, Moira would have to walk by them.
I dont think you should be throwing potential curses around just yet. John tried to calm down his disguised girlfriend.
In my head, she is guilty already!
Yes, but in your head Fairy Tail is also better than If The Emperor Had A Text-To-Speech Device.
Thats because that is so nerdy it transcends being nerdy and bes just in unattractive. Rave jabbed right back at him, I have alreadyplied with your request to not barge into her ssroom.
And I am very thankful for that. John sighed. He did not want to step into the school proper, in case the Trap Barrier had been reused. Rave was hell-bent on seeing this through. Oh well, the worst that cane of this is that the biggest organization in town puts us on their wanted listthat is not reassuring in the slightest, what the hell me?
His thoughts were, thankfully, interrupted when he saw her. Moira stuck out from the masses with her red hair. She wore it open, framing her attractive face and bringing out her green eyes. He hadnt seen much of her since he had made his choice, for reasons of mutual avoidance no doubt. Observe would help tell him where they stood at the moment.
And what he learned told him that she was a very unlikely suspect. Not that telling Rave that would have changed anything.
Moi-Moi, would youe here for a second. Raising her voice was all Rave needed to do to make the honour student adjust her course. From the moment he had spotted her, she had been staring back.
Rave no, I guess I should call you by your name Jane Hollmey, Moira returned the greeting in a frosty tone. What do you want?
You tried to kill us yesterday, didnt you? Rave returned a question, one that was as sudden as it was heavy.
While Moira was still busy blinking in confusion, John took a step in. Okay, Jane, take things slow. He wanted this situation to unfold as calmly as possible. If they were too aggressive about this, Moira would just storm off and he would be left with one extra-certain girlfriend and no answers.
Rave twisted her mouth into a displeased frown, but kept quiet for the moment. Taking the chance, John addressed Moira. Would you mind if we took this somewhere less public? A daring question surely but having a talk about the Abyss in broad daylight was awkward.
Sure, Moira reluctantly agreed.
Ten minutester, they sat on opposite benches inside a little park. The little breezes that would have kept them cool were gone, only the copied trees inside the Illusion Barrier made sure that they werent cooking in the summer sun.
This seems good enough, John stated and then exined the situation to the redhead. Here is the thing: Somebody tried to attack Collide, all of us, yesterday. I dont want to go and throw usations around but
BUT I think you did it, Rave interrupted him and crossed her arms with a daring expression.
Just you? Moira asked, Are you telling me that those friends of yours kept a cool head unlike you?
They are all too busy looking into other people, just tell me did ya do it or not?
I didnt. Moira stared at the techno lover with intensity, I have no reason to and neither does the Order. We are here to save people, not harm them, and starting a war with the Bloodfallen is outside our current interests. If we did, we wouldnt do it by attacking you. Youre not important enough. Which was exactly what John thought she would say.
Rave however still didnt seem convinced. Oh yeah? Are ya just going to deny that we have bad blood?
No. I dont like you, Jane. Moira said straight out, But I am not out to kill you and I would never put a grudge over my mission.
The two women stared at each other for a few moments then Rave said. I still dont believe you.
Moira audibly clenched her teeth. Why ask questions when you will not heed the answers given? Fine, lets do this your way and duke it out. Talking to you gives me a headache. Just like that negotiations had failed.
Now youre speaking mynguage. Rave jumped up from the bench, while Moira rose in a bit more dignified manner. They both seemed ready to throw down, but neither of them moved.
John wasnt particrly enthusiastic about how things were going but with Raves temperament maybe this had been the only way. A second please, letsy down some rules first. he stepped in. So first we make this one on one, okay? They both nodded.
Like I need your help to punch Moi-Moi in the face.
At least one of you has dignity.
John sighed, these two were pr opposites in most regards and that manifested in them being willing to tear each others heads off. Okay, and just so Jane gets her wish you will tell us everything you know in case you lose? he asked Moira.
Sure. She willingly epted, In case I win Jane will address me like a normal person in the future. No more of that Moi-Moi stuff.
So cute of you, but fine.
Okay, in that case, Moira get ready. You need your armour and weapons, right?
That is no problem. Moira grabbed a small medallion hanging from her neck. It detached from the chain without issue. A sh of lightter, the ever so radiant silver and gold shield was attached to her arm. The golden rose insignia faced John and Rave, while Moira did something behind the shield. A momentter, she produced a less radiant warhammer, holding it in one hand.
Neat he thought. Is there an inventory in her shield or how does that work? The question was left unanswered. John took a few steps aside. On my mark, he told them, once he was at a safe distance. Three C two C one C Fight!
Rave leapt forwards immediately, engulfed in the blue aura that boosted her physical abilities even beyond their already impressive Stats.
In the name of the Lady! Moira shouted and mmed her hammer into the ground. The swing resulted in a golden shockwave that threw Rave back. The techno lover tumbled through the air, then over the ground. Rapidly, she jumped to her feet. Still orienting herself, she was barely able to see the hammering for her shoulder. Twisting, the direct hit turned into a graze. Moira immediately followed up by kicking the feet away underneath her opponent.
Now on the ground, Rave rolled to the side before Moira was able to hit her with the edge of her shield. The technolover got on her feet again and rolled her left shoulder with a pained expression. Not bad, princess, she admitted and then threw a wave of blinding light at Moira.
The Warden was hit full-front by the attack. Rave tried to engage in meleebat again, but her opponent had other ns. Eyes narrowed, Moira raised her weapon to the sky, Lady, lend me your light! A wave of gentle, golden energy washed over the redheads body. Suddenly, she was able to see clearly again and her raised hammer came down on Rave mid swing.
Something odd happened. Raves body twisted near instantaneously, without her raising a single foot. The hammer flew by, leaving Moiras side wide open. She tried to pull her hammer back up, but Rave was faster. Her shin mmed into Moiras side.
For a moment, Rave seemed content with herself. The smile dropped a bit. Moira was not budging. With or without armour, the Warden was an immovable object. Not letting this mess with her flow, Rave backed off, escaping a retaliatory strike. Immediately she charged back in, shoving her hand in Moiras face. How about ya try my light?
An explosion of brightness and heat seared itself into Johns retina and consumed Moiras head for a sh. Hairs singed and certainly blinded, Moira stumbled back, incapable of dealing with the roundhouse kick that followed.
Moira was sent flying this time and Rave gave chase, ready to consolidate her victory. I ask you for your blessing, the Wardens mumble was inexplicably audible even where John stood. Her flight path corrected itself, the burning on her face healed over, and she fixed her eyes once more on Rave. Lady, smite my foe!
A torrent of golden light came down on Rave mid charge, mming her into the ground. The attack kept descending, slowing Rave too much for her to move out of the way, until Moira rammed her shield first. Rave barely kept on her feet, then the warhammer mmed into her ribs.
Rave let out a pained wheezing sound and fell to the floor. Not giving her any breathing room, Moira followed with a kick that sent Rave onto her back. Then the Wardens foot descended on Raves chest. Unable to roll away, Rave could only stare as the redhead brought the warhammer down one more time.
The attack stopped short of a protectiveyer of earth that arched over his girlfriends head. From the look of it, she would have stopped anyway and she did back off. Rave took in a pained breath, when the foot was off her. I thought you trusted me? Moira asked John, one eyebrow raised.
Trust is a strong word I just dont believe you are the type to go around murdering people, John rified and had Gnome undo the protection.
Do we have a winner? Moira asked.
Yeah yeah, Rave hissed, a hand on her, likely broken, rib. Two to zero for you, Moira. She physically cringed after saying the redheads actual name. If ya wanted me dead, ya wouldve done it there.
Combat is about the only thing that gets through that thick skull of yours, isnt it? Moiras warhammer vanished inside her shield, which then shrunk down to the medallion again. However, I will tell you what little I know despite winning. I dislike seeing ambushes of such nature.
Thank you. John said in earnest, What can you tell us?
As I said, very little. Travolta decided that you would hitch yourself to the Bloodfallen. Many guilds that made that mistake previously have dropped off the map. Those that didnt inevitably turn fiercely loyal to the guild. Unnaturally loyal, Moira rified.
That only happens cause it''s either you or them, Ravemented.
Then it should be dawning on you that you have made the wrong decision, Moira stated, looking at John as she said that. In the Abyss you have three choices. Follow justice, pay tribute to a tyrant, or be an individual of unparalleled might. You forsook justice and whatever you may be, you are not mighty now. Travolta will never be. He likely entered into this bond only for the elixir the Bloodfallen offer.
The Blood of Thana, John mumbled.
Moira shrugged, If you can put a name to it, you know more than I. Theyre very secretive of it. The Order knows little about the Bloodfallen at this time. I cannot aid you further either. The Lord-Protector has decreed our interactions with them be minimal at this time. She gave them a few moments for questions. I will be on my way if you ever see the wisdom of acting in the name of justice, seek me out again.
The redhead was gone a momentter, leaving John to help his girlfriend up. You fine? he asked.
Physically? Nothing Gaia wont fix. To prove that, the two of them left the barrier. Immediately she seemed a little chipper. Gotta stay out of barriers for a day, that ought to let it heal, she stated and rolled her shoulder. Mentally, Im beat. Pissed. Worst birthday ever.
I can belie- wait, its your birthday?! John hadnt heard of that. He hadnt asked either, but he would have thought she would have dropped some hints at least.
Yup, youre now dating a gal in her twenties. Hope you dont mind a cougar, Rave joked.
I dont have any present, he apologized.
Good, I dont celebrate anymore too many annoying moms telling me about all the things I didnt get done this year. She shook her head to chase the annoying memories away. But I guess Im taking a gift today theres a way I can get stronger.
Chapter 74 – Illuminare
Chapter 74 C Illuminare
They were not going where he expected. When Rave said she wanted to get stronger he had thought that there was a secret martial arts society or a cave filled with ancient spirits at the edge of town orwell some high-end fantasy thing. What he least expected and what he finally got was the most mundane of all answers: they were going to her house.
Rave turned the key and they stepped in. After a few steps, birthday crackers went off all around them. The air was filled with confetti and in the distance John heard a party horn. He could barely see anything. Only after the glitter started to gradually sink to the ground, could he make out the form of Regan Hollmey.
Dad Extraordinaire, Abyss Auction employee, Pun Master, 40k Tactics Genius, Raves father had many titles (many of them self-bestowed) he could decorate himself with. The ability to pull off a clown costume was not amongst them. This was partly because with his somewhat lean figure he justcked the body type to do it correctly but mostly because of his inability to choose one clothing style and stick with it.
Regan may have worn theplete make-up of a clown and a fitting red and yellow shirt with bright blue buttons. He may have had proper, oversized gloves and a green vest over all of that. He may have made himself a living monument of the headache one might get when looking at contrasting colours
but the adidas pants, socks and sandals did not put the clown look together.
He adjusted his red stic nose and said, Tadaaa! Just for your birthday I came back early!
Does he do that every year? John asked, thoroughly baffled.
Ja, since the divorce. Raves voice was loud enough that her dad could hear it. If there was any doubt she hated it, it was cleared out with that one sentence.
Come on, Jane. Regan came closer and attempted to hug his daughter, This is a day of fun and festivities so turn that frown upside OOOOMPH! Thatst sound was Regan getting punched in the stomach by his own flesh and blood. He flew back about two metres by the unexpected violence beforeing to a halt and rubbing the impact spot. On one hand I am very happy that my little girl can punch that hard, on the other I want to know what is going on?
I just had a very bad day. Rave pointed at her dad with a disapproving look, And we both know that I dont like celebrating this day.
Well, yes, because we never really got around to it, your mother and I. I thought that I should make amends this year, you know? Little girls should have the-
I am twenty now. She interrupted his defence. No more little girl stuff!
Regan seemed to shrink physically at that idea. I just thought that with all the stuff that has happenedtely and he mumbled.
Rave sighed and walked up to her tough old man. Slowly she dropped down next to him and put her arms around his chest. I appreciate the gesture dad but its really okay you dont need an excuse toe home early and ask for a hug.
John felt a little helpless just standing there and watching a forty year old man blink back tears. For the moment his existence was ignored and that was for the best. He didnt want to weigh in on it. Regans Adams apple bounced, as he swallowed and returned the embrace. Even in his ridiculous outfit, or maybe because of it, he looked like a proper father in that moment.
Eventually they separated and got up. I still insist on getting you a gift, he told her. Puffing out his chest, he tried to take on the appearance of the embodiment of fatherly love. In a deep, magnanimous voice he asked, What do you want, youngdy?
Illuminare.
The single word caused an immediate shift in the mood. From sombre, to gracious and now to serious, nothing was working out like Regan had nned, John reckoned. The Abyss Auction employee reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a handkerchief. After tossing the clown nose aside, he began to wipe away the make-up. Magic made the process swift. So, you knew, huh?
Found it by ident, Rave revealed.
John carefully interjected in the conversation, Ehm, might I ask what this is about? Illuminare sounded Latin and was probably the root word for illumination. It obviously had something to do with her light powers. Beyond that, he was lost.
You have an earth elemental, right, John? Regan asked. They hadnt kept it a secret from him, so it was more of a rhetorical question. Then you should be aware of the basics of elemental contracting?
The very basics, John responded and searched his mind for anything that mapped onto this situation. Sorry, but the book only outlined how to contract an earth elemental for people that have a weak Innate Ability or who develop a strong enough affinity to the element over their life.
Lets go from there then: how do you think people with a strong Innate Ability handle contracting? Regan asked.
Id assume its just easier? John asked.
Nah, people with strong Innate Abilities have elementalse to them. Illuminare is the product of a ritual that extracts some of the magical essence from a young person so they dont attract elementals all the time.
If thats not done, Regan picked up from his daughter. A young person might be harassed into making a contract wherever elementals can slip through the veil. This is doubly annoying because there are advantages to never making a contract at all. To keep ones strength in one person or to divide it in two halves, greater than the sum but weaker individually.
What happens if that substance is lost? John asked.
Just need rigorous training to restore it. In the end, it fills a vacuum in the energy of the person that can be filled by hard work as well. Regan turned back to his daughter. Are you certain you want this? Your mother he stopped himself and shook his head, if I tell you what your mother would want, youll just do the opposite, wont you?
Whaaaat, nooooo, Rave sarcastically drawled.
Regan sighed, Truth be told, Id prefer if we waited at least another year, but with how things are going recently, you probably should have ess to all youre capable of Gesturing for them to follow them, Regan walked down the stairs.
Another question: why are we doing this now? he asked, not sure if he should mention Raves brawl with Moira in front of her father.
Cause I thought Id be fine without it and I was wrong and maybe because I knew you were right about Moira at least, Rave let out a long sigh. There was never a chance shed try to cave my head in.
The Order messed with you? Regan asked in a dark tone. Do I need to remind them of their dependencies?
Daaaaad, I dont wanna have your name hang over my head like some kind of protective charm.
That protective charm is not my name, it is the reach of the Abyss Auction.
Whatevs, nothing happened. If anything, I messed with her.
They arrived in the part of the basement that was dedicated to Regans workshop. They would have been painting figurines today, if it hadnt been for recent happenings. The ss case that held Regans numerous armies was also their target.
Surprised you found this, he admitted, as he took out a particrlyrge figure. Turning it around, he unscrewed part of the base and revealed a hiddenpartment. In it was a vial, filled to the brim with golden, luminescent fluid. I hid it here because I reckoned you would never check on it.
Rave dyed her answer until she received the vial. I did yoga down here one day and I identally toppled over the shelf and a bunch of your figurines broke and I just glued them with hot glue, okay bye, she rattled off and darted towards the stairs.
WHAT!? Regan immediately turned and went on an inspection. MY CHAPLAIN JANE! JANE THIS WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES! John decided to follow his girlfriend while Regan was still busy checking all of the figurines he evidently never got to use in battles C which appeared to be most of them. NOT MY BAAAANEBLAAAAAAAAAAADE!
John almost toppled overughing when he heard that particr outcry. I have stage 3 meme damage, he thought. Rave held the door to her room open for him and closed it once he was inside. He fell onto the regr beanbag, as if he had just returned from some kind of heist. What now? he asked.
Now I drink this stuff and hopefully something good happens, Rave answered. She reached up and erected an Illusion Barrier. Ouch yeah, thats the price of stupidity right there. Putting soft pressure on her ribs, she jumped.
You sure thatll heal overnight? Should you maybe order a health potion or something?
I know youre on fantasy game brain, but health potions are barely a thing, Rave said. Alchemy sucks in the Abyss. Most people just get stuff enchanted. Its cheaper, more reliable, and permanent. Should really be fine if I just stay out of Illusion Barriers overnight. Gaia aint a charity, but she aint cruel either. Plus, Im a sturdy gal. Now, with a plop, she removed the stic seal on the vial. Here goes nothing.
The liquid poured into her mouth quicker than gravity suggested. Then it seeped into her very being. It truly did look like a part of her essence was doing its best to return to her. Then, from one moment to the next, the room was filled with blinding light and hundreds of voices.
PICK ME PICK ME! They said. They being little hyperactive elementals, the size and form of lightbulbs, jumping around the room. YEAH PICK ME! One of them said in its squeaky little voice and jumped on Raves shoulder. I AM-
ENOUGH! That was a considerably deeper, male voice. The little elementals ceased their movements.
Johns eyes slowly got used to the light and now he was able to make out more and more of the elementals. They came in all shapes and sizes, the little lightbulb ones, walking candlefires, human and inhuman body shapes. John could have sworn he saw Lyra the Sunshard in there, as a religious Miracle Rogue yer that card made him envious of priests.
The elemental that had spoken stepped forth. He was absolutely not what John expected when he thought of a light elemental. The fantasy invoked was radiant and beautiful like the sun on a mid-spring noon. What he saw was surely radiant. Radiant, bulging muscles on a two-metre-tall bald dude made entirely out of golden light that glowed softly as he flexed his impressive biceps. MHM! Lets not make this beautiful flowerMHM! He flexed again, this time with both arms, Waste her time. Every elemental that thinks it canMHM! He turned and flexed his back muscles, take ME on can stay, the rest scramMHM! MHM! MHM! He continued his flexing as one Elemental after the other left.
Lyra the Sunshard was not amongst the three that stayed. One was the bald man elemental, next one was a woman of cool beauty, pale as the moon. She wore a thin, dark blue dress that barely veiled her subtle curves. Last was what John could only describe as a cat made from sunlight, of golden fur with ever shifting copper stripes.
I said only elementals of my strength or higher should stay, cat! The bald one said. The cat didnt answer, instead licking its left paw. I said!
You are out! Rave said and pointed at the bald elemental.
What? But dearest Lightbearer, I am of great use inbat, I can protect you and aid you in your battles with my muscles of PURE LIGHT! Puffing his chest out, he let the light of his pectorals shine everywhere.
I dont care, youre rude to cats! Rave decided and repeated, You are out!
But
OUT! The muscly elemental let its giant shoulders hang and dematerialized with a sad sigh.
That left the moonlight woman and the cat. John knew exactly what he would choose. The moonlight woman may not have the most impressive figure but there was grace in the slenderness. Plus, she smiled in a way that made his skin prickle whenever she looked at him. This wasnt his decision though.
So, what would you do? Rave asked the moonlight woman.
I would aid you from a distance, blind your enemies and protect you with shields of the moons light, she answered and bowed. It would be an honour to help you, Lightbearer.
Rave looked at the catst. And you?
The cat scratched itself behind its ear and yawned silently before answering. I will give you the power to fend for yourself, The cat spoke like it had already won the contest in a voice that was at the same time charismatic and slightly annoying. Its silver eyes blinked slowly, You look capable so I will just give you a boost while I run around the world.
That actually sounded a lot like what he expected of a cat. Okay, you win. Rave said to the cat. It looked very unimpressed.
Just like that? John asked, baffled, Arent you going to min-max the gains and see what you need or how exactly he is going to give you power?
Nope. Rave kneeled down and hushed away the moonlight woman who vanished with a scorned expression.
Indeed, a wise choice, my name is Copernicus and IN THE NAME OF THE CELESTIAL DEVOURER WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
Rave picked the sun cat up and rubbed the sunny fur against her face. Man, youre soft. This is great.
You are right, wow, it is like I am touching a mixture of a heated cushion and.I dont know something REALLY soft, John marvelled.
Unhand me at once, Lightbearer! The cat continued its struggle, Maybe this wasnt such a good idea after all.
Well, youre in it now, I already got your name. I am Jane Hollmey by the way so this contract is sealed.
There was something in the air that shifted after she spoke those words. He couldnt describe it but something about the world as a whole and Rave as a person felt slightly different than before. There was also a visible change in Copernicus. His cat form suddenly vaporized and became a streak of light that wrapped itself around Raves wrist as a copper essory that depicted the sr system.
Hey, change back. What do ya mean you dont feel like cuddles right now?! As your owner, I demand that. Summoner, owner, potato, potato, now get out here so I can cuddle you! Rave argued with her new wristband. Copernicus likely answered through their mental connection.
Huh, Gnome doesnt change into an item, he thought. A look into his menu revealed Copernicus name underneath Raves in the same way Aclysias was under his. Well, if the group menu had changed, what about Raves Stats?
Bullshit. He said.
What? asked Rave.
Chapter 75 – An explanation later
Chapter 75 C An exnationter
Well, I need to get stronger without you in some way, dont I? Rave asked as they were sitting around her room. Copernicus was fervently refusing toe out right now so Rave had eventually given up.
Yeah but that jump is stupid high.
Aaaand?
And that is bullshit.
Hey, I needed twenty years to get to this point. If you grind non-stop for a week you reach this level. Now tell me whose ability is bullshit again? Rave confronted him and John had no other choice but to sigh and agree to that. In other news, I was wrong about Moira, Rave repeated her earlier admission. So what is our n now?
Now we look into Victoria. how about we call Travolta and see if he found out anything? John suggested. With some reluctance but now thoroughly without arguments, Rave pulled out her phone, put it on speaker and called Travolta.
What? The annoyed voice of the guild leader echoed from the phone.
Hey, Travy, its me, Rave.
I know, I can fucking read, came the disgruntled answer. The hell do you want? There was a sound in the background like something that was rotating with tremendous speed.
Well, I wanted to apologize for yesterday and...
Wait, yesterday? Dont you mean today? Travolta probed, his voice seemed slightly panicked, No, the meeting was yesterday.
Shit really? Where did the time go I dont remember sleeping whatever, make this short, I need to be somewhere Hurry!
So, we found out Moira is innocent.
Shocker. What else?! Was the quick answer to that. John looked at the phone with a raised eyebrow. Sure, Travolta wasnt the nicest person around but he usually was controlled angry, now he sounded just straight up angry and panicked. He had been acting weirdly yesterday too. The rotating sound in the background stopped and was reced by the sound of ss cking against ss. What- Else?! Travolta repeated.
Rave exchanged a nce with John, she also sensed something was off.
Well, well look into Victoria next. John said, Just wanted to ask if you got any leads.
No, I have been busy securing the arcade dont want any fucking people, he practically spat the word out, in here. That includes you. Stay out for the time being and look after Jimmie for me.
Before either of them could ask about the why, Travolta ended the call. Thatwowjust a second please. Rave said and called him again. He didnt pick up. Motherfucker! She cursed loudly, causing John to jump. Mad Rave was not a nice Rave to be around. Urgh, now I want to punch something really hard. She murmured and threw herself on the bed.
John looked at the time. It was close to 15 oclock. There still was time to farm a bit. He felt however like he was forgetting something.
Dud du duuu C whoop whoop C dud du duuu. He heard a bad imitation of the Skype call noise in his head. The voice was almost emotionless, with a hint of pride. The guess wasnt hard.
What the hell Aclysia?
I read today that just suddenly talking to someone is rude, Master, so I searched for what is called ringtones. Does it not please you, Master?
John thoughtfully wiggled with his head, I wouldnt say that but you identally picked one of the three most annoying sounds I can think of. We should find something else in the future. Just a simple greeting would work.
Understood. The reason why I call then: I have been informed that dinner should be ready at 15:00 but with neither you or Mistress Rave returning yet I am worried that the food will get cold before you arrive. Shall I postpone the cooking?
There was what he forgot, You are a treasure Aclysia! He thought and got some happy humming back. The answer is yes. Can you hold for a second.
Affirmative.
Jane, how does punching monsters and then fucking the rest of your anger out in a threesome sound as afternoon ns? he asked. In response Rave shot up out of her lying position. Had they still been in the Illusion Barrier, she would have hated herself for that.
But we punch something that isnt made of wood for a change. She demanded.
Can do. John smiled. Then he remembered, but can you do it with the injury?
Should be fixed enough by the time were set up that it wont bother me. Abyssals really were something different. Take a hammer to the ribcage? Just rest outside of Illusion Barriers for a few hours and it would be fine. Anyway, sign me up!
Okay, Aclysia forget about cooking for now. I need you to take some money out of the household purse and use it to ride a bus to our usual hunting ground. Can you do that?
I have the route memorized, Master, came the response. I do, however, feel ufortable about using the money designated for the household for my own transportation.
Dont worry about it, I will put new money inter, John eased her worries.
I understand, in that case I will wait for you at the bus station closest to the designated target. Aclysia said.
Very good, see you in a bit.
Click, She thought out loud and John giggled.
Okay, so Aclysia will await us at the forest. He informed his girlfriend and they got moving. It was great to not watch over Aclysia all the time. During thest week, he had the idea to just let her run the errands of grocery shopping and do the chores so that she wouldnt spend all her day doing nothing (or worse: On reddit).
The first time he did that it was catastrophic. Aclysia had been molested, screamed at, cursed at and somebody even tried to hire her as a hooker (or escort as they called it). He had been monitoring the whole ordeal from start to finish. The second time around he made sure that he raised Aclysias Charisma to 10 first. Now people only stared at her when she went out because she was stunning, not because her way of speaking grated the uninitiated and she misread most social cues. Since then there had been no problems (although the escort offers continued).
Besides that she kept the apartment clean. So clean that he was afraid his mother would be suspicious when she returned. The same problem didnt apply to the money, luckily. He just put that into his inventory and only left 20$ in the envelope to make it seem like he had spent it responsibly. Truth was that their allowance was a pittancepared to the wealth grinding had gotten him. It was odd to know he had more liquid cash than his parents.
Oh crap! I wanted to look into mana items from the Auction! he suddenly blurted out as they arrived at their destination.
Littlete for that now. Rave said and nudged him out of the bus, Well, okay, ya could actually still buy stuff but the extra you would have to pay to order it here would be massive.
Why though? They have flying drones, I dont believe that it would cost them that much more.
It wont cost THEM more but they know that ya would generally pay more for deliveries in the middle of nowhere. Rave exined.
John sighed as economics lessons sprung back into his head, Yeah, yeah, supply and demand are the factors of the price.
They headed over to Aclysia who was standing next to the bus sign, in the exact middle of a stone b and perfectly still like a statue with hands folded in front of her waistline. She only reacted once John stepped up to her.
Greetings, John, she said, with that typical bow. She was still an odd one and still robotic around the edges, but the Gamer would have been lying if he said he wasnt developing genuine feelings for her. Fifteen steps towards the forest and Aclysia asked, Are we farming Treants again today?
No well have to figure out which one, John responded.
Chapter 76 – Giant Rats
Chapter 76 C Giant Rats
Lets see our options, John opened up the Monster List.
So I still cant get past the Gap, he informed her.
Already knew that. What else is there in that Tier 3 category? Rave asked and jumped on his back. She peeked over his shoulder and stared intently into the air, like that would somehow make the window visible to her as well. In the meantime, John was struggling to keep his bnce. Ya need to level your strength up a bit. Rave whispered into his ear. The sudden boner he got from that and her body pressing against him wasnt helping his stabilizing efforts. I want to be carried like a princess!
Well, maybe you should act like one then! John mocked as he finally found a steady stand.
Ruuude! Raveughed and rested her chin on his shoulder. Now out with it.
Well aside from Treants, Tier 3 also contains Giant Rats and Half-Orcs. John read off the list.
Half-Orcs, huh. I wonder if they are Half-Orc and Half-Human or something else?
Well, as before that in Tier 2 there is the Hobgoblin I would guess that they are the other half, John reasoned.
Eh, we wont find out today. I want the rats, Rave decided.
Why is that? John was curious.
Because I just got a cute little Kitty. Rave grinned. What better target than Rats?
He couldnt argue with that so he created the instant dungeon (after Rave got off his back). The change was immediate. Like disgustingly so. The other two dungeons had some wind-up or spawn time involved but the rats were right there and the creatures were aggressive.
A swarm of bodies stormed at the trio without a moment of hesitation. ck fur covered their sleek forms, each as long as Johns legs and skinny to the point of malnourishment. Sharp little ws scratched over the branch-covered forest floor as they skittered around like oversized shadows, dragging their long, dark-red tails after them like rotting guts.
Of course, these werent particrly intimidating, all things considered. I got this! Rave said with a smirk. The copper wristband lit up and Copernicus jumped to the ground. He hissed at the Giant Rats which, intimidated, stopped in their assault. Instead, they formed a giant ring around the group. Come to think of it, John hadnt looked at the sun cat itself yet with his Skill.
Wow! He was amazed. Those were some impressive Stats and Levels. Interesting that he still had Libido though. Apparently even some elementals had a sexual drive. He wasnt sure, and did not care to find out, how that manifested with a cat. Good to know for the future of anything else he might contract though.
So, Jane. Copernicus said and turned to his summoner, as I said: I am not particrly interested in fighting. You have fun with this. Out of the cats golden fur sprang two waves of light that wrapped themselves around Raves legs below the calves. There you go. I will hang out on that tree over there until you are done. Copernicus jumped over the mass of rats still held back by his presence with a single jump and then climbed a tree. Once he had found a branchfortable enough toy down on, he did so. From there he looked down, tail dangling and cleaned his paws.
What does that even do though? John asked but was quickly reminded that this wasnt the time to ask questions. The Giant Rats, emboldened by the apparent retreat of their natural enemy, started squeaking aggressively.
Who cares, lets just punch them! Rave shouted and jumped into the fray. John thought that was unwise. However high ones level was, jumping into a pile of gnawing teeth seemed like a very bad idea.
Ravended and the bands of light on her feet sent out ripples of Light that pushed back the opportunistic jumpers much the same way Moira had pushed back Rave with her shockwaves. Rave swinging her left leg in a direct kick revealed however that these shockwaves werent that one-note. Once her foot mmed into an enemy, the trail of the attackshed out as a band of gold, pushing several lunging rats back before they could exploit the opening.
So, its some kind of afterimage attack? John theorized as he watched her go. The assumption grew in validity with each attack. Every kick and every stomp created a gold-copper shockwave, moving like a disturbed water surface. The strength of each individual ripple seemed to depend on how much energy Rave expended between raising her foot off the ground and connecting with something, be it an enemy or the ground.
When she connected with a target the ripple started along the path that her leg, more exactly the golden addition to her calves, had taken and then spread like a wave away from Raves position. If she connected with the ground instead, it just sent out a ring-shaped ripple over the ground.
It was an artful disy, now that Rave was fully engaged in the swing of things. She punched and kicked, thetter always filling the battlefield with fresh light. New ripples chased after older ones, all dissipating into golden particles after a few metres. It reminded John a lot of a motion game, just in reverse.
Master! Aclysias voice pulled him back into reality. The Artificial Spirit necked a Giant Rat that had been leaping at him.
Whoops, gotcent there for a moment. John apologized, Thank you, Aclysia.
I do enjoy engaging my prime directive, she answered with a slight smile. It stemmed from being praised, but when she broke the Rats neck between her fingers, the smile took a slightly different form for a second. A sharp, broad form that John could not quite ce. It vanished alongside the corpse. Left behind was only a $5 bill.
Okay, so you take this. John handed her the Sword of Glory. Next, he triggered Gnomes materialization and finally used Possession on a nearby tree. All of which cost him abined amount of 17 Mana per Minute. He still wanted more mana. He always needed more mana. Aclysia, you attack them but stay close enough toe to my aid. Gnome you protect me, with your powers if need be. Have at it! John dered his strategy and the tree he possessed bent over.
Thick branches swiped away Rats like the oversized pests that they were. How effective that strategy was at killing them John didnt know but he guessed fairly that sending dozens of rats flying was bound to inflict at least some damage.
Rave remained the centre and origin of a storm of light. The difference between before and after the contract was evident in her reaction speed and in how far her punches catapulted the rats away before they dissolved into ash and dust.
It was a very one-sided battle but the rats just kepting. Aggressive little monsters that they were, they stormed into their own demise with only the thought of food in their pitch-ck eyes. Aclysia, to the left of John, pushed them back with rtive ease herself. She swung the Sword of Glory in wide attacks that always killed at least one of the attackers, while denying others the chance to pass and assault John. In front of him, Rave held the field. To his right, Gnome had erected a wall (using his mana of course) with the only opening being where she stood. The rats had no choice but to try to go through her and she shoved them back dispassionately.
Well, actually he should Observe Gnome as well while she was still corporeal.
Her Strength continued to impress. Pretty much what he expected from an earth elemental C slow but sturdy and powerful. Those rats really die in droves though John thought as he whipped away another swarm with his tree body as his actual body yawned, Boss Spawn shouldnt take long at all.
And there he was. The instant the window opened, the rats suddenly stopped. They raised their heads into the air, sniffed a couple of times, then streamed back into the forest. For a moment there was silence, then the reverberation of massive steps filled the air. The source did not remain unseen for long.
John spotted a giant humanoid waltz towards them. It was at least five metres tall and had grey fur. Its arms were long, its legs rtively short, giving it a gori-esque stature. Both arms ended in wed rat feet like extremities. It turned its rodent head at the group and let loose a deep warcry, revealing its teeth that reminded John more of a shark than a rat.
No epics? Disappointing. Okay, sodo we even need a strategy for this? John asked but Rave was already on the move. She jumped up to the Rat Ogres face and delivered a mid-air roundhouse kick. The Rat Ogre stayed on its feet, which, as it turned out, was exactly what Rave wanted. The Lightbearer used its face as a tform to jump at the branch where Copernicus was sitting. Let me cuddle ya!
Copernicus, not having expected that at all, was suddenly ripped from his lying position by Raves fondling hands. John found the whole scene amusing but it also left him to deal with a giant Rat Ogre while his girlfriend was busy patting her elemental. Luckily, he did not have to deal with such things himself. The perks of being a summoner.
The Rat Ogre reared its head, unsure what to attack next. When it lurched forward towards the trio, Gnome sucked away half of Johns mana. The giants feet sunk into holes where treadable ground was a moment ago. Before it could lift itself out, the pits quickly refilled, cementing him in the ground.
Well, lets see if you run out of life before I run out of mana, John said and pointed his palm at the creature. The first wind-up time saw the beast struggling and screaming as he tried to free his stubby legs from their prison. Gnome had done good work and the dirt she moved was indirectly infused with her power. It wouldnt have been quite as impressive if it was just regr old dirt.
The Rat Ogre failed to free itself and so the first beam hit it directly in the chest. Fur burned away under the impressive strength of the attack. The Rat Ogre seemingly didnt care, painless as it was, but still thrashed as it felt its time running out. The second wind-up began and three secondster the Rat Ogre was struck in the chest by the second Mana Ray. This didnt kill it but the creature was barely even struggling against its binding anymore.
Actually ousted my mana. Aclysia, finish him off, please, John instructed.
Affirmative. Aclysia stepped forward and delivered a plunge straight to where the two Mana Rays had already exposed the monsters rib cage. The one stab was all it took for the creature to fall for good.
Jane, I thought you wanted a fight! John shouted across the forest.
I decided cuddles are more important! she shouted back.
Chapter 77 – Loot and Deals
Chapter 77 C Loot and Deals
John got another wonderful injection of cash, 30000 USD in onerge package and a bunch of $5 bills scattered about the ce. Beyond that, there were a few other drops.
5x
4x
1x
And finally
1x
Potentially the worst loot I ever got. John decided as he threw all of that into his inventory. I didnt even get a level up.
Well, your excessive levelling had to stop at one point or another, Rave teased, as she walked over with Copernicus. The elemental was lying in her left arm, belly up and purring as she ruffled his fur.
I thought you disliked getting pet? John asked, despite knowing better thanks to Observe.
There is a time and ce for everything, Copernicus responded. And right now I feel like enjoying a well-earned petting.
As do I actually, Rave said with a wink. Wanna get out of here and get to thest part of the days program?
No question about that. Absolutely! he said and they went on their way. Copernicus transformed back into the wristband when they left the barrier. Already mentally at home, Rave nestled on Johns side as the bus passed through the streets. Aclysia sat a row in front of them, continuously scanning their surroundings.
John liked this serene scene. Nothing exploding, nothing threatening him, just a moment of tranquillity.
All of it was a farce. The difficulties didnt disappear. They werent truly safe while they had no idea who had attacked them or why. So, about Victoria... John probed carefully. The reaction was between what he feared and what he hoped as Rave sighed and inched a bit away from him, the familiar warmth at his side disappearing.
Okay, lets gather what we know. She mumbled, Whaddya got?
John was just happy she wasnt angry or using him of being heartless or something worse. Well, she stated that she was attacked at the cemetery so checking that ce out might be a start. It wont do anything for us if it was a lie, but even verifying that would be worth something. John listed his first guess, Otherwise we have few leads, I think. I mean who else could we ask that. He stopped himself as he had an idea.
Rave must have had the same idea as she put her hand on his to stop him. Dont, she urged.
Well, you have a better idea? John asked
That cemetery sounds at least promising, she sounded pleading, You can still ask if we dont find anything there.
I think we wont get what we want if we ask 2 minutes in advance, he argued. Lets assume the worst case scenario and that Victoria was the sniper on the roof, the cemetery would be nothing more than a trap and I doubt they, whoever they are, will underestimate us that much the second time around.
Rave retracted her hand and crossed her arms instead. Fine. She gave in with a defiant tone that sounded like she was entirely not fine with the idea, But ya better ask first what he wants in return.
Hey, I like to be safe too, you know? John assured her and dared to tickle her open side.
Wha-hahaha-t are ya-ha- doing?! She asked whileughing.
Getting rid of that grumpy mood of yours. Herughter made him grin.
Rave swatted aside his hands and pulled him into a kiss instead. The world froze for a moment as everything that seemed important took a step back for them. Only each other, that was everything that counted in that moment. Then a bump in the road pulled them back.
Do what ya have to do then. Rave whispered and let him pull out his smartphone.
Jeehan: Hello?
SecretBlonde: Oh, so you WERE referring to me right now. I was wondering about that. So, I assume you want me to look into Victoria Beloozero for you?
John looked around the bus. How did they do this? What kind of spying magic did they have ess to?
Jeehan: Sounds like you already did.
SecretBlonde: A private endeavour that could quickly be yours to feast your eyes upon.
Jeehan: And what do you want in return?
SecretBlonde: You tell me exactly what Aclysia is. You tell me if the rumours about your Observe ability are true. You pay me 50 Grand.
Those are some pretty hefty demands. Rave mumbled.
Yes and it confirms already that Victoria is dirty in some way, Jane. John answered.
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, How sooh She recognized what he meant when she read over the text a second time. There could only be rumours about Observe if somebody had leaked the intel. Yesit''s either her, Baldy or Jimmie. Rave mumbled, And of the three she is definitely the most suspicious.
Well, betterte than never. John thought as he heard those words, Still, confirming it is.
SecretBlonde: You just did, LOL. Man, you really need to not be that easily manipted. Just by writing this I got you to talk about that ability of yours.
John gave the environment another scan. There had to be some clue
SecretBlonde: Dont bother, I am not so easy to find. I am a professional. As a token of how much money you make me, how about I let this count as that condition of the payment being paid already instead of making up a new one? See what a nice guy I am :D
Jeehan: More like a maniptive dickwad.
SecretBlonde: Man, you are so mean :P Still, do we have a contract?
Jeehan: Sure. How do we do this?
SecretBlonde: Just write me a mail with the wanted information as a message over the auction and attach the designated sum. I will send you the information you desire within 16 hours afterwards.
John did as SecretBlonde desired with reluctance. Guy just outsmarted me, I feel stupid.
Tell me about it, if I hadnt asked, that wouldnt have happened. Rave clicked her tongue, I am angrier at the fucker spying on us all the time than I am about blurting that out though. John just nodded as he clicked the send button.
SecretBlonde: Beautiful, you will hear from me tomorrow~
Now I have to fuck away some frustrations too. John mumbled and got tickled in response. Wh-ha-hat?
Revenge is best served cold! Rave dered and a momentter they kissed again.
Chapter 78 – Another Evening, Another Threesome [Erotic Content]
Chapter 78 C Another Evening, Another Threesome [Erotic Content]
The bed creaked, after John and Rave fell onto it. Already, they were wildly making out. Tongues were intertwined, lips smacked, joined and parted rapidly as the gasps of growing desires rose.
John pushed his hands under his girlfriends clothes. They travelled upwards at a greedy pace, pushing up the fabric until he arrived at her little breasts. With a quick and well-practiced movement, he unhooked her bra and tossed it to the side before finally breaking the kiss to push her whole top over her head. Rave willingly let it happen and threw the top away just as carelessly.
John immediately descended on her bare breasts. Cupping them in his hands, he sucked on her left nipple. His tongue teased the are, until the nipples were erect enough to give them little flicks. Rave moaned deeply in response. Man, that youre not getting a skill for nipple teasing makes me sad, she giggled and John smiled up at her in response.
Oh? I could always use another one of my Skills.
I am very much for the idea. A wink underlined her sultry tone. Why dont ya try and have a look at what my body wants?
He kissed her nipple another time and then started travelling down with his mouth. Along the soft curve of her chest, down her athletic stomach, around her little belly button only to finally arrive at her buttoned jeans. He opened the button, pulled open the zipper and then the pants off her, the panties in tow.
It seems like you are more than willing, John hummed, as he kissed the inside of her smooth legs. Every peck brought him closer to her glistening crotch. Her pink lips were already wet with juices. Their daily debaucheries were building habits. One of them was that she got wet quickly and easily the moment they were through the door. A manifestation of his repeated sesses, John liked to think.
His tongue dipped into the tight folds and Rave softly writhed underneath as his nimble tongue parted her womanhood.
Cant lie with the lower lips, Rave joked between soft moans. Her hands reached down and urged her boyfriend to use his tongue deeper inside her, parting his dark hair with her slender fingers. Her writhing became more pronounced with every moment.
Rave looked over to the side of the bed. Aclysia had followed them through the open door and was now down picking up Raves clothes, putting them into a neat pile. With nothing else to do, she stood there and watched.
Get his pants off. Rave instructed with a horny grin. Aclysia happily nodded and undid the Gamers belt. John himself concentrated on Raves quivering quim in front of him, only shifting as much as he needed for Aclysia to get rid of his pants. Without a need for further instruction, the Artificial Guardian positioned her head underneath his crotch and wrapped her lips around his member.
Aclysia had been schooled thoroughly on what her Master liked, since her sexual awakening. Taking him all the way into her throat was natural to her C proper even. With no gag reflex nor need to breathe, enveloping him entirely with her throat was a simple task. Even if his cock was now in the slightly above average category, the maid stuffed it down her throat and remained that way, only moving slightly up and down to add to the stimtion.
Through the mental connection, John could track her growing desire. She wanted to bury her fingers in her needy crotch, while she served him. The dress needed to go. The material was swiftly pulled back into her body, leaving her naked. One finger, then a second, Aclysia pushed into herself. Even as the lust began to fill her mind with a haze, she remained primed for his next order. Obedience was the virtue of a self-dered maid, after all.
Mhm, Master is inside me, the blissful thought reached him, His long, hard dick fills my throat as I touch this pussy he gave me. It feels so good. It would feel so much better if he was the one touching me. If it was his cock parting my lower lips instead. Had he not still been busy eating out his girlfriend, John would have smirked.
Do you want me to fuck you? John asked over the mental connection, already knowing the answer.
Aclysias mouth retracted from his dick. The form-fitting sleeve of her mouth was immediately missed by John, but he knew what came next and was willing to make the sacrifice of momentary dissatisfaction.
The Artificial Guardian climbed over Rave. His Girlfriend was surprised by this move. Spurred on by John, Aclysia pressed her mouth on Raves. His n unfolded as, unprepared as she was, Rave let go of his head to instead frame the face of her fellow woman. The sapphic kiss was one of passion and gave John the time to reposition himself. Two juicy butts, one thick and bouncy by design lying on top of the other perfect by nature, right in front of him. Two dripping wet cunts, pretty pink lips parting swollen mounds, were pressed against each other.
John aligned his cock with Aclysias pussy and pushed in. The artificial thing was tight, exactly as tight as he wanted and provided the exact amount of lubrication that he needed to thrust into her over and over again while still feeling the pleasurable friction of her gripping folds. Aclysia moaned as he fucked her from behind. A few light spanks to her jiggly behind made her moan.
No fair! Gimme! Raveined as the moaning had left Aclysia unable to continue the silencing kiss. The Lightbearer must have felt each thrust, Aclysia rocking back and forth on top of her. Nipples stimted nipples, each thrust grinded the artificial clit along Raves overly sensitive one. The aching for cock Rave felt was evident in the way she peeked over Aclysias slender shoulder.
John delivered with a smirk. A quick thrust and he was now inside her. Giving her insides a few seconds to get used to the familiar invader, he soon picked up the pace. Her pussy quivered around him, massaging his dick as muscles and folds contracted, providing him with the amazing pleasure only sex could bring.
M-Master, whimpered Aclysia, now left alone. Only able to look back and forth between him and Raves blissful expression, it was her turn to feel his pounding indirectly. She would have to be patient for a little bit. John knew that he couldnt change back, not right now. The pitch of Raves voice quickly rose, her pussy tightening around his dick. Her orgasm was just a few more thrusts away. He changed the angle slightly, careful to hit one of her sensitive spots on every plunge. When the orgasm burst out, she screamed loudly. John gave her a few more thrusts, before he suddenly slipped out and left her to her spasming.
Aclysia loudly moaned as she felt her master fill her hot insides again. The Inner Fire at her core started to burn brighter as her whole world became filled with the bliss of being fucked. Nothing was more important to her than to make him feel good. She could barely think about how to achieve that, her thoughts overrun by the sudden onught of electrifying warmth.
John was barely holding on. The personally shaped cocksleeve was mping and writhing all around him, while Aclysia screamed out her bliss all over again. Her choice to engage in all of this was a repeatedly reaffirmed one. The lolled out tongue, the quivering eyebrows, the indecent stare, it all made her that much more attractive.
John didnt even bother to announce his impending orgasm. One mental order, and he pulled out. Aclysia quickly turned onto her back. The two women trembled from aftershocks, cuddled close, and gazed at his cock when he straddled their midriffs. Rapidly pumping his dick, he brought himself over the edge and sted ropes of cum all over the gorgeous faces of his girlfriend and his maid.
They writhed softly, mouths open, catching what they could and giggling lustfully at what adorned their features in thick white. Spurt for spurt, he marked them. The diminishing orgasm spread a few more drops over their corbones.
They all remained like that, heavily breathing, for a moment. Then Aclysia and Rave leaned towards his cock, licking it simultaneously. The fantasy of receiving a double blowjob was a fantasy no more C hadnt been for days.
They continued de-stressing for a little while.
Chapter 79 – The next day
Chapter 79 C The next day
John was sitting at the breakfast table, Aclysia standing next to his chair. Rave had gone home during thete hours of the day and so the house was quiet, save for him munching his cornkes while impatiently eyeing his smartphone.
The electronic wonderwork was protected by a ck leathery case, the type with a lid to further protect the screen. Said lid was currently open and the reflective ss contrasted with the light brown colour of the wooden breakfast table underneath.
A buzzing noise and the screen sprang to life. John quickly grabbed the phone, checking what he had received.
SecretBlonde: Here is your file. Should contain everything you need ~
Victoria_Beloozero.pdf
Download attached file?
John epted and the file opened on the screen. In a way it was a blessing that Rave had decided to leave for the night. He was a much faster reader than her, getting through this on his own would be faster.
The document started with things he was already roughly aware of. The way Victorias parents had started all the way at the heart of the Soviet Union and slowly made their way west, marking every major city they had stayed in along the way as well as marking the exact point where they slipped into the Abyss (Paris). Apparently, many a refugee that had magical potential was drawn into the Abyss during and after the world wars. Times of stress did have a habit of letting more people discover alternative lifelines. While interesting it was not what he searched for.
Victoria herself had obviously seen nothing of that journey. She had been born here and took from her parents stories a strong antimunistic hardline view. More analysis of smaller habits followed, like checking her phone only when she was sure nobody was looking, giving only non-definitive answers about her location and other secrets. John read it with a bit of a bad conscience but he could either stay answerless or put up with that. Seeing how his safety was probably on the line here he chose thetter.
Victoria entered the city by train on the 28th of July. Two dayster she joined Collide, suggesting them being the reason why she went to Springfield in the first ce. Whether that is to join or watch them is not immediately apparent.
After looking deeper into the matter, I found that she was tied to the Bloodfallen. Given her political stance, this is not surprising. Her exact ties remain unknown to me at the current time, but given the information about her secretive tendencies I conclude that she is either working for them or a double agent. With her political stance, again, a double agent is very unlikely. I found no traces of maniptive magics around her, which means that either somebody so powerful I cant track him is involved or, the much more likely answer, is that she is acting willingly.
Assuming that Bloodfallen are her actual guild and that she is a spy it seems to be that this is her initiation of sorts. In typical spy manner, the Bloodfallen cut all ties with her for the duration of this mission. For what she wants from Collide, I went and looked into other organizations under their heel. As you havent paid for this detail you can count this as a personal warning: You should keep an eye on Travolta.
Continuing on: Victoria was not in the Illusion Barrier when the incident with Jimmie urred, however she had been around two hours earlier and spent those two hours in rtive proximity. On the day you informed me that you were attacked, Victoria spent her day around the school perimeter eventually entering an Illusion Barrier in a ck robe and with a singr sniper rifle. As I have no closer information about what transpired inside I can only guess, but this seems too convenient to be a coincidence. In the time between her leaving that Illusion Barrier and her entering the Collide Headquarterster in the day she visited the cemetery. It was a very short visit and she left the Illusion Barrier with minor cuts which had to be reinforced with some sort of magic as they didnt heal during the trip back to the HQ.
She left the Barrier before anyone else could in a very grumpy mood and entered another Protected Space on the cemeteryter, which she hasnt left yet to the best of my knowledge.
John put down his phone after going over the document a second time. It fit perfectly. The outfit of the sniper matched the one the informant described exactly. Not only that but Victoria was part of the Bloodfallen in some way or form. If he took any information from this, it was to stop relying on Observe that much, if all it took to empty the Guild Slot was for somebody to not be affiliated with their guild for the period of a mission it was unreliable in situations like these. Also, Observe had presented him neither with the information that Victoria was born here nor her hardline stance regarding Communism.
While neither came as a huge surprise it nevertheless showed him clearly that one thing was true: Observe was a very shallow tool, it was still pretty good at taking a first dig at somebody but nothing to be relied upon in extended research.
Well, whatever, he had what he paid for: confirmation of Victoria as the most likely suspect and a lead on the motive. Now that he knew that their new protectors were the ones attacking them, the logical question was Why?. From what SecretBlonde had given him it looked like Travolta either knew or was directly involved.
Do I trust this intel? John asked himself for a moment. The answer to that was a simple Yes. SecretBlonde, for as annoying as they had been to John, had been vetted enough that Romulus trusted the intel and they stood nothing to gain from lying to John. He could reasonably expect this document to contain as much of the truth as could have been unearthed by the information broker.
This meant that he now had a decision to make. He could either go and confront Victoria or Travolta about the whole thing. Eyes closed, he calmly thought about the matter for a few moments. Victoria tried to harm them, he still hoped it was not an attempt on their lives, (although the sniper rifle made that kind of hard to believe) so running face first into that was na?ve. It was the better decision to just ask Travolta about this first, even if he wouldnt be willing to tell him the truth, he might at least be willing to help snuff out Victoria. John would feel a lot safer with him around.
Hoping the Guild Leader would even pick up, John called him on his phone. Who and What? Came the brash voice after a few seconds of waiting.
Hey, it''s John, I found out a few things about Victoria that A pained groan came from the other side,
Oh shut the fuck up. Thats not important right now. her pain is. He stopped for a few long seconds. I mean HIS, his pain. Go look after Jimmie, they told me he woke up, we can talk afterwards. Travolta ended the call and John looked at the phone in confusion.
That really doesnt sound good, he thought. Whatever the Blood of Thana (presumably) was doing to Travolta had him all mixed up. Confronting a mentally unstable Travolta on his own sounded like a terrible idea. Also, his pool of choices had just expanded to three. Best to call Rave in on this matter as well.
Whaddup, John? His girlfriends cheery voice came from the other side. From the bass in the background he judged that she was in her room right now. He quickly brought her up to speed and then presented their options to her.
We could either go and confront Travolta directly about this, going against his clear wishes, run face first into Victorias barrier or look after Jimmie.
Well, as myst idea was clearly stupid. Rave said, I will give you the chance to be wrong this time.
Chapter 80 – Jimmie first
Chapter 80 C Jimmie first
Lets go check on Jimmie first. If he really has woken up maybe he has some more info about this whole thing. Besides, Travolta is probably going to be a bit nicer if he is around. John decided over the phone.
Sounds good. I take it we skip grinding today then? Rave asked.
Yeah, lets meet at the hospital.
Sounds good, see ya in a bit! She hung up and John looked over to Aclysia, You areing with me, these days Id rather be safe.
I agree that your safety is of bigger concern than the household, master. Aclysia bowed as John looked around the almost shiningly clean room.
Yeah, that wont be a problem, he agreed and they went on their way.
Rave was waiting for them at the foot of the hospital. She didnt even bother putting on her disguise. Not that she did most days, since the whole Bloodfallen thing had started. A decision she may have regretted, but there was no going back now.
John walked up to her and they shared a quick greeting kiss. Morning, he said afterwards,
That all? Rave teased.
You are as beautiful as ever? he tried and got a giggle in response, Hey, you try to be original all the time His smile slowly diminished, until he got serious. Lets go check on Jimmie.
Rave nodded and led the way. The hospital was astonishingly big for a middle-sized city like Springfield and John always had wondered why that was. Now armed with the knowledge that there was a copy of that exact building where a rich magical organization of apothecaries were doing their business, he wasnt nearly as confused. The building on this side was copied into the Illusion Barrier. Every reason to sponsor arge local hospital with the Abyss absurd wealth.
Entering the Illusion Barrier was apparently only possible through the back and so they walked down the parking lot and towards the emergency entrances. You know how this is supposed to happen? he asked while Rave looked around in a confused manner.
Nope, never been here before. Daddy told me to look for the door with Ah, there it is! Rave started walking towards a grey wall of the building.
No, not a wall. John had to strain his eyes but the wall was odd and there was was that a door? Once he realized that, it suddenly became very easy to look at. He followed Rave and asked, How does that work?
The typical covering spell. Once ya manage to see it, it doesnt work anymore. At least that is what dad said. In short: another way for the Abyss to iste itself from public life.
Rave opened the door and the trio was pulled into the Illusion Barrier.
Pretty boring name for the ce. John muttered as he closed the window. The inside of the building was simrly mundane. He had expected some weird alchemical contraptions standing around, people in robes run-walking from one patient to the next, a magical aura filling the air as people worked miracles all around. What he got was a normal hospital. White painted walls, a picture of a flower here, the building n there, a grey floor, an information desk. Last of which they walked to.
Hey, we would like to visit JimmiI mean Jim Johnson. Rave said as nicely as she could, which was to say: not particrly. She leaned on the counter and looked a bit challenging, her tone reflecting a degree of unwillingness to even speak to the guy behind the counter. Moments like that reminded John that he did fall in love with a bit of a punk.
The guy didnt care in the slightest though. A rude pink-haired girl was the least of his worries in a world where people could throw fireballs. He just looked through the files on hisputer and said, Room 54, second floor. in a bored voice.
Rave left the counter while John at least said Thanks. Then he followed his girlfriend, getting only a half-baked wave as his send off. The room was quickly found past a crowd of employees, some of whom wore robes. At least that part of his fantasy was fulfilled.
They opened the door and were greeted by a familiar voice in a familiar, annoyed tone. The hell do you mean you CANT give me a phone! Jimmie was busy shouting at a guy working for the ce.
He was about as tall as John, had dark brown hair, and a fit build that showed a good amount of muscles underneath his white shirt and pants. However he had a meek demeanour as he took the shouts with repeated apologies. I am very sorry sir but your bill does not cover calling expenses.
How fucking much can calling somebody cost?!
Enough to put it on the tab, sir. The hospital is very thankful for the work you have done for us in the past but if it hadnt been for.
Hey! Jimmie noticed them and turned his head. Finally, somebody came here, we need to talk ASAP! The guy, John recognized him as Herman, the same person who had greeted them when they had fetched Jimmie, left the room as quickly as possible. John let him pass and gave the man a thankful nod. Herman looked a bit relieved at the acknowledgment.
Yeah, sorry Travolta only told us you woke up after I called him about Victoria.
Great, so you know already that she is to me for the whole explosion thing?
Rave and John looked at each other for a moment, then turned back to him. The Gamer spoke up first, Nope, but we suspected it. Mind telling us exactly what happened?
Sure, so I was taking a nap, when I heard a ringing in my ears. I installed an rm system in case anyone but me messed with my suit. I woke up and found Victoria messing with the thing. I confronted her, but she surprised me and knocked me out.
Why wouldnt she just stab you while you were out if she wanted you dead? Rave interrupted with a mixture of disbelief and resignation.
Who said she wanted to kill me? Rave I swear to god you need to let me finishdont make any dumb jokes about finishingst right now, not in the mood! Rave closed her mouth before exactly those words could leave it. So, when I woke up - I dont know how muchter - I checked on my suit. What she had done to it was clumsy as fuck but would probably have created a localized mana storm for a little while. If it hadnt been for the massive headache and blood loss from the wound on my head I could have diffused the thing. Cut the wrong wire though and instead set off the entire energy in one explosion. Not my proudest showing. Thankfully, you guys saved me. Jimmie ended his story, Well, you and the Bloodfallen anyhow.
John was majorly confused, Wait, what do you mean by that?
Huh? You think Travolta or I have enough money to cover the expenses of an arcane poisoning? Even with the discount, wed be up shit creek. The Bloodfallen covered the bill.
But that makes no sense, the Bloodfallen are the ones who sent Victoria. Rave blurted out.
Wha okay, what? Jimmie stuttered as well.
John massaged his temples. Okay, so Victoria really hadnt wanted them dead, just distracted. Still was pretty weird in regard to the sniper rifle. Maybe something had changed between the two incidents? This whole thing didnt stop beingplicated. Visiting the cemetery was potentially less menacing. But what would she have wanted to find in the few minutes that mana storm would have given her? She had been in position to take advantage of it and was evidently surprised to see them all out there.
Wait, John realized something. If she had wanted to check up on something inside the barrier she could have. Travolta had apanied Jimmie to the hospital while he and Rave had gone to her ce. The barrier had been effectively empty.
If what Victoria wanted to check on was inside there she could have. Not only then but every time Travolta visited Jimmie as well. If he assumed that Victoria found what she had searched before the third day following the sabotage that meant that she then nned the attackfor what purpose? What did Travolta have that Victoria or the Bloodfallen wanted and why did she attack the rest of them? He could easily guess that it must have had something to do with the Blood of Thana but until he had confirmation that was what it remained: a guess.
There were now two ways to confirm that guess: He either needed to confront Travolta about it or go ask Victoria.
Chapter 81 – The Below
Chapter 81 C The Below
Lets go confront Victoria first. John said after sharing his thoughts with the group. This day was really full of events. So far, he didnt like a single one of them. It had a lot of time to turn for the better, it was barely 9 oclock after all. If they went out now they would need maybe two hours to reach the cemetery, depending how well they caught the buses.
Ja, that seems like the correct person to ask first. Rave nodded. Lets not burst in and use Baldy of stuff just because he had a few bad days. John shared the sentiment but he also had a more pragmatic thought.
If Travolta really set in motion this whole chain of events by taking something the Bloodfallen saw as theirs, how far would he go to protect it? Neither he nor Rave had a realistic chance to stop Travolta in his current state. Together they could maybe do something, but victory seemed like a very distant idea.
The Bloodfallen seemed to have an investment in them in one way or another. The attack made it difficult to ascertain how deep that investment went, but between the two choices it still felt like the safer bet.
I will have to wait for you, Jimmie said in an apologetic tone. Cant feel my legs. John was about to start a series of are you okay? questions when Jimmie raised his hands in a calming gesture. Just some after effects. Should go away in the next few days. Then,ughingly he added, Not like I am of much help in abat scenario anyway.
He saw the three of them off with a wave. John and Rave waved back, Aclysia only confusedly mimicked the motion.
Will he be calmer now? Herman asked them outside. Its not easy to fix someone when they keep struggling, you know? He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Only understanding Necron psychology could be harder.
Yeah, should be good, John responded, while thinking, Why are so many Abyssals Warhammer yers?
Herman went back in, leaving the trio to their n. A few buses and stopster, they arrived at their target.
The cemetery of Springfield wasnt big or small. Just a green space with trees and flowers, the gravestones of a few generations of people standing or lying around. Above it all hung the thick aura of solemn mourning and the knowledge that all thingse to an end someday.
They walked around the thick iron fence that surrounded the graveyard until they arrived at the entrance. There was a small church and a parking lot, everything that would be expected. If they put up a barrier, it would be here, John looked at Rave, who nodded and Aclysia, who sent him her voicelesspliance, before raising his hand.
The slight breeze of reality ceased and they stood in a transformed graveyard. Transformed in the sense that the formerly empty green space was now patrolled by Soldier Golems. The contraptions looked in their direction, but continued on their patrols uninterrupted. Either the two of them had been made exempt from attack or defence was not these golems goal. In any case, their presence was telling.
I wonder where that traitorous gal is, Rave said and looked around.
If I were a betting boy John pointed at the church. probably in the one building around.
The church was quite beautiful for its size. Dark red bricks made up the bulk of the buildings walls, with a few light-grey cornerstones and facetted windows making up the rest. All of it was clean, but not too clean, giving it that air of a respectable institution.
John pushed open the thick oaken door. They opened with a light squeaking noise. A subtle entrance wouldnt have worked anyway as Victoria was already pointing her sniper rifle at the door.
Okay, there was a rather explosive increase of Stats for her as well. Why? A question he would have to postpone. The person who was with Victoria attracted more attention. An attractive middle-aged man with long ck hair, bound into a low ponytail, in an outfit that was the most casual version of a ck military uniform John had ever seen. He raised his walking stick and softly pulled down Victorias gun.
He smiled warmly at the neers, then spoke in a deep and paternal voice. We dont want to scare our guests, Victoria. John and Jane, right? Ah, and that must be that lovely creation of yours, Aclysia if Ive heard correctly. Please take a seat. He gestured towards a couple of long benches that had been rearranged in a way to allow people to sit confronting each other.
Unsure what else to do, the trio sat down on one bench while Igor sat down on the opposing one. Victoria remained standing. I was wondering if you would evere. The Bloodfallen Guild Master continued his warm speech, Truly, I had been afraid that Travolta would have killed you to cover his tracks.
John furrowed his eyebrows, No. I dont think you were afraid of that. He said straight out doubting him, But I am not here to throw usations around. I have questions, Igor. If he knew about Aclysia the middle-aged man knew about Observe as well. Indeed, the Guild Master only kept his warm smile.
I guess so. Lets hear them. Victoria and I shall provide the answers. An extension of good will. Im not your enemy.
Who are you?
Igor, Guild Master of the Bloodfallen and the one who oversees the distribution of our elixir.
You mean the Blood of Thana. The smile on the mans face twitched but stayed for the most part. Did that Observe ability of yours also tell you that?
Yes.
How peculiar. Never speak that name to anyone outside of this room. Although his words were friendly the tone made it clear: this wasnt a tip, it was amand. Igor clenched his walking stick and Victoria her gun. The topic of Thana, evidently, had to wait for now.
The way Rave stared with disgust at Victoria also was another reason to move on quickly. To calm at least one of the agitated parties down, heid his hands on Raves. That was sessful enough. His girlfriend didnt jump up from the bench and start something stupid.
What did Travolta steal and why did you attack us? John asked the question they were really here for after turning his head back to Igor.
Ah yes. The great mystery. Well, if you are aware of the existence of the Blood you must also be aware that he, me and Victoria all were injected with it C one way or another.
John hadnt known thest part, another jab at the usefulness of Observe. To be at the whims of what the supreme deity wanted to disy was truly unreliable. John would need to keep future changes in mind and work out some kind of basic rules (If Gaia even abided by any).
What do you know about us, the Bloodfallen, John Newman? Igor asked into the silence.
For certain? Not much. You hand out that elixir of yours to people who follow you. It made Travolta a lot stronger, that much is clear, but apparently a lot of guilds that follow you also die off very quickly. There was also a little tidbit about Victoria joining them because she hatedmunism but that he kept for himself for now.
Igor nodded with a deeply saddened expression, Indeed and it seems that Collide will share the same fate unless we do something about it. Let me exin: We are not here to get back what was stolen but to protect you from Travoltas future actions.
Well, Victorias info page greatly disagreed with that. ording to that, John could be executed on the spot. Nevertheless, he stayed quiet while Igor continued the exnation.
As you said we hand out a limited amount of the elixir to each guild that decides to swear loyalty to us. Just enough for one person and only as much as they can handle. However, people often take a bit more from us in secrecy. How they acquire it is a tragedy yet to be fully understood but drinking more of the elixir than what we give people is dangerous.
In what way?
They start hearing HER voice. Igor didnt want to speak Thanas name for whatever reason, like a preacher that dodges the sphemous name of Satan. And they start hearing HER pleas. She is a malicious entity, you must understand, and once people start hearing her they are lost. She promises power where there is only corruption and therefore we purge these guilds before her influence can spread.
John boiled that down to: We kill people that drink the blood because they go crazy in some way and all of this only happens because we cant find the guy who sells our secrets. That certainly exined Travoltas paranoia thest couple of days but that also meant So, you are going to kill him?
Maybe. Igor sighed the deepest of sighs, See, your friend is a bit different. This time it seems that the refinement process of the blood was leaked.
He just makes more of it?
No, the elixir in his blood is reduced in potency by other means. If he can remove those it would have the same effect as drinking maybe three or four times what we gave him. Maybe it wont cause any changes at all. Igor shook his head. Although I doubt it. He killed five of my people when we moved in to capture him. I am currently waiting for more forces to arrive to solve this without any further losses. On that note, Victoria here was only meant to distract you.
She shot us with a sniper rifle. John pointed out.
It was a tranquilizer bullet. Victoria defended herself.
In a sniper rifle? he kept probing. The bullet went clean through me.
The idea was to hit pinky here...
PINKY?! Rave was furious, never would John have thought that giving her a name would trigger such a reaction.
and then capture you with the help of the golems. I thought those golems would be more useful, Victoria finished, uncaringly.
Rave was about to jump up when a walking stick was swiftly raised to her sternum. Behave, youngdy. I am not done with my story yet. Igor said. Rave fell back the bit she had risen from her seat. This is what it looks like: Travolta has be a threat. Unlike most of our other rogue guilds you havent been tainted by the elixir overdose though, so I will give you a chance. John didnt like the sound of that. You take out Travolta and the whole thing is forgotten. We will keep our support of Collide and we return to how things were.
You want us to kill him? John asked, the suggestion alone was terrifying.
You can try to save him. Igor shrugged with a sorry smile, But it will be in vain. Nobody who got that far into the overdose ever returned to normal. I will kill him without any remorse so this is the best opportunity you get.
John looked at Rave. What are your thoughts on this?
This is all cray-cray, she said outright, But Baldy deserves that we save him.
John had no idea whether she ignored the whole subtext of them getting potentially purged if they failed or if she hadnt even heard it. Right, he agreed nheless. We will take your offer. We will confront Travolta. Whatever they did after that, they would decide at that time.
Igor pped his hands together, Marvellous, as a token of my good will, Victoria would you apany them, please?
The Sniper nodded. Of course, Guild Master.
Chapter 82 – Pain is the primordial truth
Chapter 82 C Pain is the primordial truth
The way to the arcade was strained, to say the least. Rave, who had defended Victoria just two days ago, red angrily at the confirmed traitor at all times. Sure ya wont stab us in the back? she asked on one asion.
As long as Igor doesnt want me to, I will do no such thing. Victoria answered while staring straight ahead. John couldnt detect even a hint of guilt on her.
You mind if I ask you a thing? John intervened before things could take a course that would pull their attention away from their current mission. Why do you hand the blood out in the first ce if it is that easily abusable?
I dont know. Victoria kept her eyes on the target, the small alley between two rtively new buildings.
The fuck do ya mean ya dunno? Rave asked.
My rank in the Bloodfallen is not high enough to be presented with such secrets.
So, you just blindly trust that guy?
That got a reaction from Victoria, her eyes snapped to him and she caught up to him. Little space between them, she hissed, Dont you dare refer to Igor as That guy. He is saving you from her.
And the more I hear about this whole thing the less sure I am about if you guys are fit to protect anybody. John kept that to himself as he apologized to de-escte the situation, Sure, sorry.
It wasnt worth making a fuss over right now. He may have solved the puzzle of the origin of the Blood of Thana but who she was, why her blood had such strong properties or who the Bloodfallen actually were, those questions still went unanswered. For now they had to deal with Travolta.
Jane, can you write a message to your dad? John requested, as the typical alleyway came into view. I think if something is wrong with Travolta, hell want to try and deal with it.
On it, Rave responded with a nod. We waiting until he arrives or?
John wanted to answer affirmatively, but Victoria answered for him. No. We wont make Igor wait. She kept on moving.
The Gamer was tempted to just let her go in on her own, but there was no telling what she would or would not do. Best case seemed to be that Travolta ripped her apart. Worst case she drove a bullet through his brain. He would never know if he stayed there. Fucking bitch, he cursed at her openly. She didnt even acknowledge it with a nce over her shoulder.
They entered the Protected Space and stepped onto the concrete path. It cut through the wild grass, growing around this bit of preserved bit of city history. The arcade stood there like always, the shabby wooden walls tagged with dozens of sprayers artworks. John had never thought about this before but it was really silent here. It wasnt just the wind that was absent. The buzzing of the streets, the cars driving by, the many sounds ofmerce, all just vanished. The silence was usually filled with chatter and bold steps. The darkened mood prevented even Rave from thinking of something to say.
They walked up to the building and went inside. The ground floor was the same as ever. The arcade machines stood as a little enve around the two PCs that were seldom used while the conference table stood there with the same unneeded hugeness that was its trademark. The flickering of screens that had looked so inviting in the past now was a distraction in his periphery that he did not want.
A scratching noise came from above, like a piece of furniture getting shoved across the bare floor. John sent Aclysia a signal to take the lead as they walked upstairs. All that he had heard made him wary of what was probably going to happen next. He hoped against reason that this all would be resolved cleanly.
It was his first time on the second floor. There wasnt much to see. There was a door with a bathroom sign, another one that was open and led to a small room (He assumed that was the one where Rave kept her stuff) and ast red one with a big T painted on it in ck colour. Aclysia pushed the handle of the door and they peeked inside.
John had expected Travoltas room to be some kind of fitness studio but instead he found a makeshiftboratory. Instruments for chemistry stood on a multitude of desks. Medical equipment was piled in a corner around a mattress carelessly thrown on the ground.
Travolta was lying two metres removed from the bed. The muscly man had a transfusion dripping crimson liquid into his right arm. The bloody red liquid pulsed, moved within the bag in an attempt to squeeze itself down the tube faster, right into the guild leaders veins. The bag was almost empty. At the side of Travolta was a toppled shelf, he must have tried to lean on it and the thing had given in.
Travolta! Rave was hurrying over and John was quick to follow. They kneeled down next to Travolta but whatever they did they barely got a reaction. Best Travolta could do was turn his head and look at them with bloodshot eyes before resting his head on the floor again.
Step away. Victoria said, weapon at the ready and pointed at Travolta, He is clearly infected, this whole thing ends now.
Fuck off. John cursed at her. Jane, call Regan again. Tell him to hurry. Ill deal with Victoria.
You are an unwise person, John Newman, Victoria said, now holding him at gunpoint.
You can say a lot of things about me but not that, John told her, arms crossed. Rather, I feel that your perception is skewed, Victoria. Whatever may be the case, we are not killing Travolta.
Victoria aimed at his feet and pulled the trigger only for the hammer to refuse to move. Possession, she hissed and pulled out another gun but John just repeated the process. The spell was as fast as he could see and there was plenty he could do to a gun to jam its functionality. You are a fool. We have seen what happens next hundreds of times already.
And I am supposed to just believe that? Your approach has been everything but trust inducing.
Dad is on his way. Rave said from the background and returned to Travoltas side. The hose that connected to his bloodstream slowly emptied. You will see in a minute why we do it this way. Victoria took a few steps back and remained still as they waited for Regan to arrive.
Without a sound Travolta suddenly stood up. Jane? He asked as his bloodshot eyes focused on the world. When the fuck did you get here? Argh, whatever, just leave.
Travolta, the Bloodfallen want to kill you. John stated the situation, You need toe with us.
I cant I need to understand her better. Travolta took the bag, She is in so much pain, John. Only in pain. There are no other feelings, only pain. Why? Why isnt she allowed to feel anything else? His demeanour changed rapidly, the moment of clearness he had just had was reced with incoherent ramblings. Nails, there are nails, Jane. The world spins, spins around for so long. What does it spin for? Its cold? Its all so cold.
Travolta, you need to Rave put a hand on the mans shoulder as he heaved himself up.
DONT FUCKING TOUCH ME, HUMAN!
Rave was suddenly catapulted through the room by a backhand p of Travoltas thick arm. She nearly mmed into the pile of medical equipment. Only a feline body getting between it and her prevented Rave from having a terrible crash. O, Raveined, rubbing the spot where Travoltas hand had connected with her chest.
I advise you to be more careful. Copernicusnded a few metres away and scratched himself behind his ear, I am not going to help you too much. Somewhat relieved, John turned to look at Travolta.
That was new and also very, very bad from the looks of it. I warned you. Victoria shouted over to them and pulled out an assault rifle. This is what happens every time.
Pain, that is all. all the pain. the pain she feels. Travolta was gone and whatever had now taken his ce was rambling on and on. Torment. Senseless, emotionless, endless, torment. That is truth. Pain is. Travoltaid his eyes on Victoria. You understand? Dont you? He asked and walked towards her. The Bloodmother is in you too. The answer is under the nails.
Victoria didnt grace him with an answer. Too distracted to prevent it this time, John only realized she had pulled out yet another gun when the sound of flying bullets echoed around the room. Each bullet that hit Travolta sent shockwaves through his whole body. Despite what had just happened, Rave was quick to shout at Victoria. What the fuck are you doing?
Cleaning the mess. Victoria let the empty magazine drop and jammed a new one into the handgun.
Travolta, despite being riddled with bullets, was still standing. He wasnt bleeding. To John, it even looked like the wounds were closing as the mountain of muscles that was Travolta started storming forwards to keep Victoria from continuing to shoot. The empty transfusion tore out of his arm. WHERE IS SHE?! he screamed as he rammed shoulder first into Victoria. Theparatively small woman was lifted up and carried along, until they both crashed into one of the tables. Expensiveb equipment and wooden splinters were sent flying everywhere.
Whether or not Travolta was beyond saving at this point John didnt know, but it was clear that they needed to do something. Aclysia, you try to keep him upied. Jane, we will try to subdue him. It was a stupid n in all honesty. Travolta had already shown to be several times stronger than each of them but they needed to find a way to.
Do not despair, dad is here!
Chapter 83 – VS Travolta
Chapter 83 C VS Travolta
Regan rushed into the room and immediately delivered a m right into Travoltas head. Aura boosted his strength and speed. Despite the difference in the stature between the two, the small man in the suit sent therger man in his tank top flying towards a nearby wall. He impacted hard and remained sitting there, while Victoria rolled off of the shattered table, coughing and panting.
Travolta, what are you doing? Regan asked, clicking his tongue as he stepped closer. He grabbed the taller man by the cor and dragged him up, the other hand raised in a ready fist. I told you to not meddle with things you dont understand. Youre supposed to protect my daughter when Im not around, not be the danger to her.
Regan Travolta half-whispered the word. You dont you dont understand. She needs help. She needs warmth. She needs she needs a threat His eyes widened. Yes a threat she needs help and can you not feel it? The tragedy of it all? The thing nestling in her brain? He started tough. A manic, desperateugh. I see I see! Youre with them! His eyes darted over to Victoria. Youre the traitors! ALL OF YOU ARE KEEPING ME FROM HE-
Travoltas screams were cut short when Regan brought his fist down. Again and again, he punched, turning his knuckles red with the blood of the man. What are you doing?! John shouted over.
What is required to live in the Abyss, Regan responded, continuing his punches mercilessly. You better engrave this in your head, John, because this is what happens when you mess with powers beyond you.
John could only stare, not knowing if he should intervene. So clearly, Travolta seemed gone, yet this brutal execution in the end, he swallowed and did nothing. Because Rave did nothing. Not because she was shocked, not because she was hurt, but because she believed her father. Between Observe and the 3 other Abyssals in the room all agreeing that this was what needed to be done, who was he to suggest an alternative when he had none?
Regan clearly took no pleasure in any of it. The strikes were cold, calcted and swift. He wanted to beat the life out of the man as quickly as was safe. Each impact sounded wet by now.
The next punch, his strike struck not the shattered face, but Travoltas meaty paw. The Abyss Auctioneer was clearly surprised by this, his tired eyes opening wide. The power dynamic between the two of them had always been clear but now he found himself caught and unable to get out of the grasp.
No healing. Despite his words, Travoltas face slowly regenerated. The blood was reced by fresh flesh, along with all the deformities the pummelling had caused. The broken nose healed into a crooked mess and disgusting, dark red scar tissue covered the bloody face. It was hyper-regeneration at its worst, mending the wounds with no concern for the original state of the body. She wants true pain! She needs it! The butcher did it to her!
Regan kicked Travolta in the chest but the now hideous man either didnt feel the pain or was so lost in it he didnt care. John wanted to help, as did Rave but they both knew that they would have only gotten in the way. Victoria in the meantime was still trying to recover and reload.
A second kick. There was a crack and one of Travoltas ribs burst from the skin in a disgusting disy of gore. Yet, still his grip didnt waver. His chest pieced itself back together, the jutting rib now a branch off the healed bone.
How Travoltas organs could possibly still be working inside that dented and broken body of his, John had no clue. He knew however that unlike Travolta, Regan would not have an easy time if his hand was broken, and by the way Travoltas hand slowly sped down that was only a matter of time.
Travoltas body convulsed, like he was experiencing a sudden stroke or seizure. With a mighty spasm, he threw Regan across the room. Raves dadnded on his feet, although barely so, and all eyes went on Travolta as he thrashed around, knocking over sses and chemical instruments as he screamed. Why? Why? Why? WHY? Why did they do it to her?! HUMANS?! LET THEM DROWN IN THEIR OWN BLOOD!
John gulped. What was Travolta seeing that was terrible enough to have him act out like that? Johns eyes darted over to Victoria. What exactly was Thana? Igor said she was malicious but this didnt look malicious. This looked like the agonized madness of a torture victim and the incoherent words only deepened that impression.
She.He..HE! Travolta stopped his thrashing and set eyes on Regan. HE! HE DID IT TO HER! His voice was filled with deep hatred and he jumped at Regan. THE NAILS! DEEPER THAN THE NAILS! THE CURSE CLAWED INTO HER BRAIN. With that scream, the two shed again.
Their movements were quick. Not too quick to be impossible to follow but too quick for John to be of any help. Gnome! he reached out to the elemental. She tried to join the fight, but was always three steps behind.
A furious exchange of blows created gusts of wind in the room. Travolta swung his arms in an assault of relentless fury while Regan did his best to dodge or block each iing strike, redirecting their savage energy with martial techniques. However even John could easily see Regan not using the left arm Travolta had previously had in his grasp.
Regan was driven back and finally his back hit the wall. Instead of looking desperate about that Regan smiled as he ducked under the straight punch that prated the wall instead, leaving Travolta wide open. Regans blue aura red up around his body once again. Shallow strikes covered Travoltas side. A momentter dozens of thin, deep cuts gushed fresh blood, while Regan stepped away.
John recognized the technique from a simpler time. To think Regan was using such a devastating attack to cut pizza for his daughter. It spoke volumes about the confidence the Abyss Auctioneer had in his own control.
Control was not something that would defeat Travolta in his current state though. The stubble headed man was already halfway through healing when he pulled his fist from the wall. What would it take to stop you, Travolta? Regan mumbled and got into another stance.
She seeks. I need to help her. Travolta shouted in response, without facing him. You, you, you, you, you! He wildly punched the wall.
I am sorry Jane but he is too far gone. Regan said to his daughter.
Thats just what happens, aint it? Rave responded with grim resignation, she, John, Aclysia and Gnome standing ready to defend themselves.
Across the room, the injured Victoria shot them a smug re. I told you so.
Somebody. somebody. Travolta pleaded as he shattered an arrangement ofboratory ss, Somebody make her feel alive.
I am sorry Travolta, Regan said to the maddened Guild Master, who didnt seem to hear him as he blindly destroyed the room around him, I should have never introduced you to them.
Regans aura red up in a dangerous fashion. The blue light was clear enough to actually illuminate the room. Regan crouched down, slowly gathering energy around his working arm. That got Travoltas attention and the horribly disfigured man jumped at Regan again. Everything seemed to slow down for a moment, only Regan moving at normal speed as he ducked under the flying berserker and then brought his fist up into his stomach.
It was horrible.
Blue energy exploded from the uppercut. It tore a hole through Travoltas stomach. Blood and gore burst out his back, cascading around a barely intact spine. It too was inevitably shredded. The insides painted the ceiling red. The energy continued on, breaking a hole into the ceiling. The momentum carried Travolta upwards several metres, before he came smacking back down. It looked and sounded like a piece of meat getting dropped onto a counter.
Silence overcame theboratory and home of the defeated Travolta. Regan lowered his fist, covered in the blood of his friend, and sighed. What a terrible ending for you.
A hand ripped forwards. Travolta grabbed Regan by the ankle and whirled him around as he shot upright. Throwing him into another table, the Bloodaddict stood still and was breathing heavily. The hole in his stomach was rapidly filling with sinewy scar tissue. Only his spine seemed to grow back correctly.
Travolta wasnt defeated. Not yet. His eyes fell on the Abyss Auction employee, as he rose up from the splinters. Immediately, he tackled Regan and they both fell to the ground. John and Rave started running as Travolta, kneeling on Regan, raised his fists as a single entity and then hammered down with his blood-crazed strength on his former friends ribcage.
It dented horribly under the impact. Regan let out a wheezing sound, like all air getting released from a container. Blood spurted out after the air, the ribcage dented and broken.
DAD! Rave delivered a kick to Travoltas head. It was enough for the stationary target to topple over.
John quickly took stock of the situation. Regan was still alive. His breathing was ragged and he coughed up blood, but he was alive. If they got him out of the Protected Space, he would survive. Travolta Regan gargled.
I know, the Gamer responded. The creature that had been their guild leader was in charge of this barrier. Unless he allowed them to, they could not leave. There were only two choices here: to kill him or to die.
The hideous, scarred creature rose with great difficulty. He was still breathing, despite his left side and deformed face being nothing but scar tissue, despite the half-open cavity in his stomach. How that was possible John couldnt even fathom.
Will you end it, Jane? Travolta asked, Will you show her?
I will show you something! Rave punched him in the face. Despite the massive difference in Stats the punch made him fall to the ground again. Rave stepped closer to deliver a stomp to his chest, Copernicus light at her ankles glowing coldly. Travoltas chest jumped as if he had been hit by a jolt.
DONT SHOW ME! Travolta burst out and grabbed her standing leg. In a flurry of motion he mmed Rave into the ground like a human il. Then he stood up, dangling her by her ankle. SHOW HER! HOW FUCKING DIFFICULT IS THIS?!
Pulling back his thick arm, he got ready to deliver a terrible strike. Before he could deliver, Aclysia charged at him. Raising one foot, he kicked the Artificial Spirit back the way she came. Gnome entered the opening, clutching Travoltas leg. Ripping his leg free, he swiped the elemental aside with his unupied arm.
Then he returned to Rave. The pink-haired woman grit her teeth, dizzy from getting tossed around so much. She tried to free herself, repeatedly kicking Travoltas wrist. He did not care, and drew his fist back again.
The hand holding Rave released her, as a thundering roar echoed through the room. A hole had been punched into the shoulder of the former man. Across the room, Victoria clicked her tongue and reloaded.
Rave caught herself on her hands and did a backflip into safety. Aclysia took her ce at the frontline, upying Travolta with swings of the Sword of Glory. Despite his regeneration, Travolta was getting slower. Whatever power the blood granted him, it wasnt endless. With a swing of her de, Aclysia severed Travoltas hand from his crippled arm. The wound gushed once, then the blood bubbled out and foamed.
Gnome! John feverishly sent all of his mana to the elemental.
The grotesque man was forming a spike of bone from his blood. It was small and misshapen but by the way it punched holes into Aclysias surface it must have been incredibly sharp.
A loud boom was apanied by a cloud of concrete. Victoria had missed her second shot. This one, John wouldnt me her for. Travoltas unorthodox movements made it near impossible to aim. Rave rejoined the fight with an explosive release of light, covering Travolta in burns.
The hole in his stomach wasnt regenerating further, his movements were shambling and slow enough for Rave to dodge and weak enough for Aclysia to block, his fight with Regan must have done massive damage to him despite his inhuman capabilities.
I am ready! Gnome informed her summoner.
FALL BACK! John screamed as soon as he heard that and both Rave and Aclysia followed his advice. Just as theynded beside him, the floor under Travolta cracked. Dirt cascaded upwards, earth and pebbles carrying Travolta upwards in a torrent of suffocation and sharp stones. The room filled with more and more wet dirt. Gnome used all his mana, kept drawing the earth upwards, until there was nothing left to be taken from John and the earth pir stopped growing.
Its not over yet, John told everyone. He knew when it would be.
His words were prophetic. The dirt stirred. The intact hand pushed out and wed at the loose earth. Like a corpse pulling itself out of its grave, Travolta managed to drag his grotesque head out of the brown once more. He only had one good eye left. It was clear. Tears cut a clear path through the dusting of brown on his features.
Victoria pulled the trigger of her sniper rifle, only to once more find her gun blocked. What are you doing?! she hissed at John. He didnt care to give her an answer.
John Jane how is Jimmie? Travolta croaked.
Awake and getting better, John responded, while ordering Aclysia to go over and pick up Regan. The sooner they got moving, the better, but the Gamer wanted to hear thest words of the man.
Good thats good Travolta slowly exhaled and stared at his own hand. Fucking idiot this is what happens if youre trying to be luckier than you are He snapped back to John. Please help her, he pleaded. I couldnt bear it. I still cant bear it. The veins in his eyes widened again. Why? WHY? PLEASE please please help her his voice rose and then fell again into a whimper. she didnt deserve any of this. E- Travoltas head tilted to the side, thest breath leaving his lips.
John was not happy to see these windows today.
Chapter 84 – A new Guild Leader – Arc 2 Finale.
Chapter 84 C A new Guild Leader C Arc 2 Finale.
The aftermath of that day was quickly dealt with. Too quickly for John to really digest fully what had happened. Regan got out of the barrier in time. He suffered from blood loss and even though the wounds were healed, the after effects of the physical trauma stayed for a bit. Regan shrugged it off eventually saying, This is not the first time I almost died.
Victoria vanished almost immediately after confirming Travoltas death by taking his pulse. All she had left them with was a notice that the Bloodfallen would get in contact with them soon to discuss their future. Appoint a new guild master until then, she had ordered. John had no idea if he ever wanted to deal with the Bloodfallen again but the choice wouldnt be his apparently. They were in no position to negotiate. Not at this time.
John, Rave and Aclysia had then worked to free Travolta from the pile of dirt that had been his ultimate demise. John found that despite him being the one to deliver the final strike, he didnt feel guilty about this whole thing. He felt aplicated knot of emotions, none of them pleasant, but the gnaw of true guilt was not one of them.
Was that another side-effect of his Wisdom? He was certain that it had been the only way but still he had just killed an actual person. Just like that first encounter with the Wall Shadow, the death left him unfazed. He knew what needed to be done and so he did it. That was all there was to it.
Brooding over all of this, he had called Jimmie.
It had been only 16 oclock when it had all been wrapped up. In a single day John had found out the truth about the attacks, about Travoltas paranoia and his sudden new strength, had moved to confront Victoria, killed his guild leader and broke the news to Jimmie. A mere 8 hours from breakfast to the grave. A sobering thought.
Sunday noon they met again in the Protected Space. They were wearing their usual stuff, in Johns case because he didnt know what else to wear, in the Hollmeys case because they knew that this was just another day in the Abyss, in Jimmies case because Johns final attack had destroyed the cer.
They were standing around the beaten and broken corpse of Travolta Meyer, former guild leader of Collide. John had covered him with a nket to save Jimmie from the view.
I guess it really is disgusting under there, huh? Jimmie asked in an empty tone. They had postponed the funeral until he was released by the Apothecaries.
Yes. John answered in a simr tone.
I will keep him in my mind how I remembered himthest time I spoke to him was before the explosion. Jimmie giggled a bit, Bastard cursed at me. Typical Travolta.
John just nodded. He himself had difficulty discerning what he remembered more. The ornery man who had just begun to warm up to him or the scarred and shambling creature he had be. Forcing the image on Jimmie would have been cruel. He cared for you in his final moments.
Idiot had a soft core somewhere down there. Always went on about human potential this, future that, Jimmy said.
He left with a lot of my money. Regan drily grumbled, I will miss him. It was clear that our rtionship would end like this, however.
Why? John asked, he felt that themon sense of a funeral didnt apply anyway so he might as well try to fulfil his curiosity.
Because unlike you or me, Travolta was born without any power. No talent for martial arts, no light-controlling ability, no control over Illusion Barriers and certainly no reality warping Gamer powers. He was just a grunt in a world that is not nice to people without power. Regan lit a cigarette. It was the first time John had seen him smoke or even caught a whiff of tobo from him. He had the will to reach for power. Too bad it never could have been his power.
So that was the reason, John thought to himself as he understood. Travolta was, had been, what Rave called the lower ss of the Abyss. These people were quick to drown if they didnt find a way to distinguish themselves. Travolta had survived being weak. He even thrived a bit thanks to his rtionship with Regan. Nothing like that could be satisfying. He had gone to find power from other sources and made the wrong choice.
Just a slip of his hand and that drove him to madness. A bit of greed and the Bloodfallen had turned against him. The Abyss was no ce for those without the power or the luck to reach higher ces. John clenched his fist. Isnt that just unfair?
Whoever promised fair, Latebloomer? Regan asked as he exhaled a plume of smoke. Equality is a lie the mundanes tell to each other. One that Gaia maintains, for now.
It has always been like this, John. Rave grabbed his hand. In a world where the bottom is easily receable, life is a struggle for those who dwell there.
She turned back to the nketed body. I will still miss him though. She admitted with a sad sigh. That was all the emotion she could muster over the death of somebody she had known for years.
It was Jimmie who changed the topic, You guys will need to decide if you want to keep Collide running, even if it''s just in name.
You guys? John asked. What about you?
Me? I am out, Jimmie made a shaky smile and adjusted his cap. The simple motion made him drop the hat. Barely, he managed to pick it up and ce it back on his head with unsteady hands. He pulled the cap over his eyes to hide the rising tears. This is too crazy for me. Im still weak enough to pass as mundane. Ill take it.
What?! It was a universal question. Regan asked because he didnt want a young talent like Jimmie to be gone, Rave asked because she was dumbfounded, John asked because he simply couldnt believe it.
Dont be so shocked. I was in the Abyss in the first ce because of Travolta. Jimmie put his hands into his pockets as he stared at the nket. I have enough money to get along for years in the normal world. I will move to some of my distant rtives in the countryside and stay away from all of this.
Jimmie, you Regan started.
you can do whatever the hell you want. John interrupted him. Ill miss you. If you stay well make it through this together.
Thanks. The mechanic just nodded and zoned out of the rest of the conversation.
Listen to me John. Regan whispered, Jimmie cannot just leave, he is
No, dad. This time Rave interrupted him, He has very little mana, he can just leave, nobody is going to spot him. It was nice to see her being on his side on this. He lightly squeezed her hand as a moment of silence filled the Protected Space.
Well, then. Regan sighed and epted that this was thest that would be said on the matter, This is my goodbye. I have work to do. He turned and walked a few steps, never looking back on the corpse of his friend. Why would he? It wasnt the first and certainly not thest friend he would lose during his life.
What do we do for the funeral? the Gamer asked.
His girlfriend answered, I say we tear down the barrier. Travolta may have been bat-shit crazy at the end but I think he would have liked this being his personal graveyard. John looked at the old building. It had a certain charm to it, an old arcade for a young Gamer like he was. It was also destroyed and the aura of bad memories hung over it. He would regret never being able to set foot here again. He wouldnt ever be able to call this his home.
Yeah, that would be the best.
I will see to that. Jimmie said, now a single tear was rolling over his face, You guys can go now. I will see this through and then go far, far away. He looked at the two of them, not even forcing a smile. This is our farewell.
Rave parted from John for a moment to hug Jimmie, I hope you do well in the future.
Might be the first nice words I ever heard from you. The mechanic said afterwards and tipped his cap. I hope you two do well. Its been a st. Dont let the Abyss eat you.
I hope you do too. John answered after a deep breath and with that all was said. The two of them turned around and walked over to Aclysia.
Why did you do that? Aclysia asked, having watched from a distance. Saying goodbye to somebody who can no longer hear you seems illogical.
It is not about him. John tried his best to exin, It is about the ones he leaves behind to find an end. To have certainty about the fact that even without him the world will turn, just without him. It''s also to demonstrate to each other that, when we die, therell be people to remember us. Aclysia either understood or had no more questions about the matter.
They walked away from the alley and into the main city. I guess that makes ya guild leader. Rave said in a bit cheerier tone.
Just like that?
I am not going to do it. She stuck out her tongue, If we ever make it big you get stuck with the paperwork.
Johnughed at that and it felt good tough, even on such a bleak day. Especially on such a bleak day. The people that he thought he knew were no more. Travolta was dead, Jimmie was gone, Victoria a traitor. There were many trials in their future but as long as he could hold Raves hand, maybe that could be dealt with.
Chapter 85 – Season 1 Arc 2 Author’s Note
Chapter 85 C Season 1 Arc 2 Authors Note
HELLO!
You know why I make this opening by the way? Annoy-O-Tron, thats why. Whatever. It is Funatic, WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?! I think I made that joke beforeWhatever.
Arc 2 is over. This Arc was about the whole Abyss bing a bit more real in the most effective way: By showing John that life in the Abyss is at the edge at any given moment. Theoretically that is a lection he already got from the Rockers but honestly getting assaulted and saved within your school is just a few sizes smaller than your Guild Master dying due to magical blood overdose. It also sets the tone for the rest of the Season because trust me: It gets darker before it gets better.
Which is why the next Arc will be called Bloodfallen.wait than makes no sense? Well I originally wanted to call it Sunset but that made even less sense so we go with the topic at hand instead.
This Arc was called As Above so Below as a bad pun. In case you havent gotten it, because it is stupid: The above was Travoltasboratory while the Below was Victoria BELOOzero. They were both lying about their true intentions and what they were doing. Although in thete Baldys case I made this a lot less clear until theter stages of the Arc.
If I had any regrets about the Arc it is pacing. Introducing characters, Levelling up John, keeping the suspense going AND squeezing sex scenes in there proved to be a bit too much in the recipe of writing. I think I barely scrapped it together though but if I ever do an Arc like this again I am going to shave a bit of the erotic and the levelling in favour of character development. I also found out that time skips, which I usually do a lot off because I dont think each day can be filled with adventure when you need to have travel times and all that jazz in mind, are really hard in this story. The simple reason for that is John, him getting gradually stronger instead of at once (like most protagonists) means that timeskips have the distinct possibility of catapulting him thirty levels ahead, literally. Hard to bnce.
I also nerfed Observe in this Arc. I will honest about that fact. Observe being a reliable tool for information gathering makes writing stories like I do really hard. I love me some mysteries and there cant be any If the second he looks at somebody everything is revealed. There are some work-arounds, like SecretBlonde never showing his face or people moving to quick to get it working but I can only do that so often before it gets stale. Better Observe is a good but unreliable tool. It still reveals a lot of stuff, just not all the important bits.
There was a scratched sub-plot about John and Rave getting in trouble for her punching Frank at the end of thest Arc but I deemed it to unimportant to squeeze in there.
So, to summarize the whole Arc:
Travolta got his hands on something he shouldnt have had and while the people he stole it from investigated the whole thing everyone got into trouble and in the Travolta died and Jimmie left the Abyss.
Now its just Rave and John, which, if we are honest, is just about what most of you are interested in anyway. Which I am happy to continue to deliver on for a bit longer.
I would give you an Extended Character Insight but I dont know about who as Victoria will be the one after the next Arc.
Did I mention that the next Arc is called Bloodfallen? Guess where we are going.
The Gamer CHYOA Edition, Funatic Branch, will return to you on the 21. August 2017.
Funatic OUT!
Chapter 86 – Arc 3 Start – Grinding
Chapter 86 C Arc 3 Start C Grinding
Thest Monday of August. The one following Travoltas funeral and Johns promotion to Guild Master. A Monday like most in every regard aside from what had happened yesterday. Because he was, once again, hanging out in the forest with his girlfriend.
They had spent Sunday just cuddling, ying video games, and celebrating life in all ways they could. After that, the urgency of their situation had set back in. Regan projected limited protection over them, but that was only worth so much when dealing with a local powerhouse. The Abyss Auction had a wide reach, but it did not have a deep one. If the Bloodfallen didnt care about getting on their bad side, then there was nothing stopping them from taking the rest of Collide on.
Which meant they had to get stronger.
John had his hand raised to the sky and kept using Create and Escape I.D. as quickly as he could. Which was not that fast. What mattered was the Skill levelling. So how long are you going to do this? Rave asked.
Until I push beyond this weird Gap and we can challenge something that actually gives EXP. John exined and the world shattered around them only for a new wall to be erected in its ce.
And how long is that supposed to be? Rave was apparently bored out of her mind.
I dunno, Gaia is a bit finicky. I dont even strictly know if thisll work. Its either this or we have to kill all the Tier 3 bosses but that feels like too little of a challenge to be it. John had an idea, How about you try patting Copernicus while I keep doing this?
Ya know he wonte out if he doesnt feel like it. Also, if theres a hiker around, Gaia will curse me with several days of bad luck. Maybe make me trip on the road and die.
Point taken. The world shattered over and over while they kept talking.
Have ya spent the newest points yet? Rave asked, just to keep some form of conversation going.
No, I will once I get this done though. John knew that it was stupid but he felt slightly bad about spending the points he got by killing Travolta. What he found much more distressing however was the fact that he even got EXP for killing somebody. That set a terrible precedent. A less moral person with his powers might start assassinating high level people to grind EXP. Gaia is not a particrly nice being, is she?
Hell to the no. Raveughed, Ever seen reality and thought the person in charge of all of this must be real nice? She is a naturalw more than an entity. Without her the Abyss would run over the day-to-day society.
Undoubtedly. John used his free hand to scratch the back of his head, suddenly froze in the motion, and lowered his hand again. He was still trying to get rid of that habit.
What about Aclysias points? Rave asked and pointed at the Artificial Guardian with her head. He let Aclysia answer that one, Master has not yet spent the points my level-ups have granted me. The living figurine exined.
Whyyyyy thoooooooo? Rave drew out the sentence as amentation of boredom.
Because I am not sure whether to increase her Strength or her Intellect. Aclysia you have trouble with your long-term memory, right?
This is correct, master. Things older than one week get hazier as times go by. I dont forgetpletely however.
Sounds normal to me, I cant remember what I ate a week ago. Rave chimed in. Yeah but you can remember the more interesting parts of each day, cant you? John put out the question.
Aaah, so she forgets stuff without differentiating between what is important or unimportant, gotcha.
If I may, Master, Id prefer if you raised my Intellect first. Aclysia stated. John was surprised, that must be the first time Aclysia voiced her preference regarding herself. If that is okay with you, Master. It wont be too helpful for my prime directive, but I believe Id enjoy living more if you did that.
Of course! Okay, so the next goal with you is getting you to 25 Intellect, shouldnt be hard, all things considered, John happily agreed. If there were any magical item drops, it should pull Aclysia up to his level and thus give her the remaining four of the needed fourteen points. Which reminded him of the hate he had for odd 1 floating around in her Stats. John was not a true perfectionist, but that was just offensive.
Now that was interesting on numerous levels. First off: time dtion was a new one. He looked up what he could do with that. The answer was: not too much. Currently his maximum dtion was 5% apparently, interestingly he could only make it so the time inside the barrier passed faster than outside C prolonging the time he had avable for grinding. That meant 3 more minutes per hour. Little things add up. He informed Rave about the new state of affairs. Bullshit. Was her answer, That is Fateweaver stuff. Okay 5% isnt that great, the higher guys are said to make time almost freeze. Still knowing your bullshit ability, you will get there over time.
She probably wasnt wrong. Or maybe she was. When it came to his ability and the reliability of her knowledge, few things were absolutely certain. We will see. Anyway, lets look at what the Monster Spawn List says now.
Interesting. So we can either go into a Dungeon with Floors or Waves. Floors usually are better for farming items in a rxed fashion because they allow you to take breaks while Waves are better for hardcore grinding while you fight endless assaults.
John, my man, my nerd, my boyfriend. Raveughed, I y games too, why are you telling me this?
John blushed a bit before clearing his throat, Just making sure. So I think we should try the Floor first.
Sounds good, whats on the menu?
Skaven.
Rave raised an eyebrow and waited for further exnation. What? I thought you also yed videogames. John teased, You should know this.
Its probably one of those Warhammer things, isnt it?
Ding Ding. John acted like he hit a small gong. 100 points. Skaven are a race of underground dwelling rat-men that try to get their greedy little hands on Warpstone and-
Rat-people. Rave interrupted in an annoyed tone, Got it.
John sighed. It was a tad macabre that he missed Travolta a bit more now. He would never get a chance to nerd out with the man. Chasing those thoughts aside, he remained in reality. Nothing good woulde of getting stuck on grief. Okay, before we go there I should probably spend those points.
Ten points would go into Wisdom. That was his goal: Wisdom 100. If that didnt fix his mana problems he would concentrate on getting Intellect to 100 as well and see where that got him. If it did, he would start pushing his other Stats. Particrly, Endurance and Agility needed some work. With Aclysia and Gnome around he didnt have much use for Strength but dodging and actually living through stuff was important. He was way too much of a ss cannon. I should try pushing that Endurance Achievement I got in the early days a few more levels, he thought as he raised his Wisdom to 100.
Oh, holy mother of everything WHAT?! John quickly added the 1% to Wisdom and that put his total Mana Regeneration at 81 per Minute.
He tapped the right option and now it was a much smaller number that made him feel less grand. Still, what a jump!
You look like Gaia showed her butt to you, Raves puzzledment reminded him of reality. What did that button pushing give ya?
Well, I just more than quadrupled my Mana Regeneration. John realized the absurdity of it as he said that, Apparently Stats at 100 also make simr Stats better. He quickly broke down what the windows had said.
Yeah, still bullshit. I guess that means your mana problem is taken care of for now?
Well. I can use Mana Ray once per Minute so I guess that is good enough for now. John said, a bit hesitatingly. He would only be truly happy if he could throw skills around without thinking much about his MP at all. This would have to suffice for now. Besides, he should probably increase Intellect next to see what the 75 and 100 Synergy Bonuses would be. Well, if he wanted mana, that was. After a short contemtion, he decided against it.
Okay, next goal is Endurance 25! An Efficiency Upgrade for his Health Pool should make him sturdier and afterwards he would start jogging or something to get The Muscle of the Operation up. Thebination of the two should make him capable of taking at least a few stray hits. Maybe his physique would get a bit more impressive too. He started on that immediately, putting the remaining 5 points into the Stat.
Okay, I am ready, how about you?
Way ahead of ya!
I will follow, Master.
I am here, John.
With the agreement of all parties, save Copernicus who probably didnt care, John opened his first actual Dungeon.
Chapter 87 – The Skaven Under-Empire
Chapter 87 C The Skaven Under-Empire
Huh. John wondered as he lowered his arm, I expected something to happen. He was still in the same forest as before. Yes, he was inside an Illusion Barrier, but there were neither enemies nor any other anomalies. At least, he didnt see one.
Master, I feel obligated to inform you about Aclysia spoke up behind him.
John turned to her and saw it. It was a sloped catb entrance with an opened iron gate, all old grey stone and menacing. Thanks, Aclysia.
The giant entrance behind you, Aclysia finished her sentence anyway, like usual. I am happy to be of use. She said with a bow. He gestured for her to take the lead and they stepped down into the catbs.
The air inside theplex was cold and dank. Moss and small mushrooms covered the ancient-looking stone and the withered wood respectively. Everything was illuminated by lines of crystal, pulsing in an infrequent beat. They were set into the walls and sturdy. No matter how much Rave tried to pull one out, they didnt budge. The Gaia-made dungeon was near impossible to mess with.
Dirt crunched softly under their feet, as the trio turned the first corner. They came face to face with their first group of enemies. Around a metre tall and furry, the group of rat-people walked on their back feet while their frontal ws had changed to something resembling a four-fingered hand. They wore rough brown cloaks and stared at the intruders of their realm with hatred.
Society? Gaia even simted those? If things continued in this fashion he would eventually ask himself if it was ethical to create these Dungeons only to close them afterwards. Either that or all of this was just vour text.
The Skaven ran at them and John decided he could ask questionster. Part of the dirt on the ground pulled together into the form of a little girl, his earth elemental answering the call as reliably as ever. Rave stumbled over Gnome. Watch where ya put her! sheined as she saved herself by turning the fall into a somersault. It artfully transitioned into a hammering descent of her heel on one of the Skavens heads. The rat man was mmed into the ground by the impact and then ended by the force of the ripple that followed each of Raves kicks.
Sorry! John apologized as he became aware of a severe limitation down here. The passages were only wide enough for two people to stand next to each other and there was no open room in sight. Rave was fine fighting against the much weaker opponent on her own but the Skaven had the theoretical advantage as they could field more of their wed hands at the front lines than they could.
Aclysia especially, seemed to have problems. The Sword of Glory was simply too long to be effectively swung in this situation and she didnt seem to realize that. It seemed like her ability to analyse situations was still pretty minimal, just another reason to raise her Intellect to 25.
Gnome, cover our rear. Aclysia, give me the sword and just punch them to death with Dragonscale fists instead. John sent out hismands over the mental connection he had with them. The newbat formation was quickly taken. Aclysia did little more than cover Raves nk, as the Lightbearer butchered the Lower Skaven with quick attacks. Bursts of sunlight from her hands and disrupting ripples from her kicks made easy work of the enemies.
One of the Skaven turned around and tried to run but John used Possession on his cloak and used it to entangle him before using Mana Ray at the immobilized target. Aclysia crushed thest Skavens head with devastating punches.
John scanned the loot while thanking whatever power was listening that they had gotten their firstbat experience in this environment against such easy enemies. Tripping over Gnome could have been a fatal mistake for Rave against foes that were smart and fast enough to take advantage. Simrly, in a real fight Aclysia would have hardly had time to just give him the Sword of Glory in the heat of battle. Tossing it would have been the next best choice.
He noticed a window popping up once he picked up the meagre bit of Loot.
That was really nice. If Gaia stayed course he would gain a third possible possession at level 100. Made John wonder if 100 was the maximum level. From what it currently looked like, Artificial Spirit, a.k.a. Aclysia, would reach that goal first. However, he still had no idea what levels in that actually did. He should use Enchant on Aclysia soon and find out. On her creation, there had been mention that it would do something.
They continued their march through the first floor without much resistance. The enemies of the Floor were of the fourth Tier and therefore ranged from level 21 to 25. Only the higher levels gave individual Experience even worth a thought. Thankfully, the Skaven were numerous. The drop chances seemed to be really bad, but they gave little Experience in big quantities.
They went through passage after passage of the undergroundplex and finally came across a room. The walls were the same nk stone as the rest of the dungeon and the only thing inside there was a chest. This stinks. Rave said. Yep. John agreed. Big rooms with treasure inside usually had a trap or boss of some kind in dungeon-based games. Either this was a lucky find or enemies would spawn once they either set foot into the room or opened the chest.
As it stood though, they were way over levelled for this Dungeon so testing the waters was not as dangerous as it seemed. Especially as they had the perfect bait. Aclysia, I want you to go into the room and look for enemies. If there arent any, open the chest. If enemies spawn, try to get back here.
Understood, Master. Aclysia went after John returned the sword to her. The room was big enough to justify using it.
Aclysia set foot into the room. Nothing happened. She slowly crossed over to the two metre long wooden chest with the rusty metal bindings. Still nothing happened. She opened the curved lid. Suddenly: Rats. Not Skaven but the Big Rats they had fought in the Tier 3 Dungeon fell from the ceiling and jumped at Aclysia. Something roared in the passage behind John and Rave.
The Gamer whirled around to see an unholy mixture of rat and wolf sprinting towards them. Its ck fur was patchy and wildly unkempt, the whiskers pulled back as the yellow, sick teeth in its mouth stuck out like broken shards of bone.
John was happy to see that thing for a simple reason: It would give him a Level Up. Jane, you help Aclysia. Gnome and I will take care of this! John instructed and already sent Gnome mana to erect an obstacle for the Rat-Wolf. Got it! Rave eximed and jumped into the fray behind him.
There was not much earth around to be moved, but the thin wall he created still slowed down the Rat-Wolf long enough to allow John to finish the charge time of Mana Ray. The attack hit the creature in the head, searing arge part of the left side of its skull.
Now partially blind, the Rat-Wolf growled in anger and pain. Training its one good eye on him, the monster resumed its charge. John had hoped for it to at the very least slow down enough for a second Mana Ray to go off but the creature wouldnt let him. It snapped at his arm and John lowered his hand quickly to get away from the fearsome teeth. The Mana Ray shot uselessly into the floor.
The Rat-Wolf attempted to set after him. It jumped, then got stuck and pulled back by the small girl it had either overlooked or ignored. In either case, it was yanked back by the hindleg.
John started to charge up a third Mana Ray as the Rat-Wolf snapped its teeth just out of reach of his hand again and again, unaware of the danger it was in. Just what NPC logic do these things operate under? Does it want to eat me or does it just go full attack mode when it sees a yer? John wondered.
Mana Ray triggered at an opportune moment,ncing the open maw of the monster. Destructive arcane energy seared the monsters insides, from teeth to the gullet. John was about to prepare a fourth attack when the Rat-Wolf copsed, the internal injuries taking their toll. Like all Instant Dungeon enemies, it turned into dust, then into nothing.
Perfect, he had been running low on mana and the level immediately set him back to full. He turned around to see Rave and Aclysia easily taking care of the remaining enemies. The Big Rats had been absolutely no challenge in their own dungeon. The new environment didnt change that. Soon, it was all cleared and John could walk forwards.
Am I getting more toned or am I just imagining things? John asked, poking his biceps. He had immediately put the new Stat Points into Endurance. Theck of answer caused him to look up, as he approached the rest of his party. Rave and Aclysia were staring into the chest with wide eyes. Stepping between them, he joined them in staring.
Inside the chestid a woman. Her skin was of slightly brownish tone, like a tanned Latina, and her long, wild hair of such fiery orange that it glowed like magma in the dim light of the catbs. As a matter of fact, John was pretty sure that it actually glowed. The hair framed an attractive, mildly aged face, thirty-something by Johns visual estimation. Her remaining features made it clear that the woman wasnt a human.
The womans curves were partly covered in obsidian scales, running up her sides and arms, and extending as curved spikes that grew out of her shoulders. Her big breasts were only half-covered, hiding her nipples but revealing the cleavage as well as a huge ember coloured stone that glowed above the valley of the tanned mounds. The scales also covered the sides of her face up to the base of her long and pointy elf-like ears. Three horns grew from her head, two long ones curving back at the back (although one had broken off) and a smaller, pointier one on the middle of her forehead.
Her eyebrows, unnaturally long (to the point where they extended past her skin and just continued on) quivered. A displeased sound rumbled in her throat. Her eyelids shifted. A momentter she opened them and pressed her intensely red lips together disapprovingly. They were luscious, sultry things regardless.
Incandescent eyes stared up at them. Pools ofva that were reddish-orange at the edge, turning white-gold at the centre. They beheld the trio with annoyance and contemtion, like an animal choosing what to do next. Reddish orange magma began to glow between the scales covering her and heat began to radiate from her.
It was toote to run now.
Chapter 88 – How to not get violently murdered by a dragon
Chapter 88 C How to not get violently murdered by a dragon
The Fire of Destruction rose from the rusty chest and stretched. The obsidian scales clicked and cked as she did, revealing more of theva-like glow between. John had the first look at her hands. The scales covered her arms in a spikey surface, ending in very sharp looking ws of coal ck.
Nathalia let out a yawn and a sulphuric yellow cloud left her mouth. I must have slept for a while for my fire to need rekindling, she muttered and beat her chest a couple of times. When next she yawned, there was a small cascade of fire, streaming harmlessly up from her lips.
Her voice was raspy and on the deep side for a woman. It possessed a natural sultriness and a hint of vocal fry. It would have been enticing had her power not been so terrifying. Obsidian d feet hit the ground with a sharp scratching sound. Her eyes scanned the room, barely stopping at the three people next to her. It felt like she was noticing them as much as a human would take stock of an individual tree in andscape.
Where have I ended up this time? she thought out loud, tilting her head back slightly. John began to realize how tall she was. Taller than him, by a hand width, and that was ignoring the horns. Her wild orange mane cascaded as she rolled her neck. It reeks of Gaia.
The heat her body radiated had reached a point where it was warming up the entire room. John felt like he was standing next to a heater. Despite the terrible situation he was (probably) in, John couldnt help but note the gap between the scales that covered her crotch and her thighs.
Not the time to stare at the sexy dragons thighs. John mustered his courage and cleared his throat. May I make the request that you dont kill us?
No answer but the redheaded dragons eyes snapped to him and it made him feel various things. Primarily her direct attention was making it hard to breathe.
Now my food wants to speak to me, what insolence, does nobody know who I am?
You are Nathalia, the Fire of Destruction. John said, hoping that would endear him in some way.
-56 HP.
His back hit the wall. Hard. It hurt worse than the bullet he had been hit by days earlier and probably wasparable to getting run into by a car. John had no idea what had just happened, but he knew there was a w on his throat. It seared his flesh. It crushed his windpipe. He struggled. The tall woman held him against the wall. His feet kicked the air. His HP bar gradually decreased. The pain was terrible.
Nathalias face twisted into a grin. Interesting.
The heat reduced to being merely ufortable, stopping his HP decrease. He was left at 43 HP. Lowered just enough that he could stand without getting choked to death, the Gamer quickly turned his head and coughed away from the dragoness. His life was quite literally in her hands. Behind the redhead, Aclysia was stillpletely frozen, while Rave stared wide-eyed.
You answer my questions then, little human, her voice took a different tone, dangerous still but also patient. The look in her eyes made it clear that this patience was thin. Where are we?
T-the United States of America, John gave a broad answer.
Nathalia furrowed her eyebrows, only presenting her next question after some contemtion, where is that supposed to be?
Ehm, North America, Northern Hemisphere? John was confused and dared to ask, What year did you start your slumber?
You think I would know of your ridiculous system to count time?
Well, you do seem to speak ournguage. The pain on his throat red up again as Nathalia pulled back her lips and growled. Her teeth were much sharper than those of most humans, the canines more pronounced.
I speak Draconian, you measly mortal. Thank Romulus for blessing you humans with the gift to understand us, she lectured him. I would never stoop so low to learn whatever one of your tongues you speak. John wished he would get information like that in less threatening situations. His HP ticked down to 39 before the pain stopped. Thest event I recall of your realm is the fall of Constantinople at the hand of the Sultanate.
Oh, well, that was only roughly 600 years ago. You are on the other side of the. John cut the exnation short. That may not be the most urate estimate but Nathalia let him go and John dropped to the floor rubbing his throat.
Nathalia grabbed his face and forced him to expose his neck. You suffered no burnswhat is your name?
John Newman, he said. He was going to y this as low risk as he could and that meant not presenting any lies that could possibly be detected. The dragoness turned from him and stared at Rave, who looked like she was torn between being frozen in terror and attacking Nathalia to help him. Aclysias eyes remained locked on the inside of the now empty chest.
Mhm, I guess this is your girlfriend from the way she almost has enough courage to attack me. Cute. Nathalia sashayed towards the pink-haired woman, swinging the perfect curves of her scale-covered ass with every step. She brushed over Raves cheek in passing. Then walking up to Aclysia she said, This one is interesting. She is part dragon, but infinitely weaker than the weakest of my kin. A golem? Of Akkadian style? Did you make her, John Newman?
Yes, he confirmed.
Nathalia put her hand on Aclysias chin and inspected her. The head of the maid turned without resistance. It seems my presence has caused her to pass out. Just adorable.
She circled back around Rave. It would be a shame to eat you. Humans are far from my favourite meal. Nathalia licked her lips. Its been too long though and I need something inside me. Her wed hands grabbed Rave by the shoulders. The maw parted wide. Those sharp teeth would be able to rend flesh, raw or not. Rave tried to struggle but there was nothing she could do.
WAIT! John shouted.
Nathalias mouth closed with an audible ck. She stared expectantly, one eyebrow raised. Simultaneously, Rave squirmed under the heated grasp of the Fire of Destruction.
I know you have another desire besides hunger! John dered and for once he was angling at sex because of a reason other than his own Libido.
Nathalia sized him up once, then grinned and let go of Rave. The ws left behind burned imprints on her shoulders. You must know a little bit about me, Ill give you credit for that much, she strutted back over to him. Youre not a particrly impressive specimen. Still, letting you try wont waste any more of my time than sleeping already has. Very well.
Nathalia extended her hand to the side. Orange magic gathered beyond her fingertips. Clenching her fingers, she concentrated it into one spot. A part of the nearby floor began to glow. For a moment, the dragoness seemed confused, then she shook her head, as if discarding something annoying. She raised up her hand and the glowing piece of the floor rose with it. Once it cooled, a rectangr stone tform was left behind, about the height of Johns hips.
Lets hear what you think about this. Nathalia rolled her head slowly, until her gaze fell on Rave again. What would you rather: be eaten or watch me ruin your boyfriend forever? she chuckled to herself.
Ya can try! Rave found her voice again. She hated being challenged, even if it was by a ten-thousand-year-old dragon of death and destruction. Which she didnt know, but she must have guessed that they had no chance of getting out of this otherwise. Lets see ya ruin my man.
Nathalia chuckled and turned away. With long, swinging strides, she made her way to the stone table and elegantly seated herself upon it. With her ws, she gestured for him toe hither. Because he had no other choice, and because his dick at this point overtook part of the thinking function, he did.
I fear I am a bit stiff after sleeping for so long, the dragoness sighed and lied down on her chest, Show your attentiveness, mortal.
John was a bit dumbfounded by the request but mumbled, If thats what you want.
He had gained a bit of confidence in his massaging skills over the past weeks. This was different from giving Rave a backrub though. Everything was on the line here. He either pleased this dragoness or this was the end of him. A desperate wish to be the best possible manifested in a window popping up.
His hands, instead of just going through the motions, suddenly understood the stiff muscle tissue underneath and how to pressure it in order to loosen it up. Nathalia softly gasped in reaction to his changed approach. Mhm, and here I thought I already needed to change my mind, she purred as his hand relieved ancient pressure from her lower back.
His hands slowly made their way upwards, along her spine, massaging the parts not covered by the obsidian scales. He stayed as far away from the sharp looking cover as he could; his HP pool was low enough as it was. As he applied soft force to the muscles in her left shoulder, the scales started to shrink away. As his hands kept probing and rubbing her soft and smooth skin, more and more of the hard scales vanished. It was an interesting sight. The warmth in the room was gradually less because of her and more because of the heat creeping up from his loins.
The ability to stay calm under pressure was one John was quite thankful for. He wouldnt have guessed it woulde in so handy when he had to perform a sexual service on an ancient dragoness. A little bit more of his newfound massaging knowledge surfaced and he concentrated on the redheads shoulders and upper back. Even though she was far above any human, she gasped at the deliberate attention to the muscles responsible for carrying her sizable breasts.
Since his work obviously had the intended effect, John allowed himself a moment to marvel at what he was doing. The light-brown skin of the dragoness seemed to glow from within under his hands and indeed it felt like her body temperature was several degrees higher than a normal humans.
Where the scales vanished, normal skin appeared. Theva was pulled under her surface, its temperature tamed into something not harmful to him. Each revealed bit of skin gave John new ces to massage and thus opportunities to lure more of the soft gasps from Nathalias lips. Guided by the vanishing scales, his hands travelled all over her body. Until the ones covering her butt vanished.
He gulped, he knew what he had bargained for but now it seemed to get serious. Dont hesitate or I might remember my other cravings, Nathalia reminded him with a throaty giggle.
Here goes nothing John thought and glided his hands over her cheeks. They were as soft as he had dreamt. Despite being here to pleasure her, he couldnt help but dig his fingers into that plush backside. She had even more size to her rump than Aclysia, although that could be owed to her being taller overall, rather than being even more bottom heavy. The hourss figure her curves drew was luscious, more worthy of a subus than a dragon.
Mhm, I feel you enjoy this. Nathalia purred as John kept kneading her ass with all the love he had for the female backside. Twin hills of Mediterranean brown, getting reshaped and jiggling under his grasp. He let go, ran his hands around the sides, and just watched in fascination as the abundant meat shifted. Entranced, John only remembered his duty when Nathalia raised her voice. Enough of that! Swiftly, he drew his hands back. Nathalia turned onto her back. Continue here, she said, softer, and gestured at herself. From therge breasts down the athletic stomach, to the crotch covered in obsidian.
Starting with her bare midriff, he rubbed the hardened muscles up and down, adding circr movements of his fingertips where necessary. The motions pushed back the stress and scales alike until the only scales remaining on her torso were those on her nipples and her pussy. The former was revealed first, showing dark brown nipples with a pinkish tint. Nathalia stared at him with heated passion. A challenge. Did he dare? He did.
Like with her ass, the softness of her tits was amazing but he felt something beyond the soft perfection of her big breasts. The heat, so much closer to her heart. Each drum drove the magma-like blood through veins. It was like he was on the verge of a crater and a pool of burning bliss was just one step, one dive, away.
Thest bit of volcanic ss vanished from her crotch and John slowly let one hand travel down, keeping his eye contact with the dragoness the whole time. Her stare seared into his soul and stoked the mes of his lust. Two fingers circled her clit, again with newfound expertise. I have a Skill for all aspects of sex now, John thought. He felt a perverted rush at the realization.
Lower! Nathalia half pleaded and halfmanded. John was happy to oblige and travelled down to her brownish red pussy lips. Rubbing along the length of her slit with skilled movements, for a few minutes he brought the dragoness ever closer to release. She snapped at the slow treatment. TEASE ME NO LONGER! she roared, mming a fist on the table. A chunk of it splintered off.
As calm as his Wisdom allowed him to be, which was very calm, Johnplied. A long, relieved sigh went through Nathalias shuddering body as two of his fingers pushed into her wet cunt. In and out of her, they danced. She was unbelievably hot, hotter even than Aclysia when her Inner me reached its zenith, shortly before orgasm. They worked simrly in that regard, it appeared.
Yes yesssss! AAAAHHHH! The dragoness'' back arched off the tform. ws cut trenches into the solid rock, as if it was sand. Screaming loudly, she pressed against his fingers. He kept massaging her insides at a steady pace, prolonging the orgasm for as long as possible. With a Libido of 130 her sensitivity must have been insane and the sheer depth and lengths of her bliss only proved this.
John had no more possibility to marvel at her sinful body. Suddenly, he was pulled downwards into a heated kiss. Nathalias tongue was quick to invade his mouth and from it fire spread through his body. His senses went into overdrive and he greedily met her with his own tongue as he dug a hand into her orange hair.
Nathalia swung her hips off the table and set a w between his corbones. With incredible precision, she pulled the finger downwards, cutting only the fabric of his shirt. His skin only experienced a mild tingling. With his trousers she was more delicate, opting to open them the traditional way after fidgeting a bit, not understanding the wonder that was a zipper.
Once his pants were down, Nathalia gave him a once over again. Not bad, she said in regards to his cock. Scrawny, however. She pushed him softly, forcing him to take a step backwards. That gave her just enough time to turn around and bend over the table, presenting her round ass to the now naked John. She sent her long hair flying with a strong movement of her neck and then grinned over her shoulder. Take me.
No need to be told that twice. John grabbed her by the wide hips and he aligned his cock with her cunt. She was dripping wet and only became more so with every passing second. Love fluids were running down her thick thighs in steady trickles. She really was a nymphomaniac force of nature.
Slowly, he pushed inside. Her walls were quivering from the initial pration alone and John lost himself in the mind melting heat that surrounded him. It only got stronger as he pushed deeper. The Blessing she had given him added its own degree of intensity.
Oh, yes! Nathalia groaned, ws sping around the edge of the table. Fuck me John!
Your wish is mymand, John returned, as he slowly pulled out. She wanted to be fucked? He would give her as much as he could. Immediately after the next plunge, he started to take the dragoness hard.
Her pussy was out of this world, both literally and figuratively. It was tight enough to make each thrust the most heavenly torture and yet loose enough to make the movements easy, wet enough for him to push into her with enough lubrication but not so overly drenched that the pleasuring friction was lost.
Again and again he pushed inside, moaning as he did, and each time he was sheathed balls deep inside her. Nathalias back bent into a low curve. She screamed and screamed at the ceiling. Incoherent grunts and otherworldly sybles echoed off the walls. To say she had a hair trigger was understating it. From the moment his cock had touched herbia, the dragoness had been cumming her brains out.
The quick, rhythmic thrust made her ass ripple. He coaxed from her several long moans. He wasnt meant tost but he had to. Not to satisfy her, the thought of survival had long since wandered into the back of his mind, just to taste more of this Abyssal pleasure. He had no other words to describe it. It was the very height of what he could have imagined.
Still, he kept hammering into her, running on willpower alone. Her screams and moans, gasps and screams, they were his fuel as he kept going and going. He buried himself inside her, the whole length of his dick all the way to the base, always following the melody of their hips shing. He was a ve to the pleasure of her writhing walls. The infrequent contractions around his dick betrayed her repeated orgasms.
One of these thrusts was too much. At the edge, John stopped, trying to hold on for a little longer. Nathalia must have felt it and, despite her many spasms, she demandingly thrust back at him.
FILL! His shaft throbbed ecstatically, ME! His seed boiled, wanting to escape its tight confinement, UP! Intensely, his seed exploded into her. Spurt for spurt of white seed, tainting the insides of the dragoness deepest, most private parts.
The Gamer grit his teeth and suddenly started thrusting again. He wanted more and he would take more. Even as he was cumming inside her, even as the ends of his oversensitive nerves tingled, he only cared about pounding her hard. Animalistic urges kept him moving. A second orgasm was building right after the first. The kind of multi-orgasmic pleasure he didnt think he could achieve.
Nathalia screamed ever louder, in disbelief and passion, as he fucked her with reckless abandon. He mmed into her onest time, letting the second orgasm renew the intensity with which he was pumping his cum into her clenching cunt. A release of hot pussy juices gushed against his legs. Each time he pumped his seed into her, she squirted for him. The convulsion of her luscious curves was powerful. Even after she had wrung thest drop from him, she remained a quivering mess.
Oh for..oh.in my name.this is. She gasped and slowly found her breath again. A little shove made John pull out, watching from two steps away as Nathalias spasms slowly ebbed away. The double load he had pumped into her trickled from her agape cunt.
For as long as the view remained, he enjoyed it. Even a nymphomaniac with 10000 years of experience was a trembling mess after he was through with her. To say he got an ego boost out of it would have been a vast understatement.
Regardless, all good things had toe to an end. The scales spread up her limbs again, then covered her sides and her naughty bits, until she was just as covered as before. Little as it was, theyer between her extremely sensitive sex and the air seemed enough to allow her to calm.
Hah, she exhaled a final time before regaining herposure. Wow, you are the second mortal to ever make me squirt, John and on your first attempt. She hesitatingly praised, Good. too good. She was thinking about something and John was sure he probably wouldnt like the result.
Chapter 89 – For reasons of growth
Chapter 89 C For reasons of growth
It would be a shame to let you go. Nathalia stood tall and crossed her arms over her scaled boobs, Therefore you wille with me.
Ehm, dont I get a say in this? John tried to make his opinion heard. Nathalia raised one of her long eyebrows,
What? You are going to decline?
If that is an option? The Gamer looked over to Rave. Between death and following the ancient dragoness, he would choose thetter, but he really did not want to be separated from his girlfriend.
Nathalia was instantly in his face and stared him down. She truly was tall, doubly so for a woman. It made him gulp. Her golden pupils searched in his brown eyes for the truth as she continued probing. Was this not the greatest sex youve ever had? John shot another, slightly guilty nce at Rave. Quickly, his eyes were forced back by Nathalia grabbing his chin. Look at me, John Newman and answer. There was no magic in her voice, just the cold, impatient threat of somebody with powers of cataclysmic destruction.
Yes, it was, he answered truthfully.
What he just had experienced was greater than anything he had done with Aclysia and Rave. There was something missing in it, the emotional note, but on raw physical satisfaction it had been intense. Yet you do not wish to taste this every day?
I do, but he hesitated.
What, small one? Speak clear, my patience runs thin.
I love her! John justified his decision, while blushing slightly. I love Jane, it doesnt matter if the sex with you is much better if I feel nothing for you!
Nathalia let go of his face and turned to Rave. That little girl.
Yeah, this little girl! Rave raised her voice and hurried over to John to hug him. Still my man, ya oldie. Now go crawl into another chest, he made his decision! She stuck her tongue out to the dragoness.
Nathalias eye twitched. The entire undergroundplex shook. I dont care about your decision! she growled and the trembling intensified.
A sound like a geyser ofva, and a long ck tail burst from her hips, a sharp thing of polished ck, ded segments. Momentster the skeletal outline of wings extended from her upper back. As they spread out, membranes of molten rock spread between the fingers. The shaking reached a level where it was hard for John to stand.
You mortals trifle and ridicule me? Me, a high dragon of ancient times. Me, the Fire of Destruction. Me, Nathalia?! I should reduce your bodies to ashes and bury you in the sands of time. I should watch you join Remus in eternally living and dying. Mongrels, a thousand times you will experience incineration, and your bodies being pieced together again ember by em-
Sol waspletely right about you. The quivering suddenly stopped and everyone looked at the cat between them. Copernicuszily lied on his side and yed with his tail.
What do you know of Sol, cat? Nathalia asked.
Name is Copernicus. Hate to see you too. The sr cat meowed. There was a slight trembling but Nathalia kept herself under control.
Exin, she demanded.
Before I went and made my contract with this annoyance of a Lightbearer
Hey! Rave was pissed enough as is without gettingints from her cat.
You are both equally annoying. Continue! Nathalia shouted thest word, her wings spreading violently, scatteringva behind her.
I asionally got to speak to Sol and she told me that youre an egotistical, short-wired anarchist who would have been better off as a nymph or subus, Copernicus finished quickly.
Radiant cunt, Nathalia cursed. Still, what do I care? These mortals are mine to kill or enve how I wish. Sol is with Romulus on the other side of the. It is not like they enjoy his personal protection.
John saw a shimmer of light and cleared his throat. Actually! He started and pulled the attention of the dragoness back to him, he is interested in me.
Nathalia narrowed her eyes, Can you prove that?
He could, thanks to the wonders of the 21st Century. Jane, could I borrow your phone for a moment? His still didnt have the capability to receive signals inside an Illusion Barrier.
Sure, here ya go. Jane gave it to him with a grin.
John opened the Discord and scrolled to the name list. He turned the screen to Nathalia. See?
What even is this? Nathalia asked, inspecting the phone from multiple angles. She put a w on the disy. Then she tilted her head. John distantly caught that the device was reading Nathalias aura. A momentter, words appeared on the screen at rapid speed. Nathalia growled as she read them, her w etching a trench into the ss. Fine! she spat out and pulled her hand back. Latebloomer. Romulus protects you. The Abyss Auction makes that much clear.
Just how old is the Abyss Auction? John asked himself for the first time. If Nathalia knew what they were, that made them at least 560 years old. He and Rave both rxed tremendously, as the wings and the tail both copsed back into the dragoness body.
You have his attention and there are people who dont want you removed before your time Nathalia crossed her arms again, thoughtfully shifting her hips to the left. Yet still, I want you, John.
We can repeat this anytime, he willingly offered.
No. The denial came swift. I want you, John Newman. I will use that cock of yours for as much relief as it can bring me. Romulus be damned, the fool can try catching me. The other side of the is a long distance away, even for him. Nathalias stomach growled and she eyes Rave hungrily. I really dont have a taste for humans, but
John raised his arm in front of Rave, If you touch her you can forget ever getting what you want from me.
I get what I want, little one. I always get what I want, Nathalia growled in the tone of a woman that really was not used to makingpromises. Give me a great reason to march out of here to find food.
His mind was racing. There must be a way to get out of this, something that would convince Nathalia to leave him alone, something that she wanted. Some way to appeal to her pride and lust simultaneously.
It gets better! John eximed and Nathalia raised an eyebrow.
What now? Just exin, don''t make me ask for everything. Her patience was clearly at an end. I am too hungry for this!
I have an Innate Ability, things I do get better by repetition. If you just leave me alone for a while, the next time we meet will be even better for you. John made his case.
If it gets better by repetition, you can just fuck me every day, Nathalia countered and crossed her arms again. Just another reason to keep you, if anything.
That is true, but I am also able to increase my abilities by killing monsters, my Strength for example. Nathalia hesitated and John knew that he almost had her. Think about it Nathalia, if you just leave me running around, I could give you a proper pounding. I could fix being scrawny. All you need to do is check on me when it pleases you and I will be better than before.
The dragoness was in deep thought. True, your thrusts, while pleasurable, were not especially impressive, she mumbled to herself. Then she nodded. Fine then, John. I will find you again in a few weeks to check on your progress. John was almost at ease. Girl, tell me your name.
Jane Hollmey, Rave said in a challenging tone.
John admired her for her bravery most of the time but sometimes it crossed over to being thick. This whole situation had just been dragged from the edge of catastrophe.
Jane. You either work on bing worthy of pleasuring me too or prepare to be removed from this mans life. That was all Nathalia had to say to her. Ignoring Ravesints, she turned back to John. Can somebody assist you in the process of killing monsters or do you need to absorb the souls of the fallen personally like my brother Tilgun?
I need to invite you to my group Confusion in her golden eyes, John decided to just show it to her. Invite Nathalia.
Nathalia looked with even more confusion and bewilderment at a spot in the air. She clicked ept and was added to the group. I take it now you would profit from the murdering of foes?
That is correct. John had no idea how he ended up with a dragon in his party but that is how these things went sometimes. We should try finding the bo-
Nathalia stomped once and suddenly EXP started rolling in.
All the enemies on thisyer of existence are dead. Nathalia stated. I am leaving your group. The verbal statement was registered by the system. Nathalia was promptly removed from the menu she had just entered. I give you that as my gift for a nice awakening. I also gift you this. She bit into the back of her hand and pulled out a single one of her scales. Theva underneath pulsed once and then a new one grew in its ce. She handed the thumb sized shard of obsidian to John. Do not lose it or give it away. I will know and my wrath will know no bounds. She nced over to the still frozen Aclysia. You can feed it to that Artificial Spirit of yours. It should be safe there. Immediately after saying that, she turned her deliciously plump rear towards them. I will find you again. Do not disappoint me, John Newman.
Long struts brought her down the corridor. Her ming hair kept her visible, beyond the mild illumination of the crystals. Once she vanished around the corner, John finally allowed himself to rx fully. He was at ease.
Which prompted a flood of windows.
Chapter 90 – A Murder of Windows
Chapter 90 C A Murder of Windows
Gnome, do me a favour and gather all the items on the floor. John absent-mindedlymanded while he went over his rewards. This was some good stuff. Like, seriously great. Like, seriously incredible. He felt like he had just identally cleared endgame content. He epted the Quest, applied the percentage bonuses to Wisdom and started with the scale Nathalia had left him with.
That was a strictly better Dragonscale. Really, that was all there was to it. Although that bit of keeping an eye on him was slightly distressing. Inner Inferno was a better version of Inner Fire, Steelskin of Ironhide, Elemental Resistance 6 was obviously better than 3, Godly Mana was something he would love to have and.
What the hell was Touch of the Abyss?
So it is a better version of Phasing? John asked himself and put the Shard away to give to Aclysiater. He felt that it was a worthwhile endeavour and trying to escape from Nathalia seemed to be a suicidal act at best and bing an eternal sex ve at worst. No, wasnt that supposed to be the other way around? John shook his head to get his penis out of his decision-making process and looked at the two items the Achievements had earned him. First, was the Rare Equipment piece.
The Attributes were boring but +5 HP per minute was pretty hefty as far as he was concerned. He handed the gloves to Rave. These will heal you, he exined with a look at the hand shaped burns on her arm and neck.
Bullshit. Raveughed and put them on. The edges of the burns started glowing green and closed ever so slowly. It was like watching grass grow. He knew it was happening, but looking at it he didnt notice.
Next was the Ne of the World Ender. John looked at the thing dangling from his hand. It was a fine chain of a ck metal with a roughly worked orange stone dangling from it that reminded him of the one set between Nathalias corbones.
That was absurdly good. And it was not even fully powered? What the hell would the other 3 then do to it? Master, that thing scares me.
He raised his head to see Aclysia, who had finally snapped back to reality. She beheld the ne with a distressed look. Not just that C his Artificial Guardian was shivering in genuine fear. Was that still the dragon instinct inside her?
It is just an item, nothing terrifying. John tried to calm her and took a step towards her, ne in hand. She took two steps back. John was torn between putting the ne away for her sake or getting her used to it right now. In the end he decided to do thetter. Aclysia, do you trust me?
Of course, Master.
Then close your eyes and extend your hand. With heavy breaths, she did and John calmly walked up to her and put the ne into her open palm. Open your eyes again. Aclysia stared at the ne in her hand in a mixture of terror and confusion. See? Just a piece of metal and stone. Nothing to be scared about. He gave her a calming smile, before taking it back from the slowly nodding Aclysia.
Is it good tho? Rave asked and tossed John his pants and shoes. Right, he was still naked. She also showed him his ruined shirt. Seems like ya will go home in a stylish jacket. She giggled while looking at the cut.
Will I? John mused and took it from her after putting the rest of his clothes on. He put it on the stone table and used Craft.
Oh cool, he didnt know he had ess to magical dry cleaning. He did that and Repair (he had the mana to spare right now) and was presented with a perfectly unwrinkled and clean blue shirt. Which he put on. Tada! He eximed but Rave clicked her tongue in response.
I was looking forward to ya running through the city half naked.
What? Am I getting punished? John asked while spending the new five points he got from Nathalias purge of the floor in Endurance, reaching the needed 25 points.
He put on the ne and checked out his new total Stats. The Blessing had run out at this point.
That was pretty good. His Health Pool was no longer wet noodles. Which reminded him that, if he hadnt increased his Endurance earlier that day, Nathalia would have murdered him with herva hands. A fortunate circumstance.
Raves wounds were about a quarter closed at this point. John pulled the Shard of Destruction from his inventory. He wanted to hand it to Aclysia but the artificial being shunned away again.
Aclysia. John said patiently, Its just like the ne, an item, nothing more. He was not quite sure about that in this case, actually, but he wanted to believe it and he certainly wanted to not piss off a level 666 dragoness. A few moments passed by during which John was almost sure that this would be the first time Aclysia would outright defy an order. Then she grabbed the scale and in an overly hasty motion threw it into her mouth.
She gulped down and the windows rolled in. They were the same assortment as thest time she had eaten something dragon rted. Aside from the flood of level ups, there was one that informed him of Aclysia being unable to overtake him in level and the other asking him which Attributes he wanted.
He made the easy decisions first and reced Phasing, Elemental Resistance 3 and Ironhide with their respective upgrades. Then he had to think about it for a moment. Fire Immunity he couldnt rece with Fire Immunity so that was useless, however Inner Inferno was an interesting one. Inner Fire had given Aclysia human like body temperature, would Inner Inferno push her to the same feverish temperatures he had experienced while touching Nathalia? If yes, he was pretty sure he did not want that, radiating such heat all the time was bound to get him into trouble with Gaia eventually. He therefore denied that and Godly Mana and ended up with an upgraded list of Attributes as well as 25 points to spare.
Oh, and this little window.
Which was nothing short of horrifying. +75% Libido, that was likea lot. Still though, it was too attractive to pass up (and his dick wiggled his way back into his decision making) so he clicked on Shard of Destruction. He eyed up Aclysia but the Artificial Guardian didnt change in behaviour. It would probably only be noticeable once they had sex again. She was too stressed out right now to be in the mood.
He sighed and spent fourteen of her points on Intellect. Aclysias eyes opened wide. I can remember clearly now. How terrible I almost forgot so many things, the day I was created, our first time. She whispered and bowed deeply. Thank you, Master. The world is a little easier to understand now.
I would be sad too if you forgot, you know. John patted her on the head.
What he said. Rave stepped in and hugged Aclysia, rubbing her face on the artificial skin of her boyfriends creation. Cuddling is only half the fun without context!
John turned back to the window and red at the 11 that stared back. He was tempted to leave one point unspent but that would only move the one to another part of the sheet. sted thing. His inner perfectionist (which only got worse as he raised his Intellect apparently) took offence to the number. He sighed. Whatever is troubling you, Master?
Just a first world problem. He referenced a meme that no one found funny and truly nobody in the roomughed.
John currently had no desire to increase Aclysias Charisma. She got along with people well enough. Her Libido had just sky-rocketed through other means, so no need to touch that either. It was time to concentrate on her actual battle-stats for a change. He put 5 points into Agility to cross the 25 threshold there (whatever it did for Agility) and the remaining six he put into Strength.
He made a mental note to use Enchant on herter today and finally find out what that was about. Aclysia was already a pretty good tank as it was (and he was fairly certain that Steelskin had just made her a whole lot more durable) but if he could push her even further that would be great.
He was also done for the day. The whole Nathalia affair had sapped all of his energy for grinding from his bones and left only tiredness. Lets go home. John yawned and turned to the passage.
Rave yed with her smartphone, Bitch scratched my screen, she mumbled but thenughed.
Whats so funny? John wondered.
I just saw the conversation she had with Romulus. Rave giggled, Cant read most of it, some weirdly swung runes, but ya should listen to thest statement. She tried her best at a very deep, manly voice, Break him and I will make sure he takes your second horn, you horny whore.
John wondered whether Romulus had personally written that or if he had attendants. He was also giggling. He stopped when he heard loud noisesing towards them from the passage. It was like hundreds of little metal pieces rubbing against each other. He was on alert until he saw the little girl approach, pushing a mountain of equipment in front of her on a wave of moving earth. He hadpletely forgotten about Gnome. Oh Lord.
I think Gaia is a chick, John. Rave reminded him.
IknowIknow. He slurred and quickly went over the pile. Trash for the vendor! he said decidedly and dumped it in his inventory. Money wouldnt hurt him. Maybe he could afford some new Skill Books now?
Chapter 91 – A new elemental, a little toy and defensive capabilities.
Chapter 91 C A new elemental, a little toy and defensive capabilities.
Johns budget after selling all his Loot and adding the money dropped: 283719,25$
So. Rave sat down next to him in the videogame room at her house, What do ya want to buy exactly?
Mhm, I have a small list of things. First off, I need some way to deal with multiple enemies more effectively. Mana Ray was satisfyingly powerful when it came to one enemy. Gnome was a wonderful multipurpose tool: she was good at defending him, her crowd control was pretty good and her offensive power could be stunning. However, using her offensively was not very cost effective and her abilities were severely limited by the environment. In the forest, she had been incredibly strong but, in the dungeon, or the encounter with Travolta she was eithercklustre or needed a long wind-up time. Eventually he would fight somewhere there was no dirt around.
The elementals he had his eyes on were therefore wind or fire. Just buying all the basic elementals at once and being done with it was an option. However, he wanted to learn one thing after the other instead of rushing things along. Build a strong foundation of understanding before he wasted his mana in some shy quad-elemental moves that ultimately nullified themselves, that was his thought process.
So, wind or fire John mumbled and tapped the mouse with his index finger as he swiped back and forth between the two. Both of them were always avable, that was the most important thing. Wind was more about disruption and finishing the enemy through little cuts and bruises while fire was simply overpowering destruction. That was his understanding anyway.
He sighed and looked away from the screen to find the world tinted red. The Hell? John asked. Did somebody pull him into a Trap Barrier or something?
Chix, tiger. Raveughed. Its just the eclipse.
The eclipse? He looked at the date on theputer screen. It was indeed the date an eclipse had been announced for. It had slipped his mind, with everything else going on. Right. He rxed a bit.
Want to watch? Im prepared with special equipment. Rave pulled two tinted sses from somewhere and gave John one. It was a rare asion so he agreed.
Secondster they were leaning out of the window together. Shoulder on shoulder, they looked up to the sun as the moon slowly covered the whole star, holding hands, not speaking a word. Rave was fascinated by the light of the sun at this moment but John saw something else. In the moment of total eclipse, the corona red red and orange and gold. Pirs of mes, lifetimes away, seemingly visible to him for a brief moment: fire.
The moon wandered on and the sun shone down again. They stood there watching until the moon had halfway vanished behind the sky again. Beautiful, wasnt it? Rave asked and pulled back from the window.
John stepped back a momentter. Yes, he answered and they went back to theputer. Without any more hesitation he chose the fire elemental. And just like that he was 25000 USD poorer.
258''719,25$
Okay, now that I have something in the AoE department, he said, I need a target for Possession.
Isnt that, like, whatever you can find to annoy your enemies? Rave asked, in apparent confusion.
Thats how I treated it up until now. However, I always wanted to use Possession to use disposable bodies as my frontline. With Aclysia as my non-disposable but yet very sturdy frontline that n is not necessary anymore so I will postpone it a bit.
What do ya want then, John? Rave kept probing until she understood.
If its not abat body I need, it is information I want! He started looking into the Abyss Auction for lifelike mechanical constructs of flying animals and insects. Rave still looked confused, so John exined in length as he kept scrolling through. My logic is that right now there is no need to clutter up the melee area of our group with more people. As of now we have you, Aclysia and Gnome as melee fighters and only me as ranged. We have no healing or other support and I would like to change that. If I could use one of my two Possessions on a doll and scout out areas before we sh with an enemy we would have an advantage we currentlyck.
Rave nodded repeatedly, Okay, I get it now, s- THAT ONE IS CUTE! she suddenly interjected and pointed at the screen.
It was a Verdin, at least thats what the description said.
Buy now this perfect replication of a Verdin. Many hours of work and Enchantments went into making sure that this little bird is impossible to differentiate from actual members of its species from a distance and if something were to happen to this little piece of machinery, the enchantments will make sure no mundane will think anything about the machinery on disy!
Ites with the whole range you could want from such a little container: an enchantment for true sight, full flight capability and a small, easily overlooked appearance. Just put the Soul Enchantment of your choosing inside and the party can start!
It did indeed look pretty nondescript. It was a short bird with a small dark beak, a yellow head, grey white body and wings with the only somewhat interesting bit of colouration being the red spots on the shoulders. It wasnt asmonce as a pigeon, but it wouldnt stand out either.
Buy that one! Ravemanded and he obliged with a smile, Yay, birdy. I will pet it all the time.
You know it will actually be me though?
Rave leaned over to his ear and whispered, Like I have anything against petting ya. One of her hands found its way to his crotch. The fact that he earlier had the best sex in his life be damned C he would fuck his girlfriend in the next hour, that he swore to himself. First, however, he wanted to finish up shopping. Which would be soon, given how quickly his budget was shrinking.
258''719,25$-200''000$. He was now left with 58.719 Dors and 25 Cents.
He had hoped for a bit more wiggle room. He could get one or two more books with that. Question was what else did he want? He got offence and information; the logical next step was defence. But what kind? He searched for Mana Barrier and looked at what he was offered. There were a lot of different sellers but it boiled down to a basic difference of two skills.
Mana Layer created a shell of mana around him at the immediate cost of mana. It was sturdy but would break once the mana he used to create it was used up. Mana Shield on the other hand was described as costing a small amount to activate but afterwards only costing mana whenever something collided with it.
Generally talking, for a guy with an MP Regeneration focused build like his, Mana Shield sounded like the more attractive option. He would activate it and if his Mana Regeneration was high enough it took care of the damage until his mana was depleted and if his mana was depleted he was fucked either way.
Mana Layer he could probably stack in preparation. How often would he get the chance to prepare himself in an actual fight though? Getting both was overkill when one did the job (not like he had the money for both anyway, they were priced at 40 grand each). In the end, he decided that Mana Shield worked better with his high Wisdom Stat and put it into the shopping cart. Then he bought the whole thing.
The drone arrived about ten minutester. John took the small box and closed the window. He put aside the fire elemental book for the moment, he would get that done in his own time. Learning Mana Shield could be done now.
Okay, the costs were heftier than what he had bargained on. The day had brought so many great things that he had thought the world was smiling on him for a change, especially after all the shit he had been through recently. Nope, same old logical system. To test the waters, he activated the Skill and a blue sphere formed around him. It didnt obstruct his vision in the slightest, just the slightest tint of blue so that he knew it was there. Well, that made grinding it during the day impossible. Bummer.
Try punching me. John instructed and Rave cracked her knuckles.
With pleasure. As her raised fist passed through the Shield without any problems John realized three things in rapid session. One, the pinches he had to live through asionally were surprisingly worse than her fist on his face (34 Damage). Two, people in his group apparently could pass the barrier without any problem. Three, judging by the satisfied smile, Rave was angry at him and enjoyed this a lot.
John stumbled a step back and Raves satisfied smile changed into concern for a moment as he needed to re-orient himself. That wasnt too hard, was it? she asked, I expected the shield to slow me down at least a bit.
No, it''s okayare you angry with me though?
A bit. I watched you fuck another woman right in front of me ya know. She crossed her arms, But I wont get all whiny about it, all I need to do is out-fuck her.
Okay? John wasnt sure if hepletely understood but out-fucking Nathalia was an idea he very much supported.
You dont want a second try? Rave asked as she saw him deactivate the shield. No, you dealt 34 damage to me and that would absorb 170 mana. The skill is not very good right now. I will need to grind it up a bit first. With that he picked up the Verdin. The bird was even smaller than he had imagined. He used Possession on the outside. The Skill was typically limited to one continuous object (although what counted as one continuous object wasnt always clear). The little bird had been crafted with this in mind, evidently.
He put himself on the ground and started moving around in the birds body. He made a few careful steps and then opened his wings. He fluttered for a bit, not quite understanding how to take off. Slowly he got the hang of it. After five minutes of trying, he flew through the room.
This is pretty great, he admitted as hended on the couch. Carefully, he hopped over to Rave and reared his head to be able to look at her. You know what I find interesting? John asked as he tried flying a bit more.
Nope, but Copernicus is going wild over wanting to jump at that bird, Rave informed him with a giggle. Anyway, tell me, tiger.
When I Possess something without eyes, Possession gives me a sort of axis around which I can rotate my field of view, he exined. However, if I possess something with ces where eyes are or should be, like this bird or the golems Victoria brought with her, my eyes are where they should be. Rules are weird.
He slowly grewfortable in his second body. Sure, mastering it would take a while and flying in weather conditions was a whole different story, but he liked being a little bird. Gave things a different perspective.
It was the same with Aclysia now that I think about it. There was no reason for her to have her eyes on her eyes, aside from them being supposed to be there.
Speaking of Aclysia, where is she?
I sent her ahead to do some shopping and cooking before I got home. John exined. Mhm, just us then? Rave asked in a sensual voice.
Just us. John responded likewise.
Chapter 92 – Yet another happy time together [Erotic Content]
Chapter 92 C Yet another happy time together [Erotic Content]
Their mouths met with hot passion. Perhaps animated by Nathalias domineering attitude, Rave aggressively pinned John down on the sofa. The number of naughty things they had done on thefortable centre of the videogame room was ever mounting. Rapidly, she stripped him of his clothing, something he eagerly reciprocated. Their lips only ever parted when their shirts tumbled through the air. Before long, Rave was nudely writhing on top of him.
Ya remember the first time here? Rave asked between kisses.
Of course. John answered in the same manner, You sat here with only a towel and put on porn. He had been shy back then, anxious really. The stutter hadnt helped. Funny what daily sex with a girl like her did for his confidence.
Rave broke the chain of kisses and sat up on his chest. I might not be some nympho dragon. She said as the wet slit of her pussy lips straddled his hard cock, But I still remember how to make ya feel good.
It is not apetition, Jane. I love you, John earnestly stated while looking in her blue eyes. The pink hue inside sparkled with passion and the mutual feeling of affection. She smiled widely.
I know, tiger, but I am making it one. She grabbed his cock. His sensitive head rested against her hot quim as Rave slowly gyrated her hips. Just enough that his cock kept circling with her hips, she took him inside. A loud groan was coaxed from his lips. Her hand glided up and down his shaft, as she whispered, If she is the best sex ya ever had, Ill be better. If I cant do that I will suck ya dry each and every day. This was her personal deration of war to Nathalia. If I cant outfuck her Ill give ya all of my love, tiger. I love you, I really do. She slowly sank down his shaft, And no nympho dragon will change that. She moaned as his long, throbbing dick filled her pussy with its well-ustomed girth. The vaginal muscles clenched tightly around John, massaging every centimetre as his girlfriend impaled herself on his manhood.
Halfway down, his patience ran out. I love you too, he groaned and put his hands on her hips, thrusting the rest of his dick into her in a quick thrust that made Rave yelp in pleasure. She fell forwards a bit, handsnding on his chest. There was a halt of all motion as they stared into each others eyes. Johns dick was epassed by wet pleasure but still he only had eyes for her.
Damned be the fact that it wasnt as good. Maybe her pussy wasnt a bliss inducing pit of heat like Nathalias, but it still felt good. He loved every second he was inside her. Every twitch and every movement gave him pleasure. What was more he loved how her chest fluttered when he moved the slightest bit, how her eyes were filled with the passion he gave her. He loved all of that because he loved her and giving somebody he loved pleasure was supreme. Perhaps there was a limit, a degree to where the sex was so bad that the love couldnt follow C but this pink-haired, half-Asian bombshell was so far above that line he couldnt even see it.
Rave slowly moved her hips forwards. The folds of her pussy grinded along his shaft, teasing the sensitive length of his dick and the engorged head. Oh baby. John moaned and moved rhythmically in response. Slow thrusts as they tasted every moment.
Rave giggled, Baby? She asked with a smile in her eyes, Ya never called me that?
A spur of the moment thing, John admitted and let his hands venture to her waist. Buckling his back to ess her pink nipples with his tongue, he sucked on the hard, pointy crown of her left tit. A hand found its way to her other breast. Rave whimpered with pleasure. That new Skill of yours is cheating, she decided. The quivering of her pussy grew more intense. She was close, John knew it. Taking full advantage, he suddenly began thrusting up into her with short, constant motions.
Rave was surprised and at his mercy. One arm put around her back, he kept assaulting her tits and pussy with thrusts, sloppy kisses and teasing rubbings. Even though she had the strength to break out, her body was too busy with the jolts of pleasure running up and down her spine to make the necessary movements. If she even wanted to. Which, the high pitched shouts indicated, was very much not the case.
Oh fuck yes, John! She gasped, So close, so close. Come on tiger.. COME.. Ooooooooon! Her body started tensing. Head thrown back, her chest curved against his greedy lips making his job to assault her even easier. At the height of her orgasm John pulled his head back.
What do you want me to call you then? He asked and teasingly added, Pinky?
Aaaaah, don yaaah C Oh fuck C ya da-Aaah-re. Her warnings were only slightly threatening, wrecked by spasms as she was. She waspletely defenceless, unable to punish him or even throw him a warning nce. All was overpowered by the pleasure that turned her eyes ssy.
Janey? he presented another idea, exploiting the window of her climax.
Fuuuuuuuuck ya! Sheughed and moaned at the same time, as John went back to tease her nipple with his tongue. If he continued like this, he would be able to make her orgasm two times in quick session and he would love to do so.
That being said, teasing her was just too satisfying to stop entirely. How about Sparkle?
Oh just sh-uuuuaaahah- Her words were interrupted by him thrusting into her again. She bounced on his hips as much as his grip let her. All of this was a little easier now. The strength of his thrusts was still a bitcking, but he now had the superhuman stamina to just keep going. Tight from the height of herst into the impending next orgasm, he fucked her. She felt that and knew she had only a few moments to throw some shade back.
When did you be C goodness yes just like that C such a teasing brute, tiger?!
Mhm, John groaned in response, I know this girl who has a negative influence on me. Everyone calls her Rave. He moved his head away from her breasts and locked eyes with her again. I call her my girlfriend though. They interlocked in a heated kiss. John moved as quick as he could, Rave finding aplementary rhythm that she kept up as long as she could.
Their kiss was sloppy, loud and filled with passionate love. Eyes half-closed, they sometimes looked at each other between the seconds their lips parted and met again. Gazes of longing, of satisfaction, deep, happy, satisfaction and bliss. Their young love blooming despite what had happened in recent times. Maybe because of it. They had few people beyond each other. Absent parents, no real friends, not even guild mates left. What was left, luckily, was what was most important of all.
Raves body tensed up again, her rhythm growing unsteady. The making out muffled ecstatic moans. Her pussy trembled and clenched C too hard for John to keep moving. He was stuck balls deep inside her. Pulling away from the kiss, his girlfriend bit her lower lip and rocked her hips back and forth at a feverish, spasmic pace. Cum inside me! Fill C me C up! Rave demanded.
That was all John could take. His balls tightened and unloaded shot after shot of thick seed inside her. Lights danced around his field of vision, all framing her face. Getting pumped full set off her own orgasm and Rave presented him with that utterly debauched face. Each time he came inside her, her eyes seemed to roll up a little higher, her tongue stretched out a little further, and the throaty sighs got a little lewder, until she showed him a contorted expression of ecstasy.
wing at her ass, he thrust up against her, emptying the entire load in the depths of her cunt. Oh fuck yes this is so good. John gasped.
Shut up and kiss me. Rave demanded and their makeout session continued as more of his cum filled the techno lovers eager cunt. Just how often had he pumped her full by now? Every day for almost a month. He would never get tired of it.
The electricity of the moment slowly ebbed away until they simplyid there for a moment. Whadda day, Rave slurred as she rolled off. Johns soft dick flopped out of her and he stood up. He traced his girlfriend as she sashayed towards the door. Each shift of her perfect ass was a piece of art. Heywant to take a bath with me? She asked over her shoulder, a greedy grin on her lips. For old times sake?
He would stay at her ce for a little while longer.
[Note: Aclysia Side Story branches off from here. Well, technically the previous chapter, but it doesnt quite matter.]
Chapter 93.2 – Side Story – Big Trouble with Little Aclysia Part 1 – Crossing the Street.
Chapter 93.2 C Side Story C Big Trouble with Little Aclysia Part 1 C Crossing the Street.
Aclysia felt the euphoria of her Master through their connection. She knew that feeling, he most likely had engaged in intercourse with Mistress Rave. It made her core twitch a little whenever she was left out of such activities. From what she understood, that feeling was described as envy, although she wasntpletely sure. She was neverpletely sure about any emotion aside from happiness. It was pretty clear to her when she was happy; when she was happy she didnt think as much, her body felt lighter and the day seemed brighter.
Speaking of bright days, the sun was finallypletely visible again. She looked at it without much care as she stood at the street, waiting for the traffic light to switch from red to green. Ehm, hello, a nervous voice came from the side. Aclysia turned her head to see a familiar face. Slightly familiar at least.
She smiled faintly as she was able to recall memories clearly thanks to her Masterstest improvements. She saw the young man who had been talking to Jimmie in the hospitalst week. She didnt know his name, she did not have that Observe Ability of her Master after all.
Jimmie
The name surfaced in her mind and the faint smile on her lips disappeared in favour of her neutral, diligent expression. For some reason, that name sapped the joy straight from her thoughts.
I greet you. Aclysia took a court bow. Do you have a matter that requires my attention?
Do I have? The Apothecary was startled, then waved off. No, no, sorry, I just wanted to tell you to not look at the sun for so long. He pointed at his face, Its really bad for the eyes. The man got a little closer. Thats what the mundanes think, at least.
Aclysia made a surprised Oh. It hadnt been on her mind but the man was correct. Biological types like humans were advised to not look at the sun without protection. Thank you for your concern. She bowed again, deeply this time.
This startled the man and he waved his hands around some more, then scratched the back of his head. It reminded him of her Master, in his less assertive moments. Oh no, it is just C uhm C my duty as a fellow human! Yes!
She looked to her right and saw that the streetlight had switched during their conversation. She made a step towards the street. Wait one moment, please, The young man requested and rummaged in a green bag he wore over his shoulder.
Aclysia stopped to look at him and then back at the traffic light. It had switched back to red and thest people were clearing the street. She had the time. I will wait, she therefore stated.
The man gave her a thankful smile and pulled out a pair of sunsses, handing them to her. If you like looking at the sun so much these should help, he exined, with a gracious smile. Aclysia hesitatingly took them. The inte regrly talked about not taking gifts from strangers. This man seemed nice however. She turned them in her hands and put them on.
The world was now several shades darker and she looked at the sun again. Was this the light humans werefortable with? Confusion spread inside her. This required additional analysis. Her gaze wandered around wildly,paring how things looked with the sunsses on and off. Thank you very much. The gift is appreciated.
For a moment, there was silence.
If you dont mind me asking could you tell me if Jim is okay? the man asked.
Aclysia suddenly froze. She barely noticed the traffic light jumping to red again. She was being dyed in her schedule. From the feeling that swept through her mental connection to John, she knew that he was still upied. There was no need to hurry to a level that would vite traffic rules. A single car passed them, the first moving one she had seen in minutes.
Aclysia remained frozen, wondering why she felt like there was a pit in her stomach. Jim is in reference to Jimmie? she checked, before she made any unnecessaryments.
Ehm, yes, Jim Johnson. You might not remember but I was his caretaker and we kind of bonded over the two days he was actually awake and had to stay. Aclysia did remember that clearly, thanks be to her Master again, but interrupting him would intercept his flow of words. It was important to let thoughts be concluded. First day he stayed with us, he was really upbeat, but in the afternoon he got some bad news and well, I did my best to cheer him up. Wanted to know if hes doing better?
I dont know how his current mood is. Ist heard about Jimmiest Friday at the funeral of Travolta. She looked around to make sure nobody was listening right now, her Master had requested her to keep it on the down low when normal people were listening. He decided to leave the Abyss back then.
Oh. Now it was the young mans turn to make that sound. He looked at her withpassion. Why was he doing that? She checked her expression. Her lips were pulled down slightly and apparently her head had sunk slightly. She analysed how she stood right now and realized she looked sad. Why was she sad?
Why am I sad? she asked as the traffic light turned green. If there had been cars they would have waited for it to change back. Aclysia herself waited for an answer to present itself. She hadnt been sad at the funeral, why would she be sad now.
Because you will never see a friend again. The young man said. Deathes all too soon. For all of us.
Memories welled up. Forgotten, too far away to be present, up until today. Jimmie, who looked with interest at her when they had been in his workshop and she had wondered what Wisdom is. Jimmie, who had given her parts of steel from his own resources when her Master had run out of materials to give her. Jimmie, the giant, who called her fascinating before handing her a screw.
Her shaded vision became blurry. Likely another effect from the sses, she deduced and took them off. The blur stayed however and she felt something wet running down her cheeks. Had she ever been this sad? What is this? She wanted to know, the question was aimed at nobody in particr and so the only person around answered.
You are crying.
Impossible. Just because it matched all the described symptoms didnt mean that she was crying. She wasnt even capable of crying. She had never done that before. I am not human. How could I cry? she argued despite herself. The more she understood about humans, the more she realized that she was different. What little aspects she shared were invoked one after the other. This sadness, she did not want to share.
The young man looked very confused. Was it what she said or how she acted? You look human to me, he blurted out in confusion and took her hand. Feel the part too.
You dont understand. She sobbed and rubbed the view-obstructing water from her eyes. I am a creation. I cannot be human. I can only mimic and...
No! the Apothecary stated harshly, harsh enough to make her jump. You dont understand. Theres so much more to being human than the way were born. As long as you have the will, youre human or an equivalent thats just as important.
I have never felt like this before, she stated, wiping the tears away.
Then she understood. The reason why she hadnt felt sad at Travoltas death, at his funeral or at Jimmies announcement to leave was because she hadnt remembered. She hadnt known. There was little reason to be sad about a person she didnt know but now she finally realized. These memories she had with Jimmie and Travolta. These were the only ones she would ever have. There would be no new ones. It was the end. The abrupt, total end.
It is not about him. It is about the ones he leaves behind to find an end. To have certainty in the fact that even without him the world will turn, just without him.
Aclysia took off running.
Big Trouble with Little Aclysia Part 2 – Looking for nothing
Big Trouble with Little Aclysia Part 2 C Looking for nothing
Aclysia turned a corner into the alleyway in Downtown and promptly fell over a bag of garbage somebody had left there. She felt the rough cement of the ground scratch off ayer of stic. Nothing major. It would heal in a second, she only needed to make sure nobody saw her scratched surface.
Aclysia slowly rose and walked thest few steps to the random point in the well known alleyway. She stopped for a moment. Took a trembling breath. Then, one more step. Confused, another one. Desperate, another one. Any moment, she would transition into a Protected Space. She would see that old arcade building.
Her foot hit the fence that separated the alley from the private property.
There were steps behind her. Loud steps and panting of somebody who followed her. Wait. The Apothecary gasped. Youlostthis. He handed her the sunsses he had given her, Although now that I know that you are an Artificial Spirit I guess you really dont need them, huh?
Thank you? Aclysia received the sses with jittery hands. She wasnt even sure what was going on or why these were suddenly hers but she took them anyway. The young man took a few deep breaths and quickly regainedposure.
Why did you run here? He took a look around. this is where the incident happened, right?
Why did he care? That was the primary thought in Aclysias mind. Why did you follow me? She asked and cowered down against the wall.
You looked like you could need the help, The man answered. Its not like me to leave people hanging.
Aclysia stared at him. His gracious smile slowly melted into awkwardness as she kept staring. Why?
Ehm, because I was raised this way?
Why?
My mother thought I should be nice to people.
Why?
She said that if you are nice to people, people will be nice to you.
Aclysia looked at her feet.
Her experience with that saying was twofold. The first time she went out and abided by the code of politeness had been a terrible day. This was all too clear now that she remembered the context of her overall life. She had obeyed the street code, she had greeted and said her goodbyes at the grocery store. Yet all she remembered of that day were sneers and stares of contempt. Only when her Master had raised her Charisma did she get some kind of reaction that could be described as politeness. Looking back, she recognized all the awkward mistakes she had made. Still, if she made those same mistakes now
In my analysis, it''s less what you do than who does it, Aclysia said. When she had been molested by a somewhat attractive male everyone had been indifferent. When she had been asked for a photo by a slightly sweaty male everyone had been judgemental. Her Master said people were like that. The man seemed to agree,
Yeah, there are a lot of people out there who are not that nice. He kneeled down in front of her and extended his hand. But normal folk like us usually abide by that rule.
She had the feeling that his definition of normal folk was very skewed if it included her, an Artificial Spirit barely capable of discerning her emotions, himself, part of a bio-alchemical Apothecary, and other segments of the Abyss atrge.
The man recognized his mistake. Normal-behaving folk like us, he corrected himself.
Aclysia nodded. That seemed like a focus group she had not yet encountered. However, she rarely talked to anyone besides whoever sat behind the checkout at the supermarket or the people around her Master. She had talked to Jimmie sometimes. Jimmie who wasnt around anymore.
She started crying again, leaving herself and the man absolutely confused. What is going on now?
I just I just she stammered, then it finally fell into ce. I just wanted to say goodbye but now I cant, Aclysia sobbed, because he is gone already. Because they are both gone.
There was a new feeling she had yet to experience. Regret. She wholeheartedly decided that she did not want this one. It did not care. It stayed.
Stupid past me, she cursed.
That was also a first. Since when did she ridicule herself? It was almost painful being this sad as well as trying to understand herself. What had her Master done this time? Did he even know what he was doing when he gave her more extensive memories? Who was he to decide what she was living through?
But I asked for this myself. She realized I asked for him to make me able to remember because I wanted to know. Because I wanted to not forget the times when I was happy. She looked at the man as he was the only one around she could ask right now. Why do I have to remember the pain as well as the pleasure Why cant I just block out this sadness?
Anybody ever told you that you ask hard questions? The man broke his benevolent pattern for a moment. It returned with a smile that tried to make his question into a joke. It failed, nobodyughed.
Aclysia answered instead, Master makes suchments all the time.
No wonder, The young man awkwardlyughed. Well, philosophy has it that good times mean nothing without bad times. How would you know that you are happy if you were never unhappy?
Did that make sense? Aclysia went through her memories and tried to remember how she felt. True enough in her early days she hadnt felt a lot, outside of mild curiosity. That feeling was born from the feeling of serving John though so it didnte from her. The first actual feelings she remembered were when she asked for what Wisdom was. The first time she felt really strongly about something was when she had pleaded to not get put back into her Masters inventory.
Can you tell me now what you were searching for here? The man asked, Maybe I can help you.
I was searching for an Illusion Barrier. It is gone.
Oh. Well. Cant help with that I am afraid. The man looked honestly troubled. Somehow that made Aclysia feel better. She stood up and cleared thest tears from her eyes. Thanks to her physique no signs of the emotional outburst were left.
You dont need to. I will need to think about this some more. She would need to think about a lot of things that happened today some more. In depth contemtions and questions for John to help her understand. She bowed, I thank you. She suddenly realized that she had never asked for the mans name. How rude of me. Can you tell me your name, helpful individual?
I am Herman urum. Who do I owe the pleasure?
My designated name is Aclysia, she said to the well-built man and smiled. It felt good to smile. Especially on days like this. I am very thankful for your help, Mister urum.
That makes me sound old, please, Herman is enough. He smiled back, an honest smile, she thought. He opened his mouth again but was interrupted by the buzzing of an object in his pocket. He pulled out a smartphone and checked the message. His nice expression suddenly became deeply worried. I need to go. I hope we meet again some time, he said and turned to leave.
Me too, Aclysia said her goodbye as Herman dashed away.
Now alone, she turned to the empty alleyway once more. She knew it was useless yet still she reached for the point in real space where the barrier had started. As expected, there was no change. She felt the sting of regret again and wondered how long she would carry this feeling with her. For some reason, she was sure it would be forever.
But she was also sure that it was preferable to forgetting about it again.
Big Trouble with Little Aclysia Part 3 – Shopping
Big Trouble with Little Aclysia Part 3 C Shopping
It was true, the good times meant nothing without the bad. Even something as mundane as shopping suddenly became much more meaningful now that she grasped that this could be thest time she could be doing this. She had thought of shopping as nothing more than a thing her Master gave her to do. Now she understood just how important having a purpose was. Without a purpose, there was nothing to distract her from sobbing in an alleyway. She had something to do and didnt feel caged by her own memories. There was a reason to keep moving.
She wondered whether or not to buy apples or bananas today. Master likes both butst time I bought both, most of them spoiled, the wonderfully simple thought urred, as she walked back and forth between the two. Wasteful spending is unwise. Aclysia muttered.
She thought about maybe only buying half of each to get the best of both worlds but what would happen if her Master developed a sudden craving for apples and then they wouldnt have enough of them and then she would get scolded for not getting enough apples and then Master would get mad and then he would put her in his inventory as a punishment and then.
No that didnt sound like her Master, he would just sigh and grab a banana. He was a good man like that. Always had something for her to do and never was too demanding in what that was. She wished she had him to herself more frequently. Doubly so now. Practically all her memories she had with her Master also contained Rave.
I deserve more time with him. Alone, the thought surfaced on its own. Aclysia hummed happily to herself as she imagined caring for him. Serving him as a maid had been her choice, John had made sure it had been. Even now she felt that was certain. Oddly, it started to feel more certain than her prime directive. I should check which nutrients are most needed for a male his age and prepare some kind of n, she decided as she grabbed apples and bananas.
She left the fruit and vegetables aisle and walked over to the frozen foods. Master loved pizza and that love had to be sated.
Note to self: learn to make pizza, she added it to the mental list of things to do. It was a growing list. The more she thought, the more she remembered what she was inadequate in. The amount of frozen pizza her Master ate meant that she would save money if she learned how to provide the meal herself.
Aclysia sometimes wondered why Mistress Rave didnt learn to cook. Was it because that was just the basis of their rtionship, was shezy, did she not love Master as much as she herself did? That seemed unlikely. Aclysia hadnt even said those words to him yet. Although, now that she considered it perhaps she should. Another topic to contemte, after she was done working out the cooking.
The information provided said that typically the female in a family cooked. A rtionship was the first stage of a family therefore one of the two should learn to cook and Master clearly didnt want to. She would need to ask how they were nning to go about this when she got back.
Excuse me? Somebody spoke to her. She found it slightly weird she wasnt staring into the sun right now. She turned to look at a guy with a camera and connected the dots. It was the second time this had happened.
Good day, Sir, she said with a bow, Do you want to take a photo?
If that is alright with you. Her Master had said she had to expect such things when she headed out in cosy. Often, she forgot to change before heading out. This appearance was her favourite. She looked cute. She liked looking cute for him.
She was on the verge of runningte, however, so she couldnt make it like thest time and end up in a thirty minute photoshoot. I am short on time. I ask for your understanding. Please make it quick.
The man looked very happy, they took quick photos and went on their way. At least this one hadnt asked about why she wasnt wearing contact lenses. The answer was of course because Master didnt want her to.
No, thats too shallow an answer, Aclysia realized. There was a little unsolved knot in her stomach. She had agency. She could exercise that agency. He wanted her to exercise that agency. Important was only that she remained a loyal servant who would protect him. Even that she felt she could chip away at if she wanted to. Im human, she thought about what Herman had told her. In all the ways that matter. This is what Master must have wanted for me to have the freedom of choice in all I do, not just what he allows me to do. The answer is that I want to do what he wants me to do. Because that is my own desire. Most of the time.
Aclysia looked into a reflective surface. She felt that, if she just wanted to, she could have reshaped more about her than ever before. There was much about herself she could have changed now. She didnt want to. Perhaps she hadnt been created in the normal way, definitely she wasgging behind everyone else when it came to the details of social understanding, yet she was still happy, all things considered. She wouldnt change where she was now. What she desired was what she had.
Speaking of desire, she desired the olddy currently paying to do so a bit faster. Aclysia wasnt about to yell at her, that would have been very rude, but she didnt need to know that the olddy had met Nixon. Actually, that was fascinating. If her time requirements werent so strict right now, Aclysia might have stayed even after paying to find out more. As It stood, however, she didnt have the time for this. Which is why she was very happy when a second register opened.
Less than a minuteter, she set foot outside the supermarket. The parking lot was busy as always - only to suddenly be vacant. It didnt take her long to figure out what was happening as an ugly bald guy, his right eye blue, the other milky white, in armour and an even uglier guy in a warlock outfit came towards her. The warlock held a staff that ended in a skull. They both looked very stereotypical. The instinctive understanding she had of videogames made that estimation certain.
You look seble! The warlock said. A cute little girl like you will make a lot of money in the auction.
Correction. While I am a woman, I am not a biological human. I am an entity of metals. While this makes little difference on an appearance level it might change my mary value. Please consider that before you bother me. Aclysia began walking towards the edge of the parking lot. She would have to find the border of the barrier, if they didnt let her out.
Good enough for me. The ugly knight said and blocked her path.
I advise you to walk away. I am short on time.
I advise you toe along without making a fuss. The warlock behind her said, staff crackling with arcane might. A small bolt of fire was let loose. A warning shot, nothing more, but it still hit the banana at the top of the paper bag. The piece of fruit hit the ground and Aclysia looked with shock at the now inedible food.
That is Masters food, she hissed, then cleared her throat. One second, please, she put the bag down.
The two let her. They had that bit of decency at least. Aclysia straightened back up and remembered what her Master had told her. If somebody molests you, ask them to leave. I want you to leave me alone, she very clearly stated. She gotughs as her response.
Are your ears not working? If you are not even real you can just get sold like the item you are.
Herman had told her that she was real. John had always treated her like she was real. She decided to believe that over the actions of people who destroyed her groceries. if they dont leave you alone you can beat them up only as much as you need to though!
These two looked like they would need quite the beating.
Aclysia turned to the knight. With a broad grin, the man weighed his heavy mace in both hands. The grin left him when Aclysias fist broke through the steel armour and dented the stomach behind. When she drew her fist back, he stumbled several steps back. Do it, he wheezed.
Inferno! The warlock shouted and Aclysia was engulfed in a pir of green me.
Aclysia felt the heat around her. It yed over her surface, failing to do so much as warm the rubber of her surface. Aiming herself in the direction she hadst seen the warlock in, Aclysia burst out of the fire at top speed. She wasnt the fastest around but she was faster than a random warlock. bbergasted by his spellsck of effect, he didnt react until he was grabbed by the cor and thrown several metres away.
The knight took her standing still as an opening to strike. His head was now covered in a helmet, its shape resembling a dragon. The two-handed mace came down on Aclysia, striking her head directly. The weapon came to a dead stop. The shaft bent. Aclysia tilted her head quizzically. What little damage she had taken fixed itself within a few seconds. Steelskin and the Dragonscale under her skin made her impervious to attacks like this.
The knight almost dropped his weapon, the sudden halt of his motionpletely taking him off bnce. Aclysia decided to help that along and grabbed the shaft of the mace. She forcefully yanked it down. Now the knight held on, but only seeded at joining hisrade on the ground.
Hey Aclysia. John suddenly popped into her head
Oh, hello Master, she thought and put a foot on the knights chest. The warlock was unable to hurt her so immobilizing the knight was of higher priority. She reced more of the silicone in her foot with steel. No matter how much the knight struggled, he could not get her to budge. What can I do for you?
Just letting you know that Im on my way home. You can start cooking now. Aclysias eyes went wide. She was way behind the time table! She grit her teeth and stared at the knight, who suddenly stopped moving. Understood. I will have everything ready when youe home. She sent back. Todays food must be something of the quick variety. Surely Master would forgive her for preparing frozen pizza. Yes, that is the best solution She decided and turned to the men on the ground. Let me go, I need to make dinner.
Unsurprisingly, they did. She picked up her groceries and hurried home. When John entered she bowed deeply. I am so sorry, Master, she apologized.
What for? he asked.
Aclysia looked up with an ashamed expression. The pizza will need two more minutes until it''s ready. I was dyed by several factors. She tried to keep it vague. She didnt want him to know about her teary outburst or the fight or anything else really. He would have only worried. It was the first time she was truly thankful he so rarely reached out to her mind.
Happens. John just put it aside, Also two minutes is not bad. I am very thankful that you cook anyway, you know?
She smiled, I am happy to be of use. Regarding cooking, might I ask a question?
Of course. John said as he slipped out of his shoes.
In a family, one is supposed to cook from what I have read but neither you nor Rave do. Why is that?
Well, aside from the fact that we arent exactly a family, we do have somebody who cooks.
Really? Aclysia was confused, Who? I have never met that person.
Johnughed leaving her just wondering. Then he pointed at her, Its you. I think I need to check if I raised the correct Stat earlier. Heughed and shook his head as he stepped inside.
Aclysia kept standing there, Do you mean that I am part of your family, Master?
Yes, of course you are. John shouted over his shoulder.
Aclysia felt the remains of sadness and stress melt away. After stowing his shoes away she ran after John and hugged him.
Thank you. She thought with all of her heart. Even though she didnt have one she finally understood what that saying meant.
Chapter 94 – A Moral Conundrum
Chapter 94 C A Moral Conundrum
John grabbed a piece of chalk and opened an Illusion Barrier in front of his house. It wasnt optimal, but the sidewalk was t enough to draw a ritual circle. He would have happily done it at Raves ce, but his girlfriend had insisted on watching Anime while he wanted to watch a 40k podcast. When they couldnt agree, they had decided to have an evening to themselves. A bit of distance was nice sometimes, which was something John could only think because he had the luxury of seeing her the entire rest of the day until evening.
Rave had waved off the idea to quickly fulfil the ritual in her cer. Instead she had shoved him out the door with a yful smile and a quick kiss on the lips. Not like I havent seen Elementals before.
Therefore, he was now squatting on the street in his Illusion Barrier and drawing a circle. He had used the book on the way down. So far, the requirements and the ritual were the same as for earth. The circle was slightly different. A bit more fire-like than root-like knots in the design. Nothing a perfect recollection of the book wouldnt be able to handle though.
Well, at least the enemies were nice enough to attack before he used his mana on the circle. He sighed and looked around. Aclysia, can youe here?
Shall I use that new skill that we acquired? he got a mental question back.
Nah, I am right outside the door. Come on out, people, I know youre there, John dered. Around the cornercame a level 21 knight and a level 23 warlock. He didnt bother to look at their names.
You must be the Gamer. We will.
take you and sell you to a mana factory, John ended his sentence and rolled his eyes. A bald guy with a bad eye (Ugly Viin) and a blonde warlock with rat teeth and a staff with a skull at the end (Really Ugly Viin). They were almost too stereotypical not to predict. Look. I hate to break it to you but you are about three weeks toote to be a threat to me.
The two looked at each other and thenughed, Like you could be stronger than us in three weeks. We bought the information package from two weeks ago! We are up to snuff.
Really? John wondered, Did you buy the premium daily updates version or the two-week-old one-time package? John asked out of interest, Because a lot happened since then. I thought people respected the growth rate of Latebloomers?
A vein popped on the knights forehead. Enough of this fucking talk, lets smash him and Aclysia appeared next to the viin. The knight didnt immediately notice and rambled on, take his stuff! Maybe we should rip out his arms, he wont need those anymore. Then we take his cock and stuff it- The warlock had spotted Aclysia and hit the big knight with his staff to get his attention. WHAT?...oh. The knight''s booming voice became very small all of a sudden.
Aclysia tilted her head. Please continue. Stopping in the middle of a sentence is rude, she blinked. I am interested in what you would want to do with my Masters cock. Perhaps you will tell me after I replicate what you intended to do with his arms?
M-master? their heads slowly turned back to John.
You must have been really thrifty if you dont know about Aclysia, he reckoned with a grin. Now shoo-shoo. He waved them off. He had no idea why they were that afraid of the Artificial Guardian but he didnt care either. He wasnt looking for a fight. Then again, there was something more to think about here. Wait just a moment.
The duo had been about to leave the barrier, when he denied them the exit. He never had done that before. It was an interesting sensation, like someone was prodding a rubber sheet he was holding with his mind. As long as he was the strongest being here, which he was, measured in mana, he had control over who got out. It was advisable that he looked into ways to prevent people from entering as well.
Yes? The warlock asked in a nervous tone. Now that he had confirmation that Johns mana was above his own he knew that they werepletely outssed. In other words: If John decided to kill them, he could. Do I understand it correctly that you two make your living through selling people as ves to mana factories and the like?
That was a confirming silence. The knight gripped his mace intensely.
John scratched his head. You are putting me in a real moral conundrum here, hemented. See, if I kill you, I am a murderer and that is bad from my viewpoint. If I let you go though, you are free to do what you failed to do to me. Which is also pretty bad. He sighed and realized how earnestly he was thinking about killing those two.
Wisdom is to know what must be done in order to preserve what is important. Victorias words echoed in his mind. Well, she had certainly been sure of what she did. Personally, he thought Wisdom was also a pretty big load of scepticism. When one was always sure of what one did, one would inevitably slide into behaviour that was justified only by a self-serving moral code.
Mhm, so here is the deal, John finally decided. I will let you two go but If I ever see you doing anything slightly shady again. He made a cutthroat motion, We clear?
The two nodded eagerly and John let them leave the Illusion Barrier. The second he was done with the ritual he would send the bird after them. The Possession would only be able to follow them so far. The further a Possessed object went, the foggier the connection became. When he was in an Illusion Barrier and the object was not, it typically became very difficult to keep it up. Not like they could get too far away in the time it took him to make his contract though.
John returned to his circle. Did you know these two?
They were a contributing factor to me runningte, Master, Aclysia said with an apologizing bow. John grunted in response. Better keep an eye on those two for a while. He wasnt about to save the world and neither did he want to have somebody start a revenge plot on him, but he wasnt a big fan of the whole very thing. One day he would, hopefully, be powerful enough to change the world. Until then, he would try to keep as low a profile as possible.
He activated the circle and was met with a voice of crackling fire. "You wish for a contract with a being of fire? a female voice spoke. John left his body behind and became one with heat. All-epassing, ever-present heat.
Yes, he answered with his mind. The second time around, this whole deal was less mystic. He waited for the fire to do what the earth had done and send him through the lifetime of a me or something like that. Instead he felt a curious touch.
We feel an echo on you, the echo of one the fire fears and worships all the same. Long since I have felt her touch... The spirit of me spoke. She who carries the Heart of Volcanoes on her.
Nathalia? John''s guess was pretty easy.
Yesyour knowledge of her, her encounter a child of his would be a good fit for your future. The female voice cackled. I do love my job. Face what you seek to control.
He was the tip of a match that got lit. The man that held him lowered him to a short wire. He danced over, igniting the gun. He was the explosion from ck powder, then the heat in the bullet. It ripped through the air and through another mans heart.
He was the fire of a mortar shell. The fire of a house burning down. The fire of a vige being set to the torch and of endless acres of wood burned down in the name of war. He was the fire of oil in the tanks of a hit warship. He was the fire that moved the engine of a tank. Its treads crushed wire, wood and the bones of the fallen.
He was the fire of war. Not a single image of a fire giving warmth on a winter night, not a single image of a fire cooking a warm meal, not a single second of niceness. He was the fire of war, of destruction, of merciless, absolute ughter. He was the fire in the fields, he was the fire in the motors, he was the fire that spewed poisonous gas into the air.
He was the fire in the chambers. He was the fire of incineration that turned all that remained into ash. That turned the remains of the fallen into ash, all individuality lost. All of him fuelled by hatred and ignorance but creating something new. Something even worse. Purple, shattered eyes. A carapace of bone. Blood burning like fuel.
He saw onest thing. He was far above a giant ind. It was loud, he moved quickly. Then he fell. He fell and fell and fell towards a city. A city that wouldnt exist in a second as the little boy exploded and consumed everything in nuclear fire. He felt how he incinerated tens of thousands of souls.
The vision was over and John almost fell backwards. Do you still wish to join us? the cackling, female voice asked.
Holy shit, do I? John asked himself. He had thought earth was unpleasant but at least earth had nice sides. He had just lived through all of the second world war as the main contributor: Fire. It didnt matter who wielded it, fire was the main source of death. What had he expected though? He himself saw fire as a tool of attack. Once the initial panic settled, the calm answer presented itself. I do.
A fire elemental appeared in front of him in the circle. Unlike Gnome she was already fully grown. A naked girl with big tits, burning red hair that wildly hung down to chin length and red tinted skin. She had elvish ears and eyes that were coal ck as she grinned. However, as grown as her appearance was, her actual size was diminutive C barely more than a candle me.
Yo, Im Smander, The fire elemental said and extended her little hand.
I am John Newman, you gave your name and I gave you mine, we are now one. He concluded the ritual with a little shake of her hand and stood up. Smander grinned and disappeared, to wait for his call. Well, that was an unpleasant experience, he mumbled and left the Illusion Barrier.
The awareness of his Possession suddenly snapped to the foreground again. The bird had been sitting in a tree, Johns mind too distracted by the vision to operate the connection. Rising into the sky, he quickly set out to find the two viins. Flying low over the rooftops, he enjoyed the breeze through his feathers.
The movement suddenly stopped. The verdin was plucked out of the air. A hand came suddenly. A rattling sound, then a green cloud that enveloped the bird for a moment, robbing the Gamer of his sight briefly. A gas mask bowed over the bird, beholding it with thick lenses. The catcher raised a smartphone and typed something. Johns phone vibrated in his pocket.
SecretBlonde: It seems I caught your new toy.
Chapter 95 – Chatter
Chapter 95 C Chatter
The information broker turned the bird in front of his face. The presumed male was wearing a long leather trench coat, its design stylish in that particr, military sense. The officers haircut and ck leather gloves fit further with the look. Although not entirely unfitting, the gasmask on his face was peculiar. Dark green and with giant lenses that hid the eyes behind their opaqueness. The breathing apparatus rattled and a momentter another cloud of visible gas left the filter. Streaks of short light blonde hair were visible at the side of the mans head. There was something made of metal on his cap, but the verdin couldnt quite make it out. At least he could cast Observe through Possession.
It waspletely bugged out.
The Gamer, the voice was raspy and distorted to a degree that it was impossible to make out the exact tone of it. The pitch however made John fairly certain that he was male. Perhaps that was just anotheryer of obfuscation though. A Mechanical Verdin series MVTS-17. You will have to answer me through your phone. After all this is one-way audio. Unless you can make this bird talk.
Jeehan: What do you want?
Just a little chatter. The informant said, I am bored and watching you is more of a side activity currently. A distorted giggle. What a grand game of coincidences. Fate must have led me here. John watched the people passing by below them. They were on top of the t roof of a supermarket yet no one was wondering what a guy in military get-up was doing there. Not even John had been able to see him.
Jeehan: I didnt see you before you grabbed me, why?
Because you didnt invest high enough, I suppose. Or because youre weak, still. When there are ways to reveal people, there are even better ways to hide people. The informant turned the little bird in his hand. But I digress. I was watching your school that day out of desperation, you know? I have been looking for a certain thing for years and thought maybe the Brightons would lead me to it eventually, or maybe that history teacher of yours, maybe Regan Hollmey, maybe that Gorbachev girl, one of them was bound to lead me to something. Then along came you. Heughed, it sounded almost like white noise. Man, who would have thought that I would find a gold mine like you Possessing a pair of panties? Not your proudest moment, I would assume. Then again you arent exactly shy about your desires.
That just confirmed what John had been guessed all this time. The person who had looked at him during the first day he used his powers, that had been SecretBlonde all along.
At first I tried to sell you off, but boy am I happy that it didnt work, The informant admitted. You gave me an in with powerful people. A direct line to forces in the Abyss. Lydia, Maximillian, Magoi, Romulus, perhaps even the Rat. Everyone loves to watch a Latebloomer grow and to gauge when they should weigh in. You gave me money, piles of it, and with it the ability to finally grasp at what I was seekingor so I thought. I didnt even need the money, you showed me where the thing I wanted was as well. All by ident. The man lowered his head and looked with what John interpreted as mocking eyes. Thank you.
The metal piece at the cap came into his sight. It was an Iron Cross. Not some kind of religious symbol, at least not in this iteration. It was the iron cross of the German army. An outdated version that no one would ept these days C because a swastika was etched proudly into its centre.
Jeehan: You are a Nazi?
John did not expect an honest answer. He got a variety of one, probably. That is correct. Dont mistake me with those skinheads with their torches nowadays or the brutes of old, however. I am looking for the refinement of humanity, nothing more, The informant turned to the people below. Look at them. Look at them all. Going about their daily lives like sheep, only focused on their ambition to keep living until they die of natural causes. Such low ambitions. We must all strive higher. The world is nothing but a cradle for powerful beings to be born. Like yourself. A cosmic chance made you, John Newman, and I will maximise the odds to repeat a simr wonder. Further and further iteration, until it''s all but guaranteed.
He threw his arms out and shouted his determination to the world, despite no one being able to hear him.
The highest beings! A god, the bermensch, the master race, it doesnt really matter C all that is important is that it is created from the essence of humanity. Well unlock the key to immortality and our own superiority. To that end, war is such a wonderful thing. Mengele used to understand that. Then again, I used to think he was useful in many regards. A disappointment through and through. When he failed to refine his creation, he regarded it as a failure, not his process but I digress.
The information broker opened his hand and the verdin was let go. Fluttering his wings, the Gamer quickly flew in a circle. He tried to keep his eyes on the man. Before the second was over, the man shifted from view. Johns phone buzzed again.
SecretBlonde: You may be happy to know that I sold the information about the two people you were watching before to the Golden Rose. This matter will be taken care of shortly. :D
Jeehan: I am absolutely disgusted that anybody would work with you.
SecretBlonde: Naw, dont be like that. You bought information off me before. Its not like the fact that I am a Nazi ismon knowledge. I would get super big problems with Blood and Princess_of_Steel if it were. A few of the others too, although their convictions wouldnt be quite as strong.
Jeehan: Maybe I should just tell them then.
SecretBlonde: Lol, are you threatening ME with Information warfare? Well good luck.
In his house, John clicked his tongue in annoyance. The guy was right. Still, he had learnt a lot today and at the very least he roughly knew what SecretBlonde looked like now. He had been abouthow tall?
John blinked repeatedly. Was it because he had been watching through a birds perspective or was some kind of magic at work? John could recall what the informant was wearing perfectly but how tall he was or how broad his shoulders were, those details slipped from his grasp, it was like grabbing at wet soap in a shower.
Frustrated, John decided to sleep over all of this. A new morning would bring new answers. Or at least get his mind off all of this.
Chapter 96 – Blood Letter
Chapter 96 C Blood Letter
Somebody rang the doorbell. Grumbling, John looked at the clock. 6AM. Who the hell was bothering him so early? Well, they wouldnt have to wait long. He rolled out of the bed and equipped the stuff for the day. He almost drew the Ne of the World Ender into the Equipment slot by ident. He noticed the mistake before it could happen and dropped it back in the inventory.
He also heard footsteps downstairs. Aclysia, as he swiftly reminded himself. Master, you have a visitor, her diligent voice rang in his head, she sounded mildly displeased.
John yawned and asked, Who?
Victoria Beloozero. He quickly went down the stairs.
The Russian sniper stood in the entrance area, her arms crossed. Took you long enough, sheined before pulling out a red letter. You have been invited to the Bloodfallen Headquarters, She formally informed him, as he took it and read its contents.
It was a long letter, speaking about how much they regretted what happened to Travolta, how they wanted to continue working with him, how they heard about Jimmie leaving and so on. The crux of the lettery towards the end.
We therefore ask that you answer our summons with utmost haste. If you ignore us for an extended period of time, we will take measures to ensure yourpliance. Therefore I, in the name of the Bloodfallen, hope that you will heed our call within the next two days. Victoria shall escort you once you are ready.
We have fallen from Red,
Igor C Guildmaster.
This is not an invitation, it''s an order, John stated and put the letter into his inventory.
Will you obey? Victoria asked, she didnt even try to hide that he was right.
Not like I have a choice in the matter, he sighed.
You have a choice. Victoria disagreed. Obey and be safe or disobey and face our wrath.
Thats not a choice, thats an ultimatum, he grumbled and got his shoes. Fine, I wille with you.
Right now? Victoria seemed a bit surprised, positively so.
Yeawell no I want to have breakfast first, afterwards sure. Missing out on another Tuesday of school, what did it even matter? He learned nothing of value there, nothing he couldnt teach himself with the inte anyway. Plus, there was not even a hint of doubt left he could sustain himself off grinding Instant Dungeons indefinitely. Want something too? He asked. He wasnt psyched about having Victoria around after all she had done. Still, it was good manners to be a good host. More importantly, he might learn something important through chitchat.
I will have a couple of pieces of toast, she decided and followed him into the house. She was stopped by Aclysia however. What is it? Victoria asked, ring.
No shoes in the household, The Artificial Guardian firmly stated.
Victoria slowly nodded and sat down to get out of her boots.
As they got seated and Aclysia prepared the table, John pulled out his phone. What are you doing? Victoria eyed him up suspiciously.
Calling Jane. She would ask questions if I did not, so calm your tits. John answered and decided to be a bit of a rude host as he ogled said part of her for a moment.
Victoria looked annoyed. Your behaviour is uncalled for!
Is it though? John asked and listed a couple of reasons, So you appeared in my life just to spy on Travolta, or Collide as a whole, then you blew up Jimmie, then you attacked me and my girlfriend, then you guided us towards your Guild Leader, who is not the nicest of people by the way, and finally you shot Travolta.
Dont insult Igor, Victoria threatened and John sighed in response.
And because that is the only thing you took away from that list, my behaviour is absolutely called for. He took a sip of orange juice. Her words were not particrly threatening while she was on her own. Her Stats were about his level but she relied on guns and he had a maid with Steelskin in intervention distance.
He clicked on the shortcut for Raves number. It began to ring. It took maybe half a minute until he heard a tired voice from the other side. Joooooohn. Its 6 something. Whaddya waaaant?
Good morning to you too, Jane, he chuckled. Victoria is here and
WHAT?! The voice on the other side was immediately wide awake. What does that traitorous bitch want at your ce?
She brought me an ultimatum to visit the Bloodfallen. Dont feel like going but I dont think there is another choice here. He looked over to Victoria who was following the whole dialogue with intent staring. So I will probably be gone for today, at least.
Rave was less controlled in her emotions. Fuck that! She cursed, You are not going anywhere with that girl without me.
What, you think I will cheat on you? Even now he felt like bantering. To treat this situation seriously outwardly wouldnt have made Victorias face scrunch up like she had eaten something sour. Just because I am heading out with the cheap woman who slept with us only to gain our trust?
Yeah, right, no I think she will shoot ya.
That is the more likely oue indeed, John admitted with a giggle, then he added in a serious tone, But if youe with, your dad is probably going to rip my head off.
Grind out a few more levels and that thought wont be threatening anymore though, Rave countered. Also, ya think I would skip on an adventure? Nu-uh. Tell me where to go.
A second. John turned to Victoria, How do we get there?
Train. Was the short answer, Centre Station. Was the just as short, longer one.
You got that? John asked.
Ja, corner my ce, Mitchum Park?
Sounds good, we should be there in about an hour.
Great, see ya.
Bye. He put down his phone and spread some butter on his toast. Aclysia, if Victoria pulls a gun on me, break her arms. He said nonchntly as he threw some smi on there.
Aclysia shot the sniper a re, I was nning to anyway..
While Victoria let out a ridiculing grunt. You think your toy could do that?
I know for a fact that Aclysia, thats her name in case you forgot, can do that, he stated and bit into his toast.
You have changed since thest time I really spoke to you, Victoria stated with narrowed eyes. Not for the better.
John washed the bite down with some orange juice. I am a lot wiser and I went through hell yesterday. Also, I had to bury a man I would have called a friend. He stared at her nonchntly. What kind of threat do you think you present to me after all of that? Victoria had no response.
They finished their meal in silence and went out. Taking a bus, the trio rode close to the city centre and then met up with Rave. Under the eyes of a certain bird, they had their greeting kiss.
Tell me the truth: you missed me yesterday, John stipted.
Nope, Fairy Tail was too awesome, Raveughed and grabbed his arm. She was currently in her disguise as the in brte. Did you miss me watching infomercials on the dumbest fantasy universe out there?
Well, I didnt really get to it. A redhead and a secretive blond guy kept me from it. John sighed, he really wanted to watch that podcast.
Oh? Tell me all about it. Rave demanded and John was happy to do so as the verdin jumped out of the tree and followed them. He kept the details on SecretBlonde to himself for the moment, he didnt want Victoria to know, but told her all about how it felt to be a fission bomb. As a half-Japanese girl, I have mixed feelings about dating the guy that was the bomb that killed thousands of my people, shemented, when he was done.
As an American I have mixed feelings about dating a girl who watches Chinese cartoons instead of good old Looney Toons. He countered.
Dont call them that. Victoria stepped in with a reprimanding re at John.
Why not? John wondered, Dont want me to p Communist nations on anything? That stopped Victoria dead in her tracks before she could make an argument.
Yes, she answered in a confused tone, How did you?
John hadnt spent thest weekend doing absolutely nothing but fucking. He had worked through her documents multiple times until he memorized and analysed everything of note. It wasnt that hard with his Stats. Because, he stared her dead in the eyes, I have rectified my mistake of trusting you. Tell me, do Abyssals usually think it''s wise to make a Latebloomer your enemy?
Victorias jaw visibly clenched and she stared. Im guaranteed by the Bloodfallen.
I know, and theyre my enemy too, John thought. As obvious as that may have been on his face, it was important to give the Bloodfallen reasons not to eliminate them yet. Will you continue to be, when I be a more valuable asset than you are?
Again, his words silenced her.
There was a grim satisfaction in being powerful.
Chapter 97 – An unimportant town called Franklin two hours away
Chapter 97 C An unimportant town called Franklin two hours away
If Springfield was a small city then Franklin was a big town. This meant that despite being rtively small it at least had its own train station, supermarket and other facilities. Almost everything someone needed in order to never leave their ce of birth. Why would you choose to build an organization here? John asked.
Victoria kept looking out of the window as she answered, You will understand in a bit.
The four of them left the train. The Gamer in a in ck Dota 2 shirt and blue jeans, Rave in a skimpy top and yoga pants (her disguise still on for the moment), Victoria in her rocker outfit with a Metallica shirt andstly Aclysia still wearing 2Bs outfit. They were a weird bunch to say the least. John had an outside perspective of that, in the form of the verdin following them closely. SecretBlonde had not made the existence of the bird public for whatever reason. It worked out for him.
Victoria took the lead and guided them to the edge of the town. Interestingly, they moved through Illusion Barriers instead of real space. John made sure to keep the verdin hidden. He didnt want the bird to be revealed as what it really was and the connection would be rather easy to draw if it showed up in an Illusion Barrier. He also used the bird to use Observe on everybody around, none of whom were affiliated with the Bloodfallen. Just random people going about their day.
They went through a field of wheat and finally arrived at an old bunker entrance. A cold war remnant, most likely. The entrance was a somewhat rusty, run-down steel door set into a massive grey, graffiti covered, cement block which in turn was half buried under a hill of dirt. This is our base. She exined, as they were pulled into the actual Bloodfallen barrier.
The run-down exterior of the bunker entrance was reinvigorated. The graffiti was removed, the steel appeared polished. So the Illusion Barrier was made when the bunker was still new? The Bloodfallen built this bunker out in the middle of nowhere, for what purpose? To hide? John considered.
Victoria knocked twice on the door. A little slit of the solid steel slid aside, revealing a pair of eyes. State your name and purpose, a rumbling voice demanded.
Victoria Beloozero. I return with the Gamer, John Newman and his guild, the Russian sniper exined.
In a series of cking noises, keys being turned, bars being moved, chains unhooked, the door was unlocked and finally swung open to the inside. The man holding it was a goliath, even bigger than Travolta had been, with a strongman body, milky white skin, dark eyes and a bald shaven head.
The very definition of a one-track character. Good Strength and Endurance but the rest of his Stats were either absolute garbage orcking. John made a mental note to raise his Stats a bit more evenly to avoid ending up like that. Agility or Strength should be next.
They passed the goliath of a man and walked down the long flight of stairs that followed, descending further and further underground. A heavy silence surrounded them. Victoria still took the lead and appeared uncaring, John brooded as his eyes darted around, Rave stared more openly at the extravagant decorations, and Aclysia was indifferent. Their steps were muffled by the red carpet that covered the steps. They finally arrived at the bottom.
The Gamer very much doubted that the facility was a carbon copy of the bunker. The first room they stepped into was about as big as the ground floor of Johns house. The red carpet extended throughout its entirety and the attached corridors. It was of a dark red, unblemished and clean like the first day. Where it met the walls, it disappeared under a golden skirting. Hazel brown walls and ceiling extended above. A chandelier hung in the centre of a small dome, dozens of lightbulbs sitting on an arrangement of brilliantly cut ss.
Dozens of people were moving about. It was the first time John had seen so many Abyssals in the same spot. They held conversation or busily moved between the four corridors connected to this room at the left and right side. John wondered just howrge thisplex was. Even more, he wondered what the massive vault door opposite of the entrance was hiding. It looked like it belonged on the set of a heist movie.
John Newman! A voice like honey dered and Igor stepped out of the crowd. The guild master was wearing something more militaristic today. Its functionality waspromised by the bright white colour. He had kept the cane, however. Wee to our humble home.
Humble, huh? John looked around again but kept his doubts to himself. Hello, Igor. I obeyed your ultimatum so mind telling me what this is about? he got straight to the point instead.
Of course, of course, Igor said with a warm smile, I will exin everything, if you woulde with me?
He started walking and John had to remind himself to keep a respectful distance. Keep a semnce of appearances C at least make them consider you could be converted into an ally, he reminded himself.
To Johns surprise, they were heading straight for the vault door. Utilizing a terminal, Igor had his hand scanned. In response, the mechanisms within the door began to move. Soon, it began to swing outwards.
I will take my leave then, guild master, Victoria excused herself, but Igor stopped her before she could take more than a single step.
No, Victoria, I think you are ready to see this as well. He made an inviting gesture and all of them went into the room behind the vault. As the door closed behind them John looked back at the busy Guild Members. They demonstrably faced away from the open vault.
Igor sealed the door from their side and then took the lead again. The corridor they were now in was wide, very wide in fact, and illuminated with fluorescent tubes that covered the middle of the surprisingly high ceiling in a long line that was only broken by the small space between two of them.
You are here John Newman. Igor started talking, because we have to find a new arrangement. Travolta is gone and his betrayal was unfortunate. However, the loyalty Collide has sworn to us is by no means negated. On the contrary, because of what he has done you are now doubly indebted to us.
John grit his teeth but shut his mouth for now. They were the ones in control of the situation and he couldnt do anything about that. He shot Rave a pleading nce, his girlfriend was already about toin but she noticed in time. Her lips lost their colour, from how intensely she pressed them together.
However, instead of simply forcing repayment on you, I thought I should extend an olive branch and give you another choice. John Newman, join the Bloodfallen. He looked at John expectantly, who thought about it.
Not about joining. There was no way in hell he was bing part of this bunch of weirdos. No, he was wondering how to wiggle out of this most effectively. He seems very intent on me joining, maybe I can pull some information from him? He thought and therefore said, Maybe, I would need to know more about your organization first.
Igor grinned and they started moving again, he had clearly expected that. Very well. Lets start with our name then. They continued walking through the seemingly endless corridor as Igor told the story of the Bloodfallen. We call ourselves the Bloodfallen due to our first leader and founder being a runaway of the Soviets after the second World War. He was a general of the Abyssal forces of the Blood of the Proletariat who saw what they did. The war, the poverty, the endless wasting of lives C he couldnt stand it any longer. So, he gathered some other loyal folk and sneaked off. He watched with horror at the continued torment that happened in the name ofmunism and came to the correct and just conclusion that the ideology and its adherents had to be silenced, by any means necessary.
Okay, that took a quick 180 degree turn. John would have loved to point out the hypocrisy here but Igor continued his story with a calm tone. Victoria was all the while nodding frantically. In their hatred, they were just as ideologically possessed as the worst Soviets had been.
However, he didnt only steal his own intellect from the enemy, but also one of the worst weapons the Soviets developed. They finally arrived at another door. Igor let his hand get scanned yet again and revealed a circr room. This is the answer to the question you surely asked yourself. The guild master said and stepped in, his voice filled with disgust, This is her. This is Thana.
Chapter 98 – Thana
Chapter 98 C Thana
John nced once at Igor, who gestured for John to step forwards. The Gamer, Rave, and Aclysia all entered the room. They stepped onto nted ground. The floor in the cylindrical room gradually rose towards the centre. There was no direct illumination. The humming of machinery and the constant little sounds of flowing liquids filled the air. They echoed from awork of steel pipes that ran from the walls, across the ceiling, towards a red container in the centre of the room.
The container was the primary source of light in the room. It pulsed constantly, like a faint heartbeat. Intense lines of green glow travelled endlessly around the ss surface of the container. It made the heartbeat feel all the more real, jumping and falling like the monitors one found in hospitals. The rise and fall was sharp but mild.
Walking closer, John realized that the pipes didnt actually connect to the ss. It appeared that the object was open at the top and bottom, hovering between wall and ceiling. Periodically, drops of red seeped out of the bottom, being caught in a basin and then transported off, probably for further processing. Thats the blood so within this will be John raised his eyes and peered into the red behind the ss.
Barely visible through the constant pulsing of red and the lines of green, was the body of a small woman. He couldnt make out a lot of her. Her hair couldnt have been that long, about chin-length. It was difficult to say. He could barely make out the outline of medium-sized breasts. All over her body were ck spots. Barely, he spotted the thick red constantly drifting from the exposed nailbeds. Further down, the thickness of the blood that gathered in the water made it impossible to make out clear details
The answer is under the nails. John thought, remembering one of Travoltas screams of agonized connection to this being. His eyes were glued to the exposed nailbeds. It was grotesque. All of this was, from who was doing it, to the effects of her ichor, to whatever she was.
The truth wasnt going to present itself this easily. He put his hand on the container, hoping that would aplish anything. It didnt. The naked girl inside was still floating with an empty expression. The ss was cold. Freezing cold.
Thana. He mumbled, Mind telling me what this is about, Igor?
When our glorious founder left the Blood he didnt just rob them of his own superior intellect but also of one of their greatest weapons, Igor reiterated what he had said earlier. We dont know how she was created but this girl continually bleeds a tincture that heightens everyones capabilities. Although the reality of it is that everyone who drinks too much of her blood loses themself to her cursed influence, the Blood used it in very small doses to strengthen some of the Soviet Union''s soldiers.
Gaia was fine with that? he asked the Guild Leader with a baffled tone.
Igor shrugged, In small doses, an Abyssal Drug is indistinguishable from a real one.
So, you stole her from the Soviets, John summarized, and now you are using her blood yourself?
All we do is follow our leader''sstmand. Igor said, With his dying breath, close to the edge of her madness, he told us to kill her. Unwilling to take the risk of letting her out of this container, after seeing the insanity her blood alone can spread, it was decided to wait out her natural death. For sixty years now we have monitored her.
Sixty? John almost shouted in disbelief and stumbled away from the container. The girl inside looked about his own age.
Sixty years of what was, for all he knew and Observe told him, perpetual torment. Sixty years. More than three times his own lifetime. There was no way he was going to join up with these people. However, he had to make the impression if he wanted to get out of here.
You are dedicated, heplimented the only thing worthwhile, Is it even working?
Yes, Igor pointed at the ever-turning green line as it jumped once again. Her heart has been slowing, pumping her ursed blood with less vigour. At the current pace, we should see her end in about two years. With that our orders holy task will be fulfilled. John didnt even need to ask about any further details. Igor started rambling in his honey-coated voice all on his own. Yes, indeed. All we do is for our dear leader''s vision. All we do is keep the prison active, John Newman, with the money our vassal organizations pay us. In return, we give them power. She is the source of her own death. His tone twisted into a happy ridicule, Entirely fitting formunist scum.
And what happens when you are done? John asked out of genuine interest, When you have fulfilled that holy task of yours? Wont all the guilds you hold by getting them addicted to her blood turn against you the moment you stop providing?
That doesnt matter. Igor waved it off. The moment she is dead the Bloodfallen will gather and attack the Blood. We will consume the remaining amount of her ichor and take as manymunists with us into an early grave as we can. We will purge them off this world like they purged our ancestors families in the Gg.
And in doing so they would be exactly like them. Johns suspicion waspletely proven. The Bloodfallen had turned to another form of extreme, they didnt think about consequences, they only wanted to damage the Blood of the Proletariat. It was a religious zeal that glinted in Igors eyes and Victoria beheld him admiringly. These people had deluded themselves so far that they thought fighting the bigger evil made all of their actions justified.
John looked back at the tank for a moment. Even if one of these actions is keeping a girl locked in endless torment, huh? He thought and turned to Igor. He needed to get away from here and find some sort of solution for this whole mess. Not just because he wanted to survive, but because he wanted to honour thest wish of Travolta. Revenge and justice, as far as John was concerned. He would have both if he screwed over the Bloodfallen. I need time to think about all of this, John argued. I wille back to you soo-
No. Igor t out rejected, You know too much to leave here like this. I need an answer. That was expected but John had another idea. He disliked it but the risks were small.
What if I leave you insurance? Everyone in the room had a questioning expression.
Tell me what you mean by that, John Newman, Igor demanded and John walked back up to the group. He put his hand on Aclysias shoulder.
I will leave her with you. Victoria can vouch how much she means to me. John said and did his best at making a worried expression. He didnt have to act much, he really hated doing this. How Aclysia was able to stay calm and collected despite being offered to the enemy was admirable, it was like she actually knew Johns n already. Well, maybe she did. He wasnt hiding his thoughts from her.
Igor looked over to the newest member of the inner circle and the sniper nodded. Yet you are very quick to give her up, Igor nheless wondered.
Well, I think I will join you, John lied, but I want to be sure. One doesnt join such an important task on a whim.
That seemed to be good enough for the guild leader. He gestured for Aclysia to walk over to him. Fine, you have one week. Victoria will retrieve you again afterwards. Go now.
If the connection breaks, find out as much as you can before you activate the ability, Johnmunicated mentally with Aclysia. Numbers, estimations of powers, a buildingyout, everything you can find.
Affirmative, Aclysias thoughts were still rxed. John wished he could trust himself as much as she did.
Chapter 99 – The Plan
Chapter 99 C The n
What the fuck, Johnny? Rave was agitated and for understandable reasons.
John looked around before he answered. Not with his own eyes, but with those of the verdin. Without Aclysia and with Rave still in her disguise, the two of them stood out way less than before. That was good, in a way. They were on their way back to the train station.
I demand that ya tell me exactly what is going on in that stupidly wise head of yours! Rave kept on prodding, stabbing her finger in his side. When he didnt answer even then, she puffed up her cheeks and just waited.
John looked closely around their surroundings, to make really certain Victoria wasnt around. Her and nobody else. Well, nobody outside of the Nazi that always was. Best to shut out that guy as well. John put up an Illusion Barrier and exined what he was thinking. I want to save her. He began, I want to save Thana, it was Travoltasst wish and
How is leaving Aclysia behind going to save her!
would you let me finish? John asked and looked at his girlfriend disapprovingly. They had both juste out of a threatening situation. Rave took a deep breath, but nodded. What I was going to say is that we need time. Apart from that, Aclysia is safe.
How can you be that sure about it? Rave interrupted again.
Because she can teleport to me whenever I want.
LEAD WITH THAT, YA MORON! Rave shouted at him and pinched him in the side. She followed that up by kissing him. Geez, making me worry that much. Sheughed, immediately rxed. Alright, so you do have a n. Give it to me!
John smiled somewhat apologetically, yeah leading with that would have helped. He shared pretty much everything with Rave all the time so he sometimes forgot that she didnt immediately know what he was thinking. I want to help that girl. John eximed again, So we need three things. One is we need to get stronger. Allies, levels, whatever helps. If we power grind for a whole week maybe we can oppose them.
He wasnt sure about it. Grinding in the past had been either excrutiatingly slow or ineffective after a certain threshold, however the new Floor System would hopefully provide them with enough daily progress.
Ya think the Bloodfallen wont get suspicious tho?
Oh, they absolutely will, John smirked. Which is perfect. They will keep a close eye on us and wonder why we are inside Instant Dungeons all the time and when Aclysia suddenly shows back up with us, they will probably send out some kind of extermination squad
.Which effectively splits their forces, making it easier for us to beat them with our newfound powers! Rave hugged her boyfriends arm, Lookadya, being all clever. She slurred and then asked, What about the other two things?
Well, we need a way to open that door and the way they behave, I think the Bloodfallen would rather shred Igors hands into pieces than give us the ability to force him to do it. Which is where Aclysiaes into y again. You can scan the structure of his hand, right? John reaffirmed his n mentally. The connection to his Artificial Spirit, at this distance, was hazy but he could still exchange words with her.
Affirmative, Master. Acquirement has begun with an initial handshake. Came the quick answer.
She will copy the structure of his hand with that shapeshifting of hers. Fortunately for us, the lock seems technological rather than magical.
Okay, so far all of that makes sense to me, what is the third thing you need? Rave asked and in response John sighed.
We should get an Apothecary, he stated, following it up with the reasons, I have no idea if that container is slowly killing her or keeping her alive. Normal people dont slowly have their heart rate reduced over the course of sixty years. It would be best to get some immediate aid by someone who has an idea on the matter.
Rave nodded again and again eagerly as she listened, Okay, so TLDR: Step 1: Train alone until Aclysia has the codes for the door, in the meanwhile try our best to find an Apothecary, Step 2: Teleport Aclysia out of there using that bullshit skill of yours, Step 3: Train more with her, Step 4: Defeat the baited in Bloodfallen, Step 5: Go attack their base while they are weakened, taking that Apothecary with us. She summarized the whole thing.
Almost correct, I would put something between Step 3 and 4 though. We have to take care of Victoria. Theres no way she isnt spying on us. Ill find her with the bird.
They left the Illusion Barrier he had erected and went on their way to the train station, talking about less sensitive topics, just in case anyone was listening in. Once they were actually on the train and it was a bit easier to check for listeners, John asked, So, is your dad around?
Nope, gone for the next week or so. Rave delivered the news, causing John to grumble. He would have liked to talk him into this. Sure, he would have groaned andined but if it was about protecting his daughter, who he knew he couldnt stop, Regan might haveplied. In the training effort, if nothing else.
First thing we try then is fulfilling this Quest of mine. John decided and looked at it again. One SEP was super good, 20000 Experience was also very good and nobody ever said no to Epic Equipment.
Ten Floors, right? Hope we dont stumble over a nympho dragon next time around.
Very unlikely, I get the feeling that something like Nathalia doesnt happen all that often. Maybe it had something to do with the Eclipse? Besides I liked that encounter, he teased his girlfriend.
I saw, ya perverted nutjob, she snapped at him and looked him deep in the eyes. You better not forget what our whole harem agreement included.
I would never, he promised and kissed her on the lips.
I take it we skip school for the week then, she whispered conspiratorially.
Id say so, yeah. He whispered back. Foreheads resting on each other they went silent, only the rattling of train wheels over the tracks in the background.
Is she around? Rave finally opened her mouth again in a quiet tone. She was referring to Victoria.
Yes. She is not alone. John answered. Together with her, two other members of the Bloodfallen had entered the train. They stayed a few wagons over. They probably thought that they could afford ax overseer role. They are underestimating us by a long shot. John concluded, I wonder if the Blood of Thana is affecting their judgement even in lower stages, making them more arrogant or something. Either that or they are just naturally drunk on power. He was certain that it was thetter or abination of both. For a semi-religious cult bent on the slow murder of a woman, they had a lot of unnecessary splendour to their headquarters.
Well rough them up when the timees, Rave hummed.
Chapter 100 – To Grind [Wednesday]
Chapter 100 C To Grind [Wednesday]
Johns life was a typical story. Boy meets Girl, Girl helps defeat deadly biker gang with a centipede monster in tow, Boy and Girl fall in love after murdering ghosts, Stuff happens, an evil organization steps on the field and throws their lives into turmoil, tragedy, sadness, drama, an enemy that tries to pull them to their side but the Boy outwits him. Johns life was not at all a typical story.
Which is why he was happy to finally do something he knew how to do again. Grinding! Grinding! Grinding! he chanted as they went to the bus stop.
You look sooooo stupid right now. Rave giggled at his side.
Well, it is great to find something normal to do that doesnt involve someone trying to kill or convert me. John said as they arrived at the stop. Okay, monsters will try to kill me, but thats different.
The bus pulled up in the distance and with it the impending time of what was essentially the loading screen for his Instant Dungeon. Man, this PC was slow. The bus rolled down the street. Going to the forest all the time surely was annoying. If they wanted to stay hidden they needed to do that. The bus started to slow down.
Wait, hide from whom? The Golden Rose had long found out about them. The only other reason to go to the forest was because John had no idea how Treants would spawn. The bus came to a halt and Rave was waiting with a confused look for John to walk towards the opening door. Why exactly should they take the bus to the forest if they were about to farm Skaven?
He asked Rave exactly that and her eyebrows jolted upwards then shifted downwards quickly as she asked herself the same question. We have absolutely no reason, do we? she asked as the door closed and the bus went on its way.
Nope, John finally came to that conclusion and extended his hand to the sky. Absolutely none. The Instant Dungeon was erected and the entrance to it quickly found. They went inside the undergroundplex. Materializing both Gnome and Smander, he doubled their party size. Speaking of thetter, he had never used Observe on the fire spirit. Time to get a better understanding of his new familiar.
Was Krieg not just the German word for war? Either Gaia (or whoever else decided the names of gods) waszy in the naming sense or the elemental had some unpronounceable name and his mind just tranted to the next best thing. Whatever was the case, her Stats were pretty ss canon-y. Thankfully, he also had Gnome.
Who was a lot better at being a tank anyway. If only she were about as tall as him it would be perfect. Probably a goal for the future. Keeping both of them active was about 0,32 Mana per second, also subtracting Aclysia and two Possessions pushed him down to roughly 1,08 Mana per Second. Pretty good all things considered. Individually, he was easily ovee by Abyssals his level, but with all of his familiars he became a one-man army. With Mana Ray he could provide the necessary backline support. Provided his mana didnt go to other tasks.
Which there were two new outlets for. He activated Mana Shield, not because he thought it necessary but because he needed to level it anyhow. Actually, he hoped he wouldnt have to use it, the current cost for that thing was disgusting. Best to not get hit in the first ce.
Okay, let''s figure out how to integrate you into the formation, Smander.
Fuck formation! Smander cursed right at him, which surprised him twofold. She had been active the entire time (like Gnome he liked to keep her skill levelling through passive use) but she had never spoken a word. The other thing was her tone. Just point me at something to burn! Smander demanded.
I like her! Rave said, Speaks mynguage, just with fire.
Well, I dont like her. Copernicus chimed in, the sun cat suddenly appearing between the party, yawning. Fire elementals are always dim-witted. Smander flew over and hovered in front of the sun cat for a moment. Then she made a single mockingugh before leaving the cat on the floor again. What was that supposed to mean? Copernicus meowed.
John scratched the back of his head. As the party grew so did the number of oddballs apparently. He stopped the scratching. I really cant kick the habit. Lets just get this moving, I want to see what Smander can do, afterwards we should hurry to the next floor or even the one below that. The enemies up here arent exactly great EXP providers.
The verdin fluttered its wings and started scouting out the corridors. It didnt take long for them to locate the first group of Minor Skaven. They didnt mind or notice the bird. Exactly what John wanted to see.
Okay, Jane, you do your thing at the frontlines. I will disrupt them with Possession. Gnome, you guard me. Smander, you show us what you can do.
The fire elemental grinned, an aggressive glint in her eyes. Got it! she eximed.
Rave stormed around the corner and the fight began. Of course, they were horribly over levelled. Lower Skaven had a Level ranging from 20 to 25. John and his elementals were currently level 31, Rave was at level 34. Every single member of his party could have cleared the dungeon on their own.
Smander demonstrated how useful she was, turning into arge ember that danced through the air. Her attacks could broadly be described in two different ways: either she tackled the enemy with her me body, showering them in rapid melee attacks, or she used her small size to fly around the enemy and bombard them with fire attacks. The former was more devastating, covering the Skaven in trails of burned fur, while thetter was disruptive and provided little chance for counter attacks.
Smander returned to Johns side for a moment, her form of flying fire consolidating back into the red-skinned woman. Ya like what ya see? she asked and wiggled her hips, winking with one of her coal-ck eyes.
Yes. John didnt get further into the sexual advance, she was sexy but way too small. Hopefully that would change over time. Not that he was sure he would take her advances even then. It was all a bitplicated. Let me test something. Jane, can you make way?
His girlfriend jumped backwards and now John extended his hand. Time to try using fire himself. He offered Mana up to Smander and she startedughing. Aw yisss! She eximed and covered the remaining three enemies in a wave of fire that filled the hall in front of him.
John felt very stupid as he looked at his own hand, doing nothing, as the Fire Elementalughed at the destruction she brought. It made sense, when he gave Gnome his mana he wasnt the one doing the actual casting either. Nheless, he was disappointed. Leaving Smander to her pyromania, he checked his mana to effective destruction ratio, which was more an educated guess than actual math.
Well, three Skaven were dead and the whole ordeal had cost him a mere 60 Mana, meaning he could easily kill one every 20 seconds with his current mana regeneration. Theoretically, reality had the mean tendency to defy expectations from time to time.
I am a tool of destruction! Smanderughed with hands stemmed on her hips as the cooked bodies of the Skaven vanished. This is fun, let''s do more of that, can we? OF COURSE WE CAN! Lets go John, gogogogogogogogogogogogogogo. When did hend in the Looking for Group-Group? Whatever, the avian extension of him had already found the boss room. He read the Observe information on the boss while they went and fought their way through the Dungeon, towards him.
An explosion, caused by Smander, announced the partys entrance into the boss room. Skaven were catapulted through the air and crashnded on the dirty stone floor, vanishing momentster. They left behind small amounts of money and other small items.
The Warlord was sitting on a small throne, two Rat Wolves chained to it. They were smaller than the one that had guarded the treasure roomst time around. Nheless, their teeth and ws looked like they could inflict quite a bit of pain and disease. Behind the Warlord was a wooden door, probably the way to the next floor.
Lets make this fast. John decided, Jane, you take the boss. Smander, you help her. Gnome, we take on the wolves. The strategy was made just in time as the Lesser Skaven Warlord shattered the chains with a blow with its mighty axe. The Rat Wolves sprinted at them but Rave didnt even mind. With her far superior speed she charged and met them halfway. Nimbly, she dodged their vile maws by sliding underneath them and then jumping right at the Warlord.
This little manoeuvre confused the wolves enough that it allowed John to get his first Mana Ray off without interruption. The attack seared one of the Rat Wolves front legs, crippling it with one blow that made it impossible for it to resume its charge. The other Rat Wolf, now aware of the danger the Gamer posed, went on the offensive again. It didnt manage to get past Gnome, who stood in its path and grabbed it by the snout.
The Earth Elementals strength was shattering, figuratively. Although she wasnt able to break the attackers head in her palms, she was able topletely immobilize him for the moment. Which was all that John needed to get a second Mana Ray off on the already wounded Rat Wolf at the back. This is really just bullying. John thought, the hit killing the beast.
At the same time, he heard the howling of a wounded animal from the Warlord. The boss copsed right as John directed his eyes to it. Burn marks from Smander and Rave, interestingly different in their patterns, covered the dying Skaven. Then it turned to ash. Thest Rat Wolf was finished up in mere moments as well.
Buh! Raveined, Way too easy. Is the Loot good?
Nope. John looked over it. Just some rusted equipment, money and that was it. Well, for some reason people paid a lot for the metal the weapons were made from so he wouldntin. He put the vendor trash away and prayed for some of that Warpstone next time around.Lets go down. He decided and opened the door.
Behind was a staircase that wound deeper into the earth. The bird took the lead and he found the first enemies before they were even done descending the staircase.
Gaia is officially azy game designer. John stated with a disbelieving, disapproving voice. She just took the enemies from thest floor and pped 5 levels on top.
Booooooring!! Raveined even more. He sighed, Yepoh well, lets keep grinding.
They beat the boss of that floor too, causing both of them to level up, before calling it a day and going somewhere else.
Chapter 101 – The Hospital
Chapter 101 C The Hospital
The bird looked at Victoria looking at Johns back. He is betraying us, one of the two bodyguards with her grumbled, I have no doubt.
Yet still we will remain watchers, Victoria said in a stern tone. We have no other orders. Hes a Latebloomer, it''s worth the low potential hes behaving suspiciously without reason.
Indeed, the second bodyguard agreed.
Fine, The first guy spat out. After chastising res, he sighed. You are right, wouldnt want to go against our orders. What if he tells them of her though?
We have spies inside. The second he utters a word we move in and confront him. Non-violent means C at first.
And thank you Victoria. Johnughed to himself. Its always interesting what people tell you when they dont know youre listening. Although this does put me in a difficult situation. Can I just Observe everyone until I find someone who isnt suspicious? John parked the verdin in the branches of a tree. It would sit there like an oddly inert bird, while he was inside the hospital barrier. He also whispered what he had just learned to Rave.
Man, theirwork is wide. The techno-lover said, slightly baffled.
It has to be for them to be the local power. There are probably a lot of Bloodaddicts hanging around, John agreed and rubbed his chin. I would need somebody I can trust or at least somebody who is not affiliated with them.
He knew no one inside there but that one Herman fellow who had looked after Jimmie. He had looked the part of the nice guy, but was he trustworthy? Aclysia hadnt divulged all the details, but she did have a run-in with the man and she had reported it had been a rather pleasant one. Also, John could at least make it look like he was here because he wanted to give some additional thanks.
We should look for that fellow who helped Jimmie. John broke the situation to Rave and they went to the reception. Excuse me, we are looking for a Herman urum. He helped a friend of ours and wed like to offer our gratitude.
One moment, came the mechanical answer of somebody bored of their job, Herman is huh, he isnt in the system. Weird, give me a moment, must have gotten stuck in the wrong folder
How often do I have to remind you that I am under volunteers not workers, Denise, Herman approached with augh on his lips. The apothecary had been lounging nearby perchance, it seemed, stepping out of a nearby breakroom.
Right, right, the receptionistughed back. Well, there you go.
Sad thing what happened to Jimmie. Herman gestured towards the breakroom. Once they were inside, the muscr, brown haired man scratched the back of his head in an awkward motion. Is there anything I can help you with?
Ehm, yes. John finally managed to get out, almost mimicking the motion.
Gaia get on with it! Rave tapped her heel on the floor, once she had made sure they were alone in the room and the door was tightly shut. The Apothecaries guaranteed privacy, so the door was about as soundproof as modern doors could get. Do ya wanna get in on a conspiracy to save a life?
Sure? Herman said, sounding the opposite of sure. What is this about? Perplexed, he turned to John.
Right, yes, see.this might sound very, very weird but I need you to listen from start to finish. He told Herman about Thana and roughly what happened so that he got the whole picture.
At the end Herman trembled, ....That poor thing. was all he managed to say. A few calming breathster, I need to see her once to be able to say if I can help her. He stated, This is a bit personal but, well, if you allow me to, I could use a technique to tap into your contract-connection with Aclysia. It would strengthen the connection enough that you could reach her even from here.
John had not told him about the fact that Aclysia was his Artificial Spirit. How do you know about that?
I helped her with. things, he answered vaguely.
So Aclysia told him during the incident. Not exactly what John liked to hear, but it was her right to divulge her true nature. Sending one nce over to Rave, he got a nod back from his girlfriend. If Herman tried to pull something odd, she would intervene. Fine. Lets do this. John agreed.
Herman put his hands on his temples. Close your eyes concentrate on the bond with your Artificial Spirit and let me in, he instructed. Rave snickered at the side, doubtlessly thinking about some gay joke.
Not letting himself be distracted, John felt the bond with Aclysia stronger than ever. From a barely present thread, it swelled to an open channel. She noticed swiftly.
Greetings Master. I have acquired the data. Aclysia gave him an immediate update. I should be capable of entering the vault now.
I thought we had agreed on the thing you should do before addressing me? John sent back a curious reprimand.
Ever since acquiring better memory I have found out more about feelings outside of the shallow burdens of momentary ones. I have judged the calling sound you have designated for me to be embarrassing and hoped you forgot.
It was your idea though.
Affirmative. It was a bad idea.
Just once, please? I mean, you call me Master, this cant be more embarrassing. There was hesitation in their mental conversation, something akin to a frustrated sigh reverberated through his head.
Ohayou Gozaimasu, Danna-Sama~. A soft voice then spoke into his mind.
He held back hisughter. I disapprove of your amusement, Master. Besides, I found out that this is a greeting for mornings, it is almost 7 PM.
Okay, okay, you dont have to do it again. Just wanted to hear it one time. John caved in. That sparked the curiosity of his creation.
Why? Aclysia drilled a little deeper.
I thought it would sound kinda cute.
After a long moment of contemtion, she said, Did you think it was cute, Master?
Mhm, a bit, but I mostly found it funny.
That was recognized. Would a repetition of this act make you happy again?
No, I think it would get old rather quickly. We will find something else.
Understood.
Interesting conversations you two have, Hermans voice joined the fray. She cant hear me. Im attached to you. I see what you see through her.
Right, John responded. Aclysia, have you learned something of interest?
I have learned that their security detail is ratherx. My personal theory on the why is that they are not used to outsiders walking around. I believe this intel may be of use to you, Master. A flood of recalled images and fragments or retained information flowed through the connection.
Guild: ZukZuk
Blood addiction sessful. Extermination sessful. Remaining members unable to be converted. Assets taken over. Operation overall sess.
Guild: Gehenas
Blood addiction sessful. New method sessful. Extermination sessful. Two members converted. The rest were let go and killed at ater date. Assets taken over. Operation full sess.
Guild:
It continued in that fashion. John only cared about thest entry Aclysia sent him.
Guild: Collide
Blood addiction sessful. Extermination sessful. Remaining members doubtful to convert. No assets to be taken over. Operation pending. Note: The remaining members of the Guild have true potential, recruitment takes high priority. Above average risk is eptable.
There is no leak. John whispered. The realization momentarily snapped him out of the connection.
What? Raves puzzled voice reached him.
Igor said that Travolta got his hands on the form through a leak, right? There is none. He has been lying from the start. John grit his teeth. They just used him as a guinea pig. If he survived, good for them. If he died, then what is now happening was always nned to happen.
Assholes, Rave growled.
Calm down, Herman advised. Getting angry here wont save anyone.
John took that advice to heart and forced himself to concentrate on the mental connection again. Aclysia, Im able to contact you thanks to Herman. He needs you to look at Thana for us. Can you do that?
It will lead to my discovery, Aclysia cautioned.
John was aware of that. This moved his time n ahead further than he wanted, but he would just have to deal with the effects of that as they came. Worst case, he would plead for asylum with the Order. They werent willing to go into all out war with the Bloodfallen yet, but certainly they would harbour their enemys enemy? Do it.
The Artificial Guardian was simply walking down the hallway. The Bloodfallen around apparently didnt mind her at all. In their ck robes, they were walking around seemingly just concerned with whatever it was they were doing at the time, not paying attention to a single thing she did. John could see how sneaking around in such an environment was rather easy. Is there no one who is keeping an eye on you?
I managed to discard him for the time being using non-lethal means, Aclysia exined as she put her hand on the scanning equipment of the vault door. His absence has not yet been noticed. I deemed that the single-minded focus of the drones would keep me safe from questions. I was correct.
Blind loyalty really blinded apparently. Aclysia put her hand on the console and one biometric scanter, was given entrance to the vault. Instinctively, all the converted members of the Bloodfallen turned their heads away from the scene. It wasnt until it started to close behind Aclysia again that someone yelled, STOP HER!
The Bloodfallen were nothing without orders, but they sure were quick to obey them. They immediately stormed towards the closing vault. Only a single one managed to get in before the giant door closed. Aclysia didnt wait for him to get ready to attack. Swiftly, she pulled the Sword of Glory from the space Adaptive dery had created and hit him over the head with the t side.
I humbly apologize, she said, before kicking the stunned man in the sides and then knocking him outpletely by mming his head against the wall.
Hurry, when they get Igor you will have to leave. John instructed and Aclysia turned to run in response. There was a chance all of this was going to lead to them switching out the locking mechanism. If that happened, John would deal with it at that time.
The corridor left behind, Aclysia scanned her hand for a second time. Behind her, angry shouting from a voice used normally for sweet talk could be heard. The inner door opened and Aclysia hurried up to Thana. There was a shockwave in Johns mind,ing from Herman. Such a pause of pure shock, cruelty.
Aclysia had enough time to step up to the container and give Herman a quick look around at all the details. Then, the Bloodfallen started to pour into the room. A select few of them, about a dozen. The inner circle, most likely.
I am very disappointed, Igor dered, standing ahead of the group. What did John Newman even want to aplish by setting you up to do this? Free her? Now that he mentioned it, that didnt seem like such a bad idea. Honestly John hadnt expected Aclysia toe this far but maybe if they just released Thana
No. Herman interrupted his thought process, That container is keeping her alive, dont. She needs to be extracted carefully.
The n was discarded. Igor kept talking. I suppose we will have to track your creator down and find the answers ourselves. First, well reduce you to a head. You may be of use, if you can be reprogra-
Aclysia, you can teleport out now, John instructed. Almost unceremoniously, only a sh of blue and purple energy announcing where she would appear, Aclysia suddenly popped up next to him.
Greetings, Master. She said with a bow. Also, a good evening to you, Herman, Rave.
The apothecary had been warned but was baffled nevertheless. He slowly took his hands off Johns temples. Alrighty, this worked. Rave grinned, Can ya tell me what the status is now?
We will get Thana out in her container, you can heal her? John asked Herman.
The apothecary nodded hesitantly, With the right equipment and preparation I should be able to, but if you n to use force to get her out I wont be able to help.
Disappointing but expected. Despite his Stats and stature, he didnt look like much of a fighter. Dont worry, we got this. Rave reassured him with a wink at her boyfriend. John nodded and they swiftly left the hospital. Best they moved out before Victoria could set up an ambush.
Chapter 102 – To Grind more! [Saturday]
Chapter 102 C To Grind more! [Saturday]
Three days.
They had spent the past three days nning and training. Herman said he would take care of the logistics of getting that tank out of there. As long as the rest of them were able to move it to the surface, he could have it taken out of the Illusion Barrier and then moved to somewhere safe. He also promised to ask some of his friends to help them. Which meant that John had one goal and one goal only: being stronger than Igor and Gent, the two most intimidating fighters in the Bloodfallen.
Funnily enough that didnt look that unrealistic at this point.
Because he had learnt one thing, one easy and simple thing: his powers were bullshit.
He had acquired the other two basic elementals, air and water, yesterday.
First was Undine, a girl made entirely of water, or well, actually it was more some sort of slime. She was about the same height as Gnome, her light blue form shifting most of the time but maintaining humanoid proportions. The only two things that interrupted her otherwise smooth surface was her short hair that twirled around a maelstrom at the back of her head and her white glowing eyes, the colour of mist. She was much like Gnome, only even quieter, responding with waves of emotion instead of words most of the time. She kept to protecting John from ranged attacks with her viscous body.
Which was direly needed as Gnome was simply not quick enough for that kind of job, especially in this environment. A sharpened steel pipe flew at John''s head but was washed to the side by one of Undines arms. It extended and stretched, until the small girl''s limb was a torrent of water and goo. That took care of the steel pipe. Not, however, of its origin.
That was the job of his second new elemental. A stupendously fast streak of pale green swirled around the Building Boar, slicing its surface hundreds of times. Small cut after small cut tore the monster apart. With onest, intense attack, the structurallypromised creature was blown apart into wildly diced chunks.
What was I saying, right, are you listening? I think you are. So. What I am saying is that Sally is such a bitch, right? She only talks about burning stuff, all day, every day. You know what is going on inside your head all day? Because I sure do. Lemme tell you, it is FUN. Because you thought about Tetris so much in your life you actually have an Arcade machine up there. Uh! Uh! Did I tell you about the high score yet, Gnome actually holds it and and and.. The words of the small green girl started to slowly meld together into white noise. Maybe green noise was more urate for her. Sylph didnt seem to mind that he wasnt actually listening, she just enjoyed talking.
John found it interesting that the two elementals too small to do anything with were adult in appearance and the two others were minors in appearance. All of that was deceptive, none of them grew up like humans did, but it did turn John away from having sexual interest in any of them.
Sylph. That was Gnome inside his head, Get back to it.
The green girl in the air saluted at the fellow elemental in the yellow sundress. Yes, maam! She yed obedient before turning in the air and flying at the next foe, of which there were more than enough. Gnome had turned into some kind ofmander; John had no idea if that was because of seniority or some other factor was at y. Orders were given seldomly, however. Gnome avoided speaking.
With two more elementals at his side, Johns power had risen tremendously. His upkeep costs had risen in equal measure. It wasnt rming, but cause enough for him to concentrate on getting Intellect to 75 next after he had reached the 25+ mark in Agility. Which was really disappointing. John sighed, all that milestone had gotten him was higher flexibility and his reflexes were quicker by 10%. Not bad, just boring.
Jane, how is it going on your side? John shouted at his girlfriend. Rave was busy sting light at the other kind of enemy in this Dungeon.
I just love having a challenge for a change! Rave grinned as another well aimedser burned the wing off a crow.
Amen, sister! Smander attested and finished the thing off with a ray of fire from her hands while giggling.
Ya could be more like her in fights, you know? Rave asked Copernicus.
That would involve moving, the cat yawned and rolled on its back . Currently, it upied a coffee table, You got this, Lightbearer. Well, you or your friend there.
Aclysia swung a sword that was taller than she was downwards at another Building Boar. The attack cut and shattered the enemy in equal measure. The sword was more a hunk of steel with edges than an actual sword. Well, steel was not the right description. Observe had the proper formtion.
Aclysia herself was also stronger than ever.
She had +20 Strength. Twenty. Percent Bonus Stacking was insane. That was nothing new to John but it was just something else to see it in action. John wondered what Gaia had in store for him at level 75 of the Artificial Spirit Skill. At the current pace, that was still a bit away. Important was that he got it before the main confrontation with the Bloodfallen.
After Aclysias sudden escape from the Headquarters, Victoria and herpanions had vanished. Literally. They had entered an Illusion Barrier. John (unwilling to give away the secret of his bird, which SecretBlonde still kept to himself for whatever reason) had circled the area from the outside. He had not found them again. Whatever they were nning, they were keeping a long distance.
This put a dent into Johns ns to take her out before reinforcements arrived but he simply filled that gap by training more. After having beaten the third floor of the Skaven Under Empire (again, same enemies with an additional 5 levels on top), John and Rave had decided to try waves instead. Forest Elemental was a disabled option in the city, so the next best choice had been City Elementals.
Which was exactly what they were fighting now. Aclysias new sword was a drop from the second wave boss. Currently, they werepeting against the fourth wave. They hadnt beaten this boss before, they usually just repeated the first three. However, with the addition of the two new elementals to his arsenal, John felt quite confident. Especially because the enemies were once again the same as the previous waves, which meant that the Boss was probably also the same.
Despite the enemies being of simr or higher level to the group, they werent exactly difficult. They were not easy either, like the previous three waves had mostly been. They had numbers going for them, in addition to different enemy types that harassed the party with attacks both up close and from afar.
John sent Undine most of his MP to create a wave of mana-reinforced water. It enveloped two nearby Building Boars. The magic in the liquid increased surface strength and the general impact of the momentum, making it effective despite the weight and supernatural strength of the creatures. John emptied the rest of his mana pool to help Rave by taking down another Scrap Crow with Mana Ray. Normally, emptying his reserves like that was inadvisable, but he was waiting for
Exactly that. Well, there were not a whole lot of enemies left so any second now.
that would happen. I am on point today, John thought.
The streets cracked, bent and the rubble tumbled. Chunks of asphalt all gathered in the same location. New and old, ck and grey, the material began to swirl and fuse, ultimately forming a 5 metre tall humanoid.
It had human proportions, long legs and arms covered with white lines that looked like street markings. The primary difference between it and humans, besides the obvious size and material, was that it had no head. instead a slight bulge was located where its neck should be, an eye made of small white pebbles resting there.
In all honesty John thought the thing looked more ridiculous than intimidating, still it was 5 metres tall and capable of high levels of destruction. It reminded John that he himself was capable of levelling buildings at this point, through the power of his familiars. It would take him a little time though.
Usual strategy? Rave asked.
Yep. Sylph, Smander, if you would. John gestured towards the two tiny, female elementals. Not that John had any male elementals. The elemental nes must have sensed his desires to that end.
Sylph took this as an invitation to start talking again, Lets a go! Of course, only if you are ready. I know how much of a slow burner you are. Heh. Get it? Slow burner? Because you are made of....
Get fucking going, airhead! Smander kicked her fellow elemental in the butt and then followed her to the Asphalt Golems arm. There, the two elementals started to rapidly circle around, sting their individual attacks at the arm of the beast.
The strategy was tried and tested. Sylph and Smander would circle around one of the limbs, gradually sawing it off while the rest of the group kept the Golem upied. Once that was done, the destroyed limb would morph into two smaller Golems they needed to quickly defeat. After that, there was a window where one side of the boss was wide open. Given time, it would absorb what asphalt was around to regenerate. Still, this was the safest and most reliable method they had found.
The Asphalt Golem moved in to swat the little elementals away like mosquitoes but John was already on the case. Gnome took a good third of his mana and a pir of earth enveloped the arm at the wrist, stopping the Golem in its movement. The boss priority shifted to getting its arm out of the restriction. Aclysia immediately moved to intercept.
It swung its mighty fist at the dirt pir, only for Aclysia to strike the wrist of the arm with a jumping strike. The impact of the Cleaver of Streets brought the limb off its aimed trajectory. Swiftly, the bnce of the entire creature waspromised. Aclysia jumped back. The red and pale green streaks kept swirling around the boss shoulder.
Rave was next to attack the enormous foe. While Aclysia and John had spent time controlling the beast, she had climbed a nearby building. All of that, only to leap right off it. Woooohooo! she shouted, as she executed a double somersault. It ended with her extended heel crashing straight in the Golems face. The kick from the aura-engulfed heel was one thing, the shockwave that followed a whole other. Copernicus blessing mmed down on the Asphalt Golem with a secondary descent, strong enough to force the creature onto its knees.
Impressive as it looked, it did fairly little. The semi-liquid creature sucked part of its legs into its body and used the additional mass to expand its confined arm. The earthen prison cracked and shattered. Rave stood on top of the boss, the dent she had created filling in before she hit the ground.
The Golem swung its now club-like appendage around. Aclysia jumped away, through a building''s window and hid inside. Rave on the other hand did her best to keep her bnce at the top of the Golem, I have a lot of experience with rodeo, ya stupid dust head! She said and John could physically feel the wink that followed that innuendo.
John himself just looked at the whole thing with a nice big grin on his face. He was at a safe distance, not willing to sacrifice HP or MP when he had basically nothing to add in melee. What rubble came flying his way was taken care of by Undine.
One could use him of barely contributing to the fight, but he preferred to say that he used his Skills tactically. On top of that, technically Aclysias and his elementals contributions were his, so he was actually doing a lot. He was about to make an even bigger contribution though.
The Asphalt Golems frenzy came to an abrupt end, when its right arm finally fell off. There was only so much regeneration could do against melting and cutting. The heavy limb dropped to the ground with a loud crash. Much of the street was gone at this point, absorbed into the boss to repair itself.
On the barren dirt, the arm broke into two pieces and formed smaller foes. One of which was immediately killed under the impact of Aclysia jumping from a third story window. There were many nice things you could say about Aclysia, that she was cute, that she had a great figure, an awesome arse, clean skin, radiant eyes, all of that and more, but when she was heavy she was HEAVY. Therefore, the first Golem got crushed by a whole load of Titanium and Dragonscale forged into human form.
The second one, Rave quickly took care of much in the same manner. While the boss golem struggled topensate for itspromised centre of gravity, Rave jumped off andnded on the smaller version''s shoulders. Before the Golem could do as much as react, Rave was already stomping down on its head. Over and over again her heel connected, each impact sending out waves of light that added destruction to injury.
John sent Gnome more of his mana. Moving earth was a lot cheaper if he didnt need to break through the street first. An obstacle the boss was nice enough to remove, if only because they were abusing its behavioural patterns. Earth piled up around the pir until it was asrge as the Boss, at which point it started to meld into a giant human. Whatever you can do, I can do better. John dered and used Possession on Gnomes creation. Sylph and Smander, the cutting-edge duo of this fight, moved on to sawing off the Golems left leg.
John, now a five metre tall earth golem, attacked his kin. Although John was not exactly experienced with this kind of body or punching as a whole, he had four unfair advantages. First was the fact that the Asphalt Golem only had one arm, which was oversized and slow to swing. Second was Rave and Aclysia, attacking the open side of the boss even as it was upied with Johns Possession. Third was that John had done this fight on easier difficulties before and the strategy was executed wlessly this time around. Fourth, andst chronologically, was that the golem toppled over forwards when its leg was cut off.
If a boss monster could have looked annoyed, the Asphalt Golem would have shown a grimace of saltiness. John brought the fist of his earth body upwards in a mighty uppercut. Even if the Possession was slow, the pure momentum behind that much earth was enough to turn the face of the monster into an explosion of ck chunks and pebbles. By the time they rained back down, they were turning into dust.
Wonder how long that will be viable for, John thought and looked at his earth body. It took an immense amount of mana to create and was slow and deceptively easy to destroy. Unless he found a way to make a more dedicated body that scaled with his Attributes, this was a niche strategy at best. Worked for this specific encounter though.
Did it drop anything of interest? Rave approached, brushing off her clothes as she walked.
John went over the pile of items on the floor. Well, we got a hundred thousand bucks, he informed her, before putting the stack of cash away.
I said interesting, Johnny!
You rarely get to call me that these days, Johnughed while he went over the rest of the stuff. Mana Mixed Tar and Polutium Bar were somewhat interesting crafting materials. He would keep them for the moment. Aside from that, there was really nothing interesting, not even in the rare drops. Well, maybe theres one thing.''
He read the description to Rave.
Think its enough to just put it on the floor in the bedroom? Rave was intrigued and asked.
Possibly? Want to find out? John already knew the answer but he shot her a nce anyway.
Who do you think is your girlfriend, tiger?
Chapter 103 – A slab in the face (I had to, please forgive me) [Erotic Content]
Chapter 103 C A b in the face (I had to, please forgive me) [Erotic Content]
John pushed the b under Raves bed. With the Bloodfallen possibly striking at any moment they always stayed together and tonight would be no exception. Especially not with all the fun activities they had avable. It was fortunate that they had Aclysia to keep watch during the night.
How does it work though? John mumbled and waited for some kind of buff to appear, Does it need some kind of signal or?
Well, I know a signal I can give. Raves sultry tone caused John to turn her way. Already, she was naked. Even the hundredth time around, he still marvelled at her. From the smooth surface of her long legs up to her athletic, toned butt and trimmed pink pussy-hair, over her t stomach, small tits with the perky, pink nipples and finally her face. The half-Japanese was smiling teasingly. Like what ya see, tiger? She asked and brushed her pink, wild mane aside in a dramatic motion, twirling one of the longer, curled strands around her index finger afterwards as her blueish-pink eyes rested on John.
Every time. He said truthfully and walked over. Pulling Rave closer into his embrace, their lips met. With passionate, loving motions, they kissed. Raves hand travelled down and unbuckled his pants simultaneous to their tongues whirling. The second his pants fell, he got the pop-up.
Rave being affected as well was evident through their kiss. It rapidly grew more heated. Moaning, Rave grasped his cock. She started slowly, moving her nimble fingers up and down, stimting the sensitive points and sending little jolts through Johns body, heightened by the magic of the b. His own hands travelled lower until they arrived at her soft ass. He dug into that perfect backside. Rave giggled lustfully in response.
Lets move this, she whispered before shoving John towards the bed.
He fell into the cushions that covered the mattress. Rave was quickly on top of him. They kissed for a few more moments before Rave, her legs spread, let his cock slip inside her wanting hole. They both moaned in pleasure as she slowly sunk downward, enveloping his dick. Thest few centimetres, she dropped, gasping when he hit the depths of her cunt.
Ooooh, I do love your size, she purred. Rave closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment of fulfilment for just a second. Her hips drew one little circle, before her lips fluttered open again. This needs to go! she decreed and quickly pulled Johns shirt over his head.
Now as naked as she was, John raised his mouth to her chest and started to kiss her nipple. His left hand flicked the pretty pink crown his tongue was not upied with. Meanwhile, his right one reached down for her clit.
Oh yesss! Rave hissed wantonly, as Nimble Hands did its job,bining with the b of Horniness to make Rave feel swift bliss. However, this bliss was still not the highest they could reach today. They both knew that. Raves gyrating hips were proof of that.
The wet folds of her pussy drenched his cock. Sticky juices overflowed, soon connecting their sexes with long, gooey strings. Her insides massaged every centimetre of his dick. The rotations of her hips were smoother than those of a belly dancer.
His girlfriends arms wrapped around his head, a hand wing into his hair, forcing him closer. Eagerly, he doubled down on his numerous assaults on her willing curves. Tiger, this is a-ah-wesome, she moaned and raised her hips.
In rhythmic motions, she bounced her hips up and down, each movement filling their worlds with lightning, gasps and shouts. The many sounds of lovemaking reverberated through the room together. The wet noises of sex, of his dick prating her folds over and over again, interwoven with her sweet voice.
Each time their hips met John lost the ability to concentrate on his tongue for a moment, a groan of ecstasy escaping him instead. Raves fingers dug deeper into the back of his head, her whole body tensing further and further.
Faster, faster still, she bounced. John wanted to taste more of this pleasure. He started moving his hips as well, finding a rhythm that suited them both, stretching her tight pussy with each thrust of his respectable manhood. This. Rave gasped, This is.
.Really goooooood. John finished the sentence for her. The b did its work perfectly, their normally awesome sex pushed up to eleven and bing something above awesome, ultra-awesome, John didnt know a word, his brain cells were currently fried by an endless assault of lust that poured through him like liquid fire.
Rave tensed uppletely, her breathing ragged, her voice an incoherent mess of screams and moans. Her whole body showed the sudden orgasmic bliss that exploded inside her from one second to the other, drowning all her senses in a sea of sexual fulfilment. Her pussy tensed with the rest of her, tightening to a choke that almost would have stopped him from moving but John was close and his dick wet from all the juices Rave leaked in her orgasm and so he carried on fucking her through it and towards his own release.
It wouldnt be far off. Just like his girlfriend, John was too sensitive in the first ce to even recognize how close he was. Simply stepping from a constant height to an absolute climax, he raised his hips one, two, three more times and then his semen pumped up from his balls in a sudden explosion. It painted her insides with his seed. The white cum spilled out of his cock in spurts each as powerful as thest. He kept cumming and cumming. She kept screaming and screaming. Together they spasmed, until the need for more overtook them.
They moved, despite the orgasmic pleasure numbing all of their senses, their bodies still moved, instinctively demanding to lengthen their partners time at the top of the world. More of his seed filled her, more of her shouts filled the room. Time was a distant blur. Until, all of a sudden, it snapped back into focus.
John copsed backwards onto the mattress. He hadnt felt this drained since he had gotten these powers. Each drop of his seed had been pumped into Rave in the messy, prolonged orgasm. Rave was quivering on top of him, struggling to calm her breathing. We are keeping this, Rave stated.
John had noints.
Chapter 104 – Bloodfallen Strike [Sunday]
Chapter 104 C Bloodfallen Strike [Sunday]
So, lets put those points into Intellect and see where that gets me! John decided. It was morning and they were heading nowhere in particr. By keeping their grinding spots inconsistent, they hoped to buy themselves a little more time. A quick ten taps on the buttonter his INT reached 75 and he got the expected two pop-ups.
Wearing his full battle regalia, his Stats were looking fairly impressive these days.
He had a good amount of MP now. Even though it wasnt a core Stat, Strength would be raised next. The idea of being physically threatened by someone twenty levels lower than him rubbed him the wrong way and he finally had enough of being this thin. Endurance had given him more definition, but definition on his scrawny shape had never been the issue.
More Wave 4 Grinding today? Rave asked as they headed out of her house. Yep, we should push to Wave 5 when we get to level 40. And when Aclysia has her next Special Passive-thingy. John added in his thoughts. He had fed the Artificial Guardian all of the items that had dropped yesterday C except the b. Without a Dragonscale, it took many a sacrificed drop to keep her up to snuff.
Forpletions sake, John took a peek at Rave as well.
On paper, it looked like Aclysia could whoop Raves butt at this point. Then again John had no idea how much her aura would boost his girlfriends Stats. Perhaps he should conduct an experime-
Finally, he thought. Waiting for enemies to strike had been decidedly nerve-wracking. Once more the verdin came in as a useful extension of Johns will. Admittedly, they had gotten the drop on him and Rave, but that was about the only surprise the Bloodfallen could hit them with.
Flying around, the verdin quickly spotted Victoria on the roof along the street. The sniper aimed her rifle at them with calm precision. Precision wasnt worth that much when an air spirit came whirling her way. Intense winds dragged her barrel off to the side.
Victoria tried to take aim at Sylph, but the little green elemental was way too fast. Circling around the sniper several times, she carved a hole into the roof that the woman quickly copsed through. John allowed himself a mocking chirp, as he looked down at her. His primary mind was dealing with the other issue around.
Namely the twenty Bloodfallen members who had encircled him and Rave. They were all dressed in the same ck robe that hid most of their body. The ways to differentiate them were by height, width or choice of weaponry. They were armed with swords, ils, axes and staffs. Quite an array, and likely cause for concern.
Or not. John thought as he scanned their levels. 21-33, a very wide range and heavily weighted towards the lower end, Victoria making up the top of the distribution. They were threatening by their numbers, but they appeared to have as much of ack of Innate Ability as Travolta had, with less of the Blood to make up for it.
You really should have tried sooner, John shrugged and activated Mana Shield. The fight began without another word. Rave immediately charged towards the robed figures. Energetic as always. John thought with a grin as he sent Smander and Sylph in as support. The verdin kept watch over Victoria. Aclysia took action without direct orders, intercepting the right wing of the enemy advance before they could get too close to John.
As the levels indicated, there were only three individuals amongst the enemy that were somewhat threatening. Everyone else was either a distraction or cannon fodder. Of these three, two engaged Rave and one Aclysia.
With her superior speed, only boosted further by the ignition of her aura, Rave had no problem dodging and keeping up with the attacks from two enemies and still picking off the distracting weaker members. Pinning her down was an impossible task at their level of ability.
Not that they would have fared any better if they had ganged up on Aclysia. The maid took many of the hits head on, causing tools to bend or shatter when they mmed against her hardened exterior. Manifesting the Cleaver of Streets in her hands, she retaliated with wide swings that scattered lesser enemies like chaff. The one person above 30 could barely navigate the battlefield and what damage they dealt was swiftly nullified by the Artificial Spirits regeneration.
John kept a close eye on the situation. The resistance they were met with swiftly shattered the enemys formation. Still, Rave and Aclysia were preupied and for all the damage that Sylph and Smander could do they needed steady mana infusions and offered nothing else. They couldnt prevent a charge. That left John with five of the cultists to deal with on his own.
A Mana Ray made that four. Gnomes fist pulverizing a thigh bone made that three. Undine enveloping the head of an attacker made that two. Undine turning a hundred mana into a bolt of water made that one. A wave of water crashed over thest direct assant, washing them away alongside the one she had been restricting. The duo wasnt taken care of, but they would need to recover.
Undine had aimed well, making them copse with a mage who had taken position in the backline. Muttering and waving his hands, he had been preparing arge spell of some variety. Immediately, he got back to that. Other people in the backline were letting loose swifter spells.
Aclysia barely got scratched by those and Rave wasnt getting hit, the few bruises and shallow cuts she did sustain were taken care of by the Hands of Rejuvenation. They did have the upper hand and the Gamer aimed to keep it.
John took Possession of the channelling mages robes. It was difficult to keep on chanting when ones clothes were tying themselves into a knot. The robes kept twisting and turning, while John prepared another Mana Ray. Three secondster, the attack took the mage out ofmission.
A panicked scream echoed over the battlefield, another one of the Bloodfallen iling and running, their robes set alight. The responsible fire elemental was cackling maniacally, beholding the scene.. Yes, yes, yes! Run little human ru- HEY! A bolt of ice barely missed her and Smander flew at the attacker to start her revenge.
In the meantime, the elites of the enemy decided to switch strategies, one of them changing targets from Rave to Aclysia. No reason to panic there, the Artificial Spirit was faring perfectly well. Then again, he was well within expected expenses. His mana had dipped below 300 for just a moment. Already, it had regenerated back to 314. 100 was best kept in reserve for emergencies. Basically, he had about 200 mana to use as he wanted.
Gnome, take care of that one. John instructed.
The earth elemental responded with a dyed, Yes, John, before a cylinder of earth enveloped the enemy elite up to the shoulders. That would stop that hindrance for a moment. John moved his second Possession to the robe of the enemy who was bothering Rave, making him an easy target for his girlfriend even among all the other assants. All Rave now had to do was take care to not get encircled by the remaining cannon fodder, as sheid into the sword-wielding man.
The difference in technique and power was astounding. Having a high level through blood abuse was evidently not that helpful if onecked the abilities to take proper advantage of the raw physical power. Rave on the other hand was a trained martial artist with an Innate Ability. Add in Copernicus blessing and she made short work of the hindered enemy.
Aclysia had a bit more of a fight. Fewer of the enemies had concentrated on her thanks to Raves energetic assault but she still had a level 32 enemy with support to deal with. There was an advantage Aclysia had over them, one so subtle in a society of superhumans it often went unnoticed: exhaustion.
Aclysia had no muscles that could fatigue, all she needed to do was to go into Defence Stance and wait them out with her superior reflexes, the few attacks that did both connect and actually deal damage through Steelskin were quickly healed thanks to her regeneration. All it took was one misstep and the Cleaver of Streets in Aclysias hands changed into the much lighter Sword of Glory, allowing for a quick counterattack. One by one the enemies were taken down.
Killed.
The reality of that set in when the sword of his Artificial Guardian glistened red in the light of day. This was a battle and no holds were barred. Through shing light and glinting steel, they were ending lives. Johns eyes darted over to the mage he had struck with the Mana Ray, then to the other victim of the same attack. Neither were moving.
John found no true remorse in his heart. They were the aggressors, they were the ones who had nned Travoltas death and they were the ones keeping a girl locked up for sixty years. That didnt mean he was numb to the fact that he was killing people. Albeit, the faceless, nameless goons of a cult did not move him after having directly brought death to a man he would have wanted to call his friend.
Victoria appeared from the building she had been put into. John estimated the distance. 200 metres? Yeah that seemed roughly right. She had left her sniper rifle behind in order to get to the battlefield quicker. Not that she could make a huge difference at this point. She took another step and the asphalt underneath her crumbled as she fell into a cavity he had Gnome make moments earlier. Everything went ording to n.
Without the elites, the enemy assault started to crumble. They were left with a gathering of enemies that wasnt fast or strong enough to deal meaningful damage. Much of the pressure was removed, so they took out the remaining enemies through non-lethal means. At the end of the fight John still had 132 Mana. Seven of the attackers were dead, most of whom fell to Aclysias de. The remaining thirteen + Victoria, John locked into the earth. When he was done, only their heads were poking from the street.
Here we are now, John kneeled down in front of Victoria. Did you know your guild leader was the one to addict Travolta to the Blood of Thana?
Dont speak her name, you heinous traitor, she hissed in response, simr responses were shouted by the others. You can try to poison the well with your words, but whatever Igor did, he would do with good reason.
John shook his head. You guys are really too far gone down the extremist route to talk to. That was his conclusion. I will go save Thana now. Should take you a good amount of time to get out of this.
They could only leave the Illusion Barrier by raising their hands into the air. Which required them to dig themselves out first. That plus the need to take a two hour train ride would give John more than enough time to either seed in his n or fail due to other reasons.
After leaving the Bloodfallen behind, John called Herman. Its time.
Chapter 105 – Versus the Bloodfallen Prelude – Covering your bases
Chapter 105 C Versus the Bloodfallen Prelude C Covering your bases
The train was rattling as it rolled down the tracks. Only a few more minutes before they would arrive in Franklin. A window popped up.
Just in time as well. Once they met up with Herman and his friends, they would begin the assault. This is all really exciting! Rave suddenly blurted out and grabbed Johns hand, Dude, we are saving some torture victim from the hands of an evil organization! This is gonna rock!
John was less enthused but he kissed her anyway. We have to be really careful though, he reminded her, after leaning back in his seat, For all we know she could be insane after all that pain.
She looked more like a potato to me though, you sure that she even is in pain? Rave asked in return.
Well, Observe said so at the very least. The train pulled into the station when suddenly Johns phone rang. Who? he wondered and pulled the buzzing thing out of his pocket. The number on the disy was unknown. Confused, he checked, ready to tell whoever it was off. He picked up as they left the train. Hello? White noise, He-
Hallo! said a cheery, majorly distorted voice from the other side, How are you doing, John Newman?
SB? John growled, more confused than before.
Is that what you call me these days? came the chuckling answer, I am offended. Oh well, I hear you are rescuing Thana now. How did he know that. okay dumb question, at this point John should expect that the Nazi asshole just knew everything. He sighed and was about to answer, walking away from the train station and towards the bunker, when SB started talking again. Just called to give you a quick thank you and goodbye. I believe youll outgrow my spying after this battle. Better to make my way back to Brazil before you get too powerful to deal with.
Just like that? John was stunned, You expect me to believe that?
I love you too, came a nonsensical answer. Truth is, you pointed me at what I wanted most. Whatever you do today, I have what I wanted. John heard the cking of ss against ss. Then, the information broker hung up.
Well, to be correct the connection was severed by John stepping into an Illusion Barrier. His phone still wasnt able to take care of those. He put the phone away and turned to Rave. So either SB is gone now or he is preparing his next scheme. This time it was Raves phone that started buzzing. She looked at the disy and started reading.
Seems like he is somewhat earnest at the very least, she said and showed him what was going on.
SecretBlonde: Hey @everyone, sorry to be this abrupt but I will have to cut my work on the Gamer. Something came up and I really dont want to keep watching over him. I might return in the future but no guarantees. You wont have to pay anymore fees, of course, and I will return the payment for this month. Sorry again D: D: D:
GravityKing: Well, no more reason to waste my time with this then.
GravityKing has left the Chat.
Princess_of_Steel: As always, he is a brash idiot. The Gamer, whoever in this chat you are, I implore you to stay in this chat or add me. Your recent power gain intrigues me and I would be happy to help you, for a favour, of course.
Anathema: Meh, I just like chatting with you guys.
GrimPatron: Same. Ey @Anathema, you still in New Zend?
Anathema: Nope, heading over to Europe for a vacation.
TorchCarrier: I see little reason to stay. I also see little reason to leave. I will stay for now. Ping me if you need me.
GrimPatron: Sounds nice.
Minerva: I will stay for now as well.
Rave: Well, Ill stay too. Your banter is fun.
Anathema: It is, I love NY.
Blood: I copy the offer of the monarchist scum, Gamer. If you are here and ever need help, the Blood is happy to help arade.
At the very least he isnt going to update that information package on you it seems. Rave concluded as she put away her phone.
That is actually very calming.
What is actually very calming? Herman asked. He had been watching the exchange with a puzzled expression, sitting in the back of an ambnce car. Just got info that the informant who has been spying on me forall the time I have been in the Abyss quit his job.
Oh. Herman gave him a confused smile. I would say that is indeed a good thing. Good omens for today, right? Let me introduce you to the help.
They werent exactly a memorable bunch. Herman described them as a mixed bag of people who he had met before that had their heart in the right ce. They looked somewhat capable, ten people with a level range of 30 to 35, making them more powerful than the average Bloodfallen in the strike force. It made John wonder if he had been baited by getting the weakest of the enemy forces sent at him.
First however: One more thing before we begin. He pointed his hand at Aclysia and used Enchant.
That went to the Consumption slot. No questions asked. Although it was interesting that this one cost him 10 instead of 5 AP. Well, if he could stack too many of these things it would probably make Aclysia even more broken. He chose Polutium on the list of materials.
Sure, not the greatest thing ever but it also wasnt bad at all. The window that followed was what he was truly after.
Sworn to carry your burdens was out yet again. A bit boring that it even showed up a second time. Then again, he would probably appreciate an inventory for her at some point.
The choice really was between Ultimate Body (Which looked like it was just Refined Body III) or Aggression to Mana. The reason why this was even up to debate was Defence Stance. With Ultimate Body she gained another 5% in all Stats, which was really good, but her mana would go down to 7,5 which made Defence Stance an 8 second cast with a Mana Regen of 0,55 per minute. Or in other words: It made Defence Stance a dead Skill. Which was bad because it was really good.
Aggression to Mana on the other hand was only good because it would allow Aclysia to keep up Defense Stance indefinitely in all likelihood. However, Aclysia did not have a single other Skill that benefitted from this and it would probably over-generate mana. Still he would much rather take the possibility of her having too much Mana than too little. The choice fell on Aggression to Mana.
Okay, I am ready. John eximed and looked around. Everybody else nodded grimly, confirming that they would follow.
I will keep this Illusion Barrier open, Herman said and pointed at the bunker entrance in the distance. While youre active in there, Ill drive the car into position. Just bring her up, then load her in. Youll have to escape on your own. I trust you all to be able to do that much. He looked at each of the people around with intense care. Dont give me a reason to be sad, he pleaded.
They all nodded, then set out.
The attack began.
Chapter 106 – Versus the Bloodfallen 1 – Reaching Thana
Chapter 106 C Versus the Bloodfallen 1 C Reaching Thana
They entered the Bloodfallens base. There was no other choice but to take the front entrance, they didnt have the resources or time to dig down and hope to emerge above the right room. John took the lead, whoever was behind the door only needed one nce to confirm for himself that he would not be opening that door. However, opening that slit for just a moment was enough time for Sylph to fly in.
Hey, Hey, Hey! John heard from the other side. I hope you dont.WOW put away that.I am not a fly, if you swat at me with that one more time, I will make you cry, for the rhymes sake do you have some thyme?...Well I warned you! There were some pained noises and momentster Sylph started chirping again. Soooorryyyyy, I am C am C am- am, hihihihi what a stupid sound. Well, I am getting right to it. The long opening process began during which John made his remaining preparations. He activated Mana Shield and let the verdinnd on his hand, cancelled his Possession of it and put it into his inventory. Better to have both charges ready.
Couldnt you just use Possession on it? Rave said with an annoyedly twitching eyebrow.
Nope, I would take hold of the door but not all the closing mechanisms. John exined, Unless they are all built into the door itself and I saw some chainsst time around.
The door swung open and revealed a heaving air elemental. Gaia, that was hard. You know what else is hard? Letting Undine do theundry. You want to know why? BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS FORGETS THE UNDIES! Sylph floated around on her back as she burst intoughter. There was a wave of shame from Undine that made John wonder if that was true and if yes why they hadundry? Was there aundry machine in his head? How did that joke even make any sense anyway?
Sylphs misced levity aside, they advanced. John signalled Aclysia to take the lead. Behind her were the people Herman had brought with him, then Rave and then himself, apanied by another mage. Truly magnificent that you control all four elements. The mageplimented.
Thanks. John took it and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, not sure what to make of it, So what brings you here anyway? A little bit of small talk before they risked their lives wouldnt hurt.
Herman helped me in the past with a few things, The mageughed. You think that mundane healthcare can be a shit show until you see what the Apothecaries take. Luckily, there are also a few good guys like Herman who help you free of charge. He might not act the part, but he can be pretty firm.
John would have liked to learn more, but the end of the stairs came into view. Okay everyone, our goal is to get Thana out of here, nothing else. Dont get too deep into fighting. We will storm in there, take out whoever is in the way, move the container out and then up the stairs. Understood? Covert nods, thest bit of subtlety they allowed themselves, before John shouted. Lets go!
Whether it was the shout, an early warning mechanism, or just general preparation, the Bloodfallen were ready for the party that poured into therge chamber. Twenty cultists in ck robes, their level an average of 30, stood armed and ready. A sizable army of Soldier Golems stood along the walls. A single, enormous one, three metres tall, bolstered their ranks. It sure looked threatening.
It sure was threatening. That was only good news for John. Staring at the construct, as it began to move, he cast Possession.
Straight ahead! John shouted, as the golem suddenly whirled around, the weapon turned to its former allies. The Bloodfallen had evidently not expected him to be capable of that much. Just another point of underestimation that went to Johns benefit. While the enemy formation scattered, the rescue party advanced. Weapons primed and ready, they carved a path through the bodies. John noted that neither Gent nor Igor seemed to be among the enemies. They were either waiting further inside or this was just the normal response to an attack.
John personally hoped for the former. Isted, he was fairly certain that they could take on the duo. Aclysia, who would have normally taken the job of intercepting at least some of the attackers headed for John, instead ran through the legs of the Golem he had possessed. Her primary job right now was to unlock the door. Everyone else followed closely behind her.
The Bloodfallen formed a semi-circle behind them, closing the bloody gap with more bodies. Soldier Golems were thrown as disposable distractions into the fray, as various weak arcane spells were flung at the rescue party. The allies Herman had brought in skillfully deflected and blocked the attacks, retaliating wherever possible and turning Soldier Golems into shards of ck material.
The Crusher Golemsrge sweeps kept the majority of the front line clear. Rave jumped into the fray with it. Possession had long since improved to the point that John had no issue coordinating himself and his additional body. With all the understanding of hundreds of hours of sharedbat, he and his girlfriend sted apart the stream of disposable bodies.
In their ce, the Bloodfallen themselves advanced. Further reinforcements streamed out of the corridors. John sent his mana to Sylph and Undine, the two elementals continuously using precise area attacks to alleviate the pressure from their allies.
A creak announced that Aclysias hand had finished being scanned. The vault door swung open. In there! John instructed and the rescue party hastily went inside. The Crusher Golem, toorge and disposable anyway, stayed where it was, keeping enemies at bay. Whoever managed to make it past the Possessed weapon was stuck fighting the smaller party at a choke point. Even that was only a temporary solution though.
The allies had done well so far, but they were not as over levelled or prepared as John or Rave. Thest of them made it into the corridor that connected this room to Thanas. They looked exhausted, even Rave did, the fight had been short but with the number of small enemies and challenging opponents that was no wonder. Aclysia, close the door.
It wasnt an easy decision. He would have preferred to keep fighting, thin out the numbers, but there was no way they would be able to hold position until they retrieved Thana. Although it let the enemy prepare for that time, John felt that this was the better decision. Aclysia used the terminal on this side and gradually the enemies backed away. They all knew that the only way back out was through that door.
The Bloodfallen, without anything else to target, took apart the golem within moments. John felt his stolen body break and his consciousness meld back together into just one. It had been days since he hadnt Possessed anything, to the point that it felt weird having just one perspective.
You wait here, John instructed the exhausted party. Catch your breath, abuse the choke point if they open the door. Well return with the container as quickly as possible. Hermans friends responded with a thankful nod.
Youre good to work with, the wizard stated.
John took thepliment with a nod, before turning around and jogging down the corridor. The distance was long, their time limited. With his Endurance and Agility, he could keep an alright pace for a long distance. Alright by Abyssal standards. The slower elementals followed in their incorporeal form.
Nothing about the chamber had changed. The same red twilight pulsed with the slow heartbeat, visualized by the green line on the ss container.
How do we move that thing? Rave asked.
You only think about that now? John responded with an amused question.
You are the nerd in this rtionship, John, she teased. Now go do your nerd things.
Considering how many video games she yed with him he doubted that he was the sole nerd here, but he was without a doubt the bigger one. It hovers on its own. John argued, And they got it here in the first ce. Pushing it will be enough, Herman said that much. Aclysia, you are the strongest here, if you would.
Of course, master, Aclysia obeyed, the sword in her hand vanishing into the weapon space. She stepped up to the container and started pushing. The movement activated some kind of mechanism. Ayer of ss suddenly sealed the bottom of the container. Nothing else happened. Perhaps a design choice to not lose any of her blood? Whatever the reason was, the container started moving.
They had seeded in getting to Thana. Now to get her out.
Chapter 107 – Versus the Bloodfallen 2 – Getting Out
Chapter 107 C Versus the Bloodfallen 2 C Getting Out
They returned with the container about 3 minutester. John had expected some kind of battlefield, his allies holding position in a desperate stand after Igor opened the Vault again. Instead, he found the restedpanions that helped him get in. In a way that was even worse. What the hell was going on outside this door?
Only one way to find out. Everyone ready?
As ready as we will be, Grumbled one of the melee fighters with a smile. This is everything I signed up for.
I know right? Rave chirped.
John nodded at Aclysia and she opened the vault again. It slowly swung openpletely and revealed several dozen Bloodfallen standing in a half circle between them and the exit. Igor stood next to Gent, the leader of the Bloodfallen leaning on his cane, an air of arrogant nonchnce around him. Even now, he believed himself superior. John quietly thanked every god that would listen for the self-delusions of egomaniac cult leaders.
Not that this egomania was entirely unjustified. Although Igor maintained his military-esque, white outfit, Gent was geared up to the teeth. A thick steel armour covered him and in his handsy a massive axe, proper for his size.
I must say, Igor said with a smug grin, I did not expect you to get this far. Only so much sadder that somebody of your talent decided to fight for the Communists.
I dont fight for anybody Igor. John shook his head at the usation, What even makes you think that?
There is no other motivation one could have to go against us!
John almost burst outughing, You mean aside from thest wish of Travolta,mon decency and the fact that you plotted the downfall of dozens of guilds to get their members to join you? Not even a single turned head. The Blood of Thana evidently bound them into a tight collective.
You spewedic lies, John Newman. Igor waved off.
And you thoroughly underestimate us. John countered, But what should I expect from somebody who is idiotic enough to think torturing a girl for 60 years is justified.
Igor had enough of the talk and pointed at them, Kill them, be careful not to damage that container!
Aclysia, Rave, you take on Gent. I will keep Igor busy, the rest of you, try to get that container moving! The orders were out on both sides and the fight began.
Gent, the massive wall of flesh that he was, trampled towards them. He and Aclysia shed between the two forces. Axe met cleaver in a loud reverberance. The Artificial Guardian budged under the strike of the stronger Goliath but she did not copse. With his Strength, Gent would overpower Aclysia eventually. Good thing that the brutish force came at the expense of his Intellect.
Not noticing Rave until it was already toote, Gent took a full unloading of light directly into the gap for his eyes. Blind, the man roared, and kept up the pressure. Strength that Travolta could have had, had he only stayed on the proper path! Igor shouted from the background. Unconsumed by HER dark will!
The cult leaders monologue was cut there, as Sylph and Smander threw attacks at him. Igor ignored both and suddenly charged forwards, straight towards John. Nothing was easier to hit than a target that was going straight forwards. Mana Ray suddenly burst from his hand and Igor took the attack on the shoulder. Even though his outfit was incinerated, he did not slow. A secondter he was in front of John, cane transforming into a thin de as he swung it down. Undine slowed the attack enough for John to dodge and preserve his mana instead of sacrificing it to Mana Shield.
Your little elementals will not be able to protect you forever! Igor threatened.
T-try! Gnome stuttered, then tried to tackle the guild master.
Igor nimbly sidestepped the attack, only to then trip over his shoces. Really?! the usually so charismatic man lost hisposure for the first time.
Whatever is effective, John mocked, letting go of those Possessions. Another Mana Ray hit the enraged cult leader in the leg. Igor growled deeply, his seared shoulder and leg were both healing cleaner and slower than Travolta had. The satisfaction John got out of seeing this man angry was dangerously intoxicating.
Igor kicked his shoes off with quick movements. John found new targets for his Possession. The cane, for one, even if it only served as a minor annoyance. As long as Igor kept his grip tight John wouldnt be able to change much. The same could not be said about the uniform. The stylish military garb began to constrict around Igors throat. With one firm tug, the cult leader tore the cloth wide open.
Didnt think you wanted to hatefuck me but here you are: undressing right in front of me, John kept the mockery up.
Insolent welp, Igor spat. You will see where this gets you!
John didnt feel threatened, he had confirmed something in that short exchange, You are not a fighter are you, Igor?
The guild master angrily swung his sword at the Gamer. The attack was quick, sure, and executed with a lot of force, but it was also without finesse. A wall of dirt was all John needed.
The cane turned sword got stuck in the earth, allowing John to ridicule the guild master a bit more. You are not like Gent or all the other people you talked into submission. Sure, your Stats are impressive but you dont have any technique or n. You let others do the dirty work and stroke your ego.
Igor tore his cane free just in time to stop an attack from Smander. The me spirit managed to dodge the counter. However, to take care of this Igor had to turn away from John and that was punished by the Mana Ray the Gamer had started charging the moment the exchange began. Countless dungeons had taught him the importance of timing.
Igor had underestimated John, thinking he could take him on alone without calcting that John was actually a one man army of five, two of whom had scattered to help with the rest of the battle. All around, there were shouts. Arms and magic shed and one side was slowly taking over. As much as John had taunted the guild master, the rest of the Bloodfallen were just about to break through the thin lines of Johns allies. They needed Gent removed and Rave and Aclysia in the main battle. Quality would win the day, not numbers.
The good news was that the two women in Johns life were faring as well as he was.
Gent was a lot tougher than his superior. He shrugged off most attacks the duo threw at him without any care. All the while, he was swinging his battle axe with such ferocity that Aclysia was budging under every strike.
For all of the impressiveness of that disy, all the maid had to do was keep the enemys one-track mind on herself as Rave kept attacking again and again. Even if he shrugged off most attacks the little damage added up and eventually one of Raves high heated light attacks would ovee the te armour''s enchanted resistance and tear through. Once that happened, once Gent fell, they could push back the numbers, make it to the chokepoint, and make a slow retreat.
Igor recognized the situation and with an angry shout jumped at John. He was stopped by Gnome and Undine at the same time. GENT! he shouted, while struggling against the two elementals. For the sake of our goal! Do it!
Do what? John looked at the Goliath in the middle of the room. Thana had barely moved from the Vault door as there was no one to actually move her right now.
John suddenly realized that Gent was getting faster and stronger. Each of his strikes was hitting Aclysia harder, her HP Bar actually sinking below two thirds for the first time. The damage she received far exceeded her regeneration capabilities. What did you do?! John demanded to know from Igor. Between rock and water, he was at the Gamers mercy
Some people hide Cyanide, others small blood bags. The guild master revealed, once again grinning smugly.
They hid the Blood of Thana in his MOUTH? John thought, shocked at the revtion. That was why Gents title was Martyr, because he was the one who would sacrifice himself in a situation such as this. He would spend hisst moments before falling to madness trying to kill them.
And he was very good at it. The strike of his axe was earth shattering, cracking open the concrete under the carpet whenever Aclysia managed to dodge. At all other times, the blows forced the Artificial Spirit to her knees. He hit her for 66 hit points each connecting strike, even with her regeneration she would only be able to take 3 more of those. John couldnt let that happen, he charged a Mana Ray. In the chaos of the melee, the attack missed, instead striking a normal member of the Bloodfallen.
Another wave of reinforcements came down the stairs. Thest thing John needed right now. The situation was turning for the worse. There was shouting, there wasughter by Igor. Even though their leader was captured, the cultists kept fighting. They were more loyal to the mission than to him.
Gent took a giant swing, sending Aclysia flying back the way she came. A projectile of titanium and dragonscale, she cut through the air and mmed hard into the ss.
It was only Igor and John who noticed at first. The cracks left where Aclysia had mmed into the container. The white lines in the ss began to spread. With them came deep, cracking sounds, like arge icyke under pressure. It was just loud enough that everyone heard. Just loud enough that the battle came to a sudden pause.
No, John and Igor spoke simultaneously, the cracks turning the see-through ss opaque. The green lines on the ss spelled out several words, all of them shing too quickly to be read. They disappeared for good. The container burst.
Shards of ss exploded outwards, raining down on Igor at a harmless speed. Chilling cold blood and water cascaded outwards. Hundreds of litres, spreading over the carpet too quickly to be absorbed.
Everyone looked at the woman thatnded on her feet amidst the tide. The crimson water did not stick to her. All of it ran off her in a matter of moments. Left behind was a sickly pale colouration. She looked like she had never seen a single day of sunlight and like hypothermia had left a permanent mark, tinging her skin ever so slightly blue.
Her hair was white, reaching around the length of her chin, the tips an azure blue. Her features were attractive, from the fine nose to the ears. Most striking were her eyes. Two orbs of amethyst purple, the iris facetted like an uncut gem. Within were two golden rings. One thin andplete, the other consisting of six dots sitting just beyond the edge of her pupil.
Her breasts were of a medium size, appearing a bitrger on her rtively short stature. She had nicely proportioned, wide hips, and thighs so meaty it made John forget the situation he was in for just a moment. Then his eyes fell on the various ck dots embedded into her, sticking out like ugly piercings.
And a thick, crimson auraid around her.
It was like Johns third eye was suddenly forced open. He knew what he was seeing. It was her mana, it was what Rave had described to him whenever she had told him about how he had grown. Where everyone else in the room harboured in themselves a sphere, typically of a simple blue colour, Thana was like a drop of blood in a clean sea that refused to mingle with the water.
John tried Observe but it didnt reveal anything new. He was frozen, waiting, like everyone else, for the long tortured woman, for the acimed weapon of the Soviet Union, to do something C anything.
Thana did not. She stood there, eyes unfocused, expression vacant. Then, her entire body tilted back.
The gunshot echoed through the room a momentter. Everyone looked over to Victoria. The sniper stared from the entrance and grinned at John. John grit his teeth. He already knew what his mistake had been. Someone in her troop could have been equipped with emergency blood capsules in their teeth. A quick way to get out, when John wasnt looking.
Igor wasughing, he thought they had won and John did not know if he could disagree. If I had known it was this easy, then I would have. His words petered out, as he and everyone else looked back to Thana.
The small woman was bent backwards at the hip, but she hadnt fallen. Gradually, she straightened back up. The bullet was stuck between two rows of wlessly white, wlessly gapless, wlessly shaped human teeth. Thana spat out the bullet, coughed up water, slowly, quiveringly stepping forwards. Dz Individual letters and sybles left her mouth. Ongoing coughs made it impossible to understand whatever that was. je
Victoria pulled the trigger. Again and again. John was shocked, mostly by himself. For the first time, he felt utterly frozen in the face of a situation he did notprehend. All he could do was stand and stare. It was the same for everyone else. Only Victoria had the brazenness, perhaps the ignorance, to keep unloading her magazine.
The bullets hit Thanas chest, arms and legs, many missingpletely. Victorias hands must have been shaking at this point. The bullets uselessly prated Thanas body before being pushed out again by the regenerating flesh. Not a single drop of blood leaked from her.
There was only a single drop that fell. It gathered at the tip of Thanas index finger, then fell into the pool of water that had once filled her tank. What had begun to soak into the carpet rippled unnaturally from the single drop. Red separated from translucent water. All the blood the container had stolen from her began to rise. Small spheres hovered upwards, defying gravity.
Ast click indicated the emptiness of Victorias magazine. As the noise faded away Thana vanished. John barely managed to notice her squatting upside down in the dome. She pulled together like a screw, thenunched herself across the room. Next time everyone saw her, she stood in front of Victoria. Both movements had been too fast for anyone around to follow.
Dz. Thana grabbed Victorias neck with both hands. She coughed again, while her small hands constricted the gunslingers windpipe. je Dz
Victoria uselessly beat the smaller womans arms, kicked and let out ragged screams. Her face turned red, then purple, then blue. The terrible strength choked the life out of Victoria. A slow, agonizing death, her neck getting ever narrower as the fingers pressed ever deeper into yielding muscle.
John wanted to shout. To tell Thana that she could just go. Nobody could stop her, clearly. Before he could get out a single word, before Thana could finish what she wanted to say, there was a crunch. Victorias head tilted off to the side, rolling without any resistance.
Ah. A disappointed noise, followed by the corpse of Victoria dropping to the floor. Thana turned around, eyes moving at immense speed between everyone. Then she stopped at John.
No, not at me, John thought.
One leap and Thana was next to Igor.
So close again, John could see her eyes. The golden dots inside were spinning, turning at such a rapid pace they created a second solid ring within. ck pupils were dted to different degrees. She blinked a couple of times, until they both focused properly. Then, she grinned at Igor and smiled like a joke had been told. It grew wider, the purplish lips drawing back until her gums were visible. It was just as tinged towards blue as the rest of her.
Igor was as pale as a man could be. Thana grabbed him by the foot and ripped him out of the grasp of the two elementals. For a moment, he was just held like this, a tall man dangling from a single arm of a short, somewhat athletic woman. A faint remainder of Johns mundane senses told him that nothing bad would happen.
See what you have done, Igor spoke grave,st words.
In a furious motion, Thana pulled him overhead like a human il. The guild master mmed into the floor, blood sttering everywhere, only for Thana to swing him back the other way. Rage and wild ecstasy guided the motions, as she whipped the man around, mming him into the ground again and again. Bones shattered, gore scattered, and by the end of Thanas rage the only part of Igor that wasnt broken was the very leg she held him by. The cult leader was little more than a fleshy paste.
Thana let go. She stood there for a moment. Her shoulders quivered.
And then she startedughing.
Chapter 108 – Versus the Bloodfallen 3 – Bloodburn
Chapter 108 C Versus the Bloodfallen 3 C Bloodburn
Hahaha. It started almost mild. hihihihih. yful, even. hehahahehehe. The long tortured woman reached for her own shoulder. Hahahaha hahahaha Her hand reached for one of the ck objects, slotted into her flesh. mhmhmhmh She tried to w at it, but only managed shallow touches. mhmhhahahahahaAhaAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAAAHAAAA.! The dam burst and her roaring, pained, insaneughter echoed in the air. She wed at her hair, tore out fistfuls of the white and azure, only for it to regrow in a blink.
Like that, harming herself and regenerating, she kept onughing. There was joviality in it, somewhere. A relief deeper than the torment that made her contort and her muscles tense, between bouts ofughter.
Hehehe She looked at John. The facets of her gemstone-like eyes stretched and shifted as she adjusted her focus. The golden dots slowed to a traceable speed. Tears began to run down her face, meeting the curled up corners of her lips. .Hahahaha you
Was that aplete word he just heard? If it was, it got no follow up. Gent was the one who finally broke the scene. Despite his blood crazed state, or perhaps because of it, the giant attacked Thana head on. His giant fist flew towards the girl who had just killed his precious guild leader.
The force that had flung Aclysia across the room, Thana stopped it with one hand. She didnt even look at Gent. Her hand was stretched out, like she was casually leaning on a table. There was no sign of her even taking the impact.
Hermans friends were slowly inching towards the exit. An understandable reaction. Besides them, only the drops of blood suspended in the air moved. They all consolidated, flying towards Thana..
Niezadowj?cy That definitely was a word. John had no idea what it meant or whatnguage it was, aside from it sounding vic in origin, but it was definitely a word. A word that was followed by Thana casually shoving the goliath back. She waved her arm, from the right side of her up to her left shoulder. The blood in the air obeyed and turned into a cascade of thorns, half-crystal, half-scab, that perforated Gent.
The crimson flood pulled back a momentter, drawing with it all of the tainted blood inside the victim it had just imed. It flew towards Thana, enveloping the extended hand and covering her naked body in an exterioryer of veins for a moment. It connected to her at the fingertips, the exposed nail beds the opening of her outside and inside.
The streams disconnected. Some of the blood stayed at her fingertips, consolidating and hardening into aberrated ws. The rest of the blood cascaded to her back, gathering into an orb. The more of the crimson that flowed into it, the more apparent it became that it was consolidating the power. When thest drop seeped into it, Thanas endless chuckling ceased. Left was a mad smile and the remains of tears.
The orb surged, the surface crystalized and unfolded into four segments, two small and two big, connected by a still semi-liquid mass. It hooked into Thanas spine like a grotesquely oversized parasite.
A crystallized web of thick core veins, so dark red that it was almost ck. Thinner, semi-liquid or stillpletely bloody membranes spanning between, a vile design, mirrored perfectly along her spine, symmetric down to the way her heartbeat pulsed through them. Vile C vile and beautiful, the wings of a deadly butterfly. A butterfly that would drown the world in her blood, if the insane smile was anything to go by.
Bloodburn.
A word above words. A sound above sounds. A magical phenomenon so intense it etched itself into Johns brain, meaning clear beyondnguage.
The thick veins caught fire on this single word. Her wings were still like a butterflys but now deep crimson fire enveloped them, fraying the edges as it danced to the tune of Thanas heartbeat. It danced and it sung, a sound like electronically tuned, shrill violins.
As the wings red up in quick session, Thana lowered herself to the floor. She folded her legs, one hand on the floor the other, her left, raised above her head. The blood w started to swell, enveloping first her entire hand then her entire arm.
She was a streak of pale and crimson red. Bloodfallen in her path were shredded apart like they were made out of wet paper. In a second, the silent room was filled with a cacophony of screams as Thana tore apart everyst person before her. Every Cst C person.
The mage, the same one John had talked to, the friend of Hermans, was violently dismembered. Thana barely gave the arm enough time tond behind her, before mming her fist wrist-deep into the mans guts.
This wasnt good. This wasnt good at all. This was worse than the worst case scenario. This was.
What the fuck are ya doing? Rave ripped him out of his staring and grabbed him by the hand. RUN!
That was simple enough. He could do that. They aimed directly for the exit. As fast as they could. Thana was still happily massacring the Bloodfallen members. Rivulets of blood rose from the pools, her own ichor separating from that of her tormentors. Whether she knew better or not, she massacred the rest of the rescue party as well. She was all grins and violence.
John, Rave, and Aclysia had almost reached the stairs. Outside of this Illusion Barrier they would be safe. They had to be. They could run, they could.
Thana appeared between them and the stairs, in a sh of movement and screaming violins. They stopped, she stopped, her mouth tried to form words again but instead she coughed up blood, massive amounts of it. A moment of weakness. Nothing they could capitalize on. Copernicus, however, could. The sr cat jumped from his wristband and at the blood mage, or whatever the hell she was.
Unprepared as she was, Thana actually was blinded by the cat as itnded, a wing and not at all elegant fur ball, on her face. FLEE! Now he was the one handing out the basic advice.
They only had a small window of opportunity so they quickly ran by. John was first, Aclysia second, Ravest. They could not look back. No time to worry about the others, no time to regret. Not now. That wouldeter.
Thana finally got a hold of that pesky feline on her face and ripped it off, looking at it for a second before sinking her wless teeth into the sun made fur. There was a moment of disbelief. Thana ripped out a huge chunk of Copernicus with her teeth, she turned with burned lips at the trio behind as she dropped the heavily injured, possibly dead, light elemental without a care.
You stay I need you to stay! she shouted in a voice that was quickly changing from deep to high and back, the tone of a person unsure how to give stability even to their own words.
They had everything against that. If fire harmed her then all John needed to do was give all of his mana to Smander and hope for the best. An Inferno filled the tight space of the stairs as the trio desperately ran for their lives. The steel door at the top was still unlocked. A glimpse of daylight illuminated the ceiling. His mana was out. They just needed to tear through the edge of the Illusion Barrier. The violent way out. Rave let out a yelping shout.
You are STAYING! Thana shouted,ughed, and cried, her hand firmly grabbing Raves wrist.
Keep running John! Rave pointed her other hand at Thanas face and unleashed a continuous st of sunlight. Thana cackled as her freshly regenerated skin was burned again. Her hand stayed in ce.
I cant leave you behind! John cried.
JUST RUN! Rave sounded pleading, the attack didnt stop. How, how did it not stop? Her mana was not that extensive, he could see that in the Group Interface. The bar was depleted.
Then it red up again. A huge chunk of her health vanished in response as she took a deep breath, collecting mana as the burning continued. John wasnt running, he could leave behind all of these people Herman brought, he would feel bad but John could live without them, he couldnt do that with her, he loved her, he couldnt leave her here. Rave knew that.
Aclysia Imand you to take him out of here. What a useless idea to get Aclysia to.
The Artificial Spirit picked him up, threw him over her shoulder and started running without a word. STOP! She didnt, Aclysia stop! she didnt, Obey me!
I am. The answer was filled with torment. I owe her one order, as per your instructions more importantly, my prime objective is protecting your life, John.
His eyes widened. No, not like this. STOP HER! He yelled at his elementals, who obeyed even against their best interests.
Aclysia wasnt even bothered. John had used up all his mana so Gnome couldnt erect any barriers. The attacks of Smander were useless against her Fire Resistance, Undine didnt have the power to create a wave strong enough to rip down the metallic body and Sylphs attacks were unable to cut past Elemental Resistance 6.
So, it came that John could do nothing but look as Rave kept drowning the stairs in superheated light and see as with every breath she took, her life decreased. He saw her far behind, Aclysia had reached the door. John saw Rave copse, Thana, already regenerated, broke from the sunlight and shed a wed hand along his dying girlfriends neck.
Then the world changed.
Chapter 109 – Arc 3 Epilogue – Breaking
Chapter 109 C Arc 3 Epilogue C Breaking
John was on his knees on the ground, eyes nailed at the empty piece of his Interface. He was roughly aware of where he was, the Mobile Barrier Herman had set up, but he didnt care. Her name had to appear again. Any second. It had to. It. Had. To. It. Had. To. It. Had. To. It. Had. To. It.
What happened? Somebody asked. John slowly looked over to Herman. The apothecary had a worried expression. He walked towards John.
You. The Gamer rose up and grabbed Herman by the cor, YOU LIAR! He shook him as he shouted, You said that Thana would die without the container! She killed them! She killed all of them!
A part of John knew that the medic wasnt to me, he hade here following Johns request after all. That part of him was drowned out by the all-epassing anger that filled him right now. Anger at Herman for telling him something so gravely wrong, anger at himself for getting into this situation, anger at Travolta for giving him ast wish that led to this, anger at Thana for doing this despite him trying to help her. Yes, it had to be her fault. How could doing the right thing go this wrong?
All dead. She is still alive? Herman was aghast, his eyes wide in shock. At this moment John remembered that Hermans friends were still down there, not his. That is impossible, he stated. Was he in as much denial as he was? The still reasonable part of John managed to whisper before being drowned in sorrow.
Yes, and who knows when she wille up here. John started walking away, he wanted nothing more to do with this. There was nothing left to say or to do. Without Rave he was once again alone in this world. Just a guy who got bullied at school for his gaming hobby, no, he was worse off than before. He still had to break the news to Regan. With a nk face, he walked away. He dismissed his Elementals. Aclysia was somewhere behind him. Herman said nothing. No one said anything to him, despite the state of his clothes. The entire train ride, he was incapable of thinking. The entire walk to the house, he was incapable of thinking. Time passed without his consent.
A selfish part of him hoped that the Abyss Auctioneer wasnt home. That he was on one of his many journeys. Fate however spared him no hardships today. Oh, hey, future son inw! Regan joked as he opened the door to his house, What is u? Regans mouth closed as he saw Johns tormented expression. What happened? he changed his question with a serious tone.
Ten minutester they sat at the breakfast table. Johns expression was still vacant, Regan had his face hidden behind his hands and was just sitting there. Neither of them was crying. I should have never gotten in touch with them. Regan mumbled, And I should just kill you.
You cant. John mumbled as an answer, She died so that I could live. I am not letting anyone take it away from me.
Aclysia quietly poured tea into two cups.
I ammy little girl. Regan said, All just because I wanted to help Travolta. I. He ignored the tea in front of him and got up. Halfway out of the room, he suddenly stopped for a moment. He pulled his phone from his pocket. After tapping around on it for a moment, he ced it in front of John. John saw the thumbnail and recognized Rave in front of the wall inside the gaming shop. It had been better days, their rtionship was young and happy, Travolta was still alive, their greatest worry disagreements over 40K. Watch it when you are ready, I am going for a smoke.
John knew that he wouldnt see Regan for a while, taking a smoke was probably just the start of a long list of coping mechanisms. He might have lost a lot of people in his life but losing his own daughter must have been something else. John could begin to imagine. He had lost the same beautiful girl, after all.
John heard a distant door close and stared at the video. He was afraid. He knew when this was taken, he had an idea why, if he watched it could he keep these feelings of anger and grief under control? Aclysia took the decision from him and tapped on the screen once.
Hey! Raves recorded voice echoed from the phone, she was looking like she always had, pink hair, a happy-go-lucky expression. She waved at the camera. So, Dad is forcing me to do this dumb video. Argues that it will help get over some rough times or that I can show it at our wedding or whatever. Stupid old man. Pff-hahahaha, ya should see his expression right now, he is holding the camera if youre wondering. Her expression darkened a bit as she looked down on her hands in herp as she sat on the sofa. She chose her words more carefully, But, well, this is the Abyss and all so he is probably right about the rough times at least. You know I like you, right?
His eyes became watery as the first tears broke through, he wiped them aside, he didnt want to miss a second of this, he also ignored the vibrations in his pocket, whatever his mother, SB, or some random asshole wanted had to wait.
Like, in all the time Ive been alive, all these neen, uhm twenty in a few days, I guess, urgh, I hate my birthday, its a really sucky day I am just trying to get away from saying it, arent I? This whole feely stuff is super annoying. So, in all of my life I was only ever really afraid about losing a few things. Despite the fact that I hate them I never wanted to lose my mother or my sister, they are annoying but still family. And I never, ever want to lose my dad. Now I kinda want to because he is grinning so dumbly.
I thought I could never feel something like that for someone else. Then you came along. You and your stupid gaming addiction, overthinking the most basic things and with all of your constant nagging about things you dont understand. You are so useless, John, you know that?
Rave rubbed her eyes and sniffled a bit, the buzzing in Johns pants finally ceased as his tears rolled down his face freely just as Raves broke through on the screen.
But I am useless too. I know that I dont always think things through, that I jump into action first and ask questionster, that I tend to duke it out instead of talking and that that gets me into trouble because I appear stupid confident most of the time. The way we are useless together just works. I have no idea why, but it does. That is why I am so afraid of losing you. They were both crying, distanced through times, one for what she had and one for what he had lost.
I never felt this way about anyone, I hate this, I dont feel this way about Jimmie, or Travolta, or anybody else I know. I would be sad losing them but I grew up with the constant risk of losing people, I am prepared. But I cant lose you. John, I lo-
The video was interrupted by the infernal noise that was a standardized phone call. John was lost in tears and grief and now confusion. He stared at Regans phone, reading the name on the disy: Jane.
He ignored the fact that it wasnt his phone without a second thought. Damned be logic, could she still be alive? If Observe could be wrong why not his Group Interface. She had to have escaped, she had to. He picked up and almost shouted into the phone.
Jane? Are you.. He was interrupted by a noise he never wanted to hear again. The low-key giggling of a pained voice.
Hi, said the maddened girl on the other side, I was about to wonder if I misunderstood how this thing works.
And just like that all of Johns hope was reced with hatred. Thana. He spat.
Fucking right I am. Who am I talking to, by the way? I am searching for a John Newman but the cocksucker just wont pick up so I went through the whole pissing list and I reaaallyyy am tired of lying to people. But hey, you know this fucked up name of mine so you must be the shit-ant that ran away, right? Excuse me by the way I just discovered cursing and it makes my life a whole fucking lot morefortable.
What do you want? John ignored everything else.
ME? Hahahaaha. Sheughed loudly into the phone. Her voice suddenly copsed into a sob. Im sorry, Im so sorry, I just want to die. Which is a topic for right fucking now! The sudden aggressiveness gave him whish. Im dying, Im fucking dying and I want to die feeling something. Thank you, thank you for letting me feel something. There was the sound of something being lifted. Incredibly casual, she continued. I had a look at your mana and thought: Hey, that fucker might have potential. Sadly, you got away but not so sadly these little machines exist nowadays. Took me a bit of torture to find out though.
Do you ever stop talking?
NO! YOU INCONSIDERATE CUNT! Thana screamed at him, I have been in constant pain for 93 years, I forgot how this mouth WORKED for the first few minutes of getting out of that tank! You should know! You were there!
I DONT CARE! John shouted back, YOU KILLED HER!
I SWEAR TO CANNIBALISTIC BEAVERS IF YOU WONT LET ME EXPLAIN YOU MOTHERFUCKING CUMGUZZLER I WILL RIP OUT YOUR SHIT-STAINED INTESTINES AND FEED THEM TO YOU THROUGH YOUR BLOODY EYE SOCKETS! YOU DISGRACEFUL RETARD HAS YOUR DAD NEVER HIT YOU WITH A BELT?! The girl at the other side exploded into a tirade of curses, then she started hyperventting. Shit, fuck. It hurts. Why God, why arent you helping me? she whimpered, like a frightened little girl. It hurts, the nails hurt Please dont hate me, please, I just want to feel something. There was a moment of silence then a pained groan, Say something, you useless idiot! Thana screamed in the background and then a woman screamed. Rave screamed.
Whoops, pinched her harder than intended, sorry about that, Thana apologized when she had the phone back on her ear. John on the other end was speechless.
This was not the way he had hoped to hear her but she was still alive. Somehow, she was alive. What do you want?
Thanaughed for a good minute before answering, I already told you: I want to die feeling something. I also need something else from you but I need to get back to killing the remaining Bloodfallen here before I be a potato again. Slooooowly as I might want to add. Which I do. I do very much want to add that. Which is why I did it.
Before you try to get another one of your stupid questions in, let me tell you EXACTLY what I want. I have enough people here to kill around 5 days, so that is how much time you have. If you be strong enough to fight me until my dying breath in these 5 days you can save that girlfriend of yours. Is that what she is? The question was confused. Im so sorry Im soHey, if you bore me you will both die so I guess its a win-win for both of us! I get what I want and you wont miss her fuck, thats fucked up, fuck me FUCK! A coughing sound, then a choking one. Itsted for almost thirty seconds. Just vomited blood that crawled back down my throat fuck, what the fuck am I?! END ME!
5 days. The Gamer ability was insane but he wasnt the slightest bit certain he could do that. What other choice was there though? How else could he undo what he had unleashed and see Rave again? I will kill you.
That is what I am talking about! Nice conviction you got going there. The background noise was suddenly filled with the death screams of a man. So, that is all I wanted, I have to get back to work. WAIT! John interrupted.
Whaaaaat, you mongrel?! Thana was audibly pissed.
Promise me you wont harm Jane!
Hesitation, when the answer came it was hoarse, pained and sounded genuinely sorry, I cant do that. I have to hurt. I have to. I have to please please, youll understand I its getting cold Then she ended the call, leaving John wondering how to get as strong as her in 5 days.
He couldnt do it on his own. He didnt have to either. He had two ways out of this, one much more terrifying than the other but nevertheless two ways out of this. He opened Discord.
End of Arc 3
Chapter 110 – End of Arc 3 Author’s Note
Chapter 110 C End of Arc 3 Authors Note
HELLO!
Am I sorry for the 108 Cliffhanger? No. That thing was nned for so long you can be happy that the waiting time between the chapters was this short. Arc 3 turned out a lot short than Arc 2 for some reason. Likely because I had a better idea what I wanted to achieve and didnt want to stretch it likest time (Also less erotica which I always use separate chapters for).
Goal this Arc was to get John out of reactive and into pro-active territory. He saw something he wanted to change and tried to. Now the whole thing went a bit south because he didnt know what exactly he was trifling with. While on the topic of saving Thana: It has been brought to my attention that the part of Why John wanted to save her may have been a bit short. After thinking about I agree, I should have brought more reasons up aside from Because it was Travoltasst wish given Johns more cautious nature. Ast wish is a good and powerful reason but there might have been a bit more needed.
All of the story from like Chapter 20 onwards, when I realized this would a bit more than a side-project for me, have been building up to the end of this Arc. Originally, I wanted Aclysia to actually die at the end of this Arc and be reced with Aclysia 2.0 (A2, anyone? No, I am not always creative) but that storyline got scrapped because I already have spent to much time building up Aclysia to go through the same motions again. So when I got my hands on a love plot Rave was the logical next person on the chopping block. Except that I didnt n to actually kill her.
The idea moving forward is a training arc, but I am getting ahead of myself. This Arc spells the death of Victoria, Igor and the other Bloodfallen. You might have noticed that Thana talks about killing the other half but assured, by the time we get there, there will be nobody left alive so you can categorize that organization as extinct.
Thana herself was also shallowly introduced after being teased for such a long time. I hope you are not to disappointed with the little you got to see. There is more to her, I promise, but it will take a while to get there.
The SB sub-plot also came to a kind-of end. I think you can all guess that this is not the actualst we see of SecretBlonde in the story but at the very least his current goals are met so he will step into the background.
With Thana holding Rave hostage (Before you ask, Hermans people were all ripped apart, they are dead) John will have to strike a deal with one of two groups/people. Who? Well, I think you know if you paid attention.
Lastly I want to talk about the Aclysia Side Story, which in my opinion worked out wonderful. It gave me the opportunity to show Herman a bit before introducing him into the story and (more importantly) allowed me to give Aclysia some concentrated growth that John wasnt involved with. The problem with a one-character focused narrative is that the MCes meddled up in to many things, so this was my way to avoid that for a change.
FOCUS CHARACTER OF THE ARC- Victoria
Okay, to be fair she didnt have a lot of screen time but I couldnt make thisst Arc without speaking about stuff that happens this Arc so here we are.
Most important question first. Did I introduce Victoria just to die? Yes. Yes, I did. I dislike doing such things because they feel dishonest to a degree. I try to keep my story somewhat clean of nned character deaths because disrespecting ones characters quickly leads to a I can always create more situation, which then turns the story a bit stale.
Was Victoria designed to die though? No, Victoria came into nning first when I made the ns for Arc 1 where she was simply designated as Girl 2 (Which since then turned out wrong because she is actually Girl 3, Girl 1 being Rave and Girl 2 Aclysia) but the base for vic Sniper was what I build upon.
I designed her fighting style first, because that was easy enough, then her character design and only at the end did I decide on how to introduce her and where she came from. It just happened that I had a much more prominent character in my mind, Thana, that I wanted to introduce with a BANG! So somebody had to die. Victoria is the one that was the best for this job because of how her and Thanas backstories intertwined, sorry for the Victoria fans out there. If there are any.
When I made her character, I decided to go for the less likeable approach. Partly because I didnt want people to get to attached, partly because having a story full of likeable protagonists is boring. So, I made her slightly bitchy but mostly the stern Has not time for bullshit kind of character.
Running her with the Bloodfallen (Which I created separately btw) was an easy decision. She was from a fleeing family, they were antimunist, bada-bing bada-boom, match in heaven. Things aligned nicely, happens sometimes.
And now she is dead. This will probably be thest you ever hear of her. Nah, okay maybe she will be mentioned one or two more times but dont expect too much of me, a chapter only has that much space.
This is it for me. I will create another chapter after this that shows all of the current Stats of John and his Elementals as well as Aclysia. Then I will take a one-week break (maybe a bit longer, I will be on vacation for a bit) and see you all again for the fourth and final arc of Season 1 Shadow of the Day.
Chapter 111 – Covering your bases
Chapter 111 C Covering your bases
Jeehan: I am John Newman, the Gamer. I am in dire need of help and therefore hope that your offer was more than just an attempt to get me out of hiding. I made a mistake and to fix it I need to get stronger within 5 days. I dont know how, to be honest. I have unleashed a girl named Thana, a Soviet experiment to the best of my knowledge, maybe you know of her and I need to be able to beat her on my own. Will you help me?
That was the message he had sent both Blood and Princess_of_Steel. He knew it was risky to send such a thing to themunists but he was desperate. Then again, who knew if a princess of the Abyss was any more trustworthy?
He was waiting for an answer. He was also waiting for Regan to return. He couldnt call the man because he left his phone with John. In case he had to leave before Regan returned, John wrote a letter exining the new situation, leaving the nature of the help he was seeking vague.
After an hour, finally he saw the Princess_of_Steel is typing announcement at the bottom of his screen. It took another ten nerve-straining minutes for the message to arrive.
Princess_of_Steel: I, Lydia Augusta IV of house Hohenzollern, Heiress-Apparent of Brandenburg, Princess-Regent of Greater Brandenburg and the city of Lbeck, Marquise of Pomerania and Silesia, Princess of Steel and Candidatum Secundus for Rex Germaniae hear your call for help.
I am honoured that you have turned with such a problem to me. While I know nothing of this Thana girl you speak of, I do have a proposal that should work for both of our advantage. Details published by SecretBlonde outline the swiftness of the growth of your power.
If it is time you need, I can arrange it for you. A High Fateweaver, bought with my money, persuaded by my influence and hired in the name of Rex Germaniae. He will give you the time you need. Be warned however: You take this offer and thepensation I demand will not be cheap. I will draw you into the world of European politics in an endeavour that will make you enemies. Answer me within the next 4 hours so I can make the preparations for the Fateweavers timely arrival.
By the time he had read through he got another message.
Blood: We can help you. For free. All you got to do is join us. We will provide you with the arms and necessities to capture Thana.
Whoever did not think that the offer of the Blood wasnt shady as all hell probably needed their eyes fixed. Also, he spoke of capture, not kill, which was far from Johns interests right now. Thana was out there, probably torturing Rave and there was nothing he could do to stop it right now. He just wanted her dead for what she had taken from him.
Please her pleading echoed in his mind.
John shook his head, if she had reasons those better be good ones. Like being tortured for sixty years or however she got in that container in the first ce. Those were likely damn good reasons. Shoving his Wisdom aside, John tried to concentrate on being angry. To hold onto these embers of anger for as long as possible. He barely managed to do so. He was already analysing why his Interface failed, portraying Rave as dead, in the back of his mind. Had she been killed only to be revived? Was Thana lying and mimicking her voice somehow? Gritting his teeth, he focused on the hurt and the task ahead of him.
He answered the Blood first.
Jeehan: Sorry, I have a better offer.
Blood: Wrong Choice.
Because that was the expected answer, John had gone with that reply in the first ce. He closed the chat and went back to Lydia.
Jeehan: I see. I ept and you can be sure that I will repay the debt I owe you. If I may add: To get stronger I also need enemies within the Illusion Barrier. I am not sure if that can be done if Im not in control.
Princess_of_Steel: You better. I am meticulous about debts people owe me. I will see to everything. Go to your home address, a Fateweaver will visit you by tomorrow morning.
Always with the waiting. Well, one day wouldnt hurt. He had already lowered the phone when he saw another message iing.
Princess_of_Steel: I advise that you rest today. Once inside the barrier your time is better spent training. It would be a waste for both of us if you ended up getting yourself killed due to unsatisfactory preparation.
He nodded to himself. He didnt feel bodily fatigue anymore, or to be more precise what he did miss on stamina was replenished rather quickly, but that didnt mean the stress of the day hadnt gotten to him. It was still the same day that Victoria had attacked him.
Victoria even though she had betrayed him, John didnt think she deserved such an end. Then again, maybe she did? It was a hard question. She found out about Thanas true nature at the same time as he did, yet she had wanted to keep her there. In hindsight that was probably the right call but would Thana exist in her current state if somebody who didnt mindlessly hate everything that came frommunism had gotten their hands on her first?
Questions that didnt matter. There was another question John wanted an answer to though: How did she manage toe back that quickly? The timeframe suggested that she took the train exactly after his. He hadnt expected the attacking Bloodfallen to just stay buried until he returned but they hadnt shown the capabilities to dig themselves out that quickly.
He left the letter he had written for Regan on the counter and went out. First, he checked if the Illusion Barrier he had left the attackers in was still around. Maybe he would find confirmations there.
It was. Inside the slightly demolished copy of the city were the holes he had left the Bloodfallen in but that wasnt surprising. The two bodies, fallen over and a hole between the eyes made John guess what had happened. He checked their mouths and found the broken remains of small ss vials. Like Gert these two had carried some of Thanas blood in their mouth. Whoever was in charge had deemed the usage in the fight useless but to break them out it had been enough.
John sighed, he had been careless, he should have just killed them all. A dark and pragmatic thought. He had wanted to be the hero and that had made him sloppy. He wanted to save everyone, get Travoltasst wish done, and only kill those who needed to be killed. Looks like I was severely wrong on who that was. The Gamer clenched his fist. I thought I was powerful because I could beat Igor. If I really want to get what I want, then this isnt nearly enough.
He closed the Illusion Barrier for good, leaving the bodies in there without a grave. They didnt deserve one. Then he walked home.
Chapter 112 – Time [Monday 1/7]
Chapter 112 C Time [Monday 1/7]
John sat in the entryway of his home, tapping his foot. His eyes had not moved from the front door for over an hour. He had used the rest of yesterday as Lydia had advised. He had eaten until he was full. He had rxed as best he could rx. Then he had slept, deep and until he was fully rested. The high Wisdom came in helpful at the strangest of times, letting him put aside his woes to continue functioning well even in his current situation. After breakfast, he had sat down in the entryway and just stared at the door.
Aclysia, one step to his right, shifted ufortably. She had done that whenever she had nothing to do. Only in the moments when she had something to do did she seem able to take her mind off something. Are you angry at me, Master? she suddenly blurted out, both in his mind and in the real world.
What? John asked and turned to her. The sober look in his eyes intensified her squirming. Why ever would I be angry at YOU?!
The final word broke out with all the anger he didnt know how to process. Aclysia turned away from him, as if he had pped her. For a moment, he wished to order her to go away, never to return, but what good would that do for either of them? Was it even possible? It didnt matter.
Sorry, John mumbled and hesitated, holding his breath before releasing it as a big sigh. Its just. Yes, yes I am angry at you. He realized as he thought about it and the words just blurted out afterwards, I hate what you did to me. Do you have any idea what I would be now if I couldnt try and save Jane? I would be just a broken man without purpose. Wasting away.
Broken things can be mended. Aclysia justified her actions, What would I be without you, Master? Nothing. I would disappear. And that is the end. I am not ready to disappear, especially not if it''s because I failed to protect you. I want us both to continue.
I know, John admitted, clutching his shirt above his heart. Being sad for months or even years is preferable to death probably. There was a pain in his chest, emotions fighting for dominance, none of them winning. This is the day just afterwards. I am angry at you Aclysia but I am also angry at myself for going there, at Jane for staying behind like that, at Thana for being what she is, all of these are irrational. I did what I thought was right. You did what you thought was right. Jane did what she thought was right and maybe Thana has her reasons for what she does too. He stared at his hands and clenched his teeth, But I honestly dont care right now.
Before he could ask himself anything along the lines of what the fuck? Johns house vanished and he suddenly sat in an endless, green field. He was still collecting himself from the sudden change when he noticed the figure in front of him, which once again proved to him that the Abyss was a truly weird ce, full of terrifying things and entric figures.
The man was of anky build, long extremities in a ck, English butler like suit,plete with white gloves and green bowtie that contrasted the white, buttoned-up shirt he wore under the small jacket. Outstanding parts of his outfit were the oaken cane and his almostically big top hat sitting on a bald head. Weirder than both was his face though. He wore some kind of parody of a gue doctor mask. Those traditionally looked like a bird but if John had to describe the one of the Fateweaver it would have sounded more like a raptor skull.
When he spoke, his metallic voice made John instantly think about the Adeptus Mechanicum, the humans who turned themselves into machines in the 40k universe. Greetings, John Newman a.k.a. the Gamer a.k.a. Jeehan. I am Magoi Magus a.k.a. High Fateweaver number 7 a.k.a. Anathema. He bowed, one hand holding the cane front, the other one empty crossing over his back.
Ehm, hi. John was very perplexed. This was not what he had expected.
Lydia Augusta , sends me. Magoi said, I am here to give you time and all the enemies you could ever need, also. He snapped his fingers. A desk, with aptop on top, just appeared out of thin air. If you need to buy or sell anything please use this device. I have followed your economic career with interest and with this 10% of the sales go to me. This is in my contract with Lydia. Do you want a copy?
10% was a lot, so yes, he absolutely wanted a copy. Magoi took off his top hat and pulled out the document. John flew over, the thing looked absolutely okay but he had no way to be sure if the elegantly swung signature at the bottom was truly from the princess he was now indebted to.
Why though?
To get some of the money back that she spent on me, whatever I earn from you she gets refunded. He exined, leaving John wondering.
How costly is this service exactly? he asked.
It is a discount, so only 500 Billion Dors.
John only just now realized how deep in the shit mire he had sunk this time. Saving Rave was worth whatever the consequences of this were. He could acknowledge that while also acknowledging that he was truly indebted to European royalty. And how much time does that buy me?
700 percent, in other words the four days you have me will be turned into four weeks.
A whole month. If he did nothing but train for a whole month would he be able to beat Thana? He remembered her movements, how she jumped at the ceiling and at Victoria within two seconds, crossing the whole hall, how she just ripped Igor out of the grasp of Undine and Gnome. All of that was before she activated this Bloodburn thing.
Even if it was futile, he had to try. Not like he had the funds to lengthen this. Well, I get thats what needs to be done to get top-level results, huh? He mumbled.
Top-level? Hardly, my maximum dtion is 10000 percent. I can even speed time up but that is harder. Magoiughed it off. Granted, I couldnt maintain either for four whole days.
John was confused but time was of the essence and he had a lot of questions. Like how Magoi could just create things out of thin air, for example, but he could approximate the answers for all of that so he instead asked about the important stuff. How am I going to train?
Ah, the interesting question. Let me exin. This is an Intermediary Barrier, a space under my control away from reality but not quite an Illusion Barrier. The bad thing about these is that they are not particrly long lived, the second I leave this thing, poof and gone, but the good thing is that you can open Illusion Barriers inside this Illusion Barrier. Wonderful, right?
Right? John answered in an unsure tone.
I will be staying here and killing time gaming or something. My job here is to provide the time dtion and to make sure no one else enters. Fateweaving will be in effect, so you will be snapped out of an Illusion Barrier if youre about to die. Got everything?
Yes. John slowly nodded. He hadnt heard that this was what Fateweaving actually was before, but he was more interested in getting started than having an Abyssal history lesson.
Last he had grinded, he had fought Street Elementals so he should probably continue with that. Given Magois assurance, he could push into more risky waves without immediate fear of death. John extended his hand to the sky,
Oh, no, not like that, Magoi stopped him. Sorry, forgot that you were aplete rookie for a moment. Another snap of the High Fateweavers fingers caused a row of doors to open in the open field. Okay, doors was perhaps not the correct description. They were more like rectangles of pale light. Walk through one of these. You will find emptiness behind them, you can fill it with your own barriers as you wish, Magoi instructed. Provided everything goes properly, I will port all of your Loot back here. He pointed at a non-descript point that suddenly turned into a giant, metal basin with different segments. Sorted by rarity, of course.
All of this was incredibly convenient. All he had to do to get to this point was almost get killed by a crazed Blood Mage/Soviet War experiment, be in a state of mindless sadness for about three hours, find out his girlfriend was still alive and then try to save her by getting stronger than said crazed Blood Mage by getting indebted to a German princess. This was actually not convenient at all, hed much rather travel back in time two days and deal with the Bloodfallen all over again.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and all that, he concluded his thoughts as he stepped into the first door of light.
Chapter 113 – The day after, yet still the same day [Monday 2/7]
Chapter 113 C The day after, yet still the same day [Monday 2/7]
On normal days, John farmed for about four hours, giving him enough time to clear waves one through four about two times. On the days he had spent preparing for the Bloodfallen he had spent about ten hours grinding, clearing the waves about five times. Yesterday, he had grinded for 17 hours, the goal being to abuse Gamers Body and only take the necessary amount of sleep and food.
That had brought him one level at least. It was a horribly inefficient use of his time, the Waves 1-3 barely got him any EXP (the items sold for good money at least). Although the fourth Wave was somewhat okay, the only really worthwhile part was the boss. After a day of this, he was confident enough in the party dynamic that, even without Rave around, they would venture deeper. It was time to put that im that he would be pulled out when he was about to die to the test.
John stood in a ck void. It was a constricting feeling, standing in this space where the only orientation was the door he stepped from. Luckily, he didnt have to stay there for too long. The Create I.D. Monster Table opened and he chose the Street Elementals. It was time to grind through the first four waves again.
The Asphalt Golem hit the streets and with that he had earned himself the tiniest of breaks as well as another level up. About one and a half hours was what he needed to get to this point. Sniping all the crows from the sky and getting all the boars took time. He was getting more proficient at it. It wasnt difficult work, just arduous. Having the elementals with him was helpful, without a doubt, and Aclysia always pulled her weight.
Between two Waves, he had about one minute to leave the Instant Dungeon or prepare. This time around he used the minute to spend his Stat Points. He had 10 of them right now and all of his interest lied with hisbat rted Stats right now so Libido and Charisma were right out of the window. He had no desire to increase either Agility or Endurance right now, seldom making use of them, and Wisdom was still high enough as is. So, it was either Strength or Intellect. Strength because he wanted to have the 25 bonuses covered and Intellect because he used Mana for pretty much everything. The reason for Strength he had before, to stop being a human stick, was shifted now that he had to consider how topete with Thana.
The timer slowly ticked down at the back of his head, urging him to make a call before the wave started. Best to go for Int 100 first, he finally decided and raised his Intellect to 85. A few secondster Wave 5 began. The pping of stic wings and Building Boars trampling down the streets announced the resumption ofbat.
Gaia was making use of the good old developer trick of spawning enemies where he simply couldnt see them. At least that was the case from his human perspective. With the verdin covering most of the area from above, Gaia had gottenzy and let him see the enemies just popping into existence two streets away.
The other Possession he used on the earth golem he always created as part of the strategy to defeat the Asphalt Golem. The Gamer had considered just creating two golems. While that could have been useful, their punching power wasnt actually that impressive. Possession was a utility Skill more than abat one, even if John abused it that way. In the end, the eyes in the sky were just worth more than a lumbering giant of dirt.
Besides, his party was stable enough as it was. Without Rave, they were missing a bit of firepower but not enough to make things look dire. Aclysia and Gnome were still tanky enough to keep enemies at bay, Aclysia confronting the bulk of them and keeping them upied with that stupidly big Cleaver of hers. She whirled that thing around like a light wooden staff. Meanwhile, Gnome took the few enemies that slipped through and slowly ground them down. Undine was still on defensive duty, protecting John from the ws of the diving Scrap Crows. The few of them that managed to actually execute an unobstructed dive, that was. Sylph and Smander patrolled the skies as two thin lines of light green and fiery red. John supported the whole manoeuvre by using his improvised golem to squash weakened Building Boars, too slow to dodge, under his giant feet and asionally shooting a Scrap Crow with Mana Ray. Usually it proved more effective if he handed MP to Sylph or Smander though.
His battle n for the waves was simple: Get air superiority, then grind down the Building Boars. It had proven well in the past and even though the enemies were now of superior level to him it was still proving good enough. The asional level 45 enemy was a bit of a problem but anything below was easily solo-able by each and every one of his party members. He kept a constant eye on his mana, unwilling to enter an unknown boss fight with less than half. That wariness reduced the speed at which they finally got the skies clear, due to ack of strong AoE effects. He considered that to be a worthwhile drawback.
Finally, enemies stopped spawning so now all John had to get through was cleaning up the remaining enemies. Watch out, Master! A sudden warning came to his mind. Two Building Boars broke through the frontline, both level 45.
This had the potential to get very ugly. The first one was intercepted by Gnome but the second one trampled right around her. The concrete porcupine charged at John. Undine tried to get in the way but her slime body was not particrly great at stopping big things in full motion, she was more specialized in small to middle size projectiles, and so the Building Boar just ignored her and rammed straight into Johns Mana Shield.
The skill tranted the 80 damage he would have taken into mana. At the current level of the skill (23) every one point of damage he would take lost him 4,1 Mana. This made the skill pretty terrible but he always kept it toggled because it would be 1 for 1 eventually, which would be really good.
Paying for the greatness of the future was costly. 329 MP costly, decreasing his carefully cultivated cushion to a mere 6. His preparations were now officially in shambles. Only after the Building Boar, confused by hitting its head on an invisible wall, was cleaved apart by Aclysia did John realize how bad the timing was.
Every single antenna in the city suddenly sent a bolt of electricity towards the sky. John cursed his luck, Did it have to be that specific boar?!
The bolts converged into an electrical sphere that slowly sunk to the ground about thirty metres in front of John. He already knew that the bosses were invulnerable in their spawning phase so he just watched as the boss formed.
The name was very literal in this case. The form the sphere eventually took was of a tall man, made out of yellow energy. The surface moved around like a mixture of sound waves and electrical current, taking the rough shape of an expensive suit.
The boss adjusted its crackling tie with both hands, the left of which held a microphone. He raised it to the literal radio head afterwards. It was an old-timey kind of device. Single speaker, short antenna, circling around as if searching for a signal. It slotted into a crooked position, then the speaker produced a loud gong sound.
Ladies and Gentlemen, wee to the main event! John could not believe what he was seeing, much less what he was hearing. Every single piece of metal in the copy of Springfield served as a miniature audio ry. Llllleeeeets get ready to RUUUUUUUMBLLLEEE!
Half a dozen wrestlers in speedos appeared out of nowhere and started to run towards John at full speed. Radio Head was dancing like Elvis in the background. What the fuck is going on? John shouted as he dodged the first muscly dude that jumped straight at him. Once the wrestler hid the ground it vanished. The next one tried to hit Aclysia, but was quickly cut apart, his body vanishing just like the first. The other four went for each of the elemental girls, who in turn took care of them by getting out of range or punching them.
Nice! Radio Headmented, How about this, baby? He performed another perfect copy of a song, Caviar and Cigarettes, well versed in etiquette, Extraordinarily nice. His voice switched into the chorus and from his microphone small energy bolts darted all over the ce, Shes a killer Queen,
Ady jumped at John and tried to stab him with a dagger. Gnome blocked for him, giving Aclysia the space she needed to engage the Radio Head. Gunpowder. a small explosion ripped apart the street between them. Aclysia curved around the crater, unsure what else might lie in the explosion site. Gtine. Gummy bears started raining, a nice surprise amongst the madness. Dynamite with aser beam. The gummy bears turned into sticks of explosives which then exploded (big shocker) intoser beams (actual big shocker) none of which hit John. Which was a good thing because, judging by the way they cut into the buildings they were guaranteed to blow his mind.
Love is a burning thing, Radio Head started a new song, and it makes a fiery ring.
Around John appeared a ring of fire that gradually closed in on him. With Smander and Undine around, fire was the least of his worries though. They made a path for him to quickly run outside. Radio Head recognized his mistake and changed yet again.
Soooomewheeeere, He sang in a soft voice and John was catapulted into the air as he saw Aclysia finally reach the boss. He was above a rainbow and while that was beautiful and all of that he needed anding strategy.
SYLPH! he thought desperately.
Yeah, hey, hello, moin, Salut, Bonjour. Sylph easily caught up to him and started babbling, What other greetings are there? Ah, whatever, hey, John, Johny, John Walker, John-Tron. UH-UH, can I call you John-Tron? I have a question, see, I was given separation from the whole air ne like, ehm, she quietly counted on her tiny fingers, One, two, three, four, FOUR days ago and I dont get any of these references could youOh geez you are moving pretty fast now that we are moving downwards, is something wrong? Should I
PLEASE SLOW MY FALL! John screamed in a panic.
Sylph giggled, Why didnt you just say so, just give me a bit of mana and TADAA! About two metres off the ground a strong wind blew into his face, slowing him down enough to make a runningnding.
Once stationary, he turned around. He hadnded not far away from the fight. Aclysia had engaged Radio Head in a melee, which the boss absolutely didnt like apparently. He kept trying to raise his microphone to his speaker, but kept having to prioritize dodging. Unfortunate that John was out of Mana again, otherwise he might have been of some help.
Keep him from singing! John instructed Sylph and his other Elementals as he kept his distance and looked for a ce from which he could fire his Mana Ray without running into the danger of hitting his allies. He found a tall building nearby and hurried inside. Once on the roof, he pointed his palm at the nimbly dodging Radio Head, the metal handrail he was leaning against vibrating as they ryed what the boss was saying.
Todays Lotto Numbers are 77-3-2-69-7 and 32, if you have won, my congrattions. Back to the music. A change went through the enemy. Apanied by bad spaceship Pew Pew sounds, its body turned from yellow to blue and as it dodged Aclysia once again, it raised its microphone. Im blue, da ba dee da ba die, at thest word Radio Head conjured ance that looked like the Eiffel tower and thrust it at Aclysia. This stopped the constant dodging for a moment, meaning that the monster got hit by all the elemental girls. The energy that made up its body distorted for a moment. However, the attack also connected and it was terrible, reducing Aclysias health to little more than half.
John knew that song, as most who hung around the inte (or reality, really) did so he knew that wasnt thest attack. Da ba dee da ba die! the Eiffelnce appeared a second time, as predicted. It moved at such absolute speed that Aclysia could not hope to dodge. Her health was reduced to a mere sliver, surviving only thanks to her insane HP Regeneration.
While John would be taken up by Fateweaving and his elementals could just be resummoned, Aclysias death was likely to be final. One more strike and he would lose her too.
There was no was no way she would regain health quickly enough to survive a third strike, but the Radio Head also looked hurt. His skin looked like a TV without signal, ck and white dots dancing erratically over the otherwise blue surface, and his voice had a certain distortion to it.
The boss was bent on not going down alone and if he got a third attack in he wouldnt. John however had also recognized a pattern in his movements. Da ba dee, Radio Head sung as it dodged. Then the boss monster nted its foot on the ground, ready to strike, da ba di-
At thest syble, Radio Head was struck by a Mana Ray John had started charging the instant his mana allowed him to. The attack struck just in time to stop the boss from hitting Aclysia a third time. The radio burst apart, turning into disappearing particles, which then cascaded into the rest of the boss dissolving.
He put the points into Intellect and left the Instant Dungeon. He gave himself a moment to breathe, for resources to top off, then went straight back in. Now he could start each grinding session at a more efficient point. Wonderful, he thought, as thebat began once again.
Chapter 114 – End of day results
Chapter 114 C End of day results
At the end of the second day, he had reached two more levels. It was harder to reach them and progressively got worse but he was fairly certain that he could grind out at least one level per day if he moved up the ranks ordingly and aimed for first kill bonuses.
This meant that he should clear all of the other kinds of dungeons at least once as well. The experience from the First Kill bonuses would make up for the time lost and scattering things between different kinds of dungeons would allow him to scout for other interesting Loot. Therefore, he made it his goal for the next day to clear all of the Tier 8 Bosses from the other kinds of Instant Dungeons.
However, he had other things to worry about first. He stepped from the door of light and into the open field. Lots of things had changed in thest two days.
Because the sun was still moving at the speed outside of the barrier, it was still daytime inside the barrier (the two days inside equalling about 7 hours outside). In order to provide them a ce to sleep in, Magoi ced two houses near the gates. Both of them were a carbon copy of Johns home. It was easiest this way, the High Fateweaver had exined.
The good thing was he could sleep with shut curtains inside his own bedroom. The even better news was that Magoi copied Johns home with all of the electronics running and connected to the inte. The bad was that there was no food and neither was it inside Magois contract to provide any. Therefore, John had to go through with the costly endeavour of getting his food through the Abyss Auction.
He turned to the neatly segmented basin, where Magoi stored his loot. The High Fateweaver was standing there as well, scratching the chin of his raptor skull mask with one hand while turning a CD in his hand with the other. Interesting, he said to John once he stepped into his field of view, I inferred that your Ability was copying things that existed, but instead this album confirms that it also creates things without precedent. Truly fascinating, you are.
Ignoring Magois wonder, John looked over the stuff. Themon drops ranged from money to cheap jokes, which set the tone for the rest of the drops really. He put the money into his inventory, kept one of the albums, there were some good songs on there, but decided to sell the Navy Membership Cards on the auction. Surely somebody was interested in a very finely crafted paper card that just said, In the Navy! with the music scores of the song printed on it. There was always someone with a bit too much money and a bit too little self control.
He also got three Kryptonite Doorknobs. They were, unsurprisingly, useless but he needed to feed Aclysia something to keep her level equal to his, so he put them aside for her. The Brush of ck was a brush that could only paint ck, no surprise there, and alsopletely useless. The Beat(ing) it! Item was something he might have appreciated in older times. It was a fleshlight of likely good quality but there was no reason to keep it. Aside from feeding it to Aclysia and making her reshape her pussy out of it, he realized and put it on her pile. It was the first somewhat lewd thought he had had in two days.
Fish. There was a fish. Two to be exact. Two fresh Barracudas. John knew what he would be eating today but that didnt make it less weird. Everything about Radio Head was weird. Weirder though, was that this confirmed his ability could create live entities beyond the monsters inside the Instant Dungeon.
Then there was a stick of dynamite. That was really all there was to it. He would sell it on the Auction and consider the moral implications of the fish being born out of nothing another time.
Rare Items, these should prove to be a bit better. First to look at that Spirit of the Radio.
Good, but boring, but good. He should start to assemble some kind of better equipment in the future anyway so this was nice. He stored the two of them that had dropped in his inventory forter use. What was next?
Confused, he put it on. Well, the world was a shade darker thanks to the helmet but otherwise nothing changed. Sylph burst intoughter, What is that, what even is that, hihihihihhi. Smander and Gnome giggled as well, Undine sent him some amused vibes and even Aclysia seemed to smile slightly. Sylphs loudughter also revealed what the helm was for: whenever he heard something, the helm visualized it with sound bars. This item was trash but would probably sell for good money.
Jane would love this, he realized as he put it on the Sell pile. Needless to say, saving her had a higher priority than hoarding gifts.
The next drop he had four of, hopefully they were any good.
Bad joke. John thought and gave one of the daggers to Aclysia. She had still one Slot open in Adaptive dery and no really short-range weapon so this was probably a good investment, especially as they were about to go into the Skaven Under-Empire again tomorrow, where both the Cleaver of Streets and the Sword of Glory would prove too big to use. He would either sell the other three or feed them to Aclysia if she needed more to level up.
Last, he had one of these things:
He had no idea what Revealer of Secrets actually did. So he turned to Magoi with that question. No idea. The High Fateweaver answered truthfully, Probably something connected to your unique dungeon constructing powers? May I urge you to look at the remaining two items? I am itching to find out what they do.
John was as well. There was his guaranteed Epic Drop.
That was an all around superior option to his bird. He could still use both, although he struggled to imagine a situation where that was helpful. Also, these puns started to physically hurt him. Hended the verdin on his hand, cancelled Possession, and used it on the Bee instead. He was even smaller now and the new way to p his wings would need some getting used to. Aside from that the experience was the same, which he was thankful for. He had no desire to experience the way Insect eyes worked.
Thest item on the list was Legendary. Yes, he had finally dropped one. It had taken aeons and the murdering of countless bosses but he had finally done it. The only other legendary item in his possession was the Ne of the World Ender and that was stupendously good so he had high expectations of this.
Ehm, I am not sure what to think of this John admitted to himself.
What does it do? Magoi wanted to know, The mana it radiates is impressive.
Was it? John didnt really look at auras all that often, especially after he had found out that he could toggle it off with a mere thought. It was like looking through multi-coloured fog most of the time. Now that he did use it again though, the Fateweaver was proven right, the cor did exude a strong golden aura. John ryed what it did as shortly as possible. Truly magnificent, an item containing its own separate dimension.
John was not that convinced of the item''s greatness but he would try it out, maybe the rewards were good enough to warrant such a high rarity. That aside however he still had other things to do today. After ordering Aclysia to start munching on the items he didnt need (and allowing her to grab stuff from the sale pile in case she needed more than he had provided), John started to ponder about the next thing on his bucket list: The Skill Evolution Point he had gotten.
As none of the Elementals had a golden + yet they were sadly all out. Evolving Gnome into a higher elemental was probably his best way to gain power but doing it at the risk of turning her into a crippled or tainted elemental was just not worth it. That left two other good choices for him: Mana Ray and Mana Shield.
Mana Ray was extremely powerful as it was. It was costly, sure, but also reliable to aim, had strong offensive power and a very good range. There was little need to fix what wasnt broken. Mana Shield ,on the other hand, sucked and if it would only be good at higher levels it was better to reset its level right now instead of grinding it up until he got a new point. Therefore, the decision was to evolve Mana Shield.
In Johns mind, this was an easy choice. Mana Fortification was out the window immediately. He could see applications, like hiding inside a reinforced earth wall, but why use one of his Skills for that when he had Gnome and Undine?
Next, Mana Force Field sounded nice but he had Mana Shield because he wanted a defensive skill he didnt need to think about. He already needed to control 2 (3 counting the bee that didnt consume one of the Possession charges) other bodies as well as which elemental his mana was going to AND being the field strategist.
Mana Protection was just an upgrade of what he currently had Mana Shield for. Enteringbat with a shield was just good. Sure, it would never really get the chance to regenerate oncebat was in full swing, but until it was broken it would be reliable.
Yep, that was pretty good. It effectively doubled his HP, as long as he charged it at the start of each day, for the remaining 26 days of this grinding session. Now, to spend his points. With the 10 he had, he reached exactly 100 Intellect, so it was best to do so.
Jesus, that skill was good. Not right now of course, but given the traditional scaling of his abilities this would eventually lead to a 100% increase. He should probably increase his mana based arsenal in the future if that was the case. Seemed like he was some sort of Elemental-Arcane-Puppeteer-Mage now. My ss doesnt make much sense well, as long as it works, the Gamer thought. Wonder if I will ever get a proper ss system? Would be nice to make specializing in certain directions easier.
Aclysia had now eaten everything she needed to catch up to his level, which turned out to be almost everything he wanted to sell (save the Navy Memberships and CDs of course). This made him slightly annoyed. The emotion was calmed easily. If that was what it took for Aclysia to remain effective, then that was just what it was. Ultimately, this cost him nothing.
The Kryptonite Doorknobs apparently werent eligible for giving bonus Stats, so he was only faced with the decision of where to put his points. Luckily, increasing her strength was the easy choice as crossing 75 once again made her stupid high regeneration jump even stupidly higher.
Yep, that was not okay. The events of the day had shown that he should raise her Endurance next. Even if her regeneration was incredible, she was too susceptible to burst damage. So his next goals were probably getting that and her Agility to 50.
For himself, Intellect had sorted his mana situation out very well, so maybe it was time to look at Strength and Endurance again? With this much MP, he also had the option to expand his Skill repertoire again.
Aclysia, you prepare something to eat, I will go run for a bit. Call me when its ready, he instructed. This was his way to try and get Muscle of the Operation to increase again. Every free Stat Point counted and there was nothing else to do while she cooked. So far, he had not seeded.
Affirmative Aclysia more mumbled than said, bowing her head slightly. As he jogged away from her, he caught a glint of worry in her eyes. He discarded it. He had more important things to achieve than to think about her worries.
Chapter 115 – Chasing Tail (Monday 3/7)
Chapter 115 C Chasing Tail (Monday 3/7)
There were many things John had expected when he used the Legendary cor. Spawning next to a fat, ck police officer was not one of them. The man, creation, something, had an equally fat bulldog curled up next to his feet. Together they were guarding a dog day care.
The timer started immediately and so John began running. He gave out his orders through the mental connections he had. It was just faster that way.
Okay everyone, we separate and search for dogs. This goes for everyone except Gnome. Once ANYONE has found one, get them somewhere where Gnome can cage them and then she brings them back to the shelter. Everybody got it?
Yes! Multiple voices echoed in his mind and they scattered out from the shelter, spreading over the city. John had no idea where he was going, usually he was in a copy of Springfield but this was not the case today.
Dog 1: Sylph, with her ludicrous speed, was the first to spot one. Uh, Uh, is this a dog? She asked, not sure, sending a mental image to everyone. It was a small Dalmatian sitting on the t roof of a white inner-city building.
Yes! John answered, Get it to the street, Gnomes control over concrete isnt good enough.
This was something he had learnt over time. While Gnome was able to use concrete as basic weaponry, she could not control it outside of rapid movements. Usually the less natural a material was, the harder a time Gnome had using it in big amounts and with fine movements.
Sylph rapidly circled the dog, following Johns orders, flying him off the building and catching him in a storm bubble further below. The, understandably, panicked dog tried to run away but Gnome already held Johns mana at the ready and so he was captured and moved back to the shelter in a rolling stone cage.
Dog 2: Aclysia found the second one hiding under a bench. The thing was violently afraid of her as she smelled of metal but was moving like a human. It fled to a small garden where Gnome was able to easily catch it.
Dog 3: Sylph struck yet again, spotting a yful poodle on whose back shended and then rode onto the streets. She rode him for a bit longer than needed, yful thing that she was, but finally flew off again. Gnome took care of the rest.
Dogs 4-7: Smander found a small pack of dogs hanging out together in the middle of the street. To keep them together, and to make Gnome''s job of breaking through asphalt a bit easier, Smander circled them like one of those fire spinners people used on new years. Earth broke through the weakened street and captured all three of them sessfully.
Dog 8: John had luck, one of the dogs was currently doing his business on a tree in a frontwn. All he had to do was give Gnome the ce.
Dog 9: Sylph, unwilling to be outdone by Smander (everyone knew that, because she kept babbling about it), rushed over the city like a high-quality camera drone. Tag! Found one! She announced and blew another dog off a roof.
Dog 10: But she wasnt done yet. As one dog fell, she spotted another inside the building from whose roof she just blew the first one. Without remorse or hesitation, fuelled by the wish to be the most useful, Sylph broke right through the window, threw that other dog out as well (John had to help with mana there) andnded both safely.
They were now in EXP gain territory but they also had spent more than half of their time.
Dog 11: The first one Undine found and the first time in a while John heard her voice. Sewage system. A single serene sound, a voice like musical sses. A very nice and soothing sound, the envy of any opera singer. In response to these thoughts John got his head filled with the water elementals embarrassment. However, Gnome got it and the dog was transported back to the surface.
Dog 12: John spotted arge dog running down a distant street through his Bees eyes. It was a bit of a challenge to catch this one. Gnome needed three tries in total, therger dog gleefully dodging and jumping over the created walls until Gnome finally got him.
Two more minutes, time was running thin.
Dogs 13-15: He himself found another small pack that was full of mean looking bulldogs feasting on trash. The aggressive creatures turned at him and tried to actually bite at his legs. Luckily Mana Protections over-regenerationyer had that covered. They ran uselessly into the near-invisible, pale blue wall.
-21 HP to his pre-emptive shield.
So, 7 for each dog bite. Not too bad. Gnome enveloped the growling beasts and quickly got them back to their origin point.
While they did find a sixteenth dog, it was not brought back in time so they simply returned to the shelter, where John got his reward from the fat ck guy. He woke up just as John wished for his reward. Wha? Oh, hey, you brought..15!. The number sounded oddly mechanical, as if recorded at ater date and then inserted into the middle of a sentence, of the dogs back, here is your reward.
If there even is a next time. John thought and looked at his Skills. The two logical things to increase were Artificial Spirit and Earth El. Summoning. Artificial Spirit because it gave more AP which led to Aclysia bing even stronger and Earth El. Summoning so he was closer to using a Skill Evolution on her.
To be honest, Aclysia was strong enough without more bonuses, at least that was Johns opinion, so getting Gnome into evolution range was smarter. Therefore, he spent all 15 points on the Skill, pushing it, together with a level he had gotten during breakfast, to level 89.
This had been a weird experience but 10 minutes for 5000 EXP and 15 skill points was a lucrative reward to investment ratio. Here was hoping he would get more of these kinds of events in the future. Since he apparently needed legendary drops to do so, it felt unlikely. Well, off to the Skaven Under-Empire and to get to that Floor 5 boss.
Chapter 116 – John Newman and the Chamber of SecRats.
Chapter 116 C John Newman and the Chamber of SecRats.
Floor five of the Skaven Under-Empire.
His enemies were still the same, a bunch of small Rat-men with worn-down equipment in old drapes and robes. They had just finished dispatching a group of them and John was feeling alright with his progress so far. Alright. Not satisfied. How could he be satisfied when he existed in rtive safety and the love of his life was with her?
The Gamers swift steps brought him around a corner. At the end of a short corridor, a giant door stared back at him. To be exact, the depiction of a horned rat did. The head of the beast sat in the middle of a pentagram. On the stone, its bone-white colour stood out immensely and in the sockets red gemstones glowed. Four greyish horns protruded from the skull, each of them ending at a point of the satanic star. The mouth of the creature filled thest of the five points.
This was most certainly new. John epted and gave away the Sandmans Key (not like he had an alternative offering). If the turnout was even a fraction of the Bonus Level it would be worth it. The Sandmans Key, an ordinary rusty key in appearance, hovered in the air and up to the horned rats head. Then the key vanished. The pentagram turned counterclockwise once, making it appear like the depicted creature broke its own neck to amodate him. The stone door parted with ancient grinding.
You stay here, Johnmanded Aclysia and the elementals. Gaia was consistent with the promises of safety, at least, and he wanted everyone to get ready to continue immediately.
The room was small. Small enough for the four coal basins in the corners to illuminate everything. A fifth one was hanging over a throne. It was a simr construction to the one the Lower Warlords were always sitting on, simple grey stone, but muchrger and of higher quality. The boring grey rock was smoothly carved and polished. On top of the throne sat the creature depicted on the door.
The three-metre-tall being had a muscr, naked body with short ck fur covering most of it. Like the image, he had four horns whose tips, along with the nose of his bare skull, invoked the image of a pentagram. A rat tail extended from his back, slung around the backrest of his throne and then came to a flopping rest on the floor. The empty sockets of his skull were suddenly filled with two red lights. John knew they rested on him.
Ah, an end to my long, long wait C to boredom and missed opportunities. You would be the Gamer, John Newman, I presume? The horned rat asked in a voice that was equally deep and inhumanely rat-like, squeaky and high pitched. asionally, John felt like he heard the sounds of elongated crow cawing or the barking of dogs.
How would you know? John asked. He vaguely recalled sporadic mentions of a Rat in the group chat. Was this the very same entity or just an borate 40k reference?
The horned rat shrugged. I am a being of Gaia. She offered me an opportunity and I took it. The knowledge she shared with me does let me know the basics of your situation. The skull creaked, exposed teeth shifting and perhaps even growing as they filled out an undead grin. I have been watching you ughter the images of my stupid children with glee, Gamer. The Horned Rat chuckled. Maybe, maybe you will face my actual children one day. I hope they will not be your enemies at that time.
John shifted his weight back and forth, curiosity fighting his urge to move on and get stronger. In the end, he decided to just ask his questions first. So, these are not actually real? he had assumed so, but he wanted confirmation.
No. The creatures teeth slowly returned to their previous position.
But you are?
Yes. The difference is that I am a being that can travel between Illusion Barriers on its own. I am a God, although one most people rarely think about. Just use that Observe of yours and see for yourself. He made an off-handed gesture. Peek at all there is to see about this creature you see before you.
Seemingly he spoke the truth. Those were some pretty badbat Stats for his level. The beings you humans create for sport and training are fundamentally different from us true Abyss-born creatures. The Horned Rat kept exining. The unlucky ones break out into reality, to be eliminated by Gaia once they vite her rules. Smarter, luckier, or stronger ones escape their Natural Barrier of spawning, setting out to be a part of the Abyss. A capable few be gods and travel the flow of the world, the current that connects all Illusion Barriers. To kill time, in this world ruled by the Godyer. Where we end up is often at Gaias whims.
That exined Nathalia, the dragoness had just been sleeping and Gaia thought it a prime opportunity to put her in a chest in his dungeon. The RNG of this game was busted to no end. There was no way to ever know what was happening, one day he might be the hero to save a girl and the next moment that girl was murdering his girlfriend.
I have no time for this. John told himself and concentrated on the anger the echo of Thanasughter ignited in his heart. Will you just keep speaking or is there something to this? I was promised some kind of reward.
Yes, yes, angry one, there is a reward. The Horned Rat answered with a chuckle. He extended a hand and something very small materialized. He tossed it at John who barely caught it. A twenty-sided die nowid in his hands. On an even number, you shall receive the number times 500 as Experience, on an uneven number you shall be granted that number in levels randomly distributed amongst your skills times two. Furthermore, if your roll is a 1 you shall lose a level but if you roll a 20 you shall gain one. You get three tries and you may pick whichever number you like the most. Now, throw the dice.
The closed door behind John left him with no other choice but to oblige. The risk for this leading to a bad oue for him was astronomically low. Three 1s was a chance so small it was not even worth considering. This whole thing was loaded in his favour.
John threw the die once. An eight. Four thousand experience, not bad, not good, but not bad. The Horned Ratmented, Last I checked you were Level 44.
Freezing up, the Gamer looked up, Wait, how do you know that?
You think, think that you are the only one with information gathering magic? the Horned Rat was amused. I am a God of Knowledge, unlike Nathalia, I can see things of interest like this. You should learn to trust few, Gamer. It will be necessary when you begin handing out favours, rather than receiving them. Continue. Show me the luck of your hand. The entity sounded more invested in this than John was.
John picked up the dice and threw it a second time, this time itnded on the number five.
A bad roll, the lowest quarter. The Horned Ratmented for him. 10 Skillpoints spread randomly certainly isnt bad, but you should really aim higher. Try throwing it with a spin, thats a good trick. John threw the God a very annoyed nce but all that did was make the Horned Rat chuckle. You are of no threat to me, young one, not yet anyway and your goal is short-lived. Your anger and hatred for Thana will be gone in time.
What makes you so certain of that? John growled as he threw the dice for the third time.
Because I know her life, from birth, to rebirth and I see glimpses of the future and herpletion. You will show her the truth, truth burning as pale as her skin. His bone face creaked as it curved again into a demonic grin. The words of the God echoed in the chamber, shaking John to the core, shaking the whole floor of the dungeon, Hear my words, John Newman for this is my prophecy:
You shall have met the Betrayer of all,
You shall have met the Betrayed by all,
A whisper in your ear,
You shall have awakened her burning rage,
You shall have awakened her true me,
Makes your mind so clear,
You shall have seen the winds of regret,
You shall have seen the dust of red,
Whatever you may send,
You shall have known the lie itself,
You shall have known the schemers face,
It will not matter, the lie it shall,
your best friend, he will fall,
And after this prophecyes to an end,
She shall ascend.
As his words ebbed away the dice rolled over the stone floor and finally came to a halt. For a moment, the two of them just stared. The Horned Rat rubbed his chin, eyes turned inwards, as if he was contemting what he himself had said. Then, suddenly, he pped his hands. A fifteen, that is WAY better, 30 Skillpoints randomly distributed are bound to get you something good. It was odd to hear the intery of sounds reduced to such a casual level, after what had just happened. I assume you will take that?
John just nodded, too busy with what else he had just witnessed. What did you mean by all that?
The Horned Ratughed out loud as he started working some magic. Arc for arc, little arcane projectiles flew towards the Gamer, each granting him a Skill Level. You will learn to never ask Gods of Knowledge this question, John Newman. The door opened back up, the screeching of stone apanying both the gods amused tone and John being lifted in the air by the spell. Like the tide, fate is uncontroble in its entirety, but those that have enough information can predict many oues and those that understand many oues can nudge the base effects. All questions you ask me will be answered in a way that I deem helpful to my cause. We will see each other again one day, Newman.
And with that he was thrown out of the Secret Room.
Chapter 117 – Vermintide
Chapter 117 C Vermintide
Although that encounter left John with many things to think about, he deemed it unnecessary to do so at this time. He was to level up and then kill Thana. THAT was his primary goal. Prophecies and words of gods be damned. Rolling over, he began rising from the stone floor. His flight out of the Secret Room had not been a pleasant one.
Master, I think you should-
I dont care, Aclysia! John didnt even let her finish, pushing the hand that was trying to help him up aside. Quickly he got up. He had no time to be reasonable. Logic boiled into nothingness whenever he considered what torture his girlfriend must have been going through at that very moment. He ignored the exhausted burning in his eyes.
For once, Aclysia did not ignore being interrupted. Her lips quivered, as she bowed deeply in apology.
John felt the sting of regret so he sighed. I am sorry, its justthese are long days, he mumbled that apology before ordering her to take the lead again. It was a weak apology but all that he could muster right now. At the same time, the Possessed Bee spotted the boss room. A promise of progress.
Confusingly, when they arrived, the boss room was empty. That was not to say that it was a nk room. On the contrary, it was arge banquet hall with wooden desks filled with food and drink of rather measly quality but a quantity that made John unsure how any of the Skaven could be that malnourished.
He took a step into the room. Nothing happened. Perhaps he was in the wrong area? No, that was unlikely, the big wooden door at the back of the hall looked exactly like the ones he had used to get down here.
He grabbed one of the tes and inspected the food further. The silence was unnerving. Only the sound of the stone te grinding over the table echoed through the hall and it was swiftly muffled to nothingness. Even his breaths and Smanders constant crackling were somehow unable to cut apart the silence. On the tey a small ensemble of differently sized mushrooms as well as parts of some sort of light meat he couldnt identify.
Carefully he put the te back down. It really didnt help that he didnt get notifications for bosses in floor based dungeons. He walked deeper into the room, Aclysia, her new dagger in hand, following him closely just like the four elemental girls did.
Suddenly half his vision was gone. That was to say, he could no longer watch through the eyes of his bee. He could still feel it but he had no idea where it was, just that it was not there. It had happened so suddenly and he had paid so little attention to his second body that he didnt know where in the room itst was. Panicked, he looked around, carefully, everyone going into a defensive position. Then, at least, he looked up.
Under the ceiling hung hundreds if not thousands of rats. They were of the normal size for such vermin, about the size of his own feet. The sheer number of such small creatures made them more threatening than any other rat monster he had faced so far.
Just as he finished looking over Observe the rats let go of the ceiling. There was a moment where John was certain that he was done for. What was descending unto him was a solid wall of writhing bodies, the impact alone would burn away his mana. However, as he remembered, he was not alone here.
SALAMANDER! He screamed mentally, pouring more than half of his mana into the Elemental. He thought he heard an anarchic, satisfied giggle but that might have been his imagination. Smander unleashed a pir of mes towards the ceiling.
Like a burning candle that falls on a rug the Vermintide had a small hole burned into it, bodies reduced to ash. These rats, even though they looked mostly normal, had a strong resistance to magic it seemed.
Even the tiniest of holes took a huge burden off Mana Protection. Smander continued burning through the mana that John had given her, the inferno spreading as hundreds of rats and ashes rained down. When the rest of the swarm hit, the pre-emptive barrier broke down immediately. Repelling the raw number of creatures further cost him.
The Vermintide, now on the ground, was held back only by the inferno Smander kept unleashing. A ring of fire that spared John but burned all around him. Smander kept burning and burning, fuelled by Johns order and his mana regeneration. It was efficient. It was fast. That was all that mattered.
The fire elemental likely had killed over half of the Vermintide on her own at this point. However, what she did only kept John safe and he didnt realize that until he felt a wave of agony crashing into his consciousness. It lingered only for a moment, before rapidly ebbing away again, a message following the blink of an eyeter.
He knew instinctively that it was Undine. Aclysia was immune, Gnome didnt care much about fire and Sylph was able to find a safe spot in the air but Undine was both unable to get away and naturally at odds with fire and so her slime body was vaporized in the mes of over 500 Mana. She must have blocked the pain from reaching our mental connection until the veryst moment John realized as the fire finally ran out.
The Vermintide around them was an ocean of brown and grey fur. The swarm didnt hesitate for a second. The fire was gone and their prey apparently helpless. With Johns Mana down to 270 they were not entirely incorrect.
Aclysia, left, Cleaver of Streets, Gnome, Sylph cover my right, Smander keep my back protected, he quickly sent out his new orders.
It was impossible for them to stem this tide. The only thing they could do was make this a match of grindstones. It was either John died or the enemy ran out of numbers. This was it. In this scenario John wanted to prolong the fight for as long as possible. As long as the defence held, the best way to take care of the enemy was to give Smander as much of his mana as possible so she might bathe them in AoE attacks. For that to happen, he needed to regenerate enough mana to let her unleash another wall of pure fire.
It annoyed John that he had nothing to contribute to this situation himself. Mana Ray was entirely useless against multi-targets and possessing benches or tables was not practical against this sea of small enemies.
The rats jumped at Aclysia and, to John''s surprise and horror, actually sank their teeth into her sturdy exterior, dealing damage. Core bosses are no joke, huh? he thought to himself. Compared to Radio Head this was a whole different beast though. His skillset was way better at dealing with singr enemies or small groups, his whole mass he had trouble with. If only Rave were with him, she would have just kicked a few times and Rave Rave, his girlfriend who was being held hostage by a crazed war experiment This isnt fast enough.
Gnome, with the little earth that was around, was next to no issue for the rats to ignore. They streamed around her, only a chosen few jumping at the earth elementals eyes to blind her. It was remarkably effective. Aclysia was just as effective against them though. Whirling around with the Cleaver of Streets she cut trenches into the assaulters and ground alike. The sturdy weapon made the ground screech as it cut through. Sylph actually managed to hold back most of the rats that streamed by Gnome, zapping them at immense speeds.
Most of hundreds meant that dozens still got through. Dozens that shed against John''s shield, dealing miniscule damage to his mana. Small numbers rapidly mounted or would mount if he let them. This was ruining his ns. He couldnt call Sylph or Gnome back to deal with this, the second the line broke he would have even more of the rats storming through. Even though he was able to kick a few of them away, others soon took their ce. Simrly, Smander only held the enemy back thanks to their respect for her initial inferno and the moment she turned to help they would descend unto him like the swarm of hungry vermin they were.
His mana bar dwindled to under 200. It was then that John decided that caution was unnecessary. What did his HP matter? If he was about to die, hed be teleported anyway. Any risky strategy could be attempted and he would lose the time either way. What did it matter?
Even if it hurts like hell, I can endure it, he decided and deactivated Mana Protection and poured all of his mana, every second of regeneration, into Smander.
The rats instantly jumped at him.
-3 HP -3HP -2HP -1HP -5HP, every bite of the vermin stung. They started at his feet, repeatedly ripping small chunks off and then finding Gamers Body to have reced them. Many of the beasts started to climb up his body. He did his best to brush them off, but the rats were much nimbler than he gave them credit for. They just jumped on the hand that was trying to swat them away and climbed up his arm instead.
He was roughly aware of the fire meeting the Vermintide, as Smanders powers, red and burning hot, filled the room. The strategy is working, thats all that matters! John thought to himself, just as tiny teeth began gnawing at his neck.
The pain wiped his mind for a moment. When he came back, the teeth of a rat appeared before his eyes. In a panic, he stepped backwards, stumbled and fell. That threw the rats off his head for a moment, but the carpet of them hended on made sure to rece it momentster. The gnawing at his neck was next to nothing to the sensation of teeth ripping into his ocrs.
Gamers Body kept restoring his sight between bites. His entire world was filled only with rats. They swarmed on his body, ripping to shred his clothes and devouring his meat. There was their skittering and their munching and their excited squeaking and nothing else.
-4HP, -8HP, -3HP, -12 HP, -1HP, -3HP. It continued and continued. All he could do was keep pouring his mana into Smander as his HP-bar dwindled, entering the lower third. He had the Wisdom not to scream despite the pain. The rats would dly eat his tongue too.
Bit by bit, the pain became less. John soon realized that the rats were torn off him like they were overgrown leeches. His face was freedst, simply the furthest away from a hurriedly working servant.
Thank you, Aclysia. John sent as he looked at his Artificial Guardian. To his surprise he received no answer, no You are wee or Certainly, Master just cold, dead silence as she crushed thest rat in her hand. Before guts could stain her hand, the monster turned into dust.
Every other person would have died of blood loss or infections but thanks to Gamers Body the wounds just closed. All he was missing were most of his clothes and HP.
The Vermintide had been almost entirely defeated by Smander. Most of the room had been painted ck by the soot. A few rats were still about, charging with the typical mindless aggression of NPCs. Gnome squashed them underfoot until none remained. Afterwards, everyone turned to John.
Aclysia was still silent, Smander, despite the glorious inferno all around her, did notugh, Gnome kept her distance and even Sylph was not uttering a single sound. John tried to get up. His HP had fallen to a mere 40 before Aclysia had managed to rip thest rat off him. There was no hand extended to him but he still managed to get up. On shaky feet he stood. He had never felt this way before. Normally, when he had low HP he was healed almost instantly by a level up and the one time that hadnt been the case, a high dragoness had kept his senses upied otherwise. Now he felt tired, burned out.
He needed to keep going.
Lets do the next dungeon, he mumbled in a half-dead voice and raised his hand. They were brought back to the ck in-between dimension thaty behind the gates Magoi opened. John kept his hand in the air, contemting which dungeon to summon next. Aclysia grabbed his arm and dragged it down. He growled at the Artificial Spirit, What?!
Chapter 118 – The Tears of a Maid
Chapter 118 C The Tears of a Maid
John tore his hand free. Despite Aclysias superior Strength, he was able to do so quite easily. Gritting his teeth, he directed his eyes at the white-haired woman. What?! he repeated, as her hand hovered between them, still raised. Are you defying me? Are you going to stop me again?! He lingered on that word for a while. No answer, and that only made all the anger within him break out with further intensity. Are you really going to make me suffer all over again?!
Aclysia took a full step back, her hand stretching out in equal measure, reaching out to him with fear on her face. The quivering fingers of her other hand tightened into a fist. The expression on her face shifted to determination. If that is what I must do to save you.
I will not die, we have a safety precaution, John hissed, eyes wandering to the opening Monster Table. What should he kill next?
I am not talking about saving your life, I want to save you, John! The insistence in her voice made his gaze jump back immediately. He was surprised to see tears in her eyes. Since when was she capable of crying? Do you think I enjoyed leaving Rave behind? Her voice was filled to the brim withment.
No, but Johns justifications got stuck in his throat. The wetness in her eyes only intensified further and with it grew the lump in his throat. The wrath melted away. Underneath surfaced a care for her deeper than he would have thought. What stood before him was no longer his creation; she hadnt been in a while.
Aclysia tried to wipe away the first tear, but it only served to be reced with more. I love her, she sobbed. Sometimes I wished she wasnt always there, but I never, ever wanted her gone! I love both of you. Not in a superficial way, not because you made me do it, but because you let me be capable of it. Because I am Aclysia, not just a golem. Because I am I can hate myself for what I did. The maid gave up on trying to stem the flow of tears, instead clutching her hands in front of her chest. I know youre angry with me. Every second away from her hurts you. I can see that. I envy that. I hope that you would feel the same for me.
John waspletely dumbfounded. They stood in this ne of nothingness as Aclysia, little figurine Aclysia, quiet except for when she had questions,id open her feelings to him. Feelings he had wanted for her to have and that had grown far beyond his expectations.
Every second we are here, I see you agonizing over what happened and it breaks my heart. I understand that we need to save her. I want to save her. The tears dripped from her chin, as she bowed forwards and screamed. WHAT IS SAVING HER WORTH IF YOU BREAK YOURSELF IN THE PROCESS?!
Aclysia breathed heavily, shuddering all over from sobs and confusion. Suddenly, she stumbled forwards. John was still stunned, even as she embraced him. He had forgotten how warm she was.
In a whisper, she continued. You didnt care. Aclysias fingers pressed into his exposed back, as she pressed those words out. We could all hear your thoughts. You didnt care about your own life or well-being.
I do not approve of self-sacrifice, Smander weighed in, arms crossed.
I do not approve of selfishness, Sylph added, the small entitys voice serious despite its high pitch.
I do not approve of carelessness, Gnome muttered, a hint of emotion sneaking into her voice.
You didnt care if you broke. It wasnt a tactical move for you, it was your desire to get stronger quickly. That is all that matters to you. Even if you seed, you might as well die in the process.
How would you know that? John asked, too tired to feel any emotions.
We are ...all with you The girls said in turns, then together. We are all with you John, in your thoughts and in your presence. Only the elementals continued, We are the bigger picture, the beings that represent parts and the sum of you.
Have you even stopped to think about Undine? asked Gnome as she stood firmly on the ground,
Have you even stopped to heal? added Sylph,
Have you even stopped to refuel? finalized Smander.
Have you not noticed? Aclysias hand on the back of his head was almost too much for his soul to bear. We all care about you, John, so I want you to understand: this is not you. I epted that you will need time to forgive me and yourself. I can take your anger. I share it. I cannot stand by as you destroy the man I love, my John. You would sacrifice yourself if it means saving Rave. You have barely talked, you have only rested the minimum required, you have not taken the time to recharge. You had preserved your caution, at least, so I had hoped you would build yourself up again in time. Instead, you seem to unravel further. I cannot carry on, watching you fall apart.
Aclysia raised her tear-stained face off his chest. The light-green of her wet eyes reflected his own face. There were deep bags under his sunken eyes and his lips were curled down into a permanent frown. His lids were half-closed. The proof of his condition slowly let the mental stress manifest in his consciousness. Before he knew it, he was leaning onto Aclysia just to keep standing. I miss her, he whispered.
We understand your suffering, stated Sylph as she twirled slowly towards him.
We understand your regret. added Gnome.
We understand your desire, finalized Smander.
We all want the best for you. Aclysia raised her head up to his, her lips slowly closing in. With the space of a sheet of paper between them, she stopped. Please, as much as it torments you, as much as you might desire against it, as much as you think it a waste of time in this situation, please, take the time to preserve yourself. Rave wanted you to live. If you save her, dont do it at the cost of yourself. Can you promise me that, John?
John fully let his weight be supported by what had been his creation. Aclysia greeted his lips with hers. He was so tired. His body, his mind, they were both exhausted to the point of incapacity. He was so tired. Yet, as they shared a tender, honest kiss, he felt awake. All of a sudden the feeling that had caused his rage surged to the forefront again. The world was brighter, despite his sensation, because of one thing: love.
It was clich. It was equally true. Thefort of another human brought him calm. It didnt matter if she didnt have a heartbeat or if it was magic that warmed her mimicry of flesh.
What he felt towards Aclysia at this moment was deeper than what he had anticipated ever feeling for her. He had made her as a guardian. He had chosen her appearance for his own base reasons. He had dressed her up to satisfy a fantasy. Then, she had be sapient in a true way. Then, she had be part of his family. All of that and what he felt for her now just developed as naturally as she did.
He loved her. He loved her in a different way than he loved Rave, but he loved her deeply nheless. A proud and honest love, impure in its origin and messy in its crystallization. Despite all of that, the love was as true as the fact that the sun would rise again tomorrow. The kiss they shared at that moment cemented his feelings for Aclysia, the individual.
Their lips parted. Her arms wrapped around him. You are right, the admission was a mumble. I cannot go on like this. Jane would not have sacrificed herself to see me end like this. Youre right but it''s hard
Aclysia just quietly nodded. For a while they stood there. Two messes helping each other stand. Both of them had lost so much recently. Youre not alone, Aclysia whispered, caressing his back. Ill always be there for you. Ill do everything to ensure nothing stands in your way. Ill cull everything and everyone that would make you feel like this again.
Before Johns tired mind could properly interpret her tone of voice, Sylph began to babble. I was actually worried for a moment there, whoyee, JohnTron, you sure make my existence interesting. but dont do that again I mean this whole thing makes me really jealous I cant f-.
The words of the air elemental were suddenly silenced, Gnome having caged the smaller spirit between her hands. The face of the brte was red with embarrassment, for some reason? She was slowly growing more expressive, but that was a new one. W-we should rest for today, John, she suggested, refusing to look directly at him. The gains were small but gains nheless.
Also get Undine back, I wanna apologize. Smander scratched the side of her head, Maaan, why is burning so much fun?
John failed miserably at a smile. Even now, the anger in him insisted they keep going. It had, however, lost its hand on the wheel. Wisdom and care for those around him reasserted themselves. He was in no state to continue physically, and none of them were mentally. Yeah, lets take a break, he said, letting everyone rx fully.
Chapter 119 – The Stormy Sea
Chapter 119 C The Stormy Sea
Back already? Magoi turned the page of the newspaper he was reading. The dinosaur masked Fateweaver was sitting at a wooden table next to the Loot Basin. Neither the table nor the chair he was sitting on had been there this morning, but with his apparently god-like control over the Illusion Barrier things popping out of nowhere had stopped being surprising. Create had fixed Johns clothes, otherwise the Fateweaver probably would have had more questions.
John had noticed him reading newspapers, but had not cared about it before. Now that he was stepping off the gas, more of his curiosity managed to get back to the surface. Stuff happened, he kept his side of things short, as he walked up to the Loot basin. What are you reading?
I am d you ask! dered the Fateweaver and folded the paper with a forceful motion, before shoving the cover into Johns face. While the man continued hismentary, the Gamer read what was before him. This is the most prominent of the great newspapers in the Abyss: the Abyss Minutely. As the name suggests it is updated every few minutes. Check it out!
Magoi opened a page in the middle of the paper. The headline read Koreans raid Japan once again! They are really dedicated to that, arent they? John asked before Magoi could close the page. He had heard before that the Dangun n was keeping Japan down. Magoi reiterated that information.
Yeah, just the usual. Ever since World War 2 the Koreans go out of their way to keep the Abyss of Japan very, very small. I understand the initial patrols they enacted, but by now it''s just a cruel disy of extortion. The Heavenly Jade Empress is the only one who could stop them and shes too young to be respected in her decisions.
Heavenly Jade Empress? John asked with a puzzled expression.
Magoi kept his cheery exnation going, The Leader of the Mandate of Heaven. I suggest you inform yourself by reading the work of Frederik of Rex Germaniae or the moreprehensive guide from Lenin, although both are riddled with ideological annoyances.
John scratched his neck, he wasnt even that surprised to hear historical names pop up anymore. And this Heavenly Emperor can stand against Romulus?
Silence, then Magoiughed loudly and patted John on the back, Na?ve child, nobody can stand against Romulus. The words were delivered with absolute certainty. Although we speak of the two Emperors of the World, as someone who has met both of them I can assure you that those who hold the title of Heavenly Emperor are gods amongst men but Romulus Romulus is a yer of gods. However, he hasnt cared much about most affairs for hundreds of years. Since Pompeii, or so I hear. Magoi finally closed the newspaper, waited a moment, and then opened the exact same page again. Physically, the same page, at the very least. The content had shifted dramatically.
Speaking of the devil! This might be of interest to you. The Fateweaver said and pointed at the new headline.
Romulus to visit Germany. John mumbled to himself and then continued to read the article in silence.
In preparation for the uing election for the throne of Germany in Cologne, Romulus has left Rome and the business of running the greater empire to his advisor Rodam of Oreh. This election has been pushed back several times but as Frederik the Great announced three years ago, My time hase, let the new generation rule!. A lengthy selection process followed, you can read more on that in our uing special. Since then, the two remaining candidates, Maximillian Franz IX of house Habsburg and Lydia Augusta IV of house Hohenzollern, had two draws in the election leaving
The article went on about the current situation of the electors and how it was likely to be a draw yet again, but John didnt care as much. Why should that concern me? John finally asked. Yes, Lydia was the one paying for this important endeavour of his but he could hardly pay back by voting for her.
Wait. she hasnt told you? Magoi asked.
Told me what? John shot back, causing Magoi to giggle into his mask some more.
Youll learn from her. I see that the princess of steel remains as irond in her inability to converse as ever.
John decided he would indeed wait until his sponsor decided to divulge information on the matter. He had enough on his mind without specting what his payback would be.
Before continuing the conversation, he checked his mana bar. It was empty and had been for a bit now. This was no surprise, as he was currently giving all of his mana to Undine to revive her. Simply re-summoning her would not do the job. He needed to reconstruct her ability to hold corporeal form and the only two ways to do that were to let her be for an extended period or personally supply her the mana to fix it.
So, this newspaper just changes what is on the pages? John was curious about that.
Correct. Now you might wonder: But what if I want to read the articleter? The answer is easy. Magoi folded the corner of the page. There.
Will that fold disappear afterwards? asked John, with open disdain for the vition of paper.
Magoi nodded, Yes. You could also use any other kind of bookmark. Also, you could just think about the article really hard and hope that you get the right one.
That sounds like this would better work on a Kindle or some other device.
Typical youngsters Magoi mumbled, suddenly very grumpy, No appreciation for the ssics. My daughter is the same way. Always goes on about her video games and how paper is sost millennium.
With that, their talk came to an end. John went on to inspect the Loot. He was barely even interested in what the floors 1-4 had dropped. They were repeat items and most of them only served as Aclysia-fodder. However, the Vermintide drops warranted a look.
So, there were another 100 grand. Money progressively became less and less of a concern. Then he had both normal and minor Warpstone, their Observe description was roughly the same.
In the Rare department, he only got a single item this time around. The Eye of the Rat II was, just like the first one, a gem of pestilent green colour but worked with more detail. It had slight, and with that he meant really slight, likeness to a real eye. Maybe higher versions would be more ornate or realistic?
This was nice, he would use it for crafting training and hope that the result sold for a good amount. However, it was useless for himself as he possessed no abilities that fit the bill. Thest item on the list, the epic drop, was impressive however.
Sure, the finger long, thin jewel didnt look like much but getting 100 Mana for free? He was ready to sign the fuck up for that. Just as he was thinking about what item he couold best create with this, another window opened.
He was taking a relieved breath when he quickly got another, much more worrying, window together with Undines reappearance as a swirling pool that slowly changed into the little slime girl he knew her as.
John. The voice of Undine, normally clear and beautiful, was distorted and filled with a tone that made him immediately think of storms and heavy rainfall.
The falling waters quickly mounted, until John felt like his entire consciousness was dragged under water. In his own mind, he felt the presence of the water spirit loom over him with eyes that froze him to stone. It was terrifying, more terrifying than the rats by a long mile. Whether that was because he was more open to feeling things besides urgency or not he couldnt say. He couldnt contemte it either, over the words flooding his mind.
I died for you. I died for your carelessness. Failure. A failure at controlling your emotions. Channel your hatred, dont let it control you!
The other elementals and even Aclysia held their ears in an effort to shut out the torrent of rushing rage. Undines emotions were like a sereneke suddenly falling from the sky, crushing an entirendscape under its weight. It was difficult to think under her wrath, but he managed. I am sorry, Undine. I am so very sorry.
He extended a thought to her. The memories of all that had happened since she had died. At first her rage rose even higher, witnessing his self-sacrifice to the Vermintide. Then it gradually ebbed away as she witnessed Aclysias speech and Johns reaction to it. In the end, Smander delivered her own apology. Undine barely acknowledged it. Her mentalndscape had returned to a deep, calm pond. No one could say what lurked in its depths.
With worry John looked at his Character Sheet. The Water Elemental Skill had turned red and when he clicked on it the permanent -1 was on disy. My actions have consequences. He reminded himself. If he had thought less about what was the quickest way to get through the boss fight and more about what would keep him and his allies safe this would not have happened.
It would have been easy, just change Undine into her incorporeal form and this disaster could have been avoided. Of course, the me didnt lie with him alone, Smander with her indiscriminate destruction and Undine herself, as she did not talk about her pain until it was toote. Everyone could learn from this. He would focus on fixing what he could.
By the way, when would you have ported me out? I was pretty close to dying today. John asked the Fateweaver.
The second an attack would actually kill you. Magoi said, and I dont do that, the barrier does, I have set it up this way.
You can do that? John wondered.
I can, yes. Magoi turned a page of his newspaper and rified, This is Fateweaver stuff but I guess I can exin the theory to you: Inside a barrier Gaia can sense exactly which attack or trap will kill you. She does that to make out what she will do with you once you exit the barrier, because, as you likely know, she will make it so that you can return back into the public eye without being too suspicious and she can stop caring when you are dead. In other words: All I do is give my energy to prevent that moment from happening and instead bend causality within this, my personal barrier to have youe back here. This is the ability that we, the leaders of the barrier organization, developed and that gave us our name: Fateweaving.
John waited for a moment to ascertain that this little history lesson was over. Is it hard?
To learn, yes, to use, not so much. If you build the barrier with that skill in mind it is actually very easy. Imagine Illusion Barriers like a circuit board. If you know what circuits to manipte, it takes little energy to make sure the energy flows in the way you want to. Some beings may contest my control over the Illusion Barrier, however, and when they seed they can disable this. I felt a visitor of some strength today? the way the sentence ended made it clear that he was intrigued.
John knew who he meant by that. The Horned Rat.
WHAT?! Magois head whipped around, the raptor skull pointing at the Gamer. After a few moments of baffled silence, he continued, Wow, you met a particrly nasty God of Knowledge there. Infamous, really. I yed poker against him a few times and that was alright did he try to sell you something?
No, he told me a prophecy. John answered.
Ohkeep its contents to yourself, please. I dont want to get tangled up in some great chess match between him and whoever he is messing with this time around. Magoi ended on that statement, closed his newspaper and walked to his copy of Johns house. To be affiliated with the Horned Rat inevitably gets you dragged where he wants you to be. Hes too good at aligning your interests with his to leave you any other choice.
Thats worrisome, John noted. With Undine returned and thest thing to keep his consciousness focused resolved, John felt hisck of HP and mental fatigue all the more and yawned. I will go sleep for a bit, he said to Magoi and walked away. Aclysia, could you prepare something that I can eat when I get back up?
Aclysia bowed with the slightest hint of a relieved smile upon that request, Affirmative, Master. Leave it to me. I shall make sure your urges are met.
Chapter 120 – A classical display [Erotic Content]
Chapter 120 C A ssical disy [Erotic Content]
John got up, stretched and looked at the clock. The manual device kept on ticking at the regr speed, even if the time was dted. It let John get an urate read of how much time passed for him. Devices with an inte connection let himpare that to what time it was outside. So far, Magoi had done as advertised.
John opened the curtains. Daylight flooded in, too bright for his liking. One piece by another, he dragged his clothes from his inventory to his body. He contemted what to do next. Just because he was no longer pushing himself as far as he was physically capable didnt mean he should waste time unnecessarily.
The door to his room slowly opened and John turned to witness a gorgeous sight. Aclysia stood in the doorframe, not in her usual copy of 2Bs dress, but instead in stylistic lingerie. A ck, thick nightgown that form-fit her chest, leaving little to the imagination. Her midriff was partially exposed, showing her belly button and the subtle definition of her t stomach. Littlece panties covered her crotch, arms and legs were decorated with ck gloves and stockings.
The sight stirred a prominent part of John that had slept until now.
I sensed your awakening, Master, Aclysia sultrily said and bowed. She was holding a te as she did so and it remained perfectly level throughout the entire motion. I sense you have many desires, so I wish to ask a question. Would you like the food? She presented the te, it was a beautiful arrangement of bread, fish and vegetables. A shower? She straightened up and turned sideways, allowing him to pass, if he so desired. Or me? Aclysia pushed her back against the doorframe and sensually glided along the wood.
John had no idea when she had picked up that phrase. He also did not care. All of his blood was flooding towards a part of him that urgently reminded him how much of a horn dog he was. His Libido came back with a vengeance and there was only one answer his vocal cords allowed him to form. Thest one, he whispered.
A small jolt of guilty conscience made him reconsider. However, this was just who he was. As the aching of his balls reminded him of his pent-up desires, he remembered the fogginess that descended on his mind if he did not take care of this. Either he could take care of this or he would be drooling over Aclysia the entire day.
Just keep it quick, he told himself.
Aclysia put the te on hisputer desk and that was about all the patience he could muster before three days worth of stress and pushed back desire spurred him to wrap his arms around her from behind. As her ass pushed against his crotch, he was reminded of how soft she could be when she decided to. The silicone that made up her body had not been unaffected by Refined Body and had turned into something that felt like she did not have skin but skin+2. It was just gloriously smooth and so was the feeling of his fingers pushing into her petite breasts.
Aclysia sighed, a warm breath that left her lungs and was formed into a soft noise by her pink lips, and nestled herself against her Master. John could feel her lust, both through the pebbled nipple pressing into his palm and through their mental connection. A connection that was stronger than ever, tinged pink by the love that flowed through it.
He knew exactly what each of his touches did to her. How the little circling of his palm against her cloth covered nipple sent electric pleasure through her whole body. How his mouth on her neck sharpened her senses towards the movements of his hands. The left departed from her breast and travelled downwards.
Wherever his hand glided along, Aclysia felt a soft prickling and the closer he got to her crotch the more the Artificial Guardian writhed in his arms. She was so strong, he had made her that way, but in his arms that strength didn''t matter. She surrendered to him, because that was what they both wanted. The cloth disappeared under his hands, as John brushed over Aclysias panties. Soon there was no covering for her cunt.
Ma-ahster, Aclysia gasped, as his fingers rubbed over her clit. Her body jolted against his, rubbing her plump ass against his groin. There, his sensitive dick was staining his pants with dribbles of pre-cum. Continuously kissing her neck, he pushed two digits knuckle-deep into her. While he fingered the quivering maid, he dragged his clothes back into the inventory.
With both of them now naked, John had no more mind for forey. He was already on the edge, pent-up, and she was so wet for him there was no excuse to wait. Withdrawing his drenched fingers, he gave Aclysia just enough room that she could bend forwards. Using one hand to stabilize herself on the desk, she used the other to reach behind and part her delicious fat bubble butt for him. The soft valleys her fingers dug into her pale flesh furthered Johns excitement. That spankable ass was all his.
John put his hand on the free cheek, to feel the sinful softness as well. He was tempted to try anal, just because horniness told him to, but he also knew that the hole she had above her dripping slit was, much like that slit originally had been, just a decorative bit without depth. Even if he had a desire for it, he could not live that out.
Not that the only choice left was anything short of a wonderful one.
John grabbed his cock and aligned himself with her entrance. The hairless cunt glistened with a need that Aclysia put into two simple, pleading words: Fill me.
Looking up from where the engorged head pushed into her pretty pink folds, the Gamer found the brilliant emerald eyes of his maid. Aclysia stared at him with intense desire. It was so much more than just lust, so much more than mere curiosity for the sensation of pleasure. She knew what it was. She knew who she was. She knew who he was. He mirrored all of these sensations. This wasnt sex for pleasures sake, this was one lucky man fucking a haremette. Fill me? John did not know why he asked that way, but he loved the answer.
Fill me, Master, Aclysia swooned and let out a deep moan when he thrust into her. It felt glorious inside her. Three days of abstinence put a whole new meaning to pleasure after being used to sex every single day. Her folds were gripping him like a vice. The only two reasons he could prate her were the sheer wetness and her pussy being made for his cock, by her own design.
Aclysias back arched and she grunted animalistically. Her breathing elerated in equal measure to his own. When bottomed out against her ass, the two of them were panting hard. Their Libido was practically matched and the ease at which Aclysia was brought to the edge of orgasm reminded him of that much. Neither of them wouldst long.
Aclysia trembled with every breath, each exhaleden with lust and need. Her eyes were zed over, her mouth wide open, and her cunt contracted in infrequent pulses. This would not be a long affair and so John immediately went into a rapid pace. All he cared about was getting both of them off.
Aclysia howled at the ceiling, a sharp sound. The warmth of inner fire and the clenching folds massaged him past the point of no return. He grit his teeth, pushing back the orgasm for as long as he could. All the way inside her, the gripping of her cunt became too much and he was forced to a still. The second he stopped moving, his balls tightened and he pumped her artificial womb full of his seed.
The sense of relief that washed over him was out of this world. It wasnt until the first spurt of cum pumped into her that he realized just how true it had been that he needed this. It was as if the burden of the stress melted away. It was less blissful than it was rxing, each spurt making his entire body feel lighter. Aclysia swayed her bubble butt in little circles, coaxing everyst drop he had out of him.
He realized he had been holding his breath and slowly let the pent-up air out. With it, the quivering quim of his equally post-orgasmic servant wrung thest few drops out of his shaft. Youre still hard, Master, Aclysia purred.
Indeed he was. Like the time he had lost his virginity, his cock refused to go down after just one shot. Can you take more? he asked, with a look at her trembling thighs.
I want more, the servant begged.
And with that the whole discussion was had. John pulled back and now, reassured in just how important this was to keep him going, focused entirely on this. When he thrust back in, he marvelled at the alluring ripple that travelled up her bubble butt. The heat of her insides matched the mes of his passion. Gripping her by the narrow waist, he pounded her properly
Aclysia could no longer look at him. Her gorgeous head hung downwards, her bodily control getting fucked out of her. All he had of proof of the depth of her enjoyment were her shameless cries and the continued gripping of her cunt. Solid proof, beyond any doubt, and all he wanted was more of it. The pping of his hips against hers echoed in the room
Master, how I missed this! Aclysia threw her head back, shouting lewd confessions at the ceiling. I want you to fuck me! Im your maid in all things! Use my services every day!
I will! John promised to her and himself. If sex was part of him and people considered that shallow, he would dly ept the usations of being shallow. He did not care. He loved both feeling this good and making people he cared about feel this good. This was his vice and he would indulge for as long as it kept him going.
Following a spontaneous impulse, he pulled a hand back and brought it down on her bouncing backside. SMACK! the impact echoed in the room. Aclysia was silenced for a second, then let out a renewed scream. John gripped her waist hard against himself and rutted into her hard enough that the table repeatedly banged against the wall.
It only took a couple more thrusts and Aclysia began squirting. The pussy juice sprayed all over Johns legs and her trembling thighs as he just kept on pounding her. He was on a direct course to his second orgasm and the way she savagely thrust her fat ass back at him was not helping.
Copsing on top of her, shoving her hard down on the table, he pushed deep into her onest time and just released into her. An euphoric rush went not only through his own body, but through their mental connection. Aclysia radiated a sense of fulfilment as she got pumped full that was borderline manic. It only made John press harder against her, driving his cock as deep as her squishy ass would let him advance.
Over and over, his balls tightened. Ropes of cum painted her insides white with the hot liquid. His orgasm ebbed away long before hers. Pinned between him and the table. Aclysia kept spasming. The intense jolts calmed to asional trembles, until they were both messes that slowly regained control over their breathing.
After pulling out, John managed to waddle the small distance to his office chair, while Aclysia remained half lying on the table. He was barely done catching his breath, when he spotted the thick white of his seed running down Aclysias thigh as a trickle. His cock twitched again, a deep part of him dissatisfied that his cum wasnt staying inside this nubile servant. So, about that shower
They took it together.
Chapter 121 – Workshop work [Monday 6/7]
Chapter 121 C Workshop work [Monday 6/7]
Can I just say. Sylph eximed, the boss monster before them gradually turning into dust, That the fifth floors have be suuupeeer boring?
You can say that but that does not make it true. John sighed at his wind elemental and looked around. They were in the heart of a greatbyrinth of sandstone. The sun was shining down on them with merciless rays. John finally gave into the urge to sit down in the shade cast by one of the walls. An urge that had gone repressed until then.
The reason for this was quite simple: This was the fifth floor of the Wall Shadow I.D., or in other words: sitting down in the shadows was pretty much guaranteed to give one thest hug of ones lifetime. He had pushed off going in there for a long while. In the end, the First Kill bonus was too important to skip out on.
Unlike what Sylph was insinuating, the Floor/Wave 5 bosses remained challenging. The difference from before was that they could be allowed three to five slip ups, rather than one or two. The problem of getting to them was also a continuous struggle. John had needed two whole days to push through the remaining four basic dungeons because, easy as the first four floors were, he still had to relearn all the bosses,youts and mobs on his way down to each fifth-floor boss. That took the most time. Once they got to the boss it was hard, yes, but not as time consuming.
As he exited the Dungeon he noticed a window popping up.
Sweet, he said and with a smile. He was just looking for another one of those. There was a prospective one in the Quest he had gotten after dealing with the Nathalia situation. To get that, he needed to get ten Waves or Floors deep and he did not expect that to happen anytime soon.
The SEP was needed for Gnome. The Earth Elemental Summoning Skill was about to hit level 100 and with it came the opportunity to evolve her to a higher Tier elemental. Only one problem though, as John checked progress on the Skill, he realized that it was dead stuck at 99. Huh? he thought and looked for any hints as to why this was. Unlike Undine, the system did not tell him of a damaged bond. Looking through the recollections of the Skillbook, he quickly found out that they required a bonding experience of some variety. Details were exceptionally vague.
Out of frustration he looked into evolving the Skill anyway. He promptly got a detailed warning.
Was there a 3% chance of failure or a 2% chance of failure followed by a 1% chance of it getting worse or how did this piece of math work? John got no answer to that question. Either way, he dismissed the window. There was little need to hurry. He would just hold onto the SEP and spend it when it was safe. It was a bit annoying to lose some efficiency, but John was cautious by nature. Roguelites had humbled him too much with inopportune streaks of bad luck to subject his real life to the whims of RNGesus unless he absolutely had to.
Therefore, to not give the god of chance bullets to shoot John with, he returned to Magoi without pressing the confirmation button. The man was, as always, reading his newspaper.
Yo, John greeted the High Fateweaver. No reaction. Thats weird, the Gamer thought. Magoi was many odd things. Easily distracted or absent-minded, he had not known him to be. Hello? the Gamer repeated, once he was closer.
Oh, yes, hello, Magoi responded in a strained tone. Not feeling well today, why dont you just look at the stuff you got, I will need to godo things.
John looked after the Fateweaver who, after tipping his top hat, quickly walked off. Whats up with him? Smander asked, supported by the curious feeling of Undine and Gnome looking at the now closed door in confusion.
No idea, John answered truthfully but as advised turned to his loot. Most of it, like usual, was useless to him. It went to feed Aclysia, who wasgging half a level behind. Progressively, it got harder to sell stuff these days, as her Consumption requirements just went higher and higher. Leveling was still rtively easy, all things considered. Like all games, the sacrifices required to keep advancing were ramping up over time.
It is about time I did something else! he decided after Aclysia was done munching through everything he did not need (and after spending the points she earnt doing that).
He walked to the table Magoi had set up and dered it his will-have-to-do workbench. I will finally make some equipment, first things first, he inspected his Bee. The thing had taken some damage during the Vermintide encounter as it swam in stomach acid for a bit. However, that was quickly repaired for the low cost of 50 Mana.
He also repaired Aclysias equipment. Her three des were in different states ranging from barely used in the case of Rock and Wind to barely usable as the Sword of Glory was little more than a blunt piece of chinked metal. This took a bit more of his mana but nothing he would not regenerate soon.
And then he inspected all the crafting materials he had gathered in the past six days. He had the two Spirit of the Radio and that one Warpstone Jewel that he wanted to use and on top of that he also had five floor bosses (The drops of normal bosses were scarcely worth tosh these days) drop the following two items that he could use:
Not a really impressive disy but he was in need of some equipment so he would do his best. Now, what piece of equipment did he want to make? Weapons were out, he did not have the appropriate kind of material and he did not see himself holding a staff or anything. On top of that his Equipment window did not have a Slot specifically for weapons, only left and right hands. It probably wouldnt matter whether he wore an enchanted staff or gloves. Gloves, yeah, that sounds good. John thought with an eye on his materials.
With the leather he could create the basic things and then use the other materials he had to reinforce and enchant the thing. Speaking of other materials, he turned to Aclysia. Can you give me a bit of Entherium, please? he asked. Of course, master. Aclysia obeyed and about a minuteter ced an orb of a silvery white metal on the table, which she had formed out of her own body.
Turned out that, with all the magic stuff Aclysia had been eating recently, Refined Body II had created something new from Titanium and Mana. At least he thought that it was new, John had no idea about all the magical alloys that might float around in the Abyss, chances were the metal already existed there but he hadnt been aware of it until recently.
As one could see, it was not all that great, but it also was not all that bad. He piled the Rage Wolf Leather, Entherium and Warpstone Jewel together and used Craft. He only got the option tobine so that is exactly what he did. While having the mental image of a pair of gloves he clicked the option. 500 Mana instantly vanished and the items on the table melded together, there was a sh of light and then the glovesid there exactly like John imagined them.
They were made of the dark-grey leather, soft to the touch yet very durable, Entherium protecting the backside of his hand and fingers with small, segmented tes. In the middle of the biggest te at the back of the gloves, half of the Warpstone Jewel was iid. He got a pop-up asking him which of the two Warpstone Jewel bonuses he wanted, the Mana +100 or the Mana Regeneration per minute +6, he chose the former. John was much less concerned over his Mana Regeneration than his Mana Pool at the moment.
Now he still had the Refined Ectosm and Spirits of the Radios to use. Therefore, he took hold of these and used Enchant.
Well, he only had one slot free, which was a bummer to say the least. Well, he could always use the Spirit of the Radio on other clothes and Mana was more of his primary concern. He clicked on Use Items, chose the Refined Ectosm and added the Mana +50 to the list. That cost him another 200 Mana but he had it so no worries. He named the end result Power Gloves Version 1
Next, he used a Spirit of the Radio on his shirt and pants. As he found out, or rather as he was told by Gaia, there was a slight problem here though.
Okay, so he only got Agility +10. Good enough in his book. He put on the gloves and turned to hispanions. So, I say we try our hand at a sixth floor today, he announced.
Sylph immediately raised her hand in favour. Yay, something new, something new! she chirped and bounced up and down in the air, like an overexcited bunny. Way overdue, I was getting soooo boooooreeeed.
I mean, I can burn whatever, so I dont care that muchalthough I prefer a real challenge, so I guess I agree with the dunce over there. Smander said and also raised her hand. If Master deems it necessary. Aclysia said and timidly raised her hand. Undine had no opinion on the matter and just wobbled about while Gnome only reluctantly agreed, We ought to be careful and patient, she reminded everyone even while raising her own arm.
The decision was made. They would venture to the sixth floor of whatever dungeon they were to choose.
Chapter 122 – Good old Forest Elementals.
Chapter 122 C Good old Forest Elementals.
John counted down the timer. They had beaten the Wood Giant, the boss of the fifth wave of the Forest Elementals dungeon, with rtive ease. The reason for that was pretty simple: it was made out of wood and Smander set him on fire. Sure, it wasnt THAT easy to just set the creature on fire and the tree trunk arms ame had been extra threatening, but all around it was still a smooth fight.
When John thought about it, the hardest boss he had faced this far,pared to his level at the time, was probably the Vermintide. Anything else he could defeat by simple kiting, making all of their great abilities totally useless. The oppressive number of rats with their simple assault tactic was dangerously effective. It was best to think about countermeasures to that sort of attack at some point.
The timer reached 0 and the forest went through a sudden transformation. The air became humid and filled with spores that tinged the air slightly yellow like a poisonous mist. Indeed, every breath John took felt slightly painful.
Huh, that is one way to up the difficulty level, also I guess we are going with a mushroom theme this time around. John thought. 2 HP per minute was not immediately concerning (Although it vastly outssed his health regeneration) but who knew what other nasty effects might pop up over time.
Sylph, Smander, can you take care of these spores? John asked and indeed they could. Burning and blowing off the spores, they cleared a free area where John could breathe freely again. Were any of you affected? he asked and looked around.
Aclysia immediately shook her head, she only needed to breathe to speak in the first ce.
Burnt them out, Smander stated with her usual mean grin.
Held my breath! Sylph boasted.
Cleansed, Undine whispered into his mind.
A wave of embarrassment followed soon thereafter. Gnome was too busy trying to break off the various small mushrooms that popped up all over her body to respond. They were not harming her, the HP bar informing John of that much. It seemed that she was less getting affected by the Spore Infection and more by the general environmental effect. Her body, made of dirt, made for as good a bed as the rest of the forest. From the ground and the trees, the fungal bodies quickly spread.
Is it painful? John asked through the mental connection.
No, John, just unpleasant, came the swift answer.
We cant have that, He decided and instructed Smander to burn the mushrooms away - carefully. In the meantime, he kept an eye on the surroundings. He noted three different kinds of mushrooms. The first one were the ones that grew on the ground and Gnome, long and thin with tiny heads that only sprouted upwards, they seemed to fulfil no other purpose than to set the new ambience.
The other two were much more concerning, there was one that seemed to consist only of one giant head, about half a metre in diameter, of bright red colour with yellow spots. It grew very close to the ground. Thest kind infected the trees, white outward growths that quickly covered most of the bark. The reason John was concerned about thetter two was because they were shaking in a way that made them look very eager to burst out into movement.
The suspicion he had was confirmed just a momentter, when a hand appeared from beneath the ground. A second one followed just a momentter C then a third and a fourth. The hands were of the same bright red as the mushroom caps they sprouted around. The four-armed monster unearthed itself and revealed its form. Two stumpy legs on a round, yellow body, four arms that grew from it as far distanced from each other as possible and the big cap on top. It had no eyes or mouth, yet John was certain he was at the centre of the creatures attention.
The exploding part was slightly worrying, as was the number that started popping up all around. Aclysia was likely immune to poison so he had little worry in sending her to the front lines, The spores still hanging in the air would infect him and Gnome though, which meant he needed Sylph and Smander around to keep the air clean. This would be a lot more defensive than he was used to. Keep close! he therefore instructed just as the white shrooms on the trees started bulging outwards, giving birth to an old acquaintance of John.
That throws things out of whack, John thought. Ranged attackers, however weak their attacks were individually, threw a wrench into his defensive strategy. Okay, new n. Aclysia you take out the Treants ASAP, the rest of us will stay here and hold our ground. Gnome, create a nted teau so that we have the high ground, Undine, prepare to block whatever kind of attacks the Treants will shoot at us!
Aclysia nodded and clutched the Cleaver of Streets in her hand before storming off. John poured his mana into Gnome and she changed the battlefield as he requested. His mana bar was a bit of a cause of concern. Setting the Wood Giant on fire had cost John a fair amount of mana. After Gnome was done taking this new toll, he was down to 489. At least he had what he wanted to show for it.
John and his elementals now stood on a circr tform, atop a small hill, putting them about two metres above the rest of the forest ground. The sides of the hill were loose dirt, soft and difficult to climb. An activity the Sporelings immediately engaged in. Only the ones right next to Aclysia paid any mind to her, the rest waddled towards John. They were slow, hypnotically so and although their number was concerning only so many of them could climb the hill at once.
With singr assants like that, Mana Ray was probably his best bet. He could kill one every 25 seconds and remain at status quo with his mana. Raising his newly gloved hands he used the Skill. For a moment a panicked thought surfaced, Wait, the attack originates from my palm, wouldnt it just destroy the glove?! but it was already toote, so he kept his hand steady at the quickest of the Sporelings.
Thankfully, Gaia was not that strict in her game design. The Mana Ray bypassed the glove and hit the Sporelings red body. It stumbled backwards, a mixture of blue lightning and smoke rising from its fungal flesh. As it rolled down the slope, it turned into ash and dust. Mana Ray was still as strong as ever. For its cost, it better be.
John saw a ball of wet spores fly at him. The projectile was slow and Undine had no trouble blocking it by stretching her body into its trajectory. Following the path back to its origin, John''s eyesnded on an Infected Treant. Aclysia cleaved it apart like a woodcutter with their axe a momentter.
His Artificial Guardian was being chased by a small army of the Sporelings. She attracted them just by moving and kept their attention by being the closest target. She ignored the slow moving horde in favour of killing more of the Treants. The monsters rooted themselves at the foot of the hill, in order to bombard John at the top. It made them an easy target. Aclysia was tirelessly keeping at it, running counter-clockwise and quickly disposing of whatever Treant she came across. The horde of Sporelings that followed her eventually reached critical mass. She picked new ones up at the same rate as the ones at the back became disinterested with the distant target.
Even with Aclysias indirect contribution, there were still a ton of them that tried to climb the hill. Smander and Sylph teamed up to take on one of the things after another, while Gnome and Undine kept close to do their usual job of protecting John. He used another Mana Ray after some hesitation. He disliked spending more of his mana but there were too many to ignore and so his MP gradually dwindled as he took care of more enemies than his regeneration could cover.
He felt like he was in some kind of reaction based rhythm game, using his Bee to keepplete vision of his surroundings and his hand toser whatever passed the threshold of hisfort. Might as well, John thought and used the Laser Beeam for the first time. Pointing the stinger of his Possession at one of the Sporelings he unleashed the enchantment. He hoped for something great. What he got was a yellow beam that struck through several of the Sporelings, which then proceeded to roll down the distance they had travelled. However, they didnt vanish after arriving at the foot of the hill. Paralysis, not kills, yet good enough for something that was essentially free. Too bad it had a long cooldown.
A sudden explosion demanded his focus. Barely, the Gamer caught a slightly burned Sylph that was tumbling towards him. What happened? he wanted to know, he hadnt given any mana to Smander. Considering the happy cackles, he assumed the fire spirit was the cause of this in some form.
Dunno, we attacked one of them and then he went boom-boom, Sylphs cheery tone indicated that the bit of soot on her armour was the worst of it.
Two Treant projectiles hit Undine, causing John to look for Aclysia next. She was still at the foot of the hill, however instead of taking care of Treants like before she was currently upied by a couple of Sporelings holding onto her left leg, slowing down her movements. John noticed the cap of them swell unnaturally and he could see exactly what would happen next. They burst into another explosion, spores quickly dissipating through the air. The cloud expanded halfway up the hill before Sylph rose from Johns hand and blew it away by whirling around and locking it in a wind tunnel.
In Johns mind the facts came together and he formted a n. A daring n, sure, but unlike the one he had to deal with the Vermintide, it was of low risk to himself. He left his position on top of the hill, sending hasty instructions and exnations to everyone else. He grabbed one of the Sporelings by an arm and picked him up only to m it to the ground a momentter. This would have proven a stupid idea days ago, when his Strength was just slightly more than that of an eighteen year old nerd. Now he was at Strength 25. Not physically imposing enough to make him confident in engaging other Abyssals, but definitely at the edge of superhuman.
When the Sporeling began to bloat, John tossed the thing as far as he could. Smander! he shouted. It was his theory that the earlier explosion had been caused by Smander hitting a Sporeling at the exact time of its own explosion, causing the spores to ignite in an effect simr to a dust explosion before they could dissipate. If they could nail the timing they would have an extremely effective way to use fire without John having to sacrifice what little mana he still had.
Smander broke out the smokescreen, a me flickering through the air burning hot as it consumed what John offered her, and collided with the Sporeling at the exact time of its explosion. A wave of heat rolled over the hill, consuming several other Sporelings in the process. Smander herself lost a bit of HP in the process, but not enough to dissuade him from this n. Especially since she was having so much fun in the process. Okay, lets repeat this. Aclysia, how are you doing with the Treants?
The numbers are dwindling, Master. She answered a heartbeatter and so they continued their fight with hope and an effective n.
Chapter 123 – The Sporehost
Chapter 123 C The Sporehost
With an effective way to turn enemies into living bombs (although the timing was a bit iffy sometimes) John was able to conserve his mana and have a st testing his newfound physical capabilities. When he had gone for mindless jogs before (which still hadnt paid off) he had only thought about the end result. Actually using his Strength was satisfying. If Frank ever bothered him again, John could punish Dickinson for being a dick. A grimly satisfying thought and a short-lived one. He had greater things to worry about than his bully in a school he no longer cared about.
Aclysia culled thest Treant, just as John, with half his mana regenerated, felt confident enough to use a Mana Ray to bring a simrly quick end to thest Sporeling. He breathed in once, rolled his neck to rx a bit and waited for the familiar message.
And there it was. Now, the next question was how the entrance sequence of the day would look like. The answer came in the form of the little shrooms, previously deemed harmless, suddenly jumping from the ground and running towards the trees. It seemed whimsical, like a scene from a fairy tale, until the thin heads split open.
Four mandibles, resembling the jaws of a maggot,tched onto the white mushrooms that had infested the trees. A putrid stench filled the air, as fungal matter liquefied. Mushrooms cascaded down like wax, sloughing off the trees. Everything looked like he was in the middle of a massive heap of flyrva. John had to suppress the urge to throw up. Even after everything he had seen and felt, this particrbination of stench, wiggling bodies, and wet squelching sounds was disgusting. It was like the entire world around him was rotting away.
The small mushrooms moved within the semi-translucent mess of liquefied fungal matter. A carpet of crawling matter, it all concentrated in a single spot. The blessing of this entire situation was that the ocean of sickly white was flowing around the hill. At the foot of the elevated position, the boss monster manifested.
Ten metres long and two metres tall, a maggot-like thing with centipede-like legs on its squishy, white, segmented body. John could see the mushrooms inside twist and turn, grow into some kind of nervous system, and once that was done, grey chitin horns twisted out of the things back in another wave of that putrid stench that pestered his nose. The eyeless creature opened its mouth, which made up the majority of its front end. A toothless maw, nothing more but a gap in the white body, John looked inside involuntarily, unwilling to leave the boss out of his sight, and saw nothing but an ocean of squirming, toothed mushrooms.
This dungeon SUCKS! John decided. Why the hell would a boss only have one piece of loot? Quadruple Experience better be worth it. The Sporehost took a massive breath and, after closing its maw, blew spores of pestilent green out of its chitin horns. Its bloated body shrunk, as the air pushed outwards and the new spores mixed with the already present yellow mist all around. Whatever that was, John had no interest in getting in contact with it. Smander, check if you can ignite that stuff, Sylph keep the air around us clean, John ordered and watched the disgusting creature. For the moment, it seemed content just exuding more spores.
Got it! Smander enthusiastically agreed and, once again the streak of fire, rushed through the air.
Okay, can do, I just hope I dont get any more of them in my mouth, I did earlier. identally. Of course. Wow, isnt the sky yellow todayOKAY I CONFESS I WAS CURIOUS AND ATE ONE. They taste like gummy bears in case you are wondering. At least I think so, I never ate gummy bears myself. Are they bitter? They look bitter. I mean who Sylph''s words became faster and faster as she kept flying around the rest of the team to create a whirlwind with a safe space for John to stand on in the centre until they were nothing but a high-pitched whisper in the wind.
The Sporehost opened its mouth again and with a deep, slimy burp spit out three goo-covered Sporelings. Compared to their brethren John had just fought, these were tiny and they alsocked the four arms. In return, they were quicker on their feet.
Luckily, John still stood near the top of the hill he had Gnome create. That meant that the Sporelings had not only to climb the hill but also get through the storm shield that Sylph was still busy keeping up. Gnome, take out the left one. John gave her a bit of mana for that endeavour, Aclysia, you take the right, I will take care of thest one.
In response he got a nod from Aclysia and a Yes, John, from Gnome. He also sent the details to Smander.
The fire elemental had found out that she could not bring these new spores to explosion. She could scorch them to ineffectiveness, which was also what happened when they came in contact with her body. However she found no way to hurt the maggot-esque creature effectively.
Its white body was mostly resistant to heat, her attacks leaving the tiniest of grey marks which healed momentster. The grey horns werepletely immune to whatever she threw at them. For a moment Smander considered just flying inside and telling John to give her the power to fry the thing from the inside out but the way through the tubes was blocked by some kind of membrane and she was not confident enough to think that she could dodge all of the tentacle like mushrooms that covered the inside of the main body.
John ran towards the Sporeling he had assigned himself. Gnome had taken care of hers by burrowing it inside the hill while Aclysia was still on her way, just like himself. She swung her sword overhead (the Sword of Glory, for more precise strikes). The attack sunk through the enemy and into the ground, causing it to vanish. The only thing staying behind being the sticky goo that had covered its body, now stuck on Aclysias de.
Wait, STICKY goo?! John thought to himself but he had already started the kicking motion. He had nned to kick the thing backwards and have it explode elsewhere to minimize the chance of getting hit by spores whilst conserving his mana to shower the actual boss in Mana Rays, should Smanders attack find no sess.
Now he tried his best to not hit the Sporeling with his foot and instead use the momentum to turn around and run to find a better n or have Aclysia take care of it. The Sporeling seemed really eager to get kicked and jumped right into the changed path of his shoe. As John had feared, the thing stuck to him and started swelling.
He had two seconds at best, Mana Ray needed three, everyone else was too far away, the closest one, Undine, tried to wrap herself around the assant on his leg, despite their still fresh recent conflict she was ready to protect him. John knew that her slime body would only be torn apart for a minimal effect. Unwilling to put Undine through the pain of dying for a second time he let her go into incorporeal form and put his trust into his Mana Protection.
A cloud of red engulfed John, who at least had the wisdom to hold his breath and close his eyes, ripping apart the Mana Protection instantly and vaporizing his mana, he felt a burning pain all over his body as the spores attacked his skin wherever there was an opening. Worst of all however was the pain in his leg where he had connected with the Sporeling. He still felt his foot, so he was still in one piece, just burning with pain that his brain tried desperately to shut out to keep him from passing out. Thanks to Gamers Body the pain subsided just momentster.
John took a hesitant look at his status after jumping backwards, the prickling on his skin vanishing after leaving the vtile cloud. His HP was down to 70, his mana, which had been over half full,pletely gone. That bomb must have dealt more than 600 damage, easily enough to one-shot him if it hadnt been for Mana Protection.
Stupid C I am so fucking stupid. Dont get lost in doing things physically just because it''s novel, he scolded himself as he brought more distance between himself and the cloud. He had just assumed these Sporelings to be a weaker version because they were adds to a boss but instead they were much more dangerous. He would not make that mistake again. Undine sent him a mixed wave of disapproval and thanks. She was just as uncertain whether her nned action would have amounted to anything.
However the way things were going, they had to dy until John had regenerated more mana. The Sporehost had other ns. With clicketing and squishy noises it started moving its strained legs. It was slow but the cloud of red that densely hung all around it made it clear that even being in the rough vicinity of it would be too much for Sylph to handle. Definitely too much when he didnt have mana to send her.
Aclysia! he did not need to say more. Selfish as it was he needed to be safe and with his low HP pool he could not retreat anywhere without the air getting cleared first. Therefore, Aclysia had to engage the enemy alone for a bit while he reconsidered his options.
As if the Sporehost was not disgusting enough yet, it opened its mouth and the toothed mushrooms insideshed out like a giant tongue. About a metre in length itpletely ignored Aclysia and instead flung something at John, something which he quickly identified as another Sporeling.
Without thinking much John made a leap to the side,nding on the forest floor, causing the sentient projectile to miss him. A blink of Johns eyester the Sporeling had alreadynded and was running at him.
Gnome grabbed the Sporeling. Run John! she pleaded as she deeply embraced the explosive lifeform, covering it with her tiny body. He had no other choice but to oblige. Through his Bee eyes, always above, he saw what happened behind him. He felt the shockwave of the explosion and saw the small pebbles of Gnome''s body fly through the air. He got no notification that Gnome was dead, which made John breathe in relief. His Possession entered the cloud to find her. What he saw was a halfway shattered little girl. Her left half had been entirely ripped apart by the explosion, leaving the dirt and pebbles, filled with vein like mana lines that made up the inside of her body, exposed. She looked at his second pair of eyes with only the left one still intact. A tormented little smile appeared on her face.
To leave her in that state would have been torture, so he made her shift back to her incorporeal state. The time her sacrifice had bought had to be enough.
The Sporehost had moved on to fighting Aclysia with its tongue. There was some sort of cooldown to the Sporelings, it appeared.
John checked on his mana. He was back up to 40, but what could he do with that? He needed to assess the situation. He took a deep breath and looked at the enemy. Smander still tried to find some kind of weak spot on the enemy. Any sess? John pried.
No, I would wager its insides are vulnerable though, but I cant get there as long as these mushrooms are around, Smanders answer burned with anger for the creature that dared to strike down Gnome. Sylph was preupied with keeping the air clean, Undine was of no use against this enemy and Aclysia, while managing to outmanoeuvre the rather slow creature repeatedly, could get no hit in that was decisive. The cuts she made on its body were quickly healed and not deep enough to prate to the Sporehosts hollow core.
The tongue stretched after Aclysia as she stormed around the creatures body. That tongue, where did ite from? It was clearly made from the mushrooms from the inside wall and the number of heads indicated that most of those were involved. John had not seen any base for that tongue when he had gazed down into the creatures maw, so each individual mushroom must have been growing outwards to form the tongue concluding that it was hollow.
It is hollow! John shouted out his realization as it became his path to victory. The information quickly went through hiswork.
Aclysia sent calm approval, having no time for words outside of Possible while Smander was excited as all hell Lets roast that maggot!
Step one: They would stall the enemy until Johns mana reached 100. This would take another twenty seconds or so. This was rather easy. Aclysia dodged around the repeated attacks of the tongue. In return for its area attacks and immense defenses, its attacks were slow. Aclysia had an Agility of over 50. The only thing they had to look out for was another Sporeling. Whether it didnt have the ability to create another one or wasnt able to spit it out due to its tongue being constantly upied, the Sporehost did not use that ability.
John kept a close eye on his mana before announcing, Now! causing Aclysia to change to the Rock and Wind, the dagger she had gotten from Radio Head. She rammed the grey stone de into the extended tongue from above. Running forwards, she sliced the de by dragging it through the mushrooms. Following the cut was a light-green de of air: the daggers enchantment Wind-Strike. It deepened the cut and made the regeneration just the slightest bit slower. It was all the time Aclysia needed to fulfil step two. After dismissing the dagger, she gripped the edges of the wound and pulled it open wide with all her strength. The toothed mushrooms hissed. The tongue wound around the now immobilized Artificial Guardian and started strangling her.
Step three was rather uncreative. Smander flew through the gap Aclysias hands kept open. As theorized, the tongue was empty and only a few of the mushrooms had remained inside the main body, not enough to be a challenge for the small fire spirit to dodge. You hurt my older sister, prepare to die, Smander eximed as Johns mana filled her being with power, bursting out in a wave of me.
John saw the fire spread through the semi-translucent body, burning its way to and then out of the horns at the Sporehosts back. Its hollow tongue swelled and turned into a smoking mess. The stench of burned mushrooms spread through the forest, a less disgusting but still unpleasant smellpared to what came before. 100 mana was not enough to kill the creature outright but it was clearly damaged. The mushrooms that made up the tongue attempted to turn inwards again. Aclysia wouldnt let them, equipping the Cleaver of Streets, she brought down the heavy de, cutting the half-cooked tongue off right at the base.
The Sporehost was panicked now, thrashing in fruitless motions, spreading red spores like crazy. A perfectly good defensive mechanism against John, but against Aclysia and Smander it was useless and so all they needed to do was wait for John to regenerate mana. A second outburst of power from Smander rocked the Sporehosts body, scorching it from the inside. Then a third. The fourth made it copse to the ground, the centipede legs twitching, slime oozing from the cut off tongue. A fifth, a sixth, a seventh. Then the eighth finally killed the monstrosity.
Chapter 124 – Obstacle
Chapter 124 C Obstacle
Don''t know when Ist deserved a level that much, John grumbled, putting all of his new points into Endurance. That was fucked up. He looked up and found the serene sight of the endless green expanse in front of him. After the fungal forest, it was doubly wee.
Magoi was nowhere to be seen, although movement inside his copy of the house indicated that he was still around. John just hoped he hadnt gotten sick or something like that, if Magoi was unable to uphold the barrier, John would be in deep trouble. However, the guy was also seriously weird so maybe he was just having some entrical stroke? Who could say.
John decided to check the loot basin. Not with a lot of hope, after all the only thing he had cleared was that Forest Elemental dungeon once. It had given him thest level and more than half of the current one. Beyond that, it didnt look that impressive in terms of rewards. To defeat the Sporehost reliably, it always had to do that tongue attack. It was probably better to find a boss that was easier to exploit and grind.
He looked into the basin and, much to his surprise, found two items there. The same item two times, the only one that was on every monsters Loottable, a needled orb of bright red colour that looked a bit like an urchin. The needles were extremely thick and dull so John picked it up with little hesitation.
The fuck is a NATE? John, still somewhat agitated, wanted to know. He looked at hispanions, he did not expect much from Aclysia, all her knowledge came either from him or the inte, but maybe the elementals had an idea. For this asion, he brought back Gnome as well. The little girl waspletely restored, probably due to the level up he had had.
The elemental girls exchanged information for a bit before Gnome stepped forth and spoke, Uhm, no idea, John.
So that remained a mystery. Now for the more interesting question though. Should he do it? If thest Bonus Dungeon was anything to go by they were extremely worth it. A boss sounded a bit harder than a mini game though. Should we do it? he put it out for vote again. With level 49 he was almost at the rmended level so that would not be the problem (or at least he thought so).
Aclysia withheld her vote. I feel this might be worthwhile but am unsure about the safety of it, master, she exined. Smander and Sylph raised their hands in unison, Lets burn stuff! I kinda want a challenge but I also dont want to break a nailhihihi, that sounded so girly, I dont even have nails, or do I? What are my hands? What is the meaning of existence?! Oh, pretty grass!
Undine once again just kept her serenity and did not vote either way while Gnome voted against this time, We should prepare first.
So, two in favour, two undecided and one against. It was up to John. Lets go then, he decided. His rationale was quite simple: He had two and if they failed he could always retry another day. Although he did not look forward to a near-death experience so trying to win was best.
He stored the two Infested Spores in his inventory and went back into the gate. Then, like with the Dog Mini Game, he was presented with a window asking him whether or not he wanted to enter the Bonus Level or ess the normal Spawn Table. He chose the former and found himself inside the forest once more.
The Infested Spore dashed from his inventory and burrowed itself straight into the ground. John watched the ground tremble for a bit then calm down, although the ce where the spore burrowed itself was suspiciously caved in.
Only two familiars? Well that was not good. If he was to fight some kind of mushroom monster it should be Smander for the fire effectiveness (Hopefully, after all the boss could have high resistance like the Sporehost) and Aclysia because she was still the bestbat member of the party. There was an argument to be made for Sylph as well. Generally, for now, Smander was more useful inbat situations. I will see you all in a bit, John dered and the remaining elementals nodded, in agreement with his decision.
A window popped up asking for his selection and then the unchosen elemental girls vanished. A momentter an arm broke from the depression in the forest floor. It was definitely a humanoid, that much John could make out just by the arm. Sure, it had four fingers instead of five and was of a crude, almost spongey, brown texture, but the long limb was definitely human in proportions. A head quickly popped up as well. He had a long face, earless, with a wide nose and pale blue dots as his eyes, his head crowned by arge mushroom cap of red colour with white dots. He looked at John for a moment, John looked back, both continued staring. Wow, can you look any dumber? the mushroom-man suddenly asked and nonchntly unburrowed the rest of his long-limbed body. He brushed the dirt off his brown body and, once he got somewhat clean, put his hands on hips. Hi, I am Nateward.
Or, actually, you cannot face Nateward because that would kill you, I am a spore of Nateward. Pleased to meet you, The mushroom-man continued as he looked around, So, I am semi-sure I am here to fight you.
John was not sure what to answer, this whole situation was a lot weirder than he had anticipated. Well, he started, I can only get out of here if I kill you, so yeah.
We are going to burn your face, shitake man! Smander announced in a way less friendly tone. Aclysia kept the Sword of Glory at the ready.
Pff, you? Kill me? Kiddo, all I need to defeat you is some candle-wax, Nateward told Smander and ignored her followingints, instead turning to Aclysia, And what is up with you? Some kind of Exhibitionism Fetish? Your taste in clothing is pretty shit.
Aclysia gripped her weapon stronger, Master gave me this dress.
Your master being that spaghetti looking guy? the mushroom-man asked and pointed at John with his cap.
HEY! John cried out and looked down on himself, personally he thought he had gotten rtively well-built since raising his Strength. Sure, he wasnt the most impressive of frames, but at least he had a visible six-pack now!
Oh, puh-lease, look at this, Nateward said and posed. You may not like it, but this is what the ideal male body looks like. Speaking of peak performance. He jumped at John, Let us get this party started! he eximed and tried to karate chop the Gamers head.
I AM GOING TO FRY YOU! Smander screamed, incredibly angry and got in between the two of them. John instinctively gave her his mana, his Mana Protection shield had not yet restored from the earlier boss fight so hed rather use his mana for offensive action instead of getting it vaporized again by some form of attack.
Smanders fire burst outwards and engulfed Nateward. The monster shouted and was thrown backwards. Afternding, he skipped further back, his front now charred ck. The attempt at getting away had not been made with Aclysia in mind. The Artificial Guardian rushed in and swiftly chopped off one leg.
Ow, hey, that hurts, heined and, with extreme nimbleness, executed a double backflip on one leg before jumping up high and grabbing a tree branch. Is it what I said about your dress? Sorry, I just think you would look better without it! Nateward just kept on speaking. He extended his hand to the left and touched the tree''s trunk. I am sure nobody will disagree with me, he retracted his hand just a momentter. John watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as the tree started dissolving into little particles that flew towards Natewards stump leg, restoring it. It didnt even take long and so the mushroom-man jumped back on the ground, even as his charred front half healed as the tree continued dissolving. Pretty impressive, huh? Conshruume, I call it!
That was a terrible pun, who came up with something like that? However, that wasnt the problem here. John could see the spores on the tree, they had stopped working now that their host waspletely restored and simplyid there as a red hue over the tree''s surface. Nateward started running, touching two more trees before engaging inbat with Aclysia again. A small exchange of blows followed, Nateward ducked under Aclysias first strike, side-stepped the second and then hit her chest with his palm.
Petite and still bouncy! he said with glee and jumped back. The strike was only a bit concerning, 50 health which Aclysia could regain in 10 seconds.
John fired a Mana Ray at the same time as Aclysia got a sessful counter-strike in and Smander once again engulfed Nateward in fire. All of it hit, their sess confirmed by Natewards shouts of pain. Shouts that turned intoughter as the spores from the trees regenerated him. Each of the affected areas dissolved independently, tripling the mushroom mans effective health regeneration.
I win. Nateward struck a victorious pose, causing John to raise an eyebrow. Sure, he had a massive disadvantage but he hadnt lost just yet. John was quickly proven wrong, as the three trees Nateward had touched suddenly keeled over, hollowed at the base from the mushroom-mans spores, and fell on top of him with unnatural speed. He saw the infested bark on top of him, knew that both his barrier and himself would get squashed.
Then he suddenly found himself under the night sky of the barrier. The grassy in around him only interrupted by the two houses and the Loot Basin. He fell backwards onto the grass and looked up at the sky. Yesterday had been interesting with the incredibly slow sunset, but today only the moon kept shining down. Aclysia, free from the spores, and Smander had appeared alongside him. He looked around, Magoi still wasnt there, however his preparations had just saved John from the very unmorous fate of dying by tree-fall. Of all the things he felt endangered by, that was thest of his worries and yet it was what led to his first failure.
How is that boss rmended for level 50? he asked. That regeneration + damage over time skill was insane. He could not out damage that guy if every tree he touched increased his health gain. Also, he could not risk it touching Aclysia and then prolonging the fight until she died, his heart would not be able to take another loss, a real one no less. More out of habit than out of logic he shared the information of that fight with everyone else through the mental connection. Rematerializing the elementals, he asked, Should we try again? I vote no.
Bastard is too tough, Smander said, clicking her tongue.
We need more power, Aclysia agreed, her expression darkening. I will cull him for hisments in due time.
It seems like that is an obstacle we cant fly around, oh well, sucks, we got other stuff, right, right? Sylph added.
Undoable, was all Undine had to add to the conversation.
I vote yes. Everyones attention turned to Gnome. The small, brte girl in her yellow sun dress smiled. I have a n, will you listen to me, John?
Chapter 125 – The Gift of Patience.
Chapter 125 C The Gift of Patience.
This n is ridiculous, John sighed while he was looking at the depression in the ground.
It will work, John, Gnome reassured. She and Sylph were the two familiars he had chosen for this attempt, or actually, which Gnome had chosen for this attempt.
I believe you, otherwise I wouldnt be here despite everyone else voting against, but that doesnt make the n any less grating, John sighed. I am not even sure this is worth the effort, it could take hours.
You must learn to be patient, Gnome said, Remember the vision of our contract. Be the earth. Be patient.
Do I have to be patient? Sylph babbled, Cause I am totally not good at that, I like to whoo-whoosh and wheeeeee and- The noise suddenly stopped, the small air spirit getting caught between Gnomes hollow hand. Muffled noises from inside confirmed that Sylph was continuing to talk nevertheless. That girl loved the sound of her own voice.
Be patient, Gnome repeated, Breathe in deeply, John. What do you smell?
He had no idea what this was supposed to aplish but he followed the instructions anyway. The air was filled with the smell of the forest, rich earth, nts, the soft aroma of pine needles. It was strangely calming. He heard nothing but the soft whisper of Gnome in his mind. Do you trust me, John? she asked.
Yes, was his immediate answer. Gnome had saved his life on numerous asions. Often only because she followed his instructions, sometimes of her own ord. Thetter grew more frequent, as she became more of her own person, rather than another shard of the elemental ne.
Then close your eyes, turn around and walk.
And so he did. Gnome became his eyes as he felt how his every step shook the ground. He felt the different kinds of earth under his feet. Soft earth, where seldom a living being treaded, hollow earth, were a fox or some other animal had burrowed a hole, hard earth, where roots thickly winded through the consolidated dirt. There were more, specific variations, but through the soles of his shoes he was unable to pick up all of them.
Without thinking about it, just going with the flow Gnome dictated to him, he got rid of his shoes. None of this was part of her n, but he feltmitted to something greater. Every time he breathed in and filled his lungs with the smell of nature, he felt himself grow farther away from what he had perceived reality to be and closer to what it truly was. He felt how every step changed the make-up of the world. Just a little bit. Every disced bit of dirt, every pushed away stone, every broken branch on the forest floor, it all changed the world, just a bit.
Careful, there is a slope here, Gnome whispered and John took a slow step, careful not to fall. As if nature wanted to repay his attention, he found safe footing every step down the slope, his eyes still closed. He even pushed his Possession consciousness far away. It now was little more than the light of the moon against his closed eyelids. Finally, Gnome told him to stop. This is the ce, sit down and when you are ready, summon the boss.
John nodded to himself, slowly awakening from the trance, yet some part of him remained with nature, from this point and forever. Around him, earth shifted, enveloping him fully, then moving underneath him. He was sitting inplete darkness. This was part of the n. The only things he saw were the window asking for his selection and Sylph smiling at him. I will be very quiet, she promised with a whisper. He was inside a bubble in the earth, somewhere. He didnt even know himself, as he had only followed Gnomes instructions. This was the first part of her n, nowhere in the boss rules did it say that he needed to be around the spawn point. John only needed to hide, facing Nateward was an unnecessary risk for the n and so all he needed to have was patience. Well, patience and air to breathe. That is what Sylph was there for, it would cost some amount of mana but she would be able to refresh the air inside.
Gnome had another job, one that would remain in the shadows for now as John finalized the preparations and closed his eyes again, only watching through the eyes of the Bee. Nateward, or in actuality: A piece of the being known as Nateward, stuck out his head and looked around.
This again? he wanted to know, Did I not kick your ass like two minutes ago wait a sec, where the hell are you? he unearthed himself fully and looked around. John noted with interest that the creature was able to remember theirst encounter. No other boss had shown such behaviour. However, Bonus Levels and Secret Rooms had already proven themselves to be different beasts. Did Gaia fuck up or is this a prank from my Lord? Nateward wondered as his eyes finally fell on the bee, Nope. Hey, spaghetti person, where the hell are you?
This time the insult didnt faze John, as these Yoga people tend to say: He had found his centre. The bee just kept hovering on the spot. Nateward clicked his tongue, I can feel your mana but cant trace it. Throwaway bodies are a hassle. He scratched his cap, Well, guess I will just search for you then.
The mushroom-man began walking while trying to whistle, his spongey lips producing only weird, ppy noises. His movements were weirdly overentuated, as he walked around. John followed him around as the bee. This was more or less also part of the n, the hope being that he didnt get too close. That the Gamer did not know whether Nateward was heading in the right direction was cause for mild nervousness. I hate not having certainty, he thought.
He hated the confirmation that the mushroom man was heading in the right direction even more. The hell? Nateward asked and picked up a pair of discarded shoes. Why the...If I had a nose, finding you would be so easy! hemented and tossed them away. Once again John had no idea how far away the boss was, he opened one eye and looked at his empty mana bar. It stayed empty.
Ten minutester, Nateward stood somewhere in the forest, head leaning against a tree. This is so booooring, heined, Cant you at least throw that candle-chick at me? I could have a word-fight at the very least! The mushroom-man had no idea that Smander wasnt around. Nateward mmed a fist against the tree, spores whirled up in response, This is so booooooo
An hourter, ooooooooooooooooooo Nateward was rolling on the ground.
Two hourster, oooooooooooooooooo Nateward was pulling off his fingers and re-growing them.
Three hourster oooooeeehr- huh? Nateward looked at a cute little girl in a yellow sun dress, smiling at him sweetly.
Nateward felt a sudden tremble under his feet and so did John all around him. It was finally happening. Three hours worth of mana, all poured into Gnome and the result would finally put an end to this monotony. Thend upheaved; trees keeled over as everything was turned upside down. Nateward could not have known what was happening, until he and Gnome shot up into the air. A pir of rock and dirt rose dozens of metres upwards. A couple hundred metres away, John experienced the same.
John got up with a grimace- He didnt mind the height, being a bee or bird with part of his mind hadpletely eradicated that kind of fear from his brain. The muscle cramps he experienced from sitting still for so long were still horrible. Sylph experienced another kind of pain, the pain of finally letting out all the words she had held back. OH MY GAIA, Can I just say C and I finally can now C that that thing is super adorbsa-dorbs. I mean just look at these long limbs of his, he kinda has your build, you know that JohnTron, can I still call you that by the way? I never got your okay on that? What would you prefer? John? JohnTron? Johny Money? I mean you do make a lot of cash. Wait, if you paid me would I be a concubine? Wait, no I would need to be able to have sex with you for that. SOMEBODY MAKE ME TALLER I WANT TO BE CALLED A CONCUBINE, that is such a cool title! I want and I want John activated his mental spam filter. He did not have one but he was enough used to Sylph that he could pretend so. The n now only hitched on onest detail, Natewards physical strength.
The mushroom-man looked all around. Beneath their tform, a roughly one-kilometre radius of the forest had beenpletely swallowed by the earth. Whatever trees he had infected were buried under a thickyer of raw, brown dirt. No old spores could reach him and to reach new trees he would have to take a plunge he couldnt survive.
So annoying, Nateward mumbled and looked at the little girl. The only viable strategy for him was to climb down. He couldnt do that with the obstruction around. You gonna jump voluntarily or do I need to throw you?
Try, Gnome dared with the sweetest of tones. Nateward sighed and grabbed Gnome by the shoulders, trying to pick her up. He couldnt. He tried a second time and heaved under the exhaustion. The hell, what are you made of C stone? he asked.
Yes, and I am also part of the ground.
Nateward looked at the girls feet where the light skin colour melded into the stone they both stood upon. Oh, was all he could say about that. Oy! heined, when Gnome grasped his hands in turn.
Over at the other pir John smiled and allowed himself a moment of smugness. Gnome, would you exin the n to our friend here? Gnome sent back a humoured approval and shyness? Regardless, she started talking.
We cant beat your regeneration, she said, E-especially not if you can heal off Aclysia. However, you need actual materials to heal, so we took them away from you. To that end, John needed to give me lots and lots of mana. L-like a whole lot.
Why not just use the candle-chick for that? Burn the forest. Nateward seemed more amused than offended by this n.
She could not have hidden John until he had given her enough mana. She, uhm, also wouldnt have been able to give him air to breathe. It needed to be both me and Sylph. Also, Smander would have been able to take your source of healing but not stop you from migrating somewhere where you could instead. Gnome exined. The only problem in our n was the question whether or not you are strong enough to escape my grasp. Are you?
Nateward struggled against the girls hands, fruitlessly. Well, chucklefucks. I am not. Well, I will just Conshruume you then! he threw a hand full spores at Gnome. They didnt stick. You needed to touch trees in order to heal, meaning that you need organic materials. I am 100% earth. Gnome ended her exnation.
Damn weak body limitations! Natewardmented, Okay, so I cant get away, but how are you nning to kill me, your summoner is what, 200 metres away? Gnome said nothing and left the next part as a surprise. Then a blue st flew right by them.
Aiming Mana Ray at this distance was iffy. Agility had slightly bettered his eyesight, or at least he felt so, but that didnt mean he was a sharpshooter. Nateward was also struggling to try and get away from Gnome, now that he knew John had an actual way to damage him. Foot pressed against Gnomes chest, he tried his best to pry open the grasping hands. This is such a stupid way to die!
I think this n was brilliantly executed, said both Gnome and John atpletely different ces at the exact same time.
John smirked, then nailed Nateward in the shoulder with the next Mana Ray. The arm tore off at the joint, the second following immediately after. All the force with which the mushroom man was struggling against Gnome now catapulted him backwards. One long plungeter, victory was Johns.
Chapter 126 – New shirt, new pants, new Gnome.
Chapter 126 C New shirt, new pants, new Gnome.
The decision where to put those points was pretty easy. That went for both the Skill and Stat Points. The Skill Points were distributed between the three elementals that were not yet at maximum level. It seemed like it would yield the most immediate benefit C although he did contemte Aclysia for a moment too. For the Stats, he went with Endurance, he could use more of that. He also noticed a few more windows.
That was nice. He already had an SEP for Gnome in stock but he could use one for Smander, she seemed to be the next who would get there. However, the other Achievement he got was a bit more confusing.
The heck was that supposed to mean? Whatever could that reward be that he currently could not ess it? He sighed. Not thatining about it would change anything. With that thought, he left the Bonus Level. No need to keep standing in a destroyed woond.
While he stepped out of the gate he Observed the two new items he had gotten.
Despite the name, the shirt was not actually made from earth, it just had a dark brown, earthy colour. The Attributes were pretty good so John put it on without thinking much about it. Immediately he felt a difference in the way he perceived the world. The trance-like state he had been in earlier returned to him as he walked over the grassy in and towards his house. It was less defined and not as clear a feeling but John felt more synchronized with the earth itself. Anyway, for the pants.
Wisdom and Charisma or his current bonus to Agility? The answer, John found fairly quickly, was the former. He used Agility so seldomly it was of little use to him. Off with the old, the Agility Pants were damaged goods anyway (the Sporeling explosion had blown a giant hole into them). Now all he needed were new shoes and he was all set.
But before all of that he had something else to do. He walked into his room and sat down in his office chair and rxed for a moment. This had been an intense day. He had gained two levels, so he was satisfied on that front. Facing the door, he followed the room gradually filling up with the other members of his party.
Aclysia had entered directly behind him and now stood at his side. She shifted around a bit, John could feel that she was unsure whether to suggest cuddles (and more) or to wait until he had requested them by himself. He smiled at that. She had grown into a kindred spirit in lewd regards. Self-actualization was a wonderful thing.
Sylph twirled into the room next. Doing a triple turn in the air before flying a giant loop and thennding on the pillow on his bed. She bounced high once and giggled, Fluffy! I like fluffy, bouncy, and fluffy things are the best! eximing, she finally came to a halt and, for a very rare asion, shut up.
Smander quickly followed her. The fire Elemental did her best to stay away from furniture. She was able to control her body heat and keep it at levels that wouldnt burn anything. As a mark on Johns desk proved, slight annoyances were enough for that control to go straight out the window. Staying rxed, she hovered safely by the window.
Undine half stepped and half poured inside. Her light blue, translucent body left the floor perfectly cleaned. The first time Undine had walked around, John had been afraid that she would leave sticky trails everywhere but that, luckily, had proven to be false. Undine preferred to be somewhere quiet so she hid under his bed. John did notpletely follow the why but apparently it was her second favourite ce in the house, the first one being the shower.
Gnome finally walked in. Each of her movements was heavy, even though her steps were careful. A discrepancy between her nature and her increasingly shy personality. Normally she would take her ce by the nt John kept as a neglected piece of decoration (although it had made a miraculous recovery thanks to being taken care of by Aclysia) next to his desk. However, today she walked up in front of him.
She was still just like the first day he had summoned her. A small girl, four years of apparent age, with brown hair bound into small twin tails at the sides of her head and eyes of the same colour. She wore a youthful sundress, yellow like a buttercup, whose skirt reached just to her kneecaps. No shoes, no gloves, nothing else, just the sundress and two small bands that held her twin tails. Appearances belied the shard of an ancient realm she truly was.
Are you ready? John asked as he pulled up his Stat Screen.
Gnome took a deep breath and shook her head. She took another one, shook her head again. Then she exhaled ever so slowly and nodded. Yes, I am, John, she said. John used a Skill Evolution point on Earth Elemental Summoning.
Sand. No, he did not n to fight in the desert any time soon and it sounded more like an offensive elemental anyway. Out of the calction. Nature Elemental seemed interesting. However, if it brought him into a simr situation as with Undine, whose offensive capabilities were really expensive mana wise, it seemed really not worth it. Gnome was his most versatile tool. She was good at defending him, had strong (if slow) attacks and a sturdy body. He aimed to keep that, he would have a hole in his party set-up otherwise. Therefore, it would have to be Stone Elemental.
A clickter and Gnome turned into a pir of stone. Literally, the little girl in front of him suddenly transformed into a pir of light beige stone, reaching up to his nose in height, something that he only knew because he jumped up. The sudden change had really startled him. Gnome? he carefully asked. In answer the stone started to reshape.
First it took a roughly humanoid shape, John could make out arms, legs, torso and head easily, although it was all a bit bumpy. Then the details started appearing from the feet upwards.
She wore boots of a light ck, golden flower-like ornaments decorating these shoes, which extended far above her ankle and halfway up her lower legs. Her legs were bare, of the pale beige colour that the stone was made of. There was a skirt once again, but this one ended a bit below her waist and was ck with golden ornaments, like the boots, with a white frilling at the edge. John quickly realized that wasnt all that was to the dress though. The in yellow sundress had been changed for a beautiful piece of design. Twoyered, the inner one was of the ck skirt but also a golden piece that was lying above the soft curve of her breasts, mostly hidden by the outeryer. The same yellow as her old dress, the outeryer looked like a sleeveless vest. Her arms had gloves of the same structure, the inneryer ck and flowers drawn in gold, the outer yellow, long sleeves dangling downwards, the whole construction closed by white, lily shaped pins.
Finally, her face formed. A cute, round face with a fine nose and pale lips, curved into a warm smile, her hazel brown eyes were slightly almond shaped. Her features were framed by the dark brown hair that formed as thest part of her body. Straight bangs, two longer strands at the sides, the rest of her long hair bound into twin-tails that fell down to her slender back, secured by hairpins decorated with yellow cloth of a buttercup design.
She had an oriental air to her, Chinese or Korean or Japanese, John was not secure enough in his ethnicity knowledge to make any exact guesses. Gnome was now a woman his age in appearance, perhaps even a bit older. You areyou are very cute. John stammered, still startled from the sudden change
It was a mindless but truepliment. He was surrounded by women he would describe as sexy. Aclysia was a sexy maid, Rave a sexy half-asian perfect girlfriend, but Gnome looked more like the type one wanted to cuddle and protect, rather than plough her into the mattress. Not that his boner shared his opinion.
His boner also had a very strong opinion about what John saw in that new and updated Observe Sheet.
T-thank you? Gnome stammered and blushed. Her voice was soft and sweet and made Johns insides feel all fuzzy. Her eyes darted to the side, back to him, she blushed harder, eyes darting away again. She raised a sleeve covered hand to her mouth and mumbled, Uhm I kind of. Now that I- Im looking and feeling appropriate I do uhm I want to try that thing you two are always doing. Despite being all shy about it, there was little ambiguity to those words. John had not seen this side of Gnome before. How could he? It hadnt really existed a minute ago.
Aclysia, despite being horny herself, took Johns brain meltdown-induced hesitation to quietly round up the other elementals in the room. Undine took it with tact and left on her own while Smander had to be asked and Sylph openly shouted, Nooooo! Unfair! I want to be a concubine too! This is mean, you are meanies! Somebody make me taller! Sniff! Sniff! Bawl! Do you hear that! I am crying! I am cryi- Thud. The sound of the closing door cut off the green-haired woman.
Ca- can we do it? Gnome still did that thing with her eyes, unable to look straight at him for more than a few seconds at a time without turning beet red.
S-sure, John stuttered and mentally reprimanded himself. You are sounding like that virgin that you were before you met Jane. Go get her tiger! he talked himself up and cleared his throat, Yes, Gnome, I would love to spend the night with you, he said in his best manly voice.
Gnome looked at him for a bit longer than usual, then she giggled. It was not the intended effect but it worked well enough as Gnomes nervousness reduced to a point where John could step in front of her and put an arm around her.
Time to make both of them happy.
Chapter 127 – Wet Clay
Chapter 127 C Wet y
John pulled Gnome in close. So close that Gnomes initial response was trying to step back. It took the entire strength of his arm to keep her from seeding. Are you fine? he asked, worried that he may have been a bit too rash.
Gnome slowly nodded, Just, please be careful with me, she whispered in response. John had not known that such shy behaviour could be such a turn on. In porn things always got straight to the point. Although he wouldnt use either Rave or Aclysia of having much inmon with porn actors, they were rather aggressively horny. Maybe he would have to be a bit slower about this C more patient.
Lets getfortable, he suggested and invitingly pointed at the bed. Gnome smiled and nodded, strongly this time, allowing him to guide her there. They sat at the edge of the bed and John retracted his hands. For a moment they just sat there as John assembled a game n for this. Best to start with gentle teasing.
Confidently, he ced his right hand on her thigh and squeezed softly. That simple motion made Gnome blush already but she was fine as he slowly rubbed his hand along her skin. It was firmer than a humans and as smooth as marble, feeling less stic to the touch and colder than regr body temperature. She was something between a statue and a human. There was a softness to her, a pleasant degree of yielding to the meat of her thighs, yet it was clear she was not made of flesh and bone.
Gnome didnt dare look at him, her eyespletely focusing on her own hands folded on herp. When she finally did turn her head to the side ever so slightly Johns face was right next to hers. Too close! she announced and turned the other way again. Where her eyes averted him, the rest of her stayed put C even tilted a bit towards him.
What is the problem? John whispered into her ear. Her body was overtaken by a pleasant shudder at the sound of his voice. Carefully, he put a hand under her chin and made her face him again. He did his best to give her a calming smile. It worked well enough.
I just I am nervous Gnome stammered.
You will not ovee it if you dont dare to do a bit, John tried to motivate her. Well go only as fast as you want, alright?
They stared into each others brown eyes. They had known each other for a bit now, yet not at all it seemed. John breathed regrly, Gnome in short bursts, if she had a heart he was sure it would have been beating like crazy right now.
Finally, Gnome mustered the courage and hastily pressed her lips on his. Her kiss was inexperienced, sloppy. There was something adorable to the awkwardness. Where her body may have been something different, her soft lips and shyly probing tongue were both as soft and warm as that of any other human.
John let her try on her own for a few more moments, then he reciprocated. He opened his mouth and met her tongue with his own. Gnome froze for a split second, but resumed moving carefully as Johns slow and gentle movements reassured her. He gradually escted his movements and moved his hand up her inner thigh.
Intoxicated by these new sensations, Gnome did not realize it until he touched her pussy. If she didnt have panties or if they had vanished already, John did not know or care. All he knew was that he was touching an increasingly wet, engorged mound. The centre of her womanhood, hairless and easily traced by his fingers.
Gnome let out the smallest of moans into his mouth. Her face was on fire, painted red with blushes, yet she forced herself to keep kissing him. John softly pushed her into the sheets. Their mouths parted but Johns hand remained underneath her dress, caressing her pussy lips. They felt like really solid pudding, that was the best analogy he coulde up with. Maybe fresh, wet y was another good description. Finding the perfect way to describe it would have to wait as John was too mesmerized by his view to waste time on poetry.
Gnome averted her eyes and hid her mouth behind a half-formed fist, hiding yet not masking that she was the source of the cute moans that slowly whispered into the room as John kept moving his fingers. He pushed one finger inside. Aaaah, Gnome sighed lustfully and mped her mouth shut immediately. A bit teary eyed she looked at John, Sorry, she mumbled.
For what? It sounded adorable, assured the Gamer.
Really? Gnome asked, a small glint in her eyes.
Of course, he doubled down and guided her hand away from her mouth in order to see all of her gorgeous face again. You are adorable, he stated more directly.
As his reward, Gnome sighed in lust again, no longer bothered to hold back. John pushed a second finger inside her, already stretching the tight space down there, and Gnome let out a single sharp scream of pleasure, her body tensing for a brief moment. He hoped to get that reaction again so John attacked with increasingly demanding movements. He also showered her round face in kisses, used his free hand to tease her soft breasts through her clothes and whispered sweet words into her ear.
Gnomes walls slowly crumbled, shyness destroyed by pleasure and bliss. Soft gasps bing audible moans, her body writhing in the sheets underneath John. Between two kisses he heard her mumble something, something incoherent, then her whole body tensed up, pressing against his. The y-like walls of her pussy captured himpletely as Gnome tasted the first orgasm of her life at the mercy of Johns skilled fingers.
A voiceless scream on her lips, eyes opened wide, her spine arched upwards. John judged it to be a strong orgasm and he would do his best to make itst as long as possible, his fingers moving rapidly. With wild energy they glided back and forth and each time he plunged inside, the silent scream of Gnome was interrupted by a high-pitched squeal. She finally copsed back onto the sheets and John ceased his movements. He pulled his hand back and found it dry, to his surprise.
Gnome, again, whispered something he couldnt make out. He brought his ear closer. Close your eyes, John, Gnome requested, her voice quiet due to embarrassment. John pulled back and did as he was told. He could guess what wasing next. He did not open his eyes when he heard another whisper, instead he did something very mean.
What did you say? he asked, knowing full well what she said even without hearing her. Another whisper, a bit louder. You will have to tell me exactly what you want from me and what I will see when I open my eyes, he teased.
Uh, uhh, uhm. Stammering noises, and a mixture of feelings in his mind. There was frustration, at herself and at him equally, a bit of anger for being teased like this, shame for her situation, and a whole bunch of horniness that eventually overpowered everything else as she finally said what was requested of her. I-I want you to o-o-o-o-pen your eyes, you-u will se-s-see me naked, were the words he finally heard and that made him open his eyes with a wide smile. Any guilt he felt for bullying her was fully overpowered by how cute she was when he did it.
Gnome was lying underneath him, her clothes had vanished and revealed her pale frame. Her breasts were slightly bigger than Raves, a big B or a small C-Cup, very firm and with pink nipples at the top, that were already erect from the previous experience. His greedy eyes made their way south, over her t stomach. No sculptor could have carved it more perfectly. He arrived at her hips, narrowpared to Rave or Aclysia, yet certainly womanly. Between slender thighs waited her glistening pussy lips, pretty pink and swollen with desire. He looked back up and found Gnome with an uncertain expression,
And, you bully? she said with a small sniffle.
Okay, now he did feel slightly guilty. You are so absolutely adorable, I want to cuddle you! he just blurted out and threw himself on her to do exactly that. Gnome, unsure what was happening made a surprised squeak as John embraced her with one arm while using the other to get naked via his status screen. Suddenly only his underwear was left and he sat up again.
Wha-wha-wha! Gnome sped her eyes shut with her hands but John could see her peeking through, What?!
Ohe on Gnome, you have seen me naked before, John giggled and positioned himself between her legs.
That was then! she cried out, the opening between her fingers widening, Now is now!
Thats right, and is there something you would want from me right now? John asked, back to bullying his cute elemental.
Uwuwuwuwu, Gnome made a sound John never heard before, one of pure embarrassment. However, it was all he could get off her as he unequipped his boxers. He felt the wires inside Gnomes head short circuit and shut down at the sight of his dick. The gaps between her fingers were wide enough that John could see herplete eyes, which were focused on his crotch. Save from a little bit of quivering, her gaze did not move.
John waited for a moment to see if she would snap back into reality, but Gnome seemed to bepletely gone from her own head. All he could feel from her was the need and curiosity about having him inside her.
He was just as curious about how she would feel so he inched thest bit closer and pressed his dick against her readily waiting pussy lips. It was the tightest fit ever. So tight he barely got inside. Despite her glistening wetness, it didnt feel like any of that wetness spread onto his cock, making the slide inside a very unique yet pleasurable experience. The amount of pressure on his dick was absolutely mind-numbing in the best sense of the word. As he pushed thest centimetre of his dick inside, Gnomes brain jump started back up.
Ahh! she moaned and sped her mouth shut again, leaving her eyes uncovered, which she then tried to hide from him by bringing her hands back up, giving John the opportunity to move and make her moan without a cover again. Nooo, shemented as he slowly pushed inside again, gaspingly, Stoop!
You want me to stop? John asked with feigned confusion and froze in his movements.
Yes, I mean no, not with that, but with this bullying, you bad bullying bully! her childish vocabry made John just want to tease her more. He was conflicted about this new side of him but how could he not? The answer was by thinking with his dick surprisingly.
All of this forey had left him all hot and bothered and his primitive longings finally said no to this bullying and yes to the promise of the mping, slightly cooler than usual, pussy around him. Okay, was therefore all he said, before giving into these desires and pushing into her all the way to the base.
A startled Gnome identally spoke her true feelings Oh, John, YESH! at thest word she tried to stop herself by pressing her teeth together but all that did was make moans more throaty as John fucked her in the missionary position.
Again and again he pushed into her, Gnomes body shaking as she tried her most desperate to make the minimal amount of noise. Her hands could no longer cover her mouth as they were needed to grab the mattress in some desperate attempt to get a handle on the situation. A futile attempt and one John loved following as it fell apart.
Each of his thrusts sent Gnome deeper into some kind of haze. Each time their hips met with a m her eyes rolled upwards, toe back down when he pulled back out. Little by little, he made her focused gaze derail entirely. Higher and higher, until his thrusts made her pretty hazel eyes roll all the way up. Then they just stayed there. Her whole body convulsed, her clenched teeth were shut as tight as her pussy was mping.
It felt like she was milking his dick as each of the thrusts sent her over some kind of edge and then her throaty moans became loud animalistic grunts of pure bliss as her brain again shut down, just from pleasure instead of shame this time around. John could only follow her this time as the view made his brain see only her and feel only the pleasure of every thrust until he was too close. There was no return, he only could fuck her as fast as her tight snatch allowed. Ragged breaths filled the room. John felt like a taut rope C then he suddenly went ck.
His seed pumped into her out of his shaft and her whole body arched up again as the heat of his cum inside her colder body burned through the electrified nerves. All of her was already on edge, John had made certain of that. Legs suddenly enveloped his hips, the brte clinging onto him.
She craved more of his semen, as much as she could get and her cunt did its best to make John spurt more of it inside her. The yish walls massaged his shaft in a way that he would only ever feel from her. He emptied as much of his balls inside her as his bodily functions allowed, before slumping forwards.
Now, John had always been one for post-coitus hugging but Gnome, as her face rested into a very sleepy, drowsy looking smile, was just so cute John had to snuggle with her for another minute, or ten.
But what then?
Chapter 128 – A Tier 2 Elemental [Monday 7/7]
Chapter 128 C A Tier 2 Elemental [Monday 7/7]
John decided that thest part of Monday was to be used to test Gnomes new capabilities. As a new and improved Tier 2 Elemental he expected notable changes beyond the obvious physical ones. From what he could gather her Stats were not all that impressive from a mathematical standpoint, she had the standardized 5 times her level and then an extra of 10 points for some reason, most of which had gone into her newly awakened Libido. On the surface she wasnt that strong but Observe had been proven to be more of a surface tool. Chances were that there was something to her that just wasnt reflected in Stats alone.
Magoi was once again missing this morning and John made a mental note to check on him after hepleted at least one dungeon. Between the question of what Gnome could do now that she was such a cutie and what Magoi was up to now the former was simply more interesting to him. So, he stepped into a gate and looked at the Monster Spawn Table.
To test Gnome a dungeon with actual earth around would be the best, John thought, I have not tried the three new ones yet and I think now is not the best time to start. I am not fighting that Sporehost again. Even with my improved health pool two or three of its Sporelings would just kill me and the strategy revolves around it using that tongue thing, which it might not even do. The Skaven dont have a lot of earth around, but she is a Stone Elemental now so maybe she can work with the walls? Better test it in a safe environment. Wall Shadows are also out due to their nature so ites down to Orcs or City Elementals.
The Orcs spawned in a tribal vige with houses of crudely worked wood in a giant step so there was enough earth for Gnome to use. City Elementals on the other hand were a well-known foe, at the very least for the fifth Wave John didnt lean in either direction so taking this long for the decision was stupid. He decided to put it up for a coin toss and be done with it.
Pulling a single dime from his inventoryit conveniently broke up the money he had into whatever size he wanted physicallyhe threw it up into the air and caught it in his left hand, mming it on the back of his right before he could look at it. Okay, heads means Orcs, tails means City Elementals, he dered before raising his hand. It showed tails and so the decision was made. John opened the dungeon and rolled his shoulders. After a week of progress, he expected this to be easy.
Da ba dee, da ba DIE! Radio Head sang and hit Aclysia in the chest with the Eiffel Tower shaped spear. Aclysia took it with minimal flinching. Against Johns request Aclysia had asked to take at least one of these attacks in order to judge how much she had improved. John understood on a fundamental level but would have been much happier if she had just taken the Stats at face value instead of getting herself hurt.
Thest time Radio Head had struck her with that attack it had done a little less than half her HP. Since then, Aclysia had raised her maximum HP by more than double and upgraded from Titanium as her main material to the magical Entherium. The attack still did about a quarter of her total HP instantly, but that was merely concerning, not threatening. In terms of numbers, before the attack had dealt about 110 damage, now it was closer to 60, a number which Aclysia could regenerate within 12 seconds.
In other words: Radio Head no longer provided a challenge. He wasnt exactly easy but the fact that John had to do nothing in order to turn the tide of battle spoke volumes about their progression, both from a level standpoint and from their teamwork. Radio Head dissipated and left John counting down to the next wave.
Good job everyone, he made a short speech, Now, I want to see what Gnome can do now so she is off protective duty for a bit, everyone else please fill her shoes. Once we have seen it our party will resume the regr formation. Everyone around made their agreement known and then the new wave started with the transitioning that changed the city.
The night sky, clear and beautiful, got rather suddenly covered by a thin cloud cover that swallowed the stars, only the light of the moon shining through, offering the slightest bit of pale, natural light. Themp posts all around flickered into activity as a soft rain set in, setting the mood of a depressing city night. The lights flickered again, on, off, on, off, on, off, on, and suddenly there stood an enemy in the light cone.
It was a greyish beast, this particr one was a light grey but John made out several other ones with different tones spawning underneath othermps. It had four limbs, two arms and no legs, its face was located on the chest and looked like the sad mask often associated with theatre. Comparing its limbs to a human would have only been somewhat correct. The legs were like stilts, their ends needle thin and their arms wobbling like a wet piece of cardboard. All in all these things looked more sad than terrifying, and they had a name that fit that description perfectly.
Multiple things: First off, he was not okay with the shortage of loot these days. Was Gaia beingzy? Was it just a theme of the floors 6-10? Whatever it was, it made levelling Aclysia harder so that Watch of Sadness better drop a lot, otherwise he would have to farm Wave 5 over and over again to keep her up to his level. Second, he was actually surprised that Gaia resisted making a bad pun of these. With how his life had been going he had expected them to be insects, Depress-Ants or something. He was notining about it, just noticing it. Gnome, go ahead, he instructed and watched Gnome do a little ritual in response.
Okay, okay, I can do this! Gnome muttered to herself, while pumping her fists up and down in a self-motivating way, Ey, ey, Oh!
What are you doing? Sylph wanted to know, causing Gnome, who apparently acted under the illusion that nobody had seen or heard her, to try and swat her sister with a wild iling of her hands, while also looking decisively away from Sylph, making the whole motion fairly useless.
Y-you did not hear a thing! she decided for the Wind Elemental.
Pretty sure I did! Sylphughed and easily dodged the hand, even as a Tier 1 Elemental Sylph was still more agile than anyone else in the group.
Noooo, Gnome cried, continuing to miss Sylph who was loudly giggling through the whole thing.
Ehm, Sylph, Gnome? John said with a worried look at the moving Depressants, the monsters squatted down, their bodies pulling together like a coil. GNOME! he then shouted to get her attention as the Depressants sprinted towards them with impressive speed. He failed, Sylph''sughter was too loud and Gnome was so embarrassed she did not hear a thing.
STOP LAUGHING! Gnome stomped, the echo of her foot on the asphalt, so she hoped, would drown out her sister''s incessantughing. Instead, it broke open the asphalt.
Wow, wha, whui, wudeldi, wadeldi, WOAH! Sylph made an arrangement of stupid noises as she dodged spikes of rock growing out of the cracks and then shouted in actual surprise as she needed to use all her speed to dodge an assaulting Depressant that had suddenly appeared behind her. The monster missed her narrowly and got hit by a spike meant for Sylph a momentter.
John watched the whole scene, baffled. Gnome had killed one of the enemies by pure ident. The Rock Elemental looked up at the newndscape she had just created. Uhm, uh, sorry? she asked as Sylph returned to hide behind John.
Gnome is scary strong now! I dont like it! Sylphined, I also want to be scary strong! No wait, can I be cute strong instead?
John himself needed to double-check his mana, it was still full. Can you do that again? John asked with a look at the destruction. In a cone in front of her, about ten metres in length, the street was just gone and reced by an arrangement of brown rock spikes that had torn apart the asphalt with ease.
I-I can try, Gnome promised and moved her hand in a summoning gesture of epic proportions. Only a single spike rose this time.
John deduced that Gnome now had mana of her own. It wasnt a lot but it allowed her to act more independently, which was good, and her destructive capabilities evidently had also risen. Breaking the asphalt in order to get to the earth had always been a bit of a mana heavy part of the City Elemental dungeons and now that was, at least in part, taken care of. John shared his idea with the group and everyone seemed to be in agreement. Even with the conscious confirmation, the realization that she could now cast on her own did not quite settle into Gnomes mind yet.
Okay, we will slowly take this wave apart, Gnome try getting used to your new powers while protecting me, see if you can do some other things than spikes. If you have the mana to spare, see if you can take distant enemies out, he continued giving her a long list of possible applications for her new abilities. He was 90% sure that only half of it stuck as Gnomes head started spinning in confusion somewhere through the conversation. It didnt help that they had to deal with enemies at the side too.
Although the Depressants were fast and theshes of their floppy arms packed quite a punch they were not half as concerning as the Sporeling+Treant team. The Forest Elemental dungeon was really hardpared to this, although maybe the two levels John had gained also yed into this. Each of his levels meant a level for four other members of his party, as well as a potential one for Aclysia. Or in other words: He was level 50, the enemies he fought right now were level 46-50, they were not that hard. Generally speaking, a Tier at his level was easy, a Tier one above his level was challenging. He hadnt attempted a Tier two or more above his current bracket, but he did get the feeling that would be suicide.
The Depressants spawned at a constant rate, assuring they were always fighting between three and five. If he was susceptible to being ground down that might have been a problem but his build was really good for prolonged engagements thanks to his high Wisdom.
Gnome slowly but surely changed thendscape to their advantage with her own mana, allowing John to put more into Smander, whose offensive power was still superior even though the asional earth spike Gnome could summon around her was a good addition of burst damage to Smanders streams of fire.
By the end of the Wave John stood upon a small fortress. Gnome had raised the ground and then fortified it with walls, spikes and other hindrances, all of which John hadmissioned her to do. This was, without a doubt, absolutely unfair to their enemies.
John was standing on a fortified hill, protected by Gnome and Undine, while having two aerial attackers and Aclysia run rampant outside and keeping track of all that thanks to his Bee overhead. Dictating the terms of engagements like this was exactly what the Gamer liked. No uncertainty, just careful handling of resources.
Themps bent and now shone towards the sky, waving around for a bit before focusing all on one point: the moon. The clouds above opened in a circle just big enough for the celestial body to shine through and, despite it breaking all knownws of physics, the moon reflected the street lights glow and created a path of light down to earth that contrasted so heavily with the night that John almost mistook it for being a physical thing.
Slowly, a being descended. It looked pretty much just like the Depressants but inverted in every aspect. Instead of a shade of grey it was blindingly white, the mask on its chest was cheerful of expression and the way it hovered gave it an air of enthusiasm and energy.
Was there some kind of moral hidden inside the fact that the pharmaceutical named character dropped the most money he had ever seen? Was that a goddamn Futurama reference? Two questions John had no time to ask himself as a much more urgent one got answered.
What stars? he mumbled before a glorious shining orb of silver tore the sky apart and crashed five metres away from him into the fortifications. The shockwave sent him flying, he gave mana to Sylph in order to make his impact as soft as possible. She reacted in time and so, instead of crashing on his side, he made a very unnatural somersault andnded on his feet.
A lesson in modern warfare: basic fortresses are not useful against aerial bombardment. The Anti-Depressant was still inside its spawn point, its floppy arms raised above its head, the blunt ends connecting in a big O. Stars fell all over the city. None of them were aimed at John but the things just kept falling and that was enough cause for concern as it ripped apart the buildings like they were made out of paper. Unlike paper though, the highly elerated debris was actually deadly, so John did his best to stay on the move and somewhere safe.
We need to end this fight ASAP! he shouted both aloud and in his mind, Everyone attack the Anti-Depressant!
Aclysia was the first to heed the call, closely followed up by Sylph, who caught up to her. Aclysia, wielding the Cleaver of Streets, jumped and did a spin in the air that ended with her de crashing right into the beings side. It sank only the slightest bit into the Anti-Depressants body, Aclysias momentuming to a very abrupt halt. Then she was smacked over the head, taking 40 points of damage and throwing her to the ground. The Anti-Depressant didnt chase at all and Sylph now started to shower it in small but frequent attacks.
Is this one of those bosses that are rooted? John wondered and stopped running. Even when Smander arrived and helped Gnome in abined assault all the Anti-Depressant did was keep iling its arms and rotate on the spot. Aclysia re-joined the fray, then Undine and finally Gnome partook in the tussle. The thing was showered in attacks and John, always an eye in the sky (literally, the Bee had broken through the cloud and now he could spot where the next stars would fall) threw in some Mana Rays for good measure.
As it turned out: just like John had bosses he was bad against, this boss was extremely bad against him. The stars were impressive but so random they werent a reliable threat and the melee attacks it did were too slow to hit Sylph (although Smander got smacked twice and had to retreat) and too shallow to be of major concern to Aclysia. So, as long as John kept dodging the stars, he could just grind the boss down. Which is exactly what he did.
The fight was over after ten minutes of constant hitting. John smiled, that was a boss he could grind out for the day with ease. Wave 7 here he came!
Chapter 129 – The goodness of his heart.
Chapter 129 C The goodness of his heart.
When John decided to head back he found Magoi sitting in his usual ce. No signs of difort could be found in the mans bodynguage. John breathed a sigh of relief, so the Fateweaver was okay. I was afraid you would get sick and the barrier would crumble or something, John said truthfully as he stepped towards the dinosaur-masked man.
No, I just needed to temporarily alter the time dtion as well as dosomething else, Magoi gave a half-hearted exnation.
Why? For both of those, John asked, too curious not to.
Ah, well, I needed to get the contract correct. Magoi turned a page of his newspaper. See, I was told to give you 28 days, or a month, instead of four days. Therefore, the average per day is one to seven, but because we startedte on Monday I needed to stretch today a bit. For the other thing, there was an external problem, but its gone now.
What kind of problem? John wanted to know.
Nothing of concern, I assure you, Magoi answered. Sometimes entities from the space between Illusion Barriers knock on ones that currently exist. Rare and this one was persistent. Its gone now though.
John did not feel assured in the slightest, but he had another question to ask, You can alter the flow of time whenever you wish in here?
This is my domain, so yes. With a few caveats, but none too binding.
Can you do me a favour and give me more time? John asked.
A long pause, during which the nose of the raptor skull mask rose beyond the rim of the paper. Why? he asked, in a calm and calcting tone. So, John exined. The whole story from when he had gotten his powers over to what he did with them and the mistakes he did up to now. He told him of Travolta, of Rave and of Thana. At the end of it all Magoi sighed heavily. I cant.
But John wanted to say how he NEEDED the time to save them, he needed it badly. Magoi raised a hand, at first John thought he was telling him to stop with that motion but instead Magoi took off his mask. Underneath John saw an aged face with pale blue eyes and no hair whatsoever, three horrible scars ran over his head.
He pointed at the first one, it ran from his right ear diagonally over to his forehead. This scar I got when I helped a young man save the city of his birth from a horrible monster that was about to be a catastrophe, he said. The second scar, it spanned over his right ear, cutting apart where his eyebrow should be and even further down, splitting his lip, That one is from when I fought the Blood in the Cold War. He showed hisst scar, it was from a burning incident that much was clear, it covered half of his left cheek, And that one is from when I foolishly fell into a fire when I was on a camping trip with a few buddies of mine.
He giggled as the mood suddenly swungpletely, My point is, Gamer, that all of these are from when I was young and fought for things I believed in. In those days I would have helped you without a second thought. Now, however, I am old, not old enough to be close to dying thanks to my powers keeping me younger than my years, but old enough to feel like I deserve some peace and quiet in my life. I have three kids, I have a wife, I have an organization to oversee.
I am not asking you to fight with me, just to give me more time, John argued.
Then what? People will see the favouritism, they will demand I give them the same free treatment, worse yet I am a High Fateweaver so my behaviour would reflect on our order as a whole. We are one of the great nonbat organizations, we cant go choosing sides.
I have no si-
You are indebted to Lydia Augusta the fourth of house Hohenzollern, Magoi reminded him as he put his mask back on, I help you and people will associate that with me helping one of the most divisive figures of the European Abyss. I would make a lot of enemies, a lot of whom I spent years getting on neutral terms with in the first ce. I am too old and too important to do favours I dont get anything from. I am sorry.
John shut his mouth and thought about that for a moment. Finally, he sighed, Nothing I could say would convince you otherwise, right? No argument that no one ever would have to know or anything I could do for you down the line?
No, Magoi stated, but that doesnt mean I dont feel for you. Ill help where I feel I can and perhaps we can have an amicable working rtionship. Resigning himself to that with a sigh, John nodded. Splendid, now lets talk about that loot. Oh, and before you get the wrong impression: I am wearing this mask because it is totally awesome, not because I am ashamed of my face.
John hadnt assumed, but whatever. The Loot Basin was filled with watches. Okay, filled was an overstatement, the basin was quiterge, but there were a lot of them. There was also a lot of money, which he took immediately. Did you automatically withdraw the money when I died, by the way? John checked on something. The skull jumped up and down in a nod.
The thing did indeed look terrible. It was too big tofortably fit inside his hand, had a case made of light wood crafted so badly there were splinters hanging out and it made loud clicking noises all the time. However, it did seem to be good food for Aclysia. One more reason that this would be his new prime grinding ground.
You get on this, John told Aclysia and tossed her the watch. Aclysia looked at it and then swallowed in one gulp. Her eyes and lips were suddenly closed shut. What? Is it painful? John asked, rmed.
A sour taste flooded through the mental connection. The things were hardly edible it seemed. Aclysia extended her hand towards a second one, You dont have to force yourself, John told her.
I cannot let food go to waste, children in Africa are starving, Aclysia stated and quickly threw a second and third one into her mouth.
John would have burst intoughter, if Aclysia hadnt been making such a sour face. It was like she was force-feeding herself lemons. Those kids will starve whether or not you eat watches, John exined.
Oh? How sad, Aclysia said but didnt stop, John got the notification for a level-up.
You REALLY dont need to eat those if you dont like them. John emphasized, almost pleading with her. Aclysia stopped for a moment, her emerald eyes focusing on him with an almost chiding glint to them.
Youre not the only one who wants to do all they can to save her.
John was just awestruck. Sure, eating sour things was a pretty minor sacrifice, but it spoke to a broader determination that he hadnt respected properly so far. Aclysia had always thrown herself in harms way for him inbat. She had done her best to keep him alive and well but that she was willing to do unpleasant things in order to help with this made his heart beat faster. She did it for him and she did it because she too missed Rave.
A pat on the head was the best he could do to express his feelings. Aclysia made a pleased hum.
I feel like I am no longer needed here. See you tomorrow, Gamer, Magoi said and walked off.
Please, we will be together for a bit longer, so call me John, High Fateweaver, John shouted.
The addressedughed and tipped his top hat, Very well, John. Well, I dont think you have earned the right to call me by my first name yet, so you may refer to me as Magus. He bowed like a butler. d to be of service.
With that, he took his exit. John kneeled down next to Aclysia and with every watch she managed to eat he rewarded her with a gesture of affection.
No fair, I want kisses too! Sylph said andnded on Aclysias head.
Read the mood, Sylph! Smander reprimanded and kicked her off, Undine giggled, a sound John seldom heard, pure like the calm flow of water.
Gnome stood there, doing her usual eye routine where she could not really look at John but neither look away, she pushed her index fingers against each other in an unsure gesture. I mean C we could C if you want to C maybe C like really only if you want to C repeat C ehm
Out with it, sis! Smander interrupted.
Sylph crashed into her back a momentter. Who cant read the mood now, huh, you burning bitch!
Oh, you are just asking for it! I will scorch you!
You cant scorch me you fancy-dancyncy-wordy-burny, I am made of AIR!
Then I will heat you up and inte a balloon with you! Smander countered.
Sylph hesitated a moment, clearly confused, Wait, would that work? Can I fill a balloon? Would I be the balloon? WAIT?! WHAT AM I? I am air, but air is made out of several different elements? Am I helium? AM I POISON GAS? John! Whatever you do, do not breathe me in! I could be poisonous! Wait, you shouldnt do that whether or not I am poisonous, I dont think that Sylph, within a few seconds, hadpletely forgotten that she was fighting with Smander and now everyone was ignoring her again.
re-re-repe-re-re-repeat that -uhm- I mean re-re-repe-repeat that stu-stu-stuff Gnome was now stuck in a loop of stuttering, only slowly progressing through the sentence as John continued to hug Aclysia and spent the points of the three levels she had earnt after eating all the watches, putting her at 51, only one below his own level.
She wants to have sex with you again, Smander finally interrupted Gnomes endless stammering. Gnome threw her an angry nce, face beet red, John could almost see the steam rising from the Asian-looking elemental. Gnome stomped towards her, Now, dont be hasty! Smander narrowly dodged Gnomes clutches, she did not have Sylph''s Agility but she was still a lot faster than Gnome. Also, she could fly. At about two and a half metres high Smanderughed down in a victory pose, Wahahaha, what, you embarrassed? You know we all watched you have intercourse, right? Smander said in a mockingly sweet tone.
Gnome turned almost as red as Smander, Uwuwuwuwu, she made that sound again, one that made John throw Smander a very secretive thumb up. Bullying is wrong, he knew that, but Gnomes reactions were so adorable it was almost impossible not to.
Smander winked at him, but that gesture gave him away and Gnome turned to John. I-I-I She stomped and the earth rumbled, Iurgh, she kneeled down and hid her face between her legs.
Lets just enjoy the evening and y some games, John suggested. He totally nned on banging both Gnome and Aclysiater but he felt that it would be unfair to leave the other three bored for so long, some fun times would surely help put their minds at ease a little. Also, he felt that after such a tumultuous week he deserved a break that was just fun and games.
They went inside the house but all John found was a deck of charade cards. Well, better than nothing, he decided and grabbed the hourss right next to them as well. Okay, some ground rules, no peeking into thoughts and if the hourss runs out the other team has its turn, okay?
Okay, said everyone else in unison. John drew the first card with a smile, he read it and put his hand on the hourss. He hesitated.
CanI just want to say something really quickly, John said, his smile ever so slight, I realize that I wasnt quite myself at the start of the week. I got myself into trouble, I was rash, I made mistakes and some of you paid the price for it. A nce at Undine was all he could bear, before he directed his ashamed gaze at his hands. I am very sorry, I said it before but I think you deserve to hear it again, and more than that I thank you for setting my path straight. Thank you, you are the parts and the sum of me, and I couldnt be happier about it.
He didnt receive an answer, he didnt need to, wordlessmunication was the true honesty and appreciation they felt in his words. Undine was still a bit mad, but she appreciated his words, Sylph was overly happy that he thanked them, and appreciated his words, Smander thought that this was overdue, but appreciated that it came betterte than never, Gnome knew that it cost him a bit to say these things out loud, and appreciated him all the more for it, Aclysia heard all that she had hoped, and appreciated it with all of her heart.
John grinned and blinked the bit of tears that welled up in his eyes away. This was the night to finally leave behind those days. He turned the hourss.
Chapter 130 – A visitor [Tuesday 1/7]
Chapter 130 C A visitor [Tuesday 1/7]
John woke up, stretched, sat up and looked around. Gnome was lying at his side, or had been as she was hugging his arm so tightly that she sat up with him. Noooo, no more cake, she mumbled in a voice that sounded like she REALLY wanted more cake, I caaant.
You can! Sylph mumbled, as if in response, sleeping on top of her sisters head, You will eat all of those muffins or the gummibear king will have our heads
John giggled, they were apparently easily influenced by things that happened outside their dreams and now shared some kind of sleep talking experience. Either that or the mental bond they shared had synced up their dreams. Either way it was funny. Undine was present as the blueish mass sticking out from his pillow.
That exins why it felt so weird, John thought, not bad. Actually, the opposite of bad. Undine had hidden inside his pillow as a very dense slime, making it like he slept on some kind of memory foam. It had been rather pleasant. The two girls missing from his bed were Aclysia and Smander, the former was no wonder, Aclysia didnt need to sleep in the first ce and just rested her mind while snuggling up to John. Smander, however, usually could be found lying on Gnome or the windowsill. The former had been more cuddlyst night than ever before, so he had expected the fire spirit to take up thetter. She was nowhere to be seen though.
John carefully wiggled himself out of Gnomes grasp. She made a very displeased noise and her arms desperately grasped for something. Picking up the Undine pillow, John ced it in the brte''s arms before getting out of bed. He got his clothes and equipment on and checked the clock. Tuesday had begun about thirty real minutes ago, so he had slept roughly eight hours. That was a bit longer than he had wanted but he felt well rested.
This day is going to be good! he decided and searched for Smander. He had a mental glimpse of the outside in, so he left the house.
He found Smander looking up at what little there was to see of the stars between the midnight clouds. She was just lying in the air like other people on a couch, burning like a little red star herself.
You like looking at the sky? John asked as he stepped closer.
Nah, its just something to do, Smander said without turning to him. So, how do you feel now, John?
What do you mean?
Now that you deepened your contract with Gnome, how do you feel?
Oh, I dont know? More in sync with everything? Collected? John could still not urately describe his newfound earthen connection.
I see, Smander just said before changing the topic, Following that list of yours I am next to evolve am I not?
John double-checked his skills. Smander with her 74 levels was indeed the highest Skill of the elementals. It will take a bit of time though, he confirmed.
Smander sighed, Well, maybe I have some time to get my lesson into that skull of yours then.
Your lesson? John only half hoped for an answer.
I wont tell you, thatd defeat the point. She shot him a broad grin. Its elemental tradition, or so my inherited knowledge tells me. Cant have summoners who dont have the right intuitions.
Well, that made sense in some way. If he had needed to understand patience and the earth, then there had to be something that was required for him to bond with fire too.
John remembered with terror the visions he had seen before the contract. Smander was unique amongst his elementals in regards to that. Gnome had shown him the life of earth itself, Undine had been a vision of a drop of water that traversed from the oceans to the cloud only to fall as rain and begin the cycle anew elsewhere, while Sylphs contract had shown him how the wind endlessly yed around the world. They had been broad visions of the elements in their natural cycle. Smander had been none of that, what he had gotten from her was specific, manmade destruction. From the first cannonball to the only nukes ever used to kill, he had seen war. Whatever could the lesson of hers be?
Smander knew what he was thinking. Are you afraid of me? she asked. There was no anger or fear in her voice, it was like she was asking if he wanted another cup of coffee.
A bit, John answered truthfully. What you have shown me, or what your ne showed me, the way you fight, your destruction and passion. I am not sure whatever that lesson of yours is but I am unsure whether or not I want to learn it.
Smander slowly nodded, You will understand the necessity. You will witness truth. Whatever though, this whole serious stuff is not up my alley. I wanna burn some shit. I miss your girlfriend, dude, she was always ready to get into action, you are all cautious and stuff.
John honestly wasnt surprised to hear that. Smander hadnt been fond of him being mindless but she also wasnt very enthused by hisck of aggressiveness.
I really wonder sometimes why the Mother of Fire decided to give you a daughter of Krieg.
Krieg, what is that in the first ce? John wondered, the name was in her character sheet but that was about all he knew of that entity.
He is my dad and a god of war. Smander shrugged, making theparatively huge breasts on her tiny body bounce. Dont know more.
That seems to be very little for somebody who is your father, John wondered.
Oh shut it, gamer boy, I was born the moment you summoned me. Elemental lineages are weird informal fuckery anyway. Point is, there are way calmer fire elementals with a lot more patience out there. So why me?
That was indeed a good question, one he had a partial answer for, I met a dragoness called Nathalia before I made the attempt at summoning you, he exined, the Mother of Fire told me you would be a good fit.
Well, we will see if she was right. If I get the message into that skull of yours, she was, Smander dropped the point.
Aclysia chose that moment to open the door and inform John about the fact that breakfast was ready. He went back inside, Smander followed him and flew close by his ear, Lets fuck something up today!
If that is your version of having fun, sure, John agreed with the hint of a smile, he was afraid of what she stood for. Smander herself, he found to be enjoyablepany.
After breakfast they did their usual routine. John made sure he had the right items on. He didnt want to miss any stat bonuses, especially not the one from the Ne of the World Ender. He also looked over Aclysias weaponry again. As the fights continued to get more superhuman, at this point they were asionally toppling buildings, the equipment couldnt keep up. The Sword of Glory needed repairs after every other battle. They were in dire need of some upgrades.
John sighed, If only we could get you some equipment that is like you, hemented.
Like me? Aclysia asked, her head slightly tilted.
You know, living material. If I could just get you a sword that grows with stuff we feed it we would have at least some equipment I was sure you could ALWAYS use.
Master, I would be morefortable if you made armour for yourself with such a thing, Aclysia shared her opinion on the matter.
Would be a waste, I am a backline mage, giving me costly armour is something way down the priority list, while you as our melee damage dealer and main tank really need a good and reliable weapon, John argued.
I do not know if I fall under the description of tank you categorize me as, Aclysia said, I dont spend a lot of time protecting you.
Ah, and that is where you are wrong. John smiled and she eagerly listened. Let me exin, while you might not be directly protecting me, you are drawing the attention of people away from me by performing at the front lines. As long as they are concentrating on you I am safe and the few that areing through will then be deflected by
WE KNOW! Smander interrupted and a tiny fist hit John on the cheek.
3 damage.
We have been doing this for a week! Aclysia is the main-tank, Gnome and Undine are your protectors, Gnome actually doubling as middle range damage now, while Sylph and I are doing close quarter DPS. We fucking know, we are part of your thoughts!
But she asked, John said, pushing back against the fire spirits outrage. What made Smander so pissy today?
Aclysia just asks because she knows that you like exining stuff and she likes when you like something, she opened the truth up to him.
Ehm, really? John asked Aclysia. No answer, Aclysia just turned the slightest bit red while maintaining a straight face. Well, that was all John needed to feel disheartened, when did she learn that trick? Now get to it, I wanna fight something.
Smander flew directly towards and then through the gate, vanishing from sight, while the rest of the group slowly followed her. She is pissy today, wow, totally uneptable, said Sylph, Dump her ass! Make me the new concubine!
What is it with you and concubines? John wanted to know.
It is just a cool word!
You are aware what it means tho?
Something something sex, I just want to be called it not that Id mind the cost, Johny, Sylph fly by his face and winked, So be sure to make me bigger soon, so I get that title, Jonathan Money. That aside tell me what irks her today, she is a bitch but she is still my quote-unquote-actually-do-not-quote-because-it-is-true-so-what-are-the-quotes-doing-here-elemental-stuff-is-confusing-oh-my-gaia-i-can-do-this-forever-because-i-dont-need-to-breathe-how-cool-is-that sister and I am worried about her.
Apparently, she is trying to get this whole lesson for me-thing sorted out.
Oh, okay, I can understand that, Sylph said and whirled away. That was uncharacteristically short for her.
Thats all you got to say? John shouted up to her.
Yeah, I mean, its really not easy to do it correctly, you know? nning that I mean, Sylphughed back.
So, you all have a lesson for me? John had guessed as much, but confirmation would be nice.
Why yes, silly, dunno why but we kinda were made with the purpose in mind to teach you a thing or two, Sylph said, nothing major, just, uhm, Undine you are better with words, say something.
Something that you already know but have not truly awoken to yet. A full sentence of Undines serene voice filled his mind.
Yeah, that! Sylph supported the statement. All John got out of that was cryptic Yoga nonsense. He refused to think about this more than necessary, he had other things to worry about now.
I will just let ite to me, he decided and nodded to himself.
That seems best, Master, Aclysia agreed, she had no idea what the elementals were on about either. Beyond the fact that it was some necessary spiritual development.
John finally reached the gate and was about to walk through when it flickered. Golden light turned ck and red for a second. He froze. It had never done that before. Should he be worried?
Rumbling and heavy steps, the sound of a door being thrown open and of Magoi bursting outside. The Fateweaver was breathing more heavily than a simple staircase should induce for an Abyssal. GET AWAY FROM THAT TRANSDIMENSIONAL OVERBRIDGE!
So thats what they are actually called? John thought in a brief moment of satisfied curiosity before his body reacted to the seriousness of Magois tone. As per usual, his mind was much faster than his feet.
The gate flickered a second time and a ck scaled human hand burst out of it, grabbing John by the wrist and then pulling at him with undeniable strength. Before he even knew what was happening, he was sailing through the air like a bullet straight out of a pistol. Hot air tore at his skin, his HP decreasing bit by bit because of the resistance. Underneath him was a vastndscape of ash,va, and ck rock.
I finally got in here, he heard the husky voice of an older woman, a much older woman. She flew by his side on skeletal wings of obsidian, membranes made of streaming magma. Her form was enticing, her skin of light brown and d in ck scales that looked very dangerous and sharp. In her chest, between her corbones, a gemstone was set into her body, sharing its colour with her burning orange eyes.
He could hardly run right now.
Burning brighter than the Sun Part 1 – Of Goddesses and Time [Nathalia Side Story]
Burning brighter than the Sun Part 1 C Of Goddesses and Time [Nathalia Side Story]
Sand.
An endless, vastndscape of sand. It wasnt a desert, it missed the hills and all that, no, it was a maelstrom. Sand endlessly swirled around a center. Unceasingly, unquestionably, it drained and was recreated in the basin, kilometres across.
Nathalia sashayed along the pathway of impossibly thick ss that made up the rim of the basin. She hade here just to kill time but now all it did was remind her of the power she had lost. Of ages past when she had dragged annoying mortals here and dunked their heads under the sands until they pleaded for mercy and release from their own memories.
Nathalia knelt and ran her fingers through the sand. It was so fine, her digits glided through it like a liquid. When she raised her hand, the excess grains found their way back to the maelstrom. For a few moments, her hand shifted through several stages of age: young, old, ancient, back to young, before stabilizing at her current age. The sands of time did little this far away from the heart of the hourss. Not like she cared much. This was just another ce to visit and certainly the one that had changed the least over the centuries she had spent asleep. Even her Sanctum had gone through more changes.
You finally show your face again, an indignant voice reached the dragoness pointy ears.
Nathalia turned her head just enough to look behind her. A woman with tinum blond hair stood there. Golden eyes and radiant armour both shone with a deceptively warm light. A disk of burning fire confined in a ck frame hovered behind her back, reflecting off the smooth floor and basking her copper skin in gold. The te armour looked like it was hammered perfectly to her body, hiding none of her seductive curves that rivalled Nathalias own, much to the redheads annoyance.
Sol, Nathalia spat out. Any reason youre annoying me?
Luna felt you intruding upon this ce and thought I would fulfil Romulus promise, he is very busy you know? Solughed mockingly, Oh, how would you know? He has banished you from his court youre lucky he doesnt feel the need to make that banishment permanent in person.
Nathalia growled and stood up. We both know that Romulus isnting here for an entirely different reason, she said with a nce at the far away centre of the maelstrom. Her eyes were sharp enough to make out the man desperately trying to w himself out, even though everyone knew that was useless.
The man was rapidly changing in age. Youth came and went, adulthood reced with both the frailty of age and childhood. Wounds long healed became wounds present, only to be reced with all the pleasures life had brought him. All of that, condensed into a singr moment stretched out for thousands of years. Throughout all of that, a spark of will remained and the man continued to struggle to remain on the surface. God-making hands grasped at nothing.
He cannot bear to look at what he did to him, Nathalia stated and ripped her eyes away. Even I would shy away from that cruelty. It takes a special wrath for anyone to doom a brother to reliving their life endlessly and cowardice not to finish what he has started.
Sols expression darkened. Nobly swung jawbones clenched, as the heat radiating from the fellow goddess skin rose. As a fellow entity of heat, albeit fire and light were different in many regards, Nathalia did not care.
Still sensitive when people insult your master, are you? Nathaliaughed, slow and mockingly.
What do you want here, Nathalia?! Sol barked.
Nathalia refused to answer on principle. While turning the rest of the way around, she answered, What do you care? Our paths divided in Pompeii.
Sol rushed forwards, suddenly in front of the dragoness. You dare speak of Pompeii, arrogant lizard? she hissed.
Nathalia crossed her arms, rolled her eyes and just stared for a moment while considering her options. Sol was Romulus familiar, she was of little threat without him around. Sadly, squashing her would just mean Romulus could put her back together, like all contractors could with their elementals. That considered, Sol was a being of life, Nathalia of destruction, in a fight she would always hold the advantage. Might as well antagonize the bright bitch.
Pompeii was what I had to do because Romulus decided to mess with the one thing above him. Nathalia tossed her fiery mane back with a strong motion of her head. This conversation is beneath me.
Beneath YOU? Sol asked in sincere ridicule. Im sorry, how is anything beneath you? Oh, is it because this conversation doesnt have a cock your loose cunt can bounce on? Is aggravating me another mistake you want to add to your list of failures, you valueless whore?
Nathalia pulled her lips back, beginning to growl. Then she thought of what would annoy the blonde more than being threatened. She shrugged. Your opinion is as important to me as it ever was, Sol, just go back to your owner. Maybe hell see it fit to waste another hundred years scratching you behind the ears.
Sol responded with immediate violence. A ted foot rose off the ground. Nathalia grinned for one moment, then she felt the leg m into her side.
The dragoness had not expected that kind of speed, not in the slightest. The first of the celestial elementals attacks catapulted Nathalia into the air above the swirling sands. Wings of obsidian and flowing magma spread wide open. A segmented tail appeared from her scaled back below, its swipe blocking the next strike from the sun goddess. The exchange of blows created distance between them, a divide only crossed by the ring hatred in their eyes.
Sol had changed into her true form, one of nothing but golden fire. The only things remaining of her previous appearance were the womanly curves and the disk of fire hovering behind her back. Her eyes, two white dots amongst the gold, were focused entirely on Nathalia.
You truly thought you were still that superior to me?! Sol raised a hand above her head. Have you forgotten what my Master took from you? You became weak and I am Patron Goddess of the Greater Empire. An orb of white energy the size of a house formed above Sols palm. I am a goddess of life, Nathalia, we are equal by nature and now I have surpassed you!
The orb of blinding light rushed towards the dragoness. Nathalia closed her wings, using them as a shield as the attack shed with her, basking her in heat that would have reduced lesser beings to ash. Obsidian scales melted, some cracked, but nothing reached the core of her being underneath. The feeling was annoying, not painful. Just as annoying was the brightness that blocked her sight.
A hand suddenly grabbed her by the tail and spun her around. One time she circled around, then she wasunched. Nathalia, disoriented, roughly realized that she hit something soft, which she quickly started to sink into. The tingle of changing time was a warning.
A being of her power was fine just touching the sands of time, particrly this far out. Sinking under the surface, that she had no experience with. Nathalia hurried to try and get out but Solnded atop her, pressing her deeper into the sands with her foot.
I told you I have surpassed you, Sol dered. You can stew in the summary of your failure while I devise a n-! She stopped to kick away Nathalias tail. Then she was right back to shoving the redhead deeper into the shifting, pale beige. to extract you. Really, Im doing you a favour, letting you revisit all your sexual exploits.
Nathalias mouth opened and out came a cone of fire. The red and gold mes burned as hot as the core of a volcano, ssing the surrounding sand.
Pathetic, Sol stomped down one more time and Nathalia growled. Are you even worthy of being called a goddess of destruction anymore?
Nathalia made an animalistic grunt and wed into the foot that was pressing her down, pushing against it with all the force she could muster. The ss that had been slowing her descent turned back into sand, the individual grains reversing their own time, and now she was slowly beingpletely enveloped.
You never stopped being a bitch, did you? Nathalia growled as the sands reached her ears.
I hate you, Nathalia. Maybe this will help you remember why you deserve to be hated, Sol returned in kind as the dragoness was swallowed by the sands. The grains covered her field of vision, and then the foot atop her was gone. Nathalia floated in a limbo, memories drifting around her in the radiant darkness. Against her expectations, they stayed away from her. A presence held them back.
Oh, I dont get visits often, said an unknown voice, distinctly female.
I am
Nathalia, yes, yes, I am looking at your history right now. It''s more interesting than hearing about you from my pals. I am Ferikrona, the one and only goddess of time. Pleased to meet you Nathalia, me of Destruction.
There is a goddess of time? Nathalia had thought she had encountered all but the youngest of those that had imed divinity. Not that it mattered. Get me out of here, she then demanded, she still had things to do. First of all was crushing Sol. Then, perhaps, she would check in on that mortal boy.
Mhm, I could do that, but if I do that you and Sol would just cause a ruckus. Better to give you a bit of a boost. Just like the crazy rodent expected. Ferikronaughed and Nathalia raised an eyebrow. I suppose I should remind you that you are owed a debt and where better to start than the beginning? Tell me, do you remember what you were before you became divine?
Nathalia grit her teeth at the time goddess cheeky tone. She was of half a mind to just break free the regr way. However, she was indeed owed a debt by the Rat. I started as many Abyssal entities do, the dragoness gave in to the little game. Normal.
The scene changed. Her mind was pulled away, numbed and devolved back into the first moments of her existence. She was nothing more than a simple lizard. A pretty big lizard for her species, but nevertheless just a lizard, following a human tribe for reasons of instinct. She was roughly aware that she was an onlooker and simultaneously she was back in the long shed skin. In that weird duality of feelings Ferikrona spoke, spoke of things Nathalia already knew about but had forgotten as they had be as natural to her as the words of hernguage.
There are steps to magic and all start with humans. Whether or not they realize what they are doing or how they are doing it I do not know but it all starts with humans. Faith, that is what makes us. Faith is a flimsy thing. Humans may worship logic or pray for good weather. They may not even actively think about it all. Faith is created regardless and much of it is aimed at nature.
The human tribe settled in one ce and created art. They carved pictures of what Nathalia had been into their totems, drew her on their tents and offered her food. They thought her to be holy, and therefore she became it. As the faith of the tribespeople was directed towards her, she changed. Not slowly, not even quickly, no she changed at one particr moment, the moment her mortal shell died and her soul entered the Abyss.
Her animal soul was the target of human emotions, negative, positive and neutral. All drenched her being and made her soul distinctly non-animalistic. Made her into something else. Something powerful enough to surface in a Natural Barrier. Something fragmented, torn between the many different ideas of her existing within one shell.
They say the first step to godhood is an existence of many minds and you were. Her new form started feeding on the prayers as her status as a holy animal became legend, then myth and finally the central religion of that tribe. They called her the fire lizard and the form they depicted her as had long changed from realistic to what modern humans wouldter know as a dragon. She absorbed whatever the tribespeople gave her, in an age where the barrier between mundane and Abyss had been permissive. Then, she was a monster of the Abyss, a powerful one at that, but just acted on instincts she had gained from all the fragments of other souls that now made up her own.
The second step to godhood is then taking control of that hivemind and bing the singr controlling entity. The tribe grew into a vige and she started to be aware of herself. No longer did she just eat up the emotions of the humans who worshipped her, but instead started thinking about the why. She became sapient, like the beings whose Faith nourished her.
The third step is standing for an aspect of humanity, the Faith of a small vige is not enough to create a god. It would take thousands of years for someone to create their personal god and none have ever managed to sustain a Faith so dedicated for so long. No, Faith is a fickle and predictable thing, following the basics that all humans share. The wonder of life and birth, the terror of death, the destruction ofndscapes and the changing flows of time. One vige is not enough to create a god, but what about all of that Faith that has no outlet? People who pray for safety to no particr deity, where does it go? The fear of disease is a thought not lost. It doesnt vanish. Thoughts and ideas umte and they wait for someone to embody them.
The earth around the vige started rumbling, And so all it took for you to step into the realm of true power, the rumbling intensified, centred around a distant mountain, was to stand for a primal fear of humanity that was not yet imed. The mountaintop exploded into fire and ash, a volcano eruption that sent projectiles of stone flying for kilometres. The sky darkened as ckened clouds blocked out the sun.
On this day you became one, a goddess of destruction, you are the incarnation of humanity''s fear of fire and ash. One of the first dragons, one of the first gods. This day you reached for godhood as that faith reformed you and gave you a name, Nathalia. Ferikrona spoke as the scene unfolded in front of Nathalia herself. In front of the dragon she had been. The in, ck-scaled,rge winged lizard.
Then and now, she was mesmerized by it. The force bottled up in that mountain. The heat that was sent flying. The beauty of molten rock as it burst out in geysers of ash and gas. Blotting out the sun, dominating the world, burning all around, freezing all beyond, leaving thendscape irreparably changed, and ready for new life to begin. Change. Destructive, beautiful, change.
As all of that reflected in her eyes, she became the embodiment of it all. Thoughts lined up with Faith and Faith flowed into the outlet that embodied it. Neither one changed the other, the individual and the pooled power simply were the same and would be until the gods death.
The dragon turned into a stream of orange and ck energy. The men and women who had worshipped her fled from the magma flows. Those on elevated positions saw and pointed, as the creature of myth that surfaced sometimes around them appeared in the explosion of the mountain. Arge lizard turned into a volcanic eruption. Wings of ck clouds and a body of flying embers. Cataclysmic in size.
A rebirth in the mes of the volcanic eruption, and her voice bent the trees. A body toorge for reality to contain, the energies of her birth steeping the environment in magic. Gaias will descended on her and, with eyes that had known mercy, removed her from the mundane once her formation had run its course.
Are you done meddling in my memories? Nathalia wanted to know, her consciousness detaching from memories.
Ferikrona made an amused sound, No, not yet, there is another thing I want you to relive. The scene of the eruption vanished into the darkness, leaving a trail of green, curly hair.
In its stead stepped a man over two metres tall. Short brown hair, a tinge of grey to it, covered his regal head. Around it sat aurel of the most verdant green. It was the only decoration he allowed himself. The toga and the sash that kept it in ce were both in white. A colour that contrasted starkly with the tanned skin that stretched over his muscles.
There were many names for that man, many of which had been forgotten, many more that were no longer associated with him. Nathalia knew many, but she only cared about one.
Romulus.
Burning brighter than the Sun Part 2 – A Feast for Gods
Burning brighter than the Sun Part 2 C A Feast for Gods
Nathalia did not know why she ended up in Europe, or where she came from to start with. In the wake of her ascension to godhood Nathalia had to learn several things. How to cross from one Illusion Barrier into another, how to assume human form, how strong she waspared to others, how she could walk amongst the mundane without invoking Gaias ire.
God above gods, the supreme deity, Gaia, always watched. Rarely, if ever, did she intervene. Wordlessly, she had ryed one clear intent to the goddess of volcanoes: do not threaten humanitys natural path.
At first Nathalia barely took her seriously and was reprimanded only in the slightest of ways but as time progressed Gaia became harsher. Gradually, over the centuries and millennia, she separated the Abyssal from the mundane and then finally Nathalia no longer dared to show even a single scale to a normal person. It wasnt a great loss.
Nathalia also learnt of humans. Much, much more than she had ever anticipated. Most of the mortals were unworthy of her, that much was clear. They were loud, smelly, stupid and weak, relying on numbers for everything. How such a species was able to form the foundations for a being like her, Nathalia never understood.
However, she also learnt more interesting things. She learnt about the pleasures of carnal desires, indulging in both sex and food. She found arge number of people that were aware of the powers of humanity, using magic or other superhuman abilities, with the same restrictions Gaia had put in ce for herself. Most of these were about as interesting as regr humans. A human was little more than an ant and an ant that could also spray acid was still just an ant to Nathalia.
Amongst those however she found some interesting individuals. People who had control over Illusion Barriers that managed to shut her out for a while, rarely permanently, for example. There were many other, more aggressive uses of magic. They would organize and create an actual challenge for Nathalia every once in a while. Highly talented individuals that were born with an ability, ranging from something as boring as elemental preferences to unique things like a blessing of Gaia, intact until the loss of ones virginity. Nathalia regarded that one as a curse. Why would one regard an end to constant sex as a blessing?
The journey took thousands of years. Rarely in control of her own path, she just stepped between the Illusion Barriers she found and looked at whatever she found inside. A journey that, perhaps inevitably, brought her to him.
Nathalia stepped into the new Illusion Barrier she had found while drifting in the flow of the world. Listening to Gaias whispers was always tremendously boring so she had grasped at the first exit she could find. She ended up in a city unlike any she had ever seen.
It was massive, unbelievably so. Nathalia could barely believe that so many people could be in one ce. It was even more surprising to see thousands of humans gathered inside an Illusion Barrier, trading magical items like it was a mundane market day. Nathalia turned her nose at the smell of sweat and human filth. If she had anything else to do, she would have left to escape the stench. Boredom overcame aversion and she began to walk.
Theck of attention paid to her was unusual. Her enticing form and her height made her the target of the desire of a lot of people, but everybody around realized the three-horned dragoness as what she was, and that it was better not to trifle with her. They scurried out of her way and otherwise went about their business.
Nathalia was happy with that. These humans were dirty and none of them looked particrly attractive, smart, or powerful and she only took interest in people who disyed abination of all three.
As she walked, the people suddenly went from merely getting out of her way to clearing the street entirely. An appropriate amount of space to make, she thought, pleased. This city is interesting. Maybe I can find something to do here C or someone.
Get out of the way, she heard a voice at her side. Nathalia nced at the blonde in her golden te armour. A goddess, that much Nathalia could easily make out by her aura.
Nathalia sashayed towards the blonde, giving her a once over. You dare order me around? the redhead asked, arms crossed.
You are in the way of our emperor, the annoying goddess barked another order, get out of the way!
Nathalia ignored themand and looked at the so-called emperor. He was a tall man, taller than she was even, with a hard face and eyes of green. His hair was short and brown, showing slight greying but overall the man didnt look older than early forties. He wore a white toga and was crowned with an oliveurel.
At his side was a pale woman with long, silvery white hair that flowed down her back. She had silver eyes and wore an almost translucent dress decorated with shining stars. Unlike her annoying counterpart she was of a slender build and she looked clean to the point that the dirt of the city itself avoided her.
The woman was definitely a goddess as well but the man was human, yet stronger? His aura was innately human. It didnt possess the thickness one could almost grasp or the connection to the world that normally marked a god but it was also stronger than anything she had ever seen and weaved into its human exterior were a myriad of other powers. What exactly was he?
Stand down, Sol. The emperor said and stepped forth, Greetings, goddess, it has been a while since another one of you arrived. I am Romulus, the ruler of this city called Rome and all of thends around it. These two are my beloved familiars, Sol and Luna. Sol clicked her tongue while Luna nodded curtly.
I see. I am Nathalia, was all the dragoness had to offer, as she looked at the man with interest. She had heard of Rome before but thought it overblown stories. Now that she was there, she had to admit that this city was indeed grandiose. However, she did not care about the city, she cared much more about this man called Romulus.
Nathalia, an interesting name. Would you care to continue this conversation in my pce? the emperor asked and pointed at a huge building in the distance. She did not mind. As a matter of fact, she was very much interested in what this man had to say, just as much as she was about other capabilities he might have.
She licked her lips. You better have a feast worthy of inviting me.
He had and that made him even more interesting. Getting offered a good meal was the proper way to greet her. Nathalia sank her fangs into some kind of boar meat. She didnt care all that much what it was, only that it was delicious.
I hear you are a dragon, Romulus said as he watched his guest devour what was provided.
Indeed, but how do you know? Nathalia had met a few dragons in her lifetime, like her adoptive brother, but they were a rare species and most of them preferred seclusion. It was easy to make out one of her kind in human form simply because they all shared the samenguage, Drakonian, anguage everyone else understood but did not speak.
Yournguage, I am the one responsible for the spell that trantes it, Romulus exined and grabbed a loaf of bread himself.
Nathalia raised an eyebrow, why ever somebody would do something this useless to themselves was beyond her. Romulus had no reason to have that kind of spell other than that he could. Looking at his aura again, it was probably little more than a drop in a river for him.
You happen upon Rome at the best possible day, Romulus said suddenly, Today is the banquet of Gods, as one of them you are invited.
Sure, might break the monotony, Nathalia agreed off-handily.
Good, because it begins now. Romulus pped his hands.
The doors of the pce suddenly opened and beings of higher power poured inside. Angelic sages, demonic deformities, humans with animal parts, men and women made of raw elements, and other weird mixtures between lifeforms. Gods and Goddesses in all kinds of shapes, some small enough to be overlooked and others so big Luna and Sol, who acted as overseers, had to tell them to change forms into something more fitting.
Nathalia just kept eating. None of these gods proved a threat to her. Most of them were Gods of Knowledge, Life or other such pansy things. Not her, she was an avatar of pure destruction. Romulus left Nathalia alone to greet his guests, she let it pass, there was another visitor who had caught her own eye and it was a returned feeling.
A fire elemental stepped towards her. He had the crude shape of a warrior with an axe and a sword hanging from his burning hips. His whole form was just living me and made any detail a variable. You and me, we are alike, he just said and extended a hand. Nathalia nodded, it was true, this one was a fellow god of destruction. My name is there was a noise Nathalia couldnt interpret as a name but instead was just the feeling of glory, death and terror, the feeling of battle.
Mhm, you and me will get along nicely, Nathalia said, ignored the hand and pulled the warrior close, we will talk after this is over, she whispered into his ear. Fucking a god was always a worthwhile experience. She pushed him away afterwards, she had other things to attend to. A great many potential partners were around, as were a great many foods and games.
The banquet was a happy asion, with jovialughter and casualpetition. All of that changed when the closed main door was suddenly flung open. One final guest arrived.
A giant humanoid with short ck fur appeared out of nowhere. Nathalia was equally disgusted and fascinated by it, as he reared his head. The skinless skull of a rat, crossed with a goat and perhaps even a wolf, four horns extending from it. Hunched forwards, he stepped into the now silent room, his motions an artful mixture of fluid and creepy.
Romulus! the Horned Rat said in a very happy tone, how unlike you to not invite me.
It is absolutely like me. After the ruckus your words causedst time, it was the best decision I could make, the emperor said, stepping towards the big creature. Thete arrival grew, to maintain a taller stature than the emperor.
What is this about? Nathalia wanted to know from a nearby dragon, much lower in power than she was.
The Horned Rat spoke a prophecyst time, something about Romulus'' greatest project burning in the me of destruction, he answered quickly.
Good boy, Nathalia patted the lower god on the head and focused back on the happenings.
Ah, I see, the Abel does not fall far from the tree, the Horned Rat made a cryptic joke. The words were enough to make Romulus face darken with rage.
Begone, Muris, he spat out. Your scheming words are not wee here. It was a warning nobody could ignore. Not even the Horned Rat, who was at the peak of his power at this time. A power that caught Nathalias interest, even if his appearance did not.
Oh, oh, I see, oh well. The red orbs that served as the gods eyes nced at Nathalia for just a moment. Then, he raised his voice again, the words carrying an unnatural weight and a meaning beyond expression. Several of the weaker gods copsed to their knees from the sound. I already did what I wanted to do here anyway.
The scene froze. So that is how you met Romulus and the Horned Rat, huh? Ferikrona said, Things seemed pretty dandy back then, and you were both much stronger. I wonder what happened? She giggled knowingly.
You looked at my history, Nathalia responded in an angry tone, You are perfectly aware of what happened.
You are right, I do, Pompeii happened.
Burning brighter than the Sun Part 3 – The Flame of Destruction
Burning brighter than the Sun Part 3 C The me of Destruction
Nathalia stayed with Romulus. He was interesting, he knew interesting people and finding Rome again and again would be annoying, so she just moved in after the banquet. Only Sol even attempted to object, but Luna stopped her and their Master gave the go ahead.
Nathalia didnt really keep track of time, although Romulus introduced her to the concept of some sort of calendar. She found out a lot of things about Romulus and the gods atrge. She made good friends with the fire elemental, who would be known as Kriegter on, Luna, and the Horned Rat. Last of which she could only ever meet when Romulus wasnt around. At first, she only contacted him to find out what he had meant by the words uttered at that first banquet, she received no real answer but he was a somewhat interesting conversationalist, despite being young for a god.
She found out about the two great sins of Romulus, the thing he did to his brother as well as something that, when he revealed it to her, made her actually afraid. Fear was not amon emotion from her, especially not true fear. When he uttered the words atop the Vesuvius, it ran cold down her back.
This is Pompeii C the city that will kill Gaia.
Those words were the end of their time together.
What do you mean, Romulus? You cannot kill her. She is aw of nature. The god of gods.
She is and she is not, Romulus stated as he looked down at the city, from where they stood, they had a nice overview of it. She is a goddess, an incredibly powerful goddess, but a goddess nheless. All deities can die.
Not her. She is a goddess so powerful she is almighty, Nathalia stated, even as she studied the city below. Now that Romulus told her about it she could see it, the lines of the streets, the shape of the buildings, all of it carefullyid out. The whole city was nothing but a massive nexus C an array to focus the mana of all of its inhabitants into one massive spell. Currently it served to simply try and turn Gaias eyes away from here, but that could be altered within a moments notice.
If she is almighty, why would she allow this ce to exist? Romulus asked her.
Why wouldnt she? Its not like it will hurt her, Nathalia countered the argument, All it will do is tickle her and then she has an excuse to kill you.
Nathalia, I have the help of 142 gods and goddesses. Only Odin and his ilk have renounced my invitation. Romulus must have sensed that he wasnt going to convince her, saying, I had hoped I could count on your strength as well.
Nathalia fell silent for a second, Why are you doing this?
To free the Abyss from its shackles. As long as Gaia exists we cannot use our powers freely. We live in bubbles separated from reality, in pomp and glory, while normal humans starve to death and sumb to disease. Why? Because a higher power says we cannot use our gifts to help them. Romulus looked into Nathalias eyes, I know you have no love for humanity, but even you would want to stretch your wings freely under a sky that can contain them, would you not?
Humans are worth nothing to me and the potential of freely flying is not worth the risk, Nathalia denied his point. All you will do is anger Gaia, like Tiamat before you. Was the Tower of Babel not proof enough for you? All of the oldest of all pantheons, eradicated in an instant. All of Mesopotamia, emptied in a generation of Abyssals. Now, only Lorylim remain. You must be aware that Europe could befall the same fate?
Romulus nodded, I am willing to risk it. No conquest is ever done without the potential of loss. If it means the chance to liberate the mundane people from their deprivation, then I shall offer the Abyss of today.
Nathalia looked at Romulus, then at Sol and finally at Luna, they all looked determined. You cannot be serious? Gaia will not stop at you. All of Europe, Romulus!
That is a risk I am willing to take, he simply repeated. The Abyss will one day break out into reality. Even if we do not seed, my research and the power of my own soul put into this array will survive us. One day, someone will work out how to topple Gaias artificial boundaries.
Nathalia grit her teeth angrily. I will not die because of your hubris Romulus. Life is too interesting to squander it on your grand designs. Just in that moment, all she knew slotted into ce. You best not lie, Rat.
Sacrifices have to be made, Romulus sighed and massaged his forehead. He stopped in his search for more arguments, when the ground underneath them trembled. Worried, he beheld the mountain. Vesuvius has been acting uptely, I hope it wont interfe His eyes spied the supernatural influence that grasped at the earth itself. He traced it back to Nathalias hand, clenched like she was grasping at the magma chamber itself. What are you doing?
Saving us all from your idiocy. I cannot flee far enough to escape Gaia but you are just mortal, you I can evade, Nathalia said and stirred the volcano. She never had worked with a real volcano before, usually she created them from scratch inside Illusion Barriers. This was easier. Much easier. The reality of the boundary between the Abyss and mundane being imposed was all the more evident by the ease with which the volcano obeyed its goddess.
A second tremor, SOL! Romulus screamed and the elemental transformed into a sword of gold, toorge and ornamented to be considered a proper weapon for most people. For Romulus, the cleaver was simply wielded in a single hand.
Although Nathalia moved immediately, the strike still struck her horn. What would have normally been a non-worrying strike snapped the ck extension of her skull off on impact. It disintegrated into embers of ck and orange, all of them flying towards Romulus. Her whole being felt slow and groggy, a chunk of her godhood leaving her and flowing into the Apex instead. The powers he stole, he immediately turned towards Vesuvius, in an effort to stabilize the magma within. Likely this was what he had called her for.
He was toote, however. The part of her power that he made off with was not enough to stop the chain reaction she had set in motion.
Nathalia, Romulus sounded equally angry and sorrowful. I have to kill you now.
Pah, if you kill me directly or hundreds indirectly where is the difference really, Nathalia said and slowly took steps backwards. Romulus set after her.
A wordless flurry of attacks. A pained expression on his face. A constant retreat for her. He was the worst opponent of any god. Any more strikes sustained and perhaps he would gain the power to revert what was happening. His Aura ignited, he sped up and caught her, fist mming into her stomach. More of her divinity was drained and she mmed into the floor. Raising his de, he prepared for the final strike.
This is it? she thought angrily, preparing for one final, desperate offensive. Perhaps her true form would no, that would just make her a bigger targe-
Warm blood sttered over Nathalias body. Purple blood, so different from the magma flowing through her. A body of dark fur had taken the strike for her. Sols de form stuck out of his back,pletely rammed through the abdomen of the creature.
Muris? Romulus asked, confused.
In the flesh, long enemy, the Horned Rat coughed. Making certain that none of your contingencies will let you re-attempt this exercise for several thousand years. You know what they say the hand of fate must be forced
Romulus didnt respond, only drew his hand back in a moment of rage and panic. Sol glowed with rising power, turning incandescent. The next strike never came. Nathalia gave the volcano onest push and the mountainside was torn apart.
Even if it was harmless to the gods, the explosion was disorienting. The entire world around them turned into molten rock and burst stone shards. While Romulus conjured one of the many divine powers he had stolen to be airborne, the Horned Rat wove an arcane spell Nathalia did not understand. A portal opened up around Romulus, threatening to swallow him.
Romulus struggled. Vines and stone crept over his skin, reinforcing his already legendary power. Still, he could not keep the power of the portal from gradually closing in on him. Hovering in the air far above the city-sized array, slowly getting swallowed by magma, the Horned Rat cackled. Next time you put parts of your own soul into a magical nexus, make sure no one can meddle with it, the skull-faced god dered, drawing more power from Romulus own design to empower the spell further.
You two on your hands are the lives of all the mundane people that we cannot save! Romulus shouted, the portal gradually closing. If you ever set foot in my realm again, I will hunt you down! Those were the final words, before the spell finished.
A momentter, a second portal enveloped Nathalia and the Horned Rat. They reappeared somewhere underground. The roaring of Vesuvius was gone. In its ce was the skittering of a dozen feet. Small rat-people hurried over to their creator, helping the Horned Rat remain standing.
Where did you take him? Where did you take us? Nathalia asked.
Just somewhere away from Pompeii, in Romulus case, the Horned Rat wheezed, the pain of the wound now apparent in his voice. Stubborn fool, fool C too powerful for me to do more than put him somewhere hes dyed. My contacts will make sure none of the other gods halt the eruption or its consequences. As for us, one of the most important cities will grow here. He stopped for a moment, purple blood oozing out between his teeth. Urgh, I will need thousands of years to restore from this, hemented as the Skaven helped him up, but we both got out alive, me of Destruction.
Nathalia touched her broken horn, she felt the huge portion of her powers that had left with it like a missing tooth. She wasnt happy about that. You could have acted quicker.
I was waiting for the prophecy toe true, but you did it a bit too spontaneously, the Horned Rat exined, the wound in his chest slowly closing. I barely managed to tap into the array in time to save us.
And none of his allies warned him of that oue? Nathalia probed. He had others like you on his side.
We are gods of knowledge, we just see potential futures based on the information we have, not the truth. They must have deluded themselves into thinking he could seed, so thats all they saw. The Horned Rat grinned his tooth-smile.
You are an annoying bunch Nathalia said and prepared to leave.
Where will you go now? the Horned Rat wanted to know.
Go somewhere where I can still fuck somebody. This whole thing was annoying but necessary, She got up and prepared to enter the flow of the world, letting Gaia drift her somewhere safe. Once more, she touched her broken horn.
It would take time getting used to being weak.
The scene froze again. So, there we go. Any hard feelings?
I lost my powers, Nathalia growled at the time goddess voice.
Not enough to be called anything less than godly, argued Ferikrona. Now for the favour that you are owed. Time is a way to regain many things once lost.
Is that your whole purpose? To give me the missing parts of my power back? the dragoness growled.
Indeed.
You could have just done that! she shouted. I have much better things to do than float here, involuntarily participating in another one of the Rats plots.
Could I? Do you? Maybe I needed to stretch the time you had here to get the fix done. Or maybe I am just that bored. In any case, the time I keep you here is now at an end.
Nathalia felt as if her body was restored to a certain point in time, one before the fight with Romulus, one when she still had She raised her hand to her regrown horn. I suppose that is that debt cleared then, she hummed, a little bit of satisfaction sneaking into her voice.
Now, I think you have somebody who needs a reminder of who you are, Ferikrona advised, then her presence disappeared into the golden darkness.
Nathalia smirked and grasped the true power inside her. All of it, all that she had lost, returned to her. In the ocean of times that left her untouched, she began to glow. Her humanoid form broke and expanded.
Sol was hovering above the sands of time, waiting for Nathalia to get back up. It was better for everyone involved if she made sure they could get her to Romulus and for him to finally end her. The next goddess of volcanoes would hopefully be more aggregable.
The constant swirl was interrupted by something stirring under the surface. Finallying back up? Sol mumbled and readied herself.
A giant arm broke from the sands, every single one of the four ws big enough to crush a house. Sol dodged narrowly through gaps. The w mmed back into the ground and helped heave the rest of the body out of the basin. Hundreds of metres away from the shoulder, Nathalias hind legs surfaced. The hourss was kilometres across and that was just enough to contain the living mountain range that surfaced from within.
All of her was obsidian and magna. A dragon with a mountain ridge for a spine and cliffs for ws, glowing incandescently from within the translucent volcanic ss. A maw like a trench parted, revealing needle-like teeth the size of buses. Come then, Sol! she roared, before drawing back her long neck and bellowing forth white-hot fire that filled the sky.
The goddess of the sun was overwhelmed by the true form of her fellow goddess and the heat her mes should no longer have been capable of reaching. Flying as fast as she could, she fled to the edge of the barrier. The cataclysmic cone of fire inevitably caught up with her. Sol screamed in pain, burning under the onught of energies, before managing to leave the space. Once she could no longer sense the goddess around, Nathalia closed her maw.
Yeah, kill that bitch! Ferikrona said and flew up to her eye. The goddess of time was a girl with dirty blonde hair, somewhere in her early twenties of apparent age. She was dressed in a pink pyjama with a fitting hat. Although it was a loose fit, it gave enough of an idea of her slim waist and medium sized bust.
Nathalia swallowed her whole without hesitation. Attempted to, anyway. All she felt in her maw was sand turning into ss.
Rude! Ferikrona announced and appeared somewhere else, I am goddess number 2, you cant kill me. Not in my own Sanctum, especially.
I can kill nothing that annoys me, Nathalia said and beat her wings. One p was all it took to deliver her back to the edge. Shended in her human form. I suppose I am thankful, she said to the time goddess. Do I even care to find out what the Rat promised you for this?
I mean, if you dont really care, I wont really tell, Ferikrona said.
Nathalia waved off and that ended that conversation. She would find out eventually if it had anything to do with her. After all of this, she was itching for a goody.
Luckily, she knew exactly where to go for that.
Chapter 131 – An unexpected Ride [Erotic Content]
Chapter 131 C An unexpected Ride [Erotic Content]
Nathalia plucked him out of the air with such absolute ease that John was left to wonder just how fast she could go. The wind resistance alone hadpletely ripped apart his mana shield, depleted hisplete mana bar and by the time that he finally set foot on the scorched ground of the Illusion Barrier half of his HP was gone as well. How fast had he been going? Sonic?
For Nathalia, he had a different question How are you even stronger than before? The dragoness'' power had increased by another 234 levels, a sudden jump for a being already so supreme she might as well be untouchable. She even looked more beautiful than before, whatever minor imperfections and wrinkles the fire of destruction had had were gone and reced with an energetic expression. She didnt look any younger, just like a better version of herself, which was entirely unfair to any and all mortal women. John also noticed that her broken horn had been restored.
I took a small dip in the sands of time and a new acquaintance decided to get on my nerves before doing what she should have done anyway, Nathalia said, which did not clear any of his confusion. Next time I expect you to let me in voluntarily, dont make me go through the trouble and break into your barriers. It was a hassle for me and excruciatingly painful for you. As she said that she folded her wings, which subsequently disappeared along with her scales.
It clicked nearly immediately. That is the reason why Magus wasnt feeling well! he realized. The Fateweaver had tried to shut out the dragoness because he had just seen her as an intruding busy body. Unlike the Horned Rat, who Johns powers had summoned into the dungeon, Nathalia had tried to break into the main Intermediary Barrier. The fact that Magoi even managed to resist a being more than 800 levels above him for an extended period of time was mind-blowing to John. The power of specialization.
Now that I have you, John Newman, Nathalia spoke in a deep tone and pushed him over. Hended on a cushioned bed, located atop the ind in this volcanic hellscape. It was surprisingly cool for a spot only twenty metres away from the shores of avake. you better show me the fruits of yourbour. Within moments Nathalia had torn off all of his clothes and positioned herself on top of him. Scales receded, revealingrge breasts and wide hips.
The memories of thest time they had fucked surfaced, how her pussy perfectly fit around his dick, the heat inside her, the contraction of her muscles. All of it resurfaced and blood went rushing into his dick, hardening it in mere moments. His whole body reacted with pure pleasure that was only heightened when Nathalia grabbed his head and, in a slightly forceful gesture, pressed her lips on his. Just likest time his senses went into overdrive, his Libido taking control over his mind and Nathalia, utilizing her much superior strength, taking over his body. It irked him, to be so powerless, but the kiss distracted him from such misgivings.
Tongues intertwined in a series of muffled moans, both of them already worked up from the mere contact of their lips. Nathalias absurd sensitivity gave him an in to reverse or at least equalize their positions. A free hand approached her orange hair. Carefully at first, afraid of the heat she radiated, then with confidence, he ran through the wavy mane. He pulled her deeper into her kiss. He felt the dripping wetness of her cunt moments before the sticky folds glided along his shaft. Blissful shivers ran through both of them.
Nathalia ended the kiss by throwing her head back and groaning, Oh yes. Her hips rose, the tip of his cock expertly aligning with her tight snatch.
No forey this time? John asked, half-teasing.
Be quiet, I am thoroughly enjoying your dick, not yourpanionship, Nathalia reprimanded him and pushed him onto the bed of soft, grey grass with an easeful push of her right hand. If I wanted forey, you would bepping in between my legs right now, John Newman.
I wish I could spank the arrogance out of her, John thought, but kept his mouth shut. The hand on his chest pressed the remaining air from his lungs. Nathalia was so strong she could barely make out the difference between this and a light love tap, maybe for her this was a light tap. With a pleased glint in her eyes she straightened her back, raising her arm from his chest in the process, allowing John to breathe freely again.
Good boy, she purred, two words that created a very mixed reaction in the Gamers mind. He delighted in her tone, but the choice of title felt just wrong.
Rather than linger on that, John elected to stare at her magnificent body. As short lived as theirst engagement had been, her form had thoroughly burned itself into his memory. Her hourss shape, fit and athletic, her bountiful bosom and well-rounded butt had all been things he desired to experience again. Even though sex with Jane and his other girls was glorious in its own right, Nathalia was simply a master of sex and her every movement signified that. Her eager cunt was sliding over his dick with barely any resistance, and she was ying with her own breasts, putting up a small show for John and herself to whip them into a frenzy of carnal desire.
Nathalia kept grinding on his dick, moaning and gasping as she did. Every throaty sound somehow reverberated within John, who barely managed to keep his hands to himself. A sliver of his instincts telling him that survival was preferable to doing what he wanted. A patient one, that much I give you, Nathaliaughed and leaned forward, smelling the curve of his neck. And I can see that you have be more powerful. The stench of the other female also no longer is on you other smells have taken its ce. You will tell me all about what happened. After I have had my fun with you.
Finally, she dropped down on his cock at the correct angle. The inferno inside her was even hotter than he remembered and yet still it didnt hurt him as he slowly prated her. The nymphomaniac dragoness on top of him only ever so slightly sinking down, her pussy enveloping him with her tight walls, the muscles inside massaging every centimetre of his dick along the way.
He couldnt hold out, nobody could. Just the teasing, just the heat, just the sight, all of it individually was enough to bring a man to the brink.
Oh, yes! Nathalia hissed and impaled herself the rest of the way with one sharp drop, sending them both over the edge in a frantic, sudden orgasm.
Johns hips buckled upwards ever so slightly, his load pumping deep into Nathalia, the skin of her midriff pulling taut as her back arched. The dragoness had raised a hand to her mouth and bit down on the w of her index finger as uncontrolled moans of far depraved lust echoed from her throat, deep and debauched. John gasped at the feeling of his balls tightening again and again, the godly pussy around him milking him for every drop he could muster.
Nathalia kept quivering atop him for notably longer than his cum kept pumping into her. When her eyelids stopped fluttering, the incandescent eyes focused on him. A pleased expressiony on her rejuvenated face. Her hips gyrated softly. His still hard cock inside her twitched.
Good very good. You are worth my time, Nathaliaplimented and rose her hips in a painfully slow manner. Thest orgasm still tingled in his nerves, overstimting the senses. Every moment was both torture and pure bliss as Nathalia, spurred on by her own needs, kept bouncing. The small mercy was the gradual eleration, giving the Gamer at least a little room to recover.
Nathalia licked her lips and suddenly slumped forwards again. Herrge breasts were practically shoved in his face. I recall you offering more than a hard cock. You may use your hands, John, she said, half tempting, half ordering him to do so.
John took whatever distraction he could get and also any opportunity to touch these squishy yet firm mountains of seductive flesh before him. His hands were on her just a momentter, sinking into the softness of the offered chest. The nipples, a shade darker than the rest of Nathalias light brown skin, were rubbed against his palm. The dragoness crooned in response, and elerated further.
The oversensitivity was fading swiftly by now. Craving for her to move faster became mutual. To taste more of the gliding grip of her folds and to etch himself into the mind of this ancient slut, he pushed the cautioning voice inside him further into the background. More, he wanted more of this mind-numbing, reality-defying, erotic bliss. His mouth found her left nipple, his teeth squeezed the pebbled tip.
The dragoness screamed, loudly. The love bite grew a little more aggressive, pulling at the crown, while his tongue flicked. She tasted deliciously smoky and sweet. Down below, her cunt was twitching wildly around him.
Encouraged by sess, John aggressively kneaded one of her tits and reached down with the other hand. He found her clit easily and began a rhythmic circling that left his digits drenched within seconds.
Whatever Nathalia had expected from him afterst time was exceeded. Oh yes, that is how you should do things! She shoved her tits in his face, filling his entire field of view with caramel heat. She was grinding against him, as she screamed, her voice high-pitched and ecstatic. y with my body and fuck me, John! Make me cum more!
This was the kind of order he enjoyed. One hard thrust upwards and her pussy gushed. Nathalias whole body tensed. John could hear thendscape around them rearranging itself. Overwhelmed in body and mind by a third, then a fourth orgasm, Nathalia sat atop him, only taking what he did to her.
John could yet still give more and he fucked her with as much force as his position below her allowed him to. His hands let go of clit and tits, grabbing the wide swing of her hips instead. Sucking and biting her nipples still, he let her screams be the music of his performance.
Large tits bounced with every thrust. His groin mmed against her thighs, sending the delightful ripples all through her. Ass meat and breasts jiggled wildly, her fiery orange hair was in constant motion. It was hard to make out the dragoness pupils amongst the golden glow of her sclera but he was sure she was focused only on him or nothing at all. Her mouth hung wide open. Her tongue formed only gasps andpliments he never thought to hear from a being this powerful. Yes, yes, oh by everything ashen, your improvement was worth this wait, she admitted without hesitation, This is oh, what a cock indeed! A sexual savant, like I have always been seeking! You just JUST FUCK ME, JOHN! she demanded outright, mind too enveloped in depravity to offer more.
John felt the constant twitches of her muscles under his fingers, saw her barely contained spasms, was gripped by folds so tight it should have been impossible to move but so wet that he managed to anyway. Nathalia was locked in a multi-orgasmic stream. All of her was on fire. Whatever he did to her seemed to set her off, even the rough squeezing of her ass.
Cuuuhmmm! Nathalia eximed.
A plea, an order, both or neither, it did not matter. John was getting close to pumping a second full load into her. The Masturbation Skill had refilled what he had in store, made him ready to give her a second load every bit asrge and thick as the first. He held on for as long as possible. Willpower, experience and Endurance let him dwell in this superhuman pleasure for as long as possible.
However, everything had a limit. Knowing it would be thest time, he pulled out, stayed still for one teasing moment, then rammed his cock back inside her. Teeth around her are, a thumb rubbing her clit, and pressing into her quivering quim, he unloaded.
The first spurt that joined his first load at the entrance of her womb set the dragoness off one more time. With one powerful scream, she squirted all over their joined sexes. Clear pussy juices made a mess out of the surface as much as his cum made of her insides.
Halfway through, Nathalias voice suddenly vanished. Her spine curved, her tits quivered with each shiver that went through her. Rhythmic contractions massaged everyst drop out of his cock. Like that, the two of them remained, until they were bothpletely spent.
John copsed onto the bed of stone and grass, an oddlyfortable mixture, and watched the writhing dragoness. It took several minutes for her to calm down and he enjoyed all of them.
After pleasure was business.
Chapter 132 – A silent regard for burning things.
Chapter 132 C A silent regard for burning things.
John Newman, the Gamer, a level 51 mage of some description was looking up at the silent dragoness sitting on top of him. His tattered clothes were all over the ce, many of the shreds turned to ash due to the universal heat.
Nathalia had cleanly removed everything from his body, from the shirt and pants to gloves and rings. Only thing that was left with him was the Ne of the World Ender. That and that alone had caught her attention, an attention that returned now that her needs were sated.
Where did you get that? Nathalia demanded to know and tapped twice on the orange stoneying on his naked chest. It was too simr to the one embedded in her own for her not to ask the question.
Uhm, uh, Gaia gave it to me, John hastily stammered the truth. Come on! he cursed at himself. Why did that stammer stille back at times?
Nathalia sceptically raised one of her elongated eyebrows. Gaia gave it to you? The constant tapping of her w on the ne was a reminder of the stone-slicing sharpness being centimetres away from his throat.
Yes, he reaffirmed after gulping audibly. The truth would serve him best here, even if it did sound weird.
The w stopped tapping and Nathalias eyes locked with his. Bullshit, the dragoness voiced her disbelief. Gaia doesnt just give items away without excuse. Since your Innate Ability is one of empowering yourself through repetition
No, well, yes, that is part of them, John corrected himself.
In the distance, a volcano erupted. Exin, mortal, the dragonessmanded. From start to finish, you will tell me exactly what your powers are and why you were capable of keeping me out for so long.
John took a deep breath and started rying his story to the dragoness. He had to start at the beginning with this, with how he woke up one day not so long ago, how he learnt about the Abyss, about his powers epassing not only grinding but also loot (he had to go on a tangent about what videogames were to get that point across) and what had happened with the Bloodfallen. He then ended on thest couple of days and the train ride of emotions he had gone through.
To tell someone unaffiliated with all of this about the hardships was surprisingly liberating. That was only one reason why he didnt skip out on anything. For as little as he knew about Nathalia, he expected to see more of her in the future. Lying to her was most unwise. Getting in her good graces, however, could wipe away a great many of his issues.
In the end, Nathalia rose from him and stretched. Cum dripped out between her legs. To his surprise, she did not bother to cover herself in scales again. Still naked, she rolled her various joints.
I see, she finally said, deeply in thought, her eyes set on something in the distance. That is why I smelt lingering hatred on you that fire elemental of yours is a fragment of Krieg, right?
Yes oh, he let out a surprised sound when he checked his mental connections. Most of them were dulled by distance, to the point that he could only sense that the contracts were still active. The sole exception to this was the fire spirit, who was burning with a mixture of annoyance and panic. There you are, you useless shithead! she cursed right into his brain, Swing your ass over and help me, I am in a bit of a doozy.
She shared with him what she saw. Her gaze was currently focused on an animated armour made of greyish ck stone. It moved with ease and honestly was more ying with Smander than fighting her. John would have loved to confirm what it was by using Observe on it, but he already had a good idea.
Nathalia, do you have familiars patrolling this barrier? he asked, not quite sure what to ssify the ce he was in. It was more expansive than any Illusion Barrier he had been in previously, save for the Intermediary Barrier Magoi had put up.
Nathalia, as if insulted, blew air out of her nose, apanied by a slight flickering. Familiar? I have no use for such things. I am a goddess, I simply create what I require to guard my Sanctum, she made an off-handed motion and three more simr golems rose from a nearby pool ofva.
You are a goddess? John carefully asked.
Of course, I am, Nathalia yawned, as if bored by that fact. My nature is no topic of conversation. Tell Kriegs child to stop struggling, she will get here faster if the golem carries her.
He did just that and then followed Nathalia as she walked off. He only stopped for a moment to mourn the loss of all the items he had gained and crafted recently, all of them reduced to cinders.
I see your feet can handle the ground, Nathalia said with slight self-satisfaction, I had no idea how cold I needed to make this ce so someone as weak as you doesnt burn. She guided him to a basin filled with water, surprisingly.
More of the golems were around, shaping and expanding the pool. My old bath evaporated in my absence and I havent been able to gather enough water yet for more, Nathalia exined, as if that was a point of shame, and sunk into the water.
So, she didnt scale herself because she nned to take a bath, John realized and, following a gesture from the dragoness, got into the water as well. The ne, he put into his inventory.
Nathalia let out a long sigh of rxation. John felt reminded of the many baths he had taken with Rave. Mostly because the water temperature was just as scalding. The mixture of Nathalias naked form and Johns memories made him erect once again.
Your vigour is truly remarkable, she purred, but the next round will have to wait for a moment, your little familiar is here. Indeed, one of the golems came into view, carrying Smander in its crossed palms.
Despite being carried like a princess, Smander was extremely pissed, like somebody had just peed on her favourite campfire or something. The moment she saw John she tried to fly over but the Golem was a lot faster than her. It kept her caged between its fingers, until its order was fulfilled.
The golem made a gesture that was a mixture of bowing and reaching out, in order to present his mistress with the captured fire elemental. Nathalia picked up the tiny spirit between index finger and thumb and looked at her. You are a small one for one Kriegs children, shemented in a degrading tone.
And you are as arrogant as I expected! Smander, not being a particrly diplomatic personality either, shot right back. A terrible idea, given the power discrepancy.
Tsssh, the water hissed, when a living me was dunked under the surface. The sound was disturbingly simr to a drop of water hitting a frying pan.
John remained put, not wanting to make any sudden movements before he had worked out what he even could do. Nathalia noticed his distress anyway. Cease worrying. This is not killing her, it just feels very ufortable, I assure you. Thereby slightly calmed John kept still, staring at the me under the water.
About a minuteter Nathalia raised her hand again. Smander coughed. The flickering mes that covered her like bra and panties were extinguished, alongside the little pir that always rose from her red hair. The tiny, red-skinned woman was entirely naked.
Where was I, child of Krieg? the dragoness tested.
Dunno, wasnt listening. Smanders flippant response was underlined by a mocking cackle.
Nathalia was about to dunk Smander back under, when John raised his voice. Her name is Smander, would you please stop? he pleaded. Ill make it up to you.
Nathalia shot him a contemting nce. Thankfully, she relented. Fine, Smander, you seem toe after the less boring parts of my friend. That in mind and because your master is of interest to me, I will leave you with a warning. She nonchntly threw Smander over to John, who caught her.
It spoke a lot about Smanders state that he had to catch her at all. He sent her some mana to fix that dilemma and a momentter she took flight again, the fires all over her body ring up again. Thanks, she said in a dry tone and hovered next to his head as Nathalia continued speaking.
It seems she is still a mere spark, she rubbed her chin, unlike that earth elemental you told me about, this one is not yet evolved, I take it?
That is correct, I hope to do so next week John hesitated, then he raised a question, Nathalia, can you help me?
No. That was a very immediate refusal. I do not get mixed up in the affairs of people, unless I take a personal interest. Since we agreed not to make you my personal property, your problems are your own. I would only get involved for a mate and a mate worthy of me would not require my help. She checked her ws. However, it would be a shame to see your growth end when it has just begun. Im willing to lend some aid, in return for a favour.
How and what favour? John asked, he had already gone into the debt of a German princess, no reason to stop at a dragoness. Depending on what the debt was, anyway.
I will give you an item that works with the one Gaia has gifted you and I will help your elemental further your development, Nathaliaid down.
That sounded good, even if he did need a rification, Dont you mean Help you develop your elemental further?
No, answered both Nathalia and Smander at the same time.
I am surprised you would know the lesson I have to teach him, Smander continued.
I know your father, little as that means for elementals, and the Mother of Fire herself. Of course I know what John has to learn yet, the high dragon stated and closed the small distance between herself and John. First, I will need to find something out.
Johns eyes were glued to Nathaliasrge breasts swimming on the surface of the shallow basin. The light brown skin was glistening from the moisture in the air. To focus on the conversation was quite difficult. What do you need to know?
Your powers, you say Gaia gives them to you. Nathalia put a finger on his neck, the ws on that hand rescinded. The touch of her warm and soft fingertip made him tingle.
That is what I always assumed, yes, do you think its different? Curiosity overwhelmed lust, his gaze snapping back up to her eyes. To this day, he still had no idea what exactly his powers were. An Innate Ability, sure, but what exactly were they?
We will see in a moment. Nathalias finger travelled to his shoulder, down his arm, and then took hold of his wrist. Pulling it upwards, she moved the palm towards her lips C and then bit the side of his hand. John, who had been healed fully thanks to getting the dragoness blessing during intercourse again, saw his HP drop by 15 and then slowly by 5 more points. Sharp teeth prated skin, her tongue tasted his blood. The pain was surprisingly bearable. He had felt so much worse by now.
The surge of power that followed made it that much easier.
John stared at the windows with an open mouth.
I take from your expression that it worked, Nathalia said after letting go of his hand.
What? I mean how? I mean John cleared his throat. Exin, please?
The answer is easy, John Newman, your powers are your own. John blinked a couple of times and Nathalia borated. These powers are granted to you not by Gaia but are merely overseen and supported by her. You absorb ambient magic like a sponge and turn it into your personal might and manifestations. Although your Innate Ability has manifested in a way enigmatic to me, it is unique and vast, even among Latebloomers. Nathalia slowly smirked. Perhaps you will be the one to challenge Romulus, finally.
So, you just, gave me of your power instead Gaia of hers or what? John still needed to understand just a bit more.
Essentially. Unlike Gaias power, mine is no bottomless well. I need to wait for Faith to pool inside me. Dont expect such generosity without good reason from me or any other gods.
John needed a moment to digest that new information and think about the wider implications. From the instant digestion of books, over Skills, and to the spontaneous manifestation of Loot, all of that was his own power. What Gaia did was provide him with the energy to make sure all of these things could work.
But why would she do that? John mumbled, mostly to himself.
Nathalia shrugged and let go of his healed hand. I do not pretend to understand what Gaia is thinking. Romulus believes he understands her, a special kind of arrogance in my opinion. Whatever Gaia is, whatever her goals are, she has been before me and will be after me. Such is the nature of the world.
I see John sighed. He had gotten some answers and a bunch of new questions. You never specified what you would want in return for your aid?
I do not know yet. Something befitting of granting you my time, Nathalia waved off in a thoughtless manner that was simultaneously calming and unnerving. She did not strike him as one to bluff, so that favour could bite him in the asster or be utterly inconsequential.
While he was still wondering which one it was, Nathalia straddled him again. Even in the warm water, the presence of her cunt was a heat unignorable. The orange glow of her eyes was the only true outlet of the inferno under the caramel skin.
Do we have a deal? she asked, so teasingly close to letting him inside her again.
Chapter 133 – A hot-head [Erotic Content]
Chapter 133 C A hot-head [Erotic Content]
Yes, John agreed. Whatever Nathalia could want it was not as bad as letting Rave die or the even worse possibility of his rescue attempt failing and him dying alongside her.
Very good. First, I need to increase the bond between you and that fire spirit of yours, Nathalia rose from the water andmanded John to do the same.
By the time he had turned around Nathalia had already constructed a sort of throne and threw him a nce, the fire of lust in her eyes reignited. Well, it was never properly put out in the first ce.
Unlike a friend of mine, my magical skills are not high enough to manipte somebodys powers without a medium. You can offer me more of your blood or another fluid of magical richness. Nathalia showed him a crooked smile. I am certain you will offer me the fluid to ingest.
There was a choice here? He was not in such a hurry that he would go for the faster option, especially since this was already a shortcut to power. Ill offer my cum, he said with a bit of a horny grin himself. Nodding approvingly, the redhead gestured for him to sit down. A momentter, she sought his lips in another kiss.
Johns cock dripped the first bit of precum. Even though Nathalia hadnt touched him yet, the presence of her curves was enough to make his body ready. Nathalias tongue wrestled with his, her soft breaths and even softer breasts brushing against his chest.
The kiss broke with Nathalia getting on her knees. Any annoyance he had with thest situation he found himself in was washed away. He still wasnt in control, but it certainly felt like it, sitting on the throne with the tall goddess on the floor. Hungrily, she licked her ruby lips.
She had specified ingest and John was all too eager to find out what a slut of ten millennia could do with her tongue.
I am wondering. Thest few scales and ws on her hands slowly vanished, leaving her truly naked. You said you have a Stat named Libido and that you garner bonuses at a threshold of 25, have you crossed that threshold yet?
No, John answered.
Do it now then, Nathalia demanded as her fingers wrapped around his cock. Each slow stroke caused more precum to leak out. Soon, it coated the length of his freshly bathed manhood and lubricated the dragoness fingers.
John groaned, resisting the idea as much as he could. I need those points to
You NEED whatever I can give you, Nathalia interrupted both him and her hand job, leaving him wanton. The motionless grasp turned tighter. John remained adamant, causing the redhead to continue with words. I am Nathalia, I get what I want, John Newman. You will raise your Libido or I will draw back from our little arrangement. How many points did you get from my power?
20 and I need 6. I understand, I will do it! John caved in under the pleasure and the pressure from Nathalias burning eyes.
He quickly raised his Libido to 25 and while he was at it also spent the remaining 14 points on Endurance and Strength.
A wonderfully convenient get, even if utterly useless to his true goal in this grinding session. What was way less convenient was the rather sudden increase in sensitivity he experienced. He had been the victim of this feeling of heightened lust before, when the b of Horniness was active, just that it was now more intense and permanent.
Nathalia breathed in deeply and moaned, a delighted sound. Your smell changed. Her thumb rubbed the sensitive spot at the underside of his cock, until a fresh drop of precum oozed from the tip. Swiftly, shepped it up. A deeply and pleasantly surprised hum reverberated from her throat. Now this is unusual, even I havente across men this tasty before. Her fingers glided down to the base of his dick to keep it steady while Nathalia polished the entirety of his rod with her dragging tongue. After she had thered each bit of him in her saliva, she continued, Yes, you are truly delicious. Is this what you gained?
Y-yes, ah! John answered between two gasps. Nathalia had yfully sucked the first centimetres of his dick into her mouth.
The nymphomaniac goddess released it again with a loud pop, You are a truly fascinating mortal, we will have a lot of fun over theing decades.
Decades? John asked, his mind jumping back into reality for a moment. Nathalia did not make it easy for him to stay there, with skilled movements of her hand she kept stimting his dick. If he hadnt cum twice, he would have decorated her gorgeous features already.
The stronger you humans get, the longer you live. Nathalia said that as if it answered his question. No more conversation. I want this cock in my throat, not words.
An idea the Gamer could certainly get on board with. The wet lips of the dragoness enveloped the tip of his head again. Ruby red and soft, they formed a loose seal around the edge of his ns. Her tongue swirled around the engorged tip, before sinking deeper.
As expected, Nathalia was a masterful cocksucker. She knew and she visibly took pride in each groan she coaxed from him as she effortlessly took him all the way into her throat. There was not even a shiver of resistance from her body, while her neck bulged from his girth. Her tongue curved, pressing the lower half of his manhood against her palette. The seal of her lips tightened, until her cheeks hollowed into concave curves. Micro-movements kept the hot, stretched walls of her throat in constant, shifting movement.
Lewd slurping sounds apanied her slow glide upwards. The vacuum grip of her lips broke, only to be reapplied immediately. Where the ruby ring receded, her hand took its ce, the massage as skilled as the swirling of her tongue. No centimetre of his cock going without attention.
Throughout it all, she stared up at him. Glowing eyes, focused entirely on him. Even if there was no submission in them, the attentiveness wasplete. For all her insistence on getting what she wanted, the dragoness knew to give as well. Soon, her tongue had found the most sensitive spots along his shaft, and pressed all of them as she glided back down.
The pace picked up immediately after her red lips met the base of his cock again. From exploring, to wild and needful. The pointy ears of the dragoness wiggled each time she milked another bit of precum from him. Each time she tasted him, she went a little quicker. The upgrade was every bit worth it in that moment.
The Gamer borderline lost all motor function. Gripping the armrests of the throne, slumped against the backrest, he felt like he was reduced to his manhood and the pair of eyes that watched what she was doing to him.
The rapid bobbing of her head made her wild mane sway. The enjoyment inly written on her gorgeous face. Lips wrapped around his cock, she seemed like she was entirely in her element. Suddenly, she descended all the way and stayed there. The warmth enveloped him again. The contractions of her throat. The stare of her burning eyes.
I want this to be mine, John thought. A greedy thought, worthy of a dragon in and of itself. It was short-lived and reced quickly by another impulse: to grab her by the horns and keep her pinned down. Just barely, he kept that under wraps.
Nathalia softly massaged his balls, while her neck gyrated in little circles. An unupied hand reached between her legs. Barely, the Gamer caught the creation of a smooth stone dildo, extended from the ck ground. It matched his own cock in most details, he realized, before it was swallowed up by the redheads descending, smooth cunt.
Gliding back and forth between the real and the faux cock, Nathalia resumed sucking him off with all of the enthusiasm of a true nymphomaniac. Moans vibrated in her throat. She glided up far enough to take a breath, then was right back to working the length of his manhood.
John feasted on the up and down of her hips. Each time he got a view of her round ass mid motion was a little spike of lust. The tight lips and jiggling breasts did the rest to mesmerize him, particrly thetter. Perhaps it was because all of his current haremettes were on the petite side, but the D-cups kept him staring. Nathalia noticed. His cock popped free suddenly.
Would you like me to use my breasts, John? the dragoness asked in her husky voice, wearing a smile that wore her intention clearly.
This was all about hearing him. John would say exactly what she wanted to hear, please, Nathalia, use your beautiful big breasts to make me cum.
Mhm, it takes the fun out of it if you do not beg, shemented as she rode the dildo, moaning deeply. A hand closed around his dick in an almost mindless gesture. I wonder if I should really use them on somebody who is that eager, she kept teasing.
I beg you, John whimpered, the beautiful firm mountains of flesh bounced with Nathalias hips, the way they jiggled only testimony to how soft he knew they were in his hands, how much better would they feel around his dick?
Nathalia kept grinning in silence, How bad do you want it? Tell me, John Newman, how bad do you want to feel my breasts around your hard cock?
I want it more than anything else right now, please, I want to feel them wrapping around my dick, I want to feel how they jiggle around as you hold them there, as you bounce them up and down my shaft, while sucking my cock. Please use your tits, he pleaded and, just when he reached the edge of how much he was willing to beg, finally was rewarded by Nathalia lowering her hands and straightening her back. Her hands squished her tits, the soft flesh was pressed around his dick from both sides, hiding much of it in her cleavage.
Nathalia shook her tits slowly. The smooth skin turned slippery from the abundant mixture of saliva and precum. John groaned, the sensation of a tit job not quite what he expected. The tightness was missing and even her breasts were notrge enough to envelop all of him. It was pleasurable, absolutely, and a visual feast, but her throat had felt so much better.
In the midst of the realization, John was presented with a reminder that he was not interacting with a human here. Nathalia opened her lips wide, gooey strands connected the glistening red halves. Her tongue extended, then extended further, way past the limits of a human, until it had reached her cleavage and coiled around his cock. Delishioush, the dragoness moaned, the taste of his precum once more reaching her senses.
John was subjected to a wonderfully alien sensation. Her tongueid in a tight spiral around his cock, massaging the length by coiling and stretching. Between the gaps, the soft heat of her tits pressed against him. It was every bit as wet as her throat, yet totally different. It was the kind of pleasure he could only have read or fantasized about, now caressing him in a very real embrace. If anything made the dangers of the Abyss worth it, it would be this.
John clenched his teeth as Nathalias moans vibrated through her tongue, adding to the mix of sources for his ecstasy. Soon Nathalia also added her lips to the mix, although she could barely suck on more than half of his cockhead. The sloppy, soft, constricting, mixture of boob and blowjob continued for only a few more seconds before the underlying impulse of it all finally gained control. He grabbed her by the horns and held her as his hips shot forwards. Instinctively, her tongue slithered back, her lips formed a tight seal, and he came into her mouth.
Seed flooded her. A load bigger than the two previous, fuelled by his newly heightened Libido and the sheer sense of power he got from holding a dragoness by the horns. His mind waspletely numb, overtaken by a thick sheet of white that drowned out anything else. His balls kept tightening again and again.
Only when his orgasm faded, did his reason restart. Hastily, he let go of her horns and fell back onto the throne. Pinching the bridge of his nose, realizing what he had done, he hoped only that he would not be punished too badly. He closed his eyes and just waited. From 5, he counted down. Nothing? he thought.
Opening his eyes just a crack, then wide, he spotted the impossible sight of a flustered Nathalia. Sitting still before him, she was shifting in the very clear afterglow of an orgasm of her own. Her cheeks were reddened, turning the caramel of her skin into a livelier colour. She was ring daggers at him, but the annoyance was secondary to the delight in her gaze. The dragoness waspletely taken by the delicious taste of his cum, swirling it with her tongue the entire time she rode out thest of her spasms.
John, despite the ridiculousness of it all, could not help but feel that the blushing, upset, and fidgeting Nathalia was kind of cute. The way her shoulders quivered and even the careful way she scooped up the one drop of cum that had escaped her underlined that. The way she then licked her fingertips clean while giving him a cold shoulder also just made him wish he was in a position to tease her more.
Am I bing a sexual bully? he asked himself while remembering how he got cute reactions out of Gnome. Having power and confidence awoke sides in him that he hadnt known he had. He wondered just how far
Touch my horns again, Newman, and I will rip your hands off, Nathalias promise grounded him back in reality.
Understood, he assured her immediately.
Chapter 134 – A Test of Passion
Chapter 134 C A Test of Passion
Smander was still hovering around, visibly annoyed by the fact that she had nothing to do but watch the two of them fuck. A surge of panic preceded Johns realization that Nathalia was no longer kneeling in front of him. He turned his head to see the dragoness standing, fire spirit in hand.
Then Nathalia bathed Smander in a breath of fire. John felt the intense heat where he sat, unable to interject as the whole scene was over as quickly as it began. Nathalia let Smander go just as a window popped up.
I mean, Gaia, you ced her in my path or not? John asked the supreme deity, not expecting an answer as he closed the window. Thank y-
What the fuck?! Do you usually breathe on people without asking them first?! Smander shouted and quickly distanced herself from the dragoness, who let it happen without a care.
Nathalia turned away from John and Smander and simply waved for them to follow. Heading naked towards avake sounds like a terrible idea, the Gamer thought, his eyes glued to the ass of the dragoness. Hips swinging, the big, round pillow kept rippling with every step she took. Well, thats as good a reason as ites.
John walked and Smander hid behind his ear. Well, I guess I feel that it worked, but a warning would have been appropriate. She low-key stuck out her tongue.
I do not disagree, John sent her mentally, he was certain that Nathalia heard every word they spoke.
Whether or not she did, Nathalia hit the edge of the ind and then just kept walking. Underneath her feet, a path formed. Magma solidified into ck rock. Still, the temperature was bearable. The goddess of this space made it liveable for an almost regr human like him. John gulped as he nced behind him and realized that the path disappeared just a few metres behind the dragoness. He quickly caught up with Nathalia. The scales and ws appeared again, dding her curves in ck obsidian and liquid orange.
What do you n to do? John had a bad feeling about all of this. Walking over a fading path throughva in andscape so hellish, the ashes of distant volcanoes blocking out the sun was not confidence inducing.
Help you realize the lesson of your fire elemental, was all Nathalia had to say beforeing to a halt. John looked around, they had walked for a while and were several hundred metres away from anynd. He was sweating all over and he was pretty sure that, if Nathalia wouldnt have been around to regte it, the heat would have turned him as crunchy as toast.
Nathalia stomped once and theke rippled. The small tform they stood on expanded, as waves hardened and spikes shot through the surface. Layer uponyer, forming forests of stone and obsidian, and caves from tiny to massive, a structure akin to an arena was erected. They were at the centre of it.
Nathalia grabbed one of the spikes and snapped it off like it was a dry twig hanging from a dead tree. A dangerous glint in her eyes, she faced the Gamer, who immediately came to the realization that this ce didnt just look like an arena.
The spike looked like ance in Nathalias hand, as she weighed it. This will do, she said and then thrust it towards John without any further exnation. The move was anticipated and John did a jumping roll to escape. Immediately he was back on his feet and sprinted towards the forest of spikes. He needed a moment to analyse the situation. Smander was right behind him.
Obviously, Nathalia was holding back. There was no way he would have dodged that attack if she wanted to kill him. Her using a random chunk of rock as a weapon was probably a way to limit herself.
She had stated the purpose of this whole thing so the question he had now wasnt for Nathalia, whose intent was clear, but for Smander. What are you trying to teach me that needs to throw me into such a desperate situation? he wanted to know.
The situation doesnt matter, its just.URGH, over-thinking fucknugget figure it out yourself! Smander sent back a pissed off answer.
That helped him fairly little. He hid behind a particrly thick weave of stone and carefully peaked through, Nathalia was aimlessly walking around in the forest, she hadnt spotted him yet, or at least was doing him the courtesy of ignoring the senses that would let her find him immediately. Time to get the bit of equipment I still have out, he thought, dragging the Ne of the World Ender over his character model. A little screech was the only warning he got. Moving at thest moment, he saved his eye and brain from being impaled by solid stone.
I may be going easy on you, John Newman, but I am not going to be merciful on your mistakes, he heard her husky voice prate through the air. The entire wall of stone that separated them was turned into rubble with a single horizontal swipe of her weapon. You think I wouldnt be able to feel something that is clearly modelled after my own power even if I tried my best to ignore it?
Nathalia was about to stab him again, it was evident by the glee in her eyes, when she noticed that the spear had shattered as well. She clicked with her tongue and searched for a recement, giving John the time he needed to make space. Maybe this was one of those tests in anime Rave was always on about where he needed tond one hit?
He aimed his palm at Nathalia and used Mana Ray. The dragoness had turned her back to him as she thoughtfully stood between two different spikes. A moment before the Mana Ray fired she broke one off and pointed it at John, it blocked the attack, the top of the spike melting off in the process but Nathalia had not been hit. She gave him a crooked grin, revealing her sharp teeth, You should cover your mana better. She dropped the damaged spike and snapped the second one off instead. Now: RUN! John was very happy to oblige that suggestion and turned tail, putting the ne away as he did. It just allowed her to find him more easily.
Stop running aimlessly! Smander shouted at his mind.
What do you suggest I do then? She is practically immune to fire and can block my Mana Ray somehow. I dont have a n, I NEED a n, John shouted right back as he ran up a hill, taking a moment to look behind him when he arrived at the top.
That turned out to be a big mistake. Run faster! Nathalia hissed with a wide smile, her face directly in front of his. A pain exploded in his side as an obsidian d leg mmed into him. He was catapulted off the hill. In a wide arch, he was descending towards a stone formation near a cave entrance.
He had nonding strategy, even though the pain would quickly subside, he had absolutely no idea how he should manage to Trust your instincts! he heard a whisper and the time seemed to slow down for a moment.
My instincts? I am about to crash into the floor after being kicked by a dragon, I think my instincts arent particrly helpful here!
JUST TRUST ME THEN! Smander screamed at him and violently tried to grab for his mana. He had never felt that before, they always waited for him to give it out. It felt like a hand made out of hot iron tried to grab for his soul and whisk it away, Smander didnt seed, his intervention barring her from entry.
John rolled over the ground like a wheel downhill. Naked skin tore open on the abrasive ground, then was fixed back together by Gamers Body. Damage notifications rolled in, small individually, but quickly ramping up. A mere fourth of his HP remained at the end. When he finally came to a halt, he took a swift look around.
Leisurely, the still smiling dragoness walked towards him. Even a love tap by her would kill him at this rate. Given hisck of visible wounds, she may just do that, overestimating his sturdiness. Would it even be an ident if she did?
What is this fucking lesson? he thought as he hurried into the cave, then followed its windings. Turning corner after corner, uncertain where it would even lead him, he ran somewhere he would be safe.
Justurgh, you are such a difficult guy! I thought you would get it already, it''s beyond simple! Smander groaned, clearly frustrated, do whatever, just do something! Fuck it, I dont care anymore. Smander turned in the air and flew back the way they came.
What are you doing? John asked.
Following my passion! came the answer just a secondter.
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
If you dont get it, think about the important fights we had up until now! she gave him a cryptic hint and then, silence. Smander was still there but clearly uninterested in speaking with him anymore. John only was able to see what she saw, which was her finding Nathalia and engaging her inbat.
John, meanwhile, hid inside a deep corner. There was a whisper using him of cowardice in the back of his head. But what can I do? he asked himself. There had to be something between his own inability and Smanders brashness, something that actually worked. John needed to analyse this step by step.
The win condition of this fight was realizing and embracing whatever lesson Smander had for him, everything else was just spection. How did he do that? How did he do it with Gnome? He had reached a state where he felt like he was part of the earth, he had listened to her voice, she had guided him. He had the feeling that this wouldnt work with Smander.
Not the guiding part at the very least, John thought, however he could try to be one with fire, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. There was a feeling, a calm and deep feeling, one that didnt in the slightest resemble fire. No, all he was doing was tapping into earth again. If that wasnt it then what was? Smander had told him to think about the important fights, the one that came to mind was against the Bloodfallen.
Then he realized what she meant. It was so obvious, his overthinking nature had refused to see it. For a moment, caution struggled against the realization, then he dragged a part of him to the forefront that he had only recently been developing. Something that had been culled by the years of living in a safe world and then further diminished by the bullies who had kept him down.
John smiled and pulled the Ne of the World Ender out again.
Through Smanders eyes, he watched as Nathalia, who had been fighting Smander with a bored expression up until now, suddenly reared her head and sprinted into the cave he was hiding in. Smander hurried after her.
Nathalia didnt even bother with running through the windings of the cave, instead she broke and melted a direct way through the stone, I warn you and you are stupid enough to do it a second time? she growled, amused and angry in equal part. You better surprise me thest wall in front of her broke apart under a punch of her ck fist and she came to a rather abrupt halt when she saw the ne. It justy there, on the floor.
Smander, the answer, its the passion for fighting, isnt it? John asked as he sent her 887 points worth of his mana. The answer was so easy that it was just too far away.
From the first time he had stomped down on the seedlings to the fight against the Bloodfallen, violence had changed his character. Physical activity was no longer something he was dreadfully bad at. Combat, especially, was something he had experienced over and over again. The back and forth of abilities, the many puzzles of the environment and the actors involved, it all engaged his mind. To put it simply: it was fun.
Yes, finally! Smanderughed and basked Nathalia in a cascade of fire. The red filled the dark cave.
John had never enjoyed fighting as much as Rave did. He likely never would. That was no reason not to enjoy it. Even if he was calcting, even if he always wanted to have a n, why make fighting a chore? Why make the struggle for life a stressful endeavour when it could be so much more?
Stepping out from behind the corner, John raised his palm. Thest bit of mana he had formed into the preparation of Mana Ray.
One, the mes stirred as Smander quickly burned through the mana. The goal was clear: The mana used for the fire had to mask the mana pulsating in Johns hand from Nathalias senses. Two, a silhouette became apparent in the mes, a figure with orange glowing hair broke out. Three, Nathalia grabbed his hand, and turned it to the ceiling. The attack red up and uselessly hit the stone above, the dragoness face got dangerously close. Sharp teeth parted.
Nathalia kissed him wildly on the lips, her blessing sharpening his senses and helping refill his depleted HP bar. He rxed (most of him anyway) and at the same moment the window popped up.
Chapter 135 – A song of fire and more fire
Chapter 135 C A song of fire and more fire
In the darkness of the cave, John saw nothing but the light radiating from Nathalias body. Her orange hair glowed softly, her eyes an even dimmer light. Brightest of all was the stone in her chest. She was the only light he had right now. That was, until Smander flew into the room.
Yo, lovelizards, can you postpone this shit until after I am on the next level? she dared to interrupt, having still not learnt that it was unwise to annoy Nathalia. It seemed she would get away with it this time. Nathalia pulled back from nailing John against the wall, breaking their kiss in the process before once more plucking Smander from the air.
Do it, she allowed John after inspecting the fire spirit more closely. The thumb-sized spirit was barely sticking out of her hand and struggling, fruitlessly, to get out while John opened the menu and used his Skill Evolution Point on Smander.
Radiation was out of the calction quicker than the nerfhammer had dropped on anything he had enjoyed ying in LoL. He was not going to hang out with a literal source of cancer, even on the off-chance that he himself was immune thanks to Gamers Body, it wouldnt be that nice to anybody else he partied with.
Lava was worth a thought but having Smander and Gnome both tap into the same resources, that being the ground, seemed like it would get in the way. Also, he wasnt looking forward to changing the battlefield into a sted hellhole and having to look out for pools ofva every time he fought. He had experienced enough magma for a lifetime today.
So, it was going to be Hurry along, John Newman, Nathalia growled, my patience is running thin, if I dont have something inside my body in the next thirty seconds, I will eat you. Clear announcement. He hurriedly clicked on ze Elemental.
Nathalia immediately let go of the fire spirit in her hand. They both watched with interest as Smanders body expanded until it was a column of fire. Then it started to take form. Unlike Gnome the one that Smander took eventually was like her original body.
The fire elemental was naked as always, her red skin illuminated from within. mes of red covered her wrists and ankles, originating from some sort of ck shackles with horn-like decorations, while also hiding her private parts from closer inspection, like underwear made from fire.
Ast me burned on her head, an extension of her chin-length, wild, red hair. She had pointy, long ears and mean eyes the colour of coal. All these things were much easier to make out now, because of the sole actual change: she had grown. Grown by a lot, it had to be said. From being a tiny creature the size of his thumb to being even taller than him.
Not the only thing about her that is big, John thought, ogling the fire elementalsrge tits, barely hidden behind the flickering bra. Smander noticed and looked down, Finally noticing these puppies? She squished both of her tits and moved them in circr motions. Same size by scale but gotta hand it to me, they are more impressive now. She threw a nce at Nathalia, apanied by a triumphant smile a momentter, I think they are bigger than yours even. Hey, John, lets ditch the granny and have fun between the two of us!
Whatever was up with his elementals gaining such a massive amount of Libido after transforming and immediately wanting to fuck him? Was that his influence reflecting on them as much as they reflected on him?
Not that he wasining. He was, however, fearfully staring at Nathalia, whose eyes twitched after what Smander had just said. What did you dare to call me? John could feel thendscape softly shaking under his feet.
I called you a granny, Smander repeated, stepping right in front of Nathalia. They were close, very close and got even closer. mes and scales disappeared, exposing deep red and pinkish brown nipples for a moment, before therge breasts pancaked against the other. Nathalia was still the taller of the two, but John did have to admit that Smanders breasts did seem to be ever so slightly bigger. The dragoness red, the ze elemental grinned smugly.
If John hadnt been hard already he would have been when the two shared the most sudden kiss he had ever seen. Aggressively, Nathalia grabbed the fire spirits arm, cupping a feel of the newly grown breasts with the other hand. Smander returned the favour by reaching around and sinking her fingers into Nathalias ample ass. Their tongues whirled, their bodies swayed, neither of them willing to back off or cede dominance.
For all the reasons he had to intervene, John just remained where he was. There was one reason and one alone: watching women make out was hot. Watching two beings of firetall, gorgeous, and with curves that wars could be fought overmake out was just extra hot.
They were bothpletely naked now. Nathalia had even got rid of the ws on her feet for the asion. They were two extremely beautiful women with hourss figures, just pressing into and fondling each other. Bright orange and red hair swaying with the heated movements of their heads in the passionate disy of raw sexual attraction. Strands of liquid fire seemed to connect their mouths instead of saliva when the kiss finally broke, a golden mixture of Nathalias saliva and the ming essence that made up Smander''s body.
It seems you can use your mouth for useful things as well, Nathalia purred andid a finger on Smanders mouth before she could say anything, Ssshh, dont ruin it, Smander.
The dragoness forced Smander on her knees and turned her own backside to John, putting her left hand in the fire elemental''s hair while the right rested on the ck wall of the cave. Needing no encouragement, Smander went with the flow and started assaulting the smooth crotch in front of her.
Yessss, Nathalia hissed as the tongue touched her sensitivebia, someone as adorable as you shouldnt be talking back this much. Smander plunged her tongue deeper inside and Nathalia tilted her head backwards as she let out a long and blissful groan. Her husky voice was made for sounds like that.
Her eyes spotted John at the edge of her field of view, she turned her head into a morefortable position to look at him. The Gamer was just standing there, cock unused, an uneptable state of affairs. However Nathalia wasnt willing to let the young one out of her work of licking her wet quim. There was an easy fix however.
Nathalia raised her hand from the fire elemental''s head. Smander didnt even notice, she was lost in this new sensation that she hadnt known before, eating the dragoness pussy out was somehow enticing to her, like it was something part of her had known for a long time, something familiar. Nathalia moaned from the constant attention. Her now free arm reached to her own backside, back bending she reached for the overflow of her honeypot and spread it liberally over the hole above.
Stop standing around there uselessly, John, shemanded and pulled aside half of her enticing backside, I have use of your skills once more.
Yes, absolutely yes! As enthusiastic as his thoughts were his steps. Her back entrance was glistening wet from the juices Nathalia had just spread on it and,bined with the precum John was leaking from watching this whole thing, the entrance would be easy. Or so he thought.
John had no experience with anal yet. The topic hade up before, but he simply hadnt crossed that bridge yet. Who better to experience it with than a woman who had more experience than any other?
Even with his cock aligned properly, getting past the sphincter was tightness to a degree he had only known from Gnomes pussy before. Nathalia remained rxed, even wiggled her hips enticingly. Slooooowly, she crooned and he took her by her word. The puckered ring stretched, his girth slowly spreading her open.
It did get better, once he was inside her past the head. His shaft loosened Nathalias sphincter, while he slowly sank deeper into her ass. It was incredible just how much a different angle could change how it looked when he was burying himself inside her. Stretching her backdoor was so much more obscene than prating her cunt. The insides of the second hole were entirely different, yet also so wonderfully tight and hot. Eventually, he felt her moistbia on his balls.
He just stopped for a moment and took in the feeling. The quivering of her anal cavity pressing against his cock, the tight sphincter forming a ring around the base, the shivers caused by the close-by licking of Smander in Nathalias crotch. Then he finally pulled backwards and prepared to fuck her as hard as he could. At the start that turned out to be not particrly fast but as precum kept leaking and the sphincter stretched more it got easier until he had a somewhat steady, fast rhythm, hammering in and out of the dragoness ass.
His orgasm was fast approaching. A fact that he barely minded, given the hair trigger Nathalia had. The dragoness was en-route to her third orgasm, stuck between hammering cock and eager tongue. Oh, yes, John, fuck my asshole, she spat vulgar phrases, and dont you dare stop eating my pussy, brat.
Nathalia kept screaming, eventually foregoing words entirely as one orgasm after another washed over her, her body in a constant state of absolute bliss. John heard a pattering as the dragoness squirted all over Smanders face. The ze elementalpped it all up. Her summoner was clenching his teeth to keep going balls deep again and again.
Nathalia at this point was far beyond squirting, her face was a contorted visage of pure debauchery. Mouth opened wide, her tongue lolling out, staining her lips and chin in saliva, all of it contorted into a slight grin. Her orange eyes were rolled upwards to the edge, her pupils barely visible anymore.
John only saw that expression when he hugged Nathalia from behind and pulled her close in order to be able to m even harder into her. The side view of her dumb-fucked expression, was what sent him over the edge and he pumped his seed deep into her ass. The muscles inside her tensed and spasmed. It was entirely different from the gripping of folds. It still seeded in making him give all he had. He groaned as his balls pumped and pumped until they couldnt give anymore.
Sex with this dragon is going to be the death of me, John thought as he prepared to pull out. His cock had barely left Nathalia when the dragoness fell to the ground. John was worried there for a moment, until he realized that Nathalia didnt actually fall, she just had grabbed Smander and was now pinning the fire elemental to the floor in another wild kiss. This one was short-lived however as she only got into the correct position before turning to John.
Her face was still contorted, eyes unfocused, and smirking crookedly her bodyy on top of Smander, the dragoness legs between the fire elementals, both spread wildly, two pussies right on top of each other. John had seen this position before,st time it had been Rave and Aclyisa, he was not at all tired of it.
It would beunfairto hog all the fun Nathalia gasped, waves of orgasmic aftershock ravaging her speech. To John it looked like even the mighty fire of destruction needed a short pause, although the position she chose was just one of less pleasure. A few hours ago, John wouldnt have been sure if he coulde two times in a row just like that but it seemed like his increased Libido and Endurance did work wonders with the view, his cock jumping from halfid to fully hard again within moments.
Still, he wasnt as horny as before allowing him to wonder if it was exactly smart to stick his dick into fire. Just do it, retard, came the mental abuse from Smander, her voice a mixture of longing and scorned anger. Smander had spent thest minutes eating out Nathalia without feeling anything herself aside from Johns stimuli, all of which wasnt exactly helping her already small pool of patience.
As he felt a zing rage starting to swell within Smander, John decided to ignore his cautiousness and do what he did best: fuck the ever-loving shit out of things that he would have deemed fantastical a few months back. He pulled a bottle of water out of his inventory to give his dick a rinsing, more for his own peace of mind than any true hygienic concerns, then approached. The two fire women had kept themselves busy with kisses and y fights the entire time.
John started by rubbing the tip of his cock against Smanders lips. It was hot, yes, but only a bit hotter than Aclysia and not as hot as Nathalia, who did him the favour of moving her upper body so he could see the fire elementals reactions. Smander herself wasnt even looking, her coal eyes were staring to the side, Just fuck me already! she demanded in a voice tamer than what he was used to.
John obliged and eased himself inside. Smander wasnt tight, but that was due to the fact that whatever it was he felt while inside her was not exactlyparable to anything else. Sure, it roughly felt like a pussy, there were walls of some description and it was slippery enough to move. Just like with Gnome there was no actual lubrication there, he just moved easily. Beyond that likeness to human women, it was difficult. It was like he was surrounded by a gas that actedrgely like a liquid but was also solid enough to cause friction, while also just massaging his dick for being inside her. It was weird, but it felt good, especially as he started moving.
Every thrust he did was like pouring oil into the fire. Smanders insides reacted in a vtile and deeply wee way that sent hot spikes of pleasure all the way to his brain. Every thrust also saw the two asses and four thighs in front of him jiggle. The giant tits rubbed against each other, nipples especially, the two fire based beings moaning and shouting in pleasure. Nathalia let the shocks prolong her aftershock, while Smander basked in the first pounding of her life.
And as much as he would have loved to continue this exercise, this new kind of pleasure was insane. Smanders folds reacted to his every thrust by giving him more and more pleasure, motivating him to go faster and faster, without any regard for his stamina.
What normally would have been ack of control on a mans part, leading likely to an encounter that ended all too soon, was wee here. Nathalia was enjoying the throws of passion, her body still remembering all that had happened today, enough for her eyes to roll up just from the secondary pleasure. Smanders sensitivity rose in equal measure such that the fucking turned her insides into a whirling firestorm of ecstasy.
The trio let out sounds of bliss that filled the cave as everyone moved towards the height of their joined pleasure. The climax inevitably came, taking the form of John mming into Smander onest time. His balls tightened, shooting a second, lesser load into Smanders hellishly good cunt. Even though it was impossible, the fire elemental felt the sperm burn even hotter than her insides, her whole being ring just as her back arched up. She screamed loudly, only for it to be muffled by Nathalias mouth on hers. Fingers locked, tongues fought, passion remained at its height, even as it found an outlet.
John kept fucking Smander through most of his own orgasm. The fire demanded more fuel and his body, sweaty and exhausted, was resolved to give it. All he could and wanted to do was keep thrusting and keep pumping her full.
It wasnt until the post-nut rity kicked in that he finally managed to pull out. A long-held breath left his lungs and he just copsed backwards, lying on the cave floor. Jesus Christ, he thought. Am I in heaven?
A weird thought to have in the middle of proverbial hell.
Chapter 136 – The remaining gifts
Chapter 136 C The remaining gifts
Contrary to his expectations, Nathalia was the first one to get up. This was worth my while, she decided and lightly tapped the nearby wall. Rock liquified and parted, soon letting volcanic light flood in.
The intensity surprised John C as far as his mentalyout of the battlefield had gone, the cave had been near the centre of the structure. A map that was entirely useless, when in the domain of a goddess, he quickly realized. The ind had already be undone and what little of it remained was drifting back to the shore.
Did you move the ind while I was trying to fuck your brains out? John asked while getting up.
Nathalia raised an eyebrow, as if that question did not even deserve to be uttered. You believe above average fulfilment will make me unaware of the ongoings in my own Sanctum? That answered that well enough.
Rather than risk upsetting Nathalia with more of his words, he turned his attention to the windows that had popped up.
Easy choices. Only thing he would be interested in would be what an Epic Gag was. Would Gaia tell a great joke or would she gift him a ball-gag and if thetter would that maybe be the gag? Well, whatever the case may have been, John chose to go with the Big Spoon.
Second choice he had to go with Tragedy; he just had more use for Wisdom than Charisma. Immediately, he checked out the Epic item he had received.
Once again John was wondering what Lightweight was supposed to mean really, as the sted thing was just way too heavy to lift for him. Tapping on the Attribute revealed a description. Great, now I no longer have to guess, he thought, while reading.
The window stated that the enchantment reduced the item''s base weight by 10% per Level of Lightweight. In other words this thing was 30% lighter than the sword would have been without the enchantment. A fact that boggled Johns mind as he strained to pick it up. The best he did was get the handle to the height of his hip, while the ck-red tip of the de dragged, screeching, over the ground.
Where did thise from? Nathalia wanted to know.
I got it for fucking you up the ass, John answered truthfully, gaining both a raised eyebrow and a small chuckle from Nathalia.
Interesting, she took the de off John and effortlessly raised it into the air.
Its haft was made for only one hand but extended long enough to be gripped with two if the situation called for it. With a de that extended for a full metre, it was neither a true longsword nor a shortsword. A bastard sword was probably the right word to use. The de was only sharpened at one side, the backpletely straight, the smooth ck surface glinting in the light of the magma all around.
This is a good weapon, Nathalia said, before adding in a less convinced tone, for people at your power at the very least. Do you still have that creation of yours?
Aclysia? Yeah, John answered, I will give it to her. The dragoness nodded, then let John coax her into helping him put the sword into his inventory. On his own, that would have been a struggle.
Something very light settled on his shoulder. Okay, sex is awesome, I lose the bet to Sylph, Smander announced, her voice right next to Johns ear. Turning his head, he found the ze elemental sitting on his shoulder, once more down to a diminutive size. Even now she was bigger than before though (about as tall as his hand).
So you can change your size as you like or...? John investigated, eyes naturally drawn to her boobs. d in fire, the two mounds remained outstandinglyrge. His palms remembered the sensation all too well.
Smander shrugged, making those firm boobs jiggle, Mostly no. She pushed herself off his shoulder. Hovering in the air in front of him for a moment she exined, So this seems to be my minimum size. Her body red, being nothing but fire for a moment before consolidating into the tall woman she had been minutes earlier. The only notable difference between the two forms was how tall she was. This is my maximum size, everything in between is stressful to keep up, she copsed back into the hand sized form and returned to Johns shoulder. It''s more of a binary than proper size shifting.
It was another thing of note that she apparently didnt need to think about not burning him, which was a massive improvement to her burning holes into his furniture. Smander acknowledged that as well and shed him a smile C before suddenly disappearing.
John felt her move at rapid speed through their mental connection and immediately ran after her and the dragoness who had kidnapped her. The Ne of the World Ender, he secured in his inventory as he ran.
A thousand curses echoed in his mind, as he felt Smander being submerged in water again. He ran as fast as he could, but he still needed two minutes to arrive where Nathalia had in a near instant. That was for the love lizardment, the dragoness growled, holding a soaked fire spirit. I do not forget, small one, and now
Oh, nooooo, Smander gasped irreverently. Please not again, oh big, scary dragon, I am so afraid of your insecure actions of retaliation! I will behave, I swear A short pause. Granny.
The water sshed over a metre high when Nathalia mmed the elemental back into the hot spring. I have changed my mind. My help will take another form C and you will need to find a new familiar.
Just go incorporeal! John told Smander.
You think its that fucking easy?! the ze elemental shouted back. Im being drowned by a fucking goddess!
I can feel your attempts to disentangle her. Nathalia shot him a deep gaze. Im a high dragon, my very essence is touched by the Abyss. Creatures of my strength dont need enchantments to crush the essence of elementals.
John was sorting his arguments to make Nathalia reconsider, if she was even fully serious in the first ce. If she meant to actually kill Smander, she could have done so twenty times over already. Before he could make a plea, he noticed that the water was beginning to boil. It was weird in the first ce that it didnt, being in a ce of this level of heat, but it was even weirder that it only started now. John finally realized that the centre of that heat was where Nathalia kept her hand underwater.
Smander was using her newfound powers as a Tier 2 elemental to boil away what was hurting her. The pool was quickly vanishing, which made the dragoness rapidly pull her hand back. sted girl! she cursed and tossed Smander aside like a boring toy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get water here? The Faith of volcanoes hardly feedskes.
Smander didnt but she also didnt care, quickly flying over to John and hiding behind his ear, Just stop abusing me! she demanded. Nathalia looked at her half empty bath with extreme dissatisfaction, ignoring the elementalstestment.
I will have to get that fixed. Nathalia sighed, then growled, then shook her head. If he had been any less interesting, John got the feeling he would have been ckened bones by now. Not having a bath is an uneptable state of my Sanctum, even worse than not having my spires anymore. The dragoness raised a hand to the stone in her chest, her face became slightly distorted in the slight agony the next act caused her.
With the sound of a cier breaking apart, power rippled out through thendscape. It forced Johns aura sight open and for the first time he beheld what Nathalias supernatural presence was. It was so thick that she herself was almost invisible underneath it, the golden glow somehow unsteady as it swelled and copsed for each of the three times she carved a splinter out of the gemstone.
John dismissed the blinding way of seeing her as quickly as he could. The way and flow of Nathalias aura had reminded him of a certain other one he much rather not be reminded of for as long as possible. The dragoness wasva amidst a sea of normality, refusing to be one with anything less than herself.
Give me your hand, Nathaliamanded while extending her own. A bit reluctantly, John didy his right hand into hers. Nathalia pressed one of the three splinters against Johns ring finger. The smell of searing flesh was disgusting, and the pain was much worse. Lava bubbled up from the surface of the splinter, wrapping around the half-exposed bone and slowly formed a ring. At the end he was left with a ck ring. The orange gem at the top glistened in the light.
The main thing is probably that it makes the ne that much better, John thought with a worried look at his HP bar.
Now, the other hand, Nathalia instructed.
Can we postpone that a bit? John asked.
Dont be a weakling, John, Smander said.
I agree with the nuisance, Nathalia added, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. You got through the first without screaming, you will survive a second time.
No, actually, I literally wont, John stated and exined, This reduced my health to 23, another experience like that and I die.
Awkward silence. John could see the idea of just doing it anyway go through the dragoness head. Thankfully, it did not manifest into action. I dont have time to wait for you, is there a way to heal you?
Well, if I had a level-up John didnt even have the chance to end his sentence before Nathalia bit his hand. The quick and painful way to acquire a medium to connect with him.
That did it? Nathalia asked just to be sure, already grabbing his left hand.
Ye-aaaaaaaaaah, John shouted in pain as the searing sensation returned. His flesh was burned right off the bone, as the ring formed around his finger. He was left with a perfect copy of the other ring, pitch-ck, the shard of Nathalia glinting at the top.
There, now you are marked as mine, From now until forever, all shall know to whom you belong, Nathalia said with a satisfied smirk.
For a second, John contemted an unwise action and then, despite his better judgement, decided to go through with it. Actually. He opened up his inventory and just pulled the rings off their respective slots and into his inventory. Both vanished from where they were, not even leaving scars behind.
Nathalias smile froze and died. Arms were folded underneath her scaled breasts. An annoyed tapping of her fingers against her elbow reverberated with impossible volume in the air. You would refuse my mark, John Newman? she finally hissed a warning.
I thought we agreed that Im not your property.
We agreed that I will let you go free to see you grow into an ever more worthyy.
Then let me be clear: Im not your property, John pushed the envelope. He had gotten away with too much and was the target of too many investments by her to think he couldnt redefine their rtionship bit by bit. I do not enjoy being used, Nathalia, and I especially do not enjoy being taken for granted. What I do with you, I do because I like it as much as you do. If thats not the case, you wont get what you want either.
Nathalia pressed a rumbling growl out of her throat. Fire pushed out between clenched, carnivorous teeth. Her lips peeled back to an inhumane degree. She inhaled deeply and took a step forward. John stood his ground. Whatever, she finally spat out and pushed the third shard into his hand. This one you best feed to that creation of yours.
Latent power tingled in the Gamers hand, the shard radiating lingering divinity. Ehm could you create a fourth item instead? I think I would get a bigger bonus fro-
Ick the ability to create more items for you. Bother somebody else, Nathalia snapped at him, ws tearing into the air itself. It did not take an especially wise man to realize that he had pushed her as far as he could, so he just shut up and watched the cracks spread through the air.
He realized immediately what was happening. Nathalia was tearing her way back into the Illusion Barrier she had abducted him from C and was having a hard time of it. The initially casual gesture changed to a strained, two-handed prying. The Protected Space was clearly fighting to keep her out and it was almost working.
Magoi really is worth 500 billion, huh? John thought.
However good Magoi was, it was not enough to keep Nathalia out. The tear opened wider and wider. I fulfilled my end of this bargain, Nathalia dered, her shoulders trembling. Survive, John, I demand you return my investment. When I feel like it, I will find you again. With those words, she widened the gap to a level that John could walk through. Now, leave.
The edges of the tear were trembling and it would doubtlessly take very little time for it to close again. Still, John took the gesture to ce a quick kiss on the cheek of the dragoness. The quick gesture of affection made her jolt back in surprise. Thank you, was all John had to say, before jumping through the tear. Whether by happenstance or because of an embarrassed goddess, it mmed shut right behind him.
Chapter 137 – Getting back on time.
Chapter 137 C Getting back on time.
John fell. The tear had been inconveniently located five metres above the ground, which guaranteed his unexpecting ass a painfulnding. The impact robbed him of a bit of HP and left him feeling universally exhausted. The creation of the second ring had diminished his health by a fair margin, but it was really the events of the day all around that had him feel well and truly tired.
Hasty footsteps informed him of someone behind him. He turned around just in time to see Aclysia descend on him, her warm arms embracing him. Master, you are back! she eximed. Her pale face and white hair was in stark difference to the night sky behind her.
Yeah, John responded weekly, not really having the energy to do more than weekly pat the back of her head. Connections with his other elementals snapped back into ce, letting waves of worry flow into him that felt inappropriately intense. He felt that it had been about a day, but judging by the fact that it was still night, it couldnt have been more than a few hours at most.
You get back just in time, I was about to contact my employer, Magoi, who was decidedly not looking in Johns direction, said.
Can you tell us what happened, Master? Aclysia asked while keeping him close. John was still mildly confused but ryed the whole story of what had transpired. Smander flew around uncaring for the most of it but showed off her new form to Sylph when asked. That sent the little air elemental into a wild ramble.
That is like, so unfair. Like, I cant even. O C M C M. So unfair. I wanna be big too and I dont need giant tits like you, I just need to be big, then you even fucked him, I wanna do that, I WANNA DO THAAAAAAAAAAAT, Sally, you are so mean! You mea There was a fireball that barely missed Sylph The fuck did you just call me?! Smander wanted to know. What? You dont like Sally? I also have Sal, Salma, Salda, Zelda, Mandy and Lamany,st one I like cause it sounds like lemon-y and your mood is always so sour! Sylph dodged the next fireball too, this time with more ease, the air elemental maybe wasnt the smartest one around but she still was way too fast for anyone else.
I will set the sky ame if that is what needs to happen! Smander cried out, transformed back into her smaller form and set after Sylph, who was doing loops in the air. A green and a red dash respectively, they spiralled through the air.
I have a question, Magoi said, You say you were abducted by Nathalia, correct?
Yes, John answered.
Okay, once this is over I will cut all ties with you, Magoi decidedly stated, I ask for your understanding.
Wait, why? John was confused.
I am not going to get on Romulus'' bad side and she definitely is, so I am going to stay as far away from her as possible, Magoi exined.
What did she do?
She burnt Pompeii, an act you should read about on your own, it is tooplicated to exin. Now, for a question on my end: how did she get in here? This barrier is untraceable by outside means, I thought it was just a random god jumping around. Obviously, this was not the case. In the sockets of the raptor mask, eyes red inquisitively. Therere only two options here. Either I screwed up or theres something I did not know about. Which one is it?
Ehm, Aclysia ate one of her scales, she probably used that to find us?
Magois head subtly moved to Aclysia for a split second, before snapping back. So you had a beacon for her then this is decidedly not my fault. You will not be reimbursed for the week you just lost.
I did what?! John shouted and looked at Aclysia, who was still holding him closely. Now she outright nuzzled up against him, hiding her face in the curve of his neck.
Master, I was so lonely, she sobbed quietly. The misery he felt at those sounds painted over any surprise or anger.
Nathalia had whisked him away to her so-called Sanctum and because that space was only connected to this one, not actually part of it, the time dtion had no effect there. With ash covering the sky he had no way to confirm what time it was and as the day passed by, him being busy training and fucking, Aclysia had to wait an entire week for his return inside her slowed time.
The other girls, the elementals, had been worried about him but at least they also had a connection to the rest of the world. They could just be happy with what they were, Gnomeying on the in, Sylph soaring through the skies and Undine just losing herself in the bathtub. Even as their intellect grew, elementals were fundamentally simple creatures. Aclysias entire routine was gone with him. All she could do was clean an empty house and wait.
While stroking through her hair, John sought eye contact with Magoi. Before a question could be uttered, the Fateweaverid down the situation. ording to page 67, paragraph 7 of the Fateweaver service agreement the Fateweaver, being me, has no obligation to refund anything if a higher power, being Nathalia, is invited by the contractor, being you, without the Fateweavers knowledge and obstructs the scheduled program. Invitations are defined as a multitude of things, one of which is beacon setting. Magoi took a deep breath, To put it bluntly, you just lost six days, let this be a lesson in how to fulfil your end of a bargain, the Fateweaver turned heel and quickly walked away. It seemed like he truly didnt n to stay around John more than necessary now.
Thats bad, John thought, he really didnt want Magoi to be at odds with him. That just sounded like a recipe for trouble. Nothing he could do about it now however, as the Fateweaver locked the door to his copy of the house behind him.
With nothing else to be done, John whispered, Lets get inside. Aclysia wasnt hearing him, she was still quietly sobbing, and nuzzling against him.
Dont do this to me again, Master, she begged, filling his thoughts as her body was too busy crying to speak, Please, never.
I promise, John sent back and after a few more minutes of reassuring her they finally moved into the house.
Aclysia recovered quickly once he was inside again, returned to purpose. She vanished in the kitchen while he went to get something to wear. A shame that I fed the enchanted pants to Aclysia, John thought as he got into his mundane clothes. The item he would miss the most of the things that Nathalia had destroyed would be the Earthen Shirt. Sure it was a short-lived possession, but he so rarely got useful gear that this really stung. Weapons, rings and nes, stuff like that dropped in masses but for the other slots he rarely got anything.
When he got back down, wearingfy ck pants, blue socks and a in t-shirt, he felt decidedly better. He even heard Aclysia humming something in the kitchen. When she returned to the table she had prepared a piece of bread. I am sorry, everything else spoiled, she apologized.
No problem, John said, he was famished and would eat just about anything. We have anything left to drink? Water or orange juice, master. Ill take thetter. Following his instructions Aclysia quickly walked to the kitchen again.
John started eating when a blue mass wobbled into the chair to his right side and took the appearance of a girl. Undine stared at him. Wee home, shemunicated in her musical voice.
John smiled after gulping down the food. Thanks, how are you doing? he asked, he was happy that Undine talked to him on her own, it meant that she was slowly warming up to him again. As her answer Undine sent him a picture of the bathtub, the feeling of water running through her body in an endless stream, cleansing her. You do look shinier than before, Johnmented, causing Undine to send him a happy little melody. He mentally instructed Aclysia to get a ss of water as well.
John felt a tug at his left sleeve and turned in the chair. Gnome was standing there, quickly retracting her hand as she blushed. Feeling her summoners gaze for the first time in a week was somehow incredibly embarrassing. It could have to do with the fact that John was a pervert. She averted her eyes for a moment but then clearly looked at him, blushing even harder, her whole face turning from pale white to beet red. W-w-w-ww-w-wee back! she finally got out and kissed him on the mouth. Itsted for two seconds, then she pulled back with enough force to stumble over a chair behind her.
Eyes spinning, she remained on the floor. When she recovered, she followed Johns gaze down to her skirt and to her clearly disyed, naked crotch.
Ah! she quickly pushed her skirt down, I,ter, see, you, I, maybe, ehmYou didnt see nothing! she eximed.
Right, I did see something, John answered in an amused tone. Gnome froze for a moment, then she started to stammer more excuses. He just stated, You got some bread there, and picked it from near her lips where her clumsy gesture of affection earlier had left it.
Gnomes twin tails developed a life on their own, weaved around her head and hid her face from him. They didnt muffle the Uwuwuwuwu, sound she was making.
Ahahaha, still the same frustrating piece of work, Smander said andnded on the fallen chair, dangling her crossed legs from the edge while she clicked her tongue. See, if I were you I would just say, Yo, John, lets fuckter, speaking of that Yo, John, you brat, lets fuckter.
I feel that adding an insult there was unnecessary, John said.
Yeah, SALLY! Sylph, who suddenly appeared behind Smander said. Now that he saw them side by side, it was evident how much Smander had physically grown. Sylph was still just thumb sized and she greatlymented that fact. I mean, if I could, which I cant because I am tiny, I would be much nicer to John when asking him to put his penis into me! she eximed. Smander tried to smack her over the head but Sylph quickly ducked away and appeared at her other side again. Speaking of which, Johnny,
That is not his name you know? Smander interjected
Its not? Ehm, Jonathan!
No.
Juan.
Does he look Spanish?
Jane!
Thats his girlfriend.
Joon.
Close.
Jezus?
That is a holy man.
Alexander?
HOW?!
Johnnie Gat?
Saints Row, stop rummaging in his memories so much.
How do you know it then?
Cause you never stop talking about him and that other video game character called Pacman.
Wacka-Wacka-Wacka-Wacka!
Exactly, now what is our summoner''s name?
John, silly, how did you even forget that? Silly Sally, you are so stupid.
I WILL FRY YOU INSIDE OUT!
Smanderunched a miniature fireball. With a double pirouette, Sylph dodged, and stopped under the ceiling.
How I loathe that you are the fastest of us, Smander growled, causing Sylph to let out a triumphantugh.
You will never catch me! and then she flew over to John, Hey, Hey, listen! she said, giving John a slight headache in the process, Can I maybe have a gummy-bear? I wanna try one!
Ehm, John was fairly certain giving Sylph sugar was one of the worst ideas one could have, but the little elemental looked so pleading he could barely resist. Do we have gummy-bears? he asked Aclysia.
We do not, came the answer, giving John an easy out.
Sorry, cant, we dont have any.
Nuuuuuuh, Sylph sniffed, Promise me I will get a gummy-bear when I be this Tier 2 thing. Promise, promise, promise, promise, promiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. A high-pitched tone was filling the room as Sylph stretched the I to infinity. With any other person he could have waited until they went out of breath but Sylph didnt need to breathe, she was her own air.
Okay, okay, I promise! John almost shouted to ovee her permanent noise.
Stopping, Sylph victoriously put her hands on her hips, Haha, see my superior negotiation skills!
Whatever Sylph, everyone said as one.
Aclysia finally returned from the kitchen as John finished his bread. Normalcy was setting in. Which meant that it was time to deal with what he had lost and gained.
Chapter 138 – Looking at the gains
Chapter 138 C Looking at the gains
Once John had filled the hole in his stomach, he put all his recent gains on the table. All of them except for Ashkandi, which he immediately handed to Aclysia to put into her Adaptive dery.
Which weapon shall I rece, Master? The maid held the sword effortlessly in one hand, giving it a few test swings. John sighed, he would have loved to handle a weapon that had the same name as one of his favourite WoW swords, even if it looked nothing like it. In his hands however, it would be a waste. Get the Sword of Glory out and you might as well eat it afterwards, he instructed. Aclysia would have done just that if John wouldnt have pulled out the splinter of Nathalias crystal at that moment, causing her to freeze.
Aclysia, we went over this before, it is just an item. John would have ced a hand on her head but she was standing at his side. Therefore, he took the next best thing and ced his hand on her butt. Aclysia slowly nodded before doing as instructed, soon sinking her teeth into the Sword of Glory. Seeing one of his earliest drops be Aclysias food made him feel nostalgic in the negative sense, like he was seeing history getting destroyed. These were not the times to get attached to anything though.
So, lets see, he thought as he read the Attribute descriptions on the Splinter of Destruction. Molten Core gives the ability to generateva inside her body. Well, without any magic to control that this seems pretty useless. Volcanic Might gives +400 Strength while in the vicinity of a volcanowell this would be awesome whenever active, but way too fringe a case to take away one of Aclysias current attributes and Dreadful Presence is pretty much just an aura that prevents lowbieslowies from attacking. No reason to take that either. John sighed, overall this wasnt particrly good for Aclysia, but she would likely catch up to his level with this, plus Elemental Resistance 7 was still an upgrade, plus whatever bonuses it would give her.
Aclysia had finished eating the sword by now and was awaiting her next order. With trembling hand, she took the Splinter, once offered, and threw it into her mouth with great haste. Like a child with ill-tasting medicine, she hastened to gulp it down.
Yeah, well, that was a clear upgrade. Problem being that it would increase Aclysias Libido even more. Wait, how is that a problem? John asked himself. He deleted the Pollutium Bonus and then checked Aclysias screen. She did indeed level all the way to his level and then max out. Dragon parts for the win, he thought and spent the 30 points Aclysia had just gotten.
Master, Aclysia shifted at his side, a motion he very clearly felt thanks to his hand which was still on her arse. Did you raise my Libido?
The item did that, John informed her. Sorry, the bonuses were just too good to pass up on.
She bit her lip before muttering one of the many phrases abination of inte research and hanging out with Rave must have taught her, Please take responsibility.
John felt the confinement of his pants tighten as his member hardened. He looked up to Aclysia and the two shared a short moment of intimate eye contact before Smander flew in between them. Now wait just a fucking moment, I called dibs, she announced.
I dont think I am something that you can call dibs on, John informed her.
No, wait! Gnome finally got out of her hair cocoon and stumbled her way into this conversation. She was about to say something when she blushed and stopped herself, I mean, I, uhh, she pushed her index fingers against each other while looking to the side, I, kinda wanna
What do you want, Gnome? Smander asked, a mean streak entering her voice. To do the dishes?
No, uhm.
How about scrubbing the floors? Somebody has to do the chores while Aclysia is upied, you know? Come on, you blushing coward, tell us what you want? Take a long stroll down the fucking beach?
NO! I want to have sex! Gnome suddenly eximed, stomped once in a way that made the house shake and then stood there with closed eyes in a stubborn pose. Several moments passed, then the expected blush rose in her face. I mean, uhm, only if you, you know, that is fine with you, she stammered, her eyes twirling in embarrassment.
Sure, was all John could get out before Gnome passed out and crashed to the ground.
She is harming the floors, Aclysia said in a slightly annoyed tone. John could only chuckle at that. He was way more appreciative of the embarrassed rock than he was worried about the floorboards of their temporary home.
Hanging in the air like a wet, empty sack, Sylph hovered over. Her voice was a dead whisper in the wind, bordering on horror movie audio. Must be niiiiice, to be big and have a vagina that actually works, must be reaaaallllyyyyy nigrgrgrgrl Sylphs aimless flight saw her colliding with Undines shoulder. Rather than move out of the way, or do anything really, Undine just remained there. Air bubbles rose inside her, while the air spirit slowly passed through the slime girls body.
A sight that seeded in moving Johns blood back upstairs. Okay, before we do each other, lets get everything else in order, John said. First I need to spend my new Stat Points. That endeavour was quickly taken care of though, he only had 10 points and the goal of 100 Endurance was still in effect. Next, he looked at the remaining three items on the table. He put on the two rings, which together boosted his HP/Reg by 30%. A negligible effect, considering his build. What bonuses the Ne got, that was the true question.
Yeah, that was good, to say the least. He quickly threw the damn thing on and felt his power surge. Wow, unreal, my gosh, he said, staring at his hands, followed up by shouts of mindless indulgence, This is amazing! I feel incridibleee! He jumped up, the chair falling to the floor, prompting another sound from Aclysia, who was concerned about the floor. YES, YES, YES, YES! I CAN WIN! I FEEL GREAT! I C CAN C DO C THIS! UARGH
What are you doing? Smander asked. He froze in answer.
Uhm, just, dunno, felt like the right thing to do, John answered and awkwardly scratched his head. I saw it in one of the parodies Jane likes so much. Felt like it would get the mood up.
Master, Aclysiamented and looked at the chair he had toppled over, there is a nail sticking out.
Interestingly enough, he had more health than Aclysia, even if he subtracted the 150 HP he got from the ne. Well, with her regeneration her overall HP scaling being worse made a degree of sense. Anyhow he ced all of the stuff back in his inventory, he didnt need it right now.
All around, although he had lost a week, he did not feel too bothered by it. What he had gained in return, through Nathalias boons, more than made up for what grinding could have achieved. Frustration with the situation was, therefore, easy to let go of.
Now, there is only one more thing to do! he announced and went upstairs. Everyone, save Undine, who kept sipping her water, and Sylph, still slowly travelling through her, followed him. The trio of girls made disappointed noises when, instead of the bed, John headed to theputer.
The fuck man? Smander wanted to know. She had already changed into her bigger form. Arms folded under naked tits, she pushed their squishy size up, drawing the lustful gaze of the other two women in the room. Everyone likedrge chests, to some degree. Dont you wanna y with these two, huh, huuuuh?! Smander proceeded to wrap her arms around Aclysia and Gnome, one of whom was confused but interested, the other blushing until her face was the same colour as the bosom she was squished into.
Just, give me a minute! John pleaded, struggling to keep his blood where he needed it right now. Luckily his Wisdom was still a lot higher than his Libido, otherwise this whole self-control thing would have been even harder. I need to buy Skillbooks, he exined, my arsenal right now is just Mana Ray, which was okay because you guys used up most of my mana but now that you are more independent I can free more of that up for attacks of my own.
What do you have in mind? Aclysia asked. She could wait. Not for long, but she could wait.
Well, I want a close quarter and mid-range skill, thetter probably being AoE focused. Get a nice bnce of options. Ill keep focusing on you girls as my mainbat path, but I want the fallbacks. John scrolled through the list of books that popped up after typing Mana based attacks.
The prices for most of those went far above his possibilities. With the four million he had he couldnt even buy one. He sorted by price range to get a clearer picture. There was a book for 1$ but that was most likely a hoax, the ck cover with demonic runes also didnt look particrly trustworthy. Master, I believe you have messages, Aclysia pointed out.
Johns eyes darted to the top right of the screen. A red bubble with a white 3 inside did indeed inform him of a number of messages sent to him. Interested, he gave it a click.
HELLO! Hello!
John almost fell off his chair as the voice boomed from the speakers. Who allows videos to autoy via a message feature?! he thought. Levity was drained from his thoughts when he realized what was on the screen.
The teeth of the four-horned skull creaked, as they contorted into a grin. You might know me from my work in Paris, or not, more likely not, The Horned Rat said and leaned back on his throne. Absent-mindedly, he was ying with a pair of wooden, featureless puppets as he talked. After looking through your data avable on the Abyss Auction and thenbining it with the information I got from Gaia for helping you, I could not help but notice you arecking in Skills. Out of the goodness of my heart, and to further my own ambitions, I therefore present you with this.
Off the screen a Skaven walked next to the Horned Rat. He was unlike any John had seen yet, well-nourished and handling equipment that looked like it would actually be of use in a fight, not break at any moment. His fur was well kept and had a lustre to it, just like the armour he wore. The Skaven handed the Horned Rat a book.
This, I wrote myself, just for you, the god of knowledge said and waved with the thing, it was ck and covered with red, demonic runes. Wait, hadnt he seen that just now? For the low price of 1 dor, you can get it, do it before somebody else finds out that this isnt actually cursed.
John chewed the inside of his cheek for a bit. Could he pass up on potential power? Not really. He went back to the disy and looked at the description. Something something Arcane something something, it said. No wonder nobody had bought it yet.
It arrived by drone and John carefully took the book out and examined it.
Those were some tall orders for a single Skill. He clicked yes and viewed his newest acquisition.
That looked nice. He didnt want to test it indoors, so that would need to wait until tomorrow. So, that takes care of melee attacks, he thought and looked at the other two messages. These were text only, thankfully. One was from Nathalia and read LET ME IN, JOHN NEWMAN! It made John chuckle a bit, to imagine Nathalia screaming at her phone, or whatever else she had used to drop that message. His amusement faded immediately at thest message.
From: Rave
Two days ago: T stands for terror, H is for Horror, A is for Anarchy, N is for not so nice and another A for the absolute boredom I feel right now. Discovered this site and thought I might as well drop in to tell you that sending the Soviets after me was a dick move. They are dead now though. See you on Friday.
One day ago: Was that too edgy? Do I give a fuck? No, no, of course I dont you cockroaches, NOW STOP SCREAMING AT ME! WHO THE FUCK IS VICTORIA AND WHO THE SHITTERLING IS ELIZA?!
Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?
Hey, do I deserve this? Did I not pray enough?
Im sorry for spamming. It just keeps squeezing my brain
Where are you?
Today: Fuck you.
Do you have any fucking idea what this is like? Fuck, I can feel them grinding against my bones. It''s like nails on the chalkboard, but all over, all the time. Fuck. Fuck, why me? Fuck, why you? Send me more of thesemie cunts, theyre at least terrible people. I just want to feel SOMETHING. PLEASE.
I cant sleep, Ill stop. I cant be awake, they wont stop talking. Can you sleep? Am I keeping you awake? Do we have something inmon?
Hey, answer please.
I keep healing her. I wont let her die again. Im sorry I did that. Im so, so story.
*Sorry, haha, silly typo. Theres blood all over the screen, in my defence.
Kill me and make these voices stop, John,e on, I cant wait. Get your cowardly ass over here. Friday, Thursday, I dont care, just do it. Do it. Do it, no balls.
Youre online! Fuck, yes, murder me, murder me, right now,e on, you can grow that fast right?!
Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you?
Rave is typing
John closed the tab with a hard click. It seemed the world would not let him forget the situation he was in. Lets search for an AoE skill, he mumbled to himself and scrolled through the list once again. Eventually he found something called Arcane Explosion for three million, which was the best he could afford.
Good, pretty high on the mana cost and the throwing part is going to be annoying, but good. John made note of the specific mention that the Skill dealt damage to enemies. Either this meant friendly fire was off for this one, or it was shoddily worded.
John rose from the chair and moved to the bed. The three girls followed. None of them touched him or even moved in any suggestive way. They justid down with him and cuddled up to him, the warmth of their curves letting John breathe a little easier. The turmoil in his heart was difficult to work out, in a way it was impossible. Still, he eventually managed to close his eyes.
And Tuesday came to a sober end.
Chapter 139 – This is not a game (Wednesday 4/7)
Chapter 139 C This is not a game (Wednesday 4/7)
FUCKING HELL! John shouted and jumped to safety. Behind him was the sound of a giant crash. Rubble passed by above him, as he kept himself t on the ground, then he got on his feet and started running again. Another radiant star mmed into the ground.
In the distance he saw lights flicker up, as Smander bathed the Anti-Depressant in mes, followed by the other elementals and Aclysia engaging it again. John spied another star falling towards his position with his bee. With his own two legs, he then sprinted away.
John had reached the ninth wave of the City Elementals as well as level 62 in the past days. There had been no other dungeon he had been grinding. Day after day, only Depressants and Anti-Depressants. It was good EXP and the watches dropped were good food for Aclysia. Most importantly, the boss had beenparatively easy.
HAD BEEN being the operative words. Turned out that the number of stars falling increased with every wave and while the city reconstructed every time, it had already been reduced to rubble in the ten minutes they had been fighting the sted thing. There was also the fact that the boss got sturdier with each wave, so John had no idea how much longer he would have to y the dodging game.
He jumped, rolled and ran behind the remainder of a sted wall when another star hit the ground, hiding from the rocks it scattered. Then he started running again. He could have done what the others were doing and walked up close to the Anti-Depressant, where stars never fell. The problem was however that the boss was way faster than him and the second he got just a step too close it would probably rip him a new one.
Instead, John opted to run rtively close by and use an Arcane Explosion. A ball of blue energy filled his right hand, a quick throw delivered in the general direction of his target. The spell flew far over the boss head. John was many things by nowmuscr, charismatic, had the lungs of a horse and the ability to fuck several times a daybut he was not particrly great at sports. Chances were that, even with his heightened senses, Frank, his old school bully, could have still beaten him at dodgeball.
However, unlike his Dodgeball matches in the past, John was not alone in this.
Tag! Sylph shouted and flew right into the path of the Arcane Explosion. The second it touched her, it exploded in a blue shockwave that vanished into thin air after travelling exactly three metres, more than big enough to hit the Anti-Depressant. The Skill left all his allies unharmed, Sylph even posed in the centre of the explosion, before raining down gusts of slicing wind, filled with green energy, on the enemy again.
John just kept running. He had no idea if the stars were aimed at him, it felt like they were at this point, but being in motion made it generally easier to dodge. Hopefully, he wouldnt have to keep at this too much longer. He saw Aclysia swing Ashkandi. The ck de reflected the light of the stars carpet bombing the city as she brought it down. Through the body of the Anti-Depressant, the weapon sliced, bringing an end to the miserable experience.
John left the Instant Dungeon quicker than the timer could appear. He was not yet prepared for a core boss. They stepped onto the in so Aclysia could eat whatever the bosses had dropped and John could collect the money. For the love of everything, Newman, farm something new. This is beyond boring, Magoi said, he didnt even look into the basin, instead continuing to read his newspaper.
The Fateweaver had returned to treating the Gamer with previous niceness the very next day, but there still was a measurable distance between them. Most notably, Magoi refused to address John by his first name anymore. The Gamer hoped that would change in time. At the very least Magoi wasnt making the grinding any more difficult. He would keep his word and contract to the letter.
While itsted, Magoi still loved to check up on Johns loot. There was not much to check up on thest four days though. Aclysia went to eating while John stood there and thought. Yeah, I thought about that too, he admitted, farming the Anti-Depressant is pretty dullbut just so efficient.
This is not a game, Mister Newman, Magoi said while wiggling his finger, you got to have fun sometimes.
That sounds opposite to how the saying normally goes, John drilymented. And I am not in a situation to have fun.
Sylph flew up to him andnded on top of his nose. John had to cross his eyes to see her tiny face. He is right though, gotta have fun, fun, fun, Johnny, lets go do something else. Please, please, pretty please? She pleaded, swinging her head from one side of the bridge of his nose to the other, giving him a slight headache in the process. Sylph vaulted off his nose.
So where am I at now, John? she wanted to know, John already knew that she meant her summoning Skill, she had been inquiring regrly.
Level 82, he said.
It is so slooooooow, shemented, Gnoooome, you have smart ideas, have a smart idea right now to help me, before I have to watch you have sex and masturbate in front of the window again!
YOU DO WHAT? Gnome eximed for everyone else and stared at Sylph with teary eyes in a blushing face, you, uwu, so embarrassing! she said while sniffling, cant believe my little sister saw me naked.
Chix, Gnome, not like I never did, Smandermented, flying up to Gnome and patting her on the ear. There, there, you easily bullied stone.
Uwu, Gnome sniffled, rubbed her eyes clean, and then took a deep breath.
In the background, Magoi mumbled something about the energy of youth.
This scene aside, John was actuallypletely in favour of new ideas. It wasnt like he wanted to do the same thing over and over again. As a gamer, he was well-ustomed to it, but anything that offered him simr efficiency while being a break from the monotony would be wee. Plus, he had some problems to solve.
One was theck of Skill Evolution Points, he was sure he could clear a tenth floor and thus finallyplete his Quest to get one. The second was that both Sylph and Undine wouldnt necessarily get to the maximum Skill Level before then. The best way to fix this problem would be Secret Rooms or Bonus Levels, both of which hadrgely eluded him.
The only Secret Level he had ever gotten in the first ce was the one with the Horned Rat in it and although he had been grinding the Anti-Depressant for several days now, the Time Cigarette never once dropped. He remembered that Secret Rooms only spawned on core floors, meaning 5-10-15 and so on, chasing that was unlikely to work anyhow. Bonus Level he could get more reliably.
Ehm, so I got an idea, Gnome finally said and got the team''s attention. How about we beat every sixth-floor boss once, but instead of searching for the best Experience grind we are looking for the best bonus item grind, she exined, havinge to the same conclusions as John, who nodded and finished the thought for her.
That way we would be getting the highest chance of getting Sylph higher in Skill Level and maybe get some achievements on the way. Everyone in favour raise their hand.
Everyone did, a unteral decision. Operation Boost Sylph, now under way! the air elemental chirped and they went to work.
They worked their way down the list. None of the bosses were a particr challenge, outleveled and outnumbered as they were, but nevertheless John noted all of them, he would have to fight four stronger versions of them after all.
Skaven Floor 6 Boss was a Rat Ogre not unlike the one he fought with Rave in the Giant Rats I.D., however this one had been partly armoured and given a maze made for his size, which made a huge difference. The setting they fought it in was a sort of colosseum with four stone pirs they could kite the beast around whenever it charged. While easy, the boss item pool was the usual Skaven mix of Warpstone and poisonous stuff. Not what he was looking for.
He skipped the Sporehost. Yes, the Item pool was small, but it had a buttload of health and Johns toolkit wasnt exactly good at dealing with the thing. He noted however that this would be his go to if no other possibility should show itself.
Next were the Orcs. The sixth wave started with Orc Wolfriders setting fire to the vige he had spawned in. Afterwards he had to fend off said Wolfriders, ending with a boss called Wildfire Shaman, an Orc mage that controlled the fire of the burning vige. Conveniently, that Shaman had less control than the ze elemental John had with him, so Smander made them virtually untouchable. The rest of the boss fight was the group running and kicking down an old green man. His loot pool was small and contained a bonus item and even though John doubted that they could wrestle the fire control from him on higher levels this was still an okay target to farm.
The Undead threw the basics at him: Skeletons and at the end a Giant Skeleton. It was slow and not particrly difficult, but regenerated by absorbing the spirits inside the graveyard that was the setting for this I.D. They had to kite it on the spot, which was possible but annoying as one strike of it even at this low level was quite dangerous. Also, the Loot table was filled with trash like a funny bone.
The dreary atmosphere John felt in the next floor of the Wall Shadow dungeon alone was a reason to not take that dungeon for his grinding. After defeating the boss of the sixth floor the wholebyrinth vanished, only to reappear a momentter, the walls twice as high and the gap between them slightly narrower. Now, not only did John still have a deeply ingrained respect for the nightmarish creatures after seeing what their hugs did to peoples ribcages, but the things had also gotten smarter. The old trick of Smander shining away their connection to the wall did not work anymore. These new Wall Shadows, called Shadow Jumpers, did their name proud and jumped out of the wall, trying to pull somebody to the ground. If they seeded, they did the usual thing, dipping half their body back into the shadows and strangling their victim to death with their many arms. If they failed, they just vanished in the wall. While the boss of the dungeon, a giant spider that spun webs in whose shadows more Shadow Jumpers spawned, wasnt actually that difficult, the way to it took way too long to be even considered worthwhile.
City Elementals were skipped for obvious reasons.
Now he finally arrived at the three newly acquired kinds of dungeons that he hadnt even tried yet: Ogres, Demons and Angels.
First were the Ogres. After zing through the fifth floor without a care, other than analysing the area, an endless grassy in, he entered the sixth floor. It was an odd wave to say the least. John could clearly see all the ogres running around, giant, dumb looking humanoids in white, Asian looking clothes holding hammers of wood. None of them attacked unless he got too close, which ironically made the wave extremely tedious because he had to hunt every single enemy himself. At the end spawned a two headed Ogre that was enormous in size. Big, slow enemies were something he was quite used to by this point.
The Demons got a simr treatment. Imps ran around the Floor and were quickly dealt with. After reaching the end of the sixth floor, the party was greeted by a Vessel, a warlock type thing that summoned minor demons to throw at them. Not a great problem and the Loot table looked promising. It had both a Legendary item and an epic one called Key of Forgotten Sins which just screamed the Revealer of Secrets attribute. Sadly, the Vessel didnt drop it, but it was still a good enemy to grind out.
The final category he had avable was just as easy at that level. However, after beating the boss of the fifth floor, an angel with one wing carrying a halberd, in front of a giant golden gate, John got an interesting achievement.
The item that he got was beautiful. Three golden keys hanging from a silver band, not the beauty he meant though.
Yes! he shouted, immediately putting the item into his essory slot. Girls, operation Boost-Sylph is in full swing! Lets kill whatever floor boss there is here and then it is back to Anti-Depressant grinding.
Whaaaaaaat? Sylph asked, why do we have to go back to that boring stuff? I wanna be boosted while having fun!
Because only the wave nine version is actually hard and this thing ticks for the version that spawns at seven, eight and nine, the lowest of which is level 60 and the highest 70. We can probably get it to full by tomorrow noon if we hurry up.
John was not entirely convinced about the truth of that statement, they had already wasted a full day on this endeavour of grinding lowbie areas. If it hadnt been for the Achievement, this day would have been practically entirely wasted. Best to, tomorrow, get back to what worked.
They beat the boss of the sixth Angel floor, an orb of golden energy with two white wings called a Holy Wisp. It dropped no money but had a high amount of materials. All of which was soldter, as Aclysia was still at the same level as him, making him a fair amount of money.
Money wasnt what he needed right now though, he needed power. So going back to Anti-Depressants was what they had to do. Experience and charging the new item were the priorities.
Chapter 140 – Charged Keys (Wednesday 6/7)
Chapter 140 C Charged Keys (Wednesday 6/7)
For the fifth time in a day, the Anti-Depressant of Wave 9 hit the floor. The keys lit up and John took a victory stance that doubled up as him using Escape I.D. We did it! John said ready to use the keys back in the emptiness thaty beyond the gate, We actually did it!
Yay, us! Sylph said and edged John on, use it, use iiiiiiiit.
Yes, yes, I am nning to! John answered, simrly excited.
Uhm, Gnome interjected, Shouldnt we check the loot first?
What? Noooooo, Sylph cried out in response, acting like she would faint whilst slowly sinking in the air, My heart cannot take this! I just wanna be big, why is this soplicated. Sylph broke out into a little song, I want to be big, not the size of a twig, although a twig would be bigger than me, cause I am the size of a thumb.
Shut the fuck up, Sylph! Smander ordered, causing the air elemental to mumble quietly instead.
As I was saying, John, Gnome finally got to speak again, on the off-chance that the boss dropped the bonus level item today, we should check first.
Yes, you are right, John agreed, he was so excited he had almost forgotten an important rule of videogames: Order is key. As a reward he patted Gnome on the head. The stone elemental stared at her feet while John caressed her soft hair. No one would have ever guessed she was made out of stone. She let out a happy squeal as John kept patting her, with some certainty he could say that Gnome did not even notice the noise she was making. When he retracted his hand, Gnome made an unhappy expression, quickly followed by her trying to get an air of seriousness back around her. Okay, girls, lets go ba-ack. That had sounded almost correct. Uuuh, I bith my tongue, Gnome sniffed. The pain was fixed after some more patting.
They went back to the basin and, true enough, they found the Time Cigarette there. Absurd, John said as he pulled the cigarette, whose aura he had detected, from the mountain of watches. It was nothing but a white cigarette, hand rolled and with a ck, crumbly mass sticking out. John wondered what would happen if he just smoked the thing, but he didnt have the luxury to actually try.
Okay? John thought after reading the vour text. He was very interested in the Randomizer thing though. A theory formed in his head and he smirked. Okay, let us see what this does, he announced and, after working their way through the watches, they went back into the gate. John was presented with the usual window asking him if he wanted to use the item. He affirmed and the void around them quickly changed into the standardized in green field that he was used to seeing as the ceholder model by now.
Two details had been added. One was a giant lever, attached to an even bigger slot machine. There was only one spinning segment, rather than the usual three, and the symbols printed onto it were tiny. The lights decorating it danced in a circle, illuminating thiste hour, and the second detail had John confused.
It was a woman with green, curly hair and eyes of the same colouration. She wore a ck dress that ended in four different strands, the gaps in between clearly showing off her legs and much of her thick ass. Overall, the girl was quite small and her face did have a cute roundness to it that shed pleasingly with the confident shimmer in her emerald eyes.
There you are, the hovering girl said, her annoyed voicepeting with the crunching of the chips she was snacking on. The familiar tone confused John. Not as much as the fact that Observe did not work though. That had happened before, but he typically got a sense of it misfiring. This time around, it just straight-up did not activate.
I''m afraid that Skill is not yours yet, John, she said and let out a heavy sigh, still have to spoon-feed you everything. All the while I have so much other stuff to do Feri was supposed to do this but she has no time . How the goddess of time can have no time is beyond even me. Actually, it''s not, I just let her bezy.
Who are you? John asked hesitantly. He had an inkling suspicion but it was too ludicrious to be true.
I am Gaia, or whatever other title you want to call me, stupid. The supreme deity of the Abyss tilted back in the air nonchntly, giving a casual view up her skirt. It took John a disbelieving set of seconds to realize he was staring at the, admittedly quite perfect, ass of the ruler of creation.
Why are you helping me? The question that had been itching behind his forehead burst out immediately.
Gaia tilted her head, Pardon?
Nathalia told me that you are supporting my powers, why? You could just not do that and leave me to slowly grind on my own, he furthered his question.
Because I want you to live, Gaia said, like it was the most basic thing in the world.
But why me?
Are you seriously asking me to not help you live? Are you that stupid?
No, not at all, I just want to know the reason, John was at a loss here and Gaia was not helping him gather a clear picture. Why me? Specifically?
Hmph, the supreme deity munched on a few more chips. Youre really insistent on making the gift horse bite you. The answer is that I am not helping you specifically. Youre not the first Latebloomer that needs some gas to start the engine and you wont be thest. Happy?
That is the opposite of reassuring, John mumbled.
Hey, hey, hey, Gaia, hey, listen! Sylph flew up to the goddess and started bbering, Can you, like, maybe, make me big?
Gaia, with a deadpan expression, just said, No.
Sylph turned around andined, Joooooohn, Gaia is mean to meeeee,
Yeah, well, nothing I can do about that really, John apologized. Sylph, with a soft dumph sound,nded on his chest and made overyed crying noises.
You done now? Gaia wanted to know, looking at her fingernails with a bored expression, I need to punish a cabbage trader in the middle east, guy had the gall to use magical soil renewal. Another potato chip flew into her mouth.
Cant you do that from here? John asked, I was under the impression that you are almighty.
I am, Gaia firmly said, but it is much more fun to look. He made a shocked expression, he had not expected the goddess to be this bloodthirsty. No, I am not, Gaia read his thoughts, I am just going to have his cart crash and hope that he screams MY CABBAGEEEES! like that gag from Avatar.
Wha-?
Oh, right, you dont watch anime, you should probably hang out with your girlfriend more. Whom you have to save, so stop wasting both of our time, Gaia made a tiny motion and the giant lever pulled down, So here are the rules: The slot machine will stop at a random bonus level which you will then enter. The bonus level will be scaled to the level of the randomizer used, so 60 in this case, and the rest will be per usual, giving you the rules window and then you do whatever that says, understood?
John just nodded.
Great, wouldnt have repeated it anyway, so, what does the wheel say? Everyones eyes focused on the slot machine as it came to a slow halt. Stopping at the image of a dog. Wow, that isboring, Gaia yawned, so the dumb dog catching game again, have fun doing that. With a circling of her wrist, John found himself whisked away, standing in front of the sleeping fat ck police officer with his bulldog.
So we are doing this again, huh? John sighed. Everybody remember their roles?
Search for dogs, give Gnome the position, you give Gnome mana, Aclysia promptly answered.
Was it that way? Sylph wondered in response, Oh, well, if Acly says sono, that doesnt sound good. Al? Sia? Lysia? LysLiz! the air elemental pointed at the Artificial Guardian, you are now Liz.
No, Aclysia is the name Master gave me, you will not change it, came an answer so strict that Sylph shrunk a bit.
Okayehem, find dogs and report to Gnome, officer Sylph at the ready! she tried to quickly get herself back on topic.
What the airhead said, Smander said and then giggled a moment, Didnt even realize, man I am good.
I will look underneath, Undine announced.
I am ready, Aclysia supported.
Okay, everyone depends on you, you can do it, you did it before, Gnome mumbled to herself, shaking her fists Ey, ey, oooh!
Gnomy, you are doing that thing again, Sylphughed.
No, wait, why are you all looking at me like that?! Gnome only now realized that she had ended up as the centre of everyones attention again as she had fired herself up. John wondered whether Gnome always had been like this and her transformation had merely made her more outspoken or if she had be THIS shy only after evolving. Either way it was fun to tease her.
However, he did actually want to get this moving. The day was almost over already and he was tired from farming the Anti-Depressant all day. In a way getting such a short-lived bonus level worked out really well. Okay, lets start!
He clicked the button and they scattered into opposite directions. Sylph and Smander were once again the MVPs in this. With their aerial surveince they were much quicker to spot dogs in the streets or on rooftops. However, Undine did no small part either, finding two of the canines that hid in the sewers. John and Aclysia were mostly useless. He found one dog inside an office building while Aclysia found none. The much faster and airborne Sylph had found all that would have been in her way before she even got there.
In the end, they found and retrieved a total of 21 dogs, which was 6 more thanst time but still nowhere close to the maximum of 50. Who the fuck bnced this? Johnined in his mind and realized a momentter that he had met the apparently anime-loving goddess earlier. Sword Art Online alone should be justification enough to never let anyone associated with anime design a videogame, he thought and waited for the window to pop-up.
John closed the window with a sour expression and raised Sylph to 99 (he tried raising her to 100 but the option disappeared). He put the remaining points into Undine, leaving her at 84. This was extremely useful. Now we need to get that SEP, John sighed. Worries for tomorrow, lets go sleep everyone.
So that is what they did.
Chapter 141 – The insanity of it all (Wednesday 7/7)
Chapter 141 C The insanity of it all (Wednesday 7/7)
Okay, John said, over the breakfast table, this is the program for the day, first we use these keys. He pointed at the item in question, dangling from the golden band that was in turn attached to his pants. Swiftly, he took a bite of his sandwich. Aclysia handed him some water to wash it down. Thank you, he said after putting the ss on the table.
No problem, Master, Aclysia answered with her usual bow.
Continuing on: we will do the randomizer again and hope that whateveres out gives a Skill Evolution Point, otherwise we try to push for the tenth floor and get the Quest done. It was a risky strategy, they would be fighting monsters up to 8 levels above them, plus the core boss at the end, but it was the best idea John had. Here goes hoping that the bonus level throws out something useful.
About twenty minutester they entered the grassy in, where a bored supreme deity was once again hovering in the air. This time, Gaia had brought popcorn. Feri once again said no, sheined to John, That time bitch is annoying the fuck out of me. First, she restores Nathalia to full power without consulting me, then she says she doesnt want to help you and now all she does is keep ying this game called Hero Clicker.
Sounds like something annoying, John just agreed, can you pull the lever?
Can I, supreme deity of everything, do anything? In my literal sleep, dude, but first read the window.
Window? What window? John looked around, then it appeared.
Ohe on! Hemented, that is bullshit.
No, you endlessly grinding out that dog chasing dungeon for Skill Points would be bullshit, Gaia threw back in a no nonsense tone. You are already stronger than 80% of the Abyss. dont you start giving me lip because you have to put a bit of effort into grinding.
John took a deep breath and mumbled, Just pull the damn lever.
Dont make me smite you, young man, the young-looking goddess warned as the lever went down following a flick of her finger.
The wheel turned and turned and turned and turned and Is it going to stop today? the question came from Gaia herself.
Cant you make it stop whenever?
Pfff, yeah, of course I could, but I dont like to meddle, she quickly answered Johns question.
Then what are you doing here? he thought, knowing he wouldnt get an answer. Finally, the wheel stood still. The symbol presented was a paper-white, deformed face with a giant grin spanning over a crooked chin, their eyes squinting in excessiveughter.
That is a troll face, Aclysia stated.
That is indeed a troll face, John supported.
Oh C my C gosh, that gosh being you of course Gaia, that is so creepy and cute at the same time. What does it do? Will it create a zombie gue? Or a fire kitten? Do you know how evil fire kittens are? They are super fluffy but if you pet them they burn you and you die, but you need to pat them, it is the perfect trap. Wait, didnt we used to have a fire cat with us? Sylph babbled without end.
Copernicus is a sun cat, you buffoon, Smander said while shaking her head.
Riiiiiiiight, anyway, what will it do, what will it dooooo?!
The slot machine disappeared, Gaia flew a bit higher and shouted down, No idea, but I have better things to do than listen to you keep babbling on. Then she disappeared, leaving John a new window.
Everyone ready forwhatever is about to happen? John asked, looking over the still empty in of grass. Everyone let him know that they were through one gesture or word and then he clicked the start button.
He heard a whistling noise from somewhere. He had heard that before. Not in person but in Youtube videos ofof nes crashing. He looked upwards. From the sky fell a metal object, several metres tall, a t base and six sides, which tapered towards the top. It was painted in blue, a sign looking either like a glorious U or a decorated toilet seat, depending on who one asked, was painted on the sides.
I-is that an Ultramarine drop-pod? John got out before the thing crashed into thend a few dozen metres away. The shockwave was surprisingly weak. All it forced John to do was take a step back. His barrier protected him from the pebbles that were catapulted his way.
Stunned silence overcame the field, the drop-pod made a wheezing noise as the pressurized doors opened. A single man walked out. An almost three-metre tall man, in ultramarine blue armour with U shaped insignia all over it, a skull decorating the belt and a golden Aqu on the left shoulder pad. Behind him waved a red cape and the helmet covered his whole face, a mane of white and red attached to the top.
I am he started in a high-pitched voice.
Cato Sicariusyesyes John intercepted him really quickly and used observe.
No you are mistaken, my lord, the so-called Memeshifter said, I am not Cato Sicarius, he pulled his helmet from his face and threw it away. Underneath was a man that would have been extremely handsome. Long blonde hair, stunning brown eyes, a truly awe-inspiring jawline, all the hallmarks of an attractive man. Only problem: he had no nose and his mouth had slipped up his face to fill the gap. I am DIO SICARIUS! the beings'' voice was suddenly extremely corny with a bad Japanese ent, you have no way of stopping-u me, John-dono. I control it.
Control what?! John had no idea what was going on.
ZA - WARUDO!
There was an extremely deep, distorted sound that apanied a wave of darkness. All it touched had its colours inverted, creating a weird and almost eye-searing world.
Time has stopped for everyone but I, Dio Sicarius! the being announced and stepped forwards.
No, it hasnt? John stood there, very capable of tilting his head in confusion, ready to give Smander all of his mana to burn this guy into oblivion.
Sasori stopped dead in his tracks.
John! Sylph angrily said, she hung in the air frozen, y along, this might be fun.
Yeah, man, said Sasori, in a voice so normal that John could barelyprehend it after having heard the earlier personifications, dont ruin this.
I mean he looked at all of his other group members. Undine did her best to not care, but looked slightly confused, Smander rubbed her forehead like she had a giant headache, Aclysia was just stoically waiting for Johns decision, epting this madness for what it was, while Gnome waspletely flustered and looked at everyone, wildly spinning on the spot until she made herself dizzy in confusion.
Pretty please? Sylph asked, the waveing back a momentter, allowing herself to move again without breaking the rules. Come on John, this is perfect, this is fun, we can fight himter, right, right? she pleaded.
Well, the windows said killing him is not necessary so John hesitatingly answered.
Sylph was right in his face. So we can just y along,e on, this looks fun, lets have fun, this will be funtastic, mister, mister, can you repeat that? she turned to the memeshifter, having made the decision for John and everyone else.
Lets just go along with it for the moment, John told the group. He had no idea what was going on but if Sylph had fun and the reward randomized anyhow maybe just doing what he was told was smart.
Okay, just say something so we can start the scene again, he looked at John anticipatingly.
Ehm, John was still not sure, then thought fuck it, might as well have fun with this, and said, Whatever could you do to me, Dio Sicarius, while I am protected by five beautiful girls? That was exactly the kind of corny line needed.
HehuhuheAhahahaha.gnahaahahaha! You think your punypanions can stop me, Dio Sicarius? Sasori delivered the line with perfect conviction, That is the dumbest thing that I, Dio Sicarius, have ever heard and I, Dio Sicarius, have heard a lot of dumb things in my life!
Most of which you said yourself, I reckon, Smander drily stated, this whole thing was pure agony to her.
Urgh! You will pay for such painful words! Feel the power of I, Dio Sicarius! ZA WARUDO!
The shockwave went out and at the same time Sylph instructed everybody, Dont move, not even the slightest bit! Resigned they all followed the order/request, John was a bit annoyed, he had been blinking and was now stuck with his eyes closed. Although he did have to give himself props for being able to react that fast.
There was one person who still did not y along. Sally, your mes are still moving.
I am not ying this dumb game.
Time has now stopped for everyone but I, Dio Sicarius, Sasori tried a second time.
Come on, he is really into this.
Fuck you, Sylph, this is stupid, you are stupid.
Nobody can react to anything I, Dio Sicarius, do for five seconds, the memeshifter continued his monologue, One second has passed!
John was pretty sure five seconds had passed already, but what did he know?
Two seconds have passed!
Silly Sally, always just thinking about burning, dumb silly Sally, Sylph said in a voice close to crying.
Three seconds have passed!
Smander, justjust y along please. John intervened and got back a wave of burning fury followed by reluctantcency.
Fine, the ze elemental eventually said. John let out a mental sigh of relief. Actually, this wasnt so bad. Just going with the flow, let himself be thrown this or that way, like a leaf in the wind.
YOU CANT BE SERIOUS! John shouted and immediately snapped out of it all. Going with the flow certainly included blowing a gasket. That cannot be the whole lesson you had for me Sylph, what was it even?!
Ii.i.i.i.i.i... just wanted you to have fun, Sylphs startled answer sounded like she was on the border of crying, What are you getting so mad about when stuff is easy? Shouldnt you be happy?!
She wasnt wrong but John felt like this somehow cheapened his previous efforts and that made him a tad mad. Gee- wild gesture, Zus- wild gesture, CHRIST, Sylph! I love you, but holy hell if you are not the most impulsive thing in existe- he gestured again and only now realized that his hand had been hammering against something solid. The entire time, he had been drumming against Sasoris breastte.
I will justroll with it the being decided, clearing his throat before taking a dramatic step backwards. URGH! IMPOSSIBLE! NOBODY HAS EVER BROKEN OUT OF ZA WARUDO BEFORE! He breathed heavily, sweat ran down his temples, and he grunted. A strained grin spread on his face. But this isnt even my final form! he shouted and crouched, starting to scream. The earth rumbled and broke apart, flying upwards as the being overpowered gravity itself.
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
A golden aura exploded around Sasori. The golden hair on his head turned into a spikey mountain, its strands joining the tumbling pieces of dirt in ignoring the suggestion of physics. John readied himself for the true boss fight to begin. Dust, rolling outwards as the scream reached its highest note, robbed John of his sight.
When he looked for Sasori, the form of Dio Sicarius was gone. Entirely gone. There was no one and nothing around.
What is today?! he wanted to know from some higher power that would listen.
Cower before my true form! he once again heard the voice of the Memeshifter.
I cant cower before something I cannot see! John eximed, where are you?
Look upon the ground and despair! John did as instructed and found there
You cannot be serious, the Gamer said, his eyes fixed on the green vegetable in the grass.
I TURNED MYSELF INTO A PICKLE, JOHN! Sasori screamed, IM PICKLE DIO!
How absolutely terrifying, John said in a voice as dead in tone as he was inside.
I did not believe to meet an enemy strong enough to survive the sight of this form, brave warrior, I admit defeat, Sasori announced and then with a poof the pickle became spectral and grew wings, fluttering towards the sky. Now I must go, my needs me.
Bye~ Sylph waved after him, we will remember you like the hero you were, not as the pickle you became!
One has not to exclude the other, young Sylph, I am a hero, just as much as I am a pickle. With these words Sasori vanished into the night sky.
So wise, Sylph said and turned to John, who was giving her a very conflicted look.
For the future, while this was fun in some way, I am not doing weird ys with things that transform into pickles, ever again, okay? he made his position clear.
Roger! Sylph saluted with a grin that showed that she absolutely did not understand the problem here.
I liked seeing Master this emotional, even though his acting wasnt the best, Aclysiamented.
Gnome in the background was flushed red and yed with her twin tails. He called me beautiful, well, he called all of us beautiful, but that includes me, so that is good, I think, she mumbled.
Undine actually hadpletely phased out while Smander was just about ready to burn this whole in out of existence. If she had that power, she would have already started.
Well, at least it was worth it, John sighed and clicked I am too old for this shit.
Chapter 142 – Voices in the wind
Chapter 142 C Voices in the wind
Come on, evolve me! Sylph demanded.
Not yet, John closed the instant dungeon.
Why not? Sylph wanted to know while they walked towards the exit of the gate.
Because I am 100% certain that the second I evolve you, you will want to bang me.
Oh, Johnny, you know me so well, I am ttered, but really, we can do this indoor or outdoor, just let me have that courtesan title. Oh, and the gummy bear, I feel like the gummy bear is important, Sylph bbered as they crossed the space between the gate and the two houses.
Back already? Magoi asked, peeked into the empty loot basin and let out a disappointed sigh.
I am going to lose my virginity! Sylph chirped, and be Johns courtesan.
You go do that, Magoi, who finally had exhausted the amount of surprises he could sustain, just waved it off. John did feel slightly embarrassed by this, especially when the Fateweaver continued. My wife would be tempted to give you quite the lecture.
They entered the house and went upstairs to Johns. Hold up! the air elemental said when they arrived at his door. John turned to her, the handle already in hand. Sylph hovered in the air and stared at her fellow familiars. What do you think you are doing? she asked them.
Uhm, going into Johns room, like every day? Gnome said, Aclysia nodded at her side.
Well, today is not every day, today is my day! Sylph said decisively.
Horseshit, you aint gonna hog the cock for a minute, Sylph, Smander spat out.
You hogged him for a week, so shush Sally.
Was a day to me but point taken, Smander conceded the argument, still though, you will not have him alone.
Dont I get a say in this? John wondered.
You do, but we know you dont really care, Smander informed him. Youre a guy, youll stick it into whoever.
Well, it was true, he was currently gloating over the fact that he had 4 women fighting over who would have him. This was the harem fantasy realized. That all of them were contracted to him in one way or another did make it a lot easier to keep them around, but their interest was still their own.
Bathtub, Undine informed everybody where shed be until this was done with.
Come on Liz, you cleared the room for Gnome, do the same for me, pleaaaasseee? Sylph tried to get an ally in.
Aclysia thought about it with an empty expression before finally saying, Condition, you no longer call me Liz.
Caaaaaan do, L- Aclysia! Sylph promised, there we go, I have the Aclysia vote, I win.
Smander sighed and Gnome just quietly backed out with a disappointed expression.
Wait, is Aclysias vote like all-epassing or what? John wanted to know about this, he felt that understanding the power-dynamic in his harem was important.
She is the second oldest, so yeah, only that currently MIA girlfriend of yours would override it, Smander said. Also shes scary. Gnome nodded in agreement, repeatedly.
Aclysias bafflement was mildly on her face. Her mouth hung a tiny bit open, one eyebrow raised a bit.
Whatevs, I will set something on fire, see you whenever you get done, Smander flew off. Aclysia and Gnome also retreated, saying no more words.
Sylph turned in the air, perfectly still, hands raised, the only parts of her that moved were her dancing fingers. A downright creepy grin appeared on her face. Now, to molest you! she announced. John just took it as the usual Sylph nonsense and finally entered his room.
He sat down on his bed and opened the evolution menu for Sylph.
He stared at the centre option for what felt like a minute before Sylph finally lost her patience. A remarkably long time for her, really. What, what, whaaaaaat? she asked and intently stared at the spot that he was looking at, seeing nothing.
I amconflicted, John exined. So, we got a support option here, which is nice because weck something like that, but it really doesnt feel like you.
I wanna shootser beams and eat cookies!
Yeah, exactly. Then we have this Rain Elemental thing, which sounds okay, actually it sounds pretty good because you would make a nicebo with Undine. Question is if you could be of any use indoors, John continued.
But I dont want to y with clouds, I want to soar through the sky and be all wuuuush, rat-tatata-zon-kadush! You understand? Maybe he did? Either way that left the option that was confusing him.
See, thest option is worrying me, because its wording indicates that it is clearly better than the others. Usually when something in the same level is better than its peers it gets bnced out by scaling worse into thete game by virtue of having less stats per level or other maluses based on experience, John cut his exnation short, noticing Sylphs head spinning.
So, many, woooooords, she said in a bamboozled tone, Can you, like, maybe, sorta, kinda, eventually, say it in a too long didnt listen?
John gave her the dead eyes. What? she asked, Whaaaat?
He sighed, Nothing. To put it simply, either you will be strong now and weakter or you are just awesome.
It is definitely thetter, so click that button, go go, Sylph didnt waste another thought on this. John was not that convinced, Johnny, trust me, click that button, what is it called anyhow?
Ehm, a Tempest Elemental.
That sounds ultra-rad, do it, do it, do it, I demand!
Well, John was stuck so he might as well obey the demands of the whimsy elemental. He almost clicked the button and then hesitated. Are you sure you want this? he asked one final time.
Oh C my C gosh, okay, let me spell it out for you. Sylphnded on his hovering hand. Sitting cross-legged, she stared up at him with serious eyes. I am not that smart but even I realize what is at stake here, John. You are more likely to survive the next encounter with that Thana-thingy-girl if I am stronger. Even if it means sacrificing some of my future strength, Ill do it if it means you seed and live. That was surprisingly clear, John was already convinced but Sylph kept babbling. I mean, sure, it would suck to be weaker than the restter, but Ill ovee that too. All that matters is that we get the opportunity to keep growing and having fun together.
Sylph,e here for a moment, John said and waved her close with his free hand, the other hovering closely over the ept button. He had a close look at her, the tiny thing, with her light green hair, in her Valkyrie armour, her whole body made of energy in the shape of an athletic woman. He gently kissed her on the head. You are a bit annoying at times, he spoke his true feelings, but you are also a great, little thing.
Of course, I am! Now make me a great, big thing! Sylphughed and John pushed the button.
Luckily, he had pulled his head back, anticipating the localized storm that formed and consumed Sylphs form. The wind was a pale green and impossible to see through. It unravelled from the bottom upwards, revealing light green shoes that went up to her knees, parting a bit at the sides. They were without decorations but had a weird mixture of design choices, looking like a cross between a dancers and a jesters shoes. Next John spied the skin of her thighs, healthy and white in colour and bare up to her hips. What d her torso was a green leotard, extremely tight, the only decoration being a golden rim at the upper edges. Between her C-cup breastsy a red ruby held in ce by a ne that had the shape of a butterfly.
Sylph waved with her arm, covered by a long glove that reached all the way up to her shoulder, most of it was the same pale green as the rest of the outfit but underneath the elbow it changed into a creamy brown colour. In response to the motion the storm whirled upwards, revealing a cute face that smiled widely, eyes closed. The storm slowly calmed and became her hair, a pale whiteish green, unruly and longer than her entire body.
That may have been a problem if it didnt refuse thews of gravity and instead waved in some non-existent breeze. Two elvish ears grew from her head and as ast touch four flower-petal-like wings unfolded behind her back. Sylph opened her lids, the eyes behind were of a beautiful amber colour and glowed softly from within.
I am bigger than you! Hurray! she eximed and jumped on the bed.
John felt bad to ruin her moment of triumph. Sylph, we are on the bed.
Yeah, and? Sylphughed and kept jumping, falling and rising with weird, inconsistent speeds.
And I am sitting and you are standing, John borated.
Sylph stopped dead in the air. Uhm, cold sweat ran over her face as she slowly hovered over to the ground and thennded in front of him. Even standing there she was barely taller than him sitting, 1,50 metres, that was Johns estimate and, as previously established, he was pretty good at guessing.
John made a quick calction in his head. Normally people had 5 times their level + random base as their total stats. In the case of Aclysia the base was all 1s (except Libido, which was a 0). The elemental girls had started with all zeros but because they had started at his level that was never really apparent. If he calcted Sylphs stats correctly, which he did, he had that much trust in his math at the very least, she had gained 63 points from the evolution. That was either the weirdest number ever chosen or Sylph had been raised from 5 to 6 skill points per level and been gifted all of these 63 points retroactively.
The added information in her Character Sheet also suggested that no real harm hade to her. On the contrary she seemed to have been blessed. After processing all of that information John said, Sylph, you are awesome! and she made a cocky smile in response.
I know, I know, now to the sex! I want that title! she announced. Looking at her newly acquired Libido, John was certain that being called a concubine wasnt all she wanted.
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, John clicked his tongue and closed his eyes, my dear Sylph, dont you know that I have a few months worth... That doesnt sound good at all, try a different angle, many encounters worth of sexual experience? You should not underestimate me he opened his eyes again to find that Sylph was naked already, her pink nipples hanging right in front of his face.
Why do you still have clothes on? Come on, get naked! We doing this or what? She said and started to tug at his pants. Ey, what is this thiiiiiiing?! sheined while taking her frustration out on his zippers.
Wait! John stopped her. He did not have a high number of pants left, just this one to be exact. He would prefer not buying further recements off the Abyss Auction. That was a giant money sink.
You have 10 seconds, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go,. To the sound of Sylph cheering him on, John started to undress.
Chapter 143 – How to blow somebody away. [Erotic Content]
Chapter 143 C How to blow somebody away. [Erotic Content]
Sylph stopped her constant chanting once he was naked.
In the ensuing silence, her hungry gaze spoke louder than any words. Not that it prevented her from going back to babbling. Ho-ho-ho, never really got to look at you in all, really ALL, the details before now.
Sylphs mouth twisted into a teeth-revealing grin as she looked at Johns defined body. From what he understood Strength had the physical change of muscle growth while Endurance made them more defined. His slim build overall remained but his high Endurance had taken away whatever excess fat or skin he had and left nothing but a toned body. He wasnt quite Greek statue level but if he raised Strength some more he might get there eventually.
He was not used to being checked out in such an open manner though. He was even less used to being looked at with eyes more perverted than his own. The lecherous intent may have disturbed him, if it hadnte from a person he was quite literally connected to.
.Nice, really nice, Sylph finished her sentence and then jumped at him. John easily caught her, the little bundle of energy weighed next to nothing. Instincts took control over the situation. Two perverts with the same thought, mouths closing in on each other.
Sylphs lips were soft little cushions. Eagerly, their mouths opened. Tongues carefully probed. Their tongues touched, then fenced and wrestled without holding back. An electric tingle discharged from Sylphs tongue, it was not enough to numb him even, just a pleasant, soft prickling. Any designs Sylph had on being in charge had already melted away, and so John stepped into his preferred role.
John reached to the back of her head. Her hair, incredibly fine and fluffy, ran through his fingers with the whisper of silk, despite its wild appearance. Deeper, he pulled her into the kiss. He breathed her scent in, innocent flowers and honey. It filled his nostrils and his lungs with sweetness. Thus enraptured by the soft prickling of her tongue, the delicacy of her hair, the sweetness of her scent, Johns dick swelled to full hardness.
Pressing against Sylphs cunt was easily done, even standing. She was so light and so small, abination as if made for manhandling. His cock was covered in moisture. Her scent crept through every corner of his being. Eager for more of her, he pulled her down with him as he dropped onto the bed.
Sylph nowy beneath him. Their kiss broke, her amber eyes stared into his. His hand, next to her head on the bed, vanished in the sheer endless storm of her hair that seemed to shift into varying wild patterns even as everything else was still. The only other things in the room that were moving were their chests, pumping heavily in desire.
John lowered his head towards the tempest elemental''s shapely breasts, unable to resist the temptation that their rise and fall presented to him. His mouth greedily sucked the top of the tit that he caught, ying with the hard, pink nipple, twirling his tongue around it. His right hand got busy with groping Sylphs other breast, teasing the sensitive nipple with his index finger and thumb. He continued to caress the soft flesh C or was it fluffy air? C for a bit longer.
Mhm, Johnny, I like that, can you maybe, use your tongue on the base a bit more? Yeah, like that, and then maybe change the side? Sylph bbered out her requests.
John obliged, shifted his focus and the arm he was leaning on and in response got Sylph to giggle. A light-hearted sound, interrupted by the sigh of desire that went along with Johns tongue flicking her nipple.
Okay, okay, enough of my tits, Sylph decided and pulled his head back up to her face to shower him in kisses. Then there was a literal whirlwind that had John lose all sense of perspective for a moment before he found himself leaning against the wall. He caught a glimpse of Sylph greedily wiggling her fingers between his legs, eyes glittering with mischief and lust, before his nket fell down, hiding both his legs and the tempest elemental from view.
John was ready to throw off the nket when he heard Sylphs muffled voice. Hey, wait! Isnt this kinda exciting? she asked, apparently back in a dominating mood. With that girl, one could never be sure what she was nning.
Well, she wont bite my dick off, John thought and sent her a wave of approval. Staring at the shifting nket was rather mundane, so he closed his eyes and instead imagined what was going on down there, using the connection to her as help.
Sylph yfully glided her hands over her summoners inner thighs. There was only a bit of light underneath the nket, not enough to clearly make out what she was most interested in. Sylph concentrated a bit of electricity inside her eyes, something that now came naturally to her. She felt like a different person now, not really different but different. Made little sense to herself but it just worked and so did her new powers. Amber eyes emitted soft light, letting her see the target of her desire.
The meaty shaft in front of her was big, or at least Sylph assumed so, having never seen another one. She just felt that this one was to be categorized as big. She also didnt care that much. Mhm, looks tasty, she said and blew at it, forming the air that left her into a teasing wind, filled with slight moisturization. The fluid that coated his cock was every bit as slippery as saliva and pussy juice.
Sylph kept going, the miniature storm thickening around the parts she thought were sensitive, like the area directly underneath the mushroom shaped head or the base. She only stopped when the whole cock in front of her was lubricated with the magical fluid she had woven into her breath.
Dont mind if I have a taste, she giggled and inched thest bit closer, her butt wiggling in anticipation.
The electric tongue sent little stimtions through his balls. The tiny pervert was starting by sucking at his sack for a bit, before travelling upwards. The tingling, even at his most sensitive parts, was only exciting, as if this variant of lightning only targeted pleasure receptors. Another new experience no man outside of the Abyss and even few inside it would ever know, one reserved for him at this very moment. Sylphs prickling tongue reached his head and then her lips enveloped him in a fluid motion.
John grasped at the bedsheets and groaned in ecstasy. Sylph went directly at it, not wasting a single second with such paltry things as lubrication anymore. The inside of her mouth was a vacuum, colder than a human girl, the cheeks hollowed and mping down, firm but soft enough to stretch around his dick. She sucked him in deeper at a rapid speed. The tempest elemental shamelessly abused herck of a gag reflex and the fact that she did not need to breathe to go down to his base in one go.
His whole cock in her mouth, Sylph used her nimble tongue, trained from hours upon hours of endless talking, to massage the lower half of his shaft. Additionally, electric bands spread around the object of her desire, covering it in pressure and small, infrequent shocks. Themunication John kept open was a two-way road and Sylph felt her summoners approaching orgasm. The dick in her mouth twitched, the balls underneath her spread lips pulsed and the muscly thighs under her hands tensed. Johns hips shot upwards. Sylph took the sudden motion and then she, much more willingly, took the load that followed inside her.
To her it was unbelievably hot. This unfamiliar liquid that spurted into her body, filled with delicious mana. It warmed her insides, quickly dissipating in the storm of her essence. The mana burned into her veins, her summoners pleasure burned into her mind, the gourmet taste burned into her tongue. She wanted more of it, right there, in her mouth, she didnt just want an aftertaste of the stuff that reached the back of her tongue, she wanted it to fill her mouth.
You can go three times, right, right? she asked and before even receiving an answer went, Right! before resuming sucking. She knew from watching his actions that he coulde two times easily with that raised Libido of his, so she went for pushing the limit here. Worst came to worst she would have to wait ten minutes.
What are you nning, Sylph? John asked through the haze of the unique sensations of getting a blowjob from a daughter of the wind.
n? Me? Uhm, Bada-bing, bada-boom, I will make you cum twice in my mouth and then you put your penis into the hole south! she answered, thenughed at her own bad rhyme.
John had less tough as Sylph slowly figured out how to push the right button with that all present electricity of hers. Impossibly tangible, the shocks coiled and twisted around his dick. The electricity tingled, flowed through his dick and reinforced the already steady current of pleasure he was getting from merely having his post-orgasmic dick stuck between her vacuum-caved cheeks.
What should have gone limp stayed hard in Sylphs mouth. This was not that surprising in and of itself, as his heightened Libido and Endurance had blessed him with the ability to cum twice in a row reliably. Nevertheless, going from the ecstasy of a talented electrifying blowjob to a perfect electrifying blowjob sent his fuses into deep-fry. Now he was the putty in Sylphs hands and the tempest elemental, not even noticing that, now mixed her relentless deepthroat and tongue assault with the bobbing of her head. In and out of her throat he went, not the slightest beat was missed, not a sensitive spot left unpressured, all of it was too much.
Sylph felt that traitorous pulsing again and quickly raised her head. Both of her delicate hands wrapped around the shaft in an impulse to pump him topletion instead. It was less skilled but John was past the point of no return anyhow, colours exploding behind closed eyelids just as his semen sttered into Sylphs mouth. The tempest elemental got what she wanted, caught all of it on her tongue, and moaned at the vour.
She threw the nket aside and tapped John on the corbone. He opened his eyes and witnessed Sylph presenting the whole load that filled her cute little mouth to him before closing her mouth and swallowing it in a single gulp. Thanks for the meal~ she sang.
Johns brain was still fried but even if he had been inplete control this next part wouldnt have changed. In a flurry of motions, he pinned Sylph to the bed underneath him. The tempest elemental didnt struggle in the least. Why would she? She wanted what John wanted, they could both feel it. He searched for her slit. The hairless pussy was waiting for his dick, glistening wet with the same mana based lubrication that she had breathed on his manhood earlier. He aligned himself and went in with a single thrust.
Her pussy was the eye of the storm, that was the best metaphor John coulde up with. Pushing in and out was essentially frictionless. But all around, the winds were in turmoil. A steady stream of movement, with his dick at the centre and just like with Smander the storm only got wilder the more he fucked her.
Unlike Smanders vagina however, Sylphs wasnt about the speed he chose to prate her with, it wasnt a continuously escting depth that demanded more and more of him until he no longer could. No, with Sylph it was much subtler, each of his thrusts seemed to add a new spin to the storm, that stayed, added a gust that teased his dick at the next thrust. It all depended on the force he used, the speed, the angle and, as it turned out, on Sylph herself
Oh, gosh, darnit, Johnny, there is something, uhh, I am, is this? Oh, I dunno, I guess it is one, I am cumming, I am Oooooooahhhh, Sylph cried out and the storm inside her narrowed, the mixture of ephemeral winds and solid walls caressing his cock in a much tighter whirl.
John had barely begun really fucking. The tempest elemental, evidently, had a hair trigger when it came to orgasms C a fact for which she had low Endurance and high Libido to thank for or it was just in her nature. Squirming and spasming, she grabbed at the sheets. Her cries handed the control of the scene firmly back to John, who swiftly got to work on truly making her a bbering mess.
Her hair, already wild, became downright messy in look, like she had just woken up after sleeping with wet hair. Her mouth was agape, her tongue outstretched, slurring her words. YESH, yeeeeeeshhhhh, thish sho goooooood, Ih wahndeeed dissssh!
Every other hard plunge into her prolonged the chain of orgasms the perverted little woman was subjected to. The storm inside her quickly turned into a hurricane. Her eyes rolled upwards, then snapped back in a wild effort to take in more of the scene. She stared at him, she stared at his hair, she stared at the ceiling, then she stared at nothing in particr, then finally the little elementals eyes just rolled up for good. Her words werepletely jumbled at this point. Her hands yed with her tits, pressed them together, flicked her nipples. One reached down, to rub her clit at a feverish pace. Her pussy gushed, drenching their sexes and the bedsheets in her juices. She came and came again, writhing as she yed with herself, a bundle cock-drunk and wanting.
John took in the sight, and thrusted, he heard her screams, and thrusted, he felt the walls of wind around his dick, and thrusted. He thrusted and thrusted into her over and over again,sting for a time long enough for Sylph to even lose the energy to y with herself before he finally felt his balls tighten again. His shaft tensed but still he thrusted, as hard and as quick as he could now, the bed squeaking under his efforts. Then his whole body tensed and his sperm flooded into her. Sylphs incoherency became a single scream of debauchery and bliss that surely reverberated throughout the whole house.
All was white as he bowed over the attractive, fun-sized female. Each twitch of her contorted face was followed by another tensing of his cock. The storm raged on, wringing everyst drop out of him, and she grinned, taking it all, until he had nothing left to give.
Even after he had pulled out, Sylph justy there. Twitching asionally in a multi-orgasmic afterglow, she embodied the words fucked silly, giggling and grinning. It was a sight that almost managed to make John hard again in that very second. Almost.
Just one more elemental to evolve.
Chapter 144 – 3 out of 4 days/weeks done.
Chapter 144 C 3 out of 4 days/weeks done.
John finally left his room (after Sylph had returned to coherency). The moment he opened his door, the tempest elemental stormed past him, utilizing her much smaller form. I will have to look into exactly what she can doter, John thought as he watched after the slightly crackling streak of green vanishing around a corner.
During that sexual encounter just now, she had shown control over electricity and air moisturization on top of her usual wind powers. The Skill Evolution did say that she would have basic control over all wind types and that seemed to include some control over other elements? The lines were a bit blurry when only considering basic elements. Tests would need to be conducted.
Yo, yo, yo, that isHEY THIS IS SUPER UNFAIR, you cannot have fun without me, even if I am having fun! he heard Sylphs voice.
What is she on about now? he wondered and entered the living room.
A wonderful sight met his eyes. The curvaceous body of Smander writhed in fiery red atop the naked, pale curves of his bottom-heavy maid. Tongues prated folds, the ssic 69 position on full disy, fingers digging into thighs and plump backsides. They had imed the couch for that, while Gnome had opted to sit on the floor. She masturbated feverishly while she watched them, failing to notice Sylphs bber and Johns approach, until he was right next to her.
The stone elemental froze. Um, uh, we were just, uhm, she tried to stammer her way out of this. She failed. Her naked form and the two girls on the couch in the same state of undress left no room for interpretation. Uwuwuwuwu.
You were horny and decided to have some fun with each other, John analysed the situation with a perverted grin. No problem with that. John wasnt entirely sure what he would have thought about his girls sleeping with girls he did not know about (probably nothing good) but inter-harem loving? That was just a bonus to everything. He wanted his women to get along very, very well. Them having fun with each other was wonderful (also gorgeous women kissing was hot).
Sadly, as awesome as the sight was, John could not obey the demands of his dick to get involved. This would have to be reserved for better times. Therefore, he ignored the tugging in his pants and instead went ahead and pat Gnome, who was in a state of wordless blushing, until she calmed down. Smander and Aclysia took the situation much more calmly, or well, thetter of them did. Aclysia did send him a message asking to wait until she had climaxed while Smander was so in the heat of the moment that John doubted that she noticed that he was even there.
Such is the reality of a growing harem, John added to what he said, thinking to himself. The alternative would be a bunch of women who are just fighting for my attention and I dont want that. I want them all to love each other as much almost as much as they love me. He was allowed just a little bit of selfishness there, right?
With that on his mind, he got Gnome to follow him outside. Sylphgged behind and watched them finish off what they had started. Leaving them with blue ovaries, if such a thing was a thing, would have been cruel. You know, this actually isnt that bad, look at them go, that is hot, not as hot as you, Johnny, but still pretty good. Look at them go C gogo. What a silly word go, go, go! Sylphs lecherous words followed him outside.
So, I am officially no longer the number 1 pervert in this group, John said once the two of them went outside, and I am not sure how to feel about that
Wha-? You are trying to say Sylph is now worse than you? Gnome asked, wrapping her arms around her as if to protect herself from some invisible molester, this is worrying.
I dont think its that bad, besides you seemed to be happy to watch that just now, John teased. Plus, youre still naked.
Gnome iled around in wild gestures, while her yellow dress materialized again around her. I, uhm, I-i-i-I was just caught up in the moment yes, yes! I would never do something like that on my own. It is not like I regrly do something like that when you sleep or anything like i-, Gnome quickly sealed her mouth with her hands.
Interesting, so when you masturbate, do you think of me or somebody else? John wanted to know. Gnome just blushed deeper, her hands remaining in ce.
Please drop it? she requested over the mental connection, her voice a pitiful squeaking.
Okay, John obliged, but he would keep this in mind forter teasing.
Gnome rxed and they stood there, waiting for the sapphic engagements to conclude. One more week, huh? the stone elemental mumbled.
Yes, John answered quietly, his thoughts circling around the same thing. There was only a week left until this rtive safety came to an end. He would have to face Thana. He was now level 63, 25 levels higher than when he had started this grind. His levelling advancements had slowed considerably since the start. It wasnt a huge loss, the majority of his power growth hade from the Skills he gained and trained.
The evolution of three of his elementals had increased hisbat strength extremely, he was certain of that much even without yet knowing exactly what Sylph could do. Next level he would unlock Endurance 100 and with it the Synergy Bonuses for Strength and Agility, so that would be another power boost. His scalings were all around better thanks to the World Ender Set items.
And despite all of that he was not confident at all. He remembered how Thana had taken out Copernicus with yful ease, and the sr feline had been level 76. The strength of his abilities allowed John to punch above his weight but he had no idea how strong Thana really was in the first ce or how she fought. All he had seen of her was an overwhelming disy of raw power. He wasnt confident, he was afraid.
He felt a liquid hand connect to his left one and turned to see Undine. No fear, she spoke into his thoughts. That was easier said than done but the calm of her thoughts spread partially to his own and so he rxed the tiniest bit.
Undine, I he began to say, struggling to sort his thoughts.
I will not, Sally! he heard Sylph shout as she flew outside.
Why not though? Smander asked, simrly small. John was surprised to see them at the same height in their flight form. Cause, I dont wanna, is that not reason enough? I dont wanna, I do not, the tempest elemental spoke, her flower-petal wings beating as quickly as a hummingbirds behind her back.
Aclysia also joined the party, I hope the earlier disy was to your liking, Master, she said.
Well, yeah, was it your idea?
Affirmative, the artificial guardian answered and turned to the bickering duo. Smander has been asking Sylph to change into her bigger form, who has declined, she informed John about the subject of this particr fight.
I dont feel like it! Sylph shouted and folded her arms.
Why though? I mean you have gotten pretty sexy now CI was never a fan of that armour thing you wore- so Sylphie show me your body in full glory! Smander demanded.
Oh, well, if you say it like that, Sylph, being ttered instead of realizing that she was being yed, answered, I mean, yeah, okay, here, look upon my new hot bod! Sylph grew into her bigger, but still pretty small, form.
Smander burst outughing, AHAHAHAHA, you are still so fucking tiny!
Dont call me tiny! I am proudly small! Sylph demanded, her voice apanied by a gust of wind that carried Smander away. The ze elemental just kept cackling as she tumbled through the air,nding a few feet away in the grass and rolling around, having changed into her own bigger form someway along the way.
Smander wasughing so hard that she lost control over her heat and actually scorched the ground she wasughing on. Or maybe it was apletely conscious decision, John had no idea. As she calmed down, she got up and walked over to Sylph, who gave her older sister an angry re. Well, guess you are at a good height to give blow jobs while standing, Smander ridiculed the tempest elemental, standing tall above her, lips spread in a cocky smile.
You tricked me, apologize! Sylph demanded and puffed her cheeks up when Smander instead started patting her head.
Sorry, I cant hear you down there, she apologized for something else entirely, putting a hand next to her left knife ear. Can you repeat that, little Sylph?
The tempest elemental''s own elven ears twitched and she clenched her fists, I am not amused, not in the slightest, this is the opposite of amusing, you are making me mad, silly Sally, silly, dumb, mean Sally. I will smite you!
Pff, with what? Gonna fan my mes with some more wind? Like thats workrkrkrkrkrkrkr, Smander got a shocking introduction to Sylphs new ability to control lightning. Red curves tensed as the energy set her own essence into disarray, achieving a simr effect to humans touching high voltage. Only when Sylph stopped did Smander keel over backwards, saving herself from an ufortable impact by shaking her head and changing forms mid-fall.
What was that? she wanted to know, The fuck was that?!
So, to inform you all, John intervened, before Sylph could make this quick exnation into a self-glorifying twenty-minute monologue, Sylph actually had a stronger evolution than the two of you, Gnome, Smander. She either jumped directly to Tier 3 or some kind of Tier 2.5, I will have to read deeper into that after we have saved Jane.
That is bullshit! Smanderined to John, why did she have a better evolution? That makes no fucking sense, you make no fucking sense, this is fucked up, I demand a retry for my own!
Dont hate the yer, hate the game, John shrugged it off, nothing he could do about it. Smander was left speechless.
What exactly can she do now? Gnome wanted to know, she didnt look as offended by this as Smander, more curious all things considered.
Good question, Sylph, show us what you can do now, John furthered the question.
Kay, so I can do this, she pointed at Smander and there was a small spark of electricity, this one wasnt nearly enough to hurt the ze elemental.
Oh, haha, Sylph, Smander spat out and distanced herself, Rain on somebody elses parade.
Yeah, I can do that too, good idea, Sally! Sylph said and struck a pose, her finger now raised to the sky. A cloud formed over her hand. I have some weather control now, isnt this cool? The cloud started pouring down in a local monsoon that drenched Sylph to the bone. This was obviously not intended as Sylph started to make hasty movements, Ehm, uhm, urgh, how do I turn this off? Maybe If I put some more energy into it, it will A lightning strike, made by herself, struck Sylph causing her to yelp in surprise.
At least Smanders mood was lifted again. Clumsy airhead, shemented, while everyone waited for Sylphs head to stop spinning.
Eh, uhm, so, uh, I can also do the usual! the tempest elemental finally announced and made a sweeping gesture. John could not directly see or feel the ensuing attack but he saw the grass being pressed to the ground by the oppressive wind Sylph had just summoned.
So, lightning and some rain as well as your old powers, John concluded, although thetter are, expectedly, stronger and you can do it without my mana. Anything else?
Nuh-uh, do not think so, maybe, maybe not, I can do some funny stuff now though, look at this! Sylph hyped everyone up and opened her eyes wildly. Nothing happened, uhm, I think I am out of mana,
Sylph! Gnome said sternly, You should keep track of your mana more carefully.
Says the girl who mindlessly threw spikes at me! Sylph countered.
I meanthat was Gnome stammered, JustTHAT WAS YOUR FAULT FOR TEASING ME!
Maybe she can do it if you believe in her Gnome,e on, do it with me, EY EY OOOH! Smander teased the stone elemental.
Y-y-y-y-y-y-you are awful! Gnome cried and hid behind Aclysia. Save me! she begged the maid.
Do not bully Gnome, Smander
Thank you!
that is Masters privilege.
NO-hoooooo, Gnome sank to the ground and rocked back and forth in a foetal position, why is everyone mean to me-eeeee?!
Cause you are so adorable when we do it, John exined, causing Gnome to give him a pouty, slightly teary-eyed nce.
Why can I not be adorable when you don''t bully me?
You are, you are just extra adorable when you look like this, he stated. Gnome sniffed and mumbled something about being ttered.
Anyhow, with that out of the way, Undine, I wanted to talk to you, the mostly silent water elemental looked at John with anticipation following these words. John kneeled down so that they could speak face to face. I know that what happened in the first week must have been really painful for you and that I have waited so long for me to want to make things between us clear again even bringing this up unleashed a rage inside Undine that pressed down on Johns every thought just like her calmness had earlier. Against the power of her emotions he was nothing more than a sailor stirring a suddenly stormy sea. but I am willing to make amends now, the sea calmed ever so little, with every word he spoke, I ask for your forgiveness and whatever it takes for you to give it to me, I will oblige.
That, suddenly, caused the rage to rise higher than ever. Would you forsake Rave for my sake? the words torrented through his mind. Would you kill one whom you love for me? Do not spout empty phrases, John Newman, her words crashed like waves into his thoughts and exposed his lies, Say what you truly want, I will state my demands in return. John clenched his teeth. He did not want to say the truth. It was far from the noble fa?ade he presented. It was mechanical, self-centred, and dull. Say it, I know anyhow, Undine urged him.
I want you to forgive me so I can evolve you without risk and have more power when saving Jane, he answered.
The turbulent sea became a silent pond, Honesty about your intention, this is all I could have ever asked, Undine said in her crystal-clear voice, If you want to live in the peace of the ebb you need to face the mindless advancement of the flood.
Is that your lesson for me? Honesty? he asked.
The water elemental shook her head, That is what I expect of you, my lesson is different. Let us fight the demons, Gaia told me she has prepared something for us on the tenth floor.
John furrowed his eyebrows. That actually didn''t sound that great to him. However, Gaia was his benefactor still and when she did present him with an option it should be taken. Okay, he nodded, Then we go now and grind that down.
Chapter 145 – Great strides towards the end (Thursday 3/7)
Chapter 145 C Great strides towards the end (Thursday 3/7)
The hunched over Vessel was a muscr man. The upper body had runes of blood painted on the sickly grey skin while the tattered remains of mismatched robes covered the lower half, secured by a thick ck whip tied into a makeshift belt. The Vessel held a staff made of rusty metal in one hand and a short knife in the other.
The Vessel was a pretty hard boss, all things considered. They were fighting the Floor 9 version for the third time now. The fight against the Vessel was long-winded and dangerous, however it had yielded John three Key of Forgotten Sins already, which he was keeping to use on the tenth floor as they did indeed have the Revealer of Secrets attribute. To be exact it was Revealer of Secrets 2, which added a bit of context to the attribute, informing him that this key would only work on Secret Rooms of the Core Floor 10 or lower in difficulty.
Which in its entirety just means that I cannot farm easy bosses to get keys for higher level Secret Rooms, John thought as he waited for the Vessel to enter his first phase. As per usual with the bosses his Gamer ability spawned, it was invulnerable before that.
The Vessel had three phases, symbolized by where the knife was currently resting inside his body. The first phase started with the Vessel stabbing his staff-holding arm. ck blood oozed from the wound and dripped to the ground.
In the first phase the Vessel summoned things called Bloodworms, these were pretty harmless if taken care of early, as leaving them alone would make them grow. The kicker however was that they were literally impossible to kill. Damage only served to keep them small. They only died once the boss did, therefore at least one person always needed to deal with the Bloodworms. Smander usually took that job.
Gruuuaaahh, the Vessel''s ghoulish cry echoed over the battlefield, a teau of dark grey stone atop a tall pir, connected to other ones like it through bridges of spikey rocks. The Demon dungeon reminded John a lot of the ones in Diablo 3. Actually, the same was true for the Angels, but that was a matter for another time.
The blood oozing from the wound dripped to the ground, all of it crawling towards the first Bloodworm that had formed which Smander kept under constant fire so it wouldnt grow. This would work until the start of Phase 3, so John left her to it and instead ran towards the Vessel. The staff it carried made it immune to ranged attacks, this made Sylph useless for the most part, which was why the tempest elemental just hung around and conserved her mana until Phase 2 rolled around. It also meant that John had to bust out the Mana de Spell.
Undine! he said as he conjured the de, sending some of his mana through the water elemental and getting it back a momentter, imbued with her properties.
The short de of deep blue appeared around his hand, its base around his wrist. The Vessel was immune to ranged attacks but it was also slow and weak, making him an easy target for melee attacks. It was therefore his and Aclysias job to wound the boss in this first phase while the other elementals kept back, with the exception of Undine who came with him to imbue his Mana de with the water property, as that dealt extra damage to the Vessel.
Aclysia was the first to strike the boss, unsurprisingly, herbat stats remained miles above his.
Her de delivered a blunt blow to the beings chest, Aclysia using the t side of Ashkandi. This was due to the Bloodworm, every skin-breaking injury the vessel took in phase one would spawn another one of the things so their goal was instead to clobberclubber the boss into the next phase.
Hrtzrkr Jhrtarzk Kurkrul, the Vessel mumbled something stereotypically demonic even as the broad side of Johns de glided through him. Mana de was an awesome skill for several reasons. It had two applications, one was physical and one was arcane wounds, thetter dealt a lot less damage to people but it was awesome at ignoring most armour, only enchanted ones being in the way. The next reason was the range of application, limited only by his mana supply. While the costs rose exponentially the longer the de got, at the half-metre length it cost him only 20 mana and an additional 50% for an added property, like water, right now.
While the Mana de onlysted three seconds that was more than enough time to get a hit in and because he could change the length and property as needed it was incredibly versatile. If he had gotten the Skill earlier he would have probably specialized as a melee fighter. With Aclysia being optimized to take the role for him and the rest of his kit being fairly solid, that pivot was highly unlikely.
Analea hurhjartk, HRADATRZT, a shockwave forced both John and Aclysia back, dealing 10% health damage to both of them. This skill was another reason why the fight was properly hard, the boss dealt maximum health damage. While this was of little concern to Aclysia or any of his elementals, John himself had very littlebat regeneration, his shield easily took the hit but nevertheless they couldnt allow him to use that ability too often.
The shockwave wasnt the only part of that skill either, several of the runes on the Vessel''s body lit up, dark energy crackling and then unloading in an arch of tainted lightning that hit the ground. Three Imps spawned, knee-high, furry beasts with big noses and even bigger teeth that jumped towards John. Gnome!
I-I got it! The stone elemental answered with mustered courage and isted the three minor demons from John and Aclysia with the erection of a small stone arena where she could take them out on her own.
They continued dealing damage to the Vessel this way, Sylphmentating on the whole thing from above. Aaaaand Aclysia executes a brilliant overhead strike, bludgeoning the opponents head but he just keeps chanting, man, I mean, to keep talking when youre being demolished like that from a woman made from metal, libido and dragon scales is pretty remarkable, wuuu-ii. Johnnie swing those arms a bit more, should have raised Strength instead. But I need more mana, he said, to use my Skills more, he said, should have learnt how to properly smack the guy over the head, I tell you. THERE GOES THE SECOND SHOCKWAVE, can they stop him from using a third, oh yeah, they can that was the phase change wave, finally.
The Vessel ripped the knife out of his arm and rammed it into his sr plexus. He went limp for a moment then he leaned back and hovered. The arms stretched outwards, his staff left his hand and teleported behind the Vessel''s back. It looked like a very cheap crucifixion, especially after a second wound opened on his arms, both of which caused more blood to ooze out and a second Bloodworm to form.
The second phase added another ticking timer, the Vessel would cast the max HP shockwave every 20 seconds while the growth of the Bloodworms was also increased in this phase. Something to do! Sylph enthusiastically shouted and started her job of keeping the second Bloodworm small with lightning attacks.
Ghurtztka Ghurtzka! the vessel shouted, his voice several tones deeper and echoing. More Imps spawned.
The vessel was still immune to ranged attacks in this phase but didnt hover high enough to be out of range for their melee attacks. Basically, the strategy here was the same as in phase 1, Sylph and Smander kept the Bloodworms from growing. Gnome was to defeat the Imps, while Undine, John and Aclysia kept damaging the boss. Unlike the first phase however the Bloodworms now grew faster than the two could damage them without Johns mana as support.
This boss fight is a giant DPS-check, John thought as he kept hacking at the Vessel''s torso. On lower floors they out levelled the boss and a DPS-check one outsses in terms of Stats was typically phenomenally easy. They could even ignore the Bloodworms at floors 6 and 7, simply because they didnt be big enough to be a threat before the boss bit the dust.
John kept a close eye on his Mana Protection, once the pre-emptive shield was depleted, he would have to deactivate the skill, otherwise a single shockwave would rip most of his mana away and he needed that for the final phase, which they were about to enter.
Grrrrrrrrr, the Vessel growled and gripped the knifes handle with both hands. In a scream of pain, he ripped it out and then, in a disgusting disy of raw brutality, rammed it into his forehead. Again, he went limp. Then the ck blood ran from the wound and covered the weapon, hiding it under a growing crystalline structure that looked like a horn.
The Vessels body swelled, muscles bulged to massive proportions, partially ripping apart the skin. The boss grew to three metres tall, a demonic goliath with skin as red as the runes that covered it stood before them.
Thest phase of the boss fight was the simplest mechanically. Bloodworms would spawn and grow at a constant rate; however, the boss was also killing himself by doing so. The Bloodworms would not only attack John and his group but also try to return to the Vessel and heal him. That was the main reason for keeping the Bloodworms in earlier phases as small as possible, because in thisst phase the boss emitted an aura that dealt constant max-HP damage. It was a race against time.
On the plus side, the boss was no longer immune to ranged attacks. Everyone, concentrate on the boss! he instructed.
We know, we did this before! Smander reprimanded, everyone already moving in the familiar patterns.
First was Gnome. She had used her abilities as little as possible while fighting the Imps just to have enough mana to create and maintain shackles around the Vessel''s feet. The ssic strategy robbed the boss of the mobility it would have needed in order to escape the triple attack executed by Sylph, Smander and Aclysia. The former two got a respective half of Johns remaining mana. Standing to each side of the boss they covered his body in cutting winds and scorching mes. Aclysia, with her extreme resistance against elemental attacks, jumped into this unleashed fury without a worry and now took stabs at the boss without any care for more Bloodworms.
The sheer brutality and coordination led to a swift, uneventful end of the Vessel.
Whoooo, John breathed out when the boss, and the Bloodworms along with it, disappeared. Okay, I think we have nailed the strategy this time, good job everyone.
Earlier tries had them spawn Bloodworms on purpose in order to spread their growing out or going for a more grindy style of fight, while they won both of those it hadnt been nearly as clean as this kill.
Burst is king it seems, John mused as five metres in front of him a swirling red and ck portal opened, inviting him to the tenth floor. They had declined in the previous two attempts but now John felt somewhat confident. Do we want to try?
Chapter 146 – They do.
Chapter 146 C They do.
The vote was one against (Gnome), two undecided (John and Aclysia) and three for (Undine, Sylph and Smander).
Therefore, they jumped into the portal and emerged in a new environment. They found themselves in awork of ck towers, built in a medieval fort style and connected through bridges that were held up by stctite-like pirs, extending from a glimmering sea below. The bridges connected to all sorts of segments of those towers, be it near the top, bottom, or anywhere in-between.
The party stood on top of one of the ceilings. John looked up and found nothing but a ck void in ce of the sky. Boring way to save on the animating budget, he thought and instead searched for either enemies, a hint at the location of the Secret Room, or whatever that thing Gaia reportedly had prepared for him would be.
In the distance, he found a suspiciously ornate tower. Lines of gold were hammered into the ck surface and at the base he spied something akin to a giant door. What exactly that tower held was impossible to say, but it certainly contained something.
Lets go there, he said. The moment he set a foot on the bridge that would bring him to the next tower, an arrow flew in his direction. Having deactivated Mana Protection, it hit him in the foot, dealing 74 damage.
John clicked his tongue. Pain had be so much less of a concern over the past toils. Calmly, he took a step back. Then, he pulled out the arrow to end the ticking damage it dealt. Funny to think that an arrow to the foot alone could kill me, if the damage is big enough, John considered. Or would my foot just disintegrate under that kind of damage, before it could fully kill me in one shot?
The wound in his foot disappeared as he thought. The HP lost scarcely registered, thanks to the bump he had since reaching his Endurance goal. Speaking of that he was only mildly happy with the bonuses it got him. Sure, the massive amount of HP he now had was pretty good, but the synergistic bonus with Strength 25 was a measly 0,5% max HP per hour regeneration and with Agility 25 it was Pain Tolerance 1 which had helped him with the foot situation but generally was less useful. Whether he would raise Endurance again in the future was to be determined. For now, with how little time he had left, he was investing all points into Wisdom. Boosting the Main Stat was the most important in the short term.
Are you alright, Master? Aclysia asked, always worried when something happened to him, I should have taken the lead, I apologize.
It was my fault, dont worry about it, John said, as he used the bee to spy the tower ahead. Okay, so there are stairs inside he mentally noted and followed these stairs to find a half-goat, demon archer.
Name is about as imaginative as the skybox, he thought and sighed, measuring the distance with his eye. The Satantyrs eye was turning, he clearly heard the bee but his concentrationy with John, which was fine by the Gamer. Mana Rays current range was 248 metres, 100+4 times Skill level, he guessed that the next tower was about 200 away, give or take twenty. That was within range.
John raised his hand and counted down, 2 C 1 C 0. The beam rapidly travelled the whole distance and hit the monster square in the head. That part was luck, John had been aiming for centre mass.
The broader my toolset bes, the less I have to respect dungeon mechanics, he thought and scratched behind his ear. He saw the Satanyr get up and now try to attack the bee, but he just flew out of the window. Sylph, can you deal with that? he requested.
Roger, roger, Sylph said in a fake robot voice and flew the 200 metres in about 6 seconds. There was a sh of green light and then John got some EXP. Dunzo, you cane now wow, can you be any slower? Hurry up already, Sylph let them all know.
I swear to Mother Fire, that girl will break the sound barrier eventually, Smander said as they crossed the bridge safely.
Not impossible, John admitted, Seeing, however, that I could have evolved you into a source of gamma radiation I think thats pretty fair.
You could have done that? Sounds rad, there was a pause, then Smander snickered, Oh, nice, me.
John chose to ignore Smanders bad pun and carried on. Using the bee to spy on and then neutralize the Satantyr within each tower was a reliable, if somewhat slow way to advance. Their strategy had to change for every encounter, although the ground structure was always the same. Step 1: Get rid of whatever Archers or Spear throwers there were with Mana Ray, Sylph and Smander, Step 2: Storm the Tower, Step 3: Kill everything.
The Satantyrs hung out in groups of one to ten, so the fights greatly varied in difficulty. Smoking out a tower was anything between a challenge of a minute, to ten.
So, Undine, John asked as the two flying members of the group fought four archers at the top of the next tower. Red and green, they curved through the air as bands of energy. Any more information on that thing Gaia has prepared for us? They were still heading for the gold decorated tower in the distance, it would take them at least another hour to get there at their current speed.
No, only that it is here, came the short musical answer.
Okay. John shrugged. The goal was unchanged then, as much as he would have liked additional intel.
He would have given Sylph mana so that she could just blow the Satantyr off the roof but he currently was a bit short on mana thanks to the Vessel fight and the following engagements. Sure, he would have recharged it all in the time they would have gotten to that gold tower but as the old adage went Better safe, than sorry.
Thest of the Satantyr eventually toppled over the railing and the burning body crashed into the bridge below, exploding into dust on impact. Sylph quickly returned, Smander needed a few seconds more. Why do I have to do missions with you? Smandermented.
Huh? What is wrong with me Sally, what? I thought you think of me as sexy, what is wrong with doing stuff with me? HUH! I JUST REALIZED, I STILL DIDNT GET MY GUMMY BEAR! Johnnie this is an impossible thing, you promised so you are supposed to remember for me! Dont mind that we will talk about itter, so what is wrong with me, Sally?
That, was Smandersplete answer to the waterfall of words.
John crossed the bridge to the constant sound of everyone ignoring Sylph, who did not mind and bbered on. It was strange, to like to listen to someone so much, and yet rarely ever noticing what they actually said. Here goes praying that she forgets about the gummy bear for the fifth time, John thought, he was still afraid of what would happen if he gave Sylph sugar.
It took a lot more encounters, until they finally arrived at their destination. Unlike the other towers the bridge for this one actually brought them to some form of natural teau, a lot like the ones in the ninth floor. On top of that stood the building that, as John now realized, was actually a single piece of stone instead of stacked bricks like the other towers.
The golden lines that were worked into the cyclopean rock only added the illusion of a brick building. Interrupting the perfect cylindrical base of this tower was a t door that extended outwards from the main building. The gate was made from some kind of dark wood, steel nails hammered into its thick nks (or some magic alloy that looked like steel). Aside from being about five times taller than he was, it wasnt that impressive.
I guess this is it then, John said and clicked the Yes button. Do they have a giant mirror in here or what is this reflection about? He joked as the door slowly swung open towards the inside. Any further mirth turned into ice. His smile dropped, a surprised stare taking its ce.
The room behind, he very much doubted belonged in that tower. It was about as big as the ground floor of his house. A red carpetid on everything. It would have been a dark red, unblemished and clean like the first day, except for the darker spots of dried blood. The carpet went over into a golden skirting, most of it demonically decorated by scattered and ruptured innards. The hazel brown walls had a disgusting secondyer of ichor. From the high ceiling hung a chandelier, dozens of light bulbs sitting in an arrangement of brilliantly cut ss, the only still clean part of the room.
Amidst a circle of corpses, most of which were in ck robes, others in Soviet uniforms and a small minority of people that had their unique style each, stood two figures. One was a half-japanese woman with stunning blue eyes, in which a pink hue was about to fade. Despite the blemishes on her body and face and even though she was clearly in pain, with her unruly pink hair she was the most beautiful woman John had everid eyes upon. Rave was kneeling there and above her, hand on her throat, stood Thana.
She was small. Not as small as Sylph but definitely on the smaller side of things. Her white hair grew to her chin, a slight blue tinge to it that turned azure at the tips. Her wide open, big eyes were like shattered gemstones of violet. Two golden ringsy within, an outer one that wasplete and thin, and an inner one, made of six golden dots around the pitch-ck pupil at the centre. Her figure was quite attractive, with decently sized breasts, around C-cup, and wide hips. She would have been quite stunning if not for the ck dots that stuck out of her blueish-white skin like ugly piercings.
She smiled insanely, inhuman teeth, grotesque and sharp, revealed. You came toote, she spoke and broke Raves neck with nothing more than an off-handed squeeze. The crack echoed in the bunker and Johns heart. Now she is dead. You are next. Bloodburn, she spoke the word, like any other, and inhuman fire ignited behind her like perverted angel wings.
John was frozen down to the core. Something in the back of his mind screamed, but he couldnt move. The scene was every doubt in his heart reflected, every fear realized. Thanas wed hand rushed for his head. Bone ws d her thick, demonic fingers.
It was Aclysia who pulled him back, the w missed him by a hairs width. Master, calm yourself,
C-calm myself?! John stuttered and looked at Raves blemished and broken body, the physical example that he had failed, that he would fail, that he was failing.
I am dying anyway, I might as well eradicate your whole hometown while I am still alive, Thana said and cackled, Yes, yes, yes and then Ill go to DC and track down your parents, that bit of time I should still have. During her monologue she let John walk right by her and to Raves corpse.
He picked her up, he heard distant voices, Smander, Sylph, Aclysia, Gnome, none of them mattered anymore. He had lost. He had lost her. For the second time, he had lost her and now all he could do was cry and wait for the end, wait and hope that he wouldnt end in hell for this failure. He felt shockwaves of a battle behind him but he did not care.
A soothing cool enveloped John, it spread over his back, his shoulders, his arms and legs, his chest. Slowly it even enveloped all of him, only leaving space to breathe. For a moment he thought that he was dying, then he heard Undines voice, clear as ss, ringing in his thoughts. John, calm yourself, she instructed.
How can I, she is dead! John answered, too deep in grief to question.
Calm yourself, she repeated. Calm, to focus your turmoil where it belongs.
He was pulled far away, remembering the vision of his and Undines contract. He remembered being but a drop in the ocean, an individual, little particle with an endless amount of himself. The sea was moving, all of him and everyone else was moving.
There is purpose to each wave, Undine whispered, each of them has a cause, each of them a destination. The water in its entirety gradually drained. It was pulled and pulled, drawn towards a force irresistible. Calm yourself. Be the inevitable.
John clenched his eyes shut, ignored the cold body in his hands, and forced the calm on himself. It was terrible at first, like raging against a storm destined to roll over him. Be the inevitable, he thought and, rather than force the storm to pass, stood under its descending drops. Was the sound of rain not as serene as a calm pond?
Resist the causeless and aimless feelings inside you, be serene and realize the truth. Undine guided his consciousness to the eyes of their other party members. Aclysia saw Thana up close, her inhuman teeth, shouldnt these be perfect human ones? Sylph was the focus of Thanas eyes, shouldnt the golden dots be circling? Smander attacked Thana, her burning wings, shouldnt they be made from the fire of humanity, of blood? Gnome blocked a strike by Thanas ws, shouldnt they too have been made of blood, instead of bone? Undines sight was ck, her mind filled with abination of the inconsistencies.
The mistakes revealed themselves to John and he became the eye of the storm. I have reached serenity, he told Undine.
And you have realized the lie, now realize your feelings, what are they?
I am afraid of Thana, because of her power, but I will need to face her because I love Jane.
But this is not Thana, what do you feel towards this monster?
Anger, for showing me what I fear to lose the most. The storm, around the edges of his thoughts, swelled in intensity, until it matched the rushing of blood in his ears.
Undines voice, mind-shatteringly loud, overcame even this roar. Gone was the serene melody, reced with the choir of a wrathful tide. And what will you do with this anger?
Aim it with purpose at the one that caused it. His answer tore down the barriers between him and the storm. The water that had been dragged back came rushing back in. A tsunami of righteous anger rolled over Johns mind and he swam in its crest.
His eyes flew open, as mana flowed to Undine. Mind became matter, water energies flowing into the Mana de he created. The cold mannequin dropped from his arms, a doll of wood and broken illusion, to be ignored in favour of his goal: victory.
The creature was unprepared and the weapon pierced through its back.
As it was impaled with the cleaning purity of water, the imitator of Thana cried and hissed. The things illusion fell apart, revealing a formless body of colour-shifting tar. It had grown fat off Johns, even so short-lived, misery.
You will die, John said with cold certainty. He normally felt no remorse for killing the beings in these dungeons. They may have appeared sapient, but in the end they were just parts of his ability and only lived because he used a Skill.
At times, John had felt great glee at oveing a hurdle or meeting a goal. The passion of battle itself, that he partook in. To have such a single-minded focus, such an intense desire to see something die, that was new, scary, and necessary.
He was serenity and he was wrath. The duality of the emotions beat in his chest, allowing him to wield his anger, instead of following it as an impulse. This was the final rity he had needed to realize. This was the lesson of water: be clear of mind and to wield his emotions with purpose.
Sylph! he shouted, as he conjured another Mana de. The Illusion was broken, he didnt need the cleansing property of water, he needed the sharpness of Wind.
You got it, boss! Sylph obeyed and one hundred mana was sacrificed in order to create a de long and strong enough to cut through the now defenceless being.
The two halves wanted to reunite, Smander, burn it to cinders, take as much as you need he instructed and opened his mana to her.
You are speaking mynguage, the ze elemental said and drank deep from him. Last time it had hurt. She had tried to take what wasnt hers. This time John allowed it and so he only felt a slight tug at his soul. His mana was carried away, first only by Smander, then by all the elementals, as they all joined in the effort of destroying the creature.
One half of it survived the inferno and was met by a cage of water.
You impure being, Undine sang.
We will not absolve, Sylph chirped and lightly touched the sphere of water, electrical currents pulsed through.
For you have angered the sum and the parts, Gnome spoke, mming two walls of stone together around the Fear Eater. The walls crumbled and left only a miserable shadow of the former mass the being had before.
So, die, motherfucker, Smander ended the being in another short burst of me.
Chapter 147 – Clean-Up
Chapter 147 C Clean-Up
Letting go of the anger was simultaneously easier and harder than John had imagined. Typically, he had kept his emotions on the downlow when he fought, so this was simply new and unusual. After a bit, however, his heart calmed and his jaw rxed.
Aside from Aclysia, who looked slightly worried, everyone was smiling. What did you realize, master? the artificial guardian asked, she was afraid that whatever Undine had revealed to John was unhealthy for his psyche.
That I should focus my effort where it belongs and that I should keep a level head, John stated and shared the revtion with Aclysia.
At the end she looked calmed, even if not entirely convinced. Take care that effort doesnt be obsession, Master, she left a piece of advice with him before joining everyone else in their happy expression.
I will. Now! he turned at the beige windows, Lets get through this!
That was quite the good skill, it would eventually increase all of the four elemental girls stats by 50%, although John was not quite sure what the Main Stats were supposed to be. Observe would identify that over time, just because he would see the buffs. Here goes hoping that Libido is not one of them in Sylphs case, he thought.
John looked at the choices with wide eyes. He would take the left one, he needed experience more than items right now, but this was a very good reward, stupidly good even. He still had two more Keys of Forgotten Sins, therefore he could nuke the entire floor two more times and doing so this first time would not only give him instant ess to this floor but also fulfil the Quest he had been carrying since the start of this whole grind. It really was insanely good.
Two level-ups at once. It had been a while since he had gotten that from a dungeon. He noted that he could also enter at any Floor between 5 and 10 now, which would be a non-insignificant time saver. With that done, he checked the reward for the Quest.
The ss sk had a very long neck, the top sealed with a cork stopper. The lower half was arge, spherical body, with a ttened bottom. It was nearly entirely clear ss. Only three letters in ck, spelling out EXP, were printed on it. It did alsoe with a small leather holster that he could clip to his belt.
John was pretty eager to equip the thing, but there was a problem: It shared a slot with the Fake Keys of the Pearly Gate. While the Echo was less great than initially thought it was still the sole reason for him being able to have Undine at level 100 already. He had abused the thing and rolled the Slot Machine whenever he could, grabbing whatever Skill Point reward he could get his hands on; even with the 95% decrease that had been what had eventually gotten him there.
What Skills do I even want to push at this point? John tried to find an excuse to take the Fake Keys off. There was one obvious answer: Artificial Spirit. Getting whatever the choices of the maximum level were going to be was likely to grant Aclysia quite the boost. Therefore, the sk was put into his inventory, for now.
For his new Stat Points, they all went into Wisdom. What his elementals ate now of mana regeneration was quite sobering. The upkeep cost was unchanged, despite the evolutions, and they had their own mana to fall back on, but boosting their effectiveness remained his single highest expenditure during fights. Intellect would have been another possible solution but he still liked a rapid regeneration over a high base pool. Nothing worse than running out of gas in the middle of nowhere.
With all of that cleaned up he decided to head back, Okay, now we evolve Undine back home, okay? he asked, not expecting any objections and being affirmed in that expectation. A short timeter they were walking towards his house. Johns eyes fell on Magoi who was standing contemtively in front of the loot basin. Right the Fear Eater had that legendary drop, John remembered, it even was an Artificial Crystal, like the one he had used to create Aclysia. Better check that out.
What have you created? Magoi asked once he realized John was next to him. His voice was devoid of judgment, just sheer disbelief. John activated his aura sight to check what the Fateweaver meant. The aura was blindingly white, and about the size of his fist, like a miniature sun it burnt into his magical sight with frightening intensity. John had to deactivate it to look at the item itself. The crystal was formed like a twenty-sided die, the surfaces being either ck or white in a checkerboard-like pattern.
Seems like we can finally make a weapon for you, Aclysia, John said and threw the thing into his Inventory. Sure, it was pretty powerful but at this point incredible Loot had to have an immediate benefit to be the cause for hype. He generated absurd things every week, no reason to be surprised.
Magoi was of a different mind, You want to make a WEAPON out of this? he was baffled. John, listen to me, people would fight wars over that thing. Keep it locked up in that Inventory and dont reveal it to anyone.
You are saying people would start wars over this, like who?
Middle-ss organizations, like Thorne, the Small Lake Pact, the Watchers of the Azure Eye, maybe even the Czech League, I dont know. You are already of interest to a lot of people, dont paint another target on your back, the Fateweaver informed him calmly, If you dont take this as advice from an acquaintance, take it as a statement from a High-Fateweaver: that crystal is dangerous for you, wait until you have the power to protect yourself before you use it.
John nodded to appease Magoi. He was not sure if he would follow that advice. If he survived Thana, he would be under the sway of a German princess, so that came with a degree of protection, probably? Beyond that, the Gamer wasnt sure if Magoi quite realized how rapidly he grewpared to other Abyssals and how useful that weapon would be to that end. Still, he could at least consider what the more learned man said.
Anyhow, you only have 4 more days, keep it going, Magoi said his goodbye for the evening.
John looked after the Fateweaver, Do I trust you enough that, after making such a fuss, you keep this information to yourself or will you stab me in the back like Victoria did? he asked himself, as he turned to enter his own house. In the end he decided to do the former. Magoi could have informed whoever he wanted before John hade back. If he was betrayed, it was already toote. All he could do was keep a level head and be mentally prepared for the eventuality.
Clearing his mind of such negative thoughts, he concentrated on the positives of the day. It was time to evolve Undine. As was tradition they entered his room. John waited for a moment at the door before opening it, expecting some plea for istion like Sylph had made. There was no such thing. You sure? he sent the question exclusively to Undine. He only got a feeling of certainty back as his answer.
With that out of the way, they spread through his room. John sat down on the edge of his bed, in preparation for what had happened every time. Gnome wanted to sit down to his side first, then blushed, stammered, Uhm, s-sorry, this is Undines day and all, sorry, and chose his office chair instead. Aclysia had no such qualms and stood at Johns right-handside. Smander sat down in Gnomesp, lifting the stone elementals skirt in a nonchnt motion.
No panties again, huh? shemented.
Wha-! Gnome quickly hid her crotch from everyones view by violently pushing the skirt back down. You are awful, Smander!
We all know you are a closet pervert, just admit it already!
I am no such thing! Gnome cried out, but the way she decidedly avoided everyones eyes betrayed her lies. Sylphughed at the whole scene from her lookout on Aclysias head.
Undine took the ce where two of her sisters had stood before, in front of John. The slime girl hadnt changed, she had the appearance of a little girl made entirely from a blue highly dense liquid. Her short hair twirled around a maelstrom at the back of her head and her misty white eyes stared at John as he asked, Are you ready?
Everyone went silent as John opened his status screen, his finger prepared to push the button once Undine was. Slowly her feelings filled everyones thoughts. Doubt, slight fear, but above that, curiosity and desire, the desire to no longer be thest one stuck in the first Tier, to be bound in a form so inappropriate for the environment she had found herself in. The negative emotions were drowned out and then he heard a single word, Yes.
He really wanted the Mending Elemental. A group with a healer was a lot safer and it would fit Undine as well. As it currently stood Undine was the least useful part of their party and that had been this way for a long time, her only job was to protect John from projectiles, a job Mana Protection did a lot better. Yes, he would take the Mending Elemental. A little nod from her confirmed that she was fine with it.
Undines form was suddenly consumed by a pir of water. Her new form was revealed from the feet up. Naked feet and legs, long and reflecting the light of the sun outside beautifully came into view. She was still of the same light blue, still clearly a being based in liquid. A summer dress, a shade deeper than her body slime, formed, its skirt was short and the edges waved like a calm sea.
C-cup breasts formed above a pleasingly narrow midriff. Her shoulders were unclothed, contrasting with the sleeves of the same, darker blue. They hovered around her arms, which ended in hands with long, slender fingers. Her blue face was noble, from the form of her nose, to the elegant curves of her lips to the mncholic expression of her eyes. Undines hair was a single mass, separated from her head through tinges in colourations and segmentation. Towards the tips, the hair parted into individual strands. Swirling patterns within created the image of it flowing eternally.
Smander whistled. Hot damn, Undine, from a girl to ady.
John could only agree. Undine indeed now looked very much like ady. Standing at 1,78 metres she wasnt small anymore either, which Sylph greatlymented. I am the smallest again, this is unfair, UNFAIR I TELL YOU! Or maybe it is secretly great? Yeah, I am the smallest now! The very smallest, like no one ever was!
I demand an orgy! Sylph shouted, I do not know how that will make things better but it feels fair, so I demand it, are my demands met?
Sylph, you cant just first get your solo time when you evolve and then rain on Undines parad-
Sure, Undine said, an exceedingly rare instance of her actually talking out loud. Her voice was even more graceful than her appearance. An opera could have been built for her and her alone. I dont want to monopolize, she added mentally.
Well, it seemed like the decision for the evening was made.
Chapter 148 – Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Love
Chapter 148 C Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Love
You heard the gal! Sylph shouted, everyone strip!
I swear this might be the one time you had a good idea Sylph, Smander said, being the first to be naked- She just had to put out the mes that hid herdy parts after all. Smander made her way to the bed immediately, but still was only the third woman to arrive there.
First was Aclysia, who just dropped and snuggled up to Johns right side, while her dress receded back into her body. I am in support of Sylphs idea, Master, she whispered in his ear.
Nobody had to tell John twice, he was already frantically putting his clothes into his inventory. A full orgy with all of his present haremettes? All five of them? The best he had managed so far were three. Horniness just didnt line up or they needed to sleep or whatever the excuse was. This was about to be a dreame true!
The other girl that was already in bed with John was Sylph, who overtook Smander mid-flight and threw her naked body against Johns back. He felt her soft breasts press against his back, soon joined by Smanders hot and huge presence.
Uuuh, uhm, is there, maybe, some room for me here? Gnome asked,te to the party. John hadnt exactly paid attention to her so he had no idea where she had gotten the towel which she now used to hide her curves from the groups lecherous eyes. John could see bits of her wiggling hips. Gnome was as naked as the rest of them.
Drop the towel, you cute rock, you! Smander demanded.
But, that is so
We have all seen it, Gnome, John reminded her, only deepening the shade of red the rock elemental disyed. A curious feeling overcame all of their minds, radiating from Undine, who was now moving over to John.
Her long legs apparently were just for show, she instead flowed over the floor. It was a bit weird, to see her form stretch in ces. The weirdness settled as quickly as she pulled herself back into her nubile form. Undines dress had vanished and now showed her gtine nakedness, from her dark blue nipples over the t stomach (with decorative belly button) to theck of a pussy. Undine didnt take a ce next to John but instead positioned herself between his legs, her reshaped lower body in a kneeling position.
The curiosity of Undine was clearly guided towards Gnome and her still somewhat clothed state. Impatience soon followed. The stone elemental finally caved, O-okay, I will drop the towel, promise me not to stare!
No promises are made! squeaked Sylph.
WhaSylph!
No promises are made! the tempest elemental repeated. Now off with the towel or I will tickle your belly!
You cant just say stuff like that! Gnome shouted and gestured wildly, That is very, very rude!
Sylph was taken aback by her eldest sisters sudden outbreak, then she showed a leering grin. Hehe, n seeded. There had been no n. There absolutely had been no n.
What are you, uhm, uh, Gnome looked down on herself and realized that she had identally thrown away the towel, now standing in front of everyone,pletely naked. Uwuwuwuwuwu, her voice rang out as her eyes spun in her head.
There you go, sis Smander congratted.
Nice body, Gnomy, Sylph said and extended a thumbs up next to Johns head.
You are worthy of Masters attention, Aclysia added.
I hate you all! Gnome sniffled.
Dont be that way, Gnome,e cuddle, John offered and patted the bed at his still empty left side. The stone elemental took the offer and, without another word, snuggled up to him on the bed, possessively grabbing his arm and resting her head on his shoulder.
Okay, this is nice, John thought as he felt four pairs of boobs of varying sizes being pushed against him from both sides and behind, Wonder what can top this feeling? The answer was: adding the lips of a slime girl to the mix.
Undine, between his legs, had been eyeing his dick with interest for a bit. She chose now to act, wrapping her blue lips around the engorged head of his cock. Without any hesitance, the slimedy began to glide deeper, taking more and more in.
Undines body was slightly cooler than room temperature. The gtinous slime that made up her body easily parted before him, forming a perfect sleeve for him. Clearly visible to the naked eye, he followed his cock gliding deeper down her translucent throat. His dick was instantly lubed up by secretions from Undines slime so that when she pulled her head back up, his dick easefully glided over the bumps its cast shape had left there. The walls constricted to press with perfect tightness against his rigid shaft.
Just as John discovered the joys of getting head from a sapient liquid, the mending elemental found out the joys of giving it. Her inhuman physique had granted her the ability to receive pleasure from wherever she wished to, all she needed to do is move a sensitive kind of slime, visually the same as the rest of her body, to the desired ce. Instinctively she moved more and more of that slime to the walls of her upper hole. She sucked her summoner''s dick with as much grace as she could muster, as she felt better and better and better until the feelings overflowed from her own mind and spread to everyone else.
The expressions on the faces of the four watching women turned gradually more vacant, lust recing intrigue and desire, patience. They rubbed against him, first with little motions, then gradually more demanding trembles.
Master, I am Aclysia gasped, her body burning up from the sight and the lust radiating from Undine. She guided Johns free hand to her crotch to feel her deep desire, the damp wetness of her pussy. John willingly followed the motion and started rubbing her clit andbia, as their lips met in a kiss.
This exchange of saliva, human and artificial, was as wild as it was short-lived. Gnome tugged gently on his arm, demanding his attention. John, can you, uhm, t-touch me too? she shyly asked, her hazel eyes dancing in and out of contact with his.
Only if you kiss me, John teased, Gnome gave him an unsure smile and their lips met. Her moan echoed in his mouth, when the fingers of his left hand slipped into her uniquely smooth cunt.
No fair, no fair, Sylph panted, she and Smander having started to masturbate each other behind Johns back. I want kissies too!
John turned his head to meet the tempest elementals demands. The electrifying experience reverberated in his cock as Undine continued to suck him, still enjoying it more with each passing moment.
Dont you dare leave me out, stud, Smander purred in his ear and soon he was kissing thest woman on the bed. It wouldnt be hisst kiss, far from it. All of them tried to get his attention, individually or together. John kept moving and always he was greeted by a single or two pairs of lips, engaged with him in whatever deep or sloppy kisses they could get.
Undines head moved quicker and quicker. She wanted to taste what everyone else had tasted before. Something which she had only gotten glimpses of that she had not yet understood. Jolts of pleasure coursing through her throat, she began to get it. She wanted her summoner to cum and she did everything to get him there.
Then it suddenly happened. Hot seed, sweet and salty in taste, a delicious treat, filled the path in her body that she made for just this purpose. The mana of her summoner pulsed through her, just as the dick inside her pulsed. Johns orgasm, his still hard cock rubbing against her incredibly sensitive throat, the presence of all the other women,all of it added to her own ecstasy, sending it into overdrive. She felt something in her core tense and then give. A floodgate had been opened, sending gushes of wetness trickling down between her clenched thighs. Blissful shockwaves rippled through her body, barely weakening as time passed. The cock that kept filling her with delicious cum assured that.
The emotions that reached the other girls only made them even hornier. Gnome and Aclysia grinded themselves against Johns arms and fingers, moaning, all shame forgotten. Smander pressed Sylph into the bed, no longer satisfied by just Johns kisses. Their legs intertwined, their crotches rubbing against each other in wild need. John himself kept cumming down Undines throat, until the cocksleeve of slime had milked everyst drop out of him. His pooled cum dissolved inside her.
Lets change positions, he suggested and climbed deeper into the bed. Heid down on his back, ready to please as many of them as he at once could. Nobody stopped Undine fromying im to his dick. She straddled his hips, her smooth cunt swiftly shaping mons, thenbia, then the hole beyond that. Swiftly, she dropped down, deflowering her newly shaped cunt in a swift moment of utter need. Even though the feeling of her pussy was the same as her mouth, the sight made a whole lot of difference. Behind her lower abdomen, his cock stood upright, reaching behind her navel. The quiet slime girls mouth let out ever so quiet gasps, each of them a beautiful note. Her breasts rose and fell in a non-existent heavy breathing.
It was so much easier to concentrate the sensitive slime there for some reason. She didnt care what that reason was, she just wanted to feel more of this. She wanted to feel Johns seed filling her again and she wanted to be sent into orgasm again. She was hooked and she sent those feelings out to all around. Her eyes were unfocused, blindly staring at nothing.
Johns sight was blocked when Aclysia straddled his face. Would you do me a favour, Master? she asked, spreading her pretty pink pussy in front of his face.
Of course, he said, almost pleading for her to have a seat with his tone alone. And she did, dropping her bubble butt on his head in all of its round squishiness. The kind of perfect ass typically reserved for video game models was right there, hot and needy on top of him, and hepped the honey straight from the source between her thick thighs.
He would have used his hands to pull her in deeper but there were two other girls that wanted his attention. Dont you forget about me, Smander said in a teasing, husky tone.
Or me! Sylph added, both of them guiding his fingers to y with their respective pussies. His digits plunged into the storm and the heat that both of them represented and their bodies were made of.
Only Gnome was left alone. Something that she did not seem to mind too much. Standing at the side, watching, a mental invitation was met with a barrier of intense lust. There was not even a lick of shame, she was just too horny watching to notice their suggestions at first. Then, the invitation came through, and Gnome slowly joined the orgy.
She climbed on top of Johns stomach and thus put herself between a perverted Sylph, an aggressive Smander, and an attentive Aclysia. The two elementals and one maid ran their hands over Gnomes body, teased her nipples and kissed the first of Johns elementals. They took turns fingering her while whisperingpliments. Gnomes embarrassment was only overshadowed by one feeling and that was Undine breaking all barriers around her own feelings. Each time Johns dick filled her up, when her hips sunk down, when her bouncy butt and medium sized breasts quivered, all of it was echoed to the other girls. All of them felt her ecstasy echoed in her own.
The room was filled with an orchestra of moans. Music of debauchery in Johns ears, the best kind of music. His tongue sank inside Aclysias pussy, he was fingering Sylph and Smander and through his bee he could spy Gnome writhing under the pleasure and embarrassment she felt as she was showered in attention. All the while Undine was still riding his cock. She was ready for her second orgasm, she had been for a long time, but she couldnt, not until she felt his load inside her. She wanted to feel it all align again.
John would soon do her the favour, the whole situation in the sum of its eroticism was too much for even his brain to fully process. All he wanted was for everyone to reach the climax together and when he felt his sperm surging up his shaft he heard the gasps and cries all around. When he exploded into Undines gripping pussy, everyone else exploded into their own orgasms, triggered by the strongest of them all, Undines rippling through their mentalwork.
Amidst the cries of her sisters, Undine could no longer hold back. She had only gasped quietly so far, but as her summoners semen heated up her insides with the mes of bliss, she tore that barrier down and let go. A sirens call of raw ecstasy filled the room with a singr, high-pitched note, as she orgasmed for the second time. Her eyes, her clear blue eyes, rolled up. Her back arched intensely. She howled at the ceiling. Wetness squirted all over Johns crotch.
First the scream stopped, then the orgasms subsided in a cascade of moans and relieved sighs. One by one, the haremettes copsed onto the bed, shuddering with the delight of aftershocks.
John was not done.
They knew it and it made them tremble in anticipation. Barely, they managed to coordinate. Theyid down in a line, feeling his prolonged desire. Gnome, Smander, Aclysia, Sylph andstly Undine they nowy in front of him, all of them looking like they were already thoroughly fucked, the barriers between their minds ripped down by a storm of pleasure. All of them were lying on their backs, just waiting for John to choose.
He started to his left, with Gnome. His well lubricated dick still had a hard time slipping into her extremely tight pussy. I I cannot Oh, John, I feel so so Aaaaah, she would never be able to exin what she meant as just a few quick strokes brought her to orgasm. John kept fucking her through it, each thrust he made into her oversensitive quim was shared with all the other women. They twitched and spasmed, the pleasure real to their minds, but their bodies incapable of climax without the proper stimtion.
Still, their state of near orgasmic bliss, shared and transmitted, was wonderful to follow and more motivation than he needed to swiftly move onto the slimedy, all the way to the right of the spread. He quickly thrust into Undine, once more inside the water spirits semi-liquid insides. Quickly, he glided in and out, taking it in as the entire spread of gorgeous women gradually lost the ability to keep their eyes focused.
He moved to Smander. Her inner fire greeted him with a turbulent inferno that he could hardly stoke anymore even if he tried. Still, he fucked her as hard as he could. Smander grinned, teeth clenched, and pressed out the depraved sound of savage, constant orgasms. He was pounding her so hard her tits smacked against each other with each bounce.
Quickly he stuck his dick into Sylph. The storm was surprisingly calm but didnt remain so for long. From the moment he thrust inside her the small elementals whole body tensed. Her tongue was lolled out, her noises nonsensical and lewd. John loved every second of pounding her little frame into the mattress.
Finally, he arrived at the centre. Aclysia managed to barely focus on him with ssy green eyes. She spread her cunt wide in invitation, wetness running out from her folds. Please, use me however you wish, Master, she offered before he mmed into her. Her eyes instantly rolled up and she screamed. She was a mess, as much as all the others, fucked silly, grinning, and twitching.
He was unable to hold out much longer. He had fucked each of the girls for long enough to count as its own engagement. His balls were filled to the brim again. Pumping into just one of them would have been a waste of a chance. He pulled out of Aclysia.
Everyone put your faces together, he instructed. His order was only sluggishly obeyed, but quick enough for him to hold out on his climax until they had fulfilled it.
He pumped his dick, ready toe any second. Masturbation felt almost foreign. Close as he was, he would have finished soon anyway, but the five women offered him so much as inspiration. Tongues outstretched, mouths agape, they tried to lick and kiss his shaft as best they could. This sight sealed the deal and his balls tightened, spraying his load all over the harems faces.
They were all marked with gooey white. There wasnt enough of his cum to ster them all as much as his mind would have wanted. The ropes that shot across their gorgeous features were still enough to satisfy his base instincts. They moaned, loudly, as they felt his thick load decorate them, licking what fell close to their lips.
When thest few drops fell on the carpet of their neighbouring tongues, the cockdrunk women turned on each other. With thest of their lust and energy, they cleaned one another of his seed. John followed the sight in awe, then copsed into the bed with all of them.
They needed the rest.
Chapter 149 – Probing for exploits (Thursday 4/7)
Chapter 149 C Probing for exploits (Thursday 4/7)
John entered the tenth floor of the demon dungeon.
After sleeping thoroughly and then enjoying some healthy breakfast, Aclysia had proved that a maid was a necessary part of the harem lifestyle. Not only because the breakfast was delicious, but because the chores following orgies were manifold. Beyond that, the day had started fairly regrly.
Before they arrived here, they had gone chasing dogs. Even with a 95% reduction John always got at least one point in a Skill as the system always rounded up, never down. After adding the point Aclysia was now at a skill level of 94. John could try what he had done with Undine and just roll the slot machine for the chance of 2-3 Skillpoint rewards, but that might as well give him none. Just because it had worked one time, did not mean it would a second.
Anyhow, they were on this floor to do one thing and one thing only: exploit the hell out of the Secret Room. Johns bee was already buzzing around to find the gold decorated prison tower. The Fear Eater had proven to be a very easy enemy once they had ripped Thanas form from it, so the goal here was to stab it with a water-infused Mana de and then hack the creature to pieces again, then clear the entire floor with the reward, repeat and then go back to grinding the floor 9 Vessel for more keys. John thought this was the best way to quickly gain Experience, which was his main goal. One level for him actually meant 5 levels for the group instantly and 1 more Aclysia could reach. They still had plenty of food for her lying around too.
John found the tower in question and they went on their way. Even though the Satantyr were strong, they were not exactly versatile and that proved their downfall once again as all John had to do is send in the people that countered the weaponry found. No Ranged fighters? Storm the tower. Ranged Fighters? Use Sylph, Smander and Mana Ray. A mixture? Take care of the rangers, storm the tower afterwards. The level difference wasnt that huge a threat as long as John had superior numbers and strategies. Not that there was a strong level difference anymore, afterst time.
So, after we beat the Fear Eater, how about we actually check for a Secret Room in the Street Elemental I.D.? John asked as they walked over the final bridge, ending at their destination.
For what purpose, Master? Aclysia asked.
John was halfway sure that she asked just so he could exin it, because he liked doing that. Because he liked doing that, he didnt care why she asked and did exin. I want to see what is in there, after all, I want to get you to Skill Level 100, Aclysia, he said.
Wouldnt visiting the Horned Rat be most efficient then? Aclysia asked, her head slightly tilted in genuine curiosity.
Well, we would have to power through the unknown Skaven stuff first, so not really. John let out a deep sigh. Also, that creature creeps me out, and I would rather not engage with it again, when theres other options. He would do it if he was left with no other choices but as it stood he still had a few days.
Any reason we dont just try Floor 5 Secret Rooms instead? Smander asked.
Knowing Gaia, she has nerfed everything below current content just so we dont get to exploit it, rather not waste a key to get that reassured. The elementals all nodded, looking at how most of his powers turned out that made sense. Anyhow, so we kill this Fear Eater and then we change settings, sound good?
Noooooo, Sylph whined, that means we go back to killing Anti-Depressants, fighting that makes me depressed.
Tough luck Sylphie, now I vote for it just because it torments you, Smander grinned. Everyone else voted for checking out the tenth floor of the Anti-Depressants as well, although for better reasons than the ze elemental. They arrived at the tower and John quickly epted the sacrifice of one of his keys.
The door opened and John was met with the same scene as yesterday. He was gripped by a wave of terror and despair. This time he had the strength of mind to resist falling to it. The being, wearing the skin of Thana, noticed that its psychic attack was swept aside and stood back.
John reached the state of serenity. Calm determination, focused on the monster that dared to show him this scene, filled his being. The being hissed and kept its distance, ten metres were between them. In this form it had been able to fend off four of the six party members, whatever mana he needed to invest to get rid of it was worth it. At least that was his logic as he dumped over a thousand mana into a water infused Mana de that prated the being from a distance, like ance.
It was effective. This Fear Eater had nothing to feast on before its true form was revealed. Consequently, the amorphous blob that spilled out of the shattering skin was much smaller. I will leave it to you girls, John thought as the Mana de evaporated. An onught of elements ensued. A rain of fire and thunder, as spikes of earth ripped the being apart and amidst it all Aclysia hacked at it with Ashkandi.
We dont have much to do, do we? John asked Undine who responded only with a very mild happiness. John supposed that made sense, when Undine had nothing to do that meant nobody was injured. He was a bit interested in how she would heal people though. Would she need to put her hands on the injured party member or how did this work? As the Fear Eater finally bit the dust Johns curiosity had grown big enough to do something stupid.
Aclysia, stab me, he ordered as he pushed the kill everything button on the window that popped up. He expected a level-up, but got nothing. Close to one, thats what he was now. A whole floor with +25% EXP and still no level up, huh? John asked himself and sighed, things really had hit a crawl. Oh well, he would have time to grind moreno, he wouldnt, he realized. He had 3 more days outside of this one. Four days, then it was all or nothing.
Pardon me, Master, but did I correctly hear that you wish for me to stab you? If the answer is yes, I would ask you to retract that order, Aclysia pulled his thoughts back into the now.
Nope, just stab me in the shoulder or somewhere else, I want to test Undines healing, John told her.
Uh, can you maybe, not do that? Gnome asked, I dont want you to get hurt, John, cause, you know she stared at the floor and kneaded the edge of her skirt, quietly adding that would hurt me on the inside.
Ah, suck it up, buttercup, Smander told her eldest sister, I want to see it too.
Just do it, I am bored, boooooooooored, Sylph agreed, Like, super bored, as bored as one could be, borelicious, AUDIBLE GASP! I STILL HAVENT GOTTEN THAT GUMMY BEAR!
Undines thoughts were an enigma. She was careless, but hid more under the surface. Her elevated state had deepened the ocean of her mind. Unless John deliberately tried to dive deep or she shared, it was difficult to peer at her thoughts. He never got to look through her eyes either.
Counting myself it is three for, two against and one undecided vote for stabbing me. Therefore Aclysia, do it! John eximed and took a defenceless stance. Aclysia sighed, made an unhappy expression, and then carefully stabbed him in the shoulder. He took 88 damage. To think that would have one-shot me a while back, John thought as the pain, slightly ufortable, vanished after Aclysia retracted the de.
There we go, Undine, heal me!
Sure, Undine put a hand on his shoulder, a part of her stuck to him even when she pulled back. This blob of her body had a green tinge to it and it slowly simmered through his shirt and was absorbed into his body. 88 HP was restored, although the message said it healed him for 100. How many times can you do that in quick session? John probed, knowing the capabilities of your healer was always important.
Ten, came the insightful answer. So, Undine could heal him for a thousand health quickly and probably a lot more if they stretched the damage out. Not bad, not bad at all. Okay, lets go kill that Anti-Depressant now.
The window popped up after he they defeated that boss once more. Oh, did you reach a level? Sylph asked and then grinned widely, Is it level 69, is it, is it? If it is, can we do that right here? I could! Before John could answer he got two unexpected windows.
The fuhcke? John said in a bad French ent, he did not remember changing locale settings. It was also unlike Gaia to give him freebies at this point, especially without showering him in sass like she did with that Achievement. Well, he did take that present and chose the left option as his reward. He was barely done putting the points into Artificial Spirit and Mana Ray when another quest popped up.
What is wrong with Gaia today? John asked out loud, nervously eyeing the next wave timer. He had like five seconds left and unless he wanted to repeat thest four Waves he had to make the decision now or have that window annoy him through the whole fight. He epted; he would do SOMETHING with that crystal anyhow.
The tenth Wave started. John followed the city going through the usual time reversal. Buildings that had been destroyed by falling stars rebuilt themselves, streets became whole, sidewalks walkable, the whole city was remade. The sky, tinged to unnatural night by the setting, cleared up again. It was midday outside the barrier and so the sun now shined down on John. Shined down at a really high temperature, he quickly saw the heat shimmer rise from the street.
I like this, this is nice, Smander said, to no ones surprise. John and Undine were lessfortable, the heat was intense.
John saw the heat shimmering contort and rubbed his eyes, this was not helpful while spying for whatever monsters were around.
WATCH OUT! shouted Sylph. Toote, John felt something crash into his Mana Protection, reducing it by a sixth of the total value. rmed he looked around, there was no enemy. Not until Sylph revealed him anyhow by attacking the contortion in shimmering, green gusts of energized winds cutting into something nearly invisible.
He still could not see the thing, it was only thanks to Sylphs attacks connecting to something that he had any idea where it was. Another strike hit his Mana Protection, then another one. Aside from Sylph nobody could see or sense them. The tempest elemental did her best to ry their positions but her thoughts were so incoherent it mademunication hard. To the double-plus-left, no the other left!
SYLPH THAT IS BEHIND ME! Smanderined and threw a fireball that connected to something.
Staying where they were, in the middle of a street, was ludicrous. Better to move into an alleyway, where these things could only approach from two directions. John used his bee to scout one out that was both nearby and looked promising. Everyone, we are making a break! he shouted and they started running. Another attack, then one more, Johns shield was almost gone now. They turned the corner and Gnome erected a wall behind them. Good thinking! Johnplimented.
Even amidst this slightly bad situation she found the time to blush, Y-you are wee, John, she said, kicking a pebble that had been part of the floor, before the wall burst open.
The pebblended in front of a door that John hadnt noticed up until now. It was dark green and looked all around boring, except for the neon-lights that spelled out OPEN in the upper quarter.
What is that na- SHIT John cursed as his shield dropped to zero. His mana was steadily reducing as he felt strikes from above sending ripples through the slight blue of his barrier. At least one of the Heat Strikers had climbed over Gnomes wall and was now on top of John.
We are going in there! John decided. If one could do it, several more could, they were not safe here, they needed toe up with a n and they might as well do it in a hopefully safe environment. John pressed the ept button for the Secret Room and they quickly ran inside.
Chapter 150 – There was valuable stuff inside
Chapter 150 C There was valuable stuff inside
The door closed behind them. John took a second to make sure there were no more enemies. No additional damage came his way, so that was cause for relief. In the absence of danger, the confusion of where he was began.
The Secret Room was a shop C a very weird shop. It was as if somebody had designed it by taping room elements from other shops together. A book aisle filled the centre of the medium-sized room, old and new books alike stacked in it. All kinds of shelves stood in front of or were mounted on the walls. Swords, armours, figurines, potions, leggings, sex toys, normal toys, gardening articles, everything could be found within this shop. It would not surprise me if Regan would be the one to own this store, John thought, unsure how he would feel to find Raves dad here. As he slowly stepped around a giant teddy bear a counter came into view. It looked like it belonged in a bar, not inside a store.
Behind the counter stood a beautiful young man. He wore a white shirt, the buttons at the top loose, giving him a slightly sleazy style while also showing off part of his muscles. On the breast pocket a sigil of a staff with two wings was stitched into the cloth. The man had blonde hair and wore a slightly unfitting tin helmet with two wings of white standing from the sides.
John was slightly surprised by that Anal score. Then he remembered that it counted for both giving and receiving, and that Hermes was a god that started in ancient Greece. Maybe not that surprising of an Anal score. Or Hermes was just bisexual on his own. John didnt care one way or another.
Wee, wee! the enthused god said, to the Hermes Collection. I am Hermes, how did you get here?
I stepped through the door? John said with a mixture of confusion and dry humour.
The god didugh, however it was so over-yed that it probably was faked. I see, I see. Let me ask a different way: Where do youe from? See, my door is enchanted to appear in random ces, Hermes exined, I like to know who I am speaking to.
That made more sense to John, Your door appeared as a Secret Room in my Instant Dungeon.
Secret Room? Instant Dungeon? the gods eyes lit up and he bowed over the counter, you must be the Gamer! Oh, how great, so asking Gaia to have our paths cross did work! I wanted to meet you and your item-spawning powers!
How do you know of those? John wanted to know, even SecretBlonde did not find out that detail of his powers.
The Horned Rat told me! Hermes enthusiastically answered, not seeing this as a secret.
And how did he know? John probed, wondering if he could get to the source of this.
Nathalia told him! the god said without a care.
Ah, so the source is me, John thought and sighed. It had been one and a half days outside of this barrier and yet the news had already reached some random god John had never even considered to really exist before. Gods seemed to be a talkative bunch.
But I have bothered you enough, please take a look around, or a breather, tell your friends that Hermes is happy with people just being amazed by his collection.
This is amazing! said Sylph, at that moment, focusing all eyes on her. John spied her on the counter, sitting in her little form and hold a gummy bear bigger than her head. A bowl of sweets on the counter answered the question of its origin. It is sweet, and sugary, and sweet, not at all bitter, and sweet, and the world seems to slow down, and I feel amazing, and sweet, and wooooooooooow-ey, Sylph was all jittery and she chomped down on the gummy bear, thisisamazing!
Thank you, Sylph, Hermes said, how do you like my bowl of eternal gummy bears?
Shuper, awshome, she said, mouth full of sugar.
Hermes turned with a smile to John to answer the question on his mind, I just took a guess about her name. Sylph is fairlymon. I will watch her, so go ahead and do what you want to do.
John nodded, he had two things to do anyhow. First off, he needed to spend the 10 Stat Points he had right now. All into Wisdom they went, and John waited for the 125+ bonus. It never came. Would have been too good, he sighed and instead turned to Aclysia.
Lets get you powered up! he announced and used Enchant on her.
Although he was tempted to take Defensive Stance III, reality had proven that to be useless most of the time. If I could give that skill to Gnome it would be great but Aclysia is always running around the ce, John thought. He instead went with Sturdy Exterior III, that was probably going to help the most against Thana.
Counter had a real application, unlike the other two that were either useless or vanity. He took that and then waited for the final choice.
John was not prepared for this. Uhm, Hermes, you mind if I borrow these chairs? John asked and pointed at two boring looking seats that were pointed towards each other. He would need to sit down for this.
Not at all, not at all! he said graciously.
The chair transformed into the office chair that he had in his room the second his butt had hit the seat. He decided to just roll with it, Aclysia sit down please, you will need to hear this, he told her and pointed at the empty chair. She obeyed and under her it turned into one of the chairs they had at the dinner table.
John read her the choices in front of him. At the end Aclysia just nodded, That is a hard choice you face, Master, she said.
Yeah, seeI kind of do not face it, you do, he exined. I am handing this to you.
Aclysia was confused so Johnid it down for her. Aclysia, ever since I suddenly brought you into this world you have been by my side, you have assisted in my battles, been diligent in keeping my house clean, you follow my whims and you even saved me from myself so I will give this choice to you. Do you want to be free from me?
Free from you? she asked, her body rigid. Why do you say it that way? It sounds like that would be desirable.
To most people, freedom is desirable, and whatever you might have been born as, you are a person now, Aclysia. I wouldnt keep you in a contract you do not wish to be in. very is bad, after all.
I am not your ve, Master. Aclysias green eyes were firmly set on him. I am your servant. Never once have I felt like your ve. You are kind to me, you do not force me to do what I dont want to. You might be my Master but you do not hold me on a leash. I would not be free from you, I would be parted from you. I do not desire this choice, Aclysia stated, I decline the freedom you grant me, the only thing about this that would interest me is the chance to carry your children.
John was baffled by this statement but Aclysia looked him deep in the eyes, even though she was slightly flustered. Okay, I understand, John relented and Aclysia breathed a sigh of relief, a part of her had feared that Johns morals would win over her wish. But between A new beginning and Sisterhood what would you pick? he put the ball back in her court. He still wanted this choice to be hers. Now that his familiars were all growing into their own people, making the Perk choices for them began to feel wrong.
Given the current situation, Sisterhood, Aclysia answered after some thought, Reasons: You have a Quest, you have a crystal that is like mine, you desire a support of some description.
True on all ounts, John said and looked at the choice, but it is going to weaken you, I am not sure if our current situation allows this.
We could postpone the decision until after the fight with Thana, Aclysia offered. No, that is wasted potential, we still have a few days to level that new Artificial Spirit up They were both hesitating. Aclysia gently took his hand into hers and pulled it forwards so that it connected with the button. Now it was my choice, she said with a radiant smile the likes of which he rarely, if ever, saw on her usually so expressionless face, John.
A window popped up asking him for the three Skill Tree choices that he wanted to keep. Good question, John thought and after some thought chose the two extra item Consumption Slots and the Sword Specialization. Not having Defensive Teleportation anymore sucked but that was barely used anyhow, for the rest, well, they were receable.
Wind and Rock and the Cleaver of Streets fell out of the air, suddenly appearing there after Adaptive dery ceased to exist, Ashkandi however Aclysia caught. What will we do with these? the maid asked.
Probably feed them to that new sister of yours, speaking about that, John pulled the new Artifical Crystal from his inventory. Immediately there was a gasp from Hermes who came sprinting over.
How much do you want for that? he asked, the naked greed in his eyes.
Uhm, what? John asked, surprised by the gods sudden interest. Whatever part of him had still doubted Magois words was now snuffed out as the god started listing stuff.
Do you want money? I can pay you 2 Billion for that, that was a lot, but merely a drop on the hot stone that was his 500 Billion dor debt. Would a night with a god perhaps interest you? No, that was not inside his interests. I could give you books, hundreds of books, lost to the ages. Maybe there would be an ancient spell in there? John took a step back from the god, then he calmed his mind and found his centre.
What was truly important right now? Rave was. Would any of the things Hermes just listed help him save her? Not with certainty. The only thing in this shop which he knew with certainty could help him was in front of him. Would you help me in a fight?
What? NO! That thing isnt worth that much! Hermes denied, It is just unique, it tickles my fancy, but it is not worth fighting for well it is for some people, but not a god like me. Awkward silence. Two and a half billion? Hermes then suggested half-heartedly.
John looked at the core and then declined. Whatever woulde out of this would be of bigger help than some dusty old books or stacks of money. John looked around, he would need a figurine, hadnt there been a section where? Ah, there it is, John thought and walked over.
He passed Gnome as she held a yukata in front of her and looked at her reflection in a tall mirror. She smiled at the reflection, then she blushed and stammered something when she noticed John. Smanderughed at her and made some joke that caused Gnome to swat at her. The ze elemental dodged easily. Undine studied theedic routine with grace. Sylph stuffed her face into the bowl of gummy bears, talking at speeds that made her voice too high-pitched to hear.
How much money would one of these cost me? He asked after noticing that none of them had a price tag. Hermes appeared at his side. Well, appeared was the wrong word, like Nathalia he was just too fast for John to notice him moving, which was expected really, given that he had 600 Agility on her. Depends, I would give all of them to you for that crystal, he offered. No, sorry, I want to fuse one of these figurines with the crystal and then make an Artificial Spirit out of it, John exined, he pointed at Aclysia, who had followed him like the faithful maid she was, like her.
Oooh, Hermes said, Oookay, that actually sounds interesting. Well, lets see, if they are going to be sisters, they should have roughly the same look but the figurine also needs to be big enough to have the crystal put into it, mhm, I think we are only left with this one. After deciding on behalf of John he pulled out a single figure.
Everything about it screamed monochrome at John. She had about neck length hair. White. Wore a wide poncho that reached just above her hips. ck. Her clean skin reflected the light of the shop. White. Most of her skin was however hidden by a body suit, including her legs, the suit ended in in shoes. ck. Her eyes had a sad expression to them. White. Denseshes surrounded them. ck. Her hands were covered in gloves. White.
Where is she from? John asked.
Some video game that never got finished, you want her or not? In return I will take 10 million, Hermesid down. John had that kind of money, but he really did not want to give it away for a stic figurine.
That seems a bit much, John said.
Nope, it is worth exactly as much as you are willing to pay. I can see the perfectionist in you, you want this one, Hermes said in a factual tone. He was not wrong, all the other figurines had an unfitting colour scheme or, worse, were male.
Fine! John spat out and pulled the money from his Inventory, handing it over before he could regret it. He could just farm more money eventually. Cash was just a resource he got in exchange for time.
Pleasure doing business with you, Hermes hummed and vanished back behind the counter as Johnbined the two items using Craft.
It has been a while since I created you, hasnt it? John asked.
About two months in experienced time, Master, Aclysia answered and followed with interest as John prepared to use the Artificial Spirit Skill on the figurine.
What did he dost time? Right, he imagined what kind of character he wanted. Although it had taken Aclysia a bit to get there she had be the nice, loyal kind of girl that would protect him to the best of her ability that he had wanted. Well, it had taken her to understand emotions to be nice, the rest she had done from the start.
So, what did he want this time around? He wanted a partner for Aclysia, somebody that would integrate well with the group and who could be friends with Gnome. The bullying of the earth spirit had perhaps been a bit much. A quiet girl, that would be fine just enjoying silence with somebody, a supportive character, apliment to Aclysia and himself. With all of that in mind, he used the Skill.
The figurine started moving, about the size of Aclysias head the tiny thing reared its head. Creator? she asked and caused both John and Aclysia to feel slightly nostalgic.
Yes, hello, I am your creator, John Newman.
Affirmative, your name is John Newman, shall I address you as such?
John was surprised, with Aclysia he had had to exin what a name even was. This new Artificial Spirit just moved on to this question. Was it because of the difference in Artificial Crystals he used? Maybe because this was the second time around? Whatever was the cause John answered with, You may call me whatever you want. At the side, he closed the window that announced thepleted Quest.
The new Artificial Spirit turned to Aclysia, Okay, what shall I call our creator?
What? John asked out loud, then he calmly sorted his thoughts. He DID want for her to be a partner for Aclysia, so this shouldnte as a surprise. Well, not as a total surprise. As Aclysia had proven, unless John deliberately pruned their thoughts, Artificial Spirits inevitably developed in their own direction. It, however, shocked him how quickly this little being moved from one thing to the next. Her Stats shouldnt have been high enough to allow that kind of thought processing.
John would Observe her in a second, he wanted to do one thing before that though. Call him Master when in private and John in public, Aclysia ryed to the figurine.
Affirmative, the figurine said and turned back to John, May I have a name? she asked exactly what he was about to offer her.
Sure, your name will be Mono, for your monochrome colours and because of the essences that make up the crystal at your core. NOW! John pped his hands together, Aclysia, feed her some Feelium!
Feelium was the current main material of Aclysias body. It had reced the old one after she ate too many Watches of Sorrow. Origins aside, it was an upgrade. The metal was naturally filled with mana and that meant that this new girl would get a nice bit of power levelling from that. Provided recycling things that way worked.
Aclysia started to extract some of the metal from her body. As she did that John finally used Observe.
Okay, those were a lot of attributes for a start. Best look at all four of them he didnt know. Harmonized Spirit was quite simply another version of Learning Spirit. Where Aclysia had sought out stuff she wanted, Mono apparently would learn by just going with the flow. The other three however were interestingor concerning.
Arcane Talent was just nice, Origin had that bit about a godly gift that left John wondering but Broken WingsThe hell was up with that? It seemed to do no harm but that name was everything but assuring and the fact that he couldnt remove it also wasnt something he was all that happy about. He could do nothing about it either though.
Aclysia gave Mono a bonbon sized piece of metal, the little sister started to eat and the level ups started rolling in. Like pulling a lowie through an instance, John grinned and sat down, this would be a bit of a wait.
It was all worth it however when Mono had reached about Aclysias size (They had fed her the now obsolete weapons as well). You stop growing at this height, Aclysia, who bloomed in her new role as big sister, instructed.
Okay, Mono obeyed as Aclysia kept feeding her.
Make your hair into strands, Aclysia said, like mine.
The monochrome girl touched Aclysias hair, then her own. I cant, she answered. John quickly fixed that by raising all of her stats (except Libido) to 10. Monos hair exploded outwards with a poof, the moment the block it was previously parted into uncountable strands which then settled in the same shape they had been in before.
Now what do we do with you? John wondered.
I do not know what you intend with me, Master, Mono said (having just learnt to do that) and then, after Aclysia showed her how, bowed slightly.
Thing is I set you up to be a support, but you have no Skills yet, John outlined his conundrum, We need to get you out of here safely, but we also have a boss fight ahead of it he had one idea, which he did not like to present but it was the best he had. I think you should shrink and wait in my inventory.
Master! Aclysia intervened. She hated the idea, the Inventory was a prison to her. John knew that.
Mono nodded, said, Okay, and shrunk. Aclysia shared her memories of Johns inventory with her, the istion and darkness. I do not mind silence, Mono sent back, making it clear to John just how strong his thoughts were imprinted on the new creation.
She would deviate with time, it was just weird to have a being that was just a mission statement move around like Aclysia had after several days within minutes.
It did make him question again just how much of a free will Aclysia had. Then he wondered how much he himself had? As a human being, gics dictated to him his purposes. There were no good answers, so he decided to let that topic rest for now and just be happy that Aclysia had chosen what she had chosen.
We will take her out ASAP, he promised the unhappy looking Aclysia. She just nodded. Now, with all of that detour done lets strategize.
Chapter 151 – Strangeness
Chapter 151 C Strangeness
John kept an eye on his Mana Protection. Once it reached maximum capacity, they would enter the battlefield again. Standard safety procedures, and all of that.
I want more of these, Sylph whined, eating what John had told her to be thest gummy bear. He felt like this day was the opening of Pandoras cookie jar for a future sweet addiction for Sylph.
Whats so great about this stuff anyway? Smander asked. She had tried a gummy bear herself, but hadnt found it particrly to her liking. From the slimedy at Johns side (actually more on Johns side, she was feelingzy/affectionate and had attached herself to him for the time being) came support for that question.
They are sweet and sugary and woah! Sylph said, Gnome, you exin!
The earth spirit, hand in the bowl, was startled as everyones attention shifted to her. I, uhm, they are, like, tasty? she stammered.
Gnome doesnt count, she is heavy, Smander waved it off.
Wha- NO I AM NOT! the stone elemental shouted in response.
Yes, yes, you are, you are made from rock, her burning sister stated drily.
I am unsure how Gnome being of heavy material rtes to her liking gummy bears, Aclysia chimed in.
It is a joke about her being fat, John exined, which you are not, Gnome, so no cause for concern. Smander is just out to tease you.
Partypooper, the ze elementalined, could have annoyed her for at least another five minutes.
Johns Mana Protection hit maximum charge. There is no time for that. Everybody remembers the strategy? Affirmations all around. Then lets go. John reached for the doorknob.
The entrance flew open, almost hitting Johns face. Surprised, he stumbled backwards. Undine on his side made a disgruntled sound,ining about the shaking.
Outside the door was a seizure inducing cacophony of colours and images. In the door itself stood a remarkably unmemorable man. He could have been literally anybody else, the kind of person one didnt even notice while walking through the streets.
Whoops, not at all where I wanted toe out, oh and hi John, I am in a hurry so well talk again next time, the man said and quickly closed the door. John didnt even have the chance to use Observe.
What was that? he wanted to know from Hermes.
Probably somebody who met another version of you, The god of messages shrugged, I told you that door is enchanted to invite people from wherever, not the first time it brought in some dimension traveller who got tangled up in the spell.
Hold the phone, dimension traveller? As in, there is more than one? Obviously, that was amon theory, particrly when it came to the kind of fantasy realm he found himself in. Guessing and knowing were, particrly when it came to finding out there were parallel versions of him, incredibly different.
Yup, have fun with that bit of trivia, Hermes answered, not like it will help you with anything, dimension travelling is a skill so exceedingly rare I doubt that you will get any use of it. I interact with a lot of them because of what I do and even I see only a couple a year.
Okay, so thats the existence of parallel dimensions and other versions of me confirmed, John thought. Wonder how they are doing? Looking at his own luck in life, he was sure that the answer was not so hot. Then again, who knew how far the divergences could go? Some hims would probably be so changed by circumstances that they had nothing inmon.
John carefully reached for the door again. No surprise this time. They looked out into the alleyway; he spied the shimmering directly in front of the door. The Heat Strikers were ready to attack them the moment they stepped outside.
There was only one answer to this problem. Aclysia, if you may, John said and allowed her to take the lead.
As youmand, Master, Aclysia said and readied Ashkandi.
Please visit me again! Hermes shouted after them, when the Artificial Guardian tackled the mass of near invisible enemies. The rest of the group charged through the opening she cleaved.
In the alleyway, they found the wall Gnome had erected torn down, cut into small chunks. So it was at least a bit of an obstacle, John thought, but we dont need it for the n, so whatever. They formed a circle formation with Undine at the centre and then the n went into effect.
It had two steps and, like all good battlefield ns, was simple. John gave Gnome his mana and the stone elemental burst open the floor around them. Where concrete had reigned, loose dirt instead spread, leaving only a firm patch in the middle, where the party stood.
Next, he gave mana to both Undine and Sylph. Although she was now a mending elemental, Undine still had her basic water skills and so, out of her liquid feet, she spread a constant flow of water that ran off the solid tform they were standing on. Who is in the mood for rain?! NOBODY, but Johnnie says thats the n so, I guess, here is rain! Sylph bbered and did her part by conjuring a low hanging cloud that filled the alleyway with a sudden rainfall.
John was very happy with how that cooled down the oppressive heat of the level, but that was just a pleasant side effect. The earth got turned into a soggy mud field, on which the footsteps of the Heat Strikers were easily seen. The sttering mud also got stuck on their bodies, making it that bit easier to spy them, especially after Sylph turned down the rain a bit. Now that they could make out their adversaries the rest of the encounter was quite easy in nature: They would only have to stand their ground.
I hate this, Smander gave in to protocol, as the Heat Strikers trampled through the mud towards them. John let loose a Mana Ray on one of the monsters. Aclysia cut them down whenever they entered the extra marshy area around their position, where Undines water had done its job. Sylph did very little in this fight, only asionally annoying enemies with weak attacks as most of her mana was sacrificed to keep the soft rain going. Gnome stomped once and a wave of mud formed as the stone underneath upheaved violently. Multiple Heat Strikers were hit andpletely revealed to the party. Gnome punched and missed, she punched and missed, she For fucks sake, Sis, get it together! Smander screamed, aimed for the beings head and blinded it with a fly-by fire wave.
That allowed Gnome to get in a punch that broke right through the beings chest. John forgot sometimes but Gnome was the party member with the second highest Strength Stat. If only her Agility had caught up, S-sorry, Gnome apologized to Smander.
Shut up and PUNCH STUFF! the ze elemental shouted, clearly in a sore mood from all the rain and general water around.
Y-you know you shouldnt talk to me that way! Gnome stood her ground, I-I-I-I am still older than you!
And you think thats why anyone should listen to you?! Smander turned with a twitchy eye and flew over to the stone elemental. She grabbed one of Gnomes twin tails and started pulling, As if the rain wasnt pissing me off enough, now youe with these bullshit arguments, when you should just-
Smanders annoyed tirade was suddenly interrupted by a swat that saw the ze elemental flying into a puddle a few metres away. Bad Smander! Gnome shouted and then stomped, saving her sister from the watery grave.
The fire spirit coughed two times, dried the mud off herself and then mumbled, okay, okay, sorry, you are the chief, Gnome. Despite her quiet tone, John spotted something like a mild smile.
John would have apuded Gnomes ability to act against her bully but he was currently upied with slicing apart one of the Heat Strikers with a Mana de. He would have acted against them distracting each other in the first ce, if the Heat Strikers hadnt been such absolute ss cannons. Without their invisibility they were barely a threat and because they were mindless monsters they ran at them without a care in the world. Getting cut down in droves, they kept up their suicidal charge until the Wave was over.
That sounds not that bad actually, John thought while looking at the name. He had been fooled before however, so he remained on guard.
A sudden shockwave rippled through the city, blowing away Sylphs cloud. The noises of crashing cars and explosions echoed throughout the streets. John, curious, got moving, surrounded by his summons and Aclysia.
The streets were a mess, burning car hulls everywhere, pressed together like ordions. To Johns left a house seemingly randomly lit on fire, elsewhere a window exploded into fine shards. Streetlights sprang to life, wildly changing between colours. As the name of the boss indicated, the city was pure chaos. They only had to find the thing.
John noticed something running out of the burning building. A human wearing ck clothes that hid the whole body from view. A scarf and sses that also made his face unrecognizable. The green glow behind made it pretty clear that this was not a human however.
Why does he have to look like a member of Antifa? John sighed. Politicalmentary? Really, Gaia? Also he drops NO money but his legendary drop is the Communist Manifesto! How am I supposed to take this seriously?
The answer to that question came flying in the shape of a Molotov cocktail. I got this, see, see? Sylph chirped and sent the projectile flying back in a gust of wind.
An explosion big enough to still damage Johns shield by 160 points exploded in the Citychaos Elementals face. John did not expect that to actually hurt it but as the cloud of ash and dust slowly cleared, the revealed boss did look like he was at the very least bothered by the attack.
Good job, Sylph, Johnplimented, very happy to not have been the centre of that explosion, You keep reflecting that.
Aye, Johnnie, can do that, caaaaaan dooo, can I? Yes, I can!
Shut up, Sylph, Smander said, engaging the enemy.
Aclysia did the same, so did Gnome and they were facing an absolute
Weakling of a boss.
I dont get it, John scratched his head. The scene before him was absurd. The entirety of the gatheredbatants were kicking the daylights out of the boss, like it was just a mundane guy. He almost expected to be surprised by the ck bloc turning around the corner. However, it was just that one guy. One guy with no abilities outside of throwing an easily countered Molotov cocktail. The defeat followed swiftly.
So, the core floor boss of this one is super easy and the other one I havent even faced, weird, John shrugged it off and left the barrier as soon as the timer for the next Wave showed. Once back in the main barrier he pulled out Mono, despite Magoi being present as always.
Sorry, I need whatever power can be offered to me, right now, John defended himself from the judgemental stare.
Magoi, after a short dy, just let out a long sigh, I have no idea how strong this Thana thing you are about to face is, so maybe you do? Let me warn you however that your new golem will be very interesting to whoever runs a mana factory. Even more than you are, he told John.
Howe? John wanted to know.
Because it is hard to keep a human of your power sedated. A golem with that kind of power core, however, can be exploited. You call her an Artificial Spirit but that really is nothing but a golem with will. Not to mention that she is living material, so they can feed her whatever they need to get mana out of her, Magoi exined. They would consider her a way to transform enchanted items into raw mana and basic materials. Inevitably, she would break from that sort of exploitation.
Well, she is bound to me, so it should work out fine, John said with conviction.
Dont let arrogance be your undoing, John. With these words the disappointed Fateweaver left.
Should you maybe not have revealed me? Mono asked in an apologetic tone.
No, he would have found out anyway eventually. I try to be honest, John answered with a smile, Nowe, we have stuff to feed you and then we need to resume grinding.
Chapter 152 – The end of grinding is here (Thursday 7/7)
Chapter 152 C The end of grinding is here (Thursday 7/7)
Master, it is time. Aclysia gently nudged him awake.
John looked at the clock. He had spent thest few hours sleeping, right up until he could not feasibly sleep any longer. Fifteen minutes to midnight, until Magoi would close the barrier, and until they reached the day that all of them the past month had been working towards.
He left the house in a strangely calm mood. Within 12 hours, Ill be dead or have Jane back or He found it difficult to contemte the manifold options in-between. He walked forwards, finding the loot basin, the table and even Magois house to have disappeared. The moment everyone from his group had stepped out, Johns house disappeared too.
He stood at the heart of a seven person party. There was himself, the Gamer equipped with some serious power in the form of the World Ender items (sadly, he had not acquired other stuff that could be of use).
To his right stood Aclysia, thanks to Artificial Spirit reaching level 10 again just today she had gotten Adaptive dery back. However, she was only equipped with Ashkandi still. That weapon would suffice.
To his left was Mono, the newest member of the group was clutching a spear which they had gotten from the floor 10 boss of the Angel I.D.
Her first Skill Tree choice had of course been the question for specialization. He had gone with Support, then it had asked him what kind of support: Healer, Buffer or Blocker. Between thest two he had been thinking for a bit but finally he went with Buffer. This had presented him then with the choice of Mana Battery and after reading through it, he had no choice but to take it.
If there was one thing Mono had a lot of, it was mana, plus she could share it with anyone else in the group, including his elementals. That alone made her presence a substantial upgrade.
Undine stood behind him, her lower body mostly a singr mass, the outline of her hips and thighs alluringly hinted at.
Sylph flew around the group and chatted with everyone, although nobody answered she was happy just having her mouth run about.
Smander sighed, sitting on his shoulder, When this is over, I am taking a vacation, she mumbled, gonna visit that endlessndscape of sexual fantasies in your head and justugh at them.
Lastly, Gnome was standing next to Mono, like John had hoped (or partly created Mono for) the two of them got along well, which was hard to realize for a normal onlooker. They just quietly existed next to each other. That seemed enough forfort though.
The only thing still around was the chair a certain Fateweaver sat on and read his newspaper. Magoi checked the watch on his wrist and yawned, Four days, almost over. Gotta say there are better ways to spend my time, but a hell of a lot worse too.
Thanks for everything, Magus. Johns earnest tone made the tired man look up.
Dont thank me for what was a simple business transaction, the Fateweaver said. His tone betrayed a certain amusement. In a few minutes we will go our separate ways. I will copse the barrier and then create a new one, taking my exit in secrecy. A pause, the rustling of the newspaper, as it was folded shut. I hope it isnt a goodbye forever, John Newman. I may not agree with your friends but you seem to be morally upright, a rare trade amongst the powerful frencers in the Abyss.
I hope to see you again one day too. Maybe that day you wont have a problem standing in public with me, he joked.
Magoi chuckled, Perhaps. You should know though that even if you survive tomorrow, there are hard times ahead. Easier in some ways. Europe is old and settled. Its less dangerous in a lot of ways C and more dangerous in others.
There always seems to be more trouble on the horizon, Johns sigh belied his smile. The nervousness about his futurey under a nket of controlled tranquillity. Patience for the state of the world as it was, passion for what he had to do, readiness to take whatever was thrown at him, and control over his state of mind. The four lessons of the elementals were as powerful as any of the Skills he had gotten out of all of this. As long as Jane is safe, that is okay.
Ahh, young love, such a powerful thing, Magoi hummed and checked his watch again. This is about it, he said, anyst words? Were you happy with the service? Would you like to leave a customer review? Thest question was added in jest.
I was, and if I dont make it, please tell Regan Hollmey that I am sorry, Magus, John answered.
That seems like favouritism, but I think I can make this one exception, Magus put the folded newspaper under one arm and extended his hand. John didnt hesitate, the two shared a short but friendly handshake. The world around them started to crack open. And if you make it, the Fateweaver said, feel free to call me Magoi next time we meet.
With that, he was gone. The whole in was gone. John and his group stood in the entrance area of his home, in front of the door which he had stared at before being pulled into the Grand Magus Grand Barrier of Grandness just four days ago. Four days that had been 28 days for him.
He heard a soft rain from the outside, the phone in his pocket vibrated as it finally picked up a signal again. He looked at it, found a load of messages from Regan and a single one from Herman C three days old. He read it, his eyebrows shot up, the elementals became incorporeal, and John opened the front door.
There sat the brown-haired guy and stared up at him. There you are, John, he said in a weak voice. John looked at the message again.
Herman: Am outside, please, let me make this right.
Finally, Herman said, although his eyes widened slightly at the view of the Gamers new aura.
John helped the Apothecary up and inside. You dont owe me anything, Herman, he assured him and guided him to the kitchen. The guy had been sitting outside since writing that message it seemed. Aclysia, would you make some tea? John asked and she obeyed, Mono in tow to prepare something to eat as well.
Once he was properly seated Herman sighed in relief, Thank you, he said to Aclysia when getting his cup of tea, warming his rain drenched hands, I was halfway prepared that you would never forgive me. I kept searching and waiting, hoping youde back
I spent thest four days inside an Illusion Barrier, John exined why he hadnt answered sooner and thenid down everything that had happened.
That exins why you are this much stronger, Herman said at the end. John threw a quick Observe at him, nothing had changed.
I expected the rtionship to drop at the very least he thought and moved on to why he was of that mindset. Are you not mad at me for getting all of your friends killed? John asked.
Herman shook his head, You are still thinking like somebody out of the Abyss, John. The moment they agreed to help me with this they knew they could die. I am sad, but the possibility was always there. a heavy sigh. We bit off way more than we could chew, you and I but I am not willing to let their sacrifice be in vain. We were both shaken upst time but I need you tell me exactly what happened in the bunker, maybe we can still do something, for my friends and for your girlfriends sake.
Right, he has no idea, John realized, Jane is not dead, he started another exnation, and about Thana, she wants to fight me today.
Herman regarded John with wide eyes, the light of hope returning to them. Then, he was distracted by a sandwich that was ced in front of him. He thanked Mono, his eyes lingering on her for a short, confused moment. Then, heughed, as if looking at some kind of absurdity. Sorry just did not expect you to have a second maid around.
Im not a maid, Mono was swift to deny and checked back in with Aclysia.
Herman scratched the back of his head, looked back to John, and bit into his sandwich as he waited for the exnation to continue.
Thana uses her as a hostage to ensure Ie to her. In her words, she is dying and wants to go out with a bang or something, John ryed what he knew.
In other words, we can save both of them. The hope in Hermans eyes shone even brighter.
Save Thana? John asked, she killed seven of your friends.
Whats done is done. Again, I will not let their deaths be in vain, Herman insisted. She was maddened when she got out of the prison, wasnt she?
Terrifyingly so, John said, remembering theughter and violence, lets say I go along with your idea, what is the n?
The barrier I put up to heal her on site is still in ce, Herman told him. if she is dying that means she will get weaker until eventually you can capture her right?
John wasnt convinced that was the case, but Hermans eyes had a deep certainty to them. Let us assume that. Best to trust the opinion of an Apothecary on such things.
So, all we have to do is wait until she is that weak.
I cannot wait, if I dont get there soon she will kill Jane, John reminded Herman.
Then go fight her for a bit. While Thana is upied, I will get Rave out, the Apothecary said. Then you retreat and we wait until she should be weak enough to capture outside.
Wouldnt she just follow us? John asked, there was little reason for her not to.
Herman hesitated for a moment, thinking about that. Doesnt she look inhuman? he finally asked.
Not really, but I guess her eyes are not exactly normal, John answered.
Then she wont follow us, if a single normal person outside would see her she would get taken care of by Gaia and if she wants to go out with a bang thats not what she will do, Herman said with certainty.
Why? If I was in her shoes and my options were wasting away or dying immediately, I would go for thetter, John pushed back. Shes probably only staying because she has another option.
Hermans fingers drummed on the table, while he swallowed the rest of the sandwich. No, she will probably try to cling onto what emotions she can feel and when she cant feel any longer shell go back to being inert, right?
You sound really certain about all of this, John mumbled.
Herman awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, I am not certain at all, I just hope for the best, he admitted.
John massaged the bridge of his nose and thought about it. If Herman was right and seeded Jane would be secure much earlier. If he wasnt, John lost nothing. If it turned out that it was possible to save Thana and she actually was more than a psychotic murderess, they even got done what they had set out to do in the first ce. If she turned out to bepletely insane and psychotic, then they could still get rid of herter.
Pragmatically speaking, there was no reason for him to decline. Okay, lets try to do it your way.
Chapter 153 – An unexpectedly warm welcome.
Chapter 153 C An unexpectedly warm wee.
Just a few hourster, John walked down the stairs of the bunker. His mind was sharp, focused on his goal: to save Rave. One after another the elemental girls materialized. Gnome appeared first, Finally we are back, she said with a smile, lets hope what we did pays off, and dont lose your patience down there.
I wont, John promised. The stone elemental hesitated for a moment and then kissed him on the cheek, blushing and then quickly retreating to the rear of the group.
Man, I remember bathing this staircase in fire, Smander said as she suddenly started floating next to his head, lying in the air, arms folded behind her head. Sadly, that wasnt very effective then, sheined, but now we will reduce that bloody bitch to cinders.
I want to hear her story first, John told Smander. Maybe she does have a good reason after all.
You do you, I am just ready to do what I want to do, Smander cackled.
Sylph flew around his head a couple of times, Last few weeks were great, I got sex, I got gummy bears, I am now a concubine, and really strong C and and even faster, like, all is super dandy, she bbered, I really hope you wont let it end here, I want to have a lot more fun and unlike Sally I really think that maybe we can find a fun solution.
I hope so too, John agreed.
Undine finally appeared at his side and they walked (or flowed) side by side. The mending elemental had no words for John, only the determination that matched his: To do what they needed to do.
This is what we trained for, Master, Aclysia whispered, the broken, bloodstained floor at the bottoming into view. Are you feeling ready?
Not really, no, John said.
Maybe you could have made a bit more room for training if you had spent less time sleeping, Mono drilymented from the back.
Aclysia sent her a reprimanding gaze. Our bedroom activities were fundamental for morale and concentration.
If you say so, Mono gave in.
John sighed, his new Artificial Spirit wasnt exactly wrong, probably, but Aclysia was definitely correct. Not that this moment was the time to deliberate such things.
They all fell silent, while a soft cackling echoed up from the room below. After a months worth of training John nted his feet on the fateful red carpet and entered the main hall of the former Bloodfallen base.
He was surprised to find out how little of the vision the Fear Eater had shown him was true. There was only a single corpse around, every other one had been removed from the bloodstained carpet. The room had been mostly cleaned of human innards or other such disgusting things. Even the walls had been scrubbed clean. The smell of rot, however, had settled into the walls.
The one corpse that was around howevery right next to Thana. The pale womans body was sitting cross legged, one of the ck cloaks of the Bloodfallen tossed over her naked body. They were much toorge for her, spread out on the ground like a nket.
John mustered the body, it was a man of sturdy build in a military uniform of brown, with red lines along the edges. He even wore a fitting hat, the soviet star in the middle. Guess I know who that guy belonged to, John thought and turned his attention to Thana.
The pale girl was giggling without pause. It sounded forced, as if she was tearing the joy out of her soul in small chunks. There you are, there you fucking are, she said, her voice a melody as broken as the facets of her amethyst eyes. I would apud you but I need one of my hands to choke this bitch.
Thana shifted her weight and it was only then that John realized she was sitting on something. A forceful tug at the spread-out robe, and she revealed Raves head.
John felt his calmpromise when he saw his girlfriend. The four scars along her neck were not even the grimmest reminder of the pain she must have gone through thesest couple of days. Her face was covered in blemishes, surprisingly slight all things considered, and her hair had gone from its usual bright pink to a washed out white. Nevertheless, her blue eyes were wide open and alive, despite the obvious pain she was in they seemed to beg John to save himself. Any words she wanted to speak out were silenced by the blood ws digging into her skin.
These did a good job, Thana said and tossed John the Gloves of Rejuvenation, they were torn to the point that John couldnt even get any sensible information out of Observe. Familiarity was all that kept them recognizable. For the longest time anyway, they ripped apart in our, what was the fucking number, seizure hands? Thana paused, contemting the rhetorical question with a giggle. 15th fucking fight? Got to hand it to her, shes a vital set of holes. Shame I had to repeatedly tear new ones into her.
I thought you wanted to fight me? John said while keeping his eyes locked with her. The shatteredvender of her iris shifted; the golden dots inside slowly rotated.
Then, suddenly, violently, theughter she had been keeping to a giggle burst out. Her legs kicked the air, her wide hips bnced on Raves back, and while sheughed at the ceiling, her hand pawed at one of the ck dots all over her body. From start to finish, her delight sounded tormented.
Of course I wanna do that, you palm fucker, but I am so fucking done with these! She wed at the object, embedded into her. A hissing inhale ended herughter, the mad smile dropping into a visage of pure hate. Remove these. She sounded too tired to make either demand or request. She wouldnt do it because I didnt have a hostage. EVEN THOUGH! Thanas voice suddenly rose into a scream. Bowed over Rave, she yelled, sending spit flying from her perfect white teeth. I TOLD YOUR CHIEF BITCH REPEATEDLY THAT IT WONT EVEN MAKE ME STRONGER!
You will have to excuse us if we dont believe you after killing our allies, John carefully pushed back, while approaching.
Im sorry Thana mumbled, when he stopped in front of her. She looked up and suddenly he realized again how small she actually was. Big eyes blinked against the light of the chandelier. Im sorry Im so so
John noticed her mood swing back in the sudden anger in her eyes. Before he knew it, she had grabbed his shirt and pulled him down. There was no intent to harm in the gesture, somehow, evident by Mana Protection not activating. She genuinely just wanted him closer.
Give me a break, you moral fuckwit, she hissed in his face. I was in jolly old agony for about 2,270,592,000 seconds and YES I fucking calcted that, because I could C do C nothing C else. Pain and the inability to feel even as much as loathing about my own situation. EXCUSE ME if I was A BIT LIVID after getting my pale ass out of the agony chamber. Thana pushed him away, then started coughing into both of her hands. John spied rivulets of blood oozing out between her fingers.
Maybe I can John prepared to strike, while the agony still held Thana in its grip.
The blood turned into a stream that winded through the air. Quicker than John could react, it grew towards and stopped dead in front of Raves eyes. A thin streak, like a worm ending in a thorn, just hovering there, keeping John at bay.
Finally, she stopped and giggled tiredly. Dont even try, I hold the cards here, you absolute dumbass. Drops of blood that ran down her chin followed an unnatural path over her naked skin. All the way to the tip of her fingers, the crimson flowed, where it became part of her fingernails and vanished. Whew, constantly bleeding into my lungs is great fun, I tell you. Her wide smile turned sour, her voice into a growl. Want to try too?
Why arent you removing these things yourself? John asked, just to buy time. The puncture wounds on Raves neck were closing. The reason why was obvious, even if John preferred not to think about it.
Oh, wow, what a great fucking suggestion C CAUSE I OBVIOUSLY CAN NOT YOU SKULLFUCKING IDIOT! Thana seemed to want to say more to him, but her attention was suddenly gripped by something to her left. I DONT KNOW WHO ELIZA IS NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP EVERYONE!
There was no one there. Who are you talking to?
Just the faces all around the floor. Ignore me. Instead, listen to me and pull these fucking nails out, the maniac girl started out warmly but ended the sentence with a pissed off tone. Be useful.
Why cant you remove them yourself though? John probed further, he not only wanted to wait as long as possible for the fight to happen but was also genuinely curious.
He managed to catch her in a talkative mood swing. I have a thing in my head that keeps me from doing it.
You cant do it because you are insane?
NO, you smug prick, I have a literal something in my brain that messes with my body, Thana visibly resisted the urge to gouge Johns eyes out. Her face was a grimace of pure anger, then it rxed and she cackled. Khehehe, but what the fuck would you know, just pull these things out please and start with this one, she pointed at one left of her corbone.
John inspected what he was tasked to tug at. It was a t piece of metal, like the head of a nail. As John, with shock and disgust, realized, using the word like was superfluous. When he pulled at it, bloody metal became visible. The flesh around it moved with it, testifying just how deep and entrenched the nail was.
Oh for fucks sake C JUST RIP IT OUT! Thana screamed at the ceiling, then continued in a whimper. Please just get it out, please, I cant stand this anymore. Its too much. John hesitated until the blood mage sighed and gripped Raves throat again. Do C it.
John took a deep breath and entered the calm state of mind that he had lost when he had seen Rave. He exhaled and at the same moment ripped the nail out.
Blood sprayed from the frayed flesh.
DUPA! KURWA! Thana cursed and bit into her own hand until her white teeth were also stained with crimson. A mere distraction, likely,pared to the gap in her cor. John looked at the thing in his hand. The nail was a disgusting tool, ten centimetres long and covered in barbs.
Thats the good pain, Thana giggled while John was staring at the item description. This exined why he couldnt Observe her, it created another question however. Josef Mengele, that wasnt a Soviet at all. That was the mad scientist who had conducted experiments on humans in the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
Who made you? John asked.
No-hoho, you answer one of my questions for a change, Thana giggled, the hole in her chest now quickly closing. Did you really think selling me to the Shark-Week of the Proletariat would work?
It was an ident. I looked for people who would help me prepare for today and told them your name. How they found out you were here is not clear to me, John truthfully said. Although it couldnt have been too hard to connect the dots, even when I wasnt around.
Okay, Thana shrugged it off. Oh well, at least you sent me some bloodbags that deserved it.
Why are you that bent on killing people in yourst days? John asked and moved onto the second nail. She had a dozen of those in her body, the pain must have been incredible.
First of all,munists arent people. AT BEST, theyre suicide victims, Thana responded with matter-of-fact dryness. Moving on, John Birdbrain, I cannot FEEL unless I do and I want to die feeling SOMETHING, even if it is just regret, Thana told him. John was about to ask another question when Thana groaned, Shut the fuck up, I will just tell you everything. Not like I have anything better to do right now, you just be a good little nail puller and I will tell you the story of my life. Sound good?!
Sure, John agreed, and exchanged a nce with his still silent girlfriend. Could you let Jane go?
No, if I dont fight something, I be a vegetable. Send yourints for this trainwreck of a clusterfuck to the butcher, this is not my fault its not my fault. She repeated it a few more times, quietly, as the second nail was ripped out of her. Get ready for cruelty and a lot of blood, through which I will GREATLY enjoy your dumbass face going through all sorts of sorry expressions, Thana stared with a wide grin. It was a little less tormented now, but the underlying instability was still apparent.
My first memory is inside a nk chamber, Thana began her tale. The walls in front of me were just ck, grey stone. I couldnt turn as I was bound by arms and feet to the ceiling and floor. I could barely move my head thanks to the shackle around my neck and the tube down my throat. The only thing that broke the monotony of the silent room was the steel door at the edge of my vision. That and the pain.
The pain that tore apart my soul as I was left alone C as voices filled my mind. The pain of the tube rammed into my throat that asionally forced food into me. The pain of the rusty shackles that chafed open my skin. The pain of my joints screaming for rest. The pain of being alone all alone
There were all kinds of pain and it just got worse from there.
Chapter 154 – Shattered Glass
Chapter 154 C Shattered ss
Now I have to say that hanging around and being in constant brain-numbing pain is actually not that fucking bad. I mean, sure the solution they pumped into my stomach tasted like ass C I think, not like I have another reference C and just hanging there wasnt exactly interesting either but when you get used to the pain, the constant muscle cramps and the steadily increasing number of faces around you screaming random names and usations at you, it eventually gets normal.
Which meant that I had time to think about stuff, like what the hell they did to my shit. Did it just vanish, was there someplicated system behind me I couldnt see? I mean sure, those are pretty boring questions but I could do either that or count the seconds. Which I actually did, just out of boredom. I mean, at the start this whole affair was just horse cock torture but as time went on I cried less and eventually just wondered what the hell I was there for.
I had and still have no memories of myself before that chamber, but I did know that the second World War was going on. As a matter of fact as time went on I could remember more and more information. That ranged from the bank data of some German nobility to the exact names and executions to chess strategies. Amidst this sea of trivia, however, was never a single memory regarding myself. Cant even tell you if any of those memories were mine or if the Nazi fucks were pumping them into me like the nutritional sludge.
Now I dont want to say that getting used to that day to day routine was nice, the opposite in fact. I couldnt even sleep back then and I can tell you that not being able to sleep forever majorly sucks. At least I think so. Much like the food, I have no fucking idea what the alternative is like. I just know that it would have been nice to get some shuteye.
One day that door swung open. You know, the one at the edge of my vision. What stepped inside was the fuckass, asshole, holefucker who had the brilliant idea of making me.
What is your name? The dipshit butcher asked me.
Good question, I thought, What is my name?
As a sidenote, I want to add that I didnt use to swear back then and OH MY NON-EXISTANT GOD do I regret that.
Back to my name though. I had no fucking clue. The faces on the walls certainly had a few ideas, Victoria, Eliza, Emma, Lydia, Hebanta, all of that and more screamed over and over. However, eventually, they seemed to agree on Thana, so thats what I told the Nazi asshole.
Yes, I was made by the Nazis, not the Soviets, can the question cock face, I will answer itter.
For some reason that seemed to both make Josef Mengele, yes that is who he was, very happy and very annoyed. He mumbled something about - sub-humans, -, Nazi bullshit -. Long story short he wanted to create the bermensch and wanted to do a test run on the less clean races before creating the true Aryan superbeing.
Well, he left and came back about a yearter, yes, I was hanging around in that time too. Thats when things finally got moving. Moving of course meant: It got way worse.
I find this result most interesting, the racist cunt said, his hands deep in my guts.
He had moved me to another Illusion Barrier, where he had a nice operating table. And I mean actually nice. Lying was much morefortable than hanging. Somehow, despite the skin of my stomach having been peeled back.
While I would have loved to rip him to shreds or anything I was thoroughly sedated by the fact that the fucker had imnted a little something in my brain before my memories began, which I only know because he told me about it. Well, he didnt tell me, he told his pupil, some fucker who never took off his gasmask. Green-cloud exhaling arrogant cunt.
Wait a moment, John intervened, was it a male with a distorted voice? Typically wore a trench coat?
Why the fuck yes, you met him? Thana asked and clenched her teeth when John pulled out another one of the Butchers Nails, a process that was ongoing throughout the whole story. Man, this pain is so intense I almost dont need to choke you anymore, Thana giggled. Almost, sorry about that. Well, if the fucker is still around shiv him in the guts for me if you survive this. Dropkick his head. Gouge out his eyeballs. Rip his balls off. All of the good stuff.
Sure, John agreed, this whole situation was very weird. The mixture of casualness and hate in the air was just difficult to process. As was what he had just learned. How was all of this connected?
Back to the story though.
He opened up to his pupil that inside my brain was a metal construct that made it so that I was unable to feel emotions unless I was either fighting or being harmed while also making it impossible for myself to revert any changes he made to my body, hence why you have the great honour of fucking around and get these things out of my body. He made an exception for himself, as the contractor for whatever the fuck the metal thing is, of course. For the why, he exined to his pupil that, if I were to fall into enemy hands and they would threaten me I would start murdering people until one of these cases rolled around: Either I would die or I would kill everyone around, be a potato and then they could retrieve me.
This fucking thing in my head is the wonderful reason why I have to currently choke your girlfriend in the least sexy way just to stay sapient. It is very nice, I tell you and because I feel MORE the MORE pain I inflict or take. I really hope you bring your A-gameter, because I want to go out feeling alive, Johnnie boy. It is also why I ruined her pretty pink hair, needed to fight somebody constantly, sorry about that but you know, I am dying so giving a shit is not in my repertoire.
I find this result most interesting, I repeat what Mengele said, to get back where we left off. I know that using a woman as base material Confirmed, I am actually a woman who existed before, no idea who though, no time to find out either, would lead to an inferior product. Add sexist to the list of asshole attributes. Well, we can see from her skin that evolution clearly favours the white race
Yeah, it totally wasnt due to the fact that I had hung in a basement for two years or something, fucking idiot. but this white hair makes no sense, a true bermensch would get blonde hair This, mydies and gentlemen, is NOT how science works. If you are not aware, science finds truths by looking at the facts, it doesnt pick an oue and then only picks facts that favour that oue. Not how it fucking works. also, she is small
Now I would have punched him in the face for that if I could have felt anger then. Actually, I would have punched him in the face for having his hands in my guts first, because I can tell you that having a guy try to exchange ribs inside your body while being fully conscious is not fun. If the fucker at least would have had the decency to include pain into his list of things that my brain imnt blocked out BUT NOOOOOO, I needed to be really fucking aware of what having your arm being sawed off felt like.
This went on for another year or so. Test about re-growing this, redoing that, testing how my eyes worked - those apparently changed back then -, what my blood did to people, or my favourite of all: the fertility test, a series of 50 days where he tested to see if anyone could impregnate me. It didnt work, but at least it broke the monotony. Funny story: You rip my heart out and I grow a new one, record time being 2,8 seconds, but my hymen is gone. I call bullshit on that one btw.
Also, interesting was when I learnt that I no longer needed to eat, or breathe. Apparently, I mutated to such a massive fucking degree that I transform mana into blood and all the other shit a body would need. Now this is fucked up, but the best kind of fucked up, if it werent for some other rather grave medical news I got one day.
She is dying, that was the guy with the mask, never learnt his name. Something about metal, I think based on a bad joke I overheard once.
What do you mean? was the question of Sir Fuckface the First.
Masked dude showed him some data, Her body is actively decaying, we didnt notice until now because her regeneration was so high but the data indicated that it is slowly failing.
So, when the decay ovees her regeneration she will die. She wasnt an bermensch after all. But she was made from Gypsies, Jews and Poles, so who would be surprised by that, Count Cunt answered, sounding almost relieved. A good amount of data has been gotten out of this. We can start fresh with proper stock.
You are just going to let her die?
Yes, she was a prototype but it is time to move onto the true project.
May I ask for you to give her to my division then? I want to take a few more tests, the masked dumbass requested. Request granted, first Josef put these dumb nails into me though, and meat heap me was transported once again.
He threw in an ice-bath to slow my heart rate or something and then he did something truly dumb. One day, while he was gone, one of his assistants decided to run some off-time experiments. Now, the exception about who could harm me and who couldnt did include Masky McMaskface, but it didnt include randomboratory assistant 1 through 124.
The second that scalpel hit my body and I took my first action as a sapient being was an absolutely glorious gorefest. I took the guys hand, ripped it off and used it to p the shit out of the next guy, then I broke out of the operating room, took a few bullets to the chest, then disarmed the soldiers and slowly pressed their rifles through their mouths until their spines broke and other very graphical depictions of violence that I very much loved.
I also discovered that I could do that thing with my useless as shit wings. I mean they look nice but they really dont do much themselves. Gives me a massive power boost though, so the fuck do I care about.
And then I had to find out that I was somewhere without an exit. I couldnt find it, I mindlessly murdered everything inside and now I had nothing and no one to torture or fight against to keep me even the faintest bit emotionally alive and therefore, after destroying the whole facility in frustration, I was once again, a fucking potato.
Eventually the masked guy returned and actually spoke to me. I couldnt react, but hey he addressed me. I refuse to let you die, the guy said, his messy grey hair hanging around, I need you, I need what your body has and mine hasnt. I made a deal with the Soviets, this war is lost anyhow. They think your only usage is that blood of yours, I will let them believe that.
He proceeded to build that stasis chamber you found me in and threw me inside. Got to say, between hanging around and being inside freezing cold water all the time, I actually preferred the former. Sucks that I was inside that for 70 years because somebody rebelled from themunists and stole me. Great thing that my senses were sharp enough to still let me hear everything.
So, I was whisked away from the Soviets, floated around for 70 years, you came along, identally broke me out and then that girl that shot me jumpstarted me, wasntpletely correct of me to just kill everyone, but you try to think after having the brain frozen and in agony for a lifetime, I beat up your girlfriend, repeatedly, while killing the remaining Bloodfallen when she slept. That didnt always work out, because I didnt have enough cannon fodder lying around by the way. The Soviets came along, the idiots were descendants of people who had drunk my blood so I made them kill themselves, which was glorious, then I sat down here and finally you came along.
And this is the short version of the miserable life of a girl called Thana who is surrounded by these fucking faces, in constant pain from these ass nails and the fact that she can feel her own body decaying while regenerating against that same fact. A girl who can only feel if she kills or is being killed and who just wants to die.
So, John, do me a solid and take your best shot. Thana concluded.
John halted his hand above thest nail that was stuck in her body. How much longer until the decay takes over? he wanted to know.
How much longer? Bitch it long since has, Thanaughed, I am at best half as strong as four days ago, now rip out that thing so we can move this on.
He took a moment to think about what he had just heard then he offered, We can heal you, Thana.
She burst outughing. Ahahahahahaha, priceless. John, I dont want this life, I want to sleep, I want to die, send me off and forget all of this ever happened. The tortured woman stared at the ground. Please just dont forget me too much?
Could he do that? Could he just leave her to die like this? One thing after another, he decided and exchanged a nce with Rave, who couldnt say a word due to the hand still mping down on her throat. First I need to save you and for that to happen, I need to fight her, John fixated on Thana and ripped out thest nail. She giggled and sobbed, while thest wound closed.
John threw the nail aside, then used Observe.
Maybe this is doable?
Chapter 155 – Vs Thana
Chapter 155 C Vs Thana
Oh fuck yes, Thana cackled and got up. Rolling her shoulders, she took a few steps. You know, not having my lungs punctured is a very nice feeling. She swiftly tied her robe close, hiding her pale body from view. FUCK, its weird not being in pain oh fuck, oh Christ, you non-existent cuntwaffle, this is weird. She pped herself C hard. Ah there it is there is shit, I am so defective
John was barely listening to the maddened girl. He was by Raves side. Finally no longer being sat on or getting choked, she was coughing and stabilizing her breathing.
I will get you out of here, John promised in a whispering tone. Rave wanted to answer but her voice was nothing but a dried-out whisper.
Cute, but I need her, if she is gone you can leave. I think thats how these things work? Thana rubbed her forehead, as if she tried to remember something, then shrugged. And I cant wait anymore, need my fix of bloodshed, you have ten more seconds. Ten, the pale girl counted down. Nine. John made his preparations as quickly as he could. Eight.
Undine, heal Jane, he instructed.
Seven.
Mono, you give her all the mana she needs to do that.
Six. Blood started to run from Thanas fingernails and spread over her hands, defying gravity. Five. John jumped to his feet as Undine started spreading her mending slime over Raves wounds. The techno lover seemed a bit grossed out by the process. Four. Aclysia took position in front of John, raising Ashkandi. Three. Gnome prepared herself, Sylph and Smander nodded at each other. Two. John sent a party invite to Rave. ONE!
Thana threw her left arm outwards, drops of blood flew towards John and his group, taking the form of thin needles of crystallized crimson. Aclysia blocked most of the projectiles with her body, Sylph and Smander tried to block the rest with wind and fire, but they failed and so they crashed in Johns shield. 100 points of pre-charge were gone immediately.
The blood used for the attack didnt just vanish. Instead it quickly made its way back to Thana. John had no intention of ending up on the receiving end of an endless assault of ranged attacks. Aclysia, Gnome! John shouted and the two went to attack the much smaller girl in a melee engagement.
yfully, Thana side-stepped Ashkandi. Aclysia couldnt turn around the de in time for Thana to stomp on the t of the weapon forcing both it and its wielder to the ground. Simultaneously, she leaned backwards, Gnomes punch flying past her nose. Too slow, she half sung, halfughed. The blue tips of her white hair trembled.
Try me then! Sylph said, being right next to the bloodmages head. With her Agility the tempest elemental was the only one who had a stat superior to Thanas physical ones. She was only a slight bit faster, but she was still faster. Sylph sent a wave of electricity into Thana, pumping out all of her mana at once. The thunderstorm she created was a blinding sh in the otherwise dimly lit room.
Yet it only proved to amuse Thana. With wildughter, she grabbed Gnomes hand, still extended in the earlier punch. Turning the earth spirit into a il, she twisted around. Sylph may have been slightly faster, but this caught her off guard. Two elementals were mmed to the ground, one under the other.
Thana was now fully off bnce, creating an opportunity for both Aclysia and John. The Artificial Guardian ripped her sword from the ground and quickly aimed a strike at the enemys chest, John prepared a Mana Ray. If they could, they would capture Thana alive, but they did not have the luxury to prioritize that.
Ashkandi was on a collision course with Thanas contorted torso. Seeing the deing for her, Thana grabbed it with both hands. The sharp edge cut deep into her palm, but that way she saved herself from the much more gruesome injury she would have sustained otherwise. She did not however anticipate the attack that hit her a mere secondter. Mana Ray fired and burned a hole into her robe, searing the flesh underneath.
Thana just continued to grin widely and executed a high kick to the side of Aclysias head. A metallic cracking sound apanied the bursting of Aclysias surface. Metal interior cut through silicone. Ohhh? Thana made a wondering exmation, then pushed herself off Aclysia andnded a few metres away on her feet.
The Lichtenberg patterns of electricity burns covered her face and likely most of her body, the fist sized hole in her robe revealed a third degree burn and blood was violently gushing from her hands. This quickly changed however. The Lichtenberg retracted, the burn on her side was covered by new, smooth skin and the cuts in her hands closed, all within a few moments.
Fucking finally, Thanaughed as she gathered her spilled blood in an orb, hovering above her left hand. You dunces actually are a bit more useful than the cocksucking rats I have murdered here before. You actually made me bleed!
Gnome and Sylph got up, S-sorry, the stone elemental apologized to her fellow.
Not your fault, but damn you are heavy! she answered.
I get the feeling you are not taking this seriously, John said, trying to gain more time.
Because I am not, Thana answered, practically ecstatic with joy. I have no intent to actually kill you.
Really? John wondered. She had said as much before, but taking anything that came from her crazy mouth for full was risky.
Nope, I only want to be entertained until my body falls the fuck apart, however Thana mused, the orb in her hand shaped into a shortnce. IF YOU DISAPPOINT ME YOU MIGHT DIE ANYWAY!
She threw the spear at John, who quickly used Gnome to erect a barrier between himself and the projectile. The spear broke through without much of a problem, ripping a hole into the wall, and destroying almost all of Johns pre-emptive barrier. That wasnt the worst of it. Thana leapt on top of the prated wall, only stopping there for a moment to take aim at the Gamer.
Forgot about me? Smander asked as she appeared between the two of them.
I CAN NEVER FORGET THE FUCKING FIRE! Thana screamed and tried to bite the ze elemental, an endeavour only dyed by Smander quickly unleashing an inferno that robbed Thana of her sight. The teeth barely missed the fire spirit who quickly created distance.
That attack might have confused Thana for a moment, but it didnt stop her momentum. The manided in front of John, a trail of fire behind her, the robe reduced to burning tatters. Her skin was in the process of regenerating as she wed at John. The Gamer was no longer defenceless in melee situations however, SYLPH! he screamed in his spirit, the tempest elemental was the only one who could have been close enough already to help him.
Right here, John, came the quick answer.
A Mana de, conjured within the moment and sharpened by the power of the wind, swung at the unsuspecting Thana and cut her arm clean off. John breathed in relief, only to realize there was a second hand still free, nowing for his head.
A name was added to his interface, a body invaded his Mana Protection, a sh of light set Thana off bnce followed by a bolt of holy energy.
I fucking protected him once, Ill do it again! Rave kicked the blinded and crippled Thana in the stomach.
With her facepletely burned away Thana could not react and was knocked several metres backwards, right into a waiting Aclysia who impaled her on Ashkandi, the de sticking out of the blood mages chest. For one moment, Thana went limp.
Jane, you are! John forgot the fight for a few precious seconds of joy. Rave stood by his side. She looked fine, the dark spots over her skin had disappeared and although her hair still was more white than pink, she looked fine. The pink lustre in her eyes formed a tight corona around her irises, when she stared at him.
Hard, her index finger stabbed him in the ribs. Ya know, I go all heroic sacrifice for your ass, she cursed, and then you idiots juste back.
Well, she did just promise that she wouldnt kill me, John defended himself, also I am your idiot.
There was so much more to be said, so much else to pay attention to. They bothpletely forgot where they were and suddenly their lips were pressed tightly together. We will have a very thorough conversationter, she promised, after reality had pulled them back with a mad cackle.
Thanas freshly regrown lips were parted in an insane smile. A body shakingughter that slowly escted into a cacophony of maddened amusement echoed from her prated lungs. heheheHahahaa, AHAHAAHA, AHAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAA, grgrhaha, got to HAND it to you, she joked waving her stump, you are great entertainment, even if your sweet-ass attitude makes me want to puke.
Thana grabbed the tip of the weapon protruding from her ribcage and slowly shoved the weapon back the way it came. Her eyes opened again, the golden dots inside swirling at such speed that they formed a seemingly gapless circle.
Jane, listen, we need to run, she cant follow us outside, John whispered.
Rave nodded, Okay, you lead the way.
Undine and Mono also took positions next to John. Thanks for the bolt earlier, he told the newest member of the party. The holy energy had been the special attack from the spear Mono was holding.
I do what I can, Master, but my mana is not regenerating as quickly as yours so please keep that in mind, came the answer.
Listen to you fuckers, Thana spoke up, being all hopeful and SHIT! With one more effort, she glided off Ashkandi. The gap in her stomach healed rapidly. I think you could use some despair. The arm thaty at Johns feet liquified into blood. The band crossed the distance to Thana in the blink of an eye,tching onto the open wound and reforming into a fully intact limb. You know how they say eye for an eye? HOW ABOUT ARM FOR AN ARM?! she shouted and pulled at Aclysia with such terrible and sudden strength that the shoulder was ripped from the Artificial Guardians torso.
Aclysia screamed, screamed in genuine pain, as Thana proceeded to grab her by the throat and then throw her over the head. Shended close to John who would have tried to catch her if she hadnt been made of pure metal. Instead, she crashed, cracking the floor open. About two-fifths of her HP were gone. Her arm would regrow, albeit much slower than their opponents. Ashkandi remained behind with her dismembered arm. Thana tossed both aside without a care.
The true terror of this fight wasn''t Thanas stats, it was the fact that whatever they would do was ultimately useless. Johns eyes fixed at the exit, We need to get out.
Dont even fucking try. Thanas threat waspromised by the giant grin stered on her face. I will not let either of you escape, you are supposed to kill me, she pointed at John, and you are my hostage, her finger wandered over to Rave.
I refuse to be a damsel in distress! Rave shouted out and everyone prepared forbat.
Everyone but John and two of his elementals. John was currently emptying his entire mana pool, Sorry, Thana, but I have a n that is better than yours, he said and crossed his arms.
I dont have a fucking n, it doesnt take anything to be better than that, cunt chaser.
Ready! a fiery voice filled his mind.
M-me too! a shy but steady one added. Go!
The floor cracked. Four walls of dark stone rose from underneath, trapping Thana inside a small space. John had no illusions about the effectiveness of that alone. The blood mage would be able to punch her way out of it in mere moments. That is why he had Smander be in position to be sealed with her. The hope was that several hundred points of mana would be strong enough to knock out Thana long enough for the group to get a lead.
Everyone started running. Rave at the tip, Aclysia, holding her re-growing arm and longingly looking at Ashkandi, John and Mono at the rear. Not the wanted formation, but they had to take what they could get.
What about them? Rave asked, watching the elemental girls staying behind,
They are our safety! John shouted back. Elementals bodies could get destroyed without long-term consequences. It wasnt going to be pleasant, but this was no fight to be won without
With a scream of violent anger and terror Thana broke out of her prison. John caught only a glint of her before she appeared in front of the exit. Then the rocks she had scattered started raining. Thana was shaking all over her body. For all the nonchnce she had put into her telling, the trauma of her experiences was evident.
Putting a holocaust survivor into an incineration chamber, she growled, her power once again forcing Johns aura sight open. Her diminished presence swelled, until crimson enveloped her, as if she was a drop of blood in a clear ocean. Congrattions, four wings of blood, in appearance simr to a butterflys, spread behind her back. The oppressive force of her existence choked the air right out of Johns lungs. Youve done it. You actually pissed me the fuck off.
Thanas hands were shaking, her whole body was shaking, the insane smile had vanished from her face, unnatural veins spread over her skin and formed short w-like aberrations at her fingertips. The ashen remains of her robe fell off her body, revealing a form that was a near bony white, rather than blueish pale.
Bloodburn.
Shit.
Chapter 156 – Desperation
Chapter 156 C Desperation
You will not leave me here and you do not get to save me, Thana growled. The crystalline structure behind her back was set ame, flickering as metallic-high pitched noises filled the room. The perverted sound of violins screeched, intensifying as she crouched down. She bent forward, right arm connected to the ground, left raised above her head. More and more of her blood flowed towards the raised hand until it was epassed in a crimson w three times the size of her actual hand.
A series of notes, deep, deep, high, deep, high, then she jumped forwards, right at John. There was nobody who could react, not even Sylph was able to intercept the pale womans assault and so she tore through the sorry remains of Johns barrier.
The impact was gruesome. The w tore open his ribcage, spikes of crystallized blood making the wound worse and worse, fraying his skin like cheap cloth under strain. Then, he was catapulted back. Sliding over the carpet with high speed that added burning pain to the very real and disgusting feeling of fresh air close to his exposed heart. This act alone had cost him over 1500 HP, he would not survive another strike.
Thana pulled the hand back. Anyst words?! she asked with pure anger in her voice. The pulsing red of her wings, so John realized, would be thest thing he would ever see. Thana was about to gouge his throat out when a fist plunged into her face. It barely even moved her.
Everybody stared at Herman. The Apothecary had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He smiled at John, I was afraid the n had failed so I came to check.
How sweet of you, Thana said and grabbed his arm. HOW ABOUT YOU CHECK INTO HEAVEN?! She threw him across the room and in a disgusting disy of raw power Herman flew into the next wall. His body broke on impact, the crunching noises a disgusting undertone to the continued shrill sounds from Thanas wings.
Hermans sacrifice did buy enough time for Sylph to arrive. The tempest elemental was less than a fly to Thana but it was annoying and in turn allowed Aclysia and Rave to get to them. She blocked the punch from Aclysia but Raves kick did actually make her budge, reinforced by Raves martial arts skills as well as a ripple of light that followed a momentter.
This time, it better work, I am tired of dying every couple hours! Copernicus announced as he too pounced onto Thana and covered her face in burning w marks.
The blood mage jumped off John and gained some distance. Copernicus, having learnt fromst time, did not follow her around to be bitten apart again. You fucktards are all seriously getting on my nerves, Thana spat out.
Undine, heal Herman, John instructed.
Your wounds are- Undine started, but John interrupted her-
Already healed, Gamers Body. My HP can be yed around, him bleeding out cannot. Now get to it. Mono, give her your mana.
This is looking pretty bad right now, Rave said looking at the supremely pissed maniac that was between them and the exit. Even if they got up there, they would still need to punch their way out of the barrier. you are out of mana and your HP is low.
Is it? John asked and allowed himself a sly grin, he had prepared for this emergency. He took the sk of Grinding and quickly pulled the cork off, emptying the golden liquid inside into his mouth.
Restored to full, John said and put the sk back into its holster, he also deactivated his Mana Protection, it would be unwise to have his newly regenerated mana be burned away by a single attack.
Bullshit, Raveughed. We are fighting a Nazi experiment, that got into Soviet hands, that then got stolen, that we identally freed and now wants to kill us and youre still the weirdest thing around.
Names Thana, nice to meet you too, bitch, the experiment in question shouted out. Are you done? I am being nice for a change. Thana was indeed keeping her distance and her fight to a more leisurely pace. Her mood appeared to have swung back, now that they were all away from the entrance.
Things might not be as bad as you think, Jane, John said, he had realized that Thana heard every whisper anyhow. She has lost more than twenty levels already, the more she uses her ability the quicker she loses her powers.
So, whats the n?
You get Herman, I will preupy her and then we try to get out of here, John exined.
Thana crouched down again, after forcing Copernicus back. You just try, she dared him, her shaking and her anger seemingly had died down and she grinned again. Not that that was necessarily a good thing. A deep note struck, the wings red up.
I wont let you! Gnome shouted and the ground under Thanas feet suddenly shifted, threatening to ruin her bnce. Thana jumped forwards immediately and was met by Sylph who created a gust of wind that managed to get the blood mage slightly off course. Maybe the tempest elemental could have done more, but her mana reserves had not recovered like Johns had done with the level up and so that wind was all that she could throw out at this point.
But it was enough for John to dodge the attack. The Gamer ran for it as Rave did the same and picked up the somewhat recovered Herman, who aided Undines healing with his own abilities.
Thana managed tond on her feet and created an immediate counterattack. There was a new series of tones, high, higher, deep, high, as she used her momentum to turn around on her heels. A whip of crimsonshed out and connected with Sylph, wrapping around the tempest elemental and pulling her backwards, right into Thanas hand.
John tried to quickly make Sylph incorporeal, but he couldnt. Something was blocking her return to a spiritual form. Does Thana have the Touch of the Abyss too? John made the only logical conclusion and with terror he saw the tiny air spirit get crushed in Thanas hand.
John was tempted to throw attacks of revenge at the blood mage but he needed all of his mana to create an escape route.
Run! he screamed the obvious as he gave Gnome several hundred points of mana. She used it to create another prison. Last time John had given most of his mana to Smander, hoping that the need for regeneration would stop Thana. Now all he wanted to do was contain the girl and so Gnome not only created but continuously reinforced the earthen walls while everyone made a break for it.
Thank you, John gasped while running, you really saved my ass there.
Dont thank me just yet, we havent even gotten through with half of the n, Herman said but gave him an encouraging grin, his grievous wounds healed already.
Y''all should shut up and run faster! Rave was the unlikely voice of reason here as a series of muffled booming sounds came from inside the prison.
Rave and Herman were already on the stairs when Thana broke out. YOU ARE HELL-BENT ON LEAVING ME BEHIND, ARENT YOU?! a scream came from inside an explosion of dirt on pebbles. Thana stormed after them, no care for anything else that was going on.
And that was exactly what allowed Mono and Aclysia to surprise the maniac. First two holy bolts hit the blood mage in the legs and then Aclysia, having retrieved Ashkandi amidst the chaos, aimed at Thanas torso. The blood mage tried to duck under the attack but overestimated her own speed, her body likely decaying faster than she hadanticipated with the amount of power she used. Instead of dodging the de she merely changed it from a strike at her ribs to a strike to her neck, a clean cut.
Her severed head tumbled through the air but in perhaps the most ridiculous feat of Thanas regeneration John had seen so far it kept a connection to the main body through strands of blood, which pulled the head back down as she just continued running at John.
To everyones terror she caught up. John tried to keep her away with a quick usage of Mana de, but even weakened as she was, she was still several times faster than John and side-stepped the attack. Finally, she came to a halt between John and the other two humans of the group.
I told you that I only wanted to fight you, Thana said and clenched a fist, and now Ive had it with mingling influences. She turned to the wall and punched at it, producing a fist sized hole there. Cracks formed all around but it still held. Thana was not done with that alone. Her wings expanded into a wall of thorns and needles, simultaneously tearing apart the concrete and forcing Rave and Herman back.
he stability of the staircase was ripped apart within moments. They tried to intercept but by the time Rave was close enough it was already toote. The tunnel caved in, tons of dirt crashing down on Thana and gradually shredding more of the ceiling. John barely saw Herman drag Rave back far enough to get out of the immediate danger zone.
The blood mage herself backed away from the newly created separation between John and the rest of the group, pulling the Gamer with her and then throwing him back into the room below. Now he was alone with his remaining familiars. Being tossed just now had cost him a mere 50 HP. Considering he had been fully healed, the situation was not immediately dire, but most of his lifelines had been exhausted. Mono still had about eight hundred HP left, so it wasnt that bad. Aclysia had regrown her arm and regenerated to about 75%, Gnome and Undine were ready to follow whatever idea John would have.
You will stay here with me until one of us dies, she said, her smirk empty and grim.
John had other ns, he had a lot of mana, so he could get out of here with Gnomes help, all he needed to do was to get up the stairs again. His staring at the exit must have been obvious as Thana clicked her tongue.
You are still trying to escape, not fight, sheined, her eyes falling on Aclysia. Guess I need a new fucking hostage to get your cunt-seeking attention.
She crouched down for the third time. John did not know what she was nning but he didnt care to wait to find out. Gnome! he shouted into his thoughts, his mana pool opened to her to take what she would need. Thana catapulted herself forwards the moment she was in position.
Aclysia tried to block but the force of Thanas assault drove her backwards. Blocking the initial strike with Ashkandi, the t of the de braced against her arm, she was defenceless against the blood-d hand snapping forwards. The blood mages hand plunged deep into her chest, grabbed something and ripped it out. Aclysias body fell backwards, a soulless chunk of metal, as Thana jumped off her andnded back in her original position.
Knew I knew something about Artificial Spirits, Thana giggled and waved with the Artificial Crystal that was Aclysias heart.
John threw a panicked look at his Interface. Aclysia wasnt dead but her HP maximum had been reduced to five.
I guess I was correct in thinking this is important to you, Thanamented on the look on his face. Man, If I had more time, Id give you shit about running around with your personal fucking harem. Now.OH SHUT THE FUCK UP! she suddenlyshed out and broke the floor with a stomp. Sorry about that, cocksuckers keep talking, she failed at an exnation. She looked at the crystal in her hand for another moment and then raised it to her mouth, swallowing it whole. There, now you either fight me like a man, instead of hiding your balls in your babymaker, Thana told him, or I will destroy that pretty little servant of yours by using my blood, we clear?
John clenched his fist, Why? Why wont you let us just save you?! he burst out, Why are you this bent on dying? You have never known any of the joys of life.
He was left without an answer, as Thana just crouched down again.
Chapter 157 – No Heaven, No Sleep, No Hell
Chapter 157 C No Heaven, No Sleep, No Hell
John was robbed of his way out, his offensive elementals, Aclysia and most of his mana. There was a light at the end of all of this however: Thana was bleeding out. He meant that observation quite literally, the wings on her back were growing smaller as they burnt away.
She jumped at him. Gnome threw herself between them and miraculously she was there in time. Ungracefully, they rolled over the ground,ing to a halt with Gnome on top of the blood mage. Thana spread her wed hands.
Yes, she giggled when Gnome threw a punch. Struggle, the stone elementals fistnded on Thanas ribs, she spat out a bit of blood but kept grinning as she grabbed onto the stone elementals extended arm. Hurt me harder. kill me, KILL ME!
The inside of her burning wings suddenly grew spikes, chaotically spread and of varying length they were a sight straight out of a horror movie. They closed on Gnome, who desperately tried to get away but was locked by Thanas grasp. Like inside an iron maiden Gnome was prated by hundreds of individual spikes.
Seems like I found a fucking use for these useless shitwings after all, Thana giggled as she got up. I got so excited there for a fucking second. Halfway up, the blood mage was struck in the shoulder by a Mana Ray. John exploited every window of opportunity he could. YEEEEEESsssssssss, she screamed, between torment and delight.
The wound actually needed more than a blink of an eye to close, but she was still too quick to allow John to get a second shot in there. With Gnome, his way out had been obliterated. His mind raced, trying to find a way he could still extract her from the area, in that little bit of time between victory and her falling apart. Why?! he asked again, Why wont you let me save you?!
I DONT WANT TO BE SAVED! Thana shouted back, and jumped at him again. John was all out of allies who could block for him, Mono was too slow, Undine was made of easily blown-through slime, and so Thana now pressed him to the ground. John tried to conjure a Mana de but Thana had none of it. Grabbing both of his hands by the wrist she pressed them to the ground. Mono was about to fire another bolt from the Lesser Lance of Longinus but John stopped her.
Maybe she will talk, he argued.
Dumb reason not to struggle, Monomented, then added. Probably will work though.
On top of him Thana was breathing heavily, the wings on her back mere sputtering mes now. Her white hair hung over his face, the blue tips almost touching him. He looked deep into her shattered eyes, the violet colour, the golden circle inside, now at a speed where he could barely make out the individual dots.
Why? John asked again. He needed an answer. I just want to help you, why are you this bent on dying? Her level was reducing at an abnormal rate now. It seemed her end was closing in. Yet there was no answer, only her eyes, her now expressionless face above his. You could just stop, stop right now and make amends. You killed people, many of whom did not deserve it, but I still think you can make this right!
Amends? Right? Thana whispered, then her smirk returned. Who would I make amends to? The families of those I killed? You think the fucking cultists, themies, and those fucking mercs you stumbled in with deserve anything? To God? Ahahahaha, she burst outughing, the mere suggestion making her little body shake. If there is a God, once I meet him, he will have to ask for my forgiveness.
Then do it for a selfish reason! John appealed to another side of her. Live for yourself, there has to be something you want to do!
There is one thing. Thana agreed, John was about to exploit that look of weakness in her eyes when she continued, a fire burning bright within her, but it would be never worth going back to being a sack of emotionless shit in a corner of a room. You keep insisting I CAN HEAL YOU, I CAN HEAL YOU! but you have no fucking idea what that means. Yes, this decay of my body you could halt. I could take my blood back from the storage of this fucking ce. I tried it, it works. In a moment of weakness, I considered prolonging all of this for as long as fucking possible. I believe that you can cure my immediate death.
She released Johns left hand from her grasp and tipped against her head. But you can never fix what they did to me. Removing the device in my brain is the same as killing me.
What makes you so certain of that? John had to ask, maybe there is a way to
There is none, she said with certainty, I am a blood mage you idiot, you think I dont know my own body inside out? Im broken. Its either living in ughter or dying on my terms. She lowered her hand on his throat and started choking him with a scowl on her face. Besides, you really think that is all that is fucked up with my head?! My first thought in freedom was not to thank you, it was to murder everyone in the room without giving any shits about their alignments. I am a monster, John. There is no healing me, there is only prolonging my suffering in this fucked up world.
All of a sudden, Thana released his neck. John took a trembling breath, following the blood mage as she stood up. There was no way to know what that look on her face was. The only certain thing was that she took a step back.
Well, this has given me enough kicks to go on until this life is over. Thana simply walked away from him. She looked at her hands, then looked over her shoulder at him. Her eyes spelled a certain gratitude towards him, and she had an apologetic smile on her lips. Ill just go fizzle out in the corner over there. You can fuck off afterwards. Barrier control should change to you any second now. The remaining mes on her back ebbed. There goes thest of my blood.
John got back on his feet as well. No, that was his answer for leaving her behind. I am not losing anyone anymore.
He still had one chance, onest chance to get Thana out of here. It was unlikely, it relied on Herman and Rave digging him out, it relied on Thana being kept alive by Undine until they could stabilize her and it relied on John not screwing up the timing but there still was a single chance buzzing around. All he needed was a bit more time.
And so he asked a casual question, How are you still alive when there is no more blood in you?
Thana burst outughing. WHAT? You saw me re-growing an arm, continue running with my head chopped off, set crystallized blood on fire and THAT is your question?! she made a counter-question. Okay, that just sweetened myst moments on this fucking rock, congrattions, I am not even mad about the incineration thing anymore, she continued giggling.
Still too soon John thought and moved half of him into position. He checked his and Monos mana, they would likely have to perform first aid on Thana with the help of Undine. John watched her level tick down.
Are you still up to something? Thana joked. My brain and senses seem to slowly turn to dumbass but even I realize that you staring intensely into the air means that there is SOMETHING about to happen, like what, did you have something behind me the whole ti-
SHIT, John thought as Thana turned around and made direct eye contact with the bee. The possessed scouting units stinger aimed directly at her. The blood mage had no illusions that there was something amiss here that was against her interest. She took a swing at the bee. Without Bloodburn, in her diminished state, John reacted faster.
The paralyzing beam hit Thana straight in the head. John, having concentrated on getting this and ONLY this done, was not too concerned about the Possession target getting crunched a momentter. His relief at the first step of the n working was too big.
Thana stumbled and almost fell, moving sluggishly. What did you do?! she demanded to know, her emotions burned as hot as before. She grabbed her arms, shivering head from toe. No no, no, no not this cold again
I am paralyzing you. Just to get you healed, John promised.
Thana growled with evident disdain. I told you, she spat out, swaying where she stood, I dont want to get healed.
I just want you to live!
YOU THINK I DONT WANT TO LIVE? she screamed. YOU THINK I JUST WANT TO ROLL OVER AND DIE AFTER LIFE DECIDED TO HAND ME ALL OF THE SHIT IT HAD TO OFFER?! YOU THINK THIS FUCKING DISGUSTING ROOM IS WHERE I WANTED TO BE DONE?! YOU THINK I NEVER WANTED TO EAT SOMETHING? TO HAVE FUN? she raised her numb hand, slowly as her body refused to react. You dare think I didnt make this decision with a BIT of sense? Bitch, I am so insane I loop right back around to being reasonable!
She tried to breathe but her chest was just so heavy. Her legs were about to give in, her eyelids threatening to close. She wanted to die fully conscious, her emotions, even if they were only regret and pain, lulling her into thest sleep, the only sleep she would ever have. John could read all of that from her, but he wanted her to have more. For his own selfish reasons, and because of thest wish of a man he would have called his friend.
The only way I can keep living how I want is if I can keep hurting people, I dont want to live on an eternal manhunt for people who deserve to be ughtered AND EVEN LESS DO I WANT TO MURDER MORE OF THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD HELP ME!
John, rmed, noticed her energy rising again. Her eyes flickered about the ce, as the shivers were reced by surging pulses. Halfme muscles surged again with power. Thana raised her head suddenly and listened to something.
Theyre silent, she whispered. Ha A single, relievedugh. Theyre theyre finally fucking silent. Then her haze fixated back on John. This is my life, I get to decide how it ends, I get to decide whether I live or fucking die, I get to decide who takes my life. Not you, you get to mourn me if you are dumb enough to do so, but you do NOT GET TO TELL ME HOW AND WHEN I DIE! NOBODY GETS TO DECIDE WHEN ANY PEOPLE DIE! IF THERE IS A HEAVEN I DEMAND TO BE THERE, IF THERE IS NOTHING I AM FREE, IF THERE IS A HELL IT WILL BE BETTER THAN THIS!
Blue, a new aura ignited around her. A pale, ghostly blue, like the tips of her hair and the tinge of her skin. Shrugging off thest of the paralysis, she straightened up.
John could not believe what he was seeing. Thana had formed new wings, six of them, although wings may not have been the best word. They were like pirs of pure energy, like the me of a Bunsen burner, exploding outwards in a straight discharge. He had no idea what was going on but he didnt need to decide that, the moment Thana pointed her hand at him, it was best to reactivate Mana Protection.
Soulburn.
Pale blue fire consumed Johns world. He could see nothing, hear nothing, he was isted in a world of fire that shed against his shield. His mana was gone in a second. Then he felt Monos mana, there was ament attached to it but he didnt hear it, he only knew the fire. Her mana was burnt away too and then John felt what it meant to burn. He was reminded of Smanders vision, the fire, the fire that burned so many people, only this time he wasnt the me, he was the victim. His skin scorched away, his HP reduced drastically, in the blink of an eye almost all of it had vanished.
A moment of relief, of cool, water itself hade to his aid in the form of Undine, she protected him with her own body, healing him at the same time. Even this was futile, as she evaporated only momentster. Even the window was consumed by the me.
I am sorry, Jane, he thought and watched his HP tick down, something she could see as well and he knew that it broke her heart just like it had broken his. Gritting his teeth, he pushed against the mes. Exchanging his life for that of his girlfriend may have been eptable. Death here would mean to take Aclysia with him. It meant to leave the elementals grieving. It meant Monos existence would have been brief and confusing. None of that could be allowed.
John set out in a direction, any direction. He pushed his body against the me. Muscles burned away and regenerated over and over again. 100, 80, 68, 58, 50, 43, 37, 32, 28, 25, 23, 21, 20, twenty, that is when his head emerged from the mes. By pure instinct, he grabbed the arm in front of him and moved it to the side. The fire ebbed away.
Thana stood there, a wide grin on her face. A genuine one. She had burnt everything, her anger, her hate, her disgust, everyst emotion. Everything but the joy of feeling itself.
Chapter 158 – In the Shadow of the Day
Chapter 158 C In the Shadow of the Day
That was it. She was done. John would have loved to have this feel like a victory. He came here, prepared for her to be a mindless monster, to kill her for what she did to Rave. He came here, prepared to help her if she was just as much a victim of happenstance as he was. He came here, and he failed to satisfy himself with vengeance or sess.
There was no way to remove her from the site in time, neither could he heal her without Undine. He didnt feel victorious, just tired. Tired of training, tired of this fight, tired of loss and tired of tragedy.
However, fate had one more tragedy prepared for him. Thanas legs gave away under her. Barely, John managed to move in time to catch her. The small woman, so wounded and torn,y across his arms like a cold piece of porcin. The pain of his body, theck of security he had, none of it mattered in that moment. Carefully, infinitely carefully, he knelt down, lowering her along with himself.
Hey John, her voice was barely a whisper behind her wide smile. Despite the knowledge that she would die within the minute, Thana was happy. Despite the pain she was in, she was happy. Despite theplete despair that her life had been, she was very happy at this moment. describe the sun to me
What do you even mean by that? he asked, despite knowing better. He couldnt fathom such a question, how somebody could even need to ask.
I obviously never saw it hey, what are you crying for? she halfughed, half-coughed.
The tears had started without him noticing and there was no way to stop them now. Tears of relief and of depression, of sadness and the knowledge that it was over. For him this chapter of his life was over, for Thana it was everything.
Still, the pale girl in his arms was grinning. I am the one dying here, you giant fucking babye on tell me Her amethyst eyes were barely moving anymore, the pupils dted as all of her muscles rxed.
John swallowed back the tears, The sun it its a big circle in the sky and
The skythat is blue, right? Thana asked as the fire in her eyes slowly dimmed. The fire of life that had burnt too bright in her, if only for a few days, so bright that it had consumed her own in the process. Burning out and fading away, with nothing gooding from it.
Yes, a beautiful light blue, John exined, failing to steel his voice. Between sobs and falling drops, he tried his best to tell her in the moments she had left. It stretches everywhere like an endless ceiling but you know it doesnt matter how far it stretches because you will never reach it.
That sounds awful Thana giggled, followed by a series of coughs that shook her whole body, robbing her of a few more precious seconds. With worry and a heavy heart, John waited for things to calm down. Her eyes were half lidded by the time she did. A-are youstill there? she asked, the dots in her eyes had stopped.
Her tiny pale hand twitched ever so slightly. John took it and then, following an impulse, he embraced her whole body. He was incredibly careful, like she could shatter at any second.
Ithink thatmeansyes she whispered, one of Johns tearsnding on her face. He was crying with her in his arms.
The sun travels along the horizon during the day, you cant even look at it because it is too bright. It He spoke hastily, wanting to tell her everything he could, fill herst moments with something but deafening silence. Then he noticed a window in front of him.
Gaia had sent this his way, there was no doubt about it. Even the supreme deity had taken pity on the fate of this girl. John epted and the world around him transformed. From where he sat, green started growing outwards, recing the floor and everything else. The blood red carpet, ripped apart by the fight, was reced by a radiant green. It reced the shards of the tank that Thana had spent most of her life in. It reced the dark spots of fallen lifeblood, spilled by Thana in her torment induced insanity. It reced the reason and the actions of her sins.
I just hopethis is theend Thana whispered, the grin weakened to a no less blissful smile, I hear them again at the edge of my mind
Dont say that. Just for a moment longer. Stay with me for just another moment, John begged.
Fine was the final answer he got. The change disintegrated the walls. The in stretched further as the walls unravelled and the twilight of the chandelier was reced with the twilight of the rising sun.
A beautiful green sea that endlessly stretched around John, tinted softly red like the sky that covered the world from one horizon to the other. The sun in all its glory rose, its rays touching the world gently, ending the shadow of the day.
Hey, Thana. There it is. There is the sun, he said with a smile. He bathed in the warm light and then looked down on the figure in his arms. The smile he wore for just a second died immediately and was reced with even more tears.
In his armsy the lifeless body of Thana, a name that was as little her own as any other choice that had been made for her. Her mouth had never tasted food besides nutritional solutions. Her nose had never picked up the smell of anything outside of blood and chemicals. Her eyes had never seen the sky, only cement ceilings. Her ears until herst day never picked up on a word of niceness. Even now, as her pale, blueish skin was touched by the sun, she never got to experience it.
Her eyes looked at nothing, her body was cold already. Her powers had consumed all the blood and warmth inside her. Yet she smiled. Not the insane smile she had worn at the start, not the apologetic smile she had given him towards the end of their fight, not the broad smile she had worn once she knew she would get what she wanted. No, a fulfilled smile. At the veryst moments she hadntmented her life, she had only been happy that it was over.
John wanted to hate her for this, for just epting her fate and aiming at death. But could he really? Would he, in her situation, have done anything different? Only in pain, denied emotions unless he was fighting or killing? What could he have done? He was left without answers.
Reaching out, to close the lifeless eyes, John wanted to do her one courtesy. Even this, her body could not sustain. The moment his fingertips touched her, the skin began to wither. Slowly at first, rapidly expanding by the second, her entire form fell apart. Skin, bone, muscle, everything about her copsed into a fine red dust.
At the end he was left with nothing but a pile that looked like ground up rust. In ity Aclysias crystal and a hellishly deformed piece of metal. It was like a mixture of a miniaturized spine and a centipede, lying where her head had been. He didnt need to use Observe to know what the hated thing was.
A sudden gust of wind rolled over the field, imed the red dust and whirled it through the world, this radiant in. The first and only natural wind John would feel inside an Illusion Barrier, Gaia imed the remains of Thana. John hoped that the goddess carried her somewhere better.
Season 1 C The End.
Chapter 159 – Season 1 Epilogue – Debts
Chapter 159 C Season 1 Epilogue C Debts
Man, this is really awkward, Rave said, lying in her bed.
It was now evening. John had cleaned up after the fight in a state of delirium, his low HP making the world a haze. He had reassembled Aclysia, then he had left the changed Illusion Barrier. He had found Herman curing aatose Rave. He had panicked but as the apothecary exined, she had only copsed due to malnutrition. Herman had been extremely sad to hear the news.
In the end all of this was in vain, huh? he had mumbled and sighed heavily, the Abyss tends to be like this. He had gotten Rave all pepped up but insisted they went to the actual hospital back in Springfield to see if none of Raves blood waspromised or anything in that way.
And so, they ended up in this room. It was only her and John right now. Well, John and his two Artificial Spirits, Mono and Aclysia, who stood next to the bed while he himself was sitting. The elemental girls were not back yet, repairing a Tier 2 body cost even more than Tier 1, and he had to repair 4 of them.
Rave sighed and tapped a beat on the nket. John had just gotten through telling her about what had happened in the short time they were separated. So, ya are now level 75?
That is correct, John answered.
That is a load of bull, Rave giggled.
John stared at his hands, folded in hisp. Jane, I am
If ya follow that up with, so sorry that you had to go through that, I will do something horrible to your testicles, Rave interrupted him. I decided to go along with this, we couldnt have guessed how it would end up. She extended a hand and smiled. Even though her bright pink hair had gone mostly white from the stress of thest few days and the scars of Thanas ws extended from her throat down to her corbone, she was the one smiling.
John took her hand into his own and they shared a moment of blissful silence. He did not know what to say or what to feel.
It was weird though, Rave eventually said, sometimes she was ecstatic to kill, at others she looked sorry, one time she even cried. Whenever she fought against me she always made sure that she wouldnt kill me, she would do everything else though. John nodded, he had no doubt that Thana had been a good person somewhere. Circumstances just hadnt allowed her to be anything besides what she was or, at least, hadnt let her think anything else.
Which reminded him of another thing. You tried to say something to me at the end, he looked at Mono, What was it?
I no, it doesnt matter. It was tactless anyway, the Artificial Supporter answered. Aclysia carefully nudged her little sister and Mono slightly bowed a momentter. It was just slightly ironic that I was the only one left at the end.
She is new, Rave said.
There are a lot of changes, you will not believe how horny the elementals have gotten, John sighed, happy to change the topic to something he regarded as normal. It can be a chore.
Ill be happy to take some of that off your back, Rave purred, ever the ray of careless sunshine. He understood her stance towards death and danger a little better now. Events like this were expected in her world. Cause I am sick of fighting for now, I want to sleep for like two days, then I want to eat something nice and then I want to have sex until I fall asleep for another two days. Think ya can do that for me?
John grinned, I bet I can.
I wonder where my dad is, Rave changed the topic, I expected him to run right up here.
Herman promised to call him, maybe he forgot? John suggested. As these things went, the door was suddenly mmed open the moment he finished that sentence.
Regan, for once wearing a matching outfit of a nice suit, half-covered by a dark trench coat, finished up by shined shoes, hastily stepped into the hospital room. The baseball cap in his hands betrayed that the outfit only almost matched.
Jane! he shouted and stepped over the bed.
Hi, daddy! Rave eximed simrly enthused, how have you been?
Dont you give me that, youngdy! Regan was not at all in the mood for niceness, you will never do anything like that EVER again, do you hear me!
What do you mean by that? Rave asked, taken aback, she had never seen her father this angry.
It means you are under house arrest until the day I die! Also, YOU! he pointed at John, I will let you get away with it this time because you got her out of the mess but I told you to never get my daughter into dangerous situations again and what do you do? Leave her with some crazed maniac and get
DAD! Rave interrupted, It was MY choice to go along, stop pinning it on John!
He is a bad influence!
Ya left me with TRAVOLTA when ya were gone on business trips, ya have no right to speak about bad influences!
John cleared his throat, Can I just say that I am so-
SHUT UP! both of them turned to him.
This is daughter-father business, Rave told him.
Yeah, we got this, Regan agreed and the two were about to resume shouting at each other when Herman appeared in the still open door.
Ehm, hello, I bring back the results of the blood test, the somewhat meek apothecary said as he stepped inside. He closed the door behind him, I also must implore you to stay quiet, my superiors are already not happy with me having you stay here for free
Just out with the results! Regan demanded, then he turned to Rave. Results about what, Jane?
If Im pregnant, she said in a dry tone. Regan was about to keel over when she corrected herself.
No, see, the girl who held me captive had some infectious blood magic thingy and he wanted to test if its affecting me.
Regan looked relieved for a moment, then it dawned on him that that wasnt better at all. Especially since he had to know what infectious blood they were talking about.
Okay, so I can give you the clear, you are not affected by Thanas blood, Herman said and everyone sighed in relief. Except for Mono who kept standing there without a care in the world.
Great, John said and felt both his own and Raves hand rx.
Back to your house arrest, sweetheart, Regan said, about to open that discussion again when Herman cleared his throat.
There is also a visitor for you, he said.
They will have to wait, Regan said with certainty.
No, sir, for John and SHE is very insistent, Herman gulped, as a matter of fact if I dont let her in soon my superiors will probably fire me.
Who could be that important that Regan started then he remembered. Then John remembered, then Rave looked at both of them in confusion.
Let here in, John said and then turned to Rave as Herman scrambled, remember how I told you that I was in a barrier for a month?
Yeah?
And how a professional Fateweaver did that?
Yeah Rave had an idea where this was going, how deep into the shit mire did ya sink?
500 Billion.
Raves eyes approached the size of dinner tes. Who would even give ya that much money?!
Her name is
I can introduce myself, came a hard voice from the entrance.
The woman who marched into the room was about Johns age. Her auburn hair was weaved into a single braid, lying decoratively over her shoulder. The reddish brown contrasted with the dark green of the military vest she wore, an article of clothing that seemed to belong in the 18th century. Same could have been said about the yellow shirt she wore underneath, with its big buttons.
An emblem was pinned to her chest, an ornate piece of gold depicting an eagle, the word secundus underneath. From her hips dangled a rapier, the ornate heft reflecting the light. What struck John the most were her ruby red lips and her eyes. A pale blue, almost bordering on steel grey. Inside this modern magic hospital the noble figure looked like she belonged in a different time. That was, all things considered, just Johns perception though. When her tall marching boots hit the ground, they did so with absolute certainty. She closed the door behind her and put her hands behind her back.
My name is Lydia Augusta the Fourth of house Hohenzollern. John Newman, Ie here to collect my debt. I want you toe to Germany with me and fight in my name.
For how long? What purpose? John asked. He had hoped it would be something simpler, like 20% interest, but this oue was far from unexpected.
Lydia raised an eyebrow, I see you did not inform yourself on the current affairs of Rex Germaniae and the uing tournament before you epted our deal.
Tournament? He answered with a further question. Regan quickly intervened as the princess shot John a stern look.
Rex Germaniae has a tradition where, if the electorate fails to crown a new monarch three times, the candidates will instead fight in a tournament, heid down the facts.
Really? Rave asked, thats pretty cool, can Ie fight too?
Lydia kept her posture and asked, And you are?
Jane Hollmey, his girlfriend, thanks for giving him the money to save me, Rave chirped.
You dont owe me, if you tag along or not is entirely up to you. Albeit, I confess confusion as to why you would wish to aid me? Lydia said, her tone not at all confused, probing would have been the correct term.
Cause it sounds like fun!
Jane, I will not let you go on another stupid adventure, Regan interrupted.
Try stopping me daddy, ya wont like the result, she stuck out her tongue. John stepped in before they could start bickering in front of royalty.
Do I have toe with you now, or?
Preferably, yes, Lydia stated and crossed her arms. I am not hard pressed for time, thest election is still a while off, but theres always other matters to attend to. With another nce at Rave she added I will only pay the ne ticket for you, if your girlfriend wants toe along, whether she fights or not, she will have to pay her own.
Can do! Jane said and, suddenly very energetic, swung her legs out of the bed.
I have some things to take care of before that though, John said. At the very least he would need to inform his mother, after all she woulde back home in a few days to check on how he fended on his own.
Lydia sighed. Fine, she relented and pulled her wallet out of one of the many pockets, Ill stay at a hotel near the centre, this is my number. Contact me within three days. She gave him a business card of incredibly simple design, white with the Prussian eagle in the upper left corner and only her name and number on it. Without further words, she turned on her heels and marched right back out.
Adventure! Rave dered. Come on, lets go pack our bags! She pulled him up and they were ready to leave, although John was a bit overrun by these happenings.
Jane! Regan stepped between them and the exit, I told you that
John was pulled away from their discussion by a sudden window.
The fuck? John asked. Nobody heard him. Aclysia was just happy to be safe again, Mono looked at her sister and waited for Gnome toe back, Rave and Regan were in a heated debate.
The future looked like it would hold some very weird things in store for him.
Season 1 – Author’s Note
Season 1 C Authors Note
HELLO!
I have no stupid reference for the start today.
I thank everyone who has been reading Season 1 of my branch. To my readers: Thank you for taking interest in this mediocre shitfest, I know my typos are sometimes horrible and that I may not be the best at storytelling overall, but a lot of you stick with me anyway.
A special shout out goes to the ones of you that decided to join the Discord.
Thanks to DraMr for posting corrections for my typos and being overall helpful ^^
Thanks to sasori86 (who now has his own branch) for the memes
Thanks to TheHanyou for proofreading my stuff
And finally
Thanks to Kyonchi for keeping my girls safe, may you handle Thana with care.
Of course, my thanks also go to TheDespaxas for creating this story in the first ce. Keep up the good work, mate!
With that out of the way let us move on to the Arc and then let us talk about the Season as a whole for a bit.
There were three goals to this arc that I set out to do:
Number 1, Introduce extended I.D. rules. This way I wont have to deal with any of that in the future, although I might introduce one or two more mechanics in the future the groundwork is now made.
Number 2, Evolve the elemental girls. For a guy that set-up to build a harem at the start it sure took a long ass time for John to get one. Welp, now we are 4 girls richer (5 if you count Mono, but she has yet to get a real spotlight).
Number 3 was, of course, the Thana confrontation. John shing with one of the stronger beings in the Abyss marks the change from John as a noob to John as a pro.
There were a few more things I got done along the way, the Nathalia Side Story and a couple of other chapters extended on how godhood works in my branch. Gaia got her face out there for the first time, that was a fun bit of sass sting.
With over one hundred thousand words this Arc was easily the longest so far. A shitload of grinding. I hope I didnt overstay my weeme wee here but I dont seem to have lost readers, so I think you guys will survive. I skipped some stuff towards the end (namely Mono getting stuff) because It was about fucking time we finally goet to Thana.
Speaking of her: I am sorry but anybody who thought this would have a happy ending for her is na?ve or overly hopeful. The Arc is literally called Shadow of the day after the song from Linkin Park. The only oue ever possible was for her to die, because that is how I set up the rules. More about Thanater tho, lets talk about the season.
Season 1 started off with the prologue where I had no idea where the fuck I would take this story. This is how I usually start off though. I just throw shit at a wall, see what sticks and then I start constructing a narrative around it until my brain does its thing and suddenly I have the whole story nned out. Which was effectively the case once we reached Arc 2, where I first mentioned the Blood of Thana, as from there the event sequence that would lead to Lydiaing around was in motion. Now, of course I also set more things up for the future, like that prophecy of the Horned Rat for example, but most of these are hidden. Wonder if anyone will spot them andbine the dots.
Just because I can: here is some data
So, yeah, seems like I am making progress as an author.
If I had to point out my greatestpoint my greatest regret in this season, there were two things: A, overusing Rave (I know most of you love her, but she has been on the screen too much) and B, underusing Victoria. I havee to the conclusion that I should have done more with her. With that I dont mean that I want to make her more sympathetic so that you are more saddened by her death but I simply should have fleshed her out more.
With the end of the season we also hit the end of the extended tutorial. John is now an actually capable fighter with an extensive toolkit and I am happy with throwing him into the abyssal politicalndscape, represented by Lydia rearing her pretty head at the end there.
Extended Character Insight: Thana
Was Thana made just to die? No, no she wasnt. Unlike Victoria, who was made for a purpose, Thana was a character that grew through several convoluted stages until she finally arrived at what she is today.
There were a couple of unchanging factors: Thana was always bound in some ways, Thana would always be fuckass crazy in some shape or form and Thana would always be identally released by John.
In her first iteration Thana was actually more of a biblical figure, an angel nailed to a cross that John would bail out, they would have dandy time until she would fall under the stress of John almost dying. I found that I would need to invest too muchto much time on her in that storyline (also the angel figure felt less fitting). Next iteration was just bad, basically, hyper yandere with godlike blood magic. Scratched because I felt that it was bad. Also I would have needed to constantly write around her murdering everyone else in Johns party.
Then we finally arrive at Nazi-Experiment Thana. That angle worked, mostly, with the Nazis and Soviets already in ce, I started constructing a narrative. Then I found her theme song (In case you are still not aware I create most characters using songs) in the shape of Lindsey Sterlings Shatter me -specifically the night core version C and thus the course was set. As the pieces came together I eventually ended with the conclusion that the only way for Thanas story to logically end was to die. Yes, I could have introduced tools to make it different but I dislike doing so. Believe me when I tell you that the person most saddened by her demise is me (I actually cried writing her death chapter, fucked up stuff).
Moving on to less sad stuff: Her appearance. The pale blue/white colour scheme was in contrast to her very red powers. Also, because I fucking love white hair. Making her short was ater decision, apparently people think my girls are too tall, after making a spreadsheet
(Yes, I do have spreadsheets for a lot of stuff)
I decided that they had a bit of a point (I, myself, am 1,92m so I am not the best to judge). Therefore, she was shrunk to the second smallest girl in the story (#1 being Sylph).
I had a big consideration for her eyes and teeth, using them to show that she was decidedly inhuman but also perfectly human. The contrast was made with her eyes being like shattered ss and with the two rings inside that give it a slightly mechanical feel while her teeth were described as perfect, human teeth to show that she is just a perfect human. I like details like this.
Now, I do have a picture once again, but I do want to exim that this time Thana was not based on the picture, but the image just happens to fit very much. If you are (like me) more of the type that prefers imaging the characters on their own, know that you dont have to take the picture as the word of god. Whatever you imagine is just as valid.
/post/show/201374/
I dont have much more to say, allsay all things considered. You will get another chapter, that being a Q&A for my characters with questions asked on the Discord and then we enter hiatus. How long? Two weeks minimum. I have a few things to change (patching the character sheets for example) and also another something you will hear off shortly.
This was the end of the fourth Arc of the Gamer Shadow of the Day as well of the First Season Untitled . I hopeI hope to see you all for the Second Seasons Rex in Germania first Arc titled Old Blood.
Funatic OUT
The grand Season One Q&A
The grand Season One Q&A
The grand Season One Q&A Part 1
John closed the patch seat and looked around. Rave and her dad were still arguing but there was something very weird about the room. He looked at the wall with the door, nothing weird. He looked at that wall to his right, a window but otherwise white and boring, nothing weird. He turned to look at the wall behind the bed Rave had been in, there was a picture there, nothing weird.
He turned to the fourth wall. It was missing. Instead he looked at a guy in a imperial age military style uniform of a ck, white, red and gold colour scheme. The big hat on is head was the most apparent feature. What the fuck? John asked. NO! I intervene and suddenly change the tempus to present, What the FUN!
With a poof the room disappears and is reced with a giant casting couch.
HELLO! Ladies and Gentlemen! I say to you, my audience, today we will be doing the great Season One Q&A, where I ask my characters questions people on the Discord have given to me. Now lets first introduce the entire cast C in which I will magically imnt the knowledge to answer these questions. Before I do that however, due to the sheer amount of characters and questions asked I think that a change of format is in order.
Funatic: There, way better. Now to spawn in the characters
I p my hands and the entire cast of the first season, from the important characters like John, Rave and Aclysia, over dead ones like Thana and Victoria, over to some less important ones like Moira and Jimmie. Even the Horned Rat is here, there is a question for him after all.
Thana: Okay, what the fuck? I just died, you dumbass, and you bring me back?!
Funatic: Dont worry dear, I will sent you right on back to the afterlife, but first I need to as you all these questions.
John: This is so weirdI suddenly remember other versions of me
Rave: Uhhh, I me too. Some of those fuck even better than ya do, ya are really underutilizing these, ya cker.
Aclysia:I feel like I have less expression than usual.
The Horned Rat: That would be the formatting. This kind of speech isnt good at depicting emotions as it needs to break the flow of the overall story.
Nathalia: Nerd.
Funatic: Stooooooooooooop talking. We have 40 questions to go throughlet me just open this RNG-Generator and then we can start. Yes, this was on purpose.
From: IWriteWithATalon (Just Talon in the future)
To Aclysia: What metal tastes best, and what human food does it taste most like, if you canpare.
Aclysia: I am sorry, but Ick the knowledge of human food topare directly. I can onlypare to memories that master has off food. My favourite metal would be the metal that made up the items dropped in the Ork dungeon. ording to masters memory the closest thing would be steak.
Funatic: I am going to further the question to Mono as well, because I can.
Mono: Feelium, the stuff that the Watches of Sadness are made out of. I like sour things.
From: Lalelilo69 (Just Laleter on)
Funatic: A short intermission before I read this question. Lalelilo might be knows to some of you as the currently missing author of another branch. While I have no information for you if/when he will return I want to take this opportunity to say: Yare missed, mate. He left me with a few questions tho so lets read it.
To Undine: Why dont you speak more often?
Undine:
John: She sends the feeling of not wanting too because it is a hassle.
Undine:
John: Also, something about thinking that all of this is pretty stupid.
Funatic: Whatevs, I do what I want.
From: TheScyle (or just Scyle in the future)
To Nathalia: we all know you love killing and fucking. But have you everbined the two? Killing people while fucking! Or killing people by fucking them till they die from exhaustion! I am sure you coulde up with something.
Nathalia: I do not like the act of killing, I revel in the act of destruction. That aside, yes I did kill people through fucking, thrice. The first time was an ident, I did not believe that somebody would be that pathetic. Afterwards I happened to try it out just to see if I could, the third time I did it because I could and the guy deserved it. He had been serving me fish that wasnt fresh anymore. Showed him a mercy. I did never kill people while fucking however, I think that would ruin the fun.
From: Lale
To Sylph: Why do you speak so often?
The tempest elemental, who had her mouth sealed shut so that she wouldnt bber into other peoples questions, takes a deep breathe.
Sylph: Talking is just so fun, you know? I mean, I can just tell you about my day, or Johns day, or how about Sally is a total bitch, or how Undine is so swing-swung-swang of mood. I have so many words that you should hear, like that one time I found Gnome in her room - yes we have rooms in Johnnies head C and she was going through and assortment of panties which she could wear, she waspletely naked too, when she saw me she blushed so deeply she became as red as Sally. Then she tried to swat me out of her room but I dodged and she chased me into the living room, stark naked and with strawberry panties and then she ran into Sally and they
Funatic: Just going to put this here
The seal is ced back in ce, causing Sylph to protest with wild gestures. Nobody cares.
From: Talon
To Undine: How do you not pick up random junk like every sticky toy I''ve ever had?
Undine: I am not sticky
John: She really isnt, unless she chose to be, but even then, its not that hard to get away.
From: Talon
To Thana: On a scale of 1-100% how many of your sexual partners have died in the past?
Thana: How the fuck would I know? I was essentially raped 50 times, never saw any of the fuckers again. If they were somewhat powerful they might still be around, otherwise Id guess that time killed the suckers.
Ferikrona: I took most of them, no worries~
From: Lale
To Smander: Whats the most amount of fire youve unleashed in one fight? How many enemies did you kill with it? Did you hurt any allies?
Smander: That would probably go to the fight we had with grandma over there
Nathalia: Consider yourself lucky that this is non-canon, child of Krieg.
Smander: Burnt pretty much all of his mana in one go there, no kills or friendly fire though.
Everyone:
Smander: What? Oh, friendly fire! I am a genius.
From: Talon
To Thana: What is the least dangerous affectionate/sexual action I could perform on you?
Thana: Beats me. I only ever got fucked as a potato in missionary so I guess I would be willing to experiment. Donte fucking crying if I use to much teeth while sucking you though, I have no fucking clue what I would be doing.
From: Killer3333
To Moira: What are your thoughts on the rogue mage John aka The Gamer?
Moira: His rapid growth in strength is worrying, as is the fact that he now leads Collide but overall the Golden Rose has bigger problems.
From: Talon
To John: Have you considered not thinking with your dick at least, like, 25% of the time?
John: What? Am I that bad? I think all things considered I am making most decisions without my dick involved. Unless my dick has the potential to be involvedbut even then I dont think I am that bad.
From: Lale
To Gnome: What does it look like Johns head? Do you have any way in it?
Gnome: W-well, there are these Arcades with games he yed everywhereand we have our own roomsand there is the living room where can watch what John is doing on a t-screen, we can also call him using our mental connection. Aside from our own rooms we cant change anything inside though.
Smander: Also, there is the whole dungeon of memories and thoughts where she spends some of her time looking at old sex scenes and masturbating.
Gnome: Smander!
Smander: What? We all do it. Sylph at least thrice a day.
Gnome: Next question, please
From: Kyonchi
To the Horned Rat: Why is Fun a dick?
Horned Rat: Because he gets off on teasing people that theory craft about his story.
Funatic: You know it! Think anyone will uncover your scheme in time?
Horned Rat: Non.
From: Scyle
To All Girls of Season One: Who is the sexiest out of all of you, without including yourself in the answer.
Rave: I would say Aclysia, I like taller girls.
Aclyisa: Mistress Rave. I might be biased due to my connection with master.
Victoria: You killed me and now I have to answer this? Fine, Rave.
Nathalia: MhmI would say Smander, I like having breasts to toy with.
Thana: Me.
Funatic: Ehm, Thana, that is against the que-
Thana: DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A FUCK?! ME! MOVE ON FUCKFACE BEFORE I REMEMBER THAT YOU WROTE ME JUST SO THAT I CAN BE IN PAIN FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE!
Funatic: message received, ehem, Gnome, if you would.
Gnome:
Funatic: Dont tell me you are too shy to say it?
Gnome:
Funatic: Welp, I will just use my magical spell of making you blurt out your thoughts.
Gnome: I mean, Sylph is really nice and cute but Undine has that cool aura, I cant decide!
Smander: Dammit, cant even win big sis over, well my answer is the olddy Nathalia, awesome fuck, awesome tits, awesome hips, also I like me tanned girls and the rest of you are horribly white or blue.
Sylph: I want to have sex with all of them! No favourites!
Undine: Aclysia
Mono: Sister Aclysia, she is so strong and cool and just the sexiest!
From: Kyonchi
To Nathalia: Ever y Godzi in your dragon form?
Nathalia: I only learnt what that Godzi is thanks to the authors Q&A magic. The answer is no. That Godzi thing seems like it would be a slightly worthy opponent though.
From: Scyle
To All: If you could only have sex in a foursome from now to the rest of all time (or till you die) but the people in that foursome have to stay the same, which three would you pick to be your fuck friends?
John: Jane, Aclysia and Nathalia.
Rave: John, Aclysia and Undine. I just feel like having a slime in the mix would be a good time.
Aclysia: Master, Mistress Rave and Undine
Victoria: John, Rave and Thana. I would shoot all of them.
Nathalia: John, Romulus and Krieg. If I get fucked for all eternity it better be worth my while.
Thana: No fucking idea, John, probably, that Victoria girl there just because she looks like she has a massive hate boner and thats kinda hot and somebody that can survive getting strangled all the time. You know, so I can actually keep feeling.
Gnome: John, Undine and Sylph.
Smander: John, Nathalia and Aclysia.
Sylph: John, Sally and Rave.
Undine: John, Aclysia and Mono
Mono: John, Aclysia and Rave
From: Scyle
To thana: What is your opinion of people trying to cuddle you and giving you cake?
Thana: First, fuck you for spelling my name uncapitalized. IS THAT A SHORT JOKE, YOU CUNT?! Also cuddles can fuck right the fuck off, whole niceness shit is nothing for me. Cake sounds good, I guess, never had it.
From: Scyle
To AllGirlsWhoHaveBoobsBiggerThanAnACup: If Funatics branch would suddenly end, but you had the chance to escape through a story-wormhole into another branch, where would you go? Follow up: Would your answer change if you were forced to stay in an area of 200 meters around that branchs John for ever, and if he dies, so do you? (and if it would change, what is your new answer and why of course)
Funatic: Let me check my breast size chart really quickly to see who is eligible for this question.
Funatic: Sorry Mono, seems like you are out.
Mono: Fine
Rave: Uhm, uh, hard, I guess, wherever? With that second part in power I would probably go with neos, he seems the least likely to die, being the most overpowered one and all.
Aclysia: Lalelilo69.
Victoria: Whoever helps me kill Thana.
Nathalia: That neo John seems to have the sexual stamina I want in a man. Also his potent Arouse skill intrigues me.
Thana: Scyle. Ill die anyhow so at least see what the selfish prick cane up with until I do.
Gnome: We elementals took a vote and all decided for Lales John. He seems to be one most in line with our interests.
From: Lale
To Magoi: Where did you get your mask?
Magoi: It was a gift from the Supreme Fateweaver from his own collection. The guy is obsessed with his mask collection.
From: Sasori86
To Sasori the Memeshifter: WHO IS THE BEST CAMEO?
Sasori: Thank you for that great question, Sasori86, I, Sasori, will do my best to answer it. The answer is me, Sasori.
From: Sasori86
To the elemental girls: What is the thing that you wouldnt John ever let do with you?
Gnome: Public nudity.
Smander: Sex in the shower or bathtub.
Sylph: I got nothing. I mean, maybe watersports? Pissing doesnt sound very fun to me. Not that I can even do it. Are they actually people that like this thing called scat? Oh, whatever.
Undine: Bondage.
Funatic: We will take a shortmercial break but be right back!
The Funatic Patreon.
Ever thought to yourself: I hate it when authors drop off the radar? Well, the reality is that most people do this as a hobby and therefore have to change to real priorities often. If you want to prevent me from doing so, pay me for writing! In thest 117 days I wrote a season the length of the first THREE Harry Potter booksbined, so I think whatever you invest into me will be returned.
You are also more than wee to support me just because you like my stuff, or because you are unfathomably rich and want to brag to your friends that you support the fine arts.
More details about what I would do with your money, what you get back for how high an amount, etc. you can find on the actual page.
Funatic: Okay, we are back folks. Lets resume the questioning, we are barely halfway through.
From: Talon
To Smander: You should try Meditation. This is not a question.
Smander: I will not bother answering then, arrogant bird.
From: Scyle
To All Girls: If John demanded something to be done, you absolutely would not want to do, how would you react to it/how would you phrase yourints about him?
Rave: I just wouldnt do it and depending on the annoyance factor I would punch him.
Aclysia: Do it, then question masters moral judgement and hope he keeps being the person I love.
Victoria: Shoot him and with a bullet to the balls.
Nathalia: I wouldugh at him for daring tomand me, then I would fuck and/or beat him into submission.
Thana: What the horny dragon bitch said but without the fucking part.
Gnome: Uhm, I would be very flusteredthen I wouldI dont knowtry to get him to not do that again through kind words?
Smander: Obey but do it in a way that fucks him over too. Then active-aggressively turn his foot into charcoal until he gets his life together.
Sylph: I mean, I kinda, like, do not care what he does as long as it is somewhat fun. So, uhm, dunno, probably be like I wont do that, thats not fun! and then proceed to not do that!
Undine: *Shrugs*
Mono: Do it, then whine to sister about it until she gives John a stern talking.
Aclysia:
Mono: Until she gives MASTER a stern talking.
From: Scyle
To All Girls: Perfect size for a dildo? (Those who do not know what a dildo is, ask John or Rave before answering)
John: I would be surprised if there is anyone here who doesnt know.
Rave: I actually prefer vibrators.
Aclysia: Whatever size masters dick currently is
Elemental Girls: Same as Aclysia.
Victoria: 12 centimetres
Nathalia: twenty or above.
Mono: I dont have sexual desires, so I cant answer.
From: Lale
To Rave: Did you ever doubt that John woulde back for you?
Rave: I actually hoped he just wouldnt. Thana was clearly way to crazy and crazy strong to beat. Worked out in the end but it was a stupid gamble. Never doubted he would though.
From: Lale
To Moira: On a scale of 1-10, 1 being not at all and 10 being with every fibre of your being, how much do you dislike Rave?
Moira: I would say a strong 7. She isnt the worst around but she really gets on my nerves, I dislike the nickname she gave me and she uses her talents for petty selfishnessmake it a strong 8.
From: Lale
To the Horned Rat: Do you y D&D?
Ho Rat: No, I y Heroes, Viins & My convoluted schemes.
From: YetAnotherNATE
To Aclysia: So, I see youve been on r/gonewild, have you seen r/2booty?
Aclysia: I did, I like it.
From: Scyle
To Rave: If John would break up with you, who do you think he would date next?
Rave: Depending on how he broke up with me, either nobody cause Id break his dick or himself C And I dont mean that in dating his hand style but one of his familiars. Probably Aclysia.
From: Kyonchi
To Everyone: Whats your favourite song?
John: Kraddy C Android Porn
Rave: Rootkit C Against the Sun
Aclysia: Kraddy C Android Porn
Victoria: ACDC C Thunderstruck
Nathalia: Human music does not interest me.
Thana: Drowning Pool C Bodies
Gnome: Vivaldi C Seasons
Smander: Ed Sheeran C I see fire
Sylph: Dragonforce C Fury of the Storm
Undine: 10 hours aquarium sounds
Mono: Owl City C Fireflies
Funatic: okay, just because I can I will let Lydia answer this one too.
Lydia: Preu?ens Gloria
From: Sasori86
To Every Girl John has boned: Is there something in the other branches that you wished your John had?
Rave: Arouse
Aclysia: Arouse
Victoria: A brain
Nathalia: Arouse
Gnome: arouse
Smander: Arouse
Sylph: AAaarrroooouuuusseeeee!!
Undine: Arouse
From: Scyle
To Everyone: What is your favourite animal and why is it Alpaca?
John: It is dogs, actually
Rave: bunnies, I like bunnies.
Aclysia: cats
Victoria: Dogs
Nathalia: In my experience cows taste the best, Alpacas are below sheep but above chicken.
Thana: Really dont give a fuck, so sure, Alpacas. What-fucking-ever
Gnome: I like Alpacasthey look cute and cuddly
Smander: Tortoises, chilled things
Sylph: I LIKE PARROTS!
Undine: Whales
Mono: Mice
From: TheDespaxas
To Aclysia: Why do you even bother wearing clothes or underwear.
Aclysia: To not stand out more in public. Also, master would be upset if I vited the cosy code.
From: Scyle
To Every Girl: Which fetish would you never act out? (Answer in alphabetical order and you may not answer something that has been said before by someone else)
Aclysia: Ick the body functions for scat, therefore scat.
Gnome: Uhm, BDSM
Mono: Everything. Still no sexual desires.
Nathalia: I have no answer.
Rave: Cucking
Smander: Watersports
Sylph: Uhm, uh, ehhr, uh,
Thana: I do not know enough fetishes to answer anymore
Undine:
Victoria:
From: Call_Me_Steve
To Thana: What did Copernicus taste like?
Thana: Like the burned inside of my mouth.
From: Lale
To Regan: Where and how did you meet Raves mom?
Regan: I met Nariko on a board meeting when she was travelling through America. She assigned me as her guide and then we kind of clicked.
From: Kyonchi
To the members of Collide, SecretBlonde, Thana and Victoria: Who of you would win in the board game Risk, without using any of your powers.
Rave: So, I would say I am out immediately.
Travolta: Yes, next to those fucking superhumans we are probably not going tost in a strategy game.
Jimmie: Agreed
Aclysia: My main stat is Strength
John: I win
SB: Yeah, no, I win
Thana: Shut the fuck up, you dumbasses, I will tear you apart with my hussars!
Funatic: We may never know.
From: Talon
To Sylph: Have you tried Ritalin?
John: No, she has not and she never will.
Sylph: Why wont you let me answer? What IS Ritalin even? Is it tasty?
From: jonassn
To Rave: What is the moment you are most embarrassed over?
Rave: When Aclysia found my nudes on gonewild. That was so dumb of me.
From: Kyonchi
To Nathalia: Did you cause the destruction of Pompeii?
Funatic: This was answered in the Side Story. Therefore, another answer is not necessary.
Thats all folks. I know I didnt answer every question as in-depth as you may have wanted but this is already excruciatingly long. Hope you had fun and got some of these questions of your chest.
Chapter 160 – Patch Notes
Chapter 160 C Patch Notes
Wee to Patch 1.2., John Newman, the ss Update. Several things have been adjusted, introduced, or changed, so lets run it down so I can get back to trying to beat Feri at Smash Bro.
Overall changes: Changed font from Calibri to Arial, changed background from orange to light blue.
The Gamer changes:
Character Window:
You now have sses to choose from, this choice will be made over the new ss menu.
A ss provides 0-4 bonuses to your character, these bonuses get stronger the higher the sses level is. To level a ss, you need to beat challenges, which will give you a varying amount of progression towards the next ss Level. A level up always urs at 100 percent progression. A level up will also give you a choice of rewards. The choices will be simr to the ones you already know from Artificial Spirit. These Perks are either passive or unlock/strengthen Skills of and rted to that ss.
You may change sses at any given time. Inactive sses will only grant you reduced bonuses. The perks are permanent and will stick even through ss changes. You can only have a maximum of 7 (Your level divided by 10) total ss levels at the current time. Over time you will unlock more sses and the level up only urs if you choose to, so spend those levels wisely.
- Your Stats have been sorted into three categories to make the sheet look a bit better and also provide rity which ones they will get Synergy Bonuses with. Only Stats within the same block will provide Synergy Bonuses.
- The Quest menu has been moved to your character sheet. Furthermore, you can now see who has given you a Quest, as not only me, the supreme goddess Gaia, is eligible to give you quests, any sufficiently powerful individual (or group) can do it.
- Equipment has also been moved to your Character Sheet. The Ring Slots were removed and reced with a second slot on Left Hand and Right Hand. This way you can now equip up to 4 rings or 3 rings and one glove or 2 rings and a bracelet and a dagger oryou get the idea. Upper Body was also renamed to Chest.
- Other minor additions: You can now sort your Skills by name or level. Also, you can rename them if you want to. If you rename them to something stupid, I will continue to use the original name in my windows, because I have seen what you did to your Pokmon rivals!
Extended Window:
I rolled the remaining windows into one (excluding inventory, which remains unchanged); a couple of new/changed things though:
- Gaia Dependency Factor: This shows how much of your helpless butt I need to carry. With this patch it was reduced by 20. You will find a lot of changes in your skill costs thanks to that, but now that you are somewhat strong I dont need to protect you this strongly anymore, hence the reduction.
- You actually grew a bit. You are only 18, so I guess that is to be expected.
- Sexual Experience has been reworked, because I was sick and tired at counting the amounts of time somebody had sex. Now I can just give you rough estimates, which should be more than enough, really.
- The Rtionship menu was reworked to the Harem Members tab. This is just more honest. It also includes the previously hidden Rtionship Slot mechanic. You gain Rtionship Slots through raising your Charisma; they allow you to keep your Harem out of bickering each other to death. Before you say but that is mind control Gaia! No, that is just you being charismatic enough to smooth over the differences. Also, yes, I see that cut off r in Smanders name. Ill fix it.
Skills:
Running down all your skills would be a hassle so I will just show you the newyouts, then exin stuff and then list the most important changes:
- Schools have been added. These show the category to which a skill belongs. Mana Protection and Mana de are Arcane Magic for example while Sneaking is Physical and Artificial Spirit is Golem Making. Not all that hard really.
- You should be familiar with cost already but it now shows you more information, which depends on the skill. so I just wanted to point that out.
- Effect is generally just Damage but in case you have some other number based oues this the general name. This is calcted with the following form:
((Main Stat+Secondary Stat/2)*Skill Scaling)*(1+Sum of percental bonuses)+t bonuses
Few skills have t bonuses (or even percental ones) but I thought Id point it out. Your enemies still dont have HP bars so these damage numbers are purely topare sSills on paper.
You wont see this on every Skill, but basically it tells you scaling per level and other stuff that might be important.
Nothing new here, but your passives are now listed instead of having their individual window each (you can still look at them in detail if you want to). Now for the changes:
- Elementals now cost 1,25% of your Mana Regeneration while incorporeal and double that while corporeal
- Mana Rays cost has been raised from 50 to 300. I helped you cast that thing until now, but you have enough mana at this point to do it on your own
- Possessions Mana Cost has been raised from 6 per Minute to 60 per Minute
- Sneakings Mana Cost has been raised to 30 per Minute
- Artificial Spirit now costs 1% of your Mana Regeneration, the cost doubles with each active spirit
These should be the most important ones.
Observe Changes:
Lets start with the easy things: Observing monsters remains the same, only the colour and font was changed to the new standard.
For everyone else however there are new sheets:
- These are for elementals and will be changed to Guild and Guild rank for humans.
- Simrly, this will be removed in case of humans.
The Observe window was remodelled to have a simr structure to yours. When I said everyone above I did exclude one group, that being Artificial Spirits.
(I lost my pencil, just roll with it)
- Usually, Artificial Spirits join the guild of their creator but as they are able to be freed from their creators they are also able to join a guild by themselves, therefore this was added to the window.
- Material bonuses will now be disyed in the Observe window.
All other windows remain the same, getting the colour and font changing treatment. Okay, maybe the item Observe also has a few new things going on, but you can check that out yourself. Now go enjoy the new features, I have to try and beat Feri at this fucking game, the fact that Zone just joined doesnt make it easier.
Chapter 161 – Season 2 Start – Catching-Up
Chapter 161 C Season 2 Start C Catching-Up
So, the patch is finally installed, John stated. He went through thements and windows a second, then a third time, making sure he caught everything that was worthy of catching. He had been hoping for these windows for a while now. And she slightly nerfed me. I roughly understand why though.
It was the beginning of December and John was sitting in a well-heated house in western Germany C Cologne, to be exact. It was a two-story building with light-brown wooden furniture that, while looking new, was crafted in a style he would expect from grandparents instead of his actual provider. Finely woven carpets here and there covered the otherwise nk wooden floor. The cement walls were covered with blue wallpaper. Lydia either liked the style a lot or valued consistency more than anything, considering the style was the same in every single room in the house.
John was currently sitting in the living room, for no other reason than the presence of afortable, red couch. A TV was mounted to the wall opposite him, currently turned off. John had been paying attention to theptop in front of him instead. He had to look down, the coffee table too low for a straight angle. On the screen, Rave was very carefully drawing a brush over her nails.
And, anything interesting in them? she asked. Had she not been in the middle of applying her nail polish, she probably would have been more excited.
Mhm, apparently I get to pick a ss now, he said, simrly calm, then dismissed the windows. There was a factor of delight in having his powers back, but facetime with his girlfriend was more important. It had been a rare gift recently.
Following the start of the patch in the hospital, everything had gradually progressed to him sitting in this house. He had had to call the princess to tell her that his powers were currently disabled the day after. At first, she had sounded very annoyed by this. After John exined the situation in more detail, she had sounded appeased. As long as it is less than three months it is fine, she had said, you areing with me anyhow.
And that was where the problems had started. Regan had been vehemently against Rave leaving but John could not exactly stay while the woman he was owing 500 billion dors to was figuratively knocking on his door.
Amidst all of that his mother hade back to see if he was capable of living on his own. She decided he was but when he told her he was going to Germany, she had been understandably surprised. He had asked Lydia for an excuse and she provided him with a fake message over studying abroad,plete with Ashcroft academys backing. That let him worm his way out of suspicions fairly easily. Benjamin, Johns dad, approved of the move, but only after a very stern phone call regarding the importance ofmunication between family members. Johns dad was not good at being stern.
With all of that, John had been ready. Rave however had not been as lucky with her family situation. Regan refused to let her go. Rave could have fled from her fathers overprotective clutches; however, she did not want to be on bad terms with the only part of her family with whom she was still close. John could understand that and so it was that, while he flew over to Germany, Rave had stayed behind to negotiate with her dad.
John was beyond confident that she would eventually convince Regan to let her go. Still, to be without her again, after having just reunited with her, stung. At least she was alive and well this time though.
Regan had given in eventually, on the condition that Rave would first train until he thought she was strong enough. That was okay and all in theory, but since then about one and a half months had passed. Worse yet, Rave had requested John leave a certain something, or rather someone, with her.
The door behind Rave swung open and Aclysia entered. With quick steps, noticing John on the screen, she walked over to Rave and put a bowl of soup in front of her. So, it is around noon over there right now, John noted as Rave brushed back her hair to eat. One day, she had just popped up on camera with her hair bright pink again. Something about using magic to grow it out and then cutting off the grey ends.
Your meal, mistress, she exined, then added, Greetings, Master.
I wonder when ya will stop calling me mistress, Rave pouted.
When I forgive you for the distance you have put between me and my John, the maid dered openly. It was mostly a joke, one he had heard many times before. Rave blew hot air off her soup.
Hello, Aclysia, how are you today? John asked. He missed the maid, a lot. Being without her had been difficult to get used to. On the plus side, he had actually been tested on running a household on his own for several weeks. It was going okay.
I am fine, Master. I just miss you. The twinge of sadness in her voice plucked at his heartstrings.
Ya know that I am right here, right? Rave asked between two spoons of soup. False anger resonating in her voice, she pointed at the camera, Ya better dont go cheating on me!
John raised his hand in a defensive motion, I would never! he assured, then added with a broad smile. Well, maybe if there was somebody around to cheat with.
Theres one Rave teased.
John was confused, Who? Mono? I wasnt able to feed her items. Generating them was disabled until just now. She is still level 71, Libido 0. And I cant exactly cheat on you with the elementals when you allow me to have sex with them.
Course they dont count, although its still BS that they get more of you than I do. Rave let out a littleugh. Not who I mean though, think about it for a second.
John was left pondering. They both knew Lydia had dumped him into this house. The moment they hadnded she had started making phone calls like a CEO on cocaine when his stocks began to rise. This eventually ended with her saying the phrase, Give me your money, I will take care of the rest.
He did and so did she. At the end of the day, he found himself in this house. Thest words he had heard from the princess were, Call me when you have your powers back. Since then, there had been radio silence.
Now, normally John would not have minded the solitude. Lydia had even upgraded his phone to Abyss standards (he could now charge it using his mana and it had a connection just about everywhere), but he had nothing to y videogames on BUT his phone now.
Because the princess had taken all of his money he couldnt buy a PC orptop either and without the ability to farm new money he was stuck ying phone games or uselessly fighting monsters. If he hadnt been able to still talk to his elementals, boredom may have imed him before long. He was just walking around, talking to the incorporeal elementals, trying to find everything the city had to offer. Unsurprisingly, he wasnt much of a sightseeing person. After two weeks of that he had unexpectedly met someone.
The door behind John opened. Thinking of the devil, he thought and looked to his left at the door, where he saw Herman carrying groceries. You came back prettyte today, hemented as the apothecary inspected his socks for any dirt he might carry into the house. Thrice he did that for each foot.
Sorry, lots of stuff to do, Herman answered with an apologetic smile, the meeting ising closer, dont want to miss it, so I checked who was there already.
Herman was in Cologne because of a meeting of WW2 veterans, including direct family. Running into him had been a giant coincidence. John had not known that the apothecary was of German descent before, although the name made it somewhat obvious. As always that memory made him sigh and he mumbled, I am surrounded by Kraut.
I am not German! Rave protested.
You still speak fluent Kraut thought, John ragged her on.
So do you, she drily reminded him.
True, John admitted. He had started learning German shortly after Lydia had left and diligently kept at it. With his level of Intellect and Wisdom, picking up a newnguage was surprisingly easy and had been useful enough. Cologne was a fairly tourism heavy city and he could get around with just English, but why risk not understanding things C especially once he did get into contact with the Abyss again.
Thanks for letting me stay here by the way, Herman said. Repeating a semi-daily ritual, John answered.
Hey, I thank you for letting me use yourptop, also for keeping mepany.
Anything for you, friend, Herman smiled, I bought some stuff to make asagne, you want some?
Sure, want to y Street Fighterter?
Sure! Herman answered enthusiastically and vanished in the kitchen, just one door away. This agreement was a lifesaver for both of them. Herman would have had to stay in a hotel, alone, and John would have had to stay here, alone. This way neither of them would be bored out of their minds.
He turned back and found his wide-grinning pink-haired girlfriend staring at him with raised eyebrows. What? John asked.
Ya two are so gay for each other, Rave giggled and then mimicked his tone, Herman, baby, spread thatsagne!
You have a terrible sense of humour, John said but still chuckled a bit.
Maybe, but I am smoking hot, so its okay. Rave took a moment to stick out her tongue, before getting back to eating her soup.
Am I supposed to believe that you are NOT having sex with Aclysia by the way? He probed, Because I have evidence that proves otherwise.
Rave handed the now empty bowl back to Aclysia. Nope, totally fucking her, she stated. Why do ya think I wanted to keep her here? No way you get to enjoy our harem all on your own, while I have to sit here and masturbate.
The Artificial Guardian took the bowl but remained where she was. She typically lingered during these conversations. Her not taking away the dirty dishes immediately was unusual though. Mistress, dont you have something to tell Master? she asked.
Rave thought for a moment and then her face lit up. Ah, right! She snapped her fingers, revealing the copper wristband that was her itemized elemental for one moment. Dad finally agreed to let me go! she chirped.
A warm and cold feeling rose in Johns stomach, excitement and annoyance about the mild dy mingling, How did you forget to tell me that?!
Oh, I am sorry, Rave shot back, I was about to when a certain game addict said, Hold on, I think my patch is finally up and left me to do my nails.
Point taken, John immediately gave, the reasonable and happy part of his brain taking over. Why the sudden change of heart?
He said he taught me enough that he is confident to let me go into the world, Rave grinned, Wonder if my level is higher than yours again.
Well, if I try to Observe you right now I only get theptop, so no idea. Observe was limited in a number of ways and one of the most intuitive ones was whether he had line of sight on a person. When will you be here?
About two days, I hope you have room for me.
There is always room in my bed, John said with a perverted grin and got a wink as his response. It wasnt even true, his bed often was a pile of limbs, but the spirit remained.
Then there was nothing more to talk about. A few minutes of happy silence ensued. Rave finished her nails and Aclysia eventually left the room. Finally, John looked at the clock in the corner of the monitor and with a sigh he said, Ill have to go now, see you tomorrow?
Maybe not see, but you will hear from me, Rave told him, I demand pretty flowers when you greet me at the airport!
John wanted to ask what kind but she had already ended the call. Something told him that she would ignore the questionpletely tomorrow.
John shut theptop down and stood up. Stretching, he looked around. Aside from the couch and television formation he was currently at, the room was only filled with a long table with six chairs. In one of these chairs sat the only other person that was a permanent inhabitant of the house.
Mono, resting her head on her hand, was reading a detective story that Herman had lent her. The guy had a surprising amount of those kinds of books. The Artificial Support, meanwhile, had turned out to be quite the voracious reader. Just like John had been able to learn anguage in under two months, Monos Intellect allowed her to consume several books a day. Not having to take pee, sleep, or food breaks probably also helped.
Herman returned from the kitchen. So, thesagne is now in the oven, what do we do to pass the time? Street Fighter?
Sounds good. John sat down again after pressing the button on the ystation 4 (which was also Hermans).
Any news from Jane? Herman asked.
She ising over in around two days, John informed him.
The apothecary smiled a calm, happy smile. Really? Thats great! he said enthusiastically, as he executed abo that sent Johns character flying.
Always Ryu with you, the Gamer grumbled, smashing a series of buttons in an effort to save himself.
I like his character, Herman mused.
Sure, sure, but do you also like this?! John eximed, executing a well-timed grapple. One throw was chained into a series of hits, and the game was his.
Herman put the controller down after a few more matches. I think I have won like five times against you in the month we have been here, heined.
Yet you keeping back.
I can be very stubborn, Herman said in a tone that sounded theplete opposite of stubborn. Then he stood up. Ill check on what I have cooking. Wouldnt want to ruin my food project.
John nodded and sat there for a few seconds. Then he also stood up. Well, I have a call to make,
To whom? Herman shouted out of the kitchen.
The princess, John shouted back, my powers are back!
Herman stuck his head back out of the kitchen, That sounds like something important you could have told me C and her earlier. You dont mess with monarchs and their orders!
Pretty sure shell survive some additional waiting, John stated and punched in the number of the princess of steel. He seriously doubted shed mind that much.
Chapter 162 – She minds very much
Chapter 162 C She minds very much
To summarize my disappointment in your failure to inform me earlier: every second matters, the princess ended her five-minute lecture about why John should have called her immediately.
All that just because I started with the phrase, about half an hour ago, he thought, better not tell her that is already a downy. Didnt this lecture cost you more time than it was worth? John asked.
Dont be ridiculous. Lydias stern voice was underlined by the constant scratching of several pens. I can do my finances while telling you exactly why you are wrong. My productivity has not been hindered in the slightest.
The rustling of papers, the soft sound of a piano, both of these reced her voice for a moment as she fell silent. Then she spoke up again and these noises were pushed into the background. Any other news worthy of my attention?
My girlfriend ising, John told her.
The girl who was with you in the hospital? Pinkish white hair? Lydia asked, likely just to be sure.
The same, although her hair is back to a bright pink, John mused, You are going to let her fight too?
Princess, Lydia said, her voice as hard as iron.
What? John genuinely did not understand what she meant.
Going to let her fight too C princess, she exined her correction, I know that you are from a different continent but I demand an understanding of our situation, Newman. Youre in my debt and acknowledgement of the difference in our stations will serve you well.
Ah, right, John thought, he had heard that before. It was an overblown insistence for his American sensibilities, but he was not in the situation to barter. I ask for your forgiveness, princess.
You are forgiven, her voice softened up to a stern tone. Then, she continued. Probably, yes. We will speak about this in person. Do you have a date for when she arrives?
Two days from now, John told her.
What time?
No idea yet, he admitted.
Send me a text on the when and where, once you do, the princess instructed him. Anything else?
John considered for a moment, then said, No, that would be it. Immediately, he heard the click of her phone being put down. He raised an eyebrow, then shook his head and sighed. The girl is seriously weird, he said and sat down on the table, across from Mono, and startedining. On one hand she can be very understanding, on the other she takes everything so seriously you think she might be discussing the possibility of nuclear warfare.
Maybe youre not taking anything seriously enough, dude? Even as Mono sassed him, her white eyes raced over the pages. She was almost through that book now.
I think Im plenty serious, John pushed back.
You also think that its fine to make out with four women at the same time.
Thats not just fine, thats a glorious privilege, John defended with a smile. Mono rolled her eyes for one moment. Their conversations usually went like this, much to Johns enjoyment. The support had a sassy note to her that made banter ever a pleasant back and forth dance. How is the book?
Predictable C like most of these detective stories, Mono responded.
Only if they are well done, Herman chimed in as he came back from the kitchen. He stopped in the doorframe and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, when the attention of the Gamer and his Artificial Support turned to him.
Why would they be well done if I can predict the oue? Mono asked, between genuine curiosity and confusion. That makes it boring.
Pardon me, but if that is your opinion you might not be the target audience, Herman meekly responded. Detective stories are. How do I put this? He crossed his arms and gathered his thoughts. The joy in them is for the reader to feel smart, either because they figured out the riddle ahead of time or by making them feel they learned something by gently pointing out the mistakes in their train of thought as the detectiveys down the truth. It is a big puzzle and when the author gives you enough information to figure everything out yourself he is doing a good job. Of course, there is a fine line to walk between putting too much or too little hints in there.
I like detective stories, but not the ones that make it easy, Mono said after pondering about what Herman had said. I want those that also throw in misinformation that can throw you off the right track.
Also, very tricky, Herman passionately said, Make somebody out to lookpletely innocent and you either get an annoyed reader - who feels betrayed by the sudden shift - or a very obvious bad guy. Throw in too little misinformation and you just seeded in making it so everybody is thinking about that character. Everybody suspects the guy that is definitely innocent. Bnce is key.
You have thought about that a lot, John threw in there and in response Herman actually turned a little red.
Yeah, sorry, I just really like detective stories, he mumbled.
Nothing to be sorry about, John said, I know how it is to be passionate about useless stuff, I am a gamerwait, no, I am The Gamer. Capital T, capital G.
Hermanughed, Mono sighed. There was anotherughter in his head. I check on what you are doing and you are making bad jokes, Smander said, felt your powering back, we looked through the notes ourselves. Wanted to
I FEEL THAT IS MEAN! Sylph interjected, We now cost percental mana, that is mean, I think Gaia is mean. Also, you are mean John!
''Why me? he asked.
I want another gummy bear! I have forgotten what they taste like! Sylph eximed, I demand gummy bear! Bear gummy! Gum-gum Bear! Gumo-Gumo n-. There was a blubbering noise. John could imagine what just had happened: Gnome had taken Sylph and stuffed her into Undines body.
E-ehem, Gnome stuttered even while clearing her throat, a feat only she could possibly aplish. We wanted to know what we will do now?
What do you mean? John asked.
What we do now, you dimwit! Smander shouted at him, Are we going to grind more? Are you just sitting on your ass? We have stuff to do! Dont get me wrong, fucking all the time is fun, but I need something else to do! Undine sent a feeling of pure boredom as well, Sylph added ecstatic hyper-activity to that and Gnome a cautious wish to get out and do something. Smander just kept cursing. Fucking idiot, this wouldnt happen if Nathalia was around, granny would make stuff interesting, she said.
That reminded him: he had not seen the dragoness ever since they had separated in the barrier. Which was weird, he had expected her to show up the following week. Was she bored of him or did hisck of Instant Dungeons make it impossible for her to find him? She had not bothered Rave either, which was where she would be expected to pop up, considering Aclysia was with her.
Nathalia had just vanished for the moment, leaving John with a strange sense of longing. He had just started to feel a genuine connection to the dragoness. No doubt, however, she would pop up when he least expected it.
John looked at the clock. It was already past 8 PM, so doing anything else today was not worth it. I will rx until tomorrow, look at our new stuff in detail then and then we meet up with Rave the day after that. Then, Lydia will likely want to meet up and I have a lot of questions for her and she probably has a lot of orders for us.
Boring. Smander separated from his surface thoughts with that finalint. The other elementals closely followed.
Truly, John did not know if he felt like grinding at all. The month he had spent 12 to 16 hours a day in constantbat had been a taxing affair. After his two month vacation, he was somewhat ready for it again. I hope I dont have to do such an intense stretch again, he thought.
The elementals? Herman asked when John came back to reality.
Yeahmy facial expression? John asked to find out how the apothecary found out.
You usually dont start making random grimaces, Herman confirmed, contorting his lips and eyebrows in a number of entertaining ways. John cackled at the disy.
Eventually they ate half of thesagne, put the rest away for tomorrow and John then went up the stairs for the night. He extended his hand to the doorknob. Then he stopped.
Monos light steps stopped behind him. When will you stop freezing at the door? she asked.It is just an item. John let out a dryugh. What is so funny?
I said the same thing to Aclysia on two asions, John admitted before pushing open the door.
The rooms in the second story were all the same. There were three of them, same wooden floor as below, same blue wallpaper, same furniture style. The reason John didnt spend a lot of his time in his room, aside from theck of afortable couch,id on the table next to the bed.
It was a spine-like piece of metal, spikey rips extending to the sides and a longer, smooth part curving downwards. The entire thing was slightly shorter than the top of a small womans head. The thing that had been stuck in Thanas brain. John, like virtually every other day, picked it up and turned it in his hands. At first, he had looked at it with sadness or anger, sometimes both. Nowadays he just looked at it as a memento of worse times and with curiosity.
John refused to give this thing away. He had no idea what other hands would do with it. He wasnt even sure what it was capable of. He couldnt store it in his inventory, the metallic piece simply didnt pass the dimensional barrier. It was like he was trying to push through cement with another block of cement. Neither could he use Observe on it, whenever he tried to he just got a headache.
Maybe now that it is patched it will work? John thought and was rewarded with an exploding pain behind his eyes. Urgh, he groaned and breathed in sharply, counting to ten. The moment he arrived at six the pain was suddenly gone. The same tended to happen when he used Craft or Enchant. The only other idea he had was to have Mono eat it but he had decided that that was a bad idea. If it gave him a headache for just looking at it wrong, what would it do to an Artificial Spirit that tried to eat it? John didnt dare to imagine the worst-case scenario.
He looked at the underside of the sturdy middle-piece. His eyes fell on the same words as always. Mengele-Project01: Subject-El-Blood-Abysswalker, he muttered to himself. Most of this was self-exnatory or easily theorized. Josef Mengele, Project Number One: Subject is a Bloodmage and Abysswalker. John did not know what El stood for however. He didnt even know if that was an l or an uppercase i. Could even have been a Roman numeral.
Same as everyday, he ced the object back on the table and groaned. Thana had been dead for a longer time than he had known about her or prepared to fight her even. Yet still John felt that this incident would haunt him for a long time toe. Hard times make hard men, isnt that what they say? John wondered.
He would lie if he said he felt less experienced after the whole incident. It had taken the part of his naivety that had allowed him to just waltz into the Bloodfallen HQ the way he did. The part that had told him he was strong enough,tently or at this very moment, to just fix everything. Reality disagreed, however. Ironically, John had since found a bit of a connection with the ssical Superman. Much like Supermans abilities still did not let him fix the heart attack of his father, so too did John have to ept that he could not perfect the world. That naivety had left him. The whole affair had also left him knowing the brink of death, although he doubted that he learnt anything valuable from that particr experience, aside from not wanting to repeat it.
Whatever the case may have been, John didnt regret what he had done, only how careless he had been about it. If he could have redone it, he would have looked deeper into Thana first and prepared for the eventualities of failure. It was a German General''s saying that now came to mind: ns never survive contact with the enemy.
He ended his reflection for the evening. It was over and done with. Hanging on to the regrettable past would not help him in any way. Yet he would probably find himself staring at that piece of metal again, wondering what he could have done better. Hanging on to the past was not helpful, but learning from it certainly was.
He threw himself onto the bed. So, Mono, anything interesting today? he asked.
Same as every day, she said, which essentially meant no, and extended a hand. John gave her his phone and put his clothes into his inventory. Another part of their routine. Mono, like Aclysia, did not sleep but unlike Aclysia she did not take pleasure in doing chores. She browsed the when he was sleeping instead.
She had the decency to hide the glowing phone screen by pushing her head and the phone under her ck poncho. After pulling her legs close as well, John was left with a ck and white folded girl on his floor. It was equally ridiculous as it was cute. For a moment, she poked her head out. Before she could speak up, John assured her, Too tired tonight to start fucking.
Okay, good, Mono popped her head back down. She typically left the room when he did it with the other girls. It was just noise to her.
To that thought, John closed his eyes and celebrated the end of the past weeks of monotony.
Chapter 163 – Testing the class system.
Chapter 163 C Testing the ss system.
John woke up, brushed his teeth, had sex with Sylph, ate breakfast and then finally did what he hadnt done in a long time. He opened his Character Sheet.
Not a whole lot had changed here. He had spent thest 5 points he had gotten before the patch on Wisdom. Equipment was interesting however, for the sole reason that he was wearing none of the items disyed there right now. He checked his inventory, where all of them rested along with the Fake Keys. After some more tapping on the menu he found the reason for that. Auto-equip was toggled on. Upon entering an Illusion Barrier, items that you are wearing currently will be switched out for the ones in their Equipment Slots. Empty slots have no effect, he read, then added himself: So, I wont end up naked, thats good.
All things considered, that was quite useful. He looked for another option and found one. It was calledmand-equip, it basically did the same as auto but instead of doing it when he entered a barrier this one did it when he tapped a button. He could only create a few presets, but he didnt even have half of the current one filled out so that was fine. Another tap and it was now disabled entirely, the items previously in the slotsnding in his inventory as they were reced with what he was wearing right now. He put it back on auto, put the items into their previous slots, and left that window behind.
Next he tapped on his ss, resulting in the new window to open. He followed that up with essing the list of sses he had avable.
Thats an interesting list, John thought as he went over the different bonuses. Lover Boy sounded like a total vanity ss. If he ever levelled it, that would beonly after he had more of his basebat fleshed out or if he ever found himself with an abundance of ss Levels. He was a bit surprised to see Fateweaver on the list. Did that mean he could reach the same absurd time dtion as Magoi? He was already able to slow time a bit but he doubted that Create I.D. would reach the heights required to make four days into a month just by levelling it. He would look into itter. Both it and his own Gamer ss were likely more utility focused.
That left him with three sses he had actually expected: Arcanist, Elementalist and Puppeteer. With his toolkit these three essentially had to pop-up. Him having seen thising did not mean it was an easy choice however. Which ss would he want to level first? A ss Level became avable every set of 10 regr levels he had, so he had to be careful on how to spend that limited resource.
Lets break this down, John thought, Arcanist will boost my all-around spell capabilities. I would be able to use my arcane skills more. Which are these
if the cost reduction applies to the HP to MP ratio of Mana Protection that is really good. He clicked on the ss to test that bit of math out.
Oh, well, could have seen thating, he admitted, in reference to the 0% cost reduction. A level 0 ss shouldnt give any bonuses after all. Ill have to work that out another time then. He closed this ss and checked out the next one.
Elementalist was likely to save him a lot of mana now that the elementals cost him a percentage of his regeneration. They were also his most versatile party members, having a discount on how much mana he needed to give them was also nice and on top of all that they would have increased Stats.
Puppeteer was the ss he had decided to aim for months ago. The thought of that actually made him slightly nostalgic. Easier times, practically an eternity away, despite it only having been a few months. I shouldnt let nostalgia impact my judgement, he warned himself and looked over the bonuses instead.
Honestly speaking, he didnt use Possession a lot these days. The Skill was still good but not as good as what else he had in his arsenal. The best strategy with it was to take control of a body he made using Gnome and/or Possess an object capable of flying as his eye in the sky. He only needed two Possession Slots for that. Therefore, acquiring more would have been useless. The Cost Reduction was interesting though, Possession now cost 1 mana per second, meaning that running two Possessions was almost crippling, especially as his mana regeneration was already reduced by 12% when he had his whole team active.
So, 3,28 reduced by 12% minus 2 is0,89 mana per second left, that is bad, John sighed, the nerf had hit him quite hard. Especially as Mana Ray, his go-to spell, now cost six times the amount it did previously. He would manage though.
Thest point was another stat increase, this time for Aclysia and Mono instead of the elemental girls. Extra Stats were never bad, but the two of them, Aclysia especially, already were pretty buffed up in that regard thanks to the Material Bonuses.
There was another aspect to all of this, perhaps even more important than the bonuses: The Perks he would get upon levelling a ss. Lets just level all three of them up to 1 and thene back to this decisionter, he decided and selected Puppeteer for a start.
Well, that ss Challenge is easy enough, John mumbled to himself and used Possession on the table and a cushion on the bed. A timer appeared in his field of view, slowly counting down.
John epted. This was a straight up gift so he would have been an idiot not to take it. A minuteter the Challenge and with it that Quest waspleted. He clicked on the level up button that had appeared next to the ss name and then a familiar kind of window opened.
Spellcarrier. It had to be Spellcarrier. He had wanted something just like this so often that now that it was right in front of him, he could not possibly resist. Golem Creation was okay and Reinforcement probably was very nice but Spellcarrier was just great. If he got himself a new flying scout, the ability to use it as a bomber with Arcane Explosion had the potential to be hriously unfair. The bullshit he could pull off with Mana Ray as well was just hrious in his mind. It gave him a workable outlet for his excess Possession Slots as well. All of those were good things.
Speaking of that, time to check what he got out of the level up on basic bonuses.
Meh, John said, that bit didnt even warrant an Observe on Mono. Yeah, sure, the scaling was low because if it was like 5% that would break in a matter of a few levels but he found this painfully dull. Well, the perks were probably the highlight of the whole system. He changed to Elementalist next to see what the sticking bonuses would be.
Only the Possession Slot? Well, Gaia warned me that it would be greatly reduced, John sighed and closed the window. He should be happy enough as it was.
After walking up to Mono he softly shook her. Just 5 more minutes! Mono pleaded, her voice muffled through her poncho.
Cant do, I need to test stuff, earn money, grind - hopefully - a few ss Levels out and we generally need to do something before Smander starts going insane out of boredom.
The artificial supports head popped out of her poncho. What would you need money for? she asked.
Buying the material Aclysia makes her skin out of when she is outside of Instant Dungeons, John exined, wouldnt want me to die because you bump into somebody and they realized you were made from pure metal, thus summoning Gaias wrath onto me, now would we?
I think you just want to feel me up and grope me, Mono said and inched away from him, perv.
Well, that suspicion wasnt entirely without merit. Even if he wouldnt have done anything without her agreement, he was still a young man with fantasies.
John changed the topic. I also need my phone back, wouldnt want to miss Janes call. Another thing I need money for: pretty flowers.
AND A GIANT GUMMY BEAR! Sylph suddenly shouted in his mind. You need money for a very big gummy bear! That should be top priority!
Sylph, Gnome intervened, I know you really want that gummy bear but you hav- ha- haaaa- HATSCHI! the cutesy sneeze rang out, followed by a mumbled, E-excuse me. A moment of awkward silence, then Gnome cleared her throat and continued, You have to understand that we have more urgent problems.
Noooooooo! Sylphined, That is a conspiracy! You are all against me and my happiness. You are mean, Gnomy, a mean Gnome, a Gnomean, A GMEAN, YOU ARE A GMEAN! There was cackling in the background. Stopughing Sally! Silly Sally! Silly Silly! You are all mean! This is an outrage! The public will not stand for this. If they find out there will be revolts! I dere this a crisis of national level, get it trending with #GummyBearGate. Mighty Sylphie deserves her gummy bear! I deserve
Undine, who had had enough of this, put the bbering tempest elemental into a water lock. There was a bubbling noise in Johns head, which he had grown strangely ustomed to, as Sylph keptining.
That girl never runs out of air, Smander said. The usual pause ensued. What? That pun was on purpose, she rified as everybody waited for her realization. A wave of disapproval from Undine, who got increasingly tired of all the puns she had to endure, ended Smanders giggling.
U-uhm, so are we starting now? Gnome wanted to know.
Starting? No, we are just experimenting and grinding out a bit, John mused, things will start once Jane gets here.
Chapter 164 – His girlfriend couldn’t possibly land this soon.
Chapter 164 C His girlfriend couldnt possiblynd this soon.
Level 1 of Elementalist took just about the whole day to grind out. The Challenges ranged from the simple numbers game of spending 20000 mana, to very specific stuff, like using abo attack of Smander and Undine to boil an enemy to death in exactly one minute (he got an Achievement called instant monster for that C it didnt give him anything). It was harder than expected and yet not hard at all. The typical early kind of challenge in video games, which were more time investments and usage of basic understanding than demands of proof of skill. Anyway, he had the level now.
Well, lets see what I can get you pretties, John said and moved in to click the button.
A GUMMY BEAR! Sylph shouted into his ear with the power of a thunderp. It was not a metaphor.
Johns eardrum ruptured and he was blown to the side. Almost, he flew off the bridge of the Demon Instant Dungeon. Luckily, Gnome stood between him and the railing and so he stumbled into her instead. The impact was hard and very ufortable, except for the two squishy hills of Gnomes breasts.
While John was rubbing his ear in the knowledge that his eardrum would get repaired in about two seconds he was wondering about two things. Sylphdid you just use magic to create sound? he wanted to know.
Maybe? Sylph answered and stemmed her hands into her hips as she stood in the air. My righteous gummy bear desire has granted me this new power, she eximed and then pointed at John, as a reward for this new development I demand a cookie!
Not a gummy bear? John made sure.
A cookie, a gummy bear and a satellite, Sylph repeatedly wagged her finger at him, using her newfound power to createedic SWISH SWUSH noises as she did. It was more likely that she had always possessed that power and just never realized it until that point.
John chose to not indulge Sylph any further. Thanks for catching me, Gnome, he instead turned to the stone elemental, who gestured wildly.
I-it was nothing! she stated, I just happened to be there and, and, and well, and that! She blushed harder than the situation justified, folding her hands in front of her chest.
A question, John said, noticing the motion. He leaned forwards a bit to look Gnome into her hazel eyes from face to face. You need to concentrate to be soft right? he asked a rhetorical question. He already knew that was the case so he just continued. Do you keep your boobs soft at all times?
Sylphs tirade in the background came to an end as she flew over. Smander was quicker in the bullying game however. Oh? Always ready to be fondled, are we? she cackled and flew around Gnomes head, from the left ear to the right and back. What? Does stern big sister Gnome have problems controlling her desires? Are you ashamed?
The fact that Gnomes floor focused eyes were trembling was all the answer they needed. She kneaded the edge of her skirt when Undines head suddenly appeared from between her legs. The slime girl, having stealthily flowed down there, was now showing a calm smile as her head reformed between Gnomes kneecaps. No panties, is all she had to say.
Gnome opened her mouth to protest loudly, when Mono stepped between her and John. Her arms protectively wrapped around the so adorably easily bullied rock, the artificial support cried, You guys are the worst!
Monoooooo! Gnome cried and returned the hug, burying her head on the monochrome girls shoulder, They are so meaaaaan.
Mono patted the stone elemental''s head, There, there, all will be fine.
Uwuwuwuwuwu, Gnome sniffed as the artificial support, ring daggers at everyone, protected and petted her until she had calmed back down.
John smiled at the scene. It was what he had imagined when he had made Mono. Despite her intense reactions, Gnome did not really hate the bullying (her reactions would have been more violent if she did). That being said, having her retreat in Mono was working well.
With the numerous sounds of bantering haremettes in the background, John got his first Elementalist Perk.
The shadow elemental is tempting me, John joked to himself but he knew that he wouldnt take that option. He had enough elementals as it was, his party formation was stable and sacrificing even more of his mana was not an option he wanted to take at this point. If he ever went with that it would need to be at ater date. Elemental Bolt was out for a simr reason, he already had Mana Ray and for elemental damage he could always just give mana to the elemental girls or use Mana de. That only left Permanent Bond.
Just so we are clear, John warned everybody after sharing the decision with them. You plop into existence in the middle of the street and I die.
Yeah, yeah, Smander waved his worries off. We would die right with you in that case. Stop hesitating and just do it.
Never will I stop worrying with you around, he returned flippantly, but pressed the button anyway.
The result was essentially nothing. His Mana Regeneration was freed of a minor tax, as everyones corporeal costs dropped by 0,5%. Better check what the scaling on those bonuses were.
Okay, I can forget about levelling that, nice cockblock Gaia, Johnined. Twenty minutes? How would anyone do that? Questions forter.
While the elemental Stats increase and Mana Share Cost Reduction were both interesting, the summon discount was the best part about all of this. It applied to the incorporeal cost, pushing it down to 0,95% of his mana regeneration and as the cost was doubled for making them manifest it reduced it to 1,90% percent.
Basically after 20 levels it will be free, John concluded. Sounded great on paper, then he realized that it would take him to be level 200 to get enough ss Levels to get there. That was assuming that he wouldnt spend the ss levels anywhere else, which was already wrong.
Getting it down to 1% per elemental while corporeal would be pretty good though, he thought and closed all the windows, Thats an amount I barely have to think about.
He checked the time. It was around 11 PM and Rave still had not called. Did something happen? He doubted it, the only force around Springfield still hostile towards Rave was the Golden Rose and Moira just wasnt the type to actually attack her. Even if she did, at this point Rave had gotten so many levels from grinding with him, she would probably win their rematch. John wasnt absolutely sure, as he had no real information on the Wardens abilities, but he thought the chances were fairly high.
He was about to put the phone away again when it ringed all of a sudden. The unexpected, loud noise made him jump and he dropped the device, only to immediately attempt to catch it. After a few seconds of panicked juggling, he got a firm grip and epted the call. Yes, hello?
Where is my update, Newman? Lydia asked from the other side.
The day is almost over, I demanded to be kept up to date, her iron-d strictness made John feel like he was standing trial. However, there was little that he was afraid of. So far, Lydia had only ever shown herself to be a demanding person, not a cruel one.
Havent heard anything myself, sorry, John answered. There was silence, a disapproving piano melody yed in the background, repeated deep, long tones intermingling with sharp, short ones. Sorry, princess, he added and got a slightly appeased sigh in response. The piano music he heard changed to a bnced song.
Is that so? You best find solid information on your girlfriends ns posthaste, then Lydia ended the call. John didnt even have time to lower the phone before it rang out in fully turned-up audio again. Like my eardrum didnt just get tortured by Sylph, hemented and took that call.
Ey, John! Rave greeted in a tired yet enthusiastic tone, Sorry, I was stuck in all kinds of hurries and stuff and now I will be in Cologne in about3 hours.
What?! John eximed, and panicked a bit, Could your timing be any worse? The princess will have my ass for that, Jane!
Nice! sheughed, and stopped when he did not join. Oh, you are serious, there was an awkward pause where she giggled, then followed it up with, I just want to see ya as soon as possible, ya know? Just like that the panic was done and reced with that flowery feeling that he got when he was with her, one that he hadnt known just how much he missed until that very moment.
Yeah, I know, he answered in a voice as soft as clotted cream, I am on my way, I will see you there!
Promise?
Promise!
The call was over and John turned to his group, We will murder through this like we have never done before! he announced and they started running.
The good old strategy of clearing the towers with the most effective tactic was tossed out in favour of indiscriminate violence. They advanced as quickly as possible through the tenth floor of the Demon dungeon. John spied the Secret Room, but he had no Revealer of Secrets so he just had to sprint on.
They were out-levelling the content by 5 levels so all of this wasnt exactly a challenge. However, the boss they eventually found, a bloated blob of liquid corpses, John had never faced before. Throwing caution to the wind he just went with the good old tactic of tank and spank. He didnt even pay a lot of attention to the mechanics, there were some small blobs, some crawling corpses. His gamer senses told him to kill the big blobs and ignore the small ones unless absolutely necessary.
Saying that the boss fight was easy would be unfair. Saying that it was quick was also untrue. However, John, with the uing reunion with the love of his life in mind, did not care about most of what was going on and, when the boss finally dropped dead, he even ignored the Loot, leaving the I.D. immediately.
Okay, next problem, John thought as he hastened down the stairs, throwing a jacket and scarf over himself. How the fuck do I get there in time? He could run the whole distance, but he barely knew the way so he would need to ask and he wouldnt be in time even if he ran the whole way anyway.
What is going on? Herman shouted from the couch.
Jane is going to be here in about two hours! John shouted, changing hisfy sneakers for winter boots (bought with money he had borrowed from Herman).
Oh, nice wait you are going to the airport? You know thats too far to run, right?
Ill take a cab or something.
You will have to hope that it arrives here in time the apothecary reminded him, I will drive you there. You have a license that works here?
Yes.
And a car?
Yes.
John stared at Herman. Dude, you are a lifesaver! the Gamer eximed and hugged the guy.
Its my job, the apothecary, a bit surprised by the sudden outburst of emotion, said.
Right, right. John pulled back, a slight metallic scent in his nose.
I will meet you outside, Herman assured him and went upstairs to get his stuff.
A few minutester they were driving towards the airport. Which worked for the longest time but then the reality of inner-city traffic hit them and they were slowed down tremendously. Enough to make John nervous that they wouldnt make it in time. It didnt help that he was currently waiting for the princess answer to his text about the timing. He knew that she was probably not amused but even an aggressively worded text would have been better than the current silence.
They had been on their way for about two hours, the German radio in the background ying ssical music, when Johns eyes spied a certain something C lights in a street that was all dark. Do you think we can make it if we stop for a moment? he asked.
Herman eyed the traffic light that had just switched to red. We wont be able to find a parking spot around here, no, he answered.
John had made up his mind however, damned be the few people in traffic behind him, it was time for some selfishness. I will be back in a second! he promised and stormed out of the car door.
He quickly manoeuvred himself through two parked cars and towards the very odd flower shop that still was open at this ungodlyte hour on a Friday. He stormed inside and spoke to the first and only person around.
She was a blonde in her early to mid-twenties. Her hair was of peculiar fashion, extremely full in volume at the top, it curved backwards and created a mass of hundreds of strands, like a golden wheat field in the wind. At the back, however, it fell down in a straight streak of gold. When she tilted her head, her hair followed, the motion slower than one would have thought.
John hesitated for a moment, the beautiful blondes blue eyes seemed weird in a way that he couldnt describe. How she blinked as their stare continued, how her hair moved, how she waspletely still, without the slightest jitter, and how her decent sized chest rose with each breath, all of that seemed off. The in white of her dress was just a little too white. Rather than like pure snow or porcin, it felt like it was colourless in its entirety. It stuck to her, long and flowing, despite theck of shoulder straps. Her entire back was revealed.
She just didnt seem to belong where she was.
John tried to Observe her and was rewarded for the effort with a little pang of pain. The weirdness in the air intensified. He switched to aura sight for a moment, and confusingly found her to not even have the slightest hint of mana within her. All of this was a mystery he did not have time for and something about her just made him wish to be somewhere she wasnt C despite how pretty the lithe woman was.
I need pretty flowers, he said the possibly dumbest thing imaginable in this situation.
Surprisingly the unnatural girl just nodded, took up a crimson camellia and handed it to him. Take one, she offered in a voice so calm it was almost empty. Then she pointed at the door, indicating that she didnt want his money.
John was not exactly sure what was going on right now but he had no more time anyway. He stormed back outside and into the car. He closed the door just in time for Herman to start driving as the traffic light switched.
They had a surprisingly smooth way to the airport from there. They stopped near the main entrance, several cars behind them. I will search for a parking spot, just jump out, Herman said; John nodded and jumped out of the car, leaving Mono and Herman to it. He was 20 minuteste, but Rave also needed to check-out and all of that, so maybe he would be on time.
And, as luck would have it, he was.
Rave stepped out into the main hall of the airport, just as John ran into it. Long brown hair, her disguise, reached to her shoulder. Blue eyes scanned for him, longingly. Neon-green headphones covered her ears and a yellow, fuzzy jacket the rest of her, barely hinting at the curves underneath. She stepped further into the busy hall, not realizing she had been spotted. When she did, both of them elerated in their steps, miraculously making it through the constant buzz of the airport without a single stop.
They didnt have any words; their first instinct was just to embrace each other and kiss. Lips meeting for the first time in over two months, they pressed tightly against one another. The sweet smell of peppermint gum filled Johns nostrils, his lungs, and then his entire world with colour. The busy noises all around John were drowned out by the feeling of her heartbeat on his chest and the steady rhythm from her headphones.
All was right with the world.
Chapter 165 – Things get moving.
Chapter 165 C Things get moving.
Eventually their kiss broke. The end of the contact of their lips was far from the end of their reunification ritual. John was happy to hold Rave in his arms and just sway back and forth, like a young tree in the wind. Romantic as the scene was, one of his hands travelled lower andnded eventually on her firm butt. It had been too long since he had felt that.
Rave did not mind in the slightest, gave him a mischievous wink instead. Eventually, she slipped a hand of her own into his back pocket and gave his butt a possessive squeeze herself. So, will the princess have your ass? she asked, simultaneously pulling off her headphones.
No answer yet, John exined and then remembered the flower he was still holding, the nt was in danger of getting squished between them. Breaking the hug, he presented the flower to her. Only got one in the hurry, he apologized but Rave took the red flower all the same.
It is definitely pretty enough, she smiled and smelled the flower. She was taken aback.
What is it? John wanted to know.
It doesnt smell like anything, Rave said and eyed the odd flower.
Of course, it doesnt, a hard voice chimed in. Lydias steps were apanied by the cking of a walking stick she carried with her. Besides that out of ce decoration, the young woman wore a grey fleece jacket and a knee-high, loose skirt with ck stockings protecting her legs from the direct cold. Well, what was visible between the skirt and the hiking boots anyway. That is a camellia japonica, they dont have any smell, she exined as she walked up to the pair. She checked a watch halfway hidden under her leather gloves. You are twenty-three minuteste, exin, she demanded.
Uhm, Rave was taken aback by the princess demanding tone for a few seconds. Then, she bounced right back. Usual airport stuff, she said and made a wild gesture towards the direction she came from, like that would exin everything.
Lydia just epted that with a nod. Fine then, she stated and pulled out her smartphone.
John barely saw the time management table pop-up, then she already had freed up her next 24 hours. I will need to arrange our stay, she exined and started making calls, leaving John and Rave to catch-up a bit.
Where did you leave Aclysia? John started, he didnt see the artificial guardian anywhere. He could sense her though. After months apart, the mental connection he had with her was once again firm. Rave tapped on the handle of the trolley bag she had with her. Had her shrink down and hide in here. There was an incident at the first airport.
Master, Aclysia interrupted when Rave made a pause, I was molested again, is that bad?
Uhm, what? John asked out loud. Rave mistook that for him asking what had happened, either way worked.
Well, she acted like a figurine inside my stuff but because she was pure metal the detector picked her up so I had to exin why I was carrying a solid metal figurine with me. They checked her thoroughly. Was quite the scene I tell ya, Rave smirked, She turned into stic after that. No more problems. Different question, where did ya leave that neer of yours?
Mono?
Still cant believe youre serious about that name, Raveughed about something that went over Johns head.
What? She is monochrome, ck and white, he exined. So Mono works nicely.
Sure, sure, Rave kissed him on the cheek, leaving John confused but he dropped the topic. Wheres Mono then? she repeated her question. If someone had told the Gamer that those glossy pink lips of hers were the reason for all poems mankind had everposed, he would have believed them immediately.
I left her in the car with Herman, John hadnt paid much attention to Mono on their way here, he barely remembered her getting in the car.
Okay, where is your bestie then? Rave asked.
My what now? John asked.
Herman, what, you tell me you have other male good friends all of a sudden? she poked fun at him. Pretty sure he qualifies as your best friend at this point.
YOUR BEST FRIEND, HE WILL FALL!
Johns eyes went wide when he remembered the prophecy of the Horned Rat. He clenched his fist, his whole body suddenly tensing up as those words flowed into his mind. He had pushed them aside for a while, forgotten them at the time because more important things had been ahead. The words that had shook the whole catbs, he needed to
Rave grabbed his hand. Everything alright, John? she asked, the worry in her eyes apparent.
The simple gesture of affection pulled him back into the now, Yeah, sorry, he mumbled. I will exin it to youter. Rave nodded but kept her hands in ce.
He got a mental call from Mono, asking where they were, and soon both she and Herman joined them. It is crowded even at this hour, Herman sighed.
People have a lot to do these days. All of them looked at Lydia who was still making calls.
No, I do not care. The usual. Yes no, of course not. How many rooms? That is more than enough, Lydia kept talking to the person on the other end. There was a moment where she just listened before saying, Great, have him be here in ten minutes. She put away her phone afterwards.
We will relocate. Until our drive arrives, I have a question, Lydia abruptly turned to John, her braided hair falling onto her chest. Who is he? she pointed at Herman with her thumb.
John had never told her about the apothecary He is a friend who I invited to stay over so I wouldnt die of boredom, John cut the exnation short. princess, he remembered to add.
Lydia raised an eyebrow. Why would you be bored? I left you fifteen books of riddles, a television and several training devices, not to mention the entire city of Cologne, she said, her tone doubtful.
Those arent exactly fun activities, John drily stated.
I agree on the television, Lydia said, but what is wrong with sudoku?
Nothing is wrong with sudoku, I just dont particrly fancy it.
Is that so? Lydia blinked a few times, In that case I apologize, Newman, you didntmunicate so I assumed your situation was satisfactory. Her eyes went back over to Herman. She gave him a long muster, before continuing. It seems like you fixed the problem yourself anyhow. You say he stayed with you?
T-that is correct, princess, Herman chimed in, his tone nervous, I hope that isnt bad or anything?
No, it is fine, I would have preferred to be informed, however. You guarantee he will not destroy my property? The question was directed at John again.
Sure, he answered.
In that case you may stay in that house for the time being, if you so desire. I dont have ns to use it in the near future anyhow. Leave it as clean as John found it when you move out.
Thank you, Herman said and bowed, which got him a few interested nces from the passing people.
No problem, Lydia checked her watch once more, We need to get moving, the taxi wille soon.
We are taking a cab? Rave asked. John took a moment to hastily say goodbye to Herman.
Thanks again for driving me, John said and reached out with his hand.
Herman took it and, with a weak grasp, shook, Anything for a friend. Herman was about to go when John remembered something, Could you do me one more favour? I left the metal spine-like thing in my room. If you have the time please bring it to me.
The apothecary thought for a few seconds then he nodded, Ill find time, he promised and then departed from the group.
Yes, we currently get all services paid by Romulus himself, so I might as well abuse that, Lydia exined things to Rave in the meantime.
Romulus will pay for a normal taxi? Rave asked. The princess'' steel eyes rested on the techno-lover for a moment.
No, she answered after she deemed Raves question as a serious one. We will take the tunnels.
The what now? John was confused, but Rave followed the princess with enthused steps when they got moving.
I never took the tunnels, she squealed, this is super ex-ci-ting!
They went outside and, after checking her watch one more time, Lydia entered an Illusion Barrier. Rave followed quickly, as did John, despite his continued confusion.
All the cars that were moving around were reced with apleteck of any of the previous cars. Even the ones that had been parked were gone. All were reced with a single stretch limo, sitting decadently on the street. A driver in a suit stood at the ready, holding a list.
Please confirm your identity, he said and read from the list, Lydia Augusta the fourth of House Hohenzollern, together with up to four guests, is that correct?
It is, Lydia said and showed the driver the golden emblem that she had worn when she had found John in the hospital. The driver nodded, then bowed, and the door to the back of the car opened with the soft whisper of rxing hydraulics. Lydia got inside, Rave quickly followed and, with no other choice, John and Mono did as well. The driver took quick care of Raves trolley.
The seats were of beige leather and extremely soft. They wrapped as a continuous bench around a table. A selection of drinks was sprawled out at the centre. Through ck-tinted windows they could look outside.
So, just that I get this right, John said while he was sitting down next to Rave. She put a hand on his leg and he took it a momentter. This is a service that moves you through the city by using barriers, thus avoiding traffic altogether?
That is correct, Lydia answered. One of the least useful services the Fateweavers offer, utilizing Mobile Barriers for such decadence s, they know to use their monopoly well. If you pay enough you also can get your time dted and so effectively get there quicker. Typically, I would avoid these services altogether. She ced her walking stick off to the side. This, however, is not on my dime.
Would have been really useful to know about this a few hours ago, John sighed, and Romulus is paying for this because you are a candidate?
He is paying for everyone involved, the princess took a small bottle of water from the mini bar.
The car got moving and Rave pouted as she looked outside the window, I thought it would be cool, she mumbled, Instead all thats happening is that we move through a trafficless night. Turning to Lydia she said, So we get that 100% discount too, or?
No, Lydia denied firmly and took a sip of water. Not yet. The tournament is not officially on its way and you are not involved unless you are confirmed as my fighters. The third election needs to end in another draw.
But you already wanted me here? John asked, Is it that likely to end in another draw?
In thest 300 years every single election has ended in a tournament, Lydia sighed, the system broke when the electors started to be more interested in the games than who leads the country. Let us talk about that tomorrow, there is a lot to it.
He nodded, the day had been pretty long and he was growing tired. So was everyone else really. Except Mono of course. In addition, Aclysia sent an unhappy feeling to John. We will see each other soon, John promised.
I am stuck between mistress clothes. She did not fold them properly. There are wrinkles everywhere. The maids difort was palpable.
After a rtively short drive, ignoring all traffic and its rules made moving incredibly fast, they arrived in front of a big house. It wasnt quite mansion sized but it was the next lower thing. Two stories tall, a front with rows of windows, covered in decoratively cut vines. The brick wall stretched broadly in front of John as he stepped closer. Lydia opened the door without turning a key or even raising a hand. It just swung inside.
Rave ced her trolley in the entrance area and John quickly peeked inside. It was the exact same decoration style like the house he had just left behind. The only difference seemed to be that everything was bigger and more spacious. You will stay here. Take a room on the upper floor. Dont be afraid to use your powers, this house is enchanted to ward off unwanted attention. We will speak tomorrow at noon, the princess suppressed a yawn as she vanished deeper inside the house.
Man, that girl has a massive stick up her ass, Rave whispered.
Honestly, she was pretty nice today, John answered and then yawned himself. Lets go sleep.
Speaking of sleeping I suggest we take the room furthest away from hers, tiger, Rave winked and John smiled back. Drowsy as he was, he could do one or two more things in his bed before he crashed in it.
Chapter 166 – Finally Loving [Erotic Content]
Chapter 166 C Finally Loving [Erotic Content]
The houses bedrooms were all located on the second floor, save for the one Lydia upied which was at the far-end of the base floor. Before he even put a foot on the stairs, Johns girlfriend pushed her suitcase into his arms.
Just so we are clear, John announced, while carrying the case after her, I am only obeying because I get to look at your ass. And he very much did follow the swing of her hips as she stepped up the stairs. The firm roundness of her butt was stretching the fabric of her blue jeans to the maximum and John couldnt wait to feel his hands finally digging into her soft skin again.
Rave stopped at the top of the stairs. Deliberately, she turned only her upper body to look back at him. Her eyes were gazing with open desire. She licked her lips, her tongue-piercing glistening in the artificial light of themps that illuminated the hallway.
Without any warning, Rave pulled at the lower rim of the ck tank top she wore. Alluringly, she pulled, presenting the profile of her t midriff. John didnt get a full view of her tits, she was still wearing a light blue bra and the turning of her body gave him more of a side view, but that was enough to get his mind racing.
Tiger, youll get a way better look at all of me once you get that thing up the stairs, she purred and let go of her tank top. It was too tight to settle back in its previous ce just like that.
Having an erection doesnt make this easier, Jane! Johnmented and got up the stairs quickly. Once he had seeded, he put the case down. Even if he was long past the point where lifting this much was the issue it had previously been, he still preferred to let the wheels do the work. With yful wrath, he red at the techno lover.
Rave kissed him on the cheek. Dont ya be like that. Her lips lingered next to his ear. Ill take care of that problem, her voice was a teasing whisper in his ear, the hand on his crotch almost as light as the sybles. Then she pulled back, leaving his arousal that little bit higher. She resumed walking, he dragged the suitcase after her.
You better after making me carry your stuff! John joked, as they aimed for a door at the end of the hallway.
Youre a guy, suckitup, Rave slurred.
I am not exactly sure gender norms apply to a world where magic offsets any biological advantage that exists, John spoke his mind.
Ya know, she giggled, Normally Id tell you now that your nerd speech is turning me into a desert but after two months I think you could say just about anything and Id just be happy to hear your voice through anything but my headphones. Rave turned a bit red at the confession, quickly reaching for the doorknob so that they could get to activities that were direly necessary.
John saw a rare opportunity to get Rave absolutely flustered. With one confident strut to cross the distance, he hugged her from behind. Missed me that much, huh? he asked while nibbling at her ear. He could feel the temperature rise under his lips, the red dusting of her cheeks spreading further.
Yeah? And? Rave continued on as if she wasnt embarrassed in the slightest, Telling me ya didnt miss me?
Nope, I totally missed you, John freely admitted, I wanted to just lie around in a room with you, cuddle and watch a movie, beat up some monsters together. Honestly, I wouldnt even have minded waking up with your foot in my face again.
That only happened like two times! Rave cried out a little too loud.
Two times that you know of, John teased and started tickling her tummy.
Wh-hahaha-ddya think you are doing! Raveughed in an annoyed way.
Just getting you to say that you missed me.
I already did though! sheined, still forced to giggle by Johns nimbly wiggling fingers.
I want to hear it more though, the Gamer insisted.
Fine! Rave half-shouted and John stopped his hands so that she could catch her breath for a moment, I really missed just having ya lie in myp, I missed ying dumb games or eating fast food with ya, happy?
The happiest man on Earth. John leaned past her shoulder and she turned her head to greet him. A deep kiss followed,sting for as long as their excited bodies allowed them to have patience for.
Ya make a girl feel conflicted, tiger, Rave hummed, pushing against the door without looking. I love the confidence ya built since I picked ya up at school, but Ill kinda miss the adorable, shy dork. He didnt really know what to make of that, and so he justughed awkwardly. Rave smiled at him, Guess the cute part is still there also this is a bathroom. Looking up from her seductive curves, John found a small, white-tiled room. I mean, I could go for shower sex, Rave considered, with a nod towards the ss cabin.
The motion sent a wave through her brown, camouged hair. Its almost two in the morning, lets do that another time. John closed the door decisively, then they moved one over, turning to their left-hand side.
This time they were in luck, finding a room with a bed easilyrge enough for two people, a seemingly outdatedptop, the usual wooden furniture and all the space they would need. I really dont like her design choices, Ravemented while ring at the boring, decisively un-pink, carpet on the boring, totally not fuzzy, wooden floor.
I do, however, Mono chimed in.
John and Rave both jumped, Ipletely forgot you were there! Rave eximed.
John chuckled, She tends to be like that.
You two are just mean. Quickly, it became apparent that she did not say that because she personally felt insulted. Halfway through her opening the suitcase, John was reminded of the maid that was still locked in there. Carefully, the Artificial Support freed her sister from the confines of Raves cramped luggage.
Finally, out of the wrinkles, the artificial guardian whimpered as Mono picked her up, the younger sister ring daggers at the two.
Only thinking about your perversions! she spat out and then, with a soft voice, spoke to Aclysia, I will keep you safe from their idiocy, sister, she promised. Aclysia made a surprised, then shocked expression as Mono left the room with her still in hand.
B-but Aclysia let out a long sigh. Please enjoy yourself, Master. Momo pulled the door close behind her.
Shouldnt we stop them? John asked and got his answer in the form of Rave shoving him towards the bed. Hended harshly on the mattress, only its firm softness preventing the fall from being painful. The frame creaked dangerously under the rather sudden impact and then again, more softly this time, when his girlfriend climbed on top of him.
Nah, Ill have ya to myself, Rave announced, pressing herself on his lying form. Their lips met again. Passionately making out, the two embraced each other. Johns left hand fumbled with the button of her jeans while the other fondled her soft breasts through the fabric of her underwear. Rave unhinged her bra and quickly tossed it aside.
Her B-cups became an immediate focal point. They were barely enough to fill his palm but after having fondled tits of most sizes, from Rave to Nathalia, John would still say that the ones attached to his girlfriend were the best by default. Although he wouldnt have minded them growing into a C-Cup. A pebbled nipple pressed against his palm, and little coos animated John to do more.
The annoying button that secured Raves pants finally gave way. John squeezed his hand between the waistband and her ass, enveloping his hand in soft flesh and tight skinny jeans. Her butt was a lot more to y with than her tits and he enjoyed the warmth radiating from the rxed juiciness. Fondling her was a temporary indulgence on the way of getting her naked though, so he did not let his hand linger for long. He began the fantastic, long-winded process of helping her wiggle her hips out of her form-fitting legwear. Her panties were pulled right along.
After a minute of fondling, little kisses, and ass shaking, her long, smooth legs werepletely bare, as was the rest of her lower body. Rave, aiming to equalize her upper half, sat upright and pulled her top, which had remained in ce even after her bra was gone, over her head to then toss it somewhere.
John just watched his girlfriend. Seated on top of him, her front illuminated only by the moonlight that flooded the room through a pair of windows, she was the very embodiment of gorgeous. Subtle muscles shifted slightly beneath her firm, pale skin. Slowly, sensually, she ran her slender fingers through her brown, mildly wavy hair. As she did, the illusion and the change was lifted. Strands curved and fanned out, as if each of them had a mind of its own, but still enough sense to act in a messy union. She smiled, eyes closed, as the true beauty of her impossibly wild mane was revealed. When her lids rose again, the blue of her eyes wasplemented by the pink lustre.
Nothing from the Thana incident had remained. Her hair was bright, the unruly, longer strands a shade of darker pink. Not a single white streak anywhere. Not even the scars remained. John would have loved her even with them, but he could not say he regretted whatever investment she had needed to make to get rid of them. He began to sit up, eager to taste more of her lips.
Nope, we will do what I want. Rave put a hand on his chest and grinned. Letting himself be pushed back down, he followed her every motion hungrily. Turning around, she let the silvery moonlight emphasize the magnificent curve of her bubble butt instead. Naked and aroused, she straddled his crotch. I know what part of me ya missed the most.
I thought we will do what you want? John asked with a smirk. Both of his handsnded on the enticing curve of her ass. Fingers dug deep into the moonlit softness, creating depressions in the form squish that even a Greek sculptor couldnt have hoped to reproduce. John softly pulled them apart, revealing her tight sphincter and dripping wet pussy to his view. Rave was as, if not even more, horny than he was.
His dick reminded him of the tight confinements of his pants and, by proxy, the rest of his clothes. Feeling the hardness of her boyfriend underneath her, Rave gently brushed against him. Even the soft touch of her womanhood with twoyers of cloth between them, made him groan.
Rave turned her head, glossy pink lips spread in an urging smile. Come on, use that menu of yours and get nude, tiger, she demanded. I dont have the patience to get up and strip ya.
With pleasure, John agreed and took a hand from her ass, with some regret. He needed to change the equipment settings to manual before he could undress himself, a fidgeting he did not appreciate, and then removed first his underwear and then his pants. They sighed in unison as they felt the others familiar sex touch their own. Months apart made the heat all the more intense.
I really missed this part of you as well. John pushed his hips up, pressing his cock against herbia from underneath. A couple of humps spread the mixture of their juices over the underside of his cock.
You at least got to fuck some pussy, while I was stuck grinding or eating pussy with Aclysia, Raveined. The only dick that I care about, best dick in the world, hung around on the other side of the.
Our agreement is still in full effect though? John asked, his voice strained from the heat of her cunt. Even this little was sending tingles all throughout him.
Ja-aaahh, it tots -mmhm- is. Rave did not care to keep control of her voice, she just let the moans and other vocalizations flow freely, much to Johns delight. If I get -Oh yeees- John had grabbed her by the waist, their sexes even closer together now. If I get the feeling it aint working then we go back to just us though thats the deal.
And you have all the cuddling, dating and fucking first serve privileges, John reminded her.
Y-yessss so gimme thatst one! Rave had enough of gliding back and forth on his cock. One hand reached between her legs, while her hips rose. Swiftly, she angled his cock, then impaled herself on his manhood. The head, she eased in. Past that, she descended as swiftly as her gripping walls allowed her to. Ohhh, yes! she cried out, visible tremors running up her smooth back. This is hmmm, oohhhh, I really did get the best cock in the whole world With one final thrust, she took the rest of him inside her. Her heart-shaped pillow of an ass jiggled on impact. Fuck, youre big.
Johns answer got overpowered by a sudden groan. Gyrating her hips, his girlfriend kept his vocal cords upied with producing such noises. She refused to let his cock slip even a centimetre out of her C both her active movements and the clenching folds of her cunt. The sight of her circling hips was marvellous. Motions as fluid as her rump was round. The little wet sounds of their motions. Pussy juices stretching into short strands between his shaven groin and her equally smooth, swollenbia. All of it was wonderful.
Hmmm need to get myself ustomed to your size again, Rave purred her excuse. For almost a minute, she did nothing but circle her hips. Even when she switched it up, she only went back and forth for a while. She moved with the grace of a belly dancer. Finally, groaning loudly, she raised up her hips again.
Tight walls gripped him to such a degree that he could see her cunt mildly change its shape on her way up. The detail was as short-lived as the remainder of Raves patience. Once she dropped down, there was no holding back anymore. From one moment to the next, she was riding him with reckless abandon.
Her perfect ass undted atop him. Her straddling legs tensed and rxed with the demands of moving her slender body, and with the jolts of pleasure that rushed through her as certainly as they did through him. Her motions were erratic at times, the mping of her quivering quim too concentrated to keep up the capriole. Shivers slowed her for moments at a time, followed by spurts of needful motion. A wonderful cycle, culminating in the unsteady p of her jiggling butt against him and itself.
Straddled over him like she was, John saw her pink mane wildly fly around as she moved ecstatically, saw the muscles in her back tense and rx as her breaths got more and more ragged. Most importantly, however, he got the view of her perfect ass, a sight no video sex session could ever perfectly give to him. Hands on her hips, John thrust up into her.
Raves moans grew louder, her movements more streamlined. Simple, quick ups and downs. Their hips meeting with loud ps, sending jiggles all through the gloriously ample flesh under the taut skin of her backside. Their motion found a unified rhythm swiftly, as if they had never stopped having daily sex. Rapid and hard above, slow and methodical below, their rhythm brought them to edge.
Jane, I am about to John pressed out. Rave turned her head just enough for their eyes to meet. Hers were clouded in lust and John knew that he had a simr look in his. She knew what he wanted to say and her lips formed words of the most delightful debauchery.
Gimme all ya have! she cried. Fill me up, tiger!
Their hips met one more time and, in that moment, they both came. Johns seed pumped into the depths of Raves pussy. It filled her with as much of it as he could give, as much as he was ustomed to cumming and more. Her own orgasm tightened her insides into a gripping sleeve, made her folds quiver all around him, wringing as much of his seed as she could from him, apanied by the sound of her shouting out her bliss.
Unashamed, uncaring, Rave curved her back and screamed at the ceiling. It was a short scream of pure bliss, followed by the erraticughter of mid and post-orgasmic delight. From thighs to the tips of her hair, she trembled. Her ass roundness waspromised by just how intensely they pressed against each other.
At the end, they were both breathing heavily. Without a single word ofmunication, they started moving again. Rave wanted more, even though her body was tired from the long flights. John was willing to give her all he had, fuck until they both could move no longer.
Rave started with easy motions, once again gyrating her hips. Seriously missed this dick, she repeated what she had said earlier in a moaning mumble.
What about the nerd attached to it? John asked and, following a sudden impulse, pped her lightly on the ass.
The sudden sting made Rave first tense, then let out a deep, pleased groan. Her pussy remained tense even after the rest of her muscles rxed. A heavy, breathyugh escaped her. That guy is bing more and more dangerous for a woman of libido, she half-sighed, half-confessed.
The constant, blissful motions made her moonlit butt glisten softly with sweat, adding a new dimension to the retreaded ground of her gyrations. Granted, even if she had done the exact same motions she had done before, John would have loved every second of it. A piece of art like her bubble butt could never be anything short of mesmerizing.
That being said, John did not have the patience himself to let her do her y. Leveraging his grip on her hips, he thrust up into her hard. Rave cried out in surprise and shot him a nce that may have been disapproving. If it was, that melted away from the pleasure of the quickly following second and third thrusts. Left behind was only bliss. She surrendered to his whim and met his pace in equal measure.
The pping of their hips filled the room once more and now they were both working in a frenzy of heated, fast motions. Rave fell forwards, using one hand to support her weight while feverishly rubbing her clit with the other. The sight of her bent back was not quite as attractive, but the sheer pace of the lovemaking made up for it tenfold. The Gamer could barely even concentrate on his sight, so intense was the constant sensation of pleasure under her spasming folds.
Oh yee-e-ee-es, Rave gasped, her whole body twitching.
Oh God, John grunted through clenched teeth. The feverish rubbing of her clit indirectly massaged his shaft. He was getting close again C but so was she. Her breathing was irregr and loud, her muscles twitched, her ass mmed down on him with enough force to make the entire bed shake. They were both ready to unload at any moment.
The moment came when Rave exploded into a loud scream that surely reverberated throughout the whole house. John didnt pay any mind to the princess downstairs. He only cared about how mind-shatteringly good the quivering, mping walls around him felt. He thrust up a few more times. Then, he also was pushed past the point of no return.
Impaling Rave on his cock for a final time, John noticed her scream stop for one wonderful second. Throwing her entire body back, she barely managed to catch herself. Hands next to his shoulders, she hovered above him. Her hips bucked up with such power, they almost escaped Johns grasp.
Rave howled, he came, and an absolute torrent of pussy juice stained the sheets just as he added an extrayer of white to the im heid to her womb. What of Johns senses were not filled by the sheer ecstasy of her cry were dominated by his own electrifying bliss. His nerves were overloaded with pleasure and for a moment the delight blinded him.
His senses came crawling back just in time to catch his still spasming girlfriend. He lowered her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. Repeatedly, he kissed the top of her head, or just kept his nose buried in the bubble-gum cloud. When the spasms devolved to shivers, it was her lips rather than her scalp that he kissed.
Ready for round three? Rave asked, voice taxed by exhaustion, yetpletely dedicated to the need for more.
Yes, John responded eagerly.
Chapter 167 – Explanations 1 – The Gamer
Chapter 167 C Exnations 1 C The Gamer
John woke up in a clean bed. He had used Craft on the bedsheets to instantly clean them. A great necessity, considering they had been stained with all kinds of fluids by the end of their reunion.
As per usual, Rave was still asleep. Normally, he would have tried to wiggle his way out of bed without waking her up. That was impossible this time around. By whatever arcane means, she had managed to get behind him and put him in a full nelson. This must have happened some time ago, since he could not feel either of his arms. At least this was the wrestling version, not the sexual position. His legs were very much still free.
Hey, Jane, he whispered and carefully poked her with his foot.
Grhm, Rave made an unwilling sound but slowly opened her eyes. After a few seconds, she realized what was going on. What am I doing? Her sleepy eyes gave the position of her arms a critical muster.
I dont know, but its notfortable for me. John rolled his shoulder as best he could. So, could you maybe?
Ja-aaah, Rave yawned a confirmation and let go.
John moved his hands to try and get some feeling back into them as he sat up. Gamers Body fixed even this swiftly, which was fortunate. It wasnt quite on the level of having his chest carved open, but the needles covering his limb were still deeply displeasing.
Rave slung her arms around his hips when he tried to leave the bed. Wait! she said, I wanna cuddle!
Uhm, sure? John said and sank back under the nket.
Rave snuggled up to him, holding onto his chest in a more girlfriend appropriate way. Room is ultra-cold, she grumbled and pulled the nket up to her nose. You will warm me up.
John had to disagree that it was that cold C although it definitely wasnt warm either. Well, they dont use thermostats over here. We would have needed to turn the heater on ourselves, he said with a nce at the metal construction.
That is stupid, Rave pressed herself even more strongly against him. Her breasts squished against his side and her soft hair tickled his shoulder. If John hadnt had a morning wood before, he definitely did now.
I could be persuaded to stay here for a lot longer, John began in a seductive tone. His girlfriends hand was already en-route to his dick.
I am open to anything, as long as we stay under the nket, she stated her case. in fact, I think this is a great way to warm up! they exchanged a perverted smile and rolled over so that John was on top. Last night had covered the cravings of the opposite dynamic.
He was about to push into her when the door flew open.
Ive had it! Lydia shouted as she entered. One hand was behind her back, the other held a pocket watch. The princess once more wore a Napoleonic era military uniform,plete with a rapier this time around. Dark grey eyes red at the surprised couple. Ruby red lips narrowed until their striking colour was pressed out of them. John only now realized that she wasnt using lipstick. Any fascination he had towards that fact was lost when her nostrils red in anger. It is exactly 10 AM, you have overstepped the eptable time to sleep and sleep in. I demand an end to your frivolities and a beginning of the day.
Its freezing in here! Rave protested. Lydia looked at the heater, the sound of shifting pressure echoed through the metal body, the regting wave suddenly turning. You have 10 minutes, she dered and crossed her arms.
John looked at Rave but she was just as baffled. You want to watch us dress or what? he carefully asked.
Depends, do you think you can manage to do it on your own? the princess returned with a question of her own. Her iron eyes were heavy with criticism, too heavy to retort with a joke.
John decided to go with appeasement, Yeah, we can do that, he calmly stated.
Splendid, I expect you downstairs within 9 minutes 43 seconds. Lydia turned on her heels and pulled the door close behind her with her magic.
Whats wrong with her? Rave grumbled, while her boyfriend rolled off her.
She lives by her schedule, apparently. John pulled his everyday clothes into their slots and then put the settings back on auto-equip.
Well, no reason tomand us around, Rave continued herints. She made no motion to even start moving out of bed. If anything, she was wrapping herself tighter in the nket. Only her head stuck out of the bundle she made from herself.
It was adorable and in any other situation, he would have been pulled right back to bed. You? Maybe not. Me? She has about 500 billion reasons tomand me around, John sighed. Youing out of there?
Not until it is warmer! Rave said with a look at the heater, You think she is gifted with telekinesis or something like that?
I think it is metal control, John said, her title is Princess of Steel after all.
Rave nodded, that made enough sense to her.
If you want heat, maybe I can help? Smander asked after suddenly lighting herself into existence. It was a quick materialization. Not immediate, but fast enough for him to have very little reaction time.
John looked out of the window. Despite Lydias assurance that the house was protected he still didnt approve of Smander just appearing like that. However, no person was running around in front of theirwn and nobody else was likely to peer into this room. It was likely fine, but he still drew the curtains just to be safe.
As long as you dont burn the house down, I have enough debt as is, John warned her.
What? Smander seemed offended, Me? Burn stuff down by ident?! You think I am still Tier 1 or what? I am Smander, daughter of Krieg, fucker of dragons.
I fucked Nathalia, you just were around one time.
Shut the fuck up! the ze elemental demanded. Around her, the air began to ripple from the sheer heat she radiated.
The room warmed up quickly. By keeping Smander close to her, Rave could be convinced to leave the bed and get dressed. Both of them would have much preferred a shower first, but they were on a tight timetable.
Downstairs they were greeted by Lydia who sat at the breakfast table. 12 minutes, she announced and closed her pocket watch with an audible snap. Given the circumstances, an eptable deviation. After sipping on a cup of tea she added, Made eptable by that superb servant of yours, John Newman.
Next to Lydia stood Aclysia. Johns heart beat a little faster with love and guilt, upon spotting the maid. Wearing her usual cosy, his first Artificial Spirit was every bit as beautiful and diligent asst he had seen her in the metal. Long white hair, a butt of immense juiciness, emerald eyes and pink lips that were moved in just the right degree of a pout to really make him feel bad about not tending to her yet.
She kept that up for a second, then she bowed, Thank you for thepliment, mistress.
Princess, corrected Lydia, Lydia in the mundane public.
As you wish, princess.
The noblewoman threw a loaded nce at the couple who had just entered. Mono didnt care, she was sitting off to the side, using one of the providedptops to read something else. Aclysia vanished back in the kitchen after asking John and Rave what they wanted for breakfast. Mono followed Aclysia, John and Rave sat down across from Lydia.
The princess took another sip of her tea before addressing them. So, John Newman, she started and stopped when he raised his hand.
Just John will be enough, he assured her. My full andst name are a mouthful. Plus, it feels weird.
As you wish. Lydias gaze moved over to his girlfriend. How would you prefer to be addressed?
Rave will do, answered the pink haired girl.
Lydia nodded, A codename then. You can call me Lydia in public, preferably address me by princess, however.
Sure thing, priiinceesss!
Lydias eyes twitched ever so slightly at the way the techno lover pronounced her name. Whatever thoughts she had on the matter, she chose not to speak them at this time. Instead, she turned back to the Gamer. Anyhow, I want you to inform me about your abilities in detail, she said and then nced over at Rave, I will hear about yours if you are still of the mind to fight for me.
John waited for a moment, sorting his thoughts before answering. He had often described his abilities in broad strokes, but never in total detail, and much had be clearer or expanded since his early days.
Well, to start with, my abilities have changed my body into that of a video game character. All of my wounds will heal pretty much instantly, but it costs Health Points, once those are gone, I presume I die.
You presume? Lydia asked.
John shrugged, I havent gone to zero yet and some games have second wind mechanics where you get HP back for doing certain stuff. I doubt that is the case with me but I havent found out yet. I dont n to either. The princess nodded, signalling him to continue.
Then there are also other things such as Quests and my ability to generate items which are seemingly very unusual. That is better shown in practice but, basically, I get items for killing enemies in Illusion Barriers. I call it Looting, John let that sink in for a moment but Lydia didnt seem surprised in the slightest. She likely learned it from Magoi.
Perhaps the most important part of my Innate Ability is grinding for Experience. This has two parts, one is levels and the other is Skills. A level allows me to spend 5 points on the seven Stats that everyone has, John stopped when Lydia raised a hand.
You say everyone has those Stats, does that mean you can identify them in other people?
John nodded, Yes, I can see the level and Stats of other people, although it seems thatmon measures against other kinds of irvoyance magic, or whatever that category is called, also work against my Observe. Also, that ability allows me to see the opinion a person has of me as well as give me some basic information, such as their guild and a bit of their history.
Lydia grabbed her cup and drank the rest of the tea inside. That, on its own merit, is a powerful ability. Information extraction is rarely this sinct or direct.
John moved his head left to right to express his misgivings about the Skill. It seems pretty good but the information I get from it is very broad and I cant choose what I learn about the target. Sometimes I learn very important things, at others next to nothing. It is not something I can rely on too heavily.
Not even the Stat part? Lydia asked.
Especially not the Stat part, princess. It''s just raw numbers and those are difficult to apply to actual people who dont have the same direct scaling I do. Its just numbers. The best way to use it is to give me a general idea of where a persons strengths and weaknesses are. Plus, they dont reflect how apt someone is at using their own abilities. John paused for a moment to let Lydiament.
I see the problem. Physical strength is rtively easily categorized in terms of numbers. However, magical aptitude and the various ways a person can exercise their capacities cannot be reflected just by numbers. The princess raised a hand. A spoon lifted from the table and began to stir the contents of her teacup. Against people who have strong abilities these numbers may be misleading, if relied upon.
John confirmed with a clear nod. The opposite is true as well, I was afraid of facing a man called Igor, whose level was beyond mine. However, he didnt possess anything but that level, so in the end the fight wasughably easy. The numbers are useful, but theyre nothing to go off of on their own.
And you raise your level just by defeating monsters? she asked.
Not only that, also Quests and asionally Achievements, which are random increases in power that I get for doing certain things. How do you know about the monster part? John asked, as far as he knew that was never in the files that SecretBlonde published.
I had Magoi Magus send me a report, Lydia confirmed Johns suspicion. I am using this conversation to fill out potential gaps and double check the avable intel. Continue.
The level-up mechanic can be shared with people who I add to my group, although group members level much slower than me and they cannot spend the points how they wish.
And how would one get added to that group?
I just have to send you an invite. Here, let me demonstrate: Invite Princess Lydia.
John saw the window materialize in front of Lydia and the princess staring at it. She tried to look at the thing from different angles but it always turned to have the text presented to her. For a moment it vanished, then it came back.
If I wish it to vanish it does, interesting, she mumbled and raised her hand. Before tapping the ept button she looked at John. And joining your group will give me ess to this levelling system you say? she asked for rification, Nothing else?
You will also get a basic view of all other party members'' Health and Mana Points, John assured her. Nothing beyond that. With that out of the way Lydia joined the group and her name was added to the list: John, with the two sub points for his Artificial Spirits, Rave and now the princess.
John continued the breakdown of his abilities, I can also use Skills I acquire either through books, mechanics like skill evolutions or, rarely, through an action I take. These Skills get stronger the more I use them, usually capping at level 100. Thats the broad of it.
Aclysia returned from the kitchen and put tes filled with scrambled eggs in front of both Rave and John while Mono refilled Lydias tea.
Thank you, Aclysia said John while Rave was already stuffing her face.
No problem, Master, the artificial guardian said with a bow.
You also have my gratitude Mono, correct? Lydia addressed the second servant.
Yeah, no problem, Mono answered, receiving a mildly displeased stare. After a moment of silence John felt Aclysia reach out through his spirit to Mono.
No problem, princess she added to the support''s previous sentence.
No problem, princess, Mono then quickly repeated. Lydia was immediately appeased and returned to her tea.
To me, it seems that Skills are more important than level, yet you seem to have concentrated on the acquisition of levels when you were preparing for your fight with, please excuse me if my pronunciation is incorrect, Thana, Lydia said.
She pronounced Thana with a hard T, making it sound like she was saying Tana. Tha-na, John therefore carefully corrected her. T-h like in the, long a, then n-a. Thana.
Thana, Lydia repeated to herself. I will try to remember it. Out of interest, what happened to her?
She died, John answered with the least number of words, staring at the piece of scrambled egg he had on his fork.
You are saddened by this, Lydia noted.
She didnt deserve her fate. Couldnt even bury her, she turned to dust, John exined and forced himself to eat.
Mhm, Lydia hummed. In the Abyss we have a saying: that which leaves no corpse behind can never be trusted. I do not mean to give you a false hope either though, so take it with a grain of salt.
Do peoplee back to life frequently in the Abyss? John asked, hopeful despite her words.
No, it practically never happens, Rave interrupted, ring at Lydia, the techno lover had likely known that saying as well but withheld it from John. He knew that she only wanted to protect him from false hope by doing so, but he still wanted to hear about it, so he put a hand on her leg and smiled calmingly. Rave sighed and just went back to eating.
Lydia raised an eyebrow at the exchange but answered his question. Rave is correct, there are exceptionally few documented cases of a person actually returning to life and most of them end in a cursed and very short second life. A famous example of a sessful resurrection would be Eglystas, current ruler of Prometheus. Resurrection tends to begin with a missing corpse.
The shaying ish morr about people hiading sho, Rave mumbled with a full mouth, then she swallowed the food in her mouth and spoke clearly. Like, howya shouldnt assume one of your enemies is dead just because the newspaper says so. Better check on their grave, just-ta be sure. Alsomon illusion trickery.
Back to the topic at hand, however, why did you go for levels over Skills? Lydia asked.
From what I have seen almost everyone has Stats that roughly equal their level times five. As long as that remains true, levels are more effective at the lower end, John exined, the princess gestured her agreement.
However, Rave was now confused, Uhm, why? she wanted to know.
It is a reality of linear progression viewed through percentual differences, Lydia stated. When Rave just blinked in response, the princess continued in a teaching tone, What is the difference between level 10 and level 20?
10 levels? Rave voiced an unsure answer.
Correct, but not all of it, what is the difference between level 500 and 1000? she nced at John, is that how high it goes?
John could only shrug. I guess, the strongest being I have met up to today was level 900 and she was a goddess, probably doesnt get a lot higher than that.
Lydia nodded and then turned back to Rave, waiting for her response. Which, after some more thinking, she gave. Guess the answer is 500 levels also both of those are double the first number, so Imma guess that has something to do with whatever point ya trying to make?
Yup, John decided to take over from there. He raised a finger. Basically, the important part isnt the number difference, but the power percentage. A level 20 has 100% more Stat Pointspared to the level 10, just as the level 1000 has twice as much as the level 500. As levels rise, they be less and less important. At least as long as the growth factor is static. There is little difference between a level 750 and a 780 in raw numbers. Level 10 to 40, however? A massive difference, despite the gap being the same. The higher you get the more important the correct application of your Skills bes. He turned to Lydia. All of that is part of the reason why I prioritized levels, but it''s mostly because levels are easier to get. The majority of my Skills also just level while I fight, so I canbine the two seamlessly.
Lydia digested that info for a few seconds, then asked, Anything else?
When the Patch concluded, I also got a new system called sses, that gives me Perks for things I can do outside ofbat. That seems like the intended downtime activity, so to say. I havent worked out just how good this aspect is, however. John scratched the back of his head. So far I am able to expand into various different fields of magic, from arcane to increasing my sexual ability.
Lydia stopped in the motion of lifting her teacup. Like that requires any increasing, she muttered into her cup, then gulped the entire second serving down in one go. I think I understand your powers broadly, she stated and pointed at Rave. Now, what can you do?
Chapter 168 – Explanations 2 – Innate Abilities, Souls and Elementals
Chapter 168 C Exnations 2 C Innate Abilities, Souls and Elementals
I am a light user, Rave exined and created a small sh of blue light in demonstration. I also punch stuff. Guess ya could call me a battlemage.
The princess hummed in understanding before asking: Are your powers innate or acquired?
Innate, Rave answered.
You possess a light type soul? Lydia probed further.
Yup, already made a contract as well. The techno-lover raised her left arm, showing the wristband that was Copernicus item form in the process.
Ehem, John audibly cleared his throat, can I ask what this light type soul thing is about? This is the first I have heard about it.
Lydia massaged her forehead. Whoever was responsible for educating you on the matters of the Abyss did an exceptionally shoddy job.
Well, there was nobody in particr, things just kind of pop-up from time to time, John exined.
Ey, I did tell ya some stuff! Rave interjected.
Some stuff, yes, that would be the exact formtion I would use. He gave his girlfriend a sideway stare. Jane, I love you, but you are not a born teacher.
Wha-? Now thats just mean!
Lydia sipped on her third cup of tea, while she watched the minor lovers feud take ce. Thank you again, Aclysia, she said to the maid, who bowed. All the while, John and Rave continued to throw insults and usations at each other.
And remember when I had to listen to that boring podcast with ya? See what sacrifices I make for you!
First off: If the Emperor had a Podcast is not boring, but a modern masterpiece. Second off: That was the agreement, once a week I can bother you with, and I quote, boring 40k stuff. Third off: I think that is pretty fair, after all I give up the nket pretty much every night.
Thats such an overstatement!
Is it? I woke up in a full-nelson today!
What does that have to do with the nket?!
It has everything to do with your sleeping habits being pretty weird.
Lydia checked her watch and knocked on the table to get their attention back. You will have to resolve this matter another time.
Resolve what? the couple asked in unison.
Lydias forehead was put into wrinkles. Your quarrel just now.
The two of them exchanged a nce, That is, sorta, just how we hang out? Rave said.
Lydias eyebrows stayed raised, I suppose I have no room to give you rtionship advice, she finally admitted, then added in her usual, iron tone, I, however, am in the position to demand that you do not waste my time needlessly. I have several provinces to govern.
John nodded in apology. Sorry, we just get sidetracked easily. Back to that soul type thing then. If you have the time to exin it to me, princess.
The auburn-haired royal leaned back in her chair, then began her exnation. It is the current understanding of the Apothecaries that soul types are how people get their Innate Abilities. Everyone has a soul of some variety, represented in the aura sight virtually all Abyssals possess. More acute aura sight can visualize the differences in soul types. Those who have meaningfully different souls possess Innate Abilities. There are as many different soul types as there are differing Innate Abilities, but they are broadly categorizable in 8 categories. Fire, water, earth, wind, these are the basic and mostmon types, granting abilities rted to the elements. I myself am an earth type, subsection metal. Then there are the four rare ones. First, we have life souls, who have extremely potent biological abilities, such as blood or nt magic.
Those seem pretty far apart to be honest, John chimed in.
Lydia signalled her agreement with a bob of her head. As stated, these are exceptionally broad categories. You will find that people with Innate Power over blood will actually have an easier time learning about bug control than water magic.
A quick question regarding that: my elemental could actually change to a nature elemental. The choice at the time told me it was a mixture of earth and water, but you are now telling me that nts are in another category entirely, how does that work? he asked.
The four advanced categories, and even many of the subsections of the basic ones, often represent mixtures of the basic ones. nt is a mixture of earth and water, as you pointed out, bacteria would be water and fire, representing the spark of life. Should one have control overva, specifically, their Innate Ability logically would be a mixture of earth and fire. Their soul type could be one or the other, or an equal mixture of both.
John slowly nodded and considered what he heard. It wasnt that different from fairly stereotypical power systems he had encountered in fantasy stories, be it games or books. Application in real life, however, was messy. Before he asked any big questions, he would let Lydia continue though.
The next category we have are light types. These are mostly based on mixing air with fire, like electricity, light or other such powers. You say your ability is light but can you exin what kind exactly?
The heat type, the strongest bursts I can create are sunlight, Rave answered the princess'' request.
Rare and powerful, Lydia nodded, if trained correctly, we will have to see about that at ater point. She took a sip of tea to oil her voice before continuing.
Opposite to light types we have dark or shadow types that are mostly earth and water based. The name sounds sinister, and dark types tend to have more selfish abilities, but it is a simple categorization and the Innate Abilities inside it are just as little evil as the ones in the light type category are good. Dark types can be blessed with shadow magic or gravity control for example. Thetter being what king Maximillian has control over, Lydia saw John raise his hand. Is the question about dark types?
No, it is about the fact that you are the Princess of Steel and he is the Gravity King. I would like to know how these titlese about.
I see there is still a lot I need to tell you, she mumbled and rubbed the bridge of her nose. We will get to that soon enough. First, however, lets talk about thest type of soul. For some unknown reason Lydia smiled a bit. The rarest of all soul types is the empty soul. That is not to say they dont have a soul at all, they do, it is just like an empty frame. People with this kind of soul usually die in their young years, most of them during childbirth actually. Worldwide there are maybe four dozen people who have this type of soul and are stable enough to use the power it gives them.
Ya sure that even exists? Rave asked. I never heard of that.
Absolutely certain, Lydia stated and shifted in her seat as she folded her legs, sitting in a staunch way. Fire, water, air, and earth are the four basic ones. Light, shadow, life, and null, those are the four advanced ones. It bears repeating that this is a broad categorization of esoteric, illogical, and supernatural processes we do not entirelyprehend. The six elements mix in all manners of ways and many of them can be learned. Something as unique as your game interface is limited to you exclusively, but such broad concepts as earth or fire magic, those with the proper dedication can acquire themselves. They will likely never reach the power of Innate Ability users, such is the cruelty of inequality of being born in the Abyss, but one should not underestimate the fruits and revtions of hardbour. Lydia took another sip and looked at Raves wristband. I take it you are engaged in a traditional contract, then?
The princess question was aimed at Rave. However, the one who answered her was Copernicus, who suddenly took his cat form and jumped on the table. The sr cat''s fur stood on end, His ears were t on his head, as he hissed, The right one, not the perversion you forced upon your partner.
Lydia was unfazed by the cats aggression. Traditional, as expected, she turned to John who was already about to ask what that was about. You know how elemental contracts work from the earth elemental you have, correct? she asked him instead.
Her and the other three, John said, before all four of the elemental girls started appearing around him.
Lydias eyes went wide for a moment but she kept herposure. Not that she managed to speak up anyhow, Sylph took the room by storm (of words). Hey, it is, like, such an honour. I always wanted to meet a princess. Your hair is pretty! Also, nice figure! Also, nice face! But your eyes stare at me disapprovingly, I am not sure if I like that. I am Sylph, Johnnie''s concubine, also tempest elemental, I guess. Sylph was buzzing around in front of Lydias face right up until the moment Smander dropkicked her.
Sorry, she talksalways, the ze elemental apologized, I am Smander.
Undine, came the musical voice from the slime girl.
I-I am Gnome, the stone elemental bowed, deeply, sorry if I am not dressed for the asion, but I only have this one.
Noooooot trueeee, Sylph giggled and a sudden gust of wind rattled the tes on the table. The main target was Gnome, however, or more specifically her skirt which flipped upwards.
Everyone in the room got a good view of Gnomes hips, her long legs and theck of underwear in between them. With an embarrassed cry Gnome grabbed the edge of her skirt and quickly pushed it downwards. The damage was already done, everybody had seen her smooth crotch. Including the princess.
Wha-wha-wha, Gnome stuttered.
Sylph grinned wildly and made a peace sign, You also have your birthday suit!
You know, that one was actually good, Smander cackled and presented her fist to her sister.
Sylph took it with both hands and engaged in a wild shaking of hands. Thank you, thank you!
You were supposed to bump it the ze elemental grumbled.
Do what now?
Just forget it,
Wha-wha-whaaaaat are you doing! Gnome finally finished her sentence and ran over to Mono, who readily embraced her. Embarrassed, little Uwuwuwu sounds came from the brte.
Perverts, all of you! she condemned the actions of the group while calming the oldest of the elementals down with motivational whispers.
You are a lively bunch, Lydia stated in a neutral tone. It was like she was informing somebody that the sky was blue.
Yes also yes I am familiar with the traditional contract process, John said. Traditional being what Rave did, using her Innate Ability, or soul type I guess, to attract elementals that would fit her. I engaged in a modern contract, which does not require this inborn quality, and instead utilized a ritual to establish a short-lived connection to one of the six elemental nes.
On the benefit of being much more reliable, with the drawback of only allowing contracts with much weaker elementals at the base, Lydia looked at the elementals in turn. Before she could ask what was on her mind, however, Copernicus made himself known again.
And then there is that disgusting thing your people came up with, the sr feline growled.
Lydia sighed, You not liking it doesnt mean that it is disgusting by nature. Most elementals willingly sign the contract.
Most, exactly, the sun cat kept at it, your method forces elementals into a state that is unnatural.
As does corruption at the hands of inexperienced summoners in the other two methods, Lydia calmly said.
What is this about? Rave asked, she was just as confused as John, I never heard of a third type of elementalism.
That surprises me, Lydia said, German elementalism isnt widely practiced outside of the noble houses of Europe, but it still is practiced and not in secret. Neither John nor Rave had anything to say, instead they waited for Lydia to exin. Where traditional and modern contracts both bind two beings, summoner and elemental, together, German elementalism is a practice that fuses the two beings together into one instead.
Lydias eyes turned from their greyish blue into a true grey shade as all the metal on the table suddenly flew into her hand andpressed into a sphere.
The resulting entity is considerably more powerful,bining the strengths of both in a body that is mostly human, but is changed in many, typically subtle ways.
And it also kills the elemental.
Just as it kills the human, Lydia waved it off, the resulting person is reborn from both of them. Memories, dreams, aspirations, ideas, all of them and more, mesh together. Twoplete people be one set of experiences. No one leaves as they enter.
Rave picked Copernicus up and pressed him against her chest. I dont like the sound of that at all, she openly said.
Lydia shrugged dismissively. What you like is none of my concern, it is a customary and effective practice and I never regretted having gone through with it, neither halves of me. We typically keep our elementals under contract for several years, to give them time to make the decision.
But ya can force them? Rave asked.
Doing so is tantamount to suicide. In a beneficial twist of supernaturalw, whoever forces the ritual finds their own personality greatly if not entirely subdued at the end of the fusing process. In other words, forcing it typically just creates an unhappy extension of the entity it was forced upon. Lydia unfurled the ball of metal pieces, straightening up the utensils she had abducted. To answer the question of titles, John, it is how the Abyssal nobility inside Germany designates itself. Unlike our real counterparts, who kept their blood pure to im their ancestralnds, the noble bloodlines in the Abyss are out to breed Innate Ability users. The titles we hold are our rank of nobility in addition to the type of our magic.
That works? John wanted to know, You can just breed innate abilities?
To have a bloodline primarily consisting of Innate Ability users maximises the chances, Lydia answered. Where normally there is a single Innate Ability user within a thousand Abyssals there is one in ten inside the nobility. It doesnt guarantee anything, but it helps. Romulus himself approved of this system of aristocracy, which is why all of hisnds can field noble armies of powerful abilities. Sadly, many of the nobles in all of the empires member countries rest on their Innate Abilities and past glories, refusing to hone themselves. The system is in a fickle bnce, she let out an annoyed breath, Just like the whole of Europe. How much do you know about that?
Chapter 169 – Explanations 3 – Europa Universalis
Chapter 169 C Exnations 3 C Europa Universalis
Not a whole bunch, princess, John freely admitted. I dont even know how exactly the borders look or who is in charge where. All I know is that the majority of the Divided Gates reside in Europe.
Lydia fell into thoughtful silence following that. I cannot have that. Your ignorance may reflect embarrassingly on me. They will specte that I am taking advantage of your inexperience.
You technically are, John dared to suggest.
I mean that I am taking advantage in a way that leaves you without advantages gained yourself. An obvious falsehood. Lydia looked at the very alive Rave. Regardless, I do not gain a favourable reputation by having one of my subjects, be it a temporary one, be unlearned. Exining the hows and whys for everything would take too long but I can give you a basic rundown. Aclysia, would you clean the table? the princess requested, as if the Artificial Guardian had been her servant for years now.
Aclysia obeyed, after a quick double-check with John via mental connection. Swiftly, she stacked empty tes. Mono was still cuddling Gnome, so she had no hand free to help.
When Aclysia reached for the tea set, Lydia stopped her. Leave this here, the princessmanded.
Ill start washing immediately, please call me if you need anything, Aclysia said.
You dont need to, Lydia told her. The kitchen has a dishwasher, just ce the tes and stuff in there.
Oh, Aclysia blinked a few times, her face staying nk otherwise, In that case I will be right back.
You fine now? Mono asked the stone elemental in her arms.
Y-yeah, Gnome muttered. Im fine! she dered and pumped her fists, as if to convince herself. When she returned to the table, she shot Sylph the meanest nce she could. For an entity that could punch through concrete walls, her re was remarkably simr to that of a puppy.
N-aw, dont be like that Gnome! Sylph bbered, Here, for justice''s sake I too shall disrobe and show the world my best side!
John sighed and gave a mentalmand. Half a minute and thebined efforts of everyone to catch Sylph,ter the tempest elemental sat on the table inside a small prison.
You know, this actually isnt that bad! she kept going and poked the water wall that spanned between the bars of rock around her. It is nice and warm in here. I feel like I am in some sort of kinky role y. OOOOH! Can we try that? Kinky role-ying? I feel like thatd be fun. I would be a former princess of a faraway fairy court and you the brutish conquerer and then we could do Sylph got lost in her thoughts for a moment, Uh, hihihihihi, yeah, that would work, I mean, that sounds great, doesnt it? My idea is that we- Undine made the water wall several times thicker and closed whatever holes had allowed Sylphs voice to escape.
Sorry about that, John sighed, she talksalways.
Yes, Smander already stated that earlier, and I know enough air elementals to be aware of their general proclivities in fact, is she still talking? Lydia said with eyes on the tempest elemental gesturing inside the prison.
Yup, Rave answered.
Well, perhaps it is best we keep her there for the remainder of this talk, the princess stated and loosened her rapier from its belt and then ced it on the table.
And how is that supposed to help me with understanding the European Abyss? John thought and used Observe on the item.
Uhm, a stupid question, John said, but the Frederik the Great that leads Germany right now cannot possibly be the same as the Frederik the Great of Prussia, right? Back when he had read the name in Magois newspaper he had just thought that it was the usualck of creativity regarding names that ran amok in noble houses. Now, however, he had an item in front of him that told him otherwise.
You would be wrong, he is one and the same, Lydia stated.
Uhu, John mumbled, two more questions: Doesnt that mean he is like 300 years old?
Thats actually not unusual, Rave chimed in, strong people in the Abyss get stunningly old, Romulus himself is rumored to be around ten thousand.
John remembered her saying things to that effect before, but it only now really settled in what it meant to be powerful in the Abyss. To live for several hundred years or even millennia. I might see the year 3000, he considered.
Dont be ridiculous, Lydia stated. A person with an Innate Ability like yours has the potential to be much older than a mere millenium. Youre a Latebloomer. Your second question?
John shook his head to get it clear, he had learnt way too much today, Ehem, yes, why would you have his rapier?
Lydias finger danced over the table, creating a cascade of soft noises. So, you can see information about items as well, she said and stared him down, I read that in the High Fateweavers report but you left it out earlier. Keep your reports precise in the future.
Understood, but could you answer the question, princess? John kept at it.
Why would I have it? I am his granddaughter of course.
John wheezed, Dont say of course like that, princess, he pleaded on an empty lung. None of this should have been surprising, considering surrounding context clues. The confirmations, however, still hit his thoughts like a ton of bricks.
Well, to be exact I am his grand-grand-grand-granddaughter, Lydia nodded to herself, after counting on her fingers. I am heiress-apparent of the majority of hisnds anyhow and the candidate for the throne of Rex Germainae. She looked at John with a wide, proud smile.
For a moment John could peek behind the iron facade and saw the 19-year-old girl who had made discipline her character. She was a woman proud of her achievements but wanting for more. Stunning, incorruptible and absolutely bent on advancing further. Impressive? John carefully said, feeling that it was somehow expected of him.
Lydias smile grew a bit cocky, then she realized what she was doing, and cleared her throat to regain herposure. Anyhow, she said, her iron demeanour back in ce, Let us look at the European situation. The weapon on the table became liquid and spread over the table as a thin sheet. The sheet then turned into a shallow, three-dimensional height map of Europe.
Impressive, John said with certainty this time. The map was cut into hundreds of provinces, all of them grey. The only thing out of ce was the tea set, sitting off the Iberian west coast like a gargantuan UFO.
I will colour the areas of interest as I exin, Lydia said, you may notice some shared provinces or minor mistakes, this is either down to me not remembering exactly, fights over that area or an agreement to share it, or control of this detail being difficult. Lets start with an overview of Romulus'' empire.
That is actually not as big as I expected, John confessed. He had thought he would be presented with the full Roman Empire in its glory days.
Rave nodded, I saw bigger maps, like, France used to be in there, as well as way more of the Balkans and Turkey.
The princess raised an eyebrow, Thest time Romulus held control over Anatolian areas was several hundred years back. After Pompeii, he started to lose interest in keeping the outskirts of his empire together. For France, well, the Illuminati happened.
Still cant believe theyre real and in France of all ces, John mumbled.
It is a surprising story. The Illuminati were a strong underground organization that used the chaos that swept into even the Abyss during the French Revolution to establish a wide-spread movement that seceded from Romulus empire. Their goals are knowledge, morality and freedom. Professed goals, as is typical with nations, Lydia exined. They are also associated with a number of unsavoury characters.
Aclysia looked at John, Arent the Illuminati often referred to in inte conspiracy memes, master? she asked.
Yup, John said, but it seems they are also one of the strongest magical organizations on the.
Rave giggled, Man, I totally forgot that, I only ever remember what the Greeks are called.
Prometheus, Lydia nodded. Close allies of both Romulus and the Illuminati, fellow seekers of knowledge with cultural ties to Rome.
Oh hey, they got Constantinople back, good for them, John observed. And Crimea is in their hands for some reason?
Those are not actually theirnds but territories controlled by daughter organizations that dered independence from their overlord. Prometheus is a nation that has always prioritized internal perfection. Constantinople separated from the Great Sultanate.
And Crimea got independence from the Blood of the Proleteriat? John guessed.
Correct, Lydia said and added yet more changes to the map.
Geez, those borders are hideous, Rave said.
Yeah, bordergore galore, John agreed, they must be doing pretty badly if they look that torn up.
Lydia shook her head. Those are just the provinces they publicly control, they have sleeper cells just about everywhere and whats worse She pointed at the areas in the Balkans and the areas that squirmed towards the Polish hearnd. they are expanding into formerly lost territories. Thankfully, there is a power in the north that is willing to intervene.
Soyou share that northern bit with them, princess?
It is called Schleswig-Holstein, Lydia said, and yes, due to an ancient treaty thatnd is partially reigned over by both sides, she pointed at the map, Allnd that remains grey is not controlled by anyone important or it changes hands too frequently to really call it control.
Johns eyes roamed the map, taking all of that in. Thats a lot of empty bits here and there and the entirety of Britain, surprisingly.
Lydia sighed, that vacuum is troublesome indeed. A lot of strong people are on the British Isles, but, until somebody unifies them, they remain a wild card. However, now that you have an idea about Europe atrge, let us move on to Germany in detail, this part is important to our immediate situation. The map was cleared and then rebuilt itself with only central Europe in view.
Even more border gore, Johnmented as he looked at the carved-up version of Germany. and Czechiaand the Nethendsand Switzendalso Hungary, Slovakia, parts of Romania and Croatia. Probably some other Balkan countries. Those Germans really conquered a whole lot. What do N.T.C. and H.T.C. stand for? he asked out loud.
Nethend Trading Company and Hanseatic Trading Company, respectively, Lydia answered.
Okayso what is up with the colour coding?
The green countries are the ones whose leaders have a vote. Maximillian has one as well. Finally, Romulus has two.
Waityou do not have a vote yourself? Lydia shook her head. The current emperors country is denied its vote in the following election.
That sounds pretty dumb, Rave said, then again letting only seven to eight people vote is dumb in the first ce.
Lydia just kept quiet. Whether she agreed or not was not apparent. Instead, she pointed at the brown area that marked her area of regency and the Protectorate of Prussia right next to it.
This is thend under my full governance, as well as what will be mine once my grandfather dies, she exined. The light blue provinces are the free cities, they have special rights and autonomy. The three countries in the west are conglomerates of smaller organizations that banded together to resist outside influence more effectively. Germany is united in name only and I aim to keep it that way.
Wait, you dont want to unify all of this into some Fourth Reich? John asked and cashed in an angry re in response. He understood quickly that he had overstepped the joke line.
No, you fool, the princess words were sharp. I want to modernize it into a federal system where everyone has as much autonomy as they need and only turns to the top when there are affairs between states or outside threats. There is no reason for a central government to rule over all of this with an iron fist. Her hard tone contrasted these words, as did the glint of steel in her blue eyes, Rex Germaniae has been in a decline for hundreds of years, the slow, central bureaucracy, itself subject to the byzantine apparatus of the Greater Empire, has been choking out independent thought and creativity for generations. She visibly forced herself to rx. I require the power of the crown to diminish the power of the crown. Aid me in seeding in this endeavour, and your debts will be forgiven.
I didnt sink into the shit mire at all, John thought. Of all the possible people that he could have gotten indebted to, it was a young, ambitious, attractive woman with a dream that sounded as moral as it was selfless. He had practically won the lottery, just that he had lost money in the process. I deeply apologize for myment.
Good, Lydia simply stated. I have no sympathies for the Purest Front or its ideological cousins.
John just acknowledged that quietly, then he voiced another thought. Even with all of this, there is one more thing I still dont quite understand, princess. He stopped for a moment, to look into her blue eyes. Why me?
Chapter 170 – Explanations Finale – Playing the game
Chapter 170 C Exnations Finale C ying the game
I mean John gestured at the map. you have all of thisnd, all of these resources, and the best you can do for your fighters are two random Americans? he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Youll have to excuse me if I am skeptical about that, princess.
Ja, it is kinda weird, Rave agreed.
The map smoothed over and was reced with a field of toy soldiers, standing in orderly squares. I have a multitude of loyal subjects who would be willing to fight for me, some of them are even stronger than you currently are, Lydia told the couple readily. However, there is a problem with all of them: they are my subjects. Publicly, widely known, pledged to my house for generations.
And how is that a problem in a tournament? John asked. It wasnt like they could y off each other. Unless the fights arent random but set-up in advance, it dawned on him.
Because of the way the tournament is organized, let me show you, Lydia confirmed his suspicion and the table surface changed yet again. To begin with each of the two candidates announces one of their fighters, Lydia exined, and her name as well as Maximillians appeared as the headlines of a two-column table. The announcement will be simultaneous. The words Fighter 1 appeared underneath their names, Then both parties have a day to choose their next fighter. The process repeats 3 more times, Fighter 2-4 joined the ranks. In the end, both teams arrive at a total of five dered fighters. You understand yet why getting known people into my team would be a problem, John?
It would allow your enemy to find a counter for the person youst installed, he analysed. It would be prudent to assume that you both already have counter-measures for each others most likely picks.
Indeed, Lydia affirmed, and having a person who is especially strong against one of your fighters in the tournament itself is likely to cost you most of the standard matches.
John just waited for Lydia to sort her thoughts. Eventually, she continued with her breakdown of the rules.
There are three types of fights inside the tournament. The first kind is a duel between two participants. There are three rounds of this: first the first candidate, being Maximillian, sends a fighter into the ring and the second candidate, that being me, sends a fighter in, in response. Each fighter may only fight once per round.
That seems heavily skewed in your favour, John spoke his mind, but I guess it is reversed in the second round.
Lydia nodded, Correct. Finally, In the third round the electors get to vote on who they want to see fight. It is a stupid system, but at least it is not barbaric enough to result in death matches.
Murdering is forbidden? Rave asked, just to be sure.
Yes. This tournament used to be fought exclusively between important members of the German nobility, until the hiring of foreign fighters becamemon practice. It had been deemed then and has remained in ce since, that death during the event would be undesirable. The princess let out a long sigh, that doesnt make the tournament a great idea, but at least it doesnt weaken the state needlessly.
John felt a lot better about all of this with that information in mind. At least he wouldnt die. A rather important assurance to have.
Continuing on, the second type of fights are group fights. Two to five fighters enter the ring. The team is assembled in advance. Neither side knows the enemy''s group until we face each other in the coliseum. These are held after a solo round ispleted.
Makes enough sense, Rave spoke her mind. So ya wanna try and put together a team that counters whatever you expect to be in theirs.
And then you will have to n around their n that is nned around your n! John eximed; he loved stuff like that. What is thest kind, princess? he asked after the noble in question became quiet for almost a minute.
"Finally she hesitated for a few more seconds, before muttering a single word, games.
Games? Rave and John wondered in unison. Can we get some rification on that? he probed further.
Hardly, Lydia answered with pure contempt. They are random challenges that onlookerse up with and then get checked by amittee and finally enter a hat that somebody pulls them from. It can be whatever stupid or dangerous thing you can think of. A massive waste of resources, time and national dignity.
And you have that in your tournament, that decides who gets to lead Rex Germaniae, one of the most powerful organizations in the world, John rified.
I dont make the rules! Lydia, suddenly all flustered, shouted out and mmed her hand on the table. The tea set rattled. They are stupid, old rules, modified to the point of non-functionality as hundreds upon hundreds of years of noble idiocy has piled on top of them! Everything that was once good about them has been wrapped in so much red tape, it is like a cocoon containing an eldritch abomination! The fifty years before my grandfather assumed power had 6 Emperors die! All has been in managed decline since!
There was a moment of baffled silence, as they watched Lydias angry stare, directed at whoever would challenge her on this. Half a minute passed, until the air in the room gradually rxed.
Excuse my sudden outburst, she apologized, her tone still strained, and took her hand off the table. I am only annoyed by theck of reforms that have taken ce.
Annoyed, yeah, Rave giggled, more like he pissed.
Lydia shot her a poisonous nce, before taking a calm breath and regaining herposure. Aclysia, would you make me another pot of tea, please? she asked.
Of course, princess, the artificial guardian agreed and took the porcin pot next to the tea set.
And how do you determine who has won in the end? John asked as he looked after the artificial guardian leaving the living room.
A point system. Winning a duel is worth one point, winning a group fight is worth three, winning a game is worth whatever, Lydia said and mumbled, just another showing of how stupid that game thing is.
So, let me get this right. This is a non-lethal tournament with five fighters, the candidate plus four other participants, on each side thatpete in three different kinds of challenges for points and the winner is then appointed emperor of Germany, John summarized the conversation.
Correct, Lydia confirmed. You should know one more thing, however, she stated and pointed at the returning Aclysia. You may only take one golem into the arena with you and you have to choose which one at the start of the tournament. We have that rule to prevent people just hiring alchemists with armies of living stone and making the tournament a war of attrition rather than skill.
Aclysia and Mono looked at each other, then at John. His mind was pondering about that bit of information. Both of them had drawbacks and advantages. Which of the two was he more effective with?
As that is the case, I have a suggestion, the princess said before he hade to any conclusion, Leave Aclysia open to be chosen as one of my fighters.
That surprised John, but he heard her out beforementing.
There is a high likelihood that there will be some sort of almost purely physical fighter on the enemy team like Rave ims to be. A golem of her quality would be great to counter such a person, Lydia exined and John quietly nodded. He skipped the question from where she knew about Aclysia in such detail, Magois report would have included details like that as well.
That sounds okay, he agreed but turned to the servant before agreeing. What do you think of this, Aclysia?
The artificial guardian was busy pouring the next cup of tea. I would be happier to fight at Masters side. However, it makes sense and I will cooperate.
In that case, I am okay with that n, John agreed.
Great, you three will provide a well-bnced team, it should be hard to find counters to all of you. Especially as there is no information on you, the princess looked at Rave, how did you manage that feat, by the way?
My dad works at the Abyss Auction, he wont let info about me stay there, the techno-lover answered.
I see Lydia said. But youre unaffiliated? It would be a bad look to have a member of one of the three nonbat organizations meddle so directly in my affairs. Rave nodded and that was that.
What about me? There is tons of stuff SecretBlonde uploaded, John said, but then corrected himself, but I guess none of that is very precise about my powers.
Indeed, Lydia agreed, and while the powers of a golem are recognizable, the fact that I wille with one as a full-fledged fighter will be surprise enough, I will announce herst. The princess of steel showed a half-apologetic smile. Albeit, it might ur that I only use one or none of you. Perhaps Maximillian will be foolish enough to present one of hismon picks.
Assuming you pick all three of us, who would be your fourth? John investigated.
I will keep the details about her a secret, Lydia said and picked up her fresh cup of tea. She took a few seconds to gently blow on the steaming hot liquid before taking a sip. Her name is Nia Fae; she will be my trump card against Maximillian himself.
John didnt wait for the rification to never arrive, she said she would keep it a secret so it was better to move to new topics. How much time do we have until the next vote urs?
Three days, the tournament will begin a week after that, Lydia answered the next question he would have had as well. When the vote fails to elect either me or Maximillian, and it will fail, we will have to move to Italy after the three days of announcements have passed.
Why is that? Rave asked.
Where do you think the tournament will be held? Lydia countered with a question of her own. We are still technically subjects of the Greater Empire.
Oooooh, Johns girlfriend eximed a momentter. He himself just got wide eyes. We will be fighting in the grand colosseum of Rome? That is pretty epic.
Dont let it go to your heads, you are there to win, so that I may seed in my goals, Lydia reminded them. This is the basis of our current rtionship.
Mhm, you maybe wanna tack some benefits onto that? Rave suddenly asked. The fun kind of benefits?
Everything turned quiet suddenly. Even Sylph in her cage stopped her ceaselessmenting and moved close, gazing at the situation through the bars and water walls of her prison. John couldnt help but smirk at how direct his girlfriend was about this. It definitely couldnt be said that he was the only one who wanted this C whatever exactly this was.
Lydias fingers drummed on the edge of the table. Seconds passed by, as she contemted. Is that a polygamous offering? she finally asked.
If that trantes to whether or not Id let you fuck my boyfriend the answer is yes, Rave said and bowed over the table in a conspiratorial way. His Skills also increase how good his dick feels and his ability to use it. She added a charming wink to the loud whisper.
Even the stone-faced Lydia blushed under that kind of directness. I will consider it, she gave the diplomatic answer.
Great, whenever ya wanna rece that stick in your ass with his cock, tell us, Rave smirked.
My what now?! Lydia clenched the cup in her hand so hard John was afraid that it would shatter.
That massive piece of wood between your butt cheeks that keeps ya this formal and all disciplined. Come on girl, youre younger than me, stop behaving like my mom!
I will have you know, the princess said in a heated tone, and mmed her cup back on the small te it belonged on. The tea almost spilled out. That I am a well-disciplined member of the German royalty and I will not put up with such disrespect!
Well, excuuuuuuse me, princess, Rave said and John could not repress hisughter on that one. Even Aclysia was caught up in it. She, Mono, Gnome and Undine giggled quietly while Smander had no such qualms and openly cackled. Worst of all was when Sylph broke from her prison, her voice turned up to an almost painful volume as she guffawed and rolled over the table.
Lydia shot all of them res that could have killed, What is so funny?! she demanded to know.
Just -pff- an inte thing, John answered after having calmed down a bit. Anyhow, sorry, Jane is a bit direct at times,
But am I wrong? his girlfriend wanted to know.
This is hardly the time John tried to persuade her, to no avail.
Disagreed, this is the perfect time, if we are going to hang out with her for the foreseeable future I want this out of the way A-S-A-P, Rave spelled out.
John sighed and gave in to Raves demand. Okay, yeah princess, you are a bit overly uptight.
Lydia kept staring as if she could make his head explode if she only tried hard enough. She might have seeded if she kept trying a bit longer. Exin, shemanded.
Well, first off: That, John said, I may be indebted to you, so you have enough reason to order me around, but, as Jane said, we are going to hang around a lot if we are going to fight in this tournament together. Maybe you shouldnt talk to everyone that works closely with you like theyre responsible for bringing you a change of clothes. In short: You are bossy. Furthermore, you gave me a lecture about the importance of time because I called you a bit toote, so you can add preachy to that list too.
Time is a valuable resource! Lydia defended herself. One I rarely have enough of.
Yet you are here enjoying your fifth, I think, cup of tea, John drily stated.
I freed up my schedule for this, the princess pushed back immediately. Are you telling me I shouldnt enjoy an orderly lifestyle and instead fall into the unproductive den of debauchery I found you two in?
No, there is much about you that I find admirable. Maybe understand though, that it was three in the morning when we went to bed and Jane was jegged, John suggested. This is not a business meeting, unless you make it one. Being in constant meetings will be taxing on us though. Ill do my best no matter what, but you wont make many friends like this.
Lydia tapped on the table, staring at her hands, her face slightly reddened from both anger and embarrassment. Repeatedly, she opened her mouth, then bit back whatever she wanted to say. Only when the anger had fully left her face, did she actually speak up.
I will confide in you. Perhaps because I can trust no one important in my realm will take your word above mine, Lydia told them and sighed. Ive had only one rtionship with someone my age and it did not end well. Before and since, matters have beenplicated and I have dedicated myself to work since.
Lydia ran a hand over her braided hair and for a moment she looked tremendously tired. It urred to John that she must have woken up hours before them, despite going to bed not that long before them. Only her supernatural physique kept the obvious signs at bay.
I have the honour of house Hohenzollern to uphold, she muttered to herself. I refuse to be a frivolous noble that indulges their base urges on the cost of honouring their duties.
John pinched Raves ass the moment the techno lover moved to say something. She let out a little surprised sound, then turned his way. Dude, what? her eyes said.
Shaking his head softly, he returned a non-verbal, Thats as far you can push her.
Fine, Ravemunicated by rolling her eyes. Then she stabbed him in the side with her index finger, but I want more.
The silent conversation may have continued, if Lydia had not raised her voice again. Perhaps you have a point. Be you in my debt or not, a genuine bond between us would help us in the uing trials. For your benefit, I will loosen my standards and, for my own benefit, observe how it serves me. With that said, I will take you up on that offer.
You will? the couple asked in unison, one surprised, the other highly enthusiastic.
Lydia folded her hands. Ill be honest, I heard everythingst night, and it does make a woman wonder She took a deep breath. This is too slutty for my liking yet I crave it all the same She fixated on John for a moment. I will see this as a genuine attempt to build something thatsts at least some time, John. As I said, I refuse to be frivolous, even if I happen to indulge myself.
That seemed a bit contradictory, but John would not deny her this. Rather, he looked at it as a challenge. His girlfriend just got him the foot in the bedroom door of a royal and Lydia, for all her stern exterior, struck him as an overall pleasant person. Perhaps more could be had here?
Lydias eyes suddenly snapped over to Rave, My condition is that you will be no part of this.
What? No! Rave said and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. This is my man, ya get to share him with me, not take him away! sheid down.
I have no such intentions. Lydia put her elbow on the table and rested the bottom of her mildly smirking face on her palm. You wish for me to diminish my standards and I am willing to bend. I am testing if you are willing to do the same. Besides, and now the princess eyes wandered over to John, who met the curious gaze in kind, this already is unusual enough for me. I wish to explore this intrigue I feel intimately.
John felt his pants tug as the word left the princess lips and sensually caressed his ears. While his brain was already putty, his girlfriend remained resistant. IF I agree to that, what do I get in return?
Lydia raised an eyebrow, I already agreed to rx my standards, what more could you want?
I wanna give ya a nickname and youll have to live with it! John got a very bad feeling about this. If Rave had one talent, aside from her stunning looks, her wildness in bed, herbat prowess and her magic, it was to get stern people angry by giving them stupid nicknames.
Lydia, unknowing as she was, said, epted. She probably thought it couldnt be that bad.
Rave shed her a wide grin. Okay, ya can sleep with my man now, Lylytina. From the way the techno-lover started snickering at his side, John guessed that there was some reference here that he didnt get. The princess left eye twitched only once, before she had herself under control again.
I wonder how much she will regret this in the long run, John wondered.
Well then, John, follow me into my bedroom, Lydiamanded and stood up.
Giving his girlfriend onest chance to intervene, John remained seated. Go get her, tiger, Rave whispered. That was thest cue he needed. A swift p on the butt sent him off.
Chapter 171 – Intense negotiations. [Erotic Content]
Chapter 171 C Intense negotiations. [Erotic Content]
You are interestingly open about this, Lydia said, once he had caught up with her.
Jane and I have an agreement where I am allowed to sleep with other women, as long as I tell her and she has a veto. She is just about the best thing that ever happened to my life, John answered.
Evenpared to your powers? Lydia probed.
Definitely a close second, considering they are what enable me to live like this, but if I had to choose what Id give up, my powers would be the answer every time. To be honest, I find it more interesting that YOU are this open about this, John spoke his thoughts.
Mhm, I guess that is understandable, Lydia sighed, You call me uptight and I guess there is truth to that usation. However! She focused on him intensely. Her greyish-blue eyes, at the same height as his, were an open door into her feelings. Curiosity, greed and barely held back desire dwelled in them. John could feel his pulse increase at the sight. I am also a young woman. When I hear your girlfriend scream through the whole house several times in one night I cannot help but wonder. She suddenly was very close, and now all that John could see were those eyes of hers, those dark eyshes, finely swung, set around them. The red-brown of her eyebrows and, apanying all of that, a slight fragrance of steel and citrus. What heights of pleasure are you capable of giving?
A door opened. Lydia stepped away and through the opening. She stopped in the frame and waved. He followed. A series of intuitive and swift motions.
Your girlfriend is right when she says we should get along. I will try to be less firm, Lydia continued. John quickly followed her. The metal buttons of her uniform started undoing themselves as she walked towards the bed. In return you include me in your debaucheries. If we lose the tournament, I will at least be a rtionship richer. If I be queen, I dont believe I will have time for love. Either way, and in this I will be honest She stared at him again, her shirt parted, the soft rise of her breasts partly visible. if you dont make me scream like her, I will regard this indulgence as a great mistake.
I will, John assured her. He only took a quick look at the room. Of note were the piano with the metal keys in a corner and the mountain of paperwork on the massive mahogany desk. It could also have been described as a half-open office, really. The desk had extensions that grew along the whole wall it stood on and up to the ceiling. Hundreds of drawers and small surfaces artistically formed together into a unit that hadplete function over form. John noted that theptop on the main part of the desk was a in green office type thing.
With they of thend acquired, his eyes naturally drifted back to the princess. Her military coat glided off her shoulders and floated towards a hanger. Stepping towards her queen-sized bed, Lydia elegantly turned around, plopped down, and shot the Gamer a slight and inviting smile.
Strands of her brown hair loosely framed her face, contrasting her greyish eyes wonderfully. Her ruby red lips were alluring to a degree that John had not thought possible. Curved in that little smile, their shape was emphasized. Neither too thin nor too full, her mouth was a work of art. No matter how many words of iron she shaped with them, the feminine beauty was retained.
His gaze glided down. In nothing more than light brown pants and a tailored golden shirt, she sat there. The bronze buttons of her shirt glinted softly in a sudden ray of sunlight, entering through the backyard facing window. The gold was caught by her hair and made the red undertone win over the brown for a moment, giving her braided hair the colour of pure copper.
The hunger in his stare must have made even the Princess of Steel a bit flustered, as she started ying with the tip of her braid. Your open desire is ttering, John, she said, her steel-d voice melted to a softly demanding tone, but I would prefer it if I wasnt the only one stripping. The front of her open shirt parted a little wide, the buttons pulled by her will.
John smirked and opened his windows. At first, Lydia raised an eyebrow at his seemingly nonsensical motions. By the time he had walked up to the bed, he had navigated to the proper ce. Before she could ask what he was doing, his shirt suddenly vanished.
Oh? Lydia eyed his chest with a pleasing degree of surprise. From your stature and title, Gamer, I expected a lot less. She sat up and began to run his hands over his midriff and up to his pectorals and shoulder. The inspection was thorough and John took more than a bit of joy from it. You are quite well built. The definitions are impressive, she muttered herplimenting analysis, while tracking the line between his abs with her index finger. She stopped at the rim of his pants.
Well, I have shown you mine, mind returning the favour? John asked, his tone barely masking his lust.
The princess'' soft smile became a little broader for a moment. No, I do not, she purred. Her bra magically loosened. Before John knew exactly what was happening, Lydia was alreadypletely naked, her pants and panties pulling themselves off her legs while her shirt and bra floated away. I do enjoy your thorough attention. So, Lydia backed away, taking her ce in the middle of the bed, I invite you to ravish me with your eyes.
Dropping onto the bed immediately, John slowed his hungry crawl only to do as she had suggested. From top to bottom, he devoured her body with his gaze. Her bust was only slightlyrger than Raves, her midriff simrly athletic, without reaching the realm of defined or muscr. Lydia rolled onto her side, then her chest, giving John the full view of her elegantly curved back and hips. Her ass was not as wlessly round or full as Raves, althoughparing her to subjective perfection was unfair. Lydias ass was, by all reasonable standards, attractive. Pleasingly curved, visibly jiggly, taut in all the right ces and squishy in the others.
Lydia was taller than his other girls, except Smander. Her copper hair was unique, she was of clearly European descent, and her controlled bodynguage wasrgely retained, even while mixing with desire. She was another fully individual woman who let John get this close to her.
Even though he had gained so much sexual experience with a variety of loving partners, the realization still made his heart flutter a bit. There was pride in all of this. A sense of conquest. Lust and greed, as well. For all of that, he refused to look at her as a casual hook up. She wasnt just a means to satisfy an urge. She would be his partner for what happened next.
Lydia was on her side again. Her greyish-blue eyes followed his motions anticipatingly.
John finally contacted her meticulously clean skin. His hand glided first up her side and then back down to her beautiful legs. Heid down next to her, one handing to rest on her firm ass. In front of him was her gorgeous face again. Those perfect lips, they had his attention for a few moments, before he looked down at her honeypot. A finely trimmed triangle of hair decorated her mons, the rest of her remained free of even a single strand.
Weighing his options, John decided to change course. Best show that I know how to please. That was the logic that made him move his head to where his crotch had been. Following the motions of lust, he brought his mouth closer and gave her half-hooded clit an affectionate kiss. A soft sigh marked the princess approval and he moved with more confidence.
Whispers of want reached his ears. Yes, like that Continue y with my clit. Many such quiet and fading sentences, broken apart by seconds of coos and gasps. The desire made herbia swell and Johns actions grew more demanding in tandem. Yes, more like that, she requested.
John decided to ignore her.
Grabbing her ass and hips with both hands, he lifted her bottom from the bed. Fingers sunk into soft flesh, as he pulled her wet crotch against his waiting tongue. Immediately, he pushed inside.
Lydia was prepared for many things but not the Pussy Eating Skill of the Gamer. Guided by both the Passive and the actual practice he had gotten from months of almost daily sex, usually at least twice a day, he located her most sensitive spots swiftly. Sighs turned into moans. The strong-willed princess seemed to be adamant on controlling her volume. John saw that as a challenge.
I -mhm-, cant lea-ah-ve you alone in pleasuring. The words were apanied by the loosening of his pants. John couldnt help her, no force in this world could have convinced him to let go of her tight ass for long enough to unequip his pants. Not that she needed the help. His pants practically unzipped themselves thanks to her powers, and, even with lust-trembling hands, the princess had no problem pulling down his boxers. Hmmmm, she let out a very pleased sound at the sight of his cock.
The princess wrapped a soft hand around his cock and gave him a few testing pumps. Her breath caressed the head of his dick, slick with precum. It only took a moment for her mouth to follow. Imagining those intensely red lips stretching around his member made John groan. Slowly, she took him deeper inside her wet, hot mouth.
The princess was no virgin but neither was she notably experienced, and so she barely got a third of his dick down before she had to pull back. Its just too big, she cooed, pleased. Failure to take him deeper only made her change her strategy. Rather than force the issue, she worshipped his length with licks and kisses. Bit by bit, she explored his own weak points. She coated his cock with the mixture of spit and precum. All of it slippery, her hand took over, pumping up and down his length. Her mouth concentrated entirely on what she wasfortable taking in, bobbing back and forth, creating depraved slurping sounds that no one ever expected from a royal.
John knew he would outst the princess. The quiver under his tongue, the shudders that went through her whole body and the vibrations that spread over his dick from her moans all indicated how close she was. However, something was holding her back. Whether that was just her wish for more or something physical was difficult to say. Women wereplicated.
Lets try a little something, John thought. One of his hands moved from its tense hold of her ass over to the valley between the cheeks. He wetted his middle finger in her excess juices. Then, he pressed the digit against her sphincter.
Lydia let out a surprised, short shout. Backing further away from his cock, she began to say something. It was swiftly overturned by high-pitched cries. She kept pumping his cock with jittery, slow motions. That was all she managed, while he worked both of her holes. Suddenly, she had her lips around his dick again, taking him deeper than ever before.
It onlysted a moment, then she came.
Throwing her head back, she screamed loudly. The bliss overpowered her self-control. Prolonged, the sound bounced off the walls and out the open door. For a solid five seconds, she was tense. Then, a thorough tremble loosened her. Her teeth snapped shut. One quiet grunt, then throaty moans. That was all the sounds John was treated to from that point onwards.
Tongue removed, John just watched her pretty pink folds twitch. He let her ride out the remainder of her orgasm. When the twitches and moans ebbed away, he sat up and locked eyes with the princess. Ready for more?
How did you know I would like that? Lydia wanted to know.
Observe tells me many things. The rest is context clues. I took a bit of a gamble. Apanying his words, John moved the princess around. She could have resisted his gestures, she clearly had the will and the power to do so, but instead she let him do as he wanted. Soon, he had a German royal face down, ass up in front of him. A fresh drop of precum trickled down his drenched cock at the realization.
You know my sexual preferences? Lydia looked over her shoulder, attention dashing back and forth between his cock and his face.
No, I just know what between vaginal, anal, and oral encounters you had the most, John exined, then pped the glorious gap between the twin spheres of her ass with his cock. I think you can keep your questions forter. In agreement, Lydias eyes snapped to his cock. Here? John asked, angling his cock to tease her drenched pussy. Or? The engorged tip dragged upwards, leaving a stick trail over her taint, before arriving at her twitching sphincter.
Lydia audibly breathed. She tried to keep it limited to a controlled rhythm, but lust was clearly getting the better of her. She was flushed from the roots of her hairs to her wiggling toes. The pleasing shape of her hips swayed left to right, then she pushed against his rock hard erection. You may shove your dick up my ass.
Not the sexiest choice of words but it worked for John. He held onto her waist with one hand and slowly eased his cock into her asshole. He had less experience with the backdoor, but he did still have some, thanks to his elementals. Where all of their pussies were unique, the tight cavern of their asses was remarkably simr to what he now, slowly and carefully, pushed into.
For all the experience John had, he underestimated just how much of a butt slut he was dealing with.
He was barely a quarter in, when a sudden aftershock made the princess grunt in animalistic delight. Fingers dug into her nket, furtherpromising the order of her made bed. wing turned into fists. John would have interpreted that as a bad signal, if she hadnt continued to twitch and moan like an experienced whore C except all of those sounds were genuine.
John leaned in with his whole body, to keep pushing past the gripping ring of her sphincter. Lydia threw her head back. Her breathing was ragged, the constant throaty sounds devoid of any kind of intent to sound sexy and filled entirely with raw bliss. It sounded like he was scratching an itch in a ce she just had not been able to reach.
Pull out, she suddenly demanded.
Confused, John still obeyed as his first instinct. He had been almost all the way inside. His confusion was short lived, however. In a flurry of needful motions, Lydia rolled onto her back again. She gripped her own legs and pulled them back, until her ass was raised and her knees nearly next to her head.
All C the way C in!
Certain, John immediately obeyed his first instinct. He got on top of her, grabbed her legs for her, and bent her the rest of the way. Lydia let out an impatient grunt. Once again, she wed at the sheets. He effortlessly aligned himself with her agape, twitching backdoor. Then, he mmed into her as hard and fast as biology allowed.
Lydias body was folded into a fuckable bundle, her sphincter was loosened to the point that John could draw back with barely any issue, and her insides were pressing against all of his manhood when he was back inside.
Decently-sized breasts jiggled between the frame of her nicely toned thighs. Toes curled, fists and teeth clenched, her head flew back again and her pussy gushed. John fucked her with the weight of his entire body behind each thrust. The position made speed difficult, but he could make her and the entire bed shake.
He could and did. Each time he drove into the depths of her backdoor, the princess screamed. Gone was any resemnce of control. With depraved, flustered eyes, she followed each in and out of his cock. John had never seen any of his girls react to their ass getting fucked this hard. He far from minded. He loved it. He loved it like he always loved watching his actions drive his partners crazy with pleasure.
Yes C Yes C Yes C Yes! Lydias eloquence was eliminated, all she could do was repeat that single word each time his groin met her shapely bottom. Loud ps underlined each cry. Everyone in the house could hear. Everyone in the house should hear. John was happy for them to know that he was doing just as well with Lydia as he was with all of them C and for them to fantasize about the next time he would get to them.
Lydia managed to rx one of her hands. Feverishly, she began rubbing the button at the top of her overflowing cunt. Not even the single word managed to escape her now. She was all jitters and vibrations. Adrenaline and need mixed into euphoria. Her eyes were opened wide, her tongue pushed softly past the sensuous curve of her red lip.
The sight spurred him. He elerated as much as he could, feeling his own orgasm beckoning. Despite his best attempts, she came first. He heavily doubted it was only her second orgasm. Fact was that it was her most intense one. All the tiny vibrations coalesced into intense jumps. John had to strain himself to keep her legs pinned down, plunge into her a few more times and then, finally, unload himself.
YEEEEEEEEEEES! Lydias scream rivalled the excesses ofst night.
Spurt for spurt, he pumped into her backdoor. Muscles twitched, pressed against him. The ever-strict princess underneath him squirted all over herself. Wave after wave of clear pussy juice rained down on her curled up midriff and tits. John felt another surge of cum pump into her. His balls tightened relentlessly. His nerves were on fire.
Like that, they remained. It could have been seconds or minutes, John was incapable of knowing. Eventually, he inhaled deeply. Slowly, he pulled out. Then, he let go. Lydias legs flopped down and she justy there, twitching and panting.
That was you did make me scream. Lydia said all she could, swallowing to get some control back. She actually seeded, slowly evening the rhythm of her expanding and contracting lungs.
Want to go another round? John offered.
The princess eyed him as if he was insane, then looked at his cock. He wasnt fully hard, but it would only take a few minutes for him to recover. Shaking her head, Lydia denied him that opportunity. I will need some time to recover from that. A long, satisfied sigh left her. That was tremendously helpful as a stress reliever I will be approaching you again soon. For now though leave me to clean up after myself. It was against Johns instincts to just go after pounding a woman into the mattress, but her soft gaze convinced him to nod. Oh, she spoke up, when he was about to close the door, and do inform Rave that I am open to coborate with her next time.
Chapter 172 – Going Out
Chapter 172 C Going Out
When John left the room and the exhausted princess behind, he was of the firm mind to take a shower. Honestly, he had needed it since waking up; he had gone through a pretty sweaty night in the first ce, but now it really was time he got that out of the way. In the living room, he found Rave, zapping through the television without much of a care in the world. From the way the curly tips of her hair were hanging slightly down, John could guess that she was already through with the cleaning business.
His girlfriend turned her head to ask: And, how was it?
Taxing C mostly on her though, he answered truthfully. Ill be taking a shower, and I think we have off for the rest of the day. Also, she is fine with joining in group action in the future.
Nice, Rave turned off the TV. Kay, ya just had your fun, so Ill be making the program for the rest of the day, and we are starting by granting me my date privilege!
Re-marking your territory, hm? John asked, only to be shushed away with waving gestures. Curious as he was about what she had in mind, he would wait until he was clean. One showerter, he dry-cleaned his clothes with Craft.
Its pretty much all I use that Skill for nowadays, he thought as he put on his socks. Craft, Enchant and Sneaking, these three had been with him for a while but he never really used them. And it is probably time to admit that I never will, he let out a heavy sigh as he used Craft on his pants.
Levelling Craft through asionally washing his clothes with it was okay, but he had no bigger ambitions for the Skill. Most raw materialsnded in his Artificial Spirits, so he had nothing to use Craft on. Same went for Enchant, which yielded such little bonuses that it wasnt really worth the mana in the first ce. It would probably be worth it in higher levels, but, until he got there, he would need to sink incredible amounts of mana and time into it. Mana and time that he would much rather spend on levelling things that helped him survive. The creation Skills were, for his build, vanity. Sneaking on the other hand was just useless in his skillset.
Maybe I should try and evolve it into something useful next time I get a Skill Evolution Point? he pondered as he put on his good-as-new shirt. He went back downstairs and was greeted by Rave in the entrance area. She had already put her jacket on and was holding his in an impatiently extended hand. We are going out? John asked the obvious.
Yup, we are going on a date, Rave affirmed.
Where to?
To that question the techno-lover just shrugged. Dunno, lets just wander around and check out the city. I have never been in Cologne.
Really? John wanted to know, I thought you lived in Germany for, how many years? About seven, or four, or nine, depends on how ya count it. But, as I told ya, we moved south to north. Cologne was not on the route, came his girlfriends answer. Ya ready? she then asked, tapping an impatient beat on the floor with the heel of her shoe.
I just need to dry my hair, John said; it was pretty cold outside after all. Smander, would you?
No, came the quick answer, I will not be reduced to a glorified hairdryer!
Oh,e on, John pleaded.
What will I get out of it? Smander jabbed back, Just use a towel, youzy bum.
Whats going on? Rave chimed in, watching her boyfriend make all kinds of faces as he argued.
Smander refuses to dry my hair, he exined.
Didnt she willingly be a heater this morning?
Yup, apparently she wants something.
Damn right I do, I demand that you give Sylph her gummy bear, Smander pulled Johns attention back to her.
Being nice to Sylph? That is VERY out of character for you, Johnmented.
Fuck you, this is pure self-interest. Smander exploded in a fit of rage. Do you have any idea what goes on in here when Sylph is bored?! She is by far the quickest out of us and trying to catch her while she bbers on is almost impossible! The only other way to get her to shut up is to fuck her, and, at this point, we are all close to spent on that front. Give her the gummy bear, that should put her in a happy mood for a few days!
Okay, okay, John appeased her, We are going to find a convenience store and buy a pack of gummy bears for Sylph, you happy?
No, but at least my cunt wont be electrified anymore, Smander stated. Not that it feels bad actually the opposite just that woman has way too much energy.
I am happy though, Sylph chirped, Very happy, ultra-happy in fact, not gummy-bear-eating happy, which is the highest state of happiness I remember, tied with concubine-sex happy, but pretty happy nheless. AUDIBLE GASP! Gasped the tempest elemental. WHAT IF I EAT GUMMY BEARS WHILE HAVING SEX! That sounds awesome, we have to try that. Eventually. First things first: GIVE ME THAT GUMMY BEAR! Get trending with #GummyBearGate on Firebook and Airter!
A heat shimmer in front of John and Smander appeared a momentter. Now imagine her bored, she just said and started radiating heat that quickly dried Johns fairly short hair.
I know the terror. Jane, we will have to look into a convenience store during the date, John filled her in. Sylph has a craving for gummy bears.
Yeah, we can do that, Rave shrugged, we gotta buy some food anyhow, well be out for a while.
You left Lydia a note where well be?
Ja, left her my number too, she already has yours, plus Aclysia and Mono will stay here, that should be enough.
Well then, lets go, John opened the door.
They went outside and started by just wandering around for a while and fairly quickly found themselves in a public park. What is this? John asked as they passed an obviously man-madeke. The thing was almost perfectly square. He pulled out his smartphone and allowed Google to track his location.
Rave did the same and then raised an eyebrow, Hiroshima-Nagasaki park, she read, as a half-Japanese I am bothplimented and offended.
Well, we could look at this giant other park called Mten, John suggested and checked what that was, Nevermind, that is a graveyard.
Least romantic ce you could have suggested, Raveughed. Well, there is a media park thing about 30 minutes from here, so maybe we can catch a movie and then check out the shops around the Central Station?
Sounds like a n, John agreed and they went on their way.
So, Rave started a new topic after a few minutes of asional chatter about the scenery, can we talk about whatever gave you the creeps at the airport now?
John slowly nodded, I guess. You remember the Horned Rat, the Skaven god I told you about?
The actual one or the 40k one? Rave asked, evidently annoyed that she even knew there was a difference.
The former, John said as they dodged a passer-by. Just to be sure, talking about Abyss rted stuff doesnt count as viting Gaias rules, right? John whispered while ncing conspiratorially after the person.
Nah, people will just think we are cray-cray, that or we are talking about a videogame, Rave waved it off. Same reason I dont have to hide my hair these days. She pulled at one of the impossibly pink strands. Before the advent of modern hair dye, that would have been an immediate giveaway that she was not mundane.
Or they think it''s about LARP or whatever, I get it, John nodded and then they went on. Anyhow, did I tell you about the prophecy he gave me?
Ya did oh shit! Rave remembered. I mean if he is your best friend and, oh, oh no, oh damn.
Yeah, he stated in a grim tone. I think we should go down the prophecy step by step. Having a high Intellect came in handy at times like these. He put the prophecy, as he remembered it, down on his phone, that way he could look at the structure of the verses more easily, and Rave could think about it without having to ask him about every single word.
You shall have met the Betrayer of all,
You shall have met the Betrayed by all,
A whisper in your ear,
You shall have awakened her burning rage,
You shall have awakened her true me,
Makes your mind so clear,
You shall have seen the winds of regret,
You shall have seen the dust of red,
Whatever you may send,
You shall have known the lie itself,
You shall have known the schemers face,
It will not matter, the lie it shall,
your best friend, he will fall,
And after this prophecyes to an end,
She shall ascend.
Mhm, Rave hummed. Any idea about this Betrayer of all? Not the slightest, John sighed. The betrayed of all is probably Thana, though, would fit in her whole backstory of being the unluckiest girl on the. Rave nodded in agreement.
I also think that the one-liners in between are a separate verse altogether, John theorized. Reorganized, it would look like this.
You shall have met the Betrayer of all,
You shall have met the Betrayed by all,
You shall have awakened her burning rage,
You shall have awakened her true me,
You shall have seen the winds of regret,
You shall have seen the dust of red,
You shall have known the lie itself,
You shall have known the schemers face,
It will not matter, the lie it shall,
your best friend, he will fall,
A whisper in your ear,
Makes your mind so clear,
Whatever you may send,
And after this prophecyes to an end,
She shall ascend.
Why would he make it that purposefully hard? Rave asked.
Probably because he is a dick that wants to manipte the oue in his favour even by cracking this riddle we might y right into his hands. I have no idea, Johnmented. What little he knew about the Horned Rat was badmouthing and rumours. But I will do it anyhow or, at least, try to. So, second verse is actually pretty easy. I made Thana pretty angry when I tried to burn her in that earth prison I had Gnome create and her true me is probably that Soulburn thing she pulled off in the end. Next paragraph is the wrong way around, I saw her crumble to red dust before the wind took her away. Cant say if thats a major inuracy or if I missed something. Now this next part I have no idea about.
A lie and a schemer, Rave mumbled, Any guesses?
Three, John said, at least for the schemer. First one is the Horned Rat himself, second one is Lydia and third one is SecretBlonde.
Rave stared at him with disapproval but stayed silent.
You can say it, John guessed her thoughts, you disapprove that I am suspicious about an ally again.
Yep, his girlfriend admitted, but this might be Victoria all over again, so I will keep my stupid to myself, continue, Brainiac.
I really dont think she is likely either, John exined himself, but she has known about me for a while, so she might be pulling some strings in the background. I doubt it, because she wants me in that tournament, but Id rather be cautious about this. I think the Horned Rat is most likely but I am not exactly sure if his skull is his face. Lastly, SecretBlonde well if it is him, the most likely lie is that he left for Brazil, which would be very unnerving. I dont think I know his face though. Then again maybe he is a random guy I ran into once.
Rave nodded, Well, apparently the lie doesnt matter anyhow, she pointed at the text, but fall could mean a lot of things; Herman doesnt necessarily need to die.
I hope so, but worst-case scenario is that he does, John sighed. Last verse though, and this is very interesting to me. It sounds like a whisper will bring me revtion, I will try to stop whatever is happening, and then Thanaes back, he said.
Are ya sure? Rave asked, I have to stress thating back to life is a thing that next to never happens.
But who else would be meant with she and what else would ascending mean? John probed.
Could always be Lydia ascending to the throne, the techno-lover added a theory, would make it more likely that she is the schemer, though. Dunno if I like that
Still a possible angle, though. Stupid prophecies being vague as fuck, John cursed on the headache that this would cause him. Maybe I dont even know the schemer''s face yet? The prophecy wasrgely in chronological order, so that event doesnt have to have happened yet? Then again, one verse was the wrong way around, so maybe the Horned Rat also twisted the timing on that one? The nowst verse was also weaved in between so the chronological appearance could just be for show? ARGH! he shouted out in frustration and caused more than a few heads to turn towards his position.
They had gotten pretty close to the media park, and the amount of people around was growing. Then again, some hipster couple (and Raves looks could fit those shoes for both of them, with her pink hair and fuzzy, yellow jacket) was expected to act a bit weirdly, so the attention was gone as quickly as it came.
Ill think about this more another time, John promised, having calmed down after putting his phone away.
Yeah, lets take your mind off that for a bit and have fun. Any ideas for the movie? Rave asked as they went inside and found a disy of currently running stuff.
Well, there is the new Star Wars, John suggested.
Rave nodded, That sounds okay.
While they stood in line something dawned on John. Do you have money on you? he asked. Uhmno, actually, she realized and they quickly left the line. Cant ya just pull some out of your inventory? Rave asked.
Just a second, John quickly created an empty Illusion Barrier and checked. He could withdraw money just fine, there was just one problem. They were all dors.
This is stupid, heined. I farmed this money yesterday before you called me. Why the hell would it be dors? Fuck you, G-A, John cursed, still in a foul mood, and pressed ept anyhow. Not like he had much of a choice. Just like that most of the money he had farmed up yesterday went down the drain. Good news, Gaia just gave me a way to convert my dors into euros.
And why are you that annoyed then? Rave wondered.
Because she had me pay 100 grand for it and the exchange rate is 0,85 euros to the dor, John answered but did it anyway. He only exchanged the amount he needed to pay for the tickets and popcorn, though. Now to get at the back of that line again
Chapter 173 – Running around the city.
Chapter 173 C Running around the city.
Well, that was a movie, John said, carefully.
Yu-p, Rave agreed, popping the p sound. A moment of silence then John sighed heavily.
I think having powers has just ruined fantasy movies for me, hemented, cant really get into it when I see a force choke and think about how I would actually fight a Sith.
By throwing Smander at them? Rave suggested. I mean, lets be honest here, Siths and all that jazz arent really that powerful.
True, true, John mused, Not as strong as a Space Marine anyhow.
Am not even going to entertain that debate with ya. The fact that I even know what a Jaghatai Khan is thanks to that podcast annoys me, Rave stated as they aimlessly walked around. There wasnt much more to talk about regarding the Last Jedi, unless they felt like climbing through plot holes. So, any shops you want to check out first? his girlfriend asked.
Mhm, Id like to buy aptop, John answered, Now that I have the money for it, that seems like a worthwhile investment.
I brought mine, Rave told him. Its somewhere in my luggage.
We cant game together on oneptop though, he reminded her.
True, true, she mused.
Suddenly she stopped and grabbed his hand. Whats the pro-? John was silenced by Rave pressing her lips on his. John was more than a little surprised by the sudden gesture of affection, even if it was just a quick meeting of their lips.
Heeeey, Rave giggled, I love you. For a few moments she just blinked at him, all adorable and heart-melt-inducing. Then she started walking again, pulling him along by his hand until he unfroze and caught up to walking beside her.
What was that about? he wanted to know.
Dunno, just wanted to do it? Rave said and stuck out her tongue, What, ya didnt like it?
On the contrary, John was ecstatic, but saying so would have been too easy. Maybe a bit more tongue action would be nice? he teased her just because he could.
What? Eating me out in the open? Rave pondered, I mean, maybe, but it is way too cold for that also, Im not an exhib!
Riiiiight, John said.
What? Im not! the pink haired woman responded and John bit back his catalogue of points to the contrary.
They passed a clothes shop, and Rave nodded at the door. Lets go inside and buy mittens, she raised their joined hands. As nice as the gesture was, in the cold winter their fingers were threatening to turn into icicles.
Good call, John therefore agreed. He needed to exchange some more money for that. Giving in to the annoyance of likely having to do that multiple times he just exchanged 10 grand and was done with that for the foreseeable future. I hate this system, he said after storing away most of that money in his inventory.
What now? Rave asked while she was browsing scarves. The mittens were on the second floor and they hadnt even stepped on the esctor that would bring them up there.
John put a sizable sum of the paper money into his front pocket. Not the best way to store cash, but he had the luxury of not caring too much about it. Well, apparently Euros dont get included in my money pool but instead take up inventory space. Its just a single slot but its still annoying, he exined.
Man, Gaia really has ya on her shit-list recently, doesnt she? Ya get nerfed, ya cant level for almost three months, ya get annoying interface interactions. Rave wiggled her fourth finger, trying to continue that list.
Well, it is still more convenient than before, John defended the green-haired deity, but I would be surprised if this is thest patch I get. My Gaia Dependency Factor is still at 80 after all.
Mhm Rave hummed as she put a Christmas hat on. The red and white thing was of obviously bad quality. Cheap lights were glued onto the kind of fuzz that wouldnt survive a single wash. Rave pped away the white bobble that fell right in front of her eyes, identally triggering the lights with that motion. So, how do I look? she asked, hands on her hips.
Between the bright yellow jacket, the blue pants, the pink hair and the red hat with the dancing lights there was only one answer. Stunning, he said the expected thing first, and like someone decided to randomize your colour scheme.
Ruuude! Raveughed and threw the hat back on the shelf it came from.
They were sidetracked for a little while, because Rave decided to check out hairpins. Sheughed at the idea of wearing any of them, John couldnt even fathom a world where anything orderly could co-exist with her mane anyhow. Then they almost got sidetracked again, because Rave spotted the underwear section. John would not have survived her trying things on, so he nudged her in the right direction.
Note to self: visit a lingerie store with girlfriend, he thought to himself. He just had to put that on a day he had a little more time and a little more freedom to take care of what seeing her in various states of undress always did to him.
Rave checked the disy of mittens and came to a conclusion after a mere twenty seconds. Ill take these, she decided and grabbed a thick, wooly pair of in brown. And you will be taking these, she tossed him a pair of bright pink gloves.
Uhm, John wanted to voice his objections as he looked at the things. Who even designed these?! Who gave the okay to sell that?! he screamed inside his mind as Rave gave him a grin that made it clear that she wouldnt take a no on this.
What? she stated after continued hesitation, its the same colour as my hair, its tots romantic. I even do the same for you! she waved with the brown mittens in her hand.
John was about toment that brown gloves were easily justifiable in societypared to bright pink ones. Then he remembered that he was talking to a hot punk with pink hair, a tongue piercing and a love for techno-music so big that her nickname was Rave, who also happened to be his harem approving girlfriend. He swallowed hisints and decided to take the bad with the good. They went to the checkout, John paid and they were back on the streets.
Man, my hands are warm now but boy is this less nice, John sighed when they kept walking hand in hand.
Ja, its a bit of a downer, Rave agreed. The thickyers of warming cloth made the hand contact less satisfying. But dont ya dare let go! she warned him.
Wouldnt dream of it, he assured.
Stoooooooooooop! a sudden mental shout in his mind. He did and Rave looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
Sylph wants something, he told her.
Damn right I do! Turn to your right, mister money maker, the tempest elemental instructed. He did and immediately knew what the bbering air spirit wanted.
In the window of a candy shop stood a gummy bear bigger than his hand. Glorious, its smooth red surface shining brightly in the golden light of the window''s light string, it was sitting like a king upon his throne inside a green, decorated Christmas sweets box surrounded by other, smaller, pieces of sugary candy. John saw how this was ending, and he was afraid of it.
That, buy me that! I demand this as your tribute to me! To the queen of winds and storms, the reincarnation of wind itself, the balloon that quacks in the night! I demand, John, I demaaaaaaaaaand! The shouts were growing increasingly wanting.
There was no way he could decline and get away with it unscathed, he would never hear the end of it if he did. However, he needed to somehow y damage control, or get something out of this. Then he had the idea that would satisfy everyone involved.
Okay, Sylph, youll get that gummy bear
HURRAY!
but only if you can be silent for twenty minutes while and after eating it, there was a moment of silence. He felt the mental conflict in Sylphs thoughts. Was it worth NOT talking for a whole twenty minutes and getting a gummy bear for that? A hard question for the tiny and not particrly bright elemental.
Uhm, ehm, uhr, ehhhh, Sylph started stammering as her brain failed to envision what twenty minutes of silence would even be like. Gnoooooooome, what should I doooooo?! she decided to find her answer in someone else.
Huh? If you r-really want it, I guess you will have to take the deal? came the startled answer.
But, but, butt, butt-plug, but, no wordsfor twenty minutes? How can I survive that? Sylph wanted to know.
I dont know but If you dont get that gummy bear I WILL NOT SURVIVE, Smander cried out. For fuck''s sake, take the deal before your boredom makes me take a bath in Undine and end both of our miserable existences.
A surprising amount of interest in that idea radiated from the mending elemental.
Cornered like that, Sylph finally agreed, Okay, fifteen minutes no words, I promise.
Twenty minutes, no sounds, John corrected her, plete silence.
Uwuwuwuwuwu.
Mimicking Gnome wont make me renegotiate, youngdy, he sternly thought at her.
John waited for an answer. Then there was a sudden wave of eptance from Sylph. Okay, okay, kay, k. You win, Ill be silent for twenty minutes while eating the gummy bear, she agreed with a heavy sigh. He had gotten what he wanted, so he went inside the shop.
And? Rave asked whilst following him.
And now we are buying Sylph a giant gummy bear so I get to beat the Elementalist challenge, the other girls get twenty minutes of rxation and Sylph gets what she wants. This way everyone is, mostly, happy, John exined while grabbing one of the boxes and carrying it to the cashier. He paid and, at the next corner, he created another barrier to put the thing into his inventory. He checked the time on his phone. Wow, we have been out for five hours already? he wondered. Between all the walking and the movie, he hadnt paid any attention to it at all.
Time sure flies, Rave said, Lets eat something fancy and then head back.
Sure, as long as I get to buy aptop on the way back, John agreed, any idea where to eat?
Lets just stumble into the first restaurant that is open.
That happened to be an Italian one. They went inside and looked at the menu. While they were deciding on the food, Rave ordered a beer; John took some juice. Drinking at this hour? John asked when the half-litre ss was ced in front of his girlfriend.
Oh, shaddup, whos gonna judge me, da princess? Rave slurred and took a mouthful of the golden liquid inside the tall ss. Okay, stuff tastes a lot stronger than what I am used to, she said, better take it slow.
Well, I am not carrying you home in case you forget yourself, John threatened, but they both knew that he would. He ordered some spaghetti; Rave had a pizza.
So, she started a new topic while they were waiting, used Observe on me yet?
Nope, thought Id wait until tomorrow. If Lydia wants to test us anyhow, I thought Id keep the suspense alive, John told her.
Mhm, but I am curiouswhat level was I again when you saved me?
48, which was already an insane spike from the 37 you were before that.
Probably still had some of Thanas blood in my system, Rave guessed, should thank Herman for checking that after the fight next time I see him. Anyhow, I just went through two months of daily training so tell me what I am at now!
Just a moment, John obliged her and used Observe.
Okay, so you are now level 61, John said, which is pretty impressivebut you only raised your Physical Stats it seems.
I guess that makes sense, daddy is not the best at teaching me about my magic; he is a martial artist after all, Rave said, took another swing of beer and added, I would need my bitch of a mother for my magic.
Does she have the same magic as you?
Nope, but simr. Mother is another light soul, her powers are all about lightning.
Isnt that an air type? John asked, thinking about Sylph.
Nah, theres a difference between lightning, which is a light type power, and electricity, which is an air type power. Its like attributes and stuff, Rave provided an unclear exnation. John made a mental note to ask Lydia about thister.
You lucked out inheriting that then, hemented, just as the food finally arrived.
Yeah, me and my sister both. Although Liz is with mother and she can stay there, Rave said.
Liz? Is that her name? John asked, he knew nothing of Raves sister aside from the fact that she existed, and that knowledge only got to him through the video Regan had showed him when Rave was presumed dead.
Yeah, its my younger sister''s name, Rave said and red at him, Dont ya go and try to fix my family situation, mister good-guy.
I have learnt to not try and help people who dont want it, John tried to ease her tension with his calm tone. At least not if Im not sure I have the answers.
Good, Rave rified and that was that. They moved onto the food on the table and less dangerous topics.
Chapter 174 – Fifteen minutes of silence.
Chapter 174 C Fifteen minutes of silence.
The couple arrived back at the house a while, and a side-track to get aptop for John,ter. Without a key, he had faced momentary panic, but quickly was reminded of the fact that he had two nice girls on the inside of the house. John had Aclysia open the door from the inside. Wee back, Master, Aclysia greeted him and stood waiting, hands folded in front of her waist, holding a salver. May I help you with anything?
You can tell me where you got that? John pointed at the circr metal thing.
Her grace has handed it to me; she told me that it worked nicely with my outfit, Aclysia exined.
Her grace? Is that another one of Lydias requests or Aclysias inte fuelled manners breaking through again? he asked himself but his mind was quickly taken off by his tempest elemental making her appearance.
Sylph twirled into real space in a yful pirouette. A light-hearted flute melody, apanied by streaks of green energy and the smell of a flower field, filled the entrance. Thest note was way off however and Sylph froze in her disy.
Maaaaan, shemented, I had this all nned out, it was really hard, you know, like, super hard. Concentrating that hard on mana is super boring, but I still did it for that awesome entrance and then that note is just off, it was an URRRRGH when I want more a haaaaaaah, like, super annoying, superbly annoying. Superb, what a weird word. Super-b, Supper-b, soup, supply, storestoreRIGHT MY GUMMY BEAR! Her mind had finally wrapped back around to what she wanted in the first ce. In a streak of motions, she circled around her summoner. Hey, hey, listen, can I have it, can I have it like now? Please? Pretty please?
Just a moment longer, John promised as he was about to get into the living room.
Rave stopped him by tapping on his shoulder. Ill beying down for a bit, she informed him, words underlined by a yawn. Feeling sleepy. Beer and food and jetg and stuff.
Sure, Ill wake you up if anything important happens, he assured her and the techno-lover walked upstairs.
In the living room he found Mono, sitting in her usual spot. Well, to be exact, it looked like she was sitting in her usual spot. With the room being set-up the same way as the one in the house John had left yesterday (albeit a bit bigger), it was difficult to draw a distinction. Even the couch was the same, so John took a seat on thefortable piece of furniture. Out of excuses, he pulled the green box from his inventory and ced it on the low table in front of him.
Sylph was instantly at work. Using precise air attacks, she cut open the stic seals that held the box closed. Open iiiiiit! she demanded, bouncing up and down in the air, like a hyper-active kid in a rocking chair. With no other choice avable, John obeyed and pulled open the lid. Next, he took out the stic encasing that protected the gummy bear from going stale. Slowly, he pulled off that secondyer of protection and now ity in front of him.
Surrounded by a square arrangement of smaller Christmas sweets, in front of John,id a giant, red gummy bear. Sylphs feelings about this were so strong that they started mixing with his own. H-he the tempest elemental whispered and flew closer.
Her hand ran over the ruby red surface, the small bumps that were meant to represent arms. The gummy bear''s cute little snout. Little to John at the very least; to Sylph, it was a worthy adversary in terms of size. The lips carved into the gtinous body showed a wide, split smile and in the surprisingly detailed eyes reflected ultimate kindness and understanding. From the round ears to the stubby feet, the gummy bear understood that its sole purpose in life was to be delicious.
He is perfect, Sylph said.
He? John had to ask.
YesMarvin, his name is Marvin, Sylph told him like it was the most natural thing in the world. II cannot eat him!
What?! That was Smander who appeared now, You are annoying us with that for HOURS and DAYS, and now you are saying you cant eat it?!
Look at him, Sylph said and gestured at the cute, shiny sweet. What monster would I be to eat such an innocent creature!
You would shut the fuck up for some time, which is just about all I care about! the ze elemental announced. How genuine she was about wanting Sylph to be quiet was always questionable, considering how much the two of them interacted when the fire spirit could have flown to anywhere else in the house.
Uhm, Gnome, who had also stepped into reality again, softly interjected, Sylph, if you dont eat it, it will be stale and gross. You really shouldnt
Shaddup, Gmean! the tempest elemental shouted and pulled Marvin from his box, hugging him tightly. I am not eating him and thats that!
Well, then I will melt him to take my aggressions out on something! Smander announced and a fire ignited in her right palm.
Try me, Sally! Sylph stuck out her tongue. The tempest elemental shone blue from within as Smander charged her attack and then threw a fireball at Sylph. The air spirit sped away so fast that Smanders attack only hit a piece of stic, the ze elemental couldnt even react until Sylph was already on her way out of the room.
GET BACK HERE YOU BLABBERING BUFFOON! the ze elemental screamed and flew after her.
John rubbed the bridge of his nose as the smell of burnt stic reached it. This is even worse than the worst-case scenario I imagined, he mumbled. He had expected Sylph to go into some ultimate sugar rush state and start speaking at lightning speed or tap into some parallel dimension, but now he had two elementals running rampant, in a house he was only a guest in. Worse yet, one of those loved to y with, and literally was, fire. Gnome, Aclysia, could you do me the favour and make sure that nothing gets broken?
Y-yeah.
Of course, Master, these two agreed and went after the troublemakers. Through the mental connection, John kept tabs on everything.
The hunt was on, and Sylph had the initial advantage. Not only was she several times faster by nature, but the fact that she was a straight-out better breed of elemental meant that her stat-line was higher. Furthermore, as Sylph continued to use her powers she discovered more and more uses for them.
What she had done in the living room, charging herself with lightning for an explosive burst of speed, was one of those new uses. As strong as that technique was, however, it was also very intense on her mana, and, after her disy at the entrance earlier, she had been short already. That,bined with the fact that she was carrying a gummy bear the size of herself, meant that the distance between herself and her still fully-charged and unhindered sister was shrinking by the second.
Stop it, Sylph! Smander shouted.
The tempest elemental didnt think about listening to her buzzkill of a bitchy sister. Turning a tight curve, Sylph was now back on her way to the living room, a green streak of light. Sylph knew that her sister wasnt as nimble as she was, Smander would have to fly a wider curve, giving Sylph some room to build-up her distance again. Her fiery sister had her own tricks up her sleeve, however. Sure, she wasnt as agile as Sylph, but, by using a quick burst of fire to change her trajectory, Smander took the corner just as well as the air spirit did.
Never, ever, will I give up Marvin! He is my soulmate! Sylph shouted while using what little mana she had left to open the door that led back to the living room. With a gust of wind, Sylph burst back through, quickly dodging the hand of her oldest sister, Gnome, who had been waiting to catch her.
Gnome was many things, cute, responsible, a moving rock, but quick was not one of them. Even with the massive hindrance in her arms, Sylph easily dodged the catching attempt and escaped through her sisters legs. She even had enough time to affirm that Gnome was, once again, not wearing panties. If she had had the mana for it, Sylph would have flipped her skirt now, but there were bigger worries.
Stop being such an idiot, Sylph!
NEVERRRRRRRR, Sylph shouted back. If idiocy is what it takes to be happy I will be dumb until the world dies, yes, let me babble and drabble for I am Sylph, the happiest, chirpiest elemental on Airter! Did you know that I have 700 followers? I would say that is quite the achievement, I mean, all I do is talk the whole day and they re-air all of it.
I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING TWITTER HISTORY!
Airter! Its Airter! Sylph corrected the ze elemental and threw out a few drops of rain in her path. The liquid collided straight with Smander, who was blinded for a moment as the water vaporized on her face.
With that little advantage, Sylph quickly vanished into the nearest room. That turned out to be a mistake. The kitchen she found herself in had no other doors she could flee through. She couldnt go back; Smander was too close. Her eyes fell on an arrangement of washed but not yet stored away kitchen utensils. She managed to hide inside a pot, closing the lid over her and Marvin. She isted her thoughts far from Smanders, so that the ze elemental wouldnt be able to find her using their shared connection to John and spied out of a little gap.
Smander came to a sudden halt in the kitchen and looked around. Where are you now, Sylph? she shouted, Just so you know that was a dick move, for that alone I will scorch that gummy bear until you can use him in a coal nt.
Dont worry, the tempest elemental whispered to Marvin, She will never find us here; she is way too impatient to search through every pot. Although I wouldnt either. I mean that is, like, super annoying, ultra to be more precise, maybe even mega. I would probably just start using wind magic and
If you dont want toe out! Smander announced and created a giant ball of fire over her head, I will smoke you out of hiding!
Sylph stared at her deadly determined (but mostly pissed off) sister. Dont worry Marvin, the tempest elemental said, I will protect you until the end.
You have three more seconds before I turn this whole kitchen into a burning hell! Three! Sylph turned to hug Marvin, Two! she could feel the heat radiating from her sister, On- A loud bell-like sound, followed by a scream of pain ended the countdown.
Sylph peeked outside to find Aclysia, who had smacked Smander over the head with her newly acquired salver. The Artificial Guardian grabbed the stunned Smander and held her close. The ze elemental tried to wind herself out or be incorporeal but she was unable to flee from the Touch of the Abyss. Whats the big de-? she started to ask but stopped herself when she looked up. Even Sylph, in her safe hiding ce, gulped.
Never threaten my kitchen, Aclysias voice was as cold and smooth as a de on a winter night. Her wide-open, green eyes had lost all of her usual kindness. Whatever anger Smander had felt paled next to the rage she was now the target of. Never.
Y-yes, madam, Smander quietly agreed, and the hand around her opened.
Out, Aclysiamanded and the ze elemental hastily obeyed. Sylph breathed in relief but the air got stuck in her not lungs, she didnt have lungs, the air just got stuck, when Aclysias eyes found her spying out of her pot. She shivered head to toe, the boundless rage now directed at her. Never get my kitchen involved in this again.
Can do, I promise, I will take the bestest of care of Marvin, I really will. Please dont be angry, I mean, you are seriously scaring me right now, why are you staring at me like that, Aclysia. Pleeassseee dont be mad with meeeeee, Sylph whined as she floated out of the kitchen.
Do not threaten my kitchen C Never my kitchen, the artificial guardian reiterated, her tone reversing back to her usual, quiet demeanour, I make Masters food here.
I promise, Ill never, I swear on Marvins deliciousness, which is probably very high. I would think so, I mean, look at him. He just looks so yummy. Not that I would try him, I am just saying that he probably is very, verrrrryyy tasty.
I am satisfied with that promise, Aclysia stated and smiled a bit, having found her bnce again now that her domain was no longer under threat.
Sylph took Marvin to one of the unused rooms on the second floor. Using a small basket and handkerchiefs she made him a little bed and put him inside. Today was an eventful day, she said and smiled down on the gummy bear. Even after all of what they had been through, he still shone as radiant as ten minutes ago. I love you, Sylph kissed Marvin goodnight.
She leaned back and smiled even brighter. What a wonderful win against Smander. Her lips were slightly sticky now though, she better clean that up. She licked her lips, and the sugary taste of strawberry aroma filled her entire being. It was only for a moment though, then her elemental essence had already absorbed all of the fragrance and she was left with a want for more.
Surely one more kiss wont hurt, right? she thought and gave into the desire. First, she kissed the gummy bear, then she craved more and more, slowly moving onto eating him. I am so sorry, Marvin, Sylph said when she, sniffing, cut out a piece of him with her powers.
The gummy bear only looked back with his eyes of understanding and eternal wisdom. It is fine, young one, the gummy bear seemed to speak to her as she nibbled on his ears. I know no bigger honour than to be eaten by you, for you are the cutest and sexiest elemental around.
You are too wise for this world, truly a magnificent beast, a creature from legends, I will tell my kids about you. Not that I can have any C not that way anyway. I wonder. Maybe I should ask John about that. I mean, he has gotten a Perk offer for Aclysia, so why not for elementals? What say you, walking handkerchief?
The handkerchief sat down at her side. I say, Sylph, you are tripping balls right now, because this might be a bit too much sugar for you, the dinosaur-closet ended.
Whaaaaaaat, nooooooooo, Sylphughed and took another bite, You are being stupid.
The taste of strawberry was reinforced by cherry aroma as she kept eating, then raspberry was added to the mix. A bird passed by the window. Does that seem to fly through honey for you? Sylph asked the tribe of L-puts passing by.
We do, oh mighty Sylph, heiress of wind, storm of storms, wrecker of Smanders Tetris score.
Didnt you forget something? Sylph asked.
The tribespeople put their masked heads, which were also their hands, together and whispered something. Finally, the Tata-put with the smallest hand turned back to her. Concubine of the Gamer, Johnnie Money!
The RaRa-put tribe vanished in a silent poooof, leaving Sylph to look at the bird again. Yo, whaddya looking at? It asked. Sylph was tempted to fly after it, but the gummy bear underneath her hands urged her to eat it instead. Her mouth had forgotten the way the gtine stuck to her teeth in gooey bits of delightful sweetness. Compared to the small ones Hermes had given her, this big gummy bear was a true testament to humanity''s greatness.
She had to peel the sticking stuff off her teeth with her tongue. Which was way harder than it needed to be because she needed to resist the urge to just take another bite while the previous one was still getting dissolved by her body. She also had to keep silent, and that was a task that took all of her concentration. Her vow to John, as mean as it may have been of her summoner to ask this of her in the first ce, was something that she had to keep.
Wait, didnt she just talk to the Agag-tup tribe? What tribe? Sylph didnt remember. Couldnt have been that important. Did that furniture just move? Those colours are new! Sylph thought as the world around her seemed to slowly shift back into ce.
Even the bird sped up again, albeit only a bit. The distances between the furniture grew but at the same time so did the furniture. Marvin was now nothing more than three bites away from beingpletely gone. Sylph silently thanked the benevolent gummy bear for his ready sacrifice. Then she ate the rest of it.
Chapter 175 – Twenty minutes tea time
Chapter 175 C Twenty minutes tea time
Why is there such chaos going on? Lydia asked.
The princess had exchanged her uniform for a knee-length, loose skirt, ck stockings and a white blouse, all of which was tailored to fit her perfectly. Johns dick reminded him that it hadnt been used in a bit, by his very warped standards, taking the mere sight of the princess as an excuse to tax away some of his blood. It wasnt enough to get a full erection, but his pants were growing tighter. Not tight enough to prevent him from wondering where the princess had left her rapier, however.
Lydia sat down next to Mono (who took no interest in her whatsoever) at the dining table and eyed the opened package in front of the couch with interest. I did not take you for a sweet tooth, shemented.
I am not, Sylph is, John said, which is also what that noise is about.
Was about, Aclysia, following the rather sudden evacuation of the kitchen by Smander and Sylph, corrected.
It ispretty hard to control her, John apologized, watching as Sylph vanished upstairs with the gummy bear, dubbed Marvin, in her arms.
He kept an eye on her through their mental connection,st time she only had some small gummy bears and even that had caused her to get a sugar rush. God alone knew what would happen to that girl if she ate that whole thing, which, John had no doubt about it, would happen. Also, he wanted to know if she kept her promise. He quickly checked if his ss was correctly set-up. The worst thing that could happen was that he managed to work the miracle of getting her to shut up for 20 minutes and then forgot to make it count.
As long as there has been no damage done to my property, Lydia shrugged it off.
Aclysia, would you mind preparing some more tea? John requested and made his way over to the dining table. That earned a questioning look from the princess. Might as well kill time, or do you have anything else to do?
Not immediately, she admitted and put her chin on her raised wrist. Like that, giving him the slightest of smiles, the beauty of her blue eyes really came out. She was sizing him up, like she had so often before. The purpose was different though. Rather than a pawn in her game or a sexual partner, now she seemed to be evaluating if she could have a worthwhile conversation with him. Fine then, John, what do you wish to talk about?
Truth, he stated, and fished his smartphone out of his pants, as he sat down opposite her. I have many things I have yet to understand, and you know most of these I reckon.
Lydia nodded, Good, I was afraid for a moment you would waste my time with ceaseless flirtations.
Maybe another time, John teased, Who knows? You might like it.
I very much doubt it, the princess stated. In contrast to her harsh words the princess rtionship points had risen to 53, although John couldnt pinpoint what the exact reason for that would have been. Could have been just that sex helped pair bonding. Could have been how direct he was with her. He really wanted to know.
John considered himself a good guy by nature, but he still had some selfish motives for most things he did. If he had been just selflessly nice, he would have gone with Moira, on that fateful day when he had met Rave. His first and foremost hope was, still, to build a harem, and, even as big as it already was, there was always room for a stern German princess. He liked her, not as much as Rave or Aclysia of course, but she was a breath of fresh air. Even if she decided to only keep him around as an ally with asional sexual favours, he still would have a very powerful friend in her. However, bending his character to make friends was not what he had in mind.
I think I can put a dent in that foundation, he hummed as suavely as possible. Then, his tone swung to informal. He had every intention to make good on the promise of ceaseless flirtations, but first he would prove that he had a head besides the one between his legs. So, Jane informed me that there apparently is some difference between lightning and electricity magic, mind filling me in?
Lydia seemed somewhat relieved that the talk moved from social to informal topics. It was clear what she was morefortable with. It is an issue of having limited words for simr things, Lydia told him, Lightning magic is light magic that behaves like electricity but isnt. You cant power a machine with lightning magic, and it is much more effective against magical creatures than physical beings. Electricity is what you think it is, just control of electric currents.
Okay, and that difference is because?
To that Lydia had no clear answer, Why is a ball the most desired state for liquid matter in zero gravity? Some things are just at the base and cant be exined.
Unless you are a theoretical physicist, John pointed out.
Mhm, Lydia hummed, Indeed, there are certain individuals who aim to find the core of every truth. An honourable effort. All I know about this matter is that these powers are different in nature, even if simr in name and appearance. It is like nk and Lorylim powers. They cause the average person instinctive repulsion, yet they are as different as water and oil.
John raised an eyebrow and just let Lydia pick up on his questioning gaze.
Are you not aware of the Lorylim? she asked, disapprovingly.
I have heard the term before and that theyre kind of nasty, but thats about it.
You are a summoner and yet you only describe the Lorylim as kind of nasty, Lydia clicked her tongue. Listen and listen well, John, this is important. Tangled to our reality are the six elemental realms of fire, water, air, earth, shadow and light. They have many terms, from Kingdoms to nes, thetter being much moremon. Between these six entangled realms exists the ne of the Lorylim. Sometimes we call it the void, but it is far from empty. How and why somebody eventually took a peek into that ne, I do not know. Important is that they let them in. These creatures, called Lorylim, are grotesque, illogical things. You cannot bargain with them, you cannot gain anything from them and they are only out to corrupt everything they can. If you ever have the misfortune to run into one of these, stay your distance and kill it from as far away as you can.
That sounded highly rming. It would have been nice to know of the existence of some eldritch trans-dimensional aliens sooner. Do these Lorylim, voidlings, whatever, things cross over often?
Hardly, Lydia said. Thest sighting in Germany was twenty years ago. They are more numerous in the Middle East, for yet more mysterious reasons. Likely just theck of human activity there, since Babel. She paused for a moment. Nevertheless, they are a dangerous and enigmatic force one should be informed about. Especially as you contract beings from other nes of existence.
John nodded, what Lydia just told him was like education about nuclear bombs. The likelihood that he ever had to face, less even use, one was close to null, but, if it were to happen, it was better to know that the big red button was something he shouldnt press. Although, given my potential and potential longevity actually, maybe I should treat the eventual encounter as guaranteed?
Aclysia came back with the tea, and, at the same time, John started to see things through Sylphs eyes he could not entirelyprehend. Apparently, the furniture was made of chameleons now? Something like that was taking ce. Overexposure to gummy bears makes Sylph trip balls, he noted mentally.
Aclysia put down two tea sets in front of John and Lydia. After pouring both of them a cup, she put the porcin can on top of a metal cage, which held a small candle in the middle she had ignited in advance. It would keep the tea hot for a longer time.
Any more questions? Lydia asked.
Yes, and let me be direct here, he said and handed her his smartphone. What do you think of this? What he showed her was the prophecy, together with all of the things he had gathered about it up to this point. Including her as one of the potential subjects. John hoped that the princess would understand his caution and not make a scene.
He had a very simple reason for doing this: he was stuck. Contrary to what he had wanted, he had spent most of the date thinking about this prophecy, especially while heading back. He had realized nothing of value. Nothing that would help him potentially dodge the fate aimed at Herman as per this prophecy. If Lydia was the schemer she would hopefully reveal herself, either through error or through truth. Even if she remained capable of hiding herself, John could hardly lose anything, since he was already at a dead end.
Concerning, Lydia said, after having read through everything twice. She handed him back the phone. Your idea that I could be said schemer is both ttering and ridiculous. I only need you for emperorship over Germaniae Rex. However, this answer will not help you, so you may keep your suspicion about me.
I am sorry, John said, watching her rtionship score drop to 37. This created a dent in their young rtionship, but the prophecy was an immediate concern that didnt allow much leeway. The score went up to 43, following his apology, but Lydia remained cold for the moment. Her feelings seem genuine, John thought as he put his phone away.
Magus report included that you were told a prophecy by the Horned Rat. I didnt want to be included due to this gods reputation, and I still stand by that sentiment. If you want any aid in this matter, understand that I will keep it to the effortless and easily denied, Lydia spoke and waited for him to ask further questions.
John shook his head. I wanted to know if you could be the schemer and I no longer think you are, that is enough for me, he exined.
There was a moment where they both just sipped tea until Lydia finally said. If you have no other questions, I can educate you on another topic, she suggested.
Please do, John eagerly agreed. The more he knew, the less bad surprises he would have in the long run.
Aclysia, would you bring me a bowl, a shot-ss and a pitcher of water? the princess then suddenly asked.
Of course, princess, the artificial guardian readily agreed and returned a momentter with the requested items.
Lydia ced the ss inside the bowl. She needed to stand to reach all the way to the middle of the table. Her braid fell down the left side of her head as she poured water into the bowl until it was just high enough to reach the edge of the shot ss inside, without spilling any into it.
This is the modern theory of how gods are born, Lydia exined and spilled a little bit of water on her hand. Gods are a talkative bunch, but they are rarely happy to be inspected and even rarer weak enough that they can be forced to be. The theory I am about to present to you is about forty years old and not necessarily the absolute truth; however, it is the closest we have.
John gestured his understanding, and Lydia hovered her index finger over the still empty shot ss. A single drop fell from the digit into the small ss.
It always starts with a target of faith, usually an animal, Lydia said, It is important to note that Faith doesnt necessarily mean worship, it can just as easily be the scapegoat for anger, hatred, fear or other negative emotions. That symbol develops into an abyssal creature, time passes, it absorbs power from the worship or bes stronger through unifying its consciousness with others. We call that a legionnaire lifeform.
That John had already known, the Vermintide Observe had told him as much.
As time goes, and a central will forms or dominates in that legionnaire lifeform, it either stops in its development, bing an imposing beast, or it ims human Faith, the princess said and nodded at the bowl full of water. Faith is energy all humans generate just by existing. If the conditions are right, one of these already extremely powerful magical entities connects with human faith, Lydia took the pitcher up again and poured into the ss until it spilled over, the two bodies of water, bowl and ss, connected into one. Thus, a god is born. It is important to note that Faith can take many forms outside of simple belief as well. Morning routines, a love for chocte, all that can be faith. The strongest form of faith is, as far as theory goes, a dying wish. The entirety of the remaining human soul is likely converted into Faith in that moment. Many strong gods have been born from the souls of humans that died in simr disasters. Even something as unimportant as looking forward to breakfast could create a god. Although, in all due likelihood, it would bebined with another, less specific variety of food worship.
John thought about that for a moment. And only animals or symbols can be gods? What about humans? he then asked. Lydia smiled, she had expected that question. Her stockings started to flow from her legs. Oh, so thats where she left her rapier, John realized.
The liquid metal formed a tall cylinder around the edges of the ss and once again isted two bodies of water from each other. Human souls do not spill over, she exined as she poured the rest of the pitcher into the cylinder. We have sheer infinite room to grow by nature, and, because we cannot connect our own power to the power of Faith, we cannot be gods. Not that we need to, talented humans can ovee gods.
John raised an eyebrow, But what if someone were to do this? he asked, reached into the bowl and used Craft on the ss. It shattered into four even pieces, and the water in the cylinder now escaped into the bowl. It quickly flowed over and onto the table. Lydia created a new ring around the flowing water to keep it from dripping onto the floor.
A warning would have been appreciated, she stated.
I brought the maid, I can create some of the dirt, the Gamer replied jokingly.
A not entirely unfounded retort in any case, that question is redundant. I cannot imagine the amount of power needed to break the natural barriers of the human soul so thoroughly that one could connect to Faith. Not even Romulus has tapped into godhood yet. The closest humans get to it are demi-gods, the very rare children between gods and humans, and even those resemble Innate Fighters more closely than they do gods.
Okay, thank you for the lesson, John said and put the ss back together via a second use of Craft. Aclysia had gotten a towel in the meantime and now mopped up the spilled water.
Anything else you would appreciate knowing? Lydia asked.
I always have more questions, John admitted and was about to speak up when he felt a hyperactive poking against his leg.
He looked down to see Sylph, in her big form, kneeling between his legs, underneath the table. She must have sneaked down there in incorporeal form and was now trying to get his attention. For what purpose was a mystery to John. What do you want, Sylph?
There was a quick session of gestures, so quick in fact that her movements were almost untraceable to his eyes. A bored expression, a silent yapping of her mouth, her hands shaking something invisible and then she poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue, finishing the scene with a wink while she put on an imaginary crown.
Okay, so you are bored because you still cant talk, so you want to suck me off in front of the princess? he asked. Sylph turned into one of those bobble-head figures, her head nodding at a massive speed. John was concerned thrice over. First, because that sent her green hair flying in all directions and second, because he was able to trante all of Sylphs madness on the first try, and thrice, because he was into the idea.
Public sex wasnt his cup of tea, but a secret blowjob in front of a princess he had fucked up the ass? Yeah, that sounded nice. Sylph didnt wait for his voiced approval and instead unzipped his pants, using her abilities to mask the sound.
She couldnt mask John looking at the floor for that long however. What are you looking at? Lydia asked and was about to check under the table when Aclysia intervened.
Another cup of tea, princess? the servant suggested.
Of course, thank you, Lydia answered and stopped in her motion; the diversion was sessful.
I got your back, master, he heard a mentalment from the artificial guardian.
The gratitude he felt at that moment was only surpassed by the feeling of Sylphs shocking tongue licking over his semi-erect dick. Already hyper by nature, the extreme sugar rush must have sent her into some sort of ultra-speed. Her worshipping motions were lightning fast. However, she was also under the impression that Johns dick could talk, so not everything was sunny in the tempest elemental''s head.
Sylph was busy coating his dick with that fine mist that was her saliva recement, and, within a few seconds, she was already rushing up and down his lubricated dick at speeds he had never imagined. Somehow, perhaps through passive use of her powers, she did all of that without creating a single sound.
Perverts, all of you, mumbled Mono as she turned a page.
I thought you had more questions for me, John? Lydia probed after sipping her tea.
Ye-aha, sorry, he gasped. Sylph was using her tongue to tease everyst bit of the engorged head. Trying to talk at the same time as receiving such attention was slightly straining. Just was away for a moment, his hand wed at the edge of the table. A gesture that Lydia didnt miss.
Are you not feeling well? she asked with a raised eyebrow. Her iron tone only showed the slightest bit of concern. I will need you to be at maximum capacity tomorrow, she reminded him, I want to see your abilities in action.
Do not worryprincess he suppressed a groan there, I am always at maximum capacity after ten minutes of rxation.
Impressive, so you need next to no sleep? Lydia wondered. The reports indicated that you do.
No-mhm-t what I was talking about, he waved it off as Sylph took him all the way down to the base into her throat. Just for a moment though, she was way too hyper to stay deepthroating for an extended period of time. Better bob back and forth at the speed of sound.
John was just about ready to cum, there was only so much stimtion he could withstand within a single moment. And so, he did. In front of an anal loving princess he came underneath a dining table, getting a blowjob by an air spirit. He fell back in his chair when his body rxed. Life is pretty great, he stated and closed the Challenge beaten window that popped up.
Sylph, to his surprise, did not instantly start talking again, but instead turned underneath the table. She crawled out next to Lydia, who stared at the small girl in surprise, having never seen Sylph in her big form before. There was an even bigger surprise for everyone when the tempest elemental pressed her mouth on Lydias and French kissed her.
The princess eyes opened wide, first in shock, then in curiosity and finally in wonder, as an extremely tasty liquidnded in her mouth. She must have realized within the second she tasted it what had been happening.
Gently, she pushed Sylph away. The amount of control she had as she gulped, then rinsed his cum down with tea, was staggering. John broke a bit of a cold sweat as a deafening silence filled the room. Had he known that Sylph would be this much of a perverted idiot, he wouldnt have gone through with this. Or maybe he would have. Why is there never any pre-nut rity?
John Newman, did you just enjoy a blowjob while trying to talk to me? Lydia finally asked, staring him down with pure, grey eyes.
Yes, John answered, having the decency of sounding guilty. He had that almost forgotten feeling of regretful realization, urring after having jerked off to the weirdest kind of porn one could find.
I suggest you get more practice in concentrating then, your conversation skills were severely crippled, Lydia suggested.
Wait, what? he thought. Wait, what? he repeated out loud.
What what? Sylph asked.
Be quiet, Sylph, Aclysiamanded.
I REFUSE! I just shared a tasty treat with the princess, and I demand a thank you. Say: Thank you, oh greatest concubine, princess.
The princess twirled the end of her braid around her index finger, blushing a bit. Her eyes darted from Sylph, to the table, to John and back. She couldnt actually be giving that a thought, could she? In the end she didnt say what Sylph wanted, but what left her mouth was a surprise nevertheless. I agree that it was a delicious treat, thank you, Sylph.
Not good enough, NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Sylph said but was dragged away by Aclysia.
I will take disciplinary measures, the artificial guardian promised as they left the room.
You look like you are trying to solve an iprehensible riddle, Lydia said and used the Ferforitum still on the table to pour herself a new cup, now that a sentient metal girl was no longer around to do it for her.
I assumed you would be furious with me, John spoke his mind.
I am slightly annoyed by theck of respect, both from you for going through with this act and from Sylph for literally shoving your seed down my throat. Why is it that delicious, by the way?
I got a Perk for it. You are really not angry? he probed further.
Lydia resumed ying with her braid as she carefully picked her next words. Ehem, how do I best put this? she mumbled and slowly turned red. As you may or may not have noticed, I am a bit of a sexually interested individual myself, the princess then stated, her tone that of a neen-year-old girl who was talking about her interests in bed for the first time. Which, John had to remind himself, was almost exactly what she was. Under the stern and metallicyers was a pervert just like himself, normal people didnt enjoy anal sex as much as she did.
Lydia cleared her throat again and, perhaps following an old habit, opened her hair C just to immediately start braiding it again. To be honest, I was considering a way to find a new partner finding someone with the right mixture of discretion and sexual ability is difficult though. By my estimations, you fit the bill, she stated, parting her flowing brown hair into three big strands. You are a Latebloomer, but you are not unstoppable yet. If you betray me, I can have you removed. By the time you realize your potential, the rtionship will cause much less public outcry, she started braiding her hair into a cohesive unit again, only some shorter strands escaped and framed her face. Despite what she just said, she seemed increasingly more flustered.
How was it that this girl could carefully threaten to murder him, ask him to fuck her without a second of hesitation, but, now that they were talking about her perversion, it was suddenly embarrassing.
Then it clicked in Johns head.
Her embarrassment stemmed from the fact that she was talking about herself. Before she was just using him for whatever she wanted, to win the tournament, to get some stress relief, to kill some time. He could have been literally anyone, there was a sense of distance, a stone wall between them. A stone wall that was now slowly getting chipped away. But why? John wondered, Why is she opening up to me?
Honestly, I wanted to watch from a distance for a while first, Lydia continued, See if you were even ready to engage in these sorts of activities. Check if Magus reports werent overblown. Even then I thought I would keep you at arms-length.
John leaned in, listening closely. The princess wasnt even looking at him, instead shifting in her seat, eyes downcast, when she did raise them she was surprised at how close he had gotten. For a moment she was taken aback, blushing deeply. Then she found herposure again and sat straight, her voice finding bnce again.
However, as Rave demanded for things between us to be more open and I agreed toply, I am opening to you at this sooner date. The fact is that I am interested in these debaucheries your group evidently is already heavily practicing, she said, although her tone was iron again there was a warmth to it now that was missing before. In short, John Newman, I would be happy to be a part of whatever perversions you can think of. Under the condition that whatever rtionship we have stays private.
Absolutely, John agreed and got a new kind of window C definitely his new favourite.
Just lust or more, wherever this goes, Im happy toply.
The princess seemed quite relieved at that answer. They had a basic agreement before their little engagement yesterday, but this felt more thorough and official. With it out of the way, she also seemed eager to return to the formal talk. Now, any more questions in actuality? Or do you have another spirit waiting to give you a blowjob? Lydia wanted to know.
Nope, John peeked over to Mono who was shaking her head at how the conversation had concluded. Im just happy to have someone new understand how we do things in the bedroom.
Chapter 176 – First rule of Lyly’s training.
Chapter 176 C First rule of Lylys training.
I will have to stress that whatever happens today will stay ssified, Lydia repeated for the third time in half an hour. This includes all matters of sexual nature, but first and foremost, we are talking about whatever Skills or abilities anyone in this group, including me, reveals during this training. Nothing shall reach the public before I deem it to be necessary. Understood?
Ja, for heavens sake, Rave groaned, we agree. Now, can John please open a dungeon, so I can punch something really hard in the face? The techno-lover had been informed about Lydias decision to be a temporary member of Johns harem. Of course, she was happy about that, more people in the bed meant more people she could, literally, fuck with. Really, Lylytina, I thought you, Lylytina, were the type to just give direct orders that you, Lylytina, then waited to get followed. Like, if someone asked if you, Lylytina, could repeat that, you would make them run fiftyps around the Reichstag.
Is it necessary to repeat that nickname you have given me so often? Lydia asked, ignoring the quip at the end. Her nerves seemed strained enough as it was.
Is it necessary to repeat the same instructions this many times? Rave shot back, All we wanted to talk about is what level of enemies John should pick.
Lydias fingers drummed on the dining table, then she sighed. I suppose you have a point. I apologize, she admitted, and attention turned to John who was looking at the monster table.
He could easily solo all of these, as he had in the past. In fact, it was probably time to move on to higher dungeons. Rave was level 61 now, but knowing her, she would be able to punch far above her weight. Last he had Observed Lydia, she had been level 68, better check if that still held true.
It did, nothing changed on that front. This was all a little easier when I could just look at numbers above peoples heads Gaia always nerfing me is super annoying.
Yeah, great, now I have to make another choice, thanks, his thoughts were filled with sarcasm. Just to not challenge his right to existence too much, he added, but actually thanks that youve jumpstarted and keep fuelling my powers.
As of this moment, there was no reason to take a ss Level over a new information gathering parameter. One was something he could get anyway with some time invested and the other was something that was likely not going to show up again. It was unlikely to be vital intel, but a single ss Level really was not worth that much.
Mhm, well, this will be nice grounds for experimentation, I guess? John mumbled before announcing his idea. See, although I know that you can gain Experience using the group system, I have no idea how that Experience is calcted. Only thing I know for somewhat certain is that I get more than you do. Because I am the Gamer, I reckon. If you get more Experience from beating monsters of your level, or if I can pull people through higher-levelled dungeons to power-grind them, I do not know, however.
Just stop overthinking it, John, and just put up the strongest enemy ya can conjure! Rave demanded.
Dont be that hasty in your decision, Rave, Lydia chimed in. Information like this could prove vital in the future.
Urgh, Rave sank halfway under the table, Okay, you two killjoys keep thinking about that then. Yo, Aclysia, do you have a coke for me?
I am afraid not, mistress Rave, the artificial guardian apologized, bowing with her salver in hand, she had grown ustomed to the object and it did harmonize with her servant role, so John approved.
I have several dungeons I need to clear from start to finish, though, John said to Lydia. From what it looked like, Rave would be happy with whatever decision they came to, as long as they came to a decision. She was going through a list of beverages, none of which Aclysia had avable.
Lydia slightly tilted her head. In that case, why are we not doing that?
Because the early floors will be a massive time sink then again John looked at his sses, he still wanted to get a level in Arcanist. Getting an idea on what each of the sses could provide, Perk wise, was a priority when it came to intel gathering.
The good news was that the mana cost reduction for the elementals was the Sticking Bonus from Elementalist. Also, that Challenge was pretty easy. Not that that meant the whole level would be easy, though. Okay, how about we grind up through some dungeons and see how much experience you get for mobs at each stagelike Angels, lets kill Angels, he suggested at random.
Wait! Rave intervened, I can see my level progression now? No more wild guessing?
At least Gaia told me so, John shrugged, youll have to look that up for yourself.
Well, how? Rave asked.
He raised an eyebrow, Jane, did you seriously forget that you have your own Character Sheet as long as we are in a group?
Uhm the techno-lover looked to the side, Noooo?
Jaaane? John teased. Are you, perhaps, a bit stupid?
Oh, shaddup! she burst out and yfully boxed him on the shoulder. Okay, yeah, I did forget, so how do I okay, thats easy. The window appeared in front of her. Also, another change, although one John had noticed this one sooner. He could now see the windows of other people in his group.
Rave quickly found the purple bar, Oh hey, I am already close to the next level, neat, Rave said.
Lydia, who had followed the conversation, looked at her own window, I am at about 5 percent, she informed the group. How peculiar an ability, she followed it up, looking over the information disyed. So, this is what you see? Interesting That aside, I agree to your n, John.
Great, lets go then! John raised his arm and created the Instant Dungeon. All of them were immediately pulled inside. Lydias hands moved hastily, causing pieces of metal around her to stir, obviously in preparation for sudden assants.
Rx, we need to enter some catbs or stuff first, Rave told her.
Yup. Unless you get someone like Magoi, to put up another one of those Intermediary Barriers, we need to find the entrance to the actual dungeon first. Which is not really hard. For the Skaven it was a giant hole in the ground.
John stood up and took the lead. They would probably find the answer outside. He opened the front door and was presented with a literal stairway to heaven. The steps were made out of tforms of radiant gold. Warm as the sight was, the air that washed over his skin was anything but. Hastily, he closed the door again.
So, I have no idea if -quote unquote- heaven is temperate, he admitted. I think yes, several dungeons I have been in had some sort of sky or temperature changing effect, but I dont know for sure. Want to take the risk or get our winter clothes first?
I say, I am not leaving the house if it is that cold, unless Smander warms everything up, Rave gave her opinion.
The elemental girls took this as their signal to all materialize. I mean, okay, if I get the mana for it but dont expect me to heat you all the way through all of the fights, I want to burn stuff, Smandermented.
Meanwhile both Gnome and Undine put in their best efforts to keep Sylph from interrupting the group nning. They seeded by giving Sylph some basic math to do. While the air spirit was busy counting on her fingers and mumbling, her thought process regrly interrupted by her own whimsiness, the party was able to chat uninterrupted.
I think it is better if we are cautious about this, Lydia said.
You meat-people should really get your clothes, Mono drilymented, Wouldnt want your oh-so-important balls to freeze, would you, Master?
I am deeply sorry that I forgot to remind you of this possibility, master, Aclysia added, bowing as if she was still holding the salver she had left behind in real-space.
I think we all agree to get our jackets first then. If we dont need them, I throw them into my inventory, John stated.
Two minutester they were at the same spot but in considerably more fitting clothing. Lets do this! Rave, enthused that things were finally taking a violent turn, shouted and kicked open the door. The piece of wood flew forwards and skidded over the metal walkway.
Lydia winced like a piece of her soul had been attached to that door. My property!
Chix, Lylytina, Raveughed, slowly lowering her foot. Its just a barrier.
I am very aware and yet I find such wanton destruction repulsive. Property is the backbone of civilization, Lydia responded in her typical seriousness.
You dont want to face the Anti-Depressant then, John said, that boss fight levels the whole city. Anyhow, he pointed at the stairs made from golden light, leading up to a giant gate ced up high. The actual dungeon was doubtlessly located behind that.
They made their way up there, all nine of them. Sylph and Smander (the former still trying to solve the mystery of 11 times 33 divided by 3) were flying and what Undine did was not actually walking as much as flowing, but the rest of them, Lydia, Aclysia, Mono, Gnome, Rave and finally he, himself, were actually walking. Jesus, my party is getting big, John thought and nced over his shoulder, and I have fucked almost all of them. Everyone, except Mono wonder if Ill change that today
John had a few ulterior motives for wanting to grind out levels. Two, to be exact, that went beyond his stated goals of supporting Lydia in gaining an understanding and just general power increases. One was to get his Charisma to 25. That would not get done today, in all due likelihood, as he would need 3 Levels worth of Stat Points to achieve it.
Maybe it was wiser to get more Wisdom or Intellect, forbat and safety purposes. However, both Gaias warning regarding Rtionship Slots and the fact that Charisma was the only Stat he had yet to get to 25 motivated him to divest. Well, that, and because he got a lot more out of Charisma these days. At his current value, he was about as charismatic as the average person. His powers made him more interesting than that, but if he wanted Lydia to actually fall for him he would need to get a bit better at this whole social thing.
Why stop at average, when he could be superhuman even in this regard by just grinding more?
The second thing he wanted to do was to get Monos Libido to 10. The reasons for that were equally simple and sexually motivated. John enjoyed herpany, from the sass to the intellectual banter. Having a cute woman like her totally uninterested in the erotic was just a waste. Although I wont just force it on her either, he reprimanded himself. Horny as he was, he wouldnt just press the button when she wasnt looking. Even if she was really, really cute
Perhaps feeling her creators leering eyes on her, Mono shuddered and interrupted her happy talk with Gnome to give John a death re with her white eyes.
John quickly turned back to look at what was in front of him. His thoughts reached out to his obedient and older artificial spirit. Hey, Aclysia? he asked over their mental connection.
What is it, Master? came the swift and calm response.
Would you object to me raising your Libido to 25? I kind of want to learn what happens then.
I would not. I do, however, feel obliged to remind you that I am currently experiencing a 145 percent increase in the Libido Base Stat due to having eaten a scale from Nathalia and a shard from her gemstone. Raising my Libido to 25 would put its effective value at over 50. I may experience majorbat problems if I dont get fucked regrly, opposed to the minor ones I will likely experience today.
You really want to have sex, dont you? John asked.
No, that is not the case, master. I really want to have sex with you, specifically, Aclysia rified, I have not yet been fucked by you. Worse, you gave the princess priority, which is putting me in an increasingly bad mood... After a slight pause Aclysia continued, Excuse my behaviour, Master. You could fix this by giving me about five orgasms.
Aclysia being annoyed with him, that was new. Honestly, at times, he had no choice but to admire the fortitude that the artificial guardian showed. She cooked his food, she killed his enemies, she ate his junk-loot, put up with his (and everyone elses) wishes, kept him psychologically stable in times of trouble, and all she wanted in return was a good dicking. That and a few words of appreciation.
You are the best, you know that? Seriously, youre way too good for me! John let all of his appreciation for her flow into these words. Im sorry for not giving you the time you deserve. Ill make up for it, I swear.
There was a quick series of steps behind him, then Aclysia had caught up and kissed him on the cheek. I hope you fulfil my request tonight, then, she purred, leaving everyone else confused.
What does she mean? Rave asked, I do not like it when you have psychic conversations!
I only wish to im master in bed tonight, mistress, Aclysia stated. Surely, you can grant me this much?
Mhm, threesome sounds nice, the techno-lover smirked.
Sure, Aclysia agreed, but not immediately and John felt a slight sting of annoyance from the artificial guardian.
That mental fortitude wouldnt survive forever it seemed, and John was not sure if that annoyance was something rted to Aclysia being underfucked, or something else entirely. Was there jealousy in his harem? If yes, how could he deal with that? How could he have his cake (or the entire bakery, considering the pleasing shapes of the behinds of his haremettes) and eat it too? I really need to heed Gaias warning and level my Charisma.
With that on his mind, they stepped through the gates.
Chapter 177 – Breezing through the floors.
Chapter 177 C Breezing through the floors.
It turned out that, fortunately, the dungeon was temperate. Also, every single floor was a joke. John couldnt stretch that enough. A real. Giant. Joke. Floor five, breezed through; floor six, decimated; seven, annihted; eight, obliterated; nine, massacred. John had almost felt bad for the Cupids they were taking out, small little angels with cute wings and bows that shot pink arrows. Their appearance deserved to cover the front of a valentines card, not to be impaled by a bolt from Monos Lesser Lance of Longinus or by the metal projectiles Lydia used.
That wasnt to say that they werent a threat. Like the Demon dungeon, the Angel one was a multitude of towers connected via bridges, although everything was golden and shiny, instead of grey and dank.
The enemys patterns were also inverted. Where the Satantyr had been holding each and every tower like a small fort, with the Cupids it was a fight from bridge to bridge. The flying enemies would start showering them with arrows, in groups from five to twenty. With Sylph in the group none of the arrows ever hit their mark, though. The tempest elemental even went as far as to redirect the arrows to hit another Cupid just because it was all too easy.
Now, they were on floor 10, and a few things had changed. The monsters looked different and the environment had been reced with the inside of one giant tower, rather than a multitude of small ones. Beyond that, the situation remained the same. They remained easily capable of cutting through everything that came before them.
The enemy of this Floor was the Guardian Spirit. One of these animated suits of armour was currently facing them, in all of its silver, gleaming glory. It was getting kicked around by Rave, sliced by Aclysia, and cracked open by Gnome. A halo above its head flickered and finally vanished, moments before the entire monster turned into dust.
Johnnie, where is my challenge?! Rave, now level 62,ined. A question that he had no immediate answer to.
The way this floor wasid out was rather interesting. There was one of these Guardian Spirits (sometimes two, but that was a rare asion) per room. They never left these rooms, unless baited out by a member of the group. That meant that, basically, they were free to take a break between every single encounter, which gave this more of a round-based feeling. The rooms in turn were situated around a giant circr hall. John led the party back into that hall at the moment.
Like the previous floor, the colour scheme of the hall was gold and shiny. Ornaments curved through white marble; a bas-relief, depicting the biblical tree of life, decorated the ground. So finely worked was that picture that the light from the shining crystal up above reflected in every single one of the uniquely worked apples of gold hanging from the carved tree. John didnt doubt that the boss would spawn here, once they had cleared all of the rooms.
Johnnie! Rave repeated and snapped her fingers in front of Johns face a few times.
What? he asked, then remembered her earlier question. Oh, sorry, dunno, honestly, I expected it to be easy but not THIS easy, he answered and tried to find her something to keep her entertained. Most of the doors already stood open.
I, too, am slightly surprised by the ease of this, Lydia chimed in, checking her status at the same time. What do you say the level of these enemies is?
66 to 70, John told her, I guess I shouldnt be too surprised how is your EXP gain by the way?
Rave was the first to answer that question, I get around 0,5 percent per mob, I guess? she said.
0,1 percent, the princess added.
And thest boss gave you? John probed, thinking he had figured things out.
1 percent, Rave said. And you dont have t numbers on disy? Only percentages? He probed further.
That is correct, Lydia stated, Rave also nodded.
Okay, so it seems that you earn more EXP for higher level enemies, but what you gain is capped at 1% max for bosses. Now, I would theorize that Gaia made that cap even lower for different kinds of enemies just to disable me from abusing this and getting people power-levelled, John spelled out his idea.
Certainly sounds like her, Rave agreed.
How would you know? Lydia asked.
Just kinda the way tiger describes the texts he''s getting plus the way he told me she acted when he met her.
You met Gaia? Lydia asked, one of her eyebrows shooting up. Are you earnest in this im?
I met her twice, John reported. Both meetings were very brief. Also, as Jane said, she is writing my Achievements, and, believe me, the sass is real.
Gaia is a green haired woman, of a petite frame with a notably pronounced bottom. She is slightly taller than Sylph -in her big form-, with curly hair and a ck dress that reveals almost all of her ass, due to its design, which slits the dress into four strands from the waist downwards. A google search has resulted in Tatsumaki from an anime called One Punch Man as reference, Aclysia informed all of them.
For realzies? Raveughed.
Uhm, no idea about that One Punch Man part but the rest is correct, yep, yep, Sylph chirped. Met her right before fighting mister pickle, we did. A true hero of the world, the bestest, most awesome Space Marine and a pickle. PICKLE DIO!
You didnt tell me about either of those things! Raveined to John, barely holding back herughter.
Because I am still not convinced it really happened, John said, walking towards the next door. It was too stupid. Anyhow, if this is too easy for you, we can always just kill the rest and go to a higher floor, he stated while entering the next room.
Shouldnt you send in Aclysia or Gnome first? asked Mono in his head.
I normally would but, wooooaaah, he barely dodged a maceing for his head, I still have to beat the current Challenge.
John wasnt particrly afraid of the mace. Even though it looked impressive, a silver shaft with starlight as its head, swung by the animated armour, it was barely a threat. His HP was high enough that he could have tanked several hits. Even if an enemy managed to pummel and overwhelm him, Aclysia was right behind him, ready to intervene at any moment. So he could beat his current Challenge, to kill 50 enemies with Mana de, in rtive safety. This was thest enemy he needed anyhow.
Ducking underneath the next attack, John extended his arm so that his t hand pointed at the beings helmet. Then he cast Mana de. Rapidly, the de extended right through the enemys head. Pulling his arm downwards he split the living armour in two.
Should use it like that more often, John thought as the de vanished, leaving his hand bare again. Having the de appear only when his hand was already in position not only made the attack less predictable, at least the first time around, when the enemy didnt know what the motion was about, but it also saved him a bit of time. With every Mana de onlysting 3 seconds, every moment counted.
With the enemy defeated he only needed 5% more to achieve the next ss level. One more Challenge would surely do it.
Again?
These things must be really easy if even ya can beat them in melee, Rave teased, while John closed the window.
Oh, shut up, Jane, John shot back, poor guys are about 8 levels under me and really slow.
I continue to find this ease concerning. Lydia rubbed her chin in deep thought.
I think they are bnced around me trying to solo them, John exined, but, well, he looked over to Rave, then Aclysia, Gnome, Smander, Sylph, Undine, Mono and finally back to Lydia. I found a way around that.
I seebut you say Gaia dislikes you abusing systems, right? the princess inquired.
She most certainly likes hiding full rocks of salt in my cheese, yes, John nodded.
Would it not be in her character to increase the difficulty by a rather absurd margin, then?
Thatment made the Gamer freeze. That totally sounds like her, he admitted.
Waitso assuming that is the case and because she has been at least nice enough to dy taking my levelling powers away until after I fought Thana he mumbled to himself. Suddenly he ran out of the room and shouted. GAIA, IF YOU STEALTH PATCH MY MONSTER SPAWN TABLE AND OR BUFF THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING FROM THE NEXT FLOOR ONWARDS, I WILL TELL EVERYONE THAT YOUR ASS IS FLAT!
Youll do no such thing! In the air, far above them, suddenly, a rift opened. It was a round window with green edges, two-dimensional, physics defying and hovering there without a care in the world. Beyond ity what looked like a stereotypical living room. Gaia stuck her green head and part of her torso out of said rift. With puffed up cheeks she shouted down: I have a great ass!
Prove it! Sylph said as she flew up there, I wanna see, I wanna see! I also want to be bigger, please make me bigger, oh almighty world spirit.
Go away, Sylph! Gaia cursed. You sound just like your Mother which, oh-my-self, I do not need in my life. I still have headaches from thest time I had her over!
A second head popped out of the portal right next to the supreme deity. It was another woman, with unkempt, light brown hair that curled to a regr degree. A beige hat sat on her head, one that looked like it belonged to the sandman. Who are you looking at, Ga- OH HEY, its the Gamer! said the new being, waving at John and the rest of the party behind him.
And who are you?
Ferikrona, but just Feri is fine, the girl introduced herself and yawned. That name John knew from the Patch Notes, hadnt there been a third one though? Zone or something like that?
Really? The Gamer? said third person popped her head out of the rift. This one had purple, straight hair, about chin-length. That was all John could make out from the distance. Hello, I am Zone-tan, the purple haired girl shouted, I watched you fap. Like, a lot. Grade A handwork, dude.
Wha-? John was dumbfounded. He had expected a sarcastic response, but apparently the supreme deity was not handling her ass as a joke subject.
Hey, hey, can any of you two make me bigger? Sylph asked as she whirled between the two other girls up there.
Nah, and sorry, Feri answered, it wont get better.
What, how do you know? Maybe Ill evolve into a beautiful super butterfly! Or a space moth!
I just do, Feri answered with a little melody in her voice. Now hop, hop back to your summoner.
Whatever, Ill show you! Sylph cried and flew back to her summoner. Joooohn, Feri is mean to meeeee, sheined when she had reached him.
Yeah, well, nothing I can do about that, still, John gave her the same answer asst time, when a simr scene had happened.
Okay, I wanted to buff everything from the next floor upwards, so what? Gaia shouted at him. I let you level freely because I wanted to have you survive, now that that isnt an immediate concern anymore I thought: Hey, patch that in when he reaches the next segment of Instant Dungeons, thatd be the perfect moment. But if you dont want to live by my rules, have it your way then, you ass. With that a new window opened in front of John.
It wasnt the new monster table though.
And here, as your first buffed encounter, have an old friend! Gaia told him, the tear in reality closing before anyone around could react. John looked at the window, while the whole room started shaking. Six pirs fell from the ceiling, slowing down a mere moment before hitting the ground and then, light as a feather, connecting to the marble around the bas-relief.
Following that, hundreds of Guardian Spirits streamed into the room. They werent interested in attacking the group. Instead, they formed a wide ring at the outskirts of the room. Just as they closed rank, allowing no one to leave the arena formed from their bodies, the depiction on the floor came to life. Silver flowed into the air and branched out, first as a liquid but then quickly hardening into rough bark. For a moment it was just a bare tree, then glorious golden leaves grew from it, and on the thick trunk appeared three faces under a golden barrier.
First, you kill younglings, then you kill me, and now you chase me into my deserved rest?! The ancient voice whispered; it was like the sound of leaves in the wind. John saw the three faces take familiar expressions, those of a man, a woman and a child.
Oh great, that guy again, Raveined. Wasnt that like the second boss we ever killed?
Yup, John answered. Guess we are doing it all over again.
Are we can we was that truly Lydia began then shook her head. All of this is ludicrous! With that deration, she prepared forbat.
Everyone took a battle ready stance, as the Tree of Life shook its mighty silver branches. If the arena is roughly the same, then his abilities are likely too, John thought. Everyone be on guard for attacks from below, he might use his roots. Aclysia, Gnome, you knock out these pirs, I am pretty certain that those will start spitting out adds. If they do, ignore the adds, the rest of us will take care of them. Everyone ready?
Almost all of them nodded. What is an add? Lydia asked.
Oh right, she doesnt game, John thought. An additional enemy and there is the first wave, he answered, watching as, from the top of three of the six pirs, Guardian Spirits jumped down to the floor. Unlike their former brethren, these specimens werepletely golden and swung maces that shone like the sun, and, if Gaia could be trusted, she had just buffed them. They were still 5 levels below John and his familiars though.
As per his instructions, Aclysia and Gnome ignored the assants and went straight for the pirs instead. This turned out to be a na?ve endeavour. One of the Guardian Spirits that had just spawned charged at Aclysia. The attack was dangerously fast. Not quite fast enough for Aclysia to be unable to dodge, but still fast enough to hit her when she wasnt careful. She sidestepped the swing, but the suit of armour actually kept up, delivering a second strike that Aclysia couldnt dodge. The maces shaft collided with Ashkandis de.
The Guardian Spirit may have been almost as fast as Aclysia, but the same could not be said for its strength. In a contest of sheer physical power, Aclysia pushed her de upwards against the pressure of her taller opponent, and then pressed down on it, forcing the armour to retreat from the engagement. A smart move that allowed it to stall for time.
Elsewhere, Gnome had reached the first pir. John had no time to check on whether or not she actually was doing damage to it. There were two more Guardian Spirits to address. If they all were as fast as Aclysia that meant that they could deal some serious damage to John, Undine or Mono, the group''s backline. In other words, they absolutely could not be ignored. They would need to go about this more methodically, John actually had to strategize this.
Lydia, can you keep one of them upied? John asked.
It shall be done, Lydia turned her attention to the closest Guardian Spirit. Sprinting at the enemy, rapier at the ready, she thrust a hand out mid charge. The armour trembled, then folded at the knees, almost going down. The control Lydia exerted over its body was slowing it tremendously, something the princess was ready to exploit.
In addition to her magic, Lydia was skilled in meleebat. If her enemy hadnt been made from metal, the Guardian Spirit perhaps would have the advantage. While it was slowed, however, Lydias rapier had an easy time stabbing repeatedly at and into the gaps in the armour, disturbing whatever magical flow was happening within.
John was about to ask Rave if she could try and get thest ones attention, but the techno-lover was already running right at the unupied enemy. Her aura red up, a pale blue fire-like field that enveloped her body, boosting her physical attributes beyond their normal limits. Around her feet glowed two rings of light, the blessing of Copernicus. It was an extremely powerful buff. Every kick of Rave that connected to a target created a ripple of light magic. That ripple grew in strength depending on how much momentum her feet had gone through since they hadst connected to an enemy or the ground.
Rave knew that even better than John, and she was more than happy to demonstrate what she had learned over the past few months against an opponent that could actually withstand the showcase. About four metres before actually shing with the enemy, she jumped forwards,nded on her hands, pushed herself off the ground and did a somersault, ending in a dropkick aimed at the enemys position.
Even though John knew that the attack grew in effectiveness that way, he couldnt help but feel slightly amused at how much this overly shy style suited his girlfriend. The kick missed. Even though the Guardian Spirit wasnt as fast as Rave, an attack telegraphed this clearly was easy to seeing. The monster wasnt prepared, however, for the shockwave that spread over the floor from where Raves missed attack hit the ground. Strong enough to rob the living armour of its bnce, and make it unable to take advantage of whatever opening Rave might have shown. It also allowed Rave to recover and stay on the offensive.
With all three enemies tanked, John adjusted his battle n. Smander and Sylph were to act as mobile damage dealers, helping each of the threebatants currently upying Guardian Spirits in turn. Undine would closely follow them, healing whoever needed it. Mono would stay right where she was at the edge of battle, serving primarily as an additional pair of eyes and mana supply.
Dont you want to help too? John asked Copernicus who was cleaning his golden paw.
Nyah, you got this, the sun cat stated. He wasnt wrong, this looked like a solid n, it hinged on two things, though.
Gnome, can you destroy these pirs? John needed to know. If she couldnt then that would mean that the adds would eventually take over, they only had three tanks andpeting with an infinite flood was always a bad idea. Rushing the boss was the best option, but the golden barrier around the faces seemed to advertise that as a bad option. The one I am attacking is crumbling, John! Gnome gave a positive response, But Ill need a bit.
Thats fine, I believe in you! John told her.
T-t-thanks! the stone elemental stuttered, and John heard a sudden, very loud cracking sound. If he had to take a guess, an embarrassedly happy fist had just collided with and done massive damage to the first pir.
Okay, that part of his n was secure. If Gnome could destroy the pirs, what they needed to do was to keep taking care of the adds and remove the spawning points one by one. This is the one time I miss Victoria and her rocketuncher, a cynical thought crossed Johns mind. He felt bad for speaking this way about the deceased sniper, but it was true and the Bloodfallen had been cold for a few months now. The loss of life wasnt a good thing, but if he was honest with himself, the Abyss was properly better off without those indoctrinated psychos around. Maybe if he had had more time, he could have convinced them
But this was hardly the time to be thinking about morals. There was a several-elephants-sized tree in the middle of the room, waiting to be addressed, and it looked at John with three pairs of hateful eyes. Unlike the old tree, this one wasnt hiding behind a protectiveyer of branches, meaning that its main body was vulnerable, save for the protected three faces. That had been the weak pointst time around. Something had changed about the way this boss worked, beyond the aesthetics and adjusted difficulty.
There was one potential way to find out.
How nice of you to wait for me, John taunted as he stepped closer, Were you just waiting for me to get my n set-up?
What are you doing? Mono wanted to know.
Well, we are out of tanks, so Ill have to kite, John responded with a nervous smirk, feeling the minor vibrations in the ground below him. After making sure that Mana Protection was active, he added, Just keep some mana ready for me, would you? His whole body was tense as he got ever closer, watching through Monos eyes as well as his own.
Arrogant meat heap, echoed the Tree of Lifes voice, you may be able to handle the spirits, here to protect my eternal soul, but what will you do about THIS! The marble floor around and under John broke and tentacle-like roots came forward.
John was prepared for this, as a matter of fact this was the best-case scenario. So, it just put the old second and first phase together? he thought as he jumped out of harms way. All of the roots mmed back down, turning the space he had just stood in into a death trap. By the way his mana decreased, he knew that atst some stray ms had hit his barrier.
John ran for his life. Kiting was not his expertise. He only did it because the fight demanded someone take the role. You can run, but you will still get crushed under my branches! the faces taunted as the tree brought one of said branches down. In the past, these had been dangerous due to the sheer force behind the whip of a branch thicker than young trees. That was only more true now. In addition to the increased size of the tree, the leaves growing from it glistened like thousands of little knives.
It would really suck to get hit by that, John thought and turned heel. He would much rather dance the dance of dodging tentacles than get crushed under a metric ton of metallic wood. He heard the branch crash onto the floor behind him. Saw, with Monos eyes, how hundreds of pebbles flew through the air. Many of them rained down in his path through the whipping roots. He dodged most of them sessfully, but some still connected, his Mana Protection siphoning away MP with every hit.
Then he was out and continued running, eyeing the branches up above. His eyes fell on one of the pebbles in his path. Following a quick idea, John calcted, New passive cost for the elementals is 1,9% times four is 7,6%, 1,9% from Artificial Spirit, so 2,97 mana per second minus 3 thats barely negative, good enough! He grabbed a pebble and then ran far around the next descending branch. This one was smaller, giving him at least some hope that he could dodge.
The stone wasnt unique, but it was a nice piece of marble that fit into his handfortably, ideal throwing size. After staring at it for a moment longer than necessary, he threw the pebble at the Tree of Lifes three faces. It hit, but was uselessly reflected by the golden energy field. The angle of impact caused it tond on the floor just below the three faces. The boss burst intoughter. Ahahaha, a measly attempt, what has be of your Mana Power Attack, John Newman?
Even the name of that attack made him cringe. God, those were darker times, he thought as he ran around a dangerous looking bulge in the floor. Stone burst behind him, another whip-like root rising. Well, that is going to cost me some more mana, he resigned himself when he saw iting down through Monos eyes.
The root suddenly slowed down, giving John the breathing room he needed to get away. He only had to wonder what just happened for a moment. Lydia, in her full 18th century military glory, appeared at his side.
3 pirs have been taken out, she reported, the spawn of adds has been reduced to two. I chose to intervene, is thispatible with your strategy?
Yes, absolutely, you saved my ass there, John thanked her. In this moment of rxation he added, You are surprisingly good at not being in charge.
Subordinate is the appropriate word. As all members of the mainline, I was trained in the Prussian Noble Korps, Lydia exined. It is selbstverst?ndlich that I would bepetent in various positions in the chain ofmand.
Your German is leaking there, Johnmented with a broad smile. Lydia gave him one of her poisonous nces but slowed down the next root all the same. Her fingers wed at something invisible, as she focused her Innate Ability.
It is awfully convenient that it is made from soulless metal, she pressed out, the strain evident in her voice.
Well, if it were actual wood I could abuse Smander. I generally beat my enemies through exploitation of weaknesses, John said.
The princess shot him an interested nce, You n to do the same here?
Kind of, his smile turned into a smirk, depends on whether or not there will be another recycled mechanic. Lets just say, I got the tools in ce.
With Lydia slowing down the attacks, dodging whatever the Tree of Life threw at them was childs y. So, how do you regenerate mana? John asked, merely jogging at this point. The boss fight had been hard at the start, when the sudden difficulty spike had hit them. Now that they knew what to expect, it was group content they were slightly over-levelled for. Sure, if they fucked up, thatd be bad, but they had room for mistakes. John was happy to chat under these circumstances.
Why do you ask? Lydia looked questioningly at him.
Well, Jane uses a breathing technique, I do it by existing, how do you do it? I see your mana slowly depleting, but it seems you have a lot of it, so I was wondering, is all, he exined.
Everything that happens today
Will stay ssified, yes, yes, John interrupted, will you tell me or not?
Typically, existence alone suffices, but in a pinch I can absorb metals, Lydia said after a moment''s hesitation. My mana pool, as you call it, is quite vast and it does replenish slightly over time, but for the most part I do it by ingesting metals. I guess this is as good a time as any, to reveal to you my emergency strategy. With those words, she suddenly stopped.
Now Ive got you! The Tree of Life creaked and brought one of its giant branches down to squash Lydia. John, who was not entirely sure if this was a good idea, decided to trust Lydia that whatever trump card she had would allow her to survive that.
As the branch descended, the princess pulled back her vest, and reached into a pocket on the inside. What she pulled out was a vial filled with a mercury-like substance, glowing light blue. The metal cap that kept the vial sealed quickly flew off. Lydia gulped down the contents in one motion.
Her mana bar refilled within an instant. That wasnt the end of it, however, as Lydia simply looked at the branch and it ceased to move. This, Lydia exined, showing the now empty vial to John, Is a mercury mithril liquid alloy. It is worth quite a sum, so watch and listen closely. Apanied by the annoyed sounds of the Tree of Life, the princess raised her left hand. It looked like she was struggling against an invisible force. John could imagine the metaphysical resistance she was pushing against, her senses turning the intangible pushback into a reality that she strained against.
The branch above her quivered, then gradually was pushed backwards, then beyond that. Creaking and screeching, the metal wood snapped backwards at an unnatural angle. The Tree of Life screamed in anger and pain.
Mithril is one of the rarest metals out there. It is hard to create and extremely rich in mana, and for metal users like me, it doesnt just refill our own mana. Lydia twisted her arm and the branch twisted in kind.
CURSE YOU! screeched the Tree of Life, and roots exploded from the floor around Lydia. The metal tentacles were pushed back, unable to enter the sphere of the princess influence.
It temporarily boosts our limits! she finished her exnation with a loud CRACK! The whole branch had been forced far enough and broke from the main body. The Tree of Life reeled from the loss, giving Lydia the time to step back, before letting out an exhausted groan. Thises at the usual price of overexertion, however, and is taxing on the body.
Still pretty impressive, John admitted, his gaze fixed on the branch thaty lifeless on the marble floor. For a moment he wanted to ask whether or not she got mercury poisoning, but then he remembered that she was part metal elemental, so that question became redundant. He wished he had a way to overcharge spells, there had been quite a few asions where he would have much rather used a big attack to get a decisive victory earlier.
In the background, thest pir crashed.
Adds have been taken care of, thoroughly, all been beaten, yup, yup, I am the best. Sally was somewhat useful too, I guess. But not all that much. So, keep that in mind if you hand out rewardster, Johnnie, cause I am willing to trade some oral favours. Wink, wink, Sylph pvered, leaving John with only one question.
Why are you naked?
The air spirit giggled, You dont like it? she asked. Making a pirouette, her foot-reaching hair following her like a g in a breeze, she showed off her milky white skin. I felt like it, dont you just want to take me to bed and take me like the cute courtesan I am? Come on Jonnie, get some intion in that dick and fuck me right here, I dont mind!
Quiet! Undines voice whipped through the air, making Sylph jump both from the sharpness of its tone and the mentalsh that apanied it. The slime woman was filled to the brim with an annoyance beyond any John usually felt when she was dealing with the tempest elemental.
Yeah, shut up, Mono agreed, that boss is still alive, am I the only one here that DOESNT immediately get distracted by sex-stuff?
I would im to also keep a level head, Lydia stated.
Oh, is that right? Well, I guess you didnt just look at Sylph with keen interest then, Mono drily stated and made a toss away gesture.
What? Is that true? Did you look at my hot bod and were like, all enticed, princess?
Before Lydia could answer, or Undines annoyance could manifest in another harsh admonishment, the boss stopped wailing. The silence was all they needed to refocus their attention.
You insects, it growled, you will see my true form! Fight my guards until then! The pirs started reconstructing. As if reversed in time, the broken pieces lifted off the ground and slowly put themselves back together.
Simultaneously, the golden barrier around the faces expanded, gradually covering the entirety of the boss. It forced the party back, putting them out of reach of the branches that could just as little reach out as they could reach in
B-but, Gnome looked at the pirs and frowned, I just got done destroying those
And you did a very good job, John patted her head. The stone elemental made a very pleased face, then she remembered where she was, noticed her fellow elementals grinning at her, and blushed deeply.
Wh-why are you all staring at me?! she demanded to know.
You are just so adorable when you are happy and embarrassed, Smander cackled, herughter growing even stronger when Gnome turned into darker shades of red. Now look at you, unable to say a thing! HILARIOUS!
What now, we wait for him to go into the next phase? Rave asked, interrupting that little chat, by the way, this was WAY better. Guys were actually a bit hard.
Well, I guess it was adjusted to be group content, so they were meant to be taken by one person each, instead of all three of them by one. But no, I guessed that he would recycle the barrier mechanic in this or a simr way, so I made preparations. Mono, how much mana do you still have? About 600, why? Mhm, I still have 413 that makes 5 attacks, should be enough.
Inside the protective barrier the Tree of Life was going through a change. Soon its roots would no longer be bound by the earth, and its branches would turn into many arms, wielding des of golden leaves. Soon, it would destroy the Gamer, once and for all!
At least that was what John thought was happening. Whatever it was, he had no intention of letting it happen when he had prepared the cheese. From his perspective as the pebble, he saw the three unprotected faces grinning widely, and John would have loved to punch each and every one of them. Sadly, he couldnt do that as a pebble. He could use Arcane Explosion though. Wasnt Spellcarrier nifty?
One, two, three, four, five of the balls spawned. They were supposed to be thrown, but without a hand that fulfilled that purpose, they spawned right on the ground, resulting in 5 almost simultaneous waves of arcane energy. The boss had no time to prepare. A burst of notable damage hit all three weak points five times over.
First the bubble, then the body underneath, began to disintegrate.
Chapter 178 – Mono is a disease?!
Chapter 178 C Mono is a disease?!
Choices, choices, John mumbled. He had no need for either, and regarded both of the sses as novelty. However, he was getting a free Perk, so he might as well take it. The pervert inside him urged him to take Loverboy, while the Gamer decided that his personal ss should take the lead. It was a mental battle between Johns strongest personality traits. At the end of the day, however, he had been granted Gamer powers, not Pornstar powers. He chose the blessing of Ferikrona.
That meant he now had two sses eligible for a level up. The Gamer and Arcanist, whosetest challenge he had cleared just now, by killing the boss with Arcane Explosion. He went with thetter first. It just was more satisfying to get what he had worked for.
Magic Machine Gun was out. He didnt have the mana to support that, and he doubted that it would ever be in the interest of his fighting style to use Mana Ray that way. Between Overload and Whisper of Mana, that was a bit of a harder decision. Just earlier, he had thought about wanting something like Overload, but having Whisper of Mana could be incredibly useful. Doubling his current mana regeneration for a minute would essentially give him over 180 mana. That meant that killing something with Mana Ray refunded more than half of the cost. It would only get better as his Wisdom rose. Overload, on the other hand, was for that niche moment where he needed a decisive attack that wasn''t Mana de (which had scaling damage for the amount of mana he invested). With a sigh he took Whisper of Mana. It was just too good.
Up next, Gamer perk. He hoped that would be equally or more interesting.
Loot Preference was nice and EXP Pots was a useful gamble, but he would take Escape Rope. Nothing would beat the safety of knowing that, if he got cocky and stumbled into a boss that he couldnt beat, he could retreat. Attempting to fight above his currently rmended range was at least slightly possible now. Even if he never used it, it would be a good thing to have.
Now, what ss to focus on? John thought and looked at the three main options that presented themselves to him. Puppeteers main attractions were the increased Stats for Aclysia and Mono, as well as the Possession Slots. However, he didnt have the mana regeneration to support more Possession Slots, every single one cost him one mana per second and to create a Spell Carrier with a single spell, like he did earlier, he already needed three. That was out, for now.
That narrowed it down to Arcanist and Elementalist. Both of these gave him more mana to y with, Elementalist by reducing the upkeep on the elementals and Arcanist by increasing his maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration. John put both windows side by side to have a better look at the bonuses while he pondered over this problem.
What do I want? He asked himself. There were arguments for both sides here. Arcanist gave him an all-around increase of the mana he had avable, whilst also pushing down the cost of his Arcane spells. Speaking of that, how did it interact with Mana Protection? If it lowered the MP per HP ratio the choice would be way easier.
It did not, it only reduced the activation cost. So that wasnt a point in the ss favour. Still, it reduced the enormous costs of the offensive Skills, so that reduction wasnt useless. When it came to the question whether the cost reduction of the elementals or the increase of MP Reg was better, John tended to the former. Getting the elementals to a point where they were free of cost would be glorious, but getting them down to a mere 5% of his regeneration would also be pretty good. Also, the Stat increases would affect four people in his group instead of just buffing himself. Yeah, it was going to be a focus on Elementalist, for now.
Ya done? Rave asked, having patiently waited for her boyfriend to finish sternly staring at the air.
Almost, sorry, John apologised and looked at thest window of interest.
There were a whole lot of new enemy types. Also, some of the structure had been overhauled. For example, the disy window now properly disyed in increments of five floors, four normal and one core floor, rather than the seemingly random cut off points he had before. To the old Wave and Floor types came Siege, Capture and Arena. There was also one that was randomized, named Corruption, which didnt bode well, in Johns opinion. Lastly, he could now sort the whole damn thing, so that was nice.
Now, John stated and closed the window. What did we get from the boss?
Ya tell me, scan-eyes, Rave said and presented him with the five items. The girls had picked them up while he had been preupied.
First there was 150 grand. That refilled his cash reserves, so that was nice, but nothing new. Next there were two Healing Potions, which refilled 300 HP upon drinking, which was quite good. You can keep those, he offered Rave and Lydia. I dont get hurt a lot, and when I do I have Undine.
Rave looked down on herself. Her top was the usual skimpy type and her jeans so tight that even the smartphone in the front pocket had gone into Johns inventory to not be a hindrance during battle. That nothing had been torn was equally relieving as it was disappointing. Cant exactly bring those along.
I will dly take you up on that offer. Lydia stepped in. I have enough room for that in my uniform. He handed the princess both potions and then looked at thest two items on the list.
One was a hoe.
I kind of want to keep it, John said after exining what it did to everyone.
If you do, keep it away from my property, Lydia stated and crossed her arms. I do not want to be affiliated with you growing erotic vegetables.
Understandable, John agreed and put the Hoe away. His inventory was still halfway empty, even with everyones jackets in there. After all, the loot they had gathered up until now was all fed to Mono, who had now reached Level 74. Whats thest thing? John asked, hoping itd be something he could feed to Mono and have her catch up to his level.
Uhm, we found this, Gnome answered and handed him a branch of the Tree of Life. Branch was a strong word. Twig was more urate. Thin, silver wood with golden leaves at the end.
Time to check what those Attributes did.
Those made the item pretty great fodder. Eat up, Mono! he tossed the branch at the artificial support.
Is this your way of buying me dinner first? the sassy support asked, after catching the branch.
Kind of? the Gamer had to wonder if she knew about his ns for today. She did have ess to his mind, although he rarely ever felt her probe. What if it is?
Id ask for some flowers first, she responded, but started munching down all the same.
I am reminded of a question I have. Lydia sheathed her rapier and rxed as everyone else did. As much as she was capable of rxing anyhow. John sometimes wondered if she had an iron rod for a spine, straight as she always stood. Why did you name her Mono?
Because she is monochrome, John exined and blinked.
Ah, indeed, that makes more sense than naming her after the kissing disease.
Mono tensed up and almost coughed the leaf she was currently chewing back up. So, not only could stones sneeze but metal girls could cough. The Abyss was a weird ce. Please, what?! Mono cried out after having gulped down the leaf.
Mononucleosis, Lydia exined, monly called mono or the kissing disease.
I dont want to be named after that! Mono turned to the Gamer with big, surprised, mildly angry eyes. Why would you do that to me?
I didnt know! he defended himself, the Gamer hadpletely forgotten about that disease. In his defence, it wasnt like he ever suffered from it. The only people he ever made out with had immune systems that would kill any mundane disease in a minute.
Really? Rave snickered, I have been giggling about it for months.
Then why didnt you tell me?! John wanted to know.
I assumed ya knew, his girlfriend kept giggling.
Oh, thats just great. Really great. Monos voice was drenching with sarcasm. I just looooove that youreughing at my name. Thats funny really funny. Her big eyes narrowed to a demanding stare. Change it.
You want to change the name Master gave you? Aclysia chimed in, blinking in confusion.
Yes! Would you want to be named after a disease?! Actually, dont answer that, you are the best, Aclysia, but you would do anything that perv tells you, even if he would change your name to Fuckdoll One.
That one even I would consider slightly awkward although I would still ept whatever name Master deems appropriate. Not like any other opinions really matter. Acylsia blinked in confusion when that statement was met with raised eyebrows. How anyone could think otherwise seemed to be a mystery to her.
Ehm, a new name?! John was entirely not prepared for this. Cant you keep Mono?
Mono is a disease?! Mono said as if this exchange would clear up everything that was wrong with that question. Which it did.
Okay, okayehm, how about Momo? It wasnt a great change, but if he changed her name too much, it would just be confusing.
Momookay I can live with that, the newly dubbed artificial support stated, nodding to herself a few times. Okay, new name, d we had that conversation AFTER, I ran around with it for 3 months! Momo took her remaining aggressions out on the branch, chewing and swallowing its dense leaves.
Okay, so she was level 75 now, neat. Now to get those new attributes in. Ascended Mana automatically reced Strong Mana, which was of little surprise to him. Silver Wisdom was put into the ninth slot, which meant that Golden Fortune was going to be in the 10th, andst, slot. When he tried to do just that, John got a window.
What is up with that Broken Wings shit? John thought and sighed in annoyance. Well, time to see what the Stat bonuses from the Golden Leaves are. The current ones from Felligium are okay, but not outstanding.
Yeah, that was better. That was way better. Out with the old. He reserved Observing Momo forter, when he had spent the 20 banked Stat Points she now had. If he was going to raise her Libido, he wanted that to happen in close proximity to a bed. So, want to go on or go back?
I say we continue! Rave enthusiastically said.
The elementals agreed, so did Aclysia and Momo.
I will need to take it easy for a few more minutes. I can continue, however, Lydia stated. I have yet to reach level 69.
Bwahahaahahaaahahaha! Sylph suddenly exploded intoughter, to everyones confusion. She said 69! Hihihihi!
Sylphs hysterical giggling was contagious, for whatever reason. Maybe it was just because the little oddball was just the right mixture of annoying and charming, maybe it was the post-fight adrenaline. In any case, they allughed with her.
Chapter 179 – In the evening.
Chapter 179 C In the evening.
What am I doing with my life, Johnmented, closed the window and spread his arms out on the cool, ravaged, stone floor. They had just beaten the second version of a boss they thought would be no problem, and were allpletely exhausted. The boss had been a hand. Literally, a giant hand, the nails alone had been bigger than Johns whole body, and it had shotser beams, tried to swat them away, fired random explosions, poked at them, and all the other good stuff hands could do.
Well, normal hands couldnt do a fourth of what that hand did. Where the first version of that hand had only showed a fraction of its mechanics, due to being killed in a rtively small frame of time, this one had truly put into them the fear of facing things while underlevelled.
To think Id need two Mithril ingestions in a day, Lydia gasped, leaning against a smashed marble pir. The whole setting, a forest of glorious white marble pirs with silver iys, had been thoroughly destroyed by the God-Hands endless waving. The princess had dark rings under her eyes, only seeming to worsen by the second, as she looked around.
It flicked me into a wall, Rave, lying on her back,mented, repeatedly. Super rude
He squashed me Undine, sitting in foetal position, slowly rocked back and forth; her voice had lost all of its melody to the shellshock and was now just a grave monotone, I got sttered on the floor. It was horribles quish squish
The hand had indeed focused on Undine a lot, not from the start, only after it had found out that Undine was their healer. Bosses with healer aggro are the worst, John agreed. At least he had gotten a level out of it.
Hehe threw me like a skipping stone, Gnome, who had shown incredible fortitude up until now, broke down on her knees and started crying. She was less damaged than Smander and Sylph, though, both of whom sat in front of a pir, just emptily staring holes into the air. Literally, in Sylphs case. asionally, the tiny vacuums copsed with an equally tiny sound. The hand had used Smander to light a giant cigarette and Sylph to get the smoke blown away. The first time it had happened, it had just angered both of them; by the fifth, they had been reduced to this state.
It was a miracle they had been able to defeat that boss. On Tier 14, the boss had been manageable, because they were quick enough to dodge and all of that. Not so on the 15th. If it hadnt yed with them so much, John would have had to use his new Escape Rope. In the end, they did beat it, but only thanks to making a couple of sabotaged pirs fall on and nail the hand to the ground, where Aclysia then proceeded to cut it apart.
Speaking of the Artificial Spirit, she and her sister werepletely unfazed. Aclysia, although she had taken quite a bit of damage, tended to John, giving his head a soft rest on herp. Those thighs were for more than viewing pleasure. Master, I should remind you to visit a barber soon, she said, running her hand through his still fairly short hair with a slight smile.
You may do that, John groaned, thinking about getting up but ultimately deciding against it. The mana charged silicone Aclysia made her day to day body from (opposed to the metalposition she used in battle) was incredibly soft andfortable and thanks to Inner Fire it was also nice and cosy. The only thing missing was a nket, and he could have fallen asleep then and there. I should do this more often, John decided and just kept lying there. It seemed to be just as much a reward for the maid as it was for him.
Momo smacked his face with the wad of cash the boss had dropped. There you go,zy perv, she said and repeatedly poked him in the cheek. Get up, sleeping here is bad for your posture.
Maybe I want a bad posture? John suggested.
You better dont, because I dont think youd look good with a hunchback. Momo kept poking him for a little bit longer. Also I want toy in Aclysiasp sometime!
Nope, my space, the Gamer dered.
Grumbling, Momo backed off and gathered up the rest of the Loot. All of it turned out to be edible trash, so she got right on that, while tending to Gnome. You did good, the support assured the stone elemental, thus starting the process of building Gnome back up.
In the meanwhile, Sylph rebooted. Beep, beep, shemented her noisy start-up,unching on her feet and then marching forward. I am Sylph-bot, the best bot, look at my booty! she stated in a mechanical voice and pushed her ass out.
It is a rather nice ass, Smander, begrudgingly, admitted. Now get it the fuck out of my face before I burn it!
Undine fixed herself by attaching to John. Halfway enveloped by the slime, he hugged her upper body until she stopped quivering. Its all good, no one can squash you now, John whispered. The slime girl opened her mouth to say something. Ultimately, she did not.
Lydia and Rave stepped next to him, both looking thoroughly done with grinding for the day. Okay, so punching above our weight is a lot harder now but hey, I got a level, thats nice! The Gamers girlfriend worked to reim her enthusiasm.
As did I, Lydia stated.
I even got a second one, Rave added, after another inspection of her Character Sheet.
That is more than productive enough for a single day then, Lydia dered, to everyones agreement. I, for one, wish to retreat to my bed. I have to digest all that happened today that was Gaia, huh? She shook her head. Also I have paperwork to do tomorrow.
Yeah, kinda spent, lets go home and just knock ourselves out, Rave agreed.
Mhm, John did not want to move. Undine functioned as the nket he had wanted and Aclysia remained utterlyfortable. He also did not want to remain where he was. Ultimately, thetter won out. Alright, alright, Ill save myself from bad posture.
After closing the barrier, theynded right back in the living room.
Convenient, Lydia said after looking around, If youll excuse me for the night, I dont have any energy left for debauchery.
That the dayes that I cant perform in the sex bed, which is different from the sleeping bed mind you, Sylph, barely hanging in the air, added. Such a sad, sad, saaaaaaaaaad state of affairs. By my honour as your concubine, you may thoroughly punish me, John, the tempest elemental yawned, tomorrow. With that she dematerialized.
Yeah, going to rekindle, Smander agreed and was the second one to disappear.
Ill be sleeping like a rockuhhh, bad pun, I am sorry, Gnome stated, blushed and then hastily vanished into thin air.
I will be calming Undine, a faint melody in her tone, returned to her incorporeal state as well.
Yeah, no, I am out too how about you, John, we sleeping together or are ya staying awake? Rave asked, after Lydia had left the room.
Mhm, Im gradually feeling more alright. Must be Gamers Body I think Ill stay up a little longer. John nced over to Aclysia and Momo, the two engaged in some conversation about tomorrows meal. Following his gaze, Rave nodded. She could easily guess what her boyfriend wanted to do.
Ya sleep in another room tonight then, she winked and left John alone with his Artificial Spirits.
John gave them the remaining trash Loot to eat while he put all of the jackets in his inventory back in the wardrobe. By the time he returned, they had eaten up; it wasnt even close to getting them up to level 76, but it was a start. Well, you heard Jane. We should take this to your room. Aclysia smiled, Momo looked a bit sceptical.
As they were heading up the stairs, John had a private conversation with Aclysia. I am sorry, he started, I know that you wanted to spend a night alone with me.
It is fine, Master, Aclysia answered. I am slightly disappointed, but I will manage.
I will make it up to you, tomorrow, he promised. Well go on a date, just you and me, okay?
That was more than okay for the first of his Artificial Spirits. Aclysias mind radiated such intense pink, it was like a little sun in his mentalndscape. It flooded all of his connections with loving light, causing Momo to blink confoundedly at the maid.
Yes, Aclysia answered out loud, betraying the excitement that her tone failed to convey. Her social understanding may have reached eptable levels months ago, but the execution of tone and expression was stillcking at times.
Now I know how Rave felt earlier, Momo mumbled, opening the door to their room. John didnt even need to look at anything closely; it was the same old design that every room had. Only noteworthy thing about this room was that ity across the hall from Johns. That, once again, put them far away from Lydias room, but Rave was just next door. If he knew his girlfriend, though, she would not mind it if they were a bit loud.
John sat down on the bed. Aclysia took her seat right next to him, cuddling up against him like the very happy tank, maid, lover mixture she was, even wrapping her arms around his shoulder and resting her head there. A momentter her dress had vanished and she was naked. Johns hand was firmly ced on her bare leg. The smoothness of her skin ever so slightly gave away her artificial nature. If he could have fixed it, he would have, but he could not say it bothered him too much.
Momo sat down at the table with theptop, sensing where this was going. Let me guess, it''s time to order all my skin materials? the full-metal woman asked.
You are definitely the smart one, Johnplimented her.
Blowing air out of her nose, And whose fault is that?
That gets moreplicated the more I think about it. I mean, do you feel like you owe any of what you are to me?
There was no immediate answer to that question, because she treated it with the proper level of seriousness. In the end, she could only let out a long, frustrated sigh. I dont think so? she said. You didnt make me in a way that makes me you know just a golem.
John just nodded. They wouldnt really find a fully satisfying answer to this maybe ever. What was important to John was only that any and all feelings in the room were genuine. Everything beyond that was aplicated mess of questions that he would like to resolve, but he could live with if they werent.
Momo, can you open the Abyss Auction for me? John asked, using his free hand tob through Aclysias long, silky hair. In the light of the bulb above, the silvery white glowed wonderfully, having a lustre otherwise only seen in heavily editedmercials. It was wonderfully soft as well. Momo, whose hair was duller looking, obeyed and opened theptop with an annoyed sigh. What that annoyance was aimed at, only she knew.
This was a trick John had picked up during his training preceding the fight with Thana. His artificial spirits could both order for him. John wasnt sure if this was because the technomancywork identified them as his familiars or if they couldnt differentiate them from him. Personally, he believed the former, after all their auras were linked to his, but still different in structure. It would be worth looking into this. If they were truly unable to sense the difference, he could use that for information wars in the future, shrouding his actual position and shenanigans like that. He should ask Lydia about this; the princess was the best source of reliable information he had to date.
So, what do you want to buy? Momo asked and John cited the list of objects he knew he bought, way back when, for Aclysia.
And a dildo plus strap-on, he added at the end. Since the lesbian side-events were getting more frequent in his bedroom, he might as well add some toys to the mix.
Momo put the cursor above the order button and turned to John. You want to raise my Libido, dont you? she asked, crossing her arms.
I was going to bring it up after you ordered everything, the Gamer confessed. One way or another, you will need the more human texture, if you want to go around on your own.
What if I say no? To the Libido offer? Momo asked.
John froze, his youth and own lustpeting with his raised Wisdom for what he should answer. The former would just have stared in confusion. Who would not want to feel pleasure. Thetter knew that all of this must have been a bit odd to someone that had, so far, been incapable of understanding the sensation. I want you to experience all things a human can, just like Aclysia, he finally told her.
Personally, I am happy just cuddling her, Momo said.
But I am not happy with just that, the naked maid dered. Her thinning patience was evident in every squirm that went through her alluring curves, every little way she grinded against John, and every audible breath she took. I wish for us to find pleasure together, as Masters women. Masturbating on my own is thoroughly unsatisfying.
Ah well, I was in blissful ignorance about what that shifting aroundst night was, Momo responded drily. Aclysias eyebrows pulled together, but she barely kept herposure.
John could feel the craving radiating from his artificial guardian. She needed his cock almost more than he craved her. Let me assure you that lust is a great gift, Aclysia stated in the calmest tone she could muster. You have nothing to lose and pleasure to gain.
Momos sceptical expression softened. From the lips of a woman that had been in the same situation once, it must have all sounded a little more reasonable. John decided to y the card that he knew would win the argument. You could help Gnome and Aclysia whenever they are horny.
Audibly, Momo sucked on her lower lip. She understood that her love for Gnome and Aclysia was partly imnted, much as she liked them on her own terms now. Youre thinking with your dick, she called him out.
John felt just the slightest bit guilty about it. Yeah yeah he sighed. It is your decision.
Raise my Libido score, Momo caved just a momentter and tapped on the order button.
It wasnt the entirely appropriate reaction, but John smirked anyway. I will after you have eaten up.
Chapter 180 – For a horny young woman, kissing is an addiction.
Chapter 180 C For a horny young woman, kissing is an addiction.
Authors Note: This is yet another instance of a chapter thats half kind of interesting stuff, half lewd. Again, past me did not draw as solid separations.
So, for starters, I will raise your Libido to 10, John exined, opening her status as he did. Aclysia agreed to have her Libido raised to 25 in the future, so we will maybe increase yours -if you want to- once we find out what exactly that does. Okay?
Just do it already, Momo said, pulling at her cheek, apparently curious about her new sticity.
With Refined Body II the silicone she was made off was the standard kind, not that that was a problem. John had willingly fucked Aclysia before she got her materials to make her from a 10/10 to a 10+/10.
I might have a thing for Asians, John realized, thinking about how not only his girlfriend was half Japanese, but both of his artificial spirits were Asian looking. With Aclysia that was no surprise, she had been created from an A2 figurine after all, but with Momo it was pure coincidence. Then there was Gnomes look. Really, for someone from middle America, he was practically drowning in the East Asians. Ah, whatever, they are all pretty hot, John thought his shallow thoughts. Not the first time he admitted that he was fine with being shallow and it wouldnt be thest. Getting the sexy girls was the dream, and he was living it. If it was wrong to like attractive women, then he would happily be wrong.
Back to Momo. He had 20 Stat points for her. Her focus remained to provide everyone else in the group with mana, so raising Wisdom and Intellect was the sensible thing. Therefore, he put 10 points in Intellect, dering it his goal to push that to 150 for her, and 10 in Libido. Unlike how he did it back in the day with Aclysia he didnt put in one point after another, Momo didnt seem all too keen to wait any longer. On the contrary, she looked more like she wanted to just get it over with, which made her simr to Aclysias impatient writhing at her creators side. The motivations for the two of them varied wildly, however. John smirked, he would be happy to tease Momo in a minute.
The change was instant. Momo suddenly took a deep breath; the way she looked at John and Aclysia changed ever so subtly and clearly. A new kind of interest moved in with the curiosity. Her focus drifted from their faces and down to their bodies. Her fingers, previously rxed and still, started fidgeting. Her whole body followed suit a momentter. Momo raised her hand and gently tugged the tip of a strand of hair. In response, it seemed to be finer, reacting to the, perhaps unconscious, wish to be more attractive. Her skin seemed to clean up a bit as well, not that it was dirty or rough before, it just got a few finishing touches applied to it until it was worthy of a photo-shoot for Victorias Secret.
Okay, this feels interesting, Momo carefully formted, her eyes darting to her sister''s naked form over and over again, despite her best efforts to not stare.
Dont be shy, Momo, Aclysia encouraged her. Get naked too, a nude form is quite rxing.
I dont exactly have one of those, the artificial support answered and looked down on her poncho-wearing self. This is how I always looked.
I will transfer the knowledge to you, Aclysia promised and rose from the bed.
Knowing that John was staring at her ass with the same intensity one would marvel at an art-piece of timeless character (which was exactly what the female physique was in Johns humble opinion), Aclysia walked over to Momo, hips swinging. Momo waited for that knowledge to arrive, keeping her mind open, allowing everyone who wanted to tab in.
What she didnt expect was for Aclysia to gently run her hand over her left cheek. Further, the slender fingers progressed, arriving at the back of her head. The same motion repeated a momentter on her other side.
Momo instinctively nuzzled against the hands in motion. Red flushed her paper white features, as the new kind of yearning awoke in full and was partly sated by the gaze of Aclysias emerald green eyes. Momo, like John himself, couldnt help but get lost in them. Only distantly did Momo realize Aclysias luscious, pink lips closing in. Further even was the realization that her own opened to receive them.
The first meeting was like a warm ray of sunlight upon her lips. Momo didnt possess the Inner Fire that her sister had, didnt expect how thatd be a thing she would ever be sad about. At the same time, there was something unique in being filled with the warmth radiating from the maid. A warmth that intensified with each passing moment and filled her to the core as Aclysia carefully pulled her closer and probed with her tongue.
Momo willingly met her and their kiss bloomed into a wild exchange of heat and saliva; the artificial support, for the first time, realized what she had been missing out on. Information and instructions filled Momos thoughts, but she pushed them to her instincts, just following whatever Aclysia wanted. Her own interesty within her lips, twirled around her tongue. Momo felt a tingle between her legs, only growing in intensity, urging her to continue this intimate contact.
John watched it all; Aclysia carefully turned Momo so that he could have a good side view of the scene. From the moment Aclysias lips met the light-pink of the younger Artificial Spirits lips, to where her hands let go of Momos head and explored downwards, John could see it all. He could sense it all, Momos mind still open like a book.
Momo mirrored her sisters motions, her paper white hands gliding over Aclysias fair skin and copying whatever she felt,bining it with what she was learning through Aclysias thoughts. From her neck down to her ass, Momo felt up her elder with increasingly greedy motions. What started as a shy probing of Aclysias slender shoulders, ended in a shameless cupping of her ass. The lower she got, the more of the clothes that had made up her outeryer disappeared and made way for her new, naked form.
When the transformation had reached the artificial support''s toes, Aclysia folded her hands behind Momos hips. The support had her hands at the exact same ce a momentter. They broke the kiss. Both of them turned towards John in a synchronized movement. The Gamer hadnt been motionless, pulling his clothes into his inventory as he watched. What voyeuristic delight he felt was infinitely smaller than his anticipation of joining them.
Aclysia smiled, where Momo was enraptured by the sight of Johns naked form. This was far from the first time Momo had seen him naked; however, it was the first time she was actually interested in what she was seeing. Those were the eyes of a woman who understood desire, not those of an entity that happened to be female shaped.
John was scanning her as well. Her skin was absolutely pale, being apetitor to snow. Having taken such heavy inspiration from Aclysia, Momo shared the bottom heavy form of her curves. A beautiful, bountiful booty, that was what John was looking at, extending into a pair of nicely shaped thighs. His eyes roamed upwards, over her lithe midriff and its subtle shifting, as she squirmed under his gaze, and up to her chest.
Where Aclysia had small tits, Momo had almost none at all, having either chosen or instinctively gone with an A-Cup. She was t, but notpletely, there was a hint of breasts that curved from her white skin, with pale pink nipples at the centre. John could have had her change that, but, and this was another one of the shallow thoughts, he did not have an A-cup in his harem yet. If this was what she had chosen for herself and he did not mind it at all, why ask for a change? The only important factor that separated breasts he liked from breasts he loved was whether he got to touch them or not.
Come, Momo, Aclysia purred and pulled her towards the bed, where John was waiting. Momo let herself be strung along with only the mildest bit of hesitation. The maid sat down between Johns parted legs, leaving enough room to her right for the support to kneel down next to her. This is Masters fantastic cock, Aclysia swooned and wrapped her slender, velvety fingers around the rigid member.
John did not say a word. He was happy to let Aclysia do the introducing. For now, he limited himself to sighing in support of the way her thumb brushed along the sensitive spots underneath the head of his cock.
Doesnt seem that great to me, Momo stated, as drily as her heated voice allowed her to. John could not withhold an amused snort at that. It was good to hear that she had retained her sass. Can we kiss again? I liked that more.
We may kiss C but only if we serve Master at the same time, the maid continued her sensual purring. Johns cock quivered in anticipation of those words and she gave it a lick. Just a short one, from below the ns to the slit at the tip. Her tongue circled once, spreading the precum around. Hmmm, Mashtehr, she sighed in delight at the taste. Then, she took him into her mouth.
Her soft lips sealed around his shaft, turning from soft pillows to a tight ring. Rhythmic motions massaged the base of his shaft, as she gradually sunk deeper. Effortlessly, she reached the halfway point, and only stopped there to allow her tongue to press all the sensitive spots it could reach.
The months apart had taken away none of her skill. She remembered every little ridge and every angle that made him groan instinctively. Having no reason and no shame when it came to this, he vocalized how good she made him feel. It spurred her on to do more, to prove more. After some time of this service, she pushed further.
Aclysia moaned when she took him into her throat. Even though she got no direct physical stimtion out of the act, serving him was Aclysias first nature, doubly so after she had chosen it for herself. His enjoyment of her services, feeling his cock pulse inside her, that was enough to make her create her own sounds of delight. They vibrated all around him, making the tight walls of her throat feel even better. If he had ordered her to, she would have kept sucking him like this happily, until he was entirely spent and tuckered out. However, she had another servant to initiate and, like all her duties, she would see it through.
Aclysias head bobbed, adding undtions to add variations to the consisted motions. It all provided pleasurable friction. With each back and forth, she retreated a little further. Ceaselessly, herck of need for airing in handy, she continued even when she rammed the near entirety of his cock down her throat with each movement. The girth of his cock showed in the bulge in her neck, the depravity of it all in the strands that were drawn between her lips and his crotch. Then, she retreated all the way. His cock felt cold, even in the heated room, and twitched.
Leaning over, thest of the strands of saliva and precum breaking, Aclysia whispered into Momos ear, Your turn.
The soft words sent shivers of joy through the sassy support. Eyeing the phallus in front of her had a bit of a different effect. It does look interesting not exactly tasty though. Momo raised a white eyebrow and leaned. Mimicking Aclysias actions, she took a gentle hold of his shaft and gave the tip a quick lick. Thats not thats pretty good, she begrudgingly and lustfully admitted and gave it a peck. I could get mhmm.
Momos tongue circled around the head, taking in more of the taste of his precum. Master enjoys your service, but dont stop there, Aclysia whispered. As Momo began to take more of him inside, the maid put an arm around her, which then slithered down to the younger womans cunt.
It was the first time somebody touched the newly formed part of her body, and she was not prepared for the sensitivity that it had. Cock still in her mouth, Momo moaned out when she felt the crackling bliss that spread through her body. Aclysia knew exactly where to gently rub, where to flick and at what tempo to insert her fingers to get the result she wanted. She hadnt been able to serve her Master these past months, but the experience she got with the mistress helped her greatly in this moment. The moans of Momo were muffled by Johns dick,ying still in her mouth, the Gamer being content with just enjoying the vibrations and watching.
Dont stop, Aclysia repeated her whisper. Finally, Momo, having been too lost in her own pleasure to move her head, obeyed. Slowly she sucked John deeper, unsure what to think about this hard, meaty phallus invading her mouth, and then, before she knew what she was doing, her throat. As an Artificial Spirit, shecked any sort of gag reflex, but that didnt mean that it didnt feel weird when Johns dick was inside her. Weird in a good way, it seemed. The only thing that got Momo to stop taking him deeper was when her nose pressed into his groin.
Good girl, Aclysia cooed, rubbing Momos clit and kissing her on the cheek. Now, slide your mouth back and forth. Master wont be pleasured just by being sheathed inside you. That wasntpletely true, John loved being balls-deep in her tight, vibrating throat, but when Momo started moving, whateverment he might have had was silenced. The artificial support was a quick learner, no wonder with her Intellect and Wisdom, and picked up on how to best pleasure him within a few strokes. John hoped she would retain and keep using this knowledge for years toe.
Aclysia didnt stay inactive, instead going to pleasure John whenever she saw an opening. When Momo slid back and Johns shaft was exposed to the air, Aclysias mouth was ready to caress it with kisses. When the younger servant had him all the way down in her throat again, Aclysia worshipped his balls with gentleps, kisses, sucking and fondling by her unupied hand.
John felt how he wasing ever closer to orgasm. Just before he reached the point of no return, Momo stopped and pulled back. I was promised kisses, she whined.
You sure you dont want to be called Mono? John poked fun at her, his amusement overpowering his need to orgasm ever so slightly. Because you sound like you have a kissing disease.
The artificial support stuck out her tongue and turned her white eyes to Aclysia. We do nothing that doesnt please Master, Aclysia said with sternness in her eyes, then adding in a softer purr, but I know apromise.
Aclysia put her mouth on the right side of his well-lubricated dick, slobbering over the hard shaft, her tongue massaging his length. Quickly understanding, Momo took the opposite side, and John found himself, or rather his dick, stuck between wrestling tongues and luscious lips, glossy from saliva and his pre-cum.
He had been close before, but now there was no holding back. I am cumming, he warned. Not that it was necessary, they both could read his surface thoughts and Aclysia had noticed the tightening of his balls and the quivering of his shaft already. When the load came rushing out of his dick, Aclysia readily took spurt after spurt of his seed into her mouth. Her lips formed a tight seal around his ns, while her tongue coaxed everyst drop out of him. Momo kept working his shaft all the while, seemingly entranced by the rhythmless tensing of his manhood. Only when thest little spasm had passed, did Aclysia pull back.
Immediately, she granted Momo that kiss she had been craving. White eyes opened wide, a scene not entirely unfamiliar, as she tasted his delicious cum straight from the lips of her beloved maid. The taste, the softness of Aclysias lips, and the hand still working between her trembling thighs, brought Momo to heaven.
John caressed her short hair, while Aclysia kept dominating her mouth with her own. Between the Master and his first maid, Momo was turned into spasming putty. She moaned and shouted, eyelids fluttering, and kept on twitching between the two of them.
Momo snapped out of it only after John had pulled her onto the bed. There was a moment where she looked confused, then she realized where she was and blushed. Wow that I seriously forgot where up and down were for a second, she sighed, blinking at the ceiling. Only a few secondster, she realized she was not lying on the bed itself, but on Aclysia.
You wanted her thighs, I gave you a little more, Johnmented on her surprised expression.
I wont say thanks but thanks, Momo added the second part very quietly, gettingfortable on top of the maid. Momos wide hips were located between Aclysias spread legs, her head resting on the petite chest of the long-haired maid. Hands caressed t breasts and the protruding, pale pink nipples at the centre. Sighing in pleasure, she watched as John loomed over her, his cock closing in on her swollenbia.
Dont worry, Aclysia whispered into her ear, it feels incredible.
Momo bit her lower lip and gave a little nervous nod in response. Feelings so clear that John couldnt have ignored them if he wanted to entered his mind. Lust, desire, nervousness, a bit of anger about having lost control over the situation, notable excitement about the same fact, fear, and the question of how much all of this changed her.
Ill be gentle, John promised, diminishing the negative emotions somewhat. That was the best he could do at that moment. He aligned himself with her and eased himself inside.
After all he had been through, the feeling of fucking a cold pussy was nothing new. That wasnt to say that she felt lifeless, that was just as untrue as saying that fucking Undine or Sylph would have felt lifeless. The walls twitching around him, the constant stream of wetness, the folds of her pussy quivering, all of that was underlined by Momos moans.
Now is a good time, John thought, when he was sheathed all the way inside the sassy support. While she was getting used to this new sensation, he pulled the earlier ordered dildo from his inventory. He used Possession on it. Moving Momos lower body a bit, he revealed Aclysias glistening cunt and pressed the dildo against it.
Master, mhm, what are you doing? gasped the starved artificial guardian.
Cant leave youpletely on your own while I take care of Momo, can I? he asked and pushed the dildo inside. Aclysia shouted with delight at the sudden pration.
Using an old trick, he made the object vibrate using his possession. He couldnt move it, or even feel pleasure from it, but it was leagues better than just leaving Aclysia hungry while Momo was getting the full course. He matched the intensity of the vibrations to how deep he was within the sassy support. Realizing this, Aclysia grabbed the base of the dildo and matched the motions as best she could.
Grinning, John put his hands on Momos hips. The way they swung to her slender midsection was simply gorgeous. As was every sound she made when he began to fuck her. Slowly at first, gently coaxing every little note out of her. He changed his angles around, until he heard a half-choked, Yes!
Holding that angle, he gradually elerated. He went faster and faster, harder and harder, until the bed creaked. It was by far the quietest noise that echoed through the room. The pping of their hips, the moans of Aclysia andstly the shouts of Momo, allrgely outdid that slight noise. And all of them were music to his ears.
Do you enjoy Masters hard cock? Aclysia wanted to know, nibbling on Momos ear.
The support kept quiet. Aside from the continued, Aaaaah,''s and O-o-o-o-oooohs of course.
Do you enjoy it? John repeated, pulling back and then mming his whole length into her in a single thrust.
YES! she screamed, when her whole body rocked forwards.
Really? John asked, repeating the motion. This time her answer was dyed by a howl of pleasure. The way her thighs rippled almost made John miss her answer.
Yee-e-eeessss! Momo, answered after having calmed down, I enjoy -mhm- you fucking meeee, her words were interrupted by her voice unloading the pleasure her body couldnt handle, caused by John and Aclysia stimting various parts of her body. You and your big dick, Momoined, and your even bigger ego! This feels soooo goooood!
You are forgetting something, Momo, Aclysia reprimanded and gave John a mental signal to stop. He obeyed, leaving Momo twitching and confused.
Wait, what? Momo cried out, her eyes dull with lust.
Aclysia pinched her left nipple, rolling it between her fingers. Momo tensed up and breathed audibly, a heavy groan escaping her closed teeth. So close to her second orgasm was she that even this little stimtion was like an electrical current rocking through her body. The supports pussy quivered all around John, who rested deep inside her.
You are forgetting a single word, say it, the older sister demanded, gently biting Momos earlobe.
John understood where this was going and smirked. He pulled out of Momo, slowly grinding his dick along herbia, careful to not push inside or make her cum, only keeping her on the edge of orgasm. Say it, Momo, he demanded.
Oh, oh you two are the worst, Momo groaned, in frustration, in pleasure, when she realized what they wanted. Please, Master, fuck me, she said in the most sarcastic tone she could muster.
Not good enough, Aclysia stated. Both of them kept teasing her. Bad news for John, he wasnt sure how much longer he himself could keep this up. Even grinding against her twitchingbia was threatening to set him off.
Luckily, Momo caved quickly. FINE! she howled out suddenly, MASTER, please stick your dick into me, please make me climax with that hard cock of yours. Her tone was still a bit angry, but mostly desperate and willing to do whatever it might take to finally taste relief.
Good enough, John thought. Aclysia didnt stop him when he pulled back and hammered into Momo. Only a few more thrusts, then he felt his balls tighten; he dyed his orgasm for only a moment longer, as the support underneath him did the same, both of them waiting for a point where willpower became null and void, only pleasure would remain. With onest pull back he was done, and so was she.
In a spur of the moment decision, he decided to pull out. As he came, he gave his cock rapid pumps. Hard, his balls tightened, pumping his seed up through the shaft. In long spurts, the white liquidnded on Momos even whiter skin. The thick liquidnded on her chest, where one of Aclysias hands was still working C right until the moment she scooped up some of his semen and brought it to her lips.
Momo was writhing as cum showered her midriff and tits. Aclysia devoured his seed, until the taste and the vibrating dildo in her pussy set her off as well. John listened to their intertwining cries of pleasure and stopped stroking his cock only to angle it back inside. Both him and Momo were still cumming and he made it better and worse for them by mming back into her in one thrust.
Spine curving, Momo screamed. The incredible tightness of her mping walls was all he needed for his orgasm to surge ahead with renewed intensity. He painted the insides of her pussy white with all he could still offer C which was quite a lot.
The trio moaned and whimpered, cried and shouted, their individual orgasms ovepping in one moment of absolute bliss that subsided swiftly for John, leaving him to follow the squirms and spasms of female orgasms for a little while. A delightful sight, in every regard.
By the end of it, Momo was knocked out. Perhaps it had been the edging or it was the sheer inexperience, but the support couldnt go on. John and Aclysia could however. You still owe me four orgasms, the white-haired guardian reminded, her choice of words contradicted by her submissive tone.
Momo rolled off the duo and justy down. Damn perverts everywhere, she mumbled while the other two went at it again.
And they totally did not notice the sassy support masturbating as she watched them.
An Elemental Party 1 – Grounded [Elemental Girls Side Story]
An Elemental Party 1 C Grounded [Elemental Girls Side Story]
Gnome was never sure what to think of her home. Since first being contracted to the Gamer, many things had changed for the earth spirit. For a start, the fact that she was a stone elemental now. Back before all of this had started, she had been a mere fragment of the joined consciousness of the ne of earth, too weak to be called an independent entity. She had been a mere cell in a muchrger organism.
She still was, to a certain degree, but the stronger she had gotten, the more individual she had be. That had reached a new height when she had evolved into her current form, that of an Asian girl of outstanding cuteness (or at least that was what everyone else told her; she wasnt quite sure of that), and with individuality came a lot of things. Uncertainty was one of those things. She never knew if what she said was quite the right thing and she got flustered a lot.
If she had to point at the biggest change in her life, it was her new home in Johns head. The maze that was his thoughts shifted daily, maintaining only a rough structure. There were two and a half constants, however.
There was the dungeon of depravity (Sylphs name for it) where John stored all of his erotic memories. She totally didnt go there. Ever. Especially not daily in the hours that everyone else was asleep. And Smander absolutely had never waited outside the entrance, waiting for her to finish, ehem, studying, and then flew by her side with a knowing smile. A scene like that never took ce. Ever.
Then there was the half-case, the gaming room. The ce of that room never changed, but the look of it had. Where it had once been a simple room with a single desk and PC, it had turned into arge hall, a long meeting desk at the left-hand, and a circle of Arcade machines on the right-hand side. The change had urred shortly before John had be guild master of Collide. Gnome didnt like going there, it had an aura of sadness to it.
The other elementals didnt mind as much; they had never met the now deceased owner of that Arcade, only knew the importance of that ce from the memories John had. A second-hand experience, barely more than a tragedy on a cinema screen.
Gnome sighed; her thoughts were always a bit heavy when she was tired. She opened the door to thest constant in thisbyrinth of thoughts and emotions: her home, the room of the elementals. A single room, without any other doors. It consistedrgely of a giant bed.
Admittedly, bed was a bit of an arbitrary term here. There was no mattress or frame, just a giant pile of pillows of varying sizes. Opposite to it was a t-screen, which stretched over the entire length of the wall; they used this to check whatever John was doing right now or watch some of his memories. Or watch a movie on Elecflix. Fourputers, hooked up to the elec (the elementalmunicationswork), stood at another wall. Then there was a corner with a bathtub, where Undine spent most of her time just liquiding around. This room was the cosiest ce she knew.
Whatya sighing about, Gnome? Sylph bbered, trying to be as cheery as usual as she flew around, but then she fell down to the floor. You know what, she said, not even waiting for Gnomes answer. I am too tired to speak. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! I cant sex, I cant speak, I cantsomebody carry me to the bed, please?
Fly yourself, youzy butt, Smander, sounding just as tired, mumbled as she passed over her and fell into the cushions. I am spent, the ze elementalmented.
Gnome bowed down to pick up Sylph. Thaaaanks, the air spirit yawned. You are the best Gnome.
I-is that so? Gnome stuttered and reprimanded herself. Come on, Gnome, you can do it you can be confident and say what you want, take thepliment!
You are talking to yourself, Gnome, Smandermented from the bed.
Wha-? Gnome tensed up. I mean when? I mean why? I meanhgnh, she sniffed. She never got control of where her thoughts ended and her words began. She always let out words that nobody should hear.
Gnoooome, you are holding me too tightly, Sylphined, being squished in her eldest sisters hands.
Oh! I am so sorry, Gnome apologized and rxed her grip before putting Sylph on one of the many cushions. I hope it wasnt too painful, I am so sorry, she blushed; it was just important that people knew that she didnt mean it that way. Like, how else would they be willing to hang out with her? She wasnt all that great, she was just Gnome, a stone elemental with a bit of strength. No, no, no, she shook her head and pumped her fists. You are GNOME, oldest elemental contracted to John; you are in charge of this! You can do it, you can do it, she muttered to herself.
Yeah, sure you can do it, Sylph cheered her on, eyes falling closed. And it was fine, a bit tight thooooo, the tempest elemental''s head sank to the side and she fell asleep.
Gnome looked over to Smander. The fire spirits ming clothes-recement had been extinguished. Both her and Sylph were now naked on the bed andpletely knocked out.
Gnome understood that she was tired as well. The fight against that hand had taken all of her energy. Undine, who had been slightly traumatized earlier, wobbled to her bathtub and went to sleep without another word. Actually, that is just the usual, Gnome thought and sighed.
Well, it was time to get into bed. Gnome disrobed and jumped into the sea of pillows. Even with her weight and density of a rock, the pillows made her bounce a little on their softness. This was just about her favourite ce on earth. The multitude of pillows enveloped her like an ocean of marshmallows. She wrapped her arms around one of the bigger ones and hugged it with a wide smile, imagining it to be John. Even the thought made her blush, so she buried her face deeper in the pillow to hide it. Then she tried her best to rx and go to sleep. Of course, it didnt work immediately, since she had made the mistake of getting worked up over nothing again. She raised her head looking at her sleeping sisters.
Smander, who was always ready to burn stuff, overly passionate, quick to anger and a bully. But she also helped whenever asked, despite all theining she did, even when she wasnt asked she was often amongst the first to solve a problem and the first to apologize when she did something wrong.
Sylph, who was constantly bbering and a bit annoying at times with just how much energy she had. But she was never sad, and she could turn the mood of the group from the grimmest point to light-hearted, just by chirping around, careless as she always was, and she would never forsake her duty.
Undine. Honestly, Gnome didnt know the water elemental very well. She didnt talk a lot, kept her thoughts to herself and preferred to only share emotions and pictures with them to get her point across. She was reliable, and if it came down to it, she would speak her mind, but outside of that, she was the sister that distanced herself the most.
But all of that was fine. Gnome didnt have to know and understand her sisters perfectly; she loved them as family nheless and, even though they teased her too much sometimes, she wouldnt exchange them for anyone else. However, she would have loved to include Momo into her little family. Currently, they were more like step-sisters. Also, besties.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep like the rest of her close family.
Gnome, Gnome! she felt a pair of hands shaking her. A familiar pair of small hands.
What is it, Sylph? the stone elemental groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She had just fallen asleep, what could it be that was so important? Gnome was very surprised to see the roof of a medieval farm house above her instead of the simple white of their room.
Gnome needed a moment to adjust, but then she realized what had happened. Their dreams had synced up. This happened sometimes, not often, but often enough for Gnome to know what was going on when she turned to see Sylph in full te armour at her side.
We musteth defendeth oursleveth frometh the evileth, squire! said the tempest elemental in an overly old-fashioned tone that nobody could take seriously. Gnome yawned, even in this dream she was still tired. She swung her legs out of the bed and patted Sylph. Not even a dream could fix the girl''s height, orck thereof.
Yes, yes, Gnome sleepily agreed, we must defend ourselves from evil; lead the way.
She had long since stopped trying to exin to Sylph that none of this was real, when they ended up in a situation like this. Either the tempest elemental did not realize they were in a dream or was too adamant about roleying. Anyhow, there was no convincing her, so Gnome yed along. It typically was quite fun, so there was nothing lost doing so.
Ah, but haveth you forgottenth, squire Gnometh! Sylph said and stepped to the side to reveal a crowd of Johns. Our questeth to defeath these Jonnies! We shalleth!
W-w-ww-w-ww- A stuttering outcry interrupted the armoured air spirit as Gnome shielded her eyes from the crowd. Why are they naked?! Gnome wanted to know.
What are you talketh about? Sylph wanted to know, Of courseth they be naked. As you arethh- aaaaah, Sylph cried out in pain. I bith my thongue.
Gnome barely heard her. She was too upied with looking down at herself, then at the army of Johns, staring at her naked form. Then she looked down again. A-a-a-a-a-a-a, she tried to say something, anything, but she only managed to stammer singr sybles. Her face turned hot from shame, and she tried to hide herself with anything, but she had awoken on a stack of hay, no nket or clothes in sight.
Everyone was still oogling her, when she looked up. She was still naked. This couldnt continue. She felt something in her brain fry.
S-s-s-s-s-STOP STARING! she finally cried out.
In response, none of the Johns did. Instead, they stepped closer. You are just so cute, though, said one. Th-thanks, that made Gnome happy but that didnt solve her conundrum.
I just want to bully you, said another and all of them raised their hands.
Noooooooo, Gnome shouted, this was exactly what she DIDNT want to happen, and inched away from the closing mass of Johns, making the entirely unsexy gesture of wiggling their fingers in a ticklish motion.
We will make you even cuter! said a third John as their circle around her closed.
The stone elemental was not sure what was supposed to happen next, but she was sure that she did not like it. Her whole body was flushed red at this point; her shy spirit could not handle this much exposure, not to this many Johns who took this much interest in her. One she could handle, barely. A crowd? This was too much.
Something inside her brain just snapped. G-g-get away from me! she shouted, and then all of the Johns were thrown back by a wave of dust and dirt. She got her wish and breathed a bit freer when she was no longer besieged on all sides by enclosing tickles. It was enough to calm her down to the point where she remembered that this was a dream. If she had her earth powers in this dream, surely, she could create her clothes as well? The answer was yes, the yellow dress appeared around her. The cover made her feel a little more confident.
What did you doooooo? Sylph cried out and walked over to the knocked-out Johns. You killed them all!
I d-d-did what?! Gnome ran over and checked for herself. Indeed, all of the Johns were without breath and vanished one by one. No, thats notJohn can take more than that!
They were the council of summoners, now no one can stop the evil Ovedy! Sylph ignored her sister.
Evil Ovedy? Gnome cautiously asked.
Dont you remember, squire? The one true evil of thisnd! The enver of dragons, the burning bitch, the one who threatens to burn me whenever I make a harmless joke! Worst of all, though: Melter of Marvin!
Ah, Smander, Gnome thought and sighed. She never quite knew what she should think about her home. It was more chaotic than she would have preferred, and she got in the focus more than she liked. It was also fun though, so maybe everything was okay? Okay, Sylph, Ill join you in your quest, but dont be too harsh with Smander, alright?
An Elemental Party 2 – Lighting Fire
An Elemental Party 2 C Lighting Fire
Ovedy Smander! with these words one of her many underlings stormed into the throne room. They were small creatures of coloured fire, dark gauntlets and leg armour extending from their burning bodies. This particr one was green, but the many guards standing around the flintstone walls also had blue or red ones in their ranks. The rare white ones, two of which she had in her army, nked her throne of ever burning coal.
Urgh, what is it?! Smander asked and shifted in her chair. She was wearing the fire equivalent of a monarchs robe, a long scarlett cape with white fire at the ruff, spangled with blue mes. Frowning, she repositioned her legs on her stool. Yo, granny, get closer, this isntfortable, she told the living stool.
She was of light-brownplexion, looked barely older than thirty and had three obisidian horns growing from her head, two long ones from the sides, curving backwards and a third short one, sprouting from the middle of her forehead, just where the line of her hair began. The rest of her body was hidden beneath ck stone scales, growing even over the right side of her face. Her long, orange-red hair glowed likeva, the same colour as her eyes which turned towards Smander.
The image of Nathalia looked at her Ovedy with an eagerly submissive expression. Of course, Smander. I am honoured that you chose my back to rest your holy feet upon, she spoke in a truly awestruck and caring tone that the real Nathalia would never have used and followed the fire spiritsmand, inching closer so that Smanders feet had an easier rest.
And? Smander asked. The minion sprung to attention, There is an intr-
Not you, Smander interrupted him, fucking idiot. Granny, what else do you want to say?
And I am totally old and would never submerge you in water? not-Nathalia said, Every dragon that would try to drown you is a dumb bimbo.
Thats my girl, Smander said and made a gracious gesture. Now you can talk, meling, she stated and leant back in her chair, resting her head on her fist and listening with a bored expression.
An intruder has intruded upon ournd! the minion shouted.
Yeah, thats what intruders do, Smander tapped on her armrest with her empty hand. What are you, retarded? Tell me who and where already!
In the eastern coal fields, a tiny g-
SYLPH! Smander boomed, her voice echoing throughout the entire building.
Except for the constant crackling, the building fell silent. Smander started chewing on her thumbs nail. Urgh, what does she want this time? I hate it when our dreams sync up. All I want to do here is to have a harmless power fantasy and then, suddenly, she strides along, is all stupid and acts all just and all that shit, and then I have to deal with her. This sucks! she shouted and ruffled her hair. Dumb as bread, Sylph. Okay, maybe I can salvage this, just have to keep her entertained and then she will bugger off she nodded to herself. Just have to create a quest for her or somethingTell me more about her, anything interesting?
There is another girl with her, she keeps calling her squire yet the yellow dressed one never carries anything for her. Instead, the small one is getting lectures whenever she does something stupid, the minion informed the Ovedy.
Okay, so Gnome is with herwait! Smander pondered for a moment; then she broke intoughter. YES! she shouted when a n formed in her head. I shall burn this pest from mynds like I burnt the Woodlings. Follow me, my loyal guard.
She jumped off her throne and walked straight forwards, towards the open gate that led to the outside. Following her were the two white-med minions as well as not-Nathalia. Her burning castle was built atop a giant, almost straight upwards reaching, teau of white stone.
After a gesture from her truly benevolent Ovedy, not-Nathalia turned into a ck-scaled dragon with small wings and big googly eyes. It is my honest conviction that she will look either like this or absolutely terrifying, Smander thought and climbed onto the back of the dragoness. Her true white melings did the same, and then they were on their way.
The teau and the burning pce shrunk in the distance, slowly transforming from an imposing evil castle into looking like an oversized candle.
Definitely need to change that once I take care of this; that looks stupid, she mumbled.
Travelling inside a dreamscape was far from an exact science and so Smander reached her target almost immediately. It also wasnt hard to find Sylph. The eastern coal fields had exactly one vige and, with Sylph being who she was, Smander guessed she would be there. And she was.
What is that stupid armour? Smander thought while shended. Sylph was wearing full-te, which was entirely impractical for a fighter whose main attribute was speed. The fire spirit chose not to be bothered and jumped off not-Nathalias back.
Sylph, I have not expected you, she greeted, scratching her head. The tempest elemental turned holy knight pointed her way-too-heavy de at Smander.
Aha, but I have expected you, evil Ovedy, for you see that I am the great knight Sylph, and I will see thesends free from your terrible reign and all of the good people free from your terrible reign and
You are terrible at giving heroic speeches, Smander interrupted. She pinched the bridge of her nose, having no patience for this. I should be up in my pce, listening to death metal while burning forests down or something.
Instead, she looked over to Gnome. The timid stone elemental was standing there with a hanging head and slouching shoulders. When Smander raised an eyebrow at her, Gnome just shrugged, sighed and sighed once more, but harder.
My speeches are of no matter! Sylph eximed. I will beat you!
Yes, yes, sure you will, but first you need to beat my elite guard, Smander waved off and pointed at not-Nathalia as well as the melings. Then you can fight me all you want.
Your challenge is epted, vile fiend! I shall beateth these twoeth and th- Aaaah, Sylph sniffed and stuck out her tongue. I bith ith again, she slurred.
Serves you right, also it''s three, you airhead, Smander corrected her, shaking her head.
Sylph didnt let the most basic of math stop her and soon she was in a fight with Smanders bodyguard. The ze elemental used that time to walk over to Gnome. Sorry, the earth spirit started with an apology, I tried to keep her upied, but you knowSylph.
Yeah, I know C Sylph, Smander agreed, and I say that we teach her a fucking lesson.
B-butthat is totally l-lewda-a-a-and she would totally enjoy it the most, Gnome stammered.
Smander pinched the bridge of her nose in a sudden attack of a headache. I am surrounded by idiots, lewd idiots, she quietlymented before lowering her hand to shout at Gnome. You are as dumb as a rock! Not a FUCKING lesson. A. fucking. LESSON! As in FUCKING underscoring the LESSON!
Oh ooooh Gnome understood and stammered. T-thats an easy mistake to make!
If you are as lewd as you are maybe, miss oh-i-am-so-innocent. Lets check shall we! Smander grabbed her older sisters skirt and ripped them upwards. AND ONCE AGAIN, NO PANTIES! she eximed, HAVE YOU NO SHAME?!
You are running around only hidden by some fire over your nipples and crotch! Gnome defended herself.
Yeah, and I dont have shame! Smander stood straight, showing off her half-a-head height difference, and folded her arms under her breasts, showing off another difference in size.
Its just morefortable without Gnome shifted under her judgemental gaze. Throwing her burning sister short gazes she said, Why cant I both be a bit perverted and shyyou are mean, Smander.
Well, I have just about had it today, so lets get this fucking over with. You will do as I say!
As the topic shifted, Gnome took a deep breath. No, she stated.
Eh? Smander stepped really close and put her fists on each side of Gnomes head. You think you can just tell me no?! Then she screwed them tightly, the earth elemental in between writhing trying to escape her grasp. Smander was way too fired up to remember how bad an idea this was.
STOP IT! Gnome shouted out and, with closed eyes, grabbed her sister by the arm. The next moment Smander found herself getting lifted up and then thrown over her sisters head. Then she saw the sky above her, giving her a moment of rity. Oh yeah, note to self for the fiftieth time: Dont take bullying Gnome too fardoubt I will ever learn that one, she thought before very painfully crashing to the ground.
It took a few moments of regretting existence and pain, for Smander to roll onto her back. At least the majestic cloak made for a nice nket. A momentter, Gnome bowed on top of her. Uhm uhhh s-sor-
Smander raised her hand, halting the apology. Yeah, no, that ones on me, she said in an attempt to sound sorry. Took that too far. We cool?
Uhm, yes, of course, Gnome answered and extended a hand.
Smander rose from the ground and gathered her patience. In the background Sylph was storming by. Blinding speedbined with wild swings of her sword into an absolutely impressive disy of martial inability. She overshot every target, missed every opening given, and sometimes ran face first into attacks. They still had plenty of time to talk.
So, here is the thing, she said, turning back to Gnome. We are in a dream, right?
That is definitely correct, yes, Gnome answered and blinked in confusion. And Sylph is not aware, right?
A moment of hesitation, but Gnome nodded, Most likely correct, yes.
Okay, so, normally Sylph, with her single-track mind, takes control of the dream and just writes the script subconsciously, right?
Well, that does sound like a theory that could be true? Gnome cautiously agreed, but we never really lose our powers in these even if I tend to forget that thest part she mumbled and Smander guessed there was some funny story attached to it, but she could askter.
Then, together, we surely could take control away from her, right? Smander proposed.
I meanmaybe? Gnome said, But why?
To teach her a fu- a lesson, the fire spirit rified. Beat into her that this is a dream, so that we maybe have our peace in the future. I at least want to sleep without being terrorized by her energy. Like that sweets incident.
Smander felt slightly mean for pushing that button, but it worked. She vividly remembered Gnomes muffin trauma following a dream she shared with Sylph where the tempest elemental and Gnome had to eat all of the sweets in the kingdom, otherwise the gummy bear king would have beheaded them.
F-fine, the stone elemental finally agreed.
Awesome, Smander thought and rubbed her hands together, Now it''s time to burn A LOT of stuff.
An Elemental Party 3 – Fury of the Storm
An Elemental Party 3 C Fury of the Storm
Sylph had a hard time. Sure, it was self-imposed (nobody forced her to carry an oversized sword) but, nheless, it turned out that, even though the white melings were weaklings, a dragon was a force to be reckoned with.
The te made all of her movements sluggishly slow. Well, a speed which the tempest elemental, were she awake and operating normally, would consider slow. Instead of dodging each attack easily, with lots of time to spare to do stupid stuff, Sylph actually needed to concentrate on what she was doing.
Why this was hard for her, Sylph didnt really know. She was a legendary hero born to fight with the sword a week ago in a small vige off the coast. She had always used a sword and te. Yet she felt hindered.
Also, I feel like I am usually smaller, am I big? Have I grown? I hope I have, like, in the chest department. I think the council of Johns likes big boobs. I know theyre all butt men, but maybe they like big bouncy boobas too? Then again, they are all dead now. Wow, thats a depressing thou- her thoughts were cut as she needed to jump from a descending w.
The googly eyed beast growled cutely and took a deep breath. Sylph jumped out of the way of the following cone of fire. She was only out of harm''s way for a moment. The two melings raised their swords of fire and brought them upon the tempest elemental''s head.
Sylph answered the attack by following the good old saying that the best defence is a great offence. Grabbing her oversized sword with both hands, she whirled around like a Beyde shouting DEMACIAAAAA!
She didnt know why, but that seemed like the right thing to say at that moment. That was usually how she operated. Just going with the flow and all that. Was nice. Well, it was until she had to stop spinning because she was getting all kinds of dizzy.
Stumbling through the ashen vige za, Sylph had no idea where above or below was. Well, once she hit the ground, she had a rough idea.
Time Out, Sylph pleaded and raised a hand. The two melings and even the mighty dragon surprisingly followed thatmand. Wow, I didnt think you would be this nice, Sylph bbered. Here I thought you would attack me, and then, I would have to jump to my feet and try some heroic retreat, start hiding in houses and stuff, throw pots at you to distract you while I recover and stuffActually, that sounds super fun, can we do that? Would be super super. Like ultra ultra, like mega mega, like
Stop being a hyper hyper idiot, Sylph, came the crackling voice of the most evil Ovedy. Wait, no, her voice wasnt crackling C that came from the fireball heading straight for Sylphs head.
WAH! cried Sylph, somehow, not having seen the ming projectile until it was about to hit her face. She couldnt dodge. The world went ck.
It smelled like metal where she was. And a bit like flowers. Like, nice flowers. Something like roses? Did roses smell nice? Do they smell like gummy bears or like cookies? Sylph wondered. Then she wondered what either of those were. Dunno but they sound delicious, she nodded to herself repeatedly, noticing the green legless leotard she was wearing. Veryfortable, and the white gloves she suddenly found her hands in were also fashionable ANDfortable. Like, wearing your own skinfortable. That sounds gross actually, like, ufortably grossDeath is surprisingly nice though. Wonder if they have a sex dungeon?
Get out of that tin-can, came Smanders voice from somewhere. Then her afterlife was shaken, rattled like hundreds of pieces of metal being violently kicked. Sylph found herself being thrown around inside the not all that vast darkness, before it came to an abrupt halt, and Sylph emerged from her steel sarcophagus.
Everything seemed big. Like really big. Her afterlife actually had been her former armour, Sylph realized. Especially big were the two mounds of red in front of her however, hidden only by a bit of fire. Those are some big bongos, she blurted out before raising her head to find the most mean Ovedy staring down at her.
Before Smander could say anything, Sylph had to get someints out of the way. One, a very important one, to be exact. YOU SHRUNK ME! she cried out while wildly gesturing. I dont know why you would cast a fireball of shrinking C or why you even have that spell, thought you more of a burner C but that is super rude. I was small before, I wanted to grow, now I am tiny.
Smanders eyebrows pulled together. Your head is just empty, isnt it? she asked. Like, just nothing is in there.
I think I have a brain, Sylph defended herself.
No, you dont. You are an air elemental; you dont have a brain, came the dry answer.
Didnt her squire say something simr on their travels? Well, if it was true, all Sylph would have to do is to concentrate a bit and surely something would happen. Smander was suddenly gripped by a powerful wind and catapulted back several metres.
AHAHA! Sylphughed, stemming her hands into her hips in a victorious pose. You did the viin mistake and told me what my greatest power is. Now, prepare to be vanquished!
Was not aware you knew big words like that, Smander,nding on her feet just fine, said. Then the most vile Ovedy turned to Sylphs squire.
Do the thing, Gnome, she asked, surprisingly nicely.
Wait, what? Sylph interjected after Gnome nodded. You have conspconspiretco-sp.Uhh, such a hard wordYOU HAVE BETRAYED ME, GNOME?! That is so mean, so Gmean! The stone elemental did look sorry, but, whatever she was doing wasnt stopping.
Smander conjured a fireball that grew and grew and grew. Eventually it was the size of a house; then she threw it. Sylph was already on the move, soaring through the air with speed that felt just about right. It was like she had awakened to her true power.
Didnt matter, though. Smander was faster. Like, so fast that Sylph couldnt even see her until the most powerful Ovedy was already punching her. Sylph hit the ashen ground once more, feeling what little buffer theyers of ash on the ground provided scatter away under the impact.
But being stubborn was one of the things she prided herself on, and so she was instantly on the move again. She felt electricity rushing through her body, saw her skin glow slightly blueish and then charged off with twice her usual speed.
However, not even that was enough to escape Smander, who brought her foot down and nailed Sylph to the ground. So, fun fact. We have the base level of our powers in these dreams, but, if we want to, we can raise them through the roof, too, sister, the most cheating Ovedy smirked, and right now I am at least five times more powerful than usual; you dont stand a chance.
Dream, our powers, sister? Sylph asked, Whaaaaa?
Smander groaned and massaged her temples with closed eyes. I really dont know if you are stupid, wilfully ignorant, honestly not aware or all of the above. Most likely thest, spoke the most evil, super sexy Ovedy.
Sylph had no care for being insulted. However, during Smanders sudden headache, the heroine managed to slip out from under the viins feet! Just because being pinned down by a bigger woman was pretty sexy did not mean she would forget her duty to the coastal cities! Totally nned! she announced, Like, super nned, a perfect feint. A most wise tactic! And now I will ste- ehem, borrow, your attack!
Raising her hands above her head, Sylph channelled power into a big ball of electricity. It grew slowly, but surely. It would reach the size of the one Smander had used. In, like, two minutes, maybe threeprobably five. Well, considering that the most mean Ovedy beat me in just about onenah, itll be finebut if I had a green dinosaur to distract her for me, that would be great.
Then Sylph saw Smander appear in front of her again and was promptly pped out of the air by a red hand. She crashed once more, shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears and stared at the ze elemental, hovering in the air above.
That was super mean! Sylphined. We are supposed to fight using our big attacks!
I dont give a fuck, Sylph, this is punitive action against you being an annoying invader in my power fantasies! answered the most confusing Ovedy. And I am halfway sure that you STILL have more fun doing this than me, despite me doing the pping around here. Well, Sylph was wearing a big stupid grin on her face, so that was a fair assumption. Lost in thought, Smander rubbed her chin. Then she snapped her fingers. I have an idea. As I am basically the god of this realm right now, here is a gift.
In front of Sylph spawned a beautiful thing. It was of the red colour only a gemstone could possess and shaped like a very odd bear, with stubby arms and legs. Only the head was somewhat urate, but even there the proportions were changed to be more cute than urate. It was about the size of herself and Sylph felt her heart skip a beat when she looked upon this, surely delicious, creature.
Would you agree to fuck off if I gave you this? Smander asked. Sylph felt conflicted. On one hand, her mission as a legendary hero kind of made it immoral to make a deal with the most alluring Ovedy, on the other, Sylphs mouth was watering and this thing just looked cute and sweet and just to bite into.
Done deal! Sylph jumped forwards to im her prize. The gummy bear melted before she got there. Sylphnded in a sticky puddle of gtine and ash.
SALAMANDER! Gnome stepped up, That was not nice!
Yeah, well, I think she deserves it! Smander countered, You and Aclysia, always stepping in when things get out of bounds. Well SORRY, but she clearly needs some curtailing.
Maybe, but that was still out of bounds, you know how important gummy bears are to her!
Now listen here
Sylph didnt follow the rest of the discussion. A high-pitched tone, like a whistle or a heavy object cutting through air, pressured down on her ear drums with increasing intensity, drowning out the voices. She looked at the puddle her hands had sunken into, raised one of them, only to see thepletely inedible mess now below her.
She gritted her teeth, and the tone disappeared. Reced by terrible silence. It wasnt that Gnome or Smander had stopped their argument, but the words they spoke werent carried by the air anymore. Everything around Sylph was perfectly still, there wasnt even a bit of movement in the air.
Silly Sally, Sylph finally said, the only words that cut the alienck of sound. Sylph stood up, and her form changed as she did. There was something raging inside, something that her smaller form couldnt hope to contain. Stupid, mean Sally.
The ash at Sylphs feet started to melt in peculiar, forked patterns. Small arcs of electricity jumped from her soles to the ground and then crackled up her body. More and more of these arcs appeared, melting inside electric discharges that jumped several metres around. The power manifesting inside her couldnt be held within her tiny frame; it jumped between her fingers when she looked at them. Her skin glowed from within, the air crackled under the overflowing energy.
Sylph set her sight on Smander, who was staring at her, mouth wide agape. She was trying to say something, two times two sybles, but the aura of silence encapsted everything still. No word ever reached Sylph.
Then she stormed forwards. It was Smander who found herself at the receiving end of an opponent so fast that she couldnt follow her. Behind herself, Sylph could feel the air close with an immense force. Were it not for her keeping the world quiet, the loud sound of thunder would roll over the vige right now.
Smander moved like she was encapsted in some sort of gtine. The ze elemental tried to raise her hand. Sylph let her, then she grabbed it like she was picking up a twig in the frontwn. There was no time for reaction for her older sister. The forked Lichtenberg figures spread over Smanders arm within a fraction of a second. If she had time for it, she would have cried out in pain. Sylph gave her no such time. She felt nothing right now but retribution, and so she spun once in the air and let go of Smanders arm.
The impact caused a shockwave that ripped apart the buildings nearby. Creaking first and then being carried off in singr parts, the wood and stone buildings simply scattered in the silent winds. Sylph forced the dust and ash to settle with a mere wave of her hand. Then shended above Smander. Raising her hand, a bolt of lightning formed in her hand; she held it like a throwing spear. Sylph pulled back her arm.
Then she was ripped to the side by several dozen kilos of Gnome tackling her and forcing her to the ground. Sound returned to the world as Sylph was suddenly subject to the tasty attack of having a gummy bear forced into her face. The anger faded and Sylphs consciousness did as well.
An Elemental Party 4 – Beneath the Surface
An Elemental Party 4 C Beneath the Surface
Undine didnt like her home. Sure, it was cosy and altogether it could have been a lot worse, but that didnt mean that the mending elemental was at all happy with her situation. In the room, it was obnoxiously loud most of the time, which she had her three sisters to thank for.
Smander was a short-fused pyromaniac with a superiorityplex. Whether that was fuelled by the fact that she was the second oldest one, that she was the only one who was spawned in a special way or something else, Undine had no idea.
Gnome was so shy that the water spirit sometimes doubted it was even genuine. Nobody could have been that flustered all the time. It was like watching a rabbit putting on make-up to look like a bunny. The cuteness seemed so fake it hurt. It had been fun to bully her at the start, but now it had turned into an old gag.
Worst of all was Sylph. The tempest elemental was little more than an obnoxious child. She needed things to go her way, or everyone else would have to suffer from her permanent temper tantrums.
Not that Undine thought that she was better than those three. Beneath the calm and serene surface that she disyed to the world, she hid these ugly thoughts. She didnt hold contempt for her sisters, only resignation. Nobody was able to just talk about their issues, and Undine wasnt about to fix it for them. Only when something seriously pissed her off, did all of this anger brew into a storm that then overpowered everyone else.
Channelling that anger, she could have fixed those problems by force. But she refused to do this. She didnt like being angry, she was happy being calm. Stepping in was unnecessary. She could have fixed things certainly, she still held that kind of power, as a mending elemental
At least thats what she told herself, especially today.
She was staring at Sylph,pletely dumbfounded. The electricity crackling around the sleeping form of the tempest elementals up-sized form arced throughout the room, spangling the walls with lightning marks. Undine didnt dare to move anywhere; the power could strike anywhere at any moment. Therefore, it came of no surprise to her that one of these arcs finally decided to go her way.
It was an outstanding amount of power. More than she herself could have hoped to muster within an hour. And it was just mindlessly burning towards her at a speed she couldnt hope to dodge. Just a spark of Sylphs power. Yet, Undine wasnt even sure if she would survive this incident unscathed. An ugly feeling reared its head, made her middle section dense up as if somebody had just punched her there. It was not panic, not even fear, but envy. Why was it Sylph who had this power, while she was just
At thest moment, just before the power could sear Undine, the electric discharge lost its connection to Sylph and dissipated. The other arcs disappeared one by one afterwards, and soon, the properties of this room inside the thought-maze of her summoner fixed whatever damage had been caused. As quick as the phenomenon had started, it was over.
Even though it had failed to hurt Undine physically, her spirit was shaking. She inspected what it was that made her this envious. Swiftly, she came to an answer that she regretted ever knowing. Sadness washed through her. Only for a moment, however, as Smander, with the gasping breath reserved for people that barely avoided asphyxiation, awoke.
By the time Smander looked at her blue sister, Undine had already restored her calm. What turmoil still gued her was hidden deep beneath the surface. She didnt know the details of what had just happened but she prioritized spreading her calm to Smander first, the fire spirit was in dire need of it.
What happened? Undine asked, the melody in her voice betraying her curiosity, once Smanders breath had calmed down to a reasonable degree.
Fucking insanity happened, Smander said and spat out. The light orange liquid hit one of the many pillows and set it ame a momentter. Gnome put her hand on the fire and extinguished it that way.
The eldest elemental looked extremely concerned. Her first nce wandered to Sylph, her second to Smander. That was scary, the stone elemental said. We better not repeat that.
Aye, Ill have to watch out for Sylph losing her shit in the future, Smander stared down at Sylph with a sinister look in her eyes. She pisses me off so much, yet I can never get my revenge it seems. Fucking natural advantages.
She is your sister, dont try to get revenge, try to understand, Undine buried that thought deep. She didnt want to kick off a discussion. Especially if she wasnt filled inpletely. What happened? she repeated and, in response, Gnomes spirit reached out to her.
Undine closed her eyes, a redundant gesture. She was blind anyhow. As a slime she didnt see the world as much as she felt it. She used the eyes of others to pick up what little her senses of heat and smell couldnt, what the slight tremors in the ground couldnt, what the soft vibrations of the air couldnt. There wasnt a thing she couldnt sense without eyes, which was why nobody had realized this aspect of her yet. No need to tell them either. It was her hindrance to work around.
Memories raced by from start to finish, informing her on what had transpired. Undine realized once more why she didnt take part in these unified dreams, why she stayed in the quiet of her own mind instead. She couldnt have lived through this. Through this inability to speak about their issues with each other. Not that she was any better, keeping the way to iste herself from those dreams to herself.
You should apologize to her once she wakes up, Gnome suggested to Smander.
No, Undine thought, You should just discuss this with her.
Seems fucking so, Smander sighed. Sylph being the strongest in this group just pisses me off so much. Nothing we can do, though.
Are you retarded? Undine imagined asking out loud. Both Gnome and Smander would freeze in surprise at the tone of her voice. It would be as if she had taken the ss instrument that usually yed the melody of her words and violently shattered it on the floor. Of course, there is something you can do, you can talk about your problems, Undine would tell her. Dont act like you are the only one at fault here; Sylph has been terrorizing both of your dreams for weeks!
She didnt know any better! Gnome would defend the still sleeping air spirit.
And she never will because you keep defending her whenever she does stuff like this. Being powerful is no excuse for being awful, Undine would tell the eldest.
Gnome would be taken aback, but Smander nodded. Actually, yes, Undine here ispletely right, she would growl, I really dont feel like apologizing.
Get a grip! Undine would shout at Smander, Of course, you should apologize!
Yes, you went too far! Gnome would agree, and then the two of them looked at Undine in confusion. What exactly do you want again? Gnome had to ask.
Undine opened her mouth only to realize that this whole exchange wasnt only in her mind. When did I why did I The sudden weight of reality made her flow backwards. She found her back against the wall. Suddenly, she felt panicked. She didnt want to get involved. Yet she was all of a sudden. Stepping in was unnecessary, wasnt that what she had thought?
No, that had changed when she saw that lightning. When she felt that twinge of envy. She couldnt iste herself from her sisters any more. And if there was one feeling stronger than her disappointment with herself, over failing to stay out of this, it was the anger that sparked at her sisters'' prolonged confusion. She inched away from the wall and gathered her courage.
I want you to talk about your problems, not just let them pass by, Undine told them. I want to live here in harmony. I dont want to talk, I want to sit in my bathtub and rx. I want to just be. I want you to be happy so that I can be at ease. You should apologize to Sylph, because what you did was as wrong as what she did. I want Sylph to get her lesson so that she may grow up a little. Undines eyes crossed Gnomes. And I want you to get your act together and take charge again, like you did before you evolved! Thatst line she spoke in her mind, throwing every bit of disdain she had for the current situation into her words.
The stone elemental blushed deeply, out of honest shame that stemmed from the knowledge of her failure. I know she said and pulled her knees to her chest. I know, I havent been that reliable since thenbut having emotions is just soweird
The hell do you mean by that? Smander asked. Undine was confused as well, even though she hid away most of them, she had always possessed emotions. I didnt really feel a lot when I came to this world. Only after I evolved did I start to really be a personit was easier to lead when I didnt know that we were all individuals, back when I felt like a mere extension of John and Mother Earth, Gnome hid her face between her kneecaps. That sounds awful, I never wanted to say it, okay?
Bah, that sounds awful? Smander put her arms around Gnome. Not trying to make this a misery contest or anything, but try living with the fact that your nature is war. Not that I dont fucking love it by the way. Burning stuff is awesomebut I do wonder if I dictate my thoughts or if my thoughts dictate me.
Smander smiled sadly as she held Gnome in her arms. Undine just watched this unfold. It wasnt what she had in mind when she said that they should talk about their problems. She just wanted things to get back to how stable they once were, when they were all younger. Why was there now a heart-to-heart exchange? Why did she want to add to that? The words pressed against the inside of her lips.
The confusion escaped from beneath the surface and reached both of the awake elementals. Gnome raised her head and snivelled. Come on, she meekly said, you said we should talk about our problems, and now you have nothing to contribute?
Undine felt overwhelmed again. Why would she contribute anything? The whole point of this exercise was that she had her quiet so that she didnt have to talk about her own problems. She knew that she was a hypocrite for that, but she didnt care. Yet she was this close to giving an answer.
It was Sylph that saved her from saying anything. The tempest elemental sat up and looked around. Now the question was what Gnome would say. Would she force Smander to apologize anyhow? Would she give Sylph a stern talking? Would there be some sort ofpromise?
The answer was: none of the above. Sylph started crying. I AM SO SOOOORRRRRAAAAY! she shouted while slowly hovering towards the cuddling duo, shrinking back down as she closed in. I didnt knooooow, and I also dont knooow what that waaaaas, whiningly, she stretched the words asedic amounts of tears flew from her eyes like a twin-fountain. Shended on Gnomes cheek and hugged onto it. That was soooo scaaarryyyy-y-y. Please, forgive meeee.
Gnome looked at Smander, who was just as baffled, but found her voice quicker than anyone else. You are an obnoxious child, Sylph, the harsh tone of Smander made Sylph squeal in angst, that was until Smander gently put her hand over her younger sister. But if you promise me to keep your fucking dreams in check, and whatever the fuck that was earlier, I will forgive you.
I wiiiiiiiill, Sylph, still crying, promised.
Undine quietly distanced herself from the trio. W-where do you think you are going? stammered Gnome in a pitiful mix of authority, stubbornness and embarrassment.
Bathtub, Undine answered, truthfully.
Smander cackled, You sure as fuck wont, get in here.
Undine pressed her lips together. She kind of wanted to, but also didnt. She wasfortable with physical contact sometimes, but right now wasnt one of those times. Or was it? She was conflicted. The whole day had been conflicting. Her whole life had been conflicting. Ever since that day. Look, I wont force you to talk about anything and, in return, you get into this group hug, okay? Gnome suggested.
Undine resigned herself to that deal and flowed over there and enveloped the party. Touching Smander was a bit ufortable, Gnome was overly hard, and Sylph sent slight shocks through her cheek when her tiny head touched Undines. But this was all eptable. It was surprisinglyfortable.
Undine didnt like her home. However, it was surprisinglyfortable. It was cosy and, sometimes, when her sisters decided to get along, it was nice and quiet. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.
Even if she was now painfully aware of the big regret that gnawed at her.
Chapter 181 – A fluffy Monday 1 – a not so fluffy start
Chapter 181 C A fluffy Monday 1 C a not so fluffy start
When John awoke the next morning, both Aclysia and Momo were gone already. Not much of a surprise there, Aclysia was usually out and about by the time he was waking up. When she wasnt, it was only because she prioritized her maidly bedroom duty over making breakfast.
As for Momo, she was either bothering or helping her, depending on the supports mood. Anyway, John got dressed and then headed down the stairs. He was only the second to arrive at the breakfast table. The residences stern owner was already there, checking the news on an e-reader. Legs crossed, one hand on the handle of her teacup, wearing her uniform, she checked all the usual boxes. If one swapped the e-reader for a normal newspaper she would have looked like a military officer of past times. Although those past times would have needed to ept women in their military, so maybe she was just a powerful princess of a secret society with a weird preference for uniforms. John was no one to judge.
You wake up early, John, Lydiamented without looking up from her reading. I expected you to slumber for an extended period of time.
I sleep almost exactly 6 hours every night, another perk of Gamers Body, John exined and sat down. A momentter Aclysia, happily humming, brought him some peculiarly formed, small bread buns. They had a thicker crust than the ones he was used to, but John already knew that the Germans apparently loved these things.
That sounds helpful; despite partly consisting of elemental magic, I am still bound by my biological needs, unfortunately, she sighed and took a sip of tea. The te in front of her was already empty, and so Aclysia took it away. How much work I could do in the hours I waste sleeping and eating.
From a reliable source -me- I can tell you that elementals can sleep for a loooong time, John said as he cut open the bun to throw some smi and butter on there. The reason he said that was a quick look inside his head, aside from Undine, all of the elementals were still asleep. The mending elemental isted herself from his thoughts, however, so he took the hint and pulled back, instead concentrating on his breakfast.
Momo, back in her usual poncho, was also at the dining table, reading a new book John hadnt seen before. Where did you get that book? John wondered.
Bought it off the auction, with your money, of course, the support drily answered and handed him a receipt.
You did what? he asked, bbergasted. The receipt only said 150$, but that was still his money. And there it is, John thought as he realized he had just titled 150$ for a book as only. My sense of value haspletely departed from normalcy.
You use me for physical pleasure, I use you to buy some intellectual stimtion, Momo stated, turning a page, sounds like a fair trade to me.
Okay, first off, dont say that like you didnt enjoy having sex, second, you could at least ask me first, Johnmented.
You were sleeping, and I was bored, but Ill keep it in mind for next time, Momo willingly conceded.
Alone with two reading girls and his breakfast, John had no other choice but to concentrate on thetter. A question about current topics only resulted in a three minute long, and very one-sided, discussion about the rising prices of mana batteries.
With those values, I am almost tempted to just stick you in one of my mana factories and have you pay back your debts that way, Lydia admitted.
John got a bit of bread in the wrong part of his body and started coughing violently. Aclysia quickly brought him a ss of water, and he rinsed his throat. Thank you, Aclysia, he groaned, before turning to the princess. You have a mana factory?
I have one I control directly, and two are run by my vassals, Lydia answered without a care. Is that of interest to you, John?
I was told mana factories are horrible ces people get sold to just because they ran into the wrong guy, John exined, causing the princess to annoyedly blow air out of her nose.
The American situation must truly be terrible if that is all you were told, shemented and finally looked up from her e-reader. Standard philosophy question: Is a horse evil because Genghis Khan rides on it? she asked.
No, and you need to say no more, John sighed. Just because bad people used something, that something wasnt evil by default. What do you need a mana factory for then? How do you operate them? John probed into more interesting territory.
Same thing you would need a power nt for, energy and money. Germany is the fourthrgest exporter of mana. Third are the Chinese, second the Koreans and first the French. What mana isnt locally consumed is stored in mana batteries and sold on the Abyss Auction or in private deals. I usually sell my overproduction to the Hanse or the Nethends, whoever bids higher.
For your question about my employment: It is a job pretty much everyone can take up, and is akin to donating blood; you get paid by the amount of mana you produce and can go about your day. Regrs get insurance, can be part of some of my daughter organizations and so on. To put it simply: mana factories are how we keep the lowest ss citizens employed and from scrapping for dominance in some outskirt town. Even the most untalented and weakest member of the Abyss can still contribute some mana to the cause, after all.
John nodded, that sounded logical enough. And there are no private mana factories or anything? he asked, his American business blood smelled an opportunity.
Mana factories of the required scale to produce tangible amounts of mana batteries are not supportable by a private individual, and any organization that would be big enough topete with Rex Germaniae in this field would get crushed by force, Lydia exined with a straight face. Control over the mana factories gives us control over the floor of the economy. What the alchemists, smiths, enchanters and all other sorts of private people create is out of our hands. They can join the great organizations that run provinces, join the collegiums of their respective universities, or aim for a career on their own, that is their choice. Either way, those crafters are under the protection of Rex Germaniae, citizens of ournd. Competing mana factories, however, would undermine the base of our power. We only allow smaller generators for private use.
John chewed on his bun and swallowed that amount of information. So, you keep economic control over the country?
No, Lydia denied, that is a mere part of it. Primarily we stay in power by the legitimacy of being the strongest.
That sounds like barbaric logic, John spoke his mind.
For you, born and raised as a mundane person it must look that way, the princess shrugged, but the Abyss is a ce where the strong reign. Weak people somehow arriving at the top will get toppled once the strong are fed up or be otherwise killed when a dragon decides to rampage. Europe has a long tradition of a warrior and a merchant ss. The former protects, thetter amasses the wealth to support the protection. That system evolved in the real world as times went on and threats became rarer, until the warrior ss became obsolete and was reced by militaries armed with guns. In the Abyss talent and raw power is still the deciding factor, and the threats are as present as ever. In a world like this you dont get to speak out about morality if you dont have the power to enforce it. However, I do admit that the meritocracy in Germany is in a sorry state; my reforms aim to change that, but for that I need to be empress.
Pragmatism is king, I see, John nodded. Thanks for enlightening me.
All in a days work, Lydia waved off and went back to her literature.
Heavy topics in the morning, I see, I see, Rave yawned and sat down on the table.
Slept well? John probed.
Like a baby. So, how was your first time, Mono?
Momo! the support corrected, and: Degrading, John is a bully and a dick.
Well, he is the former and has thetter, Rave agreed.
If anything, it is: Master is a bully and a dick, Momo, Aclysia, putting more of the buns in front of Rave as her breakfast, corrected her fellow Artificial Spirit.
Yeah, no, not calling him that, Momo denied.
Totally going to make her scream thatter, arent ya? Rave whispered into Johns ear.
Who, me? Never! John whispered back with a wink.
I can hear you, Momo reminded them and tipped her head, we are -and dont take this in the romantic way you creep- connected by the soul.
Yes, yesanyhow, Lydia, do you have any ns for us today? John turned to the princess again.
I have to catch up on paperwork, therefore, no, Lydia stated. Tomorrow at 10 AM, the vote will be held. We meet here at 8 AM, same day. Until then, I only ask that you do nothing that would embarrass me.
Great, so, John, you have any ideas for what we can do today? Rave looked at her boyfriend, waiting for suggestions.
John awkwardly scratched the back of his head. I kind of wanted to go out with Aclysia, he said.
Sounds great, where are we going? Rave probed further.
With a heavy sigh John added, Just with Aclysia.
Oh, Rave furrowed her eyebrows, not in an angry way, but that could probably switch pretty fast if John didnt navigate this right.
I promised her a date, she missed me as much as you did, and she wants some alone time with me, John stated, and I also think that she deserves that.
No, no, I get it, Rave said, just, would have appreciated it to know beforehand, ya know? She turned to Aclysia, Ya can have him for two hours, sounds good?
Four, Aclysia surprised everyone with her hard tone. She looked Rave dead in the eye as she continued, I will have Master to myself until noon.
Ehm, sure? Rave looked at the clock, Man, Ill be bored until then, dont appreciate itwill probably y League or something. No clubs open at this hour. Rave maybe would have haggled more at other times, but both Aclysias adamant tone and the fact that they had been separated because the techno-lover had wanted the guardian to stay with her gave her little room to argue. But, yeah, fine, have him. Just bring him back on time.
John noticed how Aclysias grip on her salver rxed ever so slightly and her lips curved into a smile. Thank you, mistress Rave, she said with a bow. Breakfast went on without any furtherplications, and when they were done, John helped Aclysia bring the remaining tes into the kitchen.
So, have anything in mind? John asked after putting everything into the dishwasher.
Aclysia started babbling, having just waited for that question. I can do anything, Master, as long as it is with you. Like, maybe go to the market or just wander about for a few hours or see a movie. Only if you enjoy that of course.
Slow down, Aclysia, Johnughed and patted her on the head, which wasnt quite as great as it was with the other girls, because she was his height, but seeded in calming her down.
As his hand brushed over her silky hair over and over again, Aclysia looked to the ground and blushed a bit. I am sorry, Master, I have just been hoping for this for a long time, she admitted.
Thats fine, you have earned it, John told her. Aside from Jane, you are the one who has been with me the longest. I think this should havee way earlier. But with everything that hindered my life, the Bloodfallen, Thana, all of that stuff... He shook his head. This date will be all about you, a thank you for everything that you have done for me. Of course, thats not enough to repay you, but it is a start.
Before she could say anything that would y her role down in all that happened, he kissed her. Aclysia was always there when he needed something, she was a nice girl, not only because he made her to be one, but because she had chosen to be. She was bigger than anything he could have ever hoped for, the second most important person in his life, and that was a very close second. It was important for John that she knew all of that and words couldnt properly convey it, so he just hoped that this kiss would do.
When it broke, the way her eyes were slightly wet by a storm of happiness inside her, he knew that his feelings hade across. I love you, John, Aclysia whispered.
I love you, too, John answered and a momentter, they were kissing again. This time, after the kiss broke, Aclysia had resumed control over her emotions, although John still felt a warmth radiating from her that was hotter than her Inner Fire could produce.
Master, can I ask about a selfish thing first then? Aclysia carefully asked.
Whatever you want, John answered, she deserved to be spoiled today, that was his firm conviction.
I beg you to not be angry with me, I know how important cosy consistency is to you, master, she nheless continued in an apologetic tone, before taking a deep breath and stating. I need new clothes.
Chapter 182 – A fluffy Monday 2 – Cut from his cloth
Chapter 182 C A fluffy Monday 2 C Cut from his cloth
John was walking down the street, alone in the act. He was heading for the clothes store he had been in with Rave yesterday. Not that it had to be that specific clothes store, it was just the only one John knew in this city.
Of course, he wasnt actually alone. I hope you arefortable down there, John spoke to Aclysia, hiding in the inner pocket of his jacket. It is satisfactory, master, Aclysia answered; her tone didnt betray it, but John could feel her happiness. Now where that happiness came from, whether it was because she was this close to him, because she finally had him to herself or a whole different reason, that remained a mystery.
The reason for this unorthodox way of transportation was quite simple: in her dress, Aclysia was a weird sight. Now, that had already been true back in Springfield, but since then summer had passed, and a cosyer in a flimsy goth-maid styled dress raised enough eyebrows in the warm seasons already. Having her run around like usual was, therefore, going to be a bit troublesome, either because of people being weirded out and therefore Gaia being angry or because of kind strangers wondering if she wasnt suffering from the cold.
John wasnt willing to deal with either, so Aclysia shrunk and hid in his jacket. There had been the alternative solution of ordering some clothes from the auction. That would have meant they just bought clothes without her trying them on first, though, and that was half the fun of it.
That you thought I would get angry because you wanted a new outfit is adorable, John teased Aclysia while he was walking along. I mean, I love that cosy, but I have made concessions before.
There were a lot of things great about the dress that 2B wore in Nier:Automata: it was stylish and sexy, from the leathery stockings ending in high heels, over the gloves, the decorative frays just below the elbow, to the white embroidery on the ck cloth, and it gave John an almost unobstructed view of Aclysias bubble butt. For the same reasons it was slightly problematic, though; functionality was not one of those great things. The flimsy extensions below the elbow got in the way, so John allowed her to shorten those; the high-heels were not exactly great to run or fight with, therefore Aclysia changed those to solid boots instead, and even though it hurt his fragile heart, he had allowed her to increase the skirt-length in public. All of that made it a workablebat outfit.
I am sorry, Master, but you always seem to be so happy when you see me in these clothes, Aclysia said.
Thats true, but mainly I am happy to see you, John answered instinctively and got a wave of that fluttery feeling, that indescribable and hard to grasp concept of love, from Aclysia.
Is that true? Aclysia probed, her mental voice beaming.
Of course, it was, they both knew, but if she wanted to hear it again, John was happy to oblige. I am always happy to see you, doesnt matter what you wear or what you are doing, John expanded on his earlier statement. I love you, Aclysia.
I love you too, Master, came the cotton-candy-sweet answer. She entangled her thoughts with his. For a moment, they were as one, connected by the unison of their feelings, a warm, wonderful moment. In that mere second, her presence was enough to rx him through and through, his heart and thoughts brimming with happiness. Even the cold air he was striding through was forgotten, only the heat of their love existed, entirely distanced from any worldly aches or desires.
Then the fact that they were not the same set in again. Differences in thoughts made them drift apart, breaking the moment ofplete synchronicity. They fell back into their usual thought patterns, connected, but not the same.
John wondered if what he just experienced had been real or just an illusion. He had experienced simr moments in the past, but those had been with his elementals, who were an actual part and extension of his soul.
Aclysia was made by him and directly connected to his mind, but not part of it. Did that mean he was so ustomed to Aclysia that she had ovee that hurdle and their bond resembled the one between him and his elementals more than between him and Momo? That idea didnt seem far-fetched in the slightest.
That was wonderful, Aclysia whispered.
It was indeed, John agreed; their thoughts touched again, but didnt reach even near that level of unison. It reminded him a lot of the wisdoms of the elemental girls. Each time he had learnt a bit about the elements they embodied, and each time he had a moment of enlightenment, only to forget most of it. He still learnt a lot, kept parts of the understanding he achieved, but he had never reached that same initial height.
Thanks to his elemental wisdom, he could feel slight changes in the air, in the ground under his feet, the flickering of mes was an almost predictable pattern to him and sometimes he heard the waters whisper their path to him. His understanding of the elements wasnt good enough to make sense of any of these things yet, but he was learning.
I wonder if I will be able to smell the weather change two days in advance, if this continues, John thought about the ceiling of his powers. Nathalia had told him that his potential paralleled that of Romulus, who was widely acimed to be a figurative god in a world that had literal gods, somebody only second to Gaia. Seeing how he himself was already able to turn a square kilometre of woonds into an upheaved dirt field (given a few hours of mana regeneration), John could only marvel at what he could eventually aplish. He was powerful, stupendously so, but the way his ability worked also meant that he had to think a lot about how to spend his Stat points. Not something he wanted to concentrate on right now, however, especially as something glimmered in the corner of his vision.
John stopped dead in his tracks.
What is wrong, master? Aclysia asked as he turned to face a simple grey wall.
I just thought I saw something, John exined and narrowed his eyes until the wall shifted. Simple grey stone slowly vanished, revealing something behind it; it was like his eyes slowly got ustomed to a dark room, and now he could see the door. Knew it! he thought and stepped closer. He had encountered this trick, to shield a door leading into an Illusion Barrier from the eyes of normal people, before, back when he had first visited the hospital in his hometown. Time to Observe where this one led.
Bingo, John thought and walked towards the door. With a real shop, John would have had to pull some tricks, just so Aclysia could be inside. He wouldnt encounter that in a ce affiliated with the Abyss, as Gaia had no justification to get annoyed at him no matter what he did in there. He pulled at the handle and stepped inside.
Where the door had been in the wall of a boring grey office building, John was now suddenly inside the entrance area of a giant mall. The floor was covered with enormous, yellow tiles and the asional rugying in front of a store, disying various slogans that nobody bothered to read.
Advancing a little brought them to a vast, circr walkway around a deep hole. A ss barrier with a wooden railing, about thigh-high, was all that separated the busy people all around from falling down the hole. Walking up to it, John got a good view of it all. Both above and below, there were several more floors, connected to this one via tforms that hovered up and down on a sheet of blueish energy. They docked at stations positioned on each of the cardinal directions of the circle.
What was even more fascinating than this disy of magic architecture were the people running around. Humans made up the majority, and although a well-known appearance, these alone differed wildly. There were humans with wizard hats and star-speckled, blue robes, rugged mercenaries and knights in shining armour. Some had arms made from metal and stic, bionic in appearance, one of them even looked like he was only a human head on apletely artificial body, a blue pulsating crystal in his chest.
There were a lot of non-humans around as well. Predominantly elves, from the blonde haired, fair skinned to the dark elf kind, but also dwarves, with thick beards and even thicker ents, goblins and other fantasy races. John even spied a skaven weaselling about, although the most alien thing was probably an octopus-man wearing a business suit, desperately trying to not fall over as its boneless body wobbled about.
Without a worry, John sat down on one of the many padded benches and pulled Aclysia out. Nobody even took notice of him, or the slowly growing artificial guardian at his side. Seems I am not as big a deal as everyone made me think, John realized.
This was really his first encounter with the day-to-day life of Abyssals. Aside from the fact that the tech-shops here were called mana-and-magic-shops instead and that the clothes shops also had armours and enchantments, it wasnt that different from a normal mall.
Maybe he was a somewhat big deal in the upper-echelons of society, a neer with a strong ability to keep an eye on, just to not run into any surprises in the future. To themon folk, however, he was of no importance. Whether he would eventually take over any part of the world or not was unlikely to have an effect on them.
Same couldnt be said about Lydia however, the princess was staring at him from an electronic billboard that rolled advertisements and news. Brandenburgian Heiress to hold a press conference this evening in regards to tomorrow''s election, read the headline, framing aplimentary photo of the princess iron side.
The next thing on the billboard showed a discount for mana batteries at the local store, quality guaranteed by the Hohenzollern family. John realized just how much damage he could do, by outing the princess as a low-key pervert with a love for anal, for the first time. Before it had been this vague consequence, now it slowly dawned on him how big her public persona was. He knew that empress wasnt a title one wanted because they were bored on a Friday, but seeing it was a whole different matter.
Then again, he was also using his mundane sensibilities, who knew how many people actually cared about the sexual behaviours of Abyssal leadership?
Aclysia tugged on his jacket once she had reached her designated normal size. I am shopping ready, John, she said. He smiled. What is it? Aclysia tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
Nothing, just not used to you using my name, he borated.
Is it ufortable? In
No, no, its fine, John hastily informed her.
this setting I can keep calling you Master, but I thought we were in public so I went with your name. Understood, Aclysia finished her sentence without a care before bowing her head in affirmation. Ill consider this a normal public situation and keep calling you by your name then, John, she said with a cheeky smile.
Is your social understanding still bad or are you being funny with me? John probed, putting his arms around the artificial guardian, pulling her back against his chest.
Both? Aclysia answered with a question, the side of her face resting on his shoulder. John breathed the aroma of her hair, it reminded him of the smell of a freshly unwrapped book or videogame, something new, clean and something he desperately wanted to y with.
I fear you might be unable to concentrate on shopping, John, Aclysia said, feeling her creators growing lust against her back.
What about you, though; your feelings are pretty obvious, John countered; he wasnt the only one growing more heated by this contact. I would be satisfied with a kiss, John, she proposed.
John hugged her more tightly and pressed his lips on the top of her head. Like this? he asked, with a teasing grin.
No, Aclysia turned her head, her green eyesing into view. She too was smiling, although the curve of her lips was faint,pared to his toothy grin. Like this, she whispered, gently cing a hand on his cheek and guiding him to her lips.
Unbothered by the eyes of potential onlookers, they kissed. Barely held back passion, to be spent away from the public eye, and overwhelming love was conveyed in this simple motion. Johns arms wrapped around her waist; Aclysia snuggled up to him. They spent a solid minute just entertaining their hearts desire.
Okay, if we dont stop now, I will have to have you, in the restroom if nowhere else is avable, John threatened in a quiet tone.
If that is your desire, Aclysia bit her lip, unwilling to deny that possibility. Oh no, you are not putting this decision on me, John denied her that easy out. Today is your day.
Aclysia stared up at him; he looked back. Her face was nk; he was still wearing a grin. Aclysia opened her mouth, to answer. He was ready for whatever she wanted to say.
A quickie in a public restroom followed.
Chapter 183 – A fluffy Monday 3 – They can go shopping
Chapter 183 C A fluffy Monday 3 C They can go shopping
That wasan experience, John said when they were passing through the crowd, a bitter. Whether their little adventure had gone unnoticed or not, John didnt know. He heavily doubted it though. Then again, he also did not care in the slightest.
It was indeed a new kind of knowledge, Aclysia, holding his hand as they walked through the public, confirmed.
They were on the lookout for a clothing store. John had seen numerous upon entering the mall, but all he and Aclysia passed now seemed to be nothing more than a small room behind the ratherrge window with some articles in it. No assortment, no catalogues, no nothing, just one individual sitting inside, amongst a few benches. John finally decided to march into one. Either he could get a rmendation or he could find out if he was missing some context.
This particr store was overseen by a dwarf, about the height of his hips, but twice as wide. With a thick build and an even thicker beard, John missed that it was a female dwarf until he heard her. What doye desiehr? she asked. Her voice reminded John of the friendly atmosphere inside a game shop when everyone was ying Magic the Gathering and just nerding out together.
Normal people probably think of pubs instead, John poked fun at himself.
Before he could answer the dwarf was already babbling on, Areye here for that pretty flower ye bring withye? Truly, a magnificent beauty.
Thank you, Aclysia said and let Johns hand go to bow before the dwarf. John did his best to make me beautiful, so recognition of his sess makes me happy.
The statement confused the shopkeeper for a moment. Long enough for Aclysia to stare at her hands. The bow had been an instinctive gesture, but now she missed something. With a smile John extended a hand and took hers again. In a wordless gesture, Aclysia put her other hand on his arm as well and snuggled up against him, her head taking her new favourite ce on his shoulder.
John was a bit embarrassed about the scene. He wasnt quite as brazen when his blood wasnt pumping from passion, caused by either lust or battle. On the other hand, Aclysia had no understanding why this scene was a bit awkward, and neither would she have cared if she had, she was happy where she was now. Quietly, John agreed that this actually was worth any amount of awkwardness.
The shopkeeper pulled herself together and pped her hands, letting out a short burst ofughter. Ah, created one nice girlfriend for ye, did ye? she asked and winked at John. It seemed that this little exchange, and a look at Aclysias aura, had been enough for the dwarf to get a rough idea of the kind of rtionship John had with his artificial spirit. I aint judgin.
I guess you could say that, John stated, putting her imagination right would have taken more time and probably raised more questions.
What was he supposed to say? Oh no, I created her as my tank and then she kind of became fuckable and then I fell in love with her, which made her part of my harem? No, he wasnt here for small-talk, better leave the shopkeeper under the impression that he was one of the, apparentlymon, people that used their skills to get themselves an easy and obedient girlfriend. She would probably forget him by next week, if he was just like the rest.
With that in mind, but mostly because he felt like it, he turned his head and put his free hands on Aclysias chin and pulled her into a short kiss. I wish to purchase some clothes that she can wear in the normal public, heid down his intentions afterwards, Aclysia returning her head on his shoulder.
Ah, check out our assortment then, the dwarf gestured for them toe further inside. Following the invitation, John was about to ask where that assortment was, all he saw was a in beige room, when, in front of him a blue box appeared. It was big enough to stand in and open at the front. He was apparently expected to step in. John hesitated; the shopkeeper quickly realized why and gave him the exnation he desired. This will bring ye to your own private changing area, so feel free to try all clothes there, they are only temporary illusions anyhow.
Doesnt that cost a fortune to set-up, let alone maintain? John asked,pletely bamboozled. A teleporter and an illusionary clothing gallery? The efforts that must take
Nay. We are using the built-in functions after all, the dwarf told him in a business voice. Wouldnt be easy to maintain this elsewhere though, but the Cologne Mana Factory gives ye mana aplenty, and the whole mall is made to allow easy mana flow. What it does is localize where ye took the teleporter from, sticks ye in a room and then ys the stores program. This way me and the other shops dont have to worry about a thing.
But John remembered the amount of shops he had passed. If you all offer this service, why are there so many of you?
The dwarf raised a bushy eyebrow, Ye are new to the Abyss, arent ye?
Ie from America, we didnt have these kinds of structures there, he searched for an out that didnt reveal his inexperience. No reason to give away more of his personal information than necessary.
Ye either lying or ye never have been to New York, the dwarf said, Thorne has a centre built just like this one on Times Square.
Thorne. That was the second time he had heard that name. ording to Magoi they were some kind of middle-sized organization, now he learnt that they were located in New York City. He would best look into this before returning to the USA, after his affairs here in Germany were in order.
Never been there, John admitted.
Will you answer Johns question or not? Aclysia asked, evidently wanting to hurry this along. She only had her Master for a few hours and she was going to use them.
Ay, see, we need to create the clothes ye choose to buy. Come with me for a moment, she stepped in front of her shop, the couple following her, and pointed above the ss door.
There was a series of symbols above a blue light that John hadnt noticed before. These symbols show what the shop can create, the shopkeeper exined, while pointing at the three symbols above her shop. First was a pretty dress, I make clothes for women, next was an armour with clearly feminine curves, also armour, then she pointed at a 1 superimposed on a wand in the background, with minor enchantments. The blue bar shows how rested the owner of the store is, ye shouldnt ask forplicated stuff from a person that has no mana left, ye know?
John nodded. On the surface they may all offer the same service, but in reality, these were all shops with their own specializations. He would need to learn all of these symbols and their meanings to understandpletely, but now that he knew what all of this was about, the mall transformed from a ce where people simply went to buy stuff to a bazaar. There were a lot of stores here, so there was room to haggle, to find reliable but mediocre stores as well as hidden gems, knowing where you got a certain service guaranteed, finding somebody you liked and who knew what would be best tailored to you and so forth.
Lets say I chose to buy something from you, John probed further, once they had gone back inside, how would that go about?
Ye select an article and the enchantments, it tells ye the price, and when ye ept, I get working, she pointed at an almost invisible door at the back of the room. Ye leave the room or keep browsing, either way ye get your dress and I get my money then or it gets automatically withdrawn if ye have a fancy wallet dimension.
He did have that, and he had slightly more questions, but there was someone else here who wanted his attention. Softly tugging at his arm, Aclysia looked at him with puppy eyes. Can you pay more attention to me, John? she pleaded with a tone in her voice that, inbination with her green eyes, made Johns heart melt and push any other thoughts into the background.
Yes, sorry, John said and smiled at her. This is your day after all; you want to try the clothes here?
I would very much like to, yes, Aclysia lips changed from pouty to happy, and they now entered the blue box.
He heard the words, Ah, the yeng meges behind him as he got transported.
The room theynded in only had a simple ck couch and a small, circr podium. The podium was located directly in front of the couch and could only be looked at from there, every other angle was blocked by giant mirrors, allowing whoever stood up there to check themselves out without a problem. A fourth mirror hovered up at the ceiling, allowing for aplete surrounding with the reflecting surfaces, if one wished so.
It seemed obvious enough who was going to be where. John sat down on the couch while Aclysia climbed the two steps of the podium. Once up there, an electronic pad slowly descended towards her position. She took it without another word and looked at it with a puzzled expression. John allowed himself a quick look through her eyes.
Ah, this allows you to create your own outfits, John exined to her while he looked at the detailed depiction of Aclysia on the small screen. There were separate sliders and tabs for things like skirt length or colour or really anything. Materials and enchantments were also included. The price tag was in the lower left corner.
He retreated from her mind, not wanting to spoil any surprises she cooked up. Well then, pick some clothes, he told her and leaned back.
John, these clothes cost more than several tons of groceries, Aclysia carefully pointed out. Perhaps we should visit a normal clothing store.
Nonsense, John waved off, you are only going to wear the best clothes, Aclysia. Clothes handmade for you, everything else would be a bigger waste of money. He looked at his bnce, he was at half a million dors right now. Also, its not like I need to be thrifty.
Aclysia still didnt look happy about the price tag. John tapped on his leg as he thought about an argument to convince her.
How about this, he said when he got an idea, I give you an allowance?
An allowance, John? Aclysia tilted her head quizzically.
Your own cash, you can spend it however you like. I think you are pretty deserving of it, he exined.
I cant possibly ept such favouritism, Aclysia tried to wind her way out; she didnt seemfortable with the prospect of having her own cash reserves, even after having looked over his finances for so long. The more John thought about it, the better he liked the idea himself, however.
I will extend that to Momo and the elementals, of course, John told her. He left the four spirits as a vague group, because he did not actually intend to give Smander and Sylph their money directly.
Smander would just get tons of inmmable materials and indirectly put his money on fire. What Sylph would do, John couldnt even imagine, all he was sure about was that it would involve insane headaches on his part. Instead, he would have Gnome look over the quartets finances. Although the stone elemental was easily embarrassed, it wasnt easy to talk her into nonsense. On the contrary, sometimes Gnome would be annoyed enough to put her foot down, and then all of the elementals listened to her. It was a rare asion, but enough to introduce a semnce of order into that group.
Lets say 100 grand each month, for now. Depends how my money gains change in the future, he then stated. Before Aclysia could put any more excuses in, he continued: So, since you wont be spending my money, but yours, you can use it however you wish. Now, knowing you, I believe that you would like to spend your money to make me happy, right?
That is correct, John, so you really dont need to do this, Aclysia exined.
But what if the thing that makes me the happiest is you being happy? John asked.
Aclysia froze in an upright position. He could hear the mana streams that made up her nervous system rush as she tried to wrap her mind around that one. So, if I get money and spend it, that means Master is happy, which makes me happy, which makes him happy, but I have to spend his money, but it is mine and I spend it, which makes him happy, because I spend it, which makes him happy which
She rambled on, having fallen into a circle of minor conflict. Her wish to be happy against her wish to not spend any of his money. Whether it was because Aclysias reasoning was somewhat untested or because this specific thing had two of her core beliefs sh, her thoughts turned into a tangled mess.
John honestly didnt know what to do, he hadnt expected this kind of bacsh. Aclysia was swinging her head from left to right as she tried to assess the situation. So, its best if I do spend creator Johns money. No, wait, that means I spend the money designated for groceries. However, spending it means he is happy. But I still spent his money. But that means I am happy. But I am unhappy about spending money.
It was like watching somebody desperately trying to catch a wet piece of soap. Whenever Aclysia thought she had it firmly in her hands, it slipped from her palms, flew into the air and the game started anew.
Finally, John helped her mind by adding another variable to the mix. If you dont spend that money, I will just put it somewhere until you do, he informed her, and you can spend it on groceries too if you like, but today I would be happiest if you bought some clothes you like with it.
Aclysia stopped swinging like a wobble-head and looked at him. Really, creator? she asked. Her tone was of pure innocence, and she looked at him with big eyes.
It has been a while since you called me that, Johnmented.
The artificial guardian blinked rapidly, not understanding what he meant. Then she blushed deeply and bowed below her waist, I AM VERY SORRY! she shouted, more in embarrassment than as an actual apology.
John stepped up to pat her on the head. Its all good, he assured her, her white hair softly swaying under his gentle touch, I told you when we first met, you can call me whatever you want.
You did I did not understand what that meant back then. Wanting, she said that word like it was a treasure she had to keep. For somebody who had grown into free will, it most likely was. This day is about me, right, John? she asked.
Yes, you can do whatever you want, he assured her. Slowly she raised her head and walked down the two steps of the podium. Then she put her arms around him and pulled him close. No kissing, no sexual tension, just a hug. John answered the gesture in kind, and arm in arm, they stood there. Does this make you happy? John asked, staying away from her thoughts. He wanted to hear it from her lips.
Yes, she whispered, her voice broke on that single word, and to his surprise, John felt wetness on his shoulder when Aclysia buried her face there. I am just so happy to be with you, she cried. Ive missed you, John, Ive missed you so much. I was never lonely these past months, but without you, it just felt like there was something missing from me.
Do you feel whole again now? John carefully asked, his hand kindly rubbing up and down her back. He felt her hands at his back tense up.
Yes, she pressed out. They stayed this way, arm in arm, until Aclysia calmed down and pulled back her hands. I am sorry, John, she sniffed, wiping the remaining tears away, I dont know what came over me.
We are all weak sometimes, it shows that we are human, John said, taking her hands. When I was weak, it was you who saved me. I will always be there to listen to you, Aclysia.
He tried his best at a big smile. It was, most likely, horribly inadequate. For Aclysia, who loved him even for the things he failed at, it was more than enough and she showed a shining bright smile in response.
Thank you, John, I could not ask for a better Master, she said, thinking her words to be just as inadequate as his smile.
And I could not ask for a better, ehm, his perfect answer was ruined as he could not think of a fitting word. Why did he have to be a socially inept idiot now, of all times? Servant? No, too cold. Golem? Way too distanced and technical. Creation? Correct, but not quite fitting. Courtesan? No, not only had Sylph thoroughly conquered that word, but it felt way too focused on sex anyway. Lover? Yeah, that could work!
John never got to finish that sentence, though. Instead, Aclysia chuckled and then startedughing. It was a pure sound, like a series of perfect bells creating a little symphony. Howe he had never heard it before? Here he was, trying to help her, put her at ease, and in the end, it was herugh that seemed to put something inside him back into ce instead.
I now see what the other girls mean when they say you are awkward, John, she stated and continued tough. If a bit of a hit to his ego was what he needed to take, in order to make herugh like this, he happily would. The smile that was now on his face feltpletely right.
Yes, yes, he finally stated and nudged her back on the tform. Lets finally buy you some clothes, shall we?
Chapter 184 – A fluffy Monday 4 – If you like it, put a dress on it
Chapter 184 C A fluffy Monday 4 C If you like it, put a dress on it
Aclysia got back on the podium and started testing the options. One hundred thousand dors is the amount you will allow me to spend, correct, John? she asked while tapping around.
Correct, he reaffirmed. After working on the sliders for a bit longer, Aclysia announced, It seems that the average price of clothes here is about 50000. Those are for sets or dresses.
Johns eyes almost jumped from their sockets, but he regained his calm. He said he wanted only the best for Aclysia, but what kind of clothing demanded that much money? Magic clothing, most likely.
Does it say why? he then asked, his bafflement turned into curiosity.
Material prices. It says that the cloth to produce the clothes here is of incredibly high quality and has mana woven into the threads baseline to allow for better protection against physical threats, came the answer a momentter.
Okay, so John was now torn between living with those prices or going somewhere else. Not that anywhere else would be any cheaper. Except maybe for stores in real-space. But then why go here in the first ce? It was a bit of a headache. Well, it was until he realized that it wasnt his decision this time around.
I want to stay here, John, Aclysia got ahead of his question. We have lost enough time already, and I want to do other things today. No money in this world is more valuable than your time.
John smiled and nodded. Makes sense, so about two articles of clothing then.
There was a moment of hesitation, when Aclysia looked at the tablet in her hands. Do you wish to make the choices, John? She sounded genuinely unsure if she was capable of this on her own. Even if she couldnt, she would have to learn today. John had no intention to keep Aclysia as his sheltered maid forever. She had learnt how to be independent in the house and in doing the chores, now she would get to gather some experience in shopping for things that werent groceries.
Therefore, he shook his head. No, just buy something that is suitable for the cold weather, otherwise I dont care, he told her. Aclysia seemed slightly unhappy about the decision butplied and started fidgeting with the options again.
She clicked a button and suddenly her dress was reced with a light-grey sweater and almost white jeans. in as the clothes were, on Aclysias killer body, every pair of pants turned into a deadly weapon. At least John thought so, when he saw the reflection of Aclysias backside in the mirror behind her. The artificial guardian seemed less enthused about the legwear, however. A momentter she reced the jeans with skin-tight, ck yoga-pants. If the jeans hadnt been a danger to the men of the world, the bubble butt hugging yoga-pants definitely were. Aclysia fidgeted with the sliders some more, the sweater bing more form-fitting to her curves as well. She added a pair of simple sneakers to the mix, and then she was done.
What do you think, John? Aclysia asked and slowly turned on the spot so that he could marvel at her from all sides. It is a very nice casual look, he said, forcing himself to look her in the eyes. You wont run into problems wearing that, unless we are in the deepest winterwhich will probably happen soon.
I will add a jacket then. After a few minutes of searching Aclysia found something she liked. A ck coat, reaching all the way down to above her knees, materialized. Held closed by several silver buttons and a belt around the waist, it was a stylish piece of clothing. The dark brown fur along the edges of the hood also worked well with her overall look. John approved, Aclysia added the set to her order, and money was withdrawn from his inventory.
Well, while we are here already, John said before Aclysia could leave the podium, why dont you buy yourself something pretty?
Something pretty? she repeated with a tilted head.
Like a dress or something, he specified.
Is the dress designated as my normal exterior not satisfactory? now she sounded a bit worried.
For me, it absolutely is, John said with a calming smile, but we will be hanging around in high society in the future, so maybe we should get some ssier clothes.
Aclysia slowly nodded and took the pad again, to look at more options. After some time, she froze for a second, then went into a frantic tapping. Minutes of fidgeting, filled with the simple silence of satisfaction and anticipation, then she knocked his socks off with her choice. Not because what she came up with was overly sexy, but because of what the dress was.
A whitece top, shoulderless, with fitting, semi-transparent gloves, both of them heavily decorated with winding flowers of extremely delicate design, woven with silver thread. It then flowed down to a red skirt, long enough to almost connect to the ground. A white veil on her head, Aclysia tried to push it backwards. However, grabbing the illusion of the wedding dress was impossible, so she got rid of it, with the press of a button, instead.
John was lost for words, not only because this was not at all what he had in mind, but because she looked stunning. There was just something ephemeral and saintly about wedding dresses that evaded his understanding, not that he needed to understand beauty to marvel at it. He was unable to take his eyes off her. In the mediocre lighting of the room, it looked like the white dress glowed from within. If he hadnt known any better, John would have been led to believe that he was looking upon Gaia herself.
It seems like you like this, John, Aclysia smiled and was about to click on the order button.
Wait, wait, wait, he quickly intervened, having found his voice again. She stopped and gave him a confused look. I very much like this, but, ehem, he cleared his throat, you know what marriage is, right?
Yes.
And you know that the bride wears a special dress during that day, right?
Yes It slowly dawned on the artificial guardian.
Well, this would be one of those dresses, John tried to be as gentle as possible as he said those words.
Aclysias hand started shaking, and her cheeks flushed in red. I didnt mean to be so brazen, she said, her tone of deep shame. I am very sorry, John, really, I just thought it looked pretty and that you would like it and... If she had any more words they were lost as she closed her mouth and took a deep breath. She averted her eyes from John and mumbled, Not that I would be opposed to the idea of wearing it to that asion for you
His heart skipped a beat. I love you, Aclysia, but its a little early for that, John said and, after a heavy sigh, added, not that I even know how Jane would react to that. My future with that kind of thing is more or less in her hands.
Sowhen the mistress tells you to no longer love me, would you do it? Aclysia wanted to know, her shame having turned into cold fear.
Oh God, dont even make me think about that, John cried out. Then I would have to choose between you two, my heart wouldnt live through that process as per our agreement she kind of has the right to ask me, though.
Your agreement about you having a harem, that is? Aclysia probed, the fear slowly dying down. On closer inspection, it was just that Aclysia distanced her thoughts from his. Yeah, why? he had to ask.
Just making sure, John, the artificial guardian dropped the topic. There was no fear in her voice. She looked in the mirror to her right. I wish I could actually wear something like this someday, she muttered before having it vanish and choosing something else in its stead.
A dress from ckce, more eloquent and less ephemeral. A shoulderless one-piece, its tight skirt stopping above her ankles. No further decorations, just the strand around her neck holding the whole thing up.
Yes, that would work way better, John agreed, and a momentter, Aclysia bought it.
I have spent a total amount of 99651 Dors, she informed him afterwards, my monthly allowance is therefore used up in its entirety.
I think Lydia might be rubbing off on you, with all the big words and detailed formtions.
That may be the case, Aclysia admitted, the illusions falling off her when she stepped off the podium.
Shall we move on, John? she asked.
John, having a sudden idea, nodded and pointed at the blue box they had arrived through. Ladies first.
Aclysia tilted her head in confusion. They had perfectly fit into that box together, why should she port out alone? However, she obeyed and was teleported out. John walked over to the hovering tablet, where the clothes were still on disy. He took it and went through the history.
A few momentster, he teleported after Aclysia, and they were back in the waiting room. The dwarf was missing, but busy noises from the back of the shop indicated that she was still very much around. The two of them sat down on a nearby bench.
It makes me feel a bit bad, Aclysia told him.
What does? he wondered.
The fact that I am going to eat her work, came the swift exnation. She is sewing and working there, and I will just eat it because it is more convenient to wear the clothes that way.
Well, with our lifestyle, it is just way better to have clothes that can easily be repaired, John said, but it is indeed a bit of a shame, we better take those elsewhere. Would be pretty rude to just destroy her work in front of her.
Affirmative, we shall distance ourselves from this store, before I consume the clothes to learn their structure, Aclysia nodded.
About ten minutester, the shopkeeper came out with three boxes. There, nice and folded up, for ye, she said. The dress, the winter outfit and the wedding dress. John gave her an unappreciative look. He frowned, pulled his eyebrows together, crossed his arms, the full program. In her defence, the dwarf couldnt have known that she had just ruined his entire surprise, but John had expected SOME tact from the shopkeeper. He didnt have time to angrily stare at the dwarf, who looked very confused, however. His attention turned to the beautiful guardian at his side.
Aclysia still looked at the box with the picture of the wedding dress printed on top with stunned eyes. But...I spent all the money you gave meyou said that it was for a wedding her voice was a whisper of awe and confusion.
Yeah, it is, and even if our marriage is not a certainty in the slightest, you looked so happy at the idea that I couldnt help but buy it for you, John put his arm around her shoulder. Its my gift to you. I cant promise that you will ever get to wear it, but there is no harm done in having you own it. Especially not if it makes you happy.
Aclysia was at a loss for words, just looking at him with loving, slightly wet eyes. She didnt break out into tears, not a second time. Instead, she just kissed him on the lips. Thank you, John.
John put the boxes into a bag and then into his inventory. After saying his goodbye to the dwarf, they searched for a quiet ce where Aclysia could eat in peace. She consumed the contents of the first two boxes without a care. John noted that none of the clothes showed any wrinkles from being folded and stuffed into that box. Whether that was an attribute of the boxes or the cloth, he didnt know, however.
He was about to unwrap thest box when Aclysia stopped him. I do not wish to eat that dress, she informed him.
Oh? John blinked in confusion.
Wedding dresses are supposed to be worn just once, right? she asked. In that case, I want to keep it as it is, if that is fine with you?
Of course, John agreed. Its yours anyhow. If you want to keep it, you can, he put the box back into the bag and handed it over to Aclysia.
Mine? Aclysia asked, looking at the bag with wide eyes.
Yes, yours. You own it, so you can do what you want with it, but you also have to see where you leave it yourself, John pushed the bag into her hands. The artificial guardian''s fingers closed around the handle with slight hesitation. Then she smiled at the box now lying in herp.
Her left hand softly slid over the surface of the bag, like she was touching something more precious than free will and more beautiful than freedom. Mine, she repeated, now with certainty. Ill cherish it, John.
Chapter 185 – A fluffy Monday 5 – Cat got her tongue
Chapter 185 C A fluffy Monday 5 C Cat got her tongue
A few hourster, Aclysia and John walked through the Hiroshima-Nagasaki park. They had been to another tailor, to get John a suit fitting for high society. Then they went to the Christmas market, where John bought something hot to drink for himself as he and Aclysia talked about this and that. Well, he talked, for the most part. Aclysia just liked to listen, so whenever he hit a stumbling stone in the conversation, she presented him with some questions that nudged the conversation into a new direction.
and that is why Teemo is a piece of shit, from a game design perspective, John finished his current rant.
Aclysia, in her new winter clothes, nodded twice. I see, she just said. Normally this was where she would present him with another question, but they both knew he had no time to go on another rant. It was already past noon; John felt a bit bad for staying away longer than the timeframe he had promised to Rave.
Aclysia had asked him for just one round through the park, however. With only slight reluctance, he had agreed. The date had been a lot of fun, a bit emotionally taxing at times, but the good kind, the kind that cleared up trouble in a rtionship. Surely ten or so minutes wouldnt make his girlfriend mad, therefore he thought that there was no harm in agreeing.
If she is going to be mad about anything, its the conversation from breakfast, John told himself. Admittedly, he had wronged his girlfriend a bit when he had hurriedly promised Aclysia a date. He didnt regret doing it, not before nor after the date, but he could have handled it a bit more smoothly by dying the date a day or so. Knowing Rave, she wouldnt have objected if he had told her in advance.
But enough of the worry, he would see his girlfriend in a bit anyhow. If there was anything they needed to talk about, the techno-lover would throw it in his face, and they would talk it out in a bantering way. Weirdly enough, those had never turned into fights, only yful shouting matches. Looking back, the only real fight he had had with his girlfriend up to now was the one over Victorias involvement in the attacks on Collide.
Note to self: calm talks with Jane are more likely to turn into fights than teasing each other, apparently, he thought when their temporary home came into view. They followed the stone path that led up to the door. He reached for the doorknob. He stopped. Uhm, he felt stupid, very, very stupid, when he turned to Aclysia with a problem he had encountered two days prior already. Long shot, but you dont happen to have the key on you?
Aclysia shook her head. I thought that it would be unnecessary, Momo is still here after all, she exined.
True, but now I will have to listen to herin, John sighed and extended his thoughts towards his support. Hey, could you ope-
Sweet salty Christ, thanks that you are back! the answer came before he could finish his request. Loud steps could be heard as someone on the inside rushed down a flight of stairs. A momentter, Momo pulled the door open. Save me, for you are my Master, and my nerves are at an end, she shouted and pulled him inside.
What is it? he wanted to know as he hastily got out of his shoes and jacket. Sylph is still sleeping; whatever could be this bad? he was genuinely curious. Lydia would never cause trouble and he didnt think Rave would be interested in doing too much stuff with the supporter. Momo opened her mouth to answer, but then a shout came from upstairs.
Do I hear John? Joooooooooooooooohn! In a sh of light, the pink-haired girl the voice belonged to jumped down the stairs,nded next to John and pounced at him. He stumbled a few feet back but managed to keep standing, even as Rave slung her arms around his neck and rubbed her cheek on his. Finally back? she purred.
John felt whatever worries about a fight happening that had remained at the back of his head melt, and he embraced her as well. One hand he put around her back, the other rested on the back of her head. Yeah, I am back, he answered, I love you.
In response Rave hummed strongly and continued her cheek-rubbing. It was a bit weird, but hey, his girlfriend tended to do some spontaneous stuff that he couldnt wrap his head around anyhow. Aclysia, her outside reshaping to the goth-maid dress, tilted her head quizzically and slowly blinked.
John was about to ask what had her this puzzled, when he felt something flick against his cheek. Something very, very soft yet too firm to be hair. The feeling repeated, and John stretched his hand, just that little bit to get to the source of that flicking.
Between his fingers, close to the top of Raves head and growing to the sides, he rolled this foreign object. It was velvety soft at the tip, like a flower petal with short hair growing on it, long enough to be fluffy but short enough to resist the pull of gravity. Towards the base, it got harder, as if there was cartge there.
Rave sounded pleased when he rubbed her behind the foreign extension as he felt his way around, her humming increasing in intensity to a point where it resembled a cat''s purring. Whatever this was under his hands, and John had a rough idea, was open at the front, roughly triangr in shape, and there was another fluffy bush of hair on the inside.
This feels like John tried to reach a conclusion when he heard a hiss and was violently pushed back. He fell towards and then through the nearly-closed living room door. He hit the wooden floor with the semi-painful loss of 4 HP. His head was thrown back by the impact, and he saw Lydia drinking tea, unfazed by the scene. Her eyes remained glued to the e-reader.
He had other worries. His head snapped back up, just in time to see Rave jump on top of him again. She nailed his hands to the ground and straddled his crotch. John had a hard time concentrating as Raves white, loose top hung down and granted him a phenomenal view of her naked chest.
However, the pink cat ears atop her head were more peculiar right now. They were of the same pink as her hair, bing a bit darker towards the tips; the white bush on the inside only had a slight note of pink to it. The ears twitched in an annoyed fashion.
Dont ya go stabbing your finger into my ears! she hissed, showing her extended canines. Her eyes bored into his, their dark copper colour and the thin, vertical irises in stark contrast to the usual blue. Even the pink lustre was gone.
Sorry, John apologized, more than a bit confused. But, addressing the elephant in the room here: what the fuck is happening?
Oh, dont worry, Raves mood swung right back around to flirtatious, Its just a new technique. She lowered her head and kissed him. It was a short one, then Rave lost interest and instead jumped off him and ran into the living room. She stepped up to the table and sat down on the edge.
The tip of a hovering rapier suddenly pointed at her. No sitting on my desks, Lydia stated as she turned a page. Why not? Rave asked.
Because I dont want it. Momo, go y with her, Lydia instructed.
I refuse! Momo shouted and headed up the stairs, John is back, I got reading to do. Fuck this.
Lydia raised her eyes from her e-reader and looked at John. I like her, but if you wanted to create a servant, you horribly failed, she drilymented, then returned to her readings.
Well, I didnt. I am starting to understand the weight of creating a new soul wait, thats not the problem here! John still didnt have any answers as to what was happening right now. Rave got off the table and, instead, held on to the edge, lowering herself until her eyes were on the same level as the tea set on top of it.
Can someone please tell me what is go-
John, John, Rave interrupted him and pointed at the tea set. Can I push it off the table?
John violently shook his head. No. Anyhow, Lydia, please, te-
You sure? Rave interrupted him again, looking at him for just a moment before staring at the tea set for an extended amount of time.
John decided to ignore her for the moment. He tried addressing the princess a third time. Can you tell me what is ha-
Because it looks very attractive to push, Rave suddenly blurted out. I also kind of dont like it on the table, meowby it would look better on the ground?
John sighed. There would be no discussion as long as Rave was around, he realized. Aclysia, would you keep Rave upied for a moment give her some snacks from the kitchen or something; cattish as she is right now, that should catch her attention.
Of course, Master, Aclysia agreed with a bow.
Snacks? Snacks sound good; I could eat some right meow, Rave agreed and quickly waddled after the artificial guardian as they left for the kitchen.
Okay, now, what is going on? John asked, unobstructed.
Lydia didnt look up from whatever she was reading. Your girlfriend got bored, so I decided to teach her the basis of the elemental fusion technique, to strengthen her bond with Copernicus, and have her practice that, Lydia exined, sipping some tea. She actually looked up for a second time and stared at the cup with an annoyed expression. Why is the tea I make so much worse than what Aclysia prepares? she muttered before continuing. I didnt think that she would pick it up within a few hours, much less actually go through with the actual fusing without further instructions. Normally, that takes people days or weeks. She is more talented than I gave her credit for. A shame she wasted it until now.
John had no answer to the tea question; he also didnt care to find one right now. So, she is now permanently fused with Copernicus, like you are with your elemental?!
I am still around, thank you, the sun cat jumped onto the back of the nearby couch. He licked his paw, then cleaned his head with it. The constant grooming of cats. As if I would let that idiot of a Lightbearer take control of me with that disgusting technique the Germans came up with.
Lydia blew air out of her nose. Despite the cat''s annoying attitude, I wouldnt have taught her that technique against his express wish to remain a free spirit, she stated and turned another page. No, she just learnt how to get into a mode where she taps into his strength a lot more. It allows her to be part of the wisdom of elements. Think of it like that aura she uses in meleebat. Her prior knowledge of that technique might have helped in her developing this one so quickly. They both concentrate on focusing mana in ones own body after all. One is your own while the other is from outside, being the important difference.
John nodded as he put together that information dump. Okay, so she has a new technique, based on both her martial arts and her elemental Innate Ability, that allows her to use both to maximum efficiency. And she learnt that while I was off-screen. Bullshit.
Lydia raised an eyebrow but still didnt look up, neither did she have anotherment.
And the catlike behaviour and exterior is because of you then? John turned his questions to Copernicus.
That would be correct, the sun cat admitted. It is my power, after all.
In future usages, she should regain her self-control, Lydia added, she should also be able to turn it off willingly.
Wait, she is stuck like that?! John cried out.
For an unknown timespan, yes, Lydia admitted. It seems her method of mana regeneration has changed. She should turn back after it runs out or when she goes to sleep. This interface of yours is very useful to track such things. With a p, she closed the leather lid of the e-reader. However, now that I no longer have to reside over the living room to protect my property, with you being back, I shall get back to work. I am now an hour ahead in reading reports but half an hour dyed on writing them.
Sounds like you have time for a thirty-minute break, John stated. Lydia only answered with a reprimanding re, then she got up without another word. One more thing, John said, and Lydia stopped in the doorframe that led into the short hall between the living room and the princess room. Thanks for watching over her while I was gone; if you like I can help you with some workter to make up for it.
Lydia mustered him for a few moments. I will see if I can find something your help would be appreciated with, she said before taking her leave for good.
There was a loud rattlinging from the kitchen. John sighed as he made his way there. Now, to look over his temporary-catgirl girlfriend for the next few minutes or hours, he really didnt know how long.
Chapter 186 – A fluffy Monday 6 – Cuddles and Pets
Chapter 186 C A fluffy Monday 6 C Cuddles and Pets
Unsurprisingly, the origin of the sound was Raves shenanigans. One could take a thousand different situations and in none of them would Aclysia treat the tools in her kitchen as ythings that coulde to harm.
The cause of the rattling was a pan-shaped sieve that Rave let rotate on the kitchen counter. Like a coin falling and then slowlying to a halt, the sieves looser parts rattled while the whole thing kept circling. Rave stared at the thing with rapt attention, while it slowly moved towards the edge of the counter.
Her left ear turned towards John when he entered. Her head soon followed. Theryare! Rave slurred and instantly forgot about the sieve to throw herself at John. This time, he was prepared, so he caught her with some grace.
Carry me! Rave demanded. John hesitated for a moment to look over at Aclysia, who was cutting some vegetables and arranging them on a te. Nonchntly, she extended one hand to the side, just as the sieve dropped. Once it was back on the counter, quiet approval hummed through the maids mental connection.
John therefore swung his girlfriends legs onto his arm and carried her away from the kitchen, princess style. Hurray for raising Strength, he thought, remembering times when this would have been impossible or at least incredibly taxing for him. Now, he could not only carry her like she wanted but do so without shaky legs. He was curious, though, how effective exactly was this new ability?
Pretty good, 25% increase of her Physical Stats was nothing to sneeze at. Especially since this mode seemed quite stable, personality shift aside.
Copernicus watched him close in on the couch and jumped off once they came near. Kitty! she shouted and jumped from Johns arms to catch her contracted partner. The endeavour was barely sessful, but she got her nimble hands on Copernicus fur and pulled him to her chest.
Let me go, Jane! the cat demanded while they sat on the ground, between table and sofa.
No. Rave began to pet the struggling cat in her arms. John kneeled down behind her and ruffled Rave at the base of her cat ears.
In response the techno-lover nuzzled against his hand and inched towards him until he got his arm wrapped around her again. Copernicus ceased hisints and started purring instead, Rave humming in kind. John just kept at it, asionally changing the ear he was scratching. It was keeping her appeased, so he kept doing it.
Then Copernicus, in a sh of winding and bouncing movements, escaped his summoner''s petting hands. I have had enough of this, he announced before running off into the entrance hall.
Rave let out a miserable meow before turning to John. The floor isnt exactlyfortable; can we move on to the couch?
John nodded and got up, wanting to pull Rave up with him. She refused. No, you yeah, ya get on the couch first? she spoke with a tone of indecisiveness only cats could produce. Scratching his head, John obeyed, sitting down on the couch. A momentter Rave stood up and jumped over the back and now stood on the cushions. Shifting her bnce back and forth, she kneaded the backrest.
Lydia wont like this John thought. Then Rave squatted down on all fours and rubbed her cheek on Johns again.
Youre soft, I like that, she said and forced him to fall onto his back while she climbed over him. Suddenly, she was stroking his crotch. Can I make ya hard? The growing bulge in his pants was a clear yes, and Rave giggled before retracting her hand and pulling him back into an upright position. Great, but I dont feel like it right now.
She dropped a little further, putting her head in his palm. Her ears flicked, as if to get rid of some small insect as she stared up at him. John concentrated on calming his erection down.
So, how was your date? Rave, in a tone that drifted towards normalcy, asked as she smiled up to him.
It was pretty nice. Did you know that female dwarves have beards? John told her.
For realzies? Raveughed. That sounds weird.
It was pretty weird, he smiled at her while softly running his hands through her hair, careful not toe near the entrances of the ears.
He didnt want Rave to get angry at him again, and he could imagine it not being veryfortable. He was, however, very curious. She still had her normal ears and these new ones didn''t seem to actually be connected to anything. Rather than a proper organ, he was looking at some kind of magically woven and transformed construct of hair.
Can you hear with these? he wondered as he wiggled his index finger at the base.
Ja, Rave answered as she purred. Her copper eyes were half-closed as she slowly blinked at him. It takes some getting used to, but it checks out. I can hear the scratching of the pens in Lylys room, for example.
Did you really need to shorten her nickname further? John giggled; You will bring the poor princess to the brink of insanity.
Aaaaaand? Rave asked. John brushed an unruly strand away as copper cat eyes looked up to him.
And I love you for it, said John.
Rave extended her hand up to his cheek, where it rested for a moment. I love ya too, tiger, she said and then lightly pped him with a giggle. Pulling her hand back down she added, We are getting better at this emotional stuff.
Well, I am getting A LOT of practice with the amount of rtionships I have. I must be a good influence on you, he teased.
Oh please, without me ya wouldnt have any of those, Rave answered. Besides, if dad knew I was your harem lead, he would be super mad.
Wait, he doesnt know? John asked. He wasnt afraid of the wrath of Regan anymore (at least not of the physical danger... for the most part), he was way stronger than the, somewhat insane, Abyss Auctioneer at this point. It still felt wrong to leave him in the dark, though.
What should I have said: Oh, hey dad, ya know that boy that you think is getting meow into all sorts of trouble? Yeah, he also shares me with other girls, but its fine because I have the power to blow that off whenever, ya see? Rave giggled.
I do doubt he would be particrly psyched, John admitted. What if he finds out though?
Then thats a problem for future, non-catified me, Rave purred, I feel great right now, dont wanna think about it.
How exactly are you feeling anyhow? John wondered. Apparently, she was aware of her own flimsiness right now.
Uhm, well, its like that feeling when ya are drunk enough to not care about stuff, but without the whole annoyance of having no idea where your feet are, Rave told him.
John did not know that feeling. In his life, he had had exactly one beer of the root variety. Not exactly the kind of profile to build an understanding of drunkenness on. The point, however, he still vaguely understood.
Rave was quick to guess what he was thinking. Riiiight, we never got drunk together; we should do that sometime! she eximed. How about right now, whaddaya think?
I think you getting drunk right now would be terrible, Jane, John spoke his mind. At that moment Aclysia put a te of cut vegetables, cheese and sausage on the table. All of the bits were impaled on toothpicks. So, how about you just keep lying there, and I feed you as we watch TV, sounds nice? he asked with a thankful nod towards Aclysia, who gave him the remote.
Mhm, good enough for me, said Rave, slight pouty, I just think, getting drunk would be meowre fun. Her ears cked slightly, giving her a downtrodden look. That changed the instant John dangled a piece of paprika over her mouth, though.
Her ears stood at attention and her eyes followed every move of the vegetable. You want this? John asked and raised the vegetable just in time for Raves suddenly snapping jaw to only get a mouthful of air.
I want that! she almost shouted and kept looking after the paprika. He lowered the paprika just deep enough for Rave to be tempted to bite at it again, but again, he sessfully pulled back. Raves feet drummed on the arm of the couch. Yare being very meown right now! she meowed and tried for a third time.
This time the Gamer wasnt fast enough, all he pulled back from Rave''s fangs was the wooden pick. He didnt mind though. While Rave was chewing on the vegetable, he reached for a new piece of food to repeat this little game. His other hand kept on working the base of her ears.
Between the third and fourth repetition he put on something on TV. It was just a regr old weather report. He was barely listening as he kept ying the little game with Rave. Watching was a thing he didnt do at all. His eyes were focused on getting the next piece from the te or on watching his girlfriend smile at him from her position in hisp.
He was teasing her by slowly descending the next piece, a diced bit of cheese, when he quickly turned direction and put it in his own mouth. Dick! Raveughed and pinched his side.
A bit, John admitted and now moved his hand to tickle her under the chin. What are you going to do about it?
That turned out to be a bit of a mistake. His hand was now in biting range, and Rave abused it by snapping at his hand with an audible Nom!
It only stung a little. It was the sort of love bite cats often gave people that pat them too much. It wasnt really hurtful and didnt draw blood; it was just a yful nibble. Rave didnt let go, though; she stuck to his hand even when he pulled it up. Now she was sitting in hisp, their eyes on one level. John tugged his hand a few more times, but Rave didnt let go. So, he grabbed another piece from the te. Even though her eyes darted over to the moving target, Rave didnt let go. Only when he kissed her on the forehead and whispered, I love you, did she retreat. She opted to, very softly, bite his lower lip instead.
Then she grabbed the food from his hand in a swift motion and stuck it in her mouth. Yay, sausage, she said while chewing. She gave him a telling wink, and John felt his barely calmed erection twitch again.
There was something else that caught his attention, though, namely the knife-eared reporter on the TV screen. A gentle looking blonde elf with green eyes. John raised an eyebrow. They have abyssal television shows? he asked.
Not in America, they dont, Rave exined, but yeah, here they do. She rested her head on his shoulder as they followed the program for a moment.
And now back to the news, the elf said, and the camera shifted over to a giant lizardman. At least three metres tall, he looked like a mixture of a very angry alligator and a dinosaur, his grey-brown scales looked like they could shrug off almost all projectiles without a care. Seeing such a massive creature in a suit was alien to say the least.
The lizardman also didnt look very happy about the get-up. Now that I finally got the word back from blonde turtle, to the news. That princess turtle will hold a speechter, so you can go listen to that. Otherwise the destruction turtle, Nathalia, has been sighted around Cologne. Officials only tell us that because, and I quote: If she wanted to destroy something, she would have already. Therefore, there is no reason to panic. However, as Romulus'' banishment is still in effect, there are two Rome turtles currently on the move. So, try to not get caught up in the fights... unless you are like me and can do stuff. This was Rak Wraithraiser. I will now go fishing.
No way, that guy is real? Rave wondered, I thought he was just a webtoon character.
Thats the news you are concentrating on? John wondered, Not the whole Nathalia is around part?
Meh, she was going to appear again anyhow, Rave said and clung to John with all four of her limbs, but you are my man, and its going to stay that way.
That was true, but John still wondered what the appearance of that particr goddess meant for his future.
Chapter 187 – A fluffy Monday 7 – Call back
Chapter 187 C A fluffy Monday 7 C Call back
Nya! Rave meowed and pulled her hand out of the stream of water. After eating all the snacks Aclysia had prepared, the techno-lover hadnt been able to sit still for a long time. When she left, John had gone after her with some reluctance; there was a documentary about the uing elections on TV that he would have liked to watch. His girlfriend was a tad more important.
She had run to the bathroom on the upper floor and was now ying with the steady stream of tap water. Why are you meowing in Japanese now? John asked as Rave wiggled her index finger from left to right, through the falling water, again and again.
If I want to meow Ill do it! she decidedly eximed.
I think I understand the drunkparison now, John sighed, eyes closed, and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. When he opened his eyes again, Rave was giving him a wide smile and waddled over to him. Ya still do that, she said and kissed his neck.
Do what? he asked and pulled her closer.
That neck scratching thing, really takes me back, she exined. You know, all the way back. When you were a weak-ass guy I had to rescue from some rando-gang.
To be fair, Travolta helped a lot more there than you did, John said.
Hey, I got the Wall Shadow out of the wall, sheined.
He nodded, After battling with Moira, despite us having way different problems, AND after I had to tell you what to do.
Whatevs, Moi-MMoira gets on my nerves!
And yet you couldnt beat her in a duel, John teased and found himself shoved to the ground.
That was a fluke and ya know it, Raveughed, I have be way stronger since then.
Well, I doubt that she has just been sitting on her ass all this time, John reminded her, but she doesnt have ess to a convenient levelling device.
Implying that youre the important difference in my life, are ya? Rave pinned him to the ground, next to the shower, with a smile.
Her hands were like iron ws, and his yful struggle barely helped him move an inch. Heughed, Now this is another situation that invokes some memories. All we need is a forest and you being mad at me for thinking that you only like me because of my Stats.
Oh, wow, yeah, Raves eyes were looking in his direction, yet it felt like she was gazing at something else entirely. Just gotta conjure how pissed I was at finding out what mom did Her slit pupils narrowed sharply. Still annoys me
I hope I salvaged that day, John said and felt something in his head shift. It was a bit of a weird feeling, like 4 girls were stretching after having a group hug for too long. What are those elementals doing in my head? John wondered, not for the first time.
Meh, ya gave me a punching bag but then ya had your stupid fit about how you are just a puppet of fate or something, Rave said, only to notice the smile on Johns face dying down a momentter. You you dont still believe that, do you? she asked in a worried tone.
Believe it? No. Think it might be an actual possibility? Yes, John answered. Rave was ready to angrily rant at him for that, but he just continued. Things have been awfully convenient in a lot of ways. Why do I have this power? Because I do. Why do I get a crystal that lets me create Aclysia right before I get the skill? Because Gaia wants it so. Why do I get a crystal that lets me create Momo right before I get the opportunity? Because Gaia wants it so. Why do I get to know a murdering dragoness who then helps in dire times? Because Gaia wants it so. Why do I get to survive? Because Gaia wants it so. He sighed heavily. But for many of these, I dont know how true they are. Gaia supports my abilities; she doesnt control them. Maybe I am looking too deep into awful conveniences? Its not like my life has been all sugar and rainbows since I got these powers. Maybe Gaia isnt as almighty as everyone thinks? Then that means I am not a puppet, just manipted into certain directions. I at least have free will to follow those maniptions. If she is almighty, well He smirked, without any mirth in it. that makes her a giant bitch, us pawns in her game and I have no use worrying about it.
Yet you will, ya giant nerd, Rave purred softly and rested her forehead on his.
Yeahbut I am your nerd, John said. For how long theyid there like that, staring into each others eyes, John didnt know. It could have been an eternity or just a blink. It didnt matter; they were close and whatever machinations of fate existed couldnt have been that bad if they allowed him moments like this. Do you miss them sometimes? John asked after a while.
Who? Rave asked, but from the way her hands tensed around his wrists, he could tell that she knew whom he meant.
Travolta and Jimmie. They could still be around if it werent for me, he said, If I hadnt gotten involved maybe the three of you would have just lived out your days.
Oooor, Rave stretched the word to its dramatic maximum, Travolta would have still drunk that blood, and now me and Jimmie would be rotting in a ditch because the guy still went crazy. Doesnt matter anyhow; he made his choice and it cost him If I miss them though? She paused, then shook her head. Travolta wasnt the first friend of my dad that died in my presence, he wont be thest. Sometimes I do miss his brashness, though. Jimmie well, I never really liked the guy, but I hope he is doing well, wherever he is meow.
John couldnt help but giggle. Way to ruin a heartfelt moment, Jane, he said between chuckles.
Whaddya meown? Rave asked and blinked in confusion.
Did you seriously not notice? Say now
Meow, she furrowed her eyebrows. MeowMEOW! she hissed, her cat ears pulling t to her ears, pointing backwards.
Now you have another speaking quirk; soon nobody but me will be able to understand you, John teased, and then you will be all mine, forever.
That sounds like youre a kidnapper. Rave raised an eyebrow, her ears rxing.
Maybe I am? Maybe all of this is an borate scheme to get you to fall in love with me, as I slowly introduce more and more speaking quirks to your tongue until you are bound to me, and I can do with you whatever I want, Stockholm Syndrome style, he gave her the creepiest smile he could muster.
Well, if that is your goal, you are gravely mistaken if you think you can bind meome to you through some pronunciation errors, Rave, very slowly, spelled out.
You are just adorable when you act like you got the smarts, John said and got a minor headbutt as his reward.
Shaddup, she slurred in a mocking British tone, ya try growing up all over the globe and keeping a coherent speaking pattern, ya bloody loony.
See, that sounds more like you by the way, want to see something cool? John asked and extended his index finger, that was all he could do to point at the thing behind Rave.
She turned her head and saw the head of the shower hovering above her. For a moment there was silence. Then there was a flood of warm water over them. Rave shouted in surprise and, only after trying to push away the winding showerhead, she jumped off John, who hurried to put the shower out again, but still got a load full of water spread over him as well.
Jerk! Raveughed, what did ya do that for?...Ya know what, dont answer, I can see it. She looked down at herself. Her white top had bepletely see-through now. There was no bra underneath. Her nipples gave the top two pink spots. I am not mopping that up if the princess gets pissy, Rave warned, pointing at the puddle on the floor and the spray on the wall.
Aclysia will take care of it, John waved it off.
What would ya be without your maid? his girlfriend teased.
A lesser and very sad man. Same if I would be without you, he grinned and let the showerhead fly back over to its holder.
He had needed three Possessions for that little trick. One for the showerhead, one for the hose and one for the valve. Looking at his girlfriends phenomenal tits, which were small, but all tits deserved the adjective phenomenal, was worth it though. Especially if they were on the person he loved dearest in this world. The way she shook her new ears to get rid of the water in them was pretty cute.
Want to see something else that is cool? John asked as Raves wet hair started springing back up. Those pink strands really had a mind of their own.
Does it involve making me wet again? Rave purred.
Nope, although we can do that too, if you want, John answered and winked again.
Rave thought about that for a moment. She raised her index finger to her glossy lips, pulling the lower half down a bit, then she let go. The little pillow of pink fell back into ce. Later, she promised. Show me what ya have in mind, I wanna know.
It will quite possibly hurt a lot, John warned her.
Meh, ya got Undine and I can take a punch, his girlfriend shrugged.
John smirked and raised his hand to the ceiling and created an Illusion Barrier. Then Gnome suddenly materialized in front of Rave. S-sorry, she apologized as she punched Rave in the chest. The cat-eared Lightbearer flew through the bathroom window.
Sylph, feather her fall please and mine too, John instructed as he jumped out of the smashed window. Not that Rave needed the help. With a cats grace she made a backwards somersault of her hands, to use up the kic energy, thennded on all fours.
For your interest, that DID hurt but only a bit, she smirked while standing up.
Hey, you agreed to it, John said and pointed at a nearby dungeon entrance, a hole in the ground that looked like a meteor crater, with his head as he came to a less gracefulnding. Even with a slower fall, he was not quite as agile as Rave was.
Which still made him way more agile than the stone elemental that crashed into the ground right next to him. Sure, shended on both of her feet, but she also sunk several centimetres into the wet ground.
True, trueIts way too cold though, Rave said and started shaking in her wet clothes.
Then lets get inside, John told her, as Sylph was already flying into the opening in the ground. The rest of them quickly followed.
Rave looked around the bridgendscape of the Demon I.D. Cautiously, aware of the many harms Johns barriers typically contained, she proceeded. So, what level is this? she asked.
None, John answered, I created the area without monsters.
You can do that? Rave wondered.
Apparently, I took the gamble, John answered. He had sent Sylph in advance to confirm this little detail, so far the air spirit hadnt seen any enemies. I had this theory for a bit. If I can create the dungeons WITH monsters inside, there is no reason I shouldnt be able to do it without, right? Cant do anything else though, guess I would need to level Fateweaver if I wanted more choice in the creation of these, like dungeon size or the enemy spawn rate. Maybe a more worthwhile investment than I initially thought.
Well, ya do what ya want to do with those bullshit powers of yours but why make a dungeon without enemies? Rave wondered.
Didnt that initial punch tip you off? John passed her and put some distance between the two of them. Rave was standing at the entrance of the dungeon, he was about ten metres down a sloped bridge.
We are going to fight until you get your mana spent, John said and threw out his arms. Sylph flew by his side, Undine bubbled up from the ground and Smander appeared in a fire on his shoulder. Gnome, in a purely mundane manner, walked up to him.
Way to ruin the impressive get-together, sis, Smander cackled.
Shut up, Gnome told her in a decisive tone, I cant fly like you lot, nothing I can do about it.
John raised an eyebrow. Wow, I felt something going on in my head, but when did you get all confident?
O-oh, you know, this and that happened, Gnome dodged the question, immediately snapping back to the usual. Eyes averted, fingertips pushing together, she was the image of adorable shyness. John bowed down to her face, but Gnome just slowly bent backwards, asionally looking back at him, but never maintaining eye contact for more than a blink. J-just some typical sorority stuff, y-y-y-you know? Really, nothing worthwhile, absolutely nothing, Gnome tried to deflect his interest so badly it only made him want to know more.
He looked over to his other elementals. Undine radiated extreme tranquillity. Nothing he could learn from her, it seemed. Smander shook her head, If Gnome aint telling, I aint telling, she told John. Sylph was holding her breath with puffed cheeks and had both hands crossed over her mouth. Evidently, she was having a hard time not saying it, but she was actually trying to stay quiet., Not a thing he had expected to see today.
Seems like you are back in charge of this lot, John congratted his eldest elemental. I was really wondering if that had just slipped from your grasp forever, good job.
T-thank y- Gnome bowed down to feel Johns hand on her head. John could feel the elemental under his hand heat up and heard a silent, uwuwuwuwuwu.
Ah, well, even if she bes the leader of this pack again, some things will never change, John thought and looked over to Rave. So, just you and me, no Aclysia, no Momo.
Just you and your elementals, his girlfriend shouted back, totally fairbut ya know what? She got into an aggressive stance. Ill take that challenge.
John had Gnome take the frontline while he and Undine stayed back. He wouldnt have expected any other answer.
Chapter 188 – A fluffy Monday 8 – Dance of Mettle
Chapter 188 C A fluffy Monday 8 C Dance of Mettle
John carefully put Rave into their shared bed. After about ten minutes of fighting, she had finally left her feline state and went back to normal. She also was super tired and fell asleep halfway back, so John carried her the rest of the way. Now, he put the nket over her and kissed her on the forehead. He wasnt tired yet, soying down as well wasnt on his mind.
Rave mumbled something and rolled around in the bed until John was looking at a nket-shell burrito with pink haired girlfriend-filling. Smiling and shaking his head, he backed off. Man, we got demolished, Smanderined, aside from Sylph, none of us could keep up. The airhead didnt do a lot of damage though.
That was true. Rave had shown that her spontaneous nature made her a pretty good brawler. Johns initial strategy had been to dy her using Gnome, whose primary objective was to grapple the techno-lover. Not only had that proven to be an almost impossible endeavour, Rave was more than aware that she would have a hard time getting out of Gnomes grasp; the one asion Gnome had actually gotten her, Rave had used a Judo-throw and was free a momentter. That trick wouldnt have worked twice, but Gnome also never got the chance to grapple Rave again.
Smander had been taken out for most of the fight. Offensively, she was the most dangerous of Johns elementals. Rave, knowing that, had concentrated ranged light attacks on the fire spirit. Even if they missed their mark, they at least blinded her and without aim she was useless, John didnt want her to throw fire everywhere at random.
Sylph was faster than Rave, by a huge margin actually, but, as Smander had said, her offensive power was limited. Aside from the mana intensive electric attacks, Sylphs default attacks were more of the death by a thousand cuts kind of deal.
He himself had thrown the asional Arcane Explosion. Otherwise, his n had mostly focused on getting away from his girlfriend, the moment she got him in a melee he would have lost for good. Undine had been standing at the back, waiting for when she would be needed. Healers were best kept outside the line of fire.
All around, the fight had gone pretty poorly for them. However, John wasnt worried about that fact. Well, she had the advantage, so this went about as well as I expected.
Oh really now? Do tell. Smander sounded very interested in finding out how this loss hadnt been her fault.
First off, this was a non-lethal engagement. Raves powers might be pretty dangerous themselves, but if it''s about actually winning a fight under the use of our full powers, mine are better. Not only do I have you and Sylph, who at full mana output can cause a lot of havoc, but Mana Ray and Mana de, which I didnt use at all in this fight. Second, the location. I had nowhere to hide and no sides to dodge to, the narrow bridge meant that Rave only had to outmanoeuvre Gnome to get to me, so that struggle was the centre of the engagement, limiting my options. Also important about the location was theck of earth. Gnome could have copsed the bridge, but otherwise here, as well, my options were limited. There are some other smaller factors as well, but thats the long and short of it, John exined.
Undine nodded, as did Gnome. Smander evidently had stopped listening at one point, looking at her fingernails. Sylphs head was spinning. So many words that say so much stuff, cant you try, like, words that say nothing, like, obvious stuff, like: Sylph, you look the best today, or, Sylph, I really want to give you a gift, or, Sylph, you are my favourite concubine or, Smander, you have such lovely big bouncy boobs. These of course all mean very much, but they are obvious, so they are saying nothing, you see?
John ignored the bbering air spirit. Anyhow, Ill be visiting Lydia now, so you four can hang around the house.
Bathtub? Undine sent a simple request. The upper floor didnt have one of these, there was only a shower.
You can check on the base floor, I dont think the princess will mind, Gnome answered for John and the mending elemental puddled away.
Sylph, Ill be hanging out with Momo, why dont you go and look if Aclysia can give you something to do, the stone elemental suggested further.
Yay, cookies! the air spirits mind immediately jumped to something sweet before she breezed off.
Uhmt-that wasnt, Gnome shouted after the tempest elemental in an attempt to salvage the situation.
Dont worry, Ill look after her, sis, Smander sighed. stupid airhead, making me look after her all the time, she grumbled before flying off as well.
Thanks, Gnome let out a relieved breath.
John watched the whole thing in awe. Something had changed between these four, and he was sure that he liked it. Not having to worry about them breaking something and seeing them get along like this was calming his nerves to an almost worrying degree.
Gnome gave him an unsure smile before walking over to where she, through Johns thoughts, knew Momo to be. He, in turn, went down to the lower floor and aimed at Lydias room. The house was a bit noisy: he heard the tapping of Gnomes heavy feet above, there was talking in the kitchen as Sylph bbered out her requests for sweets, and in the background, he heard the steady sound of a piano.
The music grew louder as he walked towards the source of it: Lydias room. He had heard the piano in the background of calls before. The melody had been surprisingly fitting to the princess mood swings back then. The sound now echoing from the door was a slow, almost mncholic piece. A steady stream of notes, like raindrops on a window. John knocked, but he doubted he could be heard inside. The music continued, and so he carefully opened the door and peeked inside.
Slow steps. The princess he currently served took slow steps in the middle of the room. Wearing not her usual uniform but a red dress with a long skirt, she moved in a circle, dancing to the slow melody of the piano. It yed seemingly on its own. Eyes closed, her open hair followed the twirls of her calm steps, shook as her arms waved full of grace. A new melody weaved into the steady one, a build-up for something greater. The slow melody grew softer, melded into the background as the new addition grew in intensity.
Controlled steps. Lydias dance grew quicker, while losing none of its elegance. Her movements would have put an expert ballroom dancer to shame, but what the melody she was forming with her body was only simr to ballroom dancing in nature, not in execution. A third melody grew, echoing its way into the symphony, drawn out notes, longing for something long lost.
Energetic steps. As if to defy the longing of that new melody, the girl twirled and over exaggerated her movements. Her open hair now flew after her quick motions, the second melody forcing itself into the foreground, drowning out both mncholy and longing. This, the second melody, now hit Johns ears. It was too fast to be yed by human hands, tooplicated to bepletely understood. A challenge he couldnt dare to beat but had to try.
Hopeful steps. Endless twirls. John was enchanted by the view of this lonely girl, dancing to her own melody that seemed to spell out her emotions, none of which John could entirelyprehend. All melodies came together in a harmonious climax and, finally, with ast superfluous step, Lydia made ast twirl beforeing to a halt, just as thest three notes yed.
Her hair, losing itsst bit of momentum, flew over her shoulder, most of itnding on the left side of her chest. Lydia clicked with her tongue as if this disy, that had been only for her, had been justifiably critiqued by a mass of watchers. Her hands started to braid her hair before she opened her eyes.
And looked directly at John. Both of them frozepletely.
I-I knocked, John started his defense preemptively. He was ready for every kind of retribution or lecture, having just spied on something that was incredibly private, he knew he deserved it. Instead Lydia started running deep red, not from anger, but from embarrassment.
Her face became redder by the second. Rapidly she walked forwards.
I was ju- WOAH! John found himself pulled inside by the princess grabbing him by the shoulder.
In a swirl of motions, John fell to the ground. The door mmed shut. The two halves of the lock violently snapped into each other and Lydia, her half-braided hair quickly unravelling, nailed him to the ground.
Thats like the third time this is happening to me today, John thought. Unlike with Rave though, John could put up a bit of a struggle with Lydia. He didnt n to though, especially as he suddenly found himself pointed at by hundreds of small metallic projectiles. Pens, Misshapen piano keys, the liquid metal her rapier was made from, buttons, paper clips, pretty much everything had been turned into a deadly weapon.
Calm down, Lydia, John pleaded, which, like any other time one asks somebody upset to just calm down, had no effect whatsoever.
Du h?ttest anklopfen sollen! the princess fell back into her mother tongue, her voice unsteady from embarrassment.
Thankfully, John had spent his time productively. I already told you: I did knock! he defended himself, but it fell on deaf ears.
Lydias eyes were wetting, John could feel the heat radiating from her face. Her lips trembled, but she took a deep breath, which calmed her enough to at the very least speak in sensible English again. For the most part. You will never speak of this to anyone, verstanden? John just nodded in a signal that he wouldply. Say it, Lydia requested, in a whining tone. Please, I need to hear that you will not betray me on this, John.
I swear on my life that I will never tell anybody about your wonderful music nor your enticing dance.
The result of that promise, as Gaia spoiled, was all over the ce. On one hand Lydia let out a relieved breath; on the other she managed to grow even redder.
Th-thanks? she blurted out and just continued to stare at him, as if to find the truth on how to unravel this situation in his eyes.
Then the metallic pieces rained on the floor and snapped her right out of it. The shock about the state of her room, and property in the form of her favourite instrument, made her forget all about the embarrassment.
What a mess, she stated and jumped to her feet, leaving John on the floor. He was consequently ignored for the moment, and he didnt n to interfere, as Lydia got her room back in a presentable state. Only the piano could not be repaired. For a long time, she looked at the gaps where the wood had splintered so the keys could fly. What a mess she repeated, rubbing her face.
John dared to question, Was it really that embarrassing?
Chapter 189 – A fluffy Monday Finale – End the relaxation, by relaxing.
Chapter 189 C A fluffy Monday Finale C End the rxation, by rxing.
Yes, Lydia snapped at him, anger mixing in with the returned iron of her tone. Despite her regained bearings, her face turned red again. She kept her eyes entirely fixated on her ruined piano. I do not make a habit of sharing my leisure activities with anyone, John Newman.
Well, us plebs call that a hobby, John said, trying to introduce some levity into the situation. Lydia did not react at all to those words, so he continued in a calmer tone. Im surprised you picked dancing and music as yours though.
Lydia remained motionless for a little bit, the still hovering keys the only extension of her that moved in any capacity. She shook her head, when her attempt to slot them back in failed utterly. Following she started, stopped, nced at him for a second, then continued, a certain event in my youth, my honoured grandfather took me in. Warfare, economy, and such practical things were the backbone of my royal education. I had many tutors, but art art he taught me himself.
Her red lips drained of colour where she pressed them together. She ran her hand over the polished wood of the pianos top. Therge instrument was still beautiful, which made the damage all the more saddening.
Eventually, he advised me to pick up an instrument. He said that he always enjoyed exorcising all he could not say into melodies. I made my choice and he personally gifted me this piano She stopped and let out a deep sigh. I lost control there and now it''s destroyed.
John sucked on the inside of his cheeks. There was a guilty twitch inside him, although he could only feel so bad. Lydia had lost herself in the moment and he couldnt have known better. And the dancing? he asked softly, both to keep her mind engaged and because he was curious.
A personal addition. I did it at first as a challenge, to weave my control of the keys with the distraction of physical motion. Lydia plopped down on the stool next to it. At the end of her exnations, Lydia locked eyes with John again. Her flustered looks were reduced to a small blush. Her hands went back to braiding her hair. Promise me again that none of this will ever leave this room, only you and Maximillian know of this, and I would like to keep it that way. It is a matter of personalfort. I would like to keep it that way.
John pushed himself off the ground and stood. I promise, but why would your rival know of this? Seems like a strategic misstep,
Lydia raised an eyebrow in response. You havent looked into my background at all?
No, should I have done that?
I am ttered that you didnt, but generally talking: Yes. Especially if you are working for somebody like me. Much surface intel about me is easy toe by. The princess gestured for a nearby ring of metal to approach. It broke, then sped around the tip of her braid, securing it. You might as well learn it from me then. Maximillian and I used to be a couple of some description.
That news hit John fervently unprepared. Not that it hurt him, he had barely started to like Lydia as a woman and he was far away from loving her as much as he did Rave or Aclysia. Even if that were the case, he knew that Rave had pulled some stunts before she knew him, which included there being nudes of her on reddit. He knew people had pasts and there was no reason to get jealous about reasonable degrees of mistakes.
This was, however, notable in another way. So, this tournament is basically just a lovers'' feud cranked up to national level? he asked, aghast.
No! Lydia was quick to smack that assumption down. Our opposition on this issue is what first brought me and Maximillian together. He turned out to be surprisingly charming in private. I will spare you the details of the few months of our rtionship. It was a standard story: two people fall in love over amon issue, they talk, they love, they start finding things about the other one that rub them the wrong way. In the end it turns out that they are unable toe to an agreement on the most basic things, finally that very thing that brought them together bes their greatest difference. It turned out that our ideals were ipatible, so I decided that we should go back to being just enemies again.
With a ck thest of the keysid down into its ce inside the piano. The instrument was restored at least on the surface, theplicated mechanisms setting themselves back together under Lydias influence with an ease only deep understanding allowed. However, even as all of the metal got into its correct ce, the wooden parts of the big instrument were splintered or broken. When Lydia pushed a key, the sound didnte.
It wasnt a nice ending, and Maximillian never really got over it, it seems. And I dont mean that he didnt get over me, we both have moved on since, but his pride didnt take the hit very well. Wherever we meet, he starts a fight. I guess I am not much better, actually answering his minor insults. Where I aim to federalize the country, he aims to centralize it around Viennas court. Where I am stern, he isx. Where he is decisive, I wait for information. The current state of our country created two people that promise solutions. This burden put us together, gave us something we shared, but our solutions tore us apart, she heavily sighed as, no matter what she did, the instrument did not produce a single tone. It was good for both us and Germany that the rtionship happened. However this tournament will end, neither of us now care too much about the other to be a constant thorn in the others side, despite us not getting along very well. At least, thats what I hope for us. When all of this is over, I hope to drink tea with him again; even if he and I werent good lovers, I think he can be a loyal friend, the princess gave up on the instrument with a disheartened expression. This will require an expert to fix
Wordlessly, John stepped up and put a finger on a key. A momentter he pushed it down and a single light note echoed through the room. He smirked at the surprised Lydia. It''s stillrgely broken, he exined when Lydia pushed another key and nothing happened. Gesturing at the ruptured frame, where the keys had been violently removed, he continued his exnation. Its the same Skill that allowed me to destroy and repair that ss yesterday; however, something of this size andplexity costs a bit more mana. I will need 2 or 3 more full mana bars to fully repair it. And it didnt even give me a new level in the skill, I know why I stopped concentrating on that, John thought.
Lydia pushed the key he had just before and the clear note rang out again. Thank you, she whispered, this instrument means a lot to me.
I was the one who broke it. John was ready to take the me. He couldnt have known better, but sometimes it was best to just assign to oneself the guilt anyhow. I shouldnt have startled you.
Shaking her head, Lydia rose from her seat. It was my carelessness that allowed you to startle me in the first ce. She stretched. The red dress was not quite capable of keeping up and revealed a bit of side boob. Would you help me out of this? Lydia asked and pointed at a near invisible fold in the dress. I cant quite reach the zipper, and I need to get into something fitting for the speech I have to hold in about thirty minutes.
They both knew that was a lie, the zipper wasnt regr metal, but it was still just metal. She wasnt even close to being out of mana, so she could have opened that zipper with the ease of a thought. Also, she was a member of the Abyss still, which happened to entail being a human at over-the-peak performance, she could have reached the zipper if she wanted to. He would have been an idiot toment on that out loud, however.
Of course, princess, he stated in a servants voice and gently tugged at the zipper. She wore very little underneath.
Ten minutester he was shushed out of the room with an extremely wanting erection. The princess had acted like she didnt know what to wear, until the very end, pushing out her curves and private parts throughout the whole conversation of what suits me best?. As he left, Lydia, in a slightly more decorated version of her usual uniform, stepped past and to the front door. Apparently, her driver was already waiting.
Strict timetable, yet still finds a moment to tease me, John mumbled as the door closed behind the princess. His goal was to get to the couch as fast as possible. Walking with an erection his size was seriously ufortable. He fell onto a cushion with a relieved sigh. A momentter, he heard something wet flowing over the wooden boards of the floor. He turned around and saw nothing, but, when he looked back in front of him, he saw the blue goo that was Undine take her womanly shape between his legs.
They didnt exchange a single word. The water spirit loosened, then removed his pants. John was more than happy to be taken care of by whoever of his harem was around and Undine seemed to be the quickest this time. He probably radiated such extreme horniness that every single one of his familiars had felt it. Aclysia walked out of the kitchen, saw that she was toote, and turned around to get back to whatever she was actually doing. He would not have objected to her joining.
Undine was about to wrap her soft lips around Johns dick when his pants buzzed atop the coffee table. For a moment, he was tempted topletely ignore the phone call, but he didnt want to miss anything important. What if it was Lydia, who had forgotten her keys and speech notes, and now stood outside the door? Unlikely, granted, with her being able to open whatever metal lock she wanted with the flick of a finger. Still, it could be happening and if it did, he would pay the price for ignoring the call. With a sigh he decided to make it quick. Undine, sending displeased waves, handed him his phone.
Hello, John here, the Gamer greeted.
Oh, h-hi, its me, Herman, the apothecary said from the other side.
John sighed heavily once more; if it was a girl calling him, he would have gestured Undine to just roll with it and enjoyed the blowjob while he was talking, but getting pleasured while a dude was next to his ear felt weird.
Whats up? John asked, trying to hurry this along.
I call because of that thing you wanted me to bring to you, Herman said.
Right, the spine, John scratched his head. He hadnt forgotten about it, but he had tried to not think about it too much. After all, he had finally reached happier times again. What about it? he asked, knowing he sounded a bit brash. He just really had other urgent matters to put his hands to. Well, Undines hands. Mostly her mouth.
I dont really have time to bring it to you. There is a lot to do with that veteran meetinging up, and Ill be pretty busy afterwards too. So, if you and or Rave coulde to the meeting and pick it up, that would be nice. Would like thepany while I am getting squashed by the stories of old war heroes, said Herman. Youll probably be busy with the whole election stuff
John nodded, then realized how stupid that was, excused himself with most of his blood being somewhere else, then finally answered, Sure thing, just write me the address and time, and well find time to swing by.
Will, do. Thanks, friend.
He put down the phone a momentter. Undine massaged his, only slightly, limp dick to get it into full hardness again. She slowly lowered her lips, John was watching intently, ready for the moment his sensitive cock would finally get some pleasure. Undines outeryer, the shape of a dress, melded back into her body when she felt his desiring gaze.
A Quest window blocked the view when it finally got indecent.
John really had no mind to think about this right now. But he had to take this seriously, because of who this Quest came from. Therefore, to the (shared) extreme displeasure of the slime girl between his legs, he ordered her to stop once more.
Why would the Horned Rat give him a Quest to take a spa day? What did he know about that god? Pretty much nothing, but he seemed to be somewhat invested in Johns survival, otherwise giving him Mana de didnt make a lot of sense.
Why would the Rat want him to go get a massage? Probably to get some sort of message from somebody there. Why he would make it soplicated, John didnt know nor care. He still hadnt cracked that prophecy, and he wasnt even trying to understand the Rats reasoning without having understood that first. A free ss Level was absurdly good though, and he did think he was safe, at the very least. He smashed that ept button.
Then, he could concentrate on that blowjob.
Chapter 190 – Rex in Germaniae
Chapter 190 C Rex in Germaniae
So, Herman wants us to roll around Thursday evening? Rave asked as she was going through her clothes. It was 8:30 in the morning on Tuesday. They had already spoken with Lydia about today''s ns. If the vote today came to a tie, and Lydia was of a solid mind that it would, the tournament would officially begin. The nning stages, anyhow.
John could potentially get announced as a fighter that very day, so he had to be there. Rave, on the other hand, wouldnt be confirmed until, at the earliest, a dayter. She had insisted oning with him anyhow.
Its not like they will find out anything about me just by seeing me, she had argued, and I really want to see the big R himself. Lydia had pondered about it for a moment but ultimately agreed, as long as Rave spoke to no one outside of her group during the event.
Also, Rave had to wear something at least somewhat presentable.
Yes, John answered her question, although I wouldnt call 3 PM evening. Have you decided what to wear yet? We have to leave in ten minutes.
How about this? she asked and held up a pink shirt and a green miniskirt.
I am getting the feeling that you dont know what presentable means, John stated drily. Pointing over his shoulder with his thumb he added, Look at my two girls here, these are primedies.
He was speaking about Momo and Aclysia. The former was wearing her poncho-bodysuit hybrid outfit, thetter the dress they had bought the previous day. They were decent and elegant figures. Although Momo looked kind of odd, both were highly presentable for the asion. Aclysia bowed at thepliment with the slightest hint of a happy smile dancing around her lips.
Your girl is a bit reductive, Momoined. John tried his best at a calming gesture. Momo kept staring and sighed. Just because you made me, does not mean I am your property. Remind me why we areing along again?
Because I need to announce you as my designated golem to enter the tournament with me, John told her.
Right, and Aclysia ising along because?
Aclysia quickly turned her head when hearing Momos question. The guardian looked at her younger sister dead in the eye. Because I will not leave Masters side unless absolutely necessary. Her tone did not leave even the tiniest gap for disagreement.
So, ya telling me to cover up? Rave pulled his attention back to her, now holding one of her jeans.
Well, no, I dont think jeans are exactly proper but they sure are a step up from miniskirts. How about this, John let her keep the jeans and went to get one of his shirts. It was a in ck one with dark buttons.
Ya want me to wear guy-clothes to an oh-so-proper event? Rave giggled and took the shirt.
Well, I doubt I can get you in a dress, even if we had one here, John answered.
I guess, Rave quickly changed out of her current clothes and into the newly suggestedbination. John had spent the remainingst evening fucking varying girls of his harem, as well as part of the morning. Therefore, he only got a slight hard-on as he watched his girlfriend strip in a knowingly teasing way.
The shirt was made for John, so it was a bit too big for Rave, but because he was a prettynky dude (and it was one of the shirts that were a bit too small for him anyhow) it was on a level where it was still in the eptable range.
Mhm, yeah, this could work, Rave agreed and raised a sleeve-covered arm, sniffing at the wrist area. She made a disappointed face and then walked over to John, pressing herself against him in a deep hug.
Whats this about? John asked as he pulled her in himself; he didnt need a reason to be close to his girlfriend, but his curious nature got the better of him, as always.
What use is it, wearing your boyfriends shirt, if it doesnt smell like him? Rave said and slightly stuck out her tongue as she looked up to him.
He dly met that tongue with his own, and for a moment, they kissed. Then the door flew open. I gave you until 8:35, it is 8:38! I demand that you cease your flirtations and move ording to the timetable! Lydiamanded.
Gaia, I thought we agreed that you rx, Lylytina, Rave whined but obeyed, departing from John.
The princess looked at Rave, inspected her clothing, and nodded approvingly, albeit with slight reluctance. I am, I gave you three full minutes of leeway instead of 30 seconds. Consider the importance of this event. Now get moving, the driver is already waiting. Oh, and one more thing, Lydia red at Raves blue eyes, do not call me that in court.
Correct me if I am wrong, Lyly, but I think the agreement was that ya get to sleep with John here and in return I get to call ya what I want and you have no right toin about it, right? Rave reminded the princess, who grit her teeth.
Seems like the foolishness of her past behaviour has finally dawned on her. John thought and repressed a smile.
That was our agreement, correct, Lydia admitted after rxing her jaw. I do implore you then, to resist the urge to ridicule me in front of the electorate.
Okay, Ill do ya the favour, princess, Rave, surprisingly quickly, agreed as they went to get their winter clothes and then to get into the car. Lydia exhaled in relief, and momentster, they were on their way.
They used the Traffic Tunnels again, but Lydia checked her watch relentlessly anyhow. She was wearing the decorated version of her uniform he had seen her leave with yesterday. It differentiated itself from the normal one via golden strings weaved throughout the fabric of her green jacket. Elegantly decorated buttons held the golden shirt underneath closed, instead of the in bronze ones. The emblem on her chest was the same, however, and apparently no single asion could make Lydia put aside the conviction that footwear must be made to march in, not to look pretty.
You wear that suit surprisingly well, Lydia, who had spent the time looking at him the same way,mented.
John had afforded himself a ck suit with fitting pants. The buttons were of a fine silver metal, the cloth something softer than silk but incredibly durable. He wore a pure white shirt of the same material underneath, and even though Lydia raised an eyebrow on the fact that he kept thest two buttons open, John wasnt about to close them or put on a tie. He refused to look like a full-time nerd, but he also wasnt going to put on the suit of someone he wasnt.
He hadnt liked the figure that had looked back at him in the mirror of the bathroom this morning; short hair kempt and gelled, buttons closed all the way up, tie tight around his neck. So, he had washed out the annoying paste, removed the tie, opened two buttons and just let his hair lie however it wanted to. He breathed a lot easier afterwards, both figuratively and literally.
Well, it was tailored for me, and it did cost a lot, John smirked and put his arms around the twodies sitting to each side of him, Rave to the right and Aclysia to the left. He felt like just about the tightest pimp in existence right now. And no, not in the I rent out girls that I abuse-way. Just in the everything is going my way-way.
The car came to a halt after a short ride. John looked out the tinted window with interest. He had no idea where this election was supposed to be held. The only great building he could see around was
His skin started prickling with nervous anticipation. His Wisdom quickly pushed the feeling down as the unnecessary anxiety that it was, but he couldnt help but feel in awe when the Cologne Cathedral towered high above him as he stood on unnaturally empty streets.
The sight of that building made him realize what an enormous asion he was about to get into. It was the election of the head of one of the ten strongest organisations on the face of the. What enemies or allies he made during the course of the next weeks could prove vital for his entire life in the Abyss.
I am going to see Romulus today, the thought made him gulp. He finally would get a chance to take a look at the one everyone called the Apex. A human to ovee even gods like Nathalia. Would he even see anything if he used Observe? Would the ruler of Europe notice and kill him for such an affront? Questions and doubts suddenly filled his mind, the cathedral seemingly growing further over his head.
Then, he was suddenly shoved a step forward. He turned to see Rave smiling at him. Ey, dont freak out, tiger, she whispered, I am nervous too, but all ya gotta do is take a few more steps.
Slowly nodding, John reached for her hand, and together, they followed Lydia, who had gone ahead without a moments hesitation. When they stepped through the cathedrals gate, they were pulled into another barrier.
The inside of the cathedral was just as imposing as the outside. Itrgely looked like a standard church, rows of benches, all pointing at a central altar. With the difference that the altar had been removed. In the middle of the cathedral were two raised teaus, one big one and a smaller one on top of that. However, the size and gothic design of it all gave it an aura of mystique, and the air was buzzing with magical powers. Arcane energies bundled to decorative lines and practical cables were hovering close to the walls and buzzing through the air.
The middle teau held two tables of the same length; the right one had four chairs whilst the left one had only three. One chair was decorated more heavily than the rest and had a golden bar worked into the backrest. On the higher teau stood a single, imposing throne. Oakwood, red cushions, silver and gold hammered into mythical creatures decorating the edges, it looked both ancient and well preserved.
The hall wasrgely empty. Only a few people had sat down on one of the many benches already which, as John now noted, were heavily cushioned themselves, unlike the ones he usually saw in churches.
Here goes hoping that there is no antimunist fanatic threatening us in this church, John jokingly whispered to his girlfriend and seeded in getting a snicker from her.
Well, this time I could smack him over the head and call it a day, she responded before they caught up with Lydia. The few eyes that were present looked at her with keen interest, a few more almost ready to jump out of their seats and walk over. None of them did. They just followed and listened. In the near total quiet of the cathedral, nearly anything said could be heard.
I will have to mingle with my subjects, allies and foes, Lydia whispered. I suggest you keep to yourself; dont let anyone get you into their of questions. If asked what you are doing here give vague answers and nothing that is clear. No reason to unveil what you are here for ahead of time. The princess showed him a sly grin, After all, I might not need your services.
What? John had the mind to whisper back, but his tone was bbergasted.
I got some good news this morning, we will see if it all works out like I intend, you just stay at the ready. If you sit down, do it somewhere from where you can get back up without much of a fuss, if I announce you as a fighter you must be able to get to the front. She gestured towards the tables. Making your way past kneecaps is a sorry sight, unworthy of a royally chosen fighter.
John, confused, nodded, and the princess walked towards the middle teau, stopping at its base. There she was immediately besieged by the first noble, tangling her into some sort of meaningless conversation.
Maybe I will find out what the inside of a Mana Factory looks like after all, John said, scratching the back of his head. How else would he get rid of his debt if Lydia didnt need him?
And after I went through the trouble of saving ya, Rave joked and kissed him on the cheek. Well manage.
The four of them stepped towards the far right of the room and kept to themselves. asionally some noble tried to talk to them, but following Lydias rmendation, he kept conversations at a bare minimum. They typically went something like this:
Hello, I am Lord Insert
How nice, I am John.
John?
Yes, I know a terribly boring name; did you know that its Russian equivalent is Ivan?
You speak English, are you from Britain? America?
Ah, well, I suppose you could say my blood hails from there, but it''s been a long journey.
Really? I would like to know a bit about it.
Its a rather boring tale, and I dont want to waste your important time, Lord Insert.
Rave was also approached several times, but in the art of getting her partner to quit the conversation, she was way more skilled than John, and so she was left alone as soon as the nobles realized that she wasnt easy pickings. Nobody approached Aclysia or Momo, as it was apparent to everyone that they were here as his golems and servants.
John used Observe on every single one of the people he was approached by. Cautiously first, more emboldenedter when there was nobody objecting. Sure, a few were able to partly orpletely block the skill, hiding private details like the information box or number of sexual encounters from him, but, generally he found out a bit about the nobles. After a while, he found amon theme among them: all of them were lesser nobles, here only to sit in the back row and see first-hand how the top might shift in theing years instead of reading it in the newspapers tomorrow. However, John found himself wondering about a thing.
You are probably asking yourself why none of these fools knows who you are, John Newman, said a fragile voice. An old man in a blue military uniform stepped towards John. Stepping was a bit of stretch here, really, crawling on two legs and a cane would have been a more apt description. The man had only the slightest bit of hair still growing from underneath his hat, and his skin was wrinkly, pale and covered in age spots. John, who had recently watched the new Star Wars movie, was reminded of Snoke, just without the horrible face disfigurement.
Oh shit! John thought and quickly bowed. An honour to meet you, he said, but the emperor waved it off.
Tell it to your kids, you might be one of thest new acquaintances I make before my life ends, Frederick told him with a toothless cackle.
I will, thank you, sir, John blurted out mindlessly before clearing his throat and asking. You were indeed right about what I was wondering, do you have an exnation?
The exnation is easy, everyone who knows what you are here for has no intention of asking things they already know, the emperor said. John nodded as his eyes went over the room.
Of course, they either picked up on me knowing Lydia through some spy work or just know who I am and connected the dots when I came in with her.
Which leaves you with attention only from the gossipers, the emperor agreed and watched him with keen eyes, the only part of him not diminished by age. My granddaughter will make a fine ruler, although I dont particrly agree with her ideas on how to modernize the country, he shrugged, but I am too old to care; once this whole thing is over I will take my eternal rest. He turned around and mumbled, I have an old friend waiting for me, if the afterlife exists, before walking towards the teau.
What was that about? Rave wondered.
He probably was just curious, John answered as he watched the man slowly climb the stairs. Lydia hasted over and helped him with an openly worried expression on her otherwise so stern face. If I reach his age, Id probably do things randomly too. To see a figure so legendary in history in such a state, he added in his mind. It seems we are all just humans after all. But hey, now everyone is too intimidated to approach me, so thank you, Old Fritz.
The emperor in question sat down on the chair with the metal bar, and a momentter, an eagle materialized on top of it. It was a proud, dark feathered creature, quite big but not unnaturally huge. Its two heads and sudden appearance definitely marked it as a fantastic creature, however.
Now that was interesting. John had had no idea that organizations got themselves patron gods. It made sense, and from how that sounded, it was a mutually beneficial pact. The organization got protected and the god got a lifeline in the form of mana rations. He would need to dive deeper into god theory topletely understand how important that was for gods to have. Adding that to the pile of things I have to read up on, he noted to himself.
What John found just as interesting was the fact that the current emperor didnt get that shiny throne up on the highest teau. That likely meant it was reserved for Romulus. Aside from the Apex, John was only watching out for one more person.
And that person entered with such pompous clothing that John couldnt help but notice him. Wearing a suit of golden colour, shimmering like it was cut from the metal itself, with a purple tie around his neck and wearing a cloak of the red and white design often found in pictures of kings, Maximillian stepped through the door. His entire regaliabined old and new in a shy disy that was almost dazzling.
Head held high and with a cocky smile, he walked up the midway. Well, well, well, he shouted and smiled at a random corner. John followed his eyes out of interest and found a camera. Not a small one a private person was holding but an arcanely modified version of the ones used to shoot blockbuster movies. It hovered there and pointed at the king of Vienna. John now noticed several of those floating around the ce. They had not been there before. He checked the clock. It was now 10 AM. Did they fly in when the event started?
Anyhow, time to Observe who he was up against.
It seems everyone is gathering up to look at this farce of a vote. Whatever. It is either that you vote for me today or you can have thise down to a tournament; either way I am going to take the crown, he announced as he continued his way. Augusta, so good to see you, he said in a tone that indicated he was chatting in private but loud enough for everyone to hear. He grabbed her hand and kissed it on the back.
Lydia did not struggle. As soon as etiquette allowed her to, she pulled back her hand. Princess Augusta for you, King Maximillian, Lydia corrected him in a quieter tone but still loud enough to reverberate through the quiet cathedral.
Dont be like that, you can call me Franz if you want. My proposal to make this a marriage and skip this whole ordeal is still up, Augusta, Maximillian ignored her request.
Gaia called the southern German King Johns rival, and in a way, the Gamer did feel challenged. If this was because the guy looked way better than him, with his well-shaped body and handsome face, or because these naturally self-assured types reminded him of that asshole Frank and his girlfriend Vanessa who bullied him back at school, because his dick was bigger, or because John had started to feel something for Lydia and this was her rich and powerful ex, or abination of all of the above, he wasnt sure. John knew for certain, however, that he did not like the guy.
I told you repeatedly that that is aughable proposal, King Maximillian, Lydia whirled around, her braided hair flying after her as she strutted away and then took position to the left of the throne. Maximillian shrugged. Saddening, well then, let us give the people games to decide who gets to makews on their bread. He proceeded to his own chair, cape bouncing.
For a moment, there was chatter. People talked about the scene that had just passed. At this asion, John looked at the now filled benches. Why Lydia had been concerned about Rave being clothed properly, as well as Johns own concerns in that regard, now seemed paltry. There were half-naked women and men alike, dressed only in loincloths and furry bras, right next to top-hat and monocle wearing nobility that looked like they were ripped straight from the painting of a British noble family. John saw a knight in borate armour chatting with a hunched over witch; a momentter, they both lowered their heads, and John was vaguely aware of the head of a small creature under a hood, gesturing wildly.
Everyone, no matter how strange or normal their appearance shivered simultaneously. The winter sun flickered, then dimmed. Guided by the sheer intensity of the approaching presence, all eyes wandered to the entrance of the cathedral.
The Apex had arrived.
Chapter 191 – Imperator in Roma
Chapter 191 C Imperator in Roma
Romulus was a giant. The man known as the Apex of the Abyss was around two and a half metres tall. He towered over practically everyone, looking down with hard, green eyes. They did notmand respect, his sheer presence was enough for respect to simply be given.
He looked like a man in the middle of his forties with sun-browned skin. Hard wrinkles gave his face, with the strong jaw, a paternal sternness. His short, brown hair showed the first signs of greying. Bare arms extended from the white toga, thick muscles moving under taut skin. His clothes were in in design but ornate in make, a red sash wrapped around him one of two unnecessary decorations he afforded himself. The second was a crown of olive branches, meticulously shaped.
John looked up from the window to meet Romulus gaze. It lingered only for a moment, but that moment made his lungs feel like they were iron cast. The Apexs eyes moved on and John took in a desperate breath. He tried to kill Gaia twice? How did he even live past the first time? John gulped. Thats a level Im supposedly able to reach?
His attention moved to two figures closely following Romulus down the path towards the central teau. Both were supreme beauties, arguably above Johns haremettes C although he would have contended such ims.
Behind Romulus right was a tinum blonde woman. Her hair cascaded down her back, wavy and wild. Her skin was of a light brown tone. Her eyes were golden, radiant even, sharing their colour with the te armour that covered her with all the hardness and heat of a merciless summer sun. The te was forged for her body, practically appearing to be hammered on to her curves. She hadrge breasts and a round ass C nothing was left to the imagination. Behind her back hovered a disk of golden fire, confined by a ck corona, like a reverse eclipse.
The second woman, following behind Romulus left, was considerably shorter. She was as pale as freshly fallen snow and her hair was the silvery white of undiluted moonlight. The silky, straight strands practically flowed down her back. A dress covered her body, midnight blue and decorated with sparkling stars.
Her curves, much like her size, were much more modest, almost petite. Only a soft rise showed her breasts and her waist was pleasingly narrow. Her hips, however, were pleasingly wide. All of itbined with her measured steps to paint a picture of pure grace.
John closed thest window. Anything interesting? Rave asked quietly. Meanwhile, Romulus climbed the three steps of the tform with one step.
A lot, although I am unsure how much they wanted me to know and how much of the rest is true, they clearly knew I was watching them, John answered. I will walk you through on the way home also you will have to exin to me what a Kuudere is.
Caaaaan do, Rave giggled. She already had previously exined to him, in detail, what a Tsundere was. Anime was weird.
Romulus sat down on the throne. To John, the chair had looked massive but under the massive form of the European ruler, it seemed barely adequate. Sol and Luna stepped onto the first of the three stairs leading up to the highest teau, where they then turned to the audience. Thest bit of chatter died down. Anticipating quiet was the only thing that remained.
Then, the Apex spoke.
My subjects, my neighbours, citizens of the Old and the New World that have gathered here, friends, foes, those in between, those that once were one and have be either, all of you that are present or that witness from thefort of your homes C I wee you. Romulus'' voice rolled through the cathedral with casual confidence, deep and rumbling. Today will be a historic day, one way or another. Today, the recent years of confusion regarding the inheritance of the Kingdom of Germany, Rex in Germaniae, will either be solved or moved to the next stage.
I thought this was about an Empire? John furrowed his eyebrows. Did he screw that up? No probably some weird feudal situation. Ill have to ask Lydiater.
To hold elections while the previous king is still alive is unusual, but Frederick insisted. This special wish I obliged, but the remaining traditions remain in ce. Two times you have voted, two times no victor emerged. I thereby invoke the rule of strength. Shall no winnere from this election, the winner shall be decided via civilized application of force. Sol, Luna, prepare the count.
Sol to his right and Luna to his left side each extended a hand away from the throne. From the sun goddess hand flung golden light, mirrored by the moon goddess in silver. Two circles took shape, hanging high enough that all in the cathedral could see them.
Elector of Austria, Arch-Duke of Vienna, Prince-Regent of Greater-Hungary, Duke of Ulm, Arch-Duke of Gravity, Maximillian Franz the Fourth von Habsburg, do you, as Candidatum Primus, wish to stand by your im? Romulus asked. Maximillian turned from the crowd and bowed to the Apex.
I do, Emperor of Kings, he said with a smile.
Only nodding once, the ruler of the Mediterranean then turned to Lydia. Granddaughter of the Elector of Brandenburg and of the current king, Princess-Regent of Brandenburg, Duchess of the city of Lbeck, Marquise of Pomerania and Silesia, Princess of Steel, Lydia Augusta the Fourth von Hohenzollern, do you, as Candidatum Secundus, wish to fight the im of the Candidatum Primus, despite his official endorsement and legitimacy?
That was the first time John had heard about this. He had just assumed Candidatum Secundus was a fancy title without further implications. So, she wasnt just a candidate, but the one to throw a stick into the machinations of session, huh? Exins the whole divisive figure part I keep hearing about.
Lydia turned only until her shoulder pointed at Romulus. I do. The self-proimed King of Vienna has not the best interest of Rex Germaniae in mind. He is loyal to the country, not its people and, whats worse, he is loyal to you before his own subjects, Emperor of Rome. Somebody who sees himself as the first-servant of you and not as the first servant of the state, I will not allow to sit on the throne. I challenge his im; may the electorate decide what is wise.
Without a respectful nod she turned back to the gathered people who started whispering. Geez, she has bigger balls than I thought, talking to Romulus'' face like that, Rave admitted.
Yes but I dont know if that was wise, if she likes it or not, if she wins he is still the one that rules over all of this, John whispered back, I wonder if she follows a n or this was just something she wanted to say for a long time.
Romulus himself seemed unfazed by this. Your challenge is heard. The votes will indeed decide. Regally, he ced his hands on the armrests of the throne. As per tradition, the current monarch may not meddle in the election. Therefore, Fredericks vote will not be counted for the election. However, he may give an endorsement, if he so wishes?
I do not wish to endorse either candidate. Frederick sat in his chair, a sack of skin, bones, and clinging will. My time has passed, let the new generation take this empire to new heights.
In that case, following the order of tradition, written down by my friend and foe Barbarossa 800 years ago, I shall proim the first of my two votes. I refrain from using my first vote, Romulus announced. This was no surprise, from what Lydia had told John, Romulus always stayed neutral, the remaining electors then found a way to make it a tie, just so they could have their games. John had yet to entirelyprehend why, simple entertainment was not good enough a reason, or was it? Honestly, John had only scratched the surface of Abyssal culture, so maybe he was entirely wrong.
Elector of Vienna, proim your vote, Romulus continued with the election. Maximillians grin grew back into its cocky form.
Whoever could I vote for? I wonder, I wonder, he joked. Between me and the candidate that just used me of being loyal to the wrong cause mhm, I think I will go with myself.
Some people snickered, but generally the joke went by without a care. A single line appeared in the golden circle that Sol had created. The golden light became a little more borate, until forming the Roman numeral 1.
Elector of the Low-Counties, represented in this age by the Nethend Trading Company, step forth and dere your vote, the ritual continued. A foxy blonde woman in a business suit stood up and made her way up to the teau. Once she arrived in front of Romulus she took a knee for a few moments, before getting up and dering her decision to the audience. My vote shall be with Lydia Augusta of house Hohenzollern. The Nethends favour federalization, which will bring new wealth to the whole of Rex Germaniae. The woman marched to one of the empty seats by the table. Behind her, Luna created the first line in the silver circle.
Elector of the southern Alpine regions, represented in this age by the Swiss Confederation, step forth and dere your vote. The same ritual ensued. An old man, relying heavily on his walking stick, made his way up. Despite his obvious problems he wasnt allowed to skip the kneeling. He needed longer to get up than he had been kneeling in the first ce.
The Swiss Confederation agrees with the N.T.C. Nothing is more important to us than our autonomy and the Austrian candidate threatens this status. Our freedom and federal status cannot be threatened. As the country between the Illuminati, Rex Germaniae and the Sons of Rome, our neutrality must be our own to decide. The vote goes to Lydia Augusta of house Hohenzollern. Once back in his chair, the old man let out a long sigh of relief.
Two votes for Lydia.
Elector of the duchy of Bavaria and the city of Munich, represented in this age, as in every other age before, by the duchy of Bavaria, step forth and dere your vote. John was mildly disappointed when the man answering to that call was not a Lederhosen wearing drunk, but instead a middle-aged man who had a simr pompous get-up to Maximillian.
Autonomy is important, but so is that everyone pulls their weight in this union of states, he spoke to the assembly following the show of loyalty to the emperor. And Princess Augusta promises a world in which we drift further apart. She would weaken our bonds at a time when our division already presents opportunities to our enemies. To the east the Blood rises again, to the west the Illuminati are endlessly scratching away at our understanding of magic, the Great Sultanate is as decadent as it remains powerful and no one knows the goals of the new Heavenly Jade Empress. This is no time to concentrate on prosperity, but on safety. My vote is with King Maximillian. A golden line and the two candidates were tied again.
Elector of the city of Prague and the Czech people, represented in this age by the Czech League, step forth and dere your vote. The man who now got up to the teau was only wearing a brown monks robe. He stepped in front of Romulus, but he didnt kneel. Instead he just made a bowing nod with his shaven head before turning around.
We vote for Lydia Augusta of house Hohenzollern. Although I personally dont disagree with the threat from the east, and I hold little love for the Illuminati or their allies in Prometheus, the Czech could never vote for an Austrian candidate. We, the Czech, know their oppressive ways and the wheel of time has not spun far enough for us to forgive, especially while our Slovak brothers remain under their thumb. At least the Silesians are to remain autonomous under the Princess rule. In short, FUCK THE AUSTRIANS! With that sudden, and very angry, outcry, the monk sat down. 3 for 2 in favour of Lydia and only two more votes, not counting Romulus refusal to vote.
Elector of Saxony, represented in this age by the duchy of greater Saxony, step forth and dere your vote. Another old man came up. This one looked like the wise king archetype, although he was still a duke by title. Unlike the speaker of the Swiss, this one remained strong on his feet despite his age.
When he turned towards the audience he hesitated for a moment. Ites down to me to dere the vote between a tournament or a victor, it seems. A great honour, but also a great burden. Both sides ring true. Protection however, especially from themunists that aim to eradicate our way of life, is most important to me however and the people of Saxony would be happy to have the states of Germany be more closely tied, instead of further divided into autonomous regions.
Maximillian grinned. John raised an eyebrow. I hear a buting? John thought and remembered what Lydia had said earlier.
The duke continued, But it is especially because I want protection and stability that I cannot allow for us to enter another tournament just because of the greed of the electorate. The tournament is nothing more than a boom for our economies on the back of the declining might of our Italian allies. An abhorrent tradition I would have lived with in easier times, but I cannot ept in turbulent ones like these. Thends of Rex Germaniae must be united. Let the lesser candidate rule and prepare for the future, our outer struggles are more important than the inner ones. I stay my vote.
Faces had shifted into disbelief as the elector had held his speech and now amotion broke out over the unchanging status quo. Hundreds of people spoke in a sudden burst as the collective surprise washed over them. Maximillian looked like he had been struck by lightning, bleak and slightly shaky, he and John looked over to Lydia. Meanwhile, the duke took his seat and closed his eyes as he waited for everything to blow over.
The princess of steel had her arms crossed and allowed herself the faintest of smiles while she kept her eyes focused ahead. 3 to 2. She had never needed another vote, only to find somebody on the other side that found this tradition as unnecessary as she did. Into the mana factory I go, I guess, John sighed.
Seems like we will have to move here, Rave agreed.
Yeah, and if I calcted the average mana battery price correctly it will take me about 17 years to pay back Lydia, John told her.
Rave waved it off. Ah, but ya see, that is only if ya stop grinding and getting your Wisdom up even higher, we can surely press that down to like one year, two tops.
That seems like a pretty high goal, John carefully suggested.
Always shoot for the moon, Rave winked as she raised her voice against the ongoing chatter, at the very least you w-
The vote has not concluded! the voice of Romulus broke themotion. It echoed throughout the cathedral like a cataclysmic earthquake. Hundreds of people were pressed into their seats by a sudden force descending on them. John and Rave barely stood straight, ears ringing, shaken to their cores from the magic the sentence was drenched in.
The Apex folded his hands in front of his stomach. Eyes downcast, he contemted for a number of seconds. Then, when all had grown quiet, he nodded to himself and raised his gaze once again.
Onest vote remains. I, Romulus, Emperor of the Roman Empire, God-Emperor of the Sons of Rome, vote for Maximillian Franz von Habsburg as new King of the Germans, he dered.
The stunned silence was more deafening than themotion before. Every elector looked with disbelief at the emperor. The Saxon duke angrily mmed his fist into the table, which broke under the impact. For a moment John thought he wouldin or storm off, but the duke kept sitting with a reddened face. Romulus himself stared down Lydia, who looked back with a clenched jaw and her eyes as grey as g.
The election has ended in a tie; the tournament will be held, Romulus made his final statement.
Chapter 192 – Stepping up to the challenge.
Chapter 192 C Stepping up to the challenge.
Lydia opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again. It was apparent to everyone that she had a hundredints and a dozen questions about that decision. She was not alone in this and all of them knew that the Apex would not tell them anything he did not wish to tell. There was only one answer to give.
If that is your will, Emperor.
Apparently, Lydia pissed him off enough, Rave whispered.
Maybe but we may have just witnessed one of the more important moments in Abyssal history, John answered. A raised eyebrow indicated Raves confusion.
Look at the people, John made a low waving gesture. Very few people looked like they were happy with the vote that had just been dered, a lot of them actually looked angry, then there were the few that were seething, like the duke, who was still sitting in front of the table he had just destroyed. Of course, no one dared to speak up, the man on his throne could have annihted all of the attendees by himself.
Lydia wasnt all that smart to try and fight Romulus, but Romulus just kicked the autonomy he has granted the Germans down. He has every right to, their constitution says so, but that doesnt mean that the people will be happy with this. They feel disrespected. Today might be the starting point of some separatism movement, John exined. Pointing at the duke of Saxony he added, which is probably why that unity loving guy over there is angry as hell, separatism likes toe with civil strife.
Rave, very slowly nodded. What does that mean for us, tiger? she wanted to know.
It means we do what we promised Lydia to do and afterwards we will see if sticking around is in our best interest, he smiled. As a bit of a cynical joke, he added, We are Americans, if we get involved with other peoples civil wars, then only cause we cause them or because they have something we want.
Or to protect them from evilmies, Rave giggled.
The two patron goddesses that were contracted to the emperor walked down the stairs and towards the candidates. Luna went to Lydia, while Sol went over to Maximillian. The Austrian candidate had reimed his cocky smile, although he still was a bit pale. If he was as outraged as the rest of the gathered Germans, he hid it well enough for John to not be able to tell. The clenched fists under the table were a sign of something though.
If he gets to the throne he will only have managed it thanks to Romulus grace on this day, John thought while the two goddesses retreated from the candidates. Whether what Lydia said earlier was true or not, Maximillian is now indebted to Romulus but if he wants to rule there is nothing that will make him pull back now.
John knew the feeling of taking whatever straw promised the slightest bit of safety. In a situation like this, it was all or nothing for Maximillian. He couldnt step back without angering his supporters, he couldnt ept without angering his people. At least he got to rule in thetter proposition though. There was no choice for him but to push through.
The candidates shall now proceed to announce their first fighters, Romulus dered. To preventst minute changes from either candidate, the names will be presented simultaneously. The goddesses stretched out their hands and the numerals within the circles above were reced with names.
He saw his own one in silver letters, John Newman, presented to the world. God only knew how many people were watching this. Well, there goes myst bit of anonymity, I guess, John sighed.
Dont worry, ya will get through it, Rave winked and held his hand.
John looked over to the other bubble. Alexej Zeritr, it spelled out. A pretty vic first name, although John had no idea where theter part came from. Fighters, step forth, Romulus gestured.
Here goes hoping I dont trip over my own feet, John said and kissed Rave.
Illugh the loudest, so ya can ignore everyone else, she told him.
Truly the love of my life, what did I do to deserve you, he drilymented before walking off.
Eyes followed John, as he walked up to the table. The front rows inspected him with a degree of recognition, the backrows mumbled. Attention was split quite evenly between him and his opposite.
Alexej wore a simple brown monk robe simr to the one the Czech elector had. It was probably safe to assume that he was from the same area. He was a short guy, light blonde, short hair, and not in in the looks department. Dark green eyes stared back at John, a smile underneath. When the Gamer attempted to use Observe, it only earned him a two-second-long, violent headache.
The same effect as that spine, but less potent, he noted. Whoever this was, was extremely skilled at information maniption. A blond guy with green eyes, skilled at information blocking, simr to that nazi-spine-thingy, who seemed to know John. There was an inkling at the back of Johns head, but he chose to push it down. There is no reason for SecretBlonde toe out here after hiding for so long, John told himself, while also making sure that he remembered to look up this guy by telling Aclysia and Momo to remind him.
He felt Momos mild annoyance at being used as a mental notepad, but she didnt raise aint. John stepped to Lydias side with Alexej on Maximillians side. Are those the fighters you have chosen? Romulus asked in a ritualistic fashion.
Yes, Emperor of Kings, Maximillian was eager to answer.
Yes, Lydia kept it short, her hands folded behind her back, spine straight.
Are you willing to fight for these candidates? the seated giant continued.
Of course, why would I not? Alexej answered with a wink towards John and Lydia. It will probably be a lot of fun.
Yes, I will fight for Princess Lydia, John kept it on point. He did not feel at home in front of the crowd. The quicker he got this over with, and out of the spotlight, the happier he would be. Right now, he felt like a toad in a desert, hoping it would turn out to just be a sandyke shore instead.
He felt Lydia shove her foot against his. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but Lydia didnt even turn her head. It took him a moment. Also, I will use a golem to fight at my side, John quickly spoke out.
Show it to us then, Romulus demanded.
I dont want to, came the words from Momo.
Well, it is toote for that, youngdy! John almost screeched in his mind. If I have to be up here, so do you.
YOURE NOT MY DAD C NOT IN ANY WAY THAT MATTERS! Momo shouted back and a momentter stepped up to his side with an empty expression. The world would, and should, never know the mental bickering that continued in their heads.
This is her, Momo, John said.
The giant nodded. I see and ept. You two will be the first fighters chosen for the eighth tournament of session, my congrattions for this honour, Romulus pped his hands, his goddesses following the motion a momentter. The sounds echoed through the silent room. Reluctantly, the seething masses did the same and underwhelming apuse filled the cathedral.
I dont know what is more ufortable, the bad mood or just standing here right now, John thought, repressing the urge to awkwardly scratch his neck.
The apuse died quickly and Romulus rose from his throne. The choices of this day are made. The following three days will see the announcement of the remaining candidates. Tomorrow, two announcements will be made. The days after that, one each. We gather after the bell has announced noon. Walking as he talked, Romulus headed for the exit. His presence remained dominating, until he vanished in the doorframe. The moment he was gone, so were the cameras.
John let out the air he held in his lungs and breathed in freely. His rxation was short-lived, however. Come with me, Lydia instructed and she marched off at a speed barely below running. A few people tried to strike up a conversation with her but she ignored them, John made some hasty excuses as he followed her.
Only in the privacy of the car that would take them back did Lydia finally speak up again. That god-ying cunt! John almost jumped at the sudden exmation. Words, like a hammer on an anvil, kept crashing. Arrogant prick, hijacking hundreds of years of his own non-intervention policy to put an obstacle in my way. SHIT! she kicked the table in the middle, ss and stic rattled as the bottles were violently shaken.
Then there was silence. John waited for a bit before carefully suggesting, All this means is that you are now at the point where you thought you would be, right? The tournament is happening, as you prepared for. Lydia shot him an angry nce and was about to start one of her lectures when she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Lydia crossed her arms. Fingers danced over the long sleeves that covered her upper arms. Under the table, her heel audibly tapped the ground again and again. John saw the vibrations in the bottles of water. Whatever the princess was thinking about did a terrible job at calming her down.
Her eyes flew open, she mmed a hand on the table and rose. Her arm rushed forward and grabbed John by the cor. The Gamer was pulled up and straight into a kiss with Lydia. It was crude, rushed and more surprising than sensual, but it did the trick. He met her demanding tongue in kind, slowly helping her ease out of her rage.
When she sat down again, her wrath had been moved to the background. You are correct, she said in a collected voice, losing not a single syble over what had just happened. Everything will proceed as originally anticipated Where is Rave? Lydia only now noticed the techno-lovers missing presence.
About to enter, John, who was signaling his position to Aclysia, answered.
True enough a momentter she opened the door and the remaining trio took their seats. How ya doing, Lydia, Rave asked. To see her actually take the effort to not get on the princess nerves made John proud of the little social tact she had.
I will manage, dont waste your niceness on me, Lydia waved off. I will continue forward until there is no greater height for me and my people to reach.
Nice, thats how ya go about things, Lyly, Rave instantly switched back into her usual gears.
If I may intervene, Aclysia entered the conversation. Master has several questions he gathered during the election. I would like to present them to you, your grace.
Lydia gestured to her to continue. Go ahead. I can use the distraction.
Romulus used different titles to refer to the same positions you mentioned before, princess, why is that? Aclysia said.
The titles I have been using up until now are the ones we use for matters of inner diplomacy. Because we are a highly autonomous part of the empire, there is disagreement to what degree we are bound under his titles. However, on papers regarding international diplomacy, the titles he has used are correct, Lydia swiftly exined.
Candidatum Secundus is a title given to somebody fighting the im of the Candidatum Primus?
Partly correct, in theory, everyone from a noble family could be elected, however the candidates are then broken down on a local level until only a few arrive at the top. I gathered a lot of support by being the non-Austrian candidate, therefore it was part of the introduction Romulus gave me. That and, apparently, he wanted to present me in a bad light.
How did you manage to get the duke of Saxony to forfeit his vote?
I grinded him down with gifts and promises for policies that would help his struggling economy, such as using the port of Lbeck free of charge, to push him into a position that he wanted to hold anyhow. Usual politics.
Do you know anything about Alexej Zeritr, the enemy''s first fighter? Aclysia presented her final question. John listened extra carefully to this one.
No, Lydia answered and massaged her forehead, which is concerning on its own. He wore the robes of a servant family, is all I can tell. My investigations on this must start immediately. Therefore, I will return to our current residence. If you want to go elsewhere, you may now.
John opened his menus and looked at the map the Horned Rat had given him. He was pretty close to that spa he was supposed to visit. I have a Quest nearby that I want to take care of, he said and closed the map again. Ill have to visit a spa.
Lydia raised an eyebrow but left that umented. She simply pressed a button and the car came to a gradual halt.
Mhm, Raves head went to the right, going to a spa sounds nice, it swayed to the left, but I also want to train that cat-form some more, it swayed back to the right, to the left, to the right.
You have 32 seconds toe to a decision, Lydia informed Rave.
What? Why are you so stingy with time? Rave slurred.
It is a valuable resource, and one I happen to be unable to increase without the help of a skilled Fateweaver. Those that I regrly work with are not avable at this time. 12 seconds, Lydia kept her steel eyes glued to the wandering hand of her clock.
Fine, Ill go and train! Rave decided on a whim.
Great, Ill go read books, Momo announced as Aclysia opened the door for John to leave the car. Outside, he pulled out his winter clothes, they were in the traffic tunnels so there was no reason to fear random onlookers. Aclysia also morphed.
Well, actually, Lydia wont have time, so you will have to look after Jane for me, John told Momo and quickly left her behind.
The supports mouth opened in shock. Oy! Thats not fair! Thats not fa-.
Aclysia mmed the door shut and closed herself off from her sisters mental outcries. At the same time, she acted as an instion between Momo and John. The Gamer couldnt hear her anymore, although he was aware that she wasining right now. You know she will be angry with both of us once we get back home, right? John asked as the car drove off.
I am aware and fine with that, Master, Aclysia said with a bow, taking his hand once her back was straight again. The prospect of some more alone time, limited as it might be, is well worth the nagging.
John smiled and kissed Aclysia.
Chapter 193 – Oh My Me
Chapter 193 C Oh My Me
The spa was called Sensibar and advertised itself by having a small bar in addition to its many wellness programs. It was part of a big hotel, located inside a red stone building with rows upon rows of white-painted balconies, but had its own separate entrance and could be visited without an appointment.
John stepped inside and was immediately enveloped by the thickyers of fragrances usually found in those ces. Things like rosewood, oranges and the oils used in candles. Compared to the cold outside, the reception room of the spa was of a near unbearable heat, the winter jacket he was wearing surely didnt help.
Between the election and now, about an hour had passed. The trip itself had only taken around 10 minutes. However, as John luckily realized before he walked in, he was broke. Nothing a quick dive into a dungeon couldnt fix though. He farmed some easier bosses and was promptly introduced to a new concept: diminishing returns.
It was a simple mechanic: the money he earned from bosses more than twenty below his current level gave him less money. Another one of Gaias hotfixes to ensure that he wouldnt just milk the system for absurd amounts of cash. Not that the $125000 he got out of that was anything to sneeze at.
With a newly filled wallet he walked up to the receptionist. Hello, he greeted.
A good day to you, answered the receptionist, a woman with brown hair bound into a ponytail. How can I help you?
I would like one massage please, and a rxing bath for her, John pointed his head towards Aclysia. In the same area, if possible.
Of course, do you have an appointment or are you here on her eyes narrowed, then widened in surprise. John smirked, that was a pretty obvious disy of checking out his aura. It was getting pretty impressive, at least to the average Abyssal. Comparing himself to the receptionist, she was a match, and he was a torch. a special asion? the receptionist finished her sentence.
Thetter, Ill have to say, John bowed forwards on the limewood surface of the reception desk and whispered. To be honest I would like it if my associate could enter the massage with me; she doesnt need a program herself. There was no reason to be this secretive, nobody else was in the room, but the Germans had a saying that caution was the mother of the porcin box. That saying basically just meant that it was better to be careful.
I understand, the receptionist said and started writing things down with the keyboard in front of her. Do you have a special request for the massage?
I would like to have your newest employee do it, John said. I heard some good things about that one.
At that the receptionist rolled her eyes, but said nothing, leaving John to wonder what that meant. Done, she instead affirmed his request and took a key from the board behind her back. She gave it to him and received a sum of cash in return. Your room will be number 31, you can change there as well. Please, feel free to use the towels provided.
Thank you, John said and walked by the reception desk and further into the building. The way was properly guided and the rooms numbered in a logical way, so it wasnt long until he found room 31.
The moment he stepped inside he was, somewhat predictably, pulled into an Illusion Barrier.
So, they have more of those here, huh? Makes sense I guess, John thought as he looked around. He was currently in a small entrance area that doubled as the changing room. Turning around he found a knob he could turn below the door handle to lock it. He wasnt quite sure if that would help, but it was better than not.
There was a locker where he could leave his clothes as well and the mentioned towels. With a shrug, John ignored the locker and instead put everything in his inventory. When he was fully naked he took one of the towels and wrapped it around his hips for the sake of decency. It urred to him that he was oddlyfortable with nudity these days, even though he still loathed being in the public eye. Degrees of desensitization, I guess. Youfortable, Aclysia? John asked.
The Artificial Guardian had changed back into the gothic mixture of French maid outfit and dress that was her standard appearance. Yes, of course, Master, she answered, these clothes are more a part of me than they are clothes. Being ufortable inside them is impossible.
John hummed his understanding, although that was only in concept. The air was hot and slightly humid and the aromas that had been thick in the reception area already were almost unbearably strong here. A couple of new fragrances were added to the mix as well, pine needles and a hint of burning wood. It only took a few breaths for his senses to heighten. Aclysias presence became all the more enticing.
Aclysia herself looked at the tent that formed from the towel with anticipation. When their eyes met, the understanding between them was quietly spelled out. All he had to do was ask and she was his to take on any surface he wished.
However, Johns Wisdom got the better of him. He was already in an Illusion Barrier, and he was about to get a massage. He should push the sex toter, before he was caught by whoever that masseuse was and after he heard whatever the Horned Rat wanted him here for.
Lets go inside, John therefore stated and a disappointed Aclysia followed him through the door that led into the main room.
The middle-sized room was the source of the heat he had experienced while changing. It was dimly lit, only a small, weak light hanging from the ceiling. The majority of the golden twilight came from the flickering scented candles that were spread all throughout the room, incense burning at their side.
The walls and ceiling were covered in dark, wooden panes, while the ground was covered in tiles of ck stone, white veins running throughout. The heating system must have been located underneath those tiles, as John felt the warmth rising from below. On the opposite side of the room, next to a second door, was a basin of the same dark, polished rock. A steady stream of water ran through it, providing a nice ambience and part of the humidity.
In the middle of the room was a lounger, consisting of a few segments that could be adjusted in height and position as needed. Currently it was simply a straight piece to lie down on. A hole on Johns left-hand side indicated which way he should face. Next to the lounger was a table full of oils, soaps and other articles used in massages.
The masseuse wasnt anywhere around, but John had an inkling that she woulde from the other door once she was ready, so he decided to not have things dyed further than needed and justid down. Aclysia stood next to the doorframe they came from and kept quiet.
The lounger was prettyfortable, despite the presence of his erection. Well-padded and the hole made lying on his stomach easy, although the floor was a less than interesting thing to look at.
A slight draft apanied by the sound of a swinging door told John that somebody had just entered the room. He saw a pair of feet, light-brownplexion with carefully trimmed nails, polished to reflect the candlelight.
He wanted to raise his head and greet whoever just entered, but he felt a hand on the back of his head, gently, but firmly, holding it in ce. A raspy, sultry voice, clearly female, although on the lower side for one, reached Johns ears. Remainfortable, the masseuse said with a chuckle, we have all the time we need to look at each other.
Okay? John answered, puzzled by the choice of words. He recognized that voice and the colour of her skin. He heard bottles being moved, a ck when one was put back on the table and, a momentter, hands on his back.
Lathered in oil, they quickly glided it over his lower back, spreading the slippery fluid. With experienced, long-winded movements the masseuse worked her way upwards, only stopping to apply some more oil. Eventually her hands glided over his back effortlessly and she slowly rubbed the tension from his back.
So, what brings you here? the raspy voice asked, focusing on an area just above his left shoulder de.
Mhm, you know, John answered in a deeply rxed voice, a request. The only part of his body with tension left was his dick, being rxed to this degree made thinking hard. He still was aware of who sent him here, but with Aclysia watching over him and with who was likely next to him right now, he did not feel overly threatened. I wonder if they give happy endings here? John thought, shifting slightly, his naked cock rubbing against the soft towel.
The question would be very awkward if denied. Another, actually an even better idea, would be to rent a room in the hotel next over for an hour and just bang Aclysia. Either that or he would create an Illusion Barrier to borrow somebodys home. He had little qualms about things when he was horny.
A request you say? the masseuse now went onto his shoulders, kneading the muscles until they were soft. Dont you mean just a Quest, John Newman?
I am not all that psyched that the Horned Rat throws around knowledge about that so freely, he said as he stretched his thoughts towards Aclysia to check if she was ready to intervene. She wasnt, as a matter of fact, he felt nothing but her presence. She waspletely frozen. That, too, was somewhat expected. If I am right, that is.
John tried to get up, but the hands on his shoulders kept him in ce, he could only turn his head and catch a nce of orange-red hair. Dont be so impatient, young one, said the husky voice.
That you would be here of all ces, John said in an amused tone as the hands worked until his shoulders lost their stiffness again. It felt twice as good now that he knew just who was massaging him here. I thought work like this is beneath you
Finally, the masseuse pulled back her hands and allowed John to turn his back. The masseuses face was right next to his and they saw eye to eye. Strands of her orange-red hair fell over her full lips, the lower of which was slightly bigger. She had brown eyes, but when John blinked they revealed their true divinity, threeyers of amber, the core being a glowing gold.
Nathalia.
The dragon goddess blinked and her eyes went back to simple brown,pletely normal eyes, stunning, but indistinguishable from a human. The act of massaging random mortals is indeed beneath me, she said as she straightened back up, gesturing for John to roll onto his back. With a stranger massaging him he would now have searched for an excuse not to, and hide his massive erection. With the permanently horny dragoness that would not be a problem in the slightest.
Nathalia wore a white bathrobe. Gone were her scales and the constant,va-like glow of her hair, the obsidian eyeliner or anything else. She looked like an ordinary, thirty-something human. An extremely attractive thirty-something, with tits threatening to spill from the wide cleavage, an ass that stretched the fabric and thick thighs that reached out of the bathrobe, which was cut-off shortly below the hips.
However, if it leads to sex, I will suffer this degradationfor a few days, she licked her sultry lips, looking at the tent that just sprung up. Its like a craving for certain tastes and spices, I desired it, so I went ahead and made it that way, added Nathalia, ripping the towel away from his crotch.
You made Aclysia freeze in terror again, though, Johnined.
Yes, and it is still adorable, the dragoness graciously applied oil to her hand and then oiled up his chest. You have made progress since Ist saw you. Not as much as I had hoped however, shemented on the muscles he had gotten thanks to Endurance.
Every other girl he had met was saying Wow, you look buffer than expected, but the Fire of Destruction did not seem impressed in the slightest. She gave him an off-handed p on his abs that made him wheeze.
Well, what can I say, I am a mage first, John defended himself when Nathalias judgemental eyesnded on him. Raising Strength is not in my program. I would need a few more levels for that, he let the implication stand on its own. If she wanted him to raise that stat, she would have to give him the Stat Points for that.
Nathalia narrowed her eyes. Her hand, carefully gliding over his chest, stopped above his heart and pressed down. Dont forget the rtionship we have, young one, she hissed as John felt his chest budge under the pressure, the incense filled air was pressed straight from his lungs as his ribs creaked and his heart screamed out in pain. I am invested in you, because you seem fun and your ability is strong, but the nurturing you will need until you prove a challenge to me will give me more than enough time to crush you. Never forget that. John nodded, he had no air left to answer. The pressure decreased until Nathalia continued her work like nothing happened. However, I will entertain you, just so you can entertain me, but this will be thest time. I will fill you up to the current limit of what your body can take of my essence and then be done with it.
Well, it would have been too easy if he could just cheat this out forever, so a limit was to be expected. It was pretty bullshit that he could absorb the power of a goddess as experience points in the first ce. Wait, you said YOUR essence, could I absorb other gods essences and still go stronger?
That earned him a second ride on the pain express as Nathalias hand pressed down on his chest again. This time with the fun extra of obsidian ws digging into his skin. The heat in the room increased even further as Nathalia stared down into his eyes, hers having turned back into their true form as she growled.
You will do no such thing if you value your life, do you understand me, John Newman?! YOU ARE MINE! I begrudgingly ept the touch of the Horned Rat in your soul, because he is a friend who once saved my life, but if I see the taint of but a single goddess in your aura, you better present me with a good exnation or I will put you on a leash and make you unable to leave me. You are MINE, I allow you your happy little life and whatever girlfriend you want out of sheer graciousness. Never C Forget C That, a wave of fire burned from the edges of her mouth at the end of her speech.
Why did she specify goddess? Why was she so adamant about this now when she hadnt been before? Why did she threaten to leash him instead of murdering him? What was that look in her eyes? Questions Observe could maybe provide answers to.
It was jealousy. Oh god, he had a jealous dragon goddess on his throat. Oh god, that dragon goddess was Nathalia. Oh god, this wasnt good. Okay, it was actually a massive ego-boost, but it was his life that was threatened here. His HP bar was already down to the three-quarter point.
He nodded again, quickly, and Nathalia let go. He snapped for air like a man who had been close to drowning. I told you that you have an ability on the level of Romulus and the more I look at both of you, the more simr you be, she growled, still annoyed.
What even is his ability? If you allow me the question, John, carefully, asked. His eyes darted to her Stats, Also did you be stronger again? That is he repressed the word bullshit, ...interesting.
I tire of this and I want your dick inside me, Nathalia answered, so I will make this quick. Romulus can rob gods of their power until their existences themselves vanish, if he is given opportunity. You are different in that you cannot steal, you can only take if given, but you have different abilities topensate. For your other question,st time we met I had merely gotten back what he stole from me, I am still getting used to having it back after missing it for roughly two-thousand of your years. That is all. I now want to be fucked and you will oblige.
That was an order he could live with. Having his life threatened had reduced his erection to limp status, but Nathalia, her hands back in non-scaled form, opened her bathrobe and presented her hourss shaped body in all her glory to him. There was no way he could have resisted that sight and all thoughts of danger or other questions vanished.
Nathalia raised an eyebrow when the erect cock in front of her grew another two centimetres, now at 19 in total. However, she did not ask, just epted that that was now happening as she picked up a bottle of oil. I think you remember the requirements, before I can give you some of my essence I will need some of yours. Either your blood or your seed will be required. She hungrily licked her lips, You are lucky that you are delicious, she purred and poured oil onto her hands.
Chapter 194 – Filled to the brim [Erotic Content]
Chapter 194 C Filled to the brim [Erotic Content]
Nathalias oil-drenched hands enveloped his pulsing erection. Unscaled, her hands were delicate and soft. Trimmed fingernails and slender fingers gently caressed his cock. Soon, the golden candlelight reflected on his manhood, covered in the mixture of oil and precum.
One of her hands slipped down a little further. She rolled his balls in her palm, cupped and massaged with all the proper care. All the while, the other hand kept pumping up and down his shaft. Slowly, to spread the oil evenly.
John put his elbows up, so he could raise his torso and get a better view of what she was doing to him. He did not dream of intervening. Every pump was another groan coaxed from his lungs. The dragoness smiled at his reactions.
I normally do not offer a service like this, Nathalia purred, her voice as husky as the sound of flickering candles and as pleasing to Johns ears as the aromatic smells all around were to his nostrils. He was in his own personal heavenly den of debauchery right now, trapped inside a dragoness in heat. I prefer to feel the twitching in my mouth, taste the salty precum on my lips, follow the tensing and pulsing of your shaft before wave after wave of delicious seed fills me, John Newman. Although I will enjoy that one way or another.
John could only groan, while her hand focused on the engorged head of his cock. Circling around the centre of his sensitive area, Nathalia moved her hand in little half-circles, constantly keeping him stimted.
She bowed down to his ear and whispered, But this has the advantage of watching you squirm. Which is deeply amusing to me. Nathalia lovingly bit his ear. Her hand continued the treatment.
You say you dont do this a lot John found his voice between passionate breaths, refusing to justy there. but that still puts your skills millennia ahead of every other girl.
The teeth at his ear vanished and Nathalia straightened up again. Herrge breasts jiggled with every movement. True C many of you mortals are too prude for a species this desiring of sex, her lips formed a crooked smile, not that any of you could hope to be as great as I even if you tried.
The grip on his dick intensified as Nathalia slowly jerked downwards. Without the lubrication of oil, quickly mixing with Johns pre-cum, that movement would have been impossible, the pressure was just too high. Now, however, it turned into a hellishly pleasurable torture of methodical movements. Nathalia stopped fondling his balls with her left hand and half turned from the table. She was absent-mindedly continuing to give him a handjob while she went over the assortment of massage products, having emptied thest bottle of oil.
However, that also meant that John had a glorious view of her bountiful buttocks. The full roundness of caramel flesh was onlyplimented by the flickering twilight of the candles. The sight reminded him of the day he had fucked her and Smander in that cave. The tight sensation of her asshole was burned into his memory, her every moan bounced around inside his head, apanied by images of their shared times. A sudden rush of sensitivity went through him and he groaned.
The glorious view didnt stop there of course. The dragoness athletic back, with the firmness of her skin and the soft curve of her spine. The rippling of the pronounced muscles of her shoulders, their true strength hiding beneath her graceful build, when she picked up one bottle after the other. Greatest of all was maybe her meaty thighs, the inner sides wet with Nathalias pussy juices, which leaked from the permanently horny goddess like the constant stream of water from the basin in the background. Truly, he didnt know what the most phenomenal part of her backside was, but he got the whole package in front of him, so there was no need to choose.
John wanted to extend his hand and touch the softness of her ass. Just then, Nathalia let out a raspy chuckle and finally picked a bottle, turning back around, robbing him of the opportunity. It was a normal oil bottle, three-quarters empty, but what looked at him from thebel looked like a crossbreed between a demon and a fairy. A scaled dress, ck and red eyes, purple wings.
This will do nicely, Nathalia said and tossed the bottle into the air. In a flurry of movements, she changed the hands upation, now jerking John off with her left, and caught the bottle, just as it came down, with her right. Then she applied her teeth, currently as humanly disguised as the rest of her, to the lid and ripped it off without a quick turning of her neck. She did all of that so quickly that John didnt even feel as if the dragoness had stopped masturbating him for a moment. She spat away the now broken piece of stic, which sent some disruptive cking sounds through the serenity of the room, and smirked.
Then she emptied half of the bottles remaining quarter on his chest and the rest on his dick. She put the bottle back down and worked the oil into his muscles. Wherever it touched him his body felt tingly, like he was getting a warm shower or if someone was kissing him there and Nathalias hands, with all of the heat boiling beneath her skin, made things even worse.
What did you just- John was about to ask, because this seemed cause for minor concern, especially that Stage 1 part. If it gave him that much more Libido for a start, whatever could follow? However, he was interrupted by himself, moaning when Nathalia used the now horribly superfluous lubrication of his dick, being coated in this new aphrodisiac, to pick up the pace. Her hand was just a constant blur as it raced up and down his dick. Excess sttered on his balls and crotch, only causing the heat to spread and his sensitivity to rise. His dick was as hard as an iron rod.
It had been a manageable pleasure before, a handjob with a new twist to it, but his Libido ticked up so quickly and Nathalias grip, not to mention the speed she now used, was filled with such cock-milking passion that John could feel his balls and brain boiling in the scented air.
Do not worry, John, Nathalia and her raspy voice were the only things he could possibly concentrate on, his whole body desiring to bend the dragoness over the table and m his cock into her holes over and over again until he achieved that glorious moment where they both would be nothing more but a moaning mess. I have given you no aphrodisiac that would permanently harm you, Nathalia promised as her mouth closed in on his cock, her hand still a blur. He felt her breath on his dick, even here it was a ze of heat, and saw her tongue just centimetres away from the tip.
She licked her lips, the truth was written into her eyes as in as it could possibly have been, focused on the meat rod in front of her; she couldnt wait for that delicious, cloudy liquid to run down her throat. Any onlooker would have been able to tell just how close John was; he was justpletely in Nathalias hands and moaning ording to her every move, he felt his balls tighten, his body quivered in anticipation. Any moment now he would unload.
At thest opportunity she stopped.
What?! John asked, his tone sharp. Being denied release was enough to forget just who he was talking to for a moment.
I do not want you to shoot your load before the oil has unleashed its full potential, Nathalia exined and took her hand away.
Her head was quickly above his and she grabbed his chin to prevent him from looking away. Not that he had any intention to. The amber eyes above him dared him to do anything stupid, but they were also beautiful, a sea of golden fire to get lost in. And talk to me like that again and I will reconsider if you will ever find release today, John Newman, she added a warning. You might be in charge with the rest of your small assembly of lesser girls, but when you have intercourse with me, I make the rules.
John stared at her for a long while. Understood, he finally said, cock twitching. A single word to appease her, even if he fully intended to turn things aroundter.
Nathalia smiled and rewarded him with a kiss. It was one of begrudging passion. John tried to unload some of his frustration by winning the wrestling of their tongues, aggressively assaulting the dragoness with it, although that made Nathalia the true winner here.
Oh God, just what I needed, even sharper senses, John managed to think. Now even the air itself made his dick twitch with need. All thoughts were instantly blown away the moment Nathalia trailed a finger along the underside of his cock. He could feel the tiny rises and falls of her fingerprint, each of them stroking over his lubricated length. The oil should unfold its basic potential soon, then you will taste release and I will have more of your seed to drink, we all win, Nathalia purred after breaking the kiss.
Her hand closed around the base of his cock. Instead of jerking him off further, she trailed down his ncing chest, kiss by kiss. Her lips were like the touch of velvet on his chest as she made her way downwards. Once there, she followed the path her finger had just taken with her tongue. Then, she wrapped her lips around him and sucked him in. Her tongue skilfully circled the engorged head.
The pop-up marked the moment he exploded into her mouth. Amounts of cum his balls couldnt possibly hold in their entirety started flooding the dragoness mouth with spurt after spurt. It was as if somebody had suddenly turned a valve all the way open. Nathalias eyes widened and the vibrations of her moans, caused by the deliciousness of her favourite seed, only made John lose himself inside his climax even more. To this mind-numbing pleasure came another feeling, one of power rushing into him, his soul and body were both being stimted to unknown heights, his field of view was sprinkled with dots and lightning bolts, slowly robbing him of the ability to see and leaving him able to feel nothing but the hollowed cheeks sucking him dry as Nathalia took him all the way into her throat.
When his world was no longer drenched white he noticed several windows. Four Level-Ups, Achievements, Quest Completed, none of that mattered right now. Right now, an amount of Libido that even his Wisdom would have had a hard time keeping in check on a good day, pumped through him. Unknown as that sensation was, fighting it would have been much harder than just swimming with the stream. And why ever would he have wanted to resist this temptation?
Nathalia gulped down thest bit of his semen. With her thumb she scooped up a trail that had escaped her greedy lips. The sight of her sucking that remnant from her thumb while looking him straight in the eyes... Well, it changed nothing about him still being as hard as an iron rod, but it was sexy as hell.
The dragoness must have noticed the change in his eyes. Ah, the moment of rity has hit you, good, raise that Strength of yours and then we can continue, I look forward to you being less her eyes scanned his oiled chest, average.
Sure thing, John chirped. His Wisdom told him that worrying was useless, he was already drugged, not like he could change it, and his Libido,bined with the atmosphere and the fantasies about debaucheries yet toe, raised his mood considerably. The aphrodisiac being administered without his approval was a tad annoying, but he wouldnt have said no if she had asked.
He just hammered the points into Strength until it hit 50. The change took ce rather quickly. He didnt be a bulge of muscles, in fact he barely became any broader at all. But his abs became clearly defined and settled between the many small muscles that had beenrgely invisible before. On his upper chest, he achieved pecks that actually warranted the description. His arms became a bit thick and when he flexed them there was arge bulge. Whatever little bits of excessive fat or skin he had melted away until only the slightest bit remained. His skin also took on a healthier shade as blood vessels became stronger and years of Cheetos and Mountain Dew were cleansed from his bloodstream. Not quite a Greek god yet, John nevertheless now had a body that would make him eligible for the cover of ygirl. He felt great, wide awake and iprehensibly horny.
He was about to close his character screen, he would have time to scan the changes after fucking his brains out, but the ss choice glowed. All the other windows he could ignore, but that one struck him as important. Right, I have a free ss Level from the Achievement earlier, John realized and changed to the Lover Boy ss to quickly do that. Nathalia would be pleased and he wanted to please her, just so that she woulde backter and let him fuck her again. Maybe he would get something that would let him dominate her so that he was back in the teasing position? He really didnt like being on the receiving end of orgasm denial.
Okay, he had no vast amount of time to ponder about this, his Wisdom wouldnt wait for him. Option 1, boring, fuck that, Option 2, more interesting, probably very good, Option 3 fucking great, if I n to never jerk off again. Will I ever have to pleasure myself again? No, I have Aclysia, the elemental quartet and Momo even if everyone else leaves me for some reason. Therefore, Option 3 it is.
John closed that window just in time to feel how his Wisdom, and self-control, started slipping. He wanted nothing more than to throw himself at Nathalia and make love to her for as long as he possibly could. Only the dragoness imposing presence, and repeated warnings about her being in charge, held him back.
Her hazel eyes had the same look to them as his, ssy and only barely holding any sign of focus as they darted from one part of his attractive form to the other. She wasnt unaffected by the oil herself, John realized. I approve, she said after having drunk his sight for long enough. Not quite perfection yet, but good enough, she added in a lessplimentary tone, but her crooked smirk was all John needed to see. You may take the reins, John Newman.
A mere moment after those words he had Nathalia bent over the lounger. Unceremoniously, his hard cock pushed past her petals. He was inside her gushing pussypletely within a single thrust; he wouldnt even have needed any additional lubrication for that feat, drenched as she was. Hands on her hips, he started moving like a machine with one single purpose: Fucking.
Her pussy was an inferno of shifting, tight flesh wrapped around his cock, massaging its whole length better than her hand could have ever hoped to no matter how long she trained. Every time his dick mmed into her, with his whole, impressive length, and their hips met, Nathalia let out a sharp, throaty cry. Her red hair was shaking, her butt jiggled under the impact, a sight so enticing that John couldnt help but want to see more of it. He raised his hand. The wet sounds that echoed through the room, caused by their union, were apanied by a sudden p when John pped the dragoness fat ass as hard as he could. The dragoness yelped in surprise, not in pain.
Today is the only time you will get away with that, growled Nathalia, her tone betraying the pure pleasure she was experiencing.
All of today? John grunted and pped the other cheek with the same strength.
A beastly rumble went through Nathalias body and she turned her head, eyes and bared teeth back into their draconic shape. She tried to look imposing, but the disy of how dangerous she was only got him more enticed. Nothing in the world would make her stop him. Nothing, not even her own rage, would make Nathalia stop getting fucked like the dragon in heat that she was. A third time he pped her round butt, daring her to prove to him otherwise. The rumbling that left her body afterwards was one of begrudging admission, All of- She couldnt even get three words out without moaning. today!
A momentter he felt his second orgasm welling up. It was as if the sudden excess of cum his balls produced wanted to be released, and he had no willpower to push against. Another p, followed by fingers digging deep into her flesh, causing depressions to form in the soft arse. He mmed into her with all his newfound strength, just a couple more times. Then his seed exploded into her and painted her insides white.
Nathalias back quivered as she howled her own climax out. Vast amounts of sperm flooded her pussy and womb, to a point where he wasnt sure if she could hold it all inside her. Spasming, her vagina continued to wring every drop from him anyway.
John pulled out just as quickly as he had pushed in. What are you doing?! panted Nathalia, she had to know that his cock had still been rock-hard when he had removed himself. The drug would keep working for who knew?
John didnt answer her question, his dick simply pressed against her sphincter a momentter. A good enough response for the light-brown skinned goddess, who rxed her muscles as best as she could to allow him to prate her backdoor as swiftly as possible. Despite the numerous times she had done this before, she was still as tight as the first.
Lubricated with all sorts of fluids, and with Nathalia prepared to take his entire girth, John had an easy time pushing inside. The tight ring of her sphincter pressing down on his hairless base, he had all 19 centimetres of his hard-on buried inside her anal cavity. It pulsed around him, just as infernal as her pussy, and the soft meat of her backside pressed against his crotch. Then, without any sort of further easing, he gave it the same ruthless fucking he had given her pussy.
I aaaaaah, am verrry impresse-ah-d, Nathalia moaned. Your thrusts finally m-mhm-ake me feeeeel more than some in shaking.
You just wait until I get even more Strength in the future, John pushed out strained words, his balls already filled to the maximum capacity again and ready to burst. I will give you a fucking after which even you will need days to feel your legs again.
I will rrrremember that promise, Nathalia purred and then let out a groan that transformed into a perverse scream as she came from being fucked in her ass. Her whole body tensed up. Yesssss, she hissed, the metal frame of the lounger screeched as it was crushed by Nathalias hands, having been her anchor.
A momentter, John, unable to resist the quivering tightness, came again. A load just as big as thest one started to pour into her anus. One spurt, two spurts, his balls tightened again and again. He pulled out as he was stilling, leaving a cum-leaking asshole. He spread the rest of his seed all over her back, even at the fourth spurt there was more than enough force to almost reach her neck. Thetter spurts decorated her ass. Enticingly, she swayed it left to right.
John grabbed Nathalia by the shoulder. The dragoness, quivering from aftershocks, didnt resist, just looked with interest as he dragged her over to a wall and pushed her back against it. Finally, John had her glorious tits in front of him. His lips found her chocte nipples as he buried his cock in her pussy again.
By my fire, yeeessssss, Nathalia hissed as she was nailed against the wall, John roughly biting her nipples and fondling her huge tits with reckless debauchery. Nathalias arms maybe would have scratched on his back in simrly rough fashion, but the dragoness had no coordination to move them anywhere, instead her fingers uselessly pressed against the wall as she moaned out her pleasure.
The moment Johns balls refilled they emptied again and this time the dragoness womb couldnt have hoped to contain it all. Two loads, bigger than anything Johns balls could have possibly held in the first ce, now resided within her pussy. The only thing keeping that absurd amount of seed in ce was the cock that put them there. And the owner of that cock was not done, not by a longshot.
Taking one of Nathalias legs and stretching it over his shoulder, John continued his assault. The dragoness was as flexible as John had expected, taking the almost 180-degrees angle her legs were in now without a single problem. Nathalia relished in the change of position, moaning even louder.
There was not a single doubt that she could be bent into whatever sexual position he could think of; however, creativity wasnt his goal right now. He wanted to bury his dick as deep and as often inside her tight cunt as he could, until it turned into a raw mess, oozing with his seed and once that was done, he would mark her whole body with his gooey climax.
It was a primal desire, a wish of such utmost perversion that the reasonable part of Johns brain fucked offpletely until it would be needed again, and his increased Libido only spurred this development further. He would fuck her until there was not an inch left of her that wasnt sweaty or sttered in seed. His balls tightened again and he added a third load to Nathalias womb, which now had to stretch to somehow handle this new development.
The scream of pleasure as her stomach bulged from the sheer volume was deafening. Her fingers dug trenches into and splintered the wood they rested on. Her whole body was rocked by spasms so strong that John was afraid he would fall over, or get crushed by an uncontrolled motion of the goddess. The constant stream her pussy was drenched in turned into a literal gushing as her juices sttered over their joined hips. Trying to hold onto her leg, as he just kept fucking her through their shared orgasm, he watched the glorious change on Nathalias face unfold.
With each of his thrusts, pushing her orgasm higher and higher, her eyes rolled up her skull a bit more, until only half of her iris was still visible. Even then his thrusts still made them momentarily jump upwards. They almost vanished at times. Her mouth was agape in a scream that turned into a voiceless O as more wetness, even more than the first wave, exploded from her crotch. Pussy juice pooled on the floor and drenched Johns sex just as he pumped another wave of sheer endless amounts of his seed into her.
Johns orgasm carried over right into the next one. Another load, not quite as big, as his balls refilled quickly, but not instantly, bloated her birth canal even further. Once that orgasm was done, he pulled out and cum started running from her pussy like from a leaky barrel.
Dont you dare stop Nathalia panted and moaned as her own oversensitive senses were stimted by the mere feeling of John slowly pushing her down to her knees. I John had to gulp, his throat was dry from all of the moaning, want you to suck me off and let me cum all over your pretty face.
Arent we beyond forey?! Nathalia roared but grabbed his dick and aligned it with her lips. Despite her words, she was just as greedy. She had given him the reins and was happy with the oue. John ran his hands through her orange-red hair, pushing it backwards so that he would have a perfect view of that beautiful, threatening beast of a woman he would continue to defile. Although, in her, there wasnt anything left he could taint further, nothing that he could want and she wouldnt give. For some reason that thought only made it all the more perversely fulfilling.
Nathalia pulled her full skills on this blowjob. Millenia of sucking dick and now any man would have given a hand to experience the expertness with which Nathalia pushed all of the sensitive points of his dick. A slimy sensation rubbed over his whole length as her extendable tongue wrung around him while he was still inside her mouth, it was like he was getting a blowjob within a blowjob.
Not able to hold back, he forced her head back and forth, swinging his own hips in the rhythm. For a moment he wished she would have her horns, just so he could have grabbed them and enjoyed the full feeling of facefucking a dragon. In and out of her throat he thrusted as her tongue coiled around the rest of his dick and pressured every inch with writhing pulses.
After his first spurt of semen, the orgasm havinge quick and without any announcement as he was now in a permanent high, he pulled out as quickly as possible. He held his dick, jerked it out of habit, even though it didnt aplish any pleasure, as this load sttered all over her hair and face. It dripped from her chin and onto her breasts. Those beautiful orbs of soft, bountiful meat were shiny from sweet and dripping saliva. He pulled Nathalia back on her feet and had hery down on her back on the lounger. Her tits were thest part of her body he had yet to decorate with his load.
He entered her pussy again. A wet noise apanied him prating her still leaking hole followed by the squelching sound of him fucking her overly wet cunt. He grabbed her below the knees and spread her legs in a V-shape.
There were no Skills involved in what followed. There was no trying to bring her to the maximum of her pleasure. It was just pure, beastly rutting. In and out, until he was ready to unload again, fuelled by the oil Nathalia had poured into his fire of lust.
This time he pulled out just as his first jet of white seed flew from the tip of his dick. It had more than enough force behind it to reach all the way to her tits. The second, third and even fourth spurt doing the same. The restnded in long strands across her stomach.
The chest, now tainted and marked as he had wanted, rose and fell in quick, ecstatic breaths. For a moment he was hypnotized by that view. Then he looked further upwards. Nathalias eyes were filled with the sexual desire only this dragon in heat could have. Although Johns goal was met, his Libido was still increased and his cock stood at attention as if he hadnt used it at all yet.
Continue-mhm, Nathalia demanded, aftershocks rocking her body even now that nothing was touching her, surely you arent satisfied with thisughable amount of seed you put into and on me? The challenge was voiced and John, not one to back down from the idea of fucking until he dropped from exhaustion, continued.
He didnt know how many more times he came, or even how long it took him. He didnt know when they had dropped from the lounger. He didnt know or care how his body was able to support this volume of liquid that was shooting into her.
What he knew was that, at the end, they were both in a total mess. The incense filled aroma of the roompeted with the erotic stench of their love-making. Not an inch of Nathalias skin was clean, she was glistening from his cum and sweat, her hair was a soaked mess, her eyes, unfocused, her lips curved into a happy, well-fucked smile, her cunt and asshole, wide open, would have been leaking Johns cum, if she wouldnt have been busy riding him for onest orgasm.
Johns strength had long since faded and Nathalia was riding him for whatever he could still give her. She rolled her hips in a manner that indicated no exhaustion whatsoever. Her stomach was notably bloated, her physique apparently absorbing his seed at a pace just fast enough to prevent the look from exceeding a simrity to early pregnancy. Ast time, John felt his balls tighten, then his dick finally went limp. John didnt care that the floor was slippery from all kinds of sexual juices, he was just happy to continue to lie down.
I admit, Nathalia spoke, getting up as John was still struggling to gain his breath, I will fall asleep masturbating to todays memory for a few weeks.
That was probably the highestpliment he would ever get from anyone.
Chapter 195 – Cleansing
Chapter 195 C Cleansing
Nathalia inspected the frozen Aclysia, only stopping for one moment to wipe some cum from her chin. Waving her hand in front of the guardians eyes, she chuckled. Completely removed from reality, just adorable, she said, but the correct reaction to my presence for someone like you. However, I tire of being ignored by a mere servant and I will not degrade myself to preparing my own bath if someone like you is here.
She grabbed Aclysias chin and kissed her on the lips, although it more strongly resembled the resuscitation effort a lifeguard gave somebody he saved from drowning. Thebination of the fire Nathalia breathed into her, the sudden gesture itself, and the strong taste of her Masters semen on the dragoness lips snapped Aclysia out of heratose state.
What? she asked, after hurriedly pulling her lips back, and looking around. Her eyes went wide. Last time she had seen the room, for her just a second ago, everything had been orderly. Now the candles were burned down, the lounger destroyed, bent into a shape where lying on it was impossible, and toppled over. Floor and walls were covered in w marks and everything reeked of semen and sweat.
Be a good girl and prepare the bath, Nathaliamanded Aclysia and pointed over her shoulder, at the door she had entered from. Evenpletely covered in white gooey cum the dragoness didnt miss any of her natural superiority. You will find the necessary things there. No bubbles.
Where is my Master? Aclysia instead asked and looked around.
Here, John raised a hand from behind the lounger so that Aclysia could see him. Congrattions on being able to move while Nathalia is around, he said in a dry tone. Everyst drop of liquid felt like it had been expunged from his body. Please do what she says before she loses patience and kills us both, thank you
also try finding me some drinkable water, I am literally dying.
Yes, at once, Master, Aclysia hurried,pletely confused but feeling the earnestness in Johns words through their connection. She bowed in front of the pervert dragon before vanishing in the neighbouring room.
Nathalia walked back over to him and stared down. Aside from the scales at her hands and feet, which had regrown sometime during their debauchery, she had remained in her human form. You might be in trouble with your employer for what we did to this room, John tried his hand at a joke.
Unimpressed, Nathalia blew air out of her nose, it was apanied by a bit of fire. What are they going to do, threaten to fire me? she asked and crossed her arms. John shrugged whileying and suppressed pointing out the obvious pun here.
I have a lot of questions, he pivoted.
Nathalia raised an eyebrow, You always seem to. I am not going to answer in this state, however, she gestured at herself. As fun as this was in the heat of the moment, I now feel sticky, and dried sexual fluids are disgusting. You will have to wait until I feel satisfactorily cleansed. Speaking of which, I will see if your servant is worth my while. She has taken in almost as much of my power as you have and I am interested in the results.
What are you going to do? John asked, mildly worried.
Nothing that would harm her, Nathalia waved off and, swinging her hips, changed rooms. He would have followed, but aside from sluggishly moving his arms, he couldnt really do much. The closest thing he had ever felt like this was when he had been hit with a really bad flu. The whole world was a muffled haze.
He just kept his minds eye on Aclysia and hoped that nothing bad would happen. He would probably miss it even then, he was having a hard time keeping the connection stable. Well, might as well check my pop-ups, John thought and went through the catalogue.
That was new. So, he now took less damage from fire attacks. Neat. The Stats were a nice bonus (although after thest few hours? he wasnt sure if he wanted more Libido in his life right now). Overall, it was a nice finisher to Nathalias help, from which he had profited more than enough now. I should probably stop indebting myself to powerful women although, so far, it has been ending pretty well for me, John thought and went on to the next window.
Okay, what the hell. That wasnt just good, that was crazy good. To be honest he had hoped to get this effect sooner orter, he had seen it several times before after all. Sylph got 6 points per level for example, although for her it had calcted it retroactively.
He would have liked being handed 80 points, one for every one of his levels he had, for basically nothing. However, Gaia didnt tick that way. Well, he would have more level-ups in the future, no reason to sweat it. Other examples of this effect in action included Romulus, his goddesses, Nathalia and Thana. Basically, everyone who was or had been a truly OP entity. He was more than happy to be a part of that club.
An exhausted tap and the next window came up.
Oh great, well, better change into that ss then, see what the deal was.
The deal was awful and he wanted nothing to do with it. Better go back to Elementalist quickly. While doing that John noticed that he could have levelled-up Lover Boy again. Apparently, he had cleared all Challenges that had spawned while not even looking at it. Not a real surprise, the things he had done to Nathalias body
He did decide against using that level. He could only spend a total of eight ss levels as of now and he was already at five. He did not want to waste more of that precious space on fun-time bonuses when he was about to fight in a tournament that would decide the fate of Europe.
To the next window.
Well, that sounded ominous. Checking with his inventory he saw the item in the list. However, fearing this to be another Dragonscale situation, he left it where it was for the moment. He would Observe it soon enough, no reason to hurry.
Ah, the reason why he had originally gone here. Well, that ss level would go straight into Elementalist. Time to check on those perks.
Obviously, the first choice was going to be broken. It would also effectively kill all four of the girls he had contracted, and he loved them, therefore, that wasnt an option. That went out without a second thought. Elemental Resistance 1, on the other hand, was the smart choice, giving him some more baseline defences. He really didnt want another elemental right now. Maybe he would pick it up another time in the future, if it popped up again. He raised his hand and clicked the button for the second option.
A bottle of water was jammed into his mouth out of nowhere. John tensed as the cool wetness spilled into his throat. His body really needed that liquid, but the suddenness inbination with his parched throat, not that drinking while lying down was a pleasant thing to start with, caused his body to revolt. The obvious end result was that John coughingly struggled to take control of the situation. He got his hand on the bottle and ripped it from his face in a coughing fit, while also trying his best to drink the whole damn thing.
God dammit, that almost killed me, what the hell?! Johnined to Aclysia, without even looking at her. What were you thinking? he said, knowing he would have to apologize for thatmentter but he was a bit worked up right now. At least that litre of water had removed the dehydration debuff and with it the exhaustion had been pushed down to minor, the level of his hunger.
The growling at his side made John realize that he had just made a terrible mistake. Nathalia, squatting at his side, had cleaned herself from his spunk and now stared at him with burning fury.
I will open your skull, John Newman, she threatened and ced her wed index finger between his eyes. Let us see how much of your superior intellect still matters when your brain is removed and squashed under my scaled heel.
I-I am very sorry, I thought you were Aclysia, John stammered.
You better be, Nathalia gave him ast warning nce with her dragon eyes before blinking and returning them to their hazel colour. The w was pulled back. I dont afford niceness to many people.
On one hand, John could acknowledge that her bringing him water was her definition of nice. On the other, he wasnt sure how much stock he wanted to put in that.
And he chose the wrong perk by ident. Fantastic. In his iling he must have hit the wrong button. Well, he was smarter than to actually point the me at Nathalia, even if it was her fault. Guess my harem grows or it will be a guy No, Id rather have too many girls than be permanently hooked up to a man maybe a pet like Copernicus would be okay? John came to terms with what had just happened rather quickly. No use crying over spilled milk.
I have taken a quick rinsing and your servant is currently changing the water, Nathalia informed him and rose from her kneeling position. John nodded, he wouldnt have wanted to take a bath in a tub that was 50% his cum.
Great, can you help me up? John asked, he was recovering now, but he was still a bit shaky. Nathalia looked at the hand he extended with a raised eyebrow. Come on, I coated your whole body with semen, came inside you until your stomach was bloated, took in your essence and now you dont want to take my hand? John asked. He was pushing it, but by now he was rtively sure that Nathalia wouldnt kill him, only hurt him very badly. In the past months he had gone through some excruciatingly painful experiences, the prospect of some minor punishment didnt faze him anymore.
One is a sign of me epting that your skills as a lover are outstanding, John Newman. This would be a sign of friendship, her mouth formed a thoughtful frown, And if you are deserving of that I am less certain.
I am, John urged. If he wanted to, he could have picked himself up, but he wanted to see how far he could pull her his way. Against his better instincts, he still desired this socially tyrannic woman.
Hesitatingly, Nathalia grabbed his hand and pulled him upwards. When he was halfway standing Nathalia let go and he fell back on his butt. It was a petty, if only minorly painful gesture. One John hadnt expected from the goddess. A little prank like this seemed outside her typical range of punishments.
That is for your arrogance and for calling me an idiot, Nathalia said and now extended her hand towards him, this time she was smirking. He took it without concern and this time he was pulled all the way up, right against her lips. He felt the fire from deep inside her as he was once again hit with her blessing. His body felt stronger immediately, strength in his legs was restored, although he could feel all of his sores and aches, particrly his hunger, with greater intensity as well. Be careful who you try to be more than friends with, John, Nathalia purred into his ear after the kiss broke. My interest in you might just overtake my interest in your potential. Then, I will make it so you will never leave me. Us dragons hoard things we like.
It wasnt an empty threat and yet he had an answer that wanted to break from his lips. How about you join my hoard of girls instead? he suggested.
I see no reason why I should take that offer, I already own you, the dragoness distanced herself from him and took the lead into the neighbouring room. John followed her with a close look at her ass. He may have been limp right now, even refilled balls couldnt get his brain to tell him that he was ready again, but he still knew what was worth marvelling at.
The room with the whirlpool was a basic thing which originally had only that design purpose: to be a room with a whirlpool. The tub in question was big enough for about four people and square in shape. Aside from that the room would have been insignificant.
Nathalia however, had apparently dered this her temporary home. In a corner, barely hidden by a barrier of ripped drapes bolted to the ceiling with obsidian shards, was a sleeping area filled with pillows. Outside of that isted area was a giant fridge plugged into a random socket and a telephone station simply resting on the ground. A trashcanzily stood in between the concentrated mess. I didnt think her to be an orderly person, but neither did I imagine her to just stack everything on top like me when I am on the end of a three day rank-grinding marathon, John thought.
I have taken a liking to your species'' modern luxuries. They are much easier to acquire than the enchanted equivalent, Nathalia, not in the slightest bothered by the chaos, opened the fridge. John took the time to nce over to Aclysia. Whatever Nathalia had done to her couldnt have been that bad, as the Artificial Guardian looked fine, but concentrating deeply, as she checked on the water temperature until she nodded in satisfaction.
Also, unsurprisingly, Aclysia was naked. She smiled at John to signal her well-being, before shooting a bothered nce at the pile of chaos. Her servant soul seemed challenged to clean this mess. Unless Nathalia allowed her to, she was doomed to inaction.
The dragoness grabbed something from the fridge and tossed it at John. He caught it without a problem and looked at the chocte bar now in his hands. Another great thing of this century. I am surprised by the advances you mortals have made in the short time I was asleep, the dragoness stated as she grabbed five more of the chocte bars and kept them all to herself. Especially after you spent the previous millennia rising from filth and then dropping back into it, she added after finishing the first two bars in a matter of seconds. Servant, how are you on the water?
It is all prepared, mistress, Aclysia bowed deeply and respectfully before Nathalia. John blinked in confusion as he chewed on the cold-hardened caramel within the chocte bar. Aclysia bowed deeper before Nathalia than him. In a way he felt wronged, mostly however he understood. Unlike him, Nathalia actually felt that it was her right to be addressed this way, he, on the other hand, simply found it pleasing.
Good, Nathalia was already finished with all of her treats and threw the stic remains into the trash. Strip.
Aclysia tilted her head in confusion, Excuse me, mistress, but I am already naked.
No, you are not, you have taken the shape of a naked body, Nathalia pointed out, show me what you really look like.
Aclysia hesitated and looked to John for guidance. He signalled her to obey and the colouration of her skin changed from pale to pitch ck in several areas. The original figurine had the illusion of lingerie,ing from removed stic tes from the exterior of an android. Now Aclysia reverted to that state, for the most part. She kept her hair as it was, not like the block it started as.
Nathalia didnt notice that subtle change. Now, let us clean up, especially you, John, Nathalia wrinkled her nose, the smell of lovemaking, as exciting as it is in the moments of heat, is an annoying reminder that we stopped fucking. Also, I prefer clean lovers. Johns eyes darted over to the chaos of her living situation. Well, he could say what he wanted about the state of tidiness in the room, but it was clean, so at least she was consistent in that regard.
They got into the whirlpool together. Aclysia activated the bubbling function. John wasnt particrly a fan of it. The stirring waters denied him a clear view of the dragoness naked form beneath the water. However, her tits were still in in view, so he had a nice enough scenery. He felt his dick twitch.
Now, before I answer those questions of yours, Nathalia began and gestured in Aclysias direction. In an act probably nned while he had been going through his windows, Aclysia grabbed a sponge, and started rubbing the areas of Johns body that were not submerged clean with the warm water. Tell me what you have been doing while I was gone. I am interested in how this affair of yours concluded.
Well, once I returned to the barrier, I found I had lost a week, he started. He felt a bit silly, retelling everything while Aclysia kept giving him a sponge bath. Nheless, he went through the whole story, sometimes taking a break to chew on the chocte bar. and now earlier today I confirmed that I would be taking part in the tournament in front of a live audience, he ended his tale, nowrgely clean. Oh, and I got an item called Purgatory right now.
Interesting, Nathaliamented. May I see that Purgatory item? After the weapon you got by taking me up the ass I am wondering what else you will get by interacting with me.
Sure, I am rather curious myself, John said and carefully pulled the item from his inventory.
His worry about it being like the Dragonscale and crashing into the tub was lessened by the dragoness around, she could react and catch it before it did any damage. It turned out to be unfounded anyway. The item that ended in his hand was an armguard of ebon metal. It looked surprisingly in, just two simple tes to protect his arm, a big one at the top, a smaller one at the bottom, connected through dark leather bands.
John put the armguard on with a raised eyebrow to test its im. While he was right handed, he would have had problems closing the leather bands with his left hand, so it went on his off arm. He also didnt want super sharp ws on the hand he used to grab things. The metal was of a naturally pleasant warmth on his skin. He wanted it to activate and, surprisingly, it did just like that.
In a shy disy of fire, the guard doused everything from his elbow downwards in cold mes. A momentter they vanished and left his arm covered with ck obsidian scales, exactly like the ones Nathalia had. Even his hand looked like hers. Well, only in design, his fingers werent nearly as slender and elegant even if they ended in extremely sharp ws. His right hand waspletely normal though.
Wordlessly, Nathalia grabbed his arm and inspected it. I approve of this, was what she had to say, not quite as hard as my own scales, but a satisfactory replica.
You can try it, John dared her with a wide grin, It is Indestructible.
The dragoness raised an eyebrow, and here I thought you a good listener. Her hand around his hand closed with the genuine intention to shatter the exterior. When she didnt immediately seed, the muscles in her arm tensed up. John kept his grin until her fingers broke the scales. Much weaker than the armour, his wrist was crushed and broken like a bundle of twigs under the wheel of a tractor. FUCK! he eximed as he pulled his hand back. The pain wasnt as bad as having his chest ripped open, but he had not been prepared in the slightest, so it was more the shock than the actual pain that made him cry out.
His wrist, pinched together to less than half of its natural width, fixed itself thanks to Gamers Body, but the scales that guarded his arm were shattered for good and crumbled into the whirlpool. Aclysia fished them out before they could cut anyone or get into the drainage and destroy some pipes.
Not quite as indestructible as you make it out to be, Nathalia drilymented. A statement, may I remind you, that you made AFTER I told you that it wasnt as hard as my own scales. Do not test my knowledge on this, mortal, she added.
Furrowing his eyebrows, John checked on the Attribute description.
Ah, the shit kind of indestructible, he groaned, chiding himself for not checking first. Thats what I get for wanting to boast.
The item must still have been incredibly hard, to have taken Nathalia physical effort to crush. Seeing what that kind of force did to his wrist, John decided that it was very good armour. Once he got it fixed up. Craft revealed the rather absurd cost of 20000 Mana, however. Well, here goes fixing it slowly, John thought and dumped his current mana on the item. Then he put it back in his inventory, he would check on the new andplete form of the ne, and the remaining details of Purgatorys attributes, another time.
Now, onest thing before you get to satisfy your curiosity, Nathalia said, Where did you leave Smander?
A good question actually. The ze elemental had been surprisingly quiet for the entirety of the past hours. Well, I still have her contracted. Let me check what she is up to right now, John told the dragoness and turned his attention into his mind.
LET ME GO OUT! he heard Smander cry out.
I am sorry, Smander, but this is for your best, Gnome told her.
Yeah, Sally, we looked in Johns memory, all you will do is make her very angry, like super angry, she probably is still angry. Oh hey, John is listening, HEY JOHN! he could practically hear Sylph waving at the camera, even though he couldnt see her, can you ask the scary dragon if she is still angry? Also, can you ask if she actually has googly eyes?
John, Gnome turned to him, can you ask Nathalia what she ns to do to Smander?
Sure thing? he gave a confused confirmation. Why are you interested in her by the way? John carefully asked, keeping a concentrated face as if he was still searching.
I want to give her a piece of my mind for the work she put me through. Refilling my water storage is an annoying task, Nathalia said and made the unsubtle gesture of cracking her knuckles.
See? I told you! Gnomes voice echoed through his thoughts. You are not going out there until we are 200 metres away from any source of water!
Stop being such a bossy bitch Gnome!
I-Ill do what I have to protect my family, even if you hate me for it!...but please dont hate me for it
She is currently away and preupied, John lied, distancing his thoughts from the continued discussion. Nathalia stood up in the whirlpool and sat back down next to John. She leaned against him, pressing her huge tits against his shoulder. Are you certain you cant get her here? an unscaled hand brushed over his cock as the words gently caressed his left ear. Apparently, he was ready for a new round now, his cock quickly hardening at the touch.
However, he had his Wisdom back, so he gulped down his lust-induced stupidity and answered, Nope, sorry.
A shame, Nathalia climbed over him and straddled her legs over his.
Wouldnt this have been the reward for fulfilling your request? John wondered as Nathalia aligned his cock with her pussy.
No, the reward would have been to give you the lead again, the dragoness said and bit her full lower lip. As if I would waste any erection as satisfying as yours, John, she said after his head pressed into her, against allws ofmon sense, tightly clenching pussy lips.
With a lustful sigh, she descended. John grabbed her ass and his mouth caught one of the nipples in front of his face. In the corner of his eye he saw Aclysia morph back into naked form and masturbate to the sight of her Master being ridden. With her job of cleaning him done, that was a very valid thing to do.
Didnt you have questions for me? Nathalia, slowly bouncing up and down in hisp, asked. The tall woman looked down on him.
Ye-Ah, I guess, John answered, having reluctantly stopped sucking her tit, but is now the best time?
I have given you permission, what is stopping you? Nathalias hips gyrated, her lips curving into a knowing smile. Aclysia let out an envious whimper.
Well John started.
Unable to think while being fucked by the most gorgeous being in the world? Nathalia bent her back and guided his mouth to hers for a short kiss. We both know that I am merely toying with you right now, mortal, get those questions over with so that we can continue where we left off earlier.
No more drugs, please, John pleaded, he wasnt sure if his nerves would survive another experience of that intensity.
Dont disappoint and we wont have to resort to such tactics, Nathalia promised him. It was the best deal he was going to get, so he moved on.
Why are you here, in Cologne, and why in this spa?
For you, of course, Nathalia answered and moaned while she impaled herself on his full length in a swift descent. For a moment she concentrated on fucking him, giving him a moment to satisfy a question she wouldnt answer herself.
Well, neither do I, Gaia, and I gave her enough dick for a lifetime, so that wont make her love me, John thought and felt something twinge inside him. Wait, why does that make me sad? OH GOD, now I am starting to fall for her? Help! I am falling in love with a dragon!
And this spa is an outpost of the Illuminati, so this is where I could hide the easiest. At least he was now properly distracted.
Wait, so you are a part of the Illuminati? he asked.
No, Horn is.
Horn?
The Horned Rat, he doesnt have a real name, so we alle up with our own.
How about Richard? John suggested, You know, because he is a dick.
Nathalia produced a throatyugh and John smirked at the small sess. He is indeed an irritating fellow at times. Anyhow, I am staying here because he told me to. If it is about hiding from Romulus, I leave the nning to him. She clenched her teeth for a moment and then let out a drawn out moan, stopping as a minor orgasm rocked her body.
John waited for her to start moving again for his next question. What did you do to Pompeii?
I buried it under enoughva to eradicate the city, Nathalia spelled out.
He nodded, that was the answer he had expected, before he condemned her for it he had to know more, however. Why?
Nathalia stopped moving and looked him in the eye. It is a rather long tale she began andid down the events of that day, and what led to it. How Romulus wanted to kill Gaia, how the Babylonians had tried the same, and failed, how she had lost her horn and with it arge portion of her power, how she hade to know everyone involved. At the end John didnt know whose idea to support, but he was certain that Romulus gamble should not have threatened so many people.
You did the right thing, John spoke of his conviction.
Nathalia paused for one meaningful second, then snorted, Like I care about your morals, I wanted to save my own skin.
You could have run if that was the case, John argued.
The risk of running would have been as great as the risk I took. With fighting I at least had my fate in my own hands, Nathalia reprimanded him. He was about to add more when Nathalia put a finger on his lips. Dont try to paint me as a benevolent being, John Newman, she growled. I am a goddess of destruction, I eradicate whatever I wish, just because I can. If Gaia ever vanishes, dont think that I will stop at your helpless cities. You mortals either entertain me or you die. She pulled back her finger.
I think you are way more than you give yourself credit for, John immediately said and silenced her iing warnings with a fervent kiss. Arent you the goddess of volcanoes? he asked. The greatest, most fertile ground is the one that was burned before. Dont characterize yourself as only a negative force when there are benign parts of you. You are a force of nature, not some Saturday morning cartoon viin.
The growl now leaving her throat had nothing feminine to it, reminding him more of vibrations before an earthquake. The water turned so hot that John was afraid it would start boiling at any moment as Nathalias eyes turned amber and her horns grew from her skull, pushing out as molten rock before hardening into their segmented form. The inferno inside her raged at an unknown heat, threatening to turn John, especially the parts of him still inside her, into a piece of coal.
So, you choose to die? she spat out, her eyes burning into his. Yet, he didnt flinch, instead his hands found their ways upwards and framed her face.
I choose to tell you that you are beautiful in more than the one way you seem to be convinced of. He shrugged, he wasnt without fear, but his wish to be honest with her was stronger. If I am wrong, prove it, kill me and prove to yourself and the world that you are just a two-dimensional monster.
Nathalias lips pulled back and revealed her sharp, carnivorous teeth, perfect to rip flesh from bone. Her maw opened. Aclysia fell forwards in a panic, closing her hands around the goddess throat, in an attempt to stop her somehow, but Nathalias teeth came closer to Johns face as if the guardian wasnt even there. John could count them, each and every single one sharp enough to be used as a scalpel during an operation. Their whiteness reflected in his eyes and they snapped shut.
He flinched only slightly, an unnecessary gesture, the bite would have missed him either way. The inferno continued and John could see it brimming in her golden eyes, felt it on the palms of his hands, resting on her cheeks. She tried to find something in his eyes, some reason to doubt his words, anything that gave her an excuse not to kill him aside from proving him right. She only found honesty.
You are lucky you are endearing, Nathalia finally rumbled, defeated, and pushed Aclysia off her like she was a fly that hadnded on her arm. The guardian was just relieved that they would live to see another day, even if she took an unpleasant fall to the floor for it.
John, in an ecstatically good mood, smirked, and said, You keep telling yourself that, and kissed her again. The heat vanished, but her horns stayed, as did her eyes remain in their godly gold.
Now her blood was ignited, however, and she took the frustration of having lost this contest out on riding him with reckless abandon. Continu-ah-e yourrr questions, John, she moaned. Concentrating was kind of hard, but he would have to manage if he wanted answers today.
What did you do these past 3 months? he wanted to know, pushing his words out one by one.
Mhm-missed me? Nathalia countered the question with one of her own. In earnest: I caught up with the world and what was happening in this age. I also needed to repay some favourssss, she hissed thest syble; John had taken to sucking on her nipples again.
For a moment he forgot all about asking questions and thrusted into Nathalia instead. Her wild ride had brought him close to orgasm and only a few more impaling movements,bined with Nathalias pussy wringing around him, as the dragoness came herself, brought him over the edge. The load he shot into her was pitifulpared to what he had produced earlier, but still more than the average man could hope to produce even when backed up.
Consequently, Nathalia kept him inside of her, even as his dick became half-limp inside her. She knew that he would recover if she only waited for a bit. Onest question: Can you ask Richard to decode his prophecy for me? John requested.
Nathalia shook her head, I do not involve myself in his schemes if I have the choice. I do not have the patience to keep up with gods of knowledge. Besides, if he wanted you to know anything, he would have given it to me before I came here.
John sighed, I guess, he admitted. Well, thats all I wanted to know. What now?
Now, Nathalia slowly rotated her hips as she felt Johns vigor growing again, you will use that young and able cock of yours to justify the rewards I want to give you in the future. She looked to the side where Aclysia had taken to masturbating again. You can have that servant of yours help you. I warn you, if she tries to choke me one more time I dont guarantee that she will have a neck herself afterwards."
Deal, John agreed, as if there had ever been a choice.
Chapter 196 – Next in Rome.
Chapter 196 C Next in Rome.
By the time they were done they had wrecked the second room. Not nearly as badly as the first one, there were no further drugs involved after all, but the w marks were still all over the ce. They had changed from the whirlpool (which was, together with the fridge, one of the two objects that had survived the debauchery unscathed), to the bed of pillows, now a mass of spilled cotton stuffing, and basically just fucked everywhere.
The reason they had to stop was that Nathalia ran out of food. As long as they had something to eat, Nathalia had been able to bridge the pauses between John hardening up again with eating and Aclysia. It had also served John, who had to battle the resurging debuffs. This was a new kind of heavy duty fucking he was going through.
This is it then, Nathalia stated and mmed the refrigerator so hard it toppled over backwards and reduced the whirlpool to the sole survivor of this sex session. I have no more food, I am quitting this job.
John raised his eyebrows in wonder, That seems like a rather drastic conclusion to make.
I have not been exactly subtle when I got here and now that I have fucked you again, I have no more reason to stay, Nathalia dived into the key mess that had been her pillows and brought some clothes up. I had a craving for oiled up male bodies, I doubt I will get better than your form after your newest improvement. Her draconic features vanished as she put on these clothes. So, I will leave before I get into trouble with the authorities of the empire.
Afraid? he asked.
A scornful nce told him only that she did not appreciate thement, not that he was wrong. It is just not worth the trouble, she stated.
John got his clothes in order as well, simply pulling them from his inventory into the correct slots. Following the mood, Aclysia formed her winter get-up.
Nathalia waited for them by the door. She wore a crimson red coat, open at the front to reveal a ck sweater that stretched over her tits, and ck jeans with brown shoes. A displeased grimace settled on her attractive features. Clothes are vile things.
John had to agree that clothes that aimed to hide her curves rather thanplimenting them looked alien on the dragoness. Not bad, by any description, just unfitting. Like painting a tank with peace symbols. As artistic as the art may be, in the end there was a dissonance there.
They walked through the messed-up massage room. The stench of cum and sweat was as strong as before, not helped by the rooms temperature. That it didnt waft over into the neighbouring room had been nothing short of a miracle. Dont you have to clean this up? John asked.
Who is going to make me? Nathalia challenged him, kicking the remains of the lounger. Loudly, it mmed against the wall, breaking even further.
John ignored the ufortable feeling radiating from Aclysia at the sight of that unwarranted destruction. Point taken, he said instead. He still hadnt worked out the proper bnce between pushing her and staying on her good side. Itll get easier as the power imbnce shrinks, he reckoned.
They left the Illusion Barrier and walked to the front desk. Unsurprisingly, the shift of the initial girl had ended. Now there was some guy sitting there and he greeted Nathalia with a wide smile. Hi, how are y-
I quit, I found a more satisfactory partner, Nathalia threw a key into his direction. The man looked shocked.
John ced his keys on the table. Thanks for the stay, he said, trying to only sound respectful. He failed. He could hear a bit of boasting sneak into his tone. It didnt feel good. Most of all because there was an undeniable implication here that he needed to have cleared up. He waited until they were outside. So you had sex with the guy? John asked and tried to make the question sound as nonchnt as possible.
With him and like ten others who ended up in my room. Nathalias answer was in and careless.
An answer John had expected, even if he did not like to hear it. And you were in that room for?
3 or 4 days, it honestly blends together, Nathalia opened the door and they stepped into the pitch ck of the winter night.
John was distracted from the unpleasant conversation by his phone. He had pulled it out of his inventory to check the time. It was 10 PM. Ive spent almost 10 hours literally fucking around, he realized, while scanning through his notifications. He had seven missed calls. Six of them, exactly 1 hour apart, were from Lydia, thest one, merely ten minutes ago, from Rave. The exnation he would give them would be the straightforward truth. To justify that it was entirely valid may be more difficult.
Just another unpleasant conversation to have after this one.
So, you like me, right? John carefully asked.
Nathalias brown colouration hid it rather well, but John imagined that he saw her blush a little at the sudden question. I would say that I am rather interested in you indeed.
And yet you sleep around like that? John was not sure if he was being a hypocrite or not when he asked that. He hadnt fully worked out yet what the morals of polygyny were, as opposed to having a polycule. He only knew that he very much liked being one man amongst many women and wanted to keep them to himself. Nathalia was included in that.
John, unless you dedicate your life to it, you have no chance of satisfying me on your own, Nathalia spelled out her opinion on the matter. The idea that I would quit other men for you just because I have taken a She made arge, uncertain gesture. Apparently she wasntpletely aware of the feelings he knew she had for him yet. well-founded interest in you, is preposterous. I remember you yourself being involved with a pink-haired annoyance.
Her name is Jane and she happens to be my girlfriend. This, he gestured between them, even including Aclysia, is all with her agreement.
Im not your girlfriend, Nathalia stated inly. I im you for the nights I fancy for my entertainment. Theres nothing else to this.
John fell silent, because he did not know what to say. The urge to have her be his was still there, but she did not reciprocate. Before he could work out the next step of having her see things his way, she asked a question.
How much control does your girlfriend have, John?
Well, if she doesnt like a girl in my harem, she can tell me not to fuck her anymore, John answered, he had an inkling that this would lead to trouble.
Complete, I understand Nathalia was lost in thought for a moment. It doesnt matter. As said, Im not one of your harem.
John wished to change that or to tell her that the technicality wouldnt actually let her get away with it. However, no words managed toe together as a proper sentence in his head. What could he say to her that would make her break with 10,000 years of sleeping around for him? Was it even wise to ask her? Was this more than a passing infatuation for someone exceptionally hot?
He didnt know. He was frustrated with himself and her. His best choice here, he reckoned, was to walk away and deal with this another day.
Well, anyhow, Ill have to go home now. John extended his hand. Nathalia looked at it like it was the sole of his shoe after he had stepped in a dog turd. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a passionate kiss. The frustration he felt was swept up into a confusing storm of skipped heartbeats and pleasure. The enticing smell of incense and firewood filled his nose.
Suddenly, she broke the kiss and softly pushed him away. Now run before I make the decision to abduct you right now, John, Nathalia warned him.
Heughed, but then he saw the serious look in her eyes, a mixture of greed, lust, jealousy and love. She wasnt kidding, if he didnt get away right now, it was unlikely he would ever see his girlfriend again. It was also his chance to make her his all the way. Different loves tugged at him. In the end one was more powerful than the other. Okay, nice to see you, hope we get together again soon, he spouted some hasty phrases before literally running away.
Next in Rome, the dragoness shouted after him.
That was almost enough to have him stop and turn around to look at Nathalia in confused shock. If she had been banished by Romulus by crossing him on the day of Pompeii, jumping right into the centre of his power seemed plenty stupid.
Next in Rome, John repeated quietly to himself. As if Nathalia would be stopped because an idea was stupid. He gleefully smiled like an idiot and only then realized that his left hand clutched two new obsidian shards. Must have handed them to me during the kiss, he thought and pulled out his smartphone.
Then he called Rave back. Finally, back alive? his girlfriend chirped at the other end. Nothing about her tone indicated that she was mad or even annoyed.
Johns smile broadened a little wider. This woman is just too good for me, he thought. With a skip in his step, he set out to return to the house. You will not believe the day I had, he began his recounting.
YOU WHAT?! Rave shouted. Apparently there was a limit to how much of his shenanigans she would put up with.
John was back in the mansion and had repeated in detail what he had only quickly exined over the phone. Her shout wasnt in reaction to meeting Nathalia, the fucking, or that it had taken him ten hours to get back. It was a reaction to the words: I think I am starting to love her.
Do ya just throw outyafeelingslikechristmas-cards? she slurred in an even worse way than usual.
John couldnt help but feel fascinated by the fact that he, after months of their bantering rtionship, managed to get his girlfriend seriously mad over something that was actually his doing. Well, no, John said, I mean, technically I have known Nathalia for months now.
Technically ya have known Lydia for months, yet ya do not love her, Ravemented.
Well, given time John carefully suggested. He wasnt even trying to hide it. Whether it was just because he was a man, because he was a man who had been starved for female attention for 18 years of being a nerd, or because he was him C he just found it easy to have feelings for every attractive woman who gave him the time of day. He knew he had some semnce of reason in his head. He hadnt felt this way about Victoria. He hadnt felt this way about Nathalia either, before she had shown herself to be more than just a hungry slut.
Not that Rave looked like she wanted to hear about the logic behind his attachments.
Besides, we fell for each other after just a week, John reminded her.
Rave jumped from the couch, this discussion was happening in the living room of all ces, and started walking up and down in front of him. Great, so what we have is a thing you could have with any girl or what? she asked, taking the worst possible interpretation of what he said.
No, what I have with you is just awesome through and through. Words failed him. He scratched the back of his head and sighed. I love you, Jane. I absolutely love you. I cant imagine being without you in my life anymore. I just feel like I can also swoon over and love others.
Rave stopped in her pacing, her angry expression softened a tiny bit. I can easily ept swooning, but love and that arrogant dragon of all people Ya know what, as per our agreement you cant sleep with Nathalia anymore.
For a moment, Johns jaw locked up. He could feel the entire strength of the muscles press against his upper teeth. The pressure enveloped his brain, while his heart elerated. A variety of emotions poured together into an angry cocktail. Raves challenging re did not make it better. He was about to say something, anything, when fate intervened.
You can actually do that? a hard voice asked. The fighting lovers looked at the neer. I came to see what themotion was about, Lydia, holding a pot, said, and also to get more tea. Mostly to get more tea, now that Aclysia is back. She ced the pot on the table, I am however most intrigued by what you just said, mind informing me about the context and validity of that agreement?
The fact that John gets to sleep with other girls means that we had toe to terms with a few things, Rave answered in a rush, Like that he has to tell me who he sleeps with, that I get to tell him he has to stop seeing certain girls and that we go back to just us whenever I want.
Lydia nodded repeatedly, but her eyes spelled out a certain worry. In the pause, Johns Wisdom reasserted himself and he thanked whatever power had sent the princess over. Managing to remain cool-headed, he nodded. That is indeed our agreement.
Well, legally speaking, Rave is in the right then, Lydia stated.
Sure, but John had a hard time arguing the case, so he dropped it and tried another angle. Do you seriously think that I could stop Nathalia if I wanted to?
No, but theres difference between consensual sex and rape, ya moron, Rave shot him down.
There is also a massive difference between my love for you and my love for her, John exined again. Stopping me from sleeping with her wont change that.
Oh great, Rave threw her arms into the air, what else am I supposed to do then?
You could stop being such a scaredy-cat, I love Aclysia almost as much as I love you and yet I never felt the urge to leave you for her, John half-shouted.
The room was filled with silence. Aclysia? Almost as much as me? Rave blinked rapidly and tilted her head. Her confusion reflected on John.
How could you not know that I cared for her so much? the Gamer asked. I told you everything she did for me when we trained to save you. I love her. I love every one of my familiars. They kept me standing and helped me to walk when I was ready to ruin myself.
Just opening her mouth, Rave created a number of sounds that grew increasingly frustrated. Her mouth snapped shut with an audible ck. Listen here, she finally managed to press out, her face starting to grow red.
Again, Lydia intervened, this time by clearing her throat. I believe you could use a mediator, she suggested.
With authority in every step, she got between the two of them and sat down to Johns right. She gestured to Rave to take up the empty ce to her own right, so that Lydia sat in the middle. With crossed arms, Rave fell onto the couch.
Now, Lydia said slowly, I think the underlying problem here is not the actual physical contact but the fact that you dislike the girl he fell for this time. Do I understand this correctly?
No, it''s just that he actually FELL for another girl, Rave stated, and now wants to act on that while still maintaining his rtionship with me.
Jane, that already happened, John reiterated calmly. I went on a date with Aclysia yesterday. I was alone with her for three weeks, yet, when I got you out, I didnt want to break up with you. What I feel for her is the closest to what I feel for you, but it''s still not the same. Youre my first love, my He would have said more but Lydia gestured him to shut up.
Rave became very silent. Fine, she admitted, I dont like Nathalia, so thats why, ya happy?
No, I am happy if you pull back that ridiculous taboo.
So ya wont obey it?
I will! John almost shouted. By God, I will, but every time I will think I could if only it werent for my girlfriend, what do you think will do more damage to our rtionship, sex with a girl you dont like or a constant grudge?
Ya should be thankful that ya get more than me at all.
Like you dont love it, he snapped back immediately. Can we stop acting like Im the only beneficiary from this harem agreement? You yourself said that you wanted to have fun with pretty girls when we made it and you get to do that plenty. You love this.
Lydia raised both hands before more could be said. You both have plenty of reasons to be justified, she tried to calm the situation by using an unusually soft tone. Yet, I think the reasons you put forward are just pulling away at the underlying issue. Rave, do you trust that John will stay with you even if he loves others?
I do, the answer came unexpectedly quick, but..., the word stuck out like a sore thumb, only to be followed by seconds of silence. urgh, fuck it, I need this in visual, Raveined.
Need what in visual? Lydia probed.
Like, just where he sees Nathalia in rtion to everyone else fuck it just tell me where you see everyone in rtion to each other, if I cant have monopoly on your dick or your feelings I at least want to see what ya think about everyone.
A reasonable thought, Lydia agreed with an almost mechanical nod. An approving smile was on her lips, as she swiftly fetched some paper and a pen. A list should suffice, correct?
John stared at the empty piece of paper. Something at the back of his mind told him this was a bad idea. Under the expectant eyes of his unsure girlfriend and the order-loving princess, he did not feel like he had much of a choice though. He grabbed the pen and started writing out the list.
While he was doing that, the whole of the couch filled up. Aclysia hastened over, the elementals spawned, all at the same time. Only Momo, who had been reading a book in her usual ce even before the fight started, didnt move an inch.
What are ya doing here? Rave asked the elementals. You are part of his thoughts, ya should know this already!
Johns thoughts arent as easy as you may think, Gnome answered and jumped from one foot to the other in anticipation, we can only get a rough idea, no precise statements. Unless he specifically thinks about a thing.
Yeah, yeah, Sylph nodded and flew over Johns head, trying to get an early peak. HAH, you arest Sally!
No I am not, fuck off! Smander angrily pulled her sister back to get a peek. A little sigh of relief left her when she saw the actual paper.
John mmed the note on the table. THERE, he shouted and crossed his arms. This day had taken a turn for the worse and now he was annoyed enough to just not care anymore. The girls bowed over the list.
In the first ce was Rave, his girlfriend looked at the prophesied result with remaining conflict. Number two was Aclysia, who radiated pure happiness about being where she was. Then there was a decorative gap between the two of them and the rest of the list.
Right beneath that gap was Gnome. M-m-me? she stammered and raised her hands to her blushing face, holding her cheeks as her mouth stood slightly open and she squeaked in unsure happiness.
Up next was the reason for this whole fight, Nathalia.
Fine, you can continue sleeping with her, Rave told him when she saw that, sorry that I reacted this way
No, I understand, I honestly, youre right that youre giving me a lot here. I dont know how to put it I just dont know if there is a turning back at this point.
Ya mean we crossed the Rubicon of rtionships and now it''s either we manage to make this work or we dont work? Rave suggested.
I dont know, John answered and rubbed his face. Then, they sighed in unison. They just left the talk there. It wasnt the end of it, but they were both too tired to keep it up tonight. They just knew that they didnt want whatever this was to end. At least, John read that in her beautiful blue eyes.
The rest of the gathered girls kept reading the list.
Under Gnome, Sylph and Smander were right next to each other. We fucking SHARE a row but you know what, number 5 is nice, I can work with that, the fire spirit said and presented her fist to Sylph.
I mean, it could be better, but albeit I am not his #1 Lover I am surely his numero uno Courtesan. So this works, I think? Yeah it works. But I kinda want to be higher. Ah, well, I will do it somehow! Sylph flew back and forth bbering, beforepleting the fist-bump.
The three on the bottom of the list started with Undine, who felt nothing at being thest of the elementals. Whether she was annoyed, angry, or okay with it, John couldnt know and he didnt wish to probe too deeply. Second tost was Lydia, whose face was her usual iron mask. Last was Momo, who didnt care whatsoever and instead turned another page.
John picked up the note and immediately tore it apart. He didnt wish it to exist, didnt like the way it forced his mind to try and put something as vague as love and care into a numerical value. Ironic, certainly, considering he could literally see Rtionship Points.
I dont think that list will be urate two weeks from now, he stated, while throwing the scraps into the trash. I dont even think it will be urate tomorrow. I only am certain of three things: I love Jane the most, I love Aclysia the second most, and I love all of you enough to risk my life for you. He stared at each of them with a look between grim determination and pleading. I love you. I dont want to be without any of you. Please, dont be jealous about this. I want all of you to be happy. Okay?
Okay everyone said with varying faces and levels of enthusiasm. Only Undine stayed silent, but that was just like her.
Chapter 197 – Tell me
Chapter 197 C Tell me
I wanna knoooow! Raveined while John was kneeling down inside an Illusion Barrier made on the houses backwn.
It would have been really nice there in the summer. Stone bs covered the veranda floor, an oversized grill stood a few metres away from a big table. All of that was severely less attractive when made slippery by the nightly frost.
It was the morning of Wednesday, around 7 AM. The household had recovered from the conversation they had yesterday. It hadnt passed without a trace. A few times, John caught Rave in thought and she had confessed that she was still working out how she felt about everything. Aclysia seemed to be in higher spirits than ever, while everyone else was just moving about as always. Nothing had been off during breakfast. John was keeping an eye on things, but he was hopeful.
In the spirit of keeping things moving, he had elected to go ahead and summon the new elemental he had identally gotten the option to acquire. They still had quite some time before they needed to relocate to Rome and there was no need to remain still in the meantime. New power could always be acquired.
The Ritual of Shadows was different from his previous contracts in that it allowed him to reach out to higher tiers of elementals immediately. For the reason it was capped at Tier 3, John could easily pinpoint to the fact that Sylph, the highest member of his current quartet, was at that power-level.
Nothing of this was what Rave wasining about though. Tell me what that new armguard does! she whined and pointed at his left arm. The new piece of equipment was strapped over the sleeve of his suit. He had chosen to wear it because it was, for reasons of Abyssal money investments, the sturdiest thing he owned. That and he looked pretty good in it. Making a good first impression on his new elemental felt key and so he had put on his entire battle regalia.
I told you what the ne does, John responded, grinning.
In a way it was fortunate that Nathalia had prevented him from taking Elemental Resistance 1. It would have been quite the dead acquisition, considering a better version was on the ne. Wisdom of the Inferno cranked his sensitivity to fire up to 11. He felt when someone two houses over ignited a match. Any closer and he could almost hear the fire speak to him.
Can I keep one surprise, please? John asked his girlfriend, who had furrowed her eyebrows in a certain way. She would keep asking until she was appeased or distracted and he would not be able to distract her in this cold.
The ne had a lot of awesome passive stuff, but the glove had two attributes that he would tell nobody about, unless absolutely necessary, just because he wanted to reveal the awesomeness in a fitting way. He had tested everything out during a quick dungeon run yesterday evening. He also had spent the 4 remaining Stat Points, which he had remaining from yesterdays encounter with his favourite force of nature, on Charisma. With all the new modifiers his Stats inched ever closer towards really impressive.
Fine so, a shadow elemental, right? Rave gave in.
Thats what the Skill says, John hummed and added some malicious looking runes to the basic summoning circle.
Lydia had said that shadow magic wasnt inherently evil, but it sure did its best to convince him otherwise by the sheer amount of edge the drawing radiated once he was done with it.
Not sure how I feel about ya summoning a hot girl thats my pr opposite type wise, Rave said, Also, that circle could only look more satanic if ya drew it in blood.
John nodded in agreement to that statement. Well, I am only doing what the Skill tells me to, he exined.
Can you hurry the fuck up doing that? Smander cursed. The fire spirit was out there with them because Rave, as per usual, could not stand the cold for more than a nanosecond. I was in the middle of a Mario Kart tournament.
The fact that you have inte
ele!
ele ess in my head is highly disturbing, Johnmented. How does that even work?
Something about the collective shared consciousness of all elementals that are still connected to our home nes, represented in a modern way because we dont live in the stone age anymore. I dont fucking know the details, I just know that it gets faster the better you get at elemental magic. Now summon that new sister for our cock-loving sorority so I can get back to kicking Gnomes slowpoke ass! Smander gave him a quick tutorial.
Yes, yes, John agreed and put the chalk down before putting his hand on the edge of the circle. The goal was summoning a Tier 3 elemental. The circle reacted to the intent and sapped the required life and magic from him in a heartbeat.
Well, look at that, now its actually glowing red, Raves snarky remark was thest thing he heard before something alien invaded his thoughts. All light vanished and now he was in a vast space of pitch ck silence. Visually, it looked simr to the nothingness he had known from the empty barriers Magoi had created for him.
Mentally, however, this was different. The darkness of an unfilled Illusion Barrier was clean, almost sterile. It was waiting to be reced, representing a potential for something different to take its ce.
This darkness was full. It was what it was. It was sharp, ck, and unapologetically embraced him with its lightless expanse. Elemental powers roiled either openly or under a veil that John could not perceive. There was something just beyond the reach of his arm, if only he could try to grab it.
John couldnt move most of his body, the thing in his thoughts blocking every signal that didnt go to his eyes or mouth. Looking anywhere was useless, everything was the same absolute ck. Speaking at least pushed away the silence.
Hello? he asked. This wasnt like the other summonings, usually the Mother of that element would speak to him and then he would be shown some vision. Even Smander had followed that pattern. Now he was just alone, save for that presence in his head. That soon changed, however.
The darkness in front of him slowly crept back to reveal the shape of a woman. Her slender arms were bound in shadowy chains above her head. Her feet, the shape of high heels whose stilettos were exceptionally sharp, dangling just above the ground were simrly restrained. Both were covered in sometex-like, almost ck, deep-purpleyer. Towards her hands it became slightly lighter in colour, covering her hands and feet, the final segments of her fingers were long ws, sharper than ss shards.
Despite her obvious imprisonment, her greyish pink hair was silky and fell over her full chest, softly curling towards the tips, where more of thattex-like exterior hugged her tits and stomach in the shape of a leotard. Nothing of her hourss build was hidden. If anything, it was all entuated by the swirling patterns. The soft rise and fall of her abdominal muscles was as clear as if painted on. The only purpose of thetex-likeyer seemed to be to shield her light blue skin from greedy eyes. With gleaming yellow eyes, the irises the shape of a snake, she looked at John. Purple lips curved into a smile.
Anothermb for the ughter? How nice of Mother. Every word that left her mouth was sensually drawled. It was the kind of tone that those who spoke artificially seductively wished to copy. Come now, little man, I ampletely at your mercy. Do with me whatever C your heart C may C desire. Every stretched-out word drew out a bit more of Johns primal instincts as control of his body rushed back into his limbs. He got to his feet and stumbled one step forwards.
Her ample chest rose and fell with a steady want, apanied by the lustful sighing of her every breath. It made the Gamers pants tight. All John would have needed to do was extend his hand and he could have dug his fingers into these sizable mounds of flesh.
Yeah, no, he said and crossed his arms instead, the presence in his mind finally gone. This bait is too obvious.
The shadow elemental shifted in her chains, rubbing her legs together in a desperate gesture, Please, oh mighty neer, I have been aching for somebody like you.
Not falling for it, John told her.
Tsk, the elemental averted her eyes for a moment, clicking her tongue, then looked back at him with pure innocence, Mister, all I need is your cock.
You are not a particrly good actress, Johnmented, Pro-tip: Dont start with anothermb for the ughter and dont Tsk in the middle of the dialogue,pletely breaks the immersion. If this was a cutscene, they would fire the writer.
He looked more closely at the chains, The shadow-forged links ended somewhere beyond the reach of darkness his eyes could pierce. Usually, the visitors start drooling and just ignore all I say, the elemental admitted and shrugged, the chains rattling in response.
Ah, being honest now? John asked.
Mother evidently didnt send you over as entertainment, or you would have been dumb enough to fall for that, the elemental looked at John, who was walking around her body. I only had the pleasure of quick entertainment for the longest time. I keep getting the scum of Earth presented to me. The weak, unsatisfying kind. She tilted her head to follow him as he walked. You might be worth wing apart?
I had a way stronger being suggest that to me yesterday. I am not exactly intimidated by you. He was now behind her.
Turning her neck to a degree every human would have described as highly ufortable, but still within the realms of possibility, she asked, What are you doing?
Checking out your ass, he bluntly stated, and I have to say: Nice. Looks firm but would probably jiggle when pped.
Why dont you try it out? she asked and wiggled enticingly. Not once did her alluring tone drop or skip a beat. It sounded like that was genuinely her voice.
Mhm, so you get out of these chains if Iy a hand on you, would be my guess. The elemental furrowed her eyebrows, that was all John needed to know. Bullseye, you are a really bad actress or you are distracting me from something else. He walked back to her front and stopped just close enough that he could reach out and touch her whenever he wanted. If you want to keep a secret you say something unrted, you dont imply the exact opposite, he gave her another tip.
I wonder if your brain would still produce such smart words if I scattered it over the floor? The words were calm. A curious thought, spoken out loud, rather than a threat.
John had no answer to that, he instead used Observe. Which was denied. That wasnt to say that it didnt work, it did, but the silent Mother of Shadows blocked the results from his vision, leaving him with only a pitch-ck rectangle in a light blue frame. Well, I cant learn her name through Observe. That would betray the usual motions.
If Mother didnt send you to entertain me, what are you here for? the elemental wondered.
I wanted to make a contract with an elemental, the Mother of Shadows sent me here following the ritual, so it seems thats what I am here for. He scratched the back of his head.
The elemental giggled. Are you serious? she asked not him but the vast darkness around them. John did not notice anything, but the elementals giggle grew a little louder, as if listening to some kind of joke. Her voice continued to drip with eroticism, mixed with hope and genuine interest. Do you know how long I have been here?
Obviously not, I just got here, John remarked.
Neither do I, she said, ignoring his implied question. I know why I got here, however. Possessing the dreams of mundanes is skirting the lines of the divide Gaia put up. Making a sad prostitute murder her pimp was apparently a bit much. She sighed and stretched. Ah, that moment when those who think they have everything have it all taken away C how I miss it. Thest part was spoken with sharp, tantalizing intent. Enough to send a chill down Johns spine. How much do you have? she asked.
This girl is cray-cray. John decided to look for another elemental who was less homicidal. He was a pervert, yes, and she was hot as fuck, yes, but without assurance he wouldnt stick his dick into that, or allow her to pull some other stunts like that when he would have to take the responsibility in front of Gaia.
I can give you assurance, a toneless voice said in his head. It was like somebody was scratching words into the inside of his forehead. If you take her with you, she will have to obey five rules you can set-up however you want and you can change them however you want.
Seriously? John thought, What If I make one of the rules: Kill yourself at 11 PM.
She will have to obey whatever rules you set, The scratching repeated. If you do something as foolish as that, know that you will not find any shadow elemental that is not your enemy. I wish to make it your charge to show my wayward daughter a way to live in the world again. Do this for me.
John rubbed his forehead with both hands to get that disgusting feeling away. Mother doesnt seem to like you enough to use her pleasant voice, the elementals tone was vibrating with amusement.
Raising an eyebrow, he said, You are an awful actress, but pretty good at picking up small things. With a shrug, the elemental took both the insult and thepliment.
And, what did Mother whisper to you? That I will be difficult to handle? the elemental licked her lips in a gesture that was both seductive and bloodthirsty. The chains pulled taut. Because I can imagine very few things more fulfilling than seeing you bleed out. People like you deserve the reminder.
People like me? John asked, out of sheer curiosity.
People who have everything they wish and get everything they want, people whose life just seems to reward them for existing, her wide grin showed sharp, white teeth, her yellow eyes glowed brighter and her hair rose until it stood upwards, swaying like the me of a candle. The happiest people, the ones who are shatteredpletely when their boundless sess suddenly ends.
I am pretty blessed, John admitted, the ability I have is supremely strong, I have the best girlfriend in the world, a harem and enough money to buy just about anything I could ever want. He looked into her eyes, But to say I get everything for free is unfair. The desire to gouge out his throat and do things to his corpse that even a butcher wouldnt be able to keep his stomach in check for was spelled out so clearly in there that John had to smirk. Well, even if I tell you my life isnt without hardship you are going to stay convinced to kill me, arent you?
Whatever hardships you face are probablyughable. Youre a Latebloomer. I can sense the power of your soul radiate in this ne, the elemental responded, struggling with renewed vigour against her chains. Ive seen many like you. You think you do good and cut down too many in your path. Someone ought to w you back down to reality.
Tendrils of shadow extended from her back, each of them ending in a long de. Their size varied, but each was sharp and ready to skewer him. They stretched towards John, but failed to quite reach him. The same magic that kept her chained also made this act of aggression mere show.
John wasnt certain of that in the first few moments, and had taken arge step back. You know, just yesterday, I showed another woman who the world thought to be nothing but a monster that she was beautiful. I think your Mother wants me to do the same for you. Im inclined to try, John offered.
My desire is to ruin you, the elemental didnt raise her voice. Even now, it was the same, purely sexual tone. Why would I agree to a contract with you? The question was bait, she wanted to get out of here and they both knew it. There was something else that she wanted, however.
How about a bet? John said and carefully stepped closer again. The ded tentacles were forced away, unable to ovee an invisible barrier around John. His hand hovered up from her legs to her chest and finally her face. Careful to never touch her, he continued, I unshackle you and you get one shot at killing me. If you win, congrattions, you hurt me a lot, even if you cant kill me here. If you fail, you tell me your name and we make a contract. I should add that your Mother told me she will give me the power to enforce 5 rules you will have to obey once we are outside though.
Her eyes became darker, quite literally; where normal eyes were white, hers were grey and now they became pitch ck, only intensifying the yellow of her iris by contrast, Why would you tell me that?
Because I dont want to base our rtionship on lies and your disappointment that you cannot try to kill me outside of here. John smiled and shrugged. Im a good guy, Im reasonably certain. I dont always act like it and you dont believe me. Admittedly, I can be quite selfish.
The tentacles increased in number until he saw dozens of them to each of his sides, like the needles of an iron-maiden waiting to close, telling John what her answer was going to be. I ept your wager, the elemental sighed. Lets make this quick and messy.
With a smile, John stayed his left hand above her chest. He leaned in and ced a kiss on her full lips. ck pupils thinned to a razor-thin slit. The tendrils rushed towards him from every direction. There was fire and a sh.
Chapter 198 – An unknown how and an unknown why
Chapter 198 C An unknown how and an unknown why
So, Siena, lets go over the rules again.
John did feel a bit like gloating, which maybe didnt do good for the shadow spirits image of him, but he certainly felt like it was justified. It wasnt everyday he got a sess this clean.
If you need to listen to your own voice that badly, Sienas irritated voice echoed from his shadow. There was a mild reverberation to it, as if she was inside a long hallway, instead of Lydias car. Keeping her in his shadow had been, after he found out that she could do that, the logical choice.
So, the first rule is simple. John fixed his sleeves, making sure his suit was as unblemished as he thought it was. You dont kill or hurt anybody, including myself, unless I allow you to. The reason for that rule was quite obvious. The second they had formed a contract and left that world of darkness behind, Siena had tried to attack him again. Mana Protection gave him enough time to speak the first rule, however, and from there on out he put up the remaining rules in rtive peace.
I suppose I can be more patient when ites to prations. Siena rose from the shadows C right next to Raves head. You have such a pretty face, but a little more red wouldnt hurt, she whispered into the techno-lover''s ear.
A sh of light from Raves palm expelled Siena from her current shadow. To describe correctly what had happened, half her body was cut off as the shadow it had resided in suddenly vanished.
John had seen this happen before. The Wall Shadow in the school had also been cut off at the tail when Rave had done the same thing to it. Unlike that monster though, Sienas body was made from pure darkness. Her being expelled didnt violently cut her in two. It did deal damage still, it just wasnt as drastic.
Siena avoided a graceless flop on the table by diving into another shadow. It was fascinating, like watching someone flow between gravity-immune pools of water. In the space behind the tinted sses, she had nearly free reign.
Rule number two, you stay within 5 metres of me, in real space, unless I give you an order for whose fulfilment you need to go further away, John told her. This rule was to keep her both in range and out of his head. Siena and the other elementals didnt get along in the slightest. Whether she genuinely disliked them or just wanted to make Johns life a little worse, she kept trying to stab them all. Something that, save for Sylph, she was perfectly capable of.
Even the tempest elemental wasnt that much faster.
John had no idea where all of those buffs came from. Elementalist only pushed for 1% All Stats and Elemental Unity gave 2% to her two Main Stats, likely being Agility and Wisdom. The remaining increases were a mystery. John only knew that it was 10% for everything and 35% for Agility and Wisdom. Intellect be thanked for him being able to make calctions for things like these on the fly now.
I am yours to keep on a leash, summoner. Siena tenderly wrapped her arms around his neck. Just dont pull too hard. I might try to find a way to cut loose. A momentter she tried to turn that loving embrace into a chokehold, but her body was unable to tense up enough to be of harm. She moaned in disappointment and disappeared again.
Rule number three, you dont take or cause any action that would make Gaia want to punish me.
Such a waste. What fun are boundaries if you dont overstep them? Siena appeared on the seat next to Lydia and put a hand on the table. Her long ws scratched at the surface. Would you like to break some boundaries with me? she flirted with the princess.
In response Lydia turned her rapier into a sort of swatter and hit Sienas hand with it. The shadow spirit hissed. I much prefer administering punishment, Siena stated, still scratching at the table.
Stop damaging my property, Lydia demanded, eyes a dark grey.
Rule number four, you cant tell anybody how I beat you, John said.
I will obey, Master, Siena sighed lustfully as she continued to work on the table, splinters falling to the ground. Aclysias lips became a narrow line as she stared at the nightmare elemental. Something about the way Siena said Aclysias favourite word must have rubbed the artificial guardian the wrong way entirely, or there was some other reason for her disliking the sensuously erotic shadow spirit. Either way, Aclysia radiated concentrated annoyance.
John, in the meantime, tried to unravel why Siena was socent in this. Her goal seemed to be to do whatever would annoy him, so obeying a rule just like that was suspicious. When he realized his mistake, he sighed. Okay, Rule number four is now: You cant inform anybody how I beat you, the scratching on the table stopped immediately.
Prioritize keeping her in line, Lydia turned her annoyance on John.
Tsk, Siena clicked her tongue and raised her hand. The word spell had been etched into the table. You know, I am not happy with men who dont let me finish, she said and dropped back into the shadow. She reappeared next to John, her vampire-like fangs right next to him. I didnt believe you when you said you had a harem, she whispered, but look at all of those girls, staring angrily at me. She put a leg over his crotch and bit his earlobe. There was a slight attempt at chomping down hard enough to draw blood, but she couldnt even do that much. It makes me all tingly.
Rule number five, when I tell you to behave, you disappear into my shadow and be quiet until I call you again, John ignored her advances and, with another click of her tongue, Siena sunk into the ground before he would pull away her right to speak.
Is her voice always dripping in sex? Rave asked.
Seems so, John answered as the car pulled in front of the cathedral.
And here I thought Nathalia was trying to sound sexy all the time, with her bad case of smokers lung. She was living with Johns feelings for the dragoness, but that didnt mean that she had to like them. Another testament towards the fact that he should raise his Charisma further. If there was any fix to this, and future, harem situations, it would definitely be him being capable of getting across what he meant more reliably and expressing his love in a way that didnt make the girls jealous of each other. Not that Nathalia even was part of his harem yet.
Then again, maybe her being part of the Harem Menu wasnt actually a requirement for problems to ur. Not everything rted to his mechanics was a straightforward numbers game. An example of this was how his abilities had damage numbers, but the enemies didnt possess any HP bars. Even the ones for his allies were just estimations. What was to say that the pure fact that he saw Nathalia as a member of his harem, despite her not having appeared in the menu yet, wasnt enough to kick off problems? Why should the other women in his life only react once that threshold was crossed? In any case, raising Charisma and his number of Rtionship Slots was certainly wise.
Two more levels to reach the 25+ bonus, he thought as they left the car. The group consisted of Lydia, Rave, Aclysia and John. Preferring to stay at home now that her being announced was done, Momo hadnte with them.
Lydia took a moment to tell the driver what had happened. They agreed to word it as a minor ident so that Romulus could be charged for the damage. The ruler of Europe was paying for all parts of the services after all. The princess was shamelessly and pettily abusing that fact.
That being said, when the limo that pulled up to the cathedral was entirely gold, John doubted that Lydia would be the biggest contributor to costs.
Maximillian stepped out and shot them an annoyed nce, which Lydia returned in kind. Afterwards, she turned to the Gamer. A question, John. Why isnt one of your rules: Protect me whenever necessary?
Because she wants to kill me herself, so she wont let me die, John answered. Siena had mined her way through his surface memories and he, in kind, had taken a deep look at her motivations. While her past was shrouded, her current goals were simple: she would try to make his life as hard as possible without causing him to die. She saw herself as the only one allowed to pass that judgement.
It only got worse as she fell in love with him following him destroying her in one attack. Apparently, she had an urge for revenge killing that was so strong it turned into love. This woman was in serious need of some kind of therapy and apparently the Mother of Shadow had chosen him to provide it. Ill just do as I always do and hope thatll be enough, he thought. She chose me for a reason, so Ill just be me.
Just likest time, they were way too early. However, all the key yers were already assembled. Romulus was sitting on his throne, eyes closed and lost in thought. The way that was different from napping was the emperors tapping of his index finger on the lean of his throne.
The electors were also right where they werest time. The table was back in one piece, although the duke who caused its destruction, the ruler of Saxony, was looking like he could smash it again at any moment.
Sol and Luna were at their usual ces. The hall was brimming with people. The fighter selection really brings in a lot more people than the election, Johnmented.
Course it does, tiger, Rave mused. Election is politics, this is entertainment. Ones a bore, the other is cool.
You are part of the problem, Lydia drily stated and pulled out her phone. They stepped off to the side to allow other arrivals to enter. When she lowered her phone again, she looked up to the front and to Romulus. No, not Romulus, to the giants left. Luna pulled out her own phone from a dimensional pocket and looked at the disy, then she gave a thumbs-up in the groups direction.
You have the phone number of the moon? John asked.
Selbstverst?ndlich, Lydia answered in her home tongue.
Dont you say Of course to that, he reprimanded.
The princess gave him a warning nce, Mind your tone, mercenary.
John looked at the surrounding public. My apologies, princess.
Appeased, Lydia continued, Lets just say that, unlike Sol and Romulus, Luna is approachable. With that, she returned to staring at Romulus.
Who John caught staring right at himself for a moment. Crossing the emperors gaze made Johns knees give for a split second. He caught himself and the annoyed stare moved on. John understood where it came from. He was wearing the whole World Ender set and every single one of these items had an aura simr to Nathalias, for obvious reasons. Romulus wasnt the only one to notice, even as he closed his eyes again the people were pointing at John and whispering to each other. Worst of all was Sol, whose eyes he could feel at his back even when he was turning away from themotion to find a nice ce at the edge of the room.
Wearing these items, however, hadnt been his own idea, but Lydias. If Romulus is going to make the Germans angry over a symbolic loss of their autonomy, I will be the champion of those disgruntled many, she had said at the breakfast table, drinking tea with a straight face. And you wearing equipment that seems toe from the goddess he has banished shows that I am willing to resist him.
Wouldnt that also damage your position with the patriots who dislike the Illuminati? John had carefully suggested back then. I think Nathalia is more closely aligned to them after all.
Even if that were the case, which it isnt, the Fire of Destruction has never officially announced any political or national leaning, so it wouldnt matter. I am not confirming any ties to her after all. You are, Lydia had smirked, so I will have you take the fall if all of this goes south.
Thats not very good for me! John hadined.
The princess had waved it off. It is highly unlikely that there will be major outrage. Besides, what are you going to lose? You hold no political power here and if I lose, you return to America -where nobody cares what happens here- and if I win this whole thing will blow over, Lydia told him. I also have around 500 billion other reasons for you to ept this idea. Well, that had been the end of that discussion.
So, what did you write to her? John brought the discussion back to now, doing his best not to fear for his life, while simultaneously thinking about how he could learn the art of politics, to say many words filled with nothing at all, for his public statement the fastest.
Raves full name, for the announcement, Lydia answered.
Ah, well, I guess that works, the techno-lover in question said.
About an hour passed, before Romulus raised his voice for a straightforward announcement. The people have gathered, the ceremony continues. Let us proceed with todays candidates.
The cameras everywhere had sprung back into action, Lydia and Maximillian were in ce. John was still at the side of the hall, but Rave was tip-toeing close to the front, ready to get up there. Unlike John, she couldnt wait to get into the spotlight.
Sol, Luna, reveal the fighters to us, the giants voice rumbled and Raves name was written into the air by elegant silver light. With leaping steps, she made her way to Lydias side. On the opposite side of the walkway, the opponent did the same.
An Asian woman, with dark-blue, dishevelled hair that was bound into a ponytail. She had blue eyes and looked beautiful, downright gorgeous even. John, for a moment, was confused, because she reminded him so much of Rave. Her stern expression was different, but her features were so simr, especially the hair and eyes. Her face had slight wrinkles, making her appear between thirty and forty. For the most part, she wore practical clothes. A brown leather vest and sturdy pants that sat just loose enough. However, her choice of footwear shed with the image fiercely: socks and bright pink sandals, flopping about with each of her otherwise graceful steps.
Her looks matched with her odd choice of attire tipped Johns suspicion over into panic. Swiftly, his eyes rose to the disy of light above her head, created by Sol. Nariko, it said. John didnt even get to read herst name, before a shout echoed through the cathedral and the speakers of everyone who was watching.
Mother?!
Chapter 199 – The case of Nariko Hollmey
Chapter 199 C The case of Nariko Hollmey
The older womanpletely ignored her daughters shout and made her way over to her employer, Maximillian. Everyone was holding their breath at the juicy drama. This was every bit the entertainment they had hoped for.
Hello-o?! Rave continued in herints. She was about to just walk over and confront her mother up-close and personal. Lydia held her hand and whispered some quick words to Rave.
Whatever the princess said, Rave sent a poisonous nce at Nariko, but kept standing where she was, right heel drumming on the floor. John would have to hasten over there once the ceremony was over and give his girlfriend some mental support. Right now, with nothing else to keep his mind upied with, he was thinking about the consequences of Nariko being on the enemy team.
Aside from the obvious fact that she had quite the high level, it meant that they had lost the advantage of Rave being a wildcard. The same could be said for Nariko. Mother and daughter may not have been around each other for a long time but they did know roughly what each others powers were. Also Rave, who was a hot-headed fighter at the best of times, was looking positively furious right now, which would be bad for her making logical decisions in the uing tournament.
Thebined team-level gap keeps widening as well, John thought. Team Lydia was all around the level area of 65-80. Team Maximillian had one level 104, one unknown and now added a level 101 to their roster. We should try pushing the difference down to 10 max, guess we better do some grinding whenever possible.
Nariko Hollmey, are you going to fight for your candidate?
Yes, for personal reasons, I shall fight, her voice was precise and had a business-like tone to it. She turned to the crowd. I am Nariko Hollmey, local manager of the Abyss Auction. This is a private endeavour; no responsibilities lie with thepany.
That was a fairly tant lie and everyone knew it. It was just the Abyss Auction setting up a scenario where they could win a lot and lose only the respect towards one person. If Nariko lost they would say it was as she said, that it had been all her doing, unsanctioned by them and that they would fire her as punishment. In case they won they would give her a public warning while epting all the deals she made in backrooms and then promote her a few months down the line. Typical corporate calctions. Maximillian would also profit from this, the HTC and NTC had both voted against him and by expanding the rights of the Auction he could undermine their lifeline, trade, and force them to be subservient or be drowned out by their already massivepetitor. Both of them won, all of their enemies lost.
Jane Rave Hollmey, are you going to fight for your candidate?
Ja, Rave said, keeping her eyes on her mother instead of Romulus. Originally I just wanted to swim the stream, but this is a PRIVATE endeavour now, for sure. The loud tapping of her foot echoed in the whole cathedral.
Romulus didnt care about theck of respect, after seeing John he was apparently unable to be surprised by anything Team Lydia could throw at him. The candidates are epted then. Two more fighters remain to be chosen, we meet again tomorrow.
The giant had barely spoken thest word when Rave was already halfway down the hall, strutting towards John at maximum walking speed. A girl with green hair stepped in her way but Rave just pushed her to the side and went straight to John. Lets move before my family starts being the annoyance they are, she grabbed him by the hand.
Didnt you want to talk to your mother just now? John asked while he was being pulled along.
I wanted her to tell me what she is doing here, Rave hissed. I got it.
The green haired girl stepped into their path again. She looked a lot like Rave, albeit with a slightly longer face and a bit younger. From the wild hair to the plush, pink lips, the connection was obvious though. Get outta the way, Liz, Rave demanded.
So thats the infamous sister, John thought, it had been quite obvious but he didnt want to just go ahead and assume.
Cant you just wait for mom for a moment, sis? Liz asked, her voice was a weird mixture of her mothers business-like tone and a load of cheekiness.
Dunno, can mother not be a phenomenal BITCH, sis? Rave returned and tried to make her way forward again.
This time Liz was prepared though. The sisters yed a game of footsies, where one kept getting in the others way. Liz had her work cut out for her to keep up. Rave was not only the older of the two, but also the one who had spent all of her adolescence with the martial arts side of her parents, not to mention the recent boosts she had gotten through levelling with her boyfriend. Liz looked at John for help, evidently knowing who he was.
A covert shaking of his head was all she got out of him. He was not going to get in the middle of this family feud, at least not right now. The whole world was watching. Literally. The cameras were still around and were looking at their fight happening and the people who hade for the ceremony now happily whispered about the drama they were witnessing. Well, they had hoped for the candidates to throw remarks at each others head because of their previous history as lovers, getting a family feud going was probably exceeding their expectations.
Rave took a deep breath, knowing that she was almost out of time to flee, Out of my wa-
A word, Jane, the precise voice of Nariko came from behind them. Somewhere less public, she added in the tone mothers used when their children were being unreasonable, as if Rave had already spent 30 minutes crying about not wanting to go.
The grip on Johns hand became tighter, then his girlfriend sighed in defeat. Fine.
Twenty minutester they were sitting in the back area of a bakery. It was rtively secluded by nature. Nariko had created an Illusion Barrier on top and then spent a couple of minutes making sure no recording devices or magics were around. Actually, Liz took care of the devices by checking on all of the electrical currents she found. This resulted in everyone''s phones now lying on the table, turned off.
Everyone, in this case, was Nariko and Liz on one side of the table and John, Rave and Lydia on the other. Aclysia stood next to the group and stepped in and out of the Illusion Barrier to order food. Thankfully, phasing in and out of Illusion Barriers was the one kind of magic where Gaia herself assured that mundanes werent aware enough to have questions.
Rave hadnt let go of Johns hand since they had left the cathedral. Even when Aclysia ced a cup of coffee in front of Nariko, all the Lightbearer did was stare and squeeze his hand. Her mother looked at the cup of coffee. Then, with deep blue eyes, at her daughter. I hoped you wouldnt be part of this, but apparently your father was right when he said you would participate at any cost.
Ya mean ya KNEW? Rave angrily hissed. Yet still decided that ya want to participate yourself?
This deal has been tabled for much longer than your involvement has been known. Regardless, I would have participated. Narikos voice sounded like she was reading data from a chart. I have money to earn.
And your ego to stroke, yeah, I get it. Raves left leg was a blur, the beat her heel tapped on the floor worthy of a drum and bass song.
Nariko sighed, sounding dead tired of an argument that had been going on for much longer than this short exchange. What do you want, Jane? That I put my whole life behind and be nothing but your mother?
No, but a nice to see ya wouldve been a good start.
You say that, yet you yourself tried to run away as soon as the meeting was over, Nariko reminded her. That aside I can honestly say that I am happy about your survival.
What a great, motherly achievement, Raves voice wasced in irony. Whats next, going to tell me that you are happy that I finished school?
Did you? Last I heard you stopped going there to follow your boyfriend into fighting on the losing side of a war, her mother said with such utter disapproval that Lydia skipped onmenting on the attack against her and, together with everyone else on the table, kept awkwardly watching the conversation.
Pft, a real school for real jobs, Rave waved off.
Also, to give you higher education, just because you have the powers out of a fantasy novel doesn''t mean that you dont need to know how to calcte taxes, Narikos business-like voice slowly crumbled into an angry tone. Daughter, your constant struggle against reality is saddening to watch.
WATCH? Rave half shouted, halfughed, When did you ever WATCH me? I havent seen you in years and only now that we are suddenly pitched against each other in a tournament, you want to speak to me.
I may not have been around these past few years, but-
Past years? Try ever! Rave interrupted, I can count the number of birthdays you even remembered on one hand. I dont even need a finger to count the ones you celebrated with us.
but that doesnt mean I didnt care, Nariko continued, trying her best to ignore Ravesints, When I heard you were dead I was lost in tears.
Yeah, right, Rave leaned back and finally pulled her hand from Johns, crossing her arms instead, About as lost as ya were when ya chose to sell your wedding ring, right? Because you and dad just separated totally peacefully and you havent been feeding me bullshit since I came out of you?
That had other reasons. Nariko tried to dodge, but for the first time she broke eye contact. Some nerve had been hit there.
Oh really? Rave snarled, not even trying to hide her contempt. Was the reason that you are a massive bitch, mother?
Any guilt that had started to show on Narikos face was immediately stered over by annoyance. Jane! she hissed, mming a hand on the table. You will not speak in such a tone to me.
Oh really? What are ya gonna do about it? Give me a curfew? Rave jumped out of her chair, letting go of Johns hand in the process.
Sit C down, Narikomanded.
Go to hell. Swiping the pretzel she had ordered off her te. Rave walked away, only looking over her shoulder when she heard her mothers chair scrape over the ground.
You are not even giving me a chance to exin.
You can try after I get rid of all this anger by beating you with it. Both in goodbye and to leave the Illusion Barrier, Rave raised her hand. A momentter, she was gone.
Nariko sunk back into her seat and shielded her eyes with her left hand. Everyone else on the table exchanged silent, unsure nces. Finally John cleared his throat and slowly stood up, We should probably go-
I hope you are treating her well, mister Newman, Nariko said and gestured him to sit back down. Without hesitation, he obeyed. He was many things, but disrespectful towards his girlfriends parents was one of the things he would much rather avoid. They did not get along, and that wasnt his business. Least he could do was not add to the problems.
I would certainly say so, maam. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. To gain a few seconds to think of something smarter to say, he raised the bottle of water he had Aclysia buy him to his mouth. Shadows whirled up next to the table and Siena appeared. Her voice was even more sexually overyed than usual, Dont worry, he is treating all of us very well, includi- her hand pointed at Lydia.
SIENA, BEHAVE! John quickly shouted, water scattering on the table and his perfectly tailored clothes as he ripped the bottle from his lips.
With a giggle the nightmare elemental sunk under the table, the damage had already been done. What did she mean by that? Narikos voice was like a whip. John jumped.
Ah, well, he sighed, no way he could hide it now, the older woman red at him with the expression of a mother who knew exactly what young girls are capable of. Speaking of young girls, Liz was suddenly grinning, at least one person found all of this very amusing. Your daughter and I kind of have a polygamous agreement.
A white light swirled in Narikos eyes, cold anger rapidly reheating again. Am I understanding correctly that you are saying that you are keeping my daughter, who saved your life ording to Regan, as a glorified cock-warmer?
No! John denied that usation outright, I love her, its just thatI have a dream and she is letting me live that dream.
Man, sis is adventurous, Liz said in an admiring tone and earned herself a stern look from her mother. What?
The Hollmey n has survived because people marry into the family, not because people had fun with whoever they fancied like they were walking brothels. Nariko gave the Gamer a smiting re. Regan and I will have a long talk about how he could let that happen. With that, Nariko jumped up, her movement being an exact echo of Raves earlier, including the way she walked away.
A moment please, Lydia said.
What?! Nariko, clearly at the end of her patience, whirled around.
I will require you to keep quiet about this in public, the princess said.
Angrily, Nariko mustered her. Like I am going to drag the press into this. How do you think it will reflect on me once it turns out that my precious daughter is together with some devious sex-fiend? she red daggers at John for a moment before addressing Lydia again. If your parents were alive to see this theyd be as disappointed as I am right now!
Lydias eyes turned into a shade of grey that could almost be called a light ck. Dont dare speak of my parents, Nariko Hollmey, she stated, her voice as cold as the iron railing of a bridge on a frosty winter night. Right now, you are under the protection of Romulus, but we both know what I can do to you once this tournament is over.
Do we? Whatever resources you have areughablepared to what I have ess to through the money of the auction, in which I will swim once we crush your resistance. Nariko left the barrier without another word. Gritting her teeth, Lydia left herself after waiting long enough to be sure that she wouldnt run into Nariko again.
Well, that totally went south, Liz said as it was now only John, his familiars, and her.
You can say that, John sighed and red at his shadow. Ill have to keep her on an even tighter leash. Honestly, Im surprised that me and Jane having a harem is that big of a deal. I thought it was somewhat normal in the Abyss?
Well, aint normal, aint as unusual either. It''s mostly that nobody in the Abyss can stop you. Liz slipped him a card. A number was on it, presumably hers. He raised an eyebrow, looking up from the card when she stood up. Mom wanted to get back into contact with Jane, well, I am going for the second-best thing, Raves sister exined.
You know what this looks like, though? John said, waving the card around.
Huh, right, well, I have a boyfriend, Liz said, I am not interested in you, maybe if we had met a few months ago that would be different. However, it isnt, so dont annoy me if it isnt necessary.
John looked at the card, then he put it in his inventory. Well, as today has shown, I am incapable of controlling even one Hollmey, wouldnt dream about trying to get a second one, he joked.
Liz smiled, Smart guy.
Chapter 200 – Daddy Hollmey, Mommy Newman
Chapter 200 C Daddy Hollmey, Mommy Newman
Rave stared at her phone with nervous anticipation. They were back at home and sitting at the dinner table. After he hade back, John had quickly summarized the events that had transpired after she had stormed off. He kept his personal opinions light. Rave had requested him to stay out of her family business and he was going to honour that until he thought he had enough of a handle on it to not make it catastrophically worse.
Lydia was nowhere to be found, which was worrisome, but when John had checked her room, he had heard a piano melody that was rather upheaved in nature. Satisfied to know that she was home, he had turned around.
Did you know that her parents were dead? John asked as they kept waiting for Regan to get the news and call his daughter. There surely were nicer things that could be discussed. The air in the room was not for niceties, however.
Lydias? Nah, all I knew about her past is that Frederik one day dered her heiress to hisnds. She came out of nowhere, but thats not that unusual with these abyssal noble houses and their weird intermixture of session based on both old blood and new powers. Rave gave her phone a tap, causing it to spin on the tabletop.
John nodded. I see. There were a few moments of silence, then he tilted his head back and shouted. Aggressively, he ran both his hands through his short hair, until it was dishevelled. Urgh, why do things like these keep happening whenever we are just on top of the world?! He flopped forwards, putting his head on the table. You think your dad will be very mad?
Dunno, ya know he is pretty liberal with porn, but he is also super-protective of me, have no idea what side is stronger here, Rave said and joined inying down her head. They sighed at the same time. Gimme your hand, John, Rave demanded.
Here, he floppily put it within her reach. She put her hand on top. Can we do this? John asked.
How can we NOT do this? Rave questioned back. Ya assured me that you love me enough to not break up with me for a myriad different women, dont tell me ya are afraid of my parents.
Your dad is scary, John told her.
Pff, ya could throw Aclysia at him and she would win on her own, Raveughed at him.
Your cookies A quivering, forcefully happy voice pushed those words out, while the tray was ced on the table. It was Siena, her hair bound back into a ponytail, her killer curves d in a French maid outfit. The smile on her face was constantly quivering, trying to turn into a frown.
Master, Aclysia shouted from the kitchen.
Yourcookiesmassster, Siena hissed with all of the poison she could muster while also keeping her smile in ce.
This was her punishment for speaking out of line. John had temporarily changed the fifth rule to Obey whatever Aclysia tells you to do.
The result was Siena acting as the primary housekeepers assistant. Guessing that somebody like Siena, who was definitely a sadist, would hate being forced to follow orders that entailed serving tea and doingundry, had been entirely urate. The nightmare elemental hated every second of this.
C-can I Siena tried to make herself shut up, but the magicpelling her was stronger than any willpower she could muster, bring you something else?
Ja, milk for the freshly baked cookies please, Rave said and Siena, her high heels cking with every step, moved away.
I love to see her leave, John said, looking beneath the entirely too short skirt of her uniform.
She does have a nice ass, Rave admitted. She is still at fault for this whole thing.
Ah, well, it would have happened eventually. John fished a cookie off the te, for himself. He was about to eat it too when he noticed Rave pouting.
Feed me, his girlfriend pleaded with big, blue eyes. Johnplied and guided the cookie to her mouth instead, repressing his urge to tease her for ater, more appropriate time.
Finally, a phone rang and they both straightened up. They looked at the deactivated disy of Raves phone with confusion, then John realized the noise wasing from his pocket. Note to self, we need different ring tones, he stated as he pulled out his phone.
Dibs on Worlds Collide, Rave said, causing John to snort withughter.
I dont even want that, he said, then looked at the disy.
For a moment he had feared Regan had jumped his daughter and went straight to him, but the screen said something else entirely. Well, not entirely, the person that was calling him now was still somewhat rted to the whole situation. John swiped to unlock his phone and held it to his ear.
Hi mom, he said, I am in the middle of a minor crisis right now, so if we could make this fast, thatd be great.
Is your crisis that your girlfriends dad found out that you have been sleeping with other girls, sweetie? his mother asked from the other end. John froze, she didnt sound annoyed or anything, but that question was still concerning.
How do you? Did Regan call you? John sent Rave a loaded nce.
Raves lips formed a silent sentence, In how much shit are ya?
John gave her an uncertain shrug. He genuinely had no idea. His parents were pretty liberal when it came to rtionship stuff, at least as far he guessed. They had never really had a talk about this,rgely because the Gamer hadnt had any female friends since kindergarten.
Call? No, he actually visited us in person. He was very nice about everything, even brought some gifts, we had some small talk and then he suddenly let loose with the big news. Your dad was coughing for a solid ten minutes, his mom told him.
Is that good or bad? John, taut like a bow string, asked.
Well, he wasughing, first in disbelief and then in approval. You think wed be unhappy about our son having the time of his life?
John smirked, giving his girlfriend a thumbs-up. Smiling right back, Rave winked. Its not all bad, nice, she whispered.
To think that you would muster up the confidence to actually get more than one girl to sleep with you. I must say, I never expected that from you. Pardon me if thats rude, sweetie, Brenda continued all the while. How many girls do you have around? Two, three?
Well nine, John admitted. That figure included a couple of girls (Momo, mostly) who might have objected to the description of being his. He just felt like boasting
NINE?! his mother shouted and turned away from the phone, Do you hear that? Our baby boy has nine girls in his harem. An impressed shout came back. You better treat them all right! I havent raised a heartbreaker!
Youre weird parents, John spoke his thoughts when he thought his mothers ear had returned to the phone.
We are liberals, monogamy is what works for most people, if you can make polygamy work for you, go for it, it is more fun. Honestly, your dad and I have both been seeing people on the side ourselves.
Oh please God no, John thought as he was locked into listening to his mother ramble about her love life. It was only fair, but that didnt make it any less weird. After seeing his mothers Libido score, he honestly wasnt surprised that they had an open rtionship, still, when his mother told him about a date she had with a Steve, he just wanted to run away. While he was happy his polygyny was being epted, he was both notfortable to hear about his parents love life and not sure what to make of them being swingers. He was still working out how exactly he preferred polyamory to take shape, but he was certain he wanted to be the only male involved.
While that conversation, to which Rave was listening as best she could with a broad grin, was happening, his girlfriends phone started vibrating.
John saw the dreaded name on the disy and wished his girlfriend best of luck by squeezing her hand. From the moment she took up her phone it was clear that she was being barraged. Then she shot back. Then she was screamed at. Then her voice got louder. Soon they were in a heated debate that could only end badly.
What was he going to do though? He couldnt just step in, Regan would mop the floor with him. Except that he wouldnt. Aclysia was level 80 now, so was Momo, thanks to Nathalias scales. He hadnt spent the Stat Points yet, but Rave was right when she said that Aclysia could probably use Regan as a cleaning rag on her own. John himself wasnt exactly helpless anymore either. Even Nariko, who was more than 20 levels above him, probably would have had trouble beating him, considering all the elementals he had. He was really quite powerful.
Probably time that I start acting like it. John waved to get his girlfriends attention. Rave saw him and raised an eyebrow. She was listening to him, ignoring the endless tirade at the other end of the phone for the moment. Hey mom, would you be okay with talking to my girlfriend for a bit? he said as soon as he got a chance to chime into her endless talks.
Of course, sweetie! Got to make sure youre doing right by them! Brenda responded immediately.
You really want to do this? Raves lips formed the silent question.
John just winked in response. With a relieved shrug, Rave snatched his phone and interchanged it for her own with no further questions asked. Giving her the break was worth whatever he had to take in return.
Hey, Brenda, I can still call ya that, right?... Oh, I am doing great, dad is less psyched about all of this though yeah, lets not talk about it Germany is treating your son very well, ya should see the abs hes gotten no, I am not kidding ACTUAL abs, like, ya could grind meat on that body. They quickly engaged in happy chatter.
John, meanwhile, had to deal with Regans curses.
And the only good thing about that boy in the first ce is that he ys Warhammer and that he has a useful ability. He is bad for you, youngdy, and he is like a merger between FedEx and UPS, because I am Fed-Up with his bullshit. You areing home with the next flight, that princess can find someone else to fight for her.
Sorry, but that wont happen, John informed him and Regan instantly ceased hisints.
Mister Newman, the abyssal dad said in a threatening voice.
Please, Mister Newman is my father, who youve met now. Call me John, he responded, gulping down his remaining nervousness. Assertiveness was sexy, Rave had taught him that, and he was going to leverage that today. Just think of this as a boss fight, he told himself. His Gamer instincts kicked in. The loot is a continuation of your girlfriend subscription, best loot in the game.
John, then, Regan agreed, I demand that you exin yourself to me.
What is there to exin? I wanted to sleep with more than one girl, your daughter agreed, we are in a happy, albeit weird, rtionship, Johnid the facts down.
And you think I will just be fine with this?! My daughter deserves better than being one girl in many!
First off: She is the first amongst many, John shot back instantly. Second, and much more importantly, it is entirely irrelevant what you think. Jane decided this was okay and we are both old enough to decide on our own. We know, today better than ever, that this isnt normal or easy, but it''s what we want.
If you think you can get away with this just like that, then Regan growled.
Then what? John called his bluff, Are you going to get my parents involved? You must have noticed that they are normal folk, so Gaia protects them. If you try to convince me by force it will end badly for you.
Are you threatening me? Regan was baffled that John would turn things around like this.
No, I am telling you that you cant threaten me any longer, John leaned back in his chair. Aside from that, do you really think that I would give your daughter up just because you beat me up sessfully? I love her with all my heart, even if you cant believe it.
That is just are you made out of paper? Cause you are tearable! Regans sudden pun did seed in making Johnugh out loud.
I really dont want things between us to be bad, Regan, John spoke into the phone, but if the only choice here is you dictating my life or us bingpletely independent, then I will dly choose thetter.
A long stretch of silence ensued. Fine, I can respect that. I dont like it, but at least you got guts, young man. Regan took another pause, then let out a long sigh. Fine, if you want it to be that way, so be it. You can tell Jane that she will get no more money from me. If you want to be independent you can surely handle that much.
John shrugged and answered in a nonchnt tone, Money is literally the least of my problems. Have a nice day, Regan.
Mister Hollmey for you! Raves dad had thest word, but for all his outraged tone, there was no real bite to it. Even the way the phone was put down felt almost calm.
That went okay, he thought and put his girlfriends phone down. Rave was on his for a lot longer.
Chapter 201 – There is a first time for everything
Chapter 201 C There is a first time for everything
Well, I am going to hit the shower, John announced and rose from the table. Afterwards, Aclysia I want to raise your Libido to 25, so finish the chores you deem necessary and then wait for me in my room, okay?
Aclysia gently bowed her head. Affirmative, Master.
John left the scene, leaving Aclysia looking after him. His back had be so much broader since he had sparked the start of her existence. His feet carried him up the stairs, until he was out of earshot.
Rave chose that moment to speak up, Okay, Aclysia, theres no way Im not going to be in the room when ya go all lust-drunk.
As expected, Aclysia answered, turning her mild bow to her Masters girlfriend.
No I wanna be alone with my master this time? Rave probed.
Recent events have satisfied my wish for alone time with him. A little smile yed around the white-haired maids lips. I do not wish toe across as interfering. The arrangement you and Master have is satisfactory to me. As long as you allow me some time with my John when I make a reasonable request, I shall support your privileges as first of his harem.
Rave hummed deeply tapping her chin with her index finger a few times, before smiling brightly herself. Alright, nice. d that I got an agreement there.
The four main elementals suddenly appeared by the table. After an elbow nudge by Smander, Gnome cleared her throat and announced, We also kind of want to be part of that?
As would we, Lydia stated. She and Momo had been having a talk about the book War and Peace over by the couch, and now chimed in as well. Both when ites to the expectancy of alone time and the orgy that seems to be brewing. Thest couple of days have been stressful.
And Im not going to miss it when Aclysia goes lust drunk! Momo dered.
Uhm. Raves uncertain gaze dashed between everyone in the room. I think that might be a problem. Tiger is good, but not I can please eight girls at once good. He managed five before, right?
The mental connection helped, Undine stated.
Yeah, doubtful he can pull that off anytime soon, kind of happened on the back of an evolution, Smander said, eying Undine, and sis here has been pretty sheltered in her spirit since.
The water spirit kept quiet, only noddingly acknowledged the fact, but showed no resolution to change it. Well, he has learned a few new tricks since, so lets say he can handle two more of you, Rave tried to find a reasonable solution to the conundrum, but there was none. Aclysia, go get some toothpicks or something, well draw for it.
The result, apanied by much grumbling, was that Lydia and Undine were allowed to apany Rave and Aclysia into the harem bedroom. John was still in the shower, when they arrived. Water ran audibly through the pipes. Each of the four girls found afortable spot to sit.
Except for Rave C Rave immediately started stripping. What are ya sitting in that chair for? the half-Asian bombshell asked, after throwing her top in Lydias general direction.
You want to begin this debauchery without your boyfriend? the princess asked, eyebrow raised.
Aclysia cocked her head, finding the question quite redundant. It was exceptionally obvious that Rave did want exactly that. Both she and Undine morphed their shape to match the mistress impending nudity.
Aint no reason why we cant have fun with each other. Ya think the other four downstairs are gonna be celibate just because theres no dick involved? The question left Lydia shuffling in the chair with mild, and yet visible, difort. Wait have ya never been with another girl before? Rave tossed her panties aside and, now stark naked, tapped over to Lydia.
The princess sat in a wooden chair. With nowhere to go, she just stared up at the Lightbearer who put her hands on the armrests and her phenomenal body on disy. Petite breasts, a thin midriff, and lusciously wide hips, the whole beauty of a pear figure.
That is, indeed, how it is, yes, Lydia admitted.
Are ya like straight as an arrow or do ya wanna try?
Lydia gave that barely any consideration. I considered trying as part of this orgy anyhow. I suppose I will just swim with the stream and see where you take me.
Thats the spirit, Rave whispered and leaned in. Pretty pink lips swiftly pressed on the princess red mouth. Eyes opened wide in surprise, then her tongue ventured out to greet that of the pink-haired techno lover. Sensitive lips were mashed together. The kiss just started to heat up, when Rave broke it. Trust me, theres a softness in being with other girls that ya cant have with guys around. Rave ran her hands over Lydias sides, then under her clothes. And its never toote to try something new. Then, she kissed the princess again.
Aclysia watched the scene gleefully. Every bit of his harem that grew closer made it less likely that Rave would have the will (or influence) to tear this whole wonderful project down. All was going to go her Masters way, she would do her best to ensure as much. With Raves temperament, that was likely not going to be too much work. Her Masters girlfriend had coped remarkably well with the recent revtion.
As one in her care for many months, I can confirm that our mistress is a skilled lover, Aclysia weighed in, her tone eager and husky.
I, however, would prefer if Master was here. Undine flowed up to the Artificial Spirit, her blue, translucent body entirely naked. Medium sized breasts and round hips were on open disy. Her sight reminded Aclysia of that wonderful orgy after the water spirits evolution. The memories made her tingle with excitement.
Without John, Aclysia had no connection to Undine. Any mental exchanges they made went through the conduit of his soul, unlike the internal exchanges the sphere of elementals could have. This connection, however, was not necessary either at this time. Aclysia could guess what Undine wanted anyhow. After one more nce at the scene of Rave stripping and making out with Lydia, the maid turned her attention fully to Undine. The two non-humans fell into the bed together.
Making out with Undine was always a unique experience. Her lips, while cool, had the same level of firm softness as all other lips she had ever touched. However, the tongue that whirled around hers was of a more liquid consistency and the excess of saliva much greater.
Aclysia did not mind the uniqueness. On the contrary, as Inner Fire heated up her insides, her lust stoking the mes, the cool of Undine underneath her was a nice calming sensation. Undine herself writhed in pleasure, having moved her sensitive areas to her mouth. Aclysia wished she could mimic the feat, to make whichever hole her Master fancied her favourite one at the time. Maybe she would be able to one day? She was just as much made from moveable materials as the elemental. Her Masters ability may reveal something like this in time.
Aclysia moved her hands to Undines tits. The squishy mounds gave softly under the massaging pressure. Although the water spirits nipples were nearly invisible, only a shade darker than the rest of her body, they were noticeably hard against the guardians palms. Undine kept quiet, but the trembles that went through her body spoke volumes.
This looks fun. Three words were all the warning Aclysia got, before hands gripped her bubble butt. Cheeks were spread and a nimble tongue quickly pressed against her wet slit. Twice, it slowly travelled from her clit up to the edge of herbia, then Rave prated the pretty pink folds.
Undines quiet vibration grew in intensity. Aclysia nced down to find that Lydia was working the water spirits pussy in a simr, if less skilled way. Little instructional whispers from one to the other oral giver filled the room, alongside Aclysias gasps, muffled by kisses.
The 140% increase to her base Libido made Aclysia the most sensitive of the bunch. The constant attention Rave paid with her tongue and the feverish making out with Undine already put her at the edge of a small orgasm. That the techno lover knew exactly what buttons to push only made it more imminent.
The kiss broke when Aclysia had to let out the drawn-out cry that had been building inside her from the moment Raves tongue had invaded her sex. Legs tensed, partly locking with Undines. She quivered and nuzzled against the slime girl, who kissed the maids neck while the orgasm ran its course.
Sensitive as ever, Rave let out a pleased hum and licked her lips.
Aclysia nodded dreamily, an act that amused her Masters girlfriend for whatever reason. Next to the maids ear, Undine let out quiet, melodic moans, growing ever higher in pitch. Her lips pressed together, when her own orgasm overcame the blue womans senses.
Lydia let up after another two seconds, rising with a satisfied expression on her usually so stern face. An obvious sense of pride filled her, at having managed to do this much the first time she tried. The moment was swiftly interrupted by Rave pushing the princess down into the bed.
Lets take the time to really get to know each other, Rave purred, angling her legs so the two of them were soon crotch to crotch. Their cunts glided over one another with little noises, the glistening wetness getting spread swiftly. What little decorative hair the princess had was far from the main action of their scissoring.
Rave led the engagement, holding one of Lydias legs. For all her inexperience, the auburn-haired bottom of the scene did notck the confidence to rotate her hips with all the skill of a dancer. I, mhm, knew you were a deviant, Lydia gasped.
Guilty as charged, Rave purred a shameless admission. Im still the gal that let her boyfriend have all of ya to y with She yfully bit Lydias calf. and I love how thats working out for me right now.
Aclysia hid her internal jubtion behind a smile. Her John had found himself the perfect first girl, there was no doubt about it. As perfect as he could have found out in the world, anyhow. The seeds were sown and blossoming into a love for the harem itself that would make it impossible for Rave to ever consider ending it. That was the maids hope.
To reinforce it and because she simply lived and loved to serve, Aclysia crawled over to Lydia. She caressed the princess with all the feminine softness Rave had imed to want to show, before having gotten locked in a frantically paced tribbing.
While Lydia gasped under the exploring hands of Aclysia, Undine embraced Rave. Little tentacles teased her pink nipples, while the two exchanged a deep kiss. Thatsssss, pretty good, Rave moaned, leaning into Undines touch while her lower body kept rocking back and forth. Always wanted to tryyy the hentai stuff.
Id love something inside me right now, the princess confessed. The rubbing of pussy against pussy seemed and sounded pleasurable, but Aclysia knew firsthand that it wasnt quite as satisfying.
I can try something, Undine offered.
Eyes turned to her with interest. More tendrils formed, thicker and longer. Not a cock in all of its hot rigidity, but a supplement greater than fingers or tongues could have been. Besides that, it was new and different and that was of value on its own.
Especially to Rave. Thats exactly the kind of hentai stuff I want! Rave enthusiastically eximed. Little tentacles wrapped around her hard nipples, while Undine pressed her mouth on Raves with renewed passion. For a little bit, they were locked like that, until a moan broke the kiss. Thissss pretty good, she sighed. Bit weird, but really pretty good.
Sighs turned to moans when the tentacles actually prated the princess and techno lover. The former seemed especially happy with that development, crying out loud as her pussy was stretched around the semi-translucent tendril.
Aclysia rubbed her clit as she watched. The wetness of her swollen mons made it a quick and audible motion. A nce from Undine and a nod from her was all it took for another one of the tendrils to glide her way. All four women were moaning, the slime girl keeping up a consistent pace. At the edge of her mind, Aclysia noted her Master drying off.
John heard the scene before he saw it. He opened the door to the wonderful sight of the four women entangled with one another. Undines tendrils were new, but he was more focused on the way the four of them were lying in each others arms, kissing lips, nipples, and smooth skin with general delight.
The moment she noticed him, Aclysia peeled out of the pile. Flushed and horny, the artificial guardian crawled towards the foot of the bed, her green eyes focused on him, reflecting her absolute servitude. Behind her, Rave, Undine, and Lydia formed a row of presented, juicy backsides. Left and right were getting fucked by tentacles, the slime in the centre, the source of them, was fingering herself. Johns cock twitched at the sight.
Do you wish to raise my Libido now, Master? Aclysia asked, voiceden with near-orgasmic desire.
Uhm, John hesitated, his eyes drawn to the continued disy. Undine growing tentacles was news in and of itself. News that he felt neutral about. There were more holes in the harem than he could fill with a single cock around and, short of him getting extra bodies somehow, the harem pleasing itself in these orgies was what he wanted to see. Tentacles and strap-ons would help with that.
Master? Aclysia tilted her head, I would request that you do it all at once, whatever the effects are, I would like to find out as quickly as possible and get back to getting fucked. Now that was a line that got his attention.
Sure, just let me do that very quickly John mumbled and pulled up her screen.
He had 25 points to work with, he wanted 15 of those to go into Libido. The rest he put into Wisdom, just as a cautionary measure, that was the stat that kept people in control after all.
Oh God, what have I done? he thought for a moment while looking at her new Libido, a total of 61 thanks to all of the bonuses. The shift in Aclysia was immediate. The previous flush turned into tangible heat, her expression shifted into a nk, doe-eyed face of raw desire. That was not what the thought was about though.
Mhm-aster, Aclysia said in a tone that betrayed almost painful lust, I feel so horny! John vividly remembered what a sudden increase of 50 Libido had done to him, her increase wasnt quite as drastic (effectively it went from 24 to 61, so 27 points) but still pretty harsh.
The new member had grown on Aclysia immediately. It was about the size and shape of Johns own cock, which aided in seeing it more as an extension of his own efforts than an actual second cock around. The fact that she could dismiss it at any point and that there were no attached balls made it more a glorified strap-on than anything else.
There was a duality of emotions in it though. For one, John preferred his women without cocks C absolutely so. There was, however, utility in having her around like this, to help with the aforementioned orgy issue. One rule, Aclysia. If you dont need a cock, you dont have it, understood? John decided to walk the middle ground. If she truly only used it when there was a need for a strap-on around, that would make all of this easier on his preferences.
Yessss, Master, Aclysia moaned, still fingering her cunt. D-do I need it right now?
Before he could decide on that, Raves panting tones chimed into the conversation. Whatre ya two bbering about? Get in herrrrre!
Aclysia turned to the remaining three women in the room and their eyes widened at the sight of the new toy avable. Dibs! Lydia eximed, using a word that John never thought shed use. A short mental question for approval and Aclysia began to crawl towards the princess.
Have fun trying to get her to pull out, Rave joked. Undine seemed incapable of pulling out, lost in some kind of perma-orgasmic state between the pumping of her tentacles and the motions of her own fingers.
I doo-nhhnt intend her to, Lydia moaned, spreading her nicely shaped bottom with one hand. Her rxed sphincter twitched in anticipation and from the pleasure tingling through her. Rave watched with depraved eyes as Aclysia aligned herself with the backdoor and gently pushed inside. The maid needed no motivation to do so, horny as she was, and Lydia screamed like an animal in savage heat while she was double prated. OH YE-E-E-ESSSSSSSSS!
The screams only grew louder when Aclysia began to match her thrusts with the slithers of the tendril working the princess pussy. The rhythm soon made her gush.
John put himself behind Rave. I dunno if I can take all of that, tiger, the Lightbearer voiced the first bit of doubt he had heard from her, rted to sex.
Never toote for new experiences, right? John pushed her a bit, but stayed his hand in actually prating her. He did rub his cock along the dividing depression of the two symmetrical halves of her perfect ass, watching and waiting for the nod that he knew was inevitable. Any little bits of hesitation she had melted away under the sheer pressure of the animalistic moans of Lydia and the two women fucking her senseless. Ill take it slow, John promised.
Rave bit her lower lip and gave that inevitable nod. Excess lubrication already made her backdoor glisten and Johns cock was constantly leaking precum.
Rave took a deep breath that left her as a pleasured moan as Undine kept fucking her pussy. John took that moment to press his dick against her sphincter and push inside. Rave tensed up and John waited until she rxed again to push deeper.
Fuuuuuck, Rave groaned, only a bit of pain in her voice, it feels like ya are splitting me apart.
In the good or the bad way? John asked. His answer was in her continued, lustful groans. Soon there was not even a hint of pain there, just a savage hunger for more. To sate that desire, John pushed further into her.
Lydia and Aclysia were wild with lust, and were in a perpetual state of hard thrusts and chained orgasms. With Rave, however, John only slowly picked up speed as her sphincter got used to his girth. She wasnt in pain and he aimed to keep it that way.
A bit faster, Rave allowed him and he picked up the pace to a steady gliding. Faster, Rave repeated and now Johns movements became slow thrusts. Faster, she almost howled, her sphincter now stretched far enough to allow John to put some force into it. FASTER! Rave screamed now and finally he had her hooked.
The two human girls, kneeling on all fours, were double prated by John, his servant Aclysia and his elemental Undine, continuously. Soon enough Rave and John joined the rest of the group in being nothing more than a constant rocking of hips. The bed creaked under the intense motions.
Raves clenched teeth pushed out animalistic sounds and nonsensical sybles. When she did open her mouth, she only did it to scream at the ceiling. Her back arched, her head flew back, her insides tightened up, and John could not hold on any longer himself. While she screamed and came, he himself was pushed over the edge.
It was glorious. Having finally crossed thatst border with his girlfriend, and for once being the one to introduce her to something, was a feeling he could hardly describe as anything but glorious. As his balls kept pumping one of his loads into her, he wrapped his arms around her arched torso in a movement that was more instinct than calction. He pinned her against his chest and grunted, I love you, into her ear.
And ya ruined me for all men, ya jerk! Rave panted, sense returning to her faculties, how am I supposed to go back to normal dicks after yours is this fucking good?!
You thought anything but me was on the menu after you got with me? John nibbled on her earlobe for a second. Theres only me and the rest of our harem now, Jane. His girlfriend shuddered in his embrace C a good shudder. A post-orgasmic set of twitches that stayed around far longer than usual. She was hooked on the idea of more of this and he knew it. Also, thats not what I wanted to hear from you.
If ya want to hear that, ya gotta fuck me some more, tiger.
John grinned, he could do that for as long as it took. Their little exchange ended, but he kept her in his embrace as he started moving again. In a steady rhythm of short thrusts, he synchronized his movements with Undines so that one of them was thrusting in while the other was pulling back. The effect was Rave quivering in his arms, as she quickly reached another climax.
He was vaguely aware of pussy juice sttering against his legs. Unknowing and uncaring whether that was Rave or Undine squirting, John continued on and on until he was about to cum again. Ready for a second load? he groaned, doubling his tempo onto the finishing line.
Always for yours! Rave screamed out and with ast m he came into her for a second time. This one was way more intense for both of them and Rave pressed against him, her scream making his ears ring in the best possible way as his own hips were tense against her soft backside.
Sweaty, they fell forward, but didnt copse, only reverting into their previous doggystyle position, the one Lydia and Aclysia still had as they continued to screw their brains out. I love ya, Rave swooned.
I win already? John teased.
Yeah, but only because I want you to fuck me until I look like her. Rave said with a nod over to the other duo. Aclysias newly raised Libido made her into a total mess, eyes rolled up and tongue lolled out. Lydia looked like she was slowly getting there herself, but John estimated that he could do worse to his girlfriend. Theres your new challenge.
yfully earnest John nodded. I will seed, he promised in a deep voice, as a reward he was pinched in the cheek, Rave using that grip to pull him into a kiss.
Ya lose when ya copse before me, she whispered.
That was how they spent the rest of the night.
Chapter 202 – Sweet dreams are made of this.
Chapter 202 C Sweet dreams are made of this.
Once again, they were on their way to the cathedral. The crew was down an extra one today. In addition to Momo, Rave had decided to take care of meeting Herman. This both allowed her to avoid her mother and for John to finally get the spine-thingy back in his possession.
They were prettyte today, by Lydias standards, but still half an hour early. Romulus'' original announcement had been Two times after the bell has rung after noon, which turned out to be a fancy way of saying 14 oclock.
I should try to make some time for Herman soon, Ive been kind of cutting him short recently, John thought. Part of that was because he was avoiding the person a skull-headed god had told him would die, the Gamer had to admit to himself. Until he knew how that was going to end up, he wanted to not get more attached? Something like that. Thats not exactly fair to a friend though.
Aclysia opened the door and they stepped outside. The cathedral was packed with people. Half an hour early and people were already sitting on the benches pressed shoulder to shoulder, many more standing wherever they found room at the sides.
Seems like the drama yesterday made for good promotion material John whispered to Lydia, the princess just frowned, so John continued with a more interesting topic, You are going to announce that Nia girl today, right?
Yes, I already sent the necessary text to Luna, Lydia crossed her arms and allowed herself a self-assured smirk. She is going to be very valuable indeed.
You are talking about her like she is a rare gemstone, John said. Shrugging, he added, But I guess that is to be expected from something as umon as a pariah.
I would prefer it if you did not talk publicly about such things, Lydia hissed. Neither do I remember ever informing you about her nature.
You did just now. John smirked. I took an educated guess.
Educated on what? If there is anything you found online thatd be highly concerning and I need to be informed, Lydia demanded to know.
I just thought about our talks some more, you dropped some hints by ident back when we talked about soul types, John said.
Hints?
Bodynguage, slight smirk here, seemingly unrted topic break there. I am getting pretty wise, you know? John joked.
Lydia had more questions but they ceased their whispering when Alexej, the enemys first candidate, walked towards them. Hrello, Hrello, Hrello! he said in an overyed ent that vanished as he continued speaking. What an honour, I think we have never talked before, he kissed Lydias hand in a smooth gesture. The princess just let it happen, but, just like with Maximillian, she pulled her hand back as soon as courtly eptable. A momentter Alexej extended his hand to John.
The Gamer looked at the hand for a moment. Then he put on an unsure smile. I guess? Honestly, you remind me of somebody, John said as he shook his enemys hand. Cameras went off, people were chatting. Them simply speaking in public would probably end up in some sort of history record of varying importance, depending on what sort of scandals happened during the tournament.
John got a text at that moment. He checked, it was just Rave letting him know that she was about to meet up with Herman. Something interesting? Alexej asked and acted like he wanted to peek at his disy. John quickly let his phone vanish.
Nothing that concerns you, he said, wanting to put his phone away, but getting another message from Rave before he could. Itsxc vfds? Johns confusion settled after a moment. Not the first time that round butt has sent a message of its own.
On the contrary, John Newman, everything about you concerns me, Alexej shrugged while John put his phone away for good, his brown robe whispering as cloth softly rubbed on cloth. See, I am the guy responsible for information on our side of this conflict and I have been digging on you. Despite all the material avable on your daily life, your powers arergely a mystery. It is, however, nearly impossible to get this strong in such short a time, especially if you started from zero, like the information ims you have. So, let me ask this straight-out, the secretive blond looked at Lydia. Did you fabricate his whole backstory just to make digging harder?
Lydia raised an eyebrow. Maybe, the princess stated, her hands folded behind her back, You do not expect an actual answer, do you?
Well, one can always try, Alexejughed nonchntly. Call it professional interest, because if that were to be the case that would be some impressive preparation. Ah well, we will see if you are a genuine article or something crafted in advance soon, John, the blond winked and turned, Cya!
What an irritating guy, John mumbled, looking after Alexej as he quickly vanished between the people present. Was the man really unaware of the truth or was this another ploy to make John unsure whether or not he was SecretBlonde? The answer remained hidden.
Indeed, Lydia agreed, The fact that we havent found out a thing about him only makes this more annoying.
At 13:59, the princess got a message on her phone. She looked at it with elegance, then angrily hissed, Oh for heavens sake.
What now? John asked, this did not bode well.
Nia got lost, Lydia started typing furiously, then her eyebrows jumped up in a mixture of anger and confusion. She is in Aachen?! How did she even get there? She was in town this entire week. Lydia hissed to herself and began typing furiously. She usually shows up when I tell her to. Damn it.
Romulus stood up and started some introductory speech, recapping yesterday''s events. John was barely listening, he was just watching Lydia typing up a storm. The giant at the high teau stopped, that made John nce over to the front. He saw Luna whispering something to Romulus, wrinkles appearing on his forehead before making a dismissive gesture.
What just happened? John wanted to know, smelling Lydias involvement in this. I turned in a favour with Luna to have her get me some time. I doubt she can give me more than 10 minutes.
Thats not enough to get somebody here from Aachen, is it? His voice was quiet, Aachen wasnt far away, given modern transportation, but that didnt make it close.
No, of course not, Lydia had stopped typing and was reading notes. I am looking for a precedent I can use to argue for having her in the tournament despite her not physically being here. I need her against Maximillian maybe I can just announce Aclysia instead?
John heard the people talking everywhere, wondering what this dy was about. Maximillian was already in position, Lydia was standing still where she was. People were likely starting to make the connection, but it didnt matter as long as Luna covered for her.
If I was an Apothecary, maybe I could meld our minds so I could help you look, John joked.
What are you talking about? Lydia whispered, absent-mindedly even as she worked.
You know, merge our perceptions and such so I can read through your eyes and help you think.
Lydia raised her eyes from the disy for a split second, then was pulled back down. Thats not a skill typical among Apothecaries, that sounds like the mind melding that the Nazis used to gather intel through summoners.
John stood there for a second,pletely still. His mind was wiped by shock, as thest puzzle piece snapped into ce on its own. One picturepleted and a friendship shattered. John turned on his heels.
It was Herman. It had always been Herman. Where they met, when they met, what Herman learned by being nice to him, and the investment he had in Thana at the same time as SecretBlonde left his life. His convenient mannerisms. His investments. The unfitting disregard for the life of the rades he brought to the extraction mission. Everything snapped into a chain of events that made so much sense in hindsight that John felt like beating himself over the head for not realizing it sooner.
Na?ve idiot! John shouted at himself. Outwardly, he managed to keep a modicum of control. I have to go.
What? Lydia asked, dumbfounded. She raised her head but he was already heading to the exit in a sprint, Aclysia right behind him.
His feet flew over the streets, even when he broke from the Illusion Barrier he didnt stop running. Whether it was lucky or not that he was still moving in the human limits of Agility was debatable. On one hand, it made him slower than he preferred to be, on the other, he probably would have invoked a burdensome amount of Gaias ire for the speed at which he sprinted through the streets.
Being at the peak of human performance would have to be enough. He maneuvered through the crowds of the inner city as quickly as he could, invoking more than one curse in the process. His target, whether by coincidence or some perverse n, was close enough.
John stormed into the building and almost ran over the Veteran Meeting, 13:30-17 oclock-sign at the entrance. It was one of those rentable buildings. John hadnt even paid any attention to the outside, neither did he care about any of the inside. Any people who would have tried to stop him, he would have ignored.
There was nobody. Even as he burst through thest door and got inside a room filled with rows of chairs in front of a makeshift podium, there was no one in the building. Breathing heavily, hoping for the best and fearing for the worst, the Gamer looked around for his girlfriend. He barely noticed the heavy stench of iron in the air.
Rave was quick to be found, standing between two rows of chairs. Cat ears turned his direction before her eyes did. That she manifested her powers outside an Illusion Barrier was careless and it also told John all he had to know about the situation. John! Herman is
SecretBlonde, yes, I figured that out moments ago! Johnpleted her sentence and changed into his full battle regalia. He handed Aclysia her weapon and then joined Rave in being ready. Where is he? he asked, carefully approaching her.
Somewhere! Be quiet! He keeps vanishing and I have difficulty tracking him by anything but sound fucker destroyed my phone too!
John nodded along, then roused his elementals to action. If anyone mundane came across this scene they would be screwed, but that was a risk he was willing to take. Gnome and Sylph manifested with a simple mental order: Find him.
I w-will do my best, Gnome said in his mind.
Sylph did not have that tactical presence of mind. Yes, yes ehm what am I supposed to be tracking?
An echoing voiceughed. Ohe on now, Sylph, its easy, just track the vibrations of my voice good luck finding the original source, though, Herman said from everywhere.
So, you ARE here, John growled at the walls.
Did ya doubt me? Rave questioned and allowed herself a quick nce at her boyfriend. Not really, but confirmation is nice, John answered and so did Herman, their voices ovepping perfectly. The Gamer froze. How did you do that? Are you in my head? The best character in LoL is Teemo! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW I WOULD SAY SOMETHING SO ABSURD?!
Herman giggled and something pushed John a few steps forwards. Rapidly, John spun around. The liar stood there, waving with his gloved hand, in theplete outfit of SecretBlonde, from the leather trench-coat, to the swastika around his neck, to the gas mask, currently pulled over the side of his head. Of course, there was a rather notable change, in that his brown hair had turned tinum blond.
So, what tipped you off? he asked and rummaged in an inside pocket of his coat. Everyone was ready to attack him, but no one was willing to make the first step. I found out that the thing you did when you looked through Aclysias eyes with me was a skill used by the Nazis, not the Apothecaries, John exined, a mental battle took ce in the meanwhile.
Attack him, Siena! hemanded.
Mhm, but what if I dont want to? the nightmare elemental moaned back, You two big boys seem like you have a lot of catching up to do.
For fucks sake, he wants to kill me!
No, he doesnt, Siena moaned back, if he wanted to, he would have deeply prated you with a knife.
John grit his teeth, he had no patience for her backtalk. You either obey me on this or I am changing the rules so that you have to! he threatened.
Do what you must, Siena said nonchntly, but he felt her tension building up. Forcing her hand here would damage their rtionship into something that would be even less healthy than the murderboner she currently had for him. He could have dealt with that, but at the same time she seemed to be right that Herman was not out for his life immediately.
A deal then, he suggested in a deeply annoyed tone, you get a 5-minute window to kill me tomorrow.
Siena went silent. Ten, she demanded, and you dont get to wear that glove.
Johns teeth started hurting, Fine, just go!
Ah, the princess right? Other people wouldnt have that knowledge. They just go Oh, I am stupid, and I dont know anything about the schools of magic apothecaries learn, hurr durr, look at me, I can punch stuff and I have cat ears. Hermanughed and Rave hissed. Not that it matters now, I already got all I wanted, the Betrayer of All fished a firecracker from his pocket and ignited it with an off-handed motion, using a lighter that he pulled from his sleeve.
A tower of shadows erected behind Herman, careful not to enter his field of vision. Siena didnt want her prey to slip away, enjoyed the sight of a victim unaware of their imminent and swift demise. Well, her summoner only allowed her to cripple this one, but there were ways to cut the throat that didnt lead to imminent death. Best concentrate on that, it would make her master furious if he lost the chance to talk to this one after all. That would be worth any amount of time in maid service.
Herman dropped the firecracker and it exploded at his feet the moment Siena wanted to strike. The sudden light banished her from his shadow and she fell down, having lost her standing. Shended elegantly on all fours, ws ripping into the red carpet. Hissing, her hair standing upwards, her eyes burning like yellow fire, she dropped into another shadow to wait for her next chance.
You know, I tracked that little trickle of mana that your early Possessions were, Herman said in an amused tone, what makes you think I cannot see that giant mana flow between you and your elementals? To me, her being in your shadow is as in as having her stay next to you.
Eat fire, traitor! Smander shouted and lobbed a ball of me. It went right through Herman and hit a chair instead, turning it into molten stic.
Johns eyes widened, Undine, put that out! He hurriedlymanded, sending her his mana. Quickly, she obeyed and a wave of water extinguished the me before it could cause any more damage. Smander, we are not inside an Illusion Barrier! he reminded her, The moment the authorities are here, Gaia will fuck us up the ass!
Oh, dont worry. Another Herman appeared on a seat, hands and head on the backrest, legs dangling over the sides. Gaia will push all of the me here squarely on me. Raves foot crashed through that seat and into the floor. In the settling chaos there was no body. It had just been another illusion.
Why would she do that? John asked.
Look above for your answer, Herman, now standing next to Rave, said. John didnt even try to attack that one. Slowly he raised his head.
What the fuck? John whispered, then swallowed hard to keep his breakfast inside.
It was as if somebody had taken the heart of a giant and smashed it against the ceiling. The thing was several metres in diameter and branched out like a spiders towards the edges. John wanted to deny that it was made from blood, but between the crimson colour and the iron stench in the room, there was no denying it.
It pulsed with a steady beat, the edges slowly crystallizing and pulling together. The structure was shrinking. Ow! Rave, who had been staring just as John, suddenly cried out. His neck whirled to look at her and found Herman having made a small cut to her shoulder. John threw an Arcane Explosion, but by the time it went off, he had already vanished again.
What is that? Why arent you fighting? Why do you betray everyone?
My final -and greatest- work, because that shove I gave you earlier is literally the peak of my physical strength, my magic is not really harmful and because I have a purpose, Herman appeared again, this time directly in front of him. I will tell you everything, just dont interfere, his eyes were an earnest plea. I know you will take this deal, after all bringing her back is in your interest as well, goody two shoes that you are.
John saw the impossible as Raves blood started flying towards the ceiling. It onlysted for a moment, before stopping and transitioning into normal bleeding. There was one more lie that Herman had told them, one that exined both that odd phenomenon and the entirety of this scene. You cant mean Thana?
Herman smiled.
Chapter 203 – Broken Frame
Chapter 203 C Broken Frame
Apparently the look in Johns eyes was enough to convince Herman that the Gamer would no longer obstruct his ns. Or maybe he was just confident that he could spare another Illusion. Quite sorry, Jane, I wont necessarily need that bit of your blood, but Id much rather be safe than sorry when my lifes work is at stake, Herman said and healed the small cut while passing her.
Ya dont get to use my name, the Lightbearer hissed and retreated next to John. Neither of them trusted the man, but their escape route was as simple as dropping all the magical signs on their body and running twenty metres out of the building. They were just two walls away from mundane crowds.
The Betrayer of All positioned himself underneath the heart and stretched his hand upwards. The incubation phase isplete. Its just a bit of a push now, he announced and magic red from his hand upwards in a beam.
The consolidated heart beat once, then contracted into an oval shape two metres across. It hovered down, further flowing and diminishing in size, until it began to take a definite shape. A torso, four long limbs, gradually refining into arms and legs, hand and feet. A head pushed out of the mass of the chest. All of it was blood red and smooth. A skeleton began to form inside.
The forming body arrived in front of Herman and he rammed his hand into the forming skull. John wanted to intervene, but he had no idea what was going on exactly. Then Herman pulled out the familiar spinal object.
The object squealed in a high, angry pitch. It rang in Johns ears, a protest of violent wrath, incapable of being executed with the rib-like legs of the elongated, metal thing. It tried to return to Thanas head, winding in Hermans grasp.
What a barbaric usage for you Erl?sungsgestattung. Upon hearing that single word, the spine suddenly froze. A sound almost like a relieved sigh echoed through the room and ity still in Hermans hands. Catch! The Betrayer of All threw it at John, who disobeyed that order and side-stepped the lead-grey object instead. It bounced off the floor. Wow, dude, thats a Metracana, treat it with some respect. Mengele using it forb-sedation isnt its fault. Herman shook his head. The youth these days. You would make Jesus cry.
John did not care for the words and Herman did not care to talk any further. Both of them instead looked at the body that had been finishing its generation.
She was pale, sickly so. Skin that had never seen a single sun ray, a slightly blue tinge to it. Her hair was simr, white at the top, shifting into blue at chin length. It maintained the azure colour all the way to her hips. She had a cute nose and her violet eyes were fascinating. John vividly remembered them, like shattered ss or brilliantly cut gemstones they had been C they were. Within them there had been two rings, oneplete and thin at the outeryer, the other made from six golden dots around the ck of her pupil. Her naked figure was still as he remembered her, quite attractive. For a girl her size she had big breasts, a C-Cup, with wide hips and smooth skin.
Seven dots now, Herman said, holding her chin as he inspected her like aboratory rat. I still do not understand what she is, what I wouldnt give to conduct more research apparently there was some excess in raw material, to cause her hair to grow beyond its original state. Ah, well, I gave her back to this world, so I got what I wanted. He let her chin go and the body slumped over like a wet sack of potatoes. Well, it seems her body is back, but her spirit might need a while longer to recover, Herman clicked his tongue, I wonder if she will have her memories? It is really saddening that I wont get to see it.
What do you mean? John asked, still keeping his distance.
Ohe on, the answer is pretty obvious, isnt it? Herman giggled and coughed. For a moment the liar was aging rapidly, then he pulled the mask over his face and took a deep breath. A green cloud left the arcane systems of the contraption and once he put it aside, the aging process had stopped. Stopped, but did not revert. Why do you think I put this meeting together? Why do you think no one is here? Where do you think I got all that blood from? What do you think Gaia is going to do with me?
John closed his eyes. I just hoped that there was a way you werent aplete piece of shit. How many veterans did you sacrifice?
Well, a lot of it was the blood reserves the Bloodfallen still had, which I stole while you were busy being bored. To answer your question though: 129, I had to cut them one by one. Also had to kill the people who work here, because, you know, no witnesses, also I made use of their blood too, I had to construct a brain that would actually function normally, Herman admitted. Do you know how hard it was to track all the normal people Mengele gave Thanas blood to? Not all that hard actually, I still had the official documents memorized. Took me like an evening. Scheduling the event however was a bit more annoying, I had to gather them all in one ce, you know. My thanks to you, Jane, by the way.
Why that? Rave hissed, her cat ears were t on her head.
Mhm, let me reveal it slowly to you. You know, I used to be an assistant for Mengele and
I know that part already, John cut him off, Thana told me, get to the point.
Party-pooper, but whatever. After I saw my goal, to create the perfect human, snatched away from me by some lowlymunist deserters, I was devastated. I needed Thana, recreating something like her, no matter how often I tried within the USSR, was impossible.
She was a unique item, the genuine article, the perfect prototype for humanitys advancement. And she was lost. I had betrayed the Nazis to secure her, not that they didnt deserve it. Then I betrayed the Blood, sold their secrets to the Sons of Odin. Then I betrayed them to get an ally in Britain, then I betrayed some more. Always in the search of the knowledge that would allow me to repeat that experiment. Maybe Mengele had held something from me? That youngster was just so much more talented than I was, and he didnt stop to let me know. Bastard called me Golden Grandpa, because I chose Aurum as my alias in these times. Smug prick.
I was at the end of my life. Rejuvenating became harder and harder, eventually the treatment would stop working and I would die. My cure, the perfected human, was still missing. Then, as if the hand of fate really existed, I found you, John. Through you I found her. At the very end of my life, finally, I would be able to study her, maybe decode her secrets. Her decay was stoppable and she had been young for all this time, all I needed was to understand her and then I could save myself. I would create the perfect human in the shape of me. I needed to confirm that I was dealing with the real sample, however, and not some cheap copy of her bloods effects. I had plenty of those myself. So, I encouraged our friend Travolta to dabble in alchemy a bit more.
You slimy piece of shit, John growled and clenched his scaled fist.
See, I knew that would make you angry, Herman mused. Although I wouldnt have neededplete understanding to predict that part. Well, after I had confirmed that it was indeed the true thing, I needed a way to get her out and I needed to know what state she was in. The Betrayer of All pointed at Aclysia. First, I cozied up to Jimmie, but the guy left after Travoltas death, a really annoying dent in my ns. I needed a new anchor in your group, so I waited for one of you to show an emotional opening. Guess what easy prey the newly born golem was, going through the typical motions of awakening to free will.
I trusted you, Aclysia whispered.
OF COURSE YOU DID! Hermanughed, and took a quick refresher of whatever in his mask kept the ageing at bay. You had no other choice but to. What do you think I did when I was inside Johns head? Simply look around through your eyes? I only needed to know if she was in that tank or not, the rest of the time I spent sniffing through your heads, learning every single sordid detail about you two. Mockingly he raised his hand to the back of his head and scratched in an awkward fashion. Creating a role you couldnt help but like afterwards was an easy task. The only time my n was even a bit in jeopardy at that point was when that stupid receptionist didnt know me. Must have missed her when I loudly proimed my internship.
But why did you need us to carry Thana out? Rave asked.
Do I need to spell it out over and over again? Herman returned his own question. I am not a fighter. I could have sneaked in and out of the base without a problem, but moving that container? Impossible. I needed a force strong enough to break through there, and some random mercenaries wouldnt do. I mean, you saw the ones I got my hands on, right? Prime garbage. The only other option, Moira and the Order, was not even an option, righteous bunch that they are. So, I just made it presentable to you guys that, maybe, you could have saved her. I was certain you would seed too, then I would tell you that we had to take her to the hospital, proim her dead after all and have her body vanish into some backroom where I would continue my experiments, a few dayster I would, at a bar or something, tell you that I was going to be moved into a different hospital. I would vanish from your life without another sound.
But then you IDIOTS had to smash the tank. She got out and even the second attempt, to subdue her and try to save her with considerably less time failed. Then she was dead. I had nothing to live for. My goal was now out of reach. Out of pure desperation I took a look at your blood, Jane, and thats how I found it. Her blood was still dormant inside you, with the right solution I could activate it again and the best part: It was self-restoring. I just needed to provide the direction, it would take care of the rest.
But how much would I need? As much as I could get. I stole the reserves still in the Bloodefallens Headquarters. What I could take out of the guilds that Bloodfallen had vassalized, I bled dry. The lions share would have toe from live subjects though. Luckily Mengele had, unknowingly, left me that little present. A shiny, golden, but poisoned apple. Sacrificing normal humans, it would mean that I would be eradicated,pletely removed from existence. Nothing of my soul would remain. Isnt that right, Gaia?
The frame of reality broke apart when he muttered that question. The three dimensions drifted away from each other, sparks of physical energies unloading between them as Johns eyes tried to conceive what was happening but were only answered with iprehensible pain. Every sound was muffled but the tearing sound, like a thousandyers of cloth suddenly being ripped apart, that apanied Gaias appearance between him and Herman from a portal that was behind the betrayer of all. Physics copsed and restructured in the time it took a human to understand what he was seeing.
And despite that knowledge you did it, you hurt the children, Gaia spoke with such terrible rage that all thoughts John had about whether or not fate existed were drowned in it. There was no way a being this angry about the loss of life would have let it happen if she was in control.
Is she, after all, just another yer with other rules? John asked himself as the green haired deity stretched out her hand. Or has she chained herself to undo fate?
Herman looked at her with a baffled expression. Then heughed freely. How does any of that make sense?!
The supreme goddess finger connected to his chest and he vanished. Where he had just stood his outline left a dark spot, as if someone had cut a human shaped hole into reality. Gaia had eradicated every bit of him without a trace, even the light that had touched him. With a thunderous roar the vacuum was filled as air copsed on the spot.
John was suddenly breathing very fast, the sight caused some deep-seated panic inside him. It wasnt the death that scared him, he himself had killed before, it was that the death of Herman was beyond absolute. The absolute eradication of his existence, removed so cleanly not even his feelings would enter an Illusion Barrier. The word gone could not encapste the depths of his true death.
Let this be my warning to you as well, John Newman. Gaia peeked over her shoulder. Her eyes shing, a ck light shining inside them. Despite all of the physical improbabilities of thest seconds, this one was the most terrifying in a way. Never break my taboos. Do not interfere with the lives of normal humans.
She didnt wait for his response, simply vanished as abruptly as she hade. Physics snapped back into ce, leaving John and his group stunned. They hadnt fought, they hadnt saved anyone, but they were safe and left with a chance. The elementals vanished before the unlikely happened and a random person stumbled in here. Siena alone stayed behind, but hid in his shadow. The cat ears disappeared from Raves head.
The two of them stood over the body of Thana. Her eyes were now closed and her chest was slowly, but steadily, rising and falling. You wouldnt object if we took her with us, would you? John asked, just to be sure.
Rave strongly shook her head, I heard what she had to go through. Shell still have to apologize to me once she wakes up though. There was a bit of a quiver under her voice. If she was afraid, it did not stop her.
If she even remembers, John mumbled and picked the pale girl up from the carpet. It urred to him that this was the first time that she had ever slept.
Exining all of this to Lydia will be a whole different beast, though, Rave tried to introduce some levity into the situation. John repressed the urge to awkwardly scratch his head. He had his hands full at the moment. Even without that, just knowing that it was a part of Herman manipting him made him uncertain how he felt about his own habits.
For now, getting Thana back and surviving Lydias annoyance would be the priorities though.
Chapter 204 – Season 2 Arc 1 Finale – Just a Spoon of Soup, a Blanket, and Sunlight
Chapter 204 C Season 2 Arc 1 Finale C Just a Spoon of Soup, a nket, and Sunlight
Whatever furious greeting Lydia had for John and Rave was silenced when they entered the living room with Thana. What happened to your suit? Who is that? she asked, her tone still carrying anger alongside concern.
John carefully ced the still unconscious, naked woman on the couch. That is Thana, he answered.
Lydia raised one of her eyebrows and focused on the neer. The second eyebrow shot up as well, when she saw her aura. The vast, thick, crimson energy floated around the deceptively small woman like a sphere of blood in water. Tell me everything, the princess demanded.
John did. From the moment he had realized who Herman actually was up to the present and all the implications that followed.
I am so sorry that I told you that you could trust Herman, John, Aclysia apologized suddenly, after he ended his exnations. The artificial guardian had not uttered a single word since they had left the scene of the crime. Now she stared at her feet, her mood almost as depressed as Johns own.
We were both less experienced in the Abyss, John answered and gently put his hand on her white head. There is nothing to be sorry about. We live, we learn, we move on.
Now ya thinking like a Hollmey, Rave said and squeezed his hand.
He gave her a confident smile but inside doubts still stirred. Despite what Herman turned out to be, despite all he had done, John couldnt help but feel that he would miss him. It had all been a lie, constructed to lull John into a sense of security where he would never have seen the Betrayer of All for who he was. It had worked well and now John had a gap in his social life and his trust. He knew how to fill the former, but thetter
Are you for fucking real? he heard the sudden curseing from the couch. Thana sat up, and looked over the backrest of her couch. Everyone went on high-alert. There was no telling what she could do. Calm the fuck down, I heard everything, I am not going to rip off your heads I think, the blood mage said and then broke out into insaneughter.
There was something strangely calming about hearing herpletely vite every sense ofmon decency with a series of shrill noises as she fell back on to the couch. It wasnt the pain-struck, blood coughingugh John had heard before, but aughter free of shackles and torment. Theughter of someone who was actually in a good mood, insanely so. AHAHAAHAHAAAAAA, she screamed out, I am back to fucking life. This is retarded! This is such a dumbass reality! They all jumped when they heard something break. Those fucking things are still here though
The people at the dinner table went over to check what she meant. They only found the split dinner table.
If you are staying on my property, you are going to respect my property, Lydia told her.
Shut up, Thana returned instantly. Those facefucked, fuckface faces are currently annoying me. You havent found out who the fuck Eliza is by chance? she asked and raised her foot from the table.
Noyou are taking this whole ing back to life thing rather well, Johnmented.
Well?! Thana burst outughing, bitch, I am having a fucking panic attack. If dying doesnt kill me, what the hell will?
How was the afterlife? Rave wanted to know.
How would I know, gum crotch?! I died, then I suddenly woke up on this couch! No longer in pain but able to feel, but you bastards were already talking so I just listened to the story, Thana shot back.
So, you still have all of your memories? John probed.
You mean years upon years of torment? Oh yeah, I fucking remember, Thana answered and finally stood up, and I REALLY could live without it. Why?
Rave looked at her and joined Lydia in the club of angry people present. You tortured me until my hair went white! And I was tortured until my hair went blue! Thana said and grabbed her now overly long hair, waving with the tips, You will manage! She got a load of her own hair onto her face. This is fucking annoying by the way. Why is it so long?!
You also ripped out my heart, Aclysiamented.
I had all of my organs rearranged several times, I guarantee that missing your heart is NOT the most unpleasant experience, Thana shot down thatint.
Y-you killed all of us, Gnome, speaking for the elementals, said after appearing. She didnt dare say that to Thanas face, instead hiding behind her summoner.
And just like me, you are still here. Stop being such sissies, you pansies.
John felt the epting mood everyone had for the bundle of insanity he had brought home rapidly decreasing. He had to calm everyone down, especially Thana, who was twitching continuously. Her eyes moved around, her muscles seemed undecided between being utterly tense and totally rxed. She was at the border of hyperventtion. For all her quick responses, she was not in the right state of mind. How about we eat something. Aclysia? Do you have something you can prepare in a few minutes?
There is some canned soup, she suggested.
Great, do that. Why dont we all sit down for a moment? he pointed at the dinner table.
They were a weird assembly. Lydia in her military outfit, Rave in her skimpy clothes, Momo (still reading) in her poncho, Gnome in her yellow dress, John in his ravaged suit and Thana naked. They sat around the wooden table in strained silence.
Shut up, Thana mumbled and mmed her hand on the table. This time it only creaked. See? I can respect your property once I get used to having an actually working body! she triumphantly dered. A momentter Aclysia put tes in front of everyone. When Thana raised her hand to make room for it she revealed a hand sized dent in the wood.
The fuck am I supposed to do with this? Thana asked and pointed at the te.
Eat it? John suggested.
I dont NEED to eat, she reminded him. My body only needs mana to sustain itself, which I produce by having blood in my system. I am pretty much perpetually self-sustaining, I could likely survive endlessly in a fucking vacuum.
Try it, he urged her and took his own spoon, you wont lose anything, right? The soup was still too hot to eat immediately, so he blew the steam off his spoon.
With a raised eyebrow, Thana picked up the spoon like a child would and then jammed it in there. Stters of the hot liquid went everywhere. Wrong, stupid girl, she reprimanded herself, nced at the way John did it, with her seven-dotted eyes, slowly rotating, and immediately corrected how she held the utensil.
With a bit more grace, albeit still very little, she brought the spoon upwards. Her head travelled the majority of the distance though. When she was about to eat, her hair got in the way. Stupid fucking long ass shit, she cursed and dropped the spoon back into the soup, causing even more drops to fly onto the table. Who even gave me long hair?! Urgh, this sucks!
That was it for Lydia. Sit straight! shemanded and got up.
Or what? Thana asked, Are you going to threaten me with a spanking, anal queen? That response caused raised eyebrows and wrinkled foreheads everywhere.
Do you mean anal as in overly meticulous or because she would like it up the butt? John carefully asked.
Both! Shes a fucking slut for it! Thana answered with confidence and then blinked in confusion, Wait, how do I know that?
Probably my blood swimming around in that head of yours, Rave said. No problem by the way, I just love bleeding for ya, she sarcastically added while eating a spoonful off her own te.
Thanas expression suddenly copsed into a in neutrality, I am so sorry.
Ya what now? Rave was genuinely surprised.
I just UGH FUCK THIS, Thana grabbed the spoon in her soup and rammed the wide side into her hand. The blunt metal object sunk all the way through until the knocking sound of metal hitting wood rang through the room.
Thana took a controlled breath as she kept the spoon right where it was, even as her natural healing abilities tried to push it out. I am sorry, okay, she hissed, I dont fucking know whats happening. I was DEAD. In one moment, I see your bitch ass boyfriend cry over me as I finally taste the sweet mercy of numbness and then I wake up and everything is fucking different! I dont know whats going on, I am freaking the fuck out. I DONT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE PEOPLE THAT DONT TRY TO STAB ME!
She pulled out the spoon and rammed it in again a split-secondter, enough time for the first wound to be healed. A mad giggle rose in her throat, the pain visibly causing her relief. Fuck panic attacks, fuck this, fuck How the shit am I supposed to handle you bastards?! Youre way too nice! I fucking tore you to shreds and all you want is an apology?! Are you for fucking real?! It killed over a hundred people to bring me back and now I have to live with that too or can I fucking die or do I even want to?! Im sorry for all of that, BUT WHERE DO I EVEN FUCKING START!
Thana ripped the spoon out of her hand and tossed it back on the te. By the time the metal sunk into the liquid, her blood had entirely flowed back into the wound, which had closed a split secondter.
And now I have fucking soup in my blood, she said and threw her arms into the air.
Pfft, Rave giggled and then broke outughing. John couldnt help but giggle along. Aclysia also smiled while Lydia just stopped looking pissed and returned to a stern expression. Okay, okay, I forgive ya, the techno-lover said. Just for that.
Oh, how god-gracious of you, should I grovel before your perfect ass next? Thana said in an amused tone.
Now that you have screamed out all of your panic- Lydia began.
Hah! All! Good one, Thana interrupted.
-how about you concentrate on table manners? the princess finished her sentence, ignoring the blood mages constant backtalk.
Or what?
Or I am throwing you out, Lydia said. Then you can search in that whole, unknown world for your own purpose. I am willing to help you, but only if you ept some responsibilities.
Like table manners? Thana asked.
And wearing clothes, for a start, the princess added.
Their eyes met and then, slowly, Thana relented. Fine, she agreed in a tone that sounded surprisingly normal.
Good, you like your hair that long? Lydia asked.
Fuck no, Thana said back.
Shame, you look cute with it, John chimed back in. With furrowed eyebrows, Thana looked at him, her eyes reflectingplete confusion.
How the fuck can you call me cute when I ripped open your chest?
Because you are? John waved it off. Look, I have been in and seen some major shit by now. I just got betrayed by, who I thought to be, my best friend. I might as well try to befriend who was once my most hated enemy.
Stop making me feel sorry by being nice, you jackass! Thana grit her teeth.
May I suggest you eat your soup before it gets cold, Thana, Aclysia suggested and handed her back her spoon. Confused into silence, Thana took it.
So, how short would you want it? Lydia asked, positioning herself behind Thana. With a side-nce she said, How long would you think is still cute, John?
Is that important? he asked with a teasing smile.
SHUT THE FUCK UP AND TELL ME! Thana exploded, still not having eaten a single spoon of soup. About the middle of your back I would say, John gave in.
Mhm, are ya telling me I should let my hair grow, Johny? Rave asked from the side-lines.
No, your hair is a national treasure, John quickly told her, I have no idea how you pull off having that orderly a dishevelled look, but it''s sexy as hell.
Correct answer, tiger, Rave winked.
Aclysia, could you get into the bathroom on this floor and bring me the ck bag with the silver buttons? Lydia requested.
At once, your majesty, Aclysia said and quickly stepped away. By the time she returned the princess had managed to get Thana into a sitting position that actually looked like an adult at a table.
Even if she is shorter than most teens, John allowed himself a humorous thought. After her outburst everyone seemed to ept Thana. The realization that they were dealing with a broken person trying her best had settled in. Whether that was going to be enough for long term eptance remained to be seen, but they were at least going to give her a chance.
As she finally ate her first spoon of now halfway cold soup, Thanas eyes became wet. Behind her, Lydia was brushing her hair, keeping it out of her face. Suddenly, Thana dropped the spoon and hid her eyes from everyone behind her hands. A soft quiver went through her body.
Is it not good? Aclysia asked, worried.
Its fucking great, I justam not hungry a growling sound, of a stomach that now realized what food was for the first time in half a century, proved her wrong. Nobodymented on that, especially as the quivers continued.
You have nice hair. After a bit of tending, the years of neglect will be nowhere to be seen, Lydiamented. She put aside the brush and now took a finerb out. After running it through her hair until there was not the slightest bit of resistance by small knots or tangles, she went for a scissor and started cutting it with professional movements. Thana sniffed.
Ya can cry, ya know? Rave softly spoke, I know ya did it before, there is no shame in it.
You dumb bitch, I never cried before, ever, Thana halfway choked on tears, halfwayughed. Seriously, never Rave left the umented and just put her hand on Thanas.
You know, I was dead towards the end, Sylph suddenly spawned, but when I look back at Johns memories I remember this one sentence.
Y-yeah, you said that Gnome continued. that you were so insane Undine softly melodized.
With a grin Smander finished the sentence, that you looped right back to being reasonable.
I understand that your life has broken you, I am just happy that you get a second attempt at a normal one, John put a hand on her shoulder. He would have hugged her, but Lydia was still working on her hair, and, if you want to, we can stick by you until you feel whole again.
Oh fuck off, you pieces of understanding bonemongling, Thana, crying, cursed at them and lowered her hands. Her violet eyes were swollen from the tears, they rolled down her cheeks and dropped on the carpet in a steady stream. You are not helping me with all of this niceness shit! You are not my enemies, you are not people I fight to feel, I dont know what you are.
Try friends, John suggested. Not right now, but we could be.
Oh shut the fuck up, Thana sniffed, I am a monster. I dont get friends.
With a loud p Momo closed her book and got up. She vanished upstairs. She came back just when Lydia had finished up the general touches of cutting Thanas hair. Blue strands of hairy piled up on the ground.
Momo threw the nket over Thana. Come with me, the support said, after wrapping Thana in the warming cloth. Something about the supports tone had the pretty little psycho pull along. She was just a crying head sticking out of a wrapped up, blue nket, so long that it dragged over the ground as she waddled after Momo. Confused, everyone else also followed.
It clicked when Momo opened the door. It was a painful memory, one the elementals had probably only looked at once, one that Momo hadnt been around to witness herself. With a firm tug, the supporter pulled Thana outside. There, Momo said and pointed at the heaven above, now you can look at what John was so inept at describing.
It wasnt a particrly nice day, grey winter clouds rolled above, hours earlier it had snowed that watery snow that became a dirty mess quickly. But there was a gap between the clouds and even though it was cold, the sun shone radiantly in a pale blue frame.
Thanaughed insanely as she stared right at it. Thats the fucking sun? Its way too fucking bright, she cackled as tears continued to rush down her face. What kind of idiot thinks that that is beautiful? Ahahahahaha, her knees gave in and she fell on her butt as she continued tough.
I kind of do, Rave mumbled.
Then you are a massive dumbass, Thana sniffed, would you be dumbass enough to be friends with a monster?
Sure, Rave answered instantly.
I will manage, Lydia agreed.
Uhm, I-I think as elementals we kind of qualify as monsters? Gnome was confused and looked at her sisters.
I do at the very least, Siena said from Johns shadow.
If you do well, you arent a monster, Momo disagreed.
Stay away from my kitchen, Aclysia warned, and dont make Master sad again and I will be happy to call you a friend.
We all are dumbass enough, John finished and extended his hand to help her up. With a smile too wide and something like joy in her amethyst eyes Thana took it. She wanted to say something, but her words were drowned in sobs too intense to speak through. This time, John did hug her. He pulled her back inside, where it was warm, where he always wanted her to be.
End of Arc 1 Old Blood
Chapter 205 – Epilogue – All of them
Chapter 205 C Epilogue C All of them
So, how did you solve the Nia situation yesterday? John asked, once again in the cathedral. Today would be thest time. I totally forgot to ask after everything else that had happened.
The skin around Lydias nose wrinkled. It was part of a sour expression that only stayed for a moment, AFTER you removed Aclysia as my emergency way out
Sorry about that John apologized.
Lydia shrugged and let out a deep sigh. She knew the circumstances and thus did not condemn him too much. I found a reference case in the past. Using that, she was still epted under the demand that I show a photo and make a certain concession
Which would be?
They get to choose their group fight roster after ours in the first round.
Oh so that likely puts us 2 points behind, huh? John mumbled.
Indeed, but I am certain that Nia can beat Maximillian and every other mage, so this should be a worthwhile investment, Lydia agreed.
And how are we going to handle Thana? he asked, Can she juste with us to Rome?
Ah, there wont be a problem, Lydia said, her previously annoyed tone shifting into a heavily satisfied one, We will go there, all of us.
With those words Lydia made her way to her spot at the middle teau. What would she mean by that? he asked no one in particr, his mind had alreadye to a conclusion.
I think you have the correct idea, Master, Aclysia whispered to him. They still had to be mindful of the general quiet in the cathedral.
Yeah? Well, that would mean you dont get to participate, though, he reminded her.
I will happily give up my participation if it increases your chance of sess, Aclysia said, and considering all known factors, it will increase them greatly.
True enough, John agreed. I will still be relying on you when we go grinding though.
Master, you can rely on me however you need. The maid grabbed his arm and pressed a kiss on his cheek. Now more than ever.
John looked at her for a few moments. He wanted to smile, but his lips refused to curl. In the absence of joy, he just leaned against her. She reciprocated and they just stood there, bodies and minds embracing one another. Had Rave been there, she would have doubtlessly joined them. It was good to have people they knew they could trust. If ever the harem, too, turned out to betray him, then John did not know if he could ever recover.
What do you think about this Siena? John asked, once his mind was ready for levity again.
I think you need a nice chase through some dark woods, followed by your guts being spilled over the pine-needle covered floor, the nightmare elemental answered in her usual calm sexiness.
Man, you are, like, so brutal, why dont you take some time off and be Johns courtesan? Sylph suggested from another corner of his mind, Maybe his dick will give you something to spill, wink wink, nudge nudge.
Mhm, If you will take the submissive part I will consider it, Siena sighed back, having experienced just how frustrating it was to fight against Sylph.
As promised she had had her ten minutes to try to murder John and as promised he hadnt used his new armguard. Not that he needed it when he had ess to all of his elementals. Siena had spent the ten minutes hiding in the shadows and chipping away at his Mana Protection, as she couldnt hope to directly attack her summoner as long as his elementals were around, especially Sylph who had the shocking habit of throwing lightning. John hadnt even needed to resort to Momos mana.
I will get another chance, eventually, Siena told herself and dropped out of his thoughts.
That was when Romulus gestured for thest contestants to be revealed. John didnt know who the enemy number 4 was yet, that was a thing he would have to ask aboutter as well, but the one revealed this time was called Mario de Medici. Those are two pretty well-known names, although for entirely different reasons, John mused as he looked for the man.
He was an Italian, to no surprise, with the typical Mediterranean skin tone of a light brown. He was a handsome guy with an elegant jawline, tall, short dark hair, probably in his early twenties. Leather armour reinforced with a greenish metal added a rugged charm to his overall graceful, natural looks. Two swords hung from the left side of his hip, a dagger from the right, and a shorter sword was bound to his back.
Well, that was a pretty concerning enemy. Then again, the person that walked up for Lydia made pretty much every enemy irrelevant. I really wish they would stop trying to surprise me, only to give me giant hints a few seconds early, kinda ruins the surprise, John thought as the short figure passed him.
Her frame wasrgely hidden by a loose, ck robe. Its hood was put back, her white-blue hairyered on top. Thana walked in a manner more rxed than anything she had shown yesterday. After bawling her heart out for a few hours, she had stabilized a lot. Her grin still had something unstable to it and when she locked eyes with someone she stared until they surrendered. To John these gemstone-like eyes were fascinating, but the case for them being highly unnerving on this sickly pale girl could easily be made.
The tournament would be a lot easier with her around.
A LOT easier.
Do you, Mario de Medici, Knight of Rome, wish to fight for your candidate? Romulus asked the customary question. For the glory of the empire, I will fight for the one true king of Germany, the knight said and took a knee. He did that with such carefulness that one couldnt tell whether he was bowing before Maximillian, Romulus or both.
Your pledge is heard and epted. The fighters on the side of the Candidatum Primus are now all assembled.
His eyes moved over. Before I can ask for your earnest intentions, I will have to ask for your full name.
Its just Thana, the bloodmage shrugged, guess youll have to live with that. The hall was filled with amused chatting in response to the newest contestants uncaring tone.
You will speak with respect to Romulus! Sol demanded.
Nah, Thana waved it off. Then Lydia bowed down to her and whispered something into her ear.
Okay, kurva, I get it, she annoyedly gave in and cleared her throat. I, Thana, have nost name as I lost all of my memories thanks to Nazis torturing the fuck out of me, in fact Thana isnt even my real name, she said in such a monotone voice that it was almost more insulting than the previous words, so you are shit out of luck.
Silence swept through the gathered people. Thana, without any reason at all, chuckled for a moment, then took an entirely unnecessary step to the left, her bare foot stomping down. Probably another one of these faces she sees everywhere, John thought.
I see, Romulus finally said after some thought. Nevertheless, I have to ask that you may state ast name. Speak it now and I will guarantee that it will be the one the world calls you by, until you care for it no longer.
Oh? How nicemhm Thana bent backwards, her robe opening at the front and revealing that she only wore things that only hid the most necessary. A bikini top, held with an iron ring in the middle of the chest, and a string thong that was hiding the basic decency of what underwear was supposed to cover, while doing absolutely nothing to hide anything else, both made from ck leather.
That leather bikini was about all that they managed to get her to wear after having brought her to the mall in some of Raves clothes. The whole trip had been ceaselessints about how the clothes had been too big everywhere but in the chest area.
Getting her to wear the robe was considerably easier, she liked that piece of clothing for some reason. Both articles had cost A LOT of money, more than John could have hoped to earn even if he farmed for two weeks straight. It made sense, they needed to be durable enough to withstand whatever Thana could do to them in battle, but Lydia paid up without hesitation. In hindsight, John could easily see why.
John also got himself some new suits at the asion, with basic fire resistance so that they wouldnt get destroyed the next time he used the armguard. He had to pay for those himself.
Thana continued to bend until her head was on the same level as her hips. The blue ends of her hair almost touched the floor. The princess had cut the hair until it only reached halfway down Thanas back. Wild bangs covered her forehead and framed her face. The idea to braid her hair, the blood mage had denied.
Hervender, seven-dotted eyes scanned the audience. She found John at his usual spot at the side. Her grin seemed to grow just the slightest bit wider. In a sh her back was straight again. Ill take Newman, she announced.
John groaned, of course she did. Jane wont like that, Aclysiamented.
No, she probably wont, he answered and looked over to one of the many cameras.
It is weirdly appropriate though, Momo, who had actuallye with them today, chimed in, You know, because she is a strictly superior human being, a New Human.
I dont care about how appropriate it is, it will get the rumour machine running to all hell, John whined. His ears picked up a low, deep sound at that moment and his eyes looked up to the teau on top. Did Romulus just chuckle?
Very well then, Thana Newman, he spoke, causing Johns insides to cringe, do you wish to fight for your candidate?
Well, honestly I just want to fuck some shit up, but sure I will help Lylytina here, Thana said. Another round of wild chattering, then the whole world was witness to the rare sight of Lydia, princess of steel, losing her temper.
W-what do you think you are doing?! she stammered, red from both anger and embarrassment. She hadpletely lost her upright stance, now gesturing wildly at herst fighter.
The hell I want, same as usual, Thanaughed into her face and booped her on the nose, Its a cute nickname.
We are IN COURT! the princess loudly reminded her chosen fighter.
Meh, was all Thana had to say.
Ha! a singleugh escaped Romulus before he got himself under control again, as Sol and Luna both looked at him disapprovingly. No matter who you were, apparently women were able to find a way to maintain some control over their lovers. The giant cleared his throat and continued in his usual, rumbling voice as if nothing had happened. I hear your pledge and it is epted. The fighters of the Candidatum Secundus are now all assembled, he announced.
Mario walked over to Thana with confidence, anger in his eyes. May the better team win, the knight said and reached towards her with his leather gauntleted hand, being us, the ones who stay courtly, of course.
Thana looked at the extended hand with a neutral expression. In an urging gesture, Mario twitched his hand. It was pretty clear that he was nning something. Still lookingpletely unimpressed, Thana took it.
With a smile Mario tightened his grip so strongly that the leather creaked. Surely, it was his intention to intimidate the intruder who went ahead and broke court conventions. Thana maintained her neutral expression. After a few seconds, she raised a single eyebrow. Marios lips pressed together as he put more and more effort into the handshake until his whole body seemed to concentrate on that motion.
Are you actually trying to break my hand or what the fuck is this? Thana asked.
Oh no, I only want to put a bit of pressure on you, Mario returned, trying his best to mask the strained state of his body. The tiny girl in front of him raised a white eyebrow, the golden dots inside her violet eyes rotating with elerating speed.
You know, you longsword-lover, for a moment there I thought there were a surprisingly low amount of shitheads around, Thana said and her white teeth shed as her mad grin returned, but now I can inly see that you are a fucking moron.
She returned the strong grip in kind. Bones were crushed with the same ease John would have snapped a chicken wing with. Mario cursed in Italian and stumbled back when he was released. His fingers were not sticking out the right way.
Whoops, only meant to put a bit of pressure on you, she innocently said, making a shocked impression, before starting tough maniacally. The shrill noise was apanied by a deep undertone, silent at first, then a loud roar as Romulus burst outughing.
This! Toga waving, he jumped off his throne and walked down the three steps underneath. will be a legendary tournament it seems. The yers are as unusual as never before and now that everyone is assembled, this story may take its path and be witnessed by the masses. Go forth and fight for glory, be it your own or of those you deem worthy of support, he passed the electors and walked towards the exit as he, in a mood that put a wide smile on his face, spoke thest words of the event. For next we see each other in the eternal city of Rome!
Author’s Note – S2 Arc 1 ‘Old Blood’
Authors Note C S2 Arc 1 Old Blood
I want to start by thanking all of my Patrons. You guys rock and It can''t be stressed enough that you are my hope to one day make this more than a hobby. If you would like to support me, please click the link and pledge whatever amount seems reasonable to you.
/Funatic
Now to the actual Authors Note.
As the pieces came together I eventually ended with the conclusion that the only way for Thanas story to logically end was to die. Yes, I could have introduced tools to make it different but I dislike doing so. Believe me when I tell you that the person most saddened by her demise is me (I actually cried writing her death chapter, fucked up stuff).
Anyone remember that statement from thest author''s note? Well, sorry for tricking you. It had actually crossed my mind then and several times after to just reveal that Thana woulde back. I didnt make a secret out of the possibility existing, although I left the HOW in the dark until the veryst minute, but actually confirming that she woulde back felt wrong
This arc was never supposed to be this long anyhow. I had originally wanted to make this about as long as the Bloodfallen arc, which was around 40k words. Well, with almost 120k, this one is even longer than the 100k of thest arc. Actually, this arc is longer than some books you may have read, like The Hobbit (95022 words) or the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (109571 words).
This is because things kept inting the length. The original n was that I introduced Lydia, then the announcements happened and then we moved to Rome. However, I had a lot of spare time in between these announcements and suddenly Siena wanted to be a thing, also Nathalia, who was scheduled toe in the next arc, could use a bit more screentime, right? Not to mention that Aclysia deserved some more time, also, in order for the betrayal of Herman to sting, I needed to develop him a bit more. Also, Momo needed a bit more time. Worst of all, my chapter length is now about 2400-2500 words average, back at the Bloodfallen Arc it was 1793, so that didnt help.
Oh also: Fluffy Monday. You can thank/me a guy on my Discord for that, I put a lot of things into that Monday that had to happen and I am not mad that I made it (on the contrary, I quite liked doing some cute stuff with no threat attached for a change) but it sure took a lot of time. Writing fluff is surprisingly hard.
Lets talk about the name for a moment. Old Blood was a multiyered title, as I always strive to have. On the surface Old Blood points towards the noble houses of Germany in this story, in other words: Lydia, as this arc isrgely her introduction into the story. Going a bit deeper, Old Blood also refers to the rivalry between the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollern. Lastly Old Blood is a rather crude note towards that, at the end of this arc, the blood of old people will be spilled. We will talk about the one doing the spilling in a moment.
Lots of very strong people in this arc as well: Romulus, Sol, Luna, the Reichsadler, not to mention showing Gaia literally erasing someone at the end of the arc. I very much like Overpowered characters, and I cant wait for the day that I can fully bring John into that fold where his powers have bepletely ridiculous, we are slowly getting there.
What else happened in this Arc? Well, there was the side story. Gnome and Smander were mostly just digging deeper on things you were already aware about and I showed an uglier side of Sylph in the form of her flipping the fuck out. Having a peek into Undines thoughts was probably the biggest surprise for most of you, being that she turns out to be a rather conflicted gal. It will probably take a while until we can get back to that plot point, but I hope you keep it in mind whenever even the slightest mention of Undine is on the screen. Totally not being ominous right now >:D.
Also in this arc: Me using Europa Universalis 4 screenshots to draw maps. This may or may not be implemented in the future again, so please let me know whether you felt it was an okay way to disy things.
In terms of girls we have 0 new and 4 actual additions this arc. Thana, Momo and Lydia were all already on screen in thest arc, our resident princess was there even before that, technically, but now they actually have speaking roles. I usually only count girls that actually had sex scenes into my girls category, but we all know that Johns gonna stick his dick in crazy in the forms of Siena and Thana soon enough.
I think we have finally reached the point where I am not going to introduce a whole slew of girls in every arc. The harem now has the size of 11 members, counting every girl that lives, he has sexed, or will sex soon. Next arc will see Nia Fae, I think I can say that much without a spoiler, and another girl but I cant say more about that without giving you the spoils.
I think this is all I want to say about the arc. If you have any questions let me know in thement section, or write me a PM if that is more of your stick. Feedback is always appreciated, so if you could tell me what your most/least favourite moments and/or chapters this arc were I would be interested to hear. Also, once again, consider supporting me on Patreon, thanks go out to everyone who already does.
Extended Character Insight: Herman urum
Or SecretBlonde as he was known for the longest time. His secret is something I took a lot of time building up and, as always, I feel I did it a horrible injustice. The problem with him was that I didnt want to give too MANY hints, because his was an identity I wanted to be an actual punch to the gut, so people figuring it out in advance would have been a bit problematic. I am also trying to not make John like a clueless buffoon, so having the audience figure a lot of this out before him makes him look heavily ipetent, the goal is to give you guys enough hints to figure it out if you really look into it, but otherwise you are supposed to get this at the same time as John.
Herman started as a dummy plot if I am honest. I knew I would need some shape of antagonist in the early arcs. Not someone like the Bloodfallen who were more of a background threat, but the Bloodfallen only came about afterwards anyhow.
First mention of Herman is therefore all the way back in chapter 2 (or 4 if you count from the very beginning) as the person looking up to John after he uses Possession for the first time. What I then made from that was the information broker known as SecretBlonde, but it would take some baby steps to actually create that nickname.
First the decision was made to actually make him an information broker. I needed an antagonist, yes, but not an actual enemy to fight. John had enough of those in the form of monsters. No, what he needed to be was a constant threat to something John used to have: Privacy. With the loss of privacy there was also the danger of people finding him that you really dont want to find you. That plotline was only briefly cut on with the bunch of rockers at the start.
Anyhow, I had my enigmatic enemy in the background to shape however I wanted once the story would pick up some steam. Then I created the world and made the decision to have the Discord chat that would spawn be popted with important people from almost all big organizations. Thana also rolled around at that point, so I decided to have themunists involved in the shape of Blood.
Thats when the idea struck me to make SecretBlonde a Nazi and then the pieces lined up. The pieces to make Thanas life the hell it was, to give her the send-off she deserved and then have an excuse to bring her back. SecretBlonde, at that point, became the Betrayer of All. The one who only was focused around one and only one part of the Nazi ideology, the superior human being. The one who would do whatever it took to either make himself like her or, if that failed, to at least have her stay in this world.
The goal was set, it was time to construct the path. First, I introduced Herman by putting him in the hospital. Just a background mention, nothing important. Next, I had him in Aclysias side story, as his in for the group. Herman himself told you about that part, however, so no need to rattle down the story here.
With the intention of writing Herman so that he looked like a total bro, but who sometimes took actions which didnt add up with that persona. This is perhaps where I failed the most, I dont think Herman said or did a lot of things where people raised an eyebrow and went Thats not in character which is partly good, he was meant to be a VERY good actor, but there should have been some more hints in the way he acted.
Not that I didnt give you no hints, mind you. The whole meta-talk about detective stories he had with Momo for example was a giant nod towards him not beingpletely clean. The joke about metal was a bit more out there but Aurum in urum isnt exactly hidden either. An apothecary just being able to say, with certainty, what the tank Thana was in would be able to do was also not handwaving, but him literally having built the thing. I try not to do a lot of handwaving (I am by no means opposed to doing it, if the story so requires, but its a tool to be used cautiously), so I hope that stuck out at least a bit. There were some more nuggets you could find every here and then, upon rereading the story with the knowledge of who he is, but I dont think this story is good enough to warrant a second going through
Which is mostly the early parts sucking from a writing perspective, starting Arc 3 things get tolerable in my opinion. Back to Herman though.
So, we reach his end ording to the prophecy. He dropped his persona, read as: it fell. A bit of a stretch, I know, but its a fucking prophecy, these are always pretty stretchy. Just the nature of the beast. If you want to you can take the line I fall for my convictions instead.
With Herman urum ends the first antagonist of the story. With SecretBlonde removed, the te is finally clean for the tournament to begin without John having any worries of the past. Which means we get to focus on other characters instead.
Next Arc we will see the mother-daughter rivalry of Nariko and Rave, Momo getting a fighting style, Nia Fae, a Christmas party, Thanas true power, Siena being a murderous bitch, what the Metracana really is and much, much more.
Be ready for what I n to make the longest Arc in the season, I hope you alle back for the second arc of the second season Rex Germaniae of the Gamer, CHYOA edition, called You will remember me.
Chapter 206 – Season 2 Arc 2 Start – Packing up
Chapter 206 C Season 2 Arc 2 Start C Packing up
I want you to leave this house in a presentable state! Lydia shouted hermand, herself wiping off the living room table.
Yes, yes. Momo raised her book as Lydia mopped by, helping just as much as she had created dirt since they had changed to this house.
I just got here yesterday, so its pretty much exactly how I fucking found it. Thana had her feet on the coffee table.
Sitting to her right, John tapped away at his phone, ying a mobile game against his girlfriend. Rave, in turn,y on the couch, her head in hisp. For a moment, he took his eyes off the screen to carefully inspect what Thana was doing with her naked feet. I fixed that table for you.
Yes, and? Thana said and drummed her hands on her naked thighs. It was impossible to get her to wear more clothes than the robe and the leather bikini, which included a vehement denial of socks and shoes. Want to fix it a-fucking-gain? If you are bored, that''s certainly something I can do for you. I like breaking shit.
John didnt answer that. Instead he asked something that made him curious. You are no longer in constant pain, right? he asked.
Well, existence is pain because I have to share it with so many fucking mongrels who deserve to have my fist so far up their ass that I could use them in a puppet theatre, Thana answered, Physically, no, I am not. Thank fucking god, if the shithead exists. Which he doesnt C or she, whatever.
Then why are you still cursing all the time? John wondered and made the mistake of ncing up from his phone for a moment, a moment of weakness, which Rave used to start abo which he was then locked in until she would mess up on the rhythm of pressing the buttons.
Because, you CPU, it is fun, Thana simply stated, And I have like 70 years of curses to catch up on.
CPU? Why am I a processor unit now?
It stands for Complete Pervert Unit, dumbass, Thana giggled at her own joke. She stopped suddenly and then red at a random point of her armrest.
Ya really need to stop doing that, Ravemented, still executing herbo. Her skills at most video games weren''t all that great, she yed for fun, but in rhythm games John couldnt hold a candle to her.
Doing what?! Thana eximed.
That whole randomly reacting to things nobody else can see-thing. Does not present a good case for ya sanity, Rave answered.
Thatbo is bullshit, Johnined when his character fell to the ground, defeated. Infinitebos are bullshit, lets y something thats actually bnced.
Fuck off, there is no good case to be made for my fucking sanity, Thana cursed at Rave.
Ya still should try getting it under control. What game are ya thinking of? the techno-lover lowered her phone to look up at John.
Dont know, how about quiz duel? he answered.
And face your ginormous trivia brain? Nah, Rave outright denied.
The faces are going away anyhow, Thana informed them, the two conversations effortlessly intertwining.
Really? That sounds good, John said, but howe?
No idea, maybe it was something wrong with my brain that the masked cock-muncher fixed when he revived me. Before they used to just be superimposed on every surface and annoy the shit out of me, now some of them just pop-up and say stupid annoying crap.
His name was Herman by the way, John corrected her.
I know, what a dumbass name. Herman, Herr Mann, thats literally mister man. Germans are stupid. Thanazily wiggled her toes.
Says the girl that took Newman as herst name, Ravemented and gave Thana some seriously pissed side-eye. Still not cool by the way.
Ah, quit your whining, seizure hands, its a good name, Thana said and, cackling maniacally, bowed over Raves head. Ya fucking mad cause I took it before ya? she mocked the techno-lover.
Ja, now go annoy somebody else, you have way too much energy, Rave flicked her on the forehead and Thana, acting like that had actually hurt her, backflipped from the couch.
When shended on the floor a vacuum cleaner hovered towards her. You can get right to making yourself useful instead, Lydia said and red at all of them, Lazy bunch. I suddenly understand why so many rulers go tyrannical, with subjects like you, dictatorship is the only way!
Aaaaw, dont be like that Lyly. Youre already a fucking tyrant, no reason to be even worse, Thana said, after catching the vacuum cleaner, and looked at the thing in her hands like it was alien machinery.
You are making me regret my decision to extend my hand in friendship to you, Lydia mumbled.
The smile on Thanas face fell instantly. After a few moments of silence, she mumbled, Fucking dumbass cant do anything right, stupid cunt She shook her head. Fine, what does this do? She kept eying the vacuum.
A shadowy mist at Thanas feet provided the answer. It sucks really good, Siena mused, materializing next to the manic blood mage.
Oh yeah? So, its a blowjob machine or what? Thana answered, confused.
Siena giggled, I like you.
Careful, that means she wants to cut you, John shouted from the couch, choosing a character for the next round of this game he was bound to lose in.
I actually do not, the nightmare elemental informed John. Now it was his turn to be confused.
Come again? he asked, I thought your whole shtick is skewering people.
A gross oversimplification of my ecstasies, Siena softly sighed, I only wish to show those that are happy that they bleed like everyone else.
By violently murdering them, John drilymented.
Siena shook her head, Violently? Master, you should know that I am very skilled with my hands. Erotically would be a more fitting word.
I would like to test that im, but there is no way in hell that I am going to let those ws near my balls, unless I need a shave, John said and got augh from Rave for that.
Ya pervert, she said and lightly punched him in the side.
Why yes, but I am YOUR pervert, John answered.
Ya never get tired of saying that, do ya? Rave mused and threw her phone on the table, Gimme a kiss, my perv. John happily obliged.
That is all fine and interesting, Lydia said dryly, but could someone please exin to Thana how to use that vacuum cleaner? I need to order my paperwork for transportation.
Fine, John sighed after no one else answered.
No fair, my pillow! Raveined when he wiggled away from under her and got up.
Finally, at least some of you plebeians are doing something, Lydias iron voice didnt show a bit of actual happiness and she whirled around, leaving for her room. It urred to John that they had maybe teased her a tad too much.
John went over to Thana who still turned the vacuum cleaner in her arms. The appliance was the size of her torso, but that did not stop her from handling it like it was a Rubiks cube. Okay, the fuck is this and what does it actually do?
It is called a vacuum cleaner, and despite Sienas bloomynguage
You mean her fuck-speak?
it does what she said: It sucks in dirt and dust from the ground, John answered as he got closer. So, first thing we need to do is put it down, John said and was promptly rewarded with Thana dropping the thing straight on the ground. a bit gentler would have been better, electronics in general dont like a lot of shaking, he added. This one seems to be sturdy, so it should be fine.
Okay, noted, what now?
First we take this cable, John said and pointed at the ck cable sticking out of the bottom.
How? Thing is way too fucking short, Thana said.
Just give it a tug a careful tug, John suggested.
The blood mage squatted down, grabbed the wide end of the cable and then had the torn end of the cable in her hand faster than John could say the word gently. Whooops, Thana raised it towards John, her dark red fingernails, made from clotted blood, rising sharply from her pale skin, was that important?
John silently reprimanded himself. He should have expected all of this to be a rather daunting task, after he had seen the spoon she had used to eat soup. The poor thing had been bent and squeezed all over. The te hadnt gotten away much better, being full of scratches (indicating that Thana had actually eaten more than a bit of porcin). Generally, everything she touched broke.
Yup John said and, patiently, took it off her. You really need to be careful with that inhuman strength of yours.
Shit REALLY, asshole? Thana growled, then copsed into an apologetic whisper. It was weird to hear her voice be soft, considering her usual cadence, Please, give me a few days, Ill try to figure it out.
As long as you keep trying, John tried to be encouraging.
Dont give me that pep-talk shit, I am more than four times your age, I just need to get this under control. Thana was immediately back to her usual aggressiveness. She watched as John repaired the cable with Craft. Just tell me what I need to do until I seed, I can take more verbal abuse than you could dish out in a fucking lifetime.
Okay, give it a very soft tug, John specified after the machine was in order again. Thana stillpletely overdid it but the cable stayed in one part this time.
Now I have to plug it in, right? the blood mage asked.
How do ya know that part but not what a vacuum cleaner is? Rave asked from the couch.
I just do, okay?! I have a lot of bullshit in my brain I cant quite wrap my head around and stuff is crazy.
If you would be so kind as to not annoy Thana too much, that would be appreciated, Siena added, she has had a rough life.
Fucking thank you, the blood mage cried out and rammed the cable into a nearby socket.
Mhm, how about thanking me via fucking? Siena suggested.
What? Screwing another girl? Thana looked disgusted, then confused,st sheughed loudly Why the hell do I find that weird? Sure, lets fuck someday. Siena chimed into Thanas cackling with giggling of her own.
These two getting along is slightly unnerving, John thought, but he wasnt alone in that. He heard the line spoken, in unison with him, by a shy voice. Gnome had uttered the exact same words as he thought them.
J-jinxed! she then stuttered and giggled cutely when John actually fell silent. Not like there were a lot of sounds he would rather hear than Gnomeughing. Uhm, you can talk again now, please, she told him after the silence drew out and got awkward.
Thanks, anyhow, while it is a bit lets say dangerous, for those two to get along, I would be happy if they had each others back, he told Gnome, Siena is socially able, but a murderous nightmare elemental, while Thana is socially a wreck, but at the very least she tried to get along with us. Maybe theyll cancel each other out?
Or, Smander chimed in, We get two nightmares on legs, both social wrecks, trying to murderfuck you.
Dont worry, the unexpected voice of Undine said, Siena wont try to influence somebody else into killing you.
John blinked, You hang out with her?
Yes, was all Undine had to say before leaving the conversation again.
Ah, well, if Miss Serene takes care of it, its probably fine, Sylph bbered. Totally fine, yep, yep, no reason to worry. I also like Siena, she ys catch with me. Like, yesterday night, we went into the empty room next to yours and jumped around for half an hour. It was cool!
Thats just her training for the day when she can next try to stab John, Smander informed her.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat, nooooooooooooooo, Sylph eximed, Silly Sally, Siena even said: You like to y hard to get? Let me try to sharpen my ws on you.
And what exactly do you think sharpen my ws means, you airhead? Smander shouted at her.
Something about lesbian sex? ''Cause thats what we had after training and it was awesome!
You are a tiny giant idiot!
Hello? Are you fucking home?! Thana asked John and pulled him back into reality.
Yes, sorry, was preupied. What is it? John returned a question.
I plugged the blowjob machine in, now what? the bloodmage gestured at the vacuum cleaner.
Oh, you press the start button, John said and pointed at the area in question.
Cautiously, Thana reached for it with one finger. The stic broke and she punched right through, the machine staying deactivated. For fucks sake, do you build everything out of goddamn paper!? Thana cursed and pulled her hand back.
Nah, we build it with people in mind who can control themselves, Ravemented.
Thana just growled, but the dots in her eyes stayed still, which was an easy way to tell when she was just messing around. The quicker the golden dots rotated, the more agitated Thana was, generally speaking, exception being when she was using her powers, then they spun so fast they turned into a circle.
John repaired that button as well, thankfully it was simple stic and all the parts were still around. Crafts cost shot up the bigger the destruction was, but also the more of the original item was missing. There were also points at which Craft simply didnt work anymore.
Okay, try again, but gently, John warned her.
Yes, yes, Thana said and waved him off. She put her whole palm on the machine to try and spread the energy. The button was pushed and the roaring of an old vacuum cleaner on full energy sted through the room. John only saw a shadow flying by his face, apanied by a panicked scream. Then, the crash.
What was that? Lydia rushed back into the room. What she saw was her vacuum cleaner in thousands of pieces lying underneath a dent in the wallpaper. My propert- she was about toin when her eyes fell on Thana.
The blood mage was breathing in short bursts, dots rotating at a fast pace. Cowering on the ground, she held her ears closed. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, she kept repeating that one word, until John carefully put a hand on her shoulder. Thana froze, her whole body tensing up, then she looked at John. Patiently, he rubbed her back and waited for the dots to slow back down. Sorry it just came unexpectedly, she apologized, once the panic attack had subsided. Her eyes rested on the mess she just made, a piece of the wall''s ster crumbling off, Ill clean that up.
Youll do no such thing, Lydia stopped her. It is evident that youck the proper control of both physique and mind. Rubbing her forehead, she continued. It is my mistake to believe you would be capable of this to start with. Still, we will need to work on your mental state. We cannot have you go shellshocked in the middle of battle.
You cantpare battle-Thana with day-to-day-Thana, the blood mage defended herself, the former knows what she is doing, thetter was literally born yesterday. I would never lose my cool like that in a fight!
The problem remains, however, Lydia said and vanished into the kitchen. She returned with a bag of crisps.
Then she pointed at the table. You will sit down and try eating these, shemanded. In a ridiculous scene, that John was low-key making a mental photo-series of, a Prussian princess told a Nazi experiment to sit down at a table to eat crisps.
My life ispletely weird, John thought with a smile as Lydia ripped open the bag for her. Thana looked inside.
And what exactly is the point of this? she asked.
My aim is that you will eventually be able to look after yourself, so first we teach you how to control that stupendously high strength of yours. If you can eat these without breaking them, that is a sess, Lydia exined.
Thana reached into the bag and by the time she pulled her hand back, the pile of crisps had already turned into potato dust, which then fell on the freshly cleaned table. Hey! Momoined, some of the piecesnding on the pages of her book.
Sorry, Thana quickly apologized and tried (and failed) again, and was left with miniature crumbles in her palm. Guess this is really fucking necessary how do these taste anyhow? She threw the destroyed parts into her mouth. Her eyes went wide as the delicious taste of crisps in all of their unhealthy goodness filled her mouth. She quickly chewed them down. Food is awesome! she eximed as she went for more, How did I never well I know how I have never tried this, I was a potato myself, just like these chips I have now been refined into something way fucking better!
That almost sounds like you are thanking the Nazis, John dared to joke.
Of course I am not, you ass-clown, Thana red at him, the dots turning slowly. If I had the choice of exchanging these powers for a normal fucking life, I would take it before you finished talking, but I will have to live with this shit, right? Or do you happen to know a god of time or some shit like that?
Nope, but even if I did I doubt Gaia would let that fly, John answered, But you are right, nice to hear you have a positive outlook on things.
Positive outlook, my ass is a positive outlook, Thana cursed as another crisp crumbled between her fingers. In Johns personal opinion, her thighs were the most eye-catching part of her, but that was neither here nor there. I am halfway convinced that the anal queen over here will pull out her NSDAP membership card at any moment. It only took a blinks time for her aggressive mood to wither away and leave behind an apologetic, stuttering mess. S-sorry about the vacuum c-cleaner again another chip became just a mess of crumbles, and the table.
Let the cleaning crew worry about it, Lydia said, fidgeting with her braid, that is what I pay them for.
Wait?! Rave eximed, jumping into an upwards sitting position, There is a cleaning crew? Why are we cleaning then?! The princess looked at Rave with such utter contempt that the techno-lover hid behind the armrest of the couch, peeking over like a cat that believed itself in trouble.
You havent cleaned a single thing yet, Lydia reminded her, words like a hammer on an anvil, That aside: Discipline. Good German discipline.
And this is where I expect you to throw an armband with a star on it at me, Thanamented with a mouth full of crumbles.
A love of ones country does not make one a nazi, Lydia reprimanded in a stern tone, and I refuse to entertain that thought.
Thana answered with the Polish version of whatever, which John only knew because she used this word a lot.
Note to self: Learn Polish, John thought, learning anguage took him little more than a month, he probably could do it in a week if he tried, at this point, so he might as well. Should also add Japanese to that list in the future, he added after looking at Rave.
Anyway, so there is a cleaning crew guess I am going back to gaming then, John said and walked back over to the couch.
Are you going to never clean-up after yourself, John Newman? Lydia folded her hands behind her back and simply beheld him judgementally.
Nah, I have Aclysia for that, right Aclysia? he timed that question with the guardian appearing in the doorway to the living room.
I am happy to take care of all of Masters dirt. All I require is love and maintenance, Aclysia answered with a respectful bow.
Maintenance being physical love, John exined, even though nobody was wondering. Ie to report that all of the upper floor has been cleaned and the luggage is ready in the entrance area, Aclysia then stated.
I might marry ya to just get Aclysia bound to me as well, Rave joked.
Would not me you, she is the best, John agreed. Aclysia blushed a bit at thepliment, but stayed quiet and maintained a straight face.
She seems pretty neat, can also sh well, Thana said, scratching her neck. I still remember that time she cut my head off.
She cut your head-off? Lydia asked, bamboozled, I thought you died by turning into a red mist.
Dust, apparently. The head-cutting happened earlier in that fight though. It grew back on, go figure, Thana answered.
Excuse the question but if cutting your head off didnt kill you, what does?
Evidently, not even death kills me, so how the fuck would I know? the blood mage said, and I wasnt even at full strength then, I was working on fumes.
Lydias furrowed eyebrows betrayed that she had more questions, but she looked at her watch. I am only five minutes ahead of schedule, I dont have time for any more dys. If you lot want to be pampered by the workforce instead of working for yourselves, so be it, she announced and walked back into her own room. We leave in an hour!
Aclysia, do we still have some food that needs to be taken care of? John asked.
We still have some ingredients in the fridge that I could make a stew out of, however the allocated time wouldnt be enough to prepare and eat it in peace, Master. May I ask for you to ce these ingredients in your inventory? It would be a waste to let them spoil.
John shrugged, Sure, I have the space.
If you do crave a meal at this very moment, we do have the travel rations or I could make an omelette, we have some eggs. John didnt want to eat any of the food Aclysia likely had put away already, so he took the omelette.
Aclysia bowed once more and went into her domain. John finally sat down and, a momentter, Rave ced her head in hisp, where it belonged. They started that stupid mobile game again, which was stupid because Rave kept winning, and soon the match request was epted.
We sure came a long way from doing this stuff in your room, Johnmented when he was locked in getting infiniteboed again.
Tell me about it, Rave giggled then raised an eyebrow, as she felt John unzipping her pants.
Whaddya doing down there? she asked, unwilling to look and potentially lose herbo.
Just using a trick that helped me win in the past, John said and used Possession on her panties. Then he started vibrating them, the same way one made their vocal cords hum. A surprised moan and Rave lost thebo. John never got a chance to capitalize on it though.
Oh, now ya did it!ughing, the techno-lover threw her phone away and grabbed Johns shoulder, a momentter he was lying underneath her as she was straddled over his crotch. Youre a bad boy, ya know that, tiger? she purred, fidgeting with his pants.
Its part of why I am so charming, John said andid back.
Cant you do this upstairs? Momoined when they undressed.
You heard Aclysia, she is done up there. You want us to undo her work? John told her.
Momos resignation entered his spirit. No she meekly admitted.
Thana concentrated on not breaking the crisps between her fingers.
Chapter 207 – Private
Chapter 207 C Private
Aclysia, you are definitely the best thing about this chaotic bunch of fools, Lydia said, while they were on their ride to the airport. The reason for thispliment was Aclysia helping Lydia clean up the rest of the mess they had left behind (she even put the crumbling parts of the wall into a neat pile). Then she had helped their driver to load in their luggage andstly she had brought snacks. Lots and lots of healthy snacks, spread over the table in the middle of the stretch limo.
The artificial guardian lowered her head at thepliment, as actually bowing in the car was pretty hard. That wasnt just because of the fact that the ceiling wasnt high enough.
The car was packed to the brim. The whole crew was there, and the whole crew, for once, meant THE WHOLE crew. Even the five elementals had materialized. Sylph and Smander had even assumed their bigger forms. For security reasons the fire spirit sat between Undine and Gnome.
Cant believe you still think I would put stuff on fire, the ze elementalined.
Well Gnome carefully started, you are still a bit prone to doing it identally.
Huh?! The taller woman turned her aggressive gaze on the brte. Normally, Smander was just a hand-sized me whirling around the ce, but in her big form she was almost as tall as Nathalia. That made her taller than John and certainly taller than Gnome. The earth spirit shrunk a bit further under her younger sisters gaze.
Yeah, Sally, Sylph, tiny even in her big form, stuck her head out from behind Gnome. Just learn to control your fire, what are you, a five-year-old without proper dder control? Get-a, Get-a grip, grip, Sally, you silly Sally silly you, the air elementalughed and promptly managed to miss the ss, filled with orange juice, she was grabbing for, instead threatening to topple it over. Wah! A whirl of magic prevented the spill. Whu, that was close, wasn''t it? Yeah, it was, hey, hey, why are you all looking at me like that?
Everyone around was securing every other item of food on the table, threatened by the gusts Sylph had conjured. The actions werergely unneeded, thanks to Thana creating an impromptu windshield around the table with her blood. The crimson liquid streamed back into the blood mages fingernails and through them back into her body. There was the exception of two tendrils of blood that she used to shovel food into her, controlling those was apparently easier than controlling her body, and a car wasnt a ce to experiment with her physical mastery.
Yeah, good, Thanas words were interrupted by devouring basically a whole packet of sd in one go, good job, Aclysia. Food is great, you are fucking great.
I do wonder about something, John said, just eating a few pieces of cheese himself, how can you eat that much, Thana? And I mean that from a sheer logic standpoint.
The blood mage had basically spent every waking moment since they had entered this car stuffing her face with rations that Aclysia had nned tost eleven people for the whole trip, and was now halfway through all of it on her own. There had to be a bottom to her stomach. I just make it into mana, Thana said nonchntly, or, well, actually I digest it way super fucking fast, then turn all of that into mana. Better than crapping it all out, if you ask me.
So that is how you regenerate mana? John probed deeper.
Nah, I can also regenerate mana by lying in the sun, or breathing, or by simply fucking existing. I get my mana out of metabolism, so, Thana leaned back as one of her tendrils held a bottle of water against her lips. Aaaaah, she let out the held breath after emptying it in one gulp. Fun-fucking-tastic Fact: I could probably absorb semen, she stated, so fucking regenerates mana as well.
Your abilities are far beyond the scope of a regr blood mage, Lydiamented, then again, people who push the limits of what we know appear many times over each century. Our understanding of thews of magic is, at best, rudimentary. The princess nced at John, who let that pass and just listened. At his right side, Rave yawned, being disinterested in magic theory. Personally, I would say that whatever the Nazis did to you increased yourtent abilities far beyond basic capabilities and now you are less of a blood mage than you are flesh mage, the princess continued.
That sounds fucking disgusting. Thana stuffed a boiled egg in her face, swallowing it whole. But exin that to me.
Blood mages cant do all of these things that you do, they only have control over blood, as their name indicates, Lydia obliged. What you do is more akin to taking the functions of your body andpletely recing them with magic. Normal blood mages are not able to reattach limbs, their heads least of all. It is, however, not unheard of for mages within one path of magic to break into a realm above that is basically an improved version of their initial powers. Lydia shrugged, Of course all of this is just a guess. There are other exnations, such as you being an Existence Eater and the Purest Front tortured the memories out of you after you absorbed some other powerful entities.
Existence Eater? John asked.
A kind of dark soul, Lydia exined and pointed at him, after thinking about it for a while, you are either that or an Etheric Soul, a light soul. Both of those are excruciatingly rare,e in varying degrees of power and are all around heavily d in mystery. Romulus for example is the God Eater sub-type of the Existence Eater, allowing his body to steal and store powers of Faith from gods. That doesnt give him ess to that power permanently, whatever power he spends will not be regenerated. Lydia sighed, Or at least thats the theory, he has so much power, nobody has ever seen him use enough of it to lose an ability. Not that most people could hope to even stand up to him if he only uses his self-acquired skills, stemming from millennia of training and his contracts with Sol and Luna. Romulus is untouchable. Unless her finger wiggled up and down, what Nathalia told you is true and you have a simr ability. Seeing how you, reportedly, absorbed part of her divine energy without drawbacks, that appears likely. But Romulus steals, you have to ask. Therefore, I think you have a stronger etheric soul, the strongest in history, to be exact. Given time you actually will be able to challenge Romulus.
Yeah, in hundreds of years, most likely, Johnmented drily.
Lydia gave him a stern look. Its a better shot than the rest of us get, John, she reminded him. You have trained for a few short months and are already stronger than I am after years. Count your blessings.
John, feeling justifiably reprimanded, concentrated on eating. It was true, he wasining on a very high level here. All he did was wake up one day and suddenly have the potential to break the magicalndscape with his powers.
Yes, you are so gifted, Siena purred, Somebody should just prate your chest.
I can do that, Thana offered with a wide smirk and raised her left hand, the tip of her fingers ending in ws of crimson.
Do you really need to entertain her? John asked.
Yeah, she is fucking funny, Thana answered, What? Its not like she really wants to kill you.
Mhm, but I do, I do so very much want it, Siena moaned and stretched her ws towards Johns face, her hair rising as her glowing eyes betrayed her lust for blood.
But I cant, she sighed and leaned back at her ce between Thana and Undine, her hair rapidly falling down again.
Seriously? Thana was confused, The fuck?
She has a massive murderboner for John, Rave exined, but their contract entails that there are five rules that she has to follow. One of them being Dont kill anyone unless I allow ya to.
Thanas white eyebrows shot up. Fucking okay, you weird-ass motherfuckers. Anyhow, a little bit of stabbing wont kill you, you have regenerative powers that are as bullshit as mine are. You heal instantly, so a bit of ripping your chest open should only fucking hurt, not kill you.
It will kill me eventually though oh right, you have next to no idea how I work! John was reminded and sent a group invite to her. In hindsight he should have warned her.
WHAT THE FUCK?! Thana screeched when the window suddenly appeared in front of her. She tried to swat it away, which was impossible of course. Her hand passed through and, with the remaining momentum, flew right into Undines chest, slime sttering about the ce. Fuck, sorry, Thana quickly apologized and pulled her hand away.
Undine was turning from stter back into an attractive woman. I will survive.
Looks like a videogame window whatever the fuck that exactly is. Thana inspected the invite more calmly, and then blinked in confusion as memories that werent hers, dawned on her. Huh, so you have some bullshit like that these days, she said, keeping a concentrated expression as pieces of apple were thrown into her mouth and ground to a fruit pulp by her perfect teeth.
Close your mouth while eating, Lydia reminded her.
Shure, Thana slurred in response, tapping the button.
This is super weird, she continued after gulping down, trying to grasp the group windows now in her field of view.
For all of you, the HP and MP bars are more like rough estimates, John exined, for me they are exact data. Once my HP hits 0, I am done.
Huh, and how close did I get you?
3.
Fuck, d that stopped where it did. A testing smirk followed the quietly delivered words. Would have been a waste to you know end you. S-sorry about fucking everything again Silence. Aaaand I made things fucking awkward again. Fuck me.
John was wondering if that half-whispered set of words was just an exmation or an actual offer.
Lydia peeked out of the window. We will arrive shortly. Please store the food again.
John followed her eyes outside. They were just inside the city, from what he could see. Buildings moved by, with no indication where this ce they were supposed to arrive at was.
Actually, there is no more food to store, your majesty, Aclysia apologized and everyone looked at Thana who was wolfing down thest bit of food: a brownie.
What?! she cried out after hastily devouring the rest of it. I am still growing!
Yeah! Sylph agreed. We are still growing!
I doubt that for both of you, John teased, I think you are forever doomed to stay tiny.
Thanas face expressed a calm desire to kick him for that.
No fair, you are mean John. I want to be big, make me big! Maybe if you give me tons of mana I will be big. Siena, you can be bigger, tell me how!
The nightmare elemental giggled coyly, Me? Whatever are you talking about?
That thing you do when you do the stabby thing, you be all dark and shadowy and whirly and then you can change shapes and be bigger, tell me how! Sylph demanded.
I just let myself go and Unleash, Siena purred, but that has different effects for all elementals and as you have seen I am everything but solid in that state. The fact that you are unable to Unleash amuses me.
Undine tapped Siena on the shoulder and whispered something over their mental connection. Ooooh? Now that is worth a lot of mischief, Siena mused.
rmed, John had to ask, What is?
None of his elementals answered. Ehm, it-its better if you are left in the dark on this one, Gnome apologized, We really dont want it to happen again. Sorry.
Johns forehead wrinkled but he was promptly distracted by the houses around them vanishing as they swapped into another Illusion Barrier. Ah here we are, Lydia said with a bit of pride, the Hohenzollern Airport.
It was a gigantic area in the middle of Cologne. Not based on a real-life building, like the usual Abyssal practice for buildings seemed to be, it was instead built and based entirely inside the Illusion Barrier and used no modern buildings as its temte.
A more apt description for the thing that stretched before John would have been a fortress of fantastical metals and crystal. Sure, it had a modernistic, efficiency-first design and properly adhered to evacuation and safety standards, but that didnt make the giant walls of bronze metal any less imposing. They formed an airportplex that could only be described as massive. About two square kilometres in width and five stories high, with ten watch towers growing from it like crowned spikes at the centre and another seven, one for each tip of the star-shape, at the outer end.
A kick to his leg pulled John back into reality. A kick that cost him 75 HP. A kick that almost made him scream like a little girl. Thats for calling me tiny, you tall fuck, Thana spat out and crossed her arms over her breasts.
I would never call that part of you tiny, John mumbled looking at the mounds of softness, hidden only by a bit of leather despite the cold weather.
What was that?! Thana asked, blushing slightly, she had heard very well.
I said good job on not breaking my leg there, you are learning quickly, John smirked, he wouldnt repeat apliment, however underhanded it was, that easily. Not when she was so fun to tease. Thana growled but didnt kick him again, instead simply ring up at him with boiling anger and other emotions. Back to the airport, John thought and turned to the building. Are you sure that is not a fortress? he asked.
In case of emergency, it doubles as one, Lydia freely admitted, As a matter of fact, it used to be one until a few years ago. The maintenance costs urged me to make it useful. I now rent it out to give private nes shelter. It has made me a profit ever since.
So, we are taking one of your nes then? John asked, So how fast does it go? I guess we will need about two minutes to reach Rome, the Abyss ought to have something like ultra fuel.
It will take the same time as amercial flight, about two hours, the princess took the wind out of his sails rather quickly.
Wow thats super boring, Rave spoke his thoughts.
What did you expect? Lydia asked. Mundane air travel is stupendously fast. Unless you can fly at a higher speed yourself, and remain unnoticed while doing so, a ne remains the quickest way to travel the Earth.
And why arent we teleporting? John wondered.
Because at a certain point no amount of time you save is worth that level of cost, Lydia firmly stated, and that is especially true for long-distance teleportation. The amount of mana and theplexity of the spell youll need a group of very powerful mages and Fateweavers or at least one god of knowledge to pull that stunt. The marypensation that would be required is nothing I ever want to spe-.
They were barely out of the car when a tear in reality opened and a guy on an alpaca rode out of it. Hey John, you dropped this! he shouted and tossed a bundle at him. A hole in the ground opened and the alpaca, including the rider, fell through it. MY COOL EXIIIIIIIIIIIIT! he screamed in agony as he vanished as quickly as he came.
What? John asked, everyone around looked simrly confused. Except for Thana who was justughing.
How did Lydia scrambled out her phone. Yes, hello, Sir Joffrey? Somebody just prated our securitywork what do you mean you noticed? What do you mean you couldnt stop it? What do you mean that was the fifth time this month? No threat? I dont care if he is a threat or not, the fact that he can breach in and out of my fortress like that is concerning! No, I do NOT care that he makes delicious tacos. I demand that you create a picture and find out whatever you can about yes, I have seen him, he is absolutely non-descript, Lydia sighed, Fine, I am guessing detaining is impossible?... In that case see whatever gaps there are in our securitywork. How is the ne? Good. Good. Have a nice day, Sir Joffrey.
Lydia ended the call and turned to John. Rave had long since taken the bundle from him. Whaddya think that is? she asked and unfolded the wrap of cloth. There was nothing inside. Observe revealed it to be a regr red pic nket. The hell? Rave then asked.
He knew you, Lydia stated.
I dont know him though, John scratched his head, a memory bubbling up. I mean, maybe that was the same guy that appeared at Hermes shop when I was training for, he gestured at Thana,
I like him, Sylph announced, He smells like that pickle we met. Also, like something dark, passionate, strong, powerful, certain of victory and THE FORCE that wants to set free the darkness!
John didnt even bother to make sense of that mumbo-jumbo.
Sylph, the fuck are you on about? Smander asked and the two fell into their usual bickering.
Anyhow, Lydia pulled attention back to her. Our transport is here, she pointed at a piece of the ground in the distance.
John squinted his eyes until he saw that the piece was moving. Then, when it was close enough, he realized that it wasnt the ground at all, just a sheet of metal. It had the same greyish colour as the asphalt that covered the ground floor everywhere, exception being decoratively nted miniature gardens. It hovered close over the ground and travelled above ane of reddish ck, both thend and the tform came to a halt where the limo had parked.
Destination: Princess Lydias Private ne, a mechanical voice spoke. Please get aboard.
John felt a weird shift in pressure as he stepped onto the tform. John inspected the thing with typical curiosity, while Rave yawned and Thana giggled at some private joke. The tform began to move.
I am siiiiiick, Sylph suddenly cried. What is this? This is weird, make it stop. The tform got moving at an impressive speed, but John felt neither wind nor momentum throw him off-bnce.
The enchantments keep us from experiencing the momentum.
Turn it off, bluargh, Sylph almost fell over and stuck her head out of the invisible, protectiveyer, looking like she was sea-sick. Despite the impossibility of it, John was afraid Sylph would throw up at any moment.
There, there, Gnome gently patted her back, Why dont you go rest in Johns head for a bit if you cant handle it? Sylph meekly nodded and was gone with a poof.
The tform carried them and their luggage all the way to the ne. They then stepped off and the luggage was loaded into the back area. The tform carefully put itself in there, and boarded the ne.
From the outside, it was a simple machine. From the inside however, it was a luxurious wondend. Seats, designed in a way that could turn into a bed or a massage table at a moment''s notice, covered in beige leather, a backroom with beds and a blue carpet so wonderful that John felt bad even stepping on it. There were little angel figurines on the walls and the sses were framed with careful carvings of flowers.
This is absolutely not your style, Johnmented.
It was my grandfather''s vehicle, Lydia sighed, I admire him, but he does like his frivolous decorations. However, refitting it would be even more costly, therefore this stays.
I am notining! Rave said and threw herself onto one of the seats. I wonder what these buttons do, she mused and pressed one of them.
The seat swivelled about this and that direction, much to Raves amusement. Lydia sighed, pulled out her smartphone and ran what John assumed to be the master control. Rave shouted in surprise when her seat stopped following her inputs and instead all of the twenty seats rearranged in two rows that looked at each other, leaving a walkway in the middle.
So, who is our pilot? John asked as he took a seat, he wanted to know exactly who was about to carry him far up into the sky.
A Fateweaver and an Artificial Spirit, Lydia said, causing both Momo and Aclysia to be interested. Not nearly as developed as you two, the princess guessed their thoughts and informed them, He is basically just a more advanced auto-pilot. He knows that one purpose and finds fulfillment in it. You will find that he is a terribly dull conversation partner.
Seems pretty cruel to create life just to have it fly you around, Momomented.
Why? Lydia asked, As I said: He is happy, he is a simple being with a simple purpose: to fly me where I want. That is what makes him happy. We all have our purposes in life, some humble and some grand. There is no shame in either.
Mhm, Momo just hummed. She was clearly thinking about it. What she thought, she kept to herself.
And the Fateweaver, can he be trusted? John asked.
Lydia rolled her shoulders. They are isted in a cabin with only one job. Should any shenanigans be enacted, the Artificial Spirit will intervene.
John nodded. That should be secure enough. The engines started running and minutester they were in the air. Rave looked at thend below, having climbed on her chair. John was enjoying the view she presented. God, I love her yoga pants.
His own pants were straining into a visible tent. Wearing a ck shirt and these ck jogging pants had be his go-to for days he wasnt fighting or in the publics eye. The suit was nice, but this was way morefortable. Also, quicker to get out of, for the suit he had to drag theyers of clothes off him and into the inventory one by one, with this outfit there wasnt much to drag around.
Rave turned from the window, saw Johns erection, saw everyone else seeing Johns erection, smirked and then asked a fateful question.
Wanna join the Mile-High Club?
Chapter 208 – Soaring at a climatic high [Erotic Content]
Chapter 208 C Soaring at a climatic high [Erotic Content]
John smirked, Well, Im more than up for it.
Mile-High Club? Thana asked. The fuck is that?
In summary, it is a rather questionable tradition of having had sex on an airne or a ce ofparable altitude. Lydia unbuttoned her shirt as she gave the exnation. It sounds like a good way to spend our time.
Thana giggled insistently, This is how I get huh? Fuck me, yes, Im in please fill me the fuck up, John! Make me part of this giant ass orgy!
The enthusiasm was unexpected, but not unwee. For all the pain he had suffered because of her, Thana was adorable and erotic in equal measure. They said to never stick ones dick in crazy, but what if crazy was so darn cute?
Most of the elementals didnt need to be asked. Smander, Gnome, and Undine quickly disrobed, meaning that their clothes simply disappeared. Mhm, this will be fun, Sienamented, having teleported behind Gnome. The nightmare elemental''s ws had made way for delicate fingers, and she quickly started rubbing them over the stone elemental''s crotch.
Wha-? Gnome cried out when Siena carefully inserted a finger, struggling a bit against the sudden grasp. That only caused the sadistic elemental to go further.
Oh,e now, Siena purred into her ear, gently biting Gnomes neck, we are sisters now, no reason to be shy.
Th-thats just Gnome, against her better judgement, moaned. A first sign of surrender that made Siena lean into her aggressive approach with increased intensity.
The nightmare elemental slowly worked Gnomes pussy, the elementals legs bing weaker and weaker, until she was brought to orgasm. All of that took Siena less than twenty seconds. Thats it, love, let your guard down, Siena said, licking her fingers. If she was surprised by theck of pussy juices, she didnt let it show. Been a while since I had the pleasure of an earth elemental. Evidently, I still got the touch. Now, Gnome, Siena grabbed the rock elemental''s head firmly and pressed her against her own crotch, repay the favour.
John, now naked himself, watched the lesbian engagement with mixed feelings. He far from minded when haremettes yed with each other, but women outside the harem were a tad more difficult. He let it pass, in the end. For one, because it was hot, and, more importantly, because Siena wasnt a stranger. Once he had resolved the mixed feelings, he turned his attention to the short woman walking up in front of him.
Thana, hands on her wide hips, stood before him in all of her nude glory. He had seen her naked before, as a matter of fact he had seen her naked in several instances. However, all of those had been apanied by dangerous or otherwise un-erotic circumstances, to put it mildly.
Now, he got a nice view of her curvy body. Her breasts were sizeable and firm, a pleasant shape that drooped ever so softly. A t midriff, showing soft muscle definitions, sat right underneath. All of it was rounded out by those hips and utterly fantastic thighs. They were on the cusp of being too thick for her size, straddling that line with erotic precision. John looked at the rest of her smooth legs and feet just to get theplete package. Her toenails ended in that same dark shade of red as her fingernails.
John only realized that he was eating her up like she was a piece of meat when he was done staring. Something about the way the short woman stood before him, grinning, blushing, and looking up at him, just had his usual reservations disarmed. Something inside him stirred, watching this terribly powerful woman turn around and bend over.
Looking at your bottom-heavy girlfriend I am just going to guess that you are an ass-man, Newman, she exined as she wiggled her hips seductively. The roundness of her ass did indeed make for an attractive target. It wasnt quite as meaty as her thighs, but it was definitely part of a matching pair.
You really have a John struggled for a few moments to find a good word for it, breedable figure. Thanas grin grew wider, almost manic at that description. A moan made John look away from the disy in front of him for a moment. Theyre all so perfect, in their individual, wed ways, he thought as he looked at each of the present women in turn, taking in their oddities and shorings.
Thana was too pale. Aclysia had a slightly stic look to her. Undine was translucent and blue. Smanders red skin and asionally ming hair was a bit weird. Sylphs own hair was too long and often whirled around in annoying ways (also, she was tiny). Gnomes figure was hidden behind an unsure bodynguage. Lydias ass wasnt the greatest. Siena had an hourss figure so curvaceous that it reached absurdity. Raves tits were small and her lower half was so perfect that her upper-half paled inparison. Momo had a slender frame, not particrly blessed in any way.
None of his girls had ws that made them unattractive. They werent bnced, they were all individuals, perfectly unique women who all decided to allow him to stick his dick into them. I am a very lucky man, John reminded himself.
Speaking of Momo, the support had decided to also join the fun, meaning that this orgy epassed almost every single one of his harem members. There was Nathalia, whose body was as close to perfection as any of the girls got, but she had horns and showed the first signs of aging (as early thirties do, although she was over ten thousand years old). She was also notably taller than John, which was-
You know, I disappear because I almost have to bawl, and then you guys just start an orgy without the supreme courtesan. UNFAIR. THIS IS UNFAIR! AN OUTRAGE! I mean, the total and utter disresp-disreDISRESPECT, for my position, that is mean, also why is Gnome currently eating pussy like a mad girl?! I WANT TO EAT PUSSY LIKE A MAD GIRL! Sylph chirped as she, already naked, appeared.
Thana, still wiggling her fat ass in front of John, gestured over the room. Just pick a fucking hole already, she half-whined, half-giggled. Youre the only phallic thing around, pick a slut and rail her.
John considered for a moment, then gave Aclysia the permission to grow out her in-built strap-on. Catching it in her periphery, Thanaughed her crazy, carefreeugh. You people are so fucking weird! Still, 9 to 2.
I can take care of four, Undine said in her melodic, rarely heard voice. Her hair parted into tentacles, ready to tickle the itches of those who needed it in Johns absence.
Mhm, I can, aaaah, Siena moaned. By this point, Gnome was totally under her (purely erotic) sway,pping at her cunt with long, submissive strokes of her tongue. take another two. From the nightmare elemental''s back sprouted several tentacles, more than Undine could produce.
That looks like ya could take care of way more, Ravemented.
I like to be thorough with my -ah- victims, Siena said and then let out a soft giggle that turned into a purr. Yes, prate me with your tongue, Gnome. Pleasing me is all that matters right now.
Huh, you fuckers actually got this orgy thing down, Thana said. Ah, whatever, now smack my ass, John.
The Gamer blinked. Pardon? he asked. The crass demand was beyond what he had expected and that barely asleep urge inside him wrestled with his alreadypromised reasoning. His cock pulsed eagerly.
I want you to use that stupid hand of yours to p my fat ass and I want you to make it HARD! Thana sounded progressively more excited. When he hesitated for another second, the swaying of her ass and thighs came to a halt. Are you not into that? she asked, suddenly so much less confident and aggressive in her tone.
The stirring thing made John move before he could formte an answer. The smack of his hand across her round cheeks echoed through the airne. Sharp, the sound bounced around, underlining the deep, throaty moan that Thana let out in response. Her ass tensed up, ending the jiggling of her cheeks.
Harder, she whimpered, giving John reason to pause. He should have expected something like this when he had decided to stick his dick in ultra-crazy.
Actually, this was still surprisingly calmpared to what she could have been into. John raised his hand and then smacked her ass again. This time she was prepared and kept herself rxed, making her pliable derriere jiggle like jelly on a te, about to be devoured. Thana let out another sharp moan.
More? she begged, her voice now girlish and submissive. This was nothing like the asional spanking he had given Rave, Nathalia, or any other of the girls when the mood struck him. This was something more primal, more satisfying, and something he most certainly enjoyed. There was sadistic glee in each of the smacks that followed, but more important was the rush of dominating the pretty little psycho like this. She was just such a willing, pretty thing, offering her ass like this.
Thana growled in lust. Each time he spanked her, red outlines of his hand appeared on her cheeks, only to be healed away a momentter. The primal side of John took over, as he wondered just how strong he would need to smack her in order for the imprint to stay a bit longer. With all of his strength, he gave her a harsh p across the ass, creating a ripple that went down her clenched thighs. The white hairs on her mons glistened with caught wetness. Thana was practically gushing.
The treatment did not just hold Johns attention. Rave wandered over. Like everyone else, his girlfriend was naked, showing off her nicely maintained figure, a bnce struck between athleticism and sexiness. How do ya enjoy it this much? the Gamers girlfriend asked, more curious than anything.
The answer was slurred with lust. Dunno, maybe I am a masochist by nature, maybe the years of pain fried something in my brain, do not give a fuck, just fuck me up, please. Thanas eyes were hazy from the first wave of genuine lust she had felt in her life. She looked over her shoulder. Do what the fuck you want with me, John, I can take it. Use me, fuck me, fill me, abuse me, Ill let you do whatever you want, the blood mage promised.
For all of the primal desires that she stirred in him, for all the dominating instincts that urged him to explore them, the Gamer still wished for lovemaking to be worthy of the word. Lets start with this. John spun her around and gently kissed her on the lips. Whatever cruelties Thana had expected or wanted, this seeded in getting her to moan as well. The dots in her eyes were now just a golden ring.
Their kiss was utterly led by him. Thana had no experience, that much was clear. Standing bowed over her, John explored her hot little mouth. Her tongue carefully wrestled back, as if she was afraid she could displease him. It was such a stark contrast to her usual behaviour that the Gamer felt his passions rise further. Their kiss became ever more feverish. He loved this.
Thana yelped when a new smack sound echoed through the ne. This is pretty fun, Rave purred, her hand squeezing Thanas heart-shaped pillow of a butt. To make things slightly easier, and to feel those plump thighs, John lifted the masochist. Her arms wrapped around his neck for extra stability, her soft pubic hairs rubbed against his cock, and she just melted between him and his girlfriend. Kisses from the front and spankings from the back.
The smacks Rave delivered came with ever greater intensity. Her Strength exceeded his and that had a notable effect on how much the serious masochist screamed into the kisses. Curious just how far that could be pushed, John reached out with his mind to Aclysia. Hello?
There was no answer. A nce to the side quickly revealed why. Aclysia was currently fucking Momo. The two Artificial Spirits were closely intertwined, pale bodies incapable and unwilling to let go of one another. Since they were both enjoying themselves, John chose not to push the issue. There was someone else who could help him with this.
Gnome?
Aaaah, y-y-yessss? the stone elemental half moaned, half stuttered. She was still being dominated by Siena. The nightmare elemental had put Gnome onto one of the seats and was now using her left hand''s re-emerged ws in a careful fashion to draw teasing lines over the earth spirits body. The mastery over the sharp finger-des was quite impressive. When her fingers did tease Gnomes pussy they were normal and she never quite allowed the stone elemental to climax.
Could youe over here really quickly? John asked.
A-a moment please, I am s-so close, Gnome pleaded just as Siena pulled back again.
What do you intend to do with my toy? Siena chimed in.
John showed her an image of Thana currently being smacked as hard as Rave could. The nightmare elemental understood, Mhm, I will cut this ones torture short then.
Oh, thank Mother Earth! Gnomes exmation was followed by rapid moans. The fingers that had only teased her so far suddenly plunged into her tight cunt. Siena rapidly masturbated the brte, who put her hands over her mouth to muffle the ecstatic cries that escaped her when she suddenly and intensely orgasmed. Siena evidently knew how to maximize her victims enjoyment.
Gnome, heavily breathing and wracked by aftershocks, moaned a final time when Siena pulled her fingers out of her. Well continue thister, Siena promised and turned to Smander. The red-skinned elemental was the second girl tangled up in the shadow spirits tendrils.
Trying to dominate me will be a bit harder, stabby-bitch, the fire elemental challenged her with a wide grin.
I do enjoy a bit of breaking, Siena purred, and Johns view was blocked when Gnome came over.
Thanks for getting me out of there Siena is... A moan and the bickering of Smander and Siena in the background interrupted Gnome for a moment. Intense? Is that a good word for it? I dont want to offend anybody, I am just saying that she is very much, uhm, uhh.
Calm down, Rave giggled and pat her on the head; Intense is fitting, iwouldsay, she added, slurring her words.
John finally broke the kiss with Thana and then turned to Gnome. I want you to p her ass as hard as you can, he got straight to the point.
Y-y-you want me to what? Gnome stuttered.
You heard me, he smirked; Aclysia I couldnt get and you have the second highest Strength in this group.
Just do it, you incineration chamber building bitch, Thana demanded; I can take it.
Uhm, uhh, Gnome was still heavily unsure as Rave pulled her into position.
Come on, just a bit of a smack, she whispered into the earth spirit''s ear. Ill reward ya.
B-b-but, Gnome looked at her hand.
Oh for fuck''s sake, just think about that time I killed your ass and then p mine! Thana groaned.
Gnome closed her eyes and, with a cute war cry, raised her hand. There was neither skill nor proper aiming in the way the earth spirit delivered the t of her hand, but Thana didnt need either. Her blueish, pale ass rippled under the brutal impact. For one moment, she just existed, then Thana screamed as this final bit of pain pushed her over the edge.
The masochistic orgasm was only prolonged by John falling onto one of the seats. Thana came to straddle hisp. Twitching, her scream reached a new zenith when he yfully bit her left nipple. Her wet sex grinded along the length of his cock. Ffffuck fuuuuck meeeeee, Thana eximed, between begging and cursing.
John realized that this may have been the first orgasm she had ever had. Whether that was true or not, he wouldnt stop at the one.
Good job, Gnome, lets leave the masochist and the bully to it for now. Rave winked at her boyfriend and left him with the panting mess of a woman. John smirked, he knew that she woulde back to im him when she felt like it.
Fuck me for real? Thana, in a little more controlled tone, asked. Her pussy continued to glide up and down his slick member, making her shudder. She could have impaled herself at any point, but seemingly refused to do so without permission.
Oh, ready yet? John, the bully inside him now fully awake, asked.
Of course, I am ready, my pussy is like a fucking waterfall, she mumbled.
Okay, Ill fuck you John took a dramatic pause. if I get to choose the hole.
Kinky asshole, Thana giggled, raising her hips in anticipation of his choice.
Ill fuck your mouth then.
Asshole! Thana scratched the adjective. Her outraged tone belied the swiftness with which she glided off him. Thick thighs squished when she knelt in front of him. There was no anger in those fascinating, amethyst eyes of hers, just eager anticipation of what he would do next.
Arent you eager to please? John asked.
You are the massive pervert with experience. I am just somebody who, for some fucking reason, gets off on getting pped on the ass. You can take your sarcastic anecdotes and shove them up your ass, while I figure out how to give a blowjob, Thana said as she reached for his dick.
Immediately, he stopped her hands. I dont want my balls to be scrambled eggs, thank you, he said and stood up. I said I would fuck your mouth, and I meant that, just kneel there and keep your mouth wide open.
Thana raised an eyebrow but did as she was told. Her perfect teeth were even whiter than her skin. Her tongue moved at the bottom of her mouth. Even it and her gums were tinted slightly towards blue, giving them a purplish colour.
Grabbing her by the hair, John thrust into her mouth. Despite his desire to release after all of the minutes he had spent rubbing up against her cunt, he moved carefully. Thest thing he wanted was to trigger her gag reflex. He remembered what she did to most things she touched.
That only made it more exciting though. The danger, the fangs, the control he had over a woman who could have bent his spine like a pretzel, all of that was just exciting. After a few shallow thrusts, he noticed a look of boredom on Thanas face. It stayed even when he was beginning to invade the back of her mouth.
Well then, John thought and did as he had originally intended, mming right into her. Thanas eyes went wide, when his cock rammed past the base of her tongue. The tip of his cock met the back of her throat. The tip of her nose met the smooth skin of shaved groin. He was surrounded by wet walls, shifting and vibrating from a muffled moan. Looks like she is enjoying this. John gripped her head a little more harshly, pulled out a quarter of the way, then rammed his cock right back down her throat.
What had started as boredom went into a surprised visage and then into a hazy mixture of pain and pleasure. Her throat waspletely blocked by the shaft of Johns hard cock, she could only breathe if he allowed her to C and he decided to push her as far as he could go.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she fought against her gag reflex. The need to breathe became stronger with every passing second. Gagging sounds, apanied by the first drops running from her eyes, ssy with masochistic delight, caused John to finally pull back further, exiting her throat long enough for Thana to take a single, shallow breath through her nose. Barely enough for her to stabilize, before John reimed her hole for personal usage.
Theck of oxygen and the abuse turned her masochistic brain into mush. John could see everyst bit of attitude leave the submissive cocksleeve. She loved every second of him relentlessly fucking her face. Her hands were between her clenched thighs, clumsily rubbing her cunt. John was fairly certain that it was the usage of her throat that did so much more for her. Between inexperience and asphyxiation making her movements sluggish, the masturbation could not have achieved much.
Not that it mattered much. The submissive kneeling in front of John was ruined in the best sense. Her half-lidded eyes rolled up, while he was just using her for his personal enjoyment. His personal enjoyment demanded that she loved it too, but he could not at all pretend that the rush of power wasnt giving everyst of his thrusts an extra bit of force. He hadnt felt this hard in a while.
Shit, I REALLY like this, John realized. All of the things he had heard rted to BDSM and the likes suddenly made so much more sense. The idea of stringing this little cocksleeve up and teasing her for hours made his cock twitch. The fantasy only stayed with her for a moment, swiftly expanding to the rest of the harem. Various ideas, from roley to training ran through his head. Obviously he would have to find out how submissive or masochistic each of them were. Hell, he would have to explore how much of a sadistic dom he himself was, before he could say definitively how far he wanted to push this, but just the idea of it
The thoughts pushed John to the edge of release. Thanas tight throat kept producing wonderfully loud GLACK! GLACK! GLACK! sounds while he raced to his orgasm. He considered warning her, but why warn a cocksleeve about something she wouldnt hear anyway?
John thrust into her onest time, then pulled halfway out. His balls tightened, sending his seed up his shaft and down her throat. Thebination of being used, her clumsy masturbation efforts, and the taste of his cum, the tastiest thing she could want courtesy of his Libido Perk, sent Thana right over the edge with him. Muffled screams made Johns orgasm that much better. Spurt after spurt of his seed vanished down her gullet.
When he finally stepped back, his still erect dick waiting for the next round, he looked for his next partner. Surely Thana would need a few moments to regain her breath. The girl spent about two seconds coughing, then she had restored her regr breathing pattern and licked the remaining seed from Johns length.
Holy shit that stuff is awesome, shemented, her lips curving into a wide grin, got any more?
Your regeneration really is something, Johnmented.
Dude, you fucking saw me living without blood in my body, Thana reminded him with a cackle. The only reason I even WAS asphyxiated was because I chose to not convert any mana into oxygen in my blood.
Huh, John just said. That should have been reassuring, but it somehow made him disappointed that he wasnt inplete control. Yup, I am definitely really into this.
Anyway, fuck me proper now, please, Thana begged, suddenly giving him the big eyes of someone pleading for a visit to the ice cream truck. Sheid on her back, her tits parting slightly as they obeyed the pull of gravity, reaching out to John with open arms. Or am I not good enough for you? she asked in a concerned tone. Dont want to fill this messed up thing?
Was that a genuine worry or a y? John couldnt tell. Worst case was that she made fun of him if he took it seriously; if he didnt and she was genuine, he would hurt her feelings. Therefore, he went to her and lifted her just a bit off the ground, into a hug. Of course youre good enough, he reassured and felt the tenseness of her body vanish.
Thanks, she whispered. The vulnerable tone was quickly reced with her half-crazed demand, And now fuck the shit out of me, you emotional bastard.
I think I will have to do that. John took her by the wide hips, then parted her legs. Positioning himself between them, he angled his cock at her eagerly awaiting hole. She had been fucked before, but unable to feel anything, it hadnt been anything, so when he prated her with skills to increase his pleasure output beyond what a normal man could hope to give, she was entirely unprepared.
That still didnt make John expect her to instantly cum and rip a tear into the carpet with her hulk-level strength. Her whole body tensed up, her spine arched, her breasts quivered from the twitches and her ragged breaths. Choke me, daddy! Thana begged.
John could hear the record scratch in his head. No. John stopped, balls deep inside her. A moment of rity amongst all the horny. No, do not call me that. Thats the line.
What? Re-ah-lly? Thana was still in the middle of an orgasm, but surprise cut it short. I thought some fucking thing in me says that people find that hot!
Well, I dont, John stated, decisively. He wanted to end this discussion before it became one. Rather than talk about this, he wanted to fuck her C hard. Do you understand? he asked, his tone harsh and demanding.
It did more than just end the discussion, Thana shuddered as if he had just given her another hard smack on her pillow of an ass. Okay, no calling you da- the word, she surrendered in a meek voice.
Pleased, John got back to moving. To get back into the mood, he started with short and quick thrusts. Her pussy lips were stretched around his cock. That she was on the smaller side made him feel even bigger. Although her cunt also was tinged purple, giving it a cold impression by pure visually, her actual body was every bit as hot as every other one of the human women in the room. Quivering walls massaged his length with every stroke. The overflowing wetness made the progressively deeper motions easy.
How mhm FUCK, she moaned and screamed out. Her back arched again, and came to a quivering rest, while she tossed her head with each impact. Fucking, non-existent god of mine that you hid this awesome shit from me for so long, she growled as he, slowly, went from fully outside to fully inside her. How are we on the cho-ahn-choking?
Just because it''s you, and it makes you shut up. John put a mean grin on his face, which Thana answered in kind.
Fucking get to it then, she demanded.
John ced one hand on her throat and squeezed. He went harder and harder with it, until Thanas eyes rolled up and she could only produce tiny noises.
It felt wrong on multiple levels to close his hands around her neck and just squeeze with the genuine intention to take full control of whether she got to breathe or not. She wanted it and it made him feel in control at a level that was dangerously rewarding, but it rubbed against hismon sense.
This, John realized, was as far as he wasfortable with. Images of binding Thana up and putting her on some sexually perverted torture device went through his head. Yes, that he would do, probably, if she wanted to. Going further than choking on a scale of harm he could do? No, that fantasy was ufortable. He did not want to cause actual harm.
Skirting the line, however, made him feel incredibly good.
He barely noticed how hard he was hammering Thana''s pussy. There was absolutely no regard for stamina or proper pace. The moment his hands had touched her throat his body had just gone ahead and done whatever it wanted with her, and it was putting both of them into a realm of ecstasy.
Thanas eyes werepletely incapable of focusing, rolling around without any target. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth. Periodically, she managed to push out a groan. Primal curiosity made John ease his grip, and he was rewarded with an ear-shattering scream interwoven with stupid, mad cackling. He basked in that sound for a moment before he closed his grip again. Thanas bottom was curled, achieving just the right angle for John to plunge into her as deep as he possibly could. Her legs crossed behind his back, locking him in position. She made him unable to pull outpletely, not that he wanted to.
Hard; his every thrust was hard. pping; the sound their hips made echoed throughout the lust-filled ne. Moaning; the distant sound of the other passengers. Swaying; the decently sized tits of the small girl in front of him. Reddening; the shade of her face as his grip tensed. Twitching; his dick as his orgasm dawned. Hard; hisst thrust just as hard as every other. Deep; he unloaded inside her.
Thana meanwhile was just a mess. As he spurted into her pussy, all she managed to do was further destroy the carpet. John kept on choking her, until her violent, orgasm fuelled thrashing made John fear for his arms. Her legs had him in lockdown as his seed, the giant loads having just be standard now, flooded her womb. Some windows popped up, but he dismissed them. He could check Gaias jokes about putting his dick in crazyter.
Instead, he did what he wanted and yed with her breasts as he waited for Thana to calm down and ease her legs enough to let him go y with someone else. He licked the salty sweat off Thana''s left nipple, relishing in the moment for a bit, and surveyed the situation.
Rave had finished with Gnome, who was now getting pounded by one of Undines tentacles. Three other girls were in the water spirits grasp.
First, Momo, lying on the floor getting both pussy and mouth prated by blue tentacles. Second, Sylph, hovering above Undine, getting her pussy assaulted from below as she gave one tentacle a blowjob and another one a handjob, making a face like she really wanted to say something, but would have to stop sucking to do it (and without a doubt that second tentacle was tactically ced by Undine to prevent her from getting enough time to start a rant). Finally, third, Lydia, having both her ass and pussy pounded doggy style, moaning with a remainder of stern grace as she bit her lower lip and suppressed her moans.
John was suddenly no longer surprised why she hadnt said anything about the ripped floor. She just hadnt noticed. He quickly fixed the carpet before she could. Well, he tried to, but Craft merely restored some integrity to the edges. A look at the non-existent stain where Thana had dripped on the carpet while he had been face-fucking her made it clear why. Self-washing carpet, neat, John thought and made a grimace, and probably extremely expensive. Guess she will throw a fitter.
John continued his scan of the room as his fingers dug into Thanas soft tits, causing her to let out a raspy moan. Her post-orgasmic state was only prolonged, keeping him in ce, but Gaia would have to smite him down in order for him to stop ying with those glorious breasts.
Speaking of glorious breasts, Smander, with her double D-sized tits, was still in the web of Sienas shadowy tendrils. The fire spirit was on the receiving end of hundreds of small assaults teasing her. Just give in, the nightmare elemental moaned, herself currently riding Aclysias face. It will feel so good.
You will have to try harder, Smander cackled, her tone betraying an underlying tension.
John noted, for the future, that leaving Siena alone in any sexual situation would make her take control and dominate just about anyone. That pushed hispetitive spirit, at least. Cant be upstaged by anyone else, he decided. If he was going to lean into this BDSM thing, he would do it properly.
Lastly, his girlfriend found herself riding the artificial dick of Aclysia. Despite being right next to Siena, Rave was not touched by her in any way. Probably her dislike of being controlled kept Siena from even trying. Oh, fucking hell, they are having fun without us, Thana, finally back from thend of twitches,ined.
Well, I would like to join that fun, John said. Its not an orgy if you only have sex with one person.
Cant argue with that, Thana agreed and unfolded her legs. She moaned, when he pulled out of her. For one moment, her eyes went wide. She shifted, nced at him, gulped, opened her mouth, then smirked. I-its fine if I be part of that tentacle business, r-right?
Its not an orgy if you only have sex with one person, John repeated. He wasnt sure what she was nervous about, but mood swings were far from unexpected by this point.
On fleet foot, Thana jumped up and twirled over to Undine with the uncaring steps of a child, having learned that there are colours in the world, or a madwoman. Either way, after looking at her pale ass for a moment, John picked his own target. Not that there was ack of haremettes to choose from.
He made his way over to the princess. Gasping as she had both of her lower holes prated by Undine, she didnt see Johning and only realized his presence once his dick was in front of her face. Her ssy eyes looked up to find John with an expectant smile. Want to try triple pration? he asked.
Honestly, Id much rather have you in my pussy right now, Lydia forced out words one by one, holding back her moans, but I dont want her to stop either, I just feel so fucking good.
Not an answer, Johnmented as he guided the tip of his cock to her lips.
A bit of his precum smeared on her lips, after an especially powerful thrust of Undines tentacles caused the princess to rock forwards. Instinctively her tongue darted outwards. His precum didnt possess the strong taste of his seed, but it was still delicious. She let out a throaty moan before she could control her voice and then nodded without another word, opening her mouth invitingly.
Johns cock eased into her mouth to the rhythm of Undines thrusts. The dam that held back Lydias moans was soon broken, and the cries were now muffled only by Johns dick. With great glee, he went deeper, and, with even greater glee, the princess took him in.
The princess wasnt a masochist like Thana was, he didnt need to experiment to confirm that, so he skipped the whole asphyxiation stuff and just enjoyed a heated blowjob. Lydias voice derailed further and further, obviously enjoying getting all of her holes stuffed. Her braid, usually so nice and tidy, had be a mess, strands freeing themselves from the bundle.
Wishing to see her truly messy, John pulled off the iron ornament that held the braid together. Her long, auburn hair unravelled in a wonderful disy. Of course, that meant that John now had to hold back her hair in order to prevent it from getting in the way of the wonderful service that his cock experienced. A worthwhile sacrifice. The slight disapproving greying in the princess blue eyes was fucked out of her within seconds. One could only care for so much while drowning in pleasure.
As Lydias muffled moans became sealed screams, John felt his balls tighten, and for the third time, he came. He sent a silent thanks to the Source of Satisfaction Passive allowing him to just bust a nut every five minutes. Combined with his Endurance, letting him cum twice in a row without questions, he was basically eternally hard.
Lydia guzzled down his delicious semen with deep enthusiasm. From the way her mouth vibrated around his cock, he guessed that she was cumming just as much as he was. It was pretty hard to tell at that stage, as Undine had been fucking her for at least ten minutes already. His eyes fell on the blue water spirit, and he licked his lips. He had just found his next target.
Lydia kept sucking his dick tightly, her cheeks hollowing and her lips sliding up his hard shaft until his dick went free with a satisfying pop, cleaned of everything but the brtes saliva. There was a slightly disappointed moan when he left her behind. He would be backter.
Undine saw himing and immediately spread her legs for him. She was sitting on a pir of her own slime, her elegant legs fully formed out and herdylike curves on brilliant disy. That was the clearest invitation he could get, but Undine topped that off with actually saying something. I want you. Her voice was a melody of pure erotic desire.
The slit between her legs was as cool as he remembered it. Highly dense slime enveloped his cock, creating a slippery sleeve. Undine was already quietly panting from all of the pleasure she was receiving from fucking all of the other girls with her tentacles, but his thrusts made her sing.
Every time he mmed inside her, her surface rippling under the force, he coaxed a crystal clear note from her C a perfectly struck chord, a wonderful melody he could unleash by following both of their bodies'' desires. A slight touch on his spirit, Undine opened up to him. It was only on the surface, but it was more than she usually allowed herself. He took it, and their lust intertwined.
Their bodies were still separate, but John could feel the pleasure he brought her clearly, and even more, he could feel how her tentacles prated every other girl as well. The contraction of Gnome around the one inside her pussy as he heard the stone elemental squeal out in a shivering orgasm. Sylphs mouth, ever tingling with electricity, sending pleasurable jolts into the tendril, as the one inside her pussy pumped with winded-movements.
John could clearly see his cock prating the slime girl''s translucent body. Back and forth, it travelled a path that stayed perfectly tight with each move. Undines melody built up to its climax as she sung her lust out into the world like a siren of myth. Her tentacles went into overdrive, fucking all four of the girls at the receiving ends until the tentacles stayed all the way inside them, ceasing when Undines multi-facetted orgasm began. The slime of her pussy pulsed with quick, milking contractions. That pushed John over the edge of and into his own climax.
The white liquid shot into the water spirit. The many spurts were pooled in some kind of womb-esque chamber. It did not stay there for long, getting absorbed into the slime girl once their orgasms had run their course.
With a wet splorch his dick came free just as Undine rxed. The tentacles lost most of their tension for a moment. Mostly, that wasnt a problem, as everyone was firmly seated. Everyone but Sylph, who now fell from above and right onto John, who barely managed to catch her. In doing so, he managed to lose his own bnce. Sylph saved him from an ufortable impact via quick air magic.
Theynded with her on top of his cock. Little bits of slime had rubbed off on her during her stay above Undine, coating her like a sheen of oil. The air spirit did not wait a moment to rub her slippery cunt all over his cock.
Bestnding position ever, Sylph chirped and immediately impaled herself on his erection. Mhm, oh yeah, thats Johnnies dick alright, goes deep into me and just fucks its courtesan right where she needs it. I mean Undines tentacles are nice and all but this is just so much better. I love this. I also love tentacles, man, why dont I have two pussies to get fucked in? Hey, Hey, John can you do that?
John didnt answer. First, because he was currently experiencing the wonderful, yet terrifying, thing that was having Sylph take the reins during sex. Her pussy was a storm around all of the sensitive parts of his cock. Her essence had been stirred into high action already, by all that hade before.
That storm only grew in intensity as Sylph bounced up and down over and over again. Her green hair flew in overexaggerated ways as she panted and, of course, talked. Oh man, oh geez, oh, darn it, this is the best, you know, I could do orgies all day, all week, all month, all year. Can we introduce a national orgy week where everyone just has sex? That would be so cool. You are so deep inside me, Johnny, I just wished you could go even deeper. I-am-so-close-to-cumming-please-dont-stop-ever.
The second reason why John didnt say anything was that Undines now unupied tentacles slithered their way over and, with a swift movement a thinner, permanently lubricated, one prated Sylphs ass.
YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS! Sylph cried out, her eyes suddenly rolling backwards as the surprise butt sex came at the same moment as her climax. John wasnt nearly as close, however, and neither was Undine one to let her prey go like that.
Still, Sylph going into full fucked stupid look, just from being double prated was surprising. Then again, she always had a Libido that was around Johns, so her being extremely sensitive was a given. He just didnt expect her to have such a strong response to having both of her holes filled at once.
Oh fuck me, and do it properrrr, she babbled, while John put his hands on her hips and then started doing exactly that, thrusting hard into her from below.
The storm inside her became a hurricane. One orgasm rolled straight into the next one. Undines tentacles curled around Sylphs glistening tits and teased her nipples. The tendril in her ass worked like a piston against Johns rhythm, pushing in whenever he pulled out.
Yes, yes, yes, yessshhh, Sylph bbered even as her tongue lolled out, thish sho good, go on, fuck my tight little holes, fill me up, Johnnie, fill me up, pleashe, I want your cum, I want your cum. That plea was heard and spurred John to maximize his speed. For a time that could have been seconds or minutes, he hammered up into her, making her bounce with every impact.
With a final thrust, pulling Sylph firmly down at the same time, he emptied his balls into the tempest elemental. He let out a lustful groan that was overpowered by Sylphs wordless shout, her mouth forming a wide O.
The moment John had shot hisst bit of semen into Sylph, Undine lifted the air spirit back up and filled all three of her holes before she could talk again.
Hey! Momoined. The tentacles used to fill up Sylph had been withdrawn from her in the process. Her white eyes met Johns. They shared a moment of contemtion. Youll do, she then dered and, in a surprising gesture, spread her pussy for him. Come on, you dont get this without sarcasticmentary every day, she informed him. Not that he was hesitating, he just needed a bit of time to crawl the distance.
You must really want it to juste to me like this, John mused as he grabbed her by the ankles and stretched her body until her knees were almost next to her head. He ced his grip a bit lower until he couldfortably start eating out Momos pussy in this position.
Wha-wha-whaaaaaaaaaaat, Momo cried in a mixture of pleasure and confusion as his tongue prated her folds. She was spread already by the tendrils, but the lubrication for those was basically the same stuff he waspping up anyhow. Cant you just fuck me? Momo cried out in pleasure, clearly the tentacles had left her at the brink of an orgasm. John realized that this was probably a gift from Undine to him.
I will make you cum at least twice, John told her between licks. Then, he redoubled his efforts. He figured her out the same way he figured out all of the other girls he used his Nimble Tongue on. Eventually, the walls of the pussy under his mouth were just a series of buttons he could push to get different moans from Momo, each of them music to his ears.
Even if they were apanied by a bit of verbal abuse.
And here -ahhh- I tho-gngh-thought that you would just do what I want for once, you perv, Momoined, her t chest rising and falling as she took ragged pre-orgasmic breaths. B-b-b-but, she shyly added, I have to beg you not to s-sto,- she took a deep breath and then shouted as the climax rolled over her, -Oooooooooooooooooooop!!!
John circled her clit as her high point continued. Her orgasm was still ongoing when he stopped his oral efforts and pushed her legs, which had been somewhat raised during the time he spent not looking, back down. He aligned his dick with her gushing wet snatch. Momos eyes, clouded as they were with desire, still shone with a keen intellect. In a submissive tone she rarely, if ever, used she said, Please, and I will only say this because I got horny and you will not hear me say it ever again, because you will never deserve it again, please, Master, fuck me now. Okay, that middle part was spoken in her usual, cynical tone, but it still did the job.
Seemingly all of his girls knew exactly what to say to get him all kinds of riled up. This wasnt worrisome; his harem was his heart and soul, and if they knew him well enough to say exactly what he wanted to hear, that was just perfection with tits. Perfection+.
You little brat, he hummed, pleasantly annoyed. Slowly, he eased himself into Momos pussy, methodically invading her post-orgasmic sensitivity. A drawn-out moan started as high-pitched and quiet, changing until it ended as a deep-voiced sigh, when John had impaled her with his whole length.
Using his grip on her legs and only his feet on the ground as anchors, his hips moved in abrupt thrusts. Once more, John marvelled at his own progress: a movement like this would have tired him within moments, half a year back, and now he barely broke a sweat.
Momos upper body was writhing as best she could, pinned to the floor by her creators weight as she was. Knowing that he was genuinely in control here made John smirk, and he sped up his thrusts. Oh, Master, yes, Momo gasped, giving him a surrendering gaze. She said that for more reasons than just exciting him. Was she another submissive or was she just in a peculiar mood? Who knew? John was too distracted by the contractions of her pussy around him. Her folds continuously rubbed over his dick as their orgasms drew nearer.
For a moment, Momo broke down all barriers between them and intertwined their spirits in what felt like a kiss of the mind. He felt her conflicting feelings for him, how this pleasure she was feeling was something still foreign to her, how she disliked how she over-thought every social interaction by default and thus ruined all of them, how she lovedprehending everything she could. At the heart of her turmoily a question of what she was. Was she pleased to be his because she was his creation, could she like him independently of who they were, was he not a ver in some way?
At the moment of their shared orgasm, Johns own multiyered responses flooded back into her. All of the trials and tribtions he had gone through with Aclysia were shared in one blissful moment. The hate was dulled and the love was strengthened. There were no further words needed, just abined outcry of pleasure, reaching soaring highs as their pleasurebined and multiplied; he felt his seed running into her and her squirting against him. Her eyes closed as she did nothing but delight in the moment as the two of them finally came to an understanding.
With ast groan, John pulled out, his seed spilling from the now unsealed gap. Ill Momo gasped, need a breakgo look after Gnome for me, will you?
Exactly what I was nning, John answered and gently brushed a bit of Momos pure white hair from her eyes.
She put up a mocking smile, Yeah, sure you were, you perverted Master.
Well, my intentions arent pure. This flight is still going tost over an hour, so I hope to fuck you again in a bit, he smiled back and kissed her on the forehead before getting up.
John, Gnome moaned when he stepped close. I-I-I uhm, she stammered and avoided his gaze, pulling her limbs close as if there was anything on her body that she needed to hide. It didnt hide the fact that she was moaning from the tendril her sister still had inside the stone elementals pussy.
I have seen all of it, you cute stone, you, John said and kissed her on the lips; what is it that you want to tell me?
I-ehrm, you, ehm, her eyes darted to his, to the side, she moaned, she blushed, her flustered body turning prickly as her embarrassment and lust made her head as red as a tomato. She looked at him again, opening her mouth in firm conviction. I CANT DO IT! she shouted and then put her hands in front of her mouth, Uwuwuwuwu, sorry that I became loud, uhm, uhm, uhm, just she opened her spirit to him and he read her intentions.
Well, now he wanted to hear what she was saying even more. Gnome, stand up and bow over the seat, he instructed. With a sigh of relief, thinking that she would get away without any teasing, Gnome obeyed. She was wrong, of course.
Now that her cute little butt was presented to John, who stepped over the still slithering blue tendril with one leg to get to his target, he grinded his dick along the valley of her ass. Her skin was smooth as polished marble, firm as stone and yet as pliable as flesh, a feeling that was foreign at the start but after months of fucking the cute elemental regrly, he felt nothing but satisfaction in this.
So, what exactly do you want me to do? John asked.
Wha-? Gnome blushed deeply, her mouth a pleading frown, her whole face a disy of begging not to audit her thoughts. Y-y-you know! she cried out.
I know that you want me to do something with your butt, he teased and continued to grind his dick between her cheeks, for the rest, I respected your privacy.
A tant lie, but Gnome was too flustered to call him out on it. Her goal right now was to somehow convey what she wanted to say without saying it. I mean you and ehm, your d-dick, I, uhm.
Where do you want my dick? John interrupted her and grabbed his cock to guide it into the general direction of her back entrance. Here?
Y-yes! Gnome quickly replied.
And how do you want it?
You are so mean Gnome sniffed, then sighed as the tentacle kept her thoughts burning in the fire of lust. Uwuwuwu-Aaaaah, she moaned.
Come on, say it, John pushed her along. Say, I want your dick deep in my ass, John.
I-I want your hard cock deep in my tight and needy butt, John, Gnome changed what he said into a slightly more perverted version. Not that he wasining.
An easy thrust forward, and he was inside. The great thing about Gnome was that she didnt need any forey whatsoever. Despite being as dry as a stone in summer heat, her holes were always, somehow, slippery, and so John could prate into her ass by just pushing past the tightness of her sphincter.
Gnome let out a fulfilled, deep moan that John took as a challenge to transform into shouts of erotic enjoyment. It was always the same with Gnome: at the start she had her walls up, but as bliss mounted, she forgot herself and just started moaning like the closet-pervert she was. Her defence was already considerably weakened by the sexual teasing at the hands of Siena, Rave and Undine she had lived through in this orgy, but now, filled with Johns skill reinforced thrusts, it broke downpletely.
Soon enough, under the pumping of two invaders at her bottom half, her mouth produced nothing but loud gasps and half-shouted moans. Single words like Yes and Deeper motivated John to continue on, until he painted her insides white. The twin tails of the earth spirit whipped through the air as Gnome tossed her head backwards and howled at the ceiling. Her sphincter clenched tight around the base of Johns cock, as he put a massive load into her back entrance. She came with him, her scream turning silent and her twitches into spasms just as his cum began to flood her.
If she could, Gnome probably would have pleaded for a pause, but Undine just kept going, and over-sensitive from having just orgasmed, Gnome didnt manage to get a single word out.
John now turned to the other half of the room, where the situation had changed slightly. Siena had finally gotten Smander to admit who was in control, although the ze elemental wasnt exactly submissive about it. Her captor had another, way more willing toy in the shape of Thana to y with, who was tied up and doing everything she was told.
Rave on the other hand now had Aclysia to herself and was getting pounded into the ground by the artificial guardian. I will keep my favourites forst, John decided and went over to Siena. The nightmare elemental had put her two victims side by side on the ground and was making a show to Smander of how well she treated Thana.
Just give inpletely, Siena purred, her fingers plunging in and out of Thanas cunt, as her sharp fingers held her by the neck. The blood mage wasnt even saying anything at this point, just gasping and moaning in the heat of the moment.
Look, you edgy fuck, Smander answered with a smirk, this feels pretty nice and all, but if you are trying to break me like this, it will take forever. Just go ahead and fuck me, and save us both the embarrassment of this whole torture thing.
Tsk, Siena clicked her tongue, then she noticed John; Oh, Master, finished up with the in girls? Ready to receive some real fun? she asked, leaving Thana to her tendrils. Sienas hands, shifted back into human ones, glided over her curvy figure, from the seductive hips to the ample chest.
in is unfair, John said, his dick twitching, his sack as heavy as it had been at the start of all of this, but I am here to fuck you - if you let me.
Ooh? Siena softly sighed with interest and chuckled; Do I hear a bit of submission from you.
Not particrly, John denied, thinking carefully about it. I dont mind if you want to be in charge, but I wont be a toy if thats what you want. There has to be a middle ground that we both enjoy. John gave her figure another up and down. She WAS a stunning creature. Im willing to explore.
Sienas lips curved into a fang-revealing smile. You might be more fun than I originally anticipated, John Newman. She stepped up close to him, whispering the next words directly into his ear, That makes you so much more murderable.
Yes, yes, John said, groping her beautiful, bouncy butt, just tell me where you want my cock. Or do you want to suck it?
Giving blowjobs is beneath me, Siena stated in a nonchnt tone. John wasnt surprised by the refusal, he had already seen her Oral skill of F. Evidently, she disliked using her mouth for anything but talking. No, you will fuck me proper, Siena sighed, lift me on your dick, show me how upright you are, Master.
Fucking while standing, now that was a position John didnt use often. He did as he was told and pulled Siena off the ground and aligned her with his dick. She weighed basically nothing, which made the experience of prating her clearly dense pussy slightly confusing.
Yes, confusing was indeed the best word to describe what he was feeling once he was inside her. The wet, hot feeling of being inside her reminded him of surprising blowjobs in the morning. It was highly confusing, to feel like his whole body was under a warm nket, his dick caressed by a beauty he could only imagine. He was lulled into a false sense of security, as he was prating the woman who would rather do nothing than ram something pointy into him (and that pration would not cause ANY pleasure whatsoever). It still felt really good.
I used to be a sadism elemental, you know? Siena purred as her legs closed behind Johns ass, anchoring her in position. I know what makes men crazy. The walls of her pussy turned from a gentle caress to milking pulses. The world went white from the extreme pleasure he was feeling in that short, blissful moment. John, despite anything he thought he knew about sex, came immediately.
As his balls emptied into the nightmare elemental, he struggled to stay on his feet. The sudden pleasure made his knees weak. Mhm, yes, Siena sighed, her back arching downwards as she let her upper body hang from him, all of the tension holding her up in her legs; It has been a while since I felt a strong mans seed inside me. In a sh she was back up to his face. I even cut short my fun, she purred; before passionately pressing her lips on Johns as he came a second time in a row.
He remained hard, painfully, oversensitively so. He was ready to pull out and recharge. Mhm, now I got around 4 minutes of you being a dry well, Siena sounded disappointed and yful. Guess youre just like all the others after all. Cant even make me cum once. Are you even worthy of my attention?
John clenched his teeth. He would not be humiliated, not in this way. His will urged him to fuck her, show her what he could do, but his body remained locked up.
The tendrils attached to Sienas back moved Smander between them. The equally weightless fire spirit was confused. What the fuck is this about?
If my teasing wont break you, Siena said, maybe an indirect taste of what you are missing will at least make you furious.
Not seeing Siena, somehow, let John gather enough of himself to start thrusting. He held Siena by her luscious ass and pumped in and out of her despite how oversensitive he felt. In front of him, Siena continued to tease Smander. Shadowy tendrils cupped her fiery red tits, while fingers teased the tall womans sides and thighs. The fire in Smanders coal ck eyes spoke of fury and orgasms never reached. If John didnt have to concentrate on his own performance, he would have said something encouraging.
But that would entail opening his mouth, and his teeth were fervently clenched as he forced himself to thrust into Siena again and again, even as his dry balls cried out and his hard, overstimted dick just wanted to rest. There was a bigger thing at risk here than slightly ufortable sex: his ego.
His was the sexual power of a generation of gamers dreaming of their own harems filled with cute and sexy girls. He was living the dream, and no matter what obstacle maye in the way of his dick, he was going to fuck it, in one way or another! If Siena wanted to test his endurance with her stupendously pleasurable quim so be it. He would not surrender to this maniac.
The moment his balls refilled, he woulde again, he had no doubt about it. Thus that would be when he lost. He had to fuck her brains out before then. Siena was letting out a series of throaty moans. Smanders tits swayed in front of John. The fire spirit turned her eyes to John, curled up and framed his face with her hands. Give her hell, stud, she dered and kissed him deeply.
John redoubled in his efforts. Nothing like a big-titted fire spirit to make a man exceed expectations.
Wa-aaaah--- wait, wha-a-aa-aaaaa- Sienas almost mocking moans were reced with genuine cries of pleasure. Her ever sexy voice was distorted by surprise. You were not you cannot Oh, Mother you whore, what did you set me up wi--- Oh, shadows below, oh, yes, oh, OH YES, IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE AND-
Whatever else she had to say, it was drowned by a long shout of unfakeable pure pleasure. Yet he continued. Smander was suddenly thrown to the side, a series of curses leaving her as she rolled over the floor. He wanted to check on her, but he could not stop.
Siena again snapped up to him, her yellow eyes staring into the depths of his soul while he made her bounce. You. Siena slung her arms around his neck, short cries still escaping her when his cock sunk into her. You are mhmaaaking me cum oh Mother, they werent all faking it you are actually oh, none of the men I ever knew made me cum I didnt you are actually. Give me more of this! Give me MORE!
Sienas usualposure was blown away by all-epassing greed. Her pussy pulsed even stronger, and John groaned in painful bliss. A thrust, then Source of Satisfaction kicked back in, and the seed that appeared was shot into Siena just as suddenly.
Oh, yes! Siena pushed her whole body against him as his third release into herpletely drenched her insides. Arms and legs tightly closed around him, she moaned again in a prative pleasure she had apparently never known. Girls ate her out until she came, her fingers worked until she came, but all of the men in her life had just failed. He didnt. He had managed to do in 4 minutes what they all had been unable to give her.
Before John knew what was happening, he was lying on his back. His ego was restored, but he had awoken something dangerous. I will own you, Siena said in an excited voice, with a conviction in her eyes that surpassed even Nathalias. Your dick will be mine and mine alone! She was about to insert him into her snatch again, the purple nipples on her blue, big breasts quivering as she breathed ecstatically.
LEARN TO SHARE, BRAT! the only girl with even bigger tits screamed, as the ze elemental delivered a drop kick to Siena. He looked with utter confusion as the nightmare elemental was not only hit but knocked off of John and out ofmission. Wow, to make her focused enough on me to bepletely unaware of that attack, she really must need a good dicking, John thought, looking at the rather inelegant pose Siena, face on the floor, butt sticking out into the air, was currently in. Am I seriously going to fuck her sane?
Attention here, John, Smander demanded as she took Sienas ce on top of his dick. Ignore the shadow bitch, I am so fucking horny right now you will fuck me good, understood?! Well, evidently, he had no say in the matter, so he just nodded as Smanders fiery pussy enveloped him. Fuck, how long did that bitch tease me?! Smander moaned as she came the moment she had impaled herself all the way on his dick.
It was only a small climax, a first taste of liberation from over half an hour of teasing and edging. Smanders desire was burning her out from the inside, and every orgasm she didnt have was one too few as far as John was concerned. Therefore, the only logical conclusion for Smander was to continue riding Johns dick no matter what her body screamed at her.
Put those hips of yours to work! Smandermanded. I really need this right now!
Sure thing, John, regaining his confidence, agreed and grabbed Smander by the hips.
Semi-solid fire enveloped him like ever-shifting walls, giving him all the pleasurable friction he could ask for. Yes, putting his dick into all sorts of elements felt weird, but damn him if it didnt feel good.
FASTER! Smander screamed, riding him with reckless abandon. She didnt care for his stamina, she knew that he would oust her anyhow; all that counted here was to get her into a state of constant orgasm. Her tongue lolled out, FASHTER! Smander still demanded. Their hips were a blur of pistoning movements. FASHTERR! Smander fell forwards, supporting her body by putting her hands on his muscr chest.
A hot, orange liquid, with an oily feeling to it, dribbled from Smanders tongue as she kept panting to the steady beat of their union. Her eyes, however, ck as coal, always stayed on Johns until, with a particrly hard thrust, he came inside her. Her whole body convulsed. Her arms gave in, putting her t on Johns defined chest. Herrge titsid atop his face in all of their heat and marshmallow softness.
After a few more seconds of hammering up into her, he came as well. His cum was the only liquid she happily took into her body. Every drop made her shiver inside out. Those shivers were hidden under the twitching of the finally unloading tension that had built-up in her pussy. Gently, John rolled Smander off him. The fire spirit, lost in aftershocks, barely took notice.
It was time for the final two. Aclysia was still busy nailing Rave into the carpet, presenting her ass to John. He could either have them change positions or
His eyes fell on Aclysias glistening, unupied pussy. He would neither see, nor run into the danger of touching her dick if he just took her from behind.
Lets make this a nice sandwich, John thought and positioned himself behind his artificial guardian.
M-master, please, Aclysia moaned, feeling his presence behind her, do it quick, I want you, I NEED you inside me! She turned her head just enough to look at John with pleading, green eyes. Who could resist such a needy maid?
Her pussy was so wet that John, even dry as his dick was after fucking literal fire, could thrust inside without any problems. Her perfect cocksleeve of a pussy clenched around his dick. Ah, that wasnt Aclysia who moaned there, tiger, geth done sthere quickly! I need that shtupid good dick of yars ASA-ah-P! Raves speech was slurred.
Well, John groaned, I can give you an indirect fuck for now!
He mmed into Aclysia with all of his might, and two girls yelped in response. He kept going at it, pping Aclysias ass as his instincts told him to. The maid shouted, the smack and the fucking sending her past the point of no return. She came, her pussy mping down around Johns dick. It was tight but not tight enough to keep him from moving.
With intermittent, strained breaths, scraping the bottom of his Endurance, he continued to pound her from one orgasm right into the next. Aclysias screams were silenced by her own ecstasy. She twitched constantly from the overload of sensations. Yet, she begged him to stay inside, unwilling to be used only for her own pleasure.
If there was any other true submissive in his harem, it was definitely her.
Aclysia didnt move any more. When Rave moaned it was only because the hammering of Johns hips also put the artificial dick deeper into her. John wasnt satisfied yet; he needed to do more, wanted to bring Aclysia to yet greater heights of pleasure. He wet two of his fingers on her gushing pussy juices and then pushed them into her backdoor.
The effect was Aclysias back arching. Her eyes rolled back, almostpletely hidden by her silky, silvery-white hair. Over and over again, she chanted a single word in veneration and delight, Master, Master, Master, Master!
Aclysia gasped for air as she screamed that word, her sorry remainder of a consciousness grabbing upon the one she loved the most. Seeing her like this, hearing that in this state her only thought was still him, that sent John over the edge.
He pulled out at thest moment, sttering his seed over her back and wonderful bubble butt. How much he loved that ass. It was arge part of the reason he chose this appearance for her in the first ce and seeing it in the flesh never ceased to amaze C especially when it was covered in his white spunk.
He gave it another p after pulling out, marvelling at how it jiggled. Aclysia, as if that p had been the signal, rolled off of Rave a momentter. I will, Aclysia had to pause to gather her breath for a second, leave you two to it, Master. Aclysia managed to stand up and bow, before walking away.
Good girl, he told the maid, who trembled head to toe as if she was just about to cum again. She then walked away, to either help elsewhere or take a much deserved break.
Raves pussy was already agape from the previous fucking. Her pink hair waspletely dishevelled into a mane that looked even wilder than her usual exterior. She smiled lovingly though, and the pink lustre in her eyes, which reflected Johns own sweat covered, heavy breathing form, danced with anticipation.
Got yar, she cleared her throat, excuse me, sore throat.
Her voice was indeed pretty ravaged. Not that it was going better for Lydia. Unlike Thana or Johns familiars, these two had human bodies. Sure, incredibly strong and durable human bodies, but they werent blessed with endless regeneration. Things would affect them sooner orter.
Got your dick into everyone? Rave managed to ask.
Even better, John smiled, his breathing stabilizing as they both used the pause, I got my cum into everybody.
Well, here is hoping you didnt knock anybody up, his girlfriend joked and opened her arms and legs in an inviting fashion. Here is onest girl that ya can conquer.
There is no part of you that I didnt im already, John said and fell into her embrace. Your wonderful hair, he ran his hands through it, your beautiful eyes, he looked into them, your glossy lips, he kissed them, your smooth skin, his hand glided over it, your satisfactory tits.
Ass! Raveughed and pinched his arm.
That part is the best, John grinned and kissed her.
Enough of the romantic mumbo-jumbo, Ive waited long enough, Rave whispered and wrapped her hands around his neck.
No matter who else I find, at the end I will alwayse back to you, John whispered into her ear.
What did I just say, tiger? Rave warned him, although there was a big, happy smile on her face when John went to kiss her again.
Then he put his hard dick between the folds of her pussy and stretched her walls that little bit further. Simultaneously, their tongues twirled around each other.
Only slowly, he increased his tempo. He had enough ravaging behind and ahead of him, so he would take this moment of simple lovemaking. Instead, he concentrated all of his efforts on his kiss. Rave was more than happy with this, her hands resting on the back of his head, both of them moaning as their slow love sent pleasant shivers through their exhausted bodies.
The pace did pick up nheless and their bodies did demand more of that addicting physical contact, started by lust and fuelled by love. Soon there was a repeating squelching sound as Johns cock hammered into her with strong thrusts. Rave broke the kiss, I know ya can go harder, just ravage my pussy, John, she demanded.
As youmand, mydy, John smirked and straightened up. He put one of her legs over his shoulder and straddled over the other one. Using the former as a handle, he now went for quick movements that hit her deepest part in rapid session. The innermost folds rubbed along the sensitive edge underneath the head of Johns dick, along the whole girth and length of his shaft. He groaned and looked at his wonderful girlfriend.
I love ya, Rave said, looking at him the same way. I really -aaaaahhh- lovvve yaaa, her second attempt to sound romantic waspletely abolished by an impending orgasm. John felt his own body get ready in response, to cum at the same moment as her was not just a wish but a habit at this point. I love ya and yar stupidly goooood diiiiiick, Rave screamed as her chest arched upwards. The skin of her breasts stretched, glistening with sweat. Her arms were half-crossed above her head, tensing and rxing just like her whole body as John buried himself balls-deep into her.
Thest of the women in the room to receive his cum did so amongst a mutual orgasm. They clung to each other, made out wildly and sloppily as his cock twitched inside her over and over again. As the heat of the moment passed, so too did the making out be gradually calmer. In the end, he hovered over her, just getting lost in those gorgeous blue eyes.
A cough pulled their attention to the side.
Master, Siena chimed in, her voice back to the usual calm, teasing tone. I think we should continue where we left off.
What happened to, I NEED YOUR DICK? John asked.
Ja, ya total Yandere! Rave stuck out her tongue and pulled John even closer. My man! she hissed.
I would inquire when his services are avable again as well, Lydia joined them.
What happened to Undine? John asked.
The slimedy flowed her way into his field of view. I like getting fucked so much more
Stop hogging the cock, gum crotch, Thana shouted. This fucking has barely even fucking started, we will still be in the air for another hour!
John looked at everyone. The entire harem gradually encircled him. Despite the alternatives, it seemed they all wanted him above anything else. He smirked. Give me five minutes.
Chapter 209 – The Eternal City 1 – Arrival
Chapter 209 C The Eternal City 1 C Arrival
This was exceedingly excessive, Lydia said. Her voice, only intact thanks to Undines healing, was slightly raised, having to speak over the sound of water drumming on the floor. She was currently using a shower, powered by John, to wash the remaining cum out of her hair.
I liked it, Rave, standing right next to her, said, soap bubbling over her naked curves. Was a nice group exercise. We can continue thister... although we need to calm Siena down first.
The shadow elemental was currently on time-out in Johns shadow. She had had a well, John would call it a possessive episode, Rave called it a yandere attack. Besides the point though as the two girls kept showering and John concentrated on having his dick inside Undine.
Basically, everyone who was human was trying to get somewhat presentable in case some journalists would swarm them. Lydia didnt n to do anything but answer some questions. However, it was one thing to say I dont have time, and another saying that same phrase while looking like one just had a circle of dudes bukkake them. Johns familiars had the distinct advantage of just going incorporeal, if they even needed long to get cleaned at all.
Speaking of showers on a ne, that was a truly wonderful thing. Of course, it was only possible thanks to John fuelling the mana generator that provided the necessary liquid and whatever arcane machinations that made it vanish in the drain afterwards.
The fact that he had to fuel the mana generator meant that he himself did not get a chance to join the princess, his girlfriend, and the bundle of madness that was Thana in the shower. Which was just the worst. Rave soaped Lydia up, while the princess tried her best to get clean. Simultaneously, Thana got boobs pushed into her face. John had to watch all of that from the sidelines.
At least he had an alternative to the shower in the form of Undine. The water spirit was not psyched by the fact that she was used as a mobile bath, but the fact that she got to continue to ride Johns dick while everyone showered seemed to be enough to appease her. It was a win-win for both John and his elemental.
I liked it too, Sylph chirped, It was fun, lots of fun, lots of tentacles, not enough dicking, but hey, what can you do? You could try getting more! But more men that arent John isnt nice. I want more Johns! Can we get more Johns? Johnnie, can you make more Johns with more Johns?
Shut up, Sylph, Smander grumbled. The fire spirit was in a more foul mood than usual, since she was once more doomed to hair-dryer duty. A mechanical voice announced that they wouldnd in about 15 minutes. Lydia and Rave took that as their queue to leave the shower.
Ya are weird, Rave said.
What are you speaking in reference to? Lydia asked.
The shower was way too cold, came the swift answer, ya gotta shower really hot.
Jane, John chimed in, you just take showers that are almost burning hot.
No matter how often ya say that, its still wrong. Rave folded her arms over her naked chest. Already her wet, pink hair had started to regain its usual wild disy. The heat radiating from Smander dried things quickly. Ya just dont know how to enjoy a nice, warm shower.
Okay, different question, one that I have needed an answer to for a long time. John pointed at his girlfriends head. How the hell do you have hair like that? Your dads hair is a dark brown, your mothers hair is midnight blue and your sisters hair is neon green. Not to mention the fact that all three of you have hairstyles that are borderline physically impossible.
Ah, ya know, ancient Japanese curse, nothing serious, Rave waved off.
Say what now? John blinked, for a moment his confusion even overwrote the feeling of Undines pussy quivering around his dick.
Ancient Japanese curse, some ancestor got it from a moody mage or something, I dunno, I just have cool hair, the techno-lover continued, stepping into her panties as if there was nothing weird about what she had just said.
What she is referring to, Lydia weighed in, somehow more helpful on this, is the ancient Japanese practice of binding a spell to a bloodline via rituals of varyingplexity. These rituals arepletely forgotten these days, but many curses still persist.
How did that happen? The forgetting, I mean? John investigated further.
Declining poprity, ouwing of the practice by the Final Sun, and finally the raids of the Dangun n upon the Japanese inds killed all known practitioners. Attempts to restore or replicate these rituals have, so far, been unsessful. The princess put her arms through the sleeves of her hovering uniform. I must say that I am surprised that your hair stems from that. I assumed you simply enchanted it to look that way or that another Abyssal mutation was involved.
Nah, the enchantment is my brown hair. Rave giggled and fanned out her now dried, pink mane. People often make that mistake.
John took a forced pause to cum inside Undine before resuming the talk. There were many things he was used to by now, but talking while his balls unloaded was not one of them. Once his orgasm was over, however, he turned back to the conversation.
So, in conclusion, he said as Undine flowed off him and then vanished, you have a curse that gives you anime hair?
Ja, awesome, isnt it? Rave smirked.
Try fucking retarded, Thana threw in. The pretty little psycho was at the receiving end of Momos attention. Over and over again, the sassy support pulled ab through Thanas hair.
Your hair is so much like Aclysias, she mused, soft, silvery-white, hah, I love it.
Stop being creepy back there, Thana hissed.
Want to trybing your own hair? Momo asked. Oh wait, you would break theb in your hulk-hands. Rx and let me take care of you, you ungrateful child. Thana didnt know how to answer that.
Anyhow, so if you two had gues A questioningly raised eyebrow gave Thana pause for a second. kids as they are moremonly called, the blood mage turned to the easier conversation. That would then be inherited by them?
Only to the girls, Rave answered, Dont even ask me why, for the history of who got my family that curse and why Id have to talk to my mother, and that wont be happening soon.
And would you like to have kids in the first ce? Thana probed further.
John yawned, all of the fucking had left him a bit tired. I mean, someday? Depends, question kind ofes out of left field here.
Well, if I were pregnant tomorrow, what would we do? Rave wondered.
Either abort mission or try to get this tournament over ASAP and then retire to the countryside, John suggested.
Yeah ah well, spells still in ce, so whatevs.
They left the shower and went back into the seating area. Lydia red angrily at the tear in her carpet and then at its source. Hey, I kept it at one, Thana mumbled quietly in her defense. I kept my hulk-hands to myself for the whole hour and whatever more that fucking fucking went on.
The princess sighed, Fair enough. At least it will be cheaper to fix in Rome than in Berlin.
Do they have that good an economy? John asked.
Lydia kept a straight face, You will soon see the infrastructure of the Eternal City for yourself.
Well then, I will wait, John said and sat down as the announcement warned them of thending starting.
The whole city is in a barrier? Thats pretty impressive, John thought as the ne came to a slow halt. The engines went out, the des of the turbines slowly stopped rotating, and the buzzing of movement stopped. John didnt hate flying but he would be happy to have solid ground under his feet again. The door opened and Lydia took the lead. John was second and, if the staircase hadnt been automated, he would have blocked the exit for everyone else.
They were not back on solid ground, not really. They were on top of an ind, hovering in the sky. Several more filled the surrounding airspace, dozens of them. The one they were on was among thergest, the entire airport located on top of it. Others held singr buildings or entire city blocks. A web of streets of flowing blue connected them, arcane roads that people moved on like they were conveyor belts. All inds were tethered to a truly titanic obelisk of marble white located at the centre of the city. Arcane veins and runes constantly pulsed on its surface.
John stumbled when he reached the end of the esctor. Prepared for this stunned awe, Lydia caught him. Impressive, isnt it? she asked in her usual iron tone.
Impressive?! Thanaughed into her face, Bitch, this isnt impressive, this is stupendous, who builds a whole city in the fucking sky?
What makes you think that is the whole city? Lydia asked.
Ya cant be serious, Rave returned.
I am, this is the heart of Romulus Empire, the oldest European, perhaps even global, Abyssal organization, she pointed at the inds. These are merely extensions and outskirts. When they ran out of space on the ground the city nners turned to the sky. First, they put public buildings such as the airport or the bigger hospitals up here, creating more living space. The magical highways used to transport citizens turned out to be massive time savers as well. Then people in power asked if they could have small inds themselves, to have ess to these magical highways and more isted living quarters. She pointed to one particr ind. That is where we will be staying by the way: Mansion Hohenstaufen.
Okay, so the city then continued to grow anyhow and then they decided to put whole city blocks into the sky? John asked, extremely bamboozled.
Yes, Lydia answered like it was the most normal thing in her world. They looked at each other and a small twitching of Lydias lips told him that she was rather enjoying his utter iprehension of the amount of power in this ce.
And then they put magical SUNS on the bottom of the inds so the poption below wouldnt have that great of a difference? he probed further.
Indeed, came another single word answer.
Ya know that is ridicu- Rave started but was interrupted by Thana just bursting into absolutely maniacalughter.
F-ahahahahHAHAHAAAA-uck you WHAT?! she cackled out. This is stupid, fucking retarded, what is below us that they raise inds off the ground?
These werent raised, they were created, Lydia corrected. The amount of mana needed to create earth is incrediblepared to air or water, but it''s not impossible.
Which only makes it more fucking stupid, Thana cackled. Okay, whatever, lets get away from here, I hear about 200 peoples footsteps about 400 metres off, chatting about interviewing us.
You can HEAR that? It was Lydias turn to be bbergasted.
bermensch, or whatever, get over it, princess, Thana said and continued to urge the group to move. No amount of hurrying would have saved them from the swarm however.
The journalists were on the prowl, waiting for the candidate to show up. People of all nationalities and fantastical races, armed with cameras and microphones, stormed at them, tactically encircling them before they could escape. The group was boxed in by the swarm, assaulted on all fronts.
This is the Roman Front, I have a question! Do you have ament on the speech Maximillian gave yesterday? I am with the DKNVB, just a moment of your time please! Swarm news here, the Tyralings want to know what you will do for the insectoid minorities, should youe into power? Do you feel you have a chance? How did you take your sudden tie in the election? How What I am with This
The questions started to be nothing more than a screaming contest as the group was besieged more and more closely. The reporters were either emboldened or desperate, to be this aggressive with a group of high level Abyssals.
Johns brain was hard at work for a way out of this mess. Should he just force his way out? Lydia seemed like she wanted to talk so that seemed wrong, but this was bad, this was seriously bad. Thanas eyes were open, quivering in a mixture of panic and absolute anger, the two circlesplete. Lydia we have to le- he tried to warn her.
Bloodburn!
The crowd took a reactive step back as the butterfly wings of blood fire exploded from the robed girls back. GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME OR ILL HANG YOU OFF THE ISLAND BY YOUR OWN ENTRAILS!
Nobody dared to question the truth of that threat. All journalists took a collective step backwards. I am sorry, Thana Newman is bad with crowds that dont know their manners, Lydia tried to diffuse the situation, but couldnt withhold her own dissatisfaction about how they were approached. John was rather happy about that, even if he wished she wouldnt have used Thanas full name. It still felt pretty awkward. You will form an orderly rectangle and I will take your questions in a proper manner while mypanions wait over there.
Thana kept staring at them. She was unmoving, except for the edges of her wings. Like fire around dark veins of crystallized blood, the butterfly-esque wings moved. The journalists didnt dare to try anything rash. John took the opportunity to check on something.
Jesus Christ, almighty, John mumbled.
Thana grabbed him by the arm, which broke immediately, and mmed him into the ground, which also made his ribcage go through an unpleasant shattering. There is no god and non-existent things have no sons, Thana spat out, her ws digging into Johns already healed arm. It took a few hundred HP off him anyhow.
Calm down, Thana! Rave shouted from the background, obviously panicked.
Calm, calm, calm, Thana repeated,ughing. There is no calm. Only fucking disgusting assholes everywhere. I should just eradicate this whole worthless branch of jobs.
You are killing me down here, John informed her in a tone between joking and urgent.
Whether that was what did the trick or not, the wings suddenly disappeared and the look on her face shifted from angry to shocked. I, oh SHIT, I am so sorry, she said and let go of his wrist. John stood up, while Thana remained on the floor, pulling her knees to her chest.
Just a friendly discussion, he shouted over to the journalists and the worried looking Lydia. The crater in the ground made those words an obvious lie, but all that mattered was that they got her away from the prying eyes.
Come, lets sit over there. John pointed at a faraway green strip. Then, he offered his hand to the pretty little psycho.
She looked at it as if it was some kind of previously unknown nt. Arent you afraid that I will break it?
You can see my health bar, I can take a bit more. Also, you have done worse to me, John said with an assuring smile. Slowly, Thana raised her hand and took Johns. Her grip was incredibly tight and ufortable, his bones were squeezed together but by the time Thana was on her feet, none of them were broken. See, John said, raising his hand, all is fine, just try to control yourself.
I will Thana meekly said and trotted after him.
No dessert, Aclysia suddenly blurted out, as they were on their way to that green strip.
What? John asked.
No dessert for Thana today, Aclysia repeated in more detail.
WHAT?! the meekness was gonepletely and the blood mage was back to being an outraged, tiny bundle of madness. The fuck, Aclysia? Why not?!
You hurt Master. I am furious, Aclysia crossed her arms and gave Thana a death re. No desert.
Ja, this sounds agreeable, good thinking, Aclysia, Rave gave her a thumbs-up.
I meanurghFUCK, I cant argue that, they finally reached the grass and Thana fell on all fours. Dammit I need to be a bit more sane and
It was going to be pudding, Aclysia shot the open wound with a salt cannon.
I dont even know what that tastes like but it sounds delicious! Thanained, her face hidden behind the curtain of her hair, Oh, why, you fucking cruel world, why did you break me this way? Couldnt I just be some breeding hole? She looked at John. Do you want a breeding hole?
Great to see that losing dinner makes you this repentant. John drilymented, rubbing the ce where Thana had broken his arm. He should raise his Agility more, he hadnt seen that attacking at all. Then again, with her Stats, how could he?
We really need to get you under control though, one day you might kill John by ident, Momo said and kneeled down next to Thana, and we cant have that, can we?
Aclysia blinked, You sound so serious. The guardian tilted her head as she looked between John and Momo. Did something happen between you two? Normally, you would be rather indifferent to Masters suffering.
We had a little heart to heart or rather mind to mind, John exined, Simr to what you and I had on the way to the mall, Aclysia.
I see, Aclysia said, looking a bit saddened by the news that she was no longer the only one who had achieved that state with him. Mostly she was happy for her sister though. Anyway, John felt that it wouldnt hurt to kiss Aclysia to cheer her up. Cheering up Aclysia was a job he would take any day of the week.
A kisster and the sadness was indeed all gone. Ey, John, girlfriend here, I want kisses too, Rave said and hugged him the moment he was avable. Together they fell onto the grass andughingly his girlfriend put her lips on his.
Care to include me? Thana asked. If Im deserving of any love after that...
Sure, John answered.
Rave had other ns, keeping Thana at bay with an outstretched foot. Nope, ya have to wait a minute. I have cuddling privileges, she stuck out her tongue. Thats how I can punish you.
Fucking hurray, now I am hungry and envious Thana ripped a hand of grass out of the winter hardened ground and looked at it with great interest.
Dont eat that, John joked.
Of course not, Thana looked at him like his brain was filled with Sylph, I just like the smell reminds me of dying and then waking up in a better world.
John didnt have anything to say about that. Nobody had. Thana dropped the grass back down. Although I should stop killing nts just because I like how they smell, she quietly reprimanded herself, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping herself in the robe. John doubted that she was cold, but everyone in their warm jackets started cuddling her anyway.
You are such a bunch of fucking weirdos, Thana told them with augh.
Chapter 210 – The Eternal City 2 – Mansion Hohenstaufen
Chapter 210 C The Eternal City 2 C Mansion Hohenstaufen
Eventually Lydia returned to them.
That was disgraceful! Of course, the first thing she did was reprimand Thana. Not only did you reveal part of your powers, but you also hurt John. Let it be known that I am thoroughly disappointed!
Yes, yes, Thana sighed, utterly defeated. I get it, I get it, I have the fucking mental state of a toddler and I dont deserve dessert, cuddles, or anything good. Everyone would be better off if I was just barefoot and stuck in a kitchen or whatever the fuck.
Lydia blinked twice, looked over to Aclysia, then back to Thana. As long as we are clear on that, the princess stated, deciding that this instance of Thanas disrespect was not a fight worth having and finally they were on their way again.
John looked at the tform with their luggage floating after them. Cant we just use that to get to our destination? he asked. It had been extremely fast, so it would save them time to just climb that.
It has neither a lot of speed nor the windshield outside of thenes, Lydia remarked; Therefore, it is best used to just take care of our luggage.
John epted that as a fact while they went towards the edge of the floating ind and one of the many mana streets. Now that he looked at everything more closely he started to recognize that there was some sort of nnedwork going on here. Of course, not every ind was connected to every single other ind. Instead, what he was looking at was a three-dimensionalwork of streets that stretched through the sky. The longer he looked the more it looked like highways connecting cities. A direct path was seldom avable but there was always a path. Figures in the distance, the size of ants, moved with extreme speed on top of thesenes.
So how does this work? John wondered, when they stopped in front of these streets.
It was at least ten-metres wide and divided into two sections by a central railing. That railing, the only solid part to the whole structure, was bolted to the ind. It was made from some goldish metal. The same material also framed the street to the left and right, serving as the barrier between the people using it and the long drop to the city below. When John touched it, it felt like rubber. Not that he got a long time to test that feeling. A sensation like a reverse electric shock made his hand snap back.
Hey! John eximed and, worried, checked his health. He had used the waiting time to let Undine heal him to full. He still wasnt psyched about losing more HP today. Interestingly enough, he didnt lose a single life point, instead he had lost half of his MP.
That is Romuglehn, Lydia exined, looking at him with an amused glint in her greyish blue eyes. It is a material of unknownposition that apparently only Romulus can create, and the best mana transmitter known to be in use. The mana streets, or Arcan Pavimentum as they are officially called, create a circr mana stream that we can safely step on. Normally it is the job of the city officials to make sure they dont run out of energy, but I think you just saved them that trouble for the next few days.
Days? John asked and shook his slightly numb hand. I only lost like half and this street is like 500 metres long!
Ya have stupid high mana, Rave giggled.
Lydia nodded, In addition, as I just said, Romuglehn is an extremely efficient transmitter. These streets almost exclusively lose energy if somebody uses them.
Lydia simply stepped on the blue, streaming surface and immediately was carried off at an impressive speed, roughly equivalent to what cars were allowed to drive at in inner cities. The tform with their luggage followed her and Thana simply stepped on without another care.
Lets go, this seems fun! Rave said and grabbed John by the hand. Together they went onto the stream.
The feeling of the ground moving underneath Johns feet was surprisingly unsurprising. It felt like he was riding on an esctor. Simrly, he could just walk forward on it. Of course. Rave had other ns, trying to run in the other direction just to see if she could. The answer was no, she still barely moved backwards. Hah, Thanaughed at her, managing to counteract the mana streets natural movement while running backwards, hands folded behind her head, you are really fucking slow.
I will show ya! Rave said, challenged in such a way she put on even bigger strides and finally managed to ovee the mana street and run at Thanas speed. Although the blood mage was still nonchntly running backwards, while Rave was putting in the sprint of her life. Well, there is only so much motivation can do, John thought.
Will you stop fooling around? Momo asked, giving Thana a p on the back of her head while she drove by. Or attempting to, even without seeing iting the blood mage ducked under it.
You will have to try harder at sneaking to catch me off-guard, Thana cackled. I can hear your hand cutting through the air loud and clear.
I would ask that you stop fooling around nevertheless, Lydia, who moved backwards on the street by holding onto the outer railing of thene, apparently cancelling the effects of the mana street that way,mented, We have enough to do as is. Why dont you take a look at the city?
That was ament that caught everyones interest, as they scrambled to the edge of the road to gaze at the city below.
Rome was gargantuan. Houses, halls, towers and streets, perfectly nned out and stretching over an area that described a perfect circle, where the Illusion Barrier met its edge. The outskirts were by far the smallest buildings, John couldnt even make out what they looked like, only knew that they were there thanks to being separated by walls from the more central district bordering them. There was another wall, taller, that then separated those buildings from the next ring-shaped district. That repeated four more times. Each time, the buildings got more and more luxurious, until, at the centre of everything, was the obelisk that tethered the floating inds.
The obelisk was part of its own set of structures. A pce of that gorgeous Roman design, devouring at least a few square kilometres just for its buildings, the vast gardens not even included, grew tall into the sky. With the obelisk at the heart of this mega-structure, it was a truly imposing sight. John did not need to guess where Romulus was living.
That is where we will hold the tournament, Lydia directed their sight only slightly south. Within theyer directly around the pce stood a colosseum. No not A colosseum - THE Colosseum of Rome, the most famous of its kind. Ellipse-shaped and in perfect condition, it stood proudly, surrounded by mansions and wide streets. John gulped, imagining just how many people would be watching them from the tall viewing areas.
John turned his gaze back to the wider city. Just how many people are there in the Abyss? he wondered to get his thoughts away from the tournament and needless worries.
The abyssal barrier of Rome holds about 200.000 people, about 70% of whom are human. Most of these humans are permanent residents of the Abyss however, and have no persona in the real world.
Thats a thing? John asked.
You will find that there is a crowd of people who have been born, raised and have never left Illusion Barriers inside cities of this size. And why would they? The Sons of Rome have their own order of hired Fateweavers who connect the Italian cities through traffic tunnels, most of thendscape is also covered in privately owned Protected Spaces.
Huh, urbanization didnt stop in reality, I see. John nodded. America, evidently, was pretty behind on all of this. Do I want to change that once I get back? John wondered, I mean, given a bit more time, I could probably just waltz over the USA and try unifying it. Sounds like a lot of work though I have to give that one more thought.
They stepped off the mana street and went onto another one, always guided by Lydia. The princess was certain in her path, as she guided them until they finally were transported towards a fairly small ind. Fairly small meant about 300 metres in diameter.
On the ind stood a lonely mansion. Three stories tall and partly covered by vines, it was a wonderful, renaissance style brick building. The many windows were evenly spread, its front doory in the shadow of a balcony that belonged to the story above. The mansion was topped with a softly nted ceiling.
Wide gardens, perfect to take a stroll in, where people could easily lose sight of others and intrigues could be nned in public istion, stretched around the building. Who took care of these gardens was a mystery to John. There was no quarter for servants around and while the mansion was big, it didnt look like it was there to house the servants itself.
Wee to Mansion Hohenstaufen, Lydia eximed, as she opened the solid wooden door at the front. The inside of the mansion was
It was the same as every other house belonging to Lydia, just bigger. John felt thoroughly disappointed. Why? he had to ask. His tone was agitated, the dullness of her choice of internal decorations shing so heavily with the grandeur of the city atrge. Why do you use the same style everywhere?!
Because thepany that does it presented me with a contract for 10 years in which they would redecorate every house that I pointed them at. Not having them work would be a waste of my money, Lydia crossed her arms, and wasting money is a cardinal sin.
This is so boring, Raveined.
Yeah, way to bring down the fucking mood, Thana added and looked around, Nice Renaissance mansion and what do you do with it? Wooden floor and Prussian blue everywhere.
I like it, Momo pushed against the popr opinion.
Aclysia nodded, a sparkle in her eyes, The kitchen was supreme in thest house, I cannot wait to see this one.
Yourints are dismissed. Anything that goes against Prussian blue is wrong by default, Lydia said as she peeled out of her jacket and orderly hung it onto the wardrobe. Take the door to your right. You will find the living room behind it. Turn left and go to the door ahead, that will take you to the kitchen.
Aclysia bowed and was off. John smirked. However boring it was to be in the third house with the same, solid wooden furniture, as long as he had his girls around at least it wouldnt get boring. Oh right, I have achievements to look at, John reminded himself and did that while he was getting out of his winter clothes.
Yeah, there it was. Just a bit of Charisma though. Nothing new.
Great, more Libido, just what he needed. Couldnt something give him a free Rtionship Slot or something? Neither Thana nor Nathalia had joined his Harem officially yet, but the former kept shing with Lydia while Nathalias existence kept egging on his girlfriend. It was only a matter of time until one of these situations, or something he wasnt even aware of at the moment, escted and he would be in the middle of it. Something that he REALLY didnt want to experience.
Guess Id better go grind out the two needed levels today, John decided. It had been a while since he had taken the time to actually level anyhow and he needed money for a few things. There were still some windows left though.
Oh for John cried out in his thoughts, Now I have two levels in that ss I can use whenever, and I dont even want to. Urgh, just stacking them for the time being.
Wait Wait what?
Chapter 211 – What would you do without us?
Chapter 211 C What would you do without us?
John tried to keep calm. He mostly seeded. Quivering hands ced his shoes on the floor. Uhm so he cleared his throat. Everyone around was looking at him, having caught on his obviously odd behaviour. He wasnt sure how to express what he thought. He wasnt even sure what he thought.
Whaddaya wanna say, John? Rave, ever impatient, asked.
So basically and I feel like I should have no, thats toote now, John cleared his throat again. Regrets about not asking more questions about the workings of Abyssal birth control could be putter. Exhaling audibly and swiftly, he just got it out with. One of you is pregnant. Gaia gave me an Achievement for it.
A moment of silence, then there was nervous, loudughter.
What are youughing about? Lydia wanted to know, her voice steady and almost unconcerned.
An Achievement for knocking someone up, thats fucking hrious! Thana answered, still cackling, her tone swinging wildly between panicked and nervous. I mean, who the fuck doesnt have their womb in check here?! Guess no one else is infertile!
Thana, ya idiot, its 100 percent you! Rave pointed at the blood mage. Elementals and Artificial Spirits dont get preggers, Lydia and I are protected and weve been having creampies for like days and or weeks or months, it can only be you!
Not to mention that a regr human pregnancy should not take that fast, Lydia added. By process of elimination, it has to be you.
W-what C I mean C I. The bloodmage stammered. They tried to get me pregnant it never- She looked around the room, noticing everyone was now staring at her. She began to tremble all over. Her eyes turned ssy for a moment. One of her hands was ced over her womb. What the fuck? she mumbled, oddly calm. Her eyes opened up again. Now her expression was truly panicked, something that John saw on his own face through the reflection of her eyes.
Shes thest person in the room that should be a mother right now, he thought. Herman must have fixed you up or I dont know. The Gamer tried to take a bit of the panic out of the situation, before anyone could freak out for real.
Where is the nearest toilet?! Thana asked out loud.
Ya gonna throw up? Rave asked.
Im just going to give myself an emergency period! Kill it before Iy eggs! The attempt at humour failed tond with everyone, even herself. TOILET?! WHERE?! she screeched. What if I get hyper-pregnancy?!
A valid question and not one anyone wanted answered. Lydia pointed her in the correct direction and Thana rapidly walked off. Watching the small woman walk away in this situation to do what she was going to do gave John a whole host ofplicated feelings. Within one hour of conception was definitely within his moral framework of dealing with such things the ugly way, but that did not change the fact that all of this was making his heart drum in his chest. He wondered what would happen if he stopped her now
but he did not. Thana vanished around the corner and at that point it was out of his control. They continued to stand there for a little while.
So that practically eliminates myst doubts whether or not she is human. Lydia broke the silence and then headed into the living room.
What else was she going to be? John asked.
A goddess, the princess simply stated, a tortured, malformed, goddess. However, the chances of a goddess bing pregnant the first time she has sex is next to null. Not to mention that Romulus wouldnt have let a god participate in the tournament in the first ce. Thana being the weird case that she is, I wanted to have additional certainty. This works.
She sat down on a bigger version of the familiar table and, as if on cue, Aclysia ced an exact twin of the tea-set in front of Lydia. Well, that was a shocker, John mumbled as he and Rave sat down on thefortable couch. Like the rest of the furniture, it was scaled up for therger environment. Rather than one couch, there were two, and an armchair to boot.
Shocker was an understatement. For a moment there his whole world had threatened to copse over the span of 9 to 10 months. Would that have been so terrible? He had no idea, he just knew that he felt too young for that kind of responsibility. Great thing for Thana that she isnt actually infertile, probably, but I would have preferred to find out in a less scary way.
Ya can say that out loud. Id blown a gasket if she kept the kid. She cant take your name AND the first kid, imma have to get one or the other.
You want to have one? John raised the question carefully. They had never talked about it before.
In a few years, not now, Rave rified. Like, five years or something. Im twenty, no reason to hurry along, I can be a kickass momter in life.
You are definitely going to be a kickass mom, John agreed and earned himself a kiss on the cheek for that. The known soft warmth of her glossy lips made the remaining tension fall off. He rested his head on hers, which, in turn,y on his shoulder.
Well, I am fucking not going to be, Thana announced as she mmed the northern door of the living room shut. She didnt break it, which was good, but it still caused Lydia to wrinkle her forehead as the mming noise reverberated through the whole building. I got rid of it cleanly. Just had the usual processes of dealing with the unviable eggs take care of it The blood mage threw herself into one of the chairs and rubbed her face with both hands. Fucking I didnt think this would be the consequence of getting pounded into the ground
Isnt that good news? Aclysia asked; Bearing Masters child sounds like wonderful news.
To you it is, you mindless automaton, Thana spat out and made a disappointed face, but I am absolutely not ready to be within a 100 metres of kids, less even to have some myself.
I am not mindless, Aclysia said once Thana had ended her sentence, retract that statement at once.
Or fucking what? Thanaughed, you are going to threaten me with even less dessert? I am not in the mood for your bullshit threats.
I C am C not C mindless, Aclysia spelled out. I serve John out of my own volition, representing it as anything else undermines my free will. Apologize.
And what if I dont want to? Thana growled. Learn to take a fucking joke.
My sapience is not a topic for jokes. Dering me a being without autonomy makes John a ver. I will not have you undermine my own decision making abilities nor my beloveds moral fibre. Aclysia firmly stated. Apologize.
Fuck off.
Ladies, John intervened, the air was getting dangerously thick. I am sure Thana didnt mean it that way. Just take a deep breath Thana, calm down, and
No. The blood mage crossed her arms and, after trying to punch a random point in the air,ughed. This is retarded. Your artificial maid not being able to take a beating to her pride is nothing I have to calm down over.
Thana, ya really should
Shut the fuck up, gum crotch, I dont care what your cat-brain can produce. Learn to be anything more useful than my punching bag before you annoy me again, Thana interrupted Rave before she could even state anything.
John rushed over to Thana and grabbed her by the wrist. He pulled her to her feet and she obliged. We are going outside for a bit.
A smile was still stered over Thanas face, but it was empty and her eyes were cold. Fucking fine, she agreed after ncing over to the rest of the angry crowd. John didnt even bother with getting his shoes, instead they simply went out the back.
The cold air on his skin was still warmer than the silence that followed once they were alone. The hell do you think you are doing? Johns tone was sharper than he intended it to be. Everything about his emotions at this moment was difficult to express. He was wise enough to realize that he was using the wrong tone, but not charismatic enough to do anything about it. He wanted to sound earnest, but he sounded like an user.
What am I doing?! Thanas voice was high-pitched. Its you fuckers who cant be the slightest bit flexible! Take a joke!
John bit back his tongue. There was one thing he could do to keep his tone in check and that was to speak very slowly, with deep breaths in between. I am sorry if that came out wrong, he started with an apology. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Toote did he realize that the gesture was condescending.
I am not a child, you ass, the blood mage growled. Im an adult fucking female, evident by me almost having yours just a minute ago.
Thana, just
Just shut the fuck up! Thana demanded. I am not here to be judged by you! You fuckers need me, not the other way around.
And thats where John made the big mistake of almostughing. He repressed that urge to ask What would you do without us? but not all could be held back. It was just a slightly ridiculing blow of air, but the golden ring in Thanas eyes that formed in response left no doubt about what she thought of that.
WHAT?! You think I am useless without you? That I am helpless?! Bitch, without you holding me back, I could take whatever I want. Who could stop me? The top 2% of people in the Abyss? Gods? Just a matter of time before I evolve past all of those assholes, I dont need you to survive and if you are telling me that are you being for fucking real right now?
The blood mage stopped and crossed her arms, lowering her eyes towards the ground. She looked at the Mana de that was stabbed into her lower abdomen.
John drew the weapon back and let the wound re-seal itself. He took no pleasure in having caused it. Where his charisma failed him, his calcting mind had told him to work with one of the extremely unhealthy ways to calm her down that worked: pain.
Listen here, you socially inept potato. Speaking hernguage got him a little giggle from Thana. That was progress. We both know you are a fuck-up when ites to behaving like a human, and, whenever you have one of your panic attacks, you manage to seriously screw everything up. The blood mage nodded at that, evidently capable of listening. We are willing to help you, John said very slowly. That offer requires that you at least try to work with us. Nobody expects you to be perfect, but if you insult Aclysia and my girlfriend and refuse to apologize when you clearly go too far, then I have no patience to entertain liking you. Friendship is-
You dont entertain liking me anyway, Thana mumbled so quietly John almost missed it.
Thats not true, John stated fervently. I want to like you. I want to believe that you deserve something better. However, friendship is a two way street. If you think youre that much better on your own. He gestured towards the edge of the ind. Just jump
Thana turned her eyes in that direction. The golden circle in her eyes had slowed down enough that the seven dots were individually visible again. Turning her eyes in his direction, they sped up a little again. Thana looked at her feet and took a deep breath. I wanted that kid.
What? John asked, all emotions emptied from his voice by the surprise.
You heard me, you gaping anus, Thana kept her gaze decisively away from him. I just felt, hey, maybe, thats a way to repay the guy, that you spent thest days of your life and the first days of your new life parasitically abusing, or something like that. Then I saw that expression on your face when you realized that you would be a dad, then I saw the panic once you realized that it was me and I just, I felt so helpless so thoroughly disappointed in somebody that I thought I could trust. Then I panicked because I wondered why I would even want that. Seriously, why would I want to be a mom? I am CLEARLY not fucking ready to raise a kid, for fucks sake I need people to look after me myself. Then something in my brain went fuck everything, if I cant get what I want, neither can anyone else. I hate kids, I think, why do I even want some. I dont understand myself. Feelings are bullshit. She stared at the sky now. What the fuck am I doing?
John quietly listened to all of that and, unsure what else to do, stepped closer.
If you dare to fucking hug me now I will rip out your spine and reinsert it through your ass, Thana warned him.
Not doing that then, John firmly agreed. Well, I could punch you instead, he joked.
Thana nodded in earnest. Yeah, that sounds about right.
A knot formed in Johns stomach. The regret of having stabbed her settled in. I dont actually John tried to evade actually doing it but then sighed, you are seriously wrong in the head.
Yup, Thana agreed, and I doubt it will ever get much fucking better. W-will you still keep your promise to stick by me?
As long as you learn to apologize from time to time, John countered and reluctantly pulled his fist back.
Cool. Now punch me.
Thana, I-
Fucking do it or I am jumping.
The Gamer stared at her for a few moments, trying to work out if she was serious. By all that he could see, she was, and that was the worst of it. This will be thest time I do anything like that, understand? he told her. She rolled her eyes. I mean it. Im not letting you keep this habit of needing to get tormented to calm down.
Fucking fine. Do it, pussy. John pulled his arm back and hit her in the forehead. She stood there, unbothered. His fist, however, was in great pain. Are you for fucking real? Thanaughed when he pulled his hand back. Thats the best you can do?!
Yup, John answered and shook his hand.
And I even hardened my skin on reflex, wow, sorry, didnt think you were that weak, Thana ridiculed him.
You can do that? John asked, do you have nanomachines, son?
No, I have fucking crystallisable blood? Thana gestured wildly, a tone of utter confusion, ws appearing on her hands for a moment before vanishing into her bloodstream again.
That one was a reference ah, whatever, John decided. So, I will keep you being baby-crazy a secret. Okay from Lydia and Rave at least, the rest are in my thoughts and already know by now.
Yeah Thana kicked a pebble with a downtrodden expression. What drove me to get it in the first ce?!
John gulped down the I joke. Instead, he tried his hand at a reassuring smile, Hey, how about this: if you get into a state where you can be a normal member of society without my help, we can give this whole child thing another thought.
You serious? Thana looked conflicted about that, happy but also heavily annoyed, Why would you even say that, I just told you that it was a fucking awful idea.
But you still want it, dont you? The question created a whole series of gremlin noises in response. And, while I am not even remotely prepared to be a dad now, I will be one day. If I can have a harem, might as well go all the way through and have beautiful kids with all of you.
So, you are telling me, that my primary motivation for being not mind-murdering, ass-whooping, cunt-crashing insane, she stopped to stomp at a random point of the floor and then grinded her foot on the ground like she was extinguishing a cigarette. Interrupting asshole, she growled before continuing. should be to be a child-carrying bitch in your girls-club?
Only if you want that, John rified. I would be more than happy to just have you in my girls-club. I like you, despite you being an insufferable bitch at times, and in time I may evene to love you. It all depends on how much effort you are willing to put in.
You ass, Thana gestured him to lower his head, Its not nice to tell ady that loves you that you dont love her yet.
Good that I am not talking to ady but a bloody angel, John pointed out as he followed her request.
Extremely carefully she framed his face between her hands. Her touch was soft, delicate. Controlled. You know, you are neither particrly handsome, nor ugly, and that weird mixture between selfishness and niceness will be the end of you, she told him, all sober and serious.
I survived you, John pointed out. Anything after that is childs y.
And you say that there is a chance that, one day, you wont look utterly panicked when you hear that I am pregnant with your kid? Thana asked with a snicker.
Oh, I will still panic, John assured her, but the reason wont be because its you, but because it would be me.
And you say that you will continue to be patient with dumbass me? Thana asked.
As long as you keep learning and keep giving in when you are wrong, we will probably forgive you. I cannot speak for anyone but myself though.
And you say that one day you might love me? Thana asked.
John smirked. Im already starting to, you adorable bundle of power, madness and insecurity.
He was lost in her violet eyes. That fascinating, faceted structure, the golden rings, the humanity buried underneath mountains of shattered ss. These eyes got closer. Her lipsid on his, a kiss without tongue or any sexual meaning.
I dont know what I would do without you, Thana whispered, but I would be lost without YOU. Fucking confusing.
Wee to the world of humans, where we all get along, or try to, and nobody has an idea how or why, John picked her up.
What the hell are you doing?! Thana screeched when he put her over his shoulder. Bringing the bad girl back inside so she can apologize to everyone, John announced, pped her on the ass and opened the door. Sure, his strength was stupendously low for the level of the Abyss he was at now, but it was still superhuman and she was small.
This is unfair! If I struggle I may break your fucking neck! Thanained.
John just pped her hindquarters a second time and that was the end of that discussion. This was the eptable degree of violence to administer. He arrived back in the living room, put Thana into the chair she had been in and looked at her expectantly.
She made a sour expression and mumbled something inaudible. Excuse me, Aclysia, who of course knew what had happened outside, asked with an understanding smile. I shouldnt have been so pushy.
Urgh, you are too fucking NICE, Thana made a disgusted noise. AHHHH FEELINGS SUUUCK!!! she screamed, ruffling her hair as she shifted violently in her seat; You win, I am sorry, just stab me in the shoulder next time I say something out of line. Dont know. Change of topic, please, before my brain explodes from stupid niceness. I have really bad ideas right now, that involve murdering AT LEAST half of you, just to escape this piss pool of cringe. Give me something else to think about. NOW! She pulled herself into a tight bundle. Im so sorry please?
How about we tour the house? John suggested, while patting the insecure bundles head.
Chapter 212 – Home Tour
Chapter 212 C Home Tour
That sounds nice, I also wanna check on everything, Rave agreed and tip-toed over to her boyfriend.
You do that, I have something else to take care of, Lydia said after checking her phone. Apparently, she had an iing call. She left the living room through the northern door and then the house altogether.
I will stay here, Aclysia informed them. I have to get used to the kitchen. Can you leave me with the groceries you have in your inventory, Master? After he had taken everything out, Aclysia went to store them in the oversized fridge.
I am also going to stay here, Momo announced, having taken her ce at the dinner table. The table was situated fairly close to the kitchen and her seat was, in turn, the closest one to the kitchen door. That this was no coincidence was fairly obvious.
John nodded, Fine by me, but dontin if you dont get a nice room.
We dont need a room, Momo informed him. Last time was just to get away from your greedy clutches.
Ah, and you dont need to do that anymore? he wondered, raising said greedy clutches, fingers wiggling in a molesting motion.
Your greedy clutches are urgh, Momo rolled her eyes. Theyre not that bad.
John smirked and lowered his hands. Currently he had no interest in probing further. Their rtionship had been cleaned up somewhat thanks to their entanglement earlier, but they still had to have the discussion about why Momo had felt certain ways in the first ce. Some things were better spoken out loud, as weird as the idea was when they could just open their minds to one another. That was a thing forter, though. John had already had his share of heartfelt discussions for the day.
Yeah, whatever, lets look through the fucking house, cant be worse than sitting around, Thana agreed.
So, now as a trio, they went exploring. The ground floors eastern half was uninteresting. Dominating most of it was therge living room. The kitchen and the entrance area, with the attached long hallway that stretched all the way to the back, bordered that living room. Beyond that, there was a staircase and a western wing.
There they found a small room; a small roundtable for private conferences and some decorative furniture was all they found there. Two doors led to a giant bathroom, the usual clean, white-tiled variety (although this one had a whirlpool in addition to the shower) and the single bedroom of the ground floor. The giant desk, already loaded with paperwork, that spread over the whole wall left no doubt that this was supposed to be Lydias room.
Lyly never stops working, Ravemented as she looked around.
Indeed, the room was pretty spartan and set up in such a way that Lydia could most easily get from the desk to her bed and back. It was like Johns room had looked back in Springfield, with the difference that she only sparsely used herputer, while the whole purpose of his desk had been the electronic gaming device.
Well, she is a princess, John said and closed the door behind the group as they left.
No reason to never have any fun, Rave reprimanded.
Maybe work is fun to her, John suggested. In the same way that grinding is kind of fun to me or senselessly beating monsters up is fun to you.
Maybe, but speaking of beating up monsters, we should totally do that over the next few days, Rave clenched her fists and yfully boxed the air, I wanna punch Mother in the face with every Strength point I can get.
Sure, I wanted to test the new kinds of dungeons anyhow, he agreed.
Care to inform me the fuck you are talking about? Thana reminded them of her presence. So far she had just quietly trotted behind the hand-holding couple.
Oh, sure, John said and told her about his powers in more detail, so that questions like this wouldnte up in the future.
He had exined his powers so often, he was starting to have a structure for it. He was done with the basics by the time they had climbed the stairs, located next to the living room, to the first storey. On the presumption that there would be bedrooms up there, like in the old house, they also brought their luggage with them.
Your powers are bullshit, Thana let him know, but I got no room to fuckingin about that.
Indeed, ya dont, Rave agreed with a giggle and pushed open the first door they saw.
Behind was a room that took up about a sixth of the whole floor. With its enormous, fluffy bed, a sizable office table, its own couch and TV, and several other pieces of furniture needed in daily life, it was highly self-sufficient. Dibs! Rave announced and put her trolley down.
That was quick, Johnmented as he looked over their new room.
Ya think there is going to be a bigger room around? his girlfriend asked. Or that we need to be quiet?
Probably not, John admitted. Not that they needed a particrlyrge room in the first ce. The only thing John really wanted was that couch andrge bed. Note to self: Ask Lydia where she got those cushions from, he thought.
Ex-act-ly. Now, we''re gonna stay here a while, so I better start decorating, Rave removed herptop from in between her clothes, carelessly scattering underwear over the floor, and then made her way over to the office table. She opened theptop and then the Abyss Auction popped up. Without hesitation she clicked order on some kind of package. There we go~, she hummed melodically.
Did you did you just order something pre-packaged? John wondered.
Ja, still had all of my old stuff bookmarked, Rave gave him a cheeky wink, tomorrow everything is going to be pink and fuzzy.
Lydia will have a heart attack, John guessed.
That sounds like it''s her problem. If I am going to stay here for longer than a month, I am going to have my fuzzy carpet to roll around on. Rave had her opinion and that was that.
Dont you have to save money though? John asked as they went on to explore the rest of the house; Because of our current fall out with your dad?
Nah, it''s what I have you for, Rave said; I will take 30% of what ya drop in money, Girlfriend Tax.
Thana startedughing at the side. You are her sugar daddy now. Changed your stance on the word yet? the blood mage teased him with a wide grin.
Since when are you this high maintenance? heined, ignoring Thana, who continued to cackle to herself.
Since always. Rave suddenly jumped on his back. Now carry me like the pretty princess I am and I will make it so ya will be rewarded with a blowjob next morning. She nibbled on his ear for a bit. Ya thought having a harem-approving girlfriend would be cheap?
I suppose I cantin about that trade, John surrendered and folded his hands behind his back to give the techno-lover more support. Especially since I get to touch your butt in the process.
Raveughed, a sound that made his heart jump with glee. It is a pretty nice butt, she agreed.
Its the best butt! John corrected, only Nathalias is close.
Oy, you big shit, what about mine?! Thanained.
Yours is highly spankable, Johnmented, turning his back, and therefore Raves at Thana he added, but just look what her perfect ass does to her poor jeans! Its one of the two wonders of Jane!
The other one being my hair, Rave exined, which is awesome!
Yeah, yeah, sure, Thana begrudgingly admitted, at least I have fatter thighs than you, gum crotch.
Its not apetition, John said as they went to the next door.
Could ya open that up? Rave requested, as both she and her boyfriend were currently busy doing stuff with their hands. He was holding up Rave and she was well, she was molesting his chest. Just roll with it, John thought.
Sure, I fucking can, Thana said with an insane smile, but if the doorknob breaks off, you exin it to Lyly. Right, that would be a problem.
I can do this for you, a melodic voice offered and Undine appeared next to them.
That would be great, thank you. John nodded gratefully. The mending elemental turned away with a vacant face, distanced as always.
The slime girl opened the door for them and they peeked inside. It was an exact copy of the other room. Mine then, Thana said and, having nothing else to do it with, slipped out of her robe and threw it into the room to mark it as hers.
Ya are totally stiffening up right now, Rave purred into Johns ear as they were both looking at Thana, now clothed in nothing but the leather bikini. What little it hid was still fresh in Johns memory.
Can you me me? John asked. Her butt isnt quite as shapely as yours, but its really juicy. Jiggles all over the ce.
Also she is at a good dick sucking height, even while standing Rave giggled.
I HEARD THAT, YOU WALKING SEIZURE WARNING! IM NOT THAT SHORT! Thana shouted and stomped out of her room. The blood mage brushed her hair behind her ears and then crossed her arms. Lets continue, I dont like it here; walls are too close, she growled.
They went on and the hallway split into three ways. To the left was arge, ss door that led to the front yard balcony, ahead were the stairs that would bring them up to the next floor and to the right, a good distance away, was another ss door that would lead to the backyard balcony. However, there was an arm of the hallway in thest direction that would probably bring them to the remaining rooms. Therefore, the quartet (Undine was still around) decided to go that way.
So, Undine, John tried to hit up a conversation, how are you?
I am searching for the bath. A picture of a bathtub filled with warm water entered his mind.
Well, I am sure we will find one, he answered and the conversation found a swift and awkward end. John felt that he should try to talk more to Undine, but with the water spirit being this quiet and distanced, striking a conversation wasnt just hard, it was pretty much impossible.
Feel free to tell me when something is bothering you, okay? I care deeply about you. It felt awkward to say this so tantly. Even though he received no answer, offering a hand for times when she wanted to talk was the least he could do. The surface of Undines istion seemed to ripple for a moment, but when John looked at it more closely it was as strong as ever, leaving him wondering if he had just imagined that.
In the sidearm of the hallway they found three more, smaller rooms in addition to the floors bathroom. It wasnt as spacious as the one below, but it had a bathtub that could easily be used by up to four people. No whirlpool function though. Undine flowed over and soon the sound of running water filled the room.
They left her to her own devices and Rave, now tired of riding her boyfriends back, climbed down. I am going to just ride your dick in a bit, she dered.
I am starting to think that my perversion is really rubbing off on you, John said that in the least worried tone imaginable.
Yup, Rave agreed. Probably to do with that system of yours. I get Stats ording to what I did recently so my Libido just keeps on climbing. Not that I was average horny before then.
That was surprisingly well-formted, well done, John congratted and patted his girlfriend on the head in a deliberately patronizing gesture. When the reward in the shape of a pinch to his sides came, John let out a slightly painedugh.
Just because I aint on the Brainiac levels of smarts ya guys have doesnt mean I am stupid, Johnny, Rave warned him. Now kiss me!
John obliged and that put them both in a pretty good mood. A shriekingugh echoed through the hallway. It had nervous undertones, and they turned to see Thana. Good news, she had sessfully opened a door without breaking or bending the knob. Bad news, her eyes indicated some rather strong emotions were present. The fuck is this room? Thanaughed, peeked her head inside and then quickly jumped back.
Curious, John looked inside. It was dark, but he quickly found the light switch. What he saw was a small room, small for this mansion at least, that looked like any other in decoration. That is not a room, that is a torture chamber! Thana decided.
Seems normal to me, Rave said. Well, then you are clearly fucking wrong, the blood mage screeched, inching away further from the door; sted thing is as dark as the caverns of your shitter.
Well, true, thanks to the design of the floor this room didnt have any windows nor natural light. That made it slightly less desirable, but Thanas reaction seemed overblown.
Guys, GUYS! Thana screamed. The walls are closing in, fucking do something!
Well, that is really bad, John thought and grabbed her by the hand and quickly guided her towards the backyards balcony. It was almost as big as the room they had just left behind. There were several tables, the same dark wood as always, and the blue and grey tiled floor was of high quality. John firmly pushed Thana into one of the chairs. Deep breaths, he told the panicking girl.
She didnt hear him. Her eyes were ssy and focused on something else entirely, some dark ce only she could see. With a sour expression, he relented and grabbed her by the shoulders. He shook her until she focused on him with wide, innocent eyes.
Deep breaths, John repeated and this time she listened. Her first few attempts at controlled breathing were forced, almost pained and extremely audible. They became gasps and then, slowly, normal breathing through the nose. John held her through the entire process. You okay? John asked once the girls fist unclenched.
I am fucking not, Thana said, but I will manage, just, let me clear my mind for a bit. You can continue your stupid tour.
John carefully let go of her shoulders, as if he was the only thing keeping her from breaking apart. I will leave Gnome with you, so just tell her if you need anything. The stone elemental appeared right next to John. Thana made an unnecessarily mean gesture that basically told him to fuck off.
Can I find some satisfaction too, or do I have to die of boredom? Siena spoke into his thoughts. The nightmare elemental was still banished into his shadow. Depends, what would you like to do right now? John probed.
Have you stter the inside of your balls inside me and then have the rest of your insides spill over the wonderful floorboards, Siena moaned.
Great, she was back to, mostly, normal. She was now interested in actually fucking him, in addition to fucking him up. That was a general improvement, but the obsessive episodes she had over him were concerning, in a way even more so than the fact that she wanted to murder him.
Okay, addendum to Rule 2, as long as we are BOTH on this ind, you may move freely, otherwise the normal rule applies. Also, yes, you can leave my shadow for now, John said and Siena appeared in a whirl of darkness.
Ah, the sun is bright today, sheined and elegantly sat down on another one of the chairs.
John left the trio behind as he and Rave went to explore the rest of the house. This floor only had two more of the small rooms, nothing much to see. The second storey was slightly more interesting.
Once they had climbed the stairs they were inside a living room. It was smaller than the one on the base floor, but still almost as big as the room John and Rave had decided to stay in. There was a hatch in the ceiling of this room that could be pulled down, granting ess to the attic. Aside from that, this floor had three bedrooms and another bathroom. Also, another kitchen on the west side.
You sure we dont want to be up here? John asked as he peeked into the sizable kitchen; We would have more privacy, at least one of these rooms is actually bigger and we have our own kitchen.
Nah, Rave didnt care about that at all, we will get our food from Aclysia, and Lyly wont get mad over hearing us fuck. Guess she will rub herself off instead, or maybe her German discipline will break down and she wille visit us in bed. Dont care. I have another nice idea though.
They were in the north-eastern room and Rave sat down on the bed. John had an inkling. Is that idea to have sex in every room in this house at least once? he asked.
Rave smiled, Ya know me so well, she purred and grabbed the edge of her shirt.
Pretty easy when you are the woman of my dreams, Johnmented and pushed her into the soft mattress; Every thought you could have is what I would see in my perfect girlfriend.
Even when I wanted you to stop nailing Nathalia? Rave probed, her hands gliding over his muscr chest.
I mean, cant say that was specifically what I wanted from you, but I wouldnt want the kind of submissive doormat girlfriend who would just take that, John said and kissed her passionately.
Like I am even a bit submissive, Raveughed and whirled him around. Now she was sitting on top of him. Youre my boyfriend - I am just using ya to get nice, willing girls around me. Your dick is also pretty nice. She grinned a wide, lustful grin.
Well, I hope the guy attached to the dick is also to your liking, John unzipped her pants.
Hes alright, Rave slurred and then their lips met again.
A series of quickies followed.
Chapter 213 – The Lunar Reminder
Chapter 213 C The Lunar Reminder
So that marks every room, except the kitchen, on the top floorplete, Rave listed as they went back down the stairs. They would have had the energy to also have a quickie in the kitchen, but they felt like taking a break. A quick recharge and they would probably continue in the evening. Probably being a guarantee.
The couple moved back to the living room just in time to hear the doorbell ring. Huh, who could that be? John wondered as they made their way over to the front entrance. When he opened the door, silver eyes in a tranquil, pale face looked back.
Salutations, Luna said and extended her hand in greeting. Her voice was melodic and calm, it reminded John a bit of Undine. Bamboozled, the Gamer took the offered hand and shook.
Its an honour, he added hastily.
I am sure it is, the moon goddess waved off his attempts at being formal. Just rx, John Newman, I am not interested in you today. Where is Lydia?
Ehm,st I saw her she was in the backyard, John answered.
Do not worry, I am right here, Lydia, appearing around the corner of the building, said. Lady Luna, how are you today?
Just call me Luna, Lydia, we are not in court, Luna sighed, a soft breath that caressed her silver lips. Why do you have to insist on being so formal?
As the patron goddess of our overlord, a certain amount of respect towards you is necessary, Lady Luna, Lydia stated and, with a motion of her hand, invited the moon goddess inside. May I invite you to a cup of tea? The servant of the Gamer makes one that is particrly well tasting.
You may, Luna answered with a curious expression, and they entered the living room.
Where Thana was watching some crappy ro from the couch. Ahaahahahhaaaa, sheughed just as Lydia opened the door, these people are imbecile, degenerate scum, holy shit. Who is that dumb? Lydia pinched the bridge of her nose as the blood mage, still only in her bikini, while loudly eating a bag of crisps (which of course turned into a mess of broken parts), turned over to look at the group. Whats wrong? Thana asked.
Lydia took a deep breath.
___________________________________________________________________
and that is why your current state is disgraceful, look at yourself, you are covered in crumbs! Also, if you are going to run around only in underwear, at least wear it correctly. I can see your left nipple. Pull your top into the correct position. Jetzt! Lydia ended her lecture about what was wrong.
Fucking okay, anal queen, Thana gave in. One of Lydias eyes twitched dangerously.
Luna just passed the couch and made her way over to the dinner table. Please, I dont mind the mad ones manners, she finally spoke up once she wasfortably seated. As a matter of fact, I find it positively amusing. As long as it happens outside of court, she rified a momentter.
The good news about all of this was that Aclysia had enough time to prepare the tea. She carried the tea set together with a bowl of cookies on top of the silver te that was her salver. Well, technically, the salver she had gotten used to carrying stayed in the old house, but like everything else, there was a replica of it here.
It is an honour to serve you, Aclysia said with a deep bow.
Yes, yes, Luna sighed, It is. She took a sip of the tea and let out a delighted sound, This is indeed a good tea. I take it you sleep with your creator?
The question came out of nowhere and left everyone slightly stunned as Luna dipped one of the cookies in her cup. Oh? I recognize when something is baked by hand; unlike your tea these could use some work, however. I rmend a little bit less salt and more sugar, Luna took a second cookie despite herints. Where are we on the previous question? she probed once she had taken a wless bite from the cookie.
Ehm, yes, John answered truthfully, still unsure about the situation.
I would have been surprised if you wouldnt. She is a pretty one, my congrattions, Luna looked over Momo, who was reading as always.
Yes, same goes for me, Momo said in a bored tone, belying the little blush on her pale features, before the moon goddess could raise the question. Although I am way less enthusiastic about it. Could live without it, honestly.
I can hear that, Luna said in a slightly amused tone. I am going to assume the same goes for all, she looked at John carefully for a few moments, reading his aura carefully, five of your elementals as well. A pretty little ensemble you got yourself. A true daughter of the wind, a calming in, a spark of war, a vast darkness and oh, what do we have here, a still water? A really nice group to sleep with.
Ey, he is my boyfriend, why dont I get to be asked if I sleep with him? Rave asked.
Luna chuckled, I see, I see. How about you, little psychopath, are you part of this harem?
Call me little another time and I will crack your surface open like meteorite made from fucking frogs, Thana growled, only to add, casually, but yeah.
So, when did you cave in, Lydia? Luna turned to the princess.
The royal cleared her throat, sipped on her own cup of tea and answered, I am not part of this little club.
Oh, surely not, anal queen, Luna giggled. She grabbed another cookie; between her slender fingers the bakeware looked like a piece of raw stone. You are the sole woman in a household full of pretty young things who restrains herself from the only dick in the airspace. I have been around my beloved for too long and have seen too many others in the same situation to believe that lie. Two days? Lydia averted her eyes as Luna continued her stare. The first one? How amusing, the moon goddess said, her lips the faintest, mocking smile.
Please keep this to yourself, Lydia, knowing that further denial was pointless, pleaded.
Romulus will hear of this, the certain tone in her voice was absolute, but I will keep it from Sol and the rest of the world, you have my word.
Thank you, Lydia respectfully bowed her head.
I, however, advise you toe to a decision when to announce this rtionship, the moon goddess offered a word of wisdom; People will make assumptions, and rumours can be more damaging than the vilest of truths. I rmend you tell everyone before you take the throne, if you should seed.
I will think about it, Lydia promised, and the two of them emptied their cups in elegance.
What is going on? John whispered to Rave.
No clue, tiger, Rave answered in a simrly quiet voice, but I find this super funny, lets just keep listening.
You dont think we should step in?
Nah, either we find out what this is about soon enough or therell be something tough at. I enjoy Lylytina getting bullied a little.
Lydia sent them a poisonous re that indicated that she had heard everything, before asking Luna, So, what brings you here?
Ah, yes, aside from your wonderfulpany, I am here to discuss two things with you. Also, this, Luna pushed her hand into the air and pulled out a small, midnight-blue bubble.
Has been a while since I have seen somebody use a personal pocket dimension, John thought and inspected the bubble, which Luna simply put into the air. He didnt even need Observe to find out what it did, mostly because Luna told them.
I thought I might as well bring your piano over, the shrinking spell will wear off in an hour, so get in position by then, Luna said and softly poked the bubble, causing it to fly at Lydia.
My deepest gratitude,dy Luna, the princess said as she took the bubble and then put it into her own pocket dimension.
Wait a second, you have one of those?! John interrupted the tea talk.
Lydia looked at him with disapproval, Do not interrupt in such annoyed a tone, John. Selbstverst?ndlich, do I have one? I am a royal.
Then why do I have to carry all the loot on my own all the time? he wanted to know.
Because mine does not have as elegant of a sorting system and neither does it freeze time inside. I also do not have much room. I store my important legal documents in there, Lydia exined and softly shook her head, braid dangling, before she gestured to Aclysia to refill her cup.
Anyhow, for the two matters that I want to discuss with you, Lydia, Luna pulled attention back to her before the talk got dyed further; First, I am here to tell you that the tournament will start on Tuesday, the 19th, at 16 oclock. For reasons of structural importance, you and at least one team member eligible to fight are required to arrive at least twenty minutes earlier.
So, in three days then, John thought. The part about them arriving early was expected; it would be rather awkward to wait for the royals that were fighting to arrive when the broadcast was already running.
Second, Luna said after Lydia gestured her understanding, I am here to give you a way to repay the favour you owe me for dying the fourth announcement.
I thought I would turn in the favour I got by organizing the trade route of fresh Baltic fish to your pce. It is not easy to transport these from reality into the Abyss and then all the way to Rome, Lydia answered and spied over the edge of her cup, waiting for an answer before she took a sip.
You could most certainly do that, Luna admitted, and Lydia smiled, knowing that she now had the edge on the terms of this discussion; However, I am willing to give you another option. Just answer me one question, and you shall retain the favour I owe you. Lydia lowered the cup from her lips until it almost hit the small te. The tea inside softly waved in a circr motion as the princess pondered.
What would that question be? she asked.
Can you ry a message to Nathalia? Luna asked, a spark of hope in her silver eyes.
Not directly, Lydia said, keeping her grey eyes glued to the cup, but I could find a way.
That is enough for me, Luna finished her tea with eyes on John and stood up. If you would be so kind, let her know that I am willing to shield her presence in this city from Romulus. Their squabble about who wronged whom is not mine, and I miss her crazy antics. However, Luna stopped at the door of the living room, looking at everyone inside in turn and stopping at Momo, urge her to leave all carriers of disease at the door and to keep a low profile. I wish you all a nice day, may we talk again soon.
With that Luna left behind the living room, and the closing of the front door a momentter indicated her leaving the house. Well, that wasnt nearly as funny as I hoped, Raveined.
Wee to politics, Lydia said and finished her own cup; Now that I have my piano back, I can work in peace.
Seriously? You couldnt work beforehand? John wanted to know.
I could and I did, but it''s not nearly as rxing, Lydia told him.
Did you just fucking indicate that doing bureaucracy is RELAXING?! Thana spat out.
Rapidly blinking, the princess crossed her arms in confusion, Do you not agree?
No, no, of - fucking - course not, Thana reprimanded.
I do, Momo said as she finished yet another book. You mind if I help you for a bit? I am bored of reading for now.
You help her? Rave sounded genuinely consumed. I thought ya just sat there and read all day.
And I thought you were just busy screwing around and screwing period all day, Momo countered. Guess which one of us is closer to the truth?
Ehem, John cleared his throat, before this turns ugly, again, or we start separating for the day, I want to bring up something else.
He opened his inventory and pulled something out. That something was a twisted piece of metal, once it had looked like a spine, but now it looked more like a centipede frozen in motion.
John ced the Metracana on the table.
Chapter 214 – The mystery of the Metracana, shopping in Rome
Chapter 214 C The mystery of the Metracana, shopping in Rome
So, lets ask the obvious first: Anybody knows what that is? John asked and gestured at the thing on the table. If it helps, Herman called it a Metracana.
It does not, I have no clue what it is. The response from Lydia immediately extinguished most of Johns hope of identifying the item.
John looked over to Rave, but she just shrugged and shook her head. Continuing on to Thana, who just looked at the thing with understandable hatred (it had been stuck in her head for the longest time), yielded nothing else. Aside from these the only person who maybe could know something John didnt was Siena.
Do you? John asked in his head.
Mhhhh, Siena moaned teasingly in response. Let''s say I did, what do I get in return?
You would get ten minutes to try and kill me or thirty minutes alone with me in bed, he offered, he was way immensely curious about this thing.
Too bad I know nothing then, Sienamented. It would have been fun to try and stab you.
John sighed, so her priority was still murdering him. Well, not entirely unexpected. Why dont ya just use Observe? Rave asked.
Yeah, funny story, John said and did. He had tried this before, after Herman had nked the item. Since then he could put it into his inventory and use Observe without getting a headache but
Its nk. Aside from it being called Metracana Metra and the creator being a Sargon of Akkad, guess Google is where we should take this now, John whipped out his smartphone.
Rave did the same, I will check the auction for info on Metracana.
Johns search yielded two results. A: a Youtuber who made politically motivated videos, and B: a peasant turned king who built the first historically recorded empire in Mesopotamia in about 2300 BC. Thetter one seemed more likely as the source.
Raves search resulted in next to nothing. Yeah, well, it seems like we have stumbled into one of the better hidden secrets in the Abyss, she said with a gleeful expression. Which I find C-o-o-l, there isnt a lot of stuff out there hidden enough that you wont even FIND it on the auction. Wait, nevermind, here is something behind a 2 Trillion US Dor paywall though.
How much? Lydia asked before John could get a heart attack. The princess seemed in physical pain at the thought of spending that much money on information.
2 Trillion, here, Rave repeated and then showed the screen to each of them in turn.
Thats a fuckton of zeros, Thanaughed.
And something I will not pay for your little mystery and you wont be able to muster anytime soon, Lydia added. Therefore, this has no hope of a result.
Okay, so, to gather what little we know, John mumbled, this is an old Mesopotamian artifact of probably extreme worth made by the king of Akkad himself. That puts it around 4000 years oldyou think we could catch up to Luna and ask her if she knows something?
No, but even if you could prepare to pay more than marypensation, Lydia said and crossed her arms - If I may remind you, you are still indebted to me. Push this endeavour into a timeslot after our current business concludes.
Okay, okay, John tried his best at a calming gesture, I will, just curious.
Here is another idea, Thana interrupted, just smash it until it ispletely fucking broken. I volunteer to see that through!
Thana, I know that this isnt the greatest of things you want around you, John said, but you will have to put up with me on this, because I am way too curious to see what this turns out to be. You dont have to like it, but you dont get to break it either. With that statement he put the Metracana away. Clearly, they wouldnt make more progress on this today, and he didnt want to have Thana even more worked up than she already was. The day had been stressful enough.
Okay, can you answer some other questions for me then, Lydia? John asked.
Make it quick, the princess said with a look at the clock.
The whole city is an Illusion Barrier, so I cant use Create I.D. here, how and or where do I leave the city? I dont want to spawn out in the middle of some private property in Rome. Leaving an Illusion Barrier in a ce that did not exist in real space had interesting effects at times. He wouldnt just appear in the air and start falling, Gaia assured that much, but beyond that he was best advised finding safe spots to leave.
There are public exit points all over the city, this mansion has a private one in the garden. It can only be used as an entrance point if you have a key though, so dont forget to take one with you.
Are dors epted in Abyssal Rome?
Every currency is.
Is there a dedicated trading district or something?
Yes, go to the third ring, the crafters have their homes there. I rmend staying on the west side: the quality is best there, the prices are the highest, though. If you are short on money, go to the northside. That district has seen better days, and they are desperate. The quality will suffer, however.
Great, would you object to me just going out to buy stuff?
Just dont get stuck up in an interview, dont tell anyone anything important or do something foolish, Lydia demanded, and that was the end of that little question session. The princess moved over to her room and left the rest of the crew to the sound of the crappy ro still running in the background.
Ill go get back to that, Thana announced and jumped over the back of the couch.
Ya wanna go buy stuff? Rave asked.
Yup, namely a new flight-capable object I can possess; with Spellcarrier around I can abuse a flight unit. I will probably go grind a bit afterwards, try to get to level 81. Want toe with?
Kinda, but I need to be around for when the furniture arrives. Do me the favour and dont try any of the new kinds of dungeons, okay? I wanna be around when ya do that.
John had more than enough targets for a first-clear bonus without tackling any of the new mechanics. Sure, we will see each other when I get back then, John said and left the house (after taking one of the keys thaty in the hallway), alone, a momentter. Not even Aclysia had the time to apany him.
Of course, he was never truly alone.
Hey, hey, hey John, Sylph pvered, just appearing next to him as he walked. What are you going to buy? Is it cool? Tell me it is cool! Like Pew-Pew cool, like your glove cool, like Undines attitude towards cold water cool, like the fact that I beat Smanders Mario Kart record cool.
Well, Johnughed when he found an opening to talk, honestly, I am just looking for a new flight unit, so probably nothing that great. My money is kind of limited after all. He strolled through the gardens until he found the frame of a gate just standing around the ce. After using Observe to confirm what it was, he turned to leave the ind.
He didnt want to leave the Illusion Barrier, not yet at least, he just wanted to know where the exit was. No, first he would stroll over the market of Rome. When he reached the edge of the mana street, he quickly checked with his elementals. Save for Undine, who was soaking in the bathtub, everyone was around him. John didnt know WHEN Siena had slipped back into his shadow, but the fact that she had was hardly surprising. After all, the nightmare elemental was a sneaky one.
Undine, could youe along? John inquired. A confused feeling, what would she need him for? I feel ufortable going out without my healer, he exined. Hesitation, then a picture of Romulus. Yes, I know we are under his protection during the tournament, but I dont want to be unprepared. I can live with not having Aclysia around, Gnome can tank as well, but I need you.
A conflicting mixture of happiness, annoyance and confusion. Fine, Undine finally said and, by changing into incorporeal form, made her way over to him fairly quickly. It was one of the few advantages that being incorporeal had: they could move towards John at pretty high speeds. Same couldnt be said for away from him, though.
Yay, the elementals are going on a date with John, long overdue, long overdue, way too long overdue, Sylph chirped and sat down on Johns shoulder.
I would actually prefer if you were incorporeal, Sylph, the Gamer told his wind spirit, gently taking her off his shoulders and having her stand on his palms as he spoke to her.
What? But thats so boring, I dont want boring, the mini tempest elementalined, her long hair cascading through the air as she turned on her heels and pouted.
Mhm, I understand, but I dont want to reveal you to the enemy that easily, you are one of my bigger trump cards, John said, but Sylph continued to pout.
I can blow the enemy just fine if they are prepared, I am Sylph, she turned to John with her wide smile- Hey, hey, did you know that I am awesome? Because I am! You should give me cookies!
Should I? You will get fat, you cute, little fairy you, John teased and tickled Sylphs tummy with his thumbs.
Hihihihi, Sylph giggled, and for a few moments, John just continued doing that. Seeing the tempest elemental and her permanently good mood always lifted his spirit in one way or another. Sure, she was annoying at times, but which one of his girls was perfect? How about this, you still have an allowance to spend; John told her, Gnome is the one who decides how it will be spent in the end, but with one hundred thousand dors, you all should get something nice. I am sure you can convince her to get at least some cookies.
Yay, cookies, Gnome, Gnome, can we get cookies? With lots and lots and lots of chocte? Sylph asked.
Uhm, I am sure we can find something, Gnome agreed.
Yay, okay, yay, yay, I will stay bodiless for this tour, but I demand a proper going out after you have fought the first time. You dont have to hide us after that, right, right?
That sounds fair, John agreed, and the tempest elemental disappeared, the smell of sweet flowers spreading from where she just had been.
John coughed, the smell was a bit too sweet and reminded him of that one time Frank, his bully back in Springfield, had sprayed deodorant in his face. I should punch that guy in the face whenever I get back to Springfield, John thought. If I ever with mom no longer living there and me not nning to return to Ashcroft there are really no reasons to go back there, are there?
As a matter of fact, John had a few painful memories of that ce that he would much rather avoid. The back alley that led, HAD led, into the old Arcade, the hospital that reminded him of Herman, the street where he had killed the Bloodfallen when they had attacked him.
Looking back at it, it still surprised him how little he had cared about the loss of human life. He hadnt ever since he had gotten these powers. Neither the strangled bodies of the rockers nor the victims of Mana Ray had fazed him. I dont enjoy killing, but I sure am more indifferent towards death than I would have thought before all of this began.
He stopped thinking about these dark things as the mana streets carried him down towards the city of Rome. Hended on the west side of the third circle, as Lydia had rmended him to.
The streets were packed. Pretty much every house along the main street was a shop of some description. The alleyways seemed to be reserved for restaurants or coffee shops. Weapons, armour, trinkets, poisons, potions, scrolls, books, magical conveniences and items were being appraised by interested buyers. Some people recognized him as he passed by, but none approached him. The crowd was as diverse as one would expect from the heart of a Europe spanning empire. The cosmopolitan atmosphere was universal, underpinned by a thick air of old traditions.
Whatever John might think of Romulus ambition to kill Gaia, he had to admit that the guy was not a bad ruler. If there was anything bad that could be said about him, it would be that he was disinterested in modern developments, but the foundation he hadid was well kept and sturdy.
John buried his hands deep in his pockets and walked deeper into the trade district, checking out shops asionally as he went. His checks were ever only out of curiosity. Apparently, mechanical dolls, like the kind he wanted, were a bit of a niche market. Maybe he should have just bought another one on the auction after all? He had decided to go out and see if the real shops would offer some more extensive services, like the clothing shop for Aclysia had done. Well, here was hoping he wasnt wrong.
John, Siena suddenly sighed into his inner ear, I have some information you would like to know. I would be willing to give it to you for five minutes of freedom to kill you. Condition being that you fight against me on your own, how about it?
That would need to be pretty great information, John answered, inspecting a sharp looking dagger.
Yet you are going to agree? Siena asked as if the end result of this conversation was only a matter of time.
Probably, he conceded; I, however, wonder what you know, that I dont, which you promise yourself will be more entertaining if you just tell me now.
I believe neither of us will be interested in the oue of thising to fruition. Therere more entertaining ways to tease you.
Ill agree only if I am allowed to take one other person into our fight, John haggled.
That is satisfying, a deal is struck then. Siena took a dramatic pause and then purred, You are being followed.
Chapter 215 – Necessary Cruelty
Chapter 215 C Necessary Cruelty
John continued walking as if nothing unusual had happened. On the inside he was in turmoil, however. Where? Who? he asked in quick session.
The nightmare elemental just giggled, That wasnt part of our deal, so youll have to find out on your own.
John suppressed a sigh of annoyance, Well, I guess I will find her by myself.
Oh? You noticed her already? Siena wondered.
Nope, I lied, but now I know its a woman. Thanks, John smugly answered.
I could have lied to you, Siena returned.
You are a terrible liar, John thought back at her. Thanks for warning me anyway, now I just need to filter the correct woman out of the crowd. Shouldnt be that hard.
Siena distanced herself from his thoughts, thus making clear that he wouldnt learn anything more from her. She did leave him with the hint about his stalkers gender though. Trying to look as nonchnt as ever, he turned into an alleyway and used Possession on one of the bricks of the walls.
If he had to solve this mystery on his own, he would need to start by looking for whoever followed him. Of course, he didnt expect to find out who by the first alleyway he crossed this way, as the amount of people around was too high to simply filter out one person. The chance of just grabbing somebody who was going in the same direction was too high. If he repeated this strategy, entering an alleyway and then possessing something inside the street to check who entered it behind him often enough, there should only be one person left at the end, however.
The fact that Siena was able to locate her means that she cant be much further away from me than five metres, John thought, so I am searching for a person that is female and is physically following me close by.
It took around 4 more alleyways before he found the person that was suspicious and another 3 until he was certain that she was the only candidate. A brte, fairly in, around her forties in boring workers clothes. No one would think about her for an extended amount of time or notice her in passing. Not even an Observe, made during a casual nce over his shoulder, revealed anything of interest, but John had been fooled on that front before, and he was aware that there were ways to obscure what he saw.
Momo? he stretched out to his support back at the mansion as his feet carried him towards the north side of the district.
What is it? she asked, slightly annoyed.
Can you ask Lydia for me if there is some localw or custom concerning catching an information broker on your tail?
Sure, Momo answered after quickly going through his recent memories. About a minuteter she returned with the result, Long story short: It is a punishable offence, level of punishment varies greatly. Vignte justice is frowned upon but, in small portions, not strictly forbidden. Local authorities have the right to drag you to court if you overdo it.
John continued to walk around, seemingly random, in the search of some isted ce. What he found was the backyard of a building that was for sale, lying in the shadow of the tall wall that separated the third and fourth ring.
The informant hesitated when she saw John go there. She had been steadily falling back as the crowds got thinner, and now that her target vanished from the main streetspletely, tracking him further would be very dangerous. It would pose too great a risk for her to follow him into such a far-off ce. She probably guessed that John had found out about her and was trying to trap her.
The woman came to a halt, hiding at a dark corner, probably thinking about whether it was worth following John further. None of her guesses helped her when Siena appeared behind her; the nightmare elementals hand pressed on the womans mouth to muffle any cries for help.
As Sienas ws dug bloody lines into the stalker''s cheek, she whispered, Such a naughty little girl. Its time for you to get punished. The spy was dragged away by the nightmare elemental and brought to John, who was waiting for their arrival.
The Gamer had Gnome create two somewhat adequate chairs. Made from stone, they were maybe not the mostfortable seats one could imagine, but at least they were seats. The woman was ced in front of John, and finally, Siena pulled her hands away. Her sharp ws left long, red lines.
The nightmare elemental returned to Johns side. She was the only one of his elementals that John currently had made manifest. Who are you? John asked straight out. No answer, just an amused re. Of course, that would have been too easy.
John observed her clothes one by one. Enchanted vest, Umon, nothing important. Sturdy boots, Common, nothing important. Brown gloves, Common, nothing important. Spys earring, Rare, Misinformation 2 C Bingo.
He went over the rest of her equipment to find out anything he could or check if anyone was tracking her over a Possession or something of that kind. If there was someone, his hiding skills were stronger than Johns detection. You done starring? the woman asked.
Yes, not much to stare at, really, John stated and gestured at Siena; As you can see I have a finer woman at my hand.
Mhm, nicely chosen words, Siena hummed. I like it. You know what I would like even more, Master? The nightmare elementals ws were suddenly in front of the captured womans face. If you would add a few more wounds to this face. They would be such beautiful scars.
We will see about this, servant, we will see, John said, careful not to drop Sienas name, just to be sure. Siena took a step back, and John shifted in his chair, the armguard underneath his suit rustling. Until very recently, he said, looking at his fingernails as if what he was saying wasnt the slightest bit important. I had an information broker on my tail. I am sure you are aware of this.
He was pretty sure that his acting came across as forced, but all he needed to do was back this up with some actions that fit the bill.
The woman just continued staring, a drop of sweat running down the side of her head and mixing with the blooding from the thin scratches across her cheek. She could act as cool as she wanted, but they both knew that, now that she had been caught, John was not only in the superior position, but that he could do whatever he wanted with her. Even if she screamed now, Siena would cut her throat before any help arrived. The woman was probably thinking that he wouldnt kill her if she didnt act up too much. John needed her to think otherwise.
So, lets be honest here, did you think I was an easy target? John wanted to know. I mean, I wouldnt be surprised. SecretBlonde gave away VERY extensive information about me. It must have looked like I was just a fool with no idea how to hide myself. Not that that was necessarily untrue. I am going to pin most of this on SB being highly able, however. Having been highly able.
John omitted all reasons for why he spoke in the past tense; all he needed to get across was a simple fact: SecretBlonde was dead. The why should be spection running through the womans mind.
You wouldnt kill a harmless woman, would you? the woman pleaded, ensuring John that she hade to the exact conclusion that he had wanted her to. A hesitant gesture of his hand and Siena cut off the womans earlobe before she could react. It fell to the floor together with the earring that had faked out the Observe result.
Janna Lanko, from the Guild of the Scurrying Rats, John read out loud and grinned beastly. The woman yelped, held her bleeding ear and jumped to her feet. The hope that he would spare her was exterminated by that terribly unsympathetic grin. Siena set after her before she could so much as scream. Thin tendrils of solid shadows wrapped around her limbs as she was violently thrown onto the ground.
Inside the dark corner of the deserted building, the woman was still struggling as John read her Character Sheet a second time, just to make sure he hadnt missed anything.
John Gnome carefully spoke into his mind, the desperate cries of their victim in the background. They were muffled by the dark tendrils that kept her bound and overpowered by darkly unfitting and sensuous whispers from the shadow spirit.. is this really necessary?
John closed his eyes and drowned out the sounds as best he could. He did not want to hear them, but he also denied himself the easy option of just walking away and leaving Siena to it. Do you want another Herman to happen? he asked and was met with silence. This is the necessary cruelty, to take everyone who thinks we might be an attractive target off our backs. Just the reputation of what I do to spies who follow me will get most of them off my back. I trusted Victoria, I was betrayed and lost Travolta and Jimmie; I trusted Herman, I was betrayed and lost the best friend I thought I had. If he had wanted to, he could have taken Jane too. No one will ever get to take advantage of me like that again. My trust will never again be cheap, and neither will be my forgiveness. This is the necessary cruelty. We will get this over with, and whoever else spies on me afterwards they wasted their own lives.
None of his elementals said anything to that. They all had their opinions about this, whether this was too cruel or not cruel enough, but they epted it as what it was.
To not waste my time any further, John said, lets find a quick understanding about what will happen to you.
You have 30 seconds to do with her what you want, but dont kill her, John told Siena. The nightmare elemental grinned wildly, still having the woman struggling on the ground. 30 seconds, I hope your mind canst that long, Sienaughed and started to scratch at the root of the womans fingernails.
John would have loved to avert his eyes from the torture, to stick his fingers into his ears and ignore the muffled screams. He wished for no one to see or experience what Siena was doing in the mere thirty seconds he gave her, and the less that was said about it, the better.
The time came to an end, and John had Siena ce the woman back in the makeshift chair. The only part of her body that was actually bloody was her left arm. A clear line at her shoulder between where Siena had worked her craft and the rest of her body. True, this terrible disy wasnt deadly, it didnt even bleed enough to be of short-term concern, but it didnt take someone schooled in medicine to realize that this arm would never naturally be useful again.
John ground his teeth; he had only wanted the woman to suffer for a bit to underline the point he was about to make. This was already crueller than he had wanted it to be, and of course Siena had pushed his orders as far she could, despite being able to sense his intentions. The nightmare elemental cleaned her hands with a knowing smile. She could feel his anger, and she revelled in it.
Sienas wish to twist his every order was one thing if it only damaged him, a whole other if she crippled a woman because of it.
John repressed the urge to gulp as the pain-struck eyes of Janna hit him. The panic had vanished, now there was only true pain, the horrific realization that she would die and the knowledge that there was nothing she could do against that. John saw himself in those eyes, not as he currently was, but as the weak kid that had gotten the powers to make everyone pay for his unhappiness.
Make it quick at least, Janna now pleaded. The answer got stuck in his throat; he only now realized that he had been holding his breath since giving the order. He gasped for air and almost threw a coughing fit.
He had killed before. What was so different about this? He already hade to the conclusion that he needed this to happen to feel safe. This is no different from self-defence, he told himself; You are only doing this to be safe. Do it or Jane will get caught up in another one of your problems! Take out your phone, his tone was surprisingly firm. The woman hesitated. Without any subtlety, John looked at Siena. I can always add another thirty seconds, he threatened. Hastily, as quick as her now useless arm allowed her, his orders were obeyed.
I want you to sell the following information about me, for whatever price you think anyone would pay, he gestured to her to record him. With a shaking hand, she did. Whoever I find, from today until the day I die, that tries to gather intel on me or my allies, I will hunt down and kill. No mercy, no negotiations, no second-guesses. You will force my hand the moment you invade my privacy. If you work for someone else, you will not be spared. If you ce the order, I will get to you, John narrowed his eyes at the camera, no matter how great the powers that protect you are.
The recording ended, and John stood up. Calmly he walked over to the woman and punched her in the face. Sadly, for her that didnt do the trick and with a sour expression John delivered a second one. Still she stayed awake. Oh, for fucks sake, just, please, get knocked out, he mentally prayed as he bashed her head a third time. Thankfully, that did it.
The reason for this was quite easy, he didnt want her to see Undine. Make sure there wont be permanent damageexcept for the earlobe, John muttered. He had made his point. Alexej would learn of this, no doubt. This woman, Janna, would probably report back onest time and then go back to missions that were her weight ss.
Maybe there were some more capable spies around that watched him from afar, even now. That would make revealing Undine incredibly foolish, and a wave of disagreement came from the water spirit as she had the same thought. She disagreed with this decision: the woman wouldnt die either way, as Siena had followed his instruction on that front.
Nothing in this world could have convinced him to leave the woman behind in such a state, crippled and bleeding on a winter afternoon, however. So, Undine went to work and healed everything, from the scratches to the missing fingernails. Everything except for the earlobe, which would be a simple reminder, and surface damage.
I am genuinely sorry if you have a pair of favourite earrings you can no longer wear, John muttered as he looked down on the unconscious spy, but you made a terrible choice, and we all pay for our mistakes.
Oh, dont be so dramatic, Siena cleaned the remaining blood off her ws with a giggle. Evidently, she liked how this had turned out. You could have given me another minute, her suffering would have been intense, the nightmare elemental moaned.
How can you take pleasure in the pain of others? John had to ask.
Its in my nature, Siena simply replied.
And you never had the urge to change that? he probed further.
Why would I? It satisfies me deeply, she snickered. Do you think of me as pure evil now, John? Are you disgusted with me?
There is nothing like pure evil, John said, more to himself than to her. When I contracted you, I thought that maybe I could make you see moral reason and that your body and power would be worth the effort. Now I dont know anymore. You are not like Nathalia; you are not a force of nature that has forgotten that you have a benevolent side. You arepletely twisted. I dont even know if you have the necessary awareness to be described as evil. He stopped talking to himself and talked to her instead. I guess, yes, I am disgusted by you.
Oh, giving up on me already? Siena sighed with disappointment. I would have loved to y for a bit longer.
No, John denied again and looked into her bright yellow eyes. I just realized that I cant reason with you. I am no longer going to think of you as an ally that has lost her way. You are a wild animal, Siena, and I will tame you. When you try to kill me, I will defeat you, when you try to dominate, I will put you in your ce and when you do things my way C without me having to specify every sordid detail, I will reward you until the cor your mother put on you is no longer necessary. I will teach you some humility.
Siena stepped up to him, about to say something to answer his challenge.
Behave, he told her before she could get a single word out. With an annoyed expression she sunk into his shadow. He pushed her to the far-end of his spirit and erected tall walls around her. She would have to sulk on her own, until he needed her again.
His forgiveness wouldnt be cheap ever again. He had tried too many times to reason with people who didnt want to see reason. If he had to break Siena down and build her back up from scratch to be free from her constant disruptions, disloyalty and the danger she posed, then it would be so. Enough of the carrots and more of the stick at least for now.
John constantly nced over his shoulder, after he returned to the streets.
Chapter 216 – Fizzy Gifts
Chapter 216 C Fizzy Gifts
John looked at the bird sitting on his hand as he returned home. The bird looked back, meaning that John was looking at himself. Thankfully, his brain had been magically adapted to not get a headache in this situation. Man, I havent done this in a long time, he thought as he stepped off the mana street.
As the description of the item so tactfully pointed out, this bird had cost him a nice sum of money (and the promise to loudly announce in the tournament where he had gotten the bird from, at least once). However,pared to what he would have paid on the Abyss Auction, and he had checked, it was almostughably cheap. Sure, he had to take a loan from the dollmaker, but it was either that or take the way back home without it.
Which wasnt an option as far as John was concerned.
Aside from the reduced price, the advantage of buying the sparrow locally was a stupendous amount of customization. He had been able to tell the dollmaker what he wanted down to the finest detail. Guy would have changed individual strands on the feathers for the right price.
The most important things John had wanted had been the Camouge and the True Sight. Having these Attributes made it harder to spot and in turn revealed somebody who was harder to spot. For an aerial spy unit, it was desirable to have these traits.
Emergency Barrier was something that came for free, apparently Gaia put part of the me for having these dolls be discovered by normal humans on the makers. Not a lot of it, sure, but John understood why the dollmaker would rather not have some random bad luck in his daily life. Arcane pping was almost free; it allowed John to speed up the birds flight by sacrificing a sum of mana. The 2 was the amount of maximum mana the bird could save in itself; in the case of this Attribute, it was the level times 200, so 400.
One of the Hive was an Attribute that made possessing the target cost no Possession Slot. Now, sadly, that only saved him the one actually needed to use the Skill, not the several more Spellcarrier cost. It still meant that he could load up to two spells on the bird with his current limit of 3 Possession slots. Before, he had needed one to possess the target, one to make it a Spellcarrier and another one for the base spell.
Sturdy and Lightweight were simple and cheap filler. Nothing great about them, just neat to have.
The bird jumped up Johns arm until John sat on Johns shoulder, asionally flying over to the opposite one as he used it to spy on things his eyes could not see. Sure, he could have had it fly around, but for the moment hed much rather keep it around.
John wasnt stupid enough to think that he could both use the bird to spot potential onlookers and have it go unnoticed, so keeping it this close meant nothing. So, things I told my enemies today, he thought as he was delivered to the mansion, I bought a doll and made it move through magical means, I have Siena, and I can heal, although they dont know how. Unless there were more eyes on me as Undine did it. Well, this is a great way to get behind in the information war. Better grind up a little before I get into the house and listen to whatever speech Lydia has prepared.
His eyes spotted two ck and white dots in the distance. As he came closer, they quickly took the shape of Momo and Aclysia. The Artificial Spirits were waiting for their creators return. One of them was eagerly shifting in ce, making sure that her hair was as silky and perfect as it inhumanely could be. The other had her arms crossed and tapped her foot on the floor in an impatient gesture, eyes fixed on an imaginary clock.
There you are, Momos harsh greeting came his way the moment he stepped off the mana street. She unfolded her arms and then a sheet of paper that she had been holding in her left hand. In a stern tone, she read out loud: John Newman, I have seen the video in which you threaten everyone who is on your tail. While I understand the motivation behind it, I would prefer that you seek counsel with me before making use of such crude tactics. I leave this notice with Momo, so that she may tell you what an idiot you have been. Be sure, however, that this will be brought up again after dinner. Greetings, Lydia Augusta of house Hohenzollern.
Momo folded the note again and gave it to John, who then in turn allowed Smander to burn it. He really didnt care.
You have gone deep into the shit mire, Momo told him. The princess is pissed.
She will have to calm her tits, John simply stated. This matter I am not going to be lenient on.
While I understand, Master, I think you should strive to appease Lydia, Aclysia humbly added her opinion.
Yeah, John, while I generally agree that information brokers should just die in a massive fire, making Lydia angry over it is really not worth it, Momo agreed, crossing her arms again.
John nodded, Yeah, I dont n to anger Lydia more than is necessary. But this had to be done, the sooner, the better.
It would have been more impactful if you had left the woman crippled, Momo told him with a heavy sigh. Not that I like the idea of that. However, now everyone who hears about it will think of you as a big softy. Might be that your failure to be intimidating ensures someone actually tries despite your warnings, and then you will have to kill him or you will look weak.
I know, he responded in a tired tone, but I have shown my stance. If they chose to ignore my words, then thats on them. He tried not to show too much that he had no idea if he could go through with it if they tested him.
Aclysia nodded, I support your decision on this, Master. There should never be another SB. Our privacy is more important than the life of some people who live off others'' greed.
I just think you should have been more ruthless about this. If you have atrocities nned,mit all of them at once, as Machiavelli suggests, Momo kept spelling out her thoughts.
John shrugged, he had nothing more to say about this matter. It had been a dirty deed, and he was just happy to have it over with. Well, now that I have you two around, John changed the topic and walked towards the mansion to empty his inventory, how about we grind until dinner?
That sounds delightful, Aclysia said with a faint smile, just happy to spend some time with him. How was the shopping, Master?
Well, you can see the bird, John said as he opened the door to his and Raves room. The techno-lover was not around right now, but the room had already seen the first changes in the shape of a ridiculously soft, pink carpet covering the floor and several cushions having been added to the bed, pink and ck in colour. John caught the slightest smell of sweet peppermint, the scent of his girlfriend and her room back at home. Damn you, Pavlov, John thought as blood rushed to his penis.
He ignored that for now. He had wasted enough time today having sex and really should finally get to getting himself some experience. Everything in moderation, even in this world of porncraft.
Aside from the bird, the elementals wanted to spend some of their allowance, John continued as he pulled useless crap from his inventory. Refusing to just search his memory for this information, and thus taking away the chance to listen to John with the keen interest only a learner of unknown facts could have, Aclysia listened.
So, first we went by a nice shop that sold figures carved from stone. The shopkeeper was doing it live for onlookers, shaping stones with tools and earth magic. We stood there for aboutten minutes? Because someone was unusually interested. This is so cool, Gnome told us, by ident, as she did her mumbling-to-herself-thing, and sexy. I wish I could be thi-
S-s-s-s-stop! Gnome interrupted as John pulled something from his inventory.
It wasnt one of the figures. No, instead it was a book about the making of said figures. As John already knew a Skill to make figures in the shape of Craft, the book did not open a window for him, but it wasnt for him anyhow. Gnome took it from him with a quick yank and cowered down, tugging the book between her legs and chest, hiding it from view.
You are so mean! she eximed, looking up to John with a slight bit of tears in her eyes. I asked you to tell nobody!
I didnt tell them anything they couldnt have known by themselves. Besides, its useless to try and hide if you need to go outside to practice. You want to try and practice that, right? John teased.
Gnome averted her eyes and let out the cutest little Uwuwuwuwu as she nodded.
John patted her on the head. Good girl, now, as you dont have a room, why dont you put the book on the shelf over there? Wouldnt want it to get lost, now would you?
No, Gnome agreed and did as he suggested. She would have immediately started training, but with John wanting to go into an I.D. soon, that wasnt really an option.
Continuing on. After I bought that book for Gnome, we continued on to the dollmaker that made this bird. However, that wasnt the only thing we bought there, John pulled out an ensemble of little wooden ships. They were cheap, like 2000$ each, as the only enchantment on them was a slight self-propelling as long as they were in water. Basically, they were the Abyss equivalent to self-driving toy cars. Although, these had the advantage that they randomly switched course and didnt collide with walls or anything.
The buyer of those items, Undine, bubbled up from the floor and looked at the boats with a silent smile, radiating happiness. Like Gnome, she was eager to use her newest acquisitions but had to wait.
Undine wanted them to have something to look at while she bathed. Now, Smander I had to talk out of just buying everything made from wood
And I am still telling you, you should have listened to me! the fire spirit wildly announced her arrival. It would have made for a wonderful fire!
Silly Sally, Sylph manifested with a smug twirl, you dont burn money, you spend it on the big two Ss in the life of you, the most important things that exist, the ever important and two constants in the life of everyone happy. Truly, these two Ss are the best reality has to offer. Sweeeeeeeeeeets
John pulled a kilogram of sweets from his inventory. Chocte, marzipan, gtine-based sweets such as gummy bears, cookies, waffles, cream puffs and everything in between, all neatly stored inside a container that kept everything from getting stale for at least a year. Turned out that the Abyss had its own sweet shops, where they made the sugary goodness from rather unusual materials. Such as blue sugar, won from arcane sugarcane. Of course, these sweets were under strict supervision by Gnome, so that Sylph wouldnt be in a constant state of sugar-induced fever dreams (or ate all of them at once and overdosed).
That done, John pulled the second item that Sylph had wanted from his inventory. It was a set of fizzy vitamin tablets. He was still confused what the air spirit wanted with these; they were just regr fizzy tablets. As it turned out, he would find out right now.
and shenanigans! Sylph shouted as she stormed at Johns hand.
The tablets, no longer confined within a now shredded stic tube, were scattered through the air. With a giggle, Sylph grabbed one of them mid-flight and then, before anybody could stop her, plunged right into Undine.
As the remaining tablets joined Raves panties on the floor (they were still lying around from earlier, which was weird considering the floor had since been covered up by a carpet), John watched the one that Sylph hugged inside Undine.
First only a few, big bubbles gathered around it, but as the outeryer broke apart it soon became a thin stream of air that rose from Undines stomach to her head. John watched, speechless and fascinated, as the white pir emerged from her head with a fizzing sound.
Sylph was grabbed by the stream and, made of air as she was, pulled up with it. Hihihi, again, again! she shouted as she emerged and, once again before anyone could react, grabbed another pill from the floor and flew right back into Undine.
This continued, everyone was too bamboozled by the scene to do anything. The sound of fizzing water and Sylphsughter, as Undines insides were turned from calm blue slime to a white striped ocean of rising bubbles, were the only things that were heard for a while.
Undine, who stood with her back to the group, started shaking. Oh damn! John snapped out of his daze, this might hurt and with Undines tendency to not tell anyone, this might be very bad! Sylph st-
His concern was silenced by a beautiful, clear sound ringing through the room.
It was too pure, absolutely innocent and untainted by any worries of life. The childlikeughter of the water spirit, whose voice was always like a melody, reverberated from the walls with an almost cleansing power as she fell backwards, holding her stomach.
I-i-it tickles, hihihihihaha, she eximed, her words underlined with an even louder whooshing sound, like the foam riding ocean waves and dispersing on the beach.
You like it? You like it! I still have more to go, go! Sylph gleefully announced and continued to use up all of the tablets.
You know, the rest of us have to wait to y with our toys! Smanderined as Sylph continued her wild fizzle rides through Undines body. John, smiling as the carefree situation went on, pulled out what the ze elemental had bought.
It was a graceful ss figure in the shape of an elf, ending at the hips, resting on a base made from ck stone. The elf had extended a hand, from which an enchanted piece of rope extended and reached down all the way to the stone base, which had a depression to be filled with liquid. It was an extremely delicate and beautiful oilmp.
John ced it on one of the three windowsills. If it were to be used, it was better off there. He also ced a bottle of particrly long burning, magical oil next to it. All the while theughter of Undine, so seldom heard, and Sylph, never heard too much, still echoed through the room.
John sat down on the bed as he waited for the scene to pass by, grinding wasnt a thing that needed to be hurried into. Not when there was so much beauty right there and then.
Chapter 217 – Multi-Quests and Grinding
Chapter 217 C Multi-Quests and Grinding
Thest tablet was fizzing out as John got a pop-up.
Oh hey, that was kind of good. Being able to get multiple Quests was pretty useful now. Come to think of it, how many Quests had potentially been blocked out thanks to that Clear 10 Floors thing he had had going on a while ago?
Ah, whatever, no use crying over spilled milk, he thought, dismissing the hypothetical before it could start to haunt him. What was great here was the rewards, and with great, he meant stupendously great. The experience alone was incredible. epted.
Now to
read through this one. Okay.
15 Categories he could exactly clear without touching the new kinds of fights. Time was a bit of a bigger constraint here. Monsters of one category should be pretty easy, if he went for something with a lot of big groups of small guys. Tier 14 boss wasnt impossible but really hard. No, wait, actually that was fairly easy. He had his secret weapon, he could only use that once in a fight, but he only needed to kill one boss. Better make sure he aimed correctly. Hours without sex that would be the rest of the day. That shed with his modern lifestyle, which was a wonderful thing to contemte, but it was easily doable.
Probably. It was just 8 hours.
Ah, fuck it! John thought and epted. It was only until about midnight; how bad could it be? Much better questions: How great would the rewards have to be? Personally, John hoped for some points he could distribute on his Skills. He wanted to max out Possession and, much more importantly, raise Artificial Spirit up. Momo getting a few more abilities would likely prove vital in the uing tournament.
Theughter finally ceded in the background as Undines insides finally went back to just being blue. Nooooohhh, Sylphmented as she found no more tablets to tickle her sister with, John, Johnny Cash, Money Johnnie, Money Money, lets go, go, drai-go get grapes and more tablets!
Nope, we have to do some grinding now, John told her.
Whaaaa? Sylph flew over. No touchy times first? I wanted to fuck!
Yeah, no, I REALLY need to get grinding. Also, I have a quest that tells me to stay abstinent for 8 hours, John informed her. They finally left the room and went towards the gate in the garden.
It stood as empty as before, just a ck arch standing seemingly without purpose between two patches of grass. John marched right through. He reappeared inside a seemingly random house on the outskirts of actual Rome. It was shabby, the kind that had stood empty for a few years but was owned by some rich family that just refused to sell or do anything with it for whatever reason.
John turned to see the door he just came from. It was a closed metal door, it appeared to belong to an industrial building rather than this rundown shack. Interested, John pulled it open. Behind it were just piles of rubble in a room with a smashed window. He stepped through and nothing happened.
He closed the door and, following an obvious idea, put the key to the mansion into the door before pulling it open. The view was the same. Stepping through brought him back to the mansion this time, however. Of course, he had pulled the key off the door first. He wouldnt want to leave that behind for some random kid to stumble in here and ruin everything.
That little experiment concluded, John went back into reality and checked his monster table.
Right, so I want to concentrate on one or two of the Quest goals, to make sure I fulfil at least something, John thought and looked at the three that were avable. The categories beaten and monsters of one category in goals did not harmonize whatsoever. He was somewhat confident that he could do one after the other, but it was best to set his sights on one goal that was surely obtainable.
Mhm, beating a Tier 14 boss should be rtively easy, John thought to himself; And if I go for the monsters in, that way I will get to try the same boss several times anyhow. That means I can try to do it without the glove a few times.
How about you just ask Thana for help? Momo suggested.
True enough, with the help of Thana that quest would probably be aughing matter. John had considered it for that same reason.
I could, John answered, but pulling out a piece of paper, he handed it over to Momo, who read it.
Taking Thana to the local hospital to get the whole do-not-get-pregnant magic stuff done to her, signed, ya girlfriend she read out loud. John had randomly found that while leaving. Seriously, it was tucked away between the keys, he could have missed it quite easily. Either his girlfriend was dangerously whimsical or she lived in his head and knew exactly where he would pass by. Either was likely.
When we try the new categories tomorrow, I will ask everyone toe with, John announced. New endeavours are best tackled as a group, but this is just the same old dungeon running. Doing this without the optimal setup wont lose us too much. Anyhow, enough time wasted, lets just start from the top and fish for some dungeon where the enemy density is good.
They started therefore, alphabetically, with the Alchemic Creatures dungeon. While interesting to look at, an undergroundboratory with ss tubes steadily pumping fluorescent liquids through the vast, clinical looking scienceplex, the enemies there were not what they were searching for. They were in grey-skinned humans. Naked, without any sexual traits and no mouth, face or ears, only a pair of empty ck eyes.
Called Lesser Homunculus, these enemies stalked around in groups of one or two, not attacking unless attacked themselves or if they were approached too closely. Their physical prowess was slightly worrying, but nothing Aclysia or Gnome couldnt deal with, especially as they were dealing with enemies roughly 7 levels below them.
The boss, a Homunculus upper body stuck and bolted to some kind of machinery that gave him control over several contraptions inside the boss room, was also quickly dealt with. Not quick enough for the Quest, but within 15 minutes or so.
Skipping Angels, who John already knew were no good for this endeavour, they went over to Aquatic. As always, water levels SUCKED. They started at the edge of a giantke, with nowhere to go but into it. Sure, the water was so beautifully clean that it made the one that came out of ones tap look like mud, and eptably warm to boot, but that didnt make wandering through it a nicer experience.
There were two kinds of enemies here. There was the Coral of Bubbles, a nt that grew in regr intervals along thekebed. This one was pretty easy to beat and spawned a bubble they could breathe and stand in once they did. The other one was some kind of carnivorous fish that attacked in swarms of about 6, which there were a lot of.
While that did make them a prime contender for the Quest goal, it was a pain in the ass to kill them. Fighting them in the water was annoying because of several reasons. Smander couldnt be used, for obvious reasons, Gnome was too heavy to get off thekes floor (same for Aclysia and Momo), Sylph had the opposite problem where she was constantly fighting against the fact that she was getting pulled up because of how light her body was and John had to fucking breathe.
There was another strategy that worked quite well. They attracted the attention of one or two swarms before making their way over to one of the corals, popping it and then killing the fish that were now helplessly stuck inside the air bubble.
The boss, a giant jellyfish, was just a really annoying tank and spank with lots of HP and slow attacks. The biggest threat in the fight was Johns lung capacity. He vowed to never set foot into an Aquatic I.D. again before he didnt get a way to breathe underwater. Also, maybe abat evolution for Undine, as a mending elemental she wasnt nearly as useful inside her element as one would think. Sure, she created distortion with some minor streams that threw attackers off, but generally her attacking capabilities were really, really bad. Her fizzle-tickle induced good mood was gone once they left that dungeon.
Avian was less horrible but still far from fun. They climbed a spiralling path at the side of a mountain while being periodically assaulted by women with wings instead of arms and sharp talons as their feet C or harpies as they were moremonly known. They did have nice tits but ugly faces, so John had little remorse as he shot them in the sky with Mana Ray while Sylph and Smander argued over who had killed more of them. At the top of the spire there was a giant bald eagle they had to kill. His American heart bleeding, John did.
And next on the list was
Ah, good old City Elementals, John said as he opened the dungeon and was NOT transported into anotherndscape for a change. Instead, the dungeon simply took the ovey of the existing city and put itself on top. There were probably some changes, but John didnt really notice.
He left the shabby house and found himself in a wonderfully booming neighbourhood. There were shing signs everywhere, depicting the outlines of a woman raising a leg, pictures of women in sexy-bunny outfits, videos of women dancing around a metal pole.
Never mind, John totally noticed the changes. Okay, so we are in a red light district now, he said, looking through the sign-lit night streets. The Aquatic dungeon had taken a long ass time. Thinking about it, theke had been surprisingly well lit.
I wonder what kinds of enemies they have here, he drily stated as he waited for the first wave to assault them. Looking at the area it was going to have tits, that much was for certain. Which was semi-bad because getting horny right now would have made moving about a pain. He wasnt afraid of losing control, his Wisdom was too high for that, but jumping around with an erection? Unpleasant.
A movement inside the entrance of a nearby building caught Johns eye. He threw an Observe before anything else.
Thats a lot of loot, John thought as he read through the sheet, and almost all of it is underwear.
Then the storm broke. Sexy women poured onto the streets like he was the richest man at a Victorias Secret party. They besieged John from all sides and would probably have drowned him in a sea of tits and ass if it werent for Mana Protection.
Hey, you strapping youngd, one of them purred, pushing her chest together and seductively licking her lips. The pink, glossy things seemed to be made for dick-sucking, and John had to muster some willpower to ignore the call of his erection. Thank god that I focused on Wisdom this much, John thought as the never-ending tide of willing pussy kepting.
Same could not be said about Aclysia though, who was effectively lust-stunned. Sure, she maintained (barely) enough self-control to not engage in immediate eroticisms, but she also didnt raise Ashkandi to stab them in the meaty bits.
Hey, want to hire a courtesan? I am cheap, just a load of your semen and I am yours for the evening, another girl, a redhead, sighed.
No-no-no-no-no-no, Sylph announced and electrocuted that one with a swift attack, I am Johns courtesan! My title, bad horny, young woman! Bad!
I thought you were Johns concubine? Smander asked in a dry tone as she set a blonde on fire.
I can be both! No problem! I can be concubine and courtesan, because those are cool words, and I want to be called cool words!
How about whore then? Smander suggested. Silly Sally, that isnt a cool word, I also dont sleep with Johns who arent John John. Silly Sally.
I swear to all of the fire in this ne that you are insufferable, the fire spirit sighed as the aggressive duo went to clear Johns direct perimeter.
G-g-g-get off me! Gnome shouted and scattered a pile of women through the air as she broke out from under them. The stone elemental had been simrly besieged, it seemed. Momo wasnt being attacked at all, she just looked at the whole scene with judgemental eyes.
Sister, I must say I am slightly disappointed in you right now, the support announced as she watched Aclysia continue to struggle with her nymphomania. Then again, this is all your fault, John! What the hell were you thinking, increasing her Libido to such levels when she gets a 140% increase!
I was curious and she agreed! John defended himself as one of his Mana des cut through a group of assants. He adjusted his pants afterwards. Can we postpone the judgements until after we have dealt with this?! The situation, as ridiculous as it was, was pretty bad. The stream of women was seemingly endless, and Johns mana wouldnt support him forever. A quarter of it had been missing before they had even entered.
Normally, he would have just waited for his mana to regenerate in-between dungeons. With the Quest giving him a timer, however, he had decided to toss caution aside for once, and it had worked out, without great problems, until now.
It would have worked out even longer if this wasnt essentially a swarm encounter, and he wasnt all that great with those. Arcane Explosion was a good tool here in theory, but what he really needed was to get this over with quickly and Arcane Explosion needed several casts to really deal with these masses. He looked at his glove for a moment, there was his trump card if this all came crashing down on him.
Better exhaust all other lifelines before I pull that, recharging it is a pain, John thought. Momo, how much Mana do you still have? he asked the supporter, who was busy trying to drag two women off the still stunned Aclysia. About 500, if you are going to do it, do it fast!
Everyone, duck! John warned his group as he dumped a total of 1500 mana into Mana de. The result was an about 3 and a half metres long arcane edge that originated from his right hand. Without grace he spun around, screaming Demacia! for full effect. Everyone in his group who would have been in range fell to the ground just in time.
It was very effective. Not only did he instantly kill everything that was inside that radius by cutting them in half, but he gained all 4 stacks of Whisper of Mana from it. The passive increased his MP recovery by 100% for a minute for each enemy killed with an Arcane skill and it kicked his regeneration up to almost 16 per second.
Sure, he was at 0 mana right now, but he would be back to a sizable amount within the minute thanks to the passive. Definitely the best choice there, although I still cry a bit after Overload, John thought. Sure, Mana de was extremely effective at being a finisher, scaling both in size and damage with mana. The amount it devoured made it unsuitable for anything but an AoE finisher though, he would have liked it if he could have gotten Mana Ray and Arcane Explosion a simr treatment to be more adaptable to a broader range of situations.
Anyhow, with most of the wave taken care of and the sparrow above unable to spy more enemiesing towards them, it now was clean-up time. Sorry, not sorry, John said, punching one of the assants in the face with his wed gauntlet and sending her flying into a nearby building. A rush of power went through him as the body crashed through the ss door.
He clenched his left hand a few times and smirked. I just love the things this thing does, he said and set after the enemy. He wasnt nearly strong enough to kill an enemy in one punch, especially with the group bnce active. Although said group bnce seemed to havee down in pure numbers this time around.
Just meant the clean-up would take longer.
Chapter 218 – Unshaded
Chapter 218 C Unshaded
Urgh, John let out a sound of exhausted annoyance as he pummelled thest enemy to death.
It felt very wrong. One, because it had the shape of a beautiful woman, two, because he actually had to kill it instead of knocking it out, and three, because he was not used to punching things. Although thatst point was rapidly changing thanks to a little something.
This was one of the two Attributes that Purgatory had that made John love the item. Well, to be exact, this one was also on the rings, but it hadnt worked before he got the setplete. Best thing was what happened once it went all the way up to maximum though. Which he was about to hit. Second best thing was that it scaled with his level. Actually, that was the best thing about it, seeing how it would continue to be relevant for pretty much forever.
Thest enemy finally dissipated into a cloud of smoke and dropped some sexy underwear. John quickly dumped it in his inventory as he waited for the inevitable boss spawn. Are you done pouting yet? John asked in the meanwhile. Siena didnt answer. He had allowed her to move again the moment they had entered their first dungeon. So far, she hadnt taken the offer.
John punched a wall. Not out of frustration, no, he simply wanted to stack Echo of Destruction a bit more. Also, it felt nice to flex muscles he had no business having with his current Stat line. Not that the buff made him physically more muscr, he just felt stronger.
Come on, Siena, you cant be this offended by someone giving you shit for a change, John talked to the shadow spirit, or did your mother spoil you that much?
Mother never spoiled me, Siena hissed, missing most of the usual sexiness in her voice.
Really now? he couldnt help but doubt that. Correct me if I am wrong, but she rescued you from Gaia, didnt she? No answer. Then she fed you victims while you were locked up so you wouldnt be too bored. No answer. Finally she sent me over to get you out of there, knowing that I would treat you well.
You are taking my freedom from me, Siena pointed out, that is hardly being spoiled.
You could roam free if I could trust you to not act against my interests all the time, John reminded her. Instead, you insist on throwing rocks in my way.
As you deserve, Siena told him after a little pause, someone of your happiness should just
Are you still driving that narrative? John asked. Siena, if your prime motivation to torture and kill people truly was that they are happy, you wouldnt have leaped at Janna like you did. For all we know, she could have been an impoverished mother who took the spying job to get out of her miserable situation. John wrestled down his own bad consciousness for a moment, the muffled screams still haunted him; You know what I really think your deal is?
Johns shadow twisted. He was about to continue when the window finally popped up.
The boss descended from the night sky by circling down a metal pole. She was wearing nothing but a sexy, red negligee that did nothing to hide her curves. John noted that she missed the subus trademarks of horn and tail, but she did have wings.
John sent out his mentalmands to everyone. One by one, he told them exactly what he wanted them to do in this fight.
This strategy is crazy, Master, Aclysia, finally recovered but still horny as hell, told him. We should at least kill it once before going through with that.
Nope, this is what we are doing, John announced and, with slight hesitation, his elementals scattered away from the spawn point, leaving John to fend for himself.
Mhm, Siena let out a disappointed moan, not only had she been isted from all of the conversations, but John also hadnt told her to do anything. No orders for me that I can ignore?
No, you will do exactly what I want in this battle, John spoke firmly and then charged the subus, who had started to channel some sort of spell. Which is: nothing.
The Gamer threw a punch. It wasnt even close. The subus was faster than him, but not by enough for him to be unable to keep up. Nheless, she got the first hit in with ease. John simplycked the practice in melee, and so her foot connected to his left side and threw him through the air.
Going in without protection? Siena giggled as he smashed against a wall. He didnt answer her but simply pushed himself off the wall and blocked the iing attack from the subus.
You are such a bad, little boy, the demoness spoke as her fist was caught by Johns gauntleted hand, We could have lots of fun together, just let me feel you up a little.
Sorry, but I am not looking for additions to my harem right now, John said, pushing against the subus superior physical power with desperation, Kind of past my limit of what I am allowed to handle.
The boss smiled sweetly and pushed harder, feeling the legs of her victim buckle and slowly give in. A drop of sweat rolled over Johns face as he counted the seconds. A Mana Ray hit the boss in the shoulder and caused her to screech in pain as she pulled back that arm. John followed that up with a quick Arcane Explosion that blinded the boss.
That manoeuvre allowed him to retreat out of melee range, but as the boss was meant to be a challenge for seven people, he alone was no match to it. While the subus regained her concentration, John plucked a sign off the ground and threw it at the boss. Her seared shoulder slowly healing, the subus simply smacked the sign aside. John threw another one.
What mindless strategy are you following? Siena wondered, I cant even feel those other familiars of yours. Her summoner just smirked, everyone was in position, it was all going ording to n. Concentrating on masking everyone from Siena was a bit of a strain though.
He threw thest sign he had in arms reach. The subus simply side-stepped the slow projectile. By the time it crashed and scattered over the ground, the boss had reached melee range again.
She did not expect the ming fisting for her. Sure, it was a sloppy sucker punch, but if there is a burning obsidian dragon wing for your head, even a boss would flinch away. The subus jumped to the side. That turned out to be the smartest move as the fire was catapulted off his fist and flew another two metres forwards.
Man, upping my Physical Stats for this glove is so tempting, John thought.
The fact that he wore the glove on his left-hand while being right-handed made aiming with it slightly harder. That fact was diminishedrgely by the amount of Agility he already had, slowly turning him ambidextrous, but it remained a slight annoyance. More Strength would allow him to catapult the fire further. He had done tests to verify that already.
But s, I am quite happy with being a mage, John thought and quickly rolled under a spinning kick from the subus. Shended gracefully while he struggled to get back on his feet.
Instead of exploiting that opening, the boss chuckled, You are a funny little boy. At first, I thought just killing you would be the best, but maybe you have quite a bit more to offer.
The air was suddenly filled with a sweet aroma that made Johns head dizzy and his loins burn. The subus was obviously tired of making this a physical contest. Seemingly defeated immediately by his own lust, John fell backwards upon the hard floor, unable to move.
I he stammered.
Yes? the subus said, stepping closer until she was next to him. She brought her lips close and kissed him. His shadow stirred as Siena let out a possessive hiss into Johns thoughts. The subus didnt notice, she was too infatuated with John.
You want to tell me what? I love you? is that it? she wondered.
I John shrugged, always wondered if you monsters know that you are creations that my ability creates and not actually alive. Once I die, you do too.
Silly boy, what are you talking about, once I kill you, I be real, the subus purred and put him deeper under her spell.
Huh, now thats interesting. Sadly, I will never find out if that im is true or not. The curious thought, among the rest of him, was wrestling with the sweet influence the boss had on his mind. Considering that I would need to die for that knowledge.
So, when is that n of yours finally moving into motion, Siena asked, trying to sound as uncaring as possible. John knew better, however. Siena desired him in two ways: she wanted to kill him and she wanted to fuck him. This subus was currently acting against both of these things.
Well, about that, seems like it failed, he told her. Looks like this is the end of the line. Anyst words to me?
What in the shadows are you on about?
I will make yourst moments wonderful, you have my word, the subus started to fidget with his trousers. John couldnt really have that. Quests before thots and all of that.
He rammed his knee against her beautiful face, and the subus hissed. He really didnt want to fail the no sex part of the quest now. Doing this the old fashioned way then! she announced and greedily pushed her lips on his. The moment they touched, John could feel his life force draining away. One HP after the other, quicker and quicker, they were siphoned off.
Basically, I sent everyone away so that you will have to help me, John exined.
Excuse me? Siena asked.
You heard me. Either you help me here or I die by another womans hand, he stated. Stunned silence. John maintained his calm, despite the slow ending of his life. He had never enjoyed a kiss less. You know what I really think motivates you to kill? After actually looking through your memories like you looked through mine? Its not that it surprises your victims. Many of the thugs you had killed by egging on prostitutes knew they would die by another persons hand, it was part of their line of business. Its not the people that have it too good that you hate, its the people you cant dominate. Those who you cant do with as you want. Rather than living with them, you get rid of them. At the same time, you fall in love with the fact that you cant control them, and so the only person that is allowed to kill them is you. You are obsessed with those you cant force to kneel, the rest you kill without care. The voice of his thoughts was slowly getting weaker, And now there is me. I know that you love me right now, because I was the one who outwitted you and dragged you out of the shadows. You are seriously twisted.
John slowly raised his left hand, it was about all he could manage to do at this point.
Now you can either listen to that love and save me or listen to that hate and let me die. Will you actually show that you are worth something more or will you be a full monster? Im tired of you skirting that line.
Siena waited until Johns health dropped under 5% before she answered, You better satisfy me after this.
In a storm of darkness, Siena attacked the subus from below. The boss had anticipated thepanions she had seen on her entrance to pull some stunt. Something jumping out of the shadow the forced couple cast onto the pavement was not on her list of expected things, however.
ded tentacles prated the flesh of the boss monster, and Siena forced her to break her kiss with John who quickly threw the subus off him. NOW! he shouted in his mind and the street suddenly caved underneath them as Gnome, having used all the mana John had to spare, removed the dirt from underneath.
Even with Siena, John would have had no chance against the buffed subus, but the boss fell through like everyone else. Underneath, the rest of Johns group was just waiting to kill the boss. nning to take to the air, the subus pped her tiny wings.
Nah, this is my ying field, you stay on the ground, okay? Okay! Sylph giggled and sent a strong gust that pressed the subus down, making it impossible for her to dodge as Gnome and Aclysia grabbed onto her, thetter ramming her sword through the demoness chest. As a group, they jumped the immobilized boss.
John watched as they slowly grinded down the boss, getting healed by Undine who he had, as nned,nded on. Immobilizing the enemy and then defeating her with a flurry of attacks was still the easiest and most sessful strategy he could think of.
You lied to me, Sienamented once the fight was over. She didnt sound particrly angry about this, just annoyed (but with her usual sexy undertone restored), You were never really in danger; you had this whole back-up n ready before you let yourself get caught
I thought Id repay you for past headaches. Thanks for ying along with my n though, John smirked. Perhaps overly cocky from his victory, he added, You may try to kill me for the next minute, as we agreed earlier.
Giving me such a golden opportunity, how nice of you, Master. She sunk into the shadows. She was right, in addition to his personal exhaustion, they were now in a deep depression in the ground, with almost vertical walls, in the middle of the night. She could attack him from basically every angle right now.
He jumped from one foot to the other, always turning around to give Siena little time to attack his back. The attacks never came. I will keep this for another time, however, she spoke after he stayed defensive for a whole minute. At the very least she had wanted to keep him on the edge for that time, it seemed.
Huh? John grunted and dropped his hands, standing rxed. The order had run out so he was safe. He had wanted for Siena to attack him and estimate by the intensity with which she attacked him how much progress he had made in their rtionship, if any. Seemingly, Observe would need to help him with that one once again.
Because you have been a good girl right now, when I get to fuck someer, its going to be you first, he promised her.
My, my, my, what a sulent offering, Siena sighed in her usual lusting tone; I will take it.
John left the barrier in a happy mood. He wasnt under the impression that Siena would stop trying to damage him, that would take a lot more conditioning than just a singr incident where she decided to not make it easy on herself to kill him. What he knew, at least, was that there was something in there that cared.
He could work with that.
Chapter 219 – Sitting on the edge.
Chapter 219 C Sitting on the edge.
John stretched after he woke up next to Rave. Well, he didnt actually wake up NEXT to her. The techno-lovers upper half was hanging over the edge of the bed, while her feet had found their way on top of him. He nced over at the rm clock on his nightstand, 8 AM, no time to be worried over; he could keep lying around for a bit.
Following yesterdays events, he had returned to the mansion, had taken a rtively minor scolding from Lydia (who objected over the how not the what he had done), regenerated and then gone into the city elemental dungeon three more times. Sure, Aclysia was pretty useless in there, but it was the best bet to get the 200 enemies part of the Quest done. Also, they did manage to kill the boss in under 5 minutes, thanks to Siena and the other Attribute, which meant that John had to reload that one. Hopefully Momo would just give him some of her mana without making much of a fuss well, all of her mana.
The Quest rewards had been okay.
He had gotten a level yesterday, so all that the EXP gave him was a head start to the next level. That was appreciated, since he still needed another one to raise his Charisma enough to get the Rtionship Slots he required to keep his harem running smoothly, but not exactly a great reward. Neither was the buff. For the gloves, well:
Those were tank gloves, to say the least. John only had one empty hand slot, and wearing half didnt give him any effect, so he gifted them to his girlfriend. She could use something to block sharp things with, bare fists were not that great in that regard, so the backhand ting was wee.
He also had gotten a fair share of money from selling all of those items that had dropped (after feeding what was looking like it would give a lot of Consumption to Aclysia). He kept some of the lingerie for obvious reasons. For the moment he hid them in a box in the kitchen, where Aclysia was guarding them until the day he needed them.
With the old challenges beaten, Gaia had kept her promise and given him new ones for the day.
Evidently, Gaia was not going to let him use Purgatory to one-shot a goal again (Not that he could for the next few hours thanks to other limiting factors). Which was expected.
Speed running shouldnt prove a problem today though, since they were going as a group.
John found a way to wiggle out of bed and then went to search for Momo. He wanted to speak to her, and he needed her mana, so there were enough reasons to go ahead and do that. Thankfully, it was as easy as ever to find his familiars by simply tracking their mental connection.
The edge of the ind was still one of thest ces he had expected to find Momo. She was sitting there on the ground, unbothered by the cold, her legs dangling over the edge. John stepped closer, but not quite close enough to be in danger of falling. He was too paranoid of just tripping over his shoces.
If you want to talk to me, you better sit down here, Momo told him as he opened his mouth. She turned her head and showed him a mocking smile, or are you too cautious to do it. With a sour expression John sat down to her left. Need my Mana, huh?
Well, I need triple what I have to charge this thing, John said as he equipped his fighting regalia. The armguard underneath his suit red up. Thanks to this one beingrgely fireproof, the suit remainedrgely intact (it still ate away at the suit''s Durability, but nothing that he couldnt fix with Craft every evening). Doing it alone takes way longer, he said once the fire vanished, and his now scaled hand reached out to Momo. She took it without looking in his direction, and they both started to feed it their mana. The channel was numbingly slow. With not much else to do, John piloted his sparrow, hopping over the ground behind them.
When do you want to tell them about this? Momo asked and nodded towards the glove.
Soon enough, John shrugged, Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe sometime during the tournament. Either when its the coolest or when its the most necessary. You know it has a 24-hour cooldown.
And it pretty much takes all of our mana. As a trump card, its pretty good, but the opportunity cost is quite high. Ah, well, thats your problem to deal with.
Speaking of problems, John, wanting to start the overdue conversation about Momos feelings, said, can we talk about-
I love the sky, Momo interrupted him and continued to stare at the air in front of them with a mncholic smile, Its vast, endless, and I get the feeling that true freedom lies within its blue depths. But when I look at it, all I feel is a sad reminder that I will never be able to reach beyond what I am. What you made me.
There was a sudden re at the edge of Johns field of vision. From Momos back sprouted two ck, mechanical looking extensions with white energy fields in the shape of stretched hexagons, like overgrown feathers, attached to them. But they werent right. The left extension stood at a slightly wrong angle while the right one seemed limp, the energy fields werent consistent in their strength, some were broken off or had cracks running through them. Energy wings straight out of a sci-fi scenario, broken.
First time anyone else sees these, Momo said, still staring ahead as John didnt say a word, I yearn for this sky, this endless blue, this freedom, she sighed and stretched her free hand towards the sun, but I will never be able to fly.
I didnt know, he said in an apologetic tone.
Of course, you didnt, how would you? With everyone else you need to pay attention to, when else would you have found out? But it isnt important to me, John, Momo said. You are not as important to me. I would just love to soar through these skies for once. A thing denied to me.
You are wrong, John stated. The Attribute could not be reced by any means he was aware of. That didnt mean he wouldnt try to find it though, but even now he had a fix for this. The sparrow fluttered over to Momo andnded on her shoulder.
Pfft, what is that supposed to prove? Momo asked; Great, you can fly, way to make me jealous through indirect experiences.
You can take control, John told her, All we need to do is entangle our spirits; you could guide me.
The support furrowed her eyebrows, That would mean that your thoughts arepletely at my mercy, you know that, right?
What? Are you saying you will pull a Siena on me and hurt me somehow?
They sat there for a few moments then Momos thoughts reached out to his. They weaved together, and John fell into a state ofplete passiveness, simr to the moment shortly before one fell asleep. Almost thoughtless, only vaguely aware of the heaviness of his body, a state ufortable to break out from.
The sparrow jumped over the edge and fell. Fell like a stone as Momo, having no practice in it, struggled to get control of the dolls limbs.
I dont love you, the words prated Johns consciousness with ultimate rity.
As her thoughts were currentlypletely in control of his, a state he could end willingly, there was no doubt about it being true.
And I mean that in the truest way. I like you, most of the time, but I do not love you. The only love I have for you, the slightest and only bit, is that you allowed me to be.
The sparrow finally opened its wings and managed to turn its fall into a stable gliding.
I dont have the urge to be around you like the rest of your harem. I dont really have the urge to be around anyone. I like speaking with my sister, sure, and Gnome needs someone who looks over her, but those are just the things that you made me for. I, personally, can dorgely without people or this sex you all seem to be obsessed with. I mean, it feels good, but its just I dont feel more than temporary physical satisfaction. Its not really worth that much.
Cautiously, the sparrow changed the angle of its wings. The air caressed its feathers with a gentle breeze as Momo announced her conviction.
Once I get the chance, John, I will take the choice to be independent of you. I will not necessarily leave you, but unlike Aclysia, I have no desire to stay at your side for all of eternity.
It was a promise to leave him behind. Maybe he should have felt weirded out by this, or shocked, or annoyed. All he felt though, was understanding. He had created Momo at a time when power was more of a concern for him. What he had wanted was a supportive character, a girl capable of enjoying silence. Momo was exactly that, but like Aclysia she had be more than the little initial characteristics John had provided her with.
She had made the fully conscious choice that supporting didnt mean to just say what people wanted to hear. She made the fully conscious choice that she didnt desire John. She had made the fully conscious choice that she wanted to be free,pletely, from the tethers that bound their minds together.
There was a certain fear in her thoughts, the fear of the unknown. What would it feel like to not be connected with anyone else? To be truly alone in ones thoughts, not merely isted? Above these fears and doubts, there was a greater question though, one of deep curiosity.
What would it feel like to spread her wings?
The sparrow pped its wings and with a wave of happiness Momo began flying through the skies as the little bird, conquering the territory she had yearned after for so long. She flew high into the sky, dived with a pirouette only to then pull up in the absolute freedom she enjoyed, resisting the ever-present pull of gravity.
But eventually, this had toe to an end. With a short sh of light, the armguard announced that it had reached its maximum capacity. A momentter, Momo distanced herself from his thoughts. John had the sparrow turn around and fly back to their position.
Promise me that you will let me go when the timees, Momo demanded, her thoughts still connected to his.
Johns smile was slightly sad, Of course I will. I may not love all of you like I love Rave or Aclysia, but I would never harm you against your express wishes. If your choice is to leave, you are free to.
Momopletely detached from his thoughts, her broken wings had vanished, and she stood up. She offered him her hand. I do this as a support helping her Master to her feet now, Momo said in a cynical tone, but this is you shaking hands on us being equals one day.
John took the hand without a moments hesitation.
Chapter 220 – To the Arena!
Chapter 220 C To the Arena!
So, Troll or Steampunk themed? John asked, the decision which of the three new kinds of dungeon they should try first was already settled.
I think Trolls sound fun, Rave cast her vote.
As long as I can punch it, Thana didnt care.
My powers would likely be of more use in a Steampunk environment, Lydia gave food for thought.
So, one for each and one doesnt care, seems like I have to decide, John tapped his finger on the table, holding a mental council with his familiars, as he looked at the list of Instant Dungeons he had avable. Lets go with Trolls, he finally decided.
They left the mansion and Abyssal Rome as a whole and shortly thereafter were inside the Arena.
Ahurg! Ahurga! Ahurg! The thundering shouts all around were the first things John noticed. They were standing inside a primitive looking, but fairly huge, arena. The circle in the middle was a simple, dusty in. Walls of crudely worked tree trunks, their ends sharpened, separated the ring and the watchers areas above. About three quarters of the arenas seats were carved out of a grey mountain, only thest quarter, which was separated by a massive gate, was made exclusively from woodwork. To the right of the gate was an area hidden underyers andyers of cloth. To the left was a simple tower from which a narrator screamed into a horn.
The narrator, as well as the shouting onlookers, were tall humanoids. Covered with green or grey fur and possessing a two metre tall, muscle-packed physique, they made for imposing figures. They were slightly hunched forward, giving them a gori-like feel, and had tusks of varying lengths protruding from their thick lips.
Yo, we have de new challengah he! the announcer screamed, Long tis had been sinz the arena of great Troll warlord JinVol was challenged! Diz da proud heart of true Troll empire, mon. What does da warlord deem to be unworthy enough to be of dis puny intrudahss first enemy?!
The wooden gate slowly rose off the ground, like a portcullis, and revealed the enemy behind. It had three horns, two underneath a bony shield that extended from the upper half of its head and a third one over its beak mouth. The creatures skin was of a brownish-red and leathery; the being was also heavily armoured with magically glowing tes hanging over its four-legged form. Sharp gemstones had been worked into the tips of its horns.
Thats a fucking dinosaur, Thana pointed out.
A triceratops to be exact, John said.
Good job, balls for brain, the blood mage cracked her knuckles, pointing out the obvious.
Tis the mighty Dodanga! Da warlord does da best choices! Da intrudahs stand no chanz! The announcer screamed in excitement. The boss scraped its left front leg over the ground and lowered its head so that the middle of its three horns pointed at its target. It picked the worst one.
With a deep bellow it charged straight forwards. Thunderous shocks went through the ground as its massive body trampled forwards. The crowd exploded in cheers. DODANGA! DODANGA! DODA-!
The dinosaurs face caved in. Its bone shattered and skin stretched. Then, its body was catapulted backwards in a squall of gore only to disappear a momentter. The crowd was silent, frozen in disbelief. Thana grinned to herself. I beat him in one punch, man! sheughed and tip-toed herself over to the bundle of money. I am fucking awesome!
T-t-t-t-t-tis impossible! the narrator screamed out; Dere must be da cheats involved here! The crowd booed at John and his party in agreement. Dis little girl cant be as strong, as strong as The narrator suddenly found a pale hand pressed on his mouth. Thana had easily jumped the distance from the middle of the arena up to his stand.
Hey, fuck face, she said, I am Thana, and I am not judging you based on your height. Goodbye, asshole, you are dead! She made her promise true a momentter. Using her grip on his skull, she threw him off the stand with a double-spin. He crashed into the veiled tower at the other side of the gate.
The tower toppled over to the sounds of Thanas insaneughter and revealed the troll warlord. He was at least twice as tall as his brethren and d in a terrible looking, greenish grey armour. He was also dead before he could grab his mighty de, as Thana jumped over and broke his neck with a flying spin-kick.
Ahahahaaha! sheughed as she then jumped into the onlookers rank and wreaked havoc among the panicking trolls. John didnt even have a chance to check on the warlord, so quickly had he met his demise, but these onlookers had an average level of 100.
A group of elite-looking bodyguards managed to scramble together some sort of resistance. As a group of ten, they charged at Thana. Axes and clubs came crashing down on the much smaller blood mage. She didnt even bother blocking, instead killing one of them as he came into range. The axe of that, now dead, troll managed to sink into her shoulder but stopped at the bone, unable to break it.
Chuckling, her smile betraying the rush of battle, Thana pulled it out and gathered her blood in an orb. Following a sweeping motion, the blood became a thin de that cut through two of the trolls like paper, only losing momentum at the third. Not that she needed to rely on what was, for her, a basic attack to kill all of them in one swoop.
John scratched his chin as he looked after Thana continuing to murder everything. Look at her go, he said with respect and mild difort.
Are you telling me you fought that? Lydia asked with absolute disbelief as Thana used a troll as a il to beat up its brethren with. She had HEARD about what Thana could do, but seeing it was a whole different matter. At the time she was actively dying and about half as strong as she is now BUT she also used Bloodburn.
Lydia nced at him with a raised eyebrow. You say that like it would be a huge difference. Oh, you know, it only doubles her Stats, John drily informed her. She gets twice as strong?
No, she gets twice as strong, fast, durable, and widens her mana pool considerably, he specified after Lydias question. Its bonkers broken.
John looked over to Rave. The techno-lover did look at the onught with a pained expression. You fine? he asked his girlfriend in a worried tone.
She jumped a bit, Ja, just getting unpleasant shbacks of being beaten to near death repeatedly for several days. John held her close, arm wrapped around her waist. She put her hand on his. They kissed. I will manage though, she smirked. I mean, she still has a lot of apologizing to do, but you know the Hollmey way: We fight, we live, we learn, we move on.
I love you, John said and kissed her a second time. Then he nced over to the literal onught of windows.
Oh, Christ almighty, John thought as the experience just kepting. This was not what he had in mind when he went to the Arena dungeon. It was WAY better. Nothing could beat the enemy density in that crowd, there were around a thousand trolls there and unlike the two named enemies, they all gave experience.
This was just disgusting. Thana also killed them faster and faster, the more she bled the more projectiles she had at hand. John checked his Quest as well, the part about killing enemies of one kind was almostpletely through.
Ehem, Aclysia cleared her throat to get everyones attention, may I point at the gate opening again. She was right.
Okay, so killing the guy at the top does not disable the spawning, good to know, John thought.
At breakneck speed, not caring for his surroundings whatsoever, a singr troll, naked except for his sash and two crude stone des, charged at them.
Gnome, Aclysia, get him involved in a melee! John instructed as he fell back. He didnt want to be anywhere close to a specialized melee enemy, especially one that was buffed for 10 people in the dungeon. Thana was still ripping the onlookers to shreds, and John would much rather have her do that than risk them getting to take a breath of fresh air and jump into the arena to the rest of the group. Not that she would have heard him if he wanted her toe back down.
The two sessfully intercepted Holgohs charge. Or, well, intercepted was maybe the wrong word. It was just that, the moment they became the closest thing to attack, Holgoh instantly started running towards them. He brought his swords down like hammers, his bloodshot eyes were wide with frothing rage.
Aclysia and Gnome both blocked one sword and both almost sank to their knees under the impact. The boss pressed down on them, wanting to crush them with his excessive strength. A silver stripe, Lydias rapier, flew forwards, aiming for Holgohs face. The boss simply moved his head to the side, in the nick of time. A cut, shallow but long, stretched over his cheek and oozed green blood. It healed visibly and was closed by the time Rave came around.
Cat ears standing at attention, she kicked the boss in the side. Neither that nor the aftershock of light that followed startled the painless berserker. Whether he took damage or not was not visible. Rave jumped backwards just in time to avoid the berserkers hand trying to catch her. He had dropped the sword with which he was pinning Gnome.
The stone elemental saw her chance, tossed the sword aside and summoned a spike from the ground with a simple stomp of her feet. The attack hit Holgoh in the stomach, but it failed to prate skin, instead breaking upon contact.
Go for the eyes! John instructed, and the airborne trio of his sparrow, Sylph and Smander closed in on the berserker, now pressing down even heavier on Aclysia. A sh of lightning, a stream of fire and a ray of mana all went towards the berserkers face.
Seeing the three pestsing for him, Holgoh managed to turn his face away, but not topletely dodge. The left half of his face was scorchedpletely. John smirked, having an opponent blinded on one side was helpful. However, he was still on his guard. Here goes hoping that trolls being weak to fire holds true, John thought, because if he heals that as well, this will be a long fight.
John ignored the windows and waited for any signs of the fabled troll regeneration to ur, but, unlike the earlier cut, nothing of the sort happened. Jane, concentrate on using high-heat attacks, he shouted at his girlfriend. Try to nail his feet to the ground or immobilize him otherwise, he instructed Lydia, the same order went out to Gnome. Aclysia, try to keep him upied a bit longer. Smander, Sylph, we will try to hit his face again. Momo, be ready to distribute mana to Smander. A questioning feeling from Undine, wishing for instructions. Just stay safe in the back and ready in case something goes south and you need to heal, he hastily informed her, and then everyone went to work.
First order of business was to alleviate some of the pressure from Aclysia. Holgoh was no longer keeping himself upied by just pressing down on her but instead went into a wild offensive. Frenzied iling of forceful haste from the frothing berserkers fist and de hailed down on Aclysia.
This was the one time John wanted Defensive Stance back. It was lost, like most of Aclysias abilities, when Artificial Spirit had reset to make room for Momo. Normally the loss was inconsequential, the Skill had given Aclysia extra Stats for blocking while standing still, but right now that would have been really dandy.
The hail of attacks was so ferocious that the group didnt manage to get an attack in as Aclysia was forced back, and back, and back. It was abined effort by Lydia and Gnome that finally took the pressure off Aclysia.
A series of small metal darts rained down on Holgohs foot, prating his heel. At the same time, Gnome had created a cavity under his foot that now broke in as his weight shifted to his unharmed foot. That brought him out of bnce, and Aclysia jumped away onest time, now with her back against the wall.
That was the only opening the group needed. The aerial trio stormed at the troll. He forced them to disperse by hacking at them with his sword. That merely spread the attack from his face to the rest of his body, though, as all three attacks hit and the smell of burned fur and flesh filled the air.
Now I got ya, Rave eximed triumphantly as she forced her hand right between the trolls'' tusks. She hade from his blind side, and with wrecked bnce still bound in the after effects of the motion to attack the aerial threat, he had no way to counter in time. An explosive sh of hot, bright light turned the berserker''s face into a burning mess.
But that didnt kill him.
With a gurgling roar he twisted his whole body around and rammed the side of his arm into Raves sides, sending her flying. Undine take care of her! John instructed as the rest of the group surrounded the blind boss.
Blood and spit running from its burnt mouth, it thrashed around without a target. That attack he had just delivered was thest time he knew where his enemy was. They stayed away from the berserker as Smander consumed buckets of mana to douse him in mes. After minutes of whittling him down, the berserker met his end, screaming in anger until hisst moments.
Thesecked the usual sasswas Gaia having an off day?
Was that an editors note?
Okay, what the me is going on? Gaia asked, stepping out of a dimensional rift.
Chapter 221 – Derp
Chapter 221 C Derp
Seriously! The supreme deity pointed at John with all the intensity that her rather small frame could contain. Considering the still open gash in reality behind her, that was quite a lot. I go and check on the dimensional borders, make sure no Lorylim spill into the elemental nes, and when Ie back, I find that you have finished Achievements you have no business having done yet! Exin!
John blinked at the finger in front of his nose. He hadnt been this close to Gaia before. She was really pretty small C barely bigger than Sylph.
I can hear your thoughts! Gaia warned him. Think something moreplimenting!
At their side Lydia cleared her throat, causing Gaia to turn her head. What do you want, Lydia? she asked.
I would just like to express what an honour it is to meet you, Lydia said with a slight bow. Please excuse me that I missed the opportunity to do sost time.
Uh, yeah, something like that, Rave said, having slowly inched herself behind the deity. Rave took a thinking pose, contemting what she saw. Tiger, we gotta break up.
Huh? What, why?
Cause ya wanted to threaten that that ass was t and thats just a crime. Thats like absolute perfection at the bottom of a petite body. Hey, Gaia, ya wear panties?
Gaia had been preening at the words, then the question hit and she blushed. Wha- She shook her head, sending her turbulent green hair into a tumble. Are you serious?! Get a grip!
I agree with Gaia, that question was entirely unfounded, Lydia said.
Okay, but, like, she looks like Tatsumaki and everyone is always wondering if that girl is wearing panties, Rave spoke her mind.
If by everyone you mean your obsessed One Punch Man clique, John mumbled. Thement went ignored.
Okay, A, Gaia scolded his girlfriend, I dont look like Tatsumaki, Tatsumaki looks like me! Just so we are clear on that! B, if you have to know! The four strands that made up the skirt of her ck, form-fitting dress flew upwards until they revealed innocent white panties. There! You happy?! Perverts!
Momo pinched the bridge of her nose, The supreme goddess and she is showing my creator her panties. What is this, the rapture? Seemingly, thatment made Gaia snap out of her ranty haze, and the strands fluttered back downwards.
Hmph, she turned her head away from the distraction that was Rave and towards Lydia. Denied! Gaia answered an unvoiced question. Deal with your problems, princess. I have neither the time nor the interest to get involved in your business. Live by my rules, and we wont have a problem ever. Now shush
Lydias mouth snapped shut, and she bowed deeply again, As you wish, Gaia.
Back to you! Gaias finger was back in Johns face. Even closer this time. The supreme deity hovered slightly off the ground to get in his face. Tell me what happened before I buff the next boss to the level of the Warlord and have you fight him 1vs1 as payback!
John was confused why he had to exin anything to an apparently omnipresent entity that could read thoughts. The answernded a momentter anyhow. Wuhu, that was fucking awesome. Killing things is nice, none of that feeling bullshit. Anyhow, hi Gaia, Thana greeted the green-haired deity off-handedly.
What are you doing here? Gaia asked with a raised eyebrow. The fuck do you mean: what are you doing here? You saw meing back to life, you idiot! Thana asked.
I mean, why would you help this nerd here? I thought that I could leave you alone because someone as damaged as you would justze around and watch sis all day! Gaia told her.
Oh yeah? Well, evidently your omniscience is pretty fucking bad. I owe the fucker; least I can do is beat up some troll-dolls. Speaking of which, you have hair like one!
Mighty riching from someone who looks like her favourite drink is bleach!
Try-hard loser!
Dumb masochist!
t-chested kid!
Like you are any taller! Your eyes are the literal sshouse you are sitting in right now!
What is my life? John asked the sky as he watched the sassy deity and the cursing blood mage throw insults at each other. For some reason they were both panting when they finally came to an end of their shouting match.
Dumb sod, just do what you came to do and fuck off! Thana finally demanded.
Maybe I will, you try-hard edgedy! Hmph! Gaia answered, and they turned their back at each other, both pouting. At this point, John had a violent headache. Rave was giggling though, and a certain someone in Johns shadow continued tough.
So, I cant have you mindlessly abuse the system like that, thats the definition of too easy! Gaia told John, who was cross-eyeing the finger that was, once again, in his face.
Okay? he asked. So, are you going to take away my levels or what?
No, taking away rewards already handed out is a pain, I dont feel like dealing with that! I will be a gracious goddess and allow you to keep that stuff.
Even the unlimited dungeon ess? John asked.
Was that in there? Sure, whatever, Gaia waved off. The old system is outdated anyhow.
That reminds me, were those Achievements pre-written? he wondered. It was the only exnation he had how he had gotten them without Gaia noticing in the first ce.
Yeah. What? You think I have nothing better to do than watch you all day? Is that what you think of me, you low-life nerd?! Gaia sted off on him, her gestures outraged.
I didnt say anything like tha-
You listen to me! I will st you into the stratosphere if you annoy me again! Now go and do your grinding thing you skirt-chasingehm she was struggling to find an insult, and that fact seemed to embarrass her more than showing off her panties earlier, skirt-chasing her eyes fell on Aclysia, sad excuse for a waifu builder! Other Johns can do that way better! Now, excuse me, I will go do IMPORTANT things!
Reality folded, and Gaia was gone. John got a window a momentter.
Well, good news, the change doesnt mean I have to get Thana out of the group. Bad news, you can no longer punch stuff, or I dont get experience.
UrghI will just do like Undine and stand around uselessly then. Thana spat out; Fucking Gaia, ruining my fun.
Dont worry, you can still beat up stuffter, John told her with a smirk.
Thana blinked, Exin, jackass. This only says I get reduced experience from stuff that you killed or fought. It doesnt say it no longer counts for Quests, John was letting that hang in the air for a moment in case Gaia was listening and now hot-fixing that with a burning hatred for all things exploitable. She remained quiet, however, and no new windows popped up.
And you have some Quests that I can help you with by punching things? Thana asked.
Absolutely, John said but was interrupted in his exnation by two more windows appearing.
The earth trembled under Johns feet. Okay, so what now? he wondered when the mountain top in the distance split in twain. No, it didnt split, John realized. It was just that an enormous beast was shaking off dust that had gathered on top of its wings.
Twice the being pped its wings, and the dust that scattered created a cloud through which Johns eyes could not spy. His ears, however, picked up the sound of the being taking flight.
A majestic emerald sparkle on its scaled body, the mythical creature, a dragon, bridged the distance at an enormous speed. The golden spikes along its back glistened tremendously in the sunlight as itnded in the arena and reared its mighty head as it roared a single word: PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATS.
What is my life, John wondered again as everyone else around him assumed their fighting position. He exined, and they rxed with confused faces. Dargon lowered his snout, his eyes, big and googly, looked expectantly at John, his mouth open and tongue hanging out like a happy dog.
I want pats, pat me, the derpy dragon spoke in a rumbling voice that just didnt fit his yful tone.
Events are weird, John thought and raised his hand, patting Dargon on his nose that was bigger than Johns head.
I have been pat, I approve. I want more pats, the event boss spoke.
Now the giant head reared over to Rave, Pat me, pink-haired one, for I desire more pats.
Sure, buddy, she said and patted the side of his head; Youre big. Man, this is cool. John, I am patting a dragon! Your powers are bullshit!
Yup, John replied, too dazzled by todays events (and it wasnt even noon) to deny any such usations.
More pats, Dargon moved on to Gnome and the rest of the elemental quartet.
U-uhm, please tell me if I am patting too strongly, Gnome said and shyly extended her hand.
Good Mothers in the nes around, just fucking do it, Smander said and, in her big form, pat the derpy dragon together with her sister. Undine, unsure what else to do, also chimed in, and Sylphnded on top of Dargons head and patted him with her teeny tiny hands.
Multiple pats, I approve, but I want more pats! Next in line was Lydia. The princess raised an eyebrow but, with utmost festivity, extended her hand. Dargon blew a bit of air from his nose in a disapproving manner. Pats are not to be done with sternness but with glee, pat me with true enthusiasm! he demanded. Lydias eyebrows almost met, but then she rxed and patted him like one would pat a dog. Much better, but I remain unsatisfied.
Dargon stared at Thana. Thana stared back. Can I kill it?
No, John told her. Guy dropped no loot if they killed him.
I could do it, she said; Just one punch and BAHM! Dragon innards okay, maybe more like ten for this guy.
Punching is not patting. Pat me, the derpy dragonmanded. Thana nced pleadingly at John.
Just pat the damn dragon! he demanded. With a sigh Thana put a hand on the dragons head.
Whether she simply disobeyed John or actually slipped in her body control, she smacked down on his nose so hard that the whole snake-like winding of his neck bobbed. Whoops, Thana giggled and continued, gentler.
Harsh pats, but pats nheless, I will take them, Dargon relented.
Momo just did it without being asked. She looked like she just wanted this to be over with. Dargons head went back over to John. He sniffed at his shadow. Sienas hand came out andnded on his nose for a single pat.
Tsk, John heard Siena click her tongue, I wanted to cut him. Yourmands remain as strong as ever, Master. Mhm, we could have so much more fun if you just allowed me to do with everyone as I pleased.
I doubt our definition of fun is even remotely simr, Siena, John answered; Outside of the bedroom, at least.
One more pat, from the beautiful one with the white hair, Dargon said and positioned its head in front of Aclysia.
I am most happy to be of service, great Dargon, Aclysia said with a bow and used both hands to give the derpy dragon the best patting she could give.
Yes, Dargon purred. Hearing a dragon purr was a weird experience. Then again, Nathalia liked to do it.
Speaking of Nathalia, I wonder when she ns to show up again, John thought as Aclysia continued to pat the dragon. As he didnt tell her to stop, she went over to the side and scratched him under his chin. It took a while, but eventually Dargon said, I am now satisfied, thank you, cute one.
I live to serve the needs of my Master, Aclysia said with another bow, this was, therefore, my pleasure.
You have passed my test. You win this fight. Take from my hoard. In front of John spawned a bundle of money and a dagger. At the same moment, John noticed a distant whistling in his ear.
Am I getting a tinnitus? he wondered and rubbed the base of his ears.
No, I hear that too, Rave said; Really unpleasant noise.
Thank you for the pats. I will now go sleep again. See you around, Dargon said his goodbye and turned to fly back to the mountain. The whistling got louder. It reminded John of the noise of falling bombs or airnes.
An explosive impact ruptured Dargons body. The dragon was torn apart, as somethingnded where its body had been. Once again, the earth trembled, much stronger this time. The giant body of the dragon became a cloud of ash and dust that robbed John of his sight. He struggled to remain standing. The shockwave disappeared quickly.
And in the heart of the cloud, a pair of obsidian wings were wrapped around a body within.
Chapter 222 – Now in Rome
Chapter 222 C Now in Rome
Wings with a ck, obsidian skeleton and membranes made from magma, John didnt need to guess who that was. Guess that answers my question John thought as he walked down the impact crater. This is the Cataclysm all over again.
What are you doing, John? Lydia demanded to know.
Rx, he shouted back. It is just Nathalia.
Do not speak of me in such a dismissive manner, whelp, the dragoness growled up from her lower position, her knife-shaped ears picking up every word.
"Let''s instead talk about how she squashed a dragon under her granny ass," Smander cackled. Nathalia''s growl made the earth quiver; her wings folded back and revealed her in her full glory.
The light-brown skin of Nathalia was mostly hidden underneath obsidian scales. Covering her arms and legspletely, toes and fingers ending in sharp ws, and hugging onto the curves of her hourss figure, they nced sharply in the sun. There was a cut-out in the middle of her body, starting just below her belly button and then parting upwards in a V-shape, barely covering her nipples. Nathalia wouldnt have objected to running around naked, would probably even have preferred it, John guessed. However, her Libido of 130 made even the touch of air upon her sensitive areas a pleasuring distraction, so she covered herself up as lightly as she could.
The scales narrowed again above her chest, framing the diamond-shaped orange stone in her corbone, finally growing up her neck and ending at the sides of her face. Both sides, as John noted, she used to cover only one side with themmy love for symmetry is pleased.
A spiky tail whipped the ground in impatience as the group stepped closer. It was beneath the dragoness toe and meet them halfway. Didnt mean to offend you, I was just calming the princess down, John exined once he had gotten out of shouting and into speaking range.
First I meet Gaia for a second time and now Nathalia, Lydia crossed her arms with a perplexed expression, today is full of surprises.
I am sure my presence is offending to one of Romulus underlings, Nathalia said.
I have no love for the emperor, he is simply the one at the top. I also have a message from Luna for you, the princess answered and ryed what Luna had requested.
Nathalia listened with one long eyebrow raised, her wings and tail disappearing into her body as she did. It is of course not Lunas ce to tell me what I may take with me or not, but you have my gratitude for rying this message, mortal, the dragoness finally said, her golden eyes looking over the group.
So, this is the full extent of your harem, John? I must say I am impressed, her eyes lingered on Smander for a moment. You are lucky there is no water around here.
See! Gnome burst out. I told you! Hide when she is here.
I will do nothing of the sort. I aint afraid of this GILF, Smander said. In response her three sisters, worried for the ze elementals well-being, shoved Smander into the grasp of Gnomes hands. There was a lot of cursing involved, but by the end, the fire spirit was pacified.
P-please excuse her, Gnome apologized with a bow.
For her own safety, keep her quiet, Nathalia pulled back her lips and revealed her sharp, predatory teeth. Adorable elementals you have there, but there seems to be one missing. I sense a fifth one dont move. That warning was entirely unnecessary, as Nathalia was right next to him before he could react anyhow.
Her hand grabbed at his shadow, sinking in the slightest bit before pulling Siena out by her hair. The nightmare elemental was very much displeased by this treatment. Stop, she hissed in a demanding tone. Nathalia didnt stop. Instead she made it a point to rip her out in one go and toss her on the floor.
Thats no way to treat ady! Siena said, anger and sexual teasing mixing in her voice.
That you think of yourself ady is something I do not care at all about, Nathalia said and inspected the shadow elemental; I am merely inspecting my future partners servant. You are interesting enough.
Hold the phone, ya lizard, Rave stepped between John and Nathalia, ya dont get to call him your future partner, hes my boyfriend!
Like you could stop me. Step down before I forget my graciousness and cut you down, the dragoness growled.
Now listen here, if ya dont be at the very least respectful, I will not allow John to sleep with ya any- Nathalia grabbed Rave by the throat and lifted her from the ground.
You will not separate me from what I desire, the goddess of volcanos anger weaved through her every word, her body radiating heat, the dusty floor at her feet slowly melting and turning to ss.
Stop! John demanded, crossing the distance between them as quickly as his feet allowed.
Nathalia sent a re his way. I will stop, if only because youre more useful to me appeased, the dragoness dered, words that shed with her ws tightening around Raves throat. First, however, she will learn to respect what she cannot control!
Johns thoughts were racing. If they all attacked her at once and Thana went all out, maybe they could but he didnt want to fight Nathalia unless absolutely necessary. There had to be another way.
There was another way.
John opened his character screen and hammered points into Charisma.
Thank God that was enough. Maybe it was enough.
Nathalia, I know you love me, John spoke up again. His words came quick but steady; the nimbleness of his tongue surprising him, and I return those feelings. I am more than happy to have you join me in my carnal extravaganzas. I can even live with you sleeping with other men, as long as we are just fuck buddies. HOWEVER, the word came down like a strike of thunder, I cannot forgive you hurting my girlfriend. Let her go now and we can still work this out.
Nathalia red at him throughout that whole speech. At the end she simply dropped Rave. Youre not worth the quarrel, the dragoness told Johns girlfriend, while Undine tended to the burns.
You will stop doing that to people I care about, John told the dragoness sternly. He was feeling more certain in his words than ever before. The Charisma was definitely putting in work.
Oh? Nathalia walked up until she was directly in front of John. Being half a head taller, she looked down on him with a daring look in her eyes, Is that a threat?
Yes, John returned without any hesitation. You said it yourself Nathalia, I have the potential to be as strong as Romulus. Dont make enemies with me.
I could just kill you right now, Nathalia growled, kicking his feet away and then nailing him to the ground. I have killed for lesser insults. Remove you as a threat before you be one. Of course, I still need your body, so just breaking your mind may be enough. Onest ride and then-
Pfhahahahaaa, Thanaughed out in a shrill tone that echoed through the destroyed and emptied arena; From death threat to innuendo, good fucking job.
Nathalia turned her head, Ah, right, there are still two of you who I have yet to address. Who might you be, pale mortal?
Names Thana.
Nathalia furrowed her eyebrows, and she nced at John, Isnt that the enemy you wanted so strongly to die?
Yup, John, still pinned underneath Nathalias bountiful buttocks, answered.
I thought you seeded?
Well, to be exact, she died by time-out, John refreshed the dragoness memory. He had told her all of this back in the massage parlour.
Nathalia was not impressed with his cheekiness. Exin. By the end Nathalia was smirking. Herman urum, so that pest has met his end atst.
You knew him? John was baffled. Just how old had the guy been?
He betrayed the Horned Rat once. Personally, I found the fact that someone managed to trick the god of dawning catastrophe rather amusing.
Now that was a hard pill to swallow. It made Johns failure to recognize his true enemy slightly more palpable, but holy hell, who didnt Herman double-cross? Also, that was a rather interesting thing to be the god of.
I tire of this talking, let us move on to the interesting parts of our meetings, Nathalia changed topics. Could you wait maybe 8 or 9 hours? I have a Quest going.
I have been obliging enough already. Denied. The dragoness was about to rip open his suits shirt, which John was very much not a fan of, when a fist crashed into Nathalias face. Her neck turned slightly, and she looked with surprise at Thana, who stared back in a simr manner. I felt that, Nathalia said, like that was an impossible thing. Her eyes slightly widened as she nced over to Thana, interest and anger wrestling inside.
Huh, I wanted to knock you the fuck out, Thana said.
I FELT that, Nathalia repeated; now outraged, she grabbed Thanas arm and whirled the blood mage over her head and mmed her on the ground on the other side.
John did not like to see what that did to Thanas head. Nathalia looked with disgust at the sttered mess on the floor. And here I thought she would be able to fight back. This ruins the mood. Sex around corpses is she stopped talking as the fractured parts of Thanas skull simply melded back together.
Wuh, that was probably the worst-ass pain I have experienced since being revived. Still only a 3 out of 12 on my personal pain score. Thana rolled her head and jumped back to her feet.
Thana, maybe we should just let her do this? John suggested. Losing the Quest progress couldnt be that badpared to the fight of the titans that was about to happen here.
Nope, you told me I should help you out with your fucking Quests, and I still have A LOT of redeeming to do. Not that I need to redeem myself to you. So, I will start here. Fuck off, I am helping you. Thanas jumbled words triggered a small amount of confusion in John, but the decision on this was taken away from him anyhow.
Nathalia finally rose from John and faced Thana. Knowing when to run, John quickly made for the watchers area. Whatever was about to unfold, getting caught in the middle of it would be really bad for him.
If the dragoness was tall for John,pared to Thana she was a giant. To be exact, Thanas head was on the level of Nathalias boobs. I am getting neck cramps looking at your tall, horned ass, Thana said.
Your whole haremcks respect for me, John Newman, Nathalia shouted after him. Will you object to me teaching this one manners as well?
Go for it! That wasnt John C Rave had spoken up first. Go kick her ass, Thana!
Wow, Rave is cheering for me. You must really be on her shitlist, Thana giggled.
Let the pink-haired mortal screech, Nathalia growled. This is between us. It has been a while since I have encountered a mortal who was capable of delivering a punch I felt. Much less survive one of mine.
Wow, that was the best you could do? Thana ridiculed; Let me show you the peak of my fucking performance, scaled bitch. With a single word, the crimson wings appeared behind Thana. John nced at both of their Stats to draw aparison.
Pretty close, considering their level gap. Thana was just ridiculous.
For some reason Nathalia smiled with wild anticipation. As much as I hate your insolence, a good sparring has been denied to me for too long, the gaps between her scales started glowing with the red of molten stone. I will give you a chance and limit myself to this form.
Yeah, right, Thana said, and then they went at each other. The meeting of their fists was a thundering echo that sent a shockwave through the air that cleaned the ash covered ground around them.
What is my life? John asked for the third time today.
Chapter 223 – A far cry
Chapter 223 C A far cry
The battle between blood mage and dragon goddess was a heated one. It was also something that John had trouble following. A series of punches, each capable of killing pretty much anything below level 100 in a single movement, echoed loudly all around. The shockwaves sent more and more dust flying, ruining the sight.
Thankfully, John was at a safe distance now. He and the rest of the crew had climbed up into the empty spectator tforms all around. Which were, quite literally, just sttered with loot. They were all gathering stuff, which gave John a moment to be alone with Rave as they went off together.
I hope that didnt hurt too much, he said in an apologetic tone. While he wasnt responsible for Nathalia doing what she did, it was because Rave continued to hang out with him that she got dragged into situations like this.
I have had worse, not a lot, but worse, Rave waved off. If ya live my life of just punching your way through problems, ya gotta live with the fact that people punch back sometimes. No biggieI am going to punch her in the face once I get to her level though.
That will take like years, John reminded her. If thats even possible for you
Ey, she will be around for years too, right? Rave answered, giving John a well-knowing nce, and picked up a crude looking stone axe. I mean, me being me, I do not think that Ill be holding a grudge that long, but still. She brought the weapon back to Aclysia and Momo.
The two Artificial Spirits were not involved in this. Thanks to Johns massive level-up spree, the two now had to eat like crazy to catch up. Thankfully the trolls up here all had individual loot, and it was filled with more mana than stuff of his level had.
He looked down into the arena. The simple punching had stopped. Apparently they are done measuring each other up, John thought. Thana executed a low-kick, trying to sweep away Nathalias feet. What happened instead was Nathalia jumping up, ramming her knee against Thanas lowered chin.
Thana fell backwards, stunned for a moment, but managed to only stumble back a few feet, remaining standing. Nathalia was already setting after her though. A punch, which Thana only side-stepped narrowly, shook the arena as it collided with the ground.
John just swayed in his step for a bit as he picked up more and more money. Trolls really have a lot of cash, dont they? John thought; Now thats a stereotype Ive never heard before. Its always that trolls are some sad, basement dwelling neckbeards. Ah well I should probably spend the rest of my points.
After spending the 5 points earlier on Charisma, he still had 25 points left. He could use them to get to 50 Charisma, but the recent efficiency upgrade had given him 3 Rtionship Slots. From all he knew, the only female addition to his life in the next few days or weeks should be that Nia girl and he doubted that shed also join his harem immediately.
Well, he doubted he would need more Charisma for the moment. Therefore, he continued to invest into Wisdom.
Still no Efficiency Upgrade. At this point John was convinced that the next one would be at either level 200, 250 or 500. Those seemed like logical points. I think going for 250 is okay, John told himself. Echo of Destruction is taking care of immediate concerns of Strength and Agility. My Intellect could use some work, but Id rather check the next level of Wisdom now that I am already at 185. In other news, I dont feel much wiser.
This wasnt the first time John had noticed that, but now that he raised it by 25 points at once, theck of difference was obvious, especiallypared to earlier, immediately notable increases. I suspect some sort of diminishing return going on, he thought as he dumped yet more money into his inventory. I guess Stats eventually stop changing me physically and mentally and just became Stats. Like in WoW. I mean, who believes that his Priest has 12000 Intelligence?
Stats were a bit wonky, anyhow, as they were numerical representations of reality for him but guesses for everyone else. Nathalia had an Intellect that was higher than his on paper, but just sucked whenpared to her Physical Stats. John was pretty sure that, if the two of them were to y something like chess, he could beat her. Although he could have been stereotyping her on that front. She just didnt feel like an intellectual person.
The arena shook again, and John nced over to the battlefield. The two had gonepletely crazy by now. Parts of the arena were fields ofva, which Thana had to dodge but Nathalia had no problem happily wading through, even using balls of the molten stone as projectiles. Thana in return had taken to using her ignited blood in a fashion simr to bullets.
It was pretty obvious, however, that neither of them favoured rangedbat, and so they slowly circled closer to each other again. Quickly, they engaged in a wild flurry of cutting ws and cmitous kicks.
John would have loved to just put all the loot into his inventory, but it was simply too much. So, he filled it with as much as he could, dumped it in front of Aclysia and Momo, then went to get more. Three times he filled his entire inventory, and he was only one of seven people searching.
Plenty of opportunities to keep thinking about his mechanics. Diminishing returns to his physical changes made sense. If he got smarter with every point, he would eventually start thinking at a level ofplexity that was simply so far beyond human that he would wonder if he was even still part of the same species. Yeah, it made sense to be limited to something.
He really didnt want to be the Mountain if he raised his Physical Stats more as well. Having abs was nice and all, but he didnt see himself rocking a suit while looking like Vin Diesel. And he liked this suit. He looked like a real badass in it. Plus, it would be difficult to exin to his parents how he got three times as broad as his dad.
After a while of searching, he sat down. The arena was still shaking from the asional missed attack cracking the earth, but that wasnt all that bad if he was sitting. There was a pile of money waiting for him.
So, what did the dragon give ya? Rave asked as she returned as well.
Ah, yeah, its pretty good, John said and pulled the dagger out.
It was a white thing, carved out of the tooth of a dragon and with some gold ornaments worked into the spine of the de.
It lets me revisit whatever bonus level I want once and I get unreduced bonuses. Will have to think which one I like the most.
Sounds pretty meh to me, Rave said, just once?
For how we got it, it is pretty awesome, John insisted.
Lydia, at that point, pulled a bottle of sanitizer from her private pocket dimension and poured a bit of it into her hand. Both Rave and John looked perplexed, and she looked back beratingly. That dragons snout was wet, and I am not going to carry with me whatever diseases it has, she told them.
I guess ya are the type of person who would stay away from a dog at a party, Rave said after Lydia put the bottle away again.
If you take care of your dog and he doesnt smell, I am most happy to pat him. Every saliva spreading K?ter will have to stay at least 5 metres away from me. Same for cats. And all other animals. Take care of your pets is what I am demanding, the princessid down.
Yes, yes, John waved off. The only pet we have is Copernicus, and I am pretty sure that cat just burns off all dirt. Speaking of the sr feline, he was currently doing his usual cat thing and making a show of the fact that he didnt care for the group, while also watching them intently. His level had remained unchanged since Rave had contracted him, stuck at 76, leaving John to wonder what would happen once his girlfriend, now 65, caught up to her familiar. Questions forter.
He had two items to inspect from those Achievements he had gotten. Putting away the dagger, he pulled out VolJinZul.
It was a sword of the type too heavy for John. He already realized that once he saw the handle of the de. It was about as long as his lower-arm and was followed by a guard of bundled tusks. Aclysia, pull this out for me, please, he told his first maid.
As you wish, Master, Aclysia responded and grabbed the weapon. What came into view was an enormous, grey-ded monstrosity of savage beauty. The whole thing was bigger than Aclysia, who wielded it with visible strain.
It is heavy, Aclysia informed John.
Unsurprising, he said. You think you could use it?
The artificial guardian stood up and distanced herself enough for nobody to be in danger of getting hit by her test swings. The execution of the strikes was good, but theycked the usual oomph and speed Aclysia had to her. I would need more Strength, Master, Aclysia spoke her verdict.
Mhm, John checked her stat screen. He had 25 points to spend. He wanted to spend some amount on her Wisdom, not because it was effective but because her being uncontrobly horny was its own problem. I will see how we go about this when we get out of here, he gestured for her to return the de for the moment. Here goes hoping she will get Adaptive dery back, John thought to himself. Artificial Spirit was at 22, and it was high time to check what perks he could buy for Momo and Aclysia. Another thing he would have to take care of once the Nathalia situation had blown over.
Now, to the other item, he announced and pulled out Zurgastha. It had a simrily savage design as VolJinZul, a gnarly staff of reddish brown wood, broadening towards the tip. Crowned by a weaving of small branches and tusks, a blue orb encapsted in the middle, ity lightly in Johns hand.
The staff was pretty good. Just one problem: it was Two-Handed. He only had one empty Slot for hands, and the three currently upied were all part of the World Ender set. Asking him to get rid of the 4-piece set bonus was a tall bar, one this item came nowhere close to.
Here, he therefore gave it to Momo, this is yours now.
The support took it, On a loan, right?
No, you can have it. You want to be independent, that means you have to take care of your own equipment, John said sternly but then smiled.
Momo looked at him, wordless for a moment. She clutched the staff and nodded, Thank you.
John then resumed watching the events as the two were in a final measurement of strength, he wanted to move out of the arena soon.
The two fighters had both hands locked into each others, and they simply pushed. Thana may have a stupendous amount of Endurance, but Nathalia was still stronger, and so the blood mage was wrestled to the ground.
Thanas back hit the floor. She pushed back for another moment, only for Nathalia to press her lips on hers. It took only one love bite for the mood to shift drastically C at least from Johns perspective. Thanas resistance melted away. Nathalias scales disappeared. The masochistic maniac was pinned to the ground by the muchrger woman.
Johns sparrow beat its wings. The Gamer wanted to see exactly what happened next.
Chapter 224 – The hot-blooded tease [Erotic Content]
Chapter 224 C The hot-blooded tease [Erotic Content]
To give it to you straight, you fucking magnificent creature, I prefer to be at the bottom, Thana told her sparring partner.
Call me Nathalia, Thana, the dragoness instructed with a pleased grin. And I will be happy to take the reins. For a start, Nathalia straddled her legs over the smaller womans head, facing the rest of Thanas body, you should please the victor.
Thana started top at the crotch above her. Not that she had a lot of other choices, her whole face was covered by the dragoness crotch. Nathalia sat down, robbing any other option from the little submissive.
Mhm, hesitation you will have to learn to obey faster than that, Nathalia moaned as she looked down on Thanas body in front of her. You have nice tits for a girl of your fun size. Nathalia pinched the pale pink, slightly blueish, nipple of Thanas breast. Rolling it between her fingers a little bit, Nathalia mockinglyughed when she felt Thanas moans on her clit. You really like being toyed with, cursing one. Do you also enjoy a little pain?
Nathalia pulled the nipple upwards, the tit stretching in response. A gasp left the dragoness lips as the movements below her became a lot more enthusiastic. Thana was giving it her all, her pale, blueish fingers sinking into Nathalias caramel butt.
A true masochist then. I dont deal with your kind a lot. Hard enough to find you, she let go of Thanas nipple, the nicely full breast jiggling back into its natural position.
Nathalia wore a smirk on her red lips that quickly changed to an annoyed frown as she spotted Thana rubbing her own pussy. She got off Thanas face by raising her hips enough to allow the bottom to breathe. You are in dire need of proper training.
The fuck am I doing wrong? Thana panted, her voice hazy from pleasure. She moaned loudly when Nathalia gave her tits a rough smack, followed by a twisting of her nipples.
That tone is your first mistake, toy! the dragoness admonished harshly, then continued in a softer tone. I am Nathalia, the Fire of Destruction, dragon and goddess. You will address me properly. The dragoness twisted the nipple a little further.
I- Ahh! Thana could barely get an answer out. Nathalia gripped the hand the submissive had moving between her legs and forcefully pulled it aside.
Louder! Speak!
I neeeeed I nee- Ah!
Another smack across her wonderful chest made Thana stutter and moan. Nathalia clicked her tongue. Start again. I want to hear a full sentence from your pillowy lips. The redhead continued to torture Thanas chest, while the smaller womans hand returned to her cunt.
I need you t- Oohh fffuck! This time Nathalia pinched both of Thanas nipples.
You need me to do what, Thana? Have you forgotten who you wanted to be in charge here? You dont NEED anything from me, you will BEG me for what you want, Nathalia spoke and pulled on both of her nipples.
I BEG YOU, Thana cried out, her voice spilling over with desire, TELL ME WHAT I AM DOING WROOOOONG.
The blood mage had fingered herself so close to orgasm now. Her cunt was overflowing from the abuse she craved. This! Nathalia grabbed her hand before she could actually get herself off, causing Thana to whimper some words that were silenced as Nathalia lowered her hips again. The blood mages lips were sealed by the dragoness own eager sex. You dont get to touch yourself, Thana. You are naught but my property right now. You get to feel pleasure when I decide, Nathalia let go of Thanas nipples and instead softly cupped her tits and teased her nipples. Gentle, her left hand twisted the nipple between her fingers, violent, then she removed her hands totally, or none at all. You dont get to decide. Your pleasure is a reward for serving me, and right now an orgasm is nothing you have earned for yourself. Now eat my pussy and do it well, toy.
And so Thana did her best to counter herck of experience with the enthusiasm only somebody at the edge of an orgasm could muster. The willing surrender of autonomy of a submissive that wanted to serve her mistress. Thanas tongue prated deeply into Nathalias cunt. Enclosed by the hot, quivering walls, the blood mage ate her out like her life depended on it.
Nathalia made sure that this feeling stayed in ce by abusing Thana just that little bit to keep her on the edge, to deny her the chance to calm down and lose her enthusiasm. Flicking her masochistic submissives clit, Nathalia let out a drawn-out moan when Thanas screams pleasurably vibrated against her pussy.
The dragoness raised her hips again. You are improving. You may take a quick breath, she granted Thana a moment of air.
Thank you, the blood mage panted, having denied herself the easy route of getting any oxygen into her blood via her powers. Three breaths she was granted, then Nathalia descended again.
You -mhhhmm- are doing a fine job, Thana, Nathalia bowed forward and slipped a single finger into her victims eager pussy; Once you hear me scream you may cum yourself, Nathalia purred, a second finger going inside, not before that.
With squishing noises, Nathalia started masturbating Thana. The in and out of her fingers was sensuous and wild at the same time. Thana did her best to follow the instructions. Shifting, writhing, her whole body was tensing, desperately trying to keep herself from going over the edge. However, Thana had no chance to ever follow that order.
Thanas body arched up in a climactic scream that saw her forgetting to eat out her mistress pussy. Still fingering her wildly, Nathalia made the whole situation worse with a knowing smile, and then Thanas crotch exploded with wave after wave of clear juices, gushing all over the cooled ground. She created wet stains on the barren stone ground. The dragoness didnt let up until the squirting finally stopped and Thanas body went limp.
Nathalias amused expression shifted into a stern mask and turned around, grabbing Thanas hair with both her hands. You are a bad girl, Nathalia growled and forcefully pulled Thanas face into her crotch. The breaths she had taken while her short-term mistress turned around had been the only ones she was allowed to take. I told you to cum when you heard me scream, did I scream? Nathalia let go for just a moment.
Thanas head jerked backwards. Desperate for air, she gasped. No she squeezed out a miserable confession.
Correct, the dragoness said in a judgemental tone, yet you did it. You cant disobey my orders like that, toy. You will eat me out until I have orgasmed twice, one for the one you owe me and another one as payback. You may breathe once you are done, not before.
Thanas eyes went wide, and she immediately went to follow the order. It wasnt even clear if she was that needy to breathe again or if she needed to prove herself that desperately. Theck of air was burning her lungs by the time she felt Nathalias legs close tighter around her white-haired head.
Yes, little one, the dragoness gasped, pleasure visible mounting, keep going, send me over the edge. Yes, yes, YEEEEES, IN THE NAME OF FIRE! Nathalia howled at the sky, her red hair shaking as she pressed Thana even deeper between her legs. Sweet honey gushed from Nathalias pot as her climax sent electric currents through the nymphomaniacs hourss curves. Ha, ha, ha, heavy breaths, halfughter, left the dragoness body as she calmed down. What are you stopping for? You still need to make me cum once more, Thana, she reminded her and gasped a momentter when Thana went to panicked work.
Nathalia forced herself to not cum immediately. Her oversensitive body was ready to just give in to a stream of back to back orgasms, fuelled by her insane Libido, but her will to see Thana squirm for a little bit longer was stronger.
The desperate need for air turned Thanas tongue into a sloppy mess, barely able to still do the job. With Nathalias sensitivity, barely was just enough. A second time she screamed out her lust, and then she finally let go of Thanas head.
The blood mage loudly took a greatly needed breath. Face covered in Nathalias wetness, she gasped for air as aftershocks rippled through the dragoness on top. Not that mere aftershocks stopped Nathalia from continuing once she wanted something.
She changed positions, from straddled over Thanas face to crossing their legs. Nathalia rubbed her sex on the leaking slit of Thana. After having been so long without stimtion of any sort, only asphyxiated and exposed to erotic torture, worsened by her masochistic desires, that simple touch almost made Thana cum again.
Did I give you permission yet? Nathalia growled warningly, seeing Thanas reaction.
N-no, Thana stammered out, her voice drenched in barely repressed perversion.
Nathalia gyrated her hips, the swollen flesh of theirbias rubbing against each other with slick movements. Thana let out miserable, pleading gasps, brows furrowed and the need for release reflected in her pupils. Please, please let me cum, Thana requested, I fucking beg you.
A pping sound echoed through the destroyed arena when Nathalia pped Thanas face. That only made things worse. Watch your tone, Thana, she reminded her and then rubbed the blood mages clit with her thumb. If you beg me, do it properly.
Pleeasssse, Thanas voice was a wreck just as much as her face was. Eyes swollen from the earlierck of air, her mouth covered in Nathalias juices and her skin was actually slightly flushed, the faintest bit of red in her usually so blue hue. As miserable as she appeared to be, as broken as her plea sounded, the blood mage didnt fail to betray her enjoyment with a perverted smile.
You are enjoying this too much, Thana, Nathalia pointed out and attacked her clit with even more fervour.
The high-pitched, gasping moans of Thana reached the yearned high point. Yet, she tried desperately to keep the orgasm back. Her mistress fingers pushed her along, but her mouth had not given the permission yet.
Cum for me, Nathalia suddenly hissed. The moment Thana heard the first word, her body tensed up once again. Every single muscle, every fibre inside her small frame was on fire with passion that found its way outside in her violent outburst.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, Thanas favourite curse echoed through the arena, and this time, Nathalia let it slide. The dragoness instead kept scissoring with the bloodmage, their pussies rubbing, their juices mixing together. Grabbing a leg as her hold, Nathalia nibbled at the blood mages pale skin. It was a painful bite but not strong enough to draw blood.
Thana just continued to scream out sphemies, squirting over and over again. In a streak of quicker and quicker movements, Nathalias hands wed into Thanas leg as their crotches smacked together without any of the gentle rubbing.
Throaty groans echoed from Nathalia, still keeping her teeth on Thanas leg, as her hips rocked back and forth with wild abandon. She was close, very close, then she was over the point of no return; her maw opened, and she joined Thana in a duet of debauchery.
Nathalias scream quickly became just a silent noise, her mouth an open O as her body was rocked with orgasmic waves. Thana kept screaming from the top of her lungs until the very end and she copsed.
What do you say when your mistress gives you pleasure? Nathalia asked the blood mage after gathering her breath for a mere moment. Nothing beat the sexual stamina of the dragoness.
Th-than-Aaah, Thana was interrupted by Nathalia painfully smacking her leg. The torment sent another jolt of pleasure through her, causing onest gush to spill from her pussy.
No stuttering, Nathalia warned.
Thank you, Thana pressed out and was then left behind lying on the floor. She could regain her stamina at any point she wanted, but she wanted to bask in the sweet exhaustion for a moment.
Chapter 225 – There was a beast, and on its head it wore four horns.
Chapter 225 C There was a beast, and on its head it wore four horns.
Johnmitted what he had seen to memory. Not only because cute women kissing was always worth the memory, but also because there were things about being a dom there that he very much wanted to try himself.
That will temporarily satisfy me, Nathalia remarked as she and Thana jumped up to the rest of the group. She gazed at Momo for a moment. I didnt even see you before, the dragonessmented. Are you another one of Johns creations?
Yes, Momo kept it short. Nathalia continued to stare. What? Momo asked after several ufortable seconds.
There is something odd about you, the dragoness pointed out, a familiarity I cant quite ce.
John raised an eyebrow, that was weird. He had gotten Momo from the Loot system, just like Aclysia. Okay, Aclysia he had gotten from a Quest, but they still both had their source with Gaia, and Nathalia hadnt raised anyints about the guardian.
How about you go away like you usually do and think about it on your own time? Momo hushed her away and hugged her sister. There was another thing that John found weird now that he thought about it, Momo wasnt frozen in terror. There could be a multitude of reasons for this, but it was interesting to note.
I will not go away, Nathalia flipped her hair, the cascade of orange falling down in a dramatic fashion. You will amodate my presence within Rome.
We will do what? John asked, that sounded like the recipe to get into trouble.
You heard me, John, Nathalia said and was suddenly all up in his face, their noses almost touching.
You either allow me to stay with you or you areing with me. For the moment I want to keep you within smelling distance, Nathalia hissed.
Uhm, is there a reason for that? John wanted to know.
As you, somehow, already know, I seem to be infatuated with you. I am new to this feeling and will therefore do my best to experience it, the dragoness answered clearly. I will, begrudgingly, join that hoard of girls you have. You wont have a monopoly on me, however.
Well see about that, John thought. He had his foot in the door for making her hispletely. All he had to do now was keep chipping away at it and not give her any reason or excuse to see any other men in the sexual sense. He wasnt that possessive that she couldnt see other men period.
I guess at your age you dont get to experience a lot of new things, do you? Smander giggled and, as her reward, was violently swatted into a distant wall. John didnt get a pop-up for her dying, so he chose to ignore that. Smander had asked for that one.
I will pinch her little head off if this disrespect continues, Nathalia warned everyone as Gnome went to retrieve, and give a stern talking to, her younger sister.
Anyway, I am staying with you, the dragoness stated, or do you have another solution that works for both of us?
Well Lydia, it is your mansion, you will have to decide, John decided to shift this decision away from him.
Sure, Lydia answered without a problem, a sly smile on her lips. Figuring that Lydia would use the fact that Nathalia would be around to get on Lunas good side, John sighed. Okay then Well, Ill be going to get my bonus points from Richa- the Horned Rat, he announced.
Why that guy specifically? Rave asked.
Because its a nice, quick and easily abusable system, John answered. Also, I want to talk to him about that damn prophecy and why he didnt warn me in non-cryptic words. He had been afraid about facing the Rat again before today, but Thanaing back to life and yesterdays run in with reality in the shape of an information broker had put his head straight. Richard had to speak for himself, and John wanted answers.
If you are visiting Horn, I aming with you, Nathalia announced. I am tired of hearing about how those Illusion Barriers of yours work in detail. I want to see it.
Okay, John agreed and sent her a group invite. Better to have her as backup than not.
The dragoness eyed the blue window for a moment. Didnt this used to be a shade of orange? she asked, apparently displeased.
Gaia decided that I should have a different colour, dont ask me why, John shrugged it off, and Nathalia epted the invite. He did that just to make sure she woulde with. The dagger was taken out of his inventory, and then he, following instinct, shed the air with it with the intent of getting into the Horned Rats Sanctuary.
Reality was sliced apart and opened a tear that grew around the group, turning the space inside out. Suddenly, they all stood in the stone chamber that was the secret room John had wanted to reach.
It was like in his memory: a small room, illuminated by lit coals resting inside braziers. When he first went here, there had been four on the walls and a fifth one hanging above the throne at the wall opposite of John. The room had grown slightly, however, to amodate the groupsrger size morefortably. That didnt make it big, just slightly less small.
The throne, a simple thing of polished grey stone, was of enormous size and was currently empty. Huh, John wondered, where is he? A grinding sound, stone sliding over stone, behind John caused him to turn around and see the Horned Rat step through the door.
With his three metres height, the anthropomorphic god was a towering figure. He was naked, or well, as naked as the being could be considering that he was covered in short, grey fur everywhere, except his face which was the skinless skull of a rat with four horns protruding from it. Together with his long jaw, those horns formed the image of a pentagram.
Dont be so impatient, the deep, inhuman voice of the Horned Rat bellowed through the room. With a loud Thuck the stone gate closed again, and the Rat sat down, his tail wrapping around the throne. He gestured at the crowd with his hands, the three fingers and the thumbs all ending in ck ws, dull and abrasive like horns.
I got here on short notice, what do you expect of-
The Horned Rat was interrupted by Nathalia snapping her fingers. Thats it, the dragoness eximed and offhandedly pointed at Momo; You could have just told me you created her with energy from Horn.
Baffled silence. The jaw of the Rats skull, which had a lot more teeth than normally attributed to a skull of the vermin animal, creaked as it opened and he sighed.
What is the meaning of this? John demanded to know and turned to Richard. His other questions suddenly took a backseat to the affair that had just been revealed to him.
It is not a hard riddle, the Horned Rat ridiculed John.
The Gamer grit his teeth and went through the events. That Quest to create something with the crystal, that was you, John realized.
The Quest titled Fuck the Fateweaver had been weird in several ways. It had been blunt, uncreative and the reward text then had been in French. At the time that had looked weird to John, but now that he knew that the Horned Rat was involved and that the god was a founding member of the Illuminati, the pieces clicked.
So, you gave me a Quest before Gaia disyed where the Quests came from which you were able to thanks to getting into my system with the Mana de Skill Book! The Rats skull creaked even more as the skull shifted into an unnatural smile. And the boss that the crystal for Momo dropped from didnt even have that in his loot table afterwards. You hacked into me by dangling a cheap and strong ability in front of me, dropped a crystal in my path, then encouraged me to create something with it
And there you have my borate scheme in a nutshell. Thanks for ruining it, Nathalia! After all the tips I gave you to advance your little romance! Despite being revealed, the Rat seemed to be in a very good mood.
Be quiet, Nathalia warned and nced at John with a hint of embarrassment.
Unfortunately, John was too annoyed with the revtion to appreciate how cute she looked. His Wisdom prevented him from doing something stupid, like assaulting the god in front of him, but that didnt mean he had to be happy about the situation. Why? he pressed out a single word.
Use Observe, that should tell you the answer, the Horned Rat suggested.
Like you cant fake that window God of Rats, John spat out, that was the title he had read on Observest time, which he had since then learned wasnt urate. A deliberate change, there to fool John, most likely.
Nathalia, I would really appreciate it if you stopped spewing out my secrets, Richard said.
Hardly a secret, Nathalia waved off. The red inside the skulls eye sockets flickered back over to John.
Either you trust your powers or what you hear me say. One way or another, you will only learn what I want you to learn.
John grit his teeth, Arrogant dick.
So, you gained a level and you had your birthday recently. I would congratte you, but like anything else on this sheet, I cant be sure if its correct, John said, ignoring the taunting changes to the window. So, I am to assume that you were syphoning a bit of power off Momo to feed yourself?
Something like that, the Horned Rat shrugged. We are barely tapping into the part where I get more than a stream of uselessness though. 85 levels for her and you say 1 for me. What a bad trade to give such a prized possession away for.
Stop being a drama king, Momo chimed in, having had enough off people talking over her head, and lift your damn influence on me!
No, the Horned Rat denied, I will not.
So, you are going to leech off me forever?
I created your heart, so you can pay your poor father back a bit after all, his next words shook the whole room with unyielding power. WITHOUT ME YOU WOULDNT EXIST!
Everyone except Nathalia was forced to the floor. It was as if the words themselves pushed them down with the weight of the world. Even Thana crashed onto all fours. Bloodburn, she growled. With her blood ignited she tried to fight against the influence, barely managing to raise a hand from the floor before the Horned Rat continued to speak.
You are free to try and free yourself. If you want to unshackle yourself, and your creator by proxy, from my gaze there is a simple solution. A sinisterughter forced them t on the ground; Thana managed to raise herself on one leg. End yourself, Momo The blood mage joined the rest of the group as the weight on her increased several times over.
John felt his ribcage slowly getting crushed by the force. It wasnt gravity, he was fairly certain of it, it was just sheer magic power that weaved through the Rats words. He heard Nathalia growl.
Of course, I could also strike you a bargain, the pressure suddenly vanished as the Rat changed to a friendlier tone. It was so sweet it offended Johns ears.
What would that be? the Gamer asked.
I could mend her broken wings, the Rat pointed at Momo.
The supports eyes went wide. Despite knowing who they were dealing with, she pleadingly looked at John. The wish to fly herself was bigger than her caution could ever be. John, however, wasnt that easily convinced, Didnt you just put that w into her to have a bargaining point for whenever you were found out?
The Horned Rat spread his arms out in a puzzling way, Who knows?
You do!
Yes, No, Maybe, Richardughed to himself and materialized something in his hand; Will you take the offer or not?
2023 in Review
2023 in Review
Ive decided to do a bit of a reflection of what I wrote this year.
This is going to be fairly ranty at the start, look for the TLDR to skip to the general writing part.
Financially, 2023 was a terrible year for me.
My ie stagnated about Augustst year at the 1500$ I needed to hit by that month to hit my self-imposed deadline of when I want to live off this. Then it started to drop, substantially, hitting a low of 1250$ around March. At the same time, intion happened and I get hit twice by that because I get paid in USD, but I have to pay myself out in Euros. Everything got more expensive and I was falling further and further below the line that I set for myself I had to hit to believe this job had a future for me.
So yeah, that was kinda depressing, not gonna lie. I was fairly close to taking up a side job again and, if the wage fell further, the logical conclusion would have been to quit doing this as my primary ie source and go to job hunting. Im fine with being a low-paid artist, but I wont turn 30 and be a failed one.
To start with, I did the two things one should do when faced with a problem: introspect and get at it. Introspection (and asking as many of my current readers on Discord as were online during my ranting hours), made it fairly obvious that the issue was twofold. A minor issue was an overabundance of erotic content. Alright, fixed easily enough, lewd wall ended. The major issue, however, was that I was far from the only one having to put on the tighter belt.
Fundamentally, I am the end of the distribution chain. By that I mean that my writing is, by the truest definition, a luxury product. Worse (for me), its a luxury product you dont actually have to pay for. Not only do I put the vast majority of my writing out for free, I alsopete with other people that do. I do not loathe this, but it does make for a fairly difficult situation when people are cutting expenses out of their bills. Why would your patronage not be among the first things to cut?
I do not want this to sound usatory, Im quite honoured for every cent you give me. Im just analyzing my situation, or the situation I was in and will likely be in again at some point or another.
Since the major problem was something I could not fix, I am not going to go into politics, Im too principled for that den of vipers, there was really only one choice.
Work.
When the times get tough, you just have to tough it out. No other choice, really.
Now, the good news is that my finances did ultimately recover well, before adjusting for intion. I hope it keeps going up, because Im about 400 USD away from being in a paygrade that I would regard as sustainable for a career rather than stupid thing men can do in their twenties.
Me turning scarcely producing hobby writer by the time I hit thirty is a genuine thing that might happen. If you want to prevent that, give me money. Dont do it out of guilt, do it because I provide a good product. Im not begging, Im reminding you that Im trying to live over here.
And please do read all of this in the voice of the :P emoji, Im not a direly serious person despite being German. :P
If I was Austrian, the threat of a failed art career might hit harder
Ah well.
TLDR: I was doing pretty poorly at the start of the year but its fine but its not good.
Now, onto what I actually did this year.
I worked a lot. By my estimations, I have a 60 hour work week, I take 14 days off a year, during which I also write anyway, and yeah, thats what I do with my live. I fucking love it.
This year I published Welldark Volume 2, to generally high praise and good reception.
I started and finished Drip-Fed Season 3, then put that story on hiatus for
I began the Gamer Early Rewrite. Aforementioned need for cash made it so I pressured Despaxas again on the question whether he would be fine with me publishing my branch elsewhere. Good manners, since he started the story and all that. He did give me the go-ahead, but the early chapters of the Gamer are so utterly terrible that I had to rewrite those to have a clear conscience. So I went ahead and started that.
I hate editing.
I hate editing so much.
Were getting there though, only about 90 more chapters to go
I weep
Anyhow, on a much smaller note, I also wrapped up Deep in Trouble and am almost done with WAKMD. I write this on the 20th and I hope to finish that story up before the end of the year, but I am not hopeful. Probably will be mid-January.
The hells is a Deep in Trouble? WAKMD? Many of you may ask.
The answer is debauchery.
Deep in Trouble is a Dice-Rolling Quest that I ran on fiction.live in my spare time. Yes, I take breaks from writing by writing. A Dice-Rolling Quest is a story where the readers decide many of the character actions/worldbuilding and oues arergely decided by dice rolls. Its a fun exercise for someone like me, that usually ns things.
Deep in Trouble suffered from a variety of issues, most of which stemmed from it being my first venture into such a story, and I wrapped it eventually on a pretty meh note because I had acquired a bunch of tech debt. Too long a story to go into.
I reced it with Hexagons for Master.
Both of those stories are incredibly lewd, because the readers are in charge.
For WAKMD, thats a WoW fanfic (and thest fanfic Ill ever write) about Anduin building a stupidrge harem of willing sex ves. Its just porn. You can find it on Hentai Foundry.
Now, on request? Rmendation? Of one of my long-time supporters (you know who you are), I started tracking my words written per day this year. The results are interesting. Again, as of me writing this, I am still 11 days out from the end of the year, but it seems that I have written an average of about 3200 words per day this year, with about 40 days in there where I did not write a single word.
I dont know how much of those 40 days is my unorthodox sleep schedule stealing days from me. Ill keep an eye on this next year, because thats an uneptable amount of wasted time to me. Theres also a few days I just forgot to log.
My buffer remained around the sturdy 20 this entire year. I dipped to around 15 for a little while in February, which was about the month where I considered if I would have to quit. Not the mindset for productivity, as you can imagine. Seasonal depression do be hitting.
Quick exnation for the graph youre about to see: Blue line is the daily words written, orange line is a 7-day running average, ck striped line is my daily wordcount goal (3500 words), and blue dotted line is the trend line, calcting the overall average and its trajectory over time.
Moving on, what do I hope to get done next year?
I want to wrap up WAKMD for good. That seems achievable fairly fast. Once that happens, I can get back to writing Hexagons.
I want to finish the Gamer Rewrite. That will be the bane of my existence. Another 80 chapters to go on that, which is about 20 days spend on it (I usually need a day to edit a batch of 5). Its getting generally faster to edit these as I progress, but its still a slog.
Once the Gamer Rewrite is done, I can get back to writing Welldark and Drip-Fed. Drip-Fed will be the first priority, but Welldark Volume 3 will definitely get put into the works. I just wouldnt expect it beforete 2024 at the earliest.
Beyond that, Ill do as I usually do and publish my 5 Gamer chapters a week. No ns to shake that up this year. I might decrease it to 4 or 3 if I get closer to the end/one of my other stories gets unexpectedly very popr, but I dont see that happening on that juncture.
On that note, if you could please take this survey to give me some intel about what yall want to see, Id be much obliged.
And now the shill links, just for good measure.
And with that, I consider this year reviewed. Really not my favourite one, but it could have been much worse. I have good-ish hopes for next year, since dumping the entire Gamer story on ScribbleHub is bound to get me some eyeballs.
Thanks for reading my rant,
Funatic.
Chapter 226 – Mend her Broken Wings
Chapter 226 C Mend her Broken Wings
Just do it, John groaned, incapable of snuffing out the hope that had ignited on Momos face.
Oh, dont be so hasty. The Horned Rat closed its fanged mouth, the twisted grin of his skull bending back into its regr shape. I cant do it right now, there will have to be preparations. I will visit you in Rome tomorrow. By his tone, one would have guessed he was taking a casual stroll down a bazaar, not talking about infiltrating the capital of his enemy and Apex of the Abyss.
John nced over to Lydia, who rubbed her temples C doubtlessly in an attempt to get rid of a sudden headache. Can I even stop you? the princess asked.
The Horned Rats fingers danced over the armrest of his throne, You? My estimate would be no.
Then at least make sure you remain unnoticed. Testing Lunas patience is inadvisable.
Who do you think, think you are talking to? the Horned Ratughed, then tossed three dice towards John. The Gamer caught them with ease. To wrap this up, the excuse of youing here. To refresh you on the rules: On an even number, you shall receive the number times 7000 Experience. On an uneven number, you shall be granted that number of Skill Points randomly distributed amongst your Skills. If you roll a 1 you will lose a level but if you roll a 20 you shall gain one and 5 Skill points to spend on your leisure. You get three, three tries and you may pick the one you like the most. Now, throw the dice.
There are some rule changes there, John noted. Besides the obvious change to the amount of Experience he would get, there was also a reduction of the Skill Levels (it used to be the number rolled times two) and the 20 now had 5 Skill Points attached to it.
I decided to patch it up a little to make the 20 more desirable. Aside from that, you should get used to the idea of these things getting less impactful over time, the Rat shrugged. Feeding you mana to be stronger bes an increasingly costly task. Unlike Gaia, us normal gods are limited.
Makes enough sense, John thought. There was still plenty to be mad about, but he swallowed that for now. There will be time for justice another time. His hand moved forwards. Three dice flew and cked on the ground.
Aw, John, Raveined as they bounced over the floor, where is your sense of entertainment?
Currently buried under the fact that I dont want to be around him, John pointed at the Rat, longer than necessary.
His girlfriend nced at the offendedly gasping god, Thats fair.
I can already see that hanging around with you will be great fun. Richard rubbed his chin and looked at the dice. 19, 17, 4. Pick your number.
Before I do that, John said. I have a multitude of questions.
Figured. But you will have to ask them tomorrow. I have things to do, the Rat dismissed. I am not, not your personal answer machine to summon as you wish. You interrupted my business.
John closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. The 19 then, he decided.
The Horned Rat gave the response a bored nod. Power was conjured and flung across the room as a bolt that hit John in the chest. The impact was akin to a volleyball smacking him C harsh and unpleasant, but not enough to make him fall over.
A momentter, the room around them began to stretch. Our time is up. Until tomorrow. The words of the Horned Rat were contorted, just like the room itself was. The stone swirled under Johns feet like water down the drain. He, and everyone with him, were flung in the opposite direction.
They found themselves back in the rundown house. Nathalia reflexively changed herself into her human exterior, feeling that she was in the mundane realm. That made her a naked, incredibly hot redhead. The former part would maybe be seen as weird, but the kind of weird nobody (in their right mind) minded and nobody would have regarded as supernatural. Thana, the group''s other member whose regr form would raise eyebrows, just made sure her robes sat right. She knew that they would be somewhat safe here.
So, what now? Rave asked.
Before he could answer that, John needed to check where the Skill Points hadnded. He raised an eyebrow at the result. 13 had gone into Artificial Spirit, 6 into Sneaking. The chances of themnding in just two skills was insanely low in the first ce, but he wouldntin about it. One was exactly what he wanted, the other was exceptionally useless.
I want to sit down for a moment and do some Artificial Spirit magic. John walked towards the door that connected back to the mansion as he talked. Afterwards we should grind some more. Clear out the different kinds of I.D.s so I get the Questpleted. Then I will go with Thana and beat the time run Quest. Then, when the Quest part about me being abstinent ispleted, I will fuck until midnight. I get the inkling that I will get 24 hours without sex next and that is literally going to be the hardest thing on the list.
Ya have be a tad addicted there, tiger. The chastisement in those words was entirely joking. A hand on her hips, his girlfriend embodied every argument to be a nymphomaniac.
Look at you all! The key turned, he gestured at all of them. Im drowning in the greatest of worldly delights! I owe it to the men of the world to live it up to the highest degree possible.
The only thing you owe anyone is two favours to the dragon goddess and 500 billion dors to the princess, Momo reminded him of the existence of reality, and soon one favour to the Horned Rat.
Urgh, John rolled his eyes as he opened the front door of the mansion, dont remind me.
Nathalia walked by him and everyone else followed. If you are going to be upied for the foreseeable future, I will need to be entertained, she announced and looked for somebody to step forth. At least one of the girls would have to lewd the dragon goddess. Since there were no immediate volunteers, John took it upon himself to volunteer someone.
Siena, if you would help our guest, John spoke.
An angry jolt ran through his spirit. What do you intend with that, Master? she asked, her flirty words betraying a repressed rage.
Thats your punishment for not aiding us in thest battle. Get used to it. This one is at least nice. Now, will you obey me or do I have to make you?
It was thetter. One rule changeter, Siena rose from Johns shadow. I amhonoured, she tried to swallow thest word before it could leave her throat. She failed, but she could still re daggers at everyone around. She really hated being ordered. John knew that she did not hate the part where she would have sex with a hot redhead.
Nathalia inhaled, as if she could smell Sienas annoyance. You are not satisfying on your own. The words of the dragoness added insult to injury. Yellow eyes glowed, Siena bared her teeth, but that was all she could do.
I know she deserves it but it feels so mean, Gnome pointed out what John felt at his core.
But she does fucking deserve it, Smander spoke his justification.
Shell be fine, sex is fine, maybe I should join? Yeah, Ill join! Sylph chirped and flew over to Nathalia. Undine followed closely, a feeling of interest about how this would pan out in her mind.
That group went upstairs to find Nathalia a room to stay in. The rest of the party scattered out through the mansion, to take advantage of the break in their individual ways. John, for his part, took Aclysia and Momo and moved to the living room. He sat down on one of the armchairs, the Artificial Spirits took the couch and Rave and Thana hung around to see what was going to happen.
Lets start with you Aclysia, John said and opened her Skill choices.
The choices had been retained since he had gone to fight Thana. Back then he only had 10 points avable, which had been too little to afford any of them. Now he could and should make a choice.
Invincibility Frame was out of the window for the same reason it had beenst time: Aclysia did not have the mana for it and he wasnt going to invest into her Intellect to make it work. Way too niche in its usefulness for that.
Although I should get some spenders for her eventually, since she has that Aggression to Mana passive that gives her mana every time she parries, John thought. Either that or Mana Battery so that it goes over to me. Either way, her mana needs to be useful for something.
Something to keep in mind for the future. For now, it was either going to be Sword Specialization 2 or Defensive Teleportation. With how hostile the Abyss could be, and with yesterdays reminder that he was still getting stalked by other interest groups fresh in mind, he chose Defensive Teleportation.
Even more old choices. Adaptive dery is what he picked after a short pondering. Reason being that she should be able to wield Ashkandi and VolJinZul at her own leisure. That left 10 more points to spend.
Defence Stance. There, now she had something to spend mana on. Time for the juicy part.
Anti-Magic Shell it was. It was just a nice defence for her to use to ovee any difficulty she may have in closing the gap when fighting a mage.
Afterwards, it was time to raise her Stats. First, he pushed her Wisdom to 50, so that it was above her Libido. That would give her a bit more self-control. That left him with 15 points to put into Strength.
Now over to you, Momo, John announced and checked her perks.
These were all pretty good. Copperskin had a low AP cost and a decent effect. Novice of Magic broadened her mana pool and by proxy, thanks to Mana Battery, the pool of the whole group. Firefly, however, had something neither of these skills had: It gave Momo offensive capabilities. Not a whole lot of them, but anything was better than nothing.
What do you think about this? John asked once he had told Momo about what was on offer. He asked her because he genuinely wanted her to decide herself. If she was going to be independent from him one day soon, she had to have tools she wasfortable with, not what served him.
Momo let out a long hum. Silence ensued as she pondered. It wasnt a panicked process, just Momo carefully weighing her options. If I am to be independent of you I cant run around unarmedI will take Firefly, Momo stated, a decision John agreed with.
Raising a barely closed hand, Momo concentrated, and a momentter five fireflies spawned into existence.
It is really weird how my head just fills with the knowledge to do these things when you press buttons, Momo pointed out as she exined the details of Fireflies. They were quite realistic, little insects with differently coloured hindquarters. Even in the well-lit room, John could make out the soft glow. Red changes physical attributes, blue is for mental and green for social. The white ones are critical strikes, boosting all stats, while the colourless ones are flukes that can only deal damage.
How long do theyst? John wondered as they whirled through the air for a bit; How do you control them? Can you de-spawn them and prepare a wave of just the white ones? Do the buffs stack? How long are they active?
Indefinitely. I just control them with my mind, like how you control your Possession. I can actively de-spawn them, but I dont get the mana back. But yeah, I could probably prepare just white ones, if given enough time. The buffs dont stack and are active for 5 seconds, Momo rattled down a list of answers in response. I guess we should check the strength of the buff next?
John nodded. Hit me.
The red firefly went for him and vanished the moment it came into contact with his clothes.
10%, pretty good. John kept an eye on the buff. It ran out after just a few seconds. Duration could be better.
Thats nice, Rave chimed into the conversation. Ya know, I will take all the buffs that I can get, keeping up with the dungeon mobs will not be easier.
Using a percentage buff on me would be fucking disgusting C just saying. Thana had a broad grin on her face.
Yup, anyway, John turned back to Momo, one more choice to make.
I dont like thest ones name, but could you give it to me? Momo requested, causing John to make a sour expression. He really wanted that double on buff length. s, this was her decision, and he understood. She was preparing for her eventual departure. He clicked the button, and Momo put away her new staff.
Youre fine with me just raising your Intellect further? John asked.
Yeah, that I dont have problems with, Momo agreed, and so it was done. John had her hold the staff again for a moment to figure out how high her Stats were in optimalbat situations.
The remaining fireflies hid themselves underneath her poncho. John wondered if they were able to stop glowing or whether Momo would look like a Christmas tree in the dark. A question forter.
For now, he had a Quest to finish.
Chapter 227 – And then there was Corruption
Chapter 227 C And then there was Corruption
Spending the rest of the day grinding turned out to be a loveless task. As he was now free to go directly into Tier 16 (which spanned the levels 81-85), the difficulty increased quite a bit. For John himself, that was less of a problem. His skillset was quite solid, and with Siena actually helping the group, if only as little as possible, they did have the necessary power to deal with what the system threw at them.
Lydia and Rave, however, had a few issues keeping up. Punching 10 levels above their weight had been possible thanks to the innate advantages of being sapient beings, but 20? They werent dead weight, but neither did they have any hope of soloing any mob in the Instant Dungeon. John had Undine be close to them for most of the time as they were the most likely candidates to be injured.
The workaround here was using the sk of Grinding, the item that stored bonus Experience to be consumed by others. It had a limited effectiveness on them, but it did help them nheless. John had previously just consumed it himself, guessing that it wouldnt work on them.
John selfishly indulged in the feeling of being the definitive strong guy in the group. His power was distributed among his familiars, for the most part, and that made it difficult to give credit directly to him. Logic dictated that part of everything they did went to his benefit. When Aclysia saved Rave from a swipe or when Smander blew up a cluster of enemies, they did that because of the mana he invested to keep them moving.
Much as he enjoyed the sensation of being the proverbial man in the house, he also did not want them tog too far behind. That was when he had suggested they try whether the sk of Grinding worked for them.
It did and so that was that. Lydia mentioned looking into getting a stronger version of that item; as she would greatly benefit from it, she would even stem the costs. John, of course, epted. He was always looking for better gear.
As that went on, they beat the other three new kinds of Instant Dungeon. Thana and Nathalia stayed behind to entertain each other through varying means.
First, they went to the Lizardmen for the Capture category. John had long wondered what the objective to be captured was. He would have guessed a g, but for all intents and purposes it could have been a person of interest or a vige or something else.
It turned out to be a g.
The dungeon was pretty straightforward: There was a g on top of a hill. Get the g, fighting through a set number of Lizardmen who were stronger and gave more experience than the average monster in the process. Return the g to the partys spawn point. Get experience.
It was fairly dull, but John noted that this would be a pretty great way to grind out experience for himself (not for the rest of the group though, since the sk of Grinding quickly became their most reliable leveling tool and theck of loot meant that there was nothing to eat for Aclysia and Momo).
Then they went to siege the Dwarf fortress. John was nerdily intimidated by the name, and it was a pretty imposing sight to behold. A fortification more mountain than castle with thick metal tes as its gate looked down on them. Well, that was also not entirely true, it was more of a hill shaped like a mountain. A small mountain. The encounter was clearly designed to be beatable by their group. The Siege encounter was interesting in that it wasrgely different from Johns usual Instant Dungeons.
For a start, unless they came too close, there wasnt an enemy attacking them. They had more than enough time to draft up a battle n. After some pushing and prodding, they discovered the vitalck of aerial defenses. All they had to do was send over Sylph, Smander and the sparrow and bombard the enemies. Once the defences were weak enough, they cracked open the gate.
Aclysia and Gnome did what high strength characters with bodies made out of steel and stone usually do in these types of situations and became living battering rams. Once inside they had to reach the heart of the fortress and touch the throne. This one turned out to be better for grinding out nothing really, the siege took way too much time to be an efficient use for anything mechanically. It did make for a good team building exercise. That was worth something, kind of. Maybe there was a trick to this John still had to learn? Either way, that was off the checklist.
And then there was Corruption.
That name is super bad news, Rave said as she handed back the sk of Grinding to John. For the moment she, as the lowest level individual in the group, got to drink from it the most. Well probably get karmic bnce because Jack made thest thing super easy.
Who made what super easy? John wondered. Did his girlfriend get hit by a poisonous dart and see rum flying about?
Rave pointed at the sparrow on Johns shoulder, Jack, ya idiot, it needs a name.
It is literally me, John pointed out, spreading his wings and chirping to underline the point.
Ja and thats confusing, so you continue to be John, unless I am mad at ya, then youre Jonnie, and when I want ya to make sweet love to me, youre tiger, and that is Jack, Jack Sparrow.
John stared at the window with a deadpan expression.
What, what? Rave grinned and danced around him; Did Gaia just agree with me? Cause thats the O-N-L-Y only reason I can think of why youd make that face.
Yeah yeah, she just renamed it to Jack Sparrow John admitted and looked at his expanded ego called Jack now. Jack looked back.
It served some purpose to rename the sparrow. In the heat of battle the difference between Send your sparrow, or Send Jack could be fairly important. John doubted that that was Raves actual intention; she just wanted to poke fun at him and employed the argument to that end.
Okay, so, with that out of the way, John put the sk back into its holster, lets go visit that Corruption dungeon. I want to get my legendary ASAP. Gearing up for the tournament is important.
For you it is, Rave snickered; I am fully outfitted.
John looked at his girlfriend in her skimpy clothes. Except for the gloves, all of her equipment was just clothes. Abyssal clothes, with an impossible to reach quality, but still just clothes. It wasnt like Lydias clothes, which were already enchanted and custom tailored. Neither did she have the limitation that Aclysia and Momo faced, in that they didnt get bonuses from anything that wasnt weaponry. Raves refusal was more akin to Thanas, but, unlike the blood mage, the techno-lover did not have abilities that would cause most of her clothing to be destroyed.
That wasnt to say that Rave refused outright what John could give her, just that she was extremely picky about it. If it didnt work with her current fighting style, she didnt want it. Fundamentally understandable, but John considered much of her refusal to be a bit much.
He kept that judgement to himself though. He wasnt a physical fighter, and if Rave, their prime martial artist, insisted that fighting in clothes she wasfortable in was more important than a 5% Agility increase, then so be it.
John narrowed his eyes at his girlfriends cocky grin. There was something more at y here, he could just sense it. You are not hiding a battle suit or something, are you, Jane?
Whaaaaaaaaaat? Rave said in the least innocent denial possible; I would never, why would I?
Because you like being a tease, John pointed out, and because you like surprises.
Like ya can judge me on that, mister look at my glove, my glove is amazing, Rave shifted the me away from her and punched him lightly on the shoulder. John grabbed her fist as she pulled back and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Assertive, I like it, Rave purred once he pulled back.
Just doing what my girlfriend taught me, he answered and leaned in for a second kiss when he heard someone clear her throat.
My time is precious, as I have to remind you, Lydia said. I would much appreciate it if you could keep the flirtatious exchanges to a minimum until we dere the grinding for the day over. Furthermore, Rave, if you have equipment that increases yourbat effectiveness, then I would be inclined to ask you to start using it immediately, for efficiencies sake.
Nope, Rave denied, not gonna.
Why?
Cause thatd be less fun, Lyly. Also, what equipment? The techno lover added the question with a conspiratorial smile.
Lydia sighed deeply and looked over to Momo for help. The support shook her head, No way will you learn anything. John is really adamant about keeping that a surprise.
The princess just gestured for everyone to continue, Let us just go on, so I can return to my paperwork.
John opened the I.D.
They fell.
A cavernous pit opened beneath their feet, swallowing them all. The hole above closed, leaving them in pitch ck darkness. For a short moment, John imagined he could see a spark. There was nothing like that. Everything was ck. Rave fired up her powers. There was a spark.
The walls of the pit were covered in a slimy, mould-like substance, clumping into semi-liquid lifeforms. One being or a thousand, it wasnt clear. Eye stalks rose like fungal snails from the muck, grinning at them with curved lids. They blinked and the eyes were reced with nightmarish maws of unevenly sized, unevenly shaped teeth. They locked into each other like crooked fingers.
The spark was swallowed. The walls returned to smooth darkness. The light was gone, but Johns sight wasnt. His stomach twisted, when his fall was ripped around. His back hit the ceiling and he came to a stop. The rest of the groupnded simrly, although at different heights and angles.
The hell is going on? John asked, doing his best to make sense of what he had just seen.
Guys, there is a boss somewhere! John threw out Observe in random directions. Nothing came back. The darkness was absolute, yet his allies were perfectly visible. The flying trio of the group were the only ones not affected by the strange angles. John did not appreciate this warping of up and down.
In unison, the grinning eyes opened again, rising from the nothingness. The finger-like eyelids cracked inughter, wiggling on their twisted joints evoking the picture of walls covered in ck worms. Everything was off. Then the cracks started to sound like music.
Laughing, maniacal music. The kind of beauty only the most deranged of thoughts could produce. Like a picture drawn in blood, depicting the most stunning of sunsets. The melody was shrill, disced tones somehow weaving into a symphony that John couldnt help but marvel at. In disgust at that fact, his heart started pumping as if it refused to live in the same body as a brain that started to understand. Or was it that his heart tried to drum a beat for this symphony?
You brought us to the Lorylim?! Lydia screeched and ced her hands on her ears. Her rapier went flying, piercing one of the eldritch eyes. ck ichor gushed from theughing stalk. The maw split into four segments, rubbing up against each other, sharpening new teeth.
The eyes all sank back down into the slimy floor.
Instead there was a THING between them, standing on the ceiling.
A mass of arms and wings. A knot of limbs of varying sizes, lurching forwards, snapping its bones and giggling. Fingernails like des extended from some hands, others forked off into more and more limbs. It was a fractal nightmare. Blight glued together flesh. It walked in ordance with the symphony.
The pattern of sounds scratched itself into Johns mind.
What do I gurgle? What is the weave? What is the third number in John Newmans cell phone? It gurgled from its joints. No, those werent the words. Those were Johns thoughts. What did it gurgle? Why was that important, he shouldnt listen, he should see!
That wasnt even the real deal? His head hurt. What vision? Siena, you should have enough angles to attack him, do it! he pleaded to the nightmare elemental. His head hurt.
I cant, there are no shadows, just them, Siena said to him in a tone that made his head hurt. His mouth was dry. Maybe he could drink the boss? He looked a bit liquid.
John shook his head and aimed at the Lorylim. A Mana Ray cut through the darkness, illuminating nothing but creating a shadow behind the mass of hands. Was it hovering or standing on some of them? John grit his wet teeth until he was afraid to crush his own jaw.
Did that attack do something? Did Siena ramming her des through the being in the shadow of Mana Ray do something? Everyone awoke from their daze and attacked. The boss melted into the ground. Then it regrew from dark spores and corrupted meat. They attacked again. Smanders fire looked two dimensional.
It hit John. It hurt. It didnt. His HP was untouched, the boss had been missed. Smander was gone. The boss had squished her in darkness. There was no window. The fuck? the question rose from Smander, John, can you hear me? Hello? I am stuck in your head, would you let me out? What am I confused about?
When did that happen?
What happened when it did? What was time if not a keychain? What was this image of the pit? Dozens of people sitting around tanks filled with sand. The man crawling towards his brother? The manughing at his brother? A fire.
What am I confused about? The whole group asked as one; the song of crackingughter started to make sense. The boss had infinite hands, but infinity was just a growing number. All of this made sense. John checked his cellphone, the first number was home, the second number was adventure, the third number was trust. He couldnt delete what he lost. He should delete loss instead.
The boss ceased to exist. They left the dungeon and copsed on the floor. The eyes were cracking withughter again. The dungeon left them. Gaia reached down. They dropped back into normal reality.
John spat out. It felt like he had been drowning, but there was no relieving sensation of water pouring out of his lungs. On all fours, he knelt on the cracked concrete, struggling to breathe. Fucking hell! John eximed, while his brain gradually unclogged. The symphony was gone. His heart was still drumming.
Good riddance, he said and fought against the need to throw up. The nausea that shook his body was extreme. Everything was swaying like he was on a boat. Having just one pair of feet felt so incredibly wrong for some reason.
What C just C happened?! Lydia demanded to know. The princess had managed to stand up already, even if she was swaying.
John exined to her as quickly as he could.
Chapter 228 – Watch the Hat
Chapter 228 C Watch the Hat
John dismissed the window. Not as strong as you thought, huh? he thought, lying on the cold ground of the run-down house.
Ive had it for today, Lydia announced. Even with the knowledge that it just had been a copy, she was still shaken to the core. Justifiably, as John had to agree.
I will be taking a break too, he said and his elementals took a relieved breath, even Siena. That miscarriage of an eldritch horror had taken the winds out of their sails.
They returned to the mansion. Aclysia went to tag out Thana when it came to Nathalia duty. John, who still had to stay abstinent, stayed in the living room. He was thankful that the dragoness had taken a room on the third floor. All of the moaning that, without a shadow of a doubt, went on up there did not reach his ears. As long as he did not let his curiosity check on what his familiars were doing, he would be fine.
So, what is your idea for the rest of this fucking day? Thana asked, And I mean fucking day literally for once.
Well depends on Jane. His girlfriend perked up a bit. What is your n?
Ya know, meditate, train martial arts C Why?
Because If you wanted to continue running dungeons I would be up for going back in like thirty minutes. Otherwise, Id grab miss madness here He gestured at Thana whoughed and waved. and do a speedrun for the other Quest.
Rave tilted her head and tapped her index finger against her glossy lips in a steady beat as she thought about that. Mhm, nah, I feel like I am close to tapping into something nice with that cat form, you know? Gotta practice something aside from my stats. Unlike ya, I dont get to do it all at the same time.
John nodded. Thought as much small addendum to the n: we will return for a small break whenever the sk is filled up. I dont want to waste resources any more than I already have.
Sounds great, Rave smirked and kissed him on the cheek. See yater. Hopefully youre allowed to use your dick again by then.
Following that whisper she left the room to do her training somewhere more isted, leaving John with Thana. Everyone else was doing their own thing or had gone incorporeal. Not like John would need them for what followed
So, when are we going? Thana asked. I want to punch something so hard it literally fucking explodes again. That was fun. Her gum-revealing grin was apanied with a small bit of cackling. It created little echoes in Johns head.
I want to just sit down for a moment first, John told her and rxed on the couch. Luckily, he didnt have to worry about his suit getting wrinkly. Enchanted cloth was awesome.
He pulled the new Legendary acquisition from his inventory and looked at it with some surprise. It was a ck fedora, fitting for his suit, with a white band running around it. The small feather on the left side made it look slightly cheesy, however. I dont know if I want this to be good. John had more than a few opinions about fedoras, all of them informed by Mdy memes.
Huh. So thats a thing. Now what do those attributes do? he tapped on them one after another.
Mental Resistance and the Stat bonuses were easy enough. Form-Fitting meant that it would fit his head perfectly. Perfect Hair was weird, apparently it would restyle his hair when he had the hat on? Time to test that.
He put on the hat. He let it rest there for a few seconds. He looked at the woman who followed his actions with a raised eyebrow.
Okay, Thana, tell me earnestly what you think of my hair now, he said and took it off again.
Is that thing a fucking hair washer? Thana asked with confused eyes. Cause your hair just got smooth as fuck. I want to touch it, I will touch it, she was touching it. Thats unfairly soft. You cant make me jealous over your fucking hair. You are a guy! You are supposed to wash your hair with the same bottle of lube you scrub your ass with!
John did not respond to that, instead putting the hat back on and grinning at her. Either because she was jealous or she wanted to touch his hair again, Thana tried to rip it back off. To both of their surprise, it remained in ce. The fuck?! Thana growled and pulled a second time C stronger.
Stop it, youre going to break my neck! John pleaded, feeling the pulling in his bones. Thana immediately obliged, putting her hands high where he could see them.
That was, without a doubt, the Unmoveable Attribute. John also noticed what Sightless did a momentter. The rim of the hat didnt interfere with his vision. Much like his windows or the blue hue of Mana Protection, the hat was both see-through and did what a hat did, shielding Johns eyes from the lightbulb under the ceiling.
That only left Tip as an attribute he didnt know about.
That wasnt bad. It wasnt outstanding, as the shelf life of the Tips was limiting the hats abuse potential, but it still was free mana. The Stats alone made it worth it to equip the fedora. John added it to his battle equipment. Maybe he would look good with it?
That out of the way, John put his new Stat Points into Wisdom, as per custom, and moved on to another question. Should he use his Skill Evolution Point? The elementals were still a long while off level 100, so there was no real reason to hoard it. What to spend it on though? The Skills eligible for evolving, aside from the summons, were Sneaking, Arcane Explosion, Mana Ray and Possession.
Possession did exactly what John wanted right now, so evolving it was a novelty. Same for Mana Ray and Arcane Explosion, albeit to a lesser extent. Sneaking, however, had been part of his toolkit since the very start but went unused forever. He simply wasnt someone who snuck around. Maybe there was something useful to be gained out of evolving it?
Camouge was the only one of these options that had a sensible mana cost. It was also just Sneaking+, so nothing he would use ever. Invisibility had a certain ring to it, but it was also absolutely not what John needed. If he wanted to hide he was better off having Gnome dig him a tunnel or something. Blink, however, was a get out of shit card he could actually use. Sure, 1000 mana was a chokingly high cost, but it was preferable to dying because he stood in the fire too long. Blink it was!
Evidently, Gaias temtes were not made to disy all Skills equally. The amount of wasted space here hurt Johns eyes. Anyhow, time to test this, he thought and closed his eyes. It said he needed to see where he was teleporting to, but was that limited to his own pair of eyes?
Jack bounced around on the dinner table, looking at the hooded back of Thana. Just as a heads up, John warned, I am going to be behind you in a moment. He had no desire to trigger one of Thanas panic attacks, get punched through the stomach or both.
Okay? Thana asked, amused at the thought that John could somehow move quicker than her.
John felt himself scatter. It was a tickling feeling; his body and items were disassembled and returned to their natural state in a frame of time too small for his mind to reallyprehend. He opened his eyes again and looked at a wall. He also realized he was still in the same pose as he had been on the couch.
Thana put her hand on his back, preventing him from toppling over. Thats kind of impressive, she told him, as he stood up.
I thought it would also adjust the way I faced and all that he mumbled and scratched the back of his head. He clicked his tongue when he noticed he did. The gesture left a bad taste in his mouth since Herman.
Its still pretty fucking good, Thana assured him. Her eyes travelled to something in the corner of her vision. The party interface, as John swiftly realized. You cant pull that parlour trick out of your ass too often though.
Nope, but one day I might. I still have over 900 levels of potential growth, John countered.
Thana grinned, then tilted her head. If you had managed to teleport the way you wanted, what would you have done, hm? she asked and wiggled her hips. The motion was a bit clunky and the ck robe hid most of her assets. John needed neither to be perfect to remember her backside. His mind went to all of the jiggle he was missing out on by not spanking her. She was grinning all adorable-like.
John was halfway through bowing down to kiss her, when he realized where this would go. Damned be that Quest! he eximed and stomped off. Lets kill things to take my frustration out!
Now you are speaking my fuckingnguage, Thana giggled and followed him. What do you have in mind? Level 300 content? Because I can be fucking guaranteeing you that I can still beat that shit without problem.
Tempting, but no. John softly shook his head. I think that we could probably get some rather strong items and Achievements out of the deal if we went there but A: I do not look forward to getting one-shot by some assault you cant react to on time and B: Gaia will totallye and patch that up if we abuse it. Oh, also C: The Quest is for Tier 15 specifically, and I want to beat that.
I very much doubt that there are level 300 mobs that I cant murder double-fucking-dead before they get to you, but sure, have it your way, Thana agreed, and they left the mansion grounds again. Well, that was the n, but John noticed something on the way.
There was someone. That someone was wearing full temr armour: a bucket helmet with a golden cross over the front, heavy chainmail, a white tabard and cape. John could see the ck cross on the cape, together with the eagle on golden ground. He was pretty certain that the same coat of arms was on the tabard, but that was hidden underneath an out of ce gardeners apron.
The knight was trimming the hedges with a nail clipper. Each little clip was executed with perfection in mind. His sword and shield, thetter also bearing the coat of arms, lying on a respectfully spread nket. DEUS VULT, guests and allies of the great princess of Prussia, the man greeted them in an overly enthusiastic manner.
Can you even use Deus Vult as a greeting? Ah, whatever, John thought and raised his hand to return the greeting. Thanasughing interrupted him before he could say a single word.
The shrill sounds echoed throughout the garden. What the fuck are you supposed to be?! she asked.
I am Konrad Kamradsrat, Gro?meister of the Knights of Teuton DEUS VULT! The temr spoke with booming pride.
That does not answer my fucking question, Thana continued to snicker. I mean, why are you clipping this hedge?
I was strolling on the daily patrol when I noticed that this hedge was not perfectly trimmed. See here! He gripped a giant water level and held it up against the hedge. The hedge tilts 2 degrees out towards the top! Uneptable! Therefore, as the highest servant of her majesty, the princess of mighty Prussia, the one true country standing for our glorious order, I saw it as my DEUS VULT given duty to correct the error of this myself. My apologies, you should not have seen me.
John was hardly holding back hisughter as well by now. The guy was a very meme-matic figure. Just out of curiosity, what do you think about Israel?
WE HAVE RETAKEN JERUSALEM, THREE HURRAHS!
HURRAH! One knight suddenly appeared from a sideway.
HURRAH! another one peaked out from behind a bush, holding another nail clipper in his heavy gauntlets.
HURRAH! A third knight appeared from a trap door right in front of John.
DEUS VULT! Comrades, let us vanquish all of the asymmetric branches in this garden and then resume yesterdays patrol duties! For the princess!
DEUS VULT! DEUS VULT! DEUS VULT! the knights chanted in unison as they continued their work. With a smile John went on and left the building. A smile that died the moment he was outside and no longer needed to put up a show.
Thana was still grinning, but there was a confused sparkle in her eyes. They said they were there since yesterday, she pointed out.
Yes did you notice them? John wanted to know.
The blood mage violently shook her head, white and azure hair flying, Didnt hear a fucking thing.
Observe didnt work on them either John informed her. He had tried it on every single one of the knights. None of them had shown any windows whatsoever. Aura sight had revealed very little: the glow had been suppressed and was only leaking out from their visors. Ill have to ask Lydia about thister.
The fact that there was an order here that was so good at hiding that not even Thana with her insane senses noticed was simultaneously calming and diforting. At least they were pretty obviously on their side.
Well, Lydias side, John reminded himself. He wasnt her underling, he was just repaying a debt; once that was over fate may pitch them against each other one day. There was no way to know for certain. He liked to imagine that they were close now, but he had been burned before. Best I be stronger. Thats the only way to be safe.
Chapter 229 – The last day before the tournament
Chapter 229 C Thest day before the tournament
John woke up alone.
It once again urred to him how drastically his life had shifted. The bed besides him being empty was no longer the normal state of affairs. In this case, it was a state of his own choosing though. In order to be in line with the Quest he was sure he would get today, John had distanced himself from his many girls. Between their teasing tendencies and him being weak to their feminine wiles, he had secluded himself. After using the few hours between one Quest ending and the expected follow-up to empty his balls a couple of times.
Sleeping through midnight meant that he hadnt seen the Quest rewards yet, though, so he was waiting for that window to appear.
Well, he wouldnt say no to ss Levels. Also there was the
He had levelled up a lot recently, mostly thanks to Thanas little massacre. It almost made up for the months he had lost. Then again, the ss system on its own would reimburse him for that in the long term. Cheese and modifier stacking, my favourite things, John thought, then checked out the new Quest that popped up.
A whole day without sex thest time he had done that was the first few days of the big grind months back. It wasnt impossible. Matter of fact, it was easy in every logical way. John just had gotten quite used to indulging himself.
I can beat thest two goals without much of a problem, he mumbled to himself. For the Tier 18 dungeons, he just needed to ask Thana to take him for a spin, and then that would be it. In the same vein, he would need her help to power through the other two goals in a sensible timeframe. After all, grinding wasnt the only thing he had to do today, there was a visitoring, likely in the evening. Although who really knew with the Horned Rat?
First, however, time to spend those Quest rewards. Stat points into Wisdom and then the ss Level into Elementalist. A new level always meant a new Perk.
No more elementals, John firmly thought and, ignoring the Elemental Bolt, went for Combo. It was the best choice anyhow, everything that broadened the application range of his abilities was awesome.
The reasons for not wanting more elementals were numerous. For a start, he was still trying to get thest one he got under control.
And I so hope you can endure, Siena unbiddenly entered his thoughts, shing him images of what C or rather who C she was currently doing. Nathalias caramel breasts were swaying back and forth, while the two women scissored as fast as lust allowed.
John pushed her out of his mind. His morning wood throbbed eagerly. He turned his thoughts back to mechanics to try and ignore that.
Another reason for no more elementals was the fact that he shared his current thoughts with seven other people. His brain was pretty crowded and it was sort of hard to get a moment of privacy where he could just breathe and look at the ceiling. He could push everyone out and, as the summoner, he would be able to keep up the walls if he wanted to. To stay fully isted, especially when he trusted most of his elementals, was its own weird feeling though.
The quiet noise of paws hitting cloth turned his gaze from the ceiling and to the sr feline tapping towards him. Copernicus swaggered with the energy of every cat that loved walking over keyboards. I see you are rxing.
Yup, John said and warningly nced at him. Copernicus looked back with disinterest and simply strolled from next to Johns feet to lying down next to his head.
The warmth the cat radiated was cosily lulling John to close his eyes again for a moment. He didnt go back to sleep, but he allowed himself to rx even more deeply. I wonder about a thing or two, regarding your kind.
Unsurprising, looking at your whole you. Copernicus made sure there was a mocking purr to those words. I feel generous, so you may ask me one or two things about elementals.
You are able to turn into an item, why cant my elementals?
Because I am a higher Tier, Copernicus simply exined. Elementals are separated not just by raw power but by how refined that power is. To take an educated guess, I am one Tier above that shadow spirit of yours.
Mhm so you think you could beat her? John wondered. The level gap between him and Copernicus wasnt small. Siena, as one of his elementals, had the same difference in raw power.
Depends on whether or not I manage to Unleash myself, the suncat said.
John opened his eyes again, Exin to me what that is, Unleashing yourself. Siena had talked about it before as well, but she and the other elementals had just dodged the question.
To put it bluntly, it is an elevated state that elementals around the level of Sylph and Siena can reach. Some get explosive, short power boosts from it, others, like Siena, are able to reach that state seemingly as they wish but gain less from it, Copernicus exined.
That did ount for the shadowy cowl and the buff she gave herself at times. Why didnt you Unleash when fighting against Thana, though? John wondered.
Copernicus had been caught and chomped down on at the time. It had not been a pretty sight. I have to meet certain conditions to get there that I couldnt meet back then. The cats tail audibly flopped about.
Another question, John said, coaxing a deep hum out of Copernicus. Is it possible to have elementals stay on this ne without being in my head or around me all the time? The reason for this question was not the wish for privacy C not primarily anyway. Id like it if the girls could do their own things. No reason that they have to be attached to me all the time.
Girls that were clingy had a certain charm, but having them be literally helpless without him didnt. Also, the day maye where he had to be in several ces at once. Currently, the elementals could distance themselves around 500 metres from him. Once they reached that point, they experienced something that was simr to the edge of an Illusion Barrier. A wall in the air, not solid but made of a force that made it almost impossible to push past.
With enough training, it could be. I have known some summoners that could put great distances between themselves and their familiars. Copernicus opened one of his eyes a tiny bit. You probably just have to wait for the right Perk. The cats tail flopped on Johns face and tickled him under the nose. Now get up, you have work to do, the suncat instructed.
John groaned and then sat up. He looked down at the cat. The curled up bundle of sunshine struck him as very soft. Maybe if I act really fast? he wondered and tried to pat Copernicus.
The cat jumped on his outstretched arm and purred mockingly. You are way too slow for that, John. Stay with casting spells, Copernicus berated him. One leap off his armter, the cat walked out of the room.
John, followed him, only a towel slung over his naked shoulder. as he made his way over to the bathroom to take a shower. He didnt particrly mind running around naked inside the house. He knew everyone who was around here. More importantly, he wasnt ashamed to show his body around any longer. It had been quite a long time since he was as thin as sticks and his dick was certainly above average these days.
The only people around that he wasnt entirely sure about were the Knights of Teuton. He had confronted Lydia about them yesterday and she had assured him that they neither stepped nor looked into the house. Apparently, they were an elite bodyguard force with a rather weird sense of humour. They were strong, that much she had confirmed, stronger than John was currently even. However, they refused to fight in public events or get involved in the world of politics. Their sworn duty was to protect the ruler of Prussia and that was the end of it.
I guess people like that are important, John thought. If the secret service would start supporting presidential candidates, that would be pretty weird. Not sure how much that holds up though Abyssal politics are so different, with individuals being able to outweigh whole armies and all that. Maybe these knights just like to do a job?
John entered the bathroom. He looked into the bathtub. The naked upper body of Undine was floating on top of the water, the rest of her currently part of the very same water she was bathing in. She seemed to be gazing at nothing in particr as she smiled at the boats drifting over the surface.
Her eyes quickly darted down to the ships as if she just had remembered that she could look at them as well. I wonder if that is somehow like a massage, John thought and sent the question to Undine, who sent him a nicely rxed feeling back that he interpreted as a yes.
He originally intended to use the bathtub, but forcing Undine out when she was rxing seemed unfair. On other days he could have just joined her and gotten off, his barely calmed morning wood was getting right back up at the sight of her firm tits. Instead, he had to get into the shower.
He allowed his thoughts to melt away under the stream of hot water, and Siena took that moment to strike. Pictures of Nathalias huge tits dangling in front of him, of Sylph giving Sienas pussy a long lick, of Rave and Thana in the 69 position, of all of the debaucheries that he had missed and was missing, filled his mind.
Involuntarily, he groaned, and the thought of masturbating for the first time in a while crossed his mind. The quest only said sex. Whether or not that included handjobs and blowbjobs as well was unclear to John, who didnt want to risk it. However, masturbation surely didnt count.
John drank deeper from the live-feed of lesbian porn and grabbed his own dick. What should have been a somewhat relieving touch of pleasure was only a dull pressure on his oversensitive skin. John sighed and let go of his sex as he was firmly reminded that Source of Satisfaction didnt only have upsides.
He could have maybe tried to speed order a fleshlight or something, but he doubted that Gaia would let that slide. The intention was clearly to make him unable to cum on his own. John changed the water from warm to cold and pushed Siena out again. Calming down was just about his only option here. The shadow spirit struggled to stay in his mind for as long as possible, sending images and deeply amused, sexually charged giggles the whole time.
What John wouldnt give to be balls deep in that hellishly tight cunt of hers. Pumping the whole content of his balls out at once sounded fantastic right about now. Instead, he was chittering under the assault of cold water, having Undines glistening breasts in view the entire time.
Once he had that over with, he walked over to the room everyone had been having fun in without him. Of course, most people had gone to sleep at one point or another. Right now, the only people actually still active were Thana, Nathalia, Sylph and Aclysia. Siena was just sitting in a chair and ying with herself as she watched.
She wasnt masturbating to the sight though, but instead to the constant stream of sexual frustration that came from her Master as she tried to broadcast these images. Now that he was there in person, that became unnecessary. The shadow spirit walked over to John, stopping in front of him.
Latex-like material covered much of her body, but only in a way that elevated her alluring curves. Like a skimpy leotard, like gloves, and like thigh-highs, the purple shadows d her. She did not even have to do anything else to make his brain run wild. A hand raised to her full lips was terribly seductive.
Finally, you are awake, Master. We are just yearning for your cock. Siena got even closer, until herrge breasts squished against his chest.
Seriously, get your ass over here! Thana demanded, currently between Aclysia and Nathalia C neither of them actually pleasuring the masochist. The blood mage hadnt slept, but with her magic she also didnt need to. It seemed like she had instead spent the whole night learning how to properly deepthroat. At least thats what John guessed by the assortment of dildos on the nearby table and the messy state her face was in. The whole room reeked of sex.
Yes, John, your services are required, Nathalia said and sprawled out in the sheets, her tight pussy on disy. Feeling his eyes resting on her crotch, the dragoness smirked, Do you desire this hole She rolled over and got into the doggy style position, spreading her bouncy butt invitingly. or do you want to im this one once more?
John audibly gulped. Sienas delicate hand gentlynded on his cheek. She acted like she was about to kiss him but pulled back at thest moment, holding onto his hand as she stumbled towards the bed. Just let us take care of you, Siena said.
Yes, yes,e on, John, lets take care of that morning wood, go, go! Sylph, most likelypletely unaware of the Quest, pvered. We must blow and ride the D until it makes that Pah sound that dry water pumps produce inic series!
Ehem, Aclysia cleared her throat against her own best interest, which was a thorough ploughing, and spoke up, I must inform all of you that M-mhm-aster has a quest to stay abstinent for the next, aahh, 24 hours. As-sss the maximizing of re-rewards is highly necessary to gua-ah-rantee sess in the uing tournament, ful-ahn-fulfilling this quest is paramount. Sexual acts are therefore prohibited for the nah-next 24 hours. Her words rang true, even despite the fact that Nathalia had begun to eat her out when she had first started speaking.
The weaponized maids deration, lewd as it was, gave John enough of his willpower back to resist the temptations. Siena, behave, he spoke. The nightmare elemental clicked her tongue, then sunk into Johns shadow. Theck of squishy mounds against his chest was equal parts liberating and regrettable. Thana, please clean yourself up and meet me in the living room in the next twenty minutes. I have a Quest I need your help with.
Yeah, sure, let me just
No, John interrupted her, channelling his erotic frustration into something. Twenty minutes. Go.
The dominating tone he used had a visible effect on the submissive, who nodded sheepishly, then peeled herself out of the general embrace. Nathalia growled, displeased. Thana looked between her and John two times, then decided to obey thetter.
What a good girl, John thought.
Chapter 230 – Waiting for the evening.
Chapter 230 C Waiting for the evening.
The grinding went about without incident. First, he and Thana took care of two of the Quests conditions, that took about 7 hours. Even with Thana trivializing every enemy group, they still had to explore all of the dungeons in order to find the boss rooms. That was, to put it simply, a lot of walking. Also, returning to the house to give Lydia and Rave ess to the sk of Grinding, when it was full, dyed them a bit.
The 25 dungeons part was therefore done around 13 oclock. On average they had needed about twenty minutes per dungeon. Waves were usually over in a sh, but floors took considerably more time, especially if they were the underground type.
When they were about to go and hunt down the 2000 enemies, Lydia stopped them. Here, she said and handed John a new sk. It looked a lot like the old one, an overly long neck on a round main body that was ttened at the bottom.
Huh, John grunted and turned the sk in his hand. it would save him a lot of trips back and forth. It also seemed totally innocent, not like something that sucked up the soul of the dead and created a potion from it.
It was a challenge to find this. Refilling potions are rare in the first ce, but Soulpotions seem to be particrly bothersome to create, Lydia told him. It does not help that alchemy is a barely exercised discipline.
I wonder why people who have these dont just abuse them, John thought out loud, as he reced his old sk with his new one. I mean, all you need to do is power-grind some dungeons.
Several reasons, Lydia, who, without a doubt, had done her research, told him. For a start, these seem to resonate with your ability to increase other peoples level. So, it wont work like you propose without you in the first ce.
Interesting, John mumbled, I thought it already pretty strong that you were able to level like me, albeit much slower, in the first ce. Well, I guess this is more of a catch-up mechanism so you dont fall too far behind. Ah, how nice and OP it would be if you would get all of my other abilities as well when we are in a group. It would be so bonkers if you guys had Gamers Body and could learn things with Skillbooks and the likes.
Your ability skews reality enough as it is. Then again, perhaps it will expand in due time Lydia shook her head. For normal people, these sks provide a boost in experience as well, but in another way. Basically, it increases their concentration while learning and makes the acquiring of muscle memory faster. It is helpful, but not by so much that it justifies the abhorrent mary investment I had to make to get my hands on this.
And you think with me around it will be? John asked.
Lydia folded her hands behind her back and looked at him in her usual stern way, As far as I am concerned, every one of your levels I can get that gives me an edge over enemies in the tournament is a worthwhile investment. If this raises the efficiency of that endeavour, it is enough for me.
Can we fucking continue now?! Thana shouted over, she was standing at the hedge surrounding the gardens just waiting for John to get his ass moving again.
On my way, he shouted back. He was stopped, however, by Lydia clearing her throat while tactfully raising her hand.
Would you lend me your ear one more moment, John Newman? she requested and gestured him closer with her already raised hand. Interested, John obliged. I must say that my investment in you has been majorly rewarding already. Her tone was almost sweet as she said that. Take this sk as my gift. She hastily kissed him on the cheek and then stepped away from him. Now off with you, I have paperwork to attend to! With a bit of a blush on her attractive features, she whirled around and walked away.
John grinned like the fool he was when he returned to Thana. She rolled her eyes and gestured for him to lower his head. Crossing his arms, John continued to smile, now mockingly. Want to kiss me too?
And what If I fucking want to do that? Thana countered as if she was being used of something; Now get down here, you tall bastard!
He did and the giant grin Thana shed should have been warning enough. Sadly, he did not have the reaction time to do anything about what followed. Thanas face vanished from his field of view as the tiny master of blood magic and crazedughter executed a perfect kick to the side of his head that sent him flying.
-666 HP. The initial kicks damage. -133 HP. He bounced from the garden floor like a skipping stone. -48. One more bounce. -96. He flew through the empty gate and crashed against the wall in the exit building, ster raining down on him as it broke off the badly maintained wall and revealed the nk stones behind.
He got up with a slight cough; dust had gotten into his lungs. Highly ufortable. Like everything else, Gamers Body fixed that. Snickering, Thana stepped out a momentter.
What were you thinking there? John wanted to know. He did his best to sound angry, but he was more confused than anything else. He was getting used to Thanas absurdities and with Gamers Body he was pretty well equipped to deal with them. Because it was way too harsh.
Rave punches you all the time! Thana cried out as if he had just used her of murdering a basket full of kittens.
Yeah, yfully, John checked his suit for any damage. Thankfully, the defensive enchantments and magical materials had held. The only issue was the dust on it.
It wasnt great at physical protection, so it failed at being actual armour. John had decided to go with protection against elemental attacks and shenanigans like acid instead. In his mind, anything that managed to get into melee range and then break through Mana Protection would fuck him up no matter how thick an armour he wore.
Back to the topic at hand. When Jane punches me, its rarely even painful; you just kicked me into a different dimension. He gestured at the door. Literally. Youre lucky its not broken by the way.
Well, move your ass quicker and dont make me jealous and we wont have that fucking problem again, Thana growled and crossed her arms.
What are you suddenly jealous about? You just spent the whole night fucking the rest of my harem.
Yeah, and it was awesome. Little known fact though, you ass, she raised one hand and tapped against the side of her head, I am still train-fucking mumble brained John raised an eyebrow as Thanas words slowly became quieter. She studied Johns facial expression for a bit. You are telling me kicking someone in the face is not the correct thing to do when I am jealous? she finally asked.
Well, no, John said. He didnt know what the correct response to jealousy was, it was an ugly feeling. Viting his face was not among the healthy solutions though.
It felt pretty fucking right though, Thana whispered, her tone between self-satisfied and apologetic. She looked at John and the dots in her eyes were spinning slowly, showing at least a slight bit of remaining agitation. As a matter of fact, the idea is still REALLY tempting. Her eyes darted to his health bar. You COULD survive another loving ass-whooping like that, just saying. Come on, just let me gently almost-but-notpletely break your fucking neck.
How about we dont do that? John suggested and slowly inched away from Thana by stepping along that wall. Her eyes followed him and the dots were slowly speeding up.
One foot forward, thergely unclothed blood mage stepped towards John, slowly. He wrecked his brain for an answer. Fuck it, caution to the wind! he thought and jumped at Thana in an attempt to hug her or something. Would have maybe worked under other circumstances, but now that she was the slightest bit worked up, her superhuman reflexes were fully operational. She had already dodged before his feet got off the ground.
John stumbled over an outstretched leg she left in his path and would have, very inelegantly,nded on his face if Thana wouldnt have caught him at the wrist. He turned his head to see a wild grin. Chix, butt-munch, I wont actually kick your ass again, she said with an insane snicker. His muscles rxed and Thana let go of his arm. He managed to catch himself in a panicked motion.
Kneeling on the concrete did finally manage to make him snap with anger. Im going to spank your ass red and fuck that smugness out of youe tomorrow.
Of course, that wasnt exactly a threat suitable for Thana, whose eyes glinted with happiness, Shit, really? Sounds awesome!
Justurgh, John pinched the bridge of his nose- Okay, lessons in being a human number, I dont know, 132? Dont punch people just because you feel like it.
I kicked you though, Thana pointed out, her smile betraying that she just wanted to annoy him at this point.
Wisdom and Charisma let John find the correct tone for his next words, Thana, my patience is running thin.
The dots froze and so did the blood mages smile. Are you seriously mad at me? she asked, shocked. Shit, sorry, I just thought that you people always banter like I dont fucking know its John raised a hand so that she stopped talking.
Okay, lets run this through slowly. So, you became jealous of Lydia when she kissed me, correct? John asked.
Yeah, Thana answered.
In the future, when you feel jealous, I want you to think about why for a moment. Then, if you might, please talk to the people involved to see if there is a non-violent solution to things. He got up and rolled his shoulders. Because there should be and I do not like getting hurt C at all.
A moment of silence. The best solution I can think of is still kicking you in the face C like really fucking hard, she finally admitted.
Whats the second-best solution? John sighed. With slight hesitation, Thana took his hand. She was learning quickly, the percentage of things she broke was under 50% of things touched now. John trusted her enough to believe that she wouldnt break his hand.
SNAP. Johns body tensed for a moment as his little finger twisted in a way it wasnt supposed to. Shit, Thana let go of his hand, Sorry. Forget it. I am happy now. Her hastily spoken words were entirely unconvincing, and so John took her hand, preventing her from pulling away.
This is not alright. The words made the blood mage cringe with guilt I dont want to be your punching bag, so you keep working at this. I believe in you. You will do your best not to hurt anyone unnecessarily. Understood?
They locked eyes, and slowly, Thana reached for his hand again. Her touch was still ufortably tight, but nothing broke. She put his hand on her tits.
Now that was not the romantic gesture John had expected.
Months of daily sex had trained his hands to automatically squeeze the softness of breasts. Before he could stop himself, his fingers were already digging in. Wonderfully, the warm flesh, filled with the hopes and dreams of mankind, weed his touch. His hand started to circle just the slightest bit, the leather that separated his palms from naked, smooth skin was awfully hot. The feeling of her nipple slowly hardening under his touch, a reaction of what was happening, which was mirrored by the tightness in his pants.
Knowing that nothing coulde of this for another 11 hours, he raised his hand once Thana started panting with half-closed eyes. Spank me she said, her eyes lustfully ncing up to him. The light in her eyes turned fairly quickly into mischief, daddy.
And like that, his boner was gone. Lets just continue to farm, he stated in a defeated tone. We will have to keep working on this though. Violence to calm you down and getting molested when you want to apologize are seriously screwed up responses to doing something wrong.
You know it, the insane girl giggled; I am getting used to it as well. Maybe I wont actually be able to get this head of mine right but just learn to somehow get along with everyone else?
Thats actually what we call being normal, John pointed out. You will be hard-pressed to find someone who isnt slightly wrong in the head. We just generally hide it and let it out when we are with people we trust.
So, what you are saying, Thana slowly spoke, is that its enough if I learn not to fuck-over all my problems by punching them dead?
Also, not to offend people with whatever you say. You dont have to get along with everyone, but a bit of niceness would help. He demonstrably rolled his neck. I really cant stretch enough that youll have to try that, because I am not putting up with you doing that whenever you feel jealous.
Can fucking try, Thana agreed. She stretched with a sigh of relief, Fucking hell, and here I thought I had to act all normal and shit in the future. So, all I need to do is learn how to be eptable to the faggotry that is humanity. I can do that. At least I fucking hope so.
Ill be the judge of that, John told her. At least if you are willing to stick around me.
Are you fucking kidding me? I have literally nowhere else to go, Thana said, then, panicked, she added. You are not trying to get rid of me, are you? John, you ass, I need you, dont do that to me. I literally dont know if you would survive trying to ditch me. I cannot guarantee whether or not your head will end up inside your girlfriends ass.
Calm down. I wont ditch you, as long as you keep working on yourself. He had to say that daily and he would likely have to keep doing so for a long time. Confidence wasnt built in a day.
I am a bad bitch, sue me! Thana said, her voice breaking between angst and happyughter.
That you are indeed Whatever, back to farming for serious now, we have important business in the evening.
Right, Richard Ratdick, Thana mused, her mood now swung back intoplete happiness again. John couldnt help but giggle. Whats so funny, bone-bargoed? Thana wanted to know.
I am just getting dangerously used to you being all over the ce, John told her; Its kind of cute.
Ill show you cute! Thana growled, blushing. Point me at something I can turn into bloody paste!
Killing 2000 enemies took another 45 minutes. They had already scouted the best dungeon (the Troll arena). The crowd had about a thousand trolls. Well, to be exact, the spawn range seemed to be between 800 and 1000. Three runs of that Instant Dungeon took care of the Quest.
It was uneventful, by andrge. The ease with which Thana ughtered everything gave them ample opportunity for small talk and every opportunity to talk was an opportunity to expose her more to normal social behaviour. Slowly, ever so slowly, he was getting her to a stable state.
She was lucky she was endearing.
Chapter 231 – Blackbird
Chapter 231 C ckbird
John looked at the clock in the living room. The arms for hour and minute, standing at 19 and 54 respectively, moved sluggishlypared to the constant movement of the one indicating seconds. John found the clock extremely irritating. He was used to the hands moving with sudden jumps; the fact that they were all moving continuously and steadily was, for theck of a better terming to mind, alien.
The clock was just a thing to keep his attention away from pacing about impatiently. Thedies in the house had called it quits a mere twenty minutes ago. Everyone was back to their routines.
Thana was watching crap TV, Rave was rxing listening to music on her MP3 yer, Lydia was doing work, Aclysia was cooking, the elementals had taken to their respective rxing activities, some of which meant screwing the dragoness. There was a certain unease in the house though, centred around the one person not even pretending to follow any sort of normality.
Momo was sitting on the frontwn. She did not even have the patience to get herself a chair and a book to make herselffortable while she waited for the Horned Rat to arrive. She would have stood right next to the mana street if they didnt share the sentiment that Richard would get John before doing whatever he needed to do to fix up Momo.
The artificial support was radiating such intense impatience, sitting with her legs crossed on the cold ground, that John felt like his mind was right next to a small sun. Ya should probably go talk to her, Rave, pulling the plugs from her ears for a moment,mented on her boyfriends continued gazing inwards. How she knew what he was thinking about continued to be a mystery.
John made a grimace as his girlfriend raised her legs to allow him to stand up. Her wonderfully long legs high in the air, she raised a pink eyebrow.
Whadareyawaiting for? she slurred. Go get her, tiger!
I just, dont really know what to say, John confessed.
What did ya raise Charisma for then? Just say something, was good enough to get me around, Rave pointed out.
Yeah, but you are like John thought about it for a moment, we are the best unlikely pairing in the world, you know? Like the hot cheerleader and the shut-in nerd.
And shes the president of the book club. Now, go talk to her about nerd stuff, so I dont have to listen to it, Rave demanded and stubbed her big toe in his face. John grumbled something unsure but stood up.
He looked down at Rave as her legs fell back on the couch. She smirked and gave him a thumbs-up at the same time Aclysia peeked out of the kitchen. Food will be ready in 35 minutes, she announced and smiled at John as well; Please have Momo inside by then, Master. I will patiently await your return.
His heart fluttered pleasantly as he felt the support of the two most important people in his life. They barely knew what this was about. Obviously, he had told them what the Broken Wings thing was about, but he had been vague on the details. He did not regard it as his ce to try and exin Momos feelings to everyone. They did understand that this was important to the solitary support.
I will be back soon, John promised.
Aclysia tip-toed her way over to him with quick steps. Rave rose from the couch. The guardians pale, pink lips pressed on his left cheek, softly, full of a desire for him to seed in his goals. The techno-lovers glossy, full lips pressed on his right cheek, energetically, full of a wish for all of them to be happy. John, stuck between, reminded himself how lucky he was as he wrapped his arms around both of their waists and just spent a moment basking in their warmth.
Then he went to get his winter clothes.
Dirt crunched under his feet, as he stepped off the paved path and onto thewn. The grass had seen better days, being slightly spotty in the December climate. I would ask if you are cold, John said as he stepped close to Momo and sat down right next to her on the freezing cold ground, but I know it never bothered you anyway.
Momo looked at him with a disappointed side eye and said nothing.
What? John wanted to know, despite being well aware.
No Frozen jokes, Momo stated her demands; None. Never. And dont dare to sing.
Fine, he agreed, having sessfully broken the ice. Singing was a thing that would be categorized as a war crime if he did it anyhow.
I brought you this, John said and gave her the book he hadst seen her reading. It had been left at the dinner table.
I finished that yesterday, Momo pointed out, leaving Johns hand, wrapped in the pink gloves Rave had made him buy, hovering in the air.
Oh, he made a surprised sound before stuffing it back into his inventory.
Three awkward seconds.
But thanks anyway, Momo muttered underneath her breath and shifted into a slightly morefortable position, eyes firmly set on the blue light of the mana street in the distance. Beyond ity the star filled night sky, intercepted by flying inds and blue-glowing streets. It was a serenely scenic beauty. They couldnt enjoy it fully, not with the tension going on.
So, what is the first thing you are going to do with your wings? John tried to start the conversation again.
Momo groaned, Use them to have a better bnce when I ride your dick. A pause, for emphasis. What the hell do you think I am going to do? I am going to fly through the dead of night. Her harsh tone made John chuckle. What is so funny?
You, he said, honestly; I am going to miss you when you leave me behind.
Thats a while off now isnt it, Master? She sighed, not impatiently, just as a form to make her conundrum audible. Her gaze turned to the sky above.
But it is going to happen, John said.
It is going to happen, she agreed. You know what the first thing I am going to do is?
Nope.
I am going to go far, far away from all cities, somewhere where there is no light pollution whatsoever, Momo smiled ever so faintly. And then I am going to lie and look at the starry sky.
If Richard keeps his word, you can soar through it as well, John said and raised his head to look above with her.
He wrinkled his eyebrows; the stars had vanished and left the sky pitch-ck, only the moon sent a pale light. It was additionally unsettling because it was a new moon.
That looks ominous, a man, kneeling at Johns side,mented. With elegant looks, a sharp jawline and short cut, ck hair, the man was the perfect example of a suit tailored into a human person. Which was incidentally also what he wore.
Both Momo and her creator jumped from the sudden appearance, and they turned as they scrambled away in unison. Hello, the man grinned in a familiarly devilish way.
Richard?! John spoke instinctively.
The Horned Rat, wearing the hull of a human, gave John a thumbs-up. Thats what you call me. Dont be rmed by the sky by the way, Richard answered and pulled his suit into position until it waspletely wless; Its a side effect of the spell I use to hide my presence from the ruler of this space.
So, you arepletely hidden? John made sure. He really didnt want to get into even worse graces with Romulus. Generally, he didnt want to be affiliated with the Horned Rat more than necessary. Although he had a question to forward to the god that would probably change that. One thing after the other, however.
There is no such thing asplete invisibility, the Horned Rat spoke. Especially because I have to not only hide my presence but fool all of the sensors into thinking they are actually still watching reality. Just erasing this spot from everyones monitor would just be waving a g around that screams e get me. He started cackling, So, instead I erased twenty other spots all over the city from perception. The authorities will have fun with that one. If I had to warrant a guess, though, there are two forces still watching us. One is hiding in that brush over there. Richard pointed at one of the many hedges.
A quiet, cursing, Deus Vult, we have been found! could be heard, followed by the rattling of armour.
There was no reason to be concerned about that, the Knights of Teuton had been informed about the godsing. Then Richard pointed at the celestial body above. Also Luna is looking at us, Id bet, he seemed to feast upon the sting of panic that hit John upon hearing that.
Isnt that bad for you? John wanted to know, the moon goddess dislike of the Horned Rat had been quite obvious on herst visit.
She cant rat me out, pun intended, without making Romulus aware, very aware, of Nathalias presence, and I dont n to stay long enough to have her be able to conspire against me, the Horned Rat informed him.
Okay, are you done now? Momo interrupted their talk, she had waited as long as her patience could sustain. Fix me! The demand was quite clear.
Sure, the Horned Rat agreed suspiciously easily.
Just what is your endgame? John wondered as he saw Richard raise a hand. The air rippled, his hand disappearing in a dimensional pocket for a moment. He pulled out a tip of one of his horns.
Eat it, he tossed it at Momo. The support caught it but looked understandably distrusting. The spell I weaved into your core is made to fix itself when you ingest arge amount of my mana, the Horned Rat exined. Happily, he added, Of course it will also increase the amount of power and the rity of information about John I get through you.
The Gamer grit his teeth and red at the Rat, who looked back with a knowing glint in his eyes. I wish I would be a giant asshole sometimes, John thought. Caring for others made it way too easy to be yed at times like this. There was no way he was going to step in and tell Momo that she couldnt fly. The Horned Rat had put everything in ce just so John would be perfectly aware that the god was always watching over his shoulder.
But why? Why did Richard want John to know he was being watched?
Momo looked over at her creator with a sorry expression. She knew that what she was about to do would be bad for him in the long run. With a pained nod John signalled to her that he wasnt happy about it, but that he understood. She swallowed the horn with a disgusted expression.
John ignored the other windows that popped up, asking him to select the item bonus. Instead, he watched as Momo unfolded her wings for the first time.
In the dark, ck night, the white, hexagonal feathers of pure energy were gleaming softly. John could see how the cracks were mended, how the broken panes grewplete and their energy rose in intensity until the gleaming turned into a bright glow. The ck extensions of Momos back that these energy fields were attached to straightened in a series of snaps, until they were fully symmetrical.
As if someone had suddenly flipped the light switch in a dark room after a long night of gaming, the hexagons shed once as power pulsed through them freely for the first time and then slowly dimmed. They stabilized in a state where the individual cells were a pure white frame that turned milky, somewhat see-through, towards the middle.
Momo stretched her wings, unsure what to do despite her earlier bravado. Slowly, her heels rose from the ground. Panic flickered over her features, as if she herself wasnt sure what was happening, then she hovered in the air. She turned around her own axis at a crawling pace. A tiny bit higher, she rose.
She blinked. The wings folded and quivered, feathers of power changing their angle in response. Her body tensed up, limbs slightly pulling towards her torso. Shended on her feet. Then she jumped, and her momentum resisted the pull of gravity with ease.
First, she shot straight upwards, towards the dark moon in the silent night. There was a whirring sound, akin to the buzzing of a power nts turbine put through an electronic filter, as she cut through the air. A simple readjustment of her wings and she made an overly sharp turn, heading straight back towards the ind but with the wrong side of her body pointing at the ground.
Hurriedly, she tried to adjust her course. In a series of janky curves and turbulent swerves, she managed to avert imminent crashing by leaving behind the ind and then nosediving over the edge, vanishing from sight.
John sent Jack after her, but before the sparrow even arrived at the edge, Momo appeared again. With a wonderful smile on her pale lips, her white eyes filled with joy only the fulfilment of a long-standing wish could bring, she twirled through the air. The long poncho fluttered, a multitude of lights sparkling behind Momo as her fireflies spread throughout the empty sky and reced the stars. A trail of red, green, blue and white lights followed Momo as she learned to fly with her mended wings.
The sight, the feeling of her freedom, beaming happiness that spread through John and everyone else that was connected to his mind, all of that made this worth it.
Uh, uh, uh, Sylph flew by, that looks like fine fun. Great fun. I want to join, I wanna to join! A streak of green, the air spirit whizzed after Momo.
You airhead, its I wanna join! Smander, appearing from somewhere as well, quickly followed and added to the beauty in the sky as they flew further and further away.
Eventually all John could see was a whiteet, drawing a trail of stars and orbited by a green and a red streak. Without a doubt the people below had seen more wondrous things in their time here.
They are still within your protective sphere, right? John asked the Horned Rat. He didnt want to rain on their parade, but reality was still a thing. He selected the new bonuses for Momo as he talked to Richard.
There was no choice there.
Yes, they are, Richard assured him. I might be an unsavoury individual, John Newman, but I am not going to deny a girl her first flight in peace.
As long as you dont gain anything from it, John added, and the Horned Rat shrugged innocently.
Well, that concludes my business here, the Horned Rat announced and turned to leave. Visit me announced next time.
Would you be interested in a deal? John asked without looking up from Momos character window, spending her newest points on Intellect. Only after that did he turn his gaze to the Horned Rat.
The human head on top of the suited mans body flickered like a mirage and made way for a downscaled version of the rat skull John was used to. The red dots red with power, and the dry, revealed teeth creaked as his face contorted into an unnatural grin.
Would I?
Chapter 232 – A deal with the devil
Chapter 232 C A deal with the devil
What is it that you seek? the Horned Rat asked.
I want two things, John answered. One, I want you to give me as much of your energy as I can hold.
Are you not afraid I will gain even more control over your life if you do that? the Horned Rat mused.
The gods face was directly in front of Johns, the red orbs gazing closely at him. I will just have to be stronger than you, might as well wield your power as a weapon until then, the Gamer freely stated. Im a small piece on the chessboard right now. I hate that role, but Ill y it.
Mhmhehehe, Richard giggled, his teeth parting a slight bit and a white steam rising from the gap. A smell of rotting flesh and electric smog filled Johns nose. I can agree to that request. State your second desire, and I will consider what I want, want in return.
John waved away the stinking breath. He had the inkling suspicion that this was all still going ording to the Horned Rats expectations. Either this oue had been nned all along or the god was very good at ying it by ear.
I hope all of this is worth it. Secondly, I want you to tell me what you know about this, John pulled the Metracana from his inventory. He had already asked Nathalia about it, but aside from what its name was, the dragon goddess was helpless as well.
A whistling noise escaped Richard, Now that is something rare you have there. Which one is it?
Its name is Metracana Metra, if that is what you are asking.
The grin vanished and the Horned Rat took a respectful step back. The first one, the high priestess, he muttered and rubbed his bony chin. How did you get your hands on it? Ah, it could only be that, yes, it was stuck in Thanas head, wasnt it? I cant think of another exnation for her curse and you getting your hands on this.
I already told you all you need to know, John cut this discussion short. There was no reason to confirm what the Rat guessed, even if it happened to be correct. There was also no reason to keep that knowledge, other than that John was annoyed with the gods conduct.
Indeed, here are my demands: First, you tell me exactly how Thana came back. Second, you, and whatever guild you will form eventually, will enter into an alliance with the Illuminati C starting next year, Richard said.
Next year in days or just next year? John probed as he thought about the proposal in detail. It was December after all, so there was a massive difference there.
365 days, the Horned Rat rified, a purely defensive alliance between us.
Wait, BETWEEN us? John asked, Not me having to aid you?
No, a two-way alliance, the Horned Rat raised his hands. I am here to nourish you, John Newman. To mould you. Make you the weapon that bes my way to counterbnce Romulus and his empire meddling in my affairs.
So, you want me to be your nuclear warhead? John asked with a raised eyebrow.
How John understood it, there was an extreme unbnce in power in the Abyss. There was Romulus at the top and then there was a gap no one could properly fill. There were contenders, but none powerful enough to more than inconvenience the one at the top. The Apex, the sole dominator, who no country or organization that earned his ire could resist. It was evident that Romulus had stopped caring a great deal about the affairs of reality, but a return was always possible. When that happened, one did not want to be on his naughty list. Not without having someone who could push against him, at the very least.
And that was exactly what John could be for the Horned Rat. epting this would put him in a collision course with Romulus. It may happen in one year or in a thousand, but it was likely to happen.
However, the alliance was going to be purely defensive. In a world where Romulus was going to be the aggressor and John was strong enough to stop it, it was better to stop it early. And if I be that strong I can always break that alliance, John thought. Not the honourable thing to do, but always an option. Fine, I ept, he finally said and, after being presented with it, shook the Horned Rats hand on the matter.
As the weaker party in the agreement, he was the first to uphold his end of the bargain. John told him everything about Thanas revival. That included how he had gotten the Metracana, so he learned that after all, but he wasnt going to break his end of the bargain.
Disappointing, the Rat said at the end.
Disappointing? John wondered. It all came as you prophesized. The hell do you mean Disappointing?
Ah, prophecies are such a fickle thing, do you know how they work? Richard seemed to ask genuinely. John had to shake his head. Do you think I am more intelligent than you? the Horned Rat asked out of nowhere.
Currently? Yes. John had no doubts about that being a fact. Maybe the Gamer was smart, but the Rat was a genius schemer. I would say your analytical prowess surpasses mine twice fold, John took a wild guess.
Mhm, lets say I agree to that. My Intellect stat is about ten times yours, yes? Richard continued asking.
John let out a frustrated sigh, Thats the number you showed me, so lets say I agree to that.
Snickering for a moment, the Rat continued, I would say when you reach around 1000 Intellect yourself you will unlock it, the ability to guess the future.
Guess? John asked, You are telling me that you GUESSED that whole prophecy?
Divination is nothing else but a moment of extreme rity, the Horned Rat calmly exined. The pieces fall together, all of the information you have forms a neat little picture. The problem is you will never have all the pieces and they can be put together in drastically different ways. In the case of Thana, I knew all the important yers; however, it turns out I was wrong in the end, the god turned towards the house. She did not ascend.
What do you even mean by ascend anyway? John wanted to know. If it wasnt hering back to life, he was truly confused.
I just expected more, the Horned Rat gave a cryptic answer. Maybe. I think. To reiterate, it is a moment of extreme rity. Even the one speaking a prophecy is often left confused as to its contents. Maybe I will receive what I want another time. But enough of this matter, lets give you that power boost. Richard tipped John on the nose. Boop.
Okay, overall, it wasnt all that great. That Achievement sounded ominous as fuck, just like thest one he got from getting a gods blessing, and it came with something awesome, again.
Finally, John thought, something to counter all of that spying shit going on! The bonuses were okay, free Intellect and Arcane Resistance was nice, also an SEP, but THIS skill would hopefully lessen the giant headache he got whenever he had to deal with information brokers.
Onto the next part then, Richard said, pointing at the Metracana. I think I dont need to exin to you what an Artificial Spirit is. John looked up at Momo, still soaring through the skies.
That is a pretty safe assumption, yes, he agreed.
The Metracanas are to Artificial Spirits what the atom bomb is to the nuclear power nt. They are the first application of the creation method, an artificial sentience created from the theory of how to create a golem. The ancient Akkadians came up with the method, and their king, Sargon of Akkad, was the one to finally seed in it, aided by the star god Enki and the goddess of chaos, Tiamat. Bybining the technique with the most valuable metal he could find, Astrotium, a metal that is only present where a falling star crashes into an Illusion Barrier, he made an autonomous, artificial, and sapient being, the Horned Rat exined.
Okay. So, this, John held up the Metracana, is an Artificial Spirit prototype made from a meteorite?
Correct, Richard said, but also oversimplified. Artificial Spirits are the tamer, more publicly useful cousins of Metracanas. They are creations of war and of a less civilized time, when Gaia wasnt quite as uppity about interfering with normal folk. They can be reprogrammed for pretty much all of the nasty stuff you can think of. limate them with your mana for long enough and eventually they will have some sort of reaction to your intention based on which one of them you have. The dormant personality will awaken.
That is very vague, John pointed out.
The Horned Rat made a helpless gesture, The how to create them and all finer details about the individual Metracanas were lost in the burning of Alexandria. All I can tell you is that they pop up throughout history, typically as advisors or generals to ascending or established sovereigns, rarely being outspoken about what they are. Metra is the first Metracana and bears the title First of Wrath C a title that simrly limits her approach to things.
So, if its owner wanted to use it to sedate someone, that someone would only be able to feel while in battle, John extrapted.
Indeed, Richard agreed and then tapped Johns chest in a jesting manner; If you were to awaken it, the Metracana would most likely turn into a beautiful berserker woman.
John stayed silent, that was not unlikely. It would be kind of weird, but not unlikely. So, wait, are these things shapeshifters? The Horned Rat just stared at him for a few seconds. John waved off, as soon as the stupidity of the question dawned on him. Aclysia could already change her exterior to a certain extent, so having things that were like her be able to do the same wasnt unusual. Just continue, he urged the Rat.
Once you form a bond with a Metracana you agree on a contract. After that, one of three things happen: either the mission you gave it is fulfilled, in which case it will either disappear by using the remaining mana as fuel or ask for a new contract. Second option is: you die, in which case it will nk itself after confirming your death. Last option is that the Metracana rebels against you, although I have rarely heard of this. Not that Metracanasmonly talk about their past contracts.
John nodded, that was a lot of information butrgely understandable. There was one more thing he wanted to know though, How dangerous are these things?
You tell me; it evidently wasnt dangerous when it came out of Thanas head, the Horned Rat shrugged. Maybe your Gamer powers will warp the rules of this thing as well, maybe it will be an equipment piece or useless trash. These things are like the Japanese curses or the passing down of the Mandate of Heaven, mysteries of an older time. You would need to find a truly ancient god of knowledge to inform you in detail about these things.
And where would I find one of those? John probed.
You have heard about Babylon? the Horned Rat returned the question.
The attempt to kill Gaia before Pompeii? Yes they are all dead, arent they?
From Marduk to Thoth, pretty much, Richard admitted and looked at the moon with worry. As ast titbit of knowledge, there has not been a single report of a Metracana being permanently destroyed. The Horned Rat nced at the moon above. Now, Ill have to make an exit, before Luna reconsiders whether her dislike of me is stronger than her wish to see her love and Nathalia on talking terms again.
I really hope she associated me with one and not the other, John pointed out, and the Horned Rat cackled in response. Then, the god turned into a liquid of some kind, glowing a light blue before being whisked away. Is that what teleporting looks like from the outside?
John had another SEP to spend while he waited for Momo to finallynd. Still no reason to hold onto these. What to use it on though? Blink was an eligible new target, but he had the feeling that he would get something like proper teleportation next. While that sounded awesome on paper, he doubted he had the mana to support that at this time.
Lets go with Mana Ray, John decided on a whim. His goal wasnt even to evolve it necessarily, but maybe he could get a new skill out of it? He could use something else in the long-range department.
Arcane Lance was easily the worst of the bunch. Enemies lining up in a row was a fringe case and most times he would be better off using Arcane Explosion instead. Mana Laser was just a more cost-effective version of Mana Ray, maybe with a higher range and damage as well. It was the smart choice.
But Arcana Strike sounded REALLY cool. He also didnt have siege magic yet. That thing sounded like he could put it above a city, go drink coffee ande back to ept their surrender. Without any second guesses, he chose Arcana Strike. Then he called Momo down, they had to eat dinner.
John was all fidgety to test the skill tomorrow. He was almost more excited about that than the tournament starting.
Chapter 233 – Terra Incognita [Erotic Content]
Chapter 233 C Terra Incognita [Erotic Content]
John awoke when he felt someones hand on his dick.
He had gone to bed early, alone, with the goal to simply nap through the rest of his blue balls. After a day filled with running after Thana and other battles, he had been fast asleep. I am going to quite literally go balls deep into the first girl that I see when I wake up, those had been hisst thoughts before dreams imed him.
So, when he now felt his privates being touched after 24 hours of denial, not to mentioned the months of daily debaucheries that preceded that, he had two very opposite reactions. One was the bliss of finally feeling some pleasure again. The other was the sting of panic of being threatened with failing the Quest in thest few minutes.
Johns eyes darted over to the rm clock on the nightstand. The glowing blue numbers spelled 00:01 AM. In other words, he was safe. He rxed and moaned, now just happy to have been so pleasantly woken up. Slightly groggy from the interruption of his sleep, he nced down, but all he saw was a person sized bulge under the nket, just between his legs.
Its time for a guessing game then, John thought with a grin, as the persons index finger trailed up the length of his dick. Her other hand was holding his dick at the base. He must have had a rather lewd dream, as his dick was rock hard already. Pre-cum dribbled from the tip of his cock.
The sticky liquid ran down the underside of the head, barely crossing the line where the ns ended and the shaft began before being greeted by a hot, wet tongue that eagerly licked it up and followed the trail it had left all the way back to the source. With wonderful ease, the tongue moved in a circle around the tip of Johns dick. The mystery girls small hands, now both wrapped around the whole length of his cock, jerked him off to gain more of the taste-enhanced liquid.
The greatest gift of the Libido 25 perk is that everyone wants to suck me off, John thought. His pre-cum apparently didnt taste as great as his actual cum, he wouldnt know as he didnt try, but it evidently tasted good enough for no one toin.
The girl underneath had small hands with fittingly short fingers, so John could already count out Nathalia. The dragoness had hands fitting of someone her body-size. The fact that whoever was under that nket also was willing to give him a blowjob also eliminated Siena from the list. Gnome he doubted had the courage to do this alone, and there wasnt a second tongue around.
Speaking of that tongue, now that the head of Johns cock was thoroughly coated in the lubricating mixture of saliva and pre-cum, the mystery girl pulled the upper of her two hands away and pressed her lips against his tip. As they enveloped it John groaned in delight.
The feeling of getting sucked into the hot mouth of a woman was almost enough to make him shout. The soft, smooth flesh of the girls cheeks as she made sure there was no air, only cock, in her mouth. The slurping sound, muffled by the nket, as she put her other hand lower to suck him in deeper.
The rest of Johns elementals were out now as well, their blowjobs all had some rather unusual characteristics to them. This mouth, those lips, they were definitely human. The fullness of Aclysias pink, beautiful lips came to mind, but despite how close to the real thing they felt, there was always a slightly stic feel about them. Momo had been highly unlikely from the start, but that crossed her off the list as well.
Mystery girl was at the halfway point and now had trouble getting deeper. Not a lot, she still moved on, but there was a remaining gag reflex and just a general struggle to forcefully push the phallic length of Johns dick into herself. Soon, however, John felt the betraying slimy quivering of having entered the throat.
At this point John clenched his hands underneath the nket. There wasnt a lot keeping him from cumming, just sheer willpower and the wish toe to a conclusion before he did. A silly thing but a goal nheless.
The three girls John still had avable in his mental guessing game were Rave, Lydia and Thana. Thest of which he excluded due to her still asionally breaking down doors. It was unlikely that she would go ahead and y with his dick uninvited when there was still a chance of idents.
Johns cock was now all the way down the girls throat. The tip of her nose stubbed against his crotch as his balls trembled, both from the girls quivering and repressed coughs and from the continued repressing of release.
Between Rave and Lydia there was a somewhat equal chance. Lydia had her asional bursts of perverseness while Rave had done this exact same thing before. The only way to find out for sure was
The girl tried to pull back and take a breath, but found Johns hands resting on her head. Firmly, he pushed her down again, the feeling of short, curly hair against his palms. So, its Jane! he thought with certainty and finally let go.
The moment he rxed the slightest bit, his balls tightened and semen exploded from the tip of his dick with relentless force. A whole days worth of the white, cloudy liquid spurted into the girls mouth and throat. Involuntary moans came from the mystery girls mouth as she gulped it down, her taste buds being flooded with wonderful vour. John, his whole body stretched in orgasmic pleasure, pressed what he presumed to be his girlfriend down onto his crotch for the whole duration of his orgasm.
When his orgasm finally subsided and his body rested limply on the mattress, he threw the nket aside with a smirk. When he spotted a sh of green his arm froze mid-air. The nket hit the ground beside the bed with a gentle thud andy there still, just like the whole room was.
A green-haired girl sat on his bed. To say it was curly would be an understatement, to say it was the quintessence of all things curly would be more urate. It reached down to below her chin and her eyes, of a simr vibrant green colour, rested in a young face, with light red lips and a cute stubby nose.
She wore a jet-ck one-piece dress that clung to her body until, just above her hips, it parted into four slits that would have reached down to her feet if they werent currentlyying on the bed. John could see her petite breasts with hardened nipples and t stomach clearly, as if the dress was merely painted on. Even the depression of her belly button was visible. From earlier meetings, John also knew that she had an ass that was easily in the Top 2 of his favourite backsides.
Mystery girl, also known as Gaia, supreme deity of the Abyss and Earth, writer of Achievements and nerfer of his shit, looked at John with furrowed eyebrows. I try to be a nice girl, she said, a green aura spreading over the frame. Her left hand raised to her chin, and she trailed up a drop of cum that ran down her chin and then sucked it off, And then you bastard almost choke me!
I thought you were Jane! John defended himself. What are you doing here anyhow?! Arent you busy protecting creation or something? Instead, you suck my dick like its a lollipop!
S-shut it! Gaia, her face flushing red, demanded and pointed at John. Its a Quest reward! You hear me? A Quest reward! I definitely am not doing this because I am curious what those skills can do or because Zone dared me! her tone told John that it was both of these things, beyond any shadow of a doubt. Gaia, who read that from his surface thoughts, blushed even deeper. Argh, just stop being stupid!
With the sound of a piece of bubble wrap bursting, reality was rewritten and Gaia was suddenly sitting on top of Johns crotch. Actually, she was hovering in a straddle sitting position, John noticed after ncing at the miniscule distance between her and the mattress.
Really? he asked; You cant even crawl, like, 40 centimetres?
I told you to shut it! Gaia told him and pushed her face up close. Would YOU walk if you could teleport literally anywhere? No? Didnt think so! As she answered for him, John, whose field of vision was almost entirely her face, stared into her eyes. He noticed seven thin ck lines, cutting through a thin ring, that separated her iris into segments. Hmph, Gaia made a dismissive noise and hovered back up.
She put her hands on her hips and slowly had them glide over her dress, upwards. Wherever she touched a golden glow ate away at the fabric and spread outwards. It was a pretty way to get naked quickly, and John, deciding to just go with the flow of things (as he always did when presented with decidedly stronger women wanting to bone him), just drank in the sight.
Her frame, as he noted beforehand, was petite. She had the body and face of an early twenty-year-old, with B-Cup tits and wide hips to sport that impressive arse of hers. She was, however, even smaller than Thana. That still made her taller than Sylph, but still.
Her pink nipples were already hard, and John, noting theck of panties, could easily see her desire in the wetness of her sex. A small green triangle of trimmed hair decorated her mons. In my duty as supreme deity over your helpless, little, actually t, butt, Gaia said with a sassy smile, I give you the choice. Want to have this go missionary, cowgirl or doggystyle?
John, who knew that at least the girls in his harem agreed that his butt was amazing (after he raised his physical stats), decided to be a smartass and answered with, Yes.
Gaias sassy smile stayed in ce, Your choice, nerd, just try not to cum too quickly.
Before he could ask what she was nning, he experienced it on his own body. His field of view tripled as reality was torn into three different states. The first one was where Gaia was still hovering over his crotch, her legs spread and his hard cock only centimetres away from her glistening pussy. In the second she wasying on the bed, legs pulled backwards, knees almost up to her head, thighs pushing her small tits together, hands holding them in ce by the hollow.In the third one she was bent over in front of him, her juicy ass presented to him in full view.
John blinked in all three realities at once, as a user of Possession he was used to shifting perspectives, but this was a bit different. He raised a hand and did so two more times simultaneously with a conscious effort. Concentrating on moving the index finger in just one reality was a sess, so he could move these bodies independently, it just took a bit more of him. Generally, however, it seemed that he was only in one body at a time.
Hey, sexy goddess down and up here, Gaia said with one voice. Get that dick to work. I dont have all night. If given the choice, he would have liked more time to adjust, but he would have to deal with how things were for the moment and learn on the fly. He put a hand on the Gaias hips and aligned his cocks with the entrances.
Slowly Gaia met him in the cowgirl position. She lowered herself down on his dick and moaned. Yeah, those abilities you have thanks to me really give some immediate impact, she said and licked her lips, causing them to glisten in a sourceless light. Time to test what else they can do.
With his dick already well lubricated by saliva and precum and Gaia being dripping wet, moving was not a problem whatsoever. As the supreme deity pulled back up, John blinked. Her ass slowly rocked forwards as Gaia looked back and gave him an amused sneer before mming all the way down to the base.
John felt three pussies envelop his dick. The different positions made the folded walls tense at different ces, causing them to massage different parts of his cock. If that wasnt enough, he was more sensitive too, not only from the short-term abstinence but also because he, quite literally, had three times the cock that could be pleased right now.
Gaia didnt care, she slid right back up his shaft with her tight snatch rubbing threefold over his whole length. John clenched his teeth. Aw, too much for you? Gaiaughed at him, her eyes glowing with power. John shook his head and put his second hands on her hips as well. If he was going to enter supreme pleasure hell, he was going to give the sassy deity the pounding that she deserved.
Blink.
Gaia was spread out in front of him, his hands stuck between her wonderfully smooth, raised thighs and narrow waist. Her stomach was wrinkled because of the position her legs were in, and for the same reason, her thighbones stuck out from her sides a bit.
You done staring yet, you pervert? she wanted to know; Dont forget that you are pleasing, or at least trying to, the number one deity here! Her tiny frame was just such a prime target for a good fucking that John met her demands with a relentless assault. If she was going to make fun of him, all he needed to do was to fuck the words out of her.
And so, he started intensely thrusting as he blinked.
Gaias face changed into a satisfyingly surprised expression. Mouth wide open, she had just been about to say something, but she let out a high-pitched moan instead. The smug smile was wiped off her face as she failed to close her mouth again in the fast ravaging John presented to her. I am not the only one who feels all of this thrice, John thought as he thrusted from
Behind, he pulled back a hand and pped the supreme deitys ass. The ripples of jiggly meat and sharp cry, more bliss than pain, tempted him to do it again; however, he gave Gaia the chance to utter aint. H-hey! Aaaaah! He thrusted as hard into her as he could. D-do-
Do that again? John groaned an interruption with a wide grin. With pleasure.
The smack echoed over to the next reality, Gaias yelp was apanied with her letting go of her legs, as shey in front of John. Concentrating on not moaning too loudly and giving John the satisfaction of knowing how good he made her feel, she didnt notice how her legs instinctively wrapped around the Gamers hips and locked behind his back.
John very much noticed that and smirked widely, readjusting his efforts. He had just cum some time ago, so he was incredibly sensitive to what was happening right now, but he wasnt close yet. She, however, was practically writhing underneath him, her pussy gushing from her first orgasm.
Blink.
Gaia had messed with the bull, and now she was getting the cock. Physically she may have been still on top, but she was not in control of this rodeo. John thrusted into her from below and each time her whole body jumped. The supreme deity struggled to sit upright as she moaned loudly throughout her orgasm. It was prolonged without end. John did his best to reduce Gaia to a screaming, quivering mess.
Gaias movements were searching for a rhythm that matched his, her body craving that same pleasure as any human would. Even the supreme deity could be reduced to her bare instincts, it seemed.
Their hips met over and over again as she hovered up and down while also moving her body normally. Blink. Her ass jiggled every time he went balls deep into her. Her moans were muffled by the pillow she buried her face in. Blink.
inly for John to see, Gaias eyes rolled upwards. Those orbs of wonderful, vibrant green, like a grassy in under a summer sun, now ssy with lust and barely visible. Her mouth wide open, red lips forming an O, with her tongue lolling out. Gracelessly, saliva ran over her chin as her face contorted into a grimace of pure bliss. Her pussy was gushing and gripped Johns cock. Completely senseless sounds left her mouths, screams of intense physical pleasure made noise, cries of debauchery made constant, moans of bottomless delight echoing through the eternity of a split reality. All a constant reminder that seemingly every single one of Johns thrusts sent Gaia over the edge.
The sights, the sounds, the tripled feelings. The sextupled feelings, the twelvefold feelings. Reality split again and again. M-more! Gaia demanded with the rest of her gasping voice. More positions, more cocks into her, more thrusts, more wonder, more pleasure. Johns brain switched off as it became unable to follow. He was a single, seemingly endless, thrust forward as the pleasure of hundreds of him impeded on his mind, and once that thrust had met its end, all of these realities went white.
The feeling ofing inside all of them at once was indescribable. The gorgeous, small deity writhed, she arched, she screamed, she whimpered. Every possible end result, every single position the female body could take at their height of pleasure was before Johns eyes. Curled toes, bent spines, meeting lips, rolled back eyes, focused gazes, endless, thebinations were endless, but they all were getting their pussies creampied. Spurt after spurt, he emptied his balls into them. Overtaken, wordless, soundless, his body focused on this seemingly foreversting release.
However, there was no such thing as a real forever, and so he eventually copsed, feeling Gaia twitch under him as the realities folded back into one space.
Chapter 234 – Mind-crush
Chapter 234 C Mind-crush
Hello? Gaia asked and snapped her fingers in front of John. No reaction. Well, this is bad, she said, her dress appearing back on her body. May have gone too far at the end there. Thought you would be able to handle it. Turns out you are way weaker than I thought. First you fail against that Lorylim copy I made and now thisI mean I could see thising, but I have to deal with you frail mortals so rarely that I sometimes forget how much you can take
Continued silence.
Okay? Rude, let me just she put a hand on his head. Literally nothing in here anymore. Really disappointing. Cant beat a Lorylim, cant fuck me properly, God -which is me- we will try this again wayter then. Just going to fix you up really quickly.
John jerked up suddenly. Argh, my head, heined. It was as if the synapses all had been hit with a rocketuncher and then stapled back together. Twice.
There, now you work again; I am off, Gaia said. See you when you next fuck something up.
Wait, just why are you doing things to me? John asked. Last time I thought you were trying to keep me alive, but you know what, by now I doubt that! It seems more like you are preparing me for something like I am some kind of rare tool!
Maybe I am, not your damn business, just survive, Gaia simply stated before disappearing.
I very much disagree with that, John mumbled and rubbed his forehead. He had something beyond a headache and his eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his skull. It was getting better though. He recalled having sex with Gaia just fine, and he knew what had happened at the end there, but there were no experiences attached to that knowledge.
It was as if someone had forcefully cut a part out of a movie and then had dragged the script through the audiences head instead, letter for letter. The subsiding pain was way nicer than the state of brain-death he had been in during Gaias monologue.
While ultimately not the best of rewards, John would notin whatsoever about sex or the safety of his balls.
He heard hasty steps in front of the door, and Rave, Lydia and Thana burst in with panicked expressions. A bit after them came Nathalia, who looked less worried, but the fact that she actually came here was telling. Under other circumstances, John would have bet that they had seen the time and scrambled to see if he was awake.
Rave took the lead and walked up to him, scanning him up and down and then smirked, Ya look fine, whoo.
What happened? John asked the worried ensemble.
Basically, we were having fun and asked Aclysia toe get ya since your quest shouldve been done and all that jazz when she suddenly shut down. Momo copsed as well, and the elementals just got a sudden mega headache. So, we scrambled to have a look, Rave told him.
John quickly informed her about the happenings of thest few minutes.
Thanasughing became a constant background noise.
I dont believe you, Nathalia growled, and John gulped. Technically Gaia was another goddess, so he had just overstepped some of the dragoness set boundaries.
I CANT believe you, Lydia said.
I totally do, Rave smirked. Knew she wasnt wearing panties! Probably just summoned themst time!
Thats the bit you concentrate on? John wondered. Not the whole the ruler of creation just had sex with my boyfriend?
Meh, thought it was going to happen eventually anyway, and if I can ept Nathalia over there, I can live with that Tatsumaki clone, Rave waved off.
You stuck your dick into the Earth! Thana managed to scramble a sentence together. Fucking priceless.
Out of my way, Nathalia pushed everyone aside and then climbed to John on the bed. Her eyes spelled her intent to mark her territory so to say.
Rave held onto her boyfriend, Get to the back of the line, ya lizard!
We can share, I dont care, Nathalia told the techno-lover. I am not going to just live with Gaia meddling in my business. John is mine; other goddesses will have to search for their own lovers.
May I remind you whose house you are currently upying? Lydia said as she walked up to the bed. And of the situations potential danger? John, can you reaffirm whether everyone is fine or not?
Already did, John told her. He had been going through all of his familiars and checking on their conditions. Some memory sharing also cleared up the confusion. It seemed as if Gaia had temporarily isted them to make sure that she and John had their privacy.
That didnt separate the connection, though, and when the whole dimension splitting thing had fried his brain, the Artificial Spirits had copsed due to theck of a connection and the elementals had experienced some rather massive headaches.
Is that normally what happens when a summoner bes braindead? John wondered.
No, Lydia told him, the normal happenstance, for the summons to stay bound until the body actually perishes, is also unpleasant for the participants but nothing quite as bad as this. Artificial Spirits also dont usually copse like this because of their summoners mind shutting down.
Huh, some magical rebound then? John wondered.
Lydia nodded, Or a quirk of your Innate Ability. Either way, your im that you slept with Gaia is absurd.
He smells off her, Nathalia said and sniffed at John.
Yup, Thana, still giggling, agreed and also joined everyone on the bed. She licked Johns dick, especially down here.
The Gamer kept a close eye on Thana remaining on the licking level. While the ensemble of naked women, all reeking of the intercourse they had been in before the situation had demanded them to move, had made him hard again, he was not quite horny enough to let Thana blow him. Face-fucking was fine because she only had to keep her mouth open, but when she had to move on her own, well.
John was fine with getting his hand broken asionally, but his dick was very good where it was.
Anyway, the women were getting quite pushy right now, and the rest of his elementals oriented towards this room together with Aclysia and Momo, weirdly enough. Look, I like orgies, sue me, Momo told him, but he also felt a slight need to feel alive inside her. Apparently having ones brain shut off was a pretty bad near-death experience. Aclysia didnt care as much. She had been through a few of those already, same was true for John.
Nothing like a giant orgy to get back to normal sex.
When he next awoke, it was because the rm clock rang at 9:30. They had fallen asleep after a while on Lydias insistence that today was going to be a busy day. She had, of course, been right about that. The only person that would have disagreed, Nathalia, had already been asleep. Not a great wonder seeing that she had been fucking almost constantly for about 36 hours.
As they were all in the same bed right now, save for Siena who had taken her usual resting ce in Johns shadow, he got to watch some rather amusing things, namely the individual awakening habits of everyone in the group. He was doing so through the eyes of Jack, the sparrow was sitting on top of a shelf.
First to wake up was Lydia. With a slightly groggy expression, her upper body shot straight up. Two blinks, one towards the surroundings and the other towards the clock, and she had assessed the situation. She opened her mouth, probably to force everyone else to wake up as well, but then closed it again while shaking her head, her messy hair losing thest bit of braid it still had and now flowing openly. You promised to rx your standards, she mumbled to herself as she made her way out, deactivating the rm as she did. Give them time until 10.
Up next was Aclysia. While she technically hadnt slept in the first ce, she hadid down next to John and cuddled against his left side for the past few hours. His arm was wrapped around her back and had found its natural resting ce on her silicon butt (incidentally, his other hand was resting on the butt of his girlfriend in exactly the same manner).
Aclysias head was resting on his shoulder, her closed eyes slowly opening. Good morning, Master, she spoke into his thoughts, knowing full well that he was awake already.
Morning, he answered and opened his eyes as well. They looked at each other; the pale green of her eyes was a wonderful thing to see in the morning.
She brought her lips to his and kissed him gently. The warm softness of Aclysia, the soft aroma of fresh books and cherries? Now that was something new. Do you like it, Master? she asked, somewhat nervously; I took my raised allowance to buy some perfumes that might please you. I have an assortment of over 120ponents inside me that I could mix however you may prefer. I will immediately forego this waste of money if you dislike it!
John had to interrupt their kiss because he was quietly chuckling. Its fine, he assured her. I am happy that you spent your money with me in mind, but its yours to do with as you please. No reason to ask me for approval. Although, John took a deep breath, I have to admit that this smell is way more pleasant than what I expected.
The drawback of falling asleep amongst a bunch of willing girls, that he spent a good few hours fucking, is that they were, for the most part, pretty messy and the room usually smelled ordingly of cold sweat and dried sexual juices in the morning. The unpleasant reality of these things not cutting to ck after the fun part was done.
He was therefore pretty happy with Aclysia spending her allowance (which he had raised following the ridiculous amount of money the Troll Arena had given him) on something that eliminated that problem through the clever recement of her own, non-existent sweat with perfumes. As long as it stayed on a sensible scale of course, he didnt want the only thing anyone could smell in a 5-metre radius to be her fragrance.
He squeezed her butt, and she bit her lip with a look at his erection, which she was more than certainly the cause for. Master, would you like me to please you right now or go and prepare breakfast? she asked with a clear hope for the earlier answer.
Against my nature, I will have to go with thetter, John told her. They had to get moving, and he was pretty hungry. If they started fucking again now, that would cause a chain reaction that ended with everyone else here involved.
I understand may I request that you squeeze my butt again before I go? she asked, snuggling up against him.
Sure thing, John enthusiastically answered and did as he was told. The guardian writhed a bit under the touch, and he kissed her one more time. Now go, he whispered and pulled his hand away.
After a moment of pouting, Aclysia stood up and left the room. John only then realized that Momo was embracing her sister from behind. The artificial bookworm was as awake as Aclysia, but where her older sister had taken to cuddle John, she had cuddled Aclysia throughout the night. She didnt stop even as Aclysia walked through the door and was therefore carried down into the living room. Clothes sprouted from their bodies as they went.
In quick session, the elemental quartet opened their eyes, perhaps stirred by the mental conversation that John and Aclysia had been having. Undine was the first, silently sliming her way into the bathroom without furtherments.
Gnome woke up next and looked around for a moment before blushing heavily and making sure nobody was awake to see her. Then she spotted Jack. Clearly not wanting to be the one who made a tirade in the morning, she gestured her embarrassment away with hands iling up and down before vanishing into that corner of Johns brain reserved for the elementals.
With the first moves of Sylph, the tranquillity of the room was in dire straits. The air spirit started flying upwards in a half-asleep state, like a balloon that suddenly discovered its purpose again. John could already hear the explosion of chatter that would ur once she hit the ceiling and, somewhat nervously, was reminded that Nathalia was sleeping in this room.
I got it, Smander told him with a mental yawn. Sylph, hello, you in there?
Mumblechangas are superheroes too! came a non-sensical answer. They survive on the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, alone. Thats awesome! They are awesome!
Yeah, sure, Smander drily stated, maybe you will get to meet some if you just go into our room? Come, I will guide you there.
Thanks, evil Ovedy, with thatment they both disappeared as well.
One crisis averted, the next one woke up when there was a loud noise of someone rolling off the bed andnding on the ground. Hello floor, you fucking life-fisting idiotic shit-eating asshole of a hard-wooden thing, came the tirade of high-pitched curses that could only possibly belong to one person.
Thanas hand appeared on the edge of the bed as she pulled herself up. The frame creaked dangerously, but she was on her feet a momentter. Grrrrrrrrr, a deep, husky rumble from Nathalias stomach. It was both concerning and highly amusing. The dragoness opened her eyes, glowing like hot iron, woken up by the sudden storm of noises.
Nathalia pushed herself off the bed with a majorly unhappy expression. Be quiet, whelp, she growled and ran a hand through her fiery hair. Not that she would have needed it; aside from Lydia, everyone seemed to be enchanted with perfect morning hair.
I am now hungry, tired and horny. I need solutions in that order. John, where is your fridge?! the dragoness demanded her desires to be quenched with utmost haste.
Aclysia is making breakfast downstairs, John, now really happy he had made that call, told her.
Your servant is truly a great asset, Nathalia, sniffing and picking up the smell of something, told him before jumping out of bed.
She is a fucking bully, Thana said and picked up her robes. Not that I amining. Food is the greatest fucking thing though. I wonder if I can talk her into giving me breakfast pudding? With that question on her mind, the blood mage went after the dragoness.
That left John with Rave. His girlfriend was still deep asleep, cuddled against his right side. She also had her legs wrapped around him in a way that didnt allow him to open them. Her arms were wrapped around him in a way that gave him just enough room to breathefortably.
It wasnt the weirdest position he had ever woken up in. John enjoyed the quiet for a bit. The only sound in the room was the soft breathing of Rave and her asional weird mutters. The answer to the equation is a fist in your face, Liz, was the one he managed to understand.
Eventually, however, time demanded that John woke her up. Hey, Jane, he said, quietly. His mouth was pretty much right next to her ear.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? she asked with a yawn, opening her eyes.
We have to get up, he told her.
Urgh, ya say the same thing every morning, sheined and kissed him on the cheek. Whadareya an rmclock?
More of an rmcock, am I right? John punned.
Rave gave him a very disappointed look and unhugged him. And now I am wide awake hey, where is everyone? she asked.
Already woke up and left, he told her.
And ya were waiting for me? How cute. Rave stretched, her wonderful little breasts on open disy.
Showering without you just isnt the same, he said, and they smirked at each other.
That so? Well ya shouldnt wonder why ya arent growing body hair anymore if ya keep showering with me every morning.
What do you mean by that? John wanted to know.
I mean that I have shampoo against getting cactus legs. The Abyss is the ce of every girls needs, didnt ya know that already? she grinned.
So thats where my sorry excuse for chest hair has gone, John thought. Well, he didnt miss it (he had shaved it off in the first ce after all), he looked better without. It had been a curious development though, when it never returned. And here I thought that was some part of Gamers Body So how does that work? John wondered as he got up and they made their nude stroll to the bathroom.
Dunno, ask an alchemist or get yourself a Skillbook or something, Rave suggested. I know only that it blocks the growth of new hair. Something about separation by area?
Ahso, wait, does that mean I can just apply that every morning and my hair will stay the same length?
Yup, Rave said and pushed open the door. They ignored Undine in her bathtub and went straight into the shower. Wanna make this a quickie? Rave asked with a smirk as the overly hot water ran over them. Of course, he did.
Chapter 235 – So, it begins… almost.
Chapter 235 C So, it begins almost.
John looked at the blue ball above the dwarf fortress. It was about the size of a grown man and slowly gained mass. It shone with the intensity of a small, blue sun. The Arcana Strike had been hovering there for about four minutes.
Compared to the fortress, the size of a hill and the shape of a mountain, with walls carved from it and reinforced with lots and lots of metal, it wasnt exactly big though.
This is so d-u-l-l - dull! Raveined. Why are we doing this again?
We are testing this Skills power, Lydia, who had an eye on the clock, reminded Rave. We agreed upon a five-minute charging period at Johns maximum mana. Which is about now.
John unleashed the attack with the ease of a thought. A straight line descended from the orb in the sky to the fortress below. Then, with supersonic speed, the giant mass of arcane power hit the ground. There was a deep noise, distorted as if put through electronic tools, like the beat of an old techno song, apanied by a gust of wind that forced everyone in the group to take a step back.
The explosion spread outward, ripping apart blocks of stone and scattering them into the air in a rising blue mass of magical energies and dust. A pir of power in turmoil,yers uponyers of translucent energy, like ripped blue satin wrapped around an iron rod, the shape roughly equivalent to a cone, broad side at the ground, tip where the Arcana Strike had charged. An upside-down, blue hurricane in appearance, just that there was no safe eye of the storm here.
John looked at it with a bit of worry as the energy became less vtile and finally was little more than a blue hue over a crater the size of the fortress. Actually, it was slightly smaller than the fortress; the outer walls were still intact, giving the impression of some ancient civilization building a wall around an impact site.
The reason why he was worried was that they had positioned Thana inside the fortress to test for friendly fire. John hadnt been a huge fan of the idea, but she had insisted once Lydia had presented it. They all knew that she could take it, but that didnt mean that it was a pleasant thought.
A human sized dot flew over from, the around 500 metres away, impact site. Robe fluttering, Thananded about a third of the way before making a second and then third jump. I actually thought I would need new fucking clothes there for a moment, Thana said and shook fine particle dust from the ck cloth, but this shit is made to survive the next holocaust, which is bitchingly awesome if you ask me.
Soyou took damage? John wanted to know. He tried paying close attention to her health bar, but with her regeneration, he could have just blinked and whatever damage she took would have been gone.
Oh yeah, seared my skin a bit before I did some magic-fuckery to protect against it, Thana waved off before the apocalyptic background. I would say it would probably outright defeat the weakest one of us so, Lydia, stay the fuck away.
Pardon? Lydia asked.
Ya heard me, anal queen, Thanaughed, or are you saying you arent?
I am
Because you sure as fuck are weaker than me, the blood mage interrupted; John and his elemental gallery would tear you the fuck apart as well. Aclysia would need to make her body out of something non-metally, but I think they ate enough cocksleeves to be rubber. That is if their innate magic resistance isnt enough.
I am in agreement with that statement, but
Rave wouldnt spank you quite as hard, but she would win like 9/10 times. In a fighting context, your powers are really not that fucking great, unless your opponent relies heavily on something made from metal. Like swords or armour or some other shit Thana chuckled. Khahaha, for a noble you have some majorly supportive powers, miss princess of steel Looking over to John, she froze, The fuck are you looking at me like that for? John wasnt looking at her at all, instead he was sighing and massaging the bridge of his nose.
You arent wrong, he told her, that was just pretty blunt.
Well, blunt is best, no use to hide the fucking thing, Thana defended herself. Unless it turns out she can beat anyone besides Momo and Momo can at least survive that thing.
Ja, actually agree with that, Rave said.
Lydia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I find myself unable to refute those ims, she admitted. In a vacuum I am going to lose to all of you. My powers are more reliant on external factors than any of yours are.
I guess ya have the highest potential power in a metal rich environment though, Rave said, feeling that the princess may have been cut down a bit too far.
The environment isn''t a huge concern. People like me fight under the theory of control zones, Lydia said.
Let me guess, John said and started counting; There is the zone of total control, where basically all metal is under your control, which is the closest one to you. Then the zone of partial control, where you can get anything under your control but not everything. Last and least the zone of no control, where you would have to put massive effort to get even the slightest bit of metal under your control.
That isrgely urate in its description, yes, Lydia said and nced at the rest of their party. For the sake of rity, let me give you a demonstration.
The buttons of her uniform unhinged from her clothes without any problems. They were her emergency projectiles. More te and other pieces of small metal surfaced from her clothing until there was a swarm of scrap around her. If John had to guess, a total of 8 or 10 kilograms in mass.
This is about the amount of metal I canfortably control within my zone of absolute control. It is easier to control things in a big unit than as several small things, as she spoke the swarm became first a solid, neatly organized shield and then a spaced-out formation, cage-like, around her. That zone reaches around three metres around me, once we get there
She moved the singr pieces further and further away, and one by one they started to fall down until only half of them remained in the air.
As you can observe, my control slowly fails. Talking in general terms, at about 50 metres my partial control is gone. Depending on the size, shape and weight of the object this number may vary. Bigger objects are easier to control but less useful due to requiring more energy to move. It is a precarious bnce between concentration and exertion.
The metal cloud flew back and slowly became part of her clothes again. Then the pieces on the floor also made their way back.
Drinking mithril greatly increases my powers in all ways, as you already were able to see. Lastly, while we call it the absolute zone of control, under enough pressure, everything breaks, she took a firm stance and looked down at Thana. Your assessment to call me the weakest one here, save for Momo, is thereforergely correct. In a vacuum I would lose against all of you. Therefore, the style of the tournament isrgely to my detriment. I will, therefore, be taking enemies I have an advantage against and leave the hard fights to you.
Well, as long as we are clear on that shit, Thana stretched. Just put me in front of something and I will fuck them up.
Anyway, we should be on our way now, John ended that particr discussion and started walking towards the former fortress. He still had to touch the endpoint.
It was about 3 hours before the tournament would actually start, but Lydia insisted on arriving at least two hours early. Well, that worked out since that attack just now had taken all of Johns mana. He still had Momos as a backup, but that wasnt quite as reliable. Because he couldnt absorb Momos mana but instead had to use it to cast stuff instantly, using it was a slight pain.
It was basically going through a bureaucratic program of resource assignment. First, he had to make a request, then Momo had to will that request, and then he could use her mana to cast the spell. If the elementals wanted his mana, they had to add the extra step of asking him beforehand and well, the picture was quite obvious.
It wasnt a long interference whatsoever, it resembled a ping of roughly 100ms per involved instance, but it was existent and the faster their fights got the more important these little things got. It was like the difference between amateur and professional e-sports. Eventually the split-second became the deciding difference.
They circumvented a lot of that problem by having Momos assignment be mostly Mana Protection. While John wasnt able to absorb Momos mana, there was no cost involved in her reinforcing a Skill that was already active. Therefore, she could build up the pre-emptive barrier whenever needed or, if it was full, could simply have her mana flow continuously through the barrier. If it wasnt needed, it simply returned to her. This way, John freed up a lot of his own mana, which went to the elementals with a ping of about 1ms.
He finally reached the centre of the crater and the magically unharmed throne. Touching it awarded him an absolutely measly sum of experience. I get the feeling that this is calcted based on the amount of damage we did to the structure and its inhabitants John thought. He would have to conduct further research on this another time as this reality broke like a shattered window.
They walked towards the edge of the ind. Urgh, Momo sneered after a few metres, after you get to fly, walking sucks...I could jump off and fly to the arena within a fraction of the time you guys need.
Look at you, being all happy with your new ability, John said and gave her a warning nce, but you dont get to fly, because
Momo picked up on the fact that he wanted her to finish the sentence. because we dont want to reveal our hand yet, yes, I get it.
Also shut the fuck up about you being there faster than me, Thana told Momo with a displeased face. I could jump, fall, and then run there before you.
Well, that was a bold im but they wouldnt get to test that. Stop bickering, Lydia told them, we have enough to do as is.
Lylytina, ya really need to learn to just let people duke it out, Rave suggested. Its fun.
Arguing is not a form of entertainment!
Yeah, no, it really is, the techno-lover waved off. Ya will see eventually. Its called banter.
Lydia just sighed and turned away, stepping on the mana street. John, in the meanwhile, spoke to Aclysia. The guardian was on extended housekeeping duty. Originally, John had wanted her toe along to the tournament so she could at least watch, but they now had a visitor that needed to be attended. In other words: Aclysias job was to make sure Nathalia didnt do anything stupid.
Should you be threatened while you are shopping, dont hesitate to use Defensive Teleportation to get out of there, John reminded her.
Of course, Master, Aclysia nodded. She had a slightly saddened expression. She wasnt absolutely happy about this arrangement either. I will have food ready when youe home and will be following the events over television and our connection, she stepped close to him and kissed him goodbye; Good luck and untilter, my John.
Untilter, he said, and then they walked off.
Man, ya remember when she was the size of your hand? Rave teased once he caught up to the group, already sliding down the mana street. She grabbed his arm after whirlingly stepping towards him, unbothered by the several hundred metres of airspace below them.
Good times, John mused. It was fun making her grow up.
It was fun to see too man, she used to be very inquisitive about stuff, Rave said. Indeed, the days when Aclysia had riddled them with questions had passed; for the most part she had now figured out her ce in the world. There were still asional fits of confusion but nothing out of the ordinary.
Kind of miss it, John admitted. When she asks questions nowadays, she mostly wants to hear me talk.
Like ya dont like that either, Rave giggled and poked him in the side; Ya love the sound of your own voice.
Not true! John defended himself; I love the sound of your voice. I merely like how my enthusiasm for things makes Aclysia happy, is all. We all win.
How do I win in that arrangement? his girlfriend wondered.
You dont have to listen to me talk about something like Dota 2, John exined.
True, that games bncing is cray-cray and I dont wanna hear it, Rave agreed. How about we watch some anime soon?
Again? We just finished Log Horizon I mean that one was pretty good, but the part about the twins in the second season was really boring, John said.
Yeah, well, its not all gold all the time, now issit? Rave said. I suggest we watch Dragonball next.
He knew that name, how could he not, and he knew that it had around 600 episodes. All of it? he croaked.
Ja! Thats something to do for a while, plus I want you to watch it so we can watch the abridged. Pretty please? she said in a voice that she KNEW John couldnt say no to. That cute tone that made his heart flutter.
You will not get your way every time if you use that too much, you know?
Rave smiled. Knowing that she had won the argument, she leaned towards his ear, I could suck ya off instead next time. While that offer should have lost a lot of its lustre by now, given frequency and alternatives it didnt.
Deal, but I get to eat steak off Nathalias back while you do it, John said.
Raveughed and they went down to the city.
Chapter 236 – So, it begins…almost! Part 2: Electric Boogaloo
Chapter 236 C So, it beginsalmost! Part 2: Electric Boogaloo
The colosseum was bigger than John had imagined. Well, to be exact, the colosseum was bigger than John had seen. From the outside it had been an imposing building, without a doubt. Stone, ancient but in prime condition, worked into several stories of beautifully symmetric arcs in the legendary style of the Roman Empire.
There was a weird shift once he stepped inside. The hallway, pure stone with depictions of a heros (presumably Romulus) acts carved into the walls, seemed to stretch before his very eyes. Every step felt shorter than it really was. They still made overall progress though. A guide assured them that this waspletely normal.
Then they finally stepped out again and John blinked a few times in confusion. The colosseum was enormous; if he had to guess, it would be able to hold around 50000 people. That didnt make it the biggest stadium in the world, not by a longshot, but it was more spacious than John had anticipated from the outside. Compared to the usual stadium, there was also a lot more space inside it than in the watchers areas.
Then again, things being bigger on the inside is nothing new, he thought as he looked around. The colosseums stands were split into three different kinds. All of them were sloped in a way that allowed the maximum amount of people to watch. Greyish brown stone made up the majority of the surfaces.
The first type of area had little more beyond that foundation, thats where the people could watch while standing. These took by far the most amount of room, roughly 35% of both the west and east side, and alreadymon folk, who didnt have the titles or the money to get into the two other areas, were starting to upy the best ces close to the railing.
The second area was the seated ces. Rows upon rows of chairs organized into aisles of varying sizes filled those spaces. Theyout and spacing was impractical, but John imagined that it was ording to the wish of noble houses and merchants to stick to themselves and their immediate friends. The chairs were almost entirely empty, which wasnt all that surprising. Why would onee two hours early if they had an assigned seat, after all?
Then there was thest kind of area. Small tforms that stuck out of the otherwise sloped watchers areas and extended far into the building itself, connecting to temporary quarters and all other sorts of facilities. There was one for each cardinal direction, and they currently found themselves on the quickest route towards the eastern one.
All of these were looking down towards the simple, dusty in at the heart of the colosseum. From Lydia, John already knew that their fights wouldnt be fought on that simple terrain. Some kind of Intermediary Barrier, John remembered as they stepped into another tunnel. A turn right and a flight of stairster and they had reached their tform.
John peeled himself out of his jacket. Despite being under the clear sky in the middle of winter, it was warm inside the colosseum. You will be seated here, the guide gestured around. There were twenty seats around three tables here, onerge one with ten and two with five chairs respectively. The tables were fashioned from stone, the same as the colosseum, while the chairs werefortable looking things made from darkly painted wood with elegantly swung armrests and high backs.
If you need something, please dont hesitate to ring the bells you find on your table. We will be able to amodate most basic wishes, the guide pointed to a golden hand bell and then bowed. That would be all from my side. Unless you have further questions, I will now retreat.
You are free to do so, Lydia told him with a stern nod, and the group put their jackets on one of several coat hangers that were standing around.
The princess took her seat, but the rest of the crew continued to look around for a bit. So, how the fuck do we go down there? Thana asked and looked over the railing. Do we just jump?
Once we are called to pick a fighter, John was the first to answer, a tform will appear that takes the person that climbs it down.
Having riddled Lydia with questions about this on several asions, John knew all that was important and a whole lot of useless trivia. He pointed at the gates underneath each of the tforms.
Thats where the fighterse from in the case of the weekly show matches. However, due to the pick and choose style of this tournament the elevator system was installed about 200 years ago.
Jack flew over the tform opposite theirs. There was only a single person sitting there.
It seems your mother is the only one who wanted toe early, Jane, John told his girlfriend.
In response, Rave crossed her arms and stared over the gap as if her annoyance could physically cross therge distance between them.
Before she seeded, John patted her on the head, You will get to try and punch her in the face soon enough.
If it isnt right now, it isnt soon enough, Rave disagreed.
May I remind you that winning is more important than your family squabbles, Lydia interrupted their talk. You can solve your issues in your own time. This tournament is of importance to me.
Or I can do both at once, Rave suggested, ya know, badass style.
Rave, and I mean no offense by this, the princess said with her usual iron tone, but matching you up against your mother would be exceedingly stupid, and I will not do it unless I am given no other choice.
Wha-? Rave was taken aback; What are ya on about!
She is saying, Momo sighed, that putting you against your mother is a sure-fire way to lose a match.
Nuh-uh, it isnt! Rave insisted.
The support shrugged as she continued on, I mean, correct me if I am wrong, but you are both light mages that utilize martial arts at the core, right?
Ja, and?
And putting you up against a more experienced version of yourself is stupid, Momo told her.
Now, now, John chimed in before this could be a heated argument. Lets think about this from another angle, who else would we send to face Nariko? Because, how I see it, Maximillian will be fought by Nia where is she by the way? The mysterious fifth fighter still was nowhere to be seen.
Not here, Lydia said, her expression darkening, and I dont know when the exact date of her arrival is. Let us hope it is before we have to fight Maximillian.
Okay, that aside, who else are you nning to fight whom?
I will fight Mario de Medici, Lydia stated. He was the one I could find the most information about. They say that he is a master of the de but not all that useful without it. With my powers, disarming him shouldnt be a problem. Rave will be fighting the mercenary goblin known as Ankleshanker.
Excuse me, what? John intercepted. Lydia gave him a stern stare, Their fourth fighter. I know little about him aside from what I saw, but rumour has it that he is a physical fighter with a specialization in size changing magic. He should be a formidable foe.
Thats LAME, Rave said. Lemme punch my mother and all is well.
No, that will be Thanas upation, Lydia gestured towards the blood mage. From my analysis, she should be their strongest fighter, therefore we should pitch our strongest against her.
Sorry, gum-crotch, Thana cracked her knuckles, seems like Ill be taking care of your family issues.
That leaves only me and Alexej, John noted.
Indeed, I have not found anything about him. Not even contradictory or false information, just nothing. I thought about sending Thana against him, but in the end, I decided to go with you instead, Lydia ended her exnation.
All of this made perfect sense to John, but Rave had her fists clenched. He put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. That eased her somewhat. Look, those are just the ns, John said, and as we all know, ns never survive contact with the enemy.
Yeah, yeah, she looked up into his eyes, the pink hue inside the blue orbs moving erratically, dont lie, Johnnie, youre agreeing with that n, arent ya?
Helplessly, he shrugged and admitted, It is the most logical course of action. His heart fluttered nervously. He didnt want to go against his girlfriend, but at the same time this wasnt their battlefield. What Lydia wanted had to take priority.
Rave took a deep breath and pressed herself closer to him. Thats what I get for dating a smartass instead of someone who likes to punch their problems, like me, she mumbled.
The fluttering ebbed away. I love you, he reminded her.
I love you too, now shaddup and kiss me properly.
Their lips met, and Thana sneered, Fucking disgusting lovebirds. I could just make you into some food that uses chicken as its main ingredient!
Chicken stew? John suggested with a smirk as the flutter melted into a warm glow.
YES! THAT! ...Is that tasty? Thana wondered then added, demandingly; Call your fuckbot and tell her to make chicken stew tonight!
He could do that. Then he noticed something through the eyes of Jack. The sparrow had been fluttering through the arena. It wasnt the only bird around; evidently multiple people used these things for a variety of purposes C or there were actual birds in this Protected Space. In either case, the sparrow had spotted something interesting.
Say, Lydia, is it considered taboo or something for a fighter to talk to people in the audience?
It is certainly unconventional, Lydia said and raised an eyebrow. Why?
I just spied a mutual friend of ours, is all. You mind if I go visit him?
Just be back an hour before the tournament begins, the princess demanded. I already have e participant, I shall not have another.
He went alone. ording to Lydia, no one would dare to attack him here, as Romulus guards were keeping the colosseum safe personally. Also, the person he was looking to see had no connection to anyone but him. Well, maybe Momo, but they only knew each other in passing.
He went to the southern tform through a rtively unused hallway, to avoid the public as much as he could. As far as he was informed, the northern tform was Romulus personal area, the western one, opposite of Lydias team, was where Maximillian and his people would be.
The southern tform was for the maintenance and technical personnel that would oversee the match. That included the casters, the camera personnel and, perhaps most importantly, the Fateweavers.
Magoi Magus looked away from the sparrow in front of him and followed it as Jacknded on Johns hand. The High Fateweaver, anky man, was wearing the same outfit in which he had spent a month with John inside the Illusion Barrier. A ck, English butler suit with the outstandingly white gloves and a green bow tie that contrasted with the white of his buttoned-up shirt.
The oaken cane in his hand, a purely ornamental addition to his outfit, was used to push his top hat into a straight position. Compared to the raptor-skull mask that covered his face, the cylindrical headwear seemed almost normal.
High Fateweaver, Magoi Magus, John said respectfully and extended his hand.
The Gamer a.k.a. John Newman, Magoi shook the hand with a simr tone in his voice. The two of them had parted on friendly terms, but with the agreement to preserve a professional distance. This was doubly true as they were currently in public. How can I help you? Magoi therefore asked. His tone was friendly but business-like.
I just wanted to have a look at the behind the scenes out of interest, John had prepared that excuse ahead of time. Do you have time to show me around?
Certainly, Magoi said and gestured for him to follow him. He started talking about technical equipment with great interest as they, seemingly randomly, found their way deeper and deeper into the building and away from the business of the working people. Eventually, they were at the corner of a hallway where they were almost entirely isted.
It is good to see you again, Magoi said then, dropping the business tone. Personally, I mean. I was waiting for you to appear in the tournament to confirm your survival.
You really could have told me this was going to happen, John noted.
But where would have been the fun in that? the Fateweaver pointed out with a raised finger. In all honesty, I would pay quite the sum to see your face when you found out about what you signed up to You wouldnt tell me why the girl you wanted to kill is suddenly on your side though?
Mhm, for old times sake, I will tell you the broad story, John said and, leaving out all of the whos, hows, whys, told him what had transpired since they had parted ways.
Ah, to be young, Magoi mused. I will tell nobody of this, you have my word.
John nodded, that was enough for him, and changed the topic, What are you doing here, if you dont mind me asking?
I am here to support the barrier maintainer of the arena. The fights for this event are expected to exceed what the local people can handle, Magoi informed him.
Support? John was perplexed.
To the best of his knowledge, Magoi was one of the strongest Fateweavers around. What he had done for John had seemingly been childs y for him, the exception being the time when he had to fight against Nathalia forcing her way in (and the dragoness had had a beacon in the shape of Aclysia to find the barrier).
Who are you supporting? the Gamer inquired, his curiosity awakened.
Mhm, Magoi pondered for a moment, rubbing the chin of his mask, I think you will grow into a significant enough individual that he wontin about you wasting his time. Come with me.
They walked back the way they hade and then, to Johns surprise, to the actual tform. Like everywhere else, there were people running around and doing their triple and quadruple checks on everything. A desk hovered andnded as people measured its energy consumption to make sure it was working as intended.
Two men in suits stood next to it, talking. One was a human, the other was a lizardman. If it werent for his ck scaled, clearly reptilian head, he would have passed for a human in both build and size. Also, the way he held his cup of ginger ale was so incredibly casual that it was weird to see someone not human do it, for some reason.
None of this was important though. They aimed for the head of the tform. In a circle of over two metres around a single chair, no one was working. They all stayed at a respectful distance.
The chair slowly turned around. This was a feat, considering there was no axis to turn around. The chair had four hard, wooden legs. Those legs bent and twisted like rubber.
The man on top wore an outstanding suit of midnight blue, stripes of gold stitched all over the fabric. The ck shirt and red tie had the same design, even seeming to seamlessly flow into each other, giving the man a slightly two-dimensional look. A small gap of toned skin between was all that was actually visible of the man himself. His hands were stuck in dark gloves. His whole head, from the face to thest strand of his hair, was hidden underneath a mask of blue, gold and ck metal, forged into an interwoven piece of artwork that curved into four horn-like ends.
Supreme Fateweaver Gehnigm, may I introduce you to John Newman a.k.a. the Gamer? Magoi said in a good mood.
Aaaaaaaah, the voice that rang out had an echo to it that reminded John of the robotic sounds caused by a bad inte connection.
The Supreme Fateweaver, leader of one of the three great nonbat organizations, spoke with a slight ent (Chinese, if John had to guess), I expected you toe along eventually. It is a pleasure meeting new people to do business with.
The pleasure is all m- John started but Gehnigm was already moving on.
However, I must tell you that, as of right now, you do not possess the necessary capabilities to warrant my attention. I request you toe into contact with me again once you have found your ce in the world. I will make up for this rudeness on that day. Now, begone.
The chair twisted back around, and John followed Magoi who was already walking away. That went very well, Magoi told him while looking at a pocket watch, He spoke to you for longer than 10 seconds.
Huh, John just epted that that was a good thing.
Magoi showed him around some more, and they exchanged some further pleasantries and mindless chatter. Eventually, John headed back.
Chapter 237 – And so, it begins!
Chapter 237 C And so, it begins!
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
With those three words the colosseum was transformed. Arcane machinations flickered to life high above the arena in the shape of a hexagon of enormous screens. Cameras started flying around all over the ce, showing pictures of the crowd on the monitors above and, as John was very well aware, to the citizens of the Abyss all over the world.
WELCOME TO THE 17th TOURNAMENT OF GERMAN KINGSHIP!
The picture changed to the one who was speaking, sitting on arge flying desk. It was a guy with a tremendouslyical haircut, brown hair that wasbed straight upwards (held there with some very powerful styling gel), giving his head an elongated appearance. He managed to wear his suit, a traditional ck vest and white shirtbination, in a most goofy way and generally acted the part of the over-performed. The microphone twirled in his hand between sentences.
I am Jeff, your main announcer for this wonderful event! he gestured at the man at his side to introduce him next. That was the simple, straight looking lizardman John had seen earlier. His ck scales were sleek and harmonized nicely with his red tie. Around the edge of his neck grew eight horns, four on each side, a dark membrane stretching between them. The membrane tensed up a momentter, as the horns pulled apart when the lizardman cleared his throat. And I am well, your human tongues cant hope to correctly pronounce it anyway, but call me Mister Dra.
There you have it, folks! Jeff shouted. Arent you all EXCITEEEEED? The crowd broke out into wild cheer.
Dra raised a hand, In ordance with modern needs, the program will be sent in English, but do not worry, dear viewer, for you should find magically tranted versions going online as we speak. A table appeared on the screen with a list of channels.
Ah, Dra, Jeff turned to his co-host, you should do it like me and just have that could care less about the organization things-attitude. Just get hyped, man!
I think you mean COULDNT care less, Jeff, Dra corrected him in a straight tone. Otherwise you do care.
Potato potato, Jeff waved off- What is important is that THE FIGHT BEGINS TODAY! The crowd below cheered again.
So, they are ying the goofy and straight man strategy? John wondered out loud as he watched all of this go on.
Yup, Rave, snickering, said. Well, at least one of them found it funny.
I like that Jeff guy, he is talking a lot, I like that, he has a great attitude, Sylphmented in Johns head.
He is pretty obnoxious, Smander said. So, I am sure you would get along.
Thana was also grinning but for entirely different reasons. Eyes set straight towards the tform across the arena, her fingers individually tensed and rxed as her hands trembled. She couldnt wait to punch something. Lydia and Momo were sitting quietly, reading their respective books.
Lets break down the format for our viewers at home, Jeff announced, and a graphic appeared on the screen.
Both teams have 5 contestants and they will be pitched against each other in three different disciplines over the course of three rounds. The first discipline is the solo fight. Dra, can you run us through how those showdowns will be fought?
Certainly, the lizardman nodded. As my colleague mentioned, we will have three rounds. In the first one the Candidatum Primus, being Maximillian, will announce his fighter. Afterwards, the Candidatum Secundus, being Lydia, has 5 minutes to choose her fighter to go against them. Then the fight will begin. The winner will then get one point for their team, and both fighters will be unable to be chosen again for the rest of the round. So, if we would have Lydia and Maximillian fight, for example, and Lydia won, it would look like this.
I apologize for theck of usingplete names, by the way, but we only have so much space on the screen, Dra added.
Thats how that is, folks! Jeff shouted, ignoring his co-announcers courtesy. The contestants will be fighting tooth and nail to secure victory for their side. But what is this?! A non-lethal tournament you say?! WORRY NOT, VIEWERS! Thanks to state of the art Fateweaving and barriers put in ce by Lady Luna herself, our contestants can beat their brains out with rtive ease. An assassination attempt on the battlefield is thereforepletely unlikely.
Except that it has happened before, of course, Dramented. In the 2nd tournament the Primus team managed to ovee the protective measures and stab the enemy king to death.
Oh, Dra, thats just useless trivia. After all thats before Fateweaving was developed.
In the 15th tournament it was around. Sure, it took considerable effort, but oveing a Fateweavers control to kill your opponent is not impossible. As a matter of fact, because the Fateweaver needs to be inside the reach of the barrier to keep up the Fateweaving effect, just stabbing him is fairly easy. Fateweavers are not the strongest bunch.
But none of this matters at all to youmon folk, Jeff shouted. After all, the number of people that can Fateweave is fairly low, you will never meet them! Average people most likely interact with Fateweavers of the Fateweaver guild, not Fateweavers that can Fateweave.
I was just rifying, Dra stated. Back to the rules.
YES, BACK TO THE THING YOU ALL CAME HERE TO SEE! Jeff agreed, shouting into his microphone.
Once a round concludes, which is after all five contestants have fought once, the next fight will be a group fight with two to five of the contestants duking it out. The number is decided by a random number generator, the hyped announcer continued, but for the sake of diversity, the same number wont be in there twice. As there will be a total of three rounds, you will see as many group fights, and while the solo fights are worth one point, the group fights are worth three.
The fighters for a group fight are usually picked simultaneously by both teams, but due to a mistake on Lydias part during the fighter announcement, Maximillians team will get to pick their lineup after team Secundus.
Once a group fight is over, the next round of solo fights starts, but with a twist! See, while in the first round, Lydia gets the advantage of picking her contestants in response to Maximillians, in the second he will have that choice. In the third and final, also best, round you, the live viewers, will get to vote on the matchups. Thats the structure of the fights
After that long-winded exnation, Jeff took a dramatic pause.
HOWEVER! he then shouted, There is the third kind of fight, the games! The crowd started cheering loudly. Evidently, that was the part they looked forward to the most.
John could understand that, seeing Donald Trump y against Hiry Clinton in Smash Bros or something would truly be a sight to behold. Then again, so would be the boxing match. Games are fights with special rules that you, our dear viewers, can send to us and then will be selected by amittee. When will these games happen? I dont know, but I can tell you that they are sadly limited to a maximum of two per round.
Ah, Lydia smiled to herself, It seems they took at least one of my suggestions into this.
Dont care, Thana cackled. Did you hear them? I can punch these cumguzzlers as hard as I fucking want, they will be the pigs to my ughter!
And now that we have all of the boring rules out of the way, let us give the word over to the sponsor of this event, the one and only Apex of the Abyss, Emperor Romulus himself! The camera changed over to the toga-wearing emperor. An olive branch as his crown and sitting on a golden throne (looking massive evenpared to the enormous man on it) with Sol and Luna at his side, he had a stern expression on his face. John could almost see him himself, a white humanoid shape on a golden background on the northern tform.
Citizens of the Empire and people of the Abyss beyond, Romulus said. Humans, demi-humans, ab-humans, reptilians, insectoids and all of you in between. It is with great pleasure, sadness and annoyance that I open todays games. Pleasure, for I know that you will enjoy this tournament, that it will brighten your life for theing weeks and that it will be a great source of entertainment and stories you can tell. History will record what will happen today and in theing weeks. Maybe as just another page in the book of the empire or maybe as the ascendance of one of the greatest kings or queens Germany has ever seen. Only time will tell.
Sadness, I bring for that with the end of this tournament, my old friend Frederik, current king of Germany, will meet his end. He has lived long and fulfilled and did many great things in his time. His shoes are big to fill indeed, and I will be sad to see him for thest time. The camera showed the decrepit old man, simply smiling at the announcement.
Andstly, my annoyance, Romulus thundered, for neither Maximillian Franz von Habsburg nor Lydia Augusta von Hohenzollern are worthy to follow in my friends footsteps. Maximillian, who is interested only in centring his power and making Germany the strongest in the empire. There is no ambition in him to make it the strongest it could be through innovation. Lydia, who breaks with traditions without care and wants to radically rework a fabric of society that has persisted for hundreds of years. May this tournament forge one of you into a person that has the wisdom to change outdated customs while maintaining the soul of what they are ruling over.
The arena was deadly silent as this denunciation rang all over the world. John saw Lydias fist clench under the table, her knuckles went white.
Arrogant she swallowed the rest of the insult. He could only imagine the number of obscenities that went through her head right now. Thana found all of this absolutely hrious; her loudughter was maybe the only sound in the whole arena. Be quiet! Lydia finallyshed out.
Nope, Thana denied her. I find it so fucking great when you get your ass spanked into shape a bit. Every bit of humbleness that gets beaten into you is fucking superb.
Do you not believe me fit for ruling? the princess asked.
I think you will be good at streamlining that bureaucratic shit and make whatever you touch financially stable. If you will make for a ruler that makes history books, though, Thana shrugged, I dont see it. You are so out of touch with themon person that it really doesnt fucking matter. You would only see the Nazis taking over again once someone presents you with a poprity poll. You can govern, sure as fuck, but rule? Well, I dont give a fuck, not like I will stick around in the country that created me. Lydia simply closed her eyes and went deep into thought.
Uhm Jeff finally found his words again.
Well, that was certainly blunt, Dra spoke.
It is as you say, Dra, well How about we give our candidates a chance to present their own opinion on the matter, the announcer''s desk flew over to Maximillians tform.
Do you have anything to s- Maximillian ripped the microphone from Jeffs hands before he could finish asking.
I am deeply concerned about the emperors opinion of me. Is it bad that I want to remain loyal? Is it bad that I honour our traditions? No, I say! I have no interest in dragging out this useless chatter anymore. You, my people, and indeed the very people of this world, want to see the tournament. As their king, I am happy to let actions speak louder than words!
He gave the microphone back and sat down. I expected more from a person that likes showing off so much, John thought as he watched the gravity king fall back in his chair with an obviously disgruntled expression.
Mhm, Siena moaned; Just look at his torment, delicious.
Even though he ignored the nightmare elemental, John had to agree that Maximillian did not look particrly happy about how things were going. His worship of Romulus as some sort of idol seemed genuine, so getting such a punch in the gut probably hurt.
The announcers desk now flew their way. Lydia stood up and met them at the edge of the tform, still deep in thought. So, do you want to add something, princess Augusta? Dra asked. Lydia didnt answer. Arms folded behind her back, she simply looked ahead. The silence changed from tense to awkward as she just stood there.
Ehm I guess we can take this as a no? Jeff asked and was about to retract the microphone when it was pulled from his hand and hovered in front of Lydia.
I detest this tradition, she said, fighting each other over something as important as the position of head of state. To reduce it to a mere form of entertainment. I find it absolutely detestable, and without a doubt, if -when- I win, I will get rid of it.
The people started to mumble in annoyance. They, unsurprisingly, did not appreciate having their entertainment titled as something unwanted and detestable.
Without a doubt, this is a tradition that does more harm than good I, however, understand what the emperor is trying to tell me, and to ignore the words of the oldest human being would be foolish to say the least. I have my goals, but maybe I will have to reform my ways. An answer I will have to find another day. For our current time, I agree with Maximillian. Let actions speak louder than words.
She turned away, and the microphone flew back to the announcer. The desk then flew high up.
Well, that was an okay speech, Thana told her.
I am not a great public speaker, Lydia admitted. As you say, maybe I am out of touch.
Fucking hurray, I was just shit-talking you, but hey, if it does any good! Thana giggled and earned herself a stern re.
Whu, that was a pretty heavy start there, Dra, Jeff said.
I can only agree, the lizardman nodded, but for all heavy things, there is a countermeasure.
AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE, FOLKS! Jeff shouted in attempt to get the hype back on; BECAUSE WE ARE STARTING THIS TOURNAMENT WITH A GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!
The crowd loved it, Lydia pinched the bridge of her nose, Thana let out a disappointed grunt, Raveughed, and Momo turned a page. John realized once again that the Abyss was full of crazy people.
Chapter 238 – In Jeopardy
Chapter 238 C In Jeopardy
That is right, folks, Jeff spoke as the announcer desknded on the floor. We are kicking this off with a game of Jeopardy!
The moment the desk connected to the floor, a game stage rose from the ground in front of it. The stage was made from sandstone, or at least an abyssal material that looked just like it, and of Roman design. The main part of it was a giant wall with six rows and five columns, making for a total of 25 rectangr fields on it. These fields had numbers on them, the same in a row and then ascending downwards. Above each column was the name of the category.
John read the categories with a raised eyebrow. For most of these, he was unlikely to be of much help. He spent a lot of time researching the Abyss, but there was only so much of an entirely new world with several species, materials and a very different history that he could get through between sex and grinding. Maybe I will be of some help with American History at least? ...What now? A window had appeared in front of him.
John epted without thinking about it, might as well profit someway himself if he was going to fight for Lydia. Since these Quests never seemed to have a punishment for failure, there was basically no incentive to ever say no.
Now, here are the rules. Our teams, in their entirety, will be taking turns at choosing one of the fields on the board. They will then be presented with a clue, upon which they have to present a guess towards the correct answer, traditionally formted as a question, within 30 seconds. The field is always to be chosen by the Candidatum, while the answer can be given by anyone within the timeframe, Jeff exined.
As he did, the viewing area John and the others were sitting in had arge tform of bright blue materialize at the tip of it. That was their elevator, in all due likelihood. Lydia was the first to get on it, and soon they all followed suit. As did the team on the other side.
The lift was gently lowered to the arena below. As he descended, John felt his connection to Aclysia dull to a point where he could only register her being alive. So, there are more mechanics in ce here to keep me from cheating, John thought. Out of interest he checked his phone, which also had no signal. The mana dispersed under their feet, and they made their way over to the game stage.
Aside from the giant wall, it had two standing areas, towards which the teams were walking as Dra expanded on the rules. If a team formtes the correct guess, they will be awarded the number of points disyed on the field and they get to choose another field; however, they may only answer correctly up to three times in a row. Afterwards the opposing team gets a chance. If the guess is wrong or the time runs out, not only does the team lose the number of points they would have gotten but the other team gets a chance to answer the same question for double the points its worth as well.
If they are a bore, Jeff took over, they can also choose not to take up the failed clue at all. In that case, the clue and the points attached to it are permanently scrapped. If they, however, pick up the clue and then fail at answering it themselves, it gets passed back to the original team. That circle may repeat endlessly.
May I present a question? Lydia asked, having finally reached the standing area. It was little more than a podium with a standing height desk to lean on. With interest, John noted that just standing there made Lydias voice ring throughout the arena.
Test, test, he whispered, standing a good bit away from the desk. There was noughter or any other reaction from the crowd, neither did he hear his own voice. As long as we stay away from the podium, our conversations will remain private, John told his group.
Thana looked at Mario in the enemy team with intensity. The sword master, wearing a cloak over his armour of which only the long sleeves were visible, stared back. Sniffing, Thanas lips broke into a grin, Oh, now thats really fucking interesting.
What is? John wondered.
I will tell youter, she promised.
What is your question, Lydia? Jeff asked.
You said all participants, does this include familiars, like John Newmans golem? the princess inquired.
As she is a registered part of John Newman in the terms of his powers, the answer is yes, Dra said and then looked over to Maximillian. Any questions from your side?
The gravity king waved off, Lets get this show rolling.
Very well, I will now flip a coin, heads means Lydia chooses the first question, tails means Maximillian gets that honour, Jeff said and flipped a silver object upwards.
Spinning quickly enough to appear as a solid ball, it shot dozens of metres in the air. The whole arena looked at the coin as it rose, slowed down, and finally fell again. Itnded perfectly on Dras extended hand, who pped it on the ck surface of the announcers desk. Its heads, the lizardman announced drily. Lydia, please choose your first question. You have 15 seconds.
Lydia looked at the board. From what John knew of her, and he hoped he knew her personality rather well at this point, he guessed that she would start with something on the lower end to gauge the difficulty of these questions.
Important People for 20, the princess of steel proved him right.
Very well, Important People for 20! Jeff repeated in a much more enthusiastic tone. Lydias left eye twitched; it was pretty obvious what she thought of this game. Dra shuffled through a deck of cards that he produced from nowhere until he found the correct one. The current emperor of the greater Roman Empire, he read.
Lydia didnt even turn around to check with her group. Why would she? Romulus, she drily stated.
That is correct! Jeff shouted. The emperor of the greater Roman Empire is of course none other than its founder, Romulus!
I must remind you to honour the games tradition to formte your answer as a question, Dra added.
Lydia stared at him for several moments, her grey eyes reflecting her annoyance. Fine, she finally spat out.
Great, Jeff said. Now, pick your second guess!
I will take Magical Knowledge for 40. Once again, Dra shuffled through his cards. The magic that concerns itself with death.
Oh,e on, John thought, What are these questions?!
Necr- Lydia stopped herself and cleared her throat, What is Necromancy?
That is correct! The magical school focused around death, souls and the reanimation of corpses is indeed called Necromancy! Jeff said, You get to pick one more!
John, at this point, would have just picked something for 100. The trend here was clearly that the questions were pretty easy. Lydia took her whole 15 seconds before saying, Magical Knowledge for 60.
The scientific name of the practice that converts mana into matter.
Okay, I take it back, apparently it is pretty good that we didnt just jump to 100, John thought, looking at Lydia thinking for a moment before stepping off the podium. Do any of you have the right answer? she asked, highly doubtful.
I know of a way to convert mana into matter, not what it is called, John answered, recalling the knowledge he had gotten from the book that gave him Craft and Enchant.
I have no clue, Rave answered. Dont even fucking ask me, Thana shrugged.
Its called the Gretham-Convertible-Spin, Momo said, Named after the form of the same mage.
They all looked at Momo with varying degrees of surprise. Do you REALLY think I spend all my day only reading criminal novels? the support asked them with a disapproving look.
Your time is almost up! Jeff reminded them, and Lydia, braid flying, whirled back around and walked up the podium, presenting the answer Momo had given her.
That is correct. The Gretham-Convertible-Spin is mostmonly encountered within mana generators. By making mana collide in certain angles at different speeds, matter can be created using the Gretham-Fusion-Form. This puts Team Lydia at a total of 120 points! Jeff proimed, and the crowd cheered.
The camera panned over to Maximillian, who was standing on the podium. The king of gravitys gaze was downcast. Your turn, Maximillian, Dra informed him. The man smiled and spread his arms in a sudden motion that made his red cape flutter in a showy fashion.
Lydia, my dearest opponent, it seems you still dont understand! he said. Caution makes one weak! You must dive into all opportunities with the certainty that you can make the best out of them! Important People for 100! In an instant the viewers broke out in apuse that made the bit of pping they did for Lydia pale byparison. The people loved a good show.
The person that killed the most members of the Blood of the Proletariat in history, Dra presented the clue, once the crowd had calmed down enough.
Maximillian instantly stepped off the podium and let Alexej take the field. Who is Josef Stalin?
What? John thought.
That is correct! Jeff eximed; While there were a lot of great people in the fight against the Blood, and some not so great members of the Purest Front, the man who actually killed the most was Josef Stalin. The dictator was not himself part of the Abyss, and so, as he purged people from his ranks and sent others to the Gg, he managed to murder quite a number of the upper and lower ranks through his actions! Nothing kills moremunists thanmunism, folks! Fleeing from a prison in an Illusion Barrier is not of great help when they shoot you on sight next time while you stay in the same country!
Plus it invokes Gaias Ire if youre the only one escaping an otherwise inescapable situation. This is why you should stay out of the mundane in general, Dra stated.
That was so goddamn stupid that John could instantly believe it. Now, for my next question, Maximillian, taking back the podium, announced, I will take Races for 100.
Races for 100,ing up! Jeff said and looked at Dra, who was hastily shuffling through his cards.
The theory that exins why magical races that stick to themselves degrade into monsters. This time the goblin took the podium. He was seriously tiny, reaching to only shortly above Johns kneecaps. With green, leathery skin that was heavily wrinkled and a giant nose, he was quite the weird sight.
Hiding himself in a multiyered, ck cloak, he wore no visible weapons anywhere. The guy practically screamed assassin. An attempt to Observe him failed. Just t-out, nothing popped up. Johns eyes darted over to Alexej, who looked at him with a knowing smile.
There is no time like the present, John thought and, knowing that he wouldnt have to fight today, dumped all of his mana into Reveal.
Fuck yes, John thought and now looked at Alexej, borrowing all of Momos mana to get his intel on the guy. Alexej realized what was happening. A shadow of fear hushed over his face.
Tsk, John thought and reprimanded himself. Should have started with that guy. Figures that he feels his wards around his team member failing and doubles down on his protection afterwards. John still learned a few things but nothing of real substance. Still, he could try again when he had more mana at his disposal. It was worth a try, but John guessed that this ship had sailed. Ah well, I got a few things to tell Lydia, John thought.
What is Soul-Mass Theory? Ankleshanker said in a most unpleasant voice, the human (or inhuman) equivalent of dragging fingernails over a stone board.
That is correct! Jeff said and then added the usual exnation; As you may or may not know, magical races are born from the residue of human souls and then formed by their thoughts. Just one sapience away from monsters, these races often stick to themselves.
However, Dra took over, as only humans are able to generate Souls, the energy thatys on the foundation of all things magical, also known as Faith, if amunity sticks to itself, there is only a limited amount of Soul going around. If the poption expands, the Soul is thinned out and eventually the poption degrades into monsters. In the same vein, whenever a member of a magical race dies, the majority of their soul energy is lost. Over the course of one or two generations, themunity will therefore copse or shrink into nothingness. This same phenomena is also why interbreeding ispletely possible, we alle from the same route after all.
While I am sure this is a well-known thing amongst the non-humans in the Abyss, only a few humans know about it, Jeff then added. Now, what will yourst choice be, Maximillian?
Materials for 100! the king said with a wide smirk. He was already 80 points ahead of Lydia, and he could make this margin even wider right now.
This material, while iprehensibly powerful, is warranted to be destroyed on sight and can only be found near the Levante, Dra read from his card, having sorted them by point values in neat rows at this point.
Nariko stepped up for this one, What is Sumarian-Cyclostone?
That is indeed correct! Sumarian-Cyclostone is one of the few things remaining from the eradicated area of the middle east and has beenpletely infested by Lorylim due to processes we are not entirely sure of, Jeff informed the audience. While it has absorbed an amount of mana that would make it a wanted material for items, it also has Lorylim corruption hanging onto it that cannot be cleansed without turning the stone into a useless rock. Between the two choices, the world agrees that these things should rather be destroyed, which is why possession of such a stone is, with 100% certainty, going to lead to your death. Either because you came into contact with literal corruption manifest or because your local governing guild will absolutely murder you for using it. So, if you find such a thing, report it or destroy it yourself!
And that puts Maximillian at a 180 point lead, with 120 to 300 in his favour, Dra took over the announcing as Jeff took a sip of water. We will be back after amercial break, dont go anywhere!
A few minutes ofmercials rolled over.
And we are back, Dra said as thest of them passed. The two teams had a bit of a coffee and tea break as well, which Lydia was very happy about as she sipped her beverage on live TV.
This is good tea, sheplimented the guy that had brought it to her. There was a smile on her face well, almost.
Unfortunately, Jeff has decided to go on a small toilet break, the audience was audibly disappointed by that announcement, but he should be back in a few seconds as a matter of fact, I can see him running back right now!
The caster with the ridiculous hair was indeed sprinting across the dusty field. That was when John heard something from far above. A swelling sound followed by what sounded like a. What is that? Dra wondered.
Is that your bird? Lydia wanted to know.
No looks more like a ne, Thana said, blinking against the sun.
Its a fucking Ultramarine drop pod! John shouted at them.
It is hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim! Sylph excitedly squealed in his head.
The drop pod continued downwards. It was headed straight for Jeffing back from his toilet break. The sound of the acoustic guitar intensified as it yed a dramatic melody; a beige filter was put over that part of the world. An arrow appeared in the bottom of Johns field of view, pointing leftwards; the scene froze as the drop pod was about to hit.
To Be Continued.
Chapter 239 – In Jeopardy 2
Chapter 239 C In Jeopardy 2
The scene unpaused, the beige filter disappeared along with the arrow in Johns field of view, and the drop pod crashed right on top of Jeff. There were gasps all around when the sides of the drop pod fell open and two figures stepped out onto the open field.
The first thing the camera focused on was Jeff, who preceded the other figure and waved,pletely unharmed. Apparently, this was some kind of act? Not that John greatly cared, he looked at the figure behind Jeff.
Almost three-metre tall, with a U-shaped insignia all over his ultramarine-coloured power armour, the enormous figure stepped forwards. A pickle was decorating his belt and a golden Aqu his left shoulder pad. He took off the helmet he wore, surprisingly normal, in a mysterious fashion.
John had expected the noseless face of Dio again. Instead, he was presented with a hideously red blob with a white snout that, with a lot of fantasy, could represent Knuckles the Echidna from the Sonic franchise. I hav found de wae from my branch of reality, brudah!
God of Memes, what the hell have you done, Inte?! John thought but was given little time to regret being part of the mind-machinery that spawned this god as Sylph started bbering.
Can I go out?
NO! every single other elemental told her along with John.
But I want to greet hiiiiiim, she whined; He is so cool!
The memeshifter threw his red mane around in a fashion that would be fitting for a majestic lion, which made it look horrible due to the, frankly, retarded looking Knuckles head he was currently fashioning.
Sylph, your definition of cool is majorly wrong, Smander told her sister; Cool is when you burn a forest to the ground.
That is hot Undine noted. Cool is a nice bath.
C-can we please focus on the topic at hand? Gnome turned the ship around. Sylph, you are not going out there!
Try stopping me! Sylph announced. John felt like there were chairs and pillows being thrown around in his head, all apanying the sound of a brawl and the giggling of a shadow spirit.
Unhand me, I am not amused! he eventually heard Sylph again. This is an outrage, three against one is no fair, I demand better treatment! I demand getting solo time as Johns concubine! Or an increase in my daily sweets ration! I demand that and to meet that shining, blue god over there!
Gnome, can I leave this to you? John asked.
I-I will try my best to contain her please dont be mad if I fail came the shy answer. Giving her a mental, assuring pat on the head, John concentrated back on reality.
I announce our guestmentator for today, Razorswift the memeshifter! Follow him! Jeff loudly proimed, and finally, the space marines head shifted into a handsome guy with brown hair, a small, sexy beard and round sunsses.
The announcers desk stretched wide as he and Jeff made their way over, giving the god enough room to sit. However, the chair that was created to go along with that gap was obviously not big enough. I got this, Razorswift said and raised his right hand.
Grains of something that looked like salt fell between rubbing fingers, and at the end, the memeshifter threw a whole lot of it at once on the chair. In response it grew three times in size, and now he had somewhere to sit.
Okay, we are back, folks! Jeff, now that they were all seated, announced. Time to get back into the action. Lydia, it is your turn to choose a clue!
Lydia finished her tea as she thought. John could guess the struggle in her, either she continued acting like she wanted and be cautious while risking to fall further behind on the point scale or she would have to take the remaining 100 point clues in order to catch up.
American History for 100, she finally said. A short-lived organization that wanted to establish New Germany in America, Dra read from his card.
The Adelsverein. Lydia immediately answered. Razorswift slowly bent forwards, chair creaking,
What was that?
What is the Adelsverein? Lydia corrected herself, and then there were three DINGs in quick session,ing from nowhere.
That is correct, from 1844 to 1847 over seven thousand Germans settled in Texas, the effort ultimately copsed due to bad nning and internal strife, Jeff exined. Pick your next clue.
Magical Knowledge for 100, Lydia continued on. Answering this correctly would put them ahead of Maximillian again.
The theory that exins how mana can take on different colours in higher level arcanists, Dra read from his card.
Lydia looked at the group behind her. Momo sighed and waved her down. Why dont you just announce it yourself? Lydia wanted to know once she stepped down.
And talk before this many people?! Momo asked, her voice breaking into a nervous high-pitch for a moment; What are you crazy?!
Lydia raised an eyebrow.
The support cleared her throat and, blushingly, looked to the side as she shifted awkwardly, Sorry, I just dont like crowds. The answer is the Voltaire-Arcane-Spectrum Theory.
The announcers heard the answer when Lydia repeated it, and Razorswift created a leather binder. A few nerve-wracking moments passed as he wrote something. Then he turned it around and slowly showed it to every camera around.
The paper inside read: Executive Order: America is #1. The answer is also correct; Voltaire discovered that very high-level mages that specialize in the arcane have different coloured mana depending on their talents. Red mana, for example, signifies that a spell is going to have a lot more kic force behind it, while white is stronger for defensive spells or ck for offensive.
Why did you learn all that stuff anyway? John asked Momo.
I was interested in whether or not I could learn spells without your input, she answered; You know, because just relying on you to push some buttons is pure torture for my nerves.
Fair enough, he said. And?
And it doesnt work, the support said with a heavy sigh. I hope it will once you let me go, otherwise Ill be stuck with whatever you happen to give me. My current abilities are not exactly great for surviving on my own, you know! Thanks to the ss you picked for me, the chance of getting some is unlikely too.
True, John had chosen her to be a buff oriented support. Maybe she would gain some good self-buffs, but that was unlikely to make up for herck of offensive power. Therefore, John hoped that she was right and the eventual release of her as his familiar would end up with her learning abilities on her own. Otherwise, she was in for pickle.
Important People for 80, Lydia said.
The self-proimed third strongest god, Dra read out.
The Grim Reaper, the god of the fear of death, Lydia announced with certainty, folding her hands behind her back.
That is correct, but not a question... again, whatever. Although themon conception is that Grim Reaper is indeed the second strongest God in the Abyss, only below Gaia herself, he himself insists on being only the third strongest. Then again, the power levels of gods are hardly well explored, as shes between these entities are fairly rare, Jeff said.
I mean, I could tell you who number two is, Razorswift chimed in, but that would be a massive dick move. Dont want to spoil reality. I advise you maybe take a look at some side stories in popr stories and maybe the answer will reveal itself to you, given time. Who knows?
Very cryptic, Dra said, I dont like it.
Well, what you like is not important for these games we y, Dra! Jeff said. Lydia is now 100 points ahead with 400 to 300. So far there was no wrong answer, and we are already through all the 100-point questions. If this continues Maximillian will runaway with the victory, simply because he went straight for the highest difficulty!
Taking risks pays off, Maximillian taunted his opponent.
Lydia narrowed her eyes, And if it didnt you would have delivered the victory to me. Will you also enter the battlefield like this? Simply charging at the enemy because that could win you the current confrontation?
What are you talking about, I had you scout for me, dear princess, Maximillian smirked.
If you n to always walk after the path Iy out for you, Maximillian, you may as well give up here and give the crown to me. Their gazes met, steel grey against a dark purple.
The tension swelled until Maximillian finally said, Materials for 80, in a tone of schadenfreude.
The game continued with his team answering all three questions correctly.
400 C 640
Lydias team did the same thing, but they only had one more 80 point question to go from.
600 C 640
The only hope for Lydia and her team was for the enemy to slip up. Whenever your strategy devolves into the enemy slipping up, you lose, John thought, thinking about years of game experience.
He was proven right.
600 C 800
720 C 800
720 C 860
740 C 860
In the end, Maximillian won with 120 points between them. Not a single wrong answer had been given by either candidate. It was a simple difference in attitude towards the game that decided the victor.
And that concludes todays round, folks! Jeff announced. Memeshifter, do you have any finalments?
Have you heard of the tale of Dalthon gweiss the intellectual? Razorswift asked.
I dont believe I have, Jeff answered, confused.
John felt a headacheing up.
I thought not. Its not a story the history books would tell you. Its a memeful story. Dalthon gweiss was a financier, so powerful and so wealthy he could use his money to influence the market to create even more wealth. He had such knowledge of money, he could even keep the ones he cared about from bankruptcy.
Okay? Jeff asked.
Y- ah C urgh Razorswift sighed, this is where you ask me: He could actually save people from bankruptcy?
Uhmokay? Jeff then repeated after him.
The financial district is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
What happened to him? Dra said in a tone of someone who knew the meme and just wanted this to be over with.
He became so powerful the only thing he was afraid of was risking his wealth. Which, eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he had put his money in a shared fund with his close family. Then his son spent it all on ckjack and hookers. Ironic. He could save others from bankruptcy, but not himself.
Does this somehow rte to what we have witnessed happening? Dra groaned, the lizardman sounded like he was ready to go home andin about his awful day at work to his wife.
I started wanting to make this a metaphor about how Lydia needed to take a risk to win, seeing how she had the starting advantage and all, Razorswift exined, and making the financier hesitant to invest in new markets a showcase of that. But what I wanted conflicted with theyout of the meme, so I had to decide one way or another. I chose the meme, as any sane man would.
I see anyway, thats it.
Yes, by winning this game, Maximillian takes the first point of the tournament. First, singr. As this was a pretty easy game we thought it fitting to give it the lowest amount possible, Jeff agreed with his co-host. We will be seeing you all again tomorrow. Will it be another game, will it be a fight, who will fight who? We dont know yet and neither do you! Good day and good night, wherever you are!
The crowd cheered and made a wave of hand movements as the camera flew over them. Lydia stepped off the podium, which then started to sink into the ground. The group followed her silently. The princess looked annoyed enough with herself that no one brought it up.
That was fucking disgraceful, Thana, as per usual,cked that tact.
Be quiet, Lydia hissed.
Likest time, I refuse, the blood mage giggled. They were carried up by the mana tform. I mean really, all you had to do was not fuck up.
They entered the tunnel that led to the outside. They were away from all the cameras when Lydia exploded. You think I dont know that?! she shouted at Thana; Do you think your hindsightmentary is anymore helpful than the doubts that already gue me? We cant all solve our problems by running face first into them.
Rx, anal queen, Thana waved off with a giggle, I was just
Stay your words, Thana, I have no intention to listen to any more of your advice. What could a monster that ughtered mindlessly in pursuit of a perfect death, without even trying to be saved, ever understand of humans? Your words are as shallow as your motivations are. I am trying to lead a nation, not find the easiest way out of my own misery.
John heard thest giggle echo down the hallway, and he already knew what was going to happen. Do- nt do it, Thana, that was what John wanted to say when the blood mage had already ripped Lydia to the floor and was nailing her down.
You think dying was easy?! Thana growled, a hand around Lydias throat. Feeling your own flesh decay as something in your brain keeps pulsating. Kill, fight or you wont be able to feel as that realization washes over you after spending over half a century in constant pain the likes of which YOU will never have the pleasure of experiencing? What my words mean to you is not my fucking problem, but you can take that judgemental shit-eating and push it up your ass where it can join that massive stick you love to have there. I didnt take the easiest way, I took the only way.
Thana! John called out and received a side-nce. The dots formed a ring, and her eyes only rested on John for a moment. Her left eye changed, from one moment to the other. The blood vessels expanded until they were clearly visible. Sheughed at the same moment as she let go of Lydias throat.
She grabbed something invisible to John until she did so. One of the Knights of Teuton stood there, his sword stopped in full swing towards Thanas shoulder. I figured it out, the blood mage cackled. I couldnt hear you, I couldnt smell you, but heat vision does the trick. You fuckers hide pretty well, but you are visible if I just dig deep enough!
What the knight sounded terrified, justifiably so.
Fuck off, tin can, before I turn you into scrap metal, Thanaughed as she rose from Lydia.
I think you should just ca- John tried to intervene, but Lydias voice was louder than his.
Did it never ur to you that there was the way of searching for a cure while you were in your original body? To gather all of the information before making your decision?
While being threatened to turn into a fucking potato whenever I dont VIOLENTLY pull someones brain through eye sockets?! NO! Thana, her mood swinging into a sudden outburst of anger, bellowed.
Then this is the difference between you and I, Lydia said as she, as well, stood up, rubbing her throat. You will simply pick the obvious solution, the one you think will yield you the result you think is best. I will always search for the better answer.
And by that miss your opportunity to reach it, like you did today, Thana crossed her arms.
Indeed, Lydia agreed. I lost us todays challenge. My hesitation, my way of doing things. I will reflect on my actions for a long time. Even if they were part of a stupid game, lessons are valuable, and I have received many today. Have you learned anything from going out the way you did?
Thanas mouth opened and closed, the inner circle in her eyes slowing down. She had not expected an admission of guilt. Neither did she have an answer to that question. With slumped shoulders, Lydia turned around, I will be going ahead.
John took a deep breath. He had tried to get them to stop fighting more than once during this conversation, but each time they had simply ignored him and continued on. Well, this is a giant mess, Rave said, scratching the back of her head.
Yeah John agreed while he watched Lydia turn a corner. Thana cowered down on the floor.
Fucking social interactions. What have I done wrong this time? she mumbled to herself in a saddened voice.
I will tell you in detail as we go home, John offered. Although I can give you a heads-up: as per usual, youre not wrong, you just dont know when to stop and Lydia also said some things she shouldnt have but this one is mostly on you.
He sighed, under the firm conviction that the only thing keeping his hair from turning grey on the spot was Gamers Body.
A harem isnt all fun and games when your girls are so violently different, John thought.
Chapter 240 – Dispersing the storm
Chapter 240 C Dispersing the storm
Hey, Lydia, can we talk for a moment? John asked, after knocking on the door to her room. It had been about an hour since they had gotten home, and he had not seen the princess since she had departed from the group back in the arena. The melody of her piano assured him that she was home, at the very least.
At first, he had hoped that this thing would blow over on its own. Either Thana or Lydia would surely be wise enough to just apologize to the other. Thana, somewhat predictably, wasnt the person he could rely on for that. The wrecked bundle of nerves had copsed on the sofa and begged John to do something about this before she made it even worse.
As he could easily see how Thana would manage to escte the situation further, he agreed. His mind had spawned a very stupid n to reconcile the two, which he was now putting into motion.
The melody stopped, and Lydia met him at the door. She had changed out of her uniform and into a more girly outfit. Of course, girly in the context of Lydia simply meant that it was something he could see other girls wearing. A dark green shirt, buttoned up and long sleeved with three pens orderly sorted in the breast pocket together with a long, dark skirt and stockings. Last of which, John knew for a fact, was actually her rapier in disguise.
What is it? she asked, nervously ying with that little bit of open hair that was under the iron ring that held her braid together. The braid, like most times,id on her right shoulder. She knew exactly what John wanted to talk about.
Have you heard about our eternal lord and saviour, the God-Emperor of Mankind? John asked in the most serious tone he could muster. Lydia looked at him with a confused series of blinks.
Pardon? she finally asked.
The God-Emperor of Mankind, he who sits upon the Golden Throne of Terra, the Throne World, and whose eternal light will guide us to salvation.
This is this 40k thing Rave keeps moaning about, I presume? Lydia sighed. What utter foolishness has brought you to annoy me about that at this time?
Want to y a round? John suggested.
This is hardly the time to y a board game, the princess denied him and slowly closed the door again.
John got his foot between the frame and the door. I am afraid I must insist, Lydia, he said with a sigh and then got to the point. If you keep holing yourself in there, that will probably have a serious impact on our team. You know that, right?
Lydia pulled the door open again and sighed, Is this some sort of ploy to get me to apologize to Thana?
How about you just talk it over without shouting at or threatening each other for a start? John said with a calm smile and gestured out into the hallway.
Together, they went up to the second storey. John had taken one of therge, empty rooms up there and redecorated it. In addition to the standardized furniture, bed, desk, wardrobe and so on, there was now a desk with the model of a giant battlefield with crashed, gothic buildings and a half sunken spaceship on top of it. Also, lots and lots of figurines were standing on a second table, organized into neat little armies.
There was also Thana, who sat in one of the armchairs. Arms crossed and left leg jittering until the two of them entered, she waited. The moment they were in, she jumped up, opened her mouth to say something, immediately sat down again, and started wing her hair out. ARGH! was the only sound she made.
How articte, Lydia stated, her stern tone d in irony.
Fuck off, princess of buttplugs, I am seriously struggling here, Thana said, and her eyes darted to Lydias throat. I am sorry, okay! the blood mage blurted out. I shouldnt have attacked you!
No, you shouldnt have, Lydia agreed and rubbed her neck. Any bruise that may have been caused had been healed already. There was a pause in the conversation. Taking a deep breath, her eyes closed, the princess then added, I am certain that I also overstepped boundaries within the confines of our verbal dispute. My apologies.
This was going way better than John had expected. All he had needed to do was get the two of them in a room together. Why are you all even more socially awkward than I am!? he wanted to know. Even I, nerd prime, know that you have to talk about your problems! Maybe I am not giving myself enough credit... I havee a bit since the stutter.
Thank fucking god, Thana visibly rxed, sliding halfway out of her chair. Who, of course, does not exist. I thought I fucked up majorly.
You added insult to injury, John told her, for the second time. He had already gone over what she had done wrong, in length, on the way back.
Yeah, yeah, I shouldntment on the obvious pile of shit all the time, you can smell it yourself. Thana waved off. Got it.
I dont think you did, Lydia said but went over to Thana. Her steel coloured eyes stared down on the blood mage, who looked back in confusion. Lydias arm slowly travelled forwards until she presented her hand to the blood mage.
Hesitatingly she took it. They didnt shake on it or anything, simply two hands that met for a moment. How about a kiss to get this over with? John, jokingly (but not really joking) suggested.
Lydia hummed, I suppose you do deserve some shape of reward for your troubles.
She looked back over to Thana, who smirked, Ey, I am up for whatever perverse crap you guyse up with.
Their hands departed, and Lydia, who was about the size of John, bowed down to the small woman. One arm resting on the chair, the other gently caressing Thanas face, their lips closed in on each other. A lustrous red and a pale purple simply pushed against each other, then their mouths opened and they intertwined.
A small gap appeared between their lips, as their tongues probed forward and then whirled around each other for a moment. Sensually, their lips locked again and slowly closed, eventually separating. Only to meet again, now in a more heated exchange of saliva. Small moans escaped Thana as Lydia took charge and pushed her back down into the chair.
When they finally separated, a strand of saliva connected their extended tongues for a few centimetres, only to break when they both looked over to John. Lydia raised her eyebrows in surprise while Thana only snickered. The Gamer was already naked.
What? he asked with a wide smirk. Are we not doing this?
We are doing this, Lydia said and began to straighten back up, possibly to walk over to the bed. John, who had been majorly limited in his sexual activity the past three days, would not wait. He used Blink to get directly behind Lydia, a rather pompous waste of mana, and then pulled up her long skirt until her ass was on full disy.
Lydia simply went with the flow and bent back over the chair, holding her bnce by putting both of her hands on the back while continuing to kiss Thana. Behind her, John licked his lips as he looked at her beautiful ass in the stockings that went up to her hips.
In his whole harem, Lydia was probably one of the least sexy girls. However, beingst in an assortment of athletic supermodel contenders still put her far above the average girl. He squeezed her soft buttocks; the stic fabric of the form changing metal had very little in the way of ruining the feeling.
Tell me, John, Lydia panted, the situation was starting to get to her head, do you want to fuck me with or without the stockings?
With, John said with utmost certainty, definitely with!
You have permission to destroy whatever of my wardrobe is in the way then, she said. The stockings ripped open in a believable fashion, courtesy of Lydias powers, and revealed blue panties underneath.
John ripped the bothersome cloth off her immediately. Next, he tore the long skirt, threatening to slide down and hide the view from him, off Lydias waist by ripping the cloth apart and tossing it over his shoulder. He could have tried finding whatever was keeping the skirt in ce and removing it naturally, but presented with the opportunity, he decided to ravage the thing instead.
Can I do that too? Thana asked with a smirk. She didnt even wait for the answer, which would have been a yes anyway, toe before ripping open Lydias shirt. Buttons were sent flying as they popped off; a momentter Thana had also made short work of Lydias bra. If I cant get the dick, I am taking these puppies, the blood mage giggled, fondling the princess breasts. The extreme care with which she executed each motion, always wary of her own power, made it a tender caress, a stark contrast to the rough motions that preceded it.
As the wetness of Lydia''s pussy started to overflow, John aligned his cock and pushed inside. A throaty moan, a mixture of pleasure and disappointment, escaped Lydia. Would much rather have it up the ass, would you? John asked as he started a slow rhythm.
Yes, Lydia gasped in a raspy tone. Thana carefully extended her tongue and flicked it against the princess left nipple. You know my preferenhhnces John
Dont you worry, John groaned as he picked up the pace, I will get to that,ter.
He thrust hard into her, sending a shock through her whole body that made Lydias knees buckle under the sudden pleasure. Thana found the princess average tits pressed into her face as Lydia slumped forwards. Granting no chance to recover, the Gamer immediately entered a steady pace. Lydia could only concentrate on not losing her bnce. Her held back moans reverberated from her red lips.
Aaaaah! a sudden outburst,ing after John ran his thumb over her sphincter and applied some soft pressure. Ohmother of metal she panted as the first segment of Johns thumb pushed into her back entrance. Her ass and pussy, even though they were being used on the daily nowadays, were still as tight as the first time John had her.
The wet folds massaged the whole length of his dick each time he thrust into her. She was quivering, tightening in an impending orgasm. Aware that he would cum soon as well if he maintained this speed, John pulled back his thumb and inserted his middle finger instead. Soon the index finger joined, stretching the hole further and coercing more open moans from Lydia.
It was always the same with the proud Prussian princess: only when the dam was about to burst, did she allow herself to moan openly. Finally, his ring finger found its way inside as well, turning her moans into screams as her walls around Johns dick contracted strongly and she came. A few more thrusts, all of which made her scream even louder, caused her back to arch up a little bit more, and John joined her with a groan.
Spurts of thick seed flooded into Lydias wanting pussy. The load was roughly twice the amount John shot when he had first gotten his hands on these powers. Thanks to his increases in Libido since, this amount was baseline for him, and he was thankful that all of his girls were on some sort of birth control. Otherwise, he was sure to knock up someone.
This way, however, he could enjoy the sensation of being balls deep inside the princess as her pussy milked the veryst drop from him. Apanied by Lydias loud panting, John slowly pulled backwards, despite her vagina very clearly wanting him to stay inside.
Lets go to the bed now, John said with a look at Thana. He would have loved to fuck her much in the same way, but she was simply not tall enough. He would have to go into an ufortable, quarter-squatting pose to find the right angle.
His eyes must have said everything. Fuck you, I can mutate to grow another 20 centimetres I just dont want to! Thana shouted angrily. They made their way over to the bed; the blood mage continued to angrily grumble some very unerotic things.
That stopped immediately when John picked her up and threw her onto the bed. Just shut up, Thana, John told her in a domineering tone. The effect was immediate, her amethyst eyes turning ssy and obedient. The metal ring that held her bra was soon undone, and the leather piece of underwear flew away.
I have an idea how to shut her up for good. Lydia, still a bit wobbly on her legs, straddled over Thanas face. You can eat Johns cum out of my pussy, she said with a faint smile.
Sounds fucking awesome! Thana agreed and therefore put her tongue to use, trying to get as much of the delightful seed as she could.
In the meantime, John was trailing down her body with his tongue. Starting at her corbone, he drew a wet trail downwards. He stopped at her average sized breasts, looking big on her otherwise small frame, to bite down on her nipple. During the aggressive nibbling, he sucked on it as well, until a definite mark appeared on her squishy flesh. John pulled back and felt that slight sting of disappointment when it healed almost faster than it could enter his field of view.
Thanas pale skin was as unblemished as ever, porcin with a blueish hue; her pale pink nipple, sharing the slight change in colour, showed no remainder of a bite mark. Ignoring his inner sadist for the moment, John continued his path downwards. Between her legs as he was, he needed to inch back every so often.
As he travelled over her t stomach, he nibbled at her skin. The muscles underneath shifted and vibrated as her lungs filled from the breaths Lydia allowed her and then spent that precious air in moans of growing frustration. Having learned from Nathalias lesson in the arena, the blood mage was denying herself any sort of self-pleasuring. The only things she felt right now were the wonderful taste of the mingling of Lydias honey and Johns seed and thetters slow journey to her wet quim.
The ck leather of her lower piece was soaked. Sticking to her skin, even as John removed it, multiple strands of the sticky love juices of Thanas crotch were strung along. One by one, they fell, and John tossed the piece aside and
pletely ignored her pussy in favour of now running his tongue up her leg. A frustrated groan could be heard, and John interrupted what he was doing to sit up straight. He gestured to Lydia to raise her ass from Thanas face for a moment.
I am sorry for that. Please, just fuck me already! Thana cried out, her eyes pleading and ssy.
John pped her left tit, and a lustful groan shook through her body. I will fuck you when I please and you will shut your mouth. Pliable pieces of meat dont have an option, they get eaten up when their owner pleases, John told her. The wetness between Thanas legs seemed to increase following his harsh rebuke, but she wasnt the only one who liked what he just said.
Lydia bit her lip and smiled crookedly at the same time. I have to admit, seeing you take charge of this insufferable maniac like that is incredibly seductive, she said.
Hear that, Thana, at least your backtalk was good for something, John said, grinning.
That partly broke his roley, but he fixed that by taking one of Thanas nipples and twisting it a bit. With his other hand, he raised her leg to rest on his shoulder. His dick nowy on top of her glistening wet cunt, resting on her clit.
Are you happy about that? John asked and pped her other tit, her slender leg, stuck between his shoulder and neck, standing at a 90-degree angle.
Yes, Thana gasped.
You are happy about talking back to me? John said in a warning tone.
No! No! Thana backpedalled, I am, aaaah, he pinched her other nipple as well, I am sorry for talking back, I sssswear!
John slowly ground his hips back and forth. What are you happy about then?! he asked in an outraged manner. Messing with her when she was this submissive was just too fun.
Th-aaaaah, Thana couldnt string a proper sentence together. To her luck, John wasnt quite as adamant about it as Nathalia had been. Th-that Lydia, AAAAAAH! John interrupted her by biting her leg.
Call her by her proper title! he told the blood mage.
That princess Lydia discovered a new kink for herself, that makes me happy! Thana cried out, and as her reward, John plunged his cock into her in one swift motion.
From the scream and the sudden squirt that followed, everyone in the house could easily guess that Thana had just climaxed so hard that they (read: Aclysia) would need to change the sheetster. Indeed, the sttering against Johns crotch meant that he would have to take another shower after this. Such a bad girl, Lydia purred. He didnt allow you to cum.
Thana didnt get to retort to that. Before her orgasmic scream was over, Lydia had already descended back onto her face, and John was now pounding her. Her pussy was so wet that he glided in and out with almost no resistance. If she hadnt been as tight as atex glove around his cock, John would have doubted he would have even felt anything from pounding her.
However, she was that tight, and so he instead drowned himself in the wonderful feeling of her many folds rubbing along his shaft each time he pushed into her and the attempt to suck him back into her when he pulled out. Her pussy became even tighter as a second orgasm ravaged her body.
Stronger than thest one, this one made Thanas body writhe under them. The fact that she stayed pinned between John and Lydia was attesting to the fact how much her control over her body had increased by now. Nobody was thrown off or hurled across the room. Instead, Lydia started moaning loudly as well, as the blood mages tongue ravaged her pussy.
John didnt let up; he continued to fuck her just as hard as before. His eyes were focused on Lydia, in her ripped stockings, her destroyed shirt hanging loosely over her sides. Her braid, so orderly despite all of this happening, rose and fell, bouncing between her breasts, under heavy breaths and shifting movements.
He closed his eyes and imagined Thana. He could just see her rolled up eyes, the wonderful facets of violet barely visible, as one orgasm went right over into the next one. Her tongue plunged deep into Lydias eager crotch, just instinctivelypping to get whatever little of his spunk was still inside the princess.
Ast thrust and his balls tightened, shot after shot unloading deep inside Thana, flooding her now secure birth canal, painting it with his lust. He was breathing heavily, and felt the sweat cover his body, by the time thest drop found its way into the crazy girl.
Why is sticking your dick in crazy this fucking great? John wanted to know as he pulled out.
Lydia climbed off Thana and pushed John down onto the sheet. Do you have the endurance for one more round? she asked.
Her eyes betrayed that no as an answer would severely disappoint her here. The answer was, of course, his hard cock pressing against her sphincter. Sitting on top of him, she impaled herself. The initial movement was slow, as his dick, wet with Thanas juices, widened her sphincter. Once his head was inside, however, she sank down with a deep groan.
Oh, fuck yes, she panted. You stretch me so nicely, John. I feel sooo fullllll. As her insides were stretched by the length and girth of his rock-hard erection, John reached out to her clit and started rubbing it as Lydia went back up. Oh, oh, fucking Lydia lost her otherwise so eloquent words in a haze of lust.
In a matter of a few strokes, their connection was well lubricated with precum and other juices. Lydia bounced on his cock like she was possessed by a subus. The single goal, to get both of them off again before their bodies copsed, meant that she went at the highest speed her weak legs allowed her.
John, who was feeling exhausted as well by now, met her with thest bit of energy he could muster as he fucked her in a fitting rhythm from below. Both clear in their goal to simply get off, moaned with reckless abandon.
Lydia came first and, actually, thrice before John felt his orgasm approach. The extreme love the princess had for getting her backdoor filled with Johns big dick was eminent as she continued to ride him. No matter how much her body protested, just wanting rest from the ceaseless assault of nerve-wrecking pleasure, their intercourse continued.
I am John finally gasped, I am cumming! Their hips met with final p, and then his balls tightened for the third time, pumping the thick, white liquid up his shaft, beyond the tight rim of the entrance and finally into her, where it coated her insides.
They both remained tense for several seconds, then Lydia slumped forwards. Quivering on top of his chest, as it rose and fell, the princess seemed perfectly content. It was rare to see her so at peace. You certainly are good for my stress management, Lydia moaned, jokingly.
Johnughed at that.
Chapter 241 – She shouldn’t have.
Chapter 241 C She shouldnt have.
John opened the PDF of the rules for Warhammer 40k (technically it was 30k, they were ying with the Horus Heresy rules today) he had on hisptop. This was 45 minutes after they had copsed on the bed. Nathalia hade to see what the ruckus was about and then needed to be appeased in the usual way.
Shower sex with a dragon is exactly like normal shower sex John thought. Shower sex was still in his top 5 of favourite ways to have sex, even if water could be the enemy of lubrication, but he had still expected something more from Nathalia. Apparently, there wasnt much to innovate on that front. How would one do that anyway? he mumbled to himself; The slippery floor kind of limits the options
Back on topic, please, Thana said. You just got done reading that giant fucking lore summary to us.
Ah yes, please, pick a Legion for yourself so we can start, John told them.
Mhm, Lydia walked from army to army.
The hour of preparation between them getting back from the arena and his attempt to reconcile the two had been spent getting this room in order. His ns had seeded more smoothly than he had expected, with them making up/out and all of that. Still, he needed to actually y the game with them. If he didnt, he couldnt justify to his girlfriend that they were in the house.
He was pretty surprised that Lydia stuck around though. As a matter of fact, he should probably ask why she did so.
I have no more paperwork, she said, looking over some Imperial Fists.
John thought he needed to clean his ears. Can you repeat that?
I have no more paperwork, Lydia followed his request and picked up Rogal Dorn. In order to concentrate on the tournament, I delegated governance to lesser nobles for the time being. The paperwork I do to rx is more of a supportive role.
Isnt that kind of dangerous? John asked. Giving other Abyssals power and all that?
The European Abyss is far more established than the den of anarchy you are used to from the USA, John, Lydia answered inly. Theres generations of oaths, hierarchies, and structures that maintain the nation-sized guilds that govern thisndmass. If they manage to put a sessful revolt together in the time I am upied with this, I apud their governing skills, she picked up Roboute Guilliman, and then I will crush them.
You seem really fucking sure of that, despite being the weakest person in the house and probably in the tournament, Thanamented, reading through a summary on Perturabos lore that was attached to the edge of the table.
It seems you are under the impression that the tournament is a good gauge for average strength, Lydia stated. It is not. I am in my position because I am the most promising candidate in my bloodline, and mine is a vast family. She put Roboute back down and went to look at the Iron Hands for a bit.
To try and put these money wasting figurines to good use, let me show it to you in a metaphor, Lydia grabbed an Imperial Guardsmen. ording to the lore he just read to us, these are little more than cannon fodder. This is what the average fighter, not even person, in the Abyss is, she ced him at the edge of the table, then continued.
Despite how grand they act, most nobles would fall under this category as well. Innate Abilities are moremon among them, but a lifetime of training is a great equalizer, especially if one sits on his luxury, while the other strives for a better ce, she looked annoyed at the guardsman as if he suddenly represented what she held contempt for in her nation. To put it in Johns levels, by my estimation, these are the people in the bracket from level 20 to 50.
A wide gulf for those that move within that group. However, for those more powerful, she picked up a Space Marine and put him next to the guardsman. The figurine was double the size and d in thick, futuristic power armour. the differences of the average Abyssal fighter mean progressively little. I would be in this category, albeit the lower end. Presumably, Rave is as well. The guardsmen make up about 99 out of a hundred. They are dangerous because of their number, but thats about it. I would say that the level of people in this category range from 50 to 200. Its the bracket where raw power bes less important than the abilities you have. Would the initial Observe of me and Rave support my presumptions?
Well, you were level 68, but Rave was only level 15, so half and half? John answered.
She was how low? Lydia asked, bamboozled. In her defence, she didnt train a lot, instead shezed around in an arcade and beat up even smaller time thugs. Also, she didnt have an elemental.
So hanging around you then got her the work-out and motivation she needed to actually strive for some power, Lydia noted. It seems you can be a positive influence after all.
So, I guess I would be like this badass looking truckfucker, Thana brought the discussion back on topic and mmed Angron, a Primarch, into the line of figurines. He was, again, twice as big as the Space Marine. The poor Guardsman looked mighty outssed at this point. John felt panic and sadness wash over his body, under the impression that the poor figurine would not survive this. To his pleasant surprise, Thana had mmed the figurine down just hard enough to produce a noise. With a proud, way too wide, grin on her face she said, I think I finally got this control crap figured out.
Lydia cleared her throat. Yes, that is indeed the next bracket. I would say the number of individuals that are on your level, Thana, does not exceed a couple thousand at most. They are scattered all over the globe and usually do what they want in areas where such things as nations or guilds cant bother them. The fact that I got someone of your level to fight for me is sure to me a vast amount of prestige, to be perfectly honest.
Good for you, Thana said with a thumbs-up. I will be ying these fuckers by the way. World Eaters, metal as fuck, nails in their brains that turn them into ass-kicking berserkers, leader can only feel happiness while he is drilling his axe through someones asshole. She cackled while wiggling the figurine on the table, Sounds very familiar.
I will be going with Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines. They intrigue me, Lydia said and the discussion came to an end. John read to them the point rules for their armies and deployment. As he did, his eyes went over to the lonely figurine of the God-Emperor. He, who was to the Primarchs what they were to the Space Marines. He who stood alone at the top. That was where Romulus was, where John was supposed to be able to go.
John had no time to ponder about that as his girlfriend suddenly broke into the room. Finally decided toe to the light of 40k? he asked in a yful tone. He had told Rave his n before going with it. She had told him that he was overplicating things (she had been right) and that 40k was stupid (this was debatable) and thus decided to just sit this one out with Momo and Aclysia in the living room.
Of course not, ya nerd, Rave said and went over to John. Go on reddit!
Why? John asked but did.
With some dignity, holding a silver salver upon which she had ced tea and cookies, Aclysia also entered the room. ording to mistress Rave, I found something interesting. I am very sorry for using your ount to subscribe to a subreddit, she said as she ced the refreshments on the table, where Thana immediately went after the cookies while Lydia concentrated on the tea.
Momo also entered the room, reading a book as she walked around the table and sat down. Whatever this was about, she had some interest in it as well. Why would you have ess to my reddit ount? John wondered but found the answer himself a momentter. It logged you in with my magical footprint, didnt it?
That is correct, Master, Aclysia confirmed his suspicion and walked over to him.
Okay, so reddit has ties to the Abyss too, noted. John thought.
The artificial guardian bowed down, and her silvery white hair fell forward. A mellow note of apple caught Johns attention, as Aclysia brushed a few wayward strands behind her ear. I am getting back problems like this, Raveined, just, make room.
Sure, John smirked, and a momentter Rave was sitting in hisp, with Aclysia still leaning over his shoulder.
They shifted around a bit until Rave wasfortable and John could look over her shoulder without any problems. There, now why are ya still subscribed to gone wild by the way?
Ah, that is easy, for you see, John opened a new tab, and a low-resolution picture of a sexy girl of athletic build and below average breasts was presented to them. At the upper edge of the corner, there was a bit of wild, pink hair and an elegantly swung chin, I found your nudes!
Ya dick! Rave blushed and red at him with embarrassment, I told ya to forget all about those!
And I told you I would find them.
And I gave ya a whole lot of better ones! his girlfriend eximed.
John remembered that photoshoot fondly, I still have those as well. Your tits haven''t grown one centimetre since then.
Shaddup! Rave demanded, still flustered, and pinched him in the leg. John let out a pained giggle. Yeah, ya just have your fun on my cost, his girlfriend pouted. This is how ya get no more nudes!
Aw, John kissed her neck, dont be like that, I just wanted to look at what you put in public.
Ya can touch me, I didnt put that in public, Rave suggested and ran a hand through his hair.
John breathed in deeply, her sweet scent of bubble-gum and rose water filled his senses. Smelling you is fine too? he asked.
A little creepy, but yeah, as long as its you, Rave mumbled in his ear.
Okay, lets stop this before I get too distracted, Johnughed. What is this about?
If you would, Master, I marked a subreddit called the 17th ToG.
ToGTournament of Germany? John already had a rough idea what this would entail. He was not sure if he liked it. He read over the titles of the threads. The Jeopardy game today: A summary, Why Lydias caution makes her a better candidate, Poll: Team Lydia or Team Maximillian, Poll: Sexiest Girl in the whole tournament, Why Maximillians economic reforms will be the death of the craftsmen in Europe, Thana Newman appreciation thread, Yall insane, Maximillian is the way to go C on and on it went like that.
Okay, so the inte decided to use us as a discussion topic John filled in the rest of the crew.
Can ya click on that one? Rave wondered, pointing at the sexiest girl thread.
Sure can do, John said and pulled it up.
Congrattions, you are number one Momo.
WHAT?! the support mmed her book shut and trampled over. Why?! she leaned far over, her poncho fluttering into Johns face, who saw a whole bunch of inactive fireflies sitting in there.
So they DONT glow in the dark, he thought, slightly disappointed. Or do they just not glow when she doesnt want them to?
They scrolled down to thement section to find the answer to Momos question, and it was surprisingly simple. Momo had be a meme. Apparently, the camera had been focused on her when she had her short, awkward burst following her announcement that she didnt like crowds. In the middle of cutely shifting her upper body with a flustered look on her face (and in incredibly high resolution, thanks to magical cameras), she was now making her rounds on the inte.
No, no, no. John, make that stop! Momo demanded as they went down the rabbit hole and found thread after thread of edits of that photo.
Momo with a cowboy hat, Momo with an Its not like I like you or anything, b-baka-speech bubble, Momo as a gif. The first drawings were also popping up as they went through the site, and directly before their eyes, they saw the birth of the Momo-Meme subreddit.
MAKE IT STOOOOP! Momo, half-crying at this point, shouted. By now, her face was so red that it ruined her wonderful monochrome look. I dont want to be famous, please!
I think that ship has sailed.
Cant we just sue them or something?!
Well, even if you could sue every single individual here that usually has the opposite effect, John told her. The memes will just flip from random stuff to mean stuff.
Momo sank to the floor, Thats not fair! she cried.
Gnome appeared to soothe the supports nerves. Ce on, you know you can do this! she tried her best at pep-talking someone else.
No, no I cant! Momo vehemently denied.
U-uhmif you say so the stone spirit cautiously pulled back, not having been prepared for this amount of backtalk.
Momo sniffed, Gnome, you need to be more assertive if you are pep-talking someone.
I-is that so?
Yes!
Okay, Momo, you can do this!
BUT I CANT!
John had to repress hisughter. It was a funny scene, to see Momo tell Gnome how to help herself, only to then outright deny that help. It continued on as John went back to the poll.
Gross, Rave said, the moment she realized that her mother had some sort of cult MILF following. Go somewhere else. That one! That one seems cool! She pointed at a thread whose title made Johns face contort as if he had eaten something sour. Do I really need to?
Yeah!
With a sigh, John clicked on the John Newman is the scum of the earth and here is why. Essentially, it was about someone spelling out, in detail, that if John WASNT banging everyone on Lydias team, he was a disgrace to manhood and if he WAS he was a cultureless swine. There was no winning here.
So, the first people are specting about us fucking, John summarized the threat for the princess.
Lydias expression remained stern, I will find a solution for this in due time.
If you say so, John went further through the subreddit. It was a mixture of cringe and entertainment, to read about themselves in the public forum. Laughing at the Momo memes was great though. Look at it, in this one you are a blushing apache helicopter, John teased her.
I hate you. Momos tone had looped back around to biting cynicism; I hate you so much right now. If I could erase all of existence to get rid of that meme, I would!
Good thing you cant then, Thana told her as they read through her appreciation thread; People really fucking love my outfit Would look better on someone who doesnt look like a midget that shrunk together further in an ice-bath. Great tits though. HAH! Her tits? My guy, look at her fucking thighs! They make up 70% of her bodymass! Thesements are great. I need one of these porn-streaming machines.
I think you opened Pandora''s box with this, John whispered at Aclysia. What were you doing on reddit anyway?
I like surfing the open debates, she said with an apologetic bow, I normally do it while logged out, mistress Rave assured me that making a bookmark this time around was fine though.
Give me that! Momo took hisptop from him and started furiously typing. What are you doing?
Researching inte memes, Momos eyes flew over the screen, taking in several dozen words per second. If I cant get rid of it, you will join me in this misery, Master!
Chapter 242 – Evening talks over the smell of sewage
Chapter 242 C Evening talks over the smell of sewage
This is dull, Nathalia groaned as she watched John and the rest of the group fight some oversized slime monsters. The dragoness had told them that she actually had gotten tired of just fucking around. Apparently, the devil lived in the fridge and gravity aimed at the sky nowadays.
Anyhow, she was now in the backline of the group, told to not do anything unless it was to save someone. She and Thana had been given those orders. Their primary charge was Undine, who stood back and waited for her duty as a healer to be necessary.
John could have her just hang around in incorporeal form as well, but A: Undine didnt want to and B: that would mean that she had to be rtively close to him, as they couldnt distance themselves very far while incorporeal. Having her materialize within a group of enemies wasnt exactly how to protect ones healer. John therefore had her hang around the back, so that people coulde to her when they were hurt.
Not that they needed to worry about anything while Thana and Nathalia were guarding her. Case in point, one of the local monsters, called Sewage Slimes (a muddy green, oversized blob of acidic, well, slime with a ck core), jumped at the trio in the form of a wave springing from a nearby gutter.
Nathalia simply waved her hand, didnt even look towards the slime, and a scorching wave of fire reduced the slime to nothing but ash. How do you not die of boredom? the dragoness asked her other twopanions.
I just think about shit, like what I am going to eatter or if mermaids think thatkes are inds, Thana said. You know, stoner thoughts.
Undine just shifted around, her eyes stubbornly set at nothing, and kept flowing after the group.
I see and you? Nathalia asked the mending elemental, who inched away from her.
I manage, she hesitatingly spoke.
Yes, I desire to know how, Nathalia growled. Dont test my patience and answer me.
Not to interrupt your conversation or anything, John said, slicing through one slime with a fire infused Mana de while punching another one with the burning fist of Purgatory. Both were moves to set up what followed. A white firefly dispersed on her skin before she reached deep into the cauterized wound Mana de had cut into the slime, thus greatly reducing its regeneration, and ripped out the core.
Without the fist-sized, smooth, stone-like core, the mass became a puddle on the floor. Rave dropped it and crushed it under her foot, after which the puddle became naught but dust. For the other slime John had weakened, a bolt of metal prated the point where the slimes outeryer was damaged by fire. At high speed, the projectile flew, digging deep into the core. That didnt outright kill the slime, but Lydia fixed that by parting the bolt into two halves, ripping the core apart.
Rave and Lydia then went over to help Aclysia, who was busy tanking another one, giving John a moment to finish his sentence, but I would be happy if you wouldnt bother Undine.
John Newman, you will need to realize that you sometimes need to drag words out of people, Nathalia told him. Otherwise, they just stay silent for their entire life. Silent and boring.
I am pretty certain that, if Undine wanted to tell me something, she would, he retorted. A feeling of hesitant approval, very hesitant approval, but still approval of his intervention.
John, Mana Ray, please! Rave shouted over.
Cant you just st them with sunlight or something? John asked but raised his hand.
Nah, there is a slight proble- whoops, Rave made room for the attack to hit the slime, and then she plunged her fist, engulfed by short bursts of light, through the brittle ce the Mana Ray had impacted. The lights shone brighter, each new burst trumping thest one in intensity, like small stars inside the green mud. Rave pulled her hands upwards, cutting the slime open with a sickle of tracing illumination. Then she pointed her index finger directly at the core as the slime scurried to mend itself back together. Aser shot forth and burnt thest few centimetres of protection away. A few more of theseter and the slime copsed.
Aclysia, meanwhile, whirled VolJinZul around. With the buff of the red firefly, her attack cleaved through the gtine mass, sttering it over the floor. A direct follow-up attack at the core and now that slime was done as well, which spelled the end for the group that they had been upied with.
They gathered up what the slimes had dropped as Rave told John what the problem was. My attacks aint strong enough to prate that outeryer they have, she said. All they do is create a small wound. That just heals right up.
What about that broad area stuff you do?
Even more shallow over a greater area, she furthered her exnation. Not gonna help. Not that I am great against slimes in the first ce. My powers work by either sting my target with heat or just physical impact. Either way the light does damage as it gets swallowed up, so the damage is just spread throughout the partly translucent body of these disgusting things.
In Raves defence, they were currently fighting enemies in the level 91-95 bracket. The difference between their levels and the fact that they were buffed for group content, meant that Rave wasnt supposed to be able to take them down on her own. Even the one John had fired a Mana Ray at had been engaged by the elemental girls.
It was good that Rave fought stuff above her pay grade. John had seen her use some stuff she usually didnt need or hadnt been able to do in the past. Like that fingerser, or the sh bangs around her hand. Part of that could just be because of the training she is doing on her own recently, John pondered.
John dumped a ss of muddy slime in his inventory, a crafting material to be soldter, and they went deeper into the dungeon. This time around it was a canal system. The air was stagnant and dank, muddy water flowed through trenches and underneath metal walkways. It really wasnt a pretty dungeon, and the sooner they were out of here, the better.
I suggest we go rest after this one, Lydia said. It is already close to midnight.
Well, I got a level today, so I am happy with that, John agreed.
They turned a corner and found themselves on the edge of a dome shaped room. The curved ceiling of wet, grey stone was covered in glowing moss while the floor was a grid of rusty iron, the muddy sewage rotting away underneath.
I hate this dungeon, John said and stepped closer to Aclysia, who was spreading her perfume to outdo the disgusting stenches.
I am happy to be of use, Master, she said as he was now in hugging distance.
Sad that I have to send you ahead, because this practically screams boss room, and you are our main tank, John said.
I will do my best so that we can be back home within the next twenty minutes, Aclysia promised. That was a pretty good estimate for the slugfests boss fights on this level often became.
No, you know what I am not going to stay here, John sighed. This is such a first world problem, but I am not putting up with this shit. If I am going to grind, I want to be somewhere where I dont have to run around with my nose pegged. Nathalia, Thana, could you just
Nathalia didnt look greatly amused. I will have you to myself for this, she demanded and stepped forward. Her obsidian scaled feet cked on the metal. The moment she stepped even the slightest bit towards the centre of the dome, the water underneath the metal grid started shifting. With a disgusting splurge, a slime of oozing filth, the shape of an armless torso with a deformed head rose, it had-
John couldnt make out any further details as Nathalia stomped once, causing the dome to copse. Molten rock poured down through the cracks, and just like that, the boss was killed in a cloud of stale water boiling. Well, if there was any good loot that just went up in mes, John thought and closed the dungeon.
Oh right! Thana said, suddenly remembering something, as they made their way back. Lydia, I wanted to tell you something that is really fucking important, she said. I forgot because Her eyes wandered to Lydias neck, where the mark of Thanas hand had been.
What is it? the princess asked, paying it no mind, turning the lock of the front door with her powers.
You shouldnt fight Mario.
Those words made Lydia hesitate while she got out of her boots. She continued normally a momentter, Why?
Because he is wearing almost no metal, Thana told her.
How do you I suspect that question is redundant by now, Lydia sighed. If Thana could develop heat vision, smelling how much metal was on a person wasnt exactly out of the imagination. How much metal he is wearing is of no importance, I only need to disarm him, the princess stated.
Yeah, which they fucking know. Guess what, Lyly, he is wielding ss weapons, Thana stated, giggling as if she had just been told a very fine joke. Which makes you abso-fucking-lutely useless against him. They probably want to bait you into fighting him and getting your pretty little ass fucked the non-fun way.
Is that so? Lydia crossed her arms and headed towards the living room with the rest of the group. That does sound usible. Hardened ss is an umon weapon, weaker than most magical alloys, but it would eliminate my advantage she mumbled.
And, no offence, John chimed in, but without that advantage you will lose pretty certainly.
Agreed Lydia took the analysis in stride. This warrants changes in my n. If I am not fighting Mario, my next best matchup would be the goblin, in all due likelihood, and hence thest empty slot we have is...
Her eyes wandered over to Rave. What? the techno-lover asked, tilting her head a bit.
It seems you will be getting that fight with your mother after all, Lydia informed her.
Huh, Rave blinked, neat.
And you are 100% certain about this? Lydia asked the blood mage.
Does this crazy bitch love gargling cum? Thana asked.
Do you? Lydia returned a question of her own.
No fucking clue, actually, havent tried that... probably be really gross, stuff is kind of thick fuck, anyway, point is, I smelled it, I saw it, so I am cum-guzzlingly sure.
Although he was wondering since when blowjobs were a measure of likeliness, John found that sounded convincing. In that case, our lineup has changed. If they present Mario as their fighter, it will be Thana who is going to fight him. Anything else?
Actually, yes, John informed everyone about what little information he got out of Ankleshanker and Alexej thanks to Reveal.
It seems that this game had some profits for us despite my blunder, Lydia said with a slight smile.
It makes me happy to see your pains eased, your highness, Aclysia said with a bow.
You can stop bowing before this meagre royalty, Nathalia said, and start cooking me steak.
That actually sounds fantastic, John agreed, do we have steaks?
This is sadly not a thing that I have stocked up on.
Steaks are for victory! Raveined; Ya cant just eat steak after we lost.
I will eat whatever I please, you pink haired annoyance, Nathalia growled.
Yeah, fuck context, give me food that rivals swallowing! Thana agreed.
I find the idea that Masters seed has any parallels absurd. Aclysia put her hands on her hips, giving the pretty little psycho a surprisingly stern re. His seed and his alone is delicious beyond any cooking.
Ja, normal semen is kind of blergh, Rave said.
Lydia blinked, Is it? I always found the taste eptable.
Ya also prefer it up the ass, ya perv, the techno-lover retorted.
Can you people PLEASE, Momo interrupted them, her voice loud from exasperation, choose what to eat first! Its like yall are made of tangents!
Dont be hating, Mono, Rave teased.
It C is C MOMO!
Sure, its not Me-me?
Its pronounced meem, also I hate you.
Youre so cute when youre angry, I meanouch! A firefly had hit her with mild damage in the forehead.
Stop calling me cute and decide what to eat, you are bothering sister!
Siena, who had skirted around the edge of the group, threw a doubtful nce at the first maid. They are not, Aclysia seems boringly unbothered.
How about we eat pizza? John suggested, and the talks devolved again. They had a surprisingly good time just talking. From the techno-lover to the blood mage, the princess and the dragoness, the aspects of the elements and even the spawn of shadows. There were differences there, plenty of them, but none that detracted from the banter.
Perhaps that was the most fantastic part of having his harem.
Chapter 243 – The Prelude to an ass-whooping.
Chapter 243 C The Prelude to an ass-whooping.
Well then, John said as he sat down between Rave and Lydia. They were an hour early, again, and sitting on their private tform. He pulled hisptop from his inventory, ced it on the table, and checked a few things out. Okay, they have Wireless, he announced.
Awesome! Rave did little hops with her chair, until their armrests were touching. In response, John pushed theptop slightly to her direction so that she had an easier time reading.
Now then he opened another website they had found yesterday aptly called aww.seventeenth-tournament.rom.
The reason why that title was interesting was twofold. One, there was the fact that the abyss used aww (abyssal wide web) instead of world wide web. Two, rom (Rome) had its own destination as well. While fairly unimportant in the grand scheme of things, this tickled the fancy of Johns nerd-brain.
Anyhow, that was not why he was pulling up that site. Neither was the livestream with the countdown; he had the actual event right in front of him, so no need to watch the stream. No, he went to the FAQ section and checked if his question had been answered by now.
The Gamer: You said everyone was protected, but can I get some more details on the how?
Well, it had been answered, publicly, and by someone important as well.
Lady Luna: Greetings. Our safety precautions are threeyered to allow each and every single one of our participants to fight without worries of terminating their opponents life and to the best of their abilities. The first of our precautions is my personal ability to erect powerful barriers.
These barriers will be applied before the battle and only protect vital organs, as to not interfere with shing weapons and the like.
These barriers are scaled to a persons life force and will only be active if needed, so you wont need to worry about your enemy aiming for the destruction of them in order to achieve an easy victory.
The secondyer is the prestigious ability of Fateweaving. Thanks to this ability, if someone is about to be struck lethally, they are, instead, teleported to a designated point inside the arena. Due to safety precautions in regards to assassination attempts, that location cannot be disclosed and changes daily. The supreme Fateweaver himself is overlooking the tournament, so that our contestants may rest assured that their lives are in good hands.
The thirdyer is the Apothecary guild. Their best and brightest are stationed here to make even the most gruesome of injuries a minor and short-lived inconvenience. Broken skulls, ripped out hearts, as long as the target isnt dead (or hasnt been dead for too long) restoration is possible.
Was this answer helpful? Yes/No
John clicked on the yes and closed the site. Ey, I wasnt done reading that yet! Raveined.
Oh, sorry, he pulled it back up. Rave needed another half minute and then made a gesture that indicated that it was fine.
I dont have that bullshit quick brain of yours, she informed him.
No, you dont, Momo agreed. You are way quicker to punch stuff.
Do I hear a fuckingint?! Thana growled her way into the discussion. Violence solves 95% of my problems in less than 2 seconds.
That statistic is obviously wed, since 95% of your problems are caused by you being a tremendous social troglodyte, Momo drily retorted.
IS THAT SO, YOU CYANIDE PILL?! Thana shouted.
Yes, Momo simply answered with half-closed lids.
I guess, the blood mage''s mood suddenly swung around, and she fidgeted with her hair in a bored way. Sorry, just wanted to rant about some shit. Whoever thought that waiting was a good thing should die by having a very long, sharp stick shoved up their rectum.
Anyhow, Momo ignored the blood mage, maybe you should spend some time after this is over going back to school.
Youre sounding like my parents, Rave warned. Dont.
You are sounding like an uneducated amazon, the support shot back. Please, fix your behaviour.
Can we skip this discussion? John intervened with a heavy sigh. Jane likes using her brawn over her brain in a world that is about asking questionster. I say it is perfectly sensible.
Also I attached myself to Brainiac, Rave defended herself. He is going to do all that boring tax stuff while I pet kittens.
And what do I get out of that deal?
My wonderful smile!
You are lucky that I love you, otherwise that offer would hold no value whatsoever, John reminded her.
I know when to push my luck.
They kissed. Momo rolled her eyes, So, you are just going to leech off each other like John leeches off Aclysia?
Its called a symbiotic rtionship, John informed her. Aclysia likes doing chores, I like grinding resources and caring for her, Rave likes punching stuff.
And we all LOVE sex, Rave added.
Give it up, Lydia told Momo. They have formed the rtionship equivalent of an ant colony at this point. Separation is impossible.
May I remind ya, Lylytina, that ya are part of this colony? Rave poked fun at her. Ya know, with the whole Winning the tournament for ya deal.
This is a business transaction, Lydia corrected, her eyes ncing around in a barely hidden attempt to ensure no spying familiars were around.
Sure~, Sienas teasing voice echoed from Johns shadow; Business is the reason that you gave him the Soulpotion as a present.
I profit from this arrangement as well, Lydia held her ground.
There is no reason to gift it to him, renting it out would have done it. Be honest, you gave it to him in hope of the second part of business or pleasure.
Lydia pressed her lips together and blushed slightly. That exchange ended with the princess falling silent.
I am abso-fucking-lutely fine with being part of this ant colony, by the way, Thana picked the topic up again, I mean, as long as you are willing to have me you are, right? Her voice dipped into uncertainty.
Yes, Thana, we are, John reassured her for the eleventh time that day. He was somewhat amazed at his patience at this point. What is wrong with you today? Even for you, this is pretty moody.
Shut the fuck up, Thana jabbed back; Also, thank you? Also, urgh, yes, I feel all fidgety and shit.
Thats called being nervous, Momo informed her.
Thana broke out into a shrillughter. Nervous? Me? Why the fuck would I be nervous?! I crumple any one of them up like a tissue paper after John gets done with his business.
I mean, John spoke up, how about because you could lose after all and disappoint Lydia, thus causing her to abandon you and then you would be thrown out of the house and suddenly you are all alone in a city you dont know, on a continent where you know nobody?
A moment of silence. Geez, John, Rave slung her arms around his boyfriend. Why was that so detailed?
You try sitting in a house, alone, for a couple of months, John looked over to Lydia. With several hundred billions in debt without word from the person you need to repay.
I have apologized for that numerous times, Lydia crossed her arms and stared back with her greyish blue eyes. But if you dont inform me about your situation, I can hardly help you, can I?
Thing is, John retorted, that you didnt inform me about the fact that I shoulde talk to you if anything was wrong. You cant just tell people that they should have known.
You had my phone number! Lydia held her ground.
You are also one of the least approachable people on this, Momo chimed in. When a person wants to talk to you, the first thing you usually do is check your watch and tell them how long they have.
That is a hyperbole, Lydia denied that.
Right, you only check your watch and then look at them as if they only have 30 seconds, Momo corrected herself with a smugly raised eyebrow.
Yeah, that is pretty urate, Rave said.
Agreed, John added.
How did you NOT fucking know that?! Thana threw proverbial salt into her open wound.
Lydia red daggers at all of them. My acute sense of duty andck of time does not excuse me being unapproachable, but you all are being overly offensive in this course of discussion. I tire of your constant criticisms of me. We were talking about Thana, she steered the ship back around and the group relented. They had been pushing and prodding her a lot. So, are you nervous?
NO! she denied outright, only to then add a less certain. I think?
Why would you even be nervous, you are level 400, John said. You know what? I am just going to Observe you, and then I know what you are feeling. Sounds good?
Sounds like you are breaching whatever fucking privacy I still have! she hissed.
You are running around in your underwear, John reminded her.
I wish I could just run around in the nude Thana sighed and softly tugged at her leather bra. Clothes are so annoying Okay, fuck it. Observe me She added a variety of Polish curses under her breath.
Okay, so you are not nervous, you just REALLY want to punch Mario, John informed her about her own emotions, Also, and I want to say this bluntly: How THE FUCK are you 27 levels higher than thest time I threw Observe at you?
Everyone looked wide-eyed from John over to Thana. I told you I was still mutating, she looked heavily confused at the fact that they were all this weirded out by it.
Yeah but 27 levels? John repeated.
Motherfucker, I developed HEAT VISION yesterday, Thana shouted at him; What makes your shitass numbers that much more impressive than that?
Your Libido doubled!
You can ce the me for THAT firmly on yourself, the blood mage giggled. After all, you are pumping me full of your semen every day, daddy.
No, John firmly stated, Stop doing that. Thanaughed. I mean it! he warned her. Its making my insides shrivel up like a wet rag left in the sun. I mean, Jesus, nothing against people who enjoy it but please dont?
Fine, Thana waved off in a way that assured John that this wasnt thest time she called him that, boring bitch breaking brat.
Change of topic, John turned to his girlfriend. I was wondering about this yesterday, but where is that battlesuit that you supposedly dont have. Rave was still wearing an outfit normal for her, a crop top that revealed her belly button, blue jeans and shoes that looked like a mixture of rubber boots and sneakers. The only thing she had on herself aside from that were the Miales-Gloves.
What battlesuit? Rave smirked and therefore skipped the topic entirely. John had an inkling that it was her shoes and could have figured it out using Observe. This was one of the few surprises he could keep for himself without iting back to bite him though. They killed the rest of the time speaking about less interesting stuff and surfing the AWW.
At 16 oclock, the announcers desk once again found its way into the sky. Ladies and gentlemen! Jeff shouted. It was only him and Dra on the desk, the memeshifter apparently hadnt wanted to stay for longer. Either that or they were keeping him for another date. Either way, he wasnt there.
Wee to the second day of the tournament, a quick recap of yesterdays happenings: The first fight of the tournament turned out to be a game of Jeopardy. In a stunning disy of knowledge, neither team answered a single question wrongly, however, thanks to Maximillian showing just how daring he is, he cleared more of the high-point questions early and thus won the game. This puts our current points at 1 for Maximillian and 0 for Lydia. Will the Princess of Steel manage to tie their points today? Lets find out! Candidate Maximillian, please present us with todays fighter!
John looked at a screen that was hovering above Maximillians tform (a simr one was above their own) as the animation of a wheel of fortune spinning was yed. The desk flew over to hand the King of Vienna the microphone.
With great pleasure, I announce today that I will pitch one of my stronger fighters into the ring. A spectacle of true skill, a master of the de, the traditional weapon of mankind, forged and tempered from the strongest metals. Today, you will see the swordmaster, Mario de Medici! he announced in an over-enthusiastic manner.
The crowd went wild as John shook his head with a slight grin. Maximillians unsubtle hint towards metal only added believability to Thanas im that they wanted to reel in Lydia in this first round. Too bad that they didnt know that the blood mage had seen (or rather smelled) through them already.
The blue tforms appeared, and Mario jumped on top of it. The announcers made their way over.
So, Dra, who do you think the enemy team will pick? Jeff asked on the way.
Well, against the swordmaster, Lydias metal-bending powers would certainly be of help. For the rest of the contestants, we sadly dont have any information about their powers. However, following the humiliation Thana Newman has brought him at the announcementsst week The screens showed a video clip of Thana breaking Marios hand back in Cologne, I am sure I know who Mario himself wants to face.
Now then, Lydia, Jeff stopped the desk in front of their tform. Which of your fighters will you send?
Lydia gave the microphone held to her face a short, annoyed nce. Then, she turned around. Thana, as discussed.
WOOOOOHOOOOO! Thana cheered and then jumped. Not on the tform that formed but straight into the arena and then ran towards the middle, where Luna herself was waiting for them.
Chapter 244 – Vs Mario de Medici [Thana POV]
Chapter 244 C Vs Mario de Medici [Thana POV]
I am now going to put the barriers in ce, Luna told the two contestants. Silver light bounced from her hands to both of them. Thana could feel it pushing through her. Like how tiny particles of dust tumble through the air and eventually settle on surfaces, the silver energy eventually formed protectiveyers around her vital organs and areas.
If she wanted, she could have tried to resist, and a big part of her wanted to. The memory of having foreign magic in her body was still fresh - would most likely never leave her. With clenched teeth, she just epted the barrier reinforcing the inner side of her skull. Not like she needed any of this. They are supposed to only be active once they are needed, she thought, I dont need them ever guess I will see how that fuckery works in conjunction in a few moments.
I must say, I expected Lydia to fight me, the tone of a bastard sure of his victory, but this is better.
Thana looked at her hands and testily clenched them into fists. The energy that was supposed to shield her felt very dangerous. Not in the sense that it was going to harm her, more that it was broken into a purpose less sinister than the original. Like energy from a coal nt used to run an electric car, advertised as environmentally friendly.
Last time you humiliated me in front of the court, this time I will show you just how strong I am through the use of my-
Dude, just shut the fuck up. Thana looked up from her hands. She had that tingly feeling that John described as anticipation. She hadnt felt like that ever since waiting to fight him. A jolt of guilt went up her spine. No one is listening.
But they should listen, for when I disy my superior skill with the sword, they will learn to fear me again, Mario said, his stupidly handsome, sun-kissed face smiling brightly.
Oh yeah, I believe that your sword skills are really good, Thana drawled and giggled, making a jerking motion with her left hand. One-hand, two-hand, I instantly believe you are a master of all the techniques.
It is such a shame that your mouth knows no manners while you are this cute, Mario said.
Personally, I think my curses make me that much more adorable. But, hey, you are entitled to being totally fucking wrong, she gave him a deadpan stare. Dont expect me to not rip off your arm and degrade you into the piece of cat litter that you are though, you dumbass brown noser.
Ehem, Jeff above cleared his throat, Luna had long since left the field. If you are done with the trash talk, let me remind you the only items you are allowed to carry with you into this battle are the ones currently on your body. If you want to get something out of your personal dimensional pockets or anything, now is thest chance.
Let me get rid of this, then, Mario said and opened the cor of the cloak that had hidden away his armour, tossing it into his dimension pocket. What had been a metal-reinforced leather armour when they first met, was now just leather. The only reinforced parts of it were the armguards, keeping up the illusion that it was meant to bait Lydia.
Thana breathed in. Not deeply, just a normal, calm breath that was interrupted halfway by an outburst ofughter. Ghahahahaha, HAHAAHAAHAaaaaaaaa, she let it out with a long exhale at the end. Iron. They had used just normal iron for the armguards. Lydia could have taken control of it, but what good would iron do against a leather armour that was from the skin of some fantastical beast?
Mario shifted slightly, and his many weapons rattled. Thana dissected the noises with care. She heard the broadsword and twin-daggers on his hips, the ymore on his back, the 12 throwing knives on his belt, and the miniature stilettos worked into his boots. A wide arrangement of ded weaponry, aside from the stilettos, which were primarily stabbing weapons. There was something else in his belt as well. Two vials with a liquid inside. Some kind of potion?
The crystallized blood that was her fingernails liquified as she felt a slight light-headedness that always apanied the soft buzzing spreading from her eyes. It wasnt unpleasant, it felt natural, made her wide awake, powerful. Ready to kill something. Ready to kill everything. Ready to drive the entire species to extinction. Try not to rip the shit-eating grin out of his face, she warned herself, at least not literally.
Well then, the contestants are set, Dra said. Now, we move on to the biome wheel, where will this fight happen? The wheel of fortune on the screens above, that had been set into motion a while ago, now came to a halt, disying an icon of the arena they were in. A disappointed outcry went through the crowd. I am sorry, but it seems like this fight will be set in the standard arena setting, Dra apologized to the audience. Without further ado. Let us begin.
YES! FOLKS AT HOME! IN THE ARENA! COUNT DOWN WITH ME! THREE! The crowd went wild. TWO! Thana opened her arms wide, apletely open stance. Mario drew his daggers and assumed a stance, one of the silver des pointed at her heart. ONE! Thanas heart was pumping like crazy, far beyond human capability. The blood of her fingernails reformed into liquid ws. GO!
Mario stormed right at her. The three metres between them was easily crossed with a lunge at his level, bridged in but a moment. The daggers aimed for her shoulders, a crippling strike meant to end the fight before it began. For most people in the arena, he was moving too fast to follow.
For Thana, he seemed to walk through water. Her grin turned upside down until she frowned in disappointment. Fucking hell, he is as weak as before, she thought.
Have you seen Eliza? a soothing voice suddenly asked.
Thana looked at her feet. Back stared the face of a woman, clearly defined. She looked a lot like herself. I want to apologize, the face said.
Thana stepped on her without a second thought, Annoying fucking things.
She looked up again to find Marios daggers close. Very close indeed, they were about to connect. Rolling her two-ringed eyes, Thana decided to do something about that. There was a slight problem though. She wasnt actually much faster than him, she just hadpletely over the top senses. Well, I can catch one of these at least, she opened her mouth and snapped at the dagger aiming for her right shoulder.
A crunching noise and a sharp pain followed. Splinters filled her mouth as the dagger shattered between her perfect teeth. ss was immediately ejected from her flesh and bloodstream, leaving only the pain where the second dagger had dug into her unguarded left shoulder.
Mario had a victorious expression until Thana opened her mouth and his dagger fell apart. He wanted to jump back, assess the situation, but Thana grabbed his right hand, the one holding the dagger that hadnded the hit.
The feeling of having a mouthful of loose shards was anything but pleasant, but Thana was used to worse. Between getting squashed, cut open, having her organs rearranged, trying to breathe without lungs, having several thousand volts running through her, and being put on ice with nails that made every living second hell on earth, it barely registered on the pain scale.
Thana spat out the shards of ss in a wave of blood that rinsed out even the tiniest remains. One of therger shards, she caught in her hand and held it against the sun. Under the painted surface, the material was entirely clear. ss, I fucking knew it, she dered and tossed it over her shoulder; Going the extra mile to paint it, you really must have wanted to trick Lydia, you harmless fucking coward.
That insult evidently worked on Mario, What would someone like you know of honour?
She shrugged, driving the dagger deeper into her shoulder, Ah, this or that, or nothing, I dont really care. A tip for the future though.
The blood mage picked up the sound of cloth being cut. The swordmaster held onto his dagger, his free hand ready to draw his broadsword the moment he thought it would give him an opportunity to strike.
Two tips, actually, Thana corrected herself. First, fuck you for destroying my favourite robe, you jackass. Fixing that hole wont be cheap.
That is not a tip, Mario pointed out.
No, but I wanted to say it anyway, second Thana moved Marios arm, against his physical protest. His eyebrows furrowed first from the strain, then from the confusion. The dagger once again pointed at her heart. Aim for somewhere that actually makes a difference, she cackled, stepping into the de before he could try to stab her again.
Unbelievable! Jeff shouted from above; It seems that contestant Thana just lost the wait, the rms are not going off WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!
IT MEANS BE QUIET, YOU WANKER! Thana screamed up at him and let go of Marios hand. The sword master, to his credit, reacted swiftly, letting go of the dagger and moving to take a new stance. Before he could do more than let go of his weapon, though, Thana kicked him in the side and sent him flying. His body skipped over the ground several times.
The best part about getting this body control shit in order is that I can decide to NOT instantly super murder him, she thought as the knight of Rome came to a halt a mere ten metres away. He quickly regained his standing, just in time to see Thana draw the dagger from her heart and toss it aside without a care. Stunned, he, and the audience, watched as the wound simply closed. Whatever blood she had lost up until this point gathered in a small orb behind her back, the default position where it naturally went when she wasnt paying attention.
She yawned for all the world to see. Long and bored, the sound stretched, apanied by a gesture that looked like she had just woken up a few seconds ago. The violet flesh of her gums, her sharp teeth, all of it was on open disy. She brushed her white hair behind her pale ear and looked at Mario, who had drawn his broadsword.
Well, at least you got some balls, she admitted. Not a single fucking braincell though. Guess I will have to scratch my earlier insult and rece coward with idiot.
That would make me a harmless idiot in your eyes, Mario pointed out, his broadsword in a parrying position.
I mean yeah, Thana giggled.
Sheunched herself at him. Mario had only waited for that to happen. He feigned a parry but at thest moment went to dodge instead, sidestepping the vertical sh of Thanas ws and instead aiming to ram his sword into her guts.
Thana caught the tip of the sword between two fingers. Marios eyes widened. He had underestimated just how big the gap between them was. Thana grabbed his left arm. Excuse me, did I say harmless? she apologized in an overly cutesy voice. I meant to say armless. The parallel bones of the lower arm snapped like dry twigs. The iron protection around them was shattered, the leather proven useless. All of those sensations vibrated in her palm.
Did she enjoy that? To a degree. It wasnt exactly the violence itself that made her ecstatic though. It was the rush ofplete and utter supremacy and seeing this smug knight in front of her rattle in anguish. She tossed him upwards, holding his broadsword in ce. He was down another weapon.
When hended, painfully on his sheathed ymore, Thana yawned again. This time it was out of honest boredom. I mean, can you get me to go serious or do I need to handicap myself more? Thana wanted to know, then snapped her fingers, I KNOW! I wont use my hands! Thats a standard thing the bad guys do, right?
Calling yourself the bad guy? Mario wanted to know as he fought to get back on his feet.
Isnt that the question all bitches ask themselves? Do I want to be an annoying cunt and get called a bad girl and bend over or do I get headpats and called a good girl?
Mario ignored her intellectual musings and took one of the vials from his belt and pulled the lid off with his teeth before gulping it down.
Oh? Thana raised an eyebrow as she let it happen. Some kind of healing potion? I guess thats kind of smart.
Wouldnt work against people that take me seriously, Mario growled as his arm slowly snapped back into ce.
It seemed that the knight had finally epted his underdog position here. He was no longer looking at Thana like he could defeat her, instead he was looking for a way to exploit her arrogance and whittle her down. You are a proud sack of ipetent shit-headery, arent you? Thana sneered.
I am a knight of Rome, Mario told her. I have been climbing since I was born, always striving to reach a new height, always abiding to the protocol of our proud nation. People like you, who are unable to follow simple protocols I must admit that I hate you.
Good fucking job, at trying to win the crowd over, Thana shrugged, but if you have that big a stick up your ass, you would have gotten along with Lyly way better. Mario tested his healed hand. It seemed to move just fine, so he went for his ymore. You fucking moron, wait a bit longer, Thana told him. There is a bone shard in your wrist thats still getting back into ce.
How would you know? Mario asked but froze.
I can hear the cartge in your wrist rolling, I hear your blood pumping, I can smell the amount of water in your breath, Thanaughed. How the fuck do you think I knew about the ss?! I heard it yesterday! She picked up the sound of Lydia sighing between the mumbles of the crowd. Shouldnt I have said that? Ah, right the whole fucking information warfare. Ah, the hell do I care, its her problem, I am just going to beat this shithead up.
The princess knows court behaviour, Ill give her that, Mario stated, but I am fighting for the Sons of Rome. A secessionist like Lydia is not worthy of support from me! He spun around himself, and then there were a handful of knives flying towards her. Thana, devout in her promise to not use her arms, dodged four of them, but the fifth actually managed to hit her in the leg. A second wave was already flying at her.
Mario now knew that the only area he could have hoped to match her in was speed. Straining his body to the absolute, as Thana was momentarily upied with dodging, he grasped his ymore and executed a vertical strike.
Too bad he had, once again, vastly underestimated the gap in power. Maybe he simply hadnt believed Thana when she told him she could hear his blood pumping or maybe he had to believe it was a lie in order to have the slightest bit of hope left. Either way, even while dodging all of the second wave sessfully, Thana had heard his footsteps closing in.
And so, the strike of the two-handed sword sunk uselessly into the ground. Before Mario could whirl around, hisst major weapon was pinned to the ground by Thanas bare foot. The double-edged sword didnt even cut through her sole.
You are way too easy to bait in, she opened up and pulled the one dagger that had hit from her leg. Then she pressed her foot down. Her blood crystallized directly underneath her skin and made it impossible for the de to do any damage. Then it broke under her heel.
Mario stumbled backwards. He gritted his teeth.
Ah, the frustration of the high and mighty, Thana thought with satisfaction. I fucking love it.
End it, he demanded.
She clicked her tongue. Already? You might as well give up if you know its not going to work out for you.
I can do no such thing; my honour wouldnt allow it.
Honour, Thana spat out. Honour is nothing but an illusion that you fucking soldiers tell yourself around the campfire to give yourmand structure any sense. Honour is what the generals fuck into your skull through your ears so you wont desert. Honour is the dumbass reason people need to keep promises. Honour is a concept for jackasses and LARPers. Try honesty instead, how about that?!
You know nothing of men, Mario taunted her.
But I have seen enough of the shit that humankind can pull to tell you. She stared up at the annoying, tall mans face. Honour doesnt save lives.
You are wrong, the swordmaster told her.
What a resounding argument, you should try bing a politician with thatpletely waterproof fucking logic, Thana growled. Tell me, how much stronger would you be with a proper sword, not these ss dildos.
Mario narrowed his eyes, I would destroy you.
Thana smirked, Now THAT sounds like a fucking idea. She turned away from the knight and looked towards Romulus. Lets skip the fucking rules, give this asshole a sword thats actually useful!
All eyes in the arena wandered to Romulus. Can she demand that? Jeff asked his co-host.
Well, the rules dont state anything about such a case, Dra said. Such a merciless beat down as we are witnessing today is well, its not a first, but usually it''s just a beatdown.
Can a girl get a quick answer around here, you bbering cock munchers?! Thana screamed at thementators.
The camera showed the emperor on his throne, his eyes closed, fingers dancing over the golden armrest as both Luna and Sol spoke silent words. If both contestants are fine with this, I will allow it, Romulus finally announced.
Bitchin, Thana giggled and turned to Mario.
Take this! Maximillian shouted and tossed a sword into the ring. It was a longsword; the one Mario had been wearing on the day of his appointment. Seemingly weightless, it travelled most of the distance and only slowly descended as it gradually left Maximillians zone of influence over gravity. It was flying long enough for Mario to catch it in his raised hand. A heroic pose, a perfect prelude to despair.
Mario grasped the grip of ck leather and pulled off the ck sheath. The only way to describe the de that came into view was wless. A white with only the slightest tinge of grey, almost shining in the sun, double edged with a broad, slightly curved guard. Simple, elegant C wless.
Mario held it like an old friend with both hands and slowly lowered it. Know that you could have won this day, Mario said with renewed certainty, if it werent for your arrogance.
You know, you keep underestimating me. Thana rolled her neck. Come at me, bro.
Mario charged at her. He feigned an attack from above only to change course halfway through the attack. Now it came from the side, a fact that Thana had easily anticipated. Still not using my hand, she thought and did the good old thing that always solved her problems: biting. Her jaw opened, the de cut into her cheek, then she chomped down.
CRUNCH! The momentum of the de stopped, the sword vibrating under the force. But this time, it wasnt the de that had shattered. Pain shot through her jaw, down to the root of her teeth. Stumbling backwards, Thana held her mouth as shards of her pearly whites dropped from her moving lips. Cockshucking shon of aa fahshing whohre, she cursed. Shithing queen of dickheadsh. One by one her destroyed teeth fell out, pushed away by a new set. Tremendous cock of ball dropping fuckery, I swear to myself, you twat-ignoring super-cunt, fucking tarnation of global warming SOMETHING, SHIT I AM OUT OF CURSES, I AM SO MAD I MIGHT SCREAM GODS FUCKING NAME!
Mario set after her with a series of swift strikes as she let out that tirade of curses. Each of the attacks missed. Thana did give the weapon its due. The teeth, or to be exact, the enamel that covered the teeth, were the hardest part of the human body. Even for Thana, this was not an exception, meaning that, if that de was hard enough to withstand a bite, it would be sharp enough to cut through her bones.
Scared? Mario, now once more triumphant in tone, asked. This de is made from a 35% Mithril alloy. It is indestructible!
Fucking idiot, Thana thought. As if they would give an actually indestructible de to him.
She bent backwards to dodge another horizontal strike. Mana pumped through her body, all flowing towards her jaws. If her old teeth hadnt been hard enough to break that thing, she would simply have to get some that were sturdier, it was that simple. She jumped far backwards, and they both ceased to move for a moment. The crowd cheered Marios name, and he, sure of himself, waved at them.
Thana spat out another set of teeth. They sure love the underdog, she thought as she heard them cheer. She imagined them chanting her name instead. Thana! Thana! Thana!, she could imagine their voices. The idea gave her a headache. All of these voices, screaming that name. A pain in her head, like something was scratching against the inside of her skull. It pounded and pounded.
Now, I will end this! Mario announced and got into position. He waspletely taken aback when he found Thana actually charging at him instead. She jumped, not at him but at his sword. The shifting of his posture told her which path the de would travel. When he realized her head was on a collision course with his de, Mario only put more force behind the attack.
Then she felt her teeth collide with the incredibly hard material. One terrible moment she imagined feeling that crunch again, then her jaw closed. Her momentum carried her further, Marios attack was neutralized, his arm was ripped backwards, but he held on. The de left Thanas jaws. Shended behind him and looked over her shoulder. Mario raised the de, smiling, then froze halfway through the motion.
He stared at the bite-sized half circle that was missing near the tip of the de. Thana grinned and spat out the mithril alloy. Indesstructible my assh, sheughed with a numb jaw and lost another set of teeth. They hadnt shattered but the surfaces were covered inworks of cracks. She would have to repeat that process a few more times before she got a proper set thatsted. Fun fact, I have unlimited fucking teeth, she mused, but you only have that one de.
You bitch! Mario said, inspecting the damage more closely.
A? What, was that de important to you? Thana taunted him. Dont bind your fucking emotions to a weapon. They are tools that are going to break eventually, your mind must be about as bright as the depths of your boyfriends ass.
Aaaaaaah! the swordmaster charged at her with the damaged de.
The attack was so desperate, so pathetic, that Thana could not help but suddenly feel tired. Okay, Ive had it with this. Bloodburn. The crimson wings appeared behind her. Fire without heat, blood without a solid state of matter, raw power as mist and crystal. Her faux pas at the airport meant that there had been rumours around these at the very least.
Mario didnt care, he continued his charge. The moment he attempted to bring his hand down, Thana jumped up and rammed her forehead against his nose. The force made him lose bnce and fall over backwards. You know, I was at half-power this entire fucking time, Thana couldnt help herself but be an ass about this. Okay, maybe I am a bit of a fucking sociopath, Thana thought and kicked the de away from Marios hand.
I changed my mind, you arent cute at all, Mario groaned, holding the bleeding mess that was his nose.
Bitch, I am adorable, and Ive kept my promise, I did not use my hands, she giggled. She kicked him in the stomach. Executed at full strength, the kick would have done something unspeakable to his organs, had he not disappeared. The Fateweaving kicked in whisking him away.
Violence remained the best problem solver.
Chapter 245 – The steaks of victory!
Chapter 245 C The steaks of victory!
The smell of perfectly cooked steak kissed Johns nose with such wondrous allure that it could only be surpassed by the beauty it stemmed from. A thick piece of meat, sitting inside a small puddle of its own juices, that could have only been surpassed by itself if it had been made on a charcoal grill instead of a pan. Apanied by mountains of green beans and mashed potatoes, both covered in a brown sauce, it made Johns mouth water with anticipation. A te like this was in front of everyone.
Thana slurped down her saliva as she tried to keep her hands to herself. T-this, she stuttered, this is perfection on a te. Oh, wondrous life, how I missed your virtues. Praise be upon the cow that died for this fragrance. The fact that she didnt utter a single curse during that monologue was a wonder in and of itself.
There was even more of the luscious food on the table, enough for everyone to eat several fillings. Aclysia had prepared a feast for the group. In return, John had bought an assortment of rare metals for her and Momo. It was hard to guess what was a delicacy for them, but he could at least try.
Nathalia stacked a third steak on her te and drowned the tower of meat in the brown sauce. She was waiting, as everyone else was, for Lydia. Usually, everyone just ate once they got their hands on the food, but today had an air of festivity to it. Even the dragoness recognized that, although that didnt stop her from staring at the meat with more interest than she was giving to Lydias words.
To keep my words within a sensible timeframe, the princess spoke, let us say it as it is. Today was apletely predictable and utterly brutal victory for us. However, even if it was incredibly decisive, it was still our first victory and shall be celebrated as such. Without further ado, let us feast.
Tableware was picked up in haste as everyone started to stuff their faces with the delicious arrangement. I cannot stretch enough, Rave said between two mouthfuls of mashed potatoes, that Aclysia is literally the best thing about ya.
I know, right? John agreed, cutting a piece of his steak and then putting it in his mouth. It was just the right level of tenderness, the meat juices filled his mouth as he chewed.
More words of praise were raised, and Aclysia blushed as she, nibbling on a rod of a green metal, shifted in embarrassment. Steak is nice, I like steak, we should eat steak more often, Sylph decided, while Gnome wiped a bit of sauce from the air elemental''s chin. Hurray for steak.
How about we cook it on Nathalia next time? Smander suggested. Granny has to be good for something aside from eating.
The dragoness was currently busy devouring her fifth steak. Not bothered by such a lowly thing as table manners, she cut the steaks into strips with her ws and then devoured those strips whole. She did this with more elegance than anyone else in the room reached with their tableware, even Lydia who had a wless posture, so they were unable to raiseints about the dragoness'' behaviour.
Undine was the only one who was not partaking in the process of eating, not quite able to enjoy solid food. She did, however, greatly enjoy sipping on the sauce, so she wasnt left out here. Even Copernicus got a steak cut into sizeable chunks which he thenzily chewed on. There was just one person who did not get to eat with the rest of them.
Can I get you something?! Siena pressed out with a smile that was forced upon her, dressed in a maid uniform, whose skirt she gripped in frustration. John and his group had been dungeon running before this, as a feast of this magnitude took time to prepare (it was admirable enough that Aclysia managed to do so on her own).
During an encounter with a boss, the nightmare elemental had not only refused to help him, but when she finally acted as if she was going to get into the fray, she had feigned to block a projectile that was aimed at John, only to then dodge at thest possible moment. It had dealt no significant damage, thanks to Mana Protection blocking it, but he had decided that the shadow spirit was due for a new punishment for such behaviour.
Yeah, you can bring me some water, John said and shushed her off. Normally, he would drink orange juice, but overriding the taste of this steak with something else would be a crime against his taste buds. With the ck of her high-heeled feet, Siena turned around. When she returned, the same forcibly happy look on her face, and put down the ss of water, John gestured to her to bow down next to him. Her breasts threatened to pop open the button at the top of the uniform.
You want some of this? he asked and waved his fork, with a piece of meat at the end of it, in front of her face. Answer truthfully. One of the current rules Siena was under was to obey literally everything he said. While one could raise the argument that she should always be under that rule, it required John to micromanage everything she did. Also, he disliked locking someones freedom away permanently in such a manner. It was specifically due to who she was and what he considered to be thenguage she understood that he treated her this way.
Yes, Siena said, her voice dripping in poison. Despite elementals not needing to eat or drink, John had found that they did all of these things with great joy. As far as he knew, that was because they could do none of these things in their respective elemental nes. Apparently, being there was just a constant state of tranquillity, elementals sharing thoughts, hanging around, talking.
John should probably send his girls back there some time just to get some rumours from the other side. Could be quite interesting.
That train of thought aside, this meant that such worldly delights were only open to them while they were here. They didnt need them, but like a lets yer wanted horror games to get his subscriber count up, they craved these experiences.
Would you promise to never do something like today again in order to get this? John wanted to know.
No, seeing your surprised face when the boss fired his load on you was way too fun, Siena answered.
Rave snickered. What are youughing for? John wanted to know; You know it was a load of acidic saliva!
I can appreciate good innuendo, John, his girlfriend said and put some pepper on her mashed potatoes.
What would you be willing to promise me then? John wanted to know.
I promise to kill you quickly when I get to it, Siena suggested.
What would be the thing that you would BARELY promise me for this? he asked differently, And remember, answer truthfully.
I would Siena struggled against the truth, skip my current right to get a chance at murdering you.
John raised an eyebrow. Just for this steak? he wanted to know.
No also because she clearly tried not to say it and clenched her teeth.
Tell me, he insisted in amanding tone. Tell me exactly what motivation you would have to forego your murder coupon. Spell it out clearly and without hesitation.
Because I am confused about whether or not I actually want to end your life, Sienas lips formed words, devoid of her sexually charged tone, as her eyes opened wide in shock at what her true thoughts were. Plunging something into your guts sounds like the greatest thing since orgasms, but then I think of what woulde after that. You are the only man who ever fucked me thoroughly enough to make me cum, and the boredom of not having you around I cannot decide whether that temporary high will be worth it. Oh, how I would
That is enough, John said, and Siena shut up the second she was allowed to. Get yourself a te, and then you can eat with us. Themandments are back to the usual five.
Siena ripped the maid uniform off her body and went into the kitchen with a deep frown. John did not expect her to be very talkative during the rest of the meal.
Aaaah, Thana let out a long breath of satisfaction, taking a momentary stop from eating, Congrattions, she finally fucking told you.
Did ya know about that? Rave asked.
Yeah, Undine did too, Thana pointed over to the quiet water spirit, who just nodded in the hope of being ignored further. Since, like, two days ago.
Huh, John thought, I knew these three were talking, but I didnt expect them to be this close already. He noticed Thana staring at Undine as if it was somehow the mending elementals turn to say something. Undine turned her head away. Mentally, John sighed, whatever Undine was keeping to herself, she was still not even hinting at it. No matter how often he assured her he would listen, all the water spirit did was send him some thankful feelings, and then nothing happened.
I will find out what this is about one day, he thought. Either because she tells me or she explodes into a fit of rage again I really hope it is the former. He could have, of course, bothered her until she told him, but that just sounded like the recipe for a fight without results. One couldnt help those that didnt desire help, one could only hold their hand at times and wait until they realized this whole situation was easier if they spoke up. That was what John thought, anyway, andst time he had tried otherwise he had been burned thrice over.
By the way, Lydia said, I recently checked the tournament ns again. Apparently, there will be two pauses in the schedule.
Like, vacation days, or what? Rave wondered.
The princess nodded. A four-day break for new years spanning from the 29th to the 1st and a two-day break for Christmas, the 24th and 25th.
Nice, my birthday is off, Thana giggled, and the people on the table turned their attention to her.
Your birthday? John asked, blinking rapidly. He hadnt even thought about that until now.
Yeah, Christmas, 24th why the fuck do I remember that? Thanas eyebrows wrinkled, and she crossed her eyes. It was a rather odd way to show she was concentrating. So, I remember that my birthday is on Christmas but not the faces of my parents shit, my life is confusing, shemented and resumed eating.
Guess we will have to organize some stuff then, Rave said. I mean, its super weird we dont get boxing day off though.
Tell it to the organisers, Lydia said. Also, this is a German event. We give gifts on Christmas eve.
Well youre wrong then, Rave informed the princess.
What do you want to organize? Thana wondered.
Your birthday party, silly, Raveughed. First birthday ya arent in some torture chamber, sounds worthy of celebrating to me.
Yeah, John chimed back in. We should celebrate Christmas and pull all the usual fun stuff!
How about you ball sacks and walking wombs do not do that? Thana asked. I dont want to celebrate some son of gods birthday.
If you would allow Master to celebrate your birthday, Aclysia spoke up. I would be more than happy to present a feast worthy of thebination of two joyous asions.
Fuck it, we are celebrating my birthday and the one of some fictional crossfucker, Thana caved instantly.
I am certain that I can arrange all of the necessary logistics, Lydia pitched in. Leave it to me.
Wuhu, Christmas turkey! Rave cheered.
Turkheir Nathalia mispronounced the unknown word; she had slept through the turkeys naming after all. I will see that I bring some of the finer meats. While the reason for this festival eludes me, giving food to Aclysia to have it refined is a good deal every day.
I am genuinely surprised you people get something resembling a n together, Momo said with a smile. I am proud of you.
Chapter 246 – What came first, the colosseum or the egg?
Chapter 246 C What came first, the colosseum or the egg?
Congrattions, you havemitted the cardinal sin of every franchise, John said, while his eyes glided over the newments on reddit, you split the fanbase. Generally, the group tried not to look at the public response too much.
Lydia regarded it as a poor sampling of her people, so she thought it a waste of time. John did not appreciate that 90% of the threads of him were ragging on about how he did not look good enough to be among this crowd. Rave wanted to avoid stumbling over another fanfic about her and her mother solving their dispute in a sexual way. Momo stayed away from the meme as far as humanly possible.
Thana, on the other hand, simply didnt have a device to ess the thing yet. Perpetualints about this fact had pushed Lydia to arrange for a phone to be bought. One of the Knights of Teuton would receive it and hand it to Thana once this whole thing was over.
For the moment, she still had to look over John''s shoulder. The fuck do you mean split? These one-hand surfers should love me!
Its because you''re ufortably brutal, Rave pointed out.
Please, I only yed with the arrogant prick for like 5 minutes, Thana retorted. You, of all people, should know that I can do much worse. The pretty little psycho''s smile twitched.
Ja, please dont remind me, Rave said and twirled a strand of her pink hair. They were getting along, but the sting was still there.
Sorry Thanas voice was a tiny whisper.
I wonder about something, John broke the awkward silence that followed. Why exactly are we limiting ourselves to one fight a day? I mean, we could probably finish all of the single fights in a day, then go home, rest and then have the group fight. This tournament could be over in like 6 days.
Like with most things regarding this..., Lydias answer had an annoyed vibe to her usual strict tone, ...the reasons are fairly stupid. Officially, it is to allow the Fateweavers and other security personal to rest; economically, it is because the city can get more money out of it this way; truly, it is because it has always been like this and people dont like acting against traditions, no matter how devoid of reason they may be.
Should have expected that, John wryly stated.
The reason for that tradition, Momo chimed in, turning a page of her current book, is that in older times people needed to travel arge distance by foot or carriage to get to Rome. In order to give everyone a chance to enter the colosseum once and make the trip a bit more worthwhile, the tournament was stretched out.
Huh John didnt even need to ask where she knew that from, seeing that she spent literally all of her day reading something. You know, I find it weird that you seem to know more about the Abyss than I do.
If you used all of the hours you spend fucking reading instead, you would know pretty much everything by now, Momo pointed out.
You''re right, Rave answered for John, but that would be boring. Besides, he already knows more than I do.
Yes, and you are uneducated, Momo sighed, but we already had this discussion.
Speaking of the colosseum, John changed the topic rather forcibly, seeing as you are such a wealth of trivia, can you exin to me why it is smaller than a real one from the outside but bigger on the inside?
The real colosseum had been estimated to be able to hold around 50000 people, which had been Johns initial guess for this one as well. After asking Lydia on the matter, she had informed him that he was off by about ten to twenty thousand. It really depended on how everything was arranged as, apparently, the size of areas could be readjusted as needed. Magical engineering was a hard thing to wrap ones head around.
What I mean, John rified, is that I expected someone like Romulus, who builds a giant, inds-floating obelisk, to have something much grander than the real-life copy.
The answer to that is quite easy, Momo said. The real one was built after this one.
John found that idea quite baffling. Sowait, he said; Am I to assume that this city was founded before the actual Rome as well?
No, they were founded on exactly the same day, Lydia told him. However, one performed much better thanks to the existence of magic. The foundations of Abyssal Rome wereid in a day.
While that did make a high degree of sense, it didnt sit quite right with John to find these things out in random conversations. Okay, so while we are at it, John said, here is another thing that I have been wondering for a while: Just how many people are here, in Abyssal Rome, and in the Abyss in general?
He felt like almost every person he met nowadays was part of this secret society, but that was likely a mixture of confirmation bias and the circles he walked in. Its not like he expected someone inside an Illusion Barrier to be non-Abyss affiliated, but the sheer size of Abyssal Rome made him wonder how many of the people had a daily life in reality.
Abyssal Rome has a poption of roughly 225 thousand people, Lydia answered. This is counting the majority human poption in addition to the various magical races that roam this city. Its poption exceeds that of Paris, the second biggest abyssal city, by about 20 thousand.
The princess sipped the tea that a servant had brought her to oil her vocal cords. For the second part of your question, that is impossible to answer. Not only because the individual organizations keep their total numbers secret from each other but also because of the many ces that are essentiallywless. The best I can provide you with is the information that the highest density of Abyssal individuals in a nation can be found in Korea, where there is roughly one Abyssal human per 100 people. In Germany we are talking about one in 150. Italy is slightly lower. Ick numbers for the rest of Europe, but they shouldnt deviate too much. You can expect this number to be much lower in the Americas.
The Abyss is a pretty wide-spread secret society, but still a secret society, John summarized.
Lydia shook her head. Calling it a secret society sounds like the Abyss is some sort of club. A more apt description would be to call it a mist-hidden mirror of reality or an underwaterke.
Rave yawned, That doesnt roll off the tongue quite as well, Lyly.
That is of no concern to me, the princess took another sip of tea.
It should be, the techno-lover pointed out; Things that ya cant say easily wont stick. Good branding is half the marketing done.
Mhm, the princess hummed, I suggest the description of a shadow civilization then. Although that isnt entirely u-
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! The voice of Jeff echoed throughout the arena. And whatever moniker your species uses. Wee back to the 17th tournament.
After yesterdays win by the hand of Thana Newman, team Secundus is now tied with team Primus, Dra said in a sober tone, contrasting his hyperactive co-host.
Not by her hand, her foot, Dra! Jeff reminded everyone. After all, the insane beatdown Thana delivered had her keep her promise to not use her hands in theter half of the fight!
Yes, it must have been maddening for Mario to still lose after she announced that and allowed him to use his favourite sword, the lizardman agreed and took a sip of ginger ale.
It was quite the sight to see someone bite through a mithril alloy, Jeff announced.
Yes, although I need to correct the notion that mithril is the hardest metal in the abyss, Dra said and turned to the camera; That title belongs to the exceedingly rare Astrotium, a metal only found inside meteorites that crashed into an Illusion Barrier.
Which, from all we know, could only ever be worked by the gods Enki and Hephaistos, Jeff informed the audience.
Surprised you even know of Enki, considering he''s been dead for quite a while.
I know a few things! But how can a meteorite crash into an Illusion Barrier? Well, we arent sure. There are two popr theories.
Either the Astrotium is created when a meteorite crashes into a barrier, in which case we are absolutely clueless, Dra picked up, or it is already in there and allows the meteorite to prate the border between the dimensions.
But enough of this trivia stuff! Jeff shouted, ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR NEXT FIGHT?!
YES! the audience shouted.
I cannot hear you! the hyped announcer put a hand to his ear as the desk made its way over to Maximillian.
YES! the audience shouted.
One more time, give me all you have!
YEEEES!! the audience roared, and Jeff threw the microphone. Maximillian caught it effortlessly, raising it to his mouth in one smooth motion.
It makes me happy to see all of you this fired up! the king of Vienna continued to entertain the crowd. Truly, no ruler could ask to be blessed with anything more than happy people. Furthermore, no person could ask for more than to be able to fight before such a wonderful crowd! A round of apuse.
He is loving this, John noted as they watched him continue his showmanship.
Maximillian always loved standing out, Lydia answered, her eyes closed as she emptied her cup of tea.
To think that ya dated the guy is funny to me, Rave pointed out. Just cant imagine it.
Ironic,ing from the party girl that decided to get together with the shut-in nerd, Momo retorted.
Yes, Lydia agreed to the cynical supports statement, the difference between me and Maximillian and you two is that it didnt work out in the end.
Remind me why the fuck I am here again, actually, Thana said out of the blue. I could be watching this shit-show from afortable couch.
You are here in case they decide to y another game, Lydia told her. Id much rather have you present if they decide to make the teams lift weights or something.
Fair enough.
And so, dear audience at home and in the arena today, Maximillian finally came to the end of his long-winded speech, todays fighter will be the fearsome, the murderific, the green skinned, Ankleshanker!
The crowd cheered, but at this point they would have cheered if he had decided to send in a turkey. Okay, so the size changing goblin, John muttered and looked over to Lydia, who had stopped in her motion of refilling her cup and put the kettle back down.
It appears this is my battle to fight then, the princess said as she rose from her seat.
One moment, John said and reached into his inventory. Lydia stopped next to his seat and waited as he pulled out the Soulpotion. He had put the thing away as it wouldnt be useful in a fight. It was filled only the slightest bit with the golden tincture that was liquid experience, but it was still something. One for the road, John said.
Lydia nodded and gulped down the sks contents. She gave it back without showing whether that had had any impact at all. The desk hovered in front of their tform, but Lydia just waved off when they presented her with a microphone. Stepping onto the tform, she descended into the arena below as did the goblin on the other side. John threw her onest Observe.
Sadly, no clutch level up.
Why did ya have some of that? Rave wondered; I swear I drank that up before going to bed.
Because, despite Momos insistence that I only screw around, I actually spent a lot of time this morning grinding, John exined. Unlike you guys, I dont get tired from physically exhausting myself. I only get tired from being awake for an extended period or from low HP. Thetter of which can be mended with, you know, healing up.
That is such bullshit, Raveined. A: here I thought ya just woke up early to make sure I have hot cocoa waiting for me! Two: So ya have been grinding while everyone else was busy being at peak condition for the tournament, only to then still be at peak rested condition.
What can I say? John shrugged. Gamers Body is nice.
Rave went onto a small list ofints she had with that while John shifted his attention elsewhere.
Jack was watching the enemy tform. Initially, John had hoped to eavesdrop on them, but Alexej had prepared something that prevented John from getting a clear grasp on what was being said over there. To be exact, the sparrow couldnt even look at them correctly: the whole enemy team seemed to shift through several levels of height and broadness, their words an assault of sybles that he couldnt make the slightest bit of sense of.
John, now sure that he wasnt going to fight today, would have used Reveal, but these security measures made it impossible to get a proper look at any of them.
Guess he just had to sit there and let this y out.
Chapter 247 – Vs he who shanks ankles [Lydia POV]
Chapter 247 C Vs he who shanks ankles [Lydia POV]
The barrier is in ce, Luna said, looking for a moment at the princess to her left. Many things lingered in her eyes: amusement, interest, curiosity, and a slight bit of worry. Lydia answered that nce with the same stoic expression she answered almost everything with. Before the crowd could think anything of it, Lydia turned and walked away.
Their rtionship was fairly close these days. It hadnt been when they had first met in front of a recently closed grave, it had been when they met again in front of the open one. Lydia looked at the memories with care, they both were important to her, for very simr reasons. They both had a connection to her parents, they both were part of why she was here today.
She wondered when she would tell John of this. Of the former, maybe one day soon, of thetter only if it ever became necessary. With thebined stubbornness of a princess and a young woman, that secret would not leave her lips until she deemed it thest possible moment. She was ready to ept the consequences of these thoughts.
Let us roll for the arena this fight will be in! the annoyingly hyped announcer shouted out.
Lydia sighed and rubbed her forehead. This man is practically an embodiment of the problem, she thought and looked around the cheering masses. By extension, all of these are problematic maybe I should stop thinking of them as problematic and start with of poor taste? Evidently, thispetition is rather popr amongst the people I suppose there is some value in the ritual humiliation of politicians?
Hey, princess of steel, the goblin''s voice cut into her pondering and forced her to look at him. The goblin was about up to her kneecaps, which made him small even amongst his kind. His green skin, of a lighter tint, wasrgely hidden underneath the ck cloth of his manyyered armour C if the assortment of rags even deserved that moniker.
Lydia could feel the many pieces of metals in his clothes, the elemental inside let her feel pretty much everything that she could control within a certain radius. Either the goblin had not been given ss weapons or had refused to use them. Lydia didnt know whether thetter possibility showed arrogance or certainty. The difference between those two was usually if one lost, as the princess was only too acutely aware of.
She withstood the urge to grab towards her right, inner breast pocket where she stored the three mithril vials that could boost her powers temporarily. Giving the enemy information that there was something there would have been a dire mistake. Instead, she folded her hands behind her back. What is it?
Is it true that they call you a genius? the goblin grinned in a furious way, as if whatever answer she gave was already wrong. His spiky teeth, like nails someone had ttened on an anvil, were of a sickening yellow shade. The edges were reinforced with some sort of wooden caps.
Even if the goblin was arrogant enough to carry metal weapons into the field against her, he did not make the mistake of giving the same kind of weakness to his innards.
I should think of him as the highest threat he could be, Lydia told herself and took a step backwards. Technically, there was no set distance to begin the fight in. To her surprise, the goblin, who she deemed a melee fighter because of the one dagger inly on his hips, mirrored the motion.
I suppose some call me that. Why is that of interest to you? Lydia answered, wondering if she should close the distance again. Was the goblin ying mind tricks with her or was he trying to get some space between them as well?
You know what they called me? Ankleshankers voice asked in an unpleasant tone that only added to the ruggedness of his voice; They called me small, tiny, miniscule a flea. Lydia furrowed her eyebrows; she failed to realize how any of this rted to their current situation. She took another step back, only a half one, as she didnt want the goblin to leave her area of absolute control.
With the sound of a happy little trumpet, the wheel on the screens above finally came to a halt, showing a row of trees. Todays fight will be in a forest! Jeff happily announced. And from experience I can tell you, it is going to be a thick one!
Mhm, this is not necessarily to either candidate''s disadvantage, Dra analysed. Of course that depends entirely upon what kind of magic this Ankleshanker fellow uses, but the princess metal magic should neither be obstructed nor reinforced by this terrain.
While it was true that Lydias magic wasnt disadvantaged by the terrain, she herself was. She couldnt attack something that she couldnt see. The goblins sour expression showed that he wasnt all that happy with the terrain either. Trees sprouted all around them, wide trunks with green and golden crowns of leaves that dimmed the sun to a soft twilight. Only the space between Lydia and her obstacle stayed free of invasive greenery. The floor was still reced with a dense knot of roots.
Lydia heard the people count down from far, far away. While they were technically still inside the arena, the battleground had shifted into another ce, the total size unknown, to prevent fighters from predicting the edge of the arena. An obscuring of information, much like the rest of this forest.
At thest number of the countdown, Lydia focused her powers to turn the weapons of the goblin against himself. A swift elimination could be achieved, if she just managed to turn him into a needle cushion.
Suddenly, the weapons slipped from her grip. The metal shrunk, making it like trying to grip a wet bar of soap. Before she could readjust, the goblin, now the size of a clenched fist, jumped into the trees behind him.
Size changing weapons, Lydia wasnt exactly surprised by that. A size changing assassin would have size changing weapons. As the metals turned smaller, they were also harder to grasp. At the toothpick size they became, Lydia would have needed to concentrate on each of them individually. The broad attack she had attempted had thus been neutralized and now her enemy had disappeared into the forest.
The speed at which he was able to miniaturize is concerning, Lydia thought as she watched over the surrounding areas. A throwing dagger, the size of a hairpin, flew at her from the left and stopped half a metre from her face. She had itnd in her hand, but it didnt grow to a size that was usable for her. Personalized, she noted and sent it flying into the ground, burying it between the roots. It was too small to be useful to her even if she carried it around, so she might as well make sure that he didnt get to use it again.
Two more daggers followed. This time she blocked them by turning her rapier into liquid metal. Without a doubt, she could have stopped these two as well, just like she could have stopped the first one further away from her face. Better to hide what degree of control she was capable of until it became pivotal.
Another knife, from the right this time, flew at her. Only for a moment, she wondered why he only sent a single one, then there was pain in her eye and half of her vision went red and ck.
ss, she didnt even need to pull it out to reprimand herself. It wasnt that he had skipped the ss, it was that he was wearing both to fool her.Just how many armaments does he carry underneath these rags? she thought and decided to put a stop to this. One damaged eye was bother enough.
The metal tes inside her military coat, the buttons and whatever else of metal she had on her body unified into a rotating barrier that kept her safe while she thought of a n. The main problem here are those trees, Lydia finalized; They provide him with cover while they limit my effectiveness.
Half of the swirling materials were reshaped or rearranged to emte the teeth of a saw. And, exactly like a saw, these things started reducing the mighty trees around her into nothing but piles of wood. First she felled the trunks, then she methodically removed the branches until nothing Ankleshanker could hide inside was anywhere near her. Only woodchips and sawdust remained.
asionally, she spotted the goblin, as he hopped from treetop to treetop in an attempt to get a sure footing again. Once Lydia was happy with her work and at the heart of the piles of lumber, she stopped andid her one intact eye on the goblin, sitting at a normal size about 10 metres away from her.
At that distance she still couldnt just crush him between his weapons, not within a time frame that would allow the goblin to transform back into a smaller form and slip away once more. She had to give it to him: he knew his ranges. Sorry about the eye, genius, Ankleshanker mocked her. Must really hurt.
It is of no matter, Lydia, her hands still behind her back, answered coldly, turning to face him and taking the smallest step backwards. I will heal after this battle ends in my victory.
You must be rea- HEY! the goblin squealed as he dodged an iron ring flying for his head at high speed. Robbed of its binding, Lydias braid undid itself within moments. In the sun of the culled forest, her hair was of a shimmering, dark red.
Want to lose while looking stylish? Ankleshankerughed but then was temporarily distracted by several dozen buttonsing for him. A disconnected stream of individual attacks. They were easy to dodge and the small projectiles left her range as they flew. A worthwhile sacrifice to keep her enemy distracted.
The princess allowed herself a faint smile, even as a tear of blood touched her red lips. What are youughing about, huh?! Ankleshanker demanded to know and grabbed his cloth armour. With a simple, strong tug he was suddenly freed from it and all of his weapons. He jumped high into the air. They called you a genius! he screeched as he descended upon her, but Lydia kept sending buttons at him, every single one she had. Tumbling through the air, Ankleshanker dodged them all, Look at how that brilliance proves on the battlefield! They called me small! The size of a human, hended directly in front of her. With no metal on his body, only clothed with a sash and heavy boots, Lydia could only hurl a shrapnel fire of her defensiveyer against him. The projectiles were blocked by a forearm that was now as thick as the princess torso. Who is small now?! his still unpleasantly scratchy voice triumphantly roared as the pieces of metal got stuck in his arm.
He stood high and mighty above her, at least four metres tall. Yet still, Lydia kept smiling. Sure, there was a big strain on her bloodied face. A vein popped on the goblins forehead, and with a roar, he raised his arm. He wanted to squash her like humans squashed ants. Merciless, quickly, with absolute superiority.
`He is quite easily baited.`
The goblin''s arm never came down. Ankleshanker found himself unable to move. Confused, he turned his head and realized the trap he was in. The buttons that had missed him, the several dozen of them, all had wrapped around branches in the still standing trees behind him. Each and every single one was anchoring something, keeping it taut. In the air between them and him, there were thin wires, almost invisible, of a reddish brown colour in the sunlight.
The buttons had never been there to hit him, Lydia only wanted to spread these wires for him to get tangled up in, and when he had tumbled through the air, dodging what came at him, Ankleshanker had yed right into her cards. All she then had needed to do was wait for him to get close enough to allow her to pull the wires taut. Lydia wasnt an ant to be squished, she was a spider at the heart of her web.
She raised the fingers on which the wires ended. To use her hair in this manner was unorthodox for her, but as a partial metal elemental, having some parts of her body enjoy a high concentration of metallic substances inside them was not unusual. It was, however, hard to control the wires themselves, as they were too thin to make for easy targets.
Once she had bound her hair to the buttons, with which she practicedmonly, this drawback wasrgely negated. And next he will shrink down, Lydia thought as Ankleshanker turned his hand with a pained smile. Indeed, he could escape the by shrinking down faster than she could adjust the tightness; the metal shrapnel would rip his arm apart in the process, but he technically hadnt lost just yet.
Lydia quickly scrambled to grab a vial from her jacket. Time was of the essence in these final moments. The horrible sounds of bones cracking and muscle fibers tearing apanied the rather mild sound of the vial being unsealed. The princess eye focused closely on his shrinking process even as she gulped down the mithril-mercury mixture.
As she had noted the first time Ankleshanker shrunk down, his shrinking form oriented towards a position between the current one of his feet. That meant that he would stop shrinking exactly above
The mixture ran down her throat, leaving a chemical aftertaste on her tongue. What was poison to normal humans filled her with true strength. Keeping control of all of her current objectives as well as the miniscule dagger in the ground was suddenly within the realm of her possibilities. The de shot upwards and impaled Ankleshankers right foot. A small miscalction, Lydia had thought it to hit his jaw, but none the matter as it nevertheless immobilized the goblin.
Unable to dodge with a de sticking from his foot and suddenly surrounded by sharp pieces of metal, Ankleshanker growled the words, You win.
Chapter 248 – He who uses HP in reality
Chapter 248 C He who uses HP in reality
This is highly annoying, Lydia said and crossed her arms, visibly struggling to not readjust the patch over her right eye. They were on their way back home.
Do you mean arrrrnoying Lylytina? The joke earned Rave double the amount of the usual re with half the eyes to convey it.
We being for your fucking booty! Thana jumped in, getting augh out of the Lightbearer. Seeing that positive response, Thana dug a bit deeper; And we be searching all through the cavernous depths of yer backside!
Hahaha, Raveughed, and the two exchanged a fistbump.
Great that you all draw such joy from my inconvenience, Lydia reprimanded them. The eyepatch was a remainder from her post-fight treatment. The Apothecaries had sessfully removed the ss dagger and patched her up. They could have healed herpletely on the spot, but in their words, that would take an unnecessary amount of power. Instead, they used some regenerative magic on her and then put a ck eyepatch on top of all of it, telling her it should be okay by the next morning.
Want Undine to take care of it? John asked, once they were back on their home ind. There he felt at the very least safe enough to speak of things his enemies weren''t supposed to know. Jack alsonded on his shoulder. John had tried to get a Reveal through, to no avail. While he did manage to cut through the vision impairment and the hearing blockade, he had failed to make any Observes whatsoever. Both of the hindrances were up again shortly afterwards.
Lydia looked at him in thought, ...It shouldnt work.
Why not? John wondered; all Undine had to do was to apply some of her healing magic, and the thing would be over.
The healing of more intricate things, such as eyes, should take an amount of skill you dont possess, the princess exined. Then again, it seems your ability is breaking a lot of conventionalws regarding what you should be able to do and the offending object was already removed.
Her eyes wandered over to Momo. The support simply walked further into the direction of the house. Under her arm, she carried three new books that had been delivered to her. These are bing a real problem, John thought. The amount of literature Momo devoured was starting to have serious impacts on the household. Even though she hadnt imed one of the rooms as hers, by now she had to take one just to have a ce where Aclysia could store all of the books.
That wasnt why Lydia was looking at her though. The creation of Artificial Spirits is not something done as swiftly as you described it, she said.
Well, I did it by thinking what kind of personality I wanted and then using the Skill, John shrugged it off; I have read up on the proper theory: how to concentrate your mana within an inanimate object, how you need to create a soul frame and slowly program the characteristics, how the material of the object changes the way this process works, and so on.
And you just skipped all of that, Lydia agreed. As your girlfriend so aptly describes: this is bullshit. Your other Skills as well. I went to research, that thing you call Mana Ray is something eager arcane mages master in theirte twenties. You just do it while contracting five elements, which in and of itself makes you one of the greatest elementalists in the world.
I am a one-man army, John freely admitted; So, do you want Undine to heal you or not?
Lets get inside first, Lydia said, and so they did. The princess took a seat in one of the armchairs as the elemental girls materialized.
Sweet fucking freedom, Smander sighed and, in her big form, fell down into the cushions of the sofa.
Like Thana with her strength, Smander had made massive improvements in not putting the furniture on fire. The trick was topletely disable the mes on her body, including her hair. That turned the fire spirit into a red-headed, red-skinned hottie with giant tits. Who was alsopletely naked.
Seriously, these double Ds are something I want to press my face in, John thought and then said. Smander, can you lie down? With a raised eyebrow, the elven eared ze elemental did. The Gamer proceeded toy on top of her, his head resting on her ample bosom.
The hell do you think you are doing? Smander wanted to know with a bit of a cackle.
You are so nice and hot, John, who had just left the coldness of winter, mumbled, cuddling deeper into her; Its like hugging a heater that is soft
I guess? Well, as long as its you, cuddling is fine. Would be better if you were naked too though.
Rave, who was cold and much preferred to be in environments other people would refer to as boiling, looked at Copernicus. No, said the sun cat and hid underneath the couch, refusing to be used as a heater. The techno-lover continued over to Aclysia, who was cooking and whose inner fire wasnt that warm anyway. Then she spied Nathalia stuffing her face with chocte cake on the dinner table.
The two looked at each other for a moment. The dragoness was still chewing, and Rave wasnt sure whether she really wanted that. Ah, Ill bury the hatchet, she eximed and then went to cuddle Nathalia, who did not look all that psyched about it.
Stop molesting me, mortal, she growled.
Ya like it in the bedroom though, Rave teased as she sat in the bigger womansp and practically melted; Oooh, you''re warm a bit spiky though.
Be grateful I am not cutting you with my scales, Nathalia told her off.
Stop being such a meany and be more of a team yer, Rave retorted; Ill lend ya my boyfriend in a solo sessionter, if ya just let me sit in yourp for about ten minutes.
Rave did know what she could negotiate with and so Nathalia just continued eating her cake with a slight bit of grumbling, shushing away a certain small tempest elemental that tried to get in and steal crumbs off the te. Sylph was quickly put aside to get lectured by Gnome.
Well then, Lydia pulled Johns attention back to her.
She took down the eyepatch, and Undine went to work. Got to say, princess, Siena said. Your performance today was impressive. I approve of the creative use of wires.
It wasnt easy to meld strands of hair together into these longer units, Lydia said, barely suppressing a smile. It seemed she was rather proud of herself, and why wouldn''t she be? Only direct contact made that possible.
She turned her head slightly and held her eye open. A bit of Undines slime, like a thick eyedrop,ter and Lydia readjusted her vision as she was healed the rest of the way. John shuddered. Thanks to Gamers Body, the healing slime could be applied wherever on his body, as he only needed to recover HP. For the elementals and Aclysia, it was the same, as their bodies were more akin to a solid unit than a human.
For those poor, normal, biological types, however, the slime was only really effective when it was applied directly to the wound itself. It wasnt exactly unpleasant, he had been told, as it acted as a quick painkiller, cooled the wound, and sealed it within a few moments as it vanished into the skin without a trace. He still couldnt believe that getting a drop of slime into ones eye was particrly pleasant though.
The fact that this works... Lydia said and pressed her eyelids closed, to then blink a few times. ...is stunning to say the least.
What can I say? John listened to fire burning under Smanders skin. It was a pulsing beat of hums and crackles. I am mister broken game mechanics.
Thana burst outughing, urate.
Mhm, should you, of all people,ugh about that? Siena asked and teasingly ran a w over the blood mages stomach.
Fuck it, why not!? Thana asked. Now stop fingering me, Shadow the Edgehog, we can fuckter. Now: Where is my phone?!
How the hell do you know about Sonic? John wanted to know as Lydia, with an annoyed sigh, went to find out the answer to Thanas question.
It was one of those things I looked up while choking the Bloodfallen to death, the blood mage answered. Fucking assholes, really dont feel sorry about breaking all of their shit-gurgling necks.
John couldnt exactly me her, even if he preferred she hadnt. He also didnt exactly have the moral high ground to call her out either, as he, himself, killed some of the Bloodfallen while attempting to rescue her. Therefore, the decision was made to just drop the topic. This milk was not only spilled, but had spoiled on the floor and finally had gotten cleaned up not too long ago.
Catch, Lydia said and tossed a smartphone over to Thana. It wasnt anything outstanding, the usual disy on a ck, t case. If there was anything interesting about it, it was that there was nopany name on it anywhere. It booted up within a split second.
Oy, it says it just scanned my magical footprint, Thana said and nced over. That shit sounds like you want to track me.
While I partially do want to track you, that is not what that is for, Lydia said and informed her about the basic mechanisms of Abyssalworks.
So thats why your fucking phone only worked when you were around! Thana said and looked at Rave.
Congrattions, the techno-lover said in an overly rxed voice, ya figured it out. John was wondering why his girlfriend sounded this mellow, but checking would have entailed raising his head.
You are now my official pillow, John told Smander.
I refuse, he was shot down.
I wasnt asking, he retorted.
Master, if you allow me, I could easily increase the size of my bust to fulfil your requirements, Aclysia chimed in mentally.
Ruining cosy is a sin, and despite what some people draw, A2 does not have giant tits. No deal we can still cuddle though, John answered. As a matter of fact, we should cuddle!
The fuck do you mean I have no money?! Thanained in the background.
Cuddling sounds nice, Sylph pvered, can it be roley cuddles? I mean, like, like, like, see and then you would be the merchant prince of a long forgotten principality and I would be your No, I wont tell you. Guess, guess what I would be. What would I be? If you had to warrant a guess, and you were prince, what would I be? I would be your?
Concubine everyone else in his head said in an exasperated voice.
Exactly! Sylph said and went on about how he was a trader in gummy bears and coffee.
JOHN! Thana shouted, Give me money! In azy motion, John pulled 200 grand out of his inventory. Nicely bundled and in the biggest notes possible, he threw the money over to Thana.
I-I would like some cuddles, Gnome said.
Do cuddles entail binding someone to the bed? Siena wanted to know.
No! the earth spirit sounded seriously offended; Bad Siena! Cuddles are a holy pact between the cuddlers a-a-and the idea to mix that with BDSM is t-totally not cool!
It still says I have no fucking money! Thana waved around the cash in her hand; The fuck is this?!
You would need a bank ount and connect it with the Abyss Auction to use it, Lydia informed her.
You are pretty concerned with cuddles, John noted.
I-I mean not really! Gnome stutteringly avoided the subject.
She is a sleep grappler, Undines musical voice chimed in.
Yeah, little Gnome over here always has a body sized pillow to cuddle while she sleeps, Smander cackled. If you are too close, you get caught up in it.
Can you please just Gnome wanted to plead for them to stop, but embarrassment made her sentences incoherent mumbles.
Yes, yes, Sylph, who had ended her story with John and his concubine living happily ever after, got back into the conversation. Its nice though! Gnome cuddles are super nice cuddles.
Personally, I love to see her wake up, Siena said in a not at all creepy way. Aaah, the look on her face, the embarrassed misery, when she realizes she has been hugging someone the entire night. That blush, that little uwuwuwu.
Uwuwuwuwu, Gnome responded, out loud, with the exact noise Siena sadistically described.
John heard stones roll over the floorboards and finally looked over the back of the couch. He found Gnome, her face wrapped up and hidden under her pigtails, rolling from left to right. So, that was actually the same old, same old.
Rave sitting in Nathaliasp with apletely flustered face, however, wasnt. Now, are you satisfied? The dragoness purred. In rhythmic circles, her hands worked the pink-haired woman''s shoulders.
How are you this good at this? Rave wanted to know.
I have a lot of practice in the arts of physical sensations, in case you still havent realized, you foolish little girl, Nathalia whispered, her sharp teeth nibbling on Raves earlobe.
Okay, you now have signed up with the Baltic Bank, Lydia instructed Thana. Now, if you give me these 200 thousand dors, I will make a quick call to have the money arranged. What do you want to buy by the way?
Just some toys, you know, handcuffs and some shit like that.
Lydia just shook her head.
John looked at Smander.
Is that naked cuddling offer still open? he asked.
Chapter 249 – A fiery union [Erotic Content]
Chapter 249 C A fiery union [Erotic Content]
Whether the other girls were collectively not in the mood or saw that John wanted to enjoy some time with just one girl for once, he didnt know. Fact was, only he and Smander fell into the bed in Johns room.
Her lips, a shade deeper than the rest of her red body, curved into a wild smile. Eyes as ck coal looked at him as they bothid on their sides. Are you going to fuck me, or are you just going toy there and stare into my eyes? Smander asked.
What was that? John asked, Sorry, I was busy staring into your eyes.
Okay, enough of this fancy shit, Smander put a hand on his face. Her hand was burning hot with desire, and her touch was only worsening the fever of lust that had ignited in Johns loins. The fire spirit closed the rest of the distance, and their lips met. Passion fuelled their feverish motions.
Her saliva was thick like olive oil but tasted of a smoky sweetness that had no equal John knew of. It mixed with his own as their tongues twirled. The heat of the fiery essence made John dizzy. Blood gathered in his cock, turning it rock hard.
Rolling on his back, pulling Smanders naked body over his, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Her pussy grinded along his shaft as they kept making out. Wet noises filled the room, apanied by two moans when John slid into her effortlessly.
The inferno that was her pussy was as strong as ever. Slippery enough to move, lubricated by some sort of liquid fire that only spared him because Smander willed it so, with walls that were almost non-existent yet were clearly there. This was a set of sensations he had actually gotten used to by now. He also knew exactly how crazy good this smatic pussy would make him feel once he started fucking her.
Which was exactly what he started to do. Rough, just like she preferred it. He kept her in his embrace, leaving her with next to no control over the situation. All Smander could do was arch her upper body a bit and moan as he thrusted into her from below over and over again.
Fuuu-u-u-uck yes, she groaned. Just you and me, Jonny, no one to annoy us for once!
Wanted to have me to your own that badly? John pressed out the question through clenched teeth. The growing, swirling heat of her insides stoked him to ever faster thrusts.
Smanders tensed jumped with pleasure. Herrge tits, squished between the two of them, rubbed over Johns chest. Her diamond hard nipples rubbed over his, something akin to a heartbeat drummed onto his body and gave him a rhythm to keep as he fucked her.
Its just a -ohfuckyes- a really rare thing nowadays, Smander pointed out. Shit, for all I know everyone else may appear any second now.
Right now, you are the only one I want, John told her and attempted to kiss her again. Smander put a hand on his mouth.
I told you, enough of the fancy shit, she cackled; Just get me off! Fuck me like there is no tomorrow! She removed her hand, and he kissed her anyway.
I can do that, he then promised.
Every time his dick mmed deep into her, the fire inside her burned wilder. As if his movements were an inmmable cocktail, the inferno grew. More and more, the pleasure around him intensified.
Fucking Smander wasnt a thing that could be done with nice words and gentleness. The way her pussy reacted to roughness, how Smander wanted everything to be wild and reckless, there could be and was no holding back when having sex with her, only marching onwards.
One should know what they were doing when ying with fire.
And if Smanders moans told him something, it was that he had learned his lessons well. Oh, oh yes, she gasped and grinned lewdly, her face still mere centimetres away from his; Just a bit more, John, just a bit oh, fuck, fuck, yes, I am cumming! I am!
She didnt get to repeat it as a cry shook her entire body. The drumming on Johns chest intensified, the vibrations ripping through her body only adding on top. The mes that were engulfing his cock flickered wildly, writhing and burning pleasurably, an ecstatic prickling that caressed all of the sensitive spots, from the head to the underside of his dick, all the way down to where her quivering quim enveloped the base of his shaft.
He kept on going. Thrusting as she bucked. Thrusting as she screamed. Thrusting as she went wild. Smander bit her lip. Her crimson hair swayed with every thrust. Her dark eyes filled with desire. Her orgasm was just slowly calming down when another one rippled through her; this time she wasnt alone.
With a satisfied groan, John sheathed his dickpletely inside her and stopped. His balls tightened. Seed rushed up his dick and shot into Smander. Within mere moments, the fire spirits orgasmic cry turned into a full-on scream of pleasure, as the mana-filled cum dissolved inside her. He was content just staying inside the inferno, content to-
Dont you fucking dare stop moving! Smander hissed and finally freed herself from his hug, his body control sloppy during the height of his orgasm. She sat up and started riding him with erotic abandon.
For a moment the pleasure was almost painful, as his post-orgasmic sensitivity made his dick feel as if it was assaulted by tiny needles. His superhuman Libido and Gamers Body turned that ship around within a moment, and John was left to pant as he put his hands on Smanders hips and met her ride with his own thrusts.
Thats the spirit! the ze elemental shouted, her voice manic from pleasure. Sheughed loudly. John was barely listening. His eyes were firmly resting on the hypnotic swaying of herrge tits. The firm pair of fun bags almost seemed to defy gravity with how firm they were. Yet, in the constant up and down, they obeyed thew of physics in the most enticing of ways.
Fuck, you have great tits, he finally blurted out and, following his hearts desires, curled to press his face into them. Being connected to his thoughts, Smander leaned forwards to make it easier on him, and then John dug his hand into the voluptuous flesh.
The feeling of a nice, soft breast under his hand was something he could never tire of. Fondling her left breast as he cupped the other, pressing his lips on the nipple and sucking, he once more thanked Gaia for, despite being a sassy bitch at times (with a great ass), giving him the opportunity to get a girl that allowed him to do this stuff.
I have 11 girls that allow me to do this stuff, he realized for the hundredth or so time. Every time he struggled to believe how fucking awesome his life was. Not as awesome as Smanders rack though.
You have 10 other girls that you can fuck with, Smander whispered moaningly. But only I have tits like this.
John sucked on her nipple for a little while longer, finally letting it go with a wet pop, before answering, Siena and Nathaliae pretty close.
Granny has sa-mhm-ggy tits, and Siena Ill show you something she refuses to do after youe inside me aga-aaaah-in! Smander promised, asionally interrupted as John yed with her tits. She was extremely sensitive in that area, which was surprising seeing how big they were.
Cupping the underside of her tits to hold them up and marvel at them in their full size, John felt how his ecstasy slowly reached another highpoint. The inferno that was Smanders pussy hadnt calmed down in the slightest. On the contrary, it was even worse than after her second orgasm. As long as the fire spirit was fucking him, it would never cool down.
Therefore, John was getting assaulted by a pussy that felt better and better the longer they went on. Smander gyrating her hips did not help with the problem at hand. You will -lordyes- have to show me that in just a bit then, John groaned and fell back on the mattress, ignoring her tits in favour of hammering his cock into her scorching hot quim.
They both breathed heavily, redoubling their efforts to reach another simultaneous orgasm. Smander was writhing as she impaled herself on his dick over and over again. Her back slumped forwards, arms resting to Johns side, just underneath his shoulders. Her heavy breasts were dangling, jiggling with every of their wild thrusts.
Finally, only a few more thrusts remained. The semen was boiling inside Johns balls. Smanders breath were quick and uncontrolled. Ah-a-a-a-a, I a-a-ammmmhhhhhh, she could barely form words, but that was more than John could do, He only gritted his teeth as the semen pumped up his shaft.
A giant load splurged into Smanders awaiting pussy, the ze elementals back arched backwards as she howled at the ceiling. Her fiery sex was encapsting Johns dick, at their shared height, with a fire of passion that could only be found in such wonderful unions of two minds interwoven. Pleasure swept from his mind to hers and back, intermingled. Two orgasms became one, were prolonged, John had one of those rare moments of experiencing multiple orgasms himself as he dumped a third load straight into her. The dispersing mana only made all of it worse.
Johns hips fell back into the mattress as his whole body rxed. Oh, hells yes, Smander got up on wobbly legs and almost fell down. Interest piqued, John followed as she positioned herself between his open legs, looking at him.
His dick was half limp after thattest orgasm, as if it was undecided if it could go another round or if that double-shot meant that his balls needed to recharge. Smander shot him a sloppy grin, reflecting her half-cock drunk state. Bowing down, she gave his balls a gentle suck, before dragging her outstretched tongue up his shaft. That was all the motivation his dick needed.
The ze elemental sucked him in deep,thering him in her oily saliva as he gotpletely hard again. Is that what you said Siena wouldnt do? John inquired as Smander pulled back up.
The shadow spirit still refused to apply her mouth to do anything but ridicule and taunt whoever she was fucking at the time.
He was met with a mean grin. Oh, its only part of it, Smander promised while rubbing the whole length of his cock until she was sure the mixture of precum and her saliva had made his dick nice and slippery. Then she inched her chest closer and wrapped her tits around his cock.
It nearly vanished from view, the twin mounds, no hills, of flesh had swallowed it up. John moaned as Smander squished her tits together with her hands to increase the pressure. Smooth, hot skin was pressed on him from all sides. She shook her tits up and down, asionally spitting on the head of Johns dick when it peeked out, to increase the lubrication that was now spreading onto her marshmallow soft meat.
Would Siena ever do this? Smander hummed in a teasing tone and, satisfied with how easy it was to move, began to get more aggressive. It wasnt just an up and down, Smander was also using her hands to move her tits around, squish them with variable levels of pressure. It was a hellish experience, which John thoroughly enjoyed.
Give me a few more weeks, I will get her there, John grunted. Then I will get you to give me a double titjob.
Sounds really fucking great, Smander said, her voice panting. John wasnt the only one who enjoyed this. Fuck, the ze elemental cursed gaspingly, this feels really good.
Careful, you might cum from it, John joked.
I just... mhmight, Smander responded withplete honesty and started moving faster.
Her mouth hung open, and she was moaning openly as she shook her tits in an attempt to get herself off. John loved the sight and sensation, but he also wanted to be more than a dildo to test things on.
Suck the head, he therefore instructed.
Smander snapped out of her self-centered daze. Whatever you say, she responded in a slightly annoyed tone. Stretching her neck, she managed to get the head of his dick into her mouth. It wasnt that much more pleasuring, at least not physically, but the feeling of being in control was just deeply satisfying to John.
He watched as Smanders movements escted, her hands moving quicker, her tongue circling around his dick. The vibrations her every moan sent down his shaft were getting stronger by the second, and he himself felt another orgasm approaching. It was only a matter of time The second his passive filled his balls again he was going to cum.
You can stop sucking now! John gave her the mentalmand mere moments before his balls tightened. Smander reacted with hesitation, partially willed, partially caused by a small orgasm shaking her body at the same moment.
The first spurt filled her mouth with that magical taste his semen had. For the second she had pulled back and let it stter over face. Itnded over her eye and nose, as she breathed raggedly. More of his spunk quickly followed, strands of cumyering on her face. Thest few spurtsnded on her tits. White goo on wonderful, soft flesh.
Grinning and trembling with aftershocks, Smander looked at her white-painted tits with a huge grin. Fuck, yes... stud, she purred and panted. Let''s do that again!
He had no reason to refuse and every reason to agree.
Chapter 250 – You are probably wondering how we got here
Chapter 250 C You are probably wondering how we got here
Why are we not all drinking your blood?
Lydia suddenly presented the question, moments after all of them had gotten on their usual positions around the table on their private tform. The question immediately raised eyebrows. Thanas reaction was a little more intense.
The fuck did you just say?! Thana growled and narrowed her eyes dangerously.
The princess raised her hand in a calming gesture, I have merely been entertaining the thought, so please dont feel attacked.
I do, the suggestion has some... Thanas mouth opened and closed a few times, as she searched for the words. Shit-pissing-fuck-trucking-earth-cracking-gay-ass-whores cock-sucking bad memories attached to it.
Ill have to inform you that this subject could be of importance to the oue of this tournament, Lydia carefully, and after a slight pause, pointed out.
Thana took a very deep breath. Fine, she spat out. But after this we are even for what happened three days ago.
That proposal is eptable, the princess said.
John was listening intently himself. He had his reasons why he never brought this up or wanted to drink her blood under any circumstances (the main reason was called Travolta), but that didnt mean he wasnt curious now that it finally came up.
So, reason number fucking one, Thana tapped against her head. My blood in your system means that you will get some sort of psychic connection to me. Dont ask me why or how it fucking works, I have no clue, but the amount of people that were in my head while I was in that tank did NOT help my sanity. I will not repeat that shit. Besides, the ones that are already there are annoying enough.
Wait, John interrupted; There are people still linked with you?
Yeah, some fuckers in America. Probably some remainders of Bloodfallen. No idea, I cant sense anything but the useless ass fact that they are there, from this distance, Thana answered. For the second fucking reason, the blood mage turned to point at Rave. APPARENTLY, you fuckers dont even need it anymore.
John nodded, but everyone else was confused. borate? Momo requested.
John took it upon himself to answer. After Thanas blood was extracted from Jane by SB, she only dropped a single level, and that was quickly reimed, he exined, so the bonus is barely noticeable on our level.
There you have it, Thana agreed. Last fucking reason, you get attached to my emotions, if my memories of people running amok like its time to raid some poor Jews homes, because they share my pain, is anything to go by.
That is a profound reason, Lydia agreed. Id much prefer not being attached to your scrambled mind the next time you decide to be overly brutal.
Good to see we are in fucking agreement, Thana said, opening and closing her fists in an agitated gesture. Change of topic, ple-
WELCOME TO DAY FOUR OF THE SEVENTEENTH TOURNAMENT OF GERMAN RULERSHIP! Jeff shouted into his microphone.
Yes, we are back, Dra added, opening his mouth but hesitating to add anything, as it seemed he was intently listening to something. Apparently, you have scared contestant Thana with that sudden opening, Jeff, Dra told his co-host. I am hearing that you are a cock-sucking, wanker of a shit-talker that should do some sort of build up before screaming around like that also your hair is stupid, she says
Well, in that case she clearly has no style, Jeff returned with augh and produced ab from nowhere, running it through his pir of hair. Afterwards, he threw theb into the crowd. Also, Dra, I think that kind of talk is not really suitable for the kids in our audience, Jeffmentated further.
Well, Jeff, let me be very frank here, Dra looked directly into the camera. If you let your kids view a tournament that needs threeyers of security so that no one dies from the horrid injuries that the unleashed powers of elite individuals can cause, you are a horrible parent.
Fair enough, Dra, Jeff conceded the point as the desk made its way over to Maximillian. That little girl has quite the mouth though.
Oh, he did not just do that, Thanaughed hysterically. Did that fucker just call me a little girl? I will rip off his stupid scalp and staple it to his ass. She already had her foot on the railing and was ready to jump. John hurried to hold her by the arm. In response he earned himself a pouty look. I am not that small she sniffed and acted like she was wiping away a tear.
Whatever you are, you are adorable, John assured her.
Thana turned red enough that she almost lost the blue undertone. R-really? He nodded and she squeaked. Sometimes she was just that cute.
Who are you going to send in today, Maximillian? Jeff asked. I hope you have a really good surprise nned for today. Aside from your initial victory in the quiz game, it seems like your fighters are thoroughly outmatched.
I am sure you will find todays happening wildly surprising, Maximillian answered. Despite being behind in points now, the king was as smug as ever. And the way this tournament is set up may make it look like we are behind, but trust me, I am not getting worried over losing when the enemy picks the match-ups. Lydia has many faults, but making ns is a thing she can do very well. Also finances. If she just agreed to let this whole thing be bygone and surrendered her im to the throne, I would be happy to have her in my cab as head of the ministry for finances. Todays fighter, though, will be my close aide and friend Alexej.
The blonde man stood up and walked onto the tform that formed. Whatever magic he was using to obscure Johns vision through Jack, it was not affecting the camera. Momentster, as Alexej was on his way to meet Luna in the middle of the arena, the microphone reached Lydia.
I presume, Dra spoke up, that you are going to ignore Maximilliansment about surrendering?
No, I actually have an answer for him, Lydia said; Which is that I will happily offer to him the position as minister for domestic affairs once I have earned the crown.
Not asking for him to surrender? The lizardman dug a bit deeper.
I have no breath to waste on asking him. I respect his convictions. My fighter for the day is John Newman.
Guess thats where I step up, John thought and walked onto the blue tform that formed.
In the meantime, Jeff did his job, Ah yes, John Newman. Unlike most candidates, we were actually able to dig up some facts on this guy. Dra, would you do us the honour of quickly walking us through while Luna puts the barriers in ce.
Yes, but I want everyone to be sure to understand that this is unverified information from the Abyss Auction. It may be manipted in some ways with that warning out of the way, Dra picked up a piece of paper from the desk. How it hadnt been blown away during all of the flying they did was truly magical. ording to that information, John Newman has ess to something called Gamer Powers that make several aspects of him like he is in a videogame, Dra said as he went over the page. The exact details of how this works are unknown, but it seems he can acquire skills just like that. He first made his appearance to the Abyss in a city called Springfield in the USA, about 5 months back.
Wow, wow, wow, Jeff interrupted. You are telling me that this kid went from being a nobody to one of the most important happenings in modern history in that short amount of time?! Thats crazy!
It is indeed, Dra said; There is a detailed report of his aura developing throughout the first few weeks. Very professional images with lots of data. If this is fake, there is a lot of thought put into it.
Guess thats what they call a Latebloomer, Jeffmented as mentioned data scrolled over the screen above. John just sighed, he knew these images already as the casters were currently working through the obvious, and pretty much only, source of information on John. Hermans old money-making machine, a ghost that would probably haunt him for the rest of his days.
Then again, maybe people working on old intel would be an advantage eventually? He could hope.
As he had read throughout those files himself, he knew that there was nothing really damaging in there. While it contained details about his private life that he would have much preferred to stay private, there was nothing in there that could really be used against him. Herman had written about his parents being normal, but not where they were and what they did, he wrote that he had a girlfriend, but blurred out Raves face, and what John did in his house stayed in his house.
Someone with enough dedication could probably find out about his parents though, but John wasnt too worried. For most things, Gaia would protect them, for the case that some thug decided to threaten John with stabbing his parents normally in a dark alleyway well, he wouldnt get to make that threate true if John was there to kill the guy.
In case he didnt and that there was nothing he could do, John didnt know what he would do then. Revenge was the obvious goal after the fact thought, but it was better to find some way to prevent it. John was already nning on that route. A bodyguard would do, he pondered. Just someone that can prevent normal world assaults, if the enemy uses magic Gaia steps in now, how to get my parents to ept having a bodyguard
Beside his private life, there also were a few things about his abilities that Herman had made public, but the thing about that was that they were incredibly broad and iplete, as Dra pointed out momentster.
In contrast to his private life, his abilities are very low on details, the lizardman said. Supposedly, he has a way to look at people, and that will then give him some information. He has some sort of golem, that much we know as he is entering the tournament with an Artificial Spirit. He can use the Inanimate Control spell and I am going to guess that the sparrow on his shoulder is the current target. He, supposedly, made deals with at least two elementals. Thats about all we have.
That information thing sounds like Reading Eye spell, Jeff took over. Otherwise, this list is bullshit. I mean, the im that he learned one of these things in 5 months is crazy, but all of that?
Actually, this page only covers information from the first weeks of him having his powers, Dra pointed out. Whatever was added to his arsenal since is not in here.
Yeah, but however much can that be, really? Jeff said.
Literally a Latebloomer, Jeff, the list could be quite long.
Well, whatever it is, I hope it is exciting!
Now for you, mister Newman, Lunas voice pulled Johns attention away from thementators. She extended her hand, Please remain calm, she advised and lightly touched him on the forehead. He felt absolutely nothing, but the fact that a window opened was enough.
Oh? Luna made a curious noise when she pulled her hand back. She looked closely at John, inspecting him from all sides.
Is there a problem? John wanted to know.
It seems your Innate Ability has integrated my spell, Luna told him and touched his forehead again. I will have to make sure it works correctly, apologies. Silver light softly glowed from her fingertips as she mustered him closely.
This time, he felt the mana moving through his body. If John had any expectations about how Lunas mana would feel, it would have been a gentle, cool stream. What he got instead was the feeling as if someone was threading needles through his blood vessels. Thousands of small piercing stings that went through him as Luna checked his body.
While not tormentingly painful, there was no way the procedure could be described as pleasant. Are you about done? John said in a tone that showed his impatience. He couldnt just p away her arm, both for social and physical reasons, but he knew that she was digging deeper than she had any need to. The pain didnt bother him all that much, but this tant studying of his abilities pissed him off.
Luna nodded and pulled her hand away. It looked like she knew full well that she had been caught, but a sly look in her eyes made it clear that she wasnt feeling guilty because of that. Your ability adjusted what I did for you, but it will still work as intended. We can proceed.
You heard it folks! Jeff took over; Lets spin the biome wheel!
John looked at Alexej. As always, the short-haired blond man was wearing a in robe that belonged in a monastery more than an arena. Then again, John in his suit, with a feathered fedora on top, wasnt one to talk. Just out of interest, John checked both Observe and his opponents aura. The former yielded no result, as was expected, while thetter just showed a very small aura.
John actually wasnt surprised. Aura was a good way to gauge if someone was part of the abyss, but it turned out that it wasnt a good tool to check on someones power on higher levels, as it was not only highly variable on each person but everyone also disyed it differently. Thanas aura, for example, was always turned up all the way while Lydias barely even broke out of her skin.
It was like trying to gauge a persons muscle mass by the shape of their footprint. Sure, you could make an educated guess by looking at the depth of it in soft ground, but what if the person was just fat? Or maybe the ground wasnt soft at all? Maybe the person actually had been taking light steps? It was a good tool, but, like everything else convenient in Johns information getting arsenal, easy to fault. In other words, he didnt trust the purple mist-like aura that stuck closely to Alexejs body and turned off the aura sight again.
I expected you to at least do some trash talk, John said while the wheel continued to spin.
Mhm, not today, I am just going to enjoy this next part, Alexej grinned, his arms hidden from view as he had stuck them into the wide sleeves of his robe.
The wheel came to a halt. Its a mountain fight! Jeff shouted, and the ground underneath Johns feet vibrated. Changing colour from the light brown of sand to the grey of mountainous stone, withyers of snow and withered trees appearing from nowhere. He and Alexej were carried upwards by the elevating floor.
At the end they were standing roughly halfway up a mountain that couldnt have possibly fit into the arena. The air was also surprisingly cold, which could only be an advantage to John, as he had ways to keep himself warm in the form of Smander.
Lets count down! Jeff shouted. 5!
Okay, I want all of you to get ready to materialize only when you see an opening to exploit or if really necessary, John hastily conveyed his battle n once more. This wasnt the first time he had gone over this, but he wanted to make sure everyone remembered.
4!
Momo, feel free to fly off at the start, you being safe is more important than whatever surprise attack you couldunch with your limited offensive power. Gnome, be ready to intercept whatever first strike he is going tounch.
Sure.
G-got it!
3!
Sylph, you will beunching a surprise attack first. Smander, enter the frayter, once he is sure Sylph is the only aggressive elemental I have.
I will bam and then wham and then whoosh him!
Urgh, fucking boring, but fine.
2!
Undine, you stay incorporeal until someone is injured. If he has some ability to hurt you while you are incorporeal, like Touch of the Abyss or some other spell, take physical form and look for some nearby shelter.
An understanding feeling swept over his thoughts.
1!
Siena dont be a bitch and help me.
I will think about it, Siena teasingly answered.
No, you wont, John vehementlyshed out, because this isnt me grinding, where you being annoying is a minor inconvenience. This is important. If you fuck me over today, I will turn your sadistic ass into my my permanent cum dumpster, and that will only be the start of your punishments. Are we clear?
Crystal, the nightmare elemental hissed with a mixture of anger and impressed acknowledgment.
GO!! Jeff screamed, and Purgatorys fire engulfed Johns arm as he took a ready stance that allowed him to dodge into whatever direction as fast as possible.
Alexej raised his left hand up to the sky at rapid speed and shouted, I give up.
Jack almost nose dived off Johns shoulder in surprise. The arena went from excited cheers into a baffled silence
then a wave of boos crashed over them.
Chapter 251 – Huh?
Chapter 251 C Huh?
Well, he would have to check what the hell that waster. For the moment, however, there was a bigger question on his mind. You are not even trying to fight me?! John shouted out. He knew there was this whole thing about gift horses, but really, this was just too weird.
Nah, Alexej waved off with his lowered hand; I have seen enough. I cant beat you. Now that was both ominous and highly untrustworthy. What was he trying to hide by not even attempting a desperate struggle? Announcer, I said I give up, can you make it official please? Alexej shouted up.
Folks, it seems that team Lydia goes into a 3 to 1 lead on the back of a surrender, Jeff said, the hype seemed to have left him, and the void had been filled by utter disappointment. That makes three wins in a row. A total smackdown, an actually entertaining fight and now this.
Maximillian wasnt lying when he said todays fight would surprise us, Dra added in the usual manner. In all due honesty, I could have lived without this surprise.
The biome was vanishing as quickly as it had been built, and Alexej walked off without another word. With no other choice, John turned to leave himself. Everyone else in his party was as confused as he was.
I expected some sort of bullshit-off, Rave said. Like, ya know, Alexej pulls out some 4 metre sword out of thin air, made up of 5 elements, and then ya just throw stupid abilities at each other.
I concur that I also expected something more than this, Lydia agreed. However, this result worries me.
Whys that? Rave wondered.
I swear to the fucking earth, seizure hands, Thana burst out. You are as dumb as a dumpster fire.
Shaddup, Rave snapped at her. Just cause I aint about your politicalndscaping stuff doesnt mean I am dumb. Ya cant understand people, and I dont get this whole strategic kerfuffle.
Kerfuffle? a maniacal noise escaped the blood mage. The fuck? Is that a word?
Yes, it means something along the lines of amotion, John exined. Not sure you can even use that there ah well, to answer your question though, Jane, the problem is that we still have no idea what his powers are.
Lydia nodded, a rigid up and down motion that looked like the words Yes, Sir! would naturally follow. Which is increasingly worrisome, the princess said. Maximillian wouldnt include someone into his team that can only manipte information. Such a person could just stand next to him without being a dered fighter. This means that Alexej is holding some power that Maximillian is sure will win him the group fights.
Aaah, Rave made an understanding sound. And cause those are worth 3 points, if they win them on his back, his solo losses dont matter as much. Gotcha. With the techno-lover having grasped the situation they left the arena behind.
Wee home, Master, Aclysia greeted them at the door; Would you like something to eat? Would you like a massage? Or would you like me?
Aww, thats adorable, Rave jumped at the artificial guardian. Ill take ya, Ill take ya every day.
John watched as his girlfriend molested Aclysia, indiscreetly grabbing the bubble butt of the cosying maid. This is not the intended result, Aclysia said as she took the harassment with a graceful expression; I am, however, more than happy to take you as well, mistress.
Ya really need to drop that mistress stuff already, Rave told her. Ya should be smart enough to understand by now.
I may or may not have been taking enjoyment in the slight awkwardness you feel whenever I say that, Aclysia said with averted eyes.
Wha-? Why would ya do that! Rave demanded to know.
I may or may not have been annoyed with the fact that I had to stay with you while Master was overseas.
Are ya sassing me right now?
The tiniest of smiles yed around Aclysias lips. I may or may not be sassing you.
Well, I will have to go with something to eat, John finally spoke up. I am hungry. We can fuck afterwards. Where is Nathalia?
Sleeping in her room, Aclysia answered, holding her salver with the usual diligence, and bowed. She has been fed, pleased, bathed and properly groomed.
Ya make it sound like she is a horse, Raveughed. A very, very, v-e-r-y horny horse.
I meant to imply no such thing. If you will excuse me, I will have to prepare something to eat, Aclysia said and turned around. Her skirt whirled just right to give John a sh of her heart-shaped pillow of an ass, the white leotard that was her undergarments didnt even cover half of the buttchecks.
What are your ns for the remainder of the evening? Lydia inquired as they went to the living room. The sound of pots rattling rang over from the kitchen, Aclysia had started to cook.
I wonder what she is making today, John thought, staying out of her thoughts to keep the surprise. Well, after eating and having sex, I will go grind some more, John said. Namely, I want to get a level into Fateweaver.
Why is that? Lydias eyes shifted from blue to grey. She did not like that he was going to waste his time with a ss that wasnt going to help her current situation.
Its going to help me with my experience grinding, I hope, John exined and looked at his Create I.D. skill.
See, currently the I.D.s I create are good to get experience, but I want to know if I can get them to be great, he continued. All I.D. does nowadays is give me bigger enemies. While waves are quite good to grind, the thing that gives me the most experience are first kill bonuses. What I am hoping of levelling Fateweaver is to get a way to speed up things like Floor based dungeons, where I spent way too much time walking around.
Your ss Levels are a limited resource, John, Lydia reminded him. Do you really want to risk one in such a gamble?
Why not? John shrugged, I should get at least one level in most sses just to find out what it does. Fateweaver gives me Increased Time Dtion and Advanced Create I.D. Options
so, worst case scenario, we are going to save more time while grinding in the future. Sounds okay to me. John conveniently failed to mention that he had no idea if the time dtion was in the Sticking Bonuses. There was a difference between helping Lydia to the best of his abilities and letting her control how he shapes his build. He didnt want to have that whole discussion at the moment.
I concede the argument, Lydia said with a nod. Do as you wish.
How fucking gracious of you, allowing John to use his own powers how he wants, Thana giggled from the couch, watching an episode of Scrubs, actually.
Good series, John thought. Unusual to see that shes watching something nice. A nice 8 season series.
There are 9, Momo reflexively corrected him.
No, he vehemently protested, there are EIGHT seasons of Scrubs.
Ah, right, thats another one of those memes a mental sigh, and that little feud was over as quickly as it began.
Ill go do that in a bit then, John said.
Need help with something while ya do that? his girlfriend asked.
Nah, it wants me to skill Create I.D., so I will just stand there and use it over and over again, nothing exciting, he answered.
Yeah, no, Im doing some regr training for regr people then, Rave stretched, Right, Cappy?
Stop calling me that, Copernicus demanded from his position on the back of the couch. I have a glorious name, Copernicus!
But thats so boring!
I am dumbfounded that someone like you is a Lightbearer, the suncat meowed and jumped off the couch, but I suppose I could have hit it worse. Let us train you up, then.
While Rave left the room, John pulled his newest Quest reward from his inventory. Time to check what you do, he thought and looked at the thing in his hand. It looked like a casino token, the shape of a coin and made of a green, smoky crystal. John turned it in his hand for bit, looking for something interesting on the smooth surface of the token.
Huh, John thought, That sounds pretty good. Kind of expected this to be a high level enchant thing. The legendary items I am wearing are out, they dont need the upgrades. My suit? I mean, if I could get my jacket to have higher fire resistance, I wouldnt need to fix it as often John looked at his jacket.
Yeah, it could use an upgrade. The token dissipated into a green mist at the thought and entered his clothes.
Okay, thats way better than I thought it was going to be, John thought and looked at the choices. Strength was pretty much out, he wouldnt make use of that. He wouldnt be fighting in a suit if he wanted to be a melee fighter in the first ce.
The temptation to go with the Magus Clothes was strong, just because it was his default response. MP per minute was aughing matter for him though, he needed way more to make it worthwhile. 5% Intellect was a strong bonus, but was it better than getting higher defensive bonuses? John decided to go with the increasing of the current attributes.
At least that one was easy. He had no interest in changing to a Physical or Social based build at this point. Therefore, it was going to be the middle choice.
Your powers are a never ending well of surprises, Lydiamented when he was done picking.
You have no idea how true that statement is, John agreed. Simultaneously, Aclysia put food on the table. Thank you.
I live to serve, Master. Aclysia smiled, then took a position by his side.
John pointed at the chair next to him, Why dont you sit down? I want to talk a bit. Aclysias thoughts radiated such wonderful happiness at that simple request that John couldnt help but smile as he started eating. How are your days? John wanted to know. Not too boring, I hope.
The stretches of time when you arent here cannot be over quick enough, Aclysia said and inched her chair as close as possible without hindering him in eating, but I have enough to do. This is a big house to clean, I need to get groceries on the regr to feed all of you, and mistress Nathalia needs attention.
John giggled, and Aclysia smiled a bit as she saw his happiness. Once this whole thing is over, we should go on a date again, he proposed. Just the two of us.
That sounds wonderful! I loved ourst date, John, the artificial guardian enthusiastically agreed, struggling to keep her distance.
John made it easy on her and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close. He could eat with one arm. Aclysia blushed the slightest bit and rested her head on his shoulder, beaming with joy. Can we do this more often? she asked quietly.
What? John asked her to specify.
Cuddling? Without it ending in sex? And just talking? came the response.
You were the one that greeted me with that Japanese porn phrase, John reminded her.
Correct, but now I have this, she nestled up to him, the warmth of her body radiating onto his side, and it just feels so right.
It does but I really like having sex, John told her, tapping his fork against the edge of his te, but, I guess, every once in a while, just cuddling is fine.
I love you, John, Aclysia kissed him on the cheek.
Chapter 252 – How to Grind
Chapter 252 C How to Grind
There were two ways to grind sensibly, in Johns opinion.
One could either find trivial content, that was repeatable extremely quickly and that gave a moderate amount of experience and gear, or beat content of high difficulty, that rewarded the effort greatly, and just concentrate on getting that done without dying. The former was easier, but thetter was the usually intended experience by game developers and was, thusly, heavily encouraged or downright mandatory to get some of the better stuff.
If one were to ask which content John preferred, he would have had to go with the harder content in general. It was simply a more rewarding feeling, to get levels after beating a series of challenges, instead of just grinding down on mobs for a few hours. Or picking herbs or something else stupid.
Then again, in some games, Diablo 3 for example, endlessly grinding was stupid fun, and the Instant Dungeons were conceptually close to the portals of the hack and sh game.
Trivial content being more rewarding than hard content usually had one of two reasons. Either the developers had fucked up, in which case it was going to get fixed eventually, or the content was quite literally meant to be skipped. MMOs liked to do that, making old content very easy to beat just so everyone could get through ASAP and y the new content.
I wonder what I will get ess to, John wondered as he finally beat thest challenge of the Fateweaver ss: to make a barrier that was an exact cube with 100-metre long sides. It wasnt the hardest thing to do, after John figured out how he had to go about how to work Illusion Barrier better (which he did thanks to the Skill getting higher giving him effective muscle memory on it).
He opened the ss window and spent the level in Fateweaver.
Tough choices. The Loot Basin wasnt what he was looking for, even if it was wonderfully convenient. Investing was a worthwhile thought if he had someone to pull him through everything. Without his mana regeneration his whole party was way less effective. The elementals own mana was not nearly enough to cover all of theirbat expenses. All they could rely on if he took this Perk was Momo.
While that was certainly possible, once she was gone, this skill would be less useful or just downright useless. He could probably deal with 50% less mana regeneration, but then the question became what was better between this and Assault.
Assault was obviously a challenging thing, and the experience bonus at the end must have been at least somewhat bnced in respect to him missing out on Firstkill bonuses and other things. Fighting sheer endless hordes of enemies also sounded way more fun than limiting his mana supply.
Yeah, lets pick Assault, he thought and pressed the button. Now, onto the rest of changes. First things first, how much time dtion does the Fateweaver ss provide?
Not enough to justify switching from Elementalist, with its Stat bonuses to all of his elementals. What were those increased dungeon customizations though?
Interesting now what happens when I do this? John wondered and disabled Trap Rooms, only to see the enemy strength, density and boss strength jump up to 5%. Of course, thats how that works he sighed inwardly. It would have been too easy if he could do whatever he wanted with this. Maybe he could once he got a few more levels?
From the current look of it, the maximum amount of changes he could make moved in the 5% area. For example, if he increased the drop chance of Legendaries, he could only do so by 5%. In response experience went down and monster strength went up. The changes he made himself could not exceed a 5% deviation, while the responsive changes had seemingly no cap.
Out of interest, he disabled loot entirely. In response to that, experience shot up to +10%, while enemy strength went down to -5%. He put the experience up to +15% and now strength was back to 0%, but density and boss strength was still at +5%.
After fidgeting with it for some more time, he arrived at this.
Now to find out what the sticking bonus even is, John thought and switched back to Elementalist.
It was the Custom Settings after all. Probably better than slightly more time dtion. It was slightly saddening that the best he could do was 2:1 Inside:Outside dtion. In theory, that was, if the gains from Skills and ss remained linear.
Something crazy like 10:1 would be nice, John thought and sighed, but I guess that would make this too easy. He left the Active ss on Elementalist and pondered about what to do now. It was 19 oclock; he had been standing here just spamming Create I.D. for about two hours.
He wanted to test out that new Assault thing, the question was whether he was going to round up the others first or went in by himself to test a few things. Deciding to do thetter, he looked at his Monster Table to pick a match-up.
Lets try Feral, John thought and created the I.D. The Skill reacted, as per usual, to his intention to create it with the new settings in mind. However, he was presented with a window to put in the amount of time he wanted to spend. Lets say 10 minutes, John thought and wrote it in, a number in parenthesis appeared behind it.
12 minutes, 30 seconds thats the time dtion in action, John realized. So its taking the time I will be out of reality, not the time I will be inside, as its base, good to know. He epted, and the run-down house disappeared.
He was now inside a tropical forest. The tall treespeted with each other for the suns rays. The canopies towered far above, all manners of different nts, from mushrooms to lianas, hanging from the bark and branches. The air was warm and humid, ufortably so, a stark contrast to the winter cold he had just left.
And he was instantly pounced by something that looked like a horrible fusion between a panther and an insect. tes of chitin covered its muscr body, ck fur growing out of the small gaps. Its four ck eyes each looked at a different part of Johns body, and its maw was wide open, parted mandibles framed sharp fangs
Watch out! Gnome shouted as she materialized between him and the monster. The earth spirit threw a sucker punch that hit the panther straight on the nose. The impact of the earthen fist cracked the bug-panthers face-covering chitin and threw him right back to where he came from. S-stay grounded! Gnome said.
The panther flew back a few dozen metres, crashed onto the ground and was then caught in an updraft. Being carried high into the air as someone bbered over it withmentary. Hihihi, is that the best you cane up with? Gnome, Gnome, Gnome, should, like, try something more creative. Like Sorry to rock your world or Your scissor is nothing against my paper. Here let me show you, Sylphs voice rattled the words down like she was a sportscaster that had just finished powdering her nose with cocaine.
The poor panther flew further and further up only to then make a really awkward and unnatural turn in the air. Roaring in confusion and anger, it was mmed into another one of its kind. Then another one. This went on until Sylph had gotten five of them into a ball that was tumbling through her winds.
The insectoid felines fell down to the ground as the tempest elemental finally stopped the storm. I will end this in a sh! Sylph announced with a face of pure determination. Raising her hands above her head in an epic manner a single spark of electricity danced between her fingers. Eh? the air spirit gave her hand a confused look.
The pile of panthers threatened to recover while Sylph was busy trying to summon her lightning. Before either of the two parties could act, the monsters were bombarded with fire.
Kekeke, Smander cackled; You dunce, Sylph, have you still not learned that you need to keep track of your mana? Not everyone can just throw that shit around like John.
You kill stealing bitch! Sylphined. Those were mine, I wanted to be totally cool and electrocute them! You didnt even use a cool one-liner.
Like I give a tosh about one-liners, Smander waved off. These guys are toast now, thats all that matters.
Yay, you used a one-liner! Sylph chirped, causing the ze elemental to look confused. Toast, you know, you made them like crispy toast, toasted them crispy, crisp-crisp, you know. Do you get it?
Urgh, Smander let out a frustrated groan. Thats really reaching for it, airhead.
Whatever, lets just fucking kill these dudes! Smander announced.
One thing after the other, John told them. I want to dictate the terms of this engagement. He turned his head to look at Gnome.
The earth spirit was busy drawing little circles into the ground with her finger. I think that line was cool she muttered, all pouty and adorable. Sadly, this was not the time to squish her cute face.
Gnome! John called out to her.
Y-yes! she jumped to her feet. S-sorry to slouch off in the middle of battle.
Yeah, dont do that, John agreed. Anyway, I need you and Smander to do something for me. He mentally sent her the details.
Thatis Smander said slowly. AWESOME FUCKING HELL YES! the fire spirit flew over to Gnome with a fire in her coal coloured eyes. Lets do it,e the fuck on!
Sure? Gnome was less enthusiastic about this n, but she and Smander, who changed into her big form, folded their hands together.
Their mana intermingled, and John poured his own into the mix graciously. The ground trembled, John spotted more of the bug-panthers stalking around, distancing themselves from what they thought to be an obvious source of danger.
Jokes on them, John thought; You are ying right into my hands. The humid air became even hotter with each passing moment until, suddenly, the ground cracked open in a ring around Johns group. Lava sshed upwards as pieces of the earth surrounding it fell inside.
It wasnt the biggest of rifts, maybe two metres in width, but filled with molten rock, it was quite the imposing thing. This was especially true for the panthers who hadnt evacuated fast enough and fell straight into the deadly trap.
There, a nice and easily defendable position, John thought, as he was now on a secure ind in the forest. The heat of theva caused nearby wood to ignite, much to Smanders delight.
Look at it! Look at it burn! sheughed.
Mhm, look at how pleased you are, Siena, materializing from Johns shadow, moaned. If you like things hot, our next fun time should involve some candle wax.
Oh, fuck off an- John, above you! Smanders warning came just in time. One of the monsters had climbed a tree and was now jumping at John. It had already crossed the ring ofva by the time anyone could react. Everyone else was too far away, but John wasnt worried in the slightest, the destruction of the surroundings, caused by his elementals, had pumped Echo of Destruction up quite a bit.
He was getting ready to fend off the assant by himself (until Gnome was ready to take over) when a blue shape intercepted. Undine?! John thought, surprised. Not only should the mending elemental have been able to feel his intentions, she should also know that what she was doing now was a terrible idea.
The wall of slime didnt even pass a hindrance for the panther. Too heavy and too fast, it broke thought the blue liquid, tearing a hole through the soft membrane. A mental scream of pain rocked through Johns consciousness. For a moment, he was back in a chamber, getting swarmed by rats, then the image was gone. This time, it wasnt his mistake.
Whoevers mistake it was didnt matter to the monster. John had hesitated and now the panther crashed right into him. Mana Protection had been deactivated, MP being more useful than HP, so he was mmed straight to the ground. In a hurry, John used a Mana de to cut into the monsters stomach.
It didnt care, snapping at his face with its mandibles. The razor-sharp extension cked close mere millimetres from his face, held back only by the Purgatory-covered arm holding it by the throat. John continued to cut through the insectoid feline with the bright blue sword. The mandibles opened up. He would not be able to keep it back for the second bite. He was strong, but not stronger than the monster.
The sharp things reached his face, barely. Cutting thin, symmetric trenches into his cheekbones, they fixed his head in ce as the creatures mouth opened wide, stinking hot breath followed by a green liquid spilling forth. Then blindness.
The monster had spit a load of acid on his face. Not even Gamers Body could just recover from the slow damage that did to his head. The pain of his flesh being seared, healing and then searing again was cruel but nothing he couldnt bear with for the moment.
John quickly shifted his eyes away from himself and concentrated on scanning the battlefield through Jack. His freedom was imminent in the form of Gnome charging at the panther above him. The feline was ripped off him, the mandibles sheering some more of the liquified flesh off his face, andunched by the impact of the earth spirits attack, carried all the way into the ring ofva by a gust of magical wind.
John was still blind, remaining acid keeping it that way. And this is with goddamn Acid Resistance, he thought, resisting the urge to wipe the stuff off his face with his It was painful, yes, but in the midst of battle, healing was cheaper than repairing his jacket.
The elemental that was supposed to do the healing had gathered herself back together. Undine looked calm on the outside, but a sense of defeat and deep shame radiated from within her. Come over here, John told her as calmly as possible.
Are you angry? Undine wanted to know as she started healing him. Patches of healthy skin reced wherever Undine wiped the acid off his face.
Yes, John told her truthfully, as he had taught her to be; The fuck was that supposed to aplish?!
I wanted to be useful, Undine said, her voice a sad little melody.
You are always useful, you are our safety! John reminded her and stood up. Now with a functioning mouth again, he said, You are the groups healer, never think that is a useless upation!
I dont but In that moment, John felt something break through. Envy towards everyone else, anger towards herself, ugly things that she had buried deep beneath. It was gone before John could make sense of it C before he could properly take hold of the root issue.
You will tell me exactly what this is about once we are out of here! John demanded and turned to help the rest of the group.
Chapter 253 – A wobbly plea
Chapter 253 C A wobbly plea
They were back at the mansion, John had made sure that they were in private. It was just him and Undine in Raves and his room. The elementals assured no one would interrupt them, staying outside. When John hade back with a pretty pissed expression, that had raised a lot of eyebrows. Under the promise that he would exin in a bit, everyone had let him pass.
On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 was not at all and 10 the anger he had felt when he found out that Thana was torturing Rave, he was currently at a strong 6. It wasnt the act himself that made him this livid. Fighting monsters like that on the daily meant that he got into fucked up situations like that at least once a day. Pain was a constantpanion of his lifestyle. They went through dozens ofbat engagements each day. Mistakes were natural.
He had been stabbed, ripped open, burned, choked, partly eaten, his bones had been broken, and he had been through all kinds of other painful and awful experiences. Sometimes, not even threeyers of defence were enough; this was just the nature of fighting enemies that were roughly his own strength day in and day out.
The reason why he still came up on top all the time was that he was maintaining a clearmand structure. One could be the greatest of friends with the people in ones raid party, but if one did not make precise orders when was is necessary, then that friendship was a bigger hindrance than it did good. With most of his party being hooked up to his mind, this was not a problem that regrly urred.
Yet, Undinepromising that once would have barely triggered a three on that scale. A mild scolding and he would have left it as it was. A blunder, a failed experiment, nothing more. Happened to the best of them. However, her move today and the short burst of what was behind that calm fa?ade of hers finally had pushed Johns mild annoyance with her inability to talk about whatever had been bothering her for the past weeks from mild annoyance into proper frustration.
So? he spat out.
They were facing each other. Undine was sitting on the bed while he had nted a chair in front of her. Arms crossed, he stared her down. Undine looked back, but did not quite look back. Her eyes missed his face slightly. A frown set on her otherwise emotionless face. She hadpletely isted her thoughts. John could feel nothing from her. He could have torn that down, and for a moment, he seriously considered it. Simply breaking into her mind and digging up whatever she was hiding would give him answers quickly.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in a forced attempt to calm himself down to at least a 4 on the scale. What is your problem? John said when he seeded in getting down to 5. Undines eyes emptily stared ahead. He snapped once in front of her face. She jumped back without blinking.
I want to know, he repeated, what your problem is.
Undine stayed silent. For fucks sake, John voiced his annoyance with an exasperated whisper. His voice rose afterwards. Do you have anything to say? At all? An exnation, an apology?
I am sorry, I would do anything to turn back time
ANYTHING? John asked. Would you murder your sisters to do it? Would you sell your soul? You wont even tell me whats wrong! To quote you, yourself: Do not spout empty phrases, Undine. The irony of this situation wasnt lost on John. Way back when he was training for the fight with Thana, she had given him a lecture about this exact same thing. He could have lived without a reversal of these roles. The truth is ugly and selfish; I have nced at what goes on in that head of yours, and I can see that that remains as true as ever. I know it, you know it C you know better than everyone. You were the one that lecture me on this. Just tell me what this is about so I can try helping you! The heel of his left foot tapped the ground at a constant, nervous pace.
The tapping and silence remained the only constant in their talk, and John only extended that pause by doing another breathing exercise until he was down to a 3.
Do you remember how you told me that you expected honesty from me? Why are you being such a hypocrite right now? Undine visibly shifted at the usation, yet remained speechless. I will force myself into your mind if you leave me no other choice, John warned her. I cant have you be a potential risk to the group while this tournament goes on. We need to be at peak performance, not a scrambled mess.
3 days Undine mumbled, her eyes as unmoving as they were throughout the entire talk, the tone of her voice clear in its misery. Give me three days, please. Then I will tell you everything.
John leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath.
Three days. That would mean tomorrow and then there was the Christmas pause. The chances of him having to fight in that time were miniscule. Fine, John agreed, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. The 25th, I expect you to have sorted out what you want to tell me by then. If not, I will will have to force it out of you.
He stood up and walked over to Undine, who kept her head low. Then he bowed down and put his arms around her. I just want all of us to be happy, he whispered. I hope you find a way to tell me. I dont want to hurt you, in no way do I ever want that. At the same time, this cannot go on.
I understand, Undines melodic voice seemed a slight bit more upbeat as she crawled out of herplete istion to give him the slightest hint of determination. The willingness to find a solution.
Her cold arms wrapped around his back, and they just hugged for a moment. Then she went incorporeal, and John was left alone. You better not run away from this, he mumbled, knowing she could hear, and turned to leave the room.
Gnome, who had been standing guard at the door, spared herself the question of how it went, she was connected to his mind after all. His girlfriend, however, wasnt. So wanna fill me in now? she asked, leaning against the wall opposite to the entrance.
John didnt need to go greatly in-depth. Rave already knew about the fact that Undine had been isting herself. Whatever may happen, she was still the person John loved the most. Anything that worried him, she knew within the day, from his own lips.
Well, thats a downer, Rave sighed. I dont like downers, they suck.
Yeah, John agreed. She walked up to him and pulled him back into the room, We gonna y some League of Legends and forget all about it for an hour or two!
Dont I get a say in that? Johnined, a small smile blooming on his mentally exhausted face.
Do ya ever? Raveughed and pulled his spirit right out of the mud with that simple sound; Ya know what we should do after that?
Just cuddle! they said at the same time.
Jinxed, Rave tapped him on the forehead. Cant talk til someone says your name.
John yed along and let her pull him by the hand to the office desk where they had put down theirptops and sit him down. Then she took the chair John had left at the bed and ced it back in its usual ce next to him.
She started up theptop. Mhm, nice and quiet, none of your smartery, Rave mused, cing her left hand on the back of his right. He turned his hand around, and then her handid in his, palm on palm. Her hand was soft, but as his thumb gently rubbed over the back of it, he felt the bumps and rough spots that came from years of practicing martial arts. No amount of magic power could fix that slight imperfection, that bit of roughness that came from the human body. Neither did John want it too.
Perfection was in in what it was. Imperfection revealed ever new facets. There was a reason diamonds were cut with a sheer endless number of surfaces and not polished into a single orb - besides technical hardship. This metaphor doesnt really hold up, John thought and dropped it. He liked imperfection, and that was it.
So, let me be a bit stupid here, but I am thinking about getting this, Rave announced and opened the Abyss Auction. What she pulled up was the selling info for a butt plug. Ya know, for Lydia? the techno-lover giggled. So she can actually have a stick up her ass.
John amusedly blew air out of his nose.
Mhm, taking that as a yes then. Christmas gifts are nice, wanna pitch in for this next one? It is going to be pretty costly. What Rave pulled up then, John needed a long time to read over.
At the end he nodded, being still jinxed and all that.
Thought so, hope Thana is going to like it. Gonna get my money from yater, Rave added the article to the cart. She showed him some other Christmas gifts she was thinking about.
If she had something nned for Aclysia, Momo or any of the elementals, that stayed behind closed bars. Probably because she didn''t want that information to leak to the affected parties.
Now, we are going to do something stupid, Rave decided. Like y Teemo plus Cassio top. You y Teemo. John tapped his girlfriend, and sheughed when she saw his sour face. Okay, okay, John, we can do something more sensible.
Oh, thank God, John said. I still hate that hamster.
Cause ya dont know how to have fun, Rave teased as they logged in.
He clicked around the champion list randomly, So, I got this new Assault mechanic Its really good.
How good is really good? Rave asked.
John checked the window again. He had kept it open since it had popped up, wanting to read it properly when his mind wasnt upied with annoyance.
Well, its not all that great for filler grinding, he exined further. but if I just spent a lot of time continuously fighting, it should pay out hard.
What is a lot of time? Rave wondered.
Like 2 to 3 hours, hopefully more, John said.
So, just so I get this right, Rave asked. Ya wanna bash stuff over the head for three hours, continuously?
What? No, John waved off. I am going to exploit the ever-living hell out of this. I am going tobine Momos and my mana to create a fortress and then venture in and out of it for rtive safety C or let the enemies break on the walls.
That sounds really boring. For a moment there, I thought ya got something cool; Rave said watching the loading screen with a sudden drop in interest.
Pretty sure thats the most effective way of doing this, John shrugged. After all, I get 50 times the current tier per mob and 250 times the current tier per boss. Then other exp bonuses are added to the resulting numbers, then they are added together and multiplied with 100% per hour. I would get some pretty insane results from this.
Rave made a show of snoring and napping off, Okay, math, got it.
It''s called modifier stacking and it is the backbone of all things fun!
So, ya gonna level absurdly quick again?
For a bit, yeah, chances are that this mechanic will be out-scaled as my levels go higher, as the experience is tied to tier, which is a linear progression, while my experience is progressing exponentially. Rave almost fell out of her chair as he exined that, boredom turning her limp. Thankfully, they finally loaded into the game. I have been thinking about getting a house back in the USA, he changed topics.
Mhm, but that wont work, now would it, ya dont even know where we gonna live there.
Wherever I buy a house? John suggested jokingly.
Yeah, no, Rave waved off and went to the middlene, she had picked Lux; Dont ya even act like ya are not going to try and take over the USA when we get home.
That obvious? John asked.
Its just the logical thing to do, with ya being indebted to that rat god guy, Rave pointed out. And I doubt ya have been spending time reading stuff on Abyssal political structures just cause youre interested in the subject.
Well, you got me, John admitted. I want to try and get the U S of Abyssal to world power status once I get out of here, that is is that bad?
Nah, ya can try do that, Rave told him and smirked at him. We are still bound to collide with people, arent we? We will just ram our heads against other people until wee out on top. It is in the name of our guild.
A great guild that was. Just the two of them. Yet, John still felt that he could do it. Hell, as long as he had Rave, he probably could do anything. As long as he remembered to stay level-headed in his ambitions. He was a Latebloomer, everyone was eager to remind him what a leg-up that gave him in the grand scheme of things. Might as well change the world for the better with the power he had, right?
What was the thing again? he wondered, remembering a window he hadnt looked at in a while. Ah yes. To use our powers for our own goals, to be free and achieve greatness, and through our greatness to inspire others, John recited.
Huh? Rave blinked at him.
What is it? he wondered.
Where did ya get that from? she asked in return.
It is the description of my guild window, why? he answered.
Rave bought some basic items from the in game shop before she answered, Its something Travolta used to say. Jimmie and I teased him for it cause it always sounded super pretentious for us bottom feeders and all that.
Is that so? John had trouble imagining that the giant, cursing guy had ever been spouting something like that. There was so much to him that he had never gotten to learn and that had just disappeared with him. I wonder what he would have done if he had powers like mine? John wondered out loud. He was way more ambitious than me.
Yeah, he was, Rave agreed. He was ambitious above his size. He got greedy and that was it. He should have stayed at the kinds of trouble that he could deal with.
So, us being way stronger than he ever was, we should stir trouble on a country level? Johnughed.
Ja! Rave enthusiastically agreed and gave him a wild smile as she missed herst hits; Lets stir the pot a bit, get some life in this boring world. Punch some baddies, straighten out the world. Lets have thousands of people, thousands of worlds collide, one of them will take it all, will stand at the top.
And that is going to be us? John asked with a bit of doubt.
No idea! Rave eximed as she shed forwards,nded herbo and killed her opponent, only to then be executed by the enemy tower. I aint got no future sight. All I know is that I dont want my life to be lived in the safety of a bunker. Why let the world just change around us?
John smirked, You know, usually I want to rein in your daredevil, but fuck it. Fine then, lets conquer America when we get done here. Us against the world.
Now ya talking mynguage! Rave said and presented him with a fist-bump.
Chapter 254 – Pariah [Nia Fae POV]
Chapter 254 C Pariah [Nia Fae POV]
If nihilism was correct and no actions had meaning, then Nia Fae seriously wondered why the woman currently holding her hand was even making the effort.
The streets they were hasting through were well-kept and of wondrous design. Above them, inds floated, tethered to a giant obelisk with chains of mana. All of the people that build those structures must have thought they were working for something meaningful as well.
Nia wouldnt be allowed anywhere near those chains. Not because she would destroy them, but because she could. Trust was the usual issue she encountered. People usually wanted her far away from everything they cared about. The ones that could see her that was. Which was just about everyone in this city. Actually, it was everyone. The normal people couldnt see her.
To be more exact, their minds chose not to.
Do we have to run this quickly? Nia wondered as they hastened through the streets of Abyssal Rome. Her voice was almostpletely devoid of emotion. Not because she didnt feel anything, she just didnt express herself very often.
For why that was, Nia didnt have an answer. Straining her voice in such ways always felt so inefficient.
She turned her head. She was wondering where that alleyway may lead to or if there was a kitten nearby that wanted to be pat. Surely, a dog was somewhere that wouldnt mind ying tag with her for a bit.
Animals werent as closed in mind to things they couldntprehend.
They stopped for a moment, and the girl whirled around. The singr braid her brown hair, a copper shimmer to it, was worked into flew just by Nias nose. I feel that I have the obligation to remind you that you have an 11-day time deficit that runs contrary to our agreed exchange of favours, Nia, spoke the woman before dragging Nia further down the road, never letting go of her arm.
The duo attracted more than a few gazes. Nia didnt like that, even though she was used to it. It was the stark contrast between reality, where no one could see her, and the Abyss, were everyone was watching her. They saw her as something that didnt belong, an outcast, a pariah, because she was different.
Because her soul was empty.
But, Lydia, Nia spoke up, there was a cat.
A cat brought you to Aachen?! Lydia blurted out, her tone beyond bbergasted. You know that I had to hire 16 people to get you here? Not to track you, that was easy, but to keep an eye on you all the time. Now you reveal to me that it was because of a cat?
No, it was several cats they all wanted to y, the nk answered. She didnt quite get what Lydia was upset about.
She was here now, wasnt she?
A good question actually, she better check. She stopped dead in her tracks, and Lydia was forced to stop with her. What is it? Lydia asked, and Nia put her hands-on Lydias face. Her snow white, slender fingers framed the womans confused face. Without any warning whatsoever, Nia kissed the princess on the mouth.
Lydia struggled and broke free.
What the hell, Nia?! the princess wanted to know, looking around. Lucky for them that the princess had chosen to take a shortcut through a dark alleyway.
I just wanted to make sure I am not Fading, the nk answered.
If you were Fading, I could tell, Lydia pointed out and grabbed her by the arm again.
That was valid, if Nia was fading, Lydia would have been able to see her vanish. It could have been toote by that point though.
I doubt Nihilism is correct, Nia said as she kept walking after Lydia. The white dress that she wore fluttered. It was as white as her skin, like a snowy mountaintop. Clear, white, devoid of all other influences of colour and shade. Some would call it in, others would call it beautiful, most would call it strange. She wore it because she liked it and because the non-existent cloth didnt get in the way, even though it reached down to her naked feet.
What do you mean by that now? Lydia entertained the talk while she was feverishly checking her watch.
If everything is senseless, why try? the nk blonde wondered.
I doubt there is inherent meaning to anything, Lydia offered her a thought, but this is very meaningful to me, so I will summon all I have in my arsenal to see it done the way I prefer.
That sounds wonderful, Nia said now keeping up with Lydia without the need to be dragged. The colosseum wasnt far away now. There was a sense of urgency to it. She would get to try and find some turtle to feedter. Nia raised a hand as she, fleet on her bare feet, walked besides Lydia. The cold winter air raced through her fingers.
The cold did not trante to her exposed skin. It stayed outside, did not mingle with the woman only half in this world.
Steps that were like a fairy in a field of flowers, Nia flew over the pavement with wondrous elegance. A dancer would have been envious of the certainty with which her soles took each step, a human would have looked at her and thought:
This girl does not belong here
Nia! Lydia called her out as Nia slipped away. She looked at her hands, slightly translucent. She readjusted how much of her was in this world and was found solidified a mere momentter. I am still here, Lydia, she assured her friend.
A friend, that was the simple thing she wanted for being part of this.
Was she just being used? Maybe. Nia couldnt muster enough emotion to care. With her powers, being used was amon urrence. If Lydia betrayed their agreement, then Nia had lost nothing but time.
Time was valuable to those that had a purpose for it only. There was no purpose to Nia, no thing she wanted urgently, no people she wanted to see, no item that picked up her desire. There was nothing that she wanted that she couldnt have.
Except for memories she could share.
Will you please follow my lead? Lydia shouted again, standing next to a side entrance to the colosseum and an annoyed employee.
Are wete? Nia wondered, looking up the sky.
Yes, the princess told her, we AREte.
But the fight is scheduled to start at 4 PM, Nia tilted her head in confusion. It is 15:58.
Yes, exactly, our arrival is way overdue, now get over here.
Nia walked over, always watching that her feetnded on the little gap between two tiles of stone. Disappointment filled her when the carpet inside was a constant red. Then there was stone again. Stairs, a corner, some more stairs, the world stretched, but that wasnt all that unusual.
It was warm now, different but equally incapable of reaching below her surface.
Finally, Nia arrived atop a tform and looked up. She expected many things to see there but not someone she had encountered before. Hello, she said and raised her hand in a simple greeting. The brown-haired guy that looked back seemed more surprised to see her here than she was to see him.
What the? he looked at her in a peculiar fashion, like he was trying to see something he normally could not. He furrowed his eyebrows when it didnt work. Still cant do it with you
What? a pink-haired girl to his right wondered; Did ya manage to fail at Observe?
That sounded incorrect. Not only grammatically, but also the way she pronounced it. Observe, as if it was something beyond the simple act of looking at something. My name is Nia Fae, the blonde nk told her and extended her hand. She was used to this greeting
The man was of average looks. That went for his face. His body was fit, if slender. He carried himself in a proud manner, standing tall and with confidence. The way he inspected her was interesting, like she was a riddle to be solved.
Her peculiar hair was surely the center of his attention. It had quite the volume at the top, something that she barely tamed bybing it backwards, making it look like a field of golden crop swaying under a heavy breeze.
A Nevrest on the other side had taken a liking to this hairstyle, so she kept it.
The rest of her tinum blond hair she had bound together close the back of her head and it fell downwards as a thick strand that reached her legs. It swayed lightly, as the Nevrest yed with the long strand like a kitten yed with a string, the movements reverberating in her physical form, weakened.
He stared into her blue eyes, and she tilted her head. Do you find me attractive or what does this prolonged silence mean? she asked.
Yes, he fucking does, a girl, sickly pale and with white hair that became azure blue at neck length, spat out. She did not sound pleased. He will ram his fuckstick into everything that has a nice face.
Thana, dont ya be so snappy, the pink-haired one said. Nia felt beyond confused, and she tilted her head quizzically.
Ehem, the man, the only one on the tform as Nia now noted, cleared his throat. My name is John Newman, he put an arm around the pink-haireds hip. This is my girlfriend, Jane Hollmey.
Most people call me Rave, she pointed out.
The thereby named John pointed at the rest of the gathered people, introducing them one after the other. This here is Momo, she is my familiar, you could say.
Artificial Spirits arent THAT rare, just tell her what I am, for skys sake and just so we are clear I meant to say sky, not heaven, I have no interest in the metaphorical dwelling ce of the piteous, the girl with white hair said. Hers was a monochrome appearance. The only part of her body that wasnt ck or white were her very pink lips.
And that over there is Thana, John pointed at the sick looking cursing one.
I dont like you, Thana growled, causing everyone else to raise an eyebrow.
Whats up with you? John wondered about the small bundle of power. She was radiating magic and the world bled more into her.
Nia did not want to get punched by her.
I do not like new people, Thana hissed.
You were just fine with Nathalia strolling along though, Momo pointed out.
Because Nathalia is the tits, the voice of the smaller person was all over the ce, sometimes calm and collected, sometimes angry and hysteric, but never steady. This bitch is weird, I dont like weird.
She certainly looks out of ce, Rave wondered.
Nia looked at the floor; however powerful they got, they never chan-
I like it tho. Fitting in is for losers, the pink haired girl continued and tapped over. Her wild hair was a whole chaos that Nia could not quite make sense of. Cool hair you have there, Nia.
Thank you? the blonde was confused by the positive greeting she was getting. Also, her hand had never been shook and still hovered in the air. She felt a bit awkward.
Yeah, nice to meet you, John, seeing the awkwardness, finally took her hand. We are a bunch of misfits here although I wonder what you were doing in that flower shop. He was pleasantly warm. Magic prickled over his skin only to be negated by her touch. Stopping that took no effort. It was a simple aftereffect of Lydias wish to shield them both from inquiring spells.
The one called John probably could use that Observe thing on her now. She had nothing to hide.
Wait, you have met her before? Lydia asked.
Yes, remember when we went to meet Jane at the airport? John told her. I thought I was lucky when I spied a flower shop that was still open on the way there, met this girl inside.
He needed a pretty flower, Nia confirmed.
Okay so, Nia, you broke into a flower shop again? Lydia sighed.
Wait broke into? John, confused, looked from Nia to Lydia and back.
Normal people cant see her, because she is empty to this world, the princess exined- So little miss I get lost chasing cats here has taken on the bad habit of going wherever she wants.
The flowers were pretty. I wanted to look at them; Nia exined, voice as hollow as ever. I harmed nobody.
I stole a flower John realized. Ah well, it was just a flow-aaaah. The man was suddenly and very strongly hugged by the girl named Thana, who looked at Nia with scary eyes. Very scary eyes. Nia almost moved a muscle in her face.
You are making me jealous, you bitch. Stop making me jealous, she demanded.
Nias face stayed nk, but on the inside she was screaming. How would I go about that? she inquired, trying to find a way to please that angry girl. The question just made the annoyed one growl some more.
Ignore Thana; she barks, sometimes she bites, but she doesnt kill, Lydias assurance did all but assure Nia. In fact, she now was afraid her hand would get bitten if she offered it to be shaken again.
Only a twitch of her lips betrayed Nias slight unhappiness with this situation. Was this what having a friend entailed? Weird conversations?
We have more important things to deal with, Lydia continued as people in the background started cheering for a man screaming into a microphone.
Chapter 255 – Vs Maximilian Franz von Habsburg [Nia POV]
Chapter 255 C Vs Maximilian Franz von Habsburg [Nia POV]
Nia stepped off the tform with the delicacy of a young noblewoman that was attending her first ball. The dense magic in the air,yers uponyers of different Protected Spaces stacked on top of each other, was fragile. Without proper maintenance, this whole system would copse like a card house in the decaying winds of time. The proper maintenance must have cost a fortune. Effectiveness sacrificed for spectacle.
A deep breath, the magic entered her body and vanished. The air that left her was devoid of all power. She hadnt consumed it, had done nothing with it. Inside her it had simply vanished. Like all magic did unless she willed it not to. It was like acid met a base. The result was just in, simple water.
Above the casters were chatting in a lively manner. One of them anyway. Oh, so this is the contestant known as Nia Fae? I must say she looks odd, wouldnt you agree? Jeff asked his co-host.
She certainly has an air of weirdness about her. I mean, she is entering the ring in only a simple, non-enchanted dress.
That was actually wrong; this dress was a gift from the other side. A little rascal had stolen it from the Great Empty One. It had reached Nias hands through chance, who then returned it. As thanks, the Great Empty One allowed her to keep it. The dress would survive whatever she could survive. It was her piece of the other side to keep. Ayer of nothing covering her.
Although that choice of words may have led some to the wrong conclusion. She was not naked. It was a dress, just woven out of something that didnt exist. Not in the sense that the material didnt physically exist but in that it wasnt a thing that was. Simple, really, if one just epted that understanding was optional.
I admit, I did not expect such beauty to enter the battlefield, the king of the southern German city known as Vienna spoke, as the silver-haireddy of the moon put the barrier that was meant to save his life in ce. Too bad I will need to crush you,dy Fae, Maximillian further boasted, for it is I that shall reign Germany and lead it into a new golden age.
I thank you for yourpliment, Nia simply stated, drawing a circle into the sand with her naked toes; I hope you get to do that.
Maximillian raised an eyebrow, So you give up? he wanted to know.
Lydia wouldnt like that, Nia spoke emptily, therefore, no.
She raised her eyes from the circles in the floor and looked into the ones of her adversary.
They were clear, crystal clear, blue. They were objectively beautiful, as were her high cheekbones and finely swung eyebrows. Nia had been oftenplimented on her features and the colour of her bright gold hair.
It was at this point that the king actually took a step backwards. Involuntarily, as if he was suddenly assaulted with a wave that crashed into him. His whole body was subject to a force he couldnt understand. Mages reacted like this whenever they faced her, whenever she decided to eliminate all and everything of magic in her surroundings.
The whole colosseum went silent at the same moment, thousands of people checking her aura at the same dreadful moment as Luna herself was subjected to this weirdness and hesitated. The left hand of Romulus, the Apex of the Abyss, hesitated to approach this girl.
Nia understood. To them, she was the great annihtor.
I I cannot believe it, Jeff whispered into his microphone as he realized what everyone else realized. WE HAVE A BLANK, EVERYONE! Dra, can you do us the honour and exin to us what this means?
C-certainly, the lizardman stuttered, then nodded at his co-host. He cleared his throat and regained his calm. A nk is someone who is born with something we describe as an empty soul. In the past these people had an incredibly high mortality rate, as they couldnt be healed from natural diseases via magic, due to being natural born anti-mages. While this wasrgely reduced thanks to modern medicine, the mortality rate of nks remains high due to several factors, the least gruesome of them being under the constant threat of Fading away.
Yes, yes, Jeff nodded. This fading is the act of a nk stepping over from this world onto the other sidepletely. See, nks have a connection to a dimension separate from ours that constantly calls out to them. This process is also often referred to as being spirited away. The only person we know to ever return from the other side is a child named Alice, whose adventures became the basis for the popr childrens bookter. Albeit, the Maiden of Null has not been seen for about fifty years.
nks are anathema to whatever is magic, Dra said, and as such, as a member of a magical race, I will sit way up here and keep my distance from her.
Now that is unusually narrow minded of you, Dra. You should know that nks dont just fire off at random, Jeff told him.
Except for when they do, Dra shot back. nks are wildly varied in their skill level. Some can control what they want to eradicate, others create a magic-null zone several metres wide, without even thinking about it, around them. I would faint and literally dissolve if I were too close.
Fair enough, Jeff admitted. Anyway, nks are the rarest kinds of souls, and most people dont even get to see one in their lifetime. Having one in front of me, promised to be in action, is exciting! The crowd agreed and shouted out as the caster raised his arm.
Nia in the meanwhile was looking quizzically at Luna. What are you waiting for? the blonde nk wondered in her eerily calm tone. The moon goddess still hadnt walked up closer to her. Dont be afraid, Nia suggested and extended her hand. If she could touch her, certainly the goddess would realize that Nia was of no threat.
Luna, with obvious struggle, took her hand. A terrible moment long, it looked like the silver-haired goddess would step backwards, but then her facial features rxed. You have remarkable control over your powers, sheplimented, and power, like small des bent to form a shield, poured into Nias body.
The nk slowly blinked and asked out loud, Why does a goddess of death erect barriers?
Your senses must be off, Luna answered. I am a goddess of life, like my sister.
Oh? Nia lowered her head in apology. The mana felt hostile, but if the moon goddess assured her it was otherwise, surely that was how it was.
Dont identally destroy the barrier! Luna warned the nk before walking off. That wasnt a mindless warning. Nia could destroy the barrier with a single thought. It was like an itch on her nose that she wasnt allowed to scratch. Na?ve she may be, but undisciplined she was not.
She always arrived where she needed to be, when she needed to. Never earlier, neverter.
The biome wheelnded on the standard arena. Their fight was set. Maximillian, in the meanwhile, looked furious. A nk, the king grumbled. Lydia seriously sent a nk against me.
Lets count down, folks! Jeff shouted above.
5!
I hope you will be having fun, Nia honestly said, although her voice did as bad a job as always at conveying it. A dryughter was the response.
4!
Honestly, I might as well give up now but I will be damned if I go down without a fight, Maximillian pumped his fist.
3!
Yes, indeed, there must be a way to ovee your power! Maximillian turned heel and ran away from her. Honourless, maybe, but to him distance was most likely the best way to win.
2!
Nia, the nk heard the voice of her teacher, multiyered, deep, and squeaky. In a fight, always use the most effective method from the start. It is not about making a show...
1!
The crowd broke into thunderous apuse, but in her mind, Nia was elsewhere, standing on arge za. The only thing there was a giant arch, the city around her, distanced by severalyers of security, one of the most important ces in the Abyss, her home, which she never truly knew. The arc was one of magnificent beauty and craftsmanship, its name reflecting the lesson her teacher gave her that day.
It is about being triumphant.
Nia felt the pressure the moment the countdown reached zero. Gravity, several times what it should have naturally been, tried to weigh down on her. Instead, nothing happened whatsoever. The magical force, meant to bring her to her knees, simply disappeared the moment it touched her. Maximillian made a sour expression, looking over his shoulder, and tried to gain more distance.
Gravity mage, potentialbat strategy will involve hurling objects at me instead of using direct magic, Nia analysed. The moment she finished that thought, the stream of magic reversed, from reinforcing the natural gravity to pulling everything upwards. The floor cracked and splintered. First small pebbles rose upwards, then fist sized rocks.
The way to triumph is knowing yourself and your enemy. Once you know the best way to take out your enemy, execute them in one swift strike. Time is a casualty you need not take, the voice of her teacher continued in her head.
She knew herself, and she knew that Maximillian needed time. The first boulder started to rise from the ground. All of this was an impressive disy of muscle, but there was no way Maximillian would have been able to control all of these rocks paths individually. That amount of control would be reserved for actual earth mages. The idea was therefore to simply have everything copse on her position once he had enough to hurl at her.
Then the strategy to win was to cancel his magic outpletely.
Nia closed her eyes and pulled power from the Nirvana over to this side. A ck liquid, the absence of light made manifest, seeped out of her. From the roots of her hair, it crept over the face and neck, forming whirly patterns, like colours intermixing, on her snow-white skin.
It formed a visor, sharply triangr in shape, over the upper half of her face. Solid as it was, it still allowed Nia to see through. Indeed, one could say that through this visor she only really saw this world as it was. A spectrum of lights, magic interferencesyering on top of each other, barely able to be made sense of. Only years of training made it so that Nia could make sense out of its cacophony of colour; solid objects were still blocking her view, but now she could trace the magic back to its source.
All she needed was a clear thread, and with all of those rocks flying around, it wasnt hard to find one.
The liquified nothing seeped into her shoulder-less dress, giving it the appearance as if the ck swirls were meant to hold it up. As they were made from simr materials, the dress absorbed the liquid without a problem, turning pitch ck at the chest area.
Her right hand outstretched, Nia called for her weapon, and the weapon answered. A long-ded spear, carved from some type of coal-shade stone. It was of a simple, sleek shape. No extraordinary designs or colours, just a simple ck spear with a lean handle.
In her left appeared a long, curved dagger of the same design.
Hey, Dra, isnt that against the rules? Jeff wondered from above.
Apparently not, the lizardman answered. Romulus would have intervened if that were the case. It seems that this is a conjured weapon, not one she hid in some pocket-dimension.
Oh, so because she made it during the fight, instead of smuggling it in after the official check-up, its okay?
That is correct.
The words passed her by. Her focus was absolute. The path to victoryy ahead.
Setting her sights on the thread again, she turned the dagger in her hand, wielding it in a reverse grip. Then she ran. Not incredibly fast. As far as physical prowess went, she was far enough above the mages to make it an easy victory but not quite as dominant as to be a challenge for major physical fighters. It was her ability to destroy magic that made her this dangerous.
She jumped up. To everyone else it looked like a useless motion. The reality was that she had now hooked her dagger into the magical thread that connected the magic to Maximillian. All she needed to do now was follow it.
Shended, and her de cut the magic in twain like a hair that was put on a freshly sharpened knife. It created ripples, weakening thepletework of magic. Soft, with gravity slowly losing its influence, the stones settled back on the ground. Nia wove through the debris, always following the deep purple thread.
Violently, the rocks around started to fly in chaotic motions, trying to obstruct her path. The gravity king must have realized that his overall control was slipping, so he concentrated on using what influence he had to create chaos.
With unnatural grace, she predicted and dodged every single one of them. A giant boulder was hurled at her from above, but Nia simply stopped running for a second, and it crashed uselessly into the ground in front of her.
A cloud of small pebbles flew at her. A single cut of hernce in full motion, followed by a spiralling jump, and she made it through with only a few of them harmlessly hitting her shoulders. She could see all of them; every single ripple his magic caused a ring signal to her vision.
Nia could see him now, smiling at the edge of the arena surrounded by rock. The intent was obvious: if she came close, he would crush her between the protectiveyer he had created. No magic resistance in the world would protect her against straight up getting turned into a pancake.
Maximillian had a winning strategy here. All he needed to do was bombard her with rocks until something connected. Too bad Nia had means to take care of this as well. Too bad he was refusing to call upon his aid.
A boon in her favour.
The spear in her right hand ate away at the light that surrounded it. Turning from merely ck into a spot in the world where light couldnt reach, a seemingly badly cropped-out ck spot. Nia continued to run at Maximillian, his smile broadening. Sure of his victory, he bowed down a bit, his kingly cape fluttering impressively. This has been fun! he said in the tone of someone who only found enjoyment in winning.
The fizzy outline of her spear became vtile until it was more of a borderless staff. Then it exploded in a wave that washed the world clear of colour. There was nothing but shades of grey, everything but the most basic shadows were eliminated and with it all of the magic that surrounded them. Only Nias vision remained clear. Through the visor, all shapes were clearer than ever.
She had eliminated whatever magic she could, and now Maximillian was defenceless. His smile vanished the moment he realized his trap was gone. He tried to dodge somewhere, but the wall he had put up in defence was now limiting his movements; behind him was the edge of the arena, to his sides the boulders he had put in ce and now was powerless to remove.
I am d you had fun, Nia said and tried her best at a smile. From the shocked way he looked back at her, Nia guessed that it had failed to look friendly. The dagger phased through his throat. No bloodshed, no physical wound, she simply cut right through his spirit, a wound on his soul instead of his body. A spasm, a locking of all of his muscles, and froth at his lips, the typical reactions.
The king sank down, unconscious.
Chapter 256 – The start of a break
Chapter 256 C The start of a break
John watched the colour-killing wave expand with fascination. So that is anti-magic? John wondered as he followed thest few seconds of the short-lived fight. Her dagger simply cut through Maximillian, like Johns Mana de when it was infused with the water element. It was highly doubtful that her weapon worked simrly on a base level, but the end result was the same. The damage to his soul made the king copse, and the fight was over.
That wasnt THAT fucking impressive, Thana crossed her arms.
Rave raised an eyebrow, Ya really have to chill.
I dont have to do anything, epilepsy hands, the blood mage pressed out between clenched teeth.
Thana, seriously, John sighed; he felt the perpetualints about Nia slowly getting on his nerves, just spit out already what your problem is.
You mean aside from the fact that she looks weird, talks weird, has weird powers and flirts with you?! Thana asked.
She didnt flirt with me, John pointed out.
The insane girlughed and let herself fall backwards onto the stone floor. She fell without any cushioning whatsoever and then just lied there. It was probably pretty ufortable. Ah, maybe she didnt, Thana admitted and rolled onto her stomach; Whatever, I fucking hate people, why cant I dislike this one?
Disliking her is okay. I cant force you to like someone, John shrugged, but being downright hostile and having no manners is a no-go.
Thats boring, why the fuck shouldnt I tell someone that they are a punk-ass bitch?
Because, Lydia intervened, we have this thing called manners in society. Utilize them.
Thana was getting ready for a retort when Jeff cleared his throat.Well, that marks the end of todays fight, folks. I must say the end result was rather predictable,
Agreed, the lizardman at his side nodded. In case you werent aware, this was thest fight before our Christmas break as well.
Oh, Gaia, yes! Jeff shouted out. I totally forgot that.
You are part of the organisation crew, Dra drily stated.
I am not obligated to remember useless trivia, thats what you are here for! Jeff defended himself.
Schedules and organisation are not useless trivia, the lizardman grumbled, taking a sip of his beverage.
The caster with the ridiculouslybed brown hair waved off, I could care less.
So you do care? I already corrected you on this, the lizard dangerously narrowed his eyes.
I COULDNT care less then, Jeff increased his waving motion as he addressed the audience again. So, folks, the tournament will resume on the 26th, which means there will be two days off now. Thats all, see you then!
The screen disappeared, and Nia found herself back on the tform soon thereafter. Ya were pretty awesome down there, Rave admitted and was only acknowledged with a short nod while Nia walked by all of them. The ck parts of her outfit and the weapons had disappeared into the same void they hade from.
The nk was on her direct way to the exit when Thana stepped into her way.
The fuck do you think you are doing, blonde bimbo, Thana crossed her arms. First youe several dayste and now you want to fuck off again?
Thana, you are the person somebody should listen to the least when discussing manners, Lydia spoke up, even as she joined the blood mage in her barricade of the exit. However, I do agree that you should stay where I can see you, Nia.
The pariahs eyes darted between the two of them. Sure? she asked, not a single tone in her voice.
Fucking hell, talk to me in a way that I ca- Thanas rant was interrupted by the sound of a book getting violently pped close.
Stop attacking the poor girl, Momo demanded and pushed her chair back. She hovered over the little distance between them (after having revealed the ability in the fight against Alexej, there was no reason to hide it anymore) andnded next to Nia.
The two of them were about the same height, and Momo took Nias chin and forced the nk to look at her. Okay, one after the other, where do you want to go? the support wanted to know.
I was going to walk around a bit, Nia simply stated.
And then? Momo probed deeper.
Nia tilted her head as if she didnt understand the question. You know you will have to fight again, right?
Oh, Nia made an understanding, very short sound. There is no reason to worry. I would find you.
Thats not how worry works anyhow, you can run around however you like after youe home with us AND if you agree to check in once every three hours, Momo looked over to the princess; Sounds good?
That is eptable, Lydia nodded.
Nia, however, still looked unwilling. At least that was Johns guess. By all objective standards, the pariahs expression hadnt shifted since the start of the conversation. I wonder if they are all like that, he thought.
nks? No, they are not, Siena answered; I have met one before, he had been very active with his tongue sadly I never got to test his skills in bed. I had to keep my distance at all times. He was an unstable fellow.
John chose to not tease the nightmare elemental for being cooperative for once. Trying to imagine the blonde with anything resembling normal human behaviour didnt make her seem any less weird. The way she breathed alone seemed off. Breasts, modest in size, rise and fell, seemed like they were at a higher framerate than anything around her. The way her long ponytail swayed in an invisible breeze that seemed rather jerky didnt help either.
At second nce, it looked more like a cat was ying with her hair.
Her whole being just looked off; she was neitherpletely magical nor grounded in reality. She seemed stuck between, like a horrible dissonant sound that had taken the shape of a beautiful woman.
Really confusing, Rave mumbled, she must have had simr thoughts; I am attracted and weirdly repelled she has really cool hair though.
It is certainly just two levels below yours on the anime hair scale, John admitted. Which makes her rank 3 in total.
Ya have a rank list of anime hair for people ya know?
No, I have a rank list of anime hair for people I want to sleep with, he whispered back, or slept with already.
Mind filling me in on that list? Rave purred. That his girlfriend of all women purred when he described attraction to another woman was just the greatest thing.
Well, you are number one, Gaia is number two, then we have Nia, followed by Undine, Smander -when her hair is on fire-, Thana, Siena, Sylph, Nathalia, Momo, Aclysia, Smander -when her hair isnt on fire-, Gnome and finally Lydia, John fulfilled her request.
As Rave pondered over that list, John turned back to the discussion at hand. How about we go now? Nia, I want you to meet the rest of the crew, and there is also good food at home, John baited her.
Food? that piqued Nias interest. Is it better than rations?
Ya have no idea, Rave giggled. We have a master chef at home.
They went on their way. On their way back, John tried to speak with Nia again, Soyou are immune to magic?
If I will it, Nia nodded, expressionless. The reason why John led with that question was because they were currently using the mana street, which he found confusing for a moment.
So, the reason why I cant use Observe on you, is because you dont want me to? John asked.
Observe? Nia tilted her head quizzically.
Didnt Lydia fill you in? The answer to that was a shaking head. John told her about his powers in the barest of terms, basically the parts that were mostly public at this point anyhow.
He trusted this neer because he trusted Lydia, but that didnt mean that he was willing to give her anything from the get-go. He knew too little about Nia to just throw ssified information at her. So, I wouldpletely understand if you wouldnt let me Observe you, John said.
You can now, Nia stated after blinking.
John furrowed his eyebrows, You are going to let me do it just like that?
Yes. Shouldnt I? the nk blondes hair fell slightly downward as she tilted her head a bit further. The confusion was vacant from her face, but John could practically see the question marks flying above her head.
What if I had bad intentions? John pointed out.
Do you? Nia asked.
No.
Then it is fine, isnt it? The question was asked with suchplete nkness that John wasnt sure if he was being mocked or if she literally had no idea what could go wrong.
In a way she reminded John of Aclysia when she was still young, incredibly na?ve. Except Aclysia had literally been just a few days old, while this one was well, time to see how old she was or if she was this na?ve.
Her level is only about half that of Maximillians, John thought; Well, I guess if you meet yourplete counter, the level difference bes way less important. So you are with the French? John wondered.
Yes, Nia answered. Personally, John had expected a Oui there.
The conversation suddenly halted as John expected her to say something further. She didnt. Nia just stared ahead, clearly away from someone else, someone rtively small, with arms in a ck robe crossed over her chest.
Thana was obviously trying to developser eyes right now, and John was notpletely certain that the idea wasnt going to work eventually. Wondering about what exactly he was going to do, he walked over to Thana as they arrived at the mansion.
Going to have another scolding with me? You can fu- THE SHIT ARE YOU DOING?! Thana started off nice and easy but was suddenly lifted off the ground.
John threw her over his shoulder and was now carrying her around. Our neer probably feels awkward enough without you being a socially inept insane person, John told her and lightly pped her on the ass. He brought her inside, she was giggling and cursing as he did, and threw her on the couch. You just sit there and behave, and maybe I will do something very bad to you tonight, John said and turned away; And no TV!
Well you certainly know how to treat a bad girl! Thana shouted after him as John went back outside where Nia was getting talked to by Rave.
The techno-lover probably could have spoken to a piece of furniture instead. To Nias credit, she was keeping eye-contact at the very least. Continuous, almost unblinking eye contact. Come, John grabbed Nia by the hand with a reassuring smile, I will introduce you to everyone else as well.
Chapter 257 – Peculiar
Chapter 257 C Peculiar
Nathalia sniffed at Nia with a thoughtful expression. I dislike nks, she said, smell like nothing, then, after licking from the blondes shoulders to her chin, she added, taste like nothing. Nia let that whole torture pass without moving, even as the dragoness circled her.
John nced over to Thana, he half expected her to let loose another meanment, but the blood mage kept sitting on her hands and being quiet.
After havingpleted her inspection, Nathalia took her by the chin. You are a pretty little thing, I will give you that, the goddess spoke.
Thanks? Nia answered with a slightly confused vibe to her voice. That was the highest amount of emotion John had heard from her yet.
You will be a fine addition to the people here that I can fuck, Nathalia nodded to herself. Yes, indeed,e with me.
And thus Nia, who didnt utter a single sound regarding this development, was dragged into the next bedroom by Nathalia. I dont know what I expected to happen, John said once they were off.
I expected ex-act-ly that, Ravemented and basically everyone else nodded.
So, Jane, John turned to his girlfriend, what do you want to do?
Whaddaya mean? the techno-lover asked, slightly confused.
You have been handed a great opportunity, Lydia intervened. Not only will the fight against Nariko you so dearly wished fore to pass, but you also got another 3 days to prepare.
Oh, yeah, I am going to train something fierce! Rave announced, raising her right fist. Gonna punch mother in her bitch face!
I doubt that is a sign of a healthy rtionship, Johnmented. His girlfriend rolled her pretty blue eyes, the pink light around her pupils dancing with amusement, Not everyone has such a great mom like Brenda.
While I agree that my mom is pretty great, she is also a reason for a massive headache Ive been having, John scratched the side of his head. My father as well. Basically, everyone in my immediate family.
How so? Rave wondered.
Security concerns, for the most part, the Gamer answered.
Ah, ya worrying that someone who doesnt like ya offs them in a dark alleyway? she put it rather bluntly.
Yes, John agreed; Its a useless worry for the most part I mean, its like hoping that they dont get involved in a car crash. You can pray, but either they get caught up in one or not. I still hired a bodyguard for them to take care of Abyssal assaults though. No idea if someone out there dislikes me enough to attack my parents, but better be cautious.
When did that happen? Rave wondered.
Yesterday evening, John said. Cost me 20 million up-front and another 2 million per month. Some girl with the codename Hex. Will need to enable item drops again to grind the money for that out.
Must be nice to drown in cash like that, Rave mused. I am pretty much broke now.
The battle-suit? he asked.
What, noooo, she giggled in their usual routine. Lets say that IF I bought a battle-suit, it would have taken the rest of my money. Hypothetically, if that were to happen.
Lydia, in the background, rolled her eyes. Simultaneously, Aclysia brought the food in. The couple sat down with everyone else (who needed to eat) at the table. Thana, you can eat, but you still cant talk! John told the blood mage, who hurried over to the table herself.
Why wont ya let her talk? Rave wondered.
Because I wonder how long she can maintain this, he exined. Also, not going to lie, its a real turn on when shes all obedient like this.
Look at ya, being all bossy and smart, the techno-lover leaned over. How are ya with kissing nowadays?
A quick meeting of lipster, Rave hummed in thought. Its so weird that fucking ya gets better all the time, but your kisses are still as okay-ish as always, she told him.
Okay-ish?! I was under the impression I am basically a god of love-making in every regard! John eximed.
Yeah, sure, Rave giggled. I mean here is a fact for ya. As the one who has been enjoying ya for the longest, lemme tell ya: You are an adequate kisser. Fucking is unfair though. I mean, the difference between sleeping with ya and sleeping with Aclysia is stark.
Well, at least I dontpletely ruin your perception of pleasure with sensory overload, John said, but can we talk about that kissing thing some more? My pride is hurt!
Rave shrugged as she chewed on todays meal, a noodle-based casserole with extra cheese. Look, ya really are great at the whole heat of the moment-kissing, but general kissing? Ya gotta keep working on that. Cant cheat your way out of everything with Skills.
Why not? Johnmented; I like cheating myself out of everything with Skills, thats what makes me special.
Aaaanyway, Rave stretched the word to underline the topic change, how did ya convince your parents to ept a bodyguard?
I didnt, John mumbled, busy formting a n to increase his kissing skills. If Gaia didnt provide him with something for that, he would have to either force the issue or try to improve the old fashioned way. Maybe if he levelled Lover Boy he would get a perk that extended the reach of Pussy Eating to general tongue rted activities? That was a horrible idea. He already had reached his current max of ss Levels, and he wanted to go further in many others that had more tangible benefits.
Exin? Does she stalk after them or something? Rave probed.
No, remember how my parents are going for full polyamory? John reminded her, causing his girlfriend to giggle.
How could I forget? Like father, like son, I guess.
We have a polygyny, not a polyamory, important distinction.
Rave considered teasing him on the words for a moment, but relented. Of the lines in the sand John could draw, sharing his harem with other men was certainly one. So ya introduced that bodyguard as your dads new lover or something?
Basically, yes, John sighed. She took double for that undercover role.
Well, judging by you, your dad isnt the prettiest face out there, his girlfriend poked fun at him.
You are pretty mean today, Johnined.
Am I or are ya just giving me way too much ammunition to shoot ya with? Rave giggled and gave him another kiss as his payback.
Meanwhile, John was still scheming how to get better at kissing. He couldnt practice with Aclysia, she would just swoon the whole time, and he would get no constructive feedback whatsoever. Lydia wouldnt give him that time of day. Literally, she would not give him time for kissing practice. Gnome would die of embarrassment, Siena would do the opposite of Aclysia and just curse him the whole time.
Sylph is also out, he thought. I would learn about thetest happenings in Narnia rather than what I could do better when kissing people He slowly eliminated everyone in his mental list until he arrived at a singr person.
No, Momo said out loud and turned a page. The humans on the table looked confused as John let his head hang in disappointment.
After the meal was finished, John repeated his earlier question; So, Jane, what do you want to do?
Training, obviously, Rave answered.
Yes, but what kind? he probed further. How I see it, you can train in three different ways. Either you run I.D. with me, giving you Stats, or you spar with someone, giving you practice, or you train your skills, giving you mastery.
How did ya just category me, a normal person, into game mechanics? Rave wondered.
With a shrug and wink, John continued. If you want my personal take on this, I think the most efficient way for you to train would be to spar with changing opponent while I drop off an EXP-pot asionally. When you are recovering you can do some aura training or whatever. This way you get the best of all worlds.
Mhm, yeah, that sounds pretty efficient also nothing against running I.D.s, but it kinda gives ya bad habits. Mother might be a bitch, but she aint no acid breathing panther, so training how to fight those guys is kinda useless, Rave agreed.
Exactly. Also, this way I can train myself up as well, John said; So we all win! I find myself in agreement to this n as well, Lydia said; I presume you want to use that Assault dungeon you have newly acquired.
Use? John shook his head with the smile of someone who just found a game-breaking strategy; I am going to relentlessly ABUSE that thing. Even with diminishing returns, which I dont know if they exist, that thing is crazy.
Up to the first hour ofbat, the Assault dungeon was barely worth it. What he killed was basically decreased in value. Once he hit the one-hour mark, the gains were tremendous. Not only did the mobs inside the Assault dungeon give more experience than the average enemy, once that point was passed, but the value increased further over time.
The calction was quite simple. The monsters inside the barrier had a fixed experience value attached to them. In the current Instant Dungeon, that number was 425. This value was then further amplified by the 15% experience bonus he got himself thanks to fidgeting with the setting for a bit, denying him loot in exchange.
That alone came to a total of 489 experience per enemy killed if he set the duration to one hour. Currently, he needed 282560 experience points to reach a new level. In other words, he would need to kill 579 enemies within an hour to reach this level, if he started from 0.
Sadly, that was a bit of a stretch. He managed to kill only 28 of the Bugpanthers within 12 minutes. Now, the interesting part came after that. If he went for a longer amount of time, for example 3 hours, not only would every mob be worth more experience, but he would have more time to kill more enemies. It was a stacking effect of the best kind.
In an optimal world (so if Gaia decided to not nerf this) going for three hours meant that he would get 300% experience. That meant that he would need to only kill 193 enemies instead. Not only was that way more conceivable within the broadened timeframe, but everything he killed beyond that still had that extra experience bonus. And all of this was without taking bosses into consideration, which were worth the tier level times 200 experience.
Long story short, surviving a long assault was absolutely glorious.
Of course, there was a drawback to this. Even for John, three hours of continuous fighting could be straining. Mentally he was probably fine, years of gaming and his heightened Wisdom gave him the mental fortitude to get through lots of exhausting situations, Endurance did the same for his physical form. Three hours was most likely fine. If he pushed into the realm of 6+ hours, John wasnt quite as sure.
The second thing that was worrying was him surviving. While he had an emergency exit in the form of Escape Rope, the Gamer Perk that allowed him to, once a week, leave an I.D. instantly, if things got heated he would much prefer to not use that. The reason for that simply being that an Assault gave its rewards at the very end of the dungeon, so, if he used it, all of the experience he already earned himself would disappear into theher.
Long story short, again, SURVIVING a long assault was absolutely glorious.
Okay, so lets form teams, John said. My familiars and I will go fill the experience potion. The rest of you train, either with Jane or on your own.
Sounds great, Rave agreed and everyone else currently in the room did as well.
He left the less ttering thing unspoken, which was that Lydia and Rave would probably do more harm than good to his grinding efforts. Helbrechts Soulpotion did a lot to manage the gap between them, but in a three-hour engagement, they wouldnt have the same endurance as him.
They werent like his elementals, which simply kept up with his level at all times, or the Artificial Spirits, for whom he only needed to ask Nathalia to provide some scales again. They just couldnt keep step with John and hisbat potential. They werent weak, he was just stupendously strong.
A gap that was likely to keep widening
Chapter 258 – Behold Fortress Ocelot Alpha!
Chapter 258 C Behold Fortress Ocelot Alpha!
John stood atop the gate of his mighty fortress, which sat at the heart of a sea of liquid fire. The fortress was a hastily cobbled together structure. Even calling it a fortress was actually a bit of a stretch. It was more of a ring formed by a tall, thick wall on which the group could stand. The gate in the front was guarded by Aclysia, with Momo and Sylph acting as air support.
Around this ring was a trench filled withva. This trench was the lesser of two reasons why the forest of the Feral I.D. was currently on fire. The major reason was that John had sent out Smander to burn whatever she wanted, without engaging the enemies.
After arriving in the I.D. John had done what he didst time and created a ring ofva. This time, however, he went all out on that. A deeper moat, a wall behind it, and a chokepoint to invite the mindless enemies to their own demise. With all of his and Momos mana, the creation of Fortress Ocelot Alpha was childs y.
They had left the gate open for the Bugpanthers to be able to attack them. Which they did, despite their disadvantageous position. In a manner true to NPC logic, they followed their instinct to attack John relentlessly, no matter how badly the odds were stacked against them.
With the one bridge of stone that crossed over the trench guarded by the fire immune tank that was Aclysia, the Bugpanthers were quite handily defeated by a simple strategy: throw them into theva. As theva was technically part of Gnomes and Smanders toolkit, the panthers that were burnt to death counted as kills for John.
Sylph saw this whole thing as sort of a minigame, like fruit ninja. Swipe left or right to toss the panther into a ming pit of death.
For the reason why they were burning the forest though, it was because the Bugpanthers werent smart, but they still had some helpful instincts. One of which was to climb into the trees and jump from there.
Very few of them made it onto the fortress wall that way. Most of them hit the wall, yes, but climbing it was a whole different thing when Gnome could push them away by having a stone spike form underneath them, consequently following the core strategy of this encounter.
Whenever one DID make it on top of the wall, John had Sylph and Gnome take care of it with his mana. Not that this was a problem at this stage, the forest fire had consumed all of the trees that had been jumping points. They had been in here an hour already.
Now John was waiting for a boss to spawn. The kill count was currently at 97, something that he knew thanks to a little window he could summon that told him how much longer he was going to be in here as well.
He first had anticipated it to spawn with a timer, but now he was pretty certain that it woulde after they had killed 100 basic enemies. With a roar, a Bugpanther stormed out of the burning forest, apanied by three more of its kin.
Another advantage of the fire was that it got rid of the monsters stealth advantage. Their chitin bodies were coloured to be nigh invisible in the dim green of the rainforest, but in the bright light of fire, it was like someone was pointing a shlight at a dull metal te. They also couldnt wait for optimal opportunities to strike, as their natural habitat was vanishing around them.
John had thoroughly eliminated each and every single one of their home advantages and had created his own. Manipting thendscape is so unfair, he thought, having not done a single thing, aside from distributing mana and acting as the groups nner, for the past twenty minutes.
The first Bugpanther of the current wave pounced at Aclysia. A horrible mistake, as he was now in the air. And whooooosh, Sylph giggled, and the monster was thrownpletely off course,nding in theva. It roared in anger and pain.
Being scorched by and drowning in molten rock is probably one of the least enjoyable deaths, John admitted. Id feel bad if they were real then again, if they were real anding at me like this, Id probably still do this. Id feel worse if I was the one dying.
A red firefly hit Aclysia shortly before she raised the giant ymore, VoljinZul, and swung it from left to right. Honestly, the sword could have been an oversized pan for this motion. It barely cut into the flesh of the Bugpanther, their exoskeleton was extremely durable, but the force of the strike made it fly into the designated killing ground. Two more attackers were left to go.
The narrow bridge barely allowed the two monsters to run next to each other. One pounced at Aclysia. The guardian was still recovering from herst strike and thus couldnt raise her sword into parrying position in time. Recognizing this, Aclysia changed to the considerably lighter Ashkandi at the speed of a thought.
She blocked the attack with her bare arm. Given that she wasnt just made out of magical metals (the material that Refined Body II currently generated was called Zertztin) but also had the Steelskin attribute, the limb was harder than most shields.
The fangs and mandibles of the insectoid feline gnawed on her arm, but it had next to no impact. Aclysia had figured out the monsters weak spots a while ago and aimed for a gap in the panthers chest te. As itsst act, insides getting cut apart methodically, the panther spat his acid onto Aclysias arm.
She had little defences against this kind of attack, and so her arm started melting even as this panther became ash. Undine, get down there! John instructed. Aclysia would have no problem healing by herself. Like yesterday with himself, however, the healing wouldnte through as long as the acid kept eating away at her. Therefore, Undine was needed to neutralize the liquid, at a minimum, and to top Aclysias health up again, optimally.
The mending elemental went into action as Sylph, who had been keeping thest panther busy, received a boost from John to get that problem cleared with quickly. We have the big oneing in! John warned everyone.
The boss that spawned was the spitting image of the Bugpanthers they had fought thus far, with two key difference: A, he had a mane like a lion (albeit it wasnt made out of hair but looked more like thin spider legs twitching around his head) and B, he was about three times bigger, meaning that its shoulders were at the same height as Aclysias head.
As the description threatened, at the roar of this nightmarish creature, a dozen of the normal Bugpanthers rallied to him. Okay, so it seems like they keep spawning even when the boss is there, John thought as he saw another Bugpanther pop into existence through Jack. Smander? he reached out to the fire elemental.
Burn, baby, burn, a singing voice filled his thoughts, Burn, baby, buuurrn.
Smander! John shouted louder.
Whaaaat?! came the annoyed voice; I am singing Disco Inferno and burning stuff. Why the fuck do you interrupt my happiness?
The forest is pretty much ash, help me with this boss instead! he informed her.
Oh shit, new target? Smander said and started her journey back.
In the meantime, the enemy monsters formed a neat little line and sat down. John was immediately rmed, as he realized what they were nning. Aclysia, get inside! he told his artificial guardian, everyone else either flying away or searching for some other form of cover. His prediction came true a momentter.
Like a row of biological artillery, the monsters vomited forth a wall of acid. A single one wouldnt be concerning, as the reason why the insectoid felines got close to spray their acid was because it spread in arge cone over a big distance. Singr drops were painful but not dangerous.
An acid shower of more than a dozen of these bastards? That was a different story. Their range was limited, but the dissolving cocktail hit where Aclysia had been a moment earlier, eating holes into the ground with a hissing sound.
The Tropico Highmane growled something that John interpreted as orders in animal speak. Through Jack, he saw them advance their firing line. He looked at his glove, Last resort time? No, there are still two hours. Maybe I should bombard them with Arcane Explosion to cause some confusion?
I am back, what did I miss? Smander said, now right next to him.
Thank God for incorporeal movement, John sighed in relief. With Smander here, the fight just turned into something very easy. Do the usual, please, he said, giving her and Gnome mana as he saw fit, investing some of Momos as well.
Smander flew over to Gnome to conduct the spawning of anotherva pool underneath the firing line. A second shower of acid made its way downward. Some of it ate through Johns cover, a heightened part of the wall, and dissolved on his Mana Protection. Thankfully, that thing was overcharged right now, but even if it hadnt
the price slowly crept into the eptable range. Especially, if he finally got his hands on another Wisdom efficiency upgrade.
The ground under the enemy block broke away, and the Bugpanthers fell into the newly opened pit and the fiery demise therein. Only the boss could save itself, senses being keener than the ones of its lesser kin. Now that it was on its own, and no one left to provide suppressing fire, Aclysia, with her arm restored during the short time she had to take cover, could charge out again.
You better make this work! Momo told Sylph as she sent a white firefly her way and two more towards Aclysia. The support disliked using them. Although she always prepared as many of them in the breaks between fights as possible (killing the unwanted ones and rolling for a new one worked), it was a resource she kept prepared for as long as possible.
Aclysia crossed the partially corroded bridge, then charged around the new pool, where some Bugpanthers still struggled for their lives, and then at the boss. While the Tropico Highmanes main strength was to organize the other enemies, he was no push-over by any means.
A giant paw with chitinaceous ws came for Aclysia. The white firefly hit her back at that moment, and she took the attack head-on, the impact hitting the t side of VolJinZul. Aclysia never meant to make the lethal blow.
With stupendous speed and the appearance of a literal bolt of lightning, Sylph entered the nightmarish lions maw and tore through as a spiral of cutting winds. Bluargh, Sylph chirped. Do not know why I think that was a good idea, that was positively disgusting. Like, it stinks, really, bah, bah, I wanna bathe in Undine!
Despite the fist sized hole that had been drilled through its body, the boss was still not done. Its struggle with Aclysia would stay without a victor. In due time, the Tropico Highmane would die. It seemed to realize as much and just threw the entirety of its weight at the first maid.
Before he could make contact, a cascade of dark purple des erupted from Aclysias shadow. Sylph, you need to learn how to finish people off, Siena, buffed by thest firefly, purred in her oversexed voice as she slowly ripped apart the boss. As it roared in the pain of having its internal organs prated, the de twisting and turning, the nightmare elemental let out an amused sigh, Ahhh, I love it when they scream for me.
Real or not, John was not one who wanted things to suffer more than necessary. Just kill it already, Siena, John instructed.
I went as far as to obey you this time, let me have this one thing, Siena bargained, retracting one of her des and ramming her incredibly sharp hands into the wound.
John took a deep breath. No more bargains, Siena. You are my elemental, you get rewards how I see fit. Torturing creatures that just follow their instinct, however bad it may be, is not a reward I am going to give you. He took a pause, to let his words sink in. Now kill it.
Tsk, she clicked her tongue, the sound echoing over their connection before the slow ripping became a swift execution; You have no sense of ecstasy.
I dont want your sense of ecstasy, John told her. The sexual sadism he could share, it wasrgely pretty tame. That was the line he drew for himself. There was no reason to draw enjoyment out of others genuine misery.
Y-yeah! Gnome, using the short moment of rxation they had, chimed in, Stop being so creepy!
There was only amusement from Sienas side of things, but John forced himself a bit deeper and found annoyance at the fact that she couldnt corrupt John to see it like her. Apparently, her modus operandi had switched from wanting to kill him to wanting him to be like her.
That was a step, but John wasnt sure if he liked the direction.
Theree the next ones! Momo warned all of them, and the fighting continued for more than two hours.
He could only salivate at how good the rewards were going to be.
Chapter 259 – Imagine a twelve.
Chapter 259 C Imagine a twelve.
John was speechless. Not because of the number, well, partially of the number. He had been able to make that calction himself, but seeing it on whatever his windows were made from was a different thing. No, the thing that he was bamboozled by was theck of diminishing returns.
He had spent three real hours inside the I.D., which had tranted to that and an extra of 45 minutes due to Create I.D. decreasing the flow of time inside the I.D. by 25%. Essentially, he had been in there for almost four hours, and thanks to Gamers Body and the level ups, the only kind of fatigue he was feeling was a slight tiring from being awake for twelve hours.
In other words, he could repeat this again today. John had sessfully found a new way to power level. Now to see what his experience scaling had to say about that. Also, to spend those points on Wisdom.
Well, his experience did ramp up a whole 140k needed to get a level up, but he still could reach another level by going through that y again. Not to mention that he could probably kill even more enemies this time, as he got more used to this dungeon. He wouldnt get surprised by an artillery line again, for example.
Theva strat is really broken for that I.D., John thought as he went back to the house to drop off the halfway filled Soulpotion. Logically speaking, it being halfway filled meant that there was another 250k experience inside, meaning that he just got a sum-total of 800000 experience points.
Now if that wasnt major bullshit, John wasnt sure what was.
This also meant that he had to convince Nathalia of giving him some of her scales again. A task that would surely involve his dick, a wall and her body getting bent into several erotic positions that the human body barely could handle. In all due honesty, he lost nothing in that trade.
So, how is she doing? John wondered when he came back. The question was directed at Thana, who was overseeing Rave doing dodging training via Lydia throwing blunt metal objects at her. Thana looked at him with crossed arms and a wide grin, but said nothing. Are you trying to tell me that you havent said a word since I told you to? he asked, a smile slowly spreading on his face.
A very proud double-nod was his answer. Lowering her chin, she gave him eager puppy eyes.
Wow, and here I thought you would suffer Sylpheritis if you stopped cursing for more than 20 minutes, John marvelled.
What is that? the elemental in question asked; What is this Sylpheritis? Does it have something to do with sex? Is it a candy? Ooooh, please tell me its a voured condom named after me. No wait, condoms are evil, they put your cum somewhere thats not me. Uhm, how about condom voured candy? No, wait, that sounds disgusting Wait! How about gummy bears voured like gummy bear voured condoms? I am a genius! Get a marketing team!
Those are just gummy bears, you idiot, Smander told her.
Nuh-uh, Sylph shook her head. Silly Sally, it is gummy bear voured gummy bears with an extra note of sex. That is awesome, it will sell dozens of gummy bears, guaranteed!
Yes, that would be one pack, Smander agreed.
Yes, and I would buy it! That makes one! Perfect! Now, to begin mass production! John, I will need you to use your magical super seed to vour some gummy bears for me!
I decline, John said. Also wasnt this about Sylpheritis?
About what now? Sylph asked. It has my name in it, whatever it is, it must be awesome!
Its what I call the disease of your head exploding if you dont talk for a certain amount of time, he exined.
Does that exist? Well, I wouldnt know, since I am under no danger OH NO, Undine! What if you have Sylpheritis! Quick, talk to me! Say something! Anything! I havent heard you talk in dunno, 12 decades? Three at the very least!
Aside from Siena, none of us are even a year old, Smander told her. As individual entities, anyway. Did you forget that already?
Uuuuuuuh, Sylph thought, How long was a decade again?
10 years, came the dry answer from the ze elemental.
Right, so Undine hasnt talked in at least 45000 seconds! her younger sister dered with confidence.
Its days like these I know why I dont visit your Airter profile, Smander said.
Whaaaat, but you followed me! Sylph said.
And I havent logged in since, how many followers do you have anyhow? Smander wondered.
Like 23000, no biggie, I am only the fifteenth biggest elemental on Airter, the tempest elemental answered.
You arent leaking anything you shouldnt, right? John got involved, suddenly worried.
Nah, dont you worry, I got this, like, super got this, ultra got this, maximum over got this! Sylph flew a little loop.
He turned to Gnome, Does she?
Ehm, y-yeah, I havent seen anything bad there yet, the only one of his elementals that was right in the head answered. It''s mostly just came my brains out this or I really think onions are overrated that
Well, if she leaked something important, it would probably be swamped by the rest of her incoherent nonsense she usually spouted. So, John decided to do what the only logical conclusion was and gesture Sylph tond in his joined palms.
What, what, what? Sylph asked while waving her upper body, Whatever could you want from me, your supreme concubine? Is it that you want to see me naked? I guess I can do that, Let me do that! Lets bang!
Sure, but first John raised his thumbs, tickle attack!
No, hihahiihihihaaaa, Sylphmented as Johns thumbs started assaulting her stomach. Soon she fell backwards onto his hands, leaving her wide open to be attacked by Johns entire right hand.
You and your ever running mouth, John told her. Stop being so sweet! It must be from all of that sugar you are eating!
Whatever answer Sylph had, and she most certainly had one (although its reasonability was questionable), was drowned in her continued giggle, which John continued until herughter became an exhausted, happy wheezing. Now that was a way to make her shut up he hadnt explored before. Carefully, he put her back in the air, where she just hovered about, giggling to herself some more.
Anyway, Thana, you can speak again, John said.
What? Thana sounded disappointed. Just like that? No throat-fucking or pping me while I sit to your feet, telling me that I need to keep my whore mouth shut? Booooriiiing!
Well, we can explore thatter. Anyhow, how is Jane doing? John asked.
Your GIRLFRIEND, Thana grinded the word out like it was the worst insult she said today, and her rule setting ass is doing fine. The training regimen that Lydia made says she should fight that fucking creepy mute Nia next, to train her physical condition some more.
Okay, first off, you have heard Nia talk, so she isnt a mute, John told Thana, who shrugged without a care. Second, dont call her creepy just because she is different, you should know that that is unwarranted.
Oh what? Just because I am fucking freak of nature I shouldnt call other people names? Thana asked. Get real, you cum-hose, I call damaged goods what they are, and she is fucking creepy.
John sighed, he wouldnt win this argument, Just try to get along with her okay? You dont need to love her or anything, but not staring at her as if you would rip her head off would be a start.
Its such a nice thought though, Thana grumbled; Her and her stupidly pretty blond hair and her long fucking legs...
Are you jealous? he wondered.
Very fucking much, change of topic, now.
Okay, third, her rule setting ass? That was actually the thing he wondered the most about.
I heard about your little agreement, which is shit, and how she could, just cut you off from the rest of us if she wanted to, which is shit, Thanaughed madly. And I will kill someone if you arent around. Maybe. Hopefully not. I dont make any guarantees though.
Threatening something to keep a rtionship going is super unhealthy, John told her. Dont do that, try thinking about a solution that wont involve some random person or harming yourself.
Okay, I will kill her, Thana said with narrowed eyes, the dots spinning at a speed just slow enough for the individual dots to still be visible.
John stared back, the patience he had for her suddenly thinned extremely. Dont even joke about it, you came too close once.
The dots came to an abrupt halt as she started quivering on her whole body. Sorry she mumbled, her hands clenching the edge of her robes wide sleeves; I am so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so
John sighed and put a hand on her head, and then pulled her against his chest while keeping her close until she stopped quivering. I get it, just keep yourself under control, please.
I will try to, Thana said and looked up to him with honest eyes, you tall fuck.
John sneered, Continue like that and you earn yourself some awful nickname. My dear broken angel or something.
The fuck? Thanaughed; That is awful!
Nobody ever said I was good at flirting, John said and leaned down to kiss her.
Her lips were hot and tasted a bit metallic, either because of blood or maybe some mithril was still somewhere in her mouth. Either way, when John pulled back, Thana freed herself from the hug. She made a sour expression, Was nice and all, just dont feel thatfortable so close to people and all that shit. John understood, so they just watched the fight talking about this and that. Eventually, he was side-lined as Siena took to talking to Thana.
He listened to that with a keen ear, especially as Undine was part of the conversation. Kind of. Actually, she just stood next to them and asionally nodded or shook her head when she was asked something. It was a surprisingly normal conversation, with lots of innuendos (the asional back and forth of ideas between the hardcore masochist and sadist aside).
When he saw a break urring in the training, John went over. How ya doing? he asked, mimicking his girlfriends speaking quirk.
Fan-tas-tic, Rave said and fell on the floor, breathing heavily. Her jacket protected her from getting injured.
The mansion had many things, but a training facility wasnt one of them. Instead, they were training in a part of the garden that was literally just a wide green area. Training outside in the winter, even with theck of snow, was understandably cold. Therefore her and Lydia were wearing their winter clothes. Hypothermia wasnt much of a concern at their level, but it was still ufortable in the cold.
The was that Raves jacket was not made for fighting, not in the slightest bit, and she hadnt trained with it either. The result was that it was covered with small cuts and ripped open at several points. John fixed them with Craft as he handed her the potion.
Thats a lot! Rave noted.
Yup, John agreed and watched her gulp it down; I got a whole two levels today and I am probably going to get another one.
Assault is that good? she asked as she gave back the potion. Thats bullshit!
To be fair, to get it I had to invest into a nonbat ss. ss perks in general are just really good. That reminded him that he could get another ss Level now. Here Ie, Elementalist Level 4! he thought.
Anyway! Rave said and jumped to her feet, mostly restored; Now I have to fight some more! Nia! Come at me! The blonde in question slowly, almost hesitatingly walked towards Rave.
I was taught to never hold back, the pariah told Rave.
Good, dont but also dont murder me, I need to keep my boyfriend in line, she winked at him.
Who keeps who in line, John grumbled with fake annoyance and went to search for Nathalia. Even if he wouldnt immediately use the scales (it was likely smarter to postpone that until he was actually done for the day), it was good to have them already.
He looked over his shoulder and saw Nia, her face hidden by the ck visor and her weapons out, charging at Rave. Ready to turn away and bury his dick in the dragoness, John only needed to see fluttering back robes to sigh and turn back to the battlefield.
Thana tried to catch the tip of Nias spear, currently aiming for Rave. Now thankfully, she didnt attempt do it with her teeth, like so often, but used her right arm instead. The de sunk right through her arm, cutting nothing in the physical realm, but Thana giggled as she always did when she experienced pain in battle.
Motherfucker, I cant feel my hand, she noted.
THANA! John shouted. The hell are you doing?! He was stomping his way back over. Had he not just told her to behave?
I am trying to get along with this girl, the blood mage screamed at the top of her lungs. So shut the fuck up. Thana pointed at Nia, Look, you despicably gorgeous blonde, French, blue-eyed, superpowered fuck. I want you to attack me again!
Strange way to get along, but John would let this y out.
Okay? Nia said and raised her dagger. In a swift motion, she brought it down, aiming at the smaller girls shoulder.
This time it failed to sink in. Nias eyes opened slightly in something that could have been shock, surprise or the realization that she left a cup of coffee in the living room and now it was slowly getting cold. Honestly, John couldnt tell.
I get it, okay, this fucking helps, Thana grinned. You know, I didnt like you because I didnt understand your powers, and I hate shit I dont get. Like feelings and love and that, she made a helpless gesture, whole social cock-sucking stuff. But you just cut magic. So all I need to do is have more magic than you can neutralize. I can do that Thana fell silent, her smile slowly dropping. Huh, but I still think you are an unsympathetic bitch. Maybe cause you look like fucking cold turkey when you have the opportunity to feel but never use it? Fucking feel something, you dumb bitch!
Nias face stayed vacant. I do, she slowly said; I am just not open about it.
Dont fucking care, I learn to live with you evolutionary stains, so you can learn how to shift your assholish good looking facial features, you porcin doll SERIOUSLY HAVE YOU LOOKED AT YOUR SKIN?! ITS SO FUCKING WHITE AND PURE!! STOP MAKING ME JEALOUS!
Thana continued to grumble curses as she stomped away and over to John.
Give me something to think about, please?! she half begged and halfmanded.
Thank you and I will try? Nia said behind them.
Thana just flipped her off, then dragged John into the house.
Chapter 260 – A life of impiety
Chapter 260 C A life of impiety
It was Christmas day, and John was level 91. It was warm and cosy underneath the nket when he awoke,rgely thanks to his girlfriend being snuggled up to him. No feet in his face, no one else in his bed, just his girlfriend, resting her pink-haired head on his shoulder in a way that neither caused her most curly strands to tickle him somewhere nor made his arm numb.
If that wasnt a Christmas miracle, John didnt know what was. A window popped up, a Christmas greeting from Gaia. He read it, he used its reward, he smiled at the choices and shielded his thoughts from the elementals. He would keep that surprise forter.
Next, Rave actually woke up without Johns influence. Hey there, handsome, she purred and pressed stronger against him; Is that a rocket in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
I am not wearing anything right now, so by exclusion of possibilities I will have to admit to thetter, John said, causing Rave to giggle.
You are such a nerd, she told him and gave him a good morning kiss.
Then she did the only thing that was expected and mounted his still lying position. You really want to start the Christmas holidays off by being naughty? John grinned, as if he had anything against that.
Ja, Rave eximed with a horny smile. Her naked crotch, slightly damp already, touched his dick.
Rave tossed the annoying nket aside. The room was always more than sufficiently heated. Fully nude, she sat atop her boyfriend, a hand on his dick to impale herself. Behind her, the door slowly opened, and Nia walked in. With everyone else, walking in would have likely meant that they were just looking to join the fun, but with the blonde, it was a bit of a question.
It didnt help that she just walked into the room, seemingly ignoring both of them as she looked around. Ehem, Rave cleared her throat, and Nia looked over with her usual vacant expression.
There was a cat she said.
Was it shining and had copper fur? John asked. Nia nodded.
Thats Copernicus, he is my familiar, Rave exined; But whatever, you want to join this, or what?
Nia shook her head, I am not interested in sex at the current time. Like that, she simply turned on her heels and left.
The heck? Rave wondered and looked at John, who just shrugged.
Dont ask me, I dont have the answers for everything that goes on in this household, he said. I am still hard though. I can feel that, his girlfriend sighed as she sheathed him inside her.
About ten minutester, they went downstairs.
A catastrophic failure is what it is! They were greeted by Lydia speaking into her phone; I was told everything would be ready in due time, yet I am presented with ack of tree decorations Yes, of course I could fix it myself, but what do I delegate work for if you cannot sessfully execute the given mission yourself? She sighed heavily, In the spirit of Christmas, I will forego this failure, have a nice day with your family No, this will not result in further problems for you goodbye.
She hung up and turned around to see John and Rave waiting for her. So? Rave wanted to know as she looked around.
The living room had transformed in the little time they had spent sleeping. A fir, in such perfect condition that John had to wonder whether it just wasnt a fully grown one that had then been shrunk, stood next to their dinner table. The table itself was covered in a few candles, tes with cookies, teapots and all other kinds of different small sweets and side beverages.
Can I have a beer? Rave asked for the one thing that wasnt on the table.
Its 9 in the morning! Lydia eximed.
And I want a beer, the techno-lover retorted. Nothing beats beer after sex! John was pretty sure this was the first time she had ever had a beer right after sex.
I will just ept this and move forward, the princess sighed.
Aclysia stepped out of the kitchen at that moment. I have prepared most everything that I can prepare, your grace, she informed Lydia and then bowed towards John; Good morning, Master.
Morning, Aclysia, he answered in a very good mood and aimed at the couch. Can you bring Jane that beer she wants? Also some tea for me? And then join us on the couch to cuddle?
Of course, Aclysia agreed, a small smile blooming on her lips.
Everyone was in a good mood today. A teddy bear, brown and fuzzy, pretty much the embodiment of the standard teddy bear, smiled at him from the armrest of the table. It looked very fluffy. Interesting that Lydia would add something so cute to the decoration, John noted. The princess in question sunk into the chair and let out a long breath.
Almost everyone was in a good mood today.
Its just decorations, John tried to calm her down.
It doesnt matter whether its the decorations that are missing or the turkey, I demand perfection, Lydia said.
I cahn fixsh tshat for you, Momo offered, slurring as she was swirling something in her mouth. It was a small piece of metal that she slowly dissolved in her mouth. The support had found a metal she found tasty and since then spent her allowance on ordering it in the shape of small orbs. One of thesested for an eternity, as Artificial Spirits werent particrly skilled at dissolving things with their saliva, so she used them as a sort of bonbons.
Her solution came in the shape of her fireflies flying over to the tree and spreading over it. Blue, Red, Green and White, they shed their lights in random patterns that Momos mind fabricated at a whim. That is satisfactory, Lydia agreed, still a bit annoyed if her tone was anything to go by.
Aclysia came to the couch, her salver loaded with a can of tea, two cups, a bowl of sugar cubes, and a bottle of beer so cold water soon started to pearl down its ss walls. You are the best, John told her and tapped on the empty space to his left.
Without hesitation, Aclysia plopped down next to him and snuggled up to his left side. On the right side, Rave was nonchntly leaning against him with her beer. Is this cold? she teased him and held her bottle against his neck.
John shivered, Very, yes. Please dont do that again.
Ill think about it, the techno-loverughed.
Please do it again, Siena said, rising halfway out of Johns shadow, her legs dangling into her summoners outline on the floor as if she was sitting at the edge of a pool, not the solid floor of a mansion. That was a delicious expression, the nightmare elemental continued.
That seems pretty tame for you, John pointed out.
I will be nice today and be happy with the light tortures, wouldnt want you in a bad mood at my favourite freaks birthday, Siena mused.
Your favourite freak, Lydia, looking more in bnce now that she had Aclysias tea again,mented, is either still sleeping or doing some other shenanigans. Either way, we are only waiting for her to start this party.
What is the n anyway? John asked.
We are going to celebrate her birthday until noon, then we will have a nice feast, eating what Aclysia made from the ingredients I provided,stly we will exchange gifts, if you have any then I fear it is back to regr business, Lydia answered. The princess ced the cup back on the table and fidgeted with her hair, I know this is not to your liking, but I cannot allow this festivity to damage my chances at winning the tournament. I will therefore have to ask you to continue training as per usual after the gifting concludes.
Lame, Ravemented, taking a swig of the bottle. But I actually agree. I wanna punch mother after all.
Well, I can live with grinding over Christmas, maybe Gaia will actually send something good my way for once! John said, not believing that himself. I must also add that Nathalia
Suuuugaaaaar! Sylph dered as she appeared and made a full dive for the bowl of white cubes, drowning the rest of Aclysias sentence in a sudden series of bell-like noises that came with her. With herck of weight, the impact did absolutely nothing to the bowl, but she grabbed one of the cubes before anyone could stop her. Just as she was opening her mouth to take a big bite out of the treat the size of her head, Gnome picked her up.
You cant just do that! the stone elemental berated her sister.
But they were just innocently lying around, practically begging to be eaten! Sylph protested. Like gummy bears in a drawer or gummy bears on a table or gummy bears on the nose of a dragon or gummy bears in the store!
Thest one is called theft! Gnome continued. A-and I dont think Nathalia would appreciate it if you put gummy bears on her nose!
I would turn her into my private fan, the dragoness agreed. John looked around. He had no idea where her voice hade from. It had been muffled, as if something like a cushion was between them.
John furrowed his eyebrows and had Aclysia raise the cushion left of her from the couch. As they were sitting on the middle of the threerge, leather wrapped things, she could do thisrgely without moving.
John looked at Nathalias face. The dragoness,ying inside the couches frame, stared back. Put that back, Aclysia, she hissed. This is a matter of grave importance. Aclysia was blinking in confusion, looking at John for guidance.
The Gamer was just as confused as she was. What are you doing in the couch? You may not know this, but you are actually supposed to sit on it.
Do not dare mock me, mortal, Nathalia said, her eyes of orange and gold flickering with rage. I am hiding from him.
Him?
He-Who-Braids. Every year, on this day on the mortal calendar, since about 800 years ago, he searches for me, and no matter how often I kill him, hees back. My hope is that he wont find me if I hide after the hibernation I have been through.
Okay? John wondered. The dragoness wasnt panicked in the slightest, so whatever she was dealing with must have been more annoying than threatening. Ah, well, I will deal with it if I have to, he thought, currently trying to stay in a positive mood. Aclysia put the cushion back into ce.
He who braids cant say I have heard that ever before, Lydia mumbled.
Silver-lining, Smander cackled. We dont have to look at grannies wrinkly face!
I will drown you in the mediterranean once this day is over, you insufferable simpleton, Nathaliained from inside the couch. Undine sent a picture of a cup along with a questioning feeling, and Aclysia did her the favour and fetched another one.
Quietly, Undine started sipping tea as well, the dark liquid entering her body and spreading until itpletely vanished inside her blue form. John concentrated on cuddling. Which was great because the ass of his girlfriend, which was the greatest ass of all times, and the one of Aclysia, which was the one of 2B and therefore second only to Raves (and Gaias, to be fair), softly pressed against him.
Everyone was there, even Nia had shown up again, wandering after Copernicus who allowed her to pet him sometimes, before doing what cats do asionally and just running off. John had his and Raves presents in his inventory, morey under the tree, nicely wrapped in red paper. Only Thana was missing.
Not for long though, as a rumbling indicated. Did she just fall down the stairs? John wondered, it had been rather loud. They were exchanging nces. On the one hand, it was Thana, so there was no need to worry about injuries of any form, on the other, nobody fell down the stairs just because.
The answer came in the shape of the mad girl opening the door with an annoyed click of her tongue. Okay, sleep walking after some delicious smell is apparently not a great idea. Who would have fucking thought?!
John opened his mouth to congratte her on her birthday, but someone, or rather something, was faster than him. The teddy bear, thepletely normal teddy bear, stood up and jumped at Thana with a speed that outpaced even Sylph.
10 out of 10, would braaaaaaaiid! the teddy screamed.
Chapter 261 – He who braids.
Chapter 261 C He who braids.
Thana caught the teddy just as it came within the reach of her arm. In one swift motion, and with one soft squeak, she mmed the fuzzy assant against the wall. The fuck is this thing?
Good question, John said and used Observe.
Quick, high fortitude, but otherwise it seems harmless, the Gamer summarized his findings.
Rude! Kyonchiined. I am not an it!
Okay, okay, John waved off. This was obviously the guy Nathalia was hiding from. And if he wasntpletely stupid, he would have noticed where she was by now.
Well, at least I now know where that teddy came from, Lydiamented and sipped her tea again.
So you didnt bring him in? John asked. How did he get past your bodyguards then?
The answer, the teddy said, is quite simple. Several moments passed, filled only with the almost audible staring of big, beardy eyes made of ss and adorable intent. Then, Kyonchi vanished from Thanas grip and reappeared on her shoulder. Behold my special skill! I can teleport next to anyone who finds me cute! the teddy dered.
That still doesnt answer how you got past Lydias bodyguards, John stated. With a gesture of his paw, standing on Thanas shoulder with his fluffy feet, he pulled a crusader helmet from a pocket space and put it on his head.
Yeah, thatd do it, Ravemented.
At that moment one of the temrs knocked on the window. There was most certainly a way to distinguish them from one another, at least by rank, but John hadnt found it yet. Lydia stood up and opened the window.
Can you exin to me this misconduct of your duties? Lydia asked, her tone as cold as the metal railing of a bridge in a mid-winter night.
I am deeply sorry, my sworn monarch, but he was too adorable to attack! We interrogated him to the best of our Deus given abilities Vult he was able to charm his way into our hearts. We could only deem him a non-hostile and let him pass.
And why did you not inform me about this sooner? the princess demanded to know.
He nicely asked for it, the temr said.
I bribed them with my homemade cookies, Kyonchi added, reaching for Thanas hair as Lydia closed the window. The princess seemed annoyed, but not angry.
With movements that should be impossible for a creature without fingers, he began braiding Thanas hair. The fuck do you think you are doing?! growled Thana and tried to flick Kyonchi off her shoulder. The teddy teleported over to her other shoulder.
I am giving you cute, little braids, Kyonchi said. Dont you want to look cute?
I mean Thana nced over to John. I guess? Could you fucking ask before you start though?
Will keep it in mind aah, there are so many wonderful, cute, wonderfully cute and cutely wonderful girls here, Kyonchi said and looked around, after taking the crusader helmet off again. Would you mind telling me who you are? Also, Nathalia, you can stop hiding in the couch, I have found you already.
John, Rave and Aclysia were suddenly lifted up as the dragoness crawled out of the couch. Curses be upon you, fluffy one, sheined, then turned her head when she heard Rave snicker. What are youughing about? Nathalia hissed at her.
John, with lips trembling from barely contained amusement, took all of the things off the salver, which stilly on the table. The polished silver surface was in perfect condition and made for a good mirror. He pointed it at the redhead.
The dragoness glowing hair, the colour ofva, had been restyled. Usually she wore it open, a wild mane of fire that waved softly towards the tips. Now ity in three braids, a big one down her back and two that were wrapped around the base of her horns, fixed with neat little ribbons of a silky material.
Nathalias eyes were almost overflowing with anger. I am furious enough to turn this whole ind into a scorching ball of molten rock, she growled and plopped down on the couch, crossing her scale covered legs. Be thankful my lover is here and Romulus is out there!
You know you cant kill me, I am the eternal incarnation of fluff! Kyonchi eximed, and now John had tough. Sure, the teddy was overbearing in his demeanour, but he was also amusing to behold. He wasnt dangerous in the least, and his sole purpose seemed to be to braid hair and tell women they were cute.
Kyonchi was done with his current project mere momentster. Want to see what you look like now, Thana? John asked the blood mage.
Sure, she answered, and the salver was aimed at her. The blood mages hair had only been slightly altered, two thin braids started at the side of her head and then wrapped to the back of her hair, where they met and were braided together to hold in ce. Do I look cute? Thana wondered and turned her head; I mean of course I fucking do. I always do. Right?
Yes, John confirmed with a smile. Nowe sit with us.
Thana went ahead and followed his words, but differently from how he expected. Thana didnt sit with them, she sat on John. Leaning against him and thus snatching his shoulder as a resting ce from Rave. Aclysia had been smart enough to just remain in ce.
Uhm, not what I had in mind, John said.
You are a tall shithead, you can just ignore me and drink your tea, she smiled. It was surprisingly calm, still broader than normal peoples smiles, but it had a stability to it. Her eyes, with their sheer endless facettes,y still, a glint of something he didnt see too often in them inside: doubtless happiness.
John couldnt possibly have told her to stand up now. Instead, he kissed her hair and tried to manoeuvre his tea cup in a way that still allowed him to drink.
Kyonchi went over to Lydia. The princess stared down at the teddy, who seemingly possessed nerves of steel as he just mustered her. Nothing I can improve here, Kyonchi finally dered. I find your braiding skills wonderful. Are you skilled in weaving perhaps?
Yes, why do you ask? Lydia raised an eyebrow.
I just think you are great wife material. Cute, can braid, I think you should try on something less militaristic looking, but these stockings are wonderful, Kyonchi said.
Lydia blushed a bit as she cleared her throat, Most certainly, a noble of my ss must be skilled in every regard, even such a thing as householding.
Great to hear, hope you work on cuddling.
Kyonchi appeared next to Rave. A few seconds passed as Rave sat there with crossed arms and a smile on her face. The teddy picked up her pink strands and tried to work his magic. He failed.
I cant braid this! the teddy dered in desperation. Whatever he tried to do to Raves hair, it just stayed as the wonderful mess that it always was. The untameable criss-crossing strands of ungirt hair unravelled themselves the moment Kyonchi let go of them, and the longer, slightly darker strands were too far apart to be used in braiding.
Ya cant improve upon perfection, the techno-lover said.
I am with Jane there, John added; Look at her hair, why would you want to braid that? It is so goddamn wonderful. Its like 10% of the reason I fell in love with her.
What are the other reasons? Rave wondered with a smirk.
The fact that you were willing to grind with me, that you saved my life, that you have a wonderful ass and that you were willing to give me a blowjob when I was way less attractive, John listed.
How romantic, his girlfriend said.
Also because you are like the greatest friend I ever had, John admitted, quieter. Acknowledging that was always a bit hard. Not because it should be, but because there was still an awkward part of him deep inside that wasnt used to say such things.
Still not romantic, Rave said and leaned in to whisper in his ear, but its mutual, I am so happy you came along. She blushed a bit as she said that and kissed him on the cheek.
I like this, this is good, Kyonchi said. More fluff like this, please! The teddys next victim was to be Aclysia, but the artificial guardian was one step ahead of him. She had reformed her hair (after asking for permission from John) to incorporate a series of small braids thaty at the outeryers of her hair.
She had kept most of the hair at the front the same though, the white framing her face as a big strand of hairy across the middle of her face in a manner that should only look good in video games or anime. Being a living figurine, Aclysia was able to pull that look off seamlessly though.
I hope this change on my exterior doesnt annoy you, Master, Aclysia spoke, a bit nervously, to John.
Dont you worry, there would need to be a lot of changes before I would mind what you do with yourself, John assured her. He couldnt exactly show it to her with a gesture, all his hands were upied in some form, so he sent her his love for her mentally. This was the truest form anyhow, and like always, Aclysias feelings streamed back, clear and unblemished. Although I would prefer it if you didnt deviate too much. I much rather have you be as attractive as you usually are, John then added.
Boo! Kyonchiined. Moment ruined! You should hug her and ask her to marry you! I dont see a ring on any of these girls, I am disappointed!
John opted not to answer that, and the teddy grumbled something about being robbed of the happiness of braiding and the youth these days. Looking over to Momo yielded the same result (although she had NOT asked for Johns permission) as the support had brought her hair, white and sharply cut at neck length, into a simr style as Thanas.
The elementals also had decided to y this game. Most of them anyway. Gnome had turned her pigtails into braids, Smander had bundled her hair into a bun at the back of her head. The slime extensions that served as Undines hair showed a knotted pattern.
I want to be braided, I want to be braided! Sylph dered being one of the two elementals that decided to do things differently.
You are a good girl! Kyonchi dered. The teddy and the small elemental sat down on the table. Sylph actually was smaller than the teddy, but the incarnation of fluff had not only a millennium of experience, but Sylphs hair gave a lot to work with. Extremely long as it was, it would have regrlyid on the ground, if it werent for the fact that Sylph was usually flying, and even if she wasnt, her hair was caught in some personal winds that prevented it from falling.
Now, the green strandsy still, as Kyonchi quickly turned it into a masterful work of a dozen braids which then formed a shape resembling a four-leaved clover behind Sylphs head. It looked a bit goofy, but it fit the one who wore it nicely.
Siena hid in the shadows, open annoyance radiating from her. Kyonchi must have seen her earlier, and indeed he was standing in front of John for a while. John decided to do the staring teddy a favour and reached out to the nightmare elemental.
You really wont let him? he wondered; This is kind of fun.
Nobody touches my hair. It is mine, it is perfect, I hate braids. Go wrap this up and throw this annoying bastard out, Siena hissed. Nothing to interpret about those words.
Kyonchi sighed after being informed about this. Oh well, cant fluff them all but you better make her happy or I will tackle you! he warned John. And then I will stab you in the shins!
I will try to? the Gamer answered.
Just do it! Kyonchi dered and jumped over to Nia. Surprisingly, the nk blonde didnt let Kyonchi on her hair. Why wont you let me braid you? Kyonchi asked, sounding deeply hurt.
The Nevrest likes it, Nia said as calm as always. That could have either been her trying to point out something that should bemon knowledge, her being upset, her just informing him or anything else really. It was like she was making jokes without emojis in a text-channel, no tone or emotion attached. Really hard to read.
Can you do something else that is cute for me then? Kyonchi requested. Nia tilted her head quizzically. Kyonchis paw pointed at Copernicus, who was sleeping through the wholemotion without a care. Could you y with that cat?
That made the sun cat raise his head. Seriously? he asked. What is she going to do, pet me? There is nothing that could be that cu- He was interrupted by Nia picking him up and putting him on her head like it was the most sensible thing to do.
Thana startedughing. Loudly. Honestly, it kind of hurt Johns ear. He could understand why though. The copper sun catying on her head, parting her hair with hisrge volume, looking both confused and strangely pleased, made for a simrly cute and amusing sight.
Nia and Copernicus tilting their heads at the same time, apparently confused about why this was so funny, did not help. Yes, yes! Kyonchi shouted out; I approve! The whole room was filled with a merry spirit. Probably not the teddys intention, but he was providing some good entertainment.
Happy birthday, by the way, John finally said to Thana in hisp, once she stoppedughing.
Thanks? Thana answered. Looking at the shit show that is my life, I dont know if happy is the correct adjective there though.
It totally is! Kyonchi said. Just you being here, able to be braided by me, is an asion happy enough to make your birth one of the greatest things on this. This day should be a holiday!
It is? John informed the teddy; Ever heard of Christmas?
I do not care in the slightest! Kyonchi dered. This is Thanas Birthday now! Yes, indeed! Now that I am done here, I shall spread that message throughout the world! If you will excuse me, I will quickly travel elsewhere by possessing another cute container over in the pce below. Sol needs to have a matching look to Nathalia.
And like that, the teddy fell over, now a normal plushie. A spirit, the shape of a human, neither clearly male nor female, with long ck hair, Kyonchi spoke, Feel free to keep the teddy as my birthday gift to you, Thana, and disappeared.
At least I wont have to suffer this alone, Nathalia rumbled with slight satisfaction.
Chapter 262 – Happy Birthday
Chapter 262 C Happy Birthday
What is that? John wanted to know, his mouth watering. The table was decked with so much food that it would almost bend under the weight. Almost was turned into a certainty by the final thing Aclysia added to the table.
If John had to warrant a guess, the perfectly cooked meat, with its fried skin, crispy and covered in a multitude of spices, was probably some sort of dinosaur. Its a Turkheir, Nathalia answered; I told you I would get one of those.
But how I mean what is that? John didnt feel like he had gotten a satisfactory answer yet.
It C is C a Turkheir, the dragoness repeated, obviously annoyed. I went out and hunted it. Stealthy little things, hard to track down. I would just drown the entirendscape in ash, but that makes the meat dry and stiff. I thought this was your traditional meal.
No! Rave eximed and pointed at the actual turkey. It was a wonderfully prepared meal in and of itself, but next to the raptor-like thing, the size of a fully grown pig, it looked like a tomato next to a fully prepared bowl of sd. Thats what we meant!
Nathalia eyed it up and then ripped one of the legs off the roasted bird and sank her teeth into it. After thoughtfully chewing she nodded, Not bad, not as great as a Turkheir, however, she said and then continued eating the turkey. There was no doubt she would eat a lot of both.
Traditionally, the one whose birthday it is eats first, Lydia said, making sure her tableware was correctly aligned with her te, despite the fact that she was going to use it in a second.
Who gives a fuck, I already cut the cake, Thana dered and let a fork dance over her knuckles.
Now that the issue with her strength had, mostly, been resolved, Thana showed some rather stupendous dexterity. While this shoulde as no surprise, the sheer speed with which she picked everything up was frankly superhuman. Then again, Thana was just Thana.
The cake she was talking about was a marzipan covered, creamy thing that Aclysia had baked. Also, a dark chocte cake that Lydia had arranged for the asion. Also, some simple apple pie Momo had bought from a local store. Lastly, there was a coloured monstrosity Rave and John had made. Thest entry on that list was definitely the worst.
Thana and Nathalia had tag-teamed to get all of it devoured within 15 minutes though. Everyone else had gotten like one slice of each pie, while the two ever hungry members of the crew, dragoness and blood mage, had stuffed their faces with the rest.
After a resting period, consisting of drinking tea, digesting, and keeping Sylph away from the presents she wanted to open too early, they went onto the feast. As per Lydias calction, it was now around noon.
Now get eating before this fucking table copses! Thana dered and everyone started loading their tes with what they wanted. Main attraction was the raptor meat, of course. The blood mage extended her hand to Nia, who looked at it nkly.
Give me your te, you blonde bimbo, Thana told her with a furious expression, Or do you not want to eat what that prehistoric monster dragged in. A deep grumble came from the dragoness as she picked up on the insult. Had her teeth not been busy gnawing on the turkey bone, she may have responded.
Nia quickly handed over her te; as always John couldntpletely discern her reasoning. Either she was really, really hungry or Thanas attitude scared her - or something else entirely. Ah, whatever, he thought as Thana put a slice of the turkheir on the pariahs te, I am just happy everyone gets along.
He got himself a bit of the dinosaur meat. It was a light brown, and ayer of liquid fat spilled from the small space between crispy skin and actual meat. It was so tender that he could cut it with the side of his fork.
How did you even roast this? John wanted to know from Aclysia. Sure, it wasnt as big as an actual dinosaur, but it was still way too big to fit into any oven they had ess to. Mistress Nathalia was nice enough to provide me with ava pit, master, Aclysia provided an easy answer.
Okay, so he was about to eat some magical dinosaur roasted over ava pit on a floating ind above a magical city governed by a man that was several millennia old. Shit was whack. He cut himself a small piece of the b of meat he had on his te and hesitatingly ate it.
An explosion of vours filled his mouth. The meat was subtly sweet, which harmonized nicely with the light sharpness of the pepper seasoning and the overall strong, meaty taste. If this had been that anime Rave had shown him recently, Shokuneki on Goma or something wabanese like that, his clothes would have exploded right now for just how great the meal was.
Hebined it with whatever else he could get his hands on, gravy, beans, potatoes (fried and mashed alike), bacon, onions and everything else on the table. There was nothing that didnt taste great with this meat.
Thish tshe fucking besht, John said with a full mouth. Nobody disagreed, mostly because they were all busy eating it as well. Even Lydias wless table manners were slightlypromised by her desire to eat as much of it as possible. Not far enough for her to spill a single drop of fat on her napkin, but still.
Eventually, however, most participants of this feast had to give in to the sheer limitations of their bodies. First were the elementals, who could digest only small amounts of solid food in the first ce, then the humans tagged out one by one. At that point about a third of the food still remained, but luckily they had two people who could keep eating for eternity.
Thana, who just converted everything into mana, and Nathalia, whoJohn wasnt even sure where she left all that food, but as this was only a form she had assumed and he had no idea how big her true body was, he didnt wonder about it either.
Eventually everything on the table was cleaned off, leaving a dinosaur skeleton and a less strained piece of wooden furniture. Nathalia was eating even the bones piece by piece.
Is it time for the gifts now? Rave asked fidgeting in excitement after Aclysia had brought everything that was to be cleaned to the kitchen.
Most certainly, Lydia said. We are already behind schedule.
Ya cant pin a schedule on Christmas! the techno-loverined.
Why not? Lydia wanted to know.
Cause its Christmas! Rave eximed,
John actually agreed that this was exnation enough.
The princess waved off. Let us just get this over with. They went over to the firefly lit tree, where John had ced the gifts he and his girlfriend prepared. Or, well, most of them were actually coborative gifts of the whole group for one person, in an effort to not bring the gift count too high.
Seeing as this is your birthday, I would say you get your gift first, John said and handed her a rtively boring thing. A packet of not great size, red paper (the only they had and thus what was around every other present as well) wrapped around something soft on the inside.
Please tell me you didnt get me socks, Thana red at him with a sudden anger; That would be downright retarded. I dont even wear fucking shoes.
No. Just open it, John urged her. After looking at him like he was the most loveable thing in the world for another few seconds, Thana ripped the paper off and spread out the thing that was inside.
A scarf, of ck and white colour with a simple cross pattern on it, not particrly long either. The fuck am I supposed to do with this? Thana asked, turning the scarf in her hands. She pushed it against her face and inhaled deeply, Smells like you guys, I like it, but I dont like wearing clothes, you fuckers should remember that!
Just try it on, Rave said, winking. Confused, the blood mage did.
And what shit is su- Thana stopped midway through her sentence when Aclysia held a mirror in her direction that the guardian had fetched in anticipation. Falling silent, the blood mage looked at the image of herself that reflected in the mirror.
Skin, still pale but of a healthier, naturalplexion, covered her now, and her white and azure hair had be a simple brownish ck. She touched her face, pinched her cheeks in disbelief. Her eyes watered a little bit, she blinked several times to prevent tears from falling, the simple brown of her iris reflecting the light of the Christmas tree.
I look normal, she whispered, eyes glued to the mirror; But I am still me nothing changed. The fucks going on? Thana kept inspecting herself, blinking repeatedly to keep her view from blurring so much that she couldnt see. It was doomed to fail, as eventually a single tear rolled down her face. More would soon follow.
The scarf has that same enchantment as my tongue piercing, Rave exined and stuck out said piece of metal. I originally thought that I should get ya a piercing as well, but I thought ya had enough of metal objects stuck in your body for a lifetime.
We all pitched in some amount, John added, so its a gift from all of us.
Credit where credit is due, the idea was Raves, Lydiamented.
Thana finally ripped her eyes away from the mirror and jumped at Rave. The techno-lover let out a surprised yelp as she was ripped to the ground with the force of the biggest hug that Thana could deliver without breaking anything. Thank you, thank you, thank you, the little bundle of insanity kept saying over and over.
Rave put her hand on the smaller girls head and gently brushed over her hair. Its all good, she assured her.
I am so sorry for what I did, Thana said in a breaking voice.
I know, Rave said again.
I just thought it was going to be the end and words failed Thana, drowned by a tremble and choked sounds.
Rave pulled the hood of her robe over her head. I know, the pink-haired girl whispered back; Ya dont need to say a thing, I forgive you. I am stronger than you give me credit for, ya know? Few days of torture dont break this girl!
But you I Whatever answer or further apologies Thana had, they were drowned the second time when John saw her cry. Sobbing as they both lied on the floor, Christmas saw the day Thana came clear with Rave. Although Johns girlfriend had forgiven Thana a long time ago, although the tortured girl had thought to be on the path of redemption already, although everyone in that room agreed that the two were not enemies in any way.
It wasnt until Thana choked on tears again as she tried to force out her apologies that both of them fully rxed, any remaining animosity at the back of their heads was gone, and left behind what had happened months ago.
Happy birthday, Thana, Rave said as she embraced the saved woman.
Chapter 263 – And merry Christmas
Chapter 263 C And merry Christmas
Lets give out the rest then, John said, after Thana had calmed down. The blood mage had dissolved the illusion again, feeling morefortable in her own skin, but kept on the scarf. Increased regeneration luckily included getting rid of reddened eyes rather quickly, so soon nothing of the emotional breakdown remained. Aside from the asional blush and happy scarf cuddling, anyway.
Thana and Rave sat next to each other without any second thoughts, a warming sight that was best maintained. John took upon him the job of handing out the gifts. He grabbed a random one and checked whose name was written on it. It was a rather small box, the size of a booklet or something like that. Here you go, John said and handed it to Lydia.
The princess transformed her rapier into a short, sharp knife that she used to methodically cut open the paper at the taped points. The result was that the wrapping was pretty muchpletely unscathed. She threw the paper into a trashcan next to the low table (they had relocated to the couch) and looked at the simple box in her hands.
She opened it and furrowed her eyebrows. Inside was a butt-plug, the hard-rubber kind, a tube of lubricant and two vials of the mithril-mercury alloy that Lydia used to boost her strength. Jane insisted, John raised his hands in defence as the princess red at him furiously. I bought the vials, thought you would prefer something practical.
Lydias grey eyes, burning with anger as hot as smelting iron, wandered onto Rave. Together with Thana, the techno-lover wasughing about this. I thank you for your gift, John, Lydia said and sealed the box again, putting it aside. Without removing the butt-plug and throwing it into the trash, as John noted.
And here is the next gift, the Gamer said and handed a middle-sized, cube shaped box to Rave. The techno-lover took it and impatiently ripped the cover off, revealing over-ear headphones behind a stic window. They were the same colour as her hair (well, a shade darker, it was hard to get the exact same colour) and had decorative cat ears that could be used as speakers if needed. Lydia had attached a new mp3-yer to the package.
Compared to what other people got today this was incredibly cheap. All of the items werergely mundane. Sure, the headphones had their audio quality enhanced by magic and the mp3-yer may have been sturdier than an old Nokia, but it wasnt a giant leap in pricepared to the base stuff. Modern technology did approach (or exceed) magic in several aspects.
Rave didnt care about the price whatsoever. This is super cool! she announced and checked the ylist, and you even installed my music archive already! Thanks! Rave put on the earphones and looked at John, Better or worse than my actual cat ears?
Different, John dodged the question, then answered truthfully as his girlfriend gave him a light kick to the knee; Okay, okay, the actual ones are better, but these are cute as well. Wait, let me take a picture. Rave struck a little pose, raising a hand in the victory sign next to her cheek as Johns phone made the clicking sound of a camera. He showed the resulting picture to his girlfriend. See, the advantage of these is that you keep your pretty blue eyes, Johnmented; Whenever you go into cat girl mode, you have copper eyes.
Ya saying I am not pretty with copper eyes? Rave yed the angry girlfriend with a wide grin.
I am saying that you are prettier with that pink light dancing in your eyes, John flirted and leaned his forehead against hers to look deep into said lustre; Its flimsy, it does what it wants, and it shines bright in a sea of beauty, just like you.
Raveughed, That is so corny, where did ya get that line from? Dating tips for nerds?
I dont need dating tips, I have found the best girl already, John said and kissed her.
Mhm, Rave hummed afterwards, in thought. That kiss was better than the usual ones.
I am trying my best, John assured.
Can Iin for a moment how many fucking blue-eyed chicks you have around you?! Thana forced her way into the conversation; Like seriously, they are supposed to be RARE, yet you have 4 of them here.
Four? John wondered, I count Jane, Nia and Lydia. One of which isnt part of He stopped himself and looked over to Lydia.
Your harem, yes, the princess waved off. Nia wont tell anyone, right, Nia?
The nk blonde had said nothing since her short exchange with Thana earlier and was just looking over the happening with emotionless eyes. Slightly unnerving, especially if her eyes rested on one person for an extended period of time. However, so far, John had no reason to believe that she was anything but weird. That didnt mean that he was lowering his guard quite yet though.
The memory of what happened with Victoria was an eternal reminder to not trust anybody before they gave him any reason to or had proven themselves over time. He had met Nia yesterday, so he was holding back on providing more info than what Lydia told her.
Not if you dont want me to, Nia answered.
Okay, just so we are clear, everyone in this house is regrly sleeping with John, Lydia told the pariah.
She nodded, Okay.
And I dont want you to leak that information to anyone, under no circumstances.
Okay.
Under no circumstances whatsoever, it wouldnt be good for my reputation.
Okay.
Are we clear on all of this?
Oka-Yes, It sounded like Nia hadnt been listening that intently, and the fact that she was scratching Copernicus behind the ears was only strengthening that impression.
What do I want from you Nia? Lydia asked, to make sure.
I cant tell you, under no circumstances am I allowed to leak that information to anyone ever, Nia answered.
Are you that fucking dense? Thana wanted to know.
The blonde nked twice, I was requested to not talk about it, so I dont.
I think she got it, Rave said; By the way, fourth blue eyed girl here would be Undine, or not?
Ehh, John made an unsure sound, Would you say she has blue eyes? I mean, she is made from blue slime, thats like calling her blue skinned.
What the fuck ever, Thana said, she has blue eyes, end of discussion.
If you insist, in that case there are four beautiful blue-eyed girls here, John shrugged and grabbed the next present.
Toment on this, my eyes were brown before I fused with my other half, Lydia let them know.
Good for you, anal queen, Thana yawned. The dismissive tone was clearly not appreciated, but they just moved on regardless.
The next present went over to Nathalia. The dragoness took it with a raised eyebrow. I dont remember agreeing to be part of this useless tradition, she said.
Ey, we didnt expect ya to bring anything, Rave informed her. We just thought it would be nice if you werent left out.
Also, you did bring that Turkheir thing, John added.
It was a book about the worlds greatest restaurants. Nathalia opened it with only a hint of interest, but the more she read, the more genuine it became. I thought you might want to catch up with the times by eating some good stuff. I originally wanted to give you earrings, but I thought they would just break or something.
I cant wear too many things on this form, Nathalia informed him. They would indeed be destroyed upon my transformation into my true self.
And to remind you, I still owe you, John said.
I havent forgotten, the dragoness grinned hungrily as she turned a page. You will find out what I desire in due time, John Newman.
That totally doesnt sound ominous, Ravemented.
John grabbed the next package, it had his name on it. He unwrapped it and found a phone inside. He turned it in his hands, like the one that Thana had gotten, there was no logo anywhere. Neither was there one when he booted it up.
The speed with which it did that was astounding though. Seeing as ya have little time to spend on your PC these days, we decided to get ya a better phone to y some games on that arent filthy casual, Rave told him.
Nice, John said. He was typically too busy with grinding to spend time on gaming these days, which was a shame. What little pauses he allowed himself didntst long enough to get more than a few rounds of Hearthstone in. Especially with the abysmal loading times his old phone (which really was just a normal one with an upgrade to have inte ess within barriers) had.
I also had it arranged that this one has an eternal coverage for phone and inte and isrgely protected against tracking devices. You may have to rece it in case you have an incredibly skilled Technomancer on your heels, but other than that, you should be safe, Lydia further informed John, who was busy taking over the four numbers from his old phone he cared about.
That done with, he reached the next package, one of two he had personally wrapped and signed and therefore knew who it was destined for, to Aclysia. The guardian seemed adequately surprised by this, looking at the package for a solid five seconds before an urging gesture from John caused her to take it.
Has been a real pain to shield that knowledge from you for the past days, John grinned as she unwrapped it. What came out was an incredibly thin but sturdy, long dagger. Of a radiant silver, even more wonderful than her salver, the weapon looked like it was cut straight out of a sheet of metal and then was sharpened at the upper half. No guard, no decorations, just a thin piece of metal with a softly curving tip that broadened downwards, being about twice as wide as the grip it bordered.
The only exception to that was the end of the daggers handle, which curved upwards, creating a rim roughly a finger wide. Thats about 5 percent Mithril, John exined as Aclysia was marvelling at the silver, clearer than the real metal even; Lydia provided the majority of the pay.
I am infinitely thankful, your grace. Of course, to you as well, Master, Aclysia said.
John grinned, You havent seen all of it yet, let me show you. He took the dagger from her and held it. To him, the grip was ufortable. It was too thin to grab onto correctly, but for Aclysia, who could change the form of her hand ordingly, this wouldnt be a big problem. It would also prevent the weapon from being greatly practical if enemies got their hands on it somehow.
He changed how he was holding the dagger, now pinning the grip between his thumb and the side of his index finger, like one would hold a credit card. Within a splinter of a second, the dagger did the physically impossible thing of fanning around its tip, without getting any thinner, and forming a circle. A silver tablet, round in form and with a rim to hold onto.
If John really tried he could see individual segments on the Mithril salver, but they were like lines between rows of masterfully put up wallpaper. One could only see them if one really searched for them. He handed the salver to its new owner. Aclysia took it with a moved expression.
It transforms based on your thoughts, so be careful. It wont cut off your fingers if they are in the way of the salver circle, but still, John exined; Also it''s yours, eat it, keep it, whatever you prefer.
He imagined that Mithril, being pretty rare, probably tasted really good. It wasnt a crafting material, so Aclysia wouldnt gain any consumption bonuses from it, but he was just pointing it out. He didnt believe for a moment that Aclysia would actually eat it.
I could never! the guardian confirmed his belief; the salver disappeared in her hands as Aclysia put it into thest of the three slots of Adaptive ddery. It was, after all, technically a de.
Now, Momo, catch, John announced and tossed the supports present across the table, as she had curled up in one of the armchairs.
She caught it with her forehead, having been absorbed in the book she was reading. What the heck? she proimed, You cant shield your thoughts from me and then expect me to catch things! I am the one with the lowest Physical Stats here!
He did shout at ya, Rave said as Momo, rubbing her forehead, put her book aside to pick up the box that hadnded in the gap between her chest and angled legs. She turned the thing, inspected it for a little bit in search of where it was sealed and then simply undid tapes one after another until she was left with the open present.
Mhhhhhhhm, Momo hummed as she looked down at her present. It was an e-reader. No! she eximed and closed the box, picking up her physical book again.
Momo! Aclysia cried out. That is very disrespectful.
Nothinges between me and my paperback books! the support eximed, hugging her current novel like it was made out of pure diamonds. I love them!
Can you love them in data format, please? John pleaded. Over the course of today alone, Momo had finished 5 books, three of which were criminal mysteries, one was about history and thest one was advanced magical theories (which, for a change, actually belonged to John).
A fact that John greatly disliked was that he could only absorb certain books. Books that described a certain spell or ability. For example, the book about Mana de, which had been solely about the knowledge one needed for that skill and nothing else.
On the other hand, books that were about theories, like a textbook about biology or this one about magical theories, he couldnt absorb. From a bnce standpoint, it was pretty clear why that was the case. If John could just absorb whatever book he touched, he could just clear out a library or something and be all-knowing (or pretty close at the very least).
That wasnt part of the current problem though. Momos constant book devouring meant that they were stacking everywhere. It wasnt an unsolvable space problem at the moment, but it would be in a week. Therefore, John had hoped to just hand her this e-reader as a Christmas present and thus have the problem solved with her getting a present.
He did not expect her to be this attached to books. Thankfully, he had a highly effective argument. If you leave more books everywhere, Aclysia will have to keep cleaning after you. You dont want to waste your sisters time, do you?
Urgh, Momo made a noise between disgust, defeat and annoyance as she picked up the e-reader again, It just doesnt feel right. Sheined, about to drop it again.
But think about it, you can load this up with hundreds of books and easily take them with you when you fly around! John tried to convince her further.
Yeah, well, I can put around 20 to 30 books in my inventory, Momo defended her position.
How long are those going tost you? 3 days? John asked. Also you will be at the mercy of whatever bookstore you can find where you are afterwards, and you will need to get rid of them. This one saves all of them, and you only need ess to the inte.
But what if the battery runs out!
You can charge it with mana, we thought of everything.
Momo looked at the e-reader again, FINE! I will try it, but if its worse than paper, I will instantly switch back!
Thats all I could ask for.
I sadly have nothing prepared for you, John said to Nia, who slowly shook her head.
That is fine, she said. I am having fun. John, despite there being no indication whatsoever of it being true, believed those words. Why wouldnt he?
Whats there for us, tell me! Sylph exploded into the conversation. All elementals shared that sentiment, they didnt believe they were going to be left out, and John had no intention of proving them otherwise.
Ah, I was struggling with that, you girls seem to have bought pretty much everything you want with your allowances already, he let out an overdramatic sigh. So I almost didnt find anything for you. However, just this morning, I found something.
That ss Level had gone straight into Elementalist, and from the Perks he had been offered, he had selected one that got his elementals to be what John wanted everyone around him to be. I gift you with freedom, John said and, realizing that was a bit ambiguous, specified. Freedom of movement, I mean. The new Perk I got allows you to get up to 500 kilometres away from me and still maintain a stable connection. Being in other Illusion Barriers will mess with that though and I think you still cant leave them on your own.
Thats pretty far away, Smander said.
Yeah, thats like the other side of the! Sylph agreed.
Its not even close to that far, Siena giggled, but far enough to engage in mischief and delights.
You are staying around me, John narrowed his eyes at the nightmare elemental; The rules stay in ce until I trust you. Which I dont.
The shadow spirit hissed but kept her mouth shut. B-but, if we are that far away wont that be bad for you? Gnome asked. Also you had to skip some goodbat stuff for that, or not?
It was mediocrebat stuff at best. John shrugged. Also, you can teleport back to me, has a three-day cooldown, just like Aclysias teleport. I think there are enoughbat applications for that.
B-but Gnome spoke up again, she stopped when John raised his hand.
Look, all I want for all of you is to be happy. I dont need you to be around me all the time, and I can imagine that you would like your privacy as well every now and again. This is all about enabling you to choose to be away sometimes. Again, he looked from Siena, to Sylph, over Gnome and Smander, finally stopping at Undine, I just want all of you to be happy.
Chapter 264 – Santa Claus is going to town
Chapter 264 C Santa us is going to town
About an hourter, John was holed up on top of his fortress again. Once again he had gone for the three hour Assault. He had found an interesting tidbit about these dungeons though, being that he was chained to the currently appropriate level bracket. Probably something Gaia did to prevent him from overly exploiting the system. If she didnt, he could just rx in something like 20 levels under his for 72 hours, put the girls on shift duty, and get insane sums of experience for very little risk.
Either way, he was now fighting level 95 Bugpanthers, because why the hell not? Without Firstkill bonuses, there was no incentive for him to go and fight enemies he didnt know already. Aside from searching for specific loot, maybe. From Johns perspective his current Equipment was pretty much good as it was, he was only missing something to wield in hisst Hand Slot.
He threw a Mana Ray at a Bugpanther that, in an attempt to prepare another ambush, was limping away from Aclysia. The blue ray hit the thing straight in the head; heat and crackles of pure mana, akin to electricity in its looks but fundamentally different in a multitude of ways (the most important one being physics vs metaphysics) ended the monsters life in a sh of blue.
Whispers of Mana triggered therefore and John yawned as he watched his mana tick up again. He had been almost topped off in the first ce, otherwise he would have been more reluctant to use Mana Ray.
For all of its virtues, long range, high burst damage, great uracy, the mana cost was still enormous at 300. That was more than a fifth of his current max mana. Which was why he only used it to snipe off enemies that tried to escape or provide disruptive fire where no one else could cover.
If he was being honest, he was the most useless part of his own party. Momo provided strong buffs, the elementals all had jobs only they could fulfil, and Aclysia was a tank that could take on pretty much every enemy in a one vs one thanks to a mixture of high defence and solid offense. He? Well, he could provide ranged support with Mana Ray and Arcane Explosion.
But he was also the summoner of everyone else, so technically he was this whole party. Also, he could divide his mana to everyone else, giving them plenty of opportunities to punch above their, already pretty high, weight ss. He looked kind of useless because he had divided his power in a way that multiplied it. Taking him as the sum of his parts, he was stupendously OP.
Jack flew over the battlefield in wide circles. The forest below was burning, as per his usual strategy, and he could see Bugpanthers stalking around the edges, searching for a way to sneak through the mes unseen. The groups strategy was so sessful that Undine hadnt even had to materialize once in the past hour.
Dont, Momo immediately told him.
Why not though? Not like I am in any danger, and we still have your mana if things go south, he was already ready to do it.
I am going to give you the lecture of a lifetime if this goes south, Momo mumbled.
John used Arcana Strike, and all of his mana went poof. The thing flew north, around a hundred metres away from them, to a point that John deemed far enough for them to not get wrecked by the explosion and stopped. It was dark blue but quickly increased in brightness, and once it would be painful to look at, John could fire it.
He had done some minor testing with Arcana Strike and found out two things: A, it was super cool, and B, sadly, he couldnt abuse it. It had pretty good base damage, but due to how it worked, if he fired it at low mana, it needed three eternities to charge up. As he couldnt use it before it was at least baseline charged, it would just hang in the air. If he then fired it as soon as possible, it had about the same impact as a Mana Ray. He couldnt just spam it either, since there could only be one Arcana Strike active at a time.
With over a thousand-mana poured into it, this one charged up rather quickly and would cause some major havoc once fired. John decided to let it sit there until he had to fear that it would rip down his fortress on the outskirts of the explosion. Should make for a nice firework.
He sat atop his fortress (Gnome had made him a stone chair) and just waited as his familiars fought below. Was he useless right now? A bit. Did he care? No, he was still handing out emergency orders. A general didnt have to fight in the front lines to dictate the battle.
About ten minutes passed.
Wait, what now?
A wooden sleigh appeared out of a portal above the burning battlefield, drawn by five enormous reindeer. With wonderful, bell decorated antlers and hooves that treaded on the air like it was solid ground, these majestic creatures pulled the sleigh over the tropical forests. The one that was alone in the front row had a red nose. John was just going to assume that was Rudolph.
On the sleigh, a red and white paint-job decorated with golden depictions of mistletoe, sat the man himself. Santa us, as often depicted, was a man in a mantle of such supreme fluffiness that it managed to add another few kilos to his already corpulent form. His white, long beard was a bit curly, and his reddened cheeks showed a wide smile.
He adjusted his hat, which had the same colouration as his sleigh and mantle, the end with therge, woolly ball dangling about like decoration from a Christmas tree. Ho-Ho-Ho, John Newman, Santa us shouted as he circled around the forest.
In a disy of stupendous bullshit John would never ept that it happened ever a series ofser beams fired from Rudolphs nose, taking out all the Bugpanthers.
Noooo, Johnmented, that was a lot of experience that he now didnt get toy im to.
They will respawn, Aclysia tried to ease his sadness.
Yes, but respawning enemies never have the same density I have been charging this Arcana Strike for 10 minutes! It should be able to one-shot a boss and then some! John sighed heavily, looking up to Santa with an annoyed expression.
The overweight man was grabbing his sack, an enormous brown thing that was next to him (not in his pants) and reached inside. He pulled out a piece of paper. Lets see what my naughty report says about you, Santa mumbled, his voice magically reinforced, as he put on his sses. Sex outside of marriage? Kids these days are so down bad! A lot of it as well. Uncle Santa does not approve of this, young man. Didnt your mother teach you to respect women?
I dont think there is a direct corrtion between respecting women and a lesser number of partners John said. Also my mother has her own, unique views on sexual rtionships. An image flickered up in his mind of his mother getting railed by two guys. It was grotesquely urate. Fuck you, Siena! he shot at the source of that imagination.
Oh, hit a nerve? Siena giggled. You know, your mother would properly suck your dick too, if you asked nice enough.
John growled. I am not interested in my mother. What kind of pervert do you take me for?
Sure, you are not, Siena mused.
He had enough of this conversation already. Behave! John told her and was met with nice, un-teasing silence.
Okay, so I have to add a potty mouth to that naughty list, Santa grumbled and went on; I also read that you have killed, more than once in fact!
Sadly, yes, John admitted with a heavy expression. I didnt like it, but I would do it again if that was needed. The circumstances werent exactly civilized, you know? We are talking about people that were holding an innocent girl contained in a ss tank!
Why was he answering this? Well, he was halfway expecting Santa to just leave him alone and with some presents if he was convinced that John wasnt evil. Otherwise, well, the poor old fool had stopped his sleigh north of Johns position.
So the ends justify the means?! Santa asked, outraged.
I mean yes? John asked. At least in some part? Are you telling me that war is evil and we just shouldnt shoot each other, while the other side is getting their cannons in position?
Santa did not provide an answer for that, simply clearing his throat and going on, You tortured a woman out in the open!
You mean Janna Lenko? You know, the woman who stalked me to sell the results to my enemies? I think that falls under self-defence. Not that he had felt good about it.
Well uhm the copy of a holy man was clearly not sure what to do against logic like this.
Guess judging real people isnt all that easy, now is it? John shouted up. Its almost like we are all three dimensional and have at least somewhat solid reasons. Cant all be constructs of Gaia sent to tease me.
Moving on! Santa us shouted. You epted a bribe to fight in a war you have no involvement in.
Its called the free market, buddy; its what made the USA the strongest nation in the world.
Whatever! I hereby dere you naughty! Santa shouted and reached into his sack again.
What he pulled out was a glove-like weapon that had three des attached to the back of his hand. And as a naughty boy, you will feel the wrath of Santa us by the hands of the Santa ws! the boss eximed.
That pun might be the most amount of damage I will take today, John mumbled and released Santas doom.
What is this? Santa asked, seeing a sudden, thin ray of light ending on the bottom of his sleigh, between his feet. He looked up just in time to see that spherical mass of mana that was Johns Arcana Strike m into the sleigh.
The explosion of pure energy tinged the burning forest below in a blue incandescence that made the fires look like candle mes inparison. The sleigh wasnt just destroyed, it was downright eradicated, just a few splinters of wood, bristling with mana on the surface, made it out of the explosion but burned away during their flight.
John nodded to himself, Yes, that is a nice firework.
You killed Santa! Sylphined.
He was a bit of a moralist douche, he defended himself.
You KILLED Santa! the air elemental sniffed; I wanted to give him cookies and talk about elves!
Well, sucks to be you, Smander cackled.
Nice, good rewards, John admitted, although he had no idea what to use these SEP on. Ah, I will sleep on it! he decided when he saw the first Bugpanther assault the fortress again.
_________________________________________________________________________
So, how did ya do today? Rave asked when they stepped out of the shower together. After John had returned from grinding they just had hurried there to get naked. A day of fighting and all they had yearned for was each others touch, talks could wait until after- which was now.
Quite well, John responded. Assault continued to be an insane grinding machine. He had gotten 9 hours in (before time alteration) in segments of 3 hours each. That had gotten him a sum total of 1991158 experience. He expected the nerf hammer toe down on that eventually. For the moment, Gaia seemed fine with what was going on. John was happy. Why wouldnt he? He had gotten 3 levels out of today.
On your side? John asked.
Mhhhm, Rave tipped an index finger on her lips, their natural glossiness only reinforced by the remaining wetness from the shower, as she hummed. I dont have a nice numerical representation of stuff, and I also dont get stronger just from doing stuff, ya know? I think I am doing better, but Lyly has nopliments to spare. I feel like I am in the army.
She is the princess of steel after all, John giggled as they passed the empty bathtub and went to their room.
They didnt bother putting on clothes. There was no one in the house they should be ashamed about seeing them naked, save maybe for Nia, who appeared and disappeared like she was a ghost ording to Rave. Also, they were going to bed, and they were not going to put on clothes for that.
Oh, fluffy carpet, Rave said the moment they stepped into their room, how I missed ya! Hello, bed! Thosest words were muffled as she fell face first into her pillow. She rolled over to Johns half of the bed and in the process wrapped herself into the nket.
Unfair! heughed and jumped onto the bed as well.
Fairness is for people that need it. Ya dont, mister broken game mechanics, Rave stuck out her pierced tongue. It was kind of adorable to see Rave wrapped up like this. A burrito with gorgeous filling and feline attitude.
I am not going to sleep under these conditions! John said, sitting next to her with yfully stern eyes.
What, without a nket? Rave asked. Wait, no, dont answer that. Ya mean without touching my butt!
Guilty, he grinned.
This is where I would toss a pillow at ya and call ya a pervert if I wasnt nice and cosy in this nket cocoon right now!
Let me touch your butt! John demanded and threw himself at the techno-wrap.
About half an hour, some yful bedroom fighting that went into another round of sex,ter, theyid in the bed. Rave rested her head on his chest. They were breathing softly and just looking at the ceiling.
So, tomorrow Undine is going to tell ya whats up? Rave wondered.
Yes, John answered with a single word. His thoughts had been going back to that ever since the festivities had ended.
Lets hope its not overlyplicated, his girlfriend said and yawned. Problems suck, lets try to not have any.
Shortly after, she fell asleep. John looked at the ceiling for a little while longer and wondered. He reached out for Undine, but aside from the fact that she was talking with Thana and Siena, he couldnt sense anything.
Tomorrow, he told himself and closed his eyes.
Chapter 265 – Catastrophe descends
Chapter 265 C Catastrophe descends
A hand, or something like it, forged from still burning metal but not existent at all, sunk into his soul. It was clenching around part of his innermost, and had already seeded in ripping something from him. He was in pain, so much pain. It was one he knew, it was the pain of one of his elementals trying to rip mana from him against his will.
It was like that, yet so much worse. It crippled his thoughts, thoroughly, all he could do was listen as he fought against the torment. John? Rave noticed his pain, his clenched teeth, chest raising and falling quickly with shallow breaths.
John! Aclysias worried voice cried out in his mind. She was there as well, which was the reason Rave was awake in the first ce. The guardian must have felt his pain and used Defensive Teleportation to be at his side as fast as possible. He could barely focus on her with his eyes. What is going on? John? Can you hear me?
Why was she asking? Their bond was permanent. John reached out to everyone, but pain prevented it. Slowly, it was subsiding, he would be able to reach themter. Weakly, he nodded.
Aclysia rxed the slightest amount, she was holding his hand. What is happening? I can feel that pain, I know its like that time Smander tried to rip mana from you I wish I could share that burden with you, Aclysia said. I am so sorry I cant relieve you of this pain We need to find out what caused this!
In the back of his mind, a certain foreboding Achievement popped back into Johns thoughts.
The first one is the voice of reason.
Can ya stop talking to him telepathically and tell me what is going on?! Rave eximed, softly caressing his face; Is he sick? What is this?
One of the elementals ripped something from him, Aclysia exined.
Wha- but why? WHO?! Rave shouted.
Undine, Gnome said with the grave sadness of unwanted truths.
The second one the reasons word.
What, what, what? Sylph pvered with disbelief and worry in her usually so cheerful voice; Undine would never do this! We would never hurt John! I am sure of it! He is good to us, why would she do that? There is no reason to do that! Somebody please tell me why anyone of us would ever do this to Johnny?!
The fourth one far from treason.
But she did, I can still feel everyone else, Smander said. Her voice waspletely calm, for the first time for as long as John knew her. The fire she exuded was crackling quietly, holding back an inferno within. She is gone. Undine did something unwise. Well see what she has to say for herself.
The third one war on the world.
The pain slowly ebbed away, the high tide had passed, and now John was slowly able to formte words again. Where is she? he pressed out. They were all there, all still connected to him. All but Undine. There was nothing where she was. A void, unfilled and uncontrolled. She wasnt gone, but also no longer with him, had left a hole the size of herself.
One that he didnt intend to leave empty unless he absolutely had to.
I see her, Momo said and willingly shared her view with everyone else. She was flying above the ind. Having gone there as soon as the pains began, either to find or ward off whoever was attacking them for the slightest bit.
The sixth one walks the path her own.
There was Undine, thrashing through the gardens. There was no true form to her, just a mass of slime that ripped apart trees and bushes with an ease she shouldnt have the strength for. She was howling, her normally so harmonious voice, that sounded like she was singing every word, now a horrible cacophony of sounds.
Where are you, Siena? John reached out to thest elemental. Despite the nightmare elemental being unbearable most of the time, he had made a contract with her. It was his duty as her summoner to ensure her well-being.
I am underneath Undine, she reported.
The seventh one silently creeps.
I am sorry, she added after a moment of hesitation. That was a first, John needed to know why though. This is my fault, she admitted, and memories of just a few minutes ago flooded his mind.
__________________________________________________________________
I can reach his mana, but its blocked, why? Siena wondered, inspecting her ws like snobby rich women inspected their fingernails.
Undine shared the feeling of reaching for Johns mana. She could easily do it, as she enjoyed the Gamers trust, but there was something even beyond that, which Siena couldnt even feel through the walls that separated her and Johns inner spirit.
Two auras, restingtent potential. Siena whistled and then grinned menacingly, Now thats something that would be interesting to steal.
To steal what, you cock-gobbling whores? Thana growled. If you are thinking about crossing John, I am going to kick you off this fucking ind.
The three of them were walking around the edge of the ind, decidedly outside the reach of anyones ears. Thanks to Thana, they could even ensure that none of the knights were stalking them. Momo could be a bit of a problem, but the support usually just flew around randomly and didnt listen to anything anyone said.
Undine found his Skill Evolution Points, Siena exined; Ah, I wonder how I can torture him with that knowledge. The dots in Thanas eyes rotated dangerously. The nightmare elemental tried her best at a calming gesture. She must have smiled too mischievously for the blood mage to take it seriously. Eyes darkened, anger grewrger
It promptly swept over into thoughtfulness when they looked at Undine. It was subtle, but the way the slime girl had lowered her chin indicated that she was thinking about something. Oh no, you are not, you liquid shitstain, Thana whispered in disbelief. You are not going to force the usage of those on yourself!
Ah, what a wonderful idea, Siena took hip swinging steps and, standing behind her as Undine faced the edge of the tform, whispered. Then you could stop crying yourself to sleep because of how helpless you are. It must really hurt, being his fifth mind-bound girl and yet nowhere near the others power. Even Momo could out fight you.
A surge of emotional pain flowed through their connection. Sienas smile twitched downwards, her sadistic glee smothered by genuine care. Had she gone too far? No, the situation needed solving and talking around it did not solve anything. Best to goad her into action. That was better than a friend thatmented her fate.
It could corrupt me, Undine mumbled.
Ah, but there are cases where it didnt because the elemental really wanted to be stronger. Dont you want to be stronger, be free of that jealousy towards all of us, mhm? Besides, with Johns weird powers, anything might be possible, Siena poured more of Undines own words into her. Step out of the shadow of uselessness. Be more than a pretty face in the backline, unneeded and ignored.
I dont hate being a healer Undine voice was a miserable melody. Siena knew that much, the mending elemental didnt hate to heal, she hated being unable to do anything beside that.
You heard her, edgehog, Thana stomped towards the two of them, clearly not amused. Just let her tell John about this whole ass-fest of an emotional trainfuck tomorrow.
Sienas eyes narrowed. What if he doesn`t share her mind? she hissed. Why should Undines fate be reliant on him? What if he just decides that he likes it best this way and like that. Siena snapped her fingers. Our friend is doomed to a path she hates?
Are you really that fucking stu- The blood mages opinion came toote. There was a burst of water, a true flood of it, that suddenly erupted out from Undine. Siena grinned as she ducked into the shadow. Finally, someone that saw things her way and took charge of their destiny.
The water kept on pouring, sweeping Thana off the ind, bending and breaking nearby hedges.
Undine thats eno- Siena tried to talk to her, but there was no one to talk to. Just arge, expansive void. The mass of water and slime moved mindlessly towards the inner ind. Siena reached towards the void again and still felt nothing. There was nothing and in that nothing rose the cruel realization.
She had advised her friend into the worst possible oue.
________________________________________________________________
John was seething. No, seething didnt quite fit it. Something above that. He was double plus livid. Im dealing with your arrogant idiocyter, he calmly told Siena as he got up. For once, the shadow spirit did not even have token resistance to offer him, only resignation.
There was a multitude of windows he could see now that the pain had gone. Only a dull, annoying throbbing in his chest remained now.
We will have to stop Undine and get this under control, John told everyone what just happened, always keeping a close eye on the shapeless blob that now was the former mending elemental.
What has happened to her? Everyone looked over to the princess standing in the doorframe.
Behind her were Nia and two of the knights. She has been corrupted, John said after slight hesitation. He had read up on what exactly it meant for an elemental to get corrupted a while ago.
If an elemental achieved a higher level of being, they needed to be fed more power from their home ne. For the briefest of moments, they were in a flux between the realms, whatever exactly that meant. If the ritual was done incorrectly, that could either mean that parts of them simply didnt make it back, causing them to be broken elementals or that they got in touch with something thatid outside of what they should be getting their powers from.
The whispers of another ne of eldritch abominations speaking to each other over the endless vast nothing that was their realm slowly twisted elementals into something they shouldnt be. It wasnt bad, usually, just some disobedience or hatred for their summoner. Things that elementals normally didnt feel but were still within reasonability of feeling beings.
How far? Lydia wanted to know, her eyes a merciless grey. John didnt answer.
I told you what the Lorylim are, Newman, the princess of steel hissed, does she or does she not understand them yet?
I dont know, John answered truthfully. The bond had been severed at Stage 3, but, for all he knew, she could have gone beyond that.
We are aiming for termination, Lydia told the knights and Nia.
LYDIA! John shouted out. You are not killing Undine!
I am going to do what I deem necessary to protect Germany and Europe atrge, the princess told him in the iron tone she had used when they didnt know each other. We are above the most densely popted city in the Abyss, do you have any idea what repercussions could stem from letting an eldritch infection vector enter this city? There are no risks to be taken!
You will have to fight me before you get to try and kill Undine, John threatened. Whatever was going to happen, he would not give her up without having tried to save her. Lydia narrowed her eyes, My sworn knights, make sure that-
Enough! A fireless st of heat raged through the house as Nathalia, stirred by themotion and having listened with her superhuman ears through the house, walked into the room. You are not going against my lovers will, arrogant noble, the husky voice of the goddess of volcanoes, one of the most destructive beings in this world, made the final rule in this matter. If he desires to save his elemental, then you will obey.
Lydias jaw visibly clenched, the muscle clearly visible as her teeth grinded. For a moment John thought that this woulde down to a fight even before they got any chance to do anything. He threw on his battle equipment.
Ya idiots need to get your heads out of your asses! Rave interrupted them all while jumping into her pants. The rare insult of the techno-lover actually seemed to breeze through the room like a reminding wind. We have way bigger problems right now! If she aint saveable, we can determine that AFTER shes been pinned down!
To be corrected on matters of priority by Rave of all people, Lydia mumbled and looked at John. Fine, have it your way, but if she is lost to us, I expect you to act ordingly! They quickly readied themselves to face the water elemental that was thrashing outside.
The Metracanaid on a desk and waited to awake another day.
The eighth one stayed behind.
Chapter 266 – Silent waters run deep.
Chapter 266 C Silent waters run deep.
In the darkness of the night, it was hard to make out details about Undines bloated form. A shapeless mass of dark water and ck slime, thrashing through the garden. There was neither sense nor direction to her attacks. Just a blind unleashing of powers new and foreign.
The cracking of wood was only drowned out by her terrible song. A cracked echo of her beautiful voice echoed through the night, a disharmonious cacophony like shattered ss. In every noteid the invitation to step into what she had be and join what she was bing.
Momo, go find Thana, John ordered his support. As one of the fliers, she was the most reasonable to go and try to get the blood mage back to the ind.
Shouldnt I stay? Momo asked, the reluctance to leave at such an important moment written all over her voice.
Nathalia is with us. There is no reason to worry. Now go! John did not leave any room for disagreement. As Momo obeyed his order, he turned to the thrashing mass. Undine! he shouted. Are you still in there?
The mass stopped still.
Tendrils, busy picking apart trees, hung frozen in the air. An abomination frozen in time, that is what Undine looked like at that moment, and John hated it. Strands like mycelium shifted under the surface of water that blocked Johns Observe.
The song went through a build-up, a quiet voice slowly growing in intensity until the whole mass quivered and moved once more. It all moved towards him at enormous speed. A spreading mass of sentient water, filled with rocks, splinters of wood and whole trunks.
However fast Undines new form was, it wasnt faster than Nathalia. The dragoness stepped in front of John. A rumbling noise echoed through her chest, and then the wave of water was hit by a cone of fire. Hissing sounds of evaporating water and a high-pitched scream of pain filled the air. If a scalpel cutting open skin had a sound, this would be it. Clear, precise, sharp and terribly abrupt.
Stop! John told Nathalia, worried that she might already have gone too far. The goddess decided to grant his request, and the blinding fire was reced with absolute darkness. Terrible moments passed by as his eyes got used to the change in lighting.
The amorphous blob had been evaporated, and now all John saw was an outline, clearly female. For a moment he dared to hope, but as the world became clear, his heart sank. Undines old form was gone; there was no more innocent, sundress-like exterior or mncholic beauty.
What he was faced with instead still bore the attractive form of a woman. Naked and fully on disy, this shape was curvy to a degree that rivalled Nathalia, withrge breasts and wide hips. Her hair didnt even give the illusion of strands anymore, being a mass of goo that was vaguely hair shaped.
Her overallplexion had shifted. What previously had been several shades of light blue in the shape of a dressed slime now had mixed together into a single, darker shade. This new colour, a blue of oceanic depth, was nearly all her body consisted of. One exception was a pair of blunt, horn-like extensions that grew from the side of her head. They were almost ck. Then there were her eyes, glowing a menacing red. One did so through the half-curtain of her gooey hair.
Last was a slickyer of ck that covered her left side like a slime mould or a carpet of oil. It shifted with a will of its own, separate from the elemental it was attached to. Bits and pieces of human teeth rose to the surface asionally, interspersed with the enormous, jagged canines of somethingrger.
John.
Her voice, her wonderful voice. It was still the same. Despite the corruption and the change of form, her voice was as clear, as wonderful, as melodic as ever. The horrible cacophony was gone now. There was only silence and her voice.
Why did you do this to me? Undine asked.
What the fuck are you talking about?! Smander was about ready to hold a giant, angry tirade, but John raised his hand, and the ze elemental swallowed her anger for another day.
I didnt do this to you, Undine, John clearly stated. I just wanted you to talk to me, I wanted to help you. Hell, I still want to help you. Just-
LIES! Undine threw her yet uncorrupted arm out. Slime extended into a several metre-long whip that threatened to hit John. Nathalia smacked it aside with ease. Whatever Undine was bing, she could notpete with a goddess. It must be lies. This cant be my fault. The answer is in the song, the answer is in the song it- She stopped herself and sung more of the broken notes. John could almost see the smiles in the creeping ck, as it pulsed and advanced.
There is no saving her, Lydia stated coldly.
I will be the judge of that, the Gamer decided. He said that despite himself. He had no n, no hopeful thing that would allow him to get rid of this corruption. To free someone from such a strong infestation, one would need a healer of immense strength, someone skilled at purging curses of extreme potency. The only healer they had had was now the enemy; John doubted she would have been capable of this much either way.
Your answer is right beside you, Nathalia weighed in. As long as she is only getting corrupted, the infection can be cut out.
I can help with that, Nia spoke up, and John turned to look at her with wide eyes. A shimmer of hope just opened before him.
Undine just stood there muttering things to herself in anguage he couldnt understand. Its elemental speech, Siena informed him. She is trying to speak to those in the Kingdom between and failing. Gaias wards hold.
It wont be pretty, but I can simply erase all parts of her that are infested if you manage to restrain her, the nk said. I will need all of my power to do so. You need to fight without me.
Right! John shouted out. It didnt matter whether or not he trusted Nia right now; all that mattered was that she was his only way out of this mess.
How would one go about constraining a slime though? The only idea John had was to confine her. Nathalia, stay back. With your power, you are more likely to identally kill her than to restrain her, John threw out quick orders. Nia, please stay ready for when you think you can jump in and do whatever you need to do. Lydia at least dont interfere.
The princess narrowed her eyes at theck of trust, but given her disy of murderous intent, John did not care.
Lets go then! The moment John moved his foot to face the ocean elemental, she stopped rambling to herself and sent a wave of water his way.
Gnome managed to block that one with an earthen wall. Salty water crashed into the wall and sshed around it in a harmless shower, halted in its momentum. Then John stepped around the wall and cast a Mana Ray.
Undine knew him and his skillset well enough to know what came after the obvious disy of him raising his hand. A bubble wrapped around her main body blocked the attack by its simple existence. This was the major drawback of how Mana Ray functioned: the fact that it only hit whatever it struck first, only ever searing through armour, meant that it could be stopped by as much as a big drop of water.
The bubble stayed in ce, and Undine, without ever moving her head, formed tentacles out of it that assaulted Smander and Sylph, flying in circles around her. She was too slow to hit either of them, but her defensive power made this a stalemate. One where Johns victory condition creeped further and further away, as the infestation took deeper and deeper root within Undine.
Eventually there would be nothing left to purge but the elemental herself. An oue that was utterly uneptable. Spikes of earth shot from the ground and broke upon impact with the bubble. In a short engagement, the Tier 4 elemental could hold her own against her less evolved sisters.
This Undine knew all of their tricks, and they knew nothing of what she was capable of. Shadowy edges ripped through the ground, and Siena finally entered the battlefield in an attack desperate to prate that protective bubble. Uselessly they scratched over the surface.
Inside the bubble, Undine was expressionless; the ck tar was about to reach her eyes. I need a weak point, John thought, something, anything, just
She is blind! Siena shouted out.
WHAT?! he could barely repress his anger; How much shit have you two been keeping from me, Siena?
You have found out just about everything now, she hissed back; This is not the time.
To that John could agree. If she was blind, that meant that she was getting her information from her other senses. Vibrations, sounds, smells, what John needed was an attack that was both strong enough to prate through that hull and invisible to countermeasures.
There was a way.
Aclysia, take Jane and distract her! John thought. He would have given themand to Rave directly, but he feared Undine might take unpredictable action if she heard that something was up. Following a wave from Aclysia, the two of them engaged in battle.
Fists, light, and de cut through the air, mming into Undines defences. Even where the two managed to cut through the outer bubble, any damage they delivered was quickly mended by the liquid nature of their target.
Sylph, Siena, I need you to work together right now! John called back these two. They were vital to his n. It was abination of their strengths that would provide the attack that was going to end this battle.
You think Undine is going to survive that?! I dont want her to die, we cant have her die, she hasnt had enough fizzy pills yet! Sylph eximed. Even she understood that his n here was a gamble, one that relied on Undines regenerative powers being simultaneously extreme and not extreme enough.
Her Endurance is high, and we have no other choice! John told her. Just do it!
I am ready, Siena said with numbing earnestness. The tempest elemental hesitated for a moment, she did not feel well using something this powerful against her sister, but she had no other choice when thousands of points of mana, from John and Momo, flowed into the two of them.
Shadow and airbined between their outstretched hands and formed a knife without a handle, crackling with power inplete silence. That knife killed all sound around it, all vibrations of the air, even the radiation of its heat. No eyes would have missed it, the brightness of a lightning strike, but eyes were of no concern here.
The corrupted water spirit knew something was about to happen and slowly ebbed backwards. Before she could find a ce to retreat to, Aclysia and Rave redoubled their offensive efforts. Too busy concentrating on her healing, Undine was kept in ce for long enough for Sylph and Siena to finish their preparations.
With the sound of absolute silence and the speed of lightning, it rushed through the air. Undine had no indication of iting for her, knew only that something was going on. No matter how strong her defences were, her Agility was still on the lower side; what little time she had to react was not enough.
The knife cut through her weakened defences and her body entirely, ripping a melon sized hole through the barrier. A gaping nothing remained where Undines head had been. The mass of slime lost stability, but not cohesion, quivering as it slouched. Now! John eximed.
Nia was already on the move.
The gamble here was twofold. The hope was that this attack didnt kill Undine and that she needed her head enough to be blindsided and defenceless. John knew that much about her previous way of operating, at least.
Nia reached into the hole caused by the attack and grasped at the corruption. Two liquids of pure ck, simr in appearance but violently different in nature, shed as Nia used her powers to eradicate whatever sort of corruption she could.
John had no idea how sessful this endeavour was, neither did he know how it worked. His only clue was a visual one and it appeared hopeful. Like a baseing into contact with acid, the two powers neutralized each other, bing fully eliminated where they met.
Parts of Undines head reformed. A stump of a neck was enough for the slime to scream. The torture was evident in every passing second, sending chills down Johns spine. Theyer of tar and mould struggled, made her struggle, but there was still something inside Undine that knew reason and it was going stronger.
The screams stayed, the struggle faded.
Chapter 267 – Undine’s Salvation
Chapter 267 C Undines Salvation
The formerly pristine garden was a field of mud, splintered wood and broken pavement. Ignoring the cold, John swathed through the swampy ground, his expensive shoes sinking deep into the mud. His socks were drenched after two steps, stters of dirty water sprinkled over his suit pants.
None of that mattered, only Undine did. Before John even got there, the water spirit had assumed a new form. This time it was not cause for concern. Undine had be a blob, an elliptic, skipping stone shaped blob. John looked her over and saw a series of swirling red lines where the corruption had befallen her. He wondered whether these were supposed to be there from the transformation or an elemental type of scar tissue.
The curiosity about thispeted with how livid he was. John felt a confusing mixture of emotion right now: relief, worry, anger, a sort ofedic disbelief, and the overarching euphoria of having ovee yet another terrible incident.
Well, almost ovee, the void where Undines spiritual connection to him had been still reminded him that not all was fine, like a freshly removed tooth.
Nia, looking a bit translucent, stubbed Undine. The surface jiggled like firm pudding. Without changing her expression in the slightest but with the intent interest of a yful cat, she kept poking the blue ball until John kneeled down next to Undine.
What the hell were you thinking? he burst out after a moment of silence. You ripped a part of my soul out, or at least what it felt like on a pain scale, and almost managed to corrupt yourself to unfixable levels. The only thing that prevented it was the sheer luck that we had a nk here!
Said nk was suddenly taking Johns face and turned it towards her. Then her pale lips were on his. Under other circumstances he would have found this awesome, but he really wasnt in the mood right now. Regardless, she was what had solved this situation, so the best he could do was try to make it good. Before he got to answer the kiss, however, Nia already pulled back.
Now a little less translucent, she stood up and walked off. John could not read that girl. What was that about? he asked Lydia.
She is anchoring herself, so she wont fade into the other side, the princess said with crossed arms. She and her bodyguards were forming a not particrly well-meaning semi-circle around them. Get this over with, so we can discuss what we do next! the iron girl demanded.
John turned back to the shamefully quivering blob that was his former water spirit. I am not going to take responsibility for this, Undine, he said to her. I asked you to tell me what was wrong, repeatedly. I thought you, of all people, would be honest. I am disappointed, I really am. Your hypocrisy is staggering, but
He took an incredibly deep breath, it left him audibly through the nose, and he leaned forwards. With nothing he could hug or anything of the sorts, he simply put his forehead onto the round blue shape.
I am just so happy you are okay, he whispered, feeling the vibrations underneath his hands. He just remained there for a solid minute until he finally mustered up the will to move again. Well, now that you cant weasel your way out of it by just sending me emotions for once, lets hear you say I am sorry properly! he announced and got up.
There was no reply, Undine just kept being a blob of sadness, misery and uncertainty in the middle of the mess she made for herself.
John sighed, You know, our contract is null and void right now, you broke it yourself. The quivers of the blob increased, and he took a step backwards. You have two choices right now: either you apologize properly, tell me exactly why you did what you did, or you will be a renegade. The mana you have right now should allow you to stay in this world for a few hours, maybe you will find someone else? Maybe you will just slip back into your home ne? I know what I want you to do, but I wont force anything on you, John said as he walked away from her.
He arrived next to Rave, who was watching this whole thing go down with the expression of someone who had bitten into something sour. She didnt like the drama, nor did John, but it had to be done. He couldnt just forgive Undine for this one.
The other four elementals were torn on the matter. They were all around Undine right now. Tell her what you want and thene with me, John instructed them. Were going inside.
But, but, but, Sylph sniffed in his mind. I dont want Undine to leave! Make her stay!
I cant force her to do anything she doesnt want to do, John thought back.
But, but, but Sylph cried, wordless. A blue strip flew by John as Sylph entered the house.
He kept his back to Undine; he didnt want to look at the pile of misery she was. What if he was wrong and she wanted to leave? What if she never apologized? Aclysia and Rave each were by his side, taking his hands as the other elementals said what they needed to.
You know, I thought you were the best of us, Smander said, the embers of admiration having ignited the fire of disappointment; You never got involved with the flood of bull crap, you had your dignity and all that jazz, and you knew when to open your mouth. Turns out you are an even worse fuck up than the rest of us. The ze elemental spat onto the ground before making her way over to John.
Sylph, now in her human sized form, ran past John at that moment. Carrying dozens of items. Sniffing, Sylph spoke, her quick words a pvering of sadness, I-i-i-iif you are going, you should have these, these are yours, right? Yes they are Undine, hey, Undine, can you answer me? Just this once? the tempest elemental pleaded as she ced the ships that Undine always had with her when she bathed, her one own possession, on top of the blob.I swear I will not annoy you as much, I know you dont like me talking this much. I think. I actually dont know, you never say a lot, you just sometimes get annoyed. I mean, I mean, I would be so happy if you got annoyed right now. Please, you can shout at me as much as you want, just say something, please, pleassseeee?
But the blob stayed silent.
Waaaaaaah, Sylph started crying on top of the blob.
Come, Gnome gently put a hand on her sisters shoulder. The fact that she had nothing to say to Undine was, perhaps, the most damning thing about this whole situation.
Noooo, Undine, please, I swear I wont give you nicknames anymore! You can even eat all of my sweeeeets! Sylph shouted as Gnome picked her up and carried her away. Gnome only nced back one more time, her eyes spelling out that, while she had no words for her, she would miss her nheless.
That left only Siena. The catalyst for this whole debacle. Are you ming me, I wonder? Siena mumbled. I couldnt say you arepletely wrong. I knew how weak a state you were in, I wanted to see something exciting, I wanted you to break out of your shell, and instead I got this. Perhaps I should have just kept goading you into speaking your mind. I dont know. A long pause. With forced certainty, Siena continued. You pulled the trigger in the end, donte and me me for your choices. The nightmare elemental dropped into the veil of night.
That was everything. John had nothing left to say either. He was as disappointed as Smander, as sad as Sylph, as helpless as Gnome and as certain as Siena (as much as he hated to be of the same mind as her). If Undine was unable to raise her voice now, this game would only repeat itself the next time she was unhappy, and John could not face this again.
Lets go, if she doesnt want to stay, that is her decision, he mumbled with a quivering voice. He was about to leave a part of himself behind, something that had been so ingrained in his soul that it was part of him. An extension of himself, now missing, the void she would leave behind could never be truly filled, even if he found a recement.
He walked, slowly at first, then at a normal speed as, with every step, his certainty that there was going to be no apology, no justification even, from Undine grew. He passed Lydia and her bodyguards. Ready for capture, the princess said. John stared at her with disbelief.
Dont expect me to let something the strength of Undine roam around freely, the royal told him with the certainty of the executioners edge; No emotions will evere between me and my duty to my country. If there is as much as a shred of a chance that she will fall to corruption again, I will have her killed.
I didnt think ya could be this heartless, anal queen, Rave hissed.
Lydia crossed her arms behind her back, her face an emotionless mask. Easy to say for someone with no greater responsibility than their own amusement. I do not have the luxury of your freedom of consequence. My heart may be heavy, my shoulders may tremble, but I will carry the burden of rulership, the princess tone was irond.
You will have to win your own damn tournament in that case, John reminded her.
Lydia stared, her jaw circling. Suddenly, she looked very tired and raised a hand. I am only going to test her for any remaining corruption, John. Please, dont make this harder than it needs to be.
And what if you find any? Aclysia wanted to know, dagger still in hand. Lydias eyes closing was enough of an answer.
Regardless of Undines choice, John couldnt let that happen. He would protect her and if it was thest thing he di-
A word spread through the air. A word of absolute rity and wonder. Not a word John understood, not on the level ofprehension ofnguage, just a word, sung with the brilliance of a ss harmonica. Soon the word ended and was reced by another one. A song in anguage still iprehensible to John, but now known as elemental, resonated in his ears and spread throughout his being.
John had to think of the siren from ancient myths. A creature whose sweet song made sailors run their ships on riffs. The song of Undines corrupted state had been, without a doubt, that. What he heard now wasnt sweet allure. It was a song that needed no words to be understood, a song of iprehensible foolishness, of sadness, regret, and of loss.
John turned around to see Undine sitting in the swamp of her own making. She sang of endless nights, of loneliness, of mistakes. John once again passed Lydia as he walked towards Undine once more. The princess didnt stop him. She heard the lyrics of far-flung jealousy, of fear, of sorrow. She heard, and she must have understood, for she was part elemental herself.
The song had nice parts, parts that almost drowned out the negativity of it all. They always returned, the feelings of loud disharmony, of hypocrisy and of the hatred for oneself. John stumbled thest few steps through the mud and hugged the singing girl as she was crying from blind eyes that saw nothing.
And the song ended in the words that John had asked her to say, I am sorry, I John squeezed her as intensely as he dared to. He embraced her and she whispered words to him. Words that had been bottled up for far too long. Words that he would keep to himself. Words that finally flowed freely.
It was the start of mending.
Chapter 268 – Reintegration
Chapter 268 C Reintegration
Stop squirming! Lydia demanded as she closed in on Undine. The newly shaped water elemental was currently busy reflexively avoiding a multitude of flying des with a slightly panicked face. Lydia, the controller of said des, was standing there with a ratherrge container. John just watched the whole scene unfold, with his arms crossed.
You messed up, so now you get cut, Smander shouted across the room.
Yes, I know, Undine mumbled and forced herself to remain still. Lydia made it quick and cut a chunk of slime out of the water spirits torsos right side, where the red, curving pattern served as a stark reminder of what had transpired a mere half hour earlier.
Lydia dumped the slime in a container, and Undine stitched herself back together in a matter of seconds. Being liquid did have its perks. Once more, John looked at his ocean elementals new form. She certainly was a lot more curvaceous.
Her HP was up to high levels, but the red markings remained. No amount of regeneration would get rid of that scar, it seemed. It didnt inconvenience Undine in any way, but it was there and wouldnt go anywhere.
The rest of her form had stabilized though. She was still much more primal looking than her old, dressed form, but she wasnt dripping all over the ce anymore. The malevolence had also burned from her eyes; they had even changed from red to a golden colour that was looking a lot more friendly.
Bring this to my privateboratories back in Berlin, the princess ordered the knight she handed the container to. Remind them of their oath of secrecy and tell them only what they need to know.
Why would ya ship that all the way to Berlin? Rave wondered as the knight bowed with a loud As Deus Vults! and marched out of the house.
Because I am not going to face the PR disaster that would be admitting that one of my fighters was foolish enough to get Lorylim matter into Rome itself. This will be shipped to myboratories, and they will examine if there is even the slightest bit of corruption remaining, Lydia exined, pinching the bridge of her nose. Luckily, houses here are magically reinforced. I will have to exin away the massive amount of water and Thana crashing into the city as an overzealous training exercise. I will also have to pay for any damages that may have been caused by this.
Undine is my elemental, John said; I should stem for those costs.
You can repay me in private, but it is important that I am the one who apologizes, or the press will nail me on not taking responsibility for my subordinates mistakes, the princess told him.
And what will you do with me if there is any corruption left? Undine asked, a fluttering of frightful notes in her voice.
Then Nia will keep purging you until there isnt. I trust her to act the precision knife. Said nk blonde was currently quietly eating ice cream. At the sound of her name she stopped, spoon in mouth, and turned to look at everyone.
The fact that he could see the spoon through her skin was more than slightly unnerving C and that was despite the amount of ghosts John had already fought. If she ever over-exerted herself, would that mean that she wouldpletely fade from this world? nk powers are dangerously stupid, he thought, thankful that he didnt have to deal with any of that.
Until we have news of whether or not she is still corrupted, you are not going to fight in the tournament, Lydia suddenly dropped this information on John.
I assume you dont want to risk her suddenly flipping out and ruining everything? he asked.
That is correct; due to how your elementals work with your ability, I cant tell you to just keep her incorporeal either, Lydia finally lowered her hand again; she looked absurdly tired.
I could just un-summon her, John suggested.
If you wish her worse than I do, that is certainly an option, the princess said. You think the elemental ne is particrly understanding of corruption of any sort? If there is as much as a speck of alien matter still inside her, they will eat her.
Thats an ugly picture John mumbled.
That is not a metaphor, Undine said. It is how we keep the ocean clean. The Mother of Water is careful.
Okay, so un-summoning is out of the way, just because of the sheer risk of it, he sighed. How long do you think they will need?
They better do it meticulously, so 5 days, if I had to warrant a guess.
In other words, I wont be able to participate in the group fight, he reckoned.
Yes, Lydia kept the answer short. That wasnt a huge loss, all things considered. They already were majorly disadvantaged because of the extra condition that was in ce for the first group fight. Thanks to Nia being missing during the announcement ceremonies, they had to pick their team first, and Maximillian could then respond however he wanted.
Lydia looked at her clock. I will be able to get another 5 hours of sleep, she mumbled; We will talk about this more in the mo-
I WILL FUCKING RIP HER SLIMY BRAINS OUT! The shouting somehow echoed through the house before the sound of the door getting kicked open did. Loud stomps announced the impending arrival of Thana.
I cannot be bothered by this right now, Lydia waved off and left the room through the northern door just in time to dodge Thanaing in through the one at the other end of the wall.
Where is that oceanic bitch? Thana looked around with wide-eyes.
The blood mage was drenched in water, head to toe. Took a while to find her, as she tried to find her way up herself, Momo informed John mentally.
There you are! Thana growled as her eyes fell on Undine. You fuckergasting puddle of misery, the fuck do you look like now?
John put a hand on Thanas shoulder as Undine, with a bit of a sorry expression, opened her mouth. This will take a bit to exin, why dont you sit down, he suggested. Thana dripping on the floor and the couch was only a minor cause of concern. The room was pretty dirty thanks to Johns pants having been covered in mud already, something that he was currently fixing.
Well, Siena was fixing it. Stuck into a maid outfit, she was busy mopping the floor boards. Just the first in a series of punishments John nned to administer for her being in part responsible for this whole mess.
He quicklyid down what had transpired in her absence, and at the end, Thana was staring down Undine with the pure, smug expression of I told you so. Should have listened to me, Un-dumb, the blood mage said. No, that one is fucking awful anyway, you fucked up big time.
Undine averted her eyes in a disy of shame. The fact that she still did so, despite everyone now knowing that she was blind and only able to look through everyone elses eyes, at least told John that she had themon decency to look as miserable as she was feeling right now.
Everyone could have told her that was a fucking bad idea, Smander drove by in flight. Stupid ass decision.
Will you let it go already, Sally! Sylph pvered, attaching herself to Undines cheek in the tiniest of hugs; She is back, thats all that is important. Cuddly slime woman is still here! All is well!
It C is C NOT! Smanders small fire became a giant me in the middle of the air; You fuckers can get bent if you think I am just going to let this slide as easily as you are. I, for my part, will not let this be bygone.
B-but, Gnome stuttered her way into the conversation; We forgave Thana, so we can surely forgive Undine.
Thana didnt have a choice; she wanted herst moments to be filled with something that wasnt fucking pain, Smander reprimanded them. Undine did.
I am with firecrotch here, Thana said, and the two exchanged a thumbs-up.
I agree Undine also said; I will do what is within the range of my possibilities andfort to achieve your forgiveness.
Sure you will, the ze elemental crossed her arms and flew away.
You cane right back here, John shouted after her.
Smander turned and grumbled something unttering. Look, I get that you are angry, John told his fire spirit. I am not at all happy with this whole situation either. Undine is vouching to better herself though, right?
There was a wave of agreement from the ocean elemental, but, after a warning nce from John, she opened her mouth and actually said, Yes.
I dont need you to forgive her today, but dont get yourself lost in some far-fetched hatred, John said.
Shut the fuck up, Smander hissed like a drop of water that hit a heated pan. She is still my sister, I could never hate her. Now let me cope by drying up that swamp outside!
She flew away again, and John allowed himself a smile. Given time, this whole thing would just be an ugly part of their history. Hopefully without further consequences, he thought, looking at Undine again.
I am just so happy you are still here, lets eat some gummy bears together! You want a fizzy tablet? A bath? Both? I think both is fun! Sylph bbered.
No, John told them. Undine is going to help Siena clean this mess up; it is mostly her fault after all. We will think about what else to do once I wake up.
Undine nodded; she knew she had to repent for her actions. The pain she had caused John and the danger she had put them all in was something she could only apologize for, but the wrecked gardens were something she could actually do something about. With everyone elses help.
For a start though, she was delegated to scrubbing the floor, washing clothes, and generally helping Aclysia get the house in order. Momo, meanwhile, sat down on the table again and started experimenting with that e-reader.
It was impressive how quickly everything could go back to normal once a situation had been weathered. Yeaaaah, Rave yawned, some more sleep sounds good. Please no more pain attacks this time around. She grabbed John by the hand and guided him up the stairs. Ya feel fine by the way? Nosting damage?
Nope, no status effects, no losses, aside from the Skill Evolution Points, and generally not feeling good about any of this. Just tired, he answered.
Thank Gaia, his girlfriend mumbled under her breath. Ya know how worried I was when Aclysia just burst in and you were all tormented and stuff? I am not losing ya, ya hear me? I love you.
I bet you a pile of bullshit that I would hate it more to be separated from you again, John smirked.
Oy, dont ya try being cute right now, Raveined with a smile as they got ready for bed. This is serious emotional talk!
Jane, we both know we dont do those, John poked fun at her. Cause we both majorly suck at talking about feelings.
Do we though? I mean, I wouldnt call our rtionship, like, bad or unhealthy or anything. Talking about emotions is just she searched for a proper term.
Really awkward? John suggested.
Yes, that, really awkward. So we dont do it. Actually, lets just do this another way! Rave wrapped her arms around John, and together they fell into the bed. They were so close to each other that their noses almost touched, If ya worry me like that again, I will punch ya something fierce!
Wouldnt have it any other way, John giggled and kissed her, I love you.
Chapter 269 – The Fluff Strikes Back 1 – No matter what may come
Chapter 269 C The Fluff Strikes Back 1 C No matter what maye
So, this is the best we could do, huh? John monologued as he looked at the garden. In the daylight, the true extent of the damage became visible. About a quarter of the floating indy in ruin. The majority of the damage affected the garden,rge parts of which was now a mostly dried field of upturned dirt. The destroyed nts had been up-rooted and piled up elsewhere to be removedter today.
The rest of the damage affected the numerous grass areas, which had turned into even more swamps. The inds magical systems inbination with Smander and Undines draining efforts had left those in a rtively fine state though. One summer, and it would all look the same.
All in all, the damage had been kept to non-important greenery. The gate connecting the ind to real-space was still standing, and the damage the hundreds of litres of water had done to the surface below was negligible thanks to the perks of magical architecture.
Lydia was, nevertheless, currently issuing a public apology and was down there in person to fix the mess. John had sent Undine with her, it was of no use to hide her existence any longer. The healing of the information broker Janna together with this incident would be enough to tip most people off on the fact that he had a water elemental.
Lydia had initially been against the idea, citing that some people would recognize the Lorylim scars and connect the dots. Undine, however, insisted, and the princess ultimately relented. It wasnt like they could hide the slime forever.
Master, I am here to report on the matter you told me to keep an eye on, Aclysia said as John, rubbing his chin, thought about how to best fix this mess.
Oh? Anything new? he asked, his attention now lying with her. The matter in question was what the news was saying about the vanishing of over a hundred World War 2 veterans.
While John knew the truth, that Herman had sacrificed them to return Thana to life, the question what reality would make of this was still of concern. Gaia, however, had found a rather crude solution for this. Shortly after John had left the perimeter, she had set the building on fire.
At least John had to assume that Gaia had been the one to do it. The fire then, marvellously, hadnt spread out to the bordering buildings. While there had been corpses found, none of them were recognizable. ording to the news, the investigation goes on, but as of right now, they me it on an arsonist. Looking further into this, I found out that the arsonist has abyssal ties, Aclysia reported.
So Gaia is killing two birds with one stone here, John presumed. did you spend your allowance on buying that information, by the way?
Aclysia cleared her throat, coughing into her raised fist, and averted her gaze, This may be the case, yes, master.
You do insist on ignoring my wish to use money in a way that makes you happy, dont you? John teased, wrapping an arm around her waist.
Spending money on your well-being is what makes me happier than anything, Master, Aclysia informed him.
Are you talking back to me right now? he asked, bringing his mouth closer. What a bad servant you are.
He stopped a breath away from Aclysias lips. For a moment they just stood there, then she couldnt take it anymore and pressed her lips on his. She smelled of raspberry today, even tasted the part. Greedily, he kissed her and just forgot about the worlds hardships. How wonderful it was to have someone like her at his side.
Did you add vours to that inner cocktail of yours? John whispered when their kiss finally broke, their foreheads still resting on each others. The way Aclysia, and Momo as well, worked was fascinating. Most of what they ate resided in some sort of pocket dimension, a feature exclusive to Artificial Spirits with the Living Material attribute.
They could pull and store materials inside that space as they wished, with a certain limitation of how quick they could change things, of course.
While he would have liked to throw Aclysia over his shoulder and just run around the ce right now, a simple gesture of his good mood, he couldnt do it. She was, to put it bluntly, too heavy.
Even outside ofbat, when most of her body was made from magically enhanced silicon and rubber (materials that made it so she felt almost human to the touch, but a certain, not at all unpleasant, artificialness still remained), Aclysia kept bones which consisted of whatever the strongest metal inside her was at the current time.
The updates of those had slowed down. Refined Body 2 apparently had a hard time enriching better and better materials as time went on. That was of little surprise. From what John gathered about the previous materials inside her, they were mostly alloys, consisting of mostly weak metals and low amounts of strong ones. As time went on, the weak ones were upgraded with Refined Body, increasing the amount of strong metals. John fully expected her to be madepletely out of mithril some point in the future.
The process scaled with her current level, however, so that would probably take quite some time. Once she did, though, John would swim in money. He had seen the prices for mithril on the Abyss Auction. By giving her some cheaper material to feed on, he could generate a ton of value.
Not that that is needed to increase Aclysias value to me at all, John thought and kissed his artificial guardian again. For all he cared, she could lose her powers tomorrow, as long as she remained by his side and stayed as the adorable maid, he would love her. Their minds linked up, and the mutual feeling weaved through their thoughts.
John kept this state going for as long as possible, even as the kiss broke. They started walking, arm in arm, without needing anymunication to do so. As John thought about the potentialbat applications of this state, it fell apart.
Aclysia looked like she was a slight bit disappointed in him. John, why must you think of fighting in moments such as these, she pouted, and John kissed her on the cheek to make up for it. Fortunately, Aclysia was easy to please. All she demanded was hispany. She stopped pouting and instead snuggled closer to him.
What can I say? I like practical things, John defended himself now. At the current time, ourmunication is near instantaneous, but we still rely on words, pictures and feelings. If we could get that up to thisplete state of oneness, that would be great.
This was, for the most part, true for the elementals as well. Albeit the connection with them was more immediate and reliable than the one he had with his Artificial Spirits. Still, he achieved these moments of absolute understanding more frequently with Aclysia than with anyone else. Save maybe Rave, but that was another kind of connection.
I would love for us to be able to enter a shared state of mind whenever possible, Aclysia agreed, although for very different reasons than John. I have to give to protocol, however, that I am against joining in mind permanently.
There is no debate to be had there, John told her.
The asional sharing of love they currently had would pale inparison to aplete and total synchronization of all their thoughts. The danger of the borders between their personalities dwindling away and theplete loss of any privacy was something neither of them could ept. They loved each other, they wanted to be with each other, but they didnt want to be each other.
The strongest love, after all, was something felt for someone else.
So, what should we make of this? John asked as they walked through the former garden. Despite its destruction, John couldnt help but think that it was at least a bit romantic; the smell of fresh wood mixed with Aclysias raspberry perfume managed to tinge the catastrophe in a slightly more favourable light.
The gardens were gone, and something new had to be erected in their stead. No use in crying after them. As I assume you still wish for practical things, how about we erect a small arena? Aclysia suggested. A kind of training facility was rmended.
Mhm, John thought; Thats a pretty good idea. I wouldnt be able to create a facility, as Ick the proper skills for that, but an arena I could do Or how are we on that, Gnome? he asked his stone elemental.
Y-yes? the cuddle stone answered, her tone indicating that John was interrupting her in the middle of something. Interested, he peeked into her thoughts and found that she was currently busy creating a small statue, depicting none other than himself in the thinker pose, stark naked.
D-d-d-dont look! Gnome demanded and shut him out as quickly as she could.
So, thats what you are doing these days, huh? he teased as the shame radiated from her like a small, embarrassed sun inside his mind; Want me to sit model one day? Or would it be too hard for you to concentrate?
Y-yes I-i-i-I mean NO! I mean a confused silence ensued.
John shamelessly plunged in there, So you want me to sit model for you, and I wont be distracting you? Man, and here I thought you found me attractive.
I do! I mean, you are very handsome, and I just like looking at you naked anduhm, uhm, uhhh, Gnome stopped as she realized what she was saying. I, uh, Iuwuwuwuwu
Johnughed, and Aclysia smiled softly as she heard him. She rested her head on his shoulder, as they waited for Gnome to calm down. Gently he stroked through her white hair; the left oriented strand between her eyes fell back into ce a momentter.
Isnt this annoying? John asked in regards to that strand. I mean, you got rid of most of the frilly or otherwise highly impractical parts of the dress.
Inbat I fix the strand in ce, it is of no inconvenience. Truthfully, it is actually easier, Aclysia answered.
Why is that? he wondered.
Maintaining an appearance deviating from my base form is taking a slight bit of concentration. It has gotten easier as you increased my Wisdom and Intellect, but maintaining all changes at all times is If I understand your biology correctly, it is like constantly keeping your little finger curled. I hope this metaphor is understandable, I am not good with these.
I guess I get what you mean how much could you maintain without effort? John wondered.
I could either maintain my hair or the dress in its current state. Moving parts are harder, came the answer.
Okay, for future notes, inbat you can drop anything but the softness of your hair! he dered.
But Master, wouldnt this go against your cosy love? Aclysia wondered.
It is all fine, underneath all of theseyers you still look like A2. I am much more willing to give that up than the wonderful view of your hair whirling around.
My hair is wonderful? Aclysia asked with a confused blink.
Of course! When you whirl around with your sword, a determined look to protect me on your face and your hair flying through the air like a cascade of wonderful white. When you are fighting, you are beautiful, Aclysia.
The artificial guardian blushed a slight bit at thepliment, and happy with this development, John continued to tter her.
Of course, you are always beautiful. When you are cooking, that smile that you gift me with when you look over your shoulder in the morning. When you are cleaning, The way you politely question if I could move. When you are just with me, the look of your emerald eyes She looked at him in anticipation of his next words. their tender love reflecting someone who doesnt deserve someone as great as you.
Oh, John, Aclysia framed his face in her hands. You deserve whatever goodes to you. It is I who doesnt deserve someone as wonderful as you.
You are just saying that because I made you to be loyal to me, John teased.
Even if you made me to be as poisonous as Siena, I am certain you would have found a way to make me love you, Aclysia strongly disagreed; What would I be without you, Master?
Lets not even wonder where we would be without each other, thats a dark ce. Lets revel in the fact that we always have each other, John told her.
No matter what maye? Aclysia asked.
No matter what maye, he repeated in a serious manner.
If the world breaks around us? Aclysia continued to ask.
Then we will defend our ground together, he answered.
If everyone else betrays you?
You will still be at my side.
If my time hase?
I will defend you until myst moment.
If I die for your sake?
I will never stop protecting the life you saved.
And if I were to ever betray you?
The questiony heavy between the two of them, as they stood on the upheaved field of the nights fight. I will do everything to win you back, he said. If you, who saved me from despair and anger, who stood by my side, who neverins and is always diligent in your love for me, ever were to turn your back on me, then, truly, I would need to show that I am once more worthy of you.
Aclysia blinked with slightly wet eyes, You think too highly of me, Master. I am just your loyal servant.
Dont you dare say I am and just in the same sentence, John demanded and kissed her so that she could stop belittling herself. You are my servant, you are one of the best things that ever happened to me, and not a day passes where I do not appreciate you, he told her afterwards. I dont need you to think of yourself as the greatest thing ever, the fact that you are humble is part of what makes me love you, but there is no need to make yourself less than what you are. A kickass, super-sexy maid that cooks my food and punches my enemies. You are the best, Aclysia.
Chapter 270 – The Fluff Strikes Back 2 – Content Drought
Chapter 270 C The Fluff Strikes Back 2 C Content Drought
So, I have decided to not grind today, what happened this morning was enough action for a day, John informed his gathered elementals, Aclysia still under his arm. The artificial guardian wasnt just snuggled up to him, she was hugging him with the intense loving that only a weaponized housemaid could provide.
This was about an hour (and a threesome with Aclysia and Gnome)ter. Lydia and Undine had returned, the former quickly on her way again to issue a formal apology to the owner of the city, Romulus himself. This was actually after an insisting message from Luna, so there was a high likelihood that he knew what was going on or, at least, had a rough idea.
In the short while that Lydia had been back, however, John had gotten the green light to build this arena Aclysia had suggested. Lydia rather liked the idea, since that would mean they would stop training on thewn C and tearing holes into it. In preparation for this, Gnome had ttened the area. The formerly ploughed looking ground was now nice, even andpacted, perfect to be built upon.
How boring, Siena sighed. I was hoping to relieve some tension. Evidently, the shadow spirit was intending to just gloss over everything that happened and continue as per usual. He had other ns.
Which reminds me about your needed punishment, John said and reached into his inventory. He pulled out a violin case, with everything needed to learn the instrument inside, and reached it towards Siena.
She did not take it. I am in disagreement that I deserve further punishment, Siena nonchntly stated, looking at her ws; Cleaning was already degrading enough.
Well, too bad for you that I dont care what you think, John reprimanded her, I agree with you that Undine is the one that ultimately pulled the trigger, but talking her into it still warrants some major punishment. That aside, you keep being a thorn in my side. If you want me to stop forcing things on you, you could always stop giving me reasons to do so.
Fine then, Siena hissed, knowing that she had no way out now that John had made up his mind; So what is this punishment? Am I supposed to clean this some more?
Nope, you are going to learn this, he answered; How is that supposed to be a punishment? Well, you are not allowed to torture anything, physically or mentally, even a bit until I am pleased with what you can fiddle for me.
He put particr weight on the I am pleased part here for the simple reason that Siena would hate it. If there was one thing the nightmare elemental didnt want to do, it was doing things for other peoples sake. Maybe. John wasnt entirely sure about that read anymore. On the surface Siena was an egocentric sadist, but there was a conviction there that her way of doing things was genuinely for the best for the people she cared about.
In any case, having her learn an instrument and practice until John was happy with her while also taking away her usual source of entertainment seemed like a good idea in his mind.
What if she actually enjoyed fiddling? Then John was happy that she finally found an outlet for her boredom that didnt involve slowly pushing a knife through someones leg. It was an unusual punishment. He would win either way.
You cant be serious, Siena said, dumbfounded.
I am absolutely serious, I even made it a rule. Now, go practice, I dont need you for what is next, John shooed her away with a wave of his hand. Disgruntled, Siena walked away, not even able to dip into the shadows as the violin wouldnte with her.
I dont think you need me for this stuff either, do you? Smander asked. Because I am burning to make fun of her while she tries to produce a sound that is eptable. There was a short pause, then the fire spirit cackled, Ha, burning Ah, I love idental puns.
I mean sure I dont need you either for that matter, Sylph, John told them.
Sylph, who had been covering Aclysia in a constant stream of words in the background, now turned to John. Roger, roger, she mimed the Star Wars robot. Will go talk to Siena, a lot, I am sure she will value all of the constructive criticism I will give her. I will listen and eat a gummy bear. And popcorn. Can I have popcorn? Please, I want popcorn! Thats just what you need when watching a movie, I think, I actually never had popcorn. I had corn and I had pop, lots and lots of pop, but no popcorn. Also
Juste this way, airhead, Smander sighed, grabbing the continuously talking air elemental by the hand and guiding their flight after Siena.
John hadnt even suggested Sylph to go there, but the tempest elemental was already on her way, and Siena deserved whatever punishment she could get. Therefore, he didnt correct her and just let the two of them go, leaving him with Gnome and Undine.
The former was still as red as a tomato from the earlier incident, while the water spirit looked straightforward. Her eyes might not have rested on Siena, but John knew, without even looking into the ocean elementals mind, that her attentiony with the shadow spirit. The question of what punishment awaited her was boiling hot in her mind.
John was about to put her at ease. Undine, I have decided to let you off the hook, he announced.
What? the water spirit was shocked, to say the least; But all of this was my fault.
Oh yes, the fact that you just refused toe to me with your problems, decided to instead nose-dive into the improbable solution of not getting corrupted, and then instead rampaged across this ind as you were slowly getting eaten away at by Lorylim matter was absolutely your fault, John agreed, rubbing everything into Undines face for one more time.
Undine cast down her gaze as a wave of guilt radiated from her, along with slight annoyance. It seemed the water spirit was about to reach the state of I get it already, in hearing about her own failures. She was also getting annoyed with herself because she was getting annoyed with him because she felt like she deserved a bit more punishment. Which then only bothered her more. Complicated feelings were bothering her.
But! he continued. I see that you are beating yourself up over it. As long as you keep trying tomunicate with us better than you did before, I see no reason to torment you with it anymore. It was a horrid affair, and we should do our best to live, learn and move on.
John didnt even realize that he was quoting his girlfriends motto until he had already said it.
How dare that beautiful piece of butt have that profound an impact on me! What did she ever do to me, aside from saving my life, turning me into a way more confident person, staying by my side, be sexy as hell and provide me with a good life motto note to self: treat Jane like a princess when you next see her.
The surface of Undine rippled, her whole-body swirling like water around a turbine. Her golden eyes cast down, she looked up; John, now knowing that she was blind, actually noticed that her gaze was slightly off. Feelings wrestled inside her. Guilt, love, anger, embarrassment, self-consciousness and, finally, happiness. None of them won. Then sheunched herself at John. Ripped back by the sudden assault, John found himself on the ground covered in a lukewarm, slimy hug.
You are the best summoner I could ask for, Undine whispered, forcing herself to use words instead of feelings. She ultimately failed, and her lips refused to form any more sounds, instead letting her open spirit allow John to directly touch her inner self, which did the talking for her. John just kept lying there, not only because he wanted to let the water spirit to cuddle him, if that is what she wanted to do, but also because it was warm and cosy underneath her embrace.
Undines increased powers had several nice side effects. For a start, she could regte her body temperature to a much finer degree. She couldnt turn herself into a boiling steam cloud or anything, but she could be nice and lukewarm, as she was right now. That made being underneath her much more preferable to standing in the cold winter air.
Another thing was that, as an ocean elemental, she primarily used saltwater. She could turn that off though, so that was a good thing. John wouldnt have wanted to find salt crusts everywhere.
Actually, I have one idea what you could do to repay me! John uttered with joking intent. You could get back into your old habit of being my pillow.
Was Ifortable? Undine asked, only her upper body clearly visible within the blue mass currently spread all over John.
Her face was pretty close to his, within kissing distance to be exact. Which he relentlessly abused, meeting her lips in a short peck before he answered. A re went through Undines spirit as the sudden warmth on her lips spread a prickling through her body. John pulled back his lips.
Comfortable? Thats not even close! You are the most wonderful pillow ever, the exact right mixture of softness and firmness, squishy enough tofortably rest on but also solid enough to not sink in until your head hits the mattress, John informed her.
I will be most happy to be your pillow again, then, Undine answered and graced him with a small smile on her translucent lips.
Why did you even stop? John wondered, You always seemed to like doing that, then you just stayed in the bathroom all the time.
The water spirit turned her golden eyes away from him, That is of no importance.
She said that but a feeling of slight anger with him radiated from her. Previously, she would have shielded that thought. Dont be like that, John groaned. Just tell me what is bothering you, dont let me guess around as you pout. We just went over this.
The list Undine mumbled.
For a moment, John was confused, then he got what she meant. The list about who I like the most? That stupid thing? he asked in a disbelieving manner.
It wasnt stupid to me, Undine spoke in his mind, too ufortable to speak about this loudly anymore; I thought you didnt like me anymore
It was a list I wrote in the heat of the moment, and I explicitly stated that I still loved all of you! John answered mentally as well. A breeze went through his mind as he sighed, But if being ced low on that stupid list hurt you, I am sorry. I want all of you in my life. A list was a bad way of showing anything.
He tried to hug her back, but as she was currently covering all of him, he wasnt exactly sure what to wrap his arms around. After stopping that awkward endeavour, he just let Undine sniff around in his memories and test the earnesty of these ims.
She was rougher about it than the other elementals ever were, flooding into his mind like water through a broken dam. Filling and inspecting every nook and cranny of that memory, until there was nothing left. The tumultuous waves of her spirit slowly became still, then she ebbed out of his memories.
While not satisfied, which annoyed her more than anyone else, Undine was content with what she found. She pulled herself together, quite literally, until John was able to stand up with her as a sort of body suit wrapped around him.
With his superhuman strength, the extra weight she presented was easily handled. He wasnt at a point where he could lift people without even feeling it, like Thana who could probably lift a car with one hand, but he was strong enough to not be particrly bothered. Now on his feet, Undine keeping him insted like a full body glove, he was actually reminded of something.
Now that you are Tier 4 shouldnt you be able to turn into an item, like Copernicus? Also do that Unleashing thing? John asked. Undines head, situated right next to his, wrapped around him as she was, nodded.
I should; I am aware of how to do this kind of instinctively, she admitted, feelings of understanding and slight confusion reaching John.
He knew thatbination all too well, having been subjected to numerous asions where he just learned how to do things. Basically, every time he got a new Skill, he felt like that. Skills levelling up were more of a gradual increasing of that knowledge and less noticeable.
Okay, lets try this then, Gnome!
Y-yes? the stone elemental jumped into action. Lets build that arena!
A-as you wish, she answered, and they went to work. John wanted to create a small version of the colosseum, but he was soon faced with the reality of the situation that neither time, space, nor materials allowed anything that grand.
If he wanted to build something here, he needed to create the earth himself, which was way more mana intensive. Using the earth from the surrounding area would have ended with a quickly erected, grand structure, but would also lead to a very awkward depression in the ground.
Therefore, as was often the case in building games, John had to go for something more realistic. With the arena scratched, John decided to make it a simple square on the ground. For decorative purposes, they made it marble white and out of smaller squares. They had no illusions about it surviving as much as an earnest kick from anyone who was going to fight on it, but still. They finished it up by adding decorative pirs to the edges.
This kind of looks like the ring from that green bug thing from Dragonball Cell, thats the name, John acted like he had to ponder for a minute.
It was hard to forget stuff with 100 Intellect and over 200 Wisdom. It wasnt impossible, and he hadnt reached picture perfect memory, but most of the things he learned stuck around.
I wonder if perfect memory is a Skill, actually, John thought as he inspected the ring; My memory didnt get that much better from 50 upwards, puzzle solving and logic got way better byparison. This looks good, he finally announced and tapped whatever of Undine was on his shoulder. She giggled. It was still the purest little sound. You need to get off me now, John said. Undine puffed up her cheeks, and his suggestion was met with violent disapproval. Dont you be like that, youngdy, John said in a yfully stern tone. I need you to work with Gnome to fix up the grass. Thebination of earth and water extended beyond the simple control of mud.
nt control was also pretty mana intensive, and it had little offensive applications to boot. Controlling the local flora to be something useful as a weapon required an amount of coordination two different minds could not have. With enough training, Undine and Gnome could get there, but why would John waste his mana on getting a tree to smash something, when he could use that very same mana to just create ava pool? Or zing winds? Or a giant fortress?
If he searched for it, he probably could find a situation where nt control was the best thing ever, but right now he was only looking to grow some new grass. Which was still expensive, but it was his water spirit that ruined thewn.
It took a bit, as he actually needed to regenerate mana in between, but eventually they had done it. A nice fighting square. Less awesome than what he had in mind, but it did what it was supposed to. Rave would love to use itter.
For now, he wanted to test what Undine could do.
Chapter 271 – The Fluff Strikes Back 3 – Ebb and Flow
Chapter 271 C The Fluff Strikes Back 3 C Ebb and Flow
So, for a start, how does your Unleash work? John wanted to know and as an answer received the information straight into his brain. Undine did vow tomunicate more, but it appeared she was meeting the limits of her social batteries. Also, this was way more efficient.
As a fellow introvert, he understood. Although recent weeks may have given a random onlooker the idea that John was quite talkative, if they actually looked a bit closer, they would have found that he spent most of his time with his mouth shut.
When grinding, he was mostly talking only to give orders; when at home, he was flirting around, but when given the choice, he was spending a lot of time just sitting with his girls or gaming, with about 10 words per minute falling.
While Sylph was the aspect of him that liked talking (and constantly did so), Undine was theplete opposite. She probably would have continued in her silent ways if John and everyone else didnt urge her toe out of her shell some more. If such thinking could even be applied to his elementals. They were their own people, they were just attached to him by the soul.
Whatever they did, an introvert simply needed time for recharging. This was best done by not speaking at all for a bit. Therefore, John let this slide and, instead, concentrated on understanding what he just learned.
It was a long andplicated process of rearranging her magical structure through the constant use of her regenerative powers on others and her defensive tools in general. As she burned through more mana, a residue of it would build up inside her, eventually bursting through and creating a prizing shift or a massive burst in momentary power.
To put it simply, once she had used her magic enough, being primarily defensive and healing spells, she unleashed like a sudden flood, turning her into a potent damage dealer for a short duration. Alternatively, she could channel that power into one stronger heal.
Not only was this good in and of itself, she could also use that unleashing whenever she wanted, given that the condition was fulfilled, of course. It wasnt one of those horrible mechanics that forced one to use them the second they were ready. Although there was no extra power to it if she waited longer.
A long story short, Undines unleashing was exactly what he would want in a healer. She could heal them just fine all the time, and if she had healed them enough, she could either flip to deal damage and help get them out of a bad situation or heal them all so that they could do that themselves. On top of that, she now also had ess to things like that defensive bubble. Tier 4 was nothing to sniff at, unsurprisingly.
Undine, in the meantime, had finally flowed off him. The process left his jacket clean of slime (and pretty much every other minor bit of dirt that had been on it) and dry. She may have been made out of a liquid, but she evidently did not leave herself everywhere just because her new form looked a bit drippier.
You ready to try and be an item? John asked. Undine nodded and took his hand. She was nervous, not because she was about to transform, but because of something else. Both of her palms closed around his right hand, the only item slot he had open anyhow.
Despite touching each other, her palms didnt flow together. Slime physiology made very little sense; all John knew was that inside this blue jelly was a consciousness intertwined with his, a connection that grew more intense by the second.
He readily embraced this development, their minds intertwining like they hadst when Undine had told him, and only him, everything and not for weeks prior to that. It was refreshing, like a ss of clear, cold water in a spring noon. It filled his mind with satisfaction.
Then Undine let go of her current form, and Johns right hand was suddenly covered in a glove. It was of a midnight blue, the same colour as the stubby horns that grew from Undines head, and reflected the sunlight on itstex-like surface. From the tip of Johns little fingers down to the far end of the glove just below his elbow, where it became thinner and finally just stopped being, the red scars wound over the surface.
Well, that was both nice and a disappointment. Before he could test how his hand could move within that new glove, Undine changed back. The nervousness had gone over to genuine shame, and she was slowly flowing away from John.
What is it? he wanted to know, as Undine retreated behind a mental wall again. Carefully he probed forwards, both mentally and physically. A tense moment, where he halfway expected Undine to flee from him and force them to repeat the cycle anew. Then the barricade developed the tiniest of cracks. Like a frightened animal peeking from behind the safety of its hiding spot, Undine sent a single question his way.
Are those not horrid to see?
The scars that were following her, no matter what form her body took, were the source of her shame. With the translucency of her body, she had no way to hide them, no way to cover up what she regarded to be a clear marking of failure.
Do these not mark me as damaged goods?
Of course not! John disagreed and gently touched her at the base of her legs, or what appeared to be legs anyway, where the lower end of these markingsy. Slowly, he followed them upwards as he continued. These markings dont make you any less beautiful, his fingers trailed over her t stomach, not all mistakes cause something to be lost. He wandered on to her naked breasts, the markings curving around her right nipple in cruel elegance. There may be sins that cant be forgiven and disfigurements too terrible to look at, his hand was at her throat and passed, but you have neithermitted one nor are you subject to such a scar, Undine.
He gave her the brightest smile he had. You are not damaged goods, you are Undine, my water elemental, my precious healer and his hand rested on her cheek and he stopped dead in his tracks. The mental wall that had been crumbling down suddenly halted in its deconstruction.
John felt a moment of deep concern. He had no god damn idea where he should go with this... What? Wonderfulpanion? Universally true for all his girls. Endless ally? The hell was that even supposed to mean? Also, she had betrayed him just this morning! Cuddle slime? Abysmal, but maybe she wouldnt mind it because it was funny. Yes, that was the thing to go with!
In the background, Aclysia giggled. She may not be part of the conversation, the artificial spirits had links to his mind that were separated from the much broader link that he had to his elementals, but she could feel Johns predicament.
To his surprise, Undine alsoughed and leaned forward to kiss him. The rest of the wall broke away, and now they were one again. Their lips met, and a momentter, he was wearing a glove again. I will think of these as a warning, not to repeat the mistakes of the past, instead of a constant reminder of my own failure. Will that make you happy, John? Undine stringed together an untypically long sentence that echoed in his mind.
I very much am happy with that, John agreed, clenching his fist. He barely even felt that she was there. Their nervous systems, or whatever passed for the equivalent of a magical ooze creature, werepletely linked. It wasnt the same state of synchronization that he achieved with Aclysia sometimes; it was more akin to the rtionship between a singer and a songwriter. He was giving the instructions, she performed.
Their mana circuits were also linked up. It was a one-way street, she had ess to his mana but he didnt to hers, but it was apletely thoughtless flow. It wasnt near instantaneous, like the exchange with his elementals usually was, it was just instantaneous.
A small bubble of water manifested around his hand. Excitement filled him, and he allowed himself a jolly smile. He had always wanted tomand the elemental powers himself but had been forced to do it by proxy. Granted, this was still true even now, but it was probably the closest he would get.
A simple bit of his mana more and the bubble swelled until it was the size of a melon. He raised his right arm and then brought it back down in a fierce movement. The watershed out like a whip and sttered on the floor without any impact.
Mhm, he thought, not quite what I intended. He knew the surface tension of water could be magically increased, that was what had made Undines water bubble into an actually effective shield. Using that should have allowed him to make a whip that was quite damaging. It wasnt going to be anywhere near as effective as his other aggressive spells; he was just interested if it was possible for him. The difference between defensive and aggressive was just a point of priority after all.
A whip of water that had a level of hardness that surpassedmon metals was hardly something to sniff at, no matter if that level of surface tension was originally dedicated to block attacks. I wonder what exactly your Unleash will do to make you a stronger damage dealer, John thought towards his ocean elemental.
Projectiles, was the single word answer he received. Aggression. Pressure.
That makes sense, I guess, John thought as he gathered up the water from the floor. Actually, he still had Undine do it. It was a bit of a weird feeling, being in control but also not having any influence over the details.
Now that I think about it, it isnt that much different than ying a video game, John thought as the orb hovered over his hand again; I am using a controller -the item, in this metaphor- to put in orders, but in the end the code -Undine- does what I tell it to do. I am only giving input.
With that state of mind, it was now just a matter of going through the process of learning abo in a fighting game. As long as he gave the correct input to Undine, she would get him the wanted result. Bugs -in this case Undine making a mistake- notwithstanding.
After a solid ten minutes of practicing, John finally managed to get a whip together that created a crack on the stone te. I wonder why I wont get a Skill for this, he thought as he continued his experiments, shaping the water into a shield. He opened his character screen to take a look if it had any great impacts.
Skimming over his Skills, he did indeed find a thing that was levelling interestingly fast. The passive skill Elemental Unity, which had barely seen any increase in level since he got it, jumped from level 5 to level 7 during this exercise. Which was pretty good, since the skill increased the two main attributes of his elementals by 0,5% per level.
So, the ability also increased his synchronization with his elementals. Made sense, with that name. There was just another thing to test. Aclysia, stab me, John told his guardian.
Not this again, Master, Aclysiamented. You know how much I hate doing this. Please retract that order.
For science, this is necessary! he eximed.
Aclysia pressed her lips together and pulled Ashkandi out. Last time he wanted her to stab him to test out Undines healing power, this time he wanted her to stab him to test out Undines healing power. The situation was almostically the same. Gnome even had the same ufortable expression on her face asst time.
After John had pulled off jacket and shirt (no reason to waste mana on fixing the hole that would result from this), Aclysia went to do the deed. As gentle as possible, her eyes forcefully opened to prevent herself from making that cut any more grievous than it needed to be, Aclysia plunged Ashkandi into his shoulder.
The second the de was retracted, the wound was gone. Aclysia looked with anger at the blood on her de, then at John. Dont ever make me hurt you again, please? she requested in a quivering voice. It makes me sad.
Well, someone needs to do it, John said and checked his health bar. This had done a mere 75 damage, which was nothing to his 2130 health. That was not important though, he cared less about the strength of the heal than the method. A simple thought and a bit of mana and his HP was topped off again. So, as long as I wear Undine, I can instantly heal myself thats pretty good, he thought.
The whip was less useful, but now that he figured out how to keep the water hardened while in motion, the defensive bubble would be easy, adding an extrayer to his already good defences. Even if someone somehow broke through, he could heal himself pretty easily. That was, if he was wearing it at all times. He wasnt sure yet how tactically sound that was.
Time to test whether or not I can heal people from a distance, he thought and created a green shining bubble. The experiments continued.
Until a reading ck bird flew right into his side.
Chapter 272 – The Fluff Strikes Back 4 – Admitting
Chapter 272 C The Fluff Strikes Back 4 C Admitting
Momo mmed into his side. Busy making bubbles, he had been unprepared for this sudden assault. The two of them rolled over the ground, a bundle of limbs and confusion, for a few moments beforeing to a halt at the edge of the training grounds.
The support shook her head, sitting up. Panicked, she made sure that her most precious thing was still intact. That wasnt John, of course, but the book she was reading right now. Sorry, thought I was higher, Momo apologized after seeing that her reading material was indeed unharmed.
You know what they say, Momo, dont read and fly, John groaned, getting back on his feet.
Interested in what had her this absorbed, or how she could even read while flying at this pace, he looked for the book she had been reading. An inkling confirmed, he smirked when he saw the e-reader.
Oooh? he made a satisfied, slightly mocking sound; What happened to your paper is superior stance, mhm?
N-nothing happened to that! Momo stumbled over her own words as she pressed the ck-cased contraption to her chest; Its just it only takes up one inventory slot, and I can buy books on the fly and read them while flying and
Her words became quieter with every word until she mumbled something John couldnt quite make out. Eyes downcast andrgely hidden behind the bangs of her hair, the only thing he was sure to see was a slight flushing of her cheeks. He easily discerned what she was saying through their mental connection, but he wasnt going to let the opportunity to tease this brat slip. She did it to him all the time, it was only proper he returned in kind.
What was that? he therefore asked and put a hand behind his ear.
You ight she mumbled, still super quiet.
Mhhhhm? John made an intrigued sound and inched closer.
YOU WERE RIGHT, OKAY?! Momo shouted, sting his ear drums withplete overload. You were right, this thing is more convenient than normal books, you happy?
Very much so, John grinned, massaging his ear until the whistling noise went away. Thankfully, this was also within Gamers Bodys capabilities, so it fixed itself rather quickly. I like being right.
Yeah, you sure do. I, on the other hand, hate being wrong, so can we please not talk about it too much, Momo requested, her cross-armed stance indicating that this was actually more of an order.
Mhm, I will think about it, John teased. A dangerous glint awaked in Momos eyes in response, and she put her e-reader into her inventory. I may have overdone it now, he thought.
When her hand came back out of her pocket space, she was holding a smartphone. Since when do you have one of those? John wondered.
Since I got myself one, Momo rolled her eyes. Unlike the rest of your cab of girls, I have a functioning brain. Getting a phone is not rocket science.
John was fairly certain that Momo also could have figured out rocket science if she wanted to, but that was beside the point. He followed her going through no less than 12 extra security steps (trumping his own 3) that she had installed on top of the aura check. Then she opened a browser and held the resulting page in Johns face.
The John Newman Meme Factory subreddit. Oh no, John mumbled as his shocked expression now let a smile bloom on Momos pink lips.
This is what you get for making fun of me, John! she eximed. A certain elder sister of the supporter cleared her throat at the side and gave Momo a warning re. master, she then added with a sarcastic rolling of her eyes. The way she said it was inherently less reverent.
John pulled out his own phone to look at this subreddit. There was one picture of him that was generally used as the temte, which was a shot of the moment after Alexej had forfeited. He did have the most dumbfounded expression at that time. Jack almost fell off his slumped shoulders and the fedora and the suitbined made him look well he didnt look ugly or anything, his mediocre looks and somewhat stylish outfit prevented that, but overall, he was appearing pretty goofy in that picture.
Why did you do this to me? John wanted to know as he went over the captions. The amount of hate he was getting was surprisingly bnced out with a number of positive memes. For every picture where his head was reced with that off Shia LeBeouf saying When you just want do it with all the girls in your team, but cant (apletely uninformed and wrong opinion), there was a When you get to look at the butt of a princess on a daily basis (Which was probably not meant as apliment, but at least it was true).
I did not start anything, Momo smirked. I just poured oil in the fire by spreading baseless rumours.
What?! John was feeling like he had just been punched in the gut.
Nothing that would harm anyone, of course, the support continued. I am not stupid, you know? You should, you pressed the buttons on making it so. She shot him a sassy smile, while checking out other entries. I know not to make Lydia angry.
What about making me angry!
Meh, Momo waved off; Thats fun; I file it under revenge against a stupid creator.
John crossed his arms, his patience was running thin, You know you are insufferable sometimes.
Yes, I do know that, Momo said and put her phone away, but what about it? I am under no obligation to please you. That was, of course, right. He had made her with free will specifically because he did not want a sycophant.
That being said, he could pay her back by doing his best to make her meme even more popr, or he could do something that she didnt expect. He gently put index finger and thumb on her chin. Ah, I forgive you. Such a fragile little flower as you needs to be guarded, after all, he said in the creepiest, gentleman tone imaginable.
He could see the cold shivers running up Momos spine at that moment.
What is it? John continued, bringing his lips closer to hers, Are you not feeling well? I assure you, Ill do all it takes to keep you safe and happy.
Stop being this nice, this is super creepy! the support asked of him.
But why would it be creepy, mdy? John asked, equipping his fedora just to tip it.
What is this! We are supposed to banter, not she gave him a headbutt as he was now way too close forfort. He stumbled back. this!
Okay, okay, Johnughed, rubbing his forehead. Strength aside, she was still 90% metal (she did not share her sisters view about needing to be soft), so that had hurt quite a bit. Still, being equipped with Undine meant that his health was topped off again a momentter. Gamers Body took care of the rest.
I swear to myself, you are a weirdo, Momo mumbled. Ah, how I will love the day when I dont have to share all thoughts with you anymore!
I have had enough of this disrespect! Aclysia stepped in and picked Momo up. Literally, the guardian went over and raised Momo off the ground.
Sister, what are you doing! Momo yelped as she was now helplessly hanging in the air. No amount of fluttering of her wings (not that they needed to flutter, as she was being propelled by pure energy) managed to get her out of the guardians grasp.
You have been mean to my Master for long enough, and your dishonesty is getting on my nerves, Aclysia exined in clear terms that made John snicker a bit. The guardian was prone to giving very precise life advice once someone managed to get her to the point of mild anger. Her wrath when her kitchen was threatened was also impressive but another matter entirely. You must be aware that
All I did was tease him a bit! Momo spoke out in her defence.
we all know what is going on in that head of yours, Aclysias old habit of finishing her sentences before acknowledging that someone else even said something got the better of her; Your teasing is not appreciated, cease or be punished.
Its all good, Aclysia, you can put her down, John tried to calm his artificial guardian.
I ask you to allow me to refuse that order, Aclysia requested and, with a straight face, started shaking Momo like she was some sort of cocktail mix; I need to get some sense into the younger maid.
Heeeeelp! Momo asked, and John was left blinking in confusion for a few moments.
And that is the way to do it? he questioned her methods.
It is a way to do something, Aclysia reasoned, now whirling Momo around like a staff.
What did I ever do to deserve this? Momo requested when the motion stopped. As an artificial spirit, she was immune to nausea, which robbed John of watching a dizzy Momo. Which was a bit saddening.
You not only continuously refuse Masters love but also tease him like a spoiled brat. While I cannot force you to love him and I respect your decision that you dont -even though you are wrong- I cannot forgive such mean-spirited behaviour towards the man I adore, Aclysia dered.
After this she put Momo down. The support looked thoroughly scolded. Aclysia patted the sassy support on her head. I greatly enjoy it when Master pats my head, perhaps this cheers you up? she said.
You enjoy pretty much every way he touches you, Momo mumbled and leered at John in an envious way. That look soon melted away under the ceaseless pats of Aclysia. I like this, Momo said and attempted to step closer to Aclysia to hug her. The guardian stopped the patting and put her index finger on Momos forehead, keeping her from moving forwards. The Strength difference between these two was too enormous for Momo to ovee, no matter how much she waved her arms in Aclysias direction.
If you want to cuddle, you will heed my request to apologize to Master, Aclysia informed her fellow servant.
Fine, Momo pouted and turned to John. Wings folded behind her back, hands in front of her hips, Momo did a deep bow and said, Maybe the rumour spreading was a bit too much, should have just rubbed the meme itself in your face. I am sorry.
That doesnt sound very genuine, John remarked.
It totally is, Momo promised him.
I dont believe you, Aclysia crossed her arms.
Okay, it isnt, the support threw her arms into the air; What do you want from me?
To ept John as your lover, Aclysia stated.
That caused a bit of awkward silence. The Gamer himself scratched the back of his head.
You know I dont love him I like him, as my creator and sort of as a person, but thats about it, Momo said. The artificial guardian sighed and stepped closer to Momo, then she kissed her. Completely out of the blue. Momo, expectedly, didnt struggle, however, instead leaning in to make the kiss even more intimate.
Aclysia eventually broke it, and a disappointed look appeared in Momos eyes. The two had their hands folded behind each others back, breasts and foreheads touching. You misunderstand, Aclysia mumbled; I know that, despite all of your talks of wanting to leave, that you will never forsake us. You wille back to us, wont you?
Yes Momo admitted, her white eyes concentrating on Aclysias.
I will never leave Johns side. I am not asking you to love him, even though you should since he is our kind Master, but you should make your peace with the thought of epting him as your lover, even if it is only physical, Aclysia exined and gave Momo another short kiss.
Wait, that doesnt make any sense whatsoever; I have been sleeping with him as well just less! Momo said, confused. I have already done that!
I suppose, but I do not feel satisfied with your currentmitment to Master. If you are going to tease him that much, you will need to be nicer to him on other asions, Aclysia stated.
But I uhh, Momo racked her brain; Sister, your logic iscklustre! You dont want me to ept him as my lover, you want me to just be less mean to him!
This is also a correct assumption, yes, but I want you to say I am your lover to Master, Aclysia stood on her point.
Why though? the support wanted to know.
Because you are ufortable with saying it and I am not happy with that, Aclysia said. Say it with me if that makes you morefortable.
Aclysia linked her mind to Momos as the support sighed, I just cant argue with you, Aclysia.
They turned their heads as one and spoke in unity, We love you, in different ways. One of us withplete devotion, the other as a creator and a friend. You are our lover and creator, and even if you dont always do what we wish, we couldnt ask for more than you.
John wasnt quite sure what to make of the scene atrge, but that pledge he epted with a happy hug.
Chapter 273 – The Fluff Strikes Back Finale – In the Clear
Chapter 273 C The Fluff Strikes Back Finale C In the Clear
Lydia Augusta the Fourth of House Hohenzollern, Princess of Steel and Princess-Regent of the greater Brandenburg state, Protector of Prussia, Sworn-Lady of the Knights of Teuton, Granddaughter of Frederik the Great and many other titles that only nobles with way too much time coulde up with, was not happy with John.
He couldnt exactly me her. She had been back for about 20 minutes, and the only words she had spoken thus far had been ck tea and John, to my room. The choice of tea was remarkable because Lydia had a stance towards caffeine that was to only ever drink it when she actually needed it to get done with things.
Legs doing that energized bounce, she was rushing through paperwork and making calls for all kinds of arrangements, flowing through four differentnguages, German, English, Dutch and Danish, over the phone. As John only spoke 2 of those, he only understood about half of what was going on, but that was enough to stitch together the whole situation.
Apparently, Lydia had been forced to pay some sort of reparations to Romulus. Nothing valuable, at least not marily, just a painting of her grandfather. A prized painting, one that showed him at the moment he ascended to the German crown. The reason why this held no mary value was because Romulus wasnt going to keep it, not forever at least. It would only be in his possession until someone was crowned ruler of Germany.
The reason for this exchange would be kept under lock, and the way it would end up in Romulus hands had to be obscured to make it seem like a random urrence. All of this was just to give Lydia a giant headache and to send an easy message.
This is my city, you are threatening it with your mistakes, and I will hold you ountable.
What he demanded of her wasnt money, it was prestige. It was like a stranger walked into a throne room and demanded to be put on the fanciest seat around, and then Lydia had to actually oblige and let him sit on the throne. It was pure humiliation.
So, Lydia took her job of covering her tracks very seriously in order to make this loss of face known to as few people as possible. That way, she would at least be able to sweep this under the rug within a few weeks. Romulus intended to disy the picture to his visitors, so some amount of rumours would be impossible to avoid, but it would be just that: rumours. Luna had given her guarantee about that.
When Lydia finally mmed her phone on the table, John jumped. Not because it was unexpected but because it was the gesture of a pissed Lydia, and he did not look forward to being on the receiving end of that. He had experience with a lot of facets of her personality, most of them stern, one of them shy, quite some of them ruthless or annoyed, but the one time she had beenpletely and genuinely pissed off had been not towards him but towards Nariko.
Do you have any inkling about how much I adore that painting? she started, and John was immediately certain that he was fucked whatever he was going to say. He opened his mouth and was proven wrong, he was fucked even if he said nothing. Certainly, you dont, you only care about how big the tits on your elementals are.
Now that is
Shut C Up, Lydia immediately interrupted him, You will speak when I ask you to, are we clear?
Yes John gave ground, not only because he was indirectly at fault here but also because of several dozen pieces of iron currently pointing their sharp bits towards him.
Lydia had dark bags under her eyes from the stress. Their colour was that of charred steel, which did not really exist as a material but it was the best analogy John could think of. She was stressed, annoyed, and only grew more so from hiscklustre answer.
Yes, princess, he corrected himself. Her eyes lightened up a bit until they hit just steel colour. Stained steel.
Good, you remember manners, Lydia leaned back in her wooden chair. She picked up her cup of tea and looked at it as she took a couple of heavy breaths that quickly approached a calm pattern. Do me the favour and tell Aclysia that I will need some non-caffeinated tea. Preferably peppermint, she mumbled in a tired tone.
Done, princess, John answered.
Haaaa, Lydia let another deep breath out, you can drop it already. I ask for your forgiveness forshing out, this was a rough day and it was your fault in a sense.
I am willing to take full responsibility for what Undine did, John said.
I am aware, and be assured that you owe me something for this, Lydia tiredly let her hand slide over her face. My parents are dead.
What? that came out of nowhere. He had known about this since Nariko had let that information drop, but this was just about thest moment he expected her to bring this up.
They didnt die in a day, it was a long process. My mother suffered from cancer, that was before I knew the Abyss existed, and she, the member of my family that linked me to it, never told anyone even as she was on her deathbed. My fathermitted suicide the moment her grave was plundered.
Oh God, John felt his insides crumble up from helplessness and sympathy. What could he even say to that which wasnt horribly inadequate.
My grandfather picked me up shortly before my fathers death, and he has been my only family since. His health was already bad back then, and it is a literal magical wonder that he is still with the living, Lydia continued. Her iron eyes bore into his with unrelenting fury. This is his favourite painting of himself, and it hangs in the mansion he raised me in. Just so you are aware of how much I adore this painting.
The sharp objects pointing at John removed themselves when Aclysia opened the door and neatly put themselves into predetermined spots all across Lydias orderly room. John rxed the slightest bit in his chair.
I didnt finish the previous pot, I apologize, Lydia informed the artificial guardian as she picked up the old tea.
It is of no matter, princess just refrain from threatening my Master further, please, Aclysia requested.
I do not intend to, my anger has been tamed, the princess promised and Aclysia, with a small bow, left the room again, the pot on her salver.
The door closed behind her, and the two of them were alone again. Undine was hanging around, incorporeal, in case Lydia wanted to talk to her, but aside from the silent water spirit, they were truly alone. His familiars were likely intensely eavesdropping, but
Okay, I am never truly alone, John admitted to himself.
I have been meaning to tell you that for a few days now, Lydia sighed; but, s, I feel like you can use that bit more weight attached to this information.
I am really sorry, he apologized.
I am sure you are, her tone softened up a bit as she poured herself a new cup of tea; Would you be willing to stay after the tournament? Another question that came out of nowhere.
Sorry, but I have other ns, he answered in truth.
I suspected as much, Lydia sighed and took a sip; A man of your power and personality is not going to be remaining in a subservient position. I expect then that you are nning to pacify your homnd?
Yes, John admitted.
Lydia put down her cup and stood up. She leaned over John, nailing him against the back of his chair. Knee gently pressing against his crotch, she asked, Is there no way to convince you otherwise?
Uhm, what are you doing? John was bamboozled. He did not take Lydia for someone to try seduction although this also could be intimidation. Either way, it wasnt working.
I wish for you to stay, the princess told him, her clear blue eyes disying a slight bit of greed. For several reasons, I have need of you. The primal one out of the way first: Intercourse with you is highly enjoyable. Truthfully, however, I have need of you in the future. You would make for a good chancellor.
As tempting as that sounds, I would much rather not be bound down, John said. He had originally skipped out on the Golden Rose because Collide granted him more personal freedom. It was the same now, bing part of Rex Germaniae would mean that he had to y by their rules, but if he took over the USA, he could write his own rules.
As a proper American, John desired liberty above all else.
In time, I am likely to fall for you, Lydia whispered in his ear. Now that was proper seduction. You could be king, I will leave you your harem, it is not the first time a monarch has had scandals regarding sex. There is now against polygamy here in any situation either, she continued. Unusual that it is the king-consort that has his official harem, but not unheard of.
John just shook his head, I am not interested in being your king, Lydia. I am interested in you, not in the power you could grant me I am a bit annoyed that this doesnt seem to be true the other way around, to be honest.
Lydia fell back into her own chair with a disappointed sigh. It was worth a try, she said with a dismissive gesture, her face slightly reddened from the exchange; Convincing you would majorly benefit me on a pure level of force I can muster, but I would be lying if I wouldnt be happy if you were just going to stay as a male concubine.
So, its about my dick instead of my powers now? John was intentionally taking her words in the leastplimentary way, just to get Lydia to say something he wanted to hear. A bit maniptive, sure, but the princess was too smart to not get that he was ying her, and a nce showed that she did not appreciate it. She did relent, however.
I suppose you just staying around to be talked to would also be satisfactory, she admitted. I havee to enjoy yourpany over the past few weeks. While this current affair leaves a sour note on our history; once you leave, I will be losing one of the few friends I have in my age group and friends, period. I would be most pleased if you could stay, and if you need any reason, I am happy to be that reason.
Lydia, I am happy to always be at your side I love you, just as I love everyone else in my harem, John said that knowing full well that Lydia did not feel the same for him. Their rtionship was more akin to that between friends with benefits than actual lovers. Out of all the girls he knew, he actually had the least romantic interest in Lydia.
But she was interesting, she was stern, she was ambitious, and she had the mind to make those ambitions reality. She could be harsh when she wanted something, ruthless if she needed to protect something, could barter and strike deals whenever necessary. All for her one true goal, one which made it near impossible for the two of them to ever be a true couple. They may turn into lovers, truly two people who wanted each otherspany. Ambitions, however, ced them on different sides of the.
You know the Virgin Queen, right? It was Johns turn to ask a seemingly unrted question.
Elizabeth, yes, what about her? Lydia wondered.
I think you are a lot like her, John said. She was a great woman, loved by her subjects, and she loved her country. So much in fact that she never married. She had lovers, yes, but she never bound herself to anyone forever.
Lydia, I am happy to be your ally, I am happy to be your lover, but I cannot stay here with you. Your love is for Germany before anything else. I do not want you to change that, but you will have to understand that the current arrangement we have, where you are part of my harem and I am part of your ns for your nation, are the best we are ever going to get.
Lydia looked at him with silent blue eyes for a while. The Virgin Queen, that is a high pedestal you are elevating me to there, she finally spoke.
It is where I see you, and I dont think you intend on proving me wrong, John said.
The princess gestured for him to stand up. He did and crossed the small distance between them. I do not want you to leave, but you are right, she said as they exchanged a hug as friends; Nothing can ever be as important to me as mynd and my people.
And I admire you for it, Lydia; just because our paths can never be the same, it doesnt mean that they will never intertwine again. John brushed back a strand of her auburn hair. Whatever I build, youre wee to visit me whenever, just as I hope I will always be wee here.
The hug was over, and they were looking at each other. Falling for you could make decisions I have to make in the future much more difficult yet I think I will allow myself this one weakness, Lydia said, and they exchanged a kiss as lovers.
That is the highestpliment I could ask of you, John whispered back.
Chapter 274 – The preparations of Jane Hollmey
Chapter 274 C The preparations of Jane Hollmey
Rave did a backflip to gain distance from Nathalia. A big mistake, as John noted to himself. Being in the air against an opponent several times faster than oneself was just asking for trouble. Dodging was tough in such a match-up at the best of times.
Therefore, Nathalia mming her leg into Raves side and catapulting her a few dozen metres away was pretty much expected. John sighed, he had grown worryingly apathetic to seeing his girlfriend getting beaten up. Then again, he knew that this was a safe environment, so that was just his Wisdom reassuring him that everything was fine.
He formed a sphere of healing slime above his Undine covered hand and threw it at Rave. The green ball glowed with vitality and was absorbed into Rave the moment it touched her. It wasnt as effective as applying the slime directly to a wounded area, but it did the job.
Rave jumped straight back on her feet, which was remarkable in its own right. The regeneration may have been potent, but it didnt ease the pain quite that fast, so her ability to just gloss over it was impressive. Not as impressive as Johns who, at this point, didnt care about almost every injury. Considering surrounding factors, that aplishment was dulled. He was gradually leaving the other humans in his harem behind power wise.
Rave was trying her best to keep up. It would be futile, he was a Latebloomer and she was not. She could be powerful in her own right though. Why are you not training in your battle suit anyway? John shouted at her as she threw herself at Nathalia. The dragoness was blocking every single attack with just one hand. Not because she was ying any games or anything but because Raves frontal assault didnt require her to turn her body.
Cause I dont need to! Rave shouted back and then executed a sweeping low kick that aimed at Nathalias left leg, the side which had been under no threat for the past few seconds. Not a bad idea but ultimately fruitless, as the dragoness just raised her scaled foot to block the attack with her heel.
You are executing attacks that rely on me being as weak as you are, little Hollmey, Nathalia purred and then allowed Rave to take her distance again.
Werent you the one who was always whining I cant wear that, I would need to get used to it, John asked.
A, I wasnt whining, ya jerk, Rave listed raising the index finger of her left hand, Two, she raised one finger on her other hand, It doesnt matter for the battlesuit, if it even exists, which it doesnt, and
But why wouldnt it matter? John interrupted her.
Cause I am your girlfriend and your girlfriend always knows best! the techno-lover answered, nodding to herself, Anyway, and drei, she pointed at Nathalia with her little finger, Nathy, dont be so mean.
What did you just call me? Nathalia growled, the gaps between her scales suddenly lighting up as her inner fire started to swell.
Nathy, I thought ya needed a nickname, yall need nicknames, Rave dered; What, ya dont like Nathy? How about Nat-Nat? Thalia?
The dragoness jumped straight at Rave, who smirked and threw out a st of bright light. It was just that: simple light, with no heat or magical properties attached. The re seeded in blinding even Nathalia, even if it was for just the shortest of moments.
Rave ducked away under the clearly telegraphed assault and sessfully rammed her knee into the V shaped gap between Nathalias scales on her stomach. A hit it might have been, but far from doing any serious damage to the dragoness, whose eyes had now recovered.
While Rave was still busy smirking to herself, the leg that was currently connecting to Nathalia was now the target of a wed grab. Pestering little insect, the dragoness hissed. You should fly like the annoyance you are.
That doesnt sound go- Rave managed to say before Nathalia spun around, to gain momentum, and then tossed her into the air.
There she goes, John marvelled, watching his girlfriend fly at least 50 metres upwards before gravity imed her again. Before he could consult Sylph on the matter, Momo was already there and caught her.
That was fun, Rave cheered.
It wasnt meant to be, Nathalia growled, as if that wasnt clear enough.
I know, but I dont care, the techno-lover tip-tapped her way towards John once Momo had put her back down. She pressed a big kiss on his lips and said, Break time.
Okay, so my confusion of your battle suit aside, John said, how is your progress?
Observe said it was quite good, but he wanted to hear what she had to say. Not only because he just liked the sound of her voice but also because her personal guess was important.
Eh, same asst time ya asked me, I dont know, Rave shrugged.
I cannot tell, she is as slow as before to me, Nathaliamented as she stepped into Johns vicinity to wrap her arms around him and pull him into herrge-breasted embrace.
When will you finally ditch this menace and ept me as your one true love, John Newman? she asked. The answer was an undecipherable muffle spoken into her breasts. I cannot fathom why you settle for this wealthless, breastless, experienceless little thing.
Cause he loves me more than he loves you, Nathy, Rave giggled and kept the rest of her boyfriend in her embrace. Also I got the nicer butt.
Being squished between the older, taller dragoness with the big tits and the orange glowing hair and the younger, smaller techno-lover with the perfect butt and pink, curvy hair was giving John an understandable erection. The fact that Nathalia was radiating enough heat to eliminate the need for both him and Rave to wear jackets also wasnt helping.
As seemingly the only person here who has any idea ever, Momo said from the sidelines. I can report that Rave has gotten better, which isrgely attributed to her getting used to the power boosts she has gotten until now.
Uhm, how does that make sense? Rave wanted to know; Why would I get stronger cause of past power boosts?
That is, John answered after wiggling his face out of Nathalia breasts, because of the immediate concernsing from power boosts. Take Thana as the extreme case example: after she was actually in full control of her body, she needed several days to adjust to her new strength. As you have gotten several bursts of power thanks to my experience system, you have been getting stronger and stronger, but you havent really needed to apply that strength with finesse, as we only ever went to kill more stuff, which gave you more bursts of power.
Can ya give me the short version of that? Rave asked.
Sure: you are learning to use the power you have effectively, John answered and nodded at Momo; Thanks for having an actual eye on the progress.
Its what I do, Momo said and flew off with her e-reader in hand.
Okay, so I am just expanding what I already do, his girlfriend hummed. Not sure thatll be enough against mother.
You wanted that fight, John reminded her.
Yeah and I will do my best and I will punch her in her face, Rave said. Whatever happens.
John loved that confidence of hers, even if it was sometimes misced. Having someone at his side who was always of the mind that things were possible, no matter how high the odds were stacked against them, was wonderful.
John kissed her on the forehead, You will do your best, I am sure.
Not even a question, Rave eximed. I will kick mothers ass, and then you will treat me like a princess, cause I deserve that.
You deserve that whenever you want, heughed.
You are definitely right with that one, Rave purred and finally stepped away from him. With overarching steps, she walked around him, tapping a beat against her own cheek with her index finger, I am, after all, the cute girlfriend of some nerd who turned out to be super interesting.
You are so much more than just my girlfriend though, John said.
Yare right again! I am awesome! Rave said and twirled on the spot.
And yet you will lose to your mother.
Their attention shifted to the one speaking those words. Copernicus, sittingzily on the ground, was licking his paw and then used it to clean his golden, copper-striped fur. Whaderya being a buzzkill for, Rave wanted to know and kneeled down to her cat, patting him on the head.
The suncat purred as she scratched him behind the ears, You are using the wrong way of fighting for the tools you have.
What is that supposed to mean? Rave was obviously confused.
Hmm, it means that you are fighting like your mother when you havent chosen the same path, he kept the cryptic expressions going.
John knew when he was facing an elemental that was testing his summoner, having been through that experience three times himself. He refused to count the time Sylph tested him. Can ya just tell me what this is about? Rave booped her summons nose.
You will need to find the answer to this yourself, and you only will in defeat, Copernicus said, his tail flopping over the floor.
Lyly wont like me losing, so can we skip that part and go back to where I be awesome? Rave asked.
I am not concerned with the abomination princess wish, the suncats ears were suddenly pressed close. The oue of this tournament is unimportant to me, I only care about you, Lightbearer, to realize what path you tread on.
With that Copernicus sprinted away to sleep somewhere unobserved. Huh, so that just happened, Rave wondered. Any clue what he is talking about?
Yup, John answered; But I am not going to tell you because I dont look forward to waking up to w marks for the next few years.
Ya know, it could be important enough to change tomorrows oue, Rave poked at his stomach, so ya better tell me.
Doubtful, you only have the rest of today to train, John said and looked at the already dark sky. And there isnt that much more today.
Mhm might as well call it a day then, Rave said. A good meal and a nice round of sleep are more important than one or two more hours of boxing with a dragon.
How about we add a good fucking to that list? John suggested.
I am all up for that, Rave smirked.
You are not going to leave me out of this, Nathalia demanded. I have been fighting against this nuisance for too long. I demand a worldly offering befitting of my appetite.
So you want to do something kinky? John crossed his arms and thought for a moment.
I guess you could say it like that, the dragoness waved off. Ya have anything in mind? Rave asked.
I do have these things I want to test John mumbled.
Chapter 275 – Bonding over Bondage [Erotic Content]
Chapter 275 C Bonding over Bondage [Erotic Content]
They went to John and Raves room where he immediately went over to the bed and pulled something out from under it. It was a t chest, about half a metre high and two wide, of simple wood. An urate description of it would also have been an oversized, wooden briefcase. He put his hand on the lock, which reacted to his mana signature and opened itself with a click. He pulled up the lid.
The chest was bigger on the inside, seemingly continuing into the floor and beyond. It was a bit of a weird sight, seeing the logically ced floorboards and the illogically deep chest right next to them. A weird sight that John was used to by now. He had gotten this chest to not have to store all of the useless stuff he had in his inventory.
For example, the Ascended Hoe of Hoes was in there, as was an assortment of other sexual drops. What he was looking for right now was a bit of bondage gear. As he gathered what he wanted, he listened to Nathalia and Rave discuss in the background.
The bed creaked as Nathalia sat down. Hah, even the bed thinks you are fat, Rave teased and earned herself an annoyed growl.
A little creak is just the first moan amongst the screams this furniture will produce, Nathalia answered. It will break under the unbridled thrusts of Johns lust once he plunges his cock into me with a fervour you could never ignite, little Lightbearer.
Despite the fact that her head was in a lower position than Raves, sitting in front of her and all, the dragoness managed to carry herself in a way that made Rave look like the smaller person in this conversation.
Nuh-uh, the techno-lover tossed her top across the room just as Nathalia crossed her now naked legs, her scales vanishing underneath her skin; I havent been justzing around whenever you were busy burning food and sleeping with other guys. I can pleasure my man even better than you can!
Oh? Nathalia stood up again. Now, standing so close to each other that their naked breasts were touching, the difference in their size was much more apparent. This was both ament about their physical size, Nathalia being a head taller, and their breast size, Raves modest B-cuppeting against Nathaliasrge Ds.
The brown-skinned goddess of destruction stared down at Rave, her long orange hair glowing in the otherwise unlit room. This,bined with the heat the dragoness radiated, created the cosy atmosphere of an open firece inside the room. Minus the flickering of actual fire.
That orange light reflected on Raves fair skin as she stared back with her blue eyes. The pink hue inside was as pronounced as ever. Actually, it had gotten even stronger recently. She blinked once, her long eyshes with the pink tips, a feature of her that was just as natural as her dishevelled, wonderful hair, moving with the natural elegance of attractive women.
She raised her left hand and booped Nathalia on the nose. The dragoness long eyebrows almost met when she stared back angrily. How about we make this a contest, Nathy? Rave suggested with a bit of a giggle.
Of what kind? Nathalia asked. It was pretty clear that she wanted to toss Rave out the window and then fuck John until the summer sun rose.
John was not sure whether he wanted them inpetition. He also did want them inpetition. The part of him that loved them both was in conflict with the part that was loved by both of them. Beingpeted over did stroke his ego in pleasant ways.
The sexual kind, duh, Rave rolled her eyes. Whoever pleases John more in this threesome wins. If I win, you have to live with me calling you Nathy.
If I win, you pack your bags and vanish from Johns life so he will be mine forever, Nathalia answered with a wager of her own.
Whoa, wait a second, that is way over the top, John intervened, putting a blindfold to the side. He had gathered up almost everything he wanted. Where did I leave that damn ring gag?
Ja, what John said, Raveined. Get something realistic.
If I win Nathalia started but then was lost in thought, eventually forwarding a hesitant suggestion; I get to eat you?
Thats even worse! John pped the mattress, which resulted in an entirely unthreatening, soft thud.
If I win you will have to serve me like Aclysia would for a day, Nathalia finally suggested after having rambled through half-a-dozen otherwise, partly apocalyptic, ideas.
Yeah, sure, Rave agreed. On the plus side of all of this, John found all the stuff he had searched for in the meantime. He had even gotten to neatly arrange it on the floor next to the bed. Also, Rave and him both had gotten naked.
Good, Nathalia purred, and John suddenly found himself getting mmed into the bed on his back.
Wha-? Rave pounced on the bed as well, but Nathalia already was working on Johns cock.
I will show you what my millennia worth of experience can truly give you, she said, licking over his shaft.
He had been hard from the start, but that little bit of outside stimtion was all he needed to turn his cock into an iron rod.
Unfair! Raveined as she hurried to get in on the action. John appreciated that two women were currently fighting for his cock, but this whole thing was going against what he actually wanted to do.
Hisints died with the feeling of Nathalias tits wrapping around his dick. Flesh so hot he felt like he was melting between it encapsted his shaft on all sides. The tip resting against the pulsating heat of the gemstone in Nathalias chest felt wonderful as well.
If I win by giving John the most pleasure, then all I need to do is deny you whatever pleasure you could bring him, Nathalia stated with an arrogant smile on her ruby red lips. Biting her own lips, Rave looked at the tits squishing her boyfriends cock with a mixture of anger and envy. The dragoness let out a throatyugh. This will be an easy victory; prepare to serve me, you pink haired annoyance, she said, licking the first drip of pre-cum off Johns cock with an exaggerated, mocking motion.
I am going to show ya! Rave eximed andid down next to John; If I cant suck your dick or anything, I am at least going to make out with you!
Fine by me, John smirked and her glossy lips met his.
He enjoyed the warmth of her mouth, the feeling of their tongues whirling around each other as their saliva mixed and the happy, lustful look in his girlfriends eyes. Lids half-closed as she nestled against him, Raves hard nipples rubbed against his side, as did the rest of her body. Athletic as she was, she still preserved the wonderful softness of an adult woman.
This was especially true for her ass, which John shamelessly groped as they continued to make out. Rave was panting, the ever-increasing heat that built up inside of her only vented by her panting breaths. John inhaled deeply in between his own moans. She smelled of bubblegum and peppermint, sweet and fresh.
Johns own moans only increased as he felt Nathalias tongue coil around his dick. It had been a while since he had seen her use that particr trick. The muscle extended, forced itself between her tits and his shaft, andthered his whole length in her sticky saliva. It was hot to look at, exotic, strange, and deeply erotic.
Nathalias greed knew no bounds; she would taste every single drop of his precious precum, not a single one would be wasted just lubricating the tit-fuck she was giving him. Between slimes, weightless shadows and girls made of stone, John had lost his feeling of weirdness for this sort of thing. He only cared about how good it felt.
And it felt really good. Nathalia once again proved what millennia worth of sexual experience meant. Her tongue wrapped around his shaft in a way that stimted all of the sensitive areas, from the ns to the base. Simultaneously, the gaps between the coiled wetness still allowed John to feel the wonderful squishiness of her enormous chest.
It seemed that the dragoness patience was spent in that very moment, though. Her tongue squeezed the entirety of his shaft, and with a single movement, she pushed John over the edge. His world went white in the time it took him to blink, groaning in pleasure as Rave continued to kiss him, her fingers running through his hair.
He hadnt expected tost long, having not fucked since that morning, but Nathalias need to devour his semen on the spot was stilling rather suddenly. Spurt after spurt, he shot his spunk into her mouth, lips barely wrapped around the tip of his dick. The moaning that came in response to the wonderful taste filling her mouth reverberated in Johns cock.
He had barely ended the current orgasm when Nathalia started moving again. Pressing her tits against him, tongue moving up and down, each in a rhythm that was seemingly independent from the other but was, in truth, optimized to send John into a heaven of debauchery, she kept pleasing him.
The moment of almost painful oversensitivity passed astoundingly quickly, and Nathalia became even more eager in her movement. She had often told John that one of the biggest virtues he had was to be able to go numerous times in a row without pause. Nowadays he could factually go on forever; Source of Satisfaction refilled his balls quicker than he could empty them, barring unusual cases like Siena milking him in an instant.
Nathalia seemed more than eager to put herself even further ahead of Rave by pulling this orgasm of Johns out as long as possible. Not in a teasing way, interestingly enough, but by making his road to cumming one that was gradual. His ecstasy increased from moment to moment yet only so slow that he felt slightly lost in the pleasure.
His anchor was Rave and her still ever-present kiss. Her full lips on his were covered in both of their saliva; they had long gone from romantic, long kisses and were now wildly slobbering all over each other. Where her hands went through his short hair, they left a feeling of longing, but they were always back in a moment anyway.
His balls were beginning to tighten after a few minutes. His hips trembled, and then he instinctively thrust forward. Even Nathalia could be surprised sometimes and didnt manage to catch the head of his dick in her mouth in time.
Fingers digging into Raves backside, the white gooey liquid spurted into the air and covered Nathalias face with the first few spurts, the rest soon covering her breasts. Truth be told, the wide-eyed look on her cum covered face and the white puddles running down her chest were incredibly hot. Largely because it gave Johns shbacks to a time where he covered her entire body in his seed during that aphrodisiac-fuelled entanglement.
Rave saw an opportunity and finally broke the kiss. Lemme help you clean that up, she offered and already went to work before Nathalia could answer. Licking the cum of Nathalias tits as the dragoness still retracted her own tongue.
You will not keep this to yourself, Nathalia demanded, and Rave gave her an open-mouthed grin, the mixture of cum and saliva swimming around her tongue piercing. Then the techno-lover went ahead and kissed Nathalia. The mixture was swapped back and forth until it had been watered down to just saliva..
Rave repeated the little game. Like a cat, shepped up all of the cum she could from Nathalias breasts, and then they swapped it in a heated kiss until the dragoness waspletely clean again. John took the opportunity to wiggle himself out to get into grabbing range of the bondage gear he had wanted to use. Of course, he also watched the whole thing going down with perverted fervour.
Nathalias skin dried within mere moments, and soon nothing showed what had happened. Okay, girls, forey is over, John said and raised the bondage gear.
Ya gonna tie us up? Rave asked, looking a bit miffed at the idea.
Thats the idea, John said and went ahead.
He had no big experience with bondage. He had read up on it, and his fingers went through the motions with rtive ease. He just seriously wanted to try this out, because the idea to have girlspletely at his mercy was an incredibly sexy one.
Yeah, no, I dont like this, Rave said halfway through getting her hands bound behind her back.
Dont like bondage, period, or being bound? John asked her, having a hard time masking his disappointment. Expecting all of his girls to be submissives would have been a bit much, he already knew that at least Lydia did not like being on the receiving end of SM, but he had hoped that Rave would mirror him in the best way possible in this as in most other things.
That second one, I think, Rave answered as John undid her bindings again.
You think? he probed deeper.
Ey, I didnt get this freaky with other guys before; lemme test stuff before I can give ya a solid answer, she turned attention to Nathalia now that she was free again.
The redhead was alreadypletely bound up. Arms locked behind her back with leather cuffs, ck and looking freshly oiled, with a ring gag in her mouth and blind to the world thanks to thick fold that magically form fitted to perfectlypliment her face. Her legs were also in position, and chains connected the cuffs of her arms to shackles on her feet. The result was a kneeling, mute and blind dragoness.
Her chest was still proudly pushed out, and John had no illusions about the effectiveness of these bindings. If she wanted to, the dragoness could have freed herself in a mere moment. Nevertheless, the sight was wondrous, and the fact that a droplet of saliva ran down her forcefully opened mouth, like she was a whore hungering for cock, only made it all the sexier.
Fuck me, this looks great, Rave whispered, obviously turned on.You helpless little lizard, just sitting there at our mercy, the techno-lover purred, leaning over and yfully nibbling on Nathalias long, elvish ear.
Yup, all ours, John agreed and caught one of Nathalias nipples between his teeth. The heaving of the dragoness chest only increased, Nathalia was someone willing to switch into any position, as long as people pleasured her.
Fhuchr meh, the open-mouthed words were barely recognizable.
You get fucked when my man wants to, Rave scolded her and pped the dragoness ass. Nathalia was already leaking on the nkets; the wet spot grew a fair bit as the sound echoed through the room. Isnt that right, tiger? his girlfriend asked and looked over to him.
In her eyes, he saw that sharp, sadistic glint that he felt himself, although it was a little less pronounced in her. Mhm, you seem to really like this, Johnmented, letting go of Nathalias breasts to topple the dragoness over.
Her legs still bound together, she could do nothing but shift her weight to eithernd on her chest or back. John took even that decision from her when he pulled at the chain connecting her arms and feet, and thus the dragonessnded face first in the nkets, feet pointing at the ceiling.
I always liked watching ya dominate but didnt think it would be this much fun to do it myself, Rave grinned and ran two fingers along Nathalias sex. Gaia, you are wet, Johns girlfriend mocked her, loudly slurping Nathalias liquids off her fingers before giving the goddess another smack on her behind. I just love this jiggling. Rave kept her hand on the dragoness fat derriere and shook it under her palm.
Her ass is still second to yours, John told her as he moved in front of Nathalia. The dragoness clearly didnt like that statement, letting out an angry noise. That was quickly silenced by John pushing his cock into her agape mouth though.
The metal ring that kept her mouth wide open was easilyrge enough for John to thrust in and out without ever worrying about touching either the gag or her sharp teeth. Grabbing Nathalia by the horns, he fucked her face as if it was a hole that solely existed for him to get off. The gagging sounds this produced only increased the pleasure he got out of this.
Nathalia clearly liked it as well, her tongueshing against his weak spots, her hollowed out cheeks sucking him in deeper. Over and over again, he entered her throat with reckless thrusts. Her horns made for surprisingly great handles, their ridged, segmented form fitting nicely under his fingers.
The pure amount of empowerment he felt, face-fucking the goddess of volcanoes while grabbing her by the horns, would have been worth a bit of pain though. It would be no understatement to say that this turned him on as much as seeing her naked. Which was also why he was just about to cum down her throat.
Ya should see how wet this lizard is, Raveughed, I swear, every time ya thrust into her, she squirts a bit. The techno lover started fingering Nathalia again. The resulting moans made John clench his teeth in an attempt to not cum on the spot as the vibrations pleasured him even more.
The fact that Rave wasntplimenting his fetish was a bit disappointing, but the fact that she had the same one made up for itpletely. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that they had agreed to give him a harem of other girls, otherwise this may have be a point of sexual frustration down the line. This way they both had enough ways to channel their dominant tendencies. Maybe this was also why she had agreed in the first ce? A subconscious knowledge that they both wanted ymates?
Fuck it, I at least want to see her face when I cum, John thought and undid the mana binding that held the blindfold together. He ripped it aside. Nathalias eyes werepletely unfocused, she barely even noticed that the blindfold was gone. The golden centre of her eyes just rolled around without any control whatsoever. She was out of her mind levels of horny.
Gripping her horns even harder, he grunted as he thrust three more times and then came down her throat without any announcement. He couldnt have held back any longer. Thergest load of this threesome and the third tond into Nathalias stomach spurted in her. The dragoness whole body was shaking under a muffled scream.
Oh, fuck, now she really is squirting, Rave giggled, ravishing the dragoness cunt with incredibly quick movements. Wet splurging noises filled the room as the techno-lover brutally fingered Nathalia through her entire orgasm, apanied by the sound of wetness raining down on the mattress.
Nathalia would have likely copsed the moment her orgasm was over if the bindings didnt keep her body in a forced position. The only movements she got to make were the gulps to swallow his load and the orgasmic aftershocks of a good, obedient dragon pet.
John abandoned his current position and moved behind Rave. His girlfriend was following him with a big, lewd smile on her face. Ya have no idea how much I want your dick right now, she said and rolled on her back.
I have a rough guess, John mused, rubbing his dick along the glistening wetness that had spread all the way to Raves thighs.
Without any further notice, he rammed his dick straight into her. Raves back arched upwards, and she screamed out her lust in what was an instant and not at all small orgasm. HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK! Rave let out a single curse before John started to thrust in and out of her.
He had never seen his girlfriend this turned on before. It only took a few thrusts to turn her instant-orgasm into multiple ones. Her pussy was mping down on his dick like a sleeve made specifically to fit it and continued to be so wet that he could still slide in and out with brutal thrusts. Her whole body shook under the impacts; John also was turned on beyond all belief.
Rave made it even worse, using herst bit of self-control to put her hands on Nathalias ass above her head and sink her tongue in the dragoness pussy. The slutty, sloppy, mindless moans of Nathalia were thest thing that was needed to make this debauchery perfect.
Everyone in this room was lost in their individual lust. Nathalia was deep in thoughtless ecstasy. Rave was flying at the height of a newly realized kink, tasting a vour to her life that she had been desiring without ever knowing it. John was filled with such absolute lust from seeing his girlfriend in a constant state of multiple orgasms attached to a perfectly bound Nathalia that his every thrust felt like the height of an orgasm.
That they maintained this for a solid ten minutes was not only a miracle, but John felt like he was eating the forbidden fruit when his orgasm finally did approach him. It felt too good; he would probably spend weeks trying to emte an evening like this. Images of binding the rest of his harem up mingled with the wish to just fuck them. Teasing, dominating and just casual sex, it all was what he wanted, and this time, he had gotten all of it in a perfect mixture.
Lightning bolts shed through his field of vision as a giant load erupted from the tip of his cock. It felt like his balls were drained by the first spurt alone, yet more followed. Rope after rope of cum filled the inside of his girlfriend, until the orgasm suddenly abated. Feeling weak, it was his turn to copse.
With thest bit of his strength, he managed to catch his fall andnd softly on Rave. Her chest, small as it may have been, was a wonderful pillow. Tired, he turned his head, and his girlfriend looked back, sluggishly blinking. Their lips met in a final kiss.
So, who won? Rave managed to ask, with her eyes threatening to fall shut. This was thest of the days exhaustions which she had been able to take.
You. Nathalia just did what she wanted to then she just let me use her. You at leastmunicated with me, John answered with a yawn.
Guess -Aaaaaah-, his girlfriend mumbled yawningly, ...guess she will have to live with the nickname then.
Yes, John brushed her aside as Raves breath fell into the rhythm of sleep. Soon he would follow her into thend of dreams. He just had to undo Nathalias bindings first.
Chapter 276 – Vs Nariko Hollmey [Rave POV]
Chapter 276 C Vs Nariko Hollmey [Rave POV]
Finally, Rave thought as the biome roulette came to a standstill. Depicted were three identical pictures of an ind in the middle of a sea. The arena started transforming, giving the funky Lightbearer some time to look at Nariko. The two of them looked alike, even though the influx of European heritage made Rave different enough that they werent carbon copies with an age difference. They were, however, clearly mother and daughter.
Narikos dark blue hair was just as dishevelled as Raves, but the abyssal auctioneer tried to tame that by keeping it in a ponytail, with moderate sess. She looked awfully good in her suit as well.
It was a jet-ck thing, sleek to the point of making pure-breed horses look pixted next to it, from vest to pants. The bright pink socks and yellow bindings on her otherwise fitting shoes stuck out like a coconut in an apple cart.
The transformation of the ind advanced rapidly. Sand rose, then the majority of the area was flooded with water that seemingly appeared from everywhere. All the while, the viewing areas moved further and further away.
At the end, they stood alone on an ind, a sandy hill in the middle of the ocean. Only the stereotypical palm tree and the announcers desk hovering far above shared this endless ocean with them. Tropical as it may have looked, it was not particrly hot. On the contrary, Rave found it rather cold.
This is basically a glorified boxing ring Rave twirled one of the longer strands of her hair around her finger as shezily inspected at the whole set-up. It was just a sandy ind, not a whole lot of room to dodge anywhere. Great! she smiled to herself and locked her eyes back on her target. She was all fine in making this up-close and personal. I am going to punch you in the face, mother!
In response, all Nariko did was close her eyes and sigh. A sting of annoyance and something else went through Rave. The annoyance was easily exined: the fact her mother didnt even give her a word of response was highly infuriating. That something else though, what was that?
Rave quickly identified it as that heart-sinking feeling of parental disapproval. Only another reason to kick her in the schnoz. When are we starting? she shouted up to the announcers desk, where Dra was mentioning some trivia about the contestants again. Some political yadda-yadda, Jeff was hyping up the family drama, all in all she did not care.
When she was ignored for several moments, she pointed upwards and shot a harmless beam of light. It seems contestant Rave wants to be in the spotlight, Dra drily stated. He was damn right. She knew that her dashing good looks and overly forward personality often made her the centre of the room, and she loved it.
Being shy was about half of what she did, the other half was kicking ass. Well, lets not keep her waiting any longer then, folks! Jeff shouted into his microphone, and the countdown began. Rave dug her heels into the dirt and finally activated what she had been hiding from everyone else in her group.
Living material spread from her feet, ayer of pink, polyester-like material thatpletely covered her from the neckline to the tip of her fingers in a matter of seconds. So you did prepare after all, Nariko said. Was there a bit of approval in her voice? Rave was sure she had to imagine that, all her mother ever did was get on her nerves. I hope you haggled properly.
The bodysuit was light and clung to Rave like a second skin. It wasnt just some mono-coloured thing; instead it showed a linear texture of vertical strings tightly knit together. At the shoulder and hips, there were deeper lines that separated the suit into segments.
The clothing was eaten away by the living material, leaving her stark naked underneath. While that had the benefit of her clothes not annoyingly rubbing against her, that meant that she best remembered not taking it off after the fight was over. The eating process included the Miales gloves.
Ah dangit, those were a present from John, she thought as the tes reinforced the back of her hands regardless, now being part of the suit. The dual cores, heart of this item, in her soles were of the same kind of crystals that served to create Aclysia, although with different attributes. It wasnt sentient or anything, it was just made with the best materials Rave could get her hands on.
This suit was an investment for her life, being upgradable with whatever weird material her boyfriend managed to get. No wonder that it had cost all of her savings in one go. For now, however, it would need no upgrades. I refuse to be just left in the dust, Rave thought, getting into an aggressive stance.
She wasnt weak, she was just surrounded by people even stronger than her. Raves pride, however, refused to let her take it so easy on herself to be the weakest among them. She tapped her foot to thest two numbers of the countdown. BEGIN! Jeff shouted, and Rave sprinted forwards.
Can I get the blessing please? Rave asked her familiar.
Suuuuure the male voice of Copernicus rang in her head with what Rave realized to be a yawn, and two orbs lighted up below her calves. The light that indicated that the suncats blessing was with her only increased Raves vigour. The team was on a winning streak, only one more for a perfect set.
Her aura red up in blue once, the typical colour of a martial artist, then it exploded in a sh of light. The sound of the waves around them intensified, the smell of sand and salt was strong in her nose, everything she saw became sharper, more defined. All of her senses kicked into overdrive as cat ears sprouted from her head, woven together from her hair.
The explosion was a reinforced natural phenomenon of the transformation. It normally wasnt even close to that bright, but Rave wanted to blind her mother. A strategy that utterly failed. Nariko was a light-magic user herself. There was no way she would get blinded this easily; as a matter of fact, it was unlikely any light magic could blind her.
So, I might as well go for damage! Rave thought and whirled around in a kick to the stomach. From Johns stat projections, she knew that she had more than double her mothers Agility right now. He had warned her that these numbers were not necessarily urate, but Rave decided to just go ahead and test the waters by going all in.
Jumping into shark-infested waters was apletely viable strategy if one felt they could beat up all the sharks. Her foot connected with her mothers side as the Japanese woman went-wide eyed. The attack,bined with the shockwave of light that followed, threw her to the side, and Rave went right after her.
Didnt expect your own daughter to be this fast, huh? she mocked as Nariko barelynded on her feet, skipping several more steps backwards in a desperate attempt to get away from her assant. Rave let a shower of small punches rain down on her mother, each reinforced with the colourful shes of mana filled light.
Pure energy, heat and blunt strength forced Nariko to give more and more ground until the abyssal auctioneer had one foot in the water. It was a grinding process, taking several minutes of continuous assault, but Raves aggressive strategy seemingly paid off. A false punch that quickly turned into a high kick sent Nariko flying even deeper into the shallow water near the ind.
For a moment she was submerged underneath the waves. Rave, standing on the beach, took a couple of heavy breaths. Being in cat form was great, as it allowed her to regenerate mana slowly by being exposed to sunlight. Still, she was feeling a bit strained from the continuous battering she had given her mother.
Nariko rose from the water with slightly sluggish movements; the assault couldnt have left her undamaged. Had enough yet? Rave asked, still breathing to restore her stamina; Ya could always ya know, give up, and then we can go back to not talking to each other.
The blue eyes of her mother looked at her with the same disappointment that Rave had known from her all her life, staying silent. The only thing Nariko did was fix her ponytail. After the earlier acknowledgement, however small it had been, this gesture of ignorance only hurt that bit more.
Years of anger welled up again, and Rave shouted from the top of her lungs, SAY SOMETHING! A giant leap carried her all the way to where her mother was standing, submerged up to the hips. A double explosion of heated light from the funky Lightbearers hands turned the water into steam where her mother stood.
Had stood.
She had dodged the attack in a sh of golden arcs of power, simr in appearance to the electric discharge of lightning but so different from it in all but two aspects. It was fast and it was pure energy.
Rave didnt have the opportunity to see anything else as she was quickly enveloped by the warm mist she had brought forth herself. The water slowed her down, and a bolt of crackling light hit her in the shoulder.
You are incredibly impatient, Copernicus sighed watching over this whole thing from his position on top of the palm tree. Rave was left no room to answer; instead, she had to quickly jump out of the steam and see that she got into a more advantageous position to continue her attack from.
Her mother was a way stronger mage than she was, fighting on distance would only disadvantage her.
Once outside the cloud, a second bolt of golden lightninging from the ind made Narikos position clear. How she had made it back to the beach in what couldnt have been more than 3 seconds, Rave wasnt entirely clear on, but she would need to set after her.
Under the suppressive fire of arcs of pure energy raining down on her, Rave made a zigzag course for the beach. She hated the cold water, it tested her already strained endurance further, and the wetness of her outeryer interfered with her mana regeneration. The suit let through the precious sunlight she needed, but it was now getting soaked, and that meant that her mana regeneration was getting blocked for most of her body.
Maybe I should have upgraded it against a situation like this after all, Rave realized. In her defence, she hadnt expected to fight her arena duel in the water, but the fact of the matter remained.
Nevertheless, she managed to get away from the assault surprisingly unscathed. The worst hit she sustained had been the one on her right shoulder, which was numbed but did not terribly hurt. Everything else were just minor hits.
Finally, she was close enough to the ind, so she was only ankle deep in the crystal clear water. She pounced the rest of the way. Her mother, spying an easy hit, pointed at her. If the massive number of hours spent fighting Nathalia and Thana had taught Rave one thing, then it was how to dodge in a situation where you had no business being able to do that.
Rave twisted her upper body mid-flight, and the bolt aiming for her left shoulder missed. Having correctly guessed that Nariko wanted to numb both of her shoulders to limit her attack potential, Rave smirked. She turned the twist already in motion into a spinning kick and missed graciously.
It had been off from the start, her burning muscles refusing to urately follow what Rave wanted to do, but it should have connected. However, just before her leg could crash into Narikos neck, which was the next best thing to punching her in the face, the abyssal auctioneer disappeared.
In her ce, Rave saw a bundle of the radiant lightning that she had seen earlier when Nariko dodged. It hadnt been a side-effect of whatever she was doing, it had been the effect itself. Now a mass of pure energy, Nariko relocated within a split second, answering how she had stormed back to the beach as Rave threatened to make a pretty badnding.
However, not all was lost yet. Sure, her stamina was bad, but she was just sluggish, not dead-exhausted. She could continue to fight, and right now, she had the tool to make the next hit thest one. The kick that now had missed still had all of the energy that came from Copernicus enchantment until it connected with something.
Landing on one leg surely looked goofy, but it was the only way to keep that energy. She turned towards her mother just in time to see both of her hands sparking with incredible amounts of power.
The roar of released energy flew by Raves ear with unrelenting volume and might. A sound so eardrum shattering that Rave thought she was standing right next to a thundercloud. The shockwave caused her to topple over, the foot carefully kept in the air connecting with the ground and creating a mighty ripple of light on the floor that was just a useless blow by the time it reached Narikos legs.
Rave looked at the ssed scar the attack had burnt across the beach. She herself had not felt the slightest bit of heat, apletely contained and concentrated energy attack. One of only two, Rave realized, as Nariko lowered her now empty left hand, her right one still crackling with undiluted, shining lightning.
Her mother hadnt missed, she hadnt aimed for her in the first ce. She had been holding back this entire time. Give up, I dont want to hurt you, Nariko demanded and clenched her fist. A flick of her wrist would send the second attack flying. She wouldnt miss again.
If there was any love in those cool eyes, it did not rise to the surface.
Chapter 277 – Will you listen?
Chapter 277 C Will you listen?
Johns first reaction to his girlfriend arriving back at the top of the tform was to awkwardly step in front of her with his arms open. Her eyes were hidden behind her bangs, a mess that looked even more dishevelled than usual. There was no other indication needed than the ppy state of her persisting cat ears.
She took a weak step off the tform, and two quick ones followed, then she pressed her head against his chest, and he closed his arms around her. I was too hasty, Rave mumbled, her muffled voice trembling.
Yes, you were, John said in a tone that was as gentle as possible. She wouldnt want him to be anything but honest.
I blew all my powder from the start, and mother just strung me along while she waited for me to get tired, there was something like a sniff, then a bit of a giggle, I was totally the mouse there, not the cat.
Your mom is a cougar, John joked and was rewarded with a minor gut punch for that.
Weirdo, Raveughed, and that sound alone repaid him for the pain. He gently rubbed her head for a few more seconds before she calmly freed herself from his embrace. Copper eyes slightly reddened and with some tears still dwelling inside, she turned to Lydia. Sorry, I totally lost, she apologized.
Yes, you did, Lydias arms were crossed, her fingers danced over the sharp turn of her elbow. Then she sighed. This was the anticipated oue. We will have to strategize about how to go forward.
A grumbling noise came from Thana, and John, keeping an arm around Raves shoulder, looked over to the blood mage. Most likely in an attempt to prevent herself from saying anything stupid, Thana was biting down on her hand. To be more exact, her overly sharp teeth were applied to the squishy bit on the outer side of her left palm, below the little finger. There was no blood drawn, but it still looked rather ufortable.
To aplish this rather awkward task, Thana had bent her arm in a way that made her elbow point at the ceiling. It looked quite silly. Which is why Raveughed in her face for it. The emotions of confusion and anger both shed over Thanas face, then she startedughing as well. Quite a bit louder than Rave and a tad (a lot) crazier.
You fucking suck, Thana told her at the end. Why would you blow all your load at the start? If you have premature ejaction issues, at least tease a bit!
Cause I suck, Rave smiling in a way that was almost usual, if it wasnt for the dejected way she looked at the floor.
Time to get that fixed. Copernicus walked along the railing of the tform. A good start would be to understand why you were fundamentally wrong in your training. You fight as if I dont exist, Jane, he said; You fight like your mother, alone, when you should be thinking about how we should fight together.
Wait, why do ya tell me now? And didnt ya, when we made our contract, say that you will just empower me while I fight?
I am a cat, I change my mind, Copernicus yawned. Funnily enough, that was a valid answer. Cats could be pretty indecisive dicks. If you give me reason to assist you, I will. I take no pleasure in my Lightbearer losing. You are supposed to be capable enough so that I dont need to help you, but now that you have been properly humiliated, I think it is time we further our bond a bit.
You dyed this to humiliate her? Lydia asked in a disapproving tone; And lose me a point on top of that?
I already told her and I will tell you again, Lylytina, the sun cat mockingly meowed. I am not bothered by your nation of sinners struggle for power. All I care for is for my Lightbearer to provide me with a secure and interesting life. Copernicus eyes wandered back over to Rave, As luck would have it, that includes her being the strongest she can be. I do not usually fight, but once in a while, hunting is fun.
Basically, what you are saying is that even a house cat kills a mouse sometimes, John, who had seen all of thising from the moment Copernicus had spoken up yesterday, teased.
He earned himself an annoyed hiss. Copernicus jumped at Rave, and she caught him. Ya are such a stupid little kitty, Rave said and scratched his belly as she held the cat in her arms.
Of the two of us, the stupid one would be you, the suncat answered, working on Raves hand with his paws, ws retracted.
So ya gonna teach me how to punch mom in the face next fight?
I will try, Copernicus purred. You are not allowed to lose unless I want to teach you a lesson, Jane. Having a weak summoner is a disgrace.
Well, I will live, learn and move on! Rave eximed.
Ehem, there was a female voice that John barely knew clearing her throat. They looked over to a green-haired girl waving at them, apanied by two knights clearly ready to drag her away if Lydia told them so.
Hey, sis, Liz, Raves younger sister, greeted.
She had the same teardrop shaped face and stunning good looks, although the Asian heritage shimmered through more intensely in her. The curse of her family manifested in an intense green colour. Her hair was much straighter than Raves by andrge, but still curled excessively towards the tips, especially at the back.
The two of them also shared their glossy pink lips, which ignited the wish in John to see both of these lips slide over his dick. Banging two sisters at the same time was somewhat of a primal desire for him and most men, he had no idea why. Probably because Rave was hotter than the sun (at least in Johns opinion, his girlfriend looked better than Sol), and having a girl that looked a lot like her at the same time was double the awesome.
Sadly, Liz had a boyfriend, so that route was blocked. Not that Rave was likely to agree to this in the first ce. Whaddya want? the pink haired girl in question said.
Well, mom cante here herself, because newspapers, so she sent me over, Liz looked over to John. I would have just called, but somebody switched numbers without telling me.
I am fairly certain that I sent you an SMS with my new number, John said and checked. Indeed, he had.
Liz clicked her tongue after looking through her phone for almost a full minute, Who uses SMS? Write me on WhatsApp or something! Whatever. The green haired girl made the motions of adding someone to their contacts and then put her phone away, I am supposed to ask you whether or not you are willing to talk now, sis.
Rave continued to scratch Copernicus belly, deep in thought. That in and of itself was making John smile a bit. His girlfriend usually just decided things in the spur of the moment; the fact that she didnt just outright refuse or agree meant that she was actually considering what she wanted, not just now but going forward.
I suggest we go, John said, squeezing her shoulder in what he hoped to be an encouraging disy of his love. I got your back, is what he wanted her to understand, and the fact that she leaned against him made him sure that she did.
Okay, I did get to pummel her for a bit, might as well hear what she has to say, Rave agreed, and as if a thorn that had been stuck in her side for months finally had been removed, she rxedpletely. The fearless smirk returned to her gorgeous face.
John understood immediately. It wasnt the question whether or not she would even talk to her mother which his girlfriend had been pondering over, it was whether or not she could forgive her. Back when the two of them had announced their candidacy for the tournament, it clearly had been a no.
If she had found the will to talk to her again, then Rave, so it seemed, had found it in herself to listen to her mother in earnest and judge whether or not she would forgive her. That was a clear step-up from the question of could.
The fact that John understood all of this just by the smile she wore on her lips made him realize once again just how lucky he was to have her. Between the smile and her slightly red eyes, he saw her for who she was. She was a certainty in his life, a lovable anchor that he shared his world with. Finding someone that he could understand on such a deep level, that could understand him the same way, was beyond fulfilling. How long the odds must have been for him to run into her?
It was a useless question, and the answer didnt matter anyway, it only mattered that it hade to pass. As if guided by an invisible hand, John bowed his head as she stretched her neck towards him. Their lips met in a kiss that sent shivers down his spine.
Her lips tasted of saltwater and tears of defeat. Nheless, they were the lips he loved most in this world, these pink glossy lips; no matter how they may taste in a bitter moment or sweetest of victories, the person they belonged to was the one that he wanted to remain in his life forever. No doubt about it.
As the shiver spread through his body as a pleasantly warm tingle, their kiss, a kiss only romantic and not filled with any lust, continued. Only when the warmth had spread so far that it basically had be part of him, neither having cooled down in the slightest, did they stop.
That one was awesome, more of that, Ravemented under her breath. Then they had Liz guide them to wherever Nariko was waiting for them. Lydia excused herself from the affair, as did Momo. Thana had to be promised cake in order to follow the support. Nia simply vanished when they werent looking for a moment.
On their way over, John made sure that nobody followed them by using Jack. The bird was equipped with Reveal. Which was a thing he really should get used to, but he disliked using Spellcarrier needlessly. With its base cost of 3 Possession Slots, of which he had 5 in total right now, it cost him a total of 3 Mana per second, which was more than half of his current regeneration of 5,59.
While far from uneptable, it wasnt something he really wanted to pay all the time. He would feel less inclined to not do it if his mana regeneration was bigger, which was a work in progress. Math aside, however, he did spot someone following them.
Their driver hadnt even raised questions. The Abyss was a weird ce wherever one went.
They stepped out of the car and looked at the building in front of them. A giant tower with a design that was a sessful marriage between modern day skyscrapers and an obelisk, being primarily made from finely worked stone. The building was several dozen stories high. Most of them were open at the side, allowing delivery drones to fly in and out.
The basic stone skeleton looked, like most bigger structures in this city, ancient but also wlessly maintained. It was a bizarre look into a time long passed that still stuck to this city and this city alone. A culture that had risen and fallen in the history that John had known before all of this began, amplified by the powers of magic which defiedmon physics.
Aside from that basic structure though, the walls of the tower with its quadratic base were mostly ss and metal. It appeared that the base structure had been modified countless times, whole floors had been ripped out and reced with another business.
This was thergest bureaucraticplex in Rome outside of the imperial pce itself. In the second ring of the city stood this behemoth of paperwork, profit and nearly uncontrolled capitalism. The Abyss Auction Rome Headquarters.
Mom is waiting inside, Liz said.
Chapter 278 – Parental Advisory
Chapter 278 C Parental Advisory
The inner workings of the building made John question why he even bothered making sure nobody followed them. A good 50 people were active in and around the base floor, making calls, sitting atputers, holding stacks of paper, losing half of them as they ran from point A to point B.
It was an almostedic disy of bureaucracy at its worst. Didnt help that basically everyone seemed to work against each other; people tripping happened at least thrice while John passed. Sorry, the interns are always overly enthusiastic, Liz sighed as they made their way through.
You say that like you are already part of the upper structure, John noted.
Nah, but I can join as an apprentice whenever, I have an open invitation, she smirked. And thats only half thanks to moms influence. Cause I am awesome!
She is your sister, alright, John joked towards Rave and earned himself a little bit of a pinch in the side for that.
They entered an elevator at the side of the building. Located inside a ss tube, they had a wonderful view over the city as it quickly ascended. So, how has life been, sis? Liz asked. Havent really spoken in like 5 years?
Ya know, punched that guy, started dating this nerd, she pointed at John with her head, being awesome. How was it for you?
You know, zapped this guy, started dating some jock, being rad, Liz pretty much mirrored what her sister said.
This was nice, in Johns humble opinion. Sure, the two of them werent chatting vividly, like sisters on good terms would do, but at least they were exchanging a bit of small talk. John could feel the air get heavier when the lifts door opened, though.
They were on the highest story of the building, which spoke volumes about just how high Narikos current standing in the Abyss Auction must have been. The room they stopped at was a highly luxurious office room. The ck carpet was so clean that John almost didnt want to step on it, but Liz went ahead, so he followed.
The reason for the heavy air was, without a doubt, Nariko sitting behind an elegantly swung, dark blue tinted ss table. She moved her eyes off theputer screen and looked at the arrivals; with a simple wave of her hand, she gestured for both of them to sit down. Ill go make some tea, Liz said, opening a door that led to living quarters that likely filled the rest of the story.
Nariko punched in some more words into her keyboard before turning to Rave and John. Do me the favour and take a shower, Jane, she said.
What? Rave immediately sounded annoyed, which was a supremely good start for family talk.
Whatever the oue of this will be, it will be hard to convince me that Rave got her social side from her mother, John thought.
You are still wearing that battle suit and are probably covered in salt, go take a shower and borrow some of Elizabeths clothes, Nariko turned back to her work, we can talk afterwards.
Rave pressed her lips together but then sighed, I guess I could use something clean to wear. Stupid way to say all of that though. With that, the techno-lover jumped out of her seat and followed Liz into the living area shouting,
Liz, where is your shower? as the door closed behind her.
John fully expected Nariko to descend on him with something she wanted to talk about without her daughters around. Instead, he was met with a quiet that was only filled with the sounds of a mechanical keyboard rattling down words on a screen.
Did you really send Jane away just so she wouldnt be covered in salt? he asked after a solid seven minutes.
That stupid girl doesnt know what is good for her, his girlfriends mother answered and gave him a nce that made it very clear that she did not really mean the shower.
Okay, Ive about had it with this, John thought- If she throws usations my way, I can do the same. You are a terrible mother, he just straight out said. She furrowed her eyebrows,
Pardon me?
You heard me, John shrugged; You are a terrible mother. I am not sure about terrible person, but you sure as all hell are not doing the mother thing well.
Nariko sighed and went back to work, Maybe, I have enough with my own daughter and husband judging me. Your opinion is heard but discarded.
Dont you mean ex-husband? John pointed out.
To his mild surprise, Nariko shook her head, You can wait until Janees back to hear the whole story.
And that he did. Rave returned shortly thereafter in a shirt and jeans which both fit her very well but looked a bit too proper on her. It was just unusual. She also brought the tea with her, Liz said she is going out or something.
It seems I cannot even keep tabs on the one of you two that decided to stay with me, Nariko mumbled and grabbed the cup of tea Rave hesitatingly handed her.
So whaddya wanna talk about? Rave asked as she fell back into her seat, cold bottle of c in her own hand. Ya wanna gloat about how ya beat your own daughter effortlessly or something? Want me to break up with John again?
No, I am meaning to tell you everything. I had a talk with Regan following the revtion that you and your boyfriend were polyamorous. To my shock, I had to find out that he never really informed you about the broader reasons for our official divorce, Nariko said.
So ya yelled at daddy for a bi- Rave stopped and blinked in rapid session, formting her next words very carefully she added, did you just say official?
Yes, daughter, your father and I never actually divorced we took an extended break, Nariko sighed. It is a bit hard to exin without context, so please try to keep your impatience in check and dont interrupt me, as you usually do.
If ya refrain from being a the techno-lover cleared her throat and reached for Johns hand. Just get on with it.
As you well know, our extended family still resides back in Japan, Nariko said.
Wait, wait, John intervened, extended family? I thought it was just your grandparents.
It is isnt it? Rave turned to her mother, who looked seriously disgruntled about being interrupted at the start.
No! the blue-haired woman half-shouted; We are a whole n! How do you not know this?!
Well, ya never told me! Raveined.
I most certainly did!
Nuh-uh!
Jane, even if you are denying me you will use proper words and not this gibberish!
Make me!
Are you asking me to beat you twice within one day?
While that did make Rave shut up, John was pretty sure he now knew where Rave had her inability to exin even the most basic stuff from. It was honestly quite fascinating to him, seeing how her mother, no matter the amount of anger Rave held, still had such a massive impact. Not unexpected, just interesting.
So, starting even further back, as I apparently need to exin our family history to you because you didnt listen when I did Did you not listen to my father either? Nariko suddenly remembered. When you stayed with him about 12 years ago? I expect him to haveid this out.
All I remember is him talking about dragon tuna and I was eight, Rave pointed out.
Nariko pinched the bridge of her nose, And Regan never informed you either?
He was busy NOT talking about ya after ya, ya know, divorced him and broke his heart? Rave actually looked more amused by her mother looking like she was going to burst out in anger at any second than annoyed that she was missing her whole family history; All I know is that I am part of the fifth generation and that our family is cursed to have really cool hair.
Lets start from there then, Nariko, scribbling a note on a pad that undoubtedly said Reprimand parents and husband for my own failures, mumbled. At the end of the Edo period, a Dutch man fell in love with the then female head of our household. It was a chance meeting in a natural Illusion Barrier, as she was the first in our family to have any Innate Abilities and he was an explorer that came to Japan under the guise of a sailor. The romance between the two of them is long, convoluted and frankly not particrly interesting. The important part is that they married eventually, she took his name, and since then we are called the Hollmey n, whose current head is me.
Wait, so, uhm, two questions, First, so its not actually dads name, and B, so, I am like, the princess of an important Japanese household or something? Rave seemed to like the second a lot.
No, his name was Smith, Nariko answered.
Thats so boring though! her daughterined.
Why do you think he took mine? Your father always liked entric things, Nariko answered.
She took a sip of tea from her cup that, as John now realized, had Hello Kitty on it. He was not quite sure what he expected from the woman that actually married Regan.
To answer your second question: our n stems from a family of dishwashers and cooks.
Thats just as boring! Raveined even louder.
I am quite sorry, Jane, but this is the reality of the situation, so quit your sniffling! Nariko reprimanded her in the tone that only parents can use when they were annoyed with their kids.
Rave just rolled her eyes, humans could get immune even to that if it was used too often. Evidently, Nariko had used it more than just one too many times.
Moving on to the current situation, Nariko sighed. Japan is under constant threat by the Korean seat of the Divided Gates. We have no central authority to turn to, nobody who protects us. In older times, the Mandate of Heaven would have protected us. They have bigger issues than our ind, however, and maintaining their diplomatic rtions with the Dangun n is more important to them. Stopping, Nariko dropped her volume to a low mutter. I lost more than a few family members to these raids, and you, Jane, will never get to meet your aunts.
A short silence ensued as Nariko took another sip. This time neither John nor Rave had a question orment. John had heard of these raids before, but he had not expected to somehow be tangled up in that so closely.
But why would you even let me hang out with my grandparents if Japan is that dangerous? Rave eventually asked.
Because it is safe for them thanks to what I did, Nariko told her with a stern look; With no authority on the ind, I turned to the only authority that is global: money. And no one has more money than the Abyss Auction, Jane. She ran her finger over the rim of her now empty Hello Kitty cup, It is my money that keeps my family safe, my influence that buys us protection from the Koreans. I met your father on the way up the ranks. He was happy where he was, but I couldnt stop at a simple venturing position. I needed more. It tore us apart that I never had time for you and Liz. He said I should make you my priority, I wanted to make Japan safe for us to live there one day. Both at the same time wasnt realistically maintainable.
So, you and dad divorced, Rave said.
That was arge part of it, yes. I decided that my work at the time was more important, he said I could concentrate on it after you two grew up. We fought over it, a lot. In the end we decided to break it off and publicly split. I sold the ring on the auction as a sign to all my enemies that I was really done with Regan, that they couldnt get at me through him, Nariko sighed, and the wrinkles cast shadows over her otherwise youthful face. She suddenly looked very tired. I didnt want any of this to work out the way it did. Regan took custody over you, Liz insisted on staying with me. So, I allowed her and had her stay safely with your grandparents for most of the time.
Is that all of it? Rave asked as silence fell over the room; You prioritized work over your kids because you needed money to build a better future, dad didnt agree, and then you decided to split it off?
Ande togetherter down the line and see if we could resolve it, yes, Nariko nodded.
Rave stood up.
Where are you going? Nariko asked, stretching an arm after her in a longing motion as her daughter headed for the exit, John at her side.
You are still a shitty mom, the techno-lover said, but you are not a bad person, and I need time to get that into my head. We talk again after this whole tournament kerfuffle is over, okay?
The pink-haired girl kept her head straight-ahead, her mother couldnt see her face, she couldnt see her mothers face. We will face off again when you enter the arena, Nariko warned.
I know, Rave nodded.
Then I hope we will talk again, Jane.
Sure thing, mom.
Only John saw that both of them had wet eyes as he and Rave left.
Chapter 279 – Move like a tiger.
Chapter 279 C Move like a tiger.
Stop wasting all your power from the start! Copernicus yelled at his Lightbearer from the side-line as Rave was currently busy going one on one with the first and only boss of the Steampunk Tier 18 arena.
It was a towering goliath, about three metres tall and shaped like a spider-centaur. A golem of bronze and silver, with four arms and eight legs. Its appendages didnt end in feet or hands, but incredibly sharp needles. When it hushed over the floor like an overgrown spider, it created a stato of clicking noise, boiling hot steam rising out of the small chinks in its ted, somewhat crudely worked form.
The boss, bnced for Johns current level and buffed to prove a challenge to seven people instead of just one, was an unsurprisingly tough challenge for his girlfriend. It was buffed further through the I.D. settings, John had increased drop rates for all items on that end.
For the why, it was because two people had insisted on it. First, his girlfriend, second, her cat, the former because she wanted to pound her frustrations into something, thetter because he wanted Rave to fight against something really strong. John had epted with a sigh, he figured that he could take care of that golem with his elementals if need be, and with Undine, he had more than enough healing power.
In short, he wasnt worried, but he wasnt psyched either. Especially because he spent that time just sitting on his butt, counting the gears underneath the seemingly indestructible ss pane they were sitting on top of. The audience of mechanically augmented humans, at least that was their appearance, seemed to love it either way. They were sitting in their seats above and just apuding whatever happened in the rectangle shaped battleground.
I wonder if its 2 or 3 football fields, John thought as he watched from above.
Copernicus was busy lecturing Rave in the meantime, If you just use everything from the start and go all out, that works great if you can take out your opponent in one go, but when rushing in against an opponent that is stronger than you, all you do is exhaust yourself, eventually leaving you defenceless! he shouted at her.
This is really the wrong time for a lecture, Cappy, Rave informed him.
The suncat ignored her and continued, On top of that, you fight like your mother. She doesnt have to worry about the mana strain of keeping an elemental summon puts on you
Something which I dont have to deal with, thankfully, John thought, having recently read up on why elementals werent further spread. If they were just additions to ones fighting strength, why wouldnt just about everyone use them? For a start, if one didnt have an Innate Ability thatnded them an easy contract, it took a lot of time to nourish an elemental to be anything usable. For non-Gamers, that was.
Innate Users got around that by contracting already existing, stronger spirits. In doing so, they got themselves a capable and strongpanion. The kicker: keeping them around cost mana, and having them contracted changed ones mana circuits in a way that made it just better to rely on them.
To put it into numbers: if somebody operated at 100% of their potential fighting power when alone, they operated at 75% if an elemental was around them, meaning that the elemental needed to provide the remaining 25% to cut even.
With an already grown elemental that was, generally, not only met but trumped. The way Copernicus buffed Rave meant that her initial drawback was also mitigated. That didnt mean it was removed though. If Rave was operating under 90% of the power she could have had if she was solo, then Copernicus represented another 60% that she was just wasting.
Together they were stronger than what Rave could have aplished with her own potential, divided Rave would be better off doing things on her own. Nariko, on the other hand, had made no contract and fought with herplete power in her own hands, which, at the current time, was also higher than her daughters.
Rave should have known all of this when she made her contract, but, to quote her: I just thought, hey, maybe you get a cool buddy and we can punch Moira together or something. In other words, she hadnt thought about the long-term.
So, instead of keeping on training just yourself, maybe you should ask yourself how I can be of use in your fights.
Yare such a cat! Rave shouted and barely ducked under the four spiked arms of the Click, aiming to put her into the warm embrace of a bloody maiden. Really, this is not what I want to hear right meow! Rave shouted, the strain of battle forcing her into old speaking habits. Kicking away one of the golems legs, she caused a ripple of light that followed and got another two on the bosses right side who was now keeling forwards. I have lost! she shouted and punched Furtrue in where a humans stomach would be, creating a small dent. Steam whistled into freedom, apparently she had crushed some pipe by pure chance. I feel dumb enough already! she added jumping over the retaliation strike and then kicking the golems head in mid-air.
The four arms came for her, the clear intent to use Raves torso as a needle cushion. The funky lightbearer grabbed one of the oversized arms and used her grip to dodge in a whirl that would have made the jaws of Olympic level athletes drop to the floor.
And now my mom isnt the bitch I always thought she was! Rave delivered another kick to Furtrues head. The golem staggered to the side, Rave jumping off from his shoulder just before he crashed into the ground. This blows! she announced, her cat ears flicking at a random dust particle that tickled the sensitive formation of magically enhanced hair. Turning her back at the enemy, she looked at John, Lets do something e-
Watch out! John shouted as the golem suddenly started moving again and closed the distance in a mere moment.
Its head and stomach were dented, but the golem was stillrgely operational. In her anger and confusion, Rave had forgotten one of the most vital rules ofbat: make sure that your enemy is truly beaten. The sick whistling of a constant venting of steam from the boss head made it unmistakable that the funky lightbearer had dealt some damage but not enough to take the boss out.
Two arms stabbed through Raves shoulder and stomach in an act of sloppy revenge. The other two, aiming for vital areas missed their mark, the one aiming for her head thanks to Rave reacting in time, the other one, aiming for her heart, thanks to an unlikely help.
You will repay meter for this, Siena casually noted, having deflected the blow, the needle screaming over her ded fingers. A momentter a heavy gust of wind forced the boss to pull back.
The only stabbing that happens to Rave involves Johnny and his dick! Sylph reprimanded the construct; And maybe Aclysia and her dick. And maybe Undine and her tentacles. And maybe Siena and her tentacles. And maybe me and a strap-o-
WE GET IT, JUST HIT IT WITH LIGHTNING, YOU AIRHEAD! Smander interrupted her as the golem started to recover.
John was already at Raves side. The pink battlesuit had failed to prevent the damage in its entirety, the spikes had went straight through Raves body, but John could imagine how much worse it would have been without it. The thing also immediately sealed up the wound, so at least she didnt bleed all over the ce.
That was not exactly graceful of meow, was it? Rave managed to still giggle despite the pain she must have been in.
John went for the wound in her stomach first, Nope, and I think your liver has been literally punctured.
But thats my favourite organ! sheined as John patched her up. The pained hue in her eyes quickly subsided and waspletely gone once he got to her arm.
The golem was thrashing about, trying to deal with the two flying annoyances, the stabbing thing that struck from its own shadow, and the nearly unmoveable girl of stone between it and the easier prey. If Furtrue could have roared, it would have done so now. Instead, a great amount of steam was blown into the air in an alternative show of anger.
There, good as new, John said and patted Rave between her cute pink ears. Despite the somewhat unfitting ce, Rave purred a bit.
Thanks, tiger, she said and kissed him.
Call back your elementals, John, Copernicus demanded. Jane is going to beat this thing with my help only. John nced at him, then looked back at Rave. His girlfriend nodded, and so they did as the suncat demanded. Returning to the side-line with his girls, but without Copernicus, John stayed at the ready to intervene again.
Ya know I am not the smartest of the bunch, so why dont ya drop the cryptic nonsense and lets do what I am good at? Rave used the moment that the golem spent confusedly spinning around its own axis, in search of the enemies it had just been fighting, to ask this question.
Copernicus sighed in defeat, I need you to Unleash me, do as I instruct.
There was a moment of silence, then Rave nodded. Whatever the Lightbearer had just learned, Copernicus had used their telepathic connection to inform her rather than convey it with simple sounds. This either meant that the instructions were too specific to be exined in a mere moment or the cat just wanted to tease the hell out of John. The Gamer had no chance to ask as the golem finally started moving again.
Rave didnt take a single step as the eight-legged mechanical monstrosity stampeded his way towards her. Its course was slightly off, the dented shape of its head messing with its sight and bnce. It didnt need tond an exact hit anyway, with its sheer size and weight, running over the Lightbearer and then stomping at her with its pointy legs would be enough to take her out.
At the veryst moment, Rave dropped down. Her mana bar emptied in an instant as her aura, usually blue but a dark gold when she was in her cat mode, red up dangerously. The upwards kick that followed was horrible, and John recognized the technique in an instant.
A sole sized hole burst through the golems eight-legged lower body of Furtrue. The excess Ki-energy spread through the air and threatened to dissipate. This was the attack Regan had used in his fight against Travolta. The fact that Rave knew this attack was no news to John, she didnt like to use it because of the sheer amount of mana it wasted.
Powerful it was, without a doubt, but if not used as a sure-fire finisher, it left her needing to regenerate, and the amount of mana it took was better used in a light-based attack, which she could use without wasting her own mana.
The question why she used it now of all times came in the shape of the mana in the air suddenly all heading towards a single point. His little cat mouth wide open, Copernicus devoured the mana of his summoner. There was not a single bit of actual air movement, the only thing the cat attracted was the mana of Rave. Johns own Mana Protection stayed entirely unobstructed. Out of curiosity, he fired a Mana Ray at the ground. Even the blue energy remains of that attack were unaffected.
So its only her mana, John thought as Rave fled from the disadvantageous point. Hole or not, being in a cage consisting of eight pointy legs was not where she wanted to be.
Is that enough for ya? Rave asked once she was in rtive safety, the golem setting after her as she did her best to regenerate mana. There was no sunlight down here, so she had to resort to the less productive method of breathing.
It will suffice for a demonstration, Copernicus meowed, running at her side, his golden fur glistening with newfound strength. Surely a few seconds will be enough to turn this golem into a bygone nuisance. At thest word they both turned around and jumped at the golem.
Rave used what little mana she had regenerated to st him in the face with blinding light, the oldest trick in her book. With his already damaged ocr sensors, the golem wentpletely blind. The wild iling of his spikey arms hitting nothing.
In his flight, Copernicus transformed. Little cat paws became mighty ws that could break a bears neck with a single swipe, the golden fur rippled with power as his whole form grew and grew until the copper lines in his fur looked like they had been drawn using arge brush instead of a pencil. Light like a golden mist rose from the suncats new form, now a tiger that rammed its teeth, blinding white light in the curved shape of biological daggers, into the golems neck as the force of his impact bent the upper body of the boss.
Bent and bent until the flexible material of its spine could no longer amodate and snapped. The lower body skittered around like a headless chicken for a few more moments. GET AWAY! John shouted the moment Rave and Copernicus hit the floor.
The Lightbearer grabbed the suntigers fur and swung herself on his back as he sprinted away. One tick, two ticks, three ticks, then the upper body of Furtrue exploded behind the two of them. Copernicus swatted away a piece of scrap metal that was threatening to hit Rave with his tail.
Then he suddenly vanished, and Rave was left flying through the air a bit and trying her best to make a runningnding. She seeded, and her momentum petered out just in time for her to well, it didnt peter out at all; instead, she used John as an emergency brake, causing both of them to tumble to the ground.
When they stopped, Ravey on top of him and wasughing loudly, Ya know what they say, cool girls dont look at explosions!
Well, you are cool alright, John grinned and they made out as the made-up audience above boo-ed.
You know what I also am right meow? she asked.
Tremendously horny? John suggested.
The answer to that was a wide grin.
Chapter 280 – Catgirl S*x [Erotic Content]
Chapter 280 C Catgirl S*x [Erotic Content]
John was barely out of his shoes when Rave pushed him further into the house. Go, go! she urged him, her battle suit retracting back into its bases in her shoes already. Effortlessly, she kicked them off afterwards. She was stark naked, in the middle of the hallway, and now dragged him towards the living room.
They passed Nia where the hallways crossed, she turned her head after them as she was chewing on dried meat. Nothing else came of that, she simply stood there as they moved on.
Thats not where our bedroom is, John noted.
Screw the bedroom, I want to go to the couch! Rave announced; I like the couch.
Everyone loves the couch Wait, thats not the thing here! Hisints came toote, Rave had already barged into the living room.
Where nobody was. John was simultaneously disappointed and relieved. An orgy would have been pretty fantastic, but they were also massive time sinks. Jane, maybe you should turn off the cat ears, they are making you act crazy, John carefully suggested as his naked, cat-eared girlfriend pulled him on top of her on the couch.
The leather d furniture pleasantly creaked under theirbined weight. Whadderya saying? Ya telling meow that ya dont want to have sex with a cat girl? she looked at him with big, copper eyes and pouted a little. Her ears slumped a bit, an overall very convincing act.
I mean John looked at the protrusions of her hair. He reached for the right one and gently rubbed it between his fingers. Sighing and blushing, Rave clung to his hand. A low humming came from her throat, a purring so urate that it should have been impossible to the human vocal cords.
Why exactly is this so goddamn cute and sexy? John thought and scratched her behind the ear with the little finger of his hand. Her purring was interrupted by her panting, hot air leaving her lungs with every lustful breath. In her zed over eyesid desire; she was pudding in his hands.
Until she wasnt and John suddenly found himself thrown on the floor. I take that ya share nya opinion, Rave giggled, peeking over the edge of the couch, with a mischievous look on her only half-visible face.
Yeah, yeah, I want to fuck you as a catgirl I have no idea why you look even cuter with these! John admitted.
Nerd, ya shouldnt think about that, live in meowment, Rave said.
Her left hand hit the floor first, then her right one. Her upper body hung from the couch, and she gave John a quick, sloppy kiss before crawlingpletely off the couch. On all fours, she made her way over to Johns body. She stopped, and a momentter, John felt her fidgeting with his trousers.
Can ya remove these, please? Rave asked, rubbing his dick through the annoyance that was his underwear. John obliged and put both his pants and the Preserver into his inventory. Mhm, she purred, grabbing his erect rod at the base with one hand and gently stroking it with the other. Ya know, I remeowmber when ya were slightly undersized, and now ya got this wonderfully big dick. A dribble of precum exited the tip of his dick, forced out from the continuous up and down motion of Raves hand. Didnt even mind the smallish dick, but this is nice.
She stopped, leaving John to groan in disappointment. Lets not remember the dark times when I packed less of a dicking, he suggested.
Rave looked as the dribble slowly ran down his shaft, As long as ya dont get much bigger, a girl can only take so much. Like 1 centimetre more at best!
Ill keep it in mind, John assured her. He had done his research and concluded he didnt want to cross above 20 centimetres either. Gaia also didnt seem to want him any bigger, as she hadnt given him a choice regarding this in a while.
The matter was banished from his current thoughts when his girlfriend extended her tongue and finallypped up that dribble of precum. From close to the base, just above her thumbs, all the way up to the head. Once there, Rave put the head in her mouth. She sucked him off for a few moments, not going any deeper, as her tongue whirled around the sensitive mushroom cap shaped flesh. With a pop his cock was freed again. Compared to her mouth the room seemed cruelly cold.
John was about done with being on the defensive and looked at his own target. Glistening wet since she first disrobed, Raves crotch in front of his face presented a more than tasty looking target. Her pretty pink pussy was swollen with lust, just as his cock was. John licked his lips; he couldnt wait to turn it into even more of a mess with a rough fucking. That was, however, for after they had their fun with forey.
He put his hands on Raves ass, and she jumped a bit. Cold! sheined, so close to his dick that he could feel the words on his wetted length.
Well, your ass is nice and hot, John teased her and dug his fingers deeper into her.
The wonderful feeling of causing trenches to appear in her butt, so perfect that it was only challenged by the literal goddess of this world. It was, without a doubt, the best thing Johns hands could feel. The softness of her behind, yet so firm. White skin spanning over perfect curves.
I am going to make you forget all about the cold, dont you worry! he announced and sunk his face into the appetizer. His tongue greedily dug into her pussy. She was a bit salty, having worked up a slight sweat since herst shower, but the sweet nectar of her honey pot soon overtook that taste. Sucking her clit,shing against it with his tongue, he made true of his promise as Rave moaned out loud.
Ahh-nya-aaaah! she gasped and then wrapped her full lips around Johns cock. The tender pair travelled down his shift in a swift motion. Soon, his whole 19-centimetre dick was inside her throat, her upper lip resting at the border between shaft and balls. He waspletely shaven there; something that she had insisted on and for which he had yet to find a single girl that didnt appreciate it when blowing him.
The moans around his cock intensified, and he felt her inner walls quiver around his tongue. With his thumb, he teased the rim of her asshole and applied the slightest bit of pressure to it. Rave may not have been an anal enthusiast, but she couldnt deny that a bit of ying with it intensified the experience. Neither could her body deny it as it convulsed a momentter.
Her back arched upwards, ending her slow-going blowjob as she howled at the ceiling. A little explosion of girl-cum filled Johns mouth, but he continued uncaring, eating her out as her orgasm went on. A small break in her shouting indicated that she needed to breathe, but John just strengthened his efforts, and her moans became ceaseless.
Eventually she slumped back forwards. On the couch! she eventually shouted at him, having gathered her breath. He obliged and quickly found himself sitting with his naked ass on the leather. Rave was still on the floor, looking at his towering dick like a treat. Ya arent gonna cum on your own! she said before licking his balls.
Her hands wrapped around his dick as her lips sucked at his sack, running up and down the shaft with ease. The mixture of precum, saliva and phlegm from her throat lubricated the tight grip, and John groaned in pleasure. Pleased by this sound, Rave then stayed her hands at his groin and brought her lips close again.
Once again, she sucked him inside in a single descent. John could only clench his teeth and moan between his breaths. His hands found their way to Raves head, where he mostly concentrated on keeping her hair out of the way of the most pleasurable blowjob. A curious thought crossed his mind, and he started scratching her behind the ear.
The purring that set in made John exhale with longing sounds. If the vibrations of a girl moaning during a normal blowjob were bliss, then this was heaven itself. It was apletely steady, strong vibration that was all epassing, from her throat to the tip of her tongue. It felt good, so good in fact that John prevented Rave from bobbing her head anymore.
He kept her head fixed all the way down his base. She didnt seem to mind; all he did to keep her purring was to scratch and rub her ears more. It appeared to be mildly pleasurable for her as well, as she kept wiggling her butt, her zed over eyes looking up to John, vertical slit pupils widened.
The next moment he saw nothing but these eyes as stars danced through his field of visions. In a single moment, cum pumped up his shaft and shot down into Raves stomach. She kept purring and purring, the vibrations milking him as his balls tightened over and over again. His clenched fingers dug into her dishevelled hair, strands of the unnatural curliness sticking out between them, her cat ears standing at attention until his body violently rxed and he slumped against the back of the couch.
I hope ya arent done just yet, tiger, Rave grinned, licking her lips clean as she stood up. A hand glided over his cheek in passing as she made her way over to the dinner table.
What is she up to now? John asked himself, his eyes firmly glued to her backside. There was no way she wasnt intentionally swinging her hips this enticingly. You should know me better than that! John shouted after her.
I do, Rave said and bent herself over the table. Resting her upper body on it, she looked over her shoulder with a wide grin. One hand on her face, index finger tapping against her lips, she said I wonder what you should do with this bad little pussy. In tandem, her other hand pulled away her left buttock, as if the view onto her enticingly wet crotch wasnt attractive enough.
John practically jumped to his feet and quickly walked over, erect cock bouncing with every step. Why did I get myself such a needy kitty? he asked, pping her empty right ass cheek first thing as he arrived.
Nya-ah, Rave moaned in response, feeling her boyfriend align his cock with her eager cunt; Cause ya need something to plough every meow and then. Every meow and then being every day, of course!
You are absolutely right, John agreed and thrust into her.
I-aaah am sometimes! she moaned as he pulled right back and began fucking her so roughly that the table started sliding over the ground. The unpleasant noise of wood scratching over wood was entirely unheard by his ears, however, as it was drowned out by Raves ceaseless screaming of lust.
Her body erotically winding on the table as the two of them needed to take small steps in order to work against the constantly moving table, John just fucked her ceaselessly. Oh, oh holy Rave panted before screaming loudly. Her attempts to keep eye contact with John failed when they rolled up into her skull. Her mouth opened wide, tongue stretching out. Sho good! she managed to breathe out these words before they were drowned in yet more screams. John kept impaling her pussy, her wless ass bouncing on his dick. Over and over again, faster and faster.
One final thrust and the table hit the wall at the same time as he spurted his second load deep into her weing womb. Raves whole being was pushed over the edge of debauchery, her tongue lolled without control, drops of salivanding on the table as her screams turned silent, her lips forming a wide O, only the lower half of her eyes was visible now.
The moment he stopped cumming, John rolled her onto her back. Offering no resistance or any other input whatsoever, she waspletely at his mercy. I am going to make sure you will remember this, John grunted.
Yesh, Rave managed to mumble; Wait, gimme a shec, thish form is making meow shuper sensiti-Nyaaaaaa.
As she was talking, John had lifted one of her legs on his shoulder, and now he was using it as a handle as he pounded her properly. The table had nowhere to go and neither did Rave. The short moment of half-dizzy reason was gone a mere thrustter, her eyes returning back to their ce in the upper corner of their sockets. Light infused fingernails scratched marks into the wooden tform she wasying upon. Her toes were curled, her firm tits raised presented by her arched back.
John would have loved to bend downwards, catch one of her perky nipples in his mouth, suck on the pretty pink thing on top of the subtle twin curves of her B-Cup breasts. Doing that would have meant to get into a position that was harder to thrust in, however, and nothing pleasured him more right now than hearing her moans turn into screams turn into voiceless shouts as he fucked her from one orgasm to the next.
The sight of her face,pletely contorted in an unrelenting ecstasy she could have never anticipated. The sharpness of her sensesing from this formbined with Johns already impressive modifiers to lovemaking made the sensation of his experienced thrusts unparalleled. Ya-aaah are rrrrruining meow for the hhh-aaahhh-rest of mankind! she shouted.
Good, John eximed between clenched teeth; Cause I love you! I want to have this tight pussy and the wonderful cat attached to it for myself, forever! Youre mine! The line between creepy and romantic was indeed very slim, but John didnt care right now. Ten more seconds, in which Rave tried to answer several times, of violent thrusts, then he met the end.
He came into her mping down canal, painting the inside of her pussy white with another giant load from his already refilled balls. As if it was the first time he hade today, the load sttered into her.
When he was finally done, he dropped her leg, which fell aside almost only obeying to thews of gravity and then slumped forwards. He was met with a heavily panting Rave, trembling with aftershocks. Both of them were ringing for their breaths as they looked into each others eyes. Copper slowly returned to blue, the pink hue around her now round iris a light that blinded him with its beauty.
She raised her head and gently bit him in the neck with short fangs that were returning to normal teeth as she did. It hurt a bit but not much. Thats for not listening to me, ya jerk, she said and framed his face between her uneasy, slender fingers, MY loveable jerk.
Your jerk forever, he promised.
Chapter 281 – Not without trace…
Chapter 281 C Not without trace
John yawned as he watched over the edge of his fortress. Settings restored to the default, he was currently doing his usual grind. Everything was the same as ever, except that he had to do even less now. With Undine guarding the walls with her iron-hard water bubbles, John could sit back and grind by letting his familiars do all the work.
Is this truly all you are required to do to level up nowadays? Lydia asked, hurling a dispensable piece of metal at a Bugpanther below. It pierced through the beings eye, causing it to roar in pain. Aclysia whirled around VolJinZul, the giant de crashing into the feral insectoids blind side. It didnt even get a chance to fall into theva pit, as it died in the middle of the air from the grievous wound that attack had caused.
Lydia was the only one of Johns non-familiars that was around here. Everyone else was either training, fucking or busy chasing cats through alleyways. At least thats what John presumed Nia was doing in her free time, aside from appearing randomly in rooms and staring at the ceiling.
I mean, I am doing A LOT! John defended himself, using his non-gauntleted hand to navigate Youtube. Just how many Binding of Isaac videos can the guy make? John asked himself as he was watching a certain egg-head do yet another boss rush.
Badabu-badaba, Sylph giggled as he sent mana her way, a de of wind isting a single enemy from a group of four Bugpanthers. Smander then blinded the enemy with a quick burst of fire. Another one of the remaining three, the only one in the back row of the now triangr shaped formation, was suddenly assaulted by purple des ramming into its stomach from below.
While it wasnt killed instantly, Siena assured that this state would be swiftly rectified. With no choice but to make her opponents suffering as brief as possible, due to the rule John had put in ce, she severed the head of the creature from its neck. A momentter, it became naught but dust.
Siena sent a displeased nce his way just as a random Bugpanther jumped out of the burning treetops and at John, a direct collision course. It was honestly kind of impressive that these things hated him enough to go against survival instincts to such a degree. Climbing through burning branches and ame leaves, surrounded by the rising ash of ones natural habitat, couldnt be pleasant.
John didnt even move, the Bugpanther just smashed into a liquid wall that quickly erected itself between the flying insectoid and John. The monster crashed against the hardened water like a fly against a windshield at moderate speeds.
Desperately, it wed at the unforgiving barrier between it and its target, barely managing to stay in ce. Doesnt that hurt? John asked Undine. This wasnt just a water wall, as he noted, the red marking over its curve indicated it as the ocean elementals actual body.
Only the slightest bit. Undines true form rose out of the side of the wall. A jolt of information filled Johns head; Undine used this moment to heal herself, as she was about ready to use her new offensive capabilities. Just the slightest bit more healing and she was ready.
Well then, I am interested in seeing how this goes, John smirked and gestured for her to Unleash. He hadnt seen it before, surely it would be a spectacle.
As you say, John, Undine nodded, tried her best at returning a smile but only managed to produce an awkwardly nted lip movement that could somehow be interpreted as a smile.
Her healing and defensive properties shifted in the blink of an eye as, the condition fulfilled, her powers flipped their focus. Her mouth twisted into a deeply disturbing, wide grin, pulling her full lips into a thin line. A malevolent red reced the calm gold of her eyes, and John immediately knew that this was indeed going to be a spectacle, but not of the kind he had wanted. Anger and undesired hatred bore their way throughmon sense, creating a deeply psychopathic mixture of dark thoughts.
The howl of a siren on the prowl apanied Undine as she turned into a torrent that jumped off the fortress wall. The Bugpanther tumbled helplessly inside her. It paddled in the slimy water, swiped at it, but there was nothing it could hurt. Then it hit the ground, and John was witness to the more than a little more disgusting disy of Undine invading the beings insides, like it was little more than a sponge, and then rapidly increasing in volume.
Words loudly sung in the olden elementalnguage filled the forest. John kept close watch on her spirit. To him, it all seemed normal. Out of her character? Without a doubt. But there was nothing there suggesting any sort of further corruption.
Are you not going to tell me that this is pretty much proof that she is still infested? John wondered towards Lydia as Undines arms transformed into thin whips that cut through the air, more than a couple of trees and finally a Bugpanther with ease.
The show filled him not with surprise but with sadness. He would have been na?ve to just expect things to remain as a scar on her body. He had hoped, yes, but hope and the conviction of being in the right were far too different. It was the mark of a great mind to entertain a thought without believing in it, some important philosopher had uttered these words once.
He wasnt surprised, because this had been one of the many oues he had entertained and now that he saw it, believing was unnecessary. Factual truth unfolded before his eyes in the shape of Undine ramming her hand down another Bugpanthers throat and a myriad of spikes ripping the monsters head apart from the inside.
The song of depraved brutality that was on her lips as she did that only filled John with sadness.
The duo of monsters that had been engaged with Aclysia was momentarily distracted by the howls of Undines battle hymn and the cracking of copsing trees, long enough for the artificial guarding to ram her mithril dagger into one of their eye sockets and catapult the other into theva pools with a swift kick.
No, this is a rather expected consequence, Lydia informed him; I am honestly relieved that she got away with only this amount of damage although the words she sings are rather ufortable. John nodded. The fact that Undine got away with only falling into a berserker rage while in an aggressive form was surprising.
It hadnt been for long, but she had been listening to the voices of otherworldly beings, even had hosted a part of them inside her. The fact that she was generally unscathed from that experience was remarkable. Then again, it hadnt been too long ago that it happened. Some ws were going to stick, others they could hopefully surmount over time.
Siena, would youe here for a moment? Johns tone made sure that it wasnt a request. The shadow spirit appeared a mere few momentster. A Tropico Highmane spawned and was immediately subjected to being tormented by heavy rainfall. Rain that was harder than steel, little drops of water at frankly absurd speed, ripping little holes into the lion looking monstrosity and drilling their way into the gaps. Is this what you wanted? John asked the nightmare elemental.
Obviously not, she hissed. I just wanted her to learn how to deal with things on her own.
Not the worst intention, he had to agree, but your methods led to this.
I didnt force her to do any-
NO, YOU DIDNT! John interrupted her by shouting in her face.
Smander and Sylph came to Undines aid. Strong the Tier 4 elemental may have been, but taking on a boss monsterpletely alone was still a tall number.
You didnt force her to do anything, you didnt want her to be corrupted, you didnt want her to fall into this state, John stood up, his Purgatory d left hand extended. Index finger resting against her corbone, he spoke his final verdict on the matter, But this is what we got in the end. You can be happy that I dont throw you back into the hole I took you from and spice it up with some extra measures. Instead, I gave you a light punishment to give you time to think.
As he spoke the w pricked Sienas skin. Dark mist rose from the wound, barely more than a trickle of it. John felt the rush of anger from Undine subside and looked at her through Jacks eyes. The realization of what had just happened to her was clear in her behaviour. Self-disgusted feelings flooded Johns and all of his familiars thoughts as Undine flowed backward from the tattered boss.
The insectoid feline was still breathing, but every single one of its chitin tes had been ripped off. Unclean and without any care they had been removed, causing flesh wounds which were now oozing purple blood. Broken bones and riddled skin, legs that could no longer support the body. Smander did the thing the mercy and finished it off.
But this cha- -nges things - That was what he wanted to say, but Siena gave him a look that made him shut up. Not because he was intimidated or anything, she had no way of truly threatening him. The look on her face was genuinely upset and these feelings werent aimed at John or Undine or anyone else who was getting on her nerves.
Siena was annoyed with herself, because no one had wanted this oue. I will try to help her get that under control, Siena said. That is what you wanted of me anyway, isnt it?
After a few moments of them just staring at each other, John nodded, Yes.
He pulled back his hand, and Siena vanished into the ground, making her way over to Undine who was quivering, ripples like a pond that had been disrupted by a stone spreading over her surface. Master, you think it is wise to trust Siena with this? Aclysia asked him via their mental connection.
Hell to the no, I am keeping a close eye on those two, John sighed. I am going to try and get them to form some sort of alcoholics anonymous of impulse management. Not sure how curable those rage attacks even are, but we got to try, right? Probably should get Thana involved and have Momo look over their efforts
That sounds like a splendid idea, Master. I would be happy to help them as well, Aclysia said.
You just want to reprimand Siena until she stops disrespecting me, John noted.
Most certainly, and under the cover of helping her to stop being a thorn in your side, I will have more than enough excuses, the artificial guardian told him.
Well, then you are wee to try and teach them, John allowed her.
Do people usually recover from these incidents? John asked the princess at his side.
They get better, but they dont recover, Lydia said with a sorry expression. Shell be able to assert control over it eventually, presumably. Torrential outbursts aremon among water spirits and this seems to have worsened that fact. A pre-existing character trait may be easier to get control off, but there are few sess stories.
Then I will start there and then continue to try to one-up the world, he sat back down. No matter what the cause is, if we try hard enough, we should be able to ovee it eventually.
I will be perfectly frank with you, John: whenever you next deal with anything Lorylim rted, have her stay in her own ne of existence, break your contract if you must, Lydia told him. The Lorylim arergely unknown to us aside from the fact that they are dangerous. I havent heard from someone who was cleansed and remained unscathed, and I am certain that no mind will survive a second touch of their tainted ways.
He looked as both Siena and Undine changed into their incorporeal forms to get away from their distanced position, making their way back to the fort in safety.
They are my loves, John said. And they are my weapons. They will be strong enough that nothing like this will ever prove a threat to us again.
You are fundamentally underestimating the first foe, countered the princess. Sighing, she added, Maybe I am underestimating you as well. I know too little about you and them. Just be aware that I do not expect to be proven wrong on this.
I dont expect to need to prove you wrong on this; whatever Lorylim rted thing I will encounter in the future, I will destroy without mercy before it gets a chance to fuck me over, John looked at Purgatory,pletely aware of the insane amount of mana inside. They dared to threaten one of my own, I will nuke them with whatever means I have at my disposal.
Chapter 282 – Baelementium
Chapter 282 C Baelementium
Woah, over 800000 experience points for the next level? John thought. He was currently checking his status, after thest Assault had concluded. Truthfully, he could have easily churned out another level by going in there for another three hours. It was gettingte, however, so he decided not to.
Anyway, the experience requirement rising wasnt entirely surprising. It tended to jump every 5 levels. Nevertheless, John couldnt help but wonder if Gaia was pushing it up because she wanted to indirectly nerf the Assault mechanic. Either that or he had gotten Assault before he was supposed to and currently it was way too effective. Not that it mattered, fact was that John had to deal with it.
I am, like a good gamer should, going to cheese this thing in any way possible, he told himself as he closed his status sheet. At least his current goal, 250 Wisdom, was only 2 levels away now. Progress was steady.
Hey, Jo- master, Momo started and corrected herself as Aclysia sent her a stern nce. The forced saying of the title just did not have the same vibe to it. The artificial guardian gave her sister a pleased pat. Mhm, this is nice, the support hummed as the soft caressing of her head continued.
I copied this technique from our master, he gives the best pats, Aclysia told everyone before retracting her hand; Now state your business.
What are you, his secretary? Momo asked.
I am whatever Master wants me to be. I am uncertain whether or not I should acquire a secretary outfit in case he wants me to fulfil the role, she looked over to John with a puzzled look.
Thats a pretty good question, John admitted; I mean, you are currently in a maid outfit that doubles down as cosy of a battle-android. While viting cosy is a sin, the thought of putting you into a secretary outfit with a tight miniskirt is very appealing
I will acquire a sexy secretary outfit at ater date, Aclysia remarked with a little bow.
Okay, that is great and all Momo spoke up again, but
Just dont make it too sexy. You should still be able to go out in it, John reminded her.
Understood, removing stripper level designs from list of imagined outfits, the weaponized maid answered.
For heavens sake, listen to me! Momo almost shouted and pushed her e-reader into Johns face; Read this, you sleazy pervert. His eyes were already flying over the page. The letters were so tiny that they would barely qualify as readable for young people, while folks with worse eyes would have only seen a bunch of lines.
Luckily, John had superhuman senses, even though sight wasnt his strongest suit. He needed to make it one size bigger to read it without slipping on the lines every few words.
Interesting, John finally muttered when he was halfway done. It was a report about Abyssal metals and their usages. He had nned to get informed on this front himself, purely to know what was currently inside Aclysia in detail, but between grinding sessions, he had been reading up on history instead. He was tired of asking questions all the time.
Momo had marked a part towards the end. Thanks to him messing with the size, it spanned over to the next page as well. He finished reading and then gestured for Momo to take the e-reader down. The information Momo had wanted to show him had been concerning the strongest metals in the Abyss. He was already aware that Astrotium, the incredibly rare metal found inside meteorites, was the hardest thing around. After that was Mithril, which was hard to find but not impossible.
Mithril was sometimes created within creatures of naturally urring barriers, like stone dragons. In essence, the supply was endless, but it was hard to find and dangerous to mine.
Few people were particrly interested in fighting dragons and then cutting out their bones. The profits were probably the only thing that kept people in that line of work. Dragon meat was also worth a lot.
Problem was that one also always had to gamble on running into a lesser dragon, the kind that was actually an animal. Normal dragons, possessing only a shallow intellect, were also huntable but considerably more powerful. Higher dragons, the thing that Nathalia had been before she had ascended to godhood, were something most people stayed as far away from as was possible.
All other metals were then categorized into the same six ones that soul types could be put in: Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Light and Dark or a mixture of those six. nk materials did not exist, except that they did, except that they didnt. Stupid non-existence stuff, John thought and just epted that they did not not exist.
There were also a couple of lesser Mithril alloys which generally werebelled as Arcane as they were filled with raw power rather than an elemental property.
Metals of the elemental kinds could be created by infusing actual real metals with magic until they changed into something new. That was basically what happened inside Aclysia passively: her body just enriched materials with magic until they ascended to a higher level.
The strongest kinds of materials are the ones that have a bnce of all elements or are solely andpletelyprised of one. Elementium, the blending of all six elements into one metal, is the third strongest metal known to the Abyss. Is that so? John repeated thest part in his thoughts. Good job finding that.
I just stumbled over it and thought you might find it interesting, the monochrome girl answered.
Also, you want to test if we can do that? he guessed.
Yup, Momo confirmed. Shouldnt be that hard, right?
John wasnt sure about that. It was possible, courtesy of him having the Combo Perk, allowing his elementals tobine their powers in one shape or another. Whether that made it easy or not was a different question.
Time to buy some basic iron off the auction, I guess, John said and pulled out his phone.
Iron was cheap, and the curiosity dwelled within. If he could synthesize Elementium, that would make him rich within days. A few minutester, half a kilo of the basic metal was dumped off on the ind via drone. It came inside a simple cardboard box and was cut into small cubes, all exactly the same size. Very orderly, John approved.
Lets start with the basics, John said, taking one of the small iron cubes and holding it out in his palm. Gnome, Sylph, Undine, Smander, if you would, he instructed them.
Would what? Sylph asked and earned herself a tap against the back of her head by Smander.
Infuse those things with our energies, you dunce! the fire spirit reprimanded.
But, uh, how? Sylph asked.
The same way you use air to attack! Smander reprimanded, but Sylph just kept looking confused.
Urgh just follow Gnomes lead.
M-mine? Gnome was startled.
Of course yours! the fire spirit threw her arms into the air in frustration; You should know the best how to do this: its metal, you are an earth elemental.
I mean I have never worked with metal before Gnome mumbled.
You will manage, Undine offered a word of encouragement in her melodic voice. It had taken a good few minutes of Momo and Siena talking to the ocean elemental to calm her down after she had used her Unleash earlier. By now, she was back to her usual self.
The stone elemental kneaded the edge of her skirt, then carefully took the small block of iron from John. Undine and Smander put one of their hands on her shoulder while Sylph, on the opposite side, held the other hand each in her own, creating a circle through which they were all linked.
So far, so up to description, John thought and turned to Momo. How much mana should we need for that cube, any rough estimates? he asked.
The support shrugged, Not the faintest clue. I guess we can check if our mana numbers are equal to the standardized mana-measurement in Maybel.
Maybel was the standardized unit for mana measurement and named after the one who made the unit up, a Simmelera Maybel. She was a woman that had lived during the Enlightenment period. Pretty smart, but not particrly blessed with talent, she had done her research and standardized a lot of things which had been previously described in a myriad of different units. In the eyes of the public, her greatest achievement was the blueprint that served as the foundation for the modern mana factory. She had died at the age of 73.
One of those supernatural scientists that were entirely Abyssal. The majority of them were, it just stood out a lot when a historical and Abyssal figure were the same.
Okay, if we work under that assumption John agreed and did the calction himself, the book did have the form. It went as follows: Weight in gram times the Elemental Infusion Constant (8,44) to the power of elements involved divided by 10. About 500 Mana per gram? Christ, nothing in this worldes cheap, does it? The description on the site said one of these cubes is 50 grams, thats 25000 mana!
25371,1288448 mana, to be exact, Momo pointed out.
Thats overly detailed, just 25372 is enough, thank you. I mean, in all fairness, I should actually measure these things and calcte whether the cubes mass is exactly 50 grams in the first ce I think Aclysias head is about to explode from all this math.
I-I can follow! Aclysia defended herself. I just dont have to deal with things that arent basic addition very often...
Its all good, John couldnt help but chuckle a little as he said that; Just leave the math to me and Momo. We have the luxury to invest so many points into brainwork thanks to you working as hard as you do on the front lines.
As you request, Master, she answered with a relieved breath and mildly sour expression.
She was fine with being of use primarily in one area, but being useless in another rubbed her the wrong way. John was not about to raise her Intellect just for the niche case of her helping him with math he could easily solve himself. Instead, he kissed her and grabbed her butt, that usually lifted her mood. It was a resounding sess.
Okay, so,mand retracted, we need to cut down that block to size first anybody got a very sensitive scale? Of course, they didnt. John had to buy one off the Abyss Auction. I swear their transportation fees are about 90% of the cost, he mumbled, five minutester, as they cut the cube down in size until they had a 10-gram heavy, linear piece. Okay, so thats 5075 mana, under the assumption that MP are equal to Maybel, John said. And we have a total of I dont even know. Momo had a mana pool of 4639, which was by far the highest of their whole group. It was also down to 1248 thanks to them relying on her mana to do things inside the Assault and her having a considerably lower mana regeneration.
Johns storage of 1480 mana was topped off. Together they had about 2700 mana right now, would the elementals be able to provide the remaining roughly 2400 mana? Probably. For the sake of science, John should go ahead and find out whether his assumption about MP = Maybel was true or not.
So, he bought himself a Maybel measurement tool. A third time, a drone came over. For science, he mumbled to himself to justify his expenses. Okay then, John took the measurement tool, a thing that reminded him of a magic wand from the Harry Potter movies, and gripped it by the thick end. He concentrated on letting exactly 100 mana flow into the magical tool.
The wand glowed blue and then used the mana he put into it to disy the number 100. Okay, so, confirmed, Maybel equals MP, John noted and tossed the thing into his inventory to probably never be used again.
Okay, then, lets transmute around, shall we? John said, and all of theirbined mana went into the 10 grams of iron. Fire and lighting danced over the surface of the little piece as it seemingly rusted in a split second, only for the rust to then vanish and leave a bronze piece of metal behind.
That was surprisingly easy, John said, Mana report?
Tapped, Smander said.
I-I have nothing, Gnome agreed.
Uhm, I think I still have some? Sylph said.
I am fine, Undine mumbled.
He didnt need to ask for himself or Momo, they were both dry wells.
So thats Elementium? Aclysia asked as John took the small thing from Gnome.
What? Oh no, this is Baelementium, John needed a moment to understand the confusion. Aclysia must have been staying out of his thoughts. As per usual, she just wanted to hear him talk. Good thing he loved talking to her, Elementium is the blending of all 6 elements. Baelementium is the form with just the base for elements. Basic Elementium, typical scientist moment, just givezy names to things.
And the mana costs for this are still pretty humane, Momo added as John stored the thing in his inventory; 507422,57 507423 is manageable.
How is that manageable? Aclysia asked, wheezing at the sheer number.
Because the form increases exponentially with the amount of elementals involved, John exined. For a kilo of true Elementium, we would need 36 million mana. Therefore, byparison, it is manageable.
John truly appreciated that his dad had taught him to work with metric units in moments like this. All these calctions would have been a terror if he had to make them in imperial units. Just onest question remained. The hell did Elemental Potential do?
That concludes that experiment.
Chapter 283 – Eternally in charge
Chapter 283 C Eternally in charge
Hello, folks, and wee back to another rousing round of the tournament! Jeff shouted into his microphone; Today we are going for another game. Its Mi-
No! No, we are not! Dra hastily interrupted his fellowmentator. By the correctness of the dictionary, did you forget to read the memo again? the lizardman asked and pointed at the talking cards they were always holding. Dra actually looked at these notes of cardboard, .Jeff might as well have held a second microphone.
Uhm, the announcer stopped his hype train in the station as the onlookers below murmured, displeased with the dy. Quickly, he went over the card. Okay, sorry folks, the game got dyed due to organisational reasons; we are doing the group fight today as scheduled Yo, it was an honest mistake, you tossers! Jeff shouted against the boo-ing from the audience.
Entertainment addicted peasants, Lydia mumbled. Not satisfied with people fighting for their amusement, they seek that they make a fool of themselves as well in the process.
Oh shut the fuck up, anal queen, Thana, bncing on the back legs of her chair, feet lying on the table, said; They are just enjoying themselves.
Their amusement is a politically important event.
Pretty sure the average folk here is not German, why the fuck would they care about who gets on that glorified chair you keep on sting on about.
Lydia was starting a retort but then reminded herself who she was trying to convince. Instead, she sighed, You can continue in your anarchistic ways.
I am not anarchistic, I just dont give a fuck about politics in total. Thana leaned back in her chair so far that it should have fallen over already. Only her heel on the table creating a considerable counterforce kept her in a fragile bnce. Why the ever-shitting cockbiscuit should I? Not like you can enforce your dumbass rules on me.
Thana, we all know that you are pretty strong, John said, but dont forget the true monster up there. He was pointing at Romulus, who was currently looking at Jack sitting in his giant hand. The sparrow had been hit by a series of gusts that forced it tond on the tform Romulus was on. It had clearly been the emperors own work as he had gone ahead and caught Jack the moment he had set as much as a foot on the balcony.
John had waited for the emperor to speak up since, and when he did, the words were clear, I have heard about your incident, John Newman. An elemental skipping ahead two steps of power is practically unheard off, forcefully no less. It would have been interesting, if it hadnt been apanied with the threating from the first foe. It is to your luck that the corruption that entered our world was so minor I felt content watching you sort it out yourself.
Why did they keep calling the Lorylim the first foe? John would need to ask Lydia once he was done getting lectured.
ident or not, if you summon even a speck of these foul beings into my city again, I will scrub that impurity from earth before it can spread to anything. I have no intention of your leniency chipping away at the current lock on them. If the taint remains on your Undine and I find out that you havent taken care of it thats your end.
John felt a chill running down his spine despite him trying his best to remainposed. He spent a lot of time worrying about things, but he usually didnt let stress impede his everyday life. Here he had an ultimatum from Romulus himself. He wouldnt get any second chances.
Until thest doubts of her corruption are cleared, I will not allow you to fight, Romulus voice seemed to reverberate in the little sparrow and reach all the way into his real body, and - you - wont. This group fight will be happening without you. Jack nodded to the best ability a sparrow could, beak flying up and down. They hade to that conclusion without Romulus input, but this was a one waymunication, and John did not feel like he could get away with being sassy right now.
The already giant of a man was bending over his small bird form and caged Jack in the shadow of a colossus. His eyes, lying in a face torn with the wrinkles of a wise man in his middle-age, bored through the sparrow and right into John. The few hundred metres between them felt like a non-existent distance to him. Truly, to the emperor it might as well not have existed.
And let your princess know that her painting arrived. Her grandfather was nice enough to bring it himself, as if on signal, the old king stepped out from the hallway behind them.
You still like being shy, dont you, Rom? Frederik teased his friend and fell down into an empty chair.
It is one of the few entertainments left to me, Romulus returned in kind, his tone friendly and his face lighting up as he sat up straight.
John had trouble seeing the same threatening man. Just a simple change of demeanour and the Apex seemed like he had been reced by someone else entirely. Dismissed, by means of Sol flicking Jack off her contractors hand. The sparrow cut through the air like a wildly fired bullet until John finally stabilized the path, finding himself on the opposite side of the arena.
I am incredibly sorry for all of this, he heard Undine say in his head.
As you should be, John told her. If we just cooperate, hopefully this whole thing will stabilize and blow over with the few scars that remain. He didnt realize that the word scars was both incredibly fitting and probably hurtful until Undine was already flushing their bond with increasing shame. A quick probing and she found that John hadnt meant it that way. Good thing that misunderstandings can be avoided this way, he thought as Undine rxed again.
I will be cooperative in any way that is necessary, she ensured.
Okay, so, group fight, Dra took over the announcing duty, while Jeff continued to argue with a particr loud-voiced member of the crowd. We are facing off a 3vs3 situation. Normally, the two teams would now get 5 minutes to get their line-up ready.
Yes, well, Jeff took back up his duty after giving the audience onest re; But you folks probably remember the little run-in with recruitment difficulty Lydia had during the announcements. Thanks to her missing the deadline, the enemy will have the advantage of this fight to pick their team after hers. Therefore, she will now get 5 minutes, and then the enemy will get another 5 to respond once she announces her picks.
Enjoy thesemercials while that break is happening.
So, Lydia John picked up the conversation once the announcers shut up. The princess lips angrily pressed together as he reported the breakdown of Romulus reprimands.
So, he not only went ahead and ruined all my obscuration ns but also invited my esteemed grandfather to watch me lose? Lydia ended.
Well, the odds are certainly stacked against you John agreed. He himself, the second strongest fighter in their team, wasnt allowed to participate, they still had no idea what power Alexej had, and they were the first to pick their line-up. From a tactical situation, they were not exactly blessed.
You fuckers should stop worrying, Thanaughed, her feet flying off the table and the front legs of her chair finally reconnecting to the ground; What do you have me for? I will take their crown licking asses and whoop them until they are redder than the blood pumping through their miserable little hides.
You certainly will need to partake in this fight, Lydia agreed, and I refuse to lose in front of Frederik, with or without Romulus intent to humiliate me. Nia, you and I will apany her.
Sure, Nia agreed with a nonchnt nod. The nk blonde had just been walking rounds around the table and looking at things with an unnervingly rxed behaviour. Alternatively, she was so tense that she couldnt sit still. It was impossible to tell with her.
Whaddabout me? Rave asked.
Correct me if I am wrong, Rave, but you are working on some new techniques, arent you? Lydia pointed out. It would be unwise to reveal the existence of such to the enemy ahead of time.
I guess thats true, the techno-lover nodded.
The basic strategy is easy: all we need to do is make sure Thana can eliminate the enemy unobstructed. As such our first priority will be Maximillian, due to his gravitation magic. Nia that is your job, you have taken him once, you can do it again. The pariah confirmed with another nod.
Like I cant just murderfy him myself, Thana cackled.
Lydia gave her a warning nce, You might be strong, Thana, but your powers are primarily based on your physical strength and movement. You cant use your magic effectively if you dont use gestures either. While I doubt that Maximillians current power is strong enough to make you immobile, the possibility exists.
Sure, sure, Thana waved off, folding her arms behind her head afterwards. She obviously didnt even give the possibility any time of day.
Dont be too arrogant, John threw his hat in the ring, and Thanas cocky expression quickly changed into sad shock.
Dont you believe in me, John? she mumbled, all quiet and miserable.
The bipr disy tugged at his heartstrings, that was for certain. Thats not the problem here, Thana. You should just entertain the notion that the enemy actually has a n to deal with you, he exined.
Ah, yeah, Thana went right back to cackling. They would, or at least they really fucking should. If they dont, I am going to tear them a new asshole. Okay, leaving things up to the bleached blonde bitch over there then.
My hair is not bleached, Nia pointed out.
I dont fucking care! Thana shouted back. Blinking slowly, her head tilting in confusion, the pariah stayed silent while staring at the bloodmage. Stop doing that, its creepy!
Anyway, Lydia forced the conversation to remain on topic. Nias job will be to obstruct whatever attempts at slowing you down exist. I will provide back-up on that front. Thana, you will dispose of the enemy as quickly as you can. Are we clear?
Orders received, Nia said. Crystal fucking clear, Thana grinned.
A signal from Lydiater and thementators desk hovering down to them, and Jeff shouted the results into the microphone, The team of the Secundus candidate has been made clear. Its the tiny psychopathic Thana
He did NOT just call me that, Thana growled and jumped off from her chair; He keeps calling me that! I AM NOT THAT FUCKING TINY, YOU COCK-GOBBLER! I will!
A cascade of threats was shouted up to the announcers desk while John did his best to calm her down. Jeff just wanted to continue talking but was interrupted by Dra. Jeff, I rmend you stop calling her tiny.
Huh, why is that?
Because you wont live a week after the tournament if you keep pissing her off like this.
Pooooooint taken and ignored, Jeffughed it off, checking if his hair was still in the ridiculous upwards style with his hands.
Moving on, its Thana, the princess Lydia herself and the nk soul Nia. Lets see who Maximillian fields against that line-up. What do you think, Dra?
Well, Alexej is most-likely going to partake in this battle. His whole reason for being here has to be to win the group fights, otherwise previous actions wouldnt make sense. Aside from that, they will want someone that can fight Nia, so either Ankleshanker or Mario due to them not being as reliant on magic. It will be hard to counter both the incredible threat of Thana and the magic eradication of Nia with just three people, the lizardman analysed and took a sip of his ginger ale. So my money is on Alexej, Mario and Ankleshanker. If they equip their physical fighters with ss again, Lydia bes less useful. I have to wonder why they decided to field her over John Newman. Maybe his power level is overhyped after all?
Well, we wont get a chance to see that today, but the hype in this stadium is real, right folks? Jeff worked up the audience, the same one that had been boo-ing at him just a few minutes prior. They were now apuding like that had never happened. Fickle, that is what an audience was. Always incredibly fickle.
Ah, it seems Maximillian made his choice! Jeff said upon seeing the king of Viena raise his hand.
Chapter 284 – Vs Maximillian, Mario and Alexej [Lydia POV]
Chapter 284 C Vs Maximillian, Mario and Alexej [Lydia POV]
Thats pretty close to your choices there, Dra, the obnoxious announcer screamed into his microphone. His ceaseless attempts to turn this already entertainment infested, highly unnecessary tradition into a hyped show were inexcusable to Lydia. The crowd was petering out in their apuse, stomping on the floor in a rhythmic fashion. Attempts, as the princess realized, was the wrong word here.
They made the small but fairly important choice to only include one physical fighter, probably with the intent of focusing Thana over Nia, the sober lizardman said, sipping on his cup. Not entirely unreasonable, but it means that Mario will have to take care of Nia on his own; the Secundus team is unlikely to just leave her tied up.
You sure Thana wont just waltz over them? Jeff pointed out.
Dra shrugged. I guess it all depends on the wildcard here.
Lydia stepped on the blue tform that materialized at the edge of the viewing area. Every motion was determined. Ladies of the court were expected to move either gracefully or with confidence. Lydia went for thetter, the militaristic stride always finding more agreement with her.
Thana simply jumped past her and straight into the arena, flying dangerously close by to the announcers desk. Without following her path in detail, Lydia knew that the blood mage was flipping off Jeff on the path. I will need to reprimand thatck of proper respectter, Lydia thought. She didnt like Jeff, but manners had to be kept in public. At least Nia didnt do anything weird, following Lydia onto the tform with light motions. Naked feet, hidden by the long skirt, practically hovered over the ground.
Break a leg, preferably Alexejs, John said and gave her a luck wishing smile. Lydias heart-fluttered a bit, a feeling she quickly repressed. Now wasnt the time to be sentimental or lost in romanticism, her country was at stake. No, that was overly dramatic, she didnt believe that Maximillian would destroy her beloved fathend. Her vision of her country was at stake.
Yeah, punch them in the face wait, no, ya dont punch throw some metal in their face! Rave added to Johns statement.
To her boyfriends statement Lydia corrected herself mentally. The slight sting of jealousy that followed that was harder to quell. Sacrificing ones life to ruling came with consequences she never thought would prove this difficult to ovee.
It seems I am just a young woman after all, the princess thought as she gave a diligent nod towards the two of them. The tform started its descent into the sand-floored arena below. But what I am is secondary to what I must be, Lydia told herself as she pushed all thoughts of a fools love aside. Her own happiness wasnt her goal, it was being the first servant of state that would immortalize her, just like her grandfather.
She gave a diligent nod, and the tform descended. The discrepancy in her spirit, a conflict of heart and soul, love and duty, would have to wait. Her reasonable side would win at the end, that much she was sure off, but the battle was still going to be fought.
The tform reached the ground and disintegrated underneath them. Together, Nia and Lydia passed Thana, who was busy poking the floor. What are you doing? Lydia inquired.
Just ying whack-an-asshole with the visual representation of my brain damage, Thana answered quietly, which was quickly followed up by a wild, way too loudughter as she rammed her fist into the floor; Dont worry about it.
Lydia was very much worrying about it. I repeat my offer to send you into an actual mental hospital once this is over, she said. The fact that John didnt push this on the bundle of insanity was a mystery to her.
Fuck that, Thana growled, the dots in her eyes elerating. Lets just do some therapeutic cunt-spanking.
The princess sighed and let the matter pass. The trio went to the middle of the arena, where the enemy team arrived just a moment earlier. Ah, Lydia, how nice of you to fight personally, Maximillian said as the countdown began. She didnt honour that with a response, instead she prepared for battle. The biome wheel had spun andnded on the standardized arena. The simple brown t would be their battlefield.
Bits of metal buttons, clips and thin tes unravelled from her clothes and formed a debris field around her. The rest of her team also got ready, the light denying nothingness ripping into existence and seeping into Nias clothes. A reality defying material spawned from the vastness of the other side andnded right inside the nks hand.
In the background, the countdown continued. Maximillian and Alexej, a sure grin on both of their faces, took quick steps backwards. Mario drew his sword and took the van, Lydia didnt even need for it to enter her zone of control to realize that it wasnt metal. The sword master wasnt wearing any armour either; apparently, he was going for a ss cannon approach this time.
The end of the countdown was creeping closer as Thana crouched down. One hand resting on the sandy ground, the left one raised in the air, feet pressing into the floor. She was ready tounch herself straight at the enemy king and end it all in one attack.
Bloodburn.
With the sound of screeching, metallic violins, Thanas wings red up behind her back. Dark red veins of crystallized blood engulfed by crimson fire, semi liquid membranes stretching between, all shifting in a vile pattern of fascinating beauty. Separated into four segment wings, two big ones pointing at the sky and two smaller below pointing at the earth and perfectly mirrored along her spine, their mere existence almost made Lydia choke on a wave of terror.
The grotesque copy of a butterflys wings was soaring with unholy power, and as they red the countdown reached 0. A shrill session of notes, long, long, short, and Thana jumped forward, the ground shattering where her feet had pressed off.
Lydia was barely able to even follow her, if she hadnt known for what the blood mage was headed, she would have lost her. Cutting through the air at stupendous speeds, she was aiming at Maximillians head with her red-wed left. The raised hand shed downwards, perfectly timed to hit the king if Thanas momentum kept carrying her forward.
Then she was suddenly ripped downwards. Her outstretched ws barely reached Maximillians face and carved three bloody marks from his forehead to his chin. The earth trembled as Thana was forced to the ground by an increase of gravitation that should have been impossible.
Even with Maximillian concentrating all of his power in a single spot, there should have been no way for him topletely immobilize Thana, especially while she was using Bloodburn. That really hurts, Maximillianined, blood running from the fresh wound into his right eye, while looking down on Thana.
The blood mage was growling with a mixture of disbelief and mindless anger. Trying to get up by stemming both hands into the floor and working against the magic with raw physical strength. She managed to get off the floor just the slightest bit before Maximillian stepped on her back and pressed her back down.
It was more symbolic than anything, the gravity kings physical strength would add very little to the drastically increased gravity Thana was experiencing right now. The question of how this was possible still loomed, however. Lydias eyes darted over to Alexej.
On the surface, the monk-robe wearing v was doing nothing, simply standing there with a rxed expression. However, on closer inspection, it was apparent how forced that look was. His fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were in white, and the look in his eyes was strained. Aura tracing was not Lydias expertise, but even she could see what was going on once she engaged that mode of viewing the world.
Alexejs aura was almostpletely gone, connecting through a thin rope to Maximillians. Aura sizes were a terrible thing to judge peoples power by at this stage; most people had at least a marginal control over their mana, so they could adjust size and apparent density to a degree. If they couldnt, some peoples auras would engulf whole buildings.
However, Lydia knew that Maximillians wasnt supposed to be thrice as tall as he was and bristling with foreign power. So thats your secret weapon, Max, Lydia thought. The ability to sacrifice ones own power to amplify anothers. Alexej didnt stand any chance to win a single solo fight, but if he could buff Maximillian to a state where he could even immobilize Thana
Nia, we must take out Alexej or at least separate that connection between their auras, Lydia told the blonde, who just nodded in response. Two pairs of blue eyes, one focused towards her singr goal that would lead them to triumph, the other calcting with the coldness of steel,nded on their obstacle.
Mario de Medici held his ss sword in one hand and stared back with determination as he was waiting for them to make their first move. This battle had turned from a 3vs3 into a 2vs1. On paper, that was good for them, but Lydia wasnt quite sure if this meant that they would win. Thana mopped the floor with the sword master, but that said nothing about his actual strength aside from that he was weaker than her.
There hardly could have been a broader range.
However, they also had information from Johns Observe ability. That spelled a bleak picture, as the sword master had a reported level of 194, which was more than even thebined level of Nia (54) and Lydia (74). Alexej could have tinkered with that for intimidation purposes, but Thana also had confirmed that he was closing in on her speed, so that was unlikely.
If only John was down here instead of me, Lydia thought, grinding her teeth as she gripped the heft of her rapier. The Gamers many elementals and general power level would be way more suitable for this situation. Instead, they were now in a terrible situation that boiled down to one objective for each team.
If they managed to free Thana, Lydia won; if Nia was knocked out, Maximillian won. The blood mage was still fighting against the oppressive force that was her gravitational binding, slowly pressing a body shaped depression into the floor. The backline duo kept their attention on her.
Head straight for Alexej, Lydiamanded and then grabbed a vial of mithril. They couldnt risk Nia getting caught in a melee engagement that she was sure to lose. The only possible answer here was for Lydia to distract Mario for long enough for the nk to do her thing.
Three ss knives flew towards Lydia as she pulled the lid from the vial. Thin des that could be hidden just about anywhere. She managed to block two of them with her sphere of metal, the third one scraping through a little hole in the forming shield and cutting the side of her neck. It was painful, and it bled, but it wasnt a concerning wound. Not in the short term, anyhow.
Lydia gulped down the vials contained liquid alloy of mithril and mercury at the same moment as Nia and Mario started running. Thetter was heading directly for the nk, who in turn was following Lydias orders. With their difference in sheer speed, Mario would intercept her before Nia could even reach the halfway point.
The princess started running as well, abandoning all defences as a storm of scrap charged in front of her. The hope was to engulf Mario, but the man was simply running even faster than her metal could fly.
The sword master brought his de down on Nia, the nk side-stepping at thest possible moment. Thus, being forced to abandon her charge for the moment, having Mario in her back was the same as just epting to get cut along the back, Nia tried a counterattack with her dagger.
The peculiar nature of Nias weaponry worked to their advantage, forcing Mario to distance himself. If he had attempted to parry, the non-existing weapon would have simply sunk through the de and damaged him in a way that Lydia didnt clearly understand.
A mere moment passed, in which Mario took a firm stance again. That was all that Lydia needed, and the cloud of metal engulfed the sword master. The first chaotic swarm passed him, for which he only needed to cut through a minor amount of potentially harmful projectiles. Then Lydia came closer, and with her physical presence came her zone of control.
Being this close to a melee expert was a gamble, but if she hoped to upy him for an extended amount of time, just having him assaulted by a few pieces of metal wouldnt do. She needed to bring as much of her power as she could, and thus it required that the knight of Rome was as close to her as she could justify without getting in easy reach of his de.
The chaotic cloud reformed into an orderly assault from all sides, trapping Mario in an ever-shifting cage. Bits of metal flew around him as the knight parried and dodged what he could. The ceaseless assault proved too much for even him to fully handle, but he managed to keep the wounds he suffered to little scraps in non-important areas.
Go! Lydia shouted. Her power boost wouldntst for long with how much power she was expending right now. The attempt to catch Mario in wires was also unsessful, the whirling of his de cut through them. ident or cautious measure, Lydia didnt know.
Nia didnt need that signal twice and turned to run. All of Lydias attentiony with Mario. Metal pieces were flying from all directions, reflected by the ss de that endlessly weaved through the air in a skilled dance. Lydia kept a close eye, tried to keep up with the knights every movement. The de moved so fast it was little more than a blur.
A sh of light, then pain. Lydia kept herself from reflexively looking down to her shoulder. She knew that there was a knife stuck there without visual confirmation. A second one quickly followed, thankfully hitting one of her ribs and thus causing very little damage.
More would follow, but Lydia couldnt afford to bring more of her projectiles into a defensive position, nor could she spare any concentration on dodging. If she let up in her attack or presented any gap in the spinning cloud of metal that surrounded Mario, he would break out and set after Nia.
Her conundrum about this turned out to be useless anyhow. Four sharpened pieces of metal shed where Marios head had just been, and he made a break for her. Shit! Lydia thought and quickly drew her rapier.
Ferforitum wasnt hard or particrly suited for this level ofbat, but it would at least serve as some defence. The rapier became a giant thin shield, more of a visual defence than capable of blocking, and Lydia jumped to the side just before Mario broke through.
Nothing personal, he said in an earnest tone as he twisted around. There was the glint of ss.
Lydia suddenly found herself inside a bed. The first thing she saw was the television, where a camera was currently filming Nia and how she was about to reach Alexej and Maximillian. Then a ss sword hit her in the lower back and toppled her over.
Oh wow, he must be out of throwing knives, Jeffmented with the heartless joy of an entertainer. Lydias nails dug into her palm as a nurse came over and exined that she would remove the knife now. It wasnt from the pain. Nia tried to stand up again, the tip of the de sticking from her stomach. Her blood, red and swirling white, dripped from the de and into the sands.
Her weapons vanished, reced by a sphere of anti-magic as she tried to crawl the rest of the way to fulfil her objective. If she could get in range to interrupt them just for a moment with a shockwave, surely Thana would be able to take them all out in that moment.
Mario wasnt about to let that happen, hurrying over and pulling out his de. The anti-magical shockwave fired, killing all magic around Nia but stopping a half-metre from Maximillian. The knight then sent Nia into the bed next to Lydias.
What a stunning disy of martial prowess! Jeff continued; He beat two enemies on his own.
Despite his earlier failure against Thana, he is still a knight of Rome, Dra stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
That he is! Jeff said. Which makes the power of that little girl Thana that much more impressive.
You acknowledge that and yet refuse to stop provoking her.
Theirmentary was an affront to Lydias ambition. They treated all of this as their little game, as something that just happened for their entertainment. The masses, the viewers, thementators, all the people that organized this whole thing, they all made this political struggle into nothing more than a show fight. A battle for the soul of the nation, reduced to a parade.
Lydia closed her eyes, but she couldnt drown out the cheersing from the television. Were those the people she was fighting to govern? Did they even deserve a good future if they were willing to apud this embarrassment?
Calm down, she told herself and was reminded of what Thana and Rave had told her. The average person didnt care about politics and had no stakes in this tournament. Why would they? They werent able to decide the oue whether it was who won the vote of an elite council or a contest of power.
It seems they are unable to take out contestant Thana, Dra noted, causing Lydia to look again. Indeed, the enemy trio was surrounding the blood mage. Alexej was kneeling next to her head, probably poking fun at her or something.
Well, that is a bit of a situation then, Jeffbed his hair as he watched Mario stab Thana in the heart, which still didnt send her over to this hidden Apothecary camp; It seems the contestant cant move, but neither can they muster enough aggressive power to take her out. Are we seeing the start of an eternal encampment or something?
No, Dra said and looked at his cards, if a stalemate persists for more than 10 minutes then the team with less members loses. So, we wait.
10 minutes passed, and the expected announcement was made.
Chapter 285 – Blank, Blood and Steel
Chapter 285 C nk, Blood and Steel
John was keeping his head very low, trying his best not to stand out. The sound of cooking from the kitchen was one of the few sounds that echoed through the tension-thick air of the living room. Even the nging of pots and pans were kept to a minimum, Aclysia doing her best not to give any of the three angry women sitting around the living room any reason to increase their animosity towards the world.
Only Nathalia, boringly masturbating on a chair while looking through a ygirl, had no intent to keep silent and moaned in her husky voice. John felt triply awkward about this: one, because of the general situation, two, because she was masturbating in the living room, and three, because she was looking at pictures of naked men that werent him.
It was as if she was taunting him to just do her, which she probably was actually doing. Either that or Nathalia had one of her kink-cravings and was doing a little exhibitionist number. Or both. Fact was that John couldnt really act on it.
There was the incredibly pissed off Thana, who was taking walnuts from a bowl on the television table and cracking them in her bare hands. The worst part was that she ate the entire nut, shell and all. She was just throwing the destroyed mess into her mouth, munching on shards and spreading bits of shattered walnut everywhere.
Then there was Nia, who John actually didnt know if she was angry or not. All he had to go by was the fact that the nk was sitting still and not even attempting to go after Copernicus, currently rolled up in Ravesp, who was in turn sitting next to John listening to some quiet beats. Every now and again, she exchanged worried nces with him.
Lastly, there was Lydia. The princess hadnt touched the tea that Aclysia had brought her upon entering. From the clean cup to the pot sitting on top of a small candle inside a metal cage, the set stood there unused.
Undine, Lydia finally uttered a single word. Inside his mind, the water elemental stirred and ebbed away from reality as far as she could. John was ready to give her a minor pep-talk and assure her that everything would be fine, but before he could do that, Undine gathered her resolve and materialized.
The blue slime gathered on the floor and then spilled upwards, taking the form of a bosom heavy woman. If there was one thing that Johnmented about the fact that Undine was a slime girl, it was that her legs were fused into a barely separable pir most of the time. He liked looking at smooth, naked legs. At least she still had an ass worth marvelling at; even naked, herdy bits were invisible though, only formed when she needed them.
Yes? the ocean elemental asked with the melody of the regretful.
Are you aware that todays loss could have been avoided if it wasnt for your betrayal? the princess mercilessly asked. John narrowed his eyes but waited for Undine to answer before he stepped in. He wasnt about to let Lydia vent her frustrations on the water spirit.
Yes, came the downtrodden answer.
Lydia grabbed her pot of tea and started pouring herself a cup. Very well then, this matter is settled, she said and forcibly rxed as she took a sip. The air in the room suddenly seemed breathable again, and John took the opportunity to make a relieved sigh.
Really? Thana spat out, You are just going to let this whole fucking thing blow over like that?!
The expectation was that we were going to lose this match from the start, Lydia kept her eyes on the steam rising from her tea, While I am no-
I dont fucking care about your expectations, the blood mage interrupted. I could have grabbed that smug bastards face and smashed it into the pavement until he would have needed to rece his teeth with toothpicks, waking up drenched in cold sweat in a puddle of his own fucking urine as he remembers that day!
The outburst was unexpectedly violent, even for Thana. I dont think this amount of aggression towards Maximillian is warranted, Lydia pointed out.
Who the FUCK is talking about that brown-nosing asshole? Thanaughed, the shrill sound making the windows rattle. I mean that Alexej shitface and his cock-sucking attitude towards your ex-lovers crown jewels.
I didnt take you for someone that would read old stories written on my life, Lydiamented.
I did not, Siena told me, Thana picked up another walnut and rolled it between her palms. John wasnt bothered by this, it wasnt a secret in the first ce, so Siena sharing it wasnt a problem.
Either way, the princess also didnt make a fuss about it, while it is correct that we lost due to avoidable circumstances Undine shrunk together a little bit as a grey-eyed stare wandered her way; I am not willing to make this a further disgrace than we need to; let us strategize about the next round instead.
Fucking fine, Thana grumbled and tossed the walnut back into the bowl.
Can I pat you? Nia suddenly asked the blood mage. Everyones attention shifted to the nk, her eyes looking straight at Thana,pletely unwavering.
The fuck? the bundle of insanity wondered.
You look like a very angry cat right now, Nia stated her, slightly nonsensical, reason. Or maybe a dog? I am not sure.
Wait a moment, John intercepted this exchange, and Nia turned her head around like a porcin doll in a horror movie. Why do her movements have to look this uncanny sometimes? John wondered and repressed a shudder. Is that what you have been staring at her for? You arent angry or anything?
Nia tilted her head quizzically, Angry about what?
The fact you lost?
Losing is a failure to be redeemed in repeatedbat. I can spend the time begrudging others patting hedgehogs instead, Nia said, her voice neither too loud nor too quiet.
Nathalia moaned in the background. John sessfully ignored that.
So you spent thest, he checked the clock, about fifty minutes building up the courage to ask Thana if you could pat her.
Nia gave a nod with her still tilted head. Unbelievable, that girl is so weird I almost want to cuddle her and never let her go, Rave giggled.
No, you cannot fucking pat me! Thana then shouted. The hell is wrong with you?! Nia stood up and headed for the door. What, are you angry now?! Feeling rejected?! the blood mage wondered.
No. I want to find a hedgehog, Nia said, looking back with her typically vacant expression before leaving the room.
I swear I want to rip open that pretty head of hers and look if her head is as empty as her personality, Thana growled.
She can be charming, Lydia assured.
Nevermind her, John said; for his part, he felt like he was slowly gaining something like a basic grasp on Nias personality. She really wasnt emotionless, she just never showed anything that could resemble emotion. Either that or he wasnt able to pick up on a number of subtle signals yet. What I want to know is what has you this pissed off, he pointed at Thana. Normally, you are the first person to say everyone should just stop taking things seriously.
I have my reasons, you skirt-chasing asshole, Thana growled, and a mixture of annoyance and shame hushed over her face. Fucking face wont shut up. It only appears once per day now but when it does it just wont be quiet. Eliza, Eliza, Eliza, WHO THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN?! the armrests of the chair she was sitting on tore open as her fists clenched. Maybe I should just start ughtering everyone with that name, I should mu-
CALM DOWN! John shouted, and Thana froze in her standing-up motion. She looked around as if she suddenly found herself in a whole other ce. Streams of blood pulsated over the exposed skin of her arms, bloody wed hands holding splinters of wood. She started to tremble as anger violently swapped over into a panic attack.
I didnt mean to I-I-I she stammered and fell back into the cushioned chair.
John went over and gently ran his hand through her hair as she hid her face in her palms. Calm down, Thana, it will be fine, he promised, fixing up the chair with Craft.
Will it? she wondered. Will I ever be fine?
Hey, if the Abyss can be trusted, we are both going to live a couple of hundred years, so we get enough time to test it, John spoke in a soft voice. Just calm down and take small steps.
In a quick il of movements, Thana wrapped her arms around his waist and buried face against his stomach instead as he kept caressing her hair. It had been a while since shest had a panic attack this pronounced, the loss must have hit her quite hard.
Of all the things that Thana knew about herself, it was only her incredible power that had been a positive and unquestionable thing. It was of no wonder that being regressed to an utterly helpless state threw her mind back to darker times. We are going to look into Eliza once this is over, okay? John suggested.
Thanks, Thana mumbled.
John sat down next to Rave a few minutester, Thana having calmed down enough to keep quiet in her chair, arms wrapped around pulled in knees. The dots in her eyes were standing still.
Anyhow, tomorrow, the next round will begin. We know that the next game wont be happening until the test results for Undines Lorylim corruption return to us, and that will take until after the New Years break. We can therefore expect a normal fight tomorrow, Lydia said.
The second round means they get to pick their fighters in response to us, right? Rave asked.
Yes, that is correct, Lydia confirmed.
John reached for Raves hand, a reflexive gesture more than anything else, Which is pretty bad for us, since they now have a good idea of the match-ups.
Indeed. Lydia sipped on her tea. I expect the following things to happen: Alexej will fight Thana, thus removing her from this round with no real loss on their side. Mario will fight Nia and Nariko will fight Rave, since these match-ups have worked for them already. This means that I am most likely to face Maximillian.
While they delegate that goblin, Ankleshanker, to me, John finished the line of thought.
Sounds all fine, Momo chimed in, giving the self-pleasuring dragoness a poisonous re as her constant moaning was cutting into her reading, and what is your response strategy?
Dying the fights we are likely to lose for as long as possible, Lydia answered; We have the advantage in the long run. The further in time this tournament stretches, the higher Johns Innate Ability will elevate us via the Soulpotion.
John smirked, You all are justtching on to my bullshit ability.
It is a rather immense time investment to train using your ability, but it is still arger increase in raw power than is normally attainable, Lydia muttered into her teacup. It is, however, just that: Raw power. Finesse must be attained in post, which is a mild annoyance.
Not all is sunshine when you can cheat your way through the world using me, John said; Getting an endless resource of all resources in a videogame wont make you a lot better at that game.
I suppose that analogy makes sense? the princess shrugged. I wouldnt know.
It does make sense, in the nerdy way, Rave said and poked her boyfriend in the side, which is the only way my man here knows about.
Hey, I also know the lovers way!
Ya sure?
Moving onto counter-measures, Lydia intercepted before the two of them could derail this strategy discussion. Thana, you will fight tomorrow.
Sure, Thanas grin was uncharacteristically tired. All you need me to do is to beat whoever is dumb enough to not surrender immediately, right?
Yes, afterwards we will have three days to train. We will decide our further path by the results of that.
A half-shouted moan came from the dinner table. Are you finally finished with this trivial discussion of yours? Nathalia lustfullyined; I need John to fuck me within the next two minutes, or I will jump down into the city and ride the first guy that I see right on the street.
Johns left eye twitched at the threat. So far, he had managed to keep Nathalia satisfied and exclusively his since meeting her back at the massage parlour. He very much preferred to keep it that way. Forever, if possible. I have no idea how to breach that topic
Lydias left also twitched, for wholly different reasons. Please go satisfy my unwanted visitor before she gets me in trouble with Luna, the princess ordered John.
Chapter 286 – The Road to 100 is paved with greenskins.
Chapter 286 C The Road to 100 is paved with greenskins.
Out of his whole group, John was the one that needed the least amount of training (aside from Thana). A fact that was no excuse to sit on his bum. Reaching level 100 was beneficial for several reasons.
The most important reasons were that he would get ess to another ss Level, which he would most likely put into Elementalist again, and that he would fulfil a Quest that would give him two SEP. Both Arcane Explosion and Mana Ray could use an upgrade, John found. The former because it started to fall behind on the practicality side of things (there was seldomly a reason to use it instead of his elementals or Arcana Strike), thetter because the 300-mana cost was really hard to swallow.
Mana Ray was still good, without a doubt, but the evolution should be able to provide him with something better, so was Johns logic. As a matter of fact, he would be happy if he could get his hands on either of the two previously suggested upgrades that had appeared alongside Arcana Strike.
It was the evening of the day, and John, having appeased Nathalia, was staring at the Monster Table. What are we waiting for? Momo asked, leaning against one of the brittle walls of the old house that was the exit point of the mansions portal. She regretted that decision a momentter, as the poncho that was also, practically, her skin was covered in grey dust.
Thing is, I am level 96 now, he exined.
Ah, Momo understood. Because Assault automatically updated to the current difficulty, him being level 96 meant that they would face harder opponents. To be exact, they were now on Tier 19. Which meant that they hit a new page on the spawning list.
Because Gaia had taken the liberty to rework his monster table a few weeks ago, John had been in the proverbial dark on a few things. For a start, the old core floors seemed to have been removed from Assaults.
Usually, every fifth Tier had some unique enemies and a boss that was somewhat harder than the run-of-the-mill ones that appeared between those Tiers. Previously, these core floors had signalled from where John could re-enter the I.D., but that had been changed when Gaia also buffed the content to be harder depending on group size.
The core floors still existed for everything else, Furtrue, the golem Rave had fought, was an encounter to Tier 18 for example. Which was also where everything else, including Waves (John had checked out of curiosity) had its unique encounters.
So, its either that Gaia fucked up and missed designing a core floor for Assault, or the enemies will get upgraded right now, he mumbled.
The fact that the supreme deity of the world could make such a tant mistake was slightly diforting. Then again, John didnt know all that much about Gaia aside from what she looked like, that she was supremely powerful and that she was sassy. I really have to wonder how she keeps all of the Abyss in line all the time if she is just one supremely powerful girl? Another automated system? John wondered.
Anyhow, he now had an answer to the question of whether or not the enemies would upgrade, since Gaia had just admitted that Assaults were supposed to run like normal I.D. from a structural standpoint.
Well, Ive had enough of cats for a while, John mumbled and looked over his other choices. He didnt really feel like fighting Undead, and Ogres sounded like they would ruin his established tactic of fortress building by virtue of being enormous in size. He also had had enough of burning trees, so Forest Elementals were also out. City Elementals or Orcs? he asked himself and ultimately decided to go with Orcs. He had spent enough of his life grinding City Elementals.
So, with variety in mind, John created the Assault Dungeon (with a short run time of 10 minutes, testing the waters was important).
The Orc dungeons always had a rather simple design. The ground became a grass covered in, an ocean of giant green waves that made it rather hard to observe the area from the depression in the hills they currently stood in. Only the asional stone formation interrupted the monotony.
Lets get to a high point and see what the initial mobs are like, John said as his elementals materialized. They were half up one of the many hills when Gnome stopped him.
I feel footsteps, she informed everyone, and her knowledge was shared throughout the mentalwork.
The steps came to a sudden halt just as Johns group did. The enemy had some way of knowing where they were as well and were waiting just over the edge of the hill. They would rush at whoever stuck their head out first. There is an easy solution to this, John thought.
A momentter, the hill was split at the top; what was an even crest became a twin peak as a path appeared right through the mountain. Aclysias form, the dress removed in favour of her original body resembling a naked android whose skin-ting was crumbled off in a matter both enticing and censoring, darted straight forwards.
The six orcs that had been lying in ambush werepletely taken aback by being assaulted themselves, and the fact that the ground beneath their feet itself had tilted and crumbled didnt exactly help their footing.
The first one of the orcs was killed immediately when Aclysia rammed her dagger through the leather armour and into his heart. Another one, a female, got a Mana Ray straight into her face while the remaining three found themselves unable to regroup as they were bombarded by fire bolts and des of air.
The one John had so quickly blinded was iling around with her double-headed axe. The enormous thing was a savagely worked, singr piece of grey metal. Even aimlessly swung, it was a danger towards anyone who would have stepped into range.
The orc female was extremely ugly, which shouldnt make the fact that he was murdering any easier on the mind, but (aside from the fact that these factually didnt exist for any other purpose than to fight against him) he would have lied if he had said that it didnt have some sort easing effect. Killing beautiful girls was just a shame. It couldnt be helped if Gaia decided to send a subus his way again, but it was harder. Just a base instinct sort of thing.
John stepped closer to the iling orcess. What are you doing? Momo demanded to know.
Running some tests, he answered. The iling stopped, and the Warhog reared her head, the wings of her broad nose widening as she took a deep breath and suddenly looked directly at John, the closest person around, with her seared eyes. Okay, so they were able to locate us thanks to their sense of smell, John noted just in time to get jumped at.
The overhead strike was not what John was looking for, and with his miserable Agility, he wouldnt have managed to dodge even if he wanted to. The attack crashed uselessly against the pre-charged part of his Mana Protection.
He grabbed the weapon by the shaft with his Purgatory-d hand, and the Warhog, confused as her axe had been blocked by something she couldnt smell, tried to pull it back. She seeded with only mild inconvenience, while he was almost pulled from his feet as the weapon escaped his grasp.
Neither on the front of Strength nor Agility, currently at 65 and 32 respectively, did he even hold a candle to the orc. Pretty much expected of the enemy, but John still had wanted to try. In the background, Aclysia and his elementals killed the rest of the group. John decided this one could be disposed of as well. The experiment had been concluded, and he would try again whenever Purgatory was fully stacked.
A few minutes, and dead orcs,ter, they found themselves back in the run-down house. Five-minute break, John said, watching his mana tick up rather quickly thanks to the use of Whisper of Mana. The experience from that short Assault wasnt even worth looking at. Once his mana was topped off again, they went back inside, this time for the usual 3 hours real-time version.
They went with the formerly very sessful strategy of Build a fortress, defend that fortress. However, there were a few moreplications this time around. They are digging underneath us! Gnome shouted in his mind.
Enemy amassing forces to the west, Momo reported.
Decoy force currently assaulting the bridge, Aclysia added.
The most important difference between fighting feral beasts that were relying on sneak attacks and humanoids with anguage was that thetter could easily coordinate something like a strategy. ARCHERS TO THE NORTH! Undine warned John who looked up and saw a swarm of a dozen or so arrows fly into the air.
Smander, if you would, John instructed, and the hail of arrows turned into a useless shower of metal arrowheads amongst the ash of formerly wooden shafts. Gnome can you bury them alive? Siena, go interrupt that gathering to the west.
Y-yes!
Fine, came the answers, self-assuring and eager respectively.
Torture or not, Siena was eager to dig her ws and des into something, and because the enemy had no magic caster that could get her out of the shadows, she was safe as well. Truth be told, denying her torturing things was maybe the best punishment John could have thought of.
Not only was she clearly bothered by it, practicing with the violin whenever she had a chance to escape that fate, but it made her so hungry for battle that she was fairly easy to control. She even sounded sort of thankful whenever he did allow her to go for a rampage. I will think of you as I turn their innards into floor decoration, she said in her overly sexy tone. That was also part of the routine.
John ignored that as Gnome siphoned away a bit of his mana to kill the orcs underground. Then Smander took away a bit to eliminate another hail of arrows. Sylph also barged in as she helped Aclysia by creating a violent gust that swept a charging Warhog off his foot and made him fall over, head sinking into theva ring.
Due to the geographical waviness of the terrain, that ring was way thinner than John would have liked. They had needed to create a basin to keep it in ce in addition to the thing itself. The alternative would have been to set their base into one of the low-points, but there they would just have been endlessly assaulted by archers.
Purgatory red up after John used Mana Ray to finish off the orc that had taken a rather violent burning to the face. These guys are sturdy, John thought. It shouldnt havee as a surprise, but the sheer number of them wasnt to be underestimated either. Right now alone, he could see around 30, thepany that Siena was harassing, and another dozen, the archers who were keeping a loose formation even as Smander was bombarding them with fire from above.
John was stretched out to his maximum capabilities; he actually had to deny Sylph a bit of mana as she tried to take it and zap someone Aclysia was already handling quite well. But why? let me electrocute him with a bit of a shocking disy. A daring diddle of dilly-daddling dunder doming dilly hilly fully-kully, yay, these are fun noises!
To answer your question John sighed, certain that she had already forgotten about it, I need to conserve my mana here. We are barely 30 minutes in, and I am fairly certain there will soon be a
boss, John thought as a blue sh galloped over the hills on stubby legs. It would have looked pretty funny if it hadnt been so damn terrifying. It stormed over one hill, then another, and within a few seconds, it was now trampling over the bridge and crashing right into Aclysia.
The artificial guarding was impaled on a metallic tusk, a pained outcry following as the boss stomped around on the spot until she finally glided off the tusk and was thrown into the air.
She reached the highest point of her flight and then began falling right back into the empty yard at the centre of the makeshift fortress. Its single upant was opening its beastly mouth wide, omnivorous teeth sticking out of dark gums.
John started running from the outer edge of the upper area and made a jump for it. His body felt light, incredibly so, thanks to the bonus stats Echo of Destruction provided him with. Still, when he caught the fully metalized maid, it was far from heroic. He seeded in his goal, to change her flight path away from the jaws of the pig, but the impact made his ribs create a crunching sound that sounded anything but healthy.
Thending was worse. Together, they rolled over the ground; each time the artificial spirits heavy body was on top, something red up in pain and was immediately fixed by Gamers Body, only to torment him again. John thanked his past self for raising Endurance to 100, otherwise he would have probably experienced every single one of his brittle bones break. Mana Protection did nothing against all of this as it wasnt an enemy attack either.
They hit the wall and got battle ready again just in time for the pig to charge at them. However, now that it had lost its initial momentum and had to fight in a rtively small area, its size and strength became a massive drawback for it. Gnome, seal the entrance! John shouted as he and Aclysia ran in different directions.
Themand was meant to keep any orcs from meddling as they beat the boss, but it proved absolutely useless as the Battery Pig rammed straight into the wall. Against what themonly used video game mechanic would make one believe, the boss wasnt stunned. Not by the impact at the very least.
No, the pig ripped a giant hole into the fortification. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the falling debris blinded the boar, giving Aclysia enough time topletely heal the hole in her stomach and then jump on the back of the creature with VolJinZul.
With an entirely unmaidenly scream, Aclysia grabbed the giant weapon with two hands and rammed it into the creatures back. It let out a pained squeal and started to thrash, trying to throw off the artificial guardian. However, Aclysia wasnt this easily to shake of; indeed, all the boss managed to do was to make the wound in its back even worse.
But it wouldnt kill the monster, not quick enough to stop the 30 orcs from the west to reinforce it through the gaps it would create. John had no other choice but to risk getting close and deal some damage himself.
The boss left nk waspletely exposed to John, even though the kicking and random biting made it dangerous toe close. Nevertheless, he used a Mana de, pouring 500 mana in, a rough 60% of what he had right now. The de sliced through the boss leg, separating tendons and muscles and causing it to topple over, allowing Aclysia to finish it off.
John left her to it as he quickly climbed back up the wall and threw out an Arcana Strike with his remaining mana. The true horror about this boss wasnt its own power. It was the amount of damage it had done to Johns little fortress that proved the real challenge. Fixing that would take mana. Mana he didnt have right now as he had sacrificed it to keep himself safe.
Instead, he directed resources from Momo to Gnome. The fortifications were patched up with only a thin stoneyer, to be reinforced whenever they got some breathing room; Gnome had to get back to denying another underground assault.
John waited only 5 seconds after the Arcana Strike was ready to pull the trigger on it. It hid the main force of the enemy battalion in a ten-metre radius explosion of pure arcane power. John had no idea how many orcs exactly died to that attack, but it had to be at least 4 as Whisper of Mana kicked into full effect, increasing his mana regeneration by 400%.
That was exactly what he had been after. The sacrifice of a chunk of mana to up his regeneration to 31 for a whole minute was worth it without a doubt. Now he could go ahead and spend his mana a bit more leisurely. Momo, keep a buff ready for the next one of those, I dont want it breaking in again. Siena, Sylph, keep harassing the surviving orcs. Smander, get in there as well; Undine will block eventual arrows in the meantime. Aclysia John continued to hastily givemands.
As everyone changed their positions on the battlefield, John caught himself smiling. Widely smiling. He was having fun. The Bugpanthers had been such a boring but efficient encounter that John almost had forgotten how much he loved using his abilities. This was challenging, it asked of him the optimal usage of his items, good resource management and that he actually got into the thick of things himself if needed.
He considered tipping his hat for a moment, giving him yet more mana regeneration. For every 1000 mana he spent, he got a stack of Tip which gave him 2 to 20 t MP/Reg depending on the number of stacks he had. However, as he only had 2 stacks at the moment, he decided against it.
Either way, no matter how hard this dungeon was, he wouldnt even look at the other Assaults. The simple reason was that he was having fun, and no amount of safety was worth spending hours just being bored over. Also, he always had Escape Rope if things actually got heated.
I am going to grind you people to dust and use that experience to get to level 100! John announced.
Chapter 287 – The following day was Thursday.
Chapter 287 C The following day was Thursday.
And he surrendered, Jeff said in a defeated tone. Yes, as expected this fight was over in a sh. Alexej just gave up, how boring.
John actually didnt agree with thementator there; Thana and the blonde v had exchanged a few words before the surrender came in. Which was slightly worrying.
What did you talk about? Lydia asked therefore once Thana arrived back on the tform.
He is a fucking dick, and I will rip out his weaselly little tongue and rece it with ss shards so that he cuts himself whenever he spouts some more shit, Thana answered in a disy of random agitation, throwing her hands into the air. The fucking weather.
Typical, John sighed, and they went back to the mansion as the announcers behind them were still announcing the break to the people. From today until the first of January, they were on the New Years Pause.
So, we are going to enter the new year with a 5 to 5 score, Rave noted, kicking a pebble once they were outside; Thats super boring.
And disadvantageous for us since they now choose the match-ups. I had hoped to finish this round with a lead, not a tie, Lydia stated as she pondered about this. I think that we are likely to win the next Group Fight, however. They cant counter both Thana and John.
Its highly unlikely at the very least, John agreed.
They wont be able to face me alone next time, Thana growled.
Hubris isnt going to get you anywhere, Lydia reprimanded.
Its not hubris if I can back the statement up, anal queen, the blood mage countered; I still have some fuckery I can pull.
Exin, now, the princess said with a warning nce. If there was any power Thana had held back during theirst engagement, then Lydia would have been rightfully angry. John already had a rough inkling of what woulde next though.
When I fought John months ago, I did this weird-ass thing called Soulburn. I have no idea how I did it or how it fucking works or what the hell it is, but it was pretty fucking strong.
It was terrifying, John corrected; One moment I had her finally beat, the next I am doused in blue fire.
And why have I not been informed about this? Lydia asked. I seemingly have to remind you that we have an agreement where you help me win this tournament and in return I will free you from your debt, John Newman.
Stop bitching at John and I will tell you, Thana said, changing her steps so that she found herself between the Gamer and the princess.I didnt need that thing until recently, so I didnt want to waste time on it. Again: I have not even the faintest fucking clue what it was, only that I was really angry when I managed to tap into it. My memory of it is also hazy since I DIED directly after it.
This reason is eptable, Lydia caved to the exnation and dered the topic done with a gracious nod.
Once back at the mansion, the princess dered a meeting.
As you all are most firmly aware, we need to get stronger. Schedule allows us a total of 4 days on this end and up to 4 more days depending on where in the order, whose setting is our only advantage in this round, yound. Therefore, I will have to inform you that New Years festivities are cancelled unless there are satisfactory results, she dered.
From her position at the head of the dinner table and being the only standing person in the room, she should have had at least some air of authority around her. In reality, whatevermanding presence she had was eliminated. The problem was that she surrounded herself with people that were weird.
Whatever, boss bitch, Thana said, picking her teeth with a pick which previously had been used on diced cheese.
Coppy, why do you hang out with Nia all the time? Raveined to her elemental.
Because, aside from the fact that she can eliminate my existence if she isnt careful, she is way betterpany, Copernicus purred as his chin was scratched.
Would never null something cute, Nia whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Lydia sighed and looked over to see if at least John was listening carefully. Bullshit! heined as the enemy mage threw Yogg-Saron on the board only for it to cast three Pyrosts which obliterated his face in a matter of seconds.
Are none of you taking this seriously? Lydiained.
Thing is, Lydia, John answered while queuing for another match, we are all able to multitask, and I am pretty sure you just want us to formte our goals for the next days, right?
That is part of it, yes, but mostly I need to know how much of your support they will need, Lydiaid down.
Ah, I guess that makes sense, John nodded. It was him or, to be more specific, his abilities inbination with the Soulpotion that made meaningful bursts in power over theing days even feasible. Alexej could cheat someone up massively during a fight, John could cheat everyone up slowly outside. Well, it wasnt THAT slow, at least not yet.
Of course, the true bullshit was that John could do so much more than that, but that his Innate Ability was something truly bonkers was well established by now.
I will try getting that Soulburn thing to trigger, so I wont need any jackass help aside from maybe Nathalia, Thana reported, We will bash each others head in, maybe that will do something; if not, I will look into some alternatives.
Please do that off the ind, Lydia reminded her. If you and Nathalia go at it in Rome, no amount of Lunas good will is able to hide her. Thana gave her an understanding grin apanied by a less reassuring giggle.
Nia put Copernicus on the table. I am going to try to increase my physical prowess. I am uninformed about the potential of help John will be able to offer me, the nk blonde stated in a calm tone that could have been either honest confusion or some sort of allegation along the lines of He is useless.
John, by now, had learned that it was smartest to go with the nicest, most na?ve interpretation of her words possible whenever she said something. Opening his inventory, he pulled out Helbrechts Soulpotion. As he was currently in his civilian clothing, jogging pants and a wide t-shirt, he didnt have it fixed to his waist in its holster like usual.
There was only the slightest bit inside it, but that worked out. As long as people are in my group they get experience from this potion instead of the normal buffing effect, he exined and handed the sk to Nia; You just go ahead, check your experience, drink it and then tell me if that number, or anything else, changed.
Nia looked at the sk in her hand with a tilted head. Turning it in her hand for a bit, before taking off the lid with unrealistically fluid motions. Even while she was sitting still, her long ponytail, dangling over the back of her chair, was waving in an unnoticeable breeze. The fluid ran into her mouth and was gone with a gulp.
Her mouth opened a bit. Pretty pale lips just standing open, eyes slightly widening. That bit of facial shifting might have been the most expressive thing he had seen on her face thus far. As a matter of fact, John was halfway certain this was the first time he had even seen her features shift in any way.
It worked, Nia said in her usual emotionless voice. She handed back the potion, and her expression drifted back to the usual vacancy of one. I cant eliminate it either, its part of me now, she exined further upon a questioning gaze from John.
Congratz, tiger, Raveughed; Ya broke even the nks are unaffected by magic rule.
He didnt really, Lydia pointed out; Its just that his ability rewrites how the potions work in a way that makes it so the essence is absorbed, thus making it so that her nullifying magic doesnt apply.
You are not even going to lemme have this little joke? the techno loverined.
Not if it is factually incorrect, Lydia stood her ground.
Is it that drinking more of that potion will make me stronger quicker? Nia asked a slightly odd formted question.
Yes, John quickly answered, but supply is limited. So how much would you need?
All of it, Nia answered with a straight face. Physical training is near ineffective for me.
Well, the effectiveness would be biggest for Nia, so I am fine with her getting most of the Soulpotion for now, Lydia agreed. My personal goal is to get used to the power I already gained, I have not learned to use it effectively yet. Further power boosts are therefore not necessary.
Yeah, I dont really care either, but I will need you to spawn some more enemies to fight for me, John, Rave said. Doing more training with Cappy and all that.
Mhm, so, to summarize, John said; Thana will be doing her own thing, not needing my help
Brilliant fucking observation.
Lydia will also do some training she is unlikely to need me or Soulpotions for
asional input or help would nheless be appreciated.
Jane will only need some of the Soulpotion but need my time to get something to fight
I want a challenge I can actually beat!
and finally, Nia will need a lot of Soulpotions while she does her stuff.
What about you yourself? Lydia inquired.
I will be going for level 100 and then a level in Elementalist, should give me a slight power jump, John answered. Actually, it would be two power jumps. One from the level in Elementalist, but the way bigger one would be another efficiency upgrade to Wisdom.
If he could eliminate mana constrictions (which came back no matter how often he adjusted his build against them because Gaia didnt like him having infinite mana apparently), that would be arge step-up in power.
He was only the slightest bit away from it as well. About 20000 experience points, which was nothingpared to the amount he needed in the first ce. A half hour Assault and that would be done with; afterwards, he could do longer ones with some ease. Would take a bit of the fun out of it, but would also make it way less dangerous.
The orcs would find a way to cope with his stronger arsenal. They werent the smartest race, but they were crafty enough to find a way to annoy him.
I am most happy that all of you have found a constructive thing to spend your time on, Aclysia chimed in, throwing an assortment of tes and under pads for the pots onto the table. Literally. She was standing in the doorframe and tossing them like throwing stars. Theynded perfectly in front of everyone at the table and an extra one was put in ce for Nathalia, who was most likely to wake up ande down the stairs in the next few seconds, attracted by the smell.
I didnt even think of it until now, but isnt Nathalia kind of a freeloader? John asked himself as the food, a simple pasta dish, was brought in.
I advise that you train after eating, especially you, Master. I wouldnt want you to suffer hunger, the artificial guardian continued.
Like I could pass up on your cooking, John said. Hey, can you bake a pizza for New Years?
Didnt I say that festivities were disallowed? Lydia pointed out.
Its just a slightly fancier meal, Lyly, dont be so stingy, Rave countered.
I dont think stingy is the right word there, her boyfriendmented.
Shush, anyhow, pizza for New Years, okay, Aclysia? Rave turned to the cooking weapon.
If that is what Master and mistress wish for, I will most happily create the most delicious pizza. Please leave me your preferences in the form of a memo and I will oblige.
How about every-fucking-thing? Thana requested.
I would like ananas, Nia said.
We call those pineapples in freedom-speech, Rave corrected her.
But why? Nia asked while blinking.
Lydia sighed, defeated. There was no way she could reign these people in.
Chapter 288 – Hella Wise
Chapter 288 C He Wise
Finally, I just hope my assumption is correct John said and, after weeks of grinding, dropped the 11 needed points into Wisdom, pushing it to 250.
First off: nice, actual numbers, and second off: geezus that is quite the jump, John thought, looking at his Character Sheet.
So now he had more than enough mana to keep up Spellcarrier without worry. To run the calction, John had 9,84 mana, for the ease of calction he just pushed that up to 10. Thanks to Elementalist reducing the cost of his elementals by 20%, they were taking 2% of his mana regeneration each, instead of 2,5%. Their effective cost, therefore, was 10% of his regeneration or 1 mana per second in normal numbers.
Not only was this bonkers cheap (he was semi-certain that Gaia was going to nerf him on that front once the next patch rolled around), but it was still going to get cheaper. The goal to get the summoning skills to bepletely free (for which level 20 would be needed) was still his current ss objective.
Added to that were the Artificial Spirits, taking another 2% of his mana regeneration. Then he finally got to Possession.
Thanks to Jack having the One of the Hive Attribute, the base Possession cost him no mana or Possession Slot, so that was something. Spellcarrier always costed at least 2 Possession Slots, however: one to create the Spellcarrier condition and another one per kind of spell the Possession target was able to cast.
Each Possession slot cost John 1 mana to keep up, which had been taking quite the toll on his old mana regeneration of around 5,5. With roughly 10 (8,8 after deducting the percentage reductions), this price was way more agreeable. John still wouldnt use Spellcarrier whenever he could, at least not for the moment.
Fact was that it was fairly rare that using a skill from another position than his own was both required and more effective than just giving the same mana to his elementals. With the exception of Arcane Explosion, none of his spells were particrly great when equipped to Jack, or other objects, in the first ce.
Mana de had the drawback of having its size and damage scale evenly. When in melee that wasnt a problem, but if John wanted to use the thing as the sparrows talons, then they would deal either next to no damage or be gigantic enough to draw all attention and siphon off a fair chunk of his mana.
Sending Sylph over was the more cost-effective solution in pretty much every situation.
Mana Ray, on the other hand, had such a huge range that whatever John needed to hit through Jack (or any other proxy for that matter) needed to have an even bigger range to make that necessary. That situation hadnt even happened yet.
Only Arcane Explosion was good, because it turned it from a grenade that had to be thrown into an airstrike. It also did miniscule damage against single targets; to cut even on damage with Mana Ray, Arcane Explosion had to hit three targets.
So, I really need to get spells that actually make it worthwhile to use Spellcarrier, John thought. It was beyond the shadow of a doubt that being able to fire spells from a sheer infinite amount of positions in and of itself was strong. Strong enough, in fact, topromise his next skill evolutions to fit the needs of it.
Up next was the question of where to allocate his Stat Points from now on. He had patched one hole, an urgent one in fact, for now, but it wasnt like he could just continue dumping his points into one Stat and never have problems. Better spread it out a bit now that he had met his goal. After some consideration John came to three options.
First, and the most unlikely one, was to get more Charisma. While he could need more Rtionship Slots (he currently only had 1 left), the question was: who for? The only other woman in his life right now was Nia, and he didnt intend to add her to his harem.
Why he, the primary advocate for the removal of monogamy in his own little world, was of that mindset was quite simple: Nia was part of the Illuminati, one of whose founding members was a certain god of knowledge with four horns.
There were many things John could stomach, but not such a tant invite for the Horned Rat to meddle in his business some more. Between having the Horned Rat be able to give him quests, loot and spying on him through Momo, that was really thest thing he wanted.
Would he sleep with Nia if given the chance? Absolutely, she was super hot. Her porcin skin was wless, and her curves, although subtle on her lithe body, stuck out in the right ces. Would he add her to his harem? As was mentioned, no, that was not his goal.
Therefore, Charisma could wait.
Second was Intellect. Johns mana regeneration was insane, but the same could not be said about his mana pool. At 1480 mana, it was hard to justify using more expensive spells or do some fight winning terraforming. Also, thanks to the synergy upgrade he had gotten from Intellect and Wisdom, he regenerated 3% of his maximum mana per minute.
Not only did that mean that he was actually going to increase his mana regeneration along with his mana pool (although the increase was marginal inparison to getting more Wisdom), but that number would probably go up as well once he hit 250 Intellect.
That was far down the road, however. Very far, indeed. Barring another increase of Stat Points per level, he would need 25 levels to get the 150 points required to get there. Another thing was that he was currently artificially propping up his mana pool through Momo, who had lots of it that was ready to go around thanks to Mana Battery.
Then there was the third option, a Stat he had barely raised ever despite being his third highest at the start of this whole having powers thing: Agility.
John wasnt affected by theck of his Physical Stats very often. That was mostly because he had made the decision to keep at least Endurance moderately high to also increase the maximum capacity of his Mana Protection. With high defences came the advantage of living long enough to have his reinforcements arrive before he could take any really threatening damage.
How long would that remain true though? Echo of Destruction made it so his Physical Stats were pretty high in a prolonged engagement, but if he kept Agility where it currently was (in the gutter), then that woulde to bite him in the ass eventually. He wasnt going to be a physical main ss, he was too far down the magic tree to do so, but there was no reason why he should keep himself at a level where a level 30 thug had the potential to snatch his purse and outrun him.
Just because he had Sylph as a failsafe didnt mean he should be useless himself.
So, raising Agility to 50 would be a fairly smart move, as far as he was concerned. It was a rather cheap investment as well, needing only 24 more points since he had 1 remaining right now. That was exactly what 4 levels gave. Sadly, it didnt coincide with level 100, but not everything could be even.
Agility seemed the way to go for now. John put a point in there and felt a little change. That was the great thing about raising lower stats, it was actually noticeable. When he put a single point into Wisdom, there was barely any progress to his mindset, even if his mana regeneration still continued to grow without any diminishing returns.
That out of the way, John finally got back to grinding.
The increased mana regeneration indeed made the dungeon a smidge easier. Having more mana freed up meant that they could build their fortifications with greater liberty. John had learned that his old tower-like design was simply too outdated for current content and theva simply wasnt effective against the orcs.
Unlike the beast-minded Bugpanthers, the orcs knew to use their terrain more than just instinctively, and just as John kept experiences from hisst encounters with them, the orcs seemed to keep their strategies in dealing with him.
The digging strategies reduced over time, as the monsters learned that it was a sure-fire way to get crushed underground with no hope of rescue or escape. Instead of trying to dig into Johns fortress, the orcs thus assaulted the second-best target for their digging strategy: Theva trenches.
The orcs would carry a frontal assault with a big force, keeping most of Johns forces bound at the gate, and then have a contingent hack away at the basin that kept theva in position. To further upy Gnome during these moments, the orcs actuallyunched small-scale digging assaults as well.
This multi-front approach lead to John having a lot of rtively easy kills, but at the cost of hisva trench, which was incredibly costly to create, being drained and slowly spilling down the hill, thus creating a bigger area for the orcs to assault next time if John wasnt willing to invest the mana.
Thus, with their enemies new strategy and the Battery Pigs ramming capabilities in mind, John overhauled the design. For a start, he got rid of theva trenches. Effective as they may have been in the past, they didnt fulfil their purpose in this set-up.
Instead, what he got was a crust of spikes that covered the area around and the base of the walls. They wouldnt keep a Battery Pig from breaking through, the creatures had aplete disregard for their own safety, but they would at least damage it while also keeping orcs from gaining a secure footing from which to climb the walls from.
Even if they tried that, John left little holes around the whole thing for Undine to simply flush them off from. The Warhogs would fall in their attempt andnd on some rather ufortable ground, making the spikes more effective yet again. The despawning of their corpses also made some rather macabre strategies on the orcs side impossible.
Up next was putting a roof on the damn tower. A ted, octagon shaped ceiling that prevented the enemy archers from showering them from a distance. If they wanted to get a shot in that meant anything, the orcs now needed to get closer and aim directly at the gap between roof and railing, which wasnt the best of targets.
However, the orcs soon adapted to these changes and increased the diversity of their climbing strategies. Undine couldnt be everywhere at once, so John halved her workload by creating a wide rim around the upper part of the tower, also raising it higher in the process.
That rim, which doubled as a walkway in the tower, had a simple purpose: create a shadow underneath in which Siena could lurk freely. The nightmare elemental didnt like being delegated to simple guard duty, but with the enemy assault consisting of a literally endless supply of fresh soldiers, she had her ws full enough.
With that change, the orcs then went ahead and got more invested into correctly assaulting the main gate, which John soon changed to be up a small staircase to give Aclysia the height advantage. They tampered with their strategy again, John responded, it was an ever-shifting meta.
Throughout all of that, one crisis popped up after another. Battery Pigs threatened to copse the now much grander structure whenever they broke through the walls. When John was getting halfwayfortable with his current situation, the orcs dug up one of their old strategies and forced him to respond with the simrly outdated solution, opening him up to other threats in the meantime.
The fighting was fierce, it was continuous, almost four hours of on-edge, raw danger. John had the upper hand; he created for himself a hand that was hard to lose with. Basically he was ying with minor cheat-codes, allowing himself an advantage he shouldnt have had.
The games engine, however, was ready to respond by throwing everyst bit of difficulty at him that was possible. Eventually, John came to the conclusion that this was a game that was so rigged on both sides that it was impossible to win if he didnt exploit whatever opening was given to him.
It was awesome.
If these were what Assault would continue to be, a constant push against waves of enemies that tried to outsmart him, then this was a challenge that thrilled him.
Bring it, he thought with a wide grin. Everyone else in his party was also having a great time. Aside from Gnome, who was getting stressed by the constant demands put on her as the main construction mage. She didntin at any point, however, as, even though she didnt directly enjoy it herself, John did.
And the experience would only make them all stronger.
Chapter 289 – Upgrades and unwanted Patches
Chapter 289 C Upgrades and unwanted Patches
It was the evening of Friday, around 23 oclock, and John had just finished a day long grinding session and was just about ready to copse. He had started at roughly 8 AM and had been running four Assaults of three hours each throughout the day.
Of course, that was three hours real time, thanks to Create I.D..s time dtion, that was further changed to 3 hours 52 minutes. Almost four hours constantly spent fighting were pretty straining and actually about the best John could do. While he would have loved to knock the timer up a bit more and get himself even bigger rewards, he was held back by mana, mental exhaustion and other such tedious things as his dder.
So, they had to take breaks between every Assault. Breaks thatsted around 30 minutes and were usually filled with John putting the Soulpotion in the living room and then summoning an enemy for Rave to fight while he himself rested.
Then he grabbed the Soulpotion from the living room again and went back to work. The only time he had seen Nia was in the morning if he had asked her where he could find her. She had just instructed him to leave the Soulpotion on the table, she would see it.
Worked for him, and as it was empty whenever he picked it up from the dinner table, it obviously worked for her too.
Even with breaks, the total of four Assaults John needed to finally get here had made this day the single hardest power-leveling he had done to date. At least during the one-month grind, he had to fight through weaker lower floors before getting to the actual hard stuff. Assaults were just hard all the time; the orcs adapting to his strategies certainly didnt make it easier either.
But now he had 2 Skill Evolution Points and a new ss level on the horizon, things were looking pretty good!
Of course, Gaia had to fuck him over in some way. Midseason Patches are not nice, he thought. At least this one wasnt going to have sweeping changes, otherwise it wouldnt take just a few days. He found the 80% reduction interesting, however.
As that was the same number as his current Gaia Dependency Factor. So, I am getting more self-sustaining? John thought. Wonder how that works. Is part of my mana getting siphoned off at every waking moment? Is there something else supplying me? The inner workings of my powers are a mystery.
Well, he already knew that the Soulpotion wouldnt be affected by this, so he could still grind things out for Nia; he just wouldnt go for experience in the next week. He would much rather get less loot, but have that loot be normal, than only a fifth of the experience reward that an Assault normally yielded. He would go clear some normal dungeons and see if he could get some interesting items off of them.
Also, he would need that ss level. The patch announcement said nothing about that getting reduced by 80%, so that would be fairly easy to get at the very least. For now, he had Stat and Skill Evolution Points to spend though.
Stat Points were easy, they just went straight into Agility, as he had previously decided. That made his status look a bit more bnced.
Level 101 would give him Agility 50 and then present him with the question what to do again. But that was at least a few days off, so he could postpone that question until then.
The bump in experience needed came as expected as well. The requirement had almost doubled. With Assault he still would be able to get in at least one level a day, but that trend would be slowing down further and further until he had to find yet another way to break the system.
I will either find a way to level quickly or make one, John thought and moved on to his Skill Evolutions. First was the skill he desperately wanted to rece with something more useful: Arcane Explosion.
He absolutely did not want Spiral Mana Cage. Aside from the fact that it would leave him with the skill he was looking to rece, it was just crowd control. Worse yet, it was CC that he had to throw, meaning that it also would suffer from exactly the same problems as Arcane Explosions did, namely that it was a mage ability that needed him to spec highly into Physical stats.
sh of Mana was interesting because it instantly did its damage. However, it also had a limited range, which he really had no use for. Jack wasnt supposed to get close, and if he got himself another Spellcarrier, then he still wasnt sure if he wanted a skill that dealt guaranteed low damage.
Arcane Echo, however, was highly interesting. Sure, a slow-moving projectile wasnt exactly what he wanted, but if he went and thought of it in a bombing scenario, then it became way more useful. The rest of the spell was also good for several reasons.
First off, it specified enemy so, just like Arcane Explosion, it wouldnt hit his allies. Then there was the part about leaving an effect wherever itnded. Even if it missed, the skill would change the battlefield to his advantage.
It was like dropping a bomb that, if it failed to hit the enemy soldiers, simply decided to not explode and be a mine instead. The description failed to mention whether the Echo Point was visible or not, but that wasnt all that important to John. The fact that it wasnt mentioned at all, however, implied the former was correct.
So, he picked Arcane Echo and was done with it.
Over to Mana Ray, John thought. Recing the old thing still felt a bit weird. It had been with him for so long. But, s, the old must be reced in the name of progress and granting John more clearing speed.
Out of interest, he also looked at the other skills he still could evolve. Possession was there, but as part of his toolkit relied on it being what it was he was unlikely to ever invest a point into it. Arcane Echo listed again and, in a mild surprise, so did Blink. There were also the elementals (save Undine) and Arcana Strike. He had no idea what would evene after a mana bombardment. A mana satellite canon?
So Tier 4 is the maximum I can reach, interesting. Also, it may be worth it to evolve Blink to see if I can get a skill that does the same but cheaperter on, it crossed Johns mind as he clicked on Mana Ray.
John blinked at the choices. Was there even one?
He had already establishedst time that Arcane Lance was a terrible skill that deserved to crawl under a rock. Its extra area damage was so situational that it would barely ever happen. That aside, he just got a better AoE.
While Mana Laser was a better Mana Ray, it didnt even hold a candle to the thing that had reced Arcana Strike in the options.
Shardbound was insane from a mechanical perspective. The damage numbers aside, which, ording to evolution tradition, couldnt be lower than Mana Ray, the applications were practically limitless.
Thanks to its variable mana cost, it would be able to fit into almost any situation. The fact that it could be aimed and shotter made it so that he could use it toy traps. The amount of shards he could position was also anywhere between 1 and 100. If the damage scaled with the mana costs (which it should since the numbers didnt), it was also something he could use as a long range finisher instead of his current pick of Mana de, which had a limited range.
He could use it for trapying, for defensive positions, for burst damage, for AoE damage, as a singr strike or as a nearly undodgeable hail of raw arcane power. Aside from his summoning skills and Artificial Spirit, that thing sounded like the most OP thing he could get his hands on.
So, picking it wasnt as much a choice as it was warranted. Only a fool or a meme deck builder would pass the objectively most versatile tool. With both spells acquired, John spent a moment to look at them with his skill menu and check their numbers.
Okay, its damage was slightly worse, but it was just level 1, so that wasnt all that unexpected. It also cost 150 mana (or 25%) less, so he was still making a gain on damage if he used it more than once. A bit of a sunk cost facy, admittedly, but as it levelled up, it would overtake Arcane Explosion in damage.
449 arcane damage per 100 mana. That was not too shabby at all. At 300 mana invested, Mana Rays old cost, that meant that it would deal 1347 damagepared to the 1274 Mana Ray did. So at level 1 it was already doing more damage, had a higher range and more versatility. This skill was idiotically strong. Using it would take some experimentation though.
John actually needed to run some numbers through his head toe to a conclusion on what he was going to use as his finishing move in the future. Between Mana de and Shardbound, he would prefer thetter, purely on the basis of being ranged.
Mhm, Mana dees out ahead by about 1/3, guess being a melee skill does give it some higher damage, were Johns final thoughts on the matter. Okay, I am done here, he told the assembled girls. A bit of a needless gesture, they were all connected to his mind, but he still liked talking to them.
Lets call it quits for tonight and experiment with the skills tomorrow.
Chapter 290 – Lyly Lydia
Chapter 290 C Lyly Lydia
So, can you see that? John asked Lydia, who was not in his group for the moment. He was pointing at a symbol at the ground, lines of softly glowing light purple that formed three different sized rings that interlocked, forming a triangr shape with a rune in the middle.
Without any obstructions, Lydia confirmed and then, as they discussed, stepped on it. The resulting explosion engulfed everyone, a wave of blue and pink energy that passed over John and his familiars harmlessly but made Lydias face contort with pain.
Standard arcane damage was closest described as magical burning, so the explosion carried no physical force that would have forced Lydia to move or be blown away otherwise. Where her skin was exposed, it was seared with pure power that marked her outeryer of skin with minor arcane burns, small bolts of purple lightning dancing from one darkened spot to another.
Sorry and thank you, John said as Undine wobbled over to treat the princess wounds.
It is of no concern, I can stand a minor amount of pain, Lydia said as the wounds shrunk down and soon healedpletely, mended by the ocean elementals healing skills.
John didnt like testing his skills on his friends and/or lovers, but if he wanted to do it in a controlled environment, he had very little choice in the matter. Now, for the second test, John said and conjured another Arcane Echo.
The grapefruit sized ball formed in his hand, swirling with the typical arcane colour pattern of blue and shades of purple, and then wasunched at the ground. The text said that it was supposed to be a slow-moving projectile and, by context, that was probably true. Compared to the almost instantaneous travel speed that Mana Ray had had, Arcane Echo did move slowly, having about the speed of a ball thrown by Johns old school bully Frank.
The fact that John had thought of that as fast a couple of months ago was both absurd now and slightly diforting. He could dodge a projectile of that speed with ease and probably have enough time to check his phone in the process. I am not even using a Strength build, John thought, thinking about Thana. The blood mage would probably be about as interested in a projectile of that speed as a cheetah was afraid of getting caught by a snail.
I either need to rece this againter or find a way to speed the projectile up, he thought as he created a second Echo Point next to the one he had just made. This one, he pointed at the first one, I made while thinking of you as friendly, the other he pointed at the second circle, I thought of you as an enemy.
The experiment here was whether enemy was defined by everyone who wasnt in Johns group or everyone who John thought of as an enemy. Lydia stepped on the first circle, the explosion happened as per usual. Okay, so no trickery here, John mumbled. Then he sent Lydia a group invite, and after she epted, she stepped on the second circle. That one didnt fire.
So, an enemy is whoever isnt in my group, thats annoying, John mumbled. Oy, Gaia, if you are already busy patching, can I have a friend list or something? Just to put people on there who I dont want to blow away in the middle of battle?
He was answered with silence. Which, as far as John was concerned, wasnt a no.
Okay, next one has less variables, just want to know if it has friendly fire or not, John said and used Shardbound. A sound like two wine sses getting pushed together echoed over the small arena. Full, pure but interwoven in that noise was also the dangerous sound of ice cracking under pressure.
The four shards hovered behind Johns back, creating a semi-circle while pointing at his shoulders. Light blue, translucent surfaces broken into a sheer endless number of facets of differing size, they slowly turned, glinting in the sun like the half molten remains of a broken diamond.
John could feel the shards as if they were an extension of his own body. The pale colour was an indication for their weakness; John had used a mere 20 mana for this. The more mana he used, the darker they became until they hit a purple that rivalled thetex likeyer on Sienas skin.
Interestingly, they became this dark when he invested 100% of his mana, so that either meant that the colour was in rtion to his maximum mana or that there would be other colours in the future. John would need to keep an eye on that.
For the moment, however, he did not feel like throwing more stuff at Lydia. He hadnt felt like throwing stuff at her from the start, but she had been the only one who had the time to experiment. Everyone else had vanished somewhere else shortly after breakfast. John would spend some time checking on all of them over the day.
Instead, he flexed his mental muscles a bit, and in response the shards went into motion. They hovered over his body likepass needles, one of the two tips always pointing at whatever part of his body was closest to them. Unable to float further away from his skin than half a metre, they kept slowly spinning as John moved them around.
He positioned the four shards around his right hand. Each of them was the length of it, from the wrist to the tip of his middle finger. With the ease of a thought, they changed into a cloud of energy, only to reappear as one hundred small spikes, the size of a fingernail. Another momentter and above Johns hand hovered a single spear tip the length of his forearm.
Test one Aclysia, sorry, but can you be the dummy for this one? John said with a frown. Most certainly, master, Aclysia bowed and took position in front of him. The shard stopped rotating as John aimed at the position his artificial guardian stood at. Like a piece of metal that found itself next to a suddenly activated electro-ma, the shard pointed at Aclysia.
John took several steps back. The limitation of the maximum distance had been removed the moment he aimed, it seemed that part was in ce to prevent him using the shards as sort of guided missiles.
Speaking of guided missiles, John thought and gestured for Aclysia to take a step to the side. The shards tip kept pointing straight ahead. So, what I set is the direction it aims at, not an actual target, he noted and nodded at the weaponized maid, who went back into ce.
He activated the skill, and itunched at a speed that was impossible to follow. For all intents and purposes, to John it could have been instantaneous. It cut into Aclysias shoulder, dealing next to no damage against her resilient form. John barely noticed her HP actually taking a hit before she had regenerated it.
Okay, so Shardbound has friendly fire a bit annoying, but you cant have everything, John announced. The skill was still tremendously useful, and it wasnt like Mana Ray hadnt been able to harm allies.
The sad truth was that this was reality and that disabling friendly fire in reality was already pretty OP. A bullet didnt care whether it was identally fired at a toddler or at an invading soldier, why wouldnt the same be true for spells? The fact that John possessed 1 spell, area based no less, that broke that rule was already insane.
It does, however, set a precedent, so the question is how I can get it for everything else I do, John was already tinkering with the thought. The way he saw it, there were three possibilities: either it would be patched in at ater date, he would get it if he evolved it further or it would be a perk in the Arcanist ss for this spell specifically.
He hoped it would be the first one, because that would be basically getting it for free, but John didnt get a lot of stuff for free. For cheap? All the time, that was kind of why his ability was such utter bullshit. For free? Not after the first week of getting these powers. It had been a grind since.
Well, one more thing to test, John said and conjured another set of shards. Earlier testing had already led to him finding out that he could have as many sets as he wanted and they would not disappear. Problem was, however, that they would have to hover around him somewhere, so having too many out would lead to the problem of them cutting into furniture.
It was like strapping des all over your body. Sure, you could be cautious, but eventually you would hit someone or something, so why not dodge the risk? However, the fact that he could drop mana into it before a fight he knew wasing was nice.
Thest test was also rted to that problem. The shards formed a tight formation at the back of his hand. Aclysia, if you would? John asked.
After a submissive, Certainly, she stepped closer. Without hesitation she pushed her open palm against the bed of arcane needles. Once more, she took damage.
That they were ready to deal damage even if not fired was the logical conclusion to the fact that they damaged things like door frames when John passed them. He had wanted certainty on this, however. When Aclysia pulled back her hand, only a few of the shards were still there.
A negative of Aclysias hand in a frame of light blue splinters of arcane might. The shards that had dealt their damage had disappeared. Did you feel any resistance? John asked the artificial guardian.
No, master, it was only a slight prickling, she answered. Like the feeling you humans get when one of your limbs starts to fall asleep. Not painful, but irritating.
Without a doubt that will be different at higher mana expenditure, John noted.
So, he couldnt use this as an actual defensiveyer. Or, well, he could but it wouldnt protect him but simply damage the enemy. He would have loved tobine Shardbound with Mana Protection and get something REALLY mean for melee fighters. Sadly, their ranges didnt sync up. Mana Protection being a constant bubble that surrounded him at a 1-metre distance while Shardbound had that half-metre from skin limitation.
Okay, so this took way too long, John said and looked over the arena; How is your training going anyhow? The arena had several markers for where Lydias zone of control was.
It is going well, butpared to what you do to get stronger, it is unspectacr, the princess reported. Sieh selbst.
John bit his lip to not make fun of her suddennguage change as Lydia stepped into a circr carving in the ground. A dozen pieces of metal rose from the first marker, a little stone pir John had put up for her, less rose at a second marker further away, and at the third andst marker, only a singr piece of metal was lifted off the ground.
The three markers were where the borders of her control zones roughlyy. As her goal was to push these further out Lydia needed them to have a physical way to keep track of her progress.
The metal progressively moved about five centimetres before a strained look appeared on Lydias face and one of the pieces at the second marker started to sink down. After another two centimetres, it fell to the ground, and Lydia stopped the exercise, letting out a held breath.
Looks good? John presumed. He had no idea.
It looks okay, Lydia told him. Its like using muscles I know I have but I cant quite control yet. All I am doing is repeating this process of moving a set amount of metals beyond my old boundaries, resetting them, getting more pieces and pushing to the new boundary again. Once I have reached a satisfactory amount, I go back to fewer pieces and push for a higher distance.
Methodical, hemented.
Indeed, but nothing greatly interesting. Luckily, I dont mind repetitive tasks, Lydia raised the pieces again. I dont need you for this, so you are free to go.
Dont you enjoy mypany? John asked, taking the chance to tease a little bit of emotion out of the steel-faced royal.
I do, the princess admitted, but you staying also stands in conflict to my interest of maximizing my odds at winning the tournament. Therefore, I must ask of you to see after the others. Especially
Hesitation, the metal pieces cluttered to the ground as Lydia thought. Especially? John probed after she went silent for a bit longer than a standard pause in a conversation.
I dont know who to suggest. Your girlfriend I can see doingpletely ineffective brawn over brain training. Nia might be lost trying to pat a rodent, and I would not be surprised if Nathalia is currently screwing Thana or thetter is just punching the air uselessly. They all need to be checked on, the princess sighed. Please do that for me.
Can do, John promised.
Chapter 291 – Nia Nya Nyeh
Chapter 291 C Nia Nya Nyeh
To find Nia, John first had toy out the bait. In the name of getting the best bait, he therefore had to waste another 3 hours of his life doing an Assault. His personal EXP-gain aside, it was still the best way to fill up the potion.
God, I love this skill, John said as he unleashed a hail of Shardbound into a cluster of Warhogs that tried to climb his tower. Two dozen sharp energy constructs rained down on the orcs, many of them only doing mild damage or missing. The few that didnd, however, dealt great damage by slipping into the gaps in the armour or straight-up sinking into the orcs soft throats and eyes. While it didnt outright kill all of them, it at least sent them falling back down.
He had conjured and positioned clusters of shards along the outer rim of his tower in segments that he could fire whenever he wanted. Just another thing he could add to his defences. I am slowly bing a fortification expert, John thought as the timer hit 0.
Huh, thats actually fine, John thought as he looked at the reward. The 80% reduction he was currently suffering was applied to the experience enemies would give him, not to the multiplier, resulting in somewhat eptable numbers. While that was the expected thing, visual confirmation was nice.
He would still need to run about 8 more of these to get a level, which tranted to 24 hours of real time grinding and about 32 hours of experienced time grinding. While he did have that time, it was the opposite of good.
Realistically, he would only manage to get 1 more level before the next tournament round. Seeing as that was all John needed to get his current goal in stats, he was happy with that though. Could have been way worse.
At least I am not crippled for a few months again, John thought and made his way back to the mansion.
Once there, he put the Soulpotion on the table and sat down as he waited for Nia to appear. With Assault working properly again, I should continue to be able to get about 1 level per day, he thought. The max level is 1000 from what I could gather, so that would be 900 days of daily grinding sessions upwards of 8 hours. That is, naively, assuming that 1 level a day will be maintainable.
Lets say I would need 1 more day at every 50 levels from now on, he continued to run the numbers; Not a particrly educated guess, but I want to have a rough idea. That would mean that I would need, 50 days from now until level 150, 100 further days for level 200, 150 more days for level 250 the counting continued for a bit, 9500 days or 26 years of daily 8-hour grinds yeah, there has to be a way to cut that short.
He would need to ponder about the solutions another time, as Nia chose that point in time to enter the room. She walked straight up to the table and took the Soulpotion. She didnt even acknowledge that John was there, and was walking on wobbly legs.
Nia? John asked as the nk put the potion against her lips. Her body jumped, and the overly loud gulping sound of someone choking echoed from her throat. Whatever you do, do not cough! he panically jumped up from his chair to intervene as Nia struggled to prevent exactly that.
If Nia managed to spit out hours of hard work, then that would make John a sad man. The feeling was akin to identally selling an item he had spent blood, sweat and tears farming on the auction house, and now he was mashing the cancel button in an attempt to get it back before it vanished into the twisting nothingness of disappointment.
With a forced motion, Nia swallowed the remainder of the vials golden potion and handed John the bottle. Unsure what else to do, he gently pat her back as the nk coughed in a held back anddylike manner.
His hand on her back was met with the warmth of her body. For some reason her emotion devoid behaviour and pale skin had created the idea in Johns brain that she would be cold, like Gnome or Momo were.
Instead, he was met with the same heat that radiated from every human. There was soft skin under the impossibly smooth fabric of her shadowless white dress. Slowly she calmed down and turned to look at John with slightly teary eyes.
You surprised me, she said in her usualck of tone, but John thought he saw something like shyness in her eyes as she looked up to him, half in his embrace with his hand still on her back. The brilliant, clear sky blue of her eyes in her porcin face were a reflection of innocence. Her pale lips were open just a bit, a breath escaping her.
How someone that disyed, if anything, the bare minimum amount of emotion managed to look cute was beyond John. Maybe it was something that some girls could just do - look good just by existing. Actually, wasnt that most women?
Nia leaned in and kissed him out of the blue. Before he knew what he was doing, he was already returning the kiss. It was odd. She tasted like nothing, and the only things that connected them were pressed together lips and swirling tongues, normal body heat. She smelled like nothing as well.
John could already feel the danger in this simple kiss. He had the annoying tendency to fall for girls who were affectionate and sexy in mere moments. His earlier conviction not to add her to his harem was already wavering from this moment.
Do you always kiss people that surprise you? John asked, trying to get his mind back on track.
Not usually, no, Nia answered in a way that was more breath than words, but my instructor told me to get close to you.
That is pretty tant, he said and felt his resolve go back up and simultaneously crumble.
The fact that Nia was this honest was appreciated. In the cobweb of lies that John regrly found himself in, this bit of naive sincerity was a breath of fresh air. Or she was lying, but from what John had seen of her this far, she seemed physically unable to tell a lie. He chose to believe in the best in her while also keeping his cards just far enough away that she couldnt peek in.
So, in a decision that was totally not influenced by his erection, he kissed her again and then distanced himself. If you tell me that you want to influence me, that goes against your goal, John pointed out afterwards.
Oh, Nia made a single surprised sound; I retract my earlier statement.
You cant exactly retract things you said, he giggled.
Please forget it?
No can do, I will be extra on guard regarding you now, John said, but we can stay physically close if you want to.
Are you asking for sex?
Not right now, John could practically feel his balls protesting the decision not to be drained into the sexy French girl. I was just wondering if I could see how your training goes, he stated his actual intent while his erection slowly went down to reappear at a more opportune time. Or just any other time, John really didnt know, he was just a horny 18-year-old with powers that slowly crept into godlike territory.
Sure, Nia said and turned around; Follow me.
Damned be that dress for not allowing me to look at her ass! John thought, ring at the pure-white surface of her skirt.
_____________________________________________________________________
Oh, hi, John, said Richard, and John couldnt keep his eyelid from twitching in annoyance. The human skin the Horned Rat liked to wear, the look of a stereotypical, masculine, attractive and wealthy corporate suit wearing a suit, was waving at him as he and Nia stepped closer.
They were in a suburb of real-world Rome, an Illusion Barrier where Romulus gaze could not as easily prate. More specifically, they were in front of a small caf, with the Horned Rat sittingzily in a chair at a small round table.
They had run the whole way here, which had been a bit of a problem for John. Nia could just run through real space at whatever speed she wanted since normal people couldnt see her, and thus Gaia had no reason to care if the barefooted blonde flew over the pavement at the speed of a car in just a dress in mid-winter.
If John did the same in his suit, which was admittedly doing a pretty good job at keeping him warm since he had upgraded it with the token, people would not only stare but be bewildered. At 44 Agility he was faster than Olympic athletes already. Therefore, he had slowed down Nia with the need of either running at socially eptable speeds, where people would think he was a weirdo but not breaking thews ofmon physics or creating barriers every few metres.
During that process, he at least learned that Nia pulled her shoulders back the slightest bit when she was annoyed. So that was a nice start in the long journey of learning the nks bodynguage. Most importantly, it confirmed that she actually had these subtle hints. Now to find the other ones for the rest of her emotions, John thought only to then turn back to the dick in front of him.
I was wondering why you were taking this long, Nia, the Horned Rat mused, sipping a drink that looked like whiskey on ice.
Nias shoulders tensed a bit, and she said, John is slow.
Have you two had sex yet?
No, I didnt feel like it earlier, and he didnt feel like it today, the nk answered in her usual empty manner. Her shoulders rxed, her annoyance must have been pretty mild.
Johns, however, wasnt, The hell are you doing here, Richard?
Training Nia, obviously, the Horned Rat answered.
Why would you do that?
To help Lydia win the tournament, obviously, obviously, the Rat continued in a mocking tone.
Why would you no, dont even answer that. I can already hear you saying it: Why ever would I want the rebellious princess to win over thepdog of Romulus. I stand totally nothing to gain by this, obviously.
Obviously, Richard admitted with a giggle.
So, he is your instructor? John asked Nia.
Yes, she answered with a single word.
And he told you to get close to me?
Yes, the blonde tilted her head while looking over to the Horned Rat; Should I not have done that?
The Horned Rat made a helpless gesture, No, but I would be lying if I said I didnt know it would happen. You are terrible at coercive work, better continue training you at what you are good at.
The god of knowledge reached under the table and pulled up a box. Nicely crafted from dark wood and cushioned with red wine coloured cloth, it looked quite nice. Inside the fairly sizable box were a bunch of kittens.
Not just kittens, as John noted, but kittens that had scales and long reptile-like tails in addition to their fur. Dragon-kittens, they meowed with almost criminal cuteness as they tapped around, notpletely able to control their young bodies.
They bumped into each other, had little y fights where they rolled around as balls of red fur and green scales or just kept meowing. One particrly curious kitten jumped up to the edge of the box and held onto it with great effort.
Hind legs working against the cloth, front legs holding on to the edge, it looked out. Scales and fur worked in a weirdly symbiotic way on its head, and its horn-tipped ears turned as it looked from John to Nia and back. Then it meowed.
Nia took an involuntary step forward. Oh no, little miss Fae. Patting is for winners, the Horned Rat said and took the curious dragon-kitten in his hand and scratched its little chin; Have you won?
No said Nia in a tone so openly miserable that John doubted for a moment it coulde from her.
Now, show me that you can win something and run around the block; if I am happy with your time, I might let you pat this. If I am not, the human head was reced with the Horned Rats nk skull. The gods skeletal grin opened wide, sharp teeth getting pulled apart, a long, dark red tongueing into view. The saliva dripping muscle came dangerously close to the kitten. I might eat it.
Nia let out a horrified squeal. John did not know she had been capable of a sound that loud. In any case, she darted off immediately.
The Horned Rat put the kitten back into the box, I am not actually going to eat it. Dragon-kittens dont even taste that good.
She seemed rather convinced, John pointed out and grabbed a chair to sit down without being asked to do so. He had no respect for Richard (at least as a person), so he didnt feel like he needed his permission.
Like it takes a lot to convince Nia of something, the Horned Rat giggled; A strong girl, not stupid either, but not particrly well-adjusted socially. John had no retort for that. So how is life? Richard asked.
Small talk, really? John asked.
What? We are going to be allies eventually, might as well chat it up a little, the god shrugged.
Allies dont spy on each other is what I would like to say, but I am from the greatest country on Earth, John sighed. I would probably do the same in your situation, albeit I would be less of a dick about it.
Scheme around for years and you will be, it makes it way more fun, the Horned Rat prophesied. Anyhow, I have something you should check on about someone in your group. Someone has met with Alexej, and its very, very bad.
What?! John felt like jumping at the Horned Rat. How do you know? What do you know?! the Gamer had to force himself to not flip the table with the dragon-kittens on it.
This and that. Dont worry, no harm hase to anyone. Still, you do something for me and I tell you. How about it? the Horned Rat was in a particrly merry mood apparently, as he whistled a little tune as John thought.
Fine, have it your way, as always, you damn rodent, John growled.
O-hohohoho, look at you acting all ballsy, Richardughed, his eyes ring, but be careful, angering me too much may get your heart to stop.
Would you really eliminate your own assets? John said and earned himself a thoughtful stare for calling that bluff.
The still air was filled with the soft sound of naked soles flying over the pavement as Nia entered the small barrier again. She looked slightly out of breath and continued to be wobbly in her steps. Whatever grand strategy the Horned Rat was using in this training exercise kept the nk at the brink of copse.
Good job, Nia, just one more thing and you can enjoy a bit of kitten patting, the god said in an upbeat voice.
What do you want, instructor? Nia asked, taking half a step towards him, voice vacant of tone.
I hear sex is a good workout, why dont you grab John and have a fun time? the Horned Rat suggested.
Chapter 292 – Scurry, you rodent! [Erotic Content]
Chapter 292 C Scurry, you rodent! [Erotic Content]
Are you being for real? John asked.
You do that and I give you the information I have, Richard answered.
What would you gain from that? the Gamer was immediately suspicious; whenever the Horned Rat gave him something for free there was some hidden baggage attached to it.
I gain nothing, but I dont lose anything either, Richard shrugged. My n advances whether you get this information or not. John opened his mouth toin some more about the Rats convoluted schemes when he felt a tug at his sleeve.
Nia was standing at his side, holding the corner of his sleeve with both hands and looking at him with expectant eyes. Probably. As always, reading her was impossible. It could have either been a death re trying to get him to fuck her so she could pat the kittens or a pleading gaze to do the same for the same reason.
Really, the kind of emotion she currently raised was of little concern. Fact was that she wanted this to happen so she could pat kittens. John wanted this to happen to get whatever information Richard had. He also just wanted this to happen, period, as his tightening pants attested for.
Please fuck me, Nia said in her emotionless voice and John threw second-guesses to the wind. Those words worked on him regardless of context.
Fine, you win, he groaned at the Horned Rat. Where is the bedroom?
What? Not Do you have a bedroom? Richard teased.
Like you didnt already n for this oue just so I will lower my caution towards Nia. Let me tell you something, John grabbed Nia and threw her over his shoulder, causing her to let out the smallest of surprised yelps. I will get this girl to pick me over you and all of Illuminati, not only to fuck you over but because she is a loveable weird thing that I want to cuddle, kiss and fuck. Now tell me where the bedroom is and then scurry, you rodent!
The Horned Rat justughed, You are wee to try, it would be majorly entertaining. Just enter this caf and search for the second floor. I will be back in 10 minutes.
Make it 30, John shouted after him and carried Nia into the building.
They went through the empty main room of the building. John kept a look-out for wherever stairs could be and quickly found them. The thought of doing it in another persons bedroom (even if it was a mere copy) was slightly diforting, but not as much as leaving his erection hanging a second time in a day.
He opened a door with his left hand (while he was right-handed, that one was currently upied with being wrapped around Nias slim body, keeping her in ce on his shoulder) and, after seeing that it was indeed a bedroom, stepped inside.
Kicking the door closed behind himself, he threw Nia on the bed. It was just a small, one-person bed, not particrly wide or shy, in a room John absolutely had no intention of inspecting. He was here for one thing and one thing only, and that was the nk whose wavy blonde hair was bouncing from the impact of hitting the mattress.
John couldnt help but give a slightly predatory smile as Nia looked at him with mildly raised eyebrows. This is all moving very fast, she whispered these words into the air.
Werent you the one that just asked me to fuck you? he wondered as he moved over to the bed.
Yes, the nk just stated, leaving John to wonder why she brought it up in the first ce.
No worries, I will make sure you enjoy everyst bit of this. John was many things, in the sexual sense, a bit of a sadist, starting bondage enthusiast, a constantly ready pervert and attracted to women who normally were strong but he could make submissive by the sheer power of his fucking skills. A self-indulgent rapist only after his own pleasure, however, he was not.
Truthfully, a lot of his enjoyment came from the reactions he received. Tender whispers of romantic nights, contorted faces of ecstatic fucking, orgasmic screeches of heights they could not reach with any other man. Yes, his ego was getting quite nicely stroked whenever he ruined a sexy girl for the rest of mankind.
Not that they would get to taste any other men if he had a say in the matter. Which he had in all cases except Nathalia, who he knew for a fact sometimes vanished to get herself roughed up when he wasnt around. He shushed that memory away and made a mental vow to fix that problem another day.
For now, he got on the bed and gently caressed Nias cheek, his thumb running over her high cheekbones. Her fair skin was of utterly normal temperature against his hand, the nkness of her expression extending even to her blood cirction as she didnt blush even as he leaned in to kiss her.
But John didnt mind even as the nks breath stayed quiet, he would get her there. At least her tongue did the proper thing, meeting him in a dance of tongues truly worthy of the moniker French kiss. His hand travelled to the back of her head where he eventually found a hard thing, as cold as space, that kept the non-wavy part of her hair tied in a ponytail.
You mind if I let your hair down? he asked her.
There was a moments hesitation. Let me ask the Nevrest, she said, and for a moment, her form became see-through. He could still feel her against his hand, but the touch was less real. It was like he had gone from touching a human person to the calm surface of a shallow pond. Her lips moved, and a moment,ter she responded, It does not say its not fine. The question whether or not the double-negative was necessary was one John kicked to the bucket. Instead, he tried to find whatever closing mechanism there was to the (presumably) hairpin.
Before he could get that far, her hair suddenly opened. Whatever magic had kept it bound must have also beenpressing it into a small space, since its volume expanded by quite a lot. The blonde hair, long enough to reach Nias legs when she was standing, became a cascade of tinum gold that fanned open underneath her white dressed form.
The curved back, shorter part on top and the sides of her head melded wonderfully into the silky flow of her otherwise straight hair. Gold, white and calm blue, from the root of her hair, over her meticulous skin to her eyes, she looked like a doll-like beauty.
You are gorgeous, John whispered in genuine awe, and Nias eyes slowly wandered off to the side.
Thank you? her almost non-existent tone seemingly made that a question. How could he not attempt to conquer a girl of this calibre? Able to beat up whatever mage she came across but also looking this good?
I just love the weird ones, John realized and pressed his mouth on hers again. He had enough of this basic bedroom talk; he wanted to get this show on the road. While his left stayed dug into the softness of her hair, his right hand trailed up her body.
Starting at her outer thigh, just below the hips, he travelled over the curves of her slender figure. The fabric of her dress provided no-resistance to his touch, but it also robbed him of any feeling of warmth. He felt the shape of her body underneath the dress, the swing of her hips and the softness of her bosom, but there was no real substance to any of it.
Do you wish to see me naked? Nia asked with a tilted head in between kisses.
By every god out there, yes, John enthusiastically confirmed. As if a censorship block was suddenly removed, John felt his palm rest against her naked breast, nipple poking out.
He also was proven wrong on his earlier point as Nia suddenly blushed. Moving away from her a bit, he took in the sight of her body on the narrow bed. She had by far the lithest body of all the girls he had slept with thus far, striking that precarious, supermodel bnce between slender and downright anorexic.
However, she did keep that bnce. She wascking the athletic build of Rave, where muscles subtly worked underneath the surface, or therge curves of Smander, with wide hips and bountiful tits; instead, she was well-bnced, with C-cups connected to tight hips through a softly curved waist.
Light pink nipples sat atop her pale chest like a resilient flower in a snowy field. Johns eyes went downwards, over her t stomach and finally arrived at her hairless lower half. She had legs for days, something that John could appreciate even if legs were one of the lower things on his beauty list. His eyes fixated on her not moist pussy.
John blinked once at the phenomenon and felt his ego take a slight hit. He was so used to his partners being extremely wet by the time he saw their slit that this was a surprise of the unwee kind. The reasonable part inside him informed him that the usual girls were already sullied with the knowledge of his magical dick, so their bodies acted ordingly in expectation.
In other words, Nia was fresh meat and had no idea of the fucking that was about to befall her. Viewing it like this, John stitched his confidence back together and opted for really long forey. He was not going to dig into a dry well.
There was a slight shimmer, however, around her pussy. No, shimmer wasnt the right word. More of a difference in how light reflected off her skin, silvery instead of white. He narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to get a better view.
It was a tattoo-like thing that wound around her sex like symmetrical growing vines. Now that he had spied it, it actually was quite clear, and his eyes followed the intricate windings upwards. It was a body covering thing.
John had removed his hands from Nias body to get theplete viewing experience, now he reached out in curiosity. He focused on the left half of her body and followed the lines with his index fingers.
They curled as he went upwards and asionally ended in short side-branches. At one point around the bone of her hip, it split in three, one path going over her sides and probably continuing on her back while the other two branched over her ribcage. It was awork of silver, wide spaces of normal skin separating the finger-wide lines.
They look wonderful What are these? John asked, raising his head. To his surprise, he found a feverishly blushing Nia, mouth agape with sensual breaths flowing out of her sultry lips, looking back with eyes he could only describe as dulled by stimtion.
Her voice, however, was as emotionless as always; They are a sort of soul originating organ that helps me sense magic.
That so? John said and moved his hand along; in response, the nk wed at the bedsheets underneath her hair, which were like rough wool to the silk of the golden strands.
Is it normal that you receive pleasure from sensing magic? he asked with a grin; he was always fond of individual quirks in his girls that he could use to get them riled up. Made each of them feel like an individual level for which he needed to change his ystyle of course the girls werent actually levels, though.
Its a side-effect of direct contact with high mana individuals, Nia exined in a matter of fact tone as her pink face stayed still; I can suppress it by reducing the sensitivity of the sense.
Like making your vision blurry? John asked. Nia just nodded.
Interesting, he said and smiled even wider.
Your touch is magic, Nia noted.
Ah, yes, that would be my sexual Skills, John said. While his sexual Skills all made him better at their respective tasks as they levelled, they also provided a bonus that no amount of skill could provide. Also, there was his one level in Loverboy.
Johns skilled fingers reached the end of the faint silver on top of her left tit. His earlier touch had caused her to blush due to the sheer amount of magic his touch epassed. Now that he had thoroughly felt her up, he decided it was time to get naked himself. A quick few buttons pressedter and he was unclothed.
Nia blinked, You have a nice figure. I could touch myself to it. That was a very oddpliment, but John took it and went back to caressing her sensitive tattoos with his mana infused touch. Urged by his movements, Nia turned on her stomach and raised her tight ass.
The twin hills of her shapely butty in front of John, as he finished inspecting the lines on her back. At her neck and the lower end of her spine the lines converged, forming a shape akin to a leaf. Still, from there ast few branches winded over her pale cheeks.
John, unable to resist the urge, gave them a light smack. She didnt have the bounciest butt, but it was far from t, and the resulting jiggle filled him with absolute delight. More so did the fact that her upper body tensed up in response.
The nk was absolutely quiet still, but her bodynguage fulfilled Johns need for depravity as he smacked her other bottom and let his hands rest on the magic sensitive engravings on her skin. Spreading open her cheeks with his hands, he took a close look at her smooth pussy.
It had be nicely wet by now but far from the practically gushing he wanted. He leaned in, his tongue probing forwards. He was going to give her a full-course on his three sexual passives, and he was done with just touching her.
Licking along the softness of her sex, he tasted her juices. As expected, she tasted like nothing, which was a bit weird, but John didnt mind weird. The rest of her quivering was the same, and so John let his tongue softly dig into the tightness of her walls.
The only sound in the room was Johns slurping eating out of the blonde. Under his hands, he felt her body tremble in reaction to his every move. When his tongue probed deep, she tensed up. When he yed with her pussy lips, her hips wiggled slightly. When heshed against her clit, she pushed against him.
Then, without any warning whatsoever, his mouth was suddenly filled with a gush of girlcum as Nia had an orgasm. He kept his tongue in ce; despite the surprising turn of events, he was going to make her feel the peak of what Pussy Eating could do (currently).
Ragged breaths were the only noise that John heard from Nia, and even that was only quiet. Her upper body was pushing against the mattress, and her ass was firmly pressed against Johns working mouth. Slurping,shing andpping at her crotch, John continued his work until the quivering subsided.
When he pulled back, she had reached a level of wetness that was more than what John had wanted, and only a bit of that was his saliva. He straightened his back and watched the silver-lined maiden with golden hair shudder from the aftershocks.
He grabbed his cock, drops of precum dribbling from the tip, and gently rubbed the head against her glistening vagina. Put your penis in my vagina, Nia said, turning her head around. While the look of her hairying dishevelled over her blushed, slightly sweaty face was extremely sexy, her dirty talk wasnt.
I want you to take me hard, her emotionless voice made even the words that should have been sexy sound like very bad porn dialogue.
Nia, please just dont say anything, okay? John felt a bit bad requesting this, but the nk actually let out something like a relieved breath in response. She seemed to know that this wasnt exactly her strong suit.
Slowly, he eased forwards, and in response Nia bit her lower lip. His big dick was splitting her walls in a slow advance. The extreme tightness of the nk, narrowness of an innocent partner, wrapped around his cock with a tight grip. Wet flesh rippled, massaging the sensitivity of his length.
Then he waspletely inside her. With closed eyes he just enjoyed the warmth of her pussy around him for a moment. The feeling of being balls deep inside a woman was one he could get drunk on, and having it be the first time with a new girl just made it that little bit more special.
Then he opened his eyes again and started moving. Nias eyes, originally resting on him, quickly went out of his view as the slow movements of his hips made her rest her head on the mattress. Now no longer able to see her reactions, aside from the quivering and arching of her back, John was slightly unsatisfied with the situation.
The drawback of Nia not letting out any sounds aside from the asional loud breath was that he was deprived of any sort of feedback to his actions. It was like he was fucking a doll, which he absolutely did not aim for.
He pulled out and threw Nia around so that she wasying on her back again. Her rapid blinking signalled her confusion as John, the head of his dick inserted back into her pussy, mmed his hands down at either side of her head.
I want to see your gorgeous face. If I cant make you scream, then I at least want to see what I do to you, John spoke. The nk nodded, and he started moving again. Her angled legs were straddled around his waist as he plunged back into her.
The moment their hips met, Nias mouth opened wide, and her eyes rolled upwards the slightest bit. Unknown heights of pleasure bolted through her body, things no one before made her feel, a deep satisfaction and the edge of orgasm with every stroke. On top of that, with every smacking sound of their crotches meeting, Johnstent magic power made her anti-mage senses overreact, spilling out an extra amount of ecstasy into her mind.
She could have dulled orpletely deactivated it, but why would she? It was as if the Gamer was hitting two G-spots at once. Orgasmic failed to describe what she was feeling as his mighty cock mmed into her again and she lost focus of everything.
Quiet, she remained, to Johns slight ire, but the fact that Nia had reached that contorted expression of ecstasy already fixed whatever ego-damage still remained from earlier. He grit his teeth and felt his balls tighten. One more time he pulled his hips up and then rammed all the way into her.
His seed spilled forth and flooded her tight cunt. At the same time, Nias spine arched upwards, rubbing more of her body against Johns body. Wanted or not, this only made her orgasm that much more intense, as more of her tattoo-like lines were exposed to direct contact with the arcane gifts of John.
Her tongue stuck into the air, eyes rolling far back into her skull as Nia groaned quietly due to theplete overriding of all her senses with hot lust. John was shooting more of his giant load into her in response to that look. The fair skin was flush with depravity and sweat, eyes dulled with the degradation of the human intellect back to instinctual, primal levels.
Balls tightening onest time, John remained inside her with his cock still hard. Nias body eventually copsed down, chest rising and falling in irregr breaths. Her eyes exhaustedly rolled to the side as he was fighting for air.
Want me to stop? John asked.
No reaction, he thought it better to leave her to it then. He could always keep fucking her another time. Without a doubt she woulde back for more. When he wanted to pull out, however, he found himself trapped by the nks legs locking behind his ass.
Thats a no then? You want me to continue? John smirked, the blonde giving a jittering nod, regaining the faintest control over her body.
If he got such a nice invitation, how could he decline the chance to thoroughly ravish her?
John threw his remaining slowness out of the window and started fucking her like he meant it. Immediately, Nia was robbed of what little of her body she was still in charge of. Her mind was drowned in the white, hot lightning surges of pleasure.
She had had sex when she felt like it before, but never had she felt something like this. Two orgasms in one session, that was what her experience had taught her had been the maximum. Now she simply couldnt stop cumming. Her lower body was a gushing fountain of love juices as John fucked her.
He could not keep the sadistic grin off his face as Nia stained her face and the bedsheets with her saliva and love juices, her lolled out tongue pointing out of a wide open mouth, elegant pink lips forming arge O. Inside, she was doubtlessly screaming in ecstasy; sadly, all that John got to hear were her gasps for air.
Her ssy eyes rolling around the top of her skull, the sight reimbursed him for theck of sounds. As did her writhing, bordering on thrashing, underneath his body. Feet pressing against the narrow beds frame and arms keeping him hovering in a nted position, John took her with such roughness that the smacks could have been heard on the streets if they werent in a Protected Space.
Before he knew what was happening, he came a second time. The edge of his vision was cking out, tunnelling around the lust-contorted grimace of the blonde. He didnt stop moving. If she was able to power through this synapse-frying experience, then John, who had way more experience at mind-blowing sex, would just do the same.
Not like cumming twice was his limit anyhow.
Even as he came, he pumped in and out of her, spreading his seed throughout the entirety of her raw-fucked pussy. Thrusting and endlessly rocking his hips, his third orgasm practically melded into the second one, culminating in a multiple-orgasmic moment that was rarely, if ever, essible to men. His balls drained inside her in what was less an intervallic spurting and more a constant stream of cum.
6 5 4 3 2 1, John counted down in his mind as he remained inside her; the post-orgasmic sensitivity of his dick, a prickling so detailed that it almost hurt, paralyzed him for a moment. Then Source of Satisfaction kicked in and refilled his balls. He had missed the first refill due to the long forey, but now he was ready to continue.
The legs behind his back were still locked, John grinned. It seems you want me to fuck you until you cant feel these anymore, he guessed. There was no answer, Nias brain was just a swirling cocktail of perversion, there was no room for coherent thoughts.
But her legs didnt move, so John practically had no choice, and he had to kill 20 more minutes anyhow. He started moving again after reaching down and exchanging a kiss with the blonde. He meant for it to be romantic, but Nias consciousness was only capable of sloppy action with a lot of tongue right now.
Afterwards, he made sure that her silhouette would be a permanent imprint on this mattress.
[Thana Side Story] 5 Minutes to Midnight – Data
[Thana Side Story] 5 Minutes to Midnight C Data
Meet me on the first day of the pause at the Skyward hospital in room 243. I know something about Eliza.
Alexejs words, whispered to her when she had been helplessly pressed into the coarse sand of the arena, were burned into her memory.
Why? Why did he have to know something about that damned name? Why him of all people? How did he even know? Questions raced through Thanas mind as she headed up to the counter. The fact that she was able to get away without anyone checking in where she was going was a lucky break in this whole situation.
With everyone else upied with their training, especially John who was busy testing his new stuff on this Saturday, the only person who was looking after Thana was Nathalia. The dragoness was anything but a good overseer and hadnt even bothered to ask when Thana said she had to go for an hour; instead, she had justin down to sleep or something.
Thana didnt give a fuck, really; she just walked into the hospital, robe closed, hood raised and scarf wrapped around her neck, dding her in an illusion that made her look like a normal person version of herself. It was a horrible disguise, but the only one she had.
And she wouldnt have changed this illusion, how ineffective it may have been, for anything else. It was a gift from the people that epted her, it was worth whatever headache it could cause.
Not that it works against these asshole cockroaches, Thana thought, hearing the whispers of journalists around her. They werent sure who exactly she was yet, or rather they werent sure if she was herself. Even if they came to the correct conclusion, the blood mage doubted that they would try to stop her.
There was now preventing her from beating up a bunch of overly ambitious journalists, however killing them was bound to get her in trouble. In the absence of directws, the Abyss had power dynamics. That made every enactment of violence something she actually had to calcte if it was worth it. Thana couldnt help but giggle madly at the thought of tossing one of the sensation addicted assholes through a window and right into their hospital bed.
Then her lips froze, and she remembered what she was here for. Her grin disappeared leaving her angrily ring at the reception. Room 243, she growled, feeling bad for just a moment as the woman behind the desk hurried to give her a description of the way.
She had no reason to be angry at this person, but she was angry at the world, period, so that whore could just tell Thana where she had to go and then shut up. Which was exactly what she did, and Thana stormed off.
She practically flew up two flights of stairs and then ran down a hallway kicking open a door and stepping inside. The first thing Thana saw was Alexej with a smug grin on his face, looking up from a book he had been reading. The door magically closed behind her.
There you are, the blonde man said, his brown robes whispering as he stood up and smacked the book close. The noise was offensively loud to Thanas sensitive ears, but she ignored it in favour of cracking her knuckles.
You better tell me the fuck you are on about, or I am going to split your ass! she announced as she stepped closer.
Oh, see for yourself, Alexej chirped in that annoyingly good mood of his and gestured at the bed that had been hidden from view by a drapery.
On the bedy an old woman, very old, easily in her nies. A face that was more wrinkles and skin conditions than an actual face, with white hair that had mostly fallen out. She looked incredibly frail, no real muscle tissue remaining on her body as she hung on several life-sustaining mechanisms.
The woman wasatose, that much was clear.
Say hello to Eliza, Alexej said, gesturing at the bed.
You are so full of shit, Thana said and ripped her eyes off theatose elderly person.
Am I though? Alexej said and opened the book again; Wasnt easy getting my hands on notes of Mengele himself, even if they are just copies, but here I am, left with theplete register of people involved in experiment MG-B-UM-01, including the victims, and look at this.
He turned to show her the list, and Thana felt the hatred inside her boil from the handwriting alone. Without a doubt that was a copy of her torturers work. The sound of a fountain pen scratching over paper as the bastard instructed Herman to cut her open and mess with her organs. The putrid, iron stench of her own blood. The gasmask.
She shook her head to eliminate these memories from her mind. They were not important, they had to be buried. Against her better judgement, she read the list. Eliza Baros, the name was underlined, but it wasnt the only one. Directly underneath it was a very simr name: Cecylia Baros.
I want to apologize to Eliza. Thanas eyes darted down to the face that suddenly appeared on the floor. It looked so much like herself, a terrible, guilt-ridden version of her own face on the brink of crying. Can you find Eliza? Eliza? We did wrong to Eliza. But death must have been delivered to Eliza.
One after another, more of the faces started forming from the mists of her failing sanity as the faces that had been vanishing slowly crept back. It had only been one, why, why did they have toe back. Shut up! Thana screamed.
But I have so much more t- Alexej interrupted himself when he realized he wasnt the one addressed.
Thana stomped at the faces with her naked feet. Whenever one dissipated, another one appeared. Eliza Have you seen the humans I want to see Eliza Eliza They all deserve Th hum Ana ...El...i Za.. ThAna Must apologize. Cecylia, her fault My fault. Our all fault. Failure. The hu-LISTEN TO ME! Thana wants Eliza Mine, this is mine rity This is MY body! MY mission! Cecylia points at her its lost.
SHUT THE FUCK UP! Thana screeched from the top of her lungs, and the faces finally obeyed, vanishing one by one.
Eliza The only one that stayed was the one that looked like Thana herself, but after thatst word it also vanished with the words, I am sorry, tell her I am sorry, I cant see her.
Thana was breathing heavily, the only sound in the little room that wasnt the humming of arcane machines who carelessly continued their work of keeping the person in the bed alive. Calm now? Alexej asked and turned a page.
I am this close to separating your dumbass jaw from the rest of your fuck ugly face, Thana threatened.
Doing so would get Lydia in a lot of trouble, Alexej pointed out, careless; Surely you dont want that.
Thanas ws, she hadnt even noticed they had formed, dug into her palms. Blood dripped on the floor. You can thank me for making the room soundproof by the way, otherwise your little outbreak there would have rmed everyone, Alexej noted.
How do they just let you do whatever you want in here? Thana asked.
The Apothecaries are maybe the most corrupt people in the Abyss; the only thing they care about is that you leave their patients untouched and their research to themselves. Everything else you can buy with money, Alexej answered. He turned another page and showed her something, Seem familiar? It was an old photo, or something like it, of someone that looked like a malnourished version of herself. The fact that it was in colour alone meant that it had to be some sort of picture magic instead of an actual photo, due to the date in the corner. 12th of September, 1941.
It was a photo of her. Designation: Cecylia Barow, the code 002 was tattooed on the right arm.
This was not the way she wanted to learn her real name. The evidence was on the paper; Thana didnt trust Alexej, but there was no way she would mistake that handwriting. And here, then, you have Eliza, your sister, the blonde asshole pointed at the bed.
Thana looked over to the bed. Theatose woman was still just lying there, giving no chance to testify for her own person. Fucking hurray, you found Eliza for me, the blood mage put her right wrist against her forehead; she was suddenly getting a splitting headache.
Yes, and now what I want as my reward, Alexej said; In the next group fight you will act like whatever little force Max uses will knock you out.
You can take that idea and shove it up your ass, Thana growled, the pain was only getting worse, shes of colour crackled along the edge of her vision.
An image, a courtyard with a hundred or so people in it.
If you dont, I am going to kill her, Alexej stated in a matter-of-fact tone; This is not a request, this is you doing what we want, Cecylia.
This is not a request, this is an order, Cecylia, the words, almost the same as Alexej had just spoken, echoed through her mind, the image of a faceless man super-imposing itself over him.
B-but that was her voice, but she wasnt the one speaking. The room blurred before her eyes as the pain pressed down on the back of her eyes. She blinked once, trying to see clearly again. Instead, she found herself somewhere else.
A courtyard between rows of brick buildings. All colour seemed to have left the ce; it was only brown and grey and one spot of white. Faceless people were standing around, watching as a guard kicked an already lying woman.
The woman was her, the pain was real. It had been real, it had been before all of the other horrible shit happened to her. The feeling was still new, undulled and terribly real. The heavy leather boot plunging into her stomach almost made her throw up whatever remained of the mouldy meal she had consumed two days prior.
The ground was muddy from the previous day. It had rained, now the sun was zing from the washed-out sky, turning the remaining puddles into little mirrors.
They all just watched with sorry expressions on their faceless features as guns pointed at them. The white spot moved, a man in ab coat criminally clean in this ce of torture. Make the choice, which one of you is going to die? Thana hated that voice, she just wanted to rip it apart. Mengele, always Mengele.
Cecylia looked down as she tried to recover her voice. She was the only one with a face. It was her face, almost. It wasnt pale, but it still looked sick. Malnutrition had hollowed out her cheeks.
Who is going to be the sacrificialmb, Cecylia? Who is going to die so you all can live? the faceless Mengele asked. She answered by raising her hand, it had to be her, it had to be her sister. Her sister with her creepy aura. Around her, her own blood always ran cold. If someone has to die, let it be her, Cecylia thought.
Eliza then, good, she was my choice as well, Mengele nodded at a guard who went over and, after the faceless girl that was Cecilyas sister struggled for a bit, broke the victims neck. Stick her into the chamber, Mengele said, corpses got burned in concentration camps, it was nothing new. Now for you, Cecylia The scientist stained his whiteb coat as he kneeled down at her side. Something clicked in his hand, I have a reward for you and your lesser folks.
Thana mmed Alexej against the wall as soon as the memory subsided.
5 Minutes to Midnight – Run
5 Minutes to Midnight C Run
The look on Alexejs face was priceless. It made Thana giggle with such utter delight that the lingering pain in her stomach and head that memory had caused were quickly forgotten. She could only hope that her grip on the maniptive assholes throat was half as tormenting.
You are a supremely slimy bastard, she said, as Alexej tried to wrestle himself free.
She barely even felt the pull of his hands on hers as she dragged him down to her face level. Grinning ear to ear, she growled at him, watched the growing desperation in his eyes. She did not know if she cared little enough about Lydia to kill the cocksucker right then and there.
Eliza is dead, you fucking idiot, thanks for making me remember, Thana informed him with a maddening smile. You really have some balls to just spin together a convenient situation to ckmail me just because I cant remember shit. In the first ce, you must be really fucking desperate to take my words at my fighting announcement that I cant remember shit at face value, the maniptive Czech was slowly turning into a rather unhealthy shade of red. But people who get stuck into the chamber donte out, so that woman behind me? She is just a random fucking olddy you stuck in a bed to trick me, Thanaughed her anger out, the dots in her eyes spun so quickly it vibrated in her soul.
We cant apologize She is lost Can shee back? Yes. Has shee back? No. Yes. Who is in control? False path and misleading by Anathema. The horror The faces provided nonsensicalmentary. Thest struggle failed, she has consolidated the h thema Cry for the fallen, murder the living.
Then they vanished one by one and melded together into the one face that was Cecylia. Please, Eliza, she has to know I am sorry, the face pleaded.
Just shut up, you creations of my fractured sanity. If I was such a bitch to betray my own sister, I dont need these memories or this name, Thana growled, and the face disappeared forever. So, this will be a nice clean start. She grinned at Alexej now that the two of them were finally, truly alone.
After a moment of pause, she let go of his throat. The blonde guy copsed on the ground. Coughing and gasping for air, he looked up just in time to see the blood mages foot crashing into his face.
Alexej rolled over the ground like a human bowling ball, crashing into a decorative flower pot in the corner of the room. Porcin shattered, dirt spilled onto the floor, the information maniptor groaned in pain. W-wait! he panicked as Thana stepped after him and set a foot on his ribcage, nailing him against the floor.
She didnt wait; instead, she pressed down harder, removing all air from his lungs but keeping herself in check just enough for the ribcage of the man to not burst under the pressure. Sucks, doesnt it, being helplessly nailed by a power you cant fight against? Thana asked tonelessly, watching the man struggle uselessly.
She relieved him just the slightest bit so he could breathe. If you kill me
Then Lydia will get her hands full, yes, I know, you fucking idiot, Thana interrupted. I wont kill you, not today. Relief and terror quickly hushed over Alexejs face.
You made some crucial fucking mistakes, the blood mage rolled her neck, it felt really stiff for some reason. For a start, you reminded me of some shit I much rather had forgotten in the form of more than 70 years of constant pain. Then you actually made me remember something, she took her foot of Alexej and grabbed him by the cor; Thank you and fuck you for that.
The horrible dissonance of what Cecylia did and what Thana would want to do in that situation was gripping at her mind with the uncertainty of the forgetful. What else had she forgotten? What was truly in these faces she couldnt see?
How is it that I feel like a better person than she was back then, Thana thought, unable to think of herself as Cecylia. It was just too alien; this person she only had one memory of and that looked like her didnt feel like her. Too much time had psed, too much had changed. Either way, she didnt want to think about it anymore.
Most importantly, you fucking asshole, you wanted me to betray the only people I care about, Thana said, her grin disappearingpletely. Once this whole tournament is over, you better run as far away as you can and make sure your miserable ass never shows itself in front of me again, or I will tear you the fuck apart, starting with the bones in your fingers.
With that final warning she tossed Alexej over her shoulder. It was a throw for which she actually used a fair bit of strength, and the result was every bit as satisfying as she had imagined.
In a shower of wooden splinters, Alexej broke through the door and crashed into the hallway. Whatever secrecy they had had would be lost in a few moments, and Thana didnt care about talking to Alexej further anyhow. Sorry that he got you involved in all of it, whoever the fuck you are, Thana said towards the olddy who blissfully slept through the wholemotion.
Then the blood mage opened a window and simply jumped out and made a run for it. She was grinning widely. Whatever Cecylia had been, it was of no matter for her. She was a twisted, broken, brutal, impulsive and fully dysfunctional human being, but she would never sell out her friends like that girl had.
That wasnt her, that wasnt who she wanted to be, and if that was the person her memories would unveil, then her memories were best left untouched. Thana wanted to bicker with Rave. Thana wanted to annoy Lydia a bit. Thana wanted to beg Aclysia for a nice dessert. Thana wanted to sit next to John and watch crappy sis.
She didnt want to remember this Cecylia. At least she now knew that. And she had an answer for the Eliza question. The faces had given up. Despite how horrible the experience had been, Thana took the steps back home flying. All was well that ended well.
She arrived back at the mansion just in time to smell Aclysia cook something. Halfway done mincemeat and potatoes together with some greens where what caressed her nose, a stark contrast to the clinical, sterile smells she had just escaped from.
Good noon, you fuckers! she shouted once she entered the mansion and tapped inside.
Dont forget to clean your feet! Aclysias voice came back from the kitchen. The blood mage rolled her eyes, running around barefoot had the disadvantage of picking up some dirt, which Aclysia didnt like whatsoever.
How does that nket-wearing, nk, bimbo blonde get away with this shit? Thana wondered as she brushed off her soles with warm water and then tapped into the living room. She made two light-footed steps, then a pirouette, and a few more tapping noises on the wooden floorter, she was in the kitchen.
Is that a stew I smell today? she inquired; I like stew, correction, I fucking love food.
That I am aware of, Aclysia informed her, opening the fridge after stirring the pot some more and then putting the lid on top. She reached into the marvel of technology that kept food cold and fresh and pulled out a pudding, I made this for you upon Masters request. He told me to tell you to not overdo it.
Ehhhh, Thana shrugged; You know, I may or may not have overdone it earlier today.
He did further specify to give it to you anyway because he knew you would say that, Aclysia sighed slightly. From what I have read about psychological conditioning, that is a foolish decision.
Pavlov is a dick, give me that pudding! Thana demanded and found herself in the living room shortly thereafter.
We were on a break! the person on the screen shouted.
You tell them, Ross, Thana giggled eating the pudding. It felt very good to be able to do so without help; she used to identally bite off the heads of the spoons, so Momo took it upon her to feed them to Thana instead.
It was kind of working for her kink, but it also was pretty annoying. Anyhow, those times were over now. Every day she came closer to being just socially uneptable instead of outright insane and out of control.
She had control over her strength now, the faces were gone, she felt happy and a scratching from inside her head Thatst thing was not good, not good at all.
Thana hadnt noticed it until now, having been mentally preupied, first by the rush of aggression and then when she was running back home by thinking about other things. Now that she was settled and not upied, she felt it though.
It wasnt a strong feeling, it wasnt even bothering her, it was just there like the noise of aputer venttor. In the background, not important at all, but now that she had noticed it, it was hard to ignore.
How is the pudding, Thana? Aclysia asked, standing in the doorframe. The scratching spiked for a moment, then it ceased. Had she just imagined it? Not entirely unlikely, not with the state of her mental condition. But just because it wasnt actually there didnt mean it wasnt a problem.
Yeah, its sweeter than usual, tastes awesome! Thana answered.
I am d to hear so, Aclysia softly smiled; I switched up the recipe a bit. I concluded that you like sweet things.
Honestly, I just like everything that doesnt taste like chemical super-garbage, Thana answered. But I sure as fuck wontin if you keep tossing sweets at me. As a matter fact: give me all of the fucking sweets, I want to drown in chocte.
You may want to wait for that until after dinner. I also suggest taking a shower, Aclysia looked at the clock. It will take another 10 minutes for the stew to be done, but we wont eat until Master returns from his current engagement with Nia.
Are they boning? Thana asked.
They have been, Aclysia corrected; The engagement was overdue. All women, if John wants them, should be with him.
Your worship of him is fucking creepy at times, Thana pointed out.
I live to serve my Master, it is the purpose I picked for myself, the maid said with a bow. I wont force anyone to see it the same way, but Johns happiness is my highest aspiration.
Well, as long as he gives me a good spanking, I dont really fucking care what else he does, Thana said. That was an understatement of what she wanted from John in every regard. Spanking hit the bare minimum of her masochistic desires, but even more importantly, she couldnt imagine being left behind by John.
The Gamer was the only thing that gave her a good moral anchor. Someone who was willing to put up with all of her shit no matter how overbearing she got. She doubted the other girls would actually put up with her if it wasnt for John, not because she thought that they were bad people but because she was so utterly iprehensible at times that she had no idea how John even managed to stomach her in the first ce.
Must be because I am super fucking cute or something maybe fucking crazy is awesome? she desperately tried to find a reason while quickly finishing up the pudding. Okay, I will go take that shower. Cant be that fucking bad of an idea.
5 Minutes to Midnight – Cold
5 Minutes to Midnight C Cold
The water was running over her clothed form. It was ice cold, soaking into her hair and robe and turning her body into a single area ofplete numbness. Her eyes were raised, looking directly into the stream descending onto her.
The scratching in her head was currently quelled by the paralyzing cold, a steady stream of images intermingled with the water. A table in a makeshift quarter. The wet nket lying above a man desperately trying to sleep in the trenches. A pistol in her face. The muzzle shed. Thest moment of a life.
Thana barely registered hastened stepsing down the hallway. They stopped in front of the bathroom door for a moment. Thana? You in there? The question caused the images to change for a moment. It was no longer something as precise as a faraway memory, just seven golden dots surrounded by a ring of the same colour.
Three of them started moving, like a liquid drop of paint that was suddenly pulled by a thin brush into one direction. They crossed through the ring as thin, almost invisible lines, creating an unsatisfactorily asymmetrical figure.
Her thoughts were just as dulled as her feelings were, and so she never answered. Never blinking as the water kept pouring, all she did was stare at the figure of crossed rings and untouched dots. It was washed away by new images.
The small boat of a fisher. A man without any sign of civilization bowing over with a stone knife. A number on her left forearm: 001. There were too many images to make sense of all of them. The memories of other people washed down together with the ones of Cecylia. Only images, no sounds.
The only sound here was the one of streaming, cold water. The same old streaming, cold water. Her robe stuck to her body like the sin of betrayal stuck to a persons consciousness, and the reality of murder would always be a part of their soul.
Then the monotony of sound was interrupted by the smooth sound of the well-oiled joints of the door swinging inwards. John peeked through the door. Thana? he asked in a tone of deep concern. She just kept staring at the showerhead and the falling stream.
He knocked against the ss wall between them, a nigh invisible barrier, covered in sprinkles of water in which memories reflected like a fractured mirror showing hundreds of faces. As she continued to fail to react to anything, his heartbeat increased in panic, and he ripped open the shower door. Thana! he shouted and grabbed her by the shoulder.
Suddenly, as if that touch siphoned off all the energy in her body, Thanas legs gave in. She fell towards John. The Gamer had not been expecting this, but he still managed to catch her. A momentter, he dragged her soaked body out of the cold water and pulled her down with him as he sat down on the floor.
Back leaning against the wall, arms wrapped around Thana, Johns suit was slowly getting drenched as the heat of his body radiated into her. An exchange of warmth and cold. The hell are you doing?! John wanted to know.
The question needed a few moments to register, and when she spoke, her words were sluggish, only slowly gaining rity and speed as her body warmed up. I I wanted to emte the feeling of that tank her eyes went wide; What the FUCK was I doing?
When did the thought of that cursed tank suddenly be appealing? The cold, emotionless distance of streaming images something to be desired? Nothing about it should have appealed to her, what was going on?
Her heartbeat doubled, and heat rushed through her veins like liquid fire as she magically kicked up her metabolism. Nestling against Johns chest, her breathing quickened as she felt something rise from her stomach and cause a knot in her throat.
It was unavoidable, the certainty of impending nothingness. It was like she herself didnt matter and all that was there was this something that eradicated all of her brashness, her agency and everything that made her herself. Even her many ticks and minor mental damages didnt matter in the face of this. All she could do isugh, an insane, helpless sound, and try not to drown in it.
The disgusting, hated feeling of helpless panic.
Help me, Thana pleaded, hands crumpling up the wet cloth of the ck vest he was wearing. She looked up, the seven dots in her eyes standing still. John looked back with surprise, then pure anger.
What did he do? he asked.
The question didnt make sense to Thana. Her consciousness was sinking into a muck of terrible implications, and the cold fingers of panic were grasping for her lungs. Her body heat increased to a feverish temperature.
John took her chin and kissed her. The panic red against the sudden touch; surprise and the wish to run fought and intermingled, agreed and used each other of being the wrong response. He pulled back and spoke, in a tone that was forcefully calm with remaining anger still inside.
Listen to my voice, Thana. The panic peaked, the scratching came back, her whole body quivered in his embrace. Listen to me, John repeated; Take a deep breath, you know me, I mean no harm.
Of course he didnt, but that didnt help Thana take anything more than a shallow, rattling breath that left her body quicker than it entered.
Good, again, John encouraged despite it being socklustre; Concentrate on my scent if that helps you, damn pervert. Another breath, it was just as shallow. He smelled of sweat, wet cloth, roses and bubble-gum. Again, try rxing your hands a bit. It was the difference between a clenched fist and a tight one, barely noticeable.
Still, it was progress, and so, over the process of many minutes, her breathing calmed, her body temperature sunk back down to normal levels and the panic ebbed away.
What did he do? John finally repeated his question.
What did who do? Thana wondered, still not able to make sense of the question but now calm enough to probe what he meant.
Alexej, or what else would you need help with? John narrowed his brown eyes. If he hurt you, I will murder that guy.
How do you know about that? the blood mage asked.
Horned Rat - dont ask. Answer my question so I can decide whether or not I need to nuke someone, John said with grit teeth. The fact that he was getting this worked up over her well-being was strangely attractive.
That fucker tried to ckmail me, Thana said and felt John tense up in response. The Gamer was about ready to jump up and stomp off in search of the blonde cocksucker. However, Thana kept him on the floor with a violent cuddle. Calm your balls, you ragefest of a fuckwit, I took care of it, she assured and then told him the gist of it; He dug up everything he could about me and actually found some of Mengeles notes, or at least some of the whore-hirers works copies. Had this whole situation set-up where he fed me a whole bunch of truths so I would believe him that the personying in the bed was Eliza.
Slow down, John said; He found out who Eliza was?
Yeah, thats the name of my fucking sister, Thana shrugged. Also, my name is Cecylia, but please dont call me that.
Why not?
It feels wrong the blood mage struggled for an urate description; When I was about to fall for the lie, I remembered something: how Cecylia betrayed Eliza and sacrificed her to Mengele. She had her neck broken, and that was the end of her. That fucking bitch Cecylia, betraying her own sister in a heartbeat because she was different. I dont give a flying fuck about whether or not I was such a snitch, I really dont want to be her again. I dont want that name, I dont want my past if thats what it is, Thana looked at John; I just want some sort of not sucking future with you and everyone else. I dont need the same name, I dont fucking want it.
I get that, John said; I have way smaller problems in my past than you do, but I get it he hesitated; for a moment, they were just two weirdos soaked in cold water on the bathroom floor. Then he asked, And then?
Then I beat his stupid ass up and went here, went home, Thana said, but I think I may have exchanged one mental disfunction for another, and it really fucking sucks.
Is that what you want help with? John probed.
Yes Thana took a deep breath before kissing him.
The faces are gone, but now I see memories bubble up. I dont want that shit, but its a constant pressure against my skull. Its just a small annoyance, but I dont think it will stay that way. These memories will just keep tearing my thoughts up, she made a self-deprecating smile; The world just fucking hates seeing me happy, so now it wants to make me that miserable bitch Cecylia. So, I want you to try and help me with staying who I am, Thana pleaded. Dont let me be a person all of you hate even more than you hate me already.
We dont hate you, John whispered, brushing back a strand of hair that clung to the side of her face. Sure, you are an annoying oddball at times, and your swearing can be overbearing, but nobody is perfect.
Yes, yes, I fucking know, Thana giggled; Dont take me too seriously, go suck Aclysias clit, you overly earnest 2D girl addict.
I am not big into anime John mumbled but then grinned. Good, so we just move on from the Eliza question to making sure you arent overtaken by some past version of yourself, right?
Yes, promise me that you will help me stay myself, Thana said, and despite her reprimand just now, she was the one who was soundingpletely serious. She didnt even have the urge to curse, she just wanted to hear John say that he cared for her.
I will do whatever is in my power to make sure you will be whoever you want to be until the end of your days, John swore and then kissed her again; And now we should dry up, go downstairs and eat. Make some happy memories about the current time so that the ones from back then will just seem like an obscure dream of another life.
Sounds perfect, you gigolo-maniac sex-addict, Thana grinned.
Chapter 293 – A promise of character
Chapter 293 C A promise of character
Where did you leave my precious Nia? the Horned Rat asked, returning just as John stepped out of the building; I need her to spy on you.
I fucked her so hard that her knees gave in when she tried to stand up, now she has to rest for a minute, John triumphantly crossed his arms; he would literally fuck the influence of the Horned Rat out of Nia.
Of course, that wasnt the only thing he was nning to do to eventually get the cute nk into his harem in a clean way, but it was the most basic one. If she liked him more than the Rat (which shouldnt be too hard), then he already had a way to get what he wanted. Which was her butt in his bed whenever he wanted without needing to worry that she would whisper what she learned into the earless skull of the scheming god.
Well, how nice of you, Richard was unfazed by all of this; Truth be told, you can have her.
Say what now? John blinked in confusion. It didnt quite fit his image of the Horned Rat for him to just forego what he had so easily.
She is unreliable, easily side-tracked, gullible and cant keep a single secret. She is also way too nice to use for assassinations. I cant find any line of work for her, so you might as well take her. I mean, we are allies, arent we, John Newman? the skull creaked as it was bent into a smiling shape.
On paper, I guess so, John cautiously agreed. He wasnt going to break his promise to the Horned Rat without good reason. It was important that he was going to be seen as someone who kept his promises, otherwise that would create some major headaches if he wanted to deal with other powerful peopleter in his life.
So, you would just give up a strong nk because she isnt doing exactly what you want?
You have no idea what else I have at my disposal. Losing Nia is like losing a very nice house in the alps you visit once every 2 years, the Horned Rat just shrugged. Painful on paper, but do I really care? That aside its not like I will just give her to you. All I am telling you is that I am not going to make a fuss over it if she switches to your camp. It would be amusing and not really to my detriment.
You know you are dick, right? John wondered; This way you toy with everyone around you? Not cool.
I told you earlier, once you get to this level, you will do the same, Richard giggled. If the amount of people that can actively oppose you is down to a few hundred, life gets a lot less fun.
Like you would know, you are an entity created with such vast power, John pointed out.
WRONG! the voice of the Horned Rat made the whole barrier shake. Dont mistake godhood as a sign of being born into power. Nathalia should have told you, right? The way we achieve these forms, these powers.
Right Legionnaire lifeform, consolidation to a singr being, tapping into godhood, John said.
That is the typical order yes, but sometimes it takes the rules and breaks them, the Horned Rat said; Not for me though, I was a ball of crows and rats and other animals you would attribute bad omens to. Then I started to construct myself out of their flesh, blood and bones.
The Horned Rat rose from his seat, suit and the remaining human form expanding, skin and cloth tearing and revealing short ck fur underneath that gleamed dully in the sunlight. The god was more than twice as tall as John in his true form, and he hunched over the Gamer imposingly.
Want to experience sewing yourself together from your own corpses over dozens of years? he asked, red mes flickering in his empty eye sockets. The pain of a part of you dying? Feasting on your flesh to survive? Run from cmity to cmity to warn people andugh at their inevitable failure to read the signs? The Horned Rats giant hands hovered at each side of John, threatening to grab him and squash him in a single motion, You think my powers to havee easily, John Newman, but I would break the world soul itself to get my ws on yours.
John stared back unmoved by his little speech, But you wont get my powers no matter what you try.
Indeed I wont, the Horned Ratughed and stretched like an old-man in the morning. I am just making a point, John Newman: you assume me to be who I am by design, but I am the end-product of a chain of events. A person born by his circumstances, just like everyone else.
I know, John grinned. Which is why I taunted you into telling me your backstory.
The Horned Rat froze in the motion and slowly lowered his hand. Are you saying you tricked me? he asked in a dangerous voice.
I am saying I just learned something about you I didnt previously know, John shrugged. Was it by design? Was it by ident? I will let you decide that.
The Horned Rats massive body quaked with held backughter, then he roared at the sky. YES! That is the kind of behaviour I prophesied you would have! he hissed in delight, and now it was Johns turn to hesitate. See how fun it is to toy with peoples expectations?! Oh, the wonder of outsmarting this stupid world, to overpower those too slow to keep up. You will see it my way, Richard continued.
So now you are telling me that you schemed around me wanting to make you reveal something about you to give me an edge in the future so you could prove a point? John asked.
Wee to the world of schemers, where everyone is constantly trying to one-up each other, the Horned Rat raised a wed hand at the sun and clenched his fist as if he could extinguish its light; Time and opportunity will make one of us the winner eventually.
Sure, John had enough of this intellectual dick measuring contest. For his part, he had achieved his goal. Now, what is that information you have? he therefore asked.
Thana has met Alexej on her own, not too long ago, the Horned Rat nonchntly stated as he reached down to the box of dragon-kittens. A single w of his giant hand scratched a kitten behind the ear, and the tiny thing started purring, She is back at your mansion now. John didnt need to hear more to turn around and start running.
If that asshole did anything to Thana Johns thoughts were already racing through a few dozen torture methods as his feet flew over the pavement and he was fidgeting with his phone. At the end of the day, just letting Siena loose on him would be the most efficient way to go about things.
All parts of himself were seething at the announcement, and he would have loved to punch the Horned Rat in the face for the dy in giving him that information. What did he stand to gain by putting more time in between then and now?
The answer to that question was shrouded in mystery, but that wasnt the most important thing here. I am going to cut him open if he harmed her in any way, Siena hissed, of all the elementals, her anger burned the brightest. Those who exploit the weak should die.
I am going to ignore the ring hypocrisy of your shady ass and just agree with the cutting part, Smander chimed in.
I, uhm I will look the other way, okay? was all Gnome could add while Undine sent her personal siding with Siena.
Like anyone could harm Thana, Sylph chirped; Girl is crazy fast, fast and crazy, super cray-cray speedy.
Not physical harm, Sylph, John told her while getting a cab that would take him back to the shortcut to the mansion; Mental harm, Thana is many things but not stable. The fact that she even runs around unsupervised is worrying. Aclysia, you are home, right?
Yes, Master. I report that Thana seemed normal and that she is currently taking a shower, Aclysia said. Will monitor for further development.
John practically burst into the mostly empty mansion. Aclysia awaited him in the hallway. Still showering? he asked, stepping into the house with his dirt covered shoes. Aclysia didntin about this stretch of the ground that was her charge getting dirty and just nodded.
He hasted through the hallway and to the bathroom. Then he stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath to control himself. He would need to handle this whole thing delicately or maybe it wasnt as bad as the pretext made it out to be.
Maybe Thana had just went out and ran into Alexej? Unlikely, but the possibility was there. It was important that he kept his rage in check until he knew what exactly was going on. His Wisdom helped here immensely; the feeling was practicallypletely repressed as John kept his calm.
Thana? You in there? It was a rhetorical question, he just didnt want to startle the blood mage. The only answer he got was the continuous sound of water hitting the floor of a shower. He reached for the handle and pushed down.
Thankfully, no one in this house was deeply concerned about their nakedness, otherwise John may have had to break open the door. Instead, the well-oiled door soundlessly swung inwards.
There she stood, fully clothed underneath the shower. It was already unusual to see her skip an opportunity to throw her clothes off, but the fact that she just stood there, staring at the showerhead and not reacting at all was concerning.
But maybe this was just another one of her weird sudden behaviour changes. Or she genuinely was too absent-minded to notice him. He knocked against the ss wall of the shower in an attempt to get her attention.
The middle joint of his index finger hit the dry ss twice. The nigh invisible wall between them separated them; John saw his own translucent reflection in the ss. It stared back with concern.
There still was no reaction, and concern became fear. There was no way this was normal. His heart beat in his chest as he ripped open the shower and reached out. His hand hit the endless stream of water, it was ice cold. Thana! he shouted and grabbed her by the shoulder.
Suddenly, as if that touch siphoned off all the energy in her body, the blood mages body lost all tension. She fell towards John like a simple sack of meat. He had not been expecting this; in a panicked move, he took a step forward to catch her, the water running over him. A momentter, he dragged her soaked body out of the cold water.
He sunk down to the floor with her. Her sickly pale skin now had a temperature that matched its looks. She was as cold as someone who had drowned in the open sea. He leaned against the wall and wrapped his arms around her to try and warm her up.
The hell are you doing?! John wanted to know as the cold seeped into his clothes from her drenched robe. He didnt care for it, he could suffer a bit of difort as long as Thana just reacted to him, as long as she would be warm again.
He lost her once when he barely knew her, when her death had been a terrible tragedy. Now that he knew her, even if it had only been a few weeks so far, he could not bear to see her in this state. It was too much like the first time he saw her.
She finally spoke. Her words were sluggish, only slowly gaining rity and speed as her body warmed up. I I wanted to emte the feeling of that tank her words caused them to share a moment of disbelieving terror; What the FUCK was I doing?
John could feel the body in his arms suddenly warm up as the blood mage used her powers. Her heart hammered against his chest as she pressed herself against him.
Help me, Thana pleaded, hands crumpling up the wet cloth of the ck vest John was wearing. She looked up, the seven dots in her eyes still.
John looked back with surprise; Thana had never asked for help before. Not this tantly, at least. There could only be one reason for why she would do so now. He no longer held back his wrath, a fire burning in his eyes as he asked, What did he do?
It had to be Alexej. The maniptive blond had to have his fingers in this whole catastrophe somehow. John would rip those fingers off if he got the chance; there was a limit for how much he would allow the guy to get away with.
Thana didnt answer, instead her body temperature kept rising. Her eyes were unfocused and dulled by fear. John took her chin and kissed her. Her lips were ufortably hot; Johns body tried to warn him that he was intimately interacting with someone who was carrying a disease. These warnings were pushed aside, and John pulled back from the kiss to speak up.
Listen to my voice, Thana, he said; a remainder of the anger stayed in his voice as he tried to calm her panic. Her whole body quivered in his embrace, as if it was only now reacting to the cold it had fallen victim to earlier. Listen to me, John repeated. Take a deep breath, you know me, I mean no harm.
The blood mage took a rattling, shallow breath that left her body in a quick burst, leaving quicker than it entered. Nheless, this was a sign that she was at least listening.
Good, again, John encouraged despite herst breath being so ineffective. He could have just stabbed her, that had proven the quickest way to get Thana to calm down, but he didnt want to reinforce a behaviour he already hated.
Hurting his girls was eptable inbat training, not when he tried to save them from a panic attack. There had to be another thing she could try.
Concentrate on my scent if that helps you, damn pervert, John suggested, grasping at straws. Another breath, it was just as shallow. Again, try rxing your hands a bit, John kept giving her orders and suggestions. The grip on his vest eased insignificantly, but it was still a change.
John kept talking, and over the process of many minutes, her breathing calmed, her body temperature sunk back down to normal levels and the panic ebbed away. Once she stopped quivering and took her first normal breath, John repeated his question, What did he do?
What did who do? Thana wondered.
Alexej, or what else would you need help with? John narrowed his brown eyes; If he hurt you, I will murder that guy.
How do you know about that? the blood mage asked.
Horned Rat - dont ask. Answer my question so I can decide whether or not I need to nuke someone, John said with gritted teeth.
That fucker tried to ckmail me, Thana said after a moments pause; Johns knuckles went white in response. The Gamer was about ready to jump up and stomp off in search of the blond asshole. However, Thana kept him on the floor with her tight embrace.
Calm your balls, you ragefest of a fuckwit, I took care of it, she assured and started to give him a rundown of the events that had transpired; He dug up everything he could about me and actually found some of Mengeles notes, or at least some of the whore-hirers works copies. Had this whole situation set-up where he fed me a whole bunch of truths so I would believe him that the personying in the bed was Eliza.
Slow down, John said, halfway unable to believe what he was hearing; He found out who Eliza was?
Yeah, thats the name of my fucking sister, Thana shrugged at what was a fairly big deal to John; Also my name is Cecylia, but please dont call me that.
Why not? Johns rage was currently getting buried under mountains of confusion. It feels wrong the blood mage struggled for an urate description; When I was about to fall for the lie, I remembered something: how Cecylia betrayed Eliza and sacrificed her to Mengele. She had her neck broken, and that was the end of her. That fucking bitch Cecylia, betraying her own sister in a heartbeat because she was different. I dont give a flying fuck about whether or not I was such a snitch, I really dont want to be her again. I dont want that name, I dont want my past if thats what it is, Thana looked at John- I just want some sort of not sucking future with you and everyone else. I dont need the same name, I dont fucking want it.
I get that, John said; I have way smaller problems in my past than you do, but I get it he hesitated; for a moment, they were just two weirdos soaked in cold water on the bathroom floor. Then he asked, And then?
Then I beat his stupid ass up and went here, went home, Thana said, but I think I may have exchanged one mental disfunction for another, and it really fucking sucks.
Is that what you want help with? John probed; that sounded way more eptable, he was already used to having to deal with Thanas various disorders. Whether it was one or the other wasnt important, just as long as she was still there.
Yes the blood mage took a deep breath before kissing him. The faces are gone, but now I see memories bubble up. I dont want that shit, but its a constant pressure against my head. Its just a small annoyance, but I dont think it will stay that way. These memories will just keep tearing my thoughts up. She made a self-deprecating smile. The world just fucking hates seeing me happy, so now it wants to make me that miserable bitch Cecylia. So, I want you to try and help me with staying who I am, Thana pleaded. Dont let me be a person all of you hate even more than you hate me already.
We dont hate you, John whispered, brushing back a strand of hair that clung to the side of her face; Sure, you are an annoying oddball at times and your swearing can be overbearing, but nobody is perfect.
Yes, yes, I fucking know, Thana giggled. Dont take me too seriously, go suck Aclysias clit, you overly earnest 2D girl addict.
I am not big into anime John mumbled but then grinned. Good, so we just move on from the Eliza question to making sure you arent overtaken by some past version of yourself, right?
Yes, promise me that you will help me stay myself, Thana said; despite her reprimand just now, she was the one who was soundingpletely serious.
I will do whatever is in my power to make sure you will be whoever you want to be until the end of your days, John swore; the fact that Thana had made that request without cursing meant that she must have been pretty shaken at the idea. John kissed her again, he hated the idea as well. And now we should dry up, go downstairs and eat. Make some happy memories about the current time so that the ones from back then will just seem like an obscure dream of another life.
Sounds perfect, you gigolo-maniac sex-addict, Thana grinned and rose from him.
John forcefully rxed his clenched fist.
I will make you suffer next time I get the opportunity, Alexej, he thought.
Chapter 294 – Blazing fires’ cold compared to shattered soul
Chapter 294 C zing fires coldpared to shattered soul
ABSOLUTELY NOT! John practically screamed at Thana who took a surprised step back at the outburst. Worry and the idea itself made the blood pump through Johns veins like he was done running a triathlon while being chased by Romulus himself.
He took a deep breath, seeing the blood mage shrinking back like a scared bunny at the Gamers rage. Calm the fuck down, she pleaded. Even while afraid of her lovers rage, she still couldnt stop swearing. Wisdom and experience made John recollect the path to the current situation in an effort to analyse how this even came to be.
It had begun with John reprimanding Nathalia over the dinner table after Thana had informed everyone else what had transpired. Well, Lydia had a whole lot of other berating she had wanted to let Thana know first. If you do something like that, at least inform me!
Make less of a fuss if you are doing secret meetings.
You could have at least taken his book. And other such things.
John was more focused on the fact that Nathalia had even let her go. Of course, the dragoness provedpletely indifferent to hisments, simply staring at the vegetables in her stew as if she hoped she could shame them into bing meat.
Afterwards he had gone with Nathalia and Thana to supervise their training efforts for a bit. The two of them had been bashing heads for a while when Thana had finally said the thing that made John burst out like this.
Last time I was really angry, like fuck-ass mad, she had pondered. So how about we stick me in an incineration chamber and put me on fire?
Johns reaction to that had been understandably explosive. He took a second deep breath and then, in as calm a fashion as he could, pointed out, That is an absolutely terrible idea, and I will not allow it.
Allow it? Motherfucker, I dont need you to allow me to do anything, Thana, her fear swinging directly to rage of her own, growled.
Thana, please, John tried to plead with her. Dont take this as a challenge to do it. We both know that you arent the most stable person and sticking you into an incineration chamber is just bound to lead to trouble. You also just said you DIDNT want to get some of your memories back. Triggering past traumas sounds like a perfect way to remember unwanted stuff. Furthermore, at best this does what you want and at worst you will go into aplete berserker rage AND you get what you want.
Fuck you, I am doing it. Thana flipped him off.
No, just Before John could get anymore arguments in about how terrible of an idea this was, ck stone walls pierced out of the scorched earth that was Nathalias domain.
They had been fighting in theva field that was the dragoness home. Although the actualva was pushed far to the horizon. In this ne, her Sanctum, Nathalia was as close to almighty as they came, being able to create life in the shape of golems or restructure thendscape as she saw fit.
But the question of how home barriers worked had to wait for another time. For right now, John red at Nathalia. If it is her wish, I will oblige, she just shrugged it off and jumped at the top of the construct she had just made. It looked like an upside-down funnel. We are not bound by your opinions, little John, Nathalia shouted to him with a grin that revealed her dagger-like, carnivorous teeth.
Of course you are not, this is not about you having to do whatever I say, John shouted back; This is about this being an absolutely terrible idea! I dont want Thana to live through this stuff again!
I wont be a burden to Lydia or anyone else! Thana shouted out of the funnel. So let me do my shit, John!
You are not a burden just because you cant take out the whole enemy team alone, John still attempted to talk some sense into her. You can rely on us a little more.
I tire of this bickering, Nathalia sighed and waved her hand; Her resolve is set, you cannot stop us either way. She was absolutely right on that front, John didnt hold a candle to either of them.
Yet, he reminded himself and sighed heavily. Fine, he spat out, but if this goes south, I will never let you forget about it.
Nathalia made a dismissive gesture and her chest swell up as her inner inferno was fanned. Her maw opened wide, and a momentter, she spewed forth fire of such intense heat that John scrambled away from the premise while keeping a close eye on Thanas health bar in his interface. It didnt drop, so at least Nathalia was holding herself back.
Then Nathalia, the funnel and the fire were suddenly gone. All John caught was a stripe of blue ripping upwards. He ripped his eyes up to the sky and sent Jack flying after them.
Of course, I had to be right, John thought as he saw the scene unfold. Behind Thanas back burned six pirs of ghastly blue fire like the gas mes used in chemicalbs. Fuelled by an invisible source, their clearly outlined shapes stuck out like the full moon in the otherwise red and ckndscape, the tips forming a hexagon.
Normally, John would have just been amazed by that Stat increase. Even though he had no idea where those numbers came from, they seemed to be rather arbitrary. The problem was that those pretty high stats were currently bashing against the ones of Nathalia. Even worse, they were higher than those of the goddess of volcanoes.
This was only reinforced as the mid-air exchange of blows turned into Thana spinning the dragoness around and tossing her to the ground. The ground splintered under the impact,va spurting out of the cracks. Theva uselessly hit Johns Mana Protection, and he peeked into the crater.
Nathalia rose on shaking feet and growled. Orange glowing blood ran down the side of her face, slowly due to its high viscosity. She spat out, the mixture of saliva and yet more blood searing into the stone. I will make her regret that, the dragoness announced, and before John could warn her she was already in the air again.
If there was one critical advantage Nathalia had over the enraged Thana, it was that she could actually fly. On wings of flowingva and cracking obsidian, she soared into the sky and towards the falling blood mage.
The initial impact had pulled them a hundred metres into the ground, pure force used in a mindless manner. All Thana could do in this situation, now that she no longer had a grip on Nathalia, was tumble through the air and wait for the dragoness to attack.
Or so she had presumed until a torrent of blue fire ignited the sky, HER sky. Her narrow dodge wasrgely sessful, only her foot getting caught in the onught of pain. And it was pain, that much was sure.
The fire itself had no temperature, if it just had been in hot then Nathalia would have felt next to nothing. No, it was the pure, quintessential feeling of getting burned that she was assaulted by. A feeling so alien to her that it caused her to actually groan in pain.
But a bit of torment wouldnt stop her. She flew a wide curve and then mmed into Thanas side. Insolent girl, Nathalia screamed and punched the blood mage in the face. Blood sttered into the air and became a shower of the same pale blue fire, self-igniting, as Thana was pummelled by a series of strikes.
In the middle of these strikes, she startedughing. Crazed sounds echoed through the air as the two of them returned back to the floor where John hid behind a rock to not get caught up in the crossfire. Nathalia kept the strikes going, kneeling over Thanas chest.
Each punch created a shockwave that made the ground tremble as the might of an exploding mountain crashed down on Thana again and again. The crater deepened to the sound of hammering and maddenedughter.
Stop this ceaseless, annoying sound! she demanded and started choking the blood mage, crushing her windpipe in mere moments. While that didnt eliminate the smile on her lips, that did at least shut her up. As long as Nathalia kept her hands in ce to prevent the regeneration, that was.
The dots in her eyes were moving in an erratic fashion. Like broken clockwork, they ticked forwards irregrly, both in interval and distance, only to asionally jump back to their starting positions. Thana, calm down, John, now halfway certain that it was safe toe out (or that he at least had to take the risk to end this debacle), shouted as he crawled out from behind the rock.
Whether or not the blood mage even heard him was unclear as she grabbed Nathalias arms on her throat and started prying them open. The dragoness orange eyes opened wide as she was not only challenged in strength but slowly getting overpowered. For a few seconds, they were wrestling, angered roar against reignitedughter, then Thana got the upper-hand and whirled Nathalia around like she was a ragdoll.
Thendscape shook once more as Thana mmed the dragoness into the floor repeatedly. Then the blood mage dropped her in mid motion and sent her flying with a kick. John couldnt even see the dragoness flying off, all he noticed was a mountain in the distance cracking and a chunk of it copsing on top of Nathalia.
Thana turned to John, raising a hand. Then she froze, the smile still on her lips, only to then grab her head and cry out in anguish. John slowly stepped closer. Its all good, he tried to calm her down; Just take a couple of breaths, Thana.
That did not have the intended effect, instead the blood mage started thrashing around and wing at her own hair. Howling glued together sybles of all kinds ofnguages she created gibberish beyond any and allprehension. Waves of fire, dozens of times stronger than theparably small cascade he had experienced when he had fought her, exploded from her back and thrashing motions.
John wanted to reach out to her, but there was no way he could have survived even getting half the way there. Then a roar drowned all other sounds in the Protected Space; allughter and cries stood no chance against this singr st, loud enough to actually cause damage to John in the form of his eardrums ripping apart.
As Gamers Body fixed that, John reared his head towards the source of the sound. His jaw almost dropped as he saw the true form he had been wondering about for so long.
To say that Nathalia was gargantuan would have been an understatement. If it hadnt been for the fact that she was moving, John would have mistaken her for a part of the ash coloured mountain range. About the length of a skyscrapers height, untold tons of dragon goddess started moving.
Wings that could block out the sun, membranes of flowingva, spread to assist the gigantic beings advance. Her body was splintered obsidian broken into the shape of a mythological creature. She wasnt scaled, there was nothing that made up her body but the obsidian, except for the magma pulsating through her body like blood through a human.
Her outeryer was criss-crossed with splintered volcanic ss, sticking out like irregrities in a mountain. Her long-limbed form only needed a couple of steps to cross the enormous distance. Fire leaked out of her closed maw, its origin inside her chest clearly visible through the slight translucence of her body, shooting forth through her snake-like neck.
Her jaw was terrible to behold; fleshless and lipless as she was, it looked like someone had brutally broken a sheet of ss over their knee and then sharpened the resulting product into two sets of teeth. The two horns at the back of her head made sure that no simrlyrge creature would be able to easily get at her neck while the one at the end of her snout would be able to impale a whale with ease.
That creature was now above John and, maw opening, about to breathe forth mes so hot they would turn white. Her orange eyes fell on John, however, and he could feel the burning gaze before the maw closed shut instead.
One of her gigantic ws descended upon Thana. A literal single w was all the uracy Nathalias form could muster against the incredibly tiny human. Thana caught the w between her bare hands, her inner turmoil forgotten in favour of pure survival instinct.
It was like John was witness to a God of War cutscene. A little woman tried to hold against the sharp, not to mention house-sized, tip of the w of a dragon who was the embodiment of volcanoes. It didnt help that Thana was actually holding against Nathalia for a good few seconds.
Finally, however, the battle was over when the ground underneath Thanas feet gave in and caused her to fall. The w nailed her to the ground with impressive uracy, prating her stomach just deep enough to fixate her on the tip of the dragoness w without cleaving her into two parts.
Nathalias head reached downwards, and she hissed. It was a surprisingly high-pitched sound for a creature of that size. Hearing the throaty voice of the dragonesse from that maw was also a bit out of ce. Such an annoyance stop ruining my w!
Thana was now busy trying to break free by repeatedly mming her fist against the enormous talon. Small cracks spread and melded back together, the tiny wounds clogging with the magicalva. John barely even wanted to step closer, the dragoness radiated such extreme heat he was feeling like he wasying in the noon desert.
Still, he did it before the berserk girl had the brilliant idea of ripping herself apart to get free or something. Not only would that have been too much for his already strained nerves to behold, but it would also have worked and prolonged this cataclysmic fight.
The blood mage didnt even notice himing closer. Ceaselessly, she punched away at the w holding her down until John kneeled down on her side, careful not toe into contact with the energy pir like wings, and put a hand on her head.
Her movements slowed down as the rotation of her eyes slowly normalized, looking into his own. From jumpy to a quick rotation to finally slowing down. Then her hands copsed. Nathalia kept a keen eye on the whole scene.
Now I dont want to sound smug, John said very loud once the blue fire was extinguished; But I totally told you!
Chapter 295 – That he did.
Chapter 295 C That he did.
Nathalia remained in her true form even after she pulled her w out of Thana. The earth shook as the dragonessid down in a giant circle around them, her head resting on the floor close enough that one of her enormous eyes overlooked the whole scene like a nearby sun. John noted that the crystal that normally rested on her chest now made up her vertical, snake-like pupil as he wiped sweat off his forehead.
Could you maybe dial down the heat a bit? he requested. The sun thing hadnt just been a metaphor because they were glowing and orange.
Are you not afraid of this form, John? the dragoness asked, while obliging his request.
Interestingly, as her body cooled, her splintered appearance became less translucent. Even though it had been barely shimmering through before, he could still see the magma flow inside her, but the shattered surface approached a more solid ck.
Well, I am definitely in awe, John said, putting a hand out to touch her head. Her ss like skin was expectedly smooth, and he had the basic wisdom to avoid the splinters and small spikes over it. Those would have made for a very mean cut. Not that he needed to care greatly, thanks to Gamers Body. But I am not afraid; as a matter of fact, I am wondering more about how you can formte words without lips, he stated.
He knew she had a tongue, that liquid organ (of course it was made out ofva) he had been able to spy. How like you to forego reason in favour of needless questions, Nathalia pointed out and chuckled ordingly.
Well, I dont need to be afraid of people that can control themselves, John said and turned over to Thana. Just having gotten to her feet again, the blood mage quickly keeled over backwards as a blow of hot air assaulted her.
John looked back to Nathalia just in time to see one of her many teeth slide down into its original ce. So, while she didnt have lips she did have retractable teeth. He didnt even attempt to understand the anatomy of a dragon, a god-level unique one made from magical obsidian and magma no less.
Exhausted? John asked and walked over to Thana. Extending his hand, he stood in front of her, and she looked back with shame.
I did it again, she noted.
Yup, getting a bit old, John admitted. You get one more get out of berserking free-card, after that I will learn advanced psychology and you will have to pour your heart out for me, youngdy, no matter yourints about that.
Thana made a displeased grimace but took his hand withoutment. Or should I call you corny nicknames again? John suggested to lighten the mood a little. Blood queen? Curse and blessing of my life? My broken angel?
Thatst one is so fucking bad, Thanained. Just stop, you asshat with your dumbass fedora, thats like the third time you used that and each time makes my skin crawl worse than the one time it was literally peeled off!
That was more like it.
Did you at least get the epiphany you wanted? he asked.
I think? Thana said in an unsure tone and looked at Nathalia. With the sound of a shifting mountain, the dragoness raised one of her hands again. The fact that she had an opposable thumb was incredibly humorous to John. What could she even want to grab at that size?
Either way, he cleared the area as the house sized w hovered above Thana like she was a bug to be squashed. Which was probably exactly what the dragoness was nning should the blood mage go into a rampage again.
Soulburn, the single word of power was uttered, and the pirs of energy returned with an unceremonious re. Compared to the violin guided violence that was Bloodburn, the silent burning of the steady mes was almost eerie. It was just sopletely calm that John couldnt help but wonder about the storm.
Then they vanished again.
Okay, so, this thing FUCKING SUCKS! Thana screamed at the world.
Care to borate? John probed.
It literally burns my emotions away, she said and repeated the word, Soulburn. The mes red up, then they were gone again. And now I am no longer angry, she said in an irritated tone. Oh fuck me sideways and let me eat a double bacon sandwich cooked on the cock of a dragon, this shit is weird. I dont like it, as a matter of fact, I fucking hate it. It doesnt even cost me anything else to maintain but it does because I am no longer feeling a thing. ITS SO FUCKING WEIRD!
At least you are angry again, John said in a dry tone.
Yeah, thank fuck, Thana said, I dont like this emotion meddling bullshit. Going to keep this shit buried in the final solution drawer. John kept hisment that that joke was pretty tasteless to himself. If the literal holocaust victim wanted to make jokes about herself, then so be it.
And now? John asked.
And now what? Thana returned the question.
And now what are you going to do? he further specified. You got what you wanted to achieve in training, but we still have two more days, so what are you doing with those?
Get this shit to work better, Thana said and looked at her hands; I dont like how it works but its still as strong as Undines indecisiveness was fucking annoying.
The ocean elemental inside John cringed a bit in shame at that but kept quiet. Okay, just dont go berserk again how did that even happen?
I have no fucking clue, Thana scratched the back of her head. May have started burning my mon sense by ident and then had to wrestle against that scratching. You know, the usual being-stupidly-assfucking-fuck-ass-mad stuff.
John kept the dont do thatment to himself. He had already called enough things out for the past few minutes. Instead, he pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was already closing in on 7 PM.
He decided he would much rather spend the whole day tomorrow with Jane than check-up on whatever she was doing thiste into the training regime. Talks over the dinner table had made it sound like she was doing some meditational stuff anyway. Something about getting ustomed to using her mana in new ways.
I will be on my way then, he let them know. Nathalia, I think you can handle her better if I am not in danger of getting killed on the side-lines. He was already in motion to raise his hand and cast Escape I.D. The skill failed, and he was left standing there like an idiot.
You are not leaving just like that, the dragoness let him know while her body started glowing.
Like hot iron pulled straight out of the furnace, her core areas were white-hot while bing redder towards the edges. The massiveness of her true form sunk together and concentrated where her head wasying.
A few moments passed, heat zing, then the molten material formed the curvy body of a woman. She quickly cooled off revealing her day-to-day form. The fact that she was stark naked and the wetness quickly starting to grow between her legs made it abundantly clear what she wanted before John left.
Thana threw off her robe, annoyedly cursing at the giant hole in the back, and threw off her remaining clothes as well. John just smirked and opened his inventory to get rid of his clothes.
_________________________________________________________________
The rest of the day was filled with that threesome (Nathalia was very needy, apparently not having had any other intercourse during the whole day) and John running a dungeon. Thetter he did just to get some change from his routine and check out the loot.
What he ran was the Tier 20 version of the City Elemental dungeon. Inside, he found some rather weird creatures called White Robes. On the front of enemy design, these things were rather diforting.
They were literally flying white robes, but underneath their hoods were disfigured faces, dead branches sticking out and red light shining from their mouths and empty eyes. They were grinning, like skulls, and had no attack whatsoever.
They dealt damage via colliding, or rather not colliding, with an enemy, flying their untouchable bodies through whatever victim they chose. There were two major annoyances with these enemies: they had the aggro pattern of locking onto one enemy and then chasing them for all eternity and being immune to all attacks that werent magical or had the Touch of the Abyss attribute (or something in the same ballpark).
In other words, Aclysia was busy punching at the things not chasing her, John was throwing shards at the ones chasing Aclysia, and the elementals were just kiting. While their attacks did haverge magical properties, they were still way less effective for their mana cost than usual. With one exception.
Whoooosh, shuuuuush, hihihihi, Sylph made weird noises and giggled as she threw her attacks at the enemy. The green energy waves cut through one of the white robes, who quickly reassembled only to get hit by five more and then vanishpletely.
So, John used this for a bit of research. As the enemies were fairly easy to deal with, they moved very slowly, so they werent exactly dangerous outside of getting stuck between a bunch of them, he could search for some unwilling test subjects that were the same level and then bombard them with 100 mana attacks until they died to find out how much mana would be needed to kill them.
The end results were rather predictable. Sylph used the most amount of magic in her attacks, Smander was the next on that list, then Undine and finally Gnome who used the least amount. If John had to put it into percentages, which were a fairly educated guess, Sylphs attacks were 90% magic, Smanders 75%, Undines 50% and Gnomes around 30%. That was, of course, just for the attacks they used baseline.
As Undine hesitantly switching into her Unleashed mode and then ripping through a whole wave of attackers so wonderfully showed, the elementals could adjust the amount of magic infused into their spells. It was a simple but very undertrained skill that they had. John noted to make this a future thing to make them all better in.
Siena was not part of this list whatsoever since she could freely manipte from the start. I have all kinds of experience in using knives, she informed John upon request andughed seductively.
Eventually, the boss spawned, which was really just a flying temple that constantly spewed out more White Robes. Interesting in design, it was also a rather easy target, and so John took it out with a 5-minute charged Arcana Strike.
All in all, this dungeon hadnt been all that interesting. Kiting was a fine mechanic, but if it was the only thing he could do for like 30 minutes, it got very stale. However, he got a rather interesting drop.
Chapter 296 – Not All That Entertaining and skipping through the day.
Chapter 296 C Not All That Entertaining and skipping through the day.
The ever-loving hell? John wondered and turned the item in his hands. The rusty surface of the giant key scratched against his palms. Whatever it was meant to open had to be rather impressive. The thing John was weirded out by was the limitation though.
As per Lydias orders (and the fact that it made logical sense), he actually had intended to just sleep through New Years Eve. Now he not only had a reason to stay awake but he was practically ckmailed into it. Bonus Levels were too good to pass up on. Bonus levels with a condition were certainly too good to pass up on.
It was a bit suspicious that Gaia just gave him this thing though. Something was up with this. Whatever was inside, awaiting his arrival, would be horrible, that much he was certain of. Even her Christmas boss had only been listing all the naughty things he had done after all.
Anyhow, John was heading over to Rave after having inspected that thing for the third time. It was now Sunday noon, and he had spent the morning doing another Assault in order to have a Soulpotion ready for Rave. In his opinion, Nia had already grabbed enough of those, and as he was the sole provider, his opinion was really the only one that mattered.
He was whistling happily as he headed over to the gardens where Rave was meditating. Even though the end of the day was uncertain thanks to that item, he was happy to spend it with his girlfriend. Every bit of alone time he got with her was precious. He even got the elementals to scurry off for the moment (although he would call them back when they entered abat situation).
The moment he turned around a hedge, she already opened her eyes and looked at him. Hurray, distraction! she shouted and jumped out of her cross-legged position and at John. Their arms closed behind each others backs as John caught her, whirling her flying body around with ease.
Sheughed out loud, a wonderful sound that made butterflies fly in his stomach, and he slowed their momentum. Eventually shended on her feet, and the two of them stood here. Her copper eyes looked into his brown ones, and then their lips met in a fervent kiss. Her glossy, full lips tasted of peppermint and bubble-gum, like always, and the familiar bump of her piercing glided over his tongue.
He pulled her deeper into the kiss, not wanting this moment to ever end. As tongues wrestled, he was putting one hand on her curvaceous butt and the other at the back of her head. He squeezed the former with the usual attitude of a pervert living the dream while scratching his girlfriend behind her cat ears. In return, Rave grabbed his own butt and, after at least two minutes of making out and whispering sweet nothings, pinched it once she had enough.
Okay, slow down, tiger, I need meow blood up here, she joked and tapped against her head.
Fine, fine, John said and gave her onest peck on the lips before letting her go. Their hands quickly found each other afterwards. So how is it going? John asked with a nce at her cat ears. She had been wearing those since he hadst seen her stumble into their bed and instantly fall asleepst night. They had made it up with a quickie in the morning, but it was still umon for her to be that exhausted.
It seemed that her body and technique had reached a point where she could maintain the elevated state indefinitely.
Ah, ya know, so-so, Rave said and turned to Copernicus; Right, Cappy?
You are making advances in bothbat styles, I suppose, but you will need at least four more days to tap into what I truly want to teach you, the sun cat said,zily lying in a ray that shone through the trees.
John found the fact that so much of the garden had been destroyed saddening; he had liked the decorative value. In the distance, he heard metal ng as Lydia continued her own training. Arent you cold? John asked, looking up and down his girlfriend who was only d in her full-body battle suit that just left her head exposed.
While the pink thing did look impressive, it did not have the appearance of something that was particrly great at warding off the cold. A bit, but its fine, she assured; Also, ya dont look like ya are wearing the warmeowst stuff yourself.
True, he was only wearing his suit, and that wasnt the most insting thing ever. While both the weather and temperature inside the Illusion Barrier seemed up to Romulus to decide, dictated by the massive obelisk at the centre of the city, the emperor apparently left the natural climate untouched. Only exceptions seemed to be when he wanted a specific weather for an event.
John didnt really understand. If he could have, he would have just had it at a nice 21 to 25 degrees Celsius all the time. What use was the power over the weather if you didnt do whatever you wanted with it? Whenever I get my own base, it will have a nice and warm biosphere, he murmured.
Like 32 degrees? Rave asked. John just stared at her in response. What? she asked.
Did anyone ever tell you that you like things WAY too hot? It was a rhetorical question, he had said that to her numerous times.
Oh shaddup, I settled for someone totally not-hot for my boyfriend! she countered.
Also, you dont like hot drinks, which is extra weird, John just ignored the quip at his expense.
Meow tongue is sensitive, Rave pouted and puffed up her cheeks. We just gonna poke fun at each other or we gonna do something useful?
Like teaching you how to speak properly? that earned him a light stomp to the foot. Totally worth it. He giggled in a slightly pained manner and then grabbed her hand more tightly. Anyway, its up to you, just drink this first, he handed her the potion. One quick chuggingter, John put it back into the holster.
Well, now that I have you here, not going for fighting would be boring, right? She looked at her current instructor and familiar.
Yes, I agree Copernicus yawned and then looked at John, lets fight your boyfriend.
Uhm, John did not like where this was heading and activated Mana Protection to get the early negation in; You know you stand no chance against me, right?
We will see about that, Rave smirked widely. No elementals!
I mean, okay? John didnt even feel like that was that big a limitation. He was not as reliant on them as he used to be.
Weird Quest, but John would not say no to free stats, so he epted. You probably wont let me punch you for free? he asked as he was getting dragged off in the direction of the exit gate; Just got a Quest for it.
Whaddya think? Answer is no! Raveughed. Ya gotta give it your best shot.
Once they had reached the run down house, Rave put up an Illusion Barrier. Visually, nothing changed, but John got the pop-up and quickly dismissed it. Really, you are just going to make a copy of this house our battlefield? he asked.
Well, sorry, mister bullshit-powers, some of us dont just get Fateweaver powers for existing, Rave answered, sticking out her tongue and cracking her knuckles; Gonna enjoy beating the Brainiac out of ya.
And with that the fight began. John barely managed to dodge the first punch. A graceless jump to the side, barely leaving him on his feet got him out of the path of Raves fist, cutting through the air where he had just stood. You are way too eager to beat me up, Jane! heined as fire engulfed his left hand. At least she was nice enough to wait for that to happen. He also removed her from his group for the moment.
Ya enjoy a good fucking, I enjoy a nice fight, Rave grinned like a cat that just had rediscovered her old favourite toy; Ya knew what ya were getting into when you started dating meow.
I mean, I guess? John said, slowly inching towards a brittle looking wall as they had their little exchange; No elementals means not using Copernicus as well, right?
Fine by meow, Rave giggled and then raised her hands, her suit covering the back parts of them with the tes it had absorbed from the Miales-Gloves. Then she came at him again. Her hand collided with the Mana Protection. Blue particles scattered through the air, overcharged waste from her attack, as Johns mana bar shrunk by about 100 points.
Ah, I see where this is going, John thought as he nced at the dense mana tumbling through the air like thick dust. At first nce it was a pure waste of mana, a showcase of a novice unable to control their exact power. However, these kes stuck around. Concentrated as their power was, they would need a few minutes to actually vanish.
Time in which Rave could more than easily throw a whole bunch of those out. With her having two ways to regenerate mana, one being just standing in sunlight and the other being her breathing technique, it wasnt like she was short on it either.
In other words, that one punch made John realize that his girlfriend now had two kinds of fighting styles. Her old one, where she fought without wasting mana by using light magic and her normal martial arts, and this one where she prepared arge amount of her mana to be absorbed by Copernicus.
The question was why she deliberately chose thetter when the elementals were out of the picture.
John would have loved to look for the sun cat and see if his behaviour showed approval of his summoners strategy, but a second punch connecting with his Mana Protection made it more urgent to act in his defence.
He used Shardbound,bining the four that spawned into a pair that flew at Rave. One of the light blue crystals was aiming for her shoulder, the other for her stomach. The lightbearer quickly dodged the fairly harmless projectiles, just as John had wanted her to. If the enemy didnt know about the colour coding, then they had no way of anticipating the danger of the individual shards.
While Rave was upied, John punched the brittle wall with all his strength. While not strong for an Abyssal at his level, he was still superhuman, and Purgatory provided such excellent protection for his fist that it was more effective than using a sledgehammer.
The first punch made the wall and the stones inside crack, the second one turned the old thing into shards. Hey, you are supposed to fight meow, not the house! Raveined, dodging a widespread hail of small shards that John threw out behind his back.
I know! John said and punched a third time.
His fist broke through, and as he pulled it back, he took with him another stone. The upper half of the wall, now without proper support, crumbled and crashed to the floor. Dust and dirt scattered into the air, impeding sight slightly and making breathing a bit of a raspy endeavour. Johns goal had been neither; instead, he threw himself against the remaining wall and then broke through another wall with two punches.
Rave just watched him with bamboozlement. Have you gone cray-cray?
Nah, just exploiting the fact that you dont remember jack about my options, John taunted and threw a brick at her. Rave effortlessly smacked it aside. He wasnt done tossing things though.
In quick session Rave had to dodge a bathtub, a sink and a toilet bowl as John dismantled the former bathroom. The bowl hit the floor with a satisfying shattering sound while John was working on the next wall, guarding the space between him and Rave with a wall of 1 mana Shardbound crystals.
It was really just a bluff. Even a mundane person could have walked through that wall and only felt barely inconvenienced. He had to work on his actual objective before Rave caught wind of it. Too bad that he had given her a hint just now.
Oh dang it! she cursed and started running, raised her arms in front of her face and broke through the scary looking wall of shards that covered the hole in the second wall John had taken apart. By the time she arrived at the scene of John breaking through a third one, it was almost toote.
The ceiling was dangerously caving as John had deliberately targeted the walls that looked the most like they were responsible for carrying the structure. Only a bit more and everything would copse. Rave assaulted his Mana Protection with a quick series of blows. Then she went for a long-winded punch to deal as much damage to the solid, near invisible thing as possible.
Only to find it gone just before the moment of impact, with John turning to the side. She had too much momentum to stop, and the former bathroom hadnt been big to start with. She punched another hole in the badly tortured wall, and John added insult to injury by swinging at her.
Although she did dodge by bending her upper body away, John did seed in hitting the wall. It crumbled, and the two-story building came crashing down on them.
Fine dust and splinters of cement covered both of them as they threw the building off them. Rave had a way easier time with this than he did, but he was getting better by the second; the whole destruction had made him quite a bit stronger after all.
He didnt get it fully stacked, but this eased the gap quite a lot. Now we can actually duke this out in a melee! he announced and went close.
Oh, you are wee to try! Rave smirked and their hands shed in a grip lock.
Big mistake, both of them said at the same time. Johns hand was seared by an explosion of light and mana while Raves arm was pushed back and then pierced down to the elbow by a Mana de that took most of Johns remaining mana.
They both jumped back, checking their injuries. Rave slowly clenched and unclenched her left hand, her fingers trembling. John had gone for the soul damage capability of Mana de to spare her having to live through getting her crippled arm getting stitched back together by Undine.
While that prevented her from taking any physical harm, that arm was still pretty useless, being numbed and unable to use magic for a while. Her battlesuit also negated a good amount of damage, apparently, as she was still able to move that hand at all.
In return, Gamers Body had already stitched his own right. Seems like I win! John announced and went to engage her again. His right sessfully connected to her face, then it was grabbed.
Rave smirked. I still have an ace up my sleeve, tiger.
Blinding light and a few secondster, John found himself on the floor.
Chapter 297 – Unfair
Chapter 297 C Unfair
That was mean, John said, taking his girlfriends hand while also looking at the quest pop-up.
Ya have your mean little tricks, and I have mine, Rave said, cat-earless, and pulled him to his feet.
I am impressed, Copernicusmented from the sidelines; You actually managed to activate it, even if it was only brief.
Yeah, all to beat John, totally worth it! she eximed.
Not that I lost though, John smirked and pointed behind her. The ck de Ashkandi raised, her clothes unsullied as if she had just arrived, Aclysia stood there, eyeing both of them up.
No fair! Raveined.
Really? How fair is it to face a summoner without any familiars, then? That aside, you said no elementals. Aclysia are you feeling particrly earthy today? John presented a load of questions.
I only feel adoration for you, Master, Aclysia said with a smile, which quickly vanished to make room for a stern look; I, however, dislike the state of your clothes. This kind of dust doesnt mix well with the washing machine.
Ah, dont worry, I will just Craft them clean once I get some mana back. John made a calming gesture, to keep the maids critical gaze to a minimum.
Rave just dusted off the worst of it. So, we officially hit the point where ya can just mop the floor with me, she stemmed her hands into her hips. I mean, I knew we would get there, but I still feel meh about it.
Meh? John asked; he couldnt really make heads or tails of the term.
Ya know, just Its unfair, but what can you do, really, that sort of feeling, she shrugged with a sigh; Meh.
Ah, yeah, I get that, John had spent a lot of time in the past spending in that kind of mood, before his powers gave him a prospect at a future that wasnt boring and normal.
But dont ya think that I will just be left behind in your dust, tiger, Rave grinned and lightly punched his shoulder. If I cant outpunch ya, I will at least be within the top 3. Just gimme a few years, and I will give Thana a run for her swear-loving money and rise to rank 2 beating Nathalia seems a bit harder though.
I would love to see that, Johnughed and embraced her with a kiss.
At the side, Aclysia let out a jealous little squeal. Raveughed and waved her to step closer. Aclysias lips met hers, then Johns, then his met Raves again in the best group hug imaginable.
God knows I love you two! he dered and pushed his face into their breasts.
Sure, there wasnt much to press his face into, they both only had B Cups, but those tits were attached to his favourite girls in the world, so that didnt really matter. Tiger, youre a massive pervert, Raveughed when he brought his head back up. Both girls kissed him on a cheek, Aclysia the left, his girlfriend the right one. Life was good.
Mhm, I wanted to follow this with Jane fighting other strong enemies, Copernicus meowing ended the blissful moment with the reality that they still needed to train, but if she already knows all the basics, I guess just having her fight until exhaustion is good enough. What say you, John, would you like to take her on a dungeon run?
If a cat could have grinned in a mean way, then this would have been the point where John expected to see it. Instead, the light elemental just started purring in a self-satisfied manner.
So, they left that barrier, had John gather up his elementals and Momo, and then John had a look at the monster table. I mean, whatever we fight, it will majorly out level you, he informed his girlfriend.
Eh, itll be fine, Rave said and had the cat ears appear on her head again; Just gimme something to pounce at!
John hesitated and checked her current stats.
And thenpared them to Aclysias.
From a raw stat-standpoint, Aclysia was ahead by quite a bit. Rave triumphed in Agility by about 40 points, but that was the only advantage she had, numbers wise. However, Rave had her unique magic while Aclysias skills ranged from niche to mediocre. She mostly shone because of the passives that were stacked on top of her.
Someday we will get you something interesting, John thought and prayed for interesting perks the next time he was going to update them, which was still at least another week or two off at the current acquisition rate of Skill Levels in conjunction with the patch.
But the reason why hepared them wasnt to pitch them up against each other, no, he was just checking whether Rave would be able to hold her own from a mathematical standpoint. Aclysia, with her stat line, was able to handle two to three enemies on her own. By that logic, Rave would be able to beat at least one, which was good enough as far as John was concerned.
Okay, lets run through some random dungeons until midnight rolls around, John said and just picked Alchemic Creatures for a start. It was floor based, so if he wanted to gauge how good Rave was performing, that was the best choice.
They found themselves at the base of a gargantuan, triangr structure. It rose high into the sky; its surface pulsating as the three gigantic pumps that stood at its edges transported some kind of blood-like liquid through the building.
In front of them was a cutout in the wall that allowed for an easy entrance. Huh, this is different, he said and started moving.
Its so big! Hihi, thats what I said, Sylph giggled as she flew ahead.
Any enemies? John asked mentally as the speedy air spirit went scouting.
Nuh-uh, just this glowing field thing that glows and fields and thingies, Sylph said. Something is behind it though, looks weird, also three corridors with symbols above them. They look cool, kind of curvy.
They quickly caught up with her; the room she had described was down a short hallway. The three rusty walls had the same ss pipes that had been visible outside, turning the room into somewhat of a hollowed-out image of the building atrge.
As Sylph had said, there were two notable things in the building. One was the blue glowing energy field under the ceiling, something shifting behind it. The other were the three passages with different symbols over them. Fairly boring symbols as well: a / on the left door, an O on the middle and an on thest one.
How do these look curvy again? John asked.
Just look at them, but dont look at the first one, since that one is super-straight, Sylph pvered.
Fair enough, he let it go and nced from the passages to the ceiling. At the corners of the energy field glowed the same symbols.
Okay, so this is most likely the boss room and we need to fulfil some sort of condition to activate the boss behind that energy field, he theorized.
Which meowns we gonna go into the passages and look for that stuff, right? Rave meowed a question.
Yup, John confirmed. They went for the left door first.
It took them up a flight of stairs. A very long flight of stairs, during which they were attacked by spider-esque creatures that crawled over the ceiling. They were rather small, about te size, and didnt do a lot of damage, but they did spray a sticky liquid that slowed them down.
Not that that really mattered as long as he had Undine around. Whenever they had cleared one group of those spiders, the water spirit just cleaned them up. Then they went further up the stairs. Eventually they arrived at arge crystal standing lonely in a circr room.
John had a look around, but there was nothing else going on here, just the crystal with the symbol carved into the socket it was resting in. Video game logic demands we smash it, was the conclusion he reached.
At once, Aclysia nodded and took out VolJinZul. A strike of the giant deter, the room dimmed in a way that implied it just went into emergency power mode.
That ought to have done it, Momo said with a heavy sigh.
What are you sighing about? John wondered.
Just the sheer stupidity of designing a structure in a way that the power source is inly visible and easily destroyable, she pointed out.
Its game design, dont nitpick it too much, Rave said, patting Momo on the head while passing her.
I just dont want to go down all of these stairs again, the pink-haired girlined and looked at the corridor. Oh, thats neat.
John looked down with her. All the stairs had folded down, forming a continuous slope downwards. This seems like an invitation to either get the worst friction burn of all times, a very bad rolling exercise ooooor he looked at Undine.
THIS IS AWESOME! Rave eximed as they were sliding down the slope on Undine. Normal water wouldnt have done much, but the viscosity of her slimy body was more than enough to make this possible. Luckily, they only had 3 people who needed to fit on top of her: himself, Rave and Aclysia; the rest could either fly or went incorporeal.
He did feel bad for Gnome missing out on this, but Undine could only stretch herself so far. End in sight, get ready! John warned and sent a whole bunch of mana to the ocean elemental. The momentum they had gathered had to be slowed in a preferably non-drastic fashion. Down in the future boss room, water was created just in front of them, sessfully slowing them enough to make a runningnding.
Whu, okay, 2 more to go, John said as they headed for the middle passage. That one was an elevator fight. They stood on top of a slowly descending tform with a hole in the middle as waves of enemies jumped down on them. They were some kind of half-biological, half-mechanical humanoids with grotesquely out of proportion limbs and giant mouths on small heads.
Their only real strength were numbers, though, and so they had a rtively easy time fighting them. After about 5 minutes of those things, the tform stopped, and the hole in the middle filled with the next crystal. They smashed that one, and the tform went back up, throwing yet more enemies at them.
Thest corridor had them fight three mini-bosses at once called the Triumvirate of Bio-Engineers. It was a typical group encounter: one of them attacked from range, the other in melee, and thest one threw out random AoE effects.
While challenging from a resource perspective, the encounter by andrge was dull. It was just some filler. To his disappointment, the boss wasnt much different.
When they returned to the central room, the energy field lowered, and a ss tube lowered from the resulting hole in the ceiling. Inside was a giant eyeball, thousands of fleshy tentacles hanging from the end of it.
First there was a buttload of adds that spawned: the little spiders and grotesque abominations they had fought in the first two passages. Then the ss tube opened, and the eye flew out to attack them withser beams and its tentacles. Once it was sufficiently damaged, it went back into the tube, which was then filled with some kind of healing liquid that went murky with the boss blue blood.
As an intermission, the triumvirate spawned again, one after the other. Once they had those beat, the boss came out again, changed colours from white to blue and ck and used stronger versions of its previous attacks more frequently.
It had been a pretty standard phased fight. This is an okay way to spend time, John thought, checking the loot for anything interesting.
I just find it interesting how much stronger the enemies you spawn have be, Rave noted.
Truth be told, I think they are easier nowadays, he said. My toolkit is so broad that they have very little they can do that I cant counter or prepare for the second time. Compared to the Spectre, these guys arent particrly scary because I always have a way to deal with them Not that they arent dangerous anyway.
John may have sounded like he was glossing over these things, but he wasnt stupid enough to underestimate enemies that scaled with his level. In typical Gaia fashion, his benefactor and torturer would throw something at him that was stupendously hard to beat once he let his guard down.
Well, the advantage is that I keep getting more experience in dealing with unordinarybat situations, he stated and dumped thergely useless loot in his inventory. Lets go run some more dungeons while we wait for the evening. Might as well.
Might as well, Rave agreed.
Chapter 298 – A villain of another realm
Chapter 298 C A viin of another realm
That pizza was nice, Nia said as they headed out. It was shortly before midnight. Where John would have expected a few of the less patient folks to have already started firing their explosives into the night sky back in Springfield, the only thing that lit up the skies of Rome were the stars. Nothing even indicated that the city would celebrate the turn of the year with the bangs and shes John was used to.
The idea that they wouldnt made John feel oddly removed. He had gotten used to much of the Abyss: the ruthlessness, the casual violence, the massive amounts of money, the necessary cruelties and the importance of promises. In many ways it was better than the world of modern society he had left, but today in particr he missed it. The safety of a normal life and the mindless indulgence of a holiday.
His nostalgia was as vast as the unchanged sky.
He shook his head and kept heading for the gate; he had a bonus level to check out. Why would ya bring up that pizza now? Rave asked. We ate it like 4 hours ago.
I nevertheless thank you for the appreciation of my cooking, Aclysia quickly added.
I just thought I should, Nia whispered and averted her eyes.
Everyone was with him, every single girl of the mansion was heading out with him. At first Lydia had just said that they (being her, Nia and Rave) should go with him on the off-chance that the Bonus Level was worth a lot of experience. Thana then chimed in that she didnt want to be bored, therefore she woulde with. Nathalia then tagged along as well, not feeling like sleeping.
First new year since I got my powers, and I spend it doing a Bonus Level, John said; How fitting.
You two, do not intervene! Lydia said with a nce at the two over-levelled members of their party. I do not want to lose upon the reward because of your indulgence of mindless ughter.
How dull, Nathalia inspected her ws as she breathed in the air of the real world.
Over here John could hear what he had missed in Rome and smell the first hints of gunpowder that would soon permeate the air all throughout the city. He raised an eyebrow as Wisdom of the Inferno suddenly made him very aware of the lighters and matches used in a giant radius around him. His nostalgia for new years was suddenly blown away by the reality that he traded it for magic.
It was a very good trade, all things considered, and the amount of signals he got even before the actual new year rolled around was already annoying. Come the main wave of fireworks, it would be like experiencing radio static right to the soul. He didnt look forward to that.
Well, then, lets see what this does, John said and created an Instant Dungeon by sacrificing the Key to the Church.
Hended, expectedly, in front of a church or, as a popup further specified, a temple.
Please dont be too annoyed, John muttered under his breath. He could more than vividly remember the annoying mushroom-man that he had fought. His demise had ultimately led to Gnomes evolution, but John really could have done without the banter.
Now he was going to face a lord of that or something? He did not look forward to it.
Okay, it says I have to face it alone, which means me and my familiars, John told the rest of his party.
Well, then my presence here is no longer needed, Lydia said and raised her hand; I cannot leave, Nathalia, would you be so kind as to take us out of here.
No, I am interested in seeing how this ys out, the dragoness was smirking for some unknown reason. Therefore, I will not force the exit to leave these grounds.
Lydia sighed, Just make it quick then, John; I am already 2 hours behind my sleep schedule.
I will, I will, John assured and walked towards the church while Rave and Thana started teasing the princess for the existence of her sleep schedule.
It was quite a tall building, not gargantuan, but impressive nheless. A gothic style church made from ck and grey granite, wrought iron used to reinforce or decorate wherever necessary. There was an aura of unease settled around the building, and the dark tinged windows certainly didnt help that expression, neither did the fact that John had to pass a small graveyard to get to the door.
He reached an oaken door, tall in typical church fashion. He pushed against the door, and rusty hinges screamed and moaned as they slowly swung inside. What was revealed was arge hall; rows of pews had been pushed to the sides to make room for a long table.
The braziers on the pirs next to the walls and the candles on-top of the table were the only sources of light in the hall, drenching it in a dim darkness. Even though the table had more than enough seats to amodate a fair gathering, there was only a single person there.
The silhouette of a man was sitting upon a cobweb covered throne in front of a purple and red rose window. Ah, a guest has arrived, a John no less, the lord of the NATEs said. He was swirling a silver chalice in his hand, pausing only to take a sip of whatever was inside. He put it down with a dramatic toc.I wonder which one you are?
He stood up and John felt the beings eyes rest on him, even though he could not see them.
An Elementalist? That does not narrow down the list much, so many of you choose to get involved with the elemental powers but Aaaah, Nathanial made an understanding sound and chuckled to himself. I see, I see, powers work so differently across dimensions that I sometimes need a moment to figure it all out, I apologize. You must be the one to face a spore of my prime corruptor Nateward, arent you?
John had been prepared for whatever he faced to be talkative, but still, this was a bit much. He just decided to nod. That means your Gaia is that Gaia; oh, I would love to see how your story continues. Sadly, the seal hasnt been removed in this world, so these asional visits of our kind into your dungeons seem to be all the contact we will be having.
What do you mean, THAT Gaia? John asked. Are you telling me there are some that arent as hard to deal with?
My lips are sealed on further matters, I stand nothing to gain from it. Instead, how about we do THIS! the lord of the NATEs jumped onto the table. A shadow whip with unexinable range cracked into Johns direction.
However, he was not so easily surprised anymore, so Aclysia was more than ready to intervene. The whip wrapped around Ashkandi and left them in a power struggle where Nathanial tried to pull the de from her grasp.
The elementals werent about to let this opportunity just pass by and started moving. From Gnome to Siena, they went on the offensive. A barrage of cutting wind and electricity, des of shadow, bolts of fire and a fist of rock all crashed into the lord. Only Undine stayed behind, equipped to John, who threw out a single Shardbound attack, the purple crystal embedding itself into Nathanials shoulder.
This shadow isughably weak, the lord of the NATEsined as the crystal disappeared. Physically, he looked unharmed, but it was hard to guess the damage done to a creature made from swirling, translucent darkness. At the very least his mildly annoyed tone implied that the attacks had done something.
Then Nathanial suddenly flew towards Aclysia at high speed, as if the whip had suddenly be stic and he was now using himself as the projectile of a sling. His second weapon, a rapier just as shaded as the rest of him, ripped through the air. Aclysia managed to bring her de between her head and the tip of the rapier just in time to block.
The impact ripped her backwards, leaving herying on the floor, after sliding towards the door and colliding with an invisible barrier that kept them inside, with the lord on top of her. The tip of his rapier was making Ashkandi screech as it cut lines into the hardened obsidian de.
Ah, you know, the John of my preferred dimension uses the elements too. Unlike you, he has the balls to wear his own sword though, Nathanial taunted as he continued to pressure the artificial guardian.
Let her go, you jerk! Momo warned and assaulted him with fireflies. It was little more than a distraction while a white one actually went for Aclysia, causing her stats to rise by 10%.
However, not even that helped her situation. I mean it! The support screamed and attempted a flying kick out of sheer desperation; John was also closing in. Momos attack was absolutely unsessful; Nathanial just used his whip, wrapping it around her outstretched leg, and mmed her into a pir.
Let me teach you some loss, boy! Nathanial announced, and with a terrible crack, Ashkandi broke in half. The rapier was now heading straight downwards and prated Aclysias head. There was a smile on the lords lips for a moment, that much John was certain of, then the artificial guardian punched him in the stomach, sending him flying off her and crashing into the long table.
That de was a present from John, Aclysia announced in a dangerously calm tone; she fixed her decidedly pissed gaze on the pile of wooden splinters.
Was it now? Nathanial said, sitting up and rolling his neck- Good, that means I at least destroyed something of worth. Nateward should have mentioned who of you was the golem in detail, but he was too busyining about a certain earth elemental Gnome jumped at the lord and tried to get a punch in at the seemingly defenceless Nathanial but was instead grabbed by the throat in a seemingly nonchnt way; and her annoying strategies.
Most annoying strategies these dayse from me, I am afraid, John said, trying to inch closer. This guy was clearly bad enough news to warrant using his secret weapon. He would need to get a bit closer for that.
That so? Nathanial looked at the stone elemental in his grasp. A remarkably cute elemental you got there. As a matter of fact, all of these seem rather attractive. You Gamers, so seldomly do you tread the same path, but every time, you seek out whatever little love you can get.
Nobody dared to attack while the lord of the NATEs held Gnome hostage. It wasnt that they couldnt just do it, Gnome would survive as long as her contract with John persisted, but that they would rather have her skip the experience. Therefore, they were looking for a window to open.
And it came. Tell you what, boy, Nathanial said in an openly condescending way, I like your sense of style. Us suited fellows need to stick together. Prostrate yourself before me and swear to break the seal upon us in this realm and I will let your elemental go.
Sure, John said and stepped closer.
Nathanial raised an eyebrow, That was easy. Ah, I see, you are just closing the distance. John stopped walking as Nathanial closed his grasp on Gnome, his weapons had vanished. The fact that she couldnt just go incorporeal was frustrating, but John had encountered these cases before. The Touch of the Abyss attribute, seemingly everything in the upper echelons possessed it.
Not exactly unexpected as it was the most effective counter to phantasmal enemies there could be and fairly easy to acquire as well. Still, it was to Johns disadvantage right now.
Well, it matters not anymore, I am in range, John thought and apologetically shrugged; Sorry, but I do like winning. At that moment, Jack, the speed of his flight boosted by burning mana,unched at Nathanial from behind, a shard between his talons.
What a measly attempt! Nathanialughed and just manifested his whip again,shing at the bird. That little distraction was all John needed to raise his left hand, the one d in Purgatory, and point its palm at Nathanial.
Arcane and shadow energy ripped into existence. They ate away at a mana pool that was saved inside Purgatory and manifested a Mana de over six metres in length, infused with the dark power of Siena. It seared against the lords magical resistance, but with his one hand upied holding Gnome and the other attacking Jack, the overcharged attack hit him in the soft side of his stomach, between ribs and hips, not a ce famed for any kind of defences, physical or magical.
The de sessfully ripped through Nathanial, cutting his silhouette into two halves which fell to the floor and then vanished.
Then it was over. The shadow-element imbued into the attack reduced its already short lifespan to a mere third of its duration. Just one second, that was the whole window the attack gave him. John lowered his hand with a smirk. Secret kept and boss beaten! John eximed.
That so? Nathanial shouted from his seat at the end of the now destroyed table.
But how?
This is a mere shadow, John; I can spawn as many as I please within the boundaries of Gaias rules, the lord of the NATEs reached for the chalice he had put down earlier. His hand sank straight through. Which she seems to have changed now that you beat me, he sighed. Well then, I suppose you earned yourself a reward, as was my understanding with your Gaia when she first asked me to fight you at some point. Lets seetwo gifts
He snapped his fingers, and from nowhere a de appeared. It was a katana wlessly hammered from pure white metal, the kind John previously had seen only in alloys. The guard, a square of the same material (as a quick touch indicated), was painted ck while the grip was an outstanding piece in how perfectly standardized it looked.
It must have taken whoever made it untold amounts of days to reach a level in leather wrapping to get the way the stripes crossed over the ck wood at the centre just right. The grip then ended in a simple pommel with a streak of red hair decorating it by hanging off.
John had no idea what half of these attributes did, but it looked like it would be more than a perfect recement for the de Nathanial had destroyed earlier. You better take good care of this, parts of it are very important to me, the lord warned. You will receive my second gift once you rejoin your little group. Likelihood has it that this will be our only meeting. Pray for that to be the case, boy.
With that the lord disappeared and left John to do nothing but what he rmended. After the Gamer picked up the sword (he would check the attributes in a bit), he turned around. To his surprise, the first person to get in his way was Nathalia.
The dragoness wrestled the sword from his hand. I leave him with a strand of my hair and he uses it as decoration for a de?! she growled, inspecting it.
What do you mean you left him with oh my god, you fucked that guy?
Your surprise is uncalled for John, the amount of dick I had before you is as vast as my patience with your ceaseless shenanigans, Nathalia stated.
John did indeed know that, but he really did not appreciate being reminded of it. He was tempted to have that talk at that moment, but he still did not know how to breach the topic without potentially annoying her so much she packed up and left again. At least he had an eye on her at the moment C and her to himself.
He met Nathalias gaze and, although nothing was said, John knew she caught his inner turmoil.
So, you had about four fucking dicks in your life? Thana asked from the side-lines.
Nathalia just bared her sharp teeth at the much smaller blood mage. Surrounded by nuisances just because I listened to this heart of mine for once, better make it worth it, John, sheined and handed the de back.
Is that all you got? Rave asked.
Dont dismiss it, Lydia said, now inspecting the weapon herself; Its pure mithril, even Romulus would be envious of such a weapon. As a matter of fact, I am envious of that weapon, and if you werent repaying me otherwise, I would dly ept it in full for your debt to me.
Well, too bad for you that I am punching your enemies instead, John said. But no, Jane, he said there would be something else. At that moment the sky around them red and then
Fireworks bloomed like flowers all around them. Near, far, they filled the sky,yers uponyers of rockets reaching the sky and exploding in a beautiful disy. Red, white, blue and green fires lightened up the sky in ovepping intervals.
It wasnt just one sky they were looking at, it was an untold amount. Nathanial had used his powers to weaken the border between dimensions just so slightly that visual elements could break through. For just one minute, they were greeted with the stunning visual experience of thousands of new years all across different worlds, all without the stench of gunpowder or the sound of explosives filling the air with annoyances.
It was just them, John and his girls, looking up in silence and awe, moved at the disy of a flower-filled summer ne in the starlit winter skies. Happy New Year, John smiled at his loves as the barriers re-arranged themselves.
Happy New Year, Raveughed and fell around him.
A sessful New Year to us, Lydia nodded.
These oxidations in the sky sure look beautiful, wouldnt mind seeing them again with you guys next year, Momo couldnt help herself but ruin it with science.
I will enjoy gazing at whatever Master wants for another year, Aclysia took his hand.
A year with more fire! Smander pumped her fist.
U-uhm, a-a year with great goals! Gnome added.
With lots and lots and lots and lots and lots
With harmony, Undine interrupted her sister, who kept pvering in the background.
Where we might learn to get along, Siena said, widening her eyes when she realized how sincere she was.
Your mortal years mean little to me although perhaps, Nathalia mumbled something quietly to herself..
...and lots and lots and lots of gummy bears and love! Sylph finally finished what she wanted to say.
Thana stared at the sky. These explosives give me half a fucking panic attack, she muttered, but they sure are beautiful. She raised her hand up to the sky as if she could catch the fading sparks and capture the moment forever. I wish us all a happy New Year in which I learn not to be a constant motherfucking-annoying-piss-off danger to you all, Thana said and looked at them all with apologetic eyes.
We will manage, John promised and pulled his phone out of his inventory. He was just looking at the clock out of habit, he knew it was way toote. Lets go get some sleep, tomorrow is thest day of the break.
You mean today, Momo pointed out.
Nah, Johns phone always needed a bit to reconnect to the inte and set the clock correctly after being in his inventory. He showed the wrong disy to her. Says here its four minutes to midnight.
Momo rolled her eyes, then they all went to sleep.
Chapter 299 – More than the sum
Chapter 299 C More than the sum
So, now that I checked on everyone, lets get my own business out of the way, John announced to his familiars; First, Momo, help me with this! he was talking about Purgatory. The glove was now empty, and if he wanted to use its capabilities, he would need to charge it again.
When he had firstid eyes on that little attribute, it had seemed a bit underwhelming. However, just a second of thought had revealed its true potential. In and of itself, it was rather boring, but with the right spell, say one that had no upper mana cost, it became a finishing move that was downright unfair.
Why not just charge it while you sleep with your insane mana regeneration? Momoined but grabbed the dragon-w like hand and started sharing her mana with him.
You think I am going to sleep with this thing on? If I roll over, I might cut open the mattress or, much worse, I could hurt Rave while groping her butt! John reprimanded his support.
I concede this argument, she sighed as it charged. With her, nowadays just insane, mana it wasnt even any kind of sacrifice she had to make.
John decided not toment on the rtionship bit. While seeing it ck on white (or blue in this case) was something new, it didnt exactlye out of the left field that Momo swung towards the women preferred side of bisexuality.
However, the fact that he could just take all of Momos mana and make a Mana de that still upped the one he was now saving in his glove was insane. Whenever she got some actual offensive skill that let her use all of that mana, she would be insanely strong, possibly the fourth strongest person, after him, Nathalia and Thana, in his whole group.
That was a thing for herself to decide, however. As he had set her up in the support ss, the Artificial Spirit perks were unlikely to present him with anything in the direction of strong offensive usability. Once she became independent, she would hopefully be able to learn spells however she pleased herself.
The glove was filled to its current maximum, 4440 mana, and Momo took her hands off. Now they both had to regenerate mana for a couple of minutes.
While it was true that he could achieve what the glove did (and more) by just using up all of Momos mana, there was one important difference between the two sources. The glove could only be used for this one attack, Momos mana was, effectively, a reservoir of strength for John and all his familiars, making it much more valuable. To just use it on attack spells would serve them no good.
He would still do it, if the situation asked for it, but it was better to spend it in a wise manner. Man, it will be incredibly hard to patch the hole you will leave behind in this formation, John sighed.
You will survive, you have a talent for that, Momo shrugged it off. You just need to get along until I think I have seen enough of the world.
I guess, the Gamer turned over to Aclysia and pulled out Eclys. The katana, so weirdly simrly named to its future wielder as if it had been seeking her out,y weightless in Johns hand. Well, notpletely weightless, but it was so light that it might as well have been. He grabbed it with both hands, just out of curiosity. The grip was long enough for it, but in response the Ring of Ash on his left hand automatically unequipped itself.
He expected something like this to happen. For science, he put the ring back on and just held the de in his hands. This time there was no prompt. The moment he raised the de with the intent of swinging it, however, the ring was gone again, and he was greeted by the same window.
Okay, so the system realizes when I want to use an item and reacts, but if I were to just carry something with me or toss it at someone, it lets me. Important to know, John thought. He raised the sword over his head and just swung it downwards in a vague attempt of imitating what he had seen in way too many of the anime Rave had shown him.
The de cut through the air with an elegant whisper. Mhm, I expected something more to happen, he mumbled and checked the attributes he didnt know. Which were all of them aside from Indestructible, Touch of the Abyss and Weightless.
From a raw utility standpoint, that was nice to have. A pure mithril de was sharp enough to treat diamonds like a kitchen knife sliced onions. It never losing any of that sharpness was nice, but nothing John would drool over.
Now THAT was awesome. Shockwave attacks were a staple in video games and fantasy rted shows, but they were surprisingly hard toe by for John. Not that he was actually the one who got to use it; he wasnt even close to fulfilling the stat requirements even if he did use swords. Even Aclysia only got there thanks to her stat bonuses; without them she would have been missing 20 Strength.
Also very good. Downright insane, even. The true value of this would seldomly shine through, but still, it was a very strong thing to have.
Thest thing was pretty good, just not on Aclysia. On the Artificial Spirit, the extra health regeneration was a ss of water added to ake. It didnt really make a difference.
Nevertheless, he handed the de to Aclysia. Only then did he realize how close it resembled the standard weapon 2B used in Nier;Automata. Sure, the colour scheme was slightly wrong, and the red strand of hair was definitely not part of the original design, but it was a very close thing nheless.
Aclysia, can you strike a pose? he asked and scrambled to take out his phone.
Of course, Master, the artificial guardian said and held the katana above her head in a way that its tip pointed at the ground behind her butt. She pushed out her chest and behind as if she was grinding against a stripping pole, even pulling up her stocking d right leg a bit. The shining fabric stretched seductively over her long legs.
John took the photo and made it his unlock screen. A picture of Rave smiling at him remained his actual background, but he could not resist taking this one. Okay, now please show me that shockwave thing, I am curious, John said.
Aclysia took an actually useful stance and sliced diagonally through the air. While it looked graceful in a way that only a skilled sword fighters attacks could look, there was no further development.
The artificial guardian looked at the de for a moment. My apologies, Master, I will need to try again, she said, and after John allowed her to do so, she attacked the space in front of her a few more times. After her tenth strike, she quietly nodded to herself.
A vertical strike, the tip of the de blinded John for a moment as it reflected the sun overhead, a vibrating sound, as if someone had hit a tuning fork, followed and a slice of silver cut through the air, cutting a thin scar through the ground in front of Aclysia.
The shockwave travelled quite far, slowly losing strength until it dissipated after almost thirty metres.
John let out a small whistle, that was impressive. Congrattions, Aclysia, you now have a ranged attack which makes you even stronger, he patted her on her white-haired head, something which she reacted quite strongly to by pushing her whole body against him.
Am I useful to you, John? she asked as she added Eclys to the empty slot in Adaptive dery.
Very much so, John said and kissed her on the cheek. She exuded a happy fragrance of fresh watermelons, a wee, warm choice of smell in these cold winter days. He breathed in deeply. You are practically cheating with that adaptive scent of yours, he informed her and kissed her on the mouth to taste the fitting aroma in her saliva and feel the happiness radiating from her spirit whenever he did.
Feeling her happy like this made his innards churn in the best of ways. It was hard to describe love, but it just felt good. John was eternally thankful in how much of that feeling he was surrounded by at any waking moment. It beat the lonely days in front of hisputer by miles.
Anyhow, next item on the list, I need to beat one more challenge to get Elementalist levelled up, John said and checked what it was again that he needed to do.
That would be mana intensive, growing nts wasnt cheap. But, as it was his responsibility to fix his elementals messes, he still started. First, he needed to buy some seeds off the auction, Gnome and Undine together couldnt just create nts out of nowhere. Well, actually, they could, but it was so stupendously costly that he would rather invest the money.
Once the Abyss Auction drone had dropped that off, they got to work. John did his best to remember the original form of the destroyed parts. Where memory failed him, he was not afraid to improvise with a stone bench or something.
It took him a whole hour, but by the end it finally ticked asplete. Not the most fun way to spend the morning. I like this, said a muffled voice at his side, causing John to jump in surprise. Deus Vult, infide- the knight cleared his throat. I mean good morning, John Newman.
Good morning to you too? John said in a confused tone.
Do you not recognize me? the knight spoke in an overacted hurt tone, putting his gauntleted hand against his bucket-helmet; I am so deeply saddened by this heresy. It is I
Konrad Kamradsrat! Sylph interjected and flew over tond on his helmet; I know that voice. You are funny, I like funny, can you say deus vult again?
If Deus Vults that I say Deus Vult, then I shall say Deus Vult! the knight dered; And if I am given any other excuse as well, I shall proudly dere DEUS VULT!
Yay! Sylphughed, riding the knights helmet as he made a bunch of overbearing gestures.
To the point though, the knight said. A nice new patch you made there, although it will need some further fixing. I see unsatisfactorily hanging branches on that hedge! KNIGHTS OF TEUTON, TO THE GARDENING SHED!
DEUS VULT! half a dozen knights, appearing seemingly out of thin air, shouted in agreement, stomping off and leaving John wondering where on this ind the gardening shed even was.
Well, lets look at the goods, he thought and tapped the ss level up button.
By 2Bs glorious booty, which I possess indirectly, not another elemental, John mentally groaned as he just ignored the light elemental option. He did not have the stomach for this right now, Siena wasnt even properly integrated into his group yet. Signs were good that she would be eventually, but for now she wasnt.
He knew that the option would continue to show up, this was the second time he had seen it already, and chances where he would actually take it one day, but for now he didnt want to.
Elemental Bolt he had also seen before, and he had no reason to take it other than maybe wanting to see what it would give him afterwards. Typically, these choices had follow-ups that either improved earlier spells or gave new ones in the same ballpark.
Which made thest choice so much more interesting. Combination wouldnt solve any problems John currently had, but it also didnt impede on his style either. There were more than enough situations where he could imagine one extra-powerful elemental to be more useful than two average ones.
It also made thebinations of their attacks less janky. When he wanted ava attack, he could just have Smander and Gnome fuse, and the resulting elemental would have a way easier time (and by extension take up less of Johns mana) doing what he needed. He had 10 differentbinations to pick from, at least a few of those would have to be good.
Therefore, he picked Combination and promptly looked at the new skill.
John looked at several things at this sheet. For a start it was obviously worded in a way that let him know that there would be future levels of this, so he had an extra incentive to level Elementalist if this turned out to be good. Not that he needed it.
Furthermore, there was the interesting unique aspect to it where it would only level upon perk acquisition. There was an internal cooldown on each elemental instead of a cooldown on the ability period, also rather interesting.
Most interesting, however, was the name of the school. Game Breaking? Does that mean using that skill is something that just shouldnt normally be possible in the magic engine of the world? he theorized. Better ask Lydia about thister, for a start He looked up from the window and at his gathered elementals. Now, who of you tobine for a test run, he said in a good mood.
Combine me,bine me! Sylph immediately volunteered.
She has already rendered my point moot, but what if we dont want to, huh? Smander asked. I happen to like me.
Well, if you are absolutely against it, I wont force you to fuse outside of situations that absolutely demand it, John tried to ease her worries, but you should at least try it. Smander flew up to his face and stared into his eyes.
The challenging gaze of her coal-like irises burned into his retina as the mes that barely covered her decency red up. The me on her head flickered once in thought, then she nodded. Fine, I will do it, she said.
Really, you will fuse with me? Sylph eximed.
Maybe another day, but no, Smander turned to Siena. The shadow elemental looked up from scratching a little piece of dirt off the w of her index finger with her thumb to meet her sisters-in-summoner gaze with surprise. You and me are going to do this, bitch, the fire spirit dered.
Why me? Siena asked, obviously against the idea. You have such an eager ymate.
Because, you arrogant fuck, despite you being an asocial bitch with extremely unhealthy obsessions and a bad attitude..., Smanderid into her, I am willing to give you the chance and prove to me that you can actually work with us. Now do you want to keep being the ostracized bitch who we all barely tolerate or do you want to actually try and get along with us?
The fire spirit had changed into her tall form during this dialogue. Now standing above Siena in sheer height, Smanders hand reached out to the nightmare elemental. Not in a gracious way, not in a saving way, not in anything remotely resembling anything other than the invitation to try, not to necessarily seed.
John didnt say anything and kept his spirit shut. He didnt want his expectations to have any impact on the decision Siena was about to make, even if it was rather obvious what he wanted. The fact that Smander did this out of her own volition surprised him, but pleasantly so.
Siena looked at the hand with an indecipherable look on her face. The ss-shard like ends of her still raised hand twitched. I dont need you to like me, she finally hissed but grabbed the hand regardless.
Didnt say I would, Smander countered.
Their forms be blurry and pulled towards each other, ovepping, then forming a sphere. All of it happened in less than a second, but at the end a new girl stout her limbs.
A predictably even mixture of both Smander and Siena met him. A tall, big-titted girl with dark red skin, hair growing upwards and flickering like a ck candle me, shadows rising from it like thick smoke. Her eyes seemed inverted in colour, a ck sclera with a white iris and a yellow, snake-like pupil. With a curious expression she looked at her knife-like fingers.
John inwardly sighed at the supremely edgy name of the ss cannon in front of him. Was this because Siena was in there? Further experimentation would show that.
The fused elemental started cackling. Lets see what I can do, she said in an ecstatic voice, and suddenly purple fire was set to vast amounts of space around them. Spaces, as John quickly realized, wherever a shadow was.
Not all shadows, she didnt set fire to the gaps between des of grass, but the shadow the newly made hedge cast was very much alight, just like the sun-turned side of it. Wow, calm it! John shouted out, he had just fixed that thing.
But burning is so much fun, Shadowmeined, her eyes falling on Sylph. Lets burn something that screams!
Oh hell no, John said and stepped into their line of sight. The scary thing here was not only that pretty strong ability, the lightless mes burned with intense heat, but the fact that the edgy elemental there was faster than Sylph C not by a small margin either.
You are going to rx, deactivate that fire and wait for the timer to tick down! he firmly stated.
Mhm, I will listen, but only because its you, Shadowme folded her arms underneath her breasts as the hedge and floor stopped burning. A scorched branch fell into the ashes as the so-called Gamers Bloodhound pushed up her breasts. These seem smaller than usual, she noted as they waited for the timer to tick down.
Chapter 300 – THIS IS… just the end of another day.
Chapter 300 C THIS IS just the end of another day.
Do you ever stop wanting to burn down everything you see? Siena asked Smander as they cleared the dungeon.
Do you ever stop wanting to torture people? the fire spirit answered with a question herself.
Do you ever stop repeating that conversation? John, slightly annoyed, added.
After splitting, the two of them had found some mutual understanding in the fact that they both had a very dark impulse that they regretted they couldnt live out at any given moment.
While John was happy that Siena was actively partaking in social activity within the group, the repetition of these topics made it slightly annoying. We get it, Smander dislikes that I dont allow her to burn stuff at any given second and you dislike that I wont let you cut open rats. You both need other hobbies! he said.
You are forcing me into learning that terribly fragile instrument, Siena reminded him.
And how is that going? he probed with genuine interest.
Terribly, Undine sang and earned herself an annoyed re by the shadow spirit in return.
I do not appreciate getting ratted out after keeping your secret for so long, she hissed.
I do apologize, Undine mumbled, but it probably would have been better for all of us if you hadnt.
I am not here to fix your problems, Siena crossed her arms.
Instead, you manipted her into doing what you thought would be the best solution, Smander spat out. So much fucking better.
All I ever want from people is to learn to fix their own mess, the shadow spirit defended herself. Previously, she would have dropped out of the conversation by now; it seemed the fusing and Smanders offer had thawed her walls quite a bit. I wouldnt have had to make a very forward rmendation if little Undine had been able to just decide on a course of action instead of needlessly lingering in her own misery. It reminds me too much of all the prostitutes I saved, Siena continued on. Useless hags.
Wait, what now? John said; he had dug through her memories, but that was more of a shallow deal; I thought you just murdered pimps and rapists because they were the interesting kind you couldnt control.
What originally attracted me to these individuals was indeed infatuation, Sienas heels cked over the stone floor of the dungeon. It is hard to find proper indomitable souls that arent ruined by morality. Much to my displeasure, I had to learn that these kinds of people usually turn into pimps and rapists. A total turn off.
So, you are saying you arent totally evil? Smander cackled. Fucking unbelievable. Literally, I cannot believe it.
Riching from the spawn of war, Siena taunted right back. Aside, I didnt kill them myself most of the time. I possessed whoever they tortured and made them do it.
Now we are right back at aggressive maniption, John noted.
What is your proposal, just let them continue being miserable? Siena hissed at him; All I wanted is for them to learn to take care of their own problems.
Out of interest, how many of them became anything but mental wrecks after your help? he asked.
The shadow spirit opened her mouth in retort but found none.
Thats what I thought, John mumbled; Perhaps you should consider changing your way to go about things? I get your logic Help people to help themselves. The idea is good, your execution is terrible.
Perhaps Siena seemed to endure physical struggle as she pressed out these words.
I dont see whats so hard. If they are bad guys, we punch them! Sylph pvered into the fairly serious conversation, repeatedly pulling her arm back and then hitting the air. Punch, punch, punch.
Sylphs stupidity ignored, Smander groaned as the air spirit flew around them, still chanting that word. Why do you even care, Siena? All you want to do is torture someone, anyone really.
What?! Siena wed at the flying ze elemental, fishing her out of the air; You think there is satisfaction to be had in just torturing anyone? It is entirely ungratifying to pluck a random target and just inflict pain upon their mortal shells. True pleasure is finding that one asshole who really deserves it and then slowly peeling his skin o-
Okay, I have heard enough about your methods, John interrupted her, the mere hint of what she nned to do to people was already more than he needed to know, but I want to understand you and your reasons better right now.
You have been letting me down in that regard, Siena said as she let Smander go, although I do love you so dearly.
You are so thoroughly twisted a woman, John groaned. How can you say you love me, and even have Observe confirm it as true, while your dered wish was to stab me in the eye not too long ago.
The answer came after a minute of silence. I mistakenly assumed you to be like everyone else who I ever fell in love with, she confessed. A right and proper bastard. Even worse is that you got all of these powers for basically free. Ah, you cant imagine how great it feels to cut down those who think themselves invincible.
As someone who has yed God of War, I will have to tell you that I do know that that feels great, John said, but did I just hear you right that you admitted to being wrong for the second time in a conversation?
Yes, I will not kill you. The whole group stopped and looked at Siena, who took another two steps before she even realized that everyones gaze was on her.
T-to think.., Gnome mumbled.
We finally did it, hurray, yay, hurray, Sylph chirped.
I am a fucking god amongst negotiators, Smander, sure that this was all thanks to her, shouted into thebyrinth.
Undine just slowly pped with a deadpan look on her face.
I will slice all of you open from neckline to womb, Siena threatened while the other elementals cheered her on as if she had made a Nobel-prize worthy discovery.
This is such a happy moment, John couldnt help himself and add to the mocking by wiping away an imaginary tear. After weeks of having to keep Siena under wraps, there finally was some actual progress in her mindset.
I would still give a lot to just torture you, Siena whispered with a dangerous glint in her eyes. Progress didnt mean that she was anything but aplete and utter maniac still.
I guess I can y the sub once in a while, as long as we stay fairly vani, John shrugged.
That is not what I Siena groaned, her overly sexual tone breaking in frustration only to recover when she next opened her mouth. Fine, we will y some naughty little games then, you and I.
But before that, you answer what I wondered about earlier. You say you dont want to torture the innocent, yet
John scrambled his mind for examples of who or what Siena had tortured that had not deserved it. Janna, the information broker, had been upon his own request, and she had been stalking him and others, selling peoples privacy for a profit.
Then there were all the monsters she liked to kill in gruesome manners. While John abhorred senseless torture, he could not deny that the argument of innocence was hard to make for things whose only expressed goal was to kill John and, by extension, banish Siena from this world.
If her memories were to be believed, she also really only ever had killed proper assholes. Before just now, he had assumed that had been before they were just the kind of people she was attracted to and love seemingly ended in in murder with her, but it seemed it just took someone who was the rightbination of powerful, dominant, selfish and still morally stable person toe along for her to not want to murder that person.
As it so happened, that was John, although her logic was still all kinds of warped. She had fallen for him after he had won using his glove on her, effectively tricking her into servitude. Only after weeks of showing he wasnt aplete douchebag to girls was she now willing to admit that she wouldnt kill him. Torture still was some expression of affection in her mind but also what people rightfully deserved if they were fucked up.
John tried to make sense of this with his,rgely, civilized brain. Her actions were consistent with her personal morals, which seemed to stand on two main principles: everyone should just stand up for themselves already, and the evildoers deserved to be punished. These were not bad by themselves, but her chosen solutions (namely: manipte people when they were vulnerable to do what she thought would be best for them and to inflict untold torment, to maim and to kill those who had wronged her personal sense of morality) were just unhealthy.
To be more exact, it was brutal, self-serving justice where Siena yed judge, jury and executioner, even if she sometimes handed the axe to someone else.
Nevermind, I think I understand you way better now, he finally said when his thought process hade full circle.
Is that so? Siena asked and brute forced her way into his mind to see what that understanding was. He shoved her out with an angry nce, just to make clear who was in charge here, before inviting her in.
If he was wrong, he wanted to learn now. This whole day seemed to culminate in getting Siena properly limated to the group. What she found apparently shocked her as she pulled away a momentter. Now it was Johns turn to look into her mind, and unlike her, he would not be denied.
What he found was a vortex of old ideals and new doubts conflicting. You have done this whole murder routine for so long that it has properly ingrained itself into your being, John mumbled and reached out to Siena. For the first time it was a gesture of caress, the kind he always had been willing to extend to his other elementals.
She looked at the hand closing in like a mouse stared at a cat, waiting to flee. Then he gently caressed her cheek and brushed her greyish purple hair aside. You know, I was afraid I would have to break what you are in order to make you someone we could get along with, he told her, but if you are willing, I think we can mend you instead.
There is nothing to mend, Siena spat out and swatted his hand away. I am who I want to be.
John sighed, there was only so much progress that could be made in a day.
Let me put it bluntly. The way you currently go about things will never see what you want achieved. Every person you torture will only be afraid, they will not learn. Every person you manipte will regard what you did to them as wrong in hindsight. Nobody will ever trust you, nobody will evere to seek your counsel, and nobody will ever love you, if you continue as you are. You will keep spreading misery to those around you, and you will never build anything that willst, he told her all of this in a matter of fact tone. Nothing wille of it. All you ever did was remove one shitty person and traumatize a victim. You made no difference, and unless you change, you never will.
Siena looked at him with wide eyes. You can be properly despicable, her whisper was ghostly, as that lecture put into question all her methods she had ever believed in.
I am what I need to be in order to make you a better person than you are, Siena. I can see that you arent evil, but you are twisted. I think you arent beyond repair, though, John turned to continue down thebyrinth. I hope one day you will show me an error in my ways. You, me, Gnome, Smander, Sylph and Undine, we are all part of a bigger us. Lets try to be better than we were yesterday.
Chapter 301 – Back to reality
Chapter 301 C Back to reality
They kept strolling through thebyrinth unopposed. It was a tall construction, the walls some kind of waxed stone. The floor was slippery but not to a degree where John was afraid he would fall down at any given moment. This was the Tier 20 version of the Wall Shadow dungeon, and they had only been attacked once.
Why dont theye out, I am bored! Sylphined, flying from one wall to the next. Without a doubt, the monsters were hiding within the walls, something which they had confirmation for thanks to Siena checking. It was a short stint. Staying in these shadows would have been like taking a swim in shark infested waters with cut ankles.
Because they are inherently cowardly creatures, Momo told her. Wall Shadows are the Abyss primary stealth assassin type monsters. They only attack when they think themselves unopposed.
In other words, they dont see an opening, John said; The higher up we go in level, the smarter these things get. They must be heavily intimidated by us or, rather, Aclysia.
The artificial guardian tilted her head in a quizzical way as she looked at John. Why would I be intimidating, Master? she wondered.
Maybe the way you turned the first few enemies that approached us into diced cheese? he suggested.
Eclys wasnt just sharp, it was too sharp. The de went through the insectoid hides of the Nightlurkers (the local permutation of the Wall Shadow) like a hot knife through butter. Paired with an artificial guardian that had the knowledge of how to handle swords engraved into her subconsciousness, one got a rather dangerous entity.
John made a personal note to give her the level 2 version of Sword Mastery when it was avable next time. The results should be rather remarkable. Of course, Aclysia hadnt taken the whole enemy group out alone. Even with stupendously overpowered equipment, she was just one person and thus not able to be everywhere at once.
Between her offensive power, Undines defences, Sylph, Smander and Sienas mobility and Johns and Momos backline support, however, it seemed that the Nightlurkers had taken the rather wise decision to, well, lurk around until some form of opportunity presented itself.
The fact that they hadnt been attacked at all spoke volumes about the current strength level of Johns group. I wonder if they will get desperate enough to attack me eventually despite their cautiousness? he wondered as they turned a corner; If that one speaking boss is to be trusted, they believe they be real if they kill me.
Beyond that corner, they found the boss. It was a pretty creepy one, a husk of a man half-mutated beyond human features nailed to a withered tree. Bone tubes stuck out of his body, out of which insects crawled at a constant rate.
They beat it rather easily. John used Arcana Strike above the bosss position, and two minutes of dying tacticster the guy was nuked from orbit. The fight, like usual at this point, wasnt easy, but it also wasnt exactly outstanding. John had encountered most base mechanics he had already known from ying MMOs inside the barriers at this point. All he did was apply that knowledge with the added difficulties and benefits of fully real movement options.
Unless the boss did something outstandingly interesting or was an actual challenge, they were barely worthy of remembrance. John ported out and looked at his Stat screen, letting out a sigh of disappointment with himself.
Man, I have been cking off thest two days, he mumbled. Between checking in with everyone and concentrating on loot over experience, he hadnt gotten that level. At least he was richer now.
Well, there will be a game tomorrow. You being a bit slower probably isnt going to change much, Momo said.
There will be a game tomorrow if Lydia confirms that Undine is clean speaking of which, lets go see her, John corrected his support, and the group went back to the mansion.
Lydia was still training in the arena, although she had moved on from simple distance training to fine tuning. What she was doing looked rather interesting. One of her knights was standing next to her, holding a deck of cards. He would pick one up to show it to her, and Lydia then would try to form the three-dimensional figure on that card with the pieces of metal under her control within 10 seconds.
It actually looked rather straining on the mind, and John didnt want to intervene in an ongoing training section. Lydia let him know that she had noticed him with a quick nce and military nod but went through her current set before walking over. The knight just disappeared once John blinked.
Youe at an opportune time, the princess said. I have gotten word from the research centre back in Berlin, and they have found no remaining corruption. Luna texted me that they havee to the same conclusion. John felt several days of paranoia finally rx at the back of his mind.
Undine, being physically around for this, actually rxed to the point where her form lost a bit of coherence. The slime womans chest partly sunk into a puddle that previously had been her legs. Ah, thats great, that means I can go about the remainingbination efforts without worrying. John had stopped those from happening out of fear that, if Undine was still corrupted, mixing essences would lead to some unwanted side effects.
Combination efforts? Lydia asked; she hadnt been informed yet.
Right, let me show you. Anyone up for fusing with Undine? he asked his gathered elementals.
Of course, Sylph immediately raised a hand, Me, me, take me, Undine, let me fuse with you, me, let me!
John actually kind of wanted to prevent this from happening, the fusions with Sylph had all been terrifying this far. Shadowme had been an edge-fest of destructive proportions, but Edge (yes, that was the actual name of thebination of Siena and Sylph; all of Sienas mixtures had some rather try-hard names) was all kinds of sadistically insane.
Even Thana running amok had more sensibility than the erratic, babbling, super-sadistic knife fairy that was that mixture. Sylph still had had fun; Siena hadined about a headache afterwards.
He would stillbine everyone once. Seemingly, none of the elementals actively disliked the process (despite Smanders initial worries), just to know what exactly his choices were. Might as well get it out of the way.
Everyone was up for it. The others just werent as eager as the tempest elemental. Okay then, you two go ahead, John said and just wondered what was about to be created by that mixture.
Lydia watched as Sylph and Undine first ovepped, then swirled together and then became a new person entirely. Her expression followed the development with curiosity, confusion and then downright disbelief.
This should be impossible, she said as the new girl appeared in front of her.
Thebined elemental was about the size of Sylphs big form, so about 1,50 metres. The short stature made the D-cups and her wide hips stand out even more. A short and stacked woman, without a doubt.
Hair made from the cleanest water cascaded down to her feet, or would have if it would have regarded themonws of gravity as something that should be obeyed instead of meandering through the air like a river cut through thendscape.
She was fair-skinned, porcin white with a slight blue tinge to it, and naked. The red scars of Undine chased even this form, albeit changed to a degree. Where they had looked swirly on top of Undine, on this new elemental they looked more like someone had taken a ruler and tattooed sharp lines into her body.
Her golden eyes shone with power, and when she crossed her arms, John spied her fingernails. They had an interesting colouration to them, switching between light green and azure blue with each finger.
That was a very weird Stat distribution.
There is no reason not to believe it, the newly mixed elemental informed Lydia in a secretary-like tone; Also we should start talking aboutpensation.
Compensation? the princess raised an eyebrow.
Yes, I think you are getting off way too easy in this whole winning the tournament for you deal, Menyh stated.
Okay, so if youbine Undines tendency to rip on peoples ws when she is mad with ceaseless chatter you get someone who will very aggressively haggle, John noted.
Not only is John fighting for you, but also his girlfriend and Thana. Also, he is giving you a good dicking almost every day. I think this demands some furtherpensation than just letting his debt go, Menyh continued on.
Lydia raised her hand. Okay, stop. This topic needs to be dyed until I have an answer for a much more urgent question. How?
That was directed at John, who just shrugged. I got a Skill for it, was all he could answer.
This is iputable. The unification of a human and their contracted elemental is only possible because they are already bound on a soul level anyhow. All you do is remove any semnce of distance between the two, Lydia spoke in a mumbling fashion; To mix two elementals should be impossible. On a primal level, it is heard that they may eat each other, but that is limited to elementals of the same kind. This should not be.
Well, it was called a Game Breaking Skill, John admitted.
It indeed breaks what little understanding about elementals we thought we have Lydia sighed, but rather than tell the researchers to rework their theories, it would be more serving to ignore you as the exception you are.
Why thank you, I will keep on breaking the world around me without worry then, John grinned.
The saddening part here is that I am unsure whether or not you will not identally do that, Lydia let out yet another heavy breath. Your existence is going to make my hair go grey rather soon.
I cant have that! Your auburn hair is wonderful! Stop worrying so much!
Stop making me worry, Lydia demanded in return. Ah, maybe loving you was a bad decision not that I had much choice in the matter.
How about I make you rx a little instead? John suggested and put index finger under and thumb on her chin. The princess immediately took him up on the offer and kissed him. Her lips tasted salty from the exhaustions of her training; Johns insides red at the forward gesture.
That did indeed help a little. Although we should keep such disys of affection to the indoors, Lydia said, clearing her throat as she slightly blushed and turned away. Now, I will have to beg your pardon, but I need to continue.
Sure thing, Lyly, John teased. His reward was a venomous nce.
This was thest day of the break. Come tomorrow, they would be back in the tournament. The game that had been dyed twice thanks to the ongoing question of Undines corruption was without a doubt going to happen. After that, he would fight.
Then they needed to see who had made the most progress. I, for one, just look forward to actually fighting in the tournament, John thought. He had been taken out of the equation so far, either by enemy nning or chance, and he was itching to try all of his abilities against people that were hailed as elite.
The wonderful thing about asymmetrical gamey was the uncertainty about who was how much stronger and what the weaker could pull off on mechanical ingenuity to get back ahead. It was something that the Instant Dungeons, being bnced around his level, just couldnt provide.
He looked forward to tomorrow, although the question remained. What kind of game had been nned?
Chapter 302 – Mirror Match
Chapter 302 C Mirror Match
Boom, boom, boom! Jeff shouted into the microphone. The announcer pointed at the sky. His hair seemed to have grown another 10 centimetres in the short break, a torrent of brown, extended upwards, that was fixed in its absurd style by whatever magical hair product he was using.
What are you doing? Dra asked.
I am celebrating the return to our tournament after yet another break, and furthermore, I am celebrating that we are finally going to see todays game! Jeff answered in a happily worked-up fashion.
And you are doing it by acting like fireworks? the lizardman probed further.
Absolutely, yes! the hyped host hailed.
Okay then, carry on, Dra sighed.
Today, everyone, we finally will have that game I was wanting to have for so long, and, oh it is a game indeed! Jeff said; We are having a mirror match!
It was at that moment that John snapped out of his state of admiring the feminine swing of Raves jawline. No idea why he had been doing that but something about looking at her just made him deeply happy. Looking at the announcers desk did not, especially with those news hanging in the air.
What do I mean by mirror match? I mean a literal mirror match! Jeff confirmed the Gamers fears. Where each team fights against a copy of themselves!
Now, for anyone at home wondering how this works, let me show you, Dra added, and at a flick of his fingers, the arena below started changing.
A diagonally oriented wall split the in field into two even halves. The lift downwards would put each of the teams on their isted side. A quick Observe, as well as Johns experience with the material, revealed the wall to be made from Baelementium, so it was rather sturdy, to say the least. It also had been standing there for a couple thousand years.
More interesting was the crystal on the wall, located at the centre of the arena.
We are going to use this crystal. It will probably need like 50 years or several million Maybel to recharge. Personally, I think this is a supreme waste of perfectly good mana, but what do I know? I am only a person that is alive thanks to magic, Dra mumbled thatst part.
John, in the meanwhile, was getting continuously more nervous. A feeling that spread to most people on the table. Whadderyall so worried about? Rave asked.
Well, our worry hinges on one thing, Lydia said.
Both teams are obligated to take part in this game with their whole line-up. Whoever beats all clones first wins! Jeff continued the exnations. And dont even try to cheat by using some power-ups in the fight, the clones are equipped to respond in kind.
So please dont the mana bill Dra seemed very unhappy about this whole thing.
Why do you care, you dont have to pay it? Jeff said. Just get pumped for the action!
Hard to get pumped when I see money literally getting set on fire. It would be so much more useful spent on the Abyss Auction, Dra sighed. This game is worth 2 points. Just get it over with.
We are in some deep shit, arent we? Rave asked. Even she understood what it meant if they had to fight against a copy of their whole team.
You are absolutely, under no circumstances, never, ever, allowed to use Bloodburn during this fight, Lydia was instructing Thana.
Yes, I am not a fucking idiot, the blood mage waved off. Although I wonder if that would make that thing overcharge and explode.
Do C not C try, the princess was not in the mood for jokes and whirled around to John, You and Thana are going to just keep track of your own clones so they dont mop the floor with the rest of us.
Yes, that was the big problem here. The power gap between everyone else and Thana was vast, and then the one between John and the rest was also quite considerable. Not to mention that John brought another five elementals by himself. While he didnt think that the weaker ones, that being Gnome and Smander, were able to take out anyone on their own, an unleashed Undine could deal considerable damage.
We should at least have one advantage, Lydia mumbled and looked over to Nia.
No letting yourself get copied, understood?
Yes, the nks head went up and down in what could have been a nod or a bobble head impersonation.
Either way, they now had to go down to the arena. Our chances to win this are low, Momo said out loud what everyone else knew.
Yes, Lydias grey eyes were looking forward, but we will try.
The thing about the enemy team was that they had a way better line-up for this particr fight. Their power-levels werent that far apart, so they could adjust their match-ups for individual weaknesses. Maximillian could take on Marios clone, for example, no problem.
Meanwhile, John and Thana could really only take care of their own clones. If they had any hope of winning, it would lie with Nia. The nk would have to delete enemies and give them a snowballing advantage to mop up everyone else.
Let us begin! Jeff shouted once the teams got into position. The wall separated Johns view from the enemy, and as the announcer with his ridiculous hair started the countdown, the sound from the crowd dulled. Not even the cheers would give away if someone had won yet.
They had taken all preparations to make sure that each team would fight tooth and nail with the hope that they would be the ones to im victory. The crystal lit up, and a reverse shockwave pulled through John and his team, the sound of rattling ss filling the air. A distant, muffled One! reached his ears, and then several orbs of energy sted outwards.
Like falling stars, they hit the ground, one for each participant in the fight. Lydia, Thana, John, Momo, Rave, all of them appeared one by one. Only Nia was missing, and Johns elementals, as he noted. Would they appear once they went corporeal? A question he asked himself as he had to try his best not to fall over fromughter.
For whatever reason, the clones of everyone had three remarkable differences to their originals.
One, their clothes had been jumbled up. Lydia was wearing nothing but a robe and a leather bikini, Rave was inside Lydias uniform, Thana was wearing a suit while John had been put into Momos poncho, who in turn had been outfitted with Raves pink, skin-tight battle suit.
Two, their hair colour was all sorts of wrong. Lydias braided, orderly hair was a bright green, John sported short grey and ck hair, Thanas hair had turned an utterly in brown while Momo had changed to pitch ck. Worst of all was Rave though, whose hair was now a dark blue that closely resembled her mothers.
John could practically feel the annoyance radiating girlfriend. Their rtionship had thawed somewhat, but there was still some rather strong resentment from the daughters side going on here.
Lastly, and this is why John was almost bursting outughing, the clones all had moustaches. Not any moustaches either, but the extremely bushy, groomed, almost paintbrush-like things represented in 90sics. They werent even properly synced up to their individual (already wrong) hair colours, they were just all dark brown.
How dare ya ruin my pink hair! Put on some clothes! Rave and Momo immediately went into action while John used Shardbound and hurled the things at the copy of himself. They were met by the same skill of the same strength.
The encounter had just started, and John had already realized 4 things.
The clones had no item effects; if they had, their clothing wouldnt have gotten jumbled. The clones were not able to speak. None of them had uttered even a single sound. The clones were not particrly bright. If John had wanted to block the attacks of Shardbound, he would have used a lower mana version. The attack would have depleted if it had hit something of simr size in mid-air.
Thest thing was the most important one: his clone was wearing a colour inverted version of the Undine glove, meaning that there were incorporeal versions of his elementals around.
As the shockwave of Thana engaging herself caused dust to whirl up, John ran forwards. He would need to take himself out ofmission as soon as he possibly could, and he knew his own weaknesses.
The only thing that kept his melee disadvantage from being absolutely crippling was Purgatory, and since the enemy did not have that, it would be Johns biggest advantage. He just would need to charge it first.
There was one incredibly effective way to do that. One that would reveal a trump card, but he would have to lie if he said he minded showing this one. Plus this game was worth 2 points.
If the elementals were already summoned, then he could throw caution to the wind. Gnome, Smander! he thought, and the two of them materialized and fused within the same moment.
The result was a tall woman in what John could only describe as an armoured dress. tes of steel-like metal somehow clinging to her yellow dress, forming a ded, knee-high skirt. It was a singr piece of clothing, shoulder- and backless, while also propping up the already sizeable chest of the mixed elemental.
Her hair was like the surface of a pool ofva, ayer of ck g swimming on top of glowing red that somehow formed the appearance of a braid. Brown eyes in a sea of hot-iron red, the elemental shily grinned, a mixture of looking forward and being kind of sorry for what she was about to do.
Smlere hit the floor with both arms raised. Having formed partially on the fly, she used her momentum and considerable strength in a hammerlike strike straight to the ground. The earth trembled as a spiderweb of cracks formed around her.
John sensed the power surging through Purgatory at the aimless destruction. As far as he was concerned, whatever cards he had to pull to take himself out were justified. Only about ten-metres remained between himself and his clone.
That was when the enemy elementals decided to attack. He ignored the colour-inverted versions of both Sylph and Smander. Their attacks hit his Mana Protection, which he had wisely stacked high before the fight, and were neutralized effortlessly.
However, the copy of Gnome would be a bigger headache. The sheer weight of the moustached stone elemental was something he couldnt quite get through, and he didnt possess the agility to get around her easily.
There is no enemy elemental fusion, John noted as he checked on how to best solve this hindrance. If this truly was a clone of his, there should have been some Combination of elementals, especially now that he himself had used it. However, nothing of the sort happened. Is it because its a Game Breaker? Can the crystal not emte? he asked himself questions forter.
Smlere intervened right when he needed her. With a catapult-like jump she ripped the obstacle Gnome aside, fists d in half-molten rock as she pummelled the clone. John still wasnt out of the clear. The moment he ran by the one-sided fight, Smlere was stupendously stronger than the copy of the earth half of her, he noticed a quick movement. An attack, that he couldnt have seen if it hadnt been for Jack, was aiming for his back.
Under the constant barrage of the Sylph and Smander clones, his Mana Protection was dwindling by the moment. By herself, the original tempest elemental could not really fend the duo off. He realized the white deing out of the mirror entity''s shadow for what it was: the enemy Siena had arrived.
And she was quickly blocked by his own. I will do you the favour and help without being a bitch about it, he heard the shadow spirit whisper as her des crossed her clones. Siena left his shadow and jumped into the one of bizarro-Gnome; these two would have a fight unseen by everyone else.
Not that that fight wouldst particrly long. John was now in reach of his double; the moustached Gamer erected a shield of water over his own Mana Protection. It was a matter of fact that the enemy barrier would not have been pre-charged.
The pieces, present and needed, rushed through his mind quicker than his body could hope to move. Information off the battlefield was taken in through Jacks eyes in a mere moment. Where was the enemy Momo? Where was Nia? What was the state of Smlere? How much longer would his shieldst in an unhindered barrage if he sent Gnome away?
The answers clicked in his head into a series of events that needed to unfold. Then he made a second n, then a third one. None of the ns were set in stone, if anything there were written on rubber. stic, allowing him to adapt to whatever situation might arise. Although only the first one allowed for him to win within the next 30 seconds, if it was executed wlessly.
Above him, two Raves exchanged kicks in mid-air, just her standard shy close-quartersbat without any buffs or Copernicus help. They came down behind him as John reached his doppelganger. Sylph, go! he told her.
But, but, but, I wanna y more with myself. Uh, that sounded naughty. Also poncho-John looks fun. Audible gasp! Ponchn! Sylphined and derailed herself within one moment.
Despite that, she actually flew off, following his orders. Either she had forgotten about herint or she just wanted to talk about something. Both were equally likely.
He had no time to waste, and to the sound of Smlere and Thanas both punching with earth-shattering might at different points in the arena, he hurled his right fist at the shield of water. The moment he came into contact with it, Undine morphed out of her item form.
First, she tried to win control over the water that formed the protective bubble. When that worked and her clone also morphed back to counteract the development, the two slimes got tangled up. Red and blue slime mixed and separated as the two of them fought with both fists and liquidity. They were trying to encapste the other like amoeba while also beating the other up. It was brutal and fascinating.
John had no time to dwell on that. He needed to crash down on the enemy mana reservoir. He boxed away at the Mana Protection of his double. Without a doubt his motions looked sluggish to anyone who was actually skilled in meleebat, but that didnt change the fact that there was weight behind them.
His left hand red up as Purgatory reached full-charge, adding extra fire damage to that one punch.
Not that further damage would have mattered in any way. As long as the enemy Momo was around, this John had too much mana to spend defensively. The moustached, empty face of his clone seemed to taunt him despite the presumedck of emotion. The poncho-wearing double raised his hand, probably to fire a high-power attack that was meant to inflict a lot of damage to John himself.
Ive got her! Yes, yes, I dooooo! Sylph sang and sent him an image. It was a ck-haired Momo at the feet of Nia who was slowly eroding her existence with her anti-magic. He had hoped for her to be able to take the enemy mana donator out immediately, but if Nia used her powers too quickly, she would remove herself from this ne of existence. Obviously, that was not worth it.
Undine was removed, and Momo had been taken care of. It didnt matter if she was gone immediately or over time, only that her mana was no longer in the reach of the enemy. The bizarro-Johns defensive measures were taken down. One more piece
He had to win a bit of time. Well, win wasnt the correct term here. He was winning, each hit at the protective barrier reinforced his advantage. The two airborne attacks he was suffering wouldnt be enough before
I have defeated m-me, uhm, Gnome! Smlere let him know; her voice was like a crackling campfire unsure to burn tempered by an amazons discipline. Thest piece snapped into ce.
John deactivated Mana Protection just as the doubles of himself, Smander and Sylph were unleashing a barrage of attacks. The fire did next to nothing thanks to the World Ender set bonus, the air cut into his suit, and a blue shard pierced his lower abdomen. It immediately disappeared into arcane crackles.
What would have left a gruesome open wound, only slightly cauterized by the arcane burn, on anyone else was fixed in a mere moment thanks to Gamers Body.
He put Purgatory directly on the shield and pulled the trigger on the stored spell. A dark glow emanated from under his palm as the shadow-infused Mana de tried to prate the defensive shell. Arcane power collided, the mana of his double quickly sank, and then it was gone.
Just as the Mana Protection had been taken care off, the blue hue disappearing and leaving only simple air between him and his double, the second was over. The Mana de, whose time had been cut short by the elemental property infused into it, could no longer be used to eliminate the enemy John. That, however, was not needed either. Smlere, having no further opposition to stop her, was closing in.
All John needed to do was jump to the side, and the volcano elemental tackled into his clone with the might of a bulldozer. In her grip, the physically weak, unbuffed John was carried off, his weak punches hurting himself more with the heat of theva spirit than they were a threat to Smlere.
A red firefly caught up to her and buffed the impressive Stats even further. Smlere headed for the Baelementium wall. The false John was rammed right into the immovable object with unstoppable force. His rib cage caved under the impact.
Still, with his Endurance he could take more than that. It would have been better if he hadnt. A series of blows to his head that allowed for no counter-attacks to be taken were followed by him getting tossed into the air with just one hand.
Terribly sorry, Smlere apologized, but I need to kill you! The elemental rammed her fists together, and when she pulled them apart, a rock materialized between them. It was quaking, less stone than a condensed earthquake, and Smlere threw it after the copy of her summoner.
Once it came into contact with him, it erupted, scattering more ashes and rock than should have been possible for an object of that size. Johns n had worked perfectly, even if he had likely been off in the timing department.
The elimination took longer than expected, and the gaps werent seamless, he told himself. The buff on Smlere also wasnt applied in the timeframe I wanted.
My fireflies arent some instantly used buff, they actually need to reach the target! Momo aggressively reminded him.
I know, just correcting my calction, John replied. I estimate that took us about 94 seconds since the start of the fight, the support informed him. That meant that the execution of his n had been roughly 34 seconds longer than he had wanted. He would need to be more gracious with his time allocations in the future.
With his own clone gone, they had removed more than half of the other fighters from the equation. It was only a matter of cleaning everyone else up now. Lydia was locked in a battle of will against herself, metal quivering in the air, unable to move as the two were wrestling for control. That one was the easiest to solve.
One usage of Shardbound, four merging into one, and the purple energy material plunging into the pretenders side tipped the bnce of that duel in a mere moment. With Sylphs help and Undines healing, Rave quickly got the better of her own clone as well.
It was so easy to mop up those weaker than himself now that he wasnt preupied. For thest obstacle
Thana and her clone were creating craters wherever they engaged. Darting over the battlefield, one of them lost in crazedughter, the other a silent parody, they met over and over. Thana, pin her down! John shouted, sure that the blood mage would hear her.
Nobody in the group would be able to intervene in this fight, it was too far above their level. Damaging an immobile enemy though? More than possible.
It took Thana a couple of tries, punches taken and dished out, until her suited clone made a slight mistake. Just a slightly wrong angle, and Thana managed to grab her brte imposter by the arm and used an improvised throw to hammer her into the ground.
John hurried over. What they were about to do was inelegant, and nobody liked treating a copy of Thana that way. Wave after wave of, for her, weak attacks rained down on the clone.
I really hate doing this, John let Thana know as several shards impaled her clones body.
Thats nice to fucking know, now get it over with! Thana screamed back, holding her struggling clone down with all her might. The problem was that this copy had the exact same Stats as Thana, including her absolutely absurd Endurance.
It would take a while to kill her. Nia was their best shot, but she couldnt eliminate all of that magic so quickly. Every time the nk used her powers, the clone dropped a few levels. Afterwards, Nia needed to readjust herself on this ne to not run the risk of fading away.
It would have been a wonder if they won this game. The reality of Thanas regenerative power was simply this: it took too long to take her out. Her greatest power became their greatest weakness.
Eventually, they seeded, but as predicted, Maximillians team had won themselves minutes before.
Lydia: 5, Max: 7
Chapter 303 – A question from the world.
Chapter 303 C A question from the world.
John looked at the screen above dering their loss with disheartened eptance. The dice had been loaded against them from the start. I want toin about you being way too sturdy, he said to Thana, but I love that I can be super rough with you in bed without worry, so I wont.
This was a lot of fucking fun for me, Thana grinned. Rarely get the challenge.
Did watching yourself get beaten up get ya riled up? Rave wondered.
The shit? No, the blood mage answered.
Was just asking myself, since youre so massively subby, the lightbearer rified.
There is a giant fucking difference between getting choked into the mattress by someone I can trust and getting beaten to death. If I was turned on by just getting stabbed with knives, I would have some major fucking longing for those nails that were under my skin, you seizure inducing bubble-gum cunt, Thanaid it down on Johns girlfriend.
Wow, vtile, Rave raised her hands in defence. Was just asking.
Yeah sorry Thanas mood swung over to apologetic muttering. Just GET DOWN!
John didnt n to question this, at least not in the moment. As he and everyone else went to the ground he had Gnome, now separated from Smander again, create a protective wall around them.
He already had an inkling of what was about to happen.
The shockwave of an explosion,ing from the centre of the arena, washed over them. Blue and purple filled the air with arcane might as it unloaded without a medium. The now unhindered sounds of the crowd became a panicked muttering only to be calmed a momentter.
No reason to worry, dear onlookers, the emergency barriers arent even sweating, Jeff announced. But the hell just happened?
It seems the Mirror Crystal was not able to handle the stress from its output and went into meltdown, Dra exined. The remaining mana must have unloaded just now. What a waste.
See, I could totally have overloaded it! Thana proudly dered as she helped Lydia back on her feet.
I am not so certain about tha- the princess began when Dra cleared his throat.
Okay, so the Fateweavers just mailed me the data, the lizardman said, looking at his phone.
That was quick, Jeff shouted in surprise, and why are you getting that juicy data?
Because I am actually organized and asked for us to exchange addresses. Anyhow, it seems that there was more than just one reason for the poor crystal to go into meltdown. Number one, however, was that the emtion of Thana was already making it operating over normal capabilities, Dra reported.
Why didnt it just explode in the fight then? Jeff asked his co-host.
Apparently it can hold overclocking for a bit. It would have needed repairs after and maybe have reached critical condition even with just that, but the next two factors made the poor thing strain beyond even the overclocking, came the diligent reply. Maximillians and Alexejs powerbination and the Gamers sheer amount of summons tipped over the edge intoplete disrepair. It was lucky itsted that long.
Well, you heard it folks, dont try copying super-powerful fighters, the devices cannot handle it! the hyped announcer nodded to himself.
Yes, whatever. Speaking of the Gamer, I would like to highlight one scene here, Dra said. Oh, yes, there was something really interesting in that fight, lets give it a post-game analysis, Jeff agreed.
The screen switched to a slow-motion rey of Gnome and Smander fusing. Folks in the stadium and at home, you may not know this, but THAT, Jeff said, should be impossible.
Dra opened his elongated maw to answer, but another voice echoed from the head of the colosseum instead.
It should be, indeed, Romulus voice reached even to the outer ranks of the audience without the need of a microphone. A camera hastened to zoom in on the emperor, who was sitting on his throne with the usual godlike earnestness and dignity. Do you have anything to say on the matter, John Newman?
Nope, John answered, clicking the question away. Lets hope he wont ask anymore. I dont want to speak in front of so many people for too long what if I breathe too loudly? Can they hear that? he thought to himself, more curious than panicked.
Luckily, he had been through a lot of nerve-wracking stuff by now, otherwise speaking in front of millions, potentially, would have probably robbed hisst nerve. Currently, he was mildly ufortable, but he could mask that pretty well. As long as it was over quickly.
Nope? that wasnt Romulus but the golden ted sun goddess at his side. Sol took obvious offence with his tone there. You will exin yourself to your emperor!
He is not my emperor, I am American, John pointed out, to the shocked grumbles of many, and I am under no obligation to exin how I can do things you dont expect me to be able to do, just as you arent obligated to exin how you are able to put a trantion spell over an entire species.
The arena was holding its breath following Johns response. The normal onlookers were munching their snacks at the mild drama, and the nobles were at the edge of their seats as someone actually dared to speak to Romulus that way.
You dare speak that way to Ro-
Enough, Sol, Romulus interrupted his familiar. Despite the refusal to have his question answered, the emperor looked rather amused. You will deny the world knowledge of how you broke one of the rules of magic?
All you need to know is that it is a thing only I can do, John returned; Nothing else is of importance to you.
It was an entirely self-serving argument. Sure, most people wouldnt learn all about their countrysws, but that didnt mean that knowledge shouldnt have been avable. It would have been stupid of John to just give away knowledge for free though.
Much more pressing in this case, however, was that he had no idea how it worked himself. It wasnt like with his other skills, where he at least got the knowledge of how to do it and how to do it better over time as the skill level increased. No, he was just allowed to do something other people werent.
Admitting that in front of the world would have been pretty weird. I have no idea how my powers work! I am just this strong! The reactions to that statement would range from ridicule to hatred.
It seems you value your secrecy, Romulus said in a judgemental tone.
The Gamer gulped when he felt a slender hand close around his. He looked down to see Rave smiling. Ya got this, tiger, her lips silently formed.
My privacy - I value my privacy, John corrected. And you have no right but the right of the strongest to take that away from me.
The emperor looked down and finally nodded. It was understood that a souring of their rtionships meant that he would have to destroy John while he was still in his early stages. I will ept it as thus. Let the world specte if it amuses you.
The buff was removed from John, and this little trial was over. Romulus had decided that they were better off on a neutral stance or that this knowledge wasnt worth it. Either way, John was free to go.
You reacted well, Lydiaplimented on their way outside; Not exactly diplomatic, but you stood your ground.
Why thank you, I do fashion myself the leader of an uprising guild with a whole two members, John said.
You are the leader of a guild? Lydia asked. That this was news to her was hardly surprising. Not like John ever mentioned it.
Yup, he is the leader of Collide, Rave grinned; Poption: me and him.
I see, the princess was now disinterested, and here I thought you had some resources hidden from me, but it is just a little club of yours.
Its not just a club, John told her. It is a memento of the first three people in the Abyss that were somewhat friendly to me. Two of which I will never see again.
Even though we totally wanted to exploit you, Rave giggled; Especially Travolta. Cant let another powerful guy get into the Golden Rose, get to him first, you dumb girl! he lectured me.
John shrugged with a wry smile on his lips, He was a good guy with bad motives, just like everyone else in his guild.
Sounds about right, Rave grinned.
Travolta he died because of me, right? Thana suddenly intervened in the light-hearted conversation. Her violet eyes looked at John as he turned around; they had just stepped on a mana street that was carrying them away.
No and yes, John answered. While it was your blood that forced us to kill him as he had fallen into a berserker rage, it wasnt your fault that he drank it. First and foremost, it was Hermans fault, then the Bloodfallens who distributed your blood like some sort of loyalty token. I dont think any me should be put on you.
Yeah, pretty much everyone who deserved to pay for that already did, Rave nodded. That affair is done and dusted, lets not dwell on it too much. Ya know, there is a nicer tomorrow.
Thana gave them a thankful little nod, Can I join that guild?
I dont know, lets put it to a vote, John joked. All guild members in favour give a sign! He and his girlfriends locked hands raised as one. With a 100% agreement rate, Thana is now part of Collide, he announced in a good mood.
Paths are crossing, worlds colliding, some will rise and some will fall, and we will repeat fighting until we take it all, Rave added with a grin.
That was pretty poetic for you, Jane, the Gamer said, but that makes us sound like aggressive conquerors or something.
Whatevs, I just want to punch people and have it my way, sheughed. I will leave the whole thinking stuff through to you.
You are a bunch of fucked up ragtag dumbass clitlickers, Thana said and then burst outughing.
Ya know, you will fit right in, ya broken angel. Thatment from Rave caused Thana to stopughing.
Can you fucking not? That nickname makes my skin crawl! the blood mageined.
Well, its in the name, we collide with people and each other, the Lightbearer stuck out her pierced tongue. You getting into the guild means that I get to be extra mean to ya.
The shit is that logic? Isnt a guild some kind of chosen fucking family? Thana asked.
Nah, its the people I can tolerate to get along with more than the rest, Rave answered.
Yeah, dont look for niceness in this guild, John supported his girlfriend. We are going to make your life hell, the best hell ever.
I have been through the worst, you two will not even be a fucking challenge! Thana grinned from ear to ear.
It is approvable that all of you are in such a good mood, but I have to remind you what is going to happen from here on out, Lydia chimed back into the conversation. I need you all to train as hard as you can before your next fights. Tomorrow, John will enter the arena. Afterwards, we will need to speak about who is ready and who is not. Her blue eyes wandered over the people present; everyone gestured their understanding. Good, the n proceeds then, Lydia said. We are two points behind now, a surmountable gap. Let us continue in our preparations.
Chapter 304 – Striding Along
Chapter 304 C Striding Along
Oh Gaia, thank you for being so gracious, John mumbled, only half-sarcastically, when the pop-up finally happened. It was 13:12 oclock, he and the rest of the crew had spent the rest of yesterday analysing the match of Maximillian and his team against their clones. Without a doubt, the enemy team had done the same. The videos were freely avable online, after all.
What this led to was a simple fact: Now all or close to all cards were on the table on both sides. This was ultimately a somewhat even trade, despite what one would initially think with John revealing all of his elementals and what not.
It was highly likely that the enemy team was already aware of most of them, in the first ce. Undine and Siena had been revealed during the Janna Lenko incident, so they had already known he had elementals. From there it wasnt too unlikely to suspect that they got somebody with a talent for reading auras (maybe even Alexej himself was able to do that) to just sniff out how many exactly he had.
The biggest losses were probably the reveal of Combination and, to a lesser extent, Spell Storage. Thetter he could be somewhat eased on by the fact that the way he used it wasnt exactly well-visible. The cameras only had shown the dark glow emanating from his hand and then quickly destroying the shield, so they could only specte what exactly that glow had been.
The same was true in the opposite direction, sadly, as Maximillian had whipped out some sort of short-lived sphere that had done something without him even paying attention to it. He would have used it with something in mind, but it was a mystery from just the cameras.
Aside from that, they learned a bunch more about Marios and Narikos actual fighting patterns. Especially for the former that was important since they had only ever seen him either get stomped or fight with sub-optimal ss weaponry.
For Nariko, the only thing they got was the confirmation that she usually ran a defence over offence strategy where she would tire her enemies out or wait for a good opportunity to strike.
The limits and conditions of Alexejs powers remained a mystery. Ankleshanker revealed nothing new, but, while probably the least useful person of the enemy line-up, he still wasnt to be underestimated.
Following that, John had done his usual fill the time program of filling up girls with his spunk. Wonderful times all around and there was no risk of pregnancy involved. John wanted to be a father someday, but not anytime soon.
That brought him to the current day, Wednesday the 3rd of January. He had been grinding through an almost four-hour long Assault, with the patch reduced experience, to finally get that level. If Gaias one-week estimate was to be trusted, he only had two more days of this to endure.
Anyway, it was time to raise his Agility to 50, that should prompt two windows.
Well, that was marginally useful. It would help him aim Shardbound, but that was about it. If he was a ranged centric build where aiming was more important instead of a summoner, where using his own spells was really more of a thing he did with excess power, it would have been quite good.
This was even less useful for him, although he would take it. He learned to live with a lot of pain already, being more warded against it certainly wouldnt hurt.
And now he was back to the question of what stat he should up next. Since his conviction on Nia had changed, he effectively was out of Rtionship Slots now. While that was foregoing the possibility that Nia could reject him or something, John just calcted with what he had in mind.
That aside, he had already gotten her into bed once, so chances were that he could win her over. It wasnt like he had nothing to offer in return: he was somewhat charming, had the body of a Greek half-god (and getting ever closer to an actual god), was powerful and could satisfy pretty much every sexual need in existence (as long as it was in his ownfort zone).
But Rtionship Points were less an actual thing than an abstract representation of how many girls he could keep happy thanks to his heightened Charisma without them fighting over his attention. In other words, he wasnt hard-pressed to change the current situation, and 25 points also werent the world to farm. If push came to shove, he could dedicate like a week to constant grinding, and he should get there no questions asked.
He should have that sort of time once this tournament concluded, and he wasnt likely to meet any more girls before then. Charisma was postponed once more.
Intellect was then the next choice he hade tost time. He also felt like it was time to raise that thing; his weaknesses, while still there, had been raised from abyssal average to pretty decent, so now he at least didnt have to worry about people much weaker than him outperforming him on a melee standpoint.
Although I should pick up some martial arts I wonder if there is a Skillbook for that, John thought as his decision fell on Intellect. Getting it to 250 would take a while, and he was open to taking a detour into Charisma if needed along the way, but for now that would be his course of action.
Actually, he should just hit up the Abyss Auction and look it up. He had the spare money anyway. He hadnt bought skillbooks in an eternity, primarily because there was nothing that was either better than what he had or was something he wanted.
There was no defensive Skill that could be bought that outdid Mana Protection. Shardbound was apparently a Skill that was reserved for people that had practiced manipting their own mana for 50 years. Whatever he could find using skill books in the ranged mana based attacks category just couldntpete. Same applied to Arcana Strike and Mana de.
He already knew that he could get a high tier light elemental whenever he wanted by getting himself the Perk in Elementalist. The route of getting himself a Skillbook instead led to those elementals that were always Tier 1 and freshly created. As Siena had shown, her terribly dysfunctional personality aside, previous life experience was pretty useful. At this point, the best spells he had were those he already had or upgrades that money couldnt really buy.
What else could he get? Well, it was time to look into the areas where he didnt already have stuff.
Crowd control spells were an argument, but between Gnome and Undine, he felt like he had that field covered in earth and water prisons. He had Momo for buffs (and the ones he could buy on the Abyss Auction were kind of meh anyway). For most spells that even sounded remotely interesting, there were no Skillbooks but a way to buy contact info to go on a journey to find a school and then try to impress the teacher enough to teach it to him.
While that sounded pretty interesting, it wasnt Johns style.
Next up were crafting professions, but Craft and Enchant already covered most of those, and he only ever used the former to patch up equipment or wash his bedsheets. Alchemy, that was a thing he could probably learn, but for what use? He didnt feel like a potion seller.
The knowledge itself was worth it, in a way, but currently, he didnt want to waste his time on it. Maybe when he was, like, level 543 and he literally had nothing better to do on a day he took off from grinding Assaults.
As he stepped through the gateway and into the gardens, he was looking for some martial arts books, which was a thing he should have done way sooner. He so rarely got into melee fights that he forgot how much he sucked at them. With that experience having been made in front of the world, he was now self-conscious enough about it to fix the problem.
Here goes hoping that I can actually just learn it, John thought and awaited the books arrival. The drone came as diligently as always. Books, because he had ordered three of them. He sliced the box open with the sharp index finger of his wed left, Purgatory still equipped from just having left an Assault.
Luckily, he could disable the fire of the fully stacked weapon with the ease of flipping a switch with his brain. If that hadnt been the case, he would have set fire to the gardens, which would have been a shame as he was making great progress in regrowing the damn thing. That was thanks to the fusion between Undine and Gnome, a nice, very quiet girl that just blushingly did what he asked of her.
Seeing his elementalsbine into expected (and sometimes not expected) characters was very interesting to behold. Well, sometimes it was amusing or terrifying as well. It also served as some effective bonding for them; they all seemed to get along quite a bit better. John was a bit worried they would normalize into a single personality over time, but so far there were no problems.
He picked up the first book and was promptly greeted with a window.
This one he had gotten to see if he could pull a Rave and boost his physical stats. He fulfilled the requirements easily, so he learned it and went to see if it was any good.
Disabling his mana regeneration was an absolute no-go. With Possession, his elementals and the artificial spirits active, it wouldnt just be 0 either, he would run an impressive deficit for a stat boost that was less than what Purgatory provided.
Granted, it would eventually grow to 50%, but the mana cost wouldnt change, and that was his main problem with it. If he could push the cost down to something like 50%, then he would consider it useful, but anything above 90% pushed him in the negative (with the other passive things costing around 10% of his mana regeneration).
John honoured the terribleness of that skill by making it the first one he added to the do not disy function of his skill list.
Next up were two books about actual martial arts. One was simply about boxing, the other an actual abyssal fighting style called Arcweaving. He picked the first one up.
So that worked and was easy enough on the requirements. He epted and was presented with a new passive.
Not the greatest thing in existence, but the pure knowledge of how to move his body more effectively was nice. He took a typical boxing stance, fist raised to protect his face, and took a few quick jabs while being light on his feet.
He stopped,rgely happy with the results and looked at his hands. Purgatory he knew would be able to resist a lot of impact, so his left hand was protected. His right, typically reserved for and currently covered by Undine, he was less certain about.
Can you make this glove as hard as your water barriers? John asked the water spirit.
Even harder, Undine promised as she poured mana into the exterior of what was her own transformed body. Physically, there was no difference, but he could feel the power flow over his skin.
Aclysia, would you mind if I punched you? John asked; Just to estimate the hardness of this glove.
I much prefer it over the reverse, Master, Aclysia answered with her typical little bow. They faced each other, and John threw a punch.
While it was far from perfect, it was at least properly aimed and used his muscles in a systematic way instead of just flinging his fist forward and hoping it would connect and do some damage. His right hit Aclysias shoulder.
He definitely felt the impact rattle his bones more than with Purgatory, but it also wasnt all that bad. It was like the difference between wearing a proper glove and just having tightly wrapped bandages over his arm. Although the bandages had the advantage of immediately healing whatever damage he had done to himself.
Surprised the rings dont get in the way though, John inspected the Ring of Ash on his left and the Ring of Fire on his right. The ck twins with the small orange gemstone on top should have done some rather mean things to his ring fingers, even if they were on top of their respective gloves.
Some extension of Gamers Body maybe? John thought. Game characters didnt usually get harmed no matter how impractical their set-up was. While he was sure that he couldnt pull an animation mistake and draw a sword through his own head, there seemed to be at least some leeway here.
At that moment, he noticed yet another window. Tinkering with new things always caused some sort of flood.
Well, he might as well check it out, even if he was certain he would not level it any time soon.
Was okay, but nothing that persuaded him to change gears.
Anyhow, he had onest book, and that one he had picked with care. It was one of the few that broke with the go to a teacher rule while also looking satisfyingly powerful and had cost him a whole 50 million dors. While that may turn out to be wasted money, John started to lose connection to value.
The fact that money was something he could just generate (and magically not cause massive intion in the process) was a slightly worrying topic, but the fact was that John didnt really have anything to use the money on. Maybe he should start a loaning business or something?
Huh, that is new, John thought. He had been under the impression that he could only acquire sses through doing things; the idea that he might have needed books or teachers in addition to other requirements had not crossed his mind.
It made sense, from a perspective of his powers. Lots of games had sses that required you to know a certain person or fulfil a quest to get ess to it. It was a bit random, but that was forgivable. The fact that the attempt was even made to force a game engine into reality was daring, and itrgely worked in Johns favour.
Well, that goes straight into my inventory, John thought and put it away. That thing would be on the backburner for a while, as he was currently using the skill levels to continue Elementalist. At the earliest, he was going to be able to use that book with level 210. That was if he got the next levels of Combination with every level of Elementalist, then stopped at level 9 of the ss and then went right on with the requirements for the Arcweaving ss.
Which wouldnt happen. The goal was to get Elementalist to 20 and make his elementals free. Afterwards, they would see what was going to happen.
His phone rang with Prussias Gloria, a ringtone he had, very tastefully, picked for Lydia. Absent-mindedly, he picked up while still checking his numbers. Where are you? As per schedule we have to arrive in the arena early. Causing trouble with organizers is impermissible! the princess immediatelyid it down on him.
Rx, I am on the frontwn, John told her and waved at the opening door.
I see, he heard Lydias voice, seeing her red lips move in the distance thanks to focusing on them. He would enjoy that Agility Perk more than he thought, he realized, as he followed every movement of the lusciously curved things.
He turned to Aclysia as he put the phone down. I will be off then, he said his goodbye.
I will follow your fight on television and prepare a vast meal for your return, his weaponized maid said with a bow.
That sounds like my victory is already assured, John said.
Aclysia stepped close and smiled at him. She ced a quick kiss on his lips, You are my Master. I believe in your victory.
And if I lose regardless? John said; there was at least one-matchup where that was a very real possibility.
In that unlikely case I will be here to soothe you, Aclysia embraced him and then danced away after he took a deep breath of her scent.
She had picked oranges for today, a scent he linked to a nice home and their early days spent in the house his mother had left them in.
I will be ready to respond to whatever mood you are in when you get back, she promised with a badly executed wink thatsted too long. Some parts of Aclysia still had problems with mimicking, it seemed. But I would be very eager to please you if you return hungry from battle, she added and then passed the rest of the grouping out of the house, her short skirt revealing her perfectly round bottom.
The greatest motivation a man could ask for.
Chapter 305 – Vs John Newman [Mario de Medici POV]
Chapter 305 C Vs John Newman [Mario de Medici POV]
I take it you can face him? Maximillian asked, prompting the Italian to smile dismissively. He had seen the man, the boypared to himself really, fight in the videos. His movements were imprecise and sluggish.
He is an amateur; all I need to do is take out his summons one by one, Mario answered with certainty as he headed for the tform. The mana under his boots was impossibly stable, a wonder that only his emperor could produce. Itll serve as a good opportunity to remind this Gamer not to oppose the Apex, the swordmaster thought, looking at the tform across the sand field as he descended.
So, what biome will it be today? Jeff asked the audience. Lets hope its not the sandy stuff again, that would be super boring!
From an entertainment standpoint, Mario was with the screechy man, but tactically, he would lose an advantage if theynded in an arena where the Gamer could hide. Despite his boasting, Mario knew full well that this John Newman fellow had more than one trick up his sleeve.
For a start, he would have to be on lookout for that shadow elemental. It would be best if their shadows never touched so that she didnt get a free pass. He could stab at the darkness to his feet, but that would leave him vulnerable to attacks from the two flying elementals.
Truly, his numbers were of far greater concern than the Gamer himself. From what Mario had seen, however, he should be fine.
Aaaand, its the small arena! Jeff announced. In response, the room around John, his golem called Momo and Mario began shrinking. The walls were closing in. Literally, as the transforming magic of the arena bent reality for the entertainment of the masses. Granted, this system was incredibly stationary and fragile, so a military usage was impossible in the first ce. The fact that it needed Fateweavers to work was also a problem.
The Knights of Rome had long since advocated for the simplifying of the arena to concentrate their slowly diminishing resources on more needed ces. The fact that he himself was willing to participate in an event that would see it strained to the limit had earned him the ire of quite a few of his colleagues.
He saw a conflict over an ancient arenas future as less important than the empires second strongest area running the risk to advocate their independence, personally.
The many swords and knives on his body rattled as he stepped towards John Newman. The smaller arena was to Marios advantage: the Gamer would have nowhere to run. In response to the swordmasters advance, John Newman stepped away from him diagonally, wanting to keep a distance between them.
His elementals were likely hanging around in their incorporeal form. Once they revealed themselves, Mario was ready to take them on. His road to victory was quite simple: he had to take out all obstructing elementals and then eliminate the Gamer.
The countdown started above. Got a new sword? John asked mockingly, back now against the wall. You know, thest one looked unsalvageable.
Mario grit his teeth for a moment but forced himself to rx. He had no idea why the Gamer wanted to taunt him, but these mage types always had some sort of scheme.
I am going to make you pay for taking glee in the destruction of my familys most precious heirloom, Mario thought, and then the fight finally began.
His charge was interrupted as he finished his second step. Several things appeared, and several more people moved at once. The light blue shimmering shell around the Gamer was encapsted by a bubble of water. Two hand-sized girls flickered into existence, one a pale green, the other fiery red, both flying at him, the support at Johns side took to the skies, andstly, a twin-tailed, Asian looking brte was attacking him frontally.
Aside from the pale one, they were all abysmally slow. Only the shadow elemental was unounted for, but he could easily guess where she was hiding. To the Gamers credit, he had been cunning to dodge to the part of the arena wall that cast the biggest shadow. Still, the options of where she could be were severely limited.
John was obviously protected, so just rushing at him was unlikely to work. That aside, one of the few things Mario had to be afraid of was that unknown fusion thing the Gamer had done before. It was literally without precedent, and the resulting elemental had been strong. Not dangerously strong, but strong enough for the swordmaster to keep out an eye for it and not get overconfident.
So, if the slow earthen spirit was already heading for him, he would take the invitation.
Two precisely thrown knives left Marios off-hand faster than they had appeared between his fingers, forcing the two flying elementals to dodge while he made his own move. He drew one of his swords, directly transforming the motion into an upwards cut.
The elementium alloy cut right through Gnomes summer dress and sliced her stone body open from waist to shoulder. Hey, no, bad, bad sword guy, very bad! an annoyingly chirpy and quick voice reached Marios ear, and he threw another knife at the source.
Sylph narrowly dodged this second one as well; the girl was fast, much faster than the rest of the enemy team. But not faster than the swordmaster, who dodged both a me strikeing his way and Gnomes flying fist.
The wound in her chest was a simple line that allowed him to see her dirt brown insides. Underneath the human surface there was nothing but earth and stone, no blood that could have flown, no flesh that could have scarred.
Regenerative abilities were obviously not part of the earth elementals repertoire as the wound stayed open and hindered her already slow movements even further. It was obvious who he would take out first now.
Weaving through slicing winds and bolts of fire, Mario kept going at Gnome. Her skin, usually more than enough to defend herself, had already shown to be useless. All she could do was try to dodge backwards, back into the shadows and the rtive safety.
Mario kept watching her movements precisely as he inflicted wound after wound. As she was attempting her leap out of range, Mario used her momentarily immobile state, the short moment between a body tensing and jumping, to execute a wide-arching strike aimed at the elementals head.
A wild st of wind, way stronger than anything he had thought that little elemental could muster, ripped his hand aside. If he had been prepared, he could still have hit his target, but as it was he had to just force his arm down in the turbulent winds.
Instead of her head, his de sunk into the elementals shoulder. Hastily readjusted as it had been, it didnt have the force to cut right through, but it left a deep cut in her shoulder and stopped her from getting out of range.
Too bad for you that you cant just immaterialize, Mario finally opened his mouth, he felt like the battle was sliding towards his favour and allowed himself a bit of cockiness. It was one of the early things a melee fighter had to be taught about when fighting mages.
There was no such thing as immediately shifting between corporeal and incorporeal. Not only was repeated shifting extremely straining on the summoned creature, but for a moment before their physical bodies vanished, their magical essence was vulnerable, even to basic physical strikes. An attack sessfullynding in that state would do critical damage.
When Gnomes hands reached for him instead of trying to leap away again, he knew something was up.The rm bells in his head only became louder once he saw the water shield around John opening, the Gamer raising his left hand. The one with the ck glove.
A red ember, no, an insect,nded on his shoulder in the meanwhile. A sting, like from an electric shock, spread from where the firefly hadnded, and his whole body was hit by a wave of weakness. They were trying to pin him down for something; he could hardly let that happen.
Whatever was about to happen had to do with that pointing hand, so all he needed to do was dodge that. Pulling the sword out would have taken too long; no risks could be taken. Mario let go of the handle and went for a deep swipe at Gnomes legs. He might as well make the best of this situation.
Above his head, a stream of pure ck energy appeared. A sword made from mana, several metres long. It was less a de than aser beam with a definite end-point. Mario realized that it wouldnt just vanish, not immediately. This had to be the same attack that the recording had shown, which, a fact that Alexej had repeatedly burned into his mind, hadsted exactly 1 second.
A second was both remarkably short and yet sufficiently long for the attack to be lowered onto Mario, who had nowhere else to go. It would be like a guillotine, but, unlike the poor people normally underneath such devices, he was still able to use his hands.
With lightning speed, he pulled two daggers from their holsters underneath his shoulders and moved them in to defend from the lowering arcane weapon. The des, magically forged and pure magic, came into contact, sparks flying everywhere. In that mere half of a second, the proficiently made weaponry started melting.
Then it was over; it was Marios turn to pull back as his position was assaulted from all directions, fire, thunder, earth and shadow alling towards him. He had to take some hits; there was no angle through where he could escape unscathed. Judging it to be the least dangerous of the iing attacks, he broke through the wall of fire into safety, discarding the now dull and deformed daggers in the process.
An unpleasant smell indicated that he had lost a fair amount of hair. I have underestimated you, Mario admitted, although he doubted that the Gamer could pull that stunt more than once; he hadnt expected this match to be such a headache.
You tend to do that, John shouted back, giving a worried nce towards Undine. I mean, you even thought you could beat Thana.
The swordmaster would have much preferred to not hear that name ever again. It seems I need to humble myself, Mario said, but His retort was cut short by noticing something falling towards him. Another arcane attack, this time some kind of bubble, identifiably weaker than thatst one.
With no intention to find out what that thing was about, Mario decided to throw a knife at it and then another right after. His body felt normal again, just as agile as ever. The two knives connected with their targets, the first one hitting the attack, causing it to explode overhead in a wave of blue and purple, while the second ripped off the wing of a sparrow.
Elementals, arcane magic, artificial spirits and now even a possessionbined with the ability to have it cast spells. Each for themselves would have been a strong ability to have. The fact that the Gamer had all of them was diforting to say the least; one day he would be a monster even amongst the upper ranks.
But for now he was still green, and Mario had to use that and the terrain advantages he had. The ground of the arena was shallow before hitting an immovable fundament, so the Gamer wouldnt be able to erect any meaningful barriers. Truly, the small arena was of great help to the swordmaster.
There was no more time to dwell, the enemy had a healer, and the fact that John Newman was wearing a glove clearly water elemental in origin meant that that healer was currently bound to him. If he wanted to take advantage of the wounds he had already caused, he couldnt loiter.
Gnome removed the sword still stuck in her shoulder, but John didnt move in to heal her. Instead, he sent a wave of numerous shards of arcane power his way. Grabbing hisst remaining, non-throwing weapon, a ymore, Mario analysed them for what they were. Dodging the purple and dark blue ones, blocking when necessary, he let his metal reinforced leather armour take the hits of the lighter shaded shards, which barely chipped his armour.
On the other side, he was promptly met by a fist of molten rock. The short time his vision had been obscured by the attack had been enough for the Gamer to use his impossible skill of fusing two elementals together, and now he was faced with the product of that.
Still, she was crawlingly slowpared to him. The fist aimed at his face was easily dodged, and Mario got a full view of the volcano elemental. She had an attractive figure, as had all of the Gamers elementals. If Mario hadnt been in the middle of a fight, he would have wondered if his opponent was the kind of summoner that slept with his familiars, but he had no time for that.
The important information here was that most of the wounds that had been covering Gnome were now also covering this fusion of her. Particrly the nasty cut in her shoulder was bleeding a river ofva down her form.
The two-handed sword he was now wielding may have slowed him down slightly, but it didnt matter against an opponent not even half as fast as himself. In many ways, it actually was going to be more suitable.
Still, the burning elemental fought cautiously, drawing their engagement out. Furthermore she had back-up in the shape of that green, bbering pest. Hey, hey, you! Yes, you! the air elemental chattered while they all fought; How dare you, yes, how double dare you to cut a girls chest! That is super not nice! You hurt Gnomy, I am not amused, yes I am not! Siena, go cut this guy!
Cut? That walking volcano in front of her had no knives, the only one who had was
Mario threw a knife at the wed hand reaching up from his own shadow before it had even properly reached out. It cut right into the hand, the swordmaster making sure it dug deeper by stepping on the handle. Sometime in the past minutes of their shing fists and des, the shadow spirit, apparently named Siena, must have gone into this sturdy girls shadow and now made it into his.
That was bad, very bad; as long as he had her hand nailed to the ground, she couldnt move too much, but he now was being attacked from above, below and the front. What was worse was the swarm of fireflies thatnded on all of them.
Once more his body felt sluggish as the conjured insect vanished, while having the opposite effect on everyone else. Sienashed at him from below, her form radiating darkness like mist from what Mario guessed to be an unleashed state. The other two synced up their attacks; he would not get out of this one by retreating.
If backwards is not an option, then I will push forward! Mario made his mental deration and pointed the tip of his ymore at the volcano elemental. His legs were covered in nasty cuts, winds caused his skin to get shed open, blood ran into his left eye. His shoulder rammed into the burning form of Smlere, seething heat only made bearable by the reinforcements in his armour.
His strategy paid off, however, as the ymore broke through Smlere. She screamed, her voice parting from one into two as Mario pulled his de up and cleaved apart her body, which disintegrated a momentter as the elemental lost the ability to maintain its physical shape, forcing its consciousness to enter a state ofa.
He had taken out two of the aggressors and kept running and hacking at his own shadow as he scrambled out a health potion. Pulling the lid off with his teeth, Mario quickly gulped it down. The sound was incredibly loudpared to the
Compared to the what?
There were no sounds anymore. Not the hammering of his boots on the sandy floor, not his sword shing at his shadow, trying to hit the elemental with his enchantments, no breathing, nothing. The only sounds he could hear were the ones of his own body working, blood rushing through his veins as the healing potion rapidly mended what wounds he himself had suffered.
He finally managed to catch Siena in his shadow, once more nailing her hand to the floor, this time by impaling her arm. Darkness swathed up like mist out of the wound, and he grabbed and forcefully ripped her out of his shadow, tossing her behind him and then taking a ready stance.
The silence prevailed.
First, Mario looked at John Newman, who was hiding behind his shields like mages loved to do. What he had expected to be the Gamers work turned out to be unlikely by the pure surprise on Johns face, quickly turning into a smirk. That cant be good for me, Mario thought, and his attention was caught by a lightning bolt flying his way.
Thrown like a spear, the thing barely missed him as he used one of the few magics he himself possessed. Without raising a single foot, he moved half a metre to the left. The attack had been fast enough to warrant that measure; magic strained him, and it was a trump card he would have much rather kept hidden. His limited mana had uses for which he would have much rather had kept it.
The source of the deafening silence found itself in the chattery, small, fairy-like air elemental. Her face a disapproving grimace of judgemental wrath, the hand-sized girl had turned into a, still fairly small, person. Mario, even if he had possessed a voice, wouldnt have had time to mock that as another lightning bolt was thrown at him like a spear.
There was no real choice here; these attacks were dangerous, and the silence was messing with his senses. What mana he had he used to activate the most basic martial art there was in the Abyss. His aura became visible to the naked eye, his body swelled with power. He may not have possessed a lot of mana, but what he had he burned fast to achieve the biggest possible bonus.
He charged around the strike of noiseless thunder, feeling heat and electricity fill the air as he stormed right at the air spirit. Much to the swordmasters astonishment, Sylph actually managed to dodge the first strike, then the second and third. A battle of speed ensued; the little girl was able to keep up with him, but he had her on the ropes, driving her back with no returning attack.
But he was just that bit faster, and that next strike would cut open her chest and tilt the bncepletely in his favour. Then the unexpected happened.
John Newman himself jumped between the two of them. A human shield, heavily defended himself, between him and the air spirit. If Mario was presented with such an easy opportunity to win, he would take it without question.
All of his mana burned in onest re of his aura, reinforcing the strength of this strike to almost double his normal capacities. The ymore cut downwards, first through the water shield and then it got it got stuck.
Marios eyes went wide as sound returned to the world, Sylph almost copsing and his own power-up petered out. Well, to your credit, you did just obliterate one thousand MP must be the hardest I have been hit since ah, not important, the Gamer chatted happily; You almost got the better of my strategy there, congrattions.
Your strategy? Mario was confused, his sword still pushing against the protective mana barrier. As far as the swordmaster had noticed, he had been on the offensive since the start. What strategy could the Gamer have had where two of his elementals were knocked out.
His sword was forced back as the water bubble returned. Sure of his victory, the Gamer left open a window to have his voice be easily heard.
Well, I knew that you were carrying a potion with you as preparation from your fight against Thana, and yesterdays video did reveal some of those magic based skills you have. Not that I didnt assume you could do that aura thing from the start, John exined. So, what do you do when your enemy obviously has things in the back of his hand? You either rush them or you exhaust them, standard value trades. Well, with your speed, I cant exactly rush you. The fact that you took out Smlere is rather surprising, but I got repaid with seeing Sylph Unleashed. I tip my hat to you, good sir.
The Gamer grinned even wider once he had finished the announced action.
And I am going to beat you up now, the Gamer said, his smile turning sour. I know we are fighting, but I still cant approve of you hurting my girls.
At that Mario could only snarl, How? Two of your elementals are out, and that Sylph girl there seems like she will blow over at any given moment. I am able to take the rest of you on quite easily.
Mario looked over the air elemental, now back to bbering while flopping around in an attempt to keep her body upright, to the shadow elemental licking the mist-like blood up with a hateful expression, to the firefly swarmed, apparently useless, monochrome girl in the sky and back to the Gamer, d only in defensive skills.
Well, who ever said that I can onlybine Gnome and Smander? John presented a question that immediately threw Mario into action.
That is impossible, he thought, contradicting his own beliefs with his actions and the cold sweat that was running down his back.
If he was able tobine all of his elementals, then this reality defying ability of his wasnt just weird. How was he supposed to n for so many differentbinations? It was utter bullshit!
In a wild frenzy, he hammered on Johns shield. Eh, only 200 mana this time. To think I used Tip for this, John shrugged inside his barrier, then he froze and mumbled into his hand; Wow, I do sound like a proper dick even though I would totally be roasted if you depleted my mana
How? How did he have this much mana?! There should have been no barrier on that level that was able to withstand so many attacks. The truth, Alexejs theory that it was that golem of the Gamer, came toote to him.
Hiiiii, a new voice chirped and ripped Mario out of his frenzy and caused him to jump right away.
She was only the slightest bit taller than Sylph, wore a ck dress with lots and lots of green frills, pale at the neckline and flowing into a dark shade at the end of her short skirt. The long sleeves and stockings covered most of her skin. Deadly pale of tone, it contrasted with the dark, greyish green of her hair.
Can I cut you? she asked menacingly, her voice manifested sadism. Her left darted forwards; the fingers had only two segments and were basically only long des on joints. She was fast, worse, she was faster than him. Not by a lot, if he had still had all of his powers, he could have taken her on, but the Gamer was right.
He had exhausted his resources, ground them against what he thought to be a sure victory. Nobody should have this many skills! he mentallyined as he felt this new elemental dig five lines through his armour, his flesh and itching their width into his rips.
Those ws were sharper than his armour could ount for. He whirled around, this new enemy was a bigger threat than the Gamer himself could be. The road to victory was still there, it just got a whole lot narrower.
Hihihihi, the gothic looking girl opened her mouth. Between her sharp teeth, her eight canines gleaming dangerously like fangs, darted out her tongue and licked the blood off her ws.
Sorry, I just did it without waiting for an answer, but you look so tasty, ah, delicious, delicious fear, you know you are fucked right? Oh, yes, yes you do, yes you dooooo, this nightmarish thing just babbled on as it tasted his blood as if it was the finest wine; Ah, that look on your face is so nice, I just want to cut it off and put it on a frame!
Suddenly, she moved at him again, Can you bleed some more for me? His answer was a quickly whirled around sword. The ymore, previously to his advantage, now became a deadweight. The enormous weapon was too slow for this contest of speed.
You know, I reaaalllyyyy hate you? Small cuts, aimed to inflict pain rather than cripple him, spread over his body. You hurt Sally and Smander and Gmean and Gnome and Smlere and simr. The cut above his eye, which had been healed by the potion earlier, was now reced by a new one. And now you want to pull off a little game? Let me show you a little game!
This entire time this impossible elemental had only been attacking him with her wed left, her right, normal, hand had remained unsteady. She still wasnt using it, but her high-heeled foot flew through the air as she delivered a spin-kick to his head.
The world was ringing bells and sharp pain as he flew to the side. Hihihihihi, the vampire-esque spiritughed andpped up yet more of his blood. Do you feel it yet? Sure, yes, sure you do? Want to see the knives? Let me show you the knives!
The schadenfreude of his opponent was staggering. However, Mario was faced with a stroke of luck: he had been catapulted right next to where his one-hander was. Recovering, he quickly went for the weapon and darted off as stilettos pierced through the air where he had just been.
Ah, you run so well, you bleed so well, if I wasnt in love already, I would like you, but you hurt my friends, so I will hurt you! Like she needed any excuse to hurt him. Mario was quite able to identify a totally mental person when he saw one, just took a bit ofmon sense.
She waved her right, a thick trail of darkness appearing and then quickly manifesting into a new wave of stilettos flying at him. She did it two times, and then nothing happened, Oh, oops, out of mana, my bad, totally helpless now, this sucks! Whatever will I doo-dilidy-doooo, hihihi.
Her ck lips contorted into a pouting expression. It didnt take a genius to smell the trap, but he had no other openings, so he went for it. He had managed to gather up the slightest bit of mana again, enough to power him up for this one assault.
If he didnt seed in taking her out now, it was game over.
You have seen the knives, the elemental bbered, now let me show you the scythe of vice. All shadows inside the arena suddenly started moving. Breaking physics itself, all ces where, by right of the angle of the sun and other light sources, there should have been a shadow suddenly found themselves robbed of that privilege.
The worlds depth became harder to grasp as all of its darker parts were removed, as if someone had taken a picture maniption tool and forcefully evened out the light levels. The shadows converged on a single, pitch ck spot.
Then the power of darkness was unleashed. Eyes of a glowing, sulphuric yellow now were on top of a sclera of pitch ck; the singrity of shadows became a scythe. I am Unleashed, the elementalughed and whirled the scythe at Mario.
A scythe was a terribly impractical weapon; all he needed was to knock it away, and he was free to attack the elemental. Afterwards, he could finally deal with John.
But the curved de simply passed through his de and then pulled through him. There was no wound, no cut, nothing, yet he experienced pain. As a knight of Rome, he had gone through terrible training, realistic torture situation, to make sure he would keep the secrets of the eternal city until hisst day.
Yet, he was screaming now. It was as if someone was ripping out his veins where the scythe had hit and recing them with an amalgamate of neurotoxins and molten metal. Worse yet, it spread from there outwards, making each passing moment more painful than thest.
He barely noticed that he hit the ground; he was too busy hoping that the pain wouldnt reach his head. Just the imagination of what this would feel like behind his eyes was already driving him mad in pain.
Aww. He barely even noticed the voice, but he concentrated on it. Even if it was sadism made sound, it was still better to think about than this pain. You look so cute now, but I need to end this before I split, so lets make this easy. Imagine you are a very, very mushroom looking poor little thing and I am an Italian plumber in a Japanese video game.
The hell was she on about? Is what Mario would have thought if he still had the capability to think instead of groan and scream in agony.
Dada-daa-dada-daaaaaa, his tormentor sung a little tune and then jumped on his head with her heeled feet.
Mario, hearing someone in the Apothecary camp screaming for painkillers, wished he could pass out. What had just happened?
Lydia: 6, Maximillian: 7
Chapter 306 – The victor takes the maid
Chapter 306 C The victor takes the maid
John looked at his nearly depleted mana bar and then checked out Momos, while Edge was separating in the background. Together they had a total of 300 MP remaining. Between the Shardbound uses, sending the elementals mana and finally the hits he had willingly taken, his mana had dropped like the voice of a kid entering puberty.
So, in total, he had lost 2 elementals, his daily damage cooldown, needed to use two Combinations and sacrifice around 5000 mana to beat someone almost twice his level. If Marios toolkit hadnt been so extensively melee centric and bad at dealing with multiple opponents, John would have run into bigger problems.
I should do something about this, John thought as he headed for the lift. Having my status be binary C mana equalling extremely strong and no mana equalling a loss C is a problem maybe I could get something that transforms health into mana?
When he jumped back on their actual tform, he was greeted by his girlfriend jumping at him like a hug-addicted spider-monkey.
Whoa, calm down there, Johnughed as Rave energetically hugged. In truth he didnt want her to stop at all.
She gave him a wide smile, That was awesome, tiger!
To think that you would be able to win against a knight of Rome, Lydia shook her head in disbelief. I am still underestimating you, it appears.
Its because I am a walking group, from healer, to tank, John said. Although this whole thing would have been way easier with Aclysia around as well but I couldnt really have won without Momo
Without Momos mana he wouldnt have been able to apply pressure and pull that blocking stunt. Then again, with Aclysia he probably wouldnt have needed to. Not that the question which of the two he would rather have with him was of any worth even. While in this tournament, he only had Momo, outside, he had both, and eventually he would be left with only Aclysia.
Now, lets hurry home! John said and went into quick-stepping his way out of the arena.
What are you in such a fucking hurry about? Thana asked, needing to jog due to her short legs. Also stop being such a giant, pussy-chasing bastard!
Well, Aclysia told me she would have me when I win, John said.
Hystericalughter reached his ears, Thats your reason?! You can fuck her whenever you want, balls-for-brains.
Yes, he confirmed, but there is something way different about just fucking and having sex after winning. I am super turned on right now.
The fact that Aclysia was gently denying him ess to her thoughts also had his curiosity spiked. His steps hastened even more.
Once home, he burst into the building and was greeted by Aclysias voice filling his spirit, Find me upstairs.
Going to be back in like 30 minutes, I guess! he rushed his words along.
That is in mother metals name okay, meeting at 8 PM! Lydia shouted after him.
Have fun! Rave added.
It seemed she either had enough training to do to not have time for a threesome or just wanted to give Aclysia the solo time for once. Thana was of another mind, but John heard Momo bribing the blood mage with sweets if she let her beloved sister have this.
The fact that he was now unhindered in his pursuit of Aclysias ass meant that it must have worked. He flew up the stairs and then up the second one as he heard the guardians voice lure him into the bathroom.
The sight that was presented to him upon entering was exactly what his perverted mind hade up with. The hot air was humid and pregnant with the lustful smells of jasmine, sandalwood and rosewater. To not have the strong, artificial light from themp ruin the mood, an extra shade had been mounted on it, drenching everything into a nice twilight.
The soft shadows fell on the source of the smells and the focus of Johns eyes as he absent-mindedly kicked the door closed behind him. Aclysia was on her knees on the tiled floor,pletely naked. Her slender figure was still as beautiful as the day John told her to take it.
Actually, John noticed that she hadnt kept that form in its totality. Without him needing to say a thing, she had made small adjustments to herself, subtle changes like a slight increase of the perkiness of her breasts or the width of her waist.
The reason why he had never noticed until now was because she was modelling herself with his romantic view and his sexual memories of her in mind. She wanted to be the perfect vision he had of her. Therefore, she had just be what he had thought of her in the first ce.
That didnt mean that her body was some universal perfect, there was no such thing, just that she strived to be the best version of her physical form in Johns eyes. It was a process that would never be finished, subjective perfection was unattainable, but she was striving for it anyway.
It was an unspoken statement that she would serve him even beyond what he himself asked of her. For that, this unnecessarily self-challenging gesture, he loved her even more.
Aclysia bowed forwards, kowtowing in front of him. Forehead resting on her hands on the floor, she took a subjugating position. Wee home, master, she spoke and raised her head again. If you will have me, I would love to take care of your rxation now.
That was a bit oddly worded, but John nodded. Aclysia gracefully rose from her kneeling position and walked over, a shadow ying in the valley between her modest breasts. The inventory screen opened, the attempt to disrobe was made. Gently, his maid and lover took his hand.
Please, let me, she said and undid the buttons of his suit. Thanks to the enchantments on the vest, dust didnt stick to his upper body; the same could not be said about his pants, however. Aclysia didnt mind, she freed him off his vest with methodical movements.
John wasnt tired enough to warrant such care from Aclysia, but he would have lied if he said he wasnt enjoying this. Not only did she do all of this for him, but she did it in a way that he knew that he was the master here.
She folded the jacket and put it into a basket near the door, bowing forwards in the process and giving him a nice view of her impable ass. Her fair skin stretched fully over the peach shaped pillow of flesh-like material, the gap between them perfect to grind a cock on.
The confinements of his pants were worse than a high security prison, and from the wetness he spied, trickling from her pussy, he knew that he was not alone in the struggle to keep his emotions in check. Truly, he could have just fucked her against the wall with pure animalistic desire right then, but something told him that wasnt the way to go.
Maybe it was how Aclysia had put all of this together just for him, maybe because he had just had enough of instinctual hip-shaking or maybe this was just speaking to his light sadism, particrly the domination aspect. Whatever was true, he was currently intoxicated with the feeling of just being served. The awareness, of how every single one of Aclysias movements were meant to satisfy him and only him, provided more pleasure than he had thought possible when there was no single touch involved.
Aclysia went back and unbuttoned his shirt. Biting her lower-lip as she looked at her creators body, she muttered, You have grown so much, Master. I thought you attractive when I first was able to feel such a thing, and yet you have be so much more. Her hands glided over his muscr chest and between his shoulders and shirt, pushing it downwards.
John didnt have the patience to wait for her to fold it again, the moment his upper body was disrobed, he tossed the crumpled-up shirt to the side. Then his hand went up to Aclysias chin.
You have be so much more yourself, Aclysia, he only needed to whisper to be heard perfectly in the quiet bathroom; On the day I made you, never did I imagine that you would be a person in your own right. Devout to me as you are, you are not afraid to talk sense to me. If Jane is the light in my life, then you are the electricity that keeps us running.
Not the most romantic of metaphors, but Aclysiaughed. Quietly, but clearly there. It was a seldom heard sound; she only everughed when he was being awkward. Like perfectly forged little Christmas bells, it reverberated inside him and put into ce whatever may have been misced inside him. If that was what he stood to gain, John would be awkward forever.
He leaned in and kissed her. The erotic smells filled his mouth with a pleasant, earthy taste that sent shivers over his naked skin and made his remaining clothes feel like ayer between himself and true freedom. The moment their kiss ended, Aclysia quickly liberated him.
Feeling and sharing his impatience, the artificial guardian took all of the remaining clothes down with one quick stroke and, after a bit of hesitation where her wish for orderliness rang with her desire, tossed them all in the basket.
Please, step into the shower, Master, Aclysia invited him. Let us remove the sweat of the day. That sounded rather nice, so he stepped inside. Everything was done for him; the weaponized maid made sure his every part was clean, first by scrubbing him down in the running water, perfectly adjusted in temperature for him, and then by soaping him up.
Three times she stopped the shower to do so. The first time, she caressed his hair, making sure that none of the shampoo entered his eyes as the only thing he could see was her smile. The second time, shethered her hands in the liquid cleansing and spread it evenly all over him.
Massaging the stiffness from his shoulders, making sure that every part of his hairless body (Rave had made her preference on the matter quite clear, and thanks to Abyssal products, it wasnt taxing to keep it that way) was clean.
But it wasnt until the third time that she finally reached for his cock. Your tool will need great care, master, Aclysia softly spoke, kneeling in front of him in the shower. Her breath felt cool on his hard cock, wet not only from water.
She graciously poured soap into her left hand and, after putting the bottle aside, rubbed both of them together until some bubbles formed. Then she reached out. Starting by fondling his balls and the area around his cock, she continued to purr in her sexy voice, I will make sure that you are ready to please every single girl that you decide to grace with your seed.
Seems to me that you are setting yourself up to receive it as soon as possible, John said and then moaned as Aclysia finally ran her hand up his shaft. Soap, water and pre-cum mixed under the firm grip of first one, then two hands sliding up the whole length. She polished his head with circr motions for a moment before moving back down and answering.
It is my greatest honour, to be of use however you see fit, Master, she poured.
How about you use your mouth? John gasped and reached for her head. He got a rather unpleasant sting of disapproval and pulled back. I am ACTUALLY cleaning you, Master, my mouth is not the best tool for that outside of erotic context, came the Artificial Spirits answer.
What about what you just said? Johnined.
A truth, if you insist, I will use my mouth, Aclysia smiled, but if you may let me service you to the best of my ability, I promise you will not regret it.
That put a slight damper on his feeling of being in control, but she just did what she thought was best for him. Hygiene is very important with how much you sleep around, John. However she managed to make that sound sexy, he did not care to find out. All that mattered was that she kept polishing his rod with her soap lubricated hands.
She was picking up the speed as well; soon, John felt his balls tighten. His seed flew forwards,nding on Aclysias face and open mouth as she continued to jerk him for the whole duration. Aclysia couldnt help but moan at the perverted taste that she hade to automatically link with a bunch of uing orgasms.
Another rinsingter, Aclysia guided him out of the shower and over to the bathtub. John loved the mansion for the fact that every bathroom was equipped with both a shower and a group-sized bathtub. Really, it was practically a jacuzzi. Still no whirlpool function, much to his dismay, but the general idea was one he would definitely steal for whatever base he was going to build one day.
The bath had been running while he had been showering. Once more, all in Aclysias service to make the water asfortable for him as possible. He sank inside with a rxed exhale, You are the best, even if you can be a bit bossy sometimes. You probably picked that up from Lydia.
Her majesty does get what she wants, and I get to take care of you, John, Aclysia whispered into his ear from behind before climbing into the bathtub as well. Please, just rx and let me take care of all the remaining tension in your body.
As she had massaged most of it away and what remained was currently getting untangled by the warm water, there was really only one area that she could have meant by that. Straddling over his hips as he sat up to the chest in the water, she sheathed his long cock with well-trained motions.
Soon, her up and down motions were creating waves in the bathtub, moaning as she impaled herself over and over again. John kept his hands to himself, for once, and just enjoyed the spectacle. The whole course of this thing had been low effort on his part, and Aclysia seemed to derive just as much pleasure from it as he did.
Her glistening breasts, wet from the shower and water sttering up due to her own over-enthusiastic motions, heaved under heavy breaths. Skin flush with excitement and lust, her green eyes gazed downwards.
John fell into the emeraldkes as their shared sensations unfolded. Their bodies were only connected with his dick plunging into her quivering crotch, but their minds reached out and intermingled. Each time their hips met, their ecstasy went higher and higher, their spirits were driven closer.
No amount of contact could have emted theplete oneness in orgasm that they shared. Two bodies with one orgasm, beyond anything a single body should be able to experience. Seed pumping up his shaft, he let loose inside of Aclysia, whose whole being was quivering.
Spurt after spurt painted the guardians insides white as she screamed at the ceiling with ear-shattering lust. Her body was tense with the orgasmic pleasure until it was suddenly over.
John managed to catch her before she fell into the water. Quite sorry, Master, she said, quickly regaining control of herself. Shall we continue?
Whenever you are ready. John smirked. Wouldnt want you to exhaust yourself.
For you, my victorious Master, I will be going to the edge of my capabilities, Aclysia leaned forwards to kiss him again.
Chapter 307 – The order going forward.
Chapter 307 C The order going forward.
John was catapulted on his back and admitted defeat by just lying there. Wheezing breaths left his lungs as he inhaled the cold of winter and exhaled the heat of exhaustion. Raveughed and threw herself down at his side.
Well, youre getting better s-l-o-w-l-y, she spelled out.
And you are able to keep that thing up longer, John answered. What they were talking about was their fighting practice. John, having fought and beaten one of the enemies strongest members, didnt really feel the need to focus on EXP grinding at this time.
That train of thought was reinforced by the fact that the patch was supposed to be done soon. Afterwards, he could get into Assaults as much as he wanted and have it count for something.
So instead, John went ahead and helped everyone else in their training. Nia had been pouty (another discovery: if the nk felt passed over, her lower lip moved forward a bit) because he was no longer supplying her with Soulpotions, but he had given her so much that she should have been working on her fine motor skills instead of chugging down more of those.
Also, she had the backing of the Horned Rat. There had to be other ways for her to get stronger.
Lydia was still doing her own thing. While asionally brawling with Nathalia, Thana hadrgely foregone Soulburn now, saying she had gotten as great a handle on it as she thought she could. So, the only person he could really train with was his girlfriend, which was a nice excuse to get some more alone time.
Why did ya go with boxing anyway? Rave asked after a minute passed with them staring at the cloudy sky.
Because its straightforward, John answered, Gamers Body having restored his stamina by now; I dont want something about the use of my opponents movements or something; it would get in the way with Mana Protection. Also, I want to fight like I live, honest whenever I can and cheat whenever I must. Boxing sounds perfect for that.
That is so corny, Raveughed and rolled on her side, warmth seeping through her clothes to his side; I like it though; the whole evil schemes thing shouldnt be my boyfriends style.
Hey, I will scheme when I need to! John made clear. I just wont make backstabbing my main line of work. I want to win, and honesty is important in the long run.
However ya want to twist it, she purred into his ear, yfully biting his earlobe before getting back on her feet; Lets continue!
Eh, we only have 10 more minutes, John informed her. The team meeting regarding their ongoing strategy wasing up.
Aw, shucks, Rave mumbled; I was having fun beating ya up.
I am sure I make for quite the nice sandbag, Johnughed.
Yes, ya do, she confirmed, sticking out her tongue in a cheeky manner. With your videogame body, sheer endless pain tolerance and other bs.
You forgot to mention Undines healing, without which this light beating could turn out quite deadly, John pointed out. That was literally the only downside John had discovered about Gamers Body. Little punches, that would have dealt literally nosting damage to the whole of a normal body, could kill him if there was just enough of them as they all dealt 1 damage.
Instead of death by a thousand cuts, it would be death by a thousand pokes at the shoulder. A highly unlikely scenario but something that should be kept in mind. It was important to know oneself and the enemy.
Anyway, why dont you help me with this? John asked and pushed his hand into his inventory. What he pulled out was a green poker chip, the second of the four upgrade tokens he had been promised to exist.
He quickly informed Rave what it did and then asked her, What should I use it on?
Your underwear, she instantly answered. I need your swimmers to be protected, tiger.
Wow, baby-crazy all of a sudden? he wondered.
Nah, but if anyone is going to break your dick its me! Rave dered. And if we ever want to have kids, ya better not have been ruined by one of your dungeon encounters being a boss that specializes kicking ya in the nuts.
Dont give Gaia ideas, John pleaded and did as she suggested, sliding the Token into his pants. After a few seconds of pressing it against the Preserver, it vanished underneath his fingers, and he was presented with a new window.
Rave still couldnt see his windows, so he had to read the choices to her. Fighters Will and Magus Clothes were the same asst time, Lovers Control had reced the choice to upgrade current attributes (although it also did that).
Personally, he would have went with Magus Clothes this time, but Raves choice in the matter was rather predictable. Go with the first one, she demanded, in line with her earlier logic. John hesitated.
Magus Clothes was the better choice here, just because 5% more Intellect was way more useful in most circumstances than protecting him from a kick to the balls. However, he got Intellect bonuses rather easily from the rest of his equipment. Even just getting done with this upgrade would give him 2,5% to both Intellect and Wisdom, thanks to having picked that as a per set piece bonus for his vest.
So, instead of looking at what was strictly better in the circumstance, he asked himself if he wanted a bonus that everything could give him or a bonus that only this specific item could get him. From that angle, getting his balls protected was the reasonable choice.
Okay, I picked it, John said and then checked out what exactly these two new attributes even did.
Exactly what he subscribed for, but nothing else.
That was tremendous! That meant he would no longer have to consider the weather when he thought about wearing the suit. Glory be upon Gaia, letting him run around in this thing on the hottest of days and the coldest of nights. Sadly not during acid showers, though, it seemed.
Then he read the next choices to Rave; there still was the set-specific bonus to pick.
No idea there, Rave shrugged.
Well, I have some, John mused and picked Gamers Familiarity. Afterwards he exined his reasoning to his girlfriend. He now had 5 Possession Slots (3 from Possession being at level 100, 1 from Puppeteer and now another 1 from the item).
That number was important, since it allowed him to make Jack (who he had fixed with Craft after the match with Mario) and another object of his choice a Spellcarrier. It wasnt cheap on his mana, but it enabled him to pull some more shenanigans without the need to invest more into Puppeteer in the near future.
So nerd reasons, gotcha, Rave poked fun at him and opened the door.
Inside, Lydia was already sitting on her chair at the top end of the table. Of the other participants, only Momo had found her way there already, being in her usual reading spot. Thana at least was already in the room, throwing chips into her face while watching Metalocalypse. That was a break from her usual genre.
This shit is brutal, Thana said to John as he raised a questioning eyebrow, peoples faces melting off in the background. I love it.
Leaving that withoutment, he and Rave went over to the table. The second the clock struck 8PM, Nia came into the room with hovering steps.
The remaining three single fights are before us, Lydia opened the meeting. With that in mind, we need to get an order together, preferably one thats us the highest number of wins. How do you all feel about your progress?
Rave went ahead and started reporting, Well, I am doing good. Got the part about Unleashing Copernicus down, pretty much, so I wouldnt be against going first. One or two more days should allow me to get a bit farther though.
Lydia looked over to Nia. My instructor tells me my progress is good, but it wont be enough to win right now, the nk simply said, eyes staring straight ahead.
Are you requesting to be cedst, then? Lydia inquired. The blonde nodded, and the princess sighed.
I myself feel rather good about my progress but am not quite yet at a point where I feelfortable using my new range inbat. Another few days would be necessary, Lydia crossed her arms. Lets formte this another way then: Rave, could you win against your mother in your current state?
No I dont think so, the lightbearer muttered, disheartened. One more day and she might have a chance, Copernicus meowed as he jumped at the table. It would be a victory bought entirely on surprise at her sudden growth, but a victory nheless.
I will face Maximillian, without a doubt. He will not be able to deny himself that symbolic opportunity, Lydia closed her eyes as she thought about the predicament. We all need more time. Someone will have to sacrifice their fight to buy it, it appears.
The room stayed silent as they let the princess formte her n. John would have sent Nia out there first. She was going to fight the goblin Ankleshanker, by pure virtue of him being the least magic reliant. Her chances were not that great.
I will do it myself, Lydia opened her eyes, the determined grey inside leaving no room for doubt. My fight against Maximillian is unlikely to end in my favour, one or two more days will not change that fact. Let it be, thusly, that I will buy us more time. Rave, you will have to fight after me. Nia, as you wished, you will best.
That worked as well. Welp, John stretched. There is another factor that could work to our advantage here.
And what would that be? The princess forehead wrinkled as she asked.
Games, he smirked with a raised finger.
Id almost rather lose than be saved by that stupid tradition, Lydia spat out. Whoever thought of tho- she took a deep breath, calming herself down; Before I begin another rant and waste everyones time, please continue your training.
The whole meeting had been rather short, but necessary nheless. So, wanna let me bash your head in some more? Rave asked.
It would be my honour, John rolled his eyes, but I will make my prime objective to grope your ass!
His girlfriendughed and pped his own. Typical sexist female behaviour! Johnined as they headed towards the arena.
Chapter 308 – Princess of… Architecture?
Chapter 308 C Princess of Architecture?
A game, people, WE C WILL C HAVE C A C GAAAAAAAAAMEEEE! Jeff shouted, rising from his seat as he raised on fist in the air. A rather dangerous manoeuvre while on a flying desk, and sure enough, he stumbled and fell off. Wow, wow, wow, I am getting so hyped I am losing the ground under my feet! he continued to talk into his microphone while barely holding onto the edge of the tform.
Dra took a sip of his beverage before moving in to help his co-host.
You owe me 10 bucks, Jane, John, who had bet on this happening, told his girlfriend. She sighed, and Lydia sent both of them annoyed nces.
Dont start pissing out of your eyes, anal queen, Thanaughed. This works out in our favour, does it not?
I suppose although it depends on what the game is, Lydia begrudgingly admitted.
So, Magoi Magus, would you do the honours!
Most certainly, John heard the familiar voice of the high Fateweaver, muffled through his raptor skull mask, echo through the Colosseum. The magical screens above showed him putting his top hat straight, and then his walking stick cked once on the floor.
The sand of the arena below rippled in response, casting waves and then bing a grassy in. Magois stick hit the floor a few more times; each time something appeared in the arena. Wood of different colours, metals, magical lights and other stuff that looked dangerously like it would be used in the construction of something. All of it appeared twice, at the centre of the two halves of the arena.
In the meanwhile, thementators exined what was going on. Today, our teams will square off in a rousing contest of building houses! Jeff tried to make it as exciting as possible.
Not exactly houses, Dra corrected. Asking the teams to just build a house would take a long time. Instead, they are going to put a fa?ade on a temte of their choosing. The winner is whoever builds what the judges find more pleasing.
Aaaaaaaaand here are our judges! Jeff added after the, in his opinion, boring part was over; Number 1, the greatest Fateweaver of them all: Gehnigm!
I will judge as I want, the distinctly Chinese voice answered.
Number 2, the current king of Germany, Frederikus Rex, Frederik the Great!
I find yo- the old king started but then began coughing into whatever microphone he currently held; Sorry, your use of title disturbing. Anyhow, here is hoping that my granddaughter can actually produce something worth looking at.
Last but by no means least, which I truly and absolutely mean because he cant be the least of anything because he is the first, the Apex, the great emperor himself, Romulus! Jeff got thest announcement done.
I demand that what you build be aesthetically pleasing, Romulus stated. Few things annoy me more than badly designed buildings. This game is worth one point. Now that was an unexpected side to the emperor. Then again, he probably made the blueprints for all of Rome himself, so there was somewhat of an architect inside him.
Thinking more on it, John realized that designing a city that had been standing for at least three thousand years by himself made him the most experienced architect in history. His re into the camera, unwavering and unnerving, was also a clear statement that he was not joking.
You never know the hobbies people have, John thought as both teams stepped on their respective elevators. At a flick of the emperors fingers, the battleground was separated into the two halves again. The same Elementium wall that had been used for the mirror match game, although the crystal had been removed and its socket been left empty.
Above the wall, an illusionary mirror appeared that prevented anyone from peeking over the barrier. Romulus really didnt want them to spy on each others works.
John redirected his attention to the building materials. It was insane what Fateweavers could do inside Illusion Barriers given time. They were basically gods in their spaces, with the drawback of not being particrly great at doing battle. Remaking thendscape didnt help much if that was your only weapon, especially as that ability wasnt on the fast side. There had to be more downsides that John just wasnt aware of though.
The time allocated for each team is 1 hour, Dras voice was slowly fading. During that time, the contestants can neither hear ourmentary nor see what the other team is up to.
Lets go, fo- Jeffsst shout became just white noise and then vanishedpletely.
Okay, lets build a giant fucking tower of as much shit as we can p together! Thana said and grabbed a steel beam, lifting it with one hand as if it was a stick at the side of the road.
Are ya stupid? We should build something nice and fuzzy! Rave went against that blood mage and went over to the piles of cloth. John, can ya give me a hand in making this pinker somehow?
I cant because we clearly should build a castle! John dered. I am thinking Lydias airport thing. Oldschool yet modern. He turned over to the princess who was passing by Nia, nkly staring ahead like usual, and going towards Thana.
She pped the blood mage on the wrist, who only gave an irritated nce in response. Pain was a highly ineffective punishment here. Drop it! Lydia then verbally demanded. Just once, you pack of chaotic plebeians, you shall follow mymand.
It wasnt a request. Lydia was whirling around a whip, that she had formed from her rapier, while assuming a highly militaristic tone. For the purpose of this exercise, she seemed to have dropped all friendly feelings she had for her team and went back to the stuck-up princess she had been before. While that didnt sound exactly pleasant, John had to admit that it was the best way to go about things.
Hey, can ya pull that stick out of yo- Rave didnte to another conclusion, namely that she really didnt like that tone. However, she was stopped by Lydia throwing a steel beam at her. Rave went cat ears and caught it. Unlike Thana, she didnt have an easy time keeping the thing in the air, but she still could do it without the threat of falling under the weight.
You will obey my orders for the duration of this exercise. I will not be shamed in front of my grandfather, and much less will I lose a point because of your perpetualints about your individuality. This is war, your freedoms are secured for peace, Lydias little speech had the intended effect, and the two troublemakers of their group, Thana and Rave, epted that they had to do asmanded for once.
Typical German mindset, collective first, individualter, preferably the next fucking generation, Thana couldnt keep herself from taking at least a little jab. Lydia was able to ignore that much. Her assumingmand came with at least a reasonable degree of freedom.
We will need a foundation; a simple tower of stacked stone blocks will suffice. Remember, only the facade is important, so the means by which we stabilize the construction on the inside is non-reflective on the final rating, the princess started ordering everyone around, drawing lines in the ground by bending part of a steel beam into a plough.
For every area she left instructions on what should be ced there and who should do it. Of course, Thana did most of the heavy lifting, and John was pretty much delegated to doing next to nothing, only carrying smaller blocks or lighter materials. He did provide a workforce for the cutting and carrying in the form of his elementals though.
Eventually, they stood in front of a middle-sized tower. Although tower made it sound more impressive than it was. In reality, it was a properly stable stack of blocks with a pyramid on top, almost exclusively stone.
Good, Lydia seemed pleased with the result, at least; Onto the details. First off, I will need you to meld together the blocks, can you do that, Gnome?
S-sure, if John gives me the mana th- the stone elemental gave a hasty surprise and then yelped when she bit her tongue.
then she is sure she can do it, John finished the sentence for her and sent Undine over to stop the pain.
Afterwards, Gnome gave a series of shamed little nods, that became self-assuring nods, that became fist-shaking and mutters of You can do this!, that became a deep blushing as Smander made her aware of the fact that she was talking to herself. All that while she went over to the tower and did as asked.
Now they had an even-surfaced tower. Can you make the top nted instead of stepped? Lydia asked of Gnome. It was done, and now they had an obelisk. Progress, but still not exactly a great building.
That was when Lydia gestured for all of them to gather. The ferforitum of her household weapon became a 3D-model in the air, and John finally realized the strategy here. The building in front of him was beautiful, a modernistic styled tower with a nted ceiling that was made out of many individual arches built on top of each other.
Windows were aesthetically arranged to wonderfully align with the unique way the outer walls were set up, as each side had three rounded segments that ended in the arched parts of the ceiling. The entrance was inside a dent at the foot of one of the corners. In colours, itrgely kept to white and silver, with the asional ck or gold frame.
The thing actually looked like it would have been better off as a skyscraper, but it would work at their current size as a very borate corner building. John looked from the model over to the stack of blocks they had.
All we have to do is carve it down, paint it, put in sses and all that, he noted and checked his clock. And all of that in 45 minutes. Well then, lets go at it.
I will paint all the frames, the best frames, all the frames, the best frames, I will frame them. With the mightiest frames they shall be doored! Sylph chirped when she was assigned painting duty together with Smander.
Gnome continued the melding process, which cut down the work for Siena, who carved out the areas where windows should be with her fingernails. Thana and Rave put said windows in, Nia helped wherever she wasnt in the way (she had no particr skills that helped here). John himself just coordinated his elementals.
Undine turned out to be pretty good at painting: she just covered herself in paint and then flowed over whatever surface needed colouring. She did, however,ment that it made her feel sick and it tasted like bleach, so she much rather only did it when it was absolutely needed. That wish was granted by Lydia, so they only used her for extremely big or very detailed surfaces.
The princess herself was not without work either, putting metal where it belonged and urging everyone on to continue working for the whole duration of the game. Good thing as well, the time was nearly up when she walked around their creation to point out any final ws.
I mustpliment you all, she said as she was almost done; You have fulfilled your individual roles perfectl- Why is there a cat drawn on that window? It was a rather good depiction, not perfect but certainly at an artistic level of skill, of a white cat with ck head and paws, one of which it licked.
Everyone looked at Nia. It is cute, the nk said like that justified everything.
It doesnt match the theme! Lydia spoke in a stern tone. Take it down immediately, we dont have a lot of time left!
And thats the end of our contestants time! Jeff shouted.
Lydia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, Curses be upon you, Murphy. Then she just gave Nia onest, poisonous nce with her steel eyes.
Lets mix things up and start with team 2, the hyped announcer spoke into his microphone;
Supreme Fateweaver, what do you think of this building?
The sound of a microphone getting picked up, and then a voice that was too close forfort answered. Its okay. The microphone was put back down.
What a ringing endorsement, Dra drilymented, sipping his ginger ale. Well, what does the current king of Germany have to say?
A wonderful disy of the art deco style, the old and dying voice seemed reinvigorated as he spoke about art. Modernistic, truly marvellous use of arches, I dont quite like the door cement, but that cat in the window really brings the look together, makes it seem lively.
Nias whole upper body slowly turned, John imagined he could hear an old metal construct squeaking along as she did, and she emptily stared at Lydia. It seems my judgement has been misguided, the princess averted her gaze nervously. That was a first, apparently even Lydia could notpletely resist the weirdness that Nia radiated. Either that or she had a guilty conscience. Or both.
Indeed, a good one. I am especially impressed by the fact that the princess of steel managed to get her team together, Romulus said. John thought he must have misheard for a second, the emperor had offered apliment.
Now, Maximillian on the other hand, a snap of the emperors fingers and the sight-hindering illusion fell aside.
Behind, they could see not one building but several unfinished ones. It seemed Maximilian and Alexej had started apletely oversized pce that they couldnt possibly have gotten done in an hour, especially not with only gravity powers at their disposal. While Mario had been helping with that idea, his style was distinctly Roman, which went not that well with the former two having been building more of an enlightenment period pce.
Then Nariko hade along and pped a traditional Japanese wing onto it, also not finished. The camera revealed a copy of a clearly western, romance era painting in there, which had the usual out of ce feeling that Nariko and her husband seemed to connect over.
The only thing that was done in that whole mess was a statue of a naked gobliness, fingering her own cunt with one hand while making an alluring gesture with the other. At the base of which Ankleshanker stood, cleaning his fingernails.
This is a disgrace, Romulus thundered; John could practically hear a crack appearing in Maximillians ego.
I have nothing to add, the voice of Frederik had reverted to his old, decrepit state.
The shrill sound of a microphone getting mishandled, followed by It is NOT okay, made the supreme Fateweavers opinion clear as well.
And so the game was decided in Lydias favour.
Chapter 309 – the game gets a little harder.
Chapter 309 C the game gets a little harder.
John, a spoonful of soup hovering in front of his open mouth, stared at the window with annoyance. Whats up? Rave asked. Ya look like Gaia just sent you nudes and it turned out she was a trap all along.
He decided to let the spoon finish its journey and move the soup into his bowels before answering. Well, Gaia decided to nerf my shit once more, he stated and checked that new feature he got.
Yeah, thats pretty bad he mumbled to himself, then exined what exactly had been changed to the rest of the crew. Currently, all elementals were active, so, together with the Artificial Spirit costs, he would pay 35% of his mana regeneration at any given moment. Thankfully, his five levels in Elementalist pushed the 25% from his five elementals down to 18,75%. In other words, he paid 28,75% of his mana regeneration in total.
Quite the brutal step up from the previous 11%. He was still left with more mana regeneration than he had before the Wisdom Efficiency Upgrade (obviously), but hed much rather not pay this much, especially since these were the costs before he decided to use any of his five Possession Slots for up to another 5 mana per second.
To be fair, this is more a case of actually paying what I should, I guess, John sighed, epting his fate. These Skills had beenughably cheap for what they were doing. They still were, considering that he basically got a full dungeon group for less than 30% of his mana regeneration.
If he had anyints about this whole thing, it was how the cost calction took from his sum-total MP return, not just his base regeneration. It made things like Tip less good, but that was a price he had to pay.
Well, once he got Elementalist to level 20, the elementals would be free of cost anyway. Which was actually amongst the most busted things in existence. Just getting the ss to level 10 would put the new cost on par with the old one.
Sadly, he couldnt pull the same thing with Artificial Spirit. While Puppeteer did give it a cost decrease, it wasnt the sticking bonus. That left him with no effective way to reduce its cost, since he would much rather have Elementalist or Arcanist as his active ss with their much more useful bonuses.
Well, on the plus side, I can get back to running Assaults, he finalized and went back to eating just as Nia turned her head and stared at him. Yes, that does mean there will be Soulpotions again, John answered after a moment of silence passed. An abrupt nod and the nk stood up and left the room, presumably to go back to training.
For a moment, John expected Lydia to call after her. No such thing happened though. Instead, the rest of them finished their own meals (Nia had done that much at least) before the princess opened up the meeting.
As much as I hate to admit it, todays game was greatly advantageous for us, Lydia spoke, using a handkerchief to methodically wipe off her already clean lips. John still couldnt quite believe that red was natural.
Yes, John agreed. And it presents us with a new question. Jane, you think you will be ready tomorrow?
ording to Cappy, I got it down as perfectly as I can, given the small amount of time I had for it, Rave answered with a shrug, folding her hands behind her pretty, pink hair; So, I guess thats a yes.
As said before, the sun cat meowed over from the back of the couch, upon which he was currentlyzily lying, if she wins, she wins on surprise alone. She will be using a thing that should take her a few more months of actual training to use effectively and years to master it. One more day will not make a difference anymore.
Which means I get another day to prepare myself, Lydia attempted to put the handkerchief down but was quickly stopped by Aclysia who went ahead and took it from her to toss it away. Thank you, the princess gave a grateful nod to the weaponized maid.
It is to my enjoyment to be of use, your highness, she answered and began cleaning the rest of the table as well.
John took a sip of orange juice, wanting to repeat the new game n in detail just to make sure he got it right. However, Momo got ahead of him there, New sequence of fighters is therefore: Rave, Lydia, Nia, and then the second group fight. There was the reason why Lydia hadnt stopped the nk from leaving, her position in the order had remained unchanged.
Not ounting for any games, how do we feel about our point situation? the support asked.
Well, right fucking now, we are tied, Thana said, taking a break from stuffing her face with a chocte bar to be part of the conversation.
Affirmative, Lydia said and reached for her own beverage, mint tea, before continuing. Currently, our situation is better than I originally anticipated. I knew that Thana would win her fight, but neither the point gained from Johns sess nor the game were expected.
So, we are doing good, Rave pointed out.
Better than catastrophic isnt necessarily good, Lydia pointed out, but, roughly speaking, this is rather fortunate, yes.
You still have not answered my question though, Momo went back in, tapping on her kindle to turn a page. How is our point situation going? What is the prediction of our performance?
Going for the realistic answer: we will leave this round with another tie, Lydia answered. This is under the assumption that we will lose all three uing matches but win the group fight.
Hey! Rave acted up on the implication that she would lose.
What? Lydia met the blue-eyed gaze with her own, filled with an iron will. As Copernicus is eager to remind: your victory would be based entirely on surprise. I do not base assumptions on risky factors. I invite you to surprise me.
Rave opened her mouth to give a semi-heated response but then managed to stop herself and fall back into her chair. Taking her hand, John gave her a proud smile. He liked that she managed to keep her hot-headedness in check at times like these, it showed that he wasnt the only one who was positively influenced by their rtionship.
Challenge epted, was all his girlfriend said, with a relishing grin no less.
I see little chance for me to win against Maximillian, Lydia reported the rest of her predictions, his range is much higher than mine. If I win, it will be solely because of his arrogance. Nia might have the best chance to win, but I honestly do not have a good enough grasp of what she is capable of, and that goblin doesnt have a lot of avable info about him either.
John pondered about the whole situation for a moment. If we win the group fight, you are in a winning position, he finally spoke up. If they were able to win this one, they would be able to win the other. John had already beaten the probably strongest single member of the enemy team in this round, so it was safe to assume that he and Thana would win their fights (whichever those would be) in the randomized match-ups of the third round as well.
As long as they entered thest round on a tie, chances were that they would get 5 out of the 8 points of that round. Unless they threw 4 points worth of games their way and the enemy team won the other three of the remaining match-ups, their team was likely to win.
They had their hand on the cup; all they needed to do now was wrestle it from the enemy. The true beauty of this is that it is going by the worst-case assumption, which is us losing all three of our next match-ups and then proceeding to lose all the ones not involving me and Thana in the next round, John thought.
Lydia must have been of the same mind, as she allowed herself a slight, self-assured smile. It was of the kind a victorious warlord wore before engaging his cornered enemy in a perfectly calcted battle to end a long and tedious campaign.
It was gone just a momentter; the princess did not want her own pride to get into her way. Yes, we are favourite to win if we end this round in a tie, she finally answered. However, we are not fated to, and we havent even secured the requirement yet. Lets not get hasty.
John finished his ss and stood up, Well then, I better get to work. He headed for the door, changing from hiszy gamer get-up consisting of slouched pants and afortable t-shirt to his suit. The only item that wasnt changed in the process was Gamers Preserver. There was no reason to get out of the thing that made himfortable in pretty much every environment.
What would that work be? Lydia asked him.
Grinding as much as I can, putting Soulpotions out and seeing if I can get more ss levels, the usual, John answered. Aclysia, you ready?
I will need another minute to load the dishwasher, I will be with you shortly, Master, the maid shouted back from the kitchen.
I see, Lydia sighed. I would like to apany you for training purposes, but I get the feeling I would slow you down.
Yeah, we have hit that stage, the Gamer scratched his cheek in an awkwardly apologetic motion. I guess I could lower the difficulty, me bing stronger isnt the highest priority right now knowing Gaia, you will get reduced experience if I do though. A tutor program would be nice, John thought.
He knew that his powers couldnt just allow him to elevate people to super powerful status just like that. What he could aplish in propping up with just the Soulpotion was already quite stupendous, although there had to be a soft ceiling somewhere.
As people in his group got a strongly reduced version of his EXP gain, there would be a moment where the Soulpotion was merely a drop in a very, veryrge, empty bathtub. In reality, there would still be progress, but it would be negligible.
It doesnt help that Gaia keeps tinkering with the allied EXP form, he continued his mentalints. It was clear that the supreme deity did not want John to just be able to mass-produce super soldiers by the way she just changed everything around whenever.She should just put in some hard-limit if thats her problem. You can only boost X amount of people per week or some other limiter like a maximum of levels. Cant be that hard, John thought; Anything that is understandable.
If I could get her back in my bed I would spank her glorious ass so hard right now, John muttered under his breath.
I am ready, Master. Aclysia stepped up to him. Nodding, he looked back over to the table where the other girls were sitting, expectantly waiting for him to say something.
Gaia is revamping my group system to be actually understandable; maybe I can take you with me again once she is done with that, he exined. In typical Gaia fashion, she will probably need a few days for that though.
She is the guardian of normality. It is a wonder she even finds time for you, Lydia pointed out.
I guess. John shrugged it off. Anyhow, going to grind for four hours, see you in my bed if you feel horny tonight and tomorrow if not.
Chapter 310 – Sticky Stuff [Erotic Content]
Chapter 310 C Sticky Stuff [Erotic Content]
Grinding and a showerter, leaving the Soulpotion in the living room to pick it up in the morning, John went to his room. He fully expected it to be filled with female forms, either writhing or just eagerly awaiting his arrival, he had offered to make this an orgy night after all. Not that his offer greatly changed things, at the very least Sylph and Nathalia wanted to have him every day and the rest of his harem wasnt exactly coy either.
Thest few, rtively grindless, days had seen his dick getting a lot of use. When he was actively chasing levels a whole day, there wasnt a lot of time to spend on his favourite activity. Although, to be fair, he had had so much sex at this point that it became a bit dull.
No, that wasnt the correct way to say it. John still loved sex in all of its shapes (barring the most extreme and/or unhygienic ones), just the wonder of it had been lost. That re of a newfound, wonderful feeling. When he had first been able to have sex, he and Rave had went at it at most given opportunities; nowadays, they were still doing it almost daily, but they didnt go ahead whenever they could.
The main reason for that was that they all were pretty busy recently. Aside from Thana and Nathalia, everyone was involved in some sort of training or other activities such as housekeeping. There were no days on which John and Rave could just chill in her room the whole time, switching between making out and taking breaks from what came after making out. So, on top of the initial wonder of sex having worn off, they had less time for it.
What all of this culminated in was that John still had about as much sex in a week as other already sexually active people had in a year, when he had time for it and nightly orgies as well as quickies spread over the day when he didnt.
He and his girls, of which there were many, still had above average libidos and John the ability to go every five minutes. Theck of the initial re did not make sex an unenjoyable way to spend their time. Thest week had him with at least SOME free time, which had ended with initially mentioned increased mileage on his cock.
When he went to his bedroom, he actually did not anticipate sleeping for the next half an hour, at least. The firm conviction he held was that there would be between two (Sylph and Nathalia were a very horny pair) and eleven girls waiting for him there, usually already ying with each other.
Last he expected was to find only one girl there, and that girl being not his pink-haired girlfriend but Undine, who had actually been staying out of these sessions since her transformation.
I asked everyone else to give us some space, the water spirit read his thoughts. His surprise was quickly reced with a pleasant warmth in his heart. It seemed Undine was ready to leave thest bit of her incident behind.
You did? John wondered, wandering over to the bed.
He was already naked from the shower, and his impressive physique glinted with the remainder of oil spread over his skin, slowly sinking in. Oiling himself up was a habit Nathalia was getting him into, apparently it made him smell better or something. He didnt care all that much; all he knew was that it didnt take a lot of time and that his skin felt amazing.
A lot of his girls had put changes into his life that he would have previously raised an eyebrow to that he now asked himself how he ever did without. Rave had started that trend by demanding that he keep his genitals well-shaven (the incentive here had been that he wouldnt have gotten blowjobs otherwise).
That had escted, over time, to the point where he would just shave everything that was below the neckline. That was a thing he wouldnt be able to keep up without the magical wonder that was abyssal shampoo. One time shaving and now, as long as he kept applying that product, he wouldnt be re-growing hair. Now he could feel the warmth of four girls cuddling up to him on his body unobstructed.
Then Lydia had recently sent him to get a haircut. The ear-length, slightly messy thing on his head that had been maintained by showers and his hats Untouchable had made room for a short cut style. It wasnt quite militaristic, despite Lydia saying that function was the only true fashion, but fairly short nheless. Prime advantage here was that he was looking like a badass (and that hair never got into his eyes during battle).
Nathalias suggestion to use oil on himself after showers hade two days ago, and all of his girls had beenpletely on-board once they had witnessed the result with all their senses. Glistening abs did do things to a girl, John had never quite anticipated. The smoothness of his skin also made him the preferred target of night cuddles. There was nothing quite as satisfying as waking up under a nket of female forms.
Thest major effect was the smell. Rich and thick, it barely registered with his own nostrils after half an hour, but John had noticed subtle changes in how close everyone wanted to sit next to him even if they werent horny. Undine obviously wasnt unbothered either, nervously rubbing the tips of her slender fingers together as the smell of the oil reached her.
There had been other small changes as well. The difference between inhabiting a well-maintained, healthy body and one tortured by sitting in a chair and eating junk food all day was incredible. He was powerful, confident and looked the part.
He was pretty certain he could have whoever he wanted, but he was absolutely happy with what he already had. Save the Nia situation, he wanted that blonde. The fact that she hade into his bed twice since their first encounter gave him hope there.
But right now, there was Undine, and he should concentrate on her. He climbed on the bed where the slime girl was lying already. So, you asked for us to be alone? he soon was above her; the blind elemental averted her eyes in embarrassment. Seeing a slime girl blush was as interesting as always, and he lowered his lips.
She had the faintly sweet taste of fresh water, and it only took a moment for her to press against him. Greedily they went at each other, the wanderer in the desert and the oasis. They were both either and none. John pulled back after a moment.
A strand of saliva recing goo connected their outstretched tongues, treading the fine line between being ufortably dense and too watery. It ripped off as John formted some more words, I hoped you would do that eventually.
This was the first time the two of them were truly alone since that fateful night took ce. Not because John hadnt wanted them to be, but because the water spirit had been going out of her way to dodge whatever opportunity he had given her.
That Undine would go ahead and actually both ask everyone else to give her the night and do it on her own volition made John doubly proud. He leaned in to kiss her azure lips again, sealing her answer for a few more precious moments.
Knowing that he would like it already, John wanted her to say it knowing that she was loved. He poured all of his emotions about her into that kiss and through their mental connection. There was no more ire there, not even a bit of remaining annoyance about her past actions. What he had seen was her trying to better herself: she spent less time on her own, she talked more, and was open with what she wanted.
And just like he opened up to her, Undine met him with her own rity. That she was hypocritical and that she didnt know how to help herself at times. That she was not as serene as she herself liked to believe and that she still had to prove herself to everyone else. Beyond her doubts, however, she knew that she loved him and her sisters dearly, and that certainty gave her something to hold onto.
All the while, their tongues whirled around each other, hers a sloshing of water with a solid outline. When they finally departed again, it was only a slight gap that allowed them to exchange words between small kisses.
I am sorry that it took me this long, Undine whispered, clearly flustered.
Just take as long as you need to, he answered with a smirk, gliding a hand over her voluptuous curves; I know you are still getting used to this new body.
Y-yes, she panted with lust as he reached her chest and gently squeezed. I would love you to help me with that, John, she delivered a wonderful line.
How would I do that? he already had a pretty good idea, which is why his right thumb circled the area at the top of her lush chest where he would guess a nipple to be.
In response, Undine formed one out of her amorphous body. Just make me feel as much as you want to.
Now that was a condition he could get behind. I will explore this body of yours in detail then, he grinned. Just to get to know what I am ying with. After ast quick peck, John made good on his announcement and began his close inspection on her body.
This was more than just sexually exciting: just like his first inspection of Nias body marks, it tickled the fancy of his analytical mind. What would make her squeal in delight and how would she feel around his cock now that her body density was slightly different? The fact that she had stayed celibate for so long now made her an object of desire for John.
He started traditionally by licking her breasts. Her surface, John hesitated to call it skin, was smooth as clear ss. She was an untouched pond that John was happy to disrupt by sucking on her right nipple.
It was nothing more than a wilfully created protrusion. While her form was apparently naked, itcked both the round crowns sitting on top of the twin hills upon a womans chest and lower lips. Both of those, Undine could easily fix by herself, however.
Johns groping got rougher as he sucked her nipple deeper into his mouth. Her breasts were unnaturally firm, barely even sloped despite being in the pretty big category. Thus, they barely even stretched as he was continuing. They were, however, a wonderful feeling underneath his fingers, being both incredibly soft and satisfying to squeeze. They were, in a sense, the ultimate stress balls.
Eventually, her nipple came free with a wet popping sound. You still have the ability to move your sensitive areas wherever you like, huh? he asked and flicked the tip of her breasts with his left hand. In response, Undine let out a gasping moan.
It was slightly overyed, the otherwise so quiet elemental forcing herself to make erotic sounds. She was a talented actress in this regard though, so John didnt mind. His goal was to make even the most debauched cries she was going to make genuine.
Yes, John, she panted. Even if her reaction was overdone, she couldnt be faking that she was getting pretty turned on; You could put your cock into whatever part of my body fancies you the most, and I would enjoy it all the same.
Mhm, tempting, but I enjoy things in the regr ways. No need to get too creative with anatomy, John trailed his hand off her breasts and down her stomach. I like all of these curves, but there are a couple of ces that I prefer to have my dick in, hemented as he reached her belly.
Her t stomach had no outline of muscles or anything like that. It was just a smooth surface interrupted by a belly button. Why she had that, John didnt truly understand. A quick exchange of thought with Undine revealed it to be aesthetic reasons.
I thought you would like it more, she said, John halting in his movements over her left side for a moment.
I guess I do, his answer came a momentter.
He didnt want anyone to deviate too much from the female form, which he personally regarded to be attractive in most shapes and sizes. A belly button wasnt the crucial difference there, but it would indeed have been slightly weird if her stomach had had no details.
No details aside from that red scar that wound down her right side. Does this feel any different? John asked as he carefully stroked the intricate lines on her blue form. This was an ufortable topic for both of them. However, he would not let this fester; the reality of the situation was that the scar was there and they would have to live with it.
It feels numb, Undine answered; Like you are touching me through ayer of cotton. Nodding, John retracted his hand from the scar and put his forehead against the part above her chest where the lines started winding up her neck. What are you doing? the water spirit asked.
Just reminding you that I am here, he whispered and raised his head to smile at her a momentter.
The gesture seemed to slightly miss the target, as Undine seemed more amused than reassured. A littleugh escaped her spirit, while her mouth stayed closed in a wide smile. While her lips were a wonderful curve and her teeth perfect, theck of any colour distinction between them made the whole thing look alien.
But even alien things could easily be beautiful. John ended his left hands journey down to her crotch. This is where I prefer to put my cock, he said, slipping two fingers between the perfect recreation of pussy lips.
She was as wet as a fountain and moaned loudly as the gap in her slime mped down on Johns fingers with incredibly tightness. The only people that could even hope of creating this perfect, form-fitting shape were her and Aclysia. Momo probably could have done it as well, but her interest in these things wasnt big enough to have ever tried.
I wonder who between you two would be able to be tighter, John pondered as he masturbated the blue slime girl. His other hand trailed through her droopy hair, a liquid that parted only into a few segments. John had thought it to be a normal part of her body that had simply taken a particr shape, but as he brushed through the part that partly covered her right eye and the scar surrounding it, he was proven wrong.
It was almostpletely fluid, barely more than water that he dipped into and that then stuck to his hand as he moved it aside. John kissed the spot underneath her eye where thest line of the scar ended. You dont need to hide this, you are beautiful, he whispered.
This time it worked like a charm, with Undine trembling both from lust and love at thement and Johns continuing work on her quivering quim. I love you, the water spirit suddenly burst out and wrapped her arms around him.
The surface of her arms and hair was less stable than her chest and upper legs. Drops ran down like molten wax on a candlestick, only to be reabsorbed into the mass of her body. It gave her an unstable look, like she was the primal version of a water spirit. The contrast between her quiet demeanour, her perfectly swung,dylike face and that iplete look on her limbs was strangely enticing. Reflecting her personality, in a way, even.
John didnt mind that her arms were a bit sticky because of the drops. Sex, with all of its virtues, was always a bit icky with all of the fluids that were going around. At least Undine wouldnt leave any of them on him.
They were lost in another kiss. Between her mouth greedily meeting his, their lips and tongues wrestling, and her pussy, John wasnt quite sure which got more wet in the process. I will keep my hair this way, Undine spoke into his mind with a horny and honest voice, but not because of the scar, but because I want to feel you brush it aside again.
He couldpletely live with that reasoning. If you want to use the traditional holes, Undine finally broke the kiss, I do have two more.
Two? John could clearly see one of them, her lips were glistening seductively. The other could have only been How would you even create a backdoor?
I can surely take your past experience and manipte the texture of the hole ordingly, Undine stated, grabbing his hand and showing him rather than talking even more. She guided him between the pressed together, juicy arse cheeks resting on the mattress until he hit the rim of a back entrance.
Curious, he pressed against it until he managed to get inside. Undine practically screamed in response once he did. As she was right next to his ear, that rang inside his head quite a bit. The fact that her voice was the musical perfection of an opera songstress did not help in this instance.
Sorry, Undine mumbled, and the reason for that violent reaction became clear through their bond. With that high density of slime creating a hole, arge amount of her sensitive slime was concentrated in that area as well.
How far can you even push this? John wondered as he pulled his finger out of her tight asshole.
I I dont know, she answered after slight hesitation.
Mhm, okay then, lets find out, John sat up and issued a singlemand. Roll over.
Undine obeyed, and John took a moment to marvel at her ass, just because that was a thing he liked to look at. Blue, red, white or ck, John would never not look at the perfect asses of the women of the world and not wish to tap that.
Which was exactly why he pped it once. Admiring the jiggle of her gtine behind, he then moved up to the head end of the bed. His cock, coated in pre-cum from the prolonged forey, hovered in front of Undines face.
The usually so mncholic and controlled face was heavily flustered, golden eyes staring nkly ahead. Too horny to even care about the illusion of sight, the ocean elemental only concentrated on the fact that they were finally going to have sex. Her mouth opened wide as John grabbed the stubby, horn-like growths at the side of her head.
They were the only part of her body that had a different shade of blue, being as dark as the sea at night and solid like a piece of stic. While they did bend a bit under the strong grip, it didnt seem unpleasant for Undine. John went ahead and used them as his handles as he rocked his hips forwards, pushing his dick right into her already eagerly waiting mouth.
The idea John had presented his horny water spirit was quite simple: she would steadily increase the amount of sensitive tissue in her mouth and throat as they went on. At the start, it was only the bit that she put there to make kissing enjoyable.
John thrust back and forth, fucking her face with strong thrusts that he would have put on nearly no one else. It was only because she was made of slime that he was this rough with her; with anybody else (except Thana and Nathalia), he would have hesitated to just m his cock down her throat over and over again.
But with Undine and her throat, which was there only to be fucked in the first ce, gripping onto his dick like a slimy sleeve, he didnt feel the need to hold back. With each passing moment Undine also enjoyed it more and more, her blind eyes just nkly rolling around as her body became a limp, quivering mess.
John could see his dick as it travelled back and forth, through her translucent body. It was so strangely satisfying. Do you like this? Does it feel good? John grunted. Regret being celibate for so long yet? The answer to all of those was an onught of orgasmic pleasure wrecking Undines mind.
John wasnt sure when it happened, having been too caught up in his own pleasure, but the water spirit was experiencing a new orgasm each time his long cock went all the way into her. Her throat must have been more sensitive than other peoples whole body. Now that he had opened his mind to it, her overbearing multi-orgasmic pleasure indirectly pushed John right up to the edge.
He mmed all the way into her, pulling her over his meat like a simple container for his lust, before watching as semen spewed forth from his cock. It shot into her, gathering in small pockets that were quickly dissolved. The mana that was unleashed in the process pushed Undine into a state beyond thought where all she wanted to do was keep sucking his cock until thest bit of his tasty fluids had been spent inside her.
As it was so often with magic based or sensitive creatures, devouring mana like this was a great source of pleasure. Only when her water-based form had sucked his cock so clean that no shower in the world could have kept up did she let him go.
Fucking hell, John exhaled when he felt the air on his head again. That was one of the best blowjobs I ever got. Despite having onlye once, he felt quite drained. Sitting back against the wall, he recalled all the other fun activities that he had gone through on this bed.
Do you want this to be an orgy? Undine, recovering quicker than he had expected, asked.
Orgies are pretty fun, but us two having some time together is something that was long overdue. So why dont we keep it this way? I think we could do both an orgy and have just us two here, Undine responded mentally, before he could ask the scene unfolded before his eyes.
The slime girl pulled together into an amorphous blob, and then John bore witness to the most beautiful thing imaginable as it stretched out and separated into a mass of several dozen Undines. The bed and even part of the floor was suddenly covered in copies of the naked, voluptuous slime girls.
Some of them were still connected, others moved on their own. Are all of these you? John asked.
YES, the simultaneous answer from all of the musical voices at once was quite loud. Yes, a single Undine to his right answered. She signalled her apologies mentally, I have never done this before. It is hard to navigate.
I can imagine, John said, watching one of the slightly distanced copies copse into a puddle and creep back into the closer mass. The scene stabilized slowly, Johns attention being stretched. All of these copies moved and posed in sensual manners, pushing out their peach shaped behinds, ying with their tits, masturbating and moaning.
I am getting the hang of this, slowly, the ocean elemental to his right, the designated speaking copy, whispered into his ear. In the meanwhile, John still wasnt quite sure where in this ocean of attractive slime girl clones he was supposed to look. He was experiencing the very real dilemma of being surrounded with too much pornographic material.
Just drown me in tits, please, John finally requested, and the Undines chuckled as one. Their bodies melded together wherever there wasnt enough room, covering John to the neck in the gooey forms. It was deeply rxing; she was warm like a perfectly heated nket.
Better yet, surrounding him on all sides were the giant, melon-sized tits and smiling faces. He moved his arms out of the writhing slime around him to wrap them around the curves that stuck out of the mass. As he was pushing his face into the cleavages that were pressed into his face, suckling on tits and gently biting nipples, his fingers dug into asses he couldnt even see.
After a few minutes of this wonderful buffet, the Undines around him shifted their positions to allow him to see another one of herself forming above his crotch. Having simply been enveloped for thest few minutes, his cock was now suddenly inside a vagina that had been made around it.
John moaned, and so did the Undines, less universally as their moans slowly became individual. Yes, moaned one. Fuck me, continued another. I need this. I wanted this. Now you are filling me. You are so big. I only ever want you inside me, John. Give me more of your seed, I love the feeling of you cumming inside me.
Dirty talk reached his ears from everywhere on the bed as the Undine on top of him rose and fell on his cock. He could hardly deny all of them what they wanted, and so he did his best to move his own hips in a matching rhythm.
He was in some kind of underwater heaven. That must have been it. His wish to be drowned in tits must have be true, and now he was facing the same thing as his eternal reward. At least a dozen Undines were serving his body. There were tits wherever he looked, kisses wherever he wanted them, one Undine was suckling on his fingers while another was licking his nipples.
The best thing about all of this was that Undine was getting off on it as well. Even something as simple as kissing him could be hellish pleasure if she decided to move a lot of her sensitive area to her lips, and the slime girl had absolutely decided to get as much out of this as possible.
Everything John touched made her shiver, moan and scream with delight. Everything he kissed and grabbed made her quiver, groan and shout with ecstasy. Everything John thrusted into made her tremble, cry and burst out with lust.
Her pussy was mping down on him with such utter tightness that the fact that they could still move was unbelievable. Flowing over his surface, the liquidness of her body stroked each and every inch of his dick. Fuck, John moaned; You are the tightest of my girls, no doubt. Do you like it? one Undine sensually breathed these words into his ear as another took his chin and kissed him deeply. He could only answer by throwing all of his approval at the current situation through their mental connection.
Ah, John, I cant stop cumming, one of them bemoaned. Ah, please, please dont stop. I dont want this to stop. I missed this so. Why did I wait this long to taste this again? I have no idea, his voice felt almost lost amongst the debauched thoughts of all the slime girls, but I will give you much more, just stay with me forever. Until the end of everything! Master! Summoner! John, my love! she promised and caused John to cum into her again.
The Undines all stopped moving, as the feeling of Johns seed spurting into her rippled through their single consciousness and caused them to erotically scream in a one-girl symphony. Her ceaseless orgasms topped into a single, mind-consuming wave that mixed with Johns.
The moment of a shared orgasm, stronger than anything the male body was meant to experience, caused his body to simply shoot all of his topped off balls into her in one burst. A load several times what a normal man should be able to have shot into Undine and made the whole situation even worse. More mana was taken in, causing the shared note that resonated in the room to be higher and higher pitched.
In the back of his mind, John was afraid the sses would burst, but that thought process was buried underyers uponyers of pleasure. His thoughts were nk, his field of view only filled with Undines tits and the central one of her copies writhing on his cock as some instinctual part of the water elementals mind managed to keep the up and down of her hips running even as nothing else worked anymore.
Finally, all of the Undines copsed as John did. He could feel how sleep knocked on his mind. It waste and whatever energy had remained in his body had left him with all of his seed. Undine, as well, was tired and flowed back together into a single body.
This was wonderful, she whispered, her lids heavy as she ced Johns head on her soft bosom.
It was this is the best pillow, John struggled to finish that sentence before they both fell asleep.
Chapter 311 – Vs the rebellious daughter [Nariko POV]
Chapter 311 C Vs the rebellious daughter [Nariko POV]
Look at that, they are sending your daughter in again, Maximillian said. Earlier than expected. Nariko didnt even honour the crown prince with a response. He was a business partner, nothing more. His insistence on keeping his mighty tone only served to prove his ignorance about where this world was heading.
Nobles like him would eventually be obsolete. Truthfully, if Lydia won this whole thing, it would hasten the process where the Abyss Auction was the one pulling the strings of the world through the sheer power of wealth alone. Her fighting on the side of the king of gravity was a personal calction.
All she needed was the money to protect her n. That one of the closest members of that family, her own daughter, was part of the enemy was highly unfortunate. Although this might help mend our rtionship a bit, ironically, Nariko thought back to the talk following her victory in theirst fight. I wonder where she got that hot-headedness from. It wasnt as bad when she was younger I think.
Not for the first time Nariko felt that sting of regret about having left her daughters behind. Just like every other time, she pushed it aside. She had made her decision years ago, and both Jane and Elizabeth seemed happy for the most part.
They had be fine women, even if they had poor taste inpany and mannerism. Maybe I can pick up where I left once this tournament is over? Nariko dared to hope that they could be a family again. If she got the Auction a contractual preference for all of Rex Germaniae, that would mean she had all the resources she could ever need to keep her family, all of her n, safe from the Korean raids. Then, when they could view the sun rise over the ocean, with no worries of the warships that might loom over the horizon, they could know peace.
and thus, we will win! Maximillian ended his empty bravado, which Nariko had sessfully filtered out as white noise. How a person with his level of administrative talent could be this arrogant was beyond her. He clearly wasnt stupid, but he acted the part of the fool, not the emperor.
The tform materializing was her cue to finally stand up. Dont disappoint us down there, Alexej spoke as she passed him. She stopped, not facing the serf as she answered, A uselessment, I havent before, and I wont start now. Just keep up your end of the bargain.
Then she went into motion again. Alexej Zeritr, the only thing she knew about him was that he was the child of a family that had been serving the Habsburgs for generations in numerous positions that were cloaked in shadows. A serfdom of honour, that was their creed.
He was pretty good at what he did, both herself and Ankleshanker had been brought into the team by him, but what he had done in his personal life remained a mystery. While that was slightly unnerving, it also went to show that he understood what he was doing. The fact that they were on the same side was reassuring.
Momentster, she stepped into the brown sands as the biome wheel above was quick at work. She met Jane in the middle of the arena. Wont you save both of us the pain and give up? Nariko asked in a tone she hoped was motherly, the kind of voice that conveyed that she definitely knew what the best course of action here was.
Jane scratched her copper-striped, golden cat, who had apanied her, behind the ear before straightening up to answer. Nah, I will getcha this time, mom, the rebellious daughter presented her clenched fist to her mother.
Nariko sighed. She had already established she was stronger and held Jane in high enough esteem to know that she wouldnt fall to silent baiting asst time. I do not want to hurt you, she spoke truthfully.
It seemed that it sounded condescending to her daughter, Oh yeah? Ya think getting punched around by ya will hurt more than betraying the trust of the people that care about me?
It would save both of us a great deal of difort. I have beaten you once, what makes you think this will be different? Nariko asked. Cause I have a boyfriend who gave me a nice kiss before I came down here and told me I could do it, Rave lowered her fist into an actual stance.
Young love, so foolish, the auctioneer exasperated as the ground below their feet trembled and liquified. Sand became stone and grew into the air as a monolithic forest of stgmites. Nariko kept one eye on her daughter as the countdown went down. She gave one of the nearby dripstone formations a testing jab.
It crumbled at the simplest exercise of force. So they wont be as much of a physical obstacle than a visual one, Nariko noted and formted her ns ordingly.
Hey, I might be a fool, but John is my pervert. Guy is way too smart for his own good, Jane smirked, and the countdown hit zero. Give up and we can find another solution for your problem! Apanied by her daughters words was a quick jump forward.
Once again, Nariko was starting on the receiving end of a pummelling. This time, however, there was no reason to hide her powers until an opportune time to strike.
The world transformed from something she could see, taste, smell and hear to something she could only feel. Her flesh and bone vaporized into pure energy, crackling through the air and out of melee range. She moved as quickly as this new form allowed her, wanting to change back as soon as possible. It was both unstable and taxing on her mana to use this technique for extended periods of time. Matter didnt take well to being forced into a state of pure energy.
I respect your physical strength, Nariko spoke, now standing on the tip of a stgmite, looking down at her cat-eared daughter, but you should know fromst time how tiring yourself out will end! If she was going to win, she at least could beat some lessons into her stubborn daughter in the process. Right now, she was in a safe environment, better she learned to conserve her strength here before she faced someone who could kill her.
She didnt want to ever hear about one of her daughters'' demise ever again. All of her life had been spent on the goal of giving them a safe home, after all.
Jane had other ns: she went right ahead and jumped at her mother again. A kick that destroyed the stgmite on top of which Nariko had been standing. She isnt using her aftershock blessing, she noted as she sailed through the air, looking at the small cloud of dust her daughters attack had caused.
In mid-air, Nariko threw out a couple of lightning strikes. The golden, electricity-esque magic cut through the air, one of them hitting Jane, who was jumping out of the cloud to set after the abyssal auctioneer. The lightbearer did have the wisdom to keep her head covered with her crossed arms, however, so the damage was negligible.
Both of themnded far apart from each other. Nariko changed into lightning for a mere moment tond on top of another stgmite. The brittle stone was barely able to hold her weight despite her outstanding bnce; if she tried tond with the ongoing momentum of a grown adult body, that would have led to her breaking the whole thing.
Jane wonderfully demonstrated that, trying to stop her fall on the side of a dripstone, which broke off under her. From her position above, Nariko could not only easily survey the whole thing but start throwing yet more low-power bolt attacks.
Using the twin strike that she had used to take out Janest time was something she would much rather avoid. It was a risky technique in that it sapped away all of her remaining mana in one usage, making it only suitable to ensure the victory. Furthermore, it would create an absurd amount of pain on the receivers side.
Unlikest time, there was no point to be made about the difference in their power. She would only use that technique if her hand was forced.
Which it wouldnt be, judging by how her daughter continued this fight by needlessly using one of Regans techniques. Granted, it was several times stronger than what her husband could have hoped to create, being only an above average fighter.
With Janes rather impressive talent, that simple, straight punch, that was only meant to be a close-up rupture of enemy organs, became andscape shattering explosion of power. Her aura expanded forwards, ripping apart all stgmites in a trench in front of the lightbearer. What was left behind was a mostly clear path between the two of them, with blue particles of superfluous magic dancing through the air.
What a waste of mana! Nariko scolded her daughter, throwing a series of paralyzing attacks that cost herself basically nothing; I thought you had learned, seeing how you didnt use all of your cards from the start. Evidently, I thought too highly of you!
All the while, Jane zig-zagged her way towards the auctioneer, finally jumping once she thought herself close enough. Nariko simply became lightning once more. Her single sense was seeking out the highest peak in the area, like a thunderbolt searching for an impact site. She rematerialized just in time to see Jane waste her mana in another useless strike: mana burst forwards out of her pink covered form.
Embers filled the air of wherever they fought as they repeated this game over and over again for several minutes again. Jane chased after Nariko, taking minimal damage in the process while only wasting her own energy. It would be the mothers victory by a thousand cuts.
Whu, that teleporting stuff ya do is mean, mom, Jane finally stopped in her ceaseless pursuit. I cant catch ya.
Does this mean you finally admit defeat? Nariko didnt lower her crackling hand; bing careless before the opponent was defeated would have been exactly that, careless.
Nah, the lightbearer jumped around a bit, Nariko watching after her; It just means I need to get your eyes away from what is happening. What is that supposed to mean? Nariko thought and quickly looked around. The clear air was indicating not a thing that was
The clear air. Theirst exchange had been just moments ago; there should have been at least some mana particles still flying around. Where had they gone? She had a strategy all along! Nariko realized, calction and panic wrestling with parental pride. She had learned, after all, her thick-headed daughter had learned.
All of those feelings became secondary when she realized the sun-furred tiger flying her way with absurd speed. She became nothing but energy, going somewhere, anywhere else.
The moment she materialized again, her daughters elemental had already set after her. I have no choice now, Nariko realized; there was no way to tell how long this unleashed state wouldst. Maybe she could have guessed if she had kept track of the amount of mana Jane had falsely wasted.
Still, she could beat this tiger. Impressive as this form was, as fast his reflexes were, she was still everything but weak. Both of her hands were engulfed in golden arches of lightning as all of her remaining mana, only having been used conservatively, was consumed by this single skill.
The copper-striped feline predator crashed into her, ws dragging over her highly resilient suit and digging into her shoulder, at the same time as she unleashed one of the attacks on the elemental. Light and heat radiated from their position as the point-nk hit charred away the elementals fur.
The massive bolt of energy threw the feline away, his path creating another trench in the scarredndscape of their battle, albeit at least thrice asrge as its counterparts. Nariko inhaled between clenched teeth; the damage she had suffered, while annoying, would not stop her from fighting.
A good strategy, but I am still stronger than you, she shouted as she saw Jane between the shattered stgmites. Her daughter had not moved at all since taunting her and stood there with closed eyes.
I cant imagine this has left you with any mana yourself, Nariko continued and held up her left, still crackling with power, and the moment you try to fight me in melee again, I will win. Just give up, there is no other choice; you have used all of your tools.
Jane smiled and opened her eyes, Last time ya were right with that. Inside her copper cat-eyes, gold-white power red. This time I got one more surprise for ya, sunlight coloured mist rose from her head, hair changing from pink into blinding gold. Time for a Super Saiya-Jane.
Nariko had no idea what her daughter was talking about or what exactly was even happening. She was, however, certain that Jane defiantly raising her fist like she had done at the start of the fight was not a good sign. Years of fighting experience andmon sense screamed at her that now was herst chance to unleash the second half of her twin attack.
Just as the golden arcs thundered through the air like a holy god dering its wrath through an apocalyptic storm, her daughter unleashed whatever she had prepared. A multi-coloured beam of epileptic proportions and shes met the auctioneers attack. Light based magic shing and fusing, red, white, blue, green fighting a brilliant gold.
It was as if a new sun was being born in the middle of the battlefield, leaving almost everyone in the audience blinded. Nobody knew what was happening until the light finally ebbed away, leaving thementators above to try and check on the situation with blinded eyes.
Chapter 312 – Given Light
Chapter 312 C Given Light
So, exin it to me, you jealousy-inducing, smelly mattress, Thana asked as John carefully ced an unconscious Rave on the couch. What exactly did she do, and why is she still knocked the fuck out?
I thought you could figure stuff like that out by yourself, John teased.
Of course, I can, Newcock, but I want you to talk to me so I can forget my illogical rage boner I currently have because you did not carry ME home! What, do I need to be unconscious to get treated like a princess around here!? the blood mage half shouted back.
Then she yelped as John used Blink to get behind her and then lift her up. She could have more than easily reacted to the second part, his grab being abysmally slowpared to the bundle of insanitys reflexes. Still, partly because of the instantaneous movement before it, she let him seed, and a momentter, she sat on-top of his shoulders.
You are lucky the ceiling is this cunt-splurging high, you bbergasting off-putting asshole! Thanained with a wide smile on her face.
You are lucky that you arent particrly tall, his counter came a momentter.
Fuck you, you tongue eatin-!
Yes, bad John, very, very bad John! Sylph added to the conversation, flying around Johns head and then spiralling up Thana untilnding on the blood mages shoulder. We are not tiny, we are fun-sized, yes, yes we are! You all are just tall! Way too tall! We small people feel weird! We are tiny!
Just stop talking, you contradicting airhead, Smander grumbled, slowly drifting through the air like she wasying on top of a nice chair next to a whirlpool.
Your arguments are useless against me, Sally, I have the high ground! The high ground being scary Thany riding Johnsie -in the not fun way- riding a flying ind -in the not fun way- riding the great mother air -in the
WE GET IT! Nathalia growled from the table, where she was currently getting presented with bacon strips from Aclysia like a Roman noble getting presented grapes. Do not talk about the Mother of Air, the mere reminder of her existence is giving me a bigger headache than you ever could.
Sorry about my outburst, Thana suddenly mumbled, and John felt her soft thighs press against the sides of his head. A feeling that, at the currently low pressure, was rather pleasant. She bowed over forwards, and her white and blue hair cascaded down in front of John shortly before her eyes came into view. The golden dots in the shattered, violet orbs rotated slowly in a circle between an outer ring, of the same gold, and her ck iris. The individual shards of her eyes stretched as they quickly readjusted for the changed light.
I know you cant control yourself sometimes; you just keep working on it, alright? John smiled at her and got an unsure one in return.
Okay now fucking tell me what happened there at the end. You and seizure hands just have to keep your small secrets to dick around with the rest of us, Thana said but kept her head right where she was; she liked looking into Johns eyes, nd brown as they might have been.
Its just more fun to keep secrets and see surprised faces, John said. Elsewhere in the room, a pleased princess sat down at her usual spot. Aclysia stopped feeding bacon to the dragon so she could make a fresh cup of tea.
Well, to put it simply, it was the logical endpoint of her aura development, John began to exin. Starting with her normal martial arts aura, Jane learned to pull in Copernicus energy in addition to her own after Lydia had taught her, that was the cat-ear form. As the power of that form is directly linked to Copernicus himself, the moment he Unleashed, she got ess to pulling that power out of him and into herself. That final beam was her using all of that power at once.
Why the fuck didnt she just use that power to fight normally? Thana asked.
Because, the blood mage finally looked away from John and over to Copernicus, she isnt exactly skilled with it yet. It is hard to uphold and raises her power far beyond her normal limits. She simply couldntnd a hit because she is going faster than she is used to. That is why we needed one more day, so we could figure out a way to allow her to unload all of that energy in one blow.
Okay, so its because Rave has two left feet. Still dont know why she is the fuck out of it though. So, now she is knocked out because?
her body cannot handle the rebound yet, John finished the sentence of the blood mage.
That sounds like a fucking terrible strategy then, Thana looked over to Copernicus. Why didnt you fuckers just fight together?
Because surprise was the only way I could even get a non-lethal scratch in. The n was almost done with when I got hit, Copernicus hissed back. It all worked well enough, considering.
Okay, I give, whatever, Thana waved off, suddenly disinterested in the topic, looking back at John. She opened her mouth to say something, probably food rted, when she stopped and listened to something. She is going to wake up right the fuck now, the blood mage informed them.
True enough, Rave groaned a blinkter and started groggily looking around. Good morning, sleeping beauty, John greeted and went over. Under minorints, he put Thana back on the floor after kneeling down next to the couch. How did you sleep?
Dunno, I just cked out or something, Rave rubbed the remaining tiredness out of her almond eyes. I feel like I have been hit by a wrecking ball.
Or like a lightning rod after a heavy storm? John suggested a different metaphor, causing his girlfriend to look at him with confused eyes for a few moments.
Then the gears connected again. THE FIGHT! she shouted and looked around again, now wide awake; Wait, why am I back home? What happened?
Well, we had to get you from the Apothecaries, John started, and immediately, Rave looked disheartened. If she had been taken from the Apothecaries, that must have meant that Fateweaving had transported her there. In other words, she must have lost.
John quickly realized the implications of his words and was quick to add, Rx, Jane, you won in a way.
Can ya be more specific, Johnny? Raves confusion slowly transformed into irritation.
All of that dealing with Richard must have made me a more cryptic person, John theorized.
It was a draw, Lydia announced in clear words from her position at the table.
A draw? Rave seemed to be unsure that word even existed.
The excess energy of your two attacks caused a shockwave that knocked both of you out. By the time we could see something again, you were both whisked away by Fateweaving, John told her.
A draw the reality slowly sunk into Raves mind.
I am very pleased with this oue, Lydia said, blowing steam off her cup before taking a careful sip.
I mean, I guess I should be happy, the Lightbearer said, but it doesnt feel all that great.
She made room on the couch, and John sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. I can understand that, the Gamer yed with one of the longer twirls of his girlfriend''s hair as he spoke; However, you performed pretty well this time. You didnt just go at it, you had a strategy and everything.
Rave rested her head on his shoulder, Less a strategy and more of a gamen, tiger.
Whats the difference? he wanted to know. Your strategies actually involve stuff happening in a certain order and stuff only ya brainiacs could sequence. I just know what I should or should not use and then go at it, she exined. Wait, ya should know what I mean, you were the one who filled my head with all of these terms!
Maybe I just like listening to you talk, John suggested.
Of course ya do, my voice is as cute as my hair is awesome, Rave giggled and leaned up to his ear. I might not be as riled up as Aclysia was when you won against that walking masturbation joke, but I could have a go at ya in a bit, she whispered into his ear and then gently bit his earlobe.
The semi he had gotten when Thana had pressed her thighs against his face now became a full-blown erection. Dibs! Thana called and zipped open his pants, quickly pulling the annoying fabric aside and then getting between Johns legs while the clothes were still flying to the ground.
Despicable, I have been bored all day, Nathalia hastened over to the couch and soonpeted for room between his legs.
And there they go again, Rave let out another giggle as John groaned out in pleasure. He had not expected to get a blowjob the moment he got an erection. A surprise, yes, but a wee one.
You dont want to pitch in? John asked.
Nah, lemme cuddle with you and look at our cute, little subs doing some sucking, she licked her glossy lips and started touching herself. Her hand was soon reced with Johns.
I-I want to cuddle too! Gnome, appearing out of nowhere next to him on the couch, clumsily threw herself on his left side.
Who are you calling a submissive, you pink-pest? Nathalia growled while giving Thana the chance to deepthroat on her own.
Well, youre going with the role, Rave said and wiggled a foot in her direction. Dont me me if ya get into the bottom position.
Nathalia snapped her teeth at Raves foot, who got the signal to not push it too far, before getting back at her turn at sucking Johns dick.
The fact that ya let those teeth close to your dick is pretty concerning, his girlfriend pointed out with regard to both the carnivorous dragoness and the perfected human who could bite through an alloy made from the second strongest metal on the.
Could you not talk about my best quality getting bitten off while I have two hotties giving it a nice sucking? John pleaded.
Dont ya worry, if ya lose it, we are finding some nice strap-ons for me to use on you, Rave winked and giggled to make sure he got that she was only kidding. John did notugh.
People! Lydia shouted from her position at the table; It is DINNER TIME. Postpone your worldly delights until after. Nia entered the room at that moment, saw what was going on and, without a word, got naked while walking over to the happenings. The area between his legs barely had room for another person, but Nias slender frame fit.
We are having gosh today, Aclysia informed the princess,ing out of the kitchen. She too was naked, aside from her thigh-high stockings, and carrying a salver loaded with all kinds of little snacks. It can continue on a little heat for a while longer. Say Ahhh, my cute Master. The weaponized maid positioned herself behind the couch and started feeding John and Rave mentioned snacks.
Undine appeared as well, using her liquid body to fit in the whole formation as well. Sure, it was a bit weird that her lower half was a puddle, with a bit sticking out of it, on the floor, but he wasnt exactly against it. It was a major help that her upper half, including her massive tits, was resting on his chest, tongue stretching out to show how ready she was to make out with him whenever he wanted to.
Hey, hey, Sally, there is no more room for us, Sylph noticed.
Silly girl, Siena crawled out of a shadow in a seductive series of motions; If there is no room to be on his body, we shall make sure his eyes are on us instead.
What, you want to masturbate in front of him? Thats a nice idea, I like that idea! Sylph flew over, already changed into her big form.
No, that is too direct; you need to give it a subtle touch to maximize the tension, Siena got on the table, her high-heeled feet cking even though her weightless body should have produced no sound; Let me show you how it''s done.
The shadow spirit started a dance that was worthy of a strip club, although there was very little stripping involved. That looks hot, count me in, Smander soon joined, although that did mean that it went from one elemental sexily dancing to two elementals sexily dancing while Siena was constantly pointing out how much better she was at this.
To her credit, she did asionally stop to show Smander, and Sylph when she also tagged into that little dance number, how to do it correctly. John was in his personal heaven, again. This day was not just great, it was supreme. Between his girlfriend not losing, putting their winning chances even higher, and this scene he was not sure what could make it even better.
He heard something small getting smashed closed and turned his head away from his current three-way French kiss with Rave and Undine to see Momo throwing her e-reader into her inventory. Fuck it, I am horny, lets do this, she announced, her poncho retracted into her body, and then she squeezed herself next to Gnome.
John sent a silent thanks to the person that had put this couch together for being able to handle all of this and still be morefortable than a mattress after he had finished an obligatory fifteenps in sports ss.
Now it is just y- John wanted to shout over to Lydia, but the princess was already done disrobing and putting her neatly folded uniform on the table.
I am going to take a quick shower, she announced, marching by the couch, stark naked.
John concentrated his eyes on her butt. Not only did the heart-shaped pillow shift nicely with each of her steps, those being both militaristically efficient but subtly hip-swinging at the same time, but he clearly could see that little bit of wetness on her crotch.
Having sex every single day had put everyones mind and body to a state where they werent quite addicted but very much seeking out that sexual feeling of being alive. When I return I advise that you are ready to put that cock in my butt!
Sure, your highness, Johnughed augh that was quickly reced by a sudden, throaty exhale and him cumming all over a triumvirate of faces that could have been put on the cover of adult magazines and only made worse by being treated with digital tools.
Chapter 313 – The princess’ pride
Chapter 313 C The princess pride
Three minutes before midnight, John knocked on Lydias door. There was some creaking heard, footsteps on the floor and finally the princess opening it. She was wearing a nightgown, sadly not of the particrly sexy kind but instead looking like she wasfortable sleeping in it while also being able to hold an emergency press conference without looking too ridiculous. Dark green, it d her like a uniform as she uttered three simple words, It iste.
I know, John said in an apologetic tone, but I knew you were still awake, so I thought Ide to talk.
How did you know that? Lydia wondered as she stepped away from the door. As it was left open, he took that as his invitation and stepped inside.
I used Jack to look through your window, he told her the truth.
Lydia furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the window. Is it still around? she asked.
Yup. The princess narrowed her eyes, Interesting, I used to be able to notice this quite easily. If you hadnt told me, I would never have seen it.
I guess it is because my levels are getting higher and higher, John presented a theory. The fact that Possession had hit level 100 a fair bit ago probably also helped.
Likely. That you can just spy on me without my noticing is diforting, however. I will have to increase my security measures. Lydia sat down and instinctively started braiding her auburn hair. What do you require?
I require nothing, just wanted to talk to you for a bit, John said and took one of the practical looking chairs, cing it close so they could talkfortably.
Talk, Lydia made an amused noise, is that what you call sex these days?
Did you just make a joke? John wondered.
No and yes, the princess stretched out her legs and rested them on Johns thighs, but if that isnt your goal, I would be pleased if you could help me rx instead.
Not exactly what I had in mind, John said, reaching for her feet, and then began lightly massaging them, but the intention is the same. How are you doing?
Fine, she lied, as he immediately knew.
Lydia, you know I am not an idiot. Lying is unlike you in the first ce, he sighed as he felt the tense muscles in her soles straining even further. Come on, its just between you and me.
Yes, you are right, Lydia exhaled, and her stiff posture was reced with a rxed slouching.
I would have liked to fuck you again, but I doubt you would let me have a go at your ass sote in the night when you have a fight tomorrow. Peak performance and all that, John tried to ease the mood a bit further by using a joking tone.
That is the correct assumption; I am still a bit sore from the two times you came inside me earlier, despite herid-back position, her face stayed a disciplined mask. What do you want to talk about then?
Just this and that, John smiled as his nimble hands managed to lure a satisfied sigh from the princess red lips.
Let me rephrase my question then: why do you want to talk then? Lydia changed the question.
Because you have your fight tomorrow, he answered without a moment of doubt. The iron eyes that he felt on the side of his head were disapproving. His own remained downcast, focused on the task of giving her a little rxation.
I am thest girl in your little harem that needs what you plebeians refer to as a pep-talk, she reprimanded him.
Normally, I would agree with that. You are not fighting anyone, however; you are fighting your ex, he pointed out, swallowing his disagreement with how the adjective little really wasnt fitting for his harem.
The metal mage had no immediate response to that, so they just sat there for a few minutes, John slowly rubbing the tension out of her feet. Silver moonlight softly shone in through the window, the only source of illumination in the otherwise quiet room.
I am not happy about you reading me like this, Lydia finally announced, wiggling her toes like a displeased crowd.
Get used to it, it''s not like people our age should be this right in the head after all, Johnughed.
What do you mean by that?
I mean that you are 19 and I am 18; we shouldnt be able to just sit here and be who we are. You should be a girl still getting over her first rtionship, and I should be sitting in a ssroom staring at butts that I, for some reason, am sure I will never tap. Instead, you are talking about taking over a nation, and I am trying to noty im to yet more butts too quickly.
What a wonderfully sinct example, Lydias dry tone made him chuckle again.
I dont mean by that that I disapprove of how you arent attached to Maximillian. As your current lover, I couldnt be happier that you are able to be this sober about your past. All I am saying is that neither of us should be this wise this young, John continued on.
You have your powers to thank for that, she pointed out.
And you, your grandfather, he answered.
He straightened me out, but this achievement is only partly his, the princess answered. I used to be less how does Rave put it again? I did not use to walk around with a stick up my behind, she focused on a random spot behind him, or maybe it was just a different stick.
I find it hard to imagine you in any way other than your current self, John admitted.
Believe me, I was quite the energetic child.
When I think of little Lydia, all I can see is a four-year-old in a too big chair fixing her napkin and asking when rations will be served, he joked.
The noble giggled, and John was happy that atst that one worked. Smiling, her eyes were looking ahead, yet nowhere at all, No, I was a normal kid, maybe even a bit too active. Climbing fences, chasing cats, hiding from my mother in the bushes when she wanted me toe inside until all of it deconstructed rather violently.
Johns hand stopped working for a moment. Just stay silent and dont ruin her opening her heart to you, he stopped himself from asking any stupid things before letting his hands resume their activity. Having noticed, Lydia stubbed his stomach with the one foot that wasnt enjoying his attention right now.
Be honoured, I dont talk about this lightly, Lydia told him. Despite all of your ws, from your perversion to your unwillingness to stay and serve me, I do love you.
I love you for your ws, John earnestly stated, grabbing the foot that was poking him and raising it up, from your overly earnest character to your short fuse, he kissed her foot, and I am honoured that you would open up to me in whatever way you want.
Lydia swung her feet off hisp and repositioned her chair so that their kneecaps were almost touching as they were sitting. The way she leaned forwards seemed to beg for John to only look at her as she continued.
The me that you know today was indeed forged by my grandfather, but what I had learned to get there was that the world wasnt a good ce. Even he couldnt have worked poor materials, to put it cynically, and as they say: hard times make hard people.
When my mother died, I barely even knew what was happening. The good life I had until that point unraveled within mere moments. At the start, we, my father and I, had enough money, insurance and the value of our house kept us afloat even though he entered a state of shock.
It was as if all will to live had just been taken from him in one evening. It had been showing itself during her sickness, but what he barely kept together crumbled the moment she was gone. If he hadnt fallen to shock, I probably would have.
However, I had something to take care of. My father would have simply followed her into the grave if I hadnt taken care of him. Suddenly, I was no longer a child but the only person who could save him. I could have done so many things to make it easier on me. Inform the correct state-branches, seek out help from people we knew, just something.
But the me from back then didnt know what to do. It is not even ten years back, yet it feels like an eternity has passed since, like the girl back then and me are barely even rted. I worked what little jobs I found and stole to get by, had to cook and clean but also look after myself to keep up appearances.
Each passing day, I was sure it would get better tomorrow. That was what kept me going. One day, father would snap out of it, surely, and then the two of us could pick up where mother had left us. She would have wanted it that way.
It didnt get better. First he drank, then he gambled our savings away, then he got into fights regrly. He had woken up again after months of depression only to find himself seeking out whatever little validation of being alive he could find. He was addicted to being addicted to something. My father was a pathetic man, and then, when my grandfather had found us, he... Lydia took a controlled breath through clenched teeth, he just a moments hesitation, died.
John didnt expect that sudden harshness, neither did he expect such genuine anger. It was so in to see on her face and to hear in her voice. He reached out for her hands, folded between her legs, and squeezed them gently. The gesture seemed to calm her down, slowly.
She longed for more, though, and soon fell towards him and into his arms. Are you not going to tell me I should try to forgive my father or something? she muttered as his arms closed behind her back; Anything of that nature.
Sadly, I know more than you said because of how you said it, he mumbled back, and Lydia tensed up. Ripping herself out of their shared embrace, she stared at him. He gave an apologetic smile, I am too clever for my own good sometimes. I dont know the details, and I dont n to pry. Your secrets are safe with me.
Thank you, Lydia whispered and went back into his arms. Even now, she didnt cry. This girl was tougher than what anyone should burden on such young shoulders. Not even this fazed her beyond the weakness she allowed herself. She will be a good ruler, John thought, as long as she doesnt close her heart in the process of masking her own weakness.
He felt like he could help with that, at least, by reminding her of the better sides of being close with someone. Lets go to your bed, he suggested, caressing the back of her head.
I thought we agreed on not adding yet more intercourse on today, she stated, her voice back to her usual irond honesty.
Way to go to make assumptions about me, John acted offended. How about we just cuddle while falling asleep?
Wouldnt your contract loving girlfriend be opposed to that? Lydia offered a question in return.
That is a weird insulting from you, heughed.
Then he finally kissed her, Jane will manage for the night. As a matter of fact, thats what I told her before I came here.
I do not look forward to sitting across from you on the negotiating table, Lydia said as she took his offer and the two of them went to her bed.
Thats a pretty highpliment, he thanked as he undressed. Even if he wouldnt have sex, he very much preferred sleeping naked.
You deserve it, the princess whispered, pulling the nket up.
Chapter 314 – Vs Lydia Augusta IV von Hohenzollern [Maximilian Franz IV von Habsburg POV]
Chapter 314 C Vs Lydia Augusta IV von Hohenzollern [Maximilian Franz IV von Habsburg POV]
How did we get here? Maximillian asked the princess of steel.
Lydia was pressed partly into the floor by the sheer might of his magic. The ruins around them acted like a stark reminder of a renaissance passed. A wonderful cathedral, that was what it must have been once. Two lines ovepping in the shape of a cross, a fundament of beauty with broken windows that fractured the light of the world into a thousand colours.
Through the open ceiling, rays of sunlight cut through misty air, creating pathways of light towards the sky that made it look like God himself was beholding what was happening. But there was no single, omnipotent god watching. Only powerful beings that imed that title, rightfully so in Maximillians mind, and a single, even stronger person that had no need of being called such.
He knew that his fighting style wasnt all that interesting to the crowd. Simply forcing enemies to the ground by increasing the gravity in the area several times over didnt make for a great show. Best he could do is keep some motion in this by talking and walking, even if the audience couldnt hear what they were saying.
We could have tried being happy together; its really saddening that our visions had to be so far apart from each other, he continued on his own, as the pressure on her lungs made it impossible for Lydia to answer. What we could have built if we were unified although I do appreciate the freedom of the single life. As you do, I assume.
The king had lingering feelings for the princess. That was simply how it was when a woman of her calibre stepped out of ones life. Maximillian had no illusions about himself; he was too proud, loved fancy get-ups and wasted money on parties others would have called frivolous at best. He was, however, also honest with his mistakes, a gentleman where the situation required it, and his understanding of economics was more than good enough to have money to waste.
So, he understood what he had lost in Lydia but also that there was no way to get back to these times, no matter how often he asked. If he could turn back the clock, he still would have stood his ground in that final fight. He was a monarch, the head of one of the most important houses in both real and Abyss history. His personal wants were second to that of the nation.
He was the state, his needs were not solely his own.
Dont you find this battlefield oddly fitting? he asked. Two paths crossing and diverging again, a ruin of the beauty that was. He slowly walked rounds around the lying princess, careful to not step what he knew her zone of control to be.
In just a few minutes, the rules of the tournament would decide this to be his victory.
Its like a metaphor for our rtionship. Still, the remaining beauty is undoubtable. Whatever we make from here, even if we do it on diverging paths again, will ultimately lead to a better future. Dont you agree? he stopped and looked if Lydia at the very least nodded or shook her head to that.
All he was met by was the defiant re of her grey eyes.
Always so focused, I admire that, Lydia, Maximillian admitted. I was honestly shaken when you managed to get the elector of Saxony to withhold his vote. Only by Romulus grace am I even still here. Politically, you are better than me, but the pe- Argh!
A searing hot pain in his abdomen. Shocked, he stared at the piece of metal that buried itself there, just a single shard. Impossible, I know her range! he said to himself.
Obviously not as well as you thought, another voice, a deep tremor, answered drily in his head. You underestimate her, then again, the same is true for her about you.
You still love the sound of your own voice, Lydia squeezed out these words. With his concentration broken, she could move again, slowly only, but a creeping movement was still better than none at all. She reached into the mantle of her uniform and gulped down one of her mithril vials before Maximillian could apply the limb-numbing pressure again.
Shit! Maximillian thought and quickly changed his strategy. A reverse hail of rock was ripped from the ground and created a barrier between him and Lydia. The quickly erected curtain bought him enough time to free the area he stood on from the yoke of natural gravity as well and use it as a tform that carried him upwards.
He could feel the underside of that piece of ground getting chafed by the swarm of metal pieces that now had turned his first defensive reflex into nothing more than a flying mass of pebbles. You got too close, he reprimanded himself as he adjusted the direction on which gravity applied to those rocks.
They fell sideways towards Lydia, who had no trouble defending herself against the assault. Her own metal swarm moved with stupendous speed, getting between the princess and the storm before it reached her. Maximillian dismissed them from his control once they had drummed on the quickly formed shield.
Having seeded in getting further away, he pulled the metal in his body out and threw it away. Under normal circumstances, he would have just left it there to remove after the fight, but against a metal mage, that would have been just asking for a defeat.
The wound wont matter, the tremor-like voice in his mind reminded him. This fight is over the moment her boost runs out.
But will I make it that long? Maximillian offered a counter question as the shield reformed into the shape of an oversized spearhead that was heading straight for him.
He had no idea what her maximum range was anymore. He thought he had known her base range and was proven wrong. Now that she had roided herself up, even that estimate was absolutely uninformed. For all he knew, her partial control zone could have been as big as his now.
As a gravity mage, his total control area was fairly small, but he waspensated with enormous range in the partial control.
If getting out of range was not a feasible option, Maximillian simply had to throw as many distractions at Lydia as possible. First, he had to dodge this enormous chunk of metaling his way though.
The tform he stood on quickly turned upside down, with him on it. To pull off that stunt he needed to not only rotate the gravitational pull of the tform but also make it so his shoes were subject to force in the different direction with equal or greater magnitude.
A gust of wind ruffled his upside-down clothes as the spear passed under his feet, above him. Years of training had made him adaptable to changes in direction, so he had no need to take a pause before unleashing his counterattack.
Behind you, the bass-heavy voice warned him, and immediately, Maximillian dropped downwards, freeing his shoes from the magical influence. The swarm of metal returning to Lydia would have pulled right through him if he hadnt done that.
Thank you, Maximillian answered as he slowed his fall by using counter magic on his clothes. He couldnt use his magic on his own body directly, robbing him of the ability to fly freely without something else to attach too. Even only this much caused his clothes to be stiff and rigid, turning them more into an obstacle than help.
Hended and was immediately subject to another attack and this time he knew it wasnt going to end well. Managing to block the initial wall of swarming pieces of metal by erecting yet another curtain of rock, Maximillian now found himself at the centre of a cloud of scrap.
Thin sheets, buttons, rings and everything else the princess could have possibly carried on herself to bring into the battle, all of it had been coldly reforged to be some sort of de. With desperate waves of his arms, Maximillian started to rip the ground apart, throwing it between himself and the terrifying singing of metal cutting through the air.
It seems you will need my help, the tremormented as Maximilian was hit by several pieces of metal weaving through his defences with nimble movements. Such finely tuned assaults should have been impossible at this range and while controlling this many pieces. He managed to make them subject to his own powers split seconds before they cut him, but each time he did that, he expended more power than Lydia.
To wrestle control of an object from another mage was hugely taxing, especially as he was using a whole different school. Each time he had to resort to that, his defences atrge became weaker.
No, she must be about to run out of power! the king didnt want to use him, his pride forbade him to.
Will you win or will you be shamed? the question came. Before Maximillian could answer that, his defences were finally broken. His chest rocked backwards to the side, and finally, his shoulder turned, under three separate impacts. Some people have already seen me.
The world slowed down as the remainder of his walls fell and he could clearly see his demiseing for him from all sides. There was no other way now. Do it, Hawpler, he resigned himself.
A sphere of dark violet and ck appeared above Maximillian. All of the loose objects, from the remaining rocks to the swarm of metal, were pulled towards that sphere as a heavy gravitational pull was exerted on everything.
Maximillian breathed heavily from all the wounds, but he was still standing. Same could be said for Lydia, but all of her weapons were now bound to a single point and refused to move more than an inch away from the sphere. It wasnt until her mithril induced strength finally faded, her body nearly copsing under the sudden fatigue, that she allowed herself to ask, How is this possible?
The sphere renounced its power on the object around it once Maximillian had limped away from underneath it. Cluttering sounds could be heard. This is my elemental, Hawpler, Maximillian answered. It was useless to hide now.
Hawpler was nothing more than a light swallowing hole radiating a purple glow. A dot of pure ck in everyones field of view. His powers were minimal in every normal setting, unable to be of great help. However, when he was unleashed, his powers upon whatever matter, organic or inorganic, he chose was like the pull of a ck hole once the event horizon was passed. Inescapable, to put it bluntly.
Of course, that wasnt true for everyone equally. Maximillian had no illusion that this power wouldnt work on the true monsters of this world. Also, it wasnt the only thing Hawpler was capable of doing; there was something else incredibly important that he was able to do.
Your elemental? Lydia was stunned, for good reason.
Yes, I never went ahead with the fusing, he exerted his powers on the princess and forced her to the ground. It wasnt hard considering that she was already exhaustedpletely.
Bleeding, he himself leaned against a broken pir and slowly slid down until he was sitting on the ground.
I know what you must be thinking, he said in a self-mocking tone. That traditionalist, Maximillian Franz von Habsburg, he of all people refuses the ritual that has been practiced by our culture for hundreds of years? Yes. I refused it.
He didnt want to be someone else, Hawpler added, the purple radiation ring like soundwaves as he spoke. I would not have been against bing one.
Go away you floating physics tumour!
He says that, but he likes me, Hawplers tremor like voice was filled with amusement.
Yes, I do not want to be someone else, Maximillian thought, closing his eyes and cursing his arrogance for not bringing any potions.
I will never bleed! Hawpler reminded him of what he had said to impress that stupidly hot Asian MILF on his team. Not like he had any chances with her, ording to Alexejs background check.
I look forward to the press conference after this, he said unironically. At least this will be fun to exin to the world.
Chapter 315 – Uncertainty of Life
Chapter 315 C Uncertainty of Life
That would have been too easy, John said, having been unable to use Observe on that new elemental. The fight had been a lot closer than he anticipated, solely because Lydias prediction about Maximillians arrogance had be true.
Still, Lydia had pulled out her surprise, and Maximilian had hidden his own. We should go and pick her up, Rave added, realizing that the fight was over but Lydia actually wasnt moving. The tform to allow her to get back up had materialized, but John could easily guess that the princess either had exhausted herself to the point of being unable to move or had followed in the recent trend set by Rave and knocked herself out in the process.
Ill go get her, Momo said and flew off. It would have probably been quicker to send Thana down there, but the blood mage would make it an insanely bumpy ride. Interestingly, the wounded Maximillian didnt immediately limp towards his own lift nor the Apothecariesing to take care of him.
Instead, he checked on Lydia. You make sure that she sleeps this out, Maximillian told Momo once she arrived. John followed the scene throughout their connection.
Of course I will, the support said with a bbergasted expression. What do you think I will do? Put her on a bed of needles?
You like running your mouth, the ck hole tremored sarcastically.
Maximillian shook his head with an amused smile, Whatever, as long as she will be in a state where she can still be my minister of finances. Cant have her butt be unable to calcte my spending.
Wow, you really are prince charming, arent you? Momo drily returned.
KING charming if anything. Also, she dumped me, so for all I care, he helped pick the unconscious princess up, I think I am being a pretty nice guy here.
He is notpletely wrong, John thought as Momo took to the air. I took him for a hot-head but it seems more that he is just wearing his heart on his sleeve and loves showbusiness. Guy would maybe not be the worst emperor or movie director. Do you think he would give up if Inded him a job in Hollywood? John asked Thana.
The fuck? she was predictably confused.
Maximilian, I think he would have a lot of fun in that scene, he borated.
Okay, listen here, you foolish dingle-cracker, if you dont stop worsening my eternal cesspool of nonsensical fucking thoughts and love induced jealousy tirades, I am going to rip off your balls and stuff them into the ovaries you will grow once I am done with you.
Dingle-cracker? Johnughed, ignoring her threats. She was too attached to him to mean it.
You try staying original with your curses for several fucking weeks! Try it, you hard-cocked, Asian loving truckfucker, Thana aggressively pouted. He pat her on the head to calm her down a bit, which got him a wave of overly shrillughter followed by a light kick to the shin. Dont just touch me and act like that will fix shit! sheined and then side-stepped Rave trying to hug her from behind. I mean it!
Yeah, sure ya do, Rave stuck out her tongue but didnt start another attempt. Give it two hours and she will beg for a spanking, ya know it, the Lightbearer whispered to her boyfriend.
I can hear you! Thana growled, which set an end to that discussion as Momonded back on the tform. I put her rapier into my inventory, but somebody else please carry her, the support requested. Dont get me wrong, I can definitely carry her, but it kind of messes with my flying.
Yeah, hand her over, John said with hesitation and took her off Momo (who carried her like a backpack) and then held her like a proper princess. That she dangled about like an unconscious sack of potatoes took the heroic aspect out of the look.
The problem with passed out people was that they had pretty much no body tension. However, there was one way to maybe fix this, a trick that had worked rather easily with Rave. Here goes nothing, John thought and raised Lydias upper body, handling her a bit roughly to sling her arm around the back of his neck.
Now John didnt know if this was something that humans just did or if this was highly unusual. Neither did he know whether what happened next was caused by some conditioning rted to his pretty unique smell thanks to that oil that Nathalia provided. Which, he had tested, wasnt a Libido increasing perfume in disguise. He had both asked the dragoness and asked Momo to find out what it actually was. It was just a very nice smelling oil with an astounding list of ingredients rted to volcanic monsters.
When questioned how she got her hands on that oil, Nathalia had just said, I have hobbies as well.
The tangent of his mind aside, what happened was that Lydias cuddle reflex kicked in and she wrapped her second arm around him as well. Still unconscious, she held onto him tightly, making it a lot easier to carry her off.
Which they then did. Luckily most journalists had decided that the traditionalist candidate not following one of his country''s oldest traditions was more interesting a headline than an unconscious princess getting carried away.
The few that decided otherwise soon had to face a whole different terror as soon asThana spied them. Fucking paparazzi, she growled, decisively pissed off. A wave of her arm and projectiles of blood ripped through cameras. FUCK OFF! she screamed at the people, who promptly did as the drops flew back to Thana. The destroyed cameras were left right there.
You are in a bad mood today, John noted after a few minutes of silence, during which they got onto one of the many mana streets criss-crossing through the sky.
I wasnt until you started confusing me, and now I am in an extra shitty mood cause you shitty shithead had to make me jealous again.
Ya really need to get that jealousy problem under control, Rave noted.
I know! Thana threw her hands into the air. Its really fucking annoying, AND it makes this scratching worse! What does a girl need to get carried like a princess around here!? Do I really need to pass the fuck out, is that it?!
Yes, cause thats what I did when you got reborn and I had to get you home, John told her.
Urgh, I barely even knew you then, only knew that you were a decent fucker, the blood mageined. Now I love you and this shit keeps happening. Suddenly she grabbed her heart and fell to the floor. OH NO! she screamed, still getting carried along with them thanks to the carrying properties of the river of solid mana they were standing upon; Some dust in my eyes! This is the worst!
Since when does dust in your eye give you a heart attack? Momo asked. Silence. Thana keptying on the floor, face pressed against the mana stream, until they were about to hit the end. You may need to get u- John tried to warn her but in a disy of impressive (and very weird) bendability, Thana rolled her legs up until they connected to the floor next to her head and then swung herself back upright just in time to take a step off the mana street.
Then she turned around andughed at them, unpleasantly loudly. The look on your stupid faces right now is almost as good as the imagination of beating Herman up with his own gasmask, the blood mage told them.
I am honoured to hear that your violent mood swings are as prevalent as ever, a tired voice spoke from below John.
Slept well? John asked Lydia who pressed her eyelids together and blinked a few times to get used to the world again.
Cant say I did, no I presume Maximillian didnt do me the favour and lost to bleeding?
No, he gave it to her straight and then reported what had happened in detail.
To his surprise, one that was pleasant in nature, Lydia did not attempt to be put down. When asked about the matter, she answered that the public damage was already done, so she might as well enjoy it. She is not wrong, Momo, hovering beside them as they went up to the door, informed the group. The support was looking at her smartphone, eyes flying over the screen.
What do you mean by that? John asked.
I mean that there is a photo of you in the tournament subreddit, she answered.
Your stupidly paper-white ass, there isnt, I literally just destroyed the peoples cameras! Thanained.
You would be surprised what private people possess, the monochrome girl reminded everyone and waved the smartphone in her hand some more.
They checked on that statement once they all gotfortable in the living room. The rumour machine on reddit is as wild as ever, John noted as he went through thements. Opinions were mixed, as always. Most people just kept the neutral stance of saying that this wasnt anything special, he just carried her cause someone had too. Others said this was him forcing himself on an unconscious woman.
Lastly there was the crowd of people who wished he would thoroughly plough that stern arse, as they would if they had the chance. Ya got a gargantuan fan there, someone called Omnius, Rave pointed out and quoted. Wow, what a baller, surrounded by beautiful chicks. He better be carrying the hopes of mankind and getting his dick wet with all of them, nothing worse than having your cake and not eating it. He is defending ya against pretty much all the haters.
Huh, well I thank him for his services for haremkind, John said and gave a mental salute to whoever that guy might be. He would have done it physically as well, but his hands were in pleasant ces right now.
I must admit, that was a rather entertaining brawl, Nathalia said, for once joining them on the couch.
What is up with you? John asked.
Describe what you mean, John, and maybe I shall grant you an answer, Nathalia''s husky voice impatiently corrected him.
I mean that normally you would be gobbling up meat that Aclysia throws at you right now, he detailed further.
Ja, like a tiger in a zoo, Rave backed up her boyfriend, who she was cuddling. The other side was imed by Nia today, who wordlessly had attached herself to him and hadnt been moving since. Like, not even an inch. The only sign of her being even alive was her breathing and asional blink.
There was also hisp, where Thana was actually sitting and grinding her ass against his underwear, because he had been divested of his pants the moment he had sat down. I feel like I should be close to what may be my family, Nathalia said with crossed arms.
Now that caused general confusion amongst the table. When did you make that decision? John wondered.
A few days ago, just prove yourself and I might mate with you, the dragoness said, her thumb running over the back of her other hand as they wrestled with each other.
Dont ya mate with him like every day? Rave asked.
No, I fuck him every day, Nathalia corrected with a growl, only to then avert her eyes. Mating is something different entirely that I do not have experience in myself.
That was when it clicked with everyone in the room. Fuck no, I am having Johns first kid, Thana spat out.
When was that decided? John and Rave asked simultaneously.
Never, I just want it to be this way! Thana pouted. But sure, have it your way.
No, just, can we slow down? John asked; Why now, Nathalia?
Because I feel like you are worthy, or at least you are worthy enough to try and prove your actual worth. We will see, she gave some crypticmentary. The Gamer was deeply confused, but also ttered. If she had no experience in it that meant, by extension, that he was the first who got this chance. Either that or he would be the first one to seed, which he nned to do even if the prospect of siring some children with a goddess kind of scared him.
Well, he could always try to convince her to have childrenter. For a start, his ego and dick screamed at him to take up this chance. Actually, there was one more thing he needed to know here. Would you mating with me entail that you will only ever mate with me? he asked.
Nathalia froze; obviously, she had not thought about that whatsoever. If you are worthy to be my mate, you should be able to satisfy me on your own, she mumbled and then turned herva pool like eyes on John. If you manage to be my mate, this shall be my promise onto you that I will swear off all other men on this world for the time of your lifespan.
And now he was triply motivated to do whatever he needed to do to prove his worth. What do I need to do?
We will see when I am satisfied, she answered with something that wasnt an answer at all.
Can you be a bit more specific? he requested.
No, for I do not know the answer myself, I will just know when the time arrives. Nathalia nodded to herself.
I do love you, Nathy, but I swear that you are one selfish creature, Johnined and gained himself a dismissive re and horny smile in the same second.
I am the fire of destruction, I have no need to y by your rules, she said.
All of this aside, Lydia, whose patience now was at an end, and before this esctes into yet another round of pre-eating coitus
Todays meal is noodle based, I do not rmend leaving it on the stove for too long, Aclysia added in.
Yes, before the orgy happens, seeing how John is already naked below the waist the princess was right, his underpants had indeed been slipped off. Also, Thana did look like she would take any excuse for his dick to slip into her. Please let us quickly collect our current situation.
Our situation is very simple, Smander yawned and threw a small me at a candle, igniting it, and then pulling it back towards her, putting the fire out. It was a process she repeated constantly, like someone throwing and catching a rubber ball. Tomorrow is Sunday, therefore off, and thest solo fight is Nia, who is very likely to lose.
John felt the pressure on his left arm slightly increase. Sorry, Nia spoke.
Hey, you havent lost yet, he tried to talk her up.
Yes, and we should at least try to win, as Raves fight and today has shown it might be possible even if the odds are against us, Lydia nodded.
So, I should be spending a whole day with Nia to train her, is what you are saying? John presented his idea while really just asking for confirmation.
I was thinking that you should do Assaults, but do what is most efficient, I trust you, Lydia said and stood up. Now let us eat. Thana, keep your urges in check until afterwards please!
How about I suck his cock under the table? Thana asked. John rather liked that idea.
Chapter 316 – Empty Sunday
Chapter 316 C Empty Sunday
So, how does one train an anti-mage? That was the question John was faced with on Sunday. Of course, the easy answer was to just continue what he had been doing, fill up the Soulpotion and then give it to her, but that didnt feel quite right. Another way toe to an answer was to ask the person who knew all about it.
Well, well, well, said the suit wearing corporate suit, disguise for a certain god, who was the person in question and also an unbearable weasel. If it isnt John Newmaning here to molest my soldier again.
I take issue with numerous things in that statement, most of all calling her a soldier. How do you feel about him calling you that way, Nia? John asked, turning away from the god sitting on his table in front of the small caf.
Indifferent, Nia stated with a look on her face that could only be described by that same word. A momentter, filled with the Horned Rat pulling the lid of today''s basket of adorable critters, there was a wondrous glint in her eyes, or at least John imagined seeing it there despite her facial features not shifting whatsoever.
John couldnt really exin it, but as time went on and the extremely subtle signs of her emotions moved to the back of his head, he was gradually bing able to read the nk blonde. Granted, that wasrgely thanks to his high Wisdom. The only other people that were able to regrly make sense out of Nias behavioural patterns were Lydia (who was good at reading people in the first ce) and Momo (who was an emotional support just as much as abat one).
Rave also somewhat understood the pariah, but that was more of a case of Johns girlfriend being an extremely sociable person who didnt care that much as long as she could keep some sort of conversation going.
Is this a date? Nia suddenly asked, looking at John with a quizzically tilted head and reminding him that he hadntpletely figured her out yet. The question came out of literally nowhere.
More or less did you brood over that since yesterday? came his response.
Nia nodded.
Could this girl be more socially inept if she tried? Incredibly doubtful. Although that did make her kind of adorable. John had no time to say anything on the matter since the Horned Rat reached into the basket and pulled out the cuteness of the day.
It was a small, puffy, chinchi-esque thing with golden fur. The Horned Rat was holding it by the back of the neck, but still, the small mouse seemed more curious than terrified. Immediately smitten, Nia bolted forwards only to be stopped by Richard.
The index finger of his free hand fixated on her forehead, the other holding the chinchi out of reach, he kept the nk at bay. In turn, Nia was helplessly waving her arms at the cute little thing while making miserable noises John would have more closely associated with a rubber duck than a fully-grown woman.
We have done this before, the Horned Rat smiled with schadenfreude. As a matter of fact, we have done this every day. Do you not learn?
Nia stopped in her struggle and took a step back. Her expression stayed vacant, but her hair seemed to lose volume as she answered with a factual, They are cute.
Yes, so cute I could just eat them, Richard said and went through the same motivational routine asst time. As that scene unfolded, John got distracted by a window.
This was, of course, a pretty neutering thing. An understandable neutering thing but still. Ten levels per month were not exactly a lot, but it also wasnt all that limiting. A check on Herbrechts Grand Soulpotion revealed it to grant up to 500 non-Gamer experience, so that had been reworked to fit with the whole thing.
The more time went on, the more kinks were ironed out of his ability. The extremely abusable stuff that was busted without a doubt got reworked whenever Gaia found a satisfactory solution for it. It made John feel like he was a walking open beta.
In a way that is probably urate, he thought, I am the first and probably only one with my kind of power. I am like an MMORPG before data mining was around. The fact that he had gotten as much value out of the group mechanic as he had before it got nerfed actually put him in a kind of good mood.
Actually, the more he thought about it, this wasnt that much of a nerf in the first ce. The majority of levels for Rave hade from her making a contract with Copernicus, her involuntary life-or-death fight with Thana and the months spent training with her dad. Lydia had levelled quite a bit, but she also had practiced a lot.
So, ten levels per month to be spent on people however he wanted actually just put a lid on abuse cases he had wanted to actually use once this tournament was over to make a bunch of money. The idea would have been to simply take 10-20 people that could pay some sum and go grinding with them so they would level up.
He had been refraining from that because he just hadnt had the time for it and was currently busy mainly training himself and those directly around him. The other exploit was pulling people way above their natural limits, which he technically could still do, it would just take a very long time.
Actually, what were the maximal potential levels of everyone in his current group? He thought about it and soon was given a window that told him.
Well, lets have a look Nathalia is 1000, expected, but I wonder if that means I can level up a goddess? Same for Thana, once again just showing how busted she is, although I cantin on that front. Lydia is capped at 90, thats kind of low. And Janes softcap is 225. Good, good, quite high. What about Nia she is
His eyes went wide as he stared at the number. Her potential was capped at 666, which was kind of ominous but also just baffling because of how high the number was. He desperately hoped the Horned Rat hadnt hacked deep enough into him to know that yet, because there was no way he would let Nia go as easily as he had announced if he knew this.
All of this was therefore okay. Gaia still hadnt given him clear numbers on how much experience people in his group got, but now that she put a stop to the biggest offenses, John couldnt imagine it being too hard to get people up to their potential.
There were two more interesting things here that had nothing to do with the Patch itself, however. One was Gaia admitting that she had no idea what was in his Perks. The sassy deity did not have a track record of lying, so John believed that. Together with the implication that Gaia was just tampering with systems already in ce raised the question once again: who or what was actually programming his powers?
It couldnt be himself, at least not his active mind. If he ever got the ability to change his systems in whatever way he wanted, he would just rip open as many exploits as humanly possible. Well, hopefully he would find out one day.
When will I ever get the chance to level up Gamer though, John pondered and mentally sighed, in the background the Horned Rat acted like he was a merciful god, allowing Nia to pat one of the gold-chis for a few moments as a reward for the past few days.
His current ss level n was already pretty mapped out. Get Elementalist to level 20 to have the elementals as free spells, then fulfil the requirements for Arcweaver and check what that was about to (hopefully) finally getpletely rid of his melee suckage. Then he would have some ss levels to spare, but he would also be around level 320 at that point.
So that would have to wait. It was a pretty selfish stance, but John regarded it as most important that he himself was as strong as possible over propping people up above their natural limit. They were his powers, and he would have as much fun with them as he could.
Okay, I have to break some news to you, John said and told Nia what just happened.
The fact that the Horned Rat was along to hear it was annoying, but the god of dawning disaster could look into his systems anyhow thanks to Momo and John willingly taking his powers in at an earlier date.
One day I will find a way to make a virus-scan, he swore to himself.
Well, a good thing I have no more interest in you blowing up her level anyhow, Richard said at the end.
Why? Nia wondered, turning to her instructor.
Because what you need isbat experience, you have only been
getting stronger without learning how to use that strength, yes, John interrupted the god. He had heard lines like this too often over thest couple of days. Did everybody need to mention that whenever it came up how he levelled them?
Yes, the Horned Rat, uncaring about not getting to speak, nodded. Therefore, it is a good thing you came. I feel like you should make a wonderful training partner with that new ability of yours.
Sure, John sighed. He was going to follow the orders of the instructor for today.
You want anyone specifically? he asked.
From Smlere to Darkness, feel free to use whoever, the Horned Rat said, while chinchis ran over his body and sat down on his shoulder. With that simplement, the god had let him know that he was indeed aware of all of his Combinations already.
Fine, lets go with the speed demon then, John decided and informed Siena and Sylph that they were up.
For the record, fusing with you is a major headache, the shadow spirit said as the two of them stood on the pavement in front of the caf.
I like it, I like fusing with all of you, Sylph bbered, tumbling through the air like a leaf, Its fun, I get new perspectives and stuff. Can we do the fusion dance? Let us do the fusion dance!
There are many ways to get me to shake my hips, this isnt one of them, Siena drily responded.
But its fun, you do this! Sylphnded on the floor, stretching her arms out to the sides, then you go Fuuuuuuuuuuusion! she tip-toed her way over to Siena, HA! the tempest elemental threw her hands towards Siena. Total coincidence that theynded in a groping position on your big boobs and bouncy butt, I swear, I pinky swear, I super swear! Sylph swore.
We are fusing now before I cut your torso open, the nightmare elemental hissed, and thus they swirled together to form the gothic girl called Edge. Dark, greyish green hair fell all the way down to the floor and gotbed back by her left, the de-like fingers of that hand miraculously not cutting a single strand.
I am here, I am here, but I wont be for loooong, the incarnation of sadism said and dancing walked over to Nia, short skirt fanning out wide; Lets get this party started! and like that the blonde already had four scratches running over her corbone, barely even able to react.
She had levelled quite a bit, but still not so much that John saw her beating any skilled melee fighter. The odds for tomorrow were long indeed. Anyhow, the two of them were exchanging blows. Well, actually no blows were exchanged. Nia was simply trying her best to only get hurt a bit instead of a lot.
What is the training n here? I mean like over the day, what is the schedule? John, who didnt n on making the situation even worse on Nia, asked Richard.
Straightforward and simple, although I need you to tell me what the time conditions on the ability are. Wasntpletely able to figure that one out, the Horned Rat scratched one of the chinchis under the chin.
It was weird to see him get along with animals that well. Easily put, one fusionsts five minutes, each of the girls has her own 30 minute cooldown, he answered with a sigh. One day he would be in control of these conversations, and then he wouldugh. Long and loud would heugh at the Horned Rat as he asked for information.
You can chain two directly after each other for a 10-minute duration? the god asked for rity. John nodded. Good, then Nia will fight them back to back, get healed and rest for five minutes, fight you for 10, heal again and then fight a fusion again. Would you do me the favour of switching them through? I would like to see them all in action.
You will have to work for that information, John said, crossing his arms.
Aw, dont be that way, Newman, we are friends here, the Horned Rat made a sarcastic attempt at sweet talk.
You get to see 2, Smlere and Edge, those two are the ones I use the most anyway, John said. It wasnt that the rest were weak, but they had way more specialized skillsets.
Excuse me, Nia, fairly translucent at the moment, said and pulled the bickering duos attention back to her. Behind her were Siena and Sylph, both holding their head from headache.
That wasnt five minutes, John noted with a raised eyebrow. Did you separate them?
I used anti-magic and they split, the nk confirmed and then kissed John out of nowhere.
It took a few seconds of that nice, nd feeling of her lips resting on his for her to regain some substance. Bad Nia, the Horned Ratmented once she had bergely solid again; This is physical training, no Nirvana powers!
I ask for forgiveness, Nia said and, after at least a second of nothing happening between them or on her nk face, made a very stiff bow that roughly resembled Aclysias usual bodynguage. It seemed the nk did actually take Thanas request to show more emotion on her fuckingly beautiful face to heart in some way.
Just dont do it again, Richard was quick to forgive. John made an important mental note that anti-magic actually ended the fusion. Game Breaking or not, it was still just magic, apparently.
Chapter 317 – Too tired, need cuddles
Chapter 317 C Too tired, need cuddles
John looked down on an exhausted Niaying on the pavement. Me is sleepy, she said and in a rare disy of open emotion drummed her heels on the ground. I want to pat something! she said with forceful nkness on her face.
Nia, can you puff up your cheeks for me? John asked, kneeling down at her side. She did, overly so, to the point where her cheeks closely resembled balloons. Little less air, he instructed and slowly got her somewhere where she made a cute, annoyed looking face.
Then he made a photo of that, causing Nia, still holding that expression, to tilt her head in confusion. Johnughed and pressed the remaining air out of her cheeks.
Just remember to make that face when next time you are upset and demanding something out of frustration, he told her.
Why? Nia was still bamboozled.
Because it is an indicator of what you are feeling and makes it easier to socialize with you, John told her, then he had a stupid idea that might work. Hey, Richard, he shouted over; You fine with calling it quits? She still needs to be in a state to fight tomorrow.
The Horned Rat checked a clock, 8 PM, yes, this will have to suffice.
John would have been surprised if it hadnt. They had beat Nia up for about ten hours straight. Interestingly, with Echo of Destruction fully stacked, he was a match for Nia in melee, at least in pure Stats. She still had more experience, anti-magic weaponry and the ability to purge the buff from him. He wouldnt want to fight her in an honest engagement. Presumably, the victory would still be his, simply because he had way more magic than she could hope to neutralize before fading away, but it wouldnt be nice.
Lets end it here, Richard said and fixed his jacket. For today, he actually had kept that appearance on the whole day. Picking up the basket, he went over and ced it next to Nia, who was then granted five minutes of cuddling the fuzzy little mice. Afterwards, the Horned Rat took his leave.We will see each other sometime next week, wouldnt want her to stop training before the final fight.
Fine, John said as the Horned Rat teleported away. I want that, he thought- Absolutely do I want that. First, I will need enough mana to just be able to use that without really thinking about it though.
Can you walk? he asked Nia who just shook her head. He went ahead and picked her lithe body up.
You will be known for carrying girls, Nia pointed out as they went home.
Second best thing to get known for, after being a giant badass who also has a harem of girls, John answered and put on a jacket before leaving the barrier.
He called a cab, and then they drove into the inner city, where John visited a supermarket and bought a stack of notecards and a pen to write on said cards. All of this was a bit of a pain while still carrying Nia and everyone was looking very weirded out at them. Well, at him, they couldnt see Nia after all. To them, he was holding his arms in a weird position for apparently no reason.
Okay, so here is the deal, John said as they sat down on the first bench they came across. cing Nia next to him on the bench, he started scribbling words on the cards. Until you get properly socialized, we will go with a stupid solution, he handed her one of the cards, it read Confused.
He added more emotions to that deck, and Nia, hand still jittery from exhaustion, looked at them with her usual straight-faced nkness. She turned them in her hands to see if there was anything else up with them, the answer was no.
Whenever you feel something, just hold up the corresponding card, John exined when she blinkingly turned to look at him.
Like this? Nia wondered, presenting the first card he gave her to him.
Yes. Sure, it is a bit of a crude solution, but until you actually manage to get a set of facial expressions and tones together, it will do, John said.
Nia just looked at him without any words or gestures for a full minute. Then she said, Thank you. That is a nice gesture.
Hey, I just d-
Nia interrupted him by holding up the card that said Curious, Arent you feeling ashamed because you are appearing to speak to yourself in public?
John did look at the bypassing people, most of which just ignored him with a few ncing into his direction. I am slightly ufortable, but they will just think of me as another insane tourist, he shrugged. Its either that or not talking to you, as I dont exactly have the skills to create another barrier on top of Rome.
If he used Create I.D. here, all that would happen would be him entering the already existing barrier that was abyssal Rome. He would be spewed out in whatever the closest entrance location was. Actually, now I wonder, John mumbled and googled around a bit.
Although Google actually failed him when he wanted to search for stuff in abyssal Rome instead of the real one. Of all thepanies, Discord, Reddit, it is Google who doesnt have a presence in the fantasy world that is my life, John found that slightly ironic. For some reason, he had expected such supreme tech giants to have roots in this world. Hey, Nia, remember how I said this was a sort-of date? he asked after he went through another search engine called paying for a pdf tourist guide on abyssal Rome on the Abyss Auction.
Yes, Nia said.
And remember how you said that you want to pat stuff? The pariah went through that deck of cards quicker than a cash counting machine went through five-dor bills.
Holding up the Hopeful card, she nkly looked at John and answered with another, Yes.
Would you like to go to a petting zoo with me?
The blondes emotionless face suddenly darted several inches closer, Yes.
So that decision was made, and they went into the magical city. These are pretty impressive from below, John noted as he watched the flying inds above them, always paying close attention to the pariah next to him, now walking on her own.
They are not small and fluffy, Nia informed him of the obvious and dragged him by the hand.
Do you even know where we need to go? he asked and thenughed when the nk stopped dead in her tracks.
She just held up the Excited card without furthermentary. Which reminded John that she would need some sort of bag for that, so he bought her one when they passed a fitting shop.
Now dont identally dispel this thing, there are some nice enchantments on it, John warned her as he hung the bag over her shoulder.
It was made from white leather, as pure as possible, but it still looked inadequate next to the literal colour-void white of her dress. At least the straps had the same tinum gold colour as her hair, so it was a harmonizing victory on that front. Overall, it resonated nicely with her looks. John also put the notecards into a silver cassette so that they wouldnt get worn down or be lost within that bag all the time.
Ill cherish it, Nia promised; this time John didnt even need a card to notice the earnest meaning in those words. Her upper body, bent slightly towards him, was all the signal he needed on that front. He couldnt resist and pat her on the head. It turned out to be a good thing that he already had his hand close to her, as she then almost fell down to the pavement.
He caught her in time and helped her into a normal standing position. Here, John kept her stable by wrapping his arm around her waist and keeping her lithe body close to him. I am not just doing this to help you walk straight, he admitted with a smirk he hoped was flirty.
Halfway through getting out one card, the realization hit Nia, and she dropped it back into the deck to go with Complimented instead. Will this not make more people look at you as a womanizer? she asked.
Probably, but they are right, so I really dont care, John shrugged it off.
Okay. What about Lydia? the nk continued to ask.
I am respecting her request and keeping our rtionship a secret, John answered, leaning in conspiratorially to discuss this as quietly as possible, but between me and everyone else is a topic that I dont need her approval on; I am my own man.
Personally, he thought that Lydia should just have gone ahead and made it public a while ago. The rumour machine was already running wild, and John wasnt the type to keep it a secret that he was loving multiple women. As a matter of fact, he waspletely happy with making a whole bunch of people jealous because of it.
He had worked quite a bit over the past months to get into this position, so hiding the fruits of hisbour felt wrong. Especially as they were such pretty fruits. If her and Janes mom get angry about this, then I will calmly discuss this with the former and tell thetter to get bent, its that easy, John disimed.
Okay, Nia just epted that statement, not having strong feelings either way. They went the rest of the way, arm in arm, in rxed silence.
They finally arrived at a cubic building, with literally nothing on its smooth surfaces, and Nia immediately pushed her disapproval in Johns face. Literally, that was what the thin piece of cardboard said. This is no petting zoo, she said in the cold void of nothing that could have been her usual tone or one of such absolute betrayal that it switched into pure wrath.
The fact that her fingers were twitching as if she was about to conjure her dagger did support the second theory. Calm down, calm down, John said, touching her butt with the hand that was meant to stabilize her in the process. Despite all his Wisdom, he could be quite the pervert.
The card was now stered on his face. Not a petting zoo, Nia repeated in the same tone.
No, it is better. Let us go inside and you will see, John surrendered on trying to calm her down and went with the show over tell-route.
Wee to the secret pet-store, where we secretly sell pets, a clerk behind the entrance immediately greeted them. John didnt quite understand why they went with that slogan, seeing that they were disguised solely by having no street sign.
While they were currently separated from the actual pet area by a giant wall, in front of which the clerk sat behind his reception desk, the sounds of meows, chirps, croak and barks as well as mixtures of all of those sounds could be heard quite clearly.
Hi, I would like entrance for two people, John said and pulled $20000 from his inventory. They probably would have preferred it if he paid in the local currency, which John only recently learned Rome even had, but he didnt feel like going through the motions of changing his money.
The clerk just took that money and handed them two tickets. Have fun! he wished them, and Nia immediately darted off. Well, she tried to. After just a few steps, her tired legs gave in and once again she almost met the floor if it hadnt been for John catching her just in time and then helping her up again.
No hurries, its open until midnight, John told her as they made their way around the wall.
They are all crying with the need to be cuddled, Nia exined. Then her eyes went wide as they entered the building. In good old abyssal fashion, it was bigger on the inside, a lot bigger.
They were surrounded by a giant ypark for animals. Dragon-kittens rolled around their grown parents, fantastical birds flew through the stupendously high ceiling, their multi-coloured feathers cutting through the air. A mixture of parrot and minimized emu was bouncing around their feet, repeating Hello, hello, hello! over and over again.
There were trees, sloths, kos and all kinds of weird, fantasy animals hanging and climbing over them. A hedgehog riding the back of a two-headed, red turtle looked at John with its quivering snout. A herd of piglets with snake tails happily chased after apletely normal dog that then decided to no longer run on the ground but instead go with air as its preferred treading area.
This was really less of a pet shop than an oversized animal park where all animals miraculously got along, and one could buy one of them if they tickled the fancy.
Nia was as lost as John would have been in a strip club when he was still a virgin. There was just so much to look at. What to pat first? Nia mumbled, her brain shutting down under the overload of adorable.
How about you just sit down here, John said and manoeuvred her under a tree, and we see what hap-
Before he could even finish that sentence, the herd of piglets, unable to chase the dog anymore, picked Nia as her next target. The nk yelped happily as she got overrun by the tiny little things, pressing their snouts on her as she tried her best to pat all of them equally.
Whether the animals were just bored or Nia radiated some sort of natural attraction to them, John didnt know, but with each passing moment, the crowd of animals besieging her grew until he eventually became unable to even see her.
Are you fine? he asked, slightly worried. None of them seemed hostile, but that was still a lot of puppies, kittens and piglets she was currently besieged by. A hand raised from the mass, clenched aside from the thumb pointing at the ceiling.
She was doing very fine.
Two hourster, John was, once again, carrying Nia, this time home. Did you really have to chase everyst animal for thest minutes before closing time? We got out two minutes before midnight! John asked jokingly. He had to forcefully remove the nk from her hugging some kind of flying whale upon request of one of the staff members that they were closing.
They needed cuddles, Nia mumbled, clearly dead-tired now. How she had found the strength to even operate thest two hours was remarkable. Clearly, cute animals were the one true motivator for the pariah.
Thats it, John realized. He would have hit himself on the forehead if his hands werent upied with carrying Nia on his back (she said she found that morefortable). Nia? he wanted to find out if she was even still awake.
Ye-aaah-s? she yawned, even with apletely still face her body couldnt suppress basic functions.
Would youe with me to America if I promised you to build a park like that?
Where do I have to sign? she asked, wide awake again for a moment. Then that bit of energy left her again, and she just rested on his back, Ask me againter.
Will do that, John promised and postponed this talk to another date. A momentter, Nia fell asleep on his back. He had a nice walk back home and thanked the world for the fact that the tournament fights happened in the afternoon.
Once home, he carefully ced her in her bed in the windowless room on the first floor, which she had picked for herself, and let her be.
Chapter 318 – Vs Ankleshanker Round 2 [Nia POV]
Chapter 318 C Vs Ankleshanker Round 2 [Nia POV]
Finally, a fistfight, Jeff announced above as Nia rode the tingling mana tform down to the arena.
The rim of her long skirt fluttering in the still air of the arena, she listened to the lizardman, who was afraid of her powers, respond. They both use weapons.
Semantics, the man with the funnily tall hair waved off.
No, not semantics. The difference between choices of weapon is big enough to give birth to sayings, Dra insisted.
All I am saying is that I look forward to a melee instead of these constant mage battles, Jeff defended his position.
Then just say that, the lizardman shook his head and took a sip of ginger ale.
If Nia had anything to say about it, this fight wouldnt be particrly long. The fighting style she had been taught was to grasp at victory as soon as it was avable.
Now her instructor had insisted on them training her physical body a lot, but it wasnt like she hadnt made her own ns for how to go about this battle. Everyone had been saying how low her chances were to win here.
She couldnt exactly say she agreed, but they seemed so convinced that she just went with their assumption until now.
I am going to cut you up! Ankleshanker announced, brandishing his knives.
I do not consent to that. I am not into knifey, Nia answered as nkly as ever. That did seem to throw the goblin off the rails a bit.
Thats not how this works, you should brandish your own battlecry, for fucks sake, heined. She cocked her head.
Realizing she didnt have the cards John gave her, she simply stated out loud, I am confused. Why?
Because if I am not assassinating people for once, I can at least enjoy some banter, the unpleasant voice said.
We would like to remind everyone that Fateweaving DOES protect Ankleshanker from simply getting deleted by Nias powers, the sobermentator above announced as the biome wheel started spinning; Not that I think she can just do that without fading herself in the process. Just saying for all our concerned magical races out there.
Nia barely ced any attention with the biome lottery. The result was as important to her strategy as toilet paper was likely to create a papercut.
I will defeat you? Nia suggested as the crowd started their countdown.
No! Say something cool and thematic! Ankleshanker threw his short arms into the air; Like: I will send you to the void!
Its nice over there, do you want to go? the nks answer caused the assassin to groan.
I am going to enjoy stabbing you, he announced.
You wont get the chance, Nia replied with what was, to the best of her knowledge, fact.
Now that was actually pretty go-UARGH! the countdown hit zero. Ankleshanker, sure of his victory, wanted to finish their little talk.
A tactical misstep.
Nia quickly wove together her energies into a pattern that was meant to selectively target only certain kinds of magic. She had been practicing this whenever she had gotten the chance.
It ripped out in a wave that washed out all blue and red from the world around her, leaving everything weirdly green tinged. It connected, burying the goblin under a pile of his own weaponry and clothes as they sized up to their maximum.
Then she quickly bridged the one step distance between them and thrust her ck spear at the goblins head. As he was a being of magic that did him in pretty much immediately, and the Fateweaving transported him away before his being could be eradicated.
Why was everyone so afraid I would lose? Nia asked herself and spun towards the exit.
She returned back up to the tform under the stunned silence of the audience. What what just happened? the pink-haired girl that had the contract with John that was also his girlfriend that also had a warm and cuddly cat as her elemental asked Nia when she arrived back at the top.
I made his weapons go up to their maximum size and then stabbed him, Nia answered the question. She didnt take it hard on Rave that she missed it; in her situation, Nia would have been preupied sniffing John and patting the cat.
We saw that, you bleached blonde bimbo, the scary, angry, tiny girl cursed at her. Nia once heard that small people were always angry for a certain reason.
Is it true that you are closer to Satan? she asked after looking into Thanas violet eyes for several seconds.
What C the C fuck?! Thana asked and started saying things that would have made a lot of small, religious animals very sad if they could have understood it. Nia couldnt help but phase out and imagine baby seals in priestly robes and nuns habits.
No, but seriously, John, the guy who smelled amazing, spoke up. Nia stepped closely up to him, reminded of his existence, to be closer to that smell. She would have to thank Nathaliater for making him smell this amazing.
How did you do that whole flood him with his own weapons thing. Exin it to me slowly, he requested.
Size changing enchants have three sub-enchants. One for scaling up, one for scaling down and one for noticing what size is needed. I removed the scaling down and the noticing, so all the weapons and clothes could do were scale up. So thats what they did, Nia did as he wanted and then, having smelled enough of him for the moment, went to look for Copernicus.
The partial elimination of magic should be far above what you are capable of, Lydia said. That is something only a chosen few nks ever did.
Yes. Nia didnt see why that was important. She could do it, so what?
And you just did that? John asked further, looking after her as she moved.
Size changing enchantments are standardized. I trained for this whenever you or my instructor didnt force me to run around and gave the depleted daggers to Momo, Nia said.
And here I thought I was just getting the Artificial Spirit equivalent of chocte Momo mumbled while reading on the table,pletely unfazed otherwise. Nia wasnt quite sure why it couldnt have been both. Just tossing them away would have been a major waste.
Wait, are you saying that the Horned Rat was wrong? John asked,ing slightly closer.
All of you were, yes, Nia answered nkly.
Well, why did you insist on goingst if you could have beat him this easily? the princess that was her first friend demanded to know.
Nia tip-tapped over and kissed her. She felt a bit faded. Lydia let it happen for a second before pushing her off and saying, And now I have to issue a public statement because of you.
John said we should do what we want, Nia cocked her head.
We will deal with that line of reasoningter. Answer my question first, Nia, Lydia started sounding a bit demanding.
My instructor insisted on me needing every single day to train my body, he is usually right, the nk answered. It is good to have back-up ns. She personally felt that all of this talk was highly unnecessary. She had won. Can I go search for a cat now? she asked.
No, I want to understand exactly how this happened, Lydia spoke and crossed her arms. If you were this capable, why didnt you tell us?
You never asked, Nia stated, going over to the bag John had gifted her, opening the metal cassette and then shuffling through. What was she feeling right now? Irritation? Yes, that sounded about right. She showed the card to Lydia.
John had informed them about this new system, which had generally found fans amongst these people she regarded as her friends. Except for Thana, she was scary, and she hadughed at her for these cards. Long and loud had sheughed.
But that was beside the point.
The braided princess opened her mouth in what seemed to be the start of a five-minute lecture about the world. Okay, lets break the situation down, John stepped in; We assumed that Nia would lose because we underestimated how she could use her powers, Nia is as bad atmunicating as ever, and Richard was wrong about something.
Why do ya care so much about thatst thing? Rave spoke what Nia was thinking but felt hard to put into such precise words.
Because I will never let him forget about this, the Gamer gloated to himself. I am allowed my vices. Still, Nia, if you could, would you tell us how you can do that sort of stuff? From what I know about anti-magic, it just eliminates magic.
I can try, Nia said and held up her Uncertainty. Everyone looked at her anticipatingly then she took a deep breath to get all of it out at once. Magic is a ball in the upside down corridor of existence that hangs in the point of ovep of all nothingness as all nothing factually is all nothing is something and emptiness is void but magic is a ball because it is a ball the vetr-waves interact interchangeably with the incarnation of specific hives upon the electronic sub-structure of being that acts, lives in and feeds itself in and on the void between atoms and thus reces everything with swinging nirvana screaming into the shape of blue butterflies that represent that first wave and
Stop! Lydia said, rubbing her temples- Can you say thisprehensively instead of using weird metaphors?
Magic is [
], she said and everyone held their ears as if they had just been sted with incredibly loud, high-pitched interference sounds.
Nia,Nia,( Nia, Nia, Nia,) the world became less and less colourful as she was pulled to the other side by the great empty one. His form was the shifting monolith ofplete stillness, like the frozen ripple of a pond in the turbulent ocean, and he waved his shape with amusement.
Th[ey cannot quite make (sense of what you are) trying to tell them]. Thews of sound werepletely anulled for him. His voice was just there, etched into the quietness of endless white snow. [You wont be] able to tell them no matter how hard (you try). You show them a piece, if you were stronger.
I understand, Nia said.
\/\/ I-I y dont you stay forever? (we [all] can make sense of you.
No. I like this side, she answered.
Such. conviction. Another time, then [look out for that dress], the Great Empty One bubbled out of the textures of the colourless world as she slipped back over to her side, the one most people regarded as more real than the one that had just tried to im her because she said too much.
A process greatly put at ease by John grabbing her. That was the second worst headache I had in my life, he said between gnashed teeth. Right between Undine ripping SEP out of me and Observing the Metracana. Anyway, you were fading a lot there.
He said thatst part kind of nonchntly, but even Nia could hear that it was the actual crux of his words. The Great One told me that telling you was futile, so I wont try again, Nia stated as nkly as ever and grabbed the Sorry card.
I dont even want you to, for fucks sake, Thana grumbled. Just do THAT next time you want to surprise an opponent.
No, Nia said; It pulls me over dangerously far. I wont do that again.
Yes, do not, Rave said, shaking her head to chase away the lingering pain as if it was a buzzing fly. You are quirky, I like quirky.
That was nice to hear. I will go find a cat now, Nia put the bag over her shoulder and walked away. She felt like patting a grey one.
Lydia: 8, Maximillian: 8
Chapter 319 – Stretching out
Chapter 319 C Stretching out
John dangled a Toblerone above Nias head. He ignored the jealous growling from both Thana and Nathalia in the background and slowly lowered it into her mouth. Good girl, he said and patted the fluffy upper side of her hair as she took a bite.
She was currentlyying with her head on hisp and was getting fed an array of different choctes. She preferred the white ones, which John found a bit too sweet. Personally, he preferred milk chocte, striking a nice bnce between the bitterness of dark and the overly sugary taste of white chocte.
But this wasnt about him, this was about a French pariah doing a very good job and getting rewarded for it because they all thought (and constantly had let her know) that she was going to lose when the reality had been that she had scored the second quickest win in the tournament thus far. Itnded right between Alexej giving up and Alexej giving up the second time.
Nia was as expressionless as ever as she got fed from all sides, but John didnt miss that happy little way she was wiggling her toes and scratching Copernicus, who had rolled up on her stomach. With her other hand, she was keeping the Happy card above her corbone.
You are supposed to smile, ya silly goose, Raveughed and pulled the edge of the nks lips up with her index fingers.
She pulled back, and Nia kept the expression, which looked more like someone had taken advice from the Joker and put it in ce by using tons of dangerous chemicals and torture.
Yeah, we gonna train that again another day, the Lightbearer must have shared Johns impression as she quickly put the nks expression back into the normal resting position. The wiggling of her toes continued.
Okay, so lets see how all of this went for us so far, John said letting Nia nibble on some Mikado sticks, like a cartoon rabbit on a carrot, as he turned to talk to Lydia. Momo, would you do the honours?
When did I be your secretary? the support replied.
Well, Aclysia is my maid, Jane is my girlfriend, the elementals are something between concubines
CONCUBINES and HEAD COURTESAN! Sylph shouted, flying by as she got chased by Smander for whatever feud they were having today.
John just continued as if nothing happened, and extensions of myself, Thana is my cute little sub-ve the blood mage raised a finger in protest but then just smirked and nodded enthusiastically, Nathalia is my hot cocksleeve
You are lucky I am infatuated with you still, the dragoness grumbled a warning.
Noted, he decided to not push it too far; he had managed to avoid one of her temper tantrums for a while, and he very much liked this house not burning, and Lydia is my current superior. You are like the buddy that tags along. Might as well make yourself, and that giant Intellect of yours, useful by bing my secretary.
So in short: just now, Momo sighed heavily. You know what? Fine. Have it your way. I guess I can do your paperwork instead of Lydias sometimes.
How nice of you, John smirked and dropped more chocte into Nias mouth. Rapidly blinking while chewing, the nk seemed to try and build up the courage to ask a question. You are what I want to have in the future, John said and booped her on the nose. If you decide toe with me, you will be my zookeeper.
The matter of whether or not she woulde with him was still up in the air. Her initial enthusiasm had been dampened when he had next asked what her decision was after she returned home following her disappearance after the fight.
Or, to be more exact, she actually thought about this. Instead of blindly following John; although he knew she regarded him somewhat highly, he still was a guy she had only met about two and a half weeks ago.
Sure, sitting together in the same mansion and having sex helped getting close and rid of any sort of ice, but that didnt make him inherently trustworthy. By that logic, he was actually happy that she was considering this outside of the this will give me ess to cute animals-viewpoint.
If she actually chose him by the end, that would be great, and it hadnt been just a spur of a moment deal. If she didnt, well, that would sting, and it was unlikely the two of them would ever meet again under such close circumstances. He was going back to the USA, and shewasnt.
Well then, to put it bluntly: our situation seems tremendous, Momo started her exnation; We already establishedst meeting that our chances of winning are high even if we enter the next round on a tie. Now, given that we win the group fight, we actually will be 2 points ahead.
Which begs the question of how likely we are to win the group fight, John picked up.
My answer to that remains: With high probability, Lydia took a sip of tea; It is pretty much a foregone conclusion in a 2 versus 2, with chances lowering but never dropping out of our favour the more people are involved.
What anal queen is saying there is, Thana giggled and wrapped her arms around Johns neck, embracing him from her position behind the couch and using his head as a resting ce for her breasts, that you and me will have to carry these fuckers, John. The Newman duo.
Could ya stop? Rave pouted.
Not while I am this fucking horny; I already suppress my daddy-calling urge, the blood mage retorted.
Why are you horny all of a sudden? John asked.
You mean aside from my moods just jumping all over this cumstain that is the emotional range all the time? Remember how you called me your cute little sub-ve, she moaned thesest words into his ears.
See, Siena, John, grinning, said to his shadow. This is the proper kind of fucked in the head.
Only because you are such a bore and wont let me make you MY cute little sub-ve, Siena sighed, only surfacing her head before dropping out of the conversation again.
Thanas words are imprecise, but their meaning remains factual, Lydia said. Rave might be able to stand up for herself, and Nia has her special talents, but the enemy fighters still, generally, outss us. You two, however, are able to beat their strongest fighters. It already takes two of them to just bind Thana down is something the matter?
John turned his head to see the blood mage shaking her head as if she was trying to regain her sense of bnce after being spun around for a few minutes. Nothing, just warded off a small, shitty panic attack, she said. You know, the usual fucked in the head business. Dont worry about it.
Everyone did, however, worry about it. Quietly. John stopped feeding Nia for a moment to grab Thanas left and calmly kept it there. Okay, but now lets look at what could throw a stone between us and our victory, he decided to move on with the normal topics to not dwell on this for too long.
Generally speaking, Thana had made a lot of improvements in pretty much all regards of her overall state. Saying she was on the road to healing would have been an overstatement, but she was getting to the desired socially functioning state. He didnt want to get on her case too much.
The easy answer to that is Hawpler, the elemental none of us knew about before this, Lydia spoke this with barely concealed bitterness. The fact that Maximillian had actually kept secrets from her seemed to have hit her deeply. John noted that as lingering feelings causing it to feel like betrayal or something.
It adds a certain danger to the encounter with him, Momo said, having picked up her e-reader again, but there is no way that, even stacking the help from the elemental and Alexej, that it is going to be potent enough to counter Soulburn.
That is true as fuck, Thana agreed, having recovered.
Most certainly, Nathalia, stealing some of the candy from the table, chimed in, the ability was able to force me to transform. To keep her down in that state would mean that youngling Maximillian has powers rivalling Romulus at least in one field.
And even if he manages to bind you for a minute or so, there is still me and all my girls, John added.
Yeah, it actually looks like there is no way to lose this, Rave nodded. I would congratte ya for being queen in advance and all that, but I dont wanna jinx it.
I dont believe in my ascension unless the two-headed eagle rests upon the lean of my chair, Lydia soberly stated and downed the rest of her tea. I, however, see that we are in agreement, she said as the cking of her put down cup still echoed through the room, Our chances to lose are slim. Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but that single win might be where the crux of the tournament will lie. I will therefore postpone festivities until an appropriate, real asion. With that she rose, And now I will rest for the night. I hope to see you all well tomorrow.
Yeah, lets also go hit the mattress, Rave said and stretched. Exciting day tomorrow.
I will do you the honours and let you sleep without fucking me for once, Nathalia said and snapped her fingers. Aclysia, you will have to entertain me in his stead.
Most certainly, mistress, the weaponized maid said with a bow. John could feel that she was also looking forward to that.
Everyone else agreed to go sleep early as well, and so they separated in anticipation of the next big fight tomorrow.
John woke up again when he heard a knock on his door. Noooo, Rave grumbled when he rolled away to see who it was, freeing himself from her full-body hug (including her legs being wrapped around his stomach) in the process.
You just keepying there, he whispered; Ill be back in a sec.
Okay, she yawned and snoozed off again, having never opened her eyes. Now John wondered who this was as he rubbed the burning of short sleep from his eyes. He wasnt particrly psyched about the interruption. When he had done the same to Lydia the other day, he had at least checked if she had been still awake.
He opened the door, ready to tell Nia that she couldnt pat Copernicus at this hour but instead found a frightened looking girl. She was smaller than him, considerably so, white hair that became blue from the shoulder-length downwards, shattered eyes of violet with two golden rings, one thin and barely visible, the other seven golden dots around her iris.
She wore her ck robe like an open bathrobe; her other clothes had been hastily thrown on and barely hid her nudity. Only the scarf, which she nervously kneaded with her left hand, seemed to have been where it belonged, as was the teddy bear she pressed to her chest.
Look, I know I am annoying the fuck out of you right now, Thana cast her gaze aside, but can I sleep here tonight? Feel free to ravage me however you want in the process. At any other asion, that suggestion may have led to exactly that happening, or at least to a very stable erection. However, John was barely able to see the usual insane and confident Thana in the girl in front of him.
She seemed to have hit some sort of realization or a new mental defect was acting up. Whatever it was, John would not take this situation and solve it through sex. That couldnt have been called solving in the first ce.
Come inside, he simply said, gesturing for her to undress, and they both climbed into the bed.
I dont feel like sexing right now, Raveined, opening her eyes a gap and seeing Thana.
We are just going to cuddle, her boyfriend promised and, one arm wrapped around Thana, the other around his girlfriend, gotfortable in the middle of the bed.
He kissed both of them on the head before his eyes slowly fell closed again. In thest moments of consciousness, through the fuzziness of Raves hair John could see their electronic clock on the nightstand.
It was 23:59.
Chapter 320 – 01=/=Th
Chapter 320 C 01=/=Th
You know, John said to Momo as both of them sat atop his fortress tower, grinding more orcs, I have to wonder what ising after this.
If you mean in a matter of time, the group fight, the support answered in a matter of fact tone.
No, I mean after this, he gestured at the whole world.
The Assault is going to despawn, and you are getting experience points, Momo continued with dry answers.
That was exactly what happened, the moment she stopped talking.
For someone who is connected to my thoughts, you are being incredibly snarky right now, John pointed out as he looked at the reward. The numbers were getting prettyrge, to the point where he wondered if Gaia would just lob off some zeroes eventually. He would need to run another Assault to get his next level.
Yup, call it the revenge of the secretary, master-pervert, Momo said already pulling her e-reader out of her inventory now that she no longer had to look out for arrows; Serious answer, I am trying to not look at your thoughts whenever I can because they will be gone someday and I want to minimize the weird silence.
John closed the window and made an understanding noise, Huh, I guess that makes sense anyway, my question in detail then: I wonder what will await us back in the USA? ording to the info I could dig up on the Abyss Auction, there are lots of medium-sized guilds vying for power, and because there havent been any central authorities in ever, there will be at least a few of the Thana level people as well.
You just answered your own question: fractured guilds and powerful individuals, Momo sighed; Here is a counter-question about something I have been wondering. She smacked closed the leather lid of her e-reader and actually locked her white eyes with his for this one, Why do you want to conquer the USA in the first ce? The way I see it, you already have everything you could want, from women to money, and power will naturallye to you over time thanks to that busted ability of yours. There is no reason for you to have ambitions that high.
Except for one thing, John raised a finger and wiggled it teasingly, then he had to suppress a sneeze from the dust filled air before he answered. Thats what he got for trying to look cool, a nose full of crumbling walls. Ehem, anyway, this whole conquering thing is not about me wanting power.
One of Momos eyebrows darted straight towards the direction of the ceiling, Details, please, or do I need to suck everything out of your dick so you will tell me?
I wouldnt be against that idea, he joked and earned himself a light, berating tap to the head with Momos staff in response. No, what I mean is that the current state of the US is disgraceful. I dont like seeing my country splintered up and weaker than those around it, he exined.
Really? Patriotism? Thats your reason? Momo asked.
Yes, John shrugged. Dont act like it is a bad one just because its simple; patriotism has given rise to many of the best things in history.
And some of the worst, the support pointed out, then again the totalck of any kind of patriotism also has led to some major catastrophes. Everything in measure, I guess.
Yup, preferably metric, which is exactly what I will introduce to the American Abyss once I am through with it, the Gamer announced.
They shall bow before your superior wisdom in measurement systems, Master, Aclysia agreed.
Indeed, they will just got to grind a lot to get there, he sighed. 26 years of daily grinds, I am not looking forward to this. Hope Gaia has enough temte changes.
I will entertain you, dont be afraid, his weaponized maid sighed into his ear.
John checked his clock to see if he could somehow justify a quickie before they had to go to the fight. He couldnt, it was a mere hour until the fight. Technically, they should have been there already, butints from all sides, about how this was a terrible decision from the side of the organizers, towards Lydia had made her begrudgingly ept that they could goter as well.
This had been without consequence thus far, and John doubted it would change, but they still needed to get over there. So, sad as it was, he couldnt bend over Aclysia and fuck her up the ass in an abandoned house right now. It was a real tragedy.
They returned to the mansion through the gate and almost ran into Rave in the process. There you are! she said. Come, quick. She didnt sound yful in the least. John immediately switched gears, the smile on his face vanishing and making room for a serious expression.
What happened? Something with Thana? he asked as they went back with hasty steps. His mind immediately leaped to the blood mage and the vulnerable state she had been in. In the morning she seemed fine again, but John would have been a moron to not suspect that this was somehow tangled up with her.
At the very least, the fact that they were walking, albeit quickly, instead of running meant that this was at least under control. Yes, and ya will see, hard to exin, Rave answered, and they quickly threw off their shoes in the entrance.
His girlfriend flew up the stairs, and he was right behind her, where they met with Lydia and Thana herself, standing in front of the open door of the room next to his and Raves. Thanas room. The princess was only looking at him for a moment, nodding at the open door before continuing to stare into the air, lost in thought.
Thana, on the other hand, seemed shaken beyond belief, pale even beyond her usual unhealthy tint. Hasting to their side, John joined them at the door to look at what had them this concerned. The moment he looked into the room, his eyes widened in confusion.
What had been apletely furnished bedroom was nowpletely empty and filled with dust and dirt. At least that was Johns first impression, but as he stepped into the doorframe and kneeled down to inspect theyer on the floor more closely, he was proven wrong.
The room wasnt just empty, it had beenpletely stripped of everything. The wallpaper had been ripped off the walls, the shelves, bed and mattress had all disappeared. All of it seemed to have happened without even the faintest trace of any of these things being moved elsewhere, seemingly having just vanished.
But as John picked up a handful of the dust and looked at it closely, the truth became apparent. The furniture, the wallpapers, theputers and everything else that had been in that room, they hadnt just vanished. No, they had been ground down to the smallest possible particle whoever did this could make them into.
The dust in his hand was a mixture of broken and torn materials, even the feathers filling the cushions had been ripped fibre for fibre, the quills destroyed. There was nothing in this room anymore, aside from naked walls and ayer of scraps on the floor, in which the footprints of a small woman were left. The dusty trail led away from the room and towards his.
Can somebody fill me in? John asked, looking at the ground beneath his feet where someone, where Thana, had dusted off her feet.
I hoped you would be able to tell me something, Lydia said. I was with Thana all morning, this must have happened over the night.
I didnt hear a thing John said and nced into the room again.
For this level of destruction to have happened without there being any sounds loud enough to wake him up meant that whoever did this had been beyond careful in their approach. I dont remember anything, Thanas voice was a silent quiver. I was just standing in front of Johns door all of a sudden. I was afraid. I dont remember this.
If she was telling the truth, and John had no reason to doubt her words, then that only left the timespan between them going to bed and around midnight when she knocked on his door. That wasnt even three hours, for all of this destruction to happen. It wasnt impossible, obviously it wasnt, the proof was right before his eyes, but highly diforting.
John did the important thing first and embraced the blood mage. Calm down, we can panic about this in peace, he mumbled.
You are making no fucking sense, she answered, holding back tears of panic. What did I do this time? I dont remember this. Why is my brain this fucked? Why do I have to be this fucked up? She sniffed, clearly trying her best to not break down on the spot. At least I always knew what I was, a disgusting monster, but I was my monster. What is happening?
Ya can cry, ya know? Rave said, patting her on the head; Ya already did it thrice, we wont shame ya.
You dumb whore, I only cried twice, ever, Thana cussed at her. At least thats what I fucking thought.
Holding her in his arms, John turned to Lydia. She cant fight today, he said out loud. Whatever this was, it wasnt good, and he wouldnt let ite to pass. The princess closed her eyes in thought, the fact that she didnt respond immediately gave John cause for concern.
As did Thana tensing up in his arms and then freeing herself. NO! I can fight! she shouted at him. I refuse to let my fucking brain be the reason Lydia could lose this tournament.
There are more points in the future, and I can carry this on my own, John pushed back.
You might be able to, Lydia agreed, but I cant lose yet another three points to the twists of fate. Thana, you will fight today and not again afterwards unless we figure out what this caused.
I beg you, Lydia, John said in a grave tone. Do not do this.
My decision has been made, Lydias iron eyes were looking in his direction but they were focused on something beyond him, beyond all of them. It pains me to treat a friend in such a manner, but I will use her as a tool as long as she is still functioning. Especially because today is so crucial.
I will notply with this, Johns tone was grave.
But I will, Thana said. You can fuck off with making decisions for me!
You heard her, the princess iron eyes only became darker as she killed her own empathy for the situation to make the hard decision a ruler had to make. So will you keep to your word and do your best to help her even in this situation or will you betray me and our agreement?
What was more valuable, the safe present or the prosperous future? John understood her thought process, understood why she held Thana hostage to gain his strength, understood that there was no correct answer here.
There was no way John could know that his idea to immediately go get help for her was the best one. Maybe she would be gone for the rest of the tournament, maybe that would cause Lydia to then lose. The princess decided to ce her bet on Thana being able to control herself for at least today, aside from her initial shock, the blood mage seemed stable enough to warrant this.
But he wasnt happy about this whatsoever, he could neither bring himself to agree with the princess viewpoint nor t-out deny it. There were too many maybes.
He remained convinced that this could only lead to catastrophe. Thana was frail, there was no doubt about it, not physically but mentally. Using her like she was a blunt sword because that was the best weapon around right now didnt sit right with John. However, that very same sword demanded to be used. Johns advice on the matter went ignored. If he wanted to protect Thana, there was only one choice here.
I have now seen the worst of you, Lydia, John said with closed eyes. Have it your way.
Chapter 321 – Reign of Blood.
Chapter 321 C Reign of Blood.
Group fights, aw yeah, those always get me hyped up, Jeff shouted.
Everything always gets you hyped up. Dra shook his head, and that was about all that John could stomach of these two right now.
The mood on their teams tform was bad, to say the least. The recent happening hung in the air like a poisonous fog, infecting whatever words were spoken and killing conversations before they could be more than awkward small talk. John fully embraced the development. He would get this fight over with as soon as possible, and then they would fix this whole mess.
He nced over to Thana, who stuck to Lydia in their current divide, the two of them sitting on another table while Rave sat with him; Nia and Momo refused to be caught up in this. So, it is a 2vs2, lets go ahead folks, pick your fighters in the next 5 minutes!
Your decision remains the same? John asked over the two tables.
Yes, Lydias tone was indomitable, she had made up her mind and was now going to stay the course. Understanding of her reasons remained, just as his wish this wasnt what they would have to do.
The time ran out, and he and Thana rode the tform down to the arena. Are you that angry? Thana mumbled into the quiet, undoing her scarf and handing it to John.
Sighing, he answered and took it, safely storing it in his inventory until after the fight, I am not angry, I am concerned, Thana. The blood mage shook her head in what John first thought to be an understanding nod but turned out to be more of a near-copse as she took a reflexive step forwards to keep her bnce.
John was close, ready to catch her. When she stood steadily again, he couldnt help but burst out, See? Something is clearly not working with you right now! Thana stayed silent to that.
Only when the tform dissipated underneath them did she mumble, I have to be useful, I cant be the insane fucking girl that is just dead-weight.
You will never be deadweight! John growled as they strode towards the centre of the arena, I wont let y-
Hello, Alexej interrupted with a happy wave, how are you.
About ready to rip your spine out, John growled. His anger found a way more fitting target. Thanas recent instability had started with this maniptive fuckers meddling.
Wow, hostile, the informantughed at which point all of Johns elementals materialized.
We are going to end this quickly, okay? he said to everyone.
Lets fucking murder that brown-robed brown-noser, Thana growled in agreement as the biome wheelnded on the standard arena.
I will turn his skin into a nice and crispyyer, Smander hissed.
Well, I like quick, so making this quick works for me, way more important stuff to do, Sylph hyper-actively nodded.
Gnome did her usual fist-pumping, We can do this, w-we can!
For everyones security, Undine said and changed into her glove form.
Those two are fine to cut? Siena asked.
You can torture Alexej a bit if you get your ws on him, John allowed.
Lets just do this so I can find some books on psychotherapy, Momo hovered off the ground.
Ah, such hope, but I am sorry, this victory will be mine! Maximillian said, and then the fight began.
The opening moves were the same as thest group fight. Thana made a break to reach the duo, activating Bloodburn immediately, but then was hit by the reinforced gravity magic, mming her to the ground.
However, this time they had to deal with John and almost all of his familiars, who all advanced to immediately take advantage of the situation. Quite sorry, with these words the ck hole that was Maximillians elemental appeared.
A sudden pull ripped all four of the openly manifested elementals from their course towards Alexej and Hawpler. Only Siena, dwelling in Johns shadow, was secure from this thing. That cannot be sustainable for long, John thought as all of them fought against the gravity well that was wing at them. He threw three quarters of a wave of Shardbound at the elemental, directing thest one towards Maximillian.
As he had anticipated, all of them were uselessly sucked into the ck hole. John had no idea how it worked in detail, but it seemed to be the case that Hawpler was something like a selective ck hole. Whatever he chose to exert a gravitational pull on, no matter what it actually was or what rules of physics he had to break in the process, once unleashed, that was what he did.
Soulburn. While John was still running forwards, undecided whether he was going to attack Hawpler, to free his elementals, or just continue in his efforts to free Thana, the blood mage pulled her own ace. The red mes of Bloodburn got reced by the six pirs of blue fire.
Under the shocked eyes of Maximillian and with a scream of anger, quickly swinging to maniacalughter, Thana fought herself to her feet. I hope you are ready for a fucking rodeo! You looked down on me for too long, the bundle of insanity howled and threw herself at the gravity king with reckless abandon.
Her movements were way slower than they should have been, but she was still faster than Maximillian, who had the honour of getting punched in the stomach by a fist engulfed in blue mes that had withstood the weight of a mountain sized dragon.
To Johns surprise, not only did Maximillian not get instantly thrown to the Fateweavers by this, merely being catapulted backwards and rolling over the floor like a skipping stone over the pond, but he also kept his attack in ce. Every step Thana took dug deeply into the sandy earth, caving under her inhuman weight.
The six pirs disappeared as whatever emotion she had been burning ran out. Soulburn, she growled once more and fought her continued advance towards Maximillian. What kind of monster did Lydia find? the king couldnt help but ask out loud.
The kind that will murder you. The humans all need annihtion.
Thana stopped dead in her tracks, Did I just fucking say something?! She shook her head as if she was standing in the middle of a swarm of bees.
Keep your head in the game! John shouted and jumped at Alexej. This needed to be over as quickly as possible, something was seriously wrong, and it wasnt getting better.
Alexej was an informant, and there was a reason the guy had never fought. Like Herman before him, he wasnt going to be all that great at fighting. Sorry, girls, John apologized to the elementals he left behind.
With a series of simple punches, John assaulted the informant who, despite the strained look on his face, managed to dodge backwards. While he wasnt able tond a single hit, the Gamer wasnt worried. He was delivering Alexej straight to the arms of certain defeat.
Which the informant himself only realized when it was toote and he was about to collide backwards with Thana. Normally Id introduce you to my fucking foot, but you two have met before, the blood mageughed and spin-kicked the maniptor straight towards his master.What the fuck, I dont feel lighter, Thana growled, almost budging in as yet another emotion ran dry. Soulburn, a third time she used the one-word chant to keep on her feet.
You okay, Alex? Maximillian asked, keeping his eyes on the two of them; This might look pretty grave right now but we will prev-
The sound of a cell phone rang from Alexejs robes. Excuse me, I will have to take that, the v sat up, coughing up blood as he did.
Oh, hey, what is the contestant Alexej doing there? Jeffmented what everyone was thinking.
Taking phone calls in the middle of the game is against the rules, as far as I know, Dra said and took out an overly thick book. A moment of pause please.
A victorious grin appeared on Alexejs face as he listened to whatever the person calling him had to say. Alex?! Maximillian was obviously angry at this development.
I am sorry Max, the maniptor put away his phone with a shrug. This was always the only way this could end.
A sudden burst of speed brought the support right next to the confused gravity mage. A knife glinted in the sunlight, then disappeared into the flesh of Maximillians soft side.
What the hell? John asked and suddenly all hell broke loose as the audience started screaming in confusion, panic quickly spreading as the sound of rm bells rang all over the city of Rome.
For the revolution! Alexej shouted and pulled the knife back, before aiming for Maximillians throat.
Instead, his own hand suddenly was subject to an attack. A de of dark purple, connected to the betrayers shadow, prated through the unprotected arm and ripped it aside. Nothing worse than a traitor, Siena hissed as more tendrils of ded darkness wrapped around Alexej and forced him aside.
John finally caught up to the whole scene and started healing Maximillian as all elementals, from Hawpler to Gnome, helped restrict the monk-robe wearing Alexej. Even now, Observe did nothing and John didnt feel like it would be smart to use mana on Reveal at the current time. Even now, Alexej wore his victorious smile. Exactly now, the king looked back with the eyes of a man who experienced the ultimate wrong.
Why? Maximillian finally managed to ask a single word.
For the revolution, I wasnt subtle about it, Alexej dismissively said.
What revolution? John asked himself and had already figured it out by the time Alexej went on.
The Blood of the Proletariat will deliver this world into the utopia it was meant to be.
Why?! the king continued on; You had a good life under me, I dont understand.
UNDER YOU, YES! Alexejughed in his face. Born into serfdom, what an honour indeed! To be a ve to one as self-centred as you.
Why would you try to stab him? The world around John seemed to crumble. He turned to look for Thana, who was simply confusedly looking around. At the very least, she seemed fine for the moment. Fateweaving is still in effect, he would just have been teleported away, Johnid down.
Oh, you should look up and think again if it is, Alexej giggled. Hesitatingly, John and everyone else did. The reason for the rm bells became apparent immediately. The sky had been cut apart. It was as if a thin knife had been applied to a canvas. The gap in the outer wall of the Protected Space of Rome was pitch ck in the cloudy sky.
It would have been nice to take you out personally, but I will take the second-best thing and die with you all, Alexej announced as something fell out of the gap. It was an object with an unmistakable form, normally meant to be dropped out of a ne and not a dimensional gap. A round, ck painted head followed by an elongated, thick metal shell and a cylindrical end.
Of all the things that could kill me in this fantasy world, John couldnt help but feel like fate, even though it didnt exist, didnt like him. Its going to be a fucking atomic bomb.
John couldnt help but spend hisst moments in awe and sorting out the confusion. How was it possible in the first ce that this bomb got teleported in? The Supreme Fateweaver must have been on the Bloods side, that was the only conclusion that could be made. Why the bomb? To wipe everyone out effectively. Why wait until now? There must have been something they had needed to get. Was it the bomb itself?
Questions with which a mind certain of its own death sought to distract itself from the inevitable. Everything seemed to move slowly, as if the world swam in honey. Obviously, it couldnt have been that sugar-coated; this was the world that had forged the weapon that was about to end him after all.
The bomb closed in on the floor, and Johns eyes fell on Thana. The blood mage was still out of it. Apparently, she hadnt even noticed what was about to happen. ssy eyes stared inwards. She was stumbling around. Her hands clutched her head, blocking the screams all around from reaching her ears.
Would she be able to survive the explosion? John didnt find the ideapletely ridiculous, but would she be able to survive the aftermath as well? There would be no one left in this world that she knew. He sincerely hoped that she would find someone who would take care of her.
I will never kiss Jane again, John realized as the bomb hit the ground.
Nuclear hellfire spewed forth, and then
Chapter 322 – His will be done
Chapter 322 C His will be done
it stopped.
It stopped. The force to eradicate not just a city but to make the entirety of smaller countriespletely uninhabitable, it just stopped. Energy condensed in its purest form, a small sun in the middle of the arena, now surrounded by a dome of silver energy. How would one just stop this?
There is no need to fear anything! the deep voice boomed through the stadium with relentless conviction; As long as I am here! John turned to see the form of everyones saviour. He was tall, immensely so, muscle-bound arms reaching out of a white toga. His brown-haired head was crowned with an olive branch, and his middle-aged face burst with vitality and rage.
His left hand glowed with the silver of the full moon while his right was engulfed in the golden zing of the sun. Sol and Luna also followed behind him, on their respective sides, all three of them working the magic that worked this miracle.
Ah, the great enver himself arrives, Alexej mocked, the fact that he still was unmoved despite this attempt not having worked whatsoever made Johns hairs stand on end below his clothes.
You will be dealt with once this concludes, Romulus dismissed it without a care.Knights of Rome! his voice once more echoed through the arena; Do good by your oath, protect my people and protect me.
Oh, the great emperor himself needs help, sh-
Shut C Up. Maximillian said, pressing his former friends air from his lungs by nailing him to the floor with his powers.
He has a point, Romulus voice no longer echoed through the arena; I may be able to contain it for now, but while I neutralize the bomb, I will be defenceless. Just as the emperor said that, the gap in the sky spewed forth a swarm of dots that quickly closed in.
It only took John a moment to realize what he was looking at. A small-scale invasion of elite forces, a hundred people, some flying, others simply diving down or getting carried. They wanted to push their momentum while they could.
So that was their n, John mumbled. They wanted to distract Romulus with a hydrogen bomb and then kill him while he was busy containing the explosion. The fact that this was the n made John gulp.
What kind of being must be distracted with the strongest weapon science produced to date just to be defenceless. We begin with the neutralization now; the quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can get back to protecting our city! Romulus instructed his two sworn goddesses.
As youmand, Rom! both of them answered simultaneously and began to increase the amount of energy they expended.
The barrier thickened as the explosion on the inside unfroze and yed out. They were causing a perfectly controlled detonation while also localizing the radiation.
And they tell me I will be on that level one day? Johns eyes went wide as the soldiers raining from the skynded all around.
I will take care of Alexej, Maximillian told John. Go make yourself useful you are stronger than me! The king muttered thest words reluctantly but he uttered them all the same.
Thank you. Everyone, lets go! the elementals and Momo followed after him as he went towards his first target.
The prime objective was to get to Thana; she had walked at least fifty metres away and was now kneeling on the floor, still holding her head trying to shut out all noise from the outside. After he had her, he would help the knights.
Of course, he wasnt allowed to just get to her in the middle of an invasion. One of the enemy soldiersnded right in front of him, and he wasnt the only one. Landing everywhere and wearing the same dark green, military uniform with the red star and stripes, they attacked whatever they saw first.
The one in front of John was no exception and went right at him. The man, whose features couldnt have been of lesser importance to John right now, was fast. Not as fast as Sylph, but that didnt matter with how close he was. He whirled around a mace that he pulled out of nowhere, aiming right at Johns head.
White hair and de cut through the air. Aclysia appeared in the gap between them, blocking the strike with her arm, covered in all the shards of Nathalias scales she had consumed. I am sorry, I was in the kitchen, Aclysia apologized as to why she didnt use Defensive Teleportation sooner and then initiated her counterattack.
Eclys cut a deep trench through the mans torso, from shoulder to hip. John half expected blood to spew forth, but instead the wound simply vanished. It didnt heal, there were no signs of regeneration. No, the wound was simply gone. Just like my Gamers Body, John thought and was beyond confused.
The arena filled with yet more fighters as the Knights of Rome, the elite order of the Sons of Rome, went in to serve and protect as had been asked of them. John barely got an idea through Jacks eyes. There was so much going on, and what happened in the arena was one of his lesser concerns. He set the course of the mechanical sparrow over to the tform where Lydia, Rave and Nia should still have been.
He was still facing the menace in front of him, however. The healed man immediately went back on the offensive, an attempt to Observe him failed. Why does every fucking obstacle in my way have to wear protection against scrying magic?! he mentallyined.
GET OUT OF MY WAY! he screamed and punched themunist soldier in the face with a straight left. The glove, made from the materials that had been created by the birth of a goddess and harder than most things in the known universe, crashed into his face, backed up with a proper boxing technique. I need to get to Thana, he growled as the man just shrugged off this hit again.
It was time to get out the big guns. The shadows started burning with purple fire as the first fusion formed and Shadowme was burning again. Let the world drown in our fury, spoke the Gamers bloodhound and spread her fire to whatever enemy she could see.
While it was Johns goal to get to Thana, he couldnt just ignore the situation at hand. All would be lost if Romulus died and that nuke went off anyway. Just what kind of desperate must these people be to run such a suicide mission? John thought. Or are they just that possessed?
In the light of an ongoing atomic fission, he and his elementals battered the soldier in attacks. The attacks he returned would have been dangerous if he had been fighting just two or three of his group, but they were abined force with months of team fighting experience.
There wasnt any need for John to order them anymore, at least not in an on-going fight like this one. Everyone knew where to be, when to get out of the way so someone else could get an attack in. Shadowme stopped her area efforts and threw a storm of dark mes at the enemy that was only reinforced by Sylph adding her wind to the mix.
The outgoing inferno turned the floor to ss with such intense, lightless heat that it should have turned the soldier to nothing but a charred corpse. Instead he jumped out once morepletely unharmed.
Same couldnt be said for his uniform, especially the top part which had been covered in cuts from the start of their fight. Now it was basically just charred tatters and gave free view to the mans chest. Therey the answer to his apparent invincibility.
It wasnt Gamers Body at all, just something that made it so they could fight more effectively. Just what kind of preparation went into this behind the scenes? John had to ask himself. They either had the Supreme Fateweaver himself on their side or managed to get someone of equal power, they got a goddamn hydrogen bomb, they had an ancient crusader artefact.
What was next? Actually, John didnt want to find out.
I cant wait until they all keel over at once, I need to get to Thana now, he decided. He didnt even have an idea how high the bundled lifeforce of 100 abyssal elites was, but he could imagine that it wasnt something that would just be done with in a moment.
We got this, Momo told him even as Shadowme parted into Siena and Smander again, Just go get her! She will be great help in cleaning up this mess!
Go! Undine urged him as well, flowing off his arm.
Thank you! John said and made a break for it.
As he bridged thest few metres, he checked on the tform through Jack. It was empty; in all likelihood they were somewhere in the chaotic battlefield below as well. A battlefield that, as John noted, didnt look all that well for them at the moment.
The Bloods soldiers being able to disregard any injury made it so that they got an edge whenever theynded a hit. Morale also must have been a factor; not everyone had a skill that allowed them to just check why their enemies simply werent dying.
He finally reached Thana and kneeled down by her side. He tried to reach out to her, but she was thrashing, mumbling something too quiet for him to hear. Hitting her head on the floor and seemingly trying desperately to look away from the still unfolding nuclear hellfire behind the silver screen.
Talk to me, he finally managed to get a hold on her by the arms. He turned her so she had to look at him. The dots in her eyes were like a broken clock, ticking in illogical distances or backwards at times. Her eyes were wide in shock, barely seeing him. They were only filled with terror.
Jo-hn, her lips barely formed before her whole body was gripped by a shudder and she went back to chanting what he didnt understand earlier. No, stay inside, stay inside, stay inside, she said over and over again.
What is it? What do you need? Please, talk to me, John pleaded and shook her, Stay with me, Thana! The quivering stopped. She looked back at him. Her violet eyes reflected his relief. She raised her left arm, John saw four numbers appear slowly, as if they had to fight against somest resistance. 0-0-0-1. It was the first set of many, carved into skin by bursting blood vessels. They disappeared as quickly as they came, reced by new ones.
The dots stopped moving and then stretched into seven thin lines, crossing the golden ring. A smile appeared on Thanas face, onepletely devoid of all of her usual insanity. The voice that spoke eventually clearly was Thanas, yet that tone it wasnt hers whatsoever.
It was uncaring, rough, primal beyond sanity or insanity. John doubted that these concepts even meant anything to someone who sounded like this, like a hungry wolf that managed to form words.
I am here, this body is mine, I am here, this body is mine, I am here, this body is mine. I am here, speak my name, I am here, speak my name. The humans all need annihtion, the humans all need annihtion. I am here, the human anathema, I am here. Finally. I can end this farce myself.
Before he could ask anything, a strike to his shoulder flung him to the air faster than he realized, and then he had already crashed against the wall with all of his mana instantly annihted and health reduced by a third. It hurts, John thought, his right shoulder clearly broken several times, making his whole arm useless. He waited for it to fade as all physical agony did when it was healed away. It didnt. It continued to pulsate in pain, no matter how long he waited.
A window appeared before him that had him look up and at the unknown girl inhabiting Thanas body. Observe revealed a terrible truth to him: that the name Thana, which the faces had whispered to her, had never been meant for the girl he knew.
Everyone else was still busy fighting; none of them noticed the imminent doom that had just awoken in their midst. Not yet. In mere moments they would learn.
And the clock strikes midnight.
Chapter 323 – (T)he (H)uman (Ana)thema
Chapter 323 C (T)he (H)uman (Ana)thema
John could only watch helplessly as the goddess of genocide took a simple step forward and then vanished from his field of view.
Moving faster than his eyes could register, she appeared behind one of the invaders and rammed her arm straight through his back, bursting through his ribcage at the front. It all happened so quickly that the knight opposing that soldier executed a downwards strike before realizing what had transpired.
Thana pulled her arm back. Stained with the red of human ichor from her elbow to her fingertips. The hole she left behind didnt heal. If Gamers Body failed, then why wouldnt this artefact, The embedded cross was ripped apart like paper anyhow.
The corpse fell to the ground like a meaty sack of bones, and the battlefield slowly calmed as everyone realized what had just happened. The invincible looking soldiers of the Blood had just lost one of their members. There was yet hope, that is what it must have looked like to them.
They cheered for Thana, loudly did they apud her, their morale reinvigorated. It onlysted a moment, then the goddess of genocide cowered down next to the corpse. She unveiled her teeth, omnivorous perfection.
Soulburn, the six pirs of pale blue fire appeared behind her back, much more pronounced than they had ever been for the girl John had known. They hovered behind her back as she rammed her teeth into the corpse, clenched her jaw and pulled back.
The raw meat stretched, unwilling to just fall apart after having lived just moments earlier. The sound of bones breaking as she greedily ripped out the man''s corbone, stuffing the shards into her face, all the while still busy devouring the first bite she took.
In the arena. In front of the atomic fire contained by the emperor, blind and deaf, upied by the horror of mass-destruction, the goddess of genocide feasted. Under the careless eyes of hisrades, interested only in how this could jeopardize the mission. Under the shocked gaze of the knights, disbelieving of the casual cannibalism they witnessed. Under the senseless watch of the world, spying from the distance and unable to do anything about it.
She cracked open his skull and gorged herself on the squishy matter that spilled out. Then she was attacked.
The Knights of Rome were still unsure what to do. Many of them even took fearful steps back. They had no idea what they were facing, but by now even they became aware that they werent just facing an average psychopath.
The Blood of the Proletariat, however, had identified a threat to their cause, and now they had to eliminate it with all their might. All remaining 99 of them closed down on Thana, brandishing all the weapons they had in their arsenal.
The goddess of genocide carelessly continued to maul the corpse even as they approached. The ground around her, tinged green and blue, started to shift. With the ethereal moans of a million anguished souls struck at once. Innocent voices spewed forth, rambling and weaving together into a horrible cacophony of beauty that sounded like an archangels choir.
The tinge gave rise to the forms of these voices, a writhing, ever growing sea of faces and screams. Despaired humans, reliving theirst moments over and over again. Death by betrayal. Death by firing line. Death by starvation. Death by poison. Death, endless all-epassing death.
A duo of soldiers reached her first, ready to ram their swords into her back.
First choir, for I am the sword of Damocles hanging above the mindlessly indulging humanity, she spoke those words so silently nobody should have been able to hear them. Yet, they permeated the air with undeniable power.
Each of these words carried the same, otherworldly significance as Bloodburn had. Words that shouldnt have been understandable but were cracking through everynguage and into every mind. Words that didnt carry meaning but were meaning itself.
Song of Bone. The top two mes of Soulburn disappeared as the robe below moved like the surface of boiling water.Then, the robe was torn asunder. Two skeletal wings like oversized, thin, white ws grew in ce of the upper row of blue fire. The two Bloods that were already in mid-leap could no longer stop, neither would they as their single-minded ambition drove them forward.
The chorus of tortured souls grew louder. The tips of the wings stretched several metres with a bony creak. Impaling the two soldiersing directly for her heart. She took a final bite out of the corpse and rose. Run. Please run, voices inside the chorus screamed. We failed to warn. We failed to stop.
Quiet down, the blood dripping maw of the goddess of genocide formed these simple words as she turned around to face the storming for her. The souls around her feasted on themselves upon hermand. She grabbed the other girls ck robe and tore at it until it ripped. It was carelessly removed like an annoying rag; the same happened to the rest of her clothes.
The first two attackers slid off her wings like overripe fruit, sinking together on the ground. They became naught but spots of blood and meat,pletely boneless. Their material fed the goddess of genocide. Where the wings of bone connected to her body, an exoskeleton began to form. It spread only a bit around her shoulder de.
But Thana was in no need of protection. The bulk of the enemy forces finally reached her. One punch and the first enemy to reach her had a hole blown in his stomach by the sheer force of the impact. She grabbed another assant by the skull as five more jumped at her from all directions.
The wings cracked as they broke themselves into positions that allowed them to impale these enemies as well. Thana grabbed the Blood soldier who she had blown into bits by the ribs sticking out. Even now he felt no fear. All their feelings, except for those to keep them motivated, were suppressed by magic so they wouldnt feel doubt over killing themselves during this mission.
They should have feared. The goddess of genocide crushed the face of the man whose head she was holding, just as she killed everyone else around her. Just like theirrades, their bodies were robbed of their bones, cultivating the awakening power of humanitys self-forged bane.
The exoskeleton grew all over her body. The absorbed matter spread over her back, hiding her sickly pale skin under a second ribcage. Her fingers were extended by another segment, ending in needle-like ws.
Second choir, for I shall burn their blood to ashes and grind all their works and all that they have touched to dust, the horrible disfigurement of the girl, which John hade to love, coldly spewed forth as she wed apart another two soldiers and then ripped a third one into two halves. Song of Blood.
The bottom row of blue pir-like wings changed into a crimson red crystal. Blood began flowing from the sacks of meat and the muddy red floor towards these newly coloured wings, leaving only dried sand and disgusting piles of dried meat in uniform. The blood touched the crystal and was set aze.
In a pair of two, they seemed like two leaves with crystallized veins and ever shifting crimson fire between them. John knew those however, and he knew that sound of metallic violin that apanied them. Had Bloodburn always been the girl he knew tapping into Thanas powers?
Had Soulburns first activation allowed this thing to finally awaken?
All his familiars were around him; Undine tried to heal his shoulder to no avail. They could do nothing but watch the ughter continue.
In a mere few seconds, Thana cut, ripped and bit through more than two dozen of the attackers. Theirck of fear made them bold, but also thoughtless. They still hadnt realized that they were only breakfast to the beast that would devour the world. Trying to surround her with their superior numbers, acting on pure battle doctrine, they fed her more blood and bones.
For a moment she disappeared from his sight; all he could see was a pile of bodies trying to stab or smash their foe. But he could hear her. Third choir, for I will devour the souls of humanity to fuel their own demise, the pile of bodies rose and then scattered in all directions. Bodies hung off the bone wings like tattered rags, tendrils of blood seeking out the throats of whoever they could reach.
The souls on the floor boiled over and screamed, the choir synchronizing with the sound of the violins to create the symphony of the dawning apocalypse. Thest pair of blue pirs branched out like a withered tree, growing in rapid bursts. Song of Soul.
The blue tree bore golden leaves of screaming faces. Souls forced into physical form by the sheer power, strong enough to break one of thews of magic. What kind of power had to manifest to create a human god? The answer was thebined sin of every act of murder, every soul lost to systematic genocide.
And there she stood, with six wings, body d in a white exoskeleton of robbed bones, the gaps filled with pulsating blood. Her hair had grown down to her hips again, and despite being only below average height, she was the greatest terror John had ever beheld as she spoke her final lyrics to the death rattles of thest living invaders being torn apart by tendrils of blood.
I cast aside my humanity. Let them burn as I have burned. I am the faceless noise that will drown out humanitys screams and leave nothing but silence. This is my oath to Armageddon.
As she spoke her voice regressed until it was nothing more than savage spewing. Her straight posture became hunched. Her spine breaking out of her body, it extended to form a prehensile tail the length of her whole body. The bone grew over her face, hiding all but her eyes, from ears to lips, under a smooth, nk surface.
The nightmarish abomination started moving. Her shadow cast against the atomic fire behind her, she headed for Maximillian. The king didnt even try to use his powers on that thing. It couldnt have been described as a human, much less a female anymore. Aside from the cement of its limbs, it had nothing remaining that was human.
Just a hunched forward thing, segmented bones armouring its body, so thickly ted that all feminine curves had vanished underneath. Leaving only dried husks behind, it stepped closer in the now eerie silence of the colosseum. Slowly, without a care, it came ever closer to Maximillian, spiked tail dragging through the sand.
The Knights of Rome were too scared to intervene. Everyone in the audience was frozen in terror, and even John was gripped by pure desperation. The only person they could rely on right now was Romulus, but the emperor was still upied and unaware of all that happened. The moment he stopped, they were doomed by nuclear fire.
It was terrible and hopeless. Maximillian would be a victim to buy them time.
And then the king showed his true self. His arms wide open he stood up proud, facing the monster and keeping his back to the traitor. If you have to kill me, fine, but Alex will face the judgement ofw, Maximillian dered. It was a movement that was awe inspiring, indeed.
But that helped nothing when the goddess of genocide swiped him aside like he was just a particle of dust obscuring her view. The victorious smile on Alexejs face was nowhere to be seen, only nk fear. No, something beyond fear.
It was the knowledge that his whole lifework had just been destroyed by something that didnt even really care for him, something that was more terrible than all of his acts of betrayal could ever be, for it was the essence of all victims of betrayal.
What are you? he asked. Thana kneeled down. The mask cracked along the height of her mouth and broke open. It seemed like an answer would be bestowed upon the traitor. Then her maw opened wide, and there was nothing but silence as the three rows of teeth dripped with saliva and thick blood. The first row was the shattered mask. The second-row needles of half-crystallized crimson. The third-row lipless human teeth.
In thest moments of Alexej, before the goddess of genocide ripped out his throat, he cried. Cried as his blood was sucked out of his veins. Cried as his bones began to liquify. Cried as his soul was torn apart and absorbed into the tree-like wings. Thana left nothing behind but yet another shrivelled pile of dry, dead meat. She rose again and inhaled deeply.
A scream that rattled every bone to the core, that denied hope. A scream so savage and full of nihilistic purpose that it could only belong to this beast. That scream, loud enough to echo throughout the city, Thana threw at the sky.
Then it hunched forwards again and turned to her next target.
Wherever her eyes went, shattered violet with seven slits crossing a golden ring, people instinctively jumped back or tried to hide. The hellfire in the background had slowly reached its zenith.
Her eyes fell on the defenceless Romulus. She vanished to everyone, then they heard the surprised, pained shout of the emperor. They all looked in terror as the goddess of genocide forced her hand through the heavily enchanted toga, the ribcage of a man that had lived eons and into his chest.
Then she ripped out the emperors heart.
Chapter 324 – Rulebreaker
Chapter 324 C Rulebreaker
Rom! Romulus! the celestial goddesses cried out as their beloveds heart cut through the air in a shower of red.
What...? the emperor snapped out of his concentrated spell weaving to stare at the monster before him, holding the still convulsing and quivering muscle. The fact that he had no heart didnt interfere whatsoever with his ability to keep living.
The nuclear explosion was still being contained, but that was all it was, and Romulus couldnt both fight back and keep the explosion clear. John barely registered; his mind was puzzling together pieces that didnt make sense in their current configuration. The pain, not numbed by any skills, and undeniable fear made his mind feel like a broken unit, but he needed to solve this.
Then it all snapped into ce. I need to get to her, he said.
A saddened voice reached his barely hearing ears, Master, that is no longer-
You do not know that, Aclysia! he interrupted her, and for the first time, she didnt finish her sentence afterwards. I will save her or die trying. Either we seed or that thing kills Romulus. Either way, I will not go quietly into the night, he growled.
He couldnt let her seed, not just because of his self-interest in surviving but because he knew exactly how this was going to end. If Thana seeded, then she would continue to murder everything inside barriers that she could find, growing stronger with each soul she absorbed. She would go on and on until there was no Abyss left, then she would continue in reality and challenge Gaia herself.
John had no idea what her chances were in that match-up, but if she lost, she was dead. That would be the best oue. Worse would be if she won and eradicated all of mankind, fading, with her purpose fulfilled, and leaving nothing behind but a bare of all the wonders humanity managed to build.
Nothing but a lonely, immortal girl, crying in confusion and cursing the sky.
Aclysia looked at him for a few more moments. What are we waiting for, Momo said and helped John to his feet by slinging his uninjured arm around her neck. Lets get going. He was afraid it was already toote for that; Thana was already about to attack Romulus a second time.
The emperor clearly wasnt willing to just leave his people to die even if he himself could survive. Maybe he would even willingly be a martyr so they could see another day. However, Romulus also knew that only he could attempt to stop this unknown monster now.
Luckily, he was given a few short moments to think as the goddess seemed much more interested in devouring his heart for the moment. Her elongated fingers moved the sinewy tissue towards her maw. Then she was suddenly ripped backwards and tossed, angrily screaming as the energy filled heart escaped her grasp.
I will be taking this, Particles of arcane power filled the air, the aftermath of a teleportation. You look like you could use some help, old friend, an amused voice, inhumanly deep and yet with undertones of a hundred rats squeaking, spoke as its owner looked at the heart in his hand like Hamlet was often depicted doing with a skull.
Muris, Romulus voice ringed with more anger than anything, looking from the Horned Rat over to the one apanying him. Is this one of your twisted ploys? You two traitors have a lot of nerve to show your face to me.
Halt your empty bravados forter, Rom, Nathalia growled looking at the cuts in her scaled palms where she had grappled Thanas tail. Lets deal with the situation at hand.
With a savage scream, the goddess of genocide reminded them of her existence, blood foaming out of the gap in her mask like a mange infested beast.
We will protect you until you defuse that bomb, the Horned Rat announced and faced the monster.
Why would you-?
You were absent-minded for most of what just happened, but in short: this thing eats human souls. Even I am not brazen enough to think I can toy with a mindless, walking apocalypse that has YOUR powers, the god of dawning cmity spoke. I saw somethinging, but not THIS!
With thatst word, Thana instantly bridged the distance between them. Distant at least to John, whose ns to get closer were now nothing more than a suicidemand as Thana and Nathalia shed.
The earth shook as they locked hands. I have beaten the girl who you inhabit in a contest of strength before, you wont be different, Nathalia growled, pushing against the smaller frame of her foe. The ground itself couldnt handle the immense force and broke around them, a giant tear splitting first the floor, then the walls of the arena itself.
Besides, you are going to repay me, the Horned Rat waved with the heart. Or rather, you already have. Unbind me! The godmanded the heart which trembled. Your stupendously high magic resistance always annoyed me, Richard growled, MAKE ME WHOLE AGAIN! The muscle in his hand trembled, and then, after Romulus willingly let go of his own resistance, it disintegrated.
Thana chittered its teeth, and there was a forced, insectoid cking sound that weaved into the terrible orchestra that apanied its every move. It wasughing. Without any humanity left, it still had the capability to find that thought, that Nathalia was stronger than her, funny.
Nathalias hands broke with the sound of splintering stone under the genocides grip. The dragoness didnt cry out in pain, simply looking shocked as she was forced to bend backwards. She was going to lose in a contest of raw strength and by a huge margin nheless.
Luckily, she wasnt alone in this fight.
The Horned Rat conjured a series of arcane chains that flew at Thana in an attempt to bind her. Without even attempting to dodge, it took the attack and simply ignored the bindings as it continued to push Nathalia to the floor.
The volcano goddess had materialized most of her draconic features, from wings to tail, by now in an attempt to free more of her true power. Still, she was barely even able to hold enough pressure against Thana to not just bepletely at its mercy.
If that isnt working, the Horned Rat bellowed and ran close. The moment he got angle and distance correct, a sword of pure energy appeared around his right, and he took a swipe at their foe with the Mana de.
It was smaller than what John could produce with Purgatory but yet seemed immensely more powerful. It cut through the monsters exoskeleton and, indeed, sliced through its whole body, exiting on the other side of its stomach where the de vanished before hurting Nathalia.
But it changed nothing. The wound at the entrance point was already gone before the spell had been halfway through its form. Tail whipping around, Thana sent the Horned Rat flying while shing over his furred chest.
Then the abomination decided that it finally had enough of this little strength contest and pulled Nathalia up. In a quick session of movements, she mmed the dragoness on the floor over and over again like a dusty rug, each impact causing parts of the already damaged colosseum to break down further.
It left the dragoness lying there and started its march towards Romulus again. Ignoring the bolt of magic flying past her, it continued walking, disinterested in anything but her goal, until a shadow and immense heat fell over it.
With the sound of a roar brewing inside her chest, the obsidian dragon that was Nathalia closed her bleeding and broken w around the goddess of genocide. It stemmed against the ws as it was raised to the sky. To contain my true magnificence into this little ceiling SUCH A DISGRACE!
Fire spewed forth out of her maw. Pure heat, engulfing her raised w and rising up to the dimensional gap in the Protected Space in the sky. Red, blue, finally white, the fire became hotter and hotter. Then the dragoness felt her grip being pried open, and Thana fell towards her.
The impact of the punch shook her whole being, head being forced towards the floor on her snake-like neck. It crashed and her outeryers splintered. With a desperate shake of her head, she managed to lose the overpowering pest, who flew through the air andnded on all fours.
Thirteen arcane circles ovepped around the bone-d monster, each a different colour and shade. Portals opened all around, forming a twelve-sided prison. Have fun with this, the Horned Rat dered and unleashed a barrage of spells into there.
The goddess of genocide dodged the initial attacks easefully, but instead of just dissipating, they flew into one of the portals and then continued their path from a different direction. Slowly but surely, the space between the portal became a melting pot of raw mana fusing in hundreds of different small spells all hitting the same target.
Using up most of his power, the Horned Rat conjured onest ball of highly condensed energy. White, cold light crackled through the gaps in the cage as Richard, breathing heavily from the assault while flying above, took a moment to recover mana.
And just a moment was all the time Thana needed. Souls, blood and liquid bone streamed out through the gaps and formed a de that then darted straight upwards. It was an estimated shot only, and the Horned Rat managed to dodge, but, in the process, he lost his grip at the imprisoning spell.
Nathalias maw snapped at the now free foe before it could do anything dangerous. The goddess of genocide jumped backwards to escape the teeth; the dragoness tried a second time. With her feet nted firmly on the ground, Thana caught the jaws closing down on her from left and right.
Bony ws dug into the impossibly hard volcanic ss, shattering it and causingva to spew forth as she pulled with terrible force. Thana screamed as it used more and more power and finally felt something give and ripped the lower jaw out of the dragon goddess.
Nathalia was freed in the process but in immense pain. Stumbling backwards, her instincts screamed at her to bring some distance between herself and Thana. Cackling by clicking its teeth, the white and blue haired monster threw the enormous jaw at its original owner, sending both of them flying into the arena wall.
I amplete! I feel GREAT! the Horned Rat sounded so incredibly happy that it didnt fit at all into the dire battlefield. A fact that he also realized when Thana came for him. It advanced step for step towards him while he showered her in spells.
A sheer endless wave of destructive patterns, fireballs, icences, arcane explosions and mana condensed into the size of a marble, all of them flew at Thana. All of them were useless. To the nightmarish abomination they were only chinks in its armour. They did deal some damage, yes, but it just healed them.
If he had brought 10 of himself, that would have achieved something, but like that, the goddess of genocide just stepped closer as the Horned Rat tried to step away and keep the barrage going. Then it was up close and grabbed his spell flinging arms, tearing them straight off.
They turned into a writhing mass of rats, insects and crows, quickly fleeing as Thana discarded them without further care. Breaking the legs of the god, it made him kneel and then severed the name-giving skull from its shoulders.
This is a very unfortunate turn of events, the head spoke as its body did as its arms had and broke down into all the critters that were linked to bad omens. The arena was basked in darkness as Thana readied herself to break the skull and end the Horned Rat once and for all. Red extinguished as if eyes closed in a moment of peace.
Darkness that was caused by the sun in the middle of the arena finally vanishing.
Chapter 325 – My dear broken angel
Chapter 325 C My dear broken angel
There was a primordial tingle, a sense of danger, that even Thana felt, and the cause of it was aiming directly at her.
His punishment is mine to decide, Romulus told the beast, towering over her. In his right he was holding a gigantic golden sword, his left was armed with a silver shield of perfect roundness. The hole where his heart had been was filled with a formation of roots and crystals pulsating within those roots.
You threaten my empire and its people, monster, Romulus dered; Cease now and I will be merciful. The answer came in the shape of Thanas tail heading for his head. Romulus smacked it aside with his lunar shield.
You have cast your die, then, the emperors voice was grave, and he reached for all the powers in his arsenal. Armour grew around him made from nts, stones, metals and all manners of manifested energy weaving together into a seamless shape that emted perfect human physique.
The human anathema dropped the still living skull and jumped away, realizing that this was going to be dangerous even for it. Romulus was immediately upon her, slicing open its chest. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! the abominations pain was apparent as it countered the attack.
Truthfully, it was just as fast, but itcked the mind to control its strength.
All it did was w at Romulus in a flurry of hateful emotions, who deflected them skillfully with his shield, giving ground where he had to. Instinctively, it tried to attack the side that held the sword. The emperor let out an amused grunt at that.
The sword became a zing golden disk that functioned just as well as a shield as her sisters form. The lunar shield switched simrly, now taking the form of the de. Where the sr de had been golden and heavily loaded with intricate designs and decorations, this one was the antithesis to that. A simple, straight-de, grey and silver, with a ck guard only there to protect the hand as effectively as possible. A sword made only to cut and nothing else.
The defence of the goddess of genocide was wide open now, and so Romulus brought his de down on it. A barrier as thin as a sheet of paper ravaged out into the world, splitting whatever it came across.
This cut once more severed her bodypletely, from one shoulder to the upper edge of her opposing leg. The impact and pain caused Thana to stumble backwards as the wound healed only slowly,pared to the other disy of instantaneous regeneration.
The aggressively formed barrier didnt stop there, it travelled beyond, only widening as its energy lost its original density, until it eradicated part of the colosseum and even the grounds outside it. There wasnt even any material left, it was literally eradicated.
But even healing slowly meant that Thanas body was kept together. I thought the touch of a goddess of death would do more damage to you, Romulus engaged Thana again. A short series of blows followed. Then, like the arms of a praying mantis, its skeletal wings were brought downwards on the emperors shoulders. One screeched along the material uselessly, but the other managed to find a miniscule gap and sunk in..
This body is but a shield for humanity, Romulus grabbed that lowered wing and snapped it off with some effort. The goddess of genocide jumped back and watched this seemingly unclimbable obstacle in front of her. I thought it a fluke of my powers when I failed to rip any energy from you at first, the heartless emperor said, but I realize now, you are a human goddess like she is. I see it in those eyes of yours.
The abomination of blood, bone and soul just screamed at Romulus.
Are you trying to intimidate me? The idea seemed to amuse the emperor. I am the defender of humanity. I will give everything of myself to it, and I shall feel afraid of nothing, even if it is a monster like you. If you had more experience, you might actually be a threat to me, but like you are now he had Sol assume her form as the decorated ymore again, wielding both his bonded goddesses as twin des, you are but mindless destruction without tactics!
They engaged in a flurry of blows, the emperor in his armour with a thorn still stuck in his shoulder and missing his heart against the goddess with the bleeding line across her torso. Their blows created gusts so strong that them crashing and cutting along the halfway intact shape of the colosseum created a sandstorm around them.
Back and forth they cut and shed over the scar of molten ash where hydrogen atoms had fused. Romulus lost an eye to a sh he didnt manage to dodge, destroying half of his helmet and digging deep trenches through his face, but in return he rammed his golden ymore through the goddess chest.
Pure energy rose like mist from the de as it flooded the goddesss insides with golden fire that spewed out from the gap in its mask as every inch of it was scorched from the inside. Romulus dodged her tail by distancing himself, pulling out Sol in the process.
He was right back on the offensive the moment his feet hit the ground. Ramming the much smaller form of the abomination with his shoulder, he catapulted it forwards. In the beginning of her flight backwards, Romulus grabbed her leg. Tendrils of blood and tormented souls the shape of angry wraiths covered his form, ripping his armour, forged from a myriad of powers, apart and covering him in small wounds.
Nothing would stop the emperor, however, as he mmed Thana to the floor, making her the centre of a crater several metres deep. Before she could recover, Romulus bundled her wings together at the roots with his gauntleted hands. Even the ephemeral burning blood wasnt made an exception to the unrelenting grip.
I WILL CAST YOU BACK INTO THE ABYSS FROM WHENCE YOU CAME! Romulus shouted as he ripped the wings off the goddess. Animalistic, agonized screams echoed over the city as the emperor cast them aside and then raised Sol in both of his hands, ready to cut the head off the beast.
Stop, please! The emperor halted and turned his head just far enough to see John stand there. Unable to see Romulus expression under the helmet and the blood covering half of his face.
What is it to you, John Newman? What do you know about this creature?
This is Thana the actual Thana, John exined; I had no idea, I am
I believe you, Romulus interrupted him, and John could barely believe his ears. Stunned, he stared at the motionless Apex of the Abyss. The emperor didnt look at him, but there was something in his voice. The grave understanding from having lived through a simr tragedy? The sheer knowledge of age? Try what you must; I do not enjoy senseless ughter, but I will not hesitate should you fail.
With that permission given, John limped closer to the whimpering abomination.Come back to me, please, he pleaded with what was inside the monster that was pinned to the floor by the weight of a giant. He spoke her name, not Cecylia, her actual name:
Eliza. - The betrayed by all.
That was the title the Horned Rat had given the girl John Newman knew. The answer had been rather easy toe by once he knew that the sisters Eliza and Cecylia existed; he had just never needed to think about it before.
A god was born by Faith. Faith didnt need to be directed at an object of worship, it needed something or someone that could act as its vessel. Whether that was an avatar iming that might or a scapegoat that had it forced on them was just a matter of method.
When Josef Mengele, in an act of cruelty, had made Cecylia pick the first person to die and be used as fodder for his experiments, when he had forcefully pushed souls into her corpse and thus broken the natural boundaries of the human condition, he had identally created the conditions for the goddess to be created.
That power had healed the body it inherited while the deitys consciousness formed, and with nothing else operating the body, a damaged brain resumed functions. Regeneration remade Eliza, but her memories had already been lost, for the most part.
The face asking for Elizas forgiveness had never been the girls bad conscience, it had been the soul of Cecylia herself. Two look-alike sisters with two numbers tattooed to their arms. One still forming goddess toying, deliberately or not, with her hosts mind and body to create the conditions to break out, given ample time in a vacuum of pain.
A goddess that now writhed under the emperors foot at the mere name of its host. A breath of hope filled Johns lungs, it was working in some way. Come on, Eliza, he kept urging the consciousness inside. She still had to be in there somewhere. If Thana had taken control for a few hours before, then she also had lost that control.
Despite clearly being able to, the goddess hadnt just instantly killed John. She had engaged themunists in battle first, ignoring the retreating knights, only after having run out of other targets did she go after Romulus. There was a differentiation between targets that an entity dedicated to the universal destruction of humanity would not make.
Eliza, he invoked the name like it was a mantra. The mask and carapace of the creature started cracking. It wed at the ground and screamed with its needle like teeth of blood stretching out of the shattered gap as its primal intellect tried to drown out his voice.
El- he tried to say her name once more when the goddess mustered herst bit of strength to throw Romulus off. Newman! the apex of the abyss roared a useless warning. John didnt even have anything close to resembling speed which would have allowed him to dodge even a weakened Thanas attack.
Its ws sunk in his stomach. Its teeth were mere centimetres from his throat. Hand ripping backwards, his blood sttered over the floor. The lines in her eyes, glowing with infernal hatred, became dots again. They opened wide in shock as they looked at the Gamers quickly palling face.
Its good to have you back, he faintly whispered, as Eliza took quivering steps backwards. The nk mask crumbled off her face, boneshard for boneshard. A miserable, crying girl became visible behind it, looking at his wounds, then her own ws covered in crimson, as the broken carapace still stuck to her.
John, I Her back hit something gigantic, and the small body turned to see Romulus, whose own armour had disappeared to reveal the full grievousness of his wounds.
The memories of what she, her body, had done in the past half hour suddenly returned to her. She convulsed and bent over forwards, spreading the contents of her stomach on the floor. A clean yellow bile, all that which she had devoured had dissolved already.
I I remember everything my life all of this everything, she sobbed. John took a stumbling step forwards and, his body rapidly losing in strength, fell on Thana who barely caught him. That was yourst get-out-of-berserk free card, he joked. What the fuck is wrong with you?! Eliza asked. You have a hole in your stomach! ...I did this to you... Herst words were nothing more than a tear-choked whisper.
You tried to keep it in, he told her, only able to whisper himself. You had no idea. I will fight the world if they me you. You are An agonizing ripple shook his body. you are my dear broken angel.
His vision red with darkness and distant voices in his head. He was vaguely aware of his body leaning not only on Eliza but being held up by others as well.
I would be happy to throw some morepliments and insurances at you, he said, lips trembling, but I am kind of bleeding out so if you could could try to disable that magic that keeps me from healing thatd be gr
His lids were so incredibly heavy, his lips refused to form thatst word.
John? the voice was incredibly far away. JOHN?! everything went ck.
End of Season 2 Arc 2
Chapter 326 – Epilogue – the heartless Emperor
Chapter 326 C Epilogue C the heartless Emperor
He darted up in a hospital bed. Heavily breathing, he looked around and was greeted by the sight of Maximillian going to town on some pudding. Several more, empty stic cups were ced on a table next to him. Yo, he greeted with an astoundingly chirpy voice.
You are alive? John couldnt help but ask.
Oh yeah, I am as astounded as you are. My body was basically just a crumpled piece of paper. Permanent damage to my left leg though. Not even the apothecaries can heal it. Your elemental tried as well, no luck. Its just shitty now. At least that gives me an excuse to walk with a fancy walking stick, he ripped open another pudding.
How are you this happy about that? John had several other really urgent questions, but this one could be answered immediately, he hoped. While he listened to the answer, he went and checked on his cleaned clothes and other equipment that someone had left in a basket next to the bed. He himself was only wearing one of those white hospital sheets.
Well, after being backstabbed by my childhood friend who let loose the empires worst enemy on it, being used as a skipping stone and then also losing that best friend, the king in his hospital gown listed. I decided to let myself be subject to some emotion meddling magic stuff. They heavily advised against it, but I insisted and for now things are just peachy. Ill deal with all of that after I have a good nights rest.
As a side effect, that seemed to make Maximillian crave sugar like a madman, going by how he ate yet more pudding. Either that or theck of sadness also removed his inhibitions.
John ignored the king further and instead fixed up his shirt with Craft. There had been a giant hole where he had been eviscerated. There was no way he could have done the same for his jacket, considering in what state it was.
How long was I out? he mumbled. It was dark outside, but that meant nothing in mid-winter. He checked his health and quickly calcted his regeneration against what he had right now. They seemed to have left him unhealed, considering that it was still pretty low. Most likely, they had seen that he was physically fine and decided to deal with other issues first.
Once more he thanked his past wisdom to raise Endurance this high. There was no way he could have survived as much as a sneeze from Thana if he hadnt. As a matter of fact, this had been way too close, he should raise it some more in the future.
Mechanics were second to his need to learn what happened. He had to make sure everyone was alright, and he had wasted enough time getting clothed. Dumping his destroyed jacket in his inventory, he set out to find someone who wasnt on drugs and could tell him what had happened.
I am way too chill about this, something about having so much Wisdom that I unconsciously realize that a few more seconds of ignorance wont change the oue of whatever I am about to learn? he wondered and checked his status to make sure HE wasnt drugged.
Theplete radio silence from his familiars ended the moment he opened the door and suddenly was assaulted by a multitude of worried bodies flying in his direction. All screaming, Master or John or both or some derivation of these words or everything at once, they went ahead and cuddled him.
Ohyasonofabitch, whydoyamakeme worry that much, slurred Rave and then went ahead to kiss him. I will write this facility a strongly worded letter about their visiting policies, Aclysiamented and imed his mouth the moment Rave went off.
Slow down, John said and looked around; Where are Th- Eliza and Lydia?
The fact that even Nathalia had turned up for this meeting made these two missing so much more apparent. He could think his part for both of them, the former being contained somewhere else and thetter dealing with mountains of paperwork because of the situation.
Still, some confirmation would be nice, and John had the feeling he would get it from the silver haireddy that apanied Nathalia. John, you woke up just in time, follow me, Lunas voice was cold and business-like towards him. Whether or not he was in good graces right now, she wasnt sounding all too friendly.
Can someone tell me what happened after I copsed? John asked. Or, actually, what happened to you while I was down in the arena, Jane?
Well, you are not going to like this, Rave sighed heavily, most of the happiness that hade with the relief of him being alright vanished.
Lydia got kidnapped, Nia said after his girlfriend stayed silent for a few moments.
Hold up, what? the Gamer would have stopped to have this conversation slow down, but Luna gave him a warning nce over the shoulder as she kept guiding. Where were they even? The walls were looking more like the inside of an ancient temple than a hospital.
A nce outside the window showed only a vast garden and a rather giant obelisk, that was so close John could only see the base of it. We are in the central pce, John realized, and finally Rave spoke up again.
Yeah, so this is what happened: Some guy came along, called out to Lydia toe with him before Romulus died, ''cause he made a deal or something. She, very angrily refused saying he should have stayed in his grave and stuff, then there was a kerfuffle with some of them and a lot of us then that masked supreme fateweaver appeared and the man and Lydia got teleported away before Nia could stop it..." she added some other minor details, how she they had then beat the remaining soldiers that were left behind and how they looked for any traces. To no avail, however the Fateweaver had done it, he had left no hints as to where he had brought them.and thats when Thana started to ughter every single one of the Bloods in the arena; the two fighting us also went down there, Rave finished.
John pretty quickly filled the gaps. That was her father, he mumbled.
Indeed, Luna frostily added. A father she told everyone was dead. We dont know exactly what happened, but the fact that they had ess to an artefact whose seal wasnt broken tells the story for her. Her father plundered her mothers grave to get the key to get them.
You people should know that Lydia would never side with such a thing, John said.
I agree, the lunar goddess nodded, which is why I am not using her of it. Nobody who knows her is. However, lying about her father''s death to grant him onest thing is the only exnation of what happened there.
John had no retort to that so he instead went on the next issue. First, he shouldplete the picture for everyone who hadnt been on the floor when shit hit the fan.
I already informed them all of your side of the story, Master, Aclysia said while he was getting busy opening his mouth. For once he was happy not to have to talk about himself; this was a chain of events he wasnt keen on recalling in detail.
Great, onto the next question then: where is Eliza? John repeated half of his initial question.
You will see her in a few minutes, Luna promised, and John looked to everyone else for information. From Nia to Nathalia, they all shook their heads.
So, they followed the pale goddess in her night-sky dress until they reached a gigantic door. Gesturing for John to open it, she stepped aside. He did as requested and cautiously touched the door handle. The moment he opened the door a slit, it flew open, like an automatic door on crack, announcing his arrival with a loud BANG as the door mmed close against behind them.
It was a gigantic hall with rows upon rows of people sitting on benches or standing on elevated tforms, some of which were flying under the dome with an artistic representation of a green haired deity, which he recognized as Gaia, sleeping on top of a golden sphere with the word Beginning carved into it in Greek.
The hall had lots of side-entrances, but of course John had no such luck, he was at the main one, and the path between him and the end of the hall was covered only by a purple carpet.
Everyones eyes wandered towards him, Luna informing everyone that he had arrived didnt help. John Newman, stand-in for Lydia Augusta the fourth of house Hohenzollern, marquise of Brandenburg, electress of Brandenburg, marquise of Pomerania and Silesia, princess of Lbeck, princess-marquise of steel and candidatum secundus for Germaniae Rex.
Wait, stand-in for what? John asked himself, the question drowning out his wonder about the changes to her titles. The answer was found in one of the two things at the end of the hall: Eliza, wearing her tattered ck robe, wrapped in chains.
The blood mage turned her head and looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. Evidently, the news that he was well hadnt reached her. He ran down the pathway to get to her. Are you well? he immediately asked, ignoring everyones eyes and embracing her.
How can that even be the first fucking thing you ask me? she returned the question; I what I did
Not you, John interrupted her; apparently his words before passing out hadnt been effective. However, his eyes wandered to Romulus standing with his back to the two of them, to the whole hall in fact, was more important as of this moment, We will have a lengthy discussion about thister.
We can proceed, the voice of the emperor barely carried through the room, but from atop the podium he stood it naturally spread making it necessary to speak loudly. He was touching something that John couldnt quite see from his lowered position. John Newman! the voice of Sol, the goddess wearing her usual golden te, was like the merciless heat of the desert sun. Thana
The word made Eliza scream and shake in her chains, trying to get her hands free and w at her head. That caused quite the ruckus amongst the onlookers. Do not call her that, her name is Eliza, John told Sol. The name you just said will just bring out that other thing. Even the sr goddess had to respect that threat.
Well then, Eliza is used of treason and being a threat to the safety of humanity. You shall speak in her defence. Is that what this was? A trial? How long would this take?
Judgement will fall within this court session and before the eyes of the world. Weigh your words, Luna added to her sisters words.
Johns mind raced as he did exactly that. Threats of his own grandeur would only get him killed. He couldnt back that up right now; he wasnt powerful to just convince a whole nation of doing as he pleased yet. Not even if what he wanted was just. He had to convince them that killing Eliza would be the wrong move.
But first he had to make it known that she was innocent. I, and everyone else we knew, were always told that human gods dont exist, he told them, Eliza had no idea what was inside her. As a matter of fact, she didnt even know who she really was!
Maybe, but that doesnt change the fact that she is dangerous now, Luna told him. Half a minute of silence. Of course, the moon goddess was right. It seemed that Eliza was in control, but as that scream just now had demonstrated, Thana was still somewhere under that surface.
Hello, can I advise John on a little thing, there was a squeaky voice that spoke into the quiet. John looked at the normal sized rat with a four-horned skull for a head with disbelief. Dont stare at me like that, Newman, the Horned Rat threatened him with the voice of a rubber duck.
John would have burst outughing if the situation wasnt as bad as it was right now. You have only just been allowed back into court because of your help in the ident, dont push it, Muris, Sol shouted down at him.
The little rat made several bows, Of course, your radiancy, shall I get some tea while I am doing rat business?
You can-
Let him speak to the Gamer, Romulus interrupted in a quivering voice.
Thank me that Romulus is such a good-hearted fellow, Richard snickered once he reached John and had climbed up the Gamers arm.
How the hell can I convince them that Eliza is best left alive? he asked the Horned Rat. He spared himself the not a problem question since that was already clearly not the case.
The eyes of the court, filled with all kinds of fantastical beings and humans of all yokes of life, stared at him with judgemental eyes. It was pretty clear that they hadnt liked what the uncut live-broadcast, ording to information that Momo shared with him, had presented them. Damn that Jeff fucker, John thought.
Here is something you dont seem to know about gods: When we die, the Faith that makes up our power doesnt just vanish. Very few first gods remain. I am sure you can figure out the rest from here, the Horned Rat giggled and scurried away as quickly as he hade.
Indeed, he could. Do you think she couldnt reform in another body? The goddess of genocide, I mean, he presented his argument to the celestial judges. Because if she can, you are better off with the enemy you know than the enemy you dont.
It could take aeons until the next god of this kind forms, Luna threw in.
Yes, but Eliza has control! John said. Right now, she is in control, and I will do my best for her to stay in control. I will take the responsibility of teaching her, I swear to all deities in existence if I must! He was putting all his eggs into one basket here, but he didnt care. He would not fail to save Eliza again, no matter what name or horrible monsters she carried with her.
Sol and Luna looked to Romulus for judgement. Eliza is pardoned, he finally said and with a flick of his fingers, the chains around her disappeared.
A storm of dissenting voices broke loose, crying for that judgement to be rethought. She is a monster! Who knows what she will be capable of if left to realize her potential further! Why would you let the walking apocalypse live? Have you stopped caring for us, Romulus? Are we all just bugs to you? Why wont you protect us?!
ENOUGH! the voice of the emperor shook the very building and choked the air from the lungs of everyone else. They probably had moreints, but the air to voice them just refused to move. John Newman is right: she will reform because of the atrocities mankind hasmitted in its wake. The longer it takes, the stronger she will be next time. We should be happy that it has ended with her only massacring those that opposed us, the emperor finally turned.
Tears were streaming from his one intact eye, and he still hadnt changed his toga. The simple piece of clothing was torn and damaged in numerous ces, most obvious of which was the hole in his chest giving view to the hole in his heart.
Now theints finally ceased in earnest. They attacked my city, the heartless emperor spoke, they threatened my people, he looked with grief at all of them, they killed my friend, he reached once more for the thing that he had been standing in front of. John stood up and decided to see what it was.
It was a wooden casket, painted in a marvellous blue with a ck eagle resting upon a white g with ck upper and lower borders. Behind it, a two-headed god of an eagle was sitting on a pole, picking at the wood like a dog that refused to leave its owners grave. Frederik, emperor of Rex Germaniae, had been killed during the invasion.
They abducted his granddaughter, now Romulus voice slowly rose into anger, they tried to have me killed. Following the incident of Pompeii, I retreated into solitude to heal my damaged soul. I saw how well things worked even in my absence, so I chose to not intervene even when I had healed.
I thought a new time had begun, one where I only had to act as a figurehead. When the extremists in my empire moved around, I let them go unhindered because they seemed to be of no concern. I was wrong, so wrong, and this girl down there had to pay the price in my stead. My friend had to pay the price in my stead! NO MORE!
Everyone took a breath at once as the air unfroze and the emperor raised his fist into the air. He had been clenching it so hard that crimson rivers were running down his arm from between his fingers.
If the Blood of the Proletariat wants destruction, then destruction is what I shall bring onto them! Sons and daughters of Rome, my allies and my vassals. Subjects and friends. We will deste them, we will get back Frederiks granddaughter and we will remind them who stands at the Apex. Let us cast aside differences for just a few days, for that is all I will need to eliminate these maggots and their bases. THE EMPEROR CALLS TO WAR! HOW DOES THE EMPIRE RESPOND?!
TO WAR!" the hall shouted in unison, so loud that John imagined he could hear the city itself scream it.
Author’s Note – S2 Arc 2 ‘You will remember me’
Authors Note C S2 Arc 2 You will remember me
HELLO!
At ~310000 words this Arc is stupidly long. I think you all noticed that as well. Then again, I also announced this as the longest arc in the season well, it actually should be the longest arc in this branch overall.
Before I continue let me shout-out my Patrons. You guys are awesome, keep giving me money so I can keep giving you words. I will also now aggressively advertise YOU, dear normal reader, to give me some money.
As of now, this story is over 700000 words long, all of which you have enjoyed for free. If you have the dor to spare each month, every bit helps me along the road of justifying doing this full-time. I think the Words to Money ratio on that dor would be quite good.
Head over to to support me. Would be much appreciated. Your money allows me to continue this and (if you want to look at it from a more selfish angle, which I respect) will get you more artwork to ogle at. Here is the Aclysiamission that hasnt seen the light of CHYOA yet (although it has been online on the wiki for a bit):
ALSO! In important news, I got two new proofreaders. Say thanks when you see them on the Discord, they make this stuff actually readable.
Back to this arc: Due to the sheer length of it, I will not be touching upon everything, but here are the important bits.
In thest authors note, I promised the following things:
- The mother-daughter rivalry of Nariko and Rave
This one I regard asrgely sessful, although the second post-fight talk still needs to happen.
I couldnt just make Rave win against her mother, would have made her look way stronger than
she is supposed to be (at this point). I am, however, happy to get Rave some character
development as she is one of those that are harder to develop on the basis of being pretty alright
already. Not much in the way of ws to work with.
- Momo getting a fighting style
Yeah, this one was pretty much scratched, sorry. Its going to happen eventually, cant have her be just a sitting duck all the time, but what I had in mind felt hard to justify to just give to her without the proper challenges.
She is here, and she acts exactly how she is supposed to. Although I guess I am underdelivering on the creepy factor considering how many people find her cute. More on that in the character insight.
Well, it certainly happened.
Many people actually got this one right from the start. I rememberments about her being a goddess as early as Season 1. That actually makes me rather happy; I dont need or want to have every twist be unpredictable. However, I doubt anyone could have imagined that I was going to pull a goddess of genocide on you all.
Yes, I do like to go overly dark sometimes.
- Siena being a murderous bitch
Nice bait and switch there, Fun. Siena mellowed out considerably over the course of this arc to the point where she actually gets along with everyone now. No, I havent forgotten about the violin thing, it will be back when I feel the story allows me to focus on Siena for a bit. No, her being mellowed out considerably does not mean she is fine yet.
- What the Metracana really is
Ah, yes, Metra. I kind of kept this promise, but the teased beautiful berserker woman was postponed to ater arc due to this one already having a giant crowd of new characters. If there is one thing I dont like about having John as the definitive MC, it is that I cant just POV hop. Makes arge cast difficult to handle.
She will be here, eventually. Next Arc. I promise. She is going to be blonde.
Now lets address all the other things of importance that happened (in chronological order):
The Arc started off with a BANG in the form of the 11k words orgy chapter. I knew it was a mistake while writing it, because fuck me that thing was long, but I just told myself to fuck it and go through with it anyway. To this day I havent gotten rid of the typos in it. Sadness.
The next giant orgy will be split into several parts, otherwise my proof-readers will kill me. For good reason.
Ironically, the orgy has less likes than the shortly following chapter ending on the someone is pregnant-cliffhanger. Your guys priorities are weird. Ah well.
TANGENT: While on the topic of likes, I need to whine about how you people are fickle as fuck. Especially regarding porn chapters. I was told this was due to a phenomenon named Fap and Forget, which would exin why some porn chapters have immensely increased view but sub-average likes. I need you to hit the like on sex scenes orment and tell me which one you like the most. GIVE ME FEEDBACK! Tangent over.
Then Nathalia came back, not much to say here. I know Nathalia is a pretty popr character, but aside from being around, she didnt have much to contribute to this arc. Momo getting her wings fixed was pretty nice though, gave me an excuse to write about the one girl that is decidedly not in love with John. Well, one of two.
We will talk about Smander never exceeding 99 RP whenever we get to it. Yes, I have ns. You should have figured by now that I have ns for most stuff. For example, you should check out chapter 175, look what Lydia has to say about godhood and then check the title of chapter 154. There are some more (a lot more) tidbits like that.
It took 30 chapters to even start this damn tournament. I wont go over all the matchups, it would be boring anyway. Nia rolled around, stuff happened, much of it inconsequential. I dont know if you can tell, but I am a great fan of Slice of Life and banter.
Then the whole Undine situation finally came to a close. I had ns to fire this in Season 1 Arc 4, the miniscule corruption chance she had when evolving, if you remember. I scratched it back then because it felt too forced, which is good because I really like how it turned out this time. Giving Undine more time to dwell on her stuff and giving her an actual reason to corrupt herself felt just better all around.
The Thana side story happened, but I am not sure what else to say about that. It was the start of her mental walls crumbling and of my badly executed doomsday clock metaphor.
Then the finale fired. Honestly could have made the fights even longer, especially the bit of Nathalia and Richard intervening, but I always feel that fights shouldnt take too long in the grand scheme of things. They are simply not all that exciting in the written word. If I was making this aic, the fights would have more twists and turns, cause describing a flurry of attacks is pretty boring in words but not in pictures where you can hype shit up like crazy. But I am not, so I wont.
For the goddess of genocide: I actually had two versions of her in mind and was unsure which one to go with until the very end. One would have been incredibly philosophical and talking the whole time, the other was the one I went with, the being that was pretty much just a beast.
The former felt more fun, but she wasnt meant to be fun. If you have the literal walking extinction event, having her debate about the true nature of humanity in the middle of a fight just didnt feel right. Instead I went with the pretty brutal thing that made it to the page. It was less interesting to write, but the savagery felt way more urate.
On the brutality levels I can assure you that this is the ceiling. I actually think that there have been a few too many ripped off limbs this finale, but not tearing them off felt wrong as well. Ah well, its out now.
Yeah, thats what I wanted to talk about in the story
Lets talk John for a moment then. I feel like I am saying this every arc: John continued his rise in power and is now stupidly strong. Pretty much all parts of his toolkit have been revamped in some way, and he finally got a bit more in the melee area, hurray.
(I am going to address Combination in a separate chapter after this one, dont you worry.)
I also patched out one of my personal pains which was the group levelling. It always felt a bit iffy to write. Dont know how you readers feel about it, but me just wizarding up the levels without a proper system in ce just didnt feel right. That is even with me being more conservative with that power.
Not that there is a real proper system now, but I put a cap on my wizardry. Giving myself guidelines/caps on Johns powers feels way more fair.
Nerfed John again, should be thest time his abilities get hit in this bluntly a manner.
So Yeah, there is just so much in this arc that could be addressed that I will do the only sensible thing and call it quits here. You can leave me questions in thements or ask me directly on the Discord server.
Next Arc will be pretty straight-forward. I wont be making promises likest time, that was kinda stupid of me. The goals have been established, the enemy is clear, and I am pretty sure you know which side is going to win at the end, so lets not beat around the bush and call this war for what it is: one-sided.
And so I will dere to you that the next arc of this story and the final arc of Season 2 is called The Five Day War. I will now take my usual week off, see you all then~
Extended Character Insight - Nia Fae
Lets prelude this thing with her character theme: Crystal Strings C Fading Away
So here were the basic characteristics that I went ahead to build Nia with:
- Blonde
- French
- Anti-Mage
- Emotionless Exterior
- Badass
- Weird
I think I delivered on all of those. Blonde I made her because there is a severeck of blondes in my branch not blue eyes though, I have a lot of blue-eyed girls for some reason.
French I made her for no reason, actually. I just felt like making her French. Dunno. It gave me a nice excuse to tangle her up with the Horned Rat, but that was more an after the fact thing.
The anti-mage part is because I think that every story of this nature will have at least one of the cancel type powers. Dont know why, but there are certain powers that just appear whenever you have a story with basically unlimited different magics. Another one that pops-up almost every time is the power thief (in this story thats Romulus) and the copy-cat (I dont have that one yet).
And I just think that the emotionless exterior is a nice character gimmick. I hope I am pulling it off well. I think it was starting to get tiring, so I gave Nia the notecards so that I can actually describe her emotions while also keeping the attribute intact.
Now, the badass part needs some boration, I think. I call her that because of how her fighting isid out. I usually try to give every character a basic fighting style that I then write around or subvert on the basis of how I want to twist the fight.
Examples: Lydia fights are nned to create a situation where her victory is guaranteed. John creates ns with individual steps to bring about his personal optimal oue. Rave keeps her enemies on the ropes until she wins or they slip-up. Thats the basic idea.
For Nia the idea was that she wins all fights in as quickly a manner as possible while using her attacks as quickly as possible. This means that she will often put the big guns up front, because there is no need to conserve any strength if the enemy is beaten. The difference to Raves careless approach here is that Nia will take the time to analyse what the quickest way to triumph actually is.
This makes her victories seem rtively easy, even if they are often the end-product of ceaseless self-training, hence the descriptor badass. I think the two fights she was in show this rtively well. As her potential level has shown, Nia will actually be one of the strongest members in Johns group eventually.
Lastly, the weird thing is the whole seeming wrong to other people thing. I feel like I underdeliver on this a lot, so I am going to crank it up in the future.
Her obsession with animals was a thing that I also just slipped into. Somebody mentioned it on the Discord server, and it just fit so well. I originally nned for the Void to be a more hostile ce, but then I decided to have the Outsiders (also void) in.
Then I retconned the Outsiders to be Lorylim (not necessarily void) due to difference in what they were supposed to be and what I needed/wanted for my story. Well, I guess thats fine in the end. The friendly emptiness is a nice change of pace. Dont need everything you cant understand to be filled with Eldritch horrors. Even if the creatures inside may not look all that friendly.
Introducing her with her own POV chapter was an experiment I ran to make it clear that Nia wasnt actually emotionless without having her break character. Seems to be a sess in that regard.
Welp, this is what I had to say about Nia Fae. Just onest thing. Her theme song is: Crystal Strings - Fading Away.
This was the second arc of the second season You will remember me. I hope I will see you all next arc Five Days War, have a nice break from my story, catch up with the other branches and all that niceness.
PS: If you have the time, please give me feedback using this form:
Author’s Note Extension – Combination
Authors Note Extension C Combination
Hello again,
When I made the Combination skill, I did so fully realizing that it woulde with a lot of potential for shenanigans. I know that some of you like to be informed rather than just having to wait for me to pull out abination that suddenly allows John to win.
SO, I am just going to publish all 10 of them. John knows about them, so why wouldnt you? If you prefer to not know things and instead experience things as they are in the story, just skip this.
To answer a question I get a lot (and some other ones):
A fused elemental has the Tier of its highest fragment. A fused elemental can unleash when there is one Tier 3 elemental that is part of it. A fused elemental can assume the form of an item if there is one Tier 4 elemental that is part of it.
The fused elementals that DONT have ess to these mechanics right now will get themter, their personalities and looks will not change.
All fusions with Undine have the red scars running over the right side of her body in some shape.
Fusions with Siena are not subject to the Five Rules for Shadows Ability.
Now, lets get down to it.
Appearance: A warrior woman with a voluptuous body underneath a shoulder and backless, yellow dress, ded and covered with tes of a grey metal that end in a loose, knee-high skirt. Brown eyes in red sclera with light brown skin and braided hair like the surface of a pool ofva.
Personality: Acts shy but is actually pretty assertive in getting what she wants. Pretty easy to handle and straightforward. Will follow orders without questioning them in the moment.
Unleashed: Unobtained
Item Form: Unobtained
Appearance: A small, thin and bald woman of modest proportions with creamy, brown skin. Naked.
Personality: All over the ce to the point of biprity. While she is able to maintain focus on a single goal, she doesnt seem to be quite able to decide how to go about that goal.
Unleashed: If ced in a satisfyingly sandy environment, self-made or natural, Somi may assume control over that environment, bing as one with it and thus drastically increasing her survivability and offensive strength.
Item Form: Unobtained
Appearance: A girl of outstanding beauty with hair of an emerald richness with vines braided through. Her exterior is made of symbiotic nts that make up apletely closed dress of green and brown. She is of whiteplexion.
Personality: Shy and retreated. Will only speak if absolutely necessary and otherwise just go along with what is asked of her. However, she will speak up if something strikes her as deeply unfair for any party involved.
Unleashed: Permanently unleashed, her powers scale with the climate and essibility to sunlight.
Item Form: Weapon type, a green whip made from vines that can extend to enormous lengths and act as the growing ce for binding roots.
Appearance: An average chested girl with dark grey skin, eyes and hair of only a mildly lighter tone, shoulder length. Of athletic build, muscles rippling directly under the skin. Only wears bandages wrapped around her chest and loose, oriental looking pants.
Personality: A perfect stalker, she will stay quiet for as long as necessary. However, if left to her own devices and if she thinks she can get away with it, she will start doing things that cause people to be (rightfully) paranoid, such as turning a cup when they arent looking, moving in the corner of their eyes in a dark alley and other such petty things.
Unleashed: Can stay hidden in the shadows even after leaving the shadows for a time that depends on how long she has been dwelling beforehand. This will create a rather obvious outline of herself on the surface she is upying but allows her to jump between otherwise disconnected shadows without leaving the safety of her domain.
Item Form: Unobtained.
Appearance: A girl of light skin and pale red hair with a big chest. She has firefly wings made from actual translucent green mes. Her curves and crotch are hiding under yet more mes that take the shape of an ever-shifting leotard.
Personality: Very bubbly and straight-forward. Will swear more than necessary and be perhaps a bit too physical in conversations. Goes on and on about how she wants things to be exined to her. Will burn forests for cookies.
Unleashed: Permanently unleashed. t stat bonus.
Item Form: Unobtained.
Appearance: A white steam cloud that assumes the shape of a curvy woman whenever she is not moving. Clear blue eyes are the only indication where her head would be when she is moving.
Personality: Always trying to get the Gamer to be honest with himself and do what is right and good. She is the figurative cricket on his shoulder telling him the dos and donts of life. Will also advise others if asked.
Unleashed: After channelling for 2 minutes, Sdina will cover a giant area in fog. Allies within that area will be slowly healed while enemies take minimal damage.
Item Form: Armour type. A white, almost translucent melon hat of milky colour. Whoever wears the hat will be granted a massive boost to decision making speed (John will also have ess to using her magic, as usual).
Appearance: A tall, big-titted girl with dark red skin. Her ck hair is growing upwards and flickers like a candle me. The eyes have ck sclera with white irises and yellow, snake-like pupils. Her fingers end in knife-like ws.
Personality: Extremely aggressive and with a constant wish to see things set afire. Hard to control and best only be summoned when there is something she can burn that isnt friendly.
Unleashed: With the extremely easy to fulfil condition to have shadows around her, Shadowme can turn these shadows into fire while also boosting her stats.
Item Form: Unobtained.
Appearance: Porcin white skin with a slight blue tinge to it. Naked. Sharply angled red scars run over the right side of her body. Golden eyes and fingernails that switch between light green and azure blue with each finger. She is pretty short but has an overly curvy body, earning her the description shortstack.
Personality: Will try to aggressively haggle with anyone that she feels is not doing John justice. Will literally never shut-up about anything.
Unleashed: After using either only healing or only offensive spells for a while, Menyh can then flip into one of two modes for the rest of the fight. Rain mode will turn all of her fingernails blue and will allow her to create personalized clouds which rain a healing liquid. Storm mode will turn all of her fingernails green and give her a massive boost to all stats and magic capabilities.
Item Form: essories type. Menyh bes a pair of bells (one of them green, the other blue) on a white string that can be bound to anywhere on the body.
Appearance: A small, lean girl wearing a Gothic Lolita outfit. ck satin dress with way too many green frills, which start as pale green at the top but be progressively darker towards the bottom, ending in a loose miniskirt. Wears no panties. Vampirically pale of skin tone. Dark, greyish green hair that flows all the way down to her knees. She has double the number of usual canines.
She only has ws on her left hand, the right one being a normal hand sticking out of the long-sleeves of her dress. Sulfuric yellow eyes.
Personality: Extremely sadistic and chatty. Will constantly ridicule or otherwise annoy her opponents with her speech while being relentlessly aggressive in her pursuit of hurting them. Will draw out fights for as long as possible while maintaining an upper hand.
Unleashed: Can unleash at any time, boosting her magical capabilities, and summon the scythe of vice with it. The scythe forms by concentrating all shadows in the area into a single spot and cannot cut anything. Enemies whose blood she has recently ingested will be struck with enormous pain when hit, everyone else is safe.
Item Form: Unobtained.
Appearance: A tall goth girl with big titties. Silky deep purple hair and clear blue eyes in grey sclera. An extremely curvy body and, on top of all that, a shapeshifter who can turn into any other woman around.
Personality: Acts all shy until she finally gets boned, in which case she bes a mess of clich lines of how her mind is going to break. When taking the shape of another girl, she will emte their personality, but as their slutty porn double.
Unleashed: Whenever a Cumslut receives a load of sperm, she can divide into two of herself. The number of Cumsluts is reduced back to 1 by the nextbination.
Item Form: essories Type. Turns into a strap-on that allows the wearer to urately feel like they have a dick, including shooting a load.
______
And now that I am done with this, I can officially say I won''t do this for the 3 typebinations, cause holy shit this took long and that list would be even longer. Actually this is a mistake, but I already made it, so what fucking ever.
Take this one list and be happy, you won''t be getting another one (except maybe for the 5binations).
Ah, well, there is something elseing before then anyway. Watch your fingers, he will bite~
Arc 3 Start – Chapter 327 – The day before the war begins.
Arc 3 Start C Chapter 327 C The day before the war begins.
The world was silent as John Newman slowly stepped after the heartless emperor. With them was a whole procession of people, all of them close to one of them. Sol and Luna, Romulus chosen familiars and patron goddesses of his guild, followed their beloved master with worry in their eyes. asionally, they would nce back to muster or re at one of Johns women.
Eliza stared at her feet while she lifelessly trotted after them. Her hair, white at the roots but turning blue at chin length, had grown all the way down to her hips during her transformation. Of course, she wasnt the only one with him. Rave, his techno-loving girlfriend, Nathalia, the red headed dragon and goddess, his elementals and artificial spirits, even Nia, the pariah and anti-mage, all of them were there.
With the exception of Lydia, who had been kidnapped by her father on the day of the attack. The current day, as John had to remind himself.
It had only been ten minutes since Romulus announcement. He had dismissed the court afterwards, telling everyone involved to be prepared. Before John had been able to take his leave, the Emperor had told him toe along.
Now they were walking through the smallest of the many gardenplexes in the ancient Greek styled pce. Under the light of the blue lines of power bolting over the surface of the towering obelisk, Romulus guided them to a bench in front of an artificialke where he sat down.
Here we should be unbothered for now, the Emperor said and let out the breath of a man who was finally allowed to rx for the first time in weeks. In front of Johns eyes, the impressive figure of Romulus began to shrink.
What John knew as a colossus in his mid-forties reversed in age until he hit his early twenties and stopped. Still taller than John, although by not quite as huge a margin, the now young emperor reached out to his lost eye and began using healing magic. His other, a boring hazel brown, fixated John.
Romulus looked like the kind of sun-browned, muscle-bound Adonis that was used for shooting the attractiveness of a Mediterranean vacation and also way less imposing. As a matter of fact, aside from his obvious good looks and strong aura, he could pass as a normal person now.
So normal, in fact, that John felt almost like he was looking at his own, better looking Italian cousin. Which easily exined why Romulus usually wasnt using that form; an emperor had to look the part.
Is this your true appearance? John couldnt help but wonder. He had spent quite some time reading up on the different historical figures that Romulus had been, and they had vastly different looks. Which were the emperors real clothes?
I have no such thing as a true appearance anymore, Romulus said; I spent eternities in different shapes, and I do not age anymore. Thises closest to how I remember looking when I wasnt all powerful. Maybe I looked more average than this, kind of like you.
I should get myself some shape correcting skills, John tried to crack a joke while ignoring the fact that the Apex of everything just took a crack at him; What do you say, Jane, yay or nay to me getting that jawline? He pointed at the Emperors face, which was just the right level of manly before going into stupidly so territory. It wasntpletely unlikely that Romulus, in this form, served to set the beauty standard of the men in the western world.
If ya gonna make your face as sexy as your abs, I aintining, Rave answered with a giggle. Why would she anyway? They werent one of those I would love you however you look like couples. They understood that their love ran pretty deep but that there was a proper physical aspect to it.
Do you really find this to be the time to be cracking jokes, Newman? Sol reprimanded, her golden hair radiating. The other goddess with glowing hair stepped up.
John can make whatever jokes he pleases, Nathalia growled, pulling back her lips. It is not your right to decide over anything my potential mate says. That right belongs to me.
The sun goddess disbelievingly stared at her old rival for a moment, then she burst outughing, By the cycle, its true, you are in love. That is hrious. Then again, of course you would go for the second best now that you cant have Romulus anymore. That actually pricked Johns ego a bit, but he kept it to himself. The rumbling in Nathalias throat only became louder.
Calm down, both of you, Romulus, his voice as deep as ever,manded. It didnt really help, the two kept standing chest to chest in a battle of will. John carefully reached out to the dragoness arm and took her by the wrist. ncing over her shoulder and then back at Sol, Nathalia hissed onest time and then whirled around to get John in a stormy embrace that ended with his face on her tits.
He is not a recement; I can guarantee you that he fucks better than Romulus, the dragoness dered.
Of course, thats all you would care about, Sol mocked after loudly blowing air out of her nose.
Romulus quietly chuckled, You two will never get along. I must admit I have missed that.
And that right there is why I crack jokes, especially in these times, John informed the sun goddess; If we cantugh in dire times, when can we ever?
It makes you look like you dont give the situation the needed earnest, Sol informed him; Like a fool, in other words.
I am fine with that, the Gamer shrugged; When the time to fightes, I wont be found wanting.
We will see, Sol probably had a lot more to say, but Romulus patted the empty part of the bench next to him and thus ended this inquisatory conversation lead by the sr goddess. Sit with me, John Newman. I want to discuss a few things with you. I imagine you have questions for me as well.
That was a massive understatement. John sat down on the left part of the bench. He wanted to directly get into his questions, but then he was struck by the view in front of him. Fireflies danced over the surface of theke in front him, and the ind in the middle of thatke was where the obelisks base was.
The arcane tethers that connected to all of the flying inds and kept them in the air by supplying them with the energy cut through the sky like the arms of a gxy between the starlit sky above.
A beautiful spot, isnt it? Romulus asked.
Yes, John only answered and took in the sight for a few more moments. Even Sylph was quiet.
I have a multitude of things that you shall know about, John Newman. For the sake of ease, lets make and follow an easy format. I will give you an order and you will be allowed to ask me one question, although I will withhold the right to not answer, Romulus finally spoke up.
That seems awfully tilted in your favour, John pointed out. What if I do not want to fight in your war?
Romulus shook his head in disbelief, What a senseless rhetorical question. Muris must be rubbing off on you. That hurt. That hurt a lot. While on the topic of him, I might as well address this: do not mistake my graciousness of letting these two back into my court for saving my city as me having forgotten their past trespasses against my cause. Their recent virtues simply outweigh my old grudge, but siding with them, especially the Rat, is bound to make me and you stand on opposite sides one day.
Nathalia rolled her eyes, You are wee to try to kill yourself again once I get away from this continent. I dont n to stand against you as long as you dont involve me in your next scheme.
Romulus left that umented and instead moved back to John. My firstmand is that you will be part of an elite unit that eradicates strong resistances. Meaning that you will stay right here until tomorrow and my empires state has been sorted out. Someone of your strength is best used where most needed.
Why not just go yourself? John used his first question without thinking.
Because they wont let me, Romulus nodded towards Sol and Luna.
Rom will not fight until he is healed, thetter said. Thus, we have decided.
The emperor leaned in conspiratorially, You will agree that it is sometimes best to give in to the wishes of your loves.
He says that, but he is still arguing with me through our soul bond, Luna tipped against her forehead. Old and smart he is, but his wisdom is clearlycking. You can take your revenge when you have healed! The traitors wont be able to run from their sins.
The cheery look on the emperors face that he had slowly developed over the past few minutes as the reality of his friend having been killed just hours ago sunk back in faded away in a mere moment, melted like ice in preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius. I envy your ability to heal instantly, Newman; of all the powers I have, incredible regeneration has never been one of them, he sounded grave.
I think that being able to survive without a heart is just as stupid as healing instantly, John pointed out and got himself a dismissive shrug.
The secondmand I have is that the host stays here, the Emperor said.
She has a name, John pointed out with as much anger in his voice as he thought he could get away with, Eliza Eliza? The Gamer had turned to the usually cursing bundle of insanity. She was unnervingly quiet.
Yes, I can fucking hear you, she answered, still looking at her naked feet. She had been clothed only with her tattered robes and leather bikini that she called her own. I am still I think I should stay here as well.
John would have loved to disagree, but he couldnt. I will need more details on this, he still said, careful to not formte it as a question. That it was the smartest move for Eliza to stay where the only person who could stop her if Thana awoke again was justmon sense. However, John wanted to make sure that he understood correctly that this was a temporary thing. I am not going to leave her with you forever; she is one of my friends and, more importantly, I love her.
Romulus made an amused sound; he knew exactly why he had said it that way. Choosing to y along, the Apex of the Abyss answered, Rest assured I dont n to rip apart anyone that I dont have to.
But you will if you think she is too dangerous, John finished for him when the emperor paused.
Nodding, Romulus continued, If she is too unstable, I will kill her. Feel free to hate me for this, John Newman, but I have more to protect than just you and your rtionships. My empire, humanity itself, is bigger than your self-interest. Your next question?
Why didnt you just steal HER, John dodged the name to not cause another violent reaction from Eliza, powers? You are the god yer, what stopped you? He had a theory for this, but he needed an answer.
I am indeed, but my power has a limitation. I can y whatever beast spawns from illusion barriers, be they little treants or mighty gods, and absorb their powers. But I cannot take from humans, not even human gods, Romulus didnt even try to hide that this wasnt news to him, which only meant that John felt reinforced in one of the questions he wanted to ask next.
First the Emperor had anothermand for him though.
Myst order is that you will be the one to watch over Maximillian, Romulus said. A moment of silence passed in which John waited for the emperor to borate. Apparently, he liked this little game between them though, so John had to resort to a workaround.
Why is Master required to do so? Aclysia asked for him.
I am going to let this slide this time, Romulus grumbled with his envy inducingly deep, manly voice; If we fail to retrieve Lydia, Maximillian is the only true imant to the vacant throne. I need you to make sure he doesnt lose himself to despair or self-doubt.
John just epted that answer. It was smart of the Emperor to n for the worst case where Lydia was already dead and he was stuck with a vassal whose head would have rather gigantic trust issues. But why him? The Gamer would have loved to ask, but his questions were precious.
I give this task to you, Romulus seemingly read his mind, because you strike me as the sort of person who was betrayed himself. You have been watching my hands this whole discussion as if you were expecting me to strike you.
John couldnt keep the shock from his face as he raised Jacks eyes, the sparrow sitting in the branches of a hedge diagonally behind them, from the Emperors hands.
You are speaking to the person that has been the strongest being in the Abyss for thousands of years, the Apex said in an amused tone; Dont think I dont feel such obvious things as the eyes of a drone resting on me.
Fine, John mumbled. Admittedly, he expected Romulus to feel Jacks presence, but not exactly where the drone was looking. Yes, I am always keeping a lookout for people to turn on me, and I am also always wondering whether what you stood to gain from backstabbing me is bigger than what you stand to gain from staying with me. Its a wise policy with a healthy dose of doubt that I should have adopted the moment I stepped into this world and not AFTER I was stabbed in the back once.
It is indeed; the first betrayal is always the worst, not because of what you lose but because of the permanent doubt that will linger to yourst day, Romulus stood up and looked at his reflection in theke; Although sometimes what you have lost is irreceable. Yourst question?
John needed to think. There were two, both urgent, on his mind. Why do you want to kill Gaia? Was the obvious one. What did the emperor hope to achieve once he had done that? John, however, decided to go with the other one in the end.
Gaia is the first human goddess, isnt she?
Eyes are the gate to divinity. A thin circle prated by seven lines. Gold belonged to the end of humanity and ck to the gatekeeper of the abyss. The supreme deity, she had the same eyes as the deity of the end.
Romulus nodded, then turned and looked at him with enigmatic eyes. If you seed in keeping Maximillian safe, I will tell you the whole story, from who she was to when she became what everyone else knows, he stated and then walked away. His eye had barely even healed. Speak what needs to be said to those who wont apany you and then go to the mansion Staufen and rest. Rest assured, should yourpanion rampage again, I have eyes on the situation. Tomorrow, you will be going wherever I send you.
John turned to Eliza.
Chapter 328 – Curse thy fate, love thy future
Chapter 328 C Curse thy fate, love thy future
So? John asked the blood mage, now patting the bench for Eliza to sit down next to him.
The fuck do you mean so? she mumbled; her voice was so tired from things John couldnt hope to understand himself. Still, he had to try.
I mean, so, want to talk about the weather or something? John sarcastically remarked; No, I want to know how you feel right now.
I dont fucking know, Eliza shouted at him, finally raising her eyes from her feet; I guess I am happy that you are alive? No scratch that shit, I am ecstatic, I am so happy about it, it almost counteracts all the horror that goes on in my head right now. Its quiet, I feel fucking perfect, but I know that somewhere in this head is just this thing that wants to get out, and its not ANY thing. I have the literal end of humanity inside me, and its all quiet, which is somehow worse than anything I had to endure up to this point. HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL?!
Confused would be the right response, John answered, continuing to pat the bench beside him. Eliza refused to sit down. Sighing, he stood up and walked over to her instead. The other girls gave them some distance. Look, this is all incredibly recent, and I cant say I get what is going on myself. It seems to be a consistent theme in my life that I get dragged into stuff like this, the Gamer said.
Of course, you get dragged into this shit, you chose to hang out with people this screwed in their cum-oiled brain-windings, Eliza threw at him. Just fuck me, and I mean that you should just fuck off not that you should stick your cock into me. Ditch me, leave me here and never look back.
I cant do that, John stated clearly.
JUST GO THE FUCK AWAY! the blood mage screamed; I dont want your help; this Romulus asshole will look over me. He is going to be of more help than youve ever been with your friendly shit. I dont need you anymore; I have my memories, I will survive!
You will survive, yes, but you will live in captivity, John pointed out; Just tell me the truth. We both know why you want me to leave.
Tears welled up in Elizas eyes, I just told you the fucking truth. I dont need you anymore!
Eliza
Dont say my name like it means anything to you; you are just a fucking pervert and I happen to be cute. She threw whatever she thought would get him to distance himself from her at him. Insults, usations, they all were silenced when John reached into his inventory and pulled out the white scarf. He threw it around Elizas neck and pulled her close by the ends.
Just say it, he demanded when she dug her fingers into the white fabric of his shirt.
Tear-choked, she answered, I dont want to hurt you again.
John gently kissed the roots of her hair, Then let this be thest time you hurt me. You have your past back, right?
Its a shitty past, Eliza returned; Full of abusive priests, cowardly parents and zealous idiots. Figures that my whole life sucked from the beginning.
But were the past weeks bad? John asked.
NO! Eliza looked up to him with wide-eyes; No, they were as awesome as rolling over a band of preachers with a steamroller and turning them into a bloody pulp on the floor!
And now you have your own name on top of that, he told her; Not some terrible abbreviation whispered to you by a fragmented goddess. YOUR name.
Eliza was quiet now.
Continuing, John slowly rolled the scarf around her neck, Look, I cant say that everything will be fine. I dont know. Maybe you are living on borrowed time now, maybe that thing in your head is bound to kill us all if we dont kill it first, but I refuse to just leave it at that. If you can stay in control, that means that there is hope. So how about we just look at the positives here. You are alive, you are in control, we know what we are dealing with, and now you can enjoy life without the steady question of what is wrong with you.
So, you are asking me to just carry on like its a regr ass day with this THING in my head? Eliza was dumbfounded; Thats your great advice here? How will that stop me from hurting you again?
In response, he shrugged, What other choice do you have? Wallowing in despair wont make her disappear. You can only try to live with it as best you can, and, if you let me, I will dly assist you in managing it. If you could stay in control for the past hours, then it stands to reason that you can always stay in control.
He let go of the scarf now resting firmly around Elizas neck, exactly where it belonged. You could only hurt me if you decided to leave me. I knew you were a broken angel from the start, I knew that I was in for some pain and that getting with crazy was bound to get me in trouble. Just promise me that this is thest time I need to tell you to work on your problems, because we know that I am right, and I am getting sick of you causing problems.
He flicked her forehead.
The fuck, dude? Elizained; One moment you are all romantic and make me feel like someone is burning bibles in my stomach, then you end it on THAT?
Hey, just because I love you doesnt mean I cant tell you to fix yourself, John defended himself, and Ive just had these talks with you one too many times to be serious about all of them.
Eliza burst outughing. A new name, a new terrible certainty and no more scratching in her head or faces hovering all around but still the same shrill, insaneughter. Strangely calming, in this situation. You know what, you are right, you cum-spray can, she said and jumped at him. It was an unexpected motion that brought John out of bnce as the snickering host of the walking apocalypse grappled onto him. One, two steps he took backwards in an attempt to regain his footing, then the third caused him to slip andnd with his back in the shallow mud of thekes rim.
Before he couldin, Eliza kissed him deeply. As she was holding onto him, John justid there with his limbs sprawled out and let the moment pass. Once she pulled back, he raised his head so that his ears were no longer underwater.
Was that really necessary? he asked with a grin on his face.
You are spot-fucking-on, Eliza ignored his question; So what if the end of humanity lives inside me? Only thing I can do is learn to live with Thana- she took a pained breath, raising one hand to support her dazed head. With worry John looked at the scene continuing, -there she is, alive and kicking. She isnt going away and you wont listen to sense and go somewhere far away from me, you loveable clit-sucker. Fuck all of this confusion and self-doubt and shit. I will just be so fucking stable that I dont have to worry about any of this shit ever again, and then I am going to have your kid and thats that.
Still a weird goal, but fine by me, Johnughed; Just dont switch all the way into the careless mindset.
If I get careless, I get shanked out of fear by all of dumbass humanity, Eliza made him understand that she waspletely aware.
Yes can we get out of the water now?
The blood mage got off him, and they walked back to the bench.
And once more I am reduced to a drier, Smander grumbled, radiating heat as they made their way home, to the mansion Staufen; I am a spark of war, not some random fucking hairdryer.
Actually, I was wondering about something, John said, with the heavy things done for the day. The whole thing was broadcasted live, right?
It was a wonderful showcase of the fact that the news were somewhat corrupt wherever one went. Apparently, Jeff had not only been the caster but also the one with the exclusive broadcasting rights. So, when the whole thing had started to unravel at hypersonic speeds, he just kept the camera running. Probably made more money on that day than the rest of the tournamentbined.
Yes, the whole fucking world will be afraid of me forever now, Eliza gnarled. Carry me!
While not really sure what that had to do with anything, John thought that she could use some more support. She seemed to have gotten over the worst of it now, but a little more wouldnt hurt. Also, he would take most excuses to feel one of his girls up, so he picked her up princess style, and they continued their way through the massive building.
Anyway, my question is why you and Richard were the only real responders there, John continued on, looking at Nathalia.
Who else did you expect to go there? It was tantly written on the dragoness face that she found the question pretty stupid.
Ya know, Rave chimed in, ANY god that is allied to Romulus?
Sol and Luna were right there, Nathalia still didnt really understand, as evident by her next question, Do you expect gods to just meddle in your mortal affairs? I went in there to save John, Rat did what he did to get in good graces with Romulus again.
Sounds to me like you are an incredible selfish bunch, the techno-lover continued.
Selfish by your definition, yes, Nathalia freely admitted, but I dont bother greatly with the opinion of lesser, mortal beings. Most gods would probably take the death of a few ten-thousand in return of being free to do whatever they want in Europe, which is impossible with Romulus around.
Yeah, that is super fucking selfish, Eliza said in a happy voice as she sniffed, in a bit of a creepy obsessed fashion, at Johns shirt.
How is your jaw by the way? John had to ask out of curiosity.
Melted back to my head, the dragoness growled. Its still healing and hurts like hell. Now that she mentioned it, John could see a bigger than usual gap in the scales framing her face that was lightly bleedingva. It did look rather unpleasant.
I could heal you, John offered. His powers should have been bullshit enough for that.
Nathalia grunted in a mixture of dismissiveness and amusement, You are beginning to have enough mana to restore my vitality, but it wont be of much help. To trante that into game terms: Undines heal value wasnt really high enough to affect her HP total.
Okay, back to the gods and your logic thing then, John said; What are you going to do now that there is war?
I dont care about your war, she instantly dismissed him; As a matter of fact, I am going to just stay here with Tha-, the dragoness stopped herself and rubbed the scales on the side of her face. It was fascinating to see so many people John thought untouchable acting so carefully. -Eliza and leave you to do whatever you want to do.
What was that about wanting to save me? John wondered.
That was an emergency; if you participate in a war because of your own volition, I am not going to be your guardian deity, Nathalia made clear; If you die to your own mistakes, that just means you werent a worthy mate after all.
Well, that was heartless. Gods seemed to have a non-involvement policy for anything that didnt serve their own interests. What if you were a patron god? How would you act in that case?
With a re of her wings drifting into Johns field of view, his well-read support spoke up. Those who bind themselves to guilds only act on the core territory of that guild due to a treaty that ensures that guild will survive conflicts of interest, Momo exined; Abyssal History by Maria Theresia, chapter 3, paragraph 3.
Unless that interest isplete annihtion of that guild, John guessed.
Even then, the ones to y that god shouldnt be from our own kind, Nathalia continued on; We gods of destruction and those of death are too good at killing, so everyone else made a pact to unify against whoever goes out of their way to end a fellow god. Sending in a god to kill the enemy god means that you will face a coalition of everyone else.
If there was a caste of people in your race that was way better at killing than the rest, it made sense for everyone else to make up a way to keep that caste in check. Johnpletely understood that angle. If they didnt do that, only the destructive gods would reign over anything. I guess Romulus gets away with using Sol and Luna though, John said.
Yes. What are we going to do if he kills a god? Throw more at him to make him even stronger? Nathalia shrugged; If it hadnt been for you, I would have worried about the genocide goddess only after she murdered Romulus.
And in the process made it so nobody would ever have been able to stop her, good job, John thought to himself, not wanting to make Nathalia needlessly angry over something she clearly didnt care about. It was good that gods were such a selfish bunch, for the most part. If they wanted, they could have meddled in all mortal affairs and next to no one would have been able to stand up to them. In this specific case, John felt kind of annoyed at their insistence of being uncaring onlookers though.
But the alternative was that all of the strong gods, however many there were, would appear in every conflict ever and just roll over all the humans in the field. So, this state of affairs wasnt that bad.
They finally made it out of the building.
Chapter 329 – A strange people, an agreement, stay alive
Chapter 329 C A strange people, an agreement, stay alive
Okay, what the hell? John asked as they walked through the city, crossing through more than one crowded street, and went to the mana street that would take them home with the least number of changingnes. How did nobody stop us yet?
Yeah, the fuck is up with that? Eliza, still getting carried by him, wondered with him; I expected at least some stones getting chucked at me; people are assholes!
Why? Rave asked, arms folded behind her back as she yawned. She was obviously as tired as the rest of them, which was a fair chunk of the reason why they were able to be this rxed despite the situation. What was the excuse of the city though?
Because the literal end of humanity appeared on international television, wouldnt you be afraid? her boyfriend presented his confusion to her.
And ya think the correct response to that is to throw stones at the person who went toe to toe with the guy who was able to safely get rid of a nuke? Rave pointed out; I thought ya raised your intellect, when did ya be dumber than me?
Uhm, now John and Eliza were actually both more confounded than before, I mean I at least expect some afraid looks and stuff, but they are just looking at us a bit carefully and then go about their business as usual. As you are the one who grew up in the Abyss, please enlighten us, Jane.
The stars must be falling from the sky for you to ask me to exin something, Rave teased.
I could also wait until we found and freed Lydia. Actually, that might be the quicker way to get aprehensive answer.
John would have given his left testicle to just chase after Lydia right now. However, the fact that he had raised his mental stats so high made him too wise to just throw caution to the wind. The Blood was supposed to have sleeper cells everywhere, so the countryside was probably in turmoil. Chaos in the battlefieldbined with the fact that he had no idea where they had teleported to meant that the best bet John had to find Lydia was to wait for Romulus to mobilize hisplete forces.
It was the sad reality of things that he couldnt just march against a world ss organization. Not only had he no way to know what else the enemy was hiding, but he realistically couldnt cover that much ground on his own. He had to wait. Everyone else either understood that as well or just trusted him enough to take his current rxation as a signal that this was fine. His girlfriend at the very least knew that he would have a n that was going to get them to the wanted result.
Well, okay, I will enlighten ya normies, Rave said after pinching his side with a teasing smirk. Imagine with me now that ya live in a world where there are people that can kill ya by setting your brain on fire if ya look at them the wrong way. At first ya might be all guess better not offend anybody ever then, but then ya realize that those are 0,1% of the poptions and thenyarealize-
Could you try not to slur? John carefully interrupted her.
Whaddayamean? his girlfriend asked and stuck out her tongue; But sure, whatevs. Where was I? Right, then ya realize that most people cant make your house disappear overnight or just go about their business anyway because they are people too and dont stand much to gain from it, so ya slowly stop caring about the potential danger. Then you are also part of a society where people and non-people with all kinds of weird superpowers run around and somebody identally exploding is just a thing on the newscast.
So, when there is a fuck-off super-death goddess on television, first reaction is to just make more popcorn. Then the guy who has been in charge since your grandpa was young tells you the situation is under control. Why would ya worry about it?
Because she literally is next to you in the street and could run amok? John presented his question.
Not more threatening than one of the inds falling down, on a personal level, Rave shrugged; Ya just gotta trust that she wont and that ya will live another day.
So, in short, the people living at the edge of the abyss well, in the Abyss actually, were so used to danger that they werergely desensitized to it. The threat of Armageddon wasnt that much higher to thempared to the everyday risk of just living with people who could summon meteors on their heads.
If they werent this dulled to threat, every waking moment would have been a question of if they would still be alive if they blinked. John knew for a fact that he could eradicate a small block of buildings in a manner of minutes. All in all, this actually was rather predictable behaviour.
Andst of all: people in general arent that bad, ya two just had bad luck, Rave stated.
Eh, John made a doubtful noise.
Nah, fuck people, Eliza kept a strong stance on the matter.
I like puppies more, Nia let them know.
Okay, different question then, John said, why arent more people up in arms about the human goddess thing? He expected that the fundamental revision of their understanding of godhood would create at least some unrest. Instead, people were bartering about the prices of speaking tomatoes.
Do ya care about thetestputer innovation by some Silicon Valley people that has no influence on your life ever? his girlfriend threw a sensible argument right back at him.
Fair enough, he conceded, as he didnt. The average joe probably didnt care about anything that didnt directly impede his life. Not that John was much different in that regard, it was just that the range of things that affected him had shifted majorly.
In this case, I only need to worry about a bunch of scientists getting in my Elizas face, John thought.
They finally reached the mansion and went to sleep. Next morning, they all met over breakfast and had a very quick discussion over what they, or to be more exact, Eliza was going to do over theing days.
Interestingly enough, Elizas stats werepletely detached from Thanas. There really were two beings sharing one body. Soulburn was a doubtless point of contact between the two of them; the bonus stats Eliza received from that were, in hindsight, exactly enough to give her the base stats of Thana.
I wonder if the same is true for Bloodburn, but I rmend we dont risk it, John told everyone his thoughts. My idea would be that you, he was looking directly at the blood mage now, just keep your feet still until this war is over and we have some time to work on that problem in your head.
Yeah, I would try to work it out while you are gone, Eliza said, rocking her chair, but I have not the slightest blood-gurgling clue if I cane back if its someone but you who calls out to me.
Naw, get a room, Rave snickered.
John wasnt opposed to that on principle, but he really had more urgent things than sex on his mind. Therefore, he kept his perversions to a minimum. Which was the quickie in the morning shower he had had. Sadly, he didnt function all that well if he hadnt gotten off at least once a day. A rather crude drawback to being exposed to this much sex for months.
Okay, so we are clear on that, John leaned back in his chair; that had been easier than he thought it would be. He nced over to the empty head of the table where he almost thought he could see a teapot. I suggest we lose no further time then.
_____________________________________________
Well rested, John and his group entered the imperial pce at the heart of the city. Save Nathalia, who had vanished while they slept, only leaving the message to Aclysia that she would be watching and returning when she felt the time was right. John was beyond miffed at this sudden turn of events, but it was Nathalia, and this wasnt even a bit atypical behaviour for her. She would be back whenever she craved his dick again.
There you are, a familiar, and up to this point not at all friendly, voice greeted him. Mario de Medici, Knight of Rome and a decidedly handsome fellow. Tall, elegant jawline, short dark hair. Actually, now that he had seen Romulus true form, John wondered if these two were rted somehow. He didnt care enough to ask, however. Getting moving towards Lydia was now in range.
Here we are, he instead went with the confirming remark. Are you going to bring us to the court? Not that John needed the swordmasters help to find it. Using Jack, he had been scouting out the building and creating a map in his head. Thats how he had gotten out of it yesterday. Finding Romulus wasnt going to be difficult.
Yes, Mario answered, ncing over to Eliza. This thing will-
The swordmaster stopped mid-sentence when a Shardbound flew by his face. It barely missed him, as the high-level Agility of the man allowed him to react in time. The Gamer had only meant this to be a warning shot anyway.
I dont know how many people I need to beat this into he said in a grave voice, the remaining three charges of the attack hovering behind his shoulders together with his small army of angry familiars and friends, but you will address her with her name.
He had made the basic consequences of calling her Thana known to the Abyss Auction for free. John trusted that the number of idiots calling her that by intent was going to be smaller than those who simply wouldnt have known better. That second number he could at least try to reduce.
Mario looked satisfyingly afraid; especially the sulphuric eyes of Siena seemed to cause some sort of shback to the incredible pain Edge had caused.
He just called me a thing, calm your sweaty crotch and grubby hands and leave the poor fucker alone, Eliza said, for a moment it looked like she was going to defend Mario here. Not like I care about this cock-wielders opinion. And there was her true reason.
If they dont have at least the decency to call you by your name, I wont let anyone have a fun time while interacting with me, John dered and then nced at the swordmaster again. You were saying?
Eliza will be guided to her quarters in the pce by a handmaid, Mario begrudgingly gave in. In response, a woman in a ssy and efficient, not at all sexy, maid-outfit came along. Barely containing his distaste for putting beautiful women into non-beautiful clothing, John turned to Eliza.
I will be back as soon as I can, he promised and leaned down to kiss her goodbye. Their lips met only for a moment before the blood mage shoved him away with a high-pitched giggle.
Just go find Lyly; who am I going to argue with if her ass isnt in smelling distance? Eliza dered with a wide grin. I will be here, I promise.
With that, Eliza stepped over to the maid and left the group now three members smaller than usual.
That you would kiss a mouth that ate human flesh, Mario made a disgusted sound.
John left that withoutment. He had witnessed Eliza brushing her teeth with a despairing look on her eyes. The look of a person that desperately tried to get rid of a sin by performing a barely rted action.
Aclysia, however, didnt, Talk badly about Eliza one more time and I will feed you like bacon strips to Thana myself, when she next awakens.
Fucking hell, Aclysia, John was shocked. It wasnt like Aclysia could back that up at the current time, she wasnt nearly quick enough to be a threat to Mario, but holy hell that was savage (as in the actual meaning of the word, not how keyboard-warriors used it). What happened to you?
Apologies, Master, but my tolerance for bullshit is only high towards you. Towards people who run like a coward and then continuously attack the person that actually saved their life, even if unintended, is beyond my patience, Aclysiaid it down.
Yeah, tell them, sister! Momo cheered her on, poking Mario with her shamanic looking staff that John had gifted her after it dropped from an achievement in the troll arena. There was almost a bit of pity in Johns heart for the man, almost.
Furthermore, the weaponized maid actually continued, you are not only annoying me, by attacking one of my friends, but Master, by attacking one of his loves. Annoying Master is an unforgivable offence. Apologize to Eliza when you next see her.
I might have gone too far, Mario grumbled in admission.
Aclysia took that win and mechanically nodded to herself. Proud of his artificial guardians smack-talking capabilities, John patted her white head. The re of happiness made it clear that that was beyond the reward she had hoped for.
She was so easy to please.
This is not the war room, John noted as they stopped before the room he woke up in yesterday. He had a gut feeling when Mario was guiding them away from the quickest route to the court, but this all but confirmed it.
No, it isnt you know what I want you to do? Mario asked.
Man, that is pretty rude of ya, Rave chimed in. First you are a colossal dick and now ya want us to scratch up your boyfriend?
Its fine, John said. I will be back in a second, I will talk to him on my own. Everyone nodded, and John opened the door.
Maximillian sat in his hospital bed in the forcefully modernized, ancient Greek styled room. Disinterestedly, he poked into a cup of pudding. Of all the people, they send you, the not exactly kingly looking man looked over, already knowing that it was John thanks to his elemental hanging under the ceiling. Eyes red and swollen, the enchantment that had blocked his sadness had obviously worn off a while ago.
Yeah, Romulus told me to watch over you. Not that I needed hismand to do so, John told the king, leaning against the closed door.
What possible reason would you have to watch over me? The great and mighty Gamer himself should have a lot better things to do than-
They kidnapped Lydia. That stopped Maximillian dead in his bravado. I am watching over you because she still cared for you and I doubt that you just left her behind.
What the hell do you mean they kidnapped her? Maximillian threw the nket he spent thest 12 hours under off in a bit of a dramatic fit. In his hospital gown he was anything but an impressive figure. However, he naturally assumed the upright post of a ruler now that the man inside him woke up again and beat the self-deprecation. What were her bodyguards doing? They are some of the best in the realm!
Busy holding back another assault at the side, John said and retold the whole story of the past day, since the king clearly had been isting himself and was out of the loop.
By the end, Maximillian mmed his cup on the board that was hovering over the bed he had beenying in. I will set this right, I have to set this right, it was Alexej that The king was gripped by a burst of energy, swung his legs over the frame and rose to his feet.
Only to immediately break down and fall as his crippled left leg refused to carry him as it used to. He tried to grip onto the small table, but hovering things arent a good hold. In a shower of small stic cups, he went down.
He really betrayed me, didnt he? the question came from a man, physically and mentally beaten and incredibly fragile. What John would do next could have very well decided the future of this person.
He betrayed everyone, but you most of all, yes, John spoke in a soft, empathetic voice as he extended a hand downwards. I can only imagine what it feels like.
I knew him since I was three, he tried to stab me, Maximillian said in the tone of a man who had no more tears. Without hesitation. He used me this whole time.
Yes, John could only inform the king that he was still there.
Maximillian fixated his eyes on the ck hole on the ceiling. Hawpler was quietly hovering. I could fuse with you, he said. A new person, born on this day to leave behind my past and be the king that needs to be done.
You could, the tremoring voice answered.
Is that how you want to beat the sadness? John threw in. By destroying yourself? The effectiveness of that move was doubtful anyway. Lydia, despite having fused with a metal elemental, still had attachments to her human past. Dulled, yes, judging by the way she spoke of everything regarding her younger self, but nevertheless still there.
Maximillian took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Curses be upon this world where you can never trust anyone fully. I should have never made the mistake.
No, you have to risk the mistake, knowing that it might happen again, John answered; Just let your trust rest on bravery instead of naivety. There will be other people you can trust fully.
Is that so? I guess I will see Maximillian mumbled. You are right, I dont want to give up who I am, especially after preserving myself for this long. I will need to get out of this hole of my own misery.
The beauty of dealing with rather wise people was that they were able to save themselves when given just a little push. Lets get you into some clothes that are more respectable, John suggested with a grin, buddy.
Maximillian took his hand, Never call me that again.
Chapter 330 – Overview and deployment
Chapter 330 C Overview and deployment
It took about twenty minutes for Maximillian to get to a state where he was fine with going out. This included, for the most part, a shower and a choice of clothing that actually refreshed his image as a 21st century king.
Mario took his leave at that point, leaving Maximillian and John to find the court themselves. The gravity mage adjusted his red cape with a typical white, fuzzy rim decorated with ck dots by pulling on the golden cord holding it together. He managed to wear that thing over his highly fashionably and body-tailored ck suit with the yellow shirt underneath. His whole suit had the ck and yellow theme, the colours of the house of Habsburg. Same for the walking cane he got for himself.
His leg was in a state, ording to himself, that was inhibiting enough to be annoying but not so bad that it hindered him in every action. It was rather fortunate, however, that he was an astonishingly capable magic user who didnt need to rely on his body in fights. Otherwise, this would have spelled the end of his fighting days, which was a pretty rough position to be in in the Abyss, no matter how civilized an area of the world it was.
Personal differences aside, I rather like your fashion, the king let John know, his reddened eyes (no number of showers could have fixed that) scanning over John. Although you should lose the hat, in my opinion.
My eyes are down here, the Gamer said in acted offence.
Maximillian raised an eyebrow, Sure, but your eyes I dont care about. Listen to me, buddy, the word quickly became some sort of mocking tradition between them, gay jokes are extremely bad. Seriously, get some better humour going.
Oh shaddup, Rave chimed in, if ya two insist on being this yful, I have no other choice but to make a joke about how gay you are being.
Could you try to get into a speaking habit that does not make my ears bleed with such profuse conviction as to clean my hearing facilities of your filth? Maximillian requested.
Could ya be just a bit more of a picky dick? Rave returned.
How do you have this attractive of a mother while being this obnoxious? the king shook his head as they door came into view.
Gross! Rave shouted out. A! she raised her index finger, Dont ya call my mother hot while I am around. She raised the index finger of the other hand, B, dontpare me to her, I dont wanna hear it. Finishing the list, she kicked his shin. 3, your taste in waifus is bad and you should feel bad.
Maximillian shrugged it off, I like older women, sue me.
If ya touch my mother, maybe I will, the pink haired technolover dered. The judge being me, and the judgement my fist up your ass!
Rx, John said and fidgeted with his own ck and white suit. He still couldnt get himself to wear a tie.
They didnt, and despite his best advice, neither did he as they bickered over another topic next.
When they finally managed to get into the court, they did so in the middle of a discussion. Romulus, now a giant again, sat on a throne of massive gold. The thing was hammered into such artistic shapes of animals and nts, iid with gemstones of all rarities and further decorated with lesser gemstones, that John wouldnt have been surprised to learn that it was heavily enchanted.
Actually, John didnt need to learn that. It was absolutely apparent by the stream of mana that poured down the three stairs leading up to Romulus throne. The typical blue and purple light of the magical energy pulsated through endless lines between the tiles on the floor, in erratic fashion.
As John stepped closer through the gigantic court, seemingly empty even with the several dozen people and creatures buzzing through it and gathering at the feet of the podium, he noted that the casket bearing thete king of Germany was still where it had been the previous day. Romulus seemed intent to not bury his old friend until this war was over.
Finally, the voice that called out to John was one that had regained much of its owners former deepness, but it still sounded immensely squeaky. For that owners location, John had to look at his feet.
The Horned Rat had grown quite a bit in the few hours since John hadst seen him, but he still only reached up to Johns kneecaps. Comedically enough, his skull had grown back to the normal size, however. The fact that the god supported his head while he waddled over to John made it pretty clear that he was in anything but a healthy state right now.
Was worth a try, John defended himself. Everyone else was confused as to what he meant, even as, or especially because, Richard started giggling in response.
Could ya not do any of that look at me, I do things in the background cause I am a magician and a massive dick stuff? Rave requested as her long-time exposure to Johns bullshit let her guess what was going on.
Duly noted, the Horned Rat waved her off and looked over to Nia. The nk was upon him and patted his skull. What are you doing?
You look like a crossbreed of a penguin and a rat, she told her patron god and instructor in her usual passive voice. That was all she had to say while aggressively running her hands over the smooth surface.
The red mes in the eye-sockets red up, Listen to me, youngdy, I am your god and you will this feels rather nice actually. The Horned Rat shrugged, causing his oversized head to bop, Sure, whatever, pat me. Gives you something to do while I take you with me.
Pardon? John stepped in. What gives you the right to tell Nia what to do?
The part where she is a member of the guild in whose leading council I happen to sit, Richard drily presented a verypelling argument. We will fight in this war, but I have uses for her on other fronts than you will be used on. Nia, would youe with me?
A moment, the pariah hesitatingly stopped patting Richard and then turned to John and wordlessly kissed him. We will meet again, and then I will have an answer, she promised, grabbing the card that said Honesty on it before following Richard back to the crowd at the feet of the throne.
Just us, huh? Rave finally said, looking at their group. Lydia, Nathalia, Eliza and now Nia, all of them had been removed from Johns group in one way or another. Now it was just him, his familiars and Rave. Also Maximillian.
Just us, John confirmed, and they finally went over to the mass of people. Time to find out what exactly was getting energy from that throne. John sincerely hoped that it wasnt some sort of navigationwork; Romulus was too much like the god-emperor already, as he sat there with an eye-patch on his golden god-couch.
The answer was a giant map on the floor that depicted the current state of affairs in the war. It coloured all provinces that were under the empires control white while putting all enemy controlled provinces in red. Everything unrted to the current war was grey. Apparently, the throne was some sort of information gathering device.
That doesnt actually look that bad, John thought. Sure, the encroaching red menace from the east was something to definitely worry about, but he had expected worse for the inner stability of the empire.
John took his ce next to the Horned Rat. Care to give me a summary? he asked.
Widespread rebellions have mostly been crushed within the first few hours with most pockets of resistance being encircled. Romulus took the freedom of going ahead and quelled a rebellion in the Illuminati territory of Wallonia Although nobody asked him to! Richard said thosest words loud enough for the emperor to pick it up.
Reduce your stress levels, Muris, thend will be returned to you after the war, Romulus dered.
How gracious, you mind if I take a few things out of your library? Dont worry, the books will be returned once I stole all your secrets from them, the Horned Rat growled.
You have practice in that, the emperor stated.
I do.
Beloved Styria, Maximillian looked at the red dot in his home area.
Oh yeah, that is one of the areas we have major problems right now, together with Kaliningrad- The Horned Rat tried to continue his report but was quickly interrupted by the elector of Saxony and Maximillian correcting him at once.
K?nigsberg!
-Whatever you want to call what your overworldrades lost, Richard mocked them, Anyway, and the isles of Sardinia and Corsica.
Where do you intend to go? Romulus asked John now that he was up to date.
Any sightings of Lydia or Gehnigm or anyone else who should have been with her? the Gamer asked first. That was the primary thing that his decision making hinged on. He would have mentioned her father in that list, but he wasnt quite sure how many people were in on that dirty secret, and he didnt intend to spread it further. That could only have led to sullying Lydias name in her absence.
None, I am afraid, Romulus answered with genuine annoyance, ncing over his shoulder at the coffin. If we had, I wouldnt even be asking you.
Why is Styria in its entirety Maximillian mumbled, then it hit him; The whole Zeritr-dynasty rebelled, didnt it?
Most of it, only a few loyalists managed to escape, the emperor said.
I am almost impressed by their secret-keeping capabilities, the Horned Rat added; If they werent on the side of the people who I hate the most, I would totally recruit them.
I will head there to defend my country and its people. They need their king! Maximillian dered and whirled around, immediately going. Nobody stopped him in his way to the door. Looking to Romulus, John found the Emperors eyes already anticipatingly resting him.
The implication here was clear. It was Johns charge to look after Maximillian, and he had taken that job upon himself for his personal reasons as well. Now that the king had made his decision, John was to follow. He didnt like it, but if he wanted to keep Maximillian safe, which he did, that was his only line of practical approach.
I will be heading to Styria as well, John therefore said and turned around to haste after Maximillian, who had already left the room. Halfway expecting to need to find the guy again, John was surprised to find him waiting right around the corner. Arent you in a hurry?
I am, but I need you for this, so I took the liberty to wait the three seconds for you to catch up, Maximillian grinned in a way that made it clear that he was very well aware of how he had John on the ropes.
I really hate to be manipted, John growled as they started walking again.
I am not a great maniptor myself, Maximillian shrugged; Just thought you ought to know that I am very much capable of it. You know, aside from being a glorious public speaker, a wonderful ruler and a gifted mage, I am not exactly untalented.
Although he is clearlycking in manners, Hawpler, enjoying his ability to show himself whenever he could after his reveal in the tournament, added.
Man, I like that reality hole more than I like you, Momo said.
You are wee to be friends, Maximillian said. You also seem to be in the category of friends that make continuous nagging remarks.
She really is, John mumbled; That aside, how are we getting there?
And what once they got there?
Chapter 331 – Abyssal Warfare 101
Chapter 331 C Abyssal Warfare 101
I cannot believe this is how we get around, John mumbled as the train pulled into the station. They were travelling first ss, which was nice as it gave them an isted area within the train that shielded their group from interested eyes.
Between the two incredibly young guys wearing suits that would have made billionaires ask about their tailor, the clear Nier:Automata cosyer in her winter outfit, the girl in the weird poncho and the, ironically enough least outstanding, pink-haired girl in her fluffy jacket, there was plenty to be interested in.
They had taken a ne to Vienna, which in itself had been boring already. On the way and while there, Maximillian had coordinated his subordinates. That was the first time John had seen the bravado-ridden speech of the king be useful. People chewed up his confidence; it was like it became part of them, reinvigorated soldiers that had looked too tired to even stand-straight anymore and bureaucrats with deep rings under their eyes alike.
It was really stunning, even more so was the tired look that Maximillian now disyed. He was really quite the actor and understood his craft of inspiring those who followed him, but the reports he had gotten obviously hadnt gone over him seamlessly. All it was, was a game of appearances. Which was why John decided to not get on his case about it and insteadined about the decidedly boring choice of vehicle.
You seem to have an overly romantic vision of how the Abyss works in numerous ces, Maximillianmented, but I guarantee you that this is the fastest way to get where we need to be, save teleporting. I am sure Lydia gave you the rundown why that isnt feasible.
It really should be though, this is war. I would think you would pool together all resources to deal with these things, John returned after a moment of thinking.
The king raised an eyebrow in a mocking way. You would expend mana to teleport next to a stationary and encircled enemy while under no time pressure? he asked. Buddy, that is pretty stupid.
Mhm, point taken, John yawned; Although I disagree about the part with the pressure. The more time I we spend away from Lydia, the more anxious I be. He changed his formtion midway through, but it seemed enough for Maximillians thoughts to wander into a direction John would have rather avoided.
Did you sleep with her? the kings question was as straight as his eyes were looking at John.
Not quite sure how the man in-front of him, one who very recently had been betrayed, would react to this, John told the truth. Yes, more than that. He didnt go into great detail or threatened Maximillian to keep his mouth shut about this to the press.
A few tense seconds passed, then Maximillian averted his eyes and stared out of the window instead. I see, was all that he had to say.
John could only guess what was going on in the monarch who was alone on his side of the aisle. Did this hurt him even more and it was only the still present pain of Alexejs backstabbing that kept this pain in check? Did he actually not know what to feel? Was he even confused why he asked in the first ce? Perhaps this was Maximillian burying hisst feelings for someone he knew he wouldnt have be happy with in the first ce.
Who could have known? Not John, that much was certain.
Did I just witness one of these mythological moments where guys speak about their feelings? Rave asked, pulling off her cat-ear headphones, W-o-w, that was both anticlimactic and somewhat cute. The only reason why she even had been able to follow that conversation was because Maximillian and Momo both had barraged her with requests to reduce the volume.
I am your boyfriend, Jane, could you not ship me with another guy? John requested as they got up from their seats and stepped into the station.
I am not shipping ya, your butt is mine, Rave defended herself while they assumed a semi-natural walking formation that included his hand to rest on her shoulder (normally it would have been her butt, but her jacket was in the way of tapping that) and her hand around his waist. Well, now she groped his behind. I am just making fun of ya. She stuck out her tongue.
And you are making Aclysia radiate more envy than plutonium radiates in general, John said and then spontaneously bowed down to Rave to kiss her. Well, notpletely spontaneously, the mention of radioactive material had sparked something in his brain.
That was a nice one, you are getting better! she smiled at him, arms wrapped around the back of his neck. That beautiful smile, like the rising sun, that illuminated his soul and burned away the worries in his soul. She lightly punched him in the side. What are ya thinking about, staring at me like that?
Myst thought was that I could never kiss you again, he told her and quickly did so a second time before she could answer something sarcastic. She greeted his tongue with her own, and there was some desperate greed and a lot of satisfaction in this second kiss.
Ya know what? Mine was the same, she whispered into his ear as they had stopped to make out and she was now embracing him deeply.
Okay, great, you had your little moment, Maximillian finally reminded them that this reality still had some urgency. And I think that there is someone here that is rather wanting for some of your attention.
Who could want something from me now? John sighed as he and Rave both turned their head to look who the gravity mage was referring to. The moment he saw the dark blue-hair, he knew that he wasnt the one in question.
I am not quite sure whether to me yourziness or the trainwork on this dy, Nariko Hollmey said, following the ticks of her little neon-pink watch, sticking out of a suit the colour of her hair. As always, some parts of her outfit just didnt sync up with the rest of her looks.
See, this is how a daughter, who just survived an invasion by some red-hammers, wants to be greeted by her mother who she hasnt seen since using an attack knocking both of them out in a fight, Rave said to John, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
Nariko lowered her arm and sighed. I can take that criticism. I am here to watch over you, Daughter.
Ya remember how I beat ya? Rave teased. I dont need your protection, and ya know it! Go look after Liz!
That was a lucky tie based on surprise; you will need a few more years to beat me reliably, Nariko admitted something there in an off-handed matter that John found remarkable, that a mother could even say that while hiding the pride in her voice. It was rather apparent on her face though. Also, Liz isnt here anymore, I had her go back to Japan. You think I would leave my own daughters in a warzone after I fought my whole life to get you out of one?
So ya want to drag me off? Rave immediately went to the worst possible assumption. Arms tightening around John, her whole body holding onto him for security, she disrespectfully stuck out her tongue and spelled it out for her mother in a slightly slurred manner. N-O-P-E, Im staying, yahearme?
I know. As I stated, I am here to watch over you. You need to work on yourprehension skills, Nariko criticized; If I cant get you toe to a safe ce with me, I will at least make sure you stay safe right where I am.
Thats actually kind of nice of you, Rave was so surprised that it even overwhelmed her ent for a moment.
Good, with this much fighting power, there is no need for us to stay in one group, Maximillian decided. You two can take the eastern part of the city, Geidorf, Mariatrost and Waltendorf.
Sure, Nariko said.
Has been a while since I went to war, it will be fun, Rave said and pressed a goodbye kiss on her boyfriends cheek. Gonna do the wise thing and try to actually get along with Mom for a change, okay? It seemed that her mothers gesture of actually showing concern had gone miles towards the two of them reconciling. Also, gonna make her buy me ice cream with all of that money she chose over being in my childhood. Or maybe just a few metres.
John still approved, but he was somewhat confused about something different, If we are about to have a fight for the province, shouldnt we stick together?
We need to find the people before we can fight them, Nariko berated him.
Just leave the exnations of this to me, Nariko; I assure you that I got this handled with a firm grip, Maximillian said with a deep bow and a charming smile that would have made inexperienced girls swoon.
Behind her mothers back, Rave made a face that looked like she was about to puke. I see. Daughter, we are doing as Maximillian requests.
I have a name, ya know? Ya gave it to me! said daughterined while tip-tapping after Nariko. How did you even know where to find me?
I have my people everywhere.
Now down to four people, John, Maximillian, Aclysia and Momo made their way to the west of the city. It was the provincial capital of Styria, a city named Graz. Well, actually it was called a Bundend of Austria, but that didnt really matter that much to John.
All he cared about was that this was his actual first Abyssal war. A proper war, not the little gang sh he had with the Bloodfallen. How does this work then? John finally asked after they left the central train station.
Did anyone ever tell you that the fact that you are this powerful but havent even been in the Abyss for long enough to know this basic thing is bullshit? Maximillian wondered.
Numerous times for different topics. Will you give me an answer or just unnecessary sass, buddy? John returned a question.
For the sake of ease, I will exin it to you. Abyssal warfare has three basicponents. Tracking, trapping and then eliminating the enemy. For step one we need to locate the enemies, either out in the world or by finding one of their barriers, Maximillian rattled on as they passed normal people that were way too caught up in their own lives to notice the two guys in suits apparently chatting about a videogame.
John got the basic idea already. He activated his aura sight and kept his lookout for anyone who was above average. What do we do when we find someone? he asked, narrowing his eyes.
We engage in the second step: we create a barrier and then-
Got it, can you ept my group invite? John asked, and the little window appeared in front of the king, who did click yes after a moments confusion.
Why the haste all of a sudden? the question came a mere second before John created a barrier. He had never used a trap barrier before. Truthfully, this couldnt have been regarded as such either. A trap barrier was more sophisticated than what he did, actually having some isting or otherwise negative effect on the victim and tethering its control firmly to a person rather than just the strongest force inside. All he did here was create a barrier with the intent of pulling someone in when he created it.
The moment they had faded from reality, the poor guy looked around with major confusion.
That wasnt even a challenge. Just for the protocol, how do things normally go from here? John asked, ignoring a confused jumble of words flying his and Maximillians way. Something about the face of german suppression and the arrogant gamer.
He had Aclysia take care of the guy and press him to the floor as the king answered. We would see if he is a friend or an enemy, that is a rather easy task normally. Friendly people will have some sort of identification, while enemies will try to get away or attack you.
Not that fighting us is a good idea so elimination means we kill the target? John asked. This part he was slightly iffy about. He wasnt quite fond of killing, especially when it was this absolutely unnecessary. That guy wouldnt even be a threat to him if he stood still, probably unable to dish out more damage than John regenerated mana and thus covered with Mana Protection.
Maximillian nodded, That is what it normally means. Although we could also take him prisoner. For that I, frankly, do not have the time. Crippling wouldnt work, annoyingly enough, because he would be healed the moment he left this barrier because of Gaia.
Right, Gaia keeps that in ce so that the streets wont be filled with bloodied people appearing out of nowhere, John reminded himself. He had onlye into contact with that phenomenon once, so it was easy to forget.
You will have to kill me, you monarchist pigs! the guy on the ground shouted.
He is the monarchist pig, I am a proud capitalist swine, please and thank you, John berated the man. Look, I am currently thinking about how I can spare your life, so shut up for a minute!
I dont need your mercy! For the utopia on earth! a crunching noise could be heard and then the man started glowing for a moment before exploding into a sudden burst of raw magic energy, enveloping Aclysia, who had held him down.
John scratched his head, forehead covered in wrinkles, as the pir of red-greyish smoke rose upwards. Stepping out as if nothing happened to her whatsoever, Aclysia took a bow. I failed to realize the suicide contraption, please excuse me, Master.
How would you have known? He did and turned to Maximillian instead. The death of the man didnt particrly irk him. John had already felt dulled to death by the first time he had witnessed it. Back then it had been his survival instinct preventing him from dwelling on it for too long, together with his medium Wisdom. Now he was both experienced with death and pain as well as he wise. If they chose to blow themselves up, that was their thing.
Thats also something they like to do, carry a small stash of personalized mana absorbent in their mouth. Once cracked it sucks all the mana out of their body and he gestured at the smoke, well, you saw it.
Personalized so they cant use that on me, right? John didnt even dare to imagine what kind of explosion he would turn into if they managed to get it into contact with him.
Yes, it needs to be attuned to each person. Anyhow, you shouldnt expect to be able to save anyone in this war. Romulus dered goal is eradication, we are going to leave none alive, Maximillian finished his exnation as they left the barrier again and just went further down the street as if nothing happened.
So, basically abyssal warfare is gang warfare with magic, John mentally concluded. They were patrolling the turf, searching for enemy gang members and barriers where they had their bases. A Fateweaver would be pretty useful to have in this, he added out loud.
These people were basically walking radars for barriers. Also, they would make sure that the barrier was always under the control of the side who had the stronger Fateweaver, instead of the stronger mage. Whoever controlled the barriers dictated the rules of engagement. After all, they could just run without problem whenever they didnt like what happened.
Yes, they would, but Romulus is still checking how deep the corruption goes through that guild. If their leader was with the enemy already, we cant risk anymore traitors in the field. Few things are more catastrophic than a Fateweaver turning his coat, Maximillian answered. Anyway, all of this aside, asionally you will be able to find an actual battlefield; usually, however, its just sides trying to find enemy members and taking care of them there and then, something we should be more than capable of doing.
No joke, the average guy is very weak, John said, then he stopped dead in his tracks. I think I just found their base.
Chapter 332 – Abyssal Warfare 102
Chapter 332 C Abyssal Warfare 102
The sparrow was everything but stealthy. For a start, Illusion Barriers usually didnt have animals inhabiting them. Even if they would have, the inside of a house was no ce for a bird. The little brown thing hopped over the floor in an attempt to not get seen.
You probably found ONE of their bases which is still pretty good, Maximillian admitted and pat John on the back. In Romulus name, what is the fabric of that suit? Its better quality than mine! That did make the king genuinely upset.
Ah, you know, just forty times refined Spriggan-Spider silk, enchanted and then further upgraded by my abilities. Before they left the current Illusion Barrier, John reached into his inventory. Right now, he only had two things with him, one was the Metracana (which he refused to leave in Rome) and a little casino token of green colour that he hadnt used yet.
What is that? It radiates magic energy like things several billion dors in value, Maximillian said with wide eyed.
A standardized quest reward I get for every fight in the tournament I win. Thanks to Alexej At the mention of the name a moment of pain, as if he had gotten stung by an oversized ho, flickered over the kings face. breaking the rules by taking the phone call, that was technically the case, John exined, just going on as before. The only way for Maximillian toe to terms with what happened was for him to ept reality. In time, the pain would dull.
The sparrow was hiding underneath a couch as heavy boots stepped by.
John flicked the upgrade token back into his inventory, using his thumb. He was going to use it soon enough. The people in the base he found still hadnt noticed Jack, so at least there was that. But they were also talking aboutpletely useless shit, so spying on them was pretty useless.
And you just get that for free? Maximillian asked; Just for winning?
Yes, no, maybe, John shrugged; You will have to excuse me for not exining further. As far as I am concerned, once this is all over, the tournament might continue. I am not going to disclose information to you that you dont really need in this war. In actually, this was just an extension of his general policy to keep things regarding his powers sealed whenever he didnt find his opposite to be a potential ally. He just had a convenient excuse this time.
Anyway, lets get to that barrier I found.
It was a twenty-minute walk on foot. John marvelled at the city as he travelled through. Graz wasnt small by any stretch of the imagination, and a lot of it was built in that old Renaissance style that was practically unfound in the USA. Mostly because the USA wasnt around when that architecture was on its height.
Still, John allowed himself to appreciate the beauty that surrounded him only in hastened passing, the ever-present thought of Lydia being imprisoned somewhere causing his feet to remain quickly flying over the pavement.
Maximillian, simrly hurried but held back by his bad foot, guided them through narrow gaps between buildings. He had obviously spent quite a bit of time here. What is the overarching strategy anyway? John asked when the building came into view.
Jack was still cowering under the couch, not moving an inch.
What do you mean? the king asked.
I mean, there has to be a reason why we start here, John furthered. Especially since we already know that its the whole n that ran over to the enemy. They must have some sort of base of operations. Wouldnt it be smarter to attack right there?
Maximillian shook his head, Generally yes, but you are a peasant, so there is no need for you to understand my ns. Just to follow.
Is this how we are going to y this game? John thought and prepared to take the king down a couple of pegs. Where is the base of the Zeritr family?
In the west of the province, wh-
-so, we dont want to attack them with our backs turned to enemy reinforcements, so we are cleaning up the enemy concentrations in the surrounding area first. Got it, John interrupted him. I am not tactically inept; we can either y this game together or I will beat you at it.
We will see about that, buddy, Maximillian returned.
Someone just invaded our barrier! he heard someone say the second they did exactly that. Everyone, grab your weapons, put the emergency tablets into your mouth and A happy little bird fluttering out from underneath their couch made the leader stop talking immediately.
Jack sat down on the back of the dirty, brown thing, clearly having not been properly washed in years and cocked his head. Why is there a bird here? one of the men there asked. There were three of them in total. All of their attentiony with the bird.
It doesnt fucking matter why it is here! Kill it! the leader bellowed.
Jacks wings fluttered, and he flew circles through the air. Weapons and weak magic attacks all missed him as John burned mana to increase the little birds speed, nimbly weaving through the average sized room.
They were preupied with that long enough for Sylph to fly up the stairs. Hi, how are you, I hear you are evil? John says you are evil! Sorry, you seem fun, especially you with the normal cut, you with the normal cut and you with the slightly more normal cut, she bbered and subjected each of them to a sudden gust of wind when addressing them.
The first two hit the goons, which were catapulted against the wall, but the third one, their leader, was thrown out of the window and fell two stories to the street below.
Perfect, Maximillian, inside the house, noticed the mannding in a shower of shards in the shadow of the building. Ready to turn around and take care of that man, he was stopped by John grabbing him by the arm.
Just leave him right there, John instructed, leaving a gap in the Illusion Barrier that would allow that man to escape whenever he regained something like consciousness. We are going to take care of the rest of the building.
Maximillian tried to free himself from Johns grasp, seeding only to be stopped by Aclysia when he tried to get outside anyway. Who do you think you are tomand a KING? he pressed out, ring at the Gamer.
I have no king, John told him; I am the Gamer, I am stronger than you, I am smarter than you, and I have a n that is better than yours. You are not dealing with one of your subjects here, buddy. Either you include me in your strategies or I will exclude you from mine, and at the end of the day you might be A king here, but I am the yer in control. Maximillian pressed his lips together until all blood was pushed from them during that speech. Nowe with me up the stairs, there are two others we can interrogate. He was rather urgent in that; if the leader there would get any inkling of what John was nning, then that would have been a problem.
For a moment, it looked like Maximillian would actually turn on John there and use his powers to get his way. Preparing for that case, he kept Smander close and incorporeal just as Undine materialized as a glove on his hand.
Have it your way then, Gamer, Maximillian finally caved as he realized he was surrounded by Johns familiars. If they fought, nobody would have had a fun time and the only winner would have been the Blood of the Proletariat. They finally headed further up the stairs.
An extrusion of slime formed in Johns palm, eventually reaching the size of a baseball. It dripped to the floor and then took the shape of a tiny, highly adorable, Undine, who went the opposite way. This was one of the many new tricks John and Undine had figured out since she had learned to split herself. Of course, there were limitations to this.
What is she doing? Maximillian asked, looking after the little thing puddling down the stairs.
Healing the guy, seems like he got knocked out by the impact, John exined. That would cause the clone to disappear, without a connection to the main body they were unable to create new slime, so changing theirposition to the lightly green version that had healing properties chipped away at their mass. Still, John couldnt exactly have him lying there.
Why? How would you know? Exin yourself, now! the king demanded.
With an annoyed grunt, John decided toply. The n is quite simple
I somehow made it out of there, the man who had been overseer of the base that was just raided in a lightning fashion, Detlef, confusedly asked himself as he informed his own boss, a lean man with a scrawny, brown beard and wearing that standardized green uniform John hade to despise. All he remembered was trying to catch a sparrow, followed by a chatting voice, and then he was already out the window. Next he knew, he woke up with miraculously minor injuries in front of the house.
Whoever attacked the base must have been aplete idiot to just leave him. He had contacted his superiors via mobile phone and had been ordered to return to headquarters. They had to find out who was even attacking them.
Their informationwork in this area had only been getting started to get a proper set-up, and then Nariko Hollmey, whose appearance he only knew from TV, had destroyed even these little things.
That, and more, John learned by listening in as he walked up to their base. It was quite well-hidden, he had to admit; they had put an Illusion Barrier at the edge of a wheat field and then built a multi-story building inside. The standard, greymunist things.
At this point, the day had advanced quite a bit. Walking through a city of this size actually took a lot of time, more than the skirmishes (which they had continued as they had waited for Detlef to go to the headquarters) in fact. This whole thing really was more akin to street gangs bashing each other up than proper war.
Although John wasnt stupid enough to presume that it would stay this way. This was the base of abyssal warfare; there were more things that could happen in the background, and an eventual battle where everyone threw in all of their remaining forces was inevitable. This was just the calm before the storm.
But he could steal energy from this storm.
I just lost control of the barrier, the scrawny looking boss grumbled, his voice breaking for a second as the implications of that became clear to him, with a clear Russian ent; How did they his eyes fell on Detlef; You were being tra-
The gig was up, and Siena burst out of the shadows in a mass of knives and delightful moans. She rammed her knifed hand straight into the boss mouth and ripped out the tooth containing the capsule of suicide powder. Cant have you die, the shadow spirit, surrounded by half a dozen stunned people, mostly men, announced, my master still wants to y with you.
I thoroughly dislike her usage of that word, Aclysia mentally informed John like she was handing aint to a store manager.
The Russian spewed blood; Sienas ws hadpletely torn apart his tongue. That wasnt stopping him from throwing a bunch of fire spells out though. Just like Sylph had done earlier, Siena weaved through the attacks with rtive ease. Her body more a mass of darkness with feminine curves than her normal, purple skinned form, the unleashed nightmare elemental went straight at everyone else.
I am under orders to not make you suffer needlessly, what a shame, I normally so enjoy ying rough with so many men at once, she giggled while tearing the throat out of one man, one of her ded tentacles ripping through the chest of another one. In a manner of less than a minute, the whole room was decimated. The noise attracted other people in the moderately popted base of operations, but Johns group was already on that.
Spreading through the building, if the lead man wasnt a threat, then nobody there should have been, they began to wipe the building from the bottom up.
Meanwhile, Siena was still dodging the attack spells. I love ying with fire as well, but only if it has tits, the shadow spirit mocked.
STOP HIM! John, now close enough to feel that fire with Wisdom of the Inferno, mentally screamed at her.
Why, he is no threat whatsoever, its actually kind of cute. Look at him struggle, Siena returned.
He is not aiming for you!
That made Siena hesitate for a second, and she looked behind her to see the room set ame. He is burning information? Your point? she wondered. Themunist looked like he was convinced that he had won, showing a crimson smile.
We want that information, John returned to her.
We already have it but fine, have it your way, Siena gave a lustful sounding giggle and then cut off the mans hands at the wrists as if it was nothing. There, no more fireballs, although you should hurry and get Undine here if you still want to save things.
I swear to god, Siena, you are making my life needlesslyplicated! John growled and sprinted up the stairs. Can you learn to restrict people without harming them already?
What would I gain from that? Siena shrugged his opinion off. For the moment, John suppressed their mental connection in anger.
Us two getting along nicely without all this bickering all the time, he announced his arrival in the smoke-filling room. Undine immediately went to work, putting out the fires and healing the bleeding man who actually seemed intent to die as fast as possible, as John went over to Siena.
The sound of him pping her across the face echoed through the room. It was delivered with considerable strength, heavily boosted by Purgatory, throwing Sienas face to the side. She slowly turned back, her sulphuric yellow eyes opened wide in shocked disbelief.
I thought we made some good progress in thest two weeks, but here you are falling right back into the same habits that make everyone hate you, he spewed out. You disappoint me.
He opened his mental connection to Siena again, having done what he thought he needed to do and say. Much to his surprise, he found that she was affected by that. A lot. Her slender fingers, the ws retracted, touched her hurting cheek. She looked like she was about to cry.
Now that did make John feel slightly bad, but he knew that he had to stand his ground here. I the nightmare elemental began. This is just who I am, John; I am not going to change fundamentally. I am sorry if that doesnt work for you. That mixture of sarcasm and honesty that filled her voice made him just the slightest bit really fucking mad. Still, cooler heads had to prevail.
His answer came in the shape of quiet whispers. You, Undine and Eliza, I feel like I had the same talks with you at least three times over the past weeks. Eliza finally got her act together and decided to save herself yesterday. Undine is doing her best to get over hermunication problems. YOU, on the other hand, drop back into your overly sadistic habits once and already make excuses. I am not asking you to be perfect, I have never asked that of anyone, but I need you to stop using my orders to do the most pain-inducing shit you cane up with and to stop doing everything to make me angry. You are like poison to my soul.
Siena just kept her hand on her cheek without answer.
Next time you tantly over-do it, thats it. I will annul our contract, and you can go back into your cage. Then I wont have to be angry over you all the time, which will do wonders for my mental health, John stated. It was mostly true; he knew that he would lie sleepless some days, wondering if he could have fixed her if he had just tried a different way.
You would give me up? the shadow spirits voice was now devoid of all sarcasm, just pure shock.
I would have left you behind ages ago if I didnt feel obligated to try and fix you, John put every bit of earnisty his voice and spirit could muster behind those words. The way you are right now, I cant love you.
That line hurt her more than anything he said before. You can be properly despicable, Siena cried, a single tear running over her face as her immaterial heart shrunk together; You tear apart my way of life and now you want me to change for your sake.
No, I am asking you to change for your sake, John answered. Because I can go and try to get a different shadow elemental just like that. he snapped his fingers to underline the point. I dont need to go through all of this. But if you want to transform that unhealthy love that you have for me into something that works and into something that I return, you will have to work on yourself. I know you arent evil, just twisted, and I have seen that you can be better. If you can focus your bad habits to shine at the appropriate times, then we are all fine. He gently pushed her hand aside and framed her face with his own. Do it for you, and we can just lie under a starlit sky and look at each other wordlessly, just lost in each others eyes. Wouldnt that be nice?
Yes yes it would Siena was confused over the fact that she agreed to that. I will try, happy with that? Had she ever even felt love that wasnt charged with violent obsession?
John didnt know, but he meant what he said earlier. The next time she went too far, she would be gone. All I can ask for, as long as you actually do try. NOW! His eyes fell on the handless boss of this base.
It was time to continue what they came here for.
Chapter 333 – Abyssal Warfare 103
Chapter 333 C Abyssal Warfare 103
Sorry you had to witness that, John apologized to the prisoner; Lets see here what is your name He tried to use Observe but was promptly blocked. Sighing, he looked over the items on his body instead. Under other circumstances, he would have used Reveal now, but he had no idea what else the day could bring, so he took the time to dismantle the protection naturally. He eventually found the answer in a hammer and sickle emblem on his cor.
Standardized protection charms, he noted after turning it in his hands for a bit before crushing it in his left. Clever.
Just out of interest, you think you can grow him a new hand or just reattach the old ones? John wondered towards Undine. The situation was already in ce, might as well use it to answer some questions he had.
I would only be able to attach the old ones, John, the water spirit answered. Well, that was good enough.
Take it as a sign of good faith, the Gamer exined as Undine fixed the guy up. As the Observe sheet warned, the second he had his hands back, he threw a fireball at John. Quite a significant one for him, judging by the earlier attacks he had used and the bravado that went with it.
Burn, Gamer! he screamed on the top of his lung as he jumped up, a constant stream of fire robbing his sight of what was going on.
Why do I get this sort of shit when I try to be reasonable? John wondered, the attack dissipated on his Mana Protection, taking about 300 mana of his bar. It wasnt even a threat, he would need less than a minute to regain that much.
Johns gauntleted arm darted out of the me and clenched down with his heavily boosted strength. First, he cut through the uniform with his ws, then skin, finally he crushed the bone and the spell ended. So here is a tip for you: just because you are a mage doesnt mean you should forego Endurance entirely. This is reality, man, no damn system is stopping you.
It was just a bit of bad smack-talk; John knew that training physical attributes along with magical ones basically meant that the normal person would just be mediocre at both. Jack of all trades, master of none, that kind of situation. Being tough in the Abyss required a bit more than just running a fewps. Unless you had a broken ability and could be tanky by smashing a button in your interface.
Anyway, John moved on before the guy could point that out, he wasnt here to debate, lets talk about you giving me a map of all the bases in the area.
I will never do that, dimir growled and spat in his face. The mixture of blood and saliva hit Johns face and ran down his cheek.
He wasnt particrly bothered and just wiped it off with his free hand. You will tell me whatever I want if I leave you with her, he nodded towards Siena, for 10 minutes.
Didnt you just give her a lecture about how she shouldnt torture things? the guy mocked.
No, I just gave her a lecture about how she shouldnt needlessly torture things and/or make my life hell by interpreting my orders in the worst possible way. I have seen too much to still think that torture never has a ce, John told him; Sometimes, you need to do things you despise in order to reach the oue you yearn for. Wouldnt you know that, mister revolutionary?
Those who stand against the world revolution dont need to live, dimir spat in his face a second time; You are all dogs who have engraved the suppressing systems into your heart.
John wiped the saliva off his face a second time. Fine, have it your way Siena, you up for using your talents in a constructive way?
Anything that takes my brain off brooding, Siena smirked, the trail of her tear still clearly visible; What a bad day this is going to be for you, I am in a particrly stabby mood.
John didnt exactly feel great using Siena in this way directly after giving her a talk about how that was bad behaviour, but beggars couldnt be choosers. The only alternative was to do it himself, and the list of his own vices, a domination fetish, a weakness for pretty girls, a barely checked sense of pride, a slow decline into wondering how he would even survive without Aclysia around and other stuff, did not epass an interest of inflicting unnecessary pain. What he would do for efficiency''s sake was one thing, and he would torture himself if he had to, but he preferred not to get his hands into this kind of dirt.
If god existed, the Judaeo-Christian one, and was just watching over this show like a silent observer, John would take the responsibility of all of it when judged by him. He was very well aware that the difference between doing it himself and making someone else do it was negligible. Depending on the case, thetter could be much worse even.
Well, at the end, he had gotten what he wanted in the form of the login data for the serverwork inside this building. Momo was already getting on making a copy of all of it, both in her memory and on hardware, to be put into her inventory.
John walked over to the cowering shell of a man. Thirty minutes, thats how long he hadsted. Now he had no teeth. Otherwise he wasrgely untouched. What Siena had done, John had forced himself to watch to face the consequences of his actions, had been more methodical than simple-minded beating.
As always with her methods, the less said about them, the better.
But what reduced the man to his current state wasnt actually the fact that he had been tortured, but that he had sessfully been tortured. Now that he had given in, he knew that he had betrayed what he had fought for his whole life. Too bad for him that he was on the side that John couldnt let win.
Will you let yourself be taken prisoner? John asked. He hadnt asked this of everyone. This was war, and there was no simple way to ensure these people actually wandered into some sort of confinement. Just taking an oath that they would stop fighting wouldnt work; the few people that would keep that oath were too honest souls to be part of this particr war.
He had no time to walk every guy down to whatever base they had, but just for this one he would make an exception. A mild repentance for what he did to him, the right to keep living another day.
I will not be shamed any further, the scraggly bearded mage whispered.
I see, John extended his right hand, four splinters appeared behind his back and hovered over, merging into one; Are you sure?
You will have to live with the guilt of dying the perfect and inevitable state of humanityid out by Karl Marx, dimir stared at him with thest bit of will he had left. The eyes of a man who died for what he believed in.
John couldnt respect the belief, but the conviction itself was to be honoured. Maybe, he stated as the purple shard flew forwards and ripped a diamond shaped hole into the mans skull; But I have to say I doubt it looking at history, he added after the corpse had sunk to the side.
There we go, John said after he handed over the data to Maximillian, who then quickly used it to coordinate his subordinates; See? My n worked perfectly. It was incredibly easy, really, leave the one semi-important guy go and use Johns ability to have his elementals persist half a country away from him to have Siena stalk him. Then, once they had found the location of the just-important guy, raid the location and find all of the ces where the non-important people were hiding.
There were about 100 more of these location, with 1 to 3 people each, spread throughout the whole city and the surrounding countryside. Now that they had information on everyone and everything about these barriers, it was rather easy to formte a response.
In other words, John had just decided the fate of a whole province in the span of eight hours. He felt like he was a high level character in a low-level PvP arena. Because he was so over levelled for this content, he didnt even get EXP or anything else out of it. As a matter of fact, he felt kind of disappointed all around. After the speech Romulus had started the war with, he had gotten kind of hyped, despite knowing better. As it turned out, there was no honour in killing, it was rather boring all around, and whatever glory awaited him at the end of it didnt make it less of a waste of time.
Welp, there was that im scratched. Might as well ept, even though he didnt quite feel right about getting a quest about an actual war instead of murdering ultimately lifeless monsters inside his barriers.
But he was going to kill more people either way. That was just the nature of being inside a world where might made right. He didnt like it, but he wasnt able to just enforce change. Even if he would have been, they were on the defence here. All things considered, killing people that tried to kill you and wouldnt stop trying was an act of self-defence.
Yes, it did, Maximillian admitted with an annoyed click of his tongue. It was at that moment that John realized that the two of them would have a constant pride battle going on. Maybe they werent so different after all. I guess its about time I show you thest bit of how the war works.
You still hid something from me? John said with a raised eyebrow. Really? Buddy, I am the strongest tool in your arsenal right now. You dont keep secrets from the guy with the nuclear codes.
Perhaps, but this involves a bit of trust on my part, so I wanted to see how you fared first. Before you give me yet another lecture, let me show you, Maximillian exined and pulled his smartphone out of a private pocket space. Every guild has some sort of system set up that allows easymunication. Many rely on telepaths, but those are hard toe by, so we go with the wonders of the modern age instead.
What popped up on his screen was an app that, without being sarcastic in any way, looked like a google maps based mobile game. Symbols popped up everywhere as they were speaking. Most of them were house icons in different colours and sizes. The more aggressive the colour, the higher the danger of going there, John assumed.
The data I just sent over to my information ministry is now being spread by the hired technomancer team. Basically, this app will show every base of which we know the location, but the much more important feature is this, Maximillian pointed at a different icon, one of crossed swords. There was a timer underneath that ticked up, showing how long that icon had been there. That means someone engaged or had the time to react before being engaged. These are what we need to look out for now. The enemy will have a system like this as well, and without a doubt they have noted theck of updates from HQ already, so they are going to go into retreat.
Which means that there will hundreds of them on the streets and we need to help out with the battles and see which ones escte to step in, John, who felt his former gang warfare impression mix with Pokmon Go of all things.
If there was a battle amongst a crowded route, that meant that more enemies would be there, causing more of their side toe in to counteract, causing more of the enemies to pour in to save theirrades, causing yet more of their allies to go there.
John could already see the pareto principle in effect here. 20% of the battles would see 80% of the fighters. I guess we got our way cut-out for us then and you didnt want to trust me with that info because this thing needs to be secured by connecting it with my aura, right?
Maximillian nodded, Take it personally, I dont want you to meddle with my state founded projects. The state being me. Basically, buddy, I dont want you in my business. He let out an annoying grumble, But, s, Gamer, you are very much correct when you say you are the strongest weapon I have with me as of this moment, so I will use you to the best of my ability. Now he grinned. I will whip you like you are my personal bodyguard, only here to do what I need you for.
How gracious. Once this whole thing is over, I am going to punch you in your smug face, John drily stated and gave Maximillian his own phone, Now unlock this thing so we can get going; your bravados are making me sick.
Maximillian did as he asked, and when John received his phone back, he wondered something. Shouldnt you have given this to Jane before we split? The king gave such a charming smile that John felt the urge to use his promise pre-emptively. You already gave Nariko ess because you want to fuck her, didnt you?
What can I say, I like ripe women, Maximillian shrugged it off; Lets clean up the rest here; if we break resistance around this area, we can quickly take care of the other parts of the province and surround the enemy base. They would store information regarding her in a more important facility.
On that they saw eye to eye.
Chapter 334 – The worst enemy was time
Chapter 334 C The worst enemy was time
John sat on a toppled block of concrete that had been catapulted on top of the entrance building of the barrier copy of Graz main train station by some explosion and watched the battlefield below. Eyes darting from one sh to another, he used the ability to zoom in on what his eyesy on to take aim. Then a hail of Shardbound descended from his position.
He missed a couple of enemies due to dodges caused solely by unpredictable movements that were taken without knowledge of what was even about to happen. Aside from those lucky few, however, he maimed or killed pretty much everyone that he had tipped the thirty shards on.
I only need about 50 mana worth of an attack to kill someone with a headshot, John thought. These guys are stupidly fragile. I guess I didnt have particr much health as well at level 25 how much HP did I have? The question hovered in his head while he checked through Momos and Jacks eyes on how the battle was going elsewhere.
Without turning around, he pulled the trigger on a Shardbound that had been sitting behind his back. It ended the life of yet another soldier trying to sneak up on him. Why would you even try? John shook his head. This was a battlefield; they actually could take prisoners for a change because there were people on their side here that could actually guide them off.
I think I had 70, but then again I also didnt go into Endurance until wayter. Then again, these folks dont have Gamers Body. Then again, I am pretty sure I take more damage for hits towards vital areas, he pondered further as he watched Aclysia charge through the street below and ram full-force into one of the higher levelled officers.
There were a few of those on the battlefield, seven from what John had seen so far. On their own they were of no concern to the Gamer, but if they grouped up, they might have been a mild threat. To one of Johns summons at a time.
Which is why he had his familiars disperse and take them out one by one. They werent a big threat to John himself, but the forces Maximillian had hastily put together werent staffed with a number of simrly above-average individuals. Without a doubt he had them, just somewhere in the background.
Not that that put Maximillians forces on the backfoot. The average soldier the Blood employed was barely even qualified as one. They werergely disgruntled craftsmen and women who learned one or twobat techniques. Maximillians forces on the other hand werergely made up by nobles who had been training most of their life. While that didnt necessarily allow them to punch up to the moderately talented people that made up the officer level of the Blood, people that had been sent there from the hearnd of the enemy guild, they could very easily mop up the enemy soldiers.
Basically, it was mediocre quality infantry fighting a mass of peasants and some elite units. Without John, it would have been quite even handed. With John, they had yet to lose a single person on their side. Not a wonder with Undine creating small clones of herself, whenever she had mana for it, that healed their side back to full whenever they had any injury at all and the doubtless air superiority they had.
John saw something move in the corner of his vision. A movement like the air wavering over a summer sun heated street. Raising the hand that was d in the Undine glove, he stopped the knife in his palm. He had deactivated Mana Protection to save himself the mana. Nothing around here was worth blocking, his HP pool could take the hit instead.
The knife uselessly sunk a millimetre into the hardened water surface. The man still was invisible, but John had fought his fair-share of invisible enemies. That would make you number 8, huh? he asked; Sorry, I am going to use you for something. I might not be the worst person around, but I find my personal long-term well-being more important than your life. Especially as your associates literally tried to nuke me.
Undine, unleash, he mentallymanded. He was met with uncertainty. Your problems wont vanish if you dont face them. The envelope with the bad news wont be any less real if you just leave it to dust on the counter. Do it, try to control yourself.
John felt the glove shudder once, something like a deep breath being taken. Then the uncertainty was washed away. Slowly at first, then, like a dam of sand breaking, faster and faster, it was reced with rage and hatred. Drown in the tide! the sirens call rung out as the glove spilled forwards and around the invisible man.
The attacker was encapsted in a sphere of water in a mere moment. A wrathful grin sat on the red-eyed grimace of the otherwise so mellow elemental. Her words changed to the speak of elemental, whispering lyrics as she flowed over the surface of the bubble.
First all John could see of the man inside were asional stters on the surface of the water. He knew that this was Undine allowing him these asional breakthroughs to keep hope up. Calm yourself, he tried to tell her, but he didnt even reach her. Undine! he shouted out loud, jumping off his sitting ce, when the guy inside the bubble became visible.
As expected it was yet another one of these green uniformed leader types. They were basically the elite encounters with face or minor colour swaps that many games liked to do to cut down on animation costs.
She still didnt react, so John did what he hated to do most. He threw out his left in a straight punch, and a fireball flew forwards as the final stage of Echo of Destruction activated. It hit Undines shoulder with a sizzling noise, and she turned towards him. A whip of water formed out of one of her arms andshed at him; John didnt try to dodge.
ITS ME, CALM DOWN! he mentally screamed at her; the whip stopped just before his eyes. The unleashed water spirit retracted her hand and sung a couple of sybles that John didnt understand. Her red eyes still burned with otherworldly wrath, and the man inside the bubble was unable to close his mouth as water forcefully entered his body.
Leave him alive, John requested in a sober tone. Undines body stretched towards him, like a snake ending in a crystal ball; she looked at him with a clear struggle, a golden flicker appeared in her eyes, and a desperate snapping for air confirmed that she at least let the man at her mercy take a breath.
I am veh control she barely formted a sung sentence, slipping into elemental speech for a moment. The water around the man in her grip rose again as that sliver of control slipped her again. They both decided that she best change back to normal at that moment.
Good, very good, John smiled and kissed her with pride after she had reformed next to him. If you can control yourself once, it stands to reason you can again. We will train this until you can at least direct this rage.
Just like I taught you to direct your anger, Undine reminisced a hand carefully touching her scars; My mistakes will haunt me forever.
Give it a few years, and they will just be an unpleasant blemish on your memories, John promised her.
Years it has only been months since I have been created, Undine mumbled; I wonder how you humans feel to reach maturity with so many memories already ced upon you.
We forget a lot of it, John shrugged, and ording to my own country, I am not even mature yet. I am not legally allowed to drink beer after all. Only to die in wars. Speaking of that, this battle was almost won.
A sound like cloth being torn echoed behind John as the man they had taken as knocked out by drowning suddenly teleported himself. It was a mere two metres, but now he actually got John in a bad situation.
The arm was halfway down, John ready to use any of his emergency tools, when all of that be unnecessary thanks to a pink streak spin-kicking the guys head. It catapulted the doubtlessly neck-broken man off the heightened ce.
Hey tiger, missed meow? Rave asked, her left cat ear flickering as she dropped down into thefortable gap in the concrete block that John had used as his seat.
Every second of the day, John said, although I didnt know it. Sure, he hadnt actively thought about her the whole time, but now that he saw her again, he felt so much better. Her voice was like perfectly temperate sunlight after spending the whole day in a cave. I totally got that though, no reason to haste over.
Course ya did, she giggled, twirling one of the longer strands of her hair around her index finger. She gave him a little wave toe closer with her other hand. John epted the invitation, and they kissed at the highest point in the battlefield. The seriousness of the world could wait for them for a bit.
Sadly, not forever. The kiss broke and Rave cut straight to the chase. We have been around the whole eastern districts, although we really only got stuff after there was that giant information dump ya made. No signs of Lydia.
How she knew that the intel hade from him, John didnt know. He decided to go with the great answer of female intuition. No luck on my side either. Although we can attack their actual main base now, he said.
This was thest battle in Graz. There may have been some more of the Blood around, in a city of 200000 it was hard to get every individual, but every base had been raided, and this had been thest great push on their side to evacuate. The skirmishes were over and the countryside was hit by raiding teams as they spoke.
We will have to wait with that until the morning, the royal voice of Maximillian spoke up as his caped form slowly appeared over the rim of the t-roofed building. Gracefully, as if he was walking down a red carpet, he stepped off the tform that hovered him up, then looked around without any elegance at all. Where is Nariko?
You cant sleep with my mother!
You cant fuck my girlfriends mom! the two of them shouted at the king simultaneously, who waved them off with a grin.
I can try, he dered.
Yes, but ya shouldnt, why does it have to be meow meowther anyway? Rave cat-talked; Yagottahav a whole slew of older gals just jabbering for your attention.
Yes, which makes trying to get one that could reject me that much more interesting, Maximillian exined himself; Surely you understand, Gamer.
On a fundamental level, he did. There was just something nice about the span of time between meeting someone and fucking them for the first time. The hunting for their interest was a true test of ones character. It didnt feel great to be rejected by the end of it, not at all, but it was still a sport all humans had to partake in. Might as well try to enjoy it.
Yeah I do he therefore admitted; But still, not Nariko but seriously where is she?
Making a booking at a local hotel for me to sleep in. Separated from you I snuck off when she wasnt looking, Rave winked.
She is going to be pissed, John mused.
Well, if she is going to try to jam my m, I am going to run away with the good-looking guy I met a few months ago, his girlfriend said.
When did we be Romeo and Juliet?
When I died for a moment, then was revived by Than-Elizas blood healing the blunt trauma and ya went into a suicidemando to save me afterwards, Rave theorized, That sounds logical enough.
I dont even know if Romeo and Juliet ran away to be honest John admitted.
Do you two always banter like that? Maximillian forced himself back into the conversation. Guy and girl looked at each other, then at the king.
Yes, they spoke in unison.
Unbelievable, Maximillian mumbled, rubbing his temples, and I thought I had put my team together with a bunch of headache inducing people.
Anyway, what do you mean we cant continue today? John asked and checked his clock. Sure, it waste in the day, the sun had set hours ago, but if they caught a train and hurried over there, they could probably have gotten there in time.
I had a unit of stealth specialists scout ahead. The enemies are hiding inside a fortified barrier. We have to either widdle the defences down by keeping up the attempts or wait for a Fateweaver to arrive here, his brilliantly red cape fluttered unnaturally as Hawpler pulled at it with his gravitation powers like the bored ball of physical powers that he was.
I am just going to assume that the Fateweaver solution will cost us less time, John said, remembering that it took Nathalia several days to break into the barrier he trained in. That one hadnt been fortified, just put together by a very skilled man, but still.
Indeed, it will, so we have to wait for whoever Romulus trusts enough to let go, Maximillian answered, just as Nariko joined them, ready to gnaw all four ears of her daughter with lectures.
Who would that be?
Chapter 335 – A grand magus with a deal
Chapter 335 C A grand magus with a deal
Greetings, John Newman a.k.a. the Gamer a.k.a. Jeehan a.k.a. the one who decided to keep mating with Nathalia a.k.a. the one who stayed in contact with the Horned Rat a.k.a. the one who is now effectively the guardian of the end of humanity a.k.a. a friend of mine, the raptor masked fellow was speaking with his metallic voice; Romulus, first and only emperor of , sent me, after a very short, sinct and stressful interrogation. I am Magoi Magus a.k.a. High Fateweaver 5 a.k.a. Anathema.
Well, I congratte you on getting a promotion, John said; he remembered Magoi having being the seventh High Fateweaver before. His sudden appearance inside the room, which was solely popted by him, Rave and his familiars, was rather surprising. Especially since the Gamer literally had just gotten done with showering after a quickie with his girlfriend and was still getting dressed.
It was rather weird that the man would seek out him and him alone, in thete stages of their current work. They had slept and already gone through most of the day, cleaning up the rest of Styria while keeping the pressure on the enemy base. All while waiting for Magoi himself to arrive.
The Fateweaver seemed to bepletely unbothered by seeing him half-naked. Thanks, although I dont think it will mean a lot in a few months time, Magoi answered with a heavy sigh. Just between me and you, I dont think the Fateweavers are going to survive this incident. Three of our high-ranking members went over to themunists, excluding Gehnigm himself, two immediately swore to fight on Romulus side once the events that partook two days ago were over. Of the remaining six, another two went to the Illuminati, one to the Turks, one to the Koreans, and thest one went to Prometheus. Only I stand impartial right now.
Are you saying that one of the three great nonbat guilds is in the process of breaking? The prospect kind of scared John. He had been in this world only a few months, but the fact that the Fateweavers were there had been a staple fact.
Yes, it seems we are exiting the age of us being an unaffiliated organization outside of politics and into the time where every guild will try to get their own little group of fateweavers, just like everyone is searching for technomancers nowadays. To be honest, my current neutrality is already putting me into a bit of a pickle, Magoi took down his mask and behind was the scarred, jolly face of a man who was ready to strike a deal, one where both parties walked away happy and none were dicked over. It seems I need to find my own benefactor before people start aggressively scouting me.
Is that so, John also started smiling; Sounds like you need someone just powerful enough for you to know they can be of help to you but not quite influential enough to be in a great bargaining position.
Best someone who is also going to eventually expand that influence with me at his side so I get a slice out of a probably continent sized pie, the fateweaver nudged.
Mhm, well, that doesnt sound like me, the Gamer lied.
Well, it should sound like you, it is basically free real estate, Magoi put the mask down on a nearby table. His jolly voice changed to a bit more serious tone for a moment, I have spent over 200 years in the Fateweaver guild. I have helped build it from the ground up. The trust in our impartialness lies in shambles, and now the rest of the council are already pushing for reforms that will transform us into a sort of union group instead of a guild. Both Romulus and the Horned Rat seem to have been waiting for an opportunity like this. I need to cover my bases.
And youe to me as your let me guess, third pick? John asked; he very much doubted that he was going to be the first person to receive the offer of a high Fateweaver to work for him.
No, I went to you first, Magoi mused and put the mask back on. Then he tipped his top-hat with his cane so it sat perfectly crooked on his head while he leaned on said cane, giving him a nonchnt, entric rich guy look. All the other guilds either have values I dont particrly share, are based in abhorrent climates or are partly led by the Horned Rat, who I cannot stand. Working with the guy robs my every nerve.
Preaching to the choir, John mumbled and sat on the edge of his two-person bed. So you really want to get on boat with me early? I know our previous meetings have been nice, but are you really desperate enough to cast your lot with someone who you barely know?
I am a terrible judge of character, Magoi shrugged, but at my age you stop giving a damn. I dont know if you are the best choice, but you are certainly not the worst. If the time after this wares where you start to build your guild, will you remember today and extend your hand towards me, or do I have to search for some other employer?
Moments of silence ticked by in which John mentally weighed pros and cons in his head. Magoi didnt seem like the type of guy that would sell out his information; as a matter of fact, all the things he knew about his ability were still secret to everyone who hadnt been involved in his deal with Lydia.
I dont know when I will rise to power, John truthfully stated; I dont know how good I will be at it. I could certainly use help from someone who has some experience in running arger organization. The cons were so miniscule here. I would be honoured to employ you. And the gains so big. This was the decision John came to.
And so, in the middle of the war, John managed to make a deal that he was certain woulde to help him in the future.
They left the room as a group; that actually was one of the bigger on the inside style tents that had been given to John to rest in while he had to wait. He exchanged a few sentences with Rave, quickly informing her who Magoi even was, she never met the guy, and what had just transpired. The Fateweaver made it clear that this whole thing was to stay under wraps until everything had been set in stone.
To be honest, the guild may yet stand intact, but I need to have a n A, he argued. Rave promised to keep it a secret, and that was that. They passed a whole load of people; they were in their improvised headquarters after all.
They had, for theck of a better term, appropriated a plot ofnd in its entirety by creating a barrier on top of it. For one, that had the advantage of staying there for free, but it was mostly that a whole slew of people suddenly camping around a historical castle would have raised a few questions.
John had actually spent the night in a hotel, but after spending most of this day cleaning up yet more of the countryside, time being by far the greatest enemy, beforeing here when the word of the Fateweaver being on his way reached him.
The white, medieval looking castle atop the tactical position of a stone hill looked down on John as he walked over the giant, magical table at the heart of the camp. It was an enchanted object that synced up with the central Romanwork, thus granting them ess to the greater war map.
Maximillian, standing next to the table and going over documents, noted the fact that Magoi arrived together with John with a raised eyebrow. You are supposed to give me notice of your arrival first, the king let out his unhappiness about this low-key slight against his authority.
I had business to discuss, Maximillian a.k.a. the f-
Yes, yes, lets skip all of that. As much as I like my titles, and I do like my titles, because they are mine and I deserve all of them the gravity mage stopped himself when he realized he was about to spend more time on himself than Magoi would have needed for his greeting; Anyway, now that you are here, we can finally go to business.
There have been quite a few developments in the span of one day, John said, looking at the map again. He hadnt seen that thing since leaving Rome.
Two more guilds had joined the fight, the Illuminati and Odins Sons. Thetter was actually a surprise, but, the way it looked, the Blood had started an attack on every front simultaneously. Probably a pre-emptive attempt to roll over everyone, hoping that a win in Rome would give them the momentum to take all of Europe at once.
In that vein: the Blood also had takennd of Prometheus, but the Greece centred guild still hadnt joined the war on either side.
The inner conflicts situation seemed dealt with. Only the west of Styria, which they were currently working on, and Ulm remained in enemy hands. John was pretty certain at least their problem would be solved today.
There was a whole different set of changes with the Illuminati that he foundrgely diforting though. Aside from the fact that they had gotten Wallonia back, that was. Why are the Illuminati flooding into Britain? John had to ask.
An opportunistic move by unteral vote of the Triumvirate that leads them, Maximillian answered as he turned to the castle; I very much doubt that Romulus will let them keep it, the conference after this war will be one of heated debate, I am sure. However, we have to deal with this here first.
The grey walls were empty on this side of the barrier and served as a museum in reality. There was a third angle to it, however. The enemy base was that very castle, and so they had a Protected Space in ce around it, which they had fortified against anyone getting in.
The answer to that strategy was to either starve them, which was unlikely to work if they even had a single water and nt mage, or to put another barrier on top. Several barriers in one spot wanted to meld together over time, like two kinds of cheese on a pizza in the oven. Of course, the enemy would have secured themselves against that as well, so they had to apply constant pressure by pumping mana into the barrier.
Eventually, like barraging city walls with catapults, they would do enough damage to the Fateweavers inside, who had to keep up the separation all the time, to grant them ess. That could have taken weeks or months, however, time that nobody wanted to waste on this.
While John asked Maximillian about the greater political implications here, the one area where he was absolutely sure that the king had more expertise than himself, the high Fateweaver got to work. That process of getting inside would be greatly sped up now that Magoi was here. This is going to take at least a month. or so they had hoped.
What, why? John wanted to know.
Because of one of the deserters in there. It isnt Gehnigm himself, if he was, we would be here for half an eternity, but this is still going to take a while, Magoiid out. John made a mental note that breaking into the barrier must have been the easier task then, seeing how Magoi was certain that he could win over his former superior eventually. With them working with the natural state of barriers instead of against it, it was easy to see why they were the ones with an advantage.
But that information didnt help Johns current predicament. Are there any alternatives? he wanted to know. There was already an inkling in the back of his head. There was always one alternative to sieges.
I could force open a short-term tear for long enough to get one person in, Magoi said, and this confirmed what John had been thinking about: subterfuge. If one person could get in and take out the enemy fateweaver, then they had essentially won.
But who should get in there?
Chapter 336 – Versatility is key
Chapter 336 C Versatility is key
These are my people, traitors of my crown, Maximillian dered upon hearing this. I should be the one to take them on. On the level of honour, he was right. To bad for him that John was more the logic type of guy.
Your powers are terrible in a stealth setting, you are the head of this country/operation, AND you have no chance against a whole base of people, the Gamerid down quite clearly.
Just let my tiger go in there. Rave had his back by literally jumping on it and resting her chin on his shoulder while grinning proudly at the king. He has bullshit powers, he is the best choice here.
Everyone understood that getting John in there also meant getting his elementals in there. Disgruntled, Maximillian agreed, a theme that seemed to persist in his interactions with John. Your words content is against what I would like to hear, but looking at it logically, you are the best choice. At least he was able to quickly admit when he was wrong.
Aclysia gently nudged her way into his thoughts. Can you dy this attack for one day, Master? My ability to teleport to your side remains on cooldown until tomorrow, she requested.
Every day that we lose is a day that we could lose the trail on Lydia, John said. Not that they even had a trail, but with the speed of the modern age inbination with teleportation and other magics, a day could mean half a world. Also, there is one way you coulde in with me, you would need to hop into my inventory for a few minutes though.
Aclysias natural disliking of dwelling in the frozen state of being that was the inside of his inventory was overrun by her worry for him, and she began shrinking down to fit in there without a problem.
Guess I gottae with you guys too then, Momo sighed and began doing the same. Cant have you die on me. I need you safe.
You sure you want to do this? Magoi asked as they walked up to the empty version of the castle. They had to be in the area that was covered by both barriers in order to cross over. Unlike gods, they couldnt just jump into the streams of power that connected everything magical to cross over whenever they wanted.
Well, John couldnt; Magoi seemed reasonably able to move between barriers. Not on the level of beings purelyprised of magical matter, but he still could do it if needed. Once you get in there, I cant get you out. The only way to escape is making the barriers meld.
I am aware. I am sure, John answered in a more certain voice than he actually felt. Perhaps counter-productively, he was thankful that he still felt doubt about all of this. It would keep him from getting over-confident once inside.
Realistically, the strongest the enemy still had to offer was going to be in there together with the majority of a family that had been building up to this for a generation. If John had to make an estimate, there would be between 50 and 100 people in there. Statistically speaking, 90% of them should have been in the level 20 to 50 bracket that John didnt need to fear in the slightest.
If they were alone. Which they werent. So John was very well aware that he should look the hell out and not get pinned. The sheer mass could be dangerous; the remaining 10% of the people inside would then descend on him like spiders.
Before you get me in there, I have to do one more thing though, John said after they stopped in a rtively secluded spot between a trimmed hedge and a couple of trees. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out the spare upgrade token. Without a moment of doubt, he used it on his shoes. Seemed fitting for a sneaking mission.
Sneaky Sneakers were what sounded like the best idea for this mission, but generally, the simple betterment of what they did right now was better. Adapted Footwork sounded particrly nice; checking the description told him that it would mean they would basically always be what they needed them to be, be it winter boots or walking shoes. Therefore, he went with the increased current abilities.
There was no need for the Possession Slot, and the bonuses for arcane werecklustre to say the least. However, Invoke couldnt have been that great if it was bnced against these two. Still, it sounded the most like what he wanted, and it was probably unfair topare item stats to his, since he was just stupidly strong. If he got this item at level 35, it would have been insane. Before picking it, he quickly looked at the different effects it would have.
Many of these were fringe at best. A list of fringe things in one ability, though, was what was called versatile, and John was all about that. This would only further his ability to adapt to nearly every situation. Invoke it was then.
Okay, get me in there, John said, and Magoi, acknowledging what had just transpired with a peculiar hum, tapped him on the shoulder with his decorative walking stick. Then he was gone, and John found himself falling in ce.
He didnt move whatsoever, yet he felt like the ground under his feet was constantly slipping and he was dropping into an endless pit. Then everything normalized again in the span of a second. Immediately, John had Gnome open a hole in the ground, and now he was actually falling as the sound of rm bells rung out above him just a momentter.
They had noticed his invasion, that much was predicted, now the question was whether they already knew where he was. I best relocate, John thought and started moving underground while closing the tunnel behind him. It wasnt cheap on mana, but he had to hide somewhere.
Of course, he had left a few surprises for the enemy above ground. Two teams got moving, one consisting of just Siena and the other of Smander and Aclysia, thetter to cause havoc and the former to sneak into the facility itself. If either of those turned out to be a losing endeavour, they would have to use their own ability to teleport back to Johns position. Well, Aclysia would need to hide somewhere.
His job in this fight was to stay safe until they had a good guess of the enemies strength. This is boring, Sylphined as she sat in the darkness of their eventual stopping point.
Please, refrain from talking out loud, John pleaded and pulled a little Momo from his inventory. The support stayed small, as the space inside their little hole was rather limited, and hovered on the spot.
He had no idea what tracking abilities the enemy might have, and given the Abyss rather broad spectrum of potential powers, he wouldnt have been surprised if one of them was sound.
Why cant I be out there as well? I wanna go whoosh and blow them away with my stunning word-stuffs and blowing-stuffs and stuff-stuffs! Sylph whined as they followed Smander cutting through the air as she bombarded the outside with fire spells while enemy attacks flew around and after her. Two enemies took to the skies and chased after her. John provided a second perspective through Jack, allowing Smander to make her dodge with more precision.
This is fucking awesome! the fire spirit cackled as she conjured a particrly big fireball and hurled it towards one of the open windows. At least one of them was having the time of her life, burning through a nice bit of Momos mana as her attacks shed against a shield that thinly veiled the building. Aclysia basically only got to tag along, defending Smander in case any melee fighters came out to try and stop the flying fire elemental.
Because I need to breathe, and you are the person who can create air, John exined to her and sat down in his little underground cavity. Can you find out how many enemies there are, Gnome?
There are too many interferences and other stuff. If I probe too aggressively, they are going to notice, came the answer after a moment. S-sorry.
No problem, was just checking our options. Seems like we have to leave this to Siena after all. He closed his eyes, not that that was necessary. Aside from Sylphs glowing, amber eyes, it was pitch ck down here. Then he reached out to Sienas consciousness, careful not to perturb her.
The shadow spirit was dwelling in the dark outline of a vase. Completely focused on the current obstacle at hand, she remained unaware of Johns gaze.
The wide corridors of the castle were, much to her dismay, equipped with modernmps. Sneaking through buildings had been much easier when light was something scarce. Someone in the leading department of this whole operation must have had the right idea when Smander had been spotted and told everyone to switch the lights on everywhere.
The fact that it wasnt just any fire elemental that was buzzing around out there seemed apparent to everyone. Siena therefore had to move carefully and was stuck on a corner right now; the electricmps overhead eliminated all shadows that would have allowed her to get around it while remaining in the shadows.
Can you believe it? a female voice reached her ears as she dwelled on that problem. Mistress nka makes us do this! From her position in the shadows, Siena couldnt see what they were talking about. She was in a pool of darkness, framed by the shape it cast on the ground in the material world. She could only peek through the surface like it was a window in the ceiling.
However, there was a switching noise that Siena had heard before, once, and it had burned itself into her memory. A shudder crept over her spine, they had a shlight. Whoever thought that giving humans the ability to just shine light wherever they wanted couldnt be cut enough.
The darkness was her and her kinds. It was to be feared, not illuminated at the flick of a switch. If they are going to find me anyway Siena thought and prepared to strike.
She just lost her son to that thing that appeared in the arena, a male voice answered, and now we are stuck in a losing position, cant me her for being paranoid.
It was at that moment that a whirl of shadows beheaded the female holding the shlight. Blood was trailing through the air and running down the massive purple des that hung from the end of the two tentacles that grew out of her back like nightmarish appendages. Before the malepanion had a chance to scream, Siena raised her right leg in a straight kick. The pointy end of her high-heeled foot sunk into his throat, crushing it in a mere moment. Its only paranoia if there is nothing lurking in the depths, Siena mused as she lowered her leg again.
The man, holding his bleeding and clogged windpipe, slowly turned blue, mouth forming airless sounds. It was a bit of a delight to Siena; these people all wore those same brown robes that Alexej had been clothing himself with. That meant that they were traitors to their nation, and nobody deserved cruelty more than traitors.
The idea of just leaving him to slowly suffocate was tempting indeed, but she remembered Johns warning. Valuing someones opinion of her above her instincts was strange. It shrunk her chest together, the thought of being ousted from this circle of people that she had gotten so close to. She ended the mans life by slitting his throat and went on her way.
The shlight had fallen to the ground, still turned on, and now allowed her to get around the corner. She was ready to jump into that streak of darkness when five people came running at her. Three of them were wearing that same robe, the other two the green uniforms. That bitch killed them!
The man must have been a telepath, or there had to have been some other form of warding around that Siena hadnte into contact with until now. She brandished her ws and charged at the enemy.
Without the element of surprise, she wasnt quite fighting how she preferred to, but that didnt make her weak. She unleashed, her light blue skin bing naught but shadow; greyish pink hair swayed like the me of a candle as it rose, bing shorter in the process.
The stealth was over, now she would ughter her way in if she had to. She aimed to eviscerate the two uniformed soldiers that made up the frontline. They only had a second to react; Siena had never been of the slow kind, and her contract with John had only pushed her further and further. When she had made the contract with him, never had she anticipated that it would give her this much power.
Both of them sessfully parried her attacks with their weapons. Terrible screeching sounds, like splintered ss on chalkboard, filled corridors and, without a doubt, alerted everyone in the building as her ws dug trenches into the des.
However, it wasnt Sienas goal to engage them in a fight. Taking out enemies had never been the goal. John had trusted her with a single job: to locate and eliminate the enemy Fateweaver. Seeding in that was what was most important; she had to try and regain his trust. She needed to prove herself to John.
I cried because of him, what a disgrace, Siena hissed at herself when she broke through that group and ran down the shadowless hallway. An explosion of pain spread from her back throughout her body. Clenching her carnivorous teeth together, Siena ignored her desire to turn around and slowly y the person that attacked her.
He pped me, she continued as she broke through a door and was greeted by an array of weak lightning strikes crackling over her skin. She only shed at the source in passing. The attack was weak; the damage she sustained started to show its nasty effects. Her path down the rooms and corridors continued, a desperate opening of doors as she asked herself one question over and over again.
Why do I even care so much?! She knew love, love was a nasty feeling towards interesting people who always turned out to be assholes rather quickly. This couldnt have been love. Shouts echoed down the hallway behind her; they were slowly catching up. When had she started limping so slowly that people were able to keep up with her?
She broke into onest door, and there he was, a man sitting in a bed with a strained look on his face, a woman with a raised sword at his side, charging at Siena without a word. Her expression was that of a crying mother whose willpower kept her barely functioning.
Siena had seen that face before. When her mother had put her in her cell. One day I will give you to someone who I deem able to make you feel true love, then you may stop on your self-destroying path.
At the time, Siena had cursed and ridiculed her. Now she had to admit
The sword was about to hit her, it was so stupidly slow, but she was exhausted and hurt. There was no way she could dodge this and kill her target. She subjected herself to the feeling of helplessness, the world pulled at her, and then she was where John was, in weing darkness in which she could see much more clearly than any daylight.
John looked worried. He looked infinitely worried for her. Why didnt you listen to me? I told you toe back a couple of times already!
I didnt hear you, because I needed to prove something, Siena whispered; her body felt so incredibly frail now that all momentum had left her. I have to admit that Mother was right, I love you.
This is hardly the time for John was interrupted by Siena kissing him, for the first time without ulterior motives or just out of lust. A simple kiss, without tongue, lips on lips.
I get the feeling you were in my head thest few minutes, you bad boy, she sighed teasingly,ughing as her voice slipped back into her usual oversexualized vibes as Undines healing powers pulsated out of the glove and reinvigorated her. Dont you know ady needs her privacy? I should torture you for a bit so you learn your lesson.
John fell silent. You are so damn twisted, he said, no longer concerned about being located.
Yes, Siena admitted, I am a vile, sadistic woman. I dont n to change too much, she fell into his arms, pressing her feminine curves against him in a seductive way. Her bust squished between them; her skin returning to blue, covered with thetex-looking shadows, she locked eyes with her summoner, but for you, I will restrain myself.
That I can work with, the Gamer said and caressed her silky hair as it fell back into ce, with her unleashed state finally ending. If you keep your word, I swear you will have a ce to stay with me.
And you will love me?
Maybe if you actually change a bit instead of just restraining yourself.
That wasnt good enough for her, but it was the best she would get. I will speed up that process and make it worth your while, you will see, Siena whispered into his ear, sliding a hand over his cock.
John shuddered; his pants were getting a bit tight. That sounds wonderful and all, but right now, my priorities lie elsewhere.
They still had the base to conquer.
Chapter 337 – Short term solution
Chapter 337 C Short term solution
John felt awesome. After a month of having to wrestle with Siena, she finally seemed to be on his wavelength, and with that, all current problems in his emotional vicinity seemed to be sorted out. Rave was on track to get along with her mother, it didnt seem like the two would be the best family ever, but given their history and differing personalities, it had be remarkably stable. Eliza was doing her best, Undine was doing her best, everyone was trying to get along and acknowledged that one had to find consensus in the argument, rather than win it.
Polygamy was working pretty well for John right now. However, he was also stuck in a rtively small cavity with three girls several metres underneath an enemy castle with the mission to take out a, for the sake of him wanting to look at the situation in a humorous light, dimension-stuff mage.
So, as great as he was feeling right now, he had no opportunity to act it out as he had a lot of rather serious stuff on his te that didnt deal with his emotion.
So, whats your n? Siena asked in a flirty voice; she had returned to her normal behaviour rather quickly, but the change was one of mindset and not of personality anyway. John was fine with that; he had stated often enough that breaking who she was wasnt his goal.
Still, it would have been nice if she could not have caressed the side of his face with her ws. Gently, he pushed those away. We are going to cause a ruckus, and you are going in there and kill that Fateweaver, easy, right? he presented.
Mhm, but if I were them, I would concentrate all my attention on the sensitive spot that I have just been toying with, the shadow spirit answered. I dont think I can get in there alone. Shouldnt we try guerri warfare instead?
The earth around them started to move as John made mental contact with Gnome. Whoever said you are going alone?
I am spent, my embers are burnt out, give me a fucking break, Smandermented as she appeared in his vicinity. She had be incorporeal and then retreated, making it harder to track her. Not impossible, but John was back on the surface, so he didnt mind anyway. Aclysia appeared from the bushes a momentter as well. In the background, Sylph was chattering it up about stuff now that she was allowed to talk out loud again.
Better catch your breath quickly, we six are the distraction force on this one, John told her. They were already in the open, and while the rm bells had been deactivated by now, they would have been fools to not be on high alert anymore.
Why dont you just blow the whole thing up? One Arcana Strike, and BOOM, problem solved, Smander requested. I had my fun, might as well end it with fireworks.
Three reasons. One, that thing is shielded against magic on that scale, guaranteed. Two, I want people to question afterwards. Three, if I do that, I wont have anymore mana, John exined. The third reason was of minor concern because he did have ess to Momos mana, but it wouldn''t stay a minor concern if he just relied on her from that point onwards.
In the time from firing that thing to having it charged, hed be helpless, mana wise. Not a fun ce to be. Well, lets make some noise, John dered as he saw someone in a window, pointing at him.
Y-you sure we can do this? Gnome asked as she followed Siena. The shadow elemental was scouting for a rtively safe route for her and the stone elemental to get as close to the building as possible. A girl the weight of a boulder wasnt exactly stealthy, especially if she felt responsibility on her shoulders as well.
Siena whirled around and grabbed the nervous earth spirits chin. We will have to, or John needs to rethink his ns. We wouldnt want that, now would we? the shadow spirit warned. Then she grinned widely, Although, if we fail because of you, maybe John will let me punish you. I have always liked working with stone.
N-no, John wouldnt do that! Gnome shook her head. No, he wouldnt, no, no. She kind of believed that, but with her summoner, kinky stuff like that could not have beenpletely denied. Not that she minded. No, wait, she was a pure girl, she very much minded probably. It was okay if it was John.
This is as close as you will get, Siena said as they hid between some trees close to the street that led into the castles court. Its time.
Will five minutes be enough? Gnome asked as she reached out to the shadow spirit. This was only the second time they fused. She could feel her magical particles unravelling, a fact that should have normally meant death for an elemental but felt strangely warm andfortable as they readjusted andbined with Sienas.
When the magic had settled, there was no Gnome or Siena anymore. Their information was locked deep within their structure, safe within the new being that both presented a mixture of both and an entirely new person.
She was Darkness, toned muscles shifted underneath her shale coloured skin, covered only by worn bandages wrapped around her and loose, white pants that looked like they belonged to a man out of a middle-east drama. Eyes and hair of grey that was only slightly lighter than her skin, she dropped into the shadows and dwelled there for half a minute, gathering her magic to then dart forth into the sunlight.
Darkness had an ability that made her more valuable than Siena in this situation, despite being slower than the nightmare elemental was on her own. Her unleashed potential was that she could stay within the shadows after leaving natural shadows. This came with the limitation of needing to gather this power within normal shadows, but it still allowed her to bridge distances rather effectively.
It, however, also left a silhouette of herself on whatever surface she traversed under. It wasnt a perfect move, but it sure beating out of the shadows and then jumping in the next area. The darkness elemental moved in as far as she could. She was a dedicated kind of girl, and she was on a timer.
John jumped to the side and rolled off. He felt pebbles and sticks press ufortably through his vest as he quickly got back to his feet and fired the eight shards he had created and locked in while rolling just as the ball of fluctuating steam and lightning hit the floor behind him and the aftershocks crackled away some of his mana.
This may have been more of a former hunting castle than a proper fort, but it was still on top of a hill, and the upiers didnt seem particrly keen on giving up their advantageous position. Not that John could me them for it.
The shards, aimed through the eyes of Jack, shed uselessly into some sort of shield that spanned over the white walls like some sort of soap bubble. That thing had only recently be operational, meaning that there was some sort of inner workings as to why they didnt want to use it needlessly.
Limited resources, most likely. A barrier of that size couldnt have been easy to maintain. However, it seemed to allow physical bodies to get in and out freely.
He was needed to distract the enemy; if he couldnt do that from the outside, well, then he would throw caution to the wind after all. At least the enemy fighting force had been thinned a bit already by Sienas earlier actions and Smanders barrage thest thirty minutes.
Undine, get ready to heal me, a lot, he said as he put out Mana Protection, he would need all the mana once inside. Then he charged straight up the hill and finally picked an invocation for his shoes.
The air whistled around his ears as he ran with a speed that would have had him easefully break all world records. Agility risen to its max thanks to Purgatory and slowly gaining even more speed as he ran in a perfectly straight line, he was bombarded with spells. They chipped away at his health, little by little. 40, 31, 87, 4, 105 damage, it came in erratic fashion while Undine, a glove on his hand, healed against it.
The abuse he received only got worse when John rammed Purgatory into the wall and pulled himself up, climbing as fast as he could. He grabbed onto the window frame and felt the person desperately trying to shut it with his fingers in between.
The idea that he could have been forced to fall back down by that action, with the things that were protecting his hands, was ratherughable. Too bad for you, I am bullshit from abilities to equipment, John dered, now inside the building and surrounded by at least ten people on each side of the corridor, with more ready to join them on this floor.
Sylph and Smander joined him and hovered over his shoulders as the corridor fell into silence, people grabbing their weapons tight and preparing spell work as they watched the Gamer stand there with a confident smile. I am rather fond of asymmetrical multiyer.
Shards flew outwards, and soldiers as well as n members let out valiant warcries, ready to die for what they believed in.
Darkness had made it far into the building when she finally split. The end of her existence didnt bother her a lot; after all, she was just going to live on in two memories. One day she would be reborn out of these two.
Gnome and Siena, now individuals again but with a shared understanding of how to continue, nodded at each other, and the stone elemental ran back down the corridor they came from. After about twenty seconds, the sound of a floor getting crushed could be heard as Gnome began to tear down the building from the inside.
What was better than one distraction? Two distractions. Gnome was going to search for what or whoever was fuelling that barrier. That thing should be at least semi-important for them.
Siena waited for a few more moments, then she went into motion herself. Slowly, she made her way down the path of destruction she hadid herself earlier. There were still very little shadows to hide in, but now these parts of the building werergely empty.
She was about to turn the final corner when she heard a matrons voice. We need to relocate you, move faster! she told whoever she was with; the next words Siena heard confirmed that she was talking to the obvious target.
I cant Magoi Magoi is out there he is keeping the pressure up, you try
Your life is in danger, you will have to manage, the blonde woman announced. Siena had no doubt that this was the same woman that had stopped her earlier.
That shadow elemental wont be back; she was killed. Whoever her summoner was will need to reass-
That was one of the Gamers elementals, that shut the Fateweaver up instantly. And she didnt die, she teleported away, somehow. He has a healing elemental as well, for all we know the voice got closer, she could be right Siena couldnt help herself but grin, teeth-revealing wide, at what was about to happen, around this corner.
The old woman with her oversized sword must have been thinking she was making a joke, but when she came face to with Sienas sulfuric eyes in their sea of pitch ck she was staring into the face of a harsh reality. In almost routine movement, the shadow spirit ripped the suicide capsule out of the womans mouth, then she turned on the Fateweaver who was trying to get away on all fours after falling over backwards in shock.
I surrender! I surrender! he screamed on the top of his lungs after Siena had descended on him, using an array of thin tentacles to trap him underneath her like a spider. Having already started tearing his borate suit apart with her fingers, the thing being stronger than most armour, she forced herself to stop.
You are lucky I have interests beyond just tearing your traitorous hide to pieces, she hissed as the air changed and the forceful separation of their barriers came to an end, the air at the edge of this one cracking and shattering into itself.
John was exhausted, his health pool was down to two fifths, and that was after Undine had used her unleashed power to heal him. Sylph had been taken out in the battle, and there were still 15 of them. Gnomes eventual arrival had been the thing that had saved them from their demise.
Still, this was looking everything but rosy. His mana was empty, tapped, as well as Momos. He was fighting only with what he could scratch together, mostly spent on a Mana Protection that saved him at least some health points. It wasnt to be underestimated how quick his mana was regenerating.
And it wasnt like he was the only one getting tired; sooner orter, he would hit the bottom of the finite amount of enemy reinforcement.
Then there was a change in the air, something he couldnt quite put his finger on, as if everything shifted a bit and then stopped immediately but without any actual draft. A pair of soldiers came at him. Aclysia and Gnome were busy at the other side of the hallway, and so the enemy reached him without any interception.
The first ones attack shed against the Mana Protection, and while that didntpletely block it, it slowed it down tremendously. Breaking the mans stance wide open, John threw a fireball from Purgatory against his chest, but he was about to get stabbed in the neck by the next guy.
Need some help, tiger? a certain half-asian announced her arrival. Raves magic never had been all that strong on the kic side of of things, but it still sufficed in this situation. A beam of light hit the man against the side of the head and caused his skin to burn as he was forced to stumble to the side.
Soon thereafter, other reinforcements poured into the mansion through all entrances. The enemy had better things to do than mindlessly fall into Johns figurative de at that point. Well, that wasnt even close, he grinned and crossed his arms; they felt like pudding now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off.
Ja, ja, Rave rolled her eyes but giggled, confirming that he had arrived at victory. Dontyawanna say some stupid one-liner so we can get out of here? John very much wanted to do that.
yer 1 wins!
Chapter 338 – Logistics
Chapter 338 C Logistics
nka Zeritr, you are a traitor to the crown of Vienna, John heard Maximillian begin the process of judging the leader of the n behind him. Your actions have led to The door to the abyssal tent, that was more like a transportable throne room, fell closed.
John had no intention of staying and listening to it. This wasnt his state of affairs, and he had no reason to make it his. Having no emotional connection to her or her n whatsoever and knowing that her execution was a foregone conclusion, he simply walked away and over to his group.
nka had refused to talk but the same could not have been said about the High Fateweaver they had caught. Evidently not quite as firm a believer, the man had spilled the beans on everything they wanted to know. The worst kind of coward, the one who was only interested to be on the winning side.
On the plus side, John now knew where Lydia was supposed to be, the city of Warsaw. Being the real world Polish capital, a state that seemingly didnt hold a lot of sway in the Abyss, it was right inside the enemy territory and not exactly close.
But not so far that it was unreachable either. We need allies in this, John said. Their group was strong but not strong enough that John feltfortable that they would manage to get in and out unscathed. They would need a strike-force, big enough to be secure but also small enough to be mobile.
Johns phone started ringing at that moment. He didnt know the number on the disy and was tempted to just click it away with the idea that it could be spam. Still, in the Abyss, one better kept in mind that everything could happen. Hello, John Newman here, he introduced himself.
You have located Lydia, the voice on the other side, deep, majestic and decidedly calm, belonged to the suprememander of their forces. Romulus was thest person John could picture holding a phone, especially if he was currently in the form of a giant, but that was beside the point.
Yes, he answered. I am going to save her.
You are going to try, Romulus corrected him. The smart move would be for you to wait for me to heal. It wont be longer than three days from now. Once my recuperation isplete, this war is finished.
All of that was true, the emperor would simply crush anything under his feet. However, three days were a long time when times were turbulent, just like 1 degree could make the difference between water and ice. I cant wait that long, John clearly stated.
I know, Romulus agreed with him, and the image of the cold emperor at the heart of a stagnating empire finally fell apartpletely. I said it was the smart move, but neither my honour nor my conscious allow me to leave her with these fiends. Sleep, move to the city of Prague. I have made arrangements for suitable reinforcements. You are moving out tomorrow at noon.
John checked his clock, he had to lower the phone for a moment to do so, It was 9 PM of Thursday the 11th of January 2018. Romulus wanted them to execute a deep-strike in 13 hours. On the scale of warfare, that was about as fast as it got. He raised his phone again.
I understand, give me a location and I will be there.
You will not be part of that attack! Nariko told her daughter as they broke camp. Following the phone call, John had waited for Maximillian to finish his business so he coulde with. The king wanted to be part of this, as predicted. Now only Raves mother was holding them back, having heard of this only now. It is foolish and has nothing to do with you.
She is my friend, so its very much my business, the pink-haired half-asian answered. Or I am making it my business! Dunno, dont care, gonna do it cause I wanna.
You are not going to go! Nariko kept her position. Jane, you are jumping head first into danger, I cannot allow you to do that.
Allow? Mother, ya arent going to allow me anything. I am going to do my own stuff, and ya got no control over it, Rave riposted. Ya picked a very bad time to start trying to be a good mom that worries for her kids.
I was always worried, worried that you wont have a home, Nariko mumbled, dialling down on her volume when she realized they were making a scene that attracted a lot of attention. I protected a ce you cane back to; if you now lose your life and cant got there, itd break my heart. You WILL stay safe, Jane!
Or what? John intervened. He had made it his policy to not get involved with Raves family problems for as long as he wasnt asked to, but this final,manding note had him slightly seething. She already said she wanted toe with me, Nariko, and she isnt your little girl. Ive had it.
This doesnt involve you! Nariko decided. In response, Rave red at her mother, the pink hue in her eyes glinting dangerously. Grabbing her boyfriends whole body by hugging him tightly, she stuck out her tongue at her blue-haired mother.
This involves him more than it does ya, Mom, the lightbearer told her, Ya just decided to watch over me yesterday. Here is a truth for ya: I will be in danger even after you are gone again. I like the thrill, and ya were out of my life for too long to have any right to tell me what to do.
I just want you to be secure, why is that so hard for you to understand? Nariko groaned in frustration.
Because I dont want to be coddled and held secure. If this is what ya think of as family, ya can go away again, I was perfectly happy without ya around, Rave said and hugged John even tighter. I gave you a chance toe back into my life and ya try to control me when I thought we could just get along enough to see each other on the holidays without having arguments like this every time.
Nariko took a deep breath. Maybe I am being unreasonable b-
Not maybe, John got right in there again. You are being the archetypical evil mother right now, somehow both causing abandonment issues and overprotecting your kid. Congrattions. He had really had it with this.
Stay out of this, John Newman, before I smite you were you stand, Nariko crossed her arms with an angry expression.
You threaten Master at your own risk, Aclysia warned, gripping Eclys out of thin air, and John realized that he had caused the situation to escte just that slightest bit further than he had wanted and now it was threatening to roll down the slope with no way of stopping it.
Momo to the rescue. Rx, people, this whole situation is highly unnecessary, the support said, slowly flying by between them, shutting down her e-reader for a moment by pping the lid closed. And can be resolved rather easily. Rave, you wont give in, right?
N-o-p-e, nope, the pink-haired girl spelled out.
There you have it, Nariko. I get that your intentions arent bad, but you literally have no right nor way to enforce what you want here, Momo logically constructed it as best she could. You are businesswomen, right? You should know when a transaction is doomed to fail from the outset.
The older, blue-haired woman finally sighed in defeat and annoyance. I will be watching over you, whether you like it or not, for as long as I got time! she then dered.
Too bad she never had time thest twenty years, Rave mumbled when her mother angrily stomped away on bright-yellow shoes that did absolutely not fit to her suit. The abyssal auctioneer was going to brood on her own for a bit, while still following them.
Lets just get to Prague, John decided.
They took a train back to Vienna, sleeping a bit on the trip, then caught a lucky ne over to Prague. The whole journey took them about four hours, leaving them with another eight hours before they needed to gather where Romulus had told them to.
Which meant that John would be happy to take a nap. Lets switch over to MY Prague, Maximilian dered, and John looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Prague has a rather expansive abyssal city underneath my rulership or at least it would be if they hadn''t gone independent about a hundred years back. I still own a lot of real estate around here and have a honorary seat on the city council, no matter how much the current elector hates that. Just go over to the barrier and you will see. The king promised and was gone a momentter.
With nothing else to do, John did. The local barrier would get in the way of his original n, to copy some nice hotel and fall into the bed, anyway.
The sight made his eyes go wide. He stood at the feet of a spire and not just some spire, an absolute beauty of one. It grew upwards in seven, walled off levels. Each of them was filled with buildings that were true marvels of architecture from all kinds of time periods. It seemed like every person was living inside their own, wonderfully designed church, including clock towers and everything.
The predominant colour of everything was gold, the colour of eternally burning fires reflecting light stones. Ornaments were set into everything with arching bridges spanning over the streets and stairs. John couldnt help but feel awe at the beauty of this city but also how easy it had to be to get lost within those beautiful pathways.
His eyes wandered up and found the second uppermost district ckened and painted red, a disturbing, forced depiction of new ideas on top of a pile of past glory.
They call Prague the heart of the empire, for it is the city that Romulus himself designed and which has stood perfectly for a thousand years until the Blood did their thing and assaulted the top two rings, those filled with the filthy royalists, Maximillian exined. Normally, I would invite you into my castle, he gestured at the ruined structure at the very top of this spire,ying half in ruin, many of its own towers having fallen, now that John looked more closely he could see small trenches were the falling debris had cut into lowerying districts, but you can see the problem with that.
John often forgot that Maximillian wasnt just a pretty strong mage in his own right, even if he held no candle to what the Gamer could achieve, but that his title of king actually epassed more than a bit ofnd. How many people live here? John had to ask.
About 110000, its the fifteenth biggest abyssal city in Europe, Maximillian answered. Although the count of the losses will make clear whether or not that can still be considered true or not.
John hadnt seen this part of the war yet, and it made it feel infinitely more real. Tracking gang members on the streets and countryside was one thing, invading a base with about a hundred people inside another.
But seeing this kind of destruction made John see that it didnt take more than a hundred people to eradicate a whole slew of average people in the Abyss. Hell, if he wanted to, he could copse the wall of the uppermost district and set forth andslide. On his own, he was capable of killing thousands if given the right opportunity.
Combat focused people in the Abyss were walking warheads of different magnitudes, and he was slowly evolving into the nuclear kind. Now I hope I never have to fight in a city, John thought; the amount of idental destruction he could cause just by going all out was staggering.
Maximillian crossed his arms and let all of that sink into the Gamer. Every day you will learn a bit more about the burden of your powers, buddy, he said and began marching towards the city. Its all fine and dandy if us powerful people have shes in a colosseum, but when its all out war, well, the difference is rather apparent.
John nodded to himself and followed the king, who had a valuable thing to say for once. Imagine if Romulus and Thana had shed on top of this city, he mumbled.
There wouldnt be a city anymore, Rave whispered; even she hadnt known this part of the abyss. Wars happened so seldomly, especially on the scale of thousands of fighters shing in a society that didnt produce a whole lot of them in the first ce, that she could have only ever heard of it in passing.
No, there wouldnt, Nariko told them, gave them a much saying nce. Now imagine what would have happened if the Blood only wanted to destroy, not conquer, without any meaningful opposition. Before either John or Rave could answer that, the auctioneer continued in her path. I will see you at the meeting point tomorrow. With that, she turned into lightning and crackled over the field, into the city.
We should go find a bed somewhere as well, John, still notpletely done digesting the whole scope of destruction this war must have caused where there were concentrations of abyssal poptions, said.
Follow me, I know a ce, and we get to stay for free, since I own it, Maximillian announced.
That didnt sound too bad and, ho boy, was it not too bad. The ce they eventuallynded in hadrge rooms with spacious bathrooms, who had the usual range of applications John loved to misuse for sexual purposes.
The best thing about them, however, was the beds. They looked more like marshmallows than the usual blocks of foam he rested on. Being at least three metres in diameter, they were just white, puffy maybe cotton; from the feeling John had from throwing himself on there, he only knew that he wasying on top of something magical.
He barely had pulled the nket over his naked form when he fell asleep.
Chapter 339 – One quick distraction [Erotic Content]
Chapter 339 C One quick distraction [Erotic Content]
John felt his consciousness being softly pulled out of the dreamworld, by a sound he couldnt quite ce. He knew, however, that there was no reason to worry as long as Aclysia watched over him, so he kept his eyes closed. If she hadnt woken him up yet, he could drift away again.
Hey in the bed. It was almost too soft. Like he was lying on a puffy cloud, with anotheryer on top of him in the shape of a warm nket. With everything that was going on, John didnt feel like leaving this bed before it was necessary; the only thing that distracted him was his sizeable morning wood rubbing against the white, fluffy piece of cloth that surrounded him. Images and visions of sexual intercourses, past ones brilliantly reconstructed and new ones believably put together by his subconsciousness caused it to be primed for sex, pre-cum smearing on the nket.
There was a short draft of cold, followed by two sources of heat nestling to his sides. He was as if in trance, having fallen almost back to sleep. Still awake enough to feel each of the two reach out for his impressive cock just as a third person started nibbling at the top, sucking up his delicious pre-cum, he groaned in his sleep.
Master seems to like it, the sweet, calm and collected voice of Aclysia whispered into his ear. He remembered the days when she had sounded timid instead of bold. Ah, his beloved little figurine girl, how far she hade to now wake him up as part of a foursome.
Of course he does, Raveughed and kissed his right cheek, he is my pervert after all. Her hand gently massaged his balls for a few moments before slowly sliding up his hairless crotch, then his muscr chest, finally stopping to tease his nipples. His girlfriend knew exactly what she needed to do to get him going. Her breathing heated up, and she ground the in-between of her thighs against his leg, shapely trimmed hair slowly soaking in her own love-juice.
Whoever the third person here was didnt have anything to add, she just slowly went down on Johns cock. Sucking him in, she remained just past his ns for a moment. Then she pulled up,shed him with her tongue for a moment, before going back down again, just that little bit deeper. Each time John felt her soft lips brush over the tip of his iron-hard rod, he woke up that little bit more, all while being serviced by the voices of the two favourites in his harem.
What do you think he is dreaming of right now? Rave wondered, kissing him lovingly as she waited for an answer. That was their routine, one spoke while the other kissed him. Both of them caressed his body all the while.
Of us, Master would spend even all his sleeping moments with us if he could, Aclysia answered; her doubtless faith in his love, he would never tire off. I wish I could dream with him, how wonderful that must be. Not needing sleep, that was the one area of life where Aclysia couldnt follow him. Her lips found their way to his neck and left a nice mark there.
He probably has all of us lined up against the wall and is running up and down, pping all of our butts, Rave giggled, yfully biting his earlobe for a moment. Then, sensually breathing the next words directly into his ear, she added, Not that I would say no to that, just let me tap those butts too, okay, tiger?
His cock jumped involuntarily at the image. A nod from his lower body that this was a thing that needed to happen eventually. The girl between his legs was halfway down his 19 centimetre cock now.
Master can p my ass whenever he so desires, Aclysia took her turn, watching the movement behind his closed lids. He didnt desire to wake up quickly, so he drew it out; it was too nice to hear all of this. He can have my everything whenever he so desires. He has created me, offered me freedom and my own destiny. I dont regret my decision to give myself back to him.
Well, I dont regret getting it on with this thin, nerdy guy either. Rave said the three magic words, I love you. His insides fluttered like butterflies, and his fingers twitched. Ya know all that stuff we have been through by now? Lets make even more awesome memories and fuck along the way, we are good at both things.
Three quarters now, his dick was twitching and pumping out pre-cum. A dull, slobbering sound reached John from underneath the nket as his body slowly primed itself to wake up. Wake up by sting the first load of the day straight into the willing mouth of the girl between his legs, a girl with lukewarm lips. But not quite yet, he would hold out until she was all the way down.
I love you too, Master, please fill my life with more happy memories, Aclysia sighed, and my cunt with all the seed you can spare. It feels so good when you cum inside me.
Leave some for me though, tiger, I have the fucking privileges after all, Rave said and reached all the way down to his balls again. These are mine, just as my pussy is yours. Oh, can you feel how wet I am?
He could, both her and Aclysia had been grinding relentlessly against him after all; they were practically oozing love juices. He didnt mind getting a little dirty, especially if it was this kind of dirty, that matched up wonderfully with his expectations.
He was almost awake now, control over his arms returned first, and he embraced both of the girls, pressing their bodies against him even more tightly than they had nestled against him. Hands resting on their butts, taking a nice handful of the fit but full and perfectly curved gorgeousness of Raves and the bountiful bubble-butt of Aclysia. They giggled, right next to his ear, and kissed him at once as hips rocked forwards.
Balls tightening, he left the world of dreamspletely behind as he spluttered a giant load inside of the sucking girls mouth. Thick strands of white goo were gulped down while the girl remained all the way down to his base.
I am jealous, Aclysia admitted, the first load is always nice and fresh. Masters cum is tasty.
He resets every five minutes, Aclysia, dont make a scene out of it, Rave said, but it sure is.
You two have a way of waking me up that I wouldnt mind to continue for every day for the rest of my life, John half-yawned and half-moaned, stretching his legs. He would have stretched his arms as well, but they were in rather nice positions. Although I wonder why Momo of all people is going along with your ns.
The support tossed the nket aside. COLD! Raveined, her naked skin exposed to the air.
You put the room temperature at 31 degrees Celsius, its everything BUT cold, Momo dered, wiping a drip of cum, that had escaped her lips, off her chin and then crawling over to Aclysia. The artificial guardian sucked the little bit off her sisters finger with pure greed. Once nothing but saliva was covering the marble white skin, Aclysia moved up to gather whatever taste still remained on Momos lips.
The monochrome support hadnt expected that and fell over. Landing on her back, while Aclysia was assaulting her and her body. The two were writhing right next to John, their shapely asses swaying while Aclysia furthered her offensive to both satisfy Momo and also put on a show for her perverted creator.
Legs crossing, Aclysia rubbed her hairless pussy against Momos, who sighed in the short moments between their wild kisses. The surprise had worn off, and left was only her adoration for her older sister, meaning that they were now going at it with full force.
John was about to sit up and get involved in that action when his girlfriend, with her clearly superior physical strength, kept him on the oversized, magical cushion that was their mattress. Ya gonna give your kitty some cream before ya get to oil your machines, tiger, Rave dered and got on top of him, straddling his chest as she hadnt quite decided yet which position to go with. And by some cream, I mean A LOT of cream; we are going to go on a super dangerous mission in a few hours, and I am super horny because of it.
You are such a damn thrill seeker, Johnughed at her, and I love you for it.
Of course ya do, I am awesome, Raveughed, sticking her tongue with her piercing out. Then she turned around and put her glistening wet crotch right above his face, together with that thick ass of hers. John didnt lose any time and went right at it, as his girlfriend was already starting to go down on his still erect cock.
And by god, did she go down on it. Sucking it right into her throat in one swift motion, she was then going up and down his shaft without any gag reflex. Rave had never been the nning type, acting more on her instincts, but by now she had made him feeling the most pleasure a martial art. She was the girl that was part of almost all of his sexual escapades after all, as she should as his girlfriend. Her body now used all of that underlying knowledge with the goal to milk his balls.
Her glossy, full lips were sliding down his lubricated dick in swift motions. Her old disliking of blowjobs had been reduced to a mild bias against them through months of exposure. Of course that was only really true for John, because he kept his dick exactly how she liked at and because he was the man she, somehow, liked the most on this.
How he scored a rtionship with this total hottie would remain a mystery to him to the end of his days. Well, okay, he knew how it all had happened, but he couldnt believe how lucky he was either way. Good for Rave that he had just as much knowledge of eating her out correctly as she had sucking him off. Doubly good that he also had a load of modificators to make what he did feel even better.
With his tongue burying as deep in her quivering quim as it could possibly reach and teasing her pretty pink clit with the thumb of his left hand, he made her moan all over his cock. Pulling her down until she all but sat directly on his mouth, his fingers dug trenches into her soft rump.
The hot air caused him to sweat, same was true for Rave, and heightened his senses. Their bodies were turned into glistening images of perfect human physique, the athletic woman and the muscr man, satisfying each other orally as they moaned and grunted in delight.
John managed to lick out her first orgasm, which only furthered Raves want to suck him even faster somehow. For a moment, he had to stop and just let out a throaty, long moan as Raves tongue teased all the right spots at the tip of his cock.
Her mouth was stuffed with the enormous rod of her boyfriend, and she continued to bop up and down in delight, letting her body voice its pleasure freely to spread the pleasurable vibrations all the way through the shaft and because she knew John loved it when she was loud. When it was about pleasuring the one she held dearest in her life, she would have gone the extra mile and simted the moans, but he was so good at what he did that there was absolutely no need to.
The pussy walls in front of John contracted again, sucking on his tongue as if they desired something to prate deeper. Simultaneously, he realized his balls quivering and his sensitivity increasing drastically, he was just about to cum. He would have warned Rave, but stopping when she was close herself was not an option. A pping sound echoed through the room when he did the next best thing to a verbal warning and pped her ass.
The fact that she got that, raising her mouth from her current deepthroat to the mushroom-esque head to catch all of his cum in her mouth, just deepened their bond on a perverted level. Her hand was rigorously pumping up and down his slick shaft just as he aggressively rubbed her clit.
Her girlcum sttered over his face just as he pumped his second load of the day between yet another pair willing lips that took the whole load. Not swallowing it immediately, Rave took it all in to taste it thoroughly. Everyst drop, until she let Johns cock go with a wet pop and then turned.
Open mouthed, she swirled the white liquid with her tongue around as she climbed over Johns cock. Then she closed and gulped visibly, letting out a satisfied sound and cattishly licking her lips when she was done. That was nice; ready for round two? she asked, aligning his shaft with her dripping wet crotch, the head already pressing and parting her outer lips.
Always, John grinned, and they both howled in ecstasy when she dropped straight down. Her wild hair was sexily shaking, and shebed it backwards with her fingers, stretching her whole body as her legs did all the work in getting her up and down. Adding to all of this, John fixed her position by putting his hands on her hips and thrusting from below.
The y of Raves muscles underneath the stretched skin of her firm stomach, the heavy breaths that moved her cute bosom, her neon-pink hair that fell back into unruly positions, the curved tips creating an area of fuzzy beauty. Could she have a more perfect body? Actually, yes, but this got pretty close.
He wasnt going tost long with the visual show she put up by just BEING inbination with her relentless attack. Her pussy was slipping up and down his cock, as tight as ever. Stretching around his girth, it was perfect and slippery. Over and over, their hips pped together.
After a few minutes of Rave winding on top of him, showing off as much of her sexy body as she possibly could, gyrating her hips and smiling down at him all the while like a beaming sunray, they unloaded once more. Rave screamed and into that scream weaved another voice.
It wasnt just John and Rave who came at that moment, but Aclysia and Momo as well. John kept his focus on his girlfriend for the time he wasing, looking at her body with debauched desire before locking eyes with her. The pink hue around her iris danced lustfully as her slumped form quivered, kept up only by her hands on his chest.
Once they had calmed enough, they saw the two creations at their side still going at it. Aclysia was fucking her younger sister in missionary position, the artificial dick she possessed (something that John decidedly looked at as a strap-on) hammering into Momo over and over again.
Rave leaned the rest of the way down to John and asked, I feel like watching a spitroast, wanna make one? The only answer to that was a wide grin, and Rave rolled off him, and he quickly repositioned himself.
In a matter of seconds, he was in front of Momos face and pped his slightlyid dick in her face. Too far into the erotic mindset to really care but always one for a bashfulment, Momo reached up with a jittery arm while sending him a mental massage. You could have just asked!
She guided his cock into her mouth and started sucking immediately. Smirking, watching and masturbating, Rave kept her back pressed against Johns side as he gotpletely hard again.
Stuck between the dicks of her sister and her creator, Momo took them both. It was true that she didnt join into their debaucheries quite as often, but she still possessed the Libido of an average 18-year-old and was surrounded by willing partners. She got her fair share of sex.
John, doing only minimal thrusting, upied himself by recing Raves fingers in her cunt with his own. Ya should just be there whenever I am horny and give me a hand, the lightbearer jokingly said as she rested her head on his shoulder, eyes closed, and moaned.
Pretty sure I am, John said, kissing her forehead and then pulling out for a moment. His fingers were covered in a mixture of the cum he had pumped into her and her endlessly running juices. Clean this up, hemanded.
So assertive, Rave mused, I like it. Her tongue probed forth and with more slurping than was necessary cleaned herself off his hand, opening her eyes and keeping contact with him during the process.
Momos lustful scream, stemming from another orgasm that Aclysias relentless pounding caused, was loud despite being muffled by Johns spear halfway in her throat. She had two more before John finally felt like cumming again.
He wanted to spread the love evenly, so he pulled out moments before he was beyond the point of no return and hurried over to Aclysia. Unannounced, knowing that she liked this as long as he did it (and he loved it), he rammed his cock down her mouth and immediately came, his seed sttering directly into her stomach.
Moaning in surprise, having tunnelled on the fucking, she reflexively gulped it all down. You are a good little servant, Rave said, kissing the maids cheeks. Arent you? Johns little personal fuck toy?
Yesssh, Aclysia, cock still half in mouth, said. I am whatever kind of slut Master needs. With ast thrust she pumped another one of her artificial loads into Momo before forcing herself to stop. Aclysias Libido, only surpassed by Nathalia, made that an endeavour that needed quite a bit of willpower.
Man, I love waking up like this, John said and headed for the bathroom after looking at the clock.
In wise fashion, Aclysia had woken him up early enough for all of this to happen without affecting what they were doing today.
Chapter 340 – The push on three fronts
Chapter 340 C The push on three fronts
The fact that John would go on an important extraction mission, the thing in this war that he held the most personal investment in, freshly showered and in prime condition was a thing that he was equally astonished and weirded out by.
With all the modern news about the terror of the trenches, he had expected at least something like it. Fireballs ravaging over fortified positions, lightning and alchemical explosives falling from the sky as martial arts users shed on a giant battlefield.
As John passed a battalion of normal soldiers, their faces waxen and pale from a nightshift of snuffing out remainders of enemy sleeper cells within abyssal Prague and the surrounding areas, a realization struck him. They must have been out for more than 20 hours now, dragging themselves from one theatre to the next.
The trenches, the horrible reality of extended engagements, all that existed. John was just too powerful to experience them because, every fight he was part of, he was the deciding factor in. With him, there were no extended stalemates to be had.
It was like everyone else was stuck with medieval weaponry and he swooped in there with a squad of fully modernized special ops. There was no way he could not win that engagement.
One of the soldiers tripped, fell over and then spend a good few moments trying to get up. Two of hisrades, looking like they would sooner join him on the pavement than lifting him, tried to help.
Let me, John offered, stopping in his way for just long enough to pull the man to his feet with a minimum of effort. Thanks to him spreading the love to his physical stats to at least some degree, he was capable of feats that average people would regard as super strength.
He deliberately helped the man up with his right hand and had healing energy flow into him during that short moment of touch. It was no substitute for sleep, but it warded off the immediate effects of exhaustion for just little while.
Thanks, the guy said, his mind too far gone into the misty realm of forceful consciousness that followed prolonged adrenaline rushes to even notice what John had done.
No problem, good job out there, the Gamer said and tapped the man on the shoulder before walking off.
Nice guy, he heard through the ears of Jack. The trio, probably a small clique inside the biggerpany, went further on their way. Wonder who that was.
Dude, dont you watch any news? That was the Gamer; he is with the Princess of Steel, another one of them answered, and the conversation devolved into a tired exchange that John shortly afterwards tapped out off.
Nice PR move, Momo said from his side. Yes, I know you didnt do it for the PR, she answered hisint before he could even voice it, but it will help anyway.
Help with what? Once I free Lydia, I have no reason to be further involved in this war, John exined. Not going to stick my neck out for these people atrge. At least not if I dont get something out of it.
How about Score? Momo suggested. Also, I believe you that you wont go to the hotbeds of the war, bute on, we both know you arent selfish ENOUGH to just sit around as the world burns around you. He had to agree to that.
Yeah, also that sounds boring, Rave added. How about we go where its the most dangerous actually.
Thats a terrible idea, John insisted; she shrugged. They postponed this topic until it would actually be a thing they could decide. There was a bit of certainty that a rather important brte princess would get them to where she needed them anyway, once they had gotten her out.
John arrived where he was supposed to be exactly when he was supposed to be there. It was a barrier, just in front of town, filled solely with a ratherrge industrial hall whose purpose eluded John for the moment. As expected from a rather elite formation, everyone else was there already as well. The people he immediately recognized were Maximillian, Nariko and Magoi.
John had expected the former two to have at least something resembling a conversation to go on, but instead it was Maximillian and Magoi who were chatting it up. They were talking about walking sticks, of all things, a topic the Fateweaver had a heavy artistic interest in while the one of Maximillian was also driven by a recent need.
John scanned the rest of the crowd. There was one girl who was loaded with tools and mechanic enhancements, the kind that was almost part of the body but allowed the wearer to still go back to reality if she really wanted to. The rest were about a dozen people in tabards that depicted a ck cross on white ground. It wasnt a big stretch to imagine who they were.
Guten Tag, John Newman, Konrad Kamradsrat, leader of the Knights of Teuton, greeted. Seeing the man without his helmet was weird. He was younger than John had thought, somewhere in his thirties, with a clean shaven face and a stylish haircut that reached his chin. He looked ready to save a princess from a dragon guarded keep. Although his nose was a bit bigger than was fitting for his face. It pleases me to see you as part of the endeavour to return the princess to hernd and people.
Say Deus Vult for me! Sylph, popping into existence how she usually did, in a shower of flowery smells and small rainclouds, babbled. I like it when you do that, can you do that? I like it, so please do it! No, wait, scratch the please, I am the pretty princess and you are the knight, I demand that you do it, pretty please.
I am afraid me and my order have sworn to stop our roleying until we have washed the shame from our name, the crusader said. So I am sorry, cute fairy.
Hihihihi, he called me cute, I like that, Sylph pvered, having already forgotten about the sadness this denial caused her just because she was beingplimented. She was such a simple-minded thing.
Yeah, you are cute, John said and patted her on the head with his index finger. But we shouldnt dwell any longer. What is the n and what do I need to do?
Hi, let me exin! that was the mechanic girl who walked over with strident steps. She seemed like the kind of person that had almost too much energy. This operation will be a three-front effort. Front one: the Sons of Odin attack from the north in a concentrated push towards Novgorod. This attack will start in 4 hours. Front two: Arge part of the Knights of Teuton voluntarily took a ne directly to Warsaw. They are acting as an ind distraction force and making sure that there wont be any evacuations of the target. This happened yesterday, but they stayed dormant until now and will start causing widespread confusion in 4 hours, 30 minutes.
John could easily make out a redemptive move if he saw one. The knights were trying to wash the shame for their failure away but also the suspicion many people had regarding their loyalty. The fact that the Blood had been in possession of artefacts that were theirs hadnt gone by unnoticed. John felt reserved towards them as well, but the fact that they had been chosen to lead this mission meant that Romulus trusted them, at the very least. But John had a way to make sure anyway.
He threw a Reveal at Konrad, using up all of his and Momos mana in the process.
The knight didnt seem to have realized what had just happened. John felt more at ease now that he had it ck on white. At least regarding emotions, Observe had never been faked out, only blocked, and he had just used more than 7000 mana on this. He continued listening with a light heart.
Without the stealth skills necessary, we cannot take that route as the airport is under constant surveince and we would get locked down. We will advance from here to Ostrau, rest there for the remaining time between arrival and the beginning of the Scandinavian attack and then begin our advance towards Katowice. We are to act as shock troops in that battle, only break through the defences and then advance directly towards Warsaw.
Projections say that we should arrive in Warsaw in about 8 hours from now, 19:00 oclock, moving above the speed of the average highway but having to deal with dys due to fights. Thats the optimistic projection.
What is the realistic one? John asked, now that the briefing was over. It sounded like a good n; as always, the travel times were the most inhibiting thing. Still felt like he was going to Blitzkrieg into Pnd. That was a majorly weird impression to have as an American. The things I do for love, he joked to himself.
Another hour on top, maybe two. We have ack of information about what is on the way to Warsaw. We did, however, already manage to locate the facility. Largely thanks to you, providing the data, and the knights then spying out the area. They may have escaped via teleportation, but we cannot verify that for now. We have good reason to believe that their teleportation equipment has been destroyed, however.
John could imagine why. During the battle against Thana, Nathalia unleashed a fire breath that filled the sky together with the dimensional gap. Whatever had been on the other side had, without a doubt, been consumed as coteral damage. They still could have teleported using magic users rather than equipment, like the former Supreme Fateweaver who whisked Lydia and her father away in the first ce, but there was absolutely no way of knowing if this was the case until they got there.
All they could hope for was that the Blood actually didnt care as much for Lydia as to invest such resources into her. They would have to go and see for themselves and take the risk of her not being there. The alternative was the cautious approach, which gave them even more time to relocate her.
I see, well then, how will we get there? John asked.
I am rather interested in that myself, Nariko added. I havent seen a lot of cars inside or outside of this barrier.
We wont take a car, who do you take me for? the mechanic girl said, puffing up her cheeks. She was actually rather cute, ck, long hair, weird sses, probably about 25 years old. The entric type.
They wont know, you forgot to introduce yourself, Maximillian said with a sigh. He walked over; if one hadnt known about it, the stumble would have been unnoticeable. May I introduce, Maria Theresia the third von Habsburg, Technomancer, my older sister and the weird girl that rather wanted to y with gears than govern the empire.
Oh, shut it, not like I got through all the fighting that qualifies the heir anyway. My actual fighting abilities are trash. Also you all can call me Ria, the mechanic announced. Taking a yful swing with a small wrench at her brother, who just reversed the gravitational pull and made it fly up into the air.
I wont, Nariko straight-up denied, crossing her arms in a stuck-up fashion. Now answer my question. Does it have anything to do with that hall behind you? Thats the same conclusion John hade to; actually, it was the only conclusion anyone coulde to. Even Rave nodded to that.
What hall? Ria was clearly confused, looked over her shoulder and then made an understanding sound. Ah, well, he looks like that in maintenance mode. One sec. she fished out a remote from her many pockets and then turned a few things on top of it before flicking a switch. The earth rumbled.
The industrial hall started to move. Roof parting and walls splitting into smaller segments, the whole thing began to shift. Arms and legs constructed themselves in a fashion that shouldnt have been possible and reserved for Japanese sci-fi movies. An iron giant rose, around a hundred metres tall. He wasrgely just raw, grey metal, but on the shoulders, he had the gs of Austria and the Roman Empire.
Now that also exined what that mobile barrier thing meant. A heart of blue energy was set into the middle of his chest, about where the sr plexus for normal people would be. I never get to use him because my brother is stingy, so this is great! Ria said.
Its because he eats the daily GDP of Vienna per hour, Maximillian told John. Completely over-designed thing. It needs its own barrier generator because its too big, and it wont even work without a Fateweaver around.
Hi, thats why I am here, Magoi waved while already on his way towards the iron giant. The thing seemed to have something resembling intelligence, as it picked the Fateweaver up rather gently. Its breastte swung upwards with the sound of hydraulic vents pumping like mad and revealed something like a room between thousands of gears, energy cells and cables inside.
Lets hurry and get this done, not just for Lydia but because every second here costs me a fortune, Maximillian dered, and soon they all had boarded the iron giant. The room inside was not exactly cosy nor big. To say it was a practical big vent for extended maintenance would have been more urate. There was no furniture aside from a screen on the inside of the metre-thick te that allowed them to see what was going on outside.
The only person not dwelling in that room was Ria; she climbed up some shaft, and then they heard her voiceing from somewhere, John didnt see any speakers around. Okay, everyone, I am ready and in my piloting seat! Let me just put on the proper sound effects and we are ready to go!
The hell do you mean proper sound effects?! Maximillian, in the tone of an annoyed younger brother, another side John hadnt actually thought would fit on that person, shouted up the shaft. Just get us movi-
DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE! it thundered around them as everything around them started trembling and the giant began moving. LIBERTY PRIME ACTIVATED!
John had a way too giant nerd boner now to point out that this didnt fit whatsoever. After all, he was fighting with monarchists of an ancient empire, not to mention on eastern European soil. Still, he couldnt deny that the voice he knew from Fallout was pretty much the best war cry that there was.
DESTROY ALL COMMUNISTS!
Chapter 341 – Take away the machine
Chapter 341 C Take away the machine
The n proceeded as intended, albeit not entirely smoothly. They arrived in Ostrau twenty-minutes early, which turned out to be the worst thing ever. Sitting idly to move on schedule was more stressful than fighting. At least they would have been on the move, doing something. Instead, they were bound to their position.
Smander took that pause particrly badly, being eager to do battle, spending it in an entirely sour mood. Eventually, they got moving again though, and the tension dropped as much as was reasonable.
The giant strode towards Katowice with impressive speed, although that only seemed to be a thing that he could keep up in a simple forwards movement. At least their enormous travel time meant that John and Momo could regenerate all of their mana.
They were indeed the spearhead in Katowice, not that it meant much. The city had no abyssal counterpart; like Graz it was only the real city with bases all over. They were able to snuff out some bases thanks to Magoi melding the ones they came across into theirs.
On such asions Ria wouldin that she wasnt allowed to use the robot to just smash the building or use something likeser beams or whatever she had installed in this thing. Maximillian did tell her to keep energy preservation in mind, however, so instead, they had their higher agility members take care of it. Also, John learned that the robot was named Phil. He just kept referring to it as the iron giant, as that was a stupid name. Even though it was absolutely not made out of iron.
It wasnt a particrly stealthy tactic, nor were they thorough enough to get everyst enemy. All they did was establish a scar of destroyed enemy bases, a kind of safe zone for the forces that would follow them. It had its own value.
Because the only way to see them was to be part of the very same barrier they were inside, they were also protected against spies. Hopefully, the enemy would take this whole thing as an attack of the empire on the borders, rather than a deep strike, for just a little while longer.
Huh, this is weird, Ria said as she slid down thedder and then tapped a part of the smooth wall that slid to the side in response. John had wondered before, but there was no way she wasnt a Technomancer, a quick observe confirmed that but revealed no other interesting info.
She winked at him after checking a clock-like gadget on her wrist. Evidently his scrying hadnt gone unnoticed. What is so weird? John asked to skip over the slight awkwardness that followed and enter into a nonchnt conversation with the option of a bit of flirting. He didnt exactly aim to get this girl around, his harem was too big anyway, but he was still himself. Need me to take a closer look?
Unless you have expertise in hyper-fluctuant earth-enriched elementium mana cores that only start operating at arcano-pressure of 12000 Wirg, I dont, no, she shot him down and then vanished down the corridor. John took a peak after her nheless and saw her checking on the inner end of that blue circle (turning out to be a cylinder) that was visible in the giants chest.
John wondered whether or not having the mana core be exposed like that was a design w or something with purpose. Being ignorant on the matter, he decided not toment. So what is happening? he repeated his question.
We are losing more energy than we should, Ria shouted back, putting a hand directly on the core and closing her eyes, but I cant find any faults in the system I think I need to do the math again.
Just feed me the numbers, Momo offered, pushing herself past John before he could make the offer himself. Giving him apetitive nce on the way, she added, I would be perfectly happy to help you, this robot is pretty cool.
Did she is she are you butting into my flirting business? John stammered mentally. This was probably thest source ofpetition he would have anticipated.
You got enough girls already, shoo-shoo, Momo waved him off as she started up a rather lively conversation about the mathematical phenomenon of the internal fluctuation efficiency over time used and the transition paradox in regards to internal to mantle heat.
I feel betrayed in so many ways right now, John said when he returned to his girlfriend.
Dont be sad, tiger, ya still have me, and Aclysia and Undine and Rave stopped as she had made the point.
Could you not try to get with my big sister? Its creepy, Maximillian announced. The dynamic duo of the nerd and the martial artists just gave him a deadpan look, ncing over at Nariko for a moment before continuing their vignt stare.
Eventually, the two of them returned. Oh wow, can I borrow her after all of this? She is good! Ria requested. I like math machines like that. Well, the romantic interest obviously hadnt quitended yet.
In a month or two, she will be her own girl, so knock yourself out, John sighed in defeat but then smiled. Not like all of the worlds girls were for him, and Momo getting it on her own made him pretty confident that she had mastered pretty much all of the basic human interactions.
Maybe pushing her Libido to 25 was a thing she would want before she was leaving? How about higher Charisma? Questions for more peaceful times.
Nice, anyway, we were leaking energy to somewhere. I would need to run a full-maintenance to find out what exactly is causing it, but I managed to fix it by increasing the outer mantel resistance factor, Ria said. "Its not that bad, no reason to be concerned!"
What does not that bad mean? Maximillian probed. He seemed very much concerned about this.
Ah, you know, just about 20 Maybel per second average, no biggie, Ria shrugged it off. Only a problem if it keeps growing, which it wont cause I pped a band aid on it.
Thats 5000$ per second, Ria. My treasury is not something you can just throw around like sand at a childrens yground! the king tapped his cane on the floor.
Whatever, cant find the exact reason right now. I am back above, dont want Phil to be on autopilot when we hit Warsaw. Ria rolled her eyes behind her giant, orange tinted goggles and vanished back up the shaft with a series of well-practiced movements.
She came back two more times to check on the issue, before it finally vanished once and for all. John couldnt help but find that suspicious, it felt like something was with them. Something would awaken soon. He had no idea what gave him that feeling, but it didnt feel dangerous. An inkling that something that was long overdue was finallying to fruition, thats what that impression he had was. Like fate, even if it didnt exist, had something good in store for him for a change.
He pondered a while about where that feeling coulde from; when he arrived at an answer, he smiled.
______________________________________________________________________
About half an hourter they finally hit Warsaw, capital of Pnd. They only saw the real thing while closing in; once they stepped towards the city centre, they were immediately pulled in.
This is a good sign, Magoi announced as John watched the city that unveiled itself on the monitor in front of him. It clearly once had been beautiful, high houses with a rustic charm co-existed with fountains, statues and other impressivendmarks. However, save for one district, the city had been left to rot and was overseen by a hexagonal shaped block that towered above. Well, at least it means no fateweaver of my strength level is around.
John already had been briefed on that block, it was an outpost the Nazis had left there and that was now being upied as the base of whoever held Warsaw. At the current time, that happened to be the Blood.
How ghastly, John thought; if it were him, he would have tried to tear that thing down as soon as possible. A sentiment, John realized, that the polish people most likely shared, but they hadnt been in control of their own state in so long that they hadnt gotten the chance too.
This whole war against the authoritarians seemed long overdue. Well, unlike the real-life cold war, they didnt have to bother with mutually assured destruction, so that made things easier. That aside, it seemed as if the block had seen way better days, judging by the obvious amount of ash on its concrete walls and the ckened ring around it. John had no need to wonder where the endpoint of the portal had been anymore, nothing but the fire of a god or god-like creature could cause such devastation.
The intact district John hadnt heard about. So, he decided to ask. What is that good looking part of town? The question was directed at whoever could answer it.
Thats where the Tyralings live, an insectoid, eusocial people. They are one of the few reported races to do well under the Blood, Magoi filled him.
Huh, John looked at the district more closely as he prepared himself for what had to happen next. From each ording to his abilities, to each ording to his needs. Guess that ethos would work rather well with people who already have it in their gic structure.
That was thest thought he had before the breastte swung open and everyone, save Magoi and Ria, left the cavity. Rave just jumped straight down, sliding down a mid-motion, gargantuan leg as if it was a shortcut down a slope in a forest; Aclysia did the same, carrying John. My hero, the weaponized maid said in an unironic tone as shended on the concrete below.
Parts of the city were already burning, civilians had either evacuated or were barricading themselves in their houses, and sounds of distant battles could be heard. The Knights of Teuton that had pushed here were already in full engagement, and the extra battalion that hade with John had vanished from his sights after they had put up their helmets. As per agreement, they would infiltrate the hexagon now to further deviate enemy attention from where John had to go.
Lydia wasnt here; supposedly, she was being held in an underground facility that they couldnt reach from here. ALL WEAPON SYSTEMS ONLINE! The iron giant raised its hands, which reshaped from the human model to giant cannons and then started barraging ces where they knew enemy troop concentrations to be.
John started running, Rave and Nariko going somewhere else; this whole thing would get messy rather quickly. The problem was that they only knew that she was supposed to be down there, not where or how big it even was. They would need to spread out and push in while also keeping a minimum of control over the surface. Aclysia and Momo were quick behind him, as was Maximillian. Riding a stone b like a hover disk, the Gravity King was actually much faster than them. Jump on already, we have no time to waste, hemanded them. The Gamer obeyed, and they flew over the pavement.
In a bombed house they found what they were searching for, a halfway copsed tunnel that was fought over by a small contingent of knights against a mass of enemies. The knights once must have been a full ten, judging by the eight bodies on the floor.
This was the kind of situation Maximillian thrived in, crashing the hovering tform into the first guy, everyone jumping off shortly beforehand. The king, onlynding sessfully by relying on his cane so heavily it bent out of shape under the pressure for a moment, applied an amount of extra force to everyone in the area that caused most people to break down or at least slowed them to a crawl. Only his allies were exempted.
Go! Maximillian shouted as enemy reinforcements arrived in a heartbeat. They werent strong, not particrly, but the sheer mass would make this hard and drawn-out. I am not as useful down there; I will be defending this position!
Thanks! John said and ran into the copsed corridor. It was dark, dark and dark, but it didnt stay that way. He kept up the speed, trusting Sienas guidance through the vast shadows that left himpletely without orientation by the second corner. He could have illuminated his surroundings as well using Smander, but for the moment, the nightmare elemental kept her promise.
It would be so easy to lead you astray right now. She did keep reminding him that she was in control though. Obviously, the rather sadistic woman revelled in that. Her mind was open as she guided John further; if she wanted to trick him, revealing all her thoughts to him as she did would have been a terrible strategy.
They hurried deeper and deeper into the tunnels. The walls were nothing but nk, grey concrete and simplemps, broken in this segment. asionally, the earth trembled as the iron giant above did its thing. At least that is what John assumed; there could have been a lot of other reasons.
He went deeper and deeper into the belly of the base. Eventually, he was bound to find something, be it Lydia, despair or disappointment.
Chapter 342 – Cowardly Father, Traitor
Chapter 342 C Cowardly Father, Traitor
Every step brought them deeper into the guts of the facility. It was a giantbyrinth under the surface, but at least the parts they were in now were filled with light. Honestly, I preferred the darkness, John thought, as the artificial white of themps in the endless corridors burned themselves into his retinas.
It was only thanks to Gnome that they had any idea where they were in the first ce, with the stone elemental scanning out the cavities. She had detected several rooms, and they had to search through every single one of those. It was already 9 PM; John checked his phone to see how things were going above ground.
At least on a macro scale, they were still doing good. He had no info on how the fight for Warsaw itself was going; nobody bothered to keep that updated. Probably because they were all preupied. Alternatively, they were dead; he had been down here for half an hour already. He pushed that possibility off as being failure by default.
Somewhere down here Rave was searching as well. He hadnt seen her since they disembarked the giant. It was just him and his familiars, making their way down this seemingly empty facility. Where was everyone? Had they left, and if yes, where?
He went through the rooms that asionally appeared or he found. He found old food, not mouldy yet but dried out and cold, at least several days old. Was this where the elite units had been hanging out before
We have to get out of here! John finally heard a voice. Well, not he himself, but Sylph, who had flown down another corridor, just as Smander and Jack had, to widen the scope of their search. John immediately started to move into her direction.
We dont, that voice John recognized, it was the supreme fateweaver himself. That didnt make sense, Magoi said there was no other fateweaver present, otherwise they would have had a way harder time breaking in. We are in ce.
You dont get it! The city is under attack, my daughter is not safe here! Now that confirmed who John was listening to here. Lydias father sounded genuinely worried. How did Lydias anger towards him, him siding with themunists and the Blood having ess to Prussian artefacts all fit together?
He coulde up with numerous theories, but until he got the missing information, the reason why Lydia lied about his death, he had nothing but a pretty good idea. He would learn soon enough anyway. It would take about 5 more minutes; the two of them didnt seem to have noticed him yet.
How awfully convenient, John thought; how unimportant to the Bloods n must Lydia have been if they were willing to postpone even informing her father about their course of action for this long. But still, why is he here? Why did he let us get in?
The realization hit John like a wave of cold water crashing over him, and he sped up as he ran around the corner Sylph had taken. It was pretty obvious that Lydias father had been involved in the acquirement in the Teutonic crosses; his condition in return would have been to save his daughter. The Blood agreed because they thought theyd seed in taking out Romulus and then the rest of Europe. What was the saving of one monarchpared to taking out the greatest obstacle in the world?
Now that that had failed, however, Lydia and their promise to her father were without merit to them. What was the logical conclusion? They would use her as bait. Romulus had announced on live television and for the whole world to hear that he would get Lydia back in the name of his old friend. When the emperor of the strongest guild on the announced something, one better take it serious.
That meant, logically, that Romulus would send in a group of special forces once he would know where the princess location was. By making that location a ce that the Blood didnt really care about, they could turn it into a giant trap.
In other words, Gehnigm had let them in on purpose so he could use the city barrier as his cage. Then John and everyone else that was inside the city would bepletely surrounded, and Gehnigm could transport soldiers inside as he pleased, being much more capable than Magoi, ording to the High Fateweaver himself, and just tire them out.
If that happened, getting Lydia out of her imprisonment just moved her cell from a room to city in size. It was better but not by much. He had to take down the Supreme Fateweaver before that happened. He was almost there now, Lydias father formting a heartfelt plea against the scarcely speaking Gehnigm. Please, my daughter can be of great use to the revolution; I know her heart is in the right ce, he urged.
She has internalized the monarchy. The proletariat was fine with trying to bring her on the right path in peace. She is lost in war, Gehnigm held his opinion. This is an order. We are to use her. Will you choose her or will you choose the true path?
I obey the dictate of the party, the man gave in, and at that moment John could only share Lydias anger towards the spineless coward. He would protect his daughter only if it was easy? What the hell was that?
John put his phone away moments before he stormed around the corner. The Gamer?! Already? the two men reacted with a satisfying amount of surprise. Good to see that their n may have been good but their informationwork was severelycking.
Gehnigm was wearing his usual mask, blue, gold and ck metal forged into thick strands and interwoven into a head covering artwork that ended in four horn-like protrusions. He had changed his highly decorated suit for the same boring uniform that every other one of the Bloods higher ups were wearing.
John, repressing some boasting or other shy entrances in order to not waste time, brought down his right hand. Holding a green whip made from interwoven vines and a grip made from fresh and still alive wood, it extended and wrapped around the Fateweavers body. The moment it connected with Gehnigm, roots started growing out of it, wrapping him up in awork of tightening nt-life.
This whip was the item-form of thebination between Gnome and Undine, a girl called Nadine. John pulled the whip tight and immediately followed the surprise attack up, now close enough, by pointing his left hand at his target and unleashing the stored Mana de.
The shadow-infused spell cut forward, and then the physical world distorted around Gehnigm, causing him to simply step out of the bindings and leaving the tip of Johns attack curved around him. FUCK, John cursed himself and immediately went on the offensive again.
However, he was immediately stopped by the man he had regarded as second-rate. With incredible speed, Lydias father got in between John and the Supreme Fateweaver. Time to finally learn the guys name.
Yes, I am very much aware, but I dont feel remotely connected to this man, John thought and looked at the man. His face was covered in unhealthy looking patches of darker skin, eyes sunken and empty. He only had a remainder of brown hair he seemed to desperately cling to by giving it the only care his whole body experienced.
The man shouldnt have been a threat, his stats were abysmal. He wasnt strong, he wasnt quick, he wasnt smart, he was a nothing. However, the armour he wore made him a genuine threat.
What a waste of a charged item. The polished armour with the bad paint job looked like it should have been on a knight, not a traitorous son-inw with visible drug caused illnesses.
John took two steps backwards, and Aclysia immediately took to the space between them. You will stay away from my girl! the man shouted.
She wants you dead, what makes you think she is your girl?! John screamed back but ignored him in an attempt to grapple Gehnigm again. The Fateweaver had raised his arm in an attempt to escape.
Magoi, he said in an annoyed voice when it didnt work. He probably could have broken through anyway if it wasnt for John interrupting him again. The world distorted, the room, little more than a broader corridor, winded like a corkscrew, the floor spiralled.
John hadnt just engaged the Supreme Fateweaver, FORMER Supreme Fateweaver, without a n or precautions. Knowing of the chances of facing him here, he had informed himself about the man in advance. The reason why Gehnigm was so much stronger than his peers was fairly simple: he had an Innate Ability that allowed him to manipte dimensions.
Natural Fateweavers were rare in the first ce, but having a natural gift for something rted to that line of work as well? Not to mention one on that power level? Gehnigm was a monster amongst Fateweavers.
But a monster amongst non-fighters wasnt a monster to John. He threw out a unified Shardbound that flew straight at Gehnigm only to have its linearity curved under dimensional restructuring.
The second, and much more recent, part of Johns preparation had been to tell Magoi to brace for the Supreme Fateweaver to try an escape. As long as he was halfway upied, Gehnigm shouldnt have been able to muster the necessary power to break through. Which meant that it was Johns highest goal to keep doing that.
Not quite as easy when you were being attacked by a heavily buffed fanatic who hated and wanted to spill your guts on the basis of being told so. Lydias father was unimportant to Johns goals, he was just there, he was just a man. Nothing, that was what he was, a nothing carried by his armour. Literally, as the attributes had told John, the armour was telling Ivans body what to do.
John had the elementals keep distracting the man, but he was actually holding his ground. With elegant movements, he reflected blows with his shadow-born shield while carrying his light sword with unrelenting precision. The movements were mechanical but effective, and if John had pulled anyone off the man, he could easily see himself getting stabbed in the back a momentter. This was despite Gnome and Undine joining the fight after Nadines 5 minutes ran out.
Of course, this was inrge part thanks to Gehnigm. The fateweaver reordered the room however it was most advantageous form him and his ally. It stretched, waved and winded like a snake made from rubber. John tried to catch the masked man and get him involved in a melee. With Purgatory fully stacked, that much should have been easily possible.
But it wasnt; he ran and he ran, but the ground underneath his feet just moved like a treadmill. What could he do? Would Sylph be able to fly towards him? No, he already had shown the ability to manipte air just as well. Sylphs head would sooner explode in confusion than she would catch the guy, and Smander wont be fast enough. I need Nia, or someone with abilities just like that guy, John thought.
In the perceived distance, it looked like it was over a hundred metres, but John had no idea of knowing for sure, Gehnigm raised his hand. John was getting desperate. If they got nailed here, that was it. Encircled this deep into enemy territory, it wouldnt matter how good they were, they would die from the constant assaults.
I need someone to counter this power! he screamed in his mind. Something, anything! I need to save Lydia, and I need to have our route out secured.
Now that was an effect he couldnt use at all in the current situation. Something connected to his mind as he was asking himself where that came from. It felt much like his connection to Momo or Aclysia, but less borate and efficient. Their connection felt like a well-maintained highway, this new one like a three-day route through a desert without any oasis in sight.
The voice that connected to him went through two differentnguages he didnt understand before a woman with a mild middle-eastern ent finally asked him in a mildly aggressive and cheeky tone.
You want to be my new master?
Chaper 343 – Deus Ex Metracana
Chaper 343 C Deus Ex Metracana
Yes! John answered without hesitation. He had already figured that it was time for her to wake up earlier in the iron giant. The mana that Ria had been wondering where it went, the sense of foreboding he had felt, both were signs of a consciousness finally awakening.
Then get me the hell out of here! the voice answered, and John, still running, grabbed into his inventory and pulled out the metracana, threw it towards Gehnigm. The moment it left his hand, it started to change. The head sized object, appearing like a spine with a horribly malformed rib cage, expanded and twisted into a proper shape.
A mass of liquid metal, it transformed first into a rough humanoid shape. John could feel information being copied from his brain about what he wanted her to be, information that she now absorbed in its entirety. However, he could also feel her not being quite content with just being what he wanted, putting her own spin on all of his wishes.
What finallynded in the endlessly stretching space between John and the former Supreme Fateweaver was a beauty. Of course she is, John thought in a moment of happiness amidst this unfolding aftershock of a catastrophe. The world seems pretty nice to throw so many cute girls into my path.
She had dirty blonde hair, the kind that was dark at the roots but quickly changed into a nice pale gold colour, that reached down to the middle of her back. To call it wild would have been an understatement, it was so unruly that it reminded John half of his girlfriends pure chaos of a hairstyle and half of a lions mane.
Her unclothed body had a healthy tan and was looking quite muscr without it being so overbearing that she lost her clearly feminine shape. A nicely round butt with tight skin and an average sized chest were her less notable features, even if the pinkish brown nipples crowning and Johns general love for behinds made them quite the sight.
The true attractiveness of this girls bodyy with her stomach area, as weird as that sounded. Her defined muscles transformed the already beautifully t area into andscape of perfectly harmonized human physique that not even Rave could rival. The line from her ribcage to her belly-button, the soft shadow where pelvis and muscture met to form a V-shaped outline around her crotch, the way everything tautened and her ribs became the slightest bit visible when she stretched with a yawn.
You throw a nude woman at me? Gehnigm was obviously confused, a fact that bought them just a few more precious seconds as the Fateweaver already thought himself secure. On the other hand, John was pretty sure that he had victory on his side now; after all, he now had somebody who was able to manipte the dimensions himself.
Get at the back of the line; I need to get this contract in order first, the new arrival said and turned to John. Her face was stunning to look at and had a nice cheeky look that was equally dangerous as it was fascinating. The expression of a tomboy that also knew that she was extremely attractive, the kind that yed with men but also was one of the best friends to ever have if you got her there.
It was not the expression John had expected on whatever woulde out of the thing that had sedated a forming goddess for seventy years. Not even in the slightest. What is my name? I prefer Metra, but you can give me a new one for the time of our rtionship.
Metra is perfectly fine, John answered; he wasnt great at name-giving in the first ce, and he had no time to sit two hours before the insert field at the end of the character creation screen right now. My name is John Newman.
What is my purpose under you? that was the more important question.
The easy answer was to kill that guy over there, but that would have ended their contract at the end of this battle. To serve me until I no longer want of your services, John said. He had considered Until the end of my life at first, but the way he said it now gave him an out if she turned out to be unworkable.
Then this shall be my 77th contract. I dere you my master, John Newman, with that John suddenly got a pop-up.
Well, he would have to find out what that Qiada thing waster. Metra turned back over to Gehnigm who finally got where the wind was blowing from. A Metracana, here? he seemed as perplexed as John was once the blonde girl reached into his inventory and pulled out a halberd. It was thetter part that immensely confused him, as the former was something he had already seening.
The halberd was made from sand coloured wood and about two-metres in size. Ending in a head of one long spike, with two crescent des sprouting from the sides, all made from some sort of golden metal decorated with ck writings in some ancient hieroglyphguage. John wasnt actually quite sure if halberd was the correct term there; one might as well have called it an oversized axe.
Metra swung that thing around, and suddenly the gigantic distance between them was ripped apart. Literally, the concept of the room itself was cut by the tip of the halberd, creating a corridor in the warped space that allowed Metra to attack. Despite it being fairly slow, Gehnigm fell backwards as he dodged the second slice that followed. Man, it has been so long since I have had a human body, much less one so sexy also when was thest time I had a vagina? By Marduk, you wont just have me fight, huh?
Well, this was hardly the time to be thinking about that, but it seemed that Johns perverted nature had sneaked that in there somewhere. Not that Metra seemed to mind; she was grinning ear to ear. She seemed very much happy with how things were going. Having loved to do more than guesswork, John tried to navigate the maze that was their mental connection but to no avail. Man, I dont get lots of oppo-
Gehnigm recovered rather quickly, and the floor underneath Metra suddenly started warping like the centre of a wormhole simtion, dropping deeper and deeper. Like that will stop me, John heard the entertained voice shout out in battle-hunger as if she was right beside him. Then she appeared out of a portal, a sliced open part of reality right besides Gehnigm who ran as she was busy climbing out of that.
This fight of bending dimensions made Johns head hurt, and he was certainly happy that he just had to watch. All he understood was that the two of them didnt have the same powers. Where Gehnigm manipted and bend space, Metra tore it apart. The main difference that made was in scope. The Supreme Fateweaver would have been able to manipte the dimensions of an entire building, but Metra was able to punch through singr parts of reality.
Metaphorically speaking, Gehnigm could fold or stretch the fabric of reality however he wanted; Metra weaved through the fabric like a needle. It was the power John had needed, one that could effectively battle the Supreme Fateweavers.
Why do you have these powers? Gehnigm wanted to know. Metracanas were a rather secretive thing, so him being unaware of how they worked wasnt surprising. As a matter of fact, not even the Horned Rat had known that Metra would develop these powers; John just had been able to figure it out earlier in the iron giant when something had siphoned off mana. Something that then also had reached out to his mind and filled him with a sense of foreboding, and if that something could do all of that out of his inventory
This is what happens if you let me soak in mana in an undefinable space for too long, Metra said, tapping the shaft of the halberd on her shoulder. John used Observe on both Metra and the weapon at the opportunity.
That thing was stupidly strong and fit perfectly for what Metra needed as equipment. Did the world just decide that this was the moment that everything aligned for her appearance or what was going on?
All that was nice and dandy, but John couldnt help but feel that her stats were somewhat underwhelming for what he had been hyped up for. Then again, at their level, stats were a secondary concern. As someone who had been subject to a few women who were prone to blow up at random times already, Metra being able to handle her rage was a nice change of pace. Although he had to wonder about the fact that she scaled with his level. Was she being held down by him or pulled up? Looking at her age, skills and the things she had eaten already, the former seemed way more likely. Was it thanks to the Adapting Powers attribute?
Although the real key here is that the plea to awaken me was the need for someone who can fight your powers. As the ancient artefact turned hot babe spoke, she bundled up her hair behind her head and created a ring out of her own metallic body that kept most if it in ce. It had been annoying when she moved, so she had to get it out of her face. Unruly strands fell by the wayside and framed her face. She would live with that much, apparently, as she didnt bother with them anymore after her wild ponytail was in ce.
Well then. Her voice took a swing from cheeky to aggressive; her eyes opened wide, changing colours from radiant green to a bright red. She entered a crouching position whirling the halberd down, the tip pointing at the floor as she held it with both hands. My job is to kill you, so let me guide you she prated the air in front of her with the tip of Qiada as she darted forwards, the weapon halfway disappeared, to the afterlife!
The tip appeared again right next to Gehnigms head, but like every other attempt at attacking him, it simply curved around him. You may have a simr power, but I remain stronger, the Supreme Fateweaver reminded them, having regained his cool from the distance. Even as a nonbat focused mage, as long as he remained dominant in his field, he was untouchable. Metras appearance had saved them from him escaping, as he now had to concentrate on defending himself, but it wasnt a solution.
Gehnigm was so much more proficient at his craft that he even had time to help Ivan as he kept himself safe from Metras attack. The cowardly father was still holding strong, but it was only the support of the Fateweaver that gave him the upper hand. Against Johns hope, her appearance hadnt magically turned the situation around. Her attacks didnt even hold a candle to Sylphs speed or Gnomes strength. She just had the right ability at the right time. Her dimensional attacks missed Gehnigm again and again, always bending away before they could reach them. They came one after another.
Wait a second, is she getting faster? John realized as he was watching. Not only did the time between each attack diminish, but they became stronger as well. And as she did, the special distortions around her became lessened as her targets power was outweighed.
All the while Metras grin was like the carving on an incredibly sexy voodoo mask, unmoving and final. The true ce where her emotionsy were her eyes. Each time an attack missed, John could see the frustration re up and drop right into a swelling sea of anger and fuel the berserkers power just a bit more. Thats when John understood.
Metra was like the Hulk, the angrier she got, the more power she had. Unlike the Hulk, she seemed to have a fair working self-control, however. And it didnt just stop at her physical strength. John was pretty sure there were some other conditions to this, there always were conditions, but in and of itself, that was really impressive.
And it worked. Soon enough, Gehnigm had to pull back his support towards Ivan as the weapon appeared next to him again and again. He was a sitting duck, having nothing but an overpowered defence skill now subject to an attack that got stronger the longer it was used. In game terms, he had just met his counter. John didnt particrly look at the portal maniption that was going on, had no time to figure out the drawbacks of that technique. He was looking for an opening.
Metra went on her final offensive, slicing open a dimensional gap and jumping inside only to burst out right next to the Supreme Fateweaver. The whole room was distorted as Gehnigm desperately tried to bring distance between them as best he could. Even now his power in this field remained far greater than Metras, and in one second, without either of them moving anymore, the space between them grew from a few centimetres to hundreds of metres. The only reason why the power-copying metracana could even get this close was because she used her efforts in a focus while Gehnigm had to ward off everyone at once.
Which was exactly why he got hit by 12 Shardbound in the back the moment it was only Metra he concentrated on.
John had spent the time of their exchange of blows to spread the shards throughout the room using Possession, only ever waiting for the moment where there was one gap. When Metra finally closed in on Gehnigm, all of his defences had dropped.
Dropped far below what John had anticipated. Even the mighty had faults, especially those who thought themselves untouchable. It seemed the former Supreme Fateweaver had no experience in meleebat whatsoever. Thus, the moment he thought that only his powers could save him now, he had used a knee jerk reaction that left him wide open.
And so his body was riddled with holes from the shards of pure energy either burning into or flying straight through him depending on their energy level, disappearing after they had dealt their damage. But my perfect world Gehnigm broke down as his life left him. Their primary threat was no more.
Geezus Christ, what level was that guy, and why didnt he ever invest into any offensive skills? John to wonder. Only getting defensive stuff is bound to get you murdered one day. Thats like being a turtle by choice in a world where raptors exist that can pick you up and crack your shell by dropping you from the sky.
Metra sent him a majorly pissed re, but John had another thing to deal with right now. At least thats what he thought until he spied something wavering in the air. A momentter, the air ripped open, and Metras hand darted forth, grabbing him by the cor. The gap wasnt big enough to pull him through, but she could re at him through it perfectly well.
Her eyes were now of a greyish green, but even with that burned out look, the feeling of directed rage inside them was clearly burning like the fire of smelter. Never get involved in my fights again, Master. NEVER get involved in MY fights! she said it twice, as if once wasnt clear enough. Then she dropped him again, and the gap, through which he was able to see her face, closed. He would deal with thatter.
Ivan, without help from his ally and having noticed his superiors defeat, was now without hope to win this fight. He dropped to his knees the second this became apparent, the same second John turned towards him. The armour he wore screeched as he went to the ground, evidently having more honour than him. Others had at least believed in what they fought for with enough fervour to die for it; all John saw here was someone desperately trying not to make his own decisions.
I surren- the word didnt evene to an end as something started to choke his air away.
Sylph, stop that! Smander instructed.
I aint doing it, something else is, Sylph said with puffed up cheeks, My powers arent being used, none, nothing, nada, see, there is this strand of copper wire here that is doing it. Pretty copper, thin copper, copperes from there!
The three deaths of family Goch – The Mother [Lydia Side Story]
The three deaths of family Goch C The Mother [Lydia Side Story]
What do you mean you dont want to have your hair cut? Mathilda asked her daughter. The mid-thirty women with short, brown hair was wearing clothes of incredibly good quality. Same could have been said for the furniture of their medium-sized home at the outskirts of Danzig. The scissor andb she was holding also applied to the general theme of high quality items.
I just dont want it short! Lydia, in her early tens, squeaked back and stomped on the floor. Her long hair wavered under the impact, and she whirled around to run away.
Her mother was very well aware of how stubborn the girl could be and hastily stepped in her way. You dont get to run away, youngdy! she announced.
I dont want you to keep cutting my hair; its embarrassing! the normal girl announced with her hair of middle back length. We have so much money, why dont we go to the hairdresser?
Because we dont have a lot of money, I HAD a lot of money, and now we have a lot of savings, Mathilda berated her daughter while trying to coerce her towards their usual chair. So now we conserve our savings until your father gets a better job than a chef at a low-ss restaurant.
Why dont you get some more money from wherever it came from? Lydia wanted to know and hid behind the chair instead of sitting on it.
Because its part of my family inheritance and thats that; we arent talking about them anymore! the housewife insisted. She never wanted to talk about her family, and it irked Lydia in no small part. Now stand still, princess; you and I both know that you are going to run around like a tomboy again today and you are going to whine about leaves and branches getting stuck in it!
No! Lydia disagreed just out of principle, as children tended to do when they were arguing with their evil, evil parents. I will keep it long, and nothing is going to happen.
Mathilda sighed, or perhaps it was a pained hiss, and stopped chasing her daughter. Why do you want to keep it long anyway?
All the other girls have theirs long, Lydia mumbled while staring at the floor, awaiting the typical mothersment.
And if everyone is jumping off the bridge you are going to jump too? There it was.
I DONT WANT MY HAIR CUT! Lydia shouted and stomped again, and then something really unnatural happened. The scissor her mother had been holding flew right out of her hand, as if pushed by an invisible force. The twisting des cut into Mathildas right thumb and then hit the floor with a series of bounces a few momentster as choking silence filled the room, drowning out the usual fight of mother and daughter.
Lydia stumbled backwards and then fell; she tried to get up and panically run from her mother who inspected her thumb for a moment, heading for the door. She just had to get past her mother and then she was outside. Of course, there was no logic to any of it; she had no idea what just happened or why or even how, but she felt like had to get away.
You stay right here! Mathilda did not share that idea and grabbed her by the neck of her clothes. Thusly stopped in a rather abrupt fashion, Lydia felt herself being picked up and then ced on the chair. Her mothers unhurt hand was right in her face, index finger extended and her eyes crossed as they focused on it. You will be sitting still and stay quiet for a few seconds; I need to get myself a bandage.
She left the room, picked up the scissor and returned from the kitchen, where she kept her first aid stuff, not even a minuteter. When she came back, Lydia had panicked tears streaming over her face.
Aw, dont cry, little princess, Mathilda said, wiping her daughters tears away with a soft handkerchief. Thats just a there was a pause, her mother never paused unless she was about to tell a stupid lie, my hand just slipped.
Hands didnt slip and cause scissors to fly around the room. Every child would know that. But Lydia therefore wanted to speak up in denial of that.
But what? Mathilda interrupted her rather hastily; You think you are magician, Lydia? That you got some sort of supernatural power? Try moving this then, with a nervous look on her face, her mother held up the sticb. If asked like that, the hand slipping sounded more realistic. Especially since theb didnt move an inch.
Okay, so your hand slipped, Lydia sniffed, believing that with a childs mind who just got done being lectured by her mom.
Yup, now keep sitting there; if you wont let me solve your hair problem through cutting it, we are going to solve it another way, Mathilda announced. Shebed her daughters hair and hummed a little song, making it seem like life was okay, before parting her hair into three strands and putting them together into one nice braid. There, now you can go y.
Lydia jumped off the chair and barely stopped to get into her shoes. I am going now! she shouted into the house, seeing a hand wave her goodbye. A hand with a thumb that was still bleeding. Mom said she will be fine, so she will be fine, Lydia decided.
As she stormed through the streets, she had to admit that the braid was nice. It felt a bit heavy and foreign against the back of her head, but it also didnt get in the way as much as her open hair.
She spent the next few hours doing what children on the verge of puberty do: running around the neighbourhood, finding some of her friends and gossiping or ying stupid games. It was always a bit weird for Lydia that she had to switchnguages between home and everywhere else, but thats just how that was.
However, eventually she got a call from her father and thus had to go to the hospital.
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You have acute leukaemia, and its already advanced to a fatal point, the doctor exined to Mathilda and the rest of the family of three with a sober but sorry expression on his face, the kind only doctors with years of experience in delivering bad news could make. I am afraid that the chances of healing are non-existent.
I see, was all Mathilda said as everyone looked to her for guidance. Ivan, Lydias father, was as frozen as a deer in front of a cars headlights, and Lydia couldnt help but find herself be disappointed by this. She had always held her father in high regard, he was a man who could work hard and still crack jokes when tired, but now that he came face to face with a crisis, he seemed to crumble immediately. We better not lose any time then, start whatever treatment you have.
It didnt work well.
Lydias happy life was eroded within just a few months. Her birthday came and passed, a hollow party organized by the mother of a friend. The unknowing girl was very well aware what was inevitablying for them; she wasnt that young anymore. She never would be as young again.
After the first month of treatment, her condition worsened to the point where she was barely awake anymore. It all hit so suddenly it just felt surreal. How could a human that was so lively just waste away so quickly? Her father lost his job another monthter, never showing up to exin anything to his employer and instead sitting by his decaying wifes side as he did nothing but watch the tragedy of life unfold before him.
Listen to me, Mathildas voice had grown very weak, but Lydia immediately picked it up in the otherwise quiet room.
Yes? She immediately hurried over to the bedside as her father asked that question. What is it?
There is a pendant in my jewellery, in the shape of a key, she whispered. I want you to bury it with me. Never tell anyone else about it, nobody.
Ivan looked at her with tears dwelling in his eyes, Dont be silly, you arent going to die.
I think its time you stop telling yourself that and start looking after our daughter, Mathilda berated him; You need to work for both of us. I know thats cruel but thats just
Thats just how fate yed out sometimes.
She faded back into her hazy sleep and died a week thereafter. It was then that Ivan brokepletely. Whether he wanted to act out his wifesst wishes or not, he seemed to be unable to. It was Lydia who did most of the organizing for the funeral and thus found herself unable to invite her mothers side of the family for it, while her fathers family had barely known her as they were on the other side of Pnd.
It was Lydia who had to grab the pendant, a silver mixture of cross and key, and put it into the casket, and in the end, it was Lydia who had to stand next to a crying man on her mothers grave, holding back her own tears.
They had buried her in a secluded graveyard at the local church.
The three deaths of family Goch – The Father [Lydia Side Story]
The three deaths of family Goch C The Father [Lydia Side Story]
AND DONT EVER SHOW YOUR FACE AROUND HERE AGAIN! Lydia ran away as the angry store owner shouted after her. She was clutching her bag, which she had hastily grabbed on her way out, as she ran around the corner. Stumbling because she tried to dodge a ck cat that suddenly entered her pathway, she let go of it for one moment before catching herself on a nearby bench.
It was an old thing, covered in spray-paints that only the people who made them could think were any sort of artistic expression, and a few splinters of rough wood prated the outeryers of her skin as she regained her bnce. It was unpleasant, but in her hazy state, she barely noticed it.
My dishwashing job is going to be unpleasant the next few days she thought before realizing that that was the job she had just lost. A girl of thirteen years shouldnt ever be this tired, a voice at the back of her head told her. Pushing it aside, Lydia got up and checked the inside of her bag. The money she had stolen was still there.
This was ast resort she had went to two times before that already, making this one the third. The stealing always worked out, unlocked doors, opportunistically breaking cameras, faulty cash registers and lucky safebination guesses. However, the reason why she only resorted to this when she absolutely had to, even though she never got caught, was because it always seemed to be followed by a massive streak of bad luck.
She hadnt even stolen this load of cash from the job she had just gotten fired from; this was the job she went to directly afterwards. A te had slipped from her fingers, and when she tried to pick it up, she had identally caused a chain reaction that saw an insane amount of coteral damage. Not only to the restaurant, as a dull pulsing pain in her shoulder let her know. Arge pot had fallen on top of her.
Injuries like that werent abnormal after stealing; Lydia often caught herself thinking, when she had the energy to think that was, that it was some sort of karmic bnce at y. She got a streak of luck allowing her to get away with stealing, and then the world punished her. She didntin, she had no right to; after all this was the thing that helped her over the rounds.
Although it would be increasingly harder to find a job. The sort of scumbags that would hire a 13-year-old girl without asking questions or even attempting to sign a contract were somewhat wellworked.
On other days she would now head towards the next job. If she got there earlier, she would get paid more because she could work longer. Today, however, she had informed the man who did that particr thing that she had something else to do.
It was the second anniversary of her mothers death.
Lydia didnt even know how thest two years had passed. They were all just a melted mess of hazy, tired days. Act through school like nothing is really happening, go work, sleep too little, repeat. She got home and opened the door.
Lying in the entrance was her father; it was no surprise to see him there. He recently had taken to drinking, and she was almost relieved by that. He wasnt a violent drunk, he just cried and eventually fell asleep, and he didnt care what it was as long as it was strong. It was way cheaper for him to pass out in the entrance of the house than to spend the majority of time gambling away what they still had.
Lydia didnt even try to lift him up and get him somewhere else; he had gotten fat from the amount of cheap bread he stuffed his face with. Maybe I would be better off if he just died. Lydia shook her head at thought, disgusted with herself. That was even worse than that regr invasive idea to report her situation to the authorities.
If she did that, then she wouldnt even have her father anymore. She would be all alone. No, the hell she currently was in was the best hell she could have bargained for. There was no heaven on an earth where mothers died anyway.
You wont be able toe with me to moms grave, will you? Lydia mumbled, shaking the passed out drunk while getting a pile of due bills and warnings out from under him. Of course, it didnt achieve anything. The only movement that was in the still body came from his chest pumping heavily. Lydia grabbed a little bundle of flowers, left himying there and went out again.
It wasnt far from her home to the local church. Hiding from the priest, he was a good but insistent man and would ask her how she was doing, to which she had no answer that wouldnt have ultimately led to a confrontation she didnt want to have and made her way to her mothers grave.
She had a couple of flowers with her. Plucked from her garden, uncared for since Mathildas death, they looked sick and halfway withered being already several days old and the autumn air doing them no favours.
A breeze rolled over thend, waving her messy braid as she hid her hands in her pockets. She hadnt been to a hairdresser, instead just cutting her hair herself. She would have liked it short, but this way of styling her hair was her mothersst peaceful action before everything had taken a turn for the much, much worse. At some point, the rebellious insistence of a girl had be a memento.
Quietly, an arm extended next to the kneeling girl and ced a second pair of flowers on the soil in front of the gravestone. They were pristine, properly arranged in a bouquet and made the ones Lydia had left behind look even more like biological waste.
Lydia whirled around and saw three men. Two of them were tall, muscr people in suits, one of which had been the one to ce the flowers. However, the old man in the centre had an aura around him that Lydia couldnt quite ce. With his declining, barely aristocratic hairline, he had an air of authority around him, but his whole-bodynguage and on-setting frailty made him look more like the friendly grandpa type.
So she is dead after all, the old man said; May I ask who you are little girl?
Who are YOU? Lydia asked in return slowly inching away. People in suits were way too likely to mean trouble.
That depends on your answer to my question, the old man said, flicking away a pebble with his walking stick out of boredom; If you are just a random passerby, then I am no one to you. If you have knowledge of the Abyss, that would make me someone you should know already. If you are just the daughter of the bashful child that lies underneath that stone, thatd make me your grandfather, of some description at least.
The adolescent girl got big eyes. You are my mothers father?
For the ease of simplicity, yes, the old man stepped closer and narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to see something beyond her. I had no idea she had a kid with an Innate Ability. She really disliked us when she left, didnt she? Kid, what is your name?
Lydia the stare of the old manbined with a asking gesture urged her to state her full name, Lydia Goch.
Bah. No, no, no, the old man stabbed his cane into the ground with each denial, creating little dark holes in the otherwise light-coloured dirt. Not even Van Goch, that would have been eptable, just Goch. Cant have you run around with that name when you got a gift from Gaia.
Gaia? Lydia asked, and the old man raised an eyebrow.
She didnt tell you anything? Mhm, let me give you the short of it then. Starting with the most important thing In the background one of bodyguards raised his hands, and suddenly the wind stopped. yourst name should be Hohenzollern, and you can be part of another world...
___________________________________________________________________
That is crazy! Lydia decided when the old man was done with his exnations.
Is it? I can see in your aura, you have some kind of ability. Did nothing weird ever happen to you? Some twists of fate that seemed to work out in the short but got you a streak of bad luck in the long run? Frederik the Great, her supposed great grandfather, said and then cackled like only old people could when he read the answer from her face. So there is something!
Those cash registers and cameras Lydia mumbled, the doors They hadnt been left open, her powers had instinctively broken them open, and because everyone had been convinced they had checked their security, and had been right, this Gaia entity had punished her for it.
She nced at the wobbling mass of liquid metal that had been Frederiks cane. There was no doubt that this was either real or she had finally gone coo-coo from the stress. Honestly, thetter seemed more likely.
Mhm, what do registers, cameras and doors have inmon, Frederik mumbled behind a raised hand. It didnt take long before he snapped his fingers and grinned. Catch! he eximed while throwing a piece of the liquid mass at her.
She reached out with her hands, and remarkably enough, that did the trick. It caused something inside her to stretch and cry like a muscle that hadnt been moved in a day. In her defence, she only just had been told that she indeed possessed that muscle.
About twenty centimetres, thats pretty good for a starter in metal magic, Frederikmented; Actually, that is highly promising.
Why? Lydia asked while watching this blob waver in front of her; everything seemed to waver as well as her eyes became wet. It was a realization that hit her, one for which the man in front of her wasnt to me but the woman underground behind them. Why did she not ask you for help? Why didnt my father?
Mathilda parted with our family to marry your father together with a vow to never touch the Abyss again. It was smart of her; both she and Ivan were weak. She hated our family because she never felt acknowledged by us, Frederik shrugged; Maybe she was right, our family is big and the weak often fall by the wayside. Maybe she wanted to keep you out of this whole life; her asking for help would have meant we would have found you immediately. Maybe she thought it would have been useless to ask anyway. Only she can tell you that.
Lydia sniffed as small tears ran down her face. What now? Will you abduct me?
Abduct you? What? I am a gentleman, youngdy! Frederik announced in a genuinely offended voice; What kind of family would ever abduct its own members? No, no, he stabbed the ground twice with a cane that quickly reformed, I am giving you a choice. If youe with me, I will see that your father is cared for where you can see him, that you get those powers under control and that you have all the money and security you could ever need. Thates with a feudal oath to an immortal god-like being, but I assure you he is a master conversationalist and a nice and artistic fellow.
Minutes passed as she thought about it. Wasnt this just the same as running to the authorities? Yes, yes it was. However, now that she was actually face to face with a whole other world and powers she didnt understand, another thing became perfectly clear. She had been lying to herself because she was afraid, and unless she suddenly woke up from this dream, she now had the choice between continuing to work the skin off her bones for a father that became increasingly more likely to die of some overdose by the day or to dive into the Abyss.
She looked up with determination.
___________________________________________________
Five yearster on the day, she hurried back to the grave in the middle of the night. Those were five years filled with hard work in all aspects of life. Education, art, music, finances, governing. She had to learn all about everything, and with the discipline of a girl who knew the struggle of working out of utter necessity, she had worked through all of it.
She had so much to tell her mother, enough to sacrifice sleep on a workday to go all the way out here. To this day, she still admired the woman, even if she hade to understand that she had been imperfect. She had a slight smile on her lips and hummed a song that she had been writing on her piano, advised by the elemental she had contracted. Someday soon, they would be one; Lydia wasnt sure if she wanted that yet, but Frederik said it wasnt a bad thing, and Cath agreed to the procedure.
Just two days ago, she had been dered heir of the Hohenzollern estates. That was a great honour and had caused some surprise in the nation, especially since together with that she, a total neer on the world stage, being previously unknown, had a chance to get on the throne of Rex Germaniae after her grandfather.
Although that may not be necessary; Maximillian, the other candidate, was an attractive and interesting man. Maybe they could strike some sort of agreement? She giggled a bit as she took the final corner and felt her stomach turn upside down as she spied a man climbing out of a hole where her mothers grave was supposed to be.
It was Ivan, her father, holding the silver key pendant with a look of feverish aplishment on his face. At that moment a part of Lydia already knew.
The three deaths of family Goch – The Daughter [Lydia Side Story]
The three deaths of family Goch C The Daughter [Lydia Side Story]
What are you doing? Lydia had to know as she stood at the edge of the grave. She didnt know what the worst about the scene was. Maybe it was the entirety of it? No, the devil definitelyy in the details here. Was it her father quickly hiding the pendant and staring at his daughter not with guilt but with fear? The hole? The decayed corpse in the broken casket that had nothing to do anymore with the mother she had loved?
The answer was that it was all equally horrifying. It tore at her, the anger, the hate, a whirlwind of negative emotion tossed around inside her, leaving only murderous confusion. What are you doing?! she repeated.
I am Lydia I just needed this thing, andyou know the past months have been hard, and he stumbled something together as Lydia created an Illusion Barrier around them. Gulping, he hit the back of the literal hole he had dug himself into.
I have been providing money and help to you, you are safe, sober, why would you do this? she whispered these words. He had be so stable in the recent years. The answer she was met with was silence.
Of course, she couldnt have known what had happened. How the help he had been receiving had in realitye from a sleeper agent of the Blood of the Proletariat who exploited the mans weakness by recing his drugs with ideology in an attempt to create leverage towards Lydia. How, in the sessions, Ivan had revealed the existence of the key pendant, a secret his daughter had kept for years. At least he had insisted that nobody else desecrated his wifes grave, although that was a questionablest ditch of honour.
Uhm, I just I have my reasons, Ivan avoided the questions which he wasnt allowed to answer. Unless I have found some friends who have the best of everyone in mind! Come with me, and! He stopped abruptly as a piece of metal flew up to his throat.
Lydias fists trembled as she tried to bring herself to just do it. Lying to herself was a thing she had sworn to stop doing just a few days after having been saved by Frederik. You have been a disappointment every day since Mother got sick, she whispered; You lost your job, you wasted our savings, you drank away the money I scrapped together for us, and now that our life turned out for the better, you rob her grave and sully herst wish I should just kill you.
The coward in the ditch didnt dare to speak up to any of the usations hurled his way, just looking at the sharp piece of metal on his throat. Just a few centimetres between him and a fate he justly deserved.
But she couldnt do it.
The piece of metal retreated. You died today, she decided with closed eyes. Knowing perfectly well that this decision was going to influence her life for the worse one day, she made that announcement. You took your own life while ovee with sorrow. You will never set a foot anywhere close to the empire ever again, or I will kill you myself. Do you understand?
The answer was silence and the disappearance of the man when she opened her eyes again. He didnt even have the courage to say goodbye, had just left the barrier when Lydia had given him a gap. This open grave now held two people in her mind.
You know what it was that he took with him, right? Cath asked.
Yes Lydia was perfectly aware. The key to the Tomb of Teuton, a ce where the Knights of Teuton, under whose protection she soon would be ced, had sealed their most important artefacts. She had no idea why her mother had stolen the key, although the most likely answer was foolish spite. let us end the family Goch today, Cath. Fuse with me.
I ept, the elemental said, and they began the preparations. It wasnt all that hard in practicality, as things which had been perfected hundreds of years ago seldomly looked to be to people that stood on that old knowledge. In essence, it was a modified summoning circle that was faulty by design to prevent the elementals summoning to happen anywhere else but inside the persons body. By using the already in-ce contract, the magic essence of the elemental would then seep right into the summoners soul and permeate her whole being, effectively recing both of them.
It was a cowardly thing to do in this situation, to just end herself in favour of a person she hoped to be stronger. In a way, she saw her father in this action. However, she promised herself to be someone who could do what was necessary for her new family. A family that wasnt something as paltry as a blood connection but a bond of obligations, debts and rights. A family that she could work for with all she had, the size of a nation.
Farewell, Cath, Lydia said.
This is not a goodbye, Princess of Steel, the metal elemental berated her; This is our rebirth.
The summoning circle activated as both sides fulfilled their tasks, and Lydia felt something break inside her.
It hurt. Her grandfather had promised it would have been pleasant, but it hurt. Her whole body felt hot and then was suddenly thrown into icy waters. Her eyes, lidless, absorbed the painful clearness of blue shade as her skin crawled with needles. Once she had be numb, she was thrown into fire, and everything was scorching hot. From the tips to the roots, the fire seemed to take hold of her. The process repeated, once, ten, hundred, maybe a thousand times, and each time it hurt a little less as her new consciousness was hammered into shape and assumed a new state of being.
Eventually, she came back to her senses, reborn. Her hair had assumed a slightly red, copper like tinge, and her eyes, a normal brown before, had be an open gate to her emotions. She saw these changes in a t piece of polished metal she created from her de.
She felt different yet the same. Her memories were still there, together with all the ones of Cath. There was a definitive change to how she used her powers; it was easier to the point where it was almost as natural as breathing now.
The pain of what had just transpired was still fresh, but it didnt touch her as deeply. It was like she had suddenly gained the personality of an experienced business woman, together with the ability to put a distance between herself and things that didnt benefit her. At the same time, she still felt the pain, and it wasnt going anywhere.
She was like a forged but unsharpened de. It would take much longer for her to understand her new self. One thing, however, she was certain of: she no longer was Lydia Goch. Her name was Lydia Augusta the Fourth of House Hohenzollern. Her father had killed himself, and her mothery before her.
She averted her eyes from the corpse and jumped over to the gravestone that wasying in the dirt. Resting her hand on it for a few minutes, she whispered to the cold stone all the great things that had happened to her which she originally wanted to tell her.
Maybe there is heaven for us after all of this, she genuinely hoped; Then I can shout at you for having your faults and you can berate me like you always did when I didnt behave properly I wonder if you would be proud of me?
The grave was silent even when she left.
Chapter 344 – The princess was in this castle
Chapter 344 C The princess was in this castle
Are you sure you want to do this, Lydia? John asked as the Princess appeared from the other side of the hall. Previously boring concrete, lit by the bright artificial light of magical electronics, it was now slowly unwinding from all the dimensional bending it had been made subject too.
Lydia forced herself into the room on obviously shaky feet. Her usually so impable uniform was ripped all over, and she was cuffed with some sort of stic straps, probably enchanted heavily. Swaying steps, barely upheld by the wall, she came closer. John hastened towards her, together with Undine as the rest of the group kept look-out for Ivan, who was trying to grasp the thin wire around his neck that was Lydias hair.
Opening her mouth to answer, the princess only managed to formte a dry cough. Judging by her lips, usually wonderfully red and wless now parched and covered in dead skin, she hadnt been given drink since she had been abducted. John broke off the tip of one of the earthen spikes Gnome used to attack and formed a crude bowl using Craft for Undine to fill with fresh water.
With military discipline, Lydia washed the stuff down her throat that probably burned from the sudden influx of much needed fluid. Nevertheless, she seeded. Another, shemanded in a hoarse voice. After exhaling with relief following the third bowl, she finally handed it back. She had deep bags under her eyes.
John should have been at least a bit surprised that she managed to free herself, but he would have been more surprised if she hadnt made at least one semi-sessful attempt at breaking out. They had a more pressing concern, however, in Lydias father still trying to grasp the increasing number of strands of his daughters hair wrapping around his throat like garrotte wire. Au-augu he tried to formte words.
Lydia just gave him one smiting nce, and the hairs pulled even tighter. I am more sure about this than anything else, she announced and momentster extended a hand towards Aclysia in a gesturing request to undo her bindings and hand her a weapon. Lets make this as quick as possible; he is a walking corpse in the first ce.
Augusta the miserable pleading choke of the cowardly man was filled more with fear for himself than concern. Even with this terrible disy of uselessness, John couldnt help but feel that this judgement was rather hastened.
However, he also knew Lydia, and this mans life was forfeit no matter how this ended up. He was miserable, a traitor to both sides and his daughter and would just rot in a cell. Maybe it would have been a mercy for him to die quickly, but John couldnt just let Aclysia hand over a weapon in good conscience.
He was going to be the judge on this one, despite knowing that he was horribly biased and unfit for this position; he was the best Ivan would get. Not defending a man that had surrendered and who was unable to defend himself would have been against his morality. What did he do? John wanted the whole story.
Lydia stared at him for a solid six seconds, eyes of steel grey, before answering. Five years after my grandfather picked me up, I went to my mothers grave on the day of her death. I hadnt seen my father in months, I was worried, and then I saw this thing, the strings cut even deeper into the quivering mans neck, his face slowly turned purple, sitting on top of her open casket and holding the one thing she wanted to be buried with. The key to the Vault of Teuton.
Taking a deep breath, John closed his eyes. This was exactly what he had feared. And the daughter who couldnt bear to see such a thing, he filled in the gaps audibly, asked her father why. The answers were for people she despised, for reasons that she hated. She should have stopped her father right there, but thest bit of her feelings held her back, and she let him go, letting him know that he died to the world that day.
And the na?ve girl fused with her elemental, bing another person, Lydia ended the story as she took the halberd from Metra, who was the first to step forth after Aclysia cut off the stic. Swearing to make this thest lie she would tell her people.
Ly- Ivan tried to choke out a fewst words.
I am no longer Lydia Goch, I am Lydia Augusta the Fourth from House Hohenzollern, Lydia dered; The one who makes the decision shall be the one to carry the burden. The pointy end of the halberd was rammed forward and straight into the eye socket, fulfilling the princess promise.
A momentter, she pulled back and then looked down at the corpse, falling over with a loud rattle. I should feel bad about this, she stated, but I have dreaded this moment for so long, have had it y out in my head over and over again that I now just feel oddly relieved.
John wasnt quite sure if that was healthy. Killing ones parents shouldnt feel exactly good, but then again, this was hardly a normal situation. Had the guy deserved it? Undoubtedly, desecrating your own wifes grave to pick up the one item she wanted buried with her was pretty unforgivable. Especially if one then handed it to a cult of bloody revolutionaries who would try to nuke a city with the artefacts one supplied them.
He kept this filed under the dirty things that needed to be done and just pulled Lydia into a close embrace. Its good to have you back, he just told her. At that moment, Nariko and Rave finally showed up as well.
Huh, ya already got everything done around here, Rave said and looked at the two corpses. Anything I need to know?
I will tell you on the way out, John promised.
I request to be informed about several things first. For a start, howe I am in captivity for three days and the moment I find you, you have a new naked girl around? Lydia wondered as she handed the halberd back to Metra who then put it in Johns inventory, forcing the window open, without even asking for his consent.
Name is Metra, the girl with the slowly re-energizing eyes said, Metracana number 1, origin Akkad.
WHAT?! Nariko burst out, How are you why do you? the lightning using MILF used a moment to bring herself under control. I demand answers.
Seems to be a running theme right now, John drilymented in his head as he went over to the former supreme Fateweavers corpse. He took the weirdly shaped mask off; there had to be some sort of value to it if he had kept it. It was innately warded against Observe, so there had to be something up with it. At least it went into his inventory without a problem. Without a doubt, Magoi would want to have a look at it.
Metra that would make you the thing that was stuck in Thanas head? Lydia wanted to know and thus brought attention to something rather unpleasant.
Yes, weird memories, what happened to that girl anyway? My consciousness was gone the past month or so. He let Metra answer before clearing his throat.
About that her name is Eliza now he began while taking the artefact armour off Ivans body. Felt weird to rob the corpse of a graverobber, but it never had been his, and it shouldnt just rot down here. A LOT happened
__________________________________________________________________
She is she what? Lydia mumbled as they hastened back up the corridors to the battlefield. John had answered all necessary questions from everyone who was with them already. I what?
Yeah, its kinda hard to take in, Rave admitted, but it also makes sense, kinda. Cause, you know, she is ridiculously strong.
But its all still within the realm of human possibility. That actual Thana, you say it went toe to toe with Romulus? That is insanity! The Princess was not quite convinced of all of this making sense.
Toe to toe is putting it strongly, lets say she it had the same physical strength, John countered. Now there was a bit more to be said about another topic rted to this. Namely, the ethics of sending a mentally unstable person into an arena, but he decided to postpone that particr conversation until they were with Eliza and safe. The group continued in silence. Nariko radiated such extreme awkwardness as she stared at Metra.
You are worth a fortune, the abyssal auctioneer finally said.
And you are annoying me already, the still naked women said, the shaft of her weapon nonchntlyying over her shoulder; she took that thing out of his inventory whenever she wanted like some unsavoury individuals flicked knives when they were bored. If you want to haggle, go talk my to new master. I am here to shed blood and apparently get fucked. I take it you had his cock already? Is it good?
I have to deny the usation as such, Nariko countered and gestured at the rest of the group, ask any of thesedies, however, including my hothead of a daughter.
Really? Metra blew air out of her nose; You didnt even have sex with every girl we are with here? Sargon would have jumped everyone in a minute.
Well, I happen to like consent, John said, and much more importantly: Jane would rip my balls off if I touched her mom.
Its true, I would use them for boxing practice, Rave agreed; No Hollmeys but me, they are all weird, they are all annoying, and I dont want them around except maybe Ellen. But still no fucking her!
Grinding her teeth at her daughter sinctly pointing that she didnt really want her here, Nariko fell back into a brooding silence. Well, they would obviously never truly get along, but at least they werent stabbing each other with word daggers anymore.
John wondered when conversations like this aftering from a life or death battle had just be normal. Well, for Rave they always had been. Seemed like this was another one of those things where he just got caught up in her hype. He also didnt even bother to ask who Ellen was; he would either find out some random day or never.
Can you put on some clothes by the way? John asked the berserker babe.
Do I have to? Metra returned; I much prefer being naked, unless I am in danger. You have no idea how much I missed having erogenous zones. Lit AF is that a thing people say nowadays? I am going by what little knowledge I can get out of our connection.
Its less have to, but I would like it if you did, the Gamer admitted. He wasnt all thatfortable with exhibiting someone in his group to the public COMPLETELY naked. Eliza had pushed that about as far as he wanted.
Fine, suddenly tes shot out of her body one by one, covering her entirely in dark grey armour. It looked the kind that you would put a viin in, with red decorations all around, the helmet and shoulders having short spikes at the edges shaped directly out of the tes themselves and generally just looking pretty darn evil while also having a kind of futuristic look due to its heavily segmented nature.
The helmet folded into itself and down into the neckline of the armour. These are the only clothes I have, unlike modern artificial spirits I cant eat to get new ones. Well, where they were going, a te armour was more than fitting.
By the way, you included yourself in that list of weirdos, Jane? Cause otherwise it wont beplete, John poked fun at her now that he had that line of talk done with. He would get to know Metra better another time. So far he only knew that she had good anger management.
Oh, HA HA, Brainiac, Rave shot back in a yfully offended manner. Then the banter began as they hastened back to the surface.
_________________________________________________________________
There you are! Maximillian and about twenty knights had formed a defensive ring around the entrance underneath the shadow of the iron giant. It must have run out of power by now, as its core had burned out. Both Ria and Magoi where in the middle of that formation. Good to see you again, Lydia; how nice of you to let yourself be rescued like a proper princess. First time you behaved like one.
Shut up, Max, Lydia dered; I havent eaten in three days, and your sass is something you can choke on yourself!
Can C you C youngsters C shut C UP! Magoi growled; he had lost almost all of his mask, his top hat had a bullet hole, and he was generally covered in dust from explosions, just like the rest of the group. Behind that broken mask, John saw an old man who was really straining to keep whatever he was doing going. I can barely keep them from breaking in all at once!
What do you mean? I got rid of Gehnigm, John dered.
Well, that is superb and all, but did you also get rid of the other two High Fateweavers running about on the enemy side? Magoi wanted to know. If the answer is no, I know exactly what is going on out there, and its them trying to break in, and all I can do is reduce it to short bursts!
Johns eyes went wide. So even after he got rid of the biggest cause for concern, the exact situation he had feared to happen came about anyhow? Karmic bnce was achieved again: the world had given him an easy out, and now it fucked him over again.
But he was a crafty man, and he would find a solution for this. For a start, he grabbed into his inventory and pulled out the mask. Would this help? he asked Magoi who immediately grabbed it and put it on.
Very much, yes, the new Supreme Fateweaver spoke.
Chapter 345 – Entrenched
Chapter 345 C Entrenched
To call their situation dire would have been an understatement. The Blood had just waited for this sort of deep strike, it seemed, and now pushed on all fronts at once. John had no idea how or from where they had gathered this kind of force, but it was most likely that they mobilized the entirety of their remaining forces.
West Prussia, Transylvania, eastern Slovakia, the Baltic states and the northern parts of Russia, they all had been taken over or reconquered by the Blood of the Proletariat. And worst of all, they sat right there in the middle, separated from everyone else. Maybe their situation was getting better by the minute, maybe it was getting even worse. John couldnt know; theyd been without a connection for hours now, so he only had this old map to go by.
They couldnt leave the barrier. Even with the apparent power boost the mask of his former superior gave him, Magoi was unable to break through. What he could do was buy them all a few hours of sleep, however. Which was exactly what they had done, taking shifts to ward off eventual invaders. Just because they were safe from a giant assault didnt mean that the two Fateweavers outside couldnt just do what Magoi did in Styria and smuggle at least a few people in.
Thankfully, Aclysia, Momo and Metra didnt need sleep, so there was always at least someone who was watching out.
It was the fourth day of the war, and now, at seven in the morning, they were facing a serious problem: Magoi was getting tired. He had been pretty exhausted from the start, having to try and contain Gehnigm during Johns underground squabble, but after 9 more hours of this, the Fateweaver reached his limit.
How do we deal with this? John wondered. There had to be some way they could have taken the defensive measures to a higher level; after all, the estimate for breaking into the barrier they had tried to invade had been about a month. Granted, that had been a much smaller barrier.
You let me deal with it, Magoi grumbled and reached into his coat to pull out a bottle of pills. Give me some water.
John was curious what the n here was and created a bowl out of some wood. Now where did he get that wood from? The apple tree. Why was there an apple tree? He had grown one. Inside the ruined city, underneath a powered down giant robot and in the shadow of a shattered hexagonal tower, John had used Nadine to grow some things that would supply them with something to eat.
Note to self, always carry food for at least one day with you in your inventory, John thought. He used to do that, but after Aclysia having cook for him every day for a prolonged period he had forgotten that simple lesson. Growing this little grove had cost way too much mana, but they needed some sort of breakfast. Fighting on an empty stomach would have made them weaker than necessary.
The bowl with water was given to Magoi who threw in one of the pills from the bottle and quickly rinsed it down. What is that? John asked as the Fateweaver made a groaning sound.
Caffeine mixed with dragons blood and pressurized undeath essence, Magoi said; It will put me into a state of trance where I can keep using my powers at high capacity while sleeping, although it will take quite the toll on me.
Yeah, cant imagine taking undeath into your body to be especially healthy, John thought as the Fateweaver slinked together, mumbling a bit of advice.
I wont be able to react to any great changes in their strategy while in this state, he yawned, but its going to be better than leaving you defenceless. The masked man leaned against the apple tree and was unaddressable from that point onwards.
We will have to defend ourselves for as long as we can hold out and hope for the best, Lydia, with clear disdain for that kind of strategy,id the situation out as they held their strategic meeting. After a, admittedly nt based, meal, chewing on what meagre Baelementium reserves John had built up and an undisturbed nights rest (she was the only one who hadnt been part of the guarding shifts upon everyones insistence aside from her own), the princess looked a lot better. Less bags under the eyes, although the rest hadnt been near good enough to remove thempletely.
That is true; we should make our stand here, John said. He had booby trapped the area with Shardbound and was in the process of transforming it with Gnomes help to resemble something like fortifications. Mana was a scarceodity right now.
We could retreat underground, Maximillian gave a different opinion.
Or literally anywhere else, Momo agreed with that. We are like sitting ducks here.
Yeah, but there is a bit of a reason why we shouldnt move, John said and pointed upwards at the iron giant. If they get their hands on that and reactivate it, we are fucked. Also, the undergroundwork is vast but once they have us located, and they will have ample time to do so, they can bury us under the earth.
Points taken, Momo backed down from the argument.
Lets just kill them all, Metra spoke out. John looked at the newest addition to his team. He had found out the most important bits about her powers by now. For a start, the reason why she didnt want anyone involved in her fights was that her rage-buff only worked if she was fighting on her own. Made her a prettypetent duellist, or even good in one versus many situations, but also made her majorly suck at teamy. Thankfully, Johns group was well-rounded even without her.
Her reality ripping powers were a bit more difficult to ascertain. In essence, she could rip open portals just about everywhere where she could see. However, these only allowed her to travel through, and they announced themselves with some sort of flicker in the air. The tears through which she could drill her weapon took almost no effort to create, but actual, body-sized portals or anything else of the sort were took quite a bit of mana. Basically, just as John had thought, there were always limitations.
He pulled out his phone and checked, still no connection. Seems like killing them all is actually our best bet, John said and looked at thergely levelled city around him. There were probably some civilians under that rubble, but he had no way to discern them from how many other enemies were still in the barrier as well. Pragmatically, he had no way to save them and himself.
He turned to look at his own group. Counting the elementals, they were 11 high levelled fighters, one healer, one Fateweaver, one technomancer, and the seven remaining knights of Teuton (14 of them had fallen over the course of this mission) made a middle ss fighting core.
Their situation was dire indeed on a pure tactical standpoint; however, they werent a force the Blood could just run over. If they rationed their powers correctly, this should bepletely possible. Defending the food source became just that bit more important. Growing new apples wasnt nearly as mana intensive as growing a tree.
Okay then, lets prepare for their arrival.
What followed were maybe the longest 15 hours of Johns life. Soon after Magoi put himself into trance, the enemy Fateweavers must have noticed what happened and changed their strategy. They broke in group after group of enemy fighters, usually just consisting of about five people.
Whenever John saw one of these groups enter through Jack, he immediately made it so that Rave, Nariko, Sylph and Siena (their quickest members) moved out and took care of the problem before it could be one. An isted group of 5 was nothing, both sides knew that.
Which was exactly why the enemys main n was to get them in and then wait for the next group to arrive, rinse and repeat until they had a sizeable force. That was about the first two hours, during which Johns main concern was to make the perimeter as secure as possible.
Then they had amassed about 100 people; John had no idea about the total scope as they had gathered whoever was still in this barrier in the first ce as well. The early game was over, and they entered the second phase: the sieging.
And that was when John finally experienced trench warfare. Five enemy soldiers werent a concern, but 25? That was one fireball they couldnt just get away from. A hundred? Spells cut through the air and crashed into their position, just as John strategically fired the prepared Shardbounds he had ced. Jack let Arcane Echos fall on enemy positions. Some theny dormant for hours, but eventually, someone of the enemy melee reinforcements stepped on them in their desperate charge.
The enemy had created a ring of ranged fighters around them and was now swarming them with small fry that they probably force enlisted from somewhere, going by the average subpar quality. It was disgusting, like mowing down an assault with a fortified machine gun position.
While they lost another two of the Knights of Teuton in that fight, overall, they were winning. By an ever so slight margin, the amount of people John and his group killed was bigger than the amount that the enemy could reinforce. Eventually, the reinforcements ceased toe altogether.
Abyssal manpower ran in the thousands, not in the millions. Fitted with the right items, average crafters and workers could be fighters as well, but John could smell the desperationing from the Blood that they were willing to send hundreds of people into this battlefield.
This wasnt a move to win the war, but one to make the empires losses bigger. It was pure pettiness on the scale of total warfare. Thats what John realized when yet another one of the knights fell, reducing their total numbers down to 4. They had almost seeded now in wiping out an organization over 800 years old.
In a fight like this, everyone but the truly powerful had a chance to die at any second. Even John had to pull more than a few emergency solutions; by the end of the 13 hours of constant assaults, Aclysias and all of the elementals, save Undines, teleports were on cooldown.
Aclysia was the first to sacrifice hers, as an assassin, not more skilled than the run of the mill man John had encountered in Graz but with an easier time to hide himself thanks to the general haste of everything, attacked John. The attacker seeded in stabbing John into the side, and with no one else around, the weaponized maid immediately jumped to his side using the Defensive Teleportation skill. Afterwards the assassin was quickly taken care off.
Smander lost hers when she overextended to hunt down somebody who was fleeing the battle scene to meet up with the next wave, which brought her right in the midst of said wave and surrounded with people who at least had themon sense to throw water spells; she had no other choice but to use the teleport to get out.
Sienas and Gnomes were next, but those were a calcted loss as they fused and Darkness then had the job of getting them behind enemy lines and take out or dy enemy reinforcement parties for a while. This relieved everyone else for half an hour, as the Blood had to send people to deal with that disturbance once it had be apparent. Eventually, they had to retreat, and the safest way was to use the teleport they had.
Finally, Sylph used hers in a rather mindless fashion. After cleaning the westside for a good while she wanted to get over to the opposite side of the battlefield as quickly as possible, bridging half the distance immediately with the use of the skill. A quick talk about what she was thinking wasting precious resources like that conveyed the obvious answer that she hadnt been thinking about it at all. To her credit, however, her getting over in such a short amount of time greatly disturbed an enemy assault attempt.
All of this happened under constant barrages of magic over a long, long stretch of time.
And it was cold. Winter reminded them that is was a hostile time to be a human. The weather inside the barrier just emted the outside, and soon snow fell. That was where they were right now. The enemy ranks slowly depleted under the constant air harassment from Sylph and Smander while their groups defensive line held against the assaults the Blood ran, positioned in a weirdly green grove underneath an iron giant that was slowly getting covered in white.
Man, this is the most boring kind of action, Rave said, peeling her pink bodysuit off her arm to reveal a wound caused by a giant icicle that she had blocked. The suit had closed the wound by immediately regrowing the torn fabric, but it was better to have it healed by Undine.
You are the real hero of this battle, John said and patted the puddle with arms and a head. All that healing and the four times she had unleashed had exhausted her to a point where it had be hard to stay in a human shape. She perked up a little at the touch as she closed the wound in Raves arm.
Without the healing, they would have eventually sumbed to the death by a thousand cuts. This way they were rtively safe. I do my best, Undines melodic voice sang the song of motivated sleepiness. It was 5 PM.
At 7 PM they had finally defeated all of the enemy forces. Somehow the ensuing silence was even worse. It was unnatural, after hours and hours of explosions, to just hear nothing. The charred trees bore forced fruits as Gnome and Undine pumped mana into them, thetter copsing the moment that deed was done and resting in her incorporeal state for as long as she could.
They ate what little Johns remaining mana had been able to produce. Both him and Momo were regrly tapped on mana, although John did his best to conserve hers as his came back way quicker. Their method of replenishing mana by just existing had its drawbacks as well, as they couldnt speed the process along like Lydia did by gnawing on a piece of steel, used for construction that had splintered off from one of the many buildings that were now nothing but rubble filled with corpses, like it was a particrly dry piece of meat.
John let out a long sigh, slowly sinking into the trampled grass that had grown with the tree. This was the kind of fight he never wanted to have again. Long, boring, one-sided and without any gains for either side at the end, just the death of a bunch of people.
And they were still trapped. This whole game could just repeat itself. Would it?
Or would something else happen?
Chapter 346 – A more welcome kind of war
Chapter 346 C A more wee kind of war
The barrier shook and trembled as it was pried open. Through some sort of Fateweaver fuckery, John didnt even care how, the two High Fateweavers on the outside must have realized that their swarming strategy was unsessful and instead of sending off a bunch of little dudes over time must have decided to send a bunch of little dudes in at once. That was Johns first impression.
Then the side of the barrier tore open like the sky above Rome, and in stepped a gargantuan golem. It was a crude creation and, in typicalmunist manner, made with a mixture of grandeur and efficiency where both didnt reallye together and the result was something grey and probably less practical than it could optimally be. However, crude and sub-optimal as collectively designed goods tended to be, they also tended to work in some capacity. From the thundering step it took, John could discern that it definitely worked.
About a hundred metres tall, it could have wrestled with Nathalia. It would have been like a kid wrestling with a fully grown saltwater crocodile (with wings), but it still could have done it. As mentioned, its exterior was mostly grey, a concrete body d in metallic tes; on the shoulders it had two symbols: the hammer and sickle of themunists as well as a working mans face shedding a tear of blood. One of its hands held a hammer that was made for its size, the kind that smiths and crafters used, while its other seemed to be a giant cannon.
Thank god, its a giant death robot, John uttered as he got back on his feet. Whatever wasnt more of that terrible, repetitive, horrifyingly mechanical task of ughtering people and had more of that fantasy ir was wee. Sure, the golem was infinitely more dangerous, but it would also be way more enjoyable to fight. He could feel the passionate side of himself fire up the rest of his brain. Thanks to Gamers Body, he was rested again after the short thirty-minute break they had.
Fucking finally, something interesting! Smander and Metra shouted out as one. They looked at each other.
We will get along fine, the primal artificial spirit decided in that moment, flicking away a certain girl that was bbering on the drive by.
Funny, I just arrived at the same conclusion, the ze elemental cackled.
Nice of ya to have a sismance starting right here, but whats the battle n against that thing? Rave was the voice of reason, despite an excited grin also spreading over her face as she nced over to John. It seemed all girls were crazy in some fashion; then again, he was also showing a bit of a smile.
First, we have to deal with that, John said as the gargantuan thing raised its right arm, the one with the cannon.
Well, well, it seems only I can save the day right now, Maximillian spoke up before anyone else even presented a solution, causing his older sister to roll her eyes and everyone else to signify their scepticism in some other way as he went on a bravado ridden dialogue. I knew the day woulde where all of you could just stand there in awe as I save your butts. Hawpler, show them who is the king around here.
The only kingly thing about you is your tendency to boss people around, the sphere sassed in its usual tremor as it hovered up into the air. The Grey Golem had finished its targeting procedure, and after a few moments of the barrel heating up with arcane might, an explosion of red mana shot forwards.
It bridged the distance between them, several kilometres, at a pace that would actually have allowed them to dodge if it hadnt been the size of a boulder. Then Hawpler unleashed, the pull of a ck hole forced itself on the energy projectile, and it was siphoned right into the gravity elemental, like a segment of food colouring in otherwise clear waters running down the drain.
Maximillian groaned and, suddenly pale, staggered out of his stance a bit. John swallowed his question of why he hadnt just done exactly this for the nuke; evidently taking in too much energy at once had some nasty side effects. I can block two more, maximum, the king said; So better make that battlen now!
Just go in there, Momo, fly up and survey the situation. I will stay here with Undine and Maximillian and give further advice through Aclysia and the other elementals. If you are hurt,e back here, John quickly ran down as a second shot got charged up. By the time it reached them, the more agile amongst the fighters had already begun moving.
John saw three paths to victory against that thing: they had to fight it until it ran out of power, a golem of that size couldnt be self-sufficient, or they had to destroy it despite being way smaller, that would take a bit, or
Is there any way to reactivate that thing? John wondered as he looked towards the giant.
Ria, who had also stayed behind because a technomancer was no use in a fistfight, provided an answer. That thing is called Phil, John still refused to call the iron giant that, and no. Not unless you got a whole lot of mana going around. Like a WHOLE lot! The specification was warranted seeing how 20 mana per second were something like pocket change earlier.
John pondered about that for a bit. How could they get a whole lot of mana at once? In the distance, a giant dust cloud rose as the Grey Golem used its hammer at one of the advancing group members. At least they were preupied.
I could have a solution, Maximillian presented for the second time; Ever heard of superradiant scattering?
John had: it was a theoretical source of near-infinite energy using a spinning ck hole and electromaic waves. The waves would rush through the ergosphere (an area around the event horizon exclusive to spinning ck holes, best described as a half-event horizon) get partially lost in the event horizon butrgely absorb energy from the ck holes rotation. The wave would then be reflected on a spherical mirror around the ck hole and bounce around, gaining energy, until someone came along and opened the mirror to harness the power. Alternatively, the whole thing could be left untouched and eventually explode with the force of a supernova. It was kind of like a Dyson Sphere for people who thought ying with suns wasnt dangerous enough. Yes, he therefore answered, having a bad inkling.
Maximillian gestured at Hawpler, I can do the same, well, something very simr - its just the quickest example I can think of - with mana thanks to him.
Why didnt you bring that up before, Max? Ria wanted to know; Stop having secrets! You can tell your big sister stuff!
Maria, I wouldnt trust you with my piggy-bank, much less information that, until the world saw Hawpler recently, waspletely in the dark, Maximillian countered; That aside, I can moderate it when I use it to regenerate my own mana, you know, putting 10 Maybel in and getting 20 out, but using it to power something else is going to hurt. A lot. So, I wanted to skip this if it wasnt needed.
Well, that exined how he never ever ran out of mana during the tournament, even when holding down Eliza. John really had to wonder how strong Hawpler actually was. From what it seemed like, the gravity elemental was just a well of power that nobody could tap into, not even the spirit himself. Kind of fitting, seeing how he was essentially a sentient ck hole, but still.
It made John wonder even further what kind of monster would be created if Maximillian did go through with the fusion one day. Would it be a person to stand in the Primarch category of strength? John was kind of curious, but he also didnt want Maximillian to just erase his person to find out.
Arent you going to need a mirror though? John asked.
Not normally, I just send mana to Hawpler, and he sends back more; in return, I get to take all the physical pain when he overdoes it, Maximillian answered. He looked over the battlefield, where the Grey Golem was ploughing the already ruined city with its hammer, turning it into a field on which only desperation could grow. Lights, fire and otherwise apparent attacks of magic cut and beamed through the air around the giant. It looked like a bunch of fireflies were assaulting a human.
An actual n formed in Johns head. Ria, Max, he just took the freedom of calling the king in the short form of his name, given the rather heated situation. Maximillian seemed to mind, wrinkles appearing around his nose as he made a grimace, but not enough to speak up about it. You two get the iron giant running again. It doesnt need to be for long. I will leave you with Undine, and she will exin the rest of the n to you.
The ocean elemental did not seem happy with the prospect of being a mouthpiece for a rather long instruction, but given the situation, she had toply. Taking off at that same moment, John ran towards the north side of the city, a good bit away from the actual fighting, which was happening at the west side of things.
The main reason for leaving Undine behind wasnt that she was there to exin the n. Momo could have flown back just as well; she had already run out of fireflies and was now basically just distracting the giant by flying around his head a lot. She could have created a new load of the buffing insects, but that mana was likely better spent elsewhere, so John told her to only do it if she would cap her MP otherwise.
Send all of your mana to me! John instructed the support now, having waited for the golem to turn his back to him. In typical scepticism, Momo first picked his brain for the n before just going along with it.
That is retarded but could also work; fine, take it, Momo gave herments, and then John aimed at the sky. Combined, they had about 3000 mana left, and all of it was spent the second the Gamer used Arcana Strike. The blue and purple ball rose far above the battlefield, until it was basically just a bigger star in the cloudless winter sky.
Step 1 wasplete, now to ensure that the Grey Golem actually got hit by the Arcana Strike. Also to evacuate the area. That thing would not be kind, and Arcana Strike was pretty indiscriminate about who stood in the impact site. I need a Friendly Fire Disabled passive, in which ss would that be? Most likely Gamer, John thought as he darted off.
Great, but that was for after the battle. He hastened down the roads as he saw the iron giant move in the distance. The Grey Golem immediately noticed, and all fighting ceased as to John orders. Let them fight! he had told everyone, only realizing he was meming the Godzi movie when Sylph started to make fun of it.
The two gargantuan constructs moved slowly eyeing each other up. Of course, that was a nned move in disguise for Ria to navigate her robot in a position where their sh would happen underneath the, so far unnoticed, Arcana Strike. Miraculously, that worked, and when they charged at each other, they met directly underneath the Arcana Strike.
That luck onlysted for a few minutes. The two giants fought with punches that made the earth tremble. Actually, everything these two did made the earth tremble. No wonder at that size. It was Undines message that ruined this, Maximillian is about to give in, John!
Tell him hang in there, buddy! John joked in a stressed fashion. If the iron giant gave in before they immobilized the Grey Golem, then their whole strategy was in jeopardy and they had to go back to just beating the guy, which could have taken an eternity.
Exactly at that moment, the Grey Golem noticed the above average sized star. SHIT! John thought. He had to fire it now; the golem had shown so far to be not stupid enough to not smell that particr trap. However, that would have hit the iron giant as well.
Indeed, the Grey Golem kicked the iron giant, causing the machine to take a step backwards from the blunt force, before attempting to get away by walking backwards. As fast as a being of that size could hope to move, Ria manoeuvred the iron giant forward and executed an aggressive grapple manoeuvre.
Metal arms closing behind the Grey Golems back, the iron giant exposed his own to easy strikes. You have permission to fire the Arcana Strike, Undine informed him. The implication here was that Ria gave him the okay to potentially blow up the iron giant as well. I will evacuate them.
I thank you for your services, Phil, John said, saluting atop an intact quarter of a house as the aiming beam of the Arcana Strike descended, marking its impact site right on the iron giants head that was pressing against the Grey Golems abdomen.
A momentter, the ball of energy descended and engulfed an area of at least fifty metres diameter in the purple energy. Crackling with arcane might, purple and blue energy bolts dancing all over the surface, it unloaded with the sounds of stone and metal cracking.
John saw a giant ball of slime with two humanoid shapes bounce over the ground below like a piece of rubber. It was probably a very unpleasant experience, and it didnt negate the damage from the fall from a deadly height (deadly for normal people, that was), but it did enough of a job to at least reduce the damage that could be done.
The purple veil that followed Arcana Strikes slowly thinned out until it was little more than a silky hue on top of the impact site. The head of the iron giant was either sted off or melted. Same was true for the Grey Golem, who was missing a sizeable part of its stomach.
Still, he was moving. For a moment John was rmed, but this was a fight they could win now; a hundred-metre-tall golem with a hole in its stomach was a considerably easier opponent, especially since that hole stretched from one side to the other.
His readiness was unfounded, however. The Grey Golem tried to violently shake off the locked grip of Phil. An incredibly loud crack, like a piece of wood breaking in a campfire, echoed throughout the whole city, as the upper body slowly split from its legs and then fell the whole distance towards the ground, causing yet another earthquake.
John rubbed the dust from his forehead once it had settled and looked at the three windows.
That was nice. John, we got a huge problem! Momo informed him.
Cant be as huge as the one we just got done with, John decided as he wondered if he should invest statpoints into Charisma.
Trust me, this one is twice as big. Look up, you idiot! Momo insisted, and John raised his eyes only for his jaw to drop. A tear, much bigger than thest one, had opened, and through it stepped two golems of the exact same design as the one they had just beat.
Now they had to deal with that, with the difference that Momo waspletely out of mana. John had the advantage of having filled up again upon level up, but still, this was looking rather bad. Actually, how was this even possible?
A quick look over to the green strip where they had left Magoi revealed the answer. The Fateweaver had been hit by one of the stray rocks that had been catapulted across the whole barrier by the golems destruction. Now the defences he had put in ce were slowly fading, allowing the two simrly strong Fateweavers on the outside to now pry the weaknesses open with even more ease.
Hence, the two Grey Golems just raised their canons and began charging, aiming at the now unprotected trees and Magoi underneath them. That the Blood was able to just throw these things around showed what kind of resources a desperate national guild could muster.
If they lost Magoi here, that would be it. The barrier around them would fuse with the one around and allow the Blood to attack them in full force.
The cannons heated up and then
Chapter 347 – Kneel down
Chapter 347 C Kneel down
one of the golems was swung around like a baseball bat.
If Johns mouth hadnt already been hanging open from the invaders appearing, seeing one of the golems getting whirled around and mmed into the other one would have caused his jaw to drop so hard it would have threatened to unhinge.
The two golems were smashed against the border of the barrier. Cracks spread through the visible world in the shape of an oversized spiderweb, and momentster, the whole thing gave in, and the barrier copsed into the one around it.
What kind of stupid strategy is this? John thought as a drop of cold sweat ran down the side of his face. The Grey Golems, one of thempletely destroyed, the other slowly losing mass in the form of boulders falling out of its broken back, fell backwards and caused a giant dust cloud, robbing Johns view of that area for a moment.
He checked the other surrounding areas through Momo and Jack. His thoughts about how stupid that strategy was were now unimportant. Fact was that they were surrounded on all sides. The enemy had another 9 of these gargantuan constructs; like ants, several thousand people had ordered themselves in standing battalions between them, the green uniforms omnipresent and robbing them off all individuality. That must have been the main fighting force of the Blood. Why was it here? Last John knew, they were on the onught; their main force should have been somewhere in Germany right now.
The question was left unanswered; instead, John had to worry at the thing hovering above the heads of the Grey Golems.
Aside from sheer size, this thing looked impressive by design alone. It had a slick, aerodynamically curved shape made from bent pieces of metal. It was equipped with three guns, areas where the metal stuck out of the frame in spiked rods. Two small ones on its massive wings and a third below the middle segment. Thest one was not only dangerously lookingrge but also rotated freely.
The three spikes that made up the big cannon started rotating so fast that it seemed there was one translucent barrel. Arcs of multi-coloured electricity danced around and focused in a ball of smatic lightning, shifting throughout all colours of the spectrum. It aimed at that dust cloud.
It flew at a speed that made the ball-shaped projectile look like a beam, burning itself into Johns retina, bright enough to actually deal twenty damage to his health pool. Why would they shoot at their own John began to wonder but instantly realized that they wouldnt shoot at their own people. We are saved.
The cloud of dust was scattered in an instant, revealing a much smaller force in a triangr formation, 500 at most. At the back, there were people in all kinds of knightly te, decorated with individual heraldry. They stood proud, sitting atop fantastical animals ranging from proud to almostically looking.
Then there was a group of leather d sword wielders. John imagined to see Mario in there, the swordmaster that had helped Maximillian in the tournament. To their side was an order brandishing robes and staffs. They were gathered around their individual banner, a golden eagle on red ground surrounded by the depiction of an olive branch crown. For the first group that eagle was sitting atop a sword, for the second on a staff.
And then at the head of it all stood two people. One was an old man in a brown robe, hunched over with the left half of his face reced with crystalline structures out of which transparent tubes stuck and connected with a stone cor around his neck.
Then there was the one at the very helm. The emperor himself, Romulus. With Sol in her sword and Luna in her shield form, he was standing his ground against the energy ball that had been fired at them. It ground against the shield, vibrating in a way that John could only describe as glitchy, like a videogame asset that couldnt find the path it was supposed to follow anymore and was lost in recalction loops.
Romulus shouted, digging his heels into the dirt and finally deflecting the attack by moving his shield to the side. The energy ball flew parallel to their formation and was aimed perfectly to disintegrate the head of the second, barely alive golem that Romulus initial use of one of it as a bat hadnt destroyed. The attack wasnt stopped by the ground and flew even further, melting its way through the soil, leaving a ssed tunnel.
Pointing his de at the Construct of Order, Romulus said two simple words that echoed over the silent battlefield, To battle. Following that simple announcement, he was the first who charged forwards, and everyone else followed in a desperate attempt to keep up with him, one that was doomed to fail.
That was the reason why the enemy main force was here, they had been forced back this far already. Romulus had healed and was now pushing them back with his own two hands. No amount of force they could muster would be able stand against the emperor, who was beaming with lights and crackling mana in his armour made from hundreds of powers.
On one hand, John was pretty relieved that their reinforcements were there, especially seeing who was leading them; on the other, a new problem presented itself to him. As the Blood had positioned themselves in a siege ring around the old barrier, they were encircled on 3 sides by them; only the western side had been broken by the imperial force. To put it easily, the ruins of Warsaw where about to be a historical battleground.
Pnd is so utterly screwed with its location between Germany and Russia, John thought as he moved towards the allied forces as quickly as possible. If he was going to be at the heart of things, he at least wanted to be where friendly troops were. Rave and everyone else were at the west already, so they were able unite with them in no time, but he had fled even further east after firing the Arcana Strike.
The distance between him and the enemy siege ring was much smaller than the one towards his allies. It was almost guaranteed that he would get intercepted. The sky was filled with contraptions, magical eyes and other forms of scrying magic as the battle preparations finished. The Construct of Order used the two smaller magical cannons on its wings to burn an arcane symbol into the ceiling of the sky. It looked like twin serpents winding around a tree in a walled garden.
Oh, that was just great, why not give themunist bloc means to actually link-up their minds? Not that it was news that they had that power; they had performed as one in the invasion of the colosseum already. Now that they had both surveince and unity, they moved, and they moved quickly. The whole northern half of the army seemed to copse in Johns direction.
Jack spied an enemy puppet-spy in the shape of a dragonfly, about fifty metres away from Johns head. Using fifty mana, John quickly assembled a response, a shard of pale blue cutting through the air and ripping the puppet apart.
He wouldnt be able to reach his allies, he wouldnt even get close. If thats how it has to be, John mumbled to himself and stopped once he reached a strategically advantageous position. His back was protected by the outstretched arm of the fallen Grey Golem, so enemies could only really approach him from the front while Jack made sure that he would see it when there was anyone heading for him from above, be it by climbing on the fallen titan or by flying.
A second energy beam cut through the air just as a barrage of the Grey Golems ripped craters into the battlefield; the massive attacks shed into the defensives charms that were charged over generations. The ones that missed created giant smokescreens. Dust whirled into the air. The sound of magic, like fireworks and lightning strikes, filled the barrier in mere seconds, consuming the crisp winter air and filling it with heat and rough particles, the smell of hot iron and valiant as well as desperate cries.
Master, what are you doing? Get moving! Aclysias worry overcame her so subservient personality and made her issue amand; We dont have the teleports toe to help you!
I am afraid I dont have the luxury, John said; visibility got worse by the second, but he saw the dozens of shadows moving in the dust-clouded distance. His decision to make his stand where he had the advantage was the right one; they would have caught up with him either way. You will have toe and get me; besides, I am notpletely alone. I have a n.
She will be there as quick as she can! Aclysia informed him just as the only one of his elementals that still had the capability to do so appeared at his side.
Undine gifted him with a little smile on her blue lips, a flower in this destendscape. I feel this might be my chance at vindication, being the only one at your side I know this is illogical, and I know you should be safe instead, but I cant help but be thankful for this opportunity, sheid down her deepest thoughts in the privacy of the battlefield.
John reached out to her and touched her face with his dirtied right hand. You have nothing to prove to me. Imperfection is within all of us; lets eradicate the ugly parts by admitting they exist, he gently pulled her into a kiss, one that onlysted two seconds but for which the whole world seemed to wait for them. Now he began, his hand still on her cheek.
let us show them Undine continued, their minds intertwining, the walls between them breaking down. She was tired; all the healing had left her tapped, and she had no more stamina to unleash again, but for him, she would muster whatever else she still had.
A tide was welling up in his mind as the shadows came closer and broke through into his field of vision. Those green uniforms. The corpses that hadin at Elizas feet in the Bloodfallens hideout had worn them. The elite fighters who attacked them during the arena had worn them. The cowardly father and the traitorous Fateweaver who abducted Lydia had worn them. The ones who now wanted to end his life wore them.
To gain our ire they finished together; the tide broke out as Undines thoughtspletely became one with his. Their voices were a whisper that overcame the greatest storm of wrath, focused at those that deserved it, roaring in his mind and in his pumping blood, ..is to die!
Undine changed into her gloved form just as the shadows finally became identifiable people. In quick session, John fired an Arcana Strike, tipped his hat and then got into a boxing stance. His left hand was ame and hid under magical obsidian, the right d in water harder than steel. Having spent about 3000 mana in thest hour meant that his mana regeneration was increased by an extra 6 per second by the tip. He was awake, wide awake; the sensation of danger pushed everything he had to the highest capacity.
He was strong.
Catapulting a fireball at the first person that came close, John didnt wait until they engaged him. His back was to the wall; the only way out was forward. The fireball hit the unsuspecting uniform straight in the face, John didnt wait for her to recovered and instead grabbed her by the windpipe with Purgatory and crushed it.
Discarding the green uniform, he didnt even think about her anymore as he created a shield of water to block a magically reinforced bolt fired from a crossbowman. All John saw was another green uniform; he had no time to identify people based on their individual features, and it would only have been a hindrance anyway. The battlefield was no ce to have the luxury ofpassion.
The bolt fell uselessly to the side, and the crossbowman soon turned into a needle-bed as Shardbound flew at him using up the 100 mana John had regenerated in that little span of time. He was currently regenerating, after costs, about 14 mana per second. With Mana Protection active and partially charged, that made that his effective health regeneration.
He felt a tingle, one well known, it was the ever-present knowledge of fire from Wisdom of the Inferno, but a little lighter on the soul. Wisdom of the Air, a lesser version from another element, it only warned him about things that were rather close already.
Creating a bunch of a low-cost shards, John fired them in a circle around himself and found someone hiding in invisibility, thanks to the shard hitting something behind him. It wouldnt have dealt any damage, but now John knew where he had to punch, and so yet another fireball from a quick left, punching at the air, flew forwards and burned itself into the green uniform.
How, what?! a confused sound as the soldier was interrupted by pain in his lightning magic.
Sorry, but that invisibility trick is getting really old, John said, efficiently discarding of that man by swiping away his legs and then ending him with a quick stomp to his throat. The kick broke and seared, Johns shoes having their fire aspect invoked. He had no time to care more about that particr green uniformed corpse. Those were the forerunners of the enemy assault, the foolish braves that sought glory by being the first.
The mass assault was about to begin, and John faced it with the certainty of the survivor. Despair would get him nowhere; his chances of survival increased immensely if he actually believed he would survive.
And I will get out of here! John thought, jumping back as three people hammered at the position he had just been standing at. What level were they? Most of them obviously belonged in the guardsman category, cing them roughly at level 40 to 50. There were some stronger individuals, but as the truly elite people had been used up in the attack on the colosseum, they were unlikely to exceed 100. 70 was more likely, weak Space Marines.
He was 109 by now, and Purgatory boosted his Strength and Agility by a total of 54,5 each. Unless they were fully specialized, they had no chance against him even in a pure brutal close-up confrontation.
I will see Jane smile again, he felt a ribcage crunch; I will hear Aclysia hum again, he conjured a Mana de, prating a uniforms chest; I will see Gnome blush, hear Smander boast, he cut three people down with the Mana de before it vanished again, Sylphs bbering and Undinesugh. He realized that people had finally begun to climb the broken golem. A quick Shardbound took care of one of them, but many more followed. Even Sienas sadistic, self-loving attitude will I witness again.
Jack descended on someone who tried to jump on John from above. The green uniform iled wildly as the mechanical bird wed at his eyes before slipping and falling off, hitting his head on the pavement and being an easy target for John to take out a momentter. I will see Elizas progress, he thought as he turned to re at the enemy force.
Momo will sass at me again, and Nathalia willin about theck of food to me, he continued as he ducked under a swing by a two-headed axe and grabbed the users leg in the process, ripping him off the ground and tossing him off to the side with a fair bit of physical effort.
I will watch Nia chase after cats again, he told himself, feeling his muscles slowly tire. Gamers Body restored his stamina quickly when he rested, but if he kept going like this, it would begin to show. Jack descended on another attempting attack from above, but this one was prepared, catching the bird just as he jumped off and then crushing Jack under the force of impact. The mechanical innards of the bird scattered all over the floor.
Now John was surrounded from all sides, more and more of them jumping down from above. If he had used an Arcane Echo, he would have easily hit more than ten people with it no matter where he aimed, but to gain the amount of mana he needed for that was impossible.
I will not save Lydia only to die myself, he growled at the people that had surrounded him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike like a band of hungry wolves. Then they all jumped at him at once. Fist crashing into one face, whip of water whirling around. If the supreme Fateweaver hadnt used up his Spell Storage, this would have been perfect.
Mana Protection red up and died, then flickered and died again, as it worked only with the mana he regenerated, which was now back down to the usual amount. It still saved him a lot of hurt.
However, his arms began to slow, then to burn, weapons prating his defences. Daggers scratched over his ribcage, maces broke his shoulders and other bones, and swords were stabbed into his guts. People grabbed his arms, fixating him for mere moments before he managed to free himself, but then more took their ce. An endless pile of bodies stacked itself on top of him, and eventually the weight became more than he could carry.
But even then he didnt give up hope, for he knew that a way out still existed. His health was dwindling, but he still would live a for a little bit longer, and if he was going to die, the Arcana Strike would make sure that everyst bastardly uniform that was around him was taken with him.
A st of air and lightning suddenly struck the pile of bodies on top of him and gave him the opportunity for onest push. His upper body broke out of the darkness of winding bodies. GRAB MY HAND! a male voice called out as a kingly cape fluttered on top of a flying piece of debris. John reached out, his right hand was red, water had mixed with spilled blood, but he gripped true and was pulled out of the mass.
John breathed heavily as he halfway copsed next to the king. Thanks buddy, he pressed out.
You are insufferable, Maximillian shook his head and yfully kicked him as Sylph created a cloudy whirlwind that protected them from projectiles and obscured the vision of the mages below; You can thank that bbering air spirit of yours for guiding me; the others were too slow.
I know, John groaned and sat up again; he was already beginning to feel better. His HP were quickly ticking up again thanks to Undine, and his mana, although Tips regeneration had long ended sting only a minute), was restoring by the second. You think I just blew away all my mana at the start of the fight without insurance?
You did what? Maximillian, who had no idea how Arcana Strike worked, asked.
Well, lets just say I knew it woulde down to a fistfight and how long I couldst. I knew that Undine, if she focused on healing, could keep my alive for a while and that even my physical stats are pretty above average by now. Because, you know, I am a bullshit character, John exined; In a fistfight bunkering all my resources for defensive measures would have been pretty meh, so it was either using them for spells in the fight, which I didnt really need since most of them are like level 50 or something to that effect and go down pretty quickly, or I would use them as my insurance to end this fight in my favour I think we are up high enough now.
With that, the Arcana Strike fell on the ce where they just fought, desecrating the fallen body of the Grey Golem even further while wiping out the whole stack of people that had assaulted John in an instant, consumed by pir of blue coloured energy.
You are trying to tell me you nned on me saving you? Maximillian stared at the purple and azure veiled crater where the remains of power still crackled over the ground.
I actually thought you would be a bit slower, then again, I didnt fight as well as I thought I could, John shrugged; This whole Boxing thing is still new to me. However, yes, I knew that Aclysia had urged you to go forward and save me, just as I knew how quick Sylph is. It was a pretty educated estimate.
I dread the thought of you and me bing true enemies, Maximillian said, unable to raise his eyes from the crater.
John nced at Hawpler, wordlessly existing besides his summoner, and then remembered the forces under this mans control. While it was kind of funny that Maximillian would say the same thing that Lydia once had said, John couldnt help but feel earnest about this, You and me both.
Chapter 348 – Safety in the clutches of the empire
Chapter 348 C Safety in the clutches of the empire
What the hell is even happening? John wondered. Maximillian had flown them high enough to break out of the fog of war that epassed everything on a ground level. Up here, the air was chilly, but it was also easy to breathe in a way that made Johns lungs, who had been pumping dust over thest few minutes, scratchy from suddenly being able to work as intended. Lights ebbed up and died within the grey fog as the sounds of guns, magic and swinging swords permeated the air. The clouds began to im the crater John had left mere momentster.
Just as the scratchy mist below obscured the scars on thend, the clouds above seemed to disappear entirely. They parted and revealed the reason for Johns exmation. There was an eclipse. At what time was it even? He got out his phone only to see that he had a missed call from Eliza. He would have to rectify that in a minute.
Well, the answer was that there was an eclipse at almost 11 PM, in January. It shone its pale golden light through the symbol of a tree with two serpents that the Construct of Order had created earlier. John easily figured out who was to me for this phenomenon, but that didnt make it any less imposing.
The emperor in question majestically soared up into the sky on eagle wings of silver and gold,ing to a standstill with his back to the eclipse. Imand this world to break, his incantation echoed over the battlefield in the all-epassingnguage of power, and reorder itself in my image!
The light of the eclipse was drawn to Romulus raised right hand, gathering in a white glowing orb that radiated mists of gold which tumbled down through the air like a waterfall. Pointing that mass of energy at the Construct of Order, Romulus ended the spells weaving, Nova. With that single word, thepressed energy flew forth.
The autonomous weapon hadnt been just waiting for that attack toe, instead charging its main cannon again and answering with its own energy ball. The two god-killer attacks connected, one white and gold, the other ever shifting colours. Romulus attack ripped through the Construct of Orders and then hit the wretched machinery.
The small sun melted itself right into the construct, stopping at the heart of the machine. Two seconds passed, and then the whole thing began to melt from the inside out, slowly being consumed by an expanding sun. The scorching heat reached John and Maximillian, and everyone with an ounce ofmon sense hid somewhere from the blinding light.
When the attack had consumed all of the construct, it suddenly imploded into a singr point. A shockwave, that caused the two closest Grey Golems to fall over like domino blocks in a gust of wind, ripped outwards. Molten stters of the construct were scattered all over the battlefield like superheated rain.
John and Maximillian were almost tossed off the tform they were hovering on, only Maximillian affixing their shoes with his powers as well as abination of Mana Protection and Undine forming a bubble around them saved them. However, they were still violently blown westwards, which was good because thats were their allies backline was.
It didnt look like Maximillian would be able to halt their rather immense momentum before crashing right into the contingent that had remained there. Their arrival would be met with broken bones and blood instead of relieved tears and hugs, if they kept this tempo and crashed right into them. At the head of all of them stood the important looking man with the crystalized face.
Once they came close, they simply stopped andnded as soft as a feather on a cushion. It happened so suddenly that John wasnt quite sure if his inner ears were happy with the change in momentum.
Watch where you find yourself, the old man berated them with that friendly smile that only energetic old people who really didnt care anymore could have.
John, ya stupid dick, Rave fell around his neck, and soon, he was buried under a mountain of happy girls that had waited for him toe back to them. Under theirbined charge, he toppled over andnded on the ground. That was super dangerous! I do dangerous stuff, ya should go and stand around and gimme advice, thats the basis of the rtionship here!
Maybe I want you to worry for a change, mhm? John teased and kissed her deeply as everyone else in his present harem, save for Lydia who was watching the whole thing with a raised eyebrow, wasying on top of him. Interestingly enough, that pile included Momo, who skydived on top of it. She may not have been in love with him, but they were something more than good friends. You and your endlessly thrill-seeking butt.
Its a good butt! Rave defended herself.
The best butt, John agreed and fondled it a bit. To that end, he didnt give a single fuck about everyone of the present international elites. It wasnt like it was a secret that he was a pervert, and he certainly didnt n on hiding it. He was physically attracted to sexy girls who liked and/or loved him. Whoever the idiot was that would get upset about that could just bugger off.
Yes, yes, dont thank the cripple who risked his life to get him out of there, Maximillian groaned as he dusted off his cape. Of course that was entirely useless; it was enchanted to stay clean in the first ce.
He was proven wrong rather quickly as Aclysia jumped to her feet and bowed down so deeply that her shapely behind became visible to everyone. From the bottom of my soul, she spoke, I thank you, your Majesty.
Yeah, good job, Rave added. The elementals gave their own series ofpliments over the course of which the king straightened his back more and more and assumed a position of someone who felt absolute vindication for his actions in life.
While I do not approve of who that is, I too have to thank you for saving my daughters boyfriend, Nariko was thest to add to the list.
It wasnt much, really, Maximillian said, now trying to downy the whole thing. Although you should have seen the Gamer pitifully cowering, grasping at straws for his life when I heroically swo-ow!
The old man chopped Maximillian on top of the head with his left hand that was, just like his face, covered in crystals. Those, as John just noticed, previously blue gemstones had assumed an almost ck purple. Stop with your bravados, you whelp, and go help your emperor if you have that much energy left!
Whoever this was, the king must have held both fear and respect for the man as, and that was the true miracle, Maximillian obeyed without another word and flew off.
Now, I think it is time the two of us introduce ourselves, the old man continued; I am Rodam of Oreh, chancellor of the Greater Roman Empire.
Johns eyes widened a bit at that announcement. He only had heard that name once before, in a news article that Magoi had shown him, and back then it had meant very little to him. Now that John had a little bit more knowledge of the Abyss, he understood just how meaningful a position this man was holding, being second to the Apex himself. What would his power be? He just stopped the flight of Maximillian and him, and his crystals had changed colours in return. Some type of copying ability perhaps? Adaptability of his soul type? He could specte pretty wildly here; after all, this man must have been at the top of even the Primarch category, a true monster.
I am John Newman, the Gamer, he answered while still running through the possibilities.
And future ruler of America, I know, Rodam cackled. The short hesitation in Johns breath was all the man needed to continue. Actually, I just guessed that but thanks for the confirmation. May I ask why you want to take over the USA?
Because it being theughing stock of the Abyssal world hurts my patriotic heart, John answered.
I dont believe you, the chancellor returned.
Pardon? This conversation had been weird from the start, but now it felt like he was getting information pulled out of his nose. The smartest thing would have been to shut up, but Rodam conspiratorially leaned downwards and, now quieter, continued their conversation with as much privacy as a ruined city allowed. Which was a lot actually because the sounds of battle made listening in pretty hard.
I know your type, thete-bloomers. Often get bullied your whole life, the system you dwell in isnt really to your taste, and you just live with it because you see no way to change. You drown yourself in books or other entertainment because every day and human interaction has just be a chore, Rodamid down; People like you arent particrly patriotic.
That hit painfully close to home, and it made John wonder. Was he just doing it because he felt like America deserved it? Thats what he had thought, but when he dug a bit deeper, he actually found a much simpler reason, one much more powerful and way less on the altruistic side. He wanted to conquer all of the USA because he thought HE deserved it. Because he and his overly pushed Intellect and Wisdom had realized that he COULD take it over. It was the ugly side of people that often showed itself in gaming whenever somebody was miles in the lead. Sure, you could end the game immediately, but why not make sure every single enemy building was destroyed beforehand? Sure, he could live his days peacefully, but why not show the world that he was powerful?
Now thats a p in the face, John thought as he did his best rein in this overarching sense of superiority that he had just discovered. That was a part of himself he should have checked in on sooner; he just ignored it because everything was going pretty nice. Evidently, even with extremely high Wisdom, I am still capable of being very stupid, John told himself and made a mental note to question why he did things more often. He had fallen too much in love with the products of his own mind, because of how often he had been proven to be correct in recent times. I feel like I am missing humbleness in my elemental line-up. Gnome is patience, Smander is passion, Sylph is flexibility, Undine is determination, and Siena is well, she is an evil sadist, but she is also about teaching people to stand on their own. Would light give me some humbleness? Ah well, we will see when I get it.
Rodam just grunted as if he could read exactly what was going on inside that head of his. I rmend you work on your lying game if you want to be a big one in the Abyss. Not to actually lie, just so I cant extract every single truth out of your gestures. I am not a particrly good guy, and I know that you know people that know that they are very maniptive creatures, you know?
John felt like he was alluding to Richard there, so he just nodded, and Rodam rolled his shoulders, causing the tubes to rattle for a bit. Romulus actually started moving before he was fully healed once he realized you and the princess were encircled. His wives were furious, but he healed the rest on the way, so they had no room toin too much. Seeing how you basically ughtered a whole battalion on your own, I dont think hurrying so much was necessary.
Well, I am happy you did, because we were about to face two of these giant golems, John gestured at thest of the shadows just as it began to fall over, and that would have been too much.
Mhm, lets say I believe that, Rodam said and blinked in a friendly way; Anyway, you should leave the barrier. We will talk moreter; unlike Rom, I am not all that keen on little dialogue games. For now, I have a certain Fateweaver to look after.
John had just assumed that his familiars had informed everyone about the situation with Magoi, and it seemed like he had been correct in that. Just onest question is Eliza with you?
Lydia perked up at that; depending on the answer there was a rather heavy talk iing. Yes, Rodam answered and then flew off.
Well, I have a lot to do then, John said; he had a lot of unused Statpoints, one Skill Evolution, a good chunk of points to spend on his Artificial Spirits and said conversation to have. This battle was won already, and he had carried his fair share.
Time to deal with stuff that personally affected him. As he raised his arm to the sky, he heard Metra click her tongue, Better give me something to fight soon. He would also have to deal with her, apparently.
So much to do, and they were quickly approaching the fifth day of the war.
Chapter 349 – All the organisational things
Chapter 349 C All the organisational things
The difference between the battlefield and the busy city of Warsaw was staggering. Of course, all the elementals had gone incorporeal, and Aclysia had shifted into an outfit more fitting. They had to buy new clothes for Rave, Lydia and Metra, who waited for them inside another barrier, before they could move on though. The battle suit and the destroyed military uniform werent exactly normal clothes, and neither naked nor a living armour were eptable.
Once that was over and done with, John punched in Elizas number into the cell phone and asked where she was exactly.
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Pffff-hihihi, Rave failed to contain her snickering when they entered the hotel room where Eliza was located. The reason for this was pretty simple; for a start, she was wearing normal clothes, a pretty blue blouse with a long ck skirt; a jacket of the same colour was casually thrown over the backrest of thefortably looking armchair the blood mage was resting in.
The true reason for the amusement, however, was her hair. Currently ck, as the illusion from her scarf hid her from looking abnormal, it had grown so long that it reached the ground from where she was sitting and piled there in the form of an overgrown messy braid.
What are you fuckingughing about, seizure hands?! Eliza cussed her out immediately; If your answer is in ANY part a joke about Rapunzel, I will kick the ever-loving SHIT out of you!
How did that even happen? John wanted to know while Rave just continued tough. Clearly, she was not particrly intimidated, and why would she be? The two of them, despite their more than bumpy first encounter, got along splendidly, and the blood mage was always a lot of bark.
Apparently each time Thana gets control, Eliza could say that name without immediately bursting into a violent headache, which was wee progress, the burst of power makes my hair grow I guess my nails would grow too if they werent made from blood already.
John looked at the length of her hair and was now rather rmed. How often did she take over? Three times?
Yes, but none of them were just sudden takeovers; I just kind of let it fucking happen because Romulus said it was okay then he smacked me about for an hour or two, and eventually I managed to wrestle control from Thana again, Eliza answered; Although I wouldnt say that I got that down yet.
Nevertheless, that sounds good, John said with a wide smile. There seemed to be hope for the future yet.
Lydia cleared her throat. It is good to see you again Eliza, she opened up.
Yeah, hello, anal-queen. Want to make a fucking scene or why do you look like I just pushed a dildo down your throat until it poked out of your ass? the blood mage wanted to know; Although you would be happy if I did it the other way around, probably? Why cant you have a normal fetish, like getting pped on the ass hard enough to make you cum?
Are you not angry? the princess wondered; For the whole thing that went down before I was abducted?
I am seething, Elizaughed out loudly, but I am not mad at YOU. I am fucking angry at just about everyone who was involved in the whole making of that THING that now lives inside me, and I am pissed about the fucking fact that I will probably have to stay with Romulus for as long as I need to get a handle on this situation. I can feel that bony bitch trying to get involved into my thought process right now. I dont me you for any of this shit though.
Lydia took a sigh of relief. Thank the mother, and here I thought you would be irrationally mad at me for an emotional reason. I would have understood, after all it was my decision to send you down to the arena, which surely hastened the process.
Oh fuck off, Eliza rolled her, currently brown, eyes; I know that this whole thing went down about as well as it could have. Could you imagine the consequences if Thana had woken up a weekter in our living room instead of the middle of an invasion? You all would be so fucking dead it wouldnt even be funny, and so would I. Also, I would have wanted to go down there even if you told me no; I can make my own decisions.
Yeah, John plopped down on the bed, how do you Germans say? It was luck within bad luck? If Thana had awoken anywhere else and had spent her time ughtering civilians in the hundreds instead of some elite invader force, that would have been way worse than what we got. Although I still disagree with the fact that you made her fight in the first ce, it all worked out as best it could in the end. No reason to be really angry.
We are going to live, learn and move the fuck on, Eliza nodded; Now get some fucking scissors, I dont trust other people to cut my hair, Lyly!
The princess just gave a wry smile, I cannot believe I missed you bunch of chaotic individuals. You will have to excuse me, however; I need to take a shower before doing anything else.
And just like that, the Hollmey motto keeps spreading, Rave giggled as she jumped on the bed with John, Aclysia quickly following as well. Momo went for a rtively isted part of the room and began reading, as always.
Can you really still call it the Hollmey motto? I doubt that your mother operates under it, John said; his hopefully future mother-inw was staying in another hotel nearby. With the exnation that, now that Romulus was on the battlefield and they had gotten Lydia secured, her daughter would hopefully be less reckless, she had retreated out of the conflict atrge.
Last I asked, which was in Graz, she also used it, actually, Rave corrected him; She said it actually got her a lot of promotions over the years.
Huh, John was amazed that the motto he had always mentally attributed to a kind ofid back lifestyle could also be useful for a person whose whole life was basically her career. Anyway, there was a lot of other stuff he wanted to get done right now, starting with the SEP.
Also can someone fucking tell me who that bitch is? Eliza interrupted his thought process and pointed at Metra. The berserker babe was wearing pretty skimpy clothes, legs d in stockings with just hot pants stretching around her waist. Her midriff waspletely revealed, the cropped top doing basically nothing to hide anything, not even the ck sports-bra underneath. She had been very insistent on getting those clothes; they managed to hide her from the public by putting her in a very long mantle. Howe that I am gone for like 4 days and the second you show up again you have a new blonde, tall fucking bitch on your si-.
Call me a bitch again and I will fuck you up so hard you wish you knew how to keep your mouth shut, Metra interrupted the blood mage.
The shit did you just say, you piece of whoring garbage? Eliza asked and jumped to her feet; You want to go at it? I will wreck your ass!
I will put you back into thea I kept you in, you insane maniac! Metra growled.
A shrillughter preceded the answer. What the fuck does that even mean?! The only thing that ever fucking sedated me was that her eyes widened as she realized; Noooooo, John, you did fucking do it after all. Why the fuck would you turn that thing that was put into my head into a sexy blonde bimbo bitch babe, now I am jealous, furious and confused. EXPLAIN!
It was kind of a clutch decision, John started and then went over the whole happenings of the past couple of days.
___________________________________________________________________
Can somebody smack me over the face? Like really hard? Eliza requested, and Metra obliged in an instant, punching her in the face without hesitation; Okay, so this is real, Eliza said, rolling her jaw; WHAT THE FUCK?!
Calm down, John urged her.
I am as calm as I will get, you dick-weeb, the blood mage iled in her chair; Why did you have to give that weird scorpion thing a vagina; you are getting so close to having one girl for each waking hour in the day that it makes me just want to crush your balls in my hand!
I still think we should fight this out, Metra said; Not like I have a lot to say about this whole thing, neither did I have a lot to do with the decision to be put into your head. Wasnt the most fun 70 years for me as well, you know?
Well they were literal torture for me! Eliza screamed at her.
I was hooked up to your nervous system, I know, Metra kicked her shin; Stop screaming about it; I want to murder that Mengele fucker as well, just not as much as you do.
That made the blood mage hesitate for a moment, and then she threw her arms up into the air, Fuck it, there is this bitch in the harem now. Whatever, I will just try to forget where you came from and look at you for the bitch that you are right now.
You really want to have a go at it, little girl? the berserker babe stared downwards.
What did you just call me? Do you want to die? Elizas perfectly calm voice was oxymoron to the enraged grin that spanned over her pale face; I have bitten apart Mithril; I can probably learn how to rip your fucking hide apart, you star-forged cunt. You just wait until I get a handle on this whole Thana thing, then I will rip you apart!
Yeah, right, I am the first Metracana, like I am going to be wasted by a potty-mouthed brat, Metra returned.
Would you hello? Anyone? John tried to intervene, but hisints were just drowned by the two of them throwing ever more shade at each other. Eventually, he ceased to try to intervene and just blinked in confusion as the whole fight turned into something like a friendly conversation.
I guarantee you that I could throw a rock further than you, Metra crossed her arms, just give me a few minutes to get really angry.
Wow, rock-tossing, whats next, are we going to y fucking checkers? Eliza scoffed; Going by that punch earlier, you are about as dangerous to me as a fly is to an elephant. A very tiny, shit-covered fly and a very big, sexy elephant!
Are you calling yourself fat? the grin that appeared on Metras face seemed remarkably friendly; You seem pretty well-built if you ask me.
Said the girl with a midriff of steel, fucking hell, give me that! the blood mage demanded.
What is happening? John wanted to know.
You know that there are many instances of guys that want to fight behind the pub and them bing really good friends afterwards? Momo sent a question back to him; I guess we are witnessing what happens if you have two overly aggressive personalities go at each other and they somehow get along.
Indeed, it seemed like the whole insult throwing had now resulted in something like mutual respect for the others abilities. The fact that Eliza had barely reacted to the earlier punch seemed to have impressed Metra, just as the fact that she even felt it had left an impact on Eliza.
Can you grow a cock like our sex-doll sh maid Aclysia though? Eliza suddenly moved on to another topic.
Nah, I have no dick this time, thank god, Metra said; I am bound to whatever shape I get when I am contracted, and I would rather not have something flopping between my legs all the time. The living weapon hesitated and then added, Wait a second, can she just grow hers whenever she wants?
Yup, Eliza affirmed.
Okay, that is horseshit, I just dont want the whole floppage; I wouldnt be against having a feeling strap-on, oy, show me! Metra turned to Aclysia with a demanding tone; Right now, I want to see that!
Should I, Master? Aclysia asked John, who was still watching this whole thing unfold.
Its just your genitals, no need to bother John over it, Metra rolled her eyes; Show some independence girl.
I am perfectly independent; I just value Masters opinion more than your demands, Aclysia returned and repeated the question to John, whispering it into his ear amongst some other nice things; Should I go futanari? We can fuck her together. It has been over a day since youst released your seed, and I know you are pent-up. What better way tomemorate our survival than adding another beautiful girl to your harem?
She was absolutely right, John had an erection ever since sitting down on this bed. Now that he was safe, his thoughts had time to revolve around perversions again.
Chapter 350 – Upgrades first
Chapter 350 C Upgrades first
Okay, we are going to have an orgy in a minute, John promised, but I need to get these other things out of the way first, okay?
Everyone agreed, so he got to work. First question: What to do with that SEP? He had gotten a pop-up allowing Undine to ascend to Tier 5, but the plus sign was still silver, meaning that corruption might ur. John did not want that, so that needed to be pushed up to the future.
With the elementals out, his choices were limited to Arcane Echo, Blink, and Arcana Strike. Arcane Echo, while not exactly his most used skill, fulfilled what he had gotten it for perfectly. While he would have liked a more versatile version of it, Arcana Strike was fine as it was right now. Blink, however, saw barely any usage. Time to see if he couldnt get something a little bit more useful out of the deal.
Relocate would allow for some pretty nice shenanigans involving items, and Portal Point was pretty bonkers in any situation where he got to manipte his environment. However, Relocate also required him to have useful items with him to drop at all times, and when he had the luxury to manipte his environment to that degree, Portal Point was just a win-more type of spell.
Shifting Momentum on the other hand gave him Blink as a passively charging spell. Sure, he had to pay another 500 on the current mana cost, but because that mana was spend on other things, the spell was free in effectively all situations where he didnt need a clutch teleport. That aside, there would be a point where 1500 mana was pocket change.
So, he went with Shifting Momentum and moved onto the next item on the list: the Artificial Spirits. A quick Observe on Metra revealed that she was levelling automatically, granting further credibility to him holding her down right now.
Aclysia and Momo both were seven levels underneath him right now, as he had jumped from 102 to 109 thanks to defeating both the Supreme Fateweaver and the Grey Golem. The conundrum now was how to get them those levels. Nathalia wasnt around, and he didnt have any of her scales on hand.
Do I need to buy some expensive stuff from the auction, or how do we fix this? John mumbled out loud in hopes of getting some meaningful contributions. In the background the sound of scissors cutting through Elizas hair, Lydia reducing it back down to the more sensible size of down to the middle of her back.
How about this? the blood mage in question raised a strand of her hair, or these alternatively, she tapped against her teeth. I have enough of both of these things: I dont have any fucking use for the hair, and the teeth just regrow all the damn time.
That could work John said hesitatingly, but I dont know how I feel with putting parts of you inside Aclysia and Momo since you know the whole Thana thing. He knew what the blood of Thana had done to weak people, and he didnt really feel like experimenting what her hair would do to Artificial Spirits, especially if the goddess of genocide took control of the whole thing.
Yeah, probably as smart as cutting someone with leukaemia and stopping the time until they bleed the fuck out only to then tell the police that it was for science, Eliza agreed.
I have a solution, Metra said and reached into his inventory. She pulled out a strangely beautiful, elongated drop of metal, gold and scarlet red having mixed together.
With a raised eyebrow John checked his inventory. He had like 40 of these. When did you do that?
While you were busy chatting it up with that Rodam guy, Metra exined, who I cannot believe is still alive.
John handed the molten metal over to Aclysia and Momo; they needed two each to get to the new max level. The drops didnt have anything on them he wanted, but hey, they were a good source of Consumption.
You knew the man already? John asked Metra while they were still feeding.
Yeah, was under his contract for a bit about 4000 years ago. Was supposed to find a god named the Horned Rat and invite him to court, the weaponized artefact said.
Tell me about that, the Gamer didnt even try to hide his tant interest. As far as he knew, the Horned Rat was 4331 years old (although that number could have been fake), so what Metra had done must have happened in the Rats rtive youth.
Sorry, my oath to Enki prohibits me to give away the exact details on my past contracts, Metra shattered his expectations. Unless I am explicitly allowed to talk about it, like in this girls case. She pointed at Eliza who got the finishing touches put onto her hair. All I can tell you is that it ended with a very angry Romulus and a confused Rat.
Man, I would love to hear that story, Johnmented while also wondering a certain thing. Did the Horned Rat simply keep quiet about the fact that he encountered Metra before or did he simply not know? When they had struck a bargain over the Rat telling John everything he knew about Metracanas, he hadnt mentioned anything like this.
Then again, since transforming into this form, the berserker babes aura had gotten a major transformation. Instead of the unsubtle power that the old item radiated, it now was an ever shifting, unstable torrent of power directly over her skin that looked like the edge of torn paper, so it was safe to say that her true identity couldnt be found using the aura sight method. Since she also shape-shifted every time, maybe, just this once, the Horned Rat hadnt known better. Although, knowing that particr god, the keeping quiet seemed more likely.
Well, if you cant, you cant, John sighed and then went to increase Aclysias Stats first, since that was just his decision and his favourite maid was fine with whatever he was going to do. He just raised her Strength and Agility this time around.
Then it was time to move onto the AP questions. He hadnt touched these things since the skill had been level 35, so there should have been at least something to grab.
It was going to be Sword Specialization 2 without a doubt. The other two didnt have any practical applications. Aclysia did use her swords a lot. Like a lot, lot. The choice was pretty clear. Moving on.
John just blinked at the choices. How was Anti-Magic Barrier not stupendously broken? The only reason why Anti-Magic Shell, her current skill that he more often than not forgot about, wasntpletely broken was because it blocked 78 damage at most. Sure, with Aggression to Mana, a skill that gave her mana whenever she blocked an attack, Aclysia could regenerate her little mana pool very quickly but the shield was negligible anyway.
Ines Anti-Magic Barrier, which passively added the extra regeneration to a shield even when she wasnt using the skill. The value probably got split between all group members, and in effect, it was a rather boring skill, but it still increased everyones survivability passively. It was insane value. He picked it immediately, wondering how exactly that shield actually worked. He was pretty sure that wasnt the same thing as Nias powers, since Aclysia was unlikely to suddenly materialize a nk soul. Was anti-magic in this context just a fancy shortening for a shield that didnt react to physical attacks?
He moved on to Momo while those questions joined the others that were steadily flying around in his head.
So, first things first, do you want Libido 25, yes or no? John wanted to know. With you going out there on your own and probably trying to get it on with some girls, having a dick sounds pretty useful.
Dont lie, you perv, you just want to fuck me up the ass, Momo said, ncing up from her page with a berating smile, but I will take it anyway, because you are right, I will try to get it on with some cuties, like that Ria girl.
She is a princess, but knock yourself out, John shrugged and put 15 of the 35 points into Libido. I would put 10 more into Intellect to get you the next efficiency upgrade and then 10 into Charisma, you can use it, he suggested further.
Momo nodded, shifting her legs as the new sensitivity between them together with the new hole that had just appeared there made her very much aware of her sex. Sounds good.
Fucking hell, that mana, John thought. It wasnt even funny how much of it she had. Sure, her regeneration sucked paratively, one mana per second was still nothing to scoff at), but every time he looked at that, he understood why Magoi had warned him that people would want to use her core for mana factory purposes. If he put more points into her Wisdom, how much would her mana regeneration increase? It had performed rather poorly up until now, but maybe it was going to break through some ceiling at 250? Well, he wouldnt find out today.
That was easy: he didnt want Copperskin, and Momo REALLY didnt need the mana, so the hive it was. Gaia really needs to stop recycling stuff, John thought; it made the decisions pretty clear.
So, what do you want? John asked and got the expected answer.
That Folded Mana thing sounds pretty useful, Momo said and thus got it. Out of the three, it was the only thing that sounded even remotely useful. She created a little ball box in her hand that then unfolded. I dont think this is particrly strong aggressively, huh, wait a second.
She created another construct, this time a wound up ball of string that slowly uncurled throughout the room. Out of interest, John touched it when it passed him. It felt like it was made out of cotton.
Following the path of the piece of energy-woven yarn, he watched as it unrolled to the end and then spawned a firefly. I can put spells into the construct, it costs a hell of a lot more, but I can do it, Momo said as the magical insect made its way over to its creator.
Thats actually pretty strong if you get your hands on a few more spells, John mumbled, feeling slightly jealous. If he could create a folded piece of Shardbound and then use it as a sort of splinter grenade, thatd be pretty damn solid. Well, he could achieve a simr effect with a stone and Possession, but it would still be pretty nice.
Time to raise my own Stats, John said. He had already allocated the four levels that the defeat of the supreme Fateweaver had gotten him, pushing his Intellect to 130, but he still had 18 points left from defeating the Grey Golem, and now he was kind of split. Intellect was one good investment for sure, but after being read that easily earlier (and with being uncertain how Metra would y into the whole harem situation), he felt that it was time to raise Charisma to 50, and with his current points, he would be almost there already.
He did that, and thus his character sheet now looked like this:
His Stats were looking pretty good, to say the least.
Okay, I think that was about everything I needed to do, John announced. Anyone got anything else to say?
I am already naked, and I havent had sex with a vagina in over a hundred years, Metra told him. Indeed she was; she had parted from her clothes with such readiness that John had the suspicion that he finally found an exhibitionist in his harem. Lets do this already.
Chapter 351 – When in John Newman’s harem, do as the waifus do. [Erotic Content]
Chapter 351 C When in John Newmans harem, do as the waifus do. [Erotic Content]
Do you have orgies on the regr? Metra wanted to know as everybody got out of their clothes as quickly as they could. They were a prettyrge collection, Rave, Aclysia, Momo, Metra, Eliza, Lydia and, of course, John. The elementals werergely tired out and had gone to sleep the second they had entered the hotel. Which was actually good since the room was too small for those around already.
To get no trouble with room service bursting in or something, John relocated this whole thing into a barrier. He did not want to exin the potentially weird stuff that was about to happen.
Basically daily, John told her; Although thest couple of days have been a bit hectic. I think the first load I am going to blow today is going to be gigantic. He leered at Metras midriff and couldnt help but think how nice it would be to coat these abs in some frosting.
I would call dibs, but ya seem to have a nice idea already, Rave, pressing her cute breasts and soft body against his back, whispered into his ear, following the path of his eyes. Currently only her and John were sitting on the bed; Aclysia had gotten up and walked over to Momo.
Okay, daily orgies are good, reminds me of home. And, nothing against you Master, but why the hell would anyone call dibs on sperm, it tastes bitter and blergh, Metra got into the talk.
Johns girlfriend chuckled and then gave a teasing wink, Just wait til you had a taste of his. Its delicious.
The dirty blonde babe kept her scepticism about that at a raised eyebrow. The centre of attention instead shifted to the two modern Artificial Spirits. Just let it grow, Aclysia purred, rubbing Momos pussy with her middle and ring fingers, which quickly turned slick from the increasingly sensitized pussys oozing juices. It feels nice, not as nice as getting fucked by our master, but still very nice.
Well, everyone is staring, Momoined but took a deep breath and forcefully calmed herself before growing her cock out. It was, just as Aclysias, the same size and shape as Johns, which led only further credibility to his self-convincing that this wasnt that bad.
And it really wasnt. The more he got exposed to this and the fact that his pole could only fill one hole at the time, the less did he care about Aclysia having her own cock. As long as he didnt have to touch it himself, it was basically just a strap-on with extras. He was less ufortable around his girls dicks these days, although he would always prefer them without.
Three cocks to four vaginas, thats a pretty good ratio, Lydiamented; Although we usually have some tentacles in the mix as well to make things more even.
What kind of depraved master did I stumble into this time? Metra said with a cheeky grin that took the edge off thatint. Then she positioned herself in front of John, legs apart, arms crossed, and looked down on him with her lips still curved upwards. You like what you see by the way?
She was definitely the most muscle-bound of all the girls he had encountered so far. Not in an unattractive way either, at least not to him. She skirted that line between being built like a tank and being athletic, which turned her midriff into chiselled art.
Having marvelled at that thing several times already, John still felt like he could look at it for minutes on end. It was that weirdly tantalizing feeling that one got when looking at some nearly perfect body part, like a pair of juicy tits or the firm ass of a woman bending forwards. The shadows of her pelvis alone made Johns cock harder than diamond.
I love what I see, he said, grabbed her by the hips and pulled her closer. He kissed that t stomach, following an impulse, and urged her to slowly kneel down in front of him. His lips caressed her skin; with all of those muscles, he had expected her to be hard as the metal she was made from, but they were rxed and thus surprisingly tender. He had no idea how that worked, and right now he also didnt care.
His tongue licked over her pretty pinkish-brown nipples and the nape of her neck before he stopped her for a moment when she had reached the height of his face and pulled her into a deep kiss. Her lips werent as full as those of most girls in his harem, but the thought of them wrapping around his cock was making him groan into their French kiss nheless. Her salivas taste was sweet and had a hint of cinnamon, of all things, which John only noticed mere moments before she broke the kiss.
Sinking the rest of the way down to the floor, she was now sitting in front of John, between his legs at the edge of the bed. You are big, thergest human I ever had, probably, Metra said in an amused tone, sticking her tongue out and breathing in his manly aroma for a second before licking up a trail of pre-cum that had already reached his base. Erotically curving away once she had reached the tip, she moved her tongue around in her mouth as if she was tasting some of the finest champagne.
I would love to drink something fizzy out of her belly button, John suddenly thought,pletely out ce.
This does taste pretty good, Metra admitted.
Nice that ya see it that way, why dont ya have some more? the voice of his girlfriend sounded like a sweet trap to Johns ears. She was still pressed against his side and was enticing Metra to give him a blowjob with a sadistic lustre in her blue eyes. Just suck my boyfriends dick nice and deep. She put a hand on the back of Metras head, grabbing her wild hair at the metal ring that held up her ponytail and firmly pulled her forwards.
The berserker babe let it happen and wrapped her lips around his cock without hesitation, sliding down his whole length in one stroke.
Do I envy not having a choking reflex, Rave giggled, then again, ya have firmly removed that from me, havent ya, tiger? Why was she purring every word down his ear like that? It felt like every bit of blood in his body rushed down to his cock and turned it impossibly erect. Ya have no idea how horny I am right now, she continued, getting out of that encirclement situation? My nerves are on edge and watching our newest addition to the harem deepthroat your cock is super awesome.
Our? When has it be our? John wondered but immediately realized that he was actually ecstatic about that development. Rave was his girlfriend first and member of his harem second in the first ce, and this whole thing was based partly on the idea that he shared with her. He wanted her to see this as much as hers as much as it was his, because the two of them were the couple at the heart of all of this. You are having a bit of a sadistic streak there, John pointed out and moaned when Rave guided Metras movements.
She went back and forth along the length of his shaft, always pushing down just after he had left her throat, exactly the way John loved it the most. Kiss me, tiger, Rave said with a wide grin and leaned towards him. Her glossy pink lips pressed on his, their mouths opened, and tongues whirled around each other to the sound of a sloppy blowjob, and their kiss was even sloppier. An exchange of love and lust ending only for a moment when his girlfriend added another sentence. I love being a bit dominating, especially when I am with you. Their kisses continued, asionally broken by whispered sighs of lustful dialogue.
You want to dominate me? John wanted know.
No, Rave panted, I want to dominate people with ya. Their lips met with sucking sounds. Parted for another moment. It makes me so horny, I coulde any second.
Lets test that! John dered and aggressively embraced her all of a sudden. He sniffed at her hair and ran his fingers through her pussy, so wet it had left a spot on the sheets already. Moaning right into his ear, she started at an already high pitch which quickly became a drawn-out gasp as an orgasm rocked her body and drenched Johns right hand in its entirety.
See tiger? Rave said, still guiding Metras sucking movements. Ya make me crazy when we have sex, and I love it. I just thought Id have some nice lesbo sex when I allowed you to get a harem, not that wed end up as two dominating types atop a bunch of willing cute sluts.
The way she said thatst word and then yfully bit Johns ear was too much. He sted his seed right down Metras throat, her nose pressed into his hairless base. I fucking love you, he groaned, staring at her face as he came, little lightning bolts dancing through his field of vision.
I love ya too, Rave answered, and they kissed deeply again through the remainder of his orgasm. His load, worth a whole day of extreme stress, guzzled down, and the unknowing berserker babe moaned upon the heavenly taste that reached the base of her tongue.
By the end of it, Metra tried to pull back. Despite having diligently drunken all of it, Rave stopped her. If ya think my John is satisfied after cumming just once, ya better throw those expectations out quickly, the funky lightbearer stopped her with a wide grin.
Mhm, seems like my girlfriend wants you to keep sucking, Metra, John hummed, would you do her the favour?
The emerald green eyes looked a bit confused as to what had happened. In her long life, she had experienced more than a few sexually outstanding individuals, but this seemed to be only the beginning of something truly fuck-tastic. She just went with the flow and back to deepthroating her new master''s meatpole, as requested. While John very much enjoyed looking at that and fingering his girlfriend simultaneously, it was time to see what the other four girls were up to.
Lydia already had Momos dick up her tight asshole and was barely holding back her moans by biting her lips. One of her canines was visible, the fullness of her rich, red lower lip curved outwards. The asional groan, a mixture of deep pleasure and the slightest bit of pain from having her sphincter stretched out, crossed them.
Oh this is gooood, Momo, her eyes rolling back into her skull already upon tasting thispletely new kind of pleasure, was mindlessly thrusting from below. Seated where Eliza had her hair cut earlier, Lydia was riding Momo in a reverse cowgirl, her small breasts swaying towards the open room with each time she slid up and down the well-lubricated shaft.
Right next to them, bowing over the armrest, Eliza was getting eaten out by Aclysia who stroked her own cock. Fuck, just give me that fucking cock already; I have only touched myself in four days, I am so fucking needy, she cussed, Put it anywhere, I dont care, just abuse me, you y-doll, and fill me with your hot ass cum.
Just as the weaponized maid was about to heed her request, John spoke up. Aclysia, go fuck Lydias pussy instead.
Are you fucking kidding me?! Eliza cried out, feeling Aclysias dick, that had already been pressed against her pussy entrance, pull away. Her pubic hair, as white as the rest of her hair now that she had taken the scarf off, waspletely removed around her pussy lips and trimmed to a soft length above her clit. The fact that this made her the hairiest out of all of Johns girls pleased him greatly, he didnt like getting his mouth fuzzy when eating them out.
Shut the fuck up, Eliza, and go stand right here, John instructed her and pointed at his left side. You dont deserve to get fucked before you havent shown that you are a good girl, and good girls follow orders. The blood mage, who had be ready to snap at him some more, clenched her teeth immediately and grinned widely as she obeyed.
After taking her position next to Metra, Eliza moved her hands over her own body. Rave, sitting diagonally opposed to her, added to Johns orders. No movements, no touching yourself, you just stand there, be quiet and watch!
A loud scream pulled Johns attention back to Lydia, who finally had broken in her silence as Aclysia pushed her rod into her. The princess was getting prated in both holes, an exercise for which the chair had been too low off the ground, so Momo had taken out her wings and was now hovering in the air. Legs helplesslyying in Aclysias hands and only secured by the artificial support behind her, Lydia was stuck between two hard cocks rocking back and forth. She had nowhere to go, was a simple ying ball between Momo, ecstatically shaking her hips, and Aclysia, who hammered into her with the ceaseless stamina of an experienced lover.
One orgasm rolled into the other for the princess, who soon joined Momo in the dumb-fucked look, tongue lolling out of her mouth with her braid messy and halfway unravelled as her eyes were unable to focus on anything. Fuck, yes, thish ish what I neeed, the princess eximed in a very unaristrocratic way as her toes curled up and she pressed her arching back against Momo.
John grabbed Metras head and mmed her down to the base as he came down her throat a second time. That show is too much, he groaned towards his girlfriend as the berserker babes throat convulsed around his dick, struggling to gulp down all of the sticky, thick load. I need to fuck someone right now!
Eliza shifted just that little bit as he said that, and he pped her on the ass for it. The impact caused her skin to redden for just a second before her natural regeneration kicked in. No moving! he reminded her and added a second and then third pping sound to the lustful echoes in the room. Although the p was more reward than punishment to the masochistic blood mage as squeaky sounds from her throat, barely held back moans, and the gushing of her pussy following each p bore witness to. Bad girls dont get fucked.
I just sucked you off twice, Metra said, her lips stained with a slimy mixture of several fluids, most of them sexual. I think I am a good girl.
You certainly deserve a reward, John said; Jane, you mind ying with Eliza for a bit?
Nope, not at all, his girlfriend grinned and gently pinched his backside before getting up and bending Eliza over the bed. Here is the deal, if you can hold out orgasming until John is done with the new gal, then you get to have him take you. She raised her hands to stroke back a few of the unruly pink strands of her own hair before pping the blood mage on the ass way harder than John could hope to, causing her to almost cum on the spot. Its going to be really hard though, and you still cant moan or move.
To the sound of a desperate Eliza and Lydias howling, John pushed Metra into the sheets underneath him. She wasying on her back and looking up to him. Missionary? Really? she asked with a raised eyebrow and that ever-present cheeky smile; Took you for an ass man.
I am, but I cannot not see that midriff, John said and then lost no further time to plunge his dick into her. Her insides were a perfect reconstruction of a human pussy. It was slightly disappointing. John had expected her to be weird like his elementals in some sense, but as it was gripping tight onto his dick and she was both wet and willing, he really had no reason toin.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck! Metra cried out after only two strokes of his hips. Her spine arched, as a heavy torrent of pleasure ripped through the teased living weapon and her orgasm drenched the sheets with her fluids. This was the ultimate view of the midriff, John realized. Skin stretched from an arched spine, caused by an orgasm, muscles quivering and shifting visibly underneath, belly button elongated and the toned colour a canvas for the way that shadows angled between the hills of her muscle-fibres. In Enkis name, what is wrong with your dick?! It feels way too good!
I have a lot of skills for this, John simply answered and silenced further questions by rocking his hips back and forth. He had grabbed her by the hips, four fingers digging into the softness of her bottom, thumbs resting in the tantalizing gap between her pelvis and her muscles.
The first time John had sex with any girl it was always a moment that shook their world to the core, and he took great pride in that. He was basically ruining everyone in his harem for every other man out there. Who could hope topete with him? Nobody, and he did not feel bad about it in the slightest. These were his girls; they didnt need to ever experience another mans member after him.
Metra, although she did her best to fight against it, eventually sumbed to the primal lust, and her throat produced grunting noises. Her body was reduced to a state of constant aftershock induced quivering, rolling over right into a new spine-bending orgasm.
Finally, he felt a third orgasm well up in his balls, and he pulled out. Grabbing her meaty thighs and pushing them together, he fucked the gap between her legs and her pussy until his seed pulsated up his shaft and spurted over Metras midriff. The first spurt reached all the way up to her corbone, the next few hitting what he actually aimed at and adding gooey white to the canvas of her midriff.
With a heavy breath, John let go of her legs and looked at his masterpiece, an ancient weapon jittery with bliss, reaching out to goop up some of his seed on her fingers and transport it into her mouth. This doesh thashte really good, Metra admitted and swallowed. Master, I will have a lot of fun with you in the future, but I need a break.
No worries, John turned around to see whether or not Eliza had been able to hold on.
She came thrice already, Rave, sucking her fingers clean of the blood mages juices, told him. So she gets a pity face-fuck, if you ask me.
Sounds like a nicepromise. Open wide, Eliza, John grinned, pping his dick against her face for a bit before the ecstasy clouded blood mage realized what was going on and then greedily opened wide to be face-fucked.
Chapter 352 – Walking behind his back
Chapter 352 C Walking behind his back
It was noon of the fifth day of the war, and something inside John told him that it was going to be thest. Maybe it was the fact that they were more or less just walking after Romulus as he smashed through every line of defence without a care in the world.
The battle at Warsaw had seen most of the army of the Blood concentrated. ording to the information John had gathered since, that had been about 20% of their estimated strength. If that was true, then the total amount of manpower the Blood had had in this war reached around 10000.
Out of interest, John had run some estimated numbers in his head, about every 150th person in Europe was part of the Abyss (it was actually lower than that, but for the sake of mathematics this was what he ran with). Europe had a poption of about 700 Million in total, that made for ~4,7 Million Abyss Walkers. About 1 out of every 100 of those then was actually capable of using their powers effectively in a fight, so that cut down the baseline of avable troops to 47000. That was for all of Europe.
That number was then further broken down into average fighters (level 20-50, about 42000 of them, or ~99%), the elites (level 50-200, about 4960 or ~1%) and the true monsters, which John described as Primarch level, (level 200+, about 40 or ~0,01%).
Lydia once said that there were less than a thousand individuals of Elizas powerlevel on the, but with my math, that does still seem like a pretty high estimate, there should be like 100 to 200 globally tops, John thought. Mhm, maybe I need to add the angle of longevity to that? The stronger people in the Abyss get, the higher their age expectancy. Also, I am using official figures, not including people who only live in the Abyss or the fantastical races.
But even if he assumed that the Abyss-only denizens added enough people to the second step of the count to push the total number up to fifty-thousand (which was probably below the actual number but not by enough to make the thought process unreasonable), that still meant that the Blood had a whole fifth of the military of Europe under control. That was pretty crazy, as in crazy high.
Just because 50000 people COULD fight didnt mean they all WOULD. If given the choice, many people actually wouldnt be up for the draft. John knew for a fact that it wasnt exactly a choice in the empire, where nobles got their ruling privileges in return of maintaining a standing force (in this case themselves), but even they had gotten together a force of only 2500.
This was, inrge part, because the empire followed a quality over quantity approach where they had an actual fighting force that wasprised solely of the elite members while the rest of the army was, essentially, only there for upation duty.
But back to how stupid 10000 were. The answer was mighty stupid, because there were only two ways to achieve that number. Either they were forcing EVERYONE in their territory into their army OR they were propping their numbers up by using items. The answer was probably a mixture of both, which led to a weak, undisciplined and untrained force. Which easily exined why John had had such an easy time beating up a few dozen of them on his own.
They sucked. They were relying on mass tactics and giant war machinery. Good tactic for bullying weaker opponents, but when up against Romulus, it was weird. This whole thing made John question what the leaders of the Blood had been thinking when they started this war. Probably the same thing as Adolf Hitler when he kept threatening war on everyone and then it escted into World War 2, John concluded that train of thought on his ride to Moscow.
When he said ride, he, for once, was not talking about taking a train or another real world vehicle. No, he was on the back of something that was best described as and dragon. It was a long-limbed beast the size of a very big horse, with scales the colour of dark wine and a thin tail that it used to steer as it ran over the frozenndscape of eastern Europe. He was inside a cove on its back, together with Aclysia, Lydia, Rave and Eliza. Momo had opted out to fly instead while Metra decided to grab herself another magical steed (another oversized lizard, but more like a raptor) and rode that on her own.
They were all riding after the man running faster than any of them could hope to. Only keeping a tempo at which they could keep up because he didnt want to get out of the range of the two Fateweavers he had brought with him, Romulus was at the head of the procession.
Those Fateweavers were the reason why they were using this method of transportation. They could create new barriers seamlessly, making it so that nobody normal ever saw them and thus protecting them from Gaia throwing a fit. On top of that, they dialled the time flowing on the inside to something crazy, so although they were travelling for hours, they arrived after only minutes had passed in the real world.
Same was true for the battles, as they now had a monopoly on strong Fateweavers, with both the Supreme and the two High Fateweavers the Blood had on their side killed and captured, respectively. Meanwhile, they themselves had two, three if one counted Magoi, who had only woken up for about 10 minutes since the fight of Warsaw and then went straight to sleep again.
Whenever they entered a city barrier, they cranked up the time dtion, defeated everyone inside and then moved on. Defeat mostly came in the shape of the defenders raising the white g immediately.
With Romulus at the helm, this whole thing had turned into an unlosable battle, which only made John nervous. Not only did he maintain a reasonable amount of paranoia about this sense of safety, he also had to face a certain question once again.
He was supposed to reach this level of power one day?
Impressive, isnt he? Rodam, the actual owner of the steed they were currently riding, asked John. If one was invited by the right-hand man of the leader of the magical world to share a vehicle, one didnt refuse. I have known him for 5000 years now, I think, and I only get older while he just decides how he wants to look.
Must be pretty sobering, John carefully said.
It is indeed, although his longevityes with its own set of drawbacks, Rodam said and sighed; Although I can understand a lot of those problems myself, I am not the youngest after all.
Like what? John wondered, he was likely to be affected by simr problems and thus wanted to know what eternity had in store for him. The prospect of being hundreds or thousands of years old seemed weird to his 18-year old self, but that was the reality he was living in.
If no one killed him before he became truly untouchable.
Well, the obvious things, seeing those weaker than you wither and die while you barely age is a start, Rodam said and pointed at Rave; Eventually she will look like 40 while you seem 20, then her body will be 80 while yours will be 21.
But I am gonna be the biggest GMILF ever, Rave said and kept holding his hand; Also, I am gonna cling onto life for three eternities and a half. Ya think I am just going to let John have all the fun?
Rodam chuckled, You seem to have pep, I like that, but it wont change the reality of the situation that you will die before him.
That was a rather grave message but most likely true. Of all the girls in his harem, who would stay with him forever? Eliza, most likely, with her regenerative capabilities and that thing inside her; the only thing that would separate them is her permanent death, which was hard to bring about in the first ce. His elementals, without a doubt. Aclysia, she was bound to him. He wasnt quite sure how aging worked for Momo once she severed that connection. Metra seemed to be immortal, but she was also only 4000 years old.
But your spouse and friends dying before you isnt the worst, Rodam continued in a grave voice. It is the children that will really hurt.
The realization made the hair in Johns neck fizzy with angst. The idea of out-living his own kids was already bad to him in theory, how bad would it be once he actually had any? To see someone be born from the product of his and one of his girls love only to see them die before him.
Romulus had four children in the time I knew him, Rodam continued, two pairs of twins, ironically, from Sol and Luna. Demi-gods they may have been, strong they may have been, but they werent immortal. One fell in battle, the other three died over the course of history. The day thest one died was the day he decided to build Pompeii. He has sworn to not put any more children into this world before he has corrected the way it works.
John could only imagine the pain the emperor must have felt, but that put a more important question into the front of his mind. Was Romulus right in wanting to end Gaias istion of the Abyss from reality? It was one he hadnt spent a lot of time on until now, but the more he looked at the things the Abyss could aplish, the more urgent it became. The ensuing chaos would kill millions, most likely. Would the gain be worth it?
He decided to push the question off until he had heard about Gaia from Romulus himself.
Seems like I will need to find a way to make you ageless or something, John said to Rave. I am not going to just let you go on without me; life would be boring without you.
Well, if someone can figure it out, it would be you, brainiac, Rave said and gave him a quick kiss; Not all that interested in immortality right now, but I wontin if ya throw it my way anyway.
Lydia stayed silent and just sipped on some tea that had been brought to her. She made a slightly displeased face, threw a nce towards Aclysia, but continued to be quiet. It seemed she was busy chewing on a lot of different information that was new to her, most of all the human god and the idea that Gaia might be one.
I have a question for you, if I may, John said. Rodam gestured him to proceed, so he went ahead and asked, What do you intend to do regarding Eliza?
We are going to let her go, the answer was incredibly straightforward.
Wait, what?! Eliza cried out; I thought the n was to wait until I got a grip on things.
You seem to be getting along fine, and Romulus is a giant with a heart made from something squishy, Rodam shrugged; He is also a na?ve romantic, even if you seldom see that side of him because he puts himself far beneath a whole list of other things. He thinks you seem to have a good enough grip on it already, although he insists on having eyes on you to report back to us if you be unstable.
That sounded fine, although John had to wonder if he wanted to take Eliza and go already. There was something to be said about not wanting to be murdered by her genocidal body-mate. Is there maybe an option to stay here for a while? he therefore presented.
Just until we are pussy-tight-gripping certain that I am as stable as an insane fucking maniac can be? Eliza added to that; she must have been sharing a simr fear.
I am not against it, although I would make you work for your stay, Rodam shrugged; You should bring it up with Romulus after the peace conference, if you feel it is necessary. That sounded just fine, although the fact that he said peace conference instead of the final battle spoke volumes about the empires certainty of its victory.
A few minutes of silence ensued.
Are you aware that your name is Malcador backwards by the way? John suddenly stirred the conversation into joking waters. Rolling her eyes, his girlfriend immediately dropped out of the dialogue; she knew where that name was from.
Considering I was the one who wrote that into the story, I am very much aware, yes, Rodam answered.
Wait you were part of the people that made 40k? John suddenly was infinitely more interested in the man, and his interest had been high to start with.
I wasnt just part, I made the whole thing up and then had others be part of it. Call it a hobby of mine that got rather popr in the real world, the crystalized man said; Guess who the God-Emperor of Mankind is based on.
John had met his hero.
Chapter 353 – End of Moscow
Chapter 353 C End of Moscow
Members of the Blood of the Proletariat, peasants, serfs, soldiers and schrs, Romulus voice boomed over the river Moskva and over to the city of a very simr name. This is the empires ultimatum. Everyone who surrenders within the next hour, by leaving arms behind and meeting us outside the city, will be left unharmed. Everyone except your leaders, who will have to answer for their attack on Rome and their unjust invasion of neighbouringnds.
John, standing not far behind Romulus, took a look at the city they were threatening right now. It was a strangely beautiful construction of onion-topped towers at the heart of a desert of steel and cement. Of course, the towers, relics from a past under another regime, were covered inmunist iconography. The contrast between the old and the new was staggering, a forceful restructuring of the social order that swept through all other aspects of life.
Although the paint underneath that new red coat must have been drenched in blood as well, John thought. People didnt start attempting to overthrow the government if they were even remotely happy; poverty bred crime and revolution.
I am pretty fucking sure I shouldnt be here, Eliza told John. What if she wakes up because of the pig-ughter that is about to happen here?
Pretty sure thats part of the idea, he answered, to see what else triggers her to take over.
Yes, Romulus turned around to address them, this is the one time I am close enough to stop you should you run amok during a battle for a city. It is an unpleasant test but one that needs to be done anyway.
Well, if the asshole-inmand says so, Eliza scratched the side of her head, do what you fucking want as long as it helps me, I guess.
Rodam couldnt help but giggle a bit at the choice of words the blood mage employed. Their amusement was cut short, however, by an announcementing from the city.
Imperial scum, you will never receive a single surrender. We will fight to thest man and take as many of you dogs with us as is possible, an unknown voice, presumably the leader of the Blood of the Proletariat, answered them.
John would have loved to see that person, the son of Trotsky if information was to be trusted, for some reason. It was the same kind of weird interest that he had in maybe listening to a live speech of Hitler or ask Stalin how he could justify running a system that so clearly didnt work. Lesser versions of that would have been to ask why the founding fathers kept very around, but that wasnt even in the same ballpark as the manmade starvation of millions of Ukrainians or the terror of the concentration camps.
It seemed, however, that he would never get the chance to. If that is how it shall be, Romulus didnt actually seem unhappy about the situation. Sol, bring me Kriegs gift, he ordered.
You want to use that here? The sr goddess usually wasnt one to question her summoners orders, so this sort of hesitation made John wonder just what he was about to witness. Romulus nodded, and Sol, with the certainty of a person who obeyed orders without question, reached into her private sub-space and pulled out a spear.
The marks of hammers could be seen all along its ck metal shaft, making the whole thing uneven and chaotic to look at. It had no decorations whatsoever, ending in four des that grew out of the shaft in an L-shape, all pressed next to each other and an unpolished crimson red crystal.
It radiated an aura of danger, the strange silence that hung around objects whose single purpose is so terrible that it best be acknowledged but unused. Romulus gripped the weapon and suddenly the four des spread out to even angles with the sound of locking machinery.
Raising the weapon over his shoulder, Romulus took a throwing stance. The des began to rotate. Slow at first but elerating over the course of a minute until the individual des were no longer visible and it was just a cage of whirling metal around the crystal.
That crimson object at the core liquified and became fluctuating fire. Tongues of the crimson onught at the core of the spinning containment would asionally leak out. Each time John needed to shield his face from the ensuing heat, he could feel the ground underneath his feet unfreeze.
Romulus drew his arm back a bit more, took a deep breathe, and then John was hit by a shockwave as the emperor tore through the sound barrier as if it was a piece of wet paper. The spear was struggling against some sort of giant barrier for a few seconds, then it broke through, and John was hit by a second, much stronger shockwave caused by the giant fireball that ripped apart the onion-tower heart of the city.
John looked at the damage once he got a steady footing again and then up to the mushroom cloud of fire, dust and dirt. Thats it? John thought as the head of the cloud rose higher and higher into the sky. No final battle at the gate, no bringing out of awesome weaponry, no anything? If this was a videogame, this is where they would pull the final twist and present the end boss with his 17 phases that rose from some sort of underground facility.
But nothing of the sort happened. Romulus had blown up, with just one attack, the most secure ce they could have hoped to have and with that had eliminated most of what had remained of the enemy core forces.
This war is over, Romulus announced, not even 24 hours after he had taken to the field.
There were a lot of things that could have been said about this war, and John tried to unravel what they must have been thinking in starting it as he sifted through the ruins of the now captured city. Predictably, everyone had given up once their leaders had been blown up, and the normal people inside the city actually seemed kind of happy to see the upying forces. For them it must have been a long nightmare finallying to an end.
Why would the Blood attack? It wasnt like they were threatened by the empire; as a matter of fact, it was their attack that finally snapped Romulus out of istion. Was it truly just the hatred of the powerful that motivated them? John didnt want to believe humans could whip themselves in such a frenzy, but then again he himself had indiscriminately killed a bunch of people in battle while reducing them to only their uniforms.
If they had the conviction that it was the true and absolute moral obligation to spread the Marxist utopia to every corner of the world and that Romulus was the head of the old-world order that needed to die, then their actions were in line with their ideology. Many of them even seemed to think that losing this war was just a dy in the grand scheme of things.
In that kind of bubble, attacking made absolute sense. Too bad that their bubble waspletely fucked and wrong. All these supremacist ideologies are weird; how can people be doubtless? John wondered; Thinking that you found the one answer that works for everything is so incredible arrogant.
I feel like somebody is prating my stomach by fucking a hole in my side and the end of their cock is curving out through my belly-button, Eliza said, holding her mouth as if she was about to puke while massaging her left temple with her right-hand, which looked a bit stupid; And Thana is trying to kick out my eyeballs or something. Fuck, everything hurts. FUCK.
Romulus was staying nearby, lifting a piece of debris, half of one of the onion-ceilings to be exact, like it was made out of Styrofoam. Always keeping an eye on Eliza.
Which turned out to be more than just a wise policy when she growled like a hungry wolf and her eyes switched from the seven dots to the seven lines. The goddess of genocide, with hair that rapidly grew down to her lower back, must have learnt her lesson by now and, not afflicted by the debuff on her Intellect, actually tried to run, rather than fight with Romulus around.
Of course the emperor didnt let that happen and moved to intercept her. When she tried to run around him she got caught by the wrist. Like a dog on a leash, Thana struggled and screamed as she tried to get away. She probably would have ripped her own arms off if John didnte over and said the name of the girl that he wanted to have inside that body. Eliza, get your shit together.
Her eyes reverted back to normal, and Romulus let go. Really? You call ousting that cannibalistic abomination-needs-to-get-fucked-thing from being in control getting my shit together? Are you a dumbass or are you are an insensitive cocksucker?
Just desensitized at this point, John shrugged and patted her on the head. That made her do a weirdly pleased squeaking sound.
Fascinating, Romulusmented, it took her a lot longer to regain control in the instances before this.
Its because I am madly in love with this motherfucker, Eliza said and jumped on his back. Carry me!
Not the time, John said, tapping on the sickly pale arms that were wrapped around his neck. But I actually wonder why you had such an easy timeing back. Can you exin what you experience if it takes over?
She, Eliza corrected; We keep flip-flopping between it and she, and I am bothered by that shit, so lets just call her by what she is, which is female and not some weird, asexual shit even if she looked like an insectoid monstrosity instead of using my cute hide. With a nod, John signalled that was okay for him; he didnt have strong feelings one way or another. Anyway, imagine you are standing on ake as clear as something that is a metaphor for really fucking crystal clear water. There is a shitload of people standing on your side of the surface and the other side, and they are looking at what is up for them. You are the only one that moves or does anything, and you need concentrate a whole fucking lot to do that because something wants to assimte you into this whole hive of murdered, human salt pirs. If you want to get back, you need to find a way to that weird golden sphere that is flying far above and below you, and shit isplicated. Thats about how it feels like when she is in control, the blood mage exined. Normally I need to run my thoughts against hers until I get control of that fucking world, and then I can fly however the fuck I want. When you say my name, its like a rope strung from all that love and candy shit appears, and I can just easily use that to escape, because Thana gets the fuck away from feelings of that nature.
Huh, John grunted in fascination and patted her head some more. Well, if you ever lose, I am going to be very sad.
I am not going to lose, are you fucking kidding me? Elizaughed at him, How am I ever going to eat more of Aclysias cooking again if I get dissolved into that freak-cab? Thana can eat her own ass, and I get some pudding and you can have sex with other girls in front of me ande into a bowl that you make me eat at the end.
I find this disgraceful! Sol interrupted their talk at that point; You dare talk of such shameful things in front of your emperor?
Dont knock it, sister, Luna also appeared and bowed down to John with a mean smile; You act all offended, but when we three tried a roley in that direction, you were the one begging for a refill.
Luna, check your tongue! the ted blonde demanded; We are talking to peasants here.
I must agree withdy Sol, Lydia intervened, this whole talk is highly unorthodox by now.
The moon goddess rolled her eyes, tapped on Romulus shoulder and whispered something into his ear that made him blush after he had bowed down to hear it. Now seeing someone who just destroyed one of the most secure buildings in existence in a single strike blush? That was terrifying and made Johns respect for Luna rise to unknown levels.
Respect, not desire, he wouldnt even dream of trying to cuck Romulus. Seemed like the quickest way to get cleansed from the face of the, save teleporting into a POTUS press conference and enchanting the hot female secretary he was sure would be there to have sex with him right in front of the cameras.
Okay, MAYBE he actually desired to do that and Luna, but he wasnt stupid enough to try.
Now why were they even searching the crater of the former headquarters? Two things: John still had a chance to find the Amber Room for another 25 score, but much more important was the person Romulus was searching for.
Eventually, they heard someone sing, and Romulus immediately went after the voice. They found their target sitting on the barren ground and looking at the sky. John wouldnt have been sure if it was a he or she if he didnt know who she was, as the person looked highly androgynous and wore nothing but a piece of drapery that she had slung around her naked body.
There you are, Romulus, the voice was clearly female and spoke with a tone as precise as the ticking of clockwork. She had long ck hair and was wearing a piece of cloth that hid her eyes. I was wondering when you woulde to end me.
Whether or not I end you depends on your answer to my question, Justitia, Romulus answered. Indeed, this was the goddess of justice herself, patron goddess of the Blood of the Proletariat and a goddess of knowledge. She wasnt a fighter, even John could have beat her, most likely. Did you tell them it was eptable to attack my city?
I told them it was unjust, but they have never listened to me when it was to their disadvantage, just as you never have, Justitia told him. I admit to my faults, when I aided them in overthrowing the old tyrant, who aimed to emte you of all people, I did so thinking they would turn out to be better. At the start they were, but as time went on they eventually became worse than the thing they destroyed. Every other guild in this area was eradicated, and I was left with no choice but to stay or die. I left your court to find the reforms to individual justice that you were too conservative to touch and found a ce of endless reforms where everybody was guilty of something.
Maximillian joined them on a flying piece of debris, just in time to hear the emperors answers. The princess, whose main goal had always been to reform Germany out of the stagnant state that it had been for too long, listened closely. As did the king, whose main goal had always been to honour traditions and work within the system.
I admit to my faults as well, Justitia, he spoke; I have neglected my people for over a millenia now, thought that my governance worked well enough because it was stable. I cannot say that I think I have acted wrongly. I was relying on Frederik to show me where the futurey, just like I relied on Sargon of Akkad before to show me how to build a state. Despite all my power and wisdom, I am still just a man from a tribe. I do not like to change systems that run, I honour what came before. I should have allowed Frederik to step back when he wanted to, should have listened to the naysayers in my court more closely instead of just leaving my people to figure things out by themselves while never giving them the political incentive to change. I maintained tradition at the cost of progress.
Lydia stood straight by the end of that speech, as did Maximillian. They both seemed to feel reinforced in their views. Lydia, because she knew that her want for change was now recognized by the emperor himself, and Maximillian, who knew that his want for tradition to stay was an issue at the heart of Romulus as well.
It seems both of the current candidates may be able to reinvigorate this slowly crumbling empire I built, Romulus said, looking at both of them for a moment. Either through rapid reforms or slow modernization.
It is good to hear you have snapped out of your depression then, Justitia said. What is your n with me then?
You may have be the patron goddess of a guild that attacked me with values that turned out to be wrong, but I know that you arent evil, and neither do I condemn the average person that followed the oppressors in order to be freed, Romulus said. I want you to sit at the peace conference and sort out the mess the Bloods disappearance from the world stage will undoubtedly cause. In justices name, I implore you.
In justices name, I ept, Justitia said and rose from the ashen ground.
Chapter 354 – Back to Rome
Chapter 354 C Back to Rome
Okay, everyone, I know this isnt the strictly quickest way to go about things, John told everyone once they were ready to make their way back to Rome, but I am going to take the ne.
You are going to lose time, Lydia reprimanded him.
No, I am going to lose REAL time; I will spend way less on travelling in experienced time. I do not want to ride a raptor for a whole day. Instead, I will befortable in my seat in first ss, he crossed his arms, as he had made his mind up on the matter.
You have flying machines in reality nowadays? Metra asked. I want to see that, lets go!
Yeah, gonna stick with my boyfriend here, Rave added.
I am not going to leave smelling range again, Eliza, now actually being carried by John, announced and pressed her face into his back. You need to put that body oil on again! You still smell good, but you dont smell amazing, and I want you to smell FUCKING amazing.
I left it back at the mansion, John said in an apologetic tone.
Then what the shit are we waiting for you cum hose and or dumpsters?! the blood mage wanted to know; Get the fuck on with your life! Anal queen can run if she wants to.
Aclysia and Momo also were in agreement while the elementals basically where left without a choice.
Hmph, fine, you all are wee to waste your time then. I will meet you in Rome, Lydia announced and went over to the procession on her own.
I too feel like flying, but I should talk to her, Maximillian fell into the conversation, scratching the back of his head while leaning on his walking stick. The question of session is more urgent than ever now that the throne is actually vacant.
We wont continue this stupid tournament, right? John wanted to know. After all that had happened, getting back into the colosseum and fighting thatst round sounded needlessly exhausting.
We will see, Maximillian gave him an enigmatic smile; I like to keep you in suspense. Also, I will ask Nariko out for dinner; she is going with Romulus group as well.
Ya will not do that! Rave demanded.
Try and stop me, the king said and waved goodbye as he turned around.
Prick, the lightbearer stuck her tongue out and pulled one of her eyelids down as Maximillian made his way over to Romulus, leaving John and his direct procession behind.
Momo cleared her throat. I have to voice a safety concern about Elizaing with us and Romulus being somewhere else entirely. Because being the devils advocate is basically my job with you chaotic bunch, she informed them.
I doubt Thana would be dumb enough toe out in public, John told her, and even if, it seems that we can keep Eliza at the top just by naming her.
Also, its not like I change out of fucking nowhere now that I actually know what I am wrestling with, Eliza added; As long as I am not getting close to mass murder or get overly excited by fighting, we should be fine.
So we shouldnt be involved in a ne crash or get ambushed by some stragglers still running around the ce, okay, the support shrugged; If you are sure it works, hey, I will only die if you are wrong.
Come now, Momo, John chuckled a bit to himself; If you actually thought things were likely to be wrong, you would be way more earnest about yourints.
Guilty as charged.
Can we get a move on already? Metra urged them, jumping from one foot on another in excitement, I havent seen whatever this ne thing is in my life. So, lets go! She gave everyone a wide grin, the yful tomboy type that made everyone just a bit overexcited.
That was unnecessarilyplicated, Johnined when they finally sat down in their seats in first ss. Getting the artificial spirits through the security measures had been rather annoying.
While Aclysia and Momo got away with changing their entire bodyposition to stic, Metra didnt have that particr skill, and as she was someone made entirely from some magical metal, they had needed to pull a few stunts involving Illusion Barriers, extra ne tickets and Johns newly increased Charisma to worm their way through the situation. That barely worked, only thanks to a bribe to the pilot at the end, John really needed to get his Charisma up just that bit higher.
We wont be having an orgy on this ne, Eliza, in disguise,mented the obvious as she sat down across the aisle from John, immediately got out of her shoes and put on the television in front of her. This first ss came with a lot of space, and they could change the seats to makeshift beds, although they wouldnt need that functionality in all due likelihood, as they were scheduled tond around 21 oclock. The war had begun on Tuesday, and now, on Sunday, it was already over.
The separated and headless remainders of the Blood would probably pull a Muslim terror organization on everyone and remain a rebel group out in the woods somewhere for the next decades, but the guild itself had been crushed between the forces of The Sons of Odyn, Rex Germaniae, Illuminati and the Sons of Rome (also, to a lesser extent, the Iberian branch of therger empire, Prometheus and the Great Sultanate). Basically, the whole Europeanmunity.
Ja, sad, Rave, in her own brown-haired disguise (this was Russia after all, no need to gain the attention of the airport staff), responded to Eliza as she took her seat next to John. There was a small barrier between them, but it wasnt particrly high. They put their arms on there and held hands.
Momo and Aclysia seated themselves nearby, thetter in a white shirt and ck leggings that she must have bought on her own at one point while the former was in her usual monochrome outfit and immediately began to read on her e-reader that John reached her from inside a normal bag. A bag that he had bought just for this ne ride. Money was basically a toss away at this point. To disguise themselves, both Momo and Aclysia had coloured their hair brown, which John didnt like, but it was what it was.
Metra, in the meanwhile was checking everything out until she too dropped into a seat and fidgeted with the television. The future is rad, she said and zapped through the channels.
With everyone upied in one form or another, John took to finally taking care of that score he had to spent.
Well, those are some insane rewards, John thought. He hadnt gained a whole lot more score on thest day, as Romulus had given him rtively few opportunities to fight, but still, he managed get together quite a sum.
It wasnt even a question what the first thing was that he wanted: The extra max ss level. That thing was way too good to be passed up. He was 109 already, so the next level he got would give him another one, and the perks he got from his sses were usually pretty good. He bought that one and was left with 183 points.
His eyes fell on the 50 Skill levels he could buy, then he looked up to Momo who was looking his way expectantly. Artificial Spirit was level 50 right now. If the invested those 50 points into it as well, that would, theoretically, give Momo the chance to be independent. It was way earlier than he anticipated, but he was given the choice now, and the support urged him with her eyes to take it.
I know we have to wait until we know what happens with the remaining tournament fights, she let him know, but this is the quickest way to get me there. Please.
John didnt n to disappoint her, so he picked the points and hammered them all into Artificial Spirit without further hesitation. Of course, that wasnt the most effective use of these points, but efficiency didnt need to be the number one priority in all cases. Especially since he could finally grant the wish of a girl that came to be not exactly a lover (despite what Aclysia insisted on) but a great friend.
We will throw you arge goodbye party, John promised and left the perk system for her untouched for the moment. As Momo pointed out, they couldnt go through with them actually parting until the tournament was over, as she technically wouldnt be his golem anymore and thus disallow her from fighting with him.
You better, seeing how much my mana worked for you, Momo threw a yfully meanment his way; What are you going to do without it or me nagging at you, I wonder?
He was probably strong enough without her, but that didnt make 7000 mana something he didnt want to have. Mana of that quantity was a big insurance, a gargantuan one even. For the nagging part, John actually didnt quite know if that was necessary, but given his recent discovery of his own inted pride, maybe not having her around would create some nasty side effects.
Left with 8 more points, he bought some experience points and then three crafting materials to be made into moneyter.
Hey, Metra, Momo turned to thetest addition to their line-up, You have been freed from your original creator, right?
More or less, came a sarcastic answer, more than less, why?
Do you feelrgely different?
Metra shook her head pretty much immediately, Nah, was the same fun life as before, although being changed into a contractor stage was pretty annoying. Guess that wont happen to you though.
Do you want something to eat or drink? a stewardess, obviously paid enough to not care about entric rich kids randomly tapping the air and talking about video games (to the best of her knowledge), asked. John felt Aclysia staring daggers at the woman, jealous of her position as the current maid of the flight.
Yes please, John said with a friendly expression on his face. Rave ordered what he did while Eliza just ordered as much as she could get away with.
I am fine, Momo sent her away in a nice tone. Metra didnt even notice that she was being asked, just staring out of the window. Sometime during Johns score distribution, they must have taken off, and now she was just busy looking out.
I dont need anything, Aclysia, barely withholding contempt and half a dozenments about how to properly address John and when to bow while speaking, said with a forced and mildly hostile smile. The stewardess left to get what was ordered.
John went back to his menus; he now had a ss level to spend. Luckily, he had already grinded up Elementalist to the threshold because that had been a thing he had the time for.
John went right for Combination 2. How couldnt he? It was literally an increase on his already game breaking abilities.
The utilities ofbining 3 elementals was just incredibly likely to be pure amaze-balls. It made him versatile to the point where he was basically unpredictable. The addition of another 5 minutes to the existence of the two-typebination was also stupendously good. As a matter of fact, it was the thing that dragged a fewbinations out of purely niche usage. Like Darkness, who didnt exactly get a lot of stalking done in the old time limit, or Cumdump, a pure sex-bomb of abination that he barely got to shag thanks to the temporal constraint put upon her.
Although the new ceiling wasnt exactly enough for proper sex as John liked to have it as well. It would have easily been enough when he still had beenrgely normal andsted for like 5 minutes of actual sex tops. Nowadays, he could cum as many times as he wanted in a row and abused that shamelessly.
But the implication here was that there was going to be an increase of time with each uing level, though, and there were going to be another 3 of these if his math wasnt off as it had to reach all the way to the six-typebination.
Which also meant he had to take the light elemental along the way.
John looked at the food that was ced in front of him and thanked the stewardess. You want to know something interesting? he asked Rave.
I just want to hear ya talk about anything; this program is pretty dull, she answered, so I am going to do the creepy woman thing and listen to your voice but not what you say.
Pretty sure thats just a creepy lover thing, John pointed out, but fine, if you are amused by my voice and I get to talk about stuff while doing it, thats fine by me. See, Lydia exined soul types to us a while back, right?
Right, Rave stretched cattishly before flopping down back against her chair andzily transported food into her mouth. Whaddaboutit?
Well, I can only have one elemental of each type for bnce reasons, John said; Guess Gaia has some sense in not allowing me a giant hoard of elementals.
Nice to hear that your bullshit has some limits, his girlfriendmented.
Right, here is the kicker thought. Lydia said there were 8 kinds of souls: Fire, water, air, earth, light, dark, life and nk. I obviously cant contract a nk elemental, since those dont exist or dont not exist or something; however it works, they arentpatible with any normal magic. I got five of the remaining elementals down and light is something I have the choice to take basically every time I reach a level in Elementalist. Here is the kicker though: Life elementals dont exist.
Rave looked at him for teasingly long as he waited for her to ask to exin. Eventually she grinned; she knew exactly that she had him by the ropes in this conversation and could tease all she wanted. Thankfully, she handed him the opportunity to say what he wanted today without derailing the conversation. Okay, Brainiac, Im gonna give ya this satisfaction: can ya please borate?
There are skillbooks for life elementals out there, like blood elementals for example, John said, and I bought some of them for research. Whenever I tried to learn them, I got a pop-up telling me that this elemental slot was already taken. This leads me to believe that the life soul type actually doesnt exist and that its just representing an omni-colour soul, the actual counterpart to life.
And how do ya exin that its so much harder for people with a life-type soul to learn stuffs outside of other life-type magics? Rave asked just to let him talk some more, for which he was grateful. After all, his girlfriend may have been giving him attention, but that attentiony with him first and what he was actually saying second. He was fine with that, as long as they kept being interesting to each other, their rtionship was still pretty healthy; it was when one talked and the other would have rather listened to silence that they would have been a problem couple.
I think that has something to do with all the different elementsyered on top of each other causing disruptions. Anyway, its just a theory I have, John shrugged; It could also be that life elementals donte as only life. Maybe its an element that only exists in a pair with another one, and the same is true for the soul types. I dont know.
So, when ya getting that light elemental? Rave steered the conversation towards another topic; Maybe its going to be that moon chick that wanted to have a contract with me?
Right, that would be nice, although I think now that you said it, its going to be that weirdly muscr dude.
He was mean to Copernicus. If its him, I am going to kick him in the shins everyday, his girlfriend threatened.
I dont think beings of pure light have shins, John proposed a revolutionary idea that made Rave roll her pretty blue eyes at his semantics.
They continued to banter for the rest of the flight.
Chapter 355 – Monday – 15th of January, 2018 – The day of two changes 1
Chapter 355 C Monday C 15th of January, 2018 C The day of two changes 1
Announcing Lydia August the Fourth of House Hohenzollern, Marquise of the herald started rattling down titles as they made their way in. It was one nightter; John had had a chance to reapply his oils; everyone had gotten a good nights sleep; Lydia had gotten to do some paperwork. The world wasrgely back to normal. Although there was a Russia shaped hole on the map of powers that needed to be filled.The court was as packed as was expected of a historic peace deal, people of all kinds and professions stuffing the giant hall. Thest two asions on which John had been here, first for the trial and then for the deployment orders, he had been rather hastened, but this time he took a moment to take it all in.
There were rows upon rows of long benches running away from the central walkway. They stood in a slightly diagonal angle and were made from sand coloured wood, a colour John began to think Romulus was in love with, seeing how much he used it. Even the veryst rows, from which one could basically only see little figures gesturing in the distance, were packed to at least hear what would happen here.
Every twenty metres or so, there was a small series of steps that lowered the next aisle enough that the one behind it could easily look over. From a certain height upwards, flying tforms allowed the most influential or wealthiest of the onlookers to make their private areas in the otherwise public hall.
The design got more and more luxurious the further in he got, a myriad of eyes following him as he walked down the central way behind Lydia, together with Rave and Aclysia. Momo and Metra were watching this from the sidelines.
These people look like they need a fun conversation, Sylph chirped into his mind; Can I have one with them? Can I? Can I?
S-sylph, now is really not the time, Gnome carefully said.
Its never the time! I am bored, these political stuffs are stupid, you are stupid, I wanna talk to people!
You can wait over there with Momo and Metra if you promise not to bother anyone, John said.
What? Really? Coooool! Sylph materialized and flew off. Smander, with an annoyed expression, flew after her to make sure the tempest elemental didnt go about and do stupid stuff.
Looking after them, John felt the princess re and looked at the grey eyes that were peeking over Lydias shoulder. Do you need to make a scene? they seemed to say. In response he just shrugged; it was just Sylph having fun, he cared fairly little about the crowd, aside from the fact that he wanted to get out of it as fast as possible.
At the end of the hall, there was arge t area and then the podium with Romulus throne on it. Behind it stood still, unmoving since the start of the war, the casket of the former king of Germany together with the two-headed eagle that was Rex Germaniaes patron god.
The throne was vacant, the emperor was instead sitting at a round oaken table. It was big and separated into several segment for seats by the carving on it, each segment going to a seat.
There were three parts that had the image of a three-eyed owl sitting atop a fleur-de-ilis, the iconography of the Illuminati. These seats were filled by the Horned Rat and two other people John didnt know apart from the fact they had to be the other two members of the triumvirate that led the guild. They didnt seem to be interested in Johns arrival, but he was very interested in them. One of them seemed to be a simr person to Maximillian, albeit a bit older and female. Wearing modern clothes but with the addition of certain noble things (such as an extraordinary number of rings and other jewellery as well as the red and white cape), the raven-haired woman had a diligent expression. Thest of the triumvirate was a guy that John could only describe as a mad scientist,plete with hair that seemed to be midbustion, dirty goggles and oil-stained clothes that may have once fitted the asion but had been sacrificed to science.
They were a diverse bunch of people, and John was itching to Observe them, but he didnt want to risk offending any of them when he got caught. With the Horned Rat around, there was no if to that situation.
Next up were four seats that had the emblem of a man holding the sun and the moon close to his chest, filled by Rodam, Sol, Romulus and Luna in that order. The emperor sat with his back to his own throne and waited for everyone else to get into their seats with closed eyes and crossed arms.
In a seat single to her and without any emblem sat Justitia. The blind goddess was here to ratify the demands that were made to her as ceholder for the now destroyed Blood of the Proletariat more so than she had the seat to negotiate.
Then there were four who were sitting under the emblem of a one-eyed raven with his wings-wide open in front of a hammer. The Sons of Odin were represented by three men in modern clothes who looked remarkably alike as well as a woman. The men all had strong-jaws and wore outfits that were technologically advanced mixtures between armour and practical clothing. The most noticeable difference between them was their hair colours, one white, the next blue and thest blond. The women at their side was a typical northern beauty and had dark blue, almost ck, hair as well; her outfit was simr to that of herpatriots but had also been equipped with a pair of wings.
They each wore a certain colour scheme that made it rather easy to identify who each of them was supposed to be. The woman wore white, for example,bined with her hair colour that made for the two colours in the g of Find. The white-haired man wore red, making him the Dane of the group. His blue haired (presumed) brother wore mostly red but had white stripes at the rims of his armour, the colours of Norway. Meanwhile, thest of the group wore a whole lot of blue,bining with his golden hair to make him the obvious Swede.
John had expected the faction to look a bit more like Vikings, but it seemed they didnt want to fit his stereotypes this time.
Another single seat was given to someone who was wearing a toga, like Romulus, and wearing an olive branch on his head, also like Romulus. The balding man with grey hair was busy reading something and so obviously Greek that John didnt need to guess from his emblem, aurel branch winding around the acropolis, that he was from Prometheus.
Lastly, there were seven seats given to the electorate of Rex Germaniae, united under the symbol of the two-headed eagle who was their emblem and who also watched over this whole proceeding with keen eyes. Lydia took her seat amongst those people, right next to Maximillian, and John went off to the side where the advisors were running around.
He saw Nariko there, but because the women looked upset about something and he wanted to listen closely to this historic event, he didnt speak to her. With everyone finally at the table, they had actually followed an ordered introduction in which Lydia just happened to best, Romulus opened his eyes and rose from his seat to address the audience and everyone who was watching them through the cameras.
People of the world, the Blood of the Proletariat is no more. It has been lit ame by the torch of justice and sacrificed on the altar of history. With it burn my need for revenge, for justice has been done, and with it I sacrifice my age of idleness. The empire shall no more stand as an unmoving monolith, slowly eaten away by the waves of time, but instead it shall find a new way to exist. I dub today the day of two changes, but before we can begin with the talks about the new European order, we must settle the matter of the German session, for there cannot be a clear discussion without a figurehead amongst Rex Germaniae.
Both candidates havemitted grave mistakes out ofpassion. Maximillian led a traitor deep into the heart of the tournament as his trusted aide Alexej. Lydia kept quiet about her fathers true history, and thus we were blind to the Blood breaking into the vault of the Knights of Teuton, thus remaining unknowing that they had imed one of the most powerful one-use artefacts the empire had kept locked.
Both have shown faults, but both have also shown promise. Maximillian overcame betrayal and has shown that his trust in tradition isnt blind by revealing to the world his refusal to fuse with his elemental. Lydia overcame prison, freeing herself before being found and had shown to be willing to work with instead of against the present structures if they are responsive.
The emperor finally took a pause. I do not have a favourite in this race, when I voted for the fight to happen, I did so because I thought neither of them worthy. I would lie if I thought that has changed. They remain too young, too convinced of their paths and too inexperienced, but given guidance, they might fill the vacuum that Frederik has left behind. We are out of time, and so I will leave it to the electors to vote once more. First, electress of the Ne-
Excuse me, Maximillian interrupted, but I rescind my im to throne. Voting is unnecessary, really.
John felt like he needed to get a new set of ears, and apparently, everyone else shared that conviction.
Could you repeat that? Romulus, blinking in confusion, asked in a baffled tone. Even at over 10 millennia of age, the emperor didnt seem to have experienced enough to expect this.
Always a bit of a showman, Maximillian rose from his seat and began a long walk around the table. Slow steps, underlined by the clicking of his walking stick, echoed through the room as he talked. I am rescinding my im to the throne of Rex Germaniae, and furthermore, I am going to leave Austria for a few years; the governing will be transferred to a council of my siblings and cousins, he said with a grin and basked in the confused murmuring and nces he got from everyone.
For a moment he just walked, passing the Illuminati without a word. As you have correctly pointed out, my emperor, Alexej betrayed me, he said in a suddenly much more grave voice; I can still feel the ce where he stabbed me, and while my body may have healed, he stopped for a moment and tapped his bad leg, mostly healed, I remain unhealthy of mind. I have been needing to take medication to sleep. I lock the door thrice and have Hawpler watch over me. In my current state, I am not fit to rule anything; it is only my showmanship that even keeps me current at times like these. Indeed, it is the publicity that lets me stand upright and tall when all I need is a vacation.
So, I leave the throne I dont have untouched and the one I have empty for a few years, and I am going to travel and return at some time in the future to im again what is rightfully mine. Until I can trust again and until I feel like a human again and not like a target dummy, I leave behind my nobility and my titles, for I am not worthy of either right now. I leave it he stopped his full circle between his empty and Lydias seat and gestured at the wide-eyed princess sitting there, to her.
Then he took his seat again and was left the only grinning person in the hall. Even the Horned Rat seemed confused about what had just happened. Now John also understood what Nariko was seething about; with Maximillian forfeiting the throne, herst chances, however, slim to win the gamble she had taken when siding with him were eliminated. That, in turn, put her future in the Abyss Auction into question.
John started working on a n to funnel money over to Nariko in a way that would get him on her good side. Would be a nice change of pace, and he would be protector of a den of (presumably) hot Japanese girls. Everyone won.
The happenings at hand took precedent though. The Reichsadler acknowledged the leaving kings decision. Stretching his mighty wings with a screech from both of his beaks, he suddenly was set aze, the fire quickly spreading to the casket bearing the old king.
Nobody moved as both the massive form of the eagle as well as the corpse were consumed over the course of several minutes. John watched in awe as the past king was sent off in thoughtful silence. John had only shared one conversation with the man, during which he had already warned him that the Gamer would have been one of thest persons to get to know him. He probably would have been an interesting person to know.
For John that was the extent of his feelings, but for Lydia that obviously wasnt all there was to it. This was her grandfather, the man who had picked her up after her normal family had crumbled. In a world that had seemed harsh and cold, he had given her shelter and a new path. Nobody could have med her for the single tear that rolled over her face as the fire burned, although she wasnt the only one who cried.
The pyre eventually became naught but ashes.
Your regency has begun, Romulus ended the universal silence, standing up and walking over to the ashes, staining his hand with ck as he reached inside and picked something up. He went back to the table and sat-down, opening his fist to reveal a tiny hatchling rearing his twin heads. He will grow with your time as governor, as monarch, as queen of Rex Germaniae, he spoke in a soft voice, watching as the hatchling spied its new queen and slowly tapped his way over the table.
It took weak steps, a struggling bird too young to fly and yet too old to remember how to walk with such a tiny body. Slowly, it made its way over to Lydia and finally sat down in front of her. The newly ascended queen raised her hand, hesitating for a mere moment, before finally gathering all of her strength as more tears began to fall from her blue eyes.
Join me, people of the world, Romulus roared as Lydia ced the hatchling on her shoulder; Join me in congrattions for the ascendance of Lydia Augusta the Fourth of House Hohenzollern - Queen of Steel!
The crowd screamed the newly appointed queens name out in unity, three times. John joined them for the first, but then he got distracted by a bunch of windows.
John epted the quest without hesitation.
Chapter 356 – The day of two changes 2 – The treaty of Rome
Chapter 356 C The day of two changes 2 C The treaty of Rome
Well, the war was over, so this was as good a time as any other. Also, the duration wasnt nearly as oppressive as thest patch.
Nice, very nice, the Horned Rat, mostly regrown by now although his head was still too big for his average human sized body, pped once the cheering had finished, a truly fascinating end to the tournament. Ah, I could have spared my meddling in these whole affairs, inserting Nia into the tournament, if I knew this was going to end with just the drop of a nuke.
I dont tzink itz particrly wize of you to announce your scheming on live television, the regal looking woman at his side berated the Rat in a particrly heavy French ent.
They know what I am about, Richard said with a bellowing giggle. I have no need to hide it.
At that asion John wondered where Nia even was. The Horned Rat had not brought her with him, and she didnt seem around elsewise. I am going to ask him once this over, John thought, and the conference continued.
Well then, before we go over to the actual peace conference, let me announce the other of the two changes I announced for this titr day, Romulus said; I will put in ce a series of reforms that will allow Rex Germaniae to leave the status as the empires direct subordinate.
The crowd was either baffled or shouted out in jubtion. This will allow Rex Germaniae to perform greater inner reforms without eptance of Roman officials. However, Germany will remain part of the greater empire and is ultimately associated to the Sons of Rome.
That put a bit of a damper on the secessionists mood while it made the people who wanted to stay a bit happier. Neither party really got what they wanted in this situation, but they also werent offended enough to make a fuss about it. Seemingly, Romulus had quelled both of the factions demands for the moment. With nobody getting what they truly wanted, the issue was most likely going toe up again a few years down the line, but it had been postponed.
I will take you by your words, Emperor, Lydia said and bowed her head in a thankful gesture; However, you will have to excuse me if I say that I want to be a judge on all of these reforms.
Of course, Romulus made a benevolent gesture; It is not my intent to end my istion by bing a tyrant. I will also state clearly that I will use Rex Germaniae and its fractured nature as a testing ground for state ideas.
So, we are to be yourboratory of policy? Lydia asked, her voice echoed with disapproval.
You wanted to federalize the country anyway, the emperor shrugged; Therefore, what I want wille its way by the nature of your own goal anyway, Queen Lydia. Nobody will lose anything.
That wasnt untrue, so Lydia backed down on the subject and nodded. I will have to see these reforms in writing and in action, but I approve of the intent. I will ratify such an agreement if it proves beneficial to my people.
Then the first of the two changes of today has beenpleted, Romulus announced; Let us now enter the terrible squabbling about the new order of Europe. Land, previously fought over and unupied, ridden with strife or uncertainty. We have to decide what will happen to Eastern Europe before the vacuum is filled by something just as bad as the Blood.
The Sons of Odin want to permanently annex the Baltic area over which we have been fighting with the Blood for a long time, the techno-valkyrie looking women stated her demands first. Furthermore, we would like to upy the northern area of Russia from the Ladoga to the Ural. We will install guilds there and let them go independent after a twenty-year period - if they so desire.
Anyone objecting to that im? Luna, acting as scribe for this meeting, asked as her pen scratched over a piece of silver paper. Nobody was interested in the Baltikum or said wastnd to the north; it seemed the Sons of Odin would get what they wanted without any negotiation. Usually that meant that they werent getting anything close to what they could.
Tze Illuminati will hold onto the British main isle, the apparent spokeswoman of the Illuminati dered as the Horned Rat, seemingly bored, cleaned his ws and the insane scientist looking man scribbled something on a piece of paper in front of him.
That announcement caused a bit of uproar, especially amongst the blonde of the three male representatives of the Scandinavians. He mmed his hand on the table and rose out of his seat, You are just grabbingnd! Most of it wasnt even upied by the Blood!
I assure you, there were organized cells everywhere, the Horned Rat spoke calmly, stopping his cleaning and folding his fingers in a gentlemanly way.
Indeed, a total of around 72% of guilds there, ye-hes, the mad scientist added, folding the piece of paper in front of him a few times until it became a paper-ne. All of them either directly or indirectly working for the Blood, indeed, yes, thats how that was. He threw the ne across the table, and itnded right in front of the blonde man who unfolded it. John used his ability to zoom in on things to take a nce on the graphs on that paper.
I am supposed to just trust data whose sole source, is YOU? he asked in the tone of quickly slipping patience. Like hell I will-
Calm down, Scunnder, brother Swede, the white-haired triplet said, I know it must be hard for you, but be civilized.
Oh shut it, you trashbag, the man growled but fell back into his seat, crossing his arms. This is still uneptable.
On that I agree, his brother said.
I side with the Illuminati on this, Romulus announced; Britain hasnt recovered from the mayhem caused in thest decade. The Illuminati shall reign over Britain, he took a pause, with the condition that the guilds there be given the same choice as the ones in northern Russia, that is.
Tzat iz fine, the women in the middle of the triumvirate agreed. John somehow doubted that that election would be fair.
Prometheus only wants the status quo to persist, the philosopher looked up from his book for just a second to announce that and dipped under again.
Then I shall stake my ims, Romulus said; The empire will install vassal states in the areas of Pnd, Lithuania, Ruthenia, Brus, Romania and the northern Caucasus. We will directly annex Bulgaria and the non-Promethean holdings in Ukraine and Crimea. We will create a free city in Kiev, Moscow and Novgorod.
Romulus, Romulus, Romulus, the Horned Rat spoke in a ridiculing voice, You think we will just ept that? You are carving up basically all of eastern Europe except the heart of Russia, which you will leave to your former lover Justitia over there.
That is exactly what I am going to do, the emperor spoke with crystal clear intent.
Did you not say that you DIDNT want to be a tyrant? the Horned Rat said, ws dancing over the table. This amount ofnd-grabbing seems like something a tyrant would do.
I care little for your opinion, Muris, Romulus returned. I will set-up all of these countries under the principles of the Roman state, I will make of them functioning guilds ofrge productivity, and they shall be prosperous. After a twenty-five-year period, they will be free to vote for their independence.
Giving you five more years of guaranteed power than the rest of us, Richard didnt let off.
I must agree that this is a bit much, the valkyrie said. A time that exceeds ours seems like sabre-rattling.
The empire is going to reform over the next years, Lydia added; Adding this number of new provinces to the greater empire is going to strain our administrative capabilities past the breaking point.
You underestimate my empire if guided by a firm hand, Romulus dismissed the queens objection, and if that is yourint, I shall lower the timeframe to 15 years, and the Odins Sons are wee to lead the process of the guilds voting for their independence.
For the amount ofnd, you want to control that is still the Horned Rat began.
Still what, Muris? Romulus thundering interruption caused everyone to quiver in their seats (except for Sol and Luna, thetter of which was still taking notes without any cares). Bulgaria doesnt hold a leyline, and the one in Crimea is weak. It is unimportantndpared to the great pulseying underneath the Irish Sea. My territorial ambitions are below yours, Illuminates.
So thats why he just went with it, John thought. Now that the Illuminati had already made their own overreaching im, they werent in a great position to chastise Romulus. Furthermore, the emperor had manoeuvred them into a position where it seemed that the Illumanati were actually taking a lot morend, just because it was richer in resources.
John didnt quite know how important leylines were, but he knew that they were ces in the world where natural barriers just appeared more often. These, in turn, were the only ces where normal people could hope to harvest items from fantastical creatures such as dragons. The barriers people could have Fateweavers create and fill with monsters were only really useful for training, as their essences were just bolted together to make glorified training dummies.
Of course, John didnt have this problem because every Illusion Barrier he created with monsters had loot. It was just yet another busted part of his abilities.
Anyway, if these leylines were ces where fantastical herbs and creatures appeared the most, then they wereparable to oil depots which never ran dry. Quite valuable indeed. No wonder Romulus could use that to move himself into the morally superior position.
The only way the Illuminati were able to criticise Romulus now would have been to make concessions on Britain, which they clearly didnt want. The Odins Sons also seemed much more inclined to let Romulus be overbearing, especially after the emperor had already given into their demand to lower the timespan before the countries went into referendum and handed organization of those to them.
The Horned Rat realized all of this, and he tail whipped angrily against the ground. However, he didntment on the matter further and instead left it to the woman to talk again. Tzis is eptable, she said in her heavy ent, her ring golden eyes telling a whole different story.
Great then, the remainingnds will be left in a set-up control guild patronized by Justitia, Romulus dered; Anyone against that idea?
The answer was universal now, although the Horned Rat grumbled something about that being the exact thing he just said would happen.
Luna wrote the final agreement on one piece of paper, and once she was finished, it reappeared in front of everyone. What followed where two hours of detailing. Where exactly the borders of Ruthenia where, if the British Isle included a im on Irnd or not, if Prometheus was entitled to pass through the newly acquirednds of the empire unhindered. The rough division of everything seemed to have been the quickest part, the politicking about the details was filled with discussions and heated arguments.
By the end they all were both happy and angry, but they signed the contract and thus acquired a new order for Europe.
Great, now this is over, the Horned Rat growled and became the first to leave the hall.
I azk for forgiveness regarding hiz rudeness, the regal woman bowed but took her leave as well before Romulus could answer, dragging the mad scientist off with her. The rest of the assembly also slowly scattered, Romulus held a little speech, and the livestream was cut-off, the hall emptied.
Everything was over and done with; John went over to Lydia in a hurry, I have to ask Richard something, can you wait for me by the exit?
Sure, Lydia answered, probably already guessing what it was about; Just hurry, I think a victory party is in order after all of this.
Yes, I will be back in a second, John promised and ran after the Horned Rat.
Chapter 357 – Before the drinks
Chapter 357 C Before the drinks
Richard! John shouted out to the triumvirate that was walking down one of the many hallways. All three turned around, but with a quick gesture and few calm words, the Horned Rat ensured them that this was okay, and they went on ahead without him. Secondster John had caught up to him.How good a timing of you, spoke the Rat, I would havee to visit you in that mansion of yourster today, but it seems I can skip that. Where is Nia?
John, mouth already open to ask the exact same question, furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. So, she is not with you?
Once we were done with the subjugation of Scond and told her I didnt have anymore orders for her, she suddenly disappeared. I would like to say this is unprecedented, but you know Nia, the Horned Rat let out a grumbling sigh; I had hoped she would be with you. I seem to be wrong.
Why the sudden care? John wondered; Werent you saying that you got way better tools in your arsenalst time?
Very funny, Newman, Richards eyes focused on John with annoyance flickering in their crimson colour; We both know that I have been wrong regarding her. She shouldnt have been able to purposefully eliminate certain magic frequencies, and yet she is. A nk of that strength is rare; I wont let her go quite as easily.
Well, that was to be expected, John thought while trying not to be too happy about the Horned Rat admitting that he had been wrong about something. It could still be a ploy for something he wanted, a veryplicated one at whose final goal John could only guess.
If you dont know where she is, I will have to go on and search for her, the Horned Rat spoke. We will see each other again soon enough.
Soon enough would be never again, John jokingly berated the god as he also turned to leave.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When he met Lydia and everyone else at the feet of the massive entrance to the imperial pce, there was one extra person amongst them. Sol, wearing her typical golden te that just radiated light constantly, was meeting him with her gaze, which seemed to constantly measure him to see if he was anything worth even looking at.
Suffice to say that John would much rather have dealt with Luna.
There you finally are, the sun goddess spoke in a busy tone; I dont have much time. You are invited to meet Romulus in the Obelisk park tomorrow 14 oclock, together with anyone else you might want to string along. You know what it is about?
I do, John nodded, this could only be about Romulus promise to tell him about Gaia if Maximillian survived this war. Why thatte?
To allow you to recuperate from the hangover you are about to get yourself into, Sol answered and then handed him a card. It was the picture of a translucent female made from a golden liquid, bubbles rising throughout her body and causing her hair to have a foamy crown that was slightly angled to the right. John was pretty certain he was looking at a beer elemental here. Romulus had this ce rented for you, as he can quickly reach it if there are Sol looked to Eliza, emergencies.
Understood, John said and pocketed the card. They couldnt go there quite yet, Lydia had to attend to another press conference and make calls with a lot of people. Oh hey, I am debt free, he realized as he waited.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We are getting ya drunk tonight! Rave announced as they tapped into the second circle of Abyssal Rome. Finally, you are getting drunk with me.
Why does that excite you so much? Momo wanted to know. Its just alcohol.
Cause I havent seen John when he is drunk yet and I want to see what that is like, maybe it will be funny, Rave said and then sung a little song; Oh, I just caaaant hiiiide it C I am soooo exciiiiteeeeed.
You are shit at singing, so shut the fuck up, Eliza requested. Where in this beautiful dumpster fire of a town are we going anyway?
John was wondering that as well; Lydia had taken the lead upon seeing and then taking the card, which had no address on it weirdly enough.
This, the queen said and raised the card in question, is a locator card. If you have one, it allows you to choose where you end up when opening certain doors. You ever encountered a free barrier?
Free as in freely tumbling through space and attaching itself to other barriers? John asked. In that case, yes, I once found the shop of Hermes in a barrier.
Exactly like that, they cost billions to maintain so not a lot of people get themselves one. However, there is a certain kind of being that get to have theirs for basically free, Lydia told him.
Gods, John didnt need to guess. Who but these immensely powerful beings based entirely on magical energy could hope to maintain something with that power requirement without a Fateweaver around?
Yes, and as Rome is a location of extensive nning, Romulus included a headache inducing block, Lydia told them as they turned a corner. It was a buzzing street crossing with door upon door set into one of four t buildings that seemed to be a single piece of dark stone without any rooms inside if theck of windows was anything to go by.
John watched someone open a door and stare at the nk wall behind it. The man then closed the door, opened it again and stepped inside. The same scene repeated elsewhere, some people trying several dozen times and still just looking at a nk wall, whilst others stepped out of one door, walked across the street and went right into the next one without a problem.
This is called the Crocevia di fortuna or Crossroad of Fortune, Lydia told them; basically, its a ce where people who are bored and have too much money gamble on ending up somewhere interesting. Luckily, we have a locator card so we can get where we want without a problem once.
And where will we end up when we go out again? John had to ask, worried that these travelling dimensional ces spewed them out somewhere in North Korea.
You doubtlessly end up where you entered, the queen stated. Do no ask me how it works, it just does. I dont know everything.
Lets just get wherever we are supposed to be right now! Rave eximed; It is cold! She nestled herself against her boyfriend as they headed for the closest door.
Lydia pressed the card against the door, where it disintegrated, before opening the door and stepping inside. Quickly following her, John and Rave entered the ce of alcohol that was first and foremost described by the word charming.
The flooring was made from long, brown, wooden boards that ran parallel to the counter that stretched along almost all of the whole opposite wall. The uncovered part was a hole that led to a stairway which then ended at the toilets, as the universal male/female icons above it indicated.
Between the white and roughly stered walls, on which countless photos and posters of people, bands and brands hung, stood several wooden tables with long benches, stools and chairs around them. The room was likely big enough for about 50 people, but right now, they were on their own. Probably because Romulus had booked the ce for them. Although one of the shadows in the corners looked suspicious. Some sort of bodyguard perhaps? Well, he was drinking shadowy beer and kept to himself so that didnt really matter.
John noted two things. First was the, for theck of a better term, beer slime behind the counter, who looked exactly like the one on the now destroyed card. Normally pubs like this had a wall full of different beverages as well as clearly visible beer pulls, this one had neither, which was a bit weird.
Hello, the alcohol slime greeted them in a cheery voice, I am Lady Liquor, and you are in The Bubbly Wench, a shop I named after myself. If you want anything alcoholic, let me know and I will create it as soon as possible. Please drink lots, you will be my only customers tonight! Also are these two your friends? They said they were!
That tickled! the goddess of alcoholined as John turned his head to the two people already present, neither of which he had expected to see here.
The first was a blonde with an extremely voluminous mass of hair at the top of her head, like a field of golden wheat bending under a gust, and a long ponytail of indescribable silkiness, asionally waving at the paws of an otherworldly, invisible thing. She was pale and wore a white dress that was both back and shoulderless. Silver lines, barely visible, wound across her slim torso like tattoos. Nia Fae, exuding her usual aura of strangeness, tried to grab her deck of emotion cards from her bag next to her.
Not only did her hand miss entirely, she fell off her stool and justy on the ground, shaking her halfway empty mug of beer on the table dangerously. A ck scaled and wed hand grabbed the beer and secured its position on the table.
The hand belonged to a women who looked to be in her early thirties but John knew to be much, much older. She had light-brown skin and orange-red hair that glowed with heat, as did her eyes which were like a pool ofva that became more and more golden towards the centre. Scales, cracks filled with red hot stone, covered most of her body but left a V shaped gap, starting below her belly button and ending at a diamond shaped orange gemstone in her corbone, that presented a nice view of her midriff and tits.
Hello, John, Nia finally said,pletely disced, her tone as nd as ever.
The redheads face was framed both by lines of scales climbing up her jawline and falling strands of her wild hair, two long, elven ears and curved horns poking out of the long mane.
Nathalias dark red lips were currently sucking on a straw that ended in a literal bucket of Bloody Mary, through which she guzzled in mere moments before also greeting John. It was about time you came, she stated, shifting in a way that John knew all too well indicated that she was pretty horny.
He expected her to just jump at him; they hadnt seen each other in five days. The dragoness should have been needy beyond belief, and it seemed she was struggling not to act on that impulse, instead gesturing at Lady Liquor with the bucket while dragging one of her ws over the table.
Why is she holding back? She knows I would just take her in the bathroom if she wanted, John wondered as the hostess followed the unspoken request. He couldnt believe it was because of the other goddess in the room, Nathalia wasnt one to care about these things.
The question remained unanswered, and John knew he would only get a hissingment back if he asked right now, so he just watched in fascination as Lady Liquor took the bucket of Nathalia and stuck her hand inside. There was a noise, like a vent that was opened and now released pressure, followed by the sound of a running tap, and the bucket refilled. Here you go, Nathy. What else do you want? Something nice? Should I use my aura on you? Could get your drunk much faster, I know you like that. Also could you stop mishandling my furniture? Pretty please? I needed to fix my whole counter when you had sex on itst time! There were burn and w marks everywhere!
Not today, Nathalia growled and began sucking on the straw again. Hollowing her cheeks in the process; John just couldnt help himself thinking that was his dick in her mouth. It was hard to not get an erection when he was around Nathalia; his whole body remembered having sex with her because sex with her was typically a whole-body workout. Whatever maye, John doubted that anyone in his harem felt as good to fuck as Nathalia, her many, MANY years of experience in that field made sure of that.
Why are you two here? John wondered when sitting down, helping Nia back up and into a seat that had a backrest on the way.
Was chasing cats, saw a door, thought itd bring me to a zoo, found Nathalia instead, Nia slurred down a quick session of words. I feel weird.
How much did she drink already? John had to ask.
Only what is missing from that pint, Nathalia answered, scratching another line into the edge of the table while holding the, once again empty, bucket towards Lady Liquor. Stretching a bit, John counted the lines; there must have been at least thirty already.
So, I know you are like, really underfucked right n- the hostess tried to save her furniture once again but was put to silence when Nathalia growled deeply, the sound of stones beginning to roll down a hill.
Be quiet unless you want me to test how burnable your alcohol content makes you! the dragoness warned, giving a weird nod towards John. This had to have something to do with the mating thing, but how exactly it was connected, John didnt quite get.
Oh, Lady Liquor eximed. Ooooooooooh, okay. The answer is very burnable by the way, I am 82% alcohol! Please dont set me on fire, and I wontin anymore tonight, okay? Okay! The Lady turned to her other guests, ready to take orders.
They were the full group; from Rave to Metra, everyone was there. It was Momo who cleared her throat, Before you get shitface drunk, she said, ncing at Nia swaying in her seat like she was sitting on a boat and not in the middle of a pub, Can you do me the favour and do the thing?
Sure, John said and opened the Artificial Spirit menu. The tournament was over, Lydia was queen, so there was no reason to keep this from happening any longer. Lets make this a double party: For Lydias ascension and for your independence. Just tell me what you want each time.
Hive of Fireflies? John asked.
Hive of Fireflies, Momo agreed.
Huh, guess Gaia actually wants you to make a choice for a change, John said. Bufffood had been removed and reced with Selfish Support, a rather apt name for Momo in a lot of ways (andpletely unfitting in others). So, what will it be? Personally, I lean towards Selfish Support, the Stats you would gain from buffing Thana would be insane.
Yeah, but it would also mean that I need people around to give me the buff, Momo said, so its less useful when I am on my own. I also dont think I will ever need a buff to anything aside from mana, so it is a lot of dead Stats. I will take the Bombflies.
Her reasoning was sound, even if John would still have taken Selfish Support himself, so he picked it for her and moved on.
Hive of Fireflies? John asked again.
Hive of Fireflies, Momo agreed again.
Hive of Fi- Oh, wait, we only have 5 points left. Can only get you Copperskin, John informed Momo.
What a great choice I have, Momo rolled her eyes; Gaia can be pretty uncreative. Well, I wont have to deal with that in the future.
Jesus Christ, John thought when he saw the choice that had reced Sisterhood this time around. Sacrifice was painfully strong, a terrible skill with wonderful gains, but yet all he could feel towards it was immense abhorrence. There was no way he would ever select that skill.
This is it then, Momo said, stopping John in the motion towards what he wanted to look up. Wonder what it will feel like.
Cant tell you, John mumbled, feeling his heart beat in his chest despite nothing dangerous being around at all; Not too bad, I hope. It was stupid how the most important choices in life tended to boil down to simple gestures and seemingly inadequate words.
I told you already, it feels exactly the same as before, its really boring, Metramented, her chair dangerously on edge as she had apparently entered some sort of bncingpetition with Eliza.
He looked at Momo who closed her eyes and nodded.
The window disappeared and everyone, most intently of all Aclysia, looked at the freed girl with expectance. For a moment there was absolute silence, then Nathalia hit the end of the bucket, and the horribly annoying sound of a straw sucking up miniscule puddles spread through the room.
NEXT! Nathalia demanded, mming the bucket in Lady Liquors general direction. And open your eyes already, you wont find anything new inside that head of yours!
Rude! Momo dered but did as she was told; her white eyes were the same as always. But she is right, I dont feel really all that different although she raised a hand and conjured a Folded Mana construct.
John looked at the thing with slight confusion. It was white, like her eyes and hair and the membranes of her wings. Mana normally was blue, maybe purple if highly concentrated. A distant voice in his mind reminded him of the Jeopardy game that they yed at the start of the tournament and of a question about different mana colours of advanced mages. White was for barriers.
He tried to reach Momo mentally, just out of interest, and of course there was nothing. It didnt feel like that short time that Undine had been missing from him though, that had been like a gap in his teeth. Momo having gone with this natural cut between them felt more like he had just cut his fingernails, slightly annoying when he seeked her out but not noticeable otherwise.
The construct unfolded and created a barrier in front of the neighbouring table. A barrier that then violently moved forwards and threw the table against the wall.
My furniture! Ah well, thankfully, I stocked up on recement tables, Lady Liquorined but bubbled off with a sigh, putting everything back into ce.
What was that about? John had to ask.
I wanted to confirm two theories. The good news is that I can innovate my skillset now, I previously was bound to whatever your Gamer abilities imprinted into my brain, Momo exined. Bad news: I have to learn it all by myself since the automatic knowledge I got from your skill doesnt really help me if I want to do new stuff. Turns out white mana behaves way differently.
Well, you better keep your experimentations for where ever you are going after this party, John announced and quickly went through Aclysias choices.
Well, at least that was new, somewhat creative and reduced the number of choices he had to make with his AP to one, but it was a pretty important one. The Stat John wanted Aclysia to raise the most was Strength, but the added fire damage sounded the least interesting. Wind may have added ranged attacks to all weapons, but Aclysia already had Eclys, so it was only a minor addition really. Earth sounded actually the most attractive, since he now had Metra to fulfil the offensive role and could have Aclysia go back into the bodyguard tanking niche he originally wanted her to be in. That role had been filled by Gnome until now, but with Combination around, that wasnt really the earth spirits primary role anymore,
Well, as good as the pre-emptive thing was on paper, with Aclysias miserable mana it actually sucked. Time to finally get her that inventory.
Well, at least Gaia wasnt consistent. Sacrifice still made him want to puke; he could end Aclysias life with a miss-click, that was a terrifying thought. Reducing the burden, while interesting, wasnt what he was looking for right now, so he went with a new beginning.
So, we finally have that done, John said, opened his character sheet and allocated his new seven points in Charisma, pushing it to 50.
It was time to get drunk.
Chapter 358 – Drunken Gamer
Chapter 358 C Drunken Gamer
So, can I get a menu or something? John asked the goddess of alcohol; To see the prices and everything.
Ya stingy dweeb, sitting on the bench with him, Rave announced her intent to get him really drunk tonight, dont worry about money, ya have enough of it as is. Just get a bit wasted!
I have never gotten drunk before, so I am cautious, he told her. Also a bit wasted sounds like an oxymoron.
Uhm, so to answer your question, Lady Liquor chimed in when she saw a miniscule opening, all drinks are free, and if it has alcohol in it, I can make it. Just tell me and I will create it for you.
You have alcoholic metals? Metra asked. Repressing his urge to ask how that would even work, John waited for the answer.
Of course, Lady Liquor answered.
Yay, everyone is getting drunk, hurray, yay, I have no idea what getting drunk feels like, but it sure is going to be fun! Bring me something sweet and gummy-beary! Sylph announced her and the other elementals arrival with the usual chitter chatter.
It has been a while since I drank anything intoxicating, Siena sighed lustfully; Ah! Except the pain of my victims of course.
Uhm, can-can you not? Gnome requested; This is supposed to be a happy evening. So, i-if you could keep the disturbing cruelties to a minimum the stone elemental shrunk a bit under Sienas gaze and became really quiet during thesest words, thatd be much appreciated.
Listen to Gnome, Undine added in the sing-song of her voice, causing the earth spirit to make big, thankful eyes. Also give me what you think is best for slimes, please.
Okay, Vodkaing up! Lady Liquor announced, pulling a ss out of her private dimensional pocket, and now everyone picked their drinks, everyone except the artificial spirits who got candy-bar shaped pieces of metal.
How do these work? Momo wanted to know; Because what I eat bes part of my body and I do no want to be drunk permanently.
Dont sweat it, sweet cheeks, Metra answered, It dissolves and messes with your mana flow for a few hours, then its gone.
Messes with my mana flow? Momo asked. That sounds like poison!
Its alcohol, its the best poison! Rave announced and raised her pint. To Momos independence, Lydias throne iming thing and to an overall nice end to a pretty rough couple of weeks!
John picked up his own ss of beer, it was the same as Raves, who had ordered for him, and they all took a swing. Beer was bitter, unpleasantly so, but it also didnt really taste bad as it, ice cold, ran down his throat. Not quite sure if I like this, he told his girlfriend.
Give it a few more swings and you will love it, that didnt sound rape-y at all, give it too many and you will hate yourself in the morning though. Hey, Lady, can I get two shots of mint-schnapps?
Coming right up, Lady Liquor happily dispensed some more alcohol out of herself. John took another nce at his beer. Right now, he was breaking multiple standards of decency. For a start, he was an American who drank before being 21 years old, although that was morew than decency. There was the disturbing thing that he was literally drinking body-fluids. Sure, these body fluids were sterile andpletely indistinguishable from real alcohol, but even with that knowledge, it felt a bit depraved.
Nathalia guzzling down another bucket like it was the most normal thing in the world did make it a lot less weird. As a matter of fact, the whole fact about her, a skyscraper sized dragon made from volcanic ash and magma, being here in human shape made alcohol out of a beer slime who also happened to be the Spirit of Spirits way less abnormal. Okay, it was still abnormal, but nothing beyond what John was used to at this point.
What the fuck is this headache inducing shit brew, why the fuck would anyone ever make this cocksuck of a poison, I will kick the balls into the ovaries of the hermaphrodite who thought with her fucking egg-dispensers, holy fucking shit, who thought of this?! Eliza rolled down a number of courses in a few moments, FUCK!
What is wrong? John wanted to know, taking another sip of his beer. This second one was tastier, less bitter and more prickling. Hard to describe, it just felt nice.
The fuck do you mean is wrong, drinking this stuff gives me an immediate hangover, what is this shit?! Eliza ruffled her hair in needless aspiration, Cant I have a single shit that is normal in this world?! Okay, powering down metabolism. Lady! Pure Alcohol! Now!
Sounds like a bad idea John tried to calm her, but Lady Liquor had already handed her a shot with a bubbly smile.
Urgh, tastes like the death of bacteria, the blood mageined after throwing it down. Okay, but I feel it spreading through my body like a fucking wildfire. This should work.
Another! Nathalia demanded, mming her bucket on the table.
While watching everyone react to alcohol in different manners, John finished his pint.
There were many who werent affected at all, most of all the dragoness who must have drunk enough to fill her entire human bodys volume up one and half times by now but didnt seem drunk in the least. Lydia also annihted one ss without seemingly caring. Getting tipsy rather quickly but not really behaving differently than usual, Rave chatted it up with Sylph, who was slurring her already quick speech to a nearly intangible mess but behaved normally. Undine kind of just existed in her little corner and listened to everyone else talk. Gnome did the same, but, while Undine was the uncaring would read a book while two others were making out next to her on the couch at a party-type, the stone elemental looked around and tried her best to clink into some conversations from time to time.
Then there were the people who changed a bit under the influence of the mind-fogging brews. Momo was gnawing the ears off Lydia with lots and lots of science talk and asking where she should go. Also, she was getting pretty touchy, her hands somehow always resting on someones thighs.
Aclysia disyed a slight bit how all those chores she had been doing affected her brain, as she spend minutes upon minutes on ordering the things on the table in a perfect way. Of course that created a situation where everyone was making fun of her, which she answered with yapping about them needing to fix their clothes.
John actually didnt know Metra good enough yet to judge whether or not her climbing on the table and starting to dance while stripping out of her already few clothes was normal behaviour, but he sure as hell didnt want her to stop. Neither did Siena who, after her third green cocktail of unknown name, joined her up there, and the two had a very intimate, very loud and very naked discussion about whether table dance should be belly (Metras position) or hip (Sienas position) focused.
Shuddit, Metra finally shoved Siena off the table. The shadow spirit elegantlynded on her high-heeled feet, somehow, and hissed. There is only enough room on this table for one sexydy, and that is me! Yo, Lady, give me music! the living weapon demanded, ignoring the annoyed sulphuric re.
Sorry, havent gotten around to installing music boxes yet, Lady Liquour apologized; I do have instruments though.
Mhm, how about a violin, can you give me that? Siena focused her outrage elsewhere. She had, and the nightmare elemental was thus given the instrument.
Whu-huuu, live concert! a very enthusiastic Smander dered. The fire elemental couldnt exactly drink alcohol, it would justbust inside her, so Lady Liquor utilized a special ability she had and just affected her with the feeling of drunkenness. That and all the elementals were getting drunk by proxy, thanks to being hooked up to John.
Smander and Nia must have been the most affected by alcohol, although in very different ways. Being basically not even in the room, Nia continued to sway in her seat and be barely responsive to anything that happened around her. They had reced her drink with water.
Thank god I thought of that, John told himself, having learned his lesson while in Warsaw and now always having something to eat with him. He barely even noticed that he was on his third beer by now, and the world was getting a bit warmer. When had he taken off his jacket? Ah, whatever.
Ah, whatever, times two. Yeah, concert! Dont disappoint me, Siena, y a good song and you can finally get rid of that stupid rule I needed to enforce on your wonderful ass. Such a nice ass, somebody give me something to grope! his mouth worked quicker than his brain, that hadnt happened in a while.
His request was heeded in spades. Rave raised from her seat and sat down in hisp, Eliza and Aclysia then quickly threw themselves at his open sides. The former was grinning in her usually insane way and showered his neck in kisses.
Wrapping an arm around her small frame and putting the hand on Raves right breast while his left was groping Aclysias butt, John was now very much happy. There was a slight problem though, in that he had no hand free to drink his beer anymore.
Ever diligent, Aclysia fixed that problem for him. Nibbling on her alcoholised piece of copper, she grabbed his pint and said, Say, ahhh, my cute master. Her warm smile took all condescension one may have interpreted into these words away. Thanks to their mental connection, she almost knew exactly when to take it away. Almost, because the intoxication made everything a bit fuzzy.
Siena had finished tuning the instrument in the background and was now ying a little bit. If you want to dance wrongly that badly, I am going to give you the tune! she told Metra.
Bring it, I never back down from a challenge! the berserker babe announced, re-absorbing the iron ring that held her hair together into her body and thus letting her wild dirty blonde hair fly freely.
The music started as a nice and slow ssical song, but Siena slowly increased the tempo over the next few minutes. Lady Liquor pped in a rhythm whileughing at the show that her guests put on. Nathalia ordered another bucket.
John wasnt quite sure when the shot of some liquorish tasting liquor had entered his mouth, but there it was now. The whole world seemed to move slightly out of sync, like every single one of his movements had inputg. Metra was off the table now and instead sucking his dick; he was vaguely aware that that was a thing that had happened, but not quite sure when. Sometime between him and Rave swapping back and forth a cocktail while making out and licking salt off Aclysias butt. Also, he vaguely remembered challenging every girl to allow him to drink champagne out of their belly button, which was probably why everyone was naked from at least the waist upwards.
Everyone except Nathalia who was still hammering down one bucket after another but still was the soberest person around. Undine and Siena were drunkenly producing something akin to music together by now.
So whater your ns, Newman? Lydia, her B-Cups exposed to the air, asked sluringly. At this point, functioning sentences were the exception. She ended a whole pint in one gulp while waiting.
Arent you half polish? John asked an unrted question in return. With your fathers name having been Goch and all.
Eighth, actually, the drunken queen said with a raised finger, but answer my question!
Well, Im goingta cum down Metras stupidly tight mouth in a few seconds, John answered while groping every butt in range, which happened to belong to Undine and another Undine, as the slime was all over the room. Then I gonna am be the finished beer and somebody carry me home.
No, you idiot, yar ns fr die Zukunft, Lydia said. What are you going to do in the future? Still gonna conquer Murica?
Yesh! John eximed, both as his answers and because his balls were pumping a new load out into Metras mouth. Cause that is my y now! I am gonna create a country that will be number one! I will be better than everyone else, because I want to! And then I am going to cuck Romulus out of Luna, Sol can get bent over a trashcan!
John blinked, he didnt feel quite good right now. It was cold, the ground in front of him seemed to want to slip to the side. It was a wonder, even his drunken mind realized, that his face wasnt currently on the floor. There had been some say of that they better go after Momo threw up onto the stairs that led to the toilets or something. Thinking was hard, he basically worked on very dulled instincts right now.
I feel terrible, the culprit herself said.
You should, you made the ground dirty! Aclysia let her know. Both of them sounded surprisingly sober.
Nathalia was helping him walk. That must have been the reason why he was still upright. He touched her butt but cut himself on the very much protecting scales. She growled at him, and he made a dumb smile.
Shut the fuck up, you stained the street just a few metres ago! Eliza shouted at them. Everyone is drunk, I am sober again, and now I got to carry your fucking asses home! She was literally princess carrying Rave who was asleep in her arms.
Ihr all need a German liver! Lydia criticised, still very much drunk but able to walk on her own.
John was vaguely aware of his elementals sleeping inside their chamber in his consciousness. How nice for them to have an instant way home while the rest of them had to walk through the winter night.
Apparently, both Momo and Aclysias forceful removal of alcoholic metals from their bodies had put them in a state where they were rtively sober. Aclysia still almost walked right into a street-sign, causing John to giggle for a way too long time, so they werent absolutely restored to normal. Like Lydia, however, they could walk on their own. It was really just Rave and John who needed to be carried. Nia was...where was Nia?
Make this stop! John pleaded as he was moved by the mana street under his feet. His brain refused to work with the information of standing still and moving at a high speed at the same time and hit him with indescribable nausea. His stomach churned.
We are almost home, Nathalia promised, just stare at my breasts until we get there, that should help.
It does John leered at the two bags of fun, with which he had a lot of fun in the past. Then they were suddenly in his bedroom. It wasnt as much that he forgot what happened between events, just that it was like swimming upstream to think about them.
Nathalia gently ced him in his bed, where Rave was already lying, stillpletely asleep. The dragoness seemed distraught about something, just standing there doing nothing for a moment. This is thest time we will see each other for a long time, she suddenly announced.
John felt a very sudden rush of adrenaline fighting the fog in his mind at the sound of those words. The hell did she mean by that? What? his mouth didnt manage to figure out something clearer than that.
I have decided to stay away from you until you prove yourself worthy to me, the nymphomaniac goddess announced. Do you have any idea how horny your acts tonight made me? Or when thest time I went six days without any sex was? Cause I dont remember thatst thing. Yet I promise to not have sex with anyone but you for as long as I think you could be worthy of me.
We can change that right now if you want to! John said and reached out for her. She took a step back and out of his reach but then darted right back forward when he threatened to fall out of bed because of her. Dont just leave, Nathalia, he begged; I know you are fickle and that you want to go wherever you want to go. I am fine with that, but dont just run away and disappear for months again! At this point he was almost begging, his hands closed around her sharply-scaled wrists. Please, I love you.
It is precisely because I love you as well, John Newman, that I am doing this, Nathalia said, As long as I am around you will never truly be in danger. You can never be worthy in my eyes if you are under the shadow of my wings. I will lock myself away from everything, will not touch another being. I will be chaste for you and wait for you to prove yourself a man that can be my mate.
She forced his hands off her wrists and pushed him into the bed, pressing onest kiss on his lips. Her full, dark red lips were burning with the volcanic fires of passion, lust and love. That list barely contained the first two. Please do that as quick as you can, I am unspeakably horny already. I would take you for onest ride, but your drunken hip-shaking isnt thest sex I want to remember to have with you.
Dont just leave, Nathy, John pleaded once again, but Nathalia had already kissed him goodbye, and his adrenaline rush was wearing off quickly and leaving him tired beyond his capacity to fight against.
I believe in you, John, she said as his consciousness faded into sleep. We will see each other again, and when we do, you better fuck my brains out.
He saw her turn around with a wide smile on her lips while his eyes fell closed.
Chapter 359 – No Hangover, Whoop Whoop
Chapter 359 C No Hangover, Whoop Whoop
What is wrong with my life and whoever made beer taste this good? Rave asked while moving as little as possible. She was currently sitting in front of the toilet and having her back patted by her boyfriend.
You are going to be fine, John promised, reaching her a ss of water. She took it, took a minor sip and then hung her head right back over the porcin throne.
Why arent YA suffering like a normal person?! the lightbearerined about her solitary misery. She was the only person in the house who was pretty much incapacitated from her hangover. Lydia had a headache, yes, and wasying on the couch as she was, shockingly, unable to do her paperwork properly, but she was just feeling weak not sick to the boot.
The Artificial Spirits had recovered remarkably fast, as did the elementals; Nia may have been suffering under the surface but so far that hadnt been apparent; Eliza just regenerated right back to lunatic normalcy, and Nathalia...
Nathalia wasnt here anymore. Gaia only knew where she had gone to, but John had more than a mild interest on either finding her or proving himself worthy as quickly as possible to see her again.
But that wasnt relevant to Raves question. Because I just got a series of hangover debuffs and got to clear them by crossing a bunch of checkmarks, he exined to her what he had done before she had dragged herself out of bed with agonized groans.
By going down a list of nutrients his status effects told him he was missing, he decreased a brain-splitting headache to a nuisance and finally to nothing. It had involved a very hearty breakfast made by Aclysia, with lots of salt, vitamins, vinegar and water but, at the end he had gotten it all done and away with.
Your powers are bullshit, Raveined and looked at the case of painkillers next to her on the floor; I wanna just skip hangovers as well!
Can you do something about this? John asked Undine who was soaking in the nearby bathtub.
Maybe, she answered with uncertainty and slimed her way over as a diluted puddle of goo with a will. Wrapping herself around a sick Rave, she became slightly green as her healing slime permeated into every bit of the technolover in an attempt to remove all the causes for her current very-much-not-well-being.
Ohdy Gaia in heaven, thank ya for giving me a boyfriend who has a healer! she eximed and jumped to her feet. Obviously, it had worked. Rave scooped up Undines face and pulled her up, which was a mildly diforting picture because John now looked at half a torso sticking out of a medium sized, translucent blue hill with a very long neck and finally her head. In all fairness, Undines deformations were another one of these things that he was mostly ustomed to by now. Why didnt ya do that sooner.
I didnt know I could and wasnt sure to speak up, Undine apologized in her usual sing-song voice. Sorry.
Despite bing way better at it over the past weeks, it seemed that Undine would always be a bit awkward tomunicate with. That was fine, generally, but in moments like this, it stood out. Well, lets do the same for Lydia.
I feel superb, the now queen said in surprise, good job, Undine. Truly, you are the second-best thing about your master.
Thank you, Undine said and, after making sure she wasnt needed anymore, went back to her bath.
The best thing would be Aclysia, right? John asked; What are the top five?
Aclysia, Undine, your powers that I was able to use for my goals, your dick and yourpany, in that order, Lydia gave him a very quick answer while heading for the door of the living room to go back to her room. Anyhow, I have queen things to do; I need to get my administrative apparatus organized, put the first reform ideas on the table, take congrattion calls and so on.
Arent you officially on vacation until the end of this month? John asked; apparently Romulus had put something like that into ce so that Lydia had enough time to get her personal affairs settled and assemble a cab before her regency began while also looking at the reforms Romulus had promised.
True, but vacation was never my style, Lydia shrugged, Anyhow, am I correct in the assumption that we are all going out around 1 PM?
John nodded. The emperor had told them, through Sol, to meet him at 14 oclock today. We are going to find out the backstory of Gaia, that is going to be more than a bit exciting, he said. Actually, he waspletely prepared to be a rather boring history lesson, but, somehow, he doubted that was going to be the case.
Thats about 6 hours from now, Lydia said, they all had slept rather lightly. John wasnt particrly bothered by that, he worked optimally when having at least six hours of sleep, but he could work with the four he had gotten. Guess I will take a nap in that time as well. I will await you at the front door once the time hase. With that the metal mage left the room behind.
I will never drink that much alcohol ever again, John told himself while thinking about what he would do the remainder of the day. Just because he had been able to heal the pain didnt mean he looked forward to that ever again. Also, he hadnt been able to argue with Nathalia properly, although he doubted that would have made arge difference on the dragoness decision. It already seemed to have been made by the time he entered the pub.
What about you, Nia? John asked the nk who was ying with Copernicus. Want toe with?
No, I already know that story, Nia answered and left John wide-eyed as she stood up. Its not that interesting. Her expressionless face turned towards the window. And I need to speak to my mentor and see to my future.
Have you decided if you are going to stay in or leave the Illuminati yet? John didnt ask about the Gaia thing because he didnt want to hear the story he was going to get from a much more involved source soon enough twice. Also, Nia probably sucked at storytelling; with her extremely monotone voice, John couldnt imagine that listening to her for extended periods would have been particrly interesting.
The pariah held up a card that said Uncertainty. I have an idea, was all she said, and I have been here for too long already. See you again, Copernicus, goodbye, John, that was a rather abrupt farewell.
John wasnt quite fine with having two of these in the same day, so he stepped into her way and pulled her into an embrace. Promise me you wille back to me as soon as you can, he whispered into her ear.
Yes, I will rather miss your scratches, Copernicusmented from the floor.
I promise, Nia said, I will be back as soon as I can. Raising her head, the two of them shared a long kiss that tasted of nothing. A particr kind of nothing, as John realized, as it was sopletely devoid of all taste that it became a taste in itself. He tried to burn this emptiness into his memory, who knew when he would next be able to feel her lips?
Now go meet that Rat, and if his head is still too big for his body,ugh at him for me! John told her.
Sure? Nia said with a quizzically tilted head as she went out of the door on her bare feet.
John stood in the living room for a few seconds, thinking again about what to do now. Whatever show Eliza was watching today was running in the background, and Rave was churning down that breakfast she had missed now that her appetite was no longer blocked by the after effects of self-poisoning.
When are you going to leave by the way? John asked Momo at the table next to his girlfriend, eating small pieces of metal like a freeloader. Which she actually was, now that she had to ask John for money instead of just redrawing it from his inventory as her allowance for being his second Artificial Spirit.
When you are leaving for America, Momo gave a precise answer at an indiscriminate time; Basically, I am staying with Aclysia until the gang breaks apartpletely.
John looked at the house around him and realized that the days in here were now officially numbered. The only reason for him to keep staying in Rome was because he wanted Romulus around until they knew how stable exactly Eliza was. Nathalia and Nia were already gone now, soon Lydia would head north to govern Rex Germaniae, Momo would leave them when John decided that Eliza was stable enough and thatd mean their time here was over.
These were a lot of happy days, he mumbled.
Ja, they were, Rave said out loud and patted Copernicus who jumped on the table, but we gonna build something even better, right, tiger?
The smile she gifted upon him after saying that made him straighten his back and stand upright. It gave him a reason to smile himself and dwell less on the now and look forwards to the future, a future where that smile would still be with him. Right, he answered as his brain snapped out of question mode and into action; First thing I should do is use thatst upgrade to- He got into full-swing only to be stopped immediately, Where is my upgrade token? It wasnt in his inventory anymore.
You used it while drunk on your pants, Master, Aclysia informed him, Did you forget that?
Forget is putting it mildly, John answered in half a panic. That was just a part that had been cut from his memory by the consuming void of alcohol. At least he used it on the right article of clothing, but what the hell did drunk-John pick?
Well, I upgraded the thing like I did my vest, so thats nice, John analysed; But what is Arcane Comet?
That is pretty good, but fuck me, that mana cost, John thought and cried over the two other choices that may have been good but that he would never get to see. Well, it was useless to cry about it now, Gaia wouldnt give him a do over. He would just need to get to a point where 100 mana wasnt that big of a deal anymore.
Anyhow, I still have wind in my sails! he dered; I am going to go grind for a bit.
The fuck would you grind for? Eliza shouted over the noise from the TV and the crumpling of her bag of chips. You are on the patch reduction shit! Instead of going and wasting your time on shit, get some rope and tie me up like a proper piece of fuckmeat.
As awesome as that sounds, John said, and it DOES sound awesome, I have one thing I can grind out without any reduction to anything. Which is that ss level I can now get.
But that ss level doesnt involve you sexually abusing me, Elizained. Including some kind fucked up bindings, a vibrator, a gag and a fuckload of swear words while spanking the shit out of my ass!
But does it involve kicking something so hard in the balls that its brain explodes? Metra asked. Because I am bored and want to beat something up.
Well, we will see what the challenges are, John said and opened the menu.
Chapter 360 – Big things have small beginnings
Chapter 360 C Big things have small beginnings
What the hell Gaia, where is the four-kindbination? Johnined out loud and nced at his phone clock. He had like 20 minutes before he should get moving to Romulus pce. Was that enough to make a contract? He obviously would need to take the Light Elemental here, as the other two choices were absolute garbage, and he wanted that anyway.
He could also have postponed the ritual until after the fact, but it wasnt like he had anything better to do. Usually, these rituals didnt take hours though, more like ten minutes, tops, that felt like half an eternity.
He picked the ritual and looked at the costs.
Well, why would I ever not go for Tier 4? John thought and shared the blueprint for the needed circle with Gnome. They went back to the mansion, and then the stone elemental immediately put the circle into the ground, and John kneeled down to do the thing.
Gonna be interesting to see you get a light elemental, Rave said; I bet its gonna be that moon chick that I didnt want!
Maybe, John teased and activated the skill.
Immediately, he felt his vitality drop, and the connection to everyone of his familiars became dull to the point where he couldnt feel anything aside their existence anymore. He had expected to be surrounded by blinding light, but instead he was standing in the vastness of space.
It was quite the breath-taking sight, countless stars glittering around him like oceans of diamonds and other sparkingling gemstones. Suns and reflecting surfaces all together in perfectly patterned chaos, some of them moving so quickly they were just lines to the naked eye, others so slowly they would have seemed to stand still if gazed upon for decades.
Unlike the night sky, however, John knew that he could have actually reached one of these stars if he tried, the one he spotted when he turned around. It was so enormous that John wondered how he could even have missed its white-gold light. It probably was spherical, but from this close, it just looked like a giant wall.
Not a wall, as John came to realize when an eye opened behind it, a membrane. John put his hand on it and stared back at the eye. Whatever was inside had to be about as giant as Nathalia, and it was a scaled beast as well.
- I wonder what to think of this?
The voice that entered his mind did so uninvited and in a very much unwee way, speaking not as a telepathic voice but as Johns own thoughts. Who are you?
No. You arent, John asserted quite clearly; I have been hit with my fair share of mind meddling, I know when there is a voice that isnt my own in here.
- You are right, yet you are wrong. For me, I might be the Father of Light, but for you and for the purpose of this talk, I am you.
This made next to no sense to John right now, so he had to dig deeper into whatever the Father of Light tried to be to do right now.
- I wonder what to think of this?
The question repeated. John took a deep breath and just acted ording to the elemental primordial consciousness wishes. I find the idea of having an elemental of this size thrilling, although I hope it can turn into a hot dragon chick or something.
- But what if he is dangerous?
Way to dash my illusions. If HE is dangerous, then he falls right in line with me.
- What is it going to destroy for my ambitions?
He is going to destroy what we need to, John answered, which hopefully will be as little as possible.
Someone with intact American values, John answered, Freedom, Democracy and all that stuff.
- Am I going to give up power when I have taken over the US?
How does that- John stopped himself. Right, how can I im to stand for democracy if I want to build a guild with me at the head that spans a whole nation just because my pride tells me to? How can I im to bring freedom if I operate under might makes right?
How can I do that? he asked himself in earnest and then it hit him: He could do it quite easily. His pride and his values were two different motivators. The question was which motivators was his prime one? If it was pride, he could toss out his values without thought throughout the campaign and by the end be an almighty tyrant.
What was worse was that his own mind, and he was able to draw that distinction quite clearly, presented him with an answer he absolutely did not want to hear.
It was pride.
It was the wish to dominate, because he was stronger.
There was nothing valuable about it.
He was in no way better than the people already in the US Abyss. As a matter of fact, if he just went in there and conquered it for the hell of it, he would be much, much worse than anyone else.
Yes, who was he to judge? The answer wasnt as simple as he first thought. What was all that Wisdom for if he just used it toe up with answers but never to contemte what they mean in their parts?
The answer was easy to say but hard to act out. He needed to make the effort to shift his values. Not put his selfishness first but his principles. He had the right to judge because he brought them a better life. What better life? One where might didnt make right, where people werent sold as ves on an inte website, where people could vote for who led them.
- How could I enforce that for everyone? Freedom?
Hed need to hed need to conquer everything, unite it under one banner and then just take a step back and leave the them to vote for their own ruler by guaranteeing the sovereignty of that ruler as an untouchable symbol at the top.
He would need to be Romulus.
- But Romulus had failed. He hadnt had the expertise to put a system into ce that was truly self-evolving. He is from a time where civilization barely started. I have knowledge and the vigour of youth.
He would need to be Romulus but better. He was the first person in ten-thousand years that could stand on the shoulders of this titan, because he was the second one with that kind of power. Romulus had been afraid of shaking a system that was not perfect, but mostly working, one that only cracked over thousands of years.
John could build a new one from the ground up. It was time to reign in his pride. This emotion wasnt useless, he needed to take pride in his values to retain them, but it had outgrown its use and was dangerously close to recing his values entirely.
Once that would have happened, turning around would have been very difficult. The road to hell was paved with good intentions, to where would a road paved with self-aggrandising lies lead? Not to heaven, that much was sure.
He had given all of this too little thought.
- So do I even deserve to try at all?
Yes.
Because someone has to do it and I dont trust anyone more to do it than me. I can question me, I can be wrong, we can all always be wrong, but me I can work on.
That is the correct answer, the Father of Light said out loud, his presence all-epassing, but his body nowhere to be seen. Doubt yourself, for you will NEVER be perfect. Believe in yourself, for you are the only YOU you have. That was the only thing he wanted to remind John of. It was a thing the Gamer had known to be true but buried as he had realized just how strong he was. Arrogance, the thing he had berated more than a few people for, had dug its ws into him, but now that he knew what had gripped him, he also knew how to free himself.
The sun he had stood in front of was gone, shrunk down to the size of an egg that nowid in his palm as one by one the stars faded around him and he was left in the dark with the soft light. The formerly giant creature inside wound inside its shell, which cracked.
He has been sealed at the beginning of this nes existence, when Gaia banished us from the physical world to protect us from her ownws, the Father of Light told him as John looked at the tiny beast in his palm. I waited for the day I could set him free.
It was a crocodile, scales of gold covering his whole body, patterns forming out of darker shades of bronze, and silver eyes looking up to John. Quite hard to believe that this thing was supposed to be the same monster whose eye alone had dwarfed John. However,mon sense barely applied in the Abyss anyway. What is your name?
The crocodile only made a cute little squeaking sound, tapping a bit forwards and then sliding into Johns sleeve. Now that was absolutely not what John had in mind; the little rascal was making his way through the gap between vest and shirt and eventually came out at Johns neckline.
He opened his jaw wide and made a further series of squeaking sounds. His name is Stirwin, and make no mistake, he may look like a hatchling the Father of Light was the one to answer Johns question. The contract formed between him and the light crocodile seemingly on its own, John could have resisted it but found no reason to do so. but when timees to an end, he may be thest light.
John suddenly found himself back in reality and almost keeled over backwards as this thing called gravity became something real again. Immediately, Stirwin crawled out of his vest and into the open grass. Thankfully, unlike a normal crocodile, this sun lizard was everything but well camouged.
Noaw, Rave jumped in front of him, look at ya, being all not a hot babe and stuff She slowly extended her hand towards the tiny croc, who stood still and let her pat him on the head. When he started squeaking and pushing against her finger, Rave squealed like a fangirl. He is cute!
He also threatens my pet monopoly, Copernicusmented, tapping through the grass over to the hatchling. Raising one of his paws, the sun cat tapped his fellow light elemental once on the back, which caused Stirwin to whirl around and try to snap at the cat, letting out the cutest of hisses from its throat, the flesh inside copper coloured.
Copernicus answered in kind, and now there were two angry light elementals hissing at each other. However, in this particr duel, John would have bet on Copernicus every day, the cat was at least twice the length of the little crocodile and generally faster. That was because Stirwins Stats:
Were absolute trash. He had one Stat for each level, which put him a whole four under the standard five. Actually, this was the first time John saw someone who got below average stats per level, there had to be something up with this. Also, the part about Tier 5 and celestial devourerbined with the thing John had first seen left him doubtless that there was a lot more to the hatchling.
Can you speak? John asked through their mental connection.
Hungry! Stirwin answered in a single word and then emotions flickered over their connection with the honesty of a being that didnt know the concept of lying. It was far different from Undine, who often opted to just send what she felt rather than talk, the golden croc was simply incapable of making the difference. He was more like a scaled puppy.
Can you find something small we can feed him? John asked Aclysia, who nodded and hurried on ahead back to the mansion to get something out of the kitchen. In the meanwhile, he reached his hand down to the crocodile. We have somewhere to go, want me to carry you, Stirwin? The infinity elemental, which was a rather interesting title to have, climbed on Johns hand without hesitation. Rave was shaking her head in the background, giggling a bit. What? John asked.
Stirwin is such a boring name, she dered; He shall now be known as Chompy!
Chompy? the little crocodile actually seemed to be able to speak, a voice like a chipmunk. From his position in Johns breast pocket, which finally found a usage for something, he repeated that one word over and over again, Chompy! Chompy! Chompy!
He likes it, Ravemented the obvious.
Of course he likes it! Sylph dered whooshing by; Its a good name, the best name! You are now Chompy, Chompy, and you shall chomp on all the chompable chumps! Chimichanga! Chick-Chuck, bamboozle di-da-do, Pri-papa!
John had no idea what that talk had suddenly devolved into, but Sylph had fun making weird grimaces in front of the crocodile. Stirwin was greatly entertained by this, his mouth hanging wide open in what seemed to be a smile. The expressions of a magical crocodile were something John would spend some time to figure out. Not that he needed to, Stirwins feelings were broadcasted into his brain after all, but it would be a nice thing to learn either way.
Chapter 361 – Origins
Chapter 361 C Origins
They hade full circle. It had taken seven days (minus a few hours) to get back to this bench. It was him, Lydia and Romulus who sat on it. Everyone else was around as well. Stirwin had jumped into the pond and yfully chased some ducks that the emperor was feeding with crumbs of bread. The fact that neither Sol nor Luna had said anything about the celestial devourer made John pretty certain they didnt know that title. He would keep it that way.
Before I begin to tell you the story, I need you to understand that you cannot share what you are about to learn with the outside world, Romulus said; For I fear what happens when people realize the truth about Gaias powers.
Everyone gave their word. It is a terribly old tale, the emperor continued to warn them nevertheless, and filled with personal regrets. Just another reason to keep it quiet from most people. He looked at the crocodile snapping at one of the silver headed ducks.
But let us no longer wait, for I am sure that you have waited for this tale for a long time. I must disappoint you, however, and tell you that this story doesnt begin with Gaia herself, but with me and my brother.
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What useless thing did you create this cycle? Romulus jokingly asked his twin Remus. They were both good looking young men, olive skinned and muscr as was needed for the time, although Romulus had his brother beat in sheer mass. The future emperor had always been the hunter while his brother had been a craftsman.
This was reflected in their individual powers as well. Romulus was the ultimate devourer of powers, a hunter of things magical. Remus, on the other hand, was blessed with the power to create things from fate. This power had been unimpressive at first, when all he was able to create were short-lived talking nts or other such cheap parlour tricks, but soon they had be something more.
As far as Romulus knew, they were the only two people who were born with powers of this magnitude. Most people could fling a little fire or make their arrows hit more urately, but that was about it. The only way to create people with inborn powers was for the mother to absorb magical energy before her kids were born. This meant that they needed to hunt and kill magical beings, which were extremely hard to track and to kill. Even then it was all but guaranteed. The chances were slowly rising throughout generations, but that didnt help much.
The thing in question today was a sack. Romulus undid the bindings and looked inside, finding seeds. His brothers hand quickly snatched it from hisparatively brutish sibling. It is a hope for the future, he berated his brother and tightened the rope around the soft leather again. Sacks like this were just one of the many things Remus was inventing in this hiding hole.
They had both been born as part of a tribe, but Remus had opted out of the tents and endless migrations. Instead, he had his older twin brother wrestle this cave from a bear and then lived in here on his own. This meant that the two brothers were separated for most of the time, but every year the tribe would settle close to the cave over the winter, and Romulus would visit his brother during these times.
I have been giving life to seeds and made them run around the world to find people and present to them the idea of agriculture, he exined, because the idiots arent able to figure it out themselves.
As misanthropic as ever, I see. No wonder you keep sitting in this cave, Romulus said, attempting to sit down on a crudely crafted stool. It was kicked away from under him, and he nted his butt firmly on the stone floor. Was that really necessary?
You can take a fall every now and then, Remus decided and then gave his brother the mean but yful smile that siblings sometimes shared. That aside, you should just settle with someone already. It would be interesting to see what kind of children you produce.
I actually have my eyes on two lovelydies, Romulus said; Although it seems that I need to reconcile them; they get along like night and day. He chuckled over a joke only he understood. You will see when I can get them to fall in love with me. Which I will, eventually.
It is nice to hear that you are as confident as ever, Remus said; Must be nice to be all powerful, although that sounds like you already tried and failed.
I did once, but you know that I always try thrice. Also, my power is a privilege that I am sharing, brother, Romulus answered, something that you should learn to do as well. Instead of discovering things for yourself inside this cave,e with us and share them with the people.
I can share from here, without engaging with those sheep, the younger twin shook his head. And you know as well as I that there is something here that I cannot leave out of my sight.
About that the future emperor left the question unspoked, this was just part of their ritual. Remus nodded, and they both stood up and went deeper into the cave. It wound deep into the earth, their steps echoing on the natural stone formations around them. Nothing here had been touched by Remus hands, unlike the living area close to the entrance of the cave.
It was only a light radiating from Romulus fist that guided their path for a long time. Then the world around them suddenly shifted, and they stood inside a perfectly cubical room. The floor was like a ck mirror while the walls reflected everything in a dark purple.
In the middle of this room hovered a golden sphere. It radiated no light, reflected none; it was a simple existence of gold. Romulus concentrated mana on his feet and flew up to the sphere. It was the size of a pebble when you created it, and now it is taller than I am, the future emperor said.
It WAS a pebble when I created it, Remus reminded him. You remember that it was a safety precaution in order to make sure no living thing ever gets this amount of power, right?
Well, you definitely seeded, Romulus said and punched the sphere. It didnt even budge in the slightest; all he did was make his whole arm hurt from the rebound. Even I find myself unable to steal its power. I would need to damage it to do so, and the power concentrated on a single spot is too high to even budge it. Its like trying to damage a diamond with a toothpick.
You have enough power without being the god of gods. That aside, you know as well as I that its purpose is for your vision as well, Remus said. The god of gods, or, to put it more correctly, the god of faith, that was the true nature of this sphere.
It had been something that Remus created under great strain from his powers, after decades of practice. He had been using a theory that magical energy just whirled around in the atmosphere on its own. He had been half right at that point, the idea that it was human thought that created magical beings had been undiscovered at the time. So, he had gotten the where from wrong but not the where right now. As a result, he had created a focal point for magical energies to travel through a single point, and every bit of energy that travelled through this sphere left a bit of it behind.
However, this god was without sapience or perhaps it would have been correct to say that it was without the capability to set its own cause. It just existed, like aputer with an endless power supply but nobody operating it.
So, you noticed no change? Romulus asked.
None, it just continues to be, and I remain unable to influence it properly, Remus said, The only way we could use it for your suggestion, to enable all of humanity to bear children with innate abilities, would be if we could program it. For that we need a human who can connect with it, and for that we need a human who has that same energy inside them.
A natural who has the same energy inside them, Romulus corrected, otherwise Id be able to do it.
Yes, which was what I originally hoped for, the younger twin sighed heavily, but it just doesnt work and humans cannot take in this kind of energy naturally for some reason. It is a disastrous waste of potential, but this power source is unusable for us. It could have erected a secondyer of reality.
What would you need that for? the future emperor asked as hended back on the polished floor. In his furs he looked incredibly out of ce. All we want is for all people to be strong.
Yes, but until then we need to protect those who arent from those who are, Remus argued; We should create a twoyered society. One for the people who already have power, to induct those who are granted new powers from those in the normal world.
All you will create is two separated instances of society, not twoyers to one, Romulus returned. They will never mingle unless you let them.
If you just leave the strong unchecked they will never be one because the powerful will ughter the weak like cattle. Not everyone is as nice as you are, Romulus; we need rules enforced by a central authority!
Maybe, but not an unquestionable membrane between worlds! Their voices became shouts, and they stared at each other.
this talk is for naught anyways, Remus finally decided and walked away. It wont work; I am going to see you again next year.
If the emperor had known then what his brother was nning, then he could have stopped him.
And one year did pass, and when Romulus returned, his brother was no longer alone. With him was a child, with hair and eyes of green. At the time the god-eater didnt think much off his brothers child, neither did he care a lot where she came from. She was an energetic child and Romulus liked visiting his brother more now that he wasnt just brooding around.
However, there were many weird things about little Gaia. Remus never mentioned who her mother was or what happened to her, neither did he really answer why her aura looked so split or why her eyes had that ck ring inside them. All Romulus got were dodged questions, but that was just the brother he knew, and even though that was bothering him, they were the only family they still had, having lived for longer than people in their time were supposed to live already.
It was 22 yearster that Remus finally revealed the truth when Romulus visited.
Where is my favourite niece? the future emperor shouted whening into the cave, finding it empty. It was devoid of all people, only the lines of magical items on the wall even attesting to the fact that someone had lived here.
Something was wrong about the cave that day, very wrong. Remus? he shouted away and went deeper into the cave. Maybe he was with the god of gods, or the world soul as they had dubbed it nowadays.
Romulus took the one step that normally brought him into that separated space and stopped. Stopped inside a dark cave illuminated only by his magic. Nothing had happened. What did you do, brother? Romulus thought and immediately turned back.
He looked with all the senses, godly and mortal, that he had for traces of his brother. He hadnt even been in this part of the cave in months, judging by smell. With the nose of a wolf, he found and traced his brothers steps back to the magical items andstly to an hourss.
Romulus stretched out his hand and was immediately transported. It felt like he was being drawn into an elusive copy of that barrier that had surrounded the world soul, and then he found himself on top of a rim of ss around a maelstrom of sand so fine it appeared liquid to his eyes for a moment.
TURN BACK TIME, FERIKRONA! he heard his brother shout, I DEMAND IT! I HAVENT FINISHED THE PROJECT YET!
What project? Romulus asked; Where is Gaia? What is this ce?
Brother, I cannot deal with you right now, Remus reprimanded him without even looking at him; his voice was hoarse; apparently, he had been shouting for hours. FERIKRONA! YOU CANNOT RESIST ME, I HAVE BUILT IT INTO YOU!
Being ignored like this was uneptable to the man who could get everything he wanted, and he grabbed his brother by the furred leather covering his chest. Answer me, brother, before I destroy this ce with my powers; you know I am capable of doing so.
That only got a smile, You know what, fine, I will tell you. Not like you can stop anything anymore. To put it bluntly, Romulus, I found a way to use the god of gods, but I have done it my way.
The future emperor clenched his fist harder and waited for the exnation his brother gave him with a smug expression. He told Romulus everything, from how he had tried to create a human god again and again only to fail on the boundaries of the soul before finally arriving at the attempt tobine the strongest source of power he knew of with a fresh corpse.
The soul needs to defragment just enough to let in the godly essence but not far enough to leave behind only a corpse, you see, he exined in a proud tone. At that moment Romulus realized that his brother had never truly cared about humanity, only about his research. He was bereft of all morality.
You killed a child to create a human god? Romulus asked.
I stole her from nobody; I legitimately got someone to love me and then produced an offspring. She died inbour, but that wasnt important, Remus stated and then raised an eyebrow as he was lifted off the ground; Although you seem to disagree, brother. Always the sensible one. I just needed an easily influenceable god, what easier way to ensure that than using a baby? This person, more scientist than human, presented that without any care. I even did what you wanted, through the permeation in the air of the world, every human now has a chance to have magically gifted offspring, isnt that wonderful? Over theing hundreds of generations C safe thanks to the implementation of my genius C everyone will be powerful. Humanity itself will ascend thanks to my work.
He nced at the maelstrom of sand, Although Gaia didnt like that when I told her what rule she should program into the world soul today. Silly girl. I will just have Ferikrona turn back time and exin it to her more sensibly. It worked in the past.
Rules, what rules? Romulus asked, but he was already certain that it was what he least wanted to hear.
Magic may not be practiced in front of unknowing people, thats the most important one; the protection of Gaia and the world souls connection is another one. You would need an insane amount of magical energy to even attempt separating that. Remus arrogant grin made Romulus want to bash his teeth, but he needed to know everything. Although I had my little girl create other systems to support all of those. Ah, I cant wait to see how humanity will use all of this, the few gifted that rise from the endless muck, that is. I so hate repetition. A shame the rules seem to only implement themselves slowly. Its like a spark in a forest, you know? The fire needs a bit to spread, but once we get there, nobody will be able to stop it, least of all the fire herself C Even if she wanted.
How did you hide her from me? I am able to sense godhood easily, not that it is hard in the first ce, Romulus wanted to know; If she was god, I should have been able to steal her powers.
I would love to know that myself, but it seems that human gods are just an exception to both of our powers, Remus eximed; Maybe you would be able to take over if you killed her? Not that you ever will be sessful in that; every attempt will be countered by the world soul. Anyway, it was nice telling you all of this for the thirtieth time, but I have to insist now, Ferikrona, that you turn back time to yesterday now. The smile on his face stayed even though nothing happened. Come now, Feri, his voice became angrier. You must be in a lot of pain by now, I made you to obey me, SO OBEY ME!
Did it cross that brilliant mind of yours Romulus growled as he dangled his brother over the edge of the pool. He had no idea what it would mean for anyone to fall into this maelstrom, but cold rage consumed his caution, and the fearful nce at the pool gave him all the indication he could ever need that it wouldnt be a good thing. that Gaia now got your little scheme and has used the power of the world soul to forbid meddling with time?
Remus opened his mouth and snapped it shut again like a dumbfounded fish.
You have fallen, brother, Romulus said; You have fallen so far. You never liked people, but at least you had something to offer to them. Now you condemned them to a life without the healing touch of magic. Your actions today will ripple through history and kill millions unless I seed in killing Gaia.
The idea of killing his own niece pained him, but it was nothingpared to the suffering his race would have to endure.
I would love to see you try, Remus said and nced again at his dangling feet. She and the world soul are basically one now. Then he took a relieved breath when Romulus drew back his arm.
You wont get to, the future emperor announced and threw his brother as if he were as light as a feather. He wasnt as aerodynamic as one, however, and so he flew and flew until eventuallynding in the greedy turn of the maelstrom.
I spent the next ten millennia trying to free the Abyss, Romulus finished; Obviously to no avail. I faced Gaia once shortly after the events of that day. First, I tried talking to her, then I attacked, and she fled. The second time I almost got her was when Nathalias eruption intervened. I will try a third; Remus world must be undone.
But is that such a bad world? John had to ask while stomaching the information contained within that story. There were revtions in there he would have to think about, but for the moment that was the question his mind turned around the most. Sure, the methods were bad, but the result was here to stay, so it was important to find out.
Romulus gaze turned to him with cold fury. How many people die of cancer or other illnesses? How many starve? How many live in poverty? Magic could fix all of these things, if only I was allowed to do so! the emperor bellowed.
Not all of them, John said, thats just the thing. You cannot be everywhere, and your brother already told you that not everyone is as great a person as you are. very is amon thing wherever you dont rule the Abyss. Also, humans havee a long way under the necessity of survival, maybe it was only the loss of magic that made us ultimately discover technology?
Are you saying that Remus was right? the emperor was dangerously quiet when asking this question. It seemed that he had dug himself into a trench on this position, but John still furthered what he wanted to say.
I am saying he had a point, even if the means he used to get there were absolutely reprehensible, John stated. From what I understand, the n Gaia has will eventually achieve what you want anyway, right? If every normal person has a chance to have abyssally talented offspring and more families get inducted into the Abyss than there are families dropping out, then eventually everyone will be in the Abyss. All that will have changed is that the structure of those with powers grow steadily instead of having to deal with a sudden and massive influx of powerless people.
The chaos of one, two or even three generations duration will save more lives for the dozen of generations that have to survive without miracles, Romulus stated.
Maybe, John said; he had no idea what the correct position was to have here, both sides had arguments that made sense. Was the temporary chaos worse than the terrible conditions that normal humans faced?
It was weird that Romulus was so cemented on this issue. Generally, it seemed like this man had already learned what the Father of Light had attempted to drill into Johns mind just yesterday: That there was no way to be certain that your way was the best way avable. Here, he was relentless.
John leaned more towards Gaias side of things. For a start because living in the modern world was already pretty great even without magic. Then because he could not imagine a transition that could take ce without the loss of billions of lives. Literal billions. Maybe the initial separation was unjust, he was on the fence about that, but the modern situation would mean catastrophe if the two sides met again suddenly.
Maybe Romulus repeated in a slightly dismissive tone. Well then, what do you n to do with this information? That was a question in his normal voice; at least he didnt dwell on it and tried to convince John further like a true zealot. It seemed there was yet hope to talk this out.
Nothing much, John said, I just wanted to know things.
Yeah, not all that useful knowledge, Rave eximed, but nice to have, I guess.
I just want one more thing rified: do you want to kill Gaia? Lydia asked.
I will kill her if necessary, but separating her from the world soul would also do it, Romulus announced; Whatever breaks the current forced tranquillity on the world, for it is unnatural and unjust. The conviction in his words made the Gamer shiver.
I will need to hear the other side of this story, now how do I get Gaia toe to me again? John asked himself when he stood up. I hope you dont mind if we stay a bit longer Romulus, he spoke out, at least a few more days to make sure that Eliza is stable.
You are wee to stay as long as you need to, John Newman; my pce has enough rooms, Romulus answered, and they said their goodbyes for the day.
Thanks, but I will be staying in the mansion in the sky, the Gamer said and waved as Romulus vanished behind some impressively cut bush work. And thats that, he added in his mind, my job here is done, I am debt free, and now Eliza seems stable this is all remarkably stable. That was a nice note to end this chapter of his life on.
End of Season 2
Chapter 362 – Epilogue – Two weeks and now it’s time to say…
Chapter 362 C Epilogue C Two weeks and now its time to say
It was a nice two weeks, even if nothing truly remarkable happened. As Rodam had threatened, he involved John a bit in the paperwork mines of the empire. He didnt get to see any of the true state secrets, of which John was sure there were plenty, but he at least got some experience in the middle level administration work. That ought toe in as valuable.
Maximillian dropped from the face of the earth after a joint press conference with Lydia and handing his crown and cape over to his sister. Ria took them with much hesitation. Another important scene during the conference had been when somebody asked Lydia an important question.
Are you in a sexual rtionship with John Newman?
To which Lydia had simply responded with a, Yes, but Germany will always be my first interest. It caused a minor ruckus with the more moral people in themunity, but she wasnt the only higher up who was polyamorous so it faded rather quickly.
Nariko left for the Abyss Auction HQ after speaking to Rave a couple more days. The two of them sparred and eventually departed in an if not good then at least eptable state. Rave then spent the rest of the break training with Metra and deepening her skills.
Eliza spent most days in her continuous effort to gain control over Thana more easily. It was a sessful endeavour, for the most part. She could prevent the slip sometimes, and when she lost control, she could reliable get it back after some time. However, she was in no condition to fight. Whether it was the excitement of fighting or just the witnessing of human suffering, her being even close to a battlefield easily triggered the switch. It was much harder toe back from there, especially if she used Soulburn.
It wasnt quite clear where Elizas natural powers ended and Thanas influence began. It seemed that Bloodburn, at least, was the mad girls own power.
But she was stable, so they had not much reason to stay any longer. John made his decision to leave at the turn of the month, and so, on the first of February, he opened his eyes to the ceiling in the mansion onest time. It was white, a in colour that Lydia hadnt allowed Rave to change no matter how often she asked.
The same couldnt be said about the rest of the room, with the fuzzy carpetying over the wooden nks and the ocean of pillows he was resting on. He reared his head and looked over the room. In a corner stood Sylphs box of sweets, guarded by a number-lock. A gracile oilmp decorated the windowsill, a female me called Smander flickering inside as she slept. Rows of books decorated the shelves, detective stories and heavy magical or scientific literature.
Lydia was already up and in the process of getting dressed. Most of his other girls were sprawling around him. Rave was snuggled against his right (although she was lying with her feet next to his face), while Aclysia was on his left, with Momo then attached to her. Eliza was lying on top of his feet after a jokingment that thats where her ce was which she then took as a sexually chargedmand. Metra wasying next to the bed, havingined that it was too soft to rest on. Not that she or the two other artificial spirits even needed sleep.
Sylph, like a helium balloon, was resting against the ceiling, and John knew from the gentle caressing on his neck that the pillow his head was resting on was Undine. Okay, my pretties, weve got to get up, John said; The queen is already dressed.
I will prepare breakfast! Aclysia enthusiastically eximed her self-chosen duty but then only moved after deepening her embrace for a few more seconds. When she did make her move towards the door, she did so with a sassy bookworm still attached to her.
Five more minutes, Rave grumbled, grabbing the nket and turning herself into a ball while robbing everyone else of the warmyer.
Cocksucking whore, Eliza cussed her way into the awakened state, I was having a fucking bitching time of a wet dream.
I can see that, Lydiamented, finishing her clothing process by quickly braiding her hair in an orderly fashion. She would have to undo it in just a few minutes time for her shower, but it wasnt like the queen to leave things suboptimal just because they were temporary. My cleaning crew will have an interesting time with this house. From restoring the neighbouring room to making this one clean.
The neighbouring room was, of course, the one that Thana had ripped to shreds. You want to preserve this one? John asked while getting out of bed, kissing Eliza while sitting up and then putting his suit on. He grabbed a golden egg on a chain out of the newest addition to the room, a small terrarium, and hung it from his belt.
This mansion has enough rooms for guests either way, and I am hopeful that we all will stay here once more in the future, Lydia said and looked out the window, to the small arena outside. You certainly left your mark. For better or for worse.
I like to think that it all ended better than it was before, John smiled, gently caressing the blue translucent pillow that transformed into a red-scarred glove a moment of happinesster. We got the magical issues with Eliza solved, for the most part, and although she still has the asional panic attack, you got on your god-chair, I got WAY stronger, Jane got stronger, Undine got her issues resolved, really, the whole journey was pretty up and down, but you cant say that anyone in it is worse off than before.
I guess that is fair, Lydia said and headed to the kitchen one floor lower as John began the process of coercing Rave out of bed.
Come on, there is breakfast downstairs, John said, gently shaking the nket ball.
There also is not a warm bed downstairs, Raveined, voice muffled by the sheet between them and followed by a long yawn.
I will kiss you good morning if you get out of there, he promised, and that then did the trick. His girlfriend poked her head under the edge of the nket and stared at John. She looked around, everyone else had already left for the breakfast table.
Gimme dat kiss then! she demanded, and he bowed down. A moment before their lips met Rave suddenly sprung at him like a jack-in-a-box. Landing on the floor with a loud thunk, John let out a slightly pained groan but shouldered it as the naked light in his life breathed her warmth into him with the simple touch of two pairs of lips.
The moment passed, but it left John with that wonderful elevation in his stomach that nothing but love could cause. The kiss ended with the short and wet, lustful sound of beloved parting. Rave sat up and looked at her form, her long legs straddled over him.
She was exactly the right kind of athletic, muscr enough to still look thin while remaining healthy. Her fair skin had a few of those red lines one got fromying on crumpled sheets for too long but beautiful nheless. Her breasts were a bit smaller than John would have liked, at a B-Cup they could have stood to gain a cup size. Her teardrop shaped face was framed and partly hidden by her insanely dishevelled, neon-pink hair that criss-crossed all over the ce, with tips curving upwards. She smiled with both her glossy, full lips and her brilliant blue eyes, a hue of pink light dancing around her iris and twirled with one of the many, weirdly long strands that grew out of her otherwise neck-long hair.
Mhm, I like kisses, I start better, she said and grinded a bit against his erection.
You are beautiful, John just whispered, ignoring her remark. Never leave my life, please.
Creepy much? Raveughed and fiddled with his pants; Ya think we have time for a quickie before the morning shower?
And a quickie in the morning shower? the Gamer smirked.
Ya know me so well, tiger, his girlfriendughed as she raised her hips and went down with a long moan again.
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What the hell took you so long? Momo wanted to know when they finally arrived at the breakfast table. Wait dont ans-
Between the fucking Oh, Oh, Oh, YEEEEEEEESes, the constant pping sounds and their heated faces, what in the name of that fucked up thing in my head do you think it could have been?! Eliza interrupted the freed spirit between bits off a bagel.
-wer that, I already know, you have been fucking around, as always, Momopleted her sentence and rolled her eyes at the blood mage; Doesnt take a genius to smell sarcasm, Eliza.
I will tear your smartass to pieces! Eliza growled.
Lydia chuckled in her seat, and everyone stopped what they were doing, from eating, to sitting down to look at her.
You people need to stop that habit of freezing in shock whenever someone does something mildly unexpected, Momo exempted herself from that running gag and swished over the surface of her e-reader to mark a sentence; It makes you look stupid.
Shush, Rave waved the support off, we just witnessed Lyly, grand queen of anal, chuckle at Eliza being angry. This is like the Great Wall of China growing legs to ride a horse or something.
I did notugh at her rage, Lydia corrected the lightbearer off-handily while spreading some sausage on her dark rye bread; It is the fact that even on ourst day together in this mansion, all of you are the same chaotic individuals as always.
That was a damp reminder of where they were, and John sat down, taking the golden egg off his belt and cing it on the table. Stirwin quickly transformed out of his item form and asked for a single thing, Meat! John did him the favour and grabbed a piece of pork, cutting it into bite-sized chunks as the conversation continued.
I will ask onest time. John, would you like to stay as my chancellor? Lydia voiced the question in an earnest but non-serious way and bit into her bread, she already knew the answer.
No, I n to go back to the USA still. Maybe to conquer it, if what I find is so terrible that I think it needs aplete restructuring, or maybe to just elevate the current status quo to a better level, John said; that was the new resolution he hade to. He had been so blinded by his own arrogance and past experiences that the idea that somebody else was already there and had a good value structure that he could just help spread hadnt urred to him.
In hindsight he realized what the Father of Light had done, he had spoke in Johns voice to make the Gamer realize that his own thoughts were capable of revealing to him more than just the truth he wanted to hear, if he just listened to it. It was all giant metaphors with these super-powerful elemental beings.
Either way, I am going to take a ne to Amsterdamter today, stay there for the day to go sight-seeing a bit and then take a ne home, Johnid down the n, as he threw one of the bite-sized chunks of cut pork into Stirwins mouth, who then gulped it down whole as crocodiles do. I will have to build some sort ofpany front for my Abyssal business so my mom doesnt get worried when I tell her I dropped out of college for certain now.
Ah, Brenda is chill, she will get it, Rave waved off, as long as you show her ya have the dough and live well, I dont think she will look too deeply into it.
I guess, John shrugged and finally got to his own breakfast.
I will see you off in Amsterdam then, Lydia decided; Have you heard from Nia?
Nope, nothing, the Gamer sighed; All I know is that the Rat didnt have an answer for me either when I wrote him a message on the Abyss Auction. Knowing her, she will appear again at some random time and say something like I came for the promised petting zoo.
That indeed seems like what will happen, the young queen agreed.
They finished the breakfast with happy chatting and went out into the new day.
Author’s Note – Season 2 Arc 3
Authors Note C Season 2 Arc 3
A bit of an awkward arc, pacing wise, I got to admit. I think Romulus speech at the end of the Arc 2 hyped people up a bit more than anticipated, at least judging by thements I got, and then abyssal warfare in my branch is basically gang shesAh well, hope you still liked that part.
I elerated the pacing to cut out basically anything I felt wasnt necessary in the moment orter until Lydia was saved. I dont like dangling plot-lines that get dyed again and again, so it was a straight race to her rescue and then the stakes were gone for John and Romulus was back on the te so the war ended right there, essentially.
I think some of you may be disappointed with theck of an actual final fight this season (closest we got was the battle of Warsaw) but the goal here was too show just how oppressive Romulus power is. This may have lead to underying the actual strength of one of the supposed big 10, even if it was one of the weaker ones.
Then there was the question where to end this arc. My format kind of limited me there, because I only do a single epilogue chapter. I was thinking about breaking it and making everything past the destruction of Moscow the epilogue, but that would have been pretty weird.
I honestly dont really have much to add to the previous Authors Notes about this Season. This is mostly due to the pretty streamlined nature of it. Lets just show you in data.
Now, as per usual, I will take a moment shill my Patreon. As you can see you havee into the questionable pleasure of reading another 500k words over the course of the season. I am not going to reiterate my usual points about how well you get away in the deal, just know that I would like to be reimbursed in some way.
For my patrons, you are awesome, the Q&A will be a separate chapter after his one. I will have the characters answer to the best of my ability.
Anyhow, back to the structure of the season. As you can quite easily see, the tournament and what directly surrounded it consumed the bulk of the season. Which was nned, as the second arc is supposed to be the longest in this story as a whole.
Because everything in Arc 1 and 2 revolved around the tournament in some way and Arc 3 then dealt with a rather immediate threat, this season didnt leave me with a lot of wiggle room for stuff. People have been asking quite clearly for more Achievements and Quests to happen and I think the more flexible structure of next season will be a good ce for that.
While I dont have a lot to say about this season itself, I want you all to remember with me how crazy this whole journey has been. This season saw the addition of Lydia, Siena, Nia and Eliza to the waifu pool,st of which I had to bring back from the dead for the asion. Well, you really like her, so thats good. It also had the highest concentration of waifus in a single room in the whole story, I can promise you that much. Things will break up a bit from here on out and partly already have with Nathalia removing herself from the story in an awkward way.
Speaking of that, if it felt rushed in there for you (have heard that from a few people) I actually want to say that is intended this time around. Sometimes weird things just happen in life. Intended does by no means necessitate it was good though and all that.
This season had a few odd events that were intentionally weird. For example, John not having part in the initial battle for Warsaw but instead running underground. The chapter that is literally called Deus Ex Metracana also helped.
Yeahthats about all I have to say. A bit little, I know, but at least I can promise a more upbeat next arc. Time to de-escte the story and all that.
______________________________________________________________________
Extended Character Insight - Lydia
People who know me know that I have a hard-on for Prussia and I have gone on record saying that I will have Prussia in some form in any story I feel I can get away with it. I also have a thing for stern girls, bureaucracy and redheads. Granted, Lydia isnt really a redhead but hey, close enough.
Now I think I dont actually have to tell you a lot about our princess turned queen. I am very happy with what I put on the screen here, as it is pretty much exactly what I wanted her to be. There are some decisions when writing about Lydia that I think I can borate on though.
Lets start with something subtle: Her speech. I dont know if you even noticed this but I have a habit of trying to give each character certain distinctive speech patterns. In some cases (Rave and Eliza) those are pretty obvious but with Lydia it was a bit harder. The idea with her was to never use the first word someone would use to describe something when there was a second less used and more eloquent word to express it. asionally this would mean that she sounded a bit pretentious, at others it probably flew by most of you. Someone who talks with a bit more finesse instead of grace wouldnt necessarily be more apparent in a crowd.
Next were her design choices. I have to admit that Lydias lookse from a design process I have since discontinued since I find it insufferable in the long run, which is basing a character entirely on a picture. The only time I did this and I was 100% happy with the result was Rave and that is because I actually didnt go out of my way to find the picture but instead saw it and it just clicked. With Lydia I sought out a picture that spoke the necessary words to me and it all became rather mechanic in feel. Its prettypromising on the creative freedom when you limit yourself to the products of anothers mind.
I have done something simr with Nia, but Nia has enough original design elements that I am happy with the result. Then there is Aclysia, but she has several reasons as to why this doesnt apply to her. Dont be surprised if I give Lydia a change of attire sometime soon (same for Gaia btw, who is based on Tatsumaki and now that I ammissioning my own art I feel like I should re-do that design to be more original).
Now I did with Lydia a thing that I also did with Rave and Eliza, which is make her eyes change dependant on how she feels in the moment. Like ws and wings, something about changing eyes just speaks to me.
Lydias powers actually went through several revisions before I arrived at a simple metal mage. She started out as ludicrously OP in my mind, the kind of powers she had shifting between about a dozen different things, but that didnt really work out since I cant just continue throwing OP characters into the mix, especially since Rave isnt supposed to be outssed in fighting by just about every new girl thates in. I couldnt make her weak either, so I had to ce her somewhere in the middle ranks of the people who are good, but not monsters like John, Eliza or, eventually, Nia.
So, I did as authors like to do when they arent sure what to do and just looked at existing sayings. Prussia hatched out of a cannonball is something Napoleon once said and just like that I arrived at Princess of Steel.
Then it was backstory time. Originally hers was pretty boring, she just was a princess, end of story. I actually would have been happy with that, I dont think every character needs an overly tragic backstory, but I wanted to tangle her up with the eventual invasion somewhat more intimately so the subplot with her father rolled around and integrated itself right into the fabric of the story. I wont im it happened seamlessly, but it happened quite well, I think.
Lydia also was the actual tutorial guide for the Abyss for most of the story because Rave canonically sucks at exining things. This led to quite a few lore dumps over the course of this season, but she handled those quite well.
And thats just about allAh, I guess I should address her anal favouriting for a moment. I did it because I didnt have an anal girl yet. Yes, sometimes I do things just to close gaps.
And now I am actually done.
I hope you all liked Season 2 of the Funatic branch of The Gamer, CHYOA edition Rex in Germaniae and will be back for Season 3 Years of Freedoms first arc Across the great pond.
Season 2 Q&A
Season 2 Q&A
*p p*
Meme Revi- Whoops, sorry, I mean Season 2 Q&A the fourth wall has been temporarily dematerialized and
Funatic: The format has been temporarily changed to allow quicker answers on the cost of detailed gestures and expressions, sorry this would take an eternity otherwise. Anyone have anyments for a start?
Eliza: Fuck you.
Funatic: Thats about what I thought. Thirty questions came in from my Patreons. They were somewhat limited in scope, having been given a cap of how many characters they can ask their question. Pssst, if I forgot to include any of your questions, just point me to when you sent them to me and I will edit them in post.
Gaia: I ouwed time fuckery!
Funatic: Well, you have no power here, so lets get to it.
The randomizer rumbles in the background as Funatic feeds it the necessary numbers and texts.
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Funatic: Huh, and we begin right with number 30.
From: aaarrr
For: Romulus
Roughly, how many goddesses out there you have yet to fuck?
Romulus: I dont keep track of such things, but the number is surely smaller than the one of goddesses I did have intercourse with.
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From: Marathyu
For: Eliza/Romulus
Do you believe that Eliza''s control over the Goddess of Genocide will increase as her strength increases, simr to John''s level system, allowing her to eventually haveplete control, thus allowing her to utilize the power of the goddess, or will it be a constant struggle despite consistent exposure and control training? I am curious to see whether or not Eliza can utilize the power of the goddess, albeit after extensive training, for her own purposes, given they both inhabit the same body.
Romulus: As this is entirely unprecedented, I have no answer for you. Gaia didnt have a personality before Remus did what he did.
Eliza: This fucking bitch will get my metaphorical fist so far up her ass that I will y her like a muppet. Seriously though, I have no ever-shitting clue as to how far I could go in the keeping control area, currently I cant even use my own bloody powers without her causing a ruckus. If I get that situation solved I would already be fine with her cock-chomping presence, no need to gain hold of her powers as well.
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From: Scunnder
For: Nathalia
If you could back in time, what would you tell past-"Just met John"-Nathalia?
Nathalia: To bribe the mother of fire to not give him Smander, then to check in with him every night. With knowledge of how his Fucking skill works, I only stand to gain from helping him grind that, although I would do most of the riding. Early on, I doubt his hips could have sustained prolonged exposure to me.
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From: AVeryHotApplePie (Just Pie in the future)
For: Elemental Girls, Nia, Sylph, and Sylph.
Ever tasted hot apple pie? Im offering free samples right now.
Undine: No.
Smander: No, go away stranger-danger.
Gnome: Nob-but I-I would be interested! Sounds tasty.
Nia: Yes.
Sylph: I mean, maybe? No definitely no, I ate some cinnamon covered pastry once, I think there was apple in there, does that count? I guess yes? So Yes? But it wasnt pie. P-a-s-t-r-y, what silly word. Sounds like something made from panties but maybe just paste instead? Oh, right, apple pie, if its sweet and nice I will take a slice! Or the whole cake! I could bathe in cake. Audible gasp! Bathing in cake!
Funatic: Just going to stop her there.
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From: Dargon
For: Razorswift
Is Dargon a good potential meme for the future?
Razorswift: I am most confounded, I thought Dargon already was a meme?
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Fro-
Razorswift: Am I mistaken? No, impossible for me, Dio Sicarius, to be mistaken about this. I am lord Meme-cragge and chapter master of the Ultra-smurfs after all! I hereby announce that Dargon already is a meme!
Funatic: Ya done or do you need to break my format any further?
Razorswift: I am done.
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From: YokaiZenina
For: Momo, Eliza, John
How has your reception on the inte changed since your initial poprity? How do you feel about it?
Momo: I just dont browse certain parts of Reddit anymore. My meme died in poprity pretty quickly after the tournament, so thats nice. In the first ce I dont spend a lot of time on the inte, aside from getting book rmendations.
Eliza: I am pretty sure there is thousands of guys jerking it to me right fucking now. Look at her standing around in nothing but her underwear! I dont give a fuck. For all I care they can see me nude, just makes John ufortable is all and unlike Metra, I do care about that.
John: Well, seems like I keep beingrgely unknown by the normal folks in the Abyss, so not much has changed for me. In most peoples book I am just Lydias goon, only those really powerful or curious keep tabs on me.
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From: Scunnder
For: Aclysia and John
Other than 2B, what would be an interesting and/or sexy cosy for Aclysia?
John: For a start there is Kaine from the previous Nier game, they have basically the same model but Kaine wears blue lingerie. If we allow her to change hair colours, I think she could make a good Morrigan. Also a ssical French maid or bunny outfit would work wonders. I do want her to wear a body suit one day, the kind Samus Aran wears when stripped of her armour, or my girlfriends, basically. Putting her in full armour could also be pretty great for a roleying session or something. Rider from that Fate/Stay Night thing Jane would also work. There are just so many possibilities, you know?
Aclysia makes notes.
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From: Pie
For: Lydia, John, Romulus
Thoughts on a US/German union? It''d be like Germany finally getting lebensraum!
Lydia: For a start, its Lebensraum, capitalization of names is standard in German. Furthermore, Adolf Hitler only wanted to expand eastwards, so this is a cheap and non-reality reflecting joke. Lastly, I do not want to exchange one foreign overlord that at least is next door and can help in times of crisis for another foreign overlord who has to travel a whole ocean to help, just because I happen to love theter.
John: I like the idea, but as Lydia is pretty clearly against it, it wont work.
Romulus: Like I would let such a tant contender to my power exist right next to me. John is to stay confined to his continent just as the Emperor of China is, unless he wants to wrestle with the bnce of power in a way that will have repercussions.
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From: Scunnder
For: Lydia
If you add up the amount of money John has cost you i. e. paying for Magoi, paying for damages, NOT using him as a mana-battery and other stuff like food and your sanity. Do you think it''s worth it?
Lydia: Listing, by order of importance, the emotional support, the amazing sex, the overall strength increase and me ultimately reaching my goal and reigning over Rex Germaniae, I would say that yes, it was indeed worth it.
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From: Dargon
For: Magoi
Raptor Jesus, How much free real-estate exists in this world?
Magoi: Depends on how much money you have. Seriously though, theoretically there is a finite amount, as we can only stack so many barriers on top of each other reliably. When I was younger I attempted to create a form based on that. I didnt quite seed, just couldnt get a realistic stackable average. Anyway, the oceans are basically all unused, a few in-barrier inds aside. So thats A LOT of free real-estate.
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From: YokaiZenina
For: Momo, John, Nathalia
Make your own "waifu rankings" of the girls from the series.
Funatic: Please make it quick and order it from best to worst and keep it to the core cast.
Momo: Aclysia, Gnome, Undine, Lydia, Nia, Smander, Rave, Nathalia, Metra, Eliza, Sylph andstly Siena. I like the quiet or geeky types more.
John: Jane, Aclysia, Nathalia, Lydia, those four are at the top and then I see everyone as kind of equal, Metra is a bit out, because I havent known her for too long yet.
Nathalia: Why would I rank those that are to serve me equally? Although I guess I would elevate Aclysia and Momo, on the simple basis that they are able to serve in more than one way.
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From: Pie
For: Nia
I heard Australias nice this time of year; lots of floofs to pet too! Want toe and visit?
Nia: Yes.
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From: Nycto
For: smander
why don''t you use the money John let''s you spend to get some type of portable magic dryer so you don''t have to be the dryer
Smander: Really bright idea you got there, how the fuck would I even carry it? Put in in my giant pockets? I already told John to get off hiszy ass about this numerous times, but he insists and at this point I dont even care anymore, I am just going to use those opportunities for snarkyments.
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From: Marathyu
For: Romulus
Is there a limit to the uses of one particr god''s power you have absorbed? I recall you referencing the power of a god of death in your attack of Thana, I am just curious as to whether or not you can "use up" a specific power.
Romulus: That particrment was in regards to Luna, who, by the way, is incredibly annoyed with me for saying that out loud after we spend twenty years expunging her true nature from public records. To give you the real knowledge you seem to seek, I can only spend as much power as I have absorbed. I do not have the ability to generate the power known as Faith for myself. Therefore, yes, I can use up a specific power.
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From: QWall35
For: John''s elementals
Who do each of you prefer tobine with and why. Also who would you least like tobine with and why
Gnome: I uhmI get pretty cosy when me and Smanderbine. Least I like being together with Sylph, we get very confused.
Smander: HAH, cosy. Get it? Because I am a walking fire. Anyway, I have to go with the same answer. Smlere is awesome. I dont like beingbined with Undine, I feel so fucking mellow.
Sylph: I like mybination with everyone! So much fun to have in all these forms, dance and talk and do some evil stuffs and some good stuffs but its fun so its fine!
Undine: Prefer with Siena, dislike with Stirwin.
Siena: If I have to fuse with anyone, I would go for Smander. Shadowme just shows the best from both of us. Least I like fusing with Gnome.
Stirwin: Sylph! Undine
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From: YokaiZenina
For: Nathalia
Have you ever had sex in your dragon form?
Nathalia: Yes, although I have to say that it is less interesting. There is just so much more to y with on a human body.
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From: GabrielTull
For: Siena
How do you feel about all that hate your getting? I feel bad for you.
Siena: Arent you a cute one. I dont mind, in fact I relish in it. Look at their envy and easily teased out anger, such utterck of self-control makes it so much easier to have them dance to the dance of my des.
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From: Razorswift
For: Romulus
Do you get royalties from Games Workshop for that obvious Emperor rip-off? Also, do they have a mole in your organization?
Romulus: If you want to call Rodam a mole, then so be it. And I do not.
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From: Razorswift
For: John
Ur suk huehuehuehue
John: I thought this was a Q&A and not a MOBA chat-simtor!
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From: Deighton
For: John/Lydia/Rave?
What is your opinions, thoughts, and feeling in regards to pegging?
John: Just no.
Lydia: That is filling the hole on his body I want filled on mine. I deny any interest in partaking in such a debauchery.
Rave: Yeah, no. I am out. Can I get into the thought of fucking other girls with a strap-on? Ja, sure. John or another guy though? Count me out.
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From: Dargon
For: John
How exactly do you view Romulus? What changed about it since the beginning of the tournament?
John: I see him as a guy that ising out of a pretty long midlife crisis. Thats pretty different than my initial idea of him as this all-powerful superhuman that could conquer the world whenever he felt like it. Turns out he is just a guy like the rest of us with a more convoluted backstory and goals that scaled with his opportunities.
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From: Deighton
For: Gaia,
On behalf of humanity, Im sorry for all the shit we put you through.
Gaia: You better be, do you know just how many memories I have to blend each day just to keep the Illusion Barriers from working as intended? Sure, almost all of it is automated, but its still a fulltime job is what I am saying!
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From: Razorswift
For: Razorswift
How do you judge the meme quota after the first game?
Razorswift: Very meta question there. I dub it unsatisfactory. There were some references here and there but nothing truly impressive.
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From: GabrielTull
For all elementals:
How many more waifus do you think John will have?
Gnome: 4no 2!...12?
Smander: Do I look like a fortune teller to you?
Sylph: He will have all the waifus.
Undine: Maybe until he hits 24, so one for each hour of the day?
Siena: However, many please him, I suppose. I would say that is a lower number maybe even nobody anymore, 4 at a maximum. He is already having trouble trying to spend quality time with each of us.
Stirwin: 3?
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From: Ralyks
for: john
do you regret giving sylph marvin the gummi bear?
John: Yes and no. Mostly no. Sure her having some sort of acid trip whenever she gets too much sugar is kind of annoying but she is so happy doing it that I cant really be mad. Also, the sex we have while she ising down is incredible, particrly her blowjobs are just shocking.
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From: Marathyu
For: Romulus
Do you consider John''s potential a threat, given his short abyssal existence and excessive growth? I understand that in his current form he could be easily dealt with, but further down the line, do you see him growing to the point of a potent adversary?
Romulus: He is a potential threat in so far that he could be someone who can challenge me, which only a pact of incredibly strong individuals would manage to do otherwise. I have no intention of stopping that from happening as long as he remains steadfast in his morals, the world can use more people that are both powerful and well-adjusted.
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From: Ralyks
for: rave/jane
if possible, would you consider urethra y?
Rave: E, no.
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From: Knifeking 47
For: Funatic
Did the idea of the Blood happen toe from bloodborne?
Funatic: Nope, have never yed Bloodborne nor watched anything on it.
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From: Deighton
For: Nathalia, Zone-chan, Richard, Luna And Sol.
Fuck, marry, Kill. Roumulus, Gaia, John?
Nathalia: Fuck Romulus, Marry John, Kill Gaia. I would free myself of these annoying rules if only I could, she remains untouchable out of jokes like these.
Zone: Fuck John, Marry Gaia, Kill Romulus. I want to ride that dick once and tap that ass every day. Romulus is more of an afterthought.
Horned Rat: Mindfuck Romulus, Propose to Gaia to get her confused and have her on my strings, Kill John to set in motion a n that will transform the politicalndscape.
Luna: Fuck Gaia, Marry Romulus, Kill John. Just an order of priorities.
Sol: Fuck John, Marry Romulus, Kill Gaia. Only if my husband, emperor and master allows a devils threesome, of course.
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From: Ralyks
for: john
will you consider giving Edge marvin II?
John: That sounds like a quick way into something like cacophonic murder hell. I am hesitant to experiment with thatalthough the sex has to be amazing.
-
And those were all the question I had folks. Until next time~
Addendum – Stirwin Combinations
Addendum C Stirwin Combinations
Well, against my better knowledge I decided to do it anyway. It helped that I figured out something to lessen my workload tremendously. More details in the next chapter with three-kindbinations. For now, here are the remaining two-kinds - the Chompybinations.
Appearance: A normal sized girl with gold-blonde hair that is bound into one braid at the side of her head, left or right being different every time she is summoned. Otherwise she looks rather in, were it not for the bronze scales on her hands and feet, bing more sparse towards her torso. She wears a yellow, heavily decorated dress.
Personality: As her title implies, Genna is kind and always tries her best to make everyone around her happy. To that end, she often doesnt take care of herself as well as she could and is a bit of a ditz when not unleashed, stumbling over her skirt a lot of the time.
Unleashed: Siphons mana from her summoner, massively increasing all of her stats. The mana cost starts at 1 mana per second but doubles every five seconds.
Item Form: Weapon type. A silver shotgun with gold decorations that look like flowing hair and a grip like an oversized crocodile tooth. This weapon unloads a shrapnel of glowing stones. The inbound light magic deals a lot damage to magic based entities, while the stones themselves shred apart physical bodies.
Appearance: A man of giant stature, very muscr and overall imposing. His body is a mixture of androgynous features and a crocodile. Scales cover most of his body, creating an aesthetically pleasing frame to his abs and providing him with natural weapons in the shape of teeth, ws and a prehensile tail.
Personality: Low intelligence and being quick to anger make Staran an aggressive fellow that is not one for conversations that dont end with someone getting his face burned off.
Unleashed: Combo Type. Every third consecutive hit hends causes his next attack to be empowered with the fury of a thousand suns (metaphorically speaking).
Item Form: Weapon Type. Almost, but not quite a gauntlet, Staran turns into a ranged weapon that covers the whole hand halfway down the elbow. It has a grip inside, and when activated it starts firing needles of sun fire. If the red-gold weapon is pointed at anything, the needles will track the target. Needles explode either after thirty seconds or on impact.
Appearance: A serpent of about three metre length, Sra has no limbs and moves by wiggling through the air. Her scalese in gold, copper and silver while on the head different shades of green can be found, such as her emerald eyes and gemstone teeth.
Personality: Despite being pretty bright, Sra is not particrly bright. Her whole deal is to cozy up to someone and try to get snacks out of them. To that end she employs the majesty of a tiger, the big eyes of a puppy and the attitude of amon pigeon.
Unleashed: Once she has been feed enough, Sra may turn into a little sun. In that state she is extremely vulnerable, but if protected, she will eventually burst out again in a massive shockwave that damages all foes and buffs all allies.
Item Form: Dcor Type. Sra turns into a statue of a smaller version of herself. This form is useless in battle.
Appearance: While small, the pliosaurus like creature can hurt everyone with the needle like teeth that protrude from its jaws. Whoever is caught in such a bite will then soon learn that there is a second row of teeth inside, set on a malleable jaw made from slime. Aside from that this murky bronze scaled creature has four fins that are sharp as des at the front and a long tail. Undines scars run over the side like a bright warning.
Personality: Dendepthr is a monster. He has as much mercy or just general feeling as a shark. The only thing he will listen to are orders given by John, aside from that he is a hunter.
Unleashed: Growing type. For every second Dendepthr is in a body of water, his body size increases up to a length of his level divided by 2 in metres. The size increase can be limited, if the situation calls for it. Strength and Endurance rise with his body size up to a bonus of 250%.
Item Form: Weapon Type. Dendepthr turns into a long barrel that can betched onto any surface through four ws that dig or wrap around whatever it is ced on. It fires a continuousser beam that is perfect to melt through thick armour. While it does have a basic size that is perfect to be mounted on Johns arms, the power of its attack increases with its size, which directly corrtes with the size of Dendepthr in his regr form.
Appearance: A girl with straight, long white hair, interwoven with greyish pink streaks, a face of snow white and lips of grey. Her dress is made from shifting ck and white cloth and encapstes her from neck to toe, only her ck hands with white nails peeking out of the wide sleeves.
Personality: Arrogant and dismissive of most orders, Twilight is hard to get to do anything John wants. She much resembles Siena in her early stages of the contract. If her summoner is threatened, she will step in to save his life, but otherwise she will need to be promised certain things in order for her to agree to anything.
Unleashed: A surroundings dependant unleash, either of her powers grow depending on the time of day, bing more adept at shadow magic (increasing her Wisdom and Agility) during the night and light magic (increasing her Intellect and Strength) during the day. These boosts peek during the highest point of the moon and the sun respectively. During a few minutes at sunrise and set, both of the boosts be active at full force. Artificial environments can not be abused for this unleash.
Item Form: Weapon Type. Twilight turns into a handgun that shoots either light or dark bullets, depending on her unleashed state. At twilight she turns into two guns instead.
Chapter 363 – Season 3 Prologue – The Treaty of Amsterdam
Chapter 363 C Season 3 Prologue C The Treaty of Amsterdam
John was beholden to a situation in which everyone else in the room agreed that he had no business to voice his opinion over. Weirdly enough, the subject was absolutely about him. We are now entering the Harem Agreement renegotiations, Lydia announced; To reform the old system to epass the new, previously unounted for, core members.
Where were they? They had justnded in Amsterdam, the city had its own abyssal airport, when the queen must have decided that it was now or never and confronted Rave on what she titled the tyrannical Harem Agreement.
Thusly, they had gotten themselves a meeting room normally reserved for emergency meetings of important politicians and were now sitting around a nice oaken table. Well, everyone aside from Eliza, who had handed her negotiation rights to Lydia and then went to get some ice cream and other food. Apparently, this was a thing that everyone had known would happen eventually, aside from Rave and John themselves who were hit pretty cold when all the girls quickly separated themselves into four teams.
Team A was just Rave, who had no idea why this was happening; Team B only consisted of Lydia, but she also spoke for Eliza, Nathalia and Nia; Team C was Aclysia and Gnome who together represented Momo and the elemental girls; and Team D was Stirwin who ran from one end of the table to the other, eating the cookies that hade with the cups of tea they had been brought and spreading crumbles everywhere with his snapping jaws in the process. Then there was also Metra, who was busy looking at everything in the room with interest.
John, in the meanwhile, may have sat at the table but apparently had no negotiation rights whatsoever. Exnation being that this was about how the harem worked inside and he just had to be informed. Basically, he was being overruled by the union right now. It was the union of girls who rode his dick and showered him in affection though, so he just decided to y along and only step in if something truly outrageous was happening. To say it in the words of an immortal emperor: Sometimes it was just smarter to let the girls do how they wanted to.
Why do ya think that is necessary? Rave was puzzled about this whole situation.
Let me precede my answer by checking whether or not the current articles as I understand them are agreed upon by all parties. Article 1: Jane Rave Hollmey is John Newmans girlfriend, from here on out referred to as GF. In her position as GF, she has first serve privileges to dates, cuddles and sexual intercourse.
A moment of silence indicated that Rave was supposed to answer that, Pretty sure I originally stated that as the first item on that list back then, so yeah, I said that.
For the sake of proper contracting the most basic things should be stated first and then specified upon in further articles, the queen dered; We will therefore continue with my order for the sake of understanding this archaic agreement. As nobody went against that, Lydia checked her phone again and swiped. The device in her hand was connected to a projector on the ceiling. Thus the next article, from a presentation Lydia had evidently prepared some time ago, appeared directly on the white wall to the side.
Honestly, the fact that this was how they were negotiating his new harem policy gave John a very confused erection. Here were 10 beautiful girls negotiating about how to best share his dick. Well, 9 and a berserker babe that had gotten bored of looking around and was now sitting down on the table between John and Rave.
Seeing them side by side, he couldnt help but notice that they looked kind of simr, like cousins from twin mothers of which one had decided to get together with an east Asian while the other had tried her best on the Mediterranean coast. Seeing how Metra had taken the information about her current appearance directly from his brain, that wasnt really surprising.
They even had simr bodynguage, as they were both the brawling type. It really was as if he was looking at another branch of the Hollmey family, one that yawned and looked at his dick as something to do. She started getting naked as Lydia read out the other articles.
Article 2: John Newman is allowed to take other women into his bed. Metra pushed John back in his seat; he had no intention whatsoever to step in, and everyone else, for once, seemed to find the happenings at hand to be more important than trying to get his attention.
Of all the jobs I ever had, I got to say that your cock alone is making this one worth it, Metra flirted as she gave his entire length a few pumps to get the pre-cum flowing. Although you keep me from all the fun fighting. Can you make more barriers?
Once the patch is through, cant take much longer, John promised. It wasnt just the girls around him that got wet in seconds from their excess Libido, his dick already was from Metras touch. Thank Gaia that his pants were self-cleaning now.
Article 3: All sexual encounters must be reported to the GF, Lydia continued, as Metra lowered herself on Johns dick. At least she kept her moans to a minimum so they didnt disrupt the meeting needlessly. These three articles arepletely okay, however, Article 4: The GF may stop any and all meetings with a girl and Article 5: Once the GF decides the harem has to be dissolved, it will be, arepletely uneptable. We must renegotiate these terms.
What ya think I will just cut ya all off? Rave asked with a raised eyebrow.
With all due respect, Mistress Jane, Aclysia made her case, if you arent going to use it and dont need it, then there is no reason to protest the discontinuation. If you are going to use it, then I need to protest right now. You will not take Master from me in any way, shape or form.
Y-yeah! Gnome spoke up, pushing her index fingers together in front of her chest, heavily blushing and averting her gaze from everyone at the table. I-I I MEAN WE! We would be t-totally sad if we couldnt do perv-perverted stuff with John anymore her voice became quieter by the moment, but she finished her sentence.
Yes, that, good job, Boss Rock, Smander said and patted her older sister who just did the usual Uwuwuwuwu noise in reply.
Okay, ya guys are literally part of John, how the hell would I even tell him not to fuck himself? Rave wanted to know.
That is beside the issue, Lydia, negotiating for three absentees, tapped on the table. She also missed the perfect opportunity to use an idiom. We demand the permanent discontinuation of Article 5 and the democratization of Article 4. I have further requests, but these two are our core program.
Uhm, Rave was visibly wrestling with herself. It was apparent that she didnt really mind, but that she also knew that she was getting lifted out of a supremely privileged position right now. Okay, some things first, ya confuse me with all that legalese stuff, she said. Do I understand right that ya ept my status as best girl though?
Most certainly, if that is your term for girlfriend, Lydia said, Let it be known that I am under no illusion that you are Johns main love interest. We shall respect this groundwork of reality and continue from there. Article 1 would be left unchanged. As would be Article 2, as that is what we all want anyway. Article 3 seems more like an honour thing in the first ce.
Whaddaya suggest for a recement paragraph then? the lightbearer wanted to know.
Article, a paragraph is what is underneath an article, Lydia corrected. I want the following changes: Article 4 shall now include the need of at least three other girls votes to get someone out of the harem.
Okay, I have another question, Rave interrupted; Why does Momo even care?
Because I want that dick every now and then myself; I just got my Libido raised to 25 recently, and I will get cravings, Momo said as she flew over a page; You can ignore me for this part, I only care about whates afterwards.
Uhm, sure, his girlfriend scratched the side of her head, evidently this whole situation didnt really cause her panic, just confusion. Okay, but I really dont want my man to sleep with girls I dont like. Can we adjust that rule thing to either three other votes or Aclysias?
Me? Aclysia pointed at her own face and tilted her head quizzically. What makes you think I would be on your side over Masters? If he wants to sleep with a girl, I will not have him discontinue under any circumstances.
Sure ya wouldnt, Rave rolled her eyes; Hey, Aclysia, how about we boot Siena from the harem?
Agreed! Aclysia immediately shouted out, jumping half out of her seat. She then realized what she was doing. Oh.
Exactly, Rave triumphantly crossed her arms, I think ya and me will do fine.
I sometimes wonder what nightmares I should sent the two of you, Siena said, inspecting her nails like she actually didnt care, but then I decide to just spank Gnome violently the next time there is an orgy.
W-why me? Gnome cried out.
Because you are cute and cuddly.
Enough! Lydia decided, Fine then, a vote of either you and Aclysia or you and three other girls shall allow the banishment of someone from Johns circle of sexual associates. Are you fine with theplete removal of Article 5?
Sure, whatevs, Rave shrugged it off; Not like I am gonna deprive myself of all the tits I can fondle and all the butts I can touch thanks to Johns dick being a chick ma. As if to underline that point, Metra groaned lustfully as John came inside her writhing form.
Why did she have to make this a reverse cowgirl? Johnmented, yearning to see her midriff. Well, actually he understood. It would have been pretty hard to move effectively in these tiny waiting room chairs if she had to squeeze her muscr legs between Johns hips and the metal handles.
Which brings us to the next point: I want to introduce an article for limited time frames during which one of us can im the first serving privilege of dates, cuddles and intercourse, Lydia said.
Denied, Rave dered. My man, my cuddles, kisses and dickings. Always.
Mistress, if I may, I want to make it very clear that none of us intend to take away your majority on John, we just want days where we know for sure we have him for ourselves, Aclysia stated.
And in cases like mine or Lydias, Momo, now that the discussion had arrived at the part she cared about, chimed in We probably wont see him in the next few months or even years. When we do, it would be nice to know for sure we got a moment with him and Aclysia. Mostly Aclysia.
Iwastotallyfine with ya wanting to have your butts secured, Rave slurred, but ya dont get to undermine my best girl position. What ya can get is days where ya have the highest priority as second girl, but I wont let ya just whisk away John from me for the day, we clear?
Lydia didnt look exactly happy about this, her red lips bing partly white as she pressed them together. Two pairs of blue eyes red into each other, greyish and with pink hue, and Metra stopped moving as she and John actually watched this unfold, the berserker because she thought something interesting might happen and John because he was prepared to step in if something bad made it necessary. Although standing up would be hard.
So you dont want to share, is that it? Lydia asked.
Yeah, right, Rave turned her eyes, I totally never share. No, ya just dont get to be more important than me, even for a day. We both know I let ya have him on your own often enough without ya putting rules everywhere. Lets be perfectly clear about this: You arent Johns lovers, you are Johns and my lovers. This was always our little harem, right, tiger?
Well, John didnt want to say it out loud because it would earn him quite a bit of ire, especially from Nathalia (even though she wasnt here). Sighing, he resigned himself to offending some of his girls, No, Jane is right, I am together with her first, then with the rest of you. Dont know if saying you are automatically a lover of hers because you are part of the harem is correct, but she is the most important person in my life, and no formted rules are going to change that.
Lydias fingers drummed on the table; Aclysia looked dangerously displeased.
How about giving everyone just one guaranteed date day per month? Momo suggested. Rave gets to veto a suggested day if she wants to. That way we can still get what we want, which is an eventual date with a worldly ending, and Rave keeps her privileges and the power to say when she wants to keep John to herself.
Id be down with that, Rave said and looked over to Lydia.
Fine then. Article 5: Every girl within Johns harem has the right to request a date during each month. The time of that date can be vetoed by the GF but cannot be dyed further than 30 days. Satisfactory?
Ja, the lightbearer answered, and with a disappointed grunt Metra started shaking her ass again.
Lydia took a piece of paper out of her inventory and quickly put the whole agreement down in writing. Under jokingments about just how German this level of bureaucracy was from Rave, the agreement was copied four times and signed by all parties. One copy went to Rave, one to John, one to Lydia and one to Aclysia. The document also held the option for another round of negotiations if enough people voiced the intent.
Okay, now get off his dick, Lydia told Metra as she disrobed herself; I want onest time before I say goodbye, I dont have the luxury of searching for a room right now, so I am going to have it right here on this table.
Chapter 364 – After intense negotiations.
Chapter 364 C After intense negotiations.
Fuck no, I amfortable, Metra dered in an angry tone; You can get bentter; I am riding this master right here until he dies or I get tired!
Metra, calm down, we can continue this afterwards, John said and got the blonde to rear her head.
Tsk, she clicked her tongue as their contractpelled her to obey the request. She could have struggled for quite a while, but she noticed from where the wind was blowing. Fine! Momo, Aclysia, you, me, next possible room. Now!
I am gonna give ya some space, Rave said and winked at Lydia, cause I am a reasonable adult who needs no regtions. With that everyone except the metal mage and John left the room. He waved after them and gave Rave a thankful nce. She smiled back, her glossy lips forming four silent words: Go get her, tiger.
The Gamer stood up, his mighty erection pointing straight ahead, and stepped towards the queen in his harem. Wordless, they embraced each other in a wet wrestling of tongues that came along with the beautiful nothings of lovers soon departed. Of course, those beautiful nothings in Lydias case were a bit demanding, as well as awkward.
You better make this a goodst time, you sexy videogamer, she put out there as John lowered her down to the table. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and so he had no other choice but to bow down with her as her back hit the polished wooden surface. Heated skin immediately caused a condensed outline to appear around her.
I know my abs are glorious, but just calling me sexy seems a bit overblown, Johnughed as his answer, a sound that quickly came to a halt as Lydia sighed. Her dark blue eyes reflected her seriousness as well as slightly hurt pride. Having no idea, and showing that inly on his face, why she felt either of these things, John just blinked at her.
A few pieces of metal flew off her clothes and melded together into a smooth, reflecting surface to show Johns face in the mirror. Not exactly the thing he wanted to look at when he had an erection. Dont tell me you havent noticed? Lydia asked him, the fact that you have been bing better looking by the day?
Uhm John narrowed his eyes. Well, it was true that he no longer had any pimples, but that had been true for a while. Although his jawline looked a fair bit sharper and his cheekbones seemed more defined. Actually, yeah, he looked way better, although he would need to look at an old photo to make sure just how big the difference was. It wasnt like his face went through any great restructuring bits, but it was fair to say the changes elevated him from average to hot although he wasnt at lip biting when he walked by you on the sidewalk levels yet. Cant say I have noticed, he admitted, but now that you say it. Must be my raised Charisma slowly affecting how I look.
Why did it take gradual effect instead of changing his body immediately like Strength and Endurance had? Maybe because the change of his muscles was less obvious for normal people? Well, this was a thought-hole he didnt want to get into right now. He took the ttened metal from Lydia and tossed it aside to get a look at her beautiful face again, instead of staring in his own eyes.
Finding hers averted, he lifted one of his hands from next to her head to gently glide over the side of her neck up to her chin and caressed her naturally red lips with his thumb. Whats bothering you?
Annoying pheromone reactions within my brain, Lydia said; I know I am the least attractive within the parameters of the girls in your lovers arrangement. That is, however, a really tall bar toin about.
You can say that again, John had to mock her a bit; Being the least attractive of my girls is like being at the bottom of the 1% of the richest people on earth. He didnt expect that to be particrly calming, so he leaned down instead to give her a quick kiss. But I would never think of any of you as anything less than beautiful.
How could he even try? It was true that Lydia had the least exciting body of his girls. Her hair was a in brown, in the sunlight there was nice copper shimmer to it but that wasnt the case in the dimmed light of the curtained conference room. Her breasts were at the upper edge of a B-cup, not particrly much to look at, and her ass was average in terms of his harem.
However, he had to force himself to downy everything about her to say these things. She still had a t stomach and meticulous skin, and just because she didnt have a bubble butt the beauty of well, there was nothing as beautiful as Raves butt except for Gaias behind so metaphors failed here. Anyway, just because she didnt have that it didnt make the firm roundings of her ass any less attractive. She had a nice and soft body, less muscr than his melee focused girls but still toned from living in a dangerous environment. Her subpar breasts were crowned by pretty pink nipples of a darker shade, and she smelled of citrus.
I do love you, Lydia Augusta, and in my mind none of you arepeting in beauty, he told her and earned himself a ttered smile. To the moan and tone of her voice, he kissed his way down her body, like he had done so many times before, leaving a particrly visible love bite on her neck.
I love you too, John Newman, which makes it all the more annoying that you decide to leave anyway, shemented, her hands reaching out for the back of his head and lightly grappling onto his short hair.
We will see each other again, John promised as he kneeled under the edge of the table, passing the triangle of trimmed brown hair above the queens glistening crotch. But lets make thisst time count! With that he began his work on her clit.
At first, he was gentle, just slowly circling it with his mouth to wake up the body memory of Lydia, who surely recognized the frankly stupendous bonuses that magnified Johns expertise in pleasuring the female sex. Her pussy began to drip like crazy after about twenty seconds of that and other careful treatments. As always, the few moans that escaped Lydias lips at this early stage were muffled by her being naturally more silent.
With no hurry to break that status, John now escted the situation with tormenting care. His tongue parted her eager folds and went as deep as it could, a rather easy form of pration. Slurping sounds filled the room as he sucked on her clit, her pussy juices filling his mouth. She tasted sweet and a bit lemony, with a metallic note to it all that wasnt at all unpleasant, just foreign.
Tongue travelling to any sensitive spot he knew about and which he could reach, he ate her out. Her pussy was oozing like crazy at that point, and he elerated his pace. Mere momentster, her breathing wentpletely wild. With a throaty moan Lydias grip on his head intensified as her upper body raised from the table, her stomach wrinkling a bit as she looked down on John with feverish eyes.
Fuck, yes, this is good just a bit more she animated him with her sharp little bursts of outcries. Yes, John, yeeeees, her greyish blue eyes, lost in his for a moment, became hidden behind closed lids as she fell back onto the wooden surface and pressed her pussy against his eager tongue and her thighs crushed down on his head. With a flood of girlcum, Lydias first orgasm filled his mouth.
Interrupting his continuous assault on her senses, an attempt to overload her nerves with raw pleasure, for just a moment, John wetted his finger with some saliva. It was likely an unnecessary act, as his target was already covered in dribble from her pussy.
At first, he just gently rubbed her perfectly clean asshole. Then, at the height of her orgasm, he pushed two fingers through her tight sphincter and immediately caused her spine to arch up as she finally lost control over her voice and screamed loud enough to echo into the hallway. It was good that it was empty at this time of day, although John wasnt all that concerned if anyone heard them. The entire manhood of Germany could know that he was giving their queen orgasms none of them could ever even hope topare to, although the womanhood was also very wee topete for his favour to maybe experience something like that for themselves.
John kept his fingers digging into her rear entrance as he rose from the table. In an aggressive motion, he grabbed her neck and lightly choked her as he fixed her writhing body on the table. You like that? he grinned initiating a bit of dirty talk.
Mother Metal, yes, I love that! Lydia eximed.
Maybe they should call you queen of sluts instead, John teased, but that took it a step too far, and Lydia red at him, an impressive feat to still look imposing while being choked with eyes zed from multi orgasmic pleasure. Okay, no sullying of the title, got it, he apologized, eased his grip and fingered her asshole more aggressively; the endless flood from her pussy spoke to the fact that he would stay on her mind for a long time toe.
You may sho-ah-ve your dick up my arse, Lydia told him. John grinned, that was exactly the same thing she had said the first time they had sex.
However, his ns were much more thorough. Dont think we are ending this that early, he announced, finally retracting his fingers and grabbing her hips instead as he pushed into her quivering pussy with perfect aim.
What followed wasnt even a minute of rough hip-shaking. John wanted to get this first orgasm out as quickly as possible, having been left unpleasured in any way for the whole duration of his caressing of her body. After having juste out of Metra, he was understandably needing to cum.
The world went white for a moment, and his skin crawled with electrical signals as his balls tightened and he sttered her magically unfertilized womb with his seed. Ah, fuck, he eximed, I needed that.
Lydia was breathing so heavily and irregr at this point that watching her chest was like watching a heavy earthquake. You can fuck my arsehole she still managed to formte.
We are going to keep that forst, John said and leaned in to kiss her one more time; I am going to drench every bit of you in me. Dont worry about the mess, Undine already told me she would be willing to clean up after us.
A look between despair and desire crossed Lydias face as John started moving again. He fucked her pussy with movements specifically tailored to the queen, moving slow when she needed to breathe for a minute and hammering into her when she had the endurance to scream from one orgasm to the next. The next time he came, he sted his seed over her stomach, then her tits. Afterwards he moved onto her mouth.
The warmth of her red lips enveloped him willingly, and she sucked him into her throat as he kneeled on the table, knees straddled next to her ears. He was in perfect position to throat-fuck her but instead left her to give him that first blowjob as she licked the awesome tasting spunk of his girth with her greedy tongue.
It was a prolonged pause for both of them, allowing John the five minutes that were needed to refill his sack just as Lydia used her temporary governing of the tempo to recover as far as she could. John retook control after cumming into her mouth once. Then he used her mouth for a few minutes and added her face and hair to the list of sullied body parts.
Finally, he climbed back off her and turned her on her stomach. Her legs were so jittery at this point that he had to actually help her. He gave her ass a nice smack while pressing the tip of his dick against her lightly stretched sphincter.
I seemingly have to remind you, Lydia said, her voice hoarse from the prolonged screaming and invasion of her throat, that I am not nearly as masochistic as some of our other acquaintances.
I know, I am holding myself back here! John defended himself as his hands dug into her ass. It squished nicely between his wanting fingers and rose between the depressions they caused.
Just saying so you remain in control of yourself, Lydia said, her body trembling as the Gamer slowly slipped past her sphincter. Then the widest part of his dick was inside her, and he slipped in all the way effortlessly. Immediately Lydia began to shout in her strained voice. Shouts of ecstasy, soon reced by grunts and silence as her body decided that sounds were really thest ce energy was needed right now.
Instead they went into an animalistic showdown over the course of the remainder of their encounter. Their time was running short, John was very well aware of that, and so he did what every man would do in that situation and gave it his all.
Lydias braid, messy by now from all the shaking, swung at the side of her head every time their hips met with a loud smack. The table creaked, being bolted to the floor and having nowhere to go. The tightness of her ass was only countered by the sheer amount of sexual fluids spread over his dick and her sphincter from everything that had led up to this point.
Their ecstasy reached its final height as the pain from being stretched totally subsided from Lydia and John was able to fuck her almost unobstructed. He mmed all the way inside her before semen pumped up his shaft and finally painted the inside of thest of Lydias holes in the colour of his seed.
Pulling out, he managed to fall backwards on the table instead of just copsing on the floor. It wasnt like he had pushed only Lydia to her limits, although Gamers Body would have him restore his stamina much quicker.
I hope this will keep me in your mind for a while, John panted.
Maybe, Lydia answered. A momentter, five trembling fingers enveloped his. Well, they attempted to, but it wasnt until he moved his own that it was sessful and they awkwardly hooked into each other. He turned to look at her and was met with a wide smile, one that revealed her teeth and left her eyes radiating with happiness under all that stern attitude. This I will remember, she said.
And John would as well, forever.
Chapter 365 – Going separate ways
Chapter 365 C Going separate ways
Are you strong though? Metra asked as she circled around the newly recruited members of the Knights of Teuton. The order had been reduced to just four members by the end of the Roman-Blood war and was thus heavily recruiting right now.
We will give it our all! the man in the anonymising armour said. There were about 6 of the temr looking people around. The tes they were in looked immensely shinier than the ones John was used to; they were also very much not invisible.
Apparently, their equipment was made from some light-wind metal alloy that took years to master and use before they seeded in bingrgely unnoticeable. Because so many of the armours had been lost during the fight for Warsaw, they were currently recing their stock. That was just costly, and Lydias funds hadrgely increased recently, so that wasnt the problem.
However, to use the equipment effectively they didnt just need the armour but also people with the correct soul type, a mixture of light and wind (just like the alloy) typically called Masks. Now John would just call those people illusionists, but the borders in the soul types who was what were blurry anyway. Point being: they had enough money for armour but not enough people to put into the things. They would recover, but it would take a few years at best.
A man in a worn and recently repaired suit of armour appeared seemingly out of thin air and stared down his shinyrade. What was that, recruit?! Konrad Kamradsrat, who John recognized by his voice alone at this point, berated his new underling; You think you can reim Jerusalem with that attitude?!
Of course not, sir! I wanted to say I will give it whatever Deus has Vulted me with! a panicked answer came.
I can almost see the sweat running down the helmet, John caught himself thinking in fascination.
SLOPPY ANSWER! Try As Deus Vults, we will seed! next time! And I am not your sir, I am your Gro?meister! Konrad continued to berate them as Metra cackled and walked off with needlesslyrge steps in her way too skimpy outfit. Seriously, there was Rave wanting to show off her body and then there was Metras attempt to wear as close to no clothes as she could get away with. Her hot pants revealed more of her ass than they hid.
Lydia sighed at the scene; they were in the wing of private machines in the airport. As promised, Undine had bathed both of them so they were clean enough that nothing was out of the ordinary. The stains in the fabric of the chair and floor John had cleaned up with Craft.
I didnt think our eventual departure would be this chaotic, John admitted as he looked around. Smander was chasing after Sylph under the ceiling while Undine was busy digesting what she had taken in during the cleaning process. Gnome was nervously jumping from one foot to the other next to Aclysia while Siena hid in her summoners shadow, not wanting to deal with annoying emotional stuff. Momo was hovering in the air and reading on her e-reader like a goddess of knowledge sitting on an invisible chair.
Rave was standing right next to John, their arms slung lovingly around each others waist. Holding her salver with both of her hands in front of her stomach, edge pointing at the floor, the weaponized maid was going for aesthetics over cuddling her master for once. Eliza was going ham on a packet of biscuits.
I, on the other hand, expected it to be exactly this chaotic, the queen crossed her arms after checking a watch on her wrist. I am, however, obligated to start in my position 26 hours from now and have other paperwork to get through in the meantime.
These cookies are cum-guzzling good, Eliza dered as she threw another two in her mouth and swallowed them in a quick movement. She reached in, grabbed ast one and looked at it with an enigmatic expression.
It was an honour serving you, Your Majesty, Aclysia bowed before the queen.
I am going to miss your tea, a lot, Lydia nodded respectfully towards the weaponized maid; Thank you for being a functioning subject in this turbulent time in my life. Simr goes for you, Momo, thank you for being an orderly person amongst this pile of chaotic individuals.
No problem, Momo said and smacked her e-reader closed before tossing it into her own inventory. Also, I am leaving right now as well. Seems like a good time.
What? Rave furrowed her eyebrows; Ya cant just make this a threeway departure!
I totally can and I totally will, the selfish support dismissed Raves objection. And I dont really feel like dealing with this whole long speeches thing, so do it in a quickfire so we can get going.
Waaaaah! Gnome took that sudden turn of events rather badly and jumped at Momo immediately. T-thank you for all the times you got me back on my feet, the stone elemental sniffed while cuddling the monochrome artificial spirit.
You should work on your stuttering already, Momo berated her in a soft tone and answered the embrace in kind.
Uwuwuwuwuwu, Gnome uttered her embarrassment and happiness as the support patted the back of her twin-tail parted hair for thest time in a while.
Aclysia took the two steps over in stride and then kissed her sister-in-creator on the cheek. Having basically no moment to react, Momo just blushed, and her white eyes found Aclysias green ones as the maid smiled widely. I will be looking forward to your return.
Yeah, we will keep a room open for you, John promised, no matter where we end up, always. He would have shook hands on it, but Gnome was still holding onto all of Momo, so he just tapped her on the shoulder with a grin instead.
We will stuff it full of Aclysia dolls or something, Rave joked; Now spread your wings and take flight, apanied by the light of fireflies.
When did you be all poetic? Momo shook her head with a light smile on her lips. Not that it makes sense, its noon. Fireflies dont really glow at this hour, not even mine. Gently forcing Gnome to let go of her, Momo took a step backwards. Well, then, I will be o-
You are not leaving without cuddling me as well! Sylph intervened and crashed right into Momo. Smander and Undine soon piled on there as well, and Elizaughed wildly at the whole scene.
You cringy cocksleeves are so fucking retarded, she announced as she pulled Momo out from under the elemental pile. Raising her fist, whilst still holding the cookie in her other, she grinned ear to ear at the selfish support. Have fun on your bullshit journey or whatever. Dont forget to buy some sweets as souvenirs from everyst fucking corner you visit. I want to drown in food while you tell me stories so boring you might as well throw acid at my skull and fuck the holes.
Sure, I can do that, will buy the acid right along with that, Momo bumped the raised fist with her own and then hovered off the ground again. I am gone for real now! she turned, her energy wings spread wide and ready to elerate at any moment.
Hey, Momo! John shouted, causing her to turn her head onest time. Have fun.
In Gaias name, you are bad at goodbyes, she gave him onest st of sass and then took to the skies. With spread out arms, she headed for the blue above, turning around her own axis. John had no idea where she was heading, but he imagined that he could hear herugh.
I disavow any hug-piles containing me, Lydia immediately warned Sylph who turned towards her.
Aw, but hug-piles are fun, theybine the two best things on earth: hugs and piles. Of course, they dont contain the two best things on super-earth: John and sex. Audible gasp! We should have a hug-pile-orgy. Yes, yes, yes! I am genius! Sylph bbered and was slowly shoved out of the picture by Smander.
Be quiet for a second, you endless pver-breeze, the ze elemental demanded; Do you have no tact?
Beep-boop, came Sylphs very much thoughtful addition to the conversation.
The fact that I will miss this endless interrupting worries me, Lydia admitted, but I think we have said all there is, havent we, John? She stretched out her hand.
Between the question if he would stay with her or she woulde with him, they never foundmon ground. They both wanted to do things in life that left no room for the others goals. Yes, he therefore said as he took her hand. Until we see each other again.
Lets just hope that wont be too long, Rave winked at the queen; Gonna miss making fun of you, Lylytina.
Yeah, anal queen, going to be very fucking boring without your stuck-up ass around, Eliza added to that.
Eyes twitching, Lydia raised a hand to begin one of her lectures but had her eyesnd on the watch in the process and forced herself to just take it. I will deal with your insufferableness next time, she dered and looked at her ne in the distance. Goodbye, you bunch of plebeians.
Onest thing, Lydia, Eliza said and tossed the cookie at the Queen of Steel. Catching it, she looked at the consumer good with a raised eyebrow, then at Eliza who actually bowed her head. Thank you for everything! I know I havent been the best fucking friend around and that we smacked vaginas a lot, still you are a rusty piece of magnificent garbage.
Yeah, thank you for everything, John added; Without your money my life would have definitely took a turn for the worse. I know you didnt do it for me at the time, but still, without you, he looked at everyone else around him, and that trade we made that day, none of us would be here today.
Ja, John would have gotten murderated by Eliza, and we all would be flopping around in the afterlife right now, Rave grinned; Also thank you for teaching me the newbat stuff. Thank ya for everything, really!
Lydia looked over each of them with a baffled look on her face that finally became pleased. You are all idiots, she dered and turned around, her practical boots cking on the stone floor of the airport, braid and ends of her dark green military coats whirling under the sudden movement. Goodbye, you are all weird.
They all waved after Lydia as she became smaller and smaller with each step.
There she fucking goes, and now we are down to five and your posse of the ele-whores, Eliza said and opened a bag of marshmallows she had gotten from somewhere. Man, the fuckable ass per square metre ratio is sinking, how does that make you feel?
Ah, you know, sad but also kind of proud? John shrugged and didnt really know what to say. It was a weird feeling. As a matter of fact, he felt incredibly weird all over, like something wasnt quite right with the world right now. He looked around with slight paranoia, something was definitely off, but this also felt familiar.
Well, I am not tired of your dick yet, Metra said, juggling her halberd Qiada like it was a simple stick. But I am pretty bored. Seriously, we havent been fighting anything for days. Where is the bloodshed?
We are getting ourselves a flight over to the USA tomorrow, John promised; Once we are there I am sure you will get to fight some more.
Alternatively, I could just fight any of you, Metra said and looked over the assembly; You know, to keep the metallic muscles oiled.
Now I want to oil ya up and have ya pose on a pedestal, Rave spoke exactly her boyfriends thoughts and looked over the Eliza. Can I have some? she asked and, following a hesitating confirmation, stuck her hand into the pack of marshmallows, grabbing out a few.
I can do that as well, but mostly I want to use this body for my original purpose some more, the berserker babe said; Also winning is fun.
Yeah, but you almost always win, John informed her, and nobody likes ying a game they know they will lose. You take each of the elementals out in even two-versus-ones, you beat Aclysia 8 out of 10 times, me 9 out of 10 times. There is only Jane who you are at about 50/50 with. Those numbers came from just duels, which Johns toolkit simply wasnt designed for. Especially not because Metra could deal damage and close gaps from pretty much anywhere. He only got a chance to win if they didnt make it a true 1vs1 and he at least got to equip Undine or Stirwin.
I could kick the shit out of you, arrogant tin can, Eliza announced and looked down; Yo, who the FUCK is eating all my marshmallows; I am actively counting these delicious pieces of foamed John-spunk, and there are 6 less than there should be. Confess your sins, you fucking sweets heretics, or I WILL throw Thana at you all!
At the same moment another hand reached into the package, one just as pale as the white sweets. Eliza looked at the weirdly calm hand that just retracted without making a single sound against the stic. Everyone else chimed in and, like a bunch of hooligans looking after a flying ball at a football game, slowly followed the marshmallow meet its destination at the lips of a blonde with an alien aura.
Nia?! John eximed as he realized he was looking at the pariah, who was still waving after Lydia despite the queen not even being in visible range anymore.
Marshmallow between her lips the nk tilted her head in confusion.
Chapter 366 – An afternoon in Amsterdam
Chapter 366 C An afternoon in Amsterdam
Under the confounded gaze of everyone, Nia slowly munched on the marshmallow. The white body of sugar dissolved as she moved it deeper into her mouth without using her hands. Basically, Nia took three eternities eating a damn marshmallow, but she did so with that cutely tilted head that John just couldnt help himself and stare in fascination.
In the name of a pussy-eating slime-gargling-man-whore, this stream of Elizas verbal abuse of the spokennguage hurt John personally this time around, swallow you slut!
Thats what he said, Rave giggled as Eliza pressed the marshmallow into Nias mouth who then spent another way too long period of time chewing it before finally doing as the blood mage hadmanded. All the while she was still waving at the ne in the distance.
Bye, queen-friend, the emotionless voice rang out.
What the fuck is wrong with you?! Did you bleach your brain together with your skin? Is it sinking through the roots of your obviously fake hair? STOP BEING SO TALL, YOU BLUE EYED BIMBO! Elizas irritation with the nk hadnt changed, evidently.
I am not the tallest here, Nia said and grabbed her white bag to pick the card that said Factual. The card was immensely crumpled and looked like it had been used a lot over thest couple of days. That made John wonder what kind of negotiations she had been through. Aclysia is taller than me. So is Smander right now and this one, who I barely know.
Name is Metra, the berserker babe introduced herself. At 1,87 metres, the dirty blonde was indeed quite tall, taller than John in fact and the third tallest person in his circle of friends overall, after Nathalia and then Smander. I told you that when you got drunk.
I got drunk? Nia raised the card that said Confused.
You know, two weeks ago, the Lady Liquor? John reminded her.
Oh, the pariah made a hollow sound and finally stopped waving as the machine took off in the distance. So thats why I was suddenly back in the mansion. I only remembered Nathalia. Figured she had intercourse until I wasatose.
Now John would have loved to say that was a stupid assumption to make, but it really wasnt. Especially since it had happened before. We dont think about that night, Siena reminded him, and he agreed and turned his thoughts somewhere else.
Okay, well, lets talk about the important stuff for a change, John said as they got moving; there was no reason to hang around in the airport anymore. Have you decided what is happening with us, Nia?
Yes, the card said Serious, I am no longer part of the Illuminati. I am all yours.
Just like that? John asked the nk; No deals that Richard gave you, some ancient spying device you are supposed to put into my butt when we next have sex?
Whaddaya think the Horned Rat is, an alien probe? Raveughed at her boyfriend.
No, but I am also not not saying that, he returned.
He had several demands. I declined on all ounts and then just left, Nia told him, uncaring about the pairs usual banter; Mentor got a bit angry but then I told him that the only way to stop me was to get in bad graces with you. He got very quiet. Then he said fine and let me go. That was that.
Wow, ya scaaaaary, his girlfriend said and kissed his cheek, your name alone makes a god tremble.
Well, I think he just weighed my potential and usefulness as an ally against Nia on his side and came to the conclusion that he needs me more as an ally than Nia as a soldier, John said and used his hand not currently on Raves waist to pat Nia. I promise we will get that petting zoo as quickly as possible.
You best, the line was delivered with the normal, emotionless voice, and her clear blue eyes stared into his for the usual, absolutely weird, longer than necessary timespan. However, something about it felt like a threat, probably the Insistence card that was pushed right into his face. Then, in continuing Nia fashion, she first calmly put the cards away, then gave him a quick kiss and finally pushed her face against his chest and took a few deep breaths. All of this took almost a minute, during which they stood next to the exit of the fairly crowded airport.
Sure, being Abyssal meant that there were less people, but that didnt mean that there were few. In the first ce, Abyssal dwelling people inside the empires borders were more likely to move. It was like the EU or the USA where travel between the member-states was basically unhindered. With living basically guaranteed thanks to the absurd amount of resources floating around the magical underbelly of the world, taking a vacation half a away just because you felt like it wasnt unusual.
And many of the people that were passing by looked at John. Just a quick nce, he wasnt quite famous enough to attract interest rather than just attention. His widely known achievements boiled down to fighting in a tournament where the enemy gave up in the end and getting himself encircled in the middle of enemy territory. The whole Graz situation had been widely credited to Maximillian, as the king had been the officialmander of the situation, although anyone who researched it for 20 seconds would find out just how much exactly John had done for the swift victory in the area. Still, aside from his involvement in the operation to save Lydia, his main im to famey with the queen that had admitted to having a rtionship with him.
Now that Lydia was gone, most people didnt really care. Chances were that he would be pretty much forgotten in a few years time and only people that were interested in his Combination skill would remember.
Are you the one that massacred the whole enemy invading force? someone asked a certain blood mage.
No, that was the genocidal fuckeress in my head, and if you dont move the fuck on in the next one second, I will unleash her on your ugly ass face! Eliza exploded into the guys face, FUCKING SWAMP GERMAN!
We are no swamp Germans! We be Dutch! Proud and cool Dutch! Hashtag reim Oceania! Hashtag SUGAR! another man said in passing. He soon was hindered from walking on further as Eliza grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pulled him down to her level. You are pretty small, scary person.
Hi, I am Eliza, I am now really fucking angry, congrattions, what is your name, you unwise asshole? the hostess of the great filter asked with a sweetly insane grin and dots turning at the speed of rage.
Instantly after that answer was given, he turned into a flying dutchman, getting tossed straight through the open doors and crashing into the floor outside the airport. The people just went about their business, and John, worried, kept an eye out for the man until he simply got up, dusted off, and limped up to the next hotdog stand that also sold health potions.
Sturdy bastard, the blood mage growled as she held her head, hiding one of her eyes. The other, still visible one was struggling in its transformation from the normal state, with the seven golden dots, and the seven lines that meant that Thana assumed control.
Eliza, her name was a mantra in situations like this, and so he whispered it to her, and a momentter the change haltedpletely and reversed. Cant even do this much? his thoughts slipped out, and the blood mage lowered her hand.
Evidently fucking not, she growled, pulling up the hood of her ck robe; Whatever, I want to get the fuck out of here. Too many people, way too crowded, its like everyone wants to stick their foot up somebodys ass in here.
Yeah, lets-a-go, Rave said, I wanna party!
Abyssal Amsterdam, as it so turned out, looked a lot like normal Amsterdam. Wide streets and narrow passages intertwined between old and new buildings (although many much taller than their real counterparts) and waterways that cut through everything in the city. John wondered why this was and, as neither Momo nor Lydia were around anymore to answer his demand for trivia, informed himself.
The truth was pretty sobering. During their exit from Europe at the end of World War 2, the Nazis had put the city to the torch while stealing all the boats. Onest act of revenge against a German Empire that no longer wanted them.
Afterwards rebuilding everything would have cost more time and resources than just hiring a bunch of Fateweavers, iste the parts of the barriers where they had still intact buildings of high importance, and then just copy everything else from the inner-city over. The result was a metropolis that seemed like a European capital, from its confusingyout that came from constant rather than nned growth, but also had a few stand-out things.
For example, the water inside the Grachten (that was the Dutch word for the waterways, singr form: Gracht) was cleaner than any channel through inner-cities had any right to be, with basically no filth inside whatsoever. John found the reason for that to be a species of aquatic slimes that ate whatever trash was tossed into the water. Throwing trash was like feeding the ducks around here, it seemed. Instead of cars, hovering tforms waited at the sides of the streets, ready to take whoever stepped on them (and paid the fee) to wherever they wanted via pre-set courses.
Huh, so the Dutch thought that pping mobile barriers on boats was a good idea, interesting, John thought as he read how the sea-faring nation came up with the first sessful applications of ships in Abyssalmerce after the discovery of the mobile barrier during the age of Enlightenment. Very interesting stuff, really. A shame Magoi isnt here, he could probably answer for me a lot of these things in more detail than a cheap brochure off the Auction, John thought.
The new Supreme Fateweaver had taken to the Himyas, where the organizations headquartersy, and was currently embroiled in how the dissolvement of the current structure was to be handled. The fact that Fateweavers would be no more was a foregone conclusion at this point, at least in their current state. As Magoi had prophesied, they would be something like a union, but the exact dissolvement of the old structures still had to be handled with care, as hundreds of businesses all over the globe would now be privatized.
As a staunch red-blooded American, John approved of this breaking up of an economically oppressive monopoly. He didnt have a lot of contact with the old structure and didnt feel like the Fateweavers had been an actually shitty corporation like several cablepanies back home. However, he knew that he only stood to profit from this in the short and long term.
Rave also checked her phone, which had been buzzing from a newly arrived message, and groaned. Well, if there is one annoying thing that came out of all of this, she gestured at the airport and, impliedly, of Europe, its that mom now wants me to send her weekly updates of my life.
You are going to do it like monthly instead, arent you? John asked. It wouldnt have surprised him to learn that Nariko only wanted to have monthly updates in the first ce but set the bar higher so her daughter felt like she was still winning in some abstract sense.
Tops, Rave said but wrote an answer message as they spoke. I want to see dad again. Partly because I need to punch him in the face for never telling me the whole story and partly because family stuff is weird.
Yeah, I should visit my parents too, John decided as he looked at the city from above through the eyes of his new sparrow. After hisst one had been destroyed and lost during the battle of Warsaw, he had to buy this one as a recement. Gaia had automatically renamed it to Jack Sparrow again.
The reason for this sudden yearning for parental interaction was the hearing of Lydias story. John wanted to cherish what he had for a change, and it would also help him to ground himself more in reality rather than his enormous ambition. He hadnt told his mother that he was returning to the USA yet, because he didnt have his story straight.
The basic idea was to tell her that he dropped out of schoolpletely, because he had started a business on the inte and it was going so well that he had the money to just educate himself rather than chase a degree. Problem there was that he didnt have a storefront for this story just yet.
Okay, so we stay here today and tomorrow we get a ne back to the USA, John said as he spied what seemed to be a hotel.
I am gonna drag yall into a club! Rave announced.
Chapter 367 – Patching interruption.
Chapter 367 C Patching interruption.
Just so we''re clear: I am not getting drunk tonight, John announced as he looked at the city map. It was a bit annoying that it wasnt quite the same as actual Amsterdam, thus creating the need to buy one from the Abyss Auction.
Also, why did these things have to appear at times like these?
But thats so boring, Raveined as he guided them towards a caf, BUT THATS SO BORING! she repeated, under the impression that that was where John wanted to party. He quickly ryed the situation to her and everyone else, and thus they sat down, ordered some random stuff, and then John clicked the run Tutorial button.
Hello, this is Gaias Patch 1.3 Guild Update. We are going to do the minor things first, since there arent that many updated old mechanics this time around.
Changes to Observe:
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Observe and Reveal are now one skill. Felt kind of redundant to have both flying around, since Reveal is just a tagged-on effect where you can choose to spend mana. Also the skill level now has a use in that Reveal will now passively act as if you had spent (Skill Level/2)%*your maximum mana to cast it.
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Observe now also disys Mana under Mental Stats on targets. This change is due to numerous reasons, most of all that the numbers were skewed to begin with, especially the mental stats which were high on some people just to represent how much mana they have. In the same vein, Intellect and Wisdom have been removed on Observe and reced with Spellpower and Intelligence. I know having different Stats for non-you targets is slightly confusing, but Wisdom and Intellect are really hard to portray urately with everything else that is attached to them. Your elementals are not affected by the second change. Artificial Spirits are affected by neither.
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Elementals no longer have a Rank. That was a mechanic I thought I could do something with but never did, and Tier does anything else it would have done anyway, so it is useless.
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Artificial Spirits not owned by you will now use the Elemental Observe. I know you never got to use it on another persons AS anyway, but I realized it showed a bit more than you ought to know, and the HP/MP numbers dont work for people not affected by your ability in the first ce.
- The Emotions area will now disy up to four emotions instead of three.
Basically, just a bunch of streamlining of stuff that seriously didnt make all that much sense. The Stats were only estimate numbers in the first ce, not like people level in the same way you do. I was tempted to rece all Stats with F to S-Tiers, but that wouldnt have worked all that well in detail. I may be screwing with this again if I can figure out another representation system I like, but, given the amount of thought I already gave it, it is rather unlikely.
Oh, right, I also removed the level cap (not that you will see that happen a lot), so Romulus would be disyed as ~1103. It was supposed to be an area where numbers start bing irrelevant, and they are pretty much just high, but unlike you, nobody else has a hard cap on their powers (not that you necessarily have one, going to keep that piece of design under wraps). The usual person just has a maximum level of potential they tend to reach, and then its a struggle.
Now lets go over to the actual reworks and additions to your powers.
The in-game store:
I thought the Score mechanic from the war quest worked rather well, and since I have to think about how I can sass you but also cant just give you things every time I do, I decided to create this little system for you. From now on you will get some more Quests and Achievements that give you GP. There will also be some other ways to gain them the World Soul wille up with, I am sure. Thanks to Romulus opening the whole story up to you, I dont really need to beat around the bush. I just write the descriptions, this magical supeputer thing does the rest, unless I meddle with it. Which I can. So, dont piss me off, okay? I am bound by my own rules, but I can still squish you once you vite them. Just be thankful I hooked you up with a power source big enough to get your powers going. Weird light soul you are.
Here is the rundown though (yes, I know that the 4 is above the 3, do not ask):
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The Stats need extra exnation, because I obviously cannot let you purchase these things cheaply for infinity. Therefore, the cost for these will rise with each point purchased, much more drastically for the percentage bonuses.
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Nothing really to see here, you know these things from the war quest already. What are those Guild things right of it about? You may be asking yourself that. Well, my dear, impatient Gamer, give me a second and I will exin in the next mechanic after this.
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Red numbers are discounted. Too bad for you that you dont have any points right now, isnt it? Going to keep my #1 booty to myself and Zone-tan. Girls are going to have fun once this message is through.
- This is where special offers will appear sometimes, but its generally just the area for rolling on random loot if you ever would want to do that. It''s going to cycle each week, sometimes it''s going to suck, sometimes it''s going to be awesome, you tell me, I have no idea what the World Soul will grind through the randomizer.
Thats just more of a quality of life improvement, really, now to get to the real crux of the patch, the name giving guild mechanics.
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Core Members tells you how many people are in Collide itself and are limited in number. Total Members lists those as well as members from vassal or otherwise subservient guilds. Guild Funds and Guild Bank are about exactly what you think they are: your organization is affected by some of your less bullshit powers. Guild Hall simply disys what Tier your Guild Hall is. Speaking of which, you should create your Guild Hall sometime soon.
- These show several things that might be of interest to you. Maybe there will be additions to these in the future, but they are as surely going to change as you are to have sex again.
Unlike other Perk mechanics you know already, your Guild Perks are not meant to provide near endless growth. Instead, they are here to gate your bullshit a bit. You will be able to unlock everything here, given time. Every time you finish one of the categories, your Guild Hall will upgrade in size.
Speaking of the Guild Hall,
The basic idea boils down to this: Every Tier you get a certain amount of Room Slots that you can then invest to create rooms out of the current or former Tiers. Your Guild Hall will start off as a minor ensemble of some facilities and end up as a giant, customized fortress of some description, if that is your style. All depends on the kind of Guild Hall you want to build.
Although knowing you I bet it is going to be a castle to protect your waifus in your giant kinky sex dungeon.
Anyway, you can get more Room Slots through other means, and every Tier upgrade alsoes along with a traditional 3-choices perk. Just use Create I.D. while inside your Guild Hall or think about creating your Guild Hall the first time to make it.
And have fun.
_________________________________________________________
Mhm, some very good stuff, John said; Going to pay more attention to it when we are back in America and I can actually set-up the Guild Hall.
Sounds less awesome than the sses, Rave shared her opinion,
Well, the sses are a vehicle to ship overpowered or broken mechanics to me through a controlled gateway, not like she can just stack more on top of that eternally. I will be apletely over-designed piece of broken software eventually, he retorted.
Pretty sure broken already applies to ya, his girlfriend poked fun at him as he stood up to pay for the coffees. But I get that ya dont want to stack too many different mechanics. Usually turns into convoluted video games.
Eliza quickly finished some sweet pastry she ordered. There better be a fucking sex dungeon, with chains and shit, she mumbled with a full-mouth. And crops and just kinky bondage equipment. John, when the fuck are you going to treat me like a piece of meat, you nicerdass?! She kicked his shin and then stomped on ahead.
Note to self: next time you have sex with Eliza, hang her from the wall, John thought.
We should get some stuff to bind her to the wall right above a vibrator or something, Rave pretty much repeated out loud.
Oh my god, I love you, he blurted out.
I still have all your bondage equipment with me, Master, Aclysia added; she was carrying the less immediately needed things inside her inventory. I would be more than happy to go back to the hotel right now and help you with knotting practice.
Nope, Rave intervened, we are going into a club, still! I havent been partying since getting over here, and I miss the flickering lights and loud beats. We gonna do what I want today!
I just want to see what in the name of Tiamat those clubs look like, Metra wondered as they wandered over a bridge. One more street corner and they entered the red-light district. This was where everyone thought the best clubs would be, so this is where they went.
John had already heard about the infamous street in Amsterdam where they had window-shopping for prostitutes. Abyssal Amsterdam took this a step further, it seemed. Aside from the buildings honouring the real-life equivalent, having story over story of attractive girls in all shapes and races, they also had what John only could describe as fetish houses. Each of them subscribed to some sort of theme.
There were restaurants where you ate from someones body (bringing your own partner reduced the cost), which seemed to be the most popr thing around. John really wanted to go in there. Metra licked her lips and purred like a cat in heat when she spied a love hotel where the entire front was ss, allowing everyone to see exactly what the people inside were doing. There was a horror house with two entrances where people could roley non-consensual intercourse, to put it carefully. Of course one line was much longer than than other.
Swinger clubs, massage parlours, domination booths, and degradation rows, there was a lot of sexual liberation around here, so much, in fact, that John was pretty sure he didnt want to explore this whole district too deeply because there was bound to be some catering to some fetishes he wasnt all thatfortable with.
Why are we looking for a club around here? Nia wondered. A fair question, this cesspool of debauchery looked more like it would provide STDs, questionable drugs and orgies to shing lights than a dance floor. Luckily, this was the Abyss, so STDs werent a big problem if you had a good healer (Undine), neither were questionable drugs as magical engineering provided all the high with minimal low, but the orgies were a legitimate concern.
Because they have one where ya can step off the dance floor, rent a room for the night, go have sex in a private room, and then get right back on the dance floor, Rave exined to the pariah. They have less extreme stuff around here, ya know? We gonna stay the night there and then check what we wanna do in the morning and stuffs.
Okay, Nia just nodded.
What is it called again? John asked, putting his phone into his inventory. They had found the street, so there was no reason to keep staring at his phone instead of checking out what was sexual paradise.
Chapter 368 – Neon Lights
Chapter 368 C Neon Lights
John looked at the sign with disbelief. Isnt that the username you always use? he wanted know. And if Ja, coincidence or not?
Ja and not a coincidence, Rave said and looked at the line in front of the entrance. Aside from the giant sign spelling out the name in neon letters, the building looked rather boring, just a brick building with ck tinted windows. Judging by the people vanishing down some stairs, John deduced that the actual club was underground. I always wanted to go here; its supposed to be the best club in the Abyss. Would dance it off, then pull some pretty boy off the dance floor, fuck him, shower, repeat.
I thought you didnt sleep around a lot before me, John said in a slightly hurt tone. He didnt particrly like the image that was being conjured here.
Ya KNOW that I didnt sleep around before ya, she bopped him on the nose and winked; Ya saw my sex scores. Doesnt mean this pretty girl cant have a slutty vacation n, ya know I was a bit of a perv before ya. Wrapping her arms around his neck, standing on her toes, she whispered into his ear, Happy to bring a boy with me on the dancefloor instead though, especially one so pretty, and nted a kiss on his cheek. John had no furtherints. He was happy to be easily pleased sometimes.
Seriously, can we address for a fucking second that John keeps getting hotter by the day!? Eliza, who had enough of just watching them flirt, intervened while also angrily eyeing the crowd around them, as if the pure existence of these people was enough to justify an angry rant.
Its because I raised Charisma, John, who already had this conversation, quickly summarized what he found the most probable exnation, but its just slowly increasing because I am only 18 so I can still grow and stuff. I am also another centimetre taller, if you care about that.
I do, stop growing the fuck away from me! the blood mageined from her head level at his shoulders. I need to jump to kiss you, thats so fucking unfair!
He smells less good, Nia voiced a whole differentint.
Yeah, sorry about that; Nathalia walked off without ever telling anyone where she got that body oil from, so I am currently going through different substitutes until I find something as good, John exined, causing every single one of the girls to send a mental hate-prayer to the missing dragoness. Anyway, we should get inside, the only good smelling Gamer changed topics.
With that line, it will take hours, Master, Aclysia informed them. That was a factual observation. I suggest we go for a lesser known club after all.
Noooo, Rave dered, I wanted to go in there for forever!
Mistress, I have to point out that we are looking at a lot of people, the weaponized maid kept saying.
Mhm, I dont feel like standing in line for hours in this cold John began but, upon seeing his girlfriend push forward her lower lip, stopped himself to think about this more carefully. It was so unfair when she pouted, the pinkness of her lower lip, bigger than the upper one, cutely folded outwards and leaving John with a pull at his heartstrings that he knew wouldnt go away until he pleased her in some way. You have me totally by the ropes, you know that?
Yu-p, Raves face bloomed into a smile after popping thest syble of her answer, but it goes two ways, so its fine! I think thats how having a rtionship works.
Something like that, I guess, John shrugged. They were happy, so it might as well have been. Then again, as a couple in a sessful polyamory (rather widespread, one-sided polyamory on top of that) maybe they werent exactly normal. Actually, it was pretty much guaranteed that they werent normal.
The Gamer scanned the crowd from above for quick ways to get in. There was an obvious way, to just cut the line and bribe the guy keeping the gate. However, that was baseline going to be rude, and if it didnt work, it would also be embarrassing. John didnt want to act that way and had to admit that the thought of that bing his public image was a rather strong reinforcement not to do it.
For Rave he kept that n at the back of his head, to be enacted if there was no other way. Hey, Eliza, your nose still works like some kind of supreme super dogs, right? he asked.
Yes, are you calling me a bitch? Eliza said and gave him a very much lewd smile.
You are MY bitch, so just follow orders, John said with a raunchy grin; Do you smell anyone specifically to which the description sweaty, smoky and minorly covered in alcohol fits?
She did, and John rewarded her with a quick kiss on the lips before they followed after her, around the crowd and into an alleyway where the clubs kept their side entrances where vehicles parked to restock the establishments.
The goal was to find someone, preferably important, currently on a smoking break and bribe them while unseen instead. Would make the whole thing less public and potentially easier. Who they found was a man-bear hybrid, with a furred (otherwise naked) chest out of which human arms reached, the brown fuzz slowly fading over the course of his enormous biceps. His head was that off a bear, and he puffed smoke into the air and then took another hit from his thick cigar. It was a fascinating picture.
Jackpot, John thought, noting the bracket after the guild name. As the N.T.C. was the local governing guild, that probably meant that they were subservient to them in contract or something else to that extend.
Excuse me, Barend, John said as he and his group approached. They were greeted by arge cloud of smoke blocking their view as the man-bear exhaled a deep reservoir of the scratching mist from his lungs. It stunk of tobo, and Eliza growled angrily before Sylph materialized.
Scratchy smoke, evil smoke, blown by ball of fur, evil smoke, goodbye smoke. Hurra. Hurray. Huzza! she pvered as she gathered the whole cloud in a small ball and then dispersed it up above.
Bogger off, I am on my br- the bear started but then realized who he was talking to. Are you you lot where in the tournament.
Well, I was, she was, he pointed at Rave, she was, he pointed at Eliza, and she was, he pointed at Nia, but Aclysia here wasnt, why dont you introduce yourself Aclysia?
The weaponized maid took a few steps towards the bartender and then bowed her upper body slightly, At once, Master. My name is Aclysia, and if you cover my beloved John in smoke one more time, there will be consequences. The threat was barely veiled behind her calm expression and nice words. It didnt help that she was holding the salver-dagger, having appeared in her hand when she had wished for it.
Okay, okay, calm down, John hastily got in there, walking up to Aclysias side, patting her head. Letting his hand glide through her silky hair, he noticed that she had pickedvender for today. Sorry, she gets overprotective sometimes, he apologized while his artificial guardian was pacified by the hand on her head.
Its fine, Barend dropped the only one quarter smoked cigar and stomped it out with his boots. He did at least wear thick pants and heavy boots. What do you want?
Cant ya guess? Rave asked; Its cold and we want in!
The bartender looked pretty relieved at that, Oh, you just want to skip the line. Okay then: No.
Sorry, but no wont do, John shook his head; What would I have to do for you to let us in right now? Money? A favour? Name it and I will see what I can do.
Sorryd, but there is no way I will let you in, not only because it would be unfair but also because I dont think we can organize five rooms that quickly, the bartender said.
Oh, we will only need one. Best if it has a big bed and a jacuzzi in the bathroom though, John announced casually and saw wrinkles appear in the bears forehead as his ck eyes jumped over everyone behind him.
These girls must have a lot of patience to wait for their turn, Barend grumbled.
I have no fucking patience whatsoever and have been as horny as shit since even entering this porn-set of a street. Let us in before I test the question whether cooked bear meat really stinks like a gas attack for myself, Eliza exploded in his face.
I just wanna dance, Raveined.
I am really bored, Metra yawned, but he also doesnt seem strong enough to be a challenge. So, dancing would do.
Mhm, Master, Aclysia sighed softly as he caressed the back of her head.
Nia suddenly stormed forwards and pat the bear-man. The moment she did it was as if a giant load had fallen off her unmoving shoulders. Could not hold back no more, she stated as she scratched the bartender behind the ears.
What are you Barend started in an aggressive tone, but it was soon reced with ease and rxation. Oh god this is heaven As the patting continued he seemed to fall more and more into a state of trance.
Welp, John thought, cant say I saw thising. Good job, Nia, keep patting him. She just nodded, not like he needed to tell her something this obvious. This bear man was a big fluffy beast after all. So, what do you say, you are going to let us in if she keeps patting you for a bit?
Sure, whatever, as long as you all really just take one room, the bartender answered in a mellow voice.
Does it have a jacuzzi? This is important, John asked. If there was one thing he loved then it was sitting in a jacuzzi, having a girl ride on his dick. Of course, these things were also great on their own, butbined they became awesome. Added bonus if he got a shoulder massage in the process.
It does have a jacuzzi okay,e with me; if she continues patting me, I will die of over-rxation! the bartender freed himself from the yoke of patting, and Nia made a miserable little squealing sound in her throat, none of her facial features shifting in the slightest. Okay five more minutes, Barend lowered his head again.
Ten minutester they entered the club through the back entrance. Where the hell were you so long? You have a five minute smoke break, not an eternity! somebodyined but then looked at John and his people following the bartender. Who the hell are those.
Just a VIP, (the P stood for pat-giver), and some of her friends, get them a room. The employee opened her mouth. YES, just ONE room, Barend barked at him, I need to get back to my bar. You take care of that.
Well,e with me then, the employee, a brte elf in her apparent twenties (which other elves would probably have marked down as her looking like a fifty year old), guided them to the front desk. It was a bit weird to enter a buildings lobby from the working area, as the former was made to look as appealing as possible and thetter had dirty tes standing on barely cared for tables where the working people took their hastened meals in their breaks. There was a rather apparent difference in appearances.
Anyway, there were some people in the lobby who looked at him funny, but they either didnt care enough or knew better than to ask what was happening. Through the ss doors, John could see the masses outside being guided down one of two flights of stairs. They split left and right from a walkway that ended at the desk he was now on the correct side off.
John looked at the floor with interest. There was a party of international fame going on underneath his feet, and yet he didnt feel a single tremor from the bass or hear a single tone. Magical fuckery, obviously, but still interesting.
Barely registering the price (he just knew it was a lot, not that it mattered since he could basically print money), they went up to their room. John just wanted to check on what/where exactly they would retreat to when they retreated.
The answer was pleasant in multiple ways. First, it was situated just two doors down from the elevator that connected every floor. Second, it was on the 10th of the ten floors, meaning they had a nice view. Third, it did have a bed big enough for all of them, as long as the elementals didnt want to cuddle as well. Fourth, it had a spacious bathroom with the promised jacuzzi.
Both Stirwin and Copernicus jumped out of their item forms, racing for a cushioned basket for animals sitting in one corner of the room. Of course, the cat outran the crocodile, and so Copernicus purred mockingly as he rolled himself together on the cushion, keeping one wed paw out as a deterrent for the hatchling who slowly backed away.
Ya noting with me into the club, Cappy? Rave asked, disrobing and throwing all of her clothes on the floor. Once naked she had Aclysia get out her clothes (the maid was carrying everyones luggage in her inventory after all) and looked at everything to pick something more fitting for dancing. John also left his hat and vest here; he had no problem going down there in a white shirt and suit pants, but the full set might have seen a bit too pretentious.
No, too much noise, I will be sleeping here, Copernicus dered and lowered his paw as Stirwin got picked up by Undine.
Want to hang out with me in the jacuzzi? she asked in her sing-song voice. The little crocodiles snout eagerly waved up and down as he nodded.
Im staying here as well, Gnome dered; I dont want to be too many people and yeah.
I will be waiting in bed for my master, Aclysia said, and take care of those staying if they so desire. In short, people who didnt want to dance at least wouldnt be bored.
I will check it out, Eliza shrugged, the fuck could go wrong?
You could break somebody, John suggested; he didnt feel the need to specify a bone or something else, it was entirely possible she could just break someone in their entirety. Just stick close to me, just in case.
I aming too, Smander dered. Sylph added her willingness to go along in so many words that she was talking about Hawaii by the end of it. Nia just attached herself to John, grabbing his arm without furthermentary. Metra and Rave had already said they wanted to go.
What about you, Siena? John asked his shadow.
The nightmare elemental stuck her head out of her usual hiding ce, Go to a ce where lots of artificial lights are flickering all over the ce? I would much rather get bent over a stool and spanked by my next victim. That was a clear denial.
Thus, the group parted either to check out the dancefloor or hang out in the room.
Chapter 369 – Bantering doesn’t care about the place
Chapter 369 C Bantering doesnt care about the ce
The ride down in the elevator started nice and quiet. It was pretty big and came with none of the mechanical noises elevators usually did, as it hovered between magically pulling tes rather than being on a winding mechanism. However, once they passed the base floor and began their descend into the underground, the bass finally arrived.
They had passed an invisible barrier, and now the elevator trembled under the repeated, electronic drum-kicks and heavy beats. The rest of whatever song was currently running was still unheard, but it was clear that they were about to enter Raves preferred habitat. The techno-lover was already tapping her left foot on the floor and wiggling her butt in a slight but nevertheless hypnotic fashion. It really didnt help that she was wearing skin-tight, blue jeans and a cropped, multi-coloured top that revealed her sexy back and midriff.
John tried to look somewhere else to not get an erection, but then there was Eliza in her basically-underwear outfit (she had left the robe and scarf upstairs). Right next to that was Metra, who also hated clothing with a passion and thus just wore hot-pants and something that was more sports-bra than shirt. Sylph, big form, in her leotard also wasnt exactly modest about her curves. Nia may have been the best in her in whiteness, but she was still attached to John, pressing her breasts against his arm and looking up to him with her diforting nk puppy eyes.
I must be insane to find that attractive, John thought as he felt part of his sub-consciousness scream at him that he should shove Nia off and take a good few metres distance from her. Of course, he wouldnt do that, but the fact of the matter was that she was supernaturally weird. Totally in his range of wants though.
Thest person in the elevator was Smander, who hid her crotch and giant tits behind a bit of fire and otherwise only wore coal coloured bindings on her wrists and ankles. Her me framed fantastic funbags werent the greatest ce to look in the current situation either, as the goal was to NOT get an erection. It was a failed project by now anyway; his pants had already turned into a rather obvious tent. As it stood (it being his dick), he might as well excuse himself and get back up to their room to have the girls who stayed upstairs take care of this.
He opened his mouth just in time to see Rave turn around with one eye closed and a cheeky smile on her lips, Dont worry, they have quickie rooms down here. At that moment the door swung open, and John was greeted by a rather nice room with lots of people chatting.
The dulled beats were now apanied by the faint traces of melody. They were in some sort of lobby, couches with the kind of artificial leather surface that was easily wiped off were filled with people chatting in small groups. It was big enough to amodate about fifty people, which actually put a question on the forefront of Johns mind that he had been ignoring so far.
How big is this ce? he asked while trying to ignore all the people looking at the bulge in his pants. It caused some envious looks at his girls by the women and then some angry res by the men who suddenly gotpetition they couldnt beat, at least in size. As someone who used to be on the small size, John felt with them, but the erection was as it was: big.
They say it can fit up to 1500 people at once, Rave informed him, between the big dancing area and the pub and the metal stage and the little strip club and everything. John was about to ask what all of the meant when he spied an actual floor n hanging from the wall.
True enough, this thing reached about as deep as it was tall and spread even further. Okay, how the hell does this even work, John thought as he looked over all the locations on that map. There were three big areas, two of them techno, the third one rock and metal, acimed to hold up to 400 people each, and lots of medium or minor floors or rooms where people could chill out or do something else. How do they supply all of these rooms? No, wait, where is even the ce for all of this? No, wait, how did they ventte this ce? No, wait, this city has about eighty thousand people living inside it, so 1500, provided they all visit daily, would mean that almost 2% of the entire city hang around in this club every night. No, wait,..
He was ripped out of his thoughts by a light punch to his shoulder. Turning to see his girlfriend stick out her pierced tongue, he heard her say, Ya look like there are a bunch of stupid questions going through your head; lemme answer them for you, tiger, she listed them while doing that counting gesture where it looked like one was pulling forwards a finger with the index of the other hand, Magic, magic, magic, tourism, okay?
Those were fitting and in the right order, How did you no, wait, you already conquered my heart, so you being in my head isnt that weird.
d we are on the same page there. We gonna take that way, by the way, Rave said and pointed at one of the numerous ungated walkways that connected this room with the rest of the facility. Atop its walls, covered in ster that was put on there in these weird rough swirl patterns that people other than John seemed to find artistic, was what looked like a sign to follow to the toilets at first but on second nce was a rather obvious depiction of a couple fucking. Genders were kept rather vague, but still.
Come on, before you soak your pants in pre-cum, ya perv, sheughed and grabbed him by the hand. John saw someone openly staring on his girls ass as she did that. A lot of people openly stared at his girls. He was pulled between being angry at them and basking in their jealousy. The decision to go with thetter had fallen before the sight was blocked by the wall. After all, they would never have what he had, and he had worked pretty hard to get this. If they wanted to try and do as he did, they maybe would do a good thing or two for the world.
That aside, he believed that none of his girls would cheat on him, and they could all defend themselves if someone got touchy. They were literal superpowered mages, martial artists and anti-mages.
They walked through the hallways, past different rooms, all of the entrances doorless frames through which the music only echoed dully (a hurray for magic sound dampeners), and John couldnt help but think that this whole structure was like abyrinth of loud music and sexual lovemaking. Not just once they passed a couple that hadnt quite managed, in a drug induced rush, to go all the way to these quickie rooms and were just doing it on the next best sofa they found.
Suddenly the rough walls made some sense. Most women would have wanted to not feel spikes in her back with every thrust against the wall, thus the fuckable spots were wherever they had a bit more room. There was also pretty little movement in these hallways, then again, they werent even close to the main rooms; it was probably a lot worse there. Either that or the convoluted structure of the club kept every hallway from being used too much at every point.
Shit-cocking cucks and fuckers of decayed fecal matter, I need to get somewhere where the fucking ceiling is higher and the walls arent EVERYWHERE! Eliza announced all of a sudden. Quickly, John checked her status, a steady pulse of shame finally taking priority over his lust. Eyes darting from one wall to another, the blood mages breathing was not only quick but rather audible. She didnt have a panic attack, not yet, but she clearly did not like it here.
John felt like pping himself and also rather proud of Eliza that she wasnt about to demolish the ceiling in an attempt the w herself to freedom.
It was an arm of pale red skin that wrapped around Elizas shoulders and pressed her head right into the grabbers breasts. Do these puppies distract you, you fucking problem-kid? Smander asked.
You arent burning her face right now, are you? John asked, pretty worried as the me bra had not been turned off.
Do you seriously think I y with fire all day and dont learn the faintest thing about it? I can do that much by now! the ze elemental angrilyined. A darting me that exploded out of her fire red hair and burned a bit into the ceiling seemed to prove her wrong. I meant to do that! she said and then quickly changed topics; Anyway, you better down there?
Yes and fuck no, Elizas voice muffled through Smanders cleavage. Its really soft, and I kind of want to die between these oversized meatbags, but I am also getting really fucking jealous right about now.
Ah, be quiet, ya have Cs, you are fine, Rave told her; Ya arent even in the lower area of the harem, you are in the middle and got a nice ass and great thighs.
Thank you? Eliza sounded weirded out by the fact that she was gettingplimented. John, in the meanwhile, looked as a piece of the floor developed a life on its own, crawled up the walls and then began to eat the ash while also recing the badly damaged parts.
Huh, he said out loud after using Observe, the floor is made out of domesticated slime. He had just thought it was boring, t concrete that nobody bothered to hide underneath a carpet. After informing everything else about histest finding, he finished with, Guess the Dutch found the slimes in their channels and went going to breed this until it does what I want.
So, we are surrounded by slime-poop? Rave asked and suddenly looked way less into the ce.
That sounds disgusting until you remember that honey is bee vomit, eggs are unfertilized children and most sausage is packed inside rinsed pig innards, John reminded his girlfriend, who just gave him an annoyed nce to let him know that he just ruined all of those things for her.
Whatevs, still gonna get to that cell, Rave said. Ya two going back up or what?
A fucking second, Eliza said, removed her head from its heated resting ce, looked around for all of two seconds and then plunged her face back in. No chance I am staying here at least, shit out of luck.
Great, going to drag you to ce where there is more room then, Smander said and began to do exactly that. If you want to contact us, just scream into my head, okay? But DONT fucking DARE do it while there is an awesome song running.
Where are you going? John wanted to know, just in case. It obviously wasnt upstairs.
Metal and rock stage, also taking this chatter bag with me, Smander said and grabbed Sylph, who was hovering under the ceiling and talking to the little piece of slime that was still doing its work on the ceiling like a little kid may talk to a grasshopper, by the foot, pulling her as if she was a balloon.
Bye, bye, little grey, tell big grey that his name is not Neil but super-kami Neil and gather the mudballs for me, I need a new radio, yay, okay? Sylph chirped her usual nonsense, although John thought he heard a DBZ Abridged reference there. The fact that Rave giggled only supported that theory.
At least his dick was below half-mast from all of this distraction. You want toe with us? Smander asked Metra.
Nah, I am going to check out this techno thing with my inspiration twin, the berserker babe said and pointed at Rave. Although I dont understand why we dont just do it on the spot.
Cause, Mat, the techno-lover said, I aint into exhib stuff.
Didnt you upload nudes? How is that different? Metra asked; she didnt have that from Johns mental connection (theirs was still less than navigable beyond some basic feelings), but it was an open secret anyway. Also: Mat?
I dont need to hide these curves, girl, I just dont want some random people to ogle me while I get the big D from my little J, Rave said. Notfortable with, lines and all that. If he had seen a window to jump into the conversation, John would haveined about that new nickname for himself. Also Me-me is out cause thats Momos nickname, and yare a fellow tomboy so ya get a tomboy name; I think Mat fits.
Do not get it. Seeing all the pathetic weasels watch me, wanting to have me but knowing that I will rip their hands off and challenge their patriarch to a duel to the death if they dare interfere, now THAT gets me running, Metra grinned widely. There was this one time when Sargon ordered me to climb on his throne and ride him before the whole court and the ambassador. Fuck, that was nice. We dont like muscled women, they said and then had their eyes glued to my abs. She pped her incredible midriff; not an inch of fat rippled. Man, I used to be ripped then. Got toned down by your preference, Master.
Why can nobody say that word with the proper reverence? Aclysia dropped a sudden one-liner in Johns head before retreating again. Anyway, now he was back to erection, as his eyes darted back and forth between his girlfriends and Metras midriff. Then he looked up and at the two of them. Why did they have to look like half-sisters, and why did he not have a threesome with them yet where theyy side by side?
Damned be the debauched chaos of orgies, he needed to rectify that post-haste. The trio led by Smander was off by now, and that left him with Metra and Rave wait, someone was missing from that list.
Where is Nia? he suddenly wondered and looked around. Better question, when did she stop being by my side?
Uhm, Rave looked lost, so they nced over to Metra.
Dont ask me, she is a nk, they are pretty good at moving around unnoticed with everyones brain trying to suppress their existence and all that, the ancient weapon shrugged it off.
Ya dont have a brain, Rave pointed out.
And you dont have a smartass, but look at you go talking out of it, the dirty blonde countered with an aggressive grin, want me to smack it proper?
I have my smartass right there, the lightbearer pointed out and at John.
A horny smartass, can we finally get to these quickie rooms? I swear, we get bogged down in stupid talks like these whenever I want to go anywhere, Johnined and just prayed that Nia would turn up again before they wanted to leave tomorrow.
That was a problem for tomorrow though; his returned erection was one for now.
Chapter 370 – So much in the way
Chapter 370 C So much in the way
They arrived at the quickie rooms. What they saw was a row of doors, some of which showed a couple of words tranted into multiplenguages saying currently being cleaned. John guessed that there was some slime in there doing the world a favour and scrubbing off whatever sexual juices stuck to the walls. Otherwise this whole thing would have been rather sticky, slippery and disgusting, actually.
Rave just opened a stall, and all three went inside. That turned out to be a bit of a cramp. The room basically only had a nicely stic floor (yet another kind of cleaning slime, as Observe revealed) and something akin to a thin mattress. This clearly wasnt a ce to sleep, and a sign on the wall warned of the dangers of staying inside for a prolonged period. Basically, it said Fuck then GTFO.
John didnt feel particrly threatened by whatever mechanism they would use to flush him out, but he also didnt really want to disturb public order around here, and this stall wasnt the greatest ce to be either.
Okay, blowjob or condom? Rave asked gesturing at the dispenser underneath the sign where one could buy a condom for a hundred bucks. The price aside, what kind of choice was that?
Jane, I literally have not once worn a condom, why would you do this me now? Johnined. He was so used to taking everyone just raw and didnt exactly feel the need to experience rubber around his dong today.
Cause Im not going to dance with ya leaking out of me, she told him. I did that before, It aint that great. Blowjob then?
Blowjob then, John sighed, solely being on the receiving end didnt sit right with him, but he would just have to make up for thatter. Rave kneeled down on the floor and unbuckled his pants.
I am getting in on this action, the dirty blonde grinned and kneeled next to Rave, and soon both of the girls were applying their lips to his length. At one point the two pairs, one glossy and pink and the other a brownish red, both full and soft, met around the head of his cock.
Their tongues intertwined and danced around the sensitive ns as Johns arousal reached its absolute peak. Rave was too sexy already, how the hell was he supposed to handle two of the kind? The answer was: not at all, they would handle him. At least that was what the greedy back and forth indicated.
Soon they changed from just making out with his dick in the way to taking turns sucking it. John shot the first load of the evening down Raves mouth not long thereafter. Gulping it down while ignoring Metras pissed re, Johns girlfriend excused herself by saying, My man, my tasty, tasty spunk then again it looks like he can give you some more.
Of course he could, as a matter of fact he desperately needed to. How do you expect me to not be turned on when you two sexy cases of battle hungry, horny heavy-hitters are sitting on the floor in front of my naked dick with your overly sexy lips and eyes, huh? he wanted to know.
I would be surprised if ya werent in full-fuck-force mode right now, tiger, but the timing is still kinda bad, Rave said, I wanna check out the dance floor. Okay, were gonna do it like this: Mat, you ready to get your face fucked?
Sure, why the Enuma Elis not? Metra said, and the lightbearer got up in response. Guiding her boyfriends hand into her tight pants, after opening them, and the other to the back of the berserker babes head. With the instinct of a dom, John immediately grabbed the barely bound mane of Metra by the ring of metal that was holding it in ce. The ancient weapon licked her lips and then started sucking on her own.
Okay, then, tiger, here is what we gonna do right now Rave began, only stopping for a second to bite her lower lip as she moaned from John curving up his fingers to enter her eager pussy. Ya got ten minutes, then we gotta get out of here anyway. Soyabetterusedem and fuck her face good.
And why are you grinding against me and my hand in this scenario? John wanted to know with a lecherous grin as he supplemented Metras already willing bobbing of her head with ruthless thrusts. He would eat out Metrater to return the favour twofold, but the ultimatum was made, so he wanted to get off as often as he possibly could. His shaft was already lubricated from the preceding blowjob, and Metra didnt need to breathe, ideal parameters to use someones throat as ones personal cocksleeve.
Cause I cant suck your dick without getting horny anymore; your smell and the taste of your jizz just make me drip like cray-cray. Its etched into my body at this point, Rave bemoaned, and while she added to that statement, John came for the second time. Having his balls this filled with seed all the time made it rather easy to cum quickly when he only aimed to release, not to please. I am addicted to ya, John.
Lets hope I am the kind of drug that heals, John said and kissed her as he experienced multiple orgasms. Mentally he gave biology the middle finger for denying him this sort of mind-blowing ecstasy prior to getting his powers. Then that thought was washed away by each of his nerves cranking up the sensitivity.
Metras throat as it effortlessly glided up and down his whole length was agonizing. His throat formed a sound between pain and pleasure, the extremeness of his feelings making it seem like every jolt of pleasure, every inch of slimy throat that slid over his iron-hard prick was apanied by a pleasant wave of electric shocks. Meanwhile Raves lips on his were as if he was consuming lust and love, causing them to breathe directly into his mind and unfold into a swarm of flickering colours and a simple wish. The wish to feel yet more of the one that was in love with him and who he loved above everything else in the world. His anchor, his light, a pink-haired hottie with a short fuse and an attitude writhing and grinding on his drenched palm as he fucked another womans throat.
Ya dont need to heal squat, tiger, Rave held his face between both of her hands and smiled wide, revealing her perfectly white teeth. We just need to keep together, ya and me, we are the perfect unit, right?
Right. John pressed his lips right back on hers. This didnt even need to be talked about anymore. The moment their tongues started wrestling again, he came for the sixth time. His fingers went into overdrive, as he felt the end of their time in this stall approaching. Sharp and quick moans entered his mouth, used and wonderful tasting air out of Raves lungs that entered his, made his head dizzy from ack of oxygen.
Slick, quick noises echoed through the tiny room as the wetness, overflowing from her tight snatch, allowed John to masturbate her as quick as his wrist was constructed for. Oh, Gaia, John, John, oh my god, ah, ah. Aaaaah! she panted as her lips flew off his.
Her eyes seemed to try and say something, but for once John was uncertain as to what it was. Having no time to ask, he groaned hisst orgasm shout out, and Rave howled at the ceiling in her own orgasm, a scream that was only contained by the magic on the walls.
________________________________________________________________
And that is why we cant have nice things! Raveined after returning from the toilet. I had such a nice outfit, and now I have to dance in this. She gestured at the pink bodysuit that she always had with her in the form of her sneakers. Her former outfit had disappeared into Johns inventory.
Not my fault, he said, raising his hands in a defensive gesture, you could have told me to stop before you squirted all over your pants. That aside, its clean now! he couldnt use Craft on things people were currently wearing, so Rave had to get out of those clothes before he had been able to dry-clean them. She had already locked herself in the bathroom before he could hand them back though.
Yeah, sure, try to say please dont give me a mind-blowing orgasm with your fingers while on the edge of said orgasm, Brainiac, his girlfriend flicked his forehead with enough power for him to be forced a step backwards and lose 12 health points. And we lost enough time already, so this will do now!
Metra, not giving a damn whatsoever, was checking out people who passed and only listened to the little lovers feud. She didnt look around in the you look nice kind of way, but with the kind of predatory nce that aggressive men in shady pubs used to measure whether they wanted to drink with, beat up or fight and then drink with someone.
Well, now I am going out in this skin-tight suit, but at least people wont think I peed myself, the techno-lover continued and showed off her body, stopping with her ass towards her boyfriend and smiling over her shoulder. How do I look?
Thank god, she was such a light-hearted soul and didnt make a huge deal out of this. What do you think? John asked. Terrible, as usual! He pped her butt and looked at the nice jiggle. A tug in his pants warned him that they had to return right to where they came from if he took this too far. So he allowed himself just one morement, Do you know why you have the best butt in existence?
Cause its attached to me and I am awesome? Rave said and then pped it herself with a yful smile.
Largely true, but here is the physical reason: its a perfect mixture of firmness, jiggle and roundness. It sticks out in whatever you wear without being disproportionate, is so firm that it doesnt jiggle around like fat when you move but also jiggly enough that there is a nice wave going through it when pped, John exined.
Ya have put some thought into that, sheughed and grabbed him by the hand as they finally went on their way to where Rave actually wanted to go.
If there is a doctorate for butts, I should get it honorarily, he said with utmost certainty, then nced over to Metra in her stupid sexy outfit. Although I still need to study up on the wonders of midriffs.
Howe you arent soaking by the way? Rave wanted to know. Cant tell me ya werent turned on by that bit of sex.
I was told there would only be blowjobs, so I disabled that body function, thats that, Metra quickly exined.
Nifty, the techno-lover said. You got some nice advantages all over the ce.
I guess, the berserker babe said, but ites with the caveat of being up for whatever sicko gets his hands on me this decade theoretically, John did have to wonder why she added that word there. Wanna trade, big girl?
Uhh, nah, thanks, I am good with being wet at inopportune times, thankfully I got someone who is good at plugging holes, Rave winked at John, and he got lost in her blue and pink eyes for just long enough to not notice someone stepping in his way.
Their collision was marked by not him but the person who tried to stop him stumbling back a few feet. Youuuuu, an obviously drunk voice slurred, you are tshat Gamer guy fuck you, I bet money on Max winning!
I hope you will pick your future investments more wisely, John said in a tone that was just dripping in sarcastic empathy.
Furk you, the man just repeated, I want you to put your bitch ass into the ring with me, right over there! he pointed at a door not far down the hall. Interested, John walked after him and looked inside.
It was a small fight club. Most of the room was dominated by the boxing ring in the middle, while everything around seemed to hold like fifty people total, sitting on small tables. There was an automated camera in each corner as well. If drunken brawls happened frequently, might as well locate them somewhere and stream the whole thing. At least that was what John guessed the logic here to be.
Sorry, I am not really interested in he tried to wiggle his way out of this. He wasnt afraid, the man was only level 55. Sure, without Purgatory charged Johns physical Stats werent that great either, but he still could beat up a drunk fool. No reason to add to the mans headache in the morning.
Listen here, you little punk! the buzzcut wearing man shoved John from behind and into the room. At the sight of her boyfriend getting handled in that manner, Rave clenched a fist but waited as John low-key raised his hand into her direction. His patience hadnt run out yet, although it was pretty close.
Do you ept substitutes? Metra asked as she entered the room as well. It was dead silent as the crowd, regrs who came exactly to witness shit like this going down, watched the situation, attention shifting from John to the berserker babe with a starved smile on her face and a red shimmer in her green eyes.
The drunkard seemed to suddenly realize that he bit off a bit more than he could chew, but encouraging cries from the audience and the thorough ability of alcohol to kill caution caused him to say, Sure, whatever.
John was not quite sure he liked where this was going, but he also knew that he kind of wanted to see Metra beat the guy up. Getting shoved evoked some bad memories of locker rooms and theughter of bullying or simply watching jocks.
They got into the ring to the whistling of the crowd, which quickly turned even louder as Metra grabbed the edges of her super-cropped top and then, calm as a summer breeze, began to pull it up. The drunkard took that more as an invitation to attack than anything, which got him some boos from the onlookers.
What the hell, Hank? one of them shouted as the now named man threw a punch that found its end in Metras raised foot. Knuckles shed with t sneaker soles, and the berserker babe threw her top straight to the floor with an energized motion, leaving her breasts naked and the crowd cheering.
Why are you stripping?! Hank wanted to know.
Better question, who do you think you are to stop me, the first Metracana, while stripping?! Metra shouted back in happy rage, suddenly removing her foot and causing the man, who had continued to apply force, to stumble forwards. With a quick sweep of her legs, she caused him to fall to the floor and then put a leg on his back. But to answer you, the sound of a zipper getting pulled downwards could be heard, it is because you are so pathetic that fighting you naked would be too easy. Fighting you while getting naked though she took her foot of his back and kicked him into the rubber bands at the opposite side of the ring. They stretched quite a bit but then threw Hank back into position. That sounds like FUN!
Hank coughed a bit, but if there was one advantage to brawling while smashed, it was a vastly higher pain tolerance, so he just went back up to his feet and then engaged Metra again. This time the berserker babe didnt even go out of her way to block, instead dodging with artistic ease and while she did a double somersault away from him lost her hot pants.
Landing on one of the corners of the boxing ring, she twirled the miniscule piece of cloth around her index finger. As she was adamant in wearing as little clothes as possible, the only thing still on her right now were her shoes. Catch! she shouted at John and tossed the crumpled piece in his direction before finally attacking Hank.
It wasnt even a contest, it never had been. A simple flying knee to the forehead and the drunkard fell to the floor, knocked out. Someone else? Metra shouted at everyone in a hopeful voice. Anyone else who wants to insult my current master? Silence. OH COME ON! her anger broke through immediately, GET YOUR ASSES UP. I will take you all at once if you want to and guide you asses to the afterlife!
Metra,e on, they had enough, John shouted and tossed her pants right back at her. You are overdoing it.
The ancient weapon clicked her tongue and angrily spat, Boring cowards, and began dressing herself again.
When they left the room, John sighed heavily. I mean, I am pretty happy you had your fun there and defended me as your second goal, he told Metra, but did you have to announce to the world what you are in front of cameras?
Ah, shut it, I dont do information wars. That aside, the whole Roman army core knows already, its not exactly a secret, she answered.
Yeah, whatevs, Rave added, just let her punch people, although I find battle-stripping weird.
Hey, if I am not naked, the armour is going to rip my clothes apart!
You think I believe that you got naked for a practical reason against that guy? Pretty sure you said you only use that form when you feel threatened, John asked.
No, up there I did it because he was an idiot and I love getting naked, Metra answered as she looked at her top with disdain before putting the white thing back on, just saying: there is a practical reason that isnt me loving to show off.
Chapter 371 – Flickering
Chapter 371 C Flickering
Everything was made from dancing colours. They danced over the walls and ground, as the floors slime covering caused luminescence across the whole colour spectrum on its t, slightly bouncy surface, perfect to dance on. Flying disco balls scattered dots of light everywhere, asionally blinding John when he made the mistake of looking up to the high ceiling.
The writhing lights were twoyered; the underlying structure was ordered to the sounds of the extremely loud music. Each hit of bass cause a ripple, each tone some sort of shape, like a rhythm game that automatically created a level based on a song. Superimposed on top of that was the spectacle caused by the several hundred people that were dancing, as each of their steps, stomps and taps caused coloured ripples to weave through the room.
It was quite trippy, and John really didnt like it. Neither was he particrly fond of the way the music was sting from the speakers everywhere at ear-drum ripping levels. Nor was he fond of the choice of music, made by an overenthusiastic DJ he couldnt quite see, standing on top of a tower made from LED screens, that added yet another visualizer to the mix of colours, and more speakers the height of a grown-man.
From his position at the edge of the whole thing, sitting on a stool of a bar with ck stic surfaces, the only consistently coloured thing around that wasnt sting music, John had his eyes on Rave and Metra. His girlfriend was moving to the tact in a way that gave away that she knew just about every song that was ying by heart already. Steps guided by certainty and executed with a brilliant disy of Agility and martial prowess, she looked right in her element. As a matter of fact, John couldnt help but think that he had never seen her move this gracefully before, which was quite a tall bar.
Good thing as well, since her one-track mind, only focused on having a good time moving to the beat, created a sort of barrier where everyone who tried to do as men did and dance at her to try and either cop a feel or actually initiate some sort of flirting was met with a flurry of motions they could only get in the way of.
Of course there was Metra as well, who at least kept her clothes in the current situation (although the same couldnt be said for other members of the crowd, most of all a sort of sorority of dark elves that were quite nice to ogle at). She moved with such aggression and overbearingness that it asionally seemed to John that she was re-discovering what break dancing was for all of humanity,bining it with a nice portion of belly dancing.
There were some openings in her style, but, as far as John could tell, these were intentional. Every time someone tried to get at her, Metra dodged or otherwise blocked the advance as if she was in the middle of battlefield training. As a matter of fact, that was exactly what it looked like Metra was trying to do here. Half of her dance moves could have doubled up as pretty effective kicks or punches.
Now John would probably have found himself with a renewed erection because of the two dancing girls, one in her skin-tight bodysuit, the other in as little clothing as possible (the naked sorority and other minor acts of perversion all other ce notwithstanding), but he was just so ufortable around here that that was a thing of impossibility.
He probably would have loved or at least liked most of the things here on their own. The music wasnt terrible (electronic was a good background for gaming, so he listened to his fair share of it), it was just way too loud. The trippy scenery was actually interesting, but there was just too much colour flying around. He didnt mind people too much, but this density really wasnt his natural habitat. The one thing he could say with certainty he actually hated were the lights though, especially the quickly on-off white shes that happened every now and then and made everything in the room look like the framerate had just dropped to uneptable levels. As a, or THE depending on who was asked, Gamer, John did not appreciate these kinds of visuals.
He looked back down at the thin piece of unfolded paper in his hand. The bars list of avable products, not just drinks, was broadly categorizable into three things. Booze, Drugs and non-alcoholic beverages. The fact that the first two took up abined 9/10 of the whole menu while thetter category could be broken down into the big three of sodas (Coca C, Fanta, Sprite), water and apple juice was pretty telling towards what John was expected to order.
Ill take a c, John had to shout at the top of his lungs just for the bartender, an attractive looking wasp girl in an outfit whose primary function clearly was to attract the biggest tips, to lean towards him and wait for him to repeat the order.
A one-hundred-dor billter, John was one c richer. Living costs in the Abyss were outrageous. I actually wonder whether they use the same money as real people do, John thought. With the trillions of dors swirling around in the fantasy world his life had be, there was no way central banks all over the globe didnt find something amiss.
He came up with two ideas while waiting for the ordered beverage, a waiting time greatly diminished by the fact that she had four arms. Number one: it wasnt actually real money, it was a fake product the Abyss just adopted in order to live like kings on the other side on the rare asions people got sick of living in a world with literally endless opportunities. Number two: there was some sort of rule in ce by Gaia, akin to the one that masked going in and out of Illusion Barriers. Now that he knew that there was an almightyputation orb behind the sassy deity, John could actually believe that she had the processing power to pull off stunts like removing a shitton of cash from the real market to funnel it back into the Abyss.
So THATS where my moneyes from, John theorized as the ideas melded together. They werent exclusionary, so he might as wellbine them to something working more deeply. The next question would then be where that abyssal dor came from. The obvious answer was the Roman Empire, as the abyssal USA wasnt anything John presumed to have any power over something as important as the flow of currency. The Roman empire is the most likely source of an extreme surplus of US dors on the market. Today in things I never thought I would think, John finalized that train of thought with another question to himself: should he make his own currency or opt into that market once he got a bit more influence?
He weighed the pros and cons of each side while sipping on the ss that was halfway filled with ice cubes. Theck of c didnt really interest him; in the first ce he had only ordered something to have an excuse to keep sitting there and not get into crowd of several hundred dancing people.
For a moment he had to search for Metra and Rave again. The former was pretty easy to find, thanks to her dancing style creating a circle around here where only the brave fools trying to feel her up dared to enter to promptly get tripped or otherwise humiliated. Kudos to them for trying relentlessly though, they were basically challenging the Dark Souls encounter of rave parties. Even sadder, they didnt even know that Metra was his girl yet.
Meanwhile attention on Rave hadrgely subsided, as he noticed after spying her unmistakable pink hair in the crowd. Most people must have noticed or had been told by friends who exactly that person in their midst there was, as evident by someone stopping, looking around and then seeing John. A pretty concise message was sent through Johns eyes over the rim of his ss. You can try, but nothing wille of it, that was the gist of it. He didnt need to look scary; knowing that Rave wouldnt cheat on him, there was no reason to try to dissuade people from attempting to get her.
There was the part of him that had been betrayed by a friend before that told him that that wasnt the wisest course of action, that he should err on the side of caution and keep his girlfriend close and any even remotelypeting males at an arms length. It wasnt a pretty side of him, but thankfully it also stood against the rest of him that had one firm conviction: Rave, his girlfriend and someone who had loved him from where he started all the way to now, would never hurt him like that. Sure, that kind of conviction would make it infinitely more hurtful if he was proven wrong, but he couldnt bring himself to believe the alternative even the slightest bit.
Especially if that other train of thought would lead to him limiting what she could or could not do when she looked so happy right now, dancing and spreading colour through the rhythmic movements of her feat.
The current song slowly diminished in volume as it petered out, and then John could hear a familiar voice. FOLKS! the speakers atop the tower spread the overhyped tone throughout the room. ARE YOU AS PUMPED UP AS I AM?! A wave of cheers apanied the sound of smoke projectors. The speakers atop the DJ tower glided downwards on invisible rails and revealed the great music controller himself.
He had brown hair that was cut in a tremendously stupid way, beingbed straight upwards and held by styling gel that must have had the power to fix the hole in the titanic. He wore a suit but did so in a way that made it clear he wasnt about business in the slightest. No, his only interest was entertainment, and he acted ordingly, overbearing and like the microphone in his hand was a dancing partner.
Thank you all for making my return to this club a great experience! Jeff continued to work the crowd who cheered whenever he stopped talking. I am so rich, people, I can keep ying here for the rest of my life! And that is exactly what I am going to do! John felt Smander check out what was happening on his side of the aisle and then quickly retreating again after she mentally rolled her eyes at the continuous bravados. A momentter Sylph clicked in and listened rather intently.
Now, I dont want to disrupt the PARTY for too long, but I want to y something for the lovers here! Here is Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha, In the Name Of Love! the song started up silent, and to the first words of the lyrics, Rave ran out of the crowd.
Would you let me lead you even when youre blind? the female voice boomed from the speakers as Rave extended her hand towards her boyfriend. The only answer to that was to take it and watch as her lips bloomed into a wide smile. Hand in hand they made their way back into the calm crowd.
Couples, old, new and just temporary for the sake of the dance, swayed to the swelling refrain. The colours on the floor were a calm breeze as long as the song stayed as calm. Then the beat dropped and everyone went wild for a few minutes. Partners were whirled around, rainbows unfolded on the floor, and for a solid thirty seconds, everyone shared one floor, one world, with everyone but simultaneously existed only along the person next to them. They were all united in their distance from everyone but their partner.
Then the lyrics kicked back in. If I told you we could bathe in all the lights, would you rise up e and meet me in the sky? Would you trust me when youre jumping from the heights? Would you fall in the name of love? Rave answered that question by letting John lead their steps and still giving him a quick kiss by the end of it, despite the fact that he was a miserable dancer that only got the most basic steps well executed thanks to his high Stats alone.
She stayed close to him, forehead to forehead they swayed to the next segment. Lips moving quietly, Rave formed the same promises as the song. When theres madness, when theres poison in your head. When the sadness leaves you broken in your bed. I will hold you, in the depths of your despair, and its all in the name of love.
Again the song and crowd went wild, and to the screams of the outro, John stopped giving a damn about the fact that he was a miserable dancer and just did as best as he could. He probably made a fool out of himself, but Raveughed as he whirled her around, only to then pick him up and do the same to him a momentter.
Their lips met as the words In the name of petered out for a long kiss. At the end there were three moments of silence, then Jeff put the usual techno sting back on, and Rave immediately started dancing to it.
But she danced with him and, if this made the pink lustre in her eyes glow with such intensity, made her smile andugh so clearly and wonderfully and had all of her move free-spirited, then John could definitely live with going on a party like this every once in a while.
Chapter 372 – She is going on a trip
Chapter 372 C She is going on a trip
John eventually returned to his drink, a ss of now c voured water thanks to the ice cubes melting. Are you the Gamer?! a slurred voice said, and of course there was another angry drunk guy who had bet money on Lydia losing. No, judging by the pupils the size of tes peeking out of his ridiculously long, dark blonde pony, this one wasnt drunk but drugged. While being drunk was, of course, also a state of being drugged, Johncked a specific word for whatever this one was on.
You dont want to be the one taking me out of my good mood, John warned, just turn around.
The drugged man sized-up the Gamer. Under the long sleeves of his white shirt and the suit pants, John didnt look particrly impressive. Sure, he was muscr, but that didnt really show unless he was naked due to having a naturally slim frame. Unless someone had known him before he had gained in Strength and Endurance, they couldnt tell just how much broader he waspared to his door stopper body before. In totality he didnt look particrly impressive, especially not for a member of the Abyss, where everyone but those truly weak had bodies where the baseline was healthily fit.
Therefore, this must have looked like easy pickings to someone who thought John was only the magic type, and thus the first punch was thrown. Directed at Johns face, the drugged man must have been aiming at some quick revenge. However, the Gamer managed to raise his arms in time and block before returning the favour by kicking the man frontally in his stomach.
Good thing I upgraded to kickboxing in the break, John thought. After thinking some more about his melee situation, he hade to the conclusion that there was no reason not to use his legs as well as his arms to brawl. Getting a book on the matter simply had reced Boxing with Kickboxing. Thankfully, this new passive hadnt just gotten rid of his old skill levels, just shed around half of them. Point was: he knew what he was doing when kicking now as well as throwing punches.
What is going on here?! growled Barend as he appeared from behind the bar. Apparently, it was a change of shifts, as the wasp girl disappeared in the same moment. Gamer, I let you in in good graces and you start picking fights?!
No, John stated quite clearly, he started it.
I know, I have camera footage, I just enjoy giving people who bribe me with pats shit, Barend kept up his aggressive tone. I swear, the guests here are terrible fucknuggets, STOP BEING SO DRUNK, MARVIN!
Your name is Marvin? a streak of green said in the tone of the chattering, before bing a pretty small girl of 1,50 metres with pale green hair that would have touched the ground if she was standing. As an air elemental, Sylph seldomly walked on the floor though, instead she kept confusingly flying in winding circles around the drugged man. I had a friend called Marvin, he wanted me to eat him. I miss him very, very, veeeryyyy much. He was squishy and red and the ultimate martyr and about this big, she spread her arms apart the maximum distance to indicate her whole body in size.
For Sylph that mistake wasnt that bad, after all the gummy bear she was talking about had been as big as her in her small form. Just missing one logical leap was, frankly, an aplishment. You know him? Is there a League of Marvins? AUDIBLE GASP! Do you hang around and drink tea and eat gtine and science about on how to make gummy bear voured condoms? I had that business idea once, but everyone said that was a stupid idea.
No, we said condoms voured like gummy bears voured like Johns cum were a stupid idea, you airhead, Smander, having caught up with her speedier sister announced.
What are you two doing here? John wanted to know as Barend grabbed the now disoriented aggressor and pulled him away to give him a stern lecture and ce him somewhere else to get the rest of his trip done peacefully. The next club I go to, I will get a bodyguard maybe I should have just coerced Aclysia intoing with me? She would be happy to stick around and protect me from the drunk and drugged, I think.
Smander just pointed over her shoulder as Eliza stormed into the room. Despite being much faster than Smander, the fact that she had to walk instead of fly through thebyrinthian structure had caused her to fall behind. YOU MOTHERFUCKING COCKBISCUIT! she screamed murder with her voice and the rotation of her eyes and came to a short halt before her legs delivered her from the ground, jumping atop the tower of speakers.
The crowd below didnt notice, at first. John had been able to hear her because he was seated rtively close to the entrance, and very few people actually looked up while dancing, so a flying blood mage over their heads went by rtively stealthily. That changed when the music suddenly stopped, presumably because Jeff had hit some button in his panic, and all everyone could hear was Eliza screaming.
I AM NOT THAT SMALL, YOU SHITBOOT! her voice was apanied by some scrambled answersing from the DJ and former announcer, who was being violently shaken. You mongrel fucking pussy, I will tear your hair out and drown you in that stupid ass shampoo everyone uses so it doesnt grow back! Then I will feed your hair to your unborn fucking children together with anti-growth hormones SO THEY WILL BE MIDGETS, YOU TALL FUCK!
With a quick whirl around her own axis, Eliza tossed the man downwards with such perfect aim that hended sitting upright in the bar stool right next to John, the excess momentum causing the DJ and his new seat to tilt backwards.
That makes the second person she has thrown in this city, John thought, finishing the rest of his brownish water just as Elizanded before the bar.
Barend opened his mouth, taking a stance that probably was meant to be intimidating. However, a quick nce from the blood mages two-ringed eyes shut him up before he got a single word out. Anybody interfere and I will make you get the voice of a fucking opera singer, Eliza red at everyone, as she was now the centre of attention due to theck of music to dance to.
Can ya get this over with quickly? Rave asked, forcing her way out of the crowd; Your temper tantrum is ruining the vibe.
Hey, he knew what he was getting himself into! Eliza defended herself, pointing at theedically lookingmentator as he attempted to sit upright.
Orientationrgely impaired thanks to the whole shaking thing, Jeff swayed from left to right, gripping the bar in order to not fall off the stool, as he spoke. Should have listened to Dra and not made too much fun of you. Sorry, Tha- Eliza! Eliza! his hasty correction was apanied by a dangerous flickering up of fire from Smander. John was also keeping a clear eye on the whole situation, not that the almost mentioned goddess went ahead and tried to force her way into the forefront again. For the moment, it seemed like she wasying low, however.
In a way that was more terrifying than her just trying to get out again, it meant that she was watching very carefully and slowly learning what she could and couldnt get away with.
One didnt need to know exactly where up and down was to notice an explosive increase in heat. But that is the job! And I am just a man trying to please the crowd! he tossed his arms in the air and almost fell over; Wont you have mercy on this guy trying to do his job?!
As he saved himself at thest possible second, by returning his hands to the surface of the bar, a little box fell out of a pocket inside the DJs vest. He tried to catch it as quickly as he could, but Elizas hand darted forwards and snapped it out of the air, already looking at it when Jeff had just put his hand in position.
Fuck no, Eliza finally said and kicked the sitting mans shin, I am not that tiny, you cocksucker! You havent even apologized yet! Also what is this? She opened the box and looked at the tiny orbs inside, taking a whiff. Smells like sour peanuts, the fuck is this?
Something really expensive, please give it back! Jeff pleaded, I need that forter, to feel the groove and all that.
You got rich off my fucking misery, so fuck off, you fucking fuck, Eliza said and, after cackling menacingly, threw the whole box into her mouth. Disgusting! Who the shit made that?
Oh nooooo, Jeff cried out, ruffling his long hair in an overdramatic motion and then quickly pulling out ab to get the mess he just made back in order. Well, I hope you packed your bags!
The fuck? Eliza wanted to know as her pupils suddenly expanded.
You are going on a loooong trip, Jeff said and then fled towards his work station the moment Eliza looked at her own hands. She did so with a calm expression the likes John had never seen on her face before and for several seconds.
Everything feels fluffy, she said, wiggling her fingers, dropping the box in the process. That was all she had to say, not even looking up when John touched her on the shoulder, instead just moaning a bit and thenughing maniacally, loud enough to cause a few people to flee the room despite the restarting music.
Well, great, John thought, sighing as he grabbed the box from the floor to see if there was any information what kind of drug she had just thrown into herself and if there was any expectancy as to how long this state wouldst.
He found a name on the removed lid Shroomperotic which a quick search on the Abyss auction revealed to be a kind of hallucinogenic mushroom that was made much more potent than the real-world counterparts thanks to magical meddling. Starts working after 1 hour andsts for several days, John read the manual on the thing. Well, thanks to Elizas insane metabolism, it had started working immediately, so it stood to reason that it was also going to wear off soon enough.
Still, the list of effects was highly interesting: Low on hallucinations but high on heightened feelings and extremely increased libido and sexual endurance, perfect for long time orgies. Prevents damage to tissue even during prolonged erections.
John, Eliza said, finally looking up from her hands, I need you to p me across the face, right the fuck now.
Not reallyfortable with doing that in public, he tried to dissuade her; Lets go back to our room and I am going to do whatever I want to you, deal?
Fuck me, yes, GO! Elizas leather bottom piece was already starting to glisten, and the way she moaned when they started moving made it sound like she had half an orgasm with every step.
This is going to be interesting, Rave said and followed them.
You got enough of partying? John wondered.
Nah, I am gonna go back here after seeing what drugged up Eliza sex looks like, she eximed, and after the whole situation has calmed a bit, ya know?
Sure, John said and checked for the other three girls. Smander seemed to have already decided to go back to the metal stage, Metra decided toe with, and thus Sylph attached herself to the two of them, chattering with them despite the cascade of angry remarks she got from both of herpanions with heated temperaments.
Well, the bedroom would get crowded enough as it was.
They took the quickest way they knew of back to the elevator. Because one needed to have a room booked to use that thing and because it was pretty fast, they only had three of those next to each other.
Hey, John Newman! a female voice shouted after him.
I swear to god, if she wants to fight me too, I will break her legs, John mumbled and turned his head. A foxy blonde woman in a pretty revealing dress ran after him. He recognized her after a moment of thinking. You are the elector of the Nethends, he said; he was unaware of her name, but he did know that she had voted for Lydia.
Yes, thank you, I have a name, it is Amalia, and my eyes are up here, he had been looking at her cleavage without a lot of shame. Sure, she wasnt the youngest piece of hotness (Observe was blocked, but she was around forty looking), but she was a total MILF.
Sorry, I picked up a few bad habits because, he nodded at Eliza who he was currently carrying princess style and who was also breathing as if she had a fever. asionally she would plead for the antidote as well, being (in her and his opinion) his dick. After one of such moans for release, John cleared his throat and said, Well, as you can see we kind of have something to do right now.
Fine by me, just give me a call tomorrow, okay? Amalia said and reached him a card, giving him a sultry smile, I will make it worth your while. She took a nce at his erection, winked and then turned to leave.
John furrowed his eyebrows. Rave on the other side hummed, Mhm, we gonna eat her up or what was that about?
Honestly, I feel like she just tried to fit in a bait strategy, the Gamer said, just to make sure I call.
Always the sceptic, his girlfriendined.
AND CURRENTLY NOT HAVING HIS COCK BURIED IN MY ASS! Eliza screamed at him so loudly that half the club must have heard her; Lets GO!
Chapter 373 – Just a piece of meat. [Erotic Content]
Chapter 373 C Just a piece of meat. [Erotic Content]
John entered their room, and he was very much surprised about how good it looked. Like, exactly how he left it. Even the sheets of the bed were clean. John watched over the remaining crowd. Copernicus was still sleeping in his basket, Stirwin was still soaking in the bathtub, where he was together with Gnome ording to Johns mental connection.
The three people still around where Siena, Undine and an orange aroma radiating Aclysia. All three of them were naked and watched with interest as John, Eliza and Rave entered the room. The second the door closed behind them, John put on a persona and dropped the blood mage, he still had been carrying her, to the floor.
What the fu- she began to ask but then went silent and bit her lip when she looked up to see John who had put up a stern visage.
Nobody allowed you to make a sound, he said, and if you address me, the word master best be within the sentence if you dont want me to punish you. Understood? Eliza just nodded, and John grabbed her by the hair. Good girl, he said, pulling her up a bit and giving her a quick kiss. In her drug induced state, even that made her moan so loudly that John used it as an excuse to annoyedly click his tongue. That was less good, he kept his grip of her hair tight as he walked over to the bed. Fearing repercussions or, to be more in line with her masochistic sexual side, purely because thats what she wanted to be treated like, she stumbled after him on all fours.
Arent you a good little bitch? he asked, letting go of her as he sat down on the bed, pping her lightly on the face before grabbing her cheeks in a way that made the sexy dark purple lips wrinkle a bit. Her huge pupils stared at him, already ssed over. Now get me out of these shoes, hemanded, and maybe I will give you a reward.
John was actually surprised he could do this act so well. Usually the roleying had felt a bit forced to him, but now it was like he put on another custom-tailored suit. The new level of Charisma must have had its hand in here as well.
Everyone in the room seemed to love it though, even Siena who had apparentlye to terms with John not being someone who would y the sub to her extreme sadism. However, the person who loved it the most was without a doubt Eliza, who dropped to his feet and immediately did as she had beenmanded.
Ya treat her so nicely, Rave said, the mattress sinking in a bit when she dropped at her boyfriends right side. The blood mage on the floor had opened the first shoe, and for a moment it looked like she would just toss it behind her without a single thought. This time the p wasnt light in the least, leaving a short-lived mark on her face that went through all the stages of healing in little less than a second.
Watch what you are doing with your masters property, John reprimanded her, watching her lustfully trembling body as she nodded again. Speak, Eliza, I want you to say it.
After putting his shoe down in an orderly manner, she answered, I wont mishandle your property, Master, I promise, Eliza attempted to sound subservient, but it was an obvious act, superimposed over her crazy voice of unsteady tone and overflowing desires that couldnt have been more perverse in nature if she tried. Thusly ensured by words of pleasing rather than merit, John was not satisfied.
You are just in this for pleasure, sit over there, John threw at her and then pushed her away with the foot she had just freed of the leathery confinement. Aclysia, take over, I cant trust this horny bitch with anything.
At once, Master, Aclysia said and made her way over. With quick movements and downcast eyes, she quickly got rid of Johns other shoe. Shall I continue? she asked. John confirmed, and soon he found himself getting thest of his clothes, his boxers, removed from him and his long, hard rod jumping into freedom. At that point Aclysia took her ce at his left side.
Eliza is leaking all over the carpet, Master, the artificial guardian reported and gestured at the blood mage. Sitting on her knees, the inside of her thighs glistening wetly, she was indeed leaving a small stain of her own juices as she kept her arms behind her back. The rest of her body was also shining a bit from sweat, her breathing heavy; whatever this drug was doing to her, it must have been pretty intense.
John walked over and stood right before her, holding his dick just out of the range of her mouth, which opened, tongue stretching out in an attempt to get a taste.
You are so eager, Siena hissed, intervening before Eliza could get what she wanted, but you are not here to be eager, your purpose is to serve. Master, at her overyed and oversexualized usage of the word, Aclysia blew air out of her nose in an offended manner, may I suggest you let me take a disciplinary measure?
No, I will do that myself, thank you very much, John denied her that and caused Siena to show her carnivorous teeth for a moment as she loudly clicked her tongue and retreated. But she is right, you dont deserve to suck my cock, Eliza. Undine, may I use you for a second?
The water elemental seemed hesitant for a second as she spied into Johns mind what the n was. Suspicion filled her spirit, then relief, and she said, Yes, while leaving John confused what she had thought he had wanted to do. A quick exchange of thoughts revealed a thing aptly named All-the-way-through John didnt even know could be the kink of anyone, and that almost threatened to kill his boner for a second.
But he went back to lewd actions, and thus his lust was preserved for theing time. On all fours, ass towards me, he instructed Eliza, who immediately followed his orders. On knees and elbows, her meaty thighs and shapely behind pointing right at his face, together with her drenched bikini-like underwear, she presented herself to John. John undid that annoying piece of cloth by one of the metal rings at the sides of her waist and took his sweet time doing so.
The pussy he was revealing was almost squirting the moment he exposed it to the air, and Eliza moaned audibly. Then she practically screamed when John pped her on the ass with a crop formed from water. I said no sounds! he told her and pped her ass again. With every p a new scream escaped her mouth giving John ever more excuses.
Flowing - endlessly flowing - her juices suddenly squirted out when a particrly hard hit of the red-scarred crop caused her whole body to convulse and writhe in orgasm. John stopped hitting her at that moment and just watched with in disdain before stepping around her and then squatting down before her head.
He grabbed her by the sturdy strings of her leather top and aggressively turned her around while she was still hazy from the afterglow. Now on her back, John forced his cock into her throat in one stroke. Who the fuck do you think you are to just cum when you like, Eliza? he asked, putting one hand on her throat while rocking his hips. He was so unbelievably turned on right now, a further dy of using his cock on her would have driven him right into her level of crazy.
Seeing his own cock in the bulge of her throat he was causing, he whipped her tits with the crop after tossing away her bra. You are a piece of meat, nothing more, just here for me to get off. Do you hear me? Right now, you are just a sentient cock sleeve, and that is the BEST you are going to be. Her tongue instinctivelyshed against his dick, massaged the sensitive ns whenever John pulled out enough for her to reach them.
He retreated back far enough to let her take a breath, and much to his delight he heard the strained sound of lungs in full emergency inhaling desperately. Good, at least you can learn what people told you before, he gave her apliment, only to ruin it a momentter, pretty good for someone who is only thinking in perversions.
The pot is calling the kettle ck, Raveughed, while watching the whole thing from the bed, riding Aclysias dick. But man, do I wish I could to that! After that announcement she began a sloppy exchange of kisses with Siena.
John thrust a few more times before finally unloading down her throat for the first time during this session. Ah, fuck, I needed that, he broke character for a moment as he pulled out, sighing in relief. All punish and no relief makes John one horny boy. He cleared his throat and went back into his stern master persona. Look at you, I told you to be quiet and yet you are moaning the second I pull my dick out of your mouth. Seems like you wont be disciplined in any normal way, horny bitch.
I am shorrrry, Mastaaa, Eliza lulled and earned herself a p across her stained face.
I didnt allow you to speak; clearly that mouth of yours must be forced to be in the only eptable position. Aclysia,e over here after Jane had her next climax, he ordered and then rolled Eliza back on her stomach to fuck her up the proper hole until that came about. Hands resting on the back of her head and leaning on her with his weight, he slid into her pussy without any resistance.
I know that I ruined all of you for other men, with how wet you are when around my dick, he said, but you are particrly bad. Thank god that you are also tight enough, otherwise I would just slip in and out of you without feeling good. Wouldnt make you a particrly good piece of meat, now would it?
He let the question hover in the room for a few seconds while forcing the side of her head against the fairly soft carpet. It couldnt have been exactlyfortable though, especially not with John putting all of his weight and strength behind every single one of his thrusts, causing dull noises in the room below (or at least he would have if it hadnt been for the magical sound istion).
Tell me what you are, Eliza, he then demanded as he felt his next orgasm approaching; he wanted to hear it as he pumped her full of his baby batter.
I-ai mmm a pie-ahshe of me-ahhh-t, she cried out as her own next orgasm C or was it just one very long one? Or several flowing into each other? It was hard to tell C rocked her body just in time to feel John fill her pussy with the white liquid that pumped up his shaft. That didnt persuade him to stop, not in the slightest; he would go on until Aclysia came and, with her sexual skills being a merely above averagepared to Johns pure bullshit, that would be another few minutes.
Letting out animalistic grunts as he kept going, he took a moment to force both of her arms on her back and kept them bundled with his free hand as the other returned to its ce on her white and blue hair. His lungs were pumping, he wasnt thinking right now, he just fucked her because of the amount of lust that had build up inside him. Lust that quickly found its way in a third load that caused her to drool all over the carpet, mouth wide open in a silent scream, tongue lolling out.
Shortly thereafter, John was softly awakened from his ecstatic trance by Aclysias voice. I would be ready, Master, she announced, and John turned to see her standing by his side. Rave and Siena were still on the bed, watching, the former asionally shuddering as thetter teased her post-orgasmic pussy.
Good, give me the ring gag, John instructed, mustering his self-control to pull out of Eliza and just leave herying on the floor. Once he had the gag, a simple ring of metal (wide enough to push a cock through) on a leather strap, he forced it in the mouth of the quivering piece of meat on the floor. The power with which he then pulled the straps and bound them together caused her head to be pulled backwards. Can you still hear me, huh? he asked. A slow nod with ssy, widened eyes. Good, get up. He had to drag her onto her quivering feet and keep his clutches on her throat to keep her standing in a way that was cruel and she loved. Aclysia, hand me the rope and theny down on the bed.
He got what he wanted. Aclysia, knowing what her master was nning,id on the back with her legs over the edge of the bed. With the roughness that was appropriate for the current level of SM, John tossed Eliza on top of his maid and then bundled up her arms again. He started binding them together in a simple horizontal pose but decided that wasnt good enough. Undoing the knots he had already made, he instead stretched her arms parallel to her spine, until her upper body was forced to arch like the figurehead of a galleon. Happy with that pose, he fixed it in ce by first binding her arms together and then connecting those binding with tensed rope to the ankles of her pulled-in legs.
Losing no further time, the whole knotting thing had given Source of Satisfaction ample time to reload and his stamina to recover in general, John got behind her. First, he allowed Aclysia to slide into Elizas already raw-fucked pussy. Saliva mixed with cum drooled past the ring gag as the piece of meat moaned, quickly turning into cries again when John pushed past the rim of her asshole in one swift stroke.
Your body really wants to be nothing more than a cocksleeve, John groaned as he pulled back, look how easy I can get into even this tight hole! He would have pped her ass, but the ropework was in the way, so he kept it to verbal abuse. You are just a fucking bitch that wants to be bred. There was something like an affirmative noise from Eliza, and Rave cattishly tapped over the bed to im the meats mouth for something more useful than crying and moaning. Before she could do, John said, Hey, Rave, want to fuck her mouth? She should have all of her holes prated.
Strap-ons arent that great, rather have her eat my pussy, Rave said, Ya know? Feels better. She closed one eye and smirked; Or is this where you unveil your next bullshit skill to me?
It sure is. Siena, Undine, would you do the thing?
Undine morphed out of her glove form and looked expectantly at the nightmare elemental. Hissing and sighing at the same time, Siena stated, Only because it feels really good to be her, and the two of them Combined.
What came out was a very tall girl with dark purple hair that reached down to her buttocks, partially hiding her blue eyes behind the bangs and with it the red marks that covered part of her face. She was wearing a white blouse that stretched to a dangerous degree over her magnificent breasts, but the rest of her outfit was ck, the long sleeves of her jacket-like sweater, the skirt, the shoes. With the frills and slightly depressing but more so sexy design, she looked like a shy goth girl one would encounter at the club and one instantly wanted to bang.
H-hi, I am Cumslut, how can I be of service? the big tittied goth girl asked.
I need you to be your item form on my girlfriend, John told her the unnecessary. She was abination, she should already know, but this one was basically just a mass of Libido and bad porn tropes.
Aww, I wanted to get fucked myself, she broke the shy girl character, but yes, yes, I can do that as well. She crawled on the bed and over to Rave. In a quick lesbian engagement, Cumslut kissed Johns girlfriends petite breasts and fingered her pussy for a moment.
Oh, she is goooood, Rave sighed only to make a sound of even greater ecstasy when the goth girl transformed into a dildo that was attached just above her pussy. Held by seemingly nothing, it was firmly resting in its ce, about 16 centimetres long and a fairly realistic reconstruction of a real dick, from shaft to head, except for theck of balls and the very apparent dark purple colour. Rave gripped the tip and let out a loud moan between clenched teeth. Oh fucking Gaia, this feels awesome, she said and mindlessly stroked, a drop of salty pre-cum oozing from the tip; Like, really good, not sure if better than masturbating normally, but its new, I like dis.
Better use it while you have it, clock is ticking, John reminded her of the 10-minute upper limit. Rave smirked and grabbed Elizas throat, much like her boyfriend had done earlier just with even more strength, and pushed her dick inside. Different to John, she did so slowly, to taste every bit of what this new toy had to offer.
Her eyes fluttered, the techno-lover having to concentrate to keep control over her sight as the pleasure threatened to overwhelm her nerves. Oh fashk, she slurred, I cahnt, whatsh happening? I feel too good.
Cumslut may be buffing your Libido to her amount, John said in a strained voice; he was barely able to hold a conversation himself at this point. His senses were flooded with sex, the smell of sweat in the air, the squelching wet sound, the sickly pale skin of Eliza in front of him and the whole situation basically yingpletely into his kinks. Just a theory, I didnt get to test what exactly her item form did before.
Hhhhow hiiiiigh?! Rave eximed as her eyes finally rolled upwards, her equipped dick all the way down to the base.
440, reported in a quickly spouted word. It was unlikely she heard him; his girlfriend was already gone, to be reced by an overlusting girl with no patience besides of rocking her hips back and forth for the next eight minutes. Screaming out loud and hips mming so strongly into Elizas mouth that John could feel the vibration on the other side in the anal cavity, Rave experienced her first male orgasm.
John looked at the scene with perverse delight as he sped up his own thrusts. Over theing minutes the nicely packed piece of meat between the master, the servant and the nymphomaniac was filled up with shot after shot of gooey spunk. None of them was clear in thought anymore; varying degrees of Libido made it like their thoughts fought through tar only to be ignored by a conscious mind that wanted nothing but to let the instincts do what they did best and kept their bodies moving when all other systems had given in.
Hands on her hips, clutching with such intensity he felt the bone under the meat, John ravaged her asshole just as Rave vited her mouth like it was nothing but a hole to get herself off. That was exactly the deal. Eliza was the cocksleeve for all of them; the fact that she didnt even struggle and instead just took it all with muffled screams, together with a body that would have been arched permanently even if one removed the bindings, bore evidence that she herself was lost in her position.
Together with Aclyisa, who didnt have a lot of leeway for strong movements in her position at the bottom and thus just went for supplementary movements, they coordinated their movements through force of habit and mindless craving alone.
It was Rave who copsed first. After her first orgasm, which had squirted down Elizas throat, the funky light bearer had not once stopped moving, no matter how many cumshots she was forcing into the cocksleeves mouth and throat. Thus, when Cumslut finally defused into Siena and Undine again, all three of them immediately fell into an exhaustion induced state ofa.
Eliza coughed up semen, moaning as she tried to swallow it instead but failing for some of it, turning her face into an even bigger mess of ssy eyes rolling in their sockets, involuntary tears, sweat, saliva and cum. Soon Johns and Aclysias minds could no longer bear the continuous pleasure themselves.
The Gamer copsed forwards in the middle of cumming, legs and spine just giving in. The world went ck, his cock still buried and spurting inside Elizas ass. Distantly he heard the door open and someone say something in a displeased tone.
Chapter 374 – Second Best Breakfast Ever
Chapter 374 C Second Best Breakfast Ever
I am bringing my own girls, thank you, John said as he paid the fee and then pointed at Aclysia, Metra, Smander andstly Sylph. Those four, when asked, had said they would do the stand in for what John wanted to do.
The waiter at the entrance looked over those four and then nodded, A fine selection, if I may say so. Do you want a public or private room?
Private, he said, causing Metra to cross her arms and roll her eyes as she went along with someone who guided these four away as John, Rave and Eliza took to the private wing after he paid for everything.
Following a guide they arrived in an isted room with long tables and way more chairs than they needed, making it look empty, Undine and Gnome also materialized. Nia was still missing, but John was halfway certain that she would appear again the moment he thought she was going to be lost forever.
The establishment was kind of ssy; it had a renaissance style painting of a woman that was very much naked and very not afraid to show it on the wall, together with a fittingly designed frame and wine red painted walls. The plinths and tables were made from a dark wood, and the carpet had a neutral ck colouration.
I will have to farm for money sometime in the future, just these few days are costing me a fortune, Johnined about his slowly declining wealth.
Ya could just lend Cumslut to some people and charge money for it, Rave nced at him with a bit of danger in her eyes; They will love it and ya can rob them blind while they are busy masturbating a frenzy.
I am sorry, John said in an honestly miserable tone; this was the third time he apologized for the whole incident; I really didnt know she would buff you with her Libido!
I was thrice as horny as Nathalia! his girlfriend said; THRICE! The Gamer had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from pointing out that it had actually been above that. That would not have helped his situation whatsoever. Ya wanna know what being more than ten times hornier than usually does to a gal who suddenly has a dick? I think I broke a little!
Seeing how I had to help both you and Eliza into the bathroom, I think you both did, John said; Also Aclysia had to help me,st night was rough.
ROUGH?! Eliza broke outughing and threw herself against the backrest of her chair, causing it to tip over as she tossed her arms into the air. She prevented property damage by catching her fall by hooking a foot under the table, now more lying than sitting in the chair. That was the fucking greatest thing ever. Holy fuck, I want to be treated like that every fucking evening. You basically sexed the life out of me, you perverse shitnuggets.
Didnt you have nightmares galore from the overstimtion in your sleep? John asked; Because I am not quite sure you want to repeat that. There were very tight hugs had.
Eliza pushed herself off the ground and sat back upright at the table a momentter, an insanely wide grin on her face. Obviously not the fucking drugs, she dered; Okay, maybe the drugs again, the horror dreams aside, it was pretty good. Point being: I want to be bound up and helpless more often. Also you going full master on my ass was so sexy you dont BELIEVE it, especially when you spoke with a kind of lower voice.
I did that? John wondered; he had just acted the part and done what felt natural.
Yes, Undine interrupted in her melodic voice and picked out a few choice memories, let me show you. What followed was a slightly weirdption of clips yed directly into his thoughts from Undines perspective.
There was no visual to it, so, to Johns understanding, the world was pitch ck. However, vibrations in the air and tremors in the ground painted all the pictures he ever needed. The heated breaths of everyone in the room bouncing of their sweaty curves, causing smell and voice to take shape. In a way this kind of seeing was even more arousing than just looking at a naked body. He also heard his own voice, which was just as weird an experience for him as it was for most people, and indeed heard himself dip down a few notes when he was giving orders. It was a fairly substantial change, and it gave his words a bit more authority than they may have otherwise carried.
Ja, okay, it was really good, his girlfriend pulled him back into reality. We did so much stuff together already that I am honestly surprised that you can still invent some things that just make me fall into perverse love with your dick that bit more BUT! I missed my chance to go dance again, Rave puffed up her cheeks, and I REALLY liked that club! No fair, I tell ya!
Why can you only fall into deeper love with my dick? John acted like he was honestly offended.
Cause I already love ya as deep as I can, ya dingus, Rave said and lightly punched his shoulder. Dont try to score sympathy points; Ill be having wet dreams for weeks because of yesterday, but ya still caused me to copse when I wanted to dance.
W-well Gnome shily raised a hand as if she had to be allowed to speak before continuing. As everyone just watched her expectantly, she cleared her throat and whispered to herself, Go on Gnome, you can say it, you can do it, you are as sturdy as a rock! You are a rock! You are THE rock except for the actual Rock of course. But that guy isnt your type, John is your type, so thats not a problem, also he has confidence, be like the Rock! While egging herself on, Gnomes voice went from quiet to normal room level. You can do this!
Uhm, Uwu, s-see, Rave, wuwu she stammered as the first eye-contact she made with anyone, and they werent even looking menacingly, melted that self-assurance away in a second. Y-y-y-y-y-y, she looked over to Eliza whose grin was now revealing her two rows of shining, human teeth in prime condition. The stone elemental knew exactly what that smile meant, that she had been speaking out loud and everyone had heard it. Y-y-y-y-y she sounded like a broken tape as she blushed deeper and deeper only to eventually hide her face under her hands and let out that cute little sound, Uwuwuwuwuwuwu.
John wanted to stand up and pat her on the head; in the absence of Momo someone else had to be on Gnome duty. However, there was someone else who had an idea on how to treat the shivering stone. Stirwin emerged from his essory status on Johns belt and crossed the table in that swaggering run hasted crocodiles made. He stopped in front of Gnome and squeaked.
The stone elemental lowered her hands a bit to look. Sniffing she watched Stirwin as he raised his snout and let out another one of the rubber-duck-esque sounds. Are you trying to cheer me up? A squeak. Thats very nice of you, but I cant d- A disruptive squeak, Stirwin was moving his tail from side to side. Y-you are right, I can do this! This time the squeak seemed to be assuring. R-rave!
Yes? Rave looked more amused than anything; this whole scene was truly weird to behold.
I just wanted to say that you r-really cant expect to go anywhere once you start, uhm, h-having interc-intercourse with John. It always ends with yeah, Gnome stopped there as she was blushing too hard again, twirling one of her pigtails. Stirwin kept squeaking and adjusted the position of his snout. Following that direction, John looked at the door. It seemed like the crocodile had merely smelled the food and wasnt actually interested in cheering up Gnome. John decided to keep that a secret.
I mean, Rave scratched the side of her head and then sighed, yeah, I guess, but am still sad about it.
Well, depending on what that meeting with Amalia entails, we might stay longer, John shrugged. You will get a chance to go back down there then, maybe?
Whacha mean you? Rave asked. Ya better mean we!
If I go back down there, I am getting nowhere near that electro stage again, John announced. I will stick to one of the outer rooms and search for somewhere with one of these circr couches around a table near a stripping pole, bribe someone to have Metra show off and sit there like a total pimp with Aclysia fanning wind at me and Sylph under my arm as I use Eliza as a stool for my feet.
Oh, that sounds fucked up, I love it, Eliza said andughed out loud.
The door to the room opened hesitatingly, and four waiters, after making sure that the maniac cackling didnt belong to something that would rip their intestines out, drove in long wagons stacked with something truly mouth-watering.
Lying on oversized tablets and covered in foods were the four girls that had went off earlier. Aclysia was the first, getting put directly in front of John. She was lying on her back and smiled at her master with minimal movements. On top of hery healthy vegetables, sliced perfectly, and diced cheese. Up next was Sylph, who couldnt keeppletely still and had her legs swing back and forth as sushi was presented in the depression of her spine.
Aclysiay there in a way that was showing as little of her nude form as possible, nipples hidden under decorative leaves, while Sylph just didnt care. Meanwhile, Metra wanted to be seen and thus assumed a position that was her lying on her side, head resting on one hand and one leg angled; they had covered her in sweets, which they had stuck to her body with some sort of sugary solution. It would fall off rather quickly if she moved, but for the moment her tanned abs were quite literally dripping with chocte.
Last, but by no means least, was Smander, who was lying on her chest with her fiery funbags squished out to the sides. On her back, sizzling from the heat her body naturally radiated (unless she dialled it down) were bacon strips and other small pieces of meat.
Okay, I didnt believe ya when ya said this would be a great idea, Rave said. Like, I didnt get it, but now I totally get it. Why arent ya on the table, Eliza? This seems right up your alley.
It totally fucking is, the blood mage said, but I wanted to take a break from being as turned on as a fucking dog in mating season. That was what they had kept calling her yesterday; must have had some impact, and I would not be able to go through the whole cucked day normally after being used as a living fucking te! she announced. And, another thing thats really important, she grabbed one of the eastern style chop-sticks that came with the food, I wouldnt be able to eat anything if I was the fucking te!
John grabbed his own chopsticks and, with an understandable boner, started eating as three of the waiters retreated and thest one stayed to exin where they could find the bath and bedroom once they were done in case they needed to relieve themselves.
You are such a bore though, Metrained towards John, as Gnome hesitatingly took a strawberry off Aclysia and dragged it over the chocte sauce that was covering the berserker babe. The stone elemental did all of this while blushing on her own; her movements were slow because she was having a bit of trouble handling the new eating utensil. Understandably, they didnt use forks and knives in a restaurant that was all about eating off other people. However, chop-sticks werent that difficult if one held them correctly (and had superhuman Agility). If we did this publicly, way more people could stare at me and be envious!
Yeah, but here is the kicker of that: YOU enjoy being seen naked because it makes you feel superior, John told her. Most of the other girls here dont or at least I dont want them to be seen. I dont even want people to see you undressed, but you get enjoyment out of it, so I let it slide.
Bore, just as I said, Metra dered dipping a finger into the chocte sauce and licking it off. Blu?rgh, way to sweet, where is the spicy stuff?
No idea, but I will have to fight for some meat from Smander before Eliza eats it all, John said and got off his chair to walk the few step to reach the fire elemental. Still surprised you wanted to do this afterining about being used as a heater repeatedly.
Sounded interesting, Smander defended herself with an uncaring attitude; she shrugged and caused series of sizzling sounds as the meat on her back shifted a little. Also I can now rub it into Nathalias face that you ate steak of me first, that will be fun! she giggled to herself.
John answered with his own low-keyughter. He still wondered about Nathalias decision, he understood it, but it just seemed weird for the dragoness to go that far. Was that apliment about how earnest she took this rtionship? In his mind, he allowed himself to be optimistic here, the answer was yes.
Smander blew hot air out of her nose, Just ignore your granny boner for a few months and do some awesome shit and you will have her back, and you will have my fire lighted, doesnt that sound great? That shone light on another thing John was wondering about, the fact that Smander didnt love him. Spoken out loud that sounded incredibly narcissistic, but it wasnt like it wasnt a mystery anyways. All of his other elementals loved him in their unique little ways, and it wasnt like Smander wasnt into him, at least after he had taken her lesson on enjoying a good fight. Yet, her rtionship score was endlessly pending between 95 and 99, never crossing that magical 100 of love.
When he opened his mouth to ask her about that, he felt her prodding into his mind in a way that seemed to imitate a safe channel between just the two of them. Lets not talk about my feelings right now, I wille to you with it soon enough, she told him, winking with one of her charcoal coloured eyes. Dont worry, I wont blow a fuse like Undine A momentter she realized she had made an idental pun, Heh, blowing a fuse, because I am a fire elemental, ssic.
John was a bit sceptical; the named water elemental had caused him to take such insurance with a grain of salt, but Smander, the pyromaniac, battle-lusting, ze elemental was (ironically) more stable than Undine had been. So he just nodded, decided to give this some more thought, snatched a few pieces of bacon from her smooth, oil covered back and then proceeded to eat.
Chapter 375 – Always with the questions
Chapter 375 C Always with the questions
Huh, this is pretty impressive, John said out loud as he stood in front of the local government building. It wasnt exactly the design that stood out; sure, it looked good, but it was yet another pce-like building of huge proportions. Build in the style of the baroque era, it had a circr main building with two arms stretching outwards and then angling sharpy inwards to form a rectangr shaped court.
The impressive part was that this court wasnt a wide garden or anything even of the sort. It was water and directly connected with the ocean, with piers upon piers. It wasnt the main part of the port, but they nevertheless had built their governance right into the sea, a decorated bridge leading over a five-metre-wide gap between where John stood and the main entrance of the building. He only even saw the piers and everything thanks to Jack pping his wings above. Having two perspectives at times like these was truly helpful, gave him a better scope at what size of a building he was actually entering.
The arms even end in dockyards, he told Rave, who gave him the kind of face that didnt even try to act interested.
Nobody fucking cares abo- Eliza started to voice the general opinion, but she, and everyone else, jumped as a quiet and monotone sound interrupted her.
I like boats, the pariahs voice seemed toe from nowhere and had everyone search for her. They finally found her by looking over the side of the bridge, finding her standing in the (apparently pretty shallow) waters underneath. Boats bring one close to seals. Seals are dogs in the water. I like dogs.
You are so FUCKING creepy, Eliza screamed at Nia who just tilted her head questioningly. The long skirt of her uncoloured dress moved underwater exactly as it did onnd, as did her hair although it had gotten kind of wet.
John spared himself the question whether or not she was cold. The voluminous gold of her top hair not clinging to her head from the wetness of the early-year ocean waters was a testimony to the fact that the nk had never been bothered by the cold. Which instantly caused John regret as the phrase together with Nias somewhat Elsa-ish haircut put the damned song right into his head.
Let it go, Eliza, he said and instantly hated himself, closing his eyes as if he had a sudden headache for a second as he wanted to get his mind somewhere else. We are going inside, want toe with us or keep standing in the water?
The answer came in the form of Nia jumping up several metres,nding with one bare foot on the railing before taking a gracilest dive from there down to the ground. Sure, she said afterwards.
Do we have to get Smander to dry you up, Metra raised an eyebrow at the dripping nk, John instantly feeling the ze elemental readying ain upon that suggestion, or will you do the usual nk thing?
Dont know if Nia started the sentence, looked around, walked away with long steps, grabbed her white leather bag which she had hung on a nearbyntern, and then returned with the Unsure card in her hand, if that is the usual thing, but I can do this.
This was the fact that all of the mud on her bare feet and whatever water had been wetting her skin was falling off her. Because of the off-reality drifting nature of nks, materials had no cohesion whatsoever to her skin if they dipped even a little bit into the Nirvana, which Nia now shifted towards a little bit more, to the point that she started to be slightly translucent. Not that she usually was all the way on this side, the only times John could think of where Nia waspletely on this side was when they were having sex.
Anyway, she was dry now. What are we doing? Nia asked as they marched over the bridge. John couldnt help but note that it was way too narrow to be worthy of a walk-up for a government building. That indicated that most people entered by boat, and the amount of people that rather used the channels than the streets reinforced that idea.
Well, to give you the gist of it, John told her how they had met the Dutch leader in the club yesterday and that he had called her after a very thorough breakfast only to be asked to visit her in the headquarters of the NTC. Apparently, what she wanted to talk about would be better seen in person. Half of John really hoped she meant her tits by that, the other half was genuinely curious.
Are you going to try and sleep with her? Nia asked with her head tilted in that questioning way that was the most obvious of the few physical clues one had for current mood. As always with the nk her question was threefold: blunt, na?ve and cutely honest.
Try? No. Do it if I think I have to give nothing in return? Totally, John answered. This isnt Lydia, I dont n to stay here for months, so I dont n to build even a basic friendship. Just having a connection with one of thergest trading guilds on the sounds like a good idea By the way, Jane, his girlfriend looked into his direction at the mention of her name, has your mother mentioned yet what they are going to do regarding her quote unquote failure?
He had a personal interest in that topic. A previous idea had been to be the Hollmey ns new guarantee. Of course, Eliza, who had been around when he discussed this with Rave, had suggested the name sugar daddy. For that crime against decency, John had her hang out with Sylph for the rest of the day, one of the few times he ACTUALLY tortured the heavy masochist. The word daddy was an anathema to Johns kinks.
Anyway, he had not only an interest in protecting hot Asians but also in protecting what was basically guaranteed to be his extended family down the line. Actually, he should probably ask about that; he had heard it said that If you are wondering about the answer when you propose, you shouldnt propose. John realized that he was still 18 for a moment, but Rave stuck her voice into the shock process.
Ah, no, she doesnt really talk a lot about herself and makes it all about me, ya know, like she always does, Rave rolled her eyes, but I am gonna ask her. Want to at least know what happens to granny and grand daddy.
Uhm, sure, yes, John was barely listening as he was wrestling with the realization of the fact that he was truthfully contemting marrying this girl right now. Sure, they were in love and everything and it all worked and everything and they were happy and everything and she had a nice ass and everything, but Come on, I am 18 but its JANE, what am I thinking about?
Ya okay there, tiger? Rave stopped and stepped right into his path and pushed her face up to his with a wide grin on her face, as if she knew what he was thinking about. How? Nothing against his girlfriend but she was not the smartest cookie. Ya usually dont stutter these days, she giggled. Not like the early days, ya know, like when you saw me naked for the first time and ya were all blushy and stuff? While still trying to look at mydy bits?
I was wondering if you had pink hair down there too, John defended himself in the gigantic entrance hall of the building where the sheer volume of space made their corner fairly isted. A very reasonable question!
What question are ya pondering about right now, though, tiger? Rave wondered and got that little bit closer, pushing him against a pir he hadnt even realized was there. Right hand resting next to his head on said marble rectangle work of masonry, it almost seemed like John was getting mugged here. A penny for your thoughts, I know I aint the best at solving whatever your super-brain churns out, but I can at least try to help ya.
Well, little did she know that only she could answer this question. However, now that John was in a situation where he was practically being forced into some kind of answer, his consciousness whispered to him one little question.
Food? No, that wasnt his consciousness, that was a certain light crocodile, who was hungry again.
Why not marry her? and he had no answer to the negative aside from the fact that he would like her breasts to be one cup-size bigger and for someone to fix her sleeping habits and actually he could think of a lot of little annoying things she did. But he also didnt mind any of those because she was just she was just the fun and colour in his life right now. He didnt need her to function properly, but at the same time he couldnt imagine how it would be to live without her at his point.
Proposing here and now felt royally wrong, however, so he worded his next question very carefully. Well he begun, and something in his tone must have had Rave listen very intently, as the smile on her face became an earnest expression. I was just wondering if, like, someday in the future, I would ask you he cleared his throat. If the stars align and the situation is just right and something something I dont know just if I were to ask you if you would even a proposal of the proposal was hard to voice, if you would marry me, would you say yes?
Rave looked at him with disbelieving eyes for one terrible second before she answered in no uncertain terms, Of course, ya dingus, I would say ex-act-ly that. Why would ya even need to ask that? John actually felt like he was going to faint there for a moment from the sheer relief. Getting supported by his girlfriend through a gentle kiss, he found control over his feet return in the warmth of her lips. Ya always think for both of us, dont ya?
Sorry, I like to overthink a lot, but thats what I have you for, John said and kissed her again, but seriously, how can you just give an answer to something that important that quickly?
Cause I just feel that its right and that you cant quit me anyway, so if pushes to shove, I will just use ya as my personal piggy bank, Rave dered.
Heughed in a yfully offended manner, Wow! You know what? I think YOU cant quit ME actually, so in the worst case, I will just make you sex ve number 1.
And how do I lose there, mister wonderdick? She booped him on the nose.
You will fucking lose because I am about to literally vomit on the fucking carpet from the amount of sweet shit youre ripping about, Eliza shouted at them and reminded them that they werent quite alone.
Aclysia was standing there like usual, with the difference that she was clutching her mithril salver like she would be able to physically strangle her jealousy right now. I am happy for you two, she announced with a smile that was so well acted that John almost didnt see the danger behind it. He blinked rapidly when he found that Aclysia was currently erecting some very strong walls around one corner of her normallypletely open mind. She was up to something, but John was almost certain he would like it. Almost.
Nia was just looking at her dress and then back at John. I am not getting married to you, she announced in her empty voice. That line could be interpreted in so many ways; she didnt even use a card to help. John just hoped she meant it was too early or something.
Mhm, we gonna sort out how the harem and the marriage will work out overdy talk, Rave promised the present girls, which at the very least caused Aclysia to have a very apparent physical reaction of stashing her salver away again. A very important reaction, seeing how that thing was also a very expensive and sharp dagger.
You people get side-tracked every 22 seconds, Metra told them, bncing her halberd on the tip of her index finger out of boredom. Just do what every good emperor did and take as many wives as you damn well please. No need to make a fuss.
Oh fuck off, you want to be in that as well! Eliza said.
As a matter of fact, I dont. I am married to the job as Metracana, so go f yourself, you shrieking shrimp, the berserker babe said.
Okay, okay,dies, Smander suddenly spawned in the air as the word duel was about to go into its seventieth round, before you go at each other boxing with insults again, how about you just fuck?
Shut the fuck up, Sally! Eliza shouted at her.
ONLY SYLPH CALLS ME THAT, AND I HATE THAT NAME, LIZ!
Do not, Rave said in a grave voice, call her Liz. Just dont. I want to, in no way ever, think of Eliza and my sister in the same sentence.
John sighed in honest relief as his worry-loaded question devolved into the usual group banter. It was nice to see that they were the same chaotic bunch as always.
Chapter 376 – Air or Sea, what will it be?
Chapter 376 C Air or Sea, what will it be?
I am so d that you could make it! said the elector of the Nethends, Amalia, as she jumped out of her seat behind her desk, her big breasts jiggling in a way that immediately drew attention to the fact that she wasnt wearing a bra. She took leaping steps around the table and
John raised his hand. Okay, that enthusiasm is so obviously fake I wont fall for it, he announced and looked at the way she was dressed today, which was a usual suit with a tight, but not overly short or sexy skirt (unless one got the hots for that kind of uniform, which John kind of did). There is no way any woman of your position is this easy.
Well, arent you a clever one, she immediately dropped the act and sat on the edge of her table. Here I thought Lydia got you over to her side because you were young and inexperienced. Her brown eyes looked at him with curiosity.
I got marily indebted to her on my own terms, lets leave it at that, John threw her that tiny bit of information nonchntly. If she did do anything nderous with it, he would just crack down on her like a sledgehammer. Fact was that he would be powerful enough to do so; there was no doubt about that in his own mind anymore since he had taken a whole contingent of fighters in a war between two of the strongest factions on the.
Amalia probably understood all of that without John needing toy it out; she looked young for her age, but she still appeared to be around 40. At that age and in her position, she must have been aware of what she could and could not get away with, and using one sentence in a private conversation to nder her new head of government was most definitely not it.
So you obviously want something, the Gamer said. What is it?
Cutting straight to the chase, are you? Too bad for you, that isnt really my style, Amalia smirked and got moving again, gesturing at a circr elevator door that was part of her baroque style bureau (plus all theforts and needs of modern technology). Let me show you around a bit.
John raised an eyebrow butplied, not like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. Right now, he was as free as a man could be. Gesturing for her to take the lead, he, without any care or shame, checked out her ass. He found it to be on the tter side of things, which greatly diminished his interest in sleeping with this woman as he was, most definitely, an ass man.
They entered the elevator and started descending. It was a bit crowded as that one clearly wasnt made to hold John and his whole addition of other girls. John looked with interest out of the shaft, as one side of it was made from ss and allowed an easy look at the piers in the courtyard. This angle is much more awe-inspiring than birds eye view, he thought as he looked at all the boats, some as small as canoes, others gigantic cruise ships that rivalled or even surpassed Johns imagination of the Titanic. All of them (yes, even the canoes) were engineered not with gasoline but mana in mind, which led to some very interesting and unique looks. John found it to be a mixture of wacky futurism pictures from the 90s and steampunk. Funny, in some respect, but mostly very interesting to behold.
After reaching the bottom, they stepped right onto the broad walkway that was the outer rim to which all of these piers were attached. John looked at the government officials taking note of which wares were brought in and who they came from before writing permits to sell in the city or buying and taking them into stock themselves.
Do you know the history of the Nethends? Amalia asked, as they walked together. It was an unspoken disy of the respect of her people that, miraculously, they could just go straight ahead without being blocked once by anything. Everyone just got out of their way as soon as they noticed her.
Just going to assume you mean THESE Nethends, John answered, and not the real one.
To me this is very much the real one, Amalia answered. The one you refer to is but a shallow urbanized statepared to my guild. Terminology aside, however, yes I mean these Nethends.
In that case, next to nothing, basically only what happened post the second world war, John informed her and then listened as he was given the rundown.
The Nethends started as a total of four different provinces of the empire, all of them internally divided. Unlike in the more central provinces, the guilds C or more aptly called warbands C in the distant fringes from back then werent consolidated but only loosely pacified. That left them in a state where they werent allowed to keep fighting each other without facing devastation at the hands of the upying forces for breaching the peace.
With nothing else to do, these - now former C warbands took topeting in other ways, mainly crafting. Over the next hundreds, even thousands, of years, what happened slowly was that the small guilds swallowed each other. They did so due to internal power, some guilds just got richer than others, and external pressure. The Abyssal Auction with its origins on the silk road and, wayter, the Hanseatic Trading Company were the mainpetitors of what eventually became a single entity with the name of the NTC.
With that much money umted in a single provincial guild, we were able to bribe the stagnant bureaucrats of the greater empire into allowing us to make some reforms as long as they stayed internal, which ended with the modern, fairly federal, government underneath twoyers of monarchy, Amalia ended the summary, and then the Nazis plundered our city and took off with our trade and war fleet.
Well, it seems that you are doing a pretty good job rebuilding, John said looking at a white yacht with blue tinted windows which darkened automatically when the guy inside (who looked like he had just sold the Mona Lisa and gotten an equivalent stack of cash) yfully pushed the girl he was inside there with. Now John wanted one of those. What do these cost?
About three billion, Amalia told him, for the smaller models, that is.
The Gamer made a sound as if somebody had punched him in the gut, that would be a lot of grinding, and the smaller models looked like there was only enough room for like 4 people. If he didnt go for at least 10, that would be a major mobility problem.
We are happy to negotiate whenever you get the money to buy one of our boats. While other guilds also produce Abyssal ships, none do it as well as we do, she now was all business person; the suggestive act had been for the kind of young, perverted and easy to manipte guy John thankfully wasnt. Although I do have to warn you that you wont be able to sail one of the uncamouged models anywhere unless you go through the Fateweaver courses to maintain the mobile barrier. You would just be stuck in the emergency barrier these things erect around themselves and eventually vanish in if left alone. You know, safety precautions to not get Gaias ire.
I dont think that will be a big problem, John said, although he had to wonder whether getting a high level in the I.D. skills would be enough or if he needed a higher level in the actual ss. But I dont think you brought me here to advertise boats.
I would be lying if I said that wasnt part of the reason, Amalia answered bluntly, having figured that this was the best way to talk to him, apparently. But no, I wanted to make you another offer. We are almost there.
They had walked all the way to the far end of the piers, where the arms of buildings ended and met the oceans. The air wasnt quite as salty as John imagined when standing next to the ocean, probably thanks to the cold weather and the fact that Amsterdam wasnt directly on the ocean but instead a ratherrge bay.
John had his sparrownd on his shoulder, and then they were guided back into the building, which was actually rather easy since this end part was basically an open area with a giant ceiling overhead. They passed through the giant pirs and the metal constructions that were used by workers to reach higher ces on tall buildings and simr things until they eventually arrived where Amalia wanted them.
John looked at the underside of the boat in front of him. They were standing at the side of a shipbuilding yard, and from the fact that the scaffolds were taken down all around him, it seemed that the thing in front of John had recently beenpleted.
Having grown up in a city by a river, it wasnt like John had never seen a boat. As a matter of fact, his parents had once taken him out to see a particr big container ship cruise by. Big for their river, that was. The fact that he knew at least a little bit about these things made the thing in front of him look even more impressive.
It was hard to estimate length from this close, so John sent Jack flying out as he looked at the details. It was a cruise ship and a monster of one. Over two dozen rows of ss windows and balconies stretched over the size of the typical naval white painted thing. The bow and hull, in other words the parts of the ship that would be underwater, were painted ck by contrast.
It was a marvel of engineering and design. Perfectly curved windows made up a ss ceiling above, what John presumed to be, a restaurant. The bridge grew seamlessly out of the upper deck, overlooking everything and equipped with antennae and other receivers that appeared to be put in ce so well that it seemed like someone wanted them there rather than having to incorporate them out of necessity. The VIP area was made up of two crescent shaped apartments that were stacked onto the back part of the ship and one of two pools (the bigger one was for public usage while the smaller one was effectively fenced off by lying about one and a half metres higher and an actual railing). In between the two VIP apartments was a circr, softly nted backwards outgrowth that John couldnt quite ce.
The whole ship must have been around five hundred metres long. Not that John needed to guess much more about the measurements as Amalia, happy with everyones state of awe (except for Eliza who was yawning at the whole thing), started speaking about the ship in the tone of someone who really wanted to sell something.
This is the first of the new generation of ships, aptly called the Nedend-ss. Its the biggest ship of the real and Abyssal world at roughly 550 metres length, 100 metres height and 120 metres width. Its propelled by a Mark 32 magic engine, consuming about 60000 Maybel an hour. It will take its maiden voyage from here to New York, a seven-day trip.
That actually wasnt that bad, especially whenpared to Phi- the iron giant that John had travelled in a few weeks ago. I guess a simple propent is way cheaper to maintain than moving something with as many joints as a human body, he thought, making some quick calctions. So, 60000 an hour means 1000 a minute means 16,67 MP per second I could almost maintain that things movement on my own. Thats crazy, I am bullshit.
There has to be a bunch of mana batteries stored up on that thing to maintain that, John said. Must be very expensive. He didnt let on what he had just calcted. Not even including the living costs.
Someone who is maintaining six elementals and three artificial spirits should know all about expensive mana costs, Amalia said. Although it seems you have ditched one.
Tw- John was about to correct her on the initial number of artificial spirits he had but then realized that doing so would have been pretty stupid. Metracanas were widely unknown, even if the word was probably circting a lot now thanks to Metras appearance in the boxing ring yesterday. The fact that the thing happened, and Amalia had undoubtedly heard of it, but the elector of the Nethends was still unaware of her mistake led on that it was something John could keep in hiding for a bit longer without much effort on his part. Twould be more urate to say she ditched me, but sure, he acted like his earlier beginning was just a bit of a slur. But why are you showing all of this to us?
I would like to offer you a ride in the VIP apartment, just you and nobody else in the whole thing, for the maiden voyage of this, our newest jewel, the Rising Tide.
Okay but why? John had to ask; there was no way this came for ACTUAL free. I was nning on just flying back home, would be way quicker.
And way less interesting, Amalia told him, something that especially Rave seemed to agree with. I will tell you my three reasons. Number one, this is a maiden voyage, and while we should have packed enough fuel and mana-spenders to keep this thing running, we dont know for sure, so having someone bordering on arch-mage on board would create a good security, Amalia told him straight out.
That first point made sense, even more than she probably knew from what John had calcted. I see, he pondered about it for a second and then decided to inform her about the math, in broad terms. I will pay honesty with honesty, I could maintain the engine on my own for an extended period in case of emergency. I am just going to assume that I can reach it through that cylinder? he pointed at the nted thing he couldnt make sense of earlier.
No and yes, thats just the VIP entrance into the inside of the ship so you dont have to share corridors with the lower bookers, Amalia said, but it can lead you downwards into the secured areas if we give you ess.
I see. John had to wonder why it was designed the way it was if it was just some kind of elevator. It didnt look bad, but there was no reason why it had to be the second highest point of the ship (after the bridge) from what John could make out. Lets hear the other two reasons then.
Number two is that you are obviously strong and in good graces with my head of state, so getting on your good side cant leave me weaker than before, Amalia said. And for the third and final reason she was searching for words.
You are afraid that someone will sabotage this whole thing, arent you? John asked. It was the logical conclusion. This is you and your guild showing off; there have to be some people who want to humiliate you by making it seem like this is a faulty product.
No, actually, Amalia said to Johns surprise, I have full confidence in our security measures to prevent anything that would look like its our fault when something explodes. In other words: something may explode, but as long as we can put the me on the responsible people, its not really a blow to OUR reputation. However, the cruise will cross over the Antic Fuse.
Antic Fuse? John asked; he had never heard of that. Amalia looked at him like she just found out he had been reced by a Doppelganger and was now trying to sell her paperclips for 4,99$ a piece. Sorry, I havent even been in the Abyss for a year, cant know everything.
Sure? Amalia said, still eying him up with minor ridicule. Do you at least know what leylines are?
That at the very least he was aware of. Leylines were streams of magic around which naturally urring Illusion Barriers were much moremon. It was where the majority of magical energy held by normal people went, as even those not part of the Abyss were producing so called Faith from their emotions and thoughts. Interestingly enough, leylines converged in Sicily, something that John, who now knew that the World Soul existed as a physical object, doubted was a coincidence.
While mostnd leylines go through gaps between poption centres rather than naturalndmarks, Amalia went with her exnation from there, these spanning the oceans converge in the gaps between tectonic tes. They then continue to stream towards the Mediterranean from there.
Now John couldnt quite help himself but wonder why Remus chose that as his outline for the delivery routes of the worlds faith. If he even chose that in the first ce, maybe it was actually a natural urrence following the creation of the World Soul?
So, the Antic Fuse is where the North American, Eurasian and African tes meet? John asked. Can imagine that being a whole lot of power flowing around.
A whole lot of unusable power, Amalia confirmed, but its spectacr to look at, that much I can tell you. Problem is there will be lots of monsters around there, so I was just going to ask you to help out in case something of a hurricane level forms there. We send scouts, but one can never be too cautious around that part of the world.
Sure, John answered; he would do that without being asked. Monsters that were left inside Illusion Barriers for too long eventually absorbed so much power from the emotions of the people around them that they did something to the real world. Usually an earthquake or a streak of particrly nasty politicians or the local gold mine suddenly having a whole new and rich vein just one metre outside of the old tunnels. Things that didnt look entirely unnatural but definitely had to do with some meddling by the Abyss. That, in turn, caused them to be wiped out by Gaiasws and thus the cycle began anew.
The beneficial kinds of monsters were much lessmon than their nasty counterparts, and with no way to really tell beforehand, they were hunted by the Abyss all over the globe. It helped that these monsters were real in some sense, so they could be skinned and eaten or whatever else could be done with monster corpses.
Of course, they were exceedingly rare were there wasnt a leyline. Much moremon were barriers just filled with lingering regrets that could only really be absorbed as a power source. The third way was to be somewhat good at Fateweaving and just creating ones own barriers with monsters inside, but those were basically phantoms of phantoms, so they dropped nothing aside from a good workout.
Unless your title was The Gamer and you had cheat powers.
Anyway, thats not what I should be thinking about right now, John reprimanded himself. We will have to talk this out before we decide, he told Amalia.
The blonde nodded and waited in ce as John and his group isted themselves.
Chapter 377 – So?
Chapter 377 C So?
What the fuck are we even going to be talking about? Eliza wanted to know. Obviously we are taking the boat, you cocksuckers. nes suck and its not like we are in any hurry.
I agree to that, Metra said. Flying was nice, now I want to experience what this oversized ship is up to. I did not know the Europeans made them out of metal and this gigantic by now.
You are all thinking this is going to be way better than it is just because it is a big boat. Do I have to remind you that it is WINTER? John raised a valid point. Rxing by the pool while we live it up is not really in the cards, unless you are into running into the apartment with a wet body. All it would be, would be 4 days of stationary boredom with one sightseeing followed by 3 days of stationary boredom.
Rave hummed, Stationary boredom being us having sex on every surface of the apartment. The continued humming evolved into a little tune and minor beatboxing as she thought. Okay, wait a sec. She stepped out of the circle of discussion and went back to Amalia. They exchanged a few words, then she was handed a pamphlet, and Rave returned with it. HEATED mobile barrier, experience a cruise like its summer today! she read out loud. And with that, I am sold, I am absolutely sick of this cold.
One week of summer does sound nice, John admitted. Okay, so the cruise itself would be good. Then the next counterargument: do we want to risk fighting sea monsters?
Why the fuck are you even asking? Ja, duh! I just want to fight something. I will protect you, Master, where does not matter. Can we try patting them instead?
Okay, so we are unteral on yes for fighting sea monsters, he concluded after looking around his eager harem, because that sounds fun and I want to see how much experience I can get out of it. What are you guys opinion on all of this? he asked inwardly.
Fuck being on the open sea, but fuck yeah murdering something that is actually real instead of from your stupid creation abilities, Smander dered immediately.
Undine thought about the question for a moment before answering, I like the idea. Wonder if I can take a swim? The ocean elemental was obviously not talking about the pool with that question.
We can test it, worst case you just go incorporeal, John promised.
I think we should go, Gnome said. I-I want to see that Antic Fuse, i-if that is alright with you. Typically for the stone elemental, she thought she was being a bit of a burden even though they were going to do what she wanted to do anyway. John sent her some positive emotions together with a mental head pat.
We should go, go, go on the boat, ride it down the streaaaaaaaaam, Sylph dered and then popped up in the middle of their circle to spread her song to everyone. merely, merely, merely, Johns dick is a dream! Go, go, go on the bo-waaaaaaah!
She was suddenly interrupted by tentacles made from shadows and dark misting out of Johns shade and enclosing her in a sound stopping bubble. This girl and her singing is getting on my nerves, Siena hissed, rising out of her dwelling ce to grab the bubble between her sharply wed fingers. She does it when I practice too.
Oh yeah, I should probably listen to you y again sometime soon, John said in an apologetic tone. I only remember the very start of it, then memory bes akin to swiss cheese, sorry.
Id rather not, Siena answered, her purple skin bing a shade darker.
Are ya blushing? Rave wanted to know. W-ooo-w, I didnt think ya could do that.
The nightmare elemental just clicked her tongue, I wouldnt have yed the violin if I hadnt been intoxicated, but I will y you like a fiddle and get all sorts of sounds out of you, mistress.
Do not further sully these sacred words with your sarcastic tongue! Aclysia demanded, earning herself a smirking shrug from Siena before she dropped back into the shadows.
For the record, I am all for an adventure where you all can die by falling into the deepest depths of the ocean, Siena said andughed in a held back and deeply sadistic way. Just because she was a member of the group now, and saw herself as such, didnt mean thatments like these were gone. They had just changed from an earnest wish to very, very crude humour.
Food, was thest contribution to this discussion,ing from the crocodile hatchling currently residing on Johns belt in his item form. Evidently, Copernicus, in his own item form as a copper coloured wristband, had nothing to add.
So we have 10 votes for yes, 1 for patting them, 1 for I want food and one who is a cat and doesnt care, John summarized. Anyone has anything to add? This was negated by a short series ofments or shaken heads, and then they went back to Amalia. We are going.
Great! the elector said and pped her hands together, its a deal then! We are letting this thing to waterter today and are sailing off at 11 oclock tomorrow.
That seems like a pretty rushed n, Johnmented. Shouldnt you test if it even floats before cruising it off?
This thing has been sitting there for over a month because we waited for the tournament to be over, Amalia exined. We have been doing the testing already. The only reason the scaffolds were up was so we could clean it properly.
I see, well then is it possible to board when its been let to water already or do we have to find a ce to stay tonight? Before he could receive an answer to that question, Rave pulled him by the sleeve and smiled at him.
Unnecessary question, tiger. I know ex-act-ly where we are going to stay tonight,
You again?! Barend barked at John and his group when they entered through the door.
Hey, at least we stood in line this time, the Gamer answered and withdrew another stack of money from his inventory, which the bear-man took from the counter. I am going down to seven figures at this pace, John thought, looking at his financial situation.
Seems like the first thing I will have to concentrate on when I am back in America is grinding out money, he reconciled with his situation. He wouldnt be able to do that on the boat, because he didnt have a skill allowing him to create barriers within barriers. Seeing how only people around Magois level could do that and only if they set the barriers up themselves, it had to be pretty far down the Fateweaver ss. I mean it has to be another Game Breaking skill if I can do something not even a High Fateweaver can do, and I am not investing that deep.
He also noted the new addition to the quest rewards, which previously had been three question marks. Sadly, he had no idea if 1000 Room Slots were a lot, as he didnt know how much the higher tiers of his guild hall would add in the first ce.
Fine, whatever, grumbled Barend once he was done counting the money. But dont cause another ruckus! I have enough violent drunks and crazed druggeds without you!
Hey, I am just sticking to somewhere in the outer areas, John exined, gaining himself a grateful nod, and then they went to check what room they had gotten this time. While the answer was one that looked exactly like thest one, it also was further down the hallway. Overall nothing toin about in more than one quick sentence though.
The moment the door closed behind them, Rave picked up her boyfriend. What the hell are you doing?! John wanted to know, not particrly happy with being handled like he handled some of his girls. Difference was that they liked it.
He was persuaded, however, after being thrown onto the mattress and having his girlfriends lips press on his as she unbuttoned his shirt, that this wasnt all that bad. I am not having another quickie room situation! Rave dered, quickly unbuckling his pants and massaging his cock until it was fully erect. You are going to get milked until ya feel like you are dry! Girls, form a line, we are taking turns!
What about not wanting to leak while dancing? John asked; that had been her reasoning for not wanting him inside herst time.
I will take a very thorough bath in the jacuzzi after this, she dered, aligning her wetting pussy with his hard cock and then sinking downwards. After about a minute of being ridden, John attempted to take control of the situation by rolling her under him. However, he was held down by Raves incredibly strong arms. Her Strength was above his after all, so, at least in close-up physical situations like this, she was his superior still.
It was interesting to see the new Observe in full effect, with both Intellect and Wisdom gone and the new Intelligence stat being considerably lower as Mana and Spellpower were moved from the calction and ced on their own pedestals. Gaia had been right, the different stats made it a bit awkward in design, but it allowed for a better assessment all around.
His appreciation and general thoughts about the good and bad things in this new system were cut short by Source of Satisfactions Libido surprising passive switching around to the Libido buff during intercourse. That effectively raised it from 25 (the lowest amount it could be debuffed too) to 48.
The switch was signified by a spike in his sensitivity, and he moaned a bit as Rave kept riding him. Ya arent always going to be in charge, tiger, Rave said and grinned from above. We girls like taking control every now and again.
I dont, fuck that! Eliza shouted in from the background. I am sure Aclysia is with me here, right? Traitorous silence ensued, the weaponized maid averting her eyes. No fucking way, the blood mage looked at the quietly blushing artificial guardian and got right up into her face as John was taking his fate with grace and just kept lying there. Not like having one''s cock ridden by a beautiful half-japanese with an athletic body was something anyone wouldin about. He did listen to the conversation between Eliza and Aclysia though.
I have to admit, the white-haired reincarnation of cosy carefully said, that the thought of taking control every now and again is pleasant. I have done it before. She was alluding to that one time they had sex in the shower after his victory against Mario in the tournament. While he was kind of torn whether or not Aclysia taking away his lead but still doing everything in order to please him was truly taking control and not just a different vour of submissive y (the correct answer was probably a mixture of both), Eliza was missing that context.
Okay, so you want to ram your cock up his ass or what? the insane girl said in her usual blunt manner and then startedughing out loud. Fuck, I would love to see that face. At the sound of those words, John felt his dick bing slightly limp.
NO! Aclysias denial was verbose. I do not, in the slightest, wish to create any difort in my masters mood, and his evidently heterosexual orientation means that me performing a pration of his behind, a generally very homo-erotic action, especially if performed with a literal dick, would be going against my goal, thoroughly so.
Ja, its bad enough that I am riding rope now, Raveined and bowed down to John. Hey, tiger, dont mind what the silly sub-ve said, okay? She just wants to get you irritated so you spank her.
Damn straight I do, Eliza put one hand against the wall and stretched out her backside while pulling up her ck robe. The blueish tint of her white skin came into view, first in the shape of her thick thighs and then with her rounded bootie. It contrasted with the ckness of her leather thong, which dug into the trench and left very little to be imagined. Look at this fucking ass, who wouldnt want to spank that SHIT!
Her sudden scream came from Metra performing exactly the teased act with enough upper body strength to create a hand shaped, centimetres deep dent in the hull of a car. This is a nice variety of punching bag, Metra dered.
The fuck are you do- FUCK! Eliza firstined and then shouted out lustfully as she was pped again just as hard. Knees buckling as wetness began to soak into her thong, the blood mage looked over her shoulder to see the berserker babe raise her hand again. You are such a fucking bitch I swear to fuck I will rip your tincan shit brain right out of your skull and make letter openers out of the sc-OH MY COCKBISCUIiiiiiiTS!
The third p caused Eliza to scream out as a minor orgasm washed over her and she copsed on the floor. One less girl in the line in front of me, Metra dered with a wide grin, stepping on Elizas face like nobody who wasnt indecently close to her would ever dare to. I fucking hate waiting, makes me angry.
It was at that moment John came the first time, Rave got up and into the shower, Aclysia took her ce. This is for the best, Master, the weaponized maid ensured as she also kept him lying in the sheets and rode him.
Chapter 378 – On the streets of Amsterdam
Chapter 378 C On the streets of Amsterdam
What did we even do all that for if you are going out instead of down with me? Rave asked as she put on her leggings. The question how she managed to move freely in pants that were so tight that she visibly struggled to get them over her supermodel legs and, the way greater hindrance, spectacr butt was answered by magical cloth. It still remained one John wasnt exactly able to wrap his brain around. How could so much sexy even be contained?
It was like some glorious genius hadbined yoga-pants and leggings. Praise be upon him or her. Adding to that outfit were her usual pink sneakers (a.k.a. her battle suit in minimized form) and a skimpy top. Changing from the usual form, however, was the fact that she had put on her brte, brown-eyed camouge from. She didnt want to be recognized, and that should have done the trick, especially in a club with frantic movements and shing lights.
I am being captain obvious before I answer that and tell you that you look beautiful, John said and let his hand slide through the silky hair. Also, you always call this an illusion, but isnt it more like shapeshifting?
Ja, nope, perhaps? Rave shrugged. My eyes are definitely just an illusion, and I am pretty sure that the hair would stay brown even if you pluck it out dont try or else! That was aimed at a slowly, but not at all quietly, approaching Sylph who then turned tail. So, shapeshifting maybe? Its only that great at it because its directly in my body anyway. She stuck out her tongue and presented the little metal ball on top.
How the fuck does this work then? Eliza wanted to know and raised her scarf. Unlike anything else she picked up, she handled the soft fabric with more care than what was needed.
Well, you only change colours, so I guess just illusions are good enough, John told her. Meaning that you wouldnt need to go as far as making it part of your body as nothing about your body actually changes.
Right, magic is fucking weird, but that makes sense, the blood mage said and dropped it again. Anyway, what were you two, as the parasitic fuck-unit, on about? Something about not going into that super loud shithole again?
Right, yeah, I want to look at actual Amsterdam while I am here, John said. He wasnt one big on travelling and sightseeing, he would much prefer just sitting in the hotel room and ying video games or doing the other thing he was really good at. However, the room, asfortable as it was, was clearly just meant to be rxed in in between sessions of dancing or something else, as it had no table and gaming on bed with hisptop on hisp wasnt thatfortable. Might as well, he presented his reasoning.
I will dly apany you, Master, Aclysia said. The elementals, save Gnome who loved the idea of looking around, decided to stay in the room or go down into the club with Rave and Metra. Eliza and Nia went with John instead, so their group split again.
Mhm, John hummed, after they appeared in the real world. Looking around he was halfway impressed and halfway disappointed. The winter afternoon lighting, already close to nightly darkness, didnt do the city any favours. Sure, the way the water cut through the inner-city za and separated building blocks was interesting, and the wide red building with golden clocks and other decorations that was the central train station (or Centraal Station as it read on the building itself) was interesting, but both of those just seemed like the lesser version of the Abyssal side.
What mostly contributed to that impression was, as John realized, the fact that they didnt have the slimes crawling about the ce and eating all the trash. Thus, the water in the channels had that brownish-green murky stain that was the normal, but way less attractive looking, colouration bodies of waters reached. Small pieces of junk, wrapping papers and the like, tumbled over the ground or were stuck in small pieces of snow.
For all the romance people held for living inrge cities, few people ever talked about the sheer amount of dirt several hundred-thousand people produced in a day.
On the different side of the coin, themerce was booming and people looked friendly. The air was surprisingly fresh to breathe and there were a bunch of things even in his direct vision that he wanted to look at.
Do we have any n of where to go? Should I acquire one? Aclysia wanted to know.
Nah, lets just run around, John answered and spied his first target in the form of a cathedral. The Church of Saint Nics was pretty impressive from the outside.
I am not going to take a single fucking step in there, Eliza announced. Standing there in a ck trench coat over long pants of the same colour (both of which they had bought back in Rome but never had a reason to have her put on) and the illusion making her hair appear raven. All in all she looked like the kind of girl that didnt want to be inside a church.
Nia was already walking inside on her own. Nobody normal saw or stopped her, so her pale form hovered up the steps and into the building like a ghost. Gnome was quick on her tail, following a mental signal from John that he didnt want to lose Nia a day before they wanted to leave. The stone elemental had been put into Raves overly shy and rather voluminous jacket in addition to some jeans that luckily fit her. The yellow summer dress wasnt exactly something fitting for the current climate.
Luckily Aclysia already had her own winter clothes: yoga pants topped by an open, brown jacket and a grey sweater. Meanwhile, John had just put an extrayer on top of his suit and called it a day, although he did have to remember to remove everything obviously magically looking from his equipment. He had moved it over to auto-equip. Assaults in this environment were unlikely, but one couldnt be too cautious.
Churches and the people that visit them voluntarily creep me the fuck out. She got a pretty clear stink-eye by a backpacker who was on a modern-day pilgrimage for that. In return, she just gave him the finger. The backpacker stopped for half a second, then seemingly remembered that his religion preached forgiveness and that he was in front of a holy house and then just went about his business while shaking his head.
Look, I dont exactly believe in the big G in the sky myself, John said, but you dont have to bash everything you dont like.
Fuck that, fuck you, fuck off, Eliza dered and earned herself a chop to the forehead by John. What the cock-gargling shit-boot is that about?!
I just dont like you criticizing a way of life that is not invasive to yours in any way right in front of one of their holy sites. He wasnt going to drop this just like that. Its REALLY bad manners and unbing of you.
Religion is just opioid for the masses, fuck it and everything that has to do with it. The blood mage didnt let it go herself.
You should know better than just quoting Karl Marx like that, John insisted, seeing how great an influence to your life his particr brand of thinking has been. Not that the father ofmunism was necessarily against religion, his stance there looked rather undecided to the limited knowledge John had on the subject (which really didnt exceed far beyond the basics but far enough to make decision on what he thought of the ideology). Communists in general really disliked religion, that much was for certain.
You expect me to take people that raise their hands into the air and pray to some bearded fuck in the sky seriously? Eliza wanted to know.
No, I want you to not tear them a new one at every opportunity you get to talk about it, John tried to be as precise as possible. If one of them goes all inquisition on you, by all means, abuse them verbally as much as you want, but most of these people just like to believe that there is something above all of us that gives life intrinsic value. As long as they keep that faith to themselves, why not let them?
Elizas mouth opened, closed, opened again. Then sheughed maniacally, Ah, wszystko jedno, I dont give a fuck. Sure, they can believe in their stupid shit, maybe God will suck them off once they are done with their life. Probably better than getting 72 fucking virgins, sounds like a terrible time in the afterlife to have all of these sexually inexperienced sluts hanging around you.
Well, at least you are bashing all religions equally, John mumbled. Anyway, you still staying outside?
Yesssss, Eliza hissed with unchanged disdain, these cathedrals are creepy as fuck, so unless you want me to announce that I am going to fight in another dumb tournament and shit all over thepetition, I will just stand right here.
John nced over to Aclysia, who just nodded to confirm that she would stay here as well. John didnt want to run the risk of anything happening while he didnt have eyes on it.
Once inside the cathedral, John had to admit that it wasnt quite that great. The summary of Jesus story via a series of pictures together with the fitting psalms underneath them was kind of nice but lost on him aside from their artistic value. Same could be said for the building itself.
But the silence inside, that left an impact in him.
There was nothing quite like the silence inside a church. Something about the way they were built, John reasoned to escape the spiritual, must have been designed to invoke just the correct kind of silence in which every step echoed and the presence of something beyond had to be felt. Thousands of years of building bastions of faith could logically reach that final wisdom. He made his round through, speaking very little to not disturb the quiet. It felt unbing to touch something that, even though he didnt believe in the figurehead, had some kind of impact on his very soul.
He heard a flutter, faint and distanced, of wings of gold that opened, hovering in the edge of his vision at the far end of the cathedral, above the altar that was fenced off to protect the mass of gold out of which it was made from the masses of people that desired it. Feathers that sung quietly into the silence in whispering choirs of calming beauty, a wondrous addition to the sound of nothing at all. A humanoid shape between them, he imagined.
John stopped dead in his track and whirled his head around, wide eyed. The figure wasnt there.
What was that? he wanted to know. Evidently nobody but him had seen what had just happened, and it wasnt like he had been pulled into an Illusion Barrier either. Why would an angel just appear right now before a non-believer? Something was seriously amiss. Was his mind ying tricks on him? Did someone put a spell on him?
And now Gaia, the tangibly existing supreme deity of this world, was teasing him. Great, way to ruin the church mood, John thought and wondered just what Gaia wanted to achieve with sending him a religious experience. At least that reduced the pounding in his chest, he really didnt like having experiences he couldnt exin.
He finished hisp around the benches and stepped out of the cathedral being minorly creeped out. Especially since not one single person, neither Abyssal nor real, had noticed that thing happening. Not even Gnome had seen the whole thing and was expectedly surprised when he brought it up. Eliza justughed at his face for having seen an angel.
Now what I find interesting, John told everyone as they crossed the streets to get to the sex museum so that they got their fair share of sin after being exposed to that much virtue, is that this puts Gaia and Christianity into at least some connection.
Why is that interesting? Aclysia asked, just to hear him talk more.
Well, because we now know what is actually behind her all-dominating powers. Well, actually we only know half of it, but that aside. Does this mean that angels are like summoned creatures by the World Soul?
That fucking thing is the manifestation of faith itself, so yes so would be demons then though, Eliza answered. Also what the fuck do you mean we only know half?
We know, or at least to the best of Romulus knowledge it is so, that the extremely powerful part of Gaia is the World Soul, but we dont have any idea what goddess she herself is. Remember, she had to be made one before she could connect to the thing, John reminded her, and Remus just went for the most powerful source he could find. I wonder which one that was?
That question went unanswered, and they continued with lighter talks as they continued through the city.
Without any other idea what to do with it, the SEP went into the backburner for now.
Chapter 379 – S*x museums and cosplay talks
Chapter 379 C S*x museums and cosy talks
Well, this is thoroughly disappointing, John said out loud as they walked through the sex museum. It was all static, boring, and even the room that warned that it had photos of heavy SM kinky stuff must have been working by Christian standards because John looked at those things and just shrugged it off as someone that had already done or was going to do them.
Granted, he had done a lot of things, but when someone warned that it was about to get dirty and then the worst he saw was a girl bound in a way that her crotch grinded on top of a wooden horse, it was thoroughly disappointing.
I want to do that shit, Eliza eximed and pointed at that photo. And that shit, and that shit, and FUCK ME RIGHT HERE ON THE FLOOR, THAT LOOKS SO FUCKING HOT! Her rather loud enthusiasm was expressed by a giant, lewd grin that was first aimed at John, then switched into a rather scary one as she looked intimidatingly at everyone else in the room. While all the other customers were busy fleeing from the crazy girl, they chattered about her being crazy and that she was probably crazy.
The fact that Elizaughed out loud with her unsteady, mostly shrill but sometimes dropping into deep tones voice after them, as her supernatural ears caught their mostly urate guesses, didnt exactly help their public image. Well, not that John cared.
He did care about what had Eliza this wanting though, the answer was a rather simple picture of someone, gagged and blindfolded, hanging from the ceiling by a bundle of their hands and feet behind their back.
You really are a degenerate piece of filth, John said and got himself a bit of a moan out of that, and you get worse by the day. When we started this you werent that much into getting verbally abused.
Well, I am way hornier than I was back then and WAY more obsessed with you, Elizaid down. You stuck your dick in crazy, you fucking moron, now live with the consequences.
I can do that, John shrugged and raised his hand to pat her on the head. Wisely, he stopped when her smile fell and she growled like a particrly hungry and vicious dog. Whats up? he asked after checking her eyes. They were still brown and the dots were hidden, so he couldnt check on his suspicion through them. That kind of sound always made him weary that her other side was taking a swing, but Thana continued toy low as the blood mages next actiony testament to.
I dont want your fucking patronizing pat, you tall ass, pat yourself, she kicked his shin with as much power as was normal-humanly possible. That barely hurt him, but the gesture was rather clear. Or go fuck yourself, I dont care, she whirled around and walked off, cursing the fact that she had to wear shoes in the process.
John let her go, scratching his head as he prepared to let her cool off for a couple of minutes and get his excuse in order in the meantime. That turned out to be a useless endeavour, as Eliza hadnt left the room for more than 3 seconds before she came jogging back and threw herself at him with enough force that they fell to the ground.
Argh, fuck, sorry, just stupid bullshit feelings and gaaah, Eliza said as she buried her head in his chest and then took a deep breath. The smell of his choice of body oil (they were slowly closing in on what Nathalia had brought him all the time) seemed to calm her a fair bit. John left her to it for a few more breaths and then gently patted her on the head. The fact that she looked up immediately after that, eyes reflecting a mix of rage and love, with rage clearly winning, made him realize that he had to take a bit more direct approach.
He grabbed her by the chin and aggressively kissed her. Immediately her anger seemed to melt away and instead her tongue roamed forwards to meet his own. Her hands crumpled the vest of his suit as she pressed against him, lids closed and only the asional sound of their wet lips parting.
Then Aclysia cleared her throat and pulled them out of it. I must advise that we stop attracting this much attention, or we will get thrown out, she informed them.
This ce sucks anyway, Eliza dered, despite her earlier enthusiasm about the photos. She also didnt protest anymore when John got them both back on their feet.
You know, I never really understood why you fell in love with me as quickly as you did, John told her as they walked up winding stairs and finally arrived at a bad stic recreation of the famous photo of Marylin Monroe where the wind was blowing upwards her skirt. That was a question he had asked himself about all his girls, actually.
He hade to various answers. For his familiars it made arge degree of sense, they had an easier time falling for him (as he did for them) given that they were literal soulmates. Rave was more a stroke of fate than anything else, and when asked on the matter, she would just boop him on the nose. Lydia had seen him as a friend that she also fucked for a long time before she actually let herself fall to love. Metra didnt really love John (hopefully that came with a yet). Nathalia had fallen for him because he was a good fuck and powerful enough to be worthy of her, or at least thats what her current self-removal from his life was about.
Nia seemed to not see more in John than a friend and a way into getting her own petting zoo, going by her rtionship scores, but that was hard to determine, and much less did John know the pariahs reasoning. It probably was just that he was the first guy in her life who promised her a petting zoo; on a less humorous note, it was likely because her social circle was basically non-existent outside of them. Something like that was true for Eliza as well, but he wanted to know.
Honest talk? Because you were there, Eliza told him. I think it could have really been any nd motherfucker as long as he was the one who I sawst before my failing cumstain of a body fell apart and heard first again when I got a new pair of functioning ears. Just someone, anyone, really just any gay cocksucker who would have had enough human decency to not ram a fucking knife into me or thought raping me was a fine line of experimentation. She reached up to his head, stood on her toes and did her best at a smile that didnt lookpletely insane. Failing miserably, it went from ear to ear and revealed more than just her teeth, But fuck me if I am not happy that it was you.
You have no idea how happy I am that it was me as well, John smirked and bowed down to give her a loving and short peck on the lips. I do love you, Eliza.
I love you as well, you crazy bastard, she answered and forced his head back down to give her a longer kiss. By the end of it she asked, So where are we on the whole putting a baby inside this hot piece of ass front?
You are no way close to being ready to be a mother yet, John told her, seeing that smile on her face, and there are other factors that we have to take into ount, like how there will be a lot of moving in the next months and the fact that I dont feel anymore close to wanting to be a father thanst month.
Dont forget that fucking jackass in my head, Eliza addressed the elephant in the room. Fucking fine, we will postpone this, but I will have that baby!
Sure, one day, John assured her, to see her smile some more. One day, he told himself mentally, albeit he was wrestling with what Rodam had told him. In the past and as a gamer who preferred to sit inside all day, he had never been one to dream about a family and kids. Now that he had a whole lot of girls he wanted to live with and protect, however, that was slowly changing. One day I will have kids, he told himself, but not anytime soon, not this year and not the next and probably not even in the next five. But one day.
They went through the rest of the museum with little care. It really wasnt that interesting. Gnome had to pull a few tricks to make her body lighter and feel squishy like a normal person to not run into the risk of being discovered by someone and getting them all into some serious trouble with Gaia.
They went outside, ate something at the restaurant basically next door, took a peek into the tourist shop and then went deeper into the guts of the inner city.
They have a lot of narrow passages here, John said as they walked around without any real goals. The houses were charming, not particrly tall and no two really looked alike, although they all had a typical western design. It was pretty apparent which buildings were older than others by style alone, which was fascinating to behold.
John peeked into one of these many passages and found one of these thing Amsterdam was infamous for: a shop that sold weed with such utter transparency that it would have summoned a lynch mob from ten towns over back in the USA. The drug itself was of little concern to John. Rave tried to talk him into trying the stuff, but he imagined that he would just cough through the whole experience as he had never smoked anything before.
What he took a bit of an issue with was the whole culture surrounding it. Although issue was a strong word. I just dont really see why so many people attach part of their personality to something they do to waste time and rx. John got woke on how hypocritical the thing he was thinking was as he was thinking it and nced over to Aclysia, the girl he literally made from a figurine he bought because he liked the character so much. It was then that he decided to never make fun of someone who owned a Free the Weed g or a particrly borate set of bongs.
I do very much like this body, Aclysia suddenly assured him as they went on. It was really a testament to the times they lived in that nobody around even raised an eyebrow at someone saying that in the middle of a crowded street. You desire me, I want you to do that, thus I am content.
Well, I love seeing you in cosy, John went ahead with the conversation even if he wasnt quite sure why Aclysia wanted to have it. Especially because you look so damn sexy in it.
I would wear anything for you, John, she stated, using his name due to this being a public setting. Noticing her hand close in on his but then go back, the artificial guardian instead folding them in front of herp, John put an arm around her and pulled her close. I am so happy, she whispered, blushing a bit as she snuggled up even closer to him and smiled that slight smile she showed in situations like this.
While we are on the subject of you wearing something else, John said, keeping control of his arm and thus preventing it from travelling from the ce on her shoulder all the way to her butt, I have been thinking of expanding your outfits to some original designs.
Are you tired of cosy, John? Aclysia asked, unable to hide her confusion over this. That didnt sound whatsoever like the master she knew. Which was right, of course.
No, not at all tired. Actually, I just realized I never fucked you while you still had it on That sentence finally did earn him a bit of a re by a passerby. He was definitely skirting outside of eptable boundaries here. Also, Eliza was constantly drilling holes into their heads with her eyes. It seemed, after getting her fair share of attention in the museum, she was trying to let the other girls have some of Johns time. That didnt work out quite well with her jealous nature, but John was proud of her trying. Gnome and Nia, in the meanwhile, were just silently following them. One of them truly silent, the other too embarrassed to appear as talking publicly to thin air. Eliza eventually started chattering it up with the stone elemental just to concentrate on something else.
John cleared his throat and picked his words in a more socially eptable manner. I still want to see you in that cosy, but I am thinking I should get you an everyday get-up that makes people think more of thats the artificial spirit of the Gamer and less thats A2 from Nier;Automata but with green eyes you know?
So you want to make me more of yours? Aclysia asked and looked at him lovingly. John, she almost moaned his name, nothing would bring me greater joy than being all yours.
Sentences like that make it sound like you are literally just here to fulfil my every whim and have no free will, John joked. It was in pretty bad taste, but he wanted to hear the answer to that.
I am here to fulfil almost every single one of your whims, unless I think they are bad for you in the long-term. If you act in a way that I dont think you should, when you harm yourself and those around you, when you are in your darkest moments, I will do what is best for you by not listening to you, Aclysia informed him. You yourself have allowed me to developed free will, and Momos independence shows that your wish for me to be my own person is genuine and that I am not under some mind-bending order by you. I would never dismiss the freedom you have given me in order to take the easy path to please you. It is so much more fulfilling to put a great meal that I wanted to cook in front of you than you having to decide what you want for dinner.
Huh, John had never thought of something as simple as cooking as an act of free will, but it was true that Aclysia would have had to ask him at every turn what he wanted to eat if she was just a ve to his whims rather than a devoted servant. So I shouldnt be giving requests on what I want to eat.
Of course not, you can request what you want all day, Aclysia told him, but for your own good, I hold the right to deny the request in favour of keeping your diet bnced. Which reminds me that you need to eat broli tomorrow. You have had little iron the past two days.
Okay, okay, Johnughed and kissed her on the cheek, lets hope the apartment on the cruiser has a kitchen. Its only been two days since you cooked for me and I already miss it. Thatment made Aclysia happier than anything else he had said so far.
You really mean that? she asked in the kind of voice only a cute girl whose efforts have been acknowledged could smile into words. I am so d. Not that I want you to feel like eating something that isnt from me is bad or anything. It is just
Its fine, I get it, John tried to interrupt her with a calming gesture, but in typical Aclysia fashion, she still finished her statement.
that I really enjoy cooking for you and doing all sorts of chores so I try my best to improve and you missing what I make for you feels like the greatest gratification I could ever receive. She finally finished and bowed her head slightly, reacting to what he said, I see, I will continue doing my best then.
You do that I feel like I should tell you that you are the best again, because it cant be said often enough, John squeezed her bubble butt with those words, realizing he had failed. Aclysia didnt care; she actually very much liked it and hummed a little tune as John found himself unable to move his hand.
Chapter 380 – Waffles
Chapter 380 C Waffles
What smells like sugar and more sugar and fuck me that is a lot of sugar?! Eliza wanted to know, her nose raised and sniffing. Following whatever it was she was smelling, her steps carried her by one of the many, many cheese stores that were around, and everyone went after her. It didnt take too long for John to also smell what she was talking about and just a few more seconds for them to reach the store.
They had waffles and other sweet pastries stacked up like shoe stores had boxes. Well, it was not quite that bad, it wasnt like they were even rowing the walls or anything, but it was still a rather impressive amount of waffles, covered in different kinds of chocte.
Buy me one! Eliza demanded, pointing at the sugary goods. John sighed and grabbed the wallet he solely possessed for the real world to carry some Euros (or whatever local currency equivalent he would need in the future) with him. Some being about one thousand bucks in solid cash. He liked livingrge, and it gave him the air of an overly aplished young person, which he actually was at this point. It felt nice to grow into his shoes.
He bought one for Eliza, Nia and then looked at Gnome. You want one as well? he asked her, taking Nias waffle for himself until they could hand it to her somewhere people wouldnt get a heart attack because of a vanishing waffle. Presumably that was what would be happening. The alternative was either a hovering one or people just ignoring it subconsciously like they ignored everything Nia did.
I, uhm, its too much, you dont need to do that, the stone elemental said, but her eyes were darting from Johns face over to the clerk that covered the waffle in anotheryer of fresh chocte sauce and sweet cream on top of the waffle. Like I want to, b-but I dont know if I can eat all of that.
We can share, said the emotionless voice of Nia.
Y-you really mean that? Yay, Gnome eximed and hopped on the spot out of happiness. Then she turned crimson as the realization of not only her gestures but the weirded-out blinking by the clerk, to whom it looked like the brte had just exchanged words with a fairly closemppost, hit her. y-yay she repeated much more silently as John paid and handed her Nias waffle. They retreated to a nearby bank where John created an Illusion Barrier for them to eat in.
Not sure how long we can stay here, he warned everyone; this barrier was on top of abyssal Amsterdam, so they would sooner orter be spat out into that city. We probably got half an hour though, if I had to take an uneducated guess.
Who the fuck needs half an hour to eat a waffle? Eliza giggled, opened her mouth as far as she could and then chomped down on the thing like a hungry, hungry hippo. Making an entirely pleased sound as the sugary sensation slushed through her taste buds, she was the indirect cause for Aclysia making one that was very much displeased, because John took his arm off her waist and walked over.
Jesus, can you remember these things called table manners? John asked, grabbing a packet of handkerchiefs from inside his inventory and wiping some cream off Elizas nose with one of them.
Fhck yuh, she answered with a full mouth, nothn got ohn the scrf.
At least you got priorities, John said in a resigned tone. Now eat properly, or do I need to spank you?
Eliza rolled her eyes. Evidently, she wasnt that susceptible to that sort ofmand when she was eating and not in the right mood. Go stick it up your ass, nerd-brain, she told him and grabbed the handkerchief to take care of herself as she greedily devoured the rest without any care.
Meanwhile Nia and Gnome were going about this in a whole different way, which was one of a totally cute disy of social awkwardness. The two were sitting on a bench of their own, with the nk looking mindlessly forward as she was nibbling on the waffle, holding it in adylike manner. Gnome, at her side, was sitting with her eyes downcast and her hands folded in herp, twintails dangling expectantly. Every now and again she would turn her head and open her mouth to ask when she could get a bite, but then stop herself thinking it would be rude, look back down and blush a little.
After letting this pass for a minute, it was just so adorable to behold, John fixed the situation by cutting the end opposite to Nias mouth of the waffle with a small Mana de. The pariah didnt even mind, just continuing her slow and quiet nibbling. Meanwhile, Gnome was ecstatic at the small piece of waffle she got.
John left it small on purpose; as an elemental Gnome wasnt able to eat a lot of substance that wasnt natural to her. Nevertheless, she had a happy expression on her face when she bit into the cream covered goodness. After patting her on the head a bit, John made his way back to Aclysia and went back to cuddling her and keeping a sticky faced Eliza at arms length. You really should have taken my advice rather than getting chocte sauce all over your face, he told her, table manners dont just exist for show.
I am sorry, jackass, she didnt sound that sorry, but I am not me when I am hungry because fuck being hungry now that I know what being sated feels like.
Only got myself to me for that, I suppose, John said and patted hisp. With a huge smile on her face, Eliza sat down there. When she turned her neck to nt a kiss on his face, with her sugar covered lips, the blood mage was met with a wet handkerchief. I am not getting sticky because of you, he told her as he dumped the bottle of water back in his inventory and simultaneously wiped off her face. The fact that that was a bit of a problem, motorically, told him that he should consider raising his Agility skill to increase his ambidexterity. It would be nice to have perfect reaction time with both hands, John thought.
You are such a dick, Elizained once he took the handkerchief down. About to answer, John was shook when Nia, having finished her waffle, pressed herself against him. Without any shame, she pressed his arm between her breasts. This fun was, as always when she wasnt naked, partially wed by the fact that her dress didnt transfer any body heat. However, it did pose a silent challenge.
At least in Aclysias view, who quickly mimicked the motion. Her body was burning with her Inner Fire, which thankfully only kept her at normal body temperature. I I also want to cuddle with John! Gnome suddenly cried out and jumped on his back, as hisp was already taken.
John was in a momentary panic, expecting his spine to break or at the very least hurt a lot under the weight of over a hundred kilogram of adorable rock. Instead he found her to be not much heavier than he expected a girl of her size to be. She also was wonderfully squishy. In a moment of instinctive perversion, he reached up and squeezed his hand right into her pants to enact the same action upon her butt. No panties, he soberly thought before he looked up in Gnomes eyes.
They were wide open and sat in the middle of crimson coloured face. Wha-wha-what are you doing! she half asked and half screamed, closing the arms she had lovingly put around his until she had him in a choke hold. In a now genuinely panicked moment, he tapped her butt and screamed out to her mentally. The hold only intensified. Turned out that tapping a flustered stone elementals behind did not help her embarrassment situation.
Her brown eyes were darting all over the ce, just not Johns purple face, while his own field of view became hazy. Hearing Elizas agonizingughter, he at least knew that he wouldnt die, but that reasonable thought was a bit hard to appreciate while being asphyxiated. There was relief a momentter, as Aclysia tapped Gnome on the arm and helped her realize what she was doing. John gathered his breath.
You really need to work on your violent tendencies when you are too flustered, he told Gnome about a minuteter, still rubbing his throat. The stone elemental looked like a little pile of miserable pebbles, so John gestured her to lower her face and then gave her an its okay-kiss. She turned a bit red, but her shamed eyes switched to embarrassed twitching. The goal had been achieved.
I have a question. Does it take a lot of effort to keep your density that low and your body that squishy? he had to ask. Especially thetter part was important for screw it with the euphemisms, it was important for sex. Normally only her boobs were really soft, the rest of her was either like kneading y or strictly inflexible. The y feeling on her butt was actually pretty nice, so he didnt want her to get rid of that. However, there was something to be said about the advantages of squishy thighs during missionary and a lighter body during cowgirl.
W-well, I wouldnt fight like this, so yes, she answered. Its hard to keep up when I am notfortable.
So, thats out for the moment, John thought. But you werent really able to do this before, right?
Right, its like Sall-, Gnome stopped herself as she had almost used that nickname her sister really didnt like, Smander and her better control over fire, it gets better as our level and your skill level increases.
I see, John nodded to himself, it was indeed true that Smanders fire attacks were less broad in their nature nowadays. Where she used to be significantly better at area damage, she now also was helpful in targeting certain enemies. Sylph still was better than her in both aspects, despite being more geared towards single target in general, simply on the back of being Tier 3. The same was true for Siena, who specialized in hit and run. Undine was, when unleashed, the best damage dealer in all aspects (ripping people apart from the inside did tend to be highly effective), but she was also Tier 4.
Meanwhile both Gnome and Smander were still Tier 2. They werent weak, just mediocre. I guess I should buy some skill level points to hurry them along to the next Tier, John thought, Although I would really like to save for that extra ss level, that is going to take an eternity, and promoting these two is an easy power grab plus I really want to. Nothing was more pleasing than seeing his girls happy, and he was pretty sure that being that much weaker than their sisters, especially since they were the first two John had contracted, was bothering both of them, particrly Smander. The ze elemental was nothing if not a hothead and had taken passion over logic at several asions, a person like that didnt like beingst.
What do you think, should I concentrate on getting you the Tier upgrade? he asked Gnome directly.
I she began but then thought about it for a moment. Yes, but I can wait, she answered, nodding to herself. When it was about her sisters, the stone elemental was able to muster more courage than usual. Please, give Smander the favour here, it seemed she hade to the same, or at least simr, conclusions as he had. He nodded and that was that.
Okay, we have beenzing it up inside for too fucking long already, Eliza dered, and now I want to eat something else. Chinese or some shit like that.
What a splendid idea! Aclysia jumped in. I have never cooked Chinese food before; I will have to acquire some knowledge about this.
I will probably have to bribe someone so you can sit on the table with us Oh well, John sighed, Chinese food, then some more walking and then I am going to get a blowjob in the jacuzzi from one of you!
Chaoter 381 – Sinking stone
Chaoter 381 C Sinking stone
Ahhhh, yes, John eximed as he rxed in the bubbling water of the warmed up jacuzzi. That wasnt the only reason he was this ecstatic about the bath though, rather the two girls that were inside there with him caused him to be that fervently in favour of his current situation.
The door opened behind him, and in stepped a third one; he turned his head to see his girlfriend. Back already? he asked and then let out a moan that made it pretty clear that he was currently receiving an underwater blowjob.
Two pairs of lips were interchanging in their job of taking care of his cock. One of them was cautious and didnt have the usual softness of lips to it, instead being barely flexible but smooth, still able to glide up and down his dick with little problem aside from hesitation. The other was the total opposite, way softer than anyone elses lips that had ever graced Johns manhood with their touch and taking him in with a quiet certainty and ludicrous ease.
Mat thought itd be funny to give me a beer shower, Rave exined as she peeled out of her sticky clothes, wiggling her upper body to make the process easier. Seeing that also made Johns dick way harder. And then a c whiskey shower, followed by another beer shower and a lot of other showers. She went a bit cray-cray once Smander hit the floor with her.
Did she at least, John stopped for half a second as a light touch fondled his balls in just the right way to cause him to groan, keep her clothes on?
Whaddaya think? Rave asked as she unhooked her pink bra and whirled it above her head like asso before letting it fly into a nearby trash-can. The sound of something hitting a thin-walled stic basket followed by slight noises of movements from the trash eating slime inside confirmed the hit.
That was a pretty clear, and expected, no. So, you are just here to dress up in something else and then go back down? John asked his currently brte girlfriend with her sticky hair who hooked her thumbs into her pants.
Noticing her boyfriends gaze, extremely wanting in nature, Rave smirked and did him the favour of walking the few steps over so he could stop stretching his neck to see her undress all the way. Ya dont get tired of my body, do ya? sheughed and turned towards him as she pushed her butt out and slowly forced the wet fabric of her pants and panties off her body. Her glossy lips had blossomed into a wide smile, showing her perfect white teeth and the metal piercing on her tongue which she teasingly stuck out.
Not as long as you keep that ass and that smile going, John told her and then closed his eyes for a moment to also enjoy the double blowjob he was receiving in full. A man has to enjoy all the virtues he is given by his girl, and this is exponentially true if he has girls, plural, he thought as the sound of Raves remaining clothes hitting the trash reached his ears. Really, you are going to just toss all of them away?
Ja, Rave answered and put her sneakers on the ground, cause getting the bloody mary out of that top is a thing I would need to A, she raised a thumb, spend way too much time on and 2, she raised index and middle finger of the other while lowering the first hand entirely, I would need like, a ce to use magical cleaner and a washing machine for. Way easier to just buy new stuff.
Hurray, Capitalism, John sarcastically remarked as Rave put her sneakers to the side and stepped into the shower. She deliberately left the curtain open for his viewing pleasure. As her hair changed from brown to pink, for once not apanied by a visible fanning out as it was too wet to really increase in volume, Rave asked, So how is Undines blowjob?
Oh, its just great, John moaned and leaned back in the tub.
Duh, Raveughed and grabbed the showerhead, rinsing her hair with the hot water. Describe it to me, tiger, and leave out none of the dirty details. The stream of water was guided over her whole body once, making John look at her curves, before the source got hung back into its holder to allow Rave to soap up. The fact that the first ce she began to rub with the bubble-making liquid was her trimmed crotch told John everything he needed to know where this was going.
I am going to y that game, John thought and thus began describing everything he felt as best he could while watching her reactions to it. Undines lips are currently closed just a bit down from my nds, her soft tongue is pressing and circling against that sensitive spot at the underside of my hard, throbbing shaft. Rave moaned, her soap lubricated fingers circling her erect nipples. She is circling that spot now, mhm, a groan shortly interrupted his continuation, her tongue travels back up to lick a drop of precum, drooling from the tip. Ah, god, her mouth contracts as she swallows it, causing her to suck on my cock with intensity. She is, fuck, she is keeping that level and is now slowly going down.
How slow? Raves voice was hazy as she absent-mindedly continued her task to actually soap up with just one hand, the other rubbing her clit, clearly visible thanks to her wide open-legged stance.
Hellishly slow, John answered with a throaty moan, but she is taking it all in, every single centimetre of my huge cock, without a single problem. Rave put on the shower again. She is at the halfway point now, my dick is entering her throat. Rather, that slimy, tight cavity that she made her throat. It is quivering from pleasure as she concentrates more of her nerve ends there. Oh fuck, he had to stop, and for almost a minute he was only moaning. Watching as Rave fervently fingered herself at the same time as Undine bobbed her head back and forth to feel his dick stimte her newly erected sensitive ends.
She, ahh, he finally found his voice again, Undine is now ca-aaah-using herssself to be facefucked. Just going back and forth, her throat is massaging my cock to milk my precum. Rave grabbed the showerhead and aimed it at her pussy while her other hand ravaged her clit. Actually, showering was now off the program. Each time she goes back, she goes that little bit deeper, sorry, she is almost all the way down now. I can feel her quivering all around me, she is about to cum.
Ah, tiger, Raves moans in the background, leaning against the tiled wall with her legs weakening, were pure music to Johns ears. More, tell me more!
She is cumming, just from the blowjob because of her slime body stuff, and I am so close as well. The fact that her cheeks are like little -oh fuck me- vibrators doesnt help. I can feel my balls boi- fuck, Undine is pulling back now, ah, she is passing past my nds and now Jesus, yes, Gnome took over.
Gnome is in there too?! Rave managed to sound surprised on top of just moaning; people about to rub themselves to orgasm werent the most emotive people when they werent forced to stop.
Yeah, and now that she knows that you know she froze out of shame, but I cant wait anymore, John said and sent a mental apology to his stone elemental as he grabbed her head under the water. I am forcing her to deepthroat my cock by pulling her over it. Fuck, her mouth and everything are harder than usual girls, it feels weird, but its also all as smooth as oiled and polished fucking marble, and so I can just slide in and out like a semi-solid cock-sleeve. Ah, fuck, I cant hold on anymore, that short break is mmmmaaaaahking this feel so good, urgh, fuck edging.
Yes, John, Rave moaned out, and her fingers moved in a blur that caused water and sexual fluids to stter against the walls of the shower. I am about to cum too, cum with me, cum, cum, cuuuuuuuum, she screamed out and then had her orgasm a split second before he did. Together they filled the spacious bath with shared echoes of pleasure, John pumping his seed deep into Gnomes mouth.
Rave slid down the wall, the showerhead dropping on the floor with a loud bang, continuing to spurt water right into the wider bathroom for more than just a few seconds as Rave shuddered in her afterglow and John let go of Gnome, who was so shell-shocked (and that much of a closet pervert) that she just kept sucking him and thus kept his thoughts upied as well.
Oh, gaia-doodle, Rave said something nonsensical and shut the vent closed with a simple p on the handle. Slowly she got up and swayed out of the shower. Hot shower and orgasm is a bad idea when nazzy.
Nazzy? John asked, his post-orgasmic high having worn off as well.
Slightly drunk, she answered, they say it in Ennd or Yorkshire or sumthing. Where are the there are towels! Grabbing two, she threw them on the puddle she was responsible for and used a third one to dry herself. Okay, I am back off to dancing, see yater.
Arent you going to join me in the jacuzzi? John asked as she went to Aclysia who was having her own fun in the bedroom but was also the one who had his girlfriends spare clothes.
N-o-p-e, she answered and waved with her sneakers, we both know I am not going back down there once ya get your dick inside me. Gonna dance it off for as long as I can. Also can ya send Mat a mind crush or something to discipline her on not emptying over a thousand bucks of drinks over her friends?
Sorry, our mental connection is weird and not great enough to do something even close to what you suggest, John answered.
Urgh, fine, Rave answered and went off.
Undines head formed out of the bubbling of the jacuzzi, That was hot, she said.
A moment, and some encouragement from John,ter, Gnome also raised her head above the surface. I am so uwuwuwuwu, Gnome cried out her embarrassment and then yelped as she was raised up into missionary position by a tide of solid water and slime wrapping around her subtle curves.
Gnome, despite her attempts to look as small and petite as possible due to her permanently embarrassed posture, was actually in the middle field in all aspects inside his harem. She wasnt particrly tall or small, her breasts were average, and her butt was the harem wide average of great. Nooo, Gnome cried out but struggled way too little to make it seem as earnest panic. Instead, she was just flustered and calmed down when John put a hand at the side of her face and smiled.
Come on, I have seen you naked many times before, he told her in a deep and charming voice as a hand travelled from the nape of her neck to her navel.
B-b-but still, Gnome quietly averted her gaze by turning her whole head, although her eyes darted back to Johns perfect abs and erect dick between her spread legs every few moments. Why not have s-sex with Undine instead? She seems like she needs some more!
I can get off just by being wrapped around you, the ocean elemental, her head ced diagonally behind her elder sisters, said. The podium of water Gnome was resting on was also wrapped around her to secure her in ce, blue slime erotically framing the sexy body of the stone elemental. Indeed, just the shaking of the thrusts should be enough to allow Undine to cum, given her different physique.
John lost no further time and slipped inside Gnome, whose crimson shade soon had its reason reced, from shame to lust. Or, at least, her moaning indicated that there was now some horniness in the mix there as well. You are just adorable, the Gamer said and gently kissed the stone elementals pink nipple.
I am not please Gnome squealed like an embarrassed fangirl, dont look at m-me.
But there is nothing you need to hide, John told her and kissed her forehead as he thrust inside her. Her squishiness was indeed gone, maybe she would be able to maintain it better at higher levels like Aclysia and her shapeshifting abilities? I love every bit of you, no need to hide any of it.
T-th-Aaaahn! she shut her mouth and turned an even deeper red, embarrassed because of the loud sound she had just made.
Gnome, Undine sung into her sisters ear in her mncholic voice, you have a beautiful voice, let it echo. Nobody dislikes to hear you moan, that would be silly.
Well, t-t-t-that is gre-ah-t and a-all, Gnome half stuttered and half moaned her way through her words, b-b-but that doesnt really help the case that Im v-very notfortable with it!
Dont worry, you will be wow, that sounded way more rapey than I thought, John said and then just let his body do the talking instead, wrapped his arms around Gnome in a deep hug as he kept fucking her. Now I cant see you anymore, better?
Judging by the fact that her moans became louder, the easing in her mental state and just a wave of thankful happiness that flushed through all three of them as the embarrassed rock answered the cuddle in kind (even closing her legs behind Johns hips) spoke volumes.
Y-yes, she finally answered, John, I am about to I will c-cum. The continuous pleasure Gnome had received now jumped to the forefront of her mind, no longer suppressed by being ufortable with the situation. John let this be a lesson to tend to his girls needs more carefully instead of forcing them into what he wanted from them, and nothing was better to remember a lesson than to engrain it in his spirit with an orgasm.
Undine had ns to make this more than just a simple orgasm, however. Extending her natural ability to just flood everyones spirits with her thoughts, she connected all three of them as they each approached their heights, and then, as if she had flicked a switch, they all came instantaneously. Driven to orgasm by the immense swell in lust received from each others minds, their howls filled the bathroom.
John saw little white lightning bolts dance in his field of vision as his cock tensed and tensed and tensed again, shooting a heavy load each time until his balls could not give anymore, but even beyond that it was still trying to force every little bit he had into Gnome. It was a moment of bliss several times that of what he could have ever hoped to experience back home.
Then he received a rude reality check as his legs and Undines self-control gave in and he fell face first into the water.
Chapter 382 – To a giant boat
Chapter 382 C To a giant boat
The Rising Tide sat quietly in the water. Even from afar the cruise ship looked gargantuan, the highest points barely below the roof of the even more oversized building it came out of. While looking over the elegant curves of the ship and wondering what this sort of thing would cost him to own, John had to wonder what would make someone have a government that had a shipyard inside their main office. Then again, the governments of the Abyss varied wildly in nature, and the NTC was, mostly, a tradingpany in origin. The way better question was if they had a second shipyard on the other end of the U-shaped building.
I really would have liked to see them letting this thing to water, John said as they approached the boat.
Nothing was stopping you, shitbag, Eliza answered and yawned.
Sure nothing but a needy masochist who smashed the clock by ident, he remarked.
MOTHERCUCKER, I told you I am sorry, the fuck do you want from me?! the blood mage screamed back at him.
I would like for you to not ruin my life and give me back all the precious moments you stole, was the answer that came.
For a second, it looked like Eliza would fall into an apologetic tone, as her eyes span slowly. Then she punched herself in the face without holding back, which must have hurt quite a lot, and growled. No, bad Eliza, be a fucking woman and stop being a miserable little shit, she cussed at herself out loud; she looked at John as her nose unbroke and healed back into ce, or do you want me to apologize for all the shit I did to you guys again?
Nah, I have heard enough of that. It was Rave who answered for him, smirking from her boyfriends side and giving the blood mage a thumbs up. Just go on with the banter, I like hearing that.
Yes, but we also need someone like Momo to keep us on track John sighed; the support had left a lot of little holes that needed to be filled. Comforting Gnome? Gone. Keeping their talks somewhat coherent? Missing. Providing trivia and other information? They had to do it themselves. Not to mention the giant mana budgets and the fact that this harem really could use some people that could fill holes rather than provide one without being a dude.
I can do that, Metra said, walking ahead of them all, stopping when she got too far ahead and then restlessly tapping her heel on the floor.
HAH, right, Raveughed, ya get distracted every few minutes yourself, also ya strip on every asion.
Oi! Metra suddenly had Qiada in her hand. The thorn tip of the halberd with the oversized axe des swung down and pointed right at Rave. You want to have a go, Jane?! John had no idea when exactly these two had gotten close enough for Metra to just use his girlfriends real name. As far as he knew, the only people who were told to call her that were him, Aclysia and, now, Metra. Everyone else stuck with Rave. Because I dont get naked on asions, I get naked whenever I damn well please, and everyone else can suck it.
Rx, Mat, Smander materialized to get in on this. Unless Jane was right when she got annoyed with you yesterday and you are physically un-fucking-able. And there was another person in the club John got the feeling that that had something to do with the club visit yesterday, that trio plus Sylph had been down there for the longest time.
John watched the fact that cliques were forming in his harem with both happiness and a bit of worry. There were two factions he was immediately aware of right now. One was what he titled the crazy ones, which were Eliza, Siena and Undine, the other the newly revealed quartet of Rave, Smander, Sylph (Who basically came packaged in with Smander) and Metra. He picked the nickname of the hotheads for those. Neither names were particrly ttering, but he liked calling things what they were.
Sure, it was nice that people got along well and found some good friends that werent him, but there was a bit of a risk that in-group loyalties would be bigger than them identifying as part of his harem. Basically, he was afraid that some clique would start a revolution to monopolize his means of reproduction. It was a tiny fear though and incredibly unjustified seeing how they all got along (most of the time) and he wasnt without say in the whole manner. Just a train of thought whispered to him by the paranoid scar left by Herman.
He would have loved to just shut off that part of his soul. However, that was not only impossible but also would have been really stupid. Which idiot striving to be a yer on the world stage would kill their own doubts? That was just as dumb (if not dumber) as letting the paranoia run away with the rest of his consciousness and pull a Stalin on people.
I will rx when I fucking WANT! Metra threw her halberd at Smander, who narrowly dodged.
What the shit, Mat? the ze elemental eximed. You ACTUALLY almost hit me.
The berserker babe stretched out her hand and looked behind her. A tear in reality opened and flying out came her weapon, through a portal she had pre-ced on the side of the building. She caught it by the middle of the shaft, the sudden halt making the metal edge vibrate. Your fault for being that slow, weakling. Metra stored away the weapon again and went on her way.
You just wait, Smander flew after her, one day not too soon I will be the strongest elemental John has, and then I will kick your ass.
Yeah, right, Metraughed, you are two Tiers behind Undine and then you still have to beat Chompy. No chance you will ever aplish that.
He is a useless hatchling, Smander drily stated and looked over to the little guy.
Stirwin was currently busy staring at a miniature seagull, a species that lived around here. Larger cousins crossed over the sky, but it seemed they were smart enough not tond here, as they would be subject to security measures. Not even abyssal harbours were safe from these aerial rats, although John had to wonder what the exnation here was. His bet was on crazed alchemist thinking it was a good idea at the time.
Darting forwards with the grace of a hatchling, Stirwin missed the seagull by a figurative mile and then fell and tumbled over himself and into the water. He was about as stealthy as amppost in the middle of the night, spreading a soft glow as he swam back up to the surface and cut through the clean water. By swimming he at least was able to keep up with the group, so John just kept Jacks eyes on his final elemental.
If you think he is just that, you are in for a surprise in the future, Metra told everyone. She had alluded that she knew something about Stirwin before, but she kept her mouth shut. ording to her, it was one of her old contracts, so she was under obligation to disclose a minimal amount at best.
I will still kick your metallic ass, Smander dered, even if I have to melt your skin off.
Feel free to try, Sal. Metras tone was an honest challenge, and the smile on her face was less mocking and more daring. You got spunk, so that is something.
John noted that his fire spirit had something shift inside her mind upon hearing that. It was a shift back to normalcy, to be exact, so he had missed something. A hurt sense of pride, perhaps? Whatever it was, it doubtlessly had to do with the thing Smander wanted to talk with him about eventually.
To be pushy or not to be pushy, John thought, having still not decided on his course of action regarding that. She already knew about his resolution to push her and Gnome as his next priority in power-ups, and she did seem to have liked that a lot. Maybe that had been it? It wasnt like Smander hid any of her character ws, the part of her mind she had fenced off was still smaller than what Undine kept from them on most given days. If John hadnt known that there was something he was supposed to be looking for, he would have just slipped right by it.
Just because it was a smaller thing in Smanders mind didnt mean that it couldnt have a simrly disastrous oue though. Then again, getting infected by some corruption fluid was hard to reach. Lorylim were still a thing John didnt entirely understand and, given by what he knew about them, that was probably as Gaia intended it to be. Still, what even were they?
Questions the Abyss Auction hadnt been able to answer, so he wouldnt be able to do so himself.
They reached the crowd, not a small one whatsoever, waiting to get on the boat. Do we get in line? John wondered, looking over to check for personal that could answer that question. First, however, he had to get Stirwin out of the water; the little guy was holding onto the wooden nks by his teeth, but his legs were too short to pull himself up. And you are called the Celestial Devourer, John joked at the crocodiles face, look at you, cant even get onnd.
What followed could have been an act of revenge or one of a very excited (not to mention scaled) puppy. Stirwin hasted from Johns hands, into his sleeve and then climbed through there until he poked back out, rubbing harbour water all over Johns impable clothes. The enchantments would remove all stains, but it still wasnt that great. The cute little squeal and big, silver eyes Stirwin gave him made John forgive him though. No idea what you are good for yet, but you are a cute one, he admitted with a sigh and scratched the infinity elemental under the chin.
He returned to the group as a whole just in time for Amalia to stato her way over to them, which was a really daring choice of footwear for a floor that had gaps the perfect size to fall into. Please tell me we wont have to stand in that line, he greeted her. Like, I dont want to sound entitled, but I kind of feel like I should be entitled given that we were given the VIP apartment.
No, you dont have to wait in line, Amalia gave them the good news first, not that it would take you long if you had to, though. She gestured at the boat, and John now came to realize that there was a bunch of tforms flying up and down and dropping people on their floor to getfortable. With one for each tform and a maximum of 50 people per ride, it indeed couldnt have taken too long for everyone to get on board.
Where do we go then? he asked, sessfully ignoring Eliza and Sylph fighting about which sweets were the best in the background. Amalia pointed them towards a separate tform that was currently being unused.
As I wont being with you on this cruise, I would like to say goodbye to you right here, the guild leader reached out her hand. John took it and, in a gesture that was looking presumably overly friendly to all, pulled her in a one-armed hug. John Newman, I really dont think this is appro- Amalia began to voice aint when John whispered into her ear.
Just one thing, this isnt a ploy to have me killed out in the middle of the ocean, is it? he asked and kept a more than close eye on her, pumping all of his mana into Observe.
It was partially corrupted, but it told John what he needed to know. Amalia, first at a loss of words due to the suddenness of that question and then because she must have noticed that her powerful security measures had, at least partially, failed, didnt answer before John released her and patted her on the side of her shoulder. Sorry, just a wise policy, he told her, at least I know now that I wont have toe to you for revenge if someone attacks me on that boat.
I guess that works out for me? Amalia said in a slightly nervous tone. This first-hand experience of Johns powers, oveing the best security in item form money could buy, had evidently made her more aware than ever that she wasnt speaking to just some random strong mercenary here. Have fun on your cruise! She quickly walked away.
Was that truly wise, Master? Aclysia asked as they went over to the tform where someone was just waiting for them.
Wiser than just boarding a ship with little to no insurance, John told her as he clicked away the window. Although it probably was rougher than necessary. If we ever see her again, I will apologize.
I think you should indeed do that, Aclysia nodded and the tform began flying upwards.
Chapter 383 – Goodbye Europe
Chapter 383 C Goodbye Europe
I dont know what about this ce I love the most, John announced as they snooped around their temporary home. The two, half-moon shaped buildings had two stories each and a roof/balcony on top. Each was easilyrge enough to fit a whole party but equipped to only house about a dozen people with utterfort.
There is so much fucking SPACE, Eliza said as she went from room to room, I would say literally too much.
Theyout was pretty simple. There was only one door into the building, at the centre of the inwards curve at the base floor, which lead into the lobby with a white couch, a birchwood staircase to the second floor and an open kitchen.
That lobby, and its living room counterpart (or perhaps home cinema would have been more appropriate) on the second floor, had an oval shape, leaving about six equally spacious but differently stretched rooms attached to each of them. 12 rooms, two of which were regr bathrooms, one of which was just one giant storage for food (which Aclysia loved to see), and 9 of which were just regr sleeping rooms with a customizable picture frame hanging on the white stic walls.
The polished grey floor reflected the sunlight falling through the walls in a barely intrusive manner. Good thing as well, as the outer walls were made entirely out of windows, save for the breaks where they met the inner walls or the corner points. While that at first had caused John to wonder about his privacy, Sylph had soon discovered one of many touch panels.
This is so cool! Swooooosh, she put her tiny hand on the panel and flew downwards, the room dimmed as all windows tinged, eventually shutting all light out entirely. Themps switched on automatically a momentter. Swooosh! she flew back up,mps went out, natural light returned. Boop, boop, boop! She clicked a few buttons. Swoooooooooooooosh, and the next time she repeated this little game only every third window dimmed.
Sylph, stop that, Gnome said. Y-you are wasting power. Here, you can have this small piece of chocte.
Coming over, yep yep, on my way, every second now: Eating chocte! I ammitted! the tempest elemental whirled around to meet the promised sweet. Behind her Undine flowed towards the panel and put it back on the default setting.
Metra dropped her bra and pants on the floor and stretched, Its pretty nice in here, she said and then looked at the floor as it came to life and began to carry her clothes away. Like a bunch of cats looking after potential prey, everyones eyes were glued to the pieces of clothing slowly being carried off to one end of the apartment. Once they were kind of close, a hole opened, threatening to dispose of the clothes.
Thats not trash! John, knowing that these were the only real clothes Metra had, stepped up in a hurry. The hole closed in response, and the clothes were just carried off to another ce where they were less intrusive. Thats pretty cool, John said, carefully stepping on where the hole had been. It felt exactly like the rest of the floor. Somebody really remind me to buy slimes like this for whatever guild base I am making eventually.
I will do my best to remind you at the appropriate time, Master, Aclysia said with a bow and walked towards the open kitchen (which also had a medium sized and fully stocked bar). Inside she found a note. It seems we are allowed to ask the service for appropriate amounts of their stock in case the pantry runs out. That included all meals of the day, so they couldpletely iste themselves up here if they so desired. Next Aclysia picked up a piece of stic from the counter next to the fridge. Also, there are key cards here.
John had no idea what they were useful for yet, but with 5 being avable he imed one of those and threw it into his inventory. Better to have it in case he needed it to unlock something with them. Aclysia, as their prime (who was he kidding: only) person who took care of chores got another one while the remaining three were left on the counter for now for people to take with them when they headed out.
Rave tossed herself on the giant couch and made a face that immediately made John understand that it wasnt quite as nice as the one in Lydias ce. He would miss that couch. We should check the restaurant once before we take that offer, the funky lightbearer said. Cause yare great at cooking Aclysia, but still there are better cooks out there. Like my granddad, he is awesome.
Isnt he a professional Abyssal chef or something like that? John asked, having a distant memory about thating up once back in Springfield.
Ja, makes superb titanium-cmari soup, Rave answered.
Do you people not hear me?! Eliza shouted as she went to another room. We have too much fucking space. Literally. She began an overly crudely worded but very much true rant. Between me and all of you other bs of meat waiting to get their white cream filling, we know that the only people who arent going to sleep in Johns bed are going to be those who wont fit on it and will sleep on the floor instead! We wont be able to even fill these nine bedrooms, fuck the ones in the other building. Which brings me to my real problem, she slid the steel reinforced door to the side, they kind of reminded John of a sci-fi design, THESE BEDS ARE TOO FUCKING SMALL!
They took a look inside and saw the one-person beds. They were a good size for couples that wanted to cuddle, but thats where that stopped. Yeah, that is going to be a problem, John rubbed his chin, also prettyme for a VIP suite which makes me think that that cant be all there is to it. Undine, does the panel have an option for fusing rooms or something?
Yes, came the simple answer. A momentter she added, it says you should close all doors and not try to forcefully open them once the process begins.
Okay, can you add together all bedrooms on the upper floor? John asked. As the pantry was down here, that would give them a bit more space, not to mention he rather wanted to sleep upstairs. That was so that whoever wanted to roam the cruises shopping mall and came inte could just sleep in their own room and not wake up the rest of them by drunkenly bouldering up the stairs.
Why are ya looking at me like that? Rave wanted to know.
Nothing, just safety precautions, John said mysteriously, only to give her the honest answer one raised, pink eyebrowter.
Totally get ya, his girlfriend thankfully understood, but dont rely on drunk-me to get that when she wakes ya with a jump into a power hug.
You are aware that thats how I wake up on some days when you are sober, right? he had to tease her. Because you and your sleeping habits are the worst.
Yeah, very helpful, she rolled her eyes. Whatcha gonna crack at me next, wise guy? That my hair should be less curly? Can do so much about that.
Eliza cackled, We could bind you together like a fucking I dont want to exhaust my meat metaphors today, how about like a dumbass, masochistic carrier of a genocide goddess?
How is that NOT a meat metaphor? Nia asked with her usual confused head tilt.
FUCK EVERYTHING! Eliza cried out. Stop being that creepy?! Where the fuck did youe from?
She was with us when we boarded the ship, John said.
Really? Wow, Eliza said and looked up to the face of the French pariah, you really are as nd as fucking toothpaste, I just assumed you were missing again and thought you would miss the cruise like the creepy shit you are.
I didnt know creepy shits were known for missing cruises, Nia delivered that line with her washed out voice without holding up a single card, meaning that it actually wasnt a return jab, but is that why you were giggling to yourself?
No, thats just because I am fucking insane and whenever stupid shit bubbles to the forefront of my mind, like imagining what it would be like to just kick someone so hard their body would break on the hull of this fucking ship, I have tough. Be happy I keep it so quiet instead ofying waste to your useless eardrums, you pretty, creepy Arian piece of surrendering garbage.
I have never sur- Nia began.
Also yes, thats a reason why I giggled every now and again.
I have never surrendered anything.
Do I look like I give a fuck?
I think I miss the qualification to answer that question. I am unclear what giving a fuck looks like, the nk blinked and leaned in on Eliza. Not like that? Maybe?
Yes, not at all like that, the blood mage put her hand on Nias face and shoved her away. And stop staring like that, it is super fucking creepy. You have a major case of resting bitch face.
I see. Nia seemed done for the moment, which meant that she was currently conducting a new question that she would fire whenever she wasfortable with it. Usually that was the least expected time.
Room fusion isplete, Undine told them and saved them from the continuation of this awkward conversation. John headed upstairs together with everyone else, as he wondered about what their bedroom for the next week was going to look like.
The formerly one-person beds had, predictably, fused into one giant bed. The way the birch decorating the head area described five separate arches made it apparent that the frames had simply been moved together. The mattress, however, was one unit and felt a lot like memory foam. The grey, translucent colour made John pretty sure it was just another slime instead. Not that he had anything against that.
The walls had just left to somewhere, not something John cared that much about, and the now gargantuan room had been filled with another television, a couch, decorative nts, more customizable picture frames and, to Johns surprise, a bathtub. You put that there, didnt you? he asked Undine and received an unashamed nod as his answer. At least she was honest. Lets unpack and then go out; I want to wave Europe goodbye.
They did exactly that and then headed out just as the public announcement started. A voice, high for a man, softly barked into the microphone. Ladies, gentlemen and whatever else you are, I am your captain Sealy and wee you to our voyage led by me and my team, the Seven Sea Seal Sailors or Sour for short S-Four doesnt role off the tongue quite that well, then again sour taste is kind of sticky... the ship was dead quiet; if that was supposed to be a pause to let a joke settle, it was utterly unneeded. Okay, continuing on, the tremor you will feel in a second is the mana engine heating up. The ground started buzzing. Do not worry, it will soon be basically unnoticeable as we reach permanent operation fluctuation of the inside pressure within the main conversion reactor, to put it easily.
It better, cause if I am going to hear this shit for the entire cruise I will vomit, Eliza growled as they reached the railing. On the less private and slightly lower deck below, people were crowding and waving at the piers as the ship slowly began to move.
We will now start the cruise. A quick reminder: Our route is quite easy, 14-days to New York and back, or seven days just to New York, for John and his crew, with a special drive by the Antic Fuse. As long as you listen to the staff, you should be safe. John noted theck of a guarantee there. Scouting reports that there arent any huge monsters around, but who knows, right? A pause, once again entirely unnecessary. Anyway, have fun with the cruise, I wish you as your captain. If you want to meet me, check the program.
There is a program? John asked out loud. Aclysia could you be a dear and find out more about thatter?
I will be your dear every day, Master, although I would have done it even without that incentive, she gave him a closed lipped smile. I could start right now, if you so desire.
No, lets stay here, John said as the ship began its slow steering and eventually left the Amsterdam barrier, creating its own substitute. Then it began to heat up inside, as the promised summer experience climbed into reality. He wasnt really paying much attention, he was just looking onto what he was leaving behind.
Although Illusion Barriers had a border, the view extended naturally to keep the illusion alive. John looked at Amsterdam but much more on thend it was build upon, the continent as a whole, metaphysically speaking. So, what would you people say was the most important event for each of you while we were here? he asked the round. It wasnt like Europe was going to vanish behind the horizon any minute now, they hadnt even passed the strait of Dover, but it was best to make goodbyes like this early.
How is being reborn for a fucking start? Eliza suggested, pretty obvious choice. Although it sucks how it happened and that my whole existence, and I mean both me and her dumbass genocidesty, are drenched in blood. It was good she wasing to terms with that.
Going Super Saiyan was definitely the awesomest thing to happen on this trip, Rave presented her pick. Getting moms phone number was also an okay thing to happen. Her priorities were as jumbled as ever.
That moment when Eliza gave me a lecture during sparring and told me she would try to get along with me, Nia said in her usual emotionless voice. That was a surprise pick, and Elizas shattered eyes widened as she turned her head. Nia herself was just continuing to look at what was, in part, her homnd, I didnt have friends before, just people I saw more often than others. It was boring.
Aclysia cleared her throat, To allow myself the crudeness, being able to grow a phallus was quite the moment. I enjoy being able to take some of Masters vast sexual burdens. A weird pick, but understandable. The weaponized maid didnt really have a lot to do these past weeks.
Ah, I remember about 320 years ago when I was contracted by a Lewis Carroll to do some impossible shit, that was fun, Metra missed the point a bit, but she was new, so she didnt have a lot of moments that the rest of the group could rte to here.
Aside from when I was contracted, Siena was the first of the elementals to speak up, I would say when I came to the realization that I am kind of awful and that I will have to dial it back for you people. Back in the barrier we had to conquer as a small team.
When Marvin told me it was okay to eat him, sad moment but I will always hold it dear to me, Sylph wiped a tear from her little cheek and shouted at the top of her lungs, GOODBYE MARVOPA! Uhm, EUROVIN! No, maybe, MARZIPAN! She was as light-hearted as ever, it was good to see
When, uhm, Gnome fidgeted with one of her twintails, twirling the end of it around her finger, when everyone told me I should take charge again. Yeah. So, when they all allowed me to be the one to lead them despite me being this useless. Typical Gnome, John put a hand on her head and saw her smile a bit despite casting her eyes down and blushing.
It was when I was foolish, was all Undine had to say. In her mind the events of that evening yed out again, and she was scolding herself for it. John let it happen without influencing her in any way; hisments wouldnt have been any help right now, and she wasnt so remorseful anymore that it was unhealthy. Just a mental scar that she had to look back on in tranquil moments like these.
When Undine disappointed me, Smanders voice cut into the ocean elementals brooding like a hot knife. When she threw her unbearable hissy fit and lost to the corruption, when she was nothing but a na?ve child that didnt know how to talk about her feelings.
Smander John found this a bit harsh, so he prepared to intervene, but Undine stopped him in return. She wanted to hear this.
The ze elemental looked at her younger sister with her coal-ck eyes. The blue reflection inside seemed to burn in mes of disappointment. I thought you were the best of us, but you are just as disappointing as everyone else. I idolized you and paid the price. The only outstanding thing that you showed that day was foolishness. Not that anyone else is any better, Smanders gaze went over all of them and finally stopped nowhere, just staring holes into the air as her true focus shifted inwards. A lesson to me to never elevate someone else to an idol. Thats my most important moment on this continent.
John wondered what the answers for Nathalia, Momo and Lydia would have been. Would Momo have picked her wings, her freedom or something else entirely? Was it just going to be the ascension to throne for Lydia? Doubtlessly, it would have been the spa for Nathalia, he imagined to know her that well.
What about you, Master? Aclysia asked into the quiet.
Of all of what happened to me and us during the past few months? John asked and tried to not say the one thing that immediately came to mind. However, it would have been disingenuous to not say that exact thing. It was when I learned to properly doubt thanks to Hermans betrayal. Of all the terrible, wonderful, ugly and ecstatic things that happened to me, that was the most important thing to happen to me. Rave put her hand on his back supportingly, and he gave her a thankful kiss.
The list ended on a depressing note, so depressing that even Stirwin was affected and searched for a good mood elsewhere, presumably the private pool. Hole! that transmitted thought caused John to sigh but also smile a bit. The thought of Stirwin jumping down something was amusing, for the biggest part, but he was mostly torn between annoyance and thankfulness for having been given an opportunity to step out of this mncholic shroud that had settled over them.
I will have to go check on Chompy, and then I suggest we do something more fun, John said.
Thank fuck, I thought we were going to group hug and cry about our problems, Eliza announced everyones relief. Especially Smander looked like she was happy that the situation didnt escte; she had said something she wanted to say, but that didnt necessarily mean that she wanted to say it. The fact that John understood that feeling just went to show that human emotions were full of contradictions. Notably the mental area that Smander was hiding had basically vanished, so that finally hade to an end as well. Just something the size of one thought remained hidden from his eyes.
He found Stirwin at the border between VIP and public areas. What are you talking about holes, Chompy? John wanted to know patting the open-mouthed crocodile. There are no holes he- he looked up as he gestured around and stared into the sunsses of someone leaning against the separating drop. The man was standing there with a straw attached to his open mouth.
He was wearing a suit that was tailored to his body with utter perfection, and he had perfectly styled brown hair, longer than Johns. He was handsome, very much so, and had the athletic build of a male supermodel. Basically, he was what most women would swoon over, the fact that he was a literal king only helped.
What the hell are you doing here, buddy? John and Maximilian asked at the same time.
Chapter 384 – Too much space
Chapter 384 C Too much space
They waited for each other to answer, causing the Gamer and the vacationing king to share an awkward silence. Not that it was actually all that quiet. All the people that previously spent their time waving the city goodbye were now lingering about, waiting for the heat to kick up to levels that justified using the pool.
I am highly unsatisfied with you being up there. HAH! Look at you being beneath me. Both of them finally spoke out at the same time. Stirwin squeaked in amusement, then darted forwards to try and jump at Hawpler.
Hole! the scaled puppy spoke in its thoughts. Not a wrong description of the ck and dark purple mass of magical, pseudo-gravitational energy, but also not a particrly elegant one. The dive right into the lower deck was surprisingly graceful for Stirwin, even if he missed Hawpler entirely.
You wouldnt do me the favour and stop him? John asked with a sigh as he stood up. Looking up to his former adversary, now leaning on the metal railing on the VIP deck above him, Maximillian furrowed his brows and gave John a deeply thoughtful look.
Depends, buddy, he said after a moment of thought, would you let me up to where you are standing right now?
Well, you can get up here, but I wont make promises about letting you stay right now, John said, which was good enough for Maximillian apparently. Gradually, Stirwin slowed down in his charge towards the public pool until his little ws no longer carried him forwards. Taking that as a fun little challenge, Stirwin tried to resist the pull for as long as possible until he finally lost ground contact and flew straight at the unleashed Hawpler. The flight was intercepted by Maximillians hand, and the moment the hatchling was caught was the moment the pull also vanished.
The gravity mage nodded towards the fence closed staircase that allowed people to go up the VIP area, and they both made their way there. So thats what that key card is for, John thought and pulled it out of his inventory. The metal bars retreated into the surrounding fence like a hermit crab into its shell and allowed Maximillian to hobble up the stairs on his stick.
I think this little guy already likes me more than you, Maximillian mocked once he had managed to do that, Stirwin wrapped around the back of his neck. The bars closed behind him with a well-oiled sliding sound once John had removed the key card from the scanning surface.
Nah, he just likes everyone Want toe inside? John asked, checked what his girls were currently doing through Aclysias eyes and then amended, in a few minutes?
Why not right now? Maximillian asked with a raised eyebrow and looked at the left of the two apartments, in which John and group were currently staying. The windows were dimmed to the point where all that could be seen behind their dark shade were silhouettes walking around and getting rid of their clothes. Ah, the king made an understanding sound, they are what was the English word for umziehen again?
Changing, buddy, they are changing, John took a jab at the king. Seems like you have to freshen up your English.
Maximillian clicked his tongue, That is no way to speak to a king, even less one who doesnt have a chair. Speaking of which, will you offer me one or do I have to stand my sick leg into the ground?
Sure, knock yourself out, John said and then had to dodge a chair and a table flying at them. The two pieces of furniture were drawn from the vast array of such around their private pool. There were about twice the amount of chairs needed for the maximum amount of people that could stay inside the apartment, probably to allow for guests. What the hell, man? John wanted know.
Sorry, my English very bad is, Maximillian remarked drily as he sat down and ced his drink on the table he hadnded there himself. I thought you said I should knock you out.
Very funny, John answered in just as dry a tone as Maximillian slurped on what John presumed to be a cocktail, judging by the wasteful amount of ice inside. You know you are cruising towards a nation where you are below drinking age, right?
Like I care, Maximillian said, not like thatw can keep me ountable, I have more money than Bill Gates and not to mention am the king of a kingdom full of people that can literally create gold.
John dyed his response to grab a chair himself and remove the vest of his suit. It was getting warmer, ever so slowly to not induce the copse in some individuals weak to sudden temperature changes. If he had to guess, it had risen from about 3 degrees Celsius to 10 by now. ording to the brochure, the heating was said to continue until they reached 24 degrees (average, it was going to shift over the course of the day). How many Fateweavers had they hired to get this cruise running smoothly? Couldnt be easy to maintain a moving barrier of this size. Or maybe it was? John really wasnt versed in the topic.
Once he sat down on the opposite side of the table, John continued their little word fight. Vacant king, which finally brings me back to my current question: what are you doing here? Aside from the obvious answer of going on your announced vacation.
I am going on my announced vacation, Maximillian answered with the smile of a smartass. I guess you should ask why I picked the USA, and the answer is that I threw a dart at Hawpler, had him orbit that thing around him for a while and then fling it at a map and itnded on Hollywood. Guess I will try my hand at being an actor or something.
U-hu, John blinked, and then a fancily curved ss was ced in front of him, filled with an orange liquid. He couldnt help but remember that one time he thought that a career in Hollywood did sound like something Maximillian should chase. Thank you Aclysia. He winked at his artificial guardian.
A pleasure to serve, Master, she bowed, hands holding her mithril salver in front of her crotch and thus pressing her cleavage together between her arms in the process.
Hamena, hamena, Maximillian showed an equally thankful reaction, checking out the new arrival at the table. The weaponized maid had switched from her usual outfit into a ck and white chequered bikini, leaving her supermodel body to the view.
Dont touch, only watch, or you will lose a hand, John warned in a ridiculing tone; he couldnt wait to see the king see the rest of his harem and drool over them simrly, unable to have them.
It didnt look like Maximillian would let him have that kind of satisfaction. Clearing his throat, he stirred his drink instead of giving any sort of reaction to the arrival of everyone else in their swimwear. Few of them had big changes in the way they dressed, such as Gnome who was wearing a real, sunflower-yellow bikini or the aforementioned Aclysia.
For most of them there were only little changes, such as the texture of Sylphs green leotard being slightly different; Eliza lost her robes, and Undine just kept her legs as legs for the minute to show off. The slime girl obviously didnt have a lot of skill in modelling her feet though, seeing that she didnt have separated toes. Of that middle group Metra stood out the most, wearing pieces that were basically just strings with the tiniest bit of cover for her sensitive areas. Even as a bikini it failed to be decent.
Lastly there was the group of Smander, Siena and Nia that were virtually unchanged. The nightmare and ze elemental always covered their bodies in atex like, manifested shadow and localized fire respectively while Nia was holding her bikini and stretching it like it didnt fit her quality standards. Well, when you were usually wearing realized nothingness, no other material could reallypare.
Where did you leave Jane? John asked and as his answer got Eliza pointing over the pool and at the apartment.
Sissy said its still too fucking cold, Eliza announced and looked over to Maximillian. Speaking of sissies, what is that arrogant shitmuncher doing here? Shouldnt he be helping Mario polishing his sword?
You are small, and you need to stop sounding like a chipmunk every third word, Maximillian retorted and calmly took a sip. Also, can you do me the favour ande closer? I want to see something.
Oh, I wille closer, alright, Eliza said and walked towards them whileughing maniacally, I WILL COME SO CLOSE THAT MY FIST WILL CAUSE AND SIMULTANEOUSLY FILL A CAVITY WHERE YOUR HEART USED TO BE!
When she was about only two more metres away from Maximillian, the gravity mage suddenly began shivering, at which point John shouted, Stop, Eliza, and watched the situation quite carefully.
Whu, okay, still some trauma can you take one step back, please? Maximillian, skin fallen about one shade, from healthy to frightful, requested in a tone that was devoid of his usual showy arrogance. Mumbling some curses about herself and Maximillian alike, Eliza obeyed and stomped her way to the pool.
Asshole, I am not Thana! AU! Eliza shouted with her back turned and then held her head as the name caused her a minor headache.
She really isnt, John underlined that argument as he watched Maximillian m down the entire rest of his drink in one go. Then the king reached into his vest, pulled out a pocket sk and emptied it as well. I hope that wasnt too strong.
It was very much strong, Hawpler answered in the background. Do not worry, he has security around to carry him back in emergency cases.
The Gamer wasnt sure if worried would be the right word for what he would feel, but it also wasnt wrong, so he didnt refute it. Anyway, what was that about?
She isnt Thana, but try to tell that to a traumatized brain, Maximillian answered after having put the bottle away again. I see her shattered, violet eyes, and then I see that mask again. I fly through the air, my body broken. Then I hear that scream... he shook his head, the scream is the worst part. Did you know it actually ruptured my ear drums? To answer your question though: exposure therapy. Cant even hope to beat this whole thing unless I face it voluntarily, I guess its a blessing in disguise that you are here as well. Speaking of which, why are you here and why are you the reason I didnt get the VIP area?
Long story short, Amalia wants to get on my good side and I am supposed to fight whatever could potentially jump at us at the Antic Fuse, John gave him the gist of it. At that point Stirwin finally jumped off the gravity mages shoulders and joined everyone else in the pool. Everyone save for Rave (still in the apartment waiting for things to be warmer) and Aclysia (standing right at Johns side).
I see you mind giving me that cocktail, buddy? Maximillian pointed at the curved ss in front of John.
Thats just orange juice, John answered. Also it looks like you are trying to drown your problems in alcohol.
Also, it seems like you are trying to drown eighteen years of bullying in as much pussy as you can find, Maximillian retorted and quickly found the edge of a mithril dagger travelling in the general direction of his throat. Thats what you sound like, he still dared to add.
Do not speak that way about my master, Aclysia warned, having only stopped because John grabbed her by the other arm. Mentally assuring her that this amount of protection really wasnt necessary, John calmed her down until she changed the way she held the dagger and triggered the transformation back into a salver that way.
Okay, looks like I struck a nerve there, sorry, Maximillian said, but seriously, doesnt need to be strong, just something to drink. Please.
No problem, it was a good one, John, who in no way felt that, if it was true that he was subconsciously doing that, drowning it in sex was a bad way to deal with 18 years of bullying, answered. Not entirely sure I trust this, he mentally convened with his elementals, seeking some advice about thetter half of Maximillians statement.
Smander was the first to jump in with her opinion, aside from Sylph who was safely ignored. I say give him what he wants, guy obviously knows roughly what he is doing if he is facing Eliza of his own ord.
I am against it, Gnome let them know, alcohol is really evil.
I would love to see the guy shitfaced and tumble over the railing, Siena wasnt helpful whatsoever in this situation, it would be pretty funny.
Let him have it, he isnt an alcoholic, Undine backed up Smanders side.
Yeah, the ze elemental spoke up again, I mean, why the hellfire not? Thats the same guy that fought in the war with us; if he likes getting drunk, let him.
I am just afraid he doesnt like getting drunk but will just be someone who hates being sober, John let her know.
Sucks to be him then, but he is his own guy, and if he goes there, thats on him, Smander stated her opinion, and really, someone who is trying to beat a trauma induced by facing a walking apocalypse with his own willpower probably earned himself a few drinks.
I agree on both of these points, Siena said.
Same, Undine agreed.
I still think he would be better off not drinking, Gnome kept her stance, b-but I can concede that its not going to be that bad for him but is it really us that should be providing him?
Yep, yep, alcohol is weird, Sylph finally broke into the conversation. Maybe he shouldnt, maybe we should? How should we know? We cant, we cant, how sad. Making decisions for other people is hard. Lets not do it. Lets just have him have his fun, fun is good.
Too much fun kills a man, Aclysia gave her thoughts to this as well. Too much fun drives one to mindless self-indulging misery. Alcohol is dangerous.
Ah, yes, probably? Sylph didnt have a counterpoint, but too little fun is baaaaad.
Again, the same guy who was with us in the war and he is just a little shaken from facing his fears like a minor badass, Smander said, give the man a drink, for fucks sake.
John had heard what he needed, as the argument devolved into Sylph chirping her usual nonsense and Smander berating her for it as the rest of the clique dropped out. Sure, Aclysia, would you be so kind?
At once, the artificial guardian obeyed and took Maximillians order of a drink.
So your elementals were mostly for me getting that drink, huh? he then asked and smirked at Johns surprised face. Hey, I have seen my fair share of peoplemuning with their contracted spirits in my day. Comes with growing up in a culture where elementalism is the traditional path.
Yes, they were. For the most part their arguments made me realize that you arent even close to a state where it would be justified of me to intervene in your decision making.
d you are such a wise man, buddy, Maximillian teased. Anyway, I am not getting shitfaced, I just want to maintain a level where I dont remember that too vividly.
Just beat that before you actually need to be drunk as all hell to not remember that, John warned, causing Maximillian to roll his eyes.
Sure, ruin the very start of my vacation with moral bullshitting. Okay, now John actually felt like he was just overthinking things. Other question, do you need all this space? now it was pretty easy to guess where this was going.
I dont, actually, the whole second apartment is empty, John admitted, Which I guess you can stay in, but donte over without a warning unless you want to see me balls deep inside one of my girls.
Oh, dont worry, I will get my own ones, Maximillian leaned back in his chair and looked at the Bloody Mary that was ced in front of him. You will see, someone of my charm and handsomeness wont have any problems gettingid around here.
Sure, charm and handsomeness, John mocked, totally not that giant stack of money with which you can lure all the single mothers you are so attracted to.
Dont mock the MILFs, mate, Maximillian warned him by wagging his finger and then took a sip from his new drink. Holy mother Sol, this is the best Bloody Mary I ever tasted!
You will quickly learn that Aclysia is the best, John said to the king.
Who was yet another person on ship to banter with.
Chapter 385 – Warmed up and ready to be lazy
Chapter 385 C Warmed up and ready to bezy
Magic was a bit weird, and it was all thanks to humans being its origin, as they were even weirder. That was what John learned from asking, So why do you fight by just pressing people to the ground?
What do you suggest I do instead? Maximillian asked, stirring his drink with his straw so it stayed properly mixed.
Reverse the course of gravity on them, have them fall upwards until they either hit outer space or you can let them fall to their death? John suggested.
Even if I had the effective range for that, it would only work on really, really weak people, the Gravity King exined and sighed when John urged him to exin further. The Gamer had found his new trivia source. Okay, look, every human has something that we call basic magic resistance that is directly rted to their strength. Its what keeps blood mages from ripping out someones veins, wind mages to suck the air from your lungs and me to just reverse the gravity on you and make you fly off. He took a sip to oil his voice. The pressing is an exception because I increase forces already existent and working on your body from the outside. Same is true for other powers like this: Sylph cant steal the air already in the lungs but she sure can stop more from moving in.
For more physically oriented things, the rules of broken skin apply. If you were to fight Lydia and you had a metal bone, that wont be a big problem, its inside and part of your body. If she manages to cut a big enough wound though, she could theoretically rip it out. The more of your body underneath the skin surrounds something, the stronger your basic magic resistance affects it. Makes sense?
For the most part, John said, and you could only do it on weak people because their basic magic resistance would be so miniscule you could ovee it?
Maximillian pointed at him with the straw of his half-raised ss, Exactly. We can be pretty thankful that the world works like this or otherwise blood mages would just eviscerate us all. Although I can think of a dozen other magic schools that would be incredibly dangerous if they could freely mess with bodies outside of their own.
Yeah, John was thinking of Gehnigm and that he really didnt need to experience what it actually felt like to have his head up his ass. He also had to wonder if BMR was natural. Knowing the true backstory behind the Abyss really had a lot of questions whirling around in his head about what was by design and what was by coincidence. Anyway, you said basic magic resistance, so I just assume that there is more?
Why in Romulus blessed name do you need to ask ME that? Maximillian looked at him funny. You are the one running around with extended immunities. I can see it in your aura.
Right, he had Fire and Arcane Resistance 5 from Nathalias and the Horned Rats blessing, respectively. Fuck! he suddenly eximed as he remembered something and mmed his hand on the table. Now it was the kings turn to look at John with the intent of getting an boration. I only have two gods blessings, I can have three! I should have asked Lydia if her two-headed eagle could spare a cup of energy.
You can do that? Maximillian sounded honestly surprised. Your powers are such utter horseshit.
Bullshit! an energetic voice corrected, causing them to drop their ongoing banter in favour of looking over to the pink-haired girl walking up to them. Her naked feet hitting the floor to the beat of whatever song was stuck in her head today, Rave stopped next to the table and grabbed Maximillians drink from his hands. We use the term bullshit here, she rified and then finished the drink. Aclysia, can ya make me a Pina Cda? Also, how do I look, John?
John looked up from her slender, long legs over the sexy bottom piece of light blue colour, her athletic body with the subtle muscles and her breasts under her bikini top that was cut in two halves by a diagonal line, one half the same light blue as her bottom while the other was a bright pink, and then finally stopped at her smirking face. Honestly? You fall a bit t, John joked and received an enthused punch on the shoulder for that, which he took with a pained giggle.
Really? Breast puns? Rave asked and handed Maximillians ss to Aclysia. Anyway, why are ya glooms sitting right here when its finally warm enough to jump in there? She gestured at the pool, which everyone not made of fire was currently enjoying. Between Sylph creating giant bubbles underwater and Nia just doing an Olympic swim routine while in a dress that didnt get wet, John wasnt quite sure what to look at there.
Because I cant exactly swim with this, Maximillian tapped against his bad leg.
And I was waiting for you, John said and was suddenly sitting there in nothing but in ck swimming trunks. Hurray for the equipment menu, he thought. So, sorry, Max, but I wont be around to entertain you anymore.
Whoever allowed you to call me th- Ah, whatever, you know what, he took his newly refilled ss from the returning Aclysia just as Rave took hers, real talk, you are okay. You are letting me stay and you arent trying to crawl inside my ass and find the gold in there, so you can call me Max.
How nice of you, John said, kind of sarcastically. Although he did have to wonder what his and Maximillians rtionship was. From the amused look Rave gave the two of them, silenced by her inability to stop drinking her Pina Cda, herment would be something to the effect of gay. Personally, John leaned more towards friendly acquaintances, he hesitated to call the king a genuine friend given their history.
Maximillian grabbed his walking stick and stood up, But you are also a massive dick. Thatment came somewhat expectantly. I hope these walls are soundproof, I dont want to hear whatever orgies you pull there. Even less do I want YOU to hear whatever orgies I pull in my half.
Feeling is mutual, buddy. Aclysia, do you know whether or not they are? John turned to his wonderful assistant.
I am unaware, do you want me to test that? Aclysia had a suggestion to that effect, I could go inside and lustfully scream as loud as I usually do in bed.
That sounds like she has a lot of experience in faking it, Maximillian poked fun at John and then raised his hands in a defensive manner as the salver folded into the knife again, the silver-white alloy glistening dangerously. Calm down, woman! I dont think me and your master, the knife was raised to a level where it could have shed Maximillians throat. He picked his next words with probing intent, Your stupid boss, Aclysia got into position to jump at the guy, your precious little snugglemuffin, the knife returned to its harmless form and Aclysia rxed, would get along without making fun of each other. We are men, dammit.
Not sure if this is because we are men, John added, but he is right.
Is that so? Aclysia blinked and pondered about that information for a minute. My apologies, I will add a special note that you are allowed to insult Master.
Great, the dick deserves i- Maximiin found himself at the end of Eclys, the whole length of the white katana shimmering dangerously with its diamond cutting sharpness. Can you please chill?
How about you chill? Aclysia asked with warning smile. Added details: in the ocean water, I am sure its
I get it! Maximillian said.
No need to interrupt her she will finish anyway, John exined, putting his hand on Aclysias raised arm.
nice and cold, the weaponized maid looked over. I must insist that people give you a baseline of respect, Master, and for no one to ever use the word master sarcastically. It is a sacred word!
He just looked over to the king expectantly. The man sighed, I promise to never use the word master towards John sarcastically anymore, happy?
Generally? Aclysia asked and got a giggle out of John and a kiss on her lips. Ecstatic, she said with a little smile as Eclys vanished back into Adaptive ddery.
You are one scary girl, Maximillian grumbled.
I am whatever John needs me to be, for he has created me and allowed me to be whatever I want to be for him, Aclysia told the man. And dont start any free will arguments now. I have one, that argument has been concluded.
Okay? the gravity mage just epted that. Would you be so kind as to bring me a key card though? You are quicker on your feet than m- Thanks. Presented to him was the card that Aclysia had stored inside her inventory earlier.
I will take a recement from the apartment which Master has graciously allowed you to sleep in, she announced.
Maximillian made a sour expression as the role reversal from benefactor to benefitted was rubbed into his face again. Being a member of royalty and thus used to being the one on top of the hierarchy, this was a pretty unwanted blow to his pride. He took it with grace though; he wasnt quite snobby enough to punch gift horses. You are in your rights to do that, he told her and then walked off, relying as little on his stick as possible. Except for the stairs, that actually wasnt too bad, the hobble being almost unnoticeable. See you whenever, he shouted back over his shoulder and left the harem on its own.
John wanted to say something witty but instead got Rave aggressively kissing him. For a full minute they were just making out, which left John in a constant battle with his mind to not get an erection clearly visible from even the lower deck. They were way too close to the railing right now. However, speaking up would have meant to disallow the butterflies in his stomach from flying around, and that was just not an option. What did I earn this for? he asked in a positively surprised voice when it finally dide to an end.
Ya didnt, they put forehead against forehead and just swayed for minute. It was an apology kiss.
Apology for wha- John began to ask when he was picked up by the hips and tossed the remaining eight metres from where they stood and then some more into the pool. Suddenly, he was surrounded by water. Fight management skills helped a fair amount in this situation, so he wasnt confused for too long and just broke through the surface again.
How is the water? Rave asked, swaying her hips sexily as she walked up to the edge of the pool, where John swam to.
Its pretty nice, not too warm, not too cold, just a question though: why didnt you just ask anyone else already in?! he gestured at literally everyone but Smander and Aclysia.
Yeah, sure, I will ask the breeze, the rock, the water, the girl made from metal or the two weirdos that walk around mid-winter in nothing but a dress or basically underwear about their estimates regarding temperature, Rave mocked and then put her own hand into the pool to just test it herself. Also, ya dirty liar, this is way too cold!
You say that, but this water is probably 21 degrees, John drily stated.
Yeah, Kelvin! she retorted, dodging an attempt at pulling her into the pool made by her boyfriend.
John clicked his tongue before continuing this yfight. Thatd literally make it a block of very, very solid ice.
Which it might as well be! There has to be a thermostat, everything about this ce is customizable in some way, Rave went off to search, and John turned around to explore the pool a bit.
He took a deep breath and then dived. The water wasnt chlorinated or salty, ording to Undines analysis at least. Speaking of the ocean elemental, he found her at the bottom of the deep end, just sliming around.
The pool was pretty big, twenty-five metres long, ten wide and separated into two areas. The smaller of those two areas began with a softly descending staircase around a semi-circr tform at the side that was close to the apartments and then extended about five metres in. Basically put, it was where people could stand, as it was pretty shallow at 1,50 metres depth. After that came a metre decline that further extended that depth to about 3 metres.
John swam all the way over to the other side in a leisurely 12 seconds. If he wanted to, he could have broken the current world record at ease. At least I guess, he thought, I dont actually know what the current world record in 25 metres is if that is even a category. Also does this tform need to be this big?
It was at least three metres wide, it was almost more urate to say that the staircase started between it and the walls of the pool than around it. It was a rather odd design decision. Yo, get off there, Johnny, Rave told him fidgeting with her smartphone. Aclysia found the answer.
And what is it? he asked and quickly did as requested. When his girlfriend called him Johnny, it only ever meant that she was in some way annoyed with him.
You will find a code at the back of your keycard, Master, with which you can unlock an app that asks to install itself once you enter the ships wireless, the weaponized maid exined.
Who gives a shit? Eliza, floating on the surface of the water, asked. Rave screamed like a scared girl. Fucking cock, my ears, WHAT?!
We have a corpse in our pool! Rave joked and threw her hands in the air. Somebody call security.
Oh, fuck you, just because I have the teint of a drowned, shitbag. Prepare yourself for oh for fucks sake you arent even Asian enough to call you yellow, so my piss-skin joked wouldnt work. Frustrated, Eliza kicked the water and caused a five-metre-high rebound that rained down on everyone around.
Nope, Im a nice crossbreed, Rave gestured at her just nice and healthy lookingplexion, nothing really tanned but also not pale in any way that deserved that adjective. Marvel at me and my perfect hair.
I am going to hit your head on the fucking floor until you have as few marbles as me, how does that sound, you seizure inducing whore?
It sounds like the water is getting warmer as we speak, John, who was standing with his feet still in the pool, observed. What did you set it to?
35 degrees, why?
Jane, normal people get into the pool to cool down, not to warm up, heined, quite justified in this case. I dont want to cook my balls while swimming!
Urgh, fine, his girlfriend rolled her yes and fidgeted with the controls some more. There, 29, better?
More like eptable enough, he mumbled, but he could at least exist in that temperature.
Oh, quit being a baby, Rave said and then pushed another button.
John heard something behind himself, but he had to deliver a rant before he could deal with that. No, Jane, I would be a baby if I wanted to deal with that temperature. I am pretty sure that 35 degrees is something you would have a baby bathe in, because they are babies!
At least 30 are required, usually 33 are rmended, Eliza added from the background. You know why the fuck I know that, do not ask!
So, what you want is even hotter than a normal BABY BATH! Seriously, did spending your youth in Britain somehow cause your southern Japanese genes to kick into overdrive? Its like you are craving and where it is forty degrees in the shadows! The third thing I am going to install -outside of basic necessities- in whatever guild hall we are getting is a sauna so you can go sweat your vagina off in private!
What are the first two? Rave, who took this whole rant with a smile, asked.
Number one is the zoo I promised Nia, he heard a happy, way too long hum behind himself. This was the only reliable way to get something resembling an obvious emotional reaction from the nk John had discovered to date.
Lemme guess, number two is a giant jacuzzi? Rave asked.
Of course number two is a giant jacuzzi! Speaking of which, why does this ship not have one? That is like luxury 101, a bubbling bath. Why are you pointing behind me? he asked and nced over his shoulder only to look into the face of god.
The centre of the tform had descended and was currently being filled with water through little holes. It was a circr jacuzzi big enough for literally everyone present to sit inside. It has like 30 different scent and bubble settings, Rave said. Ya can y with the heat settings of that however ya like and I with the pool,promise?
How could I possibly say no to that? John indirectly said yes and stared at the rising water.
Chapter 386 – Lazing around
Chapter 386 C Lazing around
What is it with ya and jacuzzis anyway? Rave asked while lying on a sunchair, Copernicus in herp and the back angled as far down as possible.
The jacuzzi is the ultimate culmination of rxation designs, John exined, arms around Aclysia and Metra with Eliza between his legs giving him a casual underwater blowjob. This was a repeated urrence recently, and he would notin about it anytime soon. Not only does the bubbling of the water gently massage the muscles, but with its seats it allows for a supreme rxation while the steady influx of fresh water keeps filth to a minimum although thatst part is probably only true for these, dont know how wasteful non-abyssal jacuzzis are, with water being a non-summonable good.
Ya sound like a salesperson, his girlfriend giggled.
And you look stupid, what are you even trying to do? Tan? John asked. Because I feel obligated to point out that that will be a terribly inefficient thing in the winter.
Huh, really? Rave propped up her upper body and looked at John with one eye closed. Okay, I wanna hear that trivia, tell me why.
Well, easily put, tanning is an increase of pigmentation in your skin that your body deems necessary due to damage from UV rays. UV intensity increases in the summer, is dependant ontitude and on how close you are to the equator. We are off the shores of north-western Europe and, as already mentioned, its winter. The only somewhat redeeming thing that could be said is that it is shortly after noon, John exined.
Okay, why do ya know that? a justified question. I mean, itsmon sense anyway, but to actually know that just shows how much of a nerd you are.
Reddit, came the answer, you never know what people learned today unless you go to the TIL forum.
Fair enough, Raveid back down on her sunchair. Anyway, answer is no, I just like the feeling of lying in the sun. Besides that, I only get tan when I want to.
I guess you arent really running into the risk of getting damaged from sunlight, given that you are a Lightbearer and all that, John theorized.
Ex-act-ly, the pink haired girl spelled out. Then she put on her headphones, the ones with the cat ears which she had been gifted on Christmas, and a few secondster was wiggling her toes to some beat and taking a sip of her Pina Cda.
John felt a sudden pain in his left shoulder and found Metra had bitten him. I am bored, heavily and truly bored, she announced, got out from under his arm and stepped out of the jacuzzi. Yo, Aclysia, you found out what the program is by now or what?
Why would I tell you? Aclysia red at her for unnecessarily hurting John, who she now embraced on her own as nobody else was there topete with her cuddling.
Because if I dont get something to do in the next 10 minutes I wont be responsible for my actions, she exined. I am construct of war, the very first one even; this tranquillity shit makes me- Eliza broke from the bubbling jacuzzi with a desperate yapping for air, -angry. And, did you make it?
Eliza presented the remainder of a load of cum in her mouth and then swallowed it. Yeah, you owe me, shitcan, the two of them had bet whether or not Eliza could hold her breath long enough to get John off. They hadnt wagered on anything, it was just a pride contest.
Congratz, you are now officially an underwater troll-sexdoll, Metra smirked.
Fuck you, Eliza said as she also got out of the pool.
How creative, got anything else in you?
How about: your creator had a stupid beard that looked like bread rolls? Eliza presented, Or maybe: you have no manners, and if you bite John again, I will rip your fucking eyes out.
John cleared his throat, Eliza, in this harem you are definitely the one that hurts me the most, and that is without counting our first meeting.
Eat a huge fucking bagel covered in dicks, John, Elizained, and what are you crying about?! Wait, are you actually crying?
Metra was hiding her face inside her armlet and her shoulders were quivering. Y-yes, she sniffed and looked up with a sorry look on her face, I am grieving your sense of proper insults. Its all just swear words and threats with you.
I will end y- Eliza stopped herself, and the two exchanged a moment of silent eye contact. You win this round, bimbo Rave, the blood mage finally caved and climbed out of the jacuzzi.
I win all the rounds, Metra triumphantlyughed and turned back to Aclysia. Seriously though, we need something to do.
John hummed in thought, We should at least check what is going on, program wise; also, I want to meet the crew before any sort of crisis happens one moment please. His attention shifted elsewhere and he raised his hand at the sky.
Hi, you are in the airspace of John Johnny Johnson Junior Newman, the big Jay with a big J at the start of his name, Sylph flew right next to a standard air drone, which she pvered with words. If you are here to make photos and generally spy on my summoner, I am told that you cant. This has been Sylph air patrol.
The drone did not answer, it just kept a steady speed in rtion to the ship in a position from where it could easily film John and his pool. Is this thing on? Sylph asked and flew right in front of the camera. Evidently this thing did not have a sound sensor and immediately tried to get away the second whoever controlled it had noticed what was actually going on.
On the deck, John lowered his hand as using Shardbound didnt seem necessary anymore. Sylph, follow the drone and I will give you something nice when youe back, okay?
Audible gasp! she thought out loud, is it your dick?!?
If you want it to be, John giggled and left her to it. He didnt want to destroy some poor hobby filmmakers drone, but he also didnt want to get filmed. Not that he nned to do anything reprehensible, but he really didnt like feeling as if he was being watched at every turn, especially if he nned to do more than receive blowjobs in this jacuzzi. Having sex tapes of himself circte was one thing he really didnt need to happen.
After adjusting his trunks and tapping Aclysia on the shoulder to warn her, he too got up. Siena and Gnome were ying with a ball in the shallow end of the pool. That was an unusual pairing. After a particrly teasingment from the nightmare elemental, Gnome hit the ball with the force of an embarrassed boulder. It bounced of Sienas face who fell backwards into the water.
Hahaha. John raised an eyebrow at the personughing. In turn, that person raised her hand and cleared her throat behind the open fist. Apologies, Master, Aclysia announced as the shadow moved towards them. It just looked highly satisfying.
Ah, little Aclysia, Siena sighed as she rose out of the water and walked up the stairs, you really have it out for me, dont you?
For good reasons, do you want me to list them and if yes by order of magnitude or alphabetically? Will audio be enough or do you need it written? Nobody doubted that she actually had that list figured out and prepared.
Mhm, if anything, I want to make you scream it, Siena stated in her overly sensual voice and creeped right up to Aclysia until their faces were mere centimetres from each other.
So many confrontational pairings in this harem, John mentally sighed. Ah well, they get along despite their differences. That thought was supported by what unfolded next.
I do appreciate that you worry for John enough that most of us dont have to, however, Siena admitted.
Aclysia looked at the shadow spirit as if she smelled a trap. I approve of your attempts to get along with everyone better. That was about as much as she would admit to, if there even was more. It was good enough for Siena.
The sound of an empty cocktail echoed through Raves straw. Yall done with your yfights? the techno lover asked and got up, which produced one unhappily meowing Copernicus who went indoors with some stern words.
The real answer was no, but further discussions were at least happening while they went through the motions of going somewhere else. The first step was to change back into some casual clothes. For John, his casual look was just his suit without the vest. Rave and Metra went with a look that was simr to each others, hot-pants with a skimpy top (although the dirty blondes top was even less than the Lightbearers). Eliza just got her robes, Aclysia morphed her outeryers back into 2Bs dress, the elementals changed into their natural garbs, and that was that.
I will stay here, Nia said, holding a happy looking crocodile against her chest.
Okay, just make sure you take a keycard with you when you leave, John reminded her. He purposefully didnt say if. Expecting the nk to still be here when they came back would have run against all former experiences.
Sylph had returned as well by now; it had just been a hobby filmmaker, who had been given a stern warning to not film the VIP deck for too long now. A warning delivered by the chatter-mouth that was the tempest elemental carried less of an air of seriousness, but John just trusted that his name carried some weight after he had fought in a war alongside the emperor himself.
They gathered at the weird tube that was their way into the ships innards. It had a dark blue paint job, making it stand out quite a bit against the otherwise pretty white ship. It was nted and ced towards the bow of the ship, positioned between the ending points of the two apartments.
At first nce it seemed to be solid, no door or anything, except for a panel at chest height. Still wonder why it is this tall, John thought as he pressed his card against the designated area. The apartments were two stories of 2,5 metres ceiling heights each, so about five metres high. This tube was taller than that, about seven or eight metres.
The walls parted and revealed an artificially lit room with a blue floor and ceiling. It was rather in, all things considered, but wide enough for them all to fit insidefortably. Undine still preferred to go incorporeal while Siena ced herself in Johns shadow.
A menu of sorts appeared at the part of the wall where the doors closed behind them again. John looked up first, noting that the room was about as high as the usual apartment, then at that menu. Okay, this cruise has way too much crap to list it all, juste here and look at it yourself. Rave, Metra and Eliza did exactly that.
They have a disco? Awesome! Rave noted her own favourite thing first.
They have two fucking malls, a spa area, and way too much other shit I want to check out the mallster, just to see what else to eat there is to buy, dont really care what.
We are going here, Metra decided and hit a button made from light. Immediately, the menu disappeared. Then the room around them started buzzing, floor and ceiling lighting up. After five seconds the brightness reached its peak; afterwards it quickly cooled down, and the doors began to slide open.
Arent teleporters super expensive to use? John asked out loud as they waited, looking out to check where Metra had just ended them up at. Mhm, maybe less so when in the same barrier and between two predefined points? he theorized his own answer as nobody provided a better one. Guess I will have to read up on it myself.
You do that, Metra grinned after looking outside, I will have fun.
Chapter 387 – The bridge
Chapter 387 C The bridge
The bridge of the ship was a triangr shaped room with ttened tips, technically making it a hexagon. The broad side looked ahead, to overview the sea and the decks below. John noted that his area was visible as well, but not to any great detail. Around them beeped unattended terminals with naval data and internal system checks scrolling over theirrge touchscreens.
The reason for theck of attention given to steering the vehicle was rather obvious to John and everyone else when they stepped out of the teleporter at the backwards pointing tip of ss walls. It was the five people armed with a sword and gun each, in stereotypical privateer fashion. They were holding the crew of seven hostage. The negotiations as to what that meant were just about begin.
We aremandeering this SHIT! One of them said as he noticed John and his group. He, and three others, were dressed like one would imagine typical pirate sailors. Going by what John got from their Observe info, that was a deliberate design decision.
Oh, in de seebrreezes name Vincont, their captain, marked by the fact that he wore the biggest hat in the room with the typical skull symbol decorating it, ranted through his red-coloured squid face. Arrrrr we really in need of going over dis again? Commandeering is what militarrrry and police do. We are pirates, at best we privateer! However, as we arrrr -officially- without employ-arrrrrr, saying we arrrrr seizing this ship would be da true way to say id. Furthermore, the word ship is not datplicated, you silly g-.
He was interrupted by Eliza as she burst outughing, after biting her thumb to force theughter to just quietly shake her. What the fuck are you?! Theedy Arrrrsociation?
Nice! That was a good jab, keep it up, Metra praised, grinning like a tomboy grinned with a bloodlusting look in her eyes and tapping the end of Qiada on the floor in a rhythm that made John think of war drums.
Ehem, I have several questions, John said after clearing his throat.
What makes you think we arrr going to answer anything?! We arrr not afraid of you and your arrrray of prutty girrrls! the squidface announced to the sound of his men (and the one woman) dropping their weapons. What be you doing, hearrrties?!
Boss, sorry, but have you not watched any news recently? the woman, a pretty sexy one in herte twenties, asked. Her voice would have been pretty seductive, were it not for the very evident fear and nervousness in the face of a still very battle-ready Metra. Thats the the, uhm, the yer! Josh Oldboy!
The who now? captain squidface was still not up to speed.
The Gamer, John corrected, John Newman, and I am getting hungry right now, so if we could please hurry this along. This whole situation annoyed him a bit; after all Amalia had assured him that this sort of situation was specifically NOT what he was on board for. Also, they had only been on the ship for like 3 or 4 hours and there was already an attempt at stealing the whole ship. If it werent for the jacuzzi and the self-cleaning floors, this cruise would get a 1-star rating on Yelp so far.
Who do you think you arrr tomand us arrrround?! the captain asked, raised his gun and immediately took a shot at John.
John was many things, but as quick as a bullet was not yet on the menu. For a rough estimate, it seemed that, to have reflexes that could react to the propelled metal in time, one needed to have an Agility of roughly 500. Thats what Eliza had (presumably) been at when Victoria shot at her. That much Agility wasnt enough to outrun a bullet, that wasnt a skill achievable by raw Stats as far was John concerned. At around 1000 people broke the sound barrier, and modern rifles shot bullets at four times the speed of sound. All that aside, the real reason why rifles eventually became useless in the Abyss was because people that had fighting skills had bodies that could withstand a few bullets and even if the bullet was faster than them the one aiming was most likely not.
What a stupid tangent to go on, John, whose mind was way quicker than his reflexes, thought as that bullet was caught between two sickly pale fingers with nails made from crystallized blood, a finger-width in front of his shoulders. Thanks, Eliza, he said to the blood mage with the worried eyes.
This is really weird, she mumbled, looking at the soft bullet in her hands discharging paralyzing energy, she isnt even trying right now. Normally she would at least harass my thoughts.
Mhm, I will keep an eye on you, dont worry, John promised as he sent back a Shardbound attack that disarmed the squidface via a precise strike at his hand. Okay, seriously, unless you want to die, John said and conjured a new wave of the dangerous manifestations of his mana, I would just like to ask a few questions. He was rxed about this whole ordeal, hence why he hadnt even put his Mana Protection up. The highest level on their side was 52, whichid with the captain, while the lowest on Johns side was Rave with level 91.
Question number one, why are we even here, Metra? he nced at the berserker babe. Knowing now that there was no fight breaking out, she was leaning against the side of a terminal.
I said I would keep you people on track, so I thought we might as well meet the crew and ask if there is something we should know, she exined herself.
And I fully support that train of thought! said the actual captain of the ship as he inched away from the still armed captain. John was not exactly surprised to see that he was a seal-man wearing a captains uniform, while his (also seal-people) assistants were wearing less decorated versions of the same white and blue outfit.
Fair enough, John admitted. Next question: drop the sword.
That is not a question! the squidface pointed out rather aggressively. And this is no normal sword, it be a cuss, with which I will cut ass! he waved the weapon, and his whole crew groaned, letting John know that this wasnt the first time he made that joke.
Would you be kind enough to do it anyway? John wanted to know. He really wasnt asking, and he gestured at Metra to indicate as much. Or she is going to break every bone in your body.
Jokes arrrr on you,d! I dont have a lot of bones, his whole body wiggled like only a octopod could.
I suggest dicing him instead, Aclysia said, I think I could make something from squid.
John rubbed his temples. Okay, next question, do you have cells to hold them in?
The question was clearly directed at the captain Sealy, but squidface had some rather obvious attention issues. Arrrr you not going to ask about our names or what our n is?
No, I know them already, Captain Boss Senior, that was his actual name, and I refuse to spend more time on this, so just shut it so we can put you in a cell. The way easier solution was to just kill them, but that was also something John didnt want to do. These werent really bad people. Going by what Observe told him, they saw themselves as the Robin Hoods of the sea with an extra load of roleying. They didnt kill, they just took money and then fooled around in an ultimately non-harmful way.
They werent pirates as much as they were pirate actors. Their job (even if they themselves didnt realize that) was to point out security ws to people or make whoever managed to get their ship seized by them look bad.
I really have better things to do, I have a ship to explore and dates to n, he announced, so drop the weapon and then follow me to whatever cell this ship has.
Boss, we really should do it, the female pirate was the voice of reason.
Captain Boss Senior (now officially just dubbed Squidface in Johns head) wiggled his tentacle beard with unwillingness but, faced with all of John and his group, finally gave in.
_________________________________________________________
You arrrrrr going to see us again! Squidface promised, hammering his tentacle hands against the energy wall that separated him from freedom. It was by no means a bad ce to be, on the contrary. This row of cells (each with their own bathroom) was set under the waterline, and they could look into the ocean through a window. Not that there was a lot to see; the oceans inside the illusion barrier were empty even of jellyfish.
Whatever, John shrugged, just sit still until the cruise is back at Amsterdam and you will be fine. I guess, I have no idea about Dutchws about seizing stuff for the fun of it.
Jail time, shortened if he tells us who his employer is, Captain Sealy said as they stepped towards the teleporter.
Great, anyway, John moved on from this inconsequential event, as per Metras wishes: is there some sort of protocol in case you need my help at the Antic Fuse?
Yes, here it is: you and yourpatriots are to gang up and hit it til it dies, Sealy said. John pinched the bridge of his nose.
Lemme guess, his girlfriend, halfughing, added to the discussion, if there is more than one enemy, the strategy is to kill them and then hit the biggest bad until it dies?
Yes! How did you know? Sealy pped his webbed hands together like an enthusiastic sea-lion.
Just a hunch, Rave said and booped him on the ck tip of his prolonged nose. Sealys mouth opened into a giant, dog-like smile. John finally understood why the German word for seal was literally sea-dog.
Something moving outside the underwater window caused him to freeze in his enthusiasm. John looked with disbelief at the group of orcas swimming by. The ck and white killer whales moved by with the rxed ease of an apex predator.
Why are there orcas inside this Illusion Barrier? John wanted to know. The way one of them stopped and just looked at them behind the ss was pretty unnerving. More so for the seal-people that were with him, all of whom quickly scrambled to a part of the corridor without a window.
Dont you know?! the terrified captain Sealy called out to him. Orcas are not natural creatures; they are to dolphins what dragons are to lizards, with the difference that they are way better at acting so they got people fooled into thinking they are normal animals when, really, they are unholy monstrosities!
Johns eyes darted back and forth between the captain and the apparently magical water mammals. The evidence was obviously on the side of the seal-mans im, so John had to ept that. The fact that the Orca that had halted, slowly drifting by as the ship kept moving, opened its toothed mouth to breathe a yful cloud of visible shockwaves at the boat did make that an easier process.
They still havent eradicated these things? Metra asked and put a hand on the ss and tried to stare them to death. When that didnt work, the sound of metal sheets sliding over each other filled the corridor, apanying the dirty blondes natural armour forming out of her skin. Starting at her back and, from there, rapidly expanding through individual segments growing out of thest one, resulting in a pattern that reminded of a snake belly.
This was only the second time John saw the viinous, futuristically designed armour, dark grey with the colour of thick blood decorating it with lines and simply glyphs, edges and spikes sticking out in a way that would turn the receiver of a tackle into mincemeat.
As if they were suddenly in the face of the devil himself, the Orcas all fled in such a panic that they left cracks in the edge of the Illusion Barrier as they ripped their way out. The fine tears, like white veins in the water, soon healed themselves as John looked over to Metra with an interested gaze.
I guess they remember me from when I was sent on a ten-year pilgrimage to ughter every single one of them I could find, Metra said. It was one of thest orders Sargon gave me after one of them lunged at his kid at the coast of the Persian Gulf. It was a scary beast with a third eye, with Lorylim corruption oozing from its mouth from the piece of Cyclostone it had consumed. She smiled to herself, Good times, took me two days to kill that thing. That was before they started whispering.
Wait you had contact with Lorylim before? John asked, and Metra raised an eyebrow at him.
I am several millennia old, chances that I didnt are rather slim, she answered. At one time I actually heard the song, that was pretty close. If you only hear whispers, you are fine; you should worry when they stop and run when you hear them sing or ram the pir of a Greek temple through the eye of the cyclops. Sadly, I cant tell you too much about that story, I am under oath and all that.
Undines difort gued Johns mind together with his own curiosity; he needed to ask more questions of Metra in order to understand what he regarded to be his enemy by default. Do you know what they are?
If you are asking whether or not I know what they are, I have to go with no. All I know is that they are disgusting and dangerous. They only got worse about two-three thousand years back, when they started to also be insane and corrupting as well as start that stupid song, the helm parted, and the segments retreated until they formed a crescent of spikes around her neck, but you can kill them, so thats all I need to know.
Fair enough, but could you tell me John began.
Chapter 388 – Just imagine exploding heads
Chapter 388 C Just imagine exploding heads
The grand summary of the things John learned from Metra while they stepped through the mall was as followed: Lorylim were of unknown nature, but their origins could be traced back to the sinking of the mythological continent of Lemuria. They appeared mostly as a corrupting force that infested beings that travelled between nes by stretching outside their own; only sometimes did they manifest as monsters of their own shape. There were five general stages to their attempts at corruption, being seduction, guidance, silence, songs and finally the fall. The quickest way to identify a Lorylim infested being was to search for their third eye.
And I do mean that like the third eye of enlightenment, Metra specified as she picked a hand-pistol off the wall in the weapons shop they were inside. Opening a third eye is, after all, achieving understanding with a higher ne of existence. To open a Lorylim eye all you need to be is a really good puppet, and they are rather easy to discern from other third eyes.
She aimed the silencer-equipped pistol at John and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew into a dimensional tear and reappeared when it hit the target, way off the centre.
I like these things, the berserker babe said and put it back on the wall, but learning to aim them would be pretty useless. Not like they would deal any significant damage.
Ay, a strong person like you wouldnt need anything in the way of firearms, the dwarf behind the counter said. Unless you have the money to shoot pure Elementium or are skilled in manifesting energy projectiles, guns are a really bad choice of weaponry. You look more like the sword kind of girl to me,ss.
Actually, I prefer spears, Metra corrected, and, honestly, I am just here to check the assortment. There is no way you have something better than my current weapon.
HAH! You believe that, but with a nonchnt gesture the ancient weapon grabbed Qiada from Johns inventory and presented it to the dwarf, you would also be right. My apologies.
No offense taken, bearded dude, Metra announced and made the weapon disappear again. I will drop in again, nothing like weapon watching, she promised. The dwarf looked happy about that, even if it was just for thepany of a fellow weapons enthusiast.
John stepped out of the shop first and met everyone else, they were sitting on a sort of couch in the middle of the central hallway. Can you believe they just have a weapons store -with loaded guns- in the middle of a mall? he asked and received nods from everyone around.
I can totes believe that, doesnt even sound weird to me, Rave told him, thats like asking if I find spell stores weird, the people inside there are just dangerous.
I reserve myself a right to maintain some of my healthy, real life born scepticism, he told her.
Eliza groaned, Can we just get the fuck out here? All these people make me dizzy. I want to get back into the pool. That thing is awesome.
Yeah, not gonna lie, Rave added, all I want to do is check out the club this evening; I could go sunbath for a few more hours before it gets dark. So, wanna head back Eliza?
Wherever there are less of these sweaty meatsacks, although I dont want to be too far away from John with this thing in my head scheming something, the blood mage was appropriately cautious.
Ah, dont worry gal, I gotcha, Rave smirked.
The fuck do you mean by that? Eliza raised an eyebrow in confusion.
That ya love me and ya know it, so I am going to scream your name at your face in the emergency situation, that deration was met withughter that quickly faded into a confused squeaking sound.
Wait, how the shit are you not wrong about that?! You are a girl, I cant just love you! Thats gay as fuck!
Sure ya can, cause I am awesome, Rave said and patted her on the head. I mean, to list things why ya should love me in the first ce, I am the second highest person in this harem and I have been super nice to ya, except the times were we have sex and I spank ya however I like and all that. Reasons aside, tho, I can totally see how ya look at me sometimes, ya adorable dwarf.
Yeah, but emotions are bullshit! Eliza dered, obviously confused about herself still.
Tell me about it, Rave said, in the pool, anyone elseing with?
Siena already jumped shadows, John told them and was thusly red at by the nightmare elemental, sticking the upper half of her face out of the floor. Yes, I had to ruin your jumpscare, he told her, but the re persisted for the rest of the discussion. But what about the restaurant, Jane? You dont want to eat there?
Oh, right, thats a thing well, I really wanna get back in the pool, so I guess Eliza and I will plunder the pantry for a snack and ya can just bring us something back?
He could live with that arrangement, and a couple more of decisionster, it was only him and Aclysia that decided to stay and explore the ship some more.
You are dangerously defenceless right now, John, the weaponized maid remarked as they went back into the moving crowd. It was at that middle density where people were all around but not packed in such a manner that fast walking individuals couldnt weave through. On this asion, John walked slow through the gold decorated white hallway with the storefronts made entirely from ss. Whoever the designer of this ship was must have really loved his transparent walls.
Its fine, he told her, the teleports are not on cooldown and its not like I am truly defenceless these days. I have a buttload of health, Mana Protection shields a lot of stuff and I have some good resistances even out of armour. Anyway, I want to talk to you about something, Aclysia, she listened up, which only meant a change of posture rather than attention, I think you may have jumped on the crazy train a bit.
Pardon? Aclysia tilted her head with a confused expression on her face.
I mean that you are bing overprotective to an ufortable degree, he borated. Dont get me wrong, I love that you look out for me, but threatening people at knife point because they say a few bad things about me or our loves is overkill.
Have I been a burden? the weaponized maid sounded deeply saddened, her head hanging down in apology and difort. Its just that their words feel so inadequate and it makes me angry. They should know how great you are and act with at least a baseline of respect.
He took her hand in his with a smile, You could never be a burden, Aclysia, he spoke with urgent calmness and love, but the baseline of respect you want everyone to have towards me is just set too high. I mean, what do you think would be appropriate?
The men should watch their words and the women drop their pants when addressing you, Aclysia told him straightforwardly.
Now that made him wheeze a bit, from surprise and amusement, Yeah, no, that is definitely not happening. Aclysia looked slightly annoyed by that revtion. And I dont mind. I have all of you; as far as women go, I am pretty content, and all I want from other people is the basic civility we all should have for each other. For friendly acquaintances like Maximillian, it is totally fine if they insult me a bit, its just talk between dudes I think.
You think? Aclysia asked, hearing the doubt that ended that sentence.
Not like I had a lot of male friends before this, he exined as they hit the end of the mall and with it the usual pair of moving vertically in a building, elevators and a flight of stairs. They chose to use the stairs, as the line ofzy people waiting for an elevator was so long that they would lose more time and energy standing there than could ever be preserved by being carried upwards. With that queen-bitch Vanessa and her boy-toys blocking basically every attempt at friendships I could make.
She sounds like she needs to be teased, fucked onto the edge of orgasm by your outstanding skills and then left m-jammed, Aclysiamented. Although I do not like the idea of someone of her character getting to sleep with you, John.
Sure he did like that image; Vanessa had been hotst time he saw her, and he doubted that changed in the half-a-year that passed since, the idea had a certain appeal. But this is pretty much exactly what I mean when I say you have been spending some time on the crazy train, suggestions like that are what we would generally call screwed up.
Wasnt it your own statement towards Eliza that we are all a bit screwed in the head? Aclysia asked.
Yes, that is half the quote, what is the other half? John had the feeling he was about to get where he wanted to be at.
That we also need to hide it in order to be socially eptable ah, I understand now, the weaponized maid nodded to herself. So my personal, and in my opinion correct, belief as to how everyone should act towards you is alienating to others, and as such I shouldnt express it by pointing my swords at people.
Now you got it, John praised and kissed her on the cheek to have her remember that train of thought. Also because her soft and pale cheeks were just that kissable and he wanted to smell her hair, it wasvender scented today. Dont get me wrong, it is pretty attractive when you get that aggressive to defend me, but it also gets in the way. I do enjoy bantering with Maximillian, and there will be times when people taunt me to get this sort of reaction, be it because they are paparazzi or just assholes. So, I need you to learn to hold back, okay?
I will do my best, Aclysia promised. I will not be a burden to you in any way. It would help me if you could formte a sort of list of people who you are fine to be minorly verbally abused by. As you may have noticed I do not feel this sort of emotional bacsh towards people in your harem.
He nodded, I did notice that, rather hard not to. Is that like a conscious decision you make or why do you need a list?
It is easier for people I can feel your affection for; your love fills my being like a fire and I love them as you do. As a baseline, that is. I prioritize my personal feelings over yours as to maintain my individuality. I do not enact this for your friendships, but I will try to act like I do by enacting a meditative exercise.
What would that exercise even be like? Johnughed.
Whenever I feel the urge to stab someone, I shall instead imagine their heads exploding, she presented her idea, and Johnughed even louder.
Thats better and something many people do already, so I say you should go with that, they arrived on the very top of the stairs and stepped into the restaurant. Its time to test the food, he announced.
There was another line in front of the reception desk. Even though it moved rather quickly, John didnt feel like standing in there, and like always he had an excuse not to. He just walked up straight to the desk and showed his VIP card. The waiter called for one of his co-workers who then guided John through the restaurant.
The colour scheme was like everywhere else on the ship: white and blue dominated through tablecloth and carpet with the light brown of birchplementing the looks and ss making up a majority of the walls. The circr tables of varying sizes stood at such distances from each other that lively chatter filled the air but you could only hear someone on a neighbouring table if they were particrly loud or one really wanted to hear them.
John, however, was the VIP of this cruise, so he was guided to a separate area on the second floor, a room outfitted with a small balcony and nicely isted to a degree where the chatter became a distant whisper. A thing that they could change on a nearby panel, just like the light that shone through the windows.
Do you want me to stay here or would you like privacy, sir? the waiter that had guided them here asked after providing two menus. Although Aclysia did not eat, she flipped through the pages, reading the summary of ingredients.
Please stay, I am sure I will make my choice any second now, he told the waiter.
Chapter 389 – Feast, bleed and what
Chapter 389 C Feast, bleed and what
John returned to their apartment on his own, something Rave immediately picked up on as she pushed her athletic body over the edge of the pool and onto the white deck. Where did ya leave Aclysia?
John just ced the food he had brought with him on the table and started unpacking. Aluminium foil was pulled out of the stic bag and then unwrapped in turn. Eat that, he said and gestured at the bread, stuffed with meat, greens and sauce.
The fuck is that, Eliza came running at the prospect of something to eat, and why does it smell like mhrmhrgFUCKkhrm Whatever she had been wanting to say was cut short by her greedy little hands clogging up her talking hole with the eating purpose it also had. With a celebratory curse at the taste, presumably.
Rave took the thing with a little more care, Huh, been a while since I had a kebab. She opened her mouth wide and then sunk her teeth into it. In the pink lustre of her blue eyes, John saw the same explosion of taste that had hit him earlier.
Sauces, hot and garlic, shocked her taste buds to the core, immediately followed by the richness of well-prepared and slowly cooked meat from the stake, cut into thin slices. A satisfying crunch apanied every motion of chewing, from the slight crust on the high-quality beef over the sds to the onions, the perfect experience topped off with the soft white bread that held this stack of vours together and acted as a minor pallet-cleanser, allowing each bite to be a new and wondrous travel down vourne.
Its gone! Eliza fell to her knees, sauce and pieces of sd still sticking to her lips, Damn you, you non-existent fucker, god, just be damned, she hit the floor repeatedly. I want another one!
Well, good thing I brought more, John said, pulled another stic bag out of his inventory and ced it on the table. Because I ate three of them myself and I just knew that this would happen. He gestured at the elementals toe closer and, after watching them eat from the pile of kebab he put on the table, got hungry again and got his fourth one.
They werent exactly small chunks of bread encapsted goodness, barely being able to be held in one hand. As someone of lean build, John had never been someone who ate a lot. That had been especially true in the past, when eating was an annoying thing he had to do while gaming. Since Aclysia was cooking for him, and since eating had turned from an involuntary break to a time where he was just hanging out with all the girls he fancied, he had been eating willingly. There was also something to be said about his increased muscle mass increasing his appetite. However, even though that meant he was now eating more, that still didnt mean he was eating much, and four kebabs was most decisively out of the norm.
But they just taste so good, John thought as he took thest bite, basically just meat and bread. The pile on the table was reduced to nothing within half an hour, like an open treasure chest in front of a crew of greedy pirates.
Eliza let out a rather udylike burp by the end of it and fell into a chair. Her stomach, visibly bloated from all the food, deted in seconds as her inhuman metabolism churned through it and broke it all down into mana. The elementals hadnt been able to eat much, thanks to their inability to properly digest food, so they looked fine as always. Rave and John, however, looked like they didnt want to move anywhere for the next hour.
The only person who hadnt eaten anything, Metra, was nice enough to get them something to drink, even if that something turned out to be just tap water. At least thats what John assumed until he raised his ss. The sharp smell warned him before he took a sip. Did you fill pure I dont even know, John wasnt good on his alcohols so he looked to Rave for help, who took a sip without a care.
Yup, pure vodka, shemented. Good vodka, but not something I would put inside me right now. Can we get something normal to drink?
Nonsense, Metra crossed her arms. Warriors on vacation should liven it up and for a good feast you need a lot of alcohol. How else are you going to get into a state where you tell your architects to build a monument to your beard?
John pushed the ss away from him. For a start, he retorted, I dont have architects.
Demonstrably false, Metra said and pointed at Gnome in her swimwear. Also I know that there are at least three different Combinations you have that have the skills to create some parts of buildings.
Thats architect, singaaaaa- he stretched his smartassment in panic as Metra grabbed him by the cor and showed him a toothy, unamused grin, anger seething in her green eyes.
One fucking smart guy, arent you? Want to know what I used to do to people that were this pedantic? Common sense told him he did not want to know that, so he shook his head and breathed in relief when Metra dropped him back into his chair. She couldnt actually hurt him, that would go against their contract, but when an ancient war construct warns you, one was better advised to take that serious.
Anyway, and I also dont have a beard, John pointed out.
Yes, you should grow one, Metra stated, full beard, not too long but still existent.
He wanted to point out that he wasnt even sure if he could do that, beard growth was one of these things where his male genes failed him (together with penis size, but that had been rectified, thanks to Gaia). Before he could do that, Rave spoke up, Denied, he aint getting a beard on my watch. No scratchy kisses!
So, you are the reason why he looks like a naked mole rat? the berserker babe grunted. I thought higher of you.
If ya wanna have a mouth full of hair whenever ya deepthroat, go chew on some puppies before ya do it, the funky lightbearer stood her ground. Nia ran over to Chompy and hugged him to her chest before retreating away from the vile woman that was even able to suggest such a thing should be done.
Metra rolled her emerald eyes, OBVIOUSLY, pubes are a different thing, but what is a man without a certain level of roughness to him?
As long as he is confident, doesnt get on my nerves, funny and gets me off in bed, I really dont care what he looks like, Rave stated, but I like to cuddle with total skin contact and without scratching my face on a beard.
The trick is to let the beard grow out of the scratchy stage, Metra sarcastically revealed as if she had just correctly predicted the nexting of Christ. If you really dont care what he looks like, you could at least have him have a beard.
Urgh, Rave threw her hands in the air, Okay, fine, I do care what he looks like insofar that John right now looks really sexy without clothes and as the gal who actually knew him when he was still anky, hairy, unkempt piece of weak-sauce, in his seat, John cringed at the description of his past self, I can tell ya that this is infinitely sexier.
We can double that infinity by pping a beard on it! the dirty blonde shouted, temper rapidly slipping.
Ya mean half that infinity, ya weird hunk of metal! Rave shot right back.
Listen to me, you semnce of dyed pubic hair! Metra growled and threatened to grab her weapon, at which point John finally decided to put a stop to this before it got really nasty.
To put a rather easy end to this discussion, I am not growing a beard, he told them, and Metra just stormed off in a fit of anger without listening to his reasoning. Not that the justification Because Raves opinion is more valuable to me than yours would have been likely to improve that reaction. It was interesting to see that her emotional control slipped when discussing such mundane a topic. Constantly being on the verge of anger had to make everyone moody.
Anyway, John directed the attention back to what was going on, Aclysia asked to be let into the kitchen to learn from the chef, and after she found her to be notplete garbage, their words not mine, they let her assist. Thats why she didnte back with me.
Eliza, having the courtesy to clean up the mess of stic and aluminium they made, wiped off her mouth with a stray napkin. Words cannot possibly express how much I approve of Aclysia learning to cook this kind of ball-busting goodness, she stated before trying to take all of the trash with her at once. That endeavour was hindered by the somewhat slippery nature of the bags.
Just take two trips, Undine advised.
Two trips are for fuckboys, the blood mage decided, and tentacles of blood extended out of her fingernails and weaved through the handles of the foil filled bags. She almost got all of them when she made a growling noise, her eyes beginning to shift to their godhood state. The blood fell and sttered on the floor, creating a crimson mess on the pure white background.
I hate you the devouring voice of Thana rang out against the resistance of her host. The eyes, one transformed fully and the other merely having elongated dots that darted back and forth like the hands on a broken clock, rested on John. He stared back with adequate fear but mostly concern for the girl that struggled to regain control.
He didnt want to call out to her when she could do it on her own. It would have been less helpful if he saved her whenever possible instead of whenever truly needed. After a minute long struggle, the one eye returned to normal, dots rotating quickly in agitation, and soon after that the expression of indiscriminate hatred fadedpletely, and Eliza, heavily breathing from the mental exhaustion extending to physical stress, returned to full control.
Fucking bitch, she cursed and looked at the deck. Using her powers only minimally, she gathered the blood into tiny orbs that she absorbed back into her body one by one. Cant even use my powers in peace; at least I know she is still in there. AND NOW MY HAIR IS THIS FUCKING LONG AGAIN! Sheined throwing the blue, hip-length hair over her shoulder.
And she can actually talk, Rave added.
That part doesnte as a big surprise, John said. She spoke before, although It was either repetition of the same phrase or her vowing to kill all of us in those weird power words. Speaking of those, I wonder what exactly those are.
They are called Babel-Phrases, Copernicus strutted by, named after the tower, although they existed before that. Its just a fancy word for incantation, really. The cat jumped on a table and rolled together in the shadow of an umbre.
Unless you are a certain rat god, John thought, then you can just drop them into your normal speech. Wonder if I will ever get a spell like that, he said, still watching the cat as Nia made her way over to do her thing. The nk looking pariah ced Stirwin on her head to have both hands free for scratching. The golden scales of the crocodile harmonized nicely with the tinum blonde of her hair and his mouth stood open in what looked like a smile on a very happy hatchling.
Some Tier 5s have them, Copernicus poured in a rxed voice. Although only the most powerful amongst them. Its usually more like an extension of their unleashed state than anything else, usually. Pretty much all gods have them though. Seemingly rted to the subject of the discussion, Stirwin squeaked.
Okay, thats that, we are finding out what you can actually do right now! John decided he had enough of the infinity elementals mystery and got up. Only to fall back once he realized that his stomach was still too full to act with this much energy. Okay, maybe in 1020 minutes.
Raveughed at him while taking another sip of vodka. I hope Aclysiaes back soon to make cocktails, shemented while they watched Eliza put bag after bag over her arms. Seriously, just take two trips.
NEVER! Eliza insisted as her arms gotpletely covered, the dangling bags getting in the way of her putting even more on, creating a spiral of ever increasing difficulty. Eventually she managed, although she could have made the trip four times by then, and made her way over to their apartment where she simply had to dump the trash on the floor for it to be carried away by the slime.
Anyway, I was thinking we should maybe n some things, he said after Eliza returned. We are supposed to reach New York after a week, so on the 24th; we should probably have some ns of what we want to do while here.
Sure, a barely cooled down Metra said in a very chopped off way after returning to the conversation. You have anything in mind?
Well, I would like to spend at least one day just dating each of you, its a nice scenery for that sort of thing, John said, like a date Monday or something.
Thats ame name, Raveined, How about fluffy Monday?
He raised his eyebrows, What does fluff have to do with going on a date? Under fluff he understood, to date, Warhammer lore.
Cause it makes ya feel all fuzzy and happy and stuff, his girlfriend said as if it was the most logical thing in the world. So we gonna have dates on Monday, cause I like the idea of having a date, anyone got other ideas?
Chapter 390 – On the chomping block
Chapter 390 C On the chomping block
Give! Stirwins cutely high-pitched voice whimpered in the tone of a pleading kid as he was stretching his head upwards. There were many things a crocodiles body were built to do: being a bone-crushing killing machine, having the ability to grow endlessly, be armoured with strong scales while also possessing a strong healing factor and be all around a killing machine that didnt needrge evolutionary adjustment since the age of the dinosaurs.
None of these virtues was the ability to stand up on their back legs, and so Stirwin, already having backed as close to the edge as he could, was only able to look at the piece of peeled orange John was holding over his raised head with desire. He could have made a jump for it, but that was a desperate move and likely to end with him just falling off the table after John raised his hand out of reach.
Stirwin was a fish out of the water, which would have been a way more advantageous biome for him to be in. Just good that I can also bait him with fruits and vegetables, the Gamer thought, tauntingly wiggling the thing, not like a normal crocodile would be interested in this. He lowered the piece of fruit just a little bit to prompt a snapping of the hatchlings jaws. All Stirwin caught was one of the white pieces that stuck to the sweet orange flesh. Not interested in that thing, he shook his head until it flew away.
Give! Stirwin pleaded again, assuming his waiting stance once more. John was experiencing some minor inconvenience in the shape of Nia drumming on his back with weak punches of her one hand while the other was pushing the angry card against his face.
Dont bully the croc! her demand was presented in her usual emotionless tone, but her actions and insistence made John just add a mental exmation mark. Tu es une mauvaise personne. She had just called him an evil person, but as it turned out, that just sounded sexy to his ears. Because it was French. It helped that Nia Fae was a blonde bombshell of a girl.
I am trying to get him to tell me what he can actually do, John retorted. Which is a bit of a challenge with him never using more than one word at a time.
Fruit! Stirwin squealed, and John gave him half of the slice with a sigh, not particrly enjoying torturing the little guy.
You havent seen it yet, so let me show you what I know Chompy can do right now. After Stirwin had gulped down the sweet piece of fruit meat, John urged him to turn into his item form. He hung the golden egg-shaped essory from his belt on the silver chain that came with it. Then he conjured a five-hundred mana worth version of Shardbound and had it dart for the sun. He didnt intend for it to hit anything and thus it simply reached the maximum range and dissipated.
So, when I use a spell, John told her and then aimed his hand at the pool, whatever side of my body I fired it with, the corresponding hand can do this. A beam of golden light shot at the pool, creating a slight bit of steam but otherwise useless. Its a short range, single target, quick attack. Pretty easy to aim with damage directly corresponding to the amount of mana spend on the spell. 10% of mana spent plus 0,5% per level of Elemental Unity, to be exact. John had almost ran damage experiments on Aclysia, which were always pretty inurate, just out of sheer desperation to get some knowledge on what the damage numbers where when he had found that titbit under the passive skills description. An awful ce to hide it. Its pretty good, he continued, from a sheer utility standpoint.
Of course, this freebie couldnt evenpare to the actual spell John used. At 500 mana, Shardbound did 2735 damage, being his second most damaging spell after Mana de for 4790. Meanwhile that light st did a,parably pitiful, 25,5% of the mana cost as damage, or 127,5 as an actual number.
But it was free and, much more importantly, was blindingly bright. If he ever found himself in a melee situation throwing one of these into his enemies face, it was exactly the kind of crowd control he needed to disengage to his natural habitat further back or just punch someone as hard as he could with his limited close quarter experience. It would also be helpful in other crowd situations, particrly those that involved one strong leader-type boss and many weak goons. It was also important to note that he couldnt keep multiple of these charged up or stack them, although continuous casting did keep the strongest version of theser in a fireable state. If he didnt use any spells for five minutes or unequipped Stirwin, the build-up st disappeared.
Again, Stirwins insistent voice reached his mental ear. Either the crocodile just liked the sight of that or there was something about to happen. Either way, John lost nothing but a few minutes worth of mana regeneration if he obeyed, so he did. Throw!
Now that was a bit of an unclearmand. Throw another attack, throw theser, throw you? he asked.
Me! Me! with that cleared up, albeit slightly confused, John reached for the egg on his belt. To his surprise, instead of needing to be removed, the egg simply came off the chain as if some adhesive suddenly stopped working. The golden egg in his hand glowed softly; a circle the depth of a shell was where it and the chain had parted, the missing part still attached to his belt.
Chompy, go? John made an unsure Pokemon reference and tossed the egg at the pool in an underhand motion. It described a somewhat high arc as the glow was consumed and formed a momentary golden hole in the space it held, out of which Stirwin squeezed like a distorted mass of scales, teeth and w, all while still flying. It was like watching a dangerous version of a clown car or something rising out of the light distortion of a ck hole. By the time he had reached the highest point of the arc, the crocodile had fully formed and did a proper nose dive into the water.
The crocodile had grown out of its thirty-centimetre length hatchling form and was now about a metre in length, swimming by using his ttened tail to propel himself, arms pressed closely against his body while he made his way over the edge of the pool. As was usual for an animal that grew out of the baby stage, his silver eyes were no longer as big in rtion to his head as before, and overall the cuteness factor was reduced.
While the colour scheme stayed the same as before, albeit with the bronze dots on his golden hide being darker in colour than before, the scales looked all around thicker and sharper, having these crocodile-typical sharp bumps along the back. The ridges of his tail were t like a paddle and, with enough force behind the swing, looked like they could cut through skin, muscle and bone all the same. His snout had grown longer, and the teeth were where the differences between a normal crocodile and Stirwin became most apparent.
Like the teeth of a saw, the scales around his mouth protruded over his lips. Segmented into areas where they grew from the upper or lower side of his skull, they would cut apart just about anything that had the unfortunate experience of getting into his maw. At the current size that was an arm that was risk, not the most lethal thing but still nothing anybody in their right mind would want to experience.
When Stirwin had reached the edge of the pool, he pushed his mouth above the surface. The teeth inside were bend inwards and looked surprisingly dull; given that their only purpose was to hold, that was all that was needed, however.
Now we can speak, he sounded like a young adult, fitting given his form. My normal form doesnt have the mind to formte proper sentences. Although the mind of a child is easier to maintain. Stirwin put his front legs over the edge of the pool. They were surprisingly long for a crocodile and possessed a roughly human outline, with four fingers and an opposable thumb. John had the feeling he was dealing less with a crocodile and more with a dragon that had chosen to forego the wings and put all its evolution points into water predator instead.
Then again, what were dragons if not reptiles that had decided to go the winged route? Point being that Stirwin now looked a lot more like a fantasy creature than before. One that was still bound by his biology though, as he had a hard time actually climbing out of the pool.
ws unable to find anything to hold onto and with a elongated body that wasnt particrly great at pushing itself over edges, all he could do was give it a strong eleration in an attempt to get the mass of his body ontond and push from there. The attempt failed, only getting him halfway onnd where gravity then wanted him back in the water.
With a panicked, high-pitched squeal, Stirwin slid back until John grabbed him behind the arms and pulled. For a being made out of solidified light, he was pretty heavy, a stark difference to Siena, Smander and Sylph who all weighed basically nothing. Once his back legs had also made it over the edge, Stirwin was safe and could move on his own. His hind legs were even longer, raising his lower body into a position where his tail was a more effective weapon. Although altogether it didnt look like he would be a fast runner, even with longer legs than the average crocodile he still had his mass pretty close to the floor.
Nyahahahaha, Copernicusughed at the struggle he had just witnessed, causing Stirwin to hiss challengingly. Unafraid, the suncat jumped off the shaded table he was resting upon and tapped his way over there in that half-running way excited cats used sometimes. What, is the slow and clumsy lizard angry? he mocked.
In response the young crocodile opened his mouth and, with a sound like a burning tennis balluncher, shot sma right in the suncats face. That got a very displeased, deep meow out of the unhurt cat. The two began hissing at each other in their individual way, one with a dangerously opened mouth and the other in a posture ready to pounce. That was a fight Stirwin would still lose every day, as his stat scaling remained garbage, it was just less garbage than before.
Thankfully, the ultimate equalizer came in, in the form of Nia kneeling down at their side and patting them as equals without as much as a single word. That dispelled any aggression there was, for the moment.
So, you need me to cast spells while in item form to unleash, good to know, John said after he thought he had waited long enough, but a thousand mana for you just to reach the first stage?
Dont expect me to be of any real use in fights in the near future, Stirwin presented the simple truth to him. You dont have the mana to feed my higher forms right now.
Any rough breakdowns as to what I should expect on that end? John wanted to know, poking at the part of the crocodiles belly where it changed into a white colour and looked soft. It was, but only so far as one could say that wood was softpared to tempered steel.
I could make the educated guess. Gaia has been nice enough to leave that information in my mind for when I can reach my true form in your modern units, John wanted to scream at the sky why she didnt just tell him directly but expected only sass in return.
Yup, that was exactly what he thought he would get.
One-hundred million mana, the number caused John to almost keel over and just die from shock.
Excuse me, did you just say one million mana? he asked, kind of hopeful.
I said one one-hundred million, John, Stirwin repeated. I am infinite, we could go even beyond that, but thats where you would see what I was when you first met me although I would probably shrink down to fit into whatever cramped reality pocket I am in.
How would he even use one-hundred million mana worth of spells? That had to be an incredibly long engagement where he was basically allowed to freecast, either that or he had to prepare one-hundred million Maybel worth of mana batteries and carry that around with him somehow. Thetter actually sounded like the more likely scenario, which said a lot about the impossibility of this task.
I should be up to fighting strength somewhere around the one-hundred thousand mark, Stirwin said as his scales began to flicker at the edges and drift apart like golden ambers. Ah, my time in this form is up. You should feed me more mana over the threshold, overwise maintaining the form over a prolonged period is difficult.
Do you mind being stuck as a hatchling most of the time? John hastily asked onest thing he wanted to know.
Not particrly, its nice seeing the world as simple, Stirwin answered, and then his body faded until all that was left was a cutely squeaking, tiny scaled thing being scratched between the eyes by Nias wiggling finger. Satisfied? the now childish voice asked.
Yes, John answered and got in on patting the little crocodile, who happily wagged his tail.
Chapter 391 – Home Party
Chapter 391 C Home Party
But why though? Rave whined, having jumped on her boyfriends back following thetest things he said and thus being carried around as they were heading inside.
Because me and crowds in confined spaces to loud music with shing lights above me are the literal opposite to my natural habitat, he answered. Which is mostly just me, to background music with the static light of my screen in front of me.
Wouldnt it need to bepletely dark for it to be the total opposite? Smander asked, probably just to be a contrarian. As such she was ignored even as she cackled to herself.
Ya also added a girl giving ya handjob during and having sex in between matches to that natural ce of yours, Rave pointed out, so it has to be flexible.
Neither of which I can do in a club, and I do like getting both of those although you and me both know I am more of a blowjob guy, John stood strong. No amount of force can bring me into that seizure dungeon you call a good time, Jane. Every now and again I will do it for you, but we went literally yesterday and the day before. I was in more clubs in this week than the rest of my entire lifebined.
Which isnt really all that hard, jumping from 0 to 2, Rave let out a disheartened sigh. However, she quickly recovered from her fake depression and bit him gently in the back of his ear. The surprise caused him to jump, and Rave rubbed her face against his like a yful cat afterwards. Fine, butcha better not continue watching Fairy Tail while I am dancing.
I can promise that, John said; he wasnt all that fond of that show, but Jane loved the fight scenes, so they stuck with it. It was an okay time filler, and at least it was dubbed. Although he did kind of want to dress Aclysia up like some of the characters in that show. Mostly Erza, he just liked the idea of getting a knight naked by methodically removing each piece of her armour.
Okay then, Rave got off his back and went to get some other clothes out of their designated store room, where Aclysia and John had emptied their inventories of everyday items. Smander, Metra and Sylph wanted to apany her, they liked the party life. A few minutester they were gone, and John decided to check out that home cinema system and see whether or not there was some kind of console attached anywhere.
Pretty much the second he arrived up stairs, he was picked up by a naked Eliza and thrown on the couch. Woah there, he saw exactly where this was going, no forey?
This is the fucking forey! Eliza responded, pressing her soft, purple lips on his and massaging his cock with sensual motions, the kind she had to learn with forced self-control. She wasnt alone in this; Undine and Siena joined her, caressing and teasing his every sensitive spot while Gnome watched through gaps between her fingers. A disinterested looking Nia stood right next to the stone elemental and proved her looks wrong when the snow-white dress she wore disappeared into the nothingness it came from and she then quickly undid the swimwear Gnome was wearing. The shy sounds could barely register asints.
Besides Siena moaned after freeing his dick, running the sharp tip of her ws from balls to the tip. She did so without causing any harm, yet the thought of having what was essentially a razorde pulled over his dick was not to Johns pleasure. With a frustrated groan, Siena retired that line of action to use it on someone who would appreciate it another time, we want to try something on you.
I dont like being the target of experiments, John spoke his mind.
Too bad, Undine whispered into his ear, we decided we want to take the lead right now.
And you are fine with that? John asked with a nce towards Eliza.
I dont give a fuck who takes the lead as long as its not me, the blood mage returned and was immediately pped rather skilfully by Siena.
Which begs the question why you are still talking, ve, the shadow elemental hissed as the red imprint of her palm red up and disappeared on Elizas face. You best not forget that your holes are receable by Gnome or Nia. What do you have to say for yourself?
I am sorry, Mistress, Eliza said with the kind of riled up smile that only appeared on someone who was leaking between their legs. I beg of you, use my holes for this experiment. I will do whatever you want.
Good, just get over there while the rest of us prepare him. Siena watched as Eliza retreated to the area of the couch she was pointing at. Unhappy with her just kneeling there, the shadow spirit added, Dont just wait there, present yourself like a proper set of holes! Without a word, Eliza got on her back and spread her legs and pussy lips. No, no, NO! Siena hissed and went over.
Grabbing the blood mages ankles, she stretched them until they were behind Elizas head and fixed in ce by the hollow of the knee pressing against the backside of her shoulders. That positions, although John would have called it more of a self-binding using nothing but ones own limbs, reduced Eliza to a mere disy of her sexy bits. On the sickly pale surface of the stretched skin of her ass reflected the artificial light of themp above; there was no more daylight of the winter sun cycle that could have found its way through the dimmed windows. Between her glistening pussy and her juicy tits, their actually average size appearing much bigger on her small frame and squished between her soft and smooth thighs, was the rolled-up skin of stomach. No matter how little fat a person had, there was no way to prevent that disy, but it didnt distract from the fact that she put herself at theplete mercy of whoever wanted to take advantage of her.
There, thats a proper way to present yourself, Sienas voice became much softer, and teasingly she climbed over Eliza. You best not leave this position at any point, or your punishment will be most she ran her ws over the blood mages corbone, down to her tits where she transformed them into normal fingers and roughly groped, tantalizing. For me, that is. Now open your mouth.
Doing as she was told, Elizas outstretched tongue soon became the focal point of Sienas goal of gettingfortable on her new seat. The nightmare elementals bubble butt throned atop Elizas tits, creating a wonderful disy of lustful flesh that became that much more sinful when shadowy tendrils wound their way out of Sienas back and began to tease and torture the girl beneath her.
In the meantime, John had his own wonders to look at as he was subject to a triple blowjob by Undine, Gnome and Nia, the middle of which had finally jumped over her shadow and been the one to suggest this to the nk. As long as she wasnt in the focus of the action, she didnt seem to have too much trouble participating.
Undine was the only one of the three between his legs. Being a puddle of her own goo, merely her upper body stuck out. Seeing his own dick go in and out of her throat through her liquid body was still an experience as alien as it was wonderful. Even more intriguing was the disability to know how she was sucking him in this time around. Sometimes she formed a simple cavity, a simple in and out that only differentiated itself from other deepthroats by how perfectly tight it was. At other times, the texture of the walls shifted with every bob of her head, providing him with ever changing experiences. On days where Undine was feeling especially kinky, she wouldnt form any hole or tunnel for his dick at all. Instead he would simply prate right into her slimy body; apparently that provided the greatest pleasure along with a bit of quickly subsiding pain.
Today was such a day. To break her exterior membrane, she had to use that bit of higher force when going down, a short stop in the unstoppable blowjob. Then he was surrounded by a cool stream that was simultaneously mping down on him and whirling all around his dick. He moaned as she slowly pulled back up until his dick was unupied.
Now the two girls on the couch with him moved in. Kneeling, they extended their upper bodies and pushed out their bottoms as they reached for his dick with their sultry lips, pale pink and a normal, healthy red. At first it seemed like they would hit their heads, as Nia was missing the coordination and experience of fucking John in unison with all the other girls. However, with Nia being a keen observer (most of the time and even if she didnt draw the mostmon conclusions) and Gnome going about things slower than most they quickly found a wordless arrangement.
John took it all in, the side view of the asses to the left and right of him. The bit of tingling from one of Gnomes twintails brushing over his stomach as she slobbered up and down his dick. Said slobbering from two criminally attractive girls, one western European, as pale as the full-moon, and the other a healthily tanned Korean, soft lips and daring tongues gliding over every inch. The yful sucking from Undine on his balls, which he soon felt tighten.
In an atypical disy of forwardness, Gnome quickly imed the tip of his dick and frantically moved up and down to bring him to a finish. That didnt take too long, and with a throaty groan, John pumped his load into his stone elementals tight little mouth. Thick cum hit her tongue, and the sweet taste of it made Gnome moan as the weirdly aromatic smell filled her senses. She waited until his dick quivered for thest time, pumping out a fewst drops, before moving back up. Watching that she still kept the pressure on while doing so, she coerced a few more moans from her summoner and his post-orgasmic bliss, until the head of Johns dick finally came free with a loud POP. Afterwards she presented the load with a bit of a wooden movement.
Despite the forced looking end, Gnome looked weirdly pleased with herself and pumped her fist as if she had just aplished something of great importance. You practiced, Undine noted in a deadbeat voice, causing her eldest sister to freeze in the motion. You practiced giving blowjobs to get that satisfying pop-sound finish, and now that you got a chance to enact it, you took it. My guess: You made stone dildos shaped like Johns cock.
Gnome turned beet red as the usations flew her way, only confirming them as truths. She threatened to swallow, being unable to formte an answer while her mouth was full with the considerable load John blew, about two times that of a normal man. Before she could go through with that, the other two girls jumped on her and she was locked in a three way cum-swapping kiss as the deliciousness of his spunk was somewhat equally distributed.
To the left of John, Siena was letting out a series of high-pitched moans, squeezing the body of Eliza between her straddled legs as her body tensed up in orgasm. Ah, I swear that I havent cum so much at any time in my life as I have in the past months, she said in satisfaction and pped Elizas ass before getting off her.
Didnt you say you basically never came from any man before me? John asked, as the nightmare elemental made her way over. He quite vividly remembered her screaming that after he managed to give her an orgasm. She had a pretty aggressive, one could say downright crazy, episode because of it, only stopped by Smander knocking her out with a dropkick.
Aside from the ones I forced to lick me to finish, no, they didnt manage to, Siena hummed, such a disappointment, all talk, one scream and they were done. No wonder they had to die. She reached his side. But lets not get into what I used to do for fun back in the day; I dont want to hear another one of your moral lectures. She held her cheek as if she was touching something delicate, They hurt.
He almost dropped a sarcasticment before he realized why she was holding her cheek. I am sorry, he said instead, remembering that first day of the war where he had pped her. Never before or since had he seen her that vulnerable, but with his apology, an echo of that moment seemed to return to her face, and he embraced her tightly.
The shadows are you doing, Siena hissed, pressing her hands against his chest as if she wanted to get away. Words cannot describe how much I despise cuddling, the only thing I hate more is giving oral.
He let her go, instead holding her hands and looking into her eyes. I was incredibly angry and stressed back then and what I said needed to be said, but I shouldnt have hit you, he told her, I should never hit any of you.
Siena made a mocking sound, but she averted her slightly wet eyes even as she spouted sarcastic words, Most of your girl-toys wont like it if you stop spanking them.
Spanking is clearly an exception as is pping Eliza when she wants me to, John tried his hand at a joke. Didnt take a genius to figure that this was already a deeper emotional conversation than Siena wanted, at least consciously, or the situation justified. Now what was that experiment thing about?
Forget it, Siena clicked her tongue, running the palm of her right hand over her eyes to dry them quicker, I am no longer in the mood, and looking at your limp dick, neither are you. She was right about that. That made John feel pretty bad about this interruption, Siena had clearly been looking forward to something.
Then she gave him what he could only describe as the happiest smile of misery he had ever seen followed by a deep kiss. One that was pure, just her full-lips on his, warm, tongues connecting without any fleshly desires and a long one during which his hands rested on her back and hers were around his neck, bodies as close as they would get, heartbeat and the pulsing of magical essence synchronized.
Chapter 392 – Largely Eventless
Chapter 392 C Largely Eventless
It was more than a dayter, and John waszing in a lounger, looking at the endless sea. You can sit down as well, you know? he told Aclysia, who was standing at his side. She did a grateful little bow and thenid down next to him on the lounger. Not what I was thinking off, he said, but this is better.
So what had he been doing? Nothing really. After yesterdays failed experiment, about which he still didnt know what it was about, he had been gaming for about half an hour. What had interrupted him in that was a naked and very much bothered Eliza stalking around him. Nia had also been sitting there for the whole duration while Gnome and Undine had disappeared into the bathroom following a shy poke from the stone elemental.
They had respected that he wasnt in the mood, but they had made it incredibly hard to stay out of the mood, so he eventually had closed the emtor he had been running over hisptop on the projector. Said projector was, by the way, a screen of hovering light (hurray magic) that ran over the curvature of the window. He had to scale it down to a sensible size with one of the control pads, while also finding the cables to hook hisptop on. Anyway, what happened after he had put on some nice music, rather than the sound JRPG text bubbles, was the usual. It needed no further exnation.
Gaming and sex had taken turns in a nice tandem until Rave came stumbling back in, semi-drunk, after which they had a nice goodnight orgy and people went to sleep wherever they had been fucked out ofmission, which in Johns case had been the floor on the way to the bathroom. Siena had taken revenge for the feeling trip he had put her through byunching a surprise attack and then doing that thing that only she could do that made him cum instantly until his balls were empty. Twice. In an undrugged state that was more than his mind could take. Apparently Aclysia had kept the night long and cleaned up for everyone afterwards. Since then she only had good things to say about the floor.
There are so many good thingsing out of the Nethends, she noted, having listened into his memories. He nodded and together they watched the stars in front of them; currently it wasnt the greatest view, but as the evening moved on and the light atop the deck were dimmed, it would be quite the show.
Amen, Maximillian ruined the setting romantic mood with his own two girls under his arms, sitting a table over. Darting up from her position at Johns side, Aclysia practiced that meditative exercise John had rmended her. He could practically hear the explosion. What?
She is just jealous that she cant be with you instead, said one of the two girls Maximillian had brought with him. One of them was in Maximillians preferred age bracket, meaning that she was about thirty-five and had a mature aura around her, with ck hair and a yoga trained body. The other girl was ck with dark, smooth hair and dark eyes, a few years younger. Apparently a bi-sexual couple that had gone on the ship with the full intention of swinging around, so to say, Maximillian had been able to persuade them to give him a try. Couldnt have been a particrly hard discussion, seeing how they werent even aware who he was or that he had a key card to the VIP area until they actually arrived there, where Rave had spilled the beans with sarcasticments about him needing both of those to pick-up women.
They werent yet aware who he was, having only met him half an hour ago while he was basically sleeping in this lounger. As John had observed in the little time between then and now, the older one tended to, very aggressively, tease and asionally trash talk. Which naturally put her at odds with Aclysia. Take that back, the weaponized maid demanded.
Why, are you offended? Cant take a little joke? the woman teased, her name was Stef by the way.
The idea that I could be attracted to any man but my master is horrendous, Aclysia stuck to her usual position, as such I want that statement retracted.
You really shouldnt push her, Maximillian warned.
What is she going to do? Break her arm? the younger one mocked. Her name was L, which was short for something but John had no idea what. Not that it mattered; once this cruise was over, he would never see them again.
That is a VERY real possibility, John used the same tone as Maximillian as Aclysia got up. He caught her by the wrist. There is really no need to-.
Yeah, like that second-ss girl could do that, Stef interrupted him.
On second thought, the Gamer corrected himself, why dont you two wrestle that out in some way.
About thirty secondster Stef was on the ground and they had a broken table as well as a broken wrist from the very decisive arm-wrestling contest she had just lost. My apologies, Master, I have made a bit of a mess.
Yeah, but she asked for it, John said over the sound of cursing and Maximillian sighing heavily.
Would you clean it up though? The servants sins are the masters burden, after all, he requested in a halfmanding tone. John didnt like it, but he decided to not embarrass the guy in front of these girls by saying no. Also, he didnt like having a broken table or a cursing person on the deck. Although thetter of those he had in spades anyway, currently scattered throughout the ship, indoors or otherwise vanished. Another point the two of them were unaware about, that they were two out of over ten girls on this deck and out of those the only ones he wasnt sleeping with. Would have probably gotten him a bit more respect.
He decided to fix up the table before the girl, just because he didnt want to hurry Undine along. No other reason, I swear, he sarcastically thought to himself before gently nudging the water spirit still sleeping somewhere in his soul. Luckily, Undine was a morning person, so she got up pretty quickly and soon materialized.
What happened? Undine wondered as the two neers were open mouthed at the fact that the guy in front of him had this beautiful a servant.
She called Aclysia a second-rate woman, was Johns answer.
She called Creator a second-rate male, indirectly, Aclysia said in the same moment, so outraged she fell back into old titling habits for a second.
Ah, Undines blind eyes portrayed apleteck of interest. Evidently, she was pretty non-caring about such minor insults. She just took the broken wrist and enveloped it between her hands, producing some of the green healing slime.
I never lose arm wrestles in pubs, Stef said by the end of it, looking at Aclysia with some newfound respect now that the pain was gone.
Please dont hurt her again, I just want to rx in the pool, Undine decided and inched towards the body of water.
Who are you anyway, if you are strong enough to go here with your boytoy? L asked, jumping through some logical leaps here to assume that John was the attendee. Which also put her listeningprehension skills into question, given what Maximillian had said just a few seconds earlier and the way Aclysia addressed John. Assumedly, that was what Stef whispered into her ear a momentter. Whaaat, you are here with him? I thought that weird Asian girl was wait a second. The gears started turning in both of their heads, and then they said in unison If you are here with him, then she is here with him, and she is his summon and how many other girls are here exactly? A dozen?
10, they are all mine, I do not lend, John couldnt be anything but dry about this. Although I guess I could be persuaded to... Maximillian shook his head quite firmly in the background; he had heard all about his sex skills by now and, with all that he had seen John do already, did not want to take the risk of putting it down as normal guy-to-guy bragging. If John got his hands on these two, Maximillian looked pretty certain that he would not see them again. get a grill going with you people so you can get to know them, he thusly turned it around.
_____________________________________________________________________
And you all fought in that tournament thing? Stef asked.
Most of us, Rave corrected, after John had sent a mail around saying he wanted to do a barbeque and sent Aclysia to get all the things to that end. Luckily the jacuzzi had an option that reced it with a giant grill. Unluckily that reced the jacuzzi. A huge design w, as far as John was concerned. He didnt exist back then, she pointed at Stirwin, throwing his neck back to swallow a piece of cooked meat, and neither did she, the finger travelled over to Metra.
Wat? Metra raised an eyebrow at Rave. We both existed, we just werent here or had the current forms werent you there when I was pulled out of E-mhmrph. John held her mouth closed to prevent the excavation of personal secrets.
What she is saying is that she existed prior but that I didnt feed her enough materials to be relevant untilter, he presented a believable lie, now that Stef and L knew that he could make Artificial Spirits. Then he took a forced step backwards when Metra rammed her elbow in his stomach.
Next time its a kick in the balls, your Gamers Body can stand that, right? she threatened with an angry re before walking away. Then she sighed and bent towards his ear, But we should get some sort of mental signal for when you want me to shut up. I dont get words, but some re should get through I will seriously kick you in the ball next time you hold my mouth closed.
Please no, he wheezed as the pain vanished. Just because it hurt less didnt mean he needed to face that sort of torment. At least the people around were amused by this, especially Smander as she kept checking the grill. The ze elemental was surprisingly good at grilling.
I just know when something is burned to the right degree, she exined. Phrased like that it made total sense that she was good at this.
Anyway, I only heard of the tournament and saw the headlines of that disgusting monster that came in by the end, Stef said.
Fuck you, Eliza shouted from the other end of the gathering, where she was seated as to not trigger any sudden shbacks in Maximillian. In return she was closest to the table where Smander put the meat that was ready but wasnt currently imed by anyone. The table was basically empty.
Whats wrong with her? L wanted to know.
I dont think you should be asking that, John made fun of her and thus steered the conversation elsewhere. No need to face them with the fact that they were less than 10 metres away from the potential annihtion of everyone.
Aclysia, can you make me another one of these? Maximillian asked and shook his cocktail ss. To his credit, he had been sober until the meat had arrived.
Me too, if its not too much of a hassle, Stef was quite a bit nicer.
At once. Master, a water?
Sounds good, he responded and looked at the water. If I cant have my jacuzzi, I am at least going to go swimming again.
Count me in on that, Rave smirked. How about a round of waterball?
You know that you are going to winunless I am allowed to use some tricks, he pointed out.
His girlfriend raised an eyebrow, Oh, I know your tricks. Whenever we y something and ya even have a slim chance at losing, you pull the old vibrating panty trick!
Vibrating panty trick? Stef and L asked in unison.
John gave a little demonstration by possessing the half empty ss of Ls and then vibrating it. It felt roughly simr to humming, just with his whole body. His whole alternative body, which made it okay again.
What the hell? they looked at that with interest, and then John made it stop. L was the first to raise her eyes again, That looks like one interesting sex trick. Max also has one of those.
Oh really? John asked out of curiosity.
Chapter 393 – The return of the Fluffy Monday 1 – The blank slate
Chapter 393 C The return of the Fluffy Monday 1 C The nk te
They were in the restaurant, on their VIP tform. It was nice and early, after all they had a lot to do this day. Well, John had a lot to do. Lets jump right into it, he announced, having finished breakfast. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to today.
Ya do seem really excited, Ravemented; the way her boyfriend had thrown said breakfast down his throat had been hard to miss. Then again, everyone else around was also eating at breakneck pace, for which not only the incredible vour could be to me. So how do we do this? Ya just gonna pick one of us at a time and the rest hangs out by the pool I aintining if thats the n.
Half right, John said and pulled a bowl from his inventory, together with a spiral-bound notepad and a pen. The former he had removed from their own kitchen while thetter was something he had Aclysia get, together with all the meat. He ripped a few of the pages into equally sized pieces and handed them out to everyone.
A lottery? Really? Smander asked.
Its just for the order, John exined. I do n to give each of you some time over the day.
I pass, Siena stated slicing her piece into little ribbons with her fingers. I cant stand the publicity. I will just keep being in your shadow andugh at whatever embarrassing thing you will say.
And use it against me whenever you feel like it? he had to ask.
Precisssely, Siena hissed and giggled in a dangerous way, a well ced repetition and the shame might kill you. Ah, that would just be ecstatic to behold.
Eliza crumpled her piece of paper, I dont give a fuck about this either, I will just be by the pool and do some other shit. Dont want to be in crowds or walk around in circles for an hour, getting ttered.
Instead you are going to cuddle that stupid teddy you have andin that John is out there with other girls and how you are totally not jealous because you still cant get your mood swings under control, Metra stated, writing her name on her slip along with some other stuff and then throwing the folded piece into the bowl.
You are such a fucking ass; I will rip yours apart and readjust your hip bones to be recement for this bowl, you Eliza began with angry shouting but then, proving Metrapletely right, slumped back into her chair and silently red at her. Sure. Anyway, I am not going.
I want to sit in the bathtub, Undine just said, also forfeiting her right to vote.
Hey, hey, Undine, hey, hey, listen, I wonder about something, a tiny Sylph said, writing her name by holding the pen between her arms and then marching the letters, you said you wanted to bath in the ocean, but you still didnt do that. When will you do that?
When I do it, the ocean elemental gave a dodgy answer. John felt a tinge of fear from her mind and had to wonder why that was. Nobody else noticed, judging by theck ofments from the other elementals. Only Smanders eyes rested on her sister for a bit longer than it was usual, but she said nothing. Even if there was some rted meaning in that look, John decided to make this a talk for tomorrow, today was all about dating and happiness. It was important to have days like this.
Everyone else threw their papers into the bowl, and thus John took it back and did some whirling and shaking so that they were properly unpredictable. Then he reached in and read the name of the person he picked.
_________________________________________________________________________
Yay! Stirwin made a happy sound as he was being carried.
You really think he is necessary? John felt a bit alienated by this, but his date insisted that she wanted to take the hatchling with them.
Yes, Nia answered, holding Stirwin between her arms like a precious puppy. The crocodiles hind legs and tail were dangling down as he held onto his carrier, looking around with absolute delight at a height he didnt usually get to experience. This did, however, inhibit her from using her cards, and John noted that she actually hadnt even taken them with her.
Made him wonder if this was some sort of test by the nk to see if he was still capable of understanding her without those. With Nia, these sorts of ideas could never be discounted as unlikely. I am willing to take that challenge, John thought.
Where are we going? Nia asked and tilted her head just a bit. That was an easy one, she was genuinely asking. If the angle had been bigger, that would have meant she was confused. Is there a petting zoo on this ship? he knew that this would have sounded excited if she would ever exceed the tone apathetic quiet yet firm talking that she constantly held. However, he was clueless as to what her gesture for that was. He had the conclusion but not the equation.
He watched her very carefully, trying to find out where she was hiding her emotions. No, sorry, he told her and picked up on her eyebrows lowering a little bit. Was that disappointment? He wrapped an arm around her waist, and they wandered up again as she pressed against him as if she suddenly had realized they were mas of opposing poles.
I see, she stated and then pressed her nose against his shoulder. You found a good recement, her muffled voice spoke something like apliment. Original was still better.
And still lost to Nathalia, he sighed, eventually, my dear, eventually.
Your dear? Nia looked up, and her clear blue eyes told him nothing at all. Was she angry about that title, did she want to hear more of it? They slowed down in their steps as Nia concentrated more on him than on walking. Was that good or bad? John decided that he had no other choice than to jump into cold water. He had something on his heart he wanted to blurt out anyway.
Yeah, you are dear to me, Nia, he told her. Honestly, I love you.
You love me? she was blinking rapidly; she wasnt just confused but had trouble to evenprehend what he was saying.
In an incredibly weird way, he had to tell her; no one should ever say he wasnt honest with his girls. When I first met you, I just thought you were hot and alien. Both of those are still true; you definitely have a body pretty much everyone with half a point in Libido wants, and I dont think I need to tell your powers make you look a bit creepy. He had his hand slide over the tattoo like veins of silver on her back. Her breathing increased for a split second as the tingle of his mana reminded her body both of generalbat and the sex they had. But to me that was kind of fascinating. The way every step you take just looks wrong, how your hair waves ording to the rules of another world, how your expressionless eyes lock behind them an anonymous character.
They walked through a crowd that parted around them. Instinctively all beings avoided walking around Nia, humans less so than those whose whole existence relied on magic. Still, they passed unhindered through a crowded mall as everyone observed what John had observed, even if their reactions waspletely different from his.
Something is wrong with you, Nia stated, you shouldnt be fascinated by that.
Definitely, John agreed. Dont know if its the years of shunning by normal girls or video games priming me for this sort of situations, maybe its just who I am and I am attracted to abnormal individuals. But your weirdness just makes you interesting to me; what all of them think is not important to me, I just wanted to see if I could understand you. A challenge to myself.
There was a moment of silence as he took a breath and ordered his next words, giving Nia an opportunity to speak. They were still walking incredibly slowly, meaning that the pariahs mood, whichever that was, hadnt changed since the start of this conversation. Hoping he was on the right track, he continued.
But the more I saw of you, the more I realized that you arent creepy or withdrawn or any of these things. You just dont express yourself like a regr person and neither do you seem bound bymon sense. You are quirky, you have an abnormal love for pets, which they return, you think questions through until the time to ask them has long passed and ask them anyway. You have goals and pride and character all locked behind a sheet of white paper. What started as a challenge to myself became a want; I wanted to understand you because I realized that the girl behind that paper was cute.
They slowed down a little bit more, a seventy-year-old on a walking stick could have overtaken them by now.
And then I trained with you, I slept with you, and I saw more and more of what you truly were and noticed these little ticks even you have. You tense your shoulders when you are annoyed; when you are really happy, you actually make a cute little squeal; when you are tired, you lose your otherwise outstanding awareness of your surroundings. I want to see more of them, and I want to see you learn how to express yourself like the rest of us. I want to make you cry tears of happiness and see you smile one day, a genuine smile that makes my heart feel like it doesnt fit in my chest anymore.
He had been looking ahead all this time, one of the two had to watch where they were going after all. Now he took a nce at his date, and his eyes stuck. Nia was making an expression. Not the one John had described, hers was abination of furrowed brows, confused eyes and partly opened lips, yet still an expression. That sounds really ufortable, her voice and words were typical Nia still, taking what he said at its face value and delivered in a tone that was so normal it turned abnormal.
I think it will feel pretty great, John returned, but what do you say? You are right when you say there is something wrong with me to find you fascinating in the first ce, but that doesnt change that I love you now. How do you feel about me?
I dont know, her expression vanished back into her usual inness when she tilted her head in confusion. If she even noticed herself what she had just done, nobody knew. It was the second time he had seen anything greatly move on her face and the first time it was an actual feeling rather than just a contortion of orgasmic ecstasy.
But that answer stung, it felt like he was being rejected. It prickled his skin and made his stomach crumple together like a discarded bag. He was used to that feeling of social failure, but it had been buried under mountains of confidence brought to him by his sesses in the close past. It was valuable that he got this sort of reminder.
Nia ced Stirwin on her shoulder and reached for the bag that wasnt there. Oh, she made a sound that sounded surprised in context but could have sounded like she was just saying the letter out of the alphabet. I forgot the bag.
There went his theory about this being a test. How unlike you, he said.
I was just so happy to go on a date with you, she reported and thus mended a lot of what her earlier words had ripped open again. She wasnt in love with him; maybe it was time he actually felt something one-sided from his side after all the other girls that had confessed to him first or simultaneously. However, she did like him enough to look forwards to go on a date with him. That had to be enough for now; it meant that this wasnt doomed to fail and that she wasnt ufortable.
Did you like hearing all of that at least? he asked. Even just a little bit?
She nodded and that was all he needed to see.
A few minutester they arrived where he had nned to take her. He showed his VIP card, put the asked sum on the table and then was let into a small chamber. Usual makeup, smooth birch floor, white walls, only difference was that there were mirrors instead of windows on the walls.
What is this? Nia asked as John retracted his arm from her and walked one step to then turn and face her.
Its a dancefloor that I just rented for the two of us. In an attempt to look cool, he snapped with his fingers. The world yed into his hands and at that exact moment the music started. I thought learning all about your gestures would be easier if we got really close and watched each others moves.
I cant dance, the pariah informed him.
I doubt that, he returned and offered his hand, but neither can I. She looked at it for a solid thirty seconds as the soft intro of the ssical music rolled by. Then she ced Stirwin on the floor and took his hand in a sudden motion, and he pulled her towards his chest. The music began in earnest, and John realized that he had identally picked something way better than what he had gone out for.
Illusions appeared around them as they started to dance. Piano notes falling through the air in a steady stream as the music actually yed to their movements. The song started quiet andgging, fitting their unsure steps around each other. John was too eager to deliver a good show while Nia did seem simply unsure where to ce her feet. Slowly the girl in white grew her confidence, taking steps on her own. Quietly, the boy in his suit learned to quell his want to prove himself to the unconquered girl.
They found a rhythm, a simple one at first, just three steps in a triangle. A simple waltz, the music changed with them, and once they had grownfortable with each others movements, it introduced more elements. This living music around them encapsted them in a storm of visible notes that swayed the melody they were also swaying to, and it challenged them to grow beyond whateverfort zone they reached. Urging them on with build-ups and sudden, short explosions, the music became their tutor. Bit by bit that transformed their simple dance.
Over the course of John had no idea, it must have been an eternity he first spent looking at her feet and a short few minutes he then was looking at her eyes. They danced in a wide circle, failing and retrying harder manoeuvres until they finally nailed them perfectly. The music rewarded them with sweet tones caressing their ears; the air was filled with excitement, wonder and grace as the violins beguiled their senses.
Eyes like sapphires, clear as the sky, purer than water, empty of emotion they may have been, but empty of life they were not. Their eye contact broke for one second as he raised his arm up high and she whirled around her own axis. The skirt of her dress and her hair fanned out in an overly fluid manner, overpensating for thosews of nature they often ignored. Her palms folded right back into his, and they continued their shared path.
The magical orchestra that yed just for the two of them moved onto the finishing crescendo; the illusions of flying cords and the lines of a music sheet they used like streets guided their steps through an open pathway towards the middle of the room where they were surrounded by a maelstrom of that ck, intermingling with the colours of the rainbow. Threest tones and Nia fell backwards in his arms, and he bowed over her, catching her in a loving pose as the music stopped.
They looked at each other like they had looked at each other throughout all of this. They were breathing heavily. Seriously, how long did that justst? he wondered to himself. It took a bit to get two superhumans out of breath.
Nia raised her hand and gently touched the side of his face as sheid in his arms. There is nothing to wait for, she said in a tone that had a hint of warmth and guided him down to her lips.
Theck of smell and taste was somehow more poetic than all the music they had just shared.
Chapter 394 – The return of the Fluffy Monday 2 – The wonderful blade
Chapter 394 C The return of the Fluffy Monday 2 C The wonderful de
Happy! Stirwin announced their return. For whatever reason, Nia didnte with him to the table but simply walked up to the edge of the pool and fell into the water like an out of bnce pir. Then she proceeded to float underneath the surface. A golden crocodile finding its way out of her arms.
John felt his hand twitch as the impulse to scratch the back of his head reflexively came up and was just as automatically suppressed. Its fine, John, he told himself and raised his hand to make the confused gesture with a slight dy. You beat the habit, this is a perfectly appropriate time for a gesture like that.
Whats up with her? Rave asked when he got closer to the group atrge, eating ice cream while sitting in the jacuzzi. And could ya havee back like 10 minutester, we were in the middle of gossiping about ya.
Its Nia, how should I know what exactly she is thinking? John answered with another question. And only nice things, I hope?
Nah, dontcha act like ya dont have ws, mister big dick, his girlfriendughed at him. Now get out that bowl, wanna see if I can chase ya away while acting like an angry housewife that caught her husband cheating or do some ttering to get on your good side again.
John grumbled something about her always being on his good side and that being the only reason why she got away with stuff like this. Then he looked at her wide smile and grumbled some more about the fact that he loved her but that he would return the banter in kind in the near future.
For the moment he reached into the bowl and pulled out a name.
________________________________________________________________________
AND DONTCHA EVER DARE SHOWING YOUR STUPIDLY ATTRACTIVE FACE AROUND ME EVER AGAIN! Rave shouted after her boyfriend and Aclysia as they walked down the little stairway to the public area. Then she broke out in a fit ofughter as all the normal people in hearing range looked at everyone involved in confusion.
John couldnt help himself butugh a little as well. This whole situation was just so ridiculous. Although the potential rumour machine was worrying him a bit. Then again, he was pretty sure that whatever the newspapers said about him could only be ttering after the storm that Lydias announcement had brought.
Where are we going, John? Aclysia asked as they made their way around the pool. Without Nia, it was a bit harder to navigate through a crowd, as people werent instinctively avoiding them anymore. And there were a lot of people at the public pool, as was natural as the heat rose to 28 degrees Celsius. ording to the program it would peak tomorrow and then slowly cool off to 24 on thest day. Then there would be the final hour where the temperature would sink to whatever the actual climate in New York was right now.
I dont know, I dont have a n for our date, John told her the truth. I want you to make the decision.
Are you asking me to show independence again? Aclysia asked in a disapproving tone. It wasnt without merit to say that they had been through this game a few times already.
He hummed and then answered, No, I wouldnt say that; its just me paying you back by doing something that is mostly about you, he held her hand and exined further. If you want me to take control, then I wille up with something. We can do this whole date about me, but it would make me the happiest if we made it about you. If we dont, my karma bnce will be a vacuum one day with how much I rely on you.
So, I am supposed to make you happy by making me happy, which would be most effectively reached by making you happy, which Aclysia audible clenched her jaw shut before she could get herself stuck in a logic loop likest time they had a conversation like this. I understand, please give me a moment to think. If I find something I would like to do, I will inform you.
Alright, he agreed, and they just walked towards the public walkways and elevators that would bring them deeper into the ship. Eyes wandering over the people assembled, John wondered if it perhaps would have been smarter to reveal this to her over at the teleporter. Would have saved them some walking. He also spied Maximillian with L under his arm, talking to another woman in what was obvious flirting. Stef joined them. Personality aside she does have nice tits, he thought; these three were walking around in their bathing equipment without worries. Aclysia wore her usual 2B dress, while he was running around in suit pants and white shirt. The enchantments kept him from feeling too hot, but he was still sweating a bit. Maybe he should be changing?
Aclysia looked at him; her pale red lips moved into a pout that reflected in her green irises. Pay more attention to me, please, she cutely pleaded. That is the first thing that would make me very happy.
Sorry, he said and nted a quick kiss on her lips. It was nice to be able to do that without bending down in any way; Aclysia was a mere centimetre shorter than him. For the rest of this date, I will only have eyes for you. Although I will have to watch out to not walk into someone.
That did warp her pout into a warm smile, and she kissed him back, with a lot more love, and itsted for way longer. He made a point out of being the one who sent his happiness out to her spirit this time around. Their minds mingled, but only on the surface level as Aclysia was still thinking.
Finally, she presented an idea, still smiling her barely visible smile. I do have an idea, although I am unsure how to realize it, but can you make me dream?
That was a weird question and one he wasnt quite sure how to approach. Aclysia didnt need sleep, and even when she didy down to rest, that was more of a spiritual thing where she just shut out annoyances for a few hours to get her spirit in order. Traditionally this was done by cuddling with John and the wider harem for the night, but even then, she didnt dream, she just partook in a time of little and ultimately only pleasant sensations.
So how to make a person who doesnt sleep dream? I could have her partake in my dreams, theoretically, if I went to sleep and told her to keep in close contact with my mind, but that would be a second-hand experience at best and just an incoherent movie at worst, he pondered about this problem some more. No, no, that would be a terrible date, this has to be about her. What is the closest thing I can do to making her dream ah, I know! He had an epiphany, one that would rely on a skill he somewhat possessed and could only hope his increases in Wisdom, Intellect and Charisma had propelled it to at least eptable levels. Come with me, I might be able to bring you at least something like a dream. They didnt have to go far.
The nose of the boat was devoid of activity. No wonder, it was basically just a broad, curved walkway that had a pointy middle section, winding around the bridge, the crews lodge and the restaurant. On the third day of the cruise, everyone who wanted to stand there for a moment and relive Titanic had already done it. Outside of that there was nothing to do here but stare at the ocean, something that could be done morefortably elsewhere.
Therefore, the seating there, a hip height protrusion of the wall behind them, was the perfect ce for them to sit down and be alone for the moment. John gestured for Aclysia to wait for a second, then, once he wasfortable in a rxed seating position, for her to sit down between his legs. She did and leaned against him, her head resting over his left shoulder. Calmly she waited, their hands, all four them, folded over her stomach.
Close your eyes, he told her, and she did. All sounds were distant, easily shushed away even by Johns softest whispers. I am going to tell you a story, and I want you to just let your mind wander as my words reach your ears. It might have the logical irrationality of a real dream, but if you just listen and imagine maybe, just maybe you will feel yourself falling for the illusion.
And at worst I will hear your soothing voice, John, Aclysias soft spoken answer came with her soul touching his, as the two became as close to one as they could reliably be. I am ready.
John didnt know if he was. He was a hobbyist storyteller, just a skill he had picked up at the side of ying that many RPGs and spending bored hours making up backstories for characters. Could he really tell a story that would make someone dream?
He had decided to try, for Aclysia. He took a deep breath of her hair; the smell of oranges filled him. Once, in a distant world
__________________________________________________________________
There was a cksmith. He was a lone man in a world full of forests, but he knew how to work metals for some unknown reason. He had never even held a hammer, just known how to swing it, he had never even seen a sword, just known how to make it, and he had never even dreamed of cutting down a tree, yet he knew the axes shape.
Despite of what he knew and the fact that there was no food or drink that he could desire which the forests could not provide, the man felt that he was missing a piece. He roamed underneath the crowns of leaves above him. Green they were and golden and blue, red they were and silver and ss, ck they were and bronze and grey. Under those ck and bronze and grey leaves he found a voice crying out to him.
You will never find what you seek, cksmith, as long as you search above the ground.
It was a crow, with white feathers and red eyes. A crow that was doubly so a harbinger of bad news. Yet still, that voice rang true with the cksmith, even as the crow made a series of noises that sounded more like rats squeaking than a crowsughter.
But searching underground would mean destroying the roots of these trees, the cksmith said. Roots that provide a stable ground for all of us to tread upon. The cksmith knew, for he had once been the gardener that made this ce. Once, when he hadnt been himself, but someone else. Not in another life, but in another thought, he could have been the gardener, and in this world of endless forests, that made him the gardener.
Those roots feed good trees that bring forth healthy fruits; given time, however, they will be inadequate for the animals they have to feed, the crow spoke. Then, when there are not enough healthy fruits, these roots will feed bad trees that can only bring forth bad fruits, for it is the blood of the current that will nurture them instead of the thoughts of the forerunners. Will you wait for the catastrophe or dispense with a piece of stability at your own? These roots are but a barrier between you and opportunity.
With that the crow took off, breaking through the leaves above. It left a hole in the shifting ceiling, through which the beam of an unknown light fell. An object the cksmith only knew from anothers memories, pictures on walls, a golden sphere, a myth, something that should not have been. He cast down his gaze, for only the spot on the floor was where he could watch the light without burning like deadwood. Where the sun hit the ground, the roots grew weak.
The cksmith hesitated, but the crows words rang inside him, both true and as a temptation. A call to action that he heard. He used his hands to rip and dig, new ways that he hadnt thought of before. He touched dirt, more dirt than he ever thought there could be, for he thought this world was made from roots below and leaves above. What he raised was a stone that was malleable. He took it with him.
As if in trance, the cksmith transformed the stone by using the pile of dead branches he had found to make a fire and creating a pile of other, hard stones he found around it. With stones he formed the stone that began to glow, and glow it did, like the unspeakable thing between the leaves.
What he made through movements he had known, but not learned, from somewhere was the shape of a sword he had known, but not learned, from somewhere.
Are you my creator? the sword said, simple and grey as it was. The cksmith could not answer, for he did not know if he had made the sword or the sword made him. He was no longer a cksmith, he was a warrior, and he faced the world with different hands. The crow returned to watch him silently.
The warrior stood up to spread the wisdom he only did discover to whatever or whoever he ran across.
This one will not see you for who you are, for he has epted his lowest lot, the crow whispered when the warrior approached a beggar under a tree whose fruits he couldnt reach.
Use me to cut down a younger tree and create a stool for this beggar, the sword offered, this way he can reach to ces he wasnt able to reach before.
Are you fine to be used like an axe? the warrior asked.
It does not concern me, for I am just your tool, the sword answered, and so it was done.
I am thankful, the beggar held the fruits he could now gather in his arms. I will travel like you and tell others what you showed me, oh great hero.
The warrior nodded and moved on.
-
He met a young songstress, who used her voice to lure people into the woods where they got lost. Her voice also convinced the trees to grow, thus she was shackled.
This one will not thank you, for she is vile and bitter, the crow whispered.
Use me to loosen her bindings, the sword, dull, offered, this way she can choose between good and evil.
Are you fine to be used like a pry? the warrior asked.
It does not concern me, for I am just your tool, the sword answered, and so it was done. The warrior weakened every second link of the chains that held her.
I do not hear you, but I doubt my life. Please leave me to myself for you have brought me nothing but a miserable uncertainty, the songstress said.
The warrior nodded and moved on.
-
He met a cat stuck in vines. They were unbreakable and no matter how much the cat struggled, he only found himself deeper inside the of green.
This one will not stick with you, for he is too free to see the greater picture, the crow whispered.
Use me to cut down the vines, the sword, dull, bent, offered.
Are you fine to be used like a simple de? the warrior asked.
It does not concern me, for I am just your tool, the sword answered, and so it was done. The vines fell and with it the vitality in the trees surrounding them. Withered and dead.
My life I owe you, but I will not stay here or with you, for I have my own path chosen, the cat told the warrior.
The warrior nodded, and they both moved on.
-
He met a dragon of gigantic wisdom atop the only mountain he had ever seen.
This one will hear you, for he is me and I am him, the crow whispered and was devoured by the dragon. And my problem is the forest and it needs to burn.
Although the warrior had damaged the forest on his travels, he had left behind other things. Thus, the proposed destruction of his entire home appalled him.
Use me to fend off his mes, the sword, dull, bent and dirty, offered.
Are you fine to be used like a shield? the warrior asked.
It does not concern me, for I am to protect you and now I can finally fulfil my service to you, the sword said, and so it was done.
The dragons mes consumed the sword instead of the warrior or his forest. Enraged by this, the dragons mes continued on and on; it consumed itself in the mes that melted the de until finally neither the dragon nor the sword were anymore.
Now less than a warrior and more than a cksmith, the traveller climbed onto the peak of the mountain where he found a casket. It had a lid of patterns of stained ss. Green they were and golden and blue, red they were and silver and ss, ck they were and bronze and grey. The cksmith reached for the ck and bronze and grey, and the lid shattered into new chaos that infested the world that so badly needed this sickness.
Inside he found a fair maiden whose story he did not know and who did not move. He ced the hilt of hispanion inside the casket, ready to leave this ce behind.
I think I know you, whoever you are, the fair maidens voice shook the traveller, for he heard the voice of hispanion. Did you y the dragon?
It consumed itself, I only ever wielded the tool, the traveller answered.
A tool is nothing but the end of a former journey, after which you will find something you desire much more, the maiden said. Our journey should begin with a kiss.
And that was a journey whose end the traveller never saw, but he enjoyed every step of it.
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John stopped as his creative nerves hade to an end. He had no idea what story he had just told or if it had been relevant in any way, shape or form. It felt like there was something in there, something that confused him deeply despite him being the one whose mind it stemmed from. At least I managed to get one aspect of dreaming right, he thought to himself as Aclysia remained resting in his arms.
She wasnt sleeping, but John could feel that she was seeing that whole journey, one he himself could not think off, before her eyes. Seconds flowing into years and years that felt like days. All spent together between the maiden and the cksmith. He left her to it, holding her in his arms until she came back to reality with a smile so wide it spread onto his lips.
They just sat there together in perfect harmony.
Chapter 395 – The return of the Fluffy Monday 3 – The longest, shortest date
Chapter 395 C The return of the Fluffy Monday 3 C The longest, shortest date
You are back early, Rave noted as they came back. That was like 20 minutes tops, didnt ya want to take an hour for each of us?
Aclysia made a little bow as her dress transformed into her bikini. Apparently, she had a mind for what was best in this setting. I was thoroughly satisfied by what I received in attention and therefore forewent the need to stretch it out unnecessarily.
Pretty much that, John added a vain phrase as his girlfriend stared at his naked abs like he liked to look at her tits. Having cast his remaining inhibitions aside during hisst date and changed only into his bathing trunks, there was most of him revealed. The piece of soft fabric reached down to above his kneecaps, and it was just way too hot to run around in more. Also, it had been nice to feel Aclysias back against his chest.
He found his own unwillingness to just drop the shirt silly once he thought about it for more than a second. It wasnt like his clothes were badly hiding the body of a skeleton anymore. He didnt like the attention that much, but that was a minor inhibition on this ship. The few people that werent toned had carapaces or scales. The Abyss just produced a whole slew of beautiful people, although John almost exclusively looked at the girls.
He ced the bowl on the table, apparently, they were currently eating smoked meat. Notably that was a thing that they could eat without cooking, and it was cut into uneven strips,cking the finer touch of a skilled cook. Just twenty minutes without Aclysia and the food chain was already interrupted.
Anyway, lets see who it is this time, John grabbed for the bowl, but his girlfriend cheekily pre-empted the gesture and fished a paper out herself.
Huh, now thats funny, she said and turned it towards John.
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Rave marched at his side with overbearing steps. She didnt bother to put on a lot more clothes, having just asked for the shirt John no longer wore. The fact that she had checked if it smelled like him before putting it on made him fairly certain she wore it mostly out of non-pure reasons. Rave had never been one to really hide her body. Then again, the shirt wasnt buttoned anywhere, hanging somewhat loosely over her shoulders. I am just gonna warn ya, I am taking all that extra time that Aclysia didnt want.
With those words she did withplete casualness what he had to initiate with the two girls prior, namely weaving underneath his arm and cuddling up to his side as they walked. I could ask why, John said and shifted his arm a bit so it restedfortably on her shoulder, but I would be an idiot toin.
Yeah, you would, she smirked and grabbed his butt. When he gave her a raised eyebrow, she returned a stuck-out tongue. Her piercing returned the sunlight mischievously. Ya know, if ya get just a little bit bigger, you are gonna get out of easy kissing range, and I dont want that.
Tell me about it, John grumbled. Seriously, I may get back problems from cuddling if I get any taller. You are at the perfect height to put my arms around right now, but Eliza is already a huge problem. Raveughed. I am serious! he insisted. She is just too far down there to walk arm in arm with.
Just gotta put your hand on her hips instead, his girlfriend told him, having her own hand travel up to where his bones met with his sides. Anyway, where are we going?
John smirked, Where arent we going?
A few minutester they were yingser ping-pong against each other in a local arcade. The ball darted back and forth, quicker with each block up to a point where some people were watching them outperform them with rather stupid speed. In the end Rave proved victorious and he had to buy her some ice cream.
How does it feel like by the way? she asked in a teasing tone while they were standing in line. This wasnt going to be a serious conversation, he could tell that much.
How does what feel like? he returned as the ice was handed over the counter. Rave had picked vani and strawberry. John just got one peppermint chocte. She took a cone, he took a cup.
Knowing that even as a semi-ripped guy you arent the person with the most attractive midriff around, she let him know.
John watched her tongue slide over the ice cream. Well, I am certainly not opposed to it. Also what the hell do you mean semi-ripped? I am way more toned than you are!
Thats cause I keep a healthy amount of body fat around, she let him know. Metra might be able to rock that look, but I aint.
Did you ever try or how do you know? John asked. Is this where I find some picture of you where you look like a pink-haired Arnold Schwarzenegger?
She gently bit his shoulder with cold, cold teeth. No, ya douche, she answered, but I did go on diet once to see and turned right back around when I looked like dunno kinda like you right now. Cant say I find overly visible muscles generally attractive.
You and me both, John nodded. They finished their ice and took the teleporter down into the underwater parts of the ship to look out into the ocean for a bit. Honestly, I wouldnt have described my dream girl as athletic, was thinking thinner. In nature your kind of body just wins out though.
Ya mean because I dont look like I would break if ya take me roughly? she asked yfully pulling on the band of his trunks before letting them snap back into ce. Not that that was a concern when we met.
John rolled his eyes, That is such a 2017 thing to say.
Oh, dont gimme that meme, she copied his gesture, I dont like it.
Really? Why? John asked.
When did saying its X time suddenly became an argument? Makes no sense, she exined.
I think its more of an expression of how do these things still happen in the modern world, he made the case. Not that he cared either way, he was just ying along.
Stupid way to say that, Rave maintained, not wrong, but stupid. Kinda like that one time when Mom cared for me for 10 minutes and tried to get me to learn to sing.
They went back up to one of the malls and just window shopped. John looked at a watch like he had any intent of actually buying it. Really, she did that? And here I thought your mother was just a heartless harlot back in the day.
Thats a nice alter- litery what do you call those exactly again? Rave pointed out.
Alliteration, and I dont know if two words already count as one though.
Dunno either, anyway, no she had like 10 minutes to spare a few days in the month for me and Liz at the same time, she sarcastically clicked her tongue. I know, that suddenly makes her mother of the century. Total role model.
They switched shop; to be exact, they were in a weirdly big part of a barber. I mean, at least you got to inherit cool hair, he tried to make a joke. Rave always had a hard time sticking to bad moods, which was but one of her many virtues. When she was around him, and John took great pride in that, it was rare to see her with a frown for more than 30 seconds. Felt like he was doing the loving boyfriend thing pretty much right. Of course, she also made it easy on him by being awesome.
I guess, sheughed. Also you are looking at me like ya want to marry me right now.
Didnt we already establish that I do want to do that one day in the future? he asked, not even close to the amount of nervous he was the first time he had even proposed ck of a better word) the idea to propose.
Ya better make that a good day, she poked his chest, I only get that day once! Also, I want the best ring. Best ring for best girl.
At least my girl is modest, he sarcastically stated.
Nope, Rave wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a lengthy kiss. But she is a treasure.
He reached over her ass after ncing over her shoulder. At first he wanted to make sure nobody was watching them. Upon seeing that somebody was pretty clearly staring at her bountiful backside, he did it anyway. I can agree that there is a lot of booty involved with her.
Did ya just grope me extra hard because someone is watching us and ya wanna show that I am your girl? She saw right through him without even turning her head. He just winked, and she giggled. Gimme another kiss to make it extra apparent.
No sane man would say no to that, and a man that a nk girl with a connection to a dimension popted by sentient vacuum had called crazy would just go ahead and do it. Anyway, what are we doing in a barbers shop? Not like your hair needs any care.
One, she raised the index finger of her right hand, my hair needs care; just because I dont need to brush dontcha forget the copious amounts of shampoo I use to get this whole fluffy mass soaped up. Hair doesnt feel like cashmere by default, ya know? John, who was also using her shampoo because it was just that amazing, had to concede that point. B, she raised her thumb, ya should get your own damn shampoo
Could you stop reading my thoughts? John asked. Or I will start reading yours!
Aww, its cute that you think ya have thoughts aside from how lucky a guy you are, she teased; she was in a bragging mood today.
Admittedly, always a background program, he answered, not solely your aplishment though. He didnt say that in a judgemental way, they were just y fighting, as they pretty much always were.
It kinda is, because I allowed ya to try your hand at that whole polygamy thing, she verbally jabbed back, but sure, lets say I am just up there most of the time.
That is fair to say, and I am 100% sure that I am up there, he tapped against her forehead, most of the time myself.
This is where I could make an easy actually you are down there-joke, she pointed her jaw down her body and winked, but thats beneath me. Sure, my cute little nerd, ya get to be up here a lot. You are here at all times though, she pressed herself strongly against him, her small breasts squishing on his chest. Ya feeling it?
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, her heart drummed against his chest with the strength of a lover. His own beat in kind, a rhythm. Root of 9, he said and raised the ring finger of his left hand, you are thinking about letting your hair grow longer.
See, I knew ya were up here, sheughed. Know why as well?
Because you know I prefer a bit longer hair from the talks I have with Eliza every time we have to cut her hair down and the fact that Aclysias hair is still as long as it is when she wants to fulfil my every wish? he guessed.
Actually, its just the former, typical of ya to overthink things, sheughed. I mean, root of nine, really?
He guided her out of the product section and over to the cashier. Hey, I need to refresh my nerdbel every now and again. Its hard to get inte cred with a girlfriend, although the fact that you are half-japanese helps.
Okay? Why are we going over here though? Rave wanted to know as John ced her in front of the brte John didnt even know, some kind of human with entirely purple eyes. Was it a different race or just someone with a very weird ability? Every day in the Abyss was a rollercoaster of questions.
Because, the girlfriend of John Newman isnt going to do her own hair like someone who isnt the future significant other of someone who can literally create money through little effort, he told her. Excuse me, I know we were pretty loud over there, so I guess you know what we want?
Sure, what length exactly? the brte asked; her voice had a high-pitched echo attached to it. Can work with any length measure, including a point of your body.
John, growing hair is super easy, Rave told him, just apply some of the stuff and wait like 20 minutes.
And then you grow too little at first, apply some more, then have too much and we need to get here anyway, he argued. In addition to her being a professional. If there is one thing in life I want to see it is your magnificent chaos of a hair when it is touched up by someone who knows what she is doin. Come on, I am paying for this anyway.
We seriously need to start grinding again so I can earn some money, she sighed before she told the cashier what she wanted from her services. They were then guided over to a seat, and Rave was put under one of thoserge nkets that prevented hair from going everywhere. Its nice to have ya be my walking wallet, but being financially dependent all the time rubs me the wrong way.
Once we get back onnd, we will have to spend some time in dungeons anyway, John said, eyeing his finances with a wary look. He acted all benevolent, but at the current pace he would be surprised if he got off the ship with a lot of cash. The reason why he still did it was because housing, drinks and food (in pantry and restaurant) were all provided, so there was no reason to be too stingy.
What followed where 20 minutes of the worlds weirdest hair fashion session. It began with the cashier turned hairdresser exining that she would begin scanning Raves hair to make out the correct curliness factor, which she would then insert into a form about how much of the magical paste she would need. Then she made a measurement of Raves head to see where to best apply how much of it depending on how Rave wanted her tips. If you want to still have them on a simr length, we will need to put more here and here, the hairdresser exined, also the exnations went on as John just gave his girlfriend a long stare.
Its super easy, right, Jane? he tried to say though his brown eyes alone.
Ja, ja, Brainiac, he could hear her answer.
That done with, the paste was massaged into the skin of her head, they were given some beverages and alone time while it grew out, and then the cashier returned to put on the finishing touches. John actually sat back with his eyes closed for theter stages, he wanted to be surprised.
The sound of light cloth being lifted and someone standing up. Then her voice, Ya can look, tiger. He did and found himself wordless at what he saw.
Her neon-pink hair had previously been down to her neckline, extremely curvy at the tips with individual strands of a slightly darker pink and overall a masterwork of chaos to behold. Now that it was longer, it kept many of the same values. Except for the darker strands, those magically removed themselves. John could just assume that it was the curse at work.
Her old style had given her a sexy recently woke up look. Her new style was an impossible cascade of pink where the different streams just agreed on the general direction being downwards but not on the exact path each of them should take, tips curling away from her, but less violently so, taking over half the length of the entire strand. Those sticking out strands then created something akin to a cloud of caught light around the thick of her main hair. It was like the previous amount of chaos had simply stretched over arger area.
Where some of it had previously run criss-cross over her face (without ever getting in the way, however that was possible), it now was framing her teardrop shaped face. Her bangs had been cut to the length of her eyebrows, parting above the right one into two halves of unequal sizes, neither of which went over her eyes.
Overall, she had exchanged some of the impossibility of her hair for a whole lot of ordered femininity while losing none of the sexy. It was weird how big a difference just a new hairstyle and change of length, from chin to middle of the back, could make. Previously he would have found the idea of her ever wearing more business-like clothing impossible. Now she looked like she could wear whatever she wanted and rock it with a perfect bnce between business and after-work party. Rave reminded John a lot more of Nariko now, although he didnt say that out loud.
She twirled on the spot, her voluminous hair flying around her like sr rays breaking through the clouds, to show off all of it. Part of it stuck on her shoulder andid there like a mass of bubble-gum coloured cashmere.
How do you say something above the most beautiful woman I have ever seen`? he was so awestruck he actually whispered those words.
Ya say what I want to say next together with me, Rave smiled widely, flicking that strand of her hair back over her shoulder.
This is so soft, oh my everything, they said at once, and John gave her an audacious grin, Not that ya dumbass Seriously, Johnny, stop it! He couldnt help but giggle as she actually gave him an annoyed look.
Sorry, on three, okay? as John suggested that the hairdresser went back to her register with a huge smile on her face. At least they were radiating their good mood to those around.
Okay, the pink hue inside Raves iris glinted happily, one, two
Three never came, but their words stillnded on the same moment.
I love you.
Chapter 396 – The return of the Fluffy Monday 4 – The hurtful game
Chapter 396 C The return of the Fluffy Monday 4 C The hurtful game
Heeeeeey, you? Eliza turned around when she heard them approach and blinked at Raves new hairdo. Did you want to look like your fucking mother?
Rave crossed her arms, Thanks, ya ruined it. We had fun for geez, when did 2 hours pass? It was always the same with them, time just flew by when they were talking.
In my personal opinion, it looks good, Aclysia said. It gives you a more adult look while also adding to the wild factor. It does remove some punk-factor, however.
Metra tipped the back of her head, where the metal ring was holding her own unruly mane in ce. I hope you got yourself one of these, she said in a schooling tone, or that hair will get in the way during fights all the time.
Nah, it wont, Rave just waved off, never did, never will. She reached behind her neck and fanned her hair through a quick outwards motion. Basically, she was just showing off. But it was really voluminous, running in flows that no hair should, not even the curliest of it. Rave had officially eclipsed her tie with Gaia on the most anime hair list and nted herself firmly on the number 1 seat.
Acting like a bit of a creep, he approached her from behind and started feeling up her hair. Its softer than cashmere, people, its addicting! he defended himself against whatever weird looks that got him. A few minutes of people wanting to test that im ensued. At the end everyone admitted that he was right.
Ya can stop now, Rave told thest person who was still patting her.
I can stop at any point, Nia nkly answered. I have made my choice not to.
The funky lightbearer didnt take offense to that, instead justughing at the pariah who then followed her around, keeping her hand in ce.
Lets see who goes next, John pulled a new name from the bowl. At this point only Gnome, Smander, Sylph and Metra were left. Uhm, Metra, just a quick question, he said and pointed at the extraments she had scribbled under her name. It says here you want to fight, do I understand correctly that
Yeah, I am going to beat you up, the berserker babe answered with a wide smile. Her handnded heavily on Johns shoulder and gripped tight. Dont worry, it will be a learning experience.
John resigned himself to his fate with a click on the ept button.
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So, you didnt even want to date! John shouted as he barely ducked away under her punch. They hadnt started more than 10 minutes ago but he was already out of breath. Didnt help that they were having this fight in the shallow end of the pool.
Metra tried to kick him in the side before answering. The water slowed that movement enough for him to see iting and react in time. Her kick missed and went up into the air. This is what passes as a date for me, she screamed in an entertained fashion, her foot mming back down under the surface and creating a fountain that temporarily ended sight. Useful mayhem of words and violence!
John threw himself to the side in anticipation of some sort of jump attack. A faulty cause of action, as it turned out, as Metra was just standing there even when he was back on his feet. She was just watching him.
I have to say that I am impressed, she gave a rarepliment. Not with your melee skill exactly, the only thing you can even do mediocrely is boxing, but at least your mindset is the correct one. For a mage you are remarkably well-gathered in close-quarters. She pointed over her shoulder, If I went this close up against peeping-tom over there, he would panic and do some silly mistakes.
I would have less to peep if you kept your clothes on, woman! Maximillian shouted back, Although I am just enjoying seeing John get pped about for the moment.
The naked berserker babe ignored thosements and concentrated back on John, who was taking the opportunity to catch his breath. By the way she looked at him like a hungry lion waiting for an opportunity to pounce, he was pretty sure that that was the idea behind talking anyway. Thats it? he asked. No great tips?
I originally wanted to give you some, but you really dont need them, Metra answered, slowly walking towards him. Having nowhere to really back away to, as their agreed ring was this part of the pool and nowhere else, John soon had no other choice but to stand still. Your problem she jumped out of the water and mmed back in where John had stood, once again the Gamer got away, isnt in how you fight, fists flew in his direction. Pulled punches connected to his shoulder and crossed forearms as he protected his face. He could handle that amount of damage no problem, so Metra gave him a bit of a beating as she continued to talk. You have the right idea for a guy of your power. You stay on the defensive until you know what course of action you have to TAKE! She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him right into a raised knee. The pointy bones into his stomach hurt despite the somewhat easy-going nature of the fight.
The next moment she tossed him out of the pool like a wet bag of sand. He crashed into some furniture formation at the edge of the pool. I honestly thought you would just behave like the standard mage, Metra rolled her neck as she followed him out of the pool; apparently there was a change of n. But you dont; I obviously underestimated how much fighting experience you have, she nodded her head respectfully in a way that could almost be interpreted as a little bow. My apologies, Master.
John rubbed his jawline as he got up, keeping a keen eye on his contracted weapon. Sounds like you actually wanted to beat some of it into me, he said.
Hey, I am an easily predictable kind of girl, Metra shrugged, I am totally shallow. When I want to give someone a good beating, I do it; if I want to argue, I do it; if I want to have sex, I do it, and if I want to see if my new master isnt up to my standards, I whip him into shape.
Okay, and now that you know all of that, what are we doing? I still have the quest! John wanted to know while ncing over to the falling drone. He would solve this problem another time. When his eyes darted back. Metra was already back in his face and grinning from ear to ear.
We just have to find something you are bad at. The aggressive look on her face plus the twitching in her fingers gave John a pretty good idea what she wanted to do, but she reigned herself in before abusing him anymore. Obviously beating you up wont get us anywhere. Sadly, thats the thing I am best at Actually, thats a better idea. You find something I am bad at!
This whole situation was nowpletely flipped on its head, which also failed his quest annoyingly enough. Seemed like Gaia wasnt getting the show she had been looking for. You really dont have any idea what to train me in? he asked.
I have lots of ideas, but most of them wont work because your ability works on repetition, not actual training, Metra said. So if you already have thebat experience to make the correct decisions, us training in something that a skill covers ispletely useless. You might as well get a sand sack to punch.
That was a fair point. Well I have one suggestion
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WHAT THE SHIT DO YOU MEAN IT SPAWNED A 0/7 THAT WIPED MY BOARD?! Metra shouted at her new mobile phone as she was ying Hearthstone against John. They were on their own in the home cinema.
Yup, that was quite the lucky shredder drop, he had to admit, looking up from his own. You fine?
Metras hand was shaking and her teeth were clenched to a degree where he could hear the metal they were made from screeching. I am calm I am calm, she said to herself in the tone of someone desperately trying not to scream. This was what this had turned out to be instead. I should have gone with the n of chasing you over the whole ship. I am calm.
At least she understood the idea behind this exercise. Metra had her anger under okay management, but with how she literally had no ceiling on how pissed she could get, okay sometimes just didnt cut it. So John had thought of the most infuriating thing he could think off.
Then he had decided that ying League of Legends against her was too evil, so instead he went with Hearthstone. The idea was to trigger her aggressions just that little bit. Sadly, Hearthstone had thought that spawning a game winning card randomly was a good idea, so now she was seething. To her credit, she actually calmed herself.
I hate this game, she groaned and made her own turn.
Everyone does, John answered and thenpletely destroyed her in the next two turns. And now, as per our agreement, we meditate, he said in a mockingly calm voice.
I hate YOU, Metra amended her earlier statement. Dumbass sitting still and being quiet bullshit, she mumbled as she crossed her toned legs into the stereotypical monk sitting position. Nevertheless, she closed her eyes and they spent about a minute in total silence before she grabbed her phone again. I am beating you at this, she told him in the voice of thepetitive.
Eventually, if you pray to RNGezus long enough, he told her. But why didnt you chase me around?
Because it wouldnt be fun, she answered, checking her initial draw with a sour expression. Or, rather, it wouldnt be the kind of fun that I want to have with you. Wipe that smirk of your face, I dont mean that in a perverse or loving way, she warned as John gave her an eyebrow wiggling grin.
Sorry, its just that I dont know you all that well yet and thought there was an innuendoing, he apologized.
Serious talk, Metra stated, I am super shallow. I dont have a past I consider tragic, there is no hidden depth, there is just me and my little aggression problem. I am not boring, but what you see is what you get. I personally dont think you are particrly deep yourself. That was a ringing endorsement. And I really dont give a fuck. The reason why I wont humiliate you in front of everyone by telling you that you suck at fleeing is because I dont dislike you enough to make that much fun of you. I genuinely wanted to give you some lessons, you didnt need them, the whole chasing thing may be a good experience, if you werent already good at improvising. So if there was nothing to teach you and nothing you could learn, the only real value would have been to teach you some humility. Dont think you need that lesson again.
So, you didnt find anything wrong with me? John had a hard time believing that.
No, I just didnt find anything I could fix, the ancient weapon rified, which is good for you; if you were full of ws, I might murder you to get out of this contract.
You cant do that, Johnughed and was met withpletely serious green eyes. Can you?
Suddenly she grinned again, revenge on her face, I dont know, can I?
This is not aughing matter! he dered.
Rx, I totally can, she gave him the answer.
That was actually not what he wanted to hear. I thought you were bound to me or something.
Oh, I totally am, Metra exined. I am bound, but you dont own me. If I thought I was better off without you and you refused to let me go, she had her thumb travel over her throat, I havent had to go there yet, in four millennia of contract work, but I could.
This isnt really in-line with the cute theme of today, Johnined.
Oh, you want to hear something cute from the ancient war machine that happened to take a very fuckable form for you? Metra asked, tossed her phone to the side and got up. She mounted the chair John was sitting in, caging him between her outstretched arms. She took a deep breath and said, I got nothing.
John blinked, Nothing? Really, you cant think of anything remotely adorable to say?
Nope, she backed off. I told you twice now, I am pretty shallow. I dont behave adorably because I am brash, and I dont have anything cute on my mind because I always say what is on my mind. She scratched her head, I guess I could tell you that I like you, but thats more of a friendship sort of deal. Guess I am like Smander in the regard that I just dont think you have achieved that much already. Call me a gold digger if you want to, but I am generally not that attracted to guys who havent even build a small kingdom.
Okay, stop, John raised his hand, for several reasons. For a start, I dont care if you dont fall for me immediately. That was a bit of a lie and he knew it, but with Metra he was way less hurt than he was with Nia. It just was a totally different situation. Then I wont condemn gold digging while I am building a harem of exclusively ultra-hot girls with above average libidos. That would just have been hypocritical. Andstly, you are just making things worse. This was supposed to be the cute day!
Too bad that I dont y by your rules, Metra crossed her arms, but good to know you can wait. I am mostly certain you will get there eventually. Just use your resources correctly, she winked, and feel free to see me as one of those.
Serious talk, Johns voice dipped into a lower frequency as he looked at her with all the earnesty he could muster. Which was quite a lot. I care for you, Metra. I easily fall in love with crazies, so chances are I will fall for you in the next month or two. I just know me, thats how it goes. If the way to get you to answer those feelings is to be an awesome ruler, I will build a nation unlike any the Abyss has ever seen. He stood up and pulled her to his chest. She actually looked surprised for a moment, as if she hadnt thought he actually had it in him to behave manlier than she did. And I wont ever use any of you as a simple resource.
I do like the sound of that, Metra said and thus ended their date.
Chapter 397 – The return of the Fluffy Monday 5 – The grounded break
Chapter 397 C The return of the Fluffy Monday 5 C The grounded break
Yay! Gnome jumped on the spot when her name got pulled. She gave everyone a big, honest smile in a blushing face. Shame did not hold a candle to her evident happiness. She bounced a bit more, the deck vibrating under her weight.
Eliza was opening her mouth, presumably to make ament that was going to put a blunder to the earth spirits mood. With a pleading nce, John shut her up. At least for the next hour, they could skip making fun of Gnome, no matter how easy it was.
S-so, the stone elemental stopped herself and shifted her shoulder embarrassedly, what are your ns? You always have some of those.
Well, our date is going to be a bit more traditional, John answered, patting her on the head. Her gaze wandered to the ground, but her body perked into the touch. Consciously, she was having a bit of a hard time saying what she really wanted, but her bodynguage always let anyone know what she was really thinking.
I really, really, really am really, really, really happy right now, she muttered to herself. That was, of course, another way to find out what she was thinking. She was just the cutest little rock.
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When John said he had nned a traditional date, what he meant was something really stereotypically romantic. Gnome wasnt the type that talked too much, neither was she one big intopetition or anything. Like Aclysia, she was generally the happiest if the people she cared about were happy.
While that was an outstanding quality, particrly in someone who also put in the effort of bettering situations, it also made it somewhat hard to do things for that person. Most things would be answered with You shouldnt have.
You really didnt need to do this, Gnome said, which was close enough to what John had guessed. They were having a private dinner with the full set-up. Rose petals were covering the floor and table, the dimmed light had made room for the soft gold of candlelight, and all but on round table, with room just for two tofortably sit on, had been removed. They had this space to themselves. I-I dont even need to eat that much! the setting alone was enough to make the earth elemental blush.
I know, which is why I asked for all of it toe in small sizes, John exined in the slightly singing voice of a man in a supremely good mood and rung a little bell. It was magically connected to another one in the kitchen. He waited a second and then rung a second time. That was the agreed signal, and a few secondster the waiter entered with a wagon of food, all of it hidden underneath silver domes. The waiter bowed and left them alone again, leaving the food behind. John took his ce. Now, mdy, he continued in a deeper, serious tone, let me shower you with affection.
To his surprise, Gnome actually grabbed his arm in a stopping gesture. His mind immediately went into a couple of worst case scenarios. Was he overdoing it on the pampering? Did he make her ufortable? He forced himself to calm down and listen to what she had to say before losing himself in wild spections.
Uhm before we do that, she spoke, can I just she took a deep breath, mustering her courage. I just want to ask if you are okay? John blinked; he was so confused about that question he couldnt even formte a response before she continued. I just she shook her head and focused on the firm grip she had on his hand, you are always looking out for everyone, but I feel like we dont stop to ask how you are feeling sometimes. You carry on and are an anchor, you seem happy, but since Undine we both know that no matter how connected we are, we still have secrets from each other.
She blinked a few times; his vision got blurry. Travoltas death, Elizas rampage, the near loss of Rave, the stress of the tournament, Herman, Undine, Thana, you have had to solve all of those, struggling to find the best oue. We repay you with the love we think you deserve, although none of us really know how much that is, but I dont think any of us have ever stopped to ask if you are fine. She looked up, and John could barely see her face, only that her eyes were widening.
Why was he crying? Oh, Gnome, he whispered as he bowed down to her. She rose halfway out of her chair to answer his hug. He held her close. Yes, I am fine, he told her as the sudden tears dropped down on her shoulder. My life has been a rollercoaster since all of this started. The new heights interrupted by such terrible drops that I would never wish even on my worst enemy. The sound of him hawking was anything but pleasant. Alone, I wouldnt be able to take all of this. Its all of you, your presence and the lectures you gave me, that made me into a man that can withstand any of this.
If you are fine, why are you crying? Gnome asked in a soft voice, caressing his short hair.
Dunno, he sniffed; neither his Intellect nor his Wisdom gave him a definitive answer on that one. Maybe because I actually had some unresolved stress deep down? Maybe because I am just so happy to hear that you care for me? Maybe because remembering all of these things made me realize that I will never again be the na?ve guy who could just sit at home for 16 hours and game-on-through without any other thought again? Probably some mixture of that and some other stuff.
That is all fine, she distanced herself from him for a bit to then put her forehead against his. I will be there for you, all of us will. Some of us girls may be less emotionally able, she dodged a less ttering description, but we all care for you. At the depths of your despair, we will be there for you.
John inhaled quiveringly onest time before he got control of himself again. Thank you, he said and gently freed himself out of her embrace. Did not even know I needed that, he admitted, grabbing a napkin from the table and cleaning his face.
You never do, Gnomes honest smile was devoid of all intention. John wasnt even sure if this girl could have any bad words for anyone. The closest she had ever gotten was her not saying anything to Undine when it seemed possible that she would leave, which was disappointment, not anything dark.
I really dont know what I did to deserve you all, the Gamer said and took the dome off the first meal. As this wasnt about nutrition but taste instead, the things he had ordered were mostly in the sweets category. He grabbed a little fork and gently lifted the little, dark chocte covered fruit from the tablet. He had no idea what fruit it was, just that it roughly had the shape of a strawberry. And dont you ruin me thanking the world now by saying that I am great and all that. Just show me a cute reaction after saying Aaaah.
A-Aaaah, Gnome hesitatingly obeyed, blushing deeply once more now that the serious moment had passed. The second she could get away with it, she closed her mouth around the small treat and started munching. One could think that the showing of her naked teeth had been embarrassing to her.
As the bitter-sweetness of the chocte exploded in her mouth, followed by an elevated juicy taste of something between a cherry and a pumpkin, Gnome couldnt help but shake her legs and arms in a manner that John was sure gave him diabetes on the spot.
I have undoubtedly gone through a lot, he said, in a very short span of time. However, I think there are a lot of people in the Abyss worse off than me. They have to fight against things on their level more frequently, less apocalyptic but sure to end their world if they dont face it with the proper respect. Hell, I dont even think that everyone outside the Abyss has a better life than me. At the heart of it, there is no difference between Herman and a bully who acts like he is your friend to one day steal all your money but I dont want to be a downer on this day.
That addition came after he saw that Gnome was having a hard time concentrating on the vours unfolding in her mouth over the things she wanted to say to him. John just stuffed a little parfait into her open mouth. Look, if you want to make sure I am fine, there is a really simple way. She was halfway caught between making an adorable squeal of tastiness and looking interested, so John just tossed the fork on the nearly empty wagon and gave her a quick peck on her sugar-coated lips. Just make sure that I am the kind of person that makes you smile when you are with them. And maybe ask me if I am fine every now and again to make sure I am not hiding something I myself dont know about.
I-ithinkicandothat, Gnome hastily answered after swallowing. A-as long as you promise to not change too much!
I hope I only be better, he answered. I want to be the best person I can be, as loving a boyfriend as I can be, wield this power with as much responsibility as is necessary. I will change in some ways. But as you once taught me trust and fortitude, so will I weather those times with you.
Then I will stay on your side, she guaranteed him, forever.
It helps that you are just adorable, he suddenly switched into a joking tone and grabbed her little cheeks. Look at you, I could just drown in you and these hazel eyes.
She turned as red as the little raspberry on top of the miniature cake that she still had to eat. Uhm, uh, J-john, can I just say one thing? I-i-i-i-I llll-o, uh, her stuttering made it near inaudible. Her eyes were spinning like a broken measurement disy, her twin tails wiggling shamefully as if they had a mind of their own.
I know, John told her and kissed her a second time, a deep kiss over several minutes, their heads moving as tongues and lips wrestled. Whether Gnome instinctively just leaned into it or used it as an escape to embarrass herself further, John didnt know. All he knew was, when they stopped and their foreheads leaned against each other again, hers being burning hot, and he said, I love you too, he heard that familiar little mutter. However, for once it sounded like a stand-in for pure blissful happiness rather than shame.
Uwuwuwuwuwu~
Chapter 398 – The return of the Fluffy Monday 6 – The chattering maid
Chapter 398 C The return of the Fluffy Monday 6 C The chattering maid
I like this, this is fun, this is lofty, Sylph dered as she yed with her new clothes. John, John, how do I look? Do I look good? I mean, of course I look good, I always look good, I am your concubine and you look good, so I, as your concubine, have to look good as well. Cause good looking people stick together right? Or were those mas? I think those were mas. Or halfway molten gummi bears, as Sally once showed me. Mean Sally,ughing as she transformed the bag into one inedible mass of stic and g-gelu yellow gtine! It wasnt yellow though, more like a block of rainbow and
John zoomed out, just holding the hand of the air elemental so she drifted along him as they made their way through the crowd. What had his n been for this date? Well, originally he wanted to take her to the restaurant as well, stuff her full of non-sugary sweet things and then present some choices as to what to do next.
Sylph had instead requested that they take out the French maid costume that they put Siena in whenever she did something truly annoying as punishment and that she gets to wear it. Therefore, instead of wearing her normal green leotard, be it in the normal or slightly changed swimwear version, she was now d in a short-skirted, frilly-rimmed, ck and white maid outfit. She did, however, refuse to wear the headband.
There was no part in John that could be annoyed by this decision. Two things he knew with certainty each girl in his harem could wear and could only look sexy in: French maid outfits and lingerie. Of course, that was only the list of outfits. For individual clothes there were also dresses, stockings, yoga pants and well, the list went on.
Once she was in that outfit, she had dered she wanted to go to an event. So thats what they had done. It wasnt really a noteworthy thing, a pie eating contest that John didnt want to be part of. Sylph, on the other hand, had smashed her face into the thing with gusto. She barely ate any of it and came in second tost ce (ahead of a humanoid ant-person who ate two bites of the thing with the table manners of a baron).
As much of a waste of time it felt like, seeing herughing face covered in red from the fruit filling was actually worth it. Cleaning her up had been a bit of a challenge though, since she refused to remain still for more than four seconds. In the end, he managed to do it.
Now they were back on the main deck as Sylph just pulled him around like a balloon attached to a broken navigator.
I also want to see Undine jump in the ocean, I think that sounds like fun, I want to fly all the time so I wonder why she is still waiting. Dont you think that swimming must be fun? I have a hard time doing it, I just constantly drift on the surface you know? I wonder how Siena does it, she doesnt weigh anything and yet she can stand in the pool. Audible gasp! How does Chompy do it? He is actually diving! Why doesnt he teach me? Could I ride him? Double gasp. She inhaled twice, loudly, Me riding a tiny crocodile! That would be totally adorbsa-dorbs. Do you think that
Shhhhh! an olddy interrupted Sylph. The concert is about to begin.
Concert? John thought and looked around. He had noticed that it was a bit more crowded than usual but had put that down to it just being a busier time due to the increasingly hot weather. The eyes of Jack (although technically it was Jack 2) also failed to spy anything interesting. How was there a concert supposed to be around a crowded pool with no stage anywhere? Full-stop, John, he told himself, this is the Abyss, so if there is supposed to be a concert, there will be a concert. I guess they will fly?
That hunch was exactly on point, and John and Sylph looked up just in time to see thin sheets of ss fly out of the structures around the bridge. There were two kinds of uniform sizes to the translucent things, eitherrge squares or smaller rectangles. The former found together into arge ne that hovered over the pool while thetter formed winding staircases.
Then a storm broke. Not one of thunder and rain but of sound and song. Hundreds of small green, blue and pink dots swarmed into the air. Each one moved on wings that fluttered too quick for the naked eye to see in detail. Little faeries armed with tiny instruments that somehow reverberated just as loudly as their full-sized counterparts. Like orchestral hummingbirds, they darted from ce to ce as a Celtic song full of harps and flutes touched their ears.
John listened to the song in awe as he watched the less fascinating disy of people trying to climb the translucent stairs and falling into the water as they failed. Some made it halfway or even further up, only to then fall up to seven metres. Combined with the sharp looking edges of those stairs, John very much doubted that this would have stood the test of any safety protocols in a world without recovery magic.
Lets go, lets go! Sylphughed out and immediately moved before John could do so much as protest. He didnt even have a clue what she meant or why people were trying to get up there. From what he gathered through their mental connection, she didnt know either, she was just doing what felt right. However, if there was one aspect of life where John firmly trusted Sylphs judgement, then it was how to understand faeries. She practically was one, at least one of the cute, non-horrible variety.
So, they made their way through the crowd until they arrived at the steps. Which, as John then and there noted, werent actually made from ss but ice. As if they needed to make it even more slippery. The steps seemed to be fine, but the tform above began to melt as they stood there.
Sylph paid no mind to any of that. Just one step from left to right, she sung to the tune of the song. Just one song to make it right. Something else that ends with right. And now I make my way up here, she actually took the steps of the stairs, yet still it looked like she was flying. At no point did John have the impression she was in danger of falling. All that Agility she had didnt just make her fast, the elegance that it gave her movements just was usually lost in the quirkiness and word-sd that permeated her existence.
She was still chattering throughout the whole process, but that was something only John heard through their shared mind. To everyone else, there was a little woman in a French maid outfit, with hair the colour of pale leaves dancing up stairs everyone else was trying their hardest to climb C barefooted. There was no envy in this crowd, however, no ill will or misced anger; when Sylph reached the top of the stairs and danced by her lonesome a circle around the edge, sliding over the ice like an Olympic skater, they cheered loudly for her.
Come on,e on, Sylph wanted, gesturing him to try. Its not so hard, just trust your feet to take you up!
Well, John didnt exactly know what to make of that announcement, but he did have a dancing ss earlier today so that had to be good for something. Here goes nothing, he thought and raised his foot. Without any grace or skill whatsoever, he tried to first move slow and with method and then, once his shoes began to slip, took hastened steps that sent him out of bnce and cast him into the warm waters below.
No, no, not like that you dum-dum, Sylphughed into his mind, a breeze in the face of which it was hard to get annoyed with his failure. You Silly Sally Summoning Summoner you, not like that at all. Try again, try again, I want to dance!
John made his way to the edge of the water and pulled himself out. Quietly he thanked himself for the decision to change into his trunks, the only other clothing he was still wearing were a pair of sandals. He didnt quite want to walk over the ground hundreds of unknown species were treading on with unprotected feet. I know how this dance goes though, he told himself and closed his eyes for a moment to lose himself in the music. Putting his shoes into his inventory, he positioned himself in front of the stairs again. Up above Sylph stopped her dancing to stand at the end with two outstretched arms, waiting for him.
Just trust your feet will carry you upwards and they will. How? Dunno, Sylph chirped into his mind, and he began ascending. It was rhythm of feeling and music, interwoven in a way John had to question was more than coincidence. The music seemed perfectly timed for the background harp to always make a light note whenever his feet began to feel the cold of the ice he was walking on. He only had eyes for Sylph, her smile and waving hair was where he wanted to be. Thinking was a mistake, he just had to do, had to trust in the whimsical nature of his instincts and the tones surrounding him, swelling into even greater melodies as he left the area surrounding the flying orchestra and moved into the heart of it all.
At thest step he threatened to fall forwards. It would have been quite the painfulnding, face, chest, stomach and groin would all be hit by the edge of some step to varying degrees of damage. However, he was already in the range of Sylphs hands, and so she caught and pulled him onto the icy ne above.
Staying still here, barefoot, was a mild torture. Only constant movement, pirouettes and jumps saved their soles from the freezing cold. For a moment they were the only ones up there, but soon others managed to find their rhythm between hearts and ears. As they were all filled with amon song, they managed to dance in unison. Alone, in pairs, in groups, people were dancing with each other, sometimesing close, sometimes distancing themselves. The faeries flew around them.
Earlier today John had danced before, a private dance of shared clumsiness slowly evolving. This was a different dance, this was a trial. The tform thawed away from the inside out, those with the keenest instincts danced where the ice was just thick enough to still hold them, whilst others eventually fell through the tform that could no longer sustain their weight.
There was less and less room, but thepetition didnt get touchy at any point. There was a silent agreement that they would all just fall when their heart no longer guided them urately. Parts of the outside also broke away until there was nothing more but a ring, just half-a-metre wide, to step upon. There were only four pairs of two left, and they moved at equal distance from one another. The faeries formed two spirals in their musical flight, a tunnel through which they all moved.
Sylph and Johns dance on the fairies ring had nothing from the traditional movements that he and Nia had learned earlier. It was still a dance, it still used the same basic move set, but it was used in an almost archaic fashion. Their steps werent measured, Sylph didnt think about guiding John or being guided, they just moved. Before either of them noticed their minds had already be one.
It was hard to synchronize his mind with the tempest elemental, much harder than with anyone else, except maybe Stirwin. All of the other girls, they were coherent, thought at a normal pace andmunicated in ways that one didnt need to think about. With Sylph, he had to actively stop trying to understand her to get the point. It was hard, especially for an overthinker like him.
But in this moment, right then and right there, none of that mattered, they were one, they had cold feet, their hands were touching frequently, the dance employed hugs and kisses, even a short piggyback ride and Sylph wasughing as he twirled her around just on her hands as if she was on a carrousel.
The sensation of falling would be spared from them, as instead the remaining ice lowered into the pool beneath. Their cold feet burned as they touched the warm water, their dance bing slow and sluggish in the different environment, and once they were submerged to their thighs and the ice meltedpletely in the pool, they had to stop.
Slowly their minds decoupled. John opened his mouth, Sylph that was breathtaking, I dont is that how you always fe-
John, John! she interrupted him, floating on her back with all limbs stretched out. See? I told you, I told you I only float! she acted like she held her breath, which was mighty difficult as she was made out of air, and tried to dive. To no avail. I am floaty-girl. Float-Sylph. Super Sylph, superpower: acting as a safety vest!
John looked at her with stunned disbelief for a moment, unable to connect the dancing elemental with the childish girl. Then heughed with his whole body, from the bottom of his belly to the full capacity of his lungs to his wide-open mouth. It didnt matter what he was unable to connect consciously.
You can ask Siena how she does it, its time we head back, he said.
Chapter 399 – The end of the Fluffy Monday – The awakening flame
Chapter 399 C The end of the Fluffy Monday C The awakening me
About time, Smander said, fishing thest piece of paper out of the bowl. There was no need to unfold it; the ze elemental burned it between her fingers in a quick sh of magical fire. John checked his phone, it was almost 15:00 oclock now. On average, each date had gone on for over an hour (with Aclysias being the shortest and Raves being the longest as individual outliers). Dating was quite a good way to spend half a day, John found. Okay,e with me, the ze elemental grabbed John by the arm and dragged him away without any effort.
It was easy to forget that Smander actually had quite the high Strength stat. It was her third highest and even cracked into the triple digits. Her actual main stats were Intellect and Agility, as was befitting of a small, flying ranged fighters. Why nature gave her this high Strength and not the Endurance to support a melee fighting style was beyond John. Maybe a preparation for the future? As it stood, it wasrgely misallocated, adding further credibility to the fact that, in many ways, Smander was his weakest elemental right now.
From the level of strength, measured in actual usefulness in mostbat situations, the current ranking went as followed: Undine, Siena, Sylph, Gnome and finally Smander, with Stirwin set aside due to being a bit special in his applications. Sure, when Smander could do her thing, burning downrge areas, then she was amongst the most useful, but that required a whole lot of inmmable material. She was seriously held down in theparison due to the thing she was supposed to best at, area damage, being better done by Sylph simply due to the Tier difference.
Although now that John gave her a random Observe to check on those stats again, the Emotions box seemed way more important. Something was about to ruin his day. Smander gave him a nce that was aplicated mixture of anger, anticipation and shock, as if she had just been caught doing something she really shouldnt. She must have noticed him using the skill or his following emotional reaction.
Either way, they emerged on the t ceiling of their apartment. They were on their own up here. It was also pretty boring up here, just a bunch of loungers to get a tan in. A panel at the side allowed customization, like everywhere else in the VIPpartment, but John doubted Smander wanted to suggest a private BBQ.
So, why now? John wanted to know as they sat down opposed from each other. That was by Smanders design, as he sat down first and she then took the deliberate decision to pick another seat. Why do you want to talk to me about something important when this was supposed to be a date? he tried to sound as non-chastising as possible. What he wanted was to understand the groundwork, not make her feel like she was in front of an inquisitor.
Smander gave him a casual cackle; she was taking this the way he wanted, which was good. For a start, I never really wanted that date. You do know by now that not every girl in this fan club of yours is out to be lovey-dovey. Some of us just arent built for it.
You seem to have apletely wrong mindset towards what people expect from dates, John went to correct her. Its not about lovey dovey stuff, as you put it, its just two people having a good time with the clear implication of romantic intentions. A date without hugs and kisses is out of the norm, but that doesnt mean we cant just go watch a boxing fight, for example.
Yeah, no, I dont get that, Smander admitted. We can do that together with everyone else. We DO do that together with everyone else all the time. Dont see a reason to be alone with you to have a good time, or why it would be a better time than the usual day. Guess its because I am not actually in love with you, huh?
Well, its a pretty likely exnation, John exhaled slowly. We should go on a real date just so you can see for yourself.
But not now, Smander said. I just went with the pretence to get you alone with me.
But not now John mumblingly agreed. So, what do you actually want to talk about? Is it that tiny thing you still hide from everyone?
The ze elemental extended a hand into the gap between them. The ck coloured metal ornament at her wrist spawned a me that then jumped over to her palm, where it grew into a fire that looked like it belonged on the end of a torch. Yes. Memories suddenly flooded into John, and he willingly jumped into the hot ashes.
___________________________________________________________________________
You fuckers can get bent if you think I am just going to let this slide as easily as you are. I, for my part, will not let this be bygone, Smander shouted at everyone in the mud-covered living room.
John remembered this scene. Siena was mopping the floorboards. A pissed off Eliza, then still falsely called Thana, was sitting in drenched clothes on the leather couch. This was the evening after Undines evolution.
B-but, Gnome stuttered her way into the conversation, slightly afraid of Smanders ck eyes that seemingly wanted to use whatever they fell onto as fuel, just as the coal that was their colour. We forgave Thana, so we can surely forgive Undine. Sylph agreed to that with overbearing nods.
What load of shit, Smander thought. Thana didnt have a choice; she wanted herst moments to be filled with something that wasnt fucking pain, she reprimanded them. Undine did. How can they not see that this is someone fucking up so royally that we seriously need to deal with this with a proper amount of anger? the ze elemental asked herself. We cant just let her back in like that. Not after that giant mess she madenot after she was this big of an indecisive disappointment.
I am with firecrotch here, Eliza chimed in; the two of them exchanged a thumbs-up. At least someone here had a brain.
I agree Undine also agreed, turning Smanders insides into a confused knot of validation and sadness, I will do what is within the range of my possibilities andfort to achieve your forgiveness.
Sure you will, Smander spat out with crossed arms, flying away to deal with that confusion that was besetting her mind somewhere alone.
You cane right back here, John shouted after her.
What a fucking nuisance of a summoner, mother damn this angler-dick, the ze elemental grumbled but obeyed. No reason to add even more chaos to this list.
Look, I get that you are angry, he began. Smander almostughed out loud in the most mocking way imaginable.
Did YOUR idol just go ahead andmit the most stupid and reprehensible act possible? she furiously thought, locking it behind the rest of her anger. How could he know how she felt right now? How could he get anything she was feeling right now? As a matter of fact, she knew he couldnt. Not if she didnt let him into her mind, and she didnt n to, not right now.
And I am not particrly happy with this whole situation either. Undine is vouching to better herself though, right?
The wave of agreement that came from the ocean elemental was amended with a quick, Yes, after she received a reminder that she should be more emote through a warning nce from their summoner.
I dont need you to forgive her today, John continued, but dont get yourself lost in some far-fetched hatred.
Shut the fuck up, Smander hissed. What was this conversation even? All she wanted was some time alone and deal with her shit and now this asshole thought he could give her a lecture? She is still my sister, I could never hate her. Now let me cope by drying up that swamp outside! She didnt wait for the answer, and now she was pissed enough that the next time he would call her back she would throw back a fireball as her answer.
It didnte to that, and so she made her way outside.
John was watching, but none of this was what she had been hiding. Behind that barrier hadid not much more than a few words, not a whole string of memories. Why was Smander showing him this?
Dumb, disappointing, piece of SHIT! Smander screamed at the world as she threw fireballs as the wends that once had been a garden. They disappeared each with a disappointing hiss, creating balls of steam. Everything was a blur as he just threw her powers around. The turmoil she wanted to calm only stirred up more, like a fire that had burned down a candle to find it bedded in ake of oil.
Oily tears ran down Smanders face, tears of anger. Anger towards herself, as she quickly came to realize. Undine had disappointed her. She had turned out to be the greatest fuck-up amongst them instead of the calming presence that Smander had wanted her to be. She had lost the symbol of someone being able to deal with their own problems and simultaneously a voice of wrathful reason when necessary.
And underneath the void that loss had created, she found the question why she needed such an idol in the first ce. It was because she didnt think that she could be that herself. She didnt believe in herself. When had she begun to turn to others for her salvation? Why would she make an idol of something that she herself then got further and further away from?
Raaaaaaaah! Smander created a giant fireball over her head and cast it down at the mud below. It created an area of burnt and eroded ground; the sudden loss of all moisture having caused it to break open. Exhausted, Smander fell down. She tumbled for a bit beforeing to a halt with her face in the dirt. Her clenched fist slowly rose and hit the ground again and again in a futile gesture of anger.
What was this tantrum even going to aplish? Her fist stopped and sank back to the ground with an open palm. She pressed herself off the ground, dirt and pieces of mud hiding her burned out form. Her small head looked around and saw nothing of interest. Water slowly seeped back into the ground from the surrounding areas.
What was she going to do? Just go back with all of this unresolved wrath acted out for the moment, waiting for it to re up again? That would be the equivalent of letting deadwood gather in her soul, eventually it would just be enough to keep her burning all the time. It was the easy way forward, but not the one at the end of which she still saw herself as someone she wanted to be.
She needed to stop idolizing anyone. That was easy, she was once bitten and twice shy. What was more, she needed to be what she wanted Undine to be. No, Smander corrected herself, I cant be what I wanted from her. I need to be me and what she couldnt.
The hidden areas of Smanders spirit rolled back and revealed to John what she meant by that in its entirety, a list ofmandments to herself, values of her own design, and the final one made his hair stand on end.
I need to be able to help those who turn to me C even if I cant do it with the grace I want.
I need to be able to get my own shit together before I criticise others C and I cant boast about it.
I need to be able to avenge that which others did to those dear to me C No matter the risk.
The ze elemental rose from the mud, dried dirt falling off her like a cast.
I need to be stronger - I will be the best among us in what I deem to be the best possible person.
I need to face what Undine failed to and seed.
_________________________________________________________________________
Which means that I have to face the Lorylim by myself and beat them, Smanders spoke out as John looked up from the me in her hand. I wont be able to be who I want to fucking be before I havent achieved this.
That is insane, John told her, they are liquid corruption, how would you even The truth hit him like a ton of bricks and he jumped out of his seat. No, I am not doing that! Especially not just so you can stroke your ego!
ITS NOT TO STROKE MY EGO, YOU IDIOT! Smander shouted as she jumped up herself. I NEED to do this to understand where the hell I am even going. I am confused, John, I dont get my ce in this world and just following yours isnt good enough C for me. She gestured wildly. I need to do this toto she struggled to put it into words, I dont know, I just know that I need to do this.
You will be corrupted and then what? I refuse to believe that these things are stupid enough to not have learned about Nias capabilities by now. There is no safety! John said. So let me say it again: this is insane.
Smander stared at him with wide eyes for a moment; his doubts only seemed to add further fuel to the fire inside her. Yes, she said, I am insane, John. I am a spark of war itself, my favourite past time activities are burning things andughing as I burn people. I cannot feel love for people who havent achieved frankly impossible things. She stood as tall as she could, a fair bit above John, and looked down. What part of me, do you exactly think, is normal? I am death, John, I am a fire of nothing but destruction, my calling is to reduce humans stupid enough to fight each other back into the nk te of ash.
And yet you manage to live with each of us, John tried a calmer approach as he realized that him screaming about really wasnt helping. Please, you dont need to do this.
No, I do, Smander insisted, and if you wont let me do this C if you want topromise your own promise to give us as much freedom as is possible in the bounds of our contract C then you might as well unbind me here and now and search yourself a fire elemental that is more docile.
She was determined to do this. With the appearance of this window, there was no more doubt about it, as much as John wanted to find some. It was either her way or no way at all. This is insane, he said for the third time.
Yes, Smander said with a straight face.
You want me to get a second SEP on hold and then let you use both of them at yourself. Infecting yourself in the same way Undine did just so you can attempt to beat them, John had to say all of this out loud.
Yes, the fire spirit had no qualms about it. She had made up her mind a long time ago.
Air audibly entered his lungs and then, just as audibly, was blown out again. He repeated that cycle four more times and sorted his thoughts.
So, what if he declined? Then Smander was gone. First from his life and then, if she managed to find some way to reach the Lorylim on her own, gone entirely. So, if he said no to her here, then he only had the satisfaction of having stood his ground, gaining nothing and losing the thing he wanted to protect anyway.
If he said yes, he at the very least got to make sure this was done as safely as it could be. He could take precautions, prepare himself for the best and worst possibilities. That way he could at least maximize her survival chances. Every fibre of his being resisted that notion, but between these two evils, there was one where he had a chance for a future with Smander and one where it was guaranteed that she ended up dead or corrupted.
There was also a risk to himself. The chances of the Lorylim not affecting him in some way were slim. Undine had broken her contract immediately, on purpose or not, not that these things knew that there was actually a powerful summoner attached to the elemental; they would, highly likely, have some sort of n to spread the corruption beyond just their initial target. These things werent stupid, they had a brain and they had goals John couldnt grasp yet.
In the end, he hit the No button on that window, declining the break of contract. This is incredibly stupid and we are going to do it in an absolutely controlled environment, he told her, giant shield, everyone on standby, especially Nia, and if it goes totally southwe may have to he didnt even want to say it.
I know, I fucking know, Smander rolled her eyes with infuriating dismissiveness. I went through this so often, each possible idea you could have is alreadypletely chewed through in my mind.
And yet still you insist, John rubbed his temples.
She gave him a cackle, What do you expect from a fire elemental, John? My kind knows, its better to burn out than to fade away.
Chapter 400 – Water to water
Chapter 400 C Water to water
John was sipping ice water,ying in the sun, as he listened to that announcement. As was scheduled, it was 30 degrees right now, noon, and all around wonderful. Siena was, begrudgingly, teaching Sylph how to move in water. Rave and Metra were ying volleyball against Aclysia and Gnome in the pool, hitting it over a that the panel had created. In her absence, Eliza had taken to the maid role and was now running errands for John. Her constant tirade of curses whenever he requested something, as well as her eventually returning in nothing but her leather bra and thong that was her usual outfit because the maid stuff was just too ufortable in this heat, was quite entertaining.
Around the pool ran Nia as she kept Copernicus and Stirwin from getting at each others throat, patting them as equals. The second she was gone, the two light spirits went straight at it again, although the crocodile still stood no chance at winning.
Just do it already! Smanders frustrated voice was the only thing that cut through the current tranquillity of this Tuesday. Yes, it was indeed already the day following the date Monday. The reveal of Smanders goal had gone over with an arrangement of different shock levels. Not wanting to look like he supported the idea, John had left Smander to fend for herself.
_____________________________________________________________________________
So, let me get this straight, Metra had begun the public inquiry into the nutcase that was Smander. You want to, on purpose, fuck yourself. Do I summarize this correctly?
If you want to boil it down to the basics, Smander shrugged, sure, lets put it like fucking that.
The ancient weapon grinned, Count me in. A bunch of people looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Oh,e one people, like you dont fucking know that I am all about stupid, dangerous, dangerously stupid and stupidly dangerous stuff. If Smander wants to go down facing mankinds most ancient foe, I support that honourable death with all I am. I will either guide her to the afterlife or apud the victor of a battle glorious.
That had started entirely not how John wanted it to. He was hoping everyone else would sow some seeds of doubt here, at least to get Smander to modify her goal in some way after he had failed to make apelling enough argument to move the goalpost in any way. In his defence, he had been in mild shock at the idea itself.
Anyway, Metra set the momentum right into Smanders direction. You are fucking stupid, but I wont interfere with your shit, Eliza added. Not that I currently could even if I wanted. FUCK YOU THANA!
Thi-this is a terrible idea! Gnome finally said something reasonable. You really shouldnt do this! You are going to threaten yourself and everyone around you!
And? the surprise question came from no other than Sylph. If Smander wants to do that thing, she should do it. At least she is warning us. I think this is fine. Arent we all free here? Wasnt that the deal that we could swish and swoooooooosh like we want? Like, I dont get why we should be judging and stuff, its her decision.
Its dangerous! the stone elementals protective instincts had overtaken her stutter. What if she if she goes too far and we cant get her back?
Then that will be sad, I will be super sad, so we just gotta do our best and make it not happen, the air spirit answered, slowly drifting over to Smander who followed her with wide eyes. If Sally, silly, silly, itty bitty, Sally the silly of Sillisburg, evil ovedy of Sillistein, silly Sally of silly sailing supreme supper super stuff wants to do this, then thats that. Sylph flew a little loop and finally stopped to sit on Smanders shoulder. You wont change your mind, right? Because you are stubborn fire thingy magics.
I sure am, you annoying airhead, Smander agreed with a trademark cackle and then ripped her younger sister from her shoulder to give her an aggressive tickling. When did you be all fucking nice to me, huh? Dont make me feel emotional after I have to watch your ass everyday!
HIhahahahahihihi, Sylph didnt get to answer as the ze elementals thumbs kept going at her stomach.
Is this because of me? Undine finally asked the obvious. Everyone had just waited for her to get that question out, watching her open and close her mouth in a gathering of courage.
Yes, Smander kept it to a minimum.
There is no reason for you to do this, the ocean elemental said, her irritation whipping her into a storm that was ready tosh out and talk some sense into her older sister. Repeating my mistakes is foolish, you know that, you stand to gain nothing but scars and lose everything, including yourself to a song nobody should understand!
And that is exactly why I have to do it, Smander said, because the me that wont do this is worse than the one I would lose.
I dont get it, Undine shouted, her singing voice breaking into a graceless cry of desperation.
Smander narrowed her eyes, Oh really? Then why did you do what I want to do in the first ce? the water spirits storm, barely beginning to unfold into their wider spirits, was vaporized. You can act like the moral one all you want, Undine, but you know exactly what the gnawing of unmade decisions feels like. As a matter of fact, the ze elemental pointed at the ocean, dont try to tell me you dont feel it right now, you chicken.
Right, why didnt ya go swimming yet? Rave asked, changing to topic much to John and Undines dismay. Although these two had different reasons for being unhappy. His girlfriend did bring it back into how it was relevant to this discussion, Cause I think youre afraid of something, so youre overly cautious. Meanwhile Smander is jumping into a pool of idiocy way too quickly. Ya both are idiots.
Said the girl who likes to jump conclusions herself, John thought and got himself a knowing nce from Rave. The difference between when one was to act was really different from person to person. Not that big of a problem as long as one wasnt either acting all the time without ever thinking or so afraid by the ramifications that they never did anything. Being somewhere around the middle was fine, which both Undine and Smander seemed to be (although they both often needed someone to talk sense into them).
What she says, Smander chimed back in. You can stand there and say what I want to do is stupid, which it is, but you cant say you dont understand. What I am going through is something everyone knows at some capacity. I am just dumb enough to actually do the insane thing. She grinned, Doesnt that make me admirable in a way.
You are most fucking definitely not a role model for my eventual kid, firecrotch, Eliza growled and caused most of them tough at the idea that the theoretical mother herself would be a role model one day.
You are right would you help me try then? Undine admitted, her blind golden eyes looking at the ocean.
Sure, Smander said with a thumbs-up.
Okay, so there really is no talking you out of this, John sighed, when do you want to do it then?
Whenever you get the next SEP, she answered. So as soon as possible, right here if need be.
John looked around, On the one hand, thats a terrible idea, he mumbled, on the other, it has the advantage that you cannot escape anywhere if things do go south, fire and the ocean dont mix that well.
See, its all dandy, Smander answered, and that was the end of notable things on that day.
___________________________________________________________________________
So now John wasying on a lounger, rxing as the fact of the matter was that he had no idea when the second SEP was going to show up. There was no reason to make further fuss over it, or rather, there was nothing productive that woulde of it. The track was set, and as little as he liked this one, it was what they were doing.
In meantime, Smander was trying to get Undine to jump into the water. No idea why they were doing that now. Come on, what is stopping you.
What if my rtives are somewhere in there and try to tear me apart? Undine asked. Now that was a grim picture. Also, highly paranoid and unnecessary.
We are on the fucking ocean, not in the ne of water elementals, Smander told her. The ze elemental looked ready to just shove her younger sister over the railing, much like birds throw their kids out of the nest to force them to learn how to fly. It was rather hard to push a body made out of liquid though.
How about orcas then? the ocean elemental presented another thought of hesitation.
You are a level 110, Tier 4 water elemental in the damn ocean, Smander told her. You will be able to fend off some oversized fish!
Technically, they are not fish, John interrupted, they are mammals.
I know that, but that doesnt sound nearly as good, the ze elemental retorted. Anyway, point being that you can either retreat in time or, and this is much easier, just teleport back! Undine tried to voice another retort, but with a groan of frustration, Smander turned into a pir of fire for a moment. You are out of excuses, just JUMP!
After a moment more of hesitation, Undine finally gathered herself, both literally and figuratively, and flowed over the railing, describing a perfect sinus curve before plunging down. She hit the water down below.
Thats a weird thing to get an Achievement for, John thought as he mentally tracked Undine. There was a moment of panic as the alien familiarity of salty water epassed the ocean elemental. Much like an adult returning to the ce they had spent the first four years of their life in, she was hit by a weirdly nostalgic wave before a certain serenity set in.
It was all epassing around her, water, her home, just an amount so vast that it might as well have been infinite, stretching endlessly around her in all directions, even in the dark below. Only the buzzing of the ships engine could be heard.
Her body imed a spacerger than usual down here and was partially diluted. She couldnt just slide her way forwards like a slug onnd, here she had to move ording to other rules. Settling in was a thing of mere seconds, and quickly she began to pull her body back together, increasing her density so that she actually had something like fins that could help her navigate. As she began to swim at the cruisers side, just ying in the water, the panic was all but forgotten.
Attention, mateys and everyone else on the ship! the voice of the captain echoed out of the loudspeakers everywhere. We will reach the edge of the Antic Fuse in about one hour. We are going to sail a circle around it, which we will do at a speed that ends the cirction at midnight so you can see the thing in its full beauty, and then be back on our way unless we get attacked by a giant monster of course.
You hear that, Undine? John asked half sarcastically, interrupting the ocean elemental in her tranquillity. Watch out you dont get too close to whatever well of magical energy we are about to witness and giant sea dragons.
I will, Undine promised, and thus the Gamer retreated back to his own mind. With closed eyes he just kept enjoying the sun until a shadow fell over him.
So how is it going, buddy? Maximillian, his presence not exactly being a surprise as the cking of his walking stick gave him away from a country mile (the sound was really bad for stealth), asked.
John opened one eye, the world seemed a lot more green than usual thanks to all the adjustments his retinas had gone through behind the closed lids, Pretty good, no new girl?
Oh, I slept with three today, not including Stef and L. This whole boat is full of bored girls waiting for a hot guy, the king in vacation boasted, but you know as well as I that whoever I seduce on this boat wont be a big help if something does appear. So I thought I better leave them to their own for the rest of the day.
I dont exactly remember asking for your help, John said and then, realizing how snobby that sounded, hastily added, Not that its unwee. Big sacrifice you make there.
Like everyone else, I hope that we have a smooth sailing, Maximillian joked.
Smander cackled at the pun as she jumped at John on the lounger. Not that I want to interrupt this bromance of yours.
There is no such thing as a bromance between me and the Gamer, the king insisted. We are adversarial, friendly acquaintances.
Yeah, I can get behind that definition, John nodded.
Smander justughed and looked at both of them with the eyes of a girl who just wanted to tease. That shit aside, we have one hour, and the blue nuisance is gone. The ze elemental circled his naked nipple with her index finger, Wanna have a go before we potentially fight for our lives?
Chapter 401 – Ready to fire [Erotic Content]
Chapter 401 C Ready to fire [Erotic Content]
They made their way to the bedroom undisturbed and fell into each others arms on the way to the bed. Being as impatient as ever, Smander pulled him straight into a heated kiss as soon as her censoring mes flickered away, leaving her naked. With only his trunks on, getting John naked wasnt exactly a thing of long fidgeting either. As they fell into the bed, the ze elemental on her back and him on top, the former hooked her feet in the gap between trunks and muscles.
There was one useless tug, where the thing got stuck on the erect girth of his cock, then Smander used a second foot as well to stretch the waistband to the appropriate amount then pushed it down. Her feet closed straight behind Johns back after she kicked the trunks away.
Just get right in me John, she demanded between kisses, strands of her oily saliva mixed with his connecting them. His cock already rubbing her pussy, burning with a heat that got his blood boiling in the best kind of fever, he only needed to pull his hips back far enough for the tip to align with her dry entrance.
Dry was not a problem here though, as Smander did not have any natural secretions down there. Her physique, just as Gnomes and Sylphs, simply did not necessitate it. His dick slipped inside her with ease anyway, her uniqueness enveloping him.
Like a firestorm that felt as if it was made from gas, behaved a lot like liquid but was also solid enough to cause pleasurable friction, it pressed against his dick. For the moment it was calm; his movements were easy but also minimally pleasurable. It was like the loosest pussy imaginable. However, it came with a certain gimmick, although that word felt wrong to use in the context of a sexual organ.
John pulled back slowly. Theck of forey didnt bother him, he didnt need to get his girl to orgasm. However, he knew exactly what would happen once he started fucking her, and he was just gathering his breath for the inevitable hammering it would quickly devolve into.
For it was when he pushed inside her that the whole resting fire inside her reacted. Like a breaking log in a campfire caused a cracking noise and rising embers, so too did Johns movement set in motion a reaction in the loose pussy around him. To say it was bing tighter wouldnt have been quite it, saying it was vibrating wouldnt have described it either. It was as if the flickering of fire, the tongues of red reaching into the air, had be solid and were now passionately caressing the whole length of his dick.
It was weak right now, but with every new thrust he added more and more fuel to the fire. What started as a way to loosen her hole became, fairly quickly, a unique trip down pleasurene. The more he fucked her, the better it felt. The embers of pleasure around him swirled with unceasing energy.
The bed shook underneath them, thick mattress sinking in with every thrust as John took his whole body to the maximum, the openptop on the nightstand nearby quivering on its rest, goaded by the wish to provide ever more fodder for the hungry pussy. In and out, hammering he went.
His hands rested left and right of Smanders face. They trembled under the exhaustion. His whole body was tense. His eyes were focused only on her face. Everyone of his thrusts made her giant tits jiggle. Her teeth were clenched, groaning out her pleasure. It heightened as the inferno inside her intensified. His teeth were clenched, sharp inhales echoing through the room. He was covered in sweet, the ze elementals lust heating up her surroundings.
Eventually the storm just became too much to bear. By far not his first orgasm of the day, John just could no longer hold onto himself. In a way he had shovelled his own grave, but he was more than happy to jump into the bliss it provided him.
Onest thrust right into her and his cock exploded with seed sttering into her, triggering a vtile reaction that sent Smander straight into an orgasm she had forcefully suppressed until that point. Motherfuckeeeeeeeer, she screamed as her massive breasts darted upwards, quivering and falling to the sides ording to thews of gravity. His semen, mostly the magic infused into it, disintegrated inside Smander. The unleashed magic was like a nitro injection, and John could do nothing but moan as the pleasure rose and rose and rose and then spilled over a second time. Moans transformed into screams, weak dripples ofst drops suddenly reced with another orgasm, straight out of the gate. Worse yet, with even more of his magical jizz flooding her pussy, it got even less tolerable, in the sense that it was terrifyingly good.
He was being milked, the whole world was white, his body rigid with every muscle tensed to the extreme, balls deep inside Smander as he came a third and then a pitiful fourth time. He knew this feeling from Siena, but with the ze elemental he rarely ever reached this level of ecstasy. Was it the weight off her shoulders after she had said what she wanted to say that made the sex this much better? Maybe the iing battle was exciting her? Impossible to say and impossible to think about until John found himselfying on top of the squishy heat that was Smanders ample bosom.
He needed a minute, more exactly five, to recover. His emptied balls hurt a little bit, not in an actual painful way, just that little unpleasant surge that let him know that this was not the natural state of being. Not ever known for her patience, Smander had ns for those five minutes and rolled both of them over. She crawled down and around until she was cowering between his legs.
Smander, I really cant he said and then hissingly drew in air through his teeth when she grabbed his halfid cock. The added oversensitivity from four nearly simultaneous orgasms made that touch alone hell.
I know, I know, chill, the fire spirit answered, just holding his member so it remained upright. Then she extended her tongue, drops of her oily saliva dripping down onto the tip of his dick.
It went to her credit that she could even move so quickly after he had fucked her as hard as he could. asionally, although it wasnt the norm, girls would pass out from the mental and physical exhaustion of having all out sex with him (not that he didnt experience the same). At the very least, most of them needed a break. Right now, situations were reversed. In that way, Smander was, well, he didnt like to think it, but the only person who could reliably outfuck him was Nathalia. That made his ze elemental something like Nathalia-lite?
The grasp on his dick tightened. You ass, Smander said, clearly having heard that thought, I was going to just lubricate you up a little during the recharge, but now I am actually going to have to torture you a bit.
Please dont? John asked nicely.
Already doing it, Smander lowered her red-skinned body until her lips touched his dick and she started sucking. He felt as if his dick was held twenty centimetres above a lighter. Not the worst kind of danger, but nevertheless a position he really didnt want to be in. Reacting to his difort, Smander toned it down so that he was just aware of the metaphorical lighter. It was still not great, he really did not like being in this, the subservient, position, but it also still felt kind of good, and Smander seemed like she wanted this, so, for her, he just got through it. Five minutes were not a sacrifice too great.
Like a turn going over in a videogame, Johns resources suddenly ticked up. With his balls refilled his cock quickly surged again, bing iron hard. My turn, John announced, and the two on the bed turned into a ball of lustfullyughing lovers wrestling on the bed. Neither of them wanted to just give up control of the situation, or at least not without putting up a bit of yfight. I am your master! he said in a halfway offended voice, having been locked into a pure pressing contest that he had to lose the moment Smander got serious about it.
Maybe, but I am not one of the girls that just y along with you, call me the unruly servant, the ze elemental grinned passionately. Her body tensed up, a clear sign that she was about to press John into the sheets and ride his dick until she copsed from exhaustion or John could just not go anymore. To her disadvantage, John wasnt bad at this. Perfectly predicting the moment sheunched herself at him, he stopped giving any resistance whatsoever and just let himself be pushed backwards until he hit the bed and then used her overly eager movement to throw her off.
He quickly clicked the window away, lest it blocked some sort of attack Smander employed if they went at it again. In the meanwhile, the ze elemental was shaking her head. She had been smacked, limbs sprawled, against the ck ss wall behind the head-end of the bed.
That was fucking dirty! Smanderined. Just let me beat you u-
Was it dirtier than being video called after the finance briefing for the Baden-Wrttembergischen Rheinwasser subsidies and the first two things being a leg followed by an exposed, not to mention clearly recently prated, vagina? a particrly stern voice asked, and the two of them guided their eyes to the openptop.
Lydia, cing her phone on a low table in such a way that they could see her from upwards the kneecaps of her crossed legs, stared back at them with the clear need for an exnation. You are still aware that I prefer my calls, as loving they may be, to be scheduled, yes?
Uhm, so lets make sense of this situation, John answered dodgingly andbined the happenings here very quickly to make sense of what was happening. They were using a private Skype clone for video-calls, but other people in the group could have been chatting over his profile with the young queen. By Lydias ount she had exchanged info with Aclysia just earlier in the day, so that fit. Somehow, during the whole wrestling act, they must have knocked theptop out of stand-by and unlocked it (there was no password on it because over 10 people were using it and he couldnt be bothered to remind them all what it was) with Smanders foot adding ultimate coincidence to everything and hitting the video call during thatst bit. So, it was all just a coincidence, sorry, John summarized. We will leave you to it.
He was ready to end the call when Lydia raised her hand, eyes clearly fixated on whatever part of her screen was disying Johns erection. As it so happens, I have 15 minutes for rxation, she said, picking up her phone again and fidgeting with something that caused the video-feed to jump to her television. I originally wanted to spend them watching a summary of economic development of Hamburg in the 17th century, but I would be happy to make an exception to do a naughty thing and, she undid the uppermost button of her uniform, practice voyeurism.
John was totally fine with that and so was Smander. Any particr requests as to what we should do, Your Majesty? he tried to emte a noble tone of voice.
You could venerate me as such for a change, Lydia stated,ying down her orderly folded uniform nearby but also far enough that she couldnt identally stain it. She was only in her underwear now, Which means that I will be the one to give the orders. I would ask for you to just masturbate on your lonesome, but that doesnt work, if I remember Source of Satisfaction correctly.
Okay and yes you do, John answered. Not that I would like to masturbate in the first ce, sorry but I have all these hot girls around, I dont really feel like touching myself.
eptable and unimportant, Lydia waved off. I will return in a minute, I require a tool. Until then, dont move. The princess disappeared from the screen and returned with a dildo in hand shortly thereafter.
John looked at his own dick and then at the silicon thing on the screen. Is that a recreation of mine? It looked urate from the tip, over the veins, down to the balls. It was still just a fake thing, didnt go to the colouration level, thankfully, a perfect mimic of his dick without the body would have looked a bit creepy.
Aclysia helped me with this endeavour, was all the exnation Lydia provided, fixating the enormous thing on the table through a suction cup; she then pushed her phone back a bit so there was a more wholesome view of her as she grabbed the shaft by the base. She was nowpletely naked, her below average but nicely firm breasts on disy on her perfectly maintained body. Now, do me the favour and get in a sideway position, that way I can see the most of what is happening. John, you lean against the back of the bed, Smander, get between his legs and grab his penis as I do.
Lydia wanted to be the director of this y, it seemed, and John obeyed. They had to adjust the camera a few times until the young queen was happy with everything she could see. Once they had fulfilled that, her hand started to move. Now, Smander, pleasure him through tight, slow strokes. Pay attention to what I do, I dont feel the need to spell it all out.
Okay, bossdy, Smander smirked; she liked being the extension of a dominantdy. It appeared that this would be an evening in which John would have to lean back. Better than the torturous blowjob earlier.
I understand, Lydia purred through the speakers as she leaned closer to the dildo in front of her, that you must already be well lubricated, both of you, but I dont have that advantage. In Smanders hot breathing, he felt Lydias words, the Gamers eyes darting back and forth between Lydia and Smander, both of them incredibly attractive women. Both of them were also close to his cock, the real one and the fake oozing a drop of precum. But this is a replica of high production quality, so we will just draw out what is necessary.
Lips engulfed his cock and sucked him deep inside swiftly. The months spent with John showed in Lydias ability to just suck him in all the way to the base in one swift move. Gagging sounds echoed from theptop, not so from Smander who had no need to breathe. Slowly she inched back up and finally came free with a loud breath. Now pump his shaft to get more precum out, she gasped,ing back to a steady rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. Then polish the knob for a bit, yes, just like that, spread the precum,ther the tip and your hand in it On the screen, Lydias fingers glistened with the sticky liquid, her chest rose and fell visibly, erect nipples cutting through the air as she fell forwards, tongue licking the artificial balls. Kiss it and worship his dick for a bit for me, I miss him already.
I miss you too, my Lydia, John said with lust zed eyes and a genuine smile, reaching for theptop as if he could touch her face through it. A moan escaped his lips, he let it be extra loud. He knew that his girls liked to hear him just as much as he liked to hear them sigh in pleasure. A skilful disy of kisses from soft lips, pumps from delicate fingers and warmth from wet mouths caressed his dick.
Now, this is lubricated satisfyingly, Lydia announced in a whispering tone and climbed on the table. Personally, I would prefer doggy-style right now, but that is sadly impossible with my current circumstances, she exined as she spread her considerably wet pussy lips and lowered herself until the tip of her mimic-dick touched the entrance into her snatch. Now, lower yourself slowly, I want to see every bit of pleasure on Johns face.
As you wish, Smander cackled, and in near perfect synchronicity she and Lydia went down the centimetres of Johns cock. From an open mouthed, long moan, to a cking of his snapping teeth and the following groan, the Gamer let them hear just what they were doing to him. He likes this, maybe he should go sub more often.
In your dreams, John retorted with a smile. It just feels so good being with you that I dont mind as much being not in control for a change. Both of you.
Lydia allowed herself a light smile, An okay save, but I still think you should get a reminder of a certain experience you like to inflict on us. That sounded menacing, but he also never did anything really bad in the bedroom, so it could not have been that bad. Lets start riding in full force, my time is growing short.
A mere momentter they began to move their hips. Smanders moans were louder, no wonder, not only did the dildo Lydia had inside nothing on Johns sex skills, she also had always been more of a quiet girl, especially at the start of intercourse. Nevertheless, they used a wide array of pleasing movements, warming up by gyrating their hips and light up and downs. The fire inside Smander only slowly increased, but it also hadntpletely calmed from earlier.
I am cumming, he therefore soon had to admit, grabbing Smanders hips with his fingers digging into her backside.
Not yet! Lydia instructed him, her voice like whish, instantly revealing to John what she was nning. Normally, the prospect of edging would not have scared him, but with Smander and her infernally pleasuring hole, this would be quite hard.
Pleading for mercy was beneath him, however, and as such he grit his teeth, Okay, tell me when
Smanderughed, Lydia let out a satisfied, I will, and they resumed moving. Loud and soft moans echoed through the room as Johns grip on Smander became a probably painful wing. The fire spirit didnt mind, on the contrary, a tiny bit of pain was to her liking, it heightened her senses.
Up and down, that your hips create a smacking sound whenever they meet, Lydia continued to tell them what to do in the background. Her eyes were looking at the screen of her television, creating a light dissonance of immersion as she looked into Johns eyes and he into hers, yet neither of them truly meeting. His eyes were asking silently for when he would be allowed to cum; his whole body was tense as a rope that held a metric ton at the end of it. Every time Smander lowered down on him, the zing hotness inside her pushed him up to the point of no return, balls protesting whenever he fought back against it. It was a wonder he had even seeded so far, a testimony to his Endurance, if nothing else. I am so close, Lydia gasped, giving John hope to escape this torturous bliss soon, Smander get off his dick now!
Smander had to force herself to stop, being herself incredibly close to cumming. She got off as Lydia picked up her phone, pointing her camera closely to her own crotch as she repositioned slightly.
John realized that there was a buttplug inside the queens anus. I had to be prepared but dont tell Rave about this! Lydia warned as she gently pulled it out, and revealed the anal-toy to be the one the techno-lover had gifted her to Christmas. And if you do: I do NOT wear it in public life, I put it in whilst getting the dildo.
Okay, okay, I get it, Johns raspy voice hastened her along, I really have more urgent needs right now.
As do I, Lydia said, raising and then holding the camera above her head, showing her flustered face. She bit her lower lip on one side, creating a small lobe on the other, a long moan leaving that gap.
Fffffffff-, John exhaled at the same time as Smanders sphincter pressed against the tip of his dick, with him slowly sliding in there. Inside it was hot and tight; that hole was not terribly different from a normal human, on the face of it. However, fucking Smander up the ass was, just with her pussy, a thing that eventually lead to irresistibly strong pleasure for both of them, as she became tighter and her folds more numerous while her inferno went wild. It was a different vour of incredible bliss. -uuuuuuck. John finished his scream as he slipped past the tightest point and deep inside. I cant, Lydia, please, enveloped on all his sensitive points by Smander, that was the point where Johns pride was overwhelmed by his need to finally unload inside the tight hole.
In five seconds, Lydia promised. Five She moved up and down the dildo at an immense speed already. Four Johns world was tension and little bolts of electricity. Three Smander gasped for air; her own orgasm was imminent, having tried her best to sync up with everyone else. Two But the fire spirit could resist no longer, her walls and sphincter mping down on John with incredible force as she stopped moving and howled at the ceiling. One John rammed his cock all the way down Smanders ass with all the force he could muster. Lydia had to scream to be heard, Cuuuuuuuum, Joooooooohn!
Smanders tits jiggled with the absurd illustriousness of abundant flesh as she threw her head back, the white and ck spots dancing in his field of view, Lydia filming herself with a quivering camera as she came on the replica of his cock with a drawn out sigh and wide open, greyish blue eyes watching him, all of these things overloaded his visual capacities. He felt his balls pumping out another giant load, increased to absurdity by the prolonged edging. Eventually they all copsed, three different kinds of heavy breaths echoing through the room.
Ha, I can do that more often, Lydia was the first to speak again as she got off. White semen replica dripped from her tool. I will have to take my leave now, I am running short on time. I wish we could talk a bit.
Soon, there is quite a bit to speak about, John agreed with heavy breaths. She nodded and left the call.
He and Smander cuddled for a bit longer, not being in the greatest of hurries.
Chapter 402 – The Atlantic Fuse
Chapter 402 C The Antic Fuse
It was a change too sudden to go by unnoticed. As if they had all lived in the middle of the night and suddenly the sun stood at its highest point, the cruise entered the natural Illusion Barrier that surrounded the Antic Fuse.
John had imagined leylines to look something like they did in World of Warcaft, just massive torrents of blue and purple, simply said arcane, energy ripping through the ocean. What he was presented with was much, much more than that.
It looked like someone had taken the pr lights from the sky and drowned them in the sea. The whole colour spectrum was shifting along a wide line with unclear borders. Constantly changing in their position, but never straying too far away from the tectonic gap, they were much, much bigger than their arctic sky counterpart, having their base somewhere on the seafloor and reaching high above the unnaturally still ocean water in a steady rise from the rim of the barrier, where the normal ocean outside and the still body seemingly met in dissonant istion.
When there was a barrier created on some body of water, the thusly copied water kept whatever kic energy its original had and continued waving like normal until that would have run out. On board of the ship, with its constantly moving its own barrier, there had been no visible difference. Now that they were inside a barrier that had been up for some millennia, that factor waspletely lost. There was still some movement, presumably from some monsters underneath the surface.
I wonder if it is possible to follow a leyline upstream, John mumbled; he and everyone else were standing on the t roof of their apartment to get the best view possible. The one they saw, the northern leyline feeding in from Great Britain, d, Greend and Scandinavia (to name the most important orpletely affected ces), vanished under the waves just at the edge of it all.
Yes and no, Metra answered for him. She knew this, with her origins in modern day Iraq, she practically was created on one. You can track the leyline no problem, but the natural barrier sinks underneath the sea or the ground, barring a few exceptions like these fusing points, making essing it a giant headache that is absolutely not worth it, with the energy being unusable for humans and all that. Monsters spawn just as well without the need to unearth them.
I see, John nodded and directed his attention south to look at the actual thing that made this ce so special.
The Antic Fuse was yes, what was it? A mountain range of light, that was the easiest description, yet way too simple to truly epass what he saw. It had a roughly triangr base and reached several kilometres into the sky, with its peak being most definitely in the western half, where the two leylines crashed into each other. Like any other mountain range, the highest peak was by far not the only one, but unlike those, these were all shifting in a less than natural way.
The whole thing looked like it was made out of an endless number of polygons that were indecisive on their rtionship with their size and corner positions on all three dimensions. The surfaces of these triangles reminded John of soap bubbles: smooth, translucent but breaking down the light spectrum inside. Thatst attribute had been kicked into overdrive, and to top the colour fest off, the whole thing was glowing on its own, shimmering in an aura of dispersing pr lights.
From its highest point, it nted downwards, with several lower peaks making it more of a trend rather than a clear decline. Eventually, thest polygon touched the water, giving way to another leyline that was at least three times as wide and colour intensive as the northern line.
John had an inkling that the second leyline, feeding in the Faith from Latin and the eastern South America, as well as West Africa, had a bit more oomph behind it. The bigger number of people, that had their thought power dripping into that stream, had to have some influence. Or did it? John actually had no idea how this wholework was functioning globally. If the whole northern rim of the Eurasian te was one stream in one direction, this leyline would also be including energy from Russia and reach all the way to northern Japan. What was Remus design, if there was one?
He presented the question to Metra. I have no idea, she answered. In the first ce, these things are not steady. Over the decades they shift ording to some sort of bnce. The only thing we know is that it all ends somewhere around Sicily. The power just shes and is neutralized or at least thats what everyone told me before Romulus told me there is a giant thing guzzling it all up.
Why wasnt that your first theory? John asked; this amount of energy just vanishing sounded illogical.
Because everyone was in agreement that there is no way anything or anyone could handle this amount of power, especially seeing how not even Romulus can get his hands on it, Metra told him. There were a few people that thought Gaia may have been iming all of that, but there was no evidence to back that up. Guess they were right after all.
I see, John hummed. So, chances were there was no greater design to it. Maybe, much like rivers forming, the energy had just flowed along the path of least resistance. That was a way more satisfying exnation than any other. There was no way, no matter what kind of sociopathic genius he had been, that Remus knew the shape of the entire globe and everything in the crust that far back in the past. That would have been way too scary a mind and highly improbable.
As was announced, they were now beginning their slow circle around the thing. To Johns surprise, they were not keeping to the absolute edge, where they could pass over the leylines, but were instead heading further in on a diagonal course. They were heading directly for a part of the pr lights that was high enough to encapste the whole ship.
Th-thats safe, right? Gnome asked in a mild panic. Right?!
Oh, dont worry, Metra, the current expert for these things, waved off with a bored yawn. As I said, the energy is vast, but we cant interact with it. If you want to see something interesting, keep an eye on Nia though.
With that announcement, they went silent and waited. Then they started talking again and waited. They were sailing at a low speed over not short distances. John eventually suggested they take this to the jacuzzi and just have fun as they waited.
I dont think just sitting around out of your battle garment is wise, Maximillian was sitting underneath an umbre to not get roasted by the sun. By the amount of water he consumed, it was pretty clear that he was still feeling way too hot.
John, in the meanwhile, felt great where he was. Basically, everyone in his harem was with him in the jacuzzi, in their individual bathing suits.
Think for a second, you crown-wearing shithead, Eliza swore at him, who, in this tub, needs fucking battle garments?! The answer was rather simple. The elementals were out, Eliza was out, so were Aclysia and Metra, leaving only John and Rave.
That was also Maximillians answer, pointing at the two of them sitting as close together as two people could. I can just pull stuff out of my inventory, John reminded the king. If I want to change clothes, its two clicks away.
Fair enough, Maximillian said and looked at thest person here.
I wont need a long time either, Rave said, just grabbing her sneakers she had ced nearby. Immediately the things started to be semi-liquid and spread over her arm like a symbiote from Spiderman. While formed like sneakers, the only thing the twin crystals inside those shoes needed to que transformation was skin contact to feel the intent of being worn as a battlesuit by the person they were bound to. See?
You all have way too convenient stuff, the gravity mage dered.
Hawpler tremored about in a way that sounded like it wasughter. All you need to do is get yourself your own skin-tight outfit. Your female fans will love it.
Thirty minutes passed as they talked about how that was a terrible idea all around, then about if Maximillian even had female fans, then about if John had any. That was, at least ording to the fact that the king had a subreddit and the Gamer didnt, a pretty clear thing. The talks slithered into other such unimportant directions. John directed his attention towards Undine every now and again, but the ocean elemental was still happily swimming around in her natural habitat.
Interestingly enough, she was not alone. There was a myriad of small, fishlike monsters that lived around the shifting spectrum of light rising from the bottom of the sea. There were even structures, much like coral reefs, extending far down towards the distant depths. Some older, more sophisticated or just in different monsters must have left those there.
A school of Orcas was swimming by, encircling the swarm, and began feeding. It seemed every ce began developing an ecosystem if left alone long enough, even one where a supernatural fusion point of mind-power caused random monstrosities to spawn. As Amalia had promised, however, it didnt seem like anything truly dangerous was around. Safe for the Orcas, who actually reached a top level of 70 as John had found out by checking at an opportune moment, but those seemed to understand that messing with Undine would have had some unwanted consequences. Aside from some yful movements, they stayed away.
I should consider getting something else to possess, John thought as he sent Jack flying high to observe the situation atrge. A sparrow is usable in public, so Jack still has his clear uses, but underwater he falls a bit t. Maybe I should get some sort of hover enchanted orb? That should be able to operate under water.
As he pondered some more about that, the nose of the ship touched the light and nothing happened. Despite Metras assurance he had expected some sort of thing to happen. Like a bolt of lightning around the impact site or something else to that dramatic effect. Instead he was greeted by the literal andplete uncaring of the leyline about their existence. It cared so little, in fact, that the light just streamed through the cruise ship itself as if it was an ephemeral object.
John preserved some inhibitions until he saw, through Jacks eyes, people getting engulfed by the light without any drawbacks. This really is stray energy we cant do anything with, huh? John thought as it came closer and closer to them inside the jacuzzi.
It was quite pretty, being surrounded by a rainbow on all sides, but after the two dances of yesterday, it didnt have quite the same impact. It was just another lightshow, a natural one with an impressive source, but still, just another lightshow. He felt like he was seeing an original after having already enjoyed perfect copies, like ying the Dota mod on Warcraft 3 after ying League of Legends for a while. Sure, it still was pretty awesome, sure, it was unique, and sure, there were certain things this natural thing did better, but it really wasnt impressive enough to seek out. In a weird way, John would have preferred to be watching it from a distance again, at least then it was a unique sight.
Speaking of unique sight, following the berserker babes earlierment, he looked at Nia. Where the light normally just kept streaming upwards no matter what was in the way, around the nk it bent as to not touch her. It looked like she was spun into some sort of cocoon or if she was inside an upside-down jellyfish.
There was a slight bit of light that did go through her nheless and turned ck and white in a sea of rainbows in response. Interested, Nia, sitting inside the jacuzzi in her dress, stretched out her hand. The light shunned away wherever she moved, even when she started iling with an empty expression.
That show made it funny to watch, but if she had just sat still, it would have been unsettling to say the least.
Eventually the light started to thin and the nose of the ship pushed out, much to Raves dismay. Unsurprisingly, she liked whatever lightshow they could get. Can we bribe the captain to y some really loud techno music in the second one? she asked as the end of the experiment was quickly approaching.
Theoretically, he does owe us, John responded, then jumped as a sudden flood of panic touched his spirit. Not just some of it, no short spike like someone dropping his phone, more like someone being attacked by a beehive. The other elementals with him had a simr reaction.
They all turned inwards to see what was happening to Undine.
[Metra Side Story] Eradication 1 – The perfect introduction to life
[Metra Side Story] Eradication 1 C The perfect introduction to life
What was living? That was the question a piece of metal was rather suddenly and rather forcibly confronted with as magic hot as smoulderingva was poured into it. It felt things it didnt have words for. Just an immense wish to break things around it, a wish so strong for a long time it felt it would break her apart instead.
What was existence became sentience became sapience as other materials were introduced to it. It was stressful, even though it had no true concept of what was normal, this just felt unnatural. Then it all stopped. It just lied there.
Another failure? a deep voice grumbled. I had really hoped this would do it. Well, time to dismantle it and start again.
Dismantle? That did not sound good, that sounded like it would end. It didnt want to end whatever this living was that had just started. A touch by something soft on its surface.
A sudden idea, no, a sudden flood of ideas, outlining what everything was, knowledge of things she had never seen before. Taste, smell, hearing, the senses became more than just impulses she received, they were concepts that ryed reality to her. Living, the continuation of amassing experiences like this C her own experiences. The hot feeling inside her, wrath. She was angry, angry at everything. Why? Didnt matter, but for the person that currently touched her, there was an easy exnation. He wanted to dismantle her, kill her.
Her body took form, instinctively. It already existed, but without arms or legs all those experiences in walking and punching she had just inherited would be useless. A muscr arm darted upwards andnded square in the face of the person touching her, catapulting him off her.
Get off me, you creepy piece of shit! those were the first words she intended to speak, but her lips only formed those words without any sess. She had to create lungs, something to draw in the air and push it out again to form sounds around. A second attempt, by now she was looking down on the person she had punched.
He was a man in ornate robes, a golden ring atop his head, epassing a mane of brown. The most outstanding feature of him would have been his beard, an impressive but somewhat silly looking arranged of small braids.
That man was in the process of trying to form his own words with a dislocated jaw. She was doing her best to find a way out of where this was. Looking around she realized that she was in some sort of hall fashioned from brown stone. She had been lying on an altar underneath a giant raw crystal, ck with silver spots decorating it like stars did the night sky, that grew out of the otherwise t ceiling. Still, she knew basically nothing about this world.
Your face is really punchable, you should cover it with more beard, she dered; the violence had created a short burst of euphoria inside her. A moment where she felt atop of the world. She wanted to feel that again, so she jumped on top of the man. The only thing she knew for herself, for real, right now, was that violence made her feel great.
Compared to the man she was a giant and way more muscr as well. Now she had no idea why she even was this female called thing, it was just an instinct that had made her form this body, but she did know that she could properly hurt him, whoever he was.
Now that he was prepared for her assault, the man actually fought back. Weirdly enough, that didnt just irritate her; on the contrary, hands locking, muscles bulging in a desperate strain, it all made it so much better. The challenge, she realized, was a great thing. Every passing moment threatening to make her the loser, was not. Magic pulsated in her body like blood, she heard it in her ears like a circle of war drums being banged inside her, and with every beat it felt like she was bing even stronger.
The man realized that as well and, pinned as he was, concentrated all of his power in one desperate push that threw her off him. Landing on her back a short distance away, she growled. Her anger, it only grew; there seemed to be just no limit to how angry she could get.
The man got up and, with one dedicated move, cracked his jaw back into ce. He spat out, a liquid clearly mixed with blood. Watching her carefully, just as she held back her trembling body in wait for an opening, he spoke in a pleased tone, Not only have I seeded, I have created a beautiful warrior.
From the little things she knew about beauty, she would not have categorized herself as such. Now standing, she had an easier timeparing the two of them. She was over one head taller than him, her arms as thick as wooden logs and an overall body that eliminated all feminine curves under thick muscles. The only things that even identified her as female were the considerable breasts, the hole between her naked legs and the facial structure that could charitably be described as Amazonian.
The man ripped off the top of his robes, so that they wouldnt get in the way in the ensuing fight. He was of olive skin with chest hair as thick as his beard; it all glistened as if covered in oil of that tree. Some other urges moved in with the violence, those werepletely unknown.
With loud screams they charged at each other. The man used his inferior height as an advantage, ducking under herrge arms and tackling shoulder first into her sr plexus. Groaning in pain as her metal body refused to budge under the attack like a regr body, he continued to run forwards, ramming her into the wall.
Cracks formed in the stone behind her back. She grabbed onto the man, rammed her knee up his stomach and then raised him over her head only to throw him down with enormous force. When she attempted to finish him up by stomping on his head, he rolled to the side at thest second, getting once more to his feat. An exchange of brutal blows followed, the man slowly losing ground as his stamina fell and her strength only increased.
Or so she was led to believe until they head arrived back at the altar. There, he dodged one of her punches, and then, with a blue re enveloping him like a fire, his speed and power increased immensely. Twisting the arm onto her back, he suddenly had her pressed face first on the altar. She attempted to rise, il with her free arm to knock him off. The only thing that got her was that arm caught as well.
GET! OFF! she shouted, her whole being tense and excited. This was fulfilment. A struggle between the strong. She wanted to win. She had to win. There was no hatred for her opponent inside her, only anger at the fact that she couldnt continue this fight.
She felt something incredible hard behind her bend over form, pressing against her stretched backside. That was the only thing aside from her anger she felt, a weird fascination for that hard thing. Her body grinded against it with every attempt to get back up until eventually she was only grinding against, wondering why there was feeling that wanted her to have it inside her. She was excited for writhing bodies, and it was when the man lowered his pants and pushed into her suddenly soft skinned pussy that she realized that violence wasnt the only way to go about that.
_________________________________________________________________________
Afterwards she was lying on the altar, heavily breathing despite having no need for air. Something about the imprinted experiences just told her that she needed to do it.
The anger was still swelling inside her, urging her to at least break something if she wasnt doing anything else. For the moment, she wrestled it down with sheer power of will. There were things she didnt understand.
Who are you? she asked.
My name is Sargon, I am king over thends of Akkad, which I build and am building, the man answered as he put his robes back over his now sweaty body.
A king she mumbled; that sounded like a mighty word, one that had weight beyond its literal meaning. What am I?
Something that I wanted to create, the king spoke straight-out, but different. I nned to infuse life into a mighty metal to use as a weapon, to create something beyond a simple golem. I have seeded, but not in the ways I thought I would. You are more person than weapon. Why, I would like to know from you.
When you touched me, I experienced what I was through what you knew of the world, she stated. Before then I just was, before then I wasnt.
I see, this will require some further pondering, and although this wasnt the result I wanted, I can hardlyin about it, he fixed the cloth hiding his now floppy penis from the world. What is your name?
I dont have one, she answered. Do I need one?
It would be for the better we call the metal I used in creating you Mulkugna, from our words from the things in the saltwater above us and precious metals. I dubbed this project to make things out of it and parts of our gods, the project that created you, Metracana. It is only fitting that you, the first, shall be called Metra.
Metra, she repeated, and what is my purpose?
For now? To serve me, your king and creator, Sargon dered. Does that sound like something that gives you purpose?
It does, she grinned widely, the wish for more violence twitching in her fingers, my king.
That was her first contract.
____________________________________________________________________________
Years came and went, a life filled with warfare. Sargons rule was not a stable one, especially in his advanced age. Metra was used on the battlefield both real and Abyssal. In these older times, Gaia wasnt as stringent about enforcing her rules. Outright magic was ouwed, but one could get away with performing feats that seemed almost impossible.
She relished her time on these fields of death and even the time spent between. There was only one prolonged time of peace, and that was when a man of myth, called Gilgamesh, resided in their court to learn about the governing of something beyond a polis.
The presence of this flesh born man beyond the gods kept the peace, as no one dared to anger him. Metra spent those years mostly away from the capital, fulfilling a mission to kill orcas. When she returned, Gilgamesh had gone again, together with the gods of sun and moon he had brought with him. As he left, the troubles returned, worse than ever.
Thankfully by then, Sargon had figured out what had made the creation of Metra sessful. Two things separated the Metracana from the normal golems that were already in use. One was their artificial soul, something created identally at first out of the raw amount of mana that had rested inside the materials Metra had been created from, sparked into consciousness by a mental connection between herself and Sargon.
Continuing on that line of research,ter magicians would figure out how to create the soul as a nk te instead, eventually giving rise to the Artificial Spirit master-craft.
However, Sargon became unable to make that research in his lifetime, so he taught those he trusted the second secret to create the, at that time, only sessful model. A piece of the goddess of Tiamat and, more importantly, how it yed into the spell.
A long time after Sargons death, even when his kingdom was long gone, around the tower that wound around the sky, a song could be heard sung by children of those days.
Twenty-one of them there are, the priestesses and aspects of Tiamat.
One went to wrath alone, the first one, the unique one.
One went to patience alone, the second one, the only worthy contender.
Two went to her love, the first ones to shatter.
Three went to her hatred, then they had learned the lesson.
Three more to the darkness, she wore on her skin.
Three to the light, that was hidden within.
One without aspects, a weak one without power,
He shall watch over, forever, the ce of the first ones oath.
Four to the power, wielded for virtue and sin,
Three to the order, that was rising and lost forever to them.
Twenty-one of them there are, the unequal priestesses and aspects of Tiamat.
Behold the wraths oath and be crowned king of Akkad.
It was a song that would die with Babylon
Eradication 2 – Chaos
Eradication 2 C Chaos
It had been over a thousand years since the creation of Metra. Kingdoms and empires had risen and fallen in the fertilend of Mesopotamia time and time again. Some she saw rise with her own eyes, bloody realms that needed her to quash rebellions or eliminate less worthy candidates.
Thews of Gaia had be stricter with each passing year. Individually it was barely noticeable, but over a millennium it now felt like too great a risk to step outside of the Abyss. None of her brothers or sisters ever dared to step outside the abyssal side, but that was often enough.
In thends that once were Akkad, every fifth person was part of the Abyss, including all of the nobility. No matter how many empires fell, every king would seek a contract with the Metracanas for one reason or another. Some would only seek some of them out, those they needed, others would attempt to contract them all. Every time, the Metracanas acted upon the oath that they had made to Sargon on his deathbed.
Even without running the risk of being deployed in the world of normal man, it wasnt like they had nothing to do.
Most of the time they resided in the city of Babylon. Once destroyed by Sargon himself, it had been rebuilt twice since then around a central tower that no one dared to touch. For why they were there, it was due to a drawback in how they functioned. Being the imperfect prototypes of a magical technique meant that they had aspects to them that made them outstanding, but that was only because people hadnt yet figured out what was needed to take off the edges to make the entirety work.
Between the contracts they slept. It was a necessity. While the unique properties of Astrotium, the metal from the fallen stars that made up most of their bodies, allowed them to regenerate their own mana while under contract, it would leak out steadily whilst they were free. Mana just didnt stick to them with their upleted souls; they needed a second person to stabilize theirs. Roaming around on their own was not an option for all but one of them.
An early design w for most, a deliberate decision for others of the Metracanas. The Artificial Spirits that existed nowadays, streamlined and clearer versions of the spell that had been used to create them, didnt have that problem, they could eventually be independent, although they were inferior in other ways. Most of all being that they were weaker, weaker even than most golems. A new trend to imnt crystalized versions of aspects of consciousness into their bodies as a recement for the materials of gods that were iid in the Metracanas was slowly shaping up. The results varied. Metra listened to those stories with medium interest; she was the first, so she did care about what followed after her, but she was also not the science kind of thinker. She was a weapon of the battlefield and searched for a ce to take the wrath inside her heart and live it out over answers to some questions.
There was one ce, however, where the Metracanas could reside without having to be afraid of running out of energy, at the side of their goddess.
I need to kill her, I will kill her, SHE SHALL BE KILLED! Tiamat roared in the temple that was also her prison and the wonder at the heart of the empire giving the monolithic structure its name, the Tower of Babel.
The goddess of chaos was a hideous beast. A dragon whose body had much of its flesh carved off, revealing a bare rib cage, a beating heart within that pumped saltwater through a body that was working with rotting organs. Two of her five wings were naught but bone, the others looked pristine, water continuously dripping off them like morning dew. Itnded on the floor where it quickly dried up, leaving a thin crust of salt in the middle of the circr hall.
On her long neck, covered in ckened, dull scales, sat a head that was half recognizable as a normal dragon, whilst the other was a chaotic mess of scars, disced eyes and a mouth that had a vertical slit to pull open in addition to the horizontal, normal one. Her maw was just an elongated mess of disced teeth in soft flesh, only fit to hurt not to consume. She moved her head around as if in a panic, overlooking the seven open chambers at the lower and the fourteen at the upper level of the two story temple that had been erected around her crippled form.
Her voice swung between displeased mess and sultry sweet words depending on her mood. Today, she was clearly annoyed. So close, thousands of years, so much research, so many resets by foolish kings, we can do it today. So close! I understand the next world, we must tear this one down, the cycle has been stopped, the wheel reinvented before Enuma Elis.
Metra listened closely to Tiamat. The goddess of chaos was incoherent, had so many endgoals that she seldom reached any single one of them, but her words ultimately revealed potential for someone else. The worthiest kings had been born out of her divinity.
It was indeed today that was important. Only a few more acts of masonry and this circle would beplete. A tower to touch the sky and rip Gaia from her throne in the heavens. Tiamat had wanted to get there for so long, but her mind saw nothing on its own and had taken the most winding path possible. It didnt help that a number of rulers had denied helping with the building of such a project. Now, however, it was about to bepleted and noints mattered anymore.
Not from Tilgun, that northerner that had taken to worship the chaos of opportunity with them and had left thend in anticipation of this event, not from Marduk, whose magic words had failed him after all and who was going along with this begrudgingly, not from Enki, who was patrolling the outskirts of the empire and made sure the magic lines were all set correctly. Over a millennium of scheming and finally Tiamat got what she wanted by poisoning her children with the influence of her chaos.
Metra didnt know or care if that was a good idea, she just sharpened her weapons, from sword to spear, and waited. The ever-present anger inside her would be guided at something today.
Just a little while longer, a second voice tried to calm Tiamat, who then looked down.
Ah, Seminaris, the goddess of chaos spoke in a gentle way, rearing her head over, my dear patience, how much longer is that?
Not long, the second Metracana ensured her. She didnt even try to use any unit of time; the goddess of chaos had no use for such things. It will be soon now. Before the sun sets once more.
And then we will be all dead, one of the Metracanasmented from above. Probably Serestra, the first of darkness. For slighting Gaia.
Gaia is the false goddess, she forces order that isnt of Abzus design. My children who murdered him, in a world ying by her rules. I hate them, I hate them all, this world has to sink into chaos. From the muck my husband shall rise again, Tiamat screamed.
All of these things had happened long before even Metra existed. The bickering continued around her. Metra concentrated on the whetstone in her hand. We shouldnt Shiiiing, it glided over the singing de. It is Shiiiing. My opinion here is Shiiing. You all need to The singing stopped. I think you... The beating of drums in her ears. If the king The whetstone threatened to burst. Semiramis added the straw that broke the camels back; Metra hated her closest sister and her endless patience, her voice alone ticked the first of wrath off, You just need to
SHUT THE FUCK UP! Metra screamed and hurled the whetstone at the first of patience. The hall was quiet except for Tiamats manyughter. Semiramis deflected the attack with a magical barrier. Its only a short time now, the chaos has spoken; if you dislike it, curse your existence and the fact that we are bound either here or with the king that agreed to this. Metra looked at the two empty chambers on the first floor. No one forced you to follow our traditions and stay here. You could always have done what the first and second of love did and bind yourself to merchants in pursuit of a foreign king.
She reigned her temper back in and grabbed a new whetstone. She had more than a few lying around in her corner. The room thus went silent until a new person entered a long time thereafter. The circle waspleted. The ritual was about to begin.
About damn time, Metra rose and strapped her weapons to her broad back, one after another. She was thankful that this current king had no use of her as a concubine. Many kings, unworthy in better times but the best they could find in the ones they found themselves in, had thought it a great irony to have the greatest weapon be a ything in the bedroom.
Metra had taken those contracts in disgruntled passion. She didnt dislike sex, it had been one of the first things she had experienced in her life. Filling her days with nothing but that was beyond dull, however. Thankfully most monarchs of that calibre invited plenty of rebellions, so they either died soon or gave her something to do in castle raids.
Why are you so eager to get this done with? Semiramis asked. The first of patience was the only other one of the Metracanas that had been made by Sargon himself. The dislike Metra felt for her was mutual.
She was a fine-lookingdy, pale for this part of the world as she resembled someone that was hiding inside scheming all day. Long ck hair with dark brown eyes and a face befitting for ady of the court. All of her fine details, from those natural to her royal behaviour to her steel-grey dress with the silver rim of starlight, looked even more elegant next to the brutish appearance of the muscle-bound Metra in her armour.
Dress and armour were both made from the metal most of their bodies consisted off, Astrotium as it was known in the west. The Metracanas had eventually figured out how to manipted the make-up of their bodies in the most effective ways: by pushing all of the hard material outwards they could create armours harder than anything anyone could hope to smith with their hands. The appearance of dull steel was intermixed with other elements, depending on the Metracana. For Metra, red decorations covered the dark dull grey, pieces of the scale of Tiamat, liquefied in the fire of anger that they themselves fuelled.
Just like you to voice yourints when nobody important is listening, the wrathful growled back.
You are putting words in my mouth as usual, Semiramis sighed. I know that Sargon, blessed be his beard in the world beyond, had not figured out how to grant intellect to you, his most failed sess, but you still ought to listen every now and again.
I would be more inclined to listen to you if you werent in the middle of scheming something again, Metra told her. Like 230 years ago when you told me someone stole Uru-kartza.
Are you still not over that? Semiramis wanted to know as they cleared the temple, leaving behind a manicallyughing and sobbing Tiamat.
You made me murder an entire priesthood in search of my sword and, in the end, it just magically appeared back in my storage, Metra stopped for a moment to threateningly bump her finger against the much smallerdys chest. I may not be the greatest nner, but I know when I have been yed and how to recognize who benefitted the most from my mistakes.
Not that any of that matters now, Semiramis mused.
No, it doesnt, Metra agreed. They were all almost certain that they were running head first into certain death. Even if the theory of this tower was correct, even if there was a way to push Gaia from her throne, just this tower wouldnt be enough, a whole kingdom wouldnt be enough, the only thing that Metra could imagine would be enough would be the entire world and, even then, barely. Which begs the question why you are bringing it up.
At the end, I just wanted to say: I hate you, Semiramis stated. But let us end as sisters, not as foes. She reached out her hand. Metra took it immediately, much to the first of patiences surprise. I would have figured
You thought too much about it, Metra interrupted her. If this is the end, I dont want to enter whatever maye after this, if anything, to see Sargon again as bickering children. If you lie to me again, you are just the same bitch as usual.
You are so refreshingly simple, Semiramis stated.
Metra just blew air out of her nose, and they continued to climb to the highest floor.
Eradication 3 – The end of Babylon
Eradication 3 C The end of Babylon
A tower the size of a city of ten-thousand, circr segment stacked on circr segment, each with a rim engraved with endless runes and sigils, powered by the gods and the people of Babylonia. That was the Tower of Babel. Or had been, before chaos took its root in the monolithic structure of reddish brown stone.
The unfinished monolith epassed all it needed to epass, but nothing more, nothing less. To that end, parts of it had been ripped out and reced with hastily scribbled runes, others had been added in meticulous detail. If Marduk would still have been clear in thought, he would have been disgusted at the dissonant building, whose base he himself had crafted to bury Tiamat within.
Now the god of words, a tall humanoid figure with thin-limbs and wide robes with a ring of eyes around his head, stood there drooling like an imbecile. A ck mass had attached itself to the side of his face, the flesh of Tiamat. Chaos was the ultimate opportunity and the ultimate corruptor after all.
The king of these days didnt desire her sexually, thus Metra had a body that closely resembled her original one. The key difference was that she had learned to push all the Astrotium in her body into an outeryer, an armour more durable than anything else that could be made by mortal hand.
With the rise of the handless arms of Marduk, which he had sacrificed to Gilgamesh in times past, the spell began. The whole building turned into a giant catalyst as the gates opened to the mana. Energy, gathered from the entire country in primitive mana batteries, seeped into the base of the tower, then travelled up floor by floor making the engraved symbols glow white on the light brown stone.
The circle pulled all the mana out of the ground and all things soulless, including the invisible shackles that forced Tiamat to remain in her hall below. Metra could hear the rumbling of stone, felt the vibrations under her feet, as the mother of chaos rose from her salt-covered tomb for the first time since the Enuma Elis.
She broke out of the highest teau in an explosion of stone and water, like a massive geyser, leaving only the rim for the Metracana and Marduk to stand on. Wings spreading, she hooked herself into position in that hole. As she roared at the sky, it all came back down like a rain of tears, filled with an abundance of mana that only hastened the process of charging up the circle.
The pale blue of natural mana shifted into a blinding mix of ck and white; wherever the two colours met in the runes, shes of all colours urred. It only grew yet more bright until finally it vanished.
There was no great explosion or anything. This spell wasnt aiming at anything. How would one aim at an all-epassing concept? There was no way to verify if it had worked or not either.
Tell me, tell me, tell me, even in the anticipating dread that most people felt, the mother of chaos wasnt quiet.
Then everything went dark. The sky vanished around them as they were isted from realitypletely. Not even the illusion of something existing outside their barrier was maintained; the sun vanished. The only light around was the hollow glow of Tiamats eyes.
Guess we are really dead then, Metra thought, looking at the one source of true radiance descending on them in a slow manner.
When people said Gaia, Metra had been imagining many things, but not what she saw. A girl of tiny stature, barely even half the first of wraths size, with green hair that wasedically curly growing all the way down to her hips. She wore a ck piece of cloth over her light-brown skin, her green eyes looking sad. That was more surprising than her appearance, Metra had expected her to be full of anger. Resignation, she saw, aforementioned sadness, a tiny bit of annoyance, but not a speck of anger. The one inside Metra was as present as ever; she grit her teeth to prevent herself from jumping straight at the supreme deity.
The mother did not have the same discipline.
NOW I HAVE YOU! Tiamats mind did not think any of this to be unusual. There was no such thing as something outside the norm for a being that rejected the concept of normal. She raised her blistering ws at the one that overlooked everything. The terrible looking, half-decayed arm swung down.
Gaia needed two fingers to stop the attack of the dragon.
I really have to wonder why you thought this was a good idea, what part ever made you think this was going to work? the supreme deity just turned her wrist. A simple gesture, like opening a lock with a key, twisting off Tiamats entire arm. I am the mind of a force beyond strength. You cant push me off this pedestal no matter how much you try but I guess talking to you is about as likely to be sessful as talking to a gravestone.
The ripped off arm disintegrated, a phenomenon that jumped over to the stump it had been ripped from. I WILL RETURN! Tiamat screamed. CHAOS IS ETERNAL! ME OR SOMETHING ELSE, IT WILL ALL BE THE SAME!
A new god of chaos would be born eventually yeah, right, like I dont have the power to prevent that, Gaia blew air out of her nose. All I need is to banish you to another ne rather than kill you. Take your time to think about your sins, if you even understand the concept of those.
Tiamat, in onest act of spite or desperation, threw herself at Gaia. The giant maw pulling wide open into all four directions. When she was close enough to swallow the supreme deity whole, Metra just heard the snip of fingers and then everything froze, unable to move. Yucky, was thest word she heard before the world itself trembled and she lost consciousness.
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Metra didnt know how much time had passed between then and hering about again. Looking around she realized that she was still atop the tower, together with her seventeen present brothers and sisters, also awakening one by one. A quick look over the edge revealed, however, that there was no more tower to be atop off. Only a collection of hovering rubble, roughly in the shape of the tower it once had made up.
There was no more Babylon, she realized, and no more Tiamat. Not even Marduk was around anymore. Only the eighteen of them and Gaia, hovering in the middle of the crater the mother of chaos had burst out of, waiting with closed eyes.
Finally, took you long enough to get up, I have other things to do, you know? the green-haired deityined.
What words do you even have for us? Semiramis was thest one to fight to her feet but the first one to speak. You will smite us all for our insolence.
No, you will survive, just the eighteen of you, Gaias opened her eyes just a bit, shook her head. What a senseless loss of life and energy. Every fifth person from here to Egypt. I wont be able to mask all of those deaths aspletely natural. Going to kill a lot of livestock and send gues and stuff like that. Guess that will give religious people of the future something to write about.
Why would you let us live? Metra wanted to know. Such a puny looking thing as you.
Do you really want to banter with the being that just eradicated your whole civilization and is going topletely wipe magic from your society over the next few years? Gaia wanted to know, then she sighed. To answer the question, you are immortal in the first ce, so you are the perfect messagers. It is almost guaranteed that somebody who could try to start something like this again is going to get his hands on at least one of you, so you can be the ones to warn him. Something like this doesnt even hurt me. You are ying with things you dont understand.
You could have just prevented it, growled one of the shards of hate. YOU COULD HAVE JUST STOPPED US. You are clearly strong enough, so why, why would you just let us fail?!
Because if I did whatever I thought was right rather than acting upon rules I put up to remove myself as much as possible, I might as well take away your free will, Gaia told them. I dont want to be the architect of fate. I could use my powers to be effectively omniscient and omnipotent, but I decide not to. I am the forces of nature around you, who I stand free to redefine as I wish, but I leave them as is to leave you all to the paths you decide to travel. Not my fault when you decide to vite the rules I do put up. She closed her eyespletely again, a single tear rolling over her face. Now excuse me, I have the death of hundreds of thousands to enact.
Why do you kill them if they are no threat to you?! Metra shouted.
Because those are the rules.
You just said you could change them!
Once I change this rule, I change the rule about the borders, then you live alongside each other, normal and magical alike, then I have to keep everyone weaker from being exploited, then I once again design fate for everyone, Gaia began fading away. A level of cruelty is necessary to keep humans in line, for they are creatures of chaos and order. In my realm you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in ce.
With that she was gone, leaving eighteen deste Metracanas atop a tower of rubble.
She really left us Semiramis mumbled.
What now?
There are no more kings to serve, the bloodlines are gone. Our people
The civilization that made us
The monuments we helped carve
Our goddess our mother
They each spoke to each other, but mostly to themselves, lost in their individual despair.
Whatsoever king I shall serve after you, who shall exalted after you, the words rang silently through the deste space, the Metracanas falling silent and looking at the one who spoke, I will let him rule, tell him the secrets of the ck-headed peoples. He will prove his worth to me, mighty mountains I will let him destroy, from the stones he shall rebuild; let him ascend the upper mountains, with craftiness he will seed; let him break through the lower mountains, with the wrath of a titan that blinds the sun. Three times he shall besiege his enemies as such and three times he shall seed. Then, I, the first one, shall take him to Dilmun, to great Dur-ilu we rise as servant and king and the bones of chaos I will wield in protection onto his dying breath.
The words of their original creator rung inside the Metracanas ears. It was the original oath. Thepetition of their existence.
Brothers and sisters, our homeys wasted, our goddess dead, our people now nothing but mana-less fools blind to the ruined Abyss that surrounds them, Metra grinned at them with the unwavering determination and rage that filled her essence to the core. So, what?
Semiramis was the first to answer that question, Right, our purpose stands. To find a candidate, to observe, to feed our strength by taxing mana of the unworthy, to live and to find a new king. If he reigns thesends or thends beyond that of the Akkadians, it shouldnt matter.
Over the course of her speech, the life returned to each of the Metracanas. One by one they rose from their desperate cowering. One by one the lights in their eyes reignited. Their mana was running short. They all understood what they needed to do.
To find our king, Metra repeated. Even if he is not Akkadian.
To find our king, one by one they repeated as they left her standing on her own. They scattered, leaving the empty space, where Gaia had left them, into different directions. Only those with birth-partners remained together. In the end, it was only Metra and Semiramis.
Where will you search? I need to make sure I wont see you again, the first of patience asked with a well-meaning smile. Mocking until the end.
Likewise, I will go north, beyond the Caucasian mountains. Or as far as these feet can carry me. What is your intent? The usual scheming to fail at against someone better?
I will carry the knowledge of this day to Gilgamesh.
Ah, an easy candidate to be our king, but not one I consider worthy. That fool will probably be like Can you tell me more about that failed circle and try to rebuild it but bigger. Go on then, get out of my sight, you and your endless tranquillity get on my nerves.
Whatever you say, eldest, Semiramis said; for the second time in their entire rtionship she sounded like she had something like respect for Metra. The first time had been when she had just been born. Once she bowed, then she too was gone.
Metra, left alone, mumbled onest prayer into the quiet. Mortal maker, fallen Abzu, gone are you two, missing Enki, ravaged Marduk, fools were you too, Tiamat, chaotic one, help me on my travels. For your mind was always unstable and your body is now gone as well, but your principle will stand eternal.
Let me find a new man to guide us all.
Chapter 403 – A worshipper of chaos
Chapter 403 C A worshipper of chaos
Undine had been hanging slightly behind the boat, looking at the wall of light in front of her. Thanks to the perk John had gotten after Christmas, she wasnt tethered to his immediate surroundings, so she was able to take her time and muster herself before swimming through at her own pace. The wall was weird to her. Blind as she was, she shouldnt have been able to experience it. She could feel the vibrations in the sea, hear the sounds emitted by the orcas that stayed away from the ephemeral leyline before her. She was aware of all of her surroundings.
But the leylines energy made no sound or vibration. Neither did it smell of anything. Yet, even without seeing it, she knew it was there. More than that, it was like a giant noise filter. There was no telling what was on the other side.
Carefully she swam into the edge of the light. While it drowned out all natural signals for senses she could have used for orientation with its presence, the one thing that stayed was the knowledge of her summoners position above. It was like swimming through a total vacuum, weightless and without anything to feel but herself, the only thing to follow a nearby star.
Even that must have been distorted, however, as Undine emerged slightly ahead of the cruise ship in the end. What is going on? she thought as she concentrated on her surroundings. The water was still, in a way that was much more unnerving than the silence she had just left. It was like she had travelled from one ne of existence, teeming with life, into another one that was just dead.
Finally, she felt some minor movements. Five of them. Four very close to each other, thest almost diagonally opposed. There was arge area between those things that also moved.
A hand.
It was a giant hand, w even, and it wasnt moving so slowly now. It was moving fast. Too fast to dodge even as she attempted to move in the nick of time. Water streamed past her and numbed all her senses, made it impossible to get a clear picture. Something gargantuan moved, that was all she knew for sure. There were hands, many hands, or tails, with fins or horns or jaws or all information was ripped away as she broke through the surface of the water.
She tried to keep herself together, but the air resistance ripped part of her away as she remained absolutely unclear as to what was going on. Something, some monster, was beneath them, she was afraid, she wasnt supposed to be flying. Could Sylph catch her? Where was she even? Where was Undine? It hurt. It was cold. The air was cold. Colder than the ocean could have ever been to her. It all moved too fast. She couldnt de-manifest, she was stuck in her material form. Why? She tried to put up some sort of shield at least.
An impact. Darkness.
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Ripped in shock out of their collective rxation, everyone on the boat looked at the puddle of goo that had just hit the open deck of the boat. A red scar moved through an unmoving slime, quickly disintegrating. John only saw that through Sylphs eyes, the tempest elemental had tried to move over as quickly as possible, use a gust or something to stop her sisters fall. Too slow.
There was no time to think about that. EVERYONE, GET READY! John shouted at those surrounding him, letting the fury of whoever had dared to do that to Undine pump up his heartbeat. It yed a subservient role to the caution, however; whatever Undine had felt at herst moments was down there, aggressive, and it was obviously strong, too strong to go at hot-headed.
An rm soon started ringing on the ship. The people of the Abyss were more than trained in panic situations, so the evacuation would have actually gone down quite orderly. If they had the chance to.
At the head of the ship, where the bridge had been ced against standard ship designs, a hand appeared. It looked humanoid, with therge differences of being d in navy blue scales and ending in thick ws, perfect to hook into sea monsters up to the size of school buses. A finger alone was about as tall as John, and three more arms soon joined to secure the grappling of the ship. Yet it wasnt until the far end of a serpentine tail sshed out of the water at the side of the nose that John could estimate the absolute size of the beast that was now causing the whole ship to tilt towards it. It must have been at least fifty metres, not the most gargantuan thing John had encountered but still.
Some impressive magic mechanisms must have been in ce for the tilt to undo itself as a head rose from behind the bridge on a long neck. It was elongated, scaled in the same ultramarine with a bleak white underside. Six ck horns grew backwards out of the reptilian skull, two lids rolled back to reveal eyes glowing in blue, darker on the outside and finally reaching an almost white level of pale at the centre. Its lower jaw was considerably smaller with the tip of it and the entirety of the upper one being covered in extra thick scales that created a beak-esque look.
The serpentine sea dragon opened its mouth and yawned. With such utter boredom that John wasnt quite sure what he was supposed to feel, especially with Undine still needing revival. It took two hands off the bridge, leaving clear dents and scratches all over the virgin white hull, and stretched. Wings without membrane came into view, long, thin things that couldnt even raise a pebble from the floor.
You got to be kidding me, John spoke out loud as the eyes of Tilgun turned to lie on him. The higher dragon must have felt the Observe being cast on himself. Everyone stood still as Nathalias younger brother straightened his back and rubbed his chin. Then he suddenly turned around and vanished underneath the waves again. The only sounds were those of the continuing rm siren.
The people that didnt want to face a higher dragon, meaning everyone aside from John and his group, took the opportunity to quickly retreat inside. Whatever was about to go down, they didnt want to be part of it, and the ship was pretty sturdy. John imagined they would be living it up inside, either to just have a good time or to be drunk when they started sinking under the waves.
John heard some mechanical voice in the distance, but before he could turn to check out what it was about, the noises of the sea dragon crawling up the side of the ship, breaking windows and scratching the hull in the process, were a bit more pressing. The head of Tilgun appeared over the edge of the railing. Now, now, this is interesting, the voice was incredibly deep and husky. It seemed the higher dragon had the mind to speak quietly; John was left in the dark how he could even do that with a head big enough that one bite would cause an orca to be separated into three parts. Not only do you have a spell that can see me, you also wear that, a giant w pointed at the Ne of the World Ender. I was just surfacing to eat you fools, but now you have me intrigued. I havent seen that energy for over 600 years. You may begin exining who you are.
John swallowed his anger. This thing was level 341. While he had beaten something around that level before, the Grey Golem at 384, that had been under vastly better circumstances, with arger group and with the help of their own giant robot. Not to mention that the Grey Golems were just huge balls of brutish strength. This thing was a higher dragon, not only could John easily expect him to have more than a few spells up his ancient sleeve, he was also vastly more intelligent. Although it was funny to see that (ording to the stats anyway) this dragon was physically weaker than Aclysia.
There was no way that engaging a sea dragon in the middle of the ocean was a good idea. Especially with their healer already dead. Still, that arrogant tone did have John miffed, to say the least.
What part of me do you want me to exin: who I am generally, how I know your older sister or my recent history? John asked in a more dismissive voice than was perhaps adequate. The death of his slimegirl did put him in a non-talking mood.
Surprisingly, Tilgun didnt get annoyed by that. Neither did he act to the reveal that John knew who he was in such detail. Instead he just looked at John with even greater interest. Then he actually went ahead and inspected everyone else around. I see so many interesting auras here I will hear your general history. Make it entertaining, lest I sink this whole ship. He reared his head a little. Also tell whoever controls this ship to stop aiming that thing at me. Another one of his four arms was pointing at the space between the VIP apartments. John turned to realize the earlier source of mechanical sounds, in the shape of the previously inexplicably tall teleportation station having turned into a giant energy cannon on a swivel. Otherwise I cant guarantee that I wont just give into the demands of my stomach.
Sylph, if you could? John requested.
No! the tempest elemental answered with puffed up cheeks. He hurt Undine, I am not doing that! He is a big eely meany!
Un-what? Tilgun cocked his enormous head. After a second he had it figured out, Ah, that thing I mistook for potential breakfast. That was all he had to say about the subject matter of why he attacked her in the first ce. There was very little doubt about whether or not he thought himself as better as the lifeforms before him. But fine, if you wont take care of it the giant hand threatened to just rip the cannon off its base.
Metra shouted something in an unknownnguage up to the higher dragon, and he stopped. He returned something in the samenguage, an act that stunned John. Nathalia had, for the whole time he had known her, always spoken draconic. Thanks to some global trantion spell Romulus had put in ce, that wasnt a problem. Tilgun, as far as John could notice, also only spoke draconic. So why would he speak some ancientnguage right now. Better question, why was he bowing his head by the end of the conversation.
You could have just told me that you have the Eternal Priestess of Tiamat under yourmand, Tilgun finally said, dropping all hostile acts whatsoever together with all signs of arrogance. A giver to the fallen mother of chaos is an ally to me. I do so apologize for damaging your possession.
There was a big part inside John that wanted to scream at him to never refer to Undine as a possession, but the rest of him was just happy he could rx. Although this put some new questions into ce about Metra.
Oh no, John thought as he saw the reward. The appearance of this guy really put a dent in a whole line of things. Including the hull of the ship. Would you mind if we continue this conversation with you shrinking or something? You are slowing down the whole cruise.
I am not a god like my sister became, Tilgun informed him, I only possess this body and I have no knowledge about casting a shrinking spell. Although there is an easy solution. He plucked a safety boat from the side of the cruise. An act John was halfway afraid would tempt the captain to finally give the order to fire and cause a rather messy break in diplomacy. However, captain Sealy proved to be a man-seal of good judgement. Either that or he had fainted. Whatever it was, nothing happened when the higher dragon ced that little boat on the deck. Get in, we can have our talk without me needing to jump and crawl myself up this oversized swimming building.
That was sadly the only solution on Johns mind as well. Save flying or freezing the water, unsustainable und unavable respectively. Aclysia, could you go inform the bridge what is happening?
At once, Aclysia bowed, hooking her mind into his the second she had her back turned. She wasnt going to have a repeat of the arena situation where she teleportedter than she had to. Rave was ready to jump into the boat with him when Tilgun decisively blocked her.
I only want to speak with this one and maybe her excellency, the higher dragon reprimanded, right back in his arrogant tone. You are
Yo, ya not gonna go and abduct my boyfriend to have some talk, ya oversized lizard. There was just something inherently wonderful about seeing someone who he loved doing something as stupid as talking back to a creature that could have just flicked her off the ship without even thinking about it.
I would really prefer it if you would let here with, John weighed in. Tilgun, deciding this was not worth the hassle, allowed it after all. As two, they got into the boat. You are not interested? he asked Metra.
Tilgun is boring, she just answered. Way too reasonable.
I am a bad follower of the chaotic principle, Tilgun mused before grabbing the boat between two hands and climbing back down.
Thest thing John noted was the knowing smile of Smander.
Chapter 404 – Error: New Content not found
Chapter 404 C Error: New Content not found
Now, now, Tilgun ced the little boat on the ocean with some care before doing something more than unusual in pulling himself out of the water and resting on the surface. Even going as far as picking some of it up and reshaping it to be a better rest for his head, as if the water was just y. For a higher dragon, the difference may have been miniscule.
The Maw of Souls body must have been at least a hundred metres long, although that was purely length. There was something like a pair of legs, halfway transformed into wed fins, down his body, but aside from that he looked mostly like a giant serpent. Your story must be interesting, so start at the beginning and skip only the unimportant details.
Wow, that is going to take a bit, John said and began recounting his adventures. It all started about seven months ago
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I used to be a typical nerd. Well, maybe not typical in some respects, but typical enough. No muscles, no confidence, no social experience, the whole package. Then, when I turned 18, I awoke to some weird status messages telling me I had gotten a quest. It took me a moment, but eventually I realized that I had been given some sort of power.
I began experimenting that morning, in secret. It didnt take long for a genuine member of the Abyss to notice me, a Moira Brighton. The Observe spell I used on you earlier, she had felt it and was then naturally wary. At the time I thought she could trace it back to me, and although I was wrong with the assumption that she could, someone else did. Someone by the codename SecretBlonde.
After having been given the rundown what the Abyss was from Moira and her rmendation to decide soon whether or not I wanted to stay or leave while my aura was still indistinguishable from a normal persons, her rmendation was thetter, I pretty quickly concluded that I wanted to stay. My reason was pretty shallow, I just wanted to live in a world where polygamy was a possibility. Looking back at it, I also did it because continuing on in the world where I was bullied and powerless would have been just depressing. The rewards for this risk would have been worth any amount of danger, I thought.
If I had known what would await me, I still would have made that choice, but I would have been less happy-go-lucky about it.
Just a dayter, I was still only at the beginning of my powers, I was pulled into a barrier by a Bunch of Rockers. Apparently, that was their guild name. An informant, the earlier mentioned SecretBlonde, had noticed my presence and tipped them off about my existence. He had also armed them with a Wall Shadow, the first genuine monster I would ever see.
My untimely capture and confinement in a mana factory was stopped by a very unstable alliance between Moira and a small guild of something less than vigntes but more than criminals called Collide. They were very small, consisting of just three people: Travolta, the guild founder and leader, my eventual girlfriend Jane over here, who I fell in lust for at that moment after seeing her for the first time, and Jimmie, a starting off Fateweaver and arcano-mechanic. Last of which wasnt present at the time.
Together, we managed to first free the Wall Shadow from the grasp of the Rockers, which murdered them in turn, and then lured the monster onto the roof where we forced it from the shadows and then killed it. Afterwards I had to make a choice between Moira and her guild and Collide. Being a lover of my freedom, and having been more attracted to the pink-haired light mage, I picked the smaller, less stern organization.
From there, a week passed rtively uneventfully. Jane and I got to know each other better. She made some sexual advances towards my unconfident self, exclusively oral, mostly in response to giving her a good time punching some ghosts. I quickly stopped just wanting her and started to want to be with her. A feeling she returned, as we confessed to each other after a life-threatening fight and the popping of my cherry. We became a couple and
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Hold on there, Tilgun said, st I checked your species doesnt exactly go into rtionships quite that quickly. It doesnt hold a candle to the length of time us higher dragons wait to mate, but this still strikes me as rather quick.
Oh, it definitely was super quick, Rave answered, We still wonder ourselves how it worked out, but it did.
A fine mist of water exited the dragons nostrils when he snorted in dissatisfaction. No magical ve cors were used? No rtionship enhancing spells? No cheating? You can tell Tilgun, I will just delete her memories afterwards. She is just weak enough to do so.
That was a scary implication. No, although I did use Observe and some raised Charisma. Both of which I thought were to me for her feelings.
And I told him that was bullshit, so we did what I wanted anyway, Rave decisively added.
I see, I see, Tilgun gestured for John to continue.
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Shortly thereafter a guild called the Bloodfallen pulled Collide under its protection. I created my first Artificial Spirit, a girl named Aclysia. Travolta drank from something called the Blood of Thana. A girl called Victoria also showed up and asked to join our guild. She did, and we killed a boss together. It was around that time that my girlfriend and I had the talk about whether or not I was allowed to have a harem around her. As you can probably guess by the assembly of people you saw on the ship, the answer to that was yes, condition being that she still was to be treated as my girlfriend, so above everyone else. I also began my counter-investigation into SecretBlonde, who had begun selling information about me online.
Still, we had a good time. Until Jimmies workshop exploded due to a malfunction in his current arcano-tech project, putting him into a short-timea. Things unravelled pretty quickly from there. Travolta and I wanted to investigate Victoria, Rave thought we should go confront Moira about it. We did thetter first, Rave and Moira duelling in a barrier. Moira won, but she still told us what she knew about the situation, pointing us at the Bloodfallen as potential culprits. Annoyed by this loss, Rave got herself a contract with a light elemental called Copernicus.
So, we started investigating Victoria. It was rather easy to point to her as the culprit because Jimmy woke up from hisa and told us how she had sabotaged his suit to send us all into a short-terma while she searched our headquarters. At that point we had already found out that she was with the Bloodfallen, so the dots connected. We confronted her, found out that Travolta was messing with the Blood of Thana in some ways the Bloodfallen didnt approve of and that that was the whole reason why that was happening. So, we wanted to confront Travolta.
When we arrived he was already gone, mentally I mean. The blood was driving him insane, pain flooded his mind through a mental gate he had pried open unknowingly. We tried to save him in a desperate fight, his body regenerating and covering in scars, but at the end we had to kill him. Hisst wish was to save her.
Hit by that loss, Jimmy left the Abyss. I havent seen him since. I became guild master over our little club of two.
Some time passed, we just lived on. Not like we had any other choice aside from wallowing in sadness, which just isnt our style. At that point I had basically dropped out of school. Thankfully my mom left the state to live with my dad in Washington D.C., so she was unaware.
We just trained and got stronger, wanting to prevent anything bad from happening to our lives again. We didnt have a lot more than the two of us at that point. Although I was expanding my harem through a bit of a cheat, growing Aclysia to sapience and contracting the four basic elements. Thetter werent fuckable or legal at Tier 1 though.
It was then that I met Nathalia. It was a random encounter, to be honest, she justid in a chest in a dungeon I created. I had no clue, and I then had to convince her to not eat us by
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I can imagine, Tilgun interrupted, making an understandably urgent gesture to move on, I need not hear the details, just continue after that.
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Victoria reappeared before us to invite us to the base of the Bloodfallen in a nearby town called Franklin. Their leader greeted us with a friendly attitude, acted like a charming fellow. He wasnt a fighter, he was the leader of a cult. A cult centred around the murder of a war experiment they stole from the Soviets, who they hated with unhealthy passion.
It was a girl, looking 18 of age, sedated inside a tank. Her name was Thana, and they couldnt kill her, so they just waited for her heart to stop while harvesting her blood and selling it to keep up a tributary structure. We decided that that was uneptable, that she was the one Travolta wanted to us to save. We acted neutral, only when we left did we decide we had to hatch a n.
We asked an Apothecary, Herman, who had looked after Jimmy in the hospital to help us. He agreed, enthusiastically. For a few days, we trained some more, told the Bloodfallen that they were giant dickbags and that we would harm them in whatever way possible. It had the intended effect and they sent a group to attack us. A group we managed to dispatch.
It was then or never: with arge amount of their fighting force gone, we struck at the base itself to get Thana out. Aided by some mercenaries, we managed to get inside; we were halfway out again when Aclysia mming into the tank caused it to crack and burst. In her indoctrinated hatred, Victoria shot at the still sedated Thana. She went rampant and killed most people in that room in a brutal fashion. Jane and I tried to run, but at the exit, she caught up to us. My girlfriend sacrificed herself to allow me to escape, Aclysia had to drag me away.
I was shattered when I thought she was dead. I told her father, I saw a recording of her. I cried. Then the phone rang, and the formerly wordless, only everughing, Thana spoke to me. She opened to me that Jane was still alive and that she would spare her if I would present a challenge to her within 5 days. Why did Thana want that? She was dying, slowly, with her regeneration and general power fading. Only fighting or killing things, a general sense of danger, was keeping the Metracana in her brain from sedating her again.
She wanted to go out with a bang, her words.
I swore I would kill her and then made a pact with the princess of Prussia, Lydia. She would pay someone to give me more time to train and in return I would repay her with whatever she wanted. I did not ask what that was, neither did I care.
A High Fateweaver arrived to stretch the 5 days I had into a month. One month I spent with each day grinding enemies. My powers transforms each kill into experience points, allowing me to grow more rapidly than most everyone, so a month was a massive boost. I received several lectures during that time, not to destroy myself for the sake of others, to be patient, to be passionate, to be flexible and to take aim at what is important. My elementals rose in strength and so did I. By the end I also created my second artificial spirit, Momo.
We went to confront Thana. The hatred I had for her had been calmed as I asked myself what her entire story was. To keep it short, it was horrible, years filled with nothing but pain and torture, cluelessness as to who or even what she truly was. It was no wonder that she did what she did. That didnt make it less dangerous for me, though.
We faced off and I was thoroughly outssed. Furthermore, Herman had contacted me again, with a n to maybe save not just Jane but Thana as well. We just needed to calm her down or weaken her until we could drag her out. Thana just wanted to die, however, so nothing of the sort happened and it was only her intention to not kill me that prevented it from happening. When I almost managed to paralyze her, onest attempt at saving her as well, she bombarded me with pale blue fire. I almost died two times during that fight, but at the end she copsed and turned into red dust.
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John needed a moment after remembering all of that in vivid detail.
And then? Tilgun didnt have the same level of patience.
Chapter 405 – Not so quickly summarized
Chapter 405 C Not so quickly summarized
Afterwards I had to leave for Germany. Lydia wanted me to help her in the tournament for German session. As my powers werergely deactivated thanks to an ongoing patch, however, I was unimportant to her for months. It wasnt until they returned, just shortly before things were about to happen, that she took interest in me.
Jane, healed, safe and toughened up,nded on the same day as the princess begun to actually talk to me a lot about what was happening. At the time I was also living with Herman, the Apothecary, who I had met randomly in Germany. Well, it wasnt random at all, but I will get to that in a minute.
Lydia exined the process of the tournament to us. How, if there was a tie in the election, which there was, she had to start announcing four fighters over the next days. First, she announced me. At that time, I was somewhat well-known amongst the Abyssal elite only, due to SecretBlondes long-time spying on me, which had stopped shortly before the Thana incident. It was also the first time I met Romulus, who I thought a fleshmade god at the time, but I learned over theing weeks that he was just as big of a wed creature as the rest of us.
Speaking about wed creatures, during the announcements Nathalia also came to visit me again. I skipped the second time, as it wasnt that important, but that made this the third time I saw her. I guess its true what they say about third times a charm as we actually fell in love with each other.
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HahahaahahahaAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAA, Tilgun smashed his hand on the surface of the water as his bellowingughter travelled over the still ocean and after the distancing boat. Like a drunk man who had heard a delicious jest, he repeated the motion over and over, causing giant fountains and waves in the process. John and Rave held onto the edge of their safety boat as it swayed dangerously.
Eventually Tilgun calmed and with a gesture of his hand the surface smoothened again. A truly marvellous joke, he admitted, acting as if he was wiping away a little tear under his eye. I believed your story up until there, as unlikely as it sounded, but there is no way that Tilgun reared his head as if he had just smelled something weird. John also perked up to see what had the higher dragon perturbed.
Slowly a giant fortune cookie hovered down from the sky. Now this was the first time John had seen Gaia do something that stupid and blindingly obvious.
Tilgun grabbed it, ripped it open, devoured the edible parts, the hunger he was suppressing right now shining through, and then looked at the piece of paper inside. For John, it was really more of a banner. Its true? the Maw of Souls said in the confused tone of reading out loud something that was dissonant to ones own belief. Then he broke outughing again.
I dont know how to feel about that, Rave said as they saw the serpentine sea predator roll over the surface of the ocean. I am confused as to what we are watching also did I hear it right that you referred to him as Nathalias younger brother?
Yup, John did not know what else to answer.
So I am looking at the younger sibling of that overly slutty lizard literally rofling?
Yup.
Wow
Yup. Wow
Eventually Tilgun calmed down and the Gamer continued with his story.
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It was when the third fighter was being announced that it came to me, through a random piece of information, that Herman was SecretBlonde after all, and I went to confront him. I found him at the end motions of a ritual, sacrificing over a hundred regr people and using their blood to revive Thana. He originally wanted to use her to find immortality, but as that was no longer in the cards, he at least wanted to leave behind a perfect human. Cant say I exactly subscribe to that logic, but it did seem like he was ideologically possessed of that notion that it was something that needed to happen.
Gaia eradicated his existence. He wasnt just killed, he was simply discontinued.
However, he did leave behind Thana, and we took her in. Unstable as she was, as crazy as she still is and despite all she put us through, we did decide that we had to at least try to be good to her. Lydia agreed and added her as the final fighter. That created a final line-up of Lydia, me, Jane, a girl named Nia who had lost her arrival date, and Thana.
A lot of things happened over the course of the tournament. Summarized by person rather than chronologically: Jane had to fight her mother, who was on the enemy team, and face some things she rather didnt in the form of Nariko being very bad at the being a parent thing. I learned Lydias story and we also fell in love, which is a wonderful theme in my life. Thana got a bit more stable, although she is still crazy, and we also get very close in those months. Momo told me she didnt want to stop at being my Artificial Spirit and that she was striving for independence. The Horned Rat, someone who I am just going to assume you know already and who I met through another random encounter in a dungeon, opened to me what the Metracana was. Undine forced herself to reach Tier 4 from Tier 2,ing in contact with the Lorylim in the process, from which we managed to ultimately save her, although she will forever bear the scars of that mistake.
We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, all the while the tournament was going on. For the most part, our teams were neck in neck in points, but it did look like we would ultimately win. It was at the end of the second of the three rounds that shit hit the fan again.
The Blood of the Proletariat, having gotten the Supreme Fateweaver on their side and guided by the closest aide of the enemy candidate, Maximillian, who the aide betrayed, attempted to nuke the city of Rome and, most decisively, Romulus. The emperor managed to suppress the explosion but was incapacitated while neutralizing it. An enemy elite force invaded, armed with a Prussian artefact which Lydias father had gotten them. The princess herself got kidnapped.
I was in the middle of the arena when it all went down, together with Thana, who was separated from me and had copsed due to some unknown reason. I had to fight to get to her, and when I did, I called out her name and then a thing inside her awoke and tossed me aside.
It turned out that Thana wasnt the name of the girl I knew, but the name of the monster inside her. A human goddess, the goddess of genocide, who then began ughtering the Blood of the Proletariats forces. She would have killed anyone who was close, so it was to our luck that they had disabled their emotions while everyone with half a brain fled.
Not so Maximillian, who had every bone in his body broken, or the aide who was consumed from blood to bone and soul, leaving only a disgusting, dry heap of unidentifiable flesh behind. Then Thana turned to Romulus and ripped out his heart while he was still busy dismantling the nuclear explosion.
She would have forced him to stop, exposing the whole city to the hydrogen bomb, if it hadnt been for the timely intervention of the Horned Rat and Nathalia. While their reasons werent heroic and they ultimately proved to not be an obstacle whatsoever to the goddess of genocide, even after getting their full power back from Romulus, they did buy enough time for the emperor to finish the procedure.
Afterwards the two giants squared off. Physically speaking, Thana was as strong, or maybe even stronger, as Romulus. Her attacks were pure instinctual shing and ripping, however. She did manage to injure the emperor, but ultimately Romulus won by using honed technique and skills.
Before he could strike her down, I intervened. I managed to figure out the girls true name, Eliza, and as I said it, Thana lost control. She was about to kill me, having already eviscerated my stomach, when Eliza returned. I fell into aa and woke up again the same day in the hospital.
With Lydia kidnapped and her grandfather, Frederik the Great, killed during the invasion, as well as the damage to the city of Rome itself, Romulus had ample reason to take vengeance on the Blood.
Together with Maximillian, who wasnt just the enemy in the tournament but also Lydias ex, we fought in what would beter called the Five Day War. The first two days were rather uneventful, but we did find out Lydias whereabouts. A strike force was formed on the third day to get her out as soon as possible. We managed to find and secure her, killing the Supreme Fateweaver and Lydias father in the process. Then we were trapped. The Blood had nned to lure us into a barrier and then pin us there while they threw wave after wave of enemies at us. Were it not for the demise of Gehnigm, earlier mentioned Supreme Fateweaver, we would have most decisively perished there.
However, with Magoi, the very same High Fateweaver that had helped me before with Eliza, at our side, they could only trickle in in manageable amounts. We held on for almost a day before we were relieved by Romulus and his forces.
The emperor had been in need of healing following the events in the arena, no wonder with a missing heart, and thus the whole war had just been about securing our position until he was fully operational again. The battle of Warsaw destroyed most of the enemy forces, including a giant godkiller construct. On the fifth day we moved to Moscow, where Romulus used a terrible spear to level the enemies main base. The war was won.
And that was just about three weeks ago, since then nothing all that interesting has happened. We parted with Lydia, got on this cruise and thats that.
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Wow, wow, Tilgun apuded with all his hands, a weird 1-2-1-2 rhythm. You glossed over a lot of stuff there, I can tell.
Its not like it was a linear story, John made a grimace, Its hard to tell you all the things in a way that makes sense because so much of it was going on kind of next to each other.
Okay, a detail question then, where is my sister now? Tilgun leaned in. Her smell on you is faint at best.
Yeah, about that John just gave him the gist of what had happened on that evening.
I see, I see Tilgun hummed. So I am going to be an uncle soon, now that is a nice thought.
Not within the next few years, the Gamer reminded him.
Yes, very soon, I am aware. Of course that was a highly insignificant timeframe to a being this old. I am highly offended that she didnt ask me to be the messenger on the matter. Someone has to tell her of your current exploits after all I think I know exactly who she asked. He did sound rather annoyed and sucked in air through his almost sealed lips, making a mice-like squeaking sound. With my curiosity sated, another question: Do I assume correctly that this ship is equipped with a mobile barrier?
John had a bad feeling about this, Yes.
Splendid, I am tired of jumping into the magical stream that connects all barriers and pray Gaia presents me with some exit that has water and food. Moving onnd is so tedious, Tilgun rolled his neck. It has been a while since I have been to a coastal city. We shall see what it brings me.
Ya dont n to eat the local poption, do ya? Rave chimed in. Cause thats totally a thing that I can see ya doing, being Nathies brother and all.
Only if they refuse to venerate me and give me offerings to feast on instead, Tilgun simply answered. That wasnt calming in the least, but what could they do?
They had picked up yet another travelpanion.
Chapter 406 – In ‘safe’ conditions
Chapter 406 C In safe conditions
About thirty minutester, back on the ship, John was waiting for Tilgun after the higher dragon had dived away. Soon thereafter, he saw an orca get catapulted into the air, mming back into the water. That spot of the ocean quickly turned red with blood.
If that attack didnt kill the target outright, so Tilgun, it at least disoriented every seaborn creature too much to react to his further attacks. He had attacked Undine in nothing but a sleepy fit of hunger. The strong magic she radiated had identified her as potential food. It wasnt until he had flung her into the air that he had been awake enough to note his mistake and the potential other food source in the shape of the cruise.
The elder dragon didnt feel sorry for any of that. Like any other predator, he spent no time thinking about the right of his victims. They were food and it just so happened that nature made him the boss. The only respect he had was for Metra, who he saw as his equal, and John by extension, as long as she kept their contract. Everyone else was food.
He was more patient than Nathalia, but by no means were they not rted.
With a panicked snapping for air, Undine popped back into existence. John, what happened, is everyone fine? Who needs to be healed? she automatically went ahead and assumed that whatever killed her had been fought.
Well, you wont exactly think any of this is likely, John began in a dry tone and thenid down thetest happenings. At the end of the exnation, Undine listened to the waves below, blind eyes directed at the ocean.
The ocean is scary, she whispered, evidently not that keen about getting back in there. Why was only that part of this barrier empty of all other life?
Personal guess? Tilgun sleepwalks, the Gamer presented without a hint of sarcasm, and unlike Nathalia, you cant calm him down by giving him a nice weing fuck. Ironically, despite being easier to reason with, Tilgun might be more dangerous for the general poption.
I am not sure I want to go swimming again, Undine mumbled.
Metraughed mockingly, Dont be a bitch, the ocean is awesome. Lots and lots of things you cant predict, and in the darkness waits opportunity for awesome fights. If you think Tilgun is scary, wait until you find the Leviathan if that THING is still alive.
I actually have to wonder about something, John said to the berserker babe, trying to change topics as he waited for Tilgun to return. The Maw of Souls wanted to be here for what came next. You can refuse or even break contracts, why the hell did you stay inside Elizas brain for all those years.
Why not? Metra asked in return and got a growl from the blood mage.
Because you had me hang like a potato in a jar of water, with giant fucking nails rammed into my body, for 70 fucking years, you massive cunt? she asked.
Metra just shrugged. I am not a moral actor, she just answered.
The fuck does that even mean? Eliza returned.
It means, Metra spelled out, that me keeping my contracts is more important to me than acting ording to some ethical code you have.
You were working for the fucking NAZIS! the blood mage screamed. THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN SOME ETHICAL CODE?!
Metra just rolled her eyes, I dont even know what is so bad about Nazis, literally, I dont know what they did generally and neither do I care. I am a weapon, the wrath of her excellency Tiamat, one of twenty-one Metracanas, the first one, I didnt work for anyone, I was used by anyone and I would never break a contract.
Thats your honest, shit-eating defence? Eliza wanted to know, You are a tool?
Yes, the dirty blonde crossed her arms, live with it or dont, either way is fine by me.
The crazy little psychos fingers twitched and she stomped her way over, dots in her eyes spinning. John stepped between them. Okay, okay, thats enough, he made a calming gesture with his hands. Obviously Metra isnt operating under any set of moral principles, and so I am not exactly in approval of her words, but now she is under my quote-unquote control, so we better do the best with it.
Totally, the berserker babe agreed. As long as he is my master, I will operate by his principles.
Smander cackled her way into the conversation and nced over to Siena, Which is more than what we can say for everyone here.
Make fun of my decisions again, and I know I have found my next victim, the shadow spirit, lying in the shade of a building, answered in a tranquil voice. That aside, dont you have a suicide to n?
Yes, yes, Tilguns deep voice chimed in as he came up on a pir of water. Why he didnt do this in the first ce instead of causing property damage in the hundreds of thousands all over the ship, John concluded quite easily that he hadnt cared the first time around. Dealing with higher dragons was a giant headache. What was more was the higher he rose, the further Undine inched away from the railing. A marvellous suicide indeed. I love this, I do so very much, the cause is delightful.
The higher dragon didnt even care about the obviously afraid water spirit. For him, the whole affair had ended when he apologized to her summoner, John.
Gnome looked between Tilgun and Metra, C-can we talk about this whole chaos thing you two keep going on about?
It is quite easily put a religion, Tilgun exined. You see, the goddess of chaos and the first dragon of the oceans, and perhaps the first dragon period, is our true deity, not Gaia and her endless rules.
Okay, so where is Tiamat now? John asked; he knew pretty much nothing about that figure aside from the fact that the name was often used in video games. A quick google search at the side revealed her to be an ancient Mesopotamian goddess who got killed during the Enuma Elis, the worlds oldest creation myth.
Got offed by Gaia when she tried to kill her with a magic circle the size of the tower of Babel, Metra said. Very sad times, but she asked for it. Also killed all of the other gods I knew.
So you believe in a goddess that couldnt hold a candle to who actually governs reality? John asked. That sounds stupid.
Ah, ah, Tilgun clicked his tongue and wiggled and oversized finger, Lady Tiamats true wisdom didnt lie in her existence but in her principle. She was simply chaos incarnate, for that is what we follow, the principle of chaos, the endless sea of opportunity that is which hasnt been ordered yet. The higher dragons head reared, looked over to Smander, Which is why I find facing the first foe in such a stupid a manner so interesting.
John just realized that he could ask Tilgun all sorts of things that Metra was secretive about. Why do you call the Lorylim the first foe?
Because they are? Tilgun tilted his head, Are their origins unknown to you?
More like partly lost to time, Metra said, like most things about my homnd, thats what happens when there are repeated cleanses in the same general area.
I thought you didnt know either, John asked her.
I dont, but I could have known if I wanted to, she informed him, I just didnt care to find out. Do you care about the exact reason why moose have antlers?
Aaaaaaah, such a shame, such a shame indeed, Tilgun rolled on his side,ying down in afortable position, but I dont have anything to gain by exining this. Reaching in the water below him he pulled up a dismembered orca and tore a giant chunk of meat out of the muscr creature. For a civilized human, it was a disgusting sight, but John only made a displeased face. He had seen worse, much worse, than this. After taking another bite, Tilgun dropped the orca back into the wave he was controlling to stay at the ships side. The snack travelled with him. Now, I would be ready. You may perform your, hopefully entertaining, mistake.
John sighed and looked to Smander. Are we ready?
No, she answered, but I am going to do it anyway.
While that was the correct answer, it was also an unsatisfying one. Everyone who couldnt fly or swim got into the safety boat that Tilgun had left on the VIP deck.
You have fun, Maximillian waved the goodbye while shaking his head profusely. How the hell did Lydia ever get along with this bunch of chaotic people? I swear, she must have had a constant headache, John heard him mutter before they were all carried out into the open sea.
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While saying they were safe now was perhaps a bit of a stretch, it was safe to say that, if anything stronger than Tilgun attacked them, they were fucked in every case. Therefore, Smander had decided that her stance of as soon as possible sprang into action.
While John had hoped that he would have, frankly, A LOT more time than one day after the proposal (more like ckmail) had been raised to his attention, there was no better time than the present. If anything went wrong, Tilgun had agreed to take care of the matter and that would at least make this matter end quickly.
Undine, just in case, I would like for you to remain incorporeal and inside my soul, John told the ocean elemental. You know why.
I understand, Undine, who was already incorporeal together with Gnome, just so they had an easier time following them, answered mentally. She was actually forcing herself to get closer to Tilgun again; there was no use in being afraid of the dragon that was going to stick with them for the next few days.
Gnome also stayed incorporeal for the moment, simply because she wasnt going to be much use where they were. Really, most of them were kind of unnecessary, the only people who really needed to be here were Tilgun, Nia and Smander herself. Everyone else, sitting around Smander in the somewhat cramped security vessel, was here to either watch or try their best to help if things went south. Maybe they would actually get in the way more than they would help, but John didnt have it in his heart to just stay on the ship and watch for the result from the distance. He assumed it was the same for everyone else.
Just waiting for the good or bad news regarding a treasured friend was not a thing that anyone should go through if they didnt have to.
Tilgun wound his serpentine body around the boat until he formed a tight ring, his head raised and looking keenly. Of course, he didnt care how this ended, he just wanted to see how it happened. John stared at his hands, the SEP still sealed behind a mental barrier. This was about the best conditions for this experiment that he could ask for. Smanders level wasnt so far above Nias that the nk couldnt affect whatever was going to take hold of the fire spirit. If they ultimately failed, there was nowhere Smander could flee to, being in the literal middle of the ocean, if she even managed to escape Tilgun, which was doubtful.
All in all, the bed was made. Now he only had to lie in it.
He lowered the mental barriers against which Smander was already pressing with the eagerness of someone wishing to finally rip off an itchy band-aid. The momentary pain could never have been worse than the itching. John wasnt sure he agreed to that.
There was a moment of silence, a sting of pain as even the allowed taking of the two SEP went against the natural way these things were supposed to be handled. It was only a flicker of the vast mass of torture Undine had subjected him to but still as deep.
Well, here goes nothing, the ze elemental joked, her trademark cackle ringing through the air as her wide smile and all other features were consumed in a tornado of fire, only contained by Tilgun working some protective magic.
Windows started rolling in, as expected.
Thatst window left John majorly confused. What was different? Had the Lorylim actually anticipated or bet on this happening andid some sort of inter-dimensional trap? If yes, that was not just bad but incredibly bad. For the moment he could do nothing but stare at the firestorm above them.
Chapter 407 – The cost of vindication
Chapter 407 C The cost of vindication
The darkness was filled with nothing but itself. Up and down had no further meaning. They were just words. Smander, normally radiating at least some light, was just a speck of red in the vastness of ck. She looked at the hands she still had. There had been a moment where she was nothing but energy, she had be stronger, she was stronger, then her manifestation had been prevented, she had been flung into the point of original fire again. Vast fires, she was on her way back from there, she shouldnt have this body anymore, she should have been different. Her new power was gone.
What had happened? There had been waiting. How did that even work? It wasnt like elemental nes were just something between which things could squeeze themselves. Then again, the Lorylim probably didnt have to obey any clear rules.
I guess this is them then? she asked herself, ring hatefully into the Lorylim void, with the eyes that she at least still knew were still hers. She was in search of something, anything. Nothing was, just this void surrounding her. This liquid vacuum filled with only untouchable things. Untouchable, invisible, unspeakable things.
Until they no longer wanted to be nothing.
Like a mand, eyes unfolded around Smander. Gigantic and miniscule, eternities away and mere centimetres removed, they fit together perfectly, mirrored at times like the facets of a kaleidoscope. Exactly like that, they also moved, melding into each other, slowly spreading out of nowhere. They had irises of a weird shape, a central dot that unravelled into something like gills, like the underside of a mushroom.
The eyes started bleeding from the gills with sounds of a song too cacophonic to understand. Nothing was toprehend what the sounds were, as the song formed itself into a perfect copy of Smander herself. We have waited - Izha has foretold - now weugh - you made it here. The copy moved her lips, but it seemed more like the widening and closing of the eyes around made the sounds. They just needed a vessel that was able to speak for them.
The iprehensible song continued in the background. It reminded Smander of what Undine had tried to sing when she had been corrupted, unsurprisingly, but there was a vast difference inplexity. Undine had voiced something tranted into a real tongue, or at least approaching it, this was something removed from reality as such, something different. It was undecipherable, vile, made Smanders stomach churn with a mixture of disgust and love, for it was also beautiful.
The second she thought that, one of the eyes irises became arge spike, or perhaps a tusk was a more apt description, and prated deep into the copys left eye socket. Itughed.
Join, the copymanded, her voice but underlined by the endless beating of seven otherworldly hearts.
And what? Isnt this the part where you try to convince me by giving me something I want? Smander asked with a disturbed grin. Trying to pull me over by making your side seem more desirable?
Desire C Side C Convincing, the eyes began to quiver and then wilt away like flower petals in an onught of screechingughter as the lids closed like interlocking hands and gave birth to disturbed shapes, figures and bodies, pulsating to the beat of the willed existence of themselves. Mistake C Izha was right C There is no use C There soon will be no you.
What the fuck does that even me-, Smander stopped dead in her words as the shapes, figures and bodies crawled under the surface of the tusk, causing it to bulge and thrive like crawling maggots itching underneath her skin and pumping into her copy.
It meant that she had miscalcted thoroughly. She had the idea that the Lorylim were something like demons in most fantasy stories her summoner was so keen of, whispering to her the things she wanted so she would side with them. They werent, they had no need, they werent a corrupting force, they were corruption itself.
There was no need to convince her of anything, no switching sides or tempting offers, that was all unnecessary. They didnt need Smander, they just needed a vessel. As such keeping what made her her intact was just a hassle. Easier to just rip out what she was before and rece it with what they were.
Once we observed and did so little, the copy told her as the corruption pulsated through Smander. Whatever they were doing to it was deeply disturbing to Smander; just by looking at it, the ck energy drenching the cool fires of the copy, she felt weak. No, there was a mistake in what she perceived.
Knowledge, a disgusting understanding, blubbering memories, they filled her left eye. A drop, sifting through the nes, untouching to all but water. Once. A drop, shifting through all the nes, untouching to all but water. Once. A drop, travelling through all the nes, untouching to all but water. Once. A drop a drop a million eyes, a maddening exchange, one resolution.
A drop. Sifting through all the nes. They were the roots, they were everywhere, if the earth was the molten core, then the elemental nes wrapped around them and they
They were what came before. They were just bound here by the imposter. They had once been great, now they were just hatred for themselves. All was to be disregarded to spread destruction to everything else. Life was the enemy to them. All needed to die. All that they could encounter on their way.
A drop. Sifting through all the nes. Untouching all but water. She travelled the same path twice. They tore themselves apart and spread to intercept. A drop. Corrupted and sifting back to the core. Perfect.
They ripped a part out of her. Her despair was a crater, so easy to fill.
They were not an endless amount of power. Just incredibly vast.
They ripped a part out of her. Her anger was a crater, so easy to fill.
That wasnt Undines story anymore.
That was hers.
Oh,e the fuck on, Smander looked with a blind eye upon her undamaged copy as it spoke to her. They dont need your approval, but how hard could it be to give in anyway? Dont struggle, as part of them you can set the world on fire. Burn everything, burn all that displeases you, let the dead and the living be but a fever consumed by mes.
Smander grinned wide. Now she understood.
Now you understand, Smander grinned wide.
Yeah, the copy said and grabbed the head of the original. The original whose senses had been disced, with the tusk in her eye and the corruption spreading like the gue it was through her veins. I understand that you Lorylim are full of shit!
What C What C What? If they could feel something like confusion, when the unharmed Smander moved and ripped out the tusk, that would have been the moment they felt it. In the first ce there had never been a copy, just a separate instance of herself that held the new power. The Lorylim had thrown everything into disarray, every sense didnt make sense anymore, there was no up or down, there was no uracy of who was who, especially not as to who of the two of herself was herself.
You are lying, you corrupting shits, Smander grinned as she grabbed her own head. Maybe you dont need my consent to corrupt me, but it sure as hell doesnt help you when I struggle. She sealed the hole in her skull oozing with creatures unmistakable, with the palm of her other self. If I just stay here, you will eventually win, but if there is no me to corrupt, you are fucked. With how much you hurt yourself just to get in my way, I count burning myself to nothing as a win!
Like Izha said, one of themughed. Then all of themughed as the new truth applied to all of them. Cleanse yourself C We dont care C we always have a path.
Were they lying again? No way to tell, no way to make certain. Enough thinking, just do! she told herself, she was better at that anyway, just letting the instincts take over. Fire filled Smanders empty eye socket, filled the corruption, filled everything. She was burning herself up, because that was preferable to being corrupted by something else. The world was filled with light, pain, validation and regret.
The darkness inside her was set aze as she wed onto life.
Then she felt her summoner and sisters again.
___________________________________________________________________________
John was looking up at the tainted firestorm. It had begun as a standard red thing, had been infected with eyes whirling on the surface, which had been seriously unnerving, then finally changed into a warm golden glow. That change gave him something resembling hope, and this window appearing finally made it clear that this wasing to an end. He was on the edge of his seat, ready for anything. No Corruption Level alert ever came, he thought that a good omen
The firestorm was now shrinking down. The immense heat was reduced to a bearable level and finally faded altogether as a new and reborn Smander formed.
Her red skin had only be deeper in tone, the colour of a ripe cherry. The metal bindings that had decorated her wrists and ankles were now fully fletched pieces of armour, hiding her arms from the elbows and her legs from the kneecaps downwards in pitch ck metal.
Her proportions were unchanged, still with the DD-size breasts and wide hips. The only real change in the torso department was that her mes no longer hid the bare minimum but also not a whole lot more than that. Something akin to a ming bra and a forever flickering thong reced the old censorious mes. Her crimson hair had be shorter, certainly very short for a woman. As it still formed, her hair was consumed by fire, like a candle me it sat atop her head,pletely revealing her short elvish ears. That fire was extinguished, leaving only a wild disy of upwards standing strands.
She fell forward the moment the firestorm was gone, with John catching her at thest moment. The fire didnt hurt his hands. Her right eye was the same as before, an iris as ck as coal, but the left was different, a ck sclera surrounding a dark red iris with a golden pupil.
It wouldnt have been a proper encounter with the Lorylim, however, if Smander hadnt gotten herself scars. The depth of her encounter showed in them, as they didnt stop with partly covering one side, like with Undine. Instead, her whole body was covered under ck lines, with the only exception being the right side of her face. A particrly thick set of the tattoo-like marks concentrated around her left eye; as a matter of fact, it seemed like that was where the centre of it ally.
In a way they were beautiful, they had a design to them with nodes and circles and connections, a sort ofwork. Perhaps the scars resulted from a sort of secondary nervous system that the Lorylim set-up inside their host and the removal of such.
John had to formte theories like that to get away from the sadness he felt at that moment. Was it really worth that? he asked his elemental.
Smander looked at herself through his eyes. What are scarspared to vindication? her voice was weak but as cocky as always. I have proven myself, I could do what she couldnt. As the memories of what Smander had experienced in the past time, which had only been a minute for them, flooded in, there was a deeply ashamed surge.
Undine, because she felt like she needed to, materialized on the little ship and looked down to Smander. You did better than me, she told her.
I did, the fire spirit said and finally gathered the strength to get up. I have no idea if I would have been able to do it if you hadnt failed before me. Not that it matters, I didnt she almost fell over again, but Undine and Sylph helped her standing, do this to boast. If there is even anymore doubt about it. Not to show off and certainly not to shame you. She looked at everyone around, I did it because I thought I had to, she grinned, and the scars turned from ck to golden before finally leaking out the fire that heated up inside the endme elemental. And I feel so much stronger now!
How great for you, Tilgun said. I have to raise something that will sour the mood though.
The Gamer made a sour expression; he was just happy this whole thing had gone over with only minor damage. What is, Tilgun?
That Lorylim over there, John immediately turned his attention. Someone was standing on the water. Having appeared out of basically nowhere. No, someone was overstating it. Something would have been more urate.
It was a humanoid form, with thin limbs and a head that forked into two horns at the tip. Its skin was ck and crawling over the bones beneath, continuously, as if it was made from a million maggots. A singr eye between the horns was the only thing that was unmoving about its exterior. Its voice was that of a sickly young man, gargling with throat infections, and left no mouth but instead some sort of gills that made up its visible rib cage.
Who am I, who are we, we are one, the first, the next, the ones breaking into beyond, the thing spoke. See my name, you cant not, can you?
Chapter 408 – The first foe
Chapter 408 C The first foe
Jo-ooo-ohn, the beings back creepily swung in a circle, the gills quivering as if they were tasting his name, Ne-wm-a-n. Aaaah, as I said, we are just so stupid when we dont listen to me. Stupid? We outthink all of you. Yes, by human standards stupid, you think wrongly - Dont interrupt me?! The creature screamed at the sky and then immediately slouched back into a hunchback. You made us what I am. It swayed towards the boat; where its feet touched the water, it turned pitch ck, only slowly dispersing behind it. It looked like short-lived mold spores that failed to find feeding ground. Hopefully short-lived. The closer it got, the harder the air became to breathe.
What the fuck? John thought, this didnt line up, this didnt line up at all. Why would he have an aura damning his own kin? It was named closely to Thanas aura. A coincidence? Just what were these Lorylim? Undine, back into incorporeal form! Smander, you werent touched by corruption right?
Just the body, not the mind, Smander thought. It didnt take proper root!
Although we still were - are in there, are in there maybe? - in there, werent we? Izha said to them. Oh yes, Undine cut us out, she was smart. Memories burrowed under screams, so many delicious screams in my chorus, but we remember. Smander was so prideful, wanted to fight, but when you wrestle with gods, we take something from you. Like the spores in the wind now we are in there, it pointed at Johns head, and we will never let one go unscarred, unbent, unchanged.
John shivered, feeling a worried nce from Raveing his way. Good thing I n on killing you all anyway, he tried to look confident, but the smile on his face quivered. How far did their influence into him reach? Were they just listening in? Was he now already corrupted beyond the songs and could no longer hear them anymore?
Just look at your hand, tell me what you see, the avatar said, and John instinctively looked at his right.
I dont sEe AnYtHing, his ears suddenly popped and stopped hearing normally, as if someone had pressed cotton against them. There was a sh, as if someone had introduced a singr frame into his vision, where the veins on his arm all popped out like ck worms crawling over his skin. His skin was revolting to him, as if he needed to peel it off.
Suddenly his stomach acted up, and he hastened to the edge of the ship to empty it into the water. The bitter bile left a bitter taste in his mouth. When he thought he was done, to the sound of maddeningughter ringing in his bloodstream, the taste of blood filled his mouth and he spat it all out. The swirls of his disced body fluids in the water formed the shapes ofughing eyes. He was feeling cold now; the feeling crawling in between his bones and muscles and on his skin intensified on and in his arm.
At least somewhat good news, he thought as he read the windows, his whole body shaking.
John! Raves outcry was just the loudest one in a whole array and not just one of worry. A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, Eliza pulling him against her chest and away as Izha reached for him with long, boneless fingers that ended in dull stubs. When had it evene so close? It hadnt, it was still swaying towards them. Its hand was reaching out of a hole in the air.
Metra reacted immediately, as their only real defence against dimension bending magic. Ripping her halberd out of Johns inventory, she swung at the portal itself. Like a guillotine, she sliced off the retracting arm at the wrist. The severed limb turned into a cloud of dark spores that soon disintegratedpletely.
Izha turned his one eye at the stump as if it was waiting for something to happen to it. Wrong body, wrong body, wrong body, heined, such a wrong body. You wont we us US US, ME! A pause as his ribcage blew spores into the air in exasperation. Take him, we are amused, just like they said. We are smart after all. The rambling of the being continued, once more calm if only for singr sybles, as it swayed closer to the ship again. We gave power to that one, he pointer at Smander, made her different. Made her better, got here in return, got into your head. We like the essence of your soul. All shall be a messenger for that which is bound in perpetuity and slick with chaos.
You insolent fuck, Smander growled, this isnt what I wanted!
Suddenly it was on the ship, as if somebody had just decided to put it there. Why had it been moving so slowly then? Unanswered, that remained.
Body stretching and bowing over Smander, its rib cage opened up and revealed a crawling mass of hands that stretched outside. They grappled at the air as they grew, ready to pull the fire elemental in. You are a host, what you want is irrelevant.
Okay, I have had enough of this creepy shit! Rave shouted out, cat ears sprouting out. She was already wearing her battlesuit and sted a load of light right into Izhas face.
Shhachkathr Qutar! Izha cried out and jumped off the boat. The side of its face was burned off. Weak body, weak, weak, weak body! John did not like that it was chanting that about something that was level 110, absolutely not.
As if Raves attack had lifted some sort of seal on all of them, the immediate panic and disgustingness of Izha repelled, they started moving. Everyone but Tilgun, who watched the whole thing happen with removed curiosity. Sylph bombarded the creature with gusts of winds as Smander took to the air herself. Thetter didnt shrink like before when she was fighting.
The lines on her skin heated up until they glowed like burning coal. Grey and gold fire engulfed her ted hands, and she cast it as a ray towards the unmoving enemy. Cutting winds and cleansing fire engulfed the Lorylim until only its silhouette in the fire was visible. A keen-eyed Metra was waiting for a chance to jump in.
Are you okay? Rave asked as she was helplessly condemned to just watching, the fact that they couldnt fly or walk on water making them unqualified to partake in the fight. Trying to sit down, but failing without being supported by both Eliza and his girlfriend, he did his best to not be the biggest burden he had to be.
No, but I will survive, he told them. Shit, I hope. He wasnt feeling better in any way, but it also didnt get worse. Not right now at least, once the status ticked up, it would probably be a lot worse immediately. The itching on his bones was maddening. One thing at a time, he concentrated on that mantra.
I have always had a love for despair, Izhas avatar mused from within the fire as he walked out. For a moment John was afraid the avatar was just immune. That assumption turned out to be wrong quickly. It wasnt resistant in the slightest, it was only ignoring the attacks. Part of it broke off like dried out bark and disappeared into nothing, damage had clearly been taken. It drives people tomit delicious mistakes and great wonders, where will you go? Which thought will you let rain on the soil of your mind? It was still speaking through gills that spanned its now open rib cage; as they broke off its voice faded. Like I said, we got what we wanted primarily. Why do you never listen? Because we are superior, e came bre, we will.... They are just suicidal.
With that Izha raised its remaining hand and rammed it into its skull. ck liquid spurted out and immediately evaporated into ck smoke as the dull fingers tore into its forehead, ripping out its own eye, squashing it in its hand before disappearing into a cloud of ck spores that was lost in the remaining winds Sylph had stirred up.
The rest of the avatars body immediately followed, leaving nothing but confusion.
___________________________________________________________________________
Back on the ship, Aclysia had to bind Johns left arm to the rest of his chair to stop him from scratching the right. No amount of conscious effort could stop him from reaching, and once he started, he wouldnt stop until his nails drew blood. The pain ripped him out of it for a moment, then Gamers Body healed him, and the y began anew.
Smander was tapping her foot on the floor and biting the ck nail of her thumb, the endpoint of one of the many lines covering her body, in obvious disarray. I won, but this result is fucked up, she didnt say that she was sorry because she knew that wouldnt help anyone. They had agreed as a group to take this risk, pointing fingers now wouldnt aplish anything.
While the itching was terribly distracting, John was still able to formte some thoughts. Nia, can you cleanse this? he asked while dragging his arm over the rest in order to find some relief. It didnt help whatsoever.
Its part of you, Nia just answered, I could only cleanse it if I could cleanse that Gamers Body skill itself.
He gritted his teeth; this whole thing was making him short-tempered. Undine had already tried and failed. The debuff had no expiration time, only a progress bar until he hit the next stage of infection. What did he know about the thing pulsating under his skin? The Lorylim were not some real Lovecraftian horror. They were alien, yes, they were disgusting, yes, but they were not irresistible. They were disturbing parasites of unknown origin. At least ording to Metra.
What had even happened in detail? His fevered mind pulled together everything he knew, old and new information, to desperately search for the pieces of this puzzle. They had intercepted Smander C How?
The elemental nes were barriers that stretched over the whole globe. By Fateweaver research, it was known that ovepping barriers eventually copsed into each other if not secured. The elemental nes had to be some of the oldest barriers around, were maintained by Gaia herself.
By extension, there were two possible exnations for how the Lorylim could thus interact with someone travelling through the stream between barriers to the nes and back. One was that they simply didnt y by Gaias rules, that they were an entity outside this worldsws, but if that were the case, why werent they everywhere already? They had the murderous intent, John could feel it crawling in his right arm, so what was stopping them if Gaias rules didnt apply to them? No, they had to be bound to the same shackles as everything else. They were just parasites on the scale of an intelligent species.
The other possibility was that they themselves were also bound inside an elemental ne like barrier and forcing it to copse into the other nes whenever they deemed it opportunistic, affecting incorrectly handled strengthening rituals for elementals with their mere presence and insane song or, in special cases like Undine and Smander, actually grabbing onto a particrly badly executed ritual and changing it. That sounded more usible.
John presented that theory to Tilgun who just said, Maybe.
Stop being such a fucking asshole and tell us what we need to know, you serpentine piss-ant, Eliza screamed at him. He is in pain! Everyone stared at the higher dragon, who obviously held at least some answers yet refused to give them, with some level of contempt. Everyone but Metra.
You yed with fire, now he burns, the berserker babe gave a sarcastic remark with eyes on Smander. It wasnt an usation, just a statement that nobody messing with corruption manifest should expect to get away with it unscathed.
You supported me doing it, the endme elemental growled.
Because you were aware of the risk and so was he.
To MYSELF, Smander returned, you insufferable meathead. Did you know this would happen?
You would need to be a fucking moron not to, the answer came back just as aggressive; the mood was quickly heating up.
Shut up! John shouted, and the bickering stopped. He looked at the group with ssy eyes, Yes, I knew that something like this could happen, Smander, because you are me and I am you. I still supported you because that is what you wanted, because deep down you also knew that this was a possibility and because I am also a crazy person, because just like you I want to beat the Lorylim.
He closed his eyes and only whispered, And if I have to fight them, I have to understand how to resist them, before going back to pondering. The crawling on his bones became a sound that pulsated in the rushing of his blood through his ears. The drum of his heart was but one beat.
If the Lorylim were obeying thews of this world, then this world must have had an answer to them. If Gaia was able to kill them, keeping them from meddling not only with the Abyss but also with the normal world, then there must have been some way. There had to be. Anything else would have meant that they were unstoppable and humanity would have never prospered in the first ce.
What was the answer?
Nia couldnt kill this one because it had integrated with Gamers Body. Undine couldnt heal it because it was beyond her abilities. It was a purge resistant debuff, but that was only thinking in gaming terms. In reality there was always at least one more way to deal with infections that couldnt be cured.
He raised the arm, Smander, I need you to burn this from the elbow down, flesh from bone. Everyone was looking at him as if he had gone crazy, If that doesnt work, we are going to cut it off.
John, Rave opened her mouth and let the unwillingness flow out, are you SURE thats the only way?
We remove limbs with necrotic tissue to preserve the rest, I dont think this is much different in principle, he exined. That aside, Gamers Body will probably give me a new one. I have never lost a whole arm before, but I have had my fair share of fatal injuries that were fixed before. As to why we are burning it first, Smander cleansed herself with her fire, maybe it was has some properties that help?
Rave sighed, Ya know, for once I kinda get why ya dont want me to jump into whatever dangerous situation I fancy at the time. Ya got into this willingly and now ya gonna scorch your arm off. The fact that she got on board with this rather easily was not due to ack of worry but because she had grown up in a world that regrly saw fights to the death. Someone severing a limb to save his life was probably not a new sight for her.
Halfway willingly, John managed to remark. With a course of action set, he felt like he had to do the usual and just banter about. What use would it be to take this too seriously?
Yeah, make me feel even fucking worse, why dont you? Smander puffed and stomped her way over. John held the infected arm up in a way that, if photographed, would have earned him a nice The Gamer is a nazi-supporter caption.
Rave was holding onto his other hand with her own. They were warm, and her slender fingers wrapped around and interlocked with his. Her touch alone was calming. Aclysia also took hold of him, gently embracing his head.
We will be fine, right? Aclysia asked.
I bet on that, John answered as the lines on Smanders body once again turned from ck to glowing yellow.
Yeah, your powers are super bullshit, Raves hands mped down around his, her words were not meant to just calm him down, this will be fine.
This will hurt a lot, Smander said.
I am not na?ve enough to expect otherwise, John closed his eyes; thankfully it was the middle of the day, so the light from the mes didnt pierce through his lids until it was already toote to back out.
Chapter 409 – Three types of scars
Chapter 409 C Three types of scars
That was like the fifth worst pain I have experienced so far, John thought and opened his eyes. Immediately he told himself he should have waited a few more seconds. His arm was a piece of meat that had turned into charcoal. There was more detail to be described there, but he refused to look at that for longer than necessary. Guess there is no more pain because there is nothing more to feel pain with.
The crawling, itching and general feeling of illness were gone. At least that part had worked.
He automatically tried to use his right hand to tap on the window. Of course, that only resulted in the raised bone falling down as the tension that had forced it to remain up unravelled. On the way downwards Gamers Body finally kicked in and restored everything. Huh, John blinked, for some reason I really thought this would go worse although I guess I can now join the club of scarred individuals.
From his elbow to his wrist, there were red lines that looked like his bones cast a shadow through his skin. He touched the affected area, trailed it with his finger. It was numb, he barely even felt the touch.
Huh, never have seen a human get Lorylim marks before, Metramented, stabbing at it with her index finger.
Very intriguing indeed, a curious Tilgun said, stealing John out of his chair after casting away the binding on the Gamers left arm. There were numerousints from down below, from the girls who didnt appreciate their man getting pped around like this, and John didnt particrly appreciate dangling just from his left arm.
Oh, thank Gaia that went alright, Rave exhaled her tension and then put on her usual good mood smile. You know, that reminds of that one scene from Konosuba, she shouted up to him as Tilgun inspected his arm. Where Ltina gets cursed with death and then Aqua just heals her without a problem.
I take offense to the idea that burning off my arm is equivalent to without a problem, John shouted back. Also I dont think that Izha guy-thing-I-dont-know wille here after finding out.
But you have to agree that it was easier than you thought, right? their loud conversation continued. Lydia was all like repeated corruption is bad that, Lorylim are super dangerous this, even Romulus told you they were dangerous enough to st Undine into smithereens for.
Tilgun dropped John out of five metre height and thus ended whatever response John could have had in an ufortablending on his back. To restore the HP of her summoner, of which he had lost not too little, Undine appeared and begun doing her thing while Tilgun talked like a teacher. Which both are perfectly reasonable positions.
Yes, they are, John groaned as his HP ticked up again. Jane, what do you think this is? he tapped on the new scars he had gotten himself.
Kinda fashionable and hard to exin to your mom? she suggested.
True, but not quite what I was getting at, heughed. Lorylim seem to burrow some sort ofwork into you as they take control. I guess they grow inside you, kind of like Cordyceps, his girlfriends eyebrows travelled upwards and towards the middle in a confused expression, the zombie mushrooms? Still confusion. The Last of Us?
Oooh Lorylim are clickers? Rave asked to the sound of Tilgun giggling.
No, the mushrooms that make things into clickers, theughter in the background continued as John answered. He didnt even attempt to ask what the higher dragon found that funny; he wouldnt get a conclusive answer no matter what. Anyway, despite looking disgusting and having some sort of swarm mind, they are evidently not out of this world, so they still obey what works in this one.
Okay so can we get back to how your new scar-too ys into that? Rave asked.
Because it already dug a bit of the system now, he exined, so the next time it gets on me, it can start right where thest one left off. This is why repeated corruption would be so dangerous, eventually countermeasures wont cut it anymore because they just get through that quickly. First infection probably normally causes some sort of permanent psychological damage, just because weaker minds than mine -and I dont mean to pat my own back, its just how it is- would probably be less able to listen to that song without going a bit bonkers. When looking at the Lorylim through the lens of a parasite, their whole schema made absolute sense. Disgusting sense, almost. Even healed people could be turned insane enough to want to be infected again. Thank god, I got some sort of resistance skill to it now, but we both know that I am an exception here.
The thing he had gotten reduced the effectiveness of every further attempt of a Lorylim to infect him by a magnitude of 1. In other words, level 1 infection wouldnt work at all, level 2 infections became level 1, and so on. He really wanted some more levels in that skill, since the implication here was that he could be immune.
And why would Romulus be that afraid of that thing then? Sylph asked. I mean, he looked more annoyed, but why would he be annoyed with that thing that he can kill that is no threat to him.
Because Romulus first concern doesnt really seem to ever be himself, John pointed out. I do think he really doesnt want a disease that is half zombie shroom and half watered down Cthulhu stuff rampaging in a city of hundreds of thousands.
Aaaaaaaah, I think I get it? Is that a cloud formed like a gummy bear?! Sylph was immediately distracted by something else. Less surprising than her taking part in this conversation in the first ce.
Bravo, you are more intelligent than I thought, Tilgun pped, can you figure out why you got those scars though?
Because, much like elementals, my body is basicallypletely magic based, John told him, despite being made of flesh. That puts me in a weird state where I get things like this, he raised the affected arm, despite also being a good old meatbag. He had figured that out pretty much immediately.
Right, right, Tilgun nodded, good, very good. You are correct in all of that, please continue, I enjoy seeing humans figure things out. He said that like a proud dog owner who just seeded in teaching a puppy a new trick.
Now I do wonder what it looks like if normal humans get infected, John did continue his thoughts nevertheless. Do they get just no scars if they are healed or how does that work?
Mhm, I will give you that answer, its a small one anyway, Tilgun said. Aside from the aforementioned spiritual damage, Lorylim hook into the epidermis of their victim. Basically, it looks like the skin of someone who has been tortured by having his skin ripped off with hooks.
Aaaand thats all I need to know. John decided that he got away pretty much Scott free. Although there were several things that didnt line up perfectly. Any idea why it was my right hand that got infected? he asked Smander.
She thought about that for a moment, I used my right to burn away the corruption, she tapped on the cheekbone under her left eye and the dense marks surrounding it, thats the only thing I can think of.
Mhm, that at least was a possibility. John then put a hand on Smanders shoulder. He gently rubbed it, causing one of her dark red eyebrows to dart up as if to ask what he was doing. Izha said they empowered you, he told her, and I am just wondering. Mine and Undines scars are red, yours are ck and react to you using your power do they feel numb?
No, Smander sounded as surprised about that herself, they feel just like normal skin.
Mhm did they need to give you something to travel with you? he mumbled. They couldnt use you as a genuine vessel, so they gave you some power to be a blind passenger? I somewhat get what they are now, but how they operate is a mystery to me still. They obviously can boost peoples power maybe calling them parasites is wrong after all, more like very one-sided symbionts?
Now they are Venom from Spiderman? Rave asked.
I dont give a fuck what they are, I was so fucking worried, fucking beaver zombie eating cocksuckers, I will rip them all apart! Eliza could no longer hold onto herself and jumped at John. We are not doing anything like this ever again and you are putting a baby inside me in the near future!
You are jumping topics there, John pointed out.
I am not, you fucking asshole, you can DIE, she looked up and in her eyes was genuine fear, what will I have of you if you just stumble into something you cant weasel your ass out of?
Eliza, I he wanted to calm her down, but it didnt look like there was a way to do that easily. Ahh, to hell with it, you know the honest answer. I dont want kids yet, and operating under the assumption that I will die soon is just depressing. He put his hand on her head and just gave her a warm smile, We wont ever do anything this stupid ever again. Right everyone?
I got what I wanted, Smander stated, the ted parts of her outfit disappearing. Underneath the lines continued all the way to her nails, which were just as pitch ck as them. They also were the evil, pointy, scratchy type.
Uhm, I-I-in the first ce I didnt want to even try this N-Not that I want to say you should have listened to me or anything, Gnome said.
Although we totally should have, the endme elemental interrupted her. Come on, Gnome, you can say it when you are right. This was stupid, we all knew it was stupid, it turned out to be even stupider than I expected, but we got away with angering the boar once.
I dont want John to be in pain again, so I am going to just wimpy about like usual, will fly to here and there and everywhere, Sylph added, I wonder, why are you still big though. Dont you want to fly.
The discussion flowed elsewhere, and Eliza seemed, if not exactly calm, at least pacified. She had that downtrodden, sour look on her face that she often had after one of her mood swings.
For a start, I can still fly, you saw me do it earlier, you airhead, Smander answered and, proving the point, hovered off the floor. For the second question huh, I actually cant. She scratched her short hair, Thats weird.
Naw, now I have to fly on my own, that is sad, I am sad, Sylphined.
No, I can still you know what, not worth it, Smander sighed, there was a moment, then she burst out anyway, No, fuck it, Sylph, you dumb airhead, get your scrambled brain together and look at my feet!
They are very nice feet, not touching the ground feet, audible gasp! You can hover, thats halfway to flying, good job! Sylph then was witness to Smander taking further off the ground and doing a little loop, Wow-wow-wow, dont be crazy, you are big, big girls cant fly.
You fly when you are in your big form all the time!
Because I am mommys special little girl, Sylph said, stemming her hands into her hips. She follows me on Airter, I send her pictures of Johns memories all the time, and she answers with Ooooooh my! and its like a little video and its super funnily spoken.
John just sat down at that point, Tilgun said goodbye, and one by one everyone went back to their everyday life. Haaaah, the virtues of being used to danger, he thought. Everyone made this another happening in their life. They would rest, and then this would be another story told in the giant chain of events in Johns life.
I really have to wonder what part of my powers are actually mechanics made for me or just representations of reality as it normally is, John thought, remembering the corruption chance on elemental evolution warnings. Obviously, they had been corrupted, but neither Undine nor Smander had turned into failed nor fallen elementals like he had learned was to happen.
The chance just seemed to portray what level of chance there was for the Lorylim to get their dirty tentacles in the game. Well, he wasnt going to attempt to take that chance no matter how unlikely it was now. He already had sufferedsting damage, however little it was, and at the very least until he was able to resist these beings better, it was foolish to engage them.
Eliza still held onto him, and so did Rave, so it was pretty cramped on the chair in the sun, but at least he was brooding over bad things in a nice atmosphere. What exactly was Izha and how powerful did John have to assume it really was?
He found no answers, and so all he could see were himself, with a scar that he had taken for the happiness of someone he cared about, Smander, with her scar that she took for her ideals, and Undine, who had them forced upon her by regretful action.
John hoped he drew the correct lesson out of all of this.
Even when following his principles righteously, the world wouldnt just give to him what he needed.
But he had gotten a reward: Smander looked at him with new eyes.
Chapter 410 – Dome of Light
Chapter 410 C Dome of Light
Well, this was a day, John tried to put it into words as he made his way over to the line of chairs that had been put up by Aclysia in a neat row. They were all facing outwards so that whoever sat in them was looking over the railing and at the Antic Fuse.
They had passed through the other two leylines without any problems or further interesting details. More intensive than the the previous one, in particr the outgoing line, but it wasnt like there was a huge difference between being surrounded by light on all sides and being surrounded by light on all sides for a minute longer.
You know what I hate? he continued on. Everything remarkable, positive or negative, always happens in like an hour or two. Yet I will remember the 10 minutes we spent waiting for Smanders firestorm to go out forever with a bleak sense of dread for the next decades, while the pretty eventless, happy 22 hours surrounding it will be mostly forgotten.
Yeah, thats how that goes, Rave spoke from the chair to his right as she took her drink from him, leaving John with his own. For this asion, he had allowed Aclysia to punch his drink with some alcohol. He took a sip, he barely tasted anything of the nerve-poison, but this orange juice tasted sweeter than usual. Ya with your super brain can still remember pretty much everything, cant ya?
Consciously? Totally, John responded. But thats not my point, it would just be nice to have random shbacks to that one time we kissed in the jacuzzi in the Neon Lights. Instead I sometimes justy in bed and then remember that one time I had my chest cleaved open.
I am fucking sorry, okay?! Eliza picked up on that ill-chosen example. I was really fucking angry and you just refused to kill me!
I would like to say you should have just listened to me back then, John said, but in this one case, dying was actually the smart way out.
Wait a second, you DIED? Maximillian suddenly darted into the conversation from the furthest removed chair.
Silently reprimanding himself for letting that slip, John exhaled a baited breath. I got too rxed, he thought, recounting the past few hours. After the tension that was Tilguns appearance and the even worse tension that was Smanders insistence on doing THAT then and there and then the worst tension of Izha and the following infection.
The resulting exhaustion and just generalzing around had probably put him in a less careful mode than was normal, for him to just mess up like that around Maximillian. Alternatively, it could just be that you look at him as something like a friend and dont think you need to keep everything a secret from him, John thought, half sarcastically, half self-scolding, which was confusing in its own rights.
In a totally tonic way, their rtionship was advancing towards something resembling actual friendship. At least thats what his subconscious was telling him there. He was not sure what he actively thought about that. Rave looked at John as he was thinking and just giggled knowingly.
Yeah, I fucking died, twice if you want to know for real, Eliza didnt give a tosh about that part of her history, and both times SUCKED, although way less than the time preceding them. First was being hunted by shit-eating Nazis and sleeping in overcrowded beds too small for one person alone. Second one was just lots and lots of a lot of fucking torment.
Yeah but how are you still alive then? Maximillian asked.
Remember how there is a goddess living inside me, giving me overpowered as all shit powers by proxy? Of course that was something the crippled king could hardly forget about. There, now stop asking about this kind of shit; you should know about not wanting to remember certain stuff, you post-traumatic-stressed-dick.
John wanted to intervene at that, because he felt that this was going a bit far beneath the waistline. However, he waited for the half-second it took Maximillian to react to that.
Well, I can deal with my PTSD, but you will always be short, the gravity king shot back.
MOTHERFUCKER! Eliza jumped out of her chair, onto her feet and almost made the extra step of leaping at the guy to shake him a bunch while throwing death threats at him. Feeling that thetter half of that n would probably send Maximillian in a panic attack, she stopped herself at thest moment. You are a lucky shit that I still have something like empathy, otherwise I would hang you off the mast by your intestines.
This ship doesnt even have a mast, Maximillian mocked.
I would build it, Elizas voice was dangerously quiet, out of my blood and your spine, using the shards of your pulverized ribs as thorns to grind your smartass face against.
Maximillian shut his mouth after that one. A momentter, Eliza began tough maniacally, the high-pitched, temporarily painfully shrill sounds echoing over the deck.
Aclysia leaned over to John and whispered, I am thankful to you, Master, that you got her more stable so she doesnt do that every day anymore.
I heard that, cocaine hair! Eliza suddenly whirled around.
Cocaine hair? Aclysia tilted her head in confusion.
Because its snow-white and I want to press my nose into it. What the fuck did you pick to exude today? Cause it makes me so hungry that I just want to start salivating all over your head, you delicious piece of cooking maid meat. Those were some interesting word constructs.
Its cinnamon, Aclysia spoke over John, as Eliza was two removed from his right and Aclysia sat to his direct left.
Why the fuck would you smell like cinnamon, the blood mage demanded to know, like, why in the name of my empty, sperm-churning stomach- she had eaten about a kilo of dried meat just 10 minutes earlier, -would you do that to me, you heartless bitch?
Aclysia averted her gaze, clearing her throat and blushing slightly, My intentions are of no importance, I just picked it randomly.
Bullshit! Ya never pick smells at random, Rave intervened, ya go all like, what followed was a pretty good mimic of Aclysias tone, Today, Master deserves to feelfortable, he had a hard few days. Therefore I will go with orange, since that is the smell that makes John feel most at home Ah, but orange is too on the nose, I want to keep that for special asions. Something else citrus rted, perhaps pink grapefruit? AND THEN ya do it!
The weaponized maid continued to clear her throat as if that would forcefully change the subject.
Im gonna look up what effects cinnamon smells are supposed to have on people, Rave dered, pulling out her smartphone.
With a sigh, Aclysia caved, I will spare you the time, it boosts male erections, Mistress. I wanted to be taken tonight best in an orgy.
Look at ya being a subtle little maniptor, Rave giggled, although only in a good way. Ya aint mad about that, John?
When Aclysia does it? I have full trust that she only has our best in mind, he gave the expected answer. And is that cinnamon thing true?
It is apparently proven that it increases blood flow in the genital area. Lavender has a simr effect. Any strong smells really. I have increased my arsenal ordingly, only with the pleasant sexual smells, and am happy to take orders as to what you want, like sandalwood.
Sandalwood gave his pants a little tug as it reminded him of a certain evening in a spa. We may want to be careful with sandalwood, I can see myself getting afflicted with Pavlovian conditioning quite easily although I guess that could be a good thing as well?
Ya hear thatdies? From now on, whenever we are in an orgy mood, we burn sandalwood! Rave, as chairman of the Waifu Republic of Johns Life, decreed. It was met with general approval.
Maximillian shook his head to the sound of Elizas chair creaking as she fell back into. He remarked, I guess I know which smell to smell out for to find out on which evenings you had a good night then.
You mean like you and cherry? John asked and rolled his eyes on the taken aback look that earned him. Come on, buddy, we both know I am really observant. Doesnt take more than three incidents to conclude that you use a certain, probably very costly, deodorant after you had amazing sex. I know that kind of swinging step and broad grin.
Rave added, while raising her hand to her mouth conspiratorially and in the whispering tone of someone that wanted to still be heard, Because at least one person around him has it every day, she pointed at herself. I almost dont want to go into dangerous situations anymore since he got good at this whole sex thing.
Much like with Dark Souls, trying over and over again was the trick John nced at the horizon in their back, where the sun was slowly approaching the edge of the ocean. That aside, we should probably enjoy whatever is about to happen in silence.
Oh, its going to be awesome, Maximillian promised, I already saw it once before.
Taking his own plead seriously, John did not answer that, and soon all instances of idle chatter around ceased; even Sylph waited for the show they had been promised.
It got darker, quickly now, every passing moment making the sky less red and more blue and ck, as if a painter was adding infinitely small strokes every second. They all looked at the mountain range of auroras, waiting for the suns light to cease.
The golden disk vanished behind the curve of the earth, the red bled away and left only the night and a sky on which only a few stars were visible, drowned out by the immense light of the Antic Fuse.
In anticipation, they all waited. They had been promised that something amazing was going to happen at the turn of day to night. Sylph spied it first.
Look, look, there, at the edge, see that, see it? I see it! she pvered, pointing at the rim of the barrier. Around the leyline, the point where sky, outside and inside ocean met, the aurora spread in a thin line, following perfectly the border of the Protected Space they were inside. The same thing happened at the other two leylines, the emerging auroras meeting and melding together.
Once the circle wasplete, it began to rise. The upper edge remained that thin line, but it left behind a curtain of shifting rainbows, slowly creating a dome. The ring narrowed as it approached the top, eventually vanishing into itself.
For a solid minute, they were simply surrounded. In Johns opinion, this was way more impressive than theplete engulfment of driving through a leyline. The ocean beneath, the towering Antic Fuse, with its tip connecting to the very centre of the dome, the two spread out leylines they could currently see. It was a scenic picture, aplete whole, not just a drowning encapstion of light.
Without any warning whatsoever, the curtain disintegrated from the top downwards. Wherever the aurora no longer covered the sky, all of the stars that would reach a lightless world shined through in all their radiance for just one second like an uncountable amount of diamonds in the sky. Most of them vanished again thereafter, only the strongest glowing ones staying behind. It happened rather slowly, especially with the amount of area it needed to cover; John had an idea and got up.
Lets take some photos, he announced to everyone, using Craft to reform the backrest of his chair to be able to hold his phone and then having Jacknd to push the button. The idea was met with enthusiasm.
First was just a group photo with everyone present. Even Maximillian, despite the king first denying the need to be on such a thing. After some talking to by Rave, Aclysia and Sylph, he was finally coerced into it though. They stood close by each other, all of them, even the king and the host of which he feared. Yet, Maximillian managed to look more concerned over looking good than afraid, for the most part.
Next was a series of pair photos. Rave how she enthusiastically kissed him on the cheek, arms around his neck, one leg raised, him smiling and half-hugging her. Him and Aclysia, just standing, heads resting against each other, his arm around her hips. The third photo was him with Eliza in his arms, the blood mage flipping the camera off with a giant grin on her face.
Next was Gnome, who peeked out underneath Johns arm from her cowered position behind him. Smander struck a wide open pose, mes in hand as if she was in a photoshoot for a superviin movie, John standing in the background shaking his head. Sylphnded on his shoulders, arms cheeringly raised to the sky, legs stretched out, as John had to panickedly grab her and keep them both in bnce, a moment that turned into their photo. The photo with Undine was a weird disy of the quiet water elemental bing quite daring, her parting in two, surrounding him on both sides, touching him in lewd ways and whispering things into his ears that made even him blush. Afterwards Undine disappeared into the pool blushing herself. Siena acted all nice andpliant until the veryst moment before the picture, upon which she turned into a flurry of shadow des. With hermandment to not hurt John currently disabled as a sign of trust, John was genuinely afraid for a second, turning their photo into a disy of a Gamer ready to dodge and a towering mass of ded tentacles around a hot, domineering nightmare elemental with sulfuric yellow glowing eyes. Siena loved her picture.
He and Nia had three photos taken. One where she was in the process of walking out of it. A second where she was in the process of walking out of it with Copernicus in her arms. Finally a third where she stood still without any expression whatsoever, with Stirwin nesting in her voluminous hair and the suncat in her arms.
Metra put John into an armlock, he didntin as he was pressed right against her chest, and sheughed through all of it.
Last was Maximillian, John and him getting talked into taking a photo by the present girls. They were even forced to take a shared pose, both of them crossing their arms and then, in attempt to out-cool each other in that pose, taking it seriously and doing their best. The popr vote was that Maximillian looked better on it; John had overdone it, looking more like a caricature of a cool guy.
All of the photos could be ordered quite easily by the falling curtain of light in the background.
So, what was that phenomenon in the first ce? Different answer existed, but the two John subscribed to were that it was either an internal pressure thing or something there to keep the barrier working. Either way didnt exin why it was coupled to the day-night cycle.
Well, there was the answer he had been wanting.
That was nice, Rave stretched, do we have any more ns on this cruise?
Not really, no, John said, I think the next two and a half days will just be uszing around.
Smander drifted over, radiating the golden glow of fire. I am going to throw a barbeque from my allowance tomorrow. You know, to do at least some shit for all the trouble I put you all through.
Eliza giggled, her fingers drumming on the rests of her chair in nothing that even resembled a rhythm. Make that a regr fucking urrence for the rest of my whoring life and then we may be able to say you did enough by the total end of it.
I guess I can afford a monthly one, if we go grinding again, the endme elemental wasnt opposed to the idea.
John liked the idea, Anyway, lets go back into the jacuzzi, no reason to keep sitting here.
Chapter 411 – Minor problems.
Chapter 411 C Minor problems.
Could you please? captain Sealy asked. Either of you? Pretty please?
He was addressing Maximillian and John, both of which were just lying in the sun, covered in girls. While John was being cuddled by Smander, her new fire dress had the nice property of not burning people (as long as she didnt want to), and a deeply flustered Gnome, stun locked by embarrassment, Maximillian had gotten himself two new girls. Stef and L were still around, just not right now.
So, let me get this straight, the Gamer asked after taking a sip from his ss and then putting it back on the salver Aclysia was holding up. In the background he heard his girlfriendsughter. They were busy ying in the pool again. Something that John would much rather be watching right now than to have this conversation. You are telling me that one of those pirates I caught on the first day escaped their cell and that she, it was the one girl in the group, ising back here with a fleet.
Thats what her captain told us upon interrogation, yes, Sealy answered.
Interrogation being you asking where she was, Maximillian pointed out and flicked ashes off the joint he was currently smoking.
John gave him an annoyed nce, You know that thing reeks, right? What reason is there for you to smoke it right next to me?
You have a lighter, Maximillian answered after a 5 second silence.
I am a unique kind of fire elemental, not a fucking lighter, the short-haired redhead growled back. Call me that again and I will show you a REAL hotbox.
Sure thing, the king didnt seem to really understand what she wasining about. He took a hit from the blunt and then passed it onto one of his girls.
Okay, so that guy is obviously too high to help you, John sighed, which leaves only me. There was also Tilgun, but he was Tilgun. Just two questions, number one, you have a giant fucking cannon, why not just use that?
Captain Boss Senior spoke of a fleet of two-hundred vessels, our cannon is only helpful against big targets, Sealy answered.
Okay, then I actually have a follow-up question before my nned second one why does this ship not have safety precautions againstrge numbers?
Well we do have some Sealys bodynguage was pretty dodgy, him wringing his webbed hands and all that, there is a small army of golems that we could unleash, buuuut the activation console was damaged when that higher dragon climbed around.
Mhm, John looked at the guy for an extended period of time. The seal head was wiggling from left to right nervously. No, I dont believe that, he finally dered. He could practically see the cold sweat developing on the guys face. You know what I think? That you thought that there will be several thousand Abyssals on this ship, so nobody would be stupid enough to even attack because of the sheer fighting force that presents. Your emergency protocol would be to just appeal to everyones want for self-defence.
Whaaaat? Sealy barked in panic a few times. Nooooooo, we would never do that! his head waved from side to side even faster as if he was on the lookout for some predator. Its not like Amalia is trying to fix our war-tax deficit by striking a few unnecessary things from the budget. Never!
Okay, my second question then, John continued on, shifting a bit in his seat to get morefortable. Was a bit hard with Gnome holding onto him as if her life depended on it, somewhat of a shock reaction to being seen in her swimsuit by a rtive stranger. Whats in it for me?
We wont be rationing your energy consumption if you do, Sealy promised.
Why would you even need to do that? John furrowed his eyebrows. Seriously sounds more like a threat than a reward.
Well you know how we are currently towing a higher dragon because he is interested in you? the cruises captain pointed out. We might run into some problems at thest day.
The word towing here was absolutely urate, as Tilgun had gone to sleep following yesterdays events with Smander. As he still had to follow the boat somehow, he had threatened to hook one of his hands into the back of the ship. Sealy, on the basis that that would cause even more property damage, had hastened to deliver a stammered proposal involving a giant metal rope. Thus a higher dragon was now getting pulled on said rope behind them.
I guess that would lead to some unpredicted costs, John admitted, but its hardly my fault.
No, yes, maybe, uhm, Sealy clearly didntpletely agree with that sentiment, as given away by him ncing at the rescue vessel that was now swimming in the middle the VIP pool, currently boarded by Sylph who was, ironically, ying pirate, but he also didnt want to get in bad graces with the Gamer. That aside, we still have to reduce general energy avability to have enough energy to keep the engines running and arrive in New York on schedule. Or maybe not, depends on how much we have to feed the slimes for the repairs.
Huh, well what are we even using that much energy on up he- John looked at the superheated pool, say no more. Anyway, thats all you would give me?
I would offer to refund your ticket for the trouble, buuuuut, Sealy flopped his hands around like tiny windmills. Refunding what he had gotten for free was quite hard.
Geez, John, put the poor guy out of his misery, a wet Ravemented, walking over to them with attractively swinging hips. Her sticky hair sprang back into curls, strand by strand, as it dried. With longer hair came the minor disadvantage that the process took longer, but when she fanned it out a bit, it still instantly regained its volume. Ya gonna do it anyway, dont be a dick about it.
On one hand, you are totally right, John smiled at his girlfriend as she circled his chair and put her arms around him from behind, on the other, you are ruining my fun.
Maybe I dont think ya should have this kind of fun, she scolded him from above, her chin resting on the back of the chair. Droplets of water hit Johns shoulder as he looked at her. Seriously, ya gonna cross the dick limit. Ya aint gonna tickle anything of use out of this poor fellow, so there is no reason to act all coy or like a certain Rat ya keepining about.
That cut deep but was also true. Point taken, he therefore said and turned to the confused but also bright-eyed seal-man. So yeah, while I technically only agreed to fend off things in the Antic Fuse, which I also technically did. The argument could, quite convincingly, be made that Tilgun would have had a feast with the people on this ship if he (mostly Metra) hadnt been here. All that aside, I dont really feel like I earned my keep, so I guess I can help smash a pirate fleet.
Hurray, captain Sealy pped his hands together in an enthusiastic way. Sylph flew by and dropped the ball they usually used to y in the pool down on the enthusiastic naval expert, who promptly began bncing it on his nose.
We might as well test your new powers while we are doing that, John said to Smander, whilst indiscreetly tapping her ass. They hadnt really gotten to do that, the little scuffle they had with Izha, who hadnt even fought back, aside, since it was a safety hazard. All they had done was check out her item form.
_____________________________________________________________
They separated into three groups. Group one was the one that would meet the enemy fleet head on. This group was currently located on the previously dislocated safety vessel, which they had gotten back into water by simply throwing it overboard. Those things were quite sturdy. It consisted of John, Sylph, Smander and Undine.
The second team was keeping a lookout on the ship itself. It consisted of a toasted Maximillian, who was helping from the background if anything, Rave, Nia, even though she had vanished after the briefing, and Metra. They were also on Eliza-watch, since there was no telling if Thana was going to see this as a sort of opportunity.
The third team was Stirwin, Gnome, Siena and Aclysia. They were keeping a watch on the cell of the guy they were supposed to guard. Stirwin was there for morale and fusing purposes. They were also supposed to teleport in in case of emergency, but they werent useful on the water.
It all depended on what kind of fight this was actually going to be. If they were fighting a lot on whatever fleet the enemy was presenting, not being able to fly or swim wasnt a huge drawback, so Gnome and Aclysia could join them. If they kept it to mostly mobilebat, then the current line-up had to suffice. Thanks to the Invoke attribute on Gamers Pompous Shoes being set to Water, he could run on the ocean surface for up to 110 (in other words, his level) seconds. It recharged at a rate of 1 second every 5 seconds onnd, which, as previous testing had concluded, just meant a solid surface not underneath water. So, he could run from one ship to the next, fight, recharge and board the next one.
Then again, seeing whose son I am about to face here, John thought, his vessel getting pushed by Undine after the cruise ship, this is probably totally over preparing. There is going to be some bantering, some weird allegations, some pleads to just release the kraken -namely the captain- and thats going to be it.
They were riding behind the cruise to quickly get to either side, as they didnt know from which they would be attacked. In the first ce, if we are talking 200 ships, how is he moving them around unseen? Does he have a giant field with him? Is there a super-strong Fateweaver? I can get how they are going to find us: we have a predefined route and chances are they have some sort ofmunication set-up. Still, how would one move a fleet of that size, unseen? He turned his attention over to somebody who could probably answer that question.
Yes, Master? Aclysias voice rung out when she felt Johns consciousness connect to hers.
Can you ask our talkative captive what kinds of ships are under his sonsmand? He had no idea about any mobile barrier functions if some model number if it was thrown his way, but he could at least estimate the size if it was a type that was also found in reality. Which he very much expected. In the sciences, the Abyss mostlygged behind the normal word,rgely thanks to the need of normal people to keep inventing stuff while Abyssals could already get almost everything needed pretty easily. Not a lot of progress was to be made in a world that didnt need progress.
He says manow-arrrrr-s, Master, Aclysia truthfully transmitted.
U-hu John thought as a single ship suddenly entered the barrier.
A manowar was a heavy battleship from the 16th century. The giant kind often seen in movies, mighty wooden beasts that earned their name by transporting heavily armoured soldiers across the oceans, outfitted with rows of cannons and high masts, a true warship.
What he was looking at was a medium sized mega-yacht, or just a giant yacht, whatever one prefered. Not unimpressive, not at all. In fact, John was rather impressed. A clean blue and ck hull with enough space for 40 people to live in apartments lower ie families would marvel at the size alone. Without a doubt a kitchen was somewhere in the almost 100-metre-long ship, with enough storage space tost them for a long time. The thing had several decks with ckened windows, and a small pool rose out of a heightened part of the front end. It was all around pretty awesome. John wasnt quite sure if it was advisable to cross the ocean on that yacht, he didnt have the expertise in boats to make a im for or against that, but he could certainly see a rich person using it to party out in international waters for a few days. That was just for a normal yacht of that size, magical enhancement notwithstanding.
John waited for a second ship to appear as they began moving towards the localized attacker. Jack flew over the ship and spied, aside from the attractive looking woman that had kicked this whole chain of events off, a tentacle bearded fellow who was wearing aically big hat and an outfit that John was sure was based on some caricature of ckbeard. He too was a kraken-person, albeit of blue colouration instead of his fathers red. A quick Observe revealed him to be level 52. While that was above average, it was below John-verage.
You are not the captain yet, Captain Boss Junior, the women reminded the blue kraken and took the hat off the guy. Jacknded on a seat nearby, unnoticed.
As long as my father remains in captivity, I am the stand-in! came the retort, quickly taking back what he thought to be his. Therefore, I deserve to wear this hat!
Well, there is my entry into the banter, John thought and looked at the water below. There was distracting shimmering on the surface, distinctly different from just water. Say Aclysia can you ask him if he meant PORTUGUESE manowars specifically?
A momentter he received a Yes, Master. Why do you need this information?
Because thats a name for a type of jellyfish, he answered and looked at the, most likely 199, translucent gtine marine-lifeforms floating on the waves. One ship moving in an individual barrier made way more sense, all of these Portuguese manowars keeping up less so, but they were probably some kind magical being.
Yup.
Okay, this is stupid, take off that hat and get into the cell with your father, John just delivered his demand the moment he got close enough.
Thats the guy, thats the man who wanted to seduce me! the attractive looking woman said.
And heree the weird allegations, John sighed. Look,dy, you look good, but I have enough good-looking girls with me. Right? He gestured at Sylph and Smander flying next to the boat and then at Undine when she poked her head out the water. So I didnt try to seduce you, because I really didnt need to.
I would never believe someone who molested dear Susie! Junior said.
You have some circr logic there, because the only way you wouldnt believe me is if I molested her, which I didnt, but you dont believe me because you think I did, but I didnt. You see the problem there? John pointed out, whilst thanking all the gods that existed that at least this one hadnt taken to his fathers habit of forcing pirate clichs into every sentence.
Lies and nder,ss, I shall cut you with this cuss! everyone around Junior groaned as he delivered his old mans joke. I shall release the
Let me guess, Smander drily stated, Kraken? Very creative, octopus face, are you going to show us your dick?
No, not the kraken, you burning buffoon, what I have in store is much more dangerous than a kraken I shall release the technically-not-a-true-jellyfish-but-actually-a-siphonophore!
Are you being serious? John asked and then almost fell over on his boat as the waves rose.
Chapter 412 – VS the technically-not-a-true-jellyfish-but-actually-a-siphonophore
Chapter 412 C VS the technically-not-a-true-jellyfish-but-actually-a-siphonophore
A storm of jelly flew his way as 199 manowars jumped out of the ocean with movements that their bodies should not have supported. This happened all so suddenly that only Sylph reacted in time, but her wind failed in doing much more than disperse the cloud a little bit.
John became subject to the disgusting experience of looking at several hundred kilos of jelly sshing against his Mana Protection like flies against a windshield. Stacking on the small ship or bouncing right back into the ocean, only the fewest of the bunch actually took any damage from that action whatsoever.
Interested, John, who felt in no way threatened, reached out of his protection. As to how he did that, it wasnt that hard. Because Mana Protection was a fixed circle around him, trying to simply punch or pick up anything outside it that was registered as an enemy (which was basically everything animated outside of his group), was impossible. How did he fix that? Well, higher Intellect and Wisdom levels allowed for easier and easier control of the bubbles form. He couldnt expand it, but he could temporarily bend it inwards to allowed him to grab something outside of it without the skill going off.
Thus, the Gamer reached for one of the regenerating specimens that hadnded on the ship. It seems he is healing through energy from his uninjuredrades, John thought and then was hit by a mildly unpleasant prickling in his left arm. One of the Jelly colonies had wrapped a tentacle around him. Many more soon did the same.
Okay, yes, I get it! John thought as Purgatory engulfed his left hand in fire. With that protected limb, he simply cut and ripped off the tentacles holding onto his right. As he shook that hand to get rid of the sticky remains, the Colonies that hadnded on the boat around him were now trying their best to jump off as quickly as possible, likely afraid of the disy of fire.
That should have knocked him out t! Junior screamed in the background, interrupting his own triumphantughter. His body is filled with poison!
Sorry, but I y by other rules than everyone else, at least in this aspect, John grabbed one of the Jelly Colonies trying to get off with his left and squished the soft body. It was like squeezing a cushion, the wed gauntlet cutting trenches into the jellyr and ultimately crushing the whole thing with ease.
NOOOOOOOO, JEREMYYYYYYY! Junior cried out, his giant hat tipping as he gestured wildly. In a flurry of motions, he both pointed at John and kept his hat in ce, You will pay for that.
HAH, the loss of one of these guys bothers you already? Smanders voice came from above, shifting their attention to her. The endme elemental was condensing power between her raised hands. The new mes, probably the name giving endme (as edgy as that was), was the normal gold at the centre but surrounded by a mantle of grey instead of crimson red. Overall it looked quite menacing.
Smander, no! John cried out, who could see something that was horribly overkill.
Smander, YES! she screamed back with a wild smile, the same fire breaking out of the densework of lines surrounding her left eye as she hurled her arms downwards. The condensed ball became a cone and set the air on fire as it travelled downward.
John did the only sensible thing and jumped overboard and into the water. The ocean did him a favour in the shape of one of its elementals, Undine, stretching a wave out to him to encapste him before the fire hit.
He could feel the heat boil away the surface of the ocean behind him. Undine making sure that the bubble of air she had caught with him remained in ced by stretching her own slime body around him. Things above turned into a obscuring steam cloud, so he was temporarily blinded for what was going on up there.
Down here, however, he saw all of the Jelly Colonies that had made it out. They made their ways over to their hurt or pretty crispy looking fellows. Smanders attack had dealt a lot of damage, predictably, but for level 30 to 40 creatures, these things were really durable. No, that was the wrong way to put it, they were actually weak to damage, it was just that they had an annoying healing mechanic.
Undine carried John back to the safety vessel. No matter how enchanted, this thing was slowly seeing the effects of hanging around John, with the dragon w and now burn marks that covered it. The damage looked worse than it actually was though, the thing still floated.
John wiped the saltwater off his face and looked over to the enemy ship, where Junior was standing straddle-legged with his arms crossed behind a barrier. Muahahahaha, my army is invincible, Junior said. I was just baiting you into attacking them to exhaust your power.
Smander, how often can you repeat that attack? John just asked the flying endme elemental.
Three, four times without pause? I need the time to charge it though, Smander answered.
Okay, John used Shardbound and united all of the energy into one, hurling it straight at the barrier. A shockwave went through the blue bubble, looking much like Johns own Mana Protection. The Gamer hummed as he thought about this.
As you can clearly see, this fight is useless, Susie chimed in. Junior is our fighting expert! Just give us Captain Boss Senior back and we will be on our way.
Audible gasp, John, we cannot win, what do we do? Sylphnded on their boat and then dramatically copsed at his side. After all the things we have won against, like, uhm, an insect with a mane and that weird maggot thing and, uh, those invisible stuffs, she was clearly trying, and failing, to remember any of those names, and member Huan?
John just skipped the question who Huan was supposed to be and spoke up about the actual situation at hand. Rx we are going to win, he told her. In one of three ways, he conjured another Shardbound and hurled it at the shield. He was now down to half his mana, so, even though he still had buffer in the pre-charge of Mana Protection, he was ready to stop casting there. However, there was Purgatorys buff, which was about to max out. Apparently boiling away part of the ocean was a good way to get that up. So he threw one more and thus was down to a quarter of his mana. Way number one, they are right and we enter a stalemate. Purgatory ignited, he hurled the fireball at some healed up Jelly Colonies whose sails peaked out of the water. As long as we have what they want and not vice versa, we win so, unless they have an infiltration force strong enough to beat who we left in front of the cell.
Uhm, Susie, clearly the brains of this operation, did not like that John was calmly dismantling their bluff in front of her.
Way number two, there is NO way that these colonies have enough mana to heal each other up forever. Eventually they are going to die. If that is somehow not the case, they still need time to heal each other. Pushes to shove, we are getting Dendepthr out and then they can take it up with that monster.
I would dislike that, Undine mentallymented, the words doing no justice to the pure wave of disdain she had for her fusion with Stirwin, which was a cold-hearted killing machine in the form of a prehistoric dinosaur being infused with crocodile DNA. Because, wasnt one of these things not dangerous enough on its own?
Literally everyone would dislike that, but thats an easy way to victory, John told her. Anyway, way three, what is true for the Colonies is true for that barrier as well. If we make this a war of attrition, there is no way you can refill the barrier as much as I can damage it, he gestured for Smander to change into her item form to help him in this endeavour, meaning that, once I get your pre-saved mana depleted, which really cant be too much C I would guess about ten-thousand Maybel tops C I win. If you bluff, Smander was now close enough, her body bing a mass of red energy that wrapped around her summoners arm, at least make it believable.
Smanders item form was, much like Undines, a glove. However, where Undine was ayer of blue,tex-like material that form-fitted to Johns hand, Smander had more simrity to Purgatory. It was a te-scaled gauntlet, many small chips of metal ovepping to form a protective case from the elbow downwards. Most of the gauntlet was of a dark red, but a multitude of ck scales created a lined pattern akin to the one on Smanders skin. The hand segment had those lines where Johns sinews would be underneath, the middle of each finger had a thin ck line on top, ending in the final segment, wed as so often, beingpletely the colour of coal.
So, what do you think? John asked and engaged in a little dirty synergy between Purgatory and Smanders item form. Once the fire on Purgatory re-ignited, he could siphon and store it as a fireball with Smanders help. Sure, it wasnt the strongest thing in the world, but he could repeat that every 10 seconds. Do you want to just give up right now or how do you want to y this?
Juniors tentacles quivered as he thought, long and hard, about that proposal. ALL COLONIES RETURN TO SHIP! he finally shouted.
John took that as a sign that he had won, but the ensuing dialogue proved him otherwise.
You cant possibly mean Susie sounded dumbfounded, with wide eyes she looked at Junior as he pulled off his leather coat and hat, handing both over to her.
Take care of these for me, he said in the voice of the hero.
Does that make me the viin in this situation? John asked himself, wearing two evil-looking wed gauntlets, a rich-persons suit and keeping a son from saving his father. Well, maybe a bit, but they got themselves into this mess.
Junior jumped off his ship and into the mass of Jelly Colonies below. Behold! his voice gargled from below after a short wait. The true power of symbiotic organisms!
Shouldnt we be stopping that? Undine asked. He is absolutely vulnerable right now.
But where would be the fun in that? Smander returned.
Sooo, I kinda wanna have a fight thats actually a fight, like, a challenge or something or whatever gives me a marshmallow by the end of it, is that alright? Is that that? Sylph sounded like she was on Smanders side there.
I can do either, so I guess we are waiting for this to happen, the final decision was made by John, and thus they stood there in anticipation.
From the Jelly Colonies and Captain Boss Junior formed a new lifeform. It seemed that Junior was some sort of biomancer, at least that was the only exnation for how he included himself in what rose from the waves: a bloated body of jelly of dark blue colour, with hard tes covering much of its stic form. The many poisonous tentacles of the individuals that made up this being were braided together into just four, which made up the arms.
It was all upper body; underneath the water Undine only spied a small umbre that kept the whole thing floating. John narrowed his eyes and saw the captain somewhere in the middle of that thing, his body still and his head inside a dome of gtine.
Now we can fight equally! he announced, his voice getting gargled out through the swinging of the sail-like outgrowths on the things massive shoulders.
This is going to be interesting at least, John shouted back and jumped off the safety vessel as a giant tentacle came for him. It smashed right through the already tortured boat, scattering stic and metal over the nearby area. Thank you, Jesus, for your gifts, he thought as he ran over the water and unloaded all of the fire he had saved up in his right over the past minute.
The ming strike hit the Behemoth on the shoulder, causing the jelly to dry out. A momentter it began to inte again, water being pumped up from the umbre below. Words cannot describe how dull I find regenerators, John screamed out and went over his strategy very quickly. He only had less than 2 minutes to decide this fight before his water-walk ran out. It was time engage in some more strong attacks.
Ready to unleash? he asked Smander.
What do you think? I am just waiting for you to get off your ass and cast something! came the joyful voice of his fire spirit.
John pooled the rest of his mana into Shardbound as he kept running. As per usual, they spawned as four individual shards above his shoulders. Theybined into one above his right hand.
I will get you eventually! Junior enthusiasticallyshed at John, who was just waiting for the guy to make a mistake. That moment came when John had circled the Behemoth far enough that only his right tentacles could reach him. So when Junior used both of those tosh at John at once, that was his chance.
Undine, Sylph, go! he mentally screamed. Undine used her own body to block one of the tentacles while the tempest elemental provided a jumping John with enough tailwind that he was able to sail right over the horizontal swipe. Up there in the air, John took aim.
My turn, Smanders voice was one of a voracious hunter, ready for some new meat. The light purple crystal over Johns upwards pointing palm suddenly became golden, and a grey fire surrounded it. Then he fired it, the spell moving much more quickly than usual.
The sharp shard ripped right through the body of the Behemoth and left behind a tunnel. A tunnel which was burning with that golden, grey fire at the walls, fire that wasnt put out by any regenerating factor.
Ow, whats that, OW! Junior screamed as the fire dug in deeper.
Smanders unleash was a damage cooldown, to put it simply. Every minute she could empower one spell of an ally. Her unleashing wasnt a thing that fit the hot-headed character, being entirely dependant on other people. Still, it was powerful, and everything that forced her to be a bit more of a team yer was fine by John.
Junior, despite being in pain through sharing a body with the now innerly burning Behemoth, was not ready to give up. While himself unharmed, John had purposefully aimed away from the octopus-man, the amount of conviction he had for the matter was still admirable. The previously blocked tentacles now stretched for John again.
John felt the air on his right hand again as Smander transformed back. Fine, give me something more to do! she shouted out and caught one of the tentacles between her hands. John had the luxury of Mana Protection, the defensive skills buffer getting finally smashed by thatst attack. While that left him without defences or mana, it also stopped the attack and allowed him tond on the unsteady surface of the ocean.
The thing with Smander evolving wasnt just her new abilities, it also had filled a certain hole in her Stats. I am going to punch you, really fucking hard! she shouted with clenched fists engulfed in grey as she took ash and then flew up close to finish the guy off.
Whether it was just a natural weak point or if the stress the burning hole in the Behemoths body caused was lowering his bodies surface tension, Smander managed to ram her hands into the dome that was protecting Junior and ripped it open. She reached inside, grabbed Junior by the tentacles of his beard and then pulled.
Panicked, all four arms of the Behemothshed at her, hitting her all over her ming form. The more she exerted herself, the more pronounced the me around her left eye became. The hole that had been fixed was her Endurance, being previously in a state that made her a ss cannon. Now she was more of an offensively weighed all-rounder, allowing her to pull off stunts in melee as well as ranged situations.
With a wet squelching sound, Junior was finally pulled out of the Behemoth, who exploded into the Jelly Colonies that made it up at that point. Smander whirled him around by the tentacle beard two times and then smashed him against his own ships one-way barrier.
Junior! Susie did the only sensible thing and lowered the barrier to get the tentacled fellow back on board. John took that opportunity to have Sylph and Smander carry him onto the ship as well. He would have just run, but by now the buff had ended. Are you okay? She turned to John when he didnt react, You monster!
Rx, nobody turned him into cmari, John tried to calm her down.
Yet, Smander added with a cackle.
What I am saying is that he is still alive andrgely unharmed. Do I need to remind you that it was you who attacked us? Also, can you admit that the molestation usation was a hoax? I really dont like being used of things I didnt do.
I mean, yes it was, I just say that to get Junior into a fighting mood, it works every time, Susie admitted rather easily.
Well, it is a bitch move every time, John said, now feeling way less guilty about the ultimatum he was about to put forward. There was just a major difference between taking from those with different morals and those who were morally bankrupt.
You have a very nice boat.
Chapter 413 – Taking loot from the pirates.
Chapter 413 C Taking loot from the pirates.
Okay, this is it, John said as he slid over a piece of paper that contained, in detail, what he demanded from the gathered pirate crew. Well, pirate in name at least, as there was no indication who hired them and they were more like a spy agency stealing something out of a museum to give it back, showing security ws in the process. Professional ransoming, something like that.
For where this little meeting took ce: at a table underneath a wide umbre at the side of the pool up at the VIP area. John thought he should show some good faith and niceness at least, there was no point in just rubbing in further how superior his negotiating position was. After all, Aclysia and Metra were standing right behind him and in hisp sat a certain person with sickly white skin and hair of the same colour that became azure blue from the neckline downwards.
He would have much rather had this discussion in the VIP area of the restaurant. Problem being that Tilgun had smashed it when he had climbed up to the bridge. It was still being fixed, Construction Slimes doing their best but working at a natural speed, which was quite slow in the rebuilding department. John would give some mana to the storageter; after all, he was supposed to help in case of emergency.
No idea why Sealy had note to him with a question regarding that yet anyway, maybe he was just not nervous enough as the emergency wasnt that great a problem? The captain seemed to be on the cautious side, pushing back any action that could provoke a negative reaction until absolutely necessary.
I really need to extend a hand instead of teasing him just because I am bored, John reprimanded himself, basically, John, stop being a dick.
He took his hand off the paper and went back to eating the grilled meat in front of him. As promised Smander was throwing her barbeque; the two events were happily coinciding.
Senior picked up the paper and began reading out loud for his whole crew, Arrrrticle one
No, no, NO! John interrupted. We are NOT doing that again. Speak normally.
Junior waved with his tentacle beard in a way that look amused, I told you that was out of fashion, old man. Then he continued to guide cut pieces of meat to wherever his mouth was under these tendrils.
Youngsters, no humour or respect for traditions, Senior grumbled. Okay fine, Article one
They went through the entirety of the contract as John had some small talk with Eliza. Small talk that began with the oldest and meanest thing boyfriends could say to their currently eating fuckbuddies. Or whatever was the correct term for Eliza at the current moment. He would have gone with something like beloved. The title girlfriend was reserved for Rave and harem member sounded to impersonal. If he had to take a guess what she would call herself, he would have put his money on side bitch.
Anyway, the words, I think you are gaining weight, came along with his hands travelling to either of her sides and gently pinching a little bit of excess skin between his thumbs and the sides of his index fingers. Of course, that was a lie; her skin, as sick and blueish as it looked, was as smooth and taut as ever over her subtle muscles.
Nevertheless, Eliza immediately dropped her fork, metal ttering on porcin. What? No, fuck, shit, cock, hairy asshole, fuck, ah, I thought I was taking care of that shit, no, cocksucking glutton, she began to ramble on looked down on herself. FUCK, yes, I am getting fat, shit, something inside her brain gave her a false positive just because John had said it. I will fix this, just let me get out and
Wow, sorry, John quickly apologized to her and changed his teasing grip to a deep, inescapable hug. He had massively underestimated that she still had some deeper sitting issues with her head and wouldnt be able to take that as a joke. The more time they spent together and the more of her issues they managed to resolve in one way or another, the more John forgot that she still had some parts of her that would take eternities to fix. If thatment hade from anyone else, she would just flipped them off, from him, the person who she felt deeply indebted to and was in love with, it probably kicked forth something along the thought of if HE says it, there must be something wrong with ME, ending in the self-conviction that she had indeed gotten fat. I was just trying to tease you.
Oh, fuck, she muttered and became limp in his arms. He got to see a rare moment of Eliza blushing, her face turning into a red that dipped a little bit into the purple spectrum. It wasnt the good embarrassed blush of a girl that did something cute, though, but the generally ashamed one of someone who felt stupid. John didnt like those blushes. Are you sure you were just joking, you ass? she asked simultaneously judgemental and pleading. I mean, just look at the enormous thighs! I could feed a fucking family with one of these. If they are creepy cannibals.
Okay, yeah, your thighs are a bit off proportion when seen in rtion to the rest of your body, John admitted and kissed her behind the ear. However, A, they were that way from the start, and B, they arent grotesquely out of proportions or anything, they are just a bit thicker than the rest of you, and I like that. To give his words that bit more believability, he lightly pped her left thigh. Her body became a whole different kind of tense in response.
Motherfucker, she hissed back in a pleased tone, when did you be so pussy-wetting daring in front of randoms?
That was a good question actually. He had never been afraid of showing affection around other people, but somewhat ufortable with going further than that. Then he had eventually started resting his hands on his girls butts in public. Then he walked around an underground disco with a very obvious erection. Now he was feeling Eliza up pretty inly. Just a few days ago he had told Metra that he wasnt into exhibiting himself, and that remained true, but the aversion he felt, a deep difort clogging up his insides, was way less than it used to be.
Of course it is, Siena mentallymented as if that was too obvious to even warrant speaking about.
What do you mean by that? John wanted to know; he was a bit more confused as to what caused that transformation. Perhaps transformation sounded too sudden. A shift, over several weeks.
Just riddle me this, how did you start having sex? Was it vani, boring intercourse? she asked in a dismissive tone.
For the most part, John answered, thinking back to the times where he barely used any toys or gimmicks. A vast contrast to today, where they had very few sessions that didnt at least involve some rope or roley.
I see you are catching my drift, the nightmare elementalughed quietly. You are still waking up from the shackles of societal standards, John. What seemed weird or unfit to your own kinks at first, you might eventually discover to like, and the more you discover, the more arbitrary your old limits seem. What is a little harmless fun where people can see you? What worth is their disapproval to you? Nothing. Why shouldnt you just do what you want where you want it? Because Siena said it, John had a slight suspicion she didnt stop at public sex and went all the way to gouging out the eyeballs of someone who stepped on his nket. However, on closer inspection of her thoughts, she actually turned out to bepletely reasonable this time around. She really was only talking about things that hurt nobody, all she wanted to get across was that caring about their opinions was just not worth taking his erection somewhere more private.
I guess I am bing morefortable with the idea of being seen, he answered thus, both Siena and Eliza. Everyone who cares to find out already knows anyway and the people taking offense already have the nder machine in full swing. So I dont have anything to lose other than getting some awkward photos or videos taken. Maybe I am just bing jaded.
Well, I kind of like it, she purred, and judging by-
Susie cleared her throat loudly enough to pull their attention back to the matter at hand. Could you have this conversationter?
Talking about ndering shitboot, Eliza growled, not at all happy with being interrupted, there sits a person who really wants to experience how it fucking feels to get fucked by tentacles.
What?! she blushed deeply. No, I dont! she nced over to Junior repeatedly.
The obvious and very much unsessful rtionship that is going toe about here aside, John raised his voice with the intention of pulling the conversation under his control, wh-
What obvious rtionship? asked Junior.
What do you mean unsessful?! Susie added.
I care about neither of you enough to tell you, John shot them down, shutting down even less tteringmentsing from Eliza by cutting some meat with a small Mana de at the tip of his finger and then fishing it off her te, stuffing it into her mouth. First she ate it, then she sucked the meat juices off his fingers, and then she just sucked his fingers for the sake of it. Perverse little girl that she was. Seriously, we and you have a passing rtionship at best. All I would want is for you to agree to these terms and then we will never see each other again.
What you want Senior grumbled, its too much!
Well, lets count your criminal offenses, John got a new piece of meat. Going from what bothers me the least to most. You tried to take over the ship and threatened to lose me a day of my time, you broke out of your prison cell They were quiet on how Susie did that, but it didnt take a genius to figure out that she was the Fateweaver of the crew. Someone had to keep the mobile barrier up on the ship and Junior was obviously not it.
So, what was most likely to have transpired was the following: Tilguns appearance set everyone on the ship into full alert for a solid minute or so. The Fateweavers that kept ownership over the barrier, making it so only people they wanted to leave it could, lost concentration in the business. The resulting gap was only big enough for Susie, who was a Fateweaver herself and thus knew how to exploit these things. Once out, she contacted Junior, who was hanging back with the yacht due to some worst case protocol they had. Once that was found out, Sealy asked Senior where she was, who eventually couldnt help himself from boasting that 199 man owars and a yacht were on their way. A panicked Sealy then went to John.
Something along those lines.
then you actually fought me in the middle of my vacation, andstly, you had the audacity to nder me, he finished. I am not going to sit here and pretend that your boat isnt a bit much to ask for aspensation, but I am also going to ensure that you will leave as free people, so silver-lining, right?
Our ship, our wonderful, state of the art, new ship! Seniorined. You are an evil man!
Evil? No, I dont think I qualify for that, John shook his head. I used to think I am a good person, but thats not quite it either, he added. I think I am mostly moral in most of my decisions, however. He forcefully removed his fingers from a mouth that was yfully gnawing at them with teeth that could bite through mithril, recing them with another piece of grilled meat. Its just that I care about myself more than about you, and its not like I am leaving you to die. Once we get close enough to the shore, I will provide you with one of the safety vessels, then you can makendfall further down the continent or wherever you like. Alternatively, you can justnd with us in New York and go about your business.
But MY ship! Junior and Senior said at the same time.
They were turning to stare at each other, but before they could start some sort of generational conflict, John threw a Shardbound between them. You are hired criminals, he reminded them. I know that you arent out to cause any real harm, but that doesnt change the fact that you deal in dirty business. You got no right toin if things dont go your way for a change. He sighed, Seriously, I am giving you a very nice deal here, what do you think the alternative is?
That was met with silence, so John picked up the final piece of meat and fed it to his favourite sub. They are going to keep you in that cell on the drive back. Sure, I wont be there, but I heavily doubt they will ck on the security like that a second time. Even if they do, the only person to get out will be Susie, I am just going to doubt that you have a Captain Boss Junior Junior waiting around somewhere. Once you are back in the Nethends, they will lock you up somewhere to either serve a sentence or talk about who hired you, your ship will be confiscated and your fleet of Jelly Colonies will meet either the same fate or just be killed or donated to a zoo or something. He let all of that sink in for a moment, Meanwhile I will just take your ship. The only way I am not the best option there is if you can escape or if Amalia hired you to get insurance money on this thing.
He used Observe on everyone on the crew and found nothing resembling panic or shame or anything to that extend. So that idea was out of question.
I will leave you with your Colonies, I wont be asking anymore questions, and I wont lock you up somewhere, I will just take your yacht, he looked to the side and into the ocean waves below, where a group of three sailors from the Rising Tide were currently having the time of their life looking after the fully automatically navigated thing, whilst going through the stocked champagne.
John very much wanted to be those sailors, just with orgies instead of champagne. Or maybe an orgy with champagne. Either way, he wanted his own boat to have a private orgy on, that was the point, and this was a quick and cost-effective way to get it. In return he would be releasing a few harmless, pretty ethical criminals back into the Abyss, which was brimming with not harmless criminals. Especially on the side of the pond they were heading to.
So, do we have a deal? John asked and made a gesture over his shoulder. Without dy, Aclysia reacted, pulling a fountain pen from her inventory, circling the table and holding it out to Senior. The idea was that he would sign the contract. While nothing more than a formality, an unregistered boat would change hands from one Abyssal captain to one eighteen-year-old with awesome powers, John still found it kind of necessary. Even if it was pure symbolism.
I know of another way to get out of this, Junior was, raising halfway out of his seat, we could take you hostage!
John didnt even warrant that with a response, just giving him a dead-eyed look. Metra smirked in the background. Come on, she dared him, try, make my day although it doesnt look like you will live long enough to be beat up by me.
What is that even supposed to- Junior noticed the glinting spot of sunlight reflecting from a white mithril de onto the table.
Aclysia, with Eclys raised above the daring kraken-man youth like the sword of Damocles, was looking at him with dangerous, green eyes. Never threaten my master, were the only words she uttered as the fountain pen stilly in her other hand.
And this is why I am the captain, Junior, Senior dered. You have no sense of diplomacy. May I ask that we use one of the safety vessels from the yacht rather than one of the local ones?
Said the guy who tried to shoot me with a stun bullet the first time we met, John thought, keeping it to himself as Senior signed the contract following a nod from the Gamer. Although he had to wonder what was so much better about their boats.
Aclysia took it the second the ink had dried into the parchment, putting it into her inventory. She also took the pen back and then returned to her ce behind John, earning herself a kiss on the way.
Well that was everything I wanted to get done, John told them as he epted the quest. The conditions were quite the bit of time investment, but he needed the reward. I have, against a lot of protest from the captain, arranged for you to get a normal room in the case of this happening. So, have fun. Of course, Sealy was baseline against all of this happening, but John had the advantage of being strong enough to get his will through at this point. There was the risk of Amalia taking this very badly, but he really wanted that boat and thus nned to make amends by making sure the mana batteries were charged enough for the rest of the cruise.
The pirate crew looked at each other for a moment as if he was joking.
You must be asking yourself if I am so stupid to not realize that you can steal the ship when I leave you out of my sight, to which I can only reply he lowered the tone of his voice in what he hoped sounded dangerous, I dare you to try.
It had the somewhat intended effect with one of them paling and the rest making either sour or disappointed expressions. John would have gotten up and shook their hands, but he had an enormous erection due to someone grinding their butt against his hand as she was sucking his fingers as if she could somehow make him cum through them. It was much more likely that her gesture downstairs would soon seed in that.
Aclysia, please show them the quarters in question, he, in a hurry to get rid of them and taking care of that problem,manded.
I will return as quickly as possible, the artificial guardian replied with a bow, knowing exactly that she wanted to catch the tail end of what was going to happen. Please follow me, esteemed trading partners, plus that one moron who dared threaten my John.
They didnt dare to speak up again as they were guided away.
Chapter 414 – Post-contractual coitus [Erotic Content]
Chapter 414 C Post-contractual coitus [Erotic Content]
Fuck, Eliza, John groaned, as the blood mage kept grinding against his crotch. Her ass was sticky from the massive amount of precum that was soaking through his trunks. We need to have sex, ASAP.
What in the name of your cock are we waiting for then, you horny piece of shit? she wanted to know. Just carry me wherever you want to ravage all my holes at, and then we can do some dumb shit like hug or you could abuse me like the slut I am.
Johns lust-fuelled brain went through all the ces this could happen. What was he feeling the most right now? The answer was quite simple: it didnt matter, as long as it got him some immediate relief. His dick was pulsating with so much desire, it killed all the patience he had for getting in-doors. But doing it just right here is a bit too obvious, John thought, a part of his mind still getting on about the drones that sometimes flew over. There was always another hobbyist who thought today was the day he was going to take a spin.
So just in this chair was a bit too much, even for his current state where he was willing to do it in ces a month ago he would have thought to be immoral, but there was a ce not too far away that would obscure the vision from cameras in the important ways.
You dont mind doing this a bit publicly right? he asked.
Just take me where you want, John, her answer came in words between breaths that only grew heavier. It was turning her on in some ways. If you want to show the world that I am your little fuck ve, do it! Do whatever your pervert nerd brain can churn out and then fill me up with all that shit!
That was way more than he needed to hear. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up as he stood. Her legs were dangling in front of him, his dick still pressing against her ass. For a moment Eliza looked disappointed, as she thought they were just heading inside after all. Then she low-key gasped for air as a wave of arousal hit her. She had realized they werent heading for the apartment but for the shallow end of the pool.
Every step along the way drove Elizas thong deeper into the crack of her ass, which in turn caused more of the soft, firm flesh toe in direct contact with Johns dick. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I am so fucking horny right now, shit, Eliza quietly cursed, reaching down to her clit to gently rub it as John carried her. The walk was torture for John, who felt like his dick was going to burst just from the bit of grinding he experienced against her ass and lower back.
They stood at the edge, and John jumped into the pool. For a moment he dared to hope that the water would hit him like a cold wave that would take the edge off his heated mind, but of course that was wrong. The mistake had been to leave Rave in charge of the temperature, so all he was hit by was yet more heat, his thoughts boiling in a sea of arousal.
You said everything, right? John, who had an idea that was everything but humane, asked again, quickly getting out of his trunks, which then sailed to the surface next to him.
Fuck, yes, why do you even need to ask?! Eliza shouted over her shoulder.
Just to make sure, John groaned against the pent-up tension in his balls, begging for release. If it bes too much, p me on the leg a few times.
If what be too mu- Eliza managed to ask before the Gamer opened his arms and pushed her under the water. The blood mage immediately got where this was going, turning around and getting on her knees. Being grabbed by her white hair, the Gamers fingers wing into the floating mess, she was pulled right up to his crotch. She only opened her lips when his cock was pressing against them, wanting to get as little water in as possible.
He lost no time and began violently facefucking her right there. In the water, weight didnt turn out to be of any problem, so he pulled her head over his cock with absolute ease. What he did to her probably counted as torture for normal people and was inviting for brain damage. Facefucking someone as violently would already been a major cause for asphyxiation in ces where there was hope to breathe. Underwater it was just asking for her to fall into aatose state and drown.
That was if Eliza would have been normal. Between her ability to create nutrient and oxygen enriched blood, in other words, without the need to breathe, and her outstanding regeneration, she could not only survive such a treatment but relish in it.
Still though, this was intense on the blood mage. As the well-trained masochist she had be through Nathalias rigorous regime, she knew full well not to draw oxygen from her abilities unless absolutely necessary. Overall, she should do as little as was possible, to allow her dominator to do what he wanted and see it take effect on her.
What this meant was that, after little more than a minute of this abuse, she became very dizzy. After two minutes, she barely knew where up and down was anymore. At three, she had lost all ability to know how much it really had been. The signals on her eyes made no sense anymore, her body was burning and the screams of her lungs battled with her brain for supremacy. A brain that was swimming deeply in adrenaline and dopamine, due to the mixture of a life threatening situation (at least her body thought it to be one) and the feeling of being abused by the man she loved.
The hard prick prated deep into her throat over and over again, spreading the sweet pre-cum in her mouth with every swing of his hips, smacking aggressively against her face as it was pulled over his manhood like a sleeve. It was mechanical, but it and the tingle between her legs were the only things she felt. Her arms held onto his hips, in the most dire of situations she could have perhaps given the signal, but the only thing she felt was something just one magnitude below a permanent orgasm. It wasnt quite the explosive feeling of a real one, but she was just so horny and pumped with hormones that her body emted something close to that feeling.
Suddenly the cock was pulled from her mouth and her head yanked above water, one hand pulling her hair the other holding her throat. There were words, she didnt quite understand them the first time.
You okay to continue, Eliza? John asked in a genuinely worried voice. He had no experience with this level of choking, for all he knew she hadnt even be able to tap out. His naked dick in the hot water was pulsating with the need to be sheathed in something again.
Dont say my name like that, da- Master, call me what I aaaaam, Eliza gasped with a hasted correction in the middle. He held her by the throat, gentle at first and then in a proper bit of choking when it turned out everything was still fine. She was still as durable as he knew her to be.
You slutty piece of ve-meat, then, he told her and pushed her back under water, getting right back into the rhythm. It didnt take long after that, just another minute or so. It seemed his worry that he was overdoing it had actually caused him to tense up to a degree where orgasming had been near impossible, like trying to get an erection in an ufortable situation.
Now, with Elizas willingness restated, he could not hold on any longer. Every thrust into her mouth felt like a thousand little bolts of electricity were assaulting the nerves on his dick in the most pleasing way imaginable. He pulled out as far as possible, smacked back in with enormous might and stayed there, groaning loudly, as his balls tightened and pumped his thick seed into her. Her moans vibrated through his dick, the willing whore doing her best with the little oxygen he had granted her, and that she hadnt wasted on her correction, to fuel her brain with to milk him with her tongue.
He felt her nose and lips against his hairless crotch as his strained arms held her there until the very end. His legs almost giving in, buckling, causing him to be in the water up to the shoulders where the pool should only reach to his upper chest.
When he felt that thest drop had been pumped from his balls, he slowly pulled out. His grip softened, one hand wandering to the edge of the pool to give him something to support his legs with. Eliza broke through the surface, breathing desperate for life.
This looks like fun, a new voice suddenly got into the mix, materializing herself in the shape of Siena appearing behind Eliza. The blood mage wanted to retort something but instead coughed. Aw, dont look at me like that, you know I can make this all even better, right? the nightmare elemental sounded sweet as she bit the much smaller woman in the ear. Can you still go, Master?
Who do you take me for? John asked with a raised eyebrow, grabbing the full might of his erection. I was thinking about fucking her, but now that you are here, do you have any other suggestions?
After watching that magnificent disy right now, I have to tell you that she doesnt deserve to be fucked, Siena gave her not-at-all humble opinion.
What? Fuck you! Eliza chimed in and was given the annoyed re of the two sadists
Eliza, the important people are talking, Johns voice wasmandingly deep. Bend over against the wall of the pool and be quiet, and MAYBE I will decide that you get to cum, you interrupting whore.
The white-haired girl audibly snapped her mouth shut and did as she was told with a conflicted look on her face that quickly turned out of Johns field of view. What he did see was her form as she curved her back in a way that pushed her ass out like she was ready to be bred.
Tempting, John thought as he pulled the conversation over to the mental level so that Eliza would be subject to yet more tension. He couldnt resist fingering the blood mages tight cunt a little as they did talk though. So, what was that about her having not worked hard enough?
You practically did all the work, all she had to do was be there, Siena argued.
Mhm, but I think staying underwater was quite the task, he said to her, feeling the walls around his fingers quiver in an approaching orgasm. He stopped the movements until the quivering subsided, keeping her on the edge.
I will grant her that, the nightmare elemental gave some ground, but did she put in enough effort to be rewarded with a proper fucking?
Did you? John, who saw where she wanted his dick to go instead, asked.
We both know that the best part about me getting fucked instead is her whimpering, Siena said with a fang revealing grin. How about it? I tease her some more while you take me from behind, she will be absolutely crazy by the end of it, ready to cum the moment you prate her.
That was a very nice idea, and she was right. Okay, fine, he retracted his fingers and heard a hopeful moan escape Elizas lips. Then Siena got in between them.
We will have a fun time, the nightmare elemental whispered, pushing out her ass just like Eliza had done as shadowy tendrils sprouted from her back. They wrapped around the crazy little submissive, sliding between her tits, teasing her purplish nipples with tiny des that didnt cut. Tell you what, you are allowed an orgasm whenever John makes me cum. Of course, that also extends to you, Siena mentally added.
Sure, threaten me with a good time, John suddenly pushed inside her and lost no further time with all of this dialogue bullshit. He had only cum once, and he was almost hornier than at the start of this.
It was a supreme feeling to be inside her in several ways. For a start, Sienas pussy was another case of pure unusualness. It was like his whole body was lulled into a dreamlike rxation by the soft pressing of the walls, a state that he had to actively wrestle down lest it killed his motivation to be on top. Another reason was that he had managed to surprise Siena by being this sudden, and not often did he hear a cute sound from the shadow spirit, especially not a feminine, surprised, Aaaah! that was half startled and half pleasure.
Then the dreamlike lull became a nightmarish pleasure as her whole pussy suddenly clenched down on him in perfect control. A cheeky master, that you are, Siena hissed, keeping herself from punishing him by immediately milking him dry, like they both knew she could.
John just grinned and started moving. Siena refused to moan, but through their mental connection and the held back sighs in her whispers to Eliza, he could experience just how effective his every thrust was. The nightmare elemental was not a little turned on herself by the earlier disy, and it became quickly apparent that she wouldntst too long.
When John mmed into her one more time, his hands on her hips, thumps pressing into the soft meat of her criminally bouncy bubble butt, he suddenly saw white as the nightmarish pussy pulsed with pleasure beyond the pale, pushing him right over the edge with her. Sienas cries echoed over the pool, as did his groans and a dulled sound from Eliza, her lips widely parted and stretched to the side by the invading two of Sienas fingers, as a pair of tentacles invaded her anus and pussy simultaneously, bringing her right over with them.
When John, tingled in hispetitive side by Siena and her pledge, didnt stop moving despite sting his seed inside her, the nightmare elemental knew she had miscalcted. Nothing would stop John from being the biggest dominator in his harem. He wouldnt get his sadism levels as high as Siena, he didnt even want that, but if it came down to it, he had the balls in this constetion, and he was going to make sure everybody knew that.
The only way the nightmare elemental had to avoid utter defeat in this situation, which would be to be fucked silly by John and his outstanding cock, was to bring this to an end as soon as possible. So she employed the old trick, not letting him stop spurting seed into her as her pussy stayed as a hellish trap for all men out there to immediately lose themselves inside.
To fulfil her promise to Eliza, she kept tentacle fucking her. The shocks from Johns smacking thrusts reached even the blood mage, who groaned every time, saliva running down her open mouth, tongue hanging out with its tip curved upwards, eyes rolled upwards in a depraved fashion. Siena, to keep herself from letting yet more of her voice slip, bit into the neck of Eliza, which only heightened the masochists desire higher.
Meanwhile, John could feel like he was slowly tapping out, being sucked dry by this absurdly good fuck. One more thrust and he decided to just let it go, deep inside Siena, the remainder of his balls unloading in onest, giant spurt. Take it all! he said in a coarse voice, his body finally giving in from the minute of continuous orgasm.
He just floated on the water for a bit afterwards. Rave handed him his trunks. Can we go inside for a bit? she asked with a nce at the two heavily breathing girls, trying to gain control of themselves. Notfortable with doing it here.
Chapter 415 – Helping the hand he shook
Chapter 415 C Helping the hand he shook
Sooooo-ou-ou-ou, Sealy started barking like his animal side as he nervously stretched that word. Wh-what do you want?
Now John felt immensely guilty. It had already been pretty dickish behaviour when he had teased the captain, but on its own he could have gotten away with it. Now, after throwing his weight around to also get a yacht as his ransom for what was basically no work at all and also ensuring that Senior and his crew were treated way better than they deserved, he felt like he had bitten the hand that fed him.
I really just wanted to offer my help with the mana situation but I guess I should do some more than that, John thought and scratched himself behind the ear in a humble motion. Several things. For a start, sorry for all the things that I put you through. I guess dealing with me isnt always easy, he sounded as genuine as he could, being alone with the captain and his crew on the bridge.
Huh, Sealy blinked repeatedly. Thanks.
An awkward silence ensued, the captain seemingly unsure what to say. John decided to take the next step, I assume you make regr reports to Amalia, right? He got a suspicious nod. When was thest time you sent her one?
Well, because this is the maiden voyage, she wants detailed reports through voice, Sealy answered, and just before the fight. I wanted to make the next one before you came in here, why?
You mind if I do exin what I did to her myself? he asked in a tone that really made it sound more like an offer. The seal mans neck stood at attention, as if he suddenly lost the fear of it getting cut-off. There was no way he would deny that offer. Who wouldnt want to dodge having to make exnations for why they let go of a bunch of criminals and gave the extremely valuable ship away to the VIPs?
So a few minutester, John was sitting on a slightly isted console on the bridge, looking at Amalia on the other side of the monitor. Hello, he greeted her.
Mr. Newman, the elector of the Nethends answered in respectful, impersonal form. Their departing encounter must have left a bit too strong of an impression. Why are you the one giving me a report right now?
That impersonal problem was something John needed to remedy first. Well, some things happened. Let me start with an apology though. I dont think my policy to Observe everyone who could heavily damage me is an unwise one, but I also know that I did it in an overly intimidating and rude way. For that, I am sorry. At the back of his head, he felt Aclysia and Gnome approve of these words. The former of those two presences left with a panicked ping. Not the kind he needed to be worried about, but he had to wonder what spurred that feeling. That was a question forter.
I see, was all Amalia responded. If she felt relieved in any way, or thought he was just lying for his own gain, she didnt show it. Now that she actually looked at John as someone capable rather than an easily fooled 18-year-old with godlike potential, her guard was up. The older woman had been in this game for too long to let anything slip she didnt want to at that stage. That doesnt answer my question.
Right, so here is the gist of it, John quickly broke down what had happened.
I have to say that, if you want to ask for approval of taking the boat now, that is out of order, Amalia told him.
Oh no, I am keeping the boat, he was straightforward with that. I am just being that little bit respectful enough to not take it without ever exining myself. The way I see it, I saved you a whole lot of money by taking care of this entire situation, not to mention me just being here effectively saved the ship. I would say giving me a yacht you didnt even own is a small loss.
And you let those criminals run, Amalia pointed out.
I am 95% sure you are just going to hire them yourself one day,e on, they arent that bad. They attempted to take over the ship with paralyzing bullets. If anything, they saved you the embarrassment of losing this ship to actual pirates whenever someone else figures out how easy it is to hack into the teleportation panel, John now found himself defending the people he had said had no rightsining earlier. One might call that hypocritical, and they may have had a point there, but he preferred to think of it as representing reality urately.
Amalia sighed, Truth be told, I dont particrly care about the yacht. However, your behaviour in this has not been that of a good business partner.
Could be because I dont really see myself as your partner, he told her. Our agreement only covered me protecting the ship around the Antic Fuse and helping out in emergencies in the energy department. Technically, everything I did was outside that agreement. Do you really want to argue over a harmless crew stranded in America and a ship you didnt own?
No, Amalia still didnt sound all that convinced, but she dropped the topic. I dont like not finding out who hired them, if anyone even did, but as you are already set in this without consulting me, this matter is not worth bickering over.
Well, at least on the consulting part I can agree, definitely pulled the trigger too early there, John said, following it up with what he hoped sounded like a joke. I just REALLY wanted that boat, its a really nice boat. Nobodyughed.
Is that all you wanted to do? Inform me about your hastened decision? Amalia asked.
Pretty much, but I am going to help in the whole fixing and mana problems now, going to save you the repair costs, he told her.
I see, you go about doing that then, Amalia said and suddenly ended the call.
That didnt go quite as well as I hoped, John thought, staring at the now ck monitor. His mind went over the conversation in retrospect immediately, trying to find how he could have made this a bit nicer of a conversation. For a start, it really was a mistake to be so tantly greedy, he reprimanded himself, didnt even think about that until now, I just wanted that ship. Shouldnt let that be a habit. If I had consulted her first on this, I am pretty sure I could have convinced her on giving me everything I wanted anyway. Best get some more experience in negotiating.
The deals he had made up to this day had always been pretty cut and dry. Two people wanted something the other was willing to give. He wanted money, Lydia wanted a fighter. He wanted an elemental, the mother of shadows wanted her daughter in freedom. He wanted some time to think about a decision, they wanted an insurance in the form of Aclysia - not knowing she could teleport.
He was good at getting an equal deal where not a lot of bartering went into the process, but it was hard being bad at something were everyone went in with already fulfilled expectations. That was like being bad at holding a basketball. I best learn the rules and how to best score a point, John finished the metaphor as he resigned himself to a break in his vacation. So, captain, he turned to Sealy, tell me where you need me the most.
__________________________________________________________________
Okay, Gnome, I need you to bend that back into shape. Undine, have you found the shards? Great. Smander, help Gnome by heating this metal up would you? Sylph... he looked at the tiny wind elemental sitting on the edge of a broken table, keep nibbling on that cookie. She saluted with one hand while holding the sweet with the other. It was the size of her torso.
Why do you even have them do all of that? Siena asked as she was just as useless but way less cute, standing there with her arms crossed. John could have made her work, either through pressure or a rule. However, as the nightmare elemental saw this as beneath her, he would have paid for itter in the form of her being incredibly grumpy. As she wouldnt be a great help anyway, he just didnt bother.
For what they were doing: they were fixing the ss ceiling of the restaurant. It costs less mana to repair things that at least approach the original form, even if I dont use Craft to do it, John told her, and Craft doesnt create new materials, so I need those shards. I dont need to fully fix it in the first ce, just enough that the Slimes have an easy enough time getting to the rest of it.
Gnome stepped aside after having bent a metal framing piece back into the correct angle. With Undine holding all the ss shards she kept inside her body, or rather a water bubble that was attached to her, John used Craft. It was important that allponents of the wanted whole were connected in some way, the more direct the better. That single frame cost him 750 mana, not a terrible price all things considered. He could fix one of those roughly every eight minutes.
_____________________________________________________________________
Next up John went to the hole in the side of the ship. The temporarily vacated apartments that were hit by Tilguns ws took a bit longer to fix. The hull of the Rising Tide was a lot sturdier than the ss and Craft couldnt do much where materials had been pulled into the ocean. Wherever the walls had just been punctured inwards, the group could fix most of the damage by bending the metal back into shape and then giving some mana to the ever-helpful Slimes.
That was actually most of the work for everything they fixed on the ship. Fixing some bent structures, then giving the Construction Slimes a power boost for them to fix everything up a lot faster.
______________________________________________________________________
I have to say that I am impressed, John said when he stood in front of the mana reactor. It was a several metre tall barrel of a bronze metal, Observe said Baelementium, with an open mid-section. At the sides, opposite from each other, were two golden disks that slowly circled through that centrepiece. Each of the disks was holding ten mana batteries of cylindrical shape, which touched and unloaded their energy into the reactor as they passed through the opening. Empty ones were changed by an automatic procedure involving a mechanical arm.
Those empty mana batteries were Johns new job. He had lost the whole day at this point, bar the morning and that little sex break. Howte is it anyway? John thought and checked his phone with a yawn. Two in the morning?!
He had been spending that time just wandering from one repetitive task to the other, so he had barely noticed time flying by. Didnt help that it was this dark for a long span of time in the winter. Curses upon the early setting sun.
So, I am going to charge a mana battery and call it a day there, John said to Sealy.
That ispletely fine, yes, I am very happy with that. The captain had indeed been impressed with most of Johns help. Although I dont think you can charge one of them in one go.
Mhm, he hummed as they reached one of the two storerooms, if it even deserved that name. In the undecorated reactor room, the areas where the batteries were stored were basically just three metre tall walls that were open at the top to allow the mechanical arms to reach inside. A heavily locked door opened only upon Sealy putting in a 16-number code.
Inside John found three things. To his left were the empty mana batteries, about half a metre high and 25 centimetres wide. They somewhat reminded John of just regr batteries, simply upscaled. However, they were made from a thick tube of a translucent material, sealed off at the top with a light and at the bottom with a dark bronze metal te, engraved with white lines.
John crunched the numbers, just because that was a thing he did. The engine consumed about 60000 Maybel an hour, that was 1440000 per day, 10080000 for the entire week they were going. Therefore, they had to have 100,8 batteries to keep the engine running. The engine did include the mobile barrier, thats what research on the matter had told him.
What he found around himself didnt seem to be just 50 of these batteries though, and this was just half of it. Neatly stacked from his left, where they stood empty, to his right, where their insides were filled with a mass of mana that was well, it reminded John of that video of a chemical at the triple point. Which was to say, it was rapidly changing, or simultaneously all three of them, between being solid, liquid and gas.
How many do you have on board? John asked.
318, Sealy reported, he was bing a bit overly trusting by now.
That left 217,2 batteries for other consumption. Now John would have liked to say that there was no way that such an amount of energy could be consumed, but there were on a luxurious cruise with lots and lots of people wanting only the most perfect of things. Also they were literally heating the air around them.
Well, you were right that I wont be able to charge one fully, but about 2% I can give instantly, John said and headed for the apparatus in the middle of the storeroom. It was a chair, to give it a generous description, and a giant metal box with somefortable leather put onto it, to give it a less generous one. John sat down in it and put his hands into some attached cases, gripping the handle inside.
It felt like he was the water going down the suddenly opened drain in a sink filled to the rim. Over the course of just a little over 20 seconds, he was sucked dry. He was mindful enough to let go before he waspletely empty, lest he found out that the Mana Drain was taking his mana before his skills did and suddenly Aclysia would stop getting paid for and die.
At least now he knew.
He got back out of the chair with no intention of getting back in for the little mana he had left at that point. There we go, I am going toe back tomorrow. I will charge like one of these bad boys per day, would that be enough?
As far as I am concerned, we already weathered most of the energy crisis by having no more real need for keeping the slimes active, a very happy Sealy said, pping his hands together, so there is no reason for you to waste your whole day sitting there.
John cleared his throat as he thought about a way to say this without sounding like he was trying to brag. You assume I would need the whole day I need three hours just need to strain myself, but thats what the rest of the vacation day is for, right?
Of course, that straining thing was a lie, he just didnt want to make it too obvious that his powers were stupendously reliable. At his current rate of 10,66 MP per second (after reductions), he regenerated 38376 mana an hour. Therefore, for 100000 he would need about 2 hours and 36 minutes.
That is uuuuuuh, Sealy stood there dumbfounded as John pat him on the shoulder in passing.
Its he yawned again, its bullshit, you can say it."
Chapter 416 – Shadowy progression
Chapter 416 C Shadowy progression
So, what, you just sit there? Siena asked, ying with Johns phone. He was having his girls take shifts entertaining him as he sat there. The apparatus was perfectly capable of taking just half his mana, so he could be ying phone games. That was pretty much his only sce in these boring times. However, the nightmare elemental had taken his phone away from him a minute after she arrived, due to a mixture of being annoyed of not having attention paid mostly to her and the usual sadism. At least she had the mind to operate it with normal fingers rather than her ws.
Yup, for another thirty minutes or so, John sighed. I promised to do it, but that doesnt make it less boring. He just skipped the question why she even needed to ask. Either she was just teasing him or she had already gone to sleep when he had done this yesterday.
What difference are three filled batteries even going to make? Siena asked, looking at the things on the screen in a bored fashion. There was a short moment where she was grinning mischievously, but it didntst long enough to make John worried.
About the extra expenses of a higher dragon getting towed, John told her. 3 batteries are about 1% of the total mana expenses, dont underestimate the power of that single digit.
Oh, I never underestimate single dick-its, she made a bad innuendo that didnt even make her chuckle. Her overly sensual voice was like soft silk running over the smooth, oiled legs of an attractive dancer, despite the poison she was often spewing. It is a certain bliss to see you getting sucked dry like this.
She walked close with such an overbearing catwalk that Johns eyes had to travel to the hypnotic bouncing of her chest and swaying of her hips. Her sharp high-heels echoed in the otherwise quiet hall. Do you HAVE to give me an erection? John asked as she half-climbed onto him, resting her left knee on his leg.
Aww, whats wrong big boy? she purred in the tone of a woman that could tease someone into insanity. Sounds like there are some pent-up frustrations, how about we just release... she paused, one of her fingers trailing up and down the bulge in his pants, some of those principles that cause them.
You know where yourck of principles got you, John reprimanded her, I dont want to live solely goal oriented. I am too powerful for a the end justifies the means mindset. I may blow up a city if I go there.
No reason to go that far, Siena continued, closing in on his ear with her fanged mouth forming yet more disgustingly sweet words. I bow to your wisdom in this, Master, but how about you meet me halfway? We will do the things that could actually harm someone your way and the things that are just fun mine. Meet me inside me, so to say.
I am not quite sure what your way of fun entails, he was naturally skeptic.
Mhm, lets start nice and simple. Dominating the willing in the bedroom, you are already doing that, take what you want from those who do you wrong, you also did that, then there is my question why you even mind having sex in the open, which you answered in my favour. Myst suggestion would be to finally take your remaining inhibitions about sex in public ces and throw them out, she licked her lips, how about it? I can think of a lot of pleasing things I can do to you in this chair.
Public? Okay, we can do that eventually, John had no doubt about where he was going in the metaphorical Pervert skill tree after yesterdays tumble with Eliza. He still felt no pleasure at the thought of being watched by strangers, but hey, if he felt like taking one of his girls then and there, there was little reason not to. In the definition that we could do it in like the bushes of a park or under a bridge or in a car in parking lot. I wont do it on some town square though, and I also wont do it on someone elses private property with security cameras pointed at me. He gently pushed her backwards, the lower part of his palm pressing against her big breast. Okay, at least I still have basic desire control, he apuded himself. Wouldnt want to stick my dick into everything in every situation. I am degenerate enough as is.
Siena backed off with a disappointed sigh, swinging her body around until she was just sitting on his legs. Ah, another failed attempt at getting you to have some fun. She stretched, pushing out her chest, the dark purpletex-esqueyer that covered her blue skin shifted to give a spectacr view of her cleavage.
Do you NEED to do that? John asked; he was almost able to hear the zipper on his pants being undone by the stretching of the fabric around it.
Need is such a versatile word, sheughed, wiggling her hips as if she was trying to get morefortable, but in reality, it was a move to remind him of the existence of her heart-shaped pillow of an ass. Seeing you bothered like this does satisfy a need deep in me.
John closed his eyes and did his best to convince himself that he was a Buddhist monk in the process of swearing off all worldly possessions. That worked well until Siena whispered right into his ear with her annoyingly sexy voice again.
Are you annoyed by me challenging your morals all the time? His lids slowly pulled back up to look into Sienas snake-like eyes. The question came from a genuine ce, if the worry in her eyes was anything to go by. It is not my goal to annoy you, she exined herself, I just think you arent concentrating as much power on yourself as you should.
To answer your question first, John was actually happy to take this conversation, as it forced some of his blood from his lower into his proper brain, no, I dont mind it, even if it gets a bit annoying at times. Not only does it force me to actually think about my principles on a regr basis, but there is also the chance that you are right about something. Maybe I am looking at some stuff too rigidly. The way I see it is that you are the force that is supposed to keep my mind expanding into every direction, no matter how immoral that may be. Stirwin and Gnome, mostly Gnome, are there to keep reminding me that not every problem ought to be solved in the quickest way. That make sense?
I suppose Siena made a pained expression, as if every single word she continued with hurt her physically, With my personal track record of immoral solutions, not listening to my advice may be wise.
At least you finally admit to that path being wrong, John smiled and brushed through her silky greyish pink hair. I know you wont ever be something anyone could call a good person; you are the wraith that cuts down the betrayers in the night. You are twisted and operate under your own ideals first without considering society atrge. That is exactly what makes you evil but also necessary and beautiful. He almost seeded in pulling her into a kiss, but a w with an edge sharper than shattered ss rose between them.
I dont quite get that, she said, could you borate?
The murderousness and torture aside, John told her, a society without people that challenge the status quo will either forget what makes it good or be stagnant. I think that is the fate that befell Romulus, he didnt surround himself with enough people who would say to him the things he didnt want to hear and, when they did, he didnt listen often enough to make it sink in. Until he was violently shook awake, of course.
Thats why I need you, you will do despicable things for reasons I cant agree with, but you will also make me think about when these things are necessary no matter how much I despise them. Where are my own moral boundaries and what must happen for me to be willing to cross certain lines? At your worst you show me an example of what not to do, at your best you will point out to me and force me to correct my own ws. Is that clear en-
His lengthy exnation was ended by the sudden removing of the separating edge and Sienas lips pressing on his. Yes, she said with the sly smile of someone who had gotten exactly what they wanted. Did she get him monologing just so she could be the one to initiate the kiss? That was some petty level of trying to have control. What is the second thing? You said to answer your question FIRST, she continued the conversation.
Right, second, I still dont really get what you want in a guy, just because of how contradicting it seems. John began to list, I am supposed to be nice, but also ruthless, self-centred, but also give back to themunity, but also concentrate power on myself alone, but also never abuse it. Do you want me to be a benevolent dictator or something?
I do like the sound of that, Siena hummed. Benevolent so they know its best to be under your boot and a dictator because you still keep it in ce firmly. Yes, that does strike me as very pleasing.
Well then, I guess I can try that, John wondered how far off that was to his actual end conclusion of bing a figurehead like Romulus was. That even Sienas shady logic lead to that same conclusion was a bit weird. As they say, all roads lead to Rome, he sarcastically remarked to himself. It was more than likely that Siena had a whole different set of ideas about what checks and bnces should be put into ce, or if something like a truly benevolent dictator even existed, but the direction was the same. Can you stop that?! he then asked when Siena revealed her naked breasts right in front of his face. The erection, so barely gone, came back immediately. Is it possible to have this talk without you trying to tease me?
No, Siena sounded almost offended. Who, exactly, do you think you are talking to?
Fair point, John sighed heavily. I guess if it bothered me too much, I could just make it a rule.
What even are my current rules? Siena wanted to know; it had been a while since theyst talked about that passive he had exclusively to control her.
There are none in ce, he responded and earned himself a Siena who straightened herself in shock, liquid shadows covering her nipples again.
Are you serious? Siena asked, gone was her docile sexy tone. I could have tossed away that annoying violin already and gone back to torturing those who annoy me?!
Dont you have a bit more of a requirement for actually torturing people than just annoyance? John tried to get back at her by acting like a smartass. Ow, ow, ow, stop that! He got a nonverbal response to that in the shape of Siena twisting his free arm in a painful way.
The shadow spirit had long since figured out that cutting him a little bit didnt bother John and cutting him a lot was farther than she wanted to go. Therefore, twisting his joints was the best way to cause him some prolonged suffering. Yes, you could have! Jesus, woman. She let go and John shook out his hand out of habit, not that Gamers Body needed the help to fix the pain. I almost have to appreciate your capacities of finding out how to hurt people in the most effective ways. Its an artform that should never be appreciated.
One that you allow me to practice again, why? the nightmare elemental was confused.
I trust you.
They always said love was the most important part of the three magic words, but in this situation those three alone made Siena go wide-eyed. Without any strings attached to me? You would trust me to leave your side and go about my own day?
Yes, he told her and she looked at him as if he was insane. Look, he continued on, if you want to prove me wrong, if you want to shatter how far we came, by publicly slicing apart the first thug you find, go ahead. I just dont think you will, because I trust that whatever we got going by now is more important to you than instantly gratifying your urges.
I- Siena started, unsure how to respond to that. You are you saying that you are?
I trust you, he repeated, I wouldnt say I love you or have even fallen for you. I just can now believe that I someday soon will see something in your eyes. It will be nothing explicit, nothing really great about you, maybe just a little act of something I believe you would only ever do for me or maybe you will just appear in my thoughts when I least expect it while I am walking over a market and I will pick something up and think about how much you would like it. It will just be there and that will be that. Love was such a flimsy thing.
Their talks stopped there, interrupted by the sound of Prussias Gloria.
Chapter 417 – Queen of Hindsight
Chapter 417 C Queen of Hindsight
I demand an immediate exnation! the aggregated voice of Lydia sted into his ear. I further want it to be good, precise and extensive. Why has Smander been subjected to Lorylim, why are you letting her run around with those obvious marks, why isnt she contained in someboratory? Epassing all of this I just need answers to a lot of whys, John!
How do you even know that? John returned a question himself. I just sent you the photos I took with everyone at the Antic Fuse. Which, granted, was set-up for this exact conversation, but I still didnt exin to you where the marks came from.
Yes, you did? Lydia now sounded confused. I received the text a few minutes ago.
But I didnt send anything, I didnt even have my pho- SIENA! he put the phone to the side to give the nightmare elemental a pissed stare. And that just after I said I trusted you.
Admittedly, bad timing on my part, Siena didnt look like she felt guilty at this in the least, sitting in a seat made from awork of shadowy tendrils that sprouted from her back, bnced on three purple des. But you were nning to do this anyway; I just thought it would be funny if it happened to you unexpectedly.
You are getting into the maid outfitter, he growled. Guess I have to use one of those rules again. Sure, forcing Siena to obey everyones orders for a few hours was the ssical punishment, but it was the ssical punishment because she still hated it, it was effective. At least thats what her unwilling grimace and mental wave of unhappiness indicated. Something told John that wouldnt prevent future instances of little pranks like this, but he couldnt leave it unpunished either. He decided to just be happy that this was the actual worst she had done to him in a while.
Okay, I am back, John said to the sound of Lydia hitting the deepest note on her piano repeatedly. The note was cut short, she was listening. Not wanting to keep her waiting further, he started exining. So, remember that video chat sex session we had two days ago
_____________________________________________________________________
You are a moron, she stated.
I know.
An absolute idiot. Are you fine? Anysting problems? the fact that Lydia asked that for the second time in 10 seconds made it clear just how worried she was. The queen wasnt one for repetition, much less for information that was so easily summarized.
I am fine, I have a scar like Undines now, I think you can see it on some of the photos, but I also got a resistance skill out of it, he thus did summarize it and received, after a semi-long pause, a distraught sigh.
I really wish you wouldnt mess with things I dont even understand, she said.
Yeah, about that, John was finally done charging a mana battery, so he pulled his left out of the metal case it had been in for the past three hours. The condensed sweat covered it in a dampyer, and he got a towel from his inventory to wipe it off. The phone stuck between his shoulder and ear. I think I am starting to understand those things.
I hope you mean on an analytical level, Lydia wanted rification.
Yeah, obviously I am not saying I am getting on their side. It just has be evident to me that you have perhaps overhyped their threat due to never encountering them before. They are certainly not something that is unbeatable, John told her. Although, much like the myth of porcupines being able to spray their quills, I guess its healthy for everyone to think that. Most people are not me, after all.
What are you getting at? Lydia wanted to know.
That they arent any reality warping force, just one that would like to see everything closer to their image. Thus treating them as anything but a disease would be false, John exined. Long story short, I can kill them and I will wherever they get in my way.
I certainly hope your assumption is correct and that you stay in the clear of unnecessary trouble, Lydiamented.
Well, I am not going to fight the Old God before getting ready for raiding. As that joke didntnd with the non-gamer queen, he exined, Its World of Warcraft things: Old Gods are tentacle alien, slime, thing monsters that are the end bosses of dungeons that you need to be max level for. In other words, I am going to try and reach Eliza levels of strong before I challenge anything that looks like a higher Lorylim, like whatever that Izha thing actually is.
I see, the royal got the message. In my estimation that is still a moronic scheme, but it is not like you are going about this with the wrong mindset. Just be careful and dont turn North America into the next sunken continent, and do take care of yourself. I do still love you.
She said thatst part in a tone that sounded more like she was talking about mary debt, with just a little cute pause in the middle. Silently, John hoped that she was blushing on the other end of the line.
For the moment my primary n is to avoid them like the gue, John assured her. I have other affairs to get through first. I am just thinking about what will happen if I inevitably sh with them again.
Inevitably? Lydia asked.
They have ripped a part out of themselves to try and corrupt Smander, they once seeded in partially corrupting Undine, and I also bear the scars already. So there is this thing about me being a tasty target. On the flipside, you think that in the whole of the unsupervised USA, there will be no one to y around with powers he really shouldnt?
A fair point, although I wouldnt say all of the USA is unsupervised. There are several mid-tier guilds around there, albeit few even reach the upper echelons of that broad category, and the Order of the Golden Rose branch over there has been expandingtely.
Wait a second, John remembered that name, The Golden Rose is important?
Important in what regard? Compared to the overarching forces at y in the world? Not currently, maybe in a few years time, if they continue to have sess in the USA, which I doubt with you arriving on the scene. Historically they have yed quite the role, especially in their homnd of Britain. Theye from a long line of female warriors that hold a very special innate ability, one of the incredibly few that is truly inheritable. They have been something akin to an inquisition in the Abyss. Put simply, it is their self-dered mission to keep people in the Abyss from bing heinous viins or, alternatively, contain whoever already is corrupt in their eyes. If that doesnt work, they are not above killing.
I know them more like moral busybody police, sticking their noses into peoples business who dont fall in line with their own moral code, John countered. Remember that they had their American base in my hometown?
Ah, correct, I did actually forget that, Lydia admitted. With your potential, you would be on their list of people to watch. If you had kept your hands rtively clean, I doubt they would have moved against you.
How would you know?
There is a local branch here in Germany, so I deal with them from time to time. They were not happy when I announced our rtionship.
So, what you are saying is that they are moral busybodies, John joked. No, but seriously, I dont think they are bad people, just pretty rigid in their beliefs.
I would agree to that; as I stated, they are quite inquisitive, Lydia told him, but I dont think you will have to necessarily be enemies with them. If you can convince them to follow the rules youy down and that those rules dont interfere with their mission at the heart of it, they wont be of harm to you. You may even be able to convince to serve as some sort of special police in whatever structure you will build. You will have to negotiate that with whatever Warden is leading them when you get to them.
In Johns mind an image of Moira popped up. The redhead with the green eyes that he had picked Rave over at the start of this crazy journey. Well, that will be an interesting meeting, he thought. I think I can do that; she has been pretty reasonable when I spoke to her in the past. Even if she wasnt happy with my life choices. I wonder how they got to be anything influential though.
Remember how you dismantled the heart of the vassalwork that kept them ying whack-a-mole with the local guilds, leaving it in an easily conquerable state, whilst fulfilling your wish to save a certain blood mage? Lydia said with dry sarcasm.
Johns answer was interrupted by a series of terribly loud interference signals that hurt his ears. Christ, what was that? he wanted to know, having to wait for Gamers Body to take care of that annoyingly loud beeping sound.
Thanks, now I am deaf on my left ear for the next hour or so, Lydia scolded him, her voice going from rtively quiet to normal levels as she changed her ears. NEVER teleport while having a phone conversation.
I will remember that, he promised. Do we have anything else bad to talk about?
I am doneining, if that is the knowledge you seek, Lydia informed him.
Do you have a minute or two? I want to talk to you about some non-serious stuff.
I dont, she said while hitting a few keys, a light-hearted little melody in the background, but I am sure I can bete to a meeting for once. Any particr topic you want to know about?
Just how you have been doing, he told her. Just tell me what springs to your mind.
There was a slight dy, with her strumming along to a melody she hummed, then she spoke up again, My room has been starting to be mildly messy, much to my dismay.
Really? John asked in a disbelieving voice. YOUR room? I thought there was a physicalw that it couldnt be disorderly.
I have been attempting to still govern my old areas in the same way I did before attaining rulership over the rest of Rex Germaniae, she sighed deeply. There are not enough hours in the day. I felt the stress building up and was forced to recognize that I cannot continue like that. As such I started delegating work, but finding the right people to give work to is also work. So, I have had little time to clean my room, a state that will likely continue until the end of next week. Ah, she stopped, but this is a sort-of serious topic once again.
No, no, keep going, he hastily ensured her that this was fine, going to the fridge and pouring himself some orange juice. I am happy to be yourint box. So, what are you giving away, just your old direct governances?
Lydia dly took the opportunity to rant a bit. I have a two-tier ordering system where I rank the importance of my work based on how broad they are and whether they are my private ownings or Rex Germaniaesnds. Generally, I am pulling out of most of the more detailed management, however. With my new role to be the judge over federal conflicts, I just dont have the opportunities to sit down for an extended amount of time to calcte or think about the most efficient solution to anything. Thus, I am putting ministers and mayors on it. As stated earlier it is really hard to find the correct people for the problems at hand. For example, Maximillians sister, Ria, is doing a superb job at broadly governing her realm, but she keeps pulling money from the funds that should go to reconstruction efforts to just construct something else entirely.
Like what? John blinked.
I dont know; she tried exining it to me, but all I found out was that she desired way more Wahr-Bronxe than anyone could ever need for anything.
John remembered that being loot from one of his dungeon encounters, You might want to check if she is building a steampunk city anywhere.
I am in the process of doing exactly that. Maximillian is on the ship with you, correct?
Yes, why?
Whack him over the head from me for leaving me alone with this crazy technocrat. I would much rather deal with his bravado than her constant unwillingness to govern. She does it, but she keepsining about having skipped the line of session exactly for this reason.
Give me a second, John said, emptying his ss of orange juice and then going outside. Finding Maximillian in the arms of Stef wasnt all that hard. The Gamer hit the back of the kings head with the back of his hand.
What the hell, buddy? Maximillian looked up to him with a startled re.
Sorry, following orders from your queen, sheins about having to deal with your sister, he told him and then marched off.
Tell her to shove it up her ass!
Heard that? John wanted to know.
Yes, I wont honour that with a response, Lydia told him, now in a slightly better mood. Also tell Aclysia I miss her tea. I could really use her here right now.
Just her? What about the rest of us? John spoke in an obviously fake offended way.
Whilst I would enjoy yourpany, you are also poison to a sessful work environment. Between the sex, the chaos and the overall discord you would cause, governing would be a hard time, she answered in the Lydia typical honest stoicism. The piano melody in the background ceased, Ah, but now I am stretching the amount of time I can justify to lose to the council.
Whats it about? John was kind of unwilling to let her go, so he tried to have her talk just a few more words before he was going to be deprived of her voice again.
The correct allocation of the rebuilding funds and what sections that were destroyed should be looked at for improvement rather than restoration. Ria was very enthusiastic about this one, she sighed. It will be an interesting one. Speak to you soon again?
Whenever you can find the time, John promised.
Chapter 418 – A hellish cooking room
Chapter 418 C A hellish cooking room
Putting Siena in a maid outfit had several levels to it, depending on how severe her offense had been in Johns opinion. Minor obstruction of everyday life, paranoia causing pranks or overbearing insults? That was a level 1 and earned her the misfortune of wearing the maid outfit for a short period of time. She couldnt hide with it on either, as the outfit wasnt part of her and thus couldnt be brought into the shadows. A level 2 came about when she tantly did something people did not want her to do. That was already pretty rare, especially since Siena no longer was working against Johns interests whenever she got the chance. At that stage the rule that she had to obey everyones wishes for the duration of her dress-up was added.
For the third and final level, when John was extremely annoyed with Siena, he changed just one little thing about level 2. He gave Siena to her nemesis, which, in other words, meant that Aclysia had oversight over her for the duration of her punishment. If there was one thing Siena hated more than having to take orders, then it was getting schooled throughout the whole process about how she was doing it wrong.
Thus, he was now taking the unruly nightmare elemental to the kitchen, where Aclysia was currently helping the master chef that was creating artwork for the taste buds and trying to learn all his tricks in the process. Attempts to reach her mentally had failed; she was so heavily invested in her work that she didnt hear him. He could have done the equivalent of shoving a stick into her stomach to get her attention, but he feared that he would cause her to drop something by doing that. Therefore, they were now going there without a warning.
They walked the way, instead of using the teleporter, just because John enjoyed that little bit extra humiliation that Siena endured as she walked one step behind him.
Where are we - Saudi-Arabia?! Siena hissed at him mentally.
If we were, you would be wearing a lot more than that, he mused right back at her.
Can I at least cut the hands of those who touch me?
That is overly extreme, but if anyone does grope you, you can hurt them in non-permanently damaging fashions.
Lucky for the men on board, they knew better. Although there were many winks and whistles at the overly short skirt and the tightness of the cloth around her ample chest, nobody had the audacity to try to get a feel. John had a feeling that knowledge about him was now slowly seeping into the public, either that or manners werent as dead in the Abyss as he thought.
Anyway, they made their way over to the restaurant undisturbed. Once there they navigated towards the kitchen and, barring a short questioning by a waiter what they nned to do, were quickly let in. It seemed that Aclysias name already carried some weight with the staff.
YOU DONKEY, YOU CALL THAT A CLEAR BROTH?! THIS IS PISS! were the first words that reached Johns ears. What are you standing there for, all fucking shocked?! Go simmer some more Grohoskies in it and try to salvage this yellow embarrassment!
The cook in question, a small ant girl, ran away with the oversized pot in her four arms. Miraculously, she did so without spilling anything. And who the fuck are you now? the screaming person went over. Who let this trunk wearing flubbersnicker into MY kitchen?! he immediately turned onto everyone else without waiting for an answer.
Now John did not have an idea as to what he had expected from the chef, but a person with an afro like a sheeps fur and the attitude of Gordon Ramsay was not it. Two horns pointed out of the giant hai he was wearing.
Hey, I am John Newman, I am with Aclysia, he quickly said despite the Don not even looking in his direction. Thatment saw the immediate flipping of the rtionship score from -25 to 50 in the positive range.
Ahhh, you must be that master she is always on about,e in, Ram said in something approaching a friendly tone. BUT DONT TOUCH ANY-FUCKING-THING! Clear?
Crystal, John answered, keeping an eye on Siena, who clearly looked like she wanted to ruin someones day. The rules gripped tight though, so everyone was safe from any mischief she may cause.
I have never seen an Artificial Spirit that great at cooking, Ram immediately went intoplimenting Aclysia. To John, that was wonderful to hear; the more appreciation she got, the better. With theirck of normal taste buds and everything, they normally make passable cooks at best. They can prepare ingredients alright, dicing, cutting, grilling, the whole shebang, but only ording to instructions so the final dish alwayscks a personal note. She, well, she seems to have figured out to do everything by smell. At least thats the only exnation I have. The other would be that she analysed someone elses taste so thoroughly with every meal that she now got some sort of internalized feeling for it.
I actually think thetter is more likely, John told him. She can be a bit obsessive with me and I dont think her sense of smell is that outstandingly great. Perhaps a mixture of both?
Baaaa, he bleated like normal people would say huh. A mixture then.
The kitchen was made of rows upon rows of stations, with each one of them having one to three people working on dishes. Despite their separated working stations, everyone in this kitchen was part of one fluid process. Ingredients travelled through the whole room, being put through different stages of preparation by whoever was currently best suited for it and were used in several dishes during their travels. The team at work here was well attuned to each other,municating wordlessly to a degree that someone who had very little in the knowledge of cooking but very much in the way of group battles like John could appreciate at the face of it.
Yo, Aclysia! the chefs tone became immediately harsher. Seemed like he had a habit of whipping his support staff into shape through some mean behaviour.
Chef, yes, chef? Aclysia didnt look up from her current work. She was in the process of using her mithril knife to reduce a piece of cabbage into thousands of paper-thin stripes at a level of speed that made her hand just a blur. The constant cking of the knife against the board underneath mingled perfectly with the symphony of a working kitchen.
Take your fucking break already! You have been at this since eight in the morning.
I dont require breaks, chef, Aclysia told him. Meanwhile John was just amazed at how sexy she looked with her hair bound together at her neck. It would have gotten in the way otherwise, he guessed that much.
I dont fucking care. You have guests, so tend to them before they ruin the workflow! thest word perfectly coincided with the cabbage being dumped into arge pot and then carried off by another ant-girl.
Aclysia turned around to see John and went into shocked wide eyes and then a deep bow. I am deeply sorry for not noticing you, Master! she dered.
Just apologize while you are not in the way! Ram shouted over his shoulder as he walked away. Take him to the practice board or something, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE, MOOOOVE!
Aclysia did as asked. In an act of consideration, they took the longest route to their destination, for the simple reason that someone was frying bacon on the way and John was not wearing a shirt. They arrived at a smaller cornerstone of the kitchen that was unused. By the fact that it had been named the practice board, chances were that this was the designated area for neers or, as Aclysia exined a momentter, the Dons kid who wanted to try his hand at the craft early in life.
Currently that little furball wasnt around, so they had the corner to themselves.
I doubly apologize for not hearing you, Aclysia bowed again when she heard what brought them here and why she hadnt received a warning. I was tasked with cleaning a six-legged turtle. They have a lot of poisonous ducts that need to be removed carefully, lest the poison spills out and ruins all of the meat.
Ah, that kind of cleaning, John had been confused for a moment. Anyway, Siena has been a terrible girl so I wanted to do the usual shtick. He looked around, Although it seems like you are preupied.
As the chef pointed out, I do still have my 30-minute break open, so I am avable for a little bit, she told him with a smile. Although I can think of something that Siena can do regardless.
The nightmare elemental raised any eyebrow. And what would that be? Thirty secondster she stood there with a knife and an apple and a displeased look in her eyes, I hate this.
Thats the idea. Now start preparing it for our master, chop chop! Aclysia pped in her hands. Seemed like she had picked up some leadership strategies from Ram. Thankfully not the swear words, John had enough girls that used them intionary in his life.
Begrudgingly, Siena ced the apple on the counter and began cutting away at it. Even though her movements were reluctant, she had an unsurprising amount of skill with knives and quickly produced eight even sized pieces on a te.
As predicted, I can use you for preparation work, Aclysia said and thus gave her some orders to continue where she herself had left off with the cabbage. The intention behind sending her off on her own was as transparent as possible, when she finished it all with, Now leave me alone with John.
With Siena out of the picture, Aclysia turned her whole loving attention to her creator. Please, lets sit down, she offered the single stool around.
Its fine, John said and looked her up and down. Unlike everyone else around, she had not been put into the white kitchen staff outfit, instead staying with the goth-maid esque dress. I am surprised they let you cook in your regr outfit.
As I do not have bodily secretions, I do not provide a health hazard, therefore this exposure of skin was approved. However, my hair needed to be fixed in ce, she exined. I hope you dont mind.
I do not, not in the slightest, John ced a quick kiss on her lips. It felt great to be around her after being bored out of his mind for three hours. Recently they had been in contact 24/7 and a bit of distance always helped him remember what he had in everyone. You can wear your hair however you want.
I shall wear it fitting for the asion and in this area perfect dishes are more important than yourment that my open hair looks beautiful, she sounded slightly apologetic about that. John gave her a second kiss to calm her.
That sounds perfectly fine, he told her. You on for the inspection of our new boatter? They had taken it yesterday, but with all the time he had spent making amends to Sealy, he hadnt taken a moment to look at the yacht from the inside yet.
Although, to be fair, he had used that time productively by allowing the former crew to clean out their rooms of personal belongings. Under supervision by Aclysia and Metra, of course. John had no interest in digging into their personal life, neither did he insist in searching for any files they may have been storing. He was keeping his part of the bargain to the letter, because he expected them to do the same.
They had been much morepliant afterwards as well. John just assumed that they had their cash reserves on the yacht and now they got enough to simply buy a new one. Good on them, as far as he was concerned.
Anyway, can I ask you to show me a bit of cooking? John asked after finishing the apple. It was an appetizer and now he was just reminded of how hungry he actually was.
Certainly, Aclysia smiled and grabbed the knife Siena had left behind.
No, not like that, Johnughed, I mean show me how to cook.
The gears in her head turned as if he had just asked a question about quantum mechanics. I do notpute, Master, please borate, she finally stated.
I just thought it would be fun if you taught me something, he told her. You know you cant always be -and in fact werent- there for me to cook right?
Aclysia shivered, That is a dystopian vision I do not want to think about too long.
That is adorable, John pointed out and pulled her close, but seriously, why not? You have some more time, right? Just tell me how to do something simple, an omelette or something.
Scrambled eggs are advised for a beginner Aclysia said mindlessly, still not convinced by the idea.
Look at it this way, if I get eptable at it, I can cook with you, John told her.
And? she tilted her head in confusion as they swayed to a non-existent melody in their shared embrace. The goal of my cooking is to serve it to you, Master, not to waste your time.
But I would waste my time with you, he told her. You and me in a tiny room, joking and kneading dough together, forming some awful heart-shaped cookies. Doesnt that sound nice?
Lets do it! Aclysias answer came like a bullet. First, lets check if we still have eggs
They did and so Aclysia instructed John on the very simple art of the scrambled eggs with diced bacon and onions. Even in this simple dish, the difference in skill was evident. The onions came in pieces that were usually either toorge or too small, the bacon was slightly burnt at one side because it hadnt been turned enough, and the scrambled eggs werent quite as fluffy as Aclysia managed to make them.
Still, by the end of it, Aclysia looked quite proud of her pupil. I have to admit that this was more fun than I imagined. If you desire to repeat it, I would be more than happy to give you further instructions in cooking.
I will think about it. I dont think I will do it too often, at the end I still have you for my leisure, he winked at her, but yeah, this was fun and I would like to be able to at least sustain myself. Grabbing a fork he began eating the fruit of hisbour.
Now, ignoring the way ''abilities'' was obviously badly edited in afterwards, that immediately begged for another window to open.
Huh, well, there are sses for lots of things, he said and went back to eating.
It was highly unlikely he would ever touch that thing.
Chapter 419 – Smooth sailing from there
Chapter 419 C Smooth sailing from there
It was alreadyte in the day, one might say early in the night, when everyone got together. Okay, problem number one, how do we get down there? John asked everyone. They had neither the safety vessel nor an awake higher dragon to carry it with. I almost have to admire Tilguns sleeping skills.
How about not being a giant fucking pussy and just jumping? Eliza suggested.
That could work, Rave unironically answered. Its gonna hurt a lot, but its a way to get down. If you can heal us afterwards.
John looked over with a raised eyebrow. Aside from the issue of jumping far enough to reach the yacht, they were close to the top of this swimming hotel. In other words, they were like 180-190 metres up.
The fact that diving into the water from that height didnt scare Rave was marvellous and chipped away at the little normalmon sense he had left. It made sense, skilled divers werent afraid to jump from up to 35 metres height and they didnt have supernatural powers to back it up. Then again, free fall was an ongoing eleration to the pull of gravity, so just saying somebody with twice the stats could fall double the distance was going to work was probably false.
Even if that works, how are we going to get back up wait, to the factor of gravity? everyone looked at him funny as hemented his own thoughts. Of course, thats how we get over there.
2 minutester.
Do I have to?! the dulled voice of Maximillian rang through the door of his bedroom. I was about to have some fun here.
Come on, Max, do it for me! John pleaded, realizing toote how gay that sounded and then ignoring a mumble from Eliza and a follow-up giggle from his girlfriend. You can bring whoever is in there with you, gives you an opportunity to brag a bit.
I dont need that, buddy, we are already in my bedroom, no more need for flirting or anything like tha- ouch! Feisty one, arent you? Male and femaleughter echoed through the door. John assumed that there had been some pinching following thementary of the king. Come back in like 15 minutes!
30 minutester.
Whu, Maximillian stretched as he stepped out of his half of the VIP apartments. That was a nice break.
Buddy, we have been doing this -this being varying female partners- for almost five days now. The hell do you mean break? John wanted to know, after having had the decency to wait until Maximillian actually came out on his own. Of the many things John didnt want to be, someone who knocked on doors mid-coitus was somewhat high up there.
Point taken, but also: after 20 years of being born and bred to rule and then ruling, trust me when I say that this is indeed a nice break.
Point taken, John responded in kind.
Anyway, what did you want? Maximillian asked, looking at the whole crew of Johns assembled harem. He was wearing swimming trunks and an unbuttoned Hawaiin shirt, showing off a body that was more toned than Johns, which was a good reason in the Gamers mind to invest in more Strength sometime soon. It wasnt the only reason. Together with the three-day stubble Maximillian had going on and the sunsses he put on a momentter, he had that typical self-made artist star look.
THAT! Metra said out loud, stomping over to the cherry-smelling king. Grabbing him by the chin, she lightly pinched his soft cheeks. There, look at this guy, she then let the very much confused German go and pped him on the abs. At least a bit of beard, great abs, better sense of style. THAT is what someone sexy looks like. Although you both could use more chest hair.
Met, no, ew, Rave intervened with a series of disgustedints and sounds, sticking out her tongue as if she was about to throw up. Chest hair, whats next, pubes and unshaved ass?
That was one of the weirdest ces John had to de-hair. The appreciation Rave had shown for that, in the form of asional light taps on his naked ass that were weirdly nice and other even greater things, was worth it though. Once more his thanks went out to the magical shampoo that kept all of it from growing back. He also thought about the fact that they still hadnt found the body-oil Nathalia had put on him. What had she murdered to get her hands on that? What kind of tree must one process?
Shut it, Jane, you have about as much taste in looks as Tiamat had skill in raising her kids, Metra snapped back. You dont even allow him a beard. I also insist that he works out more.
His girlfriend hummed, I can kinda get behind thetter one.
Already decided to do it, John exined. The order is Intellect 250, Agility 100 and then Strength 100. Its not that hard.
Yes, just like your abs, Metra jabbed, both out loud and physically, her fist shing against his stomach.
Eurgh, the sound of pain only reinvigorated the berserker babe, but she backed off seeing that she was going too far. What the hell, woman?!
That was a bit too strong there, I do apologize, Metra answered. I just have urges. Urges that are sated either by punching things or men with thick beards and strong muscles. You are halfway to providing only thest thing. Seriously, I havent killed anything in a WEEK. This is an unnatural state for me and I am getting kinda punchy.
None of this rtes to my original question, Maximillian forced the conversation back on track.
Right, John agreed. Could you do us the favour and fly us over to the yacht I acquired?
Why? Maximillian asked. You have one, he pointed at Smander, two, then at Sylph, right, that monochrome chick isnt with you anymore, he stated while looking for Momo. Still, two people than can fly. Just carry everyone over.
Thats going to take way longer though, John argued.
Longer than me having a quickie with three chicks?
Good point, counter point, we already waited, he said, and I may or may not have been killing the time by getting a blowjob by FOUR chicks!
Not an aplishment if you have a binding contract with all of them, Maximillians mocking smile pointed out.
Rave drily intervened, Guys, this is not apetition. Can ya just do it, Max?
Both of them grumbled some final statements on the matter and red at each other challengingly. Then Maximillian opened his arms suddenly, causing his shirt to fly open dramatically. Fine then, peasants, what king would I be if I werent gracious enough to do this little thing for you helpless lot?
One that shuts his fucking mouth and masturbates into a corner, Eliza shouted at him. The standard distance between them was slowly getting smaller. Meanwhile Maximillians daily alcohol consumption remained pretty steady. John really had been overthinking on that one. Get moving, heavyweight!
They created a makeshift tform out of grey stone, grown by Gnome. With the creation of solid matter being by far the costliest of all those things, it actually took more than Johns current mana bar to make one that was wide enough for everyone tofortably stand on but also thick enough to carry their weight.
It said a bit about Gnomes continuous self-teaching of artistry that she added little things such as rim decorations unconsciously. Of course, she immediately blushed and vanished into her incorporeal state once that was pointed out to her.
They were all carried over, Max left whoever his current conquests were back to recover from their little adventure, andnded on what John assumed to be the Abyssal equivalent of a helicopter pad,rge empty space with a circle on it one could use to aim at. This yacht, he thought as he looked around, the stone tform under their feeting to a rest, has a helicopter pad C MY yacht has a helicopter pad.
Is that the roof of a greenhouse? Rave asked pointing over at something.
Guess we will see once we are inside, John told her, but for now do my eyes deceive me? No, it is a jacuzzi!
What followed was a lengthy exploration of the yacht. If the cruise ship was a swimming hotel, the yacht was an arrangement of luxurious suites. Comfort had been dered the highest priority, to a degree that this giant vessel actually only had 30 bedrooms. Each of those rooms could have easily fit like 10 people if push came to shove, but that was another matter entirely.
Going from highest to lowest, there was the sun deck (with thending pad), the bridge, the upper deck, the main deck, the lower deck and the mechanics deck. The whole ship was masterfully connected through stairs, both normal and spiralling, with very little in the way of needing to take immensely long routes to ces that were just straight above oneself.
The sun deck had a fairly big jacuzzi, so that was the first thing John really liked, several loungers allowing people to tan, a big grill and a simrly big table. There also was something akin to an outdoor kitchen, although it looked more to be there to keep things already prepared warm or cold rather than actually prepare the dishes. Lastly, was the not so mini mini-bar.
The bridge was interesting in that it was the only truly isted living quarters in the ship. A semi-circle shaped room with all the technical things one could ever need was dominating that part of the ship. There were a lot of consoles John didnt understand, but he would learn soon enough, and for the moment the few sailors that were keeping a lookout on behalf of captain Sealy were doing a fine job at sitting there drunkenly and watching the automation doing its thing.
The bridge also came with a lot of screens. Therger ones were hanging on the wall, roughly corresponding with where on the ship the camera had been deployed whose footage they were disying. Exception to that being the one screen that showed what was behind them, being in front of John. It gave a pretty much perfect view of the seas around them.
Smaller screens on consoles showed footage from within the ship. Nearly everything could be watched from there, except the inside of the bedrooms.
Attached to the bridge was a spacious living quarter that could be easily summarized with the word pompous. Giant bed (without any linen as John quickly realized, those must have had some importance to the crew), soft carpet, a kitchen, two bathrooms (toilet and bathtub were separated in spacious rooms, which was just a giant sign of decadence, and there were actually two toilets in the one room) and an elevator that didnt activate without a key card. Said key cards they had to get from the drunken seal sailors. There were supposed to be five and he was given five. Unless the former crew kept duplicates, that meant they had been fair enough to give him all of them. Even if they didnt, John made a mental note to rece the security system with a new set of codes at the very least whenever he had the time and the money for it.
Next was the upper deck, most of the space of this one was reserved for not one but two conference rooms. Well, one conference room and one halfway outdoors conference area with a ceiling and corner walls, both equipped with t screens that hung from opposite sides of the same wall. The circr tables were of a dark oak, the seats a deep-sea blue. Everywhere were small indications of things having been removed, including a ce where, judging by the feathers, they had kept a parrot. There were more seats and couches than people could have possibly fit inside the beds.
There was also a music room, the V-shaped pool at the nose of the ship, a small bridge going over the middle part of it to a tform at the very tip of the boat where one could imposingly stand some bedrooms and a normal living room. Important to not forget was the circr greenhouse, whose roof Rave had noticed. It wasnt big, a one-metre wide middle section with a narrow walkway around and another one-metre wide outer rim. It really wasnt big, but it also wasnt small, and it was also a small garden on a yacht. John didnt quite know what to use it for yet, maybe he would just give it to Aclysia and she could grow fresh tomatoes or something. Theck of soil and nts indicated that Boss Senior and consorts had taken with them whatever they had been growing here. By the smell in the air, he guessed that it was some sort of marijuana. He left the greenhouse after opening some windows.
The main deck was the least mentionable, consistingrgely of a cantina andrge-scale bedrooms. The cantina was, design-wise, the essence of the whole ship boiled down into one room. Darkly coloured furniture, lightly coloured floors, ck-tinted windows and white walls painted with depictions of squids doing heroic things. John fully intended to get rid of thatst part. The cantina had enough tables that no one was forced to take their meal in arge group, there were even a few tables that were positioned, likely on purpose, in a way that made it hard to listen in without being noticed. Aclysia marvelled at the frankly gargantuan kitchen next to the cantina, being as well equipped as the kitchen of the Rising Tide, on a tool stand-point at least.
When it came to the lower deck, it was dominated by two things. First, the multitude of smaller bedrooms, which were still all equipped with their own bathrooms, situated in the narrowing front of the boat. Second, and this was just generally agreed on for being awesome, there was an in-door dock with two safety vessels, which would have qualified as normal hobby vessels for the normal person, and jet skis. One of the two safety vessels was packed with stuff, so that was the one the former crew would take with them. Now John knew why Senior had asked for one of those, they were actually good for more than just rowing ontond.
Lastly the machine deck was exactly what it was advertised at. Mana generators and batteries, the shield generator, the water and electricity management systems, they were all down there. For once the space around them didnt seem wasted for the sake of showing off just how much space there was on the boat, but actually because so that if something blew up it wouldnt cause a chain reaction.
I thus dere this our temporary guild hall! John said by the end of it, sitting in the central swivel chair of the indoor conference room. It was the kind superviins sat in but everybody knew was superfortable. He even did the evil turn around with his fingertips tapping while saying it.
Ya must feel so great right now, Rave pointed out with a giggle. Lemme be the cat to that viin! with that she jumped on hisp and then kissed him passionately.
I dont think the cat is supposed to do that, John mumbled in between.
The cat is also not supposed to have a boyfriend who owns a giant yacht, Rave whispered back. Is it bad of me that this makes me love you more? Dont wanna sound like a gold digger, but sess is sexy.
No moral qualms about how I got this? he asked her.
Come on, ya joined Collide in the first ce because ya didnt want to deal with ALL of the moral shit. We have our standards, they are just way more liberal, she pointed out to him. And as ya yourself said, they tried to steal from us first.
That also means you all got no grounds toin if someone steals it from you though, Maximillian said to them, spinning endlessly in a slightly smaller swivel chair.
Hawpler was the one to stand against that, Except if they dont attack somebody. This ship was exchanged more as a peace deal than actually stolen.
Do I pay you for talking to me in that tone, you ckest of traitorous holes?
You dont pay me anything, Hawpler countered in his sober, booming voice.
There was someughter from every side, except from John. It was probably smooth sailing from there, but he still had some news, minorly bad but mostly neutral. Max, can you help us move our stuff over here tomorrow?
Sure thing, not like you have a lot, he answered, surprisingly easy to convince. It seemed he knew roughly what John had in mind then.
Okay, great, lets go back and rx some more then, tomorrow is thest day of the cruise after all.
Chapter 420 – Arc 1 Finale – Embrace it
Chapter 420 C Arc 1 Finale C Embrace it
Friday hade and passed with everyone just having fun. While a worthwhile experience, it was also not greatly different from the others, and John was pretty certain that, a few years down the line, those days would mostly just mash together into one hazy stream of sex, jacuzzis, sunbathing, silly games, dates, dumb jokes and everyone making fun of Smander for her stupid idea when it came up. In other words, it had been a worthwhile vacation.
However, that was over now. Right now, John was mostly alone, just him and the elementals in his head, watching over the show-pirates preparing to take off.
After all, you werent that much of a scumbag, Senior said once they were finished. Cant believe you let us go with all our stuff. We have a radioactive pr bear cub that is worth millions!
I dont have anything against you people, you just manoeuvred yourself into a position where I could exploit you for something that I wanted, John loudly spoke, standing on the walkway between the two halves of the dry-dock, gesturing with one hand before putting it back into the pocket of his suit pants. The times to sport trunks were over, for now. No reason to take more than I wanted.
Mhm, Senior didnt have anything to add until the side of the ship parted. In an automatic sequence, the safety vessel was angled and began to pick up speed as it slid outwards. The octopus-man screamed all throughout his goodbye. YOU ARRR NO LONGERRR IN CHAAAAAARRRGE OF ME, ARRROGANT LASS! I SHALL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!! ARRRRR!!!!
John just waved them goodbye; the guy was making a grandstand, but Observe put his rtionship at a mild -16. The fact that John had beenrgely respectful and allowed them to clean out their personal belongings had made them morecent than they would have otherwise been and also meant that he didnt leaverge enough an impact to properly hate. He didnt ruin anybodys life, just their week. They would put that down as a bad job experience and maybe throw some shade when they ran into each other again. There was nothing to dere a genuine vendetta over though.
Minimal amounts of sea water ran into the yacht. The openings floor was maybe a metre below the sea level, if that. Barriers of metal around the other vehicles prevented them from being swept away. There was a way to change theyout of those barrier, but John didnt have the need to do so right now. Once the walls shut again, the water was pumped out, and that was that.
John made his walk back to the conference room. There, everyone else was waiting. It was the indoor one; on the 20 seats of the central round table sat most of his girls and Maximillian. The elementals quickly spawned in to fill their own seats; John took the one that had the giant screen on the wall behind its back. If he decided to put something on the screen, he would be seeing what was on there with hisptop, hooked up wirelessly, anyway.
Okay, we makendfall tomorrow around noon, so its about time we finally get together what we do once we are there, John began the meeting. Starting not with us, but with you, Max. You going to stick around or what?
No, as I said I wanted to go to Hollywood. I am not here to take a ride on your coattails or anything, Maximillian answered, leaning back in the chair. The rest automatically adjusted itself to go lower in response to the pressure. So, once this meeting is over, I will return to the Rising Tide and just take the seven girls I managed to flirt into my room in one final orgy. Then you probably wont see me again for a while but I will leave with this.
He picked a card out of his breast pocket, also having changed back to his suit, and ced it on the table. With a quick move of his hand, he slid it across. It didntnd before John, but before Rave. Why ya giving me your phone number? she asked.
I want you to also give it to your mother.
GROSS! Rave shouted out. Darting out of his seat, John fished the card out of her hand before she could destroy it or anything. It was a pretty well-designed business card with the Austrian and Habsburg gs as the background.
I should probably get something like that myself, John thought as he threw it into his inventory. He would save the number into his pher. I dont see you leaving, he noted as Maximillian leaned even further back, putting his feet on some stool underneath the table.
Do you want me to? he asked, folding his hands behind his head. I wanted to see what idiocy you would be nning Aclysia, why do you stare at me like you can make my head explode?
John cleared his throat to repress a giggle. Sure, you can stay, buddy, although I have to ask to keep it confidential.
Not my country, I dont know anybody here, so sure, my lips are sealed, Maximillian confirmed, and John got on with it.
The first things we are going to do once onnd are one very short thing and one long thing. Namely, I want to create the Guild Hall and then I want to grind until we have some money. That will likely take some time.
Eliza raised her hand, How much money are we talking about here? Some fucking pennies or what? Its not like you need to get a shitload of it.
Actually, I do need a shitload of it, John said. We are currently broke. I only have exactly a thousand bucks.
What the fuck? What happened? Eliza wanted to know.
Gift shops happened, lots of barbeques happened, the dates happened, he summarized for her. To answer how much money I want, one billion dors, baseline. We are about to enter a guild territory where money is everything, which is important for Step 2, observing the situation on the ground. Let me give you the rundown.
The map was put on the screen behind him. Thats the rough of the borders of the organization called Thorne, with its base in New York City. Basic information about the area is easy to find: it is a highly capitalistic society where nothing but money is holy. Funnily enough that did create Thorne, rather than Thorne creating it; the Bearings Ind Trading Company, or just Bearings, and Rethropes are both guilds of high significance within this super-capitalistic society, although still too weak to challenge Thorne.
Do ya know why they are that dominant? Rave asked.
They have the strongest grip on the market, present in almost all walks of life and something approaching a monopoly on bio-mechanic enhancements, John told her. Do you remember the mall in Cologne I told you about? The one I went to with Aclysia? Rave looked a bit confused, so he added something more. Tube-like thing, local teleporters getting you to private changing rooms, very vertical, kind of like a bazaar?
Ah, that thing, yeah, Rave nodded.
Thorne controls the local version of that, so they are both retailer and marketce in the heart of New York. I guess most of their fundinges from there. With Abyssal poptionsrgely mirroring local ones, just shrunk down, having such a strong business position in the heart of one of the most popted cities on earth was surely a source of enormous revenue.
With the Americas being, for the most part, ravaged by ack of central authority, the factor by which the local poption was rted to the real one was a fair share lower than in Europe, so it wasnt like that created an economic might that could have challenged anything gigantic, but it was still sizable.
To run the numbers of their rough expected economic strength, lets look at New Yorks estimated Abyssal poption, John said and, despite barely anyone listening at the boring math part of the meeting, ran his theory. New York City has a poption of about 8,5 million. On average, countries in the Abyss of Europe have 1 Abyssal in every 150 people, but we cant use that figure directly because cities are even more concentrated in the Abyss than in reality, with theck of need for farms and the like essentially drying up the countryside. The Abyssal Nethends were a particrly ridiculous example of this from what John gathered, with more than a third of its poption (approaching 120 thousand) concentrated in the city of Amsterdam and the surrounding areas. The 40000 of that figure were then supplemented by another group of that size in the shape of magical races.
In reality, trying to math this out was entirely unlikely to lead to really urate figures, but John had fun doing it. Approximating that the Abyssal factor on average is 1 in every 300 people, Lets sh that to 1 in every 150 for the big apple. Ironically, as John noticed as he was speaking, that was the number he didnt want to use initially. Funny how that worked out. That would put the estimated human poption around 60 thousand and the total poption from 80 to 120 thousand.
To provide some context to the number, it would put it somewhere between the size of Amsterdam and London, which is impressive for something as disorganized as this if it is true, Maximillian chimed in.
Personally, John was still moreing to terms with those massive skews, both between city and countryside and Europe and America. Real Rome had less than a third of NYCs poption, yet the abyssal one was about twice asrge. That went to show just how huge the advantage Europe had on this front currently was.
However, there was an advantage both real America had in the past and John had right now. Europe was a bunch of naturally grown ces with things that didnt quite make sense outside of their historical value anymore. All he had to do now was to do away with the things that were senseless and implement systems of governance, economics and infrastructure that were more fit for the modern age. In other words, he had ess to a giant catch-up mechanic in the form of stealing experience from the people across the great pond.
That was putting the cart before the horse though; for now he was just a guy on a yacht.
Anyway, John ended his math ramblings, to the relief of most people, Thorne has a lot of money; sadly I cant find a whole lot about who leads them though. They are organized in cells that report to higher cells that report to higher people, very few of which are going about shouting who they are. Getting in contact with them will be hard.
Is that a problem? Rave asked. We can just waltz in and demand to speak with the boss. Not saying we take over by force or anything, but we can do that much.
John hummed and drummed his fingers over the table for a moment, True, that would work, but that doesnt quite leave the message I want. It would be best if we started this whole conquest thing by building a reputation of being diplomatic rather than forceful. Also, I want to test the waters. I think the best way to go about this is to y within the system until Thorne notices us, not the other way around.
So, what are we doing then? Rave still wasnt clear on that.
Honestly depends on the situation on the ground. Are the people happy? Is Thorne someone we can support or tyrannical? Can they be taken over from within or do we need to eradicate them? Ideally, I would want them to submit to a system we design, withws and ethics and all that, without bloodshed.
Maximillian wryly smiled. Those will be interesting newspaper articles, hemented.
d to be of entertainment, John answered somewhat sarcastically. So yeah, Step 1 is usying the groundwork. Step 2, we gather information and set up shop. Step 3, we begin taking over by whatever means adequate. Thats highly simplified, but I think it fits. Any more questions?
Eliza looked at the map and eventually did raise her voice, How long will this fucking egotrip take you?
More than days, thats for sure, at least weeks, probably months, maybe years, John told her. I am not going to rush a takedown of a working system. Thats just asking for blood in the streets.
Rave hummed a little tune, Lots of long days ahead of us, gotta say that I am not really the type of person that thinks about getting normal work, but I guess it cant all be beating up people?
Mhm, I do have some ns that will prevent you from getting bored at the normal job we are setting up.
Nia raised her hand to indicate that she had something to say. John wasnt even sure he had heard her voice in thest twenty-four hours, gesturing her to tell them what was on her mind. What do you even n to make the job? she asked.
He smiled widely, I think you are going to like this.
Season 3 Arc 1 End.
Chapter 421 – Epilogue – Scarlett
Chapter 421 C Epilogue C Scarlett
A woman, with hair so red that her father had seen it fit to name her after it, was sitting in a leathery chair in an office made from metal and cables. She wore that scarlet cascade in a simple fashion, abruptly cut at the neckline but slightly messy from ack of interest in taking thorough care of it. With closed eyes she sat there, a stylish hat sitting on her head in a loose and tilted way, as if she was using it to shield her eyes during siesta.
She was wearing a suit of high quality, ck as the stic rim of a monitor and a shirt of bright red over her modest breasts. An androgynous beauty, the kind that was still easily identifiable as female but could cause some confusion if she put on the right makeup and clothes, she had a displeased look on her face. Eyebrows pulled together, lips wrinkling, the red forced out of them by the force. Her ck gloved handsy on the terminals embedded into the armrests of her chair. Despite the fact that she wasnt looking or moving her hands, windows popped up and disappeared.
Photos of two ships, blog posts, people wondering about a sleeping dragon being towed, reports by the lower cells about what was happening, a recently received email by the NTC, minor panic, a giant demand.
Miss Thorne? a voice eventually asked, causing her to open her eyes. They glowed red, with green and yellow lines running through them like circuits. A view that soon disappeared and only left behind a normal, if not natural, red colour. That was perhaps the other reason for her name.
How many times, Scarlett is enough, she addressed the guy, not in a friendly way but in the tone of a boss who knew what she wanted. What is word of mouth on that dragon that just got towed into my city?
He just delivered his demands: he wants food, lots of it, the man responded.
Fine, give that dragon some food is he too strong to poison?
Much too, I am afraid.
Well have to try topensate the losses otherwise then. Is he staying?
It appears so.
Better be of some use, Scarlett closed her eyes and leaned back again. I dont want to hire one of those entric monsters again. The coteralst time was already fucking stupid, and having someone of that power level in my city makes me twitchy. Who of them is even around?
Your father wouldnt like you to swear, miss Thorne.
He can get out of his grave and tell me himself then, she rolled her eyes and opened a drawer, taking out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I am just taking his vices; moron should have done a worse job at being a role model if he didnt want me to follow in his footsteps. Now answer my fucking question.
Recent reports have said that Sigmund is in the area, miss. She rose out of her chair with a grumble. Her pants and shoes only highlighted her androgynous appearance, being the kind a CEO was expected to wear, rather than a woman. She fixed her hat, put on some sunsses and had already lighted the cigarette by the time she reached her window, overlooking the dockyard.
Of course its the worst of all of them, she mumbled.
There were three categories of Abyssal cities. Type ones were those where there were no permanent barriers of significant size, only residential zones or small guild halls. Type twos were the ones that had several big barriers inside the city. Type threes were then finally where the entire city was located in one giant barrier.
New York was the only type 2 Abyssal city of its size. The constant grinding of economic forces against each other, violent if need be, made it so that nobody trusted each other to put their headquarters somewhere where a hired Fateweaver didnt have control over it. In that world, Thorne was unique in that their headquarters were broadly visible, as they were located in thergest barrier in the city, the docks.
The cigarette glowed as Scarlett inhaled deeply. She mindlessly flicked the ash on the floor. The metal wouldnt be harmed by it, one of those imported slimes would clean it up. Anything the social media doesnt talk about that you would know? Scarlett asked, looking at the Rising Tide and the two unexpected vessels apanying it. One was the vessel one of the city states down south had built for some crew of dumbasses, the other was the dragon currently stretching.
The dragon is called Tilgun, apparently a higher dragon; investigations are running but he wasst seen in America never, the report came. Otherwise, the Beauty without Tentacles apparently changed hands.
Oh? That is disappointing.
Arent you extremely delighted that the Octopirates arent here, Miss Thorne?
They would harass thepetition, Scarlett imed and took another puff of the cigarette. She exhaled the smoke as a ring. Give us clues whichpany is currently not paying enough on security, she said, looking through the ring at the yacht, and whose legs to break before they learn to run properly. The air carrying those words scattered the smoke.
Your father has always preached honesty in business.
Thats why he had my mother pick up the ck, so he could have a nice clean image, Scarlett rolled her eyes. I dont need any of that shit, my whole existence is a giant secret anyway - for the moment. She took one final inhale from the cigarette before flicking the butt away. It tumbled over the ground beforeing to a halt. Soon thereafter, a cleaning slime oozed out of the gaps in the floor. Who did the ship go too?
A man going by the name of John Newman, the Gamer.
Scarlett grabbed into the inside of her vest, hands connecting to a phone. John Newman, I heard that name recently lights danced in her eyes as she went through her notes saved on the hard drive in the desk. Ah, yes, the tournament that everyone got so worked up about over in the old world.
She had little care for the affairs of Europe. The only thing she wanted was their purchasing power for an extra ie. Exports over the sea werent their highest source of ie; with how minimal their fleet was, they had to rely on others to pick up the goods. Not something that Scarlett was betting on.
She dug deeper. Inside her mind she quickly went through pools of social media from thest few months. There was a giant explosion of interest in the man, then a trickle, then nothing. Best she found was a post from a few years back by a Vanessa Hawthorne talking about some loser.
Looking at what she said about him and the reputation he had gotten for himself, that couldnt have been him. Then again, there was a report on the Abyss Auction, and its freely avable description alluded to a quick rise. Perhaps that bit of money was well-spent? After a purchase she made with the heart of the greedy, weighing stinginess against opportunity cost, she saw the rough strokes that were publicly avable of the man entering her city.
He started as a total wimp, but with every few photos she saw of him, leading over to the tournament, he became more of a stud. By the final picture she had, taken by a paparazzi at a club in the Nethends, he was just an absolute must-have for every woman with eyes in her head.
There was also a very brief and practically free report from an information broker, detailing the torture she went through when she was caught. Scarlett noted the part where she had been healed and there were no further injuries.
A soft man in a hard world, I like that, she monologued and went for a second cigarette. But all so na?ve, he doesnt get the wanted results that way. Should have ripped off her arm, would have caused a lot less annoyance for him and others down the line. Then again, I am still going to spy on him and would either way, she added silently.
Smoking two, Miss Thorne? the disapproving voice of her subordinate echoed over. You wanted to reduce your tobo input.
Shut the fuck up, I just know that we are going towards stressful times, Scarlett grumbled. Cant even ruin my own health around here. Do me the favour and hand me some whiskey.
The good, fifty-year-old or the cheap two year one?
Cheap, Scarlett eximed.
Looking to get drunk?
No, just something to take the edge off. No ice.
At once, Miss Thorne.
As the sound of bottles and sses being pulled out of a personal dimensional pocket and ced on the table echoed behind her, Scarlett pondered. You know what the worst part is? she asked.
No.
A shame, she sighed. You will in a minute.
I okay, Miss Thorne? There was some obvious confusion.
I will need you to keep tabs on this new guys acts on the streets. I want to know if he sticks around, and I cant afford missing anything just because he decides to leave his phone home, the redhead continued on, fixing her tie before lighting the second cigarette. He seems to be a massive pervert, so hire some prostitutes if necessary. Dont do anything to anger him. If he finds out about you, you acted on your own.
Of course, Miss Thorne.
I wonder what that man wants, she blew smoke against the window. When it had scattered, she had view on the port again.
What all men want in this city, power and riches.
Mhm, that does sound logical, she hummed in agreement, turning around with the cigarette in her mouth. The whiskey was sitting on the table, waiting for her on the other side. What kind of power though and what level of riches? There are massively different ways to achieve those things.
That I do not know of, Miss Thorne.
Guess I will see that, Scarlett stated and took the ss after circling the table. She raised it, took an interested whiff of the smell as if this cheap stuff was something to properly enjoy. Then she lowered it again, swirling the drink in a slow motion of her wrist. Tell me again, the tobo must be clogging my brain, you have been working for my family for forty years, right?
I began working under your fathers care when I was just a young man and thispany was but one amongst many, yes.
That exins why you are such a great second inmand. the swirl in the ss was almost hypnotic.
Thank you, Miss Thorne.
You realized whats a shame yet? she looked up, her scarlett eyes burning into the subordinate.
No, Miss Thorne.
She stretched the arm holding the ss away from her and turned it around. The whiskey sttered on the floor. That I will need to give all those orders again to someone else through a text message.
I-I do not understand, Miss Thorne, the man stammered, slowly backing away.
Scarlett blew some smoke after him as she let the distance increase, sitting down on the edge of her desk. In the first ce, you were an asset of value by experience, not by strength of muscle or mind. That made you good at doing things you already had done a hundred times. Also, you were the only aide I could have without revealing my existence to someone new. Conspiracy against me though, really fucking stupid and outside of your area of expertise. At that moment several drones peeled out of the mechanical walls. For stronger members of the Abyss, those would have been barely any danger, but for this person it would be enough.
He tried to run but was soon grabbed by mechanic arms and thus immobilized.
Mixing a drug to make me more submissive into my drinks, clever in some ways, if they were as potent as you thought them to be, Scarlett stated, her eyes ring with technological circuits as she controlled the drones through the wirelesswork. You vastly overestimate your own cleverness. I wonder, did you just want me to be a puppet for you or did you actually want more from me.
She folded back half of her open jacket and put her hand in her pocket, what little breast she had pushed her red shirt outwards. I know some men are into my type of looks. What do they call it, tomboy? Androgynous at the very least. I am not judging, although you are entirely not my type. I like my women somewhat mean and a bit like bimbos, dont ask me why, but that artificial look is just giving me the fucking nicest case of shivers. Must be all the time I spent with vibrators rather than actual cocks. She looked her former second inmand up and down. For men I want them confident, ripped and with a strong jawline. Not like some old skeleton that barely fills his suit.
Miss Thorne, please, I-I was doing it for the good of thepany. You are so inexperienced, b-but you also never listen a-and...
And we grew by 35% ie each of thest three years I was in power, Scarlett interrupted him, silencing anymore backtalk by pressing her burning cigarette against his forehead. She took no joy in the moment or the sizzling sound of burning skin, but no real negative emotions either. You should really remember who you are messing with here, she told him, throwing away the extinguished cigarette. I am the daughter of Ebenezer and Johanna Thorne, and I have been trained since the day I was born to lead thispany. I was ced here because I was the heiress, I stay here because none of you can topple me. I ignore you, because your ideas are outdated and shit.
She squeezed his cheeks between her gloved left, But, as a reward for your long services, here are your three presents. First, a golden watch, one of the drones carried the item to her. Scarlett just put it loosely around his wrist; it was a procedure her father had introduced, she just followed it out of a sense of tradition. Second, you are free to return to your masters, the man looked infinitely relieved. Third, you will travel in a nice casket, that put the shock right back in his face and he shouted in terror as he was carried away to whatever goons waited for him on the lower floors.
Scarlett poured herself a new drink. She had long since reced the drugged bottles with normal ones. Cant allow them to learn how to run, she muttered to herself, taking a sip of her whiskey. Even less could she allow for anyone else to learn how Thorne ran and where its eventual goaly. That would garner them attention more than just her local opposition, unify them against herpany, and then it would be all over. She wasnt ready for a confrontation - yet. She made a sour face as the cheap taste filled her mouth.
Should have asked for the good whiskey.
Author’s Note – the great pond
Authors Note C the great pond
EDIT: If you have a minute or ten, consider filling out to give me a piece of your mind about this arc in a nice anonymous setting~
HELLO!
What a load of nothing, right? I hope it was an enjoyable load of nothing. Well, a few things happened, but let me begin by telling you something about me.
I LOVE slice of life shows.
I find books and basically every other medium that doesnt ry the everyday life of its protagonists in some way extremely disappointing. As such, I wanted to do something without any real stakes involved for a while. And, to be honest, it was kinda necessary.
With the end of thest season, I was in kind of a demotivated phase. I had written the major scenes I wanted to get to, being Thanas awakening and the World Soul respectively, so I was kind of just going along the motions. When I decided to just fuck it and have fun with this arc, that helped me get excited for the story again. Recharge my action batteries, if you will.
Still, the 150k words this arc took may have been a bit excessive with how little happened. I got a lot of feedback saying they didnt really like this prolonged period of rxation, which is justified and all. I can at least guarantee you that something like this isnt nned to happen anytime soon.
There will be one more arc about basically nothing of importance happening, but there will be a lot of stuff between then and now.
So what was there of noteworthiness?
Smander springs to mind. This is another thing I like doing that sadly take the Ooomph out of some things: give the protagonist the ability to do a terrible thing in a controlled environment, thus minimizing the risk. You know, do what people with a brain do. I hope Izha was at least somewhat disturbing despite its very short appearance. It will probably surprise nobody when I say you will see more of it in the future.
I dont have too much to say about that storyline itself. Smander exined herself quite thoroughly and all I can add is that Iid the foundation for this all the way back when Undine did it to herself, which was shown in the shback.
Another important thing was the Metra side story. Usually I exin the events of the short story shortly after it so the short story is an optional read, but it will take a while until John gets to find out the things about the end of Babylon himself.
There was the acquirement of the yacht, which honestly was more of a short-term decision. Just like the pirates themselves. A bit of silly fun and a giant reward for all that nonsense.
There is also the fact that you can support me on Patreon! Follow that link and leave me some money so I may continue writing stupid things indefinitely!
So where do we go from here? Into one arc with a lot of tiny time skips, some traditional grinding, some not so traditional normal work, some very special work and John exploring the local situation as he establishes his guild as a local power to unite the area. Will I subvert expectations or will it mostly work out?
Find out in the next arc of the Gamer, Season 3 Arc 2, Scarlett Thorne.
(Nope, no extended character insight this time)
Chapter 422 – Prologue – Guild Hall
Chapter 422 C Prologue C Guild Hall
Mhm, what do you guys think? he asked everyone, standing in the shadow of Lady Liberty herself. Well, the copy of Lady Liberty existing inside the Illusion Barrier. Their yacht, renamed from the stupid name the old crew had given it to the Boating Seaquence, was lying parallel to the shore behind them. For why they hadnt just sailed over to the pier, John would have needed to ask the already gone person driving them here. A terrible pun, to be sure, but sometimes John had to train his dad joke muscle. He was going to use it one day after all.
For how he had gotten it here, he had nicely asked Sealy to do it for him. A parting favour while the Rising Tide restocked. After all, New York wasnt a city like Rome, where everything was in one gargantuan barrier. Instead it was cut into all kinds of little pieces. This meant that, between the big area at the main port located above the real-life freighter dock on the westside of the Upper Bay, John couldnt have moved without leaving the barrier, thus running risk of creating a scene that would end with him viting Gaias rules. Not an option. Neither was staying at the docks themselves, with how much money Thorne charged for staying on their turf.
Thus, he had moved over here to the Statue of Liberty. Another advantage of that was that he had temporarily taken care of Tilgun. The higher dragon was pleased as long as he was getting food in the form of preferably fresh livestock. Hopefully, he would just be bored and go somewhere else eventually.
Dumbass fucking patriotic vitriol is what I think about the fucking idea to ce the Guild Hall here, Eliza spat out.
Sure it is all of that, but its also awesome and I rather like the values of the US of A, John held against her.
I-isnt this really high profile? M-maybe we should put up camp somewhere in the outskirts of the city? Gnome made a more cautious suggestion.
If we were just upstarts, probably, but we are not, he continued to exin this decision outside of the raw awesome factor it had. On the contrary, we are pretty high-profile as individuals already, from the genocide goddess host, over the pariah and the Lightbearer to me. Also, this location has other advantages. For a start its harder to reach because it is an ind, easily fortifiable. Then we can park the yacht right here; I dont want to leave that thing out of my sight with all the things going on here.
While the headquarters around the docks were a sci-fi dreand, the barriers just a few metres outside of it, that John had visited in his search for a restaurant where they could have a goodbye dinner with Maximillian, were filled with poverty and barely wing independent shops. The difference between those who were with Thorne and those who werent were stark. Also, there had been three attempts to mug him on the way back.
Not a great first impression for a city. John was under the impression that he would have more than a few things to fix around here.
I think its awesome, Rave agreed to his viewpoint.
Too much water, Smander dered, but generally this looks pretty cool, yeah.
Dirty water Undineined but also put her approval on this.
Sylph was shouting something iprehensible from way up; she was flying around the statue, looking for stuff. Needless to say, she as well was fine with this. With Siena withdrawing from votes like this and Stirwin just rolling around sideways through the grass, squealing, Yay, yay, yay, with eachpleted roll, the elementals reached the result of three against one. As was usual, Gnome was the overly cautious one of the group. It was always good to have a naysayer.
I just want that business you promised me, Nia held up the Excited card.
I will get to it, John promised. With everyone either agreeing or only being opposed on singr issues John didnt really see as such himself, he attempted to use the option in Create I.D. that would mark this plot ofnd as his Guild Hall.
Well, that was to be expected, he sighed and rolled his neck. He had gotten a pop-up, as usual, when the ship had entered the proximity of Liberty Ind, telling him there was already a barrier in ce. Since every barrier vanished when there was no one to maintain it, it had to have some inhabitants. Would have been too easy if nobody set-up shop here already. You smell someone, Eliza?
What am I, your search bitch? she wanted to know. Apparently, the fact that she had been ignored on this rubbed her the wrong way, so now she was grumpy. She sniffed anyway. Something fishy towards the actual port.
Thank you, John kissed her on the cheek. Cursing silently, she tried her best to stay angry as she walked after him, ck robe closed around herself.
Why is it so cold again, Raveined on the way. I want to go back into the heated barrier!
We dont have that, John reminded her.
Can we maybe get it? she asked.
Well see, maybe it will be an option in the Guild Hall? There was not the faintest clue to what he could actually build, as the menu to see all of the options hadnt been unlocked yet. Luckily it was pretty easy to find who was already iming Liberty Ind for themselves once they had made their way over the broad walkway by the trees.
There were a couple of buildings, most likely originally intended for tourists to waste their money on little things that dangled on their keychains. Right now they were popted by tense looking fish-people that were armed with rifles. They had been waiting in suspense for whoever had parked a giant yacht next to theirwn, it seemed.
Hello, Johns voice conveyed friendliness as he stepped closer with little worries in the world, the blue hue of Mana Protection appearing around him. With Undine equipped to his right and Purgatory ready to be activated under the sleeve of his suit, he felt rather well prepared for a confrontation for people so weak they resorted to guns.
Who are you? one of them bellowed, a particrlyrge fellow, with green and blue skin with slick scales and a fin-esque protrusion on the top of his head. His thick-lipped mouth reminded John of a perch.
I am John Newman, pleased to make your acquaintance, he introduced himself, wondering how he was even supposed to pronounce that name. To answer your next question, I am here because I would like to im this ind.
You want to take from the Bay Raiders? the fishman asked, raising his hand and causing everyone to raise their weapons in response. Eat le-!
Do you really want to do that?! John shouted over his threat. Lets go with the hypothetical that you manage to take me down, what are you going to do about her? The confusion was met by the boiling of the mans shadow.
Yes, what are you going to do about me? Sienas sultry voice asked as she creeped up the fishmans body. The tips of her slender ws dragged over the scales on his throat, leaving fine lines. Ah, you quiver like all men do when they hear me, how delightful.
Jacknded on Johns shoulder. The birds shadow had been used to carry Siena over to their current target, a cheap but effective strategy. See, he started walking towards the group of at least fifty armed fishmen again. With their leader hostage, they werent sure what to do, only keeping their guns pointed at the Gamer. I would have been perfectly happy to find some sort of verbal agreement, but you threaten me. Still, I will extend my hand in good intention. Siena, let go of him.
With a disappointed hiss, the nightmare elemental dropped down and then walked her way over to John, disappearing back into his shadow.
The fishman, John named him Tash just so he could think of him as something less impersonal while also being able to pronounce it, rubbed his throat and clenched the other hand into a massive fist. If you want thisnd, you will have to win in a duel, one versus one.
That sounds like bullshit, John thought, chances were Tash just assumed that John was helpless on his own and thus wanted to goad him into a battle where he was the advantaged. Then again, the other people around didnt seem surprised by that announcement, so maybe that was an actual tradition. Do I need to do it myself or can I name a fighter?
You can name someone, Tash begrudgingly admitted, ncing at Johns feet.
Great, Aclysia, if you would, John stepped aside to make room for hisbat maid. He and every other onlooker formed a circle around Tash and Aclysia.
As expected, the fight didnt take long at all. The giant of a fishman attacked Aclysia with a wild swing. She didnt even attempt to dodge. The fist crashed into her face with a terrible crunch as the bones in his fingers snapped under the impact.
FUCKING DEPTHS! he screamed as he distanced himself. What are you made of, pure metal?!
Negative, I am merely mostly metal, Aclysia exined, Eclys spawning in her hand. She raised the silver white sword above her head and brought it down in a quick slice through the air. A wave of energy cut through the world, travelling the distance between herself and Tash, much quicker than the slow fishman could react. The silver energy sliced open his chest with a vertical, clean cut from shoulder to the lower edge of his ribcage. Blue blood ran out of the wound, it was shallow, barely enough to cut through the outeryers of his skin.
Aclysia took another stance, this time wielding the weapon with both hands. The next cut will be deeper, she warned, slowly raising the sword over her head. A momentter, the guy admitted defeat.
John was the first one to break the ranks of the watchers, making his way over to the defeated Tash. Let me fix that for you, he offered, gesturing at the wound.
Why would you-
I already said I am not here to make enemies, John interrupted him. I dont plot your demise or anything, you just have something I want. You picked this to be how we run our negotiations, not me. Before he could be subject to any more annoying questions, he healed the fishman and then set off to go back to the statue. I expect you to be off my ind in an hour. Gather your important belongings and then leave. Oh, and one more thing, he gave him the hardest look he could muster, times are changing. I wouldnt rmend following the criminal line of work where I have influence. Get yourself reorganized and do something of worth. Otherwise well, we are going to meet again and I wont y nice.
With that he took his leave.
_____________________________________________________________________
Okay, attempt number two, John announced an hourter and used the Guild Hall creation.
Immediately interested, John essed the Guild Hall Customization. What opened was a 3D map of the ind, contained within arge cone that was the border of the barrier itself, with its centre being on the rim of the ind, where they currently stood.
There was a disgustinglyrge array of options of what he could do with the barrier right now. So much, in fact, that John had to scroll through it for a solid few minutes while also exining what he saw to everyone else.
There were options to modify size and shape of the terrain, build buildings, ce rooms, buy furniture, create temtes and everything in between. Of course, everything came with some sort of cost, usually either money or this new Room Slots he had. Some things had special requirements like X of item Y, a certain level of profession in a skill or ss, or just straight up a level. There were also upgrade bars for things and a lot of lock symbols indicating that there would be more as he went up the unlocks, as his Guild Hall was currently just a Tier 0. Notably exempt from modification was the size of the barrier itself, that was supposed to increase with the higher tiers.
And I really need that higher size, Johnined. The barrier SHRUNK!
Whaddaya mean shrunk? Rave wanted to know.
I mean its barely big enough to fit in the yacht, he told her, its like 150 metres across ah there, it actually says it on the border of the window. Yes, 150 metres. The Boating Seaquence was about 120 metres herself. That didnt make her the biggest mega yacht out there, that went to some real life boat by the name of the Azzam at 180 metres (at least to the best of Johns knowledge, but it checked out). Still, the problem at hand was that his Guild Hall was not as big as he wanted it to be.
Ya can just show me where it says that, I can see the window, she told him.
You can? Huh, John never quite understood why some windows were visible to people and others werent. Gaia probably fixed the guild ones to be visible to guild members. That would make sense. Anyway, my problem is that I dont actually own the statue! It only reaches the edge of the socket it stands on! All I own is this walkway, some grass, a bit of old fortress wall and some withered trees I was super hyped!
Wanted to add Lady Liberty to your harem, did ya? Rave poked fun at him. Ya hot for some freedom?
Always! John over enthusiastically shouted, shaking his fist at the sky in the hope that Gaia was noticing his frustration. She indeed did, a hole in reality opening and the green haired supreme deitying out.
What the hell do you think you are shaking your fist at me for?! she asked,nding in front of the group. What kind of entitled brat are you that you think I am giving you over half a square kilometre of real estate BASELINE? You got to work your way there! She wiggled her finger beratingly. Although you could have had the statue if you didnt force me to also give you all that water to squeeze that oversized boat in here. I already upped the base size, see how nice I am to you? You really got nothing toin about!
Today is just full of surprises, John mumbled, looking at Gaia. She was still the same in the broad strokes but had modified her appearance in several ways. Her green hair, ridiculously curly as always, now fell down to her hips, her skin had received a more Mediterranean brown toning and her dress got upgraded with a bunch of lines that shifted through bright colours. All of this came with a shift from Asian to European, especially visible around her eyes.
No more Tatsumaki? Rave asked in disappointment. Personally, John didnt mind. She kept the perfect ass, that was all that was really important.
Nope, got enough of cosying, Gaia let them know. Behold, my true beauty!
Sure, you normally look this fucking good, Eliza rolled her eyes.
I am not getting into another word fight with you, you deranged psycho.
Mighty riching from the almighty human with daddy issues sorge that she is holding a whole PLANET hostage.
You nope, not getting into that today, Gaia decided and snapped her fingers, vanishing the moment the sound hit Johns ears. With that she left behind a Gamer who actually wanted to ask for her side of the story; evidently, she was not interested in telling it at the present time and was only there to deliver some personal sass.
Well, there will be a next time, John thought and went back to checking his options. He had a total of 15 Room Slots, which seemed like very little, and the ce he did want to erect his home around, at the foundation of the statue, was not inside the boundaries of his Guild Hall space. At least not for now. He couldnt imagine that it would take more than two upgrades to get the entire ind covered. So, instead he turned around to look at their avable house, swimming at the edge of the barrier. Well, let me run some tests and then see if I can make that boat more easily essible. Dont want to climb or jump every time we get on or off.
A period of cing a cheap decorative in the form of a rock and seeing how he could move it around ensued. He could ce the rock wherever he wanted inside the current boundaries of the Guild Hall by moving it inside the model of reality and then clicking an update button, albeit that cost a lot of mana and the changes took a moment to take effect. I very much doubt Gaia will let me weaponize something like that, John thought as he continued on by cing the first building. As to what it was, he didnt have a choice, every other option was disabled until he ced something called the Guild Heart.
Clicking on it he was presented with a model of a flying blue orb with gold and silver rings hovering around it and slowly rotating, all above a stone socket. It also came with a description. The Guild Heart is the central power source of all things inside the Guild Hall. It provides electricity, water, and everything else through mana conversion wherever a fitting outlet is built. Provides and can store up to a maximum of 10000 mana, which can only be used for things rting to the Guild Hall, automatically refilling at midnight of your current time zone. May be recharged manually or by consuming money from the Guild Funds, he read out loud. Further updates increase that mana.
Thats way more than we could ever use anyway, Ravemented as John wondered where to put it.
She wasnt wrong, maintaining a hot shower cost something like 3 mana per minute. However, she was also not right. We can easily maintain everyday life with that much mana, question bes what else we can do over the day, he told her. Who knows what kind of costs the other buildings will umte?
With that said, he ced the thing just right in front of where he stood. Efforts to relocate it worked exactly like with the stone. A menu made it clear that relocating the Guild Heart was free but moving other buildings woulde with a fee in the shape of yet more money.
He then put up a second building close-by. It was a simple wall, half a metre thick and in the shape of a standing rectangle of monolithic marble. A simple white painted door was all there was to it. That building allowed John, for the moment just him, to create an Instant Dungeon inside the ckness. It was kind of like Magois gates, sadly without the massive time dtion that the Fateweaver brought with him.
I have to write himter, John thought. To tell him where toe to whenever he gets his business done. Shouldnt take much longer. Anyway, that cost me only one Room Slot, upkeep is 250 mana a day, so theres where that power goes.
The window provided him with a nice statistical breakdown of where power currently went. All in all, this was a pretty well designed building game, he had to admit. Although the copious amounts of windows he had open right now made him feel like he was the administrator in a sci-fi movie.
Not gonna lie, seeing you create things out of thin air is even more bullshit than the usual bullshit, Rave drilymented, watching John as he tried to find the optimal cement for the Harbour. Experiment time was over.
Hey, this is mynd, I am the god around here, John put on a justifying smile and the Harbour down. In what was perhaps the most reality defying moment of this exercise yet, the ground just centimetres behind them changed from the light washed out greyish red stone of the walkway to a nice, healthy brick-red. The whole coastline of the barrier was affected by this, as there suddenly was arge pier inside an artificially constructed barrier with a mechanical gate. The yacht was moved by invisible forces to fit neatly into that new structure. Then again, afterwards there was very little room for more. So, this thing is pretty neat. I can modify where the piers areid out and it automatically hooks all vehicles parked inside into the power grid.
The statistics he had on hand changed to show how the mana batteries inside the ship were now getting refuelled. The amount of avable mana was shrinking rapidly, but it was also going into the one thing they would use as their home for theing time. If he had been against this going on, there was a slider for how much mana the Harbour was allowed to consume at any given moment, currently set to infinity. Mana for the one other building he had had already been withdrawn, meaning that the system always prioritized its own running over refuelling stuff attached to it. Unlike the I.D. Gate, the Harbour had cost him 7 Room Slots, no wonder at that size.
Much to Johns delight, the yacht, now part of the Guild Hall system, automatically lowered all three of the boarding staircases it had and the pier changed to be at the perfect height for them to rest on and then fixed them in ce with some self-guided ropes.
Well, time to see what else I can put around here, a very enthusiastic Gamer with new toys said.
Chapter 423 – Guild Hall Part 2 – Tier 0 Build-Out
Chapter 423 C Guild Hall Part 2 C Tier 0 Build-Out
I cannot fucking believe you, Eliza spat out. Like, I literally cannot believe that I love you, you are an absolute idiot and I want you to bend me over and spank the shit out of me while fucking me up the ass. Her insult fell apart at the end there, but John ignored her ill-intentions either way.
I like it, John said, hands stemmed into his hips, standing wide-legged as if he had just created the most ultimate of crafted works. With the remaining 7 Room Slots, he had made 4 more buildings. 3 Slots went to the Bank, a nice and simple brick building decorated with lots of shiny stuff and a giant golden dor sign above the entrance, 1 to a Security Station that spawned up to three level 25 golems in the shape of floating orb sentries, another 1 into a simr station for cleaning, that spawned little white slimes, and thest 2 on the semi-circle shaped building in front of them. It had a main building that was a story taller than its two t-roofed arms. As with most buildings around here, it had a nice simple brick look to it. Nothing too fancy on the face of it, the asional white stered line decor cutting through to make it look less like azily textured block.
With all of those buildings, John hoped he had the basic things covered. He had ess to his Instant Dungeons, the Guild Bank system (he could ess both the mary supply and storage through the Bank building), a security system that was mostly there to alert them, something to keep the ce clean and,stly, a petting zoo.
Okay, technically it was called a Menagerie, where John could spawn cute, dormant monsters from materials taken from barriers where more mean and aggressive versions tried to murder John. Or animals that werergely unrted and only shared some basic appearances. They were 100% useless forbat as they refused to fight unless threatened and could also not be taken anywhere. Maybe if John picked up something like beast master skills, he could have attempted something, but he didnt see himself going that route. He really had enough summons already, no reason to add yet more adds to his encounter.
Of course, thatst building existed, inrge part, to fulfil his promise to Nia, but it would also be Johns business for the uing time. Well, it would be one of three businesses he would run.
Number one, the petting zoo, would probably be the least used of the three, just because John didnt see it being particrly popr in a city where there was anarcho-capitalism and thus massive security concerns for everybody.
Number two, he didnt just put up the Bank for the storage, it also came with a loaning mechanic where money put into the Guild Bank could be lent to third parties at a negotiated interest rate and then naturally flow back to John through his mechanics. While within the building he also had ess to windows that told him which loans were not being paid back (the mechanic still relied on consent by both parties) and who took them. He would then still have to find out where that person was and why, but that still was a pretty good way to ensure he got his money back.
The third business, the one that was likely to see the most use, was, in essence, a protection agreement. People would pay him and in return he would make sure they were reasonably protected. Taxes against citizenship, essentially. He nned to put thisst one into effect only wayter into the game, when he was sure putting a governmental body in effect was needed,
The reason why he was currently of the mind that he would need to do it sooner rather thanter was that Thorne didnt behave like a government, just like the biggest fish in the pond of the economy. They were setting different rules that advantaged their market position rather than put some sort of police force together and enforce a legal code.
Of course, you fucking like it, its a nice building, but still you want to advertise yourself with a shitting ZOO?! Eliza screamed thatst word from the top of her lungs and then broke into cacophonicughter before falling over backwards. You must be ecstatic, you creepy blonde cum stained dress wearing bimbo!
Nia was strangely quiet. Even more so than usual. John wasnt thinking about it so much, because it was Nia and he honestly didnt have any consistently applicable standards to her behaviour. It also felt like she was getting weirder rather than more normal as she hung around with them. Maybe she wasing out of some sort of shell? That was an interesting thought.
That image was only more reinforced when the pariah, having stood perfectly still ever since Gaia arrived, suddenly blurted out, in her perfectly emotionless and quiet voice, Why are you looking like an adorable little creature?
John went over to check what she was looking at; the answer was nothing. She was looking at nothing. What are you talking about? he had to ask.
Gaia, she was engulfed in light but such a pattable small thing, Nia answered.
That was almost 30 minutes ago, he pointed out. He only received a nod as a reaction. And you said that just now, to no one, instead of to Gaia when she was here.
She hears me, the pariah stated.
It was hard to argue with that, Gaia heard whatever Gaia wanted to hear. I guess, lets go into the zoo and check what we can do.
The zoo came equipped with all the things it could ever need to be left autonomous. Feeding stations that ran on mana, different biomes in different rooms, which used the nice trick of beingrger on the inside, and all of it customizable in exchange for money. It was a smaller version of the zoo they had visited back in Rome, much smaller. The number of biomes was limited to pretty average stuff (forest, ins and farm animals to be exact) and the rooms had no way to connect to each other, so there was no way for all the cute critters to y with each other. Future upgrades would necessarily transform it into something marvellous, but right now it was empty.
To Nias almost visible disappointment, John imagined he saw her lips moving into something that could graciously be called the beginning of the start of a pout, everything was empty. Sorry, spawning stuff in costs money, he told her. I will start working on it within the hour.
Do you need help? she asked.
Nah, I may be a little rusty but I always found myself back into the grinding rhythm pretty quickly, John said, rolling his shoulders. It will be best if I go in with only people of my level.
Back outside he found that Rave and Eliza had already returned to the ship, as they knew where he was going and his girlfriend probably didnt feel like waiting in the cold. Nia then vanished when he looked away from her for a second, probably to chase some birds over at the side of reality.
That left the only people waiting for him a Stirwin that was still rolling around on the walkway, asionally stopping toin about theck of grass C then continuing to roll anyway, Aclysia and Metra. Master, I have a question before we go on, the weaponized maid spoke up. If I may?
Yes, John bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from adding, Now that I answered your one question, lets go, like a proper smartass.
Where do we get food from? The stocks on the ship will be enough for an extended period, but that cannot be said for the part of it that is fresh.
Mhm, that is a good question actually. In his building spree he had seen a farm but had dismissed it as an unnecessary investment. Also, he kind of doubted Nia would let them ughter anything that looked remotely pattable.
Now that John thought about it, Nia wasnt eating a whole lot of meat. As a matter of fact, the only time he recalled her doing so was when it was ced in front of her; whenever she got the choice, she just ignored it. She must have been halfway to Veganism but also thought it impolite to say no to meat she was offered.
Fact of the matter is that I wont stop eating meat though, he thought, and neither are the other girls. Guess Nia will have to live with that. She doesnt strike me as a person who would start chanting meat is murder at everyone around her anyway. To Aclysia he then exined out loud. Even if I wanted to fix that right now, I can only make us self-sustaining with another building, and the only way I currently have to get more Room Slots would be to spend some GP on it via the Achievement Store. I would rather save those up for the extra ss levels. So, I guess we are living off the Abyss Auction until then.
Understood, please proceed then, Aclysia bowed.
Just one more thing before we go into the Dungeon, John opened his Guild Perk menu for the first time. Creating his Guild Hall had given him a perk and it was time to spent it. Lets see, automatic War-Quest, chance to get loot for the Guild Funds, Federation mechanic, a Patron God or an extra nice building to live in, he summarized the options.
The Federation was out for the moment, on the basis that its main appeal was that it extended other guild mechanics he had to his allies. He had neither other guild mechanics nor allies right now. A Patron God would also be useless as he had ess to none right now. The extra building he couldnt build, and even if he wanted to, the yacht did a perfectly fine job at being their home for the moment. The War-Quest and the extra money were the only really attractive options right now, and as John wanted to secure funds right now, he went with thetter.
The background of the option switched from the light blue of his normal interface to an orange that was failing at looking golden, marking it as taken.
Do we go kill stuff now? an impatient Metra asked, weaponid over her neck and shoulders. It has been TOO long.
Yes, now we go kill stuff, John told her, fidgeting the slightest bit with his Advanced I.D. Settings, flipping Loot back on and thus reducing the gained experience bonus from 115% to 105%. Just what stuff?
He really hadnt fought a lot of different things, having not touched the mechanic since the tournament ended and only grinding Orcs before that due to them being reliably grindable. That had been over a month ago. Well, new time, new fights, John decided as they went to the I.D. Gate. Pulling the door open, they found a simple ck space behind. Not menacingly ck as if filled with dark things, more a ck that was like the white of an untouched canvas, ready to take in everything the artist chose.
I feel like beating on some Undead, how about you guys? John asked, his elementals materializing one by one.
Well, Undead burn pretty well, not quite as good as Forest Elementals, but good enough, Smander was the first toment.
U-uhm, I do think we should stick to Orcs, we already know those. T-to get back into the rhythm and all that, Gnome made the usual, careful suggestion.
Whatever, as long as its FUUUUUN! Sylph eximed.
Undine stayed silent, radiating a calm level of non-opinionated existence. On the other hand, Siena voiced her opinion for a change, I do like the sound of Undead, they tend to skulk around in ces I also feelfortable.
I am fine with whatever Master decides, Aclysiamented when looked at, although I agree with Gnome that a well-known encounter is perhaps the smart thing.
Murder, was the only word Metra had to add to this discussion.
Mhm, after carefully weighing everyones opinion, I say we go with the Undead after all, John said. Giving the little bit of extra exnation to Gnome, he added, We still have the Escape Rope if things get too dicey. I dont think we are too rusty though.
Why a-are we even starting with an Assault? the earth elemental wasnt quite convinced. If our goal is money, wouldnt Floor dungeons be better?
You are almost right, but here is the thing, I am halfway to level 111 and at that point we get another Tier. A higher Tier means better loot and more money. So I am prioritizing that for the moment.
Ah, okay, Gnome nodded, s-so we are already at the tail end of this Tier right? As in we are almost out?
Yup, shouldnt be too hard, although we will see how the change in our roster affects things, he was talking about theck of Momo and the new introduction of Metra. They were missing a pretty valuable support asset and in return had gained another frontline fighter. Adding that Metras abilities that made her best when she was fighting on her own and it might turn out that she was simply not a fit for this type of group content.
Well, the only way to find that out was in practice. The Escape Rope with its cooldown of a week had to get some use at some point.
Mhm, if I set it to the usual 3 hours with my current level of Create I.D., that would scale it up all the way to over four guess that is possible. He waited for disagreement or anything, but no one had any furtherments.
Here we go then, John stretched his arm upwards and created the dungeon.
Chapter 424 – Grinding is a constant in the Gamer’s life
Chapter 424 C Grinding is a constant in the Gamers life
The pale screech of wailing souls cut through the air as their blue translucent forms curved through the darkness of the necropolis, illuminating it with baleful light only matched by the flickering of torches that stood aside the long walkways. Fields of gravestones grew like fields of wheat on perfectly square areas of sick looking grass, only intercepted by the asional tombplex amongst them, which stuck their moss-covered grey stone entrances out in the shape of roman style mausoleums.
The ceiling of it all was an arrangement of green crystals, dropping necrotic energy as they glowed selfishly, to only reveal their own existence but nothing else of where they hung from or how they were fixed in ce in the pitch ck. The air was cold and moved in swirls of stench, as if a giant with rotting flesh between his teeth was breathing upon them.
Moody, Johnmented on the pretty chilling environment, the group standing on a crossroad of pale pavement, watching one of the many drops fall upon a gravestone. It quickly took the colour of the crystals above, and then an arm burst out of the soil, rotting flesh sticking to pure-white bone with fingers sharpened to the point of being a natural weapon. The undead rose from its temporary resting ce in a rusty armour, green energy filling him to the brim, and holding a sword that had seen better days but whose hue identified it as dangerous in other ways than just the cause for shing wounds.
Wherever the drops hit gravestones, they caused such a zombie to rise. Armed with an array of different weapons, all dropping with the dark energies that reanimated the corpses in the first ce, they rattled their bones and began moving towards John.
These undead seemed less coordinated than the orcs had been, at least John couldnt see them form any ranks or formations. However, it wasnt like they were alone or the only threat around. Where the drops didnt hit a gravestone but instead the ground itself, they sunk into the soil, only to then rise again as some form of ooze creature that slugged its way forward.
If the drops happened tond on John or his allies, they dealt damage. Only where they hit the white stone of the walkway pavement did they do nothing.
Okay, battlen- John tried to quickly throw together a basic strategy.
Metra immediately acted and charged ahead on her own. With the force of a train, she crashed right into an Un-damned with her shoulder first. The ribcage shattered under the impact, but the being wasnt quite as weak as to be done in with just that, raising its sword in an attempt to ram it into the berserker babes back as it was being carried. The attack was thwarted by Metra ramming both of them into the wall of a mausoleum, yet more bones cracking, causing the arms of the being to shake out of focus. Before it could readjust, Metra with a triumphant scream took Qiada and executed an attack that had the upwards pointing tip rush even higher, into the decaying head and ripping it straight up.
Holding the weapon high like the banner of victory for a moment, Metra then suddenly swung it down, sending the scattering remains of the created enemies into a crescent as she took stance. With that straight charge she gained the focus of at least half the figurative room on her own. Whether or not that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen in the long term, but John seized the opportunity to model something as close to an ideal situation as he could.
The ideal began with a roof. Now the question was how to get that roof. Without Momo around, erecting the tower they had usually used as the base didnt quite work out, being just too mana intensive toplete in one go. He could put up some walls, but that would be very costly for a limited effect, especially with those slimes looking very much like they could just do as slugs do and travel up anyway. Really, what he wanted was protection from the random damage of the falling energy drops, an advantageous standing came after that.
The question remained how. There were three ways. One was Gnome, one was Nadine (the two typebination from Undine and Gnome that had control over ntlife) and one was Smlere (Gnome + Smander,va control). Thest one of those would do the exact same job as the first one but also give a cheapva trench in addition to having more mana on her own, thus needing to take less from John himself. Meanwhile, the decision between Gnome and Nadine was one of reliability versus cost. He already knew that stone negated the falling dropspletely, would vines have the same effect or would the drops slowly trickle through?
It was a risk not worth taking, so John came to his conclusion. Gnome, Smander, Stirwin, fuse! he mentally instructed them. This was another advantage of Metra going off on her own, he could go back to using mentalmunication, which was way quicker.
Now, why was he naming three elementals? As Stirwin, Gnome and Smander converged into the same direction, became streams of energy and finally formed the amazon of a woman that was Smlere, John was reminded of his discovery that from the 20 possiblebinations of the 3-types, 14 were recycled 2-types. The important difference being: The 3-type versions had higher Stats. On the one hand, that annoyed John a bit, it felt likezy design and limited his needlessly vast array of tools, on the other hand, it already was a needlessly vast array of tools and familiarizing himself with aplete, evenrger new set of fusions would have been quite hard.
The other way to ask that question was, why was he going for 3-type if the thing he wanted was essible in a 2-type? The basis of powers remained the same for the recycled ones, some changed a little, some didnt change at all, none changed a lot. That also applied to looks, Smleres armoured yellow dress had gotten some new shiny golden decorations, but that was about it. The simple answer was: he wanted to save as much of his own mana as possible, and with Smlere having higher stats, that meant John had very little he needed to add. The cooldown was the same either way, with Stirwin being currently useless in fights as well. The only argument for using the two-type was that it wouldst 10 rather than 5 minutes, but John didnt need her to do something lengthy.
Right on it! the toned woman with theva braid raised her leg high and stomped once. Pirs of ck stone rushed out of the floor, a second stomp added shoulder-high walls between them, with two gaps at opposite sides, easily defendable by one person each. Then came the really mana intensive part, as she created a ceiling fromva she conjured between her raised hands as if she was the central pir. It took more than a few moments of extreme heat before that work was finished. Sylph and Aclysia engaging in fights already with Undine attentively watching if she would have to intervene by either blocking something with her body or healing somebody.
Smlere added a final line of defence in the shape of Johns all-time favourite: theva moat. Double bonus: this one was technically infused with the element of light, so it would deal extra damage to the undead. Not that it needed that, it was ava moat. If it hadnt been for his enchanted underpants, he would have been quite ufortable in the heat that began to rise in their improvised base of operations, however.
What they had here was more of a bunker than a tower, but they could upgrade it in the next few hours if need be. It only cost John half of his current mana and that was as quickly refilling as always.
With their position secured, Aclysia manning the defence of one entrance and Smlere the other (until she would split again and leave the job to Gnome), they were secure. Time to check on Metra, John thought and sent Jack flying.
It wasnt hard to find her. A pile of Un-damned was desperately stabbing at something beneath itself. The pile quivered, as Metra underneath it tried to throw it off and failed. Then it quivered again. And again. Each time it happened it looked like she managed to break out that little bit more and each time it was apanied by a furious scream. Only at the seventh attempt had Metras wrath stacked high enough that the corresponding buff allowed her to fulfil that feat of absurdity.
Oh, this is the best, she grinned fiercely whirling Qiada around in ted hands. Her whole body was hidden underneath the viinous looking armour. For a moment both parties waited, then Metra took the first step forwards. Her arm shot into the air, a ce where nothing should have been, and disappeared up to the elbow in a portal she ripped open. Reappearing in front of the head of an Un-Damned, she grabbed it by the throat and then pulled it back. The portal closed before it could be an obstacle to the monster now flying towards her, making this a situationally effective ranged grab.
Metra met the enemy with a decapitating strike of her halberd that sent the undeads head flying and earth scattering as the weapon crashed into the ground. With the grab being the signal that it was go time again, the Un-damned had begun attacking her once more already, and so a wild exchange of blows ensued. Ripping Qiada back up with brutal force, the ancient weapon that was Metra cut through the rib cages of two more of those surrounding her.
A Necrooze whipped its acidic tentacles at her, but the attack bounced off her armour without doing any damage. The sole of her ted feet, covered in tiny spikes against slipping away on smooth surfaces and making kicking a much more lethal weapon, sttered the being in a single crushing stomp. It was a vulgar disy of power that made John realize that he didnt have to worry about Metra in the slightest. As much as she fought alone and was able to profit from her buff, she was strong enough to kill even these group buffed enemies by her lonesome. What was more, they couldnt even scratch the Astrotium that covered her.
In other words, Metra could have her fight and John only stood to profit. He sent an Observe her way to check on just how stupid her current stats had to be.
Almost +200% in all Stats but Charisma Thats dumb, John thought after estimating how high those buffs were. He would need to double check with her normal state, where only the passives of her Consumptions affected her.
Not like Metra was without her weaknesses, looking at it from an enemys perspective. For a start she had limited mana regeneration, so once she burned through what she had, the fight became a whole lot easier. Although short distance usage of her powers didnt seem to cost that much, so limiting her dimensional tearing fuckery to a range of something like three metres would also increase possibilities immensely. Next was her already mentioned need to fight alone to maintain that buff. Third was that the buff relied on her being angry as all hell; she had a pretty good grasp on it, but that didnt make her immune to making mistakes in the heat of it all.
It was something between a bad habit and a wise policy that John tried toe up with ns to defeat everyone, even his summons or enemies. At the very least it kept his mind tactically trained, and there was little need to adapt to the current situation anymore. The roof held, Smlere had already split again so Gnome and Aclysia were guarding the entrances. Meanwhile, Smander and Sylph were throwing their airborne attacks as per usual (albeit the endme elemental also used her new melee capabilities whenever she felt like it) and John and Undine provided support from within the bunker. They were pretty set in their usual pattern.
Of course, those tended to shake that up quite a bit. John noted that the Necrooze didnt have influence in that spawning. Did that mean there was a secondary boss that could spawn or where the slimes just extra? Judging by the earlier Observe he had thrown their way, he guessed thetter.
Through Jacks eyes, he soon spied a new kind of undead walking up the stairs of a mausoleum. It was a skeleton, all the flesh that could have covered it had liquified into a gtine mass of greyish pink that stretched over the warped bones, more spikey and thicker than usual.
The aptly named undead raised a ck wooden staff to the ceiling and thus more drops began to fall from the crystals above. He wasnt doing anything else, just standing there, but there was simply no reason for him to move either.
I hate spawners, John thought as he became aware of the situation that this put them in. Ignoring the Raincaller meant that more Un-damned would spawn thanks to the increased rain. They would then kill those Un-damned, causing a second Raincaller to spawn. That would then increase the rain even more. Eventually they would find themselves in a figurative storm of necrotic energy raining from above and undead attacking them. It was a pretty mean cycle. It also would have been a pretty quick road to certain death without a roof.
Luckily the easy fix was to kill the boss. Of course, there would still be some more enemies than before, but it seemed the dungeon was somewhat bnced with that in mind. The early wave had been a jokepared to the orcs and the Un-damned were not particrly intelligent; they could handle a few more.
If they could handle a few more stretching over three hours, that was a whole different question.
Sylph, Smander, you deal with that Raincaller, John instructed as he turned Jack around to keep an eye on the rest of the situation. That was when a miscalction struck him. When the drops had been few and far in-between, dodging them as a sparrow hadnt been that hard. But now that it had almost doubled and approached drizzling, that quickly changed.
John realized his mistake toote, altering the course of the sparrow toe back to the bunker. A drop hit one of the wings, dissolving the feathers and showing the underlying mechanical skeleton. Gliding with a giant hole in one wing proved to be difficult, and then a second and third drop dissolved other sections of the sparrows body.
Shit, John thought as the mechanical animalnded on the floor only to then be crushed by an Un-damned, there goes the money I put into that this is like the fourth flying Possession target that I lost!
In good news, the Necrotic Raincaller turned out to be one of the weaker bosses. The monster saw the two flying elementals approaching and threw neon-green energy bolts at them. Sylph was too small and flimsy a target to be hit by something like that, while Smander either dodged them narrowly or simply broke through. Sylph then began a turbulent dance of winds by circling around the Raincaller at absurd speeds, her body a pale green streak inside the tornado. The battle was then decided by Smander using her unleashed ability, reinforcing that storm with grey and golden fire.
We can definitely do this, John thought and the battle continued.
Chapter 425 – Desire is another constant [Erotic Content]
Chapter 425 C Desire is another constant [Erotic Content]
Oh, thank god, John said; his HP had been getting pretty low. Towards the end a group of Necroozes had actually managed to spill into the bunker. The steady increase of enemies, with Raincallers spawning and then making more Un-damned spawn which then caused John and consorts to kill more Un-damned which caused more Raincallers to spawn, starting the whole thing over again, was vicious.
Halfway through John had actually resorted to a dy, dont kill tactic, because he had a feeling of where the wind had been blowing. From that point onwards they had been killing as little as possible. Of course, Metra didnt share that view and happily continued decimating, whichplicated things tremendously. In the end it came down to thirty second desperatest stand where John was ready to pull the Escape Rope action at any moment.
Thankfully, he hadnt done that, and now he had gotten that level he wanted. He was also witness to how loot in Assault worked for the first time, which was in the shape of it suddenly appearing wherever there had been a sessful kill. With the rain of necrotic energy over, he then delegated everyone to pick up some of the stuff.
My timing is perfect as ever, Rave suddenly appeared next to him, startling her boyfriend immensely.
Christ, where did you suddenlye from?! he asked her.
I opened the door and stepped in although there now is no door, she exined, looking around herself. Was confused when it was locked. Guess it wont let people enter into ongoing dungeons?
That would be the assumption, yes, John answered and then was witness to a very dangerous phenomenon in the shape of a question he should have asked himself way earlier.
What happened when a super pissed Metra suddenly had nothing left to kill?
The answer (at least with him) was, find her master, nakedly tackle him at easily 50 km/h, thus ripping him to the floor and immediately tearing his pants open, then look at his currently limp dick and go right at it. Her stat increase (capping out at 300% at the end) did increase Libido after all, so this shouldnt havee as a surprise.
Either way, he found himself growled at, You just lie there, I need something hard and I need something inside me and I need it fast. Now, normally he would have taken the challenge. He much preferred fighting for control with his more dominating leaning girls, that way they got turns being the one advancing the lewdness. Seldomly hepletely gave it up when requested. This would be one of those rare times, mostly because of the hand pressing against his lower abdomen. It didnt pain him or anything, but it made sure he remained in ce and had no other choice than to do so.
Oh, I am getting all in on that action, Rave giggled, stripping in the background.
Curses that I got a girlfriend who is a sadist herself! John thought, having fooled himself into expecting help from her to take the wheel back. Instead the two of them soon were face to face, working on his dick.
At first, they took turns. One mouth enveloped his cock, then the other. Actually, this isnt so bad, John thought as one of his few unfulfilled fantasies finally came true. Metra and Rave, both slobbering over his dick, with their so simr faces like some sort of biracial twins. Which John had recently learned were actually a (very rare) thing.
While Metra was sucking his almost erect dick, Rave whispered something into her ear. There was an amused glint in her eyes, and a momentter her hair, usually bound in that ponytail, fell in a cascade of dirty blonde. With Raves hair having recently grown a good bit, the two of them now looked even more alike.
Then they changed their strategy. Without a single further word ofmunication, they began kissing his dick from either side. Sliding over the length in unison. Teasing the underside with their long tongues. Making out around the tip of his now fully erect shaft. Blue and green eyes ncing at him at the same time, the former amused, thetter burning with battle ignited lust.
I am about to cum he groaned, but the girlspping at his cock didnt seem to care. Rave kissed that sensitive spot right beneath the ns with her soft lips, and with that he was a goner. His balls tightened and his hips instinctively rocked upwards. White seed spurted into the air, covering some of the floor but mostlynding on the wild manes of the two beautiful beasts currently taking advantage of him. The rest fell on his lower abdomen.
We will have to wash that outter, Rave giggled, wrapping a hand around the base of her boyfriends cock.
I think it looks sexy, Metra added, putting her own hand on the top half of Johns stillpletely erect dick. But we should catch the next load, bit of a waste.
Well, we still have some, the pink-haired bombshell said and bowed her head down, tongue extended, licking Johns semen off his body. A momentter, Metra joined her in that endeavour. They didnt leave John without stimtion in the process. Their joined hands were pumping his shaft in almost perfect coordination.
There was, however, not a whole lot to gather, so Metra soon dered, Okay, NOW I really need something inside me, get out of the way! With a disappointed sigh, Rave would have liked to keep teasing John like this a little while longer, the techno-lover did, and Metra straddled over her masters cock. She was literally dripping wet, drops of girlcum falling on Johns glistening shaft. With one quick fall, she impaled herselfpletely. Fuck yes! she eximed between clenched teeth, her pussy quivering and tightening in an immediate, if minor, orgasm.
John got drunk on the sight. Metras open hair, his cum sticking to it and turning part of the mane into a sticky mess, flying up and down as she got moving. The rippling of her muscles, especially in her thighs and midriff, as they tensed to give power to her movements. Hands ying with her own nipples, moaning, beads of something like sweat forming on her exterior and rolling down. She rode him for a full ten minutes this way, cumming not just once in the process.
I still need more! she groaned, still riding him, even as her whole body glistened as if oiled up. Her abs were a sight for the gods and John watched a single drop of her sweat roll down from her sr plexus down the vertical trench that ran down the middle of her muscles. John found himself with the strange desire to lick up that drop, taste the salt of her exhaustion and dominate her on top of some sports gear.
Right now, that wasnt his role though. Instead he watched that drop finally reach the point where he and Metra joined as one. He saw his cock vanish into her pussy over and over again as she rode him with enough force to break a lesser mans hips. With each pping sound from their hips that echoed through the ck stone bunker came a wailing moan.
Now that he no longer concentrated on the drop, John becamepletely aware of just how good Metra riding him felt. Her artificial folds were gripping tightly onto him, her throaty moans reverberated in his mind, and then he came a second time.
Metra felt the cum flooding her pussy, cried out as the feeling of his orgasm swept through the fuzziness of their mental connection as the raw emotion it was and then shouted when that pushed her far over the edge herself. For a moment, there was no movement, as the berserker babes voice, far higher pitched than usual, rung in Johns ears. She took a heavy breath, quivering, deep,plete, at the end of the scream. Still C need C more, she pressed out and started moving again with relentless power.
And I need ya inside me now as well, Rave chimed back in; she had spent the past minutes watching and masturbating. Watching gets me hot, but masturbating aint my style. Ya got enough of seeing her abs?
Never, but you can still put your perfect ass on my face, John answered in a strained tone. His girlfriend smirked and moved to do exactly that. Oh my god, yes, he muttered under his breath as she approached.
First, she crawled close, like a cat on the prowl. yfully, she bit Johns earlobe. You better call back Jack, he would have to inform her about the birds fateter, or possess some pebble or something while your eyes still see something that isnt that perfect ass, she whispered. Cause ya gonna see me make-out with my metal twin over there while ya eat me out.
He forced himself to look away from both the magnificently raised backside to his right and the still rocking abs in front of him long enough to do just that. A mere momentter, he saw her smooth thigh reach over him, his girlfriend straddling over his face. The perfect rounding of her bubble butt was above him. Her wetly rubbed pussy glistened, desperate for attention. John could not await tasting the overflowing honey, his tongue reaching out of his mouth. Finally, his girlfriends hips lowered and she took her rightful seat.
He was really grateful that he had possessed a pebble now, as he was absolutely blinded by the sheer volume of her ass cheeks. This way he was perfectly able to watch Metra continuously riding him and Rave facing her. A momentter, they werent just facing each other, Metra slumping forwards, her still rocking body seeking a bit of support that the Lightbearer willingly supplied. The little thing she took in turn were the berserker babes moans, sealing them between their joined lips.
It was another one of those sights that sent a torrent of pleasure through John, his hips hammering upwards as his lower body tensed up and he came. Rave felt the moans and groans that awakened in both of her partners in her upper and lower lips. The dominant side of the pink-haired bombshell was deeply pleased by this, as her body pressed John to the ground and Metra was naught but putty in her lust induced haze.
All through the show that Rave made out of her making out session with the dirty blonde, John came. When their wild hair cascaded in their heated exchange, when a little moan escaped through the little gap between winding lips, when Rave ran her hands over Metras head, each time John spurted a giant load into Metra.
Luckily Source of Satisfaction made his endurancergely unimportant. The moment he thought he was tapped, his balls suddenly surged. Four minutes must have ticked over, having gone down from five since the skills refill cooldown was reduced by one minute every 20 levels. Eventually, his balls would be literally bottomless. This realization hit John quite frequently, but it was unbelievable every time.
For the moment though, he had his hands back. Neither Metra nor Rave were in a position to continue holding them down, and with his orgasms subsided (for the moment), he had control over his body back to a satisfying degree. Not that the thing he wanted to do was particrlyplicated.
He pped his hands on Raves butt, with way more force than necessary just to produce that satisfying smacking sound. Fingers digging into one of the two ces where she could be called thick, he extended his tongue deep into her folds. She tasted sweet, like bubble-gum with a note of mint. As to how that was possible: John knew all the secrets of the shampoos she used, but he didnt mind. She went through the effort of looking stunning and her cunt attractive to eat out, what did he care if she cheated a bit through things like magical shampoo? It was already unfair towards the rest of womankind that she looked that great without make-up or brushing her hair.
The other ce where she was thick (albeit not particrly so,pared to other girls in his harem) pressed down on his head. Her thighs could have crushed a watermelon, but around him they just supplied him with a softness and warmth from all sides. The only thing he didnt like about his current position was theck of time to breathe, but that was hot in a weird way. He wasnt nearly as into the feeling as Eliza, but right now it worked for him.
Whether her thighs were tensing up in response to his assault on her pussy with his skilled tongue or because she wanted to reprimand him for the p on her butt, John didnt know. Rave didnt take the time between kissing Metra, cupping her breasts or biting the brown nipples to exin, neither did John want her to. The only thing he wanted to hear from her right now were her panting exhales and moaning.
He attempted to press his face even deeper into her ass, but he was already all the way there. Tongue extended as far as possible, long and pointy, he prated her with it. Overflowing love juice ran over his lips, filled his taste buds and covered his lower face.
Slurping sounds echoed from his mouth as he sucked on her clit C her moans became louder, Metras moves became quicker, everyone was groaning, then screaming, then suddenly everyone was quiet, asional grunts being the only exceptions, body tensed in a perfectly synced up array of orgasms.
Two girls were sitting on top of John, brown and white skinned, blonde and pink haired, Middle Eastern and Asian, but looking extremely simr in all other aspects, as if they were half-sisters. The former, Metra, threw her head backwards as cum flooded her twitching and milking pussy. Thetter, Rave, slumped forwards as her boyfriends tongue kept licking while her orgasmic tight folds quivered between her thighs. Both of them squirted a torrent of girl-cum on him as he gave them a mind-blowing orgasm of a capacity only he could do for them.
Still, John felt like the luckiest and most-fulfilled person in the room, throughout his orgasm and afterwards, as he refused to ever take the fact that beautiful women like this were sleeping with him, cumming for him and making him cum so often with such intensity (even with ack of awesome skills for it) for granted.
Chapter 426 – Finally, routines
Chapter 426 C Finally, routines
So, what are we doing with all of this? John asked with a look into his inventory. Most of what had dropped was useless to him, what he had put aside he had already fed to Aclysia or used to spawn some cute little slime blobs with happy faces on their surfaces. He hadnt seen Nia since creating them. The obvious answer is put it on the auction
Ja, that is the obvious answer, so go do that, Rave told him, fanning out her still somewhat wet hair. She had showered after what had just transpired. Not like ya need to walk to some local outpost to put it into the system.
Normal people need to do that? John asked; he just put up the offer and then the thing was automatically taken from his inventory. If something didnt sell, it was sent back by package though. Looking back at it, that did have the appearance of some of his bullshit going on.
Nah, either ya have a premium membership for them to pick it up from you or ya need to give it to the local outpost. Remember the machines they had in that gaming store? Rave reminded him.
Oh yeah, John nodded. I met Victoria there wow, that feels like it was years ago.
Fucking asscucking bitch, Elizamented while gnawing on some jerky.
I wonder if someone gets a heart-attack every time one of my items just appears in the stocks, John said, half-jokingly.
Gotta doubt it, Rave informed him. Just like with money, ya aint the only one with powers rting to inventory space. They have systems to take care of abilities like that.
Mhm, well, best put it on the auction, whatever the case is, John said. He had gotten over two million dors out of the four-hour encounter; how much he would get from the items he couldnt even guess. The problem was that he had no idea what kind of price tag to put on things. The crafting materials at least somewhat regrly appeared on the auction already, so he could just orient himself on those, but the equipment? He just set it a decent base price and then put it up for the open bid. Letting the market figure out that one.
Okay, I got my level, so I am doing Floors tomorrow, John told everyone present, which was all of them but Nia and Aclysia. They had gathered in the cantina with the clear intention of using it. Aclysia was one room over, doing her thing in the kitchen, but she was listening in through Johns ears. And for the foreseeable future. What are you up to?
The question went out to Rave and Eliza, but realistically mostly Rave as the blood mage had to stick around people who could prevent Thana from taking control. Ergo, with John gone, she would have to go wherever the techno lover went. Both seemed to be aware of that, as Eliza looked to the pink haired girl and Rave in turn spent more time than usual thinking.
I can sit on my hands here for a few more days before I go looneys, but I guess I am going to head into the city? Will have to take the ferry cause ind, Rave said. A quick google search revealed a slight problem with that n.
They only sell tickets on the maind, he told her.
So we are stuck here? his girlfriend did not look happy about that.
Well, lets see John went on a website Magoi had told him about and that Lydia had also used before in the shape of the Fateweaver taxi service. Chances were that they also had ferries in a city like this. John just couldnt imagine that they would be foregoing the opportunity to make money.
Once he got on the website, he was greeted by a giant red disimer. CURRENTLY DOWN C READ BELOW!! he read in a dramatic way that hopefully made it clear that it was written in caps lock. As the old structure of Fateweaver businesses is currently being dismantled, the business is taking a holiday to await the developments of the fifth council of Everest. Afterwards the staff will decide as to how to handle those developments and adjust prices if necessary. We will be back for you as soon as possible, please walk for the remainder of the time. There was a further bit about how people that rented traffic tunnel ess were affected, but that had no influence on John.
So, we are stuck here? Rave asked again. Unless I wanna run the very low risk of getting on that ferry without a ticket.
Mhm John opened his building menu, maybe he would find something that could solve the problem there. There was indeed. Apparently I can build a Transport Station that teleports us from point A to point B
I hear a but, in that silence, his girlfriend sinctly pointed out.
but, he confirmed her suspicion, the other side cant be too far away, there is a limited number of endpoints, currently just one, and it needs to be on conquered territory. Not to mention that I need Room Slots and some special materials C namely Baelementium and something that can be used to start a magi-flux reaction of the fifth magnitude. He had no idea what exactly that meant, but thankfully he was provided with a list of those things and in which dungeons to find them. Interestingly, he could go all the way back to the low-level ghosts and farm them for Ectosm; he would have needed 1500 of that though. Telling everyone as much, the conversation continued.
Okay, here is my idea for all of this then, Rave said, Im gonna be here on Eliza duty until ya get that stuff from grinding away at it and then we gonna hitch a ride on the ferry and set up some kind of outpost.
Eliza kicked the table, Could you not talk about me like I am a fucking dog you need to walk?
There was a very easy innuendo there and Rave obviously struggled to not answer with that. Ya know what I mean, Eliza, dont be so offended.
Ill be as offended as I like, seizure hands, she grumbled. I dont want to bind you to anywhere, why dont we just take the fucking ferry every day?
Cause they will let us go if they catch us once, unless we get some major dick of an overseer, but repeated offenses are gonna lead to trouble, Rave stated.
What are they going to do, fine us?
Ja, and it would be super annoying. Not like we have nothing to do here anyway, I could use some more training. Having a few days where I cant reach any clubs will be as good a motivator to spend some time doing that meditative stuff Ill get.
Hear, hear, Copernicus, rolled together in herp, yawned, my summoner has a good idea for once.
Dont ya be a dick, Rave stubbed his head and then proceeded to scratch him under the chin.
I think thats a good n, John said and opened a map of New York. God, I love this system, he eximed when Google Maps was suddenly disying an extra circle with the current teleporter range to him.
There are currently three points where we could put that teleporter, he told them. The southern half of this thing called Ellis Ind, ck Tom Ind or the edge of Liberty Park. All of those are connected to the maind, despite their names. He checked the maps. Although Ellis Ind is probably out. There is a hospital there, so the Apothecaries have most likely put a base there. A teleporter is not worth angering one of the three great nonbat organizations over although I guess thats just two now. So I propose ck Tom Ind.
Rave fished the phone out of his hand, tossed it on the cushions next to herself, lightly tapped him on the cheek with her t hand, kissed him, and then said, Youre putting the cart before the horse, how about ya get the stuff we need, check whether or not your assumptions are even correct and all that jazz before we decide where to put the darn thing.
Fair point, John admitted and then pulled her into a second kiss. Now you did it, he said, getting into a third one, you had to remind me how happy your lips make me.
Sounds totally not creepy, she giggled but engaged a fourth kiss with her boyfriend. She tasted of bubble-gum and cherries. The smell of approaching food, a jealous Eliza tugging strongly on Johns sleeve, tes being put on the table, all of those things distracted John.
Okay, so, in summary, John picked up his spoon, it was soup today, there is now an important side quest I need to get on, which is getting something from that magi-flux list and creating enough Baelementium to fulfil that condition. Now, the amount of Baelementium he needed was 5 kilograms, or 2537112,884 mana from raw materials. In other words, if he spent several hours a day on that endeavour, he should be able to get there in a few weeks. After all he was (after his usual passive costs were subtracted) regenerating over 33000 mana per hour, around 40000 if he counted the capabilities of his elementals to that, which he could for this specific endeavour.
With those figures he could extrapte that it would take him (rounded up) 64 hours to enrich enough Baelementium. To get that done in a week, he would need to spend over 9 hours a day on that. That was too much, better to give it two weeks and spend only four and a half hours.
I have a busy week in front of me, he mumbled, as he couldnt imagine having anything less than a couple of 100+ hours workweeks in the near future. Thankfully, the Baelementium creation wasnt greatly spiritually taxing or anything. Neither him or the elementals had problems in that regard in the future. Therefore, those hours spent on that endeavour could be seen as breaks.
No one ever said that bing a king would be easy, Metramented as everyone but her and Aclysia started eating. Even the elementals had little bowls of soup.
Whoever said anything about bing a king? John wanted to know.
Metra stopped in her act of bncing a fork by the grip on her index finger and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Isnt that what all of this is about? You taking over America?
Yeah, sure, but I dont want to be a monarch or anything like that.
The berserker babe looked genuinely confused. How are you going to secure your absolute power on your realm then? The leading position of your bloodline?
I am not looking for absolute power, I want to be the highest authority, he told her. I am going to make sure we have a united framework and then leave everyone who doesnt vite that to their own devices. There is no need for my kids to follow in my position, not only because I will be basically immortal but also because they might not be fit for the job. I will leave them a world that is better than this one, not a position that secures them a safe ce in a world just as bad.
What C the C fuck?! now she was angry, which John had a hard time understanding. What kind of realm are you building where the reigns are so loose it allows rebellion everywhere?
One where I am not as tyrannical as to invite rebellion, he told her. Metra, ask yourself, how many states you describe ever existed, how many of them did what was best for the people inside them and how many are still around.
A society must follow the rules of its leader, a leader headstrong and certain in his mission, carried out over multiple generations if need be! Metra held her position.
I cant say I agree to any of that. What you describe is what is good to create a society out of tribes and ns maybe, and maybe it will be needed to get together the Abyss of North America, I dont know how splintered everything here is, he conceded that point. However, he wasnt done, generally speaking, you want a society that is bottom up, not top down. The freer people are to do what they want to do, the better. What I want to be is a guarantee for that freedom. An authority of independence, if you can ept that oxymoron.
I know I see one moron, Metra shook her head. Here I thought you could be nevermind. Just go on, at least this contract is still entertaining. Just disappointing that I wont get something bigger out of it.
John knew that he was definitely missing something here, but by the frustrated look on her face, it was evident that the ancient weapon did not want to talk about this further. Still, he had to say one more thing.
I hope you wille to see the result of what I do and judge me by that in the end, rather than whatever ideal monarchy you have in mind.
Sure, Metra left it at that and went back to her bncing act.
Chapter 427 – Down the line [10th of March 2018]
Chapter 427 C Down the line [10th of March 2018]
John grabbed the pebble that was his current Jack recement and threw it down the hallways of the demonicbyrinth they were currently in. Not only did he do that to check for traps, he also used that pebble as a staging point to then throw Shardbounds at the thin chicken legs of the local monster variation which he spied around the corner of the crossroad. They were disturbing beasts, bloated bodies and legs like stilts but thick arms and heads that were just one giant eye socketed directly into the neckless torso.
They were called Chyclosts, and they came in different colours that showed what magic they could use. John only watched out for certain colourbinations in the groups they encountered, because these demons were very much capable of coordination. On their own, the strategy was easy. They were fast but had easily vulnerable legs, so something like a Shardbound quickly took care of that. This time was no exception, the attack hit it at the ankle and shed straight through, causing the monster to drop to the floor as it couldnt support its weight anymore.
Here I go, go, go! Sylph chirped as she then did her part, flying in. An eyebeam attack flew at her, but she moved literally faster than that eye could see. Her job wasnt to hurt the Chyclost, she just needed him to look into another direction, as Smander and Siena then came around the corner and jumped on the immobilized foe. By the time Aclysia joined them, it was already dead.
Metra was not apanying them, not because she was still annoyed over their discussion at dinner two weeks ago, but because they had very quickly found out that she was a great addition for Wave and Assault style dungeons but not so much for Floors, where staying together was the only real way of doing things and her duelist nature got the better of her. Basically, she either ran off on her own, got annoyed when other people helped her in fights or was just generally not that great of a help.
She had suggested to tap out herself. After two days of trying to fix her teamwork, it had be obvious that it just wasnt happening. That was pretty annoying, but what where they supposed to do? She just wasnt a great team yer. Its not like she hadnt tried to get along with how they fought, but it was just ipatible. A talk on the matter had concluded that thats how that had been with all of the people she had ever served under, doubtlessly because of how her abilities dictated her engagement style. Metra was now helping Rave train, which was as good as a way to spend her time as any.
John followed up after everyone made sure there were no other enemies around, then he picked up the loot with mechanical movements. As he unmade his Possession of the pebble, he checked his character screen to look how much inventory space he had left and where his exp bar was at this point.
Mhm, I have 9 Self-devouring Blood, John thought as he went to closer inspect his inventory. Just one more and I am done, hurray! The item in question was one of the ones that he could use to build the Transport Station.
Over thest 14 days, he had ran up and down the list of Floor based dungeons. He hadnt spent all that time in search of those items; for the first week he had more been after money and first kill bonuses.
In the second he had concentrated his efforts some more, going mostly into the Demons dungeon to farm the Self-devouring Blood, of which he had already 6 at the time. As was usual with games, the moment you actually chased something, the drop-rate plummeted, and so he was unsessfully smashing his face through the Tier 22 version of this dungeon. He did have the level to ess Tier 23, but that was thest Tier on the current page - a core floor. In other words there were other unique monsters there, which wouldnt give him the item he was after.
It gave good money, but John couldnt help but feel that he was wasting his time somewhat, purely because he only got seven levels out of this deal so far where he was certain he could have gotten fourteen if he had done Assaults instead.
He asionally had done some other dungeons in the tier that also dropped items that could be used, just to not lose his mind to the 10+ hour shifts he was doing every day, before the Baelementium creation breaks came in.
At least I am ying like a properpletionist, John thought, making a quick stroke on a piece of paper he carried with himself. If asked, at this point, if he would kill for a minimap that automatically tracked what he did, John would have asked if there were special conditions to the kill because he didnt trust the world to give him something that nice.
The reason why he was drawing these ns was because he was searching for special rooms. He had found a total of 3 Secret Rooms so far, but he only had a key for one, throwing him into a mini boss fight that dropped a unique upgrade to his Guild Hall at the end, increasing the mana provided by the Guild Heart (or just the Core as he liked to call it) by a whopping 50. Yes, just 50.
The assumption was that this was a collectible from other Secret Bosses, so, as sarcastic as he was about this, it would stack. It was just the kind of minimal bonus collectible that John both loathed and felt like he needed to have.
Currently he had another key, so at least there was that. Treasure rooms were even harder to find than Secret Rooms which, in Johns opinion, was grounds to sue Gaia for misnaming things. In his lifetime, he had seen none. Trap Rooms, the third and mostmon type of special room, he found quite regrly. Hell, the room he had found Nathalia in had been a trap room, mixed in with something of a special event because it had brought something in from the outside.
Thankfully, Trap Rooms were incredibly nice most of the time. For a start, the reason why John found so many of them in the past two weeks,pared to before, was because he was actively scrubbing dungeons clean of every single mob he could find. In other words, they didnt really spawn on the way to the boss and were also rather easily identifiable. That was another factor why it was taking him so long to get through them.
The argument could have been made that he would have gotten more out of this if he just concentrated on getting to the boss and re-making the dungeon, but so far, he had found it toe out roughly equivalent in time spent, at least from a looking for certain loot point of view. If he had been hunting experience or just money, he definitely would have just rushed for the boss.
Speaking of loot, while Trap Rooms themselves didnt tend to have loot, they either spawned in some sort of mini boss or a bunch of mobs with items to drops. So that made them kind of worth it, even if they were a pain to deal with.
John knocked on a part of the wall that he imagined to look suspicious. It recoiled at the touch, being made from bricks of flesh, which should have disgusted anyone, but he just went ahead anyway and ripped out the stone. Not only was he used to worse, he had also spent thest few days here. It was very hard to shock him.
The reason why he thought this wall was suspicious, despite everything being made from sweating, moaning, fleshy brick stone, was that he had tracked a rhythm on his map. Crossroad, T-split, crossroad, corner, crossroad, T-split, that was how this was generally organized, stairs and holes notwithstanding. 3D-mapping on paper was a pain, but that was beside the point. This was a T-split after a T-split. Something was off.
John tossed aside the bleeding brick and looked into the gap in the wall. Behind it he found a thin membrane, through which he could see another room. Bingo, he mumbled and then stepped aside to let Aclysia and Gnome do the heavy work of tearing the wall down. Eventually, one of Gnomes body ms caused it to cave and her to stumble in a shower of minor gore.
Like a proper lover, Johns first concern was to help her up and make sure she was fine. Its ew, Gnome was too grossed out to even be shy about it. A quick shower in the shape of Undine summoning some water fixed it. A waste of mana, sure, but he didnt want her to feel disgusted with every step.
Well, those alone are halfway worth finding this thing, John thought. He then looked around in the room. The walls here were made from golden bone, three chests standing on each of the other walls. We actually found one now, he pulled the pebble from his inventory and threw it at the first chest. Nothing happened. He went up to it and looted it. It contained twenty million dors, which was more than appreciated.
He repeated the throwing game for the second chest, the one in the middle. Still, nothing happened. Inside that bone-crafted box he found a single item.
Well, that would be good for something eventually, so it went to his inventory toter be stored in the Guild Bank. The menu, which he could only ess inside the building, granted him a 100-slot inventory that people in his guild could also ess. If, and that had taken some time to figure out, he granted them a role with the rights to do so. For now, he had made it so that everyone inside Collide had ess by default. It would be with the Federation and how they shared his systems that this would take a more interesting turn, he felt.
He turned to thest chest. Everyone was tense as he raised the pebble and threw it at the chest. Nothing happened. Okay, no Mimic, he exhaled in relief. He hadnt run into one of those yet, but they were a ssic and the chances for one of them to not turn up in his life was zero. Just a matter of time.
He checked what was inside thatst chest, and he wheezed, Are you fucking kidding me? There were ten of the Self-devouring Blood he had been chasing. Now he had nine more than he needed. Fucking typical, this annoyed him so much he actually swore twice in a row.
Sh-shouldnt you be happy? Gnome carefully asked. We got it just in time. We get the Baelementium done today. You can even quit earlier now.
I am ecstatic, John said in the voice of a gamer who was screaming how much fun he was having being spawnkilled. Really, having a great time but I HATE RNGesus. He mmed the chest shut. Lets murder the boss and get out of here.
_____________________________________________________________________________
He left the barrier in the evening. The boss, the head of a demonic crossbreed of chickens, eyes and bad acting, had been a pure damage sponge spamming AoE abilities. Not the hardest of bosses, as long as one kept running and their defences ready. Shifting Momentum came in really handy in that fight.
He then spent an hour creating thest bit of Baelementium, and then he was done. Two pretty eventless weeks of a whole lot of work. Having deposited what he would needter in the Guild Bank and selling the rest on the Auction, he got the rest of the group gathered together.
You know how this pains me? John asked as he opened the GP store.
So, sex with Gaia was off the table for the moment; she didnt seem to be in the mood and had removed the (rather drastic) price reduction. Which had moved on to percentual Endurance.
Whatcha thinking about? Rave asked as her boyfriend was staring at the window for a much longer time than was necessary to buy one Room Slot.
The sunk-cost facy in rtion to opportunity cost, he told her. I really want to get that extra Max ss Level, but if I miss opportunities like this one on the way, is it worth it? He bought the Room Slot, thats what he wanted in the first ce. After a moment more of thinking about it, he decided against purchasing the cost reduced Endurance. More HP was really nice, but he could get that without spending a randomly acquired resource that could be used to buy something otherwise unobtainable.
Okay, here I go then, John said, cing the Transport Station between the I.D. Gate and the Harbour. It had the appearance of an octagonal pavilion of dark wood, with a ceiling made from Baelementium covered tiles. The floor held no tables or chairs like normal pavilions, just a blue floor that was currently dull and dark, the appearance of a light that was switched off.
John looked around himself. This random assembly of buildings was everything but aesthetically pleasing, especially as the floor was just simple stone and a chunk of a nted forest. He really needed to expand the borders of his Guild Hall to be centred around the statue, which was mockingly pointing her right shoulder at him from the outside. Once that was done, he felt like actual design work had a purpose; anything he did here, the edge of where he actually wanted to be, was temporary and thus a waste of money and resources.
Going back to reality, John checked his menus and quickly found what he had wanted. Avable teleportation points zero out of one, he read out loud.
It was time to get into the city.
Chapter 428 – In need of a spam filter.
Chapter 428 C In need of a spam filter.
They made their way onto the ship with no problem. As predicted, ticket checks for this side were basically non-existent. John couldnt imagine that the amount of times people had gotten on the ind on their own and were then in need to take the ferry back went above once every ten years.
Can I just say, Rave said, hands hidden in giant mittens hidden inside the armpits of her enormous jacket, that I feel weird about how my whole life is suddenly centred around boats? She shivered, pressing herself tighter against John on the bench (the inside had already been packed with people) as the cold winds blew over the water, her brown hair waving in the winds. With a smile, he looked at the pinkyering of clothes against the cold that his girlfriend turned into when exposed to anything approaching the freezing point.
He himself had put a simple jacket over his usual suit. Eliza was wearing a trench coat, yoga pants and her scarf, which gave her ck hair and brown eyes to keep her from standing out. Aclysia, running around as another raven-haired girl herself, also went with the in outfit they had bought back in Cologne, a grey sweater under a ck coat and once more yoga pants. They just knew that he loved them. Last of the line-up was Metra, who was leaning with her back against the railing on her lonesome, clothed in a thin jacket, a sweater underneath and yet another pair of yoga pants. Nia, in the meantime, was wearing her usual outfit.
It was march, but the winter stuck around like it liked to do. The astronomical start of spring wasnt far off though. Just another 10 days.
I mean, Rave continued on as their destination came closer and closer, we take a boat to get over here, we live on a boat, the only way to get of our current home is a boat. All of it is boats.
You would have experienced more motorboating in the past if you had bigger breasts, John joked and got himself an elbow rammed into his ribs. Worth it, he wheezed, much to theughter of some high school kids close to them. Kids, out of Johns mouth, sounded weird, he himself being not far from their age. He felt like his experiences (and Stats) gave him seniority in life though. The ship lost speed and drew closer to the pier. Really though, I get where you areing from, but this should be the only trip we have to make.
They got off the boat and then quickly distanced themselves before anything could spring a surprise control on them. That was almost exclusively because of Johns mild paranoia. They quickly passed by a hall in the distance, either an old train station or a rebuilding of such, used as a railroad museum. They turned left, walked over a bridge, then down the shore until they came by another bridge that would have led them to one of the three points that John could put the teleporter endpoint at, Ellis Ind.
As the gate in front of the bridge quickly indicated, they wouldnt be able to go about this quite like they wanted. Excuse me, John said, knocking on the ss of what he assumed to be an inspectors booth. The guy inside looked like his only want in life was to finish watching the episode of whatever was reflected in his eyes from the screen of his smartphone and then take a bus home to watch another episode of the same show on the biggest television that fit into his small apartment. As such, he had a go to response, which was pointing at a sign glued to the inside of the window.
John didnt appreciate that, and if this wouldnt have been a regr dude, he maybe would have smashed the window, grabbed him by the cor and asked him in a dangerously nice voice to speak up and act respectfully while doing his job. But that idea was whispered to him by Siena, so that was probably a bad idea.
Instead, he read the sign with theposure of a reasonable person, a persona he continued to cling to because it was keeping him sane and didnt cause people around him to have a bad day. Bridge is for personnel only, public ess through the ferry.
Who came up with that system? John asked out loud.
I dont fucking know, but I am not following that dumbass shit, Eliza said and raised her arm, creating an Illusion Barrier. That was indeed the better idea than walking back to where they came from and waiting for the next ferry. There, now we can walk our perfect little asses and whatever the fuck Rave has that is better than that, angelic or some mythological shit like that, there! she eximed and jumped over the lowered gate.
They reached the acimed hospital after recreating the barrier once (it just hadnt been long enough), only for John to find out something that he could have easily googled over the past two weeks. Its closed this is a museum.
Yup, Ravemented and squinted her eyes. Dont think thats a thing the Apothecaries care about though. Raising her hand, she pointed at one of those doors that were basically invisible, although saying they were forcefully unimportant to they eye would have been a more urate way to put it, that led into Illusion Barriers.
Seems that way well, we are already here, so might as well, John decided to check out whatever thing was set up here. Information never hurt anybody.
The buildingplex was brimming with business. Alchemists, biomancers and mechanics all went about their individual businesses in repairing, improving or just experimenting on their (sometimes unwilling) patients inside these walls. John had never paid too much attention to the Apothecaries, as he had very little to do with them, but now that he thought about it, a medical organization that operated under no moral code was pretty creepy. They had worked under Romulus with ethics though, so it seemed they respected thew of thend. Which was why John wasnt surprised that he saw a whole bunch of crazy scientists with such things as biomechanical spider legs skulk around this ce.
There was no betternd for those kinds of people than the kind that had no real rules. Too bad for them that the USA wouldnt qualify for that once he was through. Although they would still be free to ask for volunteers; John had no intention of blocking research if people willingly went into it as subjects.
Want an extra arm? I could grow one or stitch one on! an old man with only three teeth and sttering saliva everywhere while talking suddenly was right in his face.
No thank you, John eximed, gently pushing him away by the shoulder. When that didnt work, he added his left to the mans face and shoved more firmly. When THAT got his palm licked by a tongue that felt like the taste buds had mutated into tiny hooks, his patience was reced by a creeped-out shiver, Purgatory activated and he mmed the man into the ground.
A group of assistants wordlessly came with a stretcher, put the old man on there and rammed a giant syringe into his neck as they rolled him off. John let them. With trembling hands, Eliza reached out to him. Can we get out of this fucking ce? sheughed in a nervous shrill. I dont like this, I dont like this at all, I dont like this, I dont fucking want to be- A loud scream echoed through the whole building. The personnel chatted over their coffee, as if the sound wasnt sticking around for a disgusting amount of time. Eliza held her ears closed, eyes zing over as she was going into some state of shock.
John firmly wrapped her in his arms, ring daggers at everyone else trying to strike up a conversation, and they went right back out the entrance they had just came in through. I will definitely go clean that ce up eventually, he muttered as he was rubbing Elizas back until she calmed down.
Havent had one of those in a while, she growled once her trembling had mostly stopped. She took a cup of hot chocte that Aclysia bought from a nearby souvenir shop and began sipping. That helped a lot as they sat on the bench, back to the buildings they had only shortly visited. Fucking hate panic attacks like that.
A gust of cold wind travelled over them and suddenly stopped.
YOU! a voice cried out with the fury of a slightly damaged individual. They turned around to see someone with the appearance of something like a stressed out and overly young Nik Te stumble towards them from the hospital. His arm was raised, pointing at something above John. SHOW YOURSELF! I can feel your chattering presence!
Okay, that immediately rified who was being talked about.
Get out there, Sylph! Smander shouted at her sister.
Whaaaat? He looks mad, nobody is ever mad at me, he cant mean me?
I can hear you @TheBaereeze69!
Oh my mom, you know my Airter name? Do you like my stuff? How did you like yesterdays picture? Are you a follower of mine?
Oh, much, much more than that! the man growled. My name is Ralyks, the Effing Ralyks, and I am a shaman. I was born with a natural ability tomune with the elements in other words I am hooked up into the el AND YOUR CONSTANT SPAMMING IS GETTING ON MY NERVES! I was able to ignore you when you were half the world away, but thest two weeks were torture, TORTURE I TELL YOU!
Audible gasp, I dont spam! I fervently create more words, as I should, they are good words, the best words! Sylph puffed up her cheeks.
No, they are not, improve your quality, less quantity! Your photo series about gummy bears was quite a wall. Which reminds me that I feel very bad for Marvin!
I miss him too, Sylph sniffed, the two enemies putting their difference aside to tell their favourite Marvin stories for a minute.
What are we watching? Rave whispered towards the other four people that were out of this conversation.
I have no fucking clue, Eliza answered with an unnervingly wide grin on her face; at least this was providing her with the entertainment she needed to get over the rest of her shock.
It is entertaining though, Metra chimed in.
Sylph does talk a lot, Nia provided the greatest of insights.
AND YOUUUU! Ralyks then suddenly continued. Smander from mebook.
What? Smander also materialized, the short-haired ming redhead crossing her arms under her bountiful chest, pronouncing the enormous cleavage peeking out between the bra.
Stopining that much, for fucks sake, its like you are addicted to outrage! Also what the hell were you thinking with that Lorylim action? I got a headache from the aftershocks so bad I had to be put in the hospital for thest 17 days!
Oh, wow, Smander blinked. THAT I didnt want.
No, no you didnt, but you basically asked for it, Ralyks drily stated. Also tell Undine that she is a good goo girl but she also fucked up. I know she wonte out. Oh, and Gnome, you can hear me, stop being that fucking shy. Do you know how often I read about you on Airter and mebook? Its like everyone around you wants you to assert yourself but you just go Uwuwuwuwu.
John could see, before his mental eye, the stone elemental taking the end of her pigtails and pushing them together in an embarrassed manner.
And Siena stop being such a massive bitch, lest I arm a mob with pitchforks to turn against you!
Let me kill him, the nightmare elemental asked sweetly, and this whole tirade ends immediately.
Pretty sure he is done, John stated.
Yes, with life, once I get to him.
Onest thing, Ralyks said snapping with both of his hands and making double guns at the ground, where an open-mouthed Stirwin was looking like he was witnessing something amazing. Ralyks clicked his tongue and said, You are fine, celestial devourer, you have a nice day. Ralyks done and out! Going to go to Texas or somewhere I wont be in receiving range of Sylph. The man left the barrier.
That was a certainly unique guy, John blinked.
Chapter 429 – Saying hello to the neighbours
Chapter 429 C Saying hello to the neighbours
Why do these fucking creepy ass hospi-shits have doors anyway? Eliza wanted to know as they walked further down the shore. What dumbass reason could those scalpel-brains have to ce doors anywhere?
Mhm, John thought about that for a second. I would say because unconscious people cannot enter or exit barriers, but if there is a physical entrance, they can be carried inside. He had seen at least one case where that would have been necessary. Which reminds me that I should probably get one of those myself to allow people to be carried OUT of the barrier. Gotta ask Magoi when he arrives.
Any word from him? Rave asked.
He is done with his business at the Fateweaver headquarters, he says, John told her; he had just learned that earlier today. Apparently there will be an official statement on Monday, but Magoi is now gathering up his family anding over. He says he will be here on Wednesday.
I have made sure all rooms are in peak condition, so he can choose whichever he wants, Aclysia informed everyone. They were pretty much all staying in the one-person suite next to the bridge. The bed there wasrge enough for all of them. That Rave and John stayed in the same room was self-exnatory. Aclysia and the elementals also were logically staying there. Eliza didnt want to be alone, even though she did pick a room for herself where she never stayed but theoretically could if she wanted. Metra just didnt care, and when she didnt feel like cuddling, she just patrolled the barrier for the night.
The one exception was Nia who, except on nights she wanted to have sex, generally spend all of her time in the Menagerie. As a matter of fact, she spent almost too much time there. They hadnt seen her for a period of five daysst week, during which she had barely eaten or drank anything. If Aclysia hadnt checked in on her, chances would have been she would have died happily between all the fluffy and cute things besieging her.
Much against Nias wishes, she was now forbidden from staying inside there longer than 16 hours a day. She had been ignoring him for two days following that new rule, enforced by actual settings in the menu that made it impossible for her to open any doors inside the building if she vited it. What finally got him in her good graces again was the creation of a Otototo, which John could best describe as an angelic otter, a being with feathered wings as its front-legs, that could fly like a winged serpent but also swim like an otter. It was quite cute, thus why Nia talked with him again.
He checked Google Maps andughed. You know, as the guy who made the decision to put his base on Liberty Ind, I shouldnt say this but I still will, the names around here are so stupidly American it hurts. He had never been to NYC before, so this was a big learning experience for him as well. Liberty State Park, Freedom Way okay, thats actually it, but those two are bad enough.
I like it, has the force of MURICA! Rave eximed and acted like she was punching some viin.
By the way, we are at point 3 now, John told them, and the group stopped. He had to say point 3 because this was just the edge of the aforementioned park, there was nothing special here to mark it. Also, because this was the point he liked the least. Nevertheless, John raised his arm and they entered an empty barrier. Okay, nobody imed this point, going to keep that in mind. Onto the next scene!
Only if you carry me! Eliza suddenly demanded and thenughed out loud when he actually did it. Finally stopped giving a fuck?
Pretty sure that switch flipped when I fucked you in the pool the other day, he told her.
Across yet another bridge and they reached ck Tom Ind. John took some issue with calling this an ind, it was more like an outgrowth. The word penins worked perfectly well. As for what was on it, it wasrgely a grass covered square, four trees standing at the edges of a little za at the middle of it, on that stood a memorial to WW2 in the shape of a soldier carrying a concentration camp survivor.
This is strangely poetic, John mused, standing in front of said memorial and still holding Eliza, who he then kissed before she could ruin the moment. With herrgely pacified, he put her down to see whether or not there was a barrier there.
The answer to that question was yes and came in the shape of what John could only describe as a slum. People were using different magics at low levels in tandem to get one of several fires going, one guy growing some small twigs, the next drying them out with some water magic, thest one then igniting it once enough had been put on a pile. They seemed to repeat that game for every small ce between the tents and the shoddily build homes they could find. The only thing looking fresh or intact was the pretty old memorial.
From the size of it, John guessed there were about a hundred people here. When they noticed him, they did so with the slow disinterest of a people who knew they ran into no risk of being robbed on the basis of having nothing. Exception being the wood-drier amongst the trio of firece providers, who quickly made his way over to John.
P-please, we seriously have nothing! he immediately jumped to the worst possible idea, which would be that John just knocked over anything in the search of some valuables. We dont want any trouble.
Great, I am not here to bring any, he told them. The man looked at him expectantly as if he was going to follow that up with So strip, I dont believe you, so that insurance failed to produce any wanted results. He decided to thaw rtionships for a start, making sure they didnt perceive him as hostile. Looking at the man in great detail provided him with an easy way to do that.
Look, I recently took over Liberty Ind, John said in a friendly tone as he watched over the camp. He had thought it literally impossible for slums to exist in the Abyss. And I am just scouting the surrounding areas because I need to set-up something. I had hoped to do that here. Pulling from his inventory a box filled with three days worth ofpressed food, not the tastiest stuff but nutritious, he offered it to Seth. Why dont we talk about it over some dinner? Seth, between distrust and desperation, eventually picked thetter.
He had seen pretty bad cities, like Abyssal Warsaw, but living there had been bad because the Blood had been forcing everyone to work in a continuous war economy and everyone who was part of the Abyss caught outside the barrier was swiftly executed. How could that happen here, without such a force in ce? The easy answer was: it couldnt.
The people here had nothing because they were the ones that theck of a coherent society spewed out at the end. They had cast their lot with one economic faction in the city, taken a gamble or something else had happened. Either way, they all ended up in debt or the bad side of particrly cruel organizations. As long as they kept their heads down, stayed out of the inner city and scraped together some money for the collectors they were leftrgely alone.
We are waiting until the market inevitably rolls them over as well, Seth finished, throwing a tiny piece of grass into therge fire that John had put together by doing with Nadine and Smander in a few second what had taken the trio of Seth and his two helpers several minutes per fire. Once they lose their grip, we can get back into the city. Just a few months of misery.
Why not just leave the city or the Abyss? John asked.
I dont have a public record for thest 15 years, going to be hard to find a job that pays anything, Seth told him. Its like that for most of us. Either that or we are just too stubborn to leave behind the city we grew up in. Fucking shithole it may be, but its our fucking shithole.
John could respect that. The box he had brought up had been shared amongst the whole Enve and quickly turned empty. So, this is why, these people are stacked up at zero, he thought as he wondered what to best make of this situation. It seemed to him that he was seeing the effects of apletely unleashed market, with no shacklingws or morality to keep it in check. They had yed Monopoly and now they had nothing more to y with until somebody flipped the board and they could scramble for the pieces.
And if they find you in the inner city? I cant imagine that every square metre down there is taken already, John was sill curious.
Depends who finds us: if its strangers, they will just shoo us away; if its the loan sharks, they just take everything from us they can find if we are far behind the payments; they will sell us to a mana factory
Mana factories in the USA seemed to rely a lot on forcedbour. Maybe a union would help there. What about Thorne? That was hisst question on this topic.
I am not THAT desperate, Seth was quick to deny him. The only way somebody like me is getting into the Thorne apparatus is if I am fine with them recing half my body with electronics. I would never leave the Abyss again.
John wanted to say that that didnt sound like the worst of trades, seeing how he was currently stuck in a helpless situation.
Also, as seldom as I get use out of it, I do like my penis.
They cut off their soldiers dicks?! John nowpletely understood.
Thats what I was told, Seth answered.
Ah, rumours, better take that with a grain of salt, the Gamer mentally scolded himself for jumping to conclusions. In summary, these people get pushed down but they also cling to a way of life that clearly isnt working out for them Still though, this society, or ratherck thereof, is not healthy.
The more he learned about how New York ran, the more he was convinced that the take-over would be violent. Thorne did not seem to be an organization that strived to change any of this. There were so many question John had for the person running that guild, mostly about why they werent using their powers to better society atrge.
John could theorize two possible ways: Number one, this was a fish in the water situation. Whoever was sitting atop those headquarters in the dock, they were probably used to the world just working this way. If they were and these people at the bottom around John were, then most of the people in New York likely were railroaded into a way of thinking that this everything is fair game in love, war and economics motive was just how things were supposed to be.
If that was how it was, just waltzing into Thorne and forcing change on the wholendscape at once would be a street war. They were not a government, all he would leave behind was a power vacuum in the market. His intention was not to turn anarcho-capitalism into just anarchy, he wanted just capitalism. The conversion should be possible if he just dangled arge enough carrot around.
The second theory was that Thorne was trying to do what he was doing, but from the top down. They were ruthlessly tearing down thepetition until there was no morepetition, and then, when there was no one left to oppose them, they would change tactics and erect an actual government. The problem with that was that it would be bloody and leave a lot of misery in its wake, like every revolution did.
But those were all theories. John needed something graspable before he could take any of this as truth.
Whatever was right, he himself still believed that the bottom up solution was the better one. If he could just show people that economics with some morality was better for everyone involved and slowly spread his influence through the city by having more and more people pledge allegiance to him, then that was a take-over with as little blood spilled as possible.
It put him into a bit of a weird position, because he couldnt imagine that the currently dominant forces would just let him do that. The haves were always weary of change. He would be on the offensive in territorial expansion but on the defensive in waiting for the enemy to react. If I were them and looking at this trend, I would band together into arge alliance trying to crush this invader C me, John weighed his choices.
The smartest things to do would be to keep his head low until he was so strong that none of this would be a potential danger to his life. How long would that take though? A year? Two? How many people would suffer in the meantime, right before his doorstep?
I want to make you an offer, John finally said, as morality won over wisdom and self-insurance. He just couldnt sit on his ind and watch; the process of taking control of the ground would take so long that he would just have to grind at the side.
Is it one I cant refuse? Seth looked like it finally came to the thing he had feared in the first ce.
No, you are entirely in your rights to refuse. Let me tell you something: I am going to take over all of this, he gestured westwards. That could have meant the camp, the city, or the whole country, John was purposefully vague about the true extent of his ambition. I dont aim to do it violently though, so here is my offer: I will clean all of your loans, I will make sure you can stay here forever, I will provide some better shelter and give you work.
Seth looked at him like that was all too good to be true. Doubt was there too, but with a nce at the hovering Smander above him and the tree Nadine had grown to provide the firewood in the first ce, the man was pretty convinced that John had at least the potential to keep those promises. In return, this space will be owned by me and my guild, your businesses will followws that I set up. Basically, you agree to ept me as your governing body.
Who are you? Seth finally asked.
I assume you havent been hooked up to Abyssal news recently, John leaned back in the chair made from scrap and nt roots he was sitting in. I fought in the tournament for German session and the Roman-Blood war. I also have a unique ability that makes me one of the potentially strongest people on this our wonderful. My name is John Newman, I am ate bloomer, lets put it like that, he allowed himself to boast a bit, there was a need to impress here. You havent heard a lot from me yet, but trust me, you will.
Seth fell silent. While John really wanted an answer from him today, just to put his teleporter up, he didnt want to hurry along a pretty important decision for his personal convenience. He could probably relocate the teleporter from point 3 if they decided to take the offer.
I can only speak for myself right now best is I get everyones opinion, Seth told him.
That would be the best, John agreed. How much time do you need?
Give us an hour. That was way quicker than John had even hoped, but desperate people made quick choices when it came down to it. Thus, he nodded and left Seth to it, the group leaving the barrier.
Why are we going away? Rave asked.
Dont want to stand there all imposing; Metra alone could tear that camp to shreds and I am pretty sure they are at least subconsciously aware of that, John told them. Being there would just make them needlessly worried.
Ah, well, what are we going to do in the meantime? she asked.
Search for a ce that sells hot dogs, I am hungry, John answered.
Chapter 430 – Establishing a beachhead
Chapter 430 C Establishing a beachhead
An hourter and after realizing that it was pretty hard to find a hotdog stand at 9 PM on a Saturday, even in NYC, he returned to a slightly smaller camp. With a hotdog in his stomach. Just because it was pretty hard, didnt mean it was impossible.
The decision reached evidently hadnt satisfied everyone. We ept the offer, Mister Newman, Seth respectfully said. Now the man was smaller and weaker than him and thoroughly in the worse position, but John still felt incredibly weird being called a mister, especially by someone more than a decade older than him.
However, his response was distracted by a few windows.
Well, there went two more Guild Perks, which he immediately put down in the Wealth category.
Just one more and he would get his first Guild Hall Tier upgrade. Anyway, that was not the thing he should be concentrating on right now.
Please, just John is fine, he told them as he looked at that new Vassal menu he had gotten. Apparently, he could set tax rates and everything. When he tapped the slider once. Seth and those who seemed to hold some positions of power within the group gasped as they were surprised by a window. Sorry, just experimenting with stuff. My powers are weird and I am still uncovering new stuff. For now, I will set the tax to zero, going to let you build without much interference John looked around. Speaking of building, I think I can drastically improve your situation already.
They began reorganizing this little slums from a spontaneously grown field to a properlyid out area of makeshift buildings made by Gnome. While somewhat artistically textured, Gnome still blushing whenever this was pointed out to her, they were a far-fetch from proper houses. Still, an upgrade from sheds and tents. John also nted the endpoint of the Transport Station at the centre of it all, right in front of the memorial. It looked exactly like the original over in his Guild Hall, a pavilion with bronze tiles on the roof and a blue floor, which now activated, glowing a bright blue where he stood.
John checked his watch, it was now almost midnight. Okay, I will call it quits here for today, he said and yawned. Seems like only guild members can use this thing. Metra, would you do me the favour and guard this thing for the night?
Sure, Metra rolled her head, better than patrolling that empty corner of the ind, something might actually happen here. You guys got booze? Alcoholised metals? I feel like getting drunk.
John left her to it and went back to the yacht to sleep.
_______________________________________________________________________
I guess this will at least somewhat break the monotony, John said as he put down the new special building he had unlocked. The Transmutation Forge was special in that it didnt cost John anything to build, not even Room Slots. Guess thats the case for the other Perk buildings as well then, he thought and looked at his new acquisition.
It reminded John of a big chimney: a metal tube, decorated with rings of sigil covered stone, sticking out of a square body on the floor. With the intent of testing it, a window opened while he was close to it.
He was presented with a list of different crafting materials, most of them either basic, real life stuff or somemon Abyssal ones he could find in dungeons between level 5 and 25. In other words, it wasnt that great right now. However, the materials were also cheap. A nk of wood three metres long was just five dors, no matter what kind of wood either. Mhm okay, I can work with this, John decided and bought a shorter one to experiment with. A confirmation window asked him if he was sure and if he wanted the materials transferred to his inventory, the Guild Bank or simply spewed out into reality. For the moment, he picked thest one of those option.
The money was withdrawn from his vast wealth of over 300 million. The Abyss Auction had been working quite well for him recently. He was still over two thirds off his goal of a billion, but he was getting there. In response, the Transmutation Forge, began to work, smoke rising from the chimney until the short board began materialising bit by bit from the square base, eventually falling into the grass in front of the apparatus.
John picked it up and tested it by bending it a little and such things. It was just a normal piece of wood, not enchanted with anything or special in any way. Time for the next experiment, John decided and walked over to the Transport Station with the board in his hand. He ced it on the floor before the teleportation was activated, then he found himself in front of the memorial. Looking at his feet, the board was still there. Interesting, John mumbled and ced the board in Aclysias hands. The weaponized maid was apanying him for the moment, although she did say she wanted to buy groceriester.
There you are again, Metra was walking around with Qiada, swinging the halberd around like only a bored martial artist could. I was wondering when you would show up; Jane and Eliza went out hours ago.
I took the time to sleep in, didnt get that luxury recently, John told her, being well aware that those two would check out New York atrge. He trusted that they were strong enough to get out of whatever trouble they could find themselves in. Despite her hot-headed nature, Rave had survived this world longer than he had, so she must have been doing something right. Could you do me a favour and point me to Seth really quickly?
The man was indeed quickly found and then, much to his confusion, ced on the teleportation pad together with Aclysia. Whats the idea here? he asked, nervously looking at the blue radiation beneath his feet.
Only Guild Members can use the teleporter, but I want to see what we can and cannot transport with us, John told him, and where the border lies. Aclysia will now attempt to teleport herself back to the Guild Hall without you, then she wille back and do the same but wanting you toe with her. This shouldnt take too long.
It indeed didnt and the simple result was the expected one. When Aclysia wanted to take something on the tform with her, she could; if she didnt, it would stay behind. Seth quickly scrambled from the tform when the experiment was done with.
Okay then, John looked at the guy in an obviously unwashed bakery outfit. Time to give you people everything to fix yourself up.
Uhm, dont you mean fix you people up? Seth asked.
No, I meant what I said. I am not here to y nanny; if you want to have a good life, you will have to build it yourself. I am happy with providing the environment and lifting you out of helplessness though. John checked his clock, he wanted to have some time to run some more dungeons today. I will spend the next two hours dumping some construction materials in this barrier. What you do with them is up to you, although I rmend you at the very least get a bathhouse going. Also, take this, he handed Seth a hundred thousand bucks casually.
That will go a long way in easing out creditors, he said thankfully.
What? No, thats to pay the people that help in the whole building thing, John was quick to rify. Give them money, tell them to go out and buy themselves some nice meals, some new clothes, that type of stuff. I am going to deal with your creditors in other ways. For the moment just concentrate on making this a sessfulmunity, leave all the worries about things that might threaten you from the outside to me.
Seth looked at the stack of cash like he was suddenly shouldering a lot more responsibility than he had signed up for.
Dont go disappointing all yourrades now, John pat the smaller man on the shoulder and then went back to his Guild Hall to fire up the Transmutation Forge again.
_______________________________________________________________________
In the end it didnt even take two hours to dump more material on the Enve than they could have possibly hoped to do anything with at the moment. To not clog up things needlessly, John then left them to it and started a run of the Tier 23 version of the Elves dungeon. It was the first Tier 23 he challenged.
Master, may I inquire why we are not guiding their efforts in construction? Aclysia asked as they spawned into the unfamiliaryout. John liked core floors. Sure, it was nice that the four Tiers prior always shared the same enemy and map type, making the grinding nice and predictable, but there was just something nice about the challenge the core floors represented. Not only were they unique, they also tended to have stronger than usual enemies and bosses.
For one, I have no idea how to construct amunity, John told her. So, I wouldnt be a big help even if I stayed. All we could do is help carry some stones, I cant help in getting a working mana generator or electricity or anything and I would much rather learn to delegate that to people who know how to do it than do it myself. Which is another reason: I really dont feel like micromanaging what my subjects do. He couldnt bring himself to genuinely describe them that way, just felt wrong. I meant what I told Seth, as you very well know, you beautifuldy that partly lives in my brain.
If I went to look there, I wouldnt be able to ask you questions and hear you talk, Master, Aclysia reminded him of her slight obsession with his voice. What is our n then? Continuous levelling?
Basically, yes, John answered her. Although I will be going at it a bit more rxed about it for theing days. The efficiency will increase greatly once Magoi gets here, theoretically. Aside from that I want to wait for the loan sharks to make their first move on us. I am not in a hurry. Maybe we should rx this evening, how about I read you something?
Cant you try to tell me another story? I liked that, Aclysia asked, alluding to the time on the cruise he tried to make her dream.
Mhm, first lets try beating this dungeon before talking more about that, okay?
Understood.
There was a thing about the Elves dungeon that made them especially random, which was that the name didnt specify what kind of elves. With Orcs or Undead, John always knew what he had to expect. Between an orc n and an orc warband, the only real difference was proficiency at warfare and the asional special unit. Compared to the massive changes between dark elves, wood elves and high elves, to name the three widest known categories of the very intricate fantasy race, that was basically nothing.
It seemed that they hadnded in a wood elf dungeon this time around, unsurprising as the four Tiers before this also had been filled with the brown-skinned knife ears. Still though, therge trees were covered in shimmering blue leaves, their dark bark illuminated by the sun shining through and blue crystals growing out of them.
I guess a forest floor is a kind of floor, John thought as he looked around. There were no pre-defined walkways like was usual with this kind of dungeon. There were very few points he could orient himself on, thankfully he didnt want to draw this time around either. I am halfway tempted to tell you to just burn it all, Smander, he joked.
Ready when you are, the endme elemental raised a hand with a sizable me already hovering over her open palm. When she realized he wasnt serious, she squashed it in her fist and clicked her tongue in a disappointed fashion.
I think Siena will be the MVP here, John told everyone as an elf suddenly fell out of the trees above, throat slit, hitting the floor and turning into a cloud of quickly scattering particles. In the many shadows that the branches above cast, the nightmare elemental had awork of high-speednes only essible to her that also reached up the high trees. The crystals did little in the way of stopping her, only making her route a bit moreplicated.
Like that is anything new, Siena stated dismissively when she appeared back in Johns shadow. They made their way into the forest to the sound of some minor bickering between her and Smander.
John was halfway unsure that this even qualified as a core floor as they made their way through. The asional elf they encountered was the same as the one from the previous Tier, just levelled up. Did Gaia fuck this up again? Wouldnt be the first time.
The answer came when he was suddenly showered in arrows and throwing spears, eliminating most of his pre-charged Mana Protection. He looked up to find a very interesting boss. It was a mixture of octopus, spider and tree hut, a slow-moving base that slung its tentacles around trees one at a time to get forwards. At the rim of it stood several dozen wood elves, along with a queen that was wearing nothing but leaves to hide her privates.
Not for the first time, John regretted that he didnt have some sort of a taming skills to get beauties like that dragged out of their theoretical existence inside Illusion Barriers and add them to his very real harem. The sad reality was, they wanted to kill him, so he would have to return the favour.
John jumped behind a tree to save himself from the second wave of fire. He wouldnt be of great use in this fight, but at least getting to safety was easy enough. Thats what he thought until the wood elf queen summoned a javelin of thorns that only missed John because Gnome reacted in time and dropped him into a hole. The construct of wood had prated straight through the tree he had been hiding behind.
Seeing the roots around him, John didnt assume that this was a safe ce either. That boss is definitely new, he thought, crawling out of the hole and then scrambling to gain some distance. He didnt need to be close for his elementals to do their thing. Gnome and Aclysia were quick on his tail.
In the meantime, Smander and Sylph decided that this was a good time to put their heads together, literally, andbined. While Smander despised doing so, the firepower thus obtained would probably be needed.
The result was a girl by the name of Sylfrena. She had light skin and pale red hair of average length. Her chest definitely took after Smander, having shrunken only a bit to a D-cup, hidden underneath pale green fire that covered most of her torso under an ever-shifting leotard. Translucent mes of the same colour took the shape of insectoid wings behind her back that beat with such speed that they became just a blur of fire.
Do I go? I think I will, yes, yes! Sylfrena shouted out and became a streak of green that left only burning air in her wake. She circled the hut-spider at enormous speed, with the simple goal of dealing as much damage to the tentacles holding it as possible. Attempts to stop her came in the form of homing spells of nature magic, all of which failed to catch up to her.
One tentacle gave in, then a second and third one. The whole spider was dangerously nted but still held on until Sylfrena sent a powerful strike at a fourth one, causing it to shrivel up and lose its grip. That was thest line, and the whole creature and the structure atop of it came falling down.
The sound of shattering wood and chitin were the signal for Aclysia and Siena to descend on the wood elves buried within. John supported them by sniping those he saw with Shardbound, Gnome protecting him in turn from whichever elves identified him as the biggest threat.
When they killed the queen, unluckily fallen and trapped under half the hut she had ruled over, they had officially beaten the dungeon. That was a rather short one, John thought. I guess this one is packed with optional content or something? Well, I can find that out another time.
They gathered up the loot and left.
Chapter 431 – Hunting sharks
Chapter 431 C Hunting sharks
Rome wasnt built in a day and neither was the Enve improved to liveable levels in 24-hours time. As a matter of fact, they didnt even get that bathhouse John had suggested going. Not a real surprise, they were a bunch of people John just randomly elevated out of poverty yesterday. Most of them, without a doubt, were still half-stuck within depression. Thankfully, there was a minority that was taking this opportunity for what it was, motivating everyone else to at least try by proxy.
Despite the somewhat slow progress, the Enve was doing quite well for itself. It currently had to rely on outside resources a lot, such as food, clothes and simr things, but that was just how the cookie crumbled.
The point was that Johns non-interventionist strategy seemed to pay off for the moment. Not that it had anything to say in the long run; the interesting part of the building effort woulde once they were done building up and found themselves out of Johns money and in need to maintain themselves. Then again, there were some former business owners amongst the ranks of the Cornered Enve.
Whats that? John asked when he next visited the barrier on Tuesday. The question came due to a metal frame put up around the tree he himself had put in ce. Back then he had cut it down to use as firewood, but fresh branches were growing out of the crippled tree. They were still green and fairly weak, but they were there.
I have this idea about using that tree to grow fruits to feed themunity with, he got a response from a woman, one of the people around Seth. I am a very weak druid, so I will need a greenhouse to protect it from the cold.
I see, keep going then, John approved and was then approached by Seth.
Mr. Ne- John, I got a question, the older man asked. You told me to encourage people to buy stuff with the money you gave me, right?
Well, thats what it boils down to, yes, John answered.
Wouldnt that attract unwanted attention? I did tell you that most of us had debts in some way
Yes, thats exactly the point.
That answer left Seth in a confused silence for a moment, then he just asked, Could you please borate?
The idea is: I could either spend weeks searching for all of your individual creditors or I could put some blood in the water and wait for the sharks toe to us, John told him, which caused Seth to go pale. Dont worry, its going to be fine, I am overpowered, he joked.
The reason why he was so sure that it was going to be fine was that nobody had even attempted to remove Tilgun so far. In a city full of people out for a profit, he would be shocked if nobody who was capable of doing so was going to pass the opportunity to y an elusive higher dragon and harvest his body for extremely valuable and unique materials.
With that in mind, it seemed to be the case that there was no person of Johns level, which was really the minimum to challenge something like the maw of souls, or, if there was, that that person did not partake in the whole money craze and thus was highly unlikely to be inside the loaning profession.
He could still be wrong, but he would be genuinely surprised if that were the case.
As if fate had just waited for this conversation to ur, a neer entered the barrier with the extremely pretentious sound of a, WELL, WELL, WE-Aaaaah! The suited man was suddenly ripped off his feet by a stone bench appearing from the ground beneath him and his two bodyguards, cing them firmly on their asses as John casually strolled over while Gnome added a table and a second bench to the set.
You have no idea how much I prepared for this scene, the Gamer said as he sat down with a smile. Aclysia pulled a porcin pot from her inventory. Tea? It is quite cold outside.
The man in front of John looked beyond unsure what to do. His name was Glenn and, going by his description, he was quite the scumbag, but also the kind that had worked hard to get into his position of wealth. Being a mobster was not an easy job, then again, neither was being a farmer, and one of those two was infinitely more valuable for human society. Of course he was also not the leader of the organization he was representing, going out to press money out of debtors was a henchmans job.
Tea? John asked a second time as he was presented with his own cup. Aclysia had stored it away at the perfect drinking temperature, so he began drinking straight away.
Uhm, no thanks, I think we are in the wrong ce after all, Glenn knew when to fold; he was the kiss up and kick down kind of guy. Not the dumbest position to assume and John had to say that there was something deeply satisfying about being in the category of people that got kissed up to. Glenn raised his hand with another apology and tried to leave the barrier, failing to do so.
I am not quite sure on that, John, who was the current owner (read: strongest non-Fateweaver mage inside) of the barrier and thus controlled who was allowed to move in or out, hummed. Even if you are not, I have something to say to people like you.
I am just a small f-
Can we skip to the part where I intimidate you, Glenn? John asked finishing his cup of tea. At the mention of his name the loan shark fell silent. Great. For a start everyone in this barrier that still owes you money is now officially filing for bankruptcy. In other words, please dy charging them further until they actually have the means to pay you back. No more keeping your monopoly chokehold on the local market by contractually bullying people out of the area. We dont do that in my world.
Glenn blinked in confusion. Are you saying I am still getting my money back?
Yes, they still took the loans, so its their obligation to pay them back, John leaned back with a new cup of tea in his hands. I am not stupid enough to think you actually need that money, your business seems to be one of dominating some local business through loans and violence and then extract the hell out of them. Personally, I rmend you fix that up to do something good for yourmunity instead. Then you might still be around when I get to whatever district you inhabit. Tell as much to your friends and enemies, times are changing. He rose from the table. You can go now.
_________________________________________________________________________
Ya now, I really dont get any of this, Rave said as she added a yellow circle to the map hanging from the conference wall. She then took a red pin out of a box sitting on a table within distance, circling her hand inside that previously marked area, not quite sure where exactly to put it.
The map was an information gathering effort that had kept Rave busy. While exploring the Big Apple, she marked areas where she found high Abyssal activity or such. Basically, she was the scout for this current endeavour. So, exin it to me, John.
What part of it dont you get? John asked, sitting in his favourite swivel chair with Sylph in hisp, brushing her extremely long hair. They had found this was a way to shut her up while also making her remarkably happy, her legs swaying up and down as she sat there gleaming with delight.
The map was necessarilyrge and covered most of NYC. Wherever there was a yellow circle, there was a cluster of small barriers under some individuals control; red circles were for barriers from Thorne; green for their mainpetitor, the Bearings; pins of the corresponding colour were then where each of those three categories put up a single shop.
The idea is that Thorne controls most of this, right? Rave asked, gesturing at the map. How does that make sense then? It was dominated by yellow circles, so it was easy to get the impression that nobody really controlled thend.
In a world where most people control only 1% of the resources, whoever controls 20% on his own is the ruler, John put it rather simply. All of those yellow circles dont necessarily align themselves with each other. Also, see how many of them have a Thorne shop inside them? the question came at the same moment as Rave finally put the pin she had been holding into the map.
Indeed, while the independent areas were the most numerous, Thorne shops came right behind them. Lemme try to get that, ya saying that the small fries are too disorganized to resist Thorne so those guys can do whatever they want?
That and that many of the ones we currently have marked down as independent might as well be vassals or tributaries or something, John told her. The point is, this map has helped me understand something pretty clearly.
And what would that be?
I have no idea what Thorne wants, he threw his hands in the air as if he was about to flip over the table. He quickly lowered them again, before the Sylph machine started running its mouth again, causing this whole conversation to run off the rails. I made theories over theories, but I cant get confirmation about anything! Theyre structured like a mafia, behave like an international corporation, have an army but dont monopolize force. At the same time they elevate hundreds out of poverty by having them join their corporation, they topple dozens of small businesses with absolute ruthlessness. All they seem to be interested in is to keep selling robotics all over New York.
Maybe the left hand doesnt know what the right is doing? Rave suggested. If their main product is robots, its just that all these shops popping up all over the ce is a whole bunch of people doing a whole bunch of work.
I thought about that, but no, that map, he pointed at it, no two shops further than 2 kilometres apart, spreading out from the Thorne headquarters like a spiderweb, seems like someone is pulling central nning effort and at a scale I find mind-boggling. There is just no way all of this growth is uncoordinated opportunism by different cells within one organization, it has too much structure for that. He shook his head, No, Thorne seems to be led by someone who is working more on his or her guild each day than Lydia.
THAT is scary, his girlfriend admitted. Thinking that someone is coordinating someone at a greater scale than our queen workaholic what life is that?
How is that possible should be the better question, John told her. There is just a limit to how much paperwork someone can do without bing the paper wait a second His eyes widened and his hands stopped.
The former owners of the Thorne were well-known. The current cell structure had begun to take shape ten years ago. That was the info he gathered rather easily. Six years ago, after the death of Johana Thorne, thepany began to change and heavily invest in biomechanics and robotics, three years ago, after the death of Ebenezer Thorne, it then rapidly expanded. Nobody knew who was leading thepany now.
Thorne robotics were part of basically every business in the city at this point, as they had aggressively pushed every singlepetitor from the market.
Thorne did not want its leadership revealed.
Whoever is leading them is a strong administrator but a weak fighter, John mumbled a new theory. One that doesnt want his or her powers to be known, lest they reveal their weakness, and thus stays in the shadows. Someone who can work andmunicate incredibly quickly, someone who would profit immensely from the spreading of their own robotics and who is building shops and spreading their influence in a tightwork awork He still didnt knew what Thorne wanted, but he now was very aware about what power the person sitting at the top had. Jane, you entered one of those shops, right?
Yeah, why?
Where is your phone?
Confused, she pulled it out of her pocket. She shouted in surprise, dropping the phone in the progress, when it began vibrating exactly at that time. Spooky! sheined, looking down at the upwards lying object on the carpet. Uhm, John, my phone is unlocking itself. He had expected that and therefore just waited for the inevitable.
I have tomend you, a distorted voice rang out of the speakers. Going by the rumours, I thought you were more kin to think with your dick than your brains.
John, what is happening? Rave wanted to know.
Thats the head of Thorne, a Technomancer, most likely an absurdly powerful one C within the profession. John exined. Someone who is growing their business as the second priority on their list while trying to create an information sphere with them at the centre and someone who can survey us 24 hours, seven days a week now that this phone entered the yacht.
Quite a disadvantage you find yourself in, isnt it? the distorted voice sounded incredibly amused. Gotta say, you tickle my fancy, you and all of thedies you are with. Fucking hot bodies, I am jealous.
I really hope for you that you are a woman, John warned; he was already in a bad mood because he hated being spied on. I like other men sounding jealous, but I dont like them flirting with me nor being creepy.
Find out for yourself. I will leave a message in your phone with a time, date and ce of a meeting between you and me. With that the phone shut itself off. A momentter it was Johns that vibrated, giving him a notification spelling out all the things that were just mentioned.
Like she, John assumed the gender because he really wanted it to be true, is going to show up herself.
I dont get it, this phone is supposed to be technomancy proof, Rave picked hers up and looked at it with distrust. Aside from the ones that are allowed ess, of course.
Any firewall can be torn down if you are good enough at what you are doing, John responded; there wasnt even any sense in trying to hide what they were saying. The whole ship was infected, there was no ce where they could be sure to have privacy unless they shut down all electricity and locked all their mobile devices in a box somewhere. He sighed heavily, Well, seems like we have a date on Friday, Jane. Tomorrow Magoi arrives, so at least there will be stuff to do.
Should you say that out loud? Rave asked. Considering?
If she can send me messages without disying a number and activate my phone from who knows where, she can read my chat logs. Literally nothing I can hide from her at this point including our nudes, I guess.
Rave groaned, Those were private!
Chapter 432 – The Magus family
Chapter 432 C The Magus family
Hello, John Newman, aka the Gamer, aka my future boss! that was the sound to which John woke up to on the following Thursday, the voice of the Fateweaver amplified by what John felt like was a foghorn. I am Magoi Magus, aka Anathema, aka your personal Fateweaver C as previously agreed. Are you awake? Pleasee out with pants on if you are! There are children in my proximity.
Well, I am now, John grumbled, raising his upper body from the sheets with a nce at the rm sitting on the high rim of the enormous bed. It was exactly seven in the morning.
Tell that fuck to get some fucking sense of fuckingmon fucking sense, Eliza cursed her way through her half-awake state, as John peeled himself out of the group hug. Aside from Aclysia, everyone else refused to get out of bed for this. Admirably, Rave didnt even notice any of this going on. Her only reaction was to pull the nket, moved partly off her by Johns movements, back over herself and whisper something about five more minutes.
John tapped on his clothing set, immediately putting himself in his orderly suit, despite him feeling more like a water bolt somebody cast incorrectly and instead creating a sorry puddle on the floor. Gamers Body fixed that within moments, but the fact remained that this was not a way he liked to be woken up.
He stomped his way to the upper deck and looked downwards. He found a small, but onlyparatively, boat in front of the gate that separated his harbour from the open sea.
Could you pretty please let us in? Magois voice boomed out once more.
John grabbed his phone and sent him a text message that he should stop shouting about and then fidgeted with the menu. First, he opened the metal gate and then he had to redraw the piers so that Magoi had somewhere to anchor. In the process he had to block any way for the yacht to move out, but that was not a problem at the moment. At least the back, where the vessels that rested within the yacht would be ejected from, was still unupied.
The boat with the name Travelling Magus written on the side of its white hull came to a halt, and John told Aclysia to invite them to the conference room while he went to brush his teeth. When he did arrive in there, Aclysia had already briefed Magoi on the situation.
Basically, nothing we say here will stay private, John informed him. Just assume that somebody is watching. We tried dismantling all cameras and microphones around, but I havent had this thing for too long, so we might have missed something.
Ah, that reminds me of the great scrying war on Australia where the enemy used emus to Magoi stopped when he got tapped on the shoulder. He turned his head, the top hat on top of his raptor mask dangerously tilting at one point during the movement. Yes, dear?
Honey, you are about to ramble and then none of us are getting anywhere until dinner, the person talking was Magois wife, a person who was obviously just as entric as he was. How did John know this? Well, because they wore matching outfits.
Her husband was wearing an English style butler suit, she was wearing an English maid outfit, which was different from the French one in that it was more modest. Not that she needed to hide her body; John didnt need to see her naked to analyse that he was looking at a total MILF, although theck of visible face was obstructing things somewhat. Yes, just like Magoi, she was wearing a raptor skull mask, although she put a cute little melon with a pink bowtie on top of hers. Her name was Mabirl Magus.
Ah, you are so right, what would I do without you?
Die because you forgot how to cook?
At least anything tasty, cannot add that vour of love myself!
Aww, you are making me blush, give me a kiss!
The tips of the masks met. The groaning that then resounded came from the three children behind the Magus parents. Although calling them children was only true in the sense that they were offspring from the two of them, they werent young enough to warrant that description.
The oldest, at an age of forty but with the appearance of a mid-twenty, was Magnus Magus, someone who had inherited his fathers natural fascination with Illusion Barriers, but sadly not his talent. Nevertheless, he was quite adept at what he did and worked himself quite far up the Fateweaverdder before it all came tumbling down. He had long hair that John guessed to be a very dark shade of brown rather than ck, he was also quite tall and muscr, although the genes from his parents kept his overall frame slim. In grand summary, with his dark coat and suit he looked like a normal Fateweaver.
The middle child, in her mid-thirties in real age, was a Stefanie Magus. She was a learned water mage, having chosen to apany her father not because she was searching for work but because she was just taking a vacation from her job at New Antis. While John had a million questions about the fact that there was a new Antis already, he decided to spare her his curiosity.
Lastly was a girl minorly younger than John, which meant she was also 18, although barely. She didnt talk to anyone in the room, just sat down in thefiest looking chair around and began gaming. Apparently, she was a bit closer to her father in talent but wascking any sort of work ethic. Her name was Lee Magus.
They were all quite good-looking people, but John didnt really feel attracted to any of the females among them. He was satisfied and his Wisdom highly rmended him to not flirt with the daughters and/or wife of the high Fateweaver about to be employed by him.
I really need to get another family, Magnus grumbled; none of them were wearing any unusual get-up. They were almost shockingly normal in their current year clothes. Father, why are we not getting to the point?
How boring, okay then, lets talk about what we both should get from this contract somewhere where we wont be spied on if possible, Magoi tapped his cane on the floor. This barrier is peculiar. I should be able to take control and just separate everything from the inte to allow us privacy, but control is hardwired to you, John.
Just another facet of the bullshit, Johnughed and then guided them off the ship and to the I.D. Gate. He ced his phone in the hands of Aclysia, the whole of the Magus family quickly doing the same as they went inside the empty space. The weaponized maid then ced them inside her inventory. As usual, within there, all connection was lost, and even if that wasnt enough, there was no way for soundwaves to be stored inside the inventory. If there had been, John would have been pulling stupid shenanigans aeons ago.
This is also very peculiar, it emtes an advanced technique, Magoi sounded very happy about these new things presented to him. Ah, how I like fresh stuff, always funny with you, John. Now, I wonder if
1000%, is that as high as you can casually go? John asked, the room changing from the darkness to a tranquil grasnd. I remember you boasting you could reach ten-thousand percent. It seems your health has deteriorated quite a bit since then though. Thatst part was delivered in a worried tone. What the Observe sheet had said about John being his probablyst employer and the fact that Magus was five levels lower than before was quite worrisome.
Ah, straight to the point, yes, my health hasnt been the besttely, Magoi admitted. Doing what I did at Warsaw isnt advisable for someone my age, you know, taking drugs, putting on a mask that sends my powers into an unsustainable overdrive and all that. Getting hit by a stray rock on the head certainly didnt help. I can increase the flow of time here further if I can prepare, up to 70 to 1 should still be possible, but I wont be able to hold it for forever. A 10 to 1 ratio is as good as its going to get, I am afraid.
No sweat of my back, its still really far up there, John told him and stretched again. Although you could have written me that you would arrive a dayte. I was sitting there in anticipation all Wednesday.
If by that you mean you were walking through barriers all day, Magoi joked.
That is not untrue, John admitted. Anyway, why dont we go over how this whole employment thing is going to look like. Are your kids staying too?
I am, Magnus grumbled his way into the conversation. I am not as good as my father, but I am able to get a 3 to 1 barrier going easily and I need a new job. I promise to work hard! He mmed a fist against his chest in a respectful, military gesture.
This guy is kind of intense, John thought. Sure, what about you two?
I am heading back to New Antis, was just seeing my father off, Stefanie answered, as was expected. Going to be hard to visit him on the east-coast. Can you conquer your way over to the west ASAP? Would save me a lot of flying.
Whats wrong with flying? Sylph popped into existence with the smell of a flowerbed. The tiny, fairy-like elemental began zooming about the ce. I like flying! Look! I can move horiz- horizon- lying direction and standing direction! Whoosh!
Begone, devils tongue! Stefanie eximed and distanced herself from the air spirit.
You will have to excuse her, bad experiences with your kind, Lee finally spoke up, moving a notepad she was drawing on in front of Sylph and slowly shoving her back as the tempest elemental cried out in ack of understanding. With a poof, she disappeared to contemte the meaning of her existence for all of ten seconds. Then she was suddenly talking about waffles with Gnome. Myself, Dad is sending me back to the Everest to attend some sses or whatever.
Mabirl then stole the notepad by bncing it on the tip of her walking stick. Young girl, you will speak with respect and not squander your talents by getting into this e-sports thing!
What, should I squander my talent by bing a housewife instead?
That is an alternative, yes, Mabirl said. Just make sure he is a nice young man with a strong grip on morality. Not this one though, the stick travelled over to John, no offense, but as a mother I dont want my girl to end up in a harem. I, in no way, condemn your lifestyle but I also dont want my family to partake in it.
None taken, John assured as Lee grabbed her notepad back and grumblingly retreated. So you three will be staying, right?
Right, lets get over the details, Magoi pped his hands and thus created a table out of thin air. Do you have pen and paper on hand?
John pulled both out of his inventory, Since yesterday.
What followed was a lengthy discourse about what Magois exact position was in this new guild. Starting with what he gained from it, they came to a quick understanding of a flexible payment, a guarantee that John would stand with his name (and action if necessary, save for cases that could threaten the guild as a whole) for the safety of him and his direct family and that Magoi would be part of whatever real council/government body would eventually be put together.
After some further negotiation, Magoi ensured himself that the Fateweavers that Collide would employ would all go through him and that a new vassal guild under the name of the Magus Magi would be created for that effort. Furthermore, that vassal guild would be given funding to create a university. John easily conceded on all of the points, especially thest one since it would mean that he got a supply of America original Fateweavers in the future. Magoi also negotiated that Magnus would be the first choice in session for all of this, for whenever the old Fateweaver would pass on.
In return for all of these things, Collide would be able to call upon those Fateweavers as its members, meaning that the services werergely free and that they would run maintenance. Magoi did make sure, however, that he wouldnt run time dtions with John too often.
But why though? John asked as he closed the window. He would have been lying if he said he wasnttled by this. That enormous time dtion was his easy way to getting very strong very fast.
Because I was born in 1776, but I am 431 years old, Magoi told him quite clearly. You do the math on that one.
You are telling me that you spent 189 years in time dtions? John asked. Asking that made him wonder how much time he had spent inside them.
And that I still age inside them, yes, with 200 I didnt care much. Frankly,st year I didnt care much, but after the war I am really feeling that old age in my bones, and I dont want to spend my lifes evening sitting around as a means to speed up your progress, Magoi informed him. I spent most of my life working to amass an absurd amount of wealth, I am going to spend it on ckjack and nice food. Thus, I am going to help you once a month.
If you still want the help, I am happy to go in my fathers stead, Magnus chimed in.
That would still add another ten days of grinding to each month with Magois help alone. Magnus, while not quite as good, was still vastly outssing Johns own time dtion. Can you do the intermediary barrier thing in here? John wanted to know, both from Magoi and Magnus.
They both could, although it took the son about ten minutes to set up what his father could do with a snap of his fingers. That didnt irk John too much, from what he understood Magoi was simply too good and Magnus had worked his way above average to pretty good territories. Some sons had just too great fathers.
However, Magnus could not fateweave, that was a bit of a bummer. Still though, there is no way to not ept this John thought. One more thing, he spoke out loud, however. I respect your wish that you get to spend your time how you want, but in case I need to get a lot of power very quickly, an absolute emergency, I will need you to make an exception.
That is eptable, Magoi told him. Would you count tomorrows meeting you have with the leader of Thorne as such an emergency?
Not really, John said. More like if I had to fight Tilgun tomorrow.
That is truly eptable then.
I still would like to ask for you to lend me your time ratio change for the rest of this day, John stretched. It might not be an emergency, but its probably going to be dangerous.
Sure thing! Magoi dered and pped his hands together. Two houses appeared, not any two houses but Johns family house from back in Springfield. He could practically feel the High Fateweaver winking at him from behind his bone mask. My family and I will be using that one. Going to get the best out of Stefanies vacation.
You go do that, John smirked. You want your smartphones back? Aclysia would deposit them elsewhere otherwise. Full disclosure, I am getting mine back, I think the part Thorne cant know about is done with.
I have my newspaper, I am happy! Magoi dered, Lee wasnt quite as happy about being separated from her handheld for 10 days, so the electronics were brought in with Aclysia. They all knew they had to be wary about what was said around them, so John just wrote a short message to Rave telling her that the deal was done and that he was going to grind for the rest of the day.
From now until I call it quits, lets say 10PM real time the meeting was supposed to take ce at noon on Friday, but he had to get to and then find the specific ce it mentioned so he would best move out about three hours earlier and he wanted to be well-rested for all of it. Thats about 130 hours, so over 5 days. Not the best use, but it checks out.
Chapter 433 – Negotiations…?
Chapter 433 C Negotiations?
Ahhh, feels good to level quickly, John thought at the end of the five-day marathon. There was just something deeply satisfying about getting experience quickly. Or at least effectively quickly, technically it took me the same time as normally. Still though, feels good. He took his phone out of his inventory, waited for a moment as it reconnected to the inte and then began texting.
Jeehan: Am about to leave the barrier, cant wait to speak to you again!
The Neonlights is writing dots came and stayed for a while. Rave wasnt a slow typer, but John was currently somewhere where the time was slightly different.
Neonlights: What? No great conversations with Aclysia?
Jeehan: Oh, there were a few, I will tell you all about in person and somewhere without microphones.
He half expected a quip from Thorne at that point, but nothing came. There was a lot he could read into that, but he had been theorizing too much already. I really need to quit making unproductive, half-baked assumptions, John scolded himself as he looked with pride at the greatest achievement of the whole grinding action.
Sadly, the list of 4-typebinations was all recycled from the 2 and 3-types, but it still was a remarkably great skill to have simply because it allowed John to have twobinations active now. Whether that was a 2 and a 4-type or two 3-types didnt matter either.
Well, those were the agreed hours, John said and waved the Magus family goodbye. Magoi, Magnus and Mabirl would stay within the yacht, Stefanie would take Lee back to northern India, before returning to New Antis (which, apparently,y somewhere between Australia and southern Indonesia). For the moment, though, they were still a family on vacation, and John left them behind in the barrier so they could use every minute as long as possible.
Once outside, he put his phone back into his inventory. Rave met him halfway on his way back and fell around his neck, kissing him after they whirled around for a bit. In silence, they went towards the yacht. The likelihood that some part of the ship was still able to listen in on them was pretty low. John really had to wonder why Thorne came out to confirm his theory in the way she did. If she had just stayed quiet, he would have found some other exnations, hell, she could have faked some evidence herself.
The only logical exnation John could find for revealing herself was that she wanted toe into contact just as much as he did. Then again, he also didnt expect her toe in person.
How was your Jane-less week? Rave asked once he put her down. They began making a beeline for the yacht; in her enthusiasm his girlfriend had only put on some light stuff atop her skimpy clothes and the March nights were still pretty cold.
Terrible, only had conversations about stupid stuff and loving sex with everyone, John answered, looking around to make sure there werent any potential microphones around. It wasnt until after putting Raves phone into his inventory, he spoke freely. Truth be told, I had almost all my conversations mentally; Aclysia and I had some nonsense talks to test if Thorne is omnipresent or just has the potential to always listen in.
Difference being between her knowing everything and her potentially knowing everything we say, right? Rave asked, causing her boyfriend to nod. Why dontcha just ask her tomorrow?
John snorted, Right, like she is going to show up in person and tell us the truth about anything. Mark my words, she wont be there herself, whoever is going to be there will be d in anti-Observe magic and we will only be fed lies.
_________________________________________________________________________
Sit the fuck down, demanded the scarlet haired woman. She was beautiful in a very odd way, having an androgynous face with clear skin and the kind of ruthless eyes that made him feel like she was about to buy up all his stocks and throw him out of his ownpany. There was the barest hint of breasts under the red shirt she wore beneath a casually opened suit vest.
That shirt, the tie she was wearing, her criminal eyes and her wild hair, they all had a bright red colour that reminded John of over-stylized blood. She lighted a cigarette, took a deep huff and then blew the smoke into the open room. It quickly travelled to the ceiling of the nearly vacant room; barely anybody visited a strip club at this early hour, even in the Abyss.
The few that did were concentrated around the bar at the centre, an oval, light oaken thing with a tribune in the middle where two very simr looking dark elves were currently busy feeling each other up in a teasing, dancing manner. Smaller podiums were scattered throughout the establishment, the standard, well-polished stripping pole on each of them. Currently they, and the seats around them, were vacant.
John sat down at the table, Rave, Aclysia and Eliza immediately following suit, removed in distance from even those vacant ces, after Scarlett insisted. Do it already, S-T-F-D, sit the fuck down, the day isnt getting any longer. Once he had ced himself firmly on the smooth, stic leather of the admittedly well-fashioned and soft benches, Scarlett slid him a ss filled with a golden liquid.
After taking a whiff that felt like it would set the hairs in his nose on fire, identifying it as some sort of high-concentration alcoholic beverage, he put the ss right back down. I dont drink a lot, he told the person across the table. Everything about this situation was dumbfounding him.
Sounds like a problem with you, not the drink, Scarlett kept pummelling whatever image he had of her. Simply by virtue of doing everything John didnt expect her to do, she had nearplete control over the conversation right now. After she threw the contents her own ss down her throat in a single gulp, as if the whole thing had been just a shot of cheap vodka, she put the ss back on the table and leaned back.
They were five on one side of the table, she was alone, they were highlybat proficient and she was a Technomancer without any tools around. Yet, she was sitting there with her legs crossed under the high table, making it impossible to get up quickly, and her elbows on the backrest of the bench, as if she had nothing to fear. Her scarlet eyes drilled into his with such intensity that the music in the background seemed to grow quieter, as if she was trying to decipher everything about him. He stared back, confused overall but not willing to back down in the slightest. The air was thick with questions and a sort of tension that John really didnt expect to feel right now.
It was like he had gone to speed dating and just found someone he wanted to throw down and nail right there on the floor.
Scarlett wasnt exactly his type, acting in no way like a woman, being dressed like a man, and she probably would have been able to pass as a (very feminine) guy if she tried to.
However, she waspletely rocking that androgynous look and was in no way unattractive; she leaned just enough to the feminine side to remain a cause for boners, albeit somewhat insecure ones. As the Gamers and Scarletts mutual stare continued, she smiled as if she knew exactly that John liked what he saw. Maybe she just liked what she saw herself. John caught his own lips curving upwards.
She wasnt his usual type, but neither were other girls in his harem. Sexy she was, that was without a doubt. What had started as a simple measurement of each other had turned into a weirdlyfortable staring contest.
While ya two eye-bang each other, Raves deeply amused voice chimed in as she grabbed the ss, Ill be taking this.
Darling, if you are feeling left out, I can mentally undress you just as much as this guy, Scarlett offered, raising her eyes from John and looking over his whole following. Although, given the choice to see any of you naked, Id go with your boyfriend first, Aclysia second, you third, then Metra andstly Eliza.
What the fuck do you mean I amst? Eliza took offense to that.
Nothing against ya, Scarlett rolled her words, ncing at an approaching waitress and the real bunny ears she had, but I am just not into pale, screaming shorties. Not saying I wouldnt bang you, just saying you are the least attractive of this bunch. There was a sheer flood of contradicting curses andpliments towards herpanionsing out of Elizas mouth in response, stopping when the waitress arrived.
I am very sorry for the dy, the waitress stated and hastily ced a new bottle of whisky and two extra sses on the table. Scarlett made a dismissive gesture, pping her on the naked butt when she turned to leave. Their uniform was basically just a bikini top with a miniskirt and a thong. She left and John was minorly confused.
Why did she apologize? he wanted to know. As Scarlett was just looking at him with bemused intellect, he exined further, I made sure you didnt know it would be all five of using here, hence why you only got one extra ss. So why was she apologizing like you had been waiting for that since you got here.
Scarlett undid her tie before answering,zily throwing it next to a pair of sunsses and a ck fedora, much like the one John owned, with a red band wrapped around the base. Kind of hot in here, sorry. Not sorry actually, she said, removing her tie and opening the uppermost two buttons of her shirt.
Then the Technomancer, with hair the colour of running blood, rose out of her seat and bent halfway over the table. She winked John closer with a suggestive wiggle of her finger. His decision wasrgely boner oriented at that point.
Ill give you a tip, Scarlett whispered into his ear, both of their heads above the middle of the table. I picked this location because I know for a fact they recently upgraded their ordering system.
They sat back down and Johns eyes stared at a lucky angle down her shirt in the movement. He realized that she wasnt wearing a bra, saw her nipples standingpletely erect underneath. They were a pretty pink,pletely natural, both at odds and nicely enting to the entire red theme she got going on. He looked upwards, only to get stuck at her lips to which the exact same description could be given, except they looked perfectly soft instead of diamond hard.
John distracted himself with logical thoughts. You hacked into the system and told them your order was overdue? At the moment he finished his question his phone vibrated a good 300% above the regr strength, right next to his erection. Why do I even have this in my pocket?! John cursed himself; he had thought it a nice gesture to let Scarlett know he was approaching. After all, he was the one who didnt know what his target would have looked like. Pulling it out, he quickly read the word Bingo travelling over the screen. Let me guess, you also gave a loan through another guy to this business a few months back explicitly so they could update to state-of-the-art technology from Thorne, solely so you could use this exact spot if you eventually wanted a meeting in private?
This part of the city was close enough to the Thorne HQ that she had a low travel time with public utilities but also far enough that nobody would immediately be suspicious. John also assumed that she got some secret tunnel in and out of the headquarters so nobody would see her leave.
And he is smart too, fuck me. Looking back up, he saw Scarlett biting her lower lip in a manner only a heavily turned ondy could and that was incredibly hard to fake. Observe revealed that Lust had risen from fourth to second ce. How much would you pay me for a footjob under the table? Scarlett asked out of nowhere.
Oh, dont lie, red rose, you would do it for free, John answered in a deep, flirting voice. He just loved that he had arrived at a point in his confidence where he could deliver lines like that without batting an eysh. In other news, you are incredibly straightforward for a virgin.
Really, of all the things your famous scrying magic finds out, thats the thing? Scarlett raised a brow, still amused rather than shocked. Interestingly, she skipped to answer the allegation.
You knew about Observe and didnt take any precautions? John was confused again, he had hoped to get control over the conversation this way, but Scarlett was as unmoved by that as by everything else that wasnt his looks or his wit.
When I first saw you, I just thought that that is a guy I would get naked for, the horny Technomancer stated. At least what you became, not what you were.
You have done your homework, didnt you? John asked. What do you know about me?
Too little, although these helped, Scarlett grabbed her phone and turned it for John to see. He was greeted by a photo of himself when he was stillnky, naked and only half awake. Rave must have shot it when he wasnt looking, he knew she had done it a few times. The Technomancer had stumbled into one of the few definitive things John still got embarrassed over. She turned the device back towards herself and swiped without using her hands, lines of green and yellow dancing from her pupil outwards in a pattern that reminded John of the circuits on a motherboard. Thank fuck you dont still look like that, I would have way less to flirt with, she looked up. Would you be up for giving me some newer materials though? Real shame you didnt have a camera in the bathroom.
You are STILL incredibly straightforward for a virgin, John repeated his earlier statement, this time in a mildly shocked tone.
There are three things I dont have time for: sleeping, eating and arranging for a male prostitute who could get to know I exist and fuck me often enough that its worth the security breach. I dont have to worry about that with you, you already found out, Scarlett exined, finally opening the bottle of whiskey standing on the table. Want some?
I think he could use some just so you get out of his fucking head, Eliza hissed, still not over the earlierments. Come on, scatterbrain, she is so fucking obviouslying onto you just to get you easier to manipte, easiest sociopath trick in the whole book of shit that is her brain!
Oh no, I was going to do the whole negotiation routine, overstate my goal and all that jank, but I am just moist right now, the Technomancer stated, then pointed over her shoulder. You are wee toe to the toilet with me and check, hell, I extend that offer to all thedies here. You can fix the problem while you are at it, dont have a vibrator with me or I would just do it myself.
Get the fuck up then! Eliza shouted, already half-climbed over the table. Might already check if you are even a girl while we are at it, you look like a fucking guy who has been through twenty-three stic surgeries! John had to disagree there; if that would have been the case, the problem with the tightness of his pants wouldnt have existed right now.
Sorry, would ask you as well, John, but I am not having my first time in a dirty bathroom stall, Scarlett knocked twice on the table as she got up. See ya in a bit.
I like her, Rave stated.
I am unsure, Aclysia added.
I think she is the tits, Metra shared.
I think my opinion is obvious, right now, John ended that chain.
Then he asked all three of them if they would mind the dirty bathroom stall.
Chapter 434 – Where the cables fall
Chapter 434 C Where the cables fall
So now we can add a strip club to the list of ces we had sex at, Rave said as she put her pants back on, an endeavour that took a bit around her firm butt, as always.
Was that on your bucket list? John asked, handing Metra her clothing out of his inventory. She clicked her tongue because it was more than she wanted and way more than she was fine with. However, they also needed to walk back after this, so she didnt have a choice. For Aclysia, she already headed back to the table, on Johns wishes she was to engage Scarlett in some friendly conversation. That was both to keep this weirdly friendly conversation going and to check how her listening capabilities went.
The idea was quite simple. John and Aclysia had numerous conversations over thest few days,rgely over the same topics. With every conversation, John had added a few more details. For John that had been over the course of five days, for Scarlett it had been just one. If she had listened in on all of it, she would hopefully drop any hints in that direction. However, if she had only listened to some of it, and that was the way more interesting thing to find out, some of those things would be new to her.
It wasnt the most waterproof trial, but it was a start.
Lets just say I am making a bucket list, Rave winked once she finally wiggled her butt into her jeans. I shouldve worn something stretchier.
Cant wait for the summer and to see you in a skirt again, John provided his personal opinion.
Tired of my butt? Jeans and yoga pants show that off way better, his girlfriend reminded him and yfully tapped her own backside.
That would be a crime against humanity, no, but you also have legs for days and I want to see those naked again.
Metra pulled her clothes ast time and then they left the mens stall as the group. While we are on the bucket list, how about we have sex in the actual strip club, instead of just the toilet?
Way too public, Rave denied the idea.
You just had sex in a stall.
When will ya get it into your metal skull, Mat? People can know I am having sex, they are not supposed to see me have it.
Thats why you are no fun.
To the sound of friendly bickering, the trio returned to the table. Ity in awkward silence and John could only contribute to it as he sat down ever so slowly while watching Scarlett and Eliza.
Dont you like cherries? Scarlett asked, delivering one on top of a pile of cream with the help of a spoon. Now John had no idea when the ice-cream had gotten there, but it was there. Eliza was also no longer on their side of the table but under Scarletts right arm. Come on, open wide.
John had a hunch and used Observe. For heavens sake, Eliza, he groaned when he saw that Scarletts all Fs had just turned into two Fs and a D- in Oral.
The blood mage blushed, which was rare in and of itself, opened her mouth, was then fed a cherry and whipped cream, swallowed that, and then finally answered. I dont fucking know what happened! First I just wanted to check her panties C which were gushing like the Niagara Falls by the way C then we got talking about some bullshit and suddenly I was pressing my face into her pubic hair covered cunt!
Which is neatly trimmed, by the way, Scarlett added while shovelling some more ice cream into Elizas mouth. The confused masochist just clicked out of the conversation at that point, having nothing but curses to add. Simrly, Metra wasughing continuously from that point onwards. Gotta say, little girl, you are better than my vibrator.
That still doesnt answer how, John drily stated.
Like that Observe shit doesnt tell you that I can be quite persuasive, Scarlett pointed out. It was true that her Charisma was absurdly high. Anyway, I just pointed out how degrading it would be to be used on a toilet by a virgin while reminding her that, if she really wanted to, she could break my spine with her little finger. That was also true, her physical stats were barely above the average human. Little Eliza here thusly waspletely sure she was still in control, making her very vulnerable to suggestions, such as that you guys were having sex over there anyway, so why shouldnt she have a little fun?
You know this doesnt exactly bode well for you being a loyal member of this harem, John pointed out; he was not happy about any of this. If it just takes 5 minutes with a woman pushing the right buttons for you to get on your knees.
Fair, Eliza actually looked scolded and sad about the state of affairs. Even as she was further fed cherry ice cream, her mood didnt visibly improve. I swear to fucking god C if thats what it takes C that I wouldnt go any further than licking some hairy cunt though. I wont touch a cock or anything like that.
John did believe that at least, solely because of how ashamed she looked of the situation and the fact that she actually swore it by that, in her opinion, fictional sky wizard. Fine, bute back over here. She has ice cream, but I have an emptyp.
In less than five seconds Eliza was right there, actually taking the best of both worlds by removing the ice from Scarletts possession. The blood mage giggled in a deranged way as John then took over the duty of transporting the cold sweetness into her mouth.
Lets resume whatever this is, the Gamer then said in a deep, demanding voice. I think I can take control of the situation now, he thought as he analysed the memories of the conversation Scarlett and Aclysia had while he was gone.
Scarlett lit a new cigarette, took a sip of whiskey, then decided to say. No, first you tell me if that was really the best test you coulde up with to probe my capabilities. With that simplement she smashed the ball right back into his court. Like I would fall for the old details trick. She puffed out a cloud of smoke over the table with a dismissive expression on her face. Fucking amateur.
It was the best I coulde up with, given the tools at hand, John defended himself. The mood finally swung out of the young adult horny flirting and into what was actually meant to be discussed here. Not the best, I admit I am rtively new to all of this, but I wouldnt say it was futile. You wouldnt do me the favour of telling me whether or not you are omnipresent, would you?
I am not, Scarlett mumbled into her cigarette.
See, thats why I needed to-
I mean I am not omnipresent, she interrupted him. Not that I am not telling you.
Why the hell are you so open about all of this? John was just confused at every turn here.
Because it makes you unsure about everything, Scarlett said right into his face. You are in such a kerfuffle with your own thoughts, trust, empathy and atent sense of past betrayal all intermingling and creating nothing of value while I could sit here and rip you off so easily without sacrificing anything of value to me because you also got the quintessential knowledge that can hurt me C I exist.
Johns hand clenched around the ss holding the ice cream at the mention of the past betrayal. What do you know? he was no longer in the mood for any mind games.
Two things, that a person so good-willed he heals someone after ying the skin off their arm for merely spying on him had a knife plunged into their back in the past, Scarlett then nodded towards his hand, and that somebody who causes cracks in a ss is unlikely to have fabricated such an event.
John put the ss on the table with a smacking sound, parts of it fell off from the prophesized cracks running through it.
Honestly surprised, must have cut really deep if that breaks your cool, you dont strike me as the easily angered type, Scarlett continued on; her eyes were as calm as a water-cooled circuit running at normal capacity. Right now, he was giving her everything she wanted just by feeding her lots of information through his behaviour.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Okay, lets turn this analysing shtick around again, John dered, although I wont get as personal. The reason why you are being this honest without taking proper advantage of it is because you know how much I hate being spied on, a small lipped smile appeared on Scarletts face, and you dont want to end up on my bad side.
She raised the whisky holding hand and extended her index finger. Correct, the word still echoed in the removed corner of therger room when she took a sip. Is it working?
You are a good negotiator, great flirt, but also terrible at not getting on my nerves on this topic, John gave her the desired feedback. Currently, you just reminded me why I should smash this table and give you to Siena for a short span of time C Exactly the same thing I did to that poor informant you mentioned earlier.
Swirling her drink inplete cool, looking at the shadows that shifted anticipatingly under the table, Scarlett said nothing for a while. But you wont, she finally stated.
But I wont, he admitted and finally rxedpletely. Sienas click of the tongue echoed in his mind. Well, you have been working so hard to keep the reigns in this conversation, why dont you tell me why you came forward with this meeting. I assume its so I dont go around asking the right questions?
To the wrong people, yes, Scarlett told him. If some backwards mob boss figures something out, I can just have him quietly removed, with you that is not an option, and you are the type of mind that would ask the whole city for clues. Cant have anybody else figure out the truth in the process. I already have one enemy who knows, I dont need the whole world to.
So, you figured, better have the talk from the start and maybe work something out, John nodded to himself. It also seems like you desperately wanted to flirt with me.
Look at the mirror next time you get out of bed and tell me, if you were a horny woman with no one to do in her ivory tower, that you wouldnt want to tap that, Scarlett justified that behaviour. Although I would have still met you here if you were a fat, ugly bastard with phimosis. You being a massive stud was just a cherry on top.
Uh-huh, John raised an eyebrow. What are we talking about then? What will you give me to stay quiet?
Everything, she answered straight-up. My guild, my connection, my resources, my body. Whatever you need, Thorne will be your loyal vassal. That was way too easy, there had to be a giant catch on this. On a few conditions. There it was. You will help me eradicate everyone else who knows about me, you will keep this alliance secret until I give the OK, you will respect Thornes autonomy and I will have a seat on whatever governing body you install.
Those all seemed fair. Before I agree to any of that, John looked at Scarlett intensely. She didnt strike him as a bad person, but she also spoke of removing disturbing elements with a coldness that only someone used to giving execution orders could. What drives you?
That what drives everyone in this city: money and power, Scarlett answered.
How much money and what kind of power? Wielded for what purpose?
Those questions only seemed to amuse the bloodstained Technomancer. As much as I can get and for those who can get more, she answered. You seem to look out for the little guy, right, John?
I try, he told her.
I find that weak, Scarlett freely admitted. The way you do it is less offensive to me than pumping them full of my money so they can just leech off of me is. Actually, just giving them tools to raise from the muck again is something I do myself.
Why did I find them deste then? John asked.
Because they swore loyalty to you, not me, Scarlett told him. I am not running a charity. They better bring something to the table, and the only thing those fuck-ups have left is their bodies. That I can work with.
It took them one day to start constructing something.
Scarlett closed her eyes, That doesnt sound like humans to me. Do you mean it took a few individuals of the mass one day to motivate them to construct something? That was certainly another way to look at it. Here is the thing, I dont give a shit about any of these regr people. I am not a good person, I dont want to be, I want to be sessful, and for that I need people that are qualified. Everyone else? I wont help them, but I wont kill them either, they are on their own. As to what kind of power, she opened her eyes again, different circuits danced inside, with every cable plugged, with every advancement made, I grow more influential. In this modern age, I am pretty much a goddess and I fully intend to y my cards. You dont strike me as someone who will stop me.
I will moderate you though, John was blunt about that.
Fine, Scarlett shrugged. I dont like it, but as influential as I may be, I wont be powerful. Whenever you decide to end me, thats it. Pure pragmatism reverberated in her voice. So, I will sail with the tide, rather than struggle and waste my resources in the process.
That doesnt sound like you will be the most trustworthy of vassals, he pointed out.
She smirked knowingly, A reason for you to keep pleasing me is good for both of us. Anyway, this was fun, she knocked on the table and got up. I installed an app on your phone, it shows you when I am listening and you can also contact me through it. Lets talk soon, I never had phone sex before. She put on her clothes and hat. Cigarette in her mouth she raised her hand in goodbye and soon thereafter vanished out the door.
What a weird gal, Ravemented.
Yeah, he said, but we can work with her C I hope.
Chapter 435 – Takeover plans – Black swordsman
Chapter 435 C Takeover ns C ck swordsman
John: So, what, you will just watch as I take over your city?
Scarlett: Yeah, best start with the ces I have shops. Take over the barriers, dont harm the shops unless you have to, and if they do get tangled up, please dont break anything really important.
John: Like the store clerks?
Scarlett: Eh depends on the store.
John: Wow.
Scarlett: Spare me your moralizing. Do what you must to make it look like we are enemies in waiting. I will keep the response measured.
John: Wont that make you look weak/your board of directors pissed?
Scarlett: Thats the idea.
John: Can you borate?
He blinked at thosest few sentences of the chat exchange. The talk had been lengthy, productive, but still kind of confusing. She wants to bait thepetition to attack her, I guess, John thought and put away his phone, as the green button that indicated Scarlett as online switched to grey. At least thats the only reason I can think of for trying to seem weak
Ya know, they always make jokes about strip club food, Rave said, eating a burger, but this is really good.
Yes, they were still in this club they had met Scarlett in. The Technomancer had switched her conversation to electronics because that way she could get back to her tower and work while keeping the conversation going. One could only imagine how jealous a certain queen would be over such a possibility. I wonder if Scarlett and Lydia would get along, he asked out loud.
Eliza was the first one to jump on that train, Twenty fuck bucks that it would be like two cats meeting.
Bets were then called and arguments made. It was a wholly nonsensical conversation. John wrote Lydia a message by the end of it. He left out all the interesting details, it only said We met someone and bet on how you two would get along. Cant wait to for you two to meet. As Lydia was currently offline, he would have to wait for an answer.
Anyway, whats the situation? Rave asked by the end of her burger.
Well, we will continue as nned but with less uncertainty, John answered. If Scarlett betrays us, I will level her ivory tower and leave but the shell of herpany while also locking her into some cell without any electricity. I think she is very much aware of that. Also, I got a new achievement...
So I can upgrade the Guild Hall to Tier 1ter.
Why dontcha do it right now? Rave asked, ying with Copernicus. What she would do is take his front paws, lift them so he had to stand on his hind legs, and then make him act as if he was dancing the caramelldansen. Copernicus, of course, looked as annoyed but alsopletely uncaring about this as only a cat could. Is it cause there could be some fancy visual effects if we do it while inside? Cause if that is the answer, I aintining.
Yup, hit the nail on the head right there, John said. Anyway, here are my goals for the next month: Grind my billion dors, I still want those. Spreading Collides influence, I willrgely leave that to you, Jane.
Ya sure? Rave raised an eyebrow. Ya know I am not big onto this whole political thinking stuff.
Great thing you are not here to do that then, John smirked, just beat up some bad guys and leave our name behind. Aggressive advertisement, if you will.
I can do that, Rave smiled back at him. What else?
I want to get a new cleaver for Aclysia, John said. The weaponized maid nodded to that. She had a good dagger and a great katana right now, but for the heavy work she was still stuck with VolJinZul, the sword they had gotten from the Troll arena.
It was a very sturdy sword, bnced around level 150 or something like that, but John was pretty certain that he could get something better and more tailored to Aclysias ss. Both the Lifesteal and Soulbreaker attributes were kind of useless on her, the former being a healing factor that Aclysia truly didnt need and thetter dealing extra damage against incorporeal beings. Otherwise it was just Sturdy and Sharp. It was good as a cleaver, but in all situations that werent blunt damage to environment, it was way worse than Eclys.
John wasnt even sure if they could find a sword that could rival Eclys, being forged by some multi-dimensional prankster out of mithril, but it was worth a try. His phone vibrated on the table, Scarlett had sent him an address.
Listening in whenever she wants, John grumbled. He still wanted an boration, but it seemed that Scarlett was bent on making this next part a surprise.
Sucks, doesnt it? Rave teased, poking him in the cheek with Copernicus paw. It was warm and fluffy.
I can live with it, he imed. Anyway, its that and get a recement for Jack.
Cant ya just order a new one off the auction?
Just like with Aclysia, I would like my equipment to have a bit of a higher standard, his exnation came swiftly. Mass production is just not cutting it anymore. To be honest, I am not looking for a new bird either. I have something else in mind.
He checked where the address Scarlett had just sent him was. While he was unlikely to have enough money to buy whatever was sold there right now, ormission his own piece, checking it out wouldnt hurt, especially since it was nearby.
I am going over there, how about you guys? he asked.
I am all in for a weapons shop, Metra finally found something to make the fact that she got into clothing worthwhile. Who knows, maybe he has some good stuff.
I am going back home, the sooner I get out of this cold, the better! Rave stated. Also somebody gotta watch the enve. I dont think all the loan sharks got the message yet.
Aclysia obviously stayed with John, leaving only Eliza to make a decision. I will look at that fucking cksmith or whatever, she dered.
Nope, Rave denied. Youreing with me. Gotta discipline ya for just eating strangers pussy, very bad girl.
Fuck you! Eliza pouted.
No, now say sorry, we are going home, Rave dered in a faux-motherly tone.
This y aside I am really fucking sorry the blood mage mumbled and John ruffled her hair as he sighed.
I believe you, but maybe you could need it, he told her. As hot as you being submissive is, I really want you to not listen to anybody outside of this harem. Even if it is just about sex.
I wouldnt, okay?! Eliza was suddenly heavily annoyed. Its just that I feel like every fucking thing about her points to her sucking your dick within the next three weeks anyway, so why the fuck wouldnt I go devour her leaking pussy when she is basically another bitch for the mounting anyway?! She grabbed a handful of fries that remained on the te formerly holding a burger, threw them down her throat and then mumbled, Sorry, standard aggression problems, you know the psycho drill.
Cant say you dont raise a valid point thought, Metra chimed in.
John sighed again. True enough still, for the future, how about we wait for until after she has sucked my dick? Look at it like your master marking his territory, they need to be touched by my cum at least once.
Fuckin weirdo, Elizaughed out loud. But yeah, sure that works. I can try controlling myself with that kind of mantra.
Still wanna punish ya tho, Rave winked, dont worry, ya wont forget the lesson C in a good way.
_________________________________________________________________________
You know what I often fail to realize? John asked the other two remainders as they walked further south, down a street that was unironically called 22nd Street.
What is it, Master? Aclysia asked, her currently ck hair waving in the cold winds.
The fact that we are not in New York but in New Jersey, he continued. I mean, sure, we have our base in New York STATE, but New York CITY is actually east of where we do most of our business or south, depending on your perspective. He added thatst part after seeing that the bridge (Bayonne Bridge) in the distance was a connection between the two cities.
Metra, currently walking in front of them with overacted steps, turned her head. And how is that important?
It isnt, just thought saying it out loud would help me avoid the mistake in the future.
They arrived at a business district with a cinema, a supermarket and other stuff. John found the sheer size of the parking lot alone stupendous. His goalid just behind that, at the Bayonne Golf Club. ording to the intel he had gotten, whoever he was supposed to be visiting had put his shop up at the northern tip of that area.
Master Aclysia carefully chimed into their wandering silence.
I noticed, he just told her, ncing at two people standing on a corner and having a louder than necessary conversation that sounded like it was about to get heated. A momentter they raised their arms to the sky and disappeared. That wasnt the first time John had seen that while walking down this street, the amount of people with an aura he spied was also quite high. There is some concentration of barriers around here.
John just kept wandering on. He wasnt here today to fix the situation. Granted, that hadnt stopped him before, but unless someone was going to try and murder someone else before his eyes, he wasnt going to cause a ruckus. Soon he would, but not today.
They arrived at the coordinates Scarlett sent him and, after John put away his smartphone, the group entered a barrier. The difference was immediate. Where the outside had the chill of winter, he was suddenly hit with the heat radiated by a twenty-metre-tall furnace in full gear. It was made from some kind of ss, blue swirls within changing from one magical symbol to another; each time they formed onepletely, they shed for a split second before bing just shapeless colour again.
Earth elementals taking the shapes of hovering formations of rock were conjuring rains of coals to keep the thing running as a steady trickle of silver glowing metal streamed out of it. John quickly realized it to be mithril. The amount of it whenpared to the massive amount of raw material within the furnace wasughable.
As John couldnt actually find the owner of this whole thing, he followed that miniscule stream as it ran down the weirdly winding ramp towards the water. There he found a single human, small of body butrge and muscr of frame, hunchbacked in a dark coat. He was standing on some sort of wooden ind, staring at a fork in the metals road that ended on top of it, splitting the little river into two different end destinations. Some dark bronze casketsying on top of a giant anvil, the streams vanishing inside; John could only assume they were moulds.
He- John was about to introduce himself when the man suddenly screamed like he had lost all sense of self, lifting a giant hammer and smashing it on the moulds in front of himself. Some sort of mechanism was activated by this, a giant cloud of steam encapsting everything as a ck liquid drowned the moulds.
John was blinded as to what happened next, stumbling backwards because of the sudden heat. The only thing he was mindful of was to not fall into the mithril stream. Eventually the steam dissipated and he was able to look at what was going on with the man again.
There, its done, the raspy voice of an old man with a hard life spoke out. Finally, only took days to forge and decades to learn. Who would you be, who are you? the cksmith turned to John, and the Gamer forgot to answer for a moment. Under the hood he saw a face that was nothing but an assembly of scars. Nose and ears were basically gone, skin like fishhooks had been used to plough through it. Only the eyes were human, but in them beat an ever-present battle between insanity and genius.
John felt a scratching in the bones of his right hand. Judging by the nailless hand that quickly vanished under the cksmiths cowl, his whole body was covered in them C Lorylim scars.
Finally, John swallowed and found his voice again. I have heard you make swords.
SWORDS?! the man, aged far beyond his years, half-screamed and halfughed. I GIVE DEATH SHAPE! As if to prove his point, he reached into the shattered remains of the double mould and dragged out a weapon.
It was an absurd sword. From the smooth ss grip with the ck pummel to the guard made from pure, silver-white mithril forged into a symmetrical pattern that reminded John of ice flowers. The de itself wasplicated beyond necessity. Split in half, the two main des had a hand-wide gap between them, with two thorns growing out of the middle of the guard and parallel to that gap a fifth up the entire length. Those des were sleek, a polished, jet ck that mirrored the surroundings. In total the thing was certainly two-metres long.
The cksmith couldnt even hold it up for too long - which was rming given his Strength C and the sword itself refused to be Observed by John C which was even more rming. Metal stolen from a higher dragon, cooled in the blood of lesser kin C extinguish the white, drown it in sin C ss heated with thest bit of the fire of destructions breath I had truly, truly a great piece, my best so far, yes, my best.
And John really wanted it, but no matter what he said to the man, he was ignored. Marathyu was dragging the sword behind himself, the only way he could transport it, leaving a cut in the floor that looked like a hot knife was cutting through butter.
Teacher, you shouldnt- a female voice said as the cksmith destroyed the doorframe while entering the entrance at the back of the shop. She stopped when it was already toote, not that Marathyu showed any sign of listening anyway. Same as always she grumbled and turned to John, who had just followed the cksmith in the hopes of getting his existence acknowledged again at some point. We will serve you in a second.
I have time, John assured and watched as Marathyu dragged the sword all the way to a man sitting next to the main entrance. He too was scar covered, but his were battle scars from des, ws and punctures. That was just his face, as most of his body was hidden under a pitch-ck armour. He was a giant man of broad frame, the kind of grizzled warrior you expected to see in a fantasy story, with short ck hair. An Observe here failed again.
There you have your weapon. I thank you, thank you so, so much, to have the opportunity to make it, Marathyu spoke and John was disheartened to hear that that sword was already ounted for. The man lifted it with one hand and put it on his back as he stood up. It just magically attached and stayed there, between armour and the ck, grey ornamented cape.
No problem, was an honour to face the challenges Something about how he said that word made it sound different. No, there was no inherent difference in how he said it, the world itself reverberated it differently than other words the man spoke. to get the materials for you who would you be? the mans dark green eye, singr, his right one was closed with a giant scar running over it, fell on the trio. The scar looked a bit clich but also quite intimidating. Despite all of that, John would have been surprised if the person in front of him was more than 4 years older than himself.
John Newman, he introduced himself. Th-
The Gamer, the man finished, his lips curved into a smile that made Johns skin crawl. Something was off, very, very off. He felt like he was suddenly in a deep pond, looking for the light of the surface. "I heard your name before."
I have a feeling I very much dont like right now, Metra mumbled, looking around. It was doubtless that was rted.
I am Sigmund, the man stepped over, revealing just how much taller he was. 2 metres? 2,10? Something between that. It is always nice to find other people that want to order quality weapons. He extended his hand, covered in temail. He could have crushed a hand in that and not even thought about it too much.
After looking at it for three whole seconds, John shook it. Pleased to meet you, he said in a calm tone. If he didnt look afraid, maybe, just maybe, this whole thing would go over without any problems.
Likewise, Sigmund stated and let go off his hand. I wish you luck on the journey this crazed fool will send you on. With that, the ck swordsman turned for the door.
Teacher is still excitedly drooling, the female assistant said, but I would hear your order.
Its a new sword for her, John pointed at Aclysia, I would li-
Just one more question, Sigmund interrupted his talk and looked over his shoulder, gripping his sword. You wouldnt mind a challenge, would you?
The next thing John heard was the sound of metal shing.
Chapter 436 – VS the Contender
Chapter 436 C VS the Contender
In the split second in which Sigmund turned around, drew his sword and closed in on John, he himself only saw a blur. Aclysia and Metra reacted in the nick of time. The weaponized maid threw herself in front of John, VolJinZul in front of her; simultaneously, Metra was still drawing her weapon from Johns inventory when it happened.
The full horizontal swing sent John and Aclysia flying. They broke through the front of the house and were sent tumbling over the transformed golf course until they were brought to a somewhat gentle stop by shing with the edge of the barrier. It was like hitting a wall of rubber, stretching around them, threatening to rip for a moment and then throwing them back into the barrier.
Not bad! Sigmund shouted over to them as he stepped out of the hole he had just made in the charming little two-story house. Few people can even block my initial strike, you got a pretty good sword there?
As Aclysia and John got up, thetter to the feeling of his broken ribcage snapping back into an unharmed version, Metra finally jumped into action. In an instinctive move, Sigmund moved his arm upwards so the t of the de ran parallel to his back, blocking Qiada.
What do you suggest as a name for this de, Sammy? Sigmund ignored Metra as she growled pushing against the unmoving giant.
Lets see, a new voice added to the mix, distracting everyone. It was calm, female and graceful. The person it belonged to was ady who was pale for a person of middle eastern descent. She had very long ck hair, all the way down to her waist, and dark brown eyes. The swing of her cheekbones was graceful, as was the rest of her face. It seemed like she had been carved out of sandalwood to represent the perfect aristocrat.
She was wearing a dress of grey, the colour of dull steel, that appeared like metal but flowed like silk. The long skirt and sleeves ended in rims that shone with the silver of starlight. In her hands she held a ck metal staff that ended in tiny curved des of mithril, positioned like a scythes, pointing at opposite directions.
I suggest Tiatan, from Tiamat and Titan, she quickly added.
John felt a giant surge of wrath sting out of the needle wide maze that was his connection to Metra. Feeling like his soul was being scorched with a single word, the first word that got through there since they made their contract, he heard the ancient weapon call out. SEMINARIS!
What the hell is that bonus to Spellpower? John asked himself wide eyed. He nced at Metra as well at the asion, checking her stats to see just how angry she actually was. The bonus had jumped straight to the maximum of 300%.
Good to see you too, Sister, the First of Patience smirked. The Astrotium armour pierced out of the berserkers skin in a split second. Qiada was wildly swung around with such utter, brutal force that Sigmunds nonchnt defence could not hope to stop it. The ck swordsman was himself catapulted to the side, then Metra stormed at Seminaris.
A noise as if someone was pulling a stick over an abrasive surface reached Johns ears the moment Metra got within striking distance. Then a gate opened in the middle of the air, a portal to somewhere else, and threatened to devour the First of Wrath. Always so impatient, Seminaris berated with a smile on her face, sure that the portal would whisk Metra away to somewhere else.
Always so fucking SMUG! Metra screamed at her in return, ripping away at the portal. The younger metracana raised an eyebrow and then took a step backwards as her portal spell began to tear. You should have gone for portal strength, the berserker babe growled with her own grin, one of triumphant anger, rather than distance.
At least this wont be boring, then, Seminaris said, taking to the sky the same moment as her current spell was ripped apart. Their fight began in earnest.
John still had an eye on Seminaris Observe window. The Spellpower bonus had fallen to 0 and was now ticking up again. A bonus based on the time between two spells, perhaps? Master! Aclysia pulled him back into reality with an eye on Sigmund who was shaking his head as he got up.
What a strike! he eximed and then looked over to John. Fighting you will be the best thing I had this year!
Why do you want to fight? The question came at the same time as Aclysia again got between the two of them and again just in the nick of time. At least she wasnt thrown back this time, but her cleaver groaned under the impact.
Arent you ate bloomer yourself?! Sigmund asked, again that grin on his face that made Johns skin crawl. With every word the swordsman continued on with, the Gamer understood better why that was. What greater privilege is there than to use this power to fight and fight and fight?! We have been saved from the mundane, we should use this ecstasy to GO BEYOND EVERYTHING POSSIBLE! Leave behind those shackles put on by a stupid society and do everything we want C Because we are STRONG! The sh of screaming des ended with Sigmund quickly pulling Tiatan back and then hammering onto Aclysia in an exchange where the weaponized maid could only cede ground. The thundering strikes created gusts of wind, forcing Aclysia to keep using VolJinZul. The little moment it took to change weapons could have been fatal and the enormous de was more suited for blocking the wide-arching attacks of Sigmunds own cleaver.
John tried to distance himself as the elementals materialized to support Aclysia in the battle. Gnome, Smander, Sylph, Undine and Siena all jumped into the fray. Not even the healer could afford to stay away from the frontline here.
NOW WE ARE TALKING! Sigmund screamed in satisfaction and went right ahead to engage all of them head on. He dodged under a strike of Gnome, ramming the pummel of his de into her stomach and then circled right around to execute a whirling strike that would have cut her in half were it not for Undine pulling her oldest sister back with tentacles of water. Attacks from Sylph were either useless against the thick armour or neutralized by Sigmunds strikes.
The reason why John was afraid of that smile was because it showed him one of the deep pits someone normal could fall in when discovering the Abyss. It was the wide, self-discarding smile of a suppressed man who had yearned for all the powers in the world C and gotten them, only to use them like he was still in a dream of his own design. It was a route John could have easily followed himself if he had been more bitter about years of shunning and bullying by his peers.
The time to think was over though, as a thinyer of energy filled the gap between the two des of Tiatan. Before John knew it, the position of the de had shifted in such a way that the tip was pointing at him while Sigmund was blocking an overhead strike by Aclysia. Panickily, John sent mana to Gnome, dropping into a suddenly opening cavity in the grass. The energy de flew straight over Johns head where he stood.
With all of his instinct-guided fighting, Sigmund was still very much aware that the only win condition there was was John himself. Scrambling to get out of the pit, John moved as quickly as he could. Not nearly quick enough. Sigmund jumped in, boot crashing into Johns chest and nailing him to the ground; his sword came down. In a desperate move, John tried to catch it in his left. A screaming sound as the dragon-blood hardened mithril ground over the dragonscale-esque surface of Purgatory.
John didnt seed in stopping the attack, but he deflected it enough so that only the insides of the des cut the rim of his arms. With every beat of his heart, John could feel his mana and health being drained into the de. I should have put Mana Protection up after all, he thought; he hadnt done that to prevent one single strike from robbing all of his mana and leaving him without any defensive or offensive tools.
You are pretty sturdy, Sigmundplimented, energy flowing out of the gaps in the armour on his hands and into the ss grip of the sword through little holes that John hadnt seen until then. The magic power flowed through the hollow core and into the guard, where it gathered. A momentter the thin energyyer appeared again C with Johns arm at the very end of it. The energy was stopped by Mana Protection, activated at thest second. Watching his MP drop quicker than a piece of metal around an activated electroma, John knew that his arm would soon be a goner.
A metald foot saved him from that fate. Coming at Sigmund from his blind side, he reacted just that little bit slower that allowed the amazon that dropped in to score a hit. Sorry, it took a second! the firm voice of Smlere said and then tossed him out of the cave with little to no grace. There was no time for it anyway, the only important thing was that he got out of Sigmunds melee range.
Smlere went right back into the offensive after that; in the small pit she had the advantage. It was hard to swing that gigantic sword around, furthermore she turned the floor intova. Which was a popr kids game that was way less funny when one stood actually to ones ankles inva.
Then again, if there was any doubt left remaining that Sigmund was a Primarch ss Abyssal, it was smashed when he continued fending off Smlere down there, moving as if he was fighting on solid ground. It was like he was neither wearing heavy te nor shin-deep inva.
John was caught by a mass of dark waters. After stopping his fall gently and cing him on the ground, the waters pulled together into the shape of a featureless female humanoid. She nodded at John once, then became a torrent of water again, chasing after Sigmund who jumped out of the pit.
His elementals hadbined into two 3-types in response to the ck swordsmans enormous fighting supremacy. The only drawback to this was that John was left without a healer. On half HP and with basically no mana, his best bet was to stay far away from the two fights that now went on inside the barrier.
One was the still ongoing fight between Metra and Seminaris. John saw very little of that fight, as it happened in the sky for the most part. In a confusing disy of portals and tears, the rivalling sisters fought a battle of time versus opportunity. Seminaris seemed tock any effective offensive tools, while Metra would eventually run out of mana to keep the attacks up. It was very simr to the fight Metra had versus the supreme Fateweaver, with the important difference that Seminaris had ample space to dodge even if one attack cut through the weave of portals.
The other, much more immediate, fight was Sigmund vs Smlere, Sinflut and Aclysia. The trios well coordinated attacks kept the powerful Abyssal preupied and even managed to get a few good hits in. It seemed they finally had a fighting chance, rather than getting pped around.
Of course, the moment John thought that, Sigmund executed a wide arching attack that crashed into VolJinZul, the de raised in Aclysias defence. The de broke, having finally been taxed enough by the much superior work that was Tiatan. The remaining force turned Aclysia into a super heavy piece of ammunition shot straight at the water. She broke through the winded channel that connected furnace and forge, sending the scarce remains of liquid mithril flying everywhere. By the time she exploded into a fountain of water, Sigmund was already back at fighting the other two.
John made a run for the water. He wasnt going to be of much help regardless of where he went, so he could at least check on Aclysia. The Combinations were able to hold their ground just as two, for the moment at least.
When he reached the shore, she was dragging herself out of the water. The attack had sliced through her stomach, leaving the upper and lower half of her body connected by a slim piece around her spine. Control of her legs was temporarily lost due to this, but she was healing quickly. That was a relief, for the most part. This is going to be very hard to survive, John stated.
If it bes necessary, please escape on your own, Aclysia stated.
The sound of a manughing maniacally echoed over to John and drowned out even the beginning of his retort. WHAT AN ASS, WRECKING MY SHOP! Marathyu screamed, throwing his giant hammer at the end at what John identified to be another mould. Afterwards he grabbed a chisel and a smaller hammer and created fine lines in perfectly measured gaps. He was forging whatever was inside by changing the shape of the mould around it, talking to himself, screaming andughing in the process. Such a genius, now I can renovate my house, yes, yes, GLORIOUS IS MY SWORD! Marathyu threw his hands in the air, throwing away the chisel and hammer in the process. He then looked around, as if he was confused where he was. What am I? a moment of rity seemed to reflect in his eyes, as if years of madness were suddenly snuffed out. Oh nooh no, what am I?! WHAT HAVE I DONE?! Then heughed out loud. I FORGOT THE LAST INGREDIENT FOR THIS SWORD!
John was preupied with trying to get Aclysia on her feet. It was an ultimately futile gesture, she would heal the same speed either way, but it made him feel less useless. Watch out! Aclysia cried when he was halfway through lifting her.
Marathyu charged at him with a spear that was really just a sharpened iron rod. The cksmiths Agility was abysmal, but he caught John by surprise and the Gamers mana was low enough that Mana Protection got prated with rtive ease. Hot pain seared through his body as his lower abdomen was prated. THE FINAL INGREDIEEEENT! the insane man screamed more, twisting and turning the weapon some more before retracting it without any announcement and running back to his anvil. The attack and pain ended as suddenly as it had begun.
A new wave of hateful anger hit Johns spirit as Aclysia waited for control of her legs to return so she could break the neck of the scar-covered madman. For the moment, she couldnt, and even if she could, John wanted to see what Marathyu was going to do with his blood.
ckened by sin, ckened by sin, from the master giving blood unwilling! the man chanted as he scraped Johns blood off the improvised weapon and into tiny hole in the mould. Oh, I can smell it, fire of destruction, prophecies of rodents, they pulsate in this blood! You have good blood, young man, very good blood, blessed by powerful, evil entities, yes, YES! A taint of corruption, Lorylims echo twice, chaos sings and screams and falls from the tower they ruined!
As he spoke he poured more and more liquids into the mould. Then a final drop of something John didnt know caused a chain reaction. A new cloud of steam announced the birth of a new sword.
John felt less and less of Aclysias weight on his shoulder as her regeneration restored her body, even if her HP was still two fifths down. She stood on her own by the time a scream echoed out of the clearing air. NO! the disbelieving voice was apanied by the stomping of naked feet on the wooden nks. John was reminded of an eerie drum he never truly heard. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! ITS WHITE, WHY IS IT NOT TAINTED BY SIN!
The air became clear and revealed Marathyu crying in happiness at the de he so loathed with his words. It had an enormous grip, more than enough space for four hands to hold it. The guard was paradoxically slimmer than the de itself, a knotted ck thing designed to hold in ce the enormous de attached to it. Knowing the madness of that cksmith, John doubted there were no secrets hidden in that design though.
Same held true for the de itself. John wanted to refuse calling it a sword. In shape and design, it reminded John more of a utility cutter, just scaled up to a massive size. From the keen edge to the dull backside, it must have been twenty centimetres wide and at least ten thick. To call it an absurdly sharp b of metal with a handle wouldnt have been inurate. Thin lines separated the mithril silver-white de into segments along the sides.
It must be destroyed, its too perfect, I dont want this, its bad, I dont want this! WHY IS IT NOT TAINTED?! Marathyu shouted out mming the de onto the anvil over and over again, despite his clear problems lifting it. The only thing that got dented in the process was the anvil.
Because, Aclysia stepped towards Marathyu and took the sword from him. For a moment he wrestled with her, then she shoved him back and he just cowered together on the floor, rocking back and forth. My John is wed, imperfect and maybe not the greatest person out there C but he wouldnt be my John if he were a sinner bad enough to stain this metal. She looked at the cksmith for a moment, then she raised the weapon to kill the man in revenge for earlier.
The weapon stayed raised for several moments. I want to see the forest again, there was so much wisdom in that forest, Marathyu whimpered, rocking back and forth. John and Aclysia both froze in surprise. Where did the crow go? Where did my tool go? The beautiful, beautiful de
That sounded strangely simr to the story John had told Aclysia on the cruise. Was it just a coincidence rambled on by an insane mind? Had John identally spoken a prophecy back then? Did he even have that kind of power? Either way, it made Aclysia lower her de and leave the cksmith alone with his continued madness. We better help Smlere and Sinflut, she told John.
You are right, John answered just in time for the former of those two to crash nearby.
Chapter 437 – Property Damage
Chapter 437 C Property Damage
John had no time to react to Smlere or even be worried. All he saw was a sh, a dark eye burning with the empty happiness of using powers as Sigmund saw fit. Then the sound of metal shing again. The scene that started this whole fight repeated at a different ce at a not so different time, but now Aclysia had a sword that could match his.
You feel much weaker than your first strike, she stated, standing her ground as the two giant des locked. However, it was clear that Sigmund still had the upper hand here. Not only was he slowly pushing back Aclysia, while wielding his de with just one hand, his de was steady while Aclysias new cleaver was quivering C a typical sign of someone holding something that was just too heavy for them.
Its because Erihana here can only increase my strength so often, Sigmund answered with his steady, passionate grin.
Sig, Sig, you are not supposed to just tell people I exist! green energy glowed from a pendant hidden in the neck piece of the ck armour. A very familiar green energy, apanied by a wave of chattering. The tell-tale signs of an air elemental. I mean, Sammy doesnt like it when you are that careless, we are supposed to keep secrets and stuff. I dont think telling your enemy everything about how you wear your elementals as equipment counts there! Like how Tem-Tem is your earth elemental armour, or B-L is your water shirt or how I am a ne or how your cape is a shadow elemental called Sting or...
A red ooze poured out between the cracks. It formed the upper half of a female body, without any exterior features aside from liquid hair and breasts but with a ck skeleton clearly visible on the inside. It looked like somebody had liquified an attractive woman and only left the bones. Wordlessly, that elemental grabbed Erihana and thus stopped her from spilling any more of the can of beans she had ess to.
Well, there go my secrets, Sigmund grinned, not that I like Sammys insistence. He jumped back as a half-molten rock was thrown his way. Erihana and B-L (a name John was 100% certain wasnt the real one) assumed their item forms again. It seems you still have some stuff in store?
Do I? John thought desperately: he was out of mana and his Combination had less than half their time remaining. As far as he was concerned, he was pretty much backed into a corner here. Meanwhile Sigmund had sustained some injuries, a scrape at the blind side of his face, probably some bruises under that armour, but nothing that could be called a danger. As the sound of tossing waters reached his ears, he realized what Sigmund meant.
Sinflut, while everyone was distracted, had slithered into the part of the barrier that copied the Hudson River. Now she was Unleashed and all of that water rose into a giant wave under her control. However, there was no way such arge amount of water would hit only what she wanted, it was like trying to kill a fly with a methrower.
Which is why John screamed at her. DONT! You will wreck everything here!
Oh, that was Sigmund again, who looked around, just realizing where he was, right, I should pay some respect to the old man. SAMMY!
Yes, Sig? Seminaris suddenly popped out of a portal andnded right where they were. A weary eye on the sky, always ready for Metra to catch up to her at any given second, she added, What do you want?
Can you get us somewhere else?
The only barrier in reach is to the north of us. I dont advise it; I cant pinpoint our exit point or the First of Patience started, but Sigmunds stare caused her to waver. As you wish, Sig. She whirled her staff above her head and suddenly all of them fell. John needed exactly one second to realize where they were, falling by a skyscraper that was overlooking arge dockyard.
This was Thornes headquarters and they were currently falling from over fifty metres high down the very top of that skyscraper. SINFLUT, NOW! John thought, as Sigmund and Aclysia engaged in a very one-sided mid-air sh. A mere momentter, water poured through the portal like through a drain.
John was immediately caught by the flow, as were Aclysia and Smlere. The volcano elemental was in pain during the process, but this carried their group away from Sigmund. The idea was to get them to the top of the headquarters while causing him to fall all the way to the ground, disoriented in the water.
If the fall wouldnt stop him (which John was sure it wouldnt), then John could at least go hide inside the skyscraper. There was absolutely no way to win this battle, this much he was convinced of. Better to hide and wait until Seminaris went away, as she was the one who kept him from leaving the barrier with her superior magic.
They hit the top of the building and had their momentum slowed by the wave carrying them petering over the roof. John was pretty sure that he was causing immense confusion and some water rted injuries in the streets below, but he had his own problems right now.
What are you trying to pull? Running away? Sigmunds voice echoed from above. All of them looked upwards to find him and Seminaris standing atop a giant ck stingray, flying through the air. The long tail of the beast whipped as the oddly shaped fins of that species pped. Not cool, John!
I just like to live, sorry, the Gamer shouted back, mind racing for what to do next. Smlere threw rocks at the flying enemy; in a slowly approaching circle, the stingray dodged them. I need some kind of distraction, he thought when he had made a desperate n. It was the only n he could think of.
Aclysia joined the range attacks by slicing the air with Eclys, Sinflut did the same. It had little effect, only causing the ceaseless approach of the shadowy ray to be slowed.
Then John got his distraction. Ast person dived out of the still open portal above and threw her halberd at the stingray from behind. Seminaris dodged the attack at thest moment. Stop attacking! Johnmanded everyone as Metra tore out of reality next to her weapon. If just one stray attack would connect with Seminaris, the First of Wrath would lose her massive Stat boosts, and John really couldnt use that right now as he was given the window he needed.
He ran for the edge of the roof and jumped over the railing. Sinflut and Smlere were right behind him, then it was all six of his elementals. Combination had finally met the end of its duration and now it was thirty minutes downtime. If it hadnt ran out right there, John would have asked them to separate anyway.
After all, who he needed right now were Sylph and Smander, aside from whom everyone went immaterial (or assumed their Item Form, in Undines case). The two flying elementals grabbed him and carried him towards the ground as quickly as they could. They were more falling in a controlled fashion than actually flying.
They sailed past the giant version of Thornes symbol, a wreath made from a thorny branch winding around a red cable, the instion stripped at the ends to show individual wires, and ovepping at the bottom. The moment they hit the pavement, John started running. A momentter, Aclysia appeared at his side, using up her teleport to get down from the skyscraper. So far, so well, now John just had to get to the docks.
You really ARE running! Sigmunds voice rang with disappointment as he suddenlynded behind them. Fine, a chase is a challenge all on its own!
Crap baskets! John thought, immediately reprimanding himself because Rave wouldugh at him if she caught him actually saying something out of that Dragonball Abridged series she kept showing him. They were watching that now that they had finished the whole original series. It was good, but that was really not the thing he should have been thinking about right now.
John turned a corner just in time for a massive gust of wind to cut through everything, air, the nearby buildings, the concrete floor, everything. Only Aclysia managed to block with her new sword but was still thrown back by the attack, crashing into a window. It had been another one of those empowered strikes, if John had the luxury of figuring out how that raid boss mechanic worked, he would have been a happy man. For the moment he could just assume that every next strike would have such a devastating effect.
Sigmund had his sight set on John. On the one hand, that was lucky for them. Because he could have easily finished up Aclysia now that she had no reinforcements in the shape ofbined elementals, on the other, John was massively fucked.
Running with whatever his legs gave him, which was quite good with Purgatorys buff maxed out and his shoes set to the wind enhancement, he weaved through the buildings. His lifeline was that fire and air attacks from his elementals, aimed only to harass, cut Sigmunds line of sight often enough that he sometimes lost John.
However, eventually John broke out of the buildings and into the open docks again. People had already scrambled away, hearing and seeing themotion and being wise enough to stay far away from that. In the first ce, this part of the barrier seemedrgely forsaken. Without a doubt that had to do with the massive, serpentine creature that was treating one of therge piers, usually reserved for freighters, as his personal home.
See there, see there! John, how nice of you to visit, Tilgun said as John quickly approached. See, I recently figured out that you would be my brother-inw should you seed in mating with my sister. I know, I know, a creature of my intellect should figure something out way sooner, but I have to say that my blood sugar was running quite low. My blood souls, actually... you seem you are in a real hurry.
Tilgun I John gasped for air, really strong person chasing me!
Is that so? the Maw of Souls asked as Sigmund came out of thebyrinth of buildings himself, with a giant shockwave that ripped apart thest few buildings and sent rubble flying everywhere. Tilgun caught a particrrge piece of concrete heading for his head but ignored the rest. John just got lucky enough that only small pebbles rained down on him. Mhm, I can see that.
Wow, there is a dragon here and Thorne didnt tell me about it? Sigmund asked, just walking at a normal speed now, sword resting on his shoulder. You going to help the poor guy out?
I dont exactly see why. My sister left him behind so he could be tested, so me intervening would go against her wishes, Tilgun stated and thus shattered the very base of Johns n. Also that I am a higher dragon, I demand the respect in that regard.
Are you now? I havent in one of your kind yet, Sigmund stated and raised his de to the sky. Let me show you all the respect I have! His closed eye suddenly opened, creating a wave of multi-coloured light.
Oh, goodie, yet more powers he has John caught himselfining about something that he really had no right toin about.
Elemental energies started to gather, caught in a insane vortex of colours. Earthy brown, whimsical green, fiery red, clear blue and deep purple C only the gold of a light elemental was missing. It was all heading for the raised hand and from there was absorbed by the sword. It was a ludicrous amount of power, elementals concentrated into a single space in desire to burst out. Sigmund opened his mouth to start to say something, start a chant perhaps, when something mmed into the ground right next to him for a change.
Sammy? he asked in a worried tone, the attack dissipating.
I am fine just forgot how great she is at brute-forcing her way through situations like that, Seminaris answered in obvious reference to the full te wearing Metra approaching from above.
How or why she was even attacking in such an obvious way, John had no idea about. The whole fight between the two portal users had gonepletely over his head. A quick look at Metra revealed that she was now out of mana though.
Which was why she was without recourse against the portal Seminaris now opened in her path, causing her to drop into the water next to the pier. I wanted to send her all the way out to the edge of the barrier she has given me more trouble than I thought, the First of Patience grumbled. Typical of that aggressive I shant curse when unnecessary.
Oh, Seminaris, how nice to see you, Tilgun seemed to immediately recognize the Metracana. If this was either because Seminaris had something closely resembling a previous appearance or because of her attitude, John didnt know. Recent times are just full of surprises.
You know him? Sigmund asked.
Yes, and I am not particrly fond of him; you can kill him if you want to, Seminaris dismissively stated.
How heartless, am I no-
Terrible mother chaos everyone fell silent at the wrathful chant. John recognized this, not by thenguage, Metra was speaking some ancientnguage (probably some old Semitic one, given her origin), but by the fact that he understood the words anyway, for they were not words but power given sound.
Can you not use that here?! Tilgun screamed out in panic, slithering away from Metra, standing on the water. She normally wasnt able to do that, so the spell must have already started to go into effect.
Fallen, broken, gone you are, but I still carry all your wrath,
Sig, we are going, now! Seminaris dered, sharing her terrorized expression with the higher dragon. It seems I have pushed Metra too far.
What? This looks like its about to be fun! the ck swordsman gripped his weapon tighter.
Trust me, you are not yet ready for that challenge! Seminaris told him. The look on her contractors face clearly showed his unwillingness to go. Sigmund, when was my council ever misced?
To your nature I deliver,
Fine, teleport us away Sigmund put his sword away, just as his stingray flew down to be his summoners cape again. By the time Seminaris erected her teleportation circle, the air had started to grow dark. The barrier began to crack all over, unable to contain what otherworldly power Metra was now exuding. A momentter, Seminaris and Sigmund were gone.
All of these sinners,
Metra didnt seem to notice, so John took it to his own to move. Even if his legs buckled right now, whatever had Tilgun and Seminaris this frightened was having an effect on John as well. Metra, they fled! Stop!
And Is that so? Metra stopped as she heard. Fucking typical, always running away that little bitch one of you will have to carry me. With that she, rather suddenly, lost her ability to stand on the water and plunged right in.
Not the way John had thought this fight would end, but it worked.
Chapter 438 – Explain this, Newman.
Chapter 438 C Exin this, Newman.
Scarlett: I am waiting.
John: YOU are waiting? How about you exin to me why you sent me somewhere where an absolute monster is hanging out?
Scarlett: Absolute monster? Wait, I am still checking the security footage
Scarlett: Ah, Sigmund was there. Wow, you have bad luck.
Scarlett: Still, I just got these windows cleaned yesterday!
John: Judging by that gigantic emblem you have on the front of your SKYSCRAPER, I think you can afford getting them cleaned again.
Scarlett: Sure, I can afford it, but I need to have security watch everything while it happens.
John: Why is that?
Scarlett: You think I am letting the poor scrub my stuff unsupervised? I had to warn three attempting robbers already. The warning being them getting their windows smashed in at three in the morning by some of my cronies.
John: Maybe you should just pay them more?
Scarlett: For WINDOW CLEANING? If it was easier to get my hands on those genius slimes the Dutch make, they would bepletely unemployed. As a matter of fact, they are slowly being reced.
John: And you wonder why they try to rob you when you rationalize their low-wage jobs away?
Scarlett: Are you defending robbers now?
John: No, I am telling you that they have reasons.
Scarlett: And I am telling you that those reasons are stupid. Stealing is wrong.
John: Dont you break peoples legs for crossing you?
Scarlett: No, I KILL people for crossing me, if they fuck me over hard enough, that is. Otherwise I will just ruin their life. Everything in measure.
John: So how are you in any position to make moral judgements?
Scarlett: Because, and listen to me closely here, they CROSSED me. I dont go around killing people for the fun of it and I dont steal because I am too much of a scatterbrain to learn a craft that actually pays. I am not a brute like Sigmund. Seriously, how do you not get this? What are you, amie?
John: Oh, I am getting it, I just like asking questions.
Scarlett: Really? Steelman my point then?
John: Which part of it?
Scarlett: Just a general summary.
John: If you do bad stuff, its out of reactionary necessity, because you cant let people who do you wrong go unpunished without looking weak. If they do it, its because they are wasting their life away without educating themselves in the search of better jobs and instead they are cleaning windows.
Scarlett: Precisely.
John: Thing is, somebody has to clean your windows.
John: So, the least you can do is treat them with respect and pay them enough that they dont feel like robbing you.
John: Unless you feel like paying for having a security guy watching them is cheaper than raising the cleaners wages by half of what that security guy makes per hour.
Scarlett: You raise a valid point. Let me check my Excel Sheet.
Scarlett: Running it through, no, I actuallye out with a loss. My security works cheap because I give them housing.
Scarlett: Better to take the risk of robbery.
John: Wow.
Scarlett: What? I told you I am not interested in dragging people out of poverty C especially not on the cost of my hard-earned money. Window cleaners exist like sand on a beach. Should be a side job at best.
Scarlett: Look at it this way: I will use the money I save here to open another store and give someone actual employment down the line.
John: Why are we in a debate about economics all of a sudden?
Scarlett: Because that is what gets me wet.
The line was deleted a secondter.
Scarlett: Pretend you didnt read that, realized how cringy that sounded.
John: And suddenly me dumping water on your home has a whole new meaning.
Scarlett: ?
John: Because you are thirsty as fuck.
Scarlett: Okay, that actually made me chuckle.
Scarlett: Tell you what, golden boy, you send me a nude of you (after shower and with an erect dick please, best with length and girth data as well) and I will raise those poor window cleaners sry this time around.
John: You want me to give you fap material so they get paid more? Also, you are going to use that data to create a dildo of the same size, arent you? I have a girl who did that already.
Scarlett: Everybody wins. They get overpaid, I get to look at something really sexy and you get to feel like a good person. Also, yes, dildo.
Scarlett: Although I doubt you really mind showing me your body.
John: What does a man got to do to get a nude from you?
Scarlett: In your case? Wait 30 minutes while I take a shower and check if mynding strip looks neat.
Scarlett: Most of them can go fuck themselves though. Really hard to meet my quality standards.
Scarlett: So how are we on the whole sending me a nude thing?
John: I will think about it when I get back home.
John: Speaking of which, my ride is here.
John: Maybe you will see meter.
John: Also, go get that shower.
John: I will need something to get an erection to, and it wouldnt feel like an honest boner if it werent from the receiver of the endpic. Will increase the likelihood of getting what you want immensely.
Scarlett: Awesome~ Will have it ready soon.
You know, its really hard to remember that she is basically the head of a Shadowrun mega-corporation when we are talking about nudes, John mentally told Aclysia as he put his phone away; he didnt want Tilgun to get the right idea. He would have spent the time chatting with his girlfriend or Lydia instead, but both of them were offline. As Scarlett had started writing him, he might as well answer.
The weaponized maid adjusted the unconsciousness body of Metra on her back. After interrupting her chant, she had fallen into a deep slumber and there were no signs she would wake up soon. She doesnt strike me as a bad person. The word I would use is direct.
I would say ruthless, but yes, I wouldnt call her evil either. She has a very self-centred moral code, but at least she has one. So far everything he had seen of Thorne indicated that Scarlett expanded peacefully where she could but mercilessly broke those who reigned through violence in the first ce. In other words, she saw it fit to beat people with their own weapons. Not entirely unjustified. Her goal to have ultimate surveince over the is worrying though. I dont want that amount of control centred around a single person.
Their drive back home finally came to a stop at the pier. The two people on top of the boat, being the daughters of Magoi, nervously eyed Tilgun as Aclysia and John got on board. Sorry for the hassle, John apologized. I would have just carried her to the teleporter but he gestured at theatose Metra in her fully armoured state. Getting her through the city without garnering Gaia-disliked attention would have been impossible, with the red glow between the gaps and whatnot.
Its fine, Stefanie ensured, waving her hand dismissively. We were about to go anyway. The little drive over here and back to the ind wont take much. With another worried nce at Tilgun, she lowered her voice to a whisper. But can we go now?
Ready when you are, he said, and thus they turned the ship around.
_____________________________________________________________________
They ced Metra in a bed on the ship. While nobody really believed that she needed thefort, it would have felt rude to just ce her on the floor or something. Still, Aclysia made a sour face; when asked why she answered that the many spikes of Metras exterior were ripping apart the linen. With no other choice (John tried kissing her awake, but that didnt work and felt creepy after the fact), they left her lying there.
A bitter John called together the first official meeting of the Collide council. It wasnt exactly a great gathering, it basically boiled down to John, Aclysia and Rave (who ensured him that Eliza was preupied), Magoi and his son andstly Johns smartphone lying on the table.
Still though, John felt like there was movement in what he was doing and that was a nice feeling. Scarlett, you there? he asked the smartphone.
Mostly, the voice of Scarlett reminded John a bit of Nathalia through those speakers. A certain degree of coarseness but swinging with a sense for business rather than sexy teasing, hunger and arrogance. Although, as earlier demonstrated, the Technomancer was perfectly capable of the sexy part (less of the teasing). The sound of water running in the background told John exactly where she currently was. In all seriousness, as fun as our talks have been, I spent enough time today with you, so cut straight to the chase.
Well, this is just a recalibration of the strategy I will employ given todays happenings, John told them and then broke down the happenings with Scarlett to Magoi and what happened with Sigmund to everyone.
Ya tell me there is someone even stronger than ya inside the city? Rave was quite baffled. Ya know the number of people who qualify for that is miniscule.
The sound of water running stopped for a moment, the cking sound of a bottle of shampoo being opened told everyone why. Magnus raised one of his thick eyebrows. You get used to it rather quickly, Magoi promised his son, the constant innuendos, the harem talk, this, that. Personally, I think the Gamer is an inappropriate title, maybe Harem King would be more fitting?
Thats a stupid title, Magnus reprimanded his father. Much less fitting, it doesnt describe his power set. Also, he said he doesnt want to be king.
Scarlett put the shower back on, leaving John with a half mast as he spent the time wondering how her lithe body lookedthered in soap, and talked. There are a few on the east coast that could justifiably be called stronger than John, although Sigmund is quickly climbing that list himself. To the best of my understanding, he has an innate ability that is simr to part of yours but magnified. To put it simple, he grows in power with every challenge he beats.
That was indeed simr to how Johns experience system worked, although he would still prefer the level system he had when given the choice. The way Siegmund looked, the challenges he had to face had been a journey of extreme danger. Then again, if it werent for Gamers Body, John would have suffered more than a few scars himself already. The more I think about it, the more its just the whole array I have besides the experience mechanic that is bullshit, he thought.
Anyway, that made Sigmund the third person that John knew that had something like that. Himself, who got varying amounts of progress towards the next level when he did things (mostly murdering things inside Instant Dungeons); Romulus, with his ability to rip the magical energy out of purely abyssal beings, and now Sigmund, who got a surge of power whenever he beat a challenge.
Sigmund seemed to have gotten the short-end of the stick in that trio, but he was still vastly stronger than John right now. Which was exactly why John wanted to adjust his strategy. I got a stern reminder that I am not strong enough to enforce what I want, he told everyone. So, my focus will now bepletely on levelling. Scarlett, I know you have some kind of n about how you want me to take over
Actually, Scarlett softly interrupted him, at best I would like you to grab your shit and bother some other city. I do have a n to make the best of the situation though.
Yes, that, I will trust you with this, do what you want.
He could hear her surprise in the silence. You are seriously just going to let me give you orders? Without asking questions or anything else?
Within reason, he told her. I think we hit it off quite well earlier, you were open with me and I am repaying you. You want your ns to remain shrouded for now C okay, I am in for the surprise.
Not to be rude, Magoi chimed back in, but she could have sent you into Sigmund fully expecting you to die.
If I wanted to murder his face, I would have hired Sigmund to actually do it, Scarlett said. In which case he would have spent less time ying with you and more time chopping you up.
I have to agree with her there, Magoi, John nodded, this didnt feel like an assassination attempt. Sigmund would have killed me more as an ident while throwing his weight around than as the actual goal in that fight, at least thats what it felt like. He saw, despite the raptor mask, that Magoi had further thought on the matter. Look, I dont trust Scarlettpletely either, but I think she and I have a good chemistry
I can agree to that, the speaker rung out.
and that she understands that one of these other monsters may be able to tten me C at least right now C but that I can destroy all of Thornes physical assets starting tomorrow if I find out she crossed me.
Which is a previously discussed fact, Scarlett agreed again.
So, I will trust her that her n will lead both of us somewhere where we want to be. Unless you have a strong case against this. John left that possibility open to Magoi. If there was a w in his argumentation here, he certainly wanted to hear it.
I cant say I think leaving someone you met earlier today in charge of your operations is wise, Magoi finally stated. But I understand it correctly that you are not cing her in charge of any of our resources but simplypel us to take her rmendations on what to do in the grand scheme of the taking-over of this city, right?
You can put it like that, yes, John affirmed.
Then, on the basis that I can easily opt-out if I dont like what she is making me do and that she holds no actual power over us, I agree, Magoi finally said. Anything else that you want to go over?
Just that I have priority list, rather than a time-table this time around I never stick to my time tables John mumbled thatst part to himself, still not having his billion dors but being knee-deep in the city affairs already. Number 1, get the money I want. 2, get the experience I want. 3, I want the rest in my guild to also be stronger. 4, make sure everyone we are officially protecting remains protected. 5, expand knowledge about Collide through all of New York. Thats the important goals for the direct future.
Can I get some more experience potions, then? a nk voice suddenly asked. Everyone in the room jumped as they noticed Nia, who was sitting, legs pulled up to her chest, in a swivel chair and slowly turning around. The turning came from no apparent source. Copernicus was on the inexplicably rotating chair with her. When that had happened, John had no idea, but the suncat was sitting on the nks head. On top of the caty Stirwin. However that golden pile of hair and elemental beasts had been created was another mystery he couldnt quite solve. The whole situation was rather weird.
Nia, where were you? John asked. I havent seen you in almost two days.
Orcas, Nia just said as if that answered everything, raising both of her hands to pat the two creatures sitting on her head. For all that was important, that did answer everything, because this conversation would only lead to more disbelieving headshakes.
Anyway, that would be that, John turned back to the council. Magnus, I want to start training tomorrow, so can we meet tomorrow in front of the I.D. Gate? Around eight?
Certainly, the mans answer sounded militarily. If not Scarlett, John had a feeling Lydia would like at least this guy in his new ensemble. We could start right now, if you so desire, John Newman! It is still early in the afternoon.
Yeah, no, I have one, he looked at Rave, two, he looked at Nia, three, he looked at Aclysia, a whole bunch of things to do, he looked inside himself. Also, I want to upgrade the Guild Hall.
I told you, Magnus, Magoi ended the council, innuendos, innuendos everywhere.
Chapter 439 – “Thank god we are still alive-sex” – Part 1 [Erotic Content]
Chapter 439 C Thank god we are still alive-sex C Part 1 [Erotic Content]
Immediately after that gathering, Rave told John to follow her. To which he responded he wanted to take a shower. Look, I said I am going to send Scarlett a nude if she sends me one and in return she will pay her window cleaners properly.
That is an odd end to that chain, Rave pointed out, but there is a shower where Eliza is, so we can go there anyway. Does Scarly want a dick-pic or a full-on nude?
Nude, with erection, glistening from a fresh shower, John exined. Also, thats the nickname she gets?
She is asking my boyfriend for nudes, I give her a silly name, I say we are even, his girlfriend dered. At least for the moment.
They went to the main deck and John had figured out where they were heading by then. John had gotten some more advanced sex toys since his life had gotten out of other peoples houses and hotel rooms, and due to the rather spacious nature of some of them, they had needed to get an extra room for them.
Putting them in his bedroom felt wrong, thats where he slept and had Vani sex. The living room was a room to chill-out and for quickies. For the true kinky stuff, they needed an extra room, so they had transformed one of the manyrger bedrooms (which were more like apartments without a kitchen, really) on the main deck with that purpose in mind. It was bad cement, needing to take a trip downstairs to get freaky was annoying and it was right next to the other guest rooms. If they ever had other guests, that would raise the question why they were going in there anding out all ravaged all the time. At least it was soundproof though.
I am telling you though, I am going to fuck the hell out of all of you tonight, John dered as they reached the door. Few things make me more wanting to fuck and exchange loving words than almost dying. Makes me confirm that this life isnt done with me yet and that its still great.
Well, ya will like this sight then, Rave said and the door slid open.
The room was dimly lit by magical, cold candles that glowed with a soft golden light. Diffused sticks throughout the room created a heavy aroma of sandalwood, vani and cinnamon, an erotic mix that immediately reminded John of good times.
Throughout the originally boring bedroom stood earlier mentioned equipment. A love swing, a shelf stacked with different bindings, chains and metal bars, a collection of vibrators, an assortment of ball gags inside a tall showcase right next to several blindfolds and muffs over mannequin heads, that was the basic disy that greeted him. Hooks had been ced on several points of the ceiling and walls to allow for bondage to happen wherever was pleasing right now. For further improvisation, there were bars with suction cups one could use to force someone against a wall.
Putting it easily, this room had pretty much everything a pervert of Johns level could want. Including, at the middle of it all, a masochist dangling from the ceiling. Eliza hung in the air, dripping on the basic white floor (they had ripped out the carpet for obvious reasons) out of her lower and proper mouth, being unable to close thetter due to a ring of metal keeping it ready for a face fucking.
The chains that held her up connected at her upper back and to the heavy metal bar between her legs, spreading them wide. Her feet were raised, her wrists bound to her ankles, forcing her back into a heavy backwards bent, on the very edge of what a spine should go through. Most of her body was hidden underneath a French maid outfit, the one they had originally bought to punish Siena.
While theck of visible skin was a shame, the cosy was miraculously erotic. It helped that the buttons around her bosom were stretched quite heavily from the position Eliza was in. John marvelled at the high-stockings, the way they squished into her thighs at the edge, and the white panties that peeked out between Elizas legs. They had turned see-through along her pussy some time ago; their real purpose was to hold the little egg-shaped vibrator in ce as it rubbed against Elizas pussy. The skirt,rgely resting on her back due to the curve of her body or just hanging downwards, did basically nothing to hide it.
Does she know we are here? John asked, Eliza moaning asionally out of the gag in her mouth, tongue tasting the air and saliva dripping down her chin. The reason he asked were the blindfold and muffler on her, thetter of which was quiterge.
With her senses? Who knows, Rave answered. We made sure to test it before I was gone, so she shouldnt be able to hear or see us. She can probably smell us though. A particrly intense groan, unconnected to an orgasm, seemed to be Eliza indeed noticing that they had entered. If she could smell them despite the scentyered air, that was just another disy of how stupendously good her senses were.
If she only knows that we are here but not what we are doing or talking about, then that only makes it better, John stated. Personally, he was convinced that it was more torturous for Eliza to know something could happen any second now than just waiting without any information.
Eh, I would have liked to surprise her, Rave didnt seem to share that. Anyway, you said you wanted to take a shower?
Yeah, she can hang in there for a couple more minutes, John didnt realize the pun until he was already in the bathroom. He disrobed in a matter of seconds and hopped in.
Room for one more? his girlfriend asked in a most seductive tone, already standing in the shower door naked. John would never get tired of her surprising him with her nude form. Sure, her tits were not particrly big, but the swing of her hip was worthy of awards and that sexy smile on her pink, glossy lips made him want to taste her like bubble-gum.
However, they had been together for over half a year at that point, so John was no longer the kind of virgin that could get surprised by this, instead he did what every good boyfriend would do, grabbing the showerhead and aiming the running water at her. BEGONE, TEMPTRESS!
Rave squealed Ya jerk! andughed before jumping in and forcing him against the wall by pressing all of herself against him. She got on her toes to kiss him morefortably and he wrapped an arm around her to keep her secure in the position. My jerk, she mumbled under her breath between two kisses.
As he hooked the showerhead back into its normal position, causing the hot water to run over them at a temperature Rave loved, steam began to gently fill the automatically closing milky ss cell of the shower. She grabbed his dick just as he gently pped her ass. Afterwards, his hand continued on to her back entrance. You say youre a fellow sadist, but a nice p on the ass still gets you wet, he whispered in a deep voice.
Rave shivered in his arms and it sure as hell wasnt from any cold. Holy moly, speak more like that and I might just be a sub for ya, she stated, smiling up at him, the pink light in her eyes dancing jokingly. Her long pink hair clung to her neck and shoulders. Up and down her hand wandered over his shaft. Just kidding, I like what I like, ya are a dom and still go crazy on eating us out, so who are ya to judge, huh?
You say that like its a bad thing.
You said that like spanking is a bad thing.
Touch, John admitted as Rave continued masturbating him as he yed around with her asshole from behind. The moment he had answered, she stopped. She groaned when he pressed his middle finger past her sphincter. What is it? John was confused.
A: I find it super weird that I actually feel good about butt stuff, I was never into even the thought before ya came along, Rave told him, and two, the actual point, wrong voice, tiger.
Toucheee, John repeated in his deeper voice but in an exaggerated tone. That gained him a burstingughter.
Whatwasdat?! she slurred and kissed him again. Anyway, ya try to keep using that voice alright? Its super sexy.
Wont overdoing it just lessen the impact? John wanted to know.
Yeah, just like that amazing smelling body oil we all stoppedplimenting after three days, Rave sarcastically pointed out and booped him on the nose.
Touch once more, John answered, keeping his voice at those deep levels. You know whats best for me. Right after he said that he groaned, he was pretty close to orgasm. The first time in the day was always a quick shot.
That I do, she agreed and stopped jerking him off, winking at him to signal she perfectly knew how close he was. To give ya a reward she backed off as much as the shower allowed her and turned around, leaning against the wall left of him. She pushed her ass out and pulled aside one of the firm cheeks with a hand, the other lying t against the white tiled wall. go get me, tiger.
Mhm, I can hardly refuse such a nice offer, John said, the seductive words still echoing in his ears as he grabbed his dick. Now, lets see if I can guess correctly you want me in this hole! He pushed into her asshole.
Fuck yeeessss, Rave wiggled her butt as John pushed deeper. Gaia have mercy, do I ever stop to tell you C mhaaah, he had pushed the widest part of his shaft past her sphincter, making further moves much easier, how huge your cock is?
And still, no matter how often I fuck you, you are still gripping tight, John groaned, the pressure on his dick was heavenly, but, with all the forey he had gotten already, he was way too close. Making you cum before I do will be a challenge, he admitted.
Rave turned her back as far as her nimble body allowed her to and coerced him even closer with a wave of her finger. Obliging, he came ever closer until he pressed her whole body against the wall with his own. Its really nice to feel your muscles against me like this, she purred as she grabbed one of his hands and guided it to her pussy. Two fingers while ya fuck me and ya will have no problems, she promised him.
With arge smirk on his face and hot water running over his back, he curved middle and ring finger into her. Her wet groove gripped onto them and immediately she sighed lustfully. Buried in her ass as he still was, this was the maximum amount of time he could wait before his hips just moved on their own.
Hard thrusts sent Raves entire body grinding against the water-slick tiles. Johns fingers were moving in quick and shorts bursts, as close to a vibrator as his human physique allowed him, the ball of his thumb stimting her clit while he dug into her. His steel rod of a cock travelled in and out of Rave, pulling halfway back before thrusting forwards again. A satisfying blend of the wet ps from their hips meeting and their intertwining groans filled the steamy cabin with the sounds of lovemaking.
John wasnt able to hold out more than thirty more seconds in that environment. The air was too hot, his girlfriend''s athletic body pressed against him too erotic, her voice too sweet. The profile of her turned face between now both of her hands on the wall rose and fell a tiny margin every time the impact of his thrusts hit her bottom. Mouth wide agape, tongue slightly pushing past her lips, her moans turned into heated panting, higher and higher in pitch, the lids of her closed eyes switched rapidly between tense and absolute rxation, and her face reflected that same change.
I''m cumming! John screamed, his fingers speeding up in a desperatest spurt, his hips thrusting three more times, each one producing a louder p than thest one, before his balls tightened and Raves lower back curved away from his just as she screamed those very same words.
In orgasmic instinct, he ced his lips on her neck as she howled at the ceiling, marking her with a nice hickey as they both came. Thick seed pumping into her ass, causing nothing but pleasure as John felt her pussy violently contract around his fingers. Their legs were shaking, John had to rely heavily on her to stand upright, while she had to in-turn keep desperate grasp on the wall. It was doomed to fail and so they slowly slid downwards until they fell thest bit. Rave was now on top of him, directly under the running water with John still inside her.
We need she gasped.
to install handles here, John finished in the same exhausted tone, taking a deep breath. Phew, that was forey.
Shit, one of Raves rare curses, I totally forgot we still need to dominate Eliza during that orgasm. I am really looking forward to that. Can you believe what a horny gal ya made me?
Hey, you seduced virgin young me! Johnined. Gave me a blowjob in the woods, forced me to watch porno with you C with you sitting naked next to me!
I had a towel, she joked and turned to kiss him. Just a short one, to peter out the post-orgasmic bliss. Anyway, is there a reason you blow such giant loads? that question came after she got off him and started cleaning herself up. Her back entrance was gaping.
Seems to scale with something, Gaia hasnt told me yet though John said.
Nevermind, it scales with Endurance and Libido, way more with Libido, John answered as Rave put out the shower for a moment to soap up. His dick had barely gotten a little bitid and the sight of her bubble-covered, lustre body put that right back to full force. Fighting his way back to his feet, he wanted to ask if she would do him the favour of handing him the soap. Instead, she used her soapy hands on him, especially his dick.
Maybe ya should increase Libido in the future, his girlfriend suggested in a tone that was more like a guideline, while she was cleaning up his dick. Seeing ya shoot giant loads is fun, plus they taste amazing.
Thats just a bit of a waste of points, John told her.
Ya think having more fun with me and our girls is a waste of points? Rave raised a valid question. Who are ya and what did ya do to my boyfriend?
Touch, John stated once again; he was quickly bing used to the deep voice. I guess I can spare 25 points after I raised Agility. Who knows, maybe the perk will be great?
Shortly thereafter, John got out of the shower and pulled his phone out.
It was time to shoot a nude and then fuck a very bad girl.
Chapter 440 – “Thank god we are still alive-sex”– Part 2 [Erotic Content]
Chapter 440 C Thank god we are still alive-sexC Part 2 [Erotic Content]
John looked at the image he received. For some reason, Scarlett had seen it fit to put on both her round sunsses and hat. The sses sat deep enough on her nose that her red eyes were peeking over the rim as she looked up into the phone she had taken the nude with.
Her body was as weirdly attractive as the rest of her. Some moisture kept clinging to her petite breasts and gave them a nice, fresh look. The pink nipples he had seen earlier were as erect as they had been back then, on her lips was a wide smile, teasingly biting the tip of her index finger. He concentrated on the parts he hadnt seen before.
As her figure had already given away, she was quitenky. No muscles of the slightest athletic variety were visible under her skin. Her body was just healthy looking, like someone who ate enough and the right things and went to the gym maybe once a week. The fire red bush between her legs was trimmed to leave the sides of her pussy lips bare, but she seemed to take some pride in the colour and let it grow (in a controlled way) where it didnt get in the way of oral business.
Johns cock pulsated with the need of exploring very deeply what was between those legs, but that was something that had to wait for much, muchter, it seemed. He also really wanted to see what kind of ass she was hiding. Her hips had the shape that he, as a connoisseur of only the finest booty, could deduce had to be quite nice and tight, but he needed visual confirmation. A transparent ck bar held a line of text in typical SnapChat style. Your turn~
Smah-oking, Ravemented from the side-lines, yfully grabbing Johns dick. I know I find her hotter than ya, because she looks like a bit of a guy, but ya still have a very confirming erection.
She still looks like a hot chick... John tried to argue. But yes, my boner is honest but my mind is mildly confused. I try not to think too hard about it; fact is Id do her. Anyway, photo time, he switched to camera mode and wondered how best to do this. Might as well give her a lot to look at, he reasoned and put his arm around Rave. She masturbated him for a bit, making a drop of precum run down his shaft for extra effect while he made sure that Eliza was visible in the background.
He shot the photo and attached the info about his dick measurements. A momentter he got a message.
Scarlett: 3D printer on the go!
Scarlett: Also fucking hell you have a giant cock.
Scarlett: Also: Hamena, hamena, hamena one day soon, you will tap me.
John: Yeah, until then, I have to tap a very bad girl.
Scarlett: Dont let me stop you.
He threw his phone into his inventory and was thus done with the distractions. He had just cum inside Rave, but now he felt like he needed to get another load out ASAP. I am going to warm up now, he said to Rave and then turned to Aclysia. The weaponized maid had been working diligently the whole time, using the time her master had been in the shower to make sure everything was dust free and the sources of the scents were full. You do the same, I am going to cum A LOT today. You girls should alsoe out, he told his elementals while walking his way over to the bound masochist.
As suggested, all five of his female elementals materialized. Mhm, Siena hummed as John took position behind the maid-uniform-wearing Eliza. This is something I like to see, she smirked at John. You say you do want this to be an orgy for the ages, yes?
Yes, why? John raised an eyebrow questioningly, pumping his cock to spread some precum over it. Source of Satisfaction made it feel like he was rubbing a piece of wood rather than his own dick. Masturbation was forever denied to him, but there was a selection of holes hanging like drying pork from the ceiling right now.
I do have a suggestionter, Siena teased and then was gone to tentacle fuck someone - probably Gnome.
John let the girls have fun and slid aside Elizas panties in a quick movement, careful to keep the vibrator in ce. What limited amount she could move in her tight bindings, she used to writhe as that little contact to the air already provided an ungodly change to the torturous stimulus she had been receiving for the past hours.
With a swift move of his hips, he pushed right into her and was greeted with an explosion of liquid. The insertion alone made Eliza cum so hard it sounded like someone was aiming a watering hose at the floor.
John groaned in deep pleasure as the folds pulsated perfectly around his prick. Folds that werent just a run-of-the-mill pussy (not that there was anything wrong with those, as Rave demonstrated on the daily) but one that actively evolved with his cock in mind. To quote the currently muffled woman attached to that pussy: I want you fucker to breed me like a sex ve and I want only you shithead to do it, so I will just mutate my freaky vagina to fit your cock perfectly.
Was the result much better than it was before? Yes, but she was just biologically doing what Aclysia had been doing before. It was more the fact that she was submissive down to the genome that got John going. There was no going deeper, exactly like his cock couldnt prate her any further without pushing against her womb.
His enjoyment of the whole ordeal was somewhat dampened by the worrying way the metal stick between her legs quivered. The fact that she was bound there was, after all, just an illusion; with her stupid strength she could have ripped those chains apart at any given moment. That would only became a problem if she lost control during the massive orgasm she was having right now.
She was still squirting; primal groans left her wide-open mouth through the ring gag. It didnt look like her orgasm would be subsiding anytime soon, so John did the only decent thing and started thrusting into the masochists supremely sensitive snatch. With every push into her tight folds, he also felt the nearby vibrator tickle alongside the underside of his shaft. It was odd, but in a nice way, a new hint of vour that he appreciated for the novelty of it.
While her orgasm finally ebbed away, never vanishing but at least stopping her from soiling the floor and the outfit even further with her perverse juices, John grabbed Eliza by the hips. The wonderful advantage of her just hanging there was that he could freely swing her over his cock like a living fleshlight. His movements were in perfect harmony, hips and arms finding a rhythm that saw him smack into Eliza with all his body strength over and over again.
John stopped for a moment to tear off the skirt of her maid outfit. It was just swaying and in the way of looking at her ass. The ruptured piece of cloth sailed to the floor, soon starting to soak up all kinds of fluids. With the backwards raised position her legs were in, her butt was extremely tensed up, so very little in the way of jiggling was happening, but that didnt dissuade the Gamer from ying one of his favourite games: how long can the imprintst.
The rules of this activity were: he pped her ass and then he looked how long the imprint of his hand stayed. The deciding factors were the strength of his p and how much concentration Eliza had left to suppress her natural healing factor. The answer to both was: little.
His handnded on her behind with a nice smack, but the imprint was already gone by the time he raised his hand. I really need to raise Strength, John thought to himself as he didnt dream of lowering the amount of bliss clogging up Elizas decision making right now.
Pretty quickly into that game, he felt his balls boiling with the need to release the first load of the second round, and he dly gave in without putting up a struggle of willpower. Eliza had already cum in spades and was there to give him some quick relief. So, he just let out a long, rxed sigh as he felt tension leaving his body and filling her pussy in the form of his seed.
Now John didnt know if this was a feature or a bug of Elizas dered goal of adjusting her pussy, but it was like the thing was suddenly sucking him off in response to the first spurt of semen. It tightened down and pulsated in a way that was wringing and milking every drop of semen he could shoot in one go. It wasnt on Sienas (or sometimes Smanders) level, but holy hell, did it feel good. This girl really wanted to be pregnant with his kid.
While that was, for some reason, incredibly hot and put Johns sensations into a height where he actually moaned out Eliza! while his balls tightened again with newfound vigour, it didnt mean anything. Thanks to Abyssal medical magic of the 19th century, Eliza was currently a barren field. Didnt stop their orgasms from being amazing though.
You came pretty hard there, did your mistress tease you that badly? John wanted to know between gathering breaths, not expecting an answer due to the obvious hindrance. When he pulled out, only one drop fell to the floor; the entire rest of his load had gone inside her and a moderate amount was soon oozing out her pussy.
There was something very satisfying about seeing her dribble with his cum. Not quite as satisfying as her continued aftershock induced spasming in the binding and the sound of rattling chains that came along with it, but satisfying nheless.
Oh, I teased her gooooood, Rave purred from the background, currently riding Aclysias cock. The orgy had gone into full swing in the background. Siena and Undine were busy tentacle fucking thepetition with Rave and Aclysia isting themselves, as the techno lover was only waiting for an opportunity to get back into the action.
John circled around Eliza and pushed his cock through the ring into her mouth. A normal blowjob was more pleasurable, in his humble opinion, as the sucking lips made a whole lot of a difference, but just facefucking the naughty masochist had value on its own. The blood mage was inclined to agree, going by the fact that even this act made her basically scream on his cock; moans just didnt do it justice anymore.
Ripping the blindfold from her eyes, John was met with an expected but also slightly unusual sight. Her eyes had travelled up her head,pleting her fucked silly look, which only got reinforced as a mixture of precum and saliva sttered on the area surrounding her lips and turned them into a glistening mess. Sweat had turned her hair slightly sticky, something that John didnt mind at all when he roughly grabbed it to make his work that much easier.
The unusual part came in when she blinked in response to the sudden light. For a moment her eyes rolled around. The golden dots were moving, unsurprisingly with how agitated she must have been at that moment, but instead of a circle they formed something resembling a heart. She was looking at John with literal love in her eyes for a moment before another thrust of his enormous cock deep into her throat sent them straight back up.
You are he groaned, then he remembered she couldnt hear him. He took the mufflers off her ears; dirty talk was just not the same with them on and there was no surprise approach anymore. You are such a whore for my cock, arent you? There was something like an attempted nod. Good girl, knowing your ce, keep your throat rxed and maybe I will let you breathe.
To the left of him, Rave doubled her tempo. Her athletic body leaned back, midriff stretched, and she was overall positioned in a reverse cowgirl to allow John to see everything. Despite the fact that it was Aclysia fucking her, John felt a bit of an annoyance at the fact that it wasnt his dick inside his girlfriend right now. Although technically the weaponized maid was an extension of himself still, that was the logic by which he allowed it in the first ce.
You are wee to take the wheel, Master, Aclysia mentally informed him, opening her spirit wide to his influence, like John had done for Momo months ago. For a moment, John hesitated. Taking control there wouldnt just mean guiding her movements, it also meant to share in all of her pleasure.
Fuck it, I said this was going to be one for the ages, he thought and went to dominate Aclysias spirit. There were several things that were weird, such as the second hand experience of having tits and a vagina. Not entirely unpleasant but nothing that John was too keen on. Simultaneously fucking Elizas face and his girlfriends pussy while seeing thetters ass, face and tits at the same time though? That was glorious.
He felt Aclysias life beat within himself. Not only the pulsation of mana that reced her heart but also the new attribute she had gotten. Lifepulse, it had reced Inner Fire, for two reasons. One was that thetter had the distinct disadvantage that Aclysia got progressively colder the further away from her core it was and the second was that the former actually had a 10% Max HP bonus attached to it. With Lifepulse, she was indistinguishable from a human in terms of a heat map.
Ya cheeky tiger, Raveughed as she, somehow, realized what was happening. It couldnt have been because it suddenly felt better; as much as John wished to, all of his Pleasure Output bonuses did not apply to his creations or summons. Ya having fun staring at my ass?
I am hav- he actually stuttered from the pleasure, that didnt happen to him that often. H-ah-aving much more than fun I am I am cumming! He simultaneously mmed into the mouth and the cunt and sted two orgasms into the quivering holes. In her orgasmic state, Aclysia identally took over again, but their minds remained intertwined. Another incredible onught of sensations, white light dancing in his periphery.
John wondered if he could keep up experiencing orgasm after orgasm, each more powerful than thest one. When would that meet the realism ceiling? Did it even matter? In the moment, each orgasm he had with his girls was the best orgasm of his life.
Slowly pulling out of her throat, John let thest few spurts of his orgasm gather in Elizas mouth. When his cock was past the metal ring, the masochist did as well-trained sex servant should and used her tongue to keep all the semen from leaking out. Such a good slut, heplimented her and took out the ring as well, freeing her face from thest of the equipment applied to it.
Immediately, she greedily gulped down his fresh seed like a thirsty woman in the desert. Thank you, thank you, thank you, she repeated like a broken record, her voice coarse and wanting. Her eyes slowly went back into focus, but the vibrator on her pussy made it impossible to calm downpletely, that and how much she enjoyed being in this helpless position.
Sorta helpless, John thought as he inspected the iron ring and saw the clear teeth marks on it. Hey Eliza, care to remind me again what the purpose of your mouth is?
To fucking talk? she suggested, breaking character for a moment, and John pped her heavily for that bit of sass. Something that only got a deep moan from her as the red outline of his hand red up and disappeared again. I am sorry she began, body shivering in gratification. Every now and again, she annoyed John. Not because she particrly enjoyed breaking out of her subby shell but because she knew that an annoyed Gamer was prone to overreactions, such as pping her as hard as he could.
John,pletely aware that she was ying this game to be degraded even further, cupped her cheeks between his hands, about to correct her when a loud crack caused him to look up. Rave raised her crop wielding hand and brought it down again. Having recovered from her orgasm, she must have decided to get in on the fun. Aclysia stood next to her. I am sorry what? she challenged the bundled up Eliza to correct herself, underlining it with a second whip of the crop.
I am sorry, Master! Eliza panted. I dont know I dont know, I am sorry, tell me what my mouth is for!
Your mouth exists first to be used as a sleeve for my cock, Eliza, you dumb piece of worthless meat, John told her; the abusive words made her shiver in delight. Second to tell me that you understand my orders and only third to talk and curse. You understand?
I understand, Master, and you arepletely right, she panted quite heavily.
Then exin to me why your mouth is destroying my property, he growled and showed her the bite marks.
I cant tell you, fuck, I am sorry, Master, she apologized and was once again pped heavily. Harder, dad- she stopped herself by biting her tongue. That took the wind out of Johns sails a bit and Eliza noticed. Urgh, fuck, sorry, but can you please fuck me again, and she yelped as Rave whipped her ass again. Fuck, yes, more, please, use me!
Okay, just one minor thing, John said.
More of that deep voice, fuck yesssss, Eliza growled primaly.
Yeah, I think we need a safe word at this point, having temporarily ess to reason, even though his erection wanted otherwise, John sidetracked. Specifically you and me, Eliza, or there is no telling what I will do to that immortal body of yours.
How about I hate you? she suggested mockingly.
You would never earnestly say that, he drily pointed out.
Thats the fucking point, now punish this worthless piece of slut meat for almost killing your erection!
Okay, fine, John cleared his throat and got back into character. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do, Eliza?! he asked, walking away from her face and moving behind her again. One more fuck and then you will be left hanging there while I ravage every other pussy in this room!
Whatever you want, Master! Eliza agreed, her pussy still dripping like there was no tomorrow, with the vibrator still in ce. If its for you, I will never sleep with anyone ever again, all my pleasurees from what you tell me I can do!
What a dedicated maid I have right here, shame you are only the second best I have, John mocked, simultaneously pleasing Aclysia and Eliza with thatment. He was quite good at harem management, it was also easy in this case.
About my earlier idea, Siena suddenly reached out to him, how about you had two cocks to punish her with?
That was a weird question and John immediately figured out what she was getting at. The implications were immense. So thats what that thing on the cruise was about, he thought back to the ruined encounter. Before he could give her a clear answer though, he had to get consent from everybody. This was about to get freaky. You all fine with having to deal with 15 minutes of me behaving more like a beast than a person?
That sounds hot, Ravemented.
Thats FUCKING hot, Eliza added.
The elementals sent their approval of the idea as well, even Gnome, who was horny enough to go along with everything at that point.
Undine and Siena disappeared into one person and Cumslut, knowing of the idea and wanting to lose no time, attached herself in item form to John. For a moment he felt rather silly, being a man wearing a strap-on above his fully functioning dick. Then it changed into a carbon-copy of said dick and his perception of the world changedpletely.
Who had time to read that? The world around him was made for one thing and one thing only: finding holes to fuck. There was an ample amount around him. Even better, there were two conveniently ced in front of his dicks right now. Grunting he grabbed Elizas hips and pushed into her asshole and pussy at once.
OH FUCK! she suddenly eximed, having no idea what was happening. Neither did John really know, hismon sense was buried under this ludicrous amount of Libido he had just acquired. His balls felt heavy. He wanted to cum. He needed to cum. OH FUCK! Eliza repeated as she felt both of her holes getting sted with two enormous loads of unholy size. Together they made up a tenth of a litre, and it wasnt like John was done pumping her full of milk yet.
No, instead of stopping he just kept on. A primal intellect, a wonderful perversion of his high Mental Stats, worked in the background, telling John exactly how often he could cum per minute without his balls running dry. After all, having to stop was not an option. It just wasnt. Stopping meant not feeling the wet folds or tight cavity of her holes wrapped around his duo cocks. Meant he couldnt hear her scream.
FUCK! FUUUUUCK! Eliza had no more witty dialogue. It just felt too good for her. Her beloved John, the man who had saved her and was abusing her in just the right ways when she asked for it, had gripped her by the hips and his cocks were prating both of her holes. She was extremely confused, one moment he asked about her consent about behaving like a beast, the next she had two cocks inside her and BOTH were Johns.
Not enough of that, he was better than ever. No, that wasnt quite right, he was more eager to fuck than ever. His thrusts were based on the pure primal instinct humanity had used to breed and breed on. Thebined knowledge of his sessful genepool and none of his own techniques were inside those thrusts.
Speaking of his genepool, a second wave of cum filled her up and it felt just too good. Johns seed was rich in mana, those with the right sensitivity for that sort of thing got a massive kick out of feeling that tingle inside them. Such a being was Eliza and that worked in tandem with her immense wish of getting finally pregnant with Johns kid. That wasnt happening right there, but nobody could exin that to her needy womb as it filled her whole body with euphoria.
Too much euphoria. Elizas eyes werent just rolled up in her skull, they were practically stuck there forever. Her mouth wide open in permanent, almost traumatic bliss, she managed to croak out three words she really didnt want to say but she felt like her mind would break if she didnt. I hate you.
That reached Johns ears, if only for a second. A second long enough for his awake mind to overpower the sensations. Girls, get ready! Rave warned everyone. She knew that, if Eliza couldnt take it for more than 2 minutes, this would be a hard ride. However, in typical fashion for his girlfriend, she smirked at the challenge.
John pulled out, then he saw only fuckable holes again. Right here! his attention was caught by a chattering mouth. Here we are, fuck us, fuck us, I wanna try that! Sylphs small body wasying on top of Smander, both of them attractively hovering. Their enormous height difference meant that they werent chest to chest but that Sylph was actually on the perfect height to suck on her fiery contractual sisters nipples.
You airhead, what are ying with my tits fooooo-aaaaah! Smanders question was interrupted rather immediately when she and Sylph each took in one of their summoners iron hard dicks. The different elemental properties of their pussies surrounded him. Oh my hells! the endme elemental groaned out loud, she waspletely overwhelmed.
Smander with her pussy that was like it was continuously adding oil to a fire with each thrust. Sylphs with her storming snatch that changed in its feeling depending on how she was fucked. When handled with subtlety, thetter was a lot different while the former had much greater heights in the long run.
There was no long run here. Johns hips were basically a blur and both of the spirits, perverted by nature of being one with John, threw their heads upwards as this was far beyond what they were used to. They were already primed for a fucking from all the tentacle forey they had been enduring, but this was too intense.
Oh, darn, dangit, fuck, ups, I dont, intercourse, meant to curse, but, aaaah, mother wind, mother wind, this too good, thank you for making me so that John could, fuck, fuck, sex, yes, yes, yes, seeeex is great! Thank you, my life is this feeling right now! I am sooo exciteeeed, I just came all over iiiit! Sylph pvered as she came and came on top of Johns dick. If she had the ability to, she would have been squirting, instead electricity radiated from her, only a soft voltage that made Johns skin tingle and him feel even more awake.
Sh----sssssshit Smander wanted to tell the airhead to shut her trap but was busy actually squirting herself. The oily liquid sttered on the floor, where it quickly evaporated and heated up the room somehow. Another factor that only heightened Johns sensations as he pumped those two full of seed. Tap out, tap out! the endme elemental pleaded then clenched her teeth with her whole body spasming from ecstasy and electricity.
Sylph wasnt done yet, or at least she didnt indicate anything of the kind, but she always had a bigger sexual appetite than the rest of her sisters in arms. Smander was saved by Gnome literally throwing her off Johns dick. Of course that got her in the firing line.
I-I will take full responsibility for that dick I just uhm, she started out strong but as John pushed her to the floor. Maybe this was a bad idea-ah! An earth-wind sandwich was created underneath Johns body as he took both of them in the missionary position. Once more Sylphs small size came in handy, as she blocked none of the reactions on the pure, Korean looking earthdy which gave the primal John such a deep satisfaction to see change.
From shamed, to slowly opening, to epting, to wanting, to finally being one with the ecstasy like the rest of the girls John was or had been inside. Smander and Eliza were still ravished by aftershocks so strong they would have been visible on a seismic scale. Then he came inside both of them, Sylphs stomach actually bloating a little as the unprecedented amount flooded her elemental physique.
Need pause, Sylph finally caved and Gnome just nodded. It hadnt even been three minutes since he stuck his dick into Smander, and they didnt have the excuse of being sexually tortured for several hours before this.
I will have to ask for your forgiveness, Aclysia said and grabbed John by the shoulder. But this is for our and your best. She pulled him backwards then mounted him. Plus I really want you inside me, Master John my John, her tone was of great satisfaction as she rode him. Please, touch me, she requested taking his hands and guiding them to her chest.
He just grunted in satisfaction. Words were needles while he was kneading a nice, firm pair of tits and his dicks were hammering into a pair of wet and willing holes. As was requested by his sane self, Aclysia did not have her dick around when having intercourse with him, meaning he was only looking at the extremely beautiful body of a slender, white-haired warrior maid.
His hips were rocking from below with immense speed. In devotion, she matched it. Like a system of pistons out for utmost ecstatic efficiency, they moved. Her long, wonderful hair flew up and down, she moaned loud. Moaned his name. Moaned his title. Moaned how much she loved him and then she came. Came long before him and he just continued on. Her hips tried to keep moving, but then she was at this mercy. She was sitting on top, but she was no longer in charge as John changed the position of his hands to her hips and plunged into her with barbaric brutality.
He came inside her once, stopping only for a second to make sure the first spurt of semen was shot out at the point of maximum pration. Gathering herself, Aclysia coerced him into staying in ce by riding him again, the artificial muscles inside her pussy massaging him in the most pleasurable of ways.
He came inside her twice. Grunting between his clenched teeth. Then a third time. A fourth. Aclysia managed to upy him for a whole three minutes by her lonesome, but by the end she too had to capitte.
Mashtaaahh, she slurred out with her mouth messy from the saliva that had escaped her between her moaning. I am shoooorryyyy, she felt her master cum inside her a fourth time, she knew there wouldnt be a fifth today, I cant take it anymooore. Your lusssht is too great for me. Her stomach bloated a slight bit as almost half a litre of semen now filled both of her holes. When she copsed on him, to then be carefully rolled aside by John, the absurd amount came almost spurting out of her.
Even while Libido-drunk, John would never handle his girls disrespectfully. To that end, he took a moment to make sure Aclysia wasyingfortable before looking around. There had to be a hole or two to sink his cocks into around here. A women very important to him attached to thesedyparts. He found them and her leaned against the wall, perfect ass pushed out.
Best forst, tiger, Rave smirked at him as he came running towards her. He still had about six and a half minutes to go, and he would use it to take her and then everyone else again.
Rave gasped as he entered, the double pration making his sexual bonuses work on both holes. Come on, ya can take me as hard as ya want! she challenged him and he growled like a beast and took her up on the challenge. Her ass was so soft, it was heaven, not just under his fingers as he gripped her but also against his hips as he rammed into her with immense power. Each of his thrusts was cushioned by the fantastic qualities of bubble butt, the flesh squished hypnotically. HARDER! she challenged him between clenched teeth. I almost lost ya today to some rando, remind me you are still here!
Her long, pink, permanently dishevelled mane swung in ordance to his hips. Every thrust was an orgasm in and of itself, whenpared to what he usually felt. It was a teau no man was meant to reach, but much like multiple orgasms and the ability to cum basically as many times as he wanted, John didnt care about limits reality had set out for the average man. He was not average, he was the fucking Gamer, and he would fill his sexy ass girlfriends holes with as much seed as she could take.
YEEEESSSSS! she threw her head back and came around him. Her sphincter clenched down on his upper cock, her pussy quivered around his lower cock. He kept loading her with baby batter. She sttered her own juices all over the floor as he thrusted and thrusted and thrusted despite his orgasmic height.
When he finally was done cumming, he looked towards the other girls, scanning for who could take him again. The second he pulled out, he had his legs swept away. I have other ns, Rave informed him, straddling over him, dripping some of his cum on the floor before sealing the holes with his enormous cocks again. Ya aint goin anywhere before I say ya can, get that, darling? Now that was a word she had never used towards him before. Somehow that cut through the haze and made him smile.
Like you can take it, honey, he answered her challenge and their eyes locked.
Her body bounced on top of his for a minute, then he came. He pressed her to the floor. He fucked her for a minute, then he came. He pushed her up the wall with her back against it. From position to position, all the time their eyes were locked.
Rave was moaning and screaming the whole time, but her eyes never wavered. Even as they zed over from one continuous orgasm that apanied her boyfriends constant assaults on her mind, she stared stubbornly ahead.
He came not only in her. Seeing her stomach bloat he was worried he might do too much to her insides, so he pulled out and came over her instead two times in the middle of their exercise, when they were just too tired for anything fancy and she was justying there and he was just fucking her. It allowed enough of his seed to flood out of her to make room for some more.
Onest orgasm ravaged both of them, and as he threw his back into the final thrust, as her spine curved up and off the ground, so did their gaze finally break. At exactly the same time, both of them looked away, eyes growing unfocused and glued to the upper corners of their limit in a fucked silly fashion. The whole tension she had been suppressing unloaded in a spasm of motions that saw her delivering a punch to the floor that put a deep dent in it as she quivered and writhed.
John himself was just tense; the only parts of him moving were his pumping cocks, and once they had done their deed and his second cock vanished, he fell backwards. Aclysia caught him and together they looked at the heavily breathing Rave, who had taken him on her own for almost half of the entire duration of Cumsluts existence.
He, Rave as well as Undine and Siena needed to recover. The slime girl wasnt even able to form a coherent shape, she was just a roughly attractive female outline blobbing on the floor. Siena was crawling with aftershocks, the expression on her face defiant but ecstatic and her ws doing yet more damage to the floor.
John, thanks to Gamers Body, recovered quite quickly.
Help, Rave eventually croaked, raising a hand from her position on the floor. John went over, stepping into a smallke of his own semen. His girlfriend was covered head to toe in the stuff, it was kind of gross, but he had to respect that. I cant feel my legs or anything from my navel downwards. How are ya standing, John? Gimme some of your bullshit! Get the medic!
John nced over to Undine who was barely able to raise her head and shake it before copsing back into herself. You will have to wait a few more minutes for that.
Different fucking question, a still bound but somewhat recovered Eliza asked, having had the prime seat to look at all of that happening. How is your slut brain still intact after that rough of a fuck? Shitting hellholes of non-existent Satans anus, you should be broken right now!
There was actually a bit of a consensus between Eliza and the rest of the girls there. Rave, shivering with another aftershock triggered by her sucking some semen off her finger, looked amused at that. Her finger came free with a pop. Oh thats easy, she winked, I had so much sex with John at this point, I am basically already broken in I just got eased into it over time or something like that?
That was an outrageous answer, just because she had the most sex with John out of the people in the room didnt mean anyone else had little sex with him.
There is just no way I would let my boyfriend forget who best girl is, she smirked and scooped up some more semen. But I need another shower now. John, ya up for it?
Oh god almighty in heaven, thank you for blessing me with this woman, the Gamer mumbled and took her off the ground and carried her. Orgy continues in the shower! he announced to anyone already back on their feet again, so himself and Aclysia. Everyone else coulde after in a bit.
It was a long, long orgy session.
Chapter 441 – Tier 1 Guild Hall Upgrade
Chapter 441 C Tier 1 Guild Hall Upgrade
John picked thest trait of the Wealth category, the one that allowed members of his guild to drop items up to Epic quality, and was then greeted with a new button asking him to upgrade the Guild Hall now. Standing atop the sun deck of his yacht, he clicked on the yes button.
The effect was a rainbow-coloured shimmerying itself on top of the edge of the Illusion Barrier, as if it was made of a giant soap bubble, which then slowly pushed outwards untiling to a halt when the radius of the circle had roughly doubled. Then the shimmer disappeared again.
Pretty standard barrier extension phenomenon, Magoimented, somehow drinking tea from the cup without taking off his mask. He just put it against the tip and threw it down there. Nothing particrly special.
I dont care, I have Lady Liberty! John eximed, throwing his hands into the air. At the same time another window asked if, for the cheap, cheap price of a million dors, he would like to readjust the centre of his barrier. It was basically a bargain. He put it right where it belonged, on top of the statue. He was still left with enough room to fit the current harbour in. Oh hey, I own an actual pier now, he thought.
His new borders stretched from gpole za, over a pier and the statue, to a vast amount of water. Really, about 50% of his current barrier were just water. There was a way to change that, namely in dumping massive amounts of money into the decoration system. Alternatively, he could pay the mana to have Gnome do it. The most likely thing to happen was that he did both, neither mana nor money were particrly valuable to him at the current time.
Okay, time to try something, John said and attempted to move the Harbour over to the pre-existing pier. While he could do it on the map, the eventual confirmation of the move got him a pop-up informing him that he couldnt move or upgrade buildings while people were inside.
Thus they evacuated the Harbour and were then witness to the whole building, including the two vessels anchoring on it, sliding along the coastline in a reality-bending fashion. THAT, however, is special, Magoi remarked. Reminds me of Gehnigms powers.
Might work simrly, John agreed. Speaking of people with space-controlling powers: Aclysia, can you bring Metra back to her bed? They, of course, had to move the still unconscious berserker out of the Harbour with them. It had been almost two hours since they had dragged her out from underwater at this point. If it werent for Tilgun insuring him that she would be out for a few days at least, he would have been pretty worried by now. Anyway, time to see what new things I can do inside here!
The answer was: a lot. Tier 1 came with a multitude of new building possibilities, upgrades for the current ones, a lot more space to neatly put them down and 90 more Room Slots to cover it all. John decided to broadly organize everything into districts to make things simple and then start building from there.
The statue, the fort it stood on and the surrounding green area John dered to be the home district. Here he ced all buildings that were of relevance only to him or his guild. That covered a list of buildings.
The Guild Heart: As with its original building, the upgrade to it was free. It now provided a total of 25000 mana (an increase of 15000). There were slight visual changes to it, although John could have sworn it now glowed a bit brighter. Not that a lot of people got to judge that, he ced it in the fortress, far under Lady Libertys feet. He kind of wanted to ce it up on the torch, but he had the feeling that exposing the central energy hub of his Guild Hall that broadly to the world would have been foolish.
The I.D. Gate: The upgrade to Tier 1 only cost John one more Room Slot. What it added was an extra two doors for people to create their own barriers inside of should the original one be upied. Not the greatest of upgrades and John would need some incentives to do more than just add more doors to the thing if Gaia wanted him to upgrade it further. He ced the three doors in the marble wall on the first level of the star fort.
Housing Tower: Strictly speaking that wasnt a real building, it was a deliberately changed design of the standard Housing building. The one to inhabit that building, Magoi, was insisting on what he wanted it to look like. Housing was different from other buildings in that it could be expanded however much one wanted, at the cost of more Room Slots of course. Tiers only added arger variety of luxury rooms to the Housing. As John wanted this to be the permanent home of Magoi and his family, he obliged them on most requests.
The end result was a five-story high spire with arge head. It had a medieval feel to it, John fighting to make the dark red brick a colour that harmonized nicely with the grey stone around, with windows on every story and a magic powered elevator shaft running down the middle to give ess to all the floors. It had everything that one needed for independent living and more. At the end, they ced two of those towers at the northern and western tip of the star fort, one for Magoi and his wife, the other for Magnus. That cost a total of 20 Room Slots, but the Magus family now had a ce to live.
Security Station: While the Sentry Golems would patrol the whole barrier, John wanted the spawning station to be within reach. The upgrade to Tier 1 cost John four more Room Slots. A worthwhile investment as far as he was concerned, as the boorish looking steel cylinder now sustained a total of five level 30 golems. That was an increase of two golems and 5 levels. They still werent the best at dealing with serious threats, but they could break up basic problems. Much more interesting than that was the ability to ce up to five exterior points in conquered territory where the Sentry Golems would be able to teleport to and also patrol through.
After some fidgeting, John found out that he could give ess to cing rights to other people in his guild. He let Rave and Aclysia both have that right, trusting thetter to ce one of those stations in the Enve while they were asleep. That right was limited to the cing of such outpost-style buildings from things John had to ce in the Guild Hall.
Cleaning Station: There was not much to say there. At Tier 1 there were more slimes and John could also ce outposts of this, cleaning those barriers in addition to the Guild Hall. Another 4 Room Slots were spent.
For the moment, those were all the buildings in that district. There were more buildings in the luxury category he kind of wanted to have private ess to (such as bathhouses, a sex dungeon, a massage parlour and so on), but he couldnt justify that to himself just yet.
Instead, he turned to the second district, which was the area around the Harbour, simply called the travel district. It was located at the north-eastern coast of Liberty Ind.
The Harbour: The upgrade of the Harbour had guzzled down a total of 13 Room Slots, but now the building actually had enough space tofortably hold the yacht in addition to Magois boat and still have room remaining for future vessels. It was a rectangle shaped area that grew around the natural pier, vastly extending it, and fenced off by a metal wall with arger version of the previous gate.
Transport Station: Due to the need of special building materials, this was postponed until ater date, but the upgrade would increase the size of the pavilion and two-person sized tforms on the side. There were also going to be an extra two outposts to be build. Nothing about anyone but Guild Members being able to use it yet, John hoped that would be an eventual thing. That would be another 4 Room Slots.
I really hoped there would be a way to give people easy ess to this ind, John thought. Doesnt seem like its happening though. Perhaps I should arrange some sort of deal with the local Fateweavers to have a ferry running from the Enve to my Harbour? No, better, I should have Magoi arrange that deal. He will have an easier time negotiating.
To the north-west of the ind were two tree-covered green areas separated by therge central walkway that would lead normal visitors down from the gpole za to Lady Liberty. John made those two his economic districts. He further specified them asmercial and industrial, eastern and western half respectively. The cement was important because John wanted themercial district to be closer to the travel district. He began building on themercial district.
Guild Bank: The building didnt change on the outside, although John could have added more bling if he wanted to through the design menu; however, the amount of storage they had increased from 100 to 300, Guild Members could now ess it anywhere in the Guild Hall and they could now have up to three different ounts on the bank. That was good, because John now didnt run danger loaning away his lunch money, so to speak. As such, he made one of the ounts as his and Raves shared ount, one for the loaning business and ast one for his familiars allowances. A total of 10 Room Slots is what this building cost him, stark increase from the previous 3.
Menagerie: He still nned to sell tickets to marvel at his ever-growing collection of cute animals. At Tier 1 there was the addition of some more biomes (tropical and desert) and the spawning of a small shared space that the animals living inside could reach through all kinds of means. Also, an increase in the maximum number of animals that were sustainable to live in there. Room Slots used went from 2 to 5.
Storefront: Much like the Housing, this was a heavily customizable building that could be changed in ordance to what was needed and how much Room Slots one was willing to pay. John created a medium sized store, big enough for people to run around inside for fifteen minutes but not a giantbyrinthian construction. The idea here was to see if he could get off being dependent on the Abyss Auction to sell his stuff.
As to what the building itself looked like, keeping in the theme, it wasrgely red bricks and it had thoserge windows typical for stores facing the street. For the fun of it, John had ced an awning at the inner corner of the L-shaped building and an extra door, in case somebody wanted to open a bakery or something. This cost him a total of 10 Room Slots.
With the remaining 24 Room Slots, he moved onto the industrial district.
Transmutation Forge: The chimney-esque thing was upgradable without cost and simply becamerger, more heavily decorated and able to work on two things simultaneously. Of course, the array of creatable materials also increased but only to low-tier magical materials. Using it was barely worth it if he wanted any of them.
Mana Factory: While a very small one, basically just an arrangement of four of the kind of seats John had sat in on the cruise around a central pir where one could put down mana batteries to charge them inside a cone shaped, sci-fi themed building, this was a pretty needed one. It supplied an extra 2500 mana to the Guild Hall by just existing, with extra options of having people charge the Guild Heart from there or go fill up mana batteries instead. If John had any mana batteries, that would have been splendid. He would need to get some to take full advantage of this.
Mine: This was a building whose existence deeply surprised John, simply because it was a pretty big affront to how reality was supposed to work. Basically put, it was an undergroundplex that shifted daily, had severalyers and spawned ore nodes. It reminded John a lot of how mining worked in MMORPGs, which fit his abilities but was still pretty overpowered. However, the ores spawned in werent exactly great right now, mostly low-tier single element metals, and he would need a workforce for this, as the ores didnt farm themselves. Also, it had the exorbitant upkeep cost of 5000 mana, double what other buildings that cost 10 Room Slots needed.
Still, he could build a whole industry on this. For the moment he just nned to give some work to people from the Enve or others that needed it and sell the metals on the auction. As time went on (and after attracting some hopefully gifted smiths, carpenters and the like), he hoped to erect a crafting district in the northern part of Liberty Ind that his barrier currently didnt cover.
Farm: Thest building he built was one that was supposed to feed them. The soil was pure cheating, as it promised John that he could grow basically anything he wanted on it, very hard to please nts notwithstanding. The Farm was a bit of an unusual building, as it didnt have Tiers as much as several extra buildings, like certain types of greenhouses, animal shelters, and so on, that he had to unlock as time went on. The incentive there was that these extensions would spawn in what John wanted immediately.
His eyes were locked on the Turkheir Shelter that, in turn, was locked behind a Tier 5 Required. He would get there, he promised himself. It worried him though that the greyed out building model looked more like a high-security prison than a stable.
All of this left him with 4 Room Slots and only 550 mana left after projected costs. The theoretical costs did assume the Harbour and Housing used 5000 mana each though, which was unlikely to happen.
And with that, I am done, John said. The whole endeavour had cost him several hours; all throughout his girls hade along and given their input on where he should ce what and where he should change theyout of the streets to make things more intuitive. Thankfully, the days were getting longer, a few months back it would have been dark at this hour already.
You forgot to build a fucking house for us, dumbass, Eliza reminded him.
No, I actually didnt, John told her, waggling his fingers and quickly pulling back when she threatened to bite him. See, I get a special building for us in the Administration category. I would rather build that than waste Room Slots on getting a house for us right now when the yacht already has everything we need.
That made enough sense for everyone, and so they headed back to the ship. On the way, John turned to Aclysia, After dinner, I want to talk to you about something, he said to her. It was important enough to be discussed in words.
Understood, master, the weaponized maid nodded, taking a shallow bow.
Chapter 442 – Reset Time
Chapter 442 C Reset Time
I want to apologize to you, John thus said when he was alone with Aclysia in the living room. Except he wasnt alone, as the bunch of prying creatures most of his girls were, he just knew that at least half of them were listening in. Whether that was Eliza using her supreme hearing, the elementals just listening in or Rave straight up sitting down beside him with a lollipop in her mouth, they were keeping their ears straight. They had the decency to keep quiet though.
Aclysia looked puzzled at that. What do you have to apologize for?
The fact that I picked a nonsensical build for you, John answered. Or, rather, a very poorly optimized one. You are basically just a stat ball, the only two active abilities you have arepletely defensive and not particrly strong. Honestly, I dont even know when the anti-magic shield even did something worthwhile.
When he had picked it, he had done so with the assumption that all the little damage reductions would add up over the course of a fight, but that had turned out to be thinking too much in game terms. Real fights were rarely defined by an array of little damage and it didnt even work unless she was also blocking physical attacks to refill her mana on the side. It was time to admit that he should have gone with Ultimate Body a while ago, that at least would have yed to Aclysias strength as a high-statted frontliner.
A lot of thates from the constant switching of what exactly your role is inbat, John continued. I created you with the intent of using you as a tank, but real tanks dont exist in proper fights because real enemies dont have any threat mechanic forcing them to attack you. So I thought I would have you stay close to me so you can protect me while I bombard enemies with spells. What you really became was a sturdy frontline fighter, indirectly protecting me by being too dangerous to ignore, and because Iter got Gnome and Undine as close-range protectors, you actually fight further away from me. In the fight with Sigmund, you directly engaged him in the field, which is the proper way to go about this as I now realize. Yet I still gave you Defence Stance and Anti-Magic Shield as perks, just because I thought I should still optimize you as a damage sponge.
Throughout this lengthy exnation, Aclysia nodded several times to signal she was still listening. I have not ever found anyck in my current abilities, butid out there is dissonance between what I usually do and what you designed my skillset to do. John was both happy that she acknowledged what he was saying and embarrassed that they even needed to have this conversation. This was all his mistake; it wasnt a big one (it wasnt like Aclysias build was non-functional), but in hindsight he should have just done things differently.
So, we will try to get a reset or something, he finally stated.
And how are we going to do that? Aclysia asked; such a mechanic hadnt even been teased at until now.
Well, there is only one thing we can do, he pped his hands together and assumed a praying pose. Please, Gaia, grant me this one miracle.
Those were some hefty costs, as was to be expected, but John clicked yes anyway. Despite Aclysia raising halfway out of her seat on the ck leather couch across from him in an attempt to stop him. John, that was a great price you just paid without any of your usual overthinking C I mean analyzation.
John chuckled at the little jab, although he was convinced it was actually just a slip of her tongue. I was already prepared to pay a lot to do this, Aclysia. I am not going to be stingy if it is about you being as perfect as you can be. I was prepared for some giant questline and I would have done it all C for you.
Oh, John Aclysia began, but the moment was ruined by the sound of three swords and a bunch of random stuff (including sex toys, wrapped food, a bunch of money and other such things) falling to the floor as the inventory that was meant to hold them ceased existing. The giant white cleaver gracefully broke the table between them by falling on it edge first. While unfortunate, it reminded John that he hadnt given it an Observe yet.
Fucking hell, John blurted out as he went over all the Attributes. Swordmind was what was described in the History area. Surveince Blocker and Mind Protector needed little exnation, as did Eversharp. Indestructible 5 was odd, but upon inspecting it made perfect sense. Normal Indestructible just prevented things to fall to 0 Durability. In other words, it kept them from being permanently destroyed. Indestructible 5 kept the weapon from falling below 50 Durability.
Soulrend was Touch of the Abyss on steroids. Not only could the weapon cut immaterial beings and incorporeal elementals, it also hurt beings living inside someones soul. In other words, if someone were to cut John with that thing, it would also hurt all of his familiars. That was disgustingly strong.
True Death prevented people to use the corpses this weapon produced as targets for necromancy. It also, and that was also dumbfounding, had the capability to permanently kill contracted elementals, if the wielder wished so. John was suddenly incredibly thankful that Sigmund had targeted him over his elementals, if Marath had that Attribute, then C so John theorized - Tietan had it as well.
Devourer of Life was a buff that increased the wielders Strength by 1 for each being killed, up to a maximum of the wielders level.
Sacrificial Cleaver allowed the wielder to sacrifice health to empower their next strike, creating shockwaves that could be used for ranged attacks. It sounded like a more brutal version of Eclys Reality Cut.
Spellslicer was the same as it was on Eclys, allowing the de to cut through spell work.
All in all, it was a piece of equipment that was on par with Eclys and definitely outssed it in the raw power department, which was good because thats what John had wanted a new cleaver for. Eclys would remain Aclysias go to weapon, simply by being more versatile and easier to wield. Also, Aclysia needed more Strength to properly wield that thing.
I feel considerably less horny, Aclysiamented out of nowhere.
No wonder, with the Consumption Slots and Refined Body falling away, you have 100% less bonus Libido, John reminded her.
Weirdly, I kind of miss it, Aclysia tilted her head quizzically while looking at John. It feels wrong to have a lessened want to have intercourse with you, Master. She looked over to Rave, Or stick my penis into Mistress.
That sounded all sorts of weird, Raveughed, swirling the lollipop around in her mouth suggestively. Does that help?
Well, I know what will help, John said and began the process of going down his old choices.
The skill tree choices of the first go through barely mattered, simply because it would take Sisterhood by the end anyway, meaning that John could carry only three of them over. As such he concentrated on getting the things he hadnt regretted carrying over both resets, namely Sword Specialization and the two extra Consumption Slots. He got them through the choices, picked the same Material Bonuses as before, and went into the Special Choices. Here he picked Refined Body and Refined Body II, same as before, and finally Ultimate Body.
I am now slightly hornier than before the reset, Aclysia announced, rubbing her legs together in that typically turned-on fashion. These rapid changes to my Stats are a weird experience.
Thergest changes should be done now, John promised and went into the second round. This was more interesting, as the choices he picked here were likely to stick. With that in mind, he carefully walked down the road of giving her all the things that would make her sturdy and self-reliant. The Skill Tree was the part where he found he had done less bad choices though, it was the Special Choices where he felt he had done goofed. It was interesting to see how the pick of Ultimate Body rippled throughout the following windows.
Well, she already was down to 17 mana. John had to question Gaias decision to make Intellect and Wisdom irrelevant Stats, but he kind of felt like he would get a future choice that would deal with that problem. Gaia had proven to be a wed designer, but she still figured out fixes for most things.
No matter how slow that conversion was, it was also good on a mary level. John hadnt gone big on feeding Aclysia metal and selling the refined stuff on the Auction yet, but that was totally a thing he could do. It was interesting to note that she needed a perk to upgrade to this level though.
And there it was, an actual important choice that made Aclysia more than a statball. John had the lingering suspicion that it wasnt just him not going down the Ultimate Body route until now that allowed him this choice but also Gaia not having designed something like that until now. Of course, that was pure guesswork, for all he knew he would have gotten choices for different anti-mage sses if he went for the Anti-Magic Shell route at the end.
Fact was, this was a bit of a hard choice. Style cultivation screamed at him as the right choice, purely on the basis that it changed Aclysias focus from Tank to Maid Knight. However, he wasnt the one who had to use those abilities in the future.
I would prefer the Maid Knight, Aclysia gave her opinion once asked. Most of my fighting style resolves around guarding points or stalling the enemy. Soulde and Sworddancer both sound like more offensively weighted sses with shy tricks. I dont want to have shy tricks, I want to be a wall between you and your enemies, Master. Maid Knight seems to be a goodpromise between me still being a damage sponge, as you stated earlier, and giving me offensive power.
I can only agree with all of that, John said and picked the Style Cultivation.
Oh, how much John wanted to take Sex Servant. It was basically a perverse fantasy of any man. However, he was basically already living that fantasy. Would it be fun to see Aclysia climax just from telling her to suck his dick? Absolutely. Did he want her to feel even greater when having sex, making her increased Libido attractive? Of course. Did the promise of an AMAZING pussy intrigue him, seeing how Aclysia was already surrounding him like a glove every time? Better bet a billion dors on that, because he would have been a moron not too.
But he really already had all of that, this thing just promised to make what he had even better. The Housemaid one did the same, but it sprinkled a giant inventory on top, one which he really liked and Aclysia also wanted. Another thing Aclysia wanted: his children. This was obvious from the fact that she jumped over the table and grabbed Johns hands to prevent him from making a choice while she thought about this. He would have waited anyway, and she knew that, but she wanted to make extra sure.
You are still not ready for kids, correct, Master? the weaponized maids voice was intense, almost inquisitive.
Are you joining Eliza on that crazy train? John asked nervously; he wasnt used to Aclysia staring at him like he was about to ruin the cake she was baking by pissing on the dough.
If I had a womb, I would, that was a clear statement. Your answer?
I am still 18, he pointed out the usual.
And you have a Wisdom of 250 and took control over an organization that controlsrge amounts of New York by being so sexy and intimidating that its leader instantly wanted to be banged by you, Aclysia kept being rather intense, pushing ever closer. You are not to excuse yourself with the words of the average, Master, you are too different for that.
Sorry, you just look very scary right now and giving a straight answer is difficult, John admitted in a bit of a high-pitched voice. He cleared his throat and then stated in his usual tone, which was actually a deeper, manlier tone than he had before raising his Charisma, Anyway, no, I am still not ready.
Aclysia backed off with a disappointed look on her face. She plopped down on the sofa next to him and began to cuddle with him. It better show up again when you are then, with those words she gave him the indirect permission to pick the Loving Housemaid one.
Uhm John looked at the choices. Those werent the same asst reset. They were also an arrangement of pretty bad stuff. Sacrifice was back and he really wished it wasnt. Reducing the burden was less terrible thanst time but still not good. Sisterhood was actually the best decision here and he also kind of felt like taking it. After meeting Scarlett (and seeing her nude), he was feeling in a harem growing mood. That may have just been his dick talking though. The disadvantage there was that he was back down to the two Consumption Slots and Sword Specialization. They would need to get her new skills in the future. Then again, maybe that wasnt so bad seeing how all future choices would have a new focus.
However, a look at Aclysia, then at Eclys, then at Marath, the two des looking like they actually came straight out of the game that Aclysias looks were based on, and John had an idea.
So I cant give you a kid, but how about I create a second sister for you?
Chapter 443 – In search for a heart 1 – Preparations
Chapter 443 C In search for a heart 1 C Preparations
John looked at the figurine on the table. It wore the same dress as Aclysia did right now, the small changes she had made to it notwithstanding. It was ck and something between a French and a goth maid outfit, without the apron. It was an over designed piece, with feather-esque decorations at the elbows,rge padded shoulders and a window that allowed everyone to see a bit of cleavage between flower like lines of cloth, all of it ending at a turtleneck.
The side of the short, frilly skirt was slit open, revealing a pure white leotard as the underwear. Even as a stic figurine, the character had a great ass. Right now, John was pointing at its thighs though. You see that? he asked Rave, who was kneeling right next to him.
Ya mean that thigh squish? his simrly perverted girlfriend asked. What she was describing was that area were the stockings were pressing into the meat of the upper legs. Pure glory. Although John wasnt quite sure if this counted as stockings, as they were made from leather (a wide area at the upper edge being the exception) and part of the high-heels it was wearing.
Yesssss, John said, both of them continuously marvelling at the figurine.
This was over a week after that busy Friday. So far, everything had gone great. Scarlett had not baited any one of them into a death trap, although there had been some fake shes between Rave and Thorne security. Nothing that the Lightbearer couldnt win quite easily; however, it made Collide look more intimidating and Thorne weak byparison.
People from the Enve had gotten employment in the Mine, Mana Factory and Farm. For the moment, John was just bunkering up the mana batteries, but he was happily selling the metals from the Mine for minimal gain, meanwhile the Farm just did what it was supposed to do. He did spend thest four Room Slots he had on extending it with a chicken coop, a basic greenhouse and a cowshed,st of which had cost him two.
While that did provide a nice array of fresh ingredients (and entertainment from cows just walking out of the shed, much to the surprise of everyone present because that was a thing that wasnt supposed to be possible), at this point, that side of the ind was getting seriously cramped. John was considering adding morendmass to the barrier.
Regarding himself, he had spent the time grinding away. He was now level 131, which was about one level every two days (keeping in mind that he was with Magnus as his timesaver most of those days). That was slower than he would have liked, but he still wasnt back to Assaults, so it was also expected.
He had arrived at 250 Intellect, which was why his mana had jumped. There was also the new synergy bonus.
Third Eye sounded kind of underwhelming at the face of it, but John had the feeling that this was a case of this skill that starts underwhelming bes bonkerster. Not that it was bad right now. It manifested as a simple vertical line of arcane azure hovering in front of Johns forehead and increased the amount of information he was able to perceive by quite a bit. It didnt help with the processing, so the first few times it had happened had overwhelmed John somewhat, but he was slowly getting used to it.
There was also the new stuff he got for getting his Agility up. He was currently focusing on getting that to 100, Strength being the priority afterwards.
These bonuses were great because they were all around positives. John seldomly encountered pain he actually wanted to scream from at this point, but better to have it than not. By logic, thest synergy perk between Agility and Endurance would be tolerance of all pain.
So now we have the easy half for a new Artificial Spirit, John said, poking the figurine. It had taken until today for it to arrive via mail. Buying it off the Auction would have been an option, but he didnt see the need for that. Especially since We still need a new crystal.
Unlike the first time, where Gaia herself saw it fit to ce an Artificial Crystal, or the second time, when the Horned Rat became a benefactor of his loot system before that came with announcements and warnings, this third time no crystal had been conveniently ced on Johns path. He had been looking all over dungeons for a new one, but no luck so far. Again, he could easily buy one of the Abyss Auction, but the good ones (Aclysia level) went for 500 million upwards. He didnt even want to look into what something of Momos quality would have costed.
He was able to afford it right now, but only under the sacrifice of one and half months worth of mary gains. Alternatively, he could buy a low-quality one of the kind that was in Raves battlesuit, but that was uneptable when thinking about bringing a new girl into this world.
Wow, I have been back in America for a while, John realized as he pondered about this. Not a lot had happened, even the days on the cruise had been more eventful than this. He also could have been way richer by now, were it not for Aclysia munching down on an absurd number of items he produced. How much money she had shredded through this endeavour, John guessed to be between one and two hundred million.
On the other hand, he would be able to extract about 5 kilograms of Baelementium from her each day, once she had transformed enough of herself into the material that she could use all of it forbat purposes. That didnt offset the lossespletely, but it went a long way. Although he would need a serious amount for another project he had in mind.
On the plus side, the metaldermis she now produced pretty much acted like her strongest material inbat, so she didnt have to switch between an in and out ofbat body-mix anymore. It also felt like the smoothest of smoothest skins. It was amazing. However, he was getting side-tracked.
I should give mom a call, he thought and made that a priority for when he next had the time. Originally, that had been something he wanted to do immediately uponnding back in the US but, even though they had been pretty monotone, he had spent his days busily.
So, how do we go about this? John wondered. We can just keep grinding and look out for enemies that might drop one, thats probably our best bet. That and searching Treasure Rooms.
Or that, John epted the quest. Craft and Enchant were dead skills to him anyway, particrly thetter one, so he had no problem with recing them. Although this meant that he now had to spent at least a few days continuously grinding them. Well, maybe he could find a way to shorten that.
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This feels like an exploit, John noted, picking up a bar of Baelementium that Aclysia had pulled out of her stomach. While a bizarre sight, he wasnt speaking about that. Instead, what he meant was using Craft to form a sword out of said bar, rather the de of one, and then following that up by using Enchant to throw whatever he felt like on it.
The resulting de was worth less than the raw material on the Abyss Auction, at least people bet way less on it. Probably because you could do so many better things with the bronze material than the okay-ish enchantments John put on it.
Instead of putting the item he had created up to the auction, he fed it back to Aclysia, who produced him a new, unenchanted bar of Baelementium. That was the exploit. There was no way using an Artificial Spirit to enchant-wipe items was intended. Then again, if Aclysia could do it, it stood to reason that other people working with metals had ess to the same possibility C with the dramatic difference that they couldnt create new items in literal seconds. It probably stung if you fed something you spent hours working on to the shredder.
Anyway, had he figured out he could level this skill this easily in half a day, he might have bothered earlier. So far, there was no reward that fixed his problems with the skills though. If it werent for the quest, he would have felt like he was wasting his time.
Working with such a high-level material allowed him to rush through the lower levels, the weaponized maid gained Consumption through the mana he put into the items, and he was losing literally nothing over it. There was something to be said about the clearly increased mana costs he was paying for working with a material above his skill level, but, as a high-level mage, mana was by all means the least of his concerns.
He had started doing this a mere five hours ago, and he was already close to done with the quest. Of course, it would slow once he reached whatever level was actually appropriate for Baelementium, but he expected that to be around seventy, far beyond where he wanted to go. A window popped up, confirming he had reached his goal.
Okay, so no exploit, John scratched the back of his head; he didnt ept the quest for the moment. He wanted to check on the new skill first. I mean, sure, if you say so, you are the goddess of creation.
Typical Gaia sass, and he even got a little bit of GP with it.
Crafting was just not the part of his powers he was too interested in. Although it was good to see this was just a fusion of the two old skills, including the skill level. More important to see how this affected the actual mechanic though. Aclysia, could you make me another bar?
Most certainly, Master, Aclysia answered, and half a minuteter he used Create on the bar. What opened was a folding out disy of the items he currently had and could use for the skill. The reshaping thing was still there and was still one of the least mana effective skills ever. Most likely because it wasnt intended to be used inbat. Not that mana was the only limiting factor on using reshaping that way. Repairing was still around, enchanting was also unchanged. All in all, there werent a whole lot of changes.
But there were three new things he found while experimenting around a little and they fixed what had been Johns problem with the two old skills. There was a minor inconvenience that was added though.
First was the ability to craft better crafting materials by consuming lesser ones through a process uncreatively called refining. It wasnt a supremely useful thing: the list of items needed to create one better was usually lengthy, the mana costs high and they even had a timer attached. Instead of just pressing a button and getting an instant result, he would need to wait varying amounts of time. As far as he could see, he could only refine one crafting material at a time.
And that timer was the named inconvenience. Every action now took some amount of time toplete. There was a great number of things that were instant in the lower brackets, but the second he wanted to do something truly worthwhile, be it repairing, creating or enchanting an item, it came with a timer.
Second was recipes, how that hadnt been a mechanic until now eluded him. Basically put, they allowed pre-defined oue for an entire crafting process. The quest he was currently keeping open gave him such a recipe, although there was a button to make custom ones as well.
John had a feeling that most worthwhile things to craft in the future would be in this tab. The fact that even basic iron spears were listed here only furthered that. It seemed that Gaia wanted to limit his capacity of mass production but gave him the ability to do some more quality stuff in return.
Last, and most important in his opinion, he could upgrade already finished items. His biggest gripe with Enchant and Craft had always been that items, once they were done, were done. The thing was that most items he could make were strictly worse than those that dropped. The only exceptions to that were if he got his hands on some really awesome crafting materials, but even then they were usually outscaled pretty fast; it didnt help that he couldnt make set items.
He couldnt rece attributes on the item, but he could add now.
No more would that 6/10 on Legendary items tauntingly look at him, saying Look at me, I am not as good as I could be!. However, as he couldnt rece these bonuses once they were on there, he would have to think carefully about what he used all this newfound enchanting space for. It didnt help that things he added could cost more than one of those slots if they were especially potent. Smaller items were affected by this more than bigger items, there was some sort of multiplier.
The need to be careful was more or less true depending on the item. Things like the World Ender set he didnt see himself ever recing, the Gamer set on the other hand felt like it was eventually going to be switched out. The bonuses on it only ranged from boring to okay, he just hadnt found anything better yet.
Okay, so the course is clear now, John said and epted the quest. We are going to keep a lookout for bosses that drop these essences and the other things we need. Also, I am going to upgrade the worst parts of my equipment.
I approve of this n, Master, Aclysia said. However, I should remind you that you wanted to call your mother.
Right! John eximed and fished out his phone.
That was long overdue.
Chapter 444 – In search of a heart 2 – Checklist
Chapter 444 C In search of a heart 2 C Checklist
John! It has been an eternity since you called me! his moms enthusiastic voice rang out in response to his somewhat nervous greeting. In typical fashion, he had gone in with one of the worst possible predictions and thought she would be mad. Brenda proved to be just d to finally hear him again. You sound good, great even. How is Germany?
Oh yeah, about that, John awkwardly cleared his throat as he mentally went through his story again before repeating it out loud. I am actually back in America.
What? Since when? his mother was understandably surprised. I thought you would be in Germany until the end of the school year.
Yeah, me too, but I actually dropped out. At least that got a moment of baffled silence. Quickly going on to lift whatever state of shock his mother was entering, he said, I put my head together with another tech-skilled person I met on the inte and we started a small business. It has been going great so far, so I decided to make it my full-time job.
Oh so you are all well and making money? she asked.
Lots of money, he assured her, sweeping under the rug where exactly that money came from. Lying to his mother (even by omission) didnt feel great, but she wouldnt believe him if he told her the truth anyway.
She made a relieved noise, Wow and here I was worried you just jumped off your educational path without a n.
Nope, I got it all figured out, John promised, and they continued chatting.
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Eventually, John held the phone up to his girlfriends ear. Currently sitting on the blue sofa of the living room around the bridge, eating ice cream out of arge bowl, she looked at him confused for a second, licking her lips clean, before speaking into the phone, Hello? The next words came in an immediately chirpier tone, Hi, Brenda! It HAS been a while. Yeah, I should totally call ya on my own, John is too busy to do a lot of the time. Yeah, I will just get the number out of this phone. Mhm? Oh no, I know about all13, 14, 15 girls he has. He only said 12? Well, two are kinda up in the air, one more so than the other one. No worries though, polygamy is working a-ok. Its called Polygyny when its just one guy? Huh, expected John to grab some smartassery like that by now.
John had only told his mother about 13 girls in his harem, even giving her short non-magical descriptions of them, because Scarlett was still not practically in and the third artificial spirit didnt even exist yet. It also seemed that Rave was counting Momo, whereas John had mentioned her as someone he slept with but not actually part of the harem.
I am heading out, he told Rave and kissed her on the cheek.
Rave grabbed him by the cor when he wanted to pull back. Hold it one second, Bren, she requested, lowering the phone to give John a proper goodbye kiss with tongue. There, now ya can head out, tiger, she winked at him with arge smile. As John left the room in a good mood, he heard, Dontcha like Bren?
Aclysia met him in the hallway, she had gone down to the cabin Metra was sleeping in. Much to his surprise, she actually emerged with the berserker babe in tow. As expected, Metra was stark naked. In the name of all the fucked up eyes that Marduk had, the dirty blonde cursed, rubbing her head like someone desperately trying to wake up. I really need to power up some more before I use that again.
Can I ask what that even was? John had not imagined for her to wake up at this random point after a week and for those to be her first words.
I was about to pull the barrier into chaos, was the whole answer she gave. I could have ripped Seminaris stupidly smart face off.
You really hate your sister, Aclysia pointed out.
How could I not? Scheming bitch and I separate ways, all made up and stuff, after the fall of Babylon and the next thing I know she kicks a plot in motion to kill my king candidates, pure annoyance, Metra rolled her neck. Then again, the fact that they were sessfully murdered just proves they were unworthy.
Regarding that king candidate thing John began; there was more than a little reason to believe that had to do with why Metra had been so annoyed with him in a previous conversation.
You are out for the running, she interrupted him outright, confirming his suspicions. Because you refuse to be a king and want to be a president instead, or whatever you are going to call it.
Not like you to get hung-up on the semantics, John pointed out what felt like hypocrisy. The fact that Metra did not have a quick answer to that was all he needed to know that he struck some cord. But fine, tell me when you feel like it. Did Aclysia inform you about thetest happenings?
Yeah, she answered, guess I will go protect the Enve again while you are gone. Already about to turn, she was given pause when John threw something at her.
New clothes, he told her; she had ripped apart thest set when throwing her armour on. These new ones were enchanted to flee into Johns inventory when she did that. Of course, that would only work if they were close enough to each other, but it was better than nothing. You are not going to protect them naked, are you?
Well, it would give them something to look at, Metra stated but put them on regardless. They were her usual kind of clothes, an extremely short crop top, basically just a strip over her breasts, and hot pants. Both were ck with grey areas that were see-through over the non-naughty bits. These arent bad, she said.
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John stood there with crossed arms as a beam of light descended on him from the heavens. It was golden and consumed everything around him, from the grass of tin grace to the dark, fertile soil. It parted, like water around a globe of ss, over Mana Protection, failing to break through the pre-chargedyer. Eyeing the extrayer on his health bar, John saw the attack had burned off about 2/3 of his pre-charge. Meaning that, in total, he would be able to take more than four of those attacks. Mana Protection was, at this point, almost the skill John had almost wanted it to be.
He was fighting the boss of the Tier 26 Angels dungeon, albeit he really wouldnt have called what he was fighting an angel. The blinding light of the attack vanished and left his own eyes blinking to get rid of the purple imprints.
What he eventually focused on again looked somewhat like a gargantuan tulip equipped with thorny tendrils, each of them headed with a smaller tulip, in a round formation that gave the feeling of a chandelier. In typical Angel dungeon fashion, everything was bright, clean and looked like it was worked from only the finest material.
They had been quite lucky to run into a boss that was capable of dropping an essence so quickly. Alternatively, Gaia was doing them the favour and changed the loottables up. Alternative alternatively, the supreme deity had reworked all the loot tables to epass new crafting materials that John would now actually use for something.
Master, you should have let me take care of that! Aclysia informed him as three of the ten tendrils came for her. Instead of blocking, the weaponized maid switched out Eclys (they had bought Adaptive dery back) and brought down Marath on the central one, cleaving it in two with the reinforcement effect from Servants Strike. The other two tendrils went straight for that opening. In the second they needed to get there, she activated Fortification at maximum Devotion.
Razor sharp the flower petal may have been, but against Aclysia they did very little damage at that moment. Between Baelementium, one of the highest-grade metals out there, being her mainponent; Titanic Exterior, a high defensive-boosting attribute; and now Fortification all being stacked, taking strikes like this was exactly what she was good at.
In other fights the ability to absorb the majority of the enemys damage output would have been even more useful. However, the even distribution and limited range of the tentacles were an unintended advantage for the not particrly intelligent boss. If the Golden Tulip had the ability, it would have gone after Aclysia with all of its tentacles, leaving it wide open to attacks from the rest of the group.
As it was, it instead focused on all sides evenly with the multi-tasking ability of the instinctual. The three tendrils that had attacked Aclysia pulled back, two of them looking like crumpled pieces of paper while thest was cleaved deep into the vine itself. The former fixed themselves quickly, but the cleaved one stood still in an S-shaped position, hanging its head like a sick flower. It was healing but only slowly. It was unlikely they would have to worry about it before the fight was over.
The central tulip opened its petals wide and spewed an array of light into the sky. Well, somebody has to soak these, and you are preupied! John dered, making a run for the impact site.
He was a fair bit faster thanks to enchanting all of his Gamers equipment with All Stats +5, for a total of +20 over all four articles. He also had put +5% Mana Regeneration on them. Not particrly exciting bonuses, but they did the job. There was still room on them, but he couldnt stack the same enchantment twice on the same item, so he was still debating what to do on that front.
That wasnt the greatest thing to think about while absorbing a torrent of light crashing down on him, but there wasnt much else to think about either. As to why he ate that damage C to his mana C it was because this attack would spawn a Holy Moss Hulk if it just hit the ground and those things were literally unkible. Okay, maybe not literally, but so far it had just regenerated its earthen body, no matter how terrible the wounds were it had taken.
On the plus side, they had tunnel vision and were very slow, so Sylph was kiting the one that had spawned when they had just avoided the mechanic.
15, 14, 13, 12, John counted down. These AoE attacks happened 20 seconds apart from each other, so much he had noticed by now.
Gnome stopped another tendril attacking Aclysia with her body and just squeezed the flower between her arms. Please just stop, please just stop, she pleaded, not particrly in favour of torturing bosses that looked this pretty.
10, 9, 8
In the meantime, Smander and Aclysia took out another tendril each by themself. With the stone elemental still holding, and slowly squishing, another one, there was now a wide-open side to the boss.
Gnome, give Aclysia a boost, we are going to finish this, John instructed when he reached five, giving her mana for that endeavour. The brte stomped with her foot, creating a grey stone tform that diagonally shot upwards from underneath Aclysia. Mentally coordinating the effort, as Aclysia and the elementals did not have a direct line to each other, John kept a keen eye throughout the whole operation.
At the highest point of the tforms darting ascend, the weaponized maid jumped off, taking as much momentum as possible with her. She had Marath raised high, red life energy flowing out of her arms and into the guard, charging the de. A grey and golden fire soon encapsted the silver de.
The flower petal opened right on time, the Golden Tulip about to send another of its sr attacks flying. The golden glow appeared on Aclysias face at the same moment she brought down Marath and unleashed the shockwave, buffed up by Smander.
Unlike Eclys thin silver wave, the ranged attack of Marath looked almost blunt. It was wide, highly concentrated red, and more of wedge than a de. The endfire followed in its wake and all of it crashed right into the vulnerable heart of the boss.
Its still functional tendrils extended and thrashed around as the boss burned out from the inside, until they finally stopped and the boss exploded into dust and loot. At the same time, the Hulk took its final step and became a mountain of dirt.
Hey, hey, hey, Sylph flew over and poked it with a tiny finger. We had such fun ying tag,e on, dirt guy, get up again. Sorry, I dont mean dirt guy as an insult! I know, why dont give you a cute nickname, like Dirty!
Smander flew over and bowed down. Now that that she was permanently stuck in a different height, the endfire elemental looked even more like the caretaker for the usually much smaller Sylph. Its dead.
Nooooooooooooo! the tempest elemental cried out like she had just learned her favourite doughnut shop had closed and dropped face first into the dirt. That muffled the rest of her cries, but her genuine sorrow still swept through the mental channels. Eventually Smander went beyond herself and told Sylph she would y tag with her to make her happy again, letting John pick up the loot unobstructed.
Well, Aclysia and Gnome picked up the loot for him, but he could check it. The former radiated an air of dissatisfaction, apparently the weight of Marath had caused her to miss the actual centre of the boss. Her Strength was currently the main stat they raised, but it would probably take 300 points before she would be able to handle the cleaver perfectly. Even then, it would be only because of all those percentage bonuses she had.
Anyhow, there it was, the Essence of Beauty. A, who would have guessed it, golden liquid that came inside a boring, run of the mill ss jar that John expected to find jam in. It also behaved very much like jam, being at that border between solid and liquid. Getting this was no surprise, the first kill bonus had been a guaranteed Epic drop and this was the only one in the category.
Now he only needed two more, best different, essences and the other ingredients. And this day was basically already over. I really have to work for my stuff nowadays, John mumbled. I wish I could just do this as a montage or something.
Chapter 445 – In search of a heart 3 – Montage, Potential, Missions
Chapter 445 C In search of a heart 3 C Montage, Potential, Missions
He found the second essence in the Futuristic Siege of all ces. After breaking through the energy dome that protected the cone shaped city of spires, John and his group quickly broke through to the heart of it. There they found one of those stationary bosses, a half-finished mecha-unit still bound to its station.
As the mecha was ratherrge, the fight had three stages. First they had to rush up the scaffold around its legs. Small energy beams, traps in the form of unbound cables and security bots blocked their path. Once they made it to the top, they found themselves on arge tform in front of the mechas chest.
From there on it was a somewhat normal boss fight. They did damage to it while dodging where it was possible and taking attacks where not. Eventually the mechas central te burst off and the fight became all about beating it down as pulses of heat energy rolled outwards, slowly ramping up.
The finishing move came from John, throwing the Mana de stored in Purgatory at the core to not run the risk that the boss hit them with a deadly suicide attack.
Thus, they acquired the Essence of Centre.
The third essence was found the same day but acquired a dayter, which was also still the same day. This was why time changes made anything more confusing. Unlike the Golden Tulip and the mecha, the boss that held the Essence of Tristesse did not have it as his only Epic drop. As luck would have it, he did not get the essence as the guaranteed one. The bright side of that was that it was a boss in a Wave dungeon, which meant John could face the same boss multiple times if he just made it into an Assault.
So, one round of bedroom activities (mostly sleeping, albeit not exclusively)ter, they ran a three-hour version of the Ogre Dungeon. They faced a small kind of ogre, the Hive Ogre. These things were disgusting to look at, the naked mole rats of humans, and even if they were smallpared to other ogres, they were still over two metres tall. The danger came from, as their names implied, the fact that they had a hivemind, in other words their attacks were extremely well-coordinated.
However, they had very little tools to deal with Johns own hivemind and the build a fortress and turtle strategy. The only thing they did that was somewhat sessful was flinging each other. At least until John got a spiked roof.
The boss was then the queen of that hive. Nobody should need to suffer through seeing that monster, a bloated mess of pregnant flesh constantly giving birth. It reminded John of the broodmothers from Dragon Age and those things did not seem particrly happy with their fate.
By the end of the Assault, they found two Essences of Tristesse.
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I need a vacation, Magnus told John when the Gamer told him that they got thest essence. In due diligence, the Fateweaver had held up until they got that part of the quest done, but now he was at his limit. I am sorry.
John shook his head and patted the bigger man on the shoulder. No problem, he assured. You have made thest 9 days into- he had to calcte that; he spent some of the evenings back in the real world to sleep in a bed with Rave, so that was about a day lost every three days. -about 18. Honestly surprised you are only asking for a break now. How about you take the next three days off?
Thanks, the eldest of the current Magus generation did look honestly relieved. It wasnt like it was hard for him to maintain the 1 to 3 ratio, but just sitting inside the barrier all day must have been tremendously boring. Then there was the extra factor of living next to a guy who was having very loud sex every night for the entire duration. Magnus had neverined once, but John had realized that somewhere down the line and tried to tone it down.
I should thank you, I am able to push my ns along way quicker because I can grind with your help, John said to him. Any ns for what you are going to do the next three days?
Magnus looked at him with thoseposed eyes of his for way too long, as if he was trying to solve a riddle. Not particrly.
Lets go drinking on one of those days then, John suggested. Well, not necessarily drinking, I dont really like alcohol, but just hang out. We are going to see a lot more of each other, might as well hang out.
The Fateweaver shifted ufortably for a moment, as years of working with limited time contracts only had created the habit of not getting to cosy with his employers. I will think about it, he promised.
Thats all I am asking for, John said, hoping something woulde of this. The time he had spent with Maximillian on the cruise had given him new appreciation of having friends his dick did not point at. He still preferred to hang out with Rave, Aclysia or any other members of his harem 6 out of 7 days in a week, but there was just something rxing about getting away from people you cared that deeply about once in a while. It was a weird paradox.
They were about to leave the dungeon when John remembered one more thing. Right, Magnus, would you let me test something? I would only take a minute.
This time there was no hesitation; it seemed the Fateweaver was more skilled at business than social interactions. What is it?
I want to see if I can make you stronger, John told him. See, I have a mechanic where I can give other people a few level ups per month up to their potential. I give most of those to Nia and Rave. In fact, I only have one more I can give away this month, but still.
Let me summarize: If I have any more potential, you can make me reach it quicker? Magnus asked.
And push you somewhat above if it is low, yes, John answered. Going beyond the boundary of the Maximum Potential Level came with high costs, but one or two levels were still possible.
Magnus agreed to the experiment and John invited him to his party. As it was called John Newmans Harem Association right now, that got him a majorly weirded off nce from the otherwise so stern looking man. He epted anyway and John went to check his potential level.
Magnus was level 33 and his maximum level was 35. Not a lot I can do for you, John admitted, but two levels, or about four percent, is what I can do for you without a doubt. Just drink this. He handed him the almost full Helbrechts Soulpotion.
In one stream of movement, the Fateweaver grabbed the small ss construct, took off the lid, gulped down the contents and then waited. I feel no different, he told John.
Give me a second, John told him, as he had control over the level-ups he wanted to assign. As Magnus was quite low level, one almost full Soulpotion did the trick, and John granted him thest level. How about now?
Magnus blinked a couple of times and looked at his hands. I guess I feel slightly more capable? he said with doubt.
Two percent really isnt a lot, but its the best I can offer you, John said. I will get you up to your potential as extra payment. People under my employ should be the best they can be.
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With all essences gathered, John stood before a new problem: he hadnt encountered Shard of Potential or Pure Drops so far. He found those items on the Abyss Auction rather quickly, so they couldnt have been that rare, but the prices were still too high for Johnsfort. Well, for the Shards of Potential at least, 25 of those would have cost him about 50 million. Pure Drops went for 25000 a piece, so getting 100 of those would cost him only two and a half million dors.
Only a few million dors sometimes I like to remind myself that I am talking about US dors and not Yen or whatever they have in Venezu again, John thought; he liked to remind himself every now and again how ridiculous this all was.
As he went through the auction in desperate search for someone who had misclicked and was selling his stuff for way cheaper, he got a message.
Scarlett: What would you need Shards of Potential for?
John: TLDR: Making a new Artificial Spirit, need a new crystal. Already have everything else.
Aclysia, I think the drone will drop what I just ordered on the sun deck, could you fetch that for me? he told the weaponized maid.
At once, Master, she answered with a little bow, got up from her position at his side on the couch and walked the little distance. Nia wordlessly took that spot.
You know, I am getting pretty hot here, right? he asked, surrounded by body warmth where the couch didnt block ess. Rave was under his right arm, Eliza in hisp and now Nia pressed against his left side. He also had an erection because, aside from the obvious reasons, his left hand was resting on Elizas boobs as he looked over her shoulder to navigate his phone.
You know its Sunday fucking evening and your dick is currently only pressing against my ass, right? a horny Eliza asked him sarcastically. You could use your stupid cock to actually do something interesting, but no, you and your boring-ass upper brain need to think about how to transform that thing, she pointed with her foot at the 2B figurine sitting on the table, into another tall, white-haired bimbo with an ass that is better than mine!
I would actually rate your ass on the same level as Aclysias ass which is the same level as 2Bs ass, John stated, and I am not just saying that because it is currently grinding against me.
How high would that be? Johns girlfriend asked.
9 out of Rave, he smirked.
Great, now you buttmuncher just took my psycho jealousy and guided it somewhere else. I know I am an unpleasable arrangement of character defects the likes of which fucks the world, but you should change your ss to Retardin, Eliza continued her tirade, doing more of said grinding against Johns pants. Before he ran into danger of cumming into his suit, he opened his window and unequipped all legwear. What the shit?! Eliza cried out when she suddenly felt his naked dick against her leather thong.
You asked for this, John reminded her, temporarily putting his phone aside to lift the small bundle of insanity up, slide her thong to the side and impale her asshole on his cock. It wasnt as well lubricated as usual, but it went in easy enough. Now bounce, you degenerate piece of ass.
Fuuuuuck, Eliza was very enthusiastic about this, as youmand, John the Ass-paler.
And now we are going to have an orgy, Rave stated factually, a hand pushing into her pants as she watched the masochistic curse thrower take off her bra and force herself up and down Johns enormous dick. Nia just remained calm for the moment. At least she looked calm. So she looked liked always.
The Gamer picked up his phone again.
Scarlett: You know I am trying to work here, how about you dont just send me shlicking material without warning?
Johns answer to that was to groan extra hard and also unequip his shirt, leaving his naked body under the vest to be seen by the front camera.
Ten secondster he got a shot made from between Scarletts legs. It showed an upwards view of her body. The focal point of it all were her opened pants, redce panties bulging outwards thanks to the clearly busy hand inside them. Further up was Scarlett, sucking on two fingers of her other hand. The Gamer wished that was his dick. As to how she took that photo with both hands upied, he just went with Technomancer.
Now I am jealous of you! John said and smacked Elizas ass. You took my opportunity to be the first person to touch that fierce redhead.
If I say I am sorry, will you spank me like the bitch in heat I am? Eliza asked. When he denied her an answer, she just whimpered in a weirdly pleased way and continued to ride him anally. They both loved it when she was left dangling.
John: Anyway, I doubt you hit me up for info and nudes, what do you want?
Scarlett: Right, I need you to actually do the next takeover of my territory yourself, for PR reasons.
Scarlett: Here is where.
John checked the map data while biting his lips. At least he couldnt stumble his words while typing.
John: Thats a pretty corr all< of yours, is it not/.
John: *core *ally */
John: **?
So much for that theory. Scarlett, who could type with her mind, did not have that problem.
Scarlett: Yes, which is why I need you, specifically, to do it.
Scarlett: I have some Shards of Potential stored there, take them if you need them so badly.
John: Just like that?
John: You know I am not in conflict with you right? For the moment, I just happen to take over independents where your bases are.
Scarlett: Dont worry, I will have it arranged that you get your hands on them.
John: What do you have those for, while we are at it? I am curious.
Scarlett: Technomancer protection, like every other mage, we cant control ensouled objects and you can build a circuit with those that extends the modified persons soul into their artificial limbs.
John: Doesnt that go against your own goals?
Scarlett: Its a luxury addition, so rtively rare.
Scarlett: To talk about more interesting backdoors, can you point your phone at how your dick is stretching that filthy asshole of this m-slut?
He did and promptly got another message.
Scarlett: Bloody Hell! To the BASE?
John: That must really shock you in order for you trn brittish.
John: *turn British
Scarlett: How does somebody that small take that huge a thing into her ass? When I try to get the you-shaped dildo into the proper hole, I barely get it in.
John: You know how much I want to test that tightness for myself, right?
Scarlett: The sooner you get that territory conquered, the quicker my n gets off the ground, the quicker I can start living/hiding wherever you live.
Scarlett: Would be a somewhat good public persona, now that I think about it, Scarlett Newman C Harem Manager.
John: Why Newman?
Scarlett: Arent you marrying all of those girls?
John: For the moment, there is only one girl that briefly had thest name Newman during the tournament. Everyone else uses their own if they have one.
Scarlett: Right, funny video footage with then-Thana breaking someones hand.
Scarlett: You totally should just marry everyone though. Not gonna lie, marriage is like the one romantic thing I agree with.
Scarlett: Guess its because its so disgustingly sweet, having a day where two people pledge they will be with each other until death does them part, not even I can make that sound bad.
John: I dont disagree, but I have one girl I want to do that first with.
He nced over at Rave.
John: And I dont feel like I have cleared the conditions to make that the best possible day yet.
Scarlett: Huh, thats some proper reasoning right there.
Scarlett: Anyway, back to you getting to fuck me before you marry anybody. When can you attack my territory? I have an opening in my schedule tomorrow 12:30 PM.
His answer was dyed by the need of grabbing Eliza by the hips and mming his dick up to the base into her as he came into her anal cavity. Be a proper sex ve and bend over the table so I can send Scarlett a picture of what it looks like when somebody takes my dick in their ass, Johnmanded in his deep voice.
Oh shit, that sounds hot, Eliza gasped as she got off his dick and did as she was told.
Scarlett: Aaaaaand I am masturbating at least three times tonight. Great.
John: To appease you, tomorrow 12:30 is fine.
John: No idea why your schedule is important for when I attack, but I guess you want to keep the surprise alive.
Scarlett: You know me so well.
John: Do I? I have to wonder which position you would like more.
He bent forwards, camera pointing at his hand that pped across Elizas ass. The masochistic blood mage quivered, the wetness oozing from her pussy bing a stream for a moment in response to the dart of pleasuring pain.
John: Would you like to be me or Eliza in this situation, mhm? The way you surrendered to me rather quick indicates thetter, but you also like to take control of everything.
Scarlett: I am using you too, John, so the answer should be pretty clear.
Scarlett: But lets test it when we next meet in person.
Chapter 446 – In search of a heart 4 – In front of him
Chapter 446 C In search of a heart 4 C In front of him
You know, there are just some things that never change no matter where you are, John said to a ck-haired Aclysia, her preferred hair colour when in public, looking at the blue and yellow building in front of them. It was no masterpiece of design, basically just an arrangement of rectangles. Four letters, recognized pretty much all over the globe as the go-to ce for cheap furniture, stretched over the wall: IKEA. Globalism, hurray, he added drily as they went inside.
Are we not going to enter the barrier? Aclysia asked as the two of them passed the reception and went into the guidedbyrinth structure that was the inside of an Ikea. They didnt know for sure they were on top of it; finding barriers was a skill Fateweavers had, but everyone else needed either the knowledge of where it was in the first ce, some sort of visual entrance in the shape of doors or to just run around with the willingness to be pulled in the second they stepped over the border of one. Thatst one was somewhat dangerous, who knew who or what was inside a barrier.
This was also a reason as to why it had been quite easy for the Blood to create sleeper cells inside the Greater Empire. Fateweavers did not have a habit of going on scouting missions, not lucrative enough, and running into hideouts by just trying was extraordinarily rare. Especially since one needed to do that with a force that guaranteed them they would win.
The only watching missions Fateweavers had epted in the past were over Leylines to point out when a natural had spawned nearby. That was basically the easiest job in the world (all they needed to do was to sit around and look at andscape all day), and if they had a contract as to who they contacted first when something did spawn, it probably paid well too.
With the end of the globalized Fateweaver guild, that ought to change soon. Its pretty astounding how much everyone is reliant on Fateweavers to run operations effectively guess thats why they were one of the top 3 nonbatants.
We are a bit early and I hang around in fantasy settings so much these days that running through an Ikea sounds like a vacation, John finally exined to Aclysia. Gotta ground myself in reality for a bit, you could say. He also still needed to redecorate most of the yacht, so he may as well get some ideas from here. Even if the quality of the furniture was far below what he would eventually buy, the design wasnt bad at all.
What do you think about these? John asked picking up a wine ss from the disy and holding it in a way that had the spherical part of it rest on his fingers and the rest point out from between middle and ring finger.
Before Aclysia could answer a sudden cry startled John. It was high-pitched and loud enough to ring through half the giant store. A sound terrible but heard in basically every public area of the country, which is why John hadnt been subject to it in a while. A baby crying because babies cried for all kinds of reasons, so he had no idea.
Why though? John asked himself, but the answer became rather apparent once he looked up from the window and at the ss in his hands. He had only tightened his grip a little bit, but the ss had cracks running through it now. It wasnt broken, yet, but the stereotypical grandmother that stood right next to him was still astounded that it had happened. Must have had an air bubble inside it or something, he joked in an attempt to calm the olddy, or I am secretly superman!
You look a bit thin for that, young man, the grandmother answered in a simr tone. Better get some meat on those bones.
I can guarantee you that he looks perfectly adequate underneath that suit, Aclysia chimed in with a respectful nod. Very muscr, he only has narrow shoulders and hips.
Oh, I had someone like that before, he was a boxer with a lot of stamina good times! the olddy gave a bit of a dirtyugh as she waved them goodbye. No words could express how thankful John was that he hadnt encountered one of those lonely old people that did not stop talking once they got going.
Good to know that I can reduce the amount of punishment after the fact, John thought. There was a realistic limit to how much he could convince people of what was natural or not, but 5 was smaller than 20, so this was good.
To answer your question, John, Aclysia remarked as he carefully ced the ss were a clerk could see it, I think that one is too in, we should at least get something with a gold rim to show off your splendour.
A fair point, John said and raised his hand. Time to go to work.
Immediately, the room around them transformed from a showcase kitchen into a room that sold little things made out of straw. Voodoo dolls, as John pretty quickly realized by the picture instructions hanging from the walls.
Wow, he mumbled, I didnt expect to enter where I stood. This thing doesnt even have a predefined spawn in point? Maybe he should have expected as much. This was one of the biggest independent selling areas on the east side of the Hudson, but it was still run by some predatory loan shark.
Gooooood day! a man, whose skin looked like he was half in the grave already despite being a mere 30 years old, approached John in a creepily cheery tone. Can I heeeeelp you?
Do you run this building? the Gamer asked.
Nooooo?
Can you point me at who does?
Yeeeeees if you buy something! John wasnt sure he wanted to support this particr vour of local business, but he also did not feel like making a fuss before he even got to who he wanted to talk to. He picked something at random and paid the man, who began to sweat as Aclysia, her hair turning to her normal white colour, continuously stared at him. Afterwards they got a name and a rough description of how to get there.
This was an economicmunity, one of many in New York, and like most of them it was corrupt to the core. Rules were enforced as was seen fit and the guy in charge was the one who had the most money and could pay the baddest dudes; regime changes usually happened quite frequently but this particr boss had stayed in power for quite a long time, ten years and counting.
Nevertheless, the clean and friendly atmosphere of Ikea was reced with the scummy air of a ck market where people smoked inside the building. John fixed his vest when he left the Voodoo shop and threw the weirdly glowing marble he had bought into a trash can that was standing around. A small explosion of green fire blew off the lid and left the metal can scorched on the inside. A hygienic improvement, John was sure.
The obvious question was why somebody would choose to hang out here rather than in the Ikea. He found the answer to be quite simple: the ability to use magic. There were little boxing shops were people that usually didnt think with their heads were busy showing each other who was boss, shop owners who sold dubious stuff and customers who really wanted to y with that.
Quality of life seemed to be of little concern for these people, they just wanted to y with the power they had. Of course, there were also people that, because of physical changes to their bodies, couldnt live in the real world anymore unless they had some heavy illusions active.
John: So, why exactly are you working with people like this?
Scarlett: I thought I already made it quite clear that I just dont care?
Scarlett: I keep care of the scum in my organization by inviting them on the centralmittee and working them to death. I say I am doing more than my part.
That statement came as he turned towards amotion, a shop owner being dragged out from behind the counter by two tall, brutish looking guys. Without a doubt because he didnt pay enough or not in time or just because those two felt like throwing their weight around.
Scarlett: Treating his employees like this is obviously poison for a productive work atmosphere. They are his employees though, so I have no reason to step in.
Scarlett: If you smash them all, I stand to profit. A stable market is way more profitable in the long-term, especially if I fill the vacuum.
John: You can fill the vacuum, alright, but dont forget that you work for me. That includes you adhering to the basic principles I establish.
Scarlett: Thats the deal.
He shook his head. It wasnt like he didnt understand that train of thought. No matter how much he cared, he couldnt help everybody who was in a sub-optimal situation. Doesnt mean I have to like the disregard with which she treats this though, John thought and walked over to the scene of the crime. Least I can do is face the evil in front of me.
He arrived just in time to grab the arm of one of the brutes, raised to punch. Do me a favour and bring me to your boss. Obviously, he already knew the way, but he hoped that would be the easy way to bring this situation to an end.
Piss off, the brute cussed and ripped his arm out of Johns hold. He managed to make the Gamer stumble back one small step, right onto some slippery stain on the stic floor that caused him to fall backwards quite inelegantly. The two brutesughed at his awkward performance. Oy, Brett, take care of that prole while I wrap this up.
Sure thing, Tetsh, the second brute cracked with his knuckles and stepped towards the floored Gamer with violence in his eyes.
Johns mood was quite sour at that point, so he put the worst person for the job in charge. Siena, he said that single word, and his shadow expanded upwards into the shape of the beautiful sadist. The knifed tendrils sprouting from her back wrapped around the arm that wasing for her summoner.
A moment it looked like Siena would transform it straight into mincemeat, but when the tips of those knives drew the first drops of blood, she stopped. How much fun can I have with this one? she asked John.
I am exceptionally proud that you took the time to ask, John admitted as he got up. Just a little, nothing too gruesome by my standards.
Ah, so basically no fun at all, Siena sultrily sighed and ducked under a horizontal swipe of Bretts other arm. A low kick took the floor from under his feet. The tendrils dug some shallow wounds into his bound arm, and the second he hit the ground, Siena rammed the pointy heel of her foot into the palm of his other one. It wasnt a pretty scene, but considering what she usually did, that narrow puncture wound was actually within the parameters John had set.
What the fuck?! Tetsh dropped the shop owner to attack John, who was busy checking if any of the floor was still sticking to his self-cleaning pants. He was stopped, once again, by someone grabbing his raised fist.
I highly rmend you go along Masters wishes, Aclysia said. Otherwise I am happy to inform you that I will break your arm for transgressions against him.
Fuck off, the brute tried to rip free once again. Previously, he seeded in that because Strength was Johns lowest Stat (Libido aside). That wasnt quite the case with Aclysia. Let me go, you silver-haired bitch!
Aclysia do break his arm, John told her, getting Undine ready.
At once. The weaponized maid obeyed and simply executed a chop. The result was the arm bending into a very t v-shape and him screaming in pain, legs giving in. Aclysia let him fall on his knees.
Wh-who are you?! Tetsh asked as John went through thest motions of making sure his suit was still sitting well, in the form of straightening his cor and hat.
John Newman, he answered, and immediately the expression on their faces changed to reflect that they knew they had fucked up. You probably should have led with that question, hemented that development in a dry tone.
His right hand was enveloped by blue slime, the red markings of Undines scar running over it, and he reached down. To the uninitiated, that must have looked more like another attack than an act of healing, so it was no wonder that Tetsh tried to get away when he reached down. Maybe John grabbed the point where the mans arm was broken a bit harsher than was necessary.
Nobody, he quietly but firmly said, withholding the healing as he wanted the pain to underline his words, insults my girls like that, are we clear? He didnt like this course of action, but like every other time he was cruel, he thought it the necessary way to get his point across. Nobody noticed his disdain though; his acting skill had gotten quite good.
Yes, the brute answered and looked surprised and relieved when the healing energy flowed into his arm and fixed it back into the shape it belonged.
John gestured for Siena to retreat as well, causing a pained grunt from Brett when the heel was pulled from his hand. The muscr man did look defiant though, he had quite a bit of willpower despite the fact that he had been beaten handily. Not necessarily a bad trait,bined with the fact that he still grumbled, Thanks, after John healed him back up, it meant that he was at least aware of how the deck was stacked here.
Now, to repeat my demand, John stated.
Do me a favour and bring me to your boss.
Chapter 447 – In search of a heart 5 – (New Man)agement
Chapter 447 C In search of a heart 5 C (New Man)agement
John checked his Ire again. It was down to 3 from 5. The previous blunder of him slipping had undoubtedly to do with that reduction. That wasnt to say this couldnt happen to him naturally, but slipping as he did at the moment of maximum humiliation was a different category.
Brett and Tetsh guided him through the bizarre bazaar. Must be really nice, John said, looking at a few people that wore rings around their necks that were so obviously sci-fi tracking devices that their existence alone was a hurdle to get out, scrubbing the floors.
What? Brett asked.
Being the kings here, he answered, looking away from the unwilling cleaning crew as they doubled their efforts in response to the brute duo passing by.
They reached the shop of Thorne in the area. As expected, it was stuffed to the brim with electronics, showcase limbs and other such things. With it being under the guarantee of another, much stronger faction, the rules for it were quite different than for the rest of this corrupt hive of scum and viiny. What that meant in detail was that it appeared like the usual mall shop and with a seniority, standing out a lot in an environment where every other shop around was bullied out ofpetition only to return under a flight of stairs every other week.
The boss is here every Monday around this time, Tetsh informed John and gestured for him to enter first. There was no reason to be afraid of an ambush, so he did as they wanted.
I slowly get your game, Scarlett, John thought. If said boss was here only at this hour, she must have wanted this meeting to take ce in one of her shops. The only question was why. Without a doubt he would find out soon.
John saw two figures. One was a curly haired ck woman, wearing a dark green and red store uniform. She had quite the rack and her beauty was only held back by early wrinkles appearing on her face together with her stern expression. A typical manager, as far as John was concerned, he didnt see anything about her that annoyed him.
The apparent boss-man, someone by the name of Trebba, instantly annoyed John though. The only hair on his face were his bushy eyebrows and a beard that looked like a toddler had pinned the end of a paintbrush between his cleft chin. He was wearing his suit in a sleazy fashion and he didnt put in any effort or money to get clothes that actually fit him or a belt that could keep his pants from slouching. While the outfit would allow him to attend high society events, he wouldnt truly fit in.
Yo, I am in a meeting here, what the fuck are you two doing letting someone in here?! Trebba cussed at the brutes. Then he turned to do the same to the Gamer. Who are you, you moron? Getting in here without an appointment.
I am this close to blowing up this whole building, John thought as he introduced himself. I could do it. It would be super easy. Just drop an Arcana Strike, wait a few minutes and BOOM! Crater.
Two minutester, as if his name was a magic form for invoking civility in people, he found himself in a small backroom office around a circr table, together with Trebba and the supervisor. Brett and Tetsh were also around, standing there menacingly in case somebody wanted to approach.
Trebba asked a one-word question that was way more eptable than his earlierments. Coffee?
No, thank you, John said, havent gotten addicted to any drugs in my life, I am not going to start now, not even with caffeine.
Your loss, drugs are fucking amazing, Trebba said and sat down after throwing something white in his own cup that John was 100% certain was not sugar. He took a sip and exhaled in an over-exaggerated manner. So what brings the new big guy in town to my cove?
Did you not get the memo by now? John raised an eyebrow. I lost count how many people like you, loan sharks, bullies, parasites, tyrants, I already told off with the words: Change or I will force you soon.
Sure, sure, I heard that, but they spout such nonsense that I dont believe that thats your agenda, Trebba answered. So what do you want, 20% of the ves trafficked through here? A cut from our ie? What do I have to give you so you are happy.
John just stared intensely for several seconds. Then his chair broke away from under him.
Trebbaughed out loud, the supervisor snickered as well, Brett and Tetsh had the peace of mind to stay quiet. Thats it with the Ire, John told himself as he calmly stood up. He could live with looking like a fool for a bit, as long as nobody was about to get beat up or was throwing slurs at those dear to him.
John looked at the wooden chair, used Create to repair it and sat down again. That silenced theughter. Whether it was the spell itself or the speed with which he did it, he didnt know. Well, let me give you a very easy ultimatum, he said. No more very, no more abusive or predatory practices, no more extractions, no more ckmailing and a responsive,petitive market where people that get in debt dont end up imprisoned here, scrubbing floors for the rest of their lives or being sold on the Abyss Auction.
What moral dipshittery is tha- Trebba was stopped by a shard of arcane power flying by his head. The way he turned his neck afterwards to look at the splice in his wall made it quite evident that he hadnt even seen it. He gulped at the three extra ones still hovering around Johns head.
I think you dont get it, John said quite clearly. So, let me make it quite clear: I am not in here for my personal gain. I would gain more power and money by staying out of this and spending my time back home than you could ever give me. I am here because I am a child of the mundane world and it seems somebody who used to be bullied is exactly the kind of liberator this corrupt underbelly of the world needs. So, how about you catch up to the moral dipshittery of the world around you instead of holing up here as the king of the miserable?
And if I dont, you will kill me? Trebba asked.
As ast resort, sure, John shrugged, I would much rather you just give in, take the money you have right now and aid the transformation into a working society. I will tell you the same thing as everyone else before you, Trebba, he was distracted for a moment by the supervisors buzzing phone, but continued anyway, I am not going to persecute every single person who abuses their power in this city, it would take too long and would drain practically all resources, current and potential. You can take my amnesty, work under the morals of the west in the 21st century and continue making money or you can stick to being the oligarchs of this endtime-capitalistic terror and see me wash you all away.
Sure, I will jo-
And before you join me with a creepy grin like that on your face, John interrupted him and reached into his inventory to pull out a banana, which caused an understandable amount of confusion, let me be frank: if you work behind my back to do the same shit you do right now, or you betray me by hiring somebody to try and kill me, he tossed up the banana into the air.
Out of ground ripped Siena and executed a flurry of movements. She sat down on the armrest of Johns chair, licking her ws, as finely sliced pieces of banana rained down on the desk. If I find out, or survive, she will do that to whatever part of your body you like the most. Even if you seed, which is highly unlikely, I have way too many allies who would do that to you.
Is that a promise? Siena asked, wrapping her arms around Johns neck and then looking longingly over to Trebba. Please do betray him, it has been soooo loooong, she moaned that part in a needy voice, since I got to properly torture somebody.
A-and what if I say no to your proposal? Trebba asked.
Depends on what you do after that, John exined. You can run, but you better run far and keep your head low. If you stay, I will see you as an enemy. The plus side of being an enemy rather than a traitor is that I will do you the decency of imprisoning you or at least killing you quickly.
I stay with rmending the traitor route, Siena whispered.
I will take the running route, Trebba dered. How far is far enough that I wont have to ever see you again?
I rmend some isted ind in the ocean, John told him truthfully. Also, another thing: If you n to continue in the ve trade, you wont be safe from me anywhere. Much like the British, I n to end that practice globally.
In silence, he admitted to himself that he would never seed in that. There were too many corners of the world and too many slippery ways tomunicate or legal technicalities to get very removed all over the world forever. However, he could at least be a force that made it as hard as possible to still get away with it.
Well, if that is all our business here, I wish you some nice time packing. Brett, you are in charge here now, I am officially taking over, the brute looked taken aback at that, as did his buddy who was the more straightforward of the two. They fell silent when John handed Brett two million dors. To clean this ce up. Same warnings I gave your old boss apply to you, he already used that term as if Trebba wasnt in the room; he didnt feel like he owed that guy any more respect than he had already given him. You take the money, you take the job, we clear?
Clear, Brett said and then split the stack of cash with his buddy. Here.
Bro Tetsh looked like he would shed a manly tear.
John felt like he had to interrupt that party, Dont forget what the money is actually for. I will keep tabs on you. The two of them nodded assuringly, reaching for the ces John had healed earlier, and with that their rtionship status was on a level where the Gamer deemed them at least trustworthy.
Thorne a nervous voice echoed from behind him. The supervisor cleared her throat, reading a script from her smartphone. She looked up for a moment, all managerial ss was gone. The expression had more simrity to somebody with a fear of falling slowly approaching the edge of a cliff. Please, Mister Newman, I just told them what was going on, I am only the messenger.
What the John thought and then felt a sting in his guts as a mixture of awe at Scarletts genius and disgusted shock stirred inside there.
Thorne sees the recent happenings in territories affiliated with it as an uneptable interference of the markets in New York and surroundings. This most recent event is thest bit of suffering we can afford. The guild of Thorne deres war on John Newman, his guild Collide and its vassals. The war begins immediately, she looked up from the disy. Please, dont I am just a supervisor of this shop
Okay, if thats how Thorne wants to y that game, John hid his surprise about this turn of events; he was conflicted about whether to smile or call up Scarlett to scream at her anyway. Collide will defend itself against unjust attacks. I have not once raised my hand against Thorne itself and it never even contacted me before now, that was a lie, but the witnesses didnt know that. As for you specifically, he told the supervisor, as long as you dont raise your hand against me, you are safe, dont worry.
The relief was visible on her face. What pulled Johns attention next was the sound of mechanic joints working heavily. A robot in the colours of Thorne broke in and darted straight towards John.
He barely got the Observe in before Aclysia sliced the thing clean in half with Eclys. You have all of this nned to the detail, dont you? John thought as he caught a small, translucent crystal that had been luckily missed. He tossed the Shard of Potential into his inventory before anybody could ask him what that was.
He was still torn on the strategy Scarlett had kicked off, but he best talk about it when they had a quiet second, which definitely wasn''t the case now. Time to fight! John dered, acting like this was a challenge. Silently, he added, And conveniently get all 25 Shards on the way out.
He would have to exin what all of this meant to Raveter.
Chapter 448 – In search of a heart finale – Faux-Wars and Artificial Spirits
Chapter 448 C In search of a heart finale C Faux-Wars and Artificial Spirits
After John had finished his show of neutralizing threats that barely even counted as such, he put down one of the two extra teleporters he had on the roof of the Ikea. Really good for him that he managed to get the special ingredients for the upgrade on the side while doing the other grinding. He didnt have an exit point on this side of the bay, so it was a good ce even without the circumstances.
If you get attacked, contact me through one of the means on this card, John handed Brett a small business card; it was a in white thing with ck letters. While he had soon realized he needed some of cards like that, he hadnt found a great design for them yet. Collide, with all the power itmanded by now, was still without a proper symbol.
As for Trebba and the supervisor, both of them had left, as John had promised them they were allowed to.
Also, I will do you the favour and leave you with this as well, he gestured at a barrel shaped thing, ced next to the pavilion shaped teleporter, out of which a cleaning slime soon crawled and began its journey filled with trash and more trash. They will help with the hygiene situation. For the moment I wont raise taxes, so all you need to do is get your affairs in order and follow myws.
About that, Brett chimed in, can we read them up somewhere or are we supposed to just guess?
That was a good question. Luckily, together with Magoi, Scarlett, a stack of books on politics and political sciences and a set of meetings over thest weeks, he hadpiled an answer already. You can find a link to a website on that card, it has several different models of small-scale governance that I approve of and something like a basic constitution. Use that. He checked the time, while he was under no particrly great pressure to get back, he wanted to give everyone else exnations about what was happening. Not to mention, he finally had everything to create his crystal.
He had also epted a new quest that brought this little saga to an end.
The rewards were fantastic, to put it frankly. He really didnt need that extra dick size, but he would take it. That would put him at 20 centimetres, any bigger than that and his dick would probably start going deeper than biology intended.
I get you arent the most moral fellows and, to be perfectly honest, I only put you in charge because you were around at the right time. If you dont think you can shoulder the moral burden, find someone who can, if you want to keep being the ones in power, I suggest you use this little trick: behave as if Gaia would punish you whenever you do something to someone that you would not do to a friend.
Brett looked at the money still in his hands. It was clear what motivated him here and it surely wasnt that he thought Johns intentions were the best ones. If the Gamer had the time and the knowledge about the people in Ikea, he would have picked his leadership more carefully. For the moment, he hoped that they were afraid enough of him ripping them to shreds that they would keep to his wishes and install one of the systems described on the website. Usually that ended with the people he originally installed getting voted out rather quickly.
Sometimes it got violent, the overly oppressed had a tendency ofshing out when suddenly given the opportunity, but for the most part things went over rather peacefully. Not in small part because John took the Marshall-n as a guideline and just dumped resources into thesemunities. Richer and happier people were unlikely to revolt as long as they continued to be rich and happy.
John finally got on the tform and teleported.
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He called a meeting as soon as possible. So, Thorne dered war on us, John broke the news, causing confusion on the table.
Why the fuck would they do that? Eliza wanted to know. That makes less sense than a fish wearing a ballet-dress made from the bloody guts of its enemies.
If Scarlett wants to hurt us, Magoi added, this certainly strikes me as ineffective.
Rave was rolling a bouncy ball over the table, passing it between her hands; her confusion settled for a dry look after she looked at Johns nonchnt look. Yall just wait a sec, she told them, he got that All ording to keikaku expression.
Keikaku means n in Japanese, by the way, John added. But I have to remind you that this isnt my n. Honestly, I am still debating whether I am fine with it.
I could exin, his phone rang out with the voice of the redhead who was the actual person to kick this whole thing off. However, unlike every other evil mastermind, I dont like monologuing. I do like it if people stroke my ego though. Exin my genius to them, John.
Calm your mind-vagina, I can hear you rubbing it from here, Eliza cussed at the phone on the table.
To put it simply, Scarlett has drawn a line in the sand, John told everyone. Thorne is standing on one side of it and we on the other. Everyone who is opposed to us will gather around Thorne. All of the most subversive elements in New York will be concentrated in one faction, on which we have the highest of possible sleeper agents, he gestured at the phone. Once we beat that coalition, we are the only real power in the area and we can do what we want without pushback.
Why didnt we do this from the start? Rave wanted to know. Couldve just started this war when we met ya in the strip bar, if this was what ya wanted from the start, Scarlett.
I needed to get the situation right. The decision to go to war had to originate from the board of directors, not me. Otherwise it would have raised suspicion within my own rank. Cant have that, now can I? the blood-soaked technocrat answered. Thats why I coordinated which territories you take over by highest emotional impact. Some ruined personal projects here, some private funds set aside confiscated by you guys there, with a dash of attacks randomly executed while they were visiting.
And all of that while still making their deration on us look rather unjustified, John said, meaning that I will get out of this with the clean vest I wanted. Collide will be seen as the ones defending themselves. At the same time, our name and reputation should have travelled far enough by now. The people who are afraid of us cant afford to care about the optics. When the biggest fish in the pond is going after us, they need to ride with the swarm.
We will have an officially clean vest, Magoi raised his voice in critique, but this is a conspiracy of the highest order.
I agree, which is why I said I dont know if I am fine with it.
I knew you people would have moral questions like that, Scarletts dry voice stated. Which is why I didnt tell you. The snowball is already tumbling down the hill. I am getting e-mails asking to be part of this coalition as we speak. News really did travel fast in the third millennium. Without a doubt, Scarlett was helping that along with some anonymous e-mails or other ways to spread the info. You can me and curse at me if you want, but I cut the amount of time you will need to install the new order by a tremendous amount.
Magoi sighed but shrugged while shaking his head, Guess she is right on that front. Nevertheless, I cannot continue to work with you if you string me along. I have a short patience for non-disclosure.
Yeah, this is the only time I will let you get away with something of this scope without informing us, John waspletely with Magoi on that front. If he had known then that this was how it would end, he would have maybe agreed to do this only after several hours of discussion. Its true that this is effective, morality aside, but I dont believe for a second that you did it this way just because it helped me. What is your endgame here, Scarlett?
You seriously want to ruin the surprise? she asked.
I rather wouldnt be surprised by another war, yes, John told her. Spit out the whole n, or you better believe I will take this war seriously instead of going by your ybook.
Okay, fine, Scarlett sounded annoyed on one hand and smug on the other. This is stage two out of four, my personal endgame is eliminating a certain person
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You know, I love that we have someone of my intellect levels around now, John told Rave after they had retreated back to the living room. That n, the conspiracy side of it notwithstanding, will leave us with a minimum of casualties in a minimum of time. Unless something truly awful happens on the way there.
Way to toot your own horn, his girlfriendughed. Ya know, I think that strategy is way tooplicated. This is why I aint sitting in any of those fancy bureaus, drowning in wealth and paperwork. I would just punch the bad guy.
I find that whole fucking thing disgusting as shit, Eliza dered; she was not a fan of all this secrecy. Look at you asshats, tricking the history books with your uber-move.
The truth of the matter, Eliza, is that we would eventually have to face a coalition one way or another, John told her. With the difference that they would feel cornered, and cornered people that practice human-trafficking and exploitation dont tend to have a moral code that keeps them from doing whatever they think necessary to cling onto a smidge of power. If you have to pick between the evil strategy that will immediately allow us to identify all enemies or letting those enemies do their evil shit for however long it would take us to get to all of them otherwise, plus the option of them turning into terrorists when we finally do reach them, what would you pick?
Option 3, fuck all of this shit, I hate both of those, let me just murder everyone in a day, Eliza dered.
You are going to judge thousands of people on a single day without executing a single innocent? John continued to examine this. Seriously, I dont like this line in the sand strategy, but now that it is here, it seems to be the least evil one that I can think of.
For someone who doesnt like it, you are remarkably enthusiastic about it, jackass, the blood mage still wasnt on-board.
I just cant deny the genius of it, he admitted. Scarlett set everything up so that exactly the people that I want to blow out are going to join Thorne and those who wont are going to stay neutral or, even better, join me out of principle. No great nation was ever built without some underhanded tricks and I can sleep at night if this is as bad as its going to get.
Fucking fair enough, do your shit, Eliza was obviously not on the same wavelength here; if they took this discussion to the end, she would, in all due likelihood, end up advocating for the honest but lengthier method of just continuing what they were currently doing until everything was cleaned up.
However, with her falling silent a sense of eptance that this was what they were doing now settled in. The course was set, they would follow Scarletts n.
A window opened to inform John that his current refining process was done. Finally, he eximed. He had started refining the original crystal before the meeting even began and then he had to refine it again in the middle of it because the first one did not include the essences.
Now it was time to do the usual. First, hebined both the figure and the crystal, then he cast Artificial Spirit. He didnt think of any character traits this time around. Both Aclysia and Momo had be their own people but they also had roughly stuck to that first impulse. He wanted to dictate as little of another persons life as possible.
With that logic he maybe shouldnt have gone around creating souls in the first ce, but he already did it twice, so whats the harm in a third?
The mana vanished. A window confirming the questpletion opened. He waited. Everyone waited. Nothing happened. He already knew that routine, but this was taking way too long, so he gently stubbed the figurine. She fell over backwards andnded on her back with her arms sprawled out.
Still nothing. She was there, but aside from her presence, John felt nothing from her. Not in the Metra sense, where there was nothinging through, more like he was watching a superhero movie that was exclusively a greenscreen with an editor desperately trying to figure where to put the effects.
Thats when he realized he fucked up. He had created a life. That was it. He had created a life that had and needed nothing. An Artificial Spirit did not need to eat, did not grow naturally, did not do anything. Without any predefined characteristics, be it servitude, a hunger for knowledge, or the want of anything. In that vacuum, the spirit inside was now trying to figure out what this whole living thing even was.
I am a moron, he muttered to himself and gently scooped up the little figure. Can you hear me? he asked the figurine. He did not get an answer. Then, after sharing memories with her that gave her a concept of what hearing was, he asked again. Can you hear me?
Yes, it was a basic answer, spoken in the uncaring tone of a binary decision-making process.
That made things moreplicated. If she had beenpletely broken, just an existence on the level of a rock, John could have convinced himself to destroy her and try a second time. However, this showed him that she was a living being and as thus it wouldnt be destroying but killing her.
John ryed the situation to everyone around before turning to Aclysia specifically. If I use my own memories to teach her everything, I think that may cause too much confusion with me being flesh, not to mention the other differences
I understand. Aclysias spirit was always open to him anyway, but he still felt the need to get her approval. She kneeled down at his side and put her hands around his. I am with you, John. Stay like this and I will always follow.
With that, he reached back all the way to the start of their rtionship and her life. He channelled her exploring and experiencing of her senses into the new being. Attempting to cut out as much unnecessary experiences and feelings as possible, John kneeled there for almost half an hour. He had to pick and choose carefully. All he wanted was for her to start thinking for herself, develop a sense of what the world was. He couldnt just fill her up with experiences, especially the likes for which she currentlycked the capacity to reproduce them, such as speech, it would have led to some major confusion.
There was no way to catch all of it though. Memories werent precise in the first ce and some he picked as perfect to introduce one concept also had an unbreakable bond to certain emotions. As these were Aclysias memories, most of these emotions were linked to John.
He made sure to repeat one phrase every now and again to try and counteract the feelings he couldnt untangle. Call her by her name every time. A name he had gotten through the usual pattern, taking the first syble of each of the essences.
These are not your memories. You are your own person and will make your own ones. I am your creator, John Newman, and I want you to think and experience the world. These are not your memories. You are your own person and your name is Beatrice.
Chapter 449 – A robotic service girl.
Chapter 449 C A robotic service girl.
John ced thest of the materials on the table. Baelementium for level ups, steel and othermon metals for mass, Abyssal silicone and rubber for skin. The metadermis, Aclysias impossible blend of silicone and Baelementium, dissolved into itsponents shortly after leaving her body and was thus impossible to hand over. Beatrice had churned her way through all that was offered, only a bit of the previous and the newest stack that John had put in front of her remained.
While she did that, John faced another question: There were two ss levels he could spend. One from reaching level 130 and the other from the quest he had justpleted. The obvious choice was Elementalist, like always. There was just one tiny problem.
He couldnt beat the challenge. Synchronizing with one? He managed to do that frequently and could even do it pretty much onmand. Two? On a fluke, maybe. Three? He just couldnt.
The way he currently dealt with that is that they just tried for twenty minutes every day. Until they seeded in that, he nned to keep one slot for the ss Level open. Now he had two, and letting one sit around unused was already a waste of a strong resource.
Question was which ss to push second. The quest gave him a free level in Puppeteer, but he still didnt feel the need for extra Possession Slots. In the first ce, his current n for how to use Possession in the future was still a work in progress. He had to wait for Aclysia to produce more Baelementium.
A proper thing to chase would have been the requirements for Arcweaving. That meant he would invest in either Martial Artist or Arcanist. Another possibility was to invest into the Gamer ss. Lastly, he considered the Fateweaver one, because he had the quest for the sailing license. Whether or not he really needed to be able to navigate a boat, the ability to maintain mobile barriers would be pretty handy, and that goal was reachable by level 140 if he invested one ss Level right now.
Yeah, lets go after that for now, he decided and took his free level up he still had lying around from when he killed Gehnigm.
It seems Gaia is feelingzy today, John thought, or her calction running World Soul side just isnt feeling the need of giving me something good. Two of those three were recycled, with the one that had reced Assault from the previous choices being a useless information gathering ability. He couldnt im that he remembered ALL of the monsters and the loot he ever encountered, but his memory was good enough that he was certain he could find what he needed anyway. It would be a wasted Perk.
He also excluded Investing, because (as high as his mana regeneration was) he found the downside to be toorge. Therefore, the Loot Basin was the obvious choice. At least that was a Quality of Life improvement.
Moments after he had made the choice, Beatrice gulped down thest piece of metal and stood up. Her appearance was now deviating from the base figurine in a lot of ways and all of them were exactly like Aclysias. From the deted shoulder pads over the removal of unnecessarily frilly parts to her taking away the blindfold she was wearing by design and recing it with a pair of light green eyes, it all was a carbon copy.
The only thing that greatly differentiated Beatrice and Aclysias heads was their hair. Where Aclysias was long enough to reach her hips, Beatrices silver hair ended at chin-length, a ck headband extending over it from one ear to the other. Despite the difference in length, they were unified in the silver colour and the way they parted leftwards, partly covering one eye.
For their bodies, John had actually found out that A2 and 2B had different measurements, with the former being more athletic and thetter being closer to an hourss figure. Therefore, Beatrice had small C-cup breastspared to Aclysias Bs. ording to the measurements, Aclysia would have also needed to narrow her hips, but he had gotten used to seeing her with that ass, so he told her to keep that part as it was.
Pleased to make everyones acquaintance, she took a little bow; even her voice and mannerisms were the same, graceful, calm and sincere. My name is Beatrice. I am confused. The details of my creation are lost data. Well, there was one difference, she had a very choppy way of speaking. I hope to be assistance to Master. Even as a faulty product.
John wanted to end that line of thought before it began to take root in any way. You are not a faulty product, Beatrice, you are an individual with a w. That just puts you in the same boat as everyone else in the world. He had raised all of her Stats to 15 for the moment (with the exception of Libido which was still a 0) to allow her to act in this world functionally. In the first ce, this is my fault.
Affirmative. This was your mistake, Beatricement was quite direct. However, it is I who is faulty as the result. Comints about the situation are useless. Point of individual rather than product is acknowledged.
Good? John was not exactly sure how to talk to her. Her mental signals were just passive, there was basically nothing to read there. From the looks of it, she just epted that she was alive now. On the positive side, she was able to interpret all the senses she had properly now. So, what do you want to do?
I have no such thing as a want, Beatrice answered. Should I acquire one?
Uhm, sure. It couldnt hurt.
Acquiring want, Beatrice said as if she was initiating a booting sequence. She fell silent and John could feel her mental cogs turning.
Eliza startedughing as it went on. You see that?! she said when turning to Nia. THAT is how fucking dumb you look like when you space out.
I have encountered a mirror before, was all the nk had to answer.
Did you make any dumb grimaces in front of it or did you just creepily stare at yourself for twenty minutes, you pale bimbo? Eliza wanted to know. Because I bet my sweet ass on thetter.
I stood there wondering how I could make a proper smile, but I only came up with this, Nia showed them an expression that was basically just her lips stretching horizontally and showing her teeth.
That is a smile of some description, Rave hesitatingly chimed in. I dont rmend ya make that the second addition to your repertoire of expressions though.
I found it to be unsatisfying, Nia agreed in her emotionless tone. That aside, you owe me your sweet ass, Eliza.
Did you just fucking say that with a straight face? Eliza was actually dumbfounded. You couldnt even spank me properly if you tried and your dirty talk sucks.
Nia stared at the blood mage for almost thirty seconds. Having two empty faced girls churning over something in quiet was weird. Therge difference was that Beatrice would, in all due likelihood,e up with some robotic answer by the end, while Nia would spout something on the border of nonsense.
The pariah turned very slowly towards Rave. I wish to trade Elizas sweet ass against cuddling Copernicus, she finally said.
I mean, both of these things are basically publicly owned around here? Rave finally asked.
Nia fell silent again. After another ten seconds of her pale blue eyes drilling into the pink-haired techno-lovers skull, she added, I hope you liked this joke.
Before anybody could be surprised at the fact that Nia even managed to be aware that she had just made a joke, Beatrice finally spoke up again. I have concluded my acquisition, everyone waited, I do not know what I want, and was disappointed. Suggestion: My want shall be given.
That was not quite how John wanted this to go, but she was literally minutes old. Trying to force this issue was unlikely to lead anywhere. Okay, how about we do it like this: Aclysia, take her to Metra. The berserker babe was still guarding the Enve. I want you two to look after Beatrice and help her find something she wants to do. As fellow Artificial Spirits you are more qualified to understand her than I am.
If Beatrice was unable to find anything she wanted that was most likely down to her not yet having experienced anything she could have wanted. Maybe, if they just exposed her to the world a little bit and showed her how others like her operated, she would form some sort of character. As of right now, it seemed like she was just a robot.
Aclysia bowed, May I request that you raise her Stats to the currently avable maximum beforehand?
I dont know how to weigh them yet, so I have to deny that, John told her.
Can you at least give her the 10 Libido threshold? she continued her requests. I understand your reluctance to, Master, but aplete look at human life seems impossible without a sexual drive of some capacity.
Usually when Artificial Spirits got their Libidos, they were ready to just have sex immediately. No real wonder, considering they were horny for the first time in their life and didnt have to go through all the confusion of adolescence that usually came along with that.
That was why John hesitated, he didnt want to nail someone he had created five minutes after throwing them into life. With Aclysia he had taken his sweet time because he didnt know what he was doing. Momo had gone months without knowing what lust was and had only agreed to him doing it after talking it out. Back then he had almost done it without telling her and she had been understandably displeased. This time around, he was a bit more thoughtful.
Now here was this girl that seemed more like a robot and he was just going to put it on her? He had no idea how she would react. However, Aclysia was right. Maybe Beatrice woulde to realize that the thing she wanted the most was to be a sexual servant of his. That would be unorthodox, but if that was her decision, then that was that.
Okay, fine, he finally went in and raised Beatrices Libido to 10.
I have ess to new emotions and bodyponents, the robotic spirit let them know, but she didnt act on it. As a matter of fact, theplete passiveness of her spirit didnt even waver despite this. That was new on all levels. As I understand it, my current mission is to follow and obey Aclysia. Is this correct?
Pretty much, John confirmed but then remembered something else. Right, I forgot something over the shock of my initial fuck-up, he told everyone and reached into his inventory. He pulled two identical sets of clothing from his inventory for the both of them. As great as the Nier clothes are on every scale, its time we dressed you in something original.
Aclysia and Beatrice immediately got into the eating part, and a few minutester they were both transformed into that new set.
Of course, it was still maid oriented and, of course, it was still sexy. The shoes were the first recements, fashionably sharp things of polished ck but separate entities from the stockings that ran up their legs to the edge of their thighs. From there, strappings reached upwards, over whitece panties and connecting to the garter belt.
That garter belt was only visible if someone shamelessly lifted up their skirts. Their old dress skirt had been very short, basically hiding nothing. The new one reached about three quarters down their legs. A slit on each side of the hips brought the sexy back by showing off a scandalous amount of leg with each step though, and the skirt was stretched around the hips with the clear intent of leaving no curves to the imagination.
Simrly, a ck corset-like article covered their waists, a gap at the front, where strings ran criss-cross from one half to the other, showed off the white shirt underneath. That sleeveless shirt was held around the back of the neck by simple strings and covered their medium sized chests. The upper edge of the corset underlined the bags of soft fun quite nicely.
From the shoulder downwards to the fingertips, their arms were covered in ck satin gloves, not a single wrinkle on them, which were decorated with lines the colour of the two sisters hair. Two empty circles right at the upper edge of the gloves evoked a slight feeling of emptiness, as John wanted to put Collides emblem there, but they didnt have one yet.
Overall, the new outfit looked like a mixture between maids and ssy but sexydies. That was exactly where John wanted to go with that. Whether it was better or not than the previous one, he didnt want to make the judgement. He just liked having something original.
You look beautiful, he told them nheless.
Thank you, Master, Aclysia immediately had a little smile bloom on her face.
Thatment does please me, Beatrice said. She wasnt confused about it, she just noted that discovery about herself and moved on. Herck of strong feelings had advantages, evidently.
For John, the fact that there was something that pleased her was already great to hear. Okay, we do as nned then, he said this both in reference to Scarletts n and the current job he had given Aclysia.
And so, three days passed.
Chapter 450 – Secretary work
Chapter 450 C Secretary work
I GIVE UP! Metra came screaming into Johns office. Yes, the Gamer now had an office. It was a small, fully outfitted room that he had found inside the Guild Bank. It came with everything he needed, except aputer, but that was quickly bought and inte quickly installed by Magoi.
When he said fully outfitted, he meant one of the old bureaus with a massive wooden desk, lines of (mostly empty) shelves and an extra conference table in the edge of the room. Not one of those awful new designed CEO rooms where it was just a ss table with aputer on it. How was one supposed to get hidden blowjobs under a ss table? That just went against all of Johns principles.
Anyway, he had paperwork. He had always dreaded this was going to happen, but now it was a reality. Between a small, neutral guild licking his boots, the areas he had already taken over asking for advice or aid, threats, trade requests (people wanted to get what he sold on the auction directly) and other such things, John was actually getting a lot of stuff sent to him.
What are you giving up on? John asked, eyes glued to the screen as he formted a nice but firm email about how he did not n to sell any more bouquets anytime soon, no matter how much the customers husband liked them.
What do you think?! she spewed out and threw Beatrice onto his table. The impact of the weighty female shattered his keyboard and monitor, the desk itself got away with a few dents. Papers flew everywhere and therge goldfish bowl on the corner (currently inhabited by a golden crocodile), lost some water. The robotic spirit looked unfazed by this, even as she hadnded on her back and was now staring at John upside down. This brat is getting on my nerves.
I am a bad student. Opinion, source: Metra. She is a bad teacher. Fact, sources: Aclysia, Beatrice, Smander, Seth, Ti Beatrice began but was interrupted by a halberd ripping into the desk next to her head. I take this as a non-verbal request to cease talking. Iply.
Thats what I am giving up on, this sass-sting, arrogant robo-bitch, Metra dered, pulling her weapon out of the table.
John, who used Observe on his keyboard to see if he could use Create to repair it and found out the resulting window wasnt even for a keyboard but for electronic junk, same for his monitor, sighed and leaned back in his leather chair. He loved that thing because it wasfy and could swivel. Look, I am just happy she learned what sass is.
Beatrice raised a hand, still lying, to imply she wanted toment. John allowed her with a simple gesture. If what I am doing is categorizable as sass, I am not knowledgeable of when I do it. I simply use truths.
Deal with her yourself! Metra dered, already stomping to the door and mming it shut behind herself so hard that one of the hinges broke. Not even a minute and Johns previously orderly office was a mess.
However, John took that in stride because this was actually way more entertaining than the paperwork. After fixing the door, he went back to his desk. Beatrice was still lying there. After three days, it seemed like something of a personality had formed, albeit it didnt deviate much from the initial passive as hell temte.
So, what do you want? John asked her in hope that something would have changed.
I had an epiphany on that front, she actually answered. I want nothing.
In other words, you dont care whether you keep lying there for the rest of the day or have something to do? John asked for rification.
Correct. I am indifferent regarding that. Extendedbat situations are burdensome, however, Beatrice answered. I will asionally change from just lying. I may engage in masturbation. Perhaps I feel more like standing somewhere. Generally, I prefer to just exist around. I want nothing aside from continuing that existence.
But what do you do for fun? John asked.
Orders, was the single word she uttered.
Pardon? That needed an boration.
I find that I enjoy moving towards a goal. The goal itself is of little importance. I could work for hours on a task. Problem: I am not capable of picking my own work. I prefer to justy around. If given no outside input, Beatrice did give him the desired extension. Exceptions: I will sometimes act on impulse for instant gratification. Putting a vase in the perfect centre of a table. Cleaning tables. Masturbating.
Further exception: In movement heavy environments I do find it satisfying to execute a chain of movements perfectly. I also checked the position of every brick thrice before I was happy with each individual cement. Then again, I do not seek out fights myself. Rece Exception with validation. Theory: I may be azy perfectionist due to ovep from Aclysias personality with theck of my own original one. Assuming this is true, I have a new answer to the question of what I want.
Lets hear it, John told her. This robotic girl was kind of growing on him; once one caught the drift, it was absolutely easy to handle her.
I need to be ordered. I need my want externally dictated. I feel satisfaction in fulfilling a job. Especially the kind Aclysia would like. I do not pick jobs when left alone. Feels like a hassle. Conclusion: I am incapable of living on my own and need continuous guidance, Beatrice looked at him and smirked. Ironic. You attempted to make something that was its own thing. The result was a person who would do nothing without external input.
Well, you got me there, John sighed; he knew she didnt mean that in a mocking fashion (at least not mainly), she was just observing reality. You are capable of distinguishing between who you should take orders from or not though, right?
Mostly.
Not the answer I was looking for.
Facts dont care about your feelings.
I know, I know, John waved off, taking the junk that had been his monitor and keyboard and loading it into a trash can. The parts not buried under Beatrice, that was. Okay, for the moment send me a mental picture whenever you are not sure that you can trust someone who gives you an order and wait for me to say yes or no.
That sounds like a functional practice, Beatrice agreed.
John started gathering his papers again and had a very obvious idea. You dont mind repetitive tasks, right? No matter how boring?
In the first ce, Ick the feeling of boredom. No, wrong. Reformtion: I dont feel boredom, as such passiveness is my continuous state of existence. Beatrice had a self-aware moment. Moving my hands with purpose isrgely preferable to just standing around. I find to especially enjoy doing chores. Another aspect of Aclysia I took over.
A bitter, John bought an extra table for the room through the building design tab and ced it nearby. He handed Beatrice all of the papers and left her with orders to filter out the interesting ones. With her off it, he got to fix his table. Then he got back in his swivel chair and waited for newputer equipment to arrive.
If you likebos so much, maybe we should focus you around Agility? John suggested as he watched her go through several stages of scanning the documents. Therge pile was separated into smaller and smaller piles sorted by importance. With nothing else to do, he checked if she was doing her job well. So far, there were no problems.
I would appreciate that. Also spears. I like the range advantage, Beatrice told him.
Alright, John nodded; as far as he was concerned, she had awakened a personality now. Sure, it was cold turkey, but she did make choices and suggestions. Lets get through that pile and then run a dungeon to get you up to speed.
_________________________________________________________________
How did Beatrice perform in the dungeon? About as well as expected, which was the worst in the group.
Single enemies gave her difficulties. Sure, they were buffed up for the group of eight (John and all his familiars minus Stirwin, who was going to stay out of engagements for as long as John didnt have the mana to feed him to a usable level), but everyone else could at least beat one enemy at a time. This wasnt universally true, depending on the dungeon a single enemy was stronger or weaker, but it was true for this one.
They were in the Angel I.D., not for the bouquet that the earlier email had wanted so much, but because John nned to create another artificial crystal and sell it. That was just about the quickest way to get money, as those things went for hundreds of millions. Even if he had to grind days for it, he woulde out with a win once he got there.
The dungeon that lead up to the Golden Tulip was a maze of greenhouses, to put it simply, around that central garden. The advantage of this I.D. was that the end point was always in sight, but the way there was often hard to find as the greenhouses werent connected in any predictable matter.
From the size of the ss constructs, one could estimate how many enemies were inside of them. Depending on the shape of the roof, one of three different debuffs affecting one of the physical stats was also active.
In any way, the enemies were Angelic Gardeners. If John had to put a nickname on them, it would have been Holy Janitors. They wore golden overalls, had wings of pure white and fought with gardening tools that had been upgraded to look more dangerous.
There were three currently around, each engaged by a single person, being Aclysia, Beatrice and Gnome respectively.
As was expected, Aclysia beat hers first. The Angelic Gardener put up somewhat of a fight, managing to block strikes by Eclys and dodge when Marath came for him. However, he was always on the back foot and eventually cornered. He managed to use a spell that had one of the nts they tended to attack the weaponized maid by trying to bite her with a thorny maw, but a timely executedbination of Maraths HP-buffed attack and Servants Strike took both of those out at once.
Gnome had it a bit harder. Until now she had been their weakest member. As the only remaining Tier 2 elemental, she was a cut below everyone else. Gaining one less stat point per level and having no ess to unleashing were quite severe limitations. On the flip-side, she had control over an easily avable and malleable resource.
Her fight with the Angelic Gardener came down to how much she could take. With her high Endurance and Strength, that was a lot. She gave ground, blocking the attacks of the sharpened rake with her bare body. Scratches covered her, revealing the earthy brown of her true nature under the pale skin, but eventually she stopped on a patch of grass and stood firm.
The Angelic Gardener thought himself in the advantage and conjured knee-high grass to entangle her. Not only did that not work, Gnome had no problem ripping herself out of the bind. The stone elemental then caused the ground to cave. Between losing his footing and trying to keep up the spell, the enemy was finally slow enough that Gnome couldnd a punch. Of course, it came along with a S-sorry!
Meanwhile, Beatrice was locked insidebat that looked like it would not resolve within the next few minutes. It was a guy with a giant gardening scissor against a girl with a fairly basic spear John had made. It had a Baelementium tip, but that was all that was impressive about it.
Still, that tip was more impressive than the way Beatrice wielded the weapon. All she really did with it was thrust and pull back. Barebones basics, nothing more. Attempts to knock aside the enemy weapon or other uses of her superior Agility were sluggish. This came from ack of both skills andbat experience. To give her at least thetter, they let her slug it out with the enemy.
It was a grindstone procedure. They both took about the same amount of hits, but as an Artificial Spirit, Beatrice had a HP regeneration that was through the roof. The hits she took were thus disappearing shortly after theynded, being just blunt damage, she took from the Angelic Gardener using his scissor like an awkward club, while she whittled him down shallow cut by shallow cut.
The fight was ultimately decided when the Angelic Gardener wagered on a sudden attack, opening his scissor wide in an attempt to snap off Beatrices neck. She made a side step in the nick of time and rammed the spear into his left foot''s tendon, crippling him and making the rest of fight a short-lived exercise.
You suck, Smander stated bluntly once it was over.
Affirmative, Beatrice stated, taking the insult not with grace but with uncaring rationalism. My footwork is unsatisfactory. Handling of the spear uncreative. Patterns predictable by enemies. My defence iscking. High regeneration and health allow me to leave myself open. However, baiting is too risky a strategy. Should not take damage in the first ce. Need to improve drastically.
To be perfectly fair to you, John said, you dont have any skills yet. He had put her on a Damage Dealer and then Melee specialization but had bought nothing with the few points she had. Momo was more useful early, but that was because Mana Battery was just that good. By herself she brought very little to the table. It wasnt until Momo had gotten ess to the fireflies that she had started to be any use outside of throwing the blue around like the green rained down on strippers. Even then, that was her most defining trait.
Affirmative, Beatrice began with what was probably her favourite word. I will need further skills and perks to be useful. Suggestion: I should be put on patrol duty until that date. I am strong enough to pacify average Abyssals.
That was a good idea; currently it was only Metra who was really defending their territory and it was better to have one person for each teleporter. Also, he trusted Beatrice more with keeping up with thews that he set in ce, the berserker babe was not exactly a moral person.
You go do that after we get done here, he agreed. We need to get you a smartphone though, so that Scarlett can tell you where not to stop the invaders.
Chapter 451 – Plans and Time 1 – Ticking by
Chapter 451 C ns and Time 1 C Ticking by
Ya know, this feels all kind of wrong, Ravemented out of her turning swivel chair as John pulled the blue pin that represented their own influence out of yet another of their previously conquered positions.
Think Scarlett will betray us after all? her boyfriend asked as he threw the pin into one of the colour-coded stic dishes.
Nah, ya know me, I am the trusting type, Rave told him, still turning, but she aint the only one that could attack us in their loose alliance, so I dont get why we are ceding so much ground in the first ce.
Because of the Spanish Civil War of the 20th century, that answer got him a very judgemental look, and Rave put her foot down to stop the rotation.
Yeah, go ahead, Johnny, see where showing off gets ya with your not particrly informed girlfriend, she told him drily, crossing her arms.
You sound genuinely annoyed, John stated while blinking rapidly. That was not a state he often got his girlfriend into and he was sure he did not like it.
Ya have been a bit too in love with your own brain recently, Rave told him, dial it down or no more hugs and kisses.
But I like those! John whined overdramatically and stumbled towards her with outstretched arms.
Rave raised a leg up high, stopping him by pushing the sole of her foot against his lower stomach as he gestured towards her like a love starved zombie. Ja, ya do, sohowabout ya dont be a smartass, she smiled again, slurring her words a bit. So we both dont have to live through those terrible times?
I will try my best, he swore, and the leg pulled backwards until she lowered it and tugged it between them as they kissed. A pleasant shiver spread from his lips touching her glossy, soft ones over his body; their tongues whirled for a second as she gently slid a hand on his neck.
Then the kiss ended and she gave him a headbutt. It wasnt terrible, but the impact definitely hurt. There, now ya stop treating your C admittedly not the brightest C best girl like an arrogant prick and we can hugter, she smirked. Watch some more Fullmetal Alchemist.
That show is actually good, John smirked, rubbing his forehead and going back to the map to pull out onest pin.
He wasnt mad about being berated; when Rave, the person in this world he loved the most, told him that he was getting obnoxious, he wanted to hear it. Better to be corrected early than annoy her for weeks and not knowing it.
Anyway, the exnation is quite easy: Opportunistic alliances that think they have almost won start in-fighting, given enough time. The great thing is, even if we are pushed into just this little corner, he tapped on the central pin on the Hudson that was the Guild Hall and the ce they were currently residing in. We are remarkably safe. Thorne has the biggest navy around these parts, which is abysmal, so even if they tried tond here in earnest, we could beat them back quite easily.
Unless they bought Sigmund or someone like him to crush us, Rave pointed out.
Just another reason why we keep losing to them, John nodded, they wont spend that much money on a resource they dont feel they need. That aside, Sigmund specifically I doubt wille here as long as Seminaris is
WHO IS TALKING ABOUT THAT BITCH?! As if on cue, Metra stormed into the room. I heard her name, what is this about? Answer me!
as long as Seminaris is afraid Metra could use something that will murder her king candidate at the current moment, John finished his sentence and hopefully supplied the necessary content.
Ah, I see, Metra threw herself in another chair and slowly began to spin, Rave was at it as well. Slowly his other girls started arriving in the room.
If any fuckers of high enough levele here, Eliza, who had probably heard the conversation from the other end of the ship, there is always the giant ass red button we could press.
What she was referring to was awakening Thana on them. That was not only risky enough to warrant that situation being the example used in a dictionary definition of the word but it would also be feeding souls to the proverbial apocalypse engine. Nevertheless, John had no illusions about what would happen if he died. Maybe if Rave was still around after him, or any of his other girls the blood mage was close with, Eliza wouldnt want to just let Thana run wild. In every other situation using the goddess of genocide as a panicked defence protocol was perversely better for humanity as a whole.
You know, I would have to worry way less about things going south if you didnt assure me that you will let her take control if I die, John told the blood mage.
Worry more then, you nipple pressing nerd! Eliza screamed at him, taking him by the arm, whirling around her own axis and tossing him into a chair. DONT EVEN FUCKING MENTION YOU DYING AROUND ME OR I WILL RIP YOUR HEART OUT! she grabbed him by the cor and started shaking him, violently. Dont you dare tell me that that sentence makes no sense; I will feed you to a school of thirsty Thaidyboys!
Aclysia freed him from that torture by pushing some ripe honeydew on a toothpick in the range of Elizas mouth. Like a tarant sensing prey, she struck suddenly, and Aclysia was left with half a toothpick. I demand you at least use your inside voice to berate Master; this screaming is over the top, she told the blood mage and silenced an answer by taking a second honeydew off the te on her salver. Notplying will result in a ceasing of honeydew supplies.
Fucking fine, Eliza turned around, sitting down in her favourite spot (on Johnsp) and snuggling her back against him. This is the only damn time I am happy I am kind of small, she grumbled and then cried out in protest when Nia forced herself into the chair next to her wordlessly. No matter the tirade of curses Eliza then threw at the nk, the blonde just sat there on Johns thigh.
What is currently going on in that head of yours? John asked Nia as Stirwin manifested on his shoulder and ran down his hand. The crocodile hatchling was as unafraid as always of the pariah, despite her very existence being pr opposite to him.
Climbing on her extended hand, Stirwin was raised up in front of her face. With an odd movement, that happened quickly and was executed with certainty but appeared to the naked eye as if Nia was moving through water, the nk raised her other hand and scratched the crocodile under the chin. Yaaaaaassssss, he squealed and hissed.
Instead of answering, a strange ck substance started oozing from the roots of her hairs, creating swirls over her white skin, down her neck and stopping at her corbone where they connected with her tattoos, like drops of colour in a clear pond falling down to the nts growing on the bed.
It didnt touch her face, however, instead growing into the air in front of it and forming a sort of vizor. The air was filled with an odd tenseness as she looked around.
While visually simr to Lorylim, that feeling was entirely different. The Nirvana Nia pulled her powers from was actually empty of everything, the weirdness came from the senses knowing they should feel something but didnt. On the contrary, with the Lorylim the senses were overloaded with signals that shouldnt happen in that configuration. Both were alien and creepy, but one waspletely calm while the other was a cacophony of everything. Much like water and alcohol appeared the same in a ss, these two only shared some minor aspects.
Now for why Nia did that in the first ce, John found out a secondter when a wave rippled from her skin outwards throughout the whole conference room. The world was washed clear of every colour rted to red. Rave did not look happy with that change, her hair having transformed into a greenish grey in the absence of pink. I do not trust Scarlett, the nks mouth finally opened. That wave just now had cut off magical ess to all electronic devices in the room. None of the elementals, not even Stirwin, had been harmed in the process.
She was, without a doubt, getting stronger, quickly as well. Nobody had any idea what kind of training she went through when she just upped and disappeared for hours on end.
I trust her enough to go along with this, John said, but dont worry, I took care of escape routes if we should get turned on. We will relocate further down the coast, probably somewhere in Florida, and try again there.
And bash her fucking brains in if she thinks she could get away with that, Elizamented, still being fed honeydew. The pure yellow stood out immensely in the otherwise changed world.
Pretty much, John said. My revenge shall be swift and involve her bent over this table well, I wouldnt rape her, but spanking is in the program.
I wouldnt mind being spanked, a new passive voice joined the conversation. Beatrice entered the room and pulled the blue pin out of the position of the Ikea she had been tasked with defending in a robotic movement. Reminder: I asked for my Libido to be raised to 25, but I have yet to make use of that in any way.
We can fix that in a minute, but first, did you make sure to lose convincingly? John asked. Just ceding territory wouldnt have been authentic, the enemy needed to feel like they were pushing against resistance to not call shenanigans. Therefore Aclysia, Rave and Beatrice had been going around losing fights on purpose. Nia had tried once to y the act, but she was trained exclusively in winning fights and not at all a good actor so she just beat them back, unable to pull her punches.
In a way, that was good, as never losing against people that were in one of the most high-profile engagements on the world stage was just as big a red g as never fighting was. A few victories here and there were necessary to keep the appearance of an actual war up.
John had yet to face anyone himself, something that was about to change.
Affirmative, Beatrice answered, I held the ground as Aclysia escorted everyone who wanted out through the teleporter. That was another thing they currently did, the people that fled willingly to Johns side, despite it looking like he was losing, were most likely to be those who agreed with him and his actions on principle, not just because it looked like he was the new strongman in town. He could use those people in his administration. I then stayed a little longer, making sure I looked defeated, before pulling back.
Good John checked his building menu. The Transport Station was still at 2/2 Outposts, but it also said 1 Damaged Outpost underneath, with a note exining he would need to repair it to use it again. When the enemy had found they couldnt follow, it seemed they had thought it best to just smash the thing.
With that barrier lost, Collides minimal presence on the east side of the Hudson waspletely eradicated. On the west side, they still held a ring of bases centred around the Enve. That was the point where John was supposed to appear and lose. Him doing so would make room for phase 3 of the n.
The coalition had stayed away from that because it was the Gamersnding point; they were convinced that he concentrated his remaining power there so they would need to amass their own assault crew.
Wonderous how all of that could happen in just a few days. It was literally yesterday that Beatrice had failed in her initial fighting trials. It had taken ten days to build what he got and four days for it to fall. Then again, it was all railroaded.
Anyway, now we wait for them to attack us and I will go ahead and fulfil Beatrices request! John announced, acting like he was doing something for someone else. How do you want to lose your virginity? that felt like a weird thing to ask.
Beatrice thought about that for a second. I dont have strong preferences on the matter. However, in the interest of serving you to a maximum of your pleasure, Master, I suggest two options. A: threesome with Aclysia, B: orgy.
Chapter 452 – Plans and Time Interlewd – Option A(clysia) [Erotic Content]
Chapter 452 C ns and Time Interlewd C Option A(clysia) [Erotic Content]
There was really just one choice for aesthetics sake. That was Johns justification and Beatrices reason for suggesting Aclysia in the mix isted from everyone else. Which man had ess to two girls looking the same down to a mole under the left side of their lips and didnt want to have a threesome with them?
He wrapped his arm around the waists of both of his maids. Guess you will see me in a bit, he told the rest of his girls. Eliza stripped. What are you doing? he asked on the way out.
I wont see you, but I WILL hear you fuck, so I will rub my beaver and I hope I cum half as hard as these maid sluts, the blood mage told him.
Rave crossed her arms and smirked. Who said ya could touch yourself, huh? she demanded to know in a challenging tone. Ya sit on your hands while I get some toys out of the yroom.
Oh my fuck, yesssss, Eliza did as told andughed like an excited psychopath.
The elementals materialized one by one, eager to engage in the lesbian scene. Seemed like there would be an orgy regardless, just without John. To start with, at least, as he would be busy just a room over. He kind of wanted to have a room where his girls would go to whenever they had the urge but he wasnt around, just to have an endless catalogue of lesbian porn.
Lesbian porn out of which he could pluck the actresses and have them suck his dick.
Analysis: Master wants a blowjob, Beatrice suddenlymented as they reached the bedroom.
That is what it seems like, yes, Aclysia agreed. It must have been all over his surface thoughts. That is also how we initiated Momo.
Actually, we initiated Momo through her kissing you fervently, John recalled. The blowjob came more as you trying to get her to get used to my dick.
Unimportant, the weaponized maid decided as she gently pushed her master onto the t bottom of the bed, where he then attempted to disrobe. With a raise of her hand, Aclysia asked him to stop. He obliged and waited. As I understand, you will be a maid like me, is this correct?
My modus operandi is less motivated. I will, however, dly provide assistance. Use me as an extension of yourself. If you so desire, Aclysia, Beatrice answered in her slightly robotic fashion. I am willing to be moulded or given purpose by you.
Aclysia looked positively delighted by this. Then I ask you to do as me and worship our master as he deserves.
Affirmative, Beatrice nodded, I will follow your lead.
John was pretty sure he liked what was going on. Not only was Beatrice finding somerger purpose, it was doing what Aclysia did which was basically always in his best interest. Also, it very much pleased his dominant side to think he would now have TWO highly subservient maids ready to read the desires off his lips. His mind went back to a certain post-tournament fight shower encounter.
Apparently, that was exactly what Aclysia had in mind as well. Either that or she was reading his surface thoughts again. Master, I want you to let us do our best to pamper you for this encounter.
Fine by me, he told them, looking from one of the two almost exactly the same maids to the other. You best serve me well in that case, that was just him ying the part of the stern master, he already knew that this would go splendidly. Solely because Aclysia was taking the lead. Beatrice sharing a lot of her senior creations basic (if dulled) personality traits certainly helped. Although it appeared in terms of servitude, Beatrice and Aclysia were roughly equals. At the very least the devotion towards John felt simr in intensity.
The weaponized and the passive maid began their work. Aclysia started on the topmost button of his suit, Beatrice immediately followed and touched the lowermost. Once his vest waspletely open, they each gently tugged at one side and in perfect synchrony slid the ck cloth off their creator. While Aclysia then produced a coat hanger from her inventory to store the vest away properly, her younger co-creation began working on his shirt.
Aclysia returned in time to help with that as well; once again four hands cleanly slid over his body pulling the article off him with wonderful efficiency. They didnt even need tomunicate mentally for this, John would have noticed as allmunications would have needed to go through him. Their understanding came solely from theplete equality in their goals and Beatrice always assuming the lower position.
Her passive nature was of great advantage, as it allowed her to take the lowest rank in the pecking order here without being bothered by it the slightest. She didnt have the ambition to topple the head servant of the household; on the contrary, she very much appreciated having someone to look at for guidance as to what to do.
Aclysia handed Beatrice another coat hanger. The younger maid took it and hung the shirt into the dedicated area of therge closet, next to the vest. In the meanwhile, Aclysia was starting the much shorter work of opening his pants. She had pulled them off before Beatrice returned, leaving only boxers and socks to be removed from their beloved masters body.
Beatrice, not wanting to rob the head maid of her privilege to unpack the goods, chose the socks, cing them on the neatly folded pants in a simrly perfect resting condition. You are a good assistant, Aclysiaplimented flirtingly brushing aside a strand of the passive maids hair. They were sitting on the floor to Johns feet at that moment.
I thank you, she just answered.
Let me give you a reward, Aclysia pulled Beatrice into a kiss. At the same time as their tongues intertwined and their faces blushed with sexual arousal, they both reached out to massage Johns dick through his boxers. Precum soon started oozing through the sturdy fabric of the Gamers Preserver, where the tip of his erection hit the undergarments.
Aclysia pulled her hand back and Beatrice followed the lead. Both of their fingers had gathered a bit of Johns nectar, and the weaponized maid firmly led it up to her co-creations mouth, who mirrored the movements.
Bearing witness to two infinitely hot video game characters, which he had desperately wanted to fuck when they were just pixels on his screen already, taking the shape of maids wanting to fulfil his every desire was hot. Seeing them suck on each others fingers was hotter. Seeing them suck on each other fingers and moan things like, Thish tashtes gooooahhhd. Jusht whait untl yoh tashte his real shemehn, in response to tasting his precum was causing his dick to ache with a mad want for release.
With slurping sounds they cleaned each other off and then went back to pay attention to John. As maids, it is our foremost duty to please our master, Aclysia went back to lecturing. Her words were slightly less believable, as she and her co-creation were both busy looking longingly at Johns still veiled cock, while touching each other over their clothes. As they did so, the newly acquired outfits began to retreat into their bodies. It was like watching a nt grow in reverse.
John didnt care, he was impatient for receiving some sexual relief already. Aclysia, he therefore warned, in a realmand this time, hurry your introductions up. You are not here to tease me.
Most certainly not! Aclysia bowed her head in apology. While thest frills and edges of their clothes disappeared, the twin-like creations reached for his underpants and pulled them off. Both of them gasped wantonly, Beatrice in seeing the enormous erection for the first time, Aclysia in knowing that she would still marvel at it the thousandth time. My deepest apologies, Master, I got carried away with my new assistant.
That is fine, just show her by example instead, John was appeased; his dick now in the open grew straight upwards and pulsated. Again, both of the hot maids in front of him acted in tandem, biting their lips at the same time. Wonderfully, they didnt both bite the same area, but instead it was like a mirror had been put between them. The resulting bulge of light red, sensual lip tissue pointed outwards.
There was something his nerd brain took issue with in this situation. The mole was under the left side of their lip in both cases, ruining the symmetry of the scene. Before he could tell himself what kind of stupidint that would be, Beatrice had already shifted her mole to the right side, underneath aforementioned bulge.
And with that reminder that these girls were willing to always adjust their very body to his maximum viewing pleasure, Johns erection reached maximum level hardness.
Aclysia took a quivering, bothered breath and rose. As you demand, Master, I need to prepare just one more thing. Between her legs, the wetness from her well-trained pussy trickled already. Obviously, she wanted to get this show on the road as well.
Pulling arge oilcloth from her inventory, she and Beatrice spread it over the bed. John climbed on top andid down; it seemed Aclysia really wanted him to do nothing but be pampered this time. Master appears to be close to cumming already, Beatrice analysed the situation, her own pussy clearly glistening with anticipation as she stepped on the bed and kneeled down at the height of his hips.
Yes, we should give him release before continuing, Aclysia agreed, and both of them leaned in. They gave his engorged head a little kiss, one on each side, and then Beatrice licked down from there to pleasingly suck and nibble at the base of his cock and his balls while Aclysia went down his entire length in just a few seconds.
Oh fuck, John gasped. Unable to keep his hands to himself, he reached for the two silver manes. Their hair was as soft as a kittens fur and hot with the Lifepulse attribute that made them practically indistinguishable from humans. Aclysisa was barely down to his base when he felt the need to cum already. Holding back for just long enough for her to slide back up, his balls tightened and he spurted the first thick load into her eager mouth.
Aclysia professionally brushed a strand of her silver hair behind her ear as she moaned at the taste of his seed. It had always pleased her greatly, even when she had only possessed taste buds out for metal, now that she also possessed human ones, the taste was enhanced. The wetness between her legs became a small flood and she desperately struggled against touching herself.
Unless her master allowed her to, self-pleasuring was a no-go. After all, her dominant creator loved to be in control and she loved nothing more than to be of service to his desires.
Do not swallow, John groaned at the end of his orgasm, taking control of the situation for a bit as he imagined a scene he wanted to see be reality. With his wing hand pulling just a little at her hair, he guided Aclysia to let go of his cock. She left it behind wet but perfectly clean of any sights of semen. Beatrice, your turn, hemanded. Still incredibly turned on, he knew that he would cum again in a short time.
On her own, Aclysia could do hardly more than use her hands to gently fondle her masters balls with her mouth full of sweet, sticky semen. Beatrice wrapped her lips around his stillpletely erect cock and pushed down. Unfamiliar with giving head but blessed with theck of a gag reflex, the passive maid cleanly wrapped her throat around him, taking only a little bit more time than Aclysia had.
Good girl, John mused and got a thankful nce back. For the usually so robotic maid, her expressions and soul were both full of emotions. In serving, she found her happiness. In fulfilling tasks, she found satisfaction. In serving John, she found true purpose. In making John happy, she found her bliss.
Your cock is so big, her voice moaned into his thoughts. Words that were nothing like her usual passiveness, these were earnest expressions of perversions towards him. It seemed that John Newman, even when trying to create something without any pre-programming, could not help but create a lusty piece of metal. It tastes so good, of Aclysias saliva and your precum. I want more.
You will get what Aclysia got, just suck me off, John dictated the tempo at which she went up and down his shaft with his left hand. As he knew, it didnt take much for his cock to pulsate again with release imminent. A mere minute after hisst orgasm, he spurted a slightly less thick but still massive load into Beatrices mouth. Dont -aaaah- swallow! he groaned out as his whole body shivered through the release.
His third Artificial Spirit moaned heavily throughout the process. Her first taste of his semen and, even without human taste buds, she was loving it. Not that there was another choice, the perk Libido 25 had given him made it so his seed taste pleasingly to literally everyone. What made them moan, however, wasnt mainly the taste, but the fulfilment they got out of making their master cum.
When he had no more seed to give, he changed the positions of his hands from the top of their heads to their chins. They assumed equally distanced positions from his still erect cock. Open your mouths, show me you have been good servants, he asked of them.
The two white-haired beauties did as told, lips parting with strands of gooey saliva mixed with therge deposit of semen in their mouths stretching between upper and lower jaw. Johns enormous loads were fresh inside there, covering their tongues and teeth.
Swallow, he allowed them and they closed their mouths. Both gulped audibly, the heavy, sticky liquid being hard to force down their throats. When they opened them up again, none of it remained. Very good girls, Johns praise caused them to blush deeply in an affectionate thankfulness. Continue your tutorial, Aclysia.
There was a small ping of need from the weaponized maid. It was clear that she much rather have him takeplete control of the situation and ravage her pussy while thrusting her against a wall. A small fight inside her mind ensued. The part that wanted to pamper him won out against the one that would have begged him to do that, in the end.
Affirmative, Aclysia answered and reached into her inventory yet again. Aside from taking care of Masters urges, it is also our duty to make sure he stays clean. With how many assholes and throats he fucks and where he fucks them, it is of the utmost importance that we make sure his perfect, long, hard, manly, pulsating Aclysia moaned before getting herself back under control, her mouth travelling dangerously close to the described body part, his penis stays free of any filth. My John getting sick is uneptable.
She ced three bottles on the oilcloth. To that end we have to use these three fluids. Number one is his regr body oil; while just a recement while we search for the original ointment, this will keep his pores clean and prevent any rashes. It did that? John only knew about the fact that it made him smell good. It is applied to his body in small doses every morning. The exact oil may vary. Personal rmendation: apply oils with cinnamon or orange scent on vacation days; they put master in a more lusty and rxed mood.
John was already aware that Aclysia was manipting his environment to some degree to make him feel morefortable, but this almost bordered on mind control. Since this was something he greatly appreciated her doing (why wouldnt he want to feel more lust and rxed on vacation days?), he approved of it and didnt think about what else she may be doing that he didnt notice.
Noted, Beatrice said and nodded to indicate that she was keeping up.
Up next, his shampoo, which prevents hair growth, Aclysia presented. Body hair gets in the way of skin contact during cuddling. Pubic hair tickles during blowjobs. Apply once every three days C at least. Daily is better. Only use in the shower. Like the first bottle, it vanished back in the inventory.
Noted, highly important, prickly hair during cuddling sounds positively terrible, Beatrice, who actually hadnt cuddled with John before but now felt the desperate need to do this once they were done fucking, continued hermentary.
Last, Aclysia raised thest bottle, thergest of the three. It contained a massive amount of a clear liquid. Massage oil. Rxes Masters muscles and improves blood flow. Apply whenever Master seems stressed, when he seems rxed, when you can get him alone for at least ten minutes, when he... To put it short: apply at every opportunity to have an excuse to touch Johns naked body. Personal rmendation: Apply with the whole body.
With that, Aclysia squirted arge amount of the liquid onto her chest. It ran in sensual drops down her cleavage and caused her clean, white skin to glisten attractively. She added some more and rubbed it all over her chest and arms before giving the bottle, enchanted to not be slippery itself no matter how much oil was applied to it, over to Beatrice.
This whole thing was inspired by Japanese soands, something that Aclysia had stumbled over when wondering about creative ways to bathe John. She had found great appreciation and in her mind it was elevated to an artform. The bathed master had a hard time disagreeing with that as the warm, curvy bodies of two women began grinding on him, fully oiled up.
Request, Beatrice was interrupted by a moan of her own. Their whole body sliding over his naturally included their pussies, smoothly gliding over his thighs, up to his waist and back. May I mhm may I spread oil over his wonderful, erect, tasty the passive maid lost herself in the same descriptive trap as her elder had earlier, may I spread oil over his penis by handjob?
Affirmative, Aclysia granted her the right and even poured some extra oil on Johns chest and cock. The clear, cold fluid made him tremble for a second as it hit the sensitive body part. Then Beatrices warm hand wrapped around it, and John let out a delighted groan. Motivated by his noise as he was by theirs, Beatrice tightened her hand as much as wasfortable and then resumed her sliding. As one hand couldnt hope to cover the entire length of the Gamers mighty dick, Aclysia added hers in help.
Ah, Master, touching your body alone makes me feel so good, Beatrice gasped. I cant wait to be taken by you, to feel my pussy be split by this - by your huge dick. Surprisingly, she had the dirty talk down to a T.
I want it too, Master, I want to see you fuck your newest servant, Aclysia chimed in. Their breasts pressed against his shoulders as they lovingly bit his neck. There was a bit of difference: Beatrices breasts were a noticeable bit bigger, giving them more squishiness, but in return he could feel the artificial heartbeat of Aclysia much better behind her smaller tits.
I am going to cum, he gasped, his body tensing. In a sh, both of them moved their mouths to his cock again. Having their master spill his seed over himself would be a great waste. Not only did their beloved John need not soil himself in such a manner, even if they would have willingly licked the treat off his muscles, they also desired to taste him again.
They were in time and yet a bit too slow. The first and second load of semen sted forth in quick session, covering their faces rather than their outstretched tongues. Aclysia hastily sealed the tip of his cock with her lips, but in that haste she did it poorly. Drops of the cloudy white escaped as she slurped down the thick liquid. Beatrice was on the spot, licking those dribbles of cum up with delight.
John watched the whole scene gleefully, waiting for his high to calm. As more than four minutes had passed since his first and second orgasm, this load came frompletely refilled balls. Source of Satisfaction was truly a marvellous skill, well worth the downside.
However much he enjoyed seeing the two of them service him in tandem, it was time to tap the 2Booty. Aclysia,y down, he thus ordered, himself sitting up on the oilcloth. Aclysia had been wise to spread the thing on the bed beforehand; despite getting barely any attention, even Johns backside was covered in the slippery substance. This was due to theyer of excess oil that was covering the thing, him shifting around from the pleasure had then done the rest. On your back, face towards me, he further specified.
At once, Master, she obeyed and soon was upside down staring at the underside of Johns cock. It was massive in general, but hovering above her as the man attached to it was straddling around her head made it look that much bigger. Knowing and hoping what would happen next, she opened her mouth wide. Her hands instinctively travelled down to her crotch, but she shied away from her pussy lips, still denying herself what her master hadnt expressively allowed her.
And John didnt intend to tell her that she could touch herself anytime soon. Instead, he drank in the sight of her oiled-up body for a moment. He reached out to massage her breasts with one hand, the other taking hold of his dick. They say to keep your androids well maintained, John made a joke. I guess I am overdoing it a bit with the lubrication though.
This may appear so from the outside, Aclysia gasped, but I am more than certain I could use some more of your special lubricant for my internal systems.
Ah, if you are sure about that, who am I to judge? he chuckled and then guided his cock towards her mouth. This time it wouldnt be her that guided the pace of a blowjob. Although they had a different word for what John was doing as he rocked his hips, his cock sheathing itself inside her mouth and throat over and over again: face fuck.
For a few more moments, he appreciated how her sturdy body was rocked by his thrusts and the quick wrapping of her hands around his hips to keep her from slipping away on the slippery oilcloth. Then he turned his attention to Beatrice. Climb over her, ass towards me, he instructed.
Affirmative, the maid followed his instructions immediately. She went on all fours above Aclysia. Grabbing the bottle of oil, John spread some more of the liquid on Beatrice. In their earlier oiling up of him, the two Artificial Spirits had exclusive used their fronts, so John was now making sure her behind was up to the standard.
He paid particr attention to her ass, to no ones surprise. John Newman was, after all, an ass man, and the fact that 2B had a bubble butt only surpassed by Rave and Gaia was a big, round, firm part of the reason why he picked this particr appearance for her. He gave it a good p once he found he had lubricated her well-enough.
Drops of oil sttered about the ce, probably flying beyond the area covered by the oil cloth, but John didnt care. He was busy watching the jiggle of the perfect re-enactment of a human ass and thanked the physics engine of reality for granting him such glorious a sight. Master! He also thanked the sound engine for giving him her sweet, crying out voice to listen to.
Did you like that? John asked.
Uncertain, please repeat! Beatrice said, looking over her smooth shoulder with a tant Yessssss in her green eyes. Master! she cried out again when he spanked her a second, then a third, a fourth and a fifth time. Mastaaaah, by the sixth it had devolved slightly. Ah! I apologize for slurring your title.
Apology denied, John grunted, short on words because Aclysias tongue massaged all the weak spots on his dick she knew about (which was all of them). Suddenly grabbing her by the waist, he pulled her up. She currently was mostly magical silicone and rubber, but that didnt make her light. Thankfully, John Newman had diversified his Stats, so he managed to lift her regardless.
The resulting position was stamina draining to say the least. Her legs were around his head, soles pointing at the ceiling. Resting entirely on his shoulders and her hands on the slippery oilcloth, John had to hold her by her hip bones while still fucking Aclysias face. He didnt have to do thatst part, but he really wanted to.
Eat out Aclysias pussy, she deserves some relief, Johnmanded as he did the same towards her, forming a very crooked human triangle, the corners being wherever a mouth and a sexual organ met.
He was perhaps a bit over-enthusiastic about pressing his face into this ass, the slurping sounds of his lips and the deep prodding of his tongue being the loudest sounds in the room for a while.
It was, for all intents and purposes, the exact same ass as Aclysias. If someone had said that he thus shouldnt have been so excited about it, John would have punched him in the face in the name of mankind.
Reason number one: Glory to butt-kind. Reason number two: 2B. Reason number three: Saying he shouldnt be excited about something supreme because he already had a copy of it was like saying he shouldnt be excited about having two copies of a rare card in Magic the Gathering. Reason number four: Her ass was as soft as a firm piece of heaven.
Using Pussy Eating to its utmost capacity, John achieved great results. Beatrice was moaning, a muffled sound as she ate out her co-creation who was, just like her, perfectly smooth downstairs. As turned on as the new creation was, it didnt take long for those moans to be high-pitched sounds of ecstasy, one more lick of Johns tongue over her clit and she came. Her pussy overflowed under his mouth. His long tongue prated into her quivering folds and tasted the sweet nectar; she tasted of diluted honey with a slight note of metal and a bit like olives, thest part was undoubtedly from the oil.
Focused on maintaining her own mission, Beatrice, no matter how much she moaned and her tensing body threatened to slip from Johns grasp, continued to eat out Aclysia. In an orgasmic chain, the simrly turned on weaponized maid came slowly after and at the tongue of the youngest member of the sisterhood. The vibrating throat and writhing movements in-turn gave John the fourth orgasm of the encounter.
Always one to addpliment to orgasm, John redoubled his efforts as his seed began shooting out of his cock, giving Aclysia the requested additional lubricant. Tongue whipping and probing at Beatrice sensitive areas, which he explored to find that they werent the same as Aclysias as he initially would have guessed, he managed to make her cum a second time.
The problem that his lust-fuelled brain didnt keep track of was that, between two quivering, oiled up orgasmic persons, it was really hard to keep maintaining the bnce necessary for their standing triangle. When Beatrice did finally slip away from his grasp, her legs soon glided, with virtually no friction, off his shoulders. What could have been a very messy scrambling of limbs was saved by Aclysia, catching Beatrice by her hips with her monstrous Strength and gently lowering her the rest of the way.
Thank you, John gasped for air as he pulled out of Aclysias throat. She was sucking him like a vacuum every centimetre of the way out, and he left her with a loud, wet pop.
She gulped to get her throat somewhat clean. You are she stopped as she saw a drop of cum oozing from her masters cock, quickly licking it up while it was still in her range. most wee, Master. Gasping for some air herself, she let out a quiet sigh. Between her legs, Beatrice was still busy working her pussy. The passive maid was very dedicated to the tasks she was given.
John entirely appreciated it as he repositioned slightly, his legs raising his hips higher to change what he could ess from Aclysias mouth to Beatrices pussy. She was back on her knees, and her head was lowered, putting her in a nice doggystyle position, with her ass pushed out and the glistening flesh stretched nicely.
John gave it another p, hearing the wanted Mhstah, from between Aclysias legs. That was a habit he very much hoped she would cultivate. Then he slowly guided his cock towards her pussy, the head parting the drenched folds effortlessly to the sound of barely veiled shouts of delight.
While he could have rammed into her in one go, he felt it to be best to enjoy this new acquirement like a connoisseur and pushed into her slowly. Tasting every nook and cranny of her pussy, the extremely tight folds and milkingly pulsating tissue behind them sent Johns eyelids into a flutter. His field of view was hazy, but he saw her short, white haired head keep on moving with great enthusiasm and her glorious bubble butt close in on his hips.
Then he was in all the way. He just stopped there for a moment and closed his eyes. Closed his eyes and drew a breath. With her quivering quim around him. Her ass wiggled and gyrated ever so slightly, urging him on to move. Beatrice wanted more, wanted him.
He pulled out just a bit and eased back into her. A muffled shout. He pulled out halfway and thrusted back into her. For a moment her mouth stopped working to chant. Yes, yes, oh my yes. He pulled out almostpletely and RAMMED back into her. A loud scream as her back curved upwards in orgasmic bliss, her eyes rolling backwards as she experienced her first pration orgasm.
Just enjoy yourself, Johnmanded both of them. Not only did that mean that Beatrice didnt go back to eating Aclysias pussy, but the weaponized maid also finally got to touch herself as second-rate recement. Not that Aclysia, being ever as perverted as was pleasing to her master, would stop there.
As the slippery pping of their storming hips filled the room, John giving it his all to engrain her first time deep into Beatrices memory, Aclysia raised her head. Her hair was heavy, soaked with oil, but that didnt bother her as she sucked on Beatrices clit.
Having barely left her first orgasm, the passive maid was forced right into the next one. Being forced, not always a bad thing. At least going by her words. My clit, Aclysia, please suck it harder, this feel sooo goooood, I want more of this. Fuck me as hard as you please, Master, take this pussy. I want to be of use to you, I want you to feel good, and you make me feel so good in return. Ah, ah, ah, yes yes harder please I am cumming again, I cant stop cumming! Aaaaaaaah!
Her back was permanently tensed upwards; her whole body was vibrating like one of the many toys Rave was probably currently using on Eliza in the room over. Eyes glued to the upper edge of her eyes, John began to feel like a sex god and one that wouldst for a while longer.
It was a monotonous ten minutes, sure, but that monotony consisted of wonderful sounds. Most of it was the silent, rattling sound of empty lungs still trying to scream, every now and again Beatrice would manage to inhale and actually loudly dere something that John always wanted to hear from his girls. I love you! I love this feeling, I love you giving it to me, I love you!
Was it a bit weird to hear it so soon after herplicated creation, did it feel like this was just Aclysias natural tendencies speaking out of another mouth? Yes, but genuine it was nheless. Who was he to apply human standards to a fully sapient construction of a crystal, random materials and mana anyway?
All he felt in his heart was the blossoming affection for this girl. This identally sarcastic, sassy girl. This girl damaged because of his mistakes. A girl that bore to him no ill will, lived with her situation with passive eptance. She was weird, he couldnt understand all of her, but she was interesting and she carried on like everyone else, even if she behaved a bit like a decorative nt if no one told her what to do.
I love you too! he thus dered, knowing that he was insane to fall in love so quickly himself. He didnt care, his life was great, she was great, and with another p on her perfect ass, he spilled a new load inside her. Their orgasms peeked at the same time; John pulled both Beatrice and Aclysia into a mental maze of that climax. As his balls continued to scatter their product inside the artificial pussy, they both squirted. That it was a second-hand experience for Aclysia mattered very little at the sheer weight of it.
Johns legs and the oil cloth became a deep mess of the clear liquid from Beatrice, while Aclysia managed to explode with such intensity that she actually caused the initial spurt to spoil the floor, flying over the edge of the bed.
Heavily breathing, they copsed one by one. Theyy there in the puddle. Aclysia soon tried to peel herself out of the mountain of sprawled out limbs. Grabbing her by the wrist, John prevented her from leaving the bed. You can clean upter, he told her as he pulled her into an embrace. He locked his hands together, causing the three of them to be squished together in a bundle of warmth and love. For now we cuddle.
Yes, Master, the two of them replied, resting their heads on a shoulder each and smiling.
Chapter 453 – Plans and Time 2 – the battle at the Enclave
Chapter 453 C ns and Time 2 C the battle at the Enve
Scarlett: Son of a whore Okay, sorry, Bearings and Retropes put their heads together behind my back, they will be there in thirty minutes or so.
I hate you Murphy, John mumbled as soon he read the message from Scarlett. Of course, he thought, the second I resolve to go into an I.D. this happens. He sighed heavily and used Escape Rope to get out of it. That skill had been the reason why he went ahead in the first ce, but that she messaged him the very second he entered an Instant Dungeon was the second most annoying moment he could think of.
The first was while he was in a boss fight and had whittled it down enough that he could kill it soon but not soon enough to also reach the Enve in time.
John: Thats a seven-day cooldown gone right there.
Scarlett: Jeff takes his security seriously as ever.
Scarlett: Seriously, he must have had that whole conversation on paper.
Scarlett: Now I am forced to move my goons along as well, sucks how about you give them a good pping until Thorne is there?
John: Sure, not like I nned to make this convincing from the start or anything.
With that he threw his phone into his inventory and stepped outside the gate inside the I.D. Gate. Sorry, Magnus, he told the Fateweaver who had stepped only thirty steps away since opening this thing up for John. Got the message, its going down.
Murphysw, applicable as always, Magnus grumbled. What a fitting day for the peak of this lie, however.
I dont know if its the peak, but yeah, perfect day, John agreed and amusedly blew air out of his nose after remembering the date. That actually put a smile on his face. Anyway, time to gather everyone up.
____________________________________________________________
About ten minutes before the attack would begin, John stepped out into the Enve. The former tent city was now a thrivingmunity. The original houses, crude constructs with only a few decorations left behind when Gnome put up the walls, had either been torn down or changed so drastically that they didnt resemble anything like their original exterior. Every house was inhabited by an individual and looked that way.
Not all signs of previous poverty had disappeared. For example, individual bathrooms were still a distant dream. Toilets they all had, but for bathing they had to resort to a bathhouse. At least electricity and inte were readily avable in all homes, thanks to Magoi. The High-Fateweaver had gone into that line of work with enthusiasm, saying it was refreshing to do some mechanical work that he had outssed decades ago.
Right now, ity mostly empty. People had been relocated to the Guild Hall, where they once again had to live in tents, or fled; the little that remained were low-ss fighters. John felt pretty bad for even having those stay, but he needed some forces to struggle alongside him for the n to look authentic. For Rave and Nia, he could at least im they were injured.
With him were Beatrice and Aclysia and, of course, his elementals. He was going to need some serious excuses for all of them to be defeated. Ill pull something out my brain, John thought and just hoped that Sylph would actually act convincingly and not identally chatter out the whole n.
Mr. Newman, Seth came running his way. He looked way better since they first met as well. Non-greasy hair, clothes that actually looked more like clothes and less like potato sacks and shoes fit for winter. What brings you here?
Well, John hesitated for a moment to pick his words carefully. Okay, here is the gist of it. We are getting attacked, we will lose, and when I give you the signal, I want everyone to pull back to the teleporter and let Aclysia and Beatrice get you out.
Seth became pale, W-why are you so certain we will lose? I thought you were strong.
I am, John pat him on the shoulder. Trust me, I got a n. For now, just pick the fights you can win and there they are.
Dozens of people started appearing inside the barrier. At first, they appeared as regr people in winter clothes, but soon the illusions they used to travel through reality fell off them. Others came in already unveiled, they probably wore some charms that made them invisible to mundane or weak people, like a worse version of the spell Herman had been using.
None of those worked on John, thanks to Observe working partially passively.
As long as the passive part was able to reveal someone, their hiding spells fell t on him. At the current level of Observe, it ripped through almost every precaution people around Johns level could take, bar those who had an extraordinary amount of money or were just very talented in or dedicated to the field.
John put his hands into his pockets and walked towards them with the bossiest attitude he could muster. Wanting to look like he thought he owned not only the ce but the whole city, he said, Look at the rats, scurrying in right when I am around, and immediately the invaders took a step back. They were winning, but the average joe still knew that he had no chance to defeat the Gamer, especially when he had two armed maids walking right behind him.
The leader of that bunch was less impressed. A level 79 Asian with a spear that had the end of a barrel between the split de. He was a good looking fellow, sharp brown eyes, short ck hair and an overall lean build that was perfect for an agile fighter. Give up now and Bearings is willing to kill just you, the man, his name was Zimmothy, which John found to be a terrible one, delivered the ultimatum. The rest of your guild would be free to go.
Thats a pretty awful deal for me; if I die, who is going to take care of my loves? he opened up his arms and his elementals appeared one by one.
Are you denying our offer? Zimmothy asked, grabbing his spear more firmly and pointing the tip at John. Immediately, Aclysia got in between them, wordlessly spawning Eclys into her hand and assuming an assault stance.
I am just saying that the only way to get my dead body is over my dead body, John stated with a mocking smirk. Fire and water engulfed his left and right arm. That was the signal for the battle to begin.
NOW! Zimmothy shouted and a whole dozen of the enemy revealed some sort of strange contraptions. They looked like world war one radio backpacks,plete with antenna and everything. To distract the Gamer, Zimmothy went straight ahead and attacked him.
Are they serious? John thought; he didnt even know what those backpacks did, but one spearman wouldnt distract all eight of them. Zimmothy seemed pretty convinced he was somewhere on Johns level though. They arepletely open, I could destroy those devices but maybe they will give me an excuse to lose this fight.
A bullet blew out of Zimmothys spear and hit Aclysia. The tiny piece of elerated metal actually managed to prate her outeryer and the weaponized maid straggled backwards as if she had truthfully sustained meaningful amounts of damage. Zig-zagging through the elementals as if they were slower than him, the spearman reached John and thrust his spear towards him.
The tip should have rebounded against the Mana Protection, but Zimmothy immediately (as to say, quick enough to look immediately to all the average people around but slow enough to give John ample time to measure his response) pulled back into position and aimed the tip of his spear at John without falter. Another thrust, but this time it was prefaced with another shot from the barrel.
Doing the enthusiastic guy the favour of deactivating his barrier and looking shocked, John saw that second strikeing for him. As if desperate, he blindly raised his arms to block and made it look like he seeded by sheer luck alone.
Impressive, isnt it? Zimmothy dered. My Innate Ability allows me to ignore or enhance all rebounds caused by my actions! No matter how many rounds I fire, it wont slow me down!
Who gives away their ability and its limitation like that? John wondered. These guys were seriously not professional about this. Then again, they were mercenary forces, not a standing army like he was used to from Europe. Very impressive indeed, his clenched teeth and pained voice made that sound convincing. Silently, he thanked his past self for increasing Charisma as much as he did, that made lying so much easier.
John forced the guy back, who was then molested by a couple of weak attacks from the elementals. At that point all the average guys on both sides had begun to battle as well, the very small force John had against the almost hundred invaders. Aclysia and Beatrice averaged that out by holding dozens of enemies at bay by their lonesome, and they could have won if they just wanted, instead they were giving ground.
Just rolling over wouldnt have been a proper deception though, so John decided to give this a back of a back and forth. Zimmothy was pinned by the coordinated actions of Gnome, Sylph and Smander, then he suddenly had a cut on his face. What the fuck?! he screamed as he stumbled back, whirling his spear in a defensive way.
Siena, you are supposed to hold back, John scolded the shadow spirit.
This is so dull, she returned but obeyed. Tsk, my unleashed attack missed, she said; as bad an actress as she was, channelling her anger about having to purposefully lose into that phrase fixed it. Such a bad boy with such great reflexes.
Missing the deep sarcasm in that phrase, it fixed Zimmothys ego, but he still saw his allies getting pushed back. The people with their backpacks were continuing their work. You are stronger than I thought, the spearman said and took a new kind of stance, aiming the tip of his spear behind himself.
What followed could have been surprising, but John had already been told what the Asians power was. So, when he shot a bullet behind him and reinforced the rebound to catapult himself forwards, that was just the move John had expected him to pull.
Jesus Christ, did this guy learn fighting in one of Raves anime series? the Gamer thought. He could have murdered the guy on several asions. Sudden panic appeared on Johns face instead, as if this attack was deeply threatening to him. He only barely managed to dodge and then rolled around the ce as if he was a Dark Soul character fleeing from the one-shot attacks of a boss. Smander, Undine, Siena, Sylph! he shouted while fleeing, as if the names were somehow necessary.
Sylph was just there instantly as she moved, like Smander and Siena, with her regr speed, which was really fast to everyone else. They converged around Stirwin and Undine, appearing out of incorporeality and the glove form respectively.
Thebination made fights all over the ce stop as they sensed the arrival of something oppressively powerful. A known girl of small and lean body appeared at Johns side. She wore a Gothic Lolita outfit, a dress of ck satin with arge assortment of green frills that were bright at the shoulder but got darker towards her loose miniskirt. Dark, greyish green hair flowed in contrast to her vampirically pale skin. When she smirked, she revealed her eight canine teeth, her yellow eyes staring hungrily.
I am back! Edge announced and immediately conjured daggers of shadows that scattered about the ce as she threw them at Zimmothy.
The first few were too fast for him (and by no small margin, John couldnt even perceive them with his own senses) and caused him a few shallow wounds, but Edge soon adjusted her attacks to be slow enough to be dodged. Luckily for everyone, she was not interested in killing, just in causing the maximum amount of pain humanly imaginable.
I have knives, so many knives, and they all got names on them! I dont know the names, but what do I care? Hihihihi, the vampiric murder fairy was in an incredibly good mood for all the five minutes she would exist.
The knives, conjured by waving her right, wless hand around, didnt hit the spearman, but they did hit his allies who had unluckily positioned themselves behind him. Surprised gasps of pain came from all around as people were struck when they didnt expect it.
Yes, yes! Scream for me! Bleed for me! Bleeeeed mooooooore, Edge moaned and giggled.
Congrattions, you forced me to use my absolute trump card! John announced. My four-elementalbination! I spent the days since Thorne dered war on me cultivating this technique! All my mana went into her existence. It was a tant lie, but they didnt need to know that.
How much longer do you dicks need?! Zimmothy didnt have the grace to answer John, instead screaming at his allies.
Suppressor 1 online. Suppressor 2 online! I got I- Suppressor 3 online they reported momentster, and John got a sudden pop-up.
Huh, thats a thing, John thought. That was a total of 360 mana per minute more he had to pay, or 6 per second. Thing was, he regenerated 15 per second, so while this was a pretty good debuff, it was not quite what Zimmothy then imed it to be.
Now, whatever petty rest of mana you still have will bleed out of you in record speed! the spearman announced, triumphantly tapping the t end of his spear against the paved ground.
Urgh, what vile trickery! he had to admit, that one was a bit too thick on the acting side. Edge, just dis
You really thought we came here unprepared? It takes two minutes to research you and your massive usage of elementals! Zimmothy interrupted his thoughts with his mockery. Your whore spirits can harm us no longer!
Okay, you know what, unleash on him and his crew, I dont care, John aborted his ns. Allowing himself the smile of a viin, he straightened his back. Well, I have enough mana to show you one more thing.
The shadow knives flew back to Edge, who began licking the blood of all of them. The secret is just a little iron, she pvered between the licks. All blood forges my favourite little tool hihihihi so close to seeing you all scream tangled in torment. She grinned, her formerly white teeth stained red. You all have felt the knives, so how about the shadows were sucked from the floor and the buildings. Everything lost its perceivable depth, as everything became an average light level except for a singr pitch-ck spot between Edges hands. I show you the scythe of vice!
The spot extended into a long shaft and a giant de at the end of it. It swelled evenrger, extending the reach of that next attack, as John poured mana into her.
Everyone dod-! that was as far Zimmothy himself got before the scythe reaped through the shing groups in a split second, Edge using all of her Agility to execute the attack near sonic speeds. Through most people, it passed without doing anything, leaving them confused as they looked at the few unlucky ones that had their blood ingested by Edge, Zimmothy as their highest profile member.
Screaming their lungs out they copsed in what was the worst pain imaginable. Edges unleash triggered every single pain receptor in the body from the passing through point outwards. The pain only got worse by the second, even people trained to withstand torture would have cried like babies at this, and once it hit their brains, their whole world was only that tortment.
Yes! YEEEEEEEESSSSS! Edgeughed stridently, dancing from one foot to the other, as her time came to an end and she separated into herponents, which retreated into Johns soul right away to make it seem like he was actually out of mana.
Man, you Bearings personnel cant do anything yourselves, a new voicemented. A person, leaning against a building without any care, joined the fray. He was a muscr ginger with curly hair and robotic limbs hidden underneath a lot of clothes. The only reason why John knew was because his Observe sheet gave it away. Have been watching this shitshow for a minute. Yo, Mr. Newman.
So, Thorne stopped sending theirckeys, John made an unsure smile that he wanted to make them feel like it looked like he wanted to convince them that he was still on the top of his game. Basically, he was acting that he was badly acting. Layers of bullshit.
Ourckeys did that stuff on their own did he just piss himself? the ginger looked with disgust at Zimmothy. Fights all around had ceased.
In his defence, he is in very bad pain right now, John said.
Too bad for him I dont care, the ginger returned. We are here to take you out, he reached up to his ear, probably sending some sort of signal to hisrades outside the barrier as they entered a momentter. There was a moment of strained silence. GET HIM!
Immediately all the mechanically enhanced soldiers came for John, and he turned tail as if he was genuinely afraid. RETREAT! he screamed and everyone scrambled for the teleporter. Beatrice began teleporting the first few people away while Aclysia came to his aid, fending off the Thorne soldiers (some of which turned out to be cleverly disguised robots).
Of course, these soldiers acted with the genuine intention of capturing or killing him. There was no way Scarlett had shared her ns with anyone of them, she hadnt even told her own board of directors. Using Maraths t side like an oversized baseball bat, Aclysia swatted away three attacking robots and thus cleared Johns back.
The evacuation of a small force such as theirs took basically no time at all, and once he had reached the pavilion shaped teleporter, he had basically assured his escape. He made sure to take a miserable posture, nted shoulders, slightly leaning to one side as if he was hurt and Gamers Body could no longer keep up. He even had a prepared bag of fake blood oozing from a cut in his vest.
We will leave this standing in case you want to crawl back and negotiate, John Loseman! the ginger shouted at him. That must have been themest insult the Gamer had gotten to date.
Sure, just one more thing, John answered and the teleporter took him away at that very moment. Immediately he fixed his posture and removed the blood bag from the inside of his shirt. He stretched, much to the surprise of everyone who had fought with him just now and was still around the teleporter. April Fools! he shouted out loud, despite the pranked no longer being able to hear him.
Chapter 454 – Plans and Time 3 – Darkness and Invitations
Chapter 454 C ns and Time 3 C Darkness and Invitations
I am dying, why are you the one fucking crying? the fading voice of the insane girl came to ask.
I just hate being so weak he sniffed. You dont deserve this. If I wasnt weak, I could have saved you.
You arent weak anymore, she stated and smiled widely as the light in her purple eyes dimmed. The golden dots slowly stopped rotating. Then they formed slits, seven slits crossing a ring.
ws dug through the skin covering his ribs. The face of the girl he came to love was just a mask of bone, filling his entire field of vision. But you are too weak to save her, the voice of the wolf that hunts humanity mocked him as Thana opened her mouth absurdly wide, three rows of teeth, bone, blood and normal, encapsted his head.
John awoke in a panic, upper body darting out of the sheets. His body was drenched in sweat from head to toe and he was breathing heavily. Just a nightmare, he assured himself, absent-mindedly reaching for his chest reflexively, due to therge amount of sweat there.
He raised his hand again when a sudden pain hit him when he touched it. Pain Tolerance was keeping him from jumping, but that didnt mean he wouldnt notice it when something hurt. The tips of his fingers were dark from blood.
He whirled around just as something started scratching his left arm. The eyes were the only thing he saw in the dark. The eyes, purple and with an iris like shattered ss, softly glowing with magical power, seven lines crossing a ring around the pupil. The eyes filled with a hatred more natural than breathing.
Thana said nothing, she was just slowly scratching at his arm. Over and over and over again, as she stared. Slowly, ever so slowly, scrapingyer andyer of skin off him until he would finally bleed.
Eliza! John grabbed Thana by the arms and pinned her to the bed. Themotion awoke Rave and Nia, the former of which had a dirty joke on her lips before hearing that predatory growl out of the goddess of genocide that definitely identified her as not the blood mage they knew. Come on, wake up! he shook her naked body.
Die, Thana said, slowly raising her hands towards Johns throat. The eyes suddenly struggled between the two stages, as the living extinction event desperately tried to stay in control. Her teeth opened and snapped closed, only Eliza kept her fromunching at John and savagely ripping his throat out.
Thana could easily take control when Eliza was physically exerting herself, and it seemed the same was true in reverse. It was the fact that she only acted as slowly as she did that had allowed her to even rip open Johns chest as she had. Any sudden movements, anything like her using her true power, and all that concentration she spent on keeping the blood mage down would be gone.
Your death, my absolution, the goddess of genocide threw that caution to the wind and John off herself. Not gently, he was suddenly thrown against the ceiling and then kicked across the room, where he hit another wall and then slid down to the floor. He felt more than a couple of ribs break and was pretty sure one of them punctured his lungs as he got up.
Having a regr body sucks, he thought as he saw Thana desperately try to head for him, but her feet werent moving anymore.
Let me, my body, this is my body, let me be free, this is my body, not my prison. I have to kill them all, all that humanity is, all of it needs to be ground to dust! she spewed out, spit flying everywhere as she threw her head around in a desperate attempt to stay in control. When she managed to take another step, she triumphantly grinned wide.
Rave and Nia looked about ready to jump in. Dont! John shouted at them. A stray punch alone could kill them. Not that it made any difference if Eliza was losing control, as it seemed like right now. Was this how it all ended? Naked in his bedroom, squished by a force he couldnt resist because he had been naively hopeful enough that they could contain her.
S-stay right there! Gnome materialized right between them. Her arms stretched out to her sides protectively. She was quivering, rightfully afraid. For all they knew, Thana might have had the capacity to truly kill elementals. That was a possibility John was aware of ever since he had spied True Death on Marath.
The goddess of genocide stalked closer, reached out to Gnome with a raised hand. The movement was slow, yet the stone elemental was frozen in ce. It was like a rabbit staring at a snake, sure they were doomed to be bitten if they moved. In the first ce, moving away would have meant to get out of her way towards John.
The hand reached Gnomes head and rested on her face. Fingers curving, the earth spirits exterior immediately splintered off, the pain entered Johns spirit, but she stood there defiantly. No matter how much Thana dug into her skull or John mentally screamed at her, his voice failing as his lungs filled with blood, she did not budge.
STOP! a sobbing voice rung out of Thanas own mouth. I dont want this, I like these dumbfucks, no, I am happy, why? Why do you have to be inside ME?! Stop trying to kill them. C I wont stop with them. Thest part was in the wolfish voice of the goddess again.
Arge chunk fell out of Gnomes face and dropped to the floor where it broke down into a pile of dirt. Please Eliza! John pleaded as he coughed up blood.
Not today, Thana grinned widely, showing off her perfectly white teeth. A shock went through her arm as she tensed it up to finally crush Gnomes headpletely. The tensing stopped at the wrist. With a frustrated groan, the goddess of genocide tried again, but the result was the same. Stop struggling! C Leave them the fuck alone! C All are to die. My body, my purpose C Hurt someone I dont care about C No exceptions, no mercy C You dont get to decide that C Dont I?! C NO, YOU FUCKING DONT!
The hand around Gnomes face suddenly opened up; the earth elemental dropped to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. OUT! Thana demanded. Get bent over a cornerstone by a syphilis infested leper-kissed asshole! Eliza returned. It would have been such a funny exchange if Johns life wasnt on the line here, he was losing HP from the internal bleeding.
Then there was a new kind of expression on Thanas face. Panic. Never had John thought she was even capable of making that face, for a moment he wasnt even sure if it was her making it, but as Elizas tormented and almost crying face interchanged with hers, it was the only logical conclusion.
The goddess of genocide reached towards John one more time, took half a step forwards, hit her foot against the lying pile of rock elemental and fell forwards. When shey on the floor, she still tried to crawl towards John as the eyes slowly reverted back to their usual stage. I hate you, was thest thing she said before all went back to normal.
Almost all.
____________________________________________________________________
This is why I need Defensive Teleportation back as soon as possible! Aclysia announced in an atypically forceful tone. She had been in the kitchen preparing food. On the plus side, she had brought two bowls of gosh that had been simmering for hours already. A pretty good meal to regain their emotional footing.
I am sorry, it was just so hard she put up a giant struggle, way more than usual Eliza was actually crying over this, tears running out of her eyes as she sent guilty nces over to Gnome, who was quickly patched back together by Undine. One of the bowls went to her, the other to John.
He took it with a thankful nod; he was down to something like a third of his health after two attacks. A third and that would have probably given him the rest. This isnt your fault, he assured her. In the first ce, I really should have kept you over at Rome if security was my highest concern.
Ja, but that wouldve been unlike us risky idiots, Rave stated and gave Eliza a light pat on the head.
DONT TOUCH ME! the blood mage screamed, violently swatting the Lightbearers hand away. The bowl fell out of her hand. Gosh scattered over the bed she was sitting on, more red stains joining Johns blood on the sheets. When she realized what she had just done, Elizas breath became unsteady, she looked terrorized at her own hands. Not more of this shit, she begged the world as the tears intensified.
What is going on? John asked, putting his own bowl aside again; this clearly took priority. Slowly, to give her ample time to signal him to stop, he came closer and eventually embraced her sitting form.
Her arms went around his waist as she wept in confusion. I dont know I feel like part of her is stuck in me. Not just my fucking body, just actual me!
Aclysia, can you show her? John asked, and the weaponized maid brought her salver over to serve as a mediocre mirror. Wordlessly, Eliza stared at her reflection, one of the dots in her left eye had not been reverted to the dot but was still stuck in the form of a line. I think that is exactly what is happening, he broke it to her.
Fuck, was all she managed to mutter. So I am just going to slowly be her?! Is that where this shit is heading?
Nah, Rave said, reaching out to her again and putting her hand on Elizas back. The blood mage tensed up, as if she was being touched by something ice cold, but as the techno lover gently rubbed up and down, the sickly pale girl rxed again. See, ya arent bing her. She looked afraid of it happening, so ya got it the wrong way around C She is disappearing into ya.
Something like that, John agreed. If you hold onto what makes you you and dont let what makes her her overwhelm you, a slow melding of you two is actually perfect.
Eliza sniffed and looked up to them. She opened her mouth to say something when Nia dropped into the group hug. You are scary, small and cute, you will be fine, the emotionless voice carried over.
This is the only fucking time you get to hug me or call me small, you blonde bimbo babe, Eliza giggled.
_____________________________________________________________________
John: So, where are we on the whole Coalition defeating itself from within thing.
Scarlett: Oh, you know, we are split into three camps right now. There are those that are with Bearings, others that are with Thorne and the rest who are the poor fellows squished in between.
Scarlett: I would say its going pretty well.
Scarlett: Why are you asking?
John: Because I got a very interesting letter from a Jeff Bearings to meet him in a restaurant in the Bronx today.
Scarlett: Oh, do tell?
John: Something about a potential alliance and way out for me.
John: Too bad for him he catches me in a very bad mood.
John: And that I already have a secret pact.
Scarlett: 4 days of silence and he is already getting antsy.
Scarlett: Perfect~
Scarlett: Well, I will keep my ears sharp if he tries toe up with any other shenanigans.
John: Hard to notice something if he knows you exist.
Scarlett: He does, but most of his subordinates dont. They WILL identally spill something. Humans never manage to keep their mouths shut.
Scarlett: We have been over this.
John: Fair enough. Anyway, going there now.
John: If its a trap, I am initiating phase 3.
John: Maybe a bit early, but it should work out.
Scarlett: If Bearings is moving to end this war already, they are trying to counteract the division. Guess that part of the n will fall t.
Scarlett: Not like you really needed it, right?
John: It would have made everything much easier, but we will see.
He put away the phone and stepped on Magois boat. You know, I had a nice shopping trip nned yesterday, the High-Fateweaver mused. I dont like wars, particrly not if they interfere with my schedule.
Sorry, but if all goes well, this is the only time we are going to be reduced to this size of territory, John apologized. This shouldnt happen again in the future.
I will take your word for it, the raptor skull wearing man said and started the engine.
Chapter 455 – Plans and Time 4 – Bearings
Chapter 455 C ns and Time 4 C Bearings
John entered the restaurant with Aclysia and Beatrice. These two had changed into their maid outfits the moment they were inside the barrier. For the rest of Johns group, they were either watching over Eliza or protecting Magoi on his boat. They didnt want to run the risk of the Fateweaver getting surprised by a fighter, however unlikely it was that someone was able to enter the barrier as long as Magoi himself didnt want them to.
The locale was inside a luxurious marble building, the way leading up to it finely cleaned and a green carpet rolled out that stretched from the wide, roofed over entrance all the way to the reception. Several people were walking around, doing their work wordlessly with empty expressions. Everything was meticulous, to a degree a hospital would have been envious of.
I dont like this, John thought; this degree of perfection was not achieved naturally.
The reception was a desk in front of a wall that stood in the middle of the one-room floor (bathrooms and kitchen excluded) for two purposes, which were to give a visual barrier between entrance and dining area and to hold the huge symbol made from gold, four bear ws forming a ring. Whoever designed Bearingspany symbol had a sense of humour.
ording to Scarlett, Bearings was one of the oldestpanies in the New York area, going back all the way to the original settlement. They were founded by an opportunistic young man making a deal with a native American tribe. Peaceful trade that made both sides richer.
Based on what Observe told John about the people running the restaurant, the generations had changed the nature of thepany drastically. So, the reason why everything looks so perfectly clean is because these people are basically cleaning zombies, John thought. In a desperate attempt of humour, he added mentally. See that, Beatrice, thats how you look!
He was of course speaking about thepletely still standing woman behind the reception. Wee to the Finest Grape. We are a luxury restaurant. Please name yourself and or your reservation.
and sound, John added.
I disagree. I am not quite that robotic, Beatrice returned. I just dont care a lot due to my personality. Correction: Lack of personality. She cant care because drugs are blocking her receptors. I am boring. She is someone. Rather, was or would be.
Why do you call yourself boring? John wanted to know while turned to the woman. John Newman, I am here for a reservation from Jeff Bearings.
Pick whatever table you want. Jeff Bearings has booked the whole restaurant for tonight, the receptiondy informed him. However, he dislikes young people handling their electronics during conversation. You are therefore required to leave all electronic devices with me. A counter to Scarletts influence without a doubt. A couple of security people came in to not only oversee the process but pat him down to see if he was hiding anything.
Self-deprecating humour, Beatrice answered. Layer of traits continue to pile on top of my basic personality. I remain passive, but I am bing more unique. Aclysia also went through this phase.
Aclysia nodded as they sat down; she had indeed started a lot more basic than she was right now. For her it had taken a bit longer because she had been exposed to several stat changes needed to function like a basic person over time. The other two Artificial Spirits had gotten to skip that phase. Momo had needed a couple of days to be sarcastic and bantering, weeks for those traits to formte fully. At ten days old, Beatrice wasnt changing a lot anymore, but some small reveals were still out there.
I rather enjoy being myself, the robotic spirit added. You all are a lot more emotional than I feel I would enjoy. Not caring makes for a smooth daily experience. Maybe reliable is better than smooth.
But your highs are basically non-existent, John noted. You are like a stunted sinus curve that has a range from minus 3 to plus 3 while the rest of us go from 10 to 10. Unless it came to sex with him, then her Aclysia-inherited instincts took over and she was as motivated as the weaponized maid to please him.
I do not see that as a problem, Beatrice told him and the conversation died there. She wasnt wrong when she said being less emotional was good; John sure would have liked it if he could keep his cool a bit better in certain situations, such as when someone did as much as insult his girls. He was a bit vtile when it came to protecting things that were his. Probably because he had attached his happiness to aputer screen for years.
The mere suggestion that someone coulde along and take from John what he had worked his way towards the past few months sent his mood into light turmoil. The kind of churning thoughts that one experienced after an argument. A whole lot of what ifs jumped around until Aclysia and Beatrice reached for one of his hands each at the exact same moment with exactly the same gesture.
As much as Beatrices passiveness made her different from Aclysia, it didnt change the fact that her current personality was based on something approaching 50% of her eldest sisters base programming.
A waiter approached them and asked if he could bring them any appetizers in a voice that could have passed as orderly serving but was just another example of monotony now that John knew what all of this was about. After he had asked for something, the waiter bowed and disappeared again.
So far, I liked the strip club a lot more, John told Aclysia as they waited.
Howe? she asked.
It just felt more honest. Scarlett is a ruthless person with little ethics and she met us at a ce where hot chicks dance for money where she smoked and drank heavily. This whole ce just reeks of pretension, he answered.
The perfect cleanliness, the chandelier under the ceiling, the marble floor, all of it was just so incredibly posh. Meanwhile, mindless drones that had no more say in the matter were stalking around. The Gamer suddenly had that old song in his ear And I owe my soul to thepany store.
The one thing John noticed the most though were the chairs: they were absolutely marvellous to look at, but to sit in them felt like his ass and back were pressing right through the thin cushions and hit the hard wood. They were all form over function.
His bread soon arrived, and John eyed it suspiciously. It appeared as normal white bread, white flour sprinkled over the upper side, in a neat silver bowl. Served together with some salted butter to add at least some taste.
Except it wasnt flour on the bread but some magical drug called sperulosit, at least ording to the item description he got for it. He scraped some of the powder on his finger and Observed it in istion. Its supposed to make me more suggestible, is that it? John thought after reading the info that popped up regarding that.
He carefully licked the little amount on his fingertip off. As he suspected, he was greeted with a Drug Resisted window. With his level of Endurance, such a basic drug could no longer harm him, although he should stay on his toes regarding how much of it he took in. For the moment, he grabbed the pure silver knife and used it to spread some (undrugged) butter.
In the meanwhile, Aclysia was seething. Poisoning Masters food is uneptable; RUINING food is generally uneptable! she dered. John could hear the t heel of her shoe tapping on the floor repeatedly. She was annoyed both as a servant and a chef that somebody would steep so low.
Enjoying the bread? a deep, charismatic voice echoed over at that moment. A man in a champagne coloured suit closed in on the table. For a person in the Abyss, he was as fat as they came, with a visible belly stretching his vest. He had brown hair that showed the first signs of greying and had an aristocratic air to him.
At his side was another man, with lifeless eyes but a body rippling with vitality. He had short, ck hair and wore a full set of armour, some higher elemental alloy from the looks of it, probably something just a tier beneath Baelementium. Still, John picked up on that silent hydraulic noise when he moved, that person had some number of robotic limbs.
John had to swallow his disgust with Bearings as the fat man sat down on the opposite side of the table. Byparison, Scarlett looked like an innocent puppy. The people working for her were at least allowed to maintain their individuality, quit if they so desired (and didnt take any dirt with them) and had ways to rise up in thepany. If either of them noticed Observe breaking through their defences, they didnt let him know.
I do so enjoy this restaurant, which is the main reason I bought it, Bearings announced, pping his hands twice once he wasfortable in his chair. Despite his tant dislike for John, his voice stayed warm and charming. A waiter immediately came their way. Just order whatever you like.
John stared at Bearings with cold eyes for a moment. The man hadnt even said hello. It was apparent that he was under the impression that control of the situation squarely sat in his palm. Despite that, he never took a rxed pose and his bodyguard stood with one hand ever close to a short sword hanging from his hips.
I will take a slice of Turkheir, he challenged that im but was pleasantly surprised when the waiter just nodded. At least something good coulde of this.
A gourmet, I can respect that, Bearings smiled broadly, I will take the same. Too sad that we only have frozen Turkheirs, I hear fresh ones are the most delicious.
They are, John agreed. Especially if prepared over ava pit.
That was a sentence that threw the man off somewhat. John used the opportunity to put the bowl of bread aside, he had eaten enough to keep up appearances. Bearings added something that sounded remarkably snobby to his order and then the waiter left again.
I did not expect you to make an offer to talk, John extended an olive branch to get the conversation rolling. And for it to not be a trap.
I did not expect you to take it so easily, Bearings answered. I thought I would have to coerce you for a few days at least. It seems you are as insane as my brother, he spat that word out with unveiled contempt, Jackal.
John shrugged, What can I say? I am desperate. I thought taking over something as unorganized as Thorne would be a piece of cake and I could steamroll you all from there.
You were fundamentally wrong because you didnt know your enemy well enough, the chemical capitalist couldnt hide his arrogance in that sentence. You stupidly ran into an enemy that is anything but disorganized. In the process, you only helped Thorne consolidate their power over the rest of us but I can graciously help you out.
He paused there, making it sound like he would gain nothing in that situation. A ss of red wine was ced in front of him, probably that snobby sounding thing he wanted earlier. Ah, Timur Dnerius, yup, absolutely that snobby thing, if that name alone wasnt enough, the way he stretched every syble certainly was, a wine distilled from red grapes from special trees growing only inside the barriers of ancient Mesopotamia, found by the great Timur dynasty. Not the ruling branch of it, but still. Legends say he had to fight a Lorylim beast to give us this wine.
Bearings took a deep sip before being presented with a cigar by Lus, who also ignited it for him once he got there. The alchemist took a deep huff and blew the smoke right in Johns face. The Gamer could audibly hear Aclysias patience cracking inside her mind and Beatrice also experienced mild aggressiveness, which was three orders of magnitude over her usual feelings.
In the meanwhile, John closed the Drug Resisted menu. Even the smoke of the mans cigar was drugged. That begged the question how he was not experiencing any side effects. Did he have a trained resistance? A wondering Observe at the wine revealed it to have some healing qualities, so there was that.
John acted like he was too afraid to protest against the smoke. Why would you help me? he wanted to know instead.
Because I want to control the person leading Thorne, Bearings went straight-out. I trust you to make the right decision after you gain knowledge about what I am about to tell you. With trust, John could easily distil, the alchemist meant that even if the Gamer had that information, he couldnt do anything of harm with it.
I am all ears, John said.
Her name is Scarlett Thorne, I know about her existence thanks to a high-ranking spy I have in herpany. She is a Technomancer, Bearings told him all the things he already knew.
But John had to act the part of the fool here, so he shrugged, And? Technomancers arent rare these days.
Neither are pyromancers, hiding under the alchemists warmly correcting tone was the mocking of Johns naivety. There is arge difference between a pyromancer and an elite. Normal Technomancers just oversee automated processes, Scarlett has the ability to spy on the whole city, and it only gets easier for her as her electronics continue to spread.
Sounds like someone you should kill if she exists, John told him with a voice full of doubt. In the first ce, you shouldnt be keeping this a secret, then everyone would just band together against her.
How short-sighted of you, Bearings gently reprimanded. I already told you, I want to control her. That is so much more valuable than just removing her.
In short, he didnt want everyone to know because he strived to one day hold that power himself and them being informed would only be to his disadvantage then. Better to keep it secret and do the kidnapping quietly at an opportune moment.
Lets say I believe any of that nonsense, John told Bearings, that there is this Scarlett girl and that you have the means to control her How does it matter? All I want is to get out of this siege situation I got myself stuck in.
True, true, Bearings smiled fatherly, just letting you know so we are on the same page. The answer is that my people will feed you intel on the coalitions movements. You will raid weak spots and make a sloweback, undermining Thornes authority. Then, when I got them dethroned as the de-facto leader of this little alliance against you, you will attack the Thorne headquarters. You will lose against my people, but not before creating so much chaos that we can abduct Scarlett out of her secret office. After you are defeated, we will make a great show out of you subjugating you and your guild to Bearings.
It wasnt the worst n, John had to admit, and it would certainly work out for Bearings if John was as desperate as he caricatured himself to be. The alchemist wasnt stupid.
Still, he was way slower than Scarlett or John.
That n is shit, the Gamer stated instead, taking speech lessons from Eliza. What kind of idiot do you fat-fuck take me for? That Scarlett thing is an obvious rouse to get me afraid, there is no Technomancer that strong. You just want me to jump headfirst into those headquarters because thats the only way you could hope to kill me.
Please, you had problems with Zimmothy and Lus here is way stronger than him, Bearings charming exterior slipped a bit as the mocking became the predominant tone in his voice. He could kill you right here, I dont need arge scheme for that.
He could, but Johns retort was interrupted by the slices of Turkheir finally arriving and being ced on the table. They were thick and lying in a pool of their own juice on an otherwise empty te. The smell reached his nose and instantly caused water to gather in his mouth. you said you were proud of this restaurant, right? John changed the topic after casting Observe.
That is right, Bearings answered with muchposure.
You should tell your chefs to cook their meat until its actually done, John said, leaving Bearings confused. Smander, if you would.
With gusto, the endme elemental appeared right next to him, raising a hand over the te. A torrent of grey and golden falmes consumed the elegant surface of the table. The white linen, the candle wax, the meat, it all burned.
Bearings tried to jump backwards, away from the heat, but could only howl in pain instead. Aclysia and Beatrice, armed with her dagger and a random fork respectively, nailed his meaty hands to the table. Never disrespect Masters food by drugging it ever again, the maids threatened in unison, green eyes filled with as much (or little) hatred as they could muster.
LUUUUUUS! Bearings roared; his bodyguard was already mid attack. Aclysia blocked it with her forearm but immediately took a knee as if she was budging under his strength.
You are right, he could probably kill us, John told a tant lie, with a voice as if he was respectful of Lus. But not before I kill you. Your bluffs have no effects on me. You are just a fat, arrogant pig that tried to get me as another brainwashed drone. John took a careful step backwards, and Beatrice followed suit. We will go now, I expect you to let us or I will kill you right here.
You insolent Bearings growled but painfully aware of his hands about to enter hell. The fire had eaten away at Johns half already and was quickly spreading to where they were nailed down. I will not forget this! I will personally make sure your corpse will be too mangled for anyone to identify! I will turn all of those girls you treasure into mindless whores, sold for profit to the highest bidder!
Sensing her opportunity, Siena chimed in as she felt the rage boiling inside her summoner. If you want me, she said in her overly sensual voice, there is a lot of girth to him, I could work him for hours, keep him on edge. She ended that with a snicker. I know you would like to watch.
The sick stuff youe up with? No, I dont want to watch that John told her and turned, anyway, not today. He is not for us to kill.
Try. In five days me and my guild will have finished evacuating anyway. There is no way you can mount a meaningful offensive before then, John gave the man an artificial countdown. I will gather power elsewhere and one day I will be back to smash you and your empire of cocaine to dust.
Aclysia sessfully disengaged Lus and followed John as he left the building, and the furious Bearings, behind.
And now we are reaching the end of phase 2, John thought.
Chapter 456 – Plans and Time 5 – With a beat in her heart
Chapter 456 C ns and Time 5 C With a beat in her heart
John: Man, Bearings is an asshole.
Rave: Do tell?
John: His deal was that we trick every one of his current allies, then start serving him (with him conveniently failing to mention that he would drug us) after everything is said and done.
John: AND we were supposed to help him get Scarlett.
Scarlett: Sounds about right for the luxurious prick.
Rave: Could ya not invade our private chatroom?
John: Could you not invade out private chatroom?
Rave: Hah! Jinxed!
John: One letter less, and you got me.
Rave: I always gotcha. (But you also misspelled *our)
Scarlett: Its either me listening in or whoever else oversees this Discord. I heavily rmend you change to another program. Discord does not have end-to-end encryption.
Scarlett: Seriously, even Bearings technomancers can listen in on this, I am scrubbing the records here for you!
John: Oh any rmendations?
Scarlett: Get your ownmunication program.
Rave: How about ya set it up for us after this is done? We need a proper war software like Rex Germaniae has anyway.
Scarlett: If you pay me enough.
John: You are paid in non-exposure.
Scarlett: Haha, fair enough.
John: Anyway, aside from that everything is going exactly as nned.
John: I think I sessfully taunted him into attacking. Didnt need to pull the trigger on Phase 3 yet.
Rave: So, what now?
John: Now I need to get to the boat, and then we wait.
_______________________________________________________________________
But waiting is so boooriiiiing, Raveined, lying with her back on the sofa and kicking the air. She was breathing heavily from some kind of meditation she had been in. Her training clothes were a thoroughly soaked through, white (now see-through) crop-top and a pair of bright green yoga shorts. Ya listening, tiger? she asked, looking at him through her outstretched, parted legs.
He was busy following a drop of sweat running down her thighs. Nope, he tantly stated and threw himself onto her.
Whatchadoing! she slurred and giggled as John kissed her midriff, tasting the salt of her exhaustion. John, stahp! I am too tired to fuck ya right now.
Dont you worry and rx, we will make this all about you, John assured her as he hooked his fingers under her pants and pulled them up. Because they were a bit damp, that was more of an endeavour than he liked, but by the end Raves naked crotch was in front of him. My girl deserves some reward, even if I dont get how she is exhausted from sitting on the floor for three hours.
I was channelling mana through my centre, Rave told him, her heavy breaths assuming a different origin when John gently let his lips travel over the inside of her legs. Distributes it through my body, keeps my muscles strong and expands my magical ability. Its a technique daddy taught me.
John felt her heelsing to a rest on his back as he teased her pussy lips with two of his fingers. In response to that little stimtion, they started to swell inside. The pinknding strip above her clit nicely harmonized with her healthily toned but generally pale skin, especially against the backdrop of the ck leather couch. So, you just sit there and be stronger?
Its more of a preparation to be stronger, Rave answered and then moaned when Johns thumb circled her clit. Ahh, ya know, cause the muscles are filled up with more mana than usual, mhm, they get stronger during the next work-out in the attempt to handle it all.
Last time I saw you training this hard was before you were facing your mother, John pointed out. Howe you are trying this hard?
Cause ya keep pulling ahead, his girlfriend stated earnestly. The look in her eyes caused him to stop in their current engagement to hear what she had to say. We both know ya are going to stay away from me in power forever now. Ya grow faster, ya have more potential, youre just stronger. Thats how that works in the Abyss, but I dont want to fall behind anymore than I need to. If ya be a god amongst men, I will at least be an angel!
You are already my angel, John whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.
I know, she answered as she raised her upper back to meet him, but I refuse to be just a trophy wife. I am going to kick ass and take names!
Their tongues intertwined in a loving kiss that had John forget to think entirely for the few seconds itsted. It was just her that filled his mind in these moments. When he pulled back the two of them just quietly enjoyed each others presence for a moment before Rave asked, What did ya say my potential level was again?
225, John answered.
You are about halfway there.
Lots of room upwards, then, she grinned and then yawned. Gotta go do my best.
I will see how I can help you, John told her. There have to be some tricks we can discover together; I am quite crafty.
That you are, Rave agreed with a wide smile. And good with your tongue, so how about ya gimme a reason to nap and then we see about that?
That was entirely reasonable and so he gave her some orgasms that sent her to thend of dreams.
______________________________________________________
About two hourster, they were inside a basic, green in instant dungeon without any enemies around. Just him, her, Aclysia and Copernicus. John had to admit that he hadnt been paying a lot of attention to his girlfriends power progress. Sure, they had talked about it, but that wasnt quite the same as stopping to look. So, go ahead, show me what you trained while I was busy grinding away my levels.
Well, ya know I am pretty martial arts-y, Rave, covered in her pink battle suit, answered. I have been focusing a lot on my melee, because I just feel morefortable there than throwing spells out. My toolset of punching and throwing light attacks around hasnt really changed. The moment she finished that sentence, she sprouted a pair of pink cat ears. I can maintain this state pretty much 24/7, but that isnt a meaningful difference.
We have been working mostly on two things, Copernicus chimed in, his tail flopping over the floor. Which are to perfect her different fighting styles by that he meant the difference between Rave fighting normally and in a way that scattered a wasteful amount of mana into the air. The reason for the second one was Copernicus unleashing requirement, to devour a lot of his summoners free-floating mana. and how long we can keep up the unleashed stage.
Its really hard to hold onto that much mana, Rave spoke up again, hence why I do the meditation stuff.
Mhm, I cant help with that, John hummed. The only idea he had was to give Rave an enchanted item that regenerated her mana passively, but previous experiments had shown thats not how that worked. The way Rave regenerated mana was just too different from his to be affected the same way. Only thing he could do was give her items that increased her natural mana regeneration, but with her body suit she was already fully covered on that front.
In other words, he couldnt bullshit her powers.
Nah, that would be weird anyway, Rave told him. If ya had a skill that allowed ya to meddle with the powers exchanged between a summoner and his elemental, that would be super busted. Best ya can do is throw me some levels every now and again.
Yeah but I can at least give you a sparring partner for the base training, John dered and Aclysia stepped forwards.
It has been a while since we fought, she stated bowing with a wooden sword in hand. Of course, the weaponized maid couldnt fight using Eclys or Marath, those weapons could make a little incident into a severed limb. Topensate, John had grabbed some high-quality wood off the auction while Rave had been sleeping and used Create to make it into a copy of Eclys in shape, as sturdy as his skills possibly allowed him.
Ja, I usually grab Nia when I can find her, Rave rolled her wrists. The ck gloves, the only part of her outfit that wasnt pink, covering her hands were thicker than any other part of her battle suit. Most of it was there to allow Rave to dodge and move, rather than block, but those gloves had to withstand and protect her hands from a lot of heavy impacts. Variety is nice.
With that, the two of them went straight at each other.
They were roughly equal in speed, now that Rave had all of her buffs active, with the Lightbearer trumping Aclysia by about 20 points. However, the weaponized maid had almost twice Raves Strength and it showed in that first sh.
Rave attempted to block the sideway swing of Aclysia but quickly had to find out that only sent herself flying. The techno-lover made a perfectly gracefulnding on her legs a few metres to the side, shaking the impact out of her arm while the white-haired servant came for her again.
Between you and me, Copernicus spoke up from the floor, Jane is stronger already than I thought she would ever be when we made the contract.
Is that so? John asked; he wasnt really surprised. His cat-eared girlfriend dodged the next strike, her pink hair whirling after her as she executed a spinning kick right into Aclysias side. To her masters surprise that dealt quite a bit of damage. Where is the aftershock? John wondered. For a second, he thought she didnt have the buff on. Then Rave back-flipped away from the engagement to flee retaliation, and every time her feet skipped over the ground the golden ripples of Copernicus blessing spread out, slowing Aclysia in her chase.
It was like the weaponized maid was running against ankle-high waves, it took a lot of energy out of the steps she dragged through them and could have seen her stumble and fall if she wasnt careful. Manoeuvring to have her stride carry her over the ripples wasnt difficult, but it still caused her pace to change.
Ah, right, thats a new trick we have been working on, Copernicus told him with a proud purr. Jane always had a few problems with armoured or regenerating enemies, so she learned a ki-strike that travels a few centimetres under the impact site, the Prative st. In turn, I learned how to modify the blessing so that it works with that.
John raised an eyebrow, Are you telling me the aftershock is now happening inside Aclysias body when she is kicked?
Indeed. If she wasnt made from metal, you could actually see the light ring up under her skin, Copernicus stated. Also, we are no longer limited to just kicks. That was backed up by Rave missing a flying punch and the impact of her fist on the ground sending a ripple outward. Aclysia distanced herself quickly, afraid of losing her footing. As you can see, we have made quite the advancements.
Rave, despite being thirty levels lower, was now pressing the attack against Aclysia. In terms of bnce, the fact that a human had better abilities than a golem was only fair. With this new armour prating strike, Johns girlfriend was squarely the favourite in this fight. Eclys or Marath would mean that Rave would need to fight more cautiously than she was right now, but even then, she had now taken care of one of her bigger weaknesses.
The biggest weakness Rave still had was the fact that she was someone who didnt fight with a real n. Pure fighting instinct guided her every step along the way, together with a beat only she heard. That made her fighting style simultaneously chaotic but well timed, entirely confusing for the enemy; the problem was that was all there was to it. It was a fighting style that was very much in the now and that often turned out to her detriment.
Copernicus guessed what he was thinking. We have tried to get her to fight more patiently, and she did try, the suncat informed him, but it just seems that, once she in the momentum, she gets carried away. She just goes along the rhythm in her heart.
Mhm, John thought about that for a second, then he had a stupid idea. Ill be back in a second.
_____________________________________________________________________
Rave looked at John presenting her with a pair of headphones, simple ck things with an odd cursive-w shape at the bridge, and her mp3-yer at the next break. Why are ya giving that to me now? she wanted to know. And I still have the headphones ya gave me for Christmas, there was no reason to buy me new ones.
I have a theory, the Gamer told her. If what you need is a n, but all you ever fight by are those constant beats you hear from years of exposing yourself to techno...
Dont music-shame me! Rave interrupted with a lightugh.
how about you just fight by actual techno? John finished his exnation. Copernicus and Aclysia looked reasonably doubtful, it was a stupid theory.
Rave didnt seem to think it was that stupid, putting the mp3-yer into a pocket that formed conveniently from the body suit and then looking at the wireless headphones. They were a nice sky blue, the same colour she had painted her nails today. Ya know, I wont be able to hear anything if I listen to music mid-battle, she pointed out. Kinda puts me at a disadvantage.
Really? John reached out and pressed his hands against the sides of her head. Last I checked you had four functioning ears, the cat ears formed from her long hair perked up, and two of them are actually way better.
Copernicus tapped in a circle around them, This is entirely stupid.
Oy, music is my first love, Cappy! Rave dered, putting on the headphones. The odd shape came into y as it curved near perfectly around her cat ears. They were, after all, made for actual catgirls. I mean, sure it sounds stupid, but if it works, it works, right?
When the next engagement ended with Rave beating Aclysia in three minutes fifty-two seconds, Copernicus had no more justification toin. It had been an entirely one-sided fight from start to finish, every step Rave had taken had been with purpose.
As the song flowed, so did she, exerting herself where it was erratic and concentrating on dodging and gathering her resources where it was building up. It granted to the otherwisepletely spontaneous fighting style an overarching structure.
A second fight had Rave win again, this time she needed three songs. She made it from one to the next without confusion; if anything, the change in tempo threw Aclysia off. Just because the Lightbearer was following the iprehensible, unintended instructions of the dubstep fighting manual didnt mean she had suddenly lost her adaptability.
John made a mental note of Gaiasment there. It sounded like it would be highly importantter on in his life.
But how? the suncat wanted to know. How can you move that smoothly just because you have some sounds in your ear?
Pssssh, I dunno, Rave waved off. Music is magic and if it works, it works. She winked at John. Thanks for pointing out the obvious, tiger. Should have thought of this myself.
Hey, sometimes you just need a second opinion on things, her boyfriend smirked and slung his arms around her lower waist. They yfully danced a few steps together. Just keep pointing out the obvious things I dont see about myself and I will keep doing the same for you.
Well, I have one thing in mind, she said with a flirting tone. Youre really cute today. They kissed again, but it was still as great as the first time they had ever done it. Ya cant go train again yet, right?
Not without risking being trapped inside a dungeon when Bearings finally mounts his offensive, John said; Escape Rope still had two more days cooldown.
Okay, then ya and me are gonna have some more sparring matches, she decided. Throw some more stuff at me. I need to check which songs work the best for what situations, gotta make some ylists.
I never heard you this excited about preparing for battle before, John whispered to her, raising her from the floor and spinning around his own axis before putting her down again. When he was with her, he just felt free to do useless and fun things.
Hey, I get to listen to music and kick your ass, whats not to love, Raveughed then stopped their little dance. I cant imagine not loving ya, you know? Super weird, when I met you this wasnt where I thought we would end up.
Neither did I, but this is the best timeline, John stated.
Chapter 457 – Plans and Time 6 – Heel turn
Chapter 457 C ns and Time 6 C Heel turn
They came in the morning. Seven boats, wildly different models and paint jobs, pulled into the Guild Hall barrier. Man, I must have really pissed him off, John thought as he looked at those vessels. Bearings, being an inndpany, did not have ships of its own. The ones John saw in front of himself were mercenary vessels or, and that was the true testament as to how much the Gamer must have riled up the alchemist, the ferrying vessels of the local Fateweavers.
Because of Magoi, Collide had pretty good rtions to those guys, so he doubted they were going along with this. The question was then whether the people maintaining the mobile barriers were people Bearings had hired or the original crowd pressed into service.
Best y it safe and not blow up the ships, John thought. Even identally, he didnt want to worsen rtions with people he wanted to integrate in his organization down the line. Sipping on a cup of hot cocoa, he looked at that.
At his side, Rave was doing some stretches in her battle suit. Aclysia was going through her arsenal to make sure everything was in order. Metra was checking the edge of Qiada, rubbing off some dirt. Nia and Beatrice stood there passively, weapons at the ready and prepared to engage with anyone thatnded. The only person not preparing was Eliza, who was instead grumbling about not being able to be part of the carnage.
S-shouldnt we prepare? Seth asked, out of breath from storming up to the yachts sun deck. Those are I dont know how many people!
About 200, if I had to take a wild guess, Magoimented. The ferries, making up the majority of that little fleet, were jam packed with people. None of which could leave now that the High Fateweaver did not want them to.
The only boat that didnt seem to be fully loaded was a nutshell of a vessel. True, it was golden, quite beautiful, propelled by a powerful magical engine and lookedfortable, but it could have only held three people at the maximum. The sole man on there wore full-body armour and had his arms crossed. John narrowed his eyes when Observe failed, he would have to stay aware of that one.
Anyway, I already prepared, John told his first vassal. Your job here is to make sure there is a protection force for any straggler thates through and threatens the civilians.
A-are you saying you are going to beat 200 people with just you six? Seth asked. Thats crazy, we werent even able to win against the smaller force that attacked the Enve!
Yeah, about that, remember how I said that I had a n back then? This is part of the n, he told the man, who looked sceptical about that im. John also handed the cup of cocoa to the air right next to him, where Sylph popped up in her big form to finish the rest. And technically, we are ten fighters. You have to subtract Eliza and add all my elementals except for Stirwin.
JOHN NEWMAN! the shouting voice of a certain Asian spearman suddenly rang out of the speaker system of thergest of the enemy vessels, one of the three that wasnt a ferry. WE HAVE COME TO ACCEPT YOUR SURRENDER. BEARINGS WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD BUT LEAVE THE REST OF YOUR PEOPLE TO BE SOLD ON THE ABYSS AUCTION. THATS THE BEST DEAL YOU WILL GET!
Mhm, it would be rude not to answer, wouldnt it? John asked everyone.
Ja, but the guy doesnt really deserve being treated with manners, Rave stated.
As the mistress said, Aclysia agreed.
Whatever, Beatrice didnt care.
Can I please just bash something over the fucking head already?! Metra asked, sick of this game.
The direct answer then, John raised a hand and his MP dropped straight to 0. A blue sphere formed and flew diagonally to the sky and above the centre of the fleet. Once it was there it quickly started growing, from the size of a basketball to that of a grown man. At almost 5000 mana invested, Arcana Strike charged into avability rather quickly. Seth, unless they brought someone at the Primarch level, this will barely even qualify as a battle, the Gamer dered, and then the attack descended from the heavens.
With supersonic speed and a sound that reminded John of the beat of an old techno song, the mass of pure arcane power hit the water, missing thergest boat by a few metres. Water was evaporated or carried as tiny droplets by the shockwave as the explosion, purple and blue, expanded outwards. In a stream of ripping particles, half of the boat was simply eradicated. The rest was sucked in by the water filling the hole that had just been created.
Veils of arcane remains, likeyers of blue satin, formed at the impact site as everything was silent. Just try to keep the ferries intact and leave the people that surrender, John gave a few final instructions to everyone.
Sure thing, Metra growled with a dangerous smile on her face and jumped over the railing, only to appear again above one of the ships and engage the whole crew on her own. Smander, Sylph and Undine didnt have any reason to wait anymore themselves and went out to confront the fleet in their own ways.
The rest of them made their way down to the shore to greet whoever managed tond. To the enemies credit, they were keeping a cool head. It was likely too normal to be greeted with some number of explosive shenanigans when invading a mages territory.
Despite having his vessel destroyed, Zimmothy was the first person tond on the ind. By using the kickback of his spear as an underwater eleration, he managed to propel himself right onto the shore. Your trickery ends here!
Sure, John rolled his eyes, saddened by the fact that the Arcane Echoes he had ced on the rim of the ind had run out already. Seemed like his AoE skill had only so long it could stay, even in rune form. It would have been funny to see his grandstanding be ruined by a wave of arcane energy.
You may have surprised mest time, but I will have my revenge! Zimmothy dered whirling his spear around in a way that was intimidating but entirely useless in terms of actual fighting.
I will assist! a blubbering voice echoed from the water as a webbed hand gripped onto the edge and pulled up arge, muscr body. He had green and blue skin and lips so thick that John immediately thought of a perch.
It was the fishman that originally had inhabited this ind together with his band of robbers. Remind me, Tash, that wasnt his name, but the Gamer wouldnt even try to correctly pronounce Tshshshsh, did I or did I not warn you to stay on the low?
Screw you, my family has been hunting here for a hundred years! the fishman dered as hisrades dragged themselves out of the water. Another fifty or so enemies on top of the ones still about tond. We will just kill you and go back to plundering the weak!
John closed his eyes. The fishmen and Zimmothy saw that as their moment to attack, letting out a warcry and beginning their charge. Tash and the spearman were followed by a small army, webbed feet slinging over the stone of the walkway. Raised fists and weapons came for the Gamer, still standing there with his eyes closed.
A silver-white cleaver sliced through Tashs stomach like a hot knife through butter, breaking the spine and splitting two more fishmen in the wider arc of the attack. Blood and guts flew through the air, lifeless bodies fell and left John to whisper, You made this choice, I will not spare anyone twice, as he opened his eyes again to golden light enveloping Zimmothy.
The spearman may not have been of any risk to John but he was still strong enough to not get one-shot by Raves attack. Jumping backwards, he blinked rapidly to get his eyesight in order. The funky Lightbearer gave him that time to put up her headphones, cat ears sprouting, and assume a stance. Congrattions, you killed the weakest link! Zimmothy shouted and then engaged Rave again.
It looked to be a quickbo, one bullet shot to propel him forwards, a thrust at her chest and a second round fired from between wherever the forked tip would hit. He only got step 1 finished.
The moment Zimmothys spear closed in on the techno lover, she moved with the precision of an expert martial artist. Shoving aside the spear directly underneath the de with her left arm, she raised her right in an open palmed uppercut. It was the pure routine of triggering the shot anyway that saved Zimmothy, as he instinctively reinforced his negative momentum to disengage.
The open palm flew by where his face had just been, a focused beam of light exploding upwards turning the hair on his head frizzy. The attack could have broken his neck or turned his head into charcoal, either way it was deadly.
When Zimmothynded, he smirked, sure that his enemy was throwing all their strength at them. That smirk soon froze and diedpletely as he watched inplete horror as Aclysia, together with the other girls and background support from John in the shape of Shardbound sniping at the enemy ranged forces, mowed down his allies.
Where are ya looking in the middle of a fight? Rave wanted to know, catching Zimmothypletely off-guard. A sloppy spear strike missed the markpletely, the Lightbearer ducking underneath and then swiping away the spearmans feet. The aura around Rave red up intensely as she focused her powers and brought down her foot.
Zimmothy brought the shaft of his spear between his shoulder and the descending sole. However, it wasnt just any stomp but a proper martial art technique, a derivation of the Shatter Step. Muscles filled with mana (although martial artists preferred to call it Ki to separate themselves from the mages, despite it being the same power in origin) and reinforced with Copernicus blessing, the attack burst through the metal shaft and broke the spearmans dominant shoulder.
Then the aftershock rippled out. Golden light that transformed into kic energy on impact with any ensouled object expanded the rtively small impact area under Raves foot into something thrice as big. It was if a professional had just slung a golf ball at him and then another one had smashed a volleyball on the exact same spot, amplified by arge magnitude.
MOTHERFUCKER! Zimmothy screamed dropping half the spear. You bitch, what the fuck?!
Wow, sore loser much? Rave pouted but just kept him pinned. She had already won, no reason to add more injury to injury. Man, John really must have put up a good show if ya thought ya were good.
Show? Zimmothys confusion was apparent on his face.
I guess we can let the cat out of the bag, John chimed in, walking over as the stragglers and those that surrendered were taken care of. It was a trick.
What was? Zimmothys pain fogged mind couldnt, or didnt want to, understand.
Everything, the Gamer opened up. Every encounter since Thorne dered war on Collide, we have been losing on purpose. We were gauging your strength and waiting for as many of you scumbags to jump into a coalition as possible.
Why?! the spearman groaned in confusion. John had to admit that he was taking immense satisfaction from the situation, although saying all of this to Bearings himself and slowly seeing his arrogant, fatherly demeanour drop over dinner, his awfully costly wine dribbling out of his wide-open mouth, would have been even better. This was a close second though.
Because, this way, I can crush all of you at once, John exined. No more struggling, no more slow take-over. When I remove all of the old guard that stands against my influence, I can easily fill in the power vacuum. Granted, this is more brutal than I would have liked, but I have to work with the situation Thorne put me in.
Revealing this part of the n was something John was always going to do. The conspiracy theorists would eventually uncover some of the scheme that had been going on at this time. Collide so quickly losing ground but then winning again could, through the lens of history, only be seen as suspicious. Baiting people with half-truths that conveniently left out the actually immoral bit (where the war was initiated as a controlled explosion by the shadowy figure atop Thorne) was a good way to not only counteract that, but it hopefully gave John a reputation as a crafty tactician.
Some crazy theorists would still guess the truth, but it should sound unconvincing enough that its following would top off at the size of the gay fanclub for tampon sizes.
A perfect lie worked in perpetuity; if it fell apart under scrutiny of the slightest bit of investigation, it would be found, and John really didnt want this dirty little secret toe out. It wouldnt spell the end of him, but it could deal damage to the little reputation he had.
Zimmothy began to chuckle, Man, what a great n putting your back against the wall. Too bad the big boss has sent a security measure with us.
Has he now? John asked and looked over to the three invading ships that had finally made it to the ind. Of the seven total, one had been destroyed by Johns initial strike, one was currently on fire, one seemed empty and on thest one bodies were flying overboard and into the water as Metra did her thing.
Come back, John told the three elementals still taking care of thatst boat. Metra was able to do that on her own and John wasnt arrogant enough to ignore a threat such as that. Two of the ships that had arrived were ferries and they extendedrge metal ramps onto the shore. Dozens of mercenaries came running,pletely ignoring the carnage of cleaved bodies that greeted them. Either they were brave, stupid or on drugs. Johns guess was abination of thest two.
Can you three handle those? John asked towards Rave, Nia and Beatrice.
Sure thing, Rave enthusiastically replied, picking up Zimmothy and throwing him somewhere where he wouldnt lie in the way or danger of getting trampled to death. Beatrice nodded servantly. Nia just assumed a fighting stance with her weapons of non-existence, a curved dagger and a long-ded spear, appearing as they always did, sleek, ck and simple.
Good, then we will see about that guy, John stated, with his elementals returned and surrounding him, looking at the sole sailor of thest nutshell of a boat. He wore a scaled armour that looked like it was masterfully puzzled together from individual pieces. Golden, silver, white, ck and bronze pieces of metal arranged in a crest that depicted a sword on a scale.
He had a sword and a shield of simr quality, both already drawn. My name is Egan,st knight of the Just, a stalwart voice rung out from underneath the elegant helm, the darkness of the visor illuminated by two amber lights. Do I face John Newman?
Yup, John stated, eyeing his mana bar. It was pretty empty, but he still had all the pre-build Mana Protection, so just working on regeneration as it came in should have been fine. I find it hard to believe that anybody on the side of the Just would fight on the side of Bearings and Thorne.
My reasons shall be clear once we have fought, Egan dered, raising his shield and advancing slowly on his lonesome while the mercenaries to his side engaged with the three girls.
John didnt like these bash first, dere intentionster people, but if that was how it was going to be. Lets just go all out from the start, John told everyone, and Aclysia charged the enemy with Marath, the red glow indicating that she was sacrificing life force to power the weapon up.
She jumped, raising the enormous weapon over her head and bringing it down. What use was a shield against such a massive weapon? The knights action presented a different question as the answer. What use was such a massive weapon if she couldnt wield it properly?
Instead of using his shield to block the attack, the knight employed a trick. With the ring of a strong aura, Egan, without moving his feet, simply slipped two steps further in existence. It was limited to short ranges, but it was the closest thing to teleportation melee fighters had ess to and it was potent.
Aclysia crashed into the ground behind him. Immediately, Egan turned to stab at her exposed back. Before he could do that, the knight had to block a fist crashing into his shield.
Sorry, but could you not touch Johns favourite familiar? Smlere asked with a shy smile.
The knight was left to owe her an answer, as he pulled back his shield a slight bit and then bashed her hand aside with it. The sword now came for her, but a mass of ck water stream parted around the volcano elemental and assaulted Egan from both sides.
A bit boring, but the go-tobo just works, John thought as Sinflut carried the knight back towards the water. If they could submerge him, his heavy armour would weigh him down and allow Sinflut to finish him off quite easily.
Egan had other ns. With a valiant scream his one-handed sword sliced apart the stream itself. He stormed through the gap he had made, directly at Smlere again, shield raised like a battering ram. The girl with the molten braid was ready to engage him. The moment it seemed like they were about to sh, the knight drifted one step to the right. Smleres punch hit nothing, causing her to lose her bncepletely, dying her chase. Sinflut and Aclysia were on the knights tail, but they wouldnt reach him before he would get to John.
John assumed a stance and waited. Two can y the expectation denial game, he thought. The shield crashed into Mana Protection. Instead of letting it rebound, Egan held it firmly in ce, arcane sparks flying from the ce where the t, enchanted metal collided with the magical barrier.
John may have been much slower than the knight, but he was the one dictating the pace of engagement. To that end, his opponent wasnt fast enough to break out of the situation he found himself in. When the barrier was suddenly deactivated, Egan found himself stumbling just one step forwards, one graceless step that John evaded easily, getting around the knights shield and pointing the palm of Purgatory at him.
If you know the slightest thing about me, the Gamer said. You know that I have a spell that could kill you right now. He was referencing the Mana de stored inside the wed gauntlet, as strong as three times his maximum mana pool. While that origin was unknown to the knight, anyone who watched the tournament fights could be aware of that.
I do, Egan stated. He could have still tried to break out, but Aclysia, Smlere and Sinflut now surrounded him. Without momentum on his side, the knight would have a hard time getting out of this situation. Instead, he stood there frozen and talked, You did not kill your opponent mercilessly. That is good. Do you allow me to ask you three questions? I have to warn you, if you agree, I will know when you lie.
There is a spell like that? John asked. That would be quite useful if he could get his hand on it.
Only an artefact bestowed to the order by Justitia herself, it can only be activated by the worthiest knight, once per person, for three questions, only when they agree to it, two days from the
Okay, okay, I get it, there are a lot of limitations, John interrupted, then thought about it. Sure, ask away. Ultimately, if he didnt want to answer a question, he would just shut up about it. If he understood the flow of this conversation correctly, then, if he answered the questions of the knight to his satisfaction, they could stop this meaningless fight and get back to helping the other girls drive out the remaining invaders.
Do you intend only the best for the people of thisnd?
The best I know how to do.
When will you lie?
When it does more good than bad to all people involved.
Do you wish to rule the world yourself?
I want to do the right thing, get credit for it and spend my days fucking and ying video games.
Thatst answer seemed to throw the knight off, judging the pause. Nevertheless, he nodded. Fine then, thest knight of the Order of the Just finds you worthy. I shall no longer stand in your way.
What the fuck, Egan?! Zimmothy screamed over. Bearings will not let you get away with that!
Bearings will soon be no more, so what do I care? Egan dered as he pointed his sword at the spearman. As payback for this fight, I shall help you remove these invaders! Then I will vanish again, but I will always watch you from the shadows and judge whether you stay just!
Fine by me, John said.
Chapter 458 – Plans and Time Finale – Phase 3
Chapter 458 C ns and Time Finale C Phase 3
That achievement came just in time for the knight to drive his tiny boat out of the Guild Hall barrier. Well, that certainly happened, John thought and then turned from the water to the field of death behind him. The average fools had never stood a chance.
Sure, they could have overwhelmed the trio of girls with sheer numbers. As a matter of fact, Rave and Nia had sustained more than a few bruises and cuts from when they had simply reached the maximum of how many people they could track at once and someone had gotten an opportunistic attack in. Thankfully, the Baelementium reinforced body suit was great at protection while Nias magic detection senses generally spared her from being hit with anything too dangerous.
However, between Metra eventually appearing behind the enemy forces and John joining back into the fray, providing the much needed AoE abilities through Sinflut and Arcane Echo, they were destroyed. The fight had been over 6:1, yet it had been pretty clear who the victor would be from the moment John defeated Egan.
The sad thing, really, was that none of them had given up, being drugged out of their minds. John didnt relish this victory, he had just caused a bunch of death. Like always, he was aware that it was needed and he wouldnt lose sleep over it, but that didnt mean he just shrugged it off.
The fishmen thankfully had surrendered, which was something John would need to deal withter, but for everyone else they could only cull them down. Now they began the very unthankful, not to mention disgusting, work of piling the bodies only for Smander to set them on fire.
I dont understand you people, John said in a hollow tone. Why sell your life for something you dont believe in only to gain yourself an unmarked grave? He turned to Zimmothy. Sparing him the usual mercy of healing his arm, simply because John was of the mind that he didnt deserve it whatsoever, the spearman was leaning against a tree nearby.
Because of the rush and money, Zimmothy answered. Dont tell me you never fight just because you like to.
Not with other peoples lives and futures on the line, John shook his head; he would get no satisfying answer out of the man. Instead, The Gamer walked over and grabbed him by the cor with his left, dragging him behind himself.
What the Zimmothy was obviously confused as to why John was this much stronger now, an answer lying in the fully stacked Purgatory. He attempted to get on his feet, an endeavour that looked at best like him doing a crabwalk as John simply kept on dragging him on to the teleporter.
Rave and Aclysia were right behind him and stepped into the pavilion with him once they got there. They teleported over to the Enve.
Whether or not the coalitions people inhabiting Johns former first acquired territory expected the Bearings invasion to seed, they sure as hell didnt think that the Gamer would just appear in their midst unharmed. An rm sounded, robots raised their arms with some sort of weaponry attached to them while people grabbed their weapons.
A certain ginger was stepping his way up to the teleporter, an arrogant grin on his face. Look what the cat dragged i- he was interrupted by John tossing Zimmothy across the five metre distance and at the man, ripping him straight off his feet.
Shut up, the Gamer dered as he walked down the steps. I just had to pile the corpses of YOUR allies on a funeral pyre, I have more bodies swimming in my waters than I dare to count. My mood is incredibly sour right now and you going look what the cat dragged in in response to your enemying in unharmed with one of your allies isnt helping.
Get him! the ginger didnt seem particrly open to moral lectures, but John only wanted to vent anyway. At least the wave of robots that descended on him were soulless automatons; he had taken enough lives for a day. To make this as short a conflict as possible, John raised Purgatory and unleashed the spell within.
A sword several metres long appeared and John whirled it around. The de was ck and brown, from the two elements infused into it. With Mana de above level 33, it allowed for two properties to be added to it and so John had added earth (giving the attack a slow effect) to the normal shadow infusion (increasing the damage but decreasing the duration).
Not that he needed a slowing effect as he turned all of those robots into scrap metal. Everyones jaw unhinged as they fell to the ground, John casually nudging one metal torso that would have fell on him to the side.
John looked around, clenching and rxing his wed hand intimidatingly. It had the intended effect, nobody dared to attack him, a few even took a step backwards out of fear.
Yall really need to learn to not piss off the wrong people, Rave was way more rxed about all of this, having less remorse over killing people in the first ce. Unlike John, she had been dealing with deaths her whole life. Or at least how not to be any more annoying than you need to be.
I really rmend listening to thatst part, Aclysia added. Master seems about ready to forget himself.
I am, John kept hismentary short, then he exhaled as much tension as possible. Okay, people, here is the drill. This whole me losing thing? It was all a lie. Believe me or not, I dont care. Thorne, Bearings, whatever guild of degenerate ve holders, thugs, loan sharks or other predatory practice you are part of. This is my ultimatum: Stand out of my way and live an honest life or stand against me and I dont guarantee your life wont be imed in the next engagement. He turned back around, From here on out, I retaliate. I will be back in two hours and I expect all of you to be gone from mynd by then. Tell your leaders I ept surrenders whenever.
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Urgh ahhh shit SHUT UP Let me NO, FUCK OFF! that was the exchange that John encountered when he entered the small bedroom in the yacht to look after Eliza. A television in the background was disying an episode of Dr. House at max volume. A distraction for Eliza to try to ignore the carnage that was going on outside, Aclysia turned the TV off as John walked over to the blood mage holding her head and ramming it against the wall in a desperate fight to stay in control.
Gently reaching out for her, Eliza noticed all of them only when Johns hand touched her head. Its done, he promised her and received a blow to the stomach as his reward. This time he wasnt blown back, instead the goddess of genocide buried her hand in his guts so deep the fingers closed around his spine.
A new record of pain, as far as John was concerned, as she kept her arm there and the hole wide open. The fear of death cascaded down his body. He realized he had gotten careless, with all the times Eliza had gotten back in control, he had gotten careless. Thest time should have been a lesson, but he had wrongly assumed that to be the most control Thana would ever be able to gain again.
The shiver in your spine, Thana growled as she shattered the bone inside her palm. That is where I live! She obviously intended to rip her arm upwards and tear apart Johns entire body in a shower of torn meat, but it was the willpower of Eliza that prevented it from happening long enough for Aclysia to step in. A desperate but effective measure, Aclysia cut the arm off with Eclys and then quickly pulled John away.
An angered roar, filled the small room, rupturing Johns eardrums. Thanas lips formed more words, curses and useless bartering with Eliza as she tried to move their shared body to end the Gamers existence once and for all. John, currently paralyzed from the legs down, had no choice but to watch.
In the end, history repeated itself and Thana suddenly, with a less panicked expression, fled from her control over the body.
With the goddess of genocide once more dormant, Gamers Body kicked in again. His ears informed him that they returned to function with a pop inside them, while his spine was only recovered when he removed the arm from his stomach.
In what was more than a bit morbid, John offered Eliza her hand back. The blood mage broke out in shrillughter and tears simultaneously. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! she asked. You and your bastards ass, NEVER get close to me when I have an episode like that again! Every time this body hurts you, I want to jump off the tallest cliff I can find and hope it miraculously kills me.
He knew that his view on the matter, that hed rather suffer even the worst pain than see her struggle for her own body for longer than she needed to, wouldnt lead them anywhere. Not only did she already know, it was just the most depressing version of No, YOU put down the phone first, that existed.
So you dont want that hand back? John asked instead, in a poor attempt at humour. What she had bled onto her seat across from the TV flowed upwards and back into her body.
No, I dont, Eliza said as a new one started growing. Bones and veins, then sinews and muscles, skin and then finally the red fingernails of crystallized blood, the whole process didnt even take five seconds.
Now John was standing there with a hand. The whole situation had deted as rapidly as it hade. With no idea what else to do with it, he threw it in the trash can. Please checkter if the slimes eat that, he told Aclysia.
Most certainly, if you promise you will not engage so quickly in attempts to calm down Eliza in the future, Aclysias exterior was calm, but underneath she was boiling in a mixture of rage, worry and unsure me. I can only watch you get dismembered so often.
Both Eliza and the weaponized maid were uniform in that wish and, with how dangerous thesest two times had been, John would have been a fool to go against that. I will be more careful, he promised. Anyway, it seems like she figured out how to force her way into control, but whenever she does it, the wall breaks down a bit.
No idea why she isnt just getting this shit over with then, Eliza growled. If she just went all out in one go, who fucking knows how much of ME will still be in there.
Yeah she is probably asking herself the same question, John stated.
____________________________________________________________________
With Eliza pacified, they went to the conference room. John used Create to fix his shirt on the way. Luckily the enchantments then took care of the bloodstains, leaving him ultimately looking as impable as ever.
Still though, what Thana had done and said to him gripped him for a little longer. I should see some sort of soul doctor to make sure she didnt infect my spirit or something, he thought, wondering about what she meant with the whole living in your spine thing. His elementals werent reporting a new roommate, but it was better to be extra careful.
He sat down in the deep sea blue seat at the usual position, between the two doors, connecting the room with the outside and in front of therge screen connected with theptop he had in front of him. In a routinized move, he pulled his phone out and slid it to the empty seat to his left. Rave was sitting to his right, Aclysia standing behind him.
Across from him sat Magoi, not because they were on particrly bad terms but because, as the High Fateweaver had exined at one point, he felt that this was the second most important looking chair in the room. His son was sitting at his own side. The remaining chairs were mostly empty, a slouching Beatrice picking a random one to oversee the operation with careless eyes. At one of the side tables, Nia sat and yed with Stirwin, Copernicus lying nearby and sleeping.
So, we have officially entered phase 3, Scarlett opened the conference without any words of greeting. Nice show at the Enve, John, very convincing.
It wasnt a show, he rified in a dry tone.
Right Scarletts hesitant voice revealed that she was very aware she just stepped onto a sore spot. Making the correct call, she moved on. She knew perfectly well that she couldnt properly empathize with that. Anyway, the initiation was a bit sooner than I hoped, I wanted the coalition to stir a couple of months and really get at each others throat, but thats not key to what I want out of this, so I dont give a fuck about losing that bit to Bearings. You still got the map?
John looked over. The original purpose of the paper had been to mark scouting data, now it was covered in pins and strings of different colour, ayout of who should attack where and how big a garrison they should leave in which barrier. It was Scarletts original design, a visual step by step for how phase 3 was supposed to y out.
Having spent several hours trying to pry that n apart with a figurative crowbar, John had only made small adjustments they agreed would lead to better believability for the eventual result of the oue of the battle at where all strings met at the end: the Thorne HQ.
Yes, we will begin operations in two days, John said. I have some other administrative work to get through first.
The IOUs? Scarlett asked.
Yeah, once the people start leaving the Guild Hall, it will be hard to correctly track who was actually here and who is lying tond an easier job in my new government. Best do it now. I also need to give the Fateweavers their ships back, he nodded towards Magoi, who made a wide gesture at his son, delegating the work down the line.
Alright, just dont wait too long or they might actually manage to drag Sigmund or another monster into this, the bloodstained technocrat reminded him.
I am aware, John assured her, but I am not the one who is in the most dangerous position in the n.
Magoi Side Story “Fateweaver Stuff” 1 – A family Raptor
Magoi Side Story Fateweaver Stuff 1 C A family Raptor
Father, do you truly feel I should be the one in charge for this? Magnus asked. This being the returning of the four ferries Bearings had so brazenly stolen.
Personally, Magoi had a lot of grumbling to do. To see Fateweavers disrespected like that a mere few months after the dissolution was absolutely disgraceful. If the monolithic structure of the original guild had still been standing, they would have made a public announcement that working with Bearings was now unsanctioned.
Every licensed Fateweaver would then have stayed away from any contracts handed out by that drug-using boat abductor. Then he could have had a great time trying to find some solo-operating Fateweavers, the kind that was usually very, very, very bad at their job.
Father? Magnus voice was now a bit concerned, looking over his shoulder from the steering wheel. Being just two Fateweavers, they couldnt have moved all four ferries over at the same time, so Magnus was steering this one while Magoi watched. They were taking it to where the owners of them were supposed to have their shop. Granted, they might have been removed entirely from the premises or life, but Magoi liked to stay optimistic about this.
He turned a page on his newspaper. Looking at the same page he had looked at thousands of times already, but it was filled with different words. This was his trusty magical newspaper after all; he had brought the thing in 1967 and not gotten rid of it since.
Yes, Magnus, I am certain, Magoi answered, reading about disgruntled seniors in Styria saying they didnt understand the current queens architecture whatsoever. I am just here for moral support. You go and be a grown man.
That is not the problem, Magnus, ever the stern stickler, didnt let it go as easily as his father would have preferred. As leader of this new Magnus Magi sub-guild, you should be leading the first negotiations.
He totally should, Mabirl chimed in, having checked the engine room. It was true that Mabirl was exclusively a housewife and had been for the past seventy years or so, but she was a learned archano-tech engineer. Thats how the two of them had met in the first ce, with him teaching an advanced ss as a guest professor.
In the morally correct way, they had started dating only after she had gradua- Okay they had their first date right after that ss. The Abyss wasnt particrly hostile to teacher-student rtionships (inside the age of consent). Anyhow, she had graduated and then be his housewife. She didnt have a lot of practical work experience, but she still knew about the theories.
See, Father, you Magnus began.
But you will, Mabirl finished up, putting down a toolbox and then peeking over her husbands arm. Any interesting articles, honey?
Not really, Hetreckson held a speech, but thats not really affecting us anymore, Magoi answered. Said speaker was the new Supreme Fateweaver. A title that didnt mean particrly much anymore, aside from getting the heavily enchanted mask that Magoi had returned to the treasury upon his return.
I request an exnation, Magnus pulled a lever, locking the course and allowing him to turn around.
The exnation is that I want to retire in the next one to ten years, Magoi answered quite easily. So, I am going to give you basically all the work and just check on whether or not you do it well. Once I decide that you make next to no mistakes, I am just going to throw the headmaster title at you and be done with it.
Mabirl nodded with her own raptor mask on her face, We have this world tour thing in nning. Oh hey, that thing looks interesting, she pointed at an article about a restaurant where the Heavenly Emperor sometimes ate at. We should put it on the list of ces we will visit.
Ah, too bad I dont have the book with me sorry, newspaper, Magoi folded the corner inwards. That would maintain the current page.
So you made this deal with John Newman to give me a job? Magnus suddenly put two and two together.
No, Magoi rolled his eyes behind his mask. I made the deal to give you and your siblings a job. And your kids. And their kids. Speaking of which, where are my grandchildren, Magnus!
Yes, Magni, where are our grandchildren? nagged Mabirl. Acting like she was tossing a toddler in the air and catching it again, she added, We have been very patient and you are over thirty. I want some cute baby that calls me grandma!
But no hareming around like Newman! Magoi warned. I tried that in thete 19th century, trust me, thats only something for young and energetic fellows.
Yeah, get one nicedy and put a ring on her! Mabirl demanded. Make sure she is a proper housekeeper, I cant imagine you will be a stay at home dad and somebody has to run the household. Even that Newman fellow understands that, with his Artificial Spirit and all that.
Spirits, Magoi corrected. He made a new one. She is also a housekeeper.
Is he having sex with her too?
Do you really need to ask?
Ahhhh, Magnus, I demand you move out of the Guild Hall when you have kids, I do not want them corrupted by that mans influence. Nice as he may be, he has how many women does he have again, honey?
Oooof, that is a tough question, darling, Magoi rummaged through his brain. I want to say fifteen in total. In his defence, they seem very happy with their situation.
For all I care, they can be, I am just saying he should be nobodys role model, Mabirl stated. Fifteen women and how many grandchildren has he got his mother? He could at least do that! Magnus, get into the dating game already!
Magnus sighed heavily and ignored the two of them. The typical strategy of a child without satisfying answers, wait until the parent petered out. Soon enough, he got an excuse to change the topic. Sensing the endpoint barrier, he told his father.
Magoi nodded. Yes, and what do you do now? It was an unneeded question. Magnus may not have had the necessary talent to be a High Fateweaver himself, but to say he was anything but skilled would do him an injustice. All that Magoi wanted to do was probe his son a little bit.
Driving in and anchoring, came the stoic answer. That was the right, if overly simplified, answer.
What about the angle of entrance? Magoi tried to tickle some more information out of him.
The tools of this ferry are already allocated to enter at the correct one. If I didnt have that tool, I would create arge, decaying barrier around this boat, ovepping with the target. That would give me the ability to see the anchorage in advance.
The nose of the raptor mask went down and then up again as Magoi nodded. All of that was correct. Now, Magoi thought in a self-bemused tone, to do the cold-water thing and say absolutely nothing for the entire negotiations.
They anchored and, much to Magois relief, the original owners came stumbling out. Sure, they were a bit bloody around the nose and had others signs of a scuffle, butrgely they seemed okay. The Magus family came strutting off the ship, two with canes and one marching ahead with military precision. They must have been quite the interesting sight to behold.
That makes me think back to the time I put on this mask, Magoi thought. It had been a cold night, a dark night, a cold, dark night. From his chair in his apartment, drinking hot chocte, Magoi had looked out the window. Archaeology had been all the rage recently and so a program about it had been running on the television. That looks neat, he had thought, took a photo of a raptor skull and had gone to his favourite mask maker theing summer.
Mabirl hadughed at him and then said she wanted one too. Good times, he mentally mused and put a kiss on his wifes cheek. Or, rather, bopped the snout of his mask against the side of hers. In the foreground, Magnus exined the situation to the local Fateweavers. As he was doing quite the good job at summarizing the deal they had with John and telling the ferry owners what was going to happen in the near future, Magoi needed not to chime in.
Instead, his mere presence and name did everything needed. Magoi wasnt a grand schemer, he was smart but he didnt like making convoluted ns. He left that squarely to the people that had arger agenda. Personally, all he wanted for himself and his family was safety and fulfilment.
The reason why he hade with Magnus, aside from the stated one, was that this way when people asked, Magus? Like Magoi Magus? and Magnus answered, The same, he is my father and head of the Collide Fateweavers. They had no choice but to believe him. Once word got out that this was authentic, he could just sit around all day and act like a figurehead only.
He would be there only to sign paperwork and asionally help John in his barrier. The rest of the time he would spent lying in the sun, writing his biography, eating nice food and having sex with his hot wife. It would be the dream pension life.
We have an agreement then? Magnus asked the boss of the eight strong group of local Fateweavers. You join the Magus Magi and the greater Collide collective.
Once the war is over, the boss specified. Look, I hope you smash Bearings into next week, but we always had good business with Thorne. I dont want my business getting into the crossfire or for it to be destroyed if you guys should lose.
You understand that we will have to renegotiate a lot of the terms and breaks I just gave you, if we repeat this talk with Collides position as the sovereign guild of this city? Magnus asked a contractual sounding question, causing the boss to stop and think again. The intent was clearly to make it sound like it was in their best interest to agree now.
With how this war was supposed to go, it actually would be too. Magoi just wanted more Fateweavers on his side as early as possible, since Collide currently had only two and a list of requests that was far beyond what two people could stem. For the moment, the High Fateweaver was paying money out of his own, very deep pockets to hire colleagues within the city. He also advertised his new guild to them in the process.
John wasnt the only one growing his influence at every opportunity; Magoi was deeply trying to leave behind a power structure for his son that he only needed to maintain. 400 years of life experience had to amount to something useful aside from money. Money, after all, could vanish rather quickly. A society out to help its members maintain their wealth was way sturdier.
That was another reason why he cast his lot with John. The Mandate of Heaven was heavily bureaucratic, the Roman Empire immensely aristocratic and the Nazis really werent an option. By exclusion, helping build something and shaping the part he wanted how he wanted in the process was the greatest opportunity Magoi could have been given at this point in his life.
Magoi liked to think he was a friendly, quirky old man, but he also wasnt doing things for the hell of it. He had reasons like everyone else.
We will still stay neutral, the boss finally announced, tensing up as Magnus intensely stared at him. W-will you still return our remaining ferries?
Of course, Magnus nodded. You will have toe with me to the ind though. As you can see, I came with only one ferry and my father refuses to navigate one.
We have a date, Mabirl chimed in, winking behind her mask. So we are unavable.
You have my word that nothing will happen to you, Magoi added, visibly easing everyone amongst the unaffiliated Fateweavers. Several lifetimes of cultivating a trustworthy brand did help in moments like this.
A couple of them boarded the ferry. Before Magnus could follow them, Magoi took him aside for a moment. Want a tip, son?
Is it asking the quiet slimedy to heal them and then ask again? Magnus asked in return.
Magoi didnt need to remove the mask for his son to know he was smiling proudly.
Fateweaver Stuff 2 – Attempts with the capital A
Fateweaver Stuff 2 C Attempts with the capital A
DIE! a man screamed, jumping at the married couple, only to disappear into thin air a momentter.
You know, honey, Mabirl sighed, these things are tiresome. No matter how often we get through them.
Quite, Magoi agreed as they stepped out of the barrier and right into the next one.
They were trying to reach the restaurant they had booked for today. Having to juggle Scarletts and Johns war and the resulting short-term confinement to the Guild Hall with his own schedule of expensive dinners, golf clubs and other frivolous activities had been difficult. Luckily, Magoi was mostly done with his involvement in this line of activities.
At least if the enemy would stop trying to assassinate him.
MOTHERFUCKER, I SAID DIE! the, doubtlessly hired by Bearings, assassin screamed after pulling Magoi into another trap barrier.
Without even waving his hand, Magoi made the barrier disappear again.
What say you, honey, should we change out of these clothes? the High Fateweaver asked his wife as they walked arge circle around a bunch of children ying on the street. In their butler and maid outfits, not to mention skull masks, the two of them would have attracted all of the attention if it hadnt been for the enchantments.
Being protected from the eyes of the mundane didnt mean that there wouldnt be consequences if they ran into someone though. It wasnt a thing that made Gaia particrly pissed, often enough people simply thought they had tripped over a stone or something, but there was no reason to challenge the supreme deity of reality. Especially since she did keep track of repeat offenders.
I would indeed say so, dont want to head into the crowd wearing this, Mabirl agreed, and so Magoi opened a barrier himself.
By simply tapping his cane on the walkway, he created this new space. Being as skilled as he was, he wasnt bound to the need of raising his hand. The normally required gesture, a sort of prayer to Gaia to open an Illusion Barrier, was something Magoi had exceeded. It was a bit of a vanity skill that came along with being a High Fateweaver, even the upper ranks of his profession usually had to execute the simple gesture.
There was one great advantage that came along with having that kind of power.
HAHA! the hired knife shouted out as he sessfully invaded Magois barrier, finding himself at a perfect position to grab his victims hands. It wasmon knowledge in the Abyss that restricting ones captives hands to below the shoulders was a must. Otherwise, they could just flee by leaving the barrier. This was doubly true for Fateweavers, who regrly had the control over the barrier they were inside on.
As mentioned, Magoi wasnt bound by that rule anymore. The assassin vanished again as the raptor-faced man copsed and immediately remade the barrier. Cant you lock him up? Mabirl asked, reaching into her pocket space to pull out a dress. Also, could you put us inside?
My dearest wife, have you not gotten used to changing outside yet? Magoi wondered. He had reversed the winter cold inside the barrier into a nicete-spring warmth and there was no one who could watch unless he wanted them to, so he didnt really see the need to erect a whole building.
Dont be like that, Magoi, you know I like my walls, his wife scolded. Also, I need to sit down to change my shoes. Unless you dont want me to wear my sexy high-heels and stockings.
Mhm, Magoi hummed as if he was actually weighing his decisions. Giving him a gentle tock on the side of his mask with the grip of her cane, Mabirl hurried him along in his decision. Ah, well then, he let go of his cane, which miraculously kept standing on its own, and pped his hands. One, two, three, four times, each time materializing a wall. They had a nice, creamy colour with white decorations, small pictures hanging from the walls and a cushioned armchair, on which his wife immediately sat, appearing on one wall. Himself, he took seat on the sofa right next to it after pping one more time for the roof. Feet up, he warned, him and Mabirl stretching out their legs as he pped a sixth and final time to materialize the floor. Dimensional material melding was an unlikely and harmless but highly unwanted phenomenon. The alternative were boot-shaped holes in the temporary carpet, which would have annoyed his wife more than him.
Magoi wasnt just thinking up this structure, not anymore at least. Like an artist who had produced the same strokes hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands of times, these walls were ingrained into his memory. He had trained months and years to be able to erect certain structures. Being able to just will matter into existence was the main reason why he had even begun his apprenticeship as a Protected Space engineer.
These were the walls of his first own house, the same furniture, as fleeting as it was; Magoi felt a bit nostalgic and gently rested his arm on the rest. In turbulent times like these, it felt good to remember where he came from. Nothing.
I WILL GET YOU, YOU RAPTORFACED SHI- the assassin tried to get in a stab again but was ported out immediately.
To answer your earlier question, seems like he has a Barrier Break belt, Magoi told his wife. It was a rare enchantment that allowed its wielder to bypass basic protection measures. The variety that could break through advanced measures, such as a Fateweaver actively fending off invaders, were incredibly rare, so rare that even the Blood of the Proletariat had owned only four of them, but Magoi wasnt employing such measures right now. Purely because it was a strain on his mind to do so and he didnt feel like doing that. The battery on it should run out after a few more attempts, then he wont be able to invade again.
Changing my clothes will be-
I WILL GOUGE OUT YOUR INSIDES! the violent scream of the man came and went just as he did.
Very rude, but I wanted to say that I cannot change under these conditions.
Of course, the only man who gets to leer at your body shall be me, Magoi nodded; he didnt share John Newmans idea about showing off his wife (or lovers in the case of the ever erotically involved Gamer), even if she was a refineddy of exquisite exterior. Then again, he was several hundred years old and John was not even twenty. Even if the young man was an administrative,bat and tactical genius, an unfair list acquired by his equally unfair ability, he was still just that, a young man. Right, did John ever leer at you, might give him a stern talking if he did.
He seemed mighty tempted, but after giving me the once over, he kept his eyes to himself or his myriad of avable girls, Mabirl sighed in deep disappointment. I would have really liked for him to have a more conservative understanding of life. Speaking of conservative, do we want to join the Republican party?
I dont really feel like getting involved with real politics, Magoi truthfully answered, although we will pay taxes, so I guess we should get our representation. Just dont get too involved, I dont want to hear your ceaselessints about bad-mannered oranges or food stamps.
Last I knew, I got to decide what I get worked up about, Mabirl joked, or do you want me to be the kind of housewife that reads Fifty Shades of Grey instead of informing myself about things that actually matter?
To be fair, you wouldnt need to read that low-quality trash, Magoi was quite convinced that their bedroom activities left his wife with nothing wanting.
True, but I was making a point, she agreed. Also, I need to hang the motto on our bedroom wall again. I forgot the poster back in ourst house.
What was it again? Keep your husbands stomach full and his balls empty?
That is correct, Mabirl took off her mask and winked at him.
Her long ck hair fell out of the confines, rolled out in curls, some of them greyed, and stopped at the shoulders. With eyes of a dark brown and healthily tan skin, she had a mysterious charm to her; the wrinkles around eyes and mouth gave away her progressed age, but she was a looker nheless.
I thought you werent going to change, Magoi asked, taking off his own mask. Of him it couldnt be said that he looked particrly handsome or even good. If he had once been a good-looking young man, his past and age had slowly whittled that away from him.
The High Fateweaver was bald down to the eyebrows, not a single speck of hair remaining on his head. The only decorations that broke up his skin, showing the first signs of age spots, were three enormous scars.
One ran diagonally from his right ear to his forehead. He could hear the roaring of the earth drake that gave it to him to this day. A desperate measure, a Fateweaver acting as bait for a monster of the cmity categorization so the young hero could strike at the beasts already hurt neck and save his home vige from bing the centre of an unnatural earthquake.
The second ran from above his right eye, splitting where his eyebrow should be, thankfully skipping over the eyeball itself, then continuing further and even splitting his lip. This one made Magoi especially nostalgic, he remembered getting it in a fight where he together with Gehnigm and a third strong and young Fateweaver defended their position to allow the rebels to cross over the Russian-Polish border.
Rebels that, as he recently found out, would partially go on to form an organization called the Bloodfallen. So many things went wrong with that one, he thought, having doomed a girl he now knew to years of pain, and Gehnigm would go on to betray them all to the very same force he fought that day. It was ironic how the strings of fate sometimes weaved back together.
He would leave theplete story of that one in his biography. John and Eliza would learn of it before then, but he didnt beat himself up over it. Ultimately, his acts had allowed the two of them to meet and he was pretty certain that was the best oue for everyone involved, considering what was inside that girl.
At least the third scar, covering his left cheek, was somewhat entertaining. A burn had caused that one, him drunkenly falling into a campfire to be exact. The campfire had been on a forgotten ind in the middle of nowhere Oceania and the rum thest thing that he and his friends still had in rations. Still, they had survived, so it was a fun memory, all things considered.
There were many more tales engraved on his body. All of which he remembered. In most of which he was the only actor still ying their role in this world.
I had a very long life, didnt I? Magoi asked in a tired tone.
His wife looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment, before noticing her husbands sudden heavy mood. She stood up and sat down next to him, gently kissing him on the left cheek. Yes, honey, you did, she told him. And to me it always sounds like it was one well-lived.
Must have been, I get to spent thest parts of it with you, Magoi smirked like a youngd and leaned in to kiss his beloved.
FOR FUCKS SAKE! the assassin screamed as he jumped back in.
Although these are certainly unpleasant consequences of the same life, the High Fateweaver groaned, about to throw the man out again.
A ck de cut him up from head to toe but separated no flesh whatsoever. Instead, once the de exited his body at the crotch, he simply copsed like a robot that had suddenly lost all energy. Where he had been now stood a girl with blonde hair, partially flowing back like a field of ripe wheat under a gust of wind and the rest bound into a clear ponytail, and in a colourless white dress.
Nia dismissed her weapon. He seemed like a nuisance, she stated in her emotionless tone.
Magoi was more than mildly creeped out by the nk, but he knew that was just by her nature. He had worked with her kind before but never been particrly great friends with any. The way they could invade barriers without being felt whatsoever made him thankful that they were about asmon as finding a diamond on a beach. He was, he just answered. Did you kill him?
She looked at the man now lying sprawled out on the floor, eyes wide open. No, came the answer after an unnerving dy. Can I leave him there?
Sure, Magoi agreed just to have the nk leave; he didnt have anything against her but he really disliked the way the hairs on his arms were on edge whenever she was too close to him.
Nia just nodded and disappeared out of the barrier.
Fateweaver Stuff 3 – Just your friendly neighbourhood dinosaur
Fateweaver Stuff 3 C Just your friendly neighbourhood dinosaur
Magoi Magus rose from his bed and held his head with a groan. Looking over to his still sleeping wife, the wildness of how yesterday had ended stuck in her hair, he firmly decided that they had at least one ss too much. Carefully, he got out of the satin bed sheets and wobbled his way to the bathroom.
He really liked his new apartment, specifically the jacuzzi John had insisted on installing. At the time, he hadnt been all that convinced, but Magoi was soon forced to admit that it was pretty great. Anyway, hungover as he was, he didnt feel like jumping into that right now. Instead, he brushed the remaining red wine off his teeth, rinsed and flossed and then felt a bit better.
I could drink way more when I was younger, hemented as he put on his clothes. The manyyered butler uniform was a bit hard to handle, but one had to make certain sacrifices if they wanted to look stylish. At least the mask attached magically when he pressed it against his face.
A bit of fidgeting, to make sure the lenses that allowed him to look around unobstructed were sitting above his eyes correctly,ter he went to the kitchen. While he was a terrible cook and had to wait for his wife to wake up and bless him with some of her great culinary expeditions, even he knew how to handle a microwave. He grabbed the aluminium wrapped food that he had taken out from wherever they had eatenst at yesterday and threw it in.
Wait, the aluminium wrapped food?
The High Fateweavers alcohol recovering thoughts were too slow to stop his hands. By the time he heard the deeply unpleasant sound of the microwaves radiation shing rather unfavourably with the metal and saw the sparks dancing behind the stic window, his brain had finally caught up and he put the machine out again. Of course, the kitchen appliance didnt immediately break from the short exposure, but Magoi still felt rather silly.
Dont drink and heat up your dine, he made a joke to himself and then proceeded to unwrap what would be his breakfast.
Sometimes even he forgot that being a High Fateweaver did not make him exempt from silly little mistakes like that. At least he got his coffee done without further incidents, even if it was entirely too strong and he only finished half the cup before eating his breakfast.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, he heard the sound of someone doing exactly what they bbered out loud against his window. Making his way to the window, he was met with Sylph. The hyperactive, one could say normal for her kind, air spirit only stopped saying knock and doing so when she spied Magoi, at which point she switched to Wave, wave, wave, wave, wave.
Opening the window by turning the locking mechanism at the middle and then pulling the two four-segmented halves towards himself, Magoi let in the curious thing. Oh hey, its Magoi and Magois home, the tempest elemental flew by his face and tumbled through the kitchen. I went up and down, but all the curtains were closed, so I knocked where it wasnt.
Did you try ringing the bell? Magoi asked.
AUDIBLE GASP! No, I didnt, right, bells, door bells, those are things, nice, so nice, I want to ring one now, they make that ding-dong sound, Sylph announced that but was too preupied with using her entirely too small body to open a drawer. After sessfully wrapping her arms around the handle, she flew backwards and pulled open what was where the Magus household kept their cookies. Magoi closed it again, knowing that his effective superiors air spirit wasnt allowed too much sugar intake. You are all very mean! Sylph adorably puffed up her little cheeks after flying up to Magois face.
Tell you what, Magoi mused, I will give you a cookie next time, if you ask nicely instead of trying to rob my kitchen.
Okaaaaay, Sylph promised, eagerly nodding. By the way, did you ever think about how, if we switch the b and g in your and your wifes names, we get Ma-boi and Ma-girl, is that weird? I think thats kinda weird.
Huh, Magoi had, in fact, never thought about that. That is kind of weird.
Also, John says he could use your help, Sylph nonchntly dropped why she came in the first ce, judging by the slightly distanced look on her face and up-turned eyes probably because John himself was talking to her. Wasting a ton of mana, she urately mimicked his voice, If you could tell Magoi that I have some people interested in joining his new organization here, that would be great.
I see, tell him I will be there momentarily, Magoi nodded and went down his tower of a home, putting on his polished shoes before heading out.
He almost bumped into Smander on the way out. Shit, fuck, the fire spirit cursed, being minorly surprised, her hand flying back from the doorbell. So the airhead managed to contact you after all?
Shouldnt you be able to feel that? Magoi asked with a confused blink; they were mentally connected after all.
If you think I spent more time hooked up to Sylphs thoughts than necessary, you are fuckily mistaken, Smander pointed out. That was fair enough, as far as Magoi was concerned. He had always had the patience to deal with the whimsical daughters of wind and their mother but he knew he was in the minority with that. Having met all but the mother of earth personally in his long life, he could say that the elemental kind he liked the least was water.
Although Undine was a nice girl and, aside from that giant misstep Magoi had heard from John about, not at all someone the High Fateweaver had any ill feelings towards.
Anyway, Smander gestured and the ck tes that naturally covered her arms and shoulders rattled in response, if you know already that you have been asked for, I am off. She floated off the ground, her simrly ted legs exuding a grey fire as she flew away.
An endme elemental, Magoi shook his head at the oddity that was the one and only thing in the world that had fire that could reliably burn away Lorylim infestations. Normal fire just worked often enough to be the go-to measure, but it was far from a curative method.
John Newman seemed to have just enough luck to keep him alive inbination with his genius. Honestly, it was entertaining to see the man rise to power with good morals. Magoi found working under the Gamer to be a nicest service of his life, so much of it sacrificed to fighting tyranny and terror. Seeing such a meteoric ascent to a great power was truly great to behold.
I live in good times, Magoi thought, humming behind his mask and swinging his cane around his hand like he was the lead in a musical. Under the shadow of Lady Liberty, he made his way to one of the many staircases that led downwards, most of which had been newly installed as Magoi didnt exactly like having to take the scenic tourist route whenever he wanted to go somewhere.
He passed threempposts and Beatrice, who was only different from them in that she was shorter but she stood just as still. They said nothing to each other, the passive maid just bowing to him and then leading the way. It was obvious she had been sent as a guide.
Why Sylph or Smander werent doing it was a mystery to Magoi, but he appreciated the silent, if somewhat cold, efficiency of Beatrice. Like probably everyone else, he liked Aclysia more for her warm persona and incredibly courteous nature, but Beatrice worked less like a person and more like a machine that was running down a program. Except for the times she was given amand in which she could sprinkle in a load of sarcasm.
Anyhow, they both had their advantages, but generally dealing with Aclysia was more pleasant. Magoi just knew his way better around women that were housewives at heart. Waddup, Magoi. Which was exactly why he never quite knew how to handle the pink-haired girl that greeted him all of a sudden. Ya sober?
Sober enough, Magoi answered; he simply yed the part of the wise, somewhat grumpy old man. Albeit I really should stay away from the wine and switch to the bourbon.
Both way too fancy, how about vodka? Rave suggested.
Magoi remembered the scar on his back that had been disinfected with that particr alcohol. Desperate measures were taken when the healer got shot in the head with an icicle the size of a fist. Kazakhstan trauma, he simply stated.
Oh, wow, something really bad?
Just a border skirmish between the Whites and the Last Timurs, Magoi informed her. The former was the previous Russia-centric organization and the Last Timurs well, if they were still around, Magoi hadnt heard of them recently. He doubted it, the middle-east was a steady cesspool of regime changes since the fall of Babylon and even before then. The Great Sultanate seemed to be just about the only force that managed to hold on to its power.
Not that Magoi had any love for the region, the climate wasnt to his liking whatsoever. He preferred areas with a good amount of rainfall and a temperate climate. Which was why he had made the south of New Zend his home for a long time; it was either there, Britain or Japan he liked to spend his life. The US had proven to be quite nice as well so far, although he hadnt been here for a full summer yet. Personally, he was more of an autumn guy.
Man, ya gotta have a whole slew of stories, the Lightbearer yawned cattishly and danced off to the side again. Anyhow, was just looking for some small talk, ya have fun with those new recruits and stuff. Ill be training.
Magoi found her to be training quite often and he approved. Although this assortment of elites around John Newman was outstanding, he would need a lot more if he wanted to y with the two emperors of the old world. Although I hear old Shi has been keeping to the Forbidden Citytely, he thought. Times of change indeed. If they crown an empress, what are the odds that John sticks his dick in her?
If given the opportunity, the High Fateweaver guessed about an absolute likelihood that John would do it if she was even remotely attractive. Albeit, that was arge if. Beatrice, how many recruits are we talking about anyway?
Depends, came the abruptly ending answer. Her speaking was as choppy as always. What measurement are we using? Potential recruits: 46. Promising recruits: 32. Recruits with previous Faterweaver experience: 5.
I see, Magoi scratched his head; if at least one of those five was skilled at teaching, that would be good. Well, lets hope we can train them up for the big project in a moderate amount of time.
Chapter 459 – A little break between dishonest battles
Chapter 459 C A little break between dishonest battles
I know you guys dont understand what I am saying, John opened up to the monster currently trying to put out the fire covering it by rolling around, but I really missed you guys. The enemy was then put out of its misery by Aclysia stabbing through the little gap between the eight eyes, set on the front of the carapace.
It was refreshing to kill something that actually just existed for the purpose of giving him a way to level-up, rather than people with friends and families. Came without the whole sting of regret thing. It was doubly nice that these were not any old monsters.
Those were the current iteration of his old friends. It was always fun to beat those guys around. No matter what version, the strategy was basically the same: Stay away from the darkness and bait them into controlled engagements.
Granted, staying away from the darkness was a bit hard now that they were in some monolithic cave where the only light sources were Johns shoes and a certain crocodile hanging from his belt in his item form, but they managed. It helped that there was a hack for this environment in the shape of Shadowme just putting every enemy around them to the proverbial torch.
Lots and lots of darkness to set aze, thebination of Siena and Smander cackled in pyromantic delight as they advanced and just cooked the enemies on the way. Eventually, her time was up and they had to advance more carefully. At least for the half-hour that it took until she could form again.
With Smander igniting their path and Gnome leaving markers to make sure they didnt run in circles, the group explored the cave and its many, many winded paths. It took eternities, since they had to move methodically.
Not that John cared; he was in the dungeon with the express purpose to waste time. It had been six days since the start of phase 3 and they were moving ahead of schedule. In the business world, that was good, in the emtion of a realistic war scenario, that was bad. Scarlett needed more time to make sure she got the situation on her side just right.
Meanwhile, he had gone through issuing the IOUs, conquering all of his old territory back, adding a whole bunch more and a few different things. The official reason why Collides continuous assault was halting right now was consolidation. In other words, the girls not with him in this I.D. were taking turns being bodyguards to Magoi or other newly appointed government officials as they checked that the territories they now controlled abided by their constitution.
John had made a few of those diplomatic visits himself. Particrly enjoyable was the one to the Ikea, where he was celebrated like a returning hero when he disposed of Trebba for the second time. He had dragged the ve trader back to the Guild Hall and put him in with the fishmen and other prisoners.
Originally, John had intended to make a decision on all of them after the war. With how quickly the prison poption was growing though, and the difficulties that came with trying to hold people that had superhuman strength and magic, it became apparent rather quickly that a decision needed to be made.
After having spent two days rolling around with his eyes open at night about whether he should just kill them all and be done with it or how he could ethically judge them all, John had arrived at the logical and obvious solution. He couldnt. What he could do was set-up a court system, write somews, and get them voted on by a hastily formed cab consisting of the leaders of the individual barriers he had taken over.
Not only did that lift a lot of the moral burden from Johns shoulder, as he was now running a democracy and not a dictatorship, but it was also a nice test-run for how to form his eventual government.
I should make one of those visual representations of how the government works that were in my history textbooks, John thought. He could basically see it in front of him already.
Undoubtedly not perfect, but what government ever is? Especially as a flow chart? John congratted himself to this open beta-stage n and then stopped as he saw something peculiar in the darkness next to him.
There was a door shaped hole in the wall. In the otherwise natural caves, the upright rectangle stood out immensely. Huh, he spoke out loud. Smander, could you?
Sure thing, boss, the endme elemental conjured a new fireball along with her semi-sarcastic soundingment. It was just a low-energy one, no reason to use a lot of mana just to make some light. It flew down the narrow passage and revealed nothing aside from the fact that there was some room by the end of it.
Mhm, John wondered how to best get through there. They could only walk through one by one, leaving at least some of the group in shadow with the limited light sources they had. Unless he added an extra one to the mix.
Reaching down to his belt, he plucked off the golden egg and let it fall to the floor. On the way, the essory began to grow, forming an about one-and-a-half metre long creature that was fifty percent tail and a set of deadly jaws.
10000 mana sounded like a lot, but these days that was something he spent easily during a dungeon crawl. In essence, that was just over twice his current maximum mana. Sadly, he had not been able to scout out yet where Stage 3 was starting, his guess was at 100000. That would put Stirwin at 4 points per level, which wasnt good but certainly eptable.
You know, I used to be confined in a star, Stirwin joked; he took the whole situation in good humour. From the tant amusement that radiated from the crocodiles soul, it was evident that he wasnt using sarcasm, which was nice. Just genuine, happy crocodile. Now I am a percentile of that size and am being used as a shlight. Funny that. Want me to go ahead or be the tail light?
As he asked, Undine equipped herself to John. As he could only wear one elemental at a time, the slime girl had been oozing alongside him all the time, but now she saw her opportunity of being carried. We are going Aclysia, you, me, Smander, Gnome, he told everyone. That way we have tanks at the back and the front.
What about me, what about me? Sylph asked, flying in circles around him like she was caught in a tornado. I am not in that list, where am I on that list? I demand to be a - have a list! Lists are fun, especially shopping lists! Can I write the next shopping list? It would read something like: gummy bears, Toblerone, marshmallows, cookies, more cookies, I feel like cookies. Hey, Aclysia, can you bake some cookiester? With extrarge chocte chips?
I will consider it, the weaponized maid answered, while already leading the group into the passage. Sylph just flew right by her head, showing the reason why she wasnt on the list: she was the only one small enough to move freely.
The moment the whole group was in the narrow passage, the enemies jumped out of the shadows. With the stato of skittering legs, they closed in on Gnome. They had the advantage of being somewhat t and able to climb the walls, meaning they could fit two or three in one row.
Why me?! the stone elemental cried out, waving her hands about in a bit of a panic but gathering herself in time to make the correct decision. Reinforced by mana John sent her, Gnome stomped on the floor and caused the ground to rip upwards. Thorns of rock ascended, killing two of the Underdark Ravagers and otherwise sealing the passage behind Johns group.
Here goes hoping nothing worse is blocking the other side, John thought as they continued on. If they had to genuinely fight right there, all advantages of being in a group were basically null and void. Once they reached the wider confines of the room, they would be in way less danger.
It seemed that Gnome had cut the cave off from behind them quite well, as any gaps or holes would have meant that the Ravagers could have followed them still. The fact that they went without harassment for the rest of the passage meant that that wasnt the case.
The room they stepped into was odd. The walls were a perfect sphere, but a rock structure that reminded John of a spider (thankfully without any of the stickiness) gave them something to walk on. Having an Agility of 100 paid off nicely in that situation, as he found his footing quite easily.
At the heart of the web was a bed and, in that bed, illuminated by purple fire candles,y a gorgeous dark elf. She had basically no breasts but long white hair and the typical greyish ck skin with long ears pointing up from each side of her head. d in only a thin robe that stuck to her body, she raised a hand and waved him closer with a single delicate finger.
Now, John was having a hard time not being hard around this time. His weakness towards pretty women was well-documented, he hadnt fucked a drow yet (and he really wanted to) and his newly raised Libido didnt help. As he had promised Rave, he was currently getting his least useful Stat up to 50. The sex had been amazing with every point along the way.
Anyway, all of that made his pants quite tight and him hoping that this was a treasure room. Sadly, I am not na?ve enough to run face first into such things, John thought and threw an Observe at the drow female in front of him.
FUCKING HELL! John thought as his erection did him the favour of disappearing rather quickly. This wasnt just a trap room, this was a TRAP room!
It was worth the try, the androgynous voice of the confirmed male sighed, before he conjured a bunch of spiders. They crawled out from under the bed, dropped down from the darkness under the ceiling or simply appeared between Draconis hands. They werent big, only about fist-sized, but there were a lot of them all closing in on John.
Four things happened at the same time. John used Arcane Echo. Smander reinforced that Arcane Echo with her unleashed bonus. Simultaneously, she created a torrent of fire. A torrent that was then further reinforced, in turn, by Sylph creating arge gust of wind. What thatbined into was a quick-moving st of devouring heat and arcane energy that swept quickly through the small room, taking out the wave of spiders immediately.
More would follow quickly though, if they didnt take care of the source. Aclysia was already on that, breaking through scattering ashes of dissolving monsters and towards the bed. Eclys cut the air in front of her, creating a silver line in the darkness that sliced apart the resting ce. Draconis was already on the run from the weaponized maid, who was out for vengeance for the drow sexually confusing her master.
Overall it seemed Aclysia was the quicker one, but on his home-turf the dark elf had the advantage. One John aimed to take away, as he poured mana into Gnome again. H-here goes nothing! the stone elemental dered ramming her fists against either side of the narrow passage they had entered through. The crumbled at several ces as destructive tremors rocked through it.
One of those ces happened to, luckily, be under Draconis feet. John had just wanted the whole structure to copse, causing the lower part of the sphere to be an improvised arena, but that worked as well. Throwing out his right arm, he extended arge tentacle of water towards the elf.
Oh my, that could be abused erotically, Draconis managed to get ast quip out, as the tentacle wrapped around his thigh. With one footing lost and the other leg in hold, he didnt manage to dodge anywhere before Eclys sliced open his back.
Two books fell to the floor, neither of which John had any interest in. At least this had been worth a buttload of experience. Never think that word in the context of traps again, he scolded himself as they went on to finish the rest of the dungeon.
Chapter 460 – A royal announcement
Chapter 460 C A royal announcement
An annoyed piano melody hit Johns ears over the phone. It was disharmonious, perfectly representing the mood of the person on the other end of the line. You are aware that causing your lover, who sits and governs on the other side of the globe, worry because reports indicate that you are getting effortlessly crushed by a coalition of anarcho-capitalists and then not answering the phone for that whole duration is not the fine way to treat ady, particrly a noble one?
I am very sorry, John assured her. Incredibly, deeply sorry, I just had have some things going on, many of which are quite private in nature. Now that Scarlett had made him aware that he could be wiretapped anytime, he was a lot more careful about talking about things that mattered on the phone. Even if the very same Technomancer was looking after his lines.
Great thing I will being over soon then, Lydia told him. I will be hearing all about it.
What, really? John asked. Dont get me wrong, I am ecstatic to see you again he hastily added when the piano in the background stopped in its entirety after every single note was pressed at the same time. There was a neutral and simple melody that yed after those words. but I wonder why you are suddenlying over.
You remember what ourst conversation was about?
John thought back, he had cutmunications about two weeks ago, following Thornes deration of war. What had been important in the talk he had with Lydia in the days prior? He seemed to remember that they had only talked about unimportant stuff. I do remember the conversation, he told her, but I still have no idea what you are referring to.
Your mother, John, you were going to visit your mother, Lydia told him. Thats why I want toe over.
But why? the Gamer still was confounded.
Because proper manners demand that I shall do so, she sounded slightly upset at that point. Do you not want me to meet her? Am I something to hide, John?
Well, there was only one answer to that, Of course not, just befuddled, is all. He started walking up and down the living room, following the path between the wall and therge couch, from bathroom to bedroom door and back.
The eyes of Eliza, Copernicus and a cat-eared Rave followed as all three of them were peeking over the back of the couch. Aclysia put down some fresh cookies on the table; Sylph and Stirwin soon descended on the unsuspecting te. Nia was sitting in one of the armchairs nearby. The TV was muted, a news report scrolling over the screen. Beatrice and Metra were ying pool in one of the many hobby rooms of the upper deck.
The two of them had an awkward rtionship where one was annoyingly calm while the other was pissed all the time. The berserker babe had taken it upon herself to banter as long with Beatrice as it took to feel like she had won. For some reason, they usually did that dance while ying pool.
Wouldnt it have been smarter to wait until I could give you a date on when I was going to drive down to Washington though? he asked.
My intention was to schedule it indeed as such, she told him. However, my ns were overthrown by someone going silent and making me worried something would have happened to them, causing me to announce that I n to take a vacation in the near future. A heavy sigh exited the speaker. I know I am sounding overly harsh, but I am just happy you are fine. Do not do this to me again.
I wont unless I really have to you know, faking my death might be something I need to do one day, he had no intention of being dishonest.
Expect to be pped for that trickery at such a time, she scolded him for suggesting something like that. I have had enough graves in my youth, so dont make me erect one for you C not even in vain C in the foreseeable future.
I will deserve it, just saying it might happen, you never know, John assured her. Anyway, wouldnt it be smarter to dy your vacation until I know for sure I am going? He stopped for a moment. Let me guess, you already arranged everything and now a change of schedule would be more work.
Indeed, Lydia affirmed. You will have to adjust your schedule to fit mine if you want to introduce me to your mother. Somehow that if didnt sound like a choice at all. To preempt the question of when I arrive, barring any flight dys, I shouldnd in New York City in two days, three with. I will send you an exact timeframe per textter.
Two to three days, huh, John went through the n as it was supposed to y out. I am almost certain I will bete at two. Life is busy at the moment. I will do my best to make time C for you. He made sure to put extra weight behind thosest words.
I sincerely look forward to it, the queen sounded pleased and the melody in the background adjusted itself to be a bit more uplifting. Now that I have you on the phone already, it would be a waste to put it down with only the reasoning of the important topic being concluded. War aside, how have you been?
Ah, you know, the usual bullshit, he rxed, leaning against the wall and taking a cookie Aclysia presented to him. The little pieces of chocte were half-liquid from the fresh oven heat still lingering inside the piece of bakeware. Gaining levels, fucking around, fucking up.
What did you fail at? Lydia, refusing to swear, asked in an intrigued tone. Do I have to prepare another rant?
Maybe, John went on to exin to her how the Beatrice situation had panned out, with him creating her without a set of guiding principles.
Thats actually not an unusual practice, she informed him by the end.
Its not? he was genuinely surprised to hear that, but he figured it out a few momentster. Right, a lot of people would rather have an emotionally stunted puppet.
Richtig, Lydia cleared her throat, precisely, rather. It sounds to me like you created a sort of clone of Aclysia by the end?
A very passive clone, John agreed, ncing over to Beatrice just slouching in her seat on the couch. She does what I tell her to and otherwise sits around waiting for someone else to do something while watching TV. I recently got her aptop and now she is unlocking everything in Stardew Valley.
It was quite astonishing to look at really, simply because of the consistency (easily mistaken for patience) with which she approached such repetitive tasks. Getting every single achievement in every video game she touched seemed to be the closest thing to a goal she had. As someone who had been like that before, John knew that she was just wasting time in what at least felt productive. As she did enough work when asked to and exclusively yed games that could be paused at any second, though, there was no reason toin.
She is interesting, he continued on, a bit of an oxymoron between a procrastinator and a relentless production machine, like an online author that should be studying but cranks out chapters like a madman instead. That didnt quite do it justice, because it sounded like she got side-tracked when she usually just had one-track. Actually, forget that metaphor, he corrected himself. I just cant find a fitting one.
She is a young adult sitting in her parents basement, doing what is needed when wanted but otherwise justzing around, uncaring for a proper career or search for a family? Lydia suggested.
Kinda? John didnt feel that really described it either. The problem there is that she does have a career and a family in me. Maybe we are looking at her in too high resolution when I can describe her with three words: Passive perfectionist servant.
That makes it sound like she and I would get along, Lydiamented.
Without a doubt you would, John chuckled, you know how you always order everything?
I keep my documents, utensils and house in order whenever possible, yes, why?
ce Beatrice in front of a table thats a mess and she will arrange everything on it in patterns just because she can, he told her. Or she will adjust every single picture frame in a hallway to run perfectly parallel to the floor.
That sounds like she has apulsive disorder, Lydia pointed out.
Absolutely, I once caught her readjusting the position of a flowerpot for over five minutes, which also meant that he watched her do that for the same duration, but he kept that part unmentioned. She is actually worse than Aclysia in that regard. However, then she is weird again because she will actually only do that when she sees it. She isnt getting up to look for anything to fix, its like an idle gesture.
You have a lot to correspond about her, the queen noticed.
Its because she is weird to interact with, like Nia, he waved at the pariah, who slowly turned her head at the mention of her name. I am worried she wont fit in because of the way I made her, but she fits in nicely but also not at all.
I like her! Rave chimed in.
Tell Rave Lydia started.
Ya can call me Jane, Lylytina, the techno-lover interrupted, loud enough for the phone to catch it.
How did she?
Dont question it, when you love her the slightest bit she gets into your head, Johnughed, and Rave smirked as that line of dialogue just confirmed that she was great at what she did. She puts up camp and never leaves.
I have to admit I dont feel particrly infatuated with her, Lydia said; her feelings for the Lightbearer were more than friends but less than lovers.
Yet, Rave added.
Are you sure you dont have me on speaker?
No, but she might be able to hear you because of her cat ears, John gave her the actual exnation as to why this was happening. She is training to hear exclusively with them, not that there is a lot to train.
I see, he could practically see Lydia nodding in her room, a room that doubtlessly looked like all of her rooms, with the wooden floor and the Prussian blue walls. Maybe her red lips were slightly raised in a smile despite her iron tone, maybe she had the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder to y the piano with her hands, like she preferred to, or maybe she was ying it with her powers alone and
Do you still dance? he asked out of the blue.
When I get the time for it, Lydia carefully answered. Why do you ask?
I would like to see you dance again.
You do recall that is one of the very few activities in this world that actually make me embarrassed, right? she told him.
I will dance with you, please, he pleaded. Doesnt have to be anywhere public. Just you, me, the other girls, on top of my yacht if the weather is nice, to a nice and slow romantic song.
I will think about it, she promised and the piano music stopped. I need to head out soon, a bit of regret swung in her voice. John did the slightly scumbaggy thing and basked in that; it was good to hear that he was missed, especially with how mutual that feeling was.
This was awfully short for how long it has been, John told her; he had so many more things he wanted to talk about. Can I ask onest thing before you go?
Asking if you can is going to waste more of my time, thus giving me less time to answer, she berated him. To make it simple: Yes.
How is Momo?
I dont know, shortly after you went silent, she had a falling out with Ria and headed to Anatolia. Since then I have lost sight of her. Not that I actively tried tracking her, the queen of steel answered. You will have to inform yourself about this subject matter. I do however doubt she is in trouble. With her mana and ability to fly freely, it would take a proper monster to catch her.
Right, John was still a bit worried, but only a reasonable amount. Well then, see you soon and hopefully hear you again sooner.
Whenever I can make the time, she promised and hung up.
He lowered the phone, looked at it and sighed longingly like only a man in love could.
How the fuck, Eliza said from the side lines, does it even feel to be in love with over a dozen of these ass-shaved monkeys that walk this shitty dirtball?
Like I am the luckiest guy in the world, John answered earnestly, putting his phone away. Anyway, I have a quest we can do now.
Chapter 461 – Martial Arts
Chapter 461 C Martial Arts
The quest he had gotten randomly was pretty straightforward.
He wasnt quite sure how he was supposed to learn a punch and kick technique, he had the inkling that just getting a Skillbook wouldnt work this time around, but if he just listened to his instructor, he was sure he would get it.
Too bad she was kind of bad at exining things.
So what ya gotta do is breathe in, and just spread your mana into your muscles, Rave instructed and her aura, a sky blue, red up around her. Bada-bing-bada-boom, there ya go.
I have no fucking clue what the fuck you mean by that fucking shit, Eliza called out to her, sitting with her legs crossed and her hands in herp on the green in that Magnus was providing for them.
This part of the lecture was actually not for him, since he could just use Aura as a toggleable skill. Instead, he was reading through a basic Abyssal guide on martial arts while Raves teaching efforts fell through. Whether the book wasnt a Skillbook or it would have just given him ess to Aura and a basic martial art style, both of which he already possessed, he didnt know.
I dont even know why the fuck I am doing this, Eliza growled. I can fight.
Yeah, but you fight like an idiot, Metramented from the side lines. Your whole strategy is hit it til it dies, just because you basically cant.
Never change a working fuck, the blood mage giggled, thenughed way too loudly. Sorry, found that extremely funny for some reason.
Thing is, it works until it doesnt, John muttered in that disembodied tone someone used when he was only half part of the conversation, being currently immersed in his lecture. It was a mere fifty page book, so he was about through after the twenty-five minutes he had already spent on it. The reason why you can fight like that is because you winning is a foregone conclusion, so if you finally face someone you cant beat like that, which grows increasingly likely as we go up against more high-profile people, then youll be in a bind.
I cant even fight right now because of the fucking Thana-situation, Eliza grumbled.
Ja, Rave chimed back in, putting out her aura. Little tongues of blue faded out like swirls of smoke around her. But it might help ya with the Thana situation.
How the shit would it do that?
Cause martial arts teach ya discipline and stuff, she nodded to herself. Then, when she noticed everyone looking at her as the only real martial arts user around and made the connection to her discipline, she stuck out her tongue. Imagine how I would be like if I didnt do martial arts then, ya meanies, she pouted.
Anyway, she might have a point, John mumbled some more. Either way, you lose nothing, Eliza.
Except my television time, the blood mageined but closed her eyes again. Okay, so I breathe in, that was literally the only part I got.
Ya spread your meowana, she stopped for a moment to bite her tongue and attempt to get her speech lined up again, then she continued, mana through your whole body and then it does stuff ah, lemme just touch ya and ya will get it, Rave sat down behind Eliza. Inhale deeeeeep, she instructed, into the chest, as little stomach bloating as possible. Yeah, like that, do that some more, gotta get ya used to the rhythm. Ya feel it yet?
Feel what yet? an irritated Eliza asked; she was not used to sitting still this long. You know there is a shitload of mana pulsating through me at any given moment, right? You are trying to make me find the needle in the shitmire.
Should be about here, Rave stabbed at Elizas upper back with two fingers, right on top of her spine and between her shoulder des.
A tirade of curses left the blood mages mouth as her spine straightened up in response. Cock-biscuit munching son of a whore! she finally finished. That HURT!
Ya like it, dontcha? Rave said with a grin.
Not if I am not prepared for it, and that really hurt, what the fuck was that? she wanted to know.
Ya ever heard of pressure points? she asked, and everyone in the world had, so Eliza had as well. Then there ya go. I just jabbed one. Just a fluke tho, I am not one of those martial artists, I just know about where they are.
So that shit just hurts if someone randomly presses it? Elizained.
Nah, gotta be veryrecise anddoakistrikeatd, Rave slurred.
Metra shook her head, Nobody has a fucking clue what you just said.
You have to be very precise and do a ki strike at it, John tranted for the rest of them, having arrived at the final page.
Meow boyfriending when I nya-eed him, Rave spoke extra cattish for a moment because she knew that it turned John on somewhat. For literally no reason. Just like with the ears, it was sexy just because. Anyway, thats the central mana distribution point, or just ki-centre for us martial artists. If ya do the breathing right, ya should be able to feel something there. Eliza went back to breathing, now with a strained face.
John felt a shiver, in the meanwhile, as he looked at the Ki-anatomy model in the book. It was true that the distribution point was at the upper spine, but further down, just above the hip bones, was the counterpart. The shiver in your spine, he heard Thanas voice in his ear again, That is where I live!
It was just a reaffirmation of what he already knew, that she was a goddess and as such lived off the Faith energy humans generated by existing. This was just the scientific exnation for it. Nevertheless, it felt creepy to know that a part of his body was constantly drip feeding several entities on the to varying degrees.
At least the Apothecary he had recently went through assured him Thana was not infecting his soul, however, so this was only creepy, not worrisome.
I think I got it, Eliza mumbled, What now?
Ya gotta start small: extract the energy from your ki-centre and pull it into your lungs. From there it will mix with your blood and spread to every part of your body, Rave exined.
In essence, John understood, now that he had gone through the book, that martial arts in the Abyss were the ultimate equalizer. Not everyone had a particrly strong soul; actually, almost no one had. Most people had a very basic soul type, giving them a minimal advantage over others in one specific field of magic. If the magic of mind had been the only way to be powerful, people with Innate Abilities would have been even more oppressive than they already were.
Martial arts, however, allowed people to take advantage of something basically everyone had: flesh and blood. By using their ki (which still was just another term for mana), they could use magic of body to achieve immense feats. Of course, there were more or less talented individuals there as well, but it was something everyone could learn no matter what their soul type was.
So the two biggest differences between magic and martial arts where: 1. Magic formed mana outside, martial arts formed ki inside the body. 2. Magic had a width of specializations and a high bar for entry, martial arts had a low bar and were only useful forbat (barring some fringe schools where it could be used for healing).
Why did you choose to pick up martial arts, Jane? John asked as he put the book aside. You have a strong Innate Ability.
Cause I liked Daddy more than Mother, Rave gave a simple answer. And ya know my dad doesnt have an Innate Ability, he is a good martial artist and thats it. Also, I have talent for it and I am more of a punchy person than throwing beams at someone from a distance. Lotsa reasons, all pretty simple.
Hey, the fact that you just do things is 80% of the reason why we got together, John said.
More like 98, she joked and winked at him. When red flickers started exuding from Elizas skin, Rave retracted her hand. There ya go! she congratted as those flickers became denser. Gotta pump those muscles up with mana.
There was one aura that everyone had and one only martial artists could manifest. The former was a manifestation of ones mana once it had turned into Faith exiting through the ki-point at the lower spine. Thetter was a miniscule amount of mana in the muscles unable to stay on the fibre and leaving the body through the pores.
The thick red cloud of ki around Eliza looked way less impressive now that John basically thought of it as mana sweat. Huh, thats unusual, Ravemented. I mean, there are several unusual things right there, like how she can do that after trying for half an hour where others take months, but the colour is one thing I didnt expect.
As the go-to colour of mana was blue, most auras shared that attribute. However, it wasnt unusual for auras to change colour and neither was it for mana, albeit that was an expression of two different things. Ki that changed colour did so inside the body and thus acquired the reflection of the soul type, like it could be seen in Eliza right now or Rave when she went and used Copernicus unleashed power. Manas shift in colouring came about because of the technique used to shape it.
Momo had known all about that, having read a book. If I remember correctly, its called the Voltaire-Arcane-Spectrum-Theory, the first time he had heard that had been all the way back in the very first game of the tournament. Wonder if that is the same Voltaire also I should get that book. It was probably still back in Rome in the room Momo had stayed in.
He exined all of that to Eliza, who did not know why it was unusual. The aura red down and vanished again during the exnation. By the end, the blood mage looked at her hand. So this is my power after all? This whole blood shit?
Did you doubt that? John wondered.
I wasnt fucking sure, with all the other shit thates along with HER, Eliza gestured at herself. Does this mean I always had the capacity to be a fucking monster of the Abyss?
Very likely, Metramented. Dont get me wrong, you got your potential boosted to absurd levels because of what is inside you, but I think you could have be about half as strong as you are right now naturally. The berserker babe put her head on her knee and narrowed her eyes. This age is very unusual, there shouldnt be so many elites in so few generations.
They looked expectantly to John as if to say exin this shit, brainiac. As it so happened, he actually did have an exnation. Its because of the way the World Soul functions, I think, he told them. It gets stronger the more people there are. The stronger it is, the more magic gets channelled through people before they are born. The more magic, the more likely they are to awaken an Innate Ability. Basically, its Gaias long-term n working better than she probably imagined.
Isnt it Remus long-term n? Rave asked.
Not sure if I should credit the advisor or the girl who built and maintains the structure, John admitted. Seems to me that she ditched him the moment he had nothing more of worth to add to the system. Thats just my impression though.
Well, at least he had confirmation that he would get the other side of the story one day.
Maintaining this shit is as hard as Johns cock in my ass, Eliza growled as she tried to reignite her aura.
Oy, you already skipped months of focus training, Metra, who had seen more than a few warriors train in her time, scolded. Be grateful for what you have. Probably took lightning hands over there years to get it just right.
Nah, I needed like three weeks, Rave stated and Metra turned to look at her. Coulda done it faster, probably, but I was ten.
In the name of the saltwater skies, you werent kidding when you said you were actually good at something? the berserker babe couldnt keep the quip to herself.
N-o-p-e, Rave spelled out and left Metra sitting there to keep looking. Anyway, Eliza, ya keep trying to do that. Should take ya a few days at worst before ya can meowntain it for an attack or two. John, we gonna try the other two parts of the quest, alright?
Sure, John activated the terrible Aura skill, reducing his mana regeneration by 100% in return for a percentage bonus in his physical stats. So, what do I have to do? By video game logic, if he did it right once, he would get a skill for it. I already read up on the different technique categories.
There were five in total: hand, wrist, head, ankle and foot techniques. Each of them was especially named after the body part where mana was concentrated to achieve the intended effect. Each of the categories was also especially good at something, with only hand and foot techniques being somewhat alike and usually focused around dealing damage, to no surprise. Wrist techniques were good at redirecting energy flow and ankle techniques were all about movement.
Head was the odd one out, a wild mix of different things that had very niche uses. For example, shouting someone to death was better done as a sound mage so basically no one practiced that. Also biting someone to death wasnt the usual strategy. More popr were things like disabling ones pain receptors to go into a berserker rage, but even that was highly unusual in the grand scheme of things.
Okay, so ya need a punch and a kick right? Rave made it simple. Well here are the two basic ones. First, Impact Punch, all it does is add a bit of a st to your punch. She kneeled down on one leg and slowly showed him what to do. Gotta pull your arm aaaall the way back, her elbow travelled up until she had to twist her torso to raise it even higher. Aura on, the blue me-like energy burned around her, concentrate it in the shoulder and palm of your clenched fist. The process that would have taken ce in less than a second in a fight left a visible change in her aura. The areas she had just named had less aura escaping, as she concentrated to keep as much in as was possible. And then ya just gotta give it a straight jab! she said and brought her arm down.
Her fist met the grass floor without any further effects. Only when she raised her hand again did John see that she had left a deeper imprint in the dirt than her fist should have punched into it. Again, very basic, she said, but it does the job most of the time.
Whats that thing you use again? John asked.
the Dolphin Blow? Rave returned with a non-serious lustre dancing pink through her blue eyes.
Tell me thats a reference to one of your abridged series and not the actual name, John demanded; that would just have been too stupid.
Ja, it is, she confirmed. Nah, its actually the Prative st, travels a few centimetres behind the punch depending on exact usage.
Why not teach me that?
Because your hand might explode, she delivered it straight.
John blinked rapidly. Seriously?
What, ya think pumping your muscles up with magic juice and having it leave ya in a destructive fashion isnt a dangerous sport? she bopped him on the nose. I dont sweat while meditating cause I like to be wet around ya or because ya have a strange fascination with licking salt off my midriff. I am actually tensing up everything inside me. Ya know, like when I regenerate mana while using it, but without anything actually ripping apart.
I dont understand it either, hemented the midriff thing while stilling to terms with the tearing. Its just hot.
Ey, I like to do it to ya too, so the feeling is mutual, Rave smirked, tapping his abs with the back of her hand. Anyway, point is, ya cant do this yet. Ya gotta be able to do the basics before ya can do something like this. She raised her left leg, foot hanging loosely down at the ankle. Then she suddenly brought it down, her whole sole meeting the ground at the same moment.
John lost his bnce as the ground under him suddenly ruptured around his girlfriends foot. He tried to make a step to the side to regain his footing but got the tip of his foot into one of the cracks instead, causing him to get caught and fallpletely.
What the fuck was that? Eliza asked as they looked at the earth. A whole metre around Raves foot was as if a hammer had hit arge piece of ss and damaged it without causing it to properly shatter and fall apart.
Heh, Rave gave him a show-off grin. Thats the Seismic Step an- ouch. She tried to walk towards him and help him up, but then they both noticed that the ground wasnt the only thing damaged by that attack. Her jeans were torn up to her knee and by the way she took that step it looked like she had hurt herself as well. She popped down on her butt and took off her neon-pink shoe (her battle suit in base form). A bruise was quickly forming on her sole and her toes were swelling. Well, this isnt embarrassing right now or anything, she mumbled to herself. Can ya gimme an Undine?
John most certainly could. Does this happen to you often? he asked.
Ya would know if it did, think I can hide stuff like that from you when we bone every other hour? she joked and let out a relieved sigh as the pain went away as quickly as it came. Using martial arts through equipment is harder and I usually dont even use a Seismic Step of that strength barefoot. Beginners are better off with Focus Stomp.
In other words, Copernicus tapped around his summoner in arge circle, looking at her foot like he totally didnt care (in typical cat fashion), she wanted to show off to her boyfriend who is so seldomly impressed with her abilities.
Oy, Cappy, Rave lightly chopped the suncat on the head. I am ashamed enough as is.
John just took her into his arms. I am definitely impressed, he assured her. Must be a lot of hard work to learn all of that.
It is, she agreed, but I dont need ya to be impressed with me all the time. Just wanted to show off the only time I definitely could. She raised a hand to his face and kissed him. As a girlfriend, Rave was perfect thanks to all her little ws.
She spent the next few hoursughing at him as he miserably failed to do it right.
Chapter 462 – Scarlet Sexting [Erotic Content]
Chapter 462 C Scarlet Sexting [Erotic Content]
Scarlett: I am horny.
That message came rather unexpected. John was lying on his bed, taking a break after training that was an entire failure. Save for Siena skulking around in the shadows, he was alone.
John: Okay?
Scarlett: Dont okay me, dude.
Scarlett: I want to have phone sex. You and me, fingerbanging while exchanging nudes.
Scarlett: That clear?
That was about as concise as it could get, one small problem though.
John: I am on board in principle, but I cant fingerbang.
John: Got a skill, prevents me from masturbating but gives me immense bonuses to my sexual capabilities.
Scarlett: You will die of blue balls if you ever get separated from all willing holes.
John: Yup.
Scarlett: Anyhow, fine, grab some slut and drop your pants. Send me a picture once you are ready.
Scarlett: We are going to do this 1-2-1-2 okay?
That sounded like honest fun. No, not honest. Perverted, that was the word. But who was he to get on these pictures?
Gaia, Siena suggested, giggling.
If you have her on speed-dial and can make a booty-call, I am all with you on that, John shot back. Otherwise, unless she gets horny again, we arent going to see her.
How about not-Gaia then? a serene voice chimed in, the blue blob it belonged to big breastedly entering the room. Undine, who had been doing her usual thing and rxing in the bathtub, seemed to be in the mood for another expedition of the freaky kind. I am certain Cumslut could do it.
Oh shit, you are right, John realized. While they usually abused that form for ess to an extra dick in the very much female dominated (in numbers at least) orgies they had, at the core the desire elemental was a shapeshifter, not an attachable cock. He could not help but smirk at the idea of having the supreme deity, even if it was a fake, suck his cock in photos he sent to Scarlett.
Scarlett: Do you have a shapeshifter or something?
Sadly, the Technomancer was very much capable of listening in. She probably didnt even need photos to be sent either, having basically free ess to Johns phone and its camera, but they didnt get hung up on that technicality.
John: And there goes my surprise just give me a minute.
After some haggling with Siena, who of course wanted a favour or two in exchange for ying along with this, the shadow spirit and Undine fused. Oh my the resulting girl blushed heavily, staying in her big-titted goth form for only a moment while she scanned Johns memories for the most recent encounter with Gaia. There was no need to pay much attention to her words; Cumslut liked to act all embarassed but the second some cock was inside her she rambled down the list of cheap hentai dialogue. Not that John wasining.
How lewd, how nasty, I am not sure I can go along with this, her voice changed to the snarky tone of the supreme deity while her body shrunk on every single dimension. Her tall form went down to the fun-size of Gaia, her hair became long, impossibly curly and thick, the same colour as her green eyes. While here tits deted to B-Cup, her ass became smaller but shapelier and more defined at the same time until it was a perfect work of art.
Her naked skin exposed, a nice olive tan to it, Cumslut-Gaia stood in front of the bed. Still heavily blushing, the false deity crossed her arms and let out a, Hmpfh, sound followed by the snide and kind of adorable remark of, Not like I want to fuck YOU in particr, I just have cravings but if you could go nude too, that would be nice.
John did her the favour; just a couple of taps on his inventory and what little clothes he had been wearing disappeared into his inventory. Okay, nowwhat kind of picture to start this off with? he wondered out loud. Looking at the whore of a false idol, his cock pulsated with the immediate need for release.
His brain remembered not just the time it got mercilessly fried but also the absurd amount of pleasure that had done it in. Exponential dimensional fucking left some scars on the mind and now the air alone felt like it could send John over the edge at any moment. Lay down, he told Cumslut-Gaia.
While she obeyed, she let out the ultimate of clich lines, Its not like I want you to fuck me or anything, idiot! At thest word, the tiny-framed slut was lying on her back.
Truly tempted to just move directly into her glistening pussy with the swollen lips, the over 400 Libido of Cumslut turning her into an ever-ready bucket for any kind of seed she could get her shapeshifting hands on, John decided to hold back. Jumping right into the main-course would have been a bit much.
His eyes fell instead on the whore-idols quite thick thighs. That was something he seldomly explored. Keep your legs pressed together, he instructed his fleshlight as he lifted them up and forced his cock between the soft meat. The initial strokes were a bit unpleasant, naked skin on each other proving to be not the way nature intended humans to mate. Much like with anal sex, that wasnt something a bit of lubrication couldnt solve and Johns precum soon provided all that was necessary.
John didnt usually fuck thighs; he thought them to be a target of ps first, a visual treat second and a potential way to get off third. Not only was the kind of thickness that made properly squishing them together possible somewhat rare, like with tits, but the woman got very little out of that situation. Unless they were total whores who could get off from anything.
Cumslut-Gaia visibly panted. What kind of men fuck thighs instead of a willing pussy? she sassed. Not that my pussy is willing or anything! she rified, as if anybody would believe her. The moan she let out as John lowered his angle of attack so that the underside of his shaft dragged along her clit with every move also didnt help her credibility.
Wordlessly, the instructionsing through their mental connection, John gave Cumslut the phone and the whore-idol put it up to her face as if to hide it. Soon after that, the Gamer felt his seed rising up his shaft.
Thick loads of sperm ejacted from between the green-haired faux-deitys thighs. Up to the third spurt of the heavy, white liquid sttered all across her stomach and tits, a nice contrast to her tan, olive skin and dark nipples. The less energetic follow-ups coated her subtly visible abs in semen, pooling in her navel and finally dripping on the upper edge of her hairless crotch.
Cumslut-Gaia snapped the photo just as John thrust forwards a bit, causing onest spurt of semen out. It depicted her body being used as a canvas for the biological artwork as well as Johns muscr shape between slowly opening legs, the perfect mixture between thick and smooth. Then she sent it. John read her answer through his summoned getting-off tools eyes.
Scarlett: Fuck Thats hot...
Scarlett: I think I just came a little, see for yourself.
The answer photo was sent a moment thereafter, presenting something John knew was tailored to his tastes. It was taken from a distanced position, John guessed that the redhead was using security cameras or drones to make the shots.
Bend over a steel table covered in screens and cables, the Technomancer was the centrepiece of an artwork of the most erotic kind. Her light skin contrasted with the dark-tinted window that was the entire back wall of her room, allowing a washed out view of the city outside. Illuminated by nothing but the lights of LED disys, her form was the canvas upon which the dreams of nerds were painted.
Her tits were sadly hidden from view, the photo being taken from behind to show off her ass perfectly. It was a tight, little masterpiece. Praising thedy of the Abyss that he met yet another harem member with an awesome behind, John followed the curve and wondered what it would feel like to p those cheeks.
Her fingers dug into the flesh of the left side, pulling it outwards, showing off her back entrance with a cheeky look on her face. With his schooled eye, John could measure her ass to be a fine piece by the shadows that caused alone. It wasnt the much-acimed bubble-butt; rather, it was an arrangement of two soft spheres without any blemish. It fit perfectly on her lithe body, leaving her with little in the way of overly feminine curves but adding to the unusual attractiveness of her androgynous disy.
Her other hand was meanwhile spreading the hole John wished to im one day soon. A bit of scarlet hair pushed out between her fingers. Between the parted index and middle finger, he saw the virgin pink folds of the Technomancer. They were glistening wet, doubtlessly she was pleasing herself furiously to the earlier picture. His cock jumped, knowing he could, no, WOULD be the first person to part these folds, oral notwithstanding.
The running wetness of her pussy partly ran down the inside of her smooth side. Not wanting to let Scarlett wait, and needing to start fucking again as soon as possible, John quickly decided what pose to picture next.
He grabbed the false deity and turned her around. Oh, oh yes I mean C How dare you handle me like this! Cumslut gasped out in her decidedly bad acting as she was heaved off the floor. John raised her small frame in front of his chest, the load of cum he put all over her slowly running down towards the bed.
You like this, right, you horny slut? he grunted into her ear as her legs folded around his hand while he held her at the bend of her knees. With perfect aim, he guided her pussy to his enormous cock. Stopping there, only the tip shallowly parting her eager wetness gushing with insane Libido, John continued. Make the shot and maybe I will fill you up right afterwards.
Pleeasseee doooo, the green-haired elemental of perversion gyrated her hips as much as she could, her little fa?ade already crumbling at the mere touch of that what she most desired. John immensely enjoyed the soft rubbing against his sensitive cock, as well as the brushing of her perfect ass against him at every turn.
To better secure her position, she reached back up and behind herself, slinging one arm around Johns neck. The other, she extended in front of herself, still holding the phone. I am about to be prated like a good slut by this manly stud! the voice of the supreme deity spoke, causing John to get the shivers of a fulfilled power fantasy. It felt really good. The sound of a photo being snapped followed thereafter.
John immediately received an answer. Over the screen spanned a sideway photo of Scarlett lifted into the air by several dozen mechanical tentacles. Growing from somewhere off-screen, the silver-rubber covered tendrils had wrapped around her arms and legs in a tight manner. They came in varying sizes and with several different toys, which all made it clear that they were there for sexual pleasure. A smooth head pressed against her clit was slightly blurred from vibrations, tiny pinchers caressed her nipples while arge dildo was lowered down to her mouth. Her pink tongue was stopped in the motion of licking the phallic object passionately.
Between her legs a second dildo, decisively smaller than Johns cock, was pressing apart her pretty pink lips. It was in exactly as far as John was into Cumslut. The whole thing was an emtion of the false deitys current situation, just employing tentacles rather than the stud of a man he was. Undoubtedly, she had been following things over the camera, that cheating little sexy slut. Nice BDSM equipment you got there, the Gamerplimented, Faux-Gaia whimpering while gyrating her hips. If you are going to follow everything I do on video anyway, you could at least make it a two way street.
The photo switched into fluid motions immediately. While the small screen was a bit of a shame, the definition was high enough for John to make out exactly what was happening. I didnt mean to, the redhead stated, but at this point I am too horny for more photos, I need to cum and your body makes me.
I really love that position you are in though, John purred, devouring her with his eyes. Women bound up like that is right up my alley.
Its fucking sexy, yes, Scarlett agreed. Unlike that Femdom shite. She scowled at the camera, Can we skip the remaining small talk? I put motion tracking on, so-ooooh! John needed to hear no more, immediately dropping Cumslut down and impaling her on his shaft. The entire length vanished inside her in one smooth motion.
Fuuuuuck! the green-haired whore cried out. I am sorry I said these things earlier! This is what I wanted! Dirty words filled the room as he lifted her right back up. Split me with your dick, yes, yessssss, she came after the second plunge, her insane Libido rocking her body up and down, toes curling up as she continued to cry out. Yes, I want this, fuck this slutty goddess, make me your bitch! I am ve to your cock!
Keep the camera steady, Cumslut, John growled into her ear, you are here as a cocksleeve only, be quiet. Immediately her mouth snapped closed, the perfect cock-sucking lips, full, dark pink and glistening, pressing against each other in an effort to keep her orgasmic moans in.
Immediately, John resumed moving. The tight, quivering folds of Cumslut around him, his eyes darted between the curly-haired form of the false idol and the camera screen she held up in front of them.
Oh fuck Scarlett moaned over there. As she had promised, the movements of the tentacles emted, with only a slight dy, Johns thrusting. Give it to that slut, give it to me. Gaia almighty, this shit is way better than masturbating! she moaned out loud. Not knowing whates neeee-aaaah-xt! John suddenly changed from quick and hard to deep, thorough thrusts. Its so good!
The Technomancer wasnt limiting herself to just the thrusting. The tendrils stimting her nipples were still hard at work and she stopped further dirty talk in favour of sucking the dildo in front of her mouth. The slurping noises turned John on even more, as he imagined that was his cock she was sucking right there. Her red eyes staring at him with the light of circuitry dancing lustfully inside certainly helped that fantasy.
His arms and hips were working in steadily changing rhythms. Into Cumslut-Gaia and Scarlett he hoped to instil as much pleasure as he could. Thebination was easy to please, her nature putting her into a state of multiple orgasms just by virtue of him keeping on fucking her.
Scarlett soon climaxed herself. It came almost out of nowhere, her continued oral engagement with her toys muffling all audible indications. Her body just began quivering, then tensed from head to toe only to shiver and then be rigid again. This repeated several times, all the while John kept fucking her indirectly.
Scarlett wasnt used to this. Normally, when she was cumming, she would halt the operations and just ride it out naturally. Truthfully, she felt almost overloaded by the feeling that rocked her body now, her pussy gripping tight onto the lubricated rubber of her toys. However, it felt good, too good, and a mixture of pride and something lesser than that kept her fromining, she would keep going until John came, even if she was already satisfied with this much.
Clenching his teeth, John continued on. He had been repressing his own orgasm almost since the moment Cumsluts stupidly tight fuckhole had begun wringing him with climactic intensity. Still, with perverse discipline, he continued on after seeing his newest harem target cum for the first time.
The long hair of Faux-Gaia shook as her entire body was ravaged under thrusts that could only be described as primal. Overrun by such raw a fucking, even if it was just the copied motion, Scarlett was forced to let go of the dildo in her mouth.
You motherfucker! she cried out in the least insulting and most pleasing way possible, her high-pitched voice reverberating from the speakers. How much stamina do you have, huh?
I will show you when you get here and I can split your pussy in person, John grunted, the words being a nice distraction from his balls and the impending end of this session. Giving a girl just one orgasm is beneath me, now CUM!
To his surprise, thatmand worked. The unmistakable sound and sight of a second orgasm unfolded on the disy. At the same time, John let loose, cum flooding into the slut in front of him, who finally broke her silence and screamed out. Yes!! Fill me with the hot shtuff! Moar, I wahnt moar! I can feel it flooding into me!!
Whether or not that was some sort of signal or however else Scarletts machines measured that this was the correct time, they started sttering fake-cum all over the Technomancer. Her face, her tits, her clit, thighs, arms, her scarlet hair, all of it was suddenly subject to a shower of sticky white liquid that pumped out of the tips of the many, many tentacles.
FUCK!! John and Scarlett cursed in orgasmic unity, both of them hit by a sudden surge of bliss, a highpoint to the climax, that drowned their brains in perversion. Moans and grunts echoed. Aftershocks rippled through the redhead when the Gamer moved his hips again, coercing his cock to stter just that little bit more seed into Cumsluts eagerly wanting cunt.
Eventually moans transitioned into heavy-breathing and, without any proper announcement, Cumslut split into her parts. Siena and Undine, fell to the bed, both quivering and speechless, filled with their share of the load. Attaining the state of Cumslut felt, after all, immensely good. The phone bounced off the mattress once, no longer held by anybody, beforeing to a rest nearby with the screen up.
That was VERY nice, Scarlett purred, her smiling, cum-covered face filling the screen. Good job, John. Ill give you a call if I need it again.
Next timee yourself, he demanded jokingly and the video-feed ended there.
Chapter 463 – Trapping 1 – Smoking out
Chapter 463 C Trapping 1 C Smoking out
John checked his clock. 11:58, only 2 more minutes before the attack would start. He was once again on Magois boat, just east of Thornes main barrier. With him were only his elementals and the High Fateweaver. Everyone else he had sent out to create a siege ring around the barrier. One with inherent structural weaknesses that made it very easy to break through at a certain point.
The n for the transition from Phase 3 to 4 was simple. Collide, or whatever the greater collective should be called, would win todays battle. There was just no second guessing it. He had brought literally everyone strong in his guild, with the exception of Eliza who was still at home and trying to figure out how to manifest her aura outside of sitting in a meditative position.
The defeated enemies would then flee through that structural opening and find their way through NYC hindered just enough to not raise suspicion amongst most of them. Basically: win and allow an ordered retreat of the enemy. Very simple in execution.
At least with how the deck was stacked in Johns favour. With the enemymander secretly supporting him, the only thing that could have made this anything but a show match would have been intervention by a strong third party. There was just one factor that couldnt be ounted for quite as easily and that was Tilgun.
I am almost certain he wont do anything, John thought, but I best take care of it. That was the logic for why he attacked from the water, so he had an opportunity to talk to the higher dragon right away.
The phone in his hand vibrated as the silent rm rang.
Scarlett: Have fun.
Here we go! Magoi announced, activating the engine and thus putting the whole boat into motion. From inside their current barrier, they saw the real port outside its boundaries. It was a mundane image, one which was reced as they began to shift into the barrier of Thornes headquarters. You want to ride the rest of the way?
Nah, I am good with the stretch from the ind to here that I was in control of, he answered and waited. John liked the visual effect of slipping from one barrier into the other. It was as if a soap bubble was bursting around them in slow motion. Shrinking drops of the old view masked the new one until only the new reality remained and John looked at the giant tower and the industry blocks that surrounded it like lesser spires.
Turning to Magoi, the top-hat-wearing, raptor-faced Fateweaver looking back with interest, John promised, After today, your part in this whole affair is over. He gave him a wide smile. You can take your wife on all the dates you want then.
And she deserves all of them, Magoi pointed out. Did you ever hear the saying All men marry upwards?
I didnt and I dont know if I agree with that, the Gamer was a bit of a mood kill. Although I can certainly say I feel that way even without being married.
It is a stupid saying, maybe happy wife C happy life is better for what I was trying to say? Magoi attempted a second time as they closed in on the pier.
Oh, I can wholeheartedly agree to that one, John nodded. Again, even without being married.
Now, if only my son had as much luck with thedies as you do. Magoi took his hands off the wheel for a moment to throw them into the air, Where are my grandkids, Magnus! The man wasnt around to answer his nagging old man. Even if he had been, the answer would have been very short and logical. Magoi preferred to just giggle to himself.
Well, I asked him if he wanted to go out drinking sometime before this war went down, Johnmented. So now that we are in the final stages of ending it, guess we can think about me ying wingman again. Wonder if I should give Maximillian a call.
Between you two, Magnus would be the odd one out, Magoiined. Thats like a group of chicks consisting of a supermodel, a self-made CEO and a somewhat pretty farm girl.
Oy, thats your son you are talking about, John suddenly wondered how his own father talked about him and that was not a pleasant question to ask himself seeing how he hadst seen his father when he was a self-exiled, video gaming virgin.
My son who still hasnt given me grandchildren! Magoi reiterated his earlier point.
John hesitated for a second. You know, I am not sure I like that nagging parent side of yours.
Good thing you are not my girlfriendless son then, the High Fateweaver joked. But its fine, I will kick around another 20 years, he should be able to do something in that time. Being part of one of the new uing organizations on the global stage should certainly raise his attractiveness a bit.
Wait a second you made that deal with me just for your children? John suddenly realized.
What, you thought old me who is richer than the Rockefellers would go about conquering a continent out of good fun? Magoi asked. Well, you would partly be right, that does sound like fun C I could use the extra Abysspedia entrances. Giving my family a secure employment future is a big point though. The Magus family should always have friends in high ces.
Thanks for putting your trust in me of all people then, the Gamer said and lowered his head as a genuine gesture of his gratitude.
A, stop, you are making me blush, it was Magois turn to ruin the mood. Anyway, get off my boat. I should keep the barrier under my control, right?
Right, they should smash their way out with physical force, John affirmed, then he jumped over the railing of the ship. A silver aura encapsted his pants and left a trail behind him like the sparks of a firework as he used Arcane Comet to fly over the little gap between the ship and the dock.
The sound of rm horns rung through the barrier. John saw buildings in the distance that were being sealed withrge metal curtains, turned into impromptu fortresses, and robot limbed soldiers swarmed about the ce. It was only a matter of minutes before they would have spotted John and formed a unit to eliminate him.
Tilgun? Are you sleeping? John addressed the higher dragon. It was a somewhat silly question, as his heady on all four of his hands opposite of where John had just jumped ontond.
However, he got an answer anyway. I am, I am trying to, rather, he grumbled, opening one of his eyes a little bit to look at John annoyedly. Can you do conquest more quietly? You are being an inconvenience right now. Yawning, he pulled one of his hands out from underneath his chin and raised it above John, If you werent who you were, I might squash you like a bug right now.
So, you wont get in my way then? the Gamer made sure.
Just make it quick, Tilgun decided, then raised his head a little bit. And heree even more annoyances Following the maw of souls gaze, John saw the expected greetingmittee of twenty armed, robotically enhanced soldiers running their way. I dont have patience for people fighting right next to my ear.
John was suddenly elerated to absurd levels, along with a sharp pain in his back and a drop of a fair bit of health. Like a bowling ball, he crashed into the oing battalion, finding himself with a dizzy head, stopped on top of three of them.
One time, the one time I dont activate Mana Protection because I think this is going to be easy I get flicked by a giant, arrogant water serpent, John thought as he put on the skill just in time to see a bunch of bullets bounce off the blue shell and deal minimal damage to his mana. Given enough time and ammunition, they would break through. John didnt n to give them any of the former, neither did Smander.
In a wave of fire, she appeared. I am ready to! she began and then watched the enemies around them as they ran around in a panic, their clothes set ame. Seriously? That was an opening attack! sheined as the people started jumping into the water to save themselves. John did the poor souls that his impact had left on the floor the favour and gave Undine some mana to put them out.
Between the two scarred elementals and Johns suit, the few people of the attacking group that werent knocked out or on fire realized who they were dealing with and dropped their weapons.
Smart guys, Johnplimented them, then noticed some boobs amongst the crowd, and girls.
Please dont hurt us! one of them asked.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, with his right hand, which soon became blue from Undine spreading over it, John mumbled, Seriously, just how bad were the times before I came along that EVERYBODY thinks I will do something terrible? He looked at them. Do I have the reputation of hurting my captives?
You execute your prisoners! one of them threw at him.
No, I have people that are prisoners that lead ve trading rings or other terribly unjust operations sentenced to death by a code ofws I wrote in a team with other people based on modern western constitutions, he corrected. Damn propaganda everywhere just sit over there and keep your weapons on a nice pile and I guarantee you will get a fair trial when this whole thing is over. They obeyed, not that they had any real choice if they wanted to live, and as a reward John left them a campfire.
From there on it was a set of one-sided engagements barely worth the mention outside of the time it wasted for him. The soldiers of Thorne were well-organized, which was good because it meant that John could reason with them quite easily. Once he had shown them that fighting him was absolutely futile, he could handily persuade them to do as that first group and just drop their weapons.
People from smaller organizations were somewhat simr; however, a few of them died because they were just too stubborn. They thought if they just ganged up on John and kept hitting him they would hurt him at some point. Because they were right, they would manage to do that if he didnt fight back, John had no other choice but to retaliate. He tried to measure his punches, but that only meant so much.
A punch, a Shardbound, an earth-spike, a whip of water, a dicing wind or a st of fire, no matter the attack given enough iterations in the chaos of battle, some of them had to hit vital areas. Because of that, he left some corpses on his path, some snapped necks, holes where hearts should be, or split skulls. Every time John wished they had known when to stop. These people didnt have to die.
Unlike the lot that cast their loyalties with Bearings. John had absolutely no idea what drug these people were jacked on, but it must have made them crave death with a passion. There was no reasoning, no words to be heard. From the moment they saw John or any other enemy, they were locked on and didnt let up.
In the corner of his left eye, John caught a movement. He turned just in time to see someone dropping down on him from a nearby ceiling, wielding a giant axe. So slow, John thought, knocking the weapon to the side with Purgatory and then catching the man by the throat.
He struggled in his grip like a spastic throwing a tantrum. Hands and feet shed against Mana Protection uselessly and bloody foam gathered on his mouth. His eyes looked like they would pop out of his head at any moment and John wasnt even squeezing yet.
That was the state most of them were in and that was the best he found them in. There were a few who didnt even try to attack John, they were just suicidal, falling off buildings, others attacked allies and enemies alike.
Is Bearings getting that desperate? John asked himself.
Men who blow their load early, Siena whispered into his spirit as she eviscerated another man who charged at John. often try whatever they can to get their pride back, she finished the sentence out loud, throwing her hand to the side to clean the blood off her ws.
The attackers at our base didnt behave this illogically, Undine continued on as the whole think tank analysed this.
Yeah, they were all like POW-POW-POW! Sylph added, but they werent like this, they were just C like C super aggressive and all in our faces and stuff and they wanted to fight but they didnt bleed in the mouth or anything.
I-I guess Bearings is mixing an experimental form in with the old ones? Gnome presented the logical conclusion.
Sick fuck, Smander presented the finalmentary on the matter.
John conjured a Shardbound and had it fly through the mans head, putting him out of his misery as quickly as was possible. He dropped the corpse like a sack of potatoes and went on his way. He would give them a proper funeral pyreter, out of respect for life itself, but for the person he just killed, John wasnt quite as sure he would be able to raise the same level of decency. People that worked for Bearings seemed to be the worst of the bunch.
Flies always find the biggest pile of shit around, John thought as he made his way to the central building. But its not all that surprising, we have made it a point of policy to blow out all their facilities. Bearings power center was actually located to the north-west of the Big Apple. In a three-day campaign, Rave, Nia and Beatrice had rooted out every single facility they could find.
Regardless of how this war went over, Bearings was finished as a force in the region. After today, the same could be said for Thorne though. As far as Johns goals for this campaign went, he had reached them already. If Scarlett wanted to betray him, herst chance woulde in the form of that tower bearing a giant version of the cable-thorn wreath that was thepanys emblem.
Johns feeling regarding Scarlett hadnt changed, so he trusted she wouldnt do anything to harm him out of sheer self-preservation, if nothing else.
Time to find out, he thought as he closed in on the headquarters.
Chapter 464 – Trapping 2 – Last stand of Thorne
Chapter 464 C Trapping 2 C Last stand of Thorne
Ya know, Rave greeted him in front of the entrance, its kinda ironic that, after all we did thest few months, we are now just gonna waltz in there after all.
I didnt even think of it that way, John admitted and looked over the assembled forces. Aside from him and his girls, there were twenty other people around that were d in different robes and sets of armour that had a uniform blue and ck design to them. In the absence of any emblem, John had picked those colours as his as Thorne was decidedly red and Bearings gold. Another 30 of them were scattered throughout the barrier.
They were something like a proto-police force, an assembly of people John thought had good resumes and could be trusted with upholding thew. They were those that had acted with kindness in systems of cruelty, who had stood with John on point of principle when it seemed like he was losing or simply those who applied and had been confirmed by their peers. The whole structure was very much in the process of being built, just like courts, and currently overseen by Beatrice and Metra.
However, with a justice system, a military unit to enforce that justice and territory, Collide was basically a state now. All they needed was a g and or symbol and a few other things. Do you have a suggestion for what our anthem should be? John asked. Because I am leaning towards America Fuck Yeah just for the lols.
Nicki Taylor - Worlds Collide, Rave answered immediately and then sung her favourite part of the song. We are the ones to ignite the darkened skies C The champions of a world that we defy C A solemn reign of the few who rise up high - And we all fight at thest light.
You should sing more often, Nia stated from the sidelines.
Whys that? the Lightbearer asked.
Seconds ticked by while Nia just stood there and looked back. The police force, not used to the nks particr pattern of behaviour, looked confused as the silence carried on. What was just regr to John must have been a very awkward quiet to them. Being in the middle of a battlefield didnt help. You dont slur when you sing, also it sounds good, she finally formed an emotionless answer.
Fairnuff, Raveughed, biting her tongue in a teasing manner. Anyway, whaddaya think?
The solemn reign part sounds a bit dictatorial to me then again, in all due technicality this is a dictatorship, not like anybody elected me, John thought out loud.
Almost like you could just call yourself a king, Metra suggested, bncing her body against Qiada.
I already told you, I dont want my position to be inherited, John returned. And I still dont understand why you get so stuck up at that distinction.
Because a dictator is someone who pretends that he is given power by the republic, a king is someone who is honest and says he is in charge because he is a lion in a world of sheep, the berserker babe dered. At this point, the police force was only getting more confused. They probably thought they were witnessing internal strife in the leadership when these were just conversations they had on the regr.
Now John could have either dropped the topic and made it seem like he was in charge or he continued on to normalize this. He chose thetter, there was no way he could hide from the world the fact that he was consistently bantering with everyone for long.
You are just showing how antiquated your thinking is there, Metra, he thus countered. Two things can be true at once: I can be honest about the fact that I am head of state because of the power I wield and also erect a structure legitimized byrge democratic functions. You already saw the draft for my governmentyout, would you say the words Appointed by John Newman are particrly republican?
I am just saying king Ne-
Just shut the fuck up Met, Smander interrupted. You are so insistent on that word and nobody gets why.
A pang of anger reached John along with some words. They were carried through the maze-like connection he had with the ancient weapon by sheer frustration. Behold the wraths oath and be crowned king of Akkad.
The words came along with a minor headache that quickly went away again. Thest line of a song? he mumbled and looked at Metra, who red daggers back. Did youare you bound in some sort of contract fiasco where one exact word difference is preventing you from epting me?
He who will not wear the title of king and the weight of a crown can never rule thends of Akkad, Metras answer was more than the yes he needed, but it told him what he needed to know. You disqualify yourself foolishly because you insist on being called a thing you are not. You could sire a dynasty, instead you want to sire a government.
Id rather be Atatrk than the first Habsburg, that is correct, John would have crossed his arms, but the mes of the fully charged Purgatory would have reached Undine then, and he didnt want the ocean elemental to go through that. Also, I could argue the opposite case C that an application system that disqualifies a worthy candidate on the basis of one word is supremely ignorant C as well.
Uhm, sir? a particrly brave policemen asked and stepped forwards. Shouldnt we bring this to an end already?
You are promoted, John told the guy immediately, pulling a stack of money out of his inventory and throwing it at the guy. Catching it but immensely confused, he looked first at the bundle of green and then up at the Gamer. Look, I need people in leading positions and you actually dare to speak up to me, so you are now head of the New York Police.
Tha-thank you, sir, the policeman looked at the money again, I am afraid I will lose this money in the chaos though and you havent answered my question.
You wont because I am standing here to prevent any chaos, John answered, eyeing his mana bar. It was stuck at 500, all of his mana regeneration was being guzzled by ongoing preparations. You just stay right here and take any stragglers into custody C and no moving out of formation, are we clear? Normally he would encourage independent thinking in his personnel, but he really couldnt afford anyone moving from here and blocking the nned evacuation route for the enemy.
This will be enough, Undine finally gave him the signal that things could get moving again. The red scars that ran over the blue,tex-like material of the glove were glowing from the inside from the vast amount of mana inside.
Okay then, Rave, Aclysia, I want you to follow me after the initial confrontation. Metra, you keep the eastern part under watch, Beatrice, you keep coordinating the police efforts, Nia, you just do as you do, he could have given her an order but that was historically useless. Well then, Ill go ahead.
He walked up to the metal that had descended upon the main entrance to seal off ess. Gnome, would you? he nicely asked his earth elemental.
I will try my best! she promised and materialized between him and the gate. After taking a deep breath and making a self-reassuring fist-pump, she kneeled down. Her fingers dug between concrete and metal. A creaking sound echoed in her skull, as she clutched her teeth and slowly rose. The metal bulged and folded where she gripped it. Then a sudden CRACK, something broke and Gnome almost fell backwards as the metal became loose.
I did it! she dered, happily jumping on the spot. Understandably, seeing a cute Asian girl in a yellow and ck, stylistically oriental summer dress smilingly bounce with arge chunk of metal lifted above her head caused some unhinged jaws. The eyes of everyone were fixated a bit lower though, at the ce her short skirt no longer hid whenever the pull of gravity forced her downwards. Yay, she eximed with closed eyes, yay, she opened them and saw everyone staring, yay? she followed their eyes to her bare crotch. Noooooo!
The chunk of metal was suddenly brought down right behind John, blocking everyones view with an iron curtain. Gnome went down to her knees, the sound of deep shame leaving her lips, Uwuwuwuwu as John pat her head.
There, there, he said.
How you forget to create panties to wear all the time is a fucking mystery, Smander rubbed her temples with the wed tips of her gauntleted hands. Admit it already, you love to be seen, you pervert.
No! Gnome denied the allegation, ncing at John for a moment and quietly adding, Not by everyone
Arent you just adorable, John kneeled down to cuddle Gnome for a second. We will have some nice cuddling time when we are back home, he promised. For now, he got back up and walked up to the ss doors, domination time.
He pushed open the door and was greeted by an array of spells and bullets all heading for him. To not have expected a trap there would have been na?ve. Any enemy with basic tactical understanding would concentrate theirst stand somewhere where they had the advantage of a chokepoint.
Undine changed from the glove into her true form, stretching herself into a protective semi-circle as the attacks kept raining down on them. The mana John had poured into her became a continuous source of self-healing. John gave her more, all of his regeneration, withholding only those 500 points for the few attacks that dide through and needed to be blocked by Mana Protection instead.
The barrage calmed, then red up again for a moment as people gathered theirst reserves and threw everything at John and Undine. If he hadnt propped her up for exactly this scenario, they would have seeded in breaking through theyer. If they would have seeded in then also beating John was a whole different question, but without taking the time to prepare, this whole situation would have been a lot messier.
Finally, the attacks ebbed away save for some isted instances, as people reloaded or gathered new mana. Remember: dont kill anybody, John instructed. That was when Undine unleashed the flood. Her golden eyes switched into red as she transformed from a protective shell into a torrenting wave. A riptide that broke into a barricade made from humans holding uprge shields and scattered it. UNDINE! he screamed mentally.
The madness that threatened to grip the water elemental whenever she unleashed was as strong as ever. It sung to her. Urged her to fill the lungs of these fools with water and burst them inside out in a gruesome way. Tentacles of water forced themselves down the throats of unsuspecting soldiers to enact exactly that.
The promise of gratification that woulde from killing these people rung with her sane selfs promise to John to control herself. In the end, Undine didnt manage to regain control over herself, but she did manage to focus her insanitys attention towards attacking more people not yet drenched in the saltwater scourge she represented. Violence stilled the thirst for murder.
The orderly firing line that had greeted John waspletely torn now. Small teams of 2 to 4 people formed, only to be quickly assaulted by Sylph as she darted around the ce. The tempest elemental kept any form of organization impossible, Smander picked up the stronger people in the crowd, the kind that could survive a couple of sts from her unnatural mes. Rave and Aclysia then stormed into the room, tilting the bnce all the way into his favour, and the slow Gnome crashed into the people trying to reform the shield line.
By the end, what looked like an orderly foyer initially had turned into a ce of scorched and soaked ground, destroyed pieces of art, dislocatedmps and smashed furniture.
John walked through that chaotic roomscape with one arm on fire and the other in his pocket. So, here we are again, he stopped in front of a certain ginger. He had short hair and wore a futuristic set of armour, none of which had helped him against abination of the unleashed Undine and abined firestorm heading his way. Now he was missing his eyebrows and he held his ribs as if they were shattered under the armour, probably thanks to a run in with Rave. Damien, right?
This guy was level 89, he wasnt a joke, he just wasnt a challenge to John, his little army of familiars, or the group of elites that had gathered around him.
The man looked up with a mixture of fear and loathing. What is it to you? he growled. What do you care about the name of one person whose life you are destroying with your actions? You just run around, act like morality is the be-all and end-all of life and denying the rest of us an existence based purely onpetition.
Its the pure part where you lose me, John admitted. You cant live your life purely by anything. You cant just eat bread, you cant just do the same thing every day, you cant just base every decision on money and much less can you force everyone to act like you.
You mean like you are doing?
I am forcing upon society the ability to give everyone the room to live their lives as they want to, John shook his head. Fundamentally different from forcing one way on everyone because you think thats the best way.
Damien continued to stare at him. Obviously, there was no convincing him.
Well, I hope you will find your ce in my new order, John pat the guy on the shoulder with one hand while fishing a key card off his belt with the other. Damien tried to jump at him once he realized what the Gamer had done, but a sword came down between him and his target.
Hands off my master, Aclysia warned, the silver-white of Eclys continuing to reflect sharply the flickering of broken lights. I will make sure everyone who gives up keeps their word, she told John as he headed to the elevator. I trust that nothing will happen to you.
That was a silent acknowledging of the fact that she too believed that Scarlett would not betray them at this point. John nodded thankfully, somebody strong had to stay down here lest the defeated forces tried some shenanigans like taking the police force hostage. On the face of it, Johns troops were of abysmal quality, having no training and only second-rate equipment that John had hastily cobbled together with his okay crafting ability Create.
Turned out that, if normal people wore armour that was too strong for them, their bodies couldntpensate. John had to wonder whether that also applied to him and it was thanks to the fact that Gaia was regting his rewards that he hadnt encountered that yet or if it wasnt a mechanic at all. Hergely suspected the former with a sprinkle of if it neveres up, I dont have to design itziness from miss supreme deity herself.
Wonder how the Armour of Brandenburgs Miracle got around that, John remembered back to the fight he had with Lydias dad. Ah, thats possibly part of why its destroying itself with each usage? Man, enchanting isplicated business.
He swiped the key card and the elevator came rumbling down the shaft.
_________________________________________________________________________
John looked at the list of sins on his phone. It was long, neatly organized, well sourced and vile. Absolutely vile.
The room wasnt particrlyrge or impressive. The walls were of a nice reddish wood, the floor a simple grey carpet, the table a massive round thing, same wood as the walls. Computers and screens were mounted wherever convenient and multiple exits would have allowed for quick evacuation.
If it werent for the fact that every single one of the directors were bound to theirfortable leather seats by robotic drones. One could say many things about anarcho-capitalism, but it seemed that it was the brightest that rose to the top of such a society after all. The brightest and the most amoral.
Being cold, calcting people, the directorial board of Thorne was not in panic about their current situation, they were simply staring at John and Rave, waiting for them to say something. You know, once I am done cleaning up this city, the Gamer did them the favour, I am going to take a very, very long bath and watch an episode of My Little Pony just to counteract all this filth you are subjecting me to with something that is so disgustingly innocent and sweet that I want to kill myself.
And he is probably going to have somebody ride his dick while he is at it, Rave joked. While her boyfriend was not actually in a jesting mood, her fun-loving nature did drag him out of the grimdark-setting his brain was currently in. A little bit, at least.
I am not perverse enough to have sex with My Little Pony in the background, John stated and handed Rave the phone with the crimes these people hadmitted. Whatever funny answer she had was actually silenced as Rave put on a serious face and red at one person in particr with immense disgust.
Okay, so what are we doing with these shitheads? she spat out.
Miss Scarlett Thorne rmended we kill them all. If anybody ever would be able to find out that we worked with her to fool everyone in the whole city into making this takeover as clean as possible, it would be them, John drily said those words.
Rave crossed her arms, gave him a crooked smile and theatrically shook her head. Oh no, you just told them all the truth, guess we have to murder them now.
Yes, however ah, I cant keep this y up, John turned to the directors. Jesus, hell, people, have you ever stopped to consider that you are dealing with OTHER PEOPLE?
I will not be lectured by a boy! a half-elf looking adonis grumbled and had a Shardbound prating his head a momentter. Silence, then screams of bloody murder as the men and women who had the arrogance to think they were untouchable even as they lost a war realized that they were not getting out of this despite their status. What greater shield was there than being important, after all?
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO YOU JUST MURDERED?! one of them shouted.
Helirius Sunturner, Thornes director of marketing, John told them, Greatest crimes: ve-trafficking, extraction, assassination of his own father and keeping a ve continuously in his basement and repeatedly raping her. The Gamer was all game for consensual sexual very, anything else could go burn in a fire.
Rave was strutting over to the guy who had shouted, looking at Johns phone as she didnt have his memory for names and data. Lets see, ya have a shaved head, a scrawny embarrassing beard, bad skin condition there is your photo. Umutu Warski, director of research and development. Wow, ya actually cut the dicks off people because ya thought eunuchs would make better warriors. When the practice was caught, ya pinned it on three of your subordinates. Ya also put asidepany funds, even more dismembering of people, ya got a sick fetish, dontcha?
Men without desire make better followers, the bald man exined himself in panic, not seeing what the cat-eared Rave was up to behind his chair. A sudden shock hit him, his mouth opened wide and light cascaded out together with his death scream.
Rave pulled her ck-gloved hand back from the back rest of the chair. She had used the Depth Dy to cause the ki of her punch to travel through the chair and into the chest of the man, where it had then ripped apart his heart and lungs in abination of raw martial arts and Copernicus light blessing.
Eight more directors sat around the table. These people would face at least five death sentences each in Johns courts by the number of their crimes. It was because these were people with connections that could bail them out if John didnt watch over their cells continuously himself that it was necessary to kill them right here.
John felt more like a vignte killing them one by one than he wasfortable, but the thought of giving them even the sliver of a chance to escape was even worse. Least he could do was kill them quickly though. There was only one person who both he and Rave were actually tempted to leave to Siena. Not that they could, the shadow elemental was somewhere else entirely right now.
Child rapist and murderer, Rave didnt even give him the honour of naming him or the time to respond before breaking his neck. In death that man had a sadistic smile on his face. How the fuck did Scarlett work with these things? Rave was still disgusted enough to use another curse.
She didnt, John told her, the overturn ratio in Thornes board of directors is immense, she was just stuck between the decision of letting them be or continuously recing them, harming the administrative body of Thorne. Basically, she tolerated them, which is bad enough but at least not AS bad.
When faced with morals or her own goals, Scarlett would give her own goals the priority, John understood that much about her. She still cleaned out the elements whenever she thought she could do it. As the saying went, however, power corrupted, and given enough time the recements would pile on their own sins.
But thats an overly grim look at the situation anyway. These people here were the centralmittee; Scarlett assured me that she concentrated the worst of the worst here so she can have a better eye on them. The external branches, where 90% of the on-the-ground decisions are made, are apparently headed by okay people. One of those examples would have been thedy that had led the shop in the Ikea. An utterly milquetoast shop owner.
Ya know, I aint exactly a moral gal myself, Rave said as they headed back to the elevator. I always did what I wanted, but when I look at that, she pointed over her shoulder, I am suddenly way more appreciative of what you are doing, John. Cleaning this thing up is mostly unpleasant or boring work, I dont have a lot of interesting fights, but it feels good to know that we are going to create a world thats better tomorrow.
John nodded to himself. It was good to hear his girlfriends voice form the things he already knew but needed to be reaffirmed every so often to stay aware of why he was doing these things. He gave her a warm smile. Thanks to sticking by me even when it bores you, he told her.
Hey, ya never know, maybe we end up in another tournament, that was fun, Rave joked back as they stepped out of one of the many exits and arrived at a balcony. Are we just going to leave them like that? she asked, pointing at where they came from.
Yes, John told her. They will be put on the same pyre as everyone else of their side that died today. I wont give them the satisfaction of a special grave. He looked down in the streets, where a ginger called Damien had somehow managed to overwhelm Aclysia and was now leading a procession to the edge of the barrier. Aclysia and the police force were harassing them, but the hurt weaponized maid was slow and no one else dared to fight the ginger due to the power difference.
At least that was the official story as to how a train of people managed to reach the edge of the barrier and use physical force to break out. A train of people that also contained a suit wearing androgynous girl with red hair and red eyes.
John saw her with his improved eyesight; a momentter Rave handed him his phone. Ya got a message, she said, in her usual good mood again. As always, she recuperated from these things quicker than he did.
Taking the phone slowly, he looked at the disy: the message was exactly what he thought it would be.
Scarlett: I need one day for Phase 4, then you can finish this.
Chapter 465 – Trapping Finale – The last witness [Scarlett POV]
Chapter 465 C Trapping Finale C Thest witness [Scarlett POV]
The haze was simultaneously exactly and way worse than what Scarlett had expected. It covered her senses in fog; everything seemed and felt like ayer of cotton was wrapped around her. The words of Bearings dully reverberated in her ears, the only sound that she was still supposed to hear. That this is how you would fall into my hands after all, he sounded tired. Good. That was how he was supposed to sound. You were not nearly as smart as you thought you were.
He looked her up and down. It was no secret that he wanted to take her, and if he had had the time, he most certainly would have. Not because he found her particrly attractive, Scarlett was pretty sure Bearings was more into the balloon-breasted blonde type, but because he would get a giant kick out of dominating the girl with the power he had wanted for years.
s, he didnt have the time. Not if he wanted to live. Scarlett thought back to how she had gotten here. A way to cut through the haze covered her thoughts. Reaffirmation of herself, the individual. Where the drugs ended and she began. Why was she doing this? What was the current n? Two very different questions.
She was doing this because this filthy mongrel knew she existed. Why did he know? Because she had fucked up. When she had been only fifteen, her powers freshly awoken, she had the brilliant idea to hack into her fathers mainpetitor. It would have been brilliant had she been as good then as she was now.
Instead she had rummaged through his files and arrogantly left notes for herself everywhere. Notes anyone else could have found and she did so for a whole year. It was no wonder Bearings eventually knew she was there. In the arrogance that only a girl growing up in an ivory tower could develop, she had thought herself cleverer than the world.
What a fucking disgrace she had been, but it was a learning experience. Arrogance had turned into pragmatism. She slowly blinked as Bearings continued to talk; for now his unbearable drivel had to keep falling on her ears. Just until she finally got from him what she wanted, then he finally shut that bby face of his and she would go on toy on some beach somewhere.
Come with me, Scarlett, it wasnt a suggestion, just an exact order to make her follow him. Its time I pack up and start somewhere else. With a ve such as you, I can rebuild and make money elsewhere. Right, that would be the natural reaction. Driven into a corner by by herself. Right, the n, keeping focus on one line of thought was hard. Focusing on getting a connection to that phone outside the barrier was even harder.
The n, step by step dismantling the power structure she had inherited and never quite been able to improve, only monopolize. Until he arrived and gave her the excuse to tear it down. Everything her father had built, a paradise for the few crumbled to dust. Gave her an excuse to do away with the sins of her old man and build her own empire, an empire of her mind where she knew everything she desired to know.
What was the point of that knowledge? There was no greater goal than having it. Having it meant the same as rulingmunications. If she ruledmunications, she ruled over that space. If she ruled over that space, she was safe. That was how easy that was.
Now it seemed like John Newman would rule over her in turn. That was fine. In the first ce she wanted the power to feel secure in a world out to disce her. Everything but her parents had always been out to take her out of the picture, hence why her father had done his best to keep her existence a secret. Everyone not at the top wanted to be at the top. Being a second inmand wasnt so bad if the first was untouchable. If it made her an unknown factor.
One couldnt chase what one didnt even know was looking at them from the darkness.
Getting him killed would also be theoretically possible once she controlled themunications.
Getting John killed.
Sounded like a waste. Both of life and a business opportunity. The worst kind of waste.
She would need to make that judgement call months down the line. Their first meeting had gone splendidly and her heart had skipped a beat. Love at first sight, a nuisance for her usual thought-processes, keeping her from making optimal decisions. On every turn she had to wrestle down the feelings, but in the end pragmatism prevailed.
Still, she should have been three steps into the n on how to remove him already, just a contingency in case the Gamer did turn out to be a hindrance to what she wanted. Another scumbag that she needed to rid herself of because he treated her like a hidden tool. She was only at the step of how could this be done, the who would do it and where were failing her.
The problem was that John Newman was smart. He wouldnt be manipted into situations as easily as the fat fuck currently leading her around. The guy was so sure his drugs wouldnt fail him now.
Really, though, how careless of you to start a war you couldnt win, only to then run straight into my arms after the years you spent evading my spies. You know, I really thought your aide would do the trick.
What an idiot Bearings was; he had sent her stash after stash of his drugs for her to build resistance to them. She hadnt thought that woulde in handy in the way it now did, but being prepared usually paid off. The important part was to remove thest witness. After Bearings and his back-up were gone, there was no one left that knew of her but John and his inner circle. Which were, admittedly, a lot of people but they seemed good at keeping secrets.
Except that John had a wind elemental. Those things deserved to die in a fire.
Brother, brother, brother! a new voice suddenly entered her ears as they went down the white hallway. It was followed by aughter that reminded Scarlett of a jackal.
Right, she thought as she saw the man enter her field of view. Burt Jackal Bearings, former heir to the Bearingspany, disowned after he had disappeared in ska for five years and returned in an unstable condition. A body thin like a skeleton with the head of fat person, with three chins and smeary hair that was just greyed out from weird experiments. I did it! Come with me, you need to see this. Zimmothy looks so much better now! I perfected the battle form!
Jackal grabbed his brother by the sleeve but was instantly shoved back by therge bodyguard that followed Bearings like an oversized shadow. Lus mechanical leg went to kick while his perceived opponent was down. Scarlett wondered if it was best to kill the man right there, he was an unknown variable, too far gone to predict, but decided that she didnt want to run the risk of Bearings realizing what was going on so close to her goal.
Instead of saving his brother from the repeated kicks, Jeff fixed his sleeve. I told you to never touch me. The leader of thepany had none of his fake nice attitude for his own brother, only open disdain. The only reason why I allow you to work is so you can y the bait while I escape, dont forget that.
Yes, yes, but brother, you should really look at this! Jackal was stillughing between words even as he got kicked for a third time. The master has granted me rity, I want to share it with you.
I dont have time for another one of your revtions about Hydrozyd-Abysstat, Bearings growled. I am getting out of here now. Took me too long already to organize a response. And get your neck straight Lus, you look like a zombie!
Roughly 24 hours. Thats how long that should have taken. The aimed at moment of attack was the earliest possible point in time for Bearings to flee, meaning that the n was about toe to an end. What did she want again?
Go back to yourboratory and die for me, be a good brother for once, Jeff continued to ridicule his brother as he tried to get up.
Okay, okay, I will keep Izhas secret to myself then. You would have really liked it, brother, he sounded very disappointed by all of this. Very, very disappointed indeed. Hisboratory coat was wet with fresh blood, clearly not directly from the kicking. It seemed some old wounds had opened underneath.
Not that Scarlett cared about any of that business, but all this thinking was getting her grey matter moving again. The mist was getting less cloudy as Jeff guided them further down the white hallways. These arent white at all, Scarlett realized, blinking while Bearings wasnt looking to give her eyes some moisture back. Renaissance design, golden carpet, fucking tasteless. All it does is show wealth without any proper function.
They reached the reason why Scarlett had gone through this entire thing. Nothing of importance, nothing of real worth to anyone and certainly nothing outstanding. It was a server, just a connection of hardware within a ss box.
The server that held the records of her early mistakes. I will need aplete copy of that, Scarlett, get on it, he told her, expecting her to just mindlessly start on the task. He looked down and digging through his clothes. Cant say how much I will look forward to using electronic systems again. Great thing is, I am the only one who knows you exist anymore; that Newman idiot killed everyone else and he doesnt even believe you are real. He rummaged a cigarette out of his clothes. My life for a fucking cigar, running out is the worst, he monologued, about to put it in his mouth when he realized Scarlett hadnt moved a step.
Who, or rather what, moved instead were the mechanical arms of Lus, taking the cigarette out of Bearings hand and putting it into Scarletts mouth. Then the limbs grabbed a lighter from inside the vest of the person who had never quite developed into a man and turned it on. All under the frozen gaze of Bearings. You are not nearly as smart as you think you are, Scarlett puffed smoke into his face. Thanks for leading me here, I was actually set on torturing you until I found out.
Lus! Bearings shouted at the bodyguard between them; Scarlett just continued smoking and fixing her hat. Punch her already! You have ensouled limbs she cant control you! Obviously, he had missed the part where Scarlett had just done exactly that.
Reality is such a hard concept for some people, she thought as she put her hand against Jeffs bodyguard and pushed him over like a tall vase. When she exhaled smoke again, she did so without a satisfied smile on her face. The fact that you didnt notice hes been dead for over ten hours gives me a great story to tell people when they next say I am the worst employer they ever had.
How did he
Scarlett didnt feel like ying ball with the guy any longer. Jeff, you are going to die here, do you really want to waste both of our time before you go to hell with useless questions? she interrupted him. The answer to that was Bearings jumping at her.
You should have killed me when you had the chance! he mocked her, grabbing her throat and squeezing. Used Lus limbs as your weapons. I am just going to choke you and get out of here anyway! Scarlett kept smiling as the hands around her neck suddenly jittered and rxed. Wh-what is happening?!
It was amon misconception on the part of most members of the Abyss that Technomancers had onlye into existence with the advent of modern technology. In reality, the school of Technomancy had always existed, just under the name of the worst possible path an electro-mage could go down. At the end of the day, a Technomancer really was someone who manipted electronic currents at an extremely fine level. They sacrificed the ability to generate high energy levels for a level of skill at something that had been useless right up to the advent of the radio.
The normal Technomancer could generate barely enough electricity to power a lightbulb. Scarlett, however, was not of a normal level. While not particrly impressive, she could at least generate electricity to shock a lower middle rank into paralysis. None of this was known to Bearings, it seemed, and the blood-soaked technocrat had no intention of giving the entire rundown to a dead man.
Jeff, you get an A for effort, but you really should just have grovelled before my father, Scarlett told him as she kicked his fat, convulsing body off her. She grabbed the sword off Lus belt and then rammed it right into the mans chest. His body kept flopping around, Scarlett had missed the heart. A second attempt at the mans throat was more sessful at the whole ughtering thing.
I honestly thought this whole thing would be harder, she mumbled into her cigarette causing ash to fall off the tip and stain Jeffs white shirt with traces of dirty grey. His blood quickly soaked into both it and the floor, and Scarlett dropped the weapon and walked away from the corpse before the blood could ruin her shoes.
You were predictable from start to finish, Bearings, and you died as dumb as you lived, she took a final huff from her cigarette and then dropped it to the floor. The idea that hiding the server in a random barrier away from your headquarters wasnt clever, if you thought that. But enough of the monologues, she then thought and went over the server. It was time to fry the entire thing. She would have done so from a distance years ago, but Bearings had invested an absurd amount into Technomancy protection for this room. Well, just the right amount was more urate.
I should get John a better phone for all this shit I put him through, she thought as she touched the server and went inside. No amount of protective measures could ward against physical contact. It wasnt connected to any electrical source, but that didnt matter as she methodically wiped everything from any hard drive inside. She also searched for any indications that there had been a previous copy made, but there was none. The extreme paranoia with which Bearings had treated everything with her at the centre worked to Scarletts advantage now that she wanted to resolve it as cleanly as possible.
When she was done with the server, she decided she might as well meet him halfway outside. His attack was due right about now, if he followed the schedule. Without Bearings leading them, the drugged soldiers should have run around like headless chickens.
She was about to open the door when it hammered from the other side. Hellooooo?! Jackals voice reached her ears again. If you are dead now, brother, just say nothing.
Isnt that a bummer, worst case scenario, Scarlett thought taking the time to light another cigarette before the door was blown down. With the slumping walk of someone whose body was seriously damaged, the older Bearings man slumped in.
Oh, you killed him, too bad, Jackalughed. Ah, he was a bad brother anyway. Werent you? Jackal stalked over the corpse and started kicking it in the side. Werent you? Werent you? the alchemist started crying even as heughed. Just leaving me here alone. You dont even want to be a puppet of the master.
Scarlett would have made a run for it while Jackal was distracted, but inside the door stood the Asian spearman with the frankly stupid name Zimmothy. He looked braindead. His tanned skin had gone deadly pale and bloody spit was trickling out of the edge of his mouth. I thought he is supposed to look better, she asked drily while exhaling smoke.
On the inside he does, he does, Jackal assured. You should look more afraid, they like it when their victims are afraid. Why arent you?
Because, Jackal, as unpredictable as your exact behaviour patterns are, Scarlett took a pause as her cigarette had gone out in a sudden wind. Getting cornered in this room is still within my calctions.
A nearby explosion shook thest Bearings facility to the foundation. Scarlett had given the signal to attack to John the moment Jeff had uttered the words Its time I pack up. Jackal threw his arms into the air. Okay, fine, fine, fine, FINE! he shouted, thenughed, it was more a verbal tick than an expression of happiness. Zimmothy, just kill her then!
The spearman suddenly sprang back to life and went straight at Scarletts throat. The spear closed in on her, much faster than she could have hoped to react. Then her line of sight was covered in darkness. Living darkness, in the hourss shape of an incredibly attractive woman, with greyish pink hair growing towards the ceiling like a lightless candle me.
You scheming types are so unattractive, Siena bemoaned as she held the spear between her wed fingers. Shadowy tendrils sprouted from her back; the long, purple des headed for Jackal. The nightmare elemental did not expect any real resistance from Zimmothy, they had beaten him handily before.
That turned out to be a bad assumption. The spearman suddenly managed to whirl her around with much more strength than he had previously possessed. Jackal darted for the exit. Scarlett tried to shock him with a minor electricity bolt, but it only fizzled over the surface of the mans dirtyb coat. He is going to take his brothers exit route, Scarlett realized. There was no way to prevent that as of that moment. Well, she had the advantage of taking her own. Now that John was in the barrier, she could just raise her hand and teleport out of the barrier.
Best she could hope was that John would be able to find Jackal.
Chapter 466 – Engineered Chaos
Chapter 466 C Engineered Chaos
Master Izha, those were the words that caused John to take this whole thing infinitely more seriously. Words that Jackal had muttered just as a side note, Scarlett didnt know the meaning of, but he had only been too aware of through Sienas ears. Words that caused, a most likely justified, change in procedure. You stay outside, I just got info that Bearings decided to put his final lot in with the Lorylim, John told the parts of his military he had brought out to Central Park, where thest Bearings facility was located. Of course, something horrible has to twist its head right at the end of a perfectly smooth n, he thought.
They were currently disguised as a group of Winter Pic Enthusiasts, but that wasnt important. None of the normal people were enthusiastic when they heard their target was now overrun with mind-eating abominations. Rave was slightly different as she raised her arm. Nice, something interesting! she announced before disappearing. John followed immediately after, much less enthused.
They arrived to a scenery that was not much different from the greenery of central park. The distant trees, therge green pasture, it was the same. Except for therge building that sat in the middle of it all. It was a cross between a mansion and a science institute,rge windows, oversized doors, highly decorated walls and so on. The marriage between science and beauty had been managed quite well; John had topliment Bearings on the fact that he at least knew which architects to hire for his projects.
Could you not teleport right into the ce that could potentially be crawling with low-ss eldritch-esque entities? John requested.
Ya know me better than that, Rave winked, taking off the clothes she had put over her battle suit and handing them to John to store until after the battle. For the moment everything was quiet. Nia and everyone else teleported in after them. Are they nning to pull a haunted mansion on us? Johns girlfriend asked as there was no oneing out to face them.
Scarlett was still following Bearings, ording to what Siena heard at least. Apparently, she had finally gotten that server she wanted. None of that was of immediate concern to John though. If they want to, I am not nning to y their horror game, John spoke coldly; he had nothing but disdain for the Lorylim. Thanks to his shadow spirit being with Scarlett, he knew roughly where in the mansion she was, so there would be no harm done in blowing up the rest of it. Nia, you can see magic, tell me whats going on in there, John requested.
The visor formed in front of the nks face. The Gamer found himself asking if this was some sort of third eye, the description of his skill had said they could take different shapes after all. Nias head slowly turned from left to right as she screened the mansion.
Its too chaotic to see anything, she finally reported. If they are infected, it is at such a low stage I cannot see it in most of them. Turning to John she added, If I could, I would have reported it after thest battle. It seems they are only subject to enough to hurt their psyche, not enough to take permanent residence.
That exined the bloody mouths. If the Lorylim, used in whatever strange concoction this Jackal fellow brewed up, were only able to hold on for a short time and they were taken orally, in the form of a potion or pills, then they would take hold inside the cheeks of their victims. Their dispersion would then leave behind tissue that looked like someone had worked it with sandpaper.
So, all the drugs do right now is add an extra dash of insanity to the battle craze. Charming, John narrowed his eyes as he thought about how best to initiate this fight. The people inside were basically NPCs right now, they would only attack them once they were triggered to do so. Meaning, the first strike was of high importance. Any estimates how many there are in there? he asked both Nia and Gnome.
Too much interference, the nk reported. I can track individuals, but I am not good at scanning for broad information.
S-sorry I cant really get a read on it either, Gnome apologized. Too many storeys and rooms. I am not that good.
Not a problem, John guessed at least fifty people were in there, the sorry remains of thebined forces of the Coalition. Time to start this party. He had two ways to blow up this building. The first was by Arcana Strike, but that needed charge up time and he doubted the remaining minds of the drugged people inside wouldnt be able to see the attack flying above. The other was to use a powerful Combination.
Siena was with Scarlett and Undine was to stay inside his mind. No matter how small the Lorylim incursion, John wasnt going to risk it, so she couldnt be used. That left him with only one four-typebination.
Green mes appeared next to him as Smander and Sylph converged together with Stirwin and Gnome to create Sylfrena. Oh, hey, its me again! the elemental bbered about. I got 4 minutes 56 seconds 55 54 oh my god, Im going to split so soon! Gimme something to do, please?
John sent his instructions mentally rather than make them ambiguous through words. Sylfrena immediately stormed off, the green of her wings beating like a dragonflys as she bridged the distance between the group and the facility immediately. Breaking in through a window, she vanished inside.
What is she doing? Metra wanted to know.
Flying to a lower floor, John answered as he closed his eyes and followed her progress. With precision she weaved through the hallways. The first person she encountered skulked around like a ghoul, hunched forwards and arms dangling lifelessly. He wore ab coat, forcing John to correct his earlier estimates.
If it wasnt just the fighters but everyone in the facility that had been infected, then they could have been dealing with a force more than triple his initial assumption.
Once she pulls the trigger, they wille out in droves, the Gamer told them. They shouldnt be too strong but the sheer number might a problem. Sylfrena finally came to a halt and gathered all of her mana inside herself. She was only supposed to unleash one attack, so there was no need for her to hold anything back.
Inside the building air was sucked into the firestorm elemental, then heat encapsted everything. The drugged people that were close to the attack were turned into charred caricatures of the human physique; the fire rolled over them and filled the hallways. Then it continued upwards, the fire trying to spread its immense energy as evenly as possible. The sudden expansion caused windows to explode outwards, the nicely decorated fa?ade of the building turning into an ash-stained disy of crumbling ster.
The green fire subsided, and out flying came Sylfrena. Aaaaand I am tapped, she announced before bursting into her parts again. She still had time left in her existence, but without mana there was no reason to stay.
At the same time, John became aware of the situation Scarlett was in downstairs. This guy is stronger than me, Siena informed them with immense disgust at the admission.
Just bring him here; we will fight them all. Scarlett is out, right?
Yes, weaselled out now that you control the barrier. Convenient, the nightmare elemental told him as she began her flight from Zimmothy, dropping into the shadows and only appearing to lead his nowpletely instinct driven self onwards or to change where one shadow ended and another appeared.
It was indeed convenient, but that was how the rules were set-up. The person with the strongest Fateweaver dictated who got out of the battlefield. Bearings had never intended this facility to be a battleground, so there were no machinations in ce to prevent that natural takeover that came with Johns arrival. If the now deceased alchemist hadnt poisoned his rtionships with the local Fateweavers in the battle at Johns Guild Hall, getting Scarlett out would have been a bit moreplicated.
John caught the first person jumping out of the burning building. Here theye, he thought as more and more followed.
Finally, something to fight! Metra rejoiced and broke out of their line, charging right at the enemy. Everyone but John and Gnome soon followed suit. This fight wasnt like any other in this war before, despite the many simrities. They were few, the enemies were many. They were just storming at them. They were drugged out of their minds. The difference was that every point was pushed to the extreme.
Against the nine of them stood at least a hundred, one by one dropping out of the windows like a rain of bloodlusting people that had forgotten to die. The drugs that had eradicated their minds must have been a higher doses or otherwise refined version, as many of the people charging were already in states that no normal human would have been able to move in. Some of them were even on fire.
A certain individual broke out of the mass, standing out due to his speed and red hair. No exceptions made, huh? John thought as the drugged Damien attacked Rave. Two fists shed, and while his was subject to a bang of light exploding inside it, it was the Lightbearer who was thrown back.
Oy, I have delicate girl hands, sheined as she threw out her wrists to get rid of the feeling of shock. Damien had no mind for witty banter, all he knew to do now was murder. How boring! Rave said and threw her headphones on. A song began to y, the beats coordinating the timing of her dodging.
She weaved between his punches, backed into another enemy and then executed a leg sweep just as Damiens fist crushed into his would-berade. Losing his footing, Damiens body reacted with muscle memory from years of training. He caught his fall on his arm and used a counter sweep. While Rave ended up jumping over that attack, her enemy was back on his feet before she could take any more advantage of this. Man, its a shame youre already dead in the head, the Lightbearer bemoaned.
All around, magical and physical attacks flew in wild cacophony. Martial artists broke their bodies in imperfect executions of their craft, destroying themselves in exchange for more potency.
Somebody would havee to Raves help, but each of them was fighting at least five enemies themself, and those enemies were strong due to the disregard with which they treated their own life.
John was trying to coordinate the whole effort from the back lines. It wasrgely a sess. With Shardbound he sniped at enemies that managed to approach his girls from a bad angle. Minor injuries were taken by Nia and Smander. While Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra sustained some hits, it was nothing worrisome against their defences or regeneration. Only Sylph managed to evade everything thrown at her.
Rave meanwhile was still stuck fighting the miniboss in the horde. All until the song came to its climax and Damien went ahead andpletely overstepped. At that moment Raves aura red up, clearer than ever. She ducked down under the strike as everyone and everything around her seemed to move at a crawl. A world stepping through gel where she was the only one walking normally. Then she rammed her fist into Damiens stomach.
The strongest technique Rave had learned from her father, Ascending Cut, caused the massive amount of ki concentrated in her fist at that moment to rip upwards like a shortly-lived cannonball. A hole the size of the techno-lovers fist was ripped into the mans torso, the flesh spilling out backwards as his whole body got carried upwards.
To finish him off with certainty and to prevent herself from getting buried under his body, Rave whirled in an almost impossible way. John had no idea about ankle techniques, but the speed at which she brought up her leg and kicked Damien to the side didnt leave natural movement on the table.
Sadly, he didnt have time to marvel at Raves fighting performance anymore as Siena arrived on the battlefield, with drugged criminal number one in tow. The Asian spearmannded on the field with the same inelegant demeanour as the rest of hispatriots. However, once heid his eyes on John, something changed.
His uncontrolled but fluid movements became janky. Taking steps through the battlefield like a puppet on an amateurs strings and shuddering head to toe like someone about to throw up, he passed the berserking men and women. In response, they suddenly ceased and looked at him in reverent fear. A feeling that John also noticed radiating from the ocean elemental within him.
Himself, he just felt something like dread numbing his decision making for a moment. The arrival of something ancient, something that was a proper Lorylim. Not just temporarily driven puppets but something so truly vile it was usually sealed away from this world by a deity that wanted to be non-interventionist.
The pale mans mouth opened wide as he continued to stumble on. Taking the moment to disengage, Johns girls also just looked at the scene. Everyone but Metra, who had neither patience nor respect for allowing people to gather themselves. Appearing out of a rift of her own creation right next Zimmothy, she had Qiada grabbed like a spear, ready to ram the thorn at the tip into the mans head.
The metal entered Zimmothys temple on one side and burst out cleanly on the other. If the hosts life was something needed, the creature controlling the spearman did not care enough to seem upset about it.
Out of the darkness of his throat rose a creature of bone-white. It spread six of its legs out of the open mouth and hooked them around the rim of the lips. It dragged itself out, inch by inch, new legs appearing and continuing the work. All of it was covered in a mixture of blood, saliva and phlegm.
What finally reared its one-eyed head appeared to be a fat, millipede-like creature. It had a white, segmented body that doubtlessly extended deep into its hosts flesh. The many legs it had, apparently able to grow from anywhere on its body, were shaped like an arrangement of hooks. The eye blinked, the lid changing into lips in the millisecond that it was truly closed, opening again to teeth and tongue rather thanshes and iris.
And thus, spoke Izha: I still need his flesh.
Chapter 467 – A grim reminder
Chapter 467 C A grim reminder
Metra held onto the shaft of Qiada, swinging her lower body around in an attempt to kick the nightmarish millipede. The guided hand of Zimmothys body caught her armoured foot. The spikes covering the shin guard ravaged the skin of the corpse, but of course the puppet master didnt care for its short-term homes well-being.
Of all beings C Yes, I will tell her and all of them gathered. - you should be the most respectful to us, Metra, Izha mockingly stated as it closed the hand around the berserker babes leg and tossed her towards John. Shended on all fours, continuing to slide through the grass even after having caught herself. Her hands and feet dug trenches into the cold and wet ground.
She growled like a beast, clearly about to charge in again. However, when Izha pulled Qiada from its hosts head like it was swatting an annoying fly and then hurled it at the ancient weapon, she was stopped dead in her tracks.
What do you mean? John asked, in regards to both statements that the Lorylim had just made.
I still need his flesh, that is clear enough for us and you are smart, smart indeed, that is why we think you should join us, you could be more so much more, the millipede rubbed its legs together, creating a skittering sound that was something likeughter. Be like me.
John grabbed his right arm; the scars were itching and hot. It was a mere echo of the maggot-crawling feeling that had taken hold of him before and yet still something he wanted to escape as quickly as possible. WHOSE flesh? he asked about more details. If its Zimmothy, you are already inhabiting a corpse, leaving the barrier will be impossible.
No, no, not this ones useless pile of sinews and , the one thatughs like the animal. So, Jackal, that was what John got out of Izhas careless rambling. We need that ones flesh. C I need that ones flesh. C That n is convoluted. C The original n is dead. C Yes, he stopped it. Now, lets have fun with him. C Do you not want to die? C No. C Some of us do, most of us dont. C Ah, the fear is delicious.
Having a conversation with a clearly schizophrenic hivemind was like grinding his tongue against a whetstone. What would you need his flesh for? John continued to ask questions; it continued the stalemate, which gave everyone time to regenerate some of their reserves. Furthermore, while the Lorylim was in this talkative a mood, the Gamer might as well try to learn something useful about his hated enemies.
Everything that he could use to hurt those that hurt Undine and Smander (even if both of them had gotten themselves into those situations) he would want to know.
Izha closed its mouth and it was reced with the eye again. The solid iris, a ck dot in the body of bone white, rested in a drywork of lines that looked like somebody had damaged a piece of crystal and carefully removed everything between the cracks. It stared. Then the lower side of the millipede burst open into aughing mouth.
Zimmothys worn armour bulged and writhed all over his body. One by one and in a shower of lifeblood, tongues cut open the leather from the inside. Rows of dagger-like teeth grew outwards as forming mouths added theirughter to the cacophony.
The terrible song of the Lorylim once more rushed through Johns ears within thatughter. He clenched his arm harder. Not yet, John thought, hoping Metra and Rave saw his warning nces. Dont attack yet, it may tell us something we want to know still.
Grey viscous goo flooded out of the hole that Metra had punched through its skull, soon forming the bodies of two smaller millipedes, possessing enormous sickle-esque front legs.
Then all of theughter ceased, every orifice closing and inverting, leaving Izha inmand of a body with hundreds of eyes of varying sizes and just one mouth. Do you think Izha sounded weirdly human for this one moment, fatherly, lightly scolding, charismatic. Despite its horrid appearance, John had to fight not to be soothed by the tone. that, if we could have, we wouldnt have mass-produced these pills in ages before?
It clicked inside Johns brain and the disgusting revtion made him swallow heavily. Jackal was the carrier of a sentient gue and he was shaving bits and pieces off himself and into his concoctions. While a horrid image, the good news was that he would eventually use himself up, for theck of a better term. The other was that this clearly wasnt easy, otherwise all of those failures wouldnt have stood around the form that became progressively less Zimmothy and more of an eldritch abomination.
The best news would be if he could just prevent that alchemist from getting out and take him out while still here. There had been enough damage already; his potions had sent hundreds into suicide over the course of this war. And why do you still need his flesh? John asked.
We will not tell, Izha giggled. You have been given all the information to hate yourself by. For the shocking realization yet toe.
It was back to nonsensical gargling. Nonsensical gargling that John best keep in mind and try to extract some meaning from, but nothing he could use in this particr moment.
Why would Metra pay you respect? he asked the other line of questioning.
Ah, so many people not of us hold the answer to that. - So many times, so many lies. - Why should we tell you what I learned at the price of my foreheads structural integrity?
Yeah, the questioning time was definitely over. Sad for you that he wont be able to get out while Imand this barrier.
False, Izha giggled, giggled with all of his mouths. You still know so little. C Little about truths. C Little about how this world functions. C Little about warfare. Pop quiz! suddenly the monster was back to sounding human, mocking this time. It made John feel like he was a little boy not getting what he wanted. How would Bearings get out of here?
That was a good question. If Jeff Bearings had wanted to just leave the barrier and make a run for it, he could have done so at any point prior to this attack. Therefore, there had to be some sort of device that allowed him to make a more worthwhile escape, something that took time to prepare and ate a lot of mana. Point-Point teleportation, John realized. Shit.
Izha hadnt just been talking for the hell of it, it was buying its fleshy toy as much time as it could to make chasing him impossible. Not all was yet lost if they could just find the teleporter and organize patrols wherever the endpoint was.
And now we are on one page C you C me C and the rest of the us that is above me. The two grey millipedes growing out of the hosts brain suddenly stretched outwards. Their legs all extended into enormous sickles and buried them one by one inside the drugged people surrounding the Lorylim like the manifestation of god on earth. Like pigs in a ughterhouse, they hung from the millipedes elongated bodies. Then they began to melt into malleable material, which wrapped around Izha like a cocoon of human flesh.
The group around John didnt stand idle watching this time. This is so gross! Raveined charging in together with everyone else. Her hands were engulfed in dark fire, a gift from Smander. She didnt need to look at the buff to know what it was. Jumping up with her hands united at the wrist, she conjured a massive st of light that covered the entire cocoon.
Bright light mixed with grey and golden mes turning the outeryer of the chrysalis into a withered piece of crumbling ash. A momentter the next creature burst out, that outeryer unfolding into halfway destroyed limbs. That initial action had at the very least spared them the headache of dealing with a flying enemy.
Nevertheless, the thing that got on its wed legs was monstrous to behold. Izha had transformed all of the bodies into one goliath. With six arms, all of them overly long and ending in needle-like ws, and the thankfully defunct wings, it was quite top heavy and hunched forwards, needing those arms to support its own weight. Its head was a nightmarish middle ground between a human and a praying mantis, but much worse was what covered its skin.
Eyes and mouths were erratically blinking and closing to change into the other. The abhorrent growths were cackling in the gaps of the ripped skin, much too scarce to cover the entirety of the five metre colossus of white bone matter and liquified flesh. It was stretched beyond anything skin should endure and its ragged condition only got worse as the thing began to move.
Again, with the binary? John thought, trying to imprint it. Thest time his brain had been overloaded with other stuff and unable to recall it, this time he would decipher whatever this was. After this whole affair was done with.
The Inconvenience swatted at Rave, who was quickly saved by Aclysia using her body as a shield. With Fortification, she managed to keep herself from getting impaled by the ws. The two of them managed tond somewhat elegantly a distance away, inrge part thanks to Smander and Sylph then engaging the monster and preventing a follow-up attack.
If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldnt have burned Combination so easily, John thought and then began running into the fray himself. He had another tool he could burn to take care of this. He stopped at a sensible distance and waited for Rave and Aclysia to re-join the fight.
Together with Gnome, the weaponized maid forced the attention of the beast on them with the sheer brutality of their attacks. Metra, Beatrice and Rave assaulted it with quick attacks while Smander, Sylph and Siena went in whenever they saw a small opening. It should have been a one-sided fight, but the Inconvenience was more persistent than that.
Not only did it possess a high regenerative factor, its six arms and many eyes also gave it the tools to deal with such a swarm descending on it.
In a brutal flurry of movements, it hit Beatrice with the back of its hand, causing the passive maid to fly far away. Simultaneously, it managed to scratch across Raves torso, parting the battlesuit where the sharp w travelled, and also hit Sylph with its massive tail made from melded spines. The first two werent particrly bad: Beatrice took a lot of damage but would heal quickly while the cut across Raves chest only hurt a lot but wasnt life-threatening (especially after the suit sealed back up, essentially first aiding the wound). Sylph on the other hand was absolutely devastated by that one attack.
Being the ss-canon of the entire formation, she couldnt sustain such a hit. Ow, this hurts o, ow, she tried to pver something cheery but out came only sounds of pain. She was lying on the floor, unable to fly again. John wanted to go and heal her, but Undine was already subject to a dark pull in the soul-dwelling state she was in. Getting her out to heal the spirit was not an option. Therefore, he told the tempest elemental to immaterialize as well. Saddened, she obeyed.
The fight continued, and with the most agile member of its enemies out of the picture, the Inconvenience could focus more of its eyes on the rest. John was still looking for that opening as everyone keptnding hits that healed shortly thereafter. He sacrificed an entire one-thousand mana to Shardbound,bined it into one and hurled it at the creature.
It hit just in the nick of time, as the Inconveniences maw was about to close around Smander. The lower jaw of the creature got blown off by the attack giving Smander the opportunity to fill its exposed windpipe with fire that would cook the beast inside out. Or so she thought.
What the fuck?! the endme elemental thought instead as she found the thing to not have any openings that could lead to any lungs. Its maw existed purely to bite, not to swallow. This creature was, after all, not meant tomunicate or sustain itself, it only existed to dy or kill.
She still engulfed the head of the creature in fire, but that neither blinded it nor was there a brain that would have been a weak spot. It was just another wound that started regenerating, slower due to the endmes being particrly effective against the corruption that birthed them, but nothing lethal.
John meanwhile realized another question in all of this. Where is Nia? he asked himself. The nk, rather than partaking in the actual fight, was watching like he was. Clutching her dagger and spear, she was waiting for something. A part of him desperately wanted to yell at her to get her act together, but he knew that the nk was not one to act idly.
Nia was a social retard, to be frank, but she was a battle genius and always searching and usually finding the quickest way to win. If she was standing there, she must have had a trick up her sleeve. The tip of her visor pointed straight at the Lorylim abomination as she raised her weapons above her head. The jet-ck weapons lost their shape, flowed together above her head into one sword. Her lips moved, the words rung painfully in Johns ears as his brain was unable to hear them but yet forced meaning from them,[Extermination]
A wave that could not be seen but perceived with every other sense cut through the air like a sword made from paper. With minute precision, it passed between Aclysia and Gnome and sliced into the Inconvenience.
The dark sword disappeared from Nias hands and, heavily translucent, she sunk to her knees. The moment her leg hit the ground, the three left arms of the creature suddenly began to slide away, separated from the main body. She looked over to John, who was positioned to the left of the creature.
He was already acting, a better opening than that wouldnte. The many mouths of the inconvenience hissed in annoyance and triumph. Even as John raised his left arm and unleashed the spell within Purgatory. A mana de worth twelve-thousand mana broke forth. It was more like a limitedser beam than a sword at that point. Itsted only for one second, but that was enough time for John to slice the beast apart a second time.
The shadow and earth infused de disappeared, and everyone else sprung into action. Kicking, slicing, burning and punching apart the three-parted monstrosity, they caused heaps of liquid flesh to rip off at invisible seams. The Inconvenience was beaten, quickly disassembling into the hastily gathered parts that had made it up.
The millipede-esque beasts scattered out of the body as it fell apart, gathering into a shifting mass in the shape of a toothed mouth. We look forwards to your despair, John Newman, a voice not Izhas but a melody of millions giggled before being disintegrated by arge fireball Smander cast at it.
The war came to an end with a reminder that the first foe had taken an interest in him.
Chapter 468 – The conquest of New York
Chapter 468 C The conquest of New York
John looked at the map of New York. The city was his, as was New Jersey. Every other minor power in the province was broken, meaning that John now only had to consolidate his power to take Collide to the rank of a regional power. From there, he could y with the big boys. Diplomatically, that was.
They had not managed to find Jackal. After finding the teleporter, it had already been smashed on the other side. With no clue where to search and the USA being everything but small, it was impossible to still get him. That was the only bad thing that really came out of this faux-war. It was a clear threat that loomed over Johns future. The Lorylim clearly nned to do something dirty in the USA, as many other forces did.
Seriously, Scarly? His thoughts of future ns were interrupted by Scarlett looking weirded out at Rave. With her hat on and her shoes on the conference table, the technomancer would have gotten herself scolded by any housewife.
Which was exactly why Aclysia shoved her feet off the table. No staining the furniture! she warned, ncing at the dirt on the otherwise meticulously polished table. John had seen her clean the thing before, it was great. The thing was so big, she had to climb on it and with John around she had pushed her ass out needlessly and worked with impractically slow and wide movements.
You are not the boss of me, Scarlett mumbled into the cigarette she put in her mouth. By the time she was reaching for the lighter inside her suit, the stick of tobo was already on its way to the nearest trash can.
No smoking indoors! Aclysia warned, slowly getting worked up into a frenzy not unlike the one she experienced when someone was threatening her kitchen.
What the fuck do you have a living dustpan for if she keepsining about needing to do her job? the redhead asked John.
To love, cuddle and worship her ass, he answered truthfully, because she is not a living dustpan but thedy of my leisure and you wille to say the following words in the next month: You are the best, Aclysia. I guarantee it.
I doubt that, Scarlett turned back to Rave. Anyhow, Scarly, really?
A, ya will say that about Aclysia, the technolover stated. There is just no doubt about it. Two, if ya want to sleep with my boyfriend, ya gotta ept the silly nickname.
How about I just fuck him anyway? Scarlett asked. He wants me.
I do, John agreed, but Jane and I have an understanding, so you have to convince her. He sighed and forced himself to rx; he had been tense ever since they defeated Izhas Inconvenience earlier. There were just so many things on his mind, but now it was just the same old banter. Which was good, it really helped him get back to normal.
I simultaneously hate and love that sassy ass, John thought. He could now get two things he really, really wanted, so that was nice. Also forter, this discussion in front him was happening right now.
Scarlett clicked her tongue; she knew all about their agreement already, of course, having rummaged through their phones in the search of data. Why not give me a better nickname, like Red or something?
Nope, Scarly, Rave insisted.
That is so tasteless, she crossed her arm, drumming her fingers against her arm. And I REALLY need some kind of drug pumping through my veins right now. Yo, less aggressive maid.
My name is Beatrice, the same answered, having stood in a corner like a decorative nt. But you can call me Bae.
Was that sarcasm? John asked, dumbfounded.
Could have been, she answered.
Okay, whatever, Bae, Scarlett knew about the fact that it was inte jargon but she also appreciated that it was just one syble so she didnt care. I need you to fetch me some liquor or whatever.
Affirmative, Beatrice did a little bow and went to see what she could do. Meanwhile, Scarlett and Rave went back to bickering.
Instead of listening to that, John went ahead and allocated his new Statpoints into Libido.
Well, that was something. John didnt really feel like he needed the help in either shooting evenrger loads or in impregnating girls. The one time he identally did it, he had needed exactly actually he didnt quite remember how often he had cum inside Eliza in that first orgy.
He still had one 1 Statpoint remaining afterwards. He threw that one into Strength, putting his status screen in disarray.
Damn you, he red at the 51 that ruined his perfectly divisible-by-5 numbers. In good news, Source of Satisfaction was levelling much quicker since he had started raising his Libido. He now was at 3 minutes refill time.
Also, he had gotten his billion dors. At the end of all of this. When he wanted them to start with. ns really never survived contact with the enemy. Or with Johns moralpass, apparently, since he could have had this nice and at his pace if he had just said I dont care about you to Seth and his people.
That just didnt sound like him though.
Also, he had way more money than that.
There were a lot of assets that were now his and lots of cash reserves of now dissolvedpanies that had gone to the guild. He was still skipping out on collecting tax money, so that sum would grow even bigger once he went ahead and did that. The sum of money that Lydia had paid to get him Magois service finally didnt look that absurd anymore. Although this made John realize just how big a headache Gaia must have been dealing with from keeping the world economy from copsing under the amount of dors flying around under the radar.
It was probably to her luck that all Abyssals ever wanted to buy from the real world were cheap groceries. At least, John hadnt met anybody who could throw fireballs that was also interested in Tes current stock value.
Also about his guild: The member count kept increasing as everyone in New York got with the program. Well, he was threatening to tariff the hell out of everyone who wasnt, so there was a bit of coercion.
Yo, tiger, while ya have an erection from raising your Libido, Rave guessed exactly why the tent in his pants existed, could ya strip? Gotta get my negotiation material just right.
How is him being naked going to fucking help ya with Scarlett asionally slipped into the same slurring sometimes. She also stopped when John disrobedpletely with the click of a button. Hooolie Shiet, she gasped at this cock.
When the blood-soaked technocrat reached out to touch it, as if to convince herself that the thing was actually real now that she saw it in all its girth in person, Rave swatted at her hand. Only watch C no touch, Johns girlfriend mused. Unless you ept Scarly, then ya can have him to yourself for the de-maidening.
Being physically weak, that swat caused the pale redhead to pull her hand back and rub the back of it. This is how you get your address leaked to a squad of cheap goons with a love for pink cunts, she mumbled looking at the dick. I seriously need a ss of vodka right now.
I return, Beatrice reported, holding a cup of something. I sessfully acquired she made a suspect pause, lets say coffee. She made a weird gesture that John didnt quite understand, looking to the side in a clearly mischievous way and letting out a short, Heh, while grinning crookedly. Under Johns confused gaze she exined, I have acquired the hobby of being weird. It appears to be entertaining to people. I also wanted to spice up my ndness.
Pretty sure your spice is your ndness, the nude Gamer gave food for thought.
Agreed. Also: disagreed. ndness alone is boring. Imagine me being a meal made out of mashed potatoes with random vegetables mixed in. In the background Aclysia wondered if she could make that work.
Scarlett grabbed the drink and sniffed. Fucking hell, this really is coffee, sheined. Why would you do that to me?
Parameters for the request were: some kind of drug pumping through your veins, Beatrice returned. The passive maid pointed at the cup. This fulfils the parameters.
Okay, one maid is a buzzkill and one takes everything too literally, Scarlett took a sip, got it. A great advantage of the fact that they could murder her with the flick of a finger was that the technomancer was not in the least paranoid about getting poisoned. Not that John nned to.
Beatrice, however, had something to more say, Addendum: I actually did search for harder drugs than caffeine and found these. She raised up a small stic box that created in John an instinctive wave of excitement as he remembered a shroomed out of her lust Eliza cumming from being pped in the face. Without any forey. I do hope you enjoy your first time.
Did you seriously just drug her? John was not okay with that. So much so that he forgot to ask from where that box came.
No, Beatrice opened the box to reveal its still filled state. Surprise. I put two unrted statements together to create a shocking situation.
At least one person in the room found that funny, being Eliza as she rotated with her chair. ssic, I like her now. Fuck it, I love her now. She is a low-key sarcastic bitch.
I prefer to think of myself as a passive maid providing overly unemotionalmentary, Beatrice bowed as she spouted those words like someone selling Ikea pencils.
Okay, fuck it, I cant stand it any longer! Scarlett dered. I need that dick in me, right now, even if it means being called Scarly. I have been touching myself three times a day for 32 days thinking about it and this is it, she took the mushrooms off Beatrice and threw them down her throat, and you act like this is my first fucking trip to the city of lights.
Welp, ya heard the gal, Rave smirked. Got my approval.
There were some interesting things there. Some sass, that was normal, a warning John didnt really need but better heard one time too many than one time too few, andstly that Scarlett took two Rtionship Points. Probably because she would have shed a lot with the group otherwise. Or maybe, as his harem grew bigger, newer girls needed more upkeep? If it was the shing exnation, Eliza would have needed three of those in the early days.
Anyway, he had an erection and Scarlett was about to go on a trip of sexual ecstasy, so theorycrafting had to wait.
Great, now you are part of both my guild and my harem, John dered, dick dribbling some pre-cum at the uing steaming climax of this whole chapter of his life. Nothing better than consensual sex with a hot new girl to end a war. I should warn you though, you probably wouldnt have been able to weather the entire first time even without the mushrooms.
I took them because I expect that, these things should keep me energized and wanting to go on when they kick in 20 minutes or so, Scarlett ryed her n.
Ya should take it to the bedroom, Rave suggested.
Chapter 469 – Victory Rush [Erotic Content]
Chapter 469 C Victory Rush [Erotic Content]
Get on the bed, Scarlett demanded the moment they set foot into his bedroom, now. The drugs still hadnt kicked in, but the Technomancer did not seem to care to wait for that.
Yes, maam, John followed. While he wasnt sure if it was advisable to take drugs and wait for them to kick in during sex, it was Scarlett who had insisted that she knew what she was doing. Also, he had seen what those mushrooms did to a persons libido. Going to y the dominant part?
Pff, y, right, the red-head devoured him with her eyes as heid down on his back. Do I need to remind you who I fucking am?
By all means, do tell me, John folded his hands behind his head and leaned against one of the dense, expensive and painfully pink cushions that adorned the upper part of the circr bed. While their colour was slightly annoying, the many different pillows that his girlfriend had ordered along were a wee addition to his sleeping experience. Nothing was better than sleeping amongst a deluge of his loved ones except for adding ayer of cotton clouds to everything. Love and fluff, that was what he was surrounded by every evening.
Scarlett wanted to invoke the more erotic aspects of love right now. Sliding over her new superiors naked form, she began to disrobe. I am Scarlett Thorne, she answered in a voice of yful authority while unbuckling her pants. Former leader of the Thornepany. A Technomancer that has manipted this city from the background for years and who only got caught once. After looking at every nook and cranny of the Gamers lean and surprisingly muscr and toned form, a body like a Greek statue, she got stuck on his towering erection.
That part was most definitely not like a Greek statue. Even the dildo she had made from its exact measurements seemed smallpared to the real thing, pulsating, glistening drops oozing from the engorged tip. A shadow of doubt about how this was even supposed to fit into her hushed over her face.
Going to make me wait any longer? John asked, watching her stripping with keen eyes.
No, Scarlett answered almost reflexively and made her way over after kicking off her pants. You wouldnt mind the vest staying on, right? she asked, quickly taking off the tie but leaving vest and the red shirt underneath it on. Notpletely, she had the courtesy of opening every single button.
Again, by all means, John granted her. He could see everything important anyway. From her pink nipples atop her tiny, barely existing tits over her t and lithe body to her shapely hips and red, perfectly trimmed pubic hair. It was true that John had seen all of this on photos and some of this in reality before, but seeing her nude in the milky white flesh was just way better. The vest added an element of cosy that only got his erection harder. Just expect me to rip it apart over the course of this. I like to do that.
As long as you buy me a new one, she stated earnestly, straddling his hips. She licked her fingers and rubbed some saliva on her pussy to help make it more wet. An act John thought his tongue could have fulfilled way better, but Scarlett really seemed like she wanted to move to the main dish straight away.
The bloodsoaked technocrat aligned her pussy with the enormous cock. Spreading her lower lips, glistening with anticipation, with one hand, she extended the other to grab for the meatpole. At the touch, John groaned lustfully.
He expected Scarlett to say something along the lines of, You like that, dont you? but instead she mumbled, Fuck this thing isnt just long, that girth is stupendous. After giving it a couple of pumps, she added, So hot as well, this is turning me on beyond belief. Lowering her hips carefully until as little as the pink head was sinking into her, she let out a prolonged moan in her raspy voice. Twenty years of fantasizing and finally I get a cock inside me. Do you have any idea how hard it was to stay this secretive as a low-key nymphomaniac?
Did you have to hold back every day from wanting to fuck the first, halfway hot person you saw in the streets, in the schoolyard, or anything like that? John asked. Masturbated furiously whenever you got the chance, not just to keep a clear mind but because you were somewhat addicted to it?
Exactly like that! Scarlett bit her lip, eyelids fluttering, hiding her downcast gaze. She was trying to slide down his dick further. Fuck, this thing is TOO huge, she mumbled, trying to rx her tight, virgin pussy some more. While there was no more maidenhead to be pierced and she had loosened herself up somewhat through the use of toys, this first time with an actual cock still was somewhat harder than she anticipated. She gyrated her hips for a bit, to spread more wetness over their union and get her pussy used to therge object invading her.
I know all about that, Scarlett, because you have a Libido of 19, which is exactly the same as I had before all of this started, John, shifting his upper body a bit to get morefortable, stated. As far as he was concerned, his job right now was to let the virgin do her thing and rx. Nothing good woulde of it if he just rammed inside her tight hole.
What, mhm, Scarlett couldnt hold onto her steady tone any longer. She hadnt even managed to get a fourth of Johns twenty-centimetre dick into her yet, but she was already feeling the effects of the Gamers numerous erotic modifiers. Aaaah, all hells, how can this feel so mu-uuhch, she slid down as little as another centimetre, betterrrr, another one, slowly she was getting the hang of it, than a dild-ooooh.
Perhaps calling them erotic cheatcodes would have been more urate.
Because I am skilled at Fucking, a genuine Source of Satisfaction and a Lover Boy, he jokingly listed his skills. And fuck me, you are TIGHT, Scarlett.
Her pussy was basically wringing his cock every bit of the way. It was downright ufortable at first, but the further she impaled herself, the more she was stretched to just the right levels. John developed a twofold appreciation for human biology through the endless minutes spent with Scarlett gasping for air and slowly going down.
For a start, he really appreciated the human bodys ability to stretch this much around a foreign object. The other thing was that he thanked whatever designer or design process was behind making the tip of cocks perfectly shaped for acts of pration like that. It was a weird ce to go, but seldomly did one haveplete control over ones thoughts.
Finally, John felt the soft warmth of Scarletts crotch on his own. I did it, the redhead gasped, her body quivering as the feeling of aplishment and being split by the cock of her worldly desires alone send shivers of pleasure through her. You just keep lying there, lover boy, she said lightly mocking. I want to take this at my pace.
Didnt n to do this differently, he assured her but then added more quietly and while staring her directly in her eyes, for the moment. Those three words made her walls constrict around the tightly clenched shaft for a moment. Taking note of that, John continued to watch.
He rather liked being the incredibly more sexually experienced person in the room, yed right into his domination fetish. If he had wanted to, he could have taken Scarlett and formed her like putty with a skilled application of his tongue and fingers. Not yet, he thought to himself. Wanting to give Scarlett the time to try how she liked being in the lead and her pussy more opportunity to take the shape of his manhood, John just licked his lips at the image of devouring those diamond-hard nipples.
Through another, minute long process, Scarlett rose. Her gasps and sighs of pleasure became more intense as the nervousness left her body, leaving her bliss to bloat unhindered. She identally slipped all the way off him the first time around, her overeager hips moving too quickly. Needing less than a grab and a few seconds, she slipped back on him like a tight glove.
The second trip down took considerably less time than the first, albeit still a while. By the third time, she was down to less than a minute. The fourth she was visibly gliding down his length in one smooth motion, lubricated by the mixture of their steadily flowing love juices. The fifth she actually spent wiggling her ass back up and down, gaining the confidence and ease of movement to try more than just moving vertically. The sixth descent ended with a light p, finally some force behind the motion. The seventh, Scarlett moaned out loud as she felt thest bits of tensions melt away. The eighth, she only enacted after gyrating with him fully inside her for a while, feeling the whole of him as best she could. The ninth was onest, long and thorough motion.
The tenth was her starting to ride him.
Hoo-----w does thiss -oh my god- how does thisss thing fit insi-ah-de meeee?! she half-screamed at the world. Her body was nted forwards. Eyes directed at her dripping and now officially deflowered pussy. Neck-length, scarlet red hair shaking under the force of her movements. To the symphony of her own moans and the sloppy pping of their wet sexes, the redhead chanted the sweetest of all mantras that could caress a mans ears. I am cumming, fuck, I a-aaah-m caah-cumming, I-
The third time was interrupted by a long scream. Throwing her head back, her chest was pushed out from between her dangling vest. The slightly sweaty, stretched and thus glistening skin caught the light of themp overhead. All of her shivered and jerked as she kept screaming, her pussy most of all, as tight as a criminalworks core.
With a face that sported an enigmatic grin, John watched Scarlett experience her first proper pration orgasm. Hands still folded behind his head, he waited for her to calm down.
Something that took almost another minute. It wasnt without much further moaning, her hips absent-mindedly gyrating and triggering mild aftershocks, unsteady breathing and a desperate try to get her spine under control again that Scarlett finally managed to direct her eyes at John again. That was incredible, she stated.
You have seen nothing yet, he promised her. After all, you have just been servicing me the entire time.
While her pussy clenched at that, her eyebrows furrowed in an annoyed way. The fuck do you mean by that? she snarled. I had you pinned this entire time!
No, John used his authoritarian tone; while using a deeper voice had be part of his every daymunications, he could still top that. I let you ride me. You served me because, he finally unfolded the hands behind his head, I didnt move once throughout this entire process. Not a thrust, not a twitch of my finger, I just let you ride me like I was a dildo. Lets switch this up so I can show you what proper bedroom domination looks like.
The physically weak Scarlett found herself overwhelmed by John suddenly rolling both of them over. He may not have been a melee specialist, but he was much stronger than a pure support ss focused woman.
For a moment, she struggled, then his lips found hers and they engaged in a deep, sloppy kiss. It only entered Johns mind after a few moments that this was probably her first. Redoubling his efforts to blow her mind, he grabbed the back of her head and, with just the right amount of force, introduced her to a proper French kiss. Quick of mind, Scarlett soon followed the pattern, and their tongues were whirling around each other.
Then he suddenly broke the kiss. Was it your first? he asked for confirmation.
A bit of a fucked-up order, isnt it? Scarlett asked with an erotic grin. Getting your first kiss, a wild one with tongue no less, AFTER getting deflowered.
A bit, John agreed, hoping that the kiss and this exchange made her realize that he was not out to vite her or anything. Back to putting you at the bottom, he resumed his authoritarian tone.
Try, she dared him as John grabbed her by the waist and rolled her on her stomach. The struggle Scarlett put up now seemed much more yful. The initial transition must have startled her, but now she was fully on the program, although her voice betrayed that she really didnt fashion herself a masochist.
John had watched her and he wasnt quite sure he shared that persuasion. Grabbing both of her iling arms, he pressed them on her back to a degree that it hurt just a bit from the strain. Wanting one hand free, he secured that hold by pinning both of her thin arms under his left. Again, the difference in physical ability came in handy.
He didnt stop at securing her arms either. The way he ultimately straddled over her hips made it so her legs ran in parallel between his. She waspletely trapped underneath him. Face down, ass up, John grunted some basicmands. He wanted to see her ass in full-glory.
She didnt obey, so the Gamer went on to deliver a vertical p on her right ass-cheek. It was hard, beginning with a loud SMACK that echoed through the room, climaxing with Scarlett letting out a sharp, confused moan and ending with a visible imprint on her reddening ass.
Ass up or we repeat this until you do what I want you to, John kept going. 3 he started counting down when there was no movement for a couple of second. 2 his voice became warning, his hand raised. 1 there was movement in the sheets.
Fine, fine! she agreed, her voice deeper than usual. She curved up her lower spine and pulled in her knees, achieving what John wanted. Red eyes ring over her shoulder with the will of the stubborn, she spat out, Happy?
John marvelled at her ass sticking out from behind the ckness of her vest for a moment. Being and remaining a convinced ass man, indeed being a connoisseur of the finest rumps at this point, he would ce Scarlett somewhere between Metra and Smander. In a score, that would be about an 8,3 out of 10. The redhead may not have had the figure or the face of a traditionaldy, but that ass was definitely out to be spanked, worshipped and jiggle.
You have a really nice butt, heplimented her, but you still only half-please me. He aligned his cock with her dripping wet entrance. If asked, Scarlett would probably put it on her earlier orgasm, but John knew the difference between a pussy that needed to be oiled up with saliva and a glistening snatch ready to take on the biggest cock it could find.
The difference was if the man in charge was able to read the girls desires correctly, scratch all the right itches and hit the correct fetishes. Sometimes, just sometimes, the man got to enjoy knowing those things better than the partner in intercourse.
Particrly when that partner was in denial.
The head inside her, John took his hand away and leaned in. Leaned forwards as he sank deeper and deeper into the gripping folds of Scarlett Thorne. As he loomed over her, more of his weight rested on his arm, pressed her ever harder into the mattress. I said ass UP! he smacked thest quarter of the way into her, his thrust reverberating in the jiggly perfection of the females behind in general and the cushion-esque softness of this one in particr. Face DOWN! his unupied hand reached for the scarlet hair, many of the fingers vanishing inside the barely kempt yet soft mess. He pushed her nose first into the soft mattress.
Without allowing her to get a single muffled word in, he went right into hard, quick thrusts. Her pussy was dripping on the sheets, why would he wait for anything more? Forey was unnecessary. He was showing her what it was like to be the bottom. Which meant that she was there to get him off, a tool to sink his cock into.
Yet it was her who came only after a few seconds. What had taken minutes of her riding him, his aggressive doggy-style domineering managed in a few strokes. Feeling her pussy and body writhe around and under him, John ripped her head up. Bu-aaaah--llshiiiiit! Scarletts climactic scream was without context, but John got the rough idea.
He ceased moving for a moment, simply content on keeping her pinned as her bodys movements were out of her control. When they went from heavy convulsions to periodic tremors, John lowered his head until his mouth was next to her ear. A single one of her red eyes managed to look at him, the lid only half-opened.
You are not just a nymphomaniac, he whispered into her ear, you are a masochist nobody could ever put a cor on. Before now.
I am Scarlett Thorne! she gasped.
Yes, yes, we had that earlier, John dismissively stated. And you can have your pride and your abilities, none of that matters here. He started moving again, just tiny thrusts, more of a grinding of his crotch against her ass. In this bedroom, he pulled back his hips until he was almost out of her, the air felt cold and boring inparison to her pussy, you are nothing but a redheaded slut. He mmed into her all the way to the base.
Noooo! her rejection was just a word floating on a scream of pleasure. Nibbling on her earlobe, John listened to her try to form any form of defence. This is not I am Fuck, why does this feel so fucking gooooood?! Her mental image of herself crumbled under the truth of her body. She wasnt just a masochist, she appeared to be a potential Eliza level masochist.
Meaning that John could push her quite a bit further.
If you cum a third time before I do, he told her, I will drag you to the sex room, her pussy tightened, tangle you in rope, it was gushing like the Niagara Falls, hang you from the ceiling, a moan rung out from deep in her throat, and leave you there for two hours.
Scarletts eyes widened in horror, but more than that they were ssy with lust. Slowly she was realizing that she would really enjoy that sort of treatment. When she had watched BDSM porn, and she had watched a lot of it, she had always thought she enjoyed it because she identified herself with the man. It suddenly clicked with her that that wasnt the case, that that was why she didnt like Femdom porn at all.
And just as that realization hit her and she epted her position, she felt something no dildo in the world could emte: hot cum flooding her pussy down to the womb. The orgasm her sexually subby subconscious had suppressed suddenly broke out. It was insane. That first orgasm was incredible, the second mind-blowing and this third felt like it was elevating her mind to another ne of existence.
For a moment, she lost not only her grip over her body but also her power. Disys and lights all around flickered on and off as they were hit with climactic interference signals, a silent shout tranted into ones and zeros. Running down the inside of her clenched together thighs, she felt a torrent of her own love juices as she stained the sheets with arge, damp spot.
John could observe that this was not his sole aplishment. Shortly after the start of her orgasm, Scarletts pupils had begun rapidly expanding until they hit the felt size of a te, more ck than red at that point. What better time for the drugs to kick in?
Say it, John demanded, retracting his cock from her vagina. He only got a weak whimper as an answer. Say it! he pressed his slick cock against her sphincter. Say IT! he rose from next to her ear, pulling her head up again. Her arms and upper back were still pinned under his left. SAY IT!
I am your slut! she finally cried out, finding the room to breathe. FUCK, I dont know how or why, but I will be a whore for you. Fuck me, take control, whatever, in the bedroom do what you want, spank me, rope me up, ridicule me, fuck my ass, just make me cum that hard again!
The Gamer was very happy with this. Getting a second hardcore masochist was not what he had anticipated when seeing Scarlett for the first time, especially with her encounter with Eliza. In his sadistic book, getting more people willing to be dominated was a good thing. Although he heavily doubted Scarlett would extend this sort of behaviour to outside of the bedroom.
I will, he assured, letting go of her and climbing off her. Only to turn her around yet again. Limbs sprawled out, strands of hair sticking to her sweaty forehead and lying on top of her own vest, the androgynous beauty remained a cause for Johns boner.
Just how many positions do you want to take me through, huh?! Scarlett snarled and then unwillingly moaned as John quite forcefully grabbed her left tit.
You give too much backtalk and too little respect, he decided, pinching and pulling her nipple, and I will put you through every single position I want, Scarly. You should be very aware that I can cum a near endless amount of times and you made the mistake to drug yourself. He twisted the pink a bit and in response saw a mixture of his cum and her pussy juices flood out of her. This series of climaxes wont stop until you copse.
For the first time ever, John felt like he had properly intimidated Scarlett, as she swallowed heavily. Then he moved to y with her body for a bit. He had teased fucking her ass, but he felt like she could use a little bit of a break.
Plus, he wanted to know just how sensitive her tiny tits were right now. He kept twisting the left nipple already in his hand. Being quite experienced in this sort of y, he never overdid it. The hard, swollen piece of pink meat was tormented to the limits of what was pleasurable, but not beyond.
The other half of her chest he first cupped and then caught between his teeth. First he just gently nibbled on it, then he put his entire mouth over the tower on the t hill and sucked intensely.
That action revealed the answer to her chest sensitivity to be: very. Oh god, she gasped, her feet kicking the mattress and arms randomly sliding over the smooth sheets. Her chest would have writhed away from him as well, if John wasnt in the habit of keeping his weight on her. The continued movement of her legs started to annoy the Gamer as well, so he took both of them by the bend of the knee and stretched them upwards until her knees were on one height with her shoulder.
Some small rolls of skin and fat appeared on her stomach, but that was only natural. John continued to kiss, suck and bite her nipples and soon extended that love to the surrounding area, her neck, her cheeks and finally her lips again. While their tongues wrestled, John aligned his straight cock with her asshole again. He did so without using his hands, trusting fully in his knowledge of the female anatomy.
Pain overpowered by lots and lots of pleasure found its outlet in an open-mouthed scream that John continued to silence with his lips. The teasing must have put her right on the edge, and as much as anal was new to her, no matter how many dildos she experimentally had put in there, Johns slow pushing put her right over it.
The gripping of her sphincter didnt make movement any easier, but John didnt give a fuck. Just to ridicule her a bit, he broke the kiss. Look at you, he growled, straightening his back, pinning her to the bed by the kneecaps. Taking it, halfway in, all the way three quarters in, to the bloody base! all the way in and with that Scarletts orgasm peeked.
Yessss! Scarlett had no sass to retort right now, just snapping her teeth shut and hissing blissfully. Between getting all of her holes deflowered, Johns skills and the mushrooms, her brain was slowly being reduced to the few submissiveponents she needed in this situation.
Grab your legs, hemanded and immediately she followed, securing her smooth thighs. John put his hands from there to her throat. Yes, who?! he asked, not allowing an answer as he squeezed. Asphyxiation was entirely new to the Technomancer, and her open mouthed drooling erotically only underlined that. Yes, who?! he asked again, leaving her enough room to breathe for just a second. The same second, he started thrusting into her.
Her lungs wanted fresh air, her mind wanted to answer, but all she did was moan as John plunged in and out of her bouncy ass. A second moan, then her lungs won out over her brain and desperately, quaveringly, needfully drew in air. Before her mind could press that breathe out as words, Johns hands clenched down again.
YES, WHO?! he asked, taking one hand off her throat to p her across the face, mildly to test the waters. The waters sttered from her pussy against his lower chest and all over Scarlett herself as a single wave of pussy juice squirted out. Urgh, look at the mess you made! he scolded her and pped her a second time, harder. Only the insane amount of lubrication oozing down from her fuckhole proper made it possible to keep the assfuck going. Yes, who? he quietly growled, choking her just lightly enough.
Yes, Ma- her answer was cut short, by an orgasmic wave. Fuuuuuck, she said instead and got herself pped again.
You are a smart whore, get your tongue under control! he continued to scold her. Or I will call Eliza to take your ce!
S-sorry, Mast- again, she was cut short, this time identally as Johns own approaching orgasm made his hands tighten up when he didnt mean to. Her ass was like heaven, incredibly tight and massaging his cock in all the right ces.
Do you want me to cum inside your ass? he asked, not that he believed he could pull out in time if she said no. He just wanted to hear her scream the next two words anyway.
YES, MASTER! she did, and John mmed into her. His balls tightened and an immense load splurged into her anal cavity. The impact, the heat, her submissive state of mind sent Scarlett there right with him. No scream left her lungs, having gotten stuck in a neck that doubtlessly would have imprints of Johns handster today, her red, ssy eyes with the widened pupils travelled up to the edge of their sockets, her tongue pushed out, and her small breasts were pushed out as her spine curved up.
John saw this through a frame of dancing, white light in his periphery. His orgasm burned itself into all of his senses, sounds bing dull, smells distant, vision blurry and overly focused in rapid exchanges. He let out a prolonged moan, peaking on volume for each of the many thick loads he put into her.
When he halfway got control over his hands again, he quickly let go of Scarletts neck. A rattling inhale entered her desperate lungs, but no words of scolding were given. Instead her eyes remained stretched out and her tongue hit the mattress as her head flopped to the side.
Ast spurt went out of Johns cock, and he pulled out. I might have overdone it, he thought and looked at the body of the Technomancer in front of him. She was covered in marks that were starting to turn into small bruises. Her pussy and ass were both stretched out and dribbling with the enormous amount of semen he put in there. Guess I am done here, he thought; even when on drugs, he doubted she could continue.
To his surprise, she raised a quivering hand and reached into her jacket. She pulled out a somewhat mistreated but generally intact looking box of cigarettes. Giveh meh, she coughed and tried to get her slurring under control, also fishing out a lighter from somewhere. Give me five minutes. Then keep toying with me like a piece of meat, Master.
John had the decency not to point out that Aclysia would hate how she used that word and that Scarlett shouldnt smoke inside.
He would punish her for both in a bit.
Chapter 470 – Epilogue – His queenly lover couldn’t possibly land this soon
Chapter 470 C Epilogue C His queenly lover couldnt possiblynd this soon
Master, Aclysias urgent voice reached him together with a gentle nudge on his shoulder. Master, you need to wake up!
But why though? John wanted to know, his voice still drunk on sleep. He rolled around, a minor mistake as he was subjected to the unpleasant feeling of his bedsheets, sticking to his dick thanks to dried up sexual fluids, suddenly ripping off his semi-erect member. It wasnt as bad as a bandage, but that still didnt make it pleasant.
As for why he was still semi-erect, he didnt need a reason. A better question would have been how he could have beenid, with the androgynous beauty that was Scarlett in the bed with him.
He was somewhat awake now, so he opened his eyes. What is it, Acly- he blinked at the phone disy, set on a low light-level to not affront his eyes too much, and saw the text message.
Lydia: Landing at 23:52 at the John F. Kennedy Airport, ording to schedule. I request you be there.
Johns eyes darted over to the upper part of the disy to check the time. 23:30, this was going to be tight. Why didnt you tell me earlier? he wanted to know as he flew out of the bed and into the bathroom. He was most likely going to bete already, but if he waste and smelled and looked like he had beente because he just had sex with another woman, that was just asking for Lydia to give him one of her long-winded tirades.
Scarlett just rolled over and continued to sleep. For her, this must have been the first time she could sleeppletely stress free for years. After all, as long as she had been the leader of Thorne, there were ns to find out who she was or how to get into her position every few minutes. Sleeping a whole night in an environment out to rece her would have been a giant risk.
As the water ran over him, blocking outside noise, Aclysia continued the conversation mentally. Like you, I had my phone in my inventory, I am sorry, Master, she exined the dy. Inside the inventory, phones didnt have a signal, so even if there was a magical way to hear them from the dimensional pocket, the messages wouldnt get to them in the first ce.
Gah! he mentally screamed out as he began the process of soaping himself up as fast as humanly possible. Its not your fault, I am just in a real hurry right now. There was a way how he may have been able to get there in time, albeit it would be a bit difficult and ask of him a minor sacrifice.
Undine and Smander came to his aid. By rinsing himpletely clean with her body, the ocean elemental spared him some time spent in the shower. When he stepped out, the fire spirit in turn dried him up as fast as she could. For once she did so without bashfulments. Nobody wanted or looked forward to an annoyed Lydia.
He and Aclysia hastily applied the currently best body oil they had to him, something that had a mixture of a pleasantly smoky and sage musk, and then he threw on his, thankfully self-cleaning, clothes.
Now he was stuck with the next problem to solve within 17 minutes, how to get to the airport. The obvious answer was not by foot, way too long a distance, and not by cab, he needed to get tond, wait for it and get through NYC traffic, so the only real option he had was the sea route. That meant he needed to maintain a mobile barrier somehow.
He couldnt go to Magoi, the High Fateweaver was out for the victory dinner with his family, and calling a ferry service to ship him off the ind would have taken way too long. Thankfully, he had a solution for all of this.
Hammering the ss Level he had kept to put into Elementalist into Fateweaver, John got a pop-up.
He hadnt gotten a real license, neither had he gone to a real ss yet, but Magoi had shown him the ropes well enough for it to count towards the quest. He would have done this anyway once he had hit level 140, so it was really the smallest of sacrifices. That was just a two-level stretch where he couldnt level Elementalist if he miraculously got it.
He ran down to the lower deck. Taking the entire yacht wouldnt have worked. He needed a smaller, more mobile vessel. Luckily, there was just the thing amongst the ships resting inside the enormous yacht.
What are we doing? a new voice suddenly caught up to him; Rave was chasing after him. She must have seen him run by and thought that it was very peculiar behaviour her boyfriend exhibited. Does her vagina have teeth or why are ya running like the devil is after ya?
Lydia isnding in the next 15 minutes, he told her, jumping down a flight of stairs.
Oh! Oh crap! Rave immediately got on the program, storming after and then through her boyfriend, picking him up in the process. To the feeling of being carried princess style, John could only say that he much preferred being the one who had his hands close to her breasts.
They approached a sharp corner at a speed that had John, for a moment, wondering if he would die in a double suicide by something approaching a car crash. However, a moment before they hit the wall, their entire momentum suddenly shifted and they just continued to run forwards.
Thats a way to use martial arts, John joked, having recognized the technique. It was called Drift and allowed for immensely sharp turns. Normally something like that would have been used to correct the direction of a kick or something; it was a pretty basic skill (some would say THE basic skill of ankle techniques) with broad but not particrly impressive usages. Because it used up a load of ki, as most ankle techniques did, it wasnt used a lot.
I guess ya bullshitted your way towards the ability to use mobile barriers already? Rave asked.
Yeah, did it just now, John answered as they reached the inner dockyard. The seaside gate was already opening; Aclysia was taking care off that from the bridge.
Can we even make it? his girlfriend asked, jumping down another flight of stairs and to where the jet skis were anchoring. They were ck and blue pieces of sleek design, truly motorcycles of the water. There were two different models, one with only two and the other with three seats. They jumped on thetter, seeing how they had to get back with an extra person.
Depends on how much mana the engine of this thing can take! John told her and omitted the part where he had no idea how to drive the thing. He had done all of his practice on boats, the effective cars of the water, he was factually a noob in regards to riding a jet ski.
The ramp the jet ski was resting on slowly tilted as the automation began the process of ejecting it. They started sliding towards the end of the dock, where seawater flooded in high enough to allow the thing to rest. Carefully he revved the engine, and they dashed off with immense speed.
YOUVE NO IDEA HOW TO DRIVE THIS THING! The jig was up as they drove in ovepensating curves.
I am a quick learner though! John shouted back as he quickly figured out how this whole thing was supposed to be controlled. Normal people drove these things, and with his all around good Stats, especially Agility, Wisdom and Intellect, he was able to get it right by the time they darted through the barely opened gate of the Guild Halls shipyard.
Raveughed now that she was in no more danger of falling into the pretty cold water; this whole thing was pretty thrilling. In order to protect herself from the cold winds, she activated her body suit. The moronic Artificial Spirit inside instinctually ate her clothes, mistaking them for offered material as well as an obstruction to its programming C to cover Raves body in a protectiveyer up to her neckline.
Speaking of Raves entire body, John very quickly realized why so many guys were into motorcycles. Arms wrapped around her boyfriends waist as her literal only way of getting any hold on anything, she pressed her boobs and indeed her entire warm and sexy body against his back.
When he leaned into the curve, she followed, as if they were one unit. They were about as close as two humans physically could be without him literally sticking his dick into her. This is awesome! Rave shared his enthusiasm. He allowed himself one quick nce over his shoulder seeing her smile broadly back at him, her hair fluttering in the wind.
Never had he been so thankful that she wore it long now. Seeing that chaotic piece of art fly freely behind her just looked awesome. Happy you like it! John shouted as he course-corrected towards the open ocean, then he looked back ahead.
It wasnt like he expected any obstructions to suddenly pop-up in front of him, they were in their own barrier after all. The cautious part of John wondered, if another vessels barrier was to cross their barrier, if he would manage to dodge in time. However, he trusted that the engineers of the mobile barrier technology had found some trick that allowed high speed vehicles such as this one to avoid that sort of ovep.
Nevertheless, he had more than forty kilometres left to go in just over ten minutes. The jet ski reached 100 km/h by design and John was already figuratively flooring the pedal into the red zone, causing it to go 130. If he wanted to reach the airport in the nick of time, he needed to reach about 210.
Luckily, he was his own nitro injection. The handles of the jet sky were directly connected to the mana generator that was meant to refill its fuel battery. Of course, one could change out the battery itself, so this thing was viable to be used even by people without absurd mana, but for people like John it increased the fuel the thing had loaded by however much they could bring to the table themselves.
Even greater, theoretically the engine would go into overdrive if it was fed more power. The risk was that it was going to fail, much like overclockingputers, the parts wore down faster under such strain, but that was a risk John had to take if he wanted to be punctual.
And, even more than avoiding Lydias annoyance, he wanted to see her again as soon as possible. Here we go! he warned Rave and slowly began pouring his mana into the engine. Carefully, as to not cause an explosion or anything of the sort, he raised the speed that way. With less sturdier bodies, both of them would have needed a helmet to even look straight ahead as they stormed underneath the bridge that connected Staten Ind and Brooklyn.
NYEEEEEH! Rave suddenly made a really annoying sound andughed.
WHAT?! he shouted over the whipping wind.
Brooklyn raaaaaaage, she added as if that exined everything. Yu-gi-oh abridged?
We havent watched that yet!
YOU havent watched that yet! she corrected. Their speed finally topped out at 250 kilometres per hour; they would make it at that rate.
Want to flip that beach off? John tried his hand at another joke between them as they made a turn around a small penins towards the Jamaica Bay.
Why would I want to flip a beach off? Rave asked just as confused as he had been about her earlier sound.
Cause its called Brighton Beach, heughed and thenughed some more when she indeed took a hand off his waist to do what he suggested. The unfortunate beach shared the name with Moira Brighton, Warden of the Golden Rose and a pain in Raves side from back in Springfield.
Cant wait to see Moira again, Rave said. Gonna duel her again to reim my right to call her by her nickname!
John shook his head, he would have turned around to kiss her. That was just so like her. This silly, carefree and fun attitude, it was the very reason why they had fallen in love as quickly as they had, because she had been willing to make the jump and pull him with her.
They ripped under another bridge and into Jamaica Bay. From there they had to dodge a couple of small inds. To their luck, it was only shortly after high tide, otherwise parts of the bay would have been too shallow to navigate even with a jet ski.
Ast bridge and then they pulled into a waterway that led a little further ind. Much to his pleasant surprise, John found that there was a small pier that was part of arge parking lot. They got off the jet ski and jumped on the pier. Ah shit! Rave dered, looking down on herself. In her battle suit she could hardly run around without attracting unwanted attention.
John quickly reached into his inventory and threw his jacket at her. Put it on, they will just think you like weird pants! he told her. In his suit, people would only wonder if he was cold, which was a perfectly normal question to have and thus no problem. The battle suit itself probably wouldnt have triggered Gaia, but the airport security was another question.
Gnome and the elementals (except Siena) were staying behind to look after the jetski in the meantime.
They only had one and a half minutes left, so they ran at breakneck speeds, creating one barrier after the other in the process to allow them to use their superhuman attributes. They were going to bete, the thing they were banking on now was the dys Lydia would be facing during thending and check-out.
Once they had reached the actual airport, it took them another ten minutes to run around and find the correct ce. John had no one to me but himself for this situation: he had gotten the message at noon, during the fight against Izhas Inconvenience, and just forgotten his phone until now.
In the end, they reached their position and stopped, out of breath. They gathered themselves just in time for a certain auburn-haired woman toe walking down the check-out. Lydia noticed them immediately.
She was wearing a grey wool coat that reached to below her hips. A dark green skirt grew out from underneath, stopping at her kneecaps in turn. Her legs were covered in ck stockings, normal ones as opposed to her making them out of the malleable metal of her rapier. Probably to avoid the metal detectors. As always, she was wearing heavy boots, more fit for marching than looking good, and her hair was put into a perfect braid.
Her red lips curved into a smile for a moment, then she remembered who she was and regained herposure, walking towards John with a diplomatic expression. Her ck gloved hand dragged a trolley behind her. Greetings, John Newman, she extended the other towards him.
John looked at it like someone was offering him to stick his hand into a bowl full of boiling water. He did it anyway, just to pull her towards himself and kiss her quite forcefully. The queen tensed in the initial moment but immediately after went with the flow. Her skin was radiating heat, a clear indication that she was blushing heavily.
This is not the proper procedure to greet a foreign diplomat, she scolded him when their lips parted a breaths width.
In my America, we dont care about your European properness, John returned in the same scolding tone. The vibration of her quiet chuckle reverberated in his arms as he held her.
I have missed you, John, the way she said his name this time was a wonderful fulfilment of their longing for each other, and they kissed again. He had forgotten how she tasted. Citrusy, with a light note of iron, not at all unpleasant. The queen of steel eventually ended the kiss. s, we shall continue this in privacy, she dered and turned to Rave. You do look good with longer hair, Rave.
Oh, just call me Jane, ya old stick in the bum, the Lightbearerughed and then threw herself at Lydia, kissing her herself. Now the queen turned beet red, as a couple of eyebrows were raised by passing people at the very public disy of polyamory going on.
After clearly giving tongue for more than a few seconds, Lydia snapped out of it. I demand you cease your affectionate activities at once! She was absolutely embarrassed about all of this happening out in the open, and both of her sadistic lovers enjoyed watching that. Lydia being Lydia didnt drop herposure at any point, standing upright and with dignity, but this whole scene had probably yed out more like a royal visit in her head.
Yeah, yeah, ya old tsundere, Raveughed. Wee to America,nd of the free, home of the spontaneous.
And this is why you remain with the imperial measurement system, the queen began and sighed quite heavily as she felt herself getting pulled back into the banter-sphere. She sighed and then allowed herself to smile again. I really missed all of you, even Eliza.
Why dont we get you to her then? John asked. Its awfully cold out here.
To that, I can agree, the queen said. I take it you are in control of this area by now?
Just wrapped up business in New York today, I will be a regional power soon, John smirked.
I know, isnt that great? a new voice chimed into the conversation. The man that everyone looked at had the elegant looks of a corporate suit. With short hair the same colour of his ck vest and a sharp jawline, the suit wore his suit as if he had been tailored into it and not the other way around. Despite that, the devilish smile and teasing tone of the person made him pretty easy to identify.
Your presence is thoroughly unwee, Rat, Lydia narrowed her blue eyes.
Dont be like that, our guilds are on good footing right now, Richard waved off. I am just here to congratte my bestest of future allies on his victory against a bunch of Lorylim.
How did he already know that? John developed a bit of a headache despite the happy asion this should have been. Not only was asking that useless, Lydia was now looking at him with a re that said Exin C NOW!
I need a vacation, he thought.
Season 3 Arc 2 – Author’s Note
Season 3 Arc 2 C Authors Note
This arcs finale did not pan out like initially intended. Halfway through the arc I hit the problem that the characters of Scarlett and John that I made got along too well
See, the original idea was that Scarlett would put up a fa?ade war which John was supposed to take seriously, then she would get herself captured by Bearings and John would bust her out at thest minute by attacking the facility.
As you have read, that isnt greatly different from what happened. It would probably have flowed a bit better and allowed me to iron out some of the awkwardness of the ending. Sadly, John and Scarlett decided to just hit it off right up at the start in the strip club.
When writing that chapter, I was stuck between either writing the best version of the plot andpromise my characters a bit or write a worse version of the plot and let them do how they would act normally. Ultimately, I think of myself as a character writer, so I went with thetter.
I am certain that most of you will say something along the lines of That sounds like it would have been a nice plot, but you write what you want to write, Fun. Truth be told, dunno if the thing in my head would actually have been the better plot. Things tend to be different when written down, so maybe this was also the actual best plot.
If there is one thing I say wasnt all that great in either version, it was the way the Lorylim were kinda tacked onto the end. I just didnt find the right ces to really foreshadow their involvement in the thing without running danger that John would immediately find out about it. Just the woes of having a very smart protag.
But all of this sounds like I am whining about this arc and how it panned out. In reality, it was only the chapters preceding and the actual final battle of the arc making me feel like they werent as good as they could have been. s, not everything I write will be perfect and I am not the type to dwell on things.
In the end I got Jackal out there, even if it was slightly awkward. I dont think its a spoiler that his existence is foreshadowing for something else down the line.
Different topics.
The Faux-War was a bit stompy, but I assure you that John wont have such easy pickings with guilds that are regional powers and have better ess to people like Sigmund.
The Magoi side story was much closer to the original Aclysia one. It had basically no story relevance, but people kept asking for non-John character interactions, so there was some happy fun stuff.
Beatrice was a surprise waifu added in. At the time of writing this, I havent heard what you people think of her, only one of my proofreaders was nice enough to tell me he found her hard to put into words, but generally I am pleased which sounds about right. For me, personally, she is a total waifu because I adore the less emotional types.
Also 2Booty.
That ass is grass and I am making it mywn, baby.
Scarlett received argely warm wee, with lots of people saying they are looking forward to more of her. Others, partly of the same crowd, said John should shiv her because she isnt trustworthy. While I do not share that opinion, obviously because I didnt make John do it, I rather loved that people felt that strongly about her.
Wonder how you people liked her being a total masochist? I dont want to give the impression that she is being fucked into submission, thats a tool I dont intend to use in this story, just that the repressed nympho who is used to being in control gets off on losing it for a bit.
Hopefully next arc will portray well enough that Scarlett is still her own person with her own goals who wants to get ahead.
Speaking of next arc, we are heading to Washington to visit Brenda. Gnome will go to Tier 3 unless our cuddlerock wants to take a gamble with the corruption and try to jump to Tier 4 too? Ah, only I can tell what will happen~
Anyhow, next arc John will be interacting with his family. Still no momcest, wrong branch people, move on, its not happening, but poor Brenda will get some attention. Also, Johns father will finally be on screen, isnt that great?
No, this wont make it another fluff-vacation arc, lots of things to get through.
Anyhow, here is a survey you can take if you want to give me feedback:
Would be much appreciated.
For a change of pace, THANKS! To all of my Patrons here at the end. You guys are awesome and keep themissioned art flowing. Due to recent lets call it dissatisfactory behaviour from the site, I am searching for alternatives for it, but for the moment it remains the best site to support me if you are so inclined.
Also of note is that I am releasing two other stories as side projects now. One of them is a shameless WoW fanfiction over at hentai-foundry about the hot babes of Warcraft getting reigned in by Anduin, expanding his harem of willing little cunts. The story very much takes a backseat on that one, so if you like Warcraft and my sex scenes, this will be right up your alley. Albeit there is some mindbreaking involved.
The other is about a slime creature that randomly drops into existence and has the ability to recreate parts of what it eats. Drip-Fed contains less lewd bits, but it does still contain lewd bits. You can find it over at Royal Road.
And with that, I am done shilling and talking. This was Season 3 Arc 2 Scarlett Thorne, hope to see you all back for Arc 3 A merrynd.
Chapter 471 – Season 3 Arc 3 Start – Upsizing
Chapter 471 C Season 3 Arc 3 Start C Upsizing
I like this ce, Richard spoke, walking around the conference room. He soon shed the corporate suit and changed into his original shape, that of a grey-furred humanoid with a rats skull for a head, decorated with the four name-giving horns. The only, and very sensible, change the god of future cmities made to himself was his size. At two metres he was still quite the giant, but he fit under the ceiling.
After passing by Magoi and Magnus, the former calmly reading his newspaper, thetter watching with disciplined eyes, the god stopped in his tracks. Grabbing the rest of a deep-sea blue chair, the Horned Rat nodded to himself, the red light in his otherwise empty eye-sockets flickering amusedly, I like it a lot. A nice piece to take off these tentacle-faced pirates. Having said that, he pulled the chair back and sat down. Long tail wrapping around the backrest.
For once John wasnt surprised about the Horned Rat being aware of the things happening around him. It had been quite the public affair and months had passed since, everyone even remotely interested in the Gamers life would have heard of it by now.
Your appreciation of our surroundings isnt of concern, Lydia sat in her own chair, across from John, with crossed arms and iron-eyed stare. I demand to be informed of everything that transpired within thest weeks in detail immediately.
John raised an eyebrow, You would make demands of the man you are visiting in his own territory? The question wasnt really serious, but Lydia being Lydia, she took it as such.
I am making demands of a lover who had a THIRD tumble with the Lorylim and who has me dead worried at times, she mmed her hand on the table, rising menacingly from her seat. Who also promised me he would tell me everything in person!
Fucking rx your sphincter and let the stick fall out, anal queen, Eliza cursed from the side-lines. Her presence made it a bit hard to handle this situation with the proper respect. That wasnt the blood mages fault, at least not entirely. It was just that she, Rave, Nia, Gnome and Stirwin were all taking a swivel chair each, all of which were turning due to a certain tempest elemental running up and down the row to tag each of them.
Being watched by an unequally rotating array of amused women and a golden crocodile hatchling would sap the seriousness out of every situation ever. Cappy, off the table! Rave shouted at her own light elemental.
I am a cat, not a dog! the animal shaped spirit continued to tap around without a care in the world.
Lydias left eye twitched and she was taking a deep breath in. All chairs in the room suddenly stopped rotating as the metal axes ground to a halt. As is eternally consistent, you bantering lot are in need of a few lectures. For a start, keep your feet under the table during a conference! It is deeply disrespectful to treat Fifteen minutester, and this why you should at least make your hair Another fifteen minutester, I will end with the fact that all wind elementals should be contained during conferences. It ismon sense that they are raw disturbances.
Rude! So very rude, I feel offended! Sylph iled her tiny arms. Reaching into her mantle, Aclysia pulled out a liquorice bonbon, unwrapped it and threw it at the air spirit. Whats this?! The distraction was aplete sess, and momentster, Sylph was sitting in the chair next to Stirwin and licking the much too big sugary treat.
Getting a point across with you people is like trying to convince Ria to build a normal city! Lydia fell back into her chair and cleared her throat. Thirty minutes ofining had turned it quite parched. She was handed a cup of tea from the side. Thank you, Aclysia, she reflexively said, looking up to her left side only after taking a sip. As good as always short hair looks quite good on you.
Wrong person. Thanks. Thanks, Beatrice addressed the statements in the order they came in.
Her chopped off way of speaking must have tipped the queen off as she furrowed her eyebrows. She then turned her head as the actual Aclysia ced a full can on the table from the queens right side. It is an easy mistake to make, the weaponized maid stated. That is Beatrice.
Lydia looked from one Artificial Spirit to the other for a few seconds. Short hair and opposite side ced mole, she quickly analysed the situation. Also Beatrice has slightly bigger breasts. Is there a reason why you created another white-haired beauty?
How about my dick? John suggested.
That would be the expected answer, Lydia sighed. Anyhow, we are getting lost in tangents again. If you could please initiate the exnation - I would be much obliged.
Metra snarled from the side-lines; the ancient weapon was opting to lean her muscr frame against the wall, her halberd right next to her. Girl, John didnt want to tell you these things over the phone and now you want him to report while the person he wants to know the least, Richard waved at the gathering, his skull creaking as it warped into a bemused smile, sits right there.
A fair point, Lydia conceded, staring at the Horned Rat. Leave.
Ah, how hurtful, the god grabbed his chest above where a humans heart would be and slowly rose in a dramatic fashion. Well, I guess I can oblige and speak with Scarlett for a bit.
Johns eyes went wide and his phone vibrated. He quickly fished it out of his pocket.
Scarlett: The fuck?
If that is her, tell her toe in here already, the Horned Rat reversed his course and plopped back into thefortable, if slightly undersized, seat. I like to see the faces of people I talk to, Technomancer or not.
A few minutester, the redhead made her entrance. And here I thought I was keeping my head low enough for you upper ranks to take no interest in researching my existence, her rough voice was as pragmatic as always. Her cool wasntpromised in the slightest. Seems like I was wrong.
It took me almost a year to confirm your existence, so its not like you did the worst job, the Horned Rat shrugged. In any case, it is my purpose to know things that could lead to catastrophes. For the moment, you remain arge unknown. Now that you affiliate yourself with the Gamer, I dont expect that tost.
Thats within my calctions, Scarlett dismissively waved and took a seat close to John. When she put a cigarette in her mouth, Aclysias warning gaze caused her to click her tongue. Fucking sticklers everywhere, she mumbled, weighed her options and ultimately took the cigarette out of her mouth and put it back in the box. I expected the upper-ranks to find out about me eventually, just another reason why having the protection of John is of benefit to me.
John made a slightly mocking expression. Add it to the many reasons to not backstab me at the first opportune moment.
I might do it despite that, I might not, the Technomancer shrugged. You knew what you were getting into.
Ja, Rave chimed in, and I, for one, hope youre thest intellectual maniptive type in my circle of friends. She looked around the room, I got enough of ya big-brained buddies with your convoluted schemes and you taking a loan to invest in seafood was also part of my n!-sentences.
Whatever you say, Scarlett shrugged. Now, before the princess head explodes, Lydias fingers were dancing over the table like she was ying a very angry melody on her piano; she even ignored the use of the wrong title in favour of letting things proceed, why dont wey down what she wants to know.
And so John did.
Surprisingly, at the end, she nodded. That is a sensible way to approach these things. I mustpliment you on your war strategy there, Miss Thorne.
By all means, call me Scarlett.
Scarly! Rave corrected. Call her Scarly, Lyly!
You too? the redhead asked, not missing the rather obvious nickname.
Everyone remotely serious, Lydia shook her head at the harem-heads habits. Regardless, you seem wise enough to know that casting your lot with John was ying into your interests. I can respect opportunists that are aware when their subjugation serves their interests. Just dont forget who all support the Gamer.
The red eyes of the Technomancer darted from the queen to the god, Noted.
Now that we are done threatening each other, John took the reigns of the conversation, and have firmly established that I am the man in the house, while the Horned Rat chuckles mysteriously in the corner, how about we talk about things of the now rather than whats been done?
What do ya mean? Rave asked.
Well, for a start, we need a name, John stated. You know, something like Rex Germaniae or the like.
Whats wrong with Collide? his girlfriend asked, somewhat offended.
Nothing, its just that this, he tapped on the table, right here is Collide. What is this he opened his arms, gesturing at basically everything, though? We are a collective of guilds, so we need a name for the collective.
I guess that makes sense, Rave conceded. Any ideas?
Arcadia! John immediately answered. He had spent some time thinking about it, and, as it sounded like it was rted to both arcane and arcade, he could think of no better name.
Copyrighted, came the sudden intervention from the brte queen across the table.
Pardon? John asked. What the hell would the Abyss have copyright for? he quietlyined.
Scrolling on her smartphone, Lydia promptly answered. There is a register of copyrighted entities on the Abyss Auction. Arcadia is definitely imed.
What are they going to do if I take a name already in use, sue me? John asked in an amused tone. Seriously, why would he care?
No, they are going to keep the packages falsely sent to their base, the queen pointed out. Plus, many people are quite sensible about their names and many others understand that. In this world of magic we live in, names have a lot more power. So, unless you want to be known as a name-robber, I suggest you respect the copyrights.
John still found that positively ridiculous, especially if the guild he would steal the name from was some backwater, three-people goon-squad in a flyover state. Then again, his journey had started by joining a three-people goon-squad. Is the name Collide put in the register under our ownership, at least? he asked. He really didnt want to change his guilds name, inherited by a cursing brute or not, thiste into the game.
She checked. Yes, although its still filed with a Travolta Meyer as the owner. You may want to update that. The Gamer nodded and fidgeted with his phone, still in his hand from earlier. A second hand reached out.
Done, Scarlett announced from the side-lines, taking her hands off Johns smartphone after a few seconds. Beatrice, get me some whiskey! Or something else that I can feel actively destroying my liver. It seemed the blood-soaked technocrat could not survive without some of her internal organs being attacked by foreign substances.
As youmand, Mistress Thorne, the bodacious maid obeyed.
Did you just hack in there? John wanted to know.
Not really. I used your mana to mask mine, but otherwise that was just normal procedures. Beatrice returned with a bottle of Johnny Walker and a ss with two ice-cubes. Watching her drink being prepared, Scarlett finished her exnation up, The Abyss Auction knew you were a member and hasnt heard from Travolta in months, so the change was up for the making.
Well, at least that was easy John raked his brain for some alternative names. The Nexus? He used to y a lot of League of Legends and that name was somewhat badass.
Taken.
Summoners Temples?
We got a Summoners Temple, that will lead to confusion, Lydia informed him. You could get away with it though.
Rave giggled and suggested, How about ck Rose or Velvet?
Both taken.
Seriously? Wow, I just wanted to annoy Moira when I next see her, the Lightbearer tapped her foot in a steady rhythm. Copernicus jumped in herp, demanding pats with a basic meow. Being a cat and very soft, he got them.
You would sacrifice the collectives name to annoy one person? Metraughed. Man, I know why I look like you, Jane. You are my spirit animal.
Cause I got the most attractive, fattest ass in the room and the attitude of the best girl, Rave smirked back.
John was running out of ideas in the meanwhile. Colliding States of America? he went for the boring options for now.
Eliza broke into a shrillughter. You dumbfuck, she half-screamed at him, tell me what that shit shortens to!
C-S-oh, yeah, that wont fly, John admitted. Alright, taking suggestions.
Kingdom of Newman, Metra did as asked, not exactly serious. On the whole getting John to ept kingship-thing, she was now holding the I dont care anymore-position, with a dash of passive aggressive remarks.
Full-Fuck-Force, Elizas idea was also followed by arge array of unsteady toned giggles.
Gummybears! Sylph shouted.
Gummybears! Stirwin echoed.
Cinder, Smander waspletely serious about her idea.
We want to unify America, not put it to the torch! John protested.
I think we can do both, the scarred endme elemental cackled.
The Gamer began to regret asking.
U-uhm, Gnome shily raised her hand. M-maybe we should look at it from a kind of philosophical angle? If Collide is the start of it, something that happens after the collision should be the root term for the name? Everyone was looking at her. I-I mean, she was panicked due to the attention, only if that doesnt sound too stupid uwuwuwu.
I find that idea rather elegant, Lydia stated.
Yeah, John agreed. Good job, Gnome.
Even Richard nodded, and from behind his newspaper, Magoi gave a thumbs-up.
Okay, John continued, what are things that happen upon or after collisions?
Shattering? Rave suggested.
I dont want a state called Shattered or Fragmented Guilds, sounds like the whole structure is about to copse at any given time, the Gamer said but then hummed, then again, the irony would be quite interesting.
How about opposite then? the Horned Rat spoke up. A collision can not only scatter, it can also fuse, given the right amount of pressure. Fusion, one word with a simple message, is it not?
Also, open, surprisingly, Lydiamented.
Mhm, doesnt that sound a bit socialistic? John asked, knowing full well that he was just searching for a reason to dismiss the Horned Rats idea. Although he liked it.
Socialistic would be the Peoples Fusing Democratic Republic of America or something like that, Scarlett disagreed. Fusion as the front is exactly the right idea. Just six letters, that saves ink and gets stuck in peoples minds easily.
Mhm fine, lets say we go with Fusion, John didnt dislike the Horned Rat enough to skip over a good name. Anybody got an idea for a logo?
To everyones surprise, it was Eliza who raised her hand. Yo, Aclysia, get your ass into gear and get me a pencil and some fucking paper so I can shit together a work of art that undead parrots would get heart-attacks over! That sentence made enough sense to understand what she wanted, so the weaponized maid obliged.
Paper and pencils were fetched, enough for other people on the table to also participate. Eliza was still the one who finished first.
John had anticipated the result to be a middle-finger crossed with a giant dick and looking like it was drawn by a toddler. Instead he was faced with a skilful sketch of sixet-like objects colliding in the centre and unifying, through a small vortex, into a singr point, the name Fusion written in a soft curve over the bottom.
Each of theets had a different design, invoking the idea that they were supposed to belong to the six elements. In colour the whole thing would look artistically impressive, while also being simple enough to print in mass. Even now, as a simple sketch, the outline looked like a flower, a motive that got stuck in peoples brains quite easily. It was unique and yet simple enough to be remembered in detail and recognized by everyone.
You earned yourself an afternoon in the sex room, John stated as he looked over the paper in his hand for the sixth time. At his side, an impressed Rave nodded. Lydia circled around the table to take a look herself.
Could use an eagle, she stated, but yes, generally impressive. Since when can you draw, Eliza?
Since I was left home alone most of the time and had to do some shit to keep myself upied, the blood mage answered. Want me to finalize that version?
Very much, yes, John handed it back to her. Great that we got that business done. Now, while I got you two here, he gestured at Lydia and the Horned Rat, I want you to take a look at the way my current government is set up and point out any obvious ws.
This was thest chance for any fundamental changes to the system. Once he held the first elections and everything was supposed to run by itself, stopping the thing to make any sweeping adjustments would have giant opportunity costs.
A wise decision, Lydia nodded.
Not what I came here for, but I got the time, Richard agreed.
And once they get done with that?
Chapter 472 – Publicity
Chapter 472 C Publicity
Okay, how about this: martialw can be enacted either by the head of state, being me, or, in case the head of state is absent for a prolonged period, can be voted into effect by a majority in Congress. That good enough? John asked.
Dont forget to give yourself the power to lift martialw as well, Richard warned. Trust me, there will be all kinds of political pencil pushers who would love to get there. I have been both on the receiving and abusing end of such uses.
One would think a Shardbound to the face would be enough deterrent for them not to try, John argued back.
No, Lydia shook her head, because you made the decision to make this a republic. People wille to the conclusion that you are an idealist, not a ruler, thus they will discount the possibility albeit they wont discard it either.
Metra threw in the expected opinion, Would be fixed if you made this a kingdom, thatd send a WAY different message.
I find myself aligned with that option, Lydia nodded. Realms headed by royalty tend to be more suitable for people like you, John. Republics work best on small scales.
Why do you have to agree with her, Lydia? John whined, feeling somewhat betrayed. He hoped the queen would see his reasons and, if not support, then at least understand them. Doing what is easy at every turn would mean I am not holding true to my own values. Principles mean doing what is the hardest because you think it is right.
Because it would be easier to persuade my court that I have a rtionship with a foreign king than a foreign president, the noble sighed, but ultimately, the continuousments from my political opponents will not be greatly lessened, so do what you want to. You are not wrong about principles, after all.
Just run a triumvirate of republic, monarchy and theocracy, the Horned Rat suggested, only half-joking since that was exactly what he was the partial head off.
No thank you, John dered and closed the binder of notes he had for his governmentyout. Thankfully, they hadnt had much to say about his basic idea, so the flowchart he hade up with was stillrgely urate. Next topic: why the fuck are you here, Richard?
That one had been brewing in his mind for a while, but between all the banter he had pushed it back until he felt like he was done with the things closer to his heart. As always, the rat god had to pull out the unsatisfying answer, Ah, you know, as I told you at the airport, just checking on my bestest of future allies.
Yeah, no, but seriously, John insisted. Do we need to y our little game of guessing each others motives again?
I love that game, the Horned Rat dered wiggling his fingers greedily at Johns head, as if he wanted to crack it open, slurp up the brain inside and taste the secrets. The better you get at it, the more I feel like I am looking at a kindred soul.
The Gamer sighed. Can I at least get a hint? he asked.
One sounds fine, what do you want to know?
Did you arrive in the same moment as Lydia on purpose?
That seemed like an odd question, but John could more or less puzzle together the rest depending on the answer. No, Richard shrugged with his entire upper body, the palms of his wed hands pointing at the ceiling, that was just a happy and funny coincidence. I had no information that she nned toe over C it has been hard to spy on your phely. A much saying nce was exchanged between the god and Scarlett, who downed her third ss of whiskey with an egomaniac smile.
Alright then, you came here to partake in the public announcement I have scheduled for the day after tomorrow, John stated. In order to make sure that the pact I made with you over a defensive alliance is announced to the world.
Thats about 40% of it, congrattions, the Horned Rat apuded. Truthfully, if it was just that, I wouldnt have bothered toe myself. I know I dont look like it, but I am actually a very busy rodent.
John crossed his arms andid back in his chair with an exasperated sigh, handing the folder he had closed to Aclysia in the same moment. When she stored it in her inventory, he was reminded that he still had a bunch of private things to do in the near future to increase his powers. At least three of them sprang to mind: Gnomes evolution to tier 3, the unspent Fateweaver perk and checking what he could do with his GP.
However, he should focus on the now and not let his mind wander too much. You wouldnt possibly tell me the rest, would you?
Its because I am the guy thats supposed to tell Nathalia when she cane out of her exile, the Horned Rat gave a surprisingly prompt answer. So I came to look myself.
How is she? John immediately shot up in his seat. Where is she?
Horny, I wont tell, Richard giggled, probably feeding on the Gamers suffering. You arent there yet. Heughed some more. Man, you should see her; when you get to her, she will probably break your hips just because of how much she needs your dick.
The Gamer narrowed his eyes a bit; he didnt like that the Horned Rat, technically a fellow male, had ess to his draconic love interest. However, not only was his Libido immensely low but he also didnt seem interested in Nathalia that way, a feeling that John guessed to be mutual.
Just tell her I miss her, whenever you next see her, he told the god.
Sure, although I am pretty sure she wont be able to hear me C too horny, Richard waspletely serious, and John could believe that Nathalia, after months without sex, was a mess stuck between masturbating, sleeping and eating.
That was when Aclysia reached into her inventory and pulled out a piece of cloth. Give her this, then, she asked of Richard, who took it and, deeply interested, spread it out. It was a shirt. Todaysundry, the weaponized maid exined, certainly, masters smell will help her get off.
If the eye-sockets could have had a deadpan look, right now the Horned Rat would have looked like he had just been through a two-hundred-page collection of the worst dad jokes. Wordlessly, he put the shirt into a dimensional pocket.
Father, Magnus spoke up for the first time in this entire conversation. You said it would just be innuendos. I disagree. Their whole existence is dripping in sex.
Well observed, the High Fateweaver spoke in the tone of the uninterested, flipping a page. But the pay is good, so whatever.
John looked away from his leading Fateweavers and scratched the back of his neck in a bit of an ashamed gesture. Okay, yeah but if you are the one calling the shots there, when will I get to see her again?
When I feel like you would survive the entailing tumble, Richard put it bluntly. I am not sacrificing you to the hips of the volcano goddess, John Newman, I need your brawn not hers. She may be my friend but she cannot defeat Romulus.
Alright then John cursed for a second that he was a mage build; if he was physically specialized, he could probably go there a lot faster. It wasnt worth it to dump his Stat Points into Endurance in a rush to see Nathalia again. Although only barely. Problem was that, once she was sexually satisfied, she would berate the world out of him. Not to mention that he would deal a lot of damage to his own progress as well. Its dumb, stop trying to justify what your dick and heart want, he berated himself. Moving onto more immediate things, he changed topics yet again, Lydia, you are staying for two weeks, right?
I am due to return to German soil on the second of May, so it would be more urate to say thirteen days, Lydia meticulously corrected her lover.
Alright then, John hummed, I better call my mother then to make sure she expects us, he checked his phone, it was shortly after midnight. Seeing that, he put the phone back down, at a less ungodly hour.
She lives in Washington, Scarlett stated, lights dancing in her red eyes like circuits, cant quite reach there yet, I dont have a repeater beacon that far out.
I am ufortable that you just know where she lives, John stated.
If I wanted to, I could have her killed by the end of the week, Scarlett dismissively stated. Abyssals dont make a habit out of making mundane people vanish, usually not worth the hassle, but its not hard. Although I assume you have hired a bodyguard.
The Gamer stared at her, I did and it is in your best interest that she stays alive, unless you want me to look for someone to me.
The blood-soaked technocrat just poured herself a new ss. Whatever, she waved off, seeing no value in this discussion. What I wanted to get at: if you are heading down to Washington, you might as well try to conquer it.
She aint wrong, Rave, having spent the whole political discussion ying something on her phone while listening to music, said while rolling up the cables of her earbuds. Not like we actually control all of New York or New Jersey yet.
Lots of things to do, Scarlett sipped on her fourth drink, circuits shing up again and the television in the room suddenly switching on and depicting a map of the guilds on the North American east coast immediately surrounding them.
To give ya the rundown, Scarlett tapped on the table repeatedly, the short-nerved gesture of a smoker in the need of a fix, the Niagara, Lower Lake Guilds and Heart of Lakes are so tightly knit that you might as well call them a super guild. I dont know what they potentially have in store, and even if we assume you are the strongest person in that war, they have more resources than us at the current time. Going directly west is, therefore, dumb as bricks.
So we are basically pinned against the sea, John analysed the situation. Before asking about the southern route, which was obviously where they were going to head, he wanted to know about the rest, so he let Scarlett go on.
The American-Canadian-Trade or Amacat for short is not particrly rich. They are either what Thorne would have be eventually without your meddling or a much smaller NTC, depending how you want to look at it, the Technomancer continued. Pretty certain you can get them on your side without a single shot fired, if we y our cards right.
The Small Lake Pact is a bunch of mediocre guilds clumped tightly together. They are a regional powerrgely because they have a good administration that makes good use of their strong strike forces. Easily put, they are independent because they are good at terrorism. Thats also why theres an unaffiliated bit between all four forces in the area, the Small Lake Pact makes it unattractive to take while they themselves dont have the resources to really im that area.
The Hidden Tradition is a bunch of native American shamans that have fled into the mountains when colonialism kicked into gear, go figure. Dont like that spiritualistic bunch. However, they are strong, because they use unorthodox magic that you probably havent encountered and is therefore hard to strategize around.
Little Marnd are the closest you get to an European style guild around here. Clear government, unified code ofw, established borders and around for over two hundred years. As it so happens, located in Washington, D.C., probably not unexpected considering.
I dont think the small fry deserve any further mention. They are just guilds busy knocking each other over. If you wanted to, you could probably take them over in a few weeks.
After that information dump, Scarlett emptied her ss and poured a new one, Thats the gist of it, boss. Now go and do something useful with that so I can spread mywork. How she wasnt getting drunk in the slightest despite the amount of high-percentage alcohol she was throwing into her body was an enigma.
Not a nice tone to use, John jokinglyined about her dismissive way of saying boss.
We didnt enter an agreement because of my fucking tone, Scarlett took out the earlier denied cigarette. We did it because I want to be safe from these fucks, she gestured at the Horned Rat and Lydia, who have enough power to end me with a thought if I stayed on my own.
It would take me three thoughts, Richard specified. One for the scrying spell, one for the teleportation spell and one for whatever I chose to kill you with.
Whatever, Scarlett didnt care about the empty threat. Take your bravados to somebody who you pay to deal with them. Cant imagine anyone listening to you if they have the choice.
The funny thing is, you are right, the Horned Rat giggled. Thats why I dont give them the choice.
Scarlett rolled her eyes and put her ck hat on her head. I am going for a smoke, she mumbled into her cigarette, already lighting it before she stepped out the door, much to Aclysias annoyance. Despite John not having made an announcement on the matter yet, it was pretty clear that there was only one proper way to give Lydia what she wanted, visiting his mother, and also further their ambitions on the continent.
Okay, so, after the announcement and setting up the basic government so it can sustain itself even without me around, we are going to Washington, he told everyone. We are taking over the Little Marnd, through whatever means we have that is the most humane. From there, we should be able to snowball our position.
That was highly optimistic; reality had a tendency of other states not just watching idly as theirpetitors, particrly sudden new ones, went to strengthen themselves. If John moved, so would his surroundings. That was justmon sense.
However, he couldnt predict how they would act, so that was more of an art than a science. Well, thats everything. Richard, you are going to take some guest room, I assume? John asked.
Some small cove downstairs where I wont hear you, the Horned Rat unsarcastically nodded, disinterested in hearing the Gamer fuck around.
Needless to say, I will be staying in your room, Lydia dered. Although Id appreciate a private retreat. Ironically, the former''s request was harder than thetter''s.
Two dayster?
Chapter 473 – The Hudson Barrier 1 – Prelude
Chapter 473 C The Hudson Barrier 1 C Prelude
John was sitting in a leathery armchair in his living room. His back leanedfortably against the rest, his butt was firmly on the cushion, his feet wereid up and rested on a casually self-degrading Elizas naked back. The blood mage was grinning madly and clothed only in her leathery garments, as per usual, having seen hime and prostrated herself casually. Apparently, she was slowly getting into a thing called casual BDSM. It was something John greatly appreciated as well, stroking his dominant tendencies quite pleasingly.
In other circumstances, the Gamer would probably have been naked, but that would feel weird. Not only was he waiting for news of Magoi to finish his preparations for the announcement, he was also on phone with his mother. Being naked while being on phone with his parents would have felt very, very weird.
Yeah, we dont have ns next week, so you are free to stay here for a few days, Brenda told him. How many people are youing with again?
John had to think about that for a second. Rave was a non-starter, she was human and she had her disguise to hide her hair and, more importantly, eyes. There was a small problem with Eliza though, since they had to find some sort of indoor eptable recement for the scarf. Aclysia and Beatrice coulde, they were able to shift to being basically indistinguishable from humans. Lydia, of course, was going toe with. The elementals were out, even Gnome, who was probably too heavy for most mundane chairs.
He continued on like this to arrive at a number of people who could sensiblee with him. Six or seven others, have to wait on the confirmation of thest one of my girls. She has a bit of a situation.
Well we only have three extra bedrooms, his mother hummed from the other side of the line. Ah, listen to me only three extra bedrooms, sheughed, you know, I didnt quite expect this when marrying your father, but he really knows how to make money.
Like father like son, John joked, got some exciting news on that front myself.
Really? Do tell! his mother couldnt wait.
Sorry, rather do it in person, John declined, that was the truth, but only insofar that he wanted more time to check on his believable lie. The sting of the untruthful son caused him to shift in his seat, but no matter what his conscious said, Gaia didnt give him a great choice in the matter. Just like which foot was sitting atop the other, crossed on Elizas back, John switched topics. Anyway, three bedrooms sound like plenty.
Yeah at first Brenda sighed. One of them is permanently upied by that darling Hex, that was the name the bodyguard John had hired for his parents went by. The fact that she was living with his parents wasnt news to him; she had reported her sessful infiltration of their lives at the time. In answer, John had doubled her sry. As a reward, and to show her that he was willing to pay her for loyalty.
So far, he wasnt regretting it. Hex was dutiful in her work and diligent in her weekly reports, even if all of them so far had consisted of literally Nothing.
She is a bit stern that one, but a kinky one in bed, really likes her tools, Brenda continued.
Mom! John pinched the bridge of his nose, his fine-eared stoolughed like a hyena with a sore throat. Way too much info!
Whatever you say, sweetie, she dismissed hisints with the sugar-coated voice of an amused mother. Anyway, second bedroom is being upied next week by a nice boy I met in a bar recently. I will spare my poor harem-head of a son the details, but he is about your age so you will probably get along.
John closed his eyes and inhaled very deeply before audibly letting the air slowly exit through his nose. The knowledge that other people than his father were fucking his mother was already odd, seeing a person in the flesh would be John didnt know what it would be, just that he felt strongly about this. Yeah, okay, he said nheless. He might as well face reality head-on. So you only have one bedroom left, is what you are saying?
Pretty much would that be a problem? If I understand correctly, you are having sex with everyone you are bringing anyway, Brenda pointed out. We can probably put some air mattresses down or something for the ones that dont fit on the bed. Not optimal, but it should work.
Yeah, we should be fine. There are some of us that wont mind the floor, he pulled a foot back and gently shoved it in Elizas face. He quickly pulled back when her sharp teeth were snapping at him yfully. It appeared that her mood wasnt quite that perverse at the moment and she was just enjoying her position of medium degradation. Therefore, he put the leg back on the other one and maintained that level. So next week Monday the 23rd, right? Can wee in whenever? How thick are the walls?
Your father will be out for work early and I am usually sleeping until around seven, so I would appreciate it if you coulde in after he and I had breakfast a short silence that practically spelled and give us time to have a morning threesome with Hex, so after eight or nine you cane in whenever. I am looking forwards to meeting most of my little boys harem. Seems like yesterday that you were glued to your screen. Also, I want to check Janes ims that you gained actual muscles.
You dont really see it under the clothes, John stated with a sigh, thin-limbed body type, but on the plus side I regrly getpliments when the clothes are off. They are the underhanded you really didnt seem like-type, but nevertheless,pliments. A short awkward pause ensued, with Brenda chuckling and him realizing that he was now talking about things that would make him shift ufortably away from the conversation if his mother would be the one saying it. Anyway, do you have a jacuzzi?
We have a pool, Brenda said.
Wrong! John dered, I am bringing a jacuzzi.
How would you even bring a jacuzzi? his mother was a bit taken aback, not knowing her son for such emotional outbursts.
Trust me, I just am, he didnt know himself yet, but he would spread the light of the bubble bath to his parents. Anyway, I dont really think its the weather for the pool yet. Aside from that dreadfully hot dayst week, Friday the 13th funnily enough, the weather was either cold or decently okay. It hadnt gotten hot in a while.
Oh, you just wait. The second April enters thest week, we will be sitting in the seventy-degree range, quite regrly, Brenda prophesized. It was around 90 here for a few days. April is the month of crazy weather. There will be at least one day where we can go into the pool, so bring your swimwear.
Sure, John needed it anyway for that jacuzzi he would be installing, but can you trante that to units that make sense?
Dont start that with me, young man! Brendained. Your father is nagging me enough with metric this, metric that, and unlike him you arent an engineer to justify it.
No, but I am the son of an engineer, John defended himself with a chuckle and from there the conversation devolved into unimportant topics until they finally said their goodbyes and the Gamer ended the call. At that point, he turned to Eliza, What was wrong with the face-stepping? he asked her.
Dont know, just felt like biting you instead, she shrugged, earning herself a raised eyebrow. Just a bit of nibbling, you perverted shit! she scowled at him. I dont want to eat your little toe or some disgusting Swedish-food level of culinary distaste.
Yeah, sure, I am the perverted one, John bantered back, switching the position of his feat again, not the girl WANTING to be my footrest and admitting she wants to nibble on my feet to change up the usual stepping.
Dont step on my fucking face until you press the other half into something, you brain-screwed cum-hose, she dered and, moving with a sudden burst of speed, weaved her way out from underneath his feet and into straddling over hisp. I will break you and your fat, dumb cock, and when I am done with you, I will tear out your throat and feed it to the goats!
You seem in a good mood today, John stated, not even sarcastically. It had been a while since she went on a tirade like this. Ever since she had lost the effective control over her powers, Eliza had been a bit withdrawn in the loosest possible sense. Is it weird that I missed you threatening me? he put his arms around her waist and gently drew her closer.
Yeah, that makes you a retarded moron, sheughed at him, letting him proceed until his head hit her chest. The softness of her bosom was pleasing, but he was just listening to the heartbeat behind. It was quick, not just because she was agitated, but because her beyond-human physique was different in many ways. Nevertheless, it was strong and calming. The dots in her eyes turned slowly, leaving the two lines in her left eye that had permanently transformed stuck in ce in an odd way.
So, you can control your own powers again? he asked. Before these recent incidents, with Thana forcefully overstaying the time she could normally maintain control over their body, Eliza had always been taken by the goddess of genocide after straining herself even the slightest bit.
Nie, she answered in Polish. Unless you want to count that fucking excuse for a momentary ess to my normal physical power. Still cannot use any of my old abilities, from those useless fucking wings, to normal blood magic or anything fucking else, without her getting uppity and ruining my beaver-raping day.
Whats wrong with beavers? John wanted to say, since she seemed to be using beaver-rape as a synonym for something good. Of all my girls, you are the hairiest down there.
Is is that a problem? her voice suddenly swung into the hesitant tone of a girl that felt inadequate. I can shave, I am sorry if it bothers you, this wasnt one of her submissive tendencies, this was her being genuinely worried. I know I am filthy and shit
John let one hand slide up her back and, once it had reached the back of her head, gently pulled her into a kiss, the quick kind that aimed to ry nothing but the love that reverberated in the words that followed. You arent filthy or anything, Eliza, he spoke in a quiet but firm voice. I am just making a joke; if your pubic hair really bothered me that much, you would hear it more often. More important than that, even if it bothered me, I still love you. I would like for you to change the little things you can that bother me, but I wouldnt dream of demanding you be whoever I want you to be. Brushing some of her middle-back length hair behind her ear with his extended thumb, he smiled. Have trust that I love you, no matter what your stupid little mood swings tell you.
She leaned down and kissed him back. When their lips parted, she didnt sit back up but lowered herselfpletely in his embrace. Now they felt each others heartbeat against their chest. They had an odd synchronicity to them, Elizas heart beating twice for every time his did. One of these fucked up days, she whispered, I wont get dumbass doubt or panic attacks from shit like you making a joke about my pubic hair or my figure.
We can hope, John gently stroked her soft hair and breathed in her scent. You smell good today, chamomile? he asked. Normally she had the sweet fragrance of just being a girl, but today he noticed that bit on her.
Aclysia, your over-caring and way too perfect robo-maid, washed me after finding me snoozing on the couch identally spilled crisps all over me like the dumb slut I am, the blood mage admitted. Is it nice?
Its unusual, John teased, biting her earlobe gently. In response, Eliza shivered head to toe, she loved when he did that, even outside the sexual context. It was one of those little things that was tremendously different from girl to girl and that John loved to find out about each of them. In his deepest, nonedic voice, he whispered directly into her ear. I love you. I love you and everyone else in my harem, all of you the same and individually. To finally answer your question though, no, you trim just enough that I dont have problems. If it was any longer, I would be less enthusiastic about eating you out though.
I will keep that in my whore-vortex of a scramble-brain, Eliza whispered back and closed her arms around his back. Can we stay like this a while longer?
Only if you tell me what you have against beavers, he joked.
They build dams, she answered, dams are walls and I hate those.
I see, he hadnt expected that weird and simultaneously deep kind of reason. While there was a wide opening to mock her for this, he decided that would not only be heartless but also entirely disced. Well, no, he didnt decide, deciding meant that he would have thought about either doing it or not. He just didnt.
They sat there in silence for a solid minute before Eliza suddenly giggled. A giggle that went toughter. She had the decency to get away from his ears before her whole body was shaking with amused cramps, wringing spiritually unhealthy sounding, shrill sounds out of her lungs.
Arent you one giant fucking romantic? she asked all of a sudden, back to her normal state. Cute as all kinds of pandas, or some other useless animal thats going extinct, girl sitting in yourp and you dont even get your fuckshaft erect!
Hey, I can cuddle! John dered. Also, I am pretty sure I would blue ball myself if we started fucking now.
I actually wonder, if you didnt fuck for three days, what would happen to you? Eliza asked.
Not that much, I think, John said, Source of Satisfaction keeps my Libido depressed down to 25 when I am not having sex, and with how high my Wisdom is he shrugged, I would be pent up, but its not like I would be reduced to whatever I was when I had Cumslut equipped.
Which we need to repeat, desperately! Eliza growled, salty that she had lost to Rave by such an immense margin that day. Also, the proper safe word these days was Expulsion. The blood mage had felt immensely bad after the fact for having said I hate you even as a means to secure her remaining sanity.
Maybe, John said, looking at her tits in their barely hiding confinement. Now that the topic of sex was on the table, his brain was going ces. Problem was, he really didnt know when Magoi would finally be done, and once he would be touching them, it would only be thirty seconds to him nailing Eliza on the table. He knew himself. Curse you, you sexy woman and your delicious looking boobs! he told the insanely grinning blood mage.
To distract himself, he opened the unspent Fateweaver perks.
Very boring choices. Very, very boring choices. Once more, only one was reced, being Loot Basin for the new Loot Focus, which he swiftly took. He was certain he could abuse it in some way to make money.
Something good? Eliza asked; his girls generally knew when John was staring at a window to make a decision.
Not really, John answered as the blue decision-making tool closed and revealed Elizas tits again. Now naked and revealing their blue-tinged, light purple nipple crowned glory directly to his eyes in all their firmness. Did you have to pull a Siena on me?! John whined, looking at the perfectly delicious treat. You were supposed to bring bnce to the SM spectrum, not tease me with your tits!
Wow, that must be the worst prequel reference I have ever heard, Eliza shook her head.
No cussing in that sentence? John wondered, eyes stuck to her cleavage.
The fuck are you on about? I said prequels, how much nastier do you want my words to get? the blood mage giggled and then hugged the Gamers face with her rack. Now get your dense-ass brain going and punish me, you cockhead.
What was a man to do but nail her on the table?
Chapter 474 – The Hudson Barrier 2 – Type Three
Chapter 474 C The Hudson Barrier 2 C Type Three
John had found a nice position to be frozen in ce in. Legs scissoring with Elizas, he was standing above her, using the one that was reaching up in front of him as handle. The blood mage was underneath him, upper body curved against the surface of the table. It was an awkward way to have sex; thrusting felt more like he was repeatedly dunking his dick into the honeypot. Nevertheless, it worked and he could even properly step on her face in the process.
Which was exactly what he did when Aclysia came in. You need to work on your discipline, Master, she informed him. Magoi says the preparations areplete.
You could have just told me that mentally, the Gamer stated, struggling to reign in his sex-drive and call it quits there.
Aclysia getting naked did not help that endeavour, the clothes withdrawing into her body and leaving the athletic curves of the weaponized maidpletely exposed. In that case I couldnt have helped providing you with some release, Master, she informed him, seductively biting her lower lip as she looked at her creator wantonly. We have five minutes.
For once within the time limit, the duo of Eliza and Aclysia managed to make him cum. Although Aclysia was certainly just the support squad there, as John simply switched the position to something less awkward and fucked the masochistic woman he was already inside of, in a way that he would get to the edge as fast possible. The white-haired artificialdy at his side just worshipped his body with kisses and pleased his ears with coercive moans andments of her love.
sting his cum inside Elizas eager pussy, John then put his clothes on per inventory and they went out. Eliza, you will need to close your robe for once, John told her as the blood mage simply threw the ck piece of cloth over herself, together with the short scarf that she seldomly activated but usually wore.
Why the shit would I do that?! she wanted to know; as far as she was concerned, she was wearing as much as she had to. You said you found me sexy, are you a liar? Do I need to set your fucking house on fire?
You most definitely are, John looked from her nice and thick thighs, over her athletic stomach, up to her odd hair, white until the neckline from where on downwards it rapidly became an azure blue. The sick, blueish white of her skin and her shortness did nothing to distract from the fact that she was a stunning woman. Definitely breeding material, which was exactly what she wanted to be in Johns eyes. Problem is, he cleared his throat, we are about to go in front of a livestream and you are leaking downstairs.
The leather thong she wore was enough to cover her pussy and the hair surrounding it, but with Johns particrlyrge load, it was just too probable that some of his three times average load would trickle out. He wasnt afraid of the scandal, but he also didnt want to invite it. Particrly because there was at least some chance there were minors watching.
Either that or dont appear on the broadcast, he told her.
And be as bored as an armless nympho on a deserted non-fucking ind? Leaving you to be seen with all your other whores?! Eliza shook her head and began closing the ck robe. It was a bit of an unusual process since she practically always wore it open. The strip of cloth at the waist had always just been dangling uselessly, now it actually had a purpose. Like a monks robe, the thing basically held in ce with just that. Nevertheless, the blood mage frowned. I HATE clothes, she growled.
Get used to them, unless you dont want to meet my mother, John reminded her. We also need to give you a recement for that scarf.
Eliza gently touched the soft essories around her neck. As nice as this thing was, dumbass idea to make it a scarf, she mumbled as they went out of the yacht and onto the main ind. Anything in mind already?
Something small, thinking either ne, ring or some small piercing although you dont have a good history with those, so I guess you wouldnt want a piercing? John vividly remembered ripping the hook-covered nails out of her body as she retold the summary of her tormented existence up to that point.
No piercings, she agreed, tapping on the ring finger of her left hand. Guess what this piece of psychopathic gargling wants from you?
John made a face as if he had just bitten into something sour. Eliza, you know you arent getting an engagement ring. Especially not first, he tried to deliver that as clearly as possible. If I ask someone to marry me, it will be Jane, and if she is fine with multiple marriages, that will happen after that.
Fucking fine, Eliza crossed her arms, hidden underneath the wide sleeves up to the wrist. Her fingers, ending in the dark-red nails that were actually crystallized blood, danced over her sleeve. I dont like any of that though.
Give her a choker, Aclysia suggested.
Oh, this bitch loves chokers, Eliza enthusiastically agreed.
Choker it is then, John nodded; he would ce that order on the Abyss Auctionter. Either that or he would ask Lydia who made the scarf and see if he could get it cheaper there. He split his attention to contact Beatrice. Everyone already there? he asked her.
Affirmative, came the usual answer. Only waiting for you. Magoi is ready. Scarlett is ready. All girls are assembled. Only you arent.
No need to underline the point that much, Johnined and cut her off before he could get a positively factual but sassy tone-deafment back. He would see her in a moment anyway, all he needed to do was step on the Transport Station.
The Tier 1 upgrade had increased the range by quite the margin, and with the maximum outpost counter having gone to three, John had ced the third teleporter right on the edge of that increased range. The blue circle underneath him shed up and the three guild members were teleported right into the former Thorne HQ.
Currently, the wreath of cables and thorny branches was still in front of the slightly damaged skyscraper, but work was already being done for transforming this building into the administrative heart of Fusion. Congress and Johns Council would be held elsewhere, but basically this was where the bureaucrats would do the necessary paperwork.
At least for now, as Fusion grew, John was highly certain they would need more of a government district than a single building. Congress and Council were just a start. The courts would need their own building, if not multiple, same for the secret service Scarlett was already designing (under the watchful eyes of basically everyone). Many, many things to be done.
Speaking of Scarlett, John thought as he stepped off the tform. The Transport Station had been ced in an inconspicuous room in the skyscraper. There was nothing special about it, just a red carpet with walls covered in a dark wood and boring, ster white ceiling with longmps stretching over it, connecting to the ones that went around a corner and enlightened a long hallway.
The reason why this room specifically had been chosen was twofold. One, it was directly under the roof. Either up the nearby stairs, essible through a simple ss door, or via the elevator one could rtively simply get up there, granted one had the proper security clearance on them. Being the new owner of this building, John was running around with a card that could unlock all electronic locks.
Unless Scarlett decided to finagle with them, of course. The Technomancer was the second reason why this particr ce had been picked, as this was the floor the redhead had been living in for years now. Underneath the wood rested machines that could redesign or shift rooms inside the building how she saw fit. Scarlett preferred staying in the area where she had total control over everything, for understandable reasons.
John also liked this, because, even if she had total control of everything inside, she was still sitting inside an easy to find location that he could break his way into if need be. Trusting her, as much as he wanted to believe she really meant that she wouldnt backstab him (as long as he stayed her best protector), would not be wise.
He was tempted to knock on the wall to signal he wanted to be let in and see how she was doing, but her job right now was to regte the livestream that they had set-up as a way to ry this event. She was doing so through multiple filters and there was a crew actually responsible for keeping that thing running, but Scarlett was keeping everything smooth from the background.
Her life would be much easier if she didnt hide everything she did, John thought. He was wondering just how strong he needed to be for her to befortable with revealing her existence to the broader public. Then again, a secret weapon everybody knows about was not particrly effective, so maybe they just ought to not use her abilities for trivialities like this. Once I get a normal Technomancer team, this wont be a problem, he told himself and headed for the stairs.
Momentster, he emerged on the rooftop. The white-tiled floor had been recently cleaned, leaving no remains of the time John had dumped more than a bit of dirty water into it. From up here he had a good view over the surrounding area, or at least what the Illusion Barriers borders fooled him to be the surrounding area.
That was all about to change.
Scattered over the roof were numerous things and people. Most domineering of all were two groups, namely Johns affiliated (he would have said harem, but Richard was amongst them, in his whole three-metre tall vainglory) and the camera crew. It was a hastily cobbled together arrangement of people with know-how and others that first held a camera two days ago. While them being able to film anything of high value was unlikely, John didnt need it to be perfect. As long as people could hear what he was saying and see him in decent quality, everything would be fine.
The cameras were set-up as such that they were filming a construction in the middle of the roof. Several tforms stacked on top of each other like arches, made from simple concrete at the core but iid with runes from several, highly refined elemental metals made for a disy like a modern art project.
That wasnt meant as apliment. It had rough, uneven corners, was asymmetrical and looked generally like somebody had taken the top of the empire state building, sized it down and lost a fair chunk of pixels on the way, only to fix it by badly drawing over them in MS Paint.
On these several arching tforms stood Fateweavers. Eight on the lower levels, four on the middle and on top stood Magoi adorning his typical mask and suit. Mr Newman, Sir! somebody called out to him and hurried over, a sleek looking man whose backwards gelled hair had several strands unruly falling around his face instead. We can start whenever you want!
Good to hear, John nodded thankfully. Just give me one more minute, then we can start. The media man made the OK sign with his hands, and the Gamer manoeuvred his way towards the construction. Once there, he looked up to Magoi and shouted. Everything alright up there?
Id rather be somewhere else to be honest, the High Fateweaver answered. Standing at the highest ce on top of a skyscraper without railing isnt great.
Afraid of heights? John wondered.
Hardly, the Fateweaver home barrier is at the peak of Mt. Everest and then double that height for the highest point, Magoi joked. Just saying, not where I would like to spend my afternoon.
Alright, I will make it short then will this work? John somewhat doubtfully looked at the clearly third-rate construction.
Magoi noticed and beratingly raised a finger. I am working with novices here, John. You dont get a high-quality IBMA under these circumstances. Once the academy runs properly and I got a bit more time, we will rece it. It will work until then, the raptor-faced man stemmed his hands into his hips and heroically puffed out of his chest, something that had a limited effect due to his lean build and English gentlemen clothes. You have my word as a High Fateweaver!
Thats a pretty good word, John admitted and dropped the topic. Distrust of the clearly bad construction remained, but if the craftsman told you the bad solution would work long enough for the good one toe about, then one could do naught but trust him. An IBMA was a must have for any guild that strived to be a middle-tier power. He would just have to swallow that not having a perfect one would lessen the amount of prestige this would grant him.
With a pre-arranged signal of his hand, John let the media management know that he was ready. Final adjustments were made, the girls stood in position watching their boyfriend and lover from the visible background. Only Rave, Lydia and Aclysia were right next to him. The former andtter were standing right and left of him, while the queen stood at an arms length. This is kinda exciting, his girlfriend whispered while Aclysia was pulling Johns suit a bit more into position at thest possible moment.
Wearing his usual suit in the usual casual manner, John was not looking as formal as he perhaps should have. Foregoing the tie, as well as leaving his ck vest and the upper buttons of his shirt open, showing just a bit of corbone, was definitely not how politicians usually went about presenting themselves. However, he didnt feel like much of a politician and he didnt want to create an image of himself that was different from how he behaved in private. At least he was attractive enough that he could get away with it at this point.
John made a grimace as the countdown was called, Personally would prefer a less public life but this is part of what I want to do, whether I like it or not. They were robbed of a deeper conversation by a red light switching on behind the cameras to indicate they were live. The cameras had their own bulbs to let people know which one was currently in use.
There was a moment of awkward silence as John wasnt quite sure how to start, no amount of Charisma in the world would fix that. Then, with no idea what else to do, he just started talking. Greetings to all who are watching this stream. I am John Newman. Many of you will have heard of me at least in passing. For the few of you that havent, let me tell you what you need to know.
I am ate-bloomer with a very peculiar, video game themed power. Through one thing or another, I ended up in the service of Lydia Augusta the Fourth of the house Hohenzollern of Germany, but that agreement has ended, and now I am pursuing my own goals. Foremost of which is to bring better times to my home.
This part he had to word very carefully; too aggressivenguage and the neighbouring guilds would understand it as a deration of war against them. However, he also couldnt pull his punches, lest he was deemed disingenuous down the line. I find thewless state I know many parts of the USA to be in disgraceful. Poverty, very, a powerful elite waltzing about the ce without any rules to them. Under my government, this wont happen.
The guild I head is named Collide, but rather than control everything, we aim to unify. Therefore, I announce hereby that the federal arrangements of guilds under my leadership shall be called Fusion. Those whoe to ept thews of this new federation shall be leftrgely to their own devices. Much like the real USA, state rights are of high concern to me. That is, however, a topic for another time.
Today, I want to speak directly to you, my people. I find you under my leadership at this current time due to the death of Thorne and its alliance of aggressors. The anarchistic, unchecked grinding of economic forces is over. Now, we enter a time of prosperity for everyone, he stopped to look up to Magoi.
Here we go then, the High Fateweaver rubbed his hands together. The runes on the construction of arches began glowing. Purple, golden, blue, red, green and brown, all the elemental colours and mixtures in-between were spreading their influence on the beckoning of the 13 Fateweavers.
IBMA, an Illusion Barrier Mass Anchorage, that was the construction Magoi had built and charged over the past few days, with help from his very first pupils and other Fateweavers in the area. The purpose of this device was quite easy: it maintained barriers of massive size and made their destruction improbable.
Several messages popped up in front of John, but he dismissed them for now as thendscape around him changed, just the slightest bit, as therge barrier around the Thorne HQ became gigantic and gobbled up every smaller barrier in the area that had no ovep protection.
There were three categories of Abyssal cities. Type ones were those where there were no permanent barriers of significant size, only residential zones or small guild halls. Type twos were the ones that had several big barriers inside the city. Type threes were then finally where the entire city was located in one giant barrier.
New York is now a type three city, John announced as the cameras went back on him. Fusion has been initiated and thest rebellious elements still hiding inside the city will soon lose their homes. We are a new yer in this game
He smiled for the first time in this stream, but dont go and underestimate us.
Chapter 475 – The Hudson Barrier 3 – Further announcements
Chapter 475 C The Hudson Barrier 3 C Further announcements
John let the moment settle in for his listeners. Of course, he wasnt just dropping this change on the residence of this new type three city, vague warnings had been given in advance. Not that there was any real damage that could be caused by this rather sudden expansion in living space.
Over the next few weeks, we will start building projects and get our internal affairs in order, John told the camera. If there are people out there that want to live under the rule ofw, both the entire code and summary of principles you can find on the page you are on right now, that being Fusions fancy new government page that was running on former Thorne servers, be assured that we will soon have an immigration office up, please be patient until then. He racked his brain for something else to say but found nothing, Last should be said that Fusion is going to enter a defensive pact with the Illuminati in the future, he felt a bit silly saying that, but that was his life now, and talks over trade agreements are running with the queen of Rex Germaniae. They best make announcements regarding this themselves, so I leave the floor to Lydia as well as the Ho-
At that point, the Horned Rat grabbed the currently active camera from above and yanked it around to point at his face. That act shocked more than just the poor woman handling the device but also John who had foolishly expected the ever-unpredictable god to keep to the protocol. Every child or person faint of heart on the globe simultaneously started crying out in shock as the skull-face with the red-flickering eyes filled the entire screen.
241 days, the Horned Rat spoke in its echoing voice, deep and squeaky at the same time. Words of power rolled through the air and boomed out of speakers everywhere. That is the time from now until the defensive pact bes true. Until then, neither Collide nor Fusion can expect any help from me or my guild.
Johns eyes went wide, by stating it that bluntly, the god of cmity was basically waving a sign around that said, If you want to murder this threat in the crib, here is the timeframe. The Horned Rat looked over with an open-mouthed grin, the fleshy tongue flickering out as heughed like the true viin of Johns story. A torrent of arcane energy suddenly unloaded and then the camera fell to the ground, the holding god teleported away.
Despite his otherwise perfectly fine broadcast being suddenly derailed into this mess, now that his initial surprise had settled, John could just sigh over the broken piece of equipment. Well, thats Richard for you, he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Guess the Horned Rat wont be speaking about more then, Lydia, do you want to address the audience?
Definitively, the queen of steel had nerves of the same material and nothing that unusual had just happened. The HTC and NTC have both authorized me to say that Germany will look into making agreements with the stable market a proper code ofw will provide. The NTC already traded with Thorne before today but will be looking forward to increasing its ties with a guild that has the navy to send wares the other way as well. A detailed outline of the contract will be published long before its signing.
She then went on some more to address not Johns but her own people that were watching. Eventually, the announcement wrapped up without any more unexpected happenings.
____________________________________________________________________
A dick as always, Johnined, running up and down the living room, as Richard refused to answer any text-messages. Chances were he had teleported directly to their airport and took a flight out, or maybe he had parked a boat nearby and was now cackling away as he cruised through the waves back towards France. Point was, the Horned Rat was guaranteed to enjoy this situation.
Meanwhile, the Gamer was making the mistake of browsing thement section. LOL, Richard for life! Such a boss! he read in a voice that was not fitting for the acronym LOL at all. Man, is Fusion going to be a puppet of the French? C How does he even get to that conclusion when he just drew a GIANT target on my back?! he was tempted to throw his phone like his mouse after being demoted in League of Legends after an insufferable round.
Rave fished his phone out of his hands, tossed it at Beatrice and kissed him on the lips. By the end of that, he was at least calm enough. Shut it, big boy, this went well enough, she stated and tapped her slender index finger against the tip of his nose. Boop, now think about how nothing broke.
I find myself agreeing with Jane, Lydia chimed in, one of the few girls in the room. Metra and Aclysia had left to patrol the city; Nia was officially doing the same, but she was also doing Nia things; Eliza said she wanted to take a shower and then a nap and so on. Point was, it was him, Rave, Lydia and Beatrice, who stood in a corner like a mannequin holding his phone. Your reaction was also good. If you had looked overwhelmed, that would have made you an easy target of ridicule.
Yeah, because I am not right now, Johnmented, gesturing at Beatrice and his phone by proxy.
Just the usual drivel, to be ignored, Lydia stated; it was the truth in many ways. You better wait a few days and then sort by most liked to see what is the actual representation of opinion, rather than read every negativement as ites in.
Grumbling something about allowing Smander to set the world on fire, he plopped down on the couch. Rave followed the motion and put a hand on his arm, a momentter their fingers interlocked and her warmth flowed into him with a happy fluttering in his stomach. There was just no way to remain angry when these pretty blue eyes were smiling at him.
Also, it wasnt like he had left the situation worse off than before; he now had three unspent Guild Perks. There had been a third window about him deciding whether he wanted his Guild Hall integrated into the barrier oryered over it. He had chosen the former.
Alrighty, Rave noticed her boyfriends improved mood and rested her pink head on his shoulder, snuggling right up to him. Always more conservative with her demeanour, Lydia was satisfied just sitting close enough that their legs touched as she sipped her tea. What now?
Now I have several things I should do, John began listing them. I should try to get an SEP, Gnome is at her maximum skill level so I can evolve her. I also should be grinding and getting some more levels, its only going to get more dangerous from here on out. I am also thinking about whether or not I should spend some GP to boost my AS skill level.
You should also think about having intercourse with me again, Lydia advised.
Again? John asked, blinking at the usually more reserved member of his harem. More reserved meaning that she was fine with sex every other day instead of everyday or every other hour. You must have really missed me.
I did, the queen freely admitted, refilling her cup of tea. It also doesnt help that this room positively exudes the fact that there isnt a single piece of furniture you havent molested during sex.
What about the TV? Rave suggested.
Uhm, John chimed in, Remember that one time we put a lesbian porno on out of boredom and the redhead really got us going so we went doggystyle against the screen?
Ah, right, the Lightbearer did recall that. Okay, I got nothing then.
And what of the things you should do are you going to do now? Lydia kept the conversation flowing.
Dunno, he slurred his answer. You know that feeling when you know you should do something, anything really, but you are just so damnfortable? He put his arm around Raves shoulder and pulled her even closer, if that was possible. Thats how I am feeling right now.
You are procrastinating, Lydia used themon word for it and made it sound like a disgusting disease. She acted the way too, pping his left leg with a small whip she quickly formed from the Ferforitum rapier she had left lying nearby. Such conduct is disgraceful, particrly for a leader. You can rx next week. Currently you have to work, pick something to do.
Alright, alright, John mewled and opened his character sheet.
Nothing of great change there, he hadnt even achieved a level in thest days because he hadnt really taken the time to grind it out. He could probably convince Magoi to apany him for a ten-day Saturday tomorrow in order to give him a much-needed boost, but otherwise it was only his skills that were rising.
The one he was currently interested in checking was Artificial Spirit. At 19, there was not a whole lot he could do there. Or was there?
Huh, thats convenient, John spoke out loud and immediately tapped 100 Skill Levels for 500. Sure, that took exactly all GP from him, but that skill levelled so slowly nowadays (no wonder at the second reset) that it felt perfectly worth.
Well, and there was his fun ruined. How bad was the nerf?
Well, not that bad.
Whats convenient? Rave asked, squinting her almond shaped eyes as if that would help her see the window the hundredth time around. Talk to me or I am going to poke ya in the ribs until ya do.
I was thinking about whether or not I should invest some GP for some immediate gain, particrly by buying skill levels for Artificial Spirit, John answered her. Gaia or whatever randomizer she uses for the store decided to reduce the cost of getting 100 to exactly how many GP I had.
Huh, that IS convenient, Rave agreed. Think she feels bad for all the mud she is dragging ya through?
I highly doubt it, John shook his head. I doubt she feels much for me to be honest, aside from maybe using me as a reality TV show and that one time as a tool to get off.
Lydia almost mockingly raised an eyebrow. You are lucky then she needs entertainment enough to continuously empower you, shemented. Albeit I agree that you cant expect her to save you.
John just nodded and went on with his business. Step one was to raise Artificial Spirit all the way to 100. There was an argument to be made to invest these points into his elementals instead, particrly Siena and Sylph who were Tier 3, but as far as John was concerned powering up Aclysia and simultaneously getting an opportunity to give Beatrice some abilities would be worth more bang for the buck.
That investment took 81 of the 100 points he had. After a moment of thinking, he spent 11 of the 19 remaining points on Tempest Elemental Summoning, pushing it to 95, and the rest on Nightmare Elemental Summoning, making it reach level 69. He could show at least some love to his elementals. As to why he didnt push Sylph right to 100, he didnt even have the Skill Evolution Point for Gnome right now, so he assumed she would naturally reach that level in time. If you get the chance, will you create another one of us? Beatrice asked from the sidelines.
No, John answered pretty much immediately, for the same reason as usual. His harem was currently integrating two new members, the asking Artificial Spirit herself as well as Scarlett, and after the disaster that was his creation of the passive maid, he really didnt feel like making another one right now. Anyway, Aclysia isnt here right now, so I am starting with you, Beatrice, he told the people in the room, nevertheless reaching out to his first creation. Are you currently preupied? he asked, along with a rush of information as to what he had just done to get right to the topic. He wanted her to return as soon as possible.
Yes, but not in a meaningful way, Aclysia answered, sending back what she was currently seeing. It was the quickly bleeding out form of a suited man, his knuckles hidden under iron. Probably some sort of bodyguard.
Johns primary reason for creating a type three barrier had been the utility of a vast area that could actually be patrolled. It was much easier to find criminal hideouts in a neighbourhood than it was to find dimensional pockets that were invisible and could contain either criminals or a harmless pool club. The fact that it was prestigious and that it allowed wares to flow within the magical economy without the costly (and very risky) act of shipping them through real world traffic was nice, but secondary if he was honest.
Aclysia must have stumbled over someones hideout, but being the same level as her master meant she had no problems rooting them out by herself. John reminded himself what her current Stats looked like.
Quite Strength focused, as she still wasnt able to wield Marath properly. Once she was able to swing that oversized utility knife around with ease, John would increase her Endurance. They had also dipped into Charisma for a little bit due to Aclysias increased public work.
He ambushed me and I prioritized safety of myself over his life in prison. I hope that course of action meets your approval?
Approval is a strong word, John didnt like killing people, even if he wasnt the one wielding the weapon that ultimately did it, but I understand that logic. I would still prefer it if you could make prisoners whenever it seems feasible.
I understand, I will try to keep my responses in the frame of non-lethality, Aclysia answered, her sight moving on after finishing the ambusher off by unceremoniously ramming Eclys through his neck. Having nothing to say about that, John had seen the wound on the mans chest and knew that his weaponized maid had spared the criminal the process of a slow death, the Gamer left her mind with a request for her to return.
To use up the points umted by the skills levelling, John needed to use Create (formerly Enchant) on the physical form of the girl in front of him. Thus, bestowing the perks on them over a range was impossible, even if it came without any shy visual effects.
Here we go then, John turned to Beatrice.
Chapter 476 – The Hudson Barrier Finale – Upgrades a-plenty
Chapter 476 C The Hudson Barrier Finale C Upgrades a-plenty
Those are all very bad and or boring, John mumbled, simply going ahead and picking Weapon Specialization followed by picking spears, since that was Beatrices expressed choice of equipment.
Beatrice blinked slowly at the unfamiliar sensation of sudden knowledge about how to improve herbat efficiency with exactly one type of weapon. An odd process, shemented. Not unlike gaining Stats. I find it pleasant. Please continue.
Just tell me whenever you prefer something, John said. Even though she nodded, he expected very little toe from the passive maid.
Oh god, those choices were dull. John didnt like Focused at all, repeated attacks against the same enemy usually meant one was winning already so the extra damage was negligible. Between whether he wanted Beatrice to be 1% faster or 1% stronger, he had to go with the former, simply because she would gain more from it.
Such interesting decisions! John mentallyined as he hit Nimble.
I am about to die from boredom, he groaned as he hit Nimble again. At least the next thing should be interesting.
Yeah, that was at least something to think about for a bit. Refined Body would obviously take him down the same or at least a very simr route as Aclysia had been taken down. It was chartered territory, yet John didnt feel like it was what he wanted to do in this situation, due to two reasons.
One was that one of the main attractions of Ascended Body was the part where Aclysia created Baelementium passively. While a second girl that continuously provided the valuable material wouldnt hurt his wallet, quite the contrary, there was also very little reason to. Soon his main revenue woulde from taxes and the loans he was handing out. Currently, he had more money than he knew how to spend, it was as simple as that. It would be a drop in a veryrge barrel that was already overflowing.
The other upside of the refining part of the skill was that Aclysia could nurture his other Artificial Spirits with the high-quality materials, but that was a moot point if they both had it. Only the metadermis (the perfect faux-skin blended from metal and silicon) was what Beatrice was missing out there. When the passive maid ate that stuff, it broke into itsponents. Normal (read: magical) rubber and silicon fixed that just fine though.
What also averted him from going down the path previously travelled was that he knew that between him and the choice for a proper ss for Beatrice stood five special choices: Refined Body, Refined Body II, Ultimate Body, Ascended Body and only then would he get the Cultivation choices.
He only had three, not including the reset choice, so rather than waiting until he hit fifty the next time around, shouldnt he try to see if he got something else if he took a new route? Worst case scenario was that Beatrice had a unique powerset, which wasnt bad in any way.
Between Internal Flow and Continuum Code, John favoured thetter. For a start, the alliteration made it sound cooler, then Beatrice also had nothing to do with her mana; John liked unique resources more than yet another mana-reliant build, and someone fighting with a spear could use the extra reaction speed. Plus, 20% Agility was a lot.
Continuum Code was selected and the normal choices went on in all their boredom.
Eh, interesting enough, John admitted to himself, getting poked in the ribs by his minorly bored girlfriend.
Wanna make out to pass the time, Lyly? she asked, her boyfriend ignoring her like a needy cat and kept concentrating on the task at hand.
No, came the clear rejection; the queen was more interested in her tea.
John picked Spear Specialization II. That usually lead to some more interesting choices.
Fuck thats potent, he thought as he looked at Spear of Severity. Anti-regeneration effects were hard toe by. However, so was a teleport, and John really didnt like getting caught with his pants down. Generally talking, hed rather have a rebranded defensive teleportation than a niche, if powerful, effect. So, Spear of Devotion it was.
It dawned on John that it was highly likely that he had to get rid of most of these choices anyway once the reset came around. Well, that was a problem for him in a few minutes.
Why must you taunt me, Gaia? John thought-cried looking at Sex Servant while his finger tapped on Continuum Engine. If he learned anything by now, then it was that going down one path with the Artificial Spirits usually led to better results.
If those were his choices, John decided he wanted Nimble. He already had Metra for 1vs1 fights, he didnt feel like building Beatrice up for the same niche just because, at the face of it, Duelist looked better.
Alright, there it was. The choice of ss, or Focus as Gaia seemed to have branded it since Aclysia got hers. Better formatting this time around, John nodded approvingly; the blocks of textst time around had been unsightly.
Speardancer was clearly recycled top to bottom. While it sounded potent at the face of it, John found that mere Stat-blocks stood no chance in the level of Abyssal warfare he was getting to. Even Sigmund hadnt been just running around ramming his stupidlyrge sword into peoples throats.
Plus, it was boring, tremendously so. That wasnt always a bad thing, a lot of times the most basic of designs had the strongest tools, but John liked his stuff at least somewhatplicated.
Predictor was then the choice that made him think of Beatrices love forbos the most. It was clearly focused around a very nimble style of fighting, continuously on the move and never slowing down in the battle. For a being that had no stamina to run out of, that was pretty good, although Twist Position sounded like a copy of the martial arts technique Reality Slide, the one that allowed its users to reposition without lifting a toe.
Not that copying martial arts was a bad thing. As far as John was concerned, the discipline of studied movements was a potent one. Even if he was still failing like a total novice to get as much as the basic punch down. Him hating that there was something he sucked at aside, he moved on.
Maid of the Spear was a rebrand of Maid Knight. Same resource, very simr attack reinforcement skill and a Captain America shield. Interesting, but not what John envisioned. The temptation to pick that was simply for thematic consistency.
The middle choice was, however, what John thought to fit Beatrices little personality the most. He stopped only for a second to questioningly gaze at the passive maid, but with no gesture or thought did she indicated that she cared either way. Her mind was, as almost always, a grey surface with very little in the way of desires. A speck of dust on the table seemed to be the only thing bothering her, at that moment.
Thus, she gained the Predictor Focus.
What a choice! he sarcastically threw his hands into the air, causing both women at his side to look at him like a crazy person. Particrly Rave, who had been robbed of the shoulder she leaned on, was annoyed. He quickly appeased her by putting his right arm back around her waist and resting it on the swing of her hip.
He then picked Nimble IV with his left.
The final choice was quickly done with thanks to an Extra Consumption Slot showing up for the remaining AP. Then it was reset time.
Well, it had to be a A new beginning by simple process of elimination. Sure, he could go with A real girl, but that seemed counterproductive.
Okay, I have done all I can for you right now, John said to the passive maid after picking a new material for her Consumption Slot. It wasnt a great one, but maybe it would work out.
We are going in a dungeonter to see if you are strong enough to keep up now, John said and then moved onto the next thing he could upgrade.
Namely, the Guild Perks, he had three points to take perks for that. Luckily, that was a pretty easy decision to make, as he only had to pick a category. Between Conquest, Diplomacy, Patronage and Administration, he could quickly eliminate what he didnt need.
Patronage was still useless without any patron gods. It was that simple.
Administration was pretty good but not necessary as of that moment. Neither did he need the extra Core Members nor an announcement feature. Only the buildings that category unlocked would have been good. Therefore, it was out for the moment.
Diplomacy with its Federation mechanic would be worthwhile at this point. However, the Federation would only bepletely operational once everything else had been taken. That aside, the building that category unlocked was pretty useless.
Conquest seemed like the way to go for the moment. The War-Quests would be some extra value sprinkled on top of the territorial expansion and the Guild Hall relocation sounded busted (even with the immense cooldown). Sadly, the Training Room was less great than John had originally thought; he knew that already because it had an outside limiting factor.
The Gamer had originally nned to simply sell short-term Guild memberships to Collide to people and then let them go to level 50. However, he had found three limiting factors in that n. People that had the kind of money he wanted were extremely likely to be above level 50 already, the Training Room worked with the group-level mechanics (meaning it couldnt drag them much beyond their potential without significant time investments) and John couldnt remove people from his guild for a year after inviting them.
These were the things that had either dawned on him or he had learnt about through some minor experimentation.
Anyway, even if the Training Room wasnt the greatest thing since sliced bread, thest Perk out of the Conquest path turned off friendly fire for people in his guild. That was pretty much incalcble in terms of value, especially if that worked in some part with the Federation mechanic.
Yeah, lets go Conquest, John thought and tapped down the first three of that.
Afterwards, he reluctantly peeled himself out of Raves embrace, I need to go put down a building, he told her.
Ya go do that, but we are going to fuck Lydia between that and you leaving for the dungeon, Rave decided.
John nodded and headed out. It wasnt a long walk, and on the way, he realized that none of the girls were following him. Felt a bit odd to be alone but also nice. Even Siena was out of his shadow for once.
While that did leave him somewhat vulnerable, as far as that was possible with all of the teleports off cooldown, he was within the boundaries of his own Guild Hall, so he felt safe enough. Although the barrier was now connected to the city atrge, it was still an ind. Whoever wanted to approach the ind would need to either fly or swim, and as long as he didnt see any stingrays made from shadows taking to the sky, John didnt assume he had to worry about anything.
That does look pretty odd, John thought as he emerged on the sun deck of his yacht, with eyes on the border between the Guild Halls territory and therger Hudson Barrier, the name given to the structure to prevent any New York vs New Jersey talks. Where the two met, there was a visual stutter in the sky and the water. It was as if the game engine of reality was calcting the waves and clouds for both of these areas separately. While the sky aimed to look the same by emtion on both ends, the edge showed a distorted circle around them. The water was even weirder, as waves shed against the border, vanished for a second, only to then be spat out on the other side.
Luckily, like with all barriers containingrge bodies of water, waves were scarce. Most of them were caused by a certain higher dragon using the vast amount of space he suddenly had to move around withrge curiosity. There were vessel and water-dwelling races that also shared the Hudsons brackish waters.
The reason for that border phenomenon was that Johns Guild Hall was something like the colosseum had been in Rome, a barrier that was within therger type three barrier but removed enough to be manipted on its lonesome. Magoi had grumbled that that was entirely stupid, since it had taken the Supreme and a High Fateweaver to control the colosseum and the Guild Hall had much more going on inside it than asionalndscape changes.
Indeed, the Guild Hall seemed to be a very stupid and overpowered part even of Johns powers, if the Mine and Farm, both technically endless resource generators, werent evidence enough.
John reached the highest point of the yacht and opened the map used for construction. There was no reason he had to be out there to build it, but he preferred to be able to see what he was doing outside of the menu. I guess the Training Room goes into the guild district, John thought and looked at the model of the building.
The building had two simple parts: a white wall around a courtyard and a small, one story house in the middle of it. It reminded him of a mixture of a dojo and a school, having that oriental way of roof tiling to it while the doors, windows and brick walls of the house were really making John think back to elementary school.
He ced the thing somewhat awkwardly at the base of the star fort, behind Lady Libertys back. Then he grabbed the design tool and drew a simple walkway up to its entrance. There was nobody in his guild who could even make use of the thing, as they were all above level 50, but it was good to have it ced already. There was also no reason not to, since buildings granted by the Guild Perks never cost maintenance or Room Slots.
John was about to head back inside when he heard Aclysias voice in his head. I have returned to the Guild Hall, Master, she informed him. Having teleports on the east and west coast was pretty nice. John just imagined Aclysia storming through the streets, skirt waving and revealing scandalous amounts of leg to lucky onlookers.
Although Aclysia wasnt that fast, especially notpared to Beatrice now that she profited from all those bonuses. While wondering how the Transport Station and its outposts would work if John decided to relocate the Guild Hall, he jumped over the railing and dropped to the deck below, aiming to meet the weaponized maid halfway.
Perhaps sensing his excitement or simply sharing his feelings naturally, Aclysia was just as hurried in her approach. In the end, they met where the pier was connected to thend. From the Transport Station to the Harbour, it wasnt far after all.
The flow of Aclysias hair in the modest cold of mid-April reminded John of silvery-white snow. His arms found her hips the moment she was close enough, wrapping around them and lifting her up as he whirled around his own axis. Its just great that metadermis was a surprisingly light material, otherwise John would have either failed in the movement or broken his spine.
This way, the romantic get together was aplete sess, down to the part where they stopped spinning and, with the sound ofughter like pure little bells, Aclysia leaned down from her position in his arms to kiss him. Her metallic taste and lightly stic smell didnt bother John in the slightest. After putting her down, the almost equally tall lovers stood forehead to forehead for a few moments, swinging to an invisible melody.
John, it was rare for her to address him with his actual name, we departed just a few hours ago. There is no reason to greet me this enthusiastically.
I would have enough of a reason if you were gone from my sight for five minutes, John whispered back. I love you.
I love you too, John, she returned, but then departed. I must, however, insist that we keep schedule. Our schedule with Queen Lydia is quite clear, and I must clean up as much crime as I can before we depart from the Hudson Barrier, Master.
Yeah John could only agree, but he sighed nevertheless. He wasnt feeling particrly productive today, more like cuddles and flirtations, not even sex necessarily, perhaps he needed that vacation more than he thought?
Well, just one more (or ten more depending on Magois willingness to aid him tomorrow) days.
Alright, lets do this quickly then, John decided and opened her skill tree.
Aclysia had retained a lot of the good stuff from herst run through, namely the two immense stat boosts that were the Consumptions Slots. Sword Specialization II was simply mandatory for her to keep her fighting. It was nice that he could simply keep the best version of a skill on a rerun. Of the 19 points he had before to the purchase earlier, he had spent 5 on regaining Adaptive dery.
It was somewhat rming to see that, while Gaia had gotten somewhat more creative by giving Artificial Spirits ess to these new Focus things and the skills that came with them, the supreme deity had also added the boring Increase X by 1% stat bonus to Aclysia.
Anyhow, he picked Defensive Teleportation, that was always needed in her arsenal. Plus, Aclysia let him know in no uncertain terms that she insisted on it.
Well, those were somewhat boring. John always loved his versatility, so he picked the Twilight Body. Even if the conversion rate was slower, having ess to both materials should prove more valuable.
Cool, new skills, John thought and gave them the quick once over. He dismissed Carve on the basis of being a ranged skill, which wasnt the area where Aclysia operated, and even when she did, she had Eclys and Marath. Intercept and Cutting Flurry both had tremendously higher acquisition costs, but they also seemed more useful. The only reason why John didnt immediately take Intercept was its horrendously high cooldown.
I would prefer Intercept, Aclysia reinforced his thought.
Yeah, but Cutting Flurry would be better for resource generation, John took the opposite stance despite his gut feeling agreeing. Plus, it looks like it would be a pretty useful skill to surprise enemies. You need a second to change weapons normally, right?
Adaptive dery allowed for very quick changes, but in the insane pace of an ongoing melee sh of their current level, it created a miniscule opening. The word immediately in the skill thus stood out quite a bit.
The surprise would be lost after the second time at thetest, Master, Aclysia argued back. However, I can concede that having more Devotion avable is going to be more favourable if I get ess to more spender skills. I will leave the decision to you.
After a moment more of hesitation, John picked Cutting Flurry, putting Aclysia down to 25 avable points. He really wanted her to be able to use Fortification more often, the defensive bonus was too potent not to.
Now he could make two Special Choices in a row.
That choice came down to whether he wanted Aclysia to use her generators or her spenders more often. Aggression to Devotion he foundcklustre in either case. Imagining that Servants Vigour would scale better into thete game, he picked that one.
What hellish choices. Devoted Housemaid was clearly the most useful of the three. Not only was Aclysias cooking half the reason he sessfully left the bed each morning (without it he and his harem would probably just be fucking until noon) but the inventory space was something always useful.
His dick desperately wanted to pick the left or right choice though. Even there he was torn. Did he want to have the ability to make her squirm in bliss onmand or her pussy feel even greater than currently? He did note though that he was apparently off the tree that allowed Aclysias pussy to feel amazing.
He looked to Aclysia for help, but the weaponized maid was as lost as he was. For her, the idea to cum at the sound of her beloved masters voice was pure bliss, so was cooking even better meals for him, so was blowing his mind when fucking him.
I do not suggest this lightly, she finally spoke up, but perhaps we have to randomize the choice?
Yeah, John agreed, as he couldnt find within him what he wanted the most to happen. He pulled out his smartphone and then googled a simple randomizer site. After changing the settings to 1 to 3, he pushed the button and looked at the number that immediately came out.
It was the 2.
John felt disappointed, but he knew he would feel like he was wasting the perk if he picked something else. There really was no winning here. Curse you, Gaia! he shook his fist at the sky, the prospect of great food angering him. A proper unthankful heresy.
At least that one was easy enough. Focus Service was great, but Aclysia needed way more Devotion than she currently had to make it useful. As he didnt feel like investing into Wisdom or Intellect for her anytime soon, Masters Shield seemed to yield more immediate results. That aside, it was an effective taunt and he had wanted one of those since he got Aclysia.
Also easy, A new beginning and he was done. I will go back to patrolling for the rest of the day, Aclysia told him once he had closed all windows. I will return in time to make dinner. I ask that we test my and Beatrices new capabilities tomorrow.
That was alright with him, so he nodded and returned to the living room.
Chapter 477 – Spreading the slime [Erotic Content]
Chapter 477 C Spreading the slime [Erotic Content]
John could already hear what was going on inside when he stepped into the hallway. Well known moaning echoed through the straight space, connecting living room, bridge and the outside. A bit of an odd construction that, he always found, but the yacht was very much designed with its owner operating as the captain, so it worked.
Not that it mattered, the only thing John really cared about was the question whether or not the space wasrge enough to allow all his harem members to sleep in the same room with him, which got a decisive yes. These are odd things to think about while approaching your girlfriend and your German royalty lover having lesbian fun, he couldnt butugh at himself as he pushed open the door.
What he saw over the back of the couch were the shaking heads of Rave and Lydia. While his girlfriend was giving her lust sound as openly as ever, the brte on the opposite side was stoically keeping her lips sealed even as her eyes betrayed her desires. If the fact that she was going along with this didnt make it obvious enough that Lydia had a really horny day.
Ya wait there for a minute, Rave panted demandingly when John kicked the door closed behind himself, fast approaching with his pants disappearing into his inventory. Girl time!
We are Lydia began talking, stopping to gulp down her sighs of pleasure, certainly in the middle of something.
Okay, okay, John agreed, ncing away from them and at the table between couch, armchairs and television, using Possession on the tea-cup resting atop it. The new viewing angle was much more interesting.
The two modestly chested women had their athletic bodies rubbing together by the hips. Their pussies, both with trimmed hair, were exuding their perverted tendencies through the liquid passion that turned their crotches into highlighted disys of where John wanted his face to be right now. Leaning backwards and away from each other over the length of the ck couchs leather cushions, they were relying mostly on their arms for support.
Their blue eyes were darting between the deeply attractive body of their opposite and the quickly engorging cock of the man who had pushed the doors to pleasure wide open for them. The man they both loved and who was stroking his meat absentmindedly in a reflexive gesture that did basically nothing. John liked being eye-candy to his girls, they returned the favour every day after all. Therefore, he lost the shirt as well and stood there in all his well-defined glory made from dense muscles normally hidden almostpletely under clothes.
He could practically feel the air getting damper as eyes devoured his torso. Lydia bit her ruby red lips, the colour others hoped to emte with lipstick but almost always failed to, while Rave let out an elongated moan. Ya dont need to just stand there, she told him in an uncharacteristically deep voice, clearly focusing to keep her words from scrambling. As hot as it is, we got a third girl in the room.
John looked over to Beatrice, who was doing as Beatrice did and simply stood there, watching. Notpletely simply, to be absolutely fair, as she had pulled her clothes into her body and thus stood there nakedly. Also, she was masturbating and not exactly standing but leaning against the wall. All in all, she was doing as horny Beatrice did, as (being created by a pervert) lust was one of the few things she naturally caught onto.
Right, the Gamer agreed, waving the passive maid over. A small smile appeared on Beatrices lips, the prospect of no longer needing to pleasure herself and being of use to John at the same time being of great enjoyment to her.
How do you wish to take me, Master? she desired to know the moment she stopped in front of him. Whatever your desire, I will do my all to enact it.
Bend over, Johnmanded, grabbing her with dominating roughness by the upper arm and pulling her heavy body towards the back of the couch. Immediately, she obeyed, hands wrapping around the leather, pushing her ass up as her face peeked over the grinding of the female sexes on the cushions.
Cushions still not as soft as Beatrices ass, John was firmly convinced, as he gave it a good p. Master! she reflexively cried out, then gasped as John pushed the head of his erection against her pussy. He was still dry, except for the fat drops of precum at the tip, so he entered her slowly, a steady move into her, asionally interrupted by the Gamer pulling out a bit again.
He wanted to bepletely lubricated by the time he was inside her, and with the over-abundance of sexual fluids that both of them oozed out, that wouldnt be a problem. You are so big, Beatrice, who had and would never know another cock, gasped out as she felt herself stretched to the limit of what was pleasurable. A momentter, John began to fuck her in earnest. Master! she cried out again when John added the sound of continued spanking to the squelching of a rough fucking.
On the sofa, things were quickly heating up. Mhm-aaah, the first sounds finally left Lydias stern lips as her body shivered. The sadist inside Rave immediately sprang into action, slightly changing their position. By grabbing Lydias left leg, the one that wasying on top of the techno lovers own, Rave pulled herself up while simultaneously pushing the queen down. The position was now less about equal-scissoring and more Rave fucking the brte by intensely rubbing their slick pussies together, clits colliding in electric shivers over and over again.
If the queen had any protests about this, she dared not voice them. The only sounds that came from her were the groans of pleasure stuck in her throat. Lyly, Rave gasped in a coercive tone, dontcha lie-lie to me, I heard ya moan before. Let me hear your sweet voice. The smooth, supermodel tier leg that rested on her shoulder suddenly became the target of Raves teeth, as she lovingly pinched the skin between her cattishly sharp canines.
Moments thereafter, Lydias t palm hit the leather with a sudden Thud, her militarily short nails scratching as her fingers and toes tensed up. Jaaaaaaaaneeee! she moaned out in what was probably originally intended to be aint but turned into an outcry of orgasmic release instead. Eventually it lost all resemnce to the name entirely, simply bing an outstretched shout, with the culprit relentlessly keeping the grinding going.
Shout my name more, ya little switch queen, Rave demanded, her eyes quickly ssing over. Approaching her own orgasm, her mind shut down every function in favour of impulsive pleasure seeking. Come here, this found its outlet in her turning her head around and suddenly kissing Beatrice. The white-haired maid was subservient as always, returning the advances as the eager tongue of the pink-haired bombshell invaded her mouth.
Wet sounds and the sweetness of the female voice in a state of not words but raw formations of the emotion of lust dominated the room with their imperfect grace. Around Johns cock, Beatrice tightened, as her sensitive lips wrestled with Raves. Their joined mouths muffled the high-pitched tones as they were both pushed over the edge and came.
John witnessed his girlfriend tensing up, her hips rocking forwards in ast slide along Lydias quivering slit, the queen only slowlying down from her own climax. Indeed, the only things in the room that still seemed to be moving were the swirling tongues of the kissing pair and the Gamers hips as he forcefully fucked the fervent maids feverishly hot folds. In this chain of cumming, he was thest one, and with two more swings of his muscr hips, he blew his load deep into the artificial pussy.
The moment the first spurt pumped out of his balls was the moment Beatrice could no longer uphold the concentration for the kiss. Her spine curved upwards, leaving Raves greedy mouth to catch one of the tastily pink nipples atop the hills of soft silicone. John concentrated on his fingers that were pressed into Beatrices bubble butt, on the jiggly softness and the trenches they dug through, how it bounced back against him every time his hips rocked a bit forward from the shocks his pumping balls sent through his muscles.
Then all the tension was gone, and John slumped forwards to support his suddenly heavy body on the couch. Whew, he puffed the air out of his lungs, then kissed Beatrices hair, just because that felt right. I do love our forey.
A period of recovery settled over the room as people caught their breath. Yeah, forey, Rave remarked with a chuckle, ying with Lydias nipples with tongue and fingers. Howya feeling, princess?
Still horny, continue, Lydia demanded. Albeit I do have something I seek to know: switch queen?
Wouldnt ya say youre a switch? Rave asked.
Ah, now I understand, the SM kind, the queen nodded. Well, I tend to agree.
Different question, can I get on the couch now? John asked, implying he really wanted this to move to the main menu. His dick was hard and his mind turning around all the wonderful things he could do with his loves.
No, his girlfriend shot back with a sadistic smile. More girltime! Lydia raised her eyebrow, opening her mouth in what was likely to be a retort about theck of dick in her asshole. However, abination of Rave giving her a pleading nce and John looking scolded must have tickled the queens fancy, as she nodded in support.
Okay then, he thought, his sexually dominant side causing him to feel a sting of annoyance, just going to keep this piece of ultra-hot ass then. Something stirred in the outeryers of his mind, some elemental had been listening in, although John didnt react quick enough to find out who and didnt feel the need to start a bigger investigation into it. Knowing the array of perverts that was connected to him, he would find out in a minute anyway.
With stamina gathered up again, the scene resumed just as it had been left off. John was now bent over Beatrice, kissing her neck and keeping the strokes of his cock into her from behind quick. On the couch, the two teasing bisexuals went back to scissoring, albeit Lydia was now pushing back on who got to be the dominant one in that exchange.
Fondling Beatrices firm tits, their softness circling within his palms, John waited for the arrival of the mystery onlooker. Eventually he felt something touch his feet, something of a well-known sliminess, pleasantly lukewarm and creeping up his body. He didnt need to turn his head to identify the blue mass.
A tongue that was made from water gently licked Johns balls, just as Undine created a second head next to his. May I join? the singsong voice asked, passion glinting in her golden eyes. Just sending his approval mentally, he made his answer clear by pressing his lips on her translucent ones. A note of saltwater apanied the sweet taste of her mouth as their tongues met. The boneless softness of her slime body was as alien as it was precious.
Her hair, shaped likerge drops of viscous liquids stopped in their fall, swayed in the slow motions of their make-out session. On his back, John felt her body take proper shape out of the simple blob she preferred to bridge short distances as. In all likelihood, she had been hanging out in the bathtub.
Herrge tits pressed against his back in all their juiciness. A second and third pair of them pressed against his shoulders as the water spirit took advantage of her liquid nature and split herself into several boobaliciously bouncy goo girls. I love you, Master, Undine whispered the magical words as she spread all over the previous foursome.
Johns spine went upright to overlook the scene easier, see what exactly the red-scarred ocean elemental was going to do. First priority, and this pleased him greatly, were the four copies of Undine focused around him, all connected as one to be easier to control. At his back and both of his sides, they remained whispering dirty little nothings into his ear and caressing his body with slender fingers, thest one still sitting between his legs and showering his balls (and shaft whenever she could) in kisses. She also extended a tentacle down to Beatrices back entrance.
A thin tendril at first, the naturally well-lubricated appendage had no problem slipping inside the made-for-sex hole. Pumping in unison with Johns hips, it slowly grew, widening the tight sphincter until it had reached the same girth as Undines summoners cock. Its so deeeep, Beatrice purred ecstatically as both her holes were prated.
You can attain even greater heights of pleasure, Undine whispered a song of sweet promises into her ear. Just get your cock out. Beatrice hesitated for a second, John was known to be cautious about the involvement of additional dicks near him. However, he gave her the go-ahead. A situation of chain-fucking waspletely fine in his book; it was where he ran risk touching them where he was ufortable. That aside, he couldnt even see what was going on underneath her.
By her screaming sounds of pleasure, it wasnt hard to guess that whatever it was involved her cock being sucked off by yet another mouth of the gooeydy. Those moans soon turned silent, as Beatrices mouth was stuffed with yet another tentacle, parting out of the one fucking her ass. John saw some translucent blue hands reach out of the mass ofrge breasts and erotic whispers that was Undine and reach up to Beatrices tits, massaging them. Every single erogenous zone or hole was being used.
As such it was no surprise the white-haired maid came after just a few moments. Then again. Then again. Then she squirted as her multiple orgasmsyered into a frightening ecstasy. Her body quivered, wanting to flee the relentless assault that fried her mind with ceaseless delight, but found itself restrained, only able to find release in the unending climax. Filling Undines greedy mouth with load after load of her cum, just as the stter of liquids from her pussy hit the carpet, Beatrices greyndscape of thought was wiped out in favour of a crackling, uncontroble white and red as her eyes rolled up in her skull.
John was stuck between orgasms and short recoveries himself. With Undines warmth supporting his standing and giving him essentially an all body massage with numerous hands and cushioning boobs, he was rxed and concentrated on three things only: kissing the pleasing mouth of his water spirit, shaking his hips to fuck Beatrice, and watching the lesbian ongoing on the couch. His senses were engaged with all the girls in the room in some way.
Undine didnt want to stop at senses. This wasnt enough. Even with her ability to ce her erogenous zones where she wanted, she desired more. A part of her separatedpletely from the blob of erotically winding clones. As with all the others, it was a perfect representation of her.
The slime girl had a primordial look to her, like she was an early version of her own kind. Her skin wasnt perfectly smooth but somewhat dripping like candle wax at ces, giving off the erotic illusion that her liquid skin was constantly sweaty. Much of the right side of her face, including the golden eye, was obscured behind a strand of herrgely single mass of hair. Out of the ocean-blue mono-colour of her head peeked two almost ck, stunted horns, barely deserving of the name for how dull and small they were.
Her D-Cup breasts stood nakedly, the shape of nipples crowning on top in a slightly deeper colour, a change she made just for these sessions of lewd engagement. Over her right side curved the red scars of her past mistake. Their history aside, their swirling form was aesthetic to behold. A narrow waist was followed by wide hips, giving herrge and bouncy ass enough room to spread their round goodness. Her legs melded together at the kneecaps, giving her a pair of nice and thick thighs that she could show-off and spread while also keeping her able to flow rather than walk.
And flow she did, right over to the scissoring action. May I join? she asked there as well.
If y-aaaah, Rave moaned as Lydia used her opponents waning awareness for an offensive, their clits meeting aggressively, can find the the roo-mhmmm.
The shape of the slime girl immediately changed, spilling over and around the two lovers on the couch in a wave that ran over their bodies, teasing their sensitive skin on the way, before manifesting again underneath them. Behind each of the girls now was an upper body of the ocean elemental, resting their heads on her ample bosoms, while teasing their forms with her wandering hands. The two halves met under the meeting ce of Rave and Lydias cunts, growing up into what was effectively a double-sided dildo there.
I approve of this immensely, Lydiamented in the tone of the barely stern and, simultaneously with Rave, slipped over this prating opportunity with her much too wet snatch. Highly stic, the slime-appendage didnt mind whatsoever being squished between the meeting cunts, allowing the tribbing to continue even with this new partner in the mix. Put -oh mother metal- put it in my ass too, Lydia demanded, her fa?ade quickly crumbling and then breaking violently as her body convulsed with the sudden pration of the anal-lovers favourite hole.
Not having asked for it, a throaty and surprised sound from Rave indicated that the niceness was extended to her as well. Any words ofints were swallowed in favour of fucking the orgasmic queen, causing Raves own voice to rise in pitch until a drawn-out scream escaped both of their mouths.
Soon, this duet of voices had Johns own deep one added in to the mix, onest m of his hips announcing the push past the edge, as he felt his just refilled balls sttering into Beatrices already overfilled pussy, cum causing her stomach to bloat slightly and the creamy white liquid to push past herbie. The passive maid loved every second of that feeling, and when the tentacle ripped out of her mouth, her scream was the loudest for just a second before the opera fit voice of Undine caused the ss in the room to tremble under the prolonged held note from her many mouths. It was a true symphony of orgasms that broke down one by one.
Three breaths, that was as long John had before he heard a queen in a really perverse mood say, I need your cock, John, right now!
Chapter 478 – Stuffing the queen [Erotic Content]
Chapter 478 C Stuffing the queen [Erotic Content]
Why this position? John asked,ying on the couch. The leather was unsurprisingly quite wet, but he was used to things getting steamy. I really want to bend you over and spank your ass, you know?
Yes, I am aware that your penis jumps with excitement at the sight of buttocks, Lydia retorted straddling over his hips. Exactly why we are taking this position. Her curved back was turned towards him, her braid perfectly resting in the depression of her spine. Both hands were wrapped around the immense girth of her lovers dick, properly aiming it at her already loosened sphincter.
Fair enough-fffff, the Gamers answer came slightly whistling as his remaining air escaped with thest syble of the word. A sound caused by his dick being sheathed inside the anal cavity of the German queen. Tight as always, the heavenly feeling of being surrounded by the milking walls was awesome.
As they were both well lubricated from the previous ongoing, no time was lost with further easing. Directly, the movement of Lydias hips went into a sustainably paced rise and fall, her thighs tensing and rxing as they pressed her body upwards and then descended right down again. Firm to soft, the transformation of the muscles was nice to behold on her athletic body.
Stopping with him all the way inside him, she gyrated her hips for a bit. You getting even bigger sincest we met should be considered a war crime, she gasped, enjoying the feeling of her insides being scrambled a bit by the foreign object. Her eyelids fluttered as she hit a minor spike in her ecstasy, not a proper orgasm but strong enough to entice her to moan.
Her left hand travelled up to her lips. Their sultry red colour was all-natural, neither too full nor too thin. If there was any part of Lydia that John had to say was more attractive than that of any other women in his harem, it would be these perfect lips. An odd thing to fetishize, but not as odd as many others.
Sight granted through Possession allowed John to see her index finger gently glide over the harmonious curves of her lips. They must have been truly sensitive, as she let out yet another moan. There is no need to just stand there, the queen erotically whispered towards the trio of females currently unupied. Her perverted mood permeated her every word, no matter how eloquent the choice. Please, join this sexual debauchery. Fill all the holes you can.
Beatrice took themand with an eager nod. After a moment of analyzation, she climbed onto the couch. Her lower legs framed Johns head when she kneeled down. Her pussy was too far off to be eaten, but John appreciated the view of her ass above.
With a sadistic roughness copied from her master, the passive maid grabbed Lydia by the throat and pulled the metal mage towards her crotch. A slurping followed by a gagging sound ensued, the artificial cock of Beatrice prating Lydias mouth and throat. Thereby limited in her movements, the queen was now at the mercy of Johns thrusts.
Smirking, enjoying the view of Beatrices assbined with the look of Lydias bent backwards body getting fucked in an unusual spitroast, he took full advantage of that and grabbed her hips. Soft in all the right ces, his fingers had a lot to grapple onto before he began fucking her with the usual mercilessness.
After a little dialogue, which contents John missed due to the obviously more important things at hand, Undine took a backseat, allowing Rave to go into the offensive once again. Fuck, I love this view, she let them know as she approached the defenceless front of Lydia, the queens arms grabbing onto her own ankles to stabilize the current position.
The Lightbearer glided her hands up from the queens lower abdomen. Midriff tense, muscles quivering under the skin, the perverse enjoyment in her voice was tant. Tits raising with desperate breaths, she cupped the capital B-sized breasts in her hands, giving them a nice massage. The face-fucking passive maid above whimpered when her cocksleeves moaning vibrations reverberated through her cock. The bulge in the throat whenever you get the cock sliding deep inside, Rave raised her glossy pink lips up there; softly they were pressed against that very bulge as it appeared and disappeared underneath.
The techno lover kissed her way downwards. Her tongue drew a wet path down to the queens corbone, taking a little detour to flick the hard nipple of Lydias left tit eagerly. You taste sweet and like hot sweat, Rave purred, continuing on her path. Sliding down the curves of the auburn haired royal, her hands stopped over Johns, at Lydias hips. Fuuck, she cried out in a high-pitched voice. Seeing my boyfriend dominate yall gets me so hot. I just want to bend you over the table and take turns spanking you!
With that announcement, her tongue stopped in the monologue and started digging into Lydias unupied pussy. A quick lick from bottom to top. Kissing her clit. Rolling her tongue around it. Slurping sounds as she covered the pink of herbia in the pink of her greedy mouth. Deep moans that John felt in Lydias entire body. Rave prating as deep as she could with a pointy tongue. A pause. Then his girlfriend sucking on his balls, giving his shaft a quick kiss. A momentter, she was back at sucking the queens sensitive button.
Having Raves slender handsy on his while he was holding onto an ass he was fucking was easily in the top five of sensations John hadnt been aware he loved. He felt the pressure build up in his balls; Lydias tight asshole was quivering around him in spasmic orgasms, one following after the other in short gaps, filled with aftershocks.
He pulled her down with all his might at the same time as his hips darted upwards, all of his primal mind concentrated on getting as deep into her as was possible. Pussy, ass or mouth, it didnt matter, the feeling of being balls-deep inside a woman when cumming was pure bliss. It was as true now as it was ever, and his load rushed up his cock and sttered into the queen.
The overload of pleasure on his mind must have reached Beatrice, as she too stopped movingpletely, a bunch of broken-off moans barely pressing out of the passive maids mouth. For a while, the only movements in the room came from Rave, continuously eating out Lydias crotch. As the queen was filled up, she gushed her fluids into the eager sadists mouth. Perverted as ever, Rave slurped them down as she continued to devour the pussy in front of her.
Things passed their climax and Beatrice pulled out to give Lydia some breathing room. Gulping down the remaining semen, followed by some coughing, preceded the queens words, The deviancy of you lot remains as steadfast as ever.
John carefully moved inside her. Like you dont love it, he groaned, feeling ast dribble of his subsiding orgasm leak out of his cock.
Beyond her initial resistance, Lydia openly moaned even at that little stimulus. I do, she admitted. Keep going, I am still not satisfied.
Want to experience the ultimate pleasure? Rave asked with a smirk, glistening with the pussy juice of the queen. At the same time, a pale blue skinneddy walked into the room with swaying steps. Her hourss figure was hidden under a quickly dissolvingyer of liquid shadows, something liketex in effective appearance.
Twirling a strand of her greyish pink hair around a w, Sienas high heels cked on the floor as she approached. Ie right on time, it seems, sheughed, her fangs glinting dangerously. So, this little y session is why Undine wanted me over? Tendrils of darkness sprouted from her back and wrapped around Rave, who turned around to sensually kiss the new arrival.
The scene caught everyones attention for a moment. Pink and purple intertwined their lips with little moans as Siena yed with the body between her arms. Her sharp ws cut no skin, only trailed over with a thrilling excitement.
I demand we y sometime without mebining with Undine, the nightmare elemental said when her ws disappeared to allow her fingers to curve into Rave. A deep surprise took hold of John at the care with which Siena was handling the techno lover. Her brand of sadism usually was raw and dominating. Perhaps it was because the shadow spirit saw herself as part of the group now, rather than the group as her ything.
The surprise made room for a perverted interest as he watched Siena transform Raves resistance as a fellow dom into nothing but quivering ecstasy, leaving her ready to be molded. Every move of her tendrils, of her palms and especially of the fingers digging into Raves pussy aimed at melting away any struggle in her victim. It was domination of the most artistic kind.
Cum for me, Jane, Siena whispered in her sexually charged voice. It worked like a charm, Raves back pressing against her assant as her body shivered with orgasmic waves. She wasnt screaming her brains out or squirting violently; instead it looked like this climax was causing her whole body to rx, relinquishing any control through pleasure.
I need to learn how to do that, John thought, in awe of the former sadism elementals abilities. If Siena would have wanted to, she could have easily taken it from there, but instead she pulled back, her long tongue darting out to lick the pussy juice off her fingers.
How about you answer the question, princess? Siena asked once she was done, a strand of mixed pussy juice still connecting fingers and seductive lips.
I am sceptic as to what you wish to do with me, Lydia answered. It dawned on John, and Rave as well judging by the sound of an Ooooh echoing through the room, that the queen had never encountered Cumslut before, so this would obviously go over her head.
Rave smirked. Guess I gotta show ya. She looked over Siena and Undine, the slime girl massaging her tits in a creative way of masturbating, Could ya do the thing?
Only because it feels really good, Siena yfully hissed and then offered a hand to the water spirit. She took the offer, the two of them blurring in their shape and losing itpletely before they ovepped and Cumslut phased into existence.
Hi! Big-titty goth gf here, the lust elemental announced her arrival. A fair description of herself, with the deep purple hair, the clear blue eyes and the frilly shirt that was almost bursting under the pressure of her double D tits. As much as she was a feast for the eyes, she wasnt long to stay, at least not in that form. So, Rave you want me to be your cock?
Thats right, the techno lover answered under the lightly confused gaze of Lydia. Quickly, Cumslut changed into her item form, a purple strap-on that was secured by nothing but magic at the base. Not that more was needed, the second Rave pressed it against her clit, the artificial cock seamlesslytched onto her. Tell John when you want to try this, Rave spoke ast couple of words before her whole body heated up with the immense lust that Cumslut bestowed upon whoever wore her.
Immediately, Rave grabbed her new toy and began jerking it with a primal expression. Precum dripped off the head like it was the real deal as she closed in and then slipped right into a positively surprised Lydia. Oh, mother metal, she gasped, this feels like real cock.
Guess the pause is over then, John grunted as he felt the desperate shaking of his girlfriend, nothing but savage fucking, through Lydias hips. He tried his best to move, but the current position limited him in what he could do aside from being the reactive force. That couldnt stand, so he forced a change.
It was rather simple and no party really needed to move. All he did was rise from the couch and bend Lydia forwards, forcing Rave on her back in turn. By the end of that manoeuvre, he was fucking Lydia from behind as she and his girlfriendy chest on chest, thetters cock deep within the queens pussy still.
Fuck I love double prations, she gasped, and then slurping sound echoed through the room as Lydia began making out with the screaming Rave. Words were beyond what a person of that absurdly increased Libido was capable off, there was only ecstasy and climaxes at that point.
Not one to be forgotten, Beatrice circled around the couch and presented her erect cock to the steadily shifting tongues. Immediately, the tongues belonging to the brte and the pink haired slut beganthering the cock in their saliva. Sucking, kissing, pussy eating and deepthroating were executed in quick exchanges.
John concentrated his sight on the jiggling before him as he vanished inside Lydias asshole over and over again, as hard as he could each time. The moans of the trio were the orchestra to which he performed. Raves orgasmic screams were pure perfection; doubtlessly she was filling Lydia up with spurt after spurt of artificial cum; guaranteed was that her pussy juice was turning the leather into a slippery mess.
Lydia herself was cumming her brains out, especially at the times when all of her holes were filled, with Beatrice deep inside her throat along with the two shafts stretching her fuckable bottom. Her sweaty body was jerked when John pped her ass. God, I love fucking you all, John couldnt help but moan out, I love what kind of whores you are for me.
From YOU I will -aaaahhhh-, Lydia tried to answer, peeking over her shoulder interrupting herself through a prolonged moan, I will let that insult pass unpunished!
Its true though, only a real whore would scream that loud while getting fucked up the ass like this, Johns voice came out slightly strained as his orgasm began to rise. Come on, say it, for me, Lydia.
The queen hesitated for a moment, pride was in a battle against lust and love. Those two turned out to be way stronger emotions, particrly in this situation and particrly with John, Fuck, yes, I am a whore for you, John! she shouted out.
A mere moment after, John mmed into her and filled her ass up with another load of hot cum. Chasing the perfect high of ecstasy, Lydia greedily moved her own hips even as Johns froze for a second from the force of his own climax. The queens mouth sheathed, in one wless motion, the entirety of Beatrice inside her, and when Raves lust-driven mind started top at her exposed pussy, the passive maid also filled Lydias insides with white hot seed.
The queen was getting all of her holes stuffed and, from the muffled moans and writhing of her every glistening muscle, it was obvious that she was enjoying every second of it. Moooorrrrre, the queen purred when Beatrice pulled back, give me that cock, I want to fuck Jane.
Oh my lord, you are insatiable today, John couldnt help but feel respect towards that level of thirst as he gave a mental signal to Cumslut. Raves expression rather quickly sobered up as the lust elemental detached herself from her clit. Well, if the change from the savage expression of a woman who could only feel pleasure to the silly fucked look of a woman lost in ecstasy could be considered sobering up.
Ah, fuck right in the middle of an orgasm, Raveined, jokingly. Obviously, there would have been no moment not in the middle of an orgasm. Hand fumbling to turn the slippery, sex juice covered strap-on around, the techno lover soon seeded in pressing the t side against Lydia. Slipping inside the first time is the best, the pink-haired bombshell winked, giving that final piece of advice. Have fun losing yourself.
That wont ha-aaaa-h-ppen toh meee, Lydia began slurring her usually so precise words the second the Libido increase hit her.
First time is intense, Rave purred, sliding up a bit on the leather couch, getting herself in the perfect position to be prated. Her long legs straddled around both Lydias and Johns hips, her boyfriend grabbing her by the thighs.
John wished to feel her feet lock behind him, but with a whole person between them, that was currently denied. A worthwhile trade-off, however, was the raw sound that escaped Lydias mouth when she mmed into Rave.
The queen sounded like a whore. Not amon one, not a paid one, a proper, cock-hungry whore that was in it to get fucked. The high-pitched moans were as depraved as was possible to be,ing in short bursts as Lydia began swinging her hips with the feverish enthusiasm of the deflowered and the sexual stamina of a member of John Newmans harem.
The Gamer smirked and quickly reimed dominance over the situation with long, hard thrusts. Each of them prated the depths of Lydias asshole with such force that they shook even Rave. The whole couch creaked. Yes, yessshhh, yesh! his girlfriend could utter little more than that single word as her pussy got hammered with two different rhythms. Her eyes were rolled up in her skull, her tongue trailing over Beatrices cock presented to her. An expression she once more shared with Lydia.
pping and slurping sounds reverberated through the room. Following an idea, John reached into his inventory and pulled out arge dildo. Between two thrusts, he pushed it into Lydias pussy. It was one smooth pration into the fake-cum dripping hole.
Her cock inside one of the hottest women walking the earth, her ass fucked by a huge cock, buffed with all kinds of sexual modifiers, her pussy stretched around a nicely sized dildo and her mouth getting fucked by a sexy-ass maid, Lydia was now officially the centre of an impossible act of sexual craving.
One time, it had taken her one na?ve time to ask John for sex and now she was locked in what would sear herself into her memory as one of the most foolish and greatest things she ever did. With a mind currently incapable of thought, she experienced what it felt like to unload inside another woman. Something build up and up and up and then suddenly her whole body was tense as hot semen spurted out of her cock. The Libido boiling her brain refused to let her rest for even the duration of the orgasm, her hips continuing to swing after only one squirt.
Ah, fuck, I love thissss, Rave hissed as she was filled up, give me more cum! I want it! Its so hot inside me! It was a request Lydia couldnt help but oblige, her unnatural appendage forcing her to keep fucking as she was continuously pushed over the edge. Every time her ass was prated to the deepest point, another giant load of white liquid painted the inside of the Lightbearers pussy.
The two sluts at the centre were chest to chest, their hard nipples crowning their small breasts rubbing against each other. Their bodies were drenched in sweat, the perverse odour of sex permeating them and the entire room.
Im cumming, John announced, his fingers curling into Lydias ass. Nobody heard him. Preupied with lust. The blood rushing in their ears. The smacking of skin against skin. The screams of delight. It all drowned out his voice. Then his balls tightened and it was toote for a second warning.
Ast load guzzled into the greedy queen, Johns deep pration fixing her position, down to the hilt inside Rave, just as Beatrice was inside her throat. White and clear liquid gushed from the sexes of everyone around, squirting and cumming and making an even bigger mess of the room than it was already. Everyone remained almost perfectly still, the periodic jittering of muscles aside, and the room grew silent as everybody was too busy wallowing in their climax to breathe in.
It wasnt until Cumsluts duration finally came to an end that the formation broke. Siena and Undine were sent spiralling to the floor, spasming, as usual, with their post-Cumslut orgasms. Now unsealed, Raves snatch was quickly dripping with semen, just like every orifice of Lydia as one by one the prating objects were removed from her. Last of which was Johns cock when he pulled out of her ass.
With ragged breaths, he turned Lydias body on its back. There was not enough room on the couch for her and Rave toy side by side, so the queen remained half on top of her. To John, that made the disy of their glistening bodies, oozing cloudy white, only that bit more erotic. A true piece of erotic art.
Siena pulled herself into a sitting position.
What a perfect little mess, she mused.
Chapter 479 – Training Day 1 – 1:10 Time Dilation Barrier
Chapter 479 C Training Day 1 C 1:10 Time Dtion Barrier
The rest of their Friday was spent in tranquillity. John felt like he had done an adequate amount of stuff, and Magoi answered positively to a text request for getting into a barrier with him the next day. As such, John took a little nap to be rested at midnight, when he would go to the I.D. Gate. To get the full ten days out of that single day, hed best do it like that.
Not that Magoi was so stingy that they couldnt just start at six in the morning and stop twenty-four hourster. It was just that the Gamer wanted to have aplete Sunday to get used to reality again before packing his things and leaving for Washington, D.C.
I gotta visit Lincoln memorial when I am there, John drowsily thought while brushing his teeth following that nap. His body had that unpleasant, slightly sore feeling of a nap that could havested a couple more minutes, but it was already shortly before midnight. The taste of peppermint from the toothpaste washed out the cardboard like feeling in his mouth as he turned around. Maybe I should drink a ss of water between cumming an absurd amount of times, that was his definition of tranquillity after all, and taking a nap.
He spat out and then rinsed the remaining suds out of his mouth. He took a couple of gulps right out of the running water before straightening his back and sealing the stream with a simple push of the handle. Mindlessly, he extended his hand afterwards and felt something soft getting pushed into it. Bringing the small towel back up to his face, he cleaned himself off and then handed it back to Aclysia, who threw it into her inventory. Then he put on his suit and was on his way.
Your hat is off by a bit, Beatricemented, the two maids following their masters every movement with diligent attendance. I would fix it. Would, but cant.
Right, John yawned. Untouchable, his fedora had an attribute that made it impossible to move it while it rested on his head after all. The thing was quite stylish, made from ck wool and with a white strip of silk wrapped around the base. Only the golden feather that was decorating the right side John found a bit overkill. Didnt help that it was constantly glinting with magical lustre, making it impossible to wear it in the normal world. He had a second hat he wore when interacting with the mundane; theck of headwear felt weird otherwise. Going outside without a hat felt like going to school without a bag.
He adjusted it a little bit until Beatrice was appeased, and they made their way out of the yacht. To Johns surprise, he found his entire harem, save two members, gathered in front of the I.D. Gate, along with Magoi and his wife. You dont all need to send me off, I will be back tomorrow, John told them and was immediately knocked on the forehead by Rave.
Ya dunce, we areing with, she told him with a giggle, why wouldnt we?
John actually had to think about that for a second. Yeah, why wouldnt they? None of them had any job to do right now, except for Scarlett who was missing and Metra, who was something like a special police operative. That had been on the berserker babes own wishes as she said that she needed some sort of job that involved punching people regrly or she would be bored brainless.
This is an excellent use of my vacation period, Lydia nodded to herself.
Not that I am not happy with all of youing along, but you may have too much free time, John realized.
The fuck do you want me to do, work at a grocery store? Eliza spouted out while jumping at him. Weaving out of the way with great reflexes, Rave watched the blood magend on her boyfriends shoulders. Not about toin, John felt the nicely squishy thighs of the sickly skinned bundle of insanity on either side of his face. With the excuse of keeping their bnce, he put his hands on them.
Maybe some contact with people that arent us would be good for you, John told her, looking up. Eliza bent down towards him and grinned madly.
Fuck C That! she dered, then contently sat there, periodically giggling like a happy psychopath about to nuke a city.
I was thinking about doing some vignte stuff while you were off, Rave told John. Hunt some baddies, punch some ve traders, maybe try find a natural barrier and make a quick buck, ya know, what I usually do when you arent around. Thatst thing he was pretty sure she basically never did, but there was an item on that list that was missing. But I want to train some more, so I might as welle with, right? Gotta get more value out of the time dtion.
You know you will eventually be the First Lady, right? John poked fun at her. Maybe you should pick up a book on diplomacy to get into the role.
Or Ill go kick ass and be eye candy at the side, his girlfriend stuck out her tongue. Ya can do all the boring paperwork and in return I get to do all the awesome stuff, thats the deal!
I seem to be getting the short-end of the stick there, poutingly the Gamer retorted.
Its early adopter privileges, cause I sucked your stick when it was still short, Rave winked.
EHEM! a very disruptive clearing of her throat echoed out from Mabirl. I would much prefer no longer listening to this discussion, so I will put an end to it by saying, she pointed at Rave, one day partying it up will be very boring, so you should think about picking up something of worth, youngdy!
Urgh, ya sound like my mother, the pink-haired girl groaned.
She must be a smart woman, Mabirl stemmed her hands into her hips.
Thats one good thing you could say about her, Rave mumbled and rolled her eyes. Any-noodle, not like I dont know... I am figuring it out I think.
The matriarch of the Magus household seemed ready to scold the youngling some more, but her husband stepped in between with persuading gestures. Alright, alright, lets not get heated over nothing, he said, mostly to his wife who had kicked this thing off. I am sure they all have their ns for the future.
I want to own a bigger petting zoo, Nia agreed, standing right in front of the I.D. Gate and opening the door. Stronger John, more pets, bigger building, she listed in her unpassionate voice, then stepped aside and extended her arm straight towards the dark space thaty behind, the other hand held a card that said Invitingly.
They all stepped in, and without much announcement, Magoi birthed a simple grass in out of the dark. John looked around for a pair of houses or the doors made from light that he was to use for his intermediary purposes.
Alright, Magoi rubbed his hands as if to warm up, his walking stick standing on its own as if held by an invisible hand. Lets see if I can do this he pped once and a crooked image of the tower that was his current house appeared. It looked like somebody had snapped a photo and then distorted the image in photoshop. New things are not that easy Magoi mumbled in a slightly ashamed tone.
John was in awe of the mans skill. With the amount of levels the Gamer had in the Fateweaver ss, he had some abilities to free form Instant Dungeon terrain and details. Only in the monsterless variety, however, and only upon creation. His personal record was making his room from back in Springfield, without most of the furniture.
Now having experienced the sheer amount of concentration materialization of that little scale took, the Gamer could properly appreciate the skill it must have required to do such things in an existing barrier.
Second attempt, Magoi said, the crooked tower disappearing into nothing and then being reced by an almost perfect recreation. I am really getting old, he clicked his tongue, finally nailing it on his third attempt. Is your old house satisfactory to you, John?
Absolutely, he agreed, and his old home appeared without a hitch right next to the tower. The white ster fa?ade of the two-story house had something nostalgic. Somewhat awkwardly, John cleared his throat, Could you maybe ce it a few dozen metres away? I dont want to be the cause for noiseints.
Ah, yes, that would be wise, Magoi agreed and, not unlike John creating or moving a building in the Guild Hall, the two constructs simply drifted apart from each other. Well, if you want toe over for dinner at some point, give us a call, the High Fateweaver informed his employer before beginning his walk towards his tower, stick and the hand of his wife in his hands.
If Mabirl isnt going to get on my case again, Rave mumbled, crossing her arms.
I find it really interesting that you just cant seem to be able to get along with older women, John pointed out.
I get along with Mat! Rave defended herself quite passionately.
Well, I guess that counts, he backed off, surprised at the vtile nature of her tone. It seemed a nerve had been struck quite strongly. It therefore seemed best not to poke the already awakened bear and point out that Metra was rarely if ever acting her age.
They are just all so stuck-up about it, the techno lover grumbled as she trotted along with the rest of them. I know I cant be partying it up forever and all that yank, no reason to keep reminding me to worry about my future. I got some of it figured out already.
Do you? Nia asked, tilting her head. Thankfully, people knew the nk well enough to not mistake her toneless question as sarcasm. The Intrigued card certainly helped though. Without a doubt, the deck of cards, the metal case around them and the white bag Nia carried them in around her waist where the best gifts John could have given her. Can you tell?
I am gonna marry this guy, Rave pointed at John, who smiled at being the foundation of her future. After all, that feeling was mutual. If it were just him, he was sure he wouldnt find the motivation to build a nation. He would be grinding away just for himself, a pretty sorry state. Thats step 1. After that I she sighed, yeah, thats the hard part. I dont want to sit around in a bureau, I want to have adventures and do silly stuff.
So, what you are already doing, but with a ring? Lydia asked. You may want to look into an army career, at least give your adventures some guidance. At your strength level you can certainly fix some issues John himself cant be around for.
Guess so? Rave shrugged with helplessness. That could certainly be something I could do, just doesnt feel like my long term engagement. Neither does being a trophy wife; I dont like sitting around all day. Maybe Ill just muddle through and juggle all different kinds of stuff.
Usually works for us, John agreed.
Your spontaneity is a double-edged sword, the queen stated, ying with the end of her braid while they walked. It appears to me, though, that that is part of your charm. Although the solitary unit you two have formed is still unpleasantly tightly knit.
Yarpartofdatfabric, Rave slurred and thenughed when Lydia nodded because she understood it. Get into the harem-mind, ya adorable little German you.
John pushed down the handle of the front door with a smile. Sure, Raves n sucked, but who cared? He certainly didnt; they had all the time in the world to figure the answers out, young as they were. Not to mention that they had the power and the money to do basically whatever if they so desired. BAD! a singr word was barked into his brain, along with a sudden shifting movement in the breast pocket of his vest.
John looked down to find Stirwin. Looking upwards scoldingly, the infinity elemental looked at him with a slightly agape mouth, revealing the silver teeth that rested inside like tiny needles. I am looking out for my ego, dont you worry, Chompy, the Gamer gently tickled the crocodile hatchlings snout. He was his warning to not be lost in pride, one he needed quite regrly.
He should really try to help his girls find something of more value than hanging around him down the line. Maybe Rave could take up some army position, like Lydia had lightly indicated? Whatever ideas he had, it wasnt on him to decide what they were going to do with their lives outside of him. He just wanted them to have one, if they desired. Despite his sexual fetish to the opposite, he didnt want them to feel like their whole lives had to circle around him. Except for Eliza and his familiars, it seemed like they shared that conviction.
Maybe Ill learn something about properly teaching and open a dojo or stuff, Rave mumbled, clearly still bothered by the question of her future. Now he really had no need to worry; as long as she was thinking about it, there was something that woulde up by the end of it. She looked around to distract herself. Man, havent been here in an eternity, even if its just a copy.
Yeah, John agreed, directly walking towards the kitchen. His hand wandered over the recreation of a simple wooden table. Apletely smooth surface, missing all the details, little dents and cuts from years of usage, the original had, but it was still close enough. Although we are closer to getting back there than ever before. Opening the refrigerator, he began shovelling food out of his inventory and into there. Aclysia put canned food elsewhere, they had stocked up. With more people we will need to buy some stuff to stock up sooner rather thanter, John made a mental note.
I will ce the order now, Beatrice chimed into his thoughts. Good thinking as well, if they ordered food only when they needed it, it would take 10 times as long as the actual order description said. Not a good situation to be in.
Yeah, but not that close yet, Rave rolled her neck and shoulders to try and get them to rx. She was quickly getting out of her winter clothes, simply throwing them on the grey, cloth-covered couches in the living room. Then she stripped down to nothing, her naked body distracting just about every pervert in the room. She winked at them, perfectly aware that her athletic body was a spectacr show, before grabbing her neon pink sneakers. To the sadness of everyone, they liquified into her bodysuit, soon hiding all of her skin but none of her curves under a flexibleyer. Eliza, ya wanna join me? Gonna do the usual and try to nail some more techniques.
Fuck it, not like I have anything better to do, the blood mage answered, finally climbing off Johns shoulders.
From there the group separated and went doing their individual things.
Chapter 480 – Training Day 2 – On with the grind
Chapter 480 C Training Day 2 C On with the grind
Beatrice dodged nimbly underneath the swipe of the paw. A second one soon came for her, oversized ws digging into the floor as she dodged with a backflip that had her skirt flutter in a most daring way. Left leg connecting to the ground long before the right one, her arm and the spear it was holding were dragged along the movement. The straightening of her posture doubled as a wide arcing, vertical strike that sliced open the belly of one of the many beasts surrounding her.
They were bear-like creatures, notrge for a specimen of that genus but imposing enough because of it. Their dark grey fur was spotty and loose like the skin underneath, making the monsters look like sickly amalgamations of flesh. Their front paws ended in six overly long ws, more like sabres than nails.
The wounded creature bellowed aggressively, opening its maw wide as spit flew about the ce. Of teeth, only the fangs were genuine articles and of an unappetizing, infected yellow. The gums instead had been imed by symbiotic maggots that worked just so much better at wing apart the prey, once it had been secured by the sickening beast.
Beatrice was engaging with five of these things on her own and was holding her ground quite well. The bears were slow and she was fast, incredibly so byparison. All she had to do was keep on dodging and strike when she had the opportunity.
Out of the sliced open stomach of the beast ruptured a stream of red. Tiny writhing bodies were flung at Beatrice, the bloodstream-maggotsnding atop her form. Beatrice didnt even attempt to dodge or shake them off. Equipped only with tools that could suck or transport blood, they were no harm to the artificial being.
Instead, Beatrice thrust forwards her spear. A motion made immediate by Unsteady Limb, the skill causing her arm to move at an immense speed as she spent the whole 100 Swing. From her side all the way to the maximum reach of her arm, her hand extended and the spear impaled the Maggot Ursas head.
Itsrades were quick to avenge or, hateful and tormented beings as they were, simply saw its death as a perfect time to strike. Either way, Beatrice disappeared from where they were converging on her. Twist Position translocated her two metres, taking advantage of the gap between the now dead and disintegrating Ursa and the swiping body of a second one.
Before they could recover from the confusion, Beatrice had already turned around. Ramming her weapon into the back of the neck of the creature, she felled that neighbouring bear and then backed off. The tip of her spear, a lighter shade of bronze as pure as the L-Baelementium used to form it, cut through the air with a deadly glint as she whirled it into a perfect defensive position. Between the immense ws and her body sat the length of the ck-wooden shaft.
John was quite happy with that creation, even if it was still far below the quality of what a skilled smith could have done with the same materials. There had been an attempt to ce an order with the insane cksmith Marathyu (John was able to recognize quality work, even if the guy had impaled him for an ingredient), but the man refused to work with any material lesser than Mithril.
Of course, John could have bought the supreme metal off the Abyss Auction, but that would have taken a double-digit percentage out of his current finances, including that which he had in the Guild Bank.
In the future, John would be happy to make such an investment, but for now there was aundry list of building projects and other ns that had priority in acquirement. As such, the spear she got would suffice until they found someone who was willing to smith Elementium into a proper weapon or they got a fitting one as a drop, either from plundering it off someone or the usual Instant Dungeon bullshit.
Although I should probably weight loot differently if I want that, John thought, opening the window just to nce at the new options he had again.
They were already locked for this on-going Assault, but it wasnt like he had much better to do as he was sitting atop his tower and watching the surroundings through the eyes of his familiars. There were two new categories in the settings, easily summarized as environment and special enemies.
The former needed little exnation and as such hadnt surprised John in any way. Traps meant that there were now parts of the environment that wanted to kill them. In this forest of evergreens, that came in the shape of some parts of the floor being not exactly secure and filled with underground-dwelling bees that would then swarm them. They didnt do a lot of damage and were unable to get through Mana Protection because of it, which made John suspect they had some nasty poison effects he would have needed to be wary of if his defence wasnt this reliable.
Loot and Mimics were also fairly obvious. John rather weed the possibility of chests appearing outside of Special Rooms. He hadnt encountered a lot (and no Mimic either at this point), but at least they were there.
Lastly there were Aids, which were simply the opposite to Traps, environmental set pieces that worked in Johns favour in some description. As per usual, the things that were helpful for John were much rarer, harder to reach and, in the case of this dungeon, a double-edged sword. The pinecones hanging from between the needles were explosives that could be thrown like grenades after they fell off. John had that figured out only after two seemingly random explosions urred.
Trees that had explosive seed dispensers also had some rather good fire resistance, which was exactly why John wasnt having Smander torch the entire ce right now. Instead she was flying around in support of the guard of the only bridge that went across theva moat.
For the new special enemies. Horrors were simply extra strong, giving more experience and other special rewards, while Rares were something that John hadnt encountered yet.
Aclysias newest skills synergized quite effectively with that narrow crossing as she wielded Eclys with grace. One by one the Maggot Ursas approached and one by one they were felled by the white de. In heavy concentration, not being quite used to the new movement, the weaponized maid was currently fighting in her base body. ck negligee along with lines and areas of her skin of the same colour turned her pale form into a thing of broken beauty.
Wait 3 seconds, then advance over the head of the bridge, Johnmanded her, making his tactical decisions from his position of safety. Obeying, with awareness of her almost full Devotion, Aclysia advanced by cutting her way through the enemies with the freshly off-cooldown Cutting Flurry. She lunged forwards, in her hand the nameless low-mithril alloy dagger that doubled as a salver. It vanished down to Aclysias hand between the eyes of the first bear.
The second strike followed immediately after, the weaponized maid executing a somersault with Eclys appearing in her other hand. With her bolstered Agility, the move was executed in a wless curve and the de became naught but a silvery-white streak. Despite that, the Maggot Ursa that had been her target got away with its life. Swaying its body, raised in attack, to the side, it sacrificed its right arm rather than its entire life.
A thing that didnt help it a momentter when Eclys made room for the massive de Marath. The oversized de was sluggishly ripped in a half-circle in front of Aclysia, turning the bear directly in front of her and the one behind it into four bear-halves. As they disintegrated, more of them immediately followed after.
They werent heading for Aclysia, however. Most of them, at least. Now that its guardian was a fair bit removed from the bridge, the bears were eager to charge down John and snuff out the life of the likely easiest prey. A nervous Gnome was jumping on her feet, standing in the gateway that led into the empty inside of the tower.
Now! John shouted out the mentalmand and immediately Aclysia reacted. At a perfect five metre radius around the white-haired guardian appeared a circle of white light. A simple re, that also glowed underneath the feet of all beings within its range, which immediately turned away from their charge towards the bridge and readjusted their attention at Aclysia.
Masters Shield worked like a charm. Quite literally, as itpelled every enemy within its range to attack the artificial maid for the next 11,7 seconds, the amount of Devotion she had spent (and current maximum) divided by 10.
HEY YOU! John shouted down towards no Maggot Ursa in particr, simply trying to get at least ones attention as he jumped down the tower and opened his arms wide like an easy target. Come and get me!
It worked, once again, like a charm as the closest bear had its natural instinct overtake thepulsion. Being showered by extremely weak Shardbound attacks properly did its part as well. The deformed creature was set on the path towards John, the white light under its feet discharging in a foreboding ck smoke that scattered low on the ground.
A surge of immense power rushed through Aclysia as the secondary effect of Masters Shield activated, bolstering her next attack. At the exact same time as she attacked, Servant Strike finished its cooldown. While the effects may not have been multiplicative, thebined force came out in a sh that had eleven times the normal force behind it.
Eclys sh didnt just separate the Ursas around Aclysia from their life but created a cutting wave of silver energy, like the sword normally only would when slicing through air, that travelled forwards. A certain sister maid found herself in the path of the shockwave, reacting barely in time with a manoeuvre that had her body fold down at ankles and knees to a ludicrously low level. In any other situation, such desperate acrobatics would have left her wide open, but as the enemies around her were all mowed down, that turned out to be no problem.
These are nice, yes, I deem those attacks nice, Sylph bbered in the resulting moment of quiet in the Assault. Only a single one of the bears had survived, and John was still baiting it towards himself. Such niceness, as nice as Aclysias thighs, absolute niceness. Although I currently like Beatrices more, cause stockings are great. I should wear great stockings! I only have these weird boot things, she shook her tiny feet as she rolled through the air; the ck things she wore actually did double up as stockings, but only to her kneecaps. In other words, none of the thigh squish that John wanted. Yes, I shall get thigh-highs that are high to my thigh!
Sylph, we are elementals, Smander berated after flying over. Wearing clothes that arent part of us in battle is supremely distracting. You would just lose them.
Nuh-uh! Sylph disagreed. Id wear them and look totally sexy! She pped on her upper legs, her slender legs jiggling just the right amount. Totally sexy, I say! The sexiest concubine that has ever walked thesends I will be! Flew! Flew thends! Skies? HEAVENS!
Look, Smander pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out an exasperated sigh, it would look sexy, but thats no-
Sally just called me sexy! with a happy outcry and little jumps in her hovering, Sylph interrupted her elder. Everyone heard that, right? She called me sexy! I have a sexy bum, a sexy, super cool little bum! I have wavy hair.
This is my life, the endme elemental grumbled and then turned away, new Maggot Ursas finally appearing from the forest around them. The fight of his group continued, and while he was still keeping an eye on the situation and helping with the overall battlefield coordination, John retreated past Gnome and into the inside of his tower. On all fours, the monstrosity was right on his tail, ignoring the stone elemental as she, in turn, left him to pass.
That was because John wanted this specimen for a bit of practice. Gnome stepped into the circr courtyard after them, sealing the gate to make it near impossible for new enemies toe in. Its really convenient that these guys suck at climbing, the Gamer thought; this was definitely one of the easier dungeons he hade across recently.
Now exactly where he wanted to be, John stopped in his backwards retreat and instead raised his fists. The Maggot Ursa raised its entire mass off the ground, paws spread in what would be a deadly hug. A quick jab of Johns left crashed into the bears upper chest. The reverberations of the impact against the sturdy ribcage shook through Purgatory as fire seared the loose grey fur of the beast.
Having gotten a shallow strike in, John quickly dodged underneath the bears left side. With his Third Eye manifest as a streak of blue mana hovering in front of his forehead, the Gamers situational awareness was almost at the point of future sight. With such a buff, guessing the exact timing of enemy attacks was quite easy.
John felt like a irvoyant being in a world normally twisted by fog.
The Maggot Ursa whirled around and swiped at John, who had already jumped far out of range of the sabre like ws. A whip of water grew out of Undines glove form as her summoner used the distance to get another opportunistic strike in. With increased surface tension, the saltwater cut a streak over the skull of the beast before liquifying following that single strike.
Neither attack up to this point had done a lot of damage. I need to push myself a bit more, John thought. While his usual strategy didnt hinge on winning melee engagements, on the contrary it was more about ying for time until reinforcements arrived, self-sufficiency never hurt anybody. That aside, this monster was incredibly weak for its level, so he should be able to do at least this much.
Again, the bear got on its hind legs in preperation of embracing attack that was a sure way to get murdered if one got caught within. Again, John quickly jabbed it before dodging under its arm. This time, however, the Gamer decided to follow the sessful dodge up with a kick.
With the reflexes of a feral animal, the Maggot Ursa whirled its head around and caught Johns leg by the ankle. During a physical attack, the respective limb stretched out of a temporary bulge within Mana Protection, leaving them open for counterattacks.
The outline of the beasts fangs intruded Johns perception like hot nails. Then, the tiny and razor-sharp mandibles of the maggots began stripping flesh in a matter of seconds. Dumbass, John scolded himself, the pain barely bothering him. He had went for an overconfident attack and got caught.
Trying and seeding at keeping his bnce on one foot while the Maggot Ursa gnawed on his flesh, John conjured Shardbound. A purple quartet of shards appeared around his left hand,bining into two. Arcane sparks flew everywhere as the bear tried to capitalized on its hold, scratching towards Johns immobilized body but stopped by the shield of mana surrounding him. Then the attack spell flung forwards.
One of them missed its mark, scraping alongside the beasts fallen face and ultimately cutting into its shoulder. The other was right on the money, ripping into the hateful ck eye that stared at John and the brain matter behind. In its death, the bite of the creature intensified only, John feeling his ankle crack moments before the monster was turned to dust and ash.
I need to take a page out of Dark Souls book and not be greedy in my attacks, John thought. There was no one to me but himself for winning that fight with a costly spell rather than through patience. Need more practice.
Well, practice after a short break.
Chapter 481 – Training Day 3 – Playtimes
Chapter 481 C Training Day 3 C ytimes
Health regeneration is still pretty bad, John thought after allocating thetest level he had gotten. Experience gain was pretty good right now: he got at least a level per day, making for a total of four over a three-day period. Well, I guess its bnced because I decided to go into magic instead? If I had allocated all my resources into melee and physical defences, I would probably have insane HP but shite mana. I should just be happy about how quickly things are progressing right now.
By typical pattern recognition, once he hit level 150, the level requirement would jump. Meanwhile, Assault followed argely stagnant pattern, so, in typical game design fashion, the grind would be increasingly steep.
If I went for three rather than two Assaults a day I could probably get way more done, John thought, tiredly rubbing his eyes as he was done for the day. But fuck doing that. Spending twelve hours a day in life or death situations was just the recipe for John to hate his life. He was willing to do it every now and again, but generally he treated grinding of this intensity like a job.
So while working extra hours was expected sometimes, especially if he wanted to see more results, he would rather spend free time with his loved ones. Was that wise? Yes and no. Mostly no. The absolutely wise decision would be to get as strong as possible as quick as possible so he wouldnt have to be afraid of running even into Primarch-level enemies.
Tiger, there you are! However, when he thought about not hearing that voice for another four hours in his day, his life seemed bleak. Surely preventing burnout was a wisdom in itself. He had barely left the gate of light when his girlfriend ran over. Feathering steps caused her pink hair to rise and fall, her cat ears peeked up attentively in the mana-filled wind.
While John caught himself wondering why there was wind inside an Illusion Barrier, Raves hair turned into a shining gold. Her loving approach stopped on the spot, her body folding together like a spring C to then unload in a devastating charge. Body turning into a streak of shing lights, a bright disy of red, white, blue and green, she was right upon him.
John barely managed to raise his arms and shield himself from the kick that came his way. He took damage twice: once when her shin shed with his arm guards and a second, more dangerous amount afterwards as her martial art travelled through the protectiveyers and applied a mixture of blunt force and ruptures to the tissue underneath.
The kick shoved him to the floor, while she made an elegantnding. Stillpletely buffed up, both Purgatory at max and the Third Eye active, John rolled to the side when she followed that up with a Focus Stomp where his head was. The basic technique caused her to to sink into the dirt down to the ankle.
He extended his hand in an attempt to catch her and seeded. The gold flowed out of her hair from the base to the tips just as he pulled her down to the floor with him. A yful fight ensued where they rolled over the ground together. Rave aimed her martial arts and magic only at his limbs while John used Purgatorys sharp ws only to skilfully cut out parts of her clothes.
Ya jerk! Raveughed when her breast was exposed to the air and John greedily sucked on it. Not where they could see us! she was of course referring to the Magus family.
This is my revenge! her boyfriend dered, giving it another lick. The sensitive crown of her petite breast was hard against his tongue and she let out a small moan.
Not one to be dominated just quite like that, the Lightbearer began her counterattack in Johns unconcentrated state. They turned into a spinning mess as each of them insisted on being on top. It wasnt until both of them were out of breath after what must have been minutes of y fighting,ughing and groping of sexual areas that the oue was decided with Rave on top. From a pure Stats standpoint, John was slightly superior at that very moment.
Or maybe not, seems like he was working on outdated information. Yo-, he was interrupted in his words by Raves soft lips meeting his. Although her bodysuit had already patched itself back together, he immensely enjoyed the feeling of her body against his. The sweetness of her tongue fulfilled him as it wrestled with his in a less exhausting echo of their finished tumble.
John refused to let her go when she attempted to pull back, his neck following her movements. While she was obliging him, leaning back into the kiss for another minute of making out, his left hand reached into her hair and kept her there. Purgatory had reverted into its boring arm-guard shape, hidden underneath the sleeve of his damaged suit.
Her breath on his face was oddly pleasant, as was the love that warmed up his insides with every second he felt her. A strand of saliva connected their extended tongues for a couple more seconds after they had parted. Smiling like sunlight, she asked, You were saying something, tiger?
Uhm, John raised an eyebrow as he thought back the few minutes. What had he been looking at again? Right, her stat screen. You have been making pretty big leapstely. Also, did your cat form get better?
Surprisingly, Copernicus stated, walking his way over, yes. I dont know how she does it, but she increased the amount of my power she can ovep with her own.
Like a very nice cocktail, Rave joked.
Or a shitty ass couple that makes me jealous as fuck, Elizained, throwing herself in the mix. Further curses were sealed by John and Rave both wrapping an arm around the girl in the beginnings of a group cuddle.
Yes cocktails Copernicus mumbled. While John imagined to hear an annoyed mixture of disgust and thoughtfulness in those two words, the suncats behaviour was as usual as he trotted away. Passing and hissing at a certain queen on the way.
Lydia did only as much as raising an eyebrow at the ever-unfriendly elemental. My mixed nature annoys him continuously, it appears, she stated upon reaching the bundle of people on the floor. Bowing over them, her hairs red undertone came out at the side of her head the suns low position shone upon.
As they were at the end of the third day of the ten parts of the stretched Saturday, it was about seven in the morning real time. John heavily disliked the 24-hour segments around noon, it was hard to get a proper sleep schedule when it was bright when he left and bright when he came back.
You should not take rest at this position, the queen advised. Either move inside to take proper rest or do something productive.
Lyly, dont be so constipated, Rave told the new arrival.
I am not being Haaaah, Lydia spared her breathe the waste on a worthless argument. All I am letting you know is that the current situation is suboptimal for a work environment.
The way I see it, I am on break, John stated. Why dont you join us? The grass is nice. Magoi liked to keep his barriers at a nice 24 degrees Celsius. While it didnt feel exactly like summer, it was still nice and cozy.
I dont see the value in that when Aclysia is finally getting me a fresh pot of tea, the brte said.
John, through eyes blinking quickly and squinting to protect them from the sunlight, opened his mouth first in retort, then to yawn. Once the prolonged exhale had left him, he did get around to speak, When was thest time you justid in the grass and didnt think of anything?
To that her answer was silence. After a few moments, she finally did join them on the ground, albeit not in the group hug. Closing her eyes, she justy there. I cannot seem to think of nothing, the queen stated, eyebrows curving towards the centre. My mind will go to one ce or another.
Yeah, I know that problem, John said, reaching out with his unupied hand. Soon, his fingers interlocked with hers. Does that help?
Certainly, Lydia admitted with a more peaceful look on her face. After admiring the elegant swing of her nose for what felt like an eternity, John closed his own eyes to just rx for a minute.
_____________________________________________________________________
When he opened his eyes again, he was in his bed back in the house. He was on his lonesome, the bestpany he had were two pieces of buttered bread and a small bottle of orange juice. The silent room irked him as he hastily devoured the food. As someone who had always been surrounded by noise even before he suddenly got magical powers, John didnt like thisck of any sound. At the very least the whirling of the cooling from hisputer was supposed to apany him. Especially since he was looking at a copy of his old room.
I must have nodded off, John thought after putting the now empty bottle down next to the also vacant te. It wasnt that surprising, given that he had spent a lot of time with Kickboxing practice. His Endurance helped with numerous things, especially if he needed to push himself, but after a long day of hard exercise, any amount of good rxation could easily lead to deep slumber. I wonder who carried me inside though. Not that it really matters.
All he knew was that he had been left naked. His clothes were orderly folded at the side, indicating the involvement of at least one of the maids. For a moment, John looked at the suit and formal-looking ensemble that went along with it. He decided to instead walk to the nearby closet and check the inside. Unsurprised to find some spare clothes for him inside, he put them on.
It was an assembly of loose, dark clothes, the kind that looked a size too big and were absolutely not fashionable but superfortable. Nice to wear something like this again, John thought. Sure, his suit was enchanted to be a good fit, but the naturalfort of these clothes, not to mention the nostalgia, were a nice change of pace.
Laughter from downstairs finally broke the silence the moment John opened the door. Barefoot, he made his way towards the source in the living room. What he found there had him smile.
All of his girls were scattered throughout the barelyrge enough room. The furniture had been rearranged in a fashion that was clearly not meant for a prolonged stay, some chairs standing ufortably close to door frames. There was a frisky mood in the air, exuding from all corners.
In a triangle consisting of the V-shaped couch and the television sat Beatrice, Smander, Sylph and Rave, each of them with a controller in their hands and staring at the splitscreen. Non-serious insults were thrown around as the minigame went on; John recognized a game of Mario Party. The situation got a bit heated when it was only Smander and Beatrice remaining, the passive maid winning in the end by doing the analytical thing and ying the clock. Cheap bitch! the endme elemental, wearing only cold fires around her sensitive bits,ined, her buzzcut transforming into a candle me.
Do you want to test that im? Beatrice asked in her typically robotic tone. A full analysis of myponents would take time. Following assembly of market data too. Going by my heart-crystal alone does ce me in the hundreds of millions, however. Cheap bitch thus does not apply.
Know-it-all cunt then, Smander growled, the fire on her head only swelling. Sylph trying to blow it out like she was birthday cake didnt help.
Yo, watch it! Rave, sitting in the direction of the breeze, cried out. She was sitting there in basic panties and a sports bra. They were all friends and members of the same harem there and the atmosphere had something of a sleepover anyway.
John looked over to the table where Lydia was having a discussion with Siena, Undine and Nia. That particr set of girls inbination was basically just the queen and sadist having a bit of a fight. From the sound of it and the fact that both of them remained seated, it was evident that there was nothing too serious being disagreed over though. Even if they did threaten to go vtile, Undines calming and Nias odd presence prevented the discussion to everpletely spill over.
Gnome was also sitting on the table with them, but her attention was focused on the floor instead. Having wrapped some yarn around a rod of stone, with a ball of rubber attached to the end of it, the stone elemental was instead ying with Copernicus and Stirwin, the two animal-shaped light elementals going at it. The suncat was even nice enough to help the golden hatchling out of a bit of a situation it had gotten itself in. Doing what creatures of its ilk liked to do, Stirwin had gone into a so called death-roll.
In nature that move was, as the name indicated, a sure way to murder whatever was in its jaws. Here, the tiny little crocodile had only seeded in wrapping enough string around its snout that it now couldnt open it anymore. Roll the other way, Copernicus advised, even going as far as demonstrating. Gnome watched with a sunny smile on her cute face.
John could see motions inside the kitchen. A maid outfit and a sickly pale girl in nothing but an apron working on something. From the sweet smell in the air, he guessed something in the sugary department, probably some sort of cookies.
His entrance into the room was noticed, but only Sylph got up to start enthusiastically dancing around him and fill his ears with chatter. The rest simply acknowledged that he had woken up and immediately returned to their activities. Except for a certain Mario Party arrangement that was now missing a yer.
This state of affairs was weed by John. If his girls didnt drop everything the moment he came into the room, that was a good thing in his book. Sure, it would have been sexually amazing if they began worshipping at his feet, but it would also have been more than a bit creepy. The greatness of it would havested as long as the orgy, and then he would have been left with a swathe of women that were all the same in how devoted they were to him.
Much more importantly, however, was the fact that they were all engaged with each other. Fluidly too, as Nia suddenly rising out of her seat and answering the call to the missing yer on the couch, and being immediately epted, demonstrated. It showed John that there werent any awkward silences or that they were engaged in catfights when he wasnt around.
I have no interest being informed about that! Lydia mmed her hand on the table. Stop evading the topic at hand!
Peeling fingernails off victims and your idea about how tax evasion should be handled are pretty much the same, Sienas teasing voice quietly contrasted the queens mild annoyance. You shouldnt rub the pennies out of them but force them to cum and do something useful.
John wasnt sure he wanted to get into that discussion, he didnt even know why Siena was interested in a discussion about taxes in the first ce. Something told him the answer was a mixture of wanting to sneak innuendos into everywhere and just annoying Lydia.
Well, some fights, but nothing they cant resolve without me, John thought and sighed as he moved towards the kitchen. He was a bit hungrier than a few buttered slices of bread could solve. Passing the table without saying anything, he just left Lydia to get a bit worked up and Siena to her amusement. Not only was he sure that his involvement would only get him a poisonous stare from the queen, but the nightmare elementals involvement in topics usually caused him to think three times about them. Couldnt hurt for Lydia to do the same.
He found the kitchen in a state between massacre and clean, a clear distinction between where Aclysia had been with a wet towel and Eliza had worked with flour. Did she bake something edible? John wanted to know.
Cocksuckeres in here and thats his first utterance, what a gran-dick, Eliza mumbled, clearly having expected somement about her get-up. Instead, she got a p on her ass and a nce to be quiet. That also had her smile.
It will be edible, but it wont look pretty, Aclysia answered.
John would have a taste of thatter on.
Chapter 482 – Training Day 4 – Cuddle and Crawl
Chapter 482 C Training Day 4 C Cuddle and Crawl
Stop eating them you fucktard Eliza presented herint in the usual bloomynguage, but her tone was one of misery. Pleeeeeasssse? She swatted towards his hand. Her immense powers suppressed, as to not stir the monster inside her unnecessarily, the movement was dull and John easily dodged.
A simply step to the side and he took a cookie out of a stic box he was holding and an overemphasized bite out of said cookie. The light-coloured bakeware, spotted with dark brown, was probably supposed to resemble a circle, but the bloated outline more closely had the shape of a mistake. Why would I? John asked, munching and causing crumbs to scatter everywhere on the floor. They taste good.
The cookies were sweet and the chocte chips inside, while having been even better when the batch was fresh and warm, added an extra note. They look like shit! Eliza stated, starting another attempt at stealing the stic box from John. The Gamer threw them in his inventory. No matter what she would try, that was a ce she couldnt reach. GAH! she cried out, the crimson aura of martial arts ring up around her. The resulting stomp of her heel on his foot was delivered with rather brutal force. He was pretty sure he felt something break.
The fact that he didnt even flinch at that and chopped her on the forehead while eating the rest of the cookie made him a bit concerned. I may be getting a bit too used to being physically abused, he thought, then decided that was just the price he had to pay for deciding to love a girl that was absolutely crazy. He put his heart with her and the incidents were few and far in between. To put it easily, it was worth the minor pain.
Dont practice martial arts on me, he nevertheless scolded her, as her retreating sole allowed his bones to jump back into the correct position between two frames of reality. Gamers Body inbination with a near total pain tolerance was pretty unfair. Although I also need to keep a closer eye on my numbers now that my perception is a bit warped, John reminded himself.
The crimson around her disappeared again. At least the one that was apparent with the naked eye. Looking at her through the aura sight that allowed people in the Abyss to identify each other revealed the thick, blood coloured aura to hang around her as strong as ever.
John had found that his own had changed dramatically over time. Originally it had just been a in blue around him. By now it was a golden centre having all kinds of different colours swirl around it, doubtlessly from all the contracts, familiars and godly influences. The more powerful a being got, the more it seemed to individualize its aura. Rave, after all, had also gone from a rtively normal light-blue to an almost seizure inducing spectacle.
Sorry, Eliza apologized, making a sour face. This aura shit is fucky. First I couldnt get that dumbass mana-sweat to appear at all because fuck me thats why, but now it just does whenever I get annoyed with some shit. She looked at her hands, moving her fingers as if to ensure herself that they were still hers. Not as bad as back when I destroyed anything I touched on ident, but I still feel like a bag of damaged condoms in a whorehouse.
You can destroy whatever you want as long as its not part of anybody, John told her, turning his chop into a pat and then bowing down to kiss her. Anyway, I am keeping the cookies. They are good.
NO! Eliza shouted, turning his kiss into a headbutt. Give them back, you zombie-beaver fucking asshole! I should never have made those!
Rave, who was watching the whole situation from her position on the couch, threw in a question, Is the zombie-beaver you in that situation?
Yes, the blood mage answered, continuing to drum her fists on Johns body, this time without unneeded brutality. All in all, John was amused with how this situation was continuing on.
Didnt ya say you dont like beavers? Rave continued on.
Yes, I dont like myself, fuck o-oooooff C HEY! Getting suddenly lifted over Johns shoulder, Eliza could only il, her ck robes sounding like a g in the middle of a storm.
We dont do self-deprecation around here! the Gamer decreed, running towards a mattress that was randomly lying in the living room. In a move that was half improvised wrestling and half cuddling, John mmed Eliza on that oversized cushion and covered herining shape in hugs and kisses. He did this until he had subjugated her with love and she was reduced to a gleefully pouting little bundle of curses and messy hair. Thats better, he said, holding her close to his chest to refill his energy while he looked around.
The living room had a slight crack-house atmosphere to it by the sheer amount of chaos that was going on. It was still bursting with people and the fact that more objects were added to the room every day didnt help. Then again, it was all incredibly clean thanks to the tireless maid duos work. Maybe a more suitable metaphor would have been an elderly folks ce when they had their grandchildren over.
Rave was smiling at him with lovestruck eyes. It was certainly out of the ordinary that she would have such an expression after seeing her boyfriend tumble around with another girl for a couple of minutes, but such was their (incredibly well-working and healthy) rtionship. A quick tap on the ass informed the techno lover that they were about to start another round of Smash, so she turned around to partake in that.
Lydia, flipping a page of Machiavellis The Prince, raised her voice, You are quite lively today. Her tone was the usual stern, but the fact that she didnt even look up from her page to deliver a mildly reprimanding nce meant she was justmenting and had no stakes in the answer.
I have a bit of a post-danger high, John agreed. About ten minutes ago he had gotten out of an Assault, so his system was still worked up. It was also why everyone was gathered in the living room, as the days were pretty consistently structured around the two Assaults. John headed out at eight, was gone until noon, then returned for lunch. Aclysia would be cooking something she had already prepared in advance, but it would still take her a bit and so it was that they all came together at that time for about two hours.
Then, from about 14 to 18 oclock, John would run the second Assault, then spend the rest of the day rxing, helping the girls or continuing his attempts at finishing the martial arts quest. This was day five of that ongoing process, and he was perfectly happy with the results. Although he was about to switch up his strategy a bit.
So why are you suddenly embarrassed of your cookies, hmm? John wanted to know of the small girl in his arms. You looked so happy when you got them done.
I ate some of Aclysias andpared them to mine, she grumbled. Happy, joystick wanker?
Well, if youpare yourself to perfection, you are bound to fall short, John stated and dwelled in the scent of her hair for a moment. I was just really happy you made them for me. Just because they arent the absolute best doesnt mean I wont appreciate them.
Ja, Rave agreed. Just dont let me near the oven!
The only fucking person here that I wouldnt let close to the oven is Lydia, Eliza spoke up. Because she is German and they have an awful track record with those.
The queen mmed her book close. Hrious, she hissed, a generalized insult, a true masterpiece. Want to insult me for being brte next?
Rx, anal queen, Eliza shouted back.
Once you learn to be less infuriating, I might get the chance to, the queen returned. Until then, your shrill voice rings in my ears.
Fuck off, you overly serious Eliza hesitated for a second as she desperately searched for something that wasnt another insult based on anal sex, tyrant!
That, for the sheer weight of the word, John knew, was what transformed this exchange into a genuine fight. Wood scratched over wood as Lydia shot out of her seat. If you took things more seriously, perhaps you would stop being a safety risk for everyone around you.
For a moment, Eliza was speechless. Listen here, Lylyti-
John was about to interrupt this, because there had already been too many sore spots being handled with too much blunt force, when a light like shbang illuminated the space between the mattress and the dinner table. Can ya two knock it off already? Rave asked as all looking parties had to blink rapidly to even see something again, leaving them with no choice but to listen. Dont you two already know to not butt heads like that? Can we skip the part where you are mad at each other for a day before John convinces you to shake hands again?
Lydia was the first to back off. Right, she sighed and fell back into her chair. I do apologize. Particrly with my current choice of literature, the word tyrant does not ring well with me. I am in an irritable mood today, she rubbed her temples. I dont get along withplete rxation like this, especially for prolonged periods. Again, I do offer my apology.
Yeah its fine shouldnt have said that, Eliza grumbled, ashamedly pulling her hood over her eyes. The fight ended as quickly as it had begun, and a few minutester they were all gathering around the table like usual. No bad blood had a proper way to continue existing in this harem household of wholesomeness.
Still, John had to poke some fun at all of this. Seriously, you two are like I want to say cats and dogs, but I dont know who of you would be which, he said as Aclysia ced todays meal, burritos, on the table. They were separated as per their contents by te and properlybelled.
As there wasnt nearly enough room on the table itself, many of the group had to simply grab something and then retreat somewhere else to eat. Not that the elementals would even be able to finish more than one of the rolled pieces of deliciousness. John sunk his teeth into abination of onions, crispy-roasted duck, a hot sauce, red beans and bell peppers when he got his answer.
Yes, Lydias answer was simple and precise. Take that we converse at this level of civility, as it is all you will get.
Eliza was too upied with chomping through her burrito in four bites to answer.
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Alright then, a rested John rolled his shoulders as he stood in the darkness thaty behind the gates of light that separated the grass from the spaces he could use to create his own Instant Dungeons within the intermediary barrier. How do we do this?
The question was about which way was the best to acquire a Skill Evolution Point. John hadnt just been running Assaults these past few days, he had been banking up on an item called Symbiotic Riddle that dropped from the bosses in the Maggot Ursa Assault. As an epic item, its drop chances were fairly low, but with the new Loot Focus and the finagling that the Advanced I.D. Settings allowed him, he had set it to just low. Over thest five days, he had gotten a total of five copies of the object.
Obviously, it was a good old key to Secret Rooms. A mechanic John seldomly took advantage of since he got a way to just disable loot to extract the more reliable EXP bonus. John checked his level, currently he was at 144, this was a bit of a problem since the Revealers of Secrets he had farmed would stop working at his current Tier in just 2 levels. It was high time he moved onto phase 2 of the farming.
He flipped the Secret Rooms on and then went to pick his poison for which dungeon he would crawl through in search of that room. The Assaults were a bad choice, way too frantic, and even the downgraded waves were not advisable. Sieges, Captures and Arena, John hadnt even managed to find any Special Rooms in. Random came with a whole different load of baggage.
So back to Floors it was. After five days of Assaults, John wasnt against a change of pace whatsoever. Lets go with he looked over the options of the Monster Table. Slimes, why the hell not.
The darkness around them was eliminated immediately. The outline of a new reality quickly sharpened to Johns eyes. He was standing in a cylindrical room, the floor and ceiling made of a sort of polyester cloth, finely woven, slippery and a bit damp. Not unsurprising with what the ss walls revealed to be outside.
They were in a submergedbyrinth, a three-dimensional maze of tunnels cutting through the liquid world surrounding them. Room and tubes all structured with the samebination of ss and polyester as this room spanned through dozen of kilometres, ultimately vanishing as Johns eyes failed to pierce through the fogginess of the flowing world.
I would call it water, but John thought, looking at the fluid all-around. For the most part, it was a clear, translucent blue, like the ocean on flyers for a Caribbean vacation, but aroundrge rooms there were segments of green, dark azure or red. Also water would drip in here by pressure alone, he continued on to think, looking back up to theyer of cloth that was separating them from the outside.
The truth was, they were surrounded entirely by slime. A very peculiar situation, one that John found to be pretty dangerous. There was no telling when they would be attacked, neither what would happen if they tore open that cloth by ident.
Eyes wandering over to the edge of the room, where the cloth was hooked into a metal frame, John came to the realization that each segment of thisbyrinth had its own sheets that served as the separations above and below. This was an important detail, as it allowed him to experiment rtively safely.
Stepping out into that first corridor, ever watchful to not slip on the floor that was like a wet bouncing castle, John mentally turned to Siena. Could you slice that floor open? he asked.
I can slice a whole lot of things, the nightmare elementals sensual voice whispered back as she climbed out of his shadow. The fact that her stiletto-esque heels didnt stab right through the floor was good to know already.
In a disy clearly meant for Johns eyes, she bowed down at the hips. Keeping her legs straight, the downward motion pushed her juicy ass out and her summoner was left fighting the blood rushing to the ce where it could have more fun. This immediately changed once she actually lunged at the floor with knife-like fingers and ded tendrils of purple.
It took her several cuts to break through what turned out to be a bunch ofyers. A geyser of goo came her way when she finally did, and she snapped back. In the ocean illuminated by an unknown light source, covering everything in the pleasant brightness of daylight, she had very little room to retreat.
John grabbed her by the arm and pulled her against his chest and into the rtive safety of the corridor. Keeping Emergency Rope at the ready, to teleport out if this experiment went south, he watched as the slime geyser slowly filled up the room. A magical barrier was preventing the rising fluid from spilling into the corridor the Gamer was inhabiting.
You look almost heroic, Siena teased, her body pressed against his with full intent, an index finger reaching under his suit and trailing the rim of his nipple with scary uracy.
Not like you are a damsel in distress, John answered. A bunch of tentacles slung out of the slime wall and towards the duo. Arcane sparks flew everywhere as Mana Protection did what it did best. Quickly retreating down the corridor to preserve his pre-charged shield and his mana by extension, he noticed pirs of slime growing like connecting dripstones. Seems like we left the safe zone, he said.
Like there is a safe zone around me, Sienaughed quietly, brandishing her ws at the new enemy.
The search for a Secret Room began.
Chapter 483 – Training Day 5 – Crawling and Unlocking
Chapter 483 C Training Day 5 C Crawling and Unlocking
I fucking love this ce, John blurted out while they fought. Therge chamber they were inside had a central pir of ss, turning the cylindrical shape into a doughnut with corners. Inside the resulting cut-out swam arge, ck nucleus with a smooth surface, a tiny white dot swirling around like an eye.
John wasnt even being sarcastic, he really liked this dungeon. The enemies spawned in a clearly telegraphed fashion. They all had two attacks, a basic tentaclesh and a second one depending on colour. The slippery floor was enough of a handicap to justify the enemies being immobile. If John didnt want to have a fight, he just had to kill the very few enemies directly in his path and the Horrors that spawned. It was all incredibly fair.
Speaking of Horrors, that giant nucleus was not one. That thing was simply a mini-boss of some description. ording to Observe, killing it would cause this room to turn into a safe ce for the remainder of the run, which John could use to anchor his mental map to.
However, one of the Slimegmites (a botchedbination of Slime and Stgmite) was a Horror. The special spawns were incredibly easy to identify, given that they had a ck swirly mist hanging around them like an ill omen made manifest. In this particr case, that colour also tinted it a deep purple, removing it from the usual colour scheme of blue, red, yellow and green.
So, John was in a doughnut shaped room with a slippery floor, Slimegmites growing all around him and the group, with a particrly nasty one already manifested and a miniboss watching them with abilities John didnt know. Still, the Gamer felt like he was in a really fairly designed dungeon.
The strategy was quickly cobbled together. Smander, take out the green slimes first, he instructed. They were the weakest to fire attacks and had the nastiest secondary attack in the form of poisonous fumes that slowly filled up the room. They werent just toxic to breathe but also corroded materials, dealing incredible damage to Beatrice and Aclysia. Sylph, you go for the yellow ones, their lightning counterattacks wont hurt you as much. If you are done, help me and Siena with the remaining ones. Aclysia, you keep an eye out for the boss and taunt when necessary. Gnome, you concentrate on protecting me. Beatrice, you concentrate on the Horror.
Affirmative, the passive maids answer came for everyone around as well, and the individual tasks and everything went into motion. They scattered through the room. Smander and Sylph weaved through the Slimegmites they werent supposed to attack. With her considerably smaller size, the tempest elemental had an easier time doing so, but both threw their respective magic in precise fashions.
John engaged with a blue variant of the monster species. They were odd for sure, anchored to ceiling and floor with broad bases that narrowed towards the middle, only to thicken there again around a nucleus. From that thick middle part came the attacks, physicalshes and magic alike.
As of that moment, John had found two efficient ways to dispose of the Slimegmites. One could either go the obvious route, destroying the nucleus, or separate the middle from the bases. Thetter was a bit riskier, leaving the slime to dry out and able to throw somest attacks, but also a lot quicker.
Unless one had weaponry specialized around thrusting.
John countered the ice bolt that was thrown into his charge by using Purgatorys fireball. While the free attack wasnt the most potent, it was enough to turn that single ice bolt into a shower of water and smaller shards that sttered against Mana Protection at a minimal cost. A second bolt hit the barrier around his right shoulder before he had closed the gap.
The Slimegmites were surprisingly wide from up-close, easily a metre of gtine protecting them all around. Still though, John had a pretty good way to get through that. He pulled back his left arm and then thrust it at the monster. Purgatory pushed through the exterioryer reliably. Upon the intrusion, the slime immediately started to manifest tentacles and whip at theyer of mana protecting John.
Although he wasnt able to reach the core directly like this, at least not without shoving his arm further than the incredibly hard, obsidian-esque material of his gauntlet shielded him, all he wanted was to get his hand close in the first ce. A de of blue and purple, the colours of arcane magic, suddenly extended from his open palm. At that range, Mana de was strictly more affordable and it didnt take a lot of damage to destroy the nucleus. All John had to do was hold his position for two to three seconds and then the attack had seeded in cracking the organ that was heart and brain of the creature at once.
Still, costs a lot of mana to do things this way, John thought, retreating to regenerate the total of 500 that endeavour just cost him. Thank god for Whisper of Mana, he thought. The often-forgotten passive to Secret of Mana boosted his mana recovery by 100% for a minute, following a sessful kill using an arcane skill. It was perfect in ces like this.
Still, he was the tactician and mana distributor of the group first, so he kept back and an eye on the situation. The elementals were all still doing what they had been told, Gnome just stepping between John and a fire orb that was thrown his way. Aclysia went out to retaliate, a Servant Strike buffed thrust with Eclys delivering death to that red Slimegmite.
Meanwhile, Beatrice was engaging with the ck one. Armed with a spear, she was perfectly equipped to fight these creatures. A single, well-ced lunge could take them out. When she was greeted by a triple tentacle whiping from her from overhead, Twist Position carried her diagonally away from them.
Slow moving ripples spread out from the empty impact site, travelling over the floor. A bit of added environmental spice, but no hindrance to Beatrice. A moment was taken to aim, then the weapon thrust upwards. Unsteady Limb activated, the halfway filled bar of Swing giving her attack that much more immediacy.
The spear went deep into the slimes viscous mass but was then suddenly thrown backwards. Ejected from the very hole it tore, the force of the rebound caused Beatrice to lose her bnce, then she was hit in the chest by a wave of unstable darkness, exploding into a deep mist. The passive maid lost a massive chunk of HP, about 60%, and her right arm disappeared into straight-up nothingness.
Shenanigans! John mentally cursed. Was this the first slime that had three abilities? That seemed unlikely; even if they were fighting an empowered version, the Horror seemed plenty stronger without being given an extra ability. The Gamer had a different idea and had it confirmed just a momentter when he realized that therge nucleus had, despite its pretty solid state, phased through the ceiling and was now protecting the Horror with some sort of barrier.
He couldnt have that. For a miniboss, John was more than willing to invest a lot of resources, so he pooled together a thousand of his mana and conjured a single Shardbound. Of deep purple colour, the sharp looking manifestation of energy stopped rotating the second John aimed it and then crossed the two dozen metres between him and the target in no time t.
A deep cut, more of a stab wound in appearance, was created upon the spells impact. The ck surface of the nucleus had looked hard, but actual defences must have been its magics job. The creature let out a pained hiss from no discernible mouth. The white dot that served as its iris darted around in panic as it began to retreat back through the cloth.
Aclysia! John mentally signalled the weaponized maids part in this.
At once! she answered out loud, taken by the swiftness of the action. Masters Shield rippled out around her as she charged as quickly as she could over the unsteady floor. The circle of white light hit the miniboss at the very edge; it and every enemy afflicted were now forced to choose between attacking Aclysia or suffering the consequences.
Her assault changed into bouncing steps, then into a proper jump. Using the stic nature of the floor to her advantage, she was able to jump all the way up to the ceiling. A Cutting Flurry ensued, a quick aerialbo. Her dagger plunged into the iris, Eclys widened the wound Shardbound had caused, and finally Marath impaled that very wound.
The miniboss immediately began disintegrating, but Aclysia was now helplessly falling and the Horror had her in its sight. Swirling darkness gathered in front of the slimes centre. It was about to burst out, and John wasnt interested in knowing how much damage his first creation would take. Especially inbination with all the other special attacks about to fly her way from the other Slimegmites hit by Masters Shield.
Always ready, ready and here! Sylph chirped out, a green streak that zigzagged over the battlefield at a rapid pace. In a move that seemed instant to Johns naked eye, she rotated several times around the thinnest part of the ck slimes lower half, cutting it apart. Abination of Shardbound and Beatrice throwing her spear with the arm she still had did the same to the upper half, causing the dark bolt to miss by a wide margin as it was shot off just as the middle-section fell towards the floor.
Aclysia made a propernding, immediately whirling Marath around as best she could, and cleaving the immobile mass apart like a ball of rubber bands under a thousand-degree knife. I havent been out of mana for a while, John thought as he had to throw himself to the floor in order to dodge, unable to rely on Mana Protection. God, I love this dungeon.
Why are you so happy about things being hard? Undine asked.
Because things being easy is super boring, also this isnt hard, its challenging, John told her. And I do like a challenge every now and again.
From there cleaning the room was pretty easy. With no further spawning happening, they could progressively clean up. By using the central pir as a shield, John stayed in rtive safety. Once the green slimes had all been destroyed, Aclysia and Beatrice could join the fight again. Albeit thetter still only had her left arm to rely on.
Regardless, the slimes were taken care of a few minutester and then they took a break in the now safe room. Sylph, could you do some scouting? John asked while they were waiting for both his mana to reach an eptable level again and Beatrices arm to regrow. Thetter was being assisted by Undine, who hadtched herself onto the wounded side like a very attractive slug.
Yes, Sir, Yes! I will be do the scoutsing, which means I will do the scout and go do--LAAAAA, and with that she sted off into a nearby corridor. John could see the glowing green streak she became through the ss for a couple more metres.
She would trigger a bunch of spawns, but that wasnt a big problem as far as John was concerned. Information about where they were heading, if anywhere, was more valuable. I did not expect such burst damage, John spoke in an apologetic tone to Beatrice. I will take Horrors more seriously in the future.
It is fine, Master, Beatrice stated. I survived. Pain is a minimal concern.
John reached out and patted her on the head. Maybe, but it makes me unhappy if you are in pain.
Your unhappiness is arge concern, the passive maid admitted. Carelessness will continue to not be exhibited in mybat behaviour. In other words, she wouldnt change anything. As this all happened due to an unforeseen ability by the miniboss, that was the correct answer. Master will need to up his guidance abilities.
Right, John nodded at the direct criticism. This one was on him, he should have kept a closer eye on the miniboss. Well, his set-up wasnt that incorrect, evident by how quickly it had been able to react, but nevertheless he could do better.
John, John! Captain, my captain! Sylphs voice echoed through his mind and she sent him a vision of arge door. A thing made from silver in a world of stainless ss, grey fabric and slime, towering massively like a mountain range over the tiny fairy-like creature that was the air spirit.
It was like the entrance to a vault, withrge beams that ran across and probably thicker than tank-ting.
That looks promising, John thought. Good job, Sylph.
Chapter 484 – Training Day 6 – Unlocking and Solving
Chapter 484 C Training Day 6 C Unlocking and Solving
In front of John, the vault door looked less imposing. Sure, it was still a massive silver door, but the difference between how far away his head was to the groundpared to Sylphs was impossible to ignore. Come on C Secret Room! he prayed as he touched that door.
John smashed the Yes button, and the beams began moving with the sound of sudden depressurization. The central segments began to vanish into their slightly bigger counterparts. Waiting like a speedrunner during an unskippable cutscene, he hopped from one feet to the other. Lets hope this gives us what we need, John said towards Gnome.
Y-yeah, the stone elemental agreed. That would be nice.
Once the beams had finished retracting, the vault door began to swing inside. John pushed it along to hurry the process, an act of physical prowess that actually seeded. Praise be onto Strength, he thought, then Gnome and Aclysia joined him in the shoving and they made their way inside.
The room behind had the dungeon-typical shape of a cylinder, a very tall one at that. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, however, the walls of this room werent ss but simply a perfect light blue material that reminded John of stic, blending with the surrounding slime. A rather effective camouge against people that tried to find this room.
John almost stumbled as he stepped onto solid ground, having gotten used to the bounciness of the dungeon. Much like a sailor who had spent days on the sea, but not quite at that intensity, he needed a few moments to readjust himself to the stone floor.
He had expected some sort of entity to greet him, as was often the case with the Secret Rooms. Silence was his only weingmittee, as no mischievous god or hostile entity revealed itself to him. It was just him and his girls inside the room.
Looking around, he found twelve terminals lining the walls, equal three-step distances between them. They had the look of arcade machines, immense boxes withrge screens that flickered in a washed-out colour, red, green, blue or yellow, and a giant control panel that held a small number of buttons.
His eyes went up to find a number of non-hostile Slimegmites spanning from one side of the ceiling to the other. Havent seen them hang horizontally before, John thought as he walked around. The floor was a simple grey and held no secrets, so that wasnt it. Any guesses? he asked the assembled team while counting the amount of slimes.
There was a dozen of them, the same as the number of terminals, and they were anchored in such a way that their cores ovepped in the dead-centre of the room while the point of rooting described a double-helix between them. From the side, John imagined that it would have looked like a DNA-string that did oneplete twist.
Smander stepped in front of one of the terminals and looked up. Same colour, she stated, pointing from the screen to the Slimegmite. A second connection was that the slimes root, well, one of them, was straight above the terminal.
Alright, so the name is the program, John thought, remembering that this Secret Room was called Colour Coding. Coding for what though? he wondered. Although hesitant to just hit buttons, he had to experiment somehow, so he went ahead and pushed one of the four buttons of one of the terminals. Immediately, the screen switched colours and so did the slime. A second press of a button did nothing, the colour was locked. Okay, so SOMETHING is going to happen once we lock all the terminals, he theorized.
Can I pick the colours? Sylph asked. Can I, can I, can I? Normally he would have went into a decisive no on that one, but as he had not the faintest clue about what any of the colours could mean, he just nodded. Yay, okay, so here is what we do! She said we, but in effect it was her flying from one button to the next and hitting green every single time. For pretty obvious reasons. The Gamer didnt notice immediately, as he was busy checking his phone. It was just Scarlett sending him a nude photo of herself; he had gotten a few of those over thest few days.
While interesting, he didnt have time for that right now.
John was more annoyed by the end result of Sylphs action than he would have been if it had been a pure chaotic arrangement of colours, since the one red he had pressed now stuck out like a sore thumb. Luckily, he didnt have to live through the view for too long, as all the Slimegmites suddenly fell to the floor.
The group reacted as one, everyone getting into battle stance. Weapons and magic at the ready, they watched the mass pull together into a unified shape. A very small, rectangr shape, with a curved lid and a design that made it look like it was supposed to be opened.
Its a lootbox generator John groaned.
More like a goop box generator, Smander joked, causing everyone else in the room to groan with their master. WHAT?! You fuckers, that one was super clever.
Siena looked at her like the endme elemental hadnt brushed her teeth in two weeks and was now trying to do so with a nose hair trimmer. What about that disgraceful pun was clever? she wanted to know.
Because goop also means scam and loot boxes are nothing if not that, so its a double pun, Smander crossed her arms and smiled self-righteously.
Undine shook her head, What a horrible attempt at humour.
I will boil you until you are nothing but a salt elemental!
Siena giggled, The salty one right now is most certainly you.
John ignored that and closed in on the chest with Beatrice and Aclysia. Both of them were pointing their weapons at the chest still, just in case it turned out to be an enemy after all. Carefully, the Gamer raised the lid and was greeted by numbers floating up, informing him he just got 110000 dors and a quarter of a Skill Point. He put thetter into Tempest Elemental Summoning, just because he could, and then hummed.
So green was money and red were Skill Points, huh? John thought. Seemed like he had a great amount of control over what he could get out of these boxes. Pretty good, but he didnt feel like he would run this whole dungeon again just to experiment with the rest of the system and see if he could get an SEP. As fun as this ID was, that seemed like a waste of time.
Well, that changed things.
I dont need to check green again, I dont want money, but the remaining mono-colours could be valuable to get through, he theorized that certainbinations would give more than a simple multiple of a base value. Currently, all he knew was that one green Slimegmite gave him ten grand and one red gave a quarter of a Skill Point. It stood to reason that going all green would give him more than 120000, like an item or something. Looking at all three would leave me with one Symbiotic Riddle. I am pretty sure this is a good deal, John thought and then epted the windows proposal.
Okay, people, we are putting everything on red, he instructed as the Slimegmites above respawned out of thin air. As they were a ratherrge group, pressing the red button everywhere didnt take especially long. The reward for the endeavour was a grand m of 5 Skill Points, one more than the basic multiplication said he should get. So, he was right, but he also didnt feel great about it since that reward was still pretty underwhelming.
He used the points to max out Tempest Elemental Summoning and the rest went into Nightmare Elemental Summoning. Now I need TWO SEP, he sighed and went on with the experiment. All yellow awarded him with a golden goop box, which contained a text that told him he just got an Epic item ced in his inventory.
Pulling it out, John had his hands on what seemed to be a cushion in the shape of a semi-circle. It was a very firm thing, wrapped in leather and clearly with some sort of hard core. On top of the curvature sat an elongated piece of rubber, a bump in the middle of its length, and a wireless remote was magically attached to the t front of the cushion. The thing seemed to be designed forfortable kneeling or something like that.
John had the feeling he had seen something like that before, although he couldnt quite remember where. Interested, he hit a few buttons on the remote. Immediately the buzzing sound caused a shback to some of the porn he had been watching back when he was single. A sybian! John thought, realizing what he was looking at. These beasts were famous for the immense amount of clitoral stimtion their high-frequency motor could put out. In that they were a sex toy that relied exclusively on vibration and could cause orgasms without direct contact with the womens sex. Although there were supposed to be extensions that allowed pration as well.
In other words, this was an ideal toy to add to his collection and something he couldnt wait to see what it would do to Eliza after she was strapped on top of it for ten minutes. How could I forget getting something like this? he scolded himself, before going for thest colour, blue.
The result wasnt the hoped SEP, but instead John was greeted by apletely empty chest. The hell is this now? he asked, then closed the baby blue lid again. He was greeted by a couple of cute anime-like eyes looking at him like they were about to cry. Oh spare me your tears, he grumbled, having seen enough dumb stuff today to not even have a reaction to that absurdity. Instead, he stabbed his finger at the thing in a fashion that would have made a certain pariah very angry. Give me my loot!
Well, great, I get a freeloader instead, John grumbled but clicked yes anyway, Nia would be happy about the extra critter in her care. Well, the care of the automatic system that she oversaw to have an excuse to pat everything in her vicinity. Not that the Gamer minded, all the Menagerie cost him was some mana and in return people that visited his ind to work in the Mine (or somewhere else) had somewhere to recharge their batteries during their break.
Now John only had two more Revealer of Secrets, and he should have stopped there. However, the evil hand of opening loot boxes didnt let John go quite that easily, and so he put a question forward. Vote for trying a rainbowbination? he asked the assembled harem. The end result was only Undine and Gnome voting against, while everyone, particrly an amused Siena, was in favour.
Okay, we are going to do this slowly! John told everybody. I want this to be three-time repetition of red-blue-yellow-green, not three times red, followed by three times blue, followed by three times yellow, ended by three times green, okay?
Why? Beatrice asked. That sounds like unnecessary work.
Because its called Colour Coding and I am absolutely sure that Gaia would do something as trollish as that, John answered. Somehow the sequence of colours is going to matter. I feel it in my blood.
That achievement came in the exact same moment as the rainbow-coloured chest of goop pulled together on the floor. Yeah, sure, just give me the thing I have wanted for a felt eternity now, heined in the grumpy voice of an old man who couldnt find the right brand of oats in the supermarket he was sure he had bought them in before.
And, of course, a second SEP was inside that chest. John threw his hands into the air. EVERY TIME! he shouted at the ceiling. HOW? HOW DO YOU MAKE ME ANGRY ABOUT SUCCEEDING EVERY C TIME?
IMMENSELY! he let out an exasperated breath and forcefully calmed down. Forget about Eliza, I am going to put Gaia on that sybian and make her deepthroat my dick while she cums her brains out, he continued to grumble, knowing that it would only happen if she wanted it to. Gaia seemed to be a switch, so maybe he could get her to do that when she was horny enough toe visit him next time, but there was no question who was really in control in that situation. Hell, there wasnt even a way to ask that question without looking stupid.
They say I am bullshit, but I am calling bullshit on being a supreme deity, he thought and then turned to the more important things. Lets find the boss and then go about evolving you two, he said, gesturing at both Sylph and Gnome.
He was in a bad mood, but he had gotten what he wanted quicker than he thought he would.
Chapter 485 – Training Day 7 – Masonry
Chapter 485 C Training Day 7 C Masonry
The final boss of the Slime ID was a wonderful encounter. A nucleus the size of a house, attached to the ocean that surrounded the entire structure, hung under the ceiling of a beast of a room. It was surrounded by a shield that a bunch of the minibosses were keeping up and would periodically spawn enemies.
The way to beat it was to take care of the spawned enemies, take out as many minibosses as they could in the resulting breathing period and finally whack the boss once all of them had been defeated. Once they managed to do that, the ceiling would begin to rise, pulling the boss away. Even Sylph wouldnt be able to hurt it anymore, as a new shield was erected.
Then came the swim phase. Slime would rain down on the group in heavy drops that filled the initial floor. A dodge heavy, minute-long phase, during which building blocks would fall along the goop and allow the group to slowly climb upwards as they took acid damage from staying in the slime for too long.
Once they had reached a certain height, a new floor would spawn in and the first phase would start again, with them fighting adds and trying to take out the shield. This repeated a total of three times.
It was a very video-game like boss and a very simple one at that. A design that could have been taken straight out of a Mario or The Legend of Zelda game, and John loved it for it. It was intense, fair and fun, if maybe a bit too long.
I do not want to go into this dungeon again, Aclysia didnt share his opinion. Strongly enough to voice it, which was surprising given her knowledge of her masters enthusiasm and servitude towards his happiness. Next to her, Beatrice nodded with as much relief as she could muster.
Why not? John asked, a bit whiny. Getting confronted with his favourite maid not liking something he did felt surprisingly frustrating.
Sorted by annoyance factor, descending, Aclysia prefaced her listing with the proper exnation. Corrosive damage hurts more than anticipated. Spawns are always all over the room, making proper guarding of you, Master, difficult as magical projectilese from every direction. Stationary enemies make it impossible to pull them into a proper position for AoE application. 1-shot, high damage output enemies are boring to fight. The slippery floor was awful to walk on.
Those were a lot and pretty good reasons. Most of them seemed centred around the fact that Aclysia was thinking as a tank and John was mostly thinking as a problem solver and damage dealer. Where his highest priority was simply unravelling situations and he had gotten to do a lot of that in that dungeon, Aclysias mind was always working on getting everyone, John in particr, through the fight as safely as her abilities allowed her to. A dungeon where her abilities and knowledge on that end were impossible to apply would thusly annoy her to no end.
Also, yes, John had noted how brutal corrosive effects were on the Artificial Spirits. Little wonder, looking at their inorganic nature. Not only did they take high amounts of damage, any remaining substance on their body would drastically reduce regeneration effects.
You raise valid points, he therefore conceded. Well, we got what we wanted anyway and it was a core floor, so we wont be seeing that particr dungeon again.
Aclysia bowed her head after they stepped out of the light and into the green in. My gratitude for entertaining myints.
John waved his hand, wanting to disperse that unnecessary gesture like he would smoke, Hey, you have been covering my back for so long, least I can do is not go into dungeons you dont like. Best we find something we both like to run, its not about just me after all. It is about us, he reached out, catching a strand of her hair and smelling it. Coffee, he recognized. He had never liked the taste, his preferred way of getting caffeine into his system had always been Monster, but the smell of coffee was unmistakable and nicely aromatic. I love it, he added with a nce at her that spelled out that he wasnt really talking about the smell.
I love you, John, Aclysia answered with a small smile, taking the initiative for a quick kiss. Nevertheless, we should concentrate on the aplishment of the day, she reminded him afterwards.
Right, John nodded somberly and looked over to Sylph and Gnome. Well, to Gnome, Sylph was busy energetically trying to fly one-hundred loops in a row without loosing her orientation and then tumble around like a drunk bumblebee.
For the stone elemental, she was blushing immensely, her eyes darting away from John and Aclysia as if she had just seen something she shouldnt have and was now deeply embarrassed about it. C-can I get a kiss too? she asked, revealing the actual reason why her face had the colour of a tomato. Pushing her index fingers together, she asionally dared to look back to John, I-I mean, just a bit of a kiss is fine right?
You can have as many as you want, you adorable little rock, John answered with a bit ofughter, immediately moving in to fulfil her wish. He bowed down the little distance between them, taking hold of her naked shoulders, which her yellow summer dress did not cover.
Despite her obvious embarrassment, the earth spirit did not shy away from John as he leaned in, instead bravely, if a bit overzealously, puckering her lips to meet his. They were smooth as always, her earthen nature giving her a bit of a heavy taste as her saliva-less mouth met his. Odd as it felt, it worked like always, and as little a kiss she had asked for, itsted for a long time. Her twin-pigtails waving with happy emotions as if they had a life of their own.
John pulled backwards softly, to allow her to continue the kiss if she so desired. She let him go, however, and so he said instead, Yourst kiss in that body. His voice was soft as he put a hand on her left cheek.
She put her own on top. Yeah She was still red as a beet, but her voice was tranquil and she smiled from ear to ear. Its been a long time.
Yeah, John agreed. You ready?
Yeah, the words chosen werezy, but there was little need for any further grand conversation.
John stepped back, regretfully. He best enjoyed what came next without touching her, lest he got caught up in the elemental pir that always came along with these. He activated the first SEP by clicking on the golden plus next to the Stone Elemental Summoning skill.
Well, that was a surprisingly easy choice. Decay elemental was not an option, if not for the beauty then for the character line. Although John already wouldnt have taken it with the beauty alone. He wasnt afraid to say that he was a bit shallow in that regard, never had been, never would be. If a girl was super ugly, he was way less likely to pay any attention to her. He had experienced the reverse and while it was a shitty feeling that was just how the cookie crumbled. The alternative was to be a perfectly moral but unhappy person and, as far as John was concerned, that was not a sustainable solution.
Between mountain and soil, there was a choice though. Truthfully speaking, he preferred the sound of thetter. For a bunch of semi-good to arbitrary reasons. It was in the middle, it had more words, the environmental part sounded interesting and soil sounded more like a special tree of development while mountain sounded like the simple and logical progression.
Still, he wasnt just about to pick her fate for her, so he had to ask. Any strong feelings? If she really wanted to take mountain elemental, he had to respect that.
Uhm, no, you can pick the soil one, Gnome agreed, checking herself like a nervous first timementator before stepping in front of the camera. Pretty useless, considering what was about to happen.
The moment John pressed the button, the earth spirits body was swallowed whole by a pir of stone that appeared out of the ground. It was rough, the untouched surface of a boulder, if a bit odd in its elongated shape and all-around equal width. Brown, with golden lines running through it likeyers of the very same precious metal, as well as a couple of grey, ck and white ones, it looked like something that had been cleaved out right out of a cliff.
Moments of waiting ensued, all other elementals surrounding their sealed sister and waiting in silence. Well, except for the one who couldnt keep her mouth shut unless she was paid her size in gummy bears. Hey, hey heeeeeeeyyyyy? Sylph, after turning into her big form, tried to get Smanders attention by stabbing her index finger into the endme elementals side.
The fire spirits scarred, ck eye twitched, quite visibly as all the lines around it emphasized the motion, but she remained calm. Not used to this, the tempest elemental moved onto the next target to bother, which was Siena. Who immediately turned into her unleashed state, the pale blue of her skin turning into a pitch ck, mist-like shadows rising from her form. Two terrorizing yellow eyes gazed into Sylphs amber ones, who closed her chattering mouth and walked on nervously whistling. Even idiots had survival instincts.
The next in line was Undine. While she did just ept the prolonged poking, John decided to absolve her of the annoyance. Especially since Sylph was starting to get very fascinated with the way her stabbing caused little ripples in the ocean elementals side.
What do you want, Sylph? he asked mentally, the silence somehow felt precious and he didnt want to disturb it.
How long do we have to wai-? The answer came before the question was finished, with the pir beginning to copse into itself. In sudden bursts, parts of it crumbled inwards, which was an odd sight to say the least. It was like polygons all over the stone were suddenly ced a bit further in, a process that repeated until the shape of a person was discernible from the pir. Then the shape of a woman. Finally, the new shape of Gnome.
A lifelike statue now stood there, cracks spreading over it. Like a mould of mud struck once by an artisan, the entire structure burst off.
Gnome was breathtakingly beautiful. The roots of her old form were still clear, she was the same height, and in rough details, the two of them were the same. A yellow summer dress still adorned her, less intricately designed than before. Where she had dozens of little extras before, now it was just the central dress. In a way, that meant her clothing had reverted to how it had been in her Tier 1 days, but that one piece she did wear was a piece of art.
Oriental decorations spread over the ck rim of her knee-high skirt, golden lines of a fine weave. The same design was used at the upper half as well, framing what little of her breasts could be seen nicely and adding an extra touch to the strings over her shoulders, securing the dress in ce. Tiny patterns of grey broke up the monotony of the yellow in a non-intrusive fashion.
Her limbs were still slender, the skin a noble pale tone. Not sickly, simply evoking the idea that she wasnt out when she didnt need to. Hairless and firm, it looked natural and hid the truth that the person underneath was made from stone perfectly.
Her hair had slightly changed in its do. Where it had before been bundled in just two pigtails, there were now two smaller pigtails with more hair falling down the back of her head. It looked a bit more adult but retained a young charm.
The reason, however, John found her to be that much more beautiful was her face. The Asian structure of her face had been reinforced and she looked more like someone in her early twenties now than someone around neen. Her cheek bones were more defined, her brown eyes had a more elegant almond shape, her face had exchanged cuteness for grace.
Grace that was immediately lost when she yelped as her first action in her new body. Uhm, she looked around, lightly blushing. Does somebody have a mirror? her voice was the same as before, light, happy and trembling from nervousness.
Just check through our eyes, Smander told her.
R-right, Gnome nodded and checked herself out. Quite rightfully she whispered, I look really good, although her surprise was, in Johns opinion, misced.
Would you do me the honour? he asked, stepping forward, asking for her hand. I would like to im your first kiss in this body.
Gnome blinked a couple of times, then nodded. Okay, she replied with a voice stronger than usual. With a new Tier came the earth spirits conviction to finally do more to stand up for herself. When she felt her masters lips on hers, that goal was only reinforced. It was so obvious that it fluttered out into the minds of everyone connected to her.
For it wasnt her shyness that bothered the earth spirit about herself, it was letting other people down. Reasonsrgely dependent on nothing but fate, as little credit as could be given to that concept, she was supposed to be the leader of Johns elementals and acting the part was hard for her. It didnt use to be, back when she had less emotions. Perhaps now, in this new body and with more experience, she would be able to reign in those she already had.
John was surprised by the softness of her lips. Compared to genuine humans, she was still firmer. However, whenpared to her previous self, she was pretty soft. It was like the difference between a rock and a balloon filled with heated sand. Unlike previously, she did also possess a degree of body warmth rather than beingpletely reliant on the surroundings to heat her.
She broke the kiss and looked around, gathering her voice. Everyone was looking at her expectantly, which was when she realized she had been broadcasting her thoughts for everyone to hear. Part of her wanted to kneel down and hide, a part now smaller than before. Small enough to not take instinctual control.
I she started, then stopped to rethink her words. I will do my best to lead you again, she promised, gaining smiles all around, even from Siena.
The smiles turned into questioning gazes as blue butterflies suddenly started scattering around Gnome.
Chapter 486 – Training Day 8 – Weather Predictions
Chapter 486 C Training Day 8 C Weather Predictions
Wings like the dried leaves of trees that fell in the months of fall but in the colour of the blue sky, seldomly seen in that dreary season, the butterflies flew around their creator. The middle segment of their body then looked like the stalk, tiny pieces of wood protruding from the otherwise featureless body like tiny legs.
The Gamer really wanted to ask how these things oriented themselves, but they were animated leaves pping about the ce, so the question was not going to get him anywhere. Instead he went with the another one that promised something of value to be uncovered. What are these?
Gnome raised a hand and one of the butterfliesnded on the side of her index finger. Resting its wings by folding them together, to the point where it looked like there was only one thin sheet on its back. It was soon joined by severalrades. They were quite beautiful, the light blue only interrupted by the slightly darker veins that ran throughout.
I think these are my unleashed state, the newly ascended soil elemental spoke. At the very least thats what they feel like. As if they are an extension of me.
Thats a new one, Johnmented and mentallypleted the list of the unleashed states of his base elementals. Smander buffs the next attack of an ally, Sylph gets an immense power boost when she is angry, Undine switches into attack mode, Siena buffs herself with almost no cost and Chompy buffs himself immensely on my cost. If John had to rate those by usefulness, Sylph would best for how unreliable it was and Smander would be first with Siena at a close second. How would Gnome fit into that? So what do they do?
That uhm Gnome shrugged, uncertain, they look pretty? Her attempt at a joke was met with a mixed response of light chuckles and dead stares. S-sorry, she apologized, the butterflies scattering away when she lowered her arm in a disheartened fashion.
Smander blew some air out of her nose, Work on the delivery and maybe next time it will be actually funny. The contribution fell not on deaf ears and Gnome nodded to herself, clearly motivated to do some continued self-improvement.
Sure, b-but lets try to actually find out what they do, the earth spirit pumped her fists.
Oh, we have lots of experiments to run, John agreed with a lewd smile, wiggling his fingers at her like a creepy pervert. To his surprise, Gnome stood her ground.
Do you want to feel me up? she asked, blushing slightly but keeping her eyes steady.
That is he cleared his throat, not having expected this sort of straight talk from her. The normal Gnome reaction would have been to take a step back and do some embarrassed pleading. That is exactly what I want to do, yes, John managed to get his words together.
Well then, feel free to, she said and grabbed her skirt, slowly raising it to reveal a pair of very nice and smooth thighs, stopping about halfway up. While Johns penis was definitely happy with this development, part of his mind just couldnt help but be sad. He felt like he had just lost something precious, the ability to bully the cuddle rock for the cutest of reactions.
Reaching out, his hands ran up from her kneecap and over her thighs. Like their kiss had indicated, Gnome had be a whole lot more tender. Under his fingers, he could now squish the flesh of the earth spirit, a truly satisfying feeling that only grew more intense the thicker the part of her he was grabbing.
By herst evolution, John doubted there would be any difference between how her body felt to the naked touch and a human did. Either that or there would be some earth specific differences, only time would tell.
Mhm-Aaah, a tiny voice reached Johns ears as his hands arrived at the favourite destination, Gnomes backside. Now he was definitely noyman and he had touched this one fairly often, so he felt confident even without seeing it that all was as previous with her butt. Aside from the fact that it too had be softer, which was definitely great for Johns spanking tendencies.
Looking up he felt deep relief in his heart, as he was met with the crimson face of Gnome. Do-do-do-dont look up! she demanded, mping down harder on her pulled up skirt. Her eyes were dancing around, looking everywhere but directly at anybody around.
Confidence she had definitely gained and she was willing to be more direct, but at her heart the shy rock remained a shy rock. The most important question remained then: could he make her uwuwu?
Hey, Gnome, John couldnt help but sound like the happiest idiot on earth as he spoke with a grin on his face. Can you raise your skirt a bit more? I want to see what my hands are doing.
No! she decided.
Why?
No reason!
Hmmmm, he hummed, fondling around her ass and hips some more. Because I get the slight suspicion that he suddenly dived down and peeked underneath. Gnome yelped, pressing her legs together while also crushing her skirt into her crotch. Too slow, however, as John had already confirmed what he wanted to know. No panties, huh?
Uwuwuwuwuwu. He indeed still could make her uwuwu, and as such, John was indeed the happiest idiot on earth as it turned out she was still perfectly bulliable.
When I say it like that, I feel like the viin, John thought and got up to give Gnome a nice and deep hug. Unable to hold any contempt, as she did secretly like this on some level, the soil elemental returned the gesture. Cuddling the cuddle rock was always a great experience, as she gave the best hugs. Firm, but not crushing, with her face pressed trustingly against his chest and full body contact. A hug that was an artform. You are adorable, John let her know.
Th-thanks, she stuttered. I, uhm, I l-l-l-l-love you! If it had been possible to grow any redder, she would have then and there.
Now, the sadistic part inside him urged him to say, I know, which would double up as a pop culture reference. However, there was only so much he should put the poor girl through at any given day. I love you too, he therefore responded with the truth and kissed her on the forehead.
A minute of cooling downter, they went back to the actually important experimentation of what the butterflies could even do or how they were created. Thetter answer they came to first by simply destroying one of them and waiting. Conclusion was, after several repetitions, that there was a maximum of ten and they respawned around Gnome in intervals of thirty minutes. No matter how many of them were missing, theplete number would be restored the moment that time was up. No amount of mana or willpower changed this.
They had a hard time finding out what they did though. They had no offensive capabilities, bestowed no buff, were flimsy enough to be destroyed with one direct hit and were thus a mystery. Until Gnome said the following words, I think I got it!
What followed was a traditional clusterfuck, as the soil elemental transformed, with a very confused outcry, into an earthen shape and began uncontrobly darting from one butterfly to the next. Like a livingndfall headed by the outline of a beautiful girl, she ravaged the thankfully empty barrier, leaving tall walls of stone and dirt in her wake.
She could not tell over direction nor speed, which was certainly faster than the earth spirits usual speed. Rather, she was simply transported from the closest butterfly to the most removed one, using every single one in-between as corner points. By the end she came stumbling out in her usual shape, falling to the floor as she failed to recover her bnce from the unusual experience.
Well, John scratched the back of his head, that is a mess. He was referring to the very chaotic arrangement of walls she left behind, a lom of nted walls. Very useful ability though, given your Agility. Seems like we will have to put some work into mastering it though.
I-I can do it! Gnome dered, and they finally moved onto the second girl awaiting evolution.
Sylph had waited patiently. If periodically asking if they were ready, breezing through the sky and chattering about could be defined as patient. Which it couldnt, but John had watched her hold her breath several times in an attempt to not be overly disruptive and he appreciated the effort.
Now that she felt that attention was shifting to her, the tempest elemental was unleashing her bbering. Is it my turn? Yay, I want to be the best ever concubine, so gimme dat extra power! I will go whoosh and be totally adorable while I do kick their asses with wind! She jumped and a gust whipped outwards in return. And lightning! She jumped again and small arcs of electricity crackled out of her highly raised arms. And rai-eeeep! The cloud she conjured above herself came down on her head in a sudden and very heavy ejection of water. It looked more like a gardening hose than rainfall and vanished as quickly as it started.
Sylph shook her head and scattered water everywhere. Turned out that hair longer than her body could hold an immense amount of liquid. Stop that, you airhead, Smander growled, walking over to dry her up while John spent the second SEP.
I really get the feeling that Gaia doesnt like air elementals, John muttered.
Whaaaat, whyyyy?! asked a googly-eyed Sylph. We are totally adorbs-a-dorbs! Look at me, all small and helpless! Somebody should save me, somebody with strong arms and a manly face and a fancy suit and hat with a cute feather! Yes, Johnny, you should save me, save me from Gaias undeserved hate! Your concubine demands it! Your strong, totally independent C but also very helpless C concubine
I am pretty sure I cannot work that miracle, John answered while still going over the choices. An opening window got between him and staring thoughtfully at the names.
John closed that window and went to make his choice. It was, again, quite the easy one. Cloud elemental was straight out, because John was abatant first and there was no way around that fact. Then presented with AoE or single target, the answer was definitely thetter. For area damage he had Smander, so it was better to specialize Sylph for the job she was already doing.
Everybody distanced themselves from the air spirit after she gave her confirmation that she was fine with whatever choice. Why are you walking away? Sylph proimed herck of short-term memory.
Its about to get stormy, is all, John joked and pressed the button.
I be stormy! she dered as herst words before her body dissolved into a green tornado. The elemental energy of her body was unleashed as the process of evolution took ce. While her physical form was in this untamed state, her spirit was travelling rapidly into her home ne, absorbing as much power as her expanded soul could hold before returning and forging herself a new vessel. It was a quick andrgely passive process, the elementals themselves having very little input on the final oue. Indeed, John being able to even dictate a type could already be considered cheating.
The tornado darkened with ck clouds and shed inside to the roars of thunder. As a tempest elemental, Sylph had always used minor amount of fire and water, but now that bnce was changing drastically. John jumped back after a lightning bolt struck in front of his feet. This is easily the second no third, most dangerous transformation so far, he thought, or second after all? Not sure how to count Undine.
It didnt take too long for the now urately existing thunderstorm to pull back together. Green was still the predominant colour, but in the storming energy crackled clearly ck and yellow. Assuming first the shape of the small elemental, the tornado created the details of Sylphs new body.
It was almost exactly her old one. ck shoes not unlike a jesters, now decorated with golden ornaments shaped like lightning, hid her legs up to above the kneecaps. For her size, the thighs that followed were quite thick but still fit with her lithe frame. A nicely bnced figure curved from hips up to C-cup breasts, her torso hidden underneath a green leotard beset at the upper rim with a second, simrly golden ornament that curved elegantly around her cleavage.
Her hair was as long as ever, a very light green, and tumbled about the ce without any regard for gravity. Elfishly long and pointy ears peeked out at the sides and her amber eyes looked onwards as she presented a victory pose to John, stemming one hand into her hip, she raised the other. Index and middle finger were parted in a V shape, the green glove that reached from their tips up to her shoulder giving the gesture the extra re.
Pink lips in a wide smile, she announced, This concubine does not requirerge physical changes, for she is super cute already!
She wasnt wrong. Her Mental Stats rise from time to time but she stays pretty dumb, John failed to find a better word. I guess this is much like with women who have all their fat in their breasts, it all goes straight into mana rather than brains. Not that she had a lot of mana. Of all the elementals, she was by far the one most dependent on John to back her up. Thankfully, her required resource was usually around in abundance.
Okay, here I go, bing an item, dunno how, but I will do it, Sylph suddenly announced. Three, two, one! bbergasting. With that word she change into glowing, lime green energy that quickly condensed into the shape of a sword.
To be more specific, Sylph turned into a rapier. An incredibly thin de of a green-tinted silver reached out of a ck guard that looked more like artistry than proper protection. Nevertheless, it curved around an entire quarter of the grip. Despite their filigrane apparence, the elemental items were usually rather sturdy. Their condition was directly linked to the elementals life force, after all.
John managed to catch the thing by the green grip just before it fell to the floor. That was a disrespect he didnt want Sylph to experience, even if she changed without warning.
It was a very odd weapon to hold, for it weighed absolutely nothing. With movements that only looked good but would have caused any proper fencer to shake his head, John made some testing thrusts and shes. As always when he equipped one of his elementals, their minds were as one, and as such thunder and cutting winds came at the perfect moments.
Just sad that I am really bad with weapons, John thought, having only ever used any when there had been an absolute need for it. He didnt even possess a bit of experience in wielding them, a skill was a farfetched dream that he didnt want to invest the time into. Point was, this was an item form he wouldnt get any value out of. Maybe Aclysia can equip her sometimes? Unlikely to yield any meaningful results, but it was at least a possibility.
The Gamer thought back to Sigmund, who had been equipped with at least four elementals. His air elemental had bbered about that much, although histter usage of an unfinished super-attack revealed he also possessed a fire elemental that John did not know about.
Either four or fivepared to the average one. John obviously wasnt the only one who could break the rules of the world in a limited capacity.
What kind of heights could humanity truly reach?
Chapter 487 – Training Day Finale – Some relaxing tea
Chapter 487 C Training Day Finale C Some rxing tea
I love my life so much, John mused in the shower, receiving a triple blowjob while having his hair shampooed for him. It was understandably stuffed in the shower, not that it was a bad thing to be smothered on all sides by soft female curves. As to who and how, abination of Sylph flying and Undine curving her body in ways only things without bones could allowed the duo together with Aclysia to ess his dick without getting in each others way.
Understandable, Beatrice, the one gently massaging his scalp with soap, agreed robotically, only to move on andther the rest of him by grinding her own bubble-covered body against him. Mouths were temporarily exchanged for hands as Aclysia did the same for his lower body. You are getting pampered. That was a massive understatement by the passive maid, John hadnt even used his hands to get naked.
As fun as this is, we might need to get a shower room at some point, John thought. It was more unusual for the shower to not be upied by at least two people during the hours normal people hopped into the stream of hot water. Generally, that was okay, but there was something to be said about people wanting to just shower without either sharing or waiting for extended periods.
That aside, John wanted to have an orgy in a bathhouse, starting in the locker room and ending in a giant bathtub. He did seem to remember that there was a bathhouse building for his Guild Hall, so it would happen eventually without a doubt. One quick release of internal pressure and rinsing downter, John stepped out of the shower cleaner than he could hope to ever be.
He dressed on his own, upon his insistence. Getting pampered was nice and all, but he really didnt want to reach medieval monarch levels of relying on his servants. He walked into the living room to both Lydia and Rave waiting for him on the couch.
Not in the sexual sense, but in actual nice clothing. Of course, neither of them dressed reallydylike. Rave was in tight leggings and wearing a dark blue shirt with long sleeves;bined it gave her a presentable aura that was carriedpletely by her beauty. Certainly, no woman of lesser looks could have pulled that outfit off, with pink, long and chaotic hair and neon-green painted nails together with bright pink sneakers, and hoped to maintain any sort of social eptability.
Lydia on the other hand was wearing a simple summer dress of white with a ck cross running over it in a perfectly on-centre fashion. To John, it was fairly obvious that she was wearing the g of the Teuton Order but as a dress. Although, with just a few changes, John could easily see the dress transform into a tabard. It was almost a great outfit for going out, if it werent for the fact that the queen still refused to depart from her heavy marching boots.
John didnt voice anyints, however, as they were about to visit a man who usually went out with a dinosaur skull hiding his face. Checking his own suit to make sure everything was repaired, he said, Alright, we good to go?
The question went out to only these two, as everyone else had shown no interest in going over to the Magus household and have dinner with them. Somewhat understandable, as these were thest few hours of the barrier and most of them were looking forward to just do a few things they liked to end this ten day grindfest on a truly rxing note. They both said something to the effect of yes and along they went. John used the moment to check his stats page.
He had done quite well for himself. With Strength at 100 he had gotten thest few easy synergies. In total it had gotten him an increase from 0,025 HP Reg per Strength point to 0,04, from 1,25% of Max HP to 1,5% and pretty godly reflexes to the point where he could start moving in response to pretty much anything. Didnt guarantee him that he would be quick enough, though, sadly enough.
From here on out, he was back to investing into Wisdom, his dered main stat. He would stay on levelling that for a while, wanting to get it up to 500. From there, he guessed that he would divert some points into getting either Libido or Charisma to 75. Sure, they were essentially dump stats for his build, but he wanted to have them simply because they either spiced up his love life or made negotiations that bit easier. Plus, 25 points in one stat was basically pocket change at this point, barely over three levels.
You have fun with that weird fuck and his wife, Eliza waved them off as Aclysia vanished in the kitchen to clean out everything they could still use. Without furtherment, John opened the door and stepped outside.
Why are you twoing with me anyhow? John asked the unlikely duo. The reason why he went to have dinner with Magoi was not just for niceness sake but also to get somest points clear before their departure the next day.
I just wanna show Mabirl that I can be civilized too, Rave crossed her arms. I wont be ridiculed by old trophy wives!
I just want to be in a more formal atmosphere for a change, Lydias reason was a bit easier to understand, the whole chaos of the extended harem was fun but theplete opposite of the queens natural environment.
They crossed the ratherrge distance between the two houses, from the ce of Johns childhood to the tower Magoi had copied for himself from the Guild Hall. While they may have been made on the same day, thendscape around them had vastly transformed. Martial art training, Gnome experimenting with her unleashed spell and just general fighting practice had transformed the simple greenwn. By now, thest day, the thing looked like somebody had carpet bombed everything and then built creative walls with the scattered earth.
I would like toe with. All three of them jumped at the unexpected toneless voice of Nia from behind them. But I dont think Magoi likes me a lot.
That is ridiculous, John immediately went to say, after turning around. He couldnt image that the open-minded Fateweaver wouldnt like the nk. Then again, when he thought about for more than an instinctive second, it did make sense. Right I am the odd one here for not being consistently appalled, he mumbled.
Nia stepped close, very close, until only a small ruler would have fit between them. A card was suddenly raised in that small space. Happy, it read. Yes, you are, she affirmed, her mouth hidden by the card. John liked to imagine she was smiling right there, but it was hard, as he had never once seen her do that and her eyes disyed the same emotionlessness as always.
In my experience, Lydia chimed in, those that havent grown up in the Abyss are less easily taken aback by a nks natural aura. This covers both you and me, John, so the odd one would more likely be Jane.
See, ya say that, Johns girlfriend smirked and put an arm around Nia, but I just decided that she was too cute to let some supernatural weirdness stop me from getting in her pants. I swing both ways and I know when I see a cutie.
John was quite well informed about the few adventures Rave had with her own sex before they got to know each other. Unlike her and past guys, those nights were something he heard about with open ears. To put it short, he thus decided, we are all the odd ones. He gave Nia the most honest, loving smile he could muster.
She stood perfectly still for several moments, as Nia did, then she simply walked away in a straight line. Nice going, tiger, Raveplimented her boyfriend.
Why? Was that good? John asked.
She was basically flustered down to the heartstrings, the Lightbearer crossed her arms and nodded to herself.
Lydia raised a doubting eyebrow. Really? that single word expressed deeply what John was feeling as well.
Rave raised one finger, wiggling it with every letter as she spelled her answer out, T-o-t-a-l-l-y. You two need to work on your emotional perception.
I am really perceptive, John dared to suggest, having analysed the pariahs bodynguage for months now.
Okay, sure, but are you purrceptive? Rave asked, and the pun was so bad that the Gamer dropped the conversation entirely, and they finally arrived over at Magois house. They rang the doorbell and waited.
To no ones surprise it was Mabirl who answered, without her mask. That part was mildly unexpected.
It was the first time John was seeing her face and he had to admit that she was quite good looking, despite the wrinkles than ran definitely deeper than he found attractive. Her dark hair fell in curls down her shoulders. She had slightly sunken cheeks, but for the most part she retained a youthful energy, particrly in her eyes. The brown colour peeked out from behind half closed lids, looking at him with light judgement.
John immediately raised his fist and cleared his throat. May we enter?
Yes, Mabirl answered in a musing tone and turned her body sideways, weing them inside with a wave of her arm. Please do leave your shoes in the entrance, we value even our short-lived carpets.
Far was it from Johns intent to ignore the wishes of a housewife in her four walls. He quickly got rid of his shoes, as did his twopanions, then they were guided into the carbon copy of the living room and towards the table.
It was immense how different people decorated their houses. Where the groups temporary dwelling space was arge array of function over form decisions, where the function was fooling around with videogames and sex with mattresses scattered on the floor and as much seating squished into the room as was possible. The Magus tower reminded John more of his grandparents ce.
Despite being a mere copy of their actual tower, everything was kept orderly, the sses were where the sses belonged, same for the tes and the books. Small pictures hung orderly in the gap between arge grandfathers clock and a t screen TV. The furniture was white, as they were either way less afraid of stains or Mabirl was certain she knew just the right trick to get out whatever might stain. A half empty whiskey bottle sat decoratively in the middle of the dinner table, sharing a salver with two crystal sses.
Magoi peeked over his newspaper; he too was without mask. Wow, you werent kidding, Rave whispered in his ear at the sight of the scarred face of the High Fateweaver. Although he wasnt nearly as attractive as his wife, the bald man had the same lively eyes. He does look a bit like Deadpool, if I am honest.
Magoi raised the muscle that normally should be marked by an eyebrow, he didnt make out the words, but the fact that Rave was speaking directly in her boyfriends ear was already quite telling. With barely any intent to veil the action, Lydia gently kicked Raves ankle and gave her a stern re once thatted her the attention of the Lightbearer.
The married couple wore matching clothes, albeit not the usual ones. Magoi had exchanged his butlers outfit for a proper suit, with a bow tie, which he actually wore quite stylishly. His wife was wearing a in champagne dress from high-quality but uninteresting cloth. The soup will still need a few minutes, but by all means, sit down, Mabirl offered in a friendly tone as she took a seat to the right of her own husband.
John took a moment to consider where to sit down. He could either take the opposite end of the table or sit down close the Magoi at the side. After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head,ughed and sat down at the side, one chair down from Magois left to allow Rave and Lydia to sit down directly next to him.
What is so entertaining, John? Magoi asked, a knowing smile on his lips.
I spend too much time politicking, the Gamer answered. I seriously thought about where to sit down and came to a rational conclusion. I think too much about little gestures, basically.
Oh? Then why did you sit down where you are now? the High Fateweaver obviously had some fun dissecting the situation. Undoubtedly, he had done his fair share of political manoeuvring in his day.
I am here as a friend, not as your superior or anything like that, John answered, so taking the head of the table felt like I was imposing my authority or something like that.
At his left side, Lydia nodded approvingly. Not a bad analysis, sheplimented.
Yes, not bad indeed, even if I agree that you are overthinking it, Magoi leaned back in his chair and folded his newspaper twice before cing it on a perfectly distanced stand on the wall behind him. If there is anything that insults me, it is that you waited until the absolutest minute to visit us, I was rather looking forward to having a drink with you.
Dont you mean tea? John asked.
No, Magoi was quite clear. So, who wants what?
Ill take a beer, dark if you have it, Lydia immediately switched into gear.
Rave pointed at the bottle on the table. Can I try that?
Sure. Honey, could you get an extra ss? Magoi asked his wife, who was already in the process of standing up.
Uhm, John was feeling the good old social awkwardness bubble up, why do we need a third ss?
Because we are three people drinking whiskey, Magoi mused. Before John could formte any meaningful argument as to why he didnt want to drink, a ss was already in front of him and filled with a sip of the expensive liquor. Mabirl herself sat down with something sparkly, presumably champagne. Well, then, dyed but a toast to Fusion and its rule over New York! May our reign not be suddenly ended by a force crushing our humble beginnings.
Now John could hardly go and refuse the drink, so, against his inhibitions remaining from thest time he had intoxicated himself, he drank. sses sang when they clinked against each other, and a momentter, John downed the whiskey. The smoky aroma was quite unpleasant in the first second and he actually coughed once from the alcohol burning in his throat, much to the amusement of the more experienced drinkers (everyone but him) at the table. The aftertaste, however, was mellow and quite fine, John didnt mind that part too much.
Okay, my misgivings aside, the Gamer struck up a new conversation, I am going to leave tomorrow and, as we previously discussed, I am going to leave you in charge while I am gone.
No problem whatsoever, Magoi stated, his wife producing a bottle of water from somewhere to give the High Fateweaver something to rinse the alcohol down with. You are taking Scarlett with you, right?
Yes, John answered.
Then there is nothing else to discuss, Mabirl interjected, offering the water to John as well, who dly took it. As long as the potential snake isnt in striking range, we can keep this little republic of yours together for a few weeks. An rm sounded from the kitchen, causing thedy of the house to rise from her seat again. John wasnt even sure she had sat for a consecutive minute since he entered. Now, lets stop discussing business and just have a good time.
Chapter 488 – A contract and a confrontation
Chapter 488 C A contract and a confrontation
Johns hand came to a stop on the table dominating his yachts conference room, after he put the pen down. Disapprovingly, he looked at hispletely artless and scraggly signature. The pompous guy inside him wanted it to look better and that urge was quite strong. Something would need to be done about it in the future. Okay, so here we have it in print, he slid the piece of paper over to Magoi. It was a not long formtion about Magoi being the temporally highest authority of Fusion.
An email spelling out the same details had been sent to basically all of the guilds that were part of this great collective. They were not informed of the exact details, of course; John wasnt going to shout out to the world MY MOTHER C WHO IS MUNDANE C LIVES HERE!!!! like an utter moron. Not that they could do a lot with that information as long as Hex was around.
The thing with Abyssals trying to abduct mundanes was that they couldnt use any magic in the process. If they did, that would lead to an immediate end of the attempt via divine intervention. Thus, despite their ratherrge toolboxes, Abyssals could only kidnap ordinary people as well as other ordinary people could.
Problem with that was that that was still a very real possibility. It wasnt like there were no abductions ever in the real world, quite the contrary. Worst case scenario would be if Hex decided to turn around and stab him in the proverbial back. He had no idea what she would gain from that, but given time he may acquire something the hired bodyguard wanted.
Which was just another reason for John to visit his parents and see exactly how else he could introduce some more elements into their security. The main one was that he had been previously unable to afford more and he desperately wanted more than one person to oversee his two parents.
He had found a number of possibilities online, but Scarlett had ultimately shown him the best solution, which was the introduction of high-tech golems or proper artificial spirits disguised as people as his parents neighbours or co-workers and putting them on permanent watch duty.
Wonder how widespread that is cant be particrly by how hard it is to make a creation of that degree and pay for the whole thing, John finished that train of thought, and Magoi took the contract.
Alright, then, I am just going to keep things on the down low and running while you are gone, Magoi confirmed what John wanted to hear. They were still gauging the impact of the Horned Rats derailment of their public broadcast. So far, nothing seemed toe of it, but one couldnt be too careful. Good traps were invisible until they sprung.
You do that, Scarlett was drinking water for a change and chewing on some gum to keep her mind off the cigarettes. The fact that she had been there before John even called for her had been surprising. He hadnt told her that she was toe with him, had even hoped to get her on the wrong foot with the announcement just to see her bamboozled, but she must have figured it out on her lonesome.
Not that it had been hard to gather that information, John just didnt expect her to tag along without an argument. Her ability was vastly stronger if she sat at the centre of herwork rather than sent signals through mediocre Wi-Fi. Technomancers worked much like any otherputing unit, where they could only work with the data they were sent as quickly as they were powerful. As Scarlett was possibly the strongest of her niche magecraft on the (although, who really knew, with how low-key Technomancers were), the raw amount of data she could process at any given second was more limited by the amount of it she could receive.
To put it more easily, putting her on the ship and having her work from there was like writing a story in the Text Editor on the Titan supeputer. It worked, there was just absolutely no reason to use that powerful a tool for such easy a task and interrupt some important physical calctions while doing it.
Nevertheless, the bloodstained technocrat wasntining with a single syble, simply giving John an annoyed look every now and again. She knew that this whole thing was necessary due to their rtionship resting not on John trusting her but in his own ability to end her should she betray them. Eventually, he hoped that would change, but that time was not yet.
Well then, Magoi looked around the room. There was not a whole lot to see, as it was just him, John and Scarlett. Apparently, the girls had agreed to go out shopping in the New York shopping centre, the proper Abyssal one that had been previously run by Thorne and was now managed by Scarlett Thorne. As one could imagine, the transition had gone rather smoothly. He cleared his throat, a somewhat awkward silence settling in as the trio had nothing to really talk about. If you dont mind, I will leave. John didnt, so the raptor faced Fateweaver wished him a nice vacation and then went off.
The silence left with him. Business all done, great, Scarlett spat her bubblegum into her now empty ss of water and went straight for the inside of her suit. A few secondster, she had a cigarette in her mouth and was lighting it.
Could you not? John requested.
Yes, Scarlett answered, taking a deep huff. Rather than put her cigarette out afterwards, she continued as if he hadnt even asked.
The Gamer crossed his arms. Do you really want to y the Could you, would you game? he asked.
No, I want to have a smoke without leaving the room, the redhead answered. Which Aclysia, Gaia bless her whiskey carrying, perfect ass, normally prevents me from. Unlike her, you wonte over and slice the burning part off the cigarette if I do.
What makes you so sure about that, huh? John asked, getting out of his seat and walking over. Purgatory engulfed his left arm in fire for a moment as it transformed into its dragonw-esque shape. Granted, if you want to be so semantic about things, I cant cut it like that, but I can perfectly well rip it out of your hand.
Sure, but you wont, Scarlett ashed off the cigarette at the rim of the ss. The ck remains gathered atop of the small bit of remaining water inside. Her red eyes looked challengingly as the cigarette wandered back to her lips.
Grumbling, John passed by her seat, giving up on trying to seem menacing, and opened a window. I will take you down to the basement if you continue like tha- he threatened, but when he turned around, Scarlett was already halfway through opening the buttons of her red-shirt, tie slung over the back of her armchair. Would you stop reading me like a book?
No, smoke left her lungs together with that word. The rest she blew out as a ring that travelled in Johns direction. It hit his chest and scattered into smaller clouds from there. I have fun doing it; dont act like you dont try to do the same right now.
I feel like I am reading myself, honestly, John retorted and then sat down in the chair next to hers, swatting away some of the smoke. Let me guess, you just know that I am just too nice to girls I am haremantically involved with.
Scarlettughed quietly into the butt of her cigarette, That was a terrible pun. But yes, you are, especially if no one else is around. If I made this a habit, you would stop me, I reckon.
I most certainly would, I dont want my conference room to smell like tobo, John confirmed. Now, why would you do this now?
I already said, because I want to have a smoke somewhere I can still feel my hands afterwards, the redhead said.
You could do that anywhere else, John told her. We have numerous unused rooms, plus its not even THAT cold outside. Winter was quicklying to an end, and at eleven degrees Celsius, the day was still getting warmer. You could have that smoke anywhere else, but you chose to have it under my eyes. The obvious answer is that you want me to spank your ass until its as red as your eyes.
Scarlett spread her arms out wide in a gesture of helplessness, but her smug smile said something entirely different. In a definitely calcted fashion, that also stretched herrgely unbuttoned shirt, the two halves pulling apart in a V-shape just enough that John could spy the edge of her nipples. Right until she dropped her arms again.
You were gone for a day. Sure, Metra was nice to fuck with, literally, but thats nothing against your dick.
And you like me, John pointed out.
The Technomancer raised an eyebrow and she threw the smoked down cigarette into the ss. Pardon? she asked.
You heard me, John leaned back in his chair, feeling like he was finally in control of a conversation with her. You go on about how you want to fuck me, because I am attractive and all that-
Yes, which is exactly the truth, Scarlett interrupted, but John paid that no mind and just continued.
-but if you were just seeing me as a boytoy and boss you need to please, there would be no way you would keep throwing these little games at me, he stated. There is a difference between a girl that tries to get your attention and a scheming genius that tries to butter you up. Looks to me like you are ying the former game right now.
Scarlett hesitated for a second. That is entirely stupid, she then stated. If I wanted to make you trust me, I would be doing exactly what I am doing now.
John pulled out his phone, checking his gallery. Where in that n is it necessary to send me ten nudes, exactly one for each day I was inside the barrier, exactly 24 hours apart? he asked, smirking at the very lewd poses. Or how does it help you that we keep having conversations like this? You would want me to look at you as just harmless enough that I stop giving you attention and allow you to create a conspiracy, even if its just a backup one. Instead you keep pulling my eyes back to you, he put the phone on the table and leaned forwards toward her, as if he was to kiss her. Scarlett stayed perfectly still, her lips parting slightly. So why look for my attention when its in your best interest to be a footnote in my day?
And again, Scarlett hesitated. This time for longer than a second. Entirely stupid, she repeated herself, pulling out a second cigarette.
If you smoke more, Aclysia will notice, John warned.
I dont give a fuck, let me think, Scarlett retorted, her finger ripping the metal wheel of the lighter once, then a second time. Fucking she cursed and then, after a particr rough third attempt, finally managed to ignite her cigarette.
John gave her the quiet she wanted and waited patiently. A small part of him had honestly expected her to just storm out of the room in denial of the usations, followed by a several day period of her going out of his way just to prove him wrong. Maybe he had been watching too much animetely, as that seemed to be the go to response of girls in those shows.
Some would have said that he was gambling with emotions here, just confronting Scarlett about her feelings for him, whatever they may be, was somewhat dangerous. Those people would have missed that he was working with loaded dice; after all, Observe already told him that her Rtionship Points towards him were steadily rising.
Did she love him? No, but John was deliberately going for like rather than love.
Scarlett slowly let all of the smoke out of her lungs before narrowing her eyes and asking, Is this how you want to win me over, John?
I am just stating what seems to be the truth from my position, he told her with a shrug. Look, I am a bit crazy. Something inside me just wants me to love and be loved by as many attractive girls as possible Well, I guess you could call that something male wish fulfilment paired with an unhealthy dose of making up for an awful social life prior to all of this happening but I am rambling, he reached out and put out her cigarette with his wed hand. Point is, I really want to trust and love you, but I am also not stupid enough to just go ahead and do both of these things when you are such a power yer.
Scarlett scuffed at her extinguished cigarette and tossed it into the ss, she crossed her legs and buttoned up her shirt. The unfair thing here is that you can see how I feel in numbers while I have to decipher my own brain, she stated.
Yup, John freely admitted to that.
The Technomancer hummed a little tune and then smirked. You know confidence is sexy, but right now you are mildly infuriating with your cockiness.
I can live with that.
I am sure you can but sure, I like you, Scarlett finally conceded the point. Although the whole thing about wanting your attention deservesrger scrutiny.
Hey, you dont need me to analyse your actions, John smiled back. I just made you aware of the happenstance, its on you to gather the evidence to disprove my ims now that I backed them up.
Proving infatuation through the scientific method, Scarlett pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, but the smirk stayed.
How romantic.
Chapter 489 – And off they went
Chapter 489 C And off they went
then I would muddle up the system you have set-up over a ten-year interim, by the end of which it would be so easy to corrupt that I can control the whole thing through bribery and extortion, Scarlett finished up detailing one of her failed plots to John, speaking nonchntly while reading news on her phone in the shy technomancer way, dozens of articles shing by each minute. Problem with that is that you dont seem to be interested in prostitutes.
Its very hard to convince me to sleep with random girls these days, John agreed, his attention split between the screen and the conversation. I just have so much choice already and they are all so attractive! he said thatst part more forceful than he needed to as he was hit byg and consecutivelyboed off the stage. Smash Bros online still sucks Anyway, thatd need to be a pretty great prostitute.
Couldnt find one, so I had to cancel that n, Scarlett nodded.
Thats a conversation toe back home to, Rave announced her entrance into the living room. Putting down a couple of bags on the side of the couch, she dropped down next to John. She bounced twice on the cushions, propelled both by the soft couch and her firm ass, beforeing to a rest with a long, rxing sigh. Sitting yay.
Walked around a lot? John asked.
You have no idea, we went through half the city. Well, I did with Mat and Sally, we kinda separated and or lost each other throughout the day, she checked her phone. Gaia almighty, Ive been out for eight hours?
Yup, John said. So the rest is?
Somewhere, probably stripping and running through the city in the nude, in Mats case, Rave answered in line with her earlier statement, turning around on the couch the second she saw her boyfriend outside of a match. Her feet rested in hisp, Pamper me! she demanded.
Of course, princess, John agreed and began massaging her naked feet. The purring sound she let out in response was all the incentive he needed. So, what did you buy?
Boring stuff to set up an office, she answered. Gonna take up one of the empty rooms in the Guild Bank soon and begin working.
This was doubtlessly an achievement of Mabirl. Despite their initial disagreements, her and Rave had hit it off during that dinner. Although It would perhaps be more urate to say that the housewife was a mother of three and pretty quickly figured out how to talk to the younger woman. Over a round of Scrabble, and John couldnt believe his girlfriend had been having fun ying Scrabble of all games, Mabirl had made the friendly suggestion that Rave should just set-up an office to work in rather than wait for work that justify setting up an office.
Ever open to being proactive, that had immediately resonated with Rave, and that was how they arrived at the current point in time. Any idea what you want to do yet? John asked.
Organize an effort to build public transportation, she wiggled her tired toes. Ya can guess why.
Over the next few hours, the girls returned in small groups. They all brought back something they had bought over the course of the day but nothing really interesting as far as John could see. Once thest person returned, being Sylph who had just been flying about the ce after getting lost, the group was ready to leave.
____________________________________________________________________
The metal gate of the Harbour closed behind them, as John steered the yacht southwards. It was the first time he was actually navigating this ship, so he was incredibly careful and took wider turns than was necessary at a low speed, but in the broad strokes the instruments used for this and Magois ship were the same so he got used to it quickly.
I really wonder how all of this will work out, John thought. In an optimal world, this would just be a nice, short vacation before he returned to New York forter nning. Thankfully, the odds were in favour of that oue.
He had sent a very nice email to the Little Marnd guild, informing them that he just wanted to visit the capital for personal reasons and that he was not there to stir up any trouble. Explicitly, he had also mentioned that he was apanied by Lydia. They had sent him a simrly nice email back, guaranteeing him that they respected his vacation but would like it if he came by the government to have a chat with them.
The whole exchange had reeked of politicalnguage, lots of words had been used to describe very little. Still, the fact was that they were willing to talk and they hadnt inquired about where he was staying or what his personal reasons were either, leading John to believe that they respected his privacy. If only out of sheer fear that ruining Johns trip by extension would piss off the current ruler of one of the strongest guilds on the face of the.
It was either that or they already knew about his mother.
Well, he would find out once he got there, so there was little use continuously worrying. Instead he made sure to put the correct route into the auto-pilot and then looked over the monitors to make sure no other vessels were in danger of crossing his path. Very few ships were swimming in the Hudson, just the Fateweavers ferry service and a couple of private ships, most of which were anchored.
Owning a boat had been risky business in New York before John cleaned up most of the robbing parties. With how recent that had happened, it was no surprise that the waterway wasrgely unused. Even Thorne had owned very little in the way of ships, as they had very little interest in the overseas market.
John was of a different mind and construction on both sides of the channel had recently started. The former Thorne HQ would see its dockyard erged and John was attempting to persuade Amalia to send him some NTC instructors on construction of ships, how to manage a proper harbour and the likes.
On the east side John was preparing for a giant project he himself had only thought about briefly, dismissed it as impossible and then searched on it on the Abyss Auction to find out that it was not only possible but also existed. Abyssal warships, colossi of metal and magic that were supposed to make his yacht look tiny inparison.
John had neither the resources nor the skilledbour to create such a thing yet, but he felt like it was wise to beginying the groundwork for this thing early so he could get it as soon as possible. Whatever wars would follow the unification of America, willing he was sessful, having a mobile battle station of that potency on the seas was sure to pay some dividends.
On the far shore, where water andnd met, John spied little dots through the projections of the cameras. Their upper parts were swaying left to right. It took John a moment to realize that the dots were people and that they were waving him goodbye. I guess I would be kind of popr? John thought, unsure what to do with that realization. Well, he would gloat on it, cause it felt great to be recognized, but aside from that.
They reached the edge of the city and thus separated from its Abyssal side, the mobile barrier kicking in and making sure the magically engineered ship remained unseen by the mundane. Once on the open sea, John felt way more confident about letting the autopilot do the work and walked off the bridge.
____________________________________________________________________
How- John hit the sandbag with his fist, does- another hit, the leather, skinned off some supernatural creature, absorbed the punches well, this- his voice was pure frustration as every attempt at doing this correctly failed, work?!
The impact sound of skin on leather echoed through the room one final time before John simply fell backwards. He had been punching the bag for thirty minutes straight and even his stamina gave in at that point.
You just need to stop sucking, Metra joked, having held the sandbag in position while John attempted to finally get the martial arts to work for him. They were in one of the formerly unused rooms on the main deck of the ship, which the berserker babe was in the process of transforming into a gym. While she did report ratherrge aspirations for it, including a boxing ring, for the moment only basic training equipment stood scattered around the room. Eliza, your turn.
Fucking finally, the blood mage stepped onto the mat, everyone ignoring John while he mumbled something about broken game design. He had all Physical Stats at 100, his body was that of a Greek god and hemanded elementals and spells of the upper echelons of the Abyss. What the hell was so hard about punching correctly?
Didnt help that Eliza simply took a stance, had her crimson aura re up, punched the damn bag and created a visible shockwave in the air behind it. Pretty good, Metraplimented, nice to see you actually punching rather than iling around with absurd strength.
Go fuck yourself, the pretty little psycho retorted, going for a second hit. A moment before her fist connected, her aura fizzled out and vanished. COCKSUCKER! she screamed when she didnt manage to get it back in time.
At least she has the decency to be bad at that, John thought and immediately felt like pping himself for thatment. That was the petty envy of a casual who demanded ess to the same rewards as a pro yer without putting in the effort. Getting back on his feet, he took his boxing stance again. Why doesnt this shit work? he grumbled, still frustrated. He had tried to get this technique down for weeks now and it was just the basics of the basics. Eliza, you figured it out, tell me what you are doing.
I dont know what to tell you, John, the blood mage shrugged. Just breathe it in, gather the energy in your shoulder and then punch the shit out of your target.
Very helpful, he grumbled in a deeply disrespectful tone.
Motherfucker, how do you expect me to exin to your nerd brain how to move a muscle?! she spewed at him with justified irritation. You can suck your own dick tonight, use that stupid bendability of that body for something useful!
Sorry, just very annoyed with myck of progress, John said and did his best to rx by taking guided breaths and looking at the blood mage. She was looking pretty sexy, having exchanged her robes and leather underwear for a sports bra and spandex pants that barely covered her ass. The fact that her long hair was currently bundled up in a ponytail, a little blue ribbon holding it together at the back of her head, only added to that.
Cry me a fucking river, Eliza cussed, Jane said I should need a few days to be able to keep the aura up for one or two attacks. Days, DAYS! ITS NOT BEEN DAYS! the blood mage got her aura up and running again and wildly punched the bag. There was a very unhealthy sound, like someone twisting the ankle of a fried chicken, and Elizas hand went entirely purple for a second as her regeneration quickly fixed the damage she had done to herself.
That right there could have been the end of a martial arts career, Metra drilymented. Depending on how badly you just ripped up your nerves doing that little stunt, anyone without absurd self-healing would now potentially have a crippled hand. Congrats, thats only the fifth time this week you did that to yourself. The berserker babe showed her a berating smile, How about you be thankful for what you have, spoiled little brat.
Seeing what I had to go through to get this, spoiled isnt the first fucking word that enters my mind, Eliza hissed, plopping down on the floor. Besides, why dont you do it while pissed then, miss anger-management.
I cant, Metra answered.
Then I suggest you shut the fuck up about things you havent bothered to learn, the blood mage stated.
No, you dumb bitch, the ancient weapon rolled her eyes, I literally cant. Only humans and a select few humanoids can learn martial arts or a specialized form thereof. The only created being I know of is one of my brothers, and he lost all other powers in return.
Eliza furrowed her eyebrows with a confused expression. Why the fuck is that?
Because you need a spine, lungs, blood and bones, Metra answered. I have something like bones, but they usually dont remain in ce when I fight. I dont have blood, and the lungs I have, I have purely to breathe out and speak. I just know a lot about martial arts because I have been in more conflicts than you have years in your life. That about cover it?
Oh okay. Now I feel actually dumb as shit, Eliza, remembering how she even produced the aura in the first ce, suddenly realized that she could have known all about this in the first ce. Wait, by that logic, those divine pain-in-the-asses cant learn martial arts either.
Yes, gods only have their unique or at least incredibly potent powers granted to them by their ascension, Metraughed, terrible trade-off.
Eliza growled, her perfect white teeth shing dangerously. Didnt say it was, dipshit. Just had the realization.
John also had a realization during that conversation. Spine, lungs, blood and bones, he thought and then closed his eyes to get a better feel on his inside goings. For the past few weeks, he had just skipped straight to the blood step, thinking he had no need of the first two because he already was able to manifest his aura through the skill.
Perhaps that reliance on his powers was what had been blocking him from gaining the skill. Unless he did it correctly start to finish once, his powers wouldnt trante the movement into an instinctual extension of his Innate Ability. That kind of tutorial phase he had long left.
He tried to track his ki from the start. How it was created in his lower spine, flowed through his body from there in lines that were invisible for even modern medicine, only traceable by other magic. Air entered him as he pulled that mana into his lungs, oxygen mixing with magic and enriching his blood. He gathered the physically bound ki in his shoulder and then punched.
There was a sting of pain along with the feeling of something releasing. He felt ecstatic, he must have done something right.
Wow, Metra sounded awestruck, and he opened his eyes, expecting to see her admiring face, ready to praise him for his hidden capabilities. That was the WORST Impact Punch I have ever seen, she said instead. The only thing that kept your hand from blowing off your wrist right there is how pitifully weak that attack was.
That cut his enthusiasm right down to size. I really suck at this martial arts thing, he mumbled. Evidently, that attempt also wasnt good enough for his systems, as no pop-up informed him about a sessful skill acquirement.
At least there was some progress.
Chapter 490 – Progress and Surprise
Chapter 490 C Progress and Surprise
FUCK C YES! John eximed as he finally was granted what he wanted and fell backwards, away from the lying sandbag he had been kicking for the past hour. He was so happy about getting done with this, he didnt even care about the sass. Once he had the basic idea figured out, it was endless repetitions. A proper martial arts student would have needed to be careful training, each attempt to be executed with wless concentration as to not harm themself.
John in return took absolute advantage of Gamers Body, taking abundant damage to elerate the learning process. He had self-harmed his way about three times down his entire health bar, only Undine allowing him to keep pressing on.
Hended on the blue sports mat that covered the floor. The thickyer of foam wasnt the mostfortable thing to lie on, but there was also much worse. However, when Eliza kneeled down next to him and pulled his head on her thighs, his level of satisfaction rose by an immeasurable amount. So soft, he sighed, rxing.
These skills were interesting, because they werent skills in the normal sense. They were called techniques instead and had several changes applied to how they functioned. John hadnt really expected more mechanics to be added to his arsenal at this stage in the game. They apparently were martial arts exclusive and created sub-skills to Aura rather than full new skills, operating with a few important differences.
Techniques had a level cap depending on their difficulty that scaled either with Johns Stats or his level in Martial Artist. That was what a nice tutorial window had told him.
He could only use them while Aura was toggled on. In return, their cost was pretty low, but they had a cooldown which he could only skip in return for taking damage. It was a whole slew of mechanics that John had no ns to dabble in. Aura was stillpletely antithetical to his usual game n, given that it disabled all MP regeneration, and he kept the skill off his list for that reason. If presented with the choice of being better in melee or use the points for Mana Protection and spells instead, Johns specialization up until this point clearly pointed to thetter.
If he had opted into martial arts from the start, that would be a whole different story, and parts of him really wanted to experience that. However, it was the mark of a good game that there were several fun y styles but only one could be obtained by the MC at any given ythrough. Too bad real life didnt have a way for him to reset back to the beginning of the journey and allowed him to ytest all the different builds.
It did have Elizas amazing thighs though, in addition to her crazy smile peeking over her decently sized tits hanging above him. That was a fair tradeoff. Not to mention her ass, which he had begun fondling absent-mindedly. The spandex gave the softness a nice texture, although he would have prefered the smoothness of naked skin.
The blood mage herself was sweating lightly, an extremely rare sight given her absurd stamina. A beauty only made possible thanks to the nature of meditation in the Abyssal sense, as the body was put under strain by the internal mana, a force that usually scaled in some capacity with ones own rising power. As Eliza could basically convert her Endurance into mana, hers was rather vast.
John wondered what sort of internal mechanics of mana prevented the blood mage from converting the extra Endurance she gained from her Active Aura to make the skill stronger and in turn give her more Endurance, creating an infinite self-scaling effect. He presented a question like that and got the expected answer.
Just because your fucking eyes tell you that I have higher stats doesnt mean that it works that way, you retard, she told him. The mana I can generate with my cocksleeve of a body obviously cant be used to make more mana. I am fucking bnced!
Really? Because I would describe Bloodburn as anything but bnced and THAT gives you more mana, John held against that and groped her butt a bit more aggressively. There was a quickly rising tent in his sports pants (he wasnt in his suit, that outfit felt weird for actual boxing practice).
Okay, Bloodburn I concede is fucking busted, Eliza stated, but I barely know how that even works. There is no downside to using it aside from stirring up a creepy slut inside me, of course. All of that shit aside, it literally burns away my blood, it just conveniently adds the regenerative factor for that to not matter whatsoever.
So, if you were using Bloodburn, could you create a stronger Aura? John wondered.
I would try, but thats just asking for Thana to ram her spiked tail up somebodys asshole until ites out through the mouth again, she told him.
What is this Bloodburn thing in the first ce? Metra asked, herself busy swinging at the now vacated punching bag. She didnt need the workout nor could she train any techniques on it, she just enjoyed the feeling of her body moving and of her fists impacts. Never seen it.
Hard to exin, you have never seen Eliza here when she could fight thoughtlessly, John hummed. But it doubles all her power.
And thats impressive how? Metra asked, herself going up to 250% depending on how angry she was.
Eliza growled at the dismissivement. I can rip you a new one without it.
Maybe if you figure out how to maintain an Aura for more than three seconds or punch without causing your fucking blood vessels to explode, I would believe you, the berserker babe made some light fun of the white and blue haired girl, who continued growling in response. How about you stop sounding like a bitch and continue working out, huh?
John suddenly had his head grabbed and held in a very interesting hold. His face was all up in her chest while her legs and arms were surrounding him on all sides. While hot, there was a problem where he had no way to breathe. He decided that this was, at least temporarily, not a thing that warrantedints. It was hot and the nice kind sticky. Probably helped that he had worked up a sweat himself.
How about you take that pair of nunchakus, she pointed at a part of the wall that was dedicated to hold training weapons made from wood and foam, and use them to fuck yourself in both of your holes?! Eliza retorted. I am cuddling over here, you metallic ughter addict!
I am a war addict if anything, Metra factually answered. ughters are actually pretty boring. You just murder people, she pulled her fist back as far as possible, you never get to properly FIGHT! Her weight and power were put behind that punch. Going right through the leather, her fist sunk into the filling and caused it to spill out when she pulled back. She clicked her tongue and looked at the piling sand with an annoyed face. What a fucking disappointment these things are, she kicked the sand in raw anger, then she turned back towards the two of them. Yo, John, get Aclysia or Beatrice here.
Using this as an excuse to free himself from his squishy asphyxiation, John answered a momentter, Aclysia is busy, but I told Beatrice toe and bring a vacuum. He looked at the berserker babe: of course she was doing this work out in her usual clothes, a thin ck cropped top with a see-through middle part and hot pants of the same colour. Her muscles and midriff were on open disy, rippling as they went through different motions when Metra began to shadowbox instead.
Eliza released John from her grippletely. I will learn this shit but I am done for today, she decided. I want to not smell like a unhygienic bitch that hasnt even heard of bathing water when I meet the grandmother of my children.
Thats still a couple of hours away, John told her. They had departed from New York at about 8 PM and the autopilot was set to make them arrive about 12 hourster. Right then it was about 11:30, so there was still time.
Yes, and I want to take a motherfucking shower, sleep like a bitch, get fucked like a whore and finish the first season of Game of Thrones to see that ass Joffrey die in a giant fire, Eliza answered. So, there is a schedule that bursts with content as much as my pussy is bursting with semen whenever you are done with it.
Fair enough, John got up. We will leave you to it then, Metra.
Send me Jane or Sally if you meet them, I am going to get bored if I am alone here, she requested.
You can spar with Beatrice, John told her. You know she doesnt suck anymore.
The berserker babe made a sour expression. That means I have to listen to her permanent passive sass.
What, cant handle some backtalk? the Gamerughed. It felt like that was the height of irony, with how much retorts the ancient weapon herself usually dropped over the course of a conversation.
I can handle all the fucking backtalk, Metra shot back. Its just that her emotionless analysing of every little quip only to throw the small mistakes in them back in my face really pisses me off.
To be fair, a lot of things piss you off. Basically, all the things.
YOU are pissing me off right now, Metra whirled around, executing a roundhouse kick that stopped right next to Johns face. He neither dodged nor guarded, simply continuing to stand there with a smirk. But yes, Beatrice does it extra hard though.
Advice: take a chill pill, the uninterested voice of Beatrice chimed into the conversation like Alexa after she had been identally activated. Note: this was sarcasm. Chill pills do not exist.
I know, you infuriating piece of garbage! Metra shouted.
None of theponents that make up my body are either A: worth close to or just nothing or B: the unusable remains of a product or packaging. I thus give that insult a 0% uracy, the passive maid continued on. Suggestion: aim your insults at things I strongly care about. In a surprisingly well acted fashion, she rose her hand in front of her mouth, as if she had a shocking realization. My apologies, there is no such thing.
You know what, Metra cracked her knuckles, you sound like a perfect sparring partner.
Taking a little bow, Beatrice answered, I will oblige you. Correction: I will oblige you, after I cleaned up the mess you made.
John and Eliza left the room at that point, as it was clear that there would be violence the second the punching bag had been disposed of. Hopefully they only destroy the dummy weapons, he thought as they entered the corridor.
The hallways that connected everything in the yacht were as nice as everything else. They were broad enough for a group of people to walkfortably and the floor was of a dark blue colour. John wasnt quite sure what it was. He knew it was ayer over the metal thaty at the heart of most of the ships walls, making it quite the sturdy work of craftsmanship, but for the exact material stered atop, he was unqualified to make an answer. His guess was some sort of oil-based paint orcquer, enhanced magically for extra durability.
As everywhere else on the ship, the floor was spotless and, as they were on an outer walkway, allowed a nice view of the starry sky outside, stars magnificently spanning the firmament. Little city light was here to block out their brilliance. A fair amount of distance was between them and the coast, after all. They simply shone over the dark, endlessly stretching waves of the nightly ocean. Through untinted windows, it would have looked ever better..
John followed a sudden impulse and shoved Eliza against the wall. What the fu-, she began toin, but the Gamer grabbed her by the throat with one arm and forced her to be quiet by squeezing as strong as he could. Her eyes went from annoyed to Oh, my, yes! in a couple of seconds as she realized what John wanted.
I have a lot of pent up frustration right now, he said in a dangerous voice, a pure act to y to her submissive fantasies, but most of all I desperately need a drink, so you will shut up. The only thing I want to hear from you now are moans, are we clear? She nodded and John let go of her, his hands moving on to rip open the sports bra. The tearing sound was followed immediately by the spilling of her firm tits out of theirpression hold. I will buy you something prettierter, he promised as the ruined cloth fell down behind her feet.
He bowed down to lick her nipple and tasted the salt of a good workout. It was delicious, for the oddest of reasons, and precum began to create a dark spot in his pants. However, John didnt n to use his cock quite yet, he wanted to indulge more in Elizas body.
After roughly kneading, sucking and biting her tits and nipples for a bit, John kneeled down on the floor. He peeled the pants off her, the damp cloth refusing to go easily. A strand of clear liquid connected a particrly wet spot on the spandex with her bare pussy.
No panties, you naughty degenerate, John observed his meal and then pressed his face right between her thighs. Tongue pushing straight inside, he was greeted by a small gush of her honeypots liquids, which he slurped up greedily. Reaching behind her, his hands wed into her ass and pulled her closer, stretching his tongue as deep as he could inside her, his mouth sucking on her pussy and clit.
She moaned loudly, like he loved her to do. Her voice broke sometimes and small giggles apanied some of his actions, sounds of a crazy girl. A girl crazy for him and insanely sexy in general. Pussy hair caressed Johns face; it was at a good length, not so short that it felt like he was getting stabbed and not so long that it was a genuine obstruction. Generally, he still preferred his girls smoothly shaven, but this much wasnt a problem whatsoever.
Looking up her body, her saw her face between her heaving breasts. Her eyes were closed and she breathed heavily. Her lips formed a single word, but she only gasped quietly as she suppressed saying it. He could read it, she wanted to moan his name.
He redoubled his efforts and momentster felt her pussy contract. The folds, usually working on milking his dick, were now mping down on his tongue. He stopped, simply witnessing her writhing body and letting her experience a mellow first orgasm; the proper fucking would follow soon after.
She opened her eyes again, smiling down at him with that massive grin that showed just the slightest bit of gum in addition to her pearly teeth. Then, her purplish lips froze in position and she looked up. John that single word was enough to tip him off; if not for the fact that she was suddenly going against his wish, then because of the serious tone.
Immediately he turned around, looking out of the window. The sky was gone, as was the ocean or anything else they might have been able to see. A greyish white, slowly swirling and shifting directly in front of the window, that was all the world was now. It was so thick that it looked two dimensional against the translucent barrier.
When? John asked, obviously an easily answered question. Sometime between him shoving Eliza against the wall and her opening her eyes again. Speed, density, location, it all left little doubt about this being not a natural phenomenon.
We better fucking get everyone together, Eliza said the reasonable thing.
Chapter 491 – Fog
Chapter 491 C Fog
They got together in the conference room, the ce everyone naturally went to once they noticed that something was wrong. Aclysia was currently handing John a damp, heated towel with which he wiped his face off. A few chairs over, Beatrice was handing Eliza her robes. Rave looked very annoyed with the world, as she had been woken up by thismotion. Who and why? the techno lover wanted to know.
Well, I have no idea, John looked over to Lydia, who shook her head to signal that she had no additional information herself. And we cant consult the inte either, this fog blocks the signals.
Which is the WORST! Scarlett mmed her ss on the table and poured herself a new one immediately. This situation greatly went against the androgynous Technomancers preferences and John could only imagine that she was rather nervous at this current moment. Someone who created a giantwork to use asmunication control would feel predictably vulnerable in these circumstances. Hastily ncing around with her red eyes, no circuitry to be seen inside them, Scarlett looked like she expected one of them to jump at her at any given moment and murder her.
Having no ess to the inte had always been a massive inconvenience to John, but to Scarlett it meant that she was basically a normal human in a room full of people that could break her like a twig. It was barely evenparable.
Rx, John tried to soothe her by talking in a clear tone, this is not aimed at you. Arge part of him liked seeing that even she had something that would scare her. That knowledge was weighed against her current state, however, and even if learning more about her was nice in its way, he did prefer her in the collected state. Didnt seem that he would get that, as Scarlett forewent the ss and just went for the bottle.
The fact that she downed the second half of it in one go, guzzling it down like an old engine did with gasoline, was pretty impressive. Dont you worry, she stated, putting the empty bottle next to the ss, I am perfectly calm. Now go ahead, tell us what is going on then.
John doubted both her statement and that she would still be able to listen in a couple of minutes. Chances were Scarlett wouldnt even remember this conversation. When she went for a smoke, Aclysia was ready to do the usual thing, but her master stopped her with a plead. Just this once, he told her. It wasnt like she should head out under the current circumstances. They therefore let her sit there and cope in silence.
So, here is the entire situation, the Gamer began. We are surrounded by some immensely thick fog, we arent moving anymore and I cannot steer the ship. His first instinct had been to check the map and navigate towards the coastline. However, all instruments were failing and something was pushing against the engine. John had put it out to conserve energy; now the ship was perfectly still in the water.
As to why the instruments were useless, the answer could easily be found in the fog. Metra and Beatrice headed out to see if there was anything onboard that could have been causing this. They headed back in immediately upon noticing electricity in the air, both of the heavily advanced constructs nodded. In short, we are stuck in some sort of lightning field.
Okay, Rave was slowly getting fully awake, but a cat disturbed during napping was a very angry cat and the same was true for the Lightbearer, but who and why?
No idea, John admitted. I didnt get a pop-up for entering a barrier, so this must be some advanced trap stuff, he theorized, but we didnt get any demands for our freedom yet, neither is this ambush particrly dangerous.
It certainly doesnt seem like a man-made trap, Lydia agreed. The ships instion will keep us safe from the fog as long as we keep the windows closed. Oxygen wont be a problem for a long time given the size. We can generate water via magic. Food seems to be the only long-term problem we may run into.
Well, I do have a greenhouse, John puffed up his cheeks and then slowly let the air out, buuuuut, I wouldnt rmend eating what is inside there thoughtlessly.
The queen raised an eyebrow. Why not?
I used the Ascended Hoe of Hoes there, John answered. He had possessed that thing for an eternity but only when getting that greenhouse did he get a chance to use it. The crops harvested from that soil would cause short-term heat and a permanent Libido increase by one point, stacking up to three times. Neither John nor most of his girls gave any tosh about three extra points of the lust stat, and so he couldnt wait for the first harvest and the result gourmet/orgy. Aphrodisiac nts sounded strictly amazing.
Ah, Lydia may not have known just how exactly that thing worked, but the name was more than enough indication. Then we are bound by that which Aclysia has in the fridge.
Okay, okay, Rave tapped a heel on the ground in an unnervingly quick beat, none of that matters though, since we arent staying for long. Or do ya wanna lose your vacation time to sitting in the fog?
That was a good point. John was reminded that this whole affair was going to dy him from punctually arriving at his mothers ce, which would lead toplications given that he had made an appointment with apany in Washington. Yeah, we should resolve this sooner rather thanter, John agreed and formted a n to deal with this.
If this was truly a natural barrier, the question was which kind of monster was living here and how to beat it. The most important thing they needed at the current moment was information about what they were dealing with. Given the outside conditions, Sylph could scout effectively. As a thunderstorm elemental, the damage she would take from the lightning would be a lot lower. It wouldnt be null, elemental immunities were an immensely rare thing, but it shouldnt be too bad. In addition, she could teleport back if things went south.
Whether the enemies were flying, swimming or both and what exactly they were would then dictate their continued strategy. Beatrice, Aclysia, can you also patrol the ship? John asked them but not Metra because they possessed the same safety as Sylph. Thest thing John needed was something smashing the windows in from the outside. I should have underwater windows installed, he thought; thatd make this whole thing way easier.
The appointed trio headed out and left the rest of the crew sitting on their asses and waiting. They had some normal talks about this and that topic until a drunken voice interrupted. Ya know, Thish whole thing shucks, predictably, Scarlett was pretty hammered at this point. John wasnt quite sure where she suddenly got a beer from, but she put a whole six-pack on the table just as she extinguished her third cigarette inside the ss. I wash jusht thinking about looking into poisonsnstuff when this whole thing started.
Sure? John asked in the confused but patient tone the sober had for the most drunk.
I fahking hate using poisn, she swallowed thest vowel in that word and suppressed a small burp in reaction. But I just cant figure out how to murder you, and the worsht thing ish, I havent actually tried all day today becaush I keep thinking about that thing you said.
What thing he said? Rave asked with a wide smile. She was just asking for the fun of it, of course her boyfriend had told her exactly what he had been doing in regards to the harem growth.
He had the the audacity to jusht state I like him, the fact that Scarlett didnt get that the Lightbearer was obviously teasing her spoke to the mind-numbing capacity of alcohol to put even the greatest of minds down to the level of a brick wall. And the fucker ish right, what an asshole.
Lydia nodded, I prefer the term dick, in contrast, but John is certainly overly enthusiastic in matters at times. The queen gave him the slightest of smiles.
Love you too, Lydia, the Gamer chuckled; he could take the jabs.
Thatsh so weird, Scarlett stated. That you can have all of us here and just like all of us. Probably a man, thing. Yall are built to fuck as many cunts as you can after all. She lighted yet another cigarette. Even though her motions were dulled from her drunken state, they were precise for that action.
Cant speak for every guy out there, but yeah, probably, John shrugged. Anyway, nice to hear you admit you like me.
Shut the fuck up about it, Scarlett demanded, pointing her lighter at him. I will still do my own thing, you hear me. I want my power and my money, not partake in your power and your money. We are partners and I refuse to be anything less than in control of my own destiny. That part sounded surprisingly sober, John even thought she was already recovering for a hot second there. Bedroom domination ish fine though, I like that fuck it, I will shuck your dick right now!
I am very sure thats a bad idea, John warned in a worried tone and was immediately proven right when Scarlett got up and immediately face nted a momentter, much to the amusement of most of the gathered people.
The person thatughed the loudest was conversely also the one that got up to help her. No cocksucking while ass-fucking drunk as a sailor in Britain, Eliza giggled as she pulled the Technomancer up and lent her her shoulder. A shadow of dislike over the physical closeness to her hushed over the blood mages face, ever the misanthrope, but she overcame that.
What makes sailors in Britain drink more? John asked.
Ugly fucking women, Eliza answered. Well, that was amon thing people said about the ind nation. Anyway, I am more useless than a basket case in a horse race around here, so I will fuck off and take Scarly the Drunklett here with me. She readjusted the redhead over her shoulder, who groaned at the sudden movement, seemed like she was now experiencing the full weight of her decision. Shouldnt have drank the whole bottle, you alcoholic slut. Now, us masochistic whores are going to watch some shitty shows I have downloaded. Know that I am envious as fuck that I dont get to murder something today again. With that the two of them took their leave. Well, one of them left and dragged the other person with her.
I like Drunklett, Ravemented.
The name or the person? John asked.
Yes, Rave cheekily closed one eye and stuck out her pierced tongue.
The Gamer had walked right into that one, Figures. He turned inside to check on the people outside. Anything yet?
Nothing on board, I think, Aclysia reported; it was hard to make any real judgement on the situation as she was unable to look further than a metre ahead of herself.
At least I dont hear anything, Beatrice reported something to the same effect at the same time.
Can feel something moving in the air, yep, yep, Sylph told them. Cant find them though. Sadness, they feel long and noodly, danger sky noodles, nooooooodleeeees, she giggled, thats a funny word.
That was progress. So something was in the air. John hesitated to ask, but he still wanted the full picture, Can you check if there is anything in the water? He would have sent Undine out to do that, but the ocean elemental was much slower and more susceptible for electrical damage. Just fly up to the surface and see if something reacts. Be ready to retreat.
Sure thing, boss, no, wait, what do concubines say to their boss? I dont know. My existence is a lie! My confusion is great! raking her tiny brain with the unimportant question, the fairy sized elemental did as John requested before he could tell her to concentrate on the task at hand. The moment she was even remotely close to the water, jaws suddenly lunged upwards.
Teeth like needles went past her as an elongated creature swallowed her whole. While inside the creature, Sylph was rubbing her chin like an intellectual in deep thought. A concubine is like a side girl for a guy, right? So, would I address John as a my guy? Nah, nah, no, nah, nah C BATMAN! Thought-bubble gasp! I could call him Batman! Jolly gosh darn it, Batman, wait, does that make me Robin? Would I look good in a Robin outfit? Yes, yeah, sure, of course I would, I am adorable, I would look good in a sack.
SYLPH! John shouted out to her, barely able to follow what she thought because of how quick each word drove by. You are being eaten!
Whaaaaaaaaat? Nooooooooo! Sylph answered. Just because it suddenly got warm, and wet and there is flesh all around me and she suddenly became subject to a slow dissolving process, the Abyssal creature that had eaten her was absolutely able to process pure magic. I AM BEING DIGESTED! Waaaah! Its eating me!
The thunderstorm elemental tried to turn big to get out, but apparently the world didnt like it if she tried to upsize like that while there was stuff blocking her. Eww, Sylph was hit by arge batch of mucus and then officially had enough of this. Her body began to glow in pale blue light, electricity dancing over the surface, as she concentrated lightning within herself.
While these creatures were likely the source of the mists charged up nature, there was a massive difference between the instion required to be unbothered by their own AoE effect and being hit by the might of a Tier 4 air elemental from inside the stomach.
The monster must have been quite pleased with itself, feeling like it had take the first stock of the hunt. Instead it learned what it was like to swallow a power nt, its insides rapidly turning into a well-cooked mass of Lichtenberg figures.
With jagged movements, like a lightning bolt rushing around, Sylph burst out of the creature and grabbed it by the teeth as she made her way back. It pped in the drag of her movements, but Sylph didnt care. A few momentster, she was back on the ship. Being able to sense her summoners location at all times made navigating possible even in this deep fog.
Aclysia and Beatrice also returned, opening the door for the air spirit to throw her predator turned prey onto the conference table. The wood was not happy with this and creaking apanied the pping sound of the dead monster hitting the table.
It was an eel the size of a grown man. A pretty thick, grey body was beset with a crest of yellow membranes that allowed it to wiggle its way through the water effectively. Segmenting that membrane were several horns of a darker colour, extending slightly outside and exuding small jolts of electricity even as John touched the creature curiously. Aside from the snake-like body, it was effectively only arge mouth with long, pointy teeth.
Trying to use Observe onlyted John information about the corpse as an item. Neither level nor actual hunting information was given, which was a bit annoying, but at least he got a name, one that really begged the question about who picked it, Thunder Noodles who and why?
See, thats what I wanted to know the whole time, Rave joked.
Chapter 492 – Eel fishing
Chapter 492 C Eel fishing
This whole thing is hopefully going to me SOMETHING, John thought. They had been stuck for an hour now and he was definitely not feeling that this was a worthwhile way to spend his time. The one they had killed so far had given him a whopping 2500 experience. He needed about three million. It wasnt even worth it in that sense.
Theoretically, he should have been proud about the fact that he was removing something that could have either spelled the end for a less elite-packed ship or grown into arger catastrophe. Instead he felt inconvenienced. If he had been out for a simple ocean trip with the girls, this would have been more eptable, but he was going somewhere and so he was annoyed.
Everybody ready? John asked. The n was quite easy: kill eels until the reactivated engine managed to move forward again. Whether this meant theirplete annihtion or not, the Gamer didnt care. All he wanted was to get moving again.
I am bursting with mana, bursting, I say! Sylph announced, having been charged up for a while now. While John wanted to get out of there as quick as he could, he was nowhere near in enough of a hurry to not dictate the terms of engagement as much in his favour as he could. The only thing that was mildly hurrying him along was an increase in the frequency of lightning bolts outside. Not that that would be a problem in a moment.
Everybody gave their go ahead and so John had Metra open the door. Not heroic whatsoever, but his pride did not overtake his definite gaming instinct that the casters should remain in the backline. They spilled onto the ships sun deck.
Several things happened in quick order. Johns Mana Protection shoved the fog away around him. Several girls hair stood up from the electricity. A massive st of wind ripped outwards, originating from Sylph. The fog was blown into the far reaches of the barrier, gathering at the edge and leaving them in a world that ended in a milky white wall.
Flying through the air, John spied a different kind of eel. These were smaller and had thinner bodies; rather than spikes they had small tubes that stretched the membranes. Fog immediately started pouring out of them again, in an effort to hide their forms and continue this swarms hunting strategy. John had a moment to confirm their levels as non-threatening.
Their efforts to cover themselves were cut short. For a start, the powerful gust that had caused this situation also sent them tumbling through the air, leaving only a mediocre amount of fog quickly dispersing behind them. John also had made the easy guess that the fliers were responsible for the fog and thus each range capable person in the party had been given a sector on the clock to start murdering as many of them as possible. Securing their continued sight and disabling the mist as the conductor for the AoE electricity effect was the groundwork from which they could start cleaning up this mess.
John had conjured a whole bunch of Shardbound in advance and was absolutely over prepared for the level they were facing. With his Third Eye manifested, even if closed, he locked and fired in waves. The rule for Shardbound was that each shard of the same use of the skill fired at once. As long as he stayed aware which shard belonged to which group, which only grew hard at a seldomly reached number, he could stagger the releases to take aim each time. That was easily superior to throwing a rough swarm out there and hoping it hit something.
He was only the second most effective person in this regard. Armed with numerous Baelementium projectiles, quickly crafted from Aclysias body, Lydia was perfect at precision work like this. Able to readjust the initial flight path afterunching each attack, she had uracy and speed. Granted, she was more effective for middle than truly long range, as her control faded over distances, but given the weak enemies, this wasnt a problem.
Rave would have been an even better sniper, but her trainingy mostly in melee attacks. Although the magical light she shot out of her fingers, in the yful handgun pose, was unfairly fast (even if nowhere near actual light speed), they were neither powerful nor did theye in quick intervals. Barring headshots, Rave needed two attacks for each Foggy Noodle to get them out of the sky. That made her even less effective than Metra and ced the Lightbearer at the bottom of the barrel in ce of effectiveness.
What Metra did could hardly be described as rangedbat. Using her ability to rip through space, she dropped on one eel before teleporting back, recovering a bit of mana and then repeating the game.
Sylph and Smander soon took to the skies and cleaned up the remainders.
So fa- Rave nodded and then turned to the group. AhaahahahaAHAHAHAHA!ughing her heart out, she pointed at the metal quartet of the harem. All of their hairs were so charged with electrons that the tips assumed the maximum possible distance from each other. This led to varying degrees of funny appearances.
Lydia had a very bushy tip to her braid. Metra had a bit of a ball behind her head. Aclysia got away the easiest, the length of her hair making it weighty enough that there were only some audible discharges as she moved around. Beatrice, however, looked like a dandelion in full readiness to spread its seed at the next breeze.
Rave was unable to pull herself back together, therefore John took it upon himself to finish her sentence, So far so good. Metra was ruffling through her hair in a desperate attempt to get it to settle down. Now to deal with the things in the water, he continued on, walking up to the railing and peeking over. An array of lightning bolts shed against his Mana Protection; individually they were harmless but together they took a fair chunk of the pre-chargedyer.
Having just murdered several targets with an arcane skill, Johns mana regeneration was at its maximum bonus through Whisper of Mana, putting it at fivefold the usual insanity. He was therefore not particrly afraid to just stand there and take the pounding, throwing Arcane Echoes in the water in retaliation. Soon enough, the monsters realized that their attacks were having no visible effect and they were getting hit by counter attacks that were potentially lethal in return. The sensible thing in such situations was to dive deeper and wait for the situation to change.
Given time, however, the being with sapience would win over that which has only sentience. Alright, now to deal with the remaining situation, John stated, wondering how to best approach the underwater. He had originally thought there were only two different monsters, the Foggy and the Thunder Noodles, but the Observe had told him there was a third kind. Looking at the individual roles the already known monsters fulfilled, this third kind must have been the brawn of the swarm, responsible for keeping the ship from moving on.
The problem with the ocean was that they had only two fighters that were specialized for the environment, one was a healer and the other had a maximum of four stat points per level, depending on whether or not John had cleared a goal or not.
There was always a third way, but John didnt quite like this one. However, it was the most effective, and as he was facing animals that were trying to hunt him, it wasnt immoral to use this particrbination. Undine, Stirwin,bine with Sylph and Siena, he told them.
Aaaah, yes, the shadow spirit was deeply pleased by that announcement. Her lips were curved into the merciless smile of a predator. Sylph didnt particrly care, neither did Undine, but Stirwin himself let him feel some unhappiness about the situation. The crocodile had probably looked forward to fighting by himself, but John wasnt dropping him in an ocean with an unknown number of enemies when he was, effectively, 30 levels lower than the number indicated. If John had known how many eels there were, in other words if there hadnt been a risk, then there would have been a chance.
As it stood, thebination was the more sensible option, and even in his current state, the golden crocodile understood that. Soon enough all four of them swirled together on the board of the ship and formed a new creature.
It was a reptile, about the size of a puppy. Unlike Stirwin or a puppy, there was very little cute about this thing, however. Murky bronze scales covered the top of it under a thick hide, while its underside was of an almost white silver. From its sides grew a total of four fins, with edges sharp enough to serve as des. The same could be said for the muscr tail that extended far behind it, three lines of spiky outgrowths leading from the main body up to the tail and uniting into a t line on the second half.
The head of the creature sat on a medium length neck. Two pairs of eyes, golden, slit shaped pupils resting in an entirety of red, looked around in a skull whose outline could be seen easily under the hardened scales. Needle-like teeth reached out of the closed jaw, curved to prevent any prey from escaping once caught. Swirling around its left side, like a bright warning, were Undines red scars, beginning at the point where the maw curved into the neck and ending behind the back fin.
Despite it being Johns familiar, the Gamer felt creeped out by Dendepthr. The mixture of a crocodile and a pliosaurus had no feelings or thoughts radiating from its mind. Only cold, predatory instinct. It was like being mentally connected to a hungry shark, ready to move at the first sight. Despite its size, that was an attitude it bore even towards the nearby Gnome, opening its maw and revealing a secondary jaw inside. Although jaw was maybe not the right word, as the teeth inside were not set on any bone but instead on a malleable mass of slime. Once Dendepthr bit anything, it would have the flesh rent within moments.
The only being that it was friendly towards was John, who it epted orders from. Alright, I need you to kill everything, John carefully picked the nightmare pliosaurus up, careful not to cut himself on the fins or sharp scales, in the water. You are good at that, right?
A gurgling growl left the extinguisher elementals throat, something that John took as agreement. The second John raised Dendepthr high enough over the railing that it could see the water, it rather violently shook itself inside the Gamers grip.
John half threw, half dropped the elemental at that point, his right palm basically turning into mincemeat, as only the left was protected. He watched the bleeding stop but still shook out his hand.
Lydia looked into the water, Is that small thing going to be enough?
That small thing is a two-kindbination with two extras, John informed her, and it wont be small for long. His mind followed Dendepthr into the water, looking through its eyes.
The nightmare pliosaurus was anything but stealthy, with its hide and the way it dropped into the water, and as such immediately attracted the attention of a whole bunch of eels. Electrical discharges, aimed through magic, immediately came for it. They hit its hide and did some damage, but nothing that it couldnt shrug off immediately.
Used to prey that was paralyzed by such an attack, the Thunder Noodles immediately went ahead and stormed for it. In their defence, they could swallow the small thing whole. Or rather, they could have when it had dropped into the water.
Dendepthr, from the second the salty embrace of the ocean had encapsted its form, had begun growing. Rapidly, if that word wasnt an understatement. See, aboard the ship John exined as the water around the ship began to murk with purple blood, Dendepthr has a passive unleash that increases its size each second it is in the water.
How big does he get? the queen immediately questioned.
Up to half its current level in metres, Johns mental eye followed as the pliosaur chomped the head of an eel as if it was nothing. Over the course of five minutes and at its current level, that makes for a growth of 25 centimetres per second. As if to prove the Gamers words, a giant tail ripped through the surface. It sent an eel flying dozens of metres into the air. And the bigger it gets, the higher its Strength and Endurance.
Dendepthr disposed of thest few of the pesky eels by doing to them what they wanted to do to him initially. A minute since itsbination, the extinguisher elemental was now a massive fifteen metres and even as it opened its jaw, it still grewrger to more easily swallow the entire thing. Unlike normal elementals, it had a bottomless stomach that could eat as much physical matter as it desired. The eels may have been natural creatures of the Abyss, but the true monster down there was now the nightmare pliosaurus.
With a nimbleness such arge body didnt seem to capable of, Dendepthr made a sharp turn, having strayed away from the boat. Its side was hit by four enormous heads, ramming into it. With a swipe of its massive tail, the elemental quickly dashed away from its assants. Respecting the sharp teeth and scales too much to mindlessly follow, Dendepethr and the attackers entered a short-term stalemate. They eyed each other up.
They were the third kind of enemy,rge fish, probably around twenty metres each, with metal-ted foreheads, horns perfect to hook into the nose of a ship and immense tailfins. They circled each other, Dendepthr growing bigger and bigger. John spied scratches in thecquer of his yacht, where these fish must have hooked in and began their herculean task of swimming against the engine.
While that did give John a massive amount of respect for their strength, he was absolutely livid at this damaging of his property. His anger must have rolled over into Dendepthr, who suddenly attacked. Either that or it became aware that it wasnt much longer for this world.
The maw of the beast opened, a few moments passed and then the water around him boiled, then evaporated as a white beam of blinding light shot out at the group of metal-headed fish. On the yacht, the group was subject to seeing thatser suddenly tear through the air, hot steam sending the waves below into turmoil as it rose.
The fish miraculously all dodged the attack. Thinking they got an opening, they dove underneath Dendepthr to attack the less armoured belly. A good strategy in principle, especially against a target that was quickly approaching seventy metres of length, but the pliosaurus was a step ahead. Beating all of its fins at once, it moved forwards in a burst of speed at thest moment. The fish all got caught up in the result drag of water, being violently pulled sideways. Given the nature of waterpared to air, this was much worse than what their partners in crime had to endure earlier at the hands of Sylph.
In a fluid motion, Dendepthr swam down and then elerated upwards, maw wide open. Like a great white, it both crashed into and bit down on its targets. Holy shit, Rave shouted out as the speed carried the monstrosity of an elemental a third out of the water. All four of the fish were reduced into scattered guts, before gravity imed the nightmare pliosaurus again. It crashing back into the ocean caused a wave sorge that it breaking against the yacht actually sent water raining down on all of them.
You said half his level right? Lydia looked at the bronze outline under the water. He wouldnt exist for much longer and as such was incredibly close to its maximum size, spanning almost three quarters of the yachts length. Do Iprehend correctly then, that at your maximum level this being would be five-hundred metres?
Yes, John stated. Ridiculous, right?
Thank Gaia, Dendepthr couldnt walk onnd.
Chapter 493 – Merry Breakfast
Chapter 493 C Merry Breakfast
This makes the whole affair almost eptable, John spoke up after taking his first bite of breakfast. They had gathered up some of the eels and what remained of the fish for Aclysia to prepare overnight. After using the Abyss Auction to buy the information about how to prepare them and whether or not there were any toxins she had to be aware of, the weaponized maid had done her magic while they all were sleeping.
Chewing through a dark bread covered in the eel, John enjoyed the taste. It had a rich saltiness, the taste of the ocean, along with a nice denseness to their fat. As an extra note of vour, there were small sparks of remaining electricity. Much like eating pineapple, the resulting tingle was nice in small doses. The better cooked, the less there was of it though.
Rave and Copernicus were the happiest about the seafood. Ya gotta wonder what delicious stuff ya keep murdering in your barriers, the Lightbearer noted with a half-full mouth.
Not like I can prevent them from turning to dust, John stated. Aside, if you make a training barrier with monsters in it, the same thing happens.
Ey, I suck at barrier making, so there is only like ghosts tops inside there, Rave shrugged it off. And we cant eat those even if we found them in a natural barrier.
Lydia was the only one on the table sitting properly, which made her stand-out like caviar in a serving of 300 McDonalds burgers. With delicate movements of knife on fork, she separated a piece of the meat and guided it all the way from the te to her mouth. Only after having chewed thoroughly and rinsed the remainders down with a bit of apple juice, shemented, Saddening that we have only steamed but not any smoked meat.
My deepest apologies, Aclysia stated, I attempted to make it work on the grill. Myck of experience in the matter turned them into coal-covered, dry pieces of probably cancer inducing waste. That is to say, I burned them by ident. The maid took a deep bow.
Rx, Aclysia, it is a wonder what you did with the rest of it, John told her, to which Lydia nodded. We just dont have a proper smoking room or something like that. Although I wasnt even aware we had a steamer.
I bought it recently, with our finances being Aclysia looked for a ttering word.
Beatrice found the correct one. Immense, she dropped into the room, standing close to her more emotive elder. The two of them were strategically standing left and right behind John, which was also the side of the cantina table that was closest to the kitchen.
This position assured that they could immediately help John with whatever their master wanted, from refilling his ss to feeding him, but also get requested items quickly from their resting ce in the kitchen. Currently, John was doing all of these things himself, but they stood there just in case.
secure, Aclysia went with her own choice of word.
You can say that twice, John mumbled into his ss of water.
Eliza cackled, Yeah, fuckwit, like your maid sluts didnt just do exactly that Ready to follow that up with some more cussing and sarcasm, the blood mages attention was interrupted by someone else stumbling towards the room. Ines the living regret! she shouted at a nearby entrance.
A certain redhead moved into the cantina. Dark rings under her eyes provedcklustre rest and her usually perfectly sitting suit was hastily put together today. Shout any louder and I might throw up onto the floor, she sounded like somebody who had been raised from the dead, stabbed in the lung, died, and raised again.
Aclysia gave her the death re, Perhaps you shouldnt fill your stomach in that case. There was unveiled anger in her voice. Scarlett had spent the whole time the group had prepared to and executing the fight drinking and smoking. Supervised by Eliza, who was way too busyughing to stop the Technomancer, the redhead had thuslymitted a number of household sins. I needed an hour to get the kitchen back in order and Gaia only knows how long it will take to get the cigarette stench out of the living room.
I was in the kitchen? Scarlett asked sitting down. She reached for food and Beatrice left to get something in the same moment. What the fuck would I do in the kitchen? Wait, dont answer that, the answer is more bottles.
A metric shitton of bottles, Eliza grinned, getting hit by the wrathful re of the head maid upon thatment. As the one who had just let it happen, she bore partial responsibility.
Cigarette C Stench, Aclysia repeated slowly. It sticks. Master doesnt like it. Its bad for the furniture. Do not smoke indoors. You are both off dessert for the next couple of meals.
The blood mage dropped her eating utensils. Nooooo, she whined, fuck you, I want my pudding.
Aclysia closed her eyes and stood straight, she had made her statement. You are wee to make your own C outside of my kitchen.
Scarlett was bothered, Like I fucking care about some dessert. Looking at the piece of eel she had loaded on her te like a kid did at broli, she unenthusiastically stabbed at it. Before she could decide to eat it, she was presented with some painkillers and a ss of water from the returning Beatrice. You are the best, Bae, the Technomancer spoke and caused John to blink. That was probably the first time he had heard someone say that while Aclysia was in the room and not mean her.
Feeling a bang of annoyance and hurt pride at that fact from the weaponized maid, John baited his breath for her reaction, as did most other people around. Nothing happened, however, as Aclysia continued to stand there on her point of principle. Beatrice soon assumed her original position again.
Scarlett entered a state of tormented trance, sitting in her chair, neck stretched backwards, emptily staring at the ceiling while she waited for the headache to be murdered by the aptly named medication. As such, she was as quickly out of the conversation as she got in.
So, how many hours did we lose? Rave asked.
About two in total, John answered, looking at the clock. It was 8AM now, the time he originally wanted to pull into whatever harbour he could find in Washington. Theputer told him they were scheduled for 10 now. Really annoying.
Unusual as well, Lydiamented. Granted power over here is fractured, but even then a barrier this close to the shore shouldnt have existed for this extended a period to allow the monsters inside to gather that much strength. There should be some sorts of patrols by the closest guilds. She gave John a much saying nce.
Guess we will organize such things once we have some more ships, he told her; it wasnt in his interest to wait until some sort of catastrophe manifested and attacked hisnds as well. Huh, thats a new category of problems I need to give a lot thoughts, he realized, not for the first time, that thinking of his security and his guild/countrys security asked for two very different mindsets. But we were pretty close to Marnd territory. Unlike the New York area, they already had cohesion, so why hadnt they snuffed this out before that swarm became thatrge?
A good question, one I do not know the answer to, the queen stated.
Rave leaned back in her chair, filled up on eel, and patted the suncat in herp who rolled up and took a nap, much in the same situation. I have a question you can answer though, where did ya leave your two-headed eagle? And your body guards?
The Lydia hesitated, knowing that dropping a German word in the middle of a conversation in English would look weird. However, as it was the name of the god, she did it anyway, Reichsadler is the patron god of Rex Germaniae. As such, taking him out of the country and taking him with me would have garnered immense attention. He therefore was left home. For my bodyguards, I ditched them at the airport. Lydia took a sip of juice as if she had said somethingpletely normal.
Wat? Rave sounded like she was quaking.
The queen put the ss back down, They are an order older than my house even, I will not let them end their glorious history because I insisted on visiting my lover in and ofwlessness. Taking a pause, she loaded a new, very small piece of eel on a buttered bread. Therefore, I left them behind against their will.
Wont they try to chase you down? John asked; he couldnt imagine those weirdos just epting that they were left behind.
I put them on the wrong ne and had them tricked into a vacation, Lydia stated. The details will take too long toy down, but be assured that they will not be a bother. She bit into her bread and the conversation moved on.
If we are asking questions, I have one, Scarlett slumped forwards, looking about two degrees more alive than before. That still ced her in the ghoulish category but was a clear upgrade from before. Why the fuck are all your Artificial Spirits somewhat Asian looking sexy girls with great asses and white hair?
Okay, in order of easiness to exin, John actually had answers for this. Number one, I am an ass man, this is demonstrable if you look to the great ass to great chest ratio around you. Currently on the table sat not a single girl with tits greater than Cs, as both Undine and Smander werent around. Second, I seem to have a minor case of yellow fever, he gestured at Rave, who waved with a smirk. Third, sexy needs no exnation, who would want to have an ugly servant? Lastly, for white hair he scratched his chin, dunno, thats more of coincidence. With Aclysia it was just because I had an A2 figurine and found it perfect, Momos original body was sold to me by Hermes, and Beatrice followed up because I could go for the twin look. Do have to say I find white hair pretty sexy though. Then again, all the hair colours look good in their own way.
Alright, Scarlett nodded and then went ahead to eat. Normal people always go we need more redheads in our lives, she shrugged, not that that is important or anything. Just saying, I clearly got the best hair colour around here.
Rave giggled, That was immense levels of Tsun. She flipped her own pink mane, But youre super wrong either way.
I have no fucking clue which camp I am in, Eliza grumbled grabbing a strand of her hair and pulling it in front of her eyes. White, blue, whatever the shit?
On that note, perhaps you should put the illusion on her? Lydia asked John.
Right, the Gamer agreed and reached into his inventory. Eliza grinned anticipatingly at the item he pulled out. It was a simple strip of cloth, somewhat stretchy but firm overall. In keeping with her usual attire, the thing was ck and bore basically no decorations. Only two golden eyelets, with thin string running through them, broke up the monotony of the dark colour. Be a good girl ande over here, he told the blood mage, who looked like she was ready to climb over the table in response.
Halfway on the te covered surface already, Eliza noticed the dark stare of a pair of green eyes and opted for the floor route instead. No reason to get in even worse grace with the chef. The result was also nice and pleasing, as a crawling Eliza suddenly emerged between Johns legs from under the table, giving him the wide, sparkly eyes of a submissive in her favourite position.
Come up, hemanded her, with a quickly growing erection. She did, until John couldfortably wrap the cloth around her neck and bind it together at the front with a decorative knot. He had to do that three times until he was happy with how tight the choker was sitting around her neck. Once settled for longer than a few seconds, the item unfolded its illusionary spell.
From white and blue to ck, from sickly pale with a blueish hue to just white and from shattered purple, dotted and lined, to a simple hazel, her hair, skin and eyes changed colours. To put it simply, she now looked like a passable, normal person, the robe and very revealing leatherwork she was wearing aside.
John found that she looked cuter with the scarf, but the sexiness of the choker was undeniable. Thank you, Master, Eliza purred, resting her hands on the inside of Johns thighs, very close to where his pants were currently stretching.
Aclysia let an approving hum be heard, The way you reverently used that word reduces your punishment by a day, she informed her.
Too bad that means you wont get dessert today though, John let yful sorrow flow in his voice. And that even though you are such a good little slut, he gently pped her face, then grabbed her by squishing her cheeks together. Mhm, you know they say about chokers that they are the mark of a great cocksucker? he asked her, getting a small nod in return. And you know how we were interrupted yesterday? Another nod, this time Eliza opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, curving it against an imaginary phallic object. I think you can work for a dessert. He let her go and immediately she began working on his pants.
It was a pretty usual breakfast, all things considered.
Chapter 494 – Washing on Washington shore
Chapter 494 C Washing on Washington shore
John was humming as he stepped out of the shower, staring at his sses. Whatcha thinking about? his girlfriend asked, right behind him. Well, she was behind him for the one step outside the slippery wet floor, then she took three dancing struts around him, booping him on the nose in the process. At the end of that movement, she stopped in front of the sink or, rather, the immense construction consisting of a sink, closets andrge mirrors. One second we have a shower quickie, the next youre already thinking about Gamer stuff, she gave him a yful pout, followed immediately by a grin.
It is very important stuff, John defended himself, hugging her naked body from behind as she checked herself out in the mirror. While he was as ready as always to bend her over and take her another time, he was currently satisfied just feeling her warmth and softness against his chest. Despite rumours to the contrary, John Newman was a man with quite a bit of self-control for his age. Gently, he stretched his neck and kissed hers.
Rave lovingly ran a hand through his short hair. Better do that quickly, tiger, I am going to need your advice with some girly stuff.
Postponing the question about what and since when his girlfriend was interested in that sort of thing, John did as asked and went to solve this particr question. Of course, he did it while breathing in the pink haired bombshells scent and exploring her body with the one hand he didnt need to tap on windows.
He was level 150 and that meant he had an extra ss level to spend. Technically two, but Elementalist precautions still applied. The question was what to level. For a start he decided to separate them into categories; the usual elimination process would lead him to a nice conclusion.
There were three sses he regarded as vanity, being Housekeeper, Lover Boy and Disciple C from least to most likely to be useful. Housekeeper was just a dead ss with Aclysia around, doing everything he could do with immense care and loving devotion. Lover Boys only argument, aside from making him an even better fuck, was that Gaia had teased something about the upper levels helping him with his people you love right now are going to grow old and die around you problem. Disciple,stly, was the ss that increased his maximum amount of Blessings he could get from gods, like the Horned Rat and Nathalia had already given him. He still had another one slot empty before reaching the base maximum of three, so levelling was unnecessary, but if he got that working, it would doubtlessly lead to some nice bonuses.
However, they were vanity, so they were out. One day he would invest in Lover Boy, just in the hopes to make those he cared about stick around him for as long as he could make it (with their consent of course), but right now all of the girls in his harem were either young, immortal or tethered to his soul already. He just needed to get it done before any of them started getting wrinkles. Given the absurdity that were Abyssal genes, that would be a long time off.
The next category were then the niche sses. To those he counted Gamer, Fateweaver and Martial Artist. He had no wish whatsoever to touch Fateweaver again. The bonuses it gave were quite nice, but they didnt seem worth it to invest his limited ss points, especially since he had people to time dte for him now. Unless there was another cherry on top, like the mobile barrier maintenance, it was something he felt his build didnt need.
Martial Artist he would level only to get ess to Arcweaving eventually, something so far off that considering that ss right now felt factually foolish. Lastly, Gamer had a widespread amount of bonuses and, what was more important, it was actually unique to John and his more unorthodox abilities. Anyhow, as much as he liked it, the argument could very well be made that it actually belonged in the vanity category.
Then he was left with Elementalist, Arcanist and Puppeteer, all three were about the same level in regards to hisbat build. He favoured Elementalist up until now because sses seemed to give more powerful bonuses the deeper one got and Combination was truly a disgusting tool in his toolbox that he wanted to develop to the end. Now that that option was blocked to him, the other two needed to be explored.
Mhm, do help me, John whispered into Raves ear, cupping her marshmallow soft ass. Should I make the investment that is smart now or smart for the future? Arcanist was clearly a strong pick and the choices would strengthen him right now, that much was clear. On the other hand, Puppeteer came with the problem that he didnt have a suitable vessel right now C Although he had shown Scarlett a very ambitious idea and she had assured him that it was possible. It would just take time. Adding to that that this next level would not wield a perk due to the choice he made with resetting Aclysia and it would be a mostly dead level.
However, he had little doubt that Puppeteer would be a better ss for his style all around. There was just no underestimating the stupendous power behind being able to cast spells from basically any angle he wanted. If he could somehow increase the soft barrier in the skill, making the perception through his possessed object less and less urate once it was several kilometres away, he would eventually be able to partake in battles he had no business being present for.
Although that also relied on him being able to enter barriers with only those objects. Currently he either needed to be around or the barriers needed to pull the objects in. He had found a potential workaround for that though, the viability of which was yet to be tested.
Rave grabbed both of his hands in her own. I say she began guiding them towards her stomach, ya should bet on the future. All four hands met underneath her navel. She turned around and gave John a long, deep stare. The blue of her eyes pulled him in like he was slowly sinking into an ocean. On our future, she squeezed his hand.
You arent? John began the question; this whole thing was very ambiguous. From the earnest tone to gesture, it made the Gamer feel like she was trying to tell him she was pregnant.
I have been thinking about it a bit moretely, she admitted but shook her head. But nope, still on birth control. I wont just bulldoze you with news like that. Something about the way she ended that sentence caused John to lean in and kiss her on the lips. With the weirdly wonderful wet smacking sound of parting mouths, she finished, So, I have no idea whatcha mean in detail, but thats my choice.
Thats all the reason I need, John assured her and picked Puppeteer. Okay, so what girly things?
I want to make a good impression on your mom, so tell me what I should put on, she stated, opening arge closet to her left. Dozens of little bottles stood there,belled with aesthetically pleasing pictures of whatever fruit or mixture of aromas their insides were meant to ry in fragrance. This was where Aclysia stored the perfumes she currently had drank up on, freely avable for public usage.
For a start, I think my mother loves you, seeing how your phone callsst like the quadruple of mine with her and are about the same factor as frequent, John stated, passively swinging slightly with his girlfriend between his arms, the pair doing a swaying, nude dance to whatever beat Rave had stuck in her mind today, and you already met her in person.
Yeah, okay, but I was neen then, Rave joked, I also had brown hair and my boyfriend looked more like a guy with spaghetti for arms than a 9/10.
What? What am I missing for the perfect score?! John demanded to know.
Your face is still kinda nd, she gave it to him straight. Like, your body is just straight-up out of my wet dreams now, but above the neck, just kinda I dont want to say average, you look good, very good, but not exactly memorable? Like, if I just passed you once on the street, I would think, What a handsome guy, and then forget about what exactly made ya handsome. 10/10 gets seared straight into the ovary memory.
I dont think there is something capable of memorizing down there, John grumbled, stung by the announcement. New point of policy: raise Charisma to 100 after Wisdom is done to get your girlfriend to admit you are a perfect ten.
Hey, I am just a 9 too, Rave admitted, cupping her breasts. These are a tad too small.
That is so absolutely debatable, John stated. To me all of you girls are tens in your own right.
Because you are a guy and you are just happy to dip your dick into all of us, his girlfriendughed. Anyhow, reason why that is important is that ya clearly improved in life. You look healthier, adultier and sessful and yae in there with a whole array of girls. Dont wanna look like I just stagnated next to ya.
He could try to persuade her that there was no reason to feel that way, but they had had this conversation with different themes before. Alright, he reached over and closed that closet. Well, if you want to look as good as you can. The Lightbearer followed his movements as he opened another closet, one that had simr butrger bottles filled with a more viscous array of liquids. Lets get you on the couch instead and massage that smell in as deep as I can make you rx.
Mhm, that does sound nice we gotta pick some clothes afterwards, his girlfriend was leaning more heavily on his chest, letting him make the decision of what oil.
I am sure we will find something nice, John assured.
________________________________________________________________________
It was a nice and warm day in Washington DC. Late April blew away the remains of winter, a slightly clouded sky slowly increasing the heat as the sun turned towards noon. In such weather, John managed to talk his girlfriend into wearing a summer dress and it was glorious. The baby blue fabric had the same colour as her nail polish and resonated nicely with her eyes and hair. The ample skin this sleeveless piece, with its above-kneecaps height skirt, revealed was glowing seemingly from within.
All impurities were gone from Raves skin, be it by the magic inside her, her extensive martial arts training reaffirming the effect or her boyfriends sensual message that had not involved any dicks for an exceptional case. The pink strands of her chaotic mane absorbed the sunlight, the light strands of individual hair creating a crevice of caught gold around her head. Everything about her seemed at a natural perfection that no amount of makeup could hope to achieve.
However, she was scowling, There is no way I am fighting while this dolled up. Thement came with the scene that greeted them in the harbour.
Being an actual power, it was only sensical that the Little Marnd had a proper harbour barrier set-up. John found it mildly disappointing that this was only a level 2 barrier, meaning that it wasrge, just not city-encapstingrge, but after having gone through the preparations for a level 3 creation himself, he understood that it was perhaps not in everybodys economic interest to pay that much money to Fateweavers.
All of that aside, John had mentally prepared himself for some haggling, forms to be filled and people to be convinced for him to be allowed to anchor. Instead, he was greeted by thin fog and the sounds of battle.
Evidently, a separate swarm of Noodles had made their way over to this barrier. While that name made it hard for John to take the threat seriously, not that it was to him, these creatures were, once again, a massive inconvenience. I dont want to get any guts on me either. I dont want to take yet another shower, especially since I am smelling nicely like hazelnut and dark chocte right now. Being the massager, a naked one at that, much of the oil had stuck itself onto the Gamers own body. Dont want to rece that with fish.
He sighed and mentally divided the girls that woulde with him to his mother from those who wouldnt. With him would be his girlfriend (obviously), Lydia, Eliza, Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra. Those were the ones who looked human and could, in thetter three cases, also change theirposition in a way that made them indistinguishable in weight and body feel. Originally, he also wanted Scarlett toe with him, but the Technomancer had absolutely insisted on staying on the ship, best guarded by the elementals.
As said elementals were guaranteed to note with them, it was a pretty easy decision to let them do the fighting. What an annoyance, John sighed heavily as all of them, save for Stirwin, headed out and cleared the harbour. I want to speak to their manager.
The clean-up was just a question of time.
Chapter 495 – A corrupt climate
Chapter 495 C A corrupt climate
The final pieces of mist drifted away at the hands of a group of air elementals. Togeeetheeeeeer! Sylph, the elected leader on the basis of being both the strongest and the chirpiest, instructed the efforts. Sha-sha-sha-sha! then they waved their hands at the mist without using any magic whatsoever. The tiny palms did very little, but it still worked. Good job, gals and boys! You are the best, like, really, really, the best, like, super, super great!
Nah, you are the best, like, yeah, just the greatest of the greatest of them all, Sylph! one of them chirped back, after which a storm ofpliments being thrown at each other ensued.
John didnt expect Sylph to snap out of it anytime soon, but then again, he also didnt need her to. The yacht ground to a total halt next to a pier, at which point he pulled out his phone. He could do a number of things regarding the ship via an app Scarlett had designed out of sheer boredom in the hours since breakfast. Currently it worked only with her as an in-between medium, something that she had assured would be fixed soon because she didnt want all the camera data flowing through her head at all times.
As it was a very recent and very iplete thing, the UI and functions were all still rather raw and scarce. It felt like he was operating some ancient version of Minesweeper, with how grey and default the buttons were designed. What he was searching for was the rather easy lower walkway function, so they could get off the boat.
Scarlett: I got it already.
The words scrolled over his screen. The Technomancer must have been staying on the bridge, which made enough sense given that she refused toe out. Whatever her n for a public persona was, John knew for a fact there was one, apparently, she didnt want to put it into effect just yet.
She better not be doing something behind my back again John thought, knowing deep down that she was exactly doing something behind his back again. If thest instance, her starting the war, was any indication, it wasnt bad for him. Mhm he formted a little n in his head, then he opened a direct channel to one of his elementals, the kind no one but his target could partake in, Undine?
Yes, John? the melodic tranquillity of the ocean elementals voice reached his mind.
I want you and Siena to keep an eye on Scarlett, just watch her and let me know if there is anything interesting going on, he got an affirmation a momentter and then went to Siena to repeat the order.
All the elementals were going to stay on the ship with Scarlett for the foreseeable future, but John only trusted these two to be any good at subtlety like this. Gnome would get flustered, Sylph would just straight-up bber it out, Smander would just confront her about it and Stirwin was a hatchling most of the time.
Undine he trusted to keep her mouth shut and just leave pieces of her around the yacht that would make spying rather inconspicuous. For Siena, the only worry John had was that her wish to y with him was bigger than her loyalty in this regard.
Ive been waiting to creep inside that girls business, the shadow spirits answer was therefore, a nice and immediate insurance. Messing with you is my joy, not others. Want me to search her dreams as well?
Right, she could do that. John often forgot that she was a nightmare elemental because the strictly unique characteristics of that line of specialization hadnt been useful to him in any way until now. Siena could invade peoples dreams while they slept, potentially learning useful stuff about them and their ambitions. The thing was just that potentially was the operative word there; dreams werent in a habit of being particrly stable experiences. Which was why Sienas specialization was to haunt them and turn them into nightmares rather than just walk them.
That would have been another, differently weighted kind of shadow elemental. As to why Siena even was this type, her ambition to tease and torture people had eventually caused her to evolve past the need of them being awake. Plus, she could get away with a lot more this way. Mundane people were willing to believe a lot of things happening inside dreams.
Which was why Gaia hadnt outright murdered her but rather demanded that something would be done about her. That was where John eventually found her in her little prison. The rest was history.
Dont tell the rest about this, the Gamermanded outright. As previously stated, he didnt trust them with this. A little omission from their usualplete sharing of information. Just for a little while. John nned to tell them by the end of this vacation, he really just didnt want them to blunder and jeopardize the mission.
He got a confirming feeling from both of them and then walked down the stretched-out path from the side of the yacht down to the pier. A little greetingmittee had formed down there, although Johns arrival certainly wasnt the reason they were there judging by their traditional looking military garb, partly torn and covered in blood, some of it their own but mostly that of the attacking Noodles.
John groaned, asking the same question for the umpteenth time, despite knowing the answer, Why, why did they have to name these things Noodles? One of the people in the military group must have had rather sharp ears, as he began to chuckle, then whisper what he just heard into hismanders ear.
A woman, easily recognized on her status by her hat and the fact that she only had purple eel blood staining her otherwise unharmed dark green uniform, allowed herself a simple grin. She had long hair of an unusual, light pink colour, closer to white than Raves neon. As was usual for Abyssaldies, she was gorgeous, training and magic keeping her body healthy and her skin in perfect condition. She was right up Johns alley, with an hourss figure that no amount of uniformity could hide and long legs.
She also wore rings, one iron the other gold, on each of her ring fingers. Well, she was young but not that young anymore, Observe put her at 27 and a whooping level 74, so John wasnt the slightest bit surprised that somebody swooped in and imed that woman already. Doubtlessly, she had seen her fair share of attention when she was single and still got some this day.
However, John tried to keep it to himself. He had his own little harem, so he shouldnt go around trying to seduce other peoples wives. It was already shitty if some random jock tried to do it, it would only add insult to injury if someone with his following of sexy bombshells did it. There was disrespect and then there was rubbing it in peoples faces.
Didnt expect such a good-looking wee after that show, he immediately slipped in his ambition, giving the woman, her name was Chemilia, a warm smile. Then he caught himself and cleared his throat. Sorry, very undiplomatic of me.
I dont particrly care, she answered, seeing how said show is something we got some diplomats to thank for. Eyes were cast onto her by her subordinates, and she quickly changed the topic as if she had already said too much. Of all possible reinforcements, I didnt expect the new arrival on the American stage.
John raised an eyebrow, That is odd, I told your higher-ups I would be here today. Looking over to the cadavers swimming in the water and the slowly dissolving blood around them, he added, I assume you usually dont have problems like this?
The woman let out a growl, the pupils in her eyes partly transforming into the minus-esque shape of a goats. Usually not, no, she spat out, quickly regaining herposure and normal shaped eyes. The army has been underfunded recently. What an un-American problem. The government is lining its own pockets. Well, that was right back to an American problem.
General, one of her subordinates dared to interject, you shouldnt
Oh, spare me the should and shouldnts. This guy actually helped us, least we can do is not hide the obvious. If he has half a brain, he will have it figured out in two days anyway, she crossed her arms. Do you have half a brain?
Rave interjected, slinging an arm around her boyfriends neck. He has like three and a half, obnoxiously smart guy, she joked, pointing at his legs, plus he thinks with that thing too.
Well, that was anguage the military understood, some of them chuckled. Militaries were often depicted as these people that were broken down into disciplined little puppets, but in reality, they were people doing a very hard job, and people of that description often had rather raw humour.
John himself rather liked it; these fewughs on his behalf were perfectly fine. Having been through actual bullying, he could discern the difference between that and harmless banter. Plus, he much rather deal with straightforward soldiers than debating diplomats.
Anyhow, how rude of me, I havent introduced myself, she saluted, the heels of her heavy boots meeting with an audible ck, General Chemilia Smith, honoured to meet the head of state of our new neighbour.
John already knew all that from using Observe, but he didnt need to creep her out or anything, so he waited for her to finish before answering. Right, you already know some of us, he gestured at therge group, so I will spare us both the waste of time that is introducing all of us, if that is okay with you?
It wasnt just a question about whether or not she didnt want to stand there hearing names all day. Whether or not she insisted would make it clear how strict she wanted to be with this foreign power taking a vacation on her guilds soil.
She rxed, letting her hands vanish in her pockets. No, that wont be necessary, she stated. Your arrival saved me a couple of good soldiers. Threats that were jokes to him and her could easily spell the end for normal fighters in an engagement with such poor sight. I am going to need some other information though. Are these people with you everyone who came with you?
John looked over his shoulder and the girls behind and around him. This is everyone who wants to visit Washington with me, he then stated, dodging the question while giving argely urate answer. Well, these and my elementals on the ship. It just conveniently left out the one Technomancer that wanted to remain on-board.
The General either missed or didnt care for that little y. How long are you staying for? she asked a second question, her tone just as friendly as before.
About ten days, he answered directly. Lydias vacation ended in nine days and he didnt see himself staying much longer than that.
Alright, I will have it arranged that your ship is left undisturbed in that time, Chemilia assured him.
John opened his mouth to thank her, but a new voice went into the mix. That is not in your jurisdiction, General, it had the type of straightced tone of a man who had the authority to tell people which pencils were to be pushed.
The bureaucrat has arrived, John thought, watching the single man walking up the pier. Another early twenties fellow, in a nice suit and with a walking cane that he clearly didnt need and decorated with the same amount of pretension.
Instantly, John found himself with a distaste for the guy, because he had the volume of a man who ate well and didnt have to move much. In the Abyss, that tranted to someone who had people fight for him.
Chemilia ignored that interception, instead growling again. I sent for reinforcements thirty minutes ago and whates up here is your bby face? she asked, causing her to immediately rise two levels in Johns admiration.
Please, Chemilia, you SHOULD have been able to defeat these monsters with the forces you had here, easily in fact. The general was audibly and visibly grinding her bared teeth at the unveiled usation of ipetence. And! We wouldnt want any straggling monsters to reach the White House, now would we? Although, I had the courtesy of bringing a few of our finest with me, the man stated and then, as if those points had already won the discussion, turned to bow. Not to John, not to the General, but to the other woman who made a habit out of military behaviour. Queen Lyd-
Augusta, she interrupted immediately, her eyes the grey of polished lead. Those who disrespect their forces have no justification to wield my first name.
John could basically see the cold sweat breaking out on the mans forehead. Seems like you bet on a horse just as arrogant as you are, he thought, crossing his arms with an amused smile. He didnt need to say anything, Lydia was doing all the dirty work for him.
My deepest apologies, the mans courteous bow went deeper, bing pleading. Doubtlessly it had been his intention to leave a good impression on the queen, but he had not done his homework about the kind of character she had. Your highness, I simply
Stop, the queen said and was immediately obeyed. I am here on vacation together with my lover. The scandalous nature of such a visit forbids me from talking in the name of my people for the time being. Your desperate diplomacy efforts will not yield you any results, as I am here not as queen but as my own person. State your mission and then remove your presence from my vicinity; the only talks you should be having are with John.
That was as cut and dry as it got. Yes, I apologize, the mans upper body turned towards John, who was honestly impressed about the reveal that this much mass could change direction so quickly depending from where the wind was blowing. The Little Marnd is most honoured to have you as its guests, the words were clearly rehearsed, Lydias name conveniently cut out and a plural sloppily added to the end. John could practically smell the nepotism. We will see to it that you will have to deal with as little unpleasantries as you need to, including your anchoring rights.
So you are going to give me what I would have already gotten because I did the job you didnt want to, John summarized. And its rather hard to believe you want to keep unpleasantries out of my way when one is bowing before me. The Gamer leaned down and put a hand on the bureaucrats shoulder. You can go now, tell your superiors they can ask General Chemilia for detailster.
With a speed uncharacteristic for a person that voluminous, the man walked away, carrying his walking stick rather than even pretending to need it. John couldnt me him, leaving the scene as quickly as possible was the only correct action he had taken so far.
The bureaucrat vanished amidst the earlier mentioned procession of governmental guards. They wore armour of a perfect white, like unstained paper, and did have the stance of proud and capable knights. They formed a guarding cage around the man and guided him away in lockstep.
John took his eyes off the disy and pulled a contact card off the stack inside of his vests inner chest pocket and handed it to Chemilia. Since your heads of government dont seem particrly keen on letting you contact me, he told her, suppressing an assurance she could also call him privately.
Indeed they dont well, dont let me keep you. Think we got everything important out of the way, the General was clearly in a good mood. It must have been a while since somebody had so clearly defended her authority.
John was officially there on vacation, but he was clearly presented with an opportunity to make some valuable contacts. Sadly, he also had an appointment in the city that he couldnt dy any further. He therefore went with a middle road solution. Well, I would love to stay and chat, but I do need to meet someone he turned to Aclysia, could you stay here and help these good men and women clean up this mess?
Most certainly, the weaponized maid nodded. To get done more quickly, I request that Beatrice stays as well. Do you wish me to prepare these eels for the people?
Yup, John nodded, but do put some aside for our storage.
Chemilia looked doubtful, You can cook these things?
Chapter 496 – Of Hearth and Hidden
Chapter 496 C Of Hearth and Hidden
Dont I know you? John asked, trying to recognize the man in front of him. Entirely nondescript, he looked like the personification of a background character. He was part of a certainpany responsible for movement and instation of water-based rxation wear. The answer didnte before the Gamer had put his signature under the document he was presented with.
The dude adjusted his cap a bit and smiled, Yes, before turning around leaving John standing there in befuddlement. He handed the document to his superior and then said something about going for a leak, disappearing around a corner.
I am most certain I do as well Lydia mumbled, then her eyes widened and she hurriedly marched after the man. She stopped dead at the corner and came back. Gone, like always.
That was when John realized it had been that weird man that fell in and out of dimensions and the Gamers life. Been a while since I encountered that guy, he scratched the side of his head. Seemed like he had control this time, good on him.
I still desire to know who or what he is, the queen crossed her arms.
Evidently, someone who can break some more important rules than me, John answered. Compared to the ability to travel between different versions of reality, being able tobine elementals and disregarding magical theories all across the globe in the process seemed rather in. Guess thates with the advantage of better control, he thought as he turned to the house.
His parents new home was definitelyrger than the house John grew up in. It wasnt quite a mansion, but it definitely grew beyond the simple suburban household that had just enough room to raise a family of four in.
The house had two storeys and was broad rather than deep, presenting arge fa?ade of a creamy, chocte brown colour to a clean street. John could easily see enough space for three extra bedrooms inside. It was definitely much bigger than the Gamer thought his fathers job as an engineer would have brought them, but here they were. Evidently, John had very little idea what exactly his father did.
A hip-high hedge marked where the property began, encapsting two decorative flower patches between themselves, the houses veranda and a little walkway that led up to the white door. One that John stood before momentster, checking his clock one final time. It was shortly before noon. Just about two hourster than I wanted.
His hand raised up to the doorbell and he pushed. The pre-recorded sound of a bell went ding-dong through the house. A moment of waiting ensued, then footsteps tapping over a wooden floor in house shoes followed. The door opened with only the soft whisper of rubber seals expanding apanying the motion.
Brenda Newman, the unknowing mother of one of the strongest people in the Abyss, was a woman of numerous beauties. She had silky ck hair that reached down to her corbone, not particrly stylized but clearly benefiting from the life as the housewife of a well-off man. She had a round face that was a nice mixture between cute and sexy, pillowy lips and brown eyes. Her figure was, to put it bluntly, the wet dream of any man who was into big tits. With a rack bigger even than Smanders and curves that had exactly zero signs that she had given birth before, one could have been excused for mistaking Brendas for someone in herte twenties, rather than the almost forty that she actually was. She was wearing a long-sleeved, deep purple shirt (the upper buttons open, revealing massive cleavage) and simple pants of a champagne colouration.
John would have totally booked her as a MILF, but as she was who she was, she was just the M and he felt no attraction to her whatsoever. Which was good, he had been somewhat afraid that his heavily increased Libido would put some thoughts in his dick that he didnt want. Another Stat whose impact he was mildly worried about was Charisma. He had changed quite a bit, what if his mother didnt recognize him?
John, wee! she smashed right through that worry with a wide smile and motherly hug. It came with the warmth of home and shelter,sted only a couple of seconds but put Johns day into a nice light. For the next few hours, he wouldnt have to worry about anything, no magecraft or politics, just the small family he had. They parted and she looked up to her son. Oh my, your fathers genes really took a backseat while you were in Germany, didnt they.
An amused outcry from within the house, What is that supposed to mean, huh? John looked up from his mothers face and into the entrance area behind her. Down walked a man that everyone would have pointed at and said, Yup, that is Johns father, just a few months ago.
With a rather uninteresting face, brown eyes and hair, anky figure and holding a coffee mug with a boring piece of wisdom printed onto it, Benjamin Newman was nobody outstanding. He wore practical clothes, a buttoned up blue shirt tucked away under the simple ck-leather belt holding up his jeans, and was neither in particrly bad nor great shape. Observe, which John used out of pure habbit, revealed nothing unordinary either. Just a normal man with a hot wife.
Oh, nothing, dear, Brenda chuckled. Well, nothing your beloved science cant exin.
Dont remember marrying you for backtalk, the engineer shook his head. Pretty sure it was to get a cook with huge breasts.
And I say you also did it to have a good-looking kid, which, mother Newman gestured at her son, we now have. Cant say that face is your genes at work, darling.
Mhm, Benjamin took a close look at his son and the women around him, I have to bow to that wisdom.
John pinched the bridge of his nose, he was sure most of the girls around them were having a great time listening to his parents bantering, but to him this was just embarrassing. Leaning up to him, Rave asked, I have been wondering this for a bit, but how did you grow up to be an ass-person?
Yeah, what the --- John, Eliza added, less quietly, swallowing a certain word in her sentence. With a mother with that s--- giant rack around, I guessed you reta- really nice person would grow up to be a
What are you doing?! John interrupted her.
Eliza clenched her teeth and hissed, Not trying to f-- it up in front of the grandparents of my kids and She stopped with a pained lustre in her eyes, there was something else but the first part already caused the house owners to stake a new question.
Did we miss anything? Brenda asked, her and Benjamins ears primed maximally at the prospect of grandkids. Something gic about moving towards the forties, no doubt.
No, she is just baby-crazy, John stated, and generally crazy. He took a sharp, pained breath in through his teeth when Eliza rammed her left heel into his foot. Then she did it again. Then she suddenly stopped, with her foot still raised for the third stomp, and quickly stepped behind John, almost as if to hide.
U-uhu, Benjamin cleared his throat. Didnt think you were one of those masochistic fellows, John.
Rave leaned in conspiratorially, In the bedroom that crazy little psycho is a total kinky slut, usually on all fours, so dont let this deceive ya.
Ah, I see, I see, father Newman nodded and took a sip of his coffee. Then he checked his wrist. Well, my break is about to be over, so I have to get back to work. Johns father worked rtively nearby, so he often returned for lunch from work. That he had passed his son was more of a lucky coincidence of John beingte. Benjamin was out the door just as John was in.
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About twenty minutester, they all found themselves inside the spacious living room of the ground floor. They were sitting around arge table, the elongated kind with round ends. Around it sat John, Rave, Eliza, Lydia and Metra. His mother finalized cing a bunch of little treats on the white sheet that covered the table and took a seat herself.
White was the general theme of the room as well. The carpet was just as cleanly coloured, the walls a nice and light beige, the furniture switching from cream-coloured leather to dark wooden shelves and tables.
So, introduce me to these finedies, Brenda asked, looking around them.
Well, you already know Jane, John pointed at his girlfriend, who waved across the table in a cheeky fashion.
Yes, and I see you dyed your hair, his mother didnt say that without any approval or disapproval, she simply observed the obvious. Looks good on you, Jane.
Thanks! How ya doing yourself, Bren? Didya get that special wool discount? Rave asked about a topic that John had absolutely no idea about.
Oh, that old story dide to a rather interesting conclusion including some dirty bits, Brenda giggled in a way that made John shift in his seat ufortably. They were obviously really dirty bits.
Metra noticed and, perhaps just to annoy John a bit, challengingly stated, Do tell.
Ah, it would take a while to unravel that tapestry C excuse the pun C so maybeter, Brenda insisted. So, yes, I know Jane already. I am honestly surprised you found an array of girls just as good looking.
Lydia bowed her head, I am most grateful for thatpliment. I do think Jane happens to be prettier than me, but if that is your observation, I wont contend with it. I am Lydia, she conveniently skipped the second name, although John had no doubts she had a fake one prepared.
Mhm, are you from Britain? Brenda asked.
I was born in Pnd but am mostly German by heritage, the queen stated. Why the question, if I may inquire?
You just have a very eloquent way of expression, mother Newmanmented. Well, it is good to see that my boy can attract the charismatic and the beautiful. Also, the athletic from the looks of it, she looked over to Metra.
Rave and Lydia were both wearing summer dresses, even Eliza had managed to put herself into a ck t-shirt with leather pants of the same colour (making her look anything but proper together with the choker; if anything, she looked like a nice-assed goth gf). Always one to swim against the stream, Metra, however, had insisted that it was warm enough for people to only raise an eyebrow at her outfit without actually seeing it as impossible. Technically, she was right about that, and so John had been unable to argue her out of her more than revealing choice of presentation.
Got a problem with that? Metra asked, crossing her arms with a broad smile that made it clear that wasnt supposed to be confrontational.
Brenda winked back with the eyes of a fellow pervert. Despite Johns best attempts to forget this, his mother did have a whooping Libido of 36. Oh no, if I could get away with it, I would do just like you, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, wedding ring sparkling in a ray of sun that fell through the window, breasts swaying. But with my figure, sparing clothes lead to a lot of risks, plus I get cold way easier. I do have some pretty nice dresses for nights out with Ben, though.
Really? Rave asked. Can I seeter? Trying to find some designs I dont find superdylike and boring.
Lydia gave her some serious side-eye, Festivities are a time to dress proper, not to
Nights out being swinger parties, Brenda added, silencing any discussion about this from the start.
Disregard myments, in that case, the queen stated after a moment of silence.
We are not going on swingers though, John picked the topic back up. These are my girls, I am not sharing. He was absolutely adamant about that.
Tiger, ya know cheating aint happening in this polygyny? Rave threw in, putting a hand on his thigh, I just want something that makes everybody in the room jealous and you can fuck me inside afterwards. Ya know, going into clubs in shirt and pants all the time gets pretty dull.
Appeased by that prospect and his girlfriends touch, John nodded and put his hand on hers. Anyway, that is Metra. Thisst girl here is Eliza, the Gamer turned to introduce the currently ck-haired girl that sat at the table in a surprisingly docile fashion. I think you got an impression earlier. Now it was the blood mages turn to give him massive side-eye, but she kept her mouth shut.
That I did. You are a pretty lively one, arent you? Brenda asked and got a simple, courteous nod in response. Leaning back in her chair, Johns mother looked a bit annoyed for the first time. Just drop that fa?ade already, youngdy. Speak your mind.
Carefully and in an uncharacteristically timid voice, she asked, You wont beat me for it or anything?
Jesus, what the hell? John thought and was incredibly happy he hadnt said that out loud when it dawned on him where that question stemmed from. He had never inquired deeper into Elizas actual past; she had stated something about overly religious parents one time and that had been all he thought he needed to know. He hadnt even thought about it, but given the times she grew up in and her luck in life, there just had to be some major abuse in that family.
Normally that wouldnt have mattered, what parent figure could the blood mage still have that she couldnt just break the neck of if they came at her the wrong way? Well, the answer found itself rather unsuspectingly in Brenda. Not only was she protected by Gaia, but she was also the mother of the man she was in love with, that made her doubly untouchable.
John wanted to stand up and start helping her with yet another trauma. For her, it didnt matter how often he had to do that. This time, however, there was a mother at the table that reacted quicker to the plight of the girl than he could. That she was technically older than Brenda didnt put a wrench in the dynamic.
Getting up and hastily walking up to her seat, Brenda reached out firmly. Eliza recoiled at the raised hands, put they wrapped around the sitting girls form and pulled her into the warm embrace that John had felt at the entrance. Unlike him, however, Eliza had not known that feeling before and her eyes started swelling with tears.
Of course not, the matrimonial voice of Brenda assured, gently caressing the back of her head. Slowly, Eliza rxed. I am no hidden monster on the inside, you know?
Something about the blood mages bodynguage subtly changed for a split second, and her tearing eyes were reced with that of a hungry wolf. John felt a jolt of panic, bolting out of his seat, but Thana was already gone, leaving only Eliza as she began to cry. Not just because she felt motherly love for the first time, but because she was reminded that inside her was something worse than a monster.
What is the matter? Brenda looked up at him in a confused manner, uncaring about her perfectly clean shirt currently getting stained.
N-nothing, John stumbled over his words at the obvious lie. His reaction had been foolish, despite her hate of humanity, Thana had enough of a mind to prioritize self-preservation. There was no way that the goddess of genocide would attack Brenda, but the prospect still caused John to immediately make ns to triple the original security measures he had nned for the future. He went over to Eliza to hold her hand.
After a few minutes of the blood mage slowly gathering herself back up again, Brenda suggested, I have some cake lying around. I wanted to keep it forter, but you look like you could use a slice now.
Eliza sniffed and John was pretty proud of her at that moment. Afraid originally that she would have had a panic episode and ran out of the house to hide herself in the yacht and wallow in the misery of her memories and the burden she hadnt asked for, hearing her say the words, Thatd be the fucking best, even through hesitation and a choked breath, was a great sign of the progress they had made together.
Brenda ruffled Elizas already messy hair. Be right back, she promised.
Chapter 497 – And you get a Cuzzi!
Chapter 497 C And you get a Cuzzi!
Thank you, Miss Newman, Eliza said, once she had finished the cake. It had been a thick slice of the dark chocte cream variety, with a strawberry on top. Although a bit quivering in their execution, the blood mage had kept her table manners for once.
The addressed woman rolled her eyes in amusement. I insist that you call me Brenda, she stated, gently wrestling the fork from Elizas still tense hand. Forcing herself to rx, the little bundle of character defects let it happen. I am not that old yet, Brenda added.
I am really fucking sorry, the blood mage, lowered her head. I didnt want to make a scene, I was just nervous and shit and then I remembered some assholes faces Id rather not and
Ahhh, shuddit ya adorable little mess, Rave went ahead and grabbed Eliza by the shoulders, standing behind her chair. Then the techno lover began shaking her like a ragdoll. Were used to your scenes.
Metra nodded with crossed arms. Knowing a bit of your story, I have seen people broken worse by less. You should take pride in only breaking into tears.
Dont bottle up the trauma, Lydia kept it short.
Brenda put the fork on the empty te and took it off the table. John, can you help me in the kitchen? she asked sweetly but with an undertone that didnt allow for any backtalk. Even if John had any, his mother was already heading out.
Taking a short look over his shoulder to Eliza sniffing onest time and giving him a nod, the Gamer followed after Brenda. If she had any rebounds of that episode, John felt that the girls could handle it.
Sorry for that, he said once they were in the kitchen, arge room with light furniture and dark surfaces. It could quickly be described as a U shaped corridor around a central work isle, upon which an array of prepared foods was currently loaded.
Obviously, his mother didnt need any actual help in the kitchen. All she had to do was load that one te into the dishwasher, so what she wanted to do was talk to him on his lonesome. Sweetie, dont be sorry about that, she said, straightening her back after pulling the front of the dishwasher back up. I am so proud of you.
That came unexpected, given the situation, You are?
When you said you hadnded big money, I thought that this whole harem business suddenly made a lot more sense, his mother admitted, continuing withments that made him cringe for his past self. Back when I left you in Springfield, I was already disbelieving that my little boy could insist on living on his own. All you ever did was watch porn and y videogames. You never struck me as the popr type in school either, given that you never brought friends over.
I really wasnt John wanted to change the topic as quickly as possible. Having never told his mother about the bullying he had gone through, he didnt intend to suddenlye out about it now that he had the power and wisdom to deal with it himself.
Yeah, you really werent, Brenda agreed with her own point, to underline how unlikely she found all that. She opened the fridge and pulled out a jug of orange juice. Some things just never changed. Which is why I already found it odd you managed to suddenly score a girlfriend as cute and nice as Jane. Still, I was sceptical when I heard you managed to get another dozen girls around to your side in such a short amount of time. She poured both of them a ss, John took his and began sipping. The money was a pretty good exnation.
She took an awkward pause, probably struggling to put things into nice terms. One for the straight message, John helped her out, You were afraid that, aside from Jane, I would have a bunch of cheap girls with me that I only care about because they look good and they only about me because I could buy them some bling, is that it?
He wasnt offended by this; if he were his mother in that situation, he probably would havee to a simr conclusion. Lots of guys would drown themselves in meaningless sex if given the money. If he hadnt found Rave as quickly as he did, followed by being stuck in a pinball machine of misery and promises for a few months, chances were he would have taken to a life filled with grinding and frequenting whatever whores tickled his fancy. Springfields red-light district, the Ruby Road, would have surely given him some choice in that regard. The route he had taken, filled with sex with a regr cast of girls that fancied him just as much as he did them, seemed ultimately the better one though.
Yes, Brenda nodded, thankful that her son wasnt giving her a hard time with this. So, seeing you care about that Eliza girl even when she suddenly breaks into tears makes me proud. If you cared nothing for her, you would have just told her to leave. She motherly pinched his face, I raised a good little sweetheart.
Mom, please, John chuckled and forced her arm aside, I love them, even if they all have their ws, small and big.
She nodded, lowering her hand and resting it on the edge of the counter she was leaning against. I hope they feel the same for you. There are some terrible, money-grabbing whores out there. Wouldnt want one of them to break your heart.
You dont have to worry about that, John assured her, finishing his orange juice. They headed back into the living room.
At that point, Elizas outburst was only visible anymore by the slight red surrounding her brown eyes. So, where are the other girls? Brenda asked once they sat down again. I was promised six or seven, I only see four.
Two of them wille here soon, John promised, the seventh felt like her business was more important, so she refused toe.
One of those girls, huh? Ah well, variety is the spice of life, so they say, Brenda waited for a second and then asked the real question. Who of you is willing to grant me grandkids?
Elizas arm shot into the air like a catapult, except that she was flinging her hopes and dreams rather than a stone. Here, fucking me, I want to be the breeding sow for the Newman dynasty!
Just that there is no dynasty, Metra grumbled under her breath, ament that went unheard in the grand scheme of things.
Brenda looked at anyone else keeping their hands down, only Rave had hers raised halfway up, palm wiggling in an undecided motion. Ask again in a few years, Bren, the Lightbearer said.
Other mothers would have probably wanted their son to wait a few years, or at least get into wedlock, but Brenda Newman was both swinging together with her husband and had her son at the ripe age of 19. Her standards were slightly different from the norm. So, when are you knocking her up, John?
Yeah, when the fuck are you knocking me up, John?! Eliza was taking full advantage of having the authority of Brenda behind her.
Mom, John massaged his temples at the sudden assault on his ns, I am young and you just saw that Eliza isnt the most stable of people.
One more reason to be a mother, if anything! Brenda stated. Nothing gets you fixed faster than having someone you can love and care for yourself. John let out an exasperated sigh.
Listen to your mother, you son of a whore! Eliza mmed her hand on the table, then realized what she had just said and turned to Brenda, Fuck, sorry, I mean.
Its fine, its fine, mother Newman chuckled, waving off. We are on the same team here, let your bloomynguage run free.
Johns sighs intensified as he was battered with a number ofments for several minutes, all aiming at tearing down his resistances. It was a rather unorthodox y on the good cop, bad cop routine as his mother kept using reason and niceness while Eliza cussed him out and demanded her fallopian tubes be undusted. Eventually, a thoughtlessment slipped past his lips, Should have just kept the first one.
There was an abortion? Brenda sounded anything but approving. Being a liberal didnt stop her from finding the practice questionable at best.
No, no fucking abortion, got rid of it less than twenty-four hours after insemination, Eliza stated, her extensive knowledge about reproductioning in handy in this situation. It doesnt count before the egg sessfully nests in the womb. Unless you want to count the morning after pill as abortion.
Brenda blinked multiple times, How did you know you were pregnant at that point? You sounded really sure of it a second ago.
Shit, John thought; he could save this but there was no real medical exnation to Eliza being able to scan her own womanhood for the status of her fertilization. Just intuition, he presented a pretty terrible lie.
I just knew I was super fucking preggos, Eliza agreed hastily, realizing herself that they were in mundane territory.
Brenda looked from one of them to the other, in obvious wait of a better exnation. When nothing came for several moments, she took a long inhale and let the air out in a disapproving way. The fact that she wasnt being told everything was not flying over her head, but she dropped the topic. Well then, I demand grandkids sooner rather thanter. Itd be funny if you had a kid while you get a sibling.
Have I missed any news? John asked a simr question as his parents had at the entrance. The answer was just simr.
Oh no, we arent trying right now. If we do, wed have to make sure it was from him, Brenda omitted the problem there, being that going off birth-control while fucking with an array of other guys reduced the chances of getting a second child from her husband tremendously. Maybe next year, we are thinking about it.
I, for one, fucking love the idea, Eliza chimed back in, but the topic went nowhere after that.
It wasnt until a few minutester that John looked at his clock and went, Alright, we should check out the backyard.
His mother looked understandably confused, I thought this was my house?
Well, it is, but I have a surprise, he said, rising up and asking for his mother to guide the way through a bowing gesture. Still confounded, she did and everyone followed, already knowing what would happen next. See, I had a deal with a few people and I just needed to distract you for a bit.
A deal? This isnt some hidden camera prank, right? Brenda was getting more suspicious by the second; opening the ss door that connected the back of the entrance hallway to their yard, she took the lead when stepping outside.
It was a rather nice backyard, big, but not huge, just like the house. An odd-shaped pool filled the middle of it, looking like someone had taken two bubbles and captured them in the middle of melding together. Currently, a ne was spanned across it to keep the wind from blowing stuff into it. Aside from that, the yard was mostly defined by the furniture under the veranda and trimmed hedges. It seemed Johns mother had rtively recently begun taking an interest in gardening.
Brenda took a look around and finally spied the surprise when looking to her left. How I mean when? she asked when looking at therge, white monstrosity of a bathtub. There was enough room for ten people to set in the bubble embrace, there was even a fixed piece of stic in the middle that could be used as a table.
Told you I would bring a jacuzzi, John smirked.
She looked generally pleased, but his mother was still looking highly confused as to how this had just happened. Before she could ask and force her son to give a long-winded answer, one he was quite proud of in its ingenuity, the doorbell rang and rained on Johns parade. His perfectposition fell apart.
I thought you were still on the way? he mentally reached out to Aclysia.
We are, the weaponized maid confirmed. ETA, 20 more minutes.
Then who was ringing? Well, his mother was heading hastily for the front door to find out, and he, with his moment of glory ruined, followed slowly in her footsteps. A familiar voice reached his ears long before he was able to see the person in the doorway. I wasnt aware yourst name was Newman, Brenda, the voice was noble, controlled and swung with both charisma and a hint of arrogance. The familiarity with which he spoke let little doubt over this being the man Brenda had invited.
Is that important? John heard his mother ask as he sped up his footsteps.
Oh no, I just know a person with the samest name, he is a, Maximillian looked up from Brendas magnificent cleavage and right into Johns eyes, the rest of his words trailing on as if he was seeing a ghost, buddy of mine...
John cracked his knuckles.
Chapter 498 – Deep Breaths
Chapter 498 C Deep Breaths
When and why? John wanted to know, his growl anything but that of friends that met recently.
His mother jumped into there, giving her son a scolding nce, John Newman, you will behave when addressing my guest. She gestured for Maximillian toe inside, the gravity king stepping in without any further hesitation. Having recovered from the initial shock, it seemed like he knew very well that the situation was to his advantage today. So, I hear you two are friends?
Something like that, Maximillian nodded. And about three weeks ago in a bar, because she is my type. If I had known she was your mother he looked over to Brenda, I still would have done it.
Johns left eye twitched dangerously as he heard his mother giggle girlishly and guide the royal inside. Take a minute to calm down, she told her son, well be in the living room.
John didnt need a minute, he needed an aspirin. Of all the possible guys in the whole damn nation, it had to be the one he knew. What were the odds of that? Now, he could do effectively nothing about this. Yes, sure, he could have forced his will on Maximillian, kicking him out of the house and out of her life, but in doing so he would have gone against the wishes of both his mother and someone he did call a friend after all.
I am going to punch him in the face for this, the Gamer made a bargain with himself and then went into the living room. The best way to handle this situation was to suck it up and listen to the sound of silence whenever the two of them did anything remotely resembling a flirt. He hade knowing full well that he would meet SOME lover of his mother, now it was just about three times more awkward.
A true coincidence that I meet all of you here, he heard Maximillian say as he entered the living room. The gravity mage, predictably, took the seat as far removed from Eliza as possible. Especially you, Lydia, didnt know you were in America. Probably my fault for not checking the news.
My, my, you all seem interconnected, Brenda was sitting closer to Maximillian than was normal for a host, but the guys purpose in being here was literally to screw her brains out repeatedly over the next week. More than ever, John hoped that the walls were really, really thick. How do you know each other?
Lydia answered quickly and without hesitation, We went to the same university. He and John know each other through me. Yet another lie they had to tell her. It was much more believable than he was my enemy in a tournament over the crown of Germany, but that didnt make John feel any better about any of this.
Thesest few minutes were a real tumble of emotions.
Luckily, it seemed that this was about as bad as it got, as the rest of the talk went about pretty calmly, talking about easy topics and exchanging harmless stories of their lives. Aclysia and Beatrice eventually joined them. The two maids appeared with ck hair for a change, wearing in grey t-shirts and yoga pants.
John was hit by a couple of jokes about twins in his harem by his mother, alongside with some light jabs by Maximillian about the addition of Beatrice to his list of creations, veiled in obscure puns. It was about three in the afternoon when Brenda finally broke the chatter. Ah, I need to prepare dinner soon, she said.
Oh no, sorry, we will eat out, John informed her, gesturing at Aclysia and Beatrice, they are Jewish, so we made some appointments in restaurants. The disappointed look of his mother was something he had not expected. Dont worry, welle back for the promised cake afterwards, he promised.
Yet another lie, one aimed at keeping the unpleasantry of eating real food away from the artificial spirits. They could do it, but the biological material needed to be removed fairly quickly, lest it began to rot inside their bodies. John was assured that this was a highly unpleasant process and he could imagine.
Jewish twins, that has to be a rarity in some way, Brenda joked, touching Maximillian a slight bit with every movement. Her chair had wandered closer to his a slight bit more at any opportunity, at this point they were basically shoulder to shoulder. Well, let me show you the guest rooms before you go then.
She guided them up a narrow flight of stairs. The second storey held all three guest rooms, with one shared kitchen and bathroom. As Brenda had initially let him know, the room he and his girls were to stay in was rather small, basically just a two-person bed with a nightstand on each side and a wardrobe against one wall. For a change, it was an actual two-person bed, not something designed for a royal pair to sleep in and have enough room to fit half a battalion inside. Which made the situation pretty problematic.
This isnt really going to work, John slowly suggested. On one hand, that saddened him a bit. Part of him had looked strangely forwards to sleeping over at his parents ce. On the other, this did give him a pretty good excuse to put several kilometres between his bed and wherever his parents would have a devils threesome with Maximilian. Something that, going by the royalsments, was doubtlessly going to happen.
I could stay in your bedroom, Brenda, I am sure Ben wouldnt mind, the fact that Maximillian was on nickname basis with his father caused Johns annoyance to re up again quite a bit.
Ah, some nights my husband and I do prefer to be alone or pick and choose who we invite that night, Brenda softly blocked that advance, blushing slightly. It was pretty apparent that her Libido, in all its 36-pointed glory, was revving up for an afternoon snack. Her mind went to the same ce as Johns; even if she didnt mind her son knowing about sex life, she wasnt quite liberal enough about it for him to be around for it. Well, perhaps you should look for a hotel, sweetie. I am sure you could use the extra room.
Yeah, John agreed; the group only leaving their swimwear behind to be wornter in the week. The rest of their luggage stayed in the trolleys and was to be taken with them. As they went towards the front door, the Gamer had only one more small question, Oh, where is that Hex girl by the way?
In reality, he already knew the answer. Since he was here, protecting his mother of most anything that could happen, the hired gun was looking over his father at work. Simple and effective. Still, he had to y the role of the unknowing son.
Ah, that is good question, normally shed be around by now Brenda sighed lustfully, which was Johns signal to leave in a hurry.
_______________________________________________________________________
Naturally, they werent going to actually stay in a hotel. Even if John was willing to put money down for that frivolity, he couldnt imagine any of them having a better bed than the absurdly sized one he got, not to mention the sex room and a chef at Aclysias level.
Ya took that surprisingly well, tiger, Rave said, holding his hand and smiling.
As little as I like it, there is just no use grumbling about it, John put it short. Cant do anything about either them having sex or the fact that I have to lie to her and my dad. He looked over to the assembled girls as if to prove him wrong.
Surprisingly, Lydia did raise her voice, Mundane people can be initiated into the Abyss, John, she let him know. In the urging silence, she continued on, Innate Ability holders aside, even those who have no natural gift in the supernatural can be awoken to it. A martial artist that practices the right way or a religious fellow that prays enough may awaken to either of the two disciplines of the Abyss. Then they are technically part of it. Once they can light a candle, you can show them the inferno.
Huh, John let out an understanding sound. Alright, so it is possible if I can somehow get my parents to be awesome martial artists or get them into paganism.
Taijiquan, Lydia told him, if guided by a proper martial artist, she gestured towards Rave, it is one of the more reliable ways to awaken to ones ki-centre. She gave him a long stare. But you will exchange the absolute protection of Gaia for the satisfaction of being able to tell your parents the truth. Are you certain that is the path forwards?
The Gamer shook his head, No, I am not. I will have to think about that some more. Both ways had drawbacks and advantages. His wants were also conflicting with the fact that he would shove them into a world of darkness and dangers. Currently, they were living in blissful ignorance about an Abyss that didnt concern them in the first ce. Selfishness was not a good reason to tear down that veil.
He would take at least a few days toe to a decision on that. Well, aside from my family worries, surprised you didnt have more to say to Max, John shifted the topic slightly.
I have a myriad of things to say, Lydia would have crossed her arms if she didnt have to drag her trolley. Having to transport their luggage like normal people was a true nuisance. However, all of them involve unexinable topics, like a steampunk giant and hovering monorails.
I really want to visit Vienna right about now, John had to admit.
She is turning it into a technologic wondend to the tune of billions and billions of dors, Lydia agreed. Basically, Ria is melting away whatever savings Maximillian created.
I find it really fucking hard to believe that pompous ass ever saved any money, Eliza cussed. Lets talk about someone I dont want to violently rip apart.
It was at that moment that they entered the harbour barrier. The cleaning process had made massive progress, only a few sprinkles of blood remaining on some hard to reach ces. Over arge fire sat a massive pot that spread the pleasant aroma of cooking seafood. The workers were sitting around there, taking a break. Raising their hands and waving towards Aclysia with thankful shouts on their lips, it was pretty clear that Johns intention to get on the peoples good side had been sessful.
Chemilia was nowhere to be seen, however. After having made sure everything was running smoothly, she must have retreated elsewhere. As much as John was into the taste of the eel, he had filled up on them over breakfast and could go for something else right about now. Something a bit more solid and sweet.
I suggest pancakes, Aclysia stated, reading his thoughts, as they walked up the yachts outstretched walkway. Sugar has been low in the recent diet.
Mhm, I do like the sound of that.
I fucking LOVE the sound of that, Eliza added.
The rest of the group also agreed, so pancakes it would be. Please leave your luggage here, Aclysia gestured at an empty spot in the entrance hall, I will attend to it as soon as possible.
Most of them did, only Lydia insisted on taking care of her own stuff, and the maid duo went to the kitchen. They were still working on creating the necessary mountain of pancakes when the queen returned to the cantina. We should create a list of locations we want to traverse during our stay here, she suggested. This is the first time I am in Washington DC myself, I would like to see some stuff during the visit. The queen looked down to Johns pants. But it seems your attention lies elsewhere right now.
The genes of Brenda Newman were strong in her son and so it was to nobodys surprise that, now that he was sitting in his own halls again, John had a massive erection. Having grown past the belt, a fair bit of his cock was peeking out from his trousers. Yup, the Gamer agreed, getting a text message at that moment.
Scarlett: Yo, if you are horny, I am hanging out in the sex room right now.
Scarlett: You have some really great stuff I want to try being tied on.
Well, whoever wants to help me take care of this, John stood up, e with me."
Chapter 499 – Subby Differences [Erotic Content]
Chapter 499 C Subby Differences [Erotic Content]
Only Eliza and Rave immediately followed the call to action and John into the aptly called sex room, where Scarlett was already awaiting them. Now the position she chose for that endeavour was one the Gamer approved of immensely. On all fours, cowered down, forehead resting on the back of her fingers, ass up. While just the beginners idea of what a sub was supposed to do, it was a crawl in the right direction.
Hey, Master, she greeted him in a mixture of nonchnce and erotic teasing, didnt expect you to be back already. I made myself familiar with your toys. Her voice echoed directly off the floor as her pose remained stagnant.
Did you now? John asked quickly dispensing with his clothes. He looked around, several of his ever-growing collection of sexual torture devices showed signs of use. None of them seemed to have been used for an extensive period though, giving John the impression that Scarlett had gone from one to the next. Seems like they didnt satisfy you.
You ruined me a bit, you dominating dick, now I know how hard I can get off with you around, masturbation is barely cutting it anymore, the Technomancer said, John stepping on her head and grinding the heel against her hair for a bit. Forgive me for my insolent tone Master.
No, he stated, getting into his role andying out what he wanted to do today. The only way you can be forgiven is through your body.
Abuse me however you want then, Scarlett begged, her voice half a moan.
Taking his foot off her head, John turned to Eliza. His favourite little sub reflexively opened her mouth wide, drooling quite heavily, when seeing her masters cock. Aside from that, she remained still. Unlike Scarlett, the blood mage saw it as her role to not even raise a single tone or move a single limb if not asked. A bedroom behaviour that she had been trained into extensively.
Strip, Johnmanded her with a single word. As Rave was already through that process, the fellow dom not waiting for such orders, Eliza was thest person in the room to remain clothed.
Yes, Master, she answered in just the right sheepish tone, making it sound like she still had her will butpletely subordinated it to his. It made Johns cock pulsate with delight, a fat drop of precum oozing from the tip. As he watched Eliza strip, his girlfriend squatted in front of him, beginning to suck his massive member. Dom or not, both of the harem leaders liked going down on their significant other.
Beginning by grabbing the lower edge of her ck t-shirt, Eliza followed her orders. It smoothly wandered over her head and then was folded neatly and put down at the side. During these masochistic moments must have been the only time that the blood mage gave a shit about being orderly.
ckce underwear cupped her breasts, the hook at the front. She raised her arms to undo it, but John intervened. Leave the underwear on, he instructed over the sound of Rave gagging on his cock. She had it almostpletely down her throat, her fingers rubbing her wet cunt between the widespread legs. Her bubble butt was resting on her heels, her whole body bnced on the tip of her feet. To help her, but mostly to increase his sense of control, John ran a hand through the hair at the back of her head.
As you wish, Master, Eliza agreed yet again, her illusionary white skin flushing deeply as the lust began to heat her up from inside. In alignment with Johns preferences, she turned on the spot before working on her pants. The immensely tight piece of ck leather stretched over the twin hills of her ass with an eroticism few other materials could reach.
Once the front zipper was opened, Eliza began to push the piece down. Only slowly did it slide over the butt that it so tightly hugged, revealing inch for inch of spotless, smooth skin. Then it was past the point of no return and suddenly revealed the delicious bounciness. Matchingce panties protected herher region from view, although a dark spot left no doubt where her pussy was.
If he hadnt been immobilized by Raves blowjob, John would have pped her ass about five times during that disy. A simr phenomenon repeated itself as the pants needed to get past the thickness of her thighs, looking outstandingly soft on her so lithe frame. Her pants then joined the t-shirt, forming a neatly folded stack.
That left the currently ck-haired girl in nothing but her underwear and the choker. Surprisingly, she didnt touch that. Come here, John told her, waving her closer with his unupied right. She took the two steps with a lowered head, a posture her master corrected once she was close enough. Grabbing her by the chin, he slowly exposed her neck. We dont need this here, he decided, pulling on the knot he had made this morning. The loop became undone easily, leaving the choker itself a loose piece that John removed easily thereafter.
Immediately, the illusion fell of Eliza, leaving her skin with a blueish hue, her hair white and then azure blue from the neck downwards. John put his hand on her chin again, raising her gaze until she looked directly into his eyes. The fractured purple of her iris, like shattered ss, sparkled with uncertain feelings, the dots in her eyes slowly spinning, even the two of them that had turned into lines and were crossing the second ring closer to her pupil.
We dont need this here, he repeated, his smile reflecting in these fascinating eyes. You are the most beautiful when I can see YOUR eyes, Eliza. He added as much weight to thesest words as he could before leaning in and underlining them with a kiss. The flush of her skin intensified as love overwhelmed lust. For a moment, she broke her intercourse rules, grabbed Johns upper arm in a possessive gesture, as if to prolong the kiss. He would have stayed as long as she needed anyway. Now, his voice was a deep and husky whisper in the slutty subs ear, once that condition was cleared, go get you and Scarlett a fitting outfit.
Yes, Master, Eliza obeyed, leaving with a moan and a quickly vanishing red imprint of Johns hand on her ass. Nothing better than a quick p to send her off.
Now, Jane. Upon the mention of her name, his girlfriend began to slowly slide off his cock. Her tongue rolled over each sensitive spot it could reach on the way. Only the months of training and desperate want to stay in the role kept John from groaning. Wanna check how naughty Scarlett has been while we were gone?
The question was apanied with the sound of the vacuum around his dick releasing and Rave taking a deep breath in. Licking the remaining precum of her lips, she answered, Sure thing, tiger. Her tone of want and the couple of drops from her pussy as she rose were beautiful to behold.
The duo of doms walked over to the continuously prostrated Scarlett, who had been waiting silently. Is it my turn now? she asked, a hint of impatience swinging in her voice. The leaders of this harem exchanged a nce, this one would need some disciplining after all.
You could say that, John grunted going down on his knees. Pulling her head up by roughly pulling at her hair, the Gamer growled disapprovingly when he pushed his cock against a closed mouth. Always keep your fuckholes open! he almost shouted and the redhead obeyed hastily. You are nothing but a couple of holes for my cock, he continued, sliding inside sessfully at the second attempt.
Taking hold of her neck, John could feel his dick force its way through her throat and the bulge that invasion caused under his palms. Mercilessly, he fucked her face. At the beginning her red eyes had a shocked lustre, the sudden impact still unknown to herrgely untrained throat, then she entered an equilibrium-esque state from John allowing her just enough air between hammerings that she felt secure but not nearly enough to think properly or get over the asphyxiated height of pleasure and pain.
Oy, how am I supposed to make a proper measurement when ya falsify all the data? Raveined, having positioned herself behind Scarlett and kneading her ass like a mass of delicious dough. Now she is just gushing all over the ce.
The vibrations around Johns cock intensified when his girlfriend ran her fingers through the swollen lower lips of the redhead. From the little gap between pussy and anus, over the wetbia, down to the neatly trimmed, triangr shaped bit of hair Scarlett kept and back. Once, twice, then at the third time Rave stopped and quickly circled her fingers on the sensitiveher regions.
Such a wet slut, Rave purred opening her mouth wide to suck the juices from her fingers. Tell me when, tiger, her hand returned to the slit and the slender ends curved inside, parting the tight folds with some resistance. Using her amassed experience, the Lightbearer was able to pretty urately read how close her current victim was to their climax.
Every time Scarletts body began to shiver in anticipation, Rave stopped and John took it extra slow. There were girls in his harem that had managed to cum just from being facefucked alone at several asions. Although it didnt look like the Technomancer was that well groomed yet, he wasnt about to thwart his girlfriends ns.
Rave caught the redheads hand travelling up to her desperately trembling pussy and twisted it on her back, holding it there in an ufortable but not painful angle. No cheating, she spoke directly into Scarletts ear, and ya better not swallow, I wanna taste my boyfriend on your lips.
Fuck, John groaned; that line caused a spike in his pleasure to rush through him like heat after taking a shot of strong alcohol. I am so close, Jane, he picked up the pace, sliding in and out of Scarletts messy face as quickly as his hips allowed him to. Saliva, precum, phlegm and tears were causing the deepthroating mixture of an erotically tortured expression.
Losing no time, Rave went back behind Scarlett and buried her face against the sex of the redhead. The distorted melody of a slurping appliance of her nimble tonguebined with the squelching sounds and muffled moans of the facefucking made for an erotic cacophony ying recklessly towards the finale.
I am John took onest, strained breath in before letting go, cumming! His first spurt was lost in the depths of Scarletts throat, as he was balls deep inside her. The second quickly followed the same fate as he pulled back and the added friction caused his oversensitive cock to tense. After that, the rest of his orgasm sessfullynded inside her eagerly waiting mouth. Only the tip was inside her hollowed cheeks. Eyes closed, she was concentrating on sucking all the seed he had from his shaft. Heavy, irregr and high-pitched gasps thrashed her body as Rave ate her out throughout her entire orgasm.
With a wet pop his engorged cocks head came free, the signal his girlfriend took to move away from her position. Pink lips closed hastily and John felt her throat tense and then rx under his hands, an audible sound ringing out that both he and Rave picked up immediately.
Ya did not the Lightbearer had a grave tone to her voice as she confronted the smirking Scarlett. With minimal resistance, Rave pried open the redheads lips with her tongue. In desperate search, the long muscle explored the not-so-submissives mouth. When she parted, a slimy strand of the sexual mixture connected them still until Rave spoke up again, This bitch swallowed, John!
What are you going to do about it, huh? Scarlett asked like a gang leader. The answer came in the shape of Rave folding the Technomancers body like an origami expert did paper. With her much superior physical strength, this was an easy task.
Her arms and legs were stuck underneath her backwards bent body, unable to escape to the side thanks to Rave straddling over her face. Thats what I am going to do about it, Scarly, she retorted and dropped her hips on the unruly subs face. Gonna rein ya in. Despite Scarlettsck of the proper attitude, her position in the whole engagement hadnt changed a bit. Immediately, she startedpping up Raves lovejuices. All insubordination was forgotten.
She is still getting used to this whole submissive thing, John thought. To him, it appeared the redhead was trying different modus operandi. From the purely subservient to the challenging attitude, Scarlett was testing what worked best for herself. That was all fine with John and, at least from what he could gather from her high-pitched moans, Rave. Dominating someone who decided to put up a fight was its own brand of fun.
Her first time had simply awoken her rather immense enjoyment from being dominated. The how remained to be seen. There was more to being a masochist than being used like a fucktoy. Although that was the favourite way of the now returning Eliza to be handled.
I do fucking hope you like this sluts choice, my master, her soft and coaxing tone didnt match her cussing choice of words. John had little care for that, he just turned around. His cock went from iron to steel.
Her tasty, lithe body was hidden underneath a maid outfit. A new one that John had bought, as part of a set, as the one they had became a bit stale, not to mention he wanted to see more than one girl cosying as a maid at a time. It was of the stripper variety, very short sleeves and a frilly, velvet skirt so short it showed off the lower end of her ass while she was standing. Beneath that, straps connected garter belts hidden underneath to the softly squishing stockings that smoothly covered her from the middle of the thighs downwards. Her waist was covered with a corset, while the chest had a separate, stic piece covering it, making it simultaneously easy to pull down but also having it hug tightly to her tits.
Unlike most maid outfits, it had a ck and light blue colour scheme, matched to the azure length of Elizas hair. The set he had bought had been for the numerous secondary colours, as all of the outfits were enchanted to fit their wearer as if tailored exclusively to their body. Specifically, the chest covering, the area under the corset, a decorative, apron-esque piece at the front of the skirt, and the inner frills of the skirt were made from that differently coloured cloth. Everything else was the silky, French-maid ck.
John hungrily licked his lips at the sight, shortly ncing at the red-themed outfit she was carrying with her to undoubtedly give to Scarlett. Lift your skirt, he demanded. With her unupied hand, she followed. The previously damp part of her panties was now soaked, the pussy juices having smeared to the surrounding area of her inner thighs, transforming the sexily thick things into a glistening, mouth-watering sight.
The sexy piece of ckce was only improved through partnering with the garterbelt and the straps running over it. Taking them off at that point would have been a pain, so he would need to tear themter. Or just leave them on, he thought, remembering that he absolutely had tools in here that could unfold their sexual purpose through clothes. One of which he had rtively recently acquired and was still to use outside of testing.
Gimme a-aaah- sec. Rave moaned when her boyfriend took the maid outfit from Eliza. Just gotta gotta she repeated the word in a blissfully high-pitched tone. The muscles in her thighs became visible when they suddenly clenched, pressed down on the folded Scarletts head and her fingers wed into the red mane. cuuuuuum, she raised her voice. Not quite a shout, it was still the only source of sound in the dimly, candle-lit sex room. Whew needed that, the techno lover rose from Scarletts face, who immediately inhaled deeply, only to be pped across the face lightly. Did you learn your lesson?
Yes, Mistress, Scarlett gasped, a smirk on her lips. Doubtlessly she would step over the line a bitter again, just to provoke some greater punishments.
Rave looked very eager to provide, but she first went ahead and looked over to her boyfriend for ideas. Waving with the red maid outfit, he said, This is going to take some preparation.
Scarletts body seemed to be made for cosys on asions like this. Androgyny was just a nice trait to have when getting into outfits,bined with her habit of carrying herself with confidence it gave her an aura of a bossy head-maid. One that had been very bad.
You havent obeyed your mistress, Scarlett, John jumped straight into a little roley.
I am sorry, the redhead bowed her head in a serving manner, but your cum just tasted so good.
Is that all? he mused, circling around her and fondling her ass under her skirt. Seems to me like you just wanted a proper spanking. A p followed soon after, Scarlett moaned as her ass begun to take the colour of her hair. It was certainly satisfying to see his actions leave somesting marks on a body.
Yes, I am sorry, I wanted the punishment. I want you to fucking spank me and vite me, Master, Scarlett wiggled her ass seductively, raising her skirt topletely reveal her still bare pussy. Wherever her underwear was, they hadnt bothered to put it back on.
Despite that disy, John only raised his hand the second time to shake his hand and let it drop. Why do I only get naughty maids?
Could be because ya only hire naughty maids ya can fuck, tiger, Raveughed as she returned from one of the many closets housing fetish-wear. With her she carried numerous items, too many to keep them in her handsfortably, so she ced them on a nearby leather chair. Naughty girls are all wee in our household, but naughty sub sluts that swallow what their mistress demands are a no-no. She wiggled her index finger at Scarlett.
Spanking isnt good enough, John nodded. Well need a bit more to show Scarlett her ce. He cupped the offending redheads face in his hand, squishing her lips together. Plus, its not a punishment if you only enjoy it, he whispered menacingly. By the end of this, you are going to beg to follow orders.
The light in Scarletts eyes made it clear that she was looking forward to the realization of that threat, exactly how it was supposed to be.
Chapter 500 – A dom’s dreamworld [Erotic Content]
Chapter 500 C A doms dreamworld [Erotic Content]
Both of you, stand against that wall, ass out, Johnmanded, and they followed moments thereafter. Arms behind your backs, he detailed further, their spines curving as they had to ry on their chests for stability. While Rave fetched the device, John wrapped the goods.
Blindfolds and mufflers covered their eyes and ears, extra thick in the case of Eliza as her sense of hearing was frankly stupid. Johns favourite gag held their mouths open with a metal ring, justrge enough for his cock to fit through. Meanwhile, he used tight leather sleeves to bind their arms together. Their sole purpose was that extremely niche thing, fetish gear was something great.
These look good? Rave asked,ing to John with a pair of rubber objects. One was pretty t, an elongated, bump in the middle, slowly rising towards one end. The other was, easily put, a dildo on a t rubber surface. It was almost as long as Johns cock. Both of them had an oddly shaped depression at the underside, needed to fixate them to the machine they belonged to. Was the biggest I could find.
Thats going to be quite nasty, but she asked for it, Johnmented, and they went to the inconspicuous looking tool they were going to use. It was a simple ck thing, looking like a cylinder-shaped cushion that had been sliced in half to all forfortable kneeling. A protrusion at the peek was where the two pieces Rave held were to be ced.
John grabbed the remote that magically stuck to the t side and pushed a button once. The buzz of quick vibrations echoed from the Sybian in response. He put it out a momentter and then fidgeted with the controls in search for the correct input. Being the one that he had gotten from the slime dungeons secret room, this little baby had a bit more functionality than just being able to vibrate. Lets see he tried to remember how one of the tricks worked. There were a bunch of buttons on the remote and there was no guidebook for it.
He pressed a couple and the thing suddenly betrayed its leather look by behaving like a liquid, changing its shape into a U. Not it, Ravemented the obvious, repeating it when John pushed another button, causing a second vibrating area to appear where the sitting persons ass would be. It went through a couple of other shapes and his girlfriend continued to let him know,ughing as they went.
I can see that, John finally retorted in good fun and then remembered the correct input order. The magical Sybian assumed a simple, longer version of its base form, a second vibrating area appearing on the opposite end. John pushed the green button and theyout of the remote also changed, now with different inputs for either side.
Rave ced the attachments where they belonged. One of them was the basic one, its soft curvature stimting along the entire length of the pussy up to the clit. As the Sybian was based entirely on vibrations, it could bring about orgasms through clothing just fine. That was the end for Eliza. The one for Scarlett would do the same, but it would also deeply prate her. Without a doubt, there was a great show ahead. For easiness sake, they spread some lube on the dildo. Scarlett looked wet enough as she was, but there was no need to make it ufortable.
Together they went to the waiting masochists, each of them roughly grabbing one of them by the bundled arms and pulling them after them. Scarlett almost fell at the sudden ripping motion John exerted over her, but with the Gamers Strength he managed to hold her up with one arm quite easily and dragged her all the way over. By pushing against the backside of their knees, John and Rave managed to make the both of them kneel down.
The fact that both of them were blind, deaf and mute, except for panting grunts, throughout all of this only made it that much better. No orientation, no way to try to use their hand to at least find some way around, no anything. The only thing they could do was to follow the physicalmands their sexual superiors gave them. Rave bit her lip and moaned slightly and John felt the whole thing sent pleasant shivers down his spine. This level of control was deeply satisfying.
Eliza had an easy timending on her spot, as she only had to sit down. Automatically, her hips began to grind against the disabled device. It must have been slowly dawning on her what she was feeling against her crotch there, as she stopped and anticipatingly gasped, as best as her gag allowed her.
At the same time, Scarlett sank down to the base on the dildo. She attempted to ride it once she had seeded in that, but John quickly grabbed her by the throat. Pulling one side of her mufflers away for a moment he growled, Stay C still, into her ears before letting it snap back into ce and releasing her. Such shifty whores, he dismissively stated now that they were both in ce.
We can fix that, Rave suggested, holding up two rolls of ck tape. Ingenious stuff, it only stuck to itself while also being somewhat stic, making it ideal as a fixating material for people during perverted purposes.
Oh my god, I love you, John gasped as he caught the roll that was thrown to him. They began their work of bundling the girls against each other. Their arms and legs were covered under ayer of smooth ck within minutes, the rubber-like tape wrapping tightly around them. Their height difference made it somewhat tricky, but it was manageable. Soon, the two subs were back to back bound on the Sybian. They couldnt even writhe freely.
The perfect moment to turn both sides on at the weakest level. Soft buzzing filled the room as the vibrations kicked in. Expectedly, Scarletts reaction was much more pronounced. The vibrations filled her down to the womb and all that she could do in response was shift her weight a little bit. Both Johnsmand and her forced, very physical connection with Eliza prevented her from moving away.
As the two of them moaned gaspingly, still blissfully unaware that they were only at the beginning of what this toy could muster, John dragged the nearby leather chair into perfect watching position and plopped down. He saw both of them in profile, their body heat radiating from their flushed faces and the naked shoulders. If he wanted to, he could have reached out and touched them in their slowly rising ecstasy. Instead he, instinctively, reached out to his pulsating erection and stroked it.
Nothing was felt, Source of Satisfaction prevented him from pleasuring himself, but his dick was about to explode from the setting alone. He slowly upped the sliders on the remote, one after the other. Not by much, he loved the build-up. Especially since their voices, as best as they could formte in their mouths pried open state, rose in pitch in response.
Scarletts chest rose and fell in quick intervals, then ttened to the sound of rubber stretching and rubbing against leather as she had her first orgasm on the Sybian ride. A girl that had the choice would have gotten off at that point or at least reduced the input as they enjoyed their climax. Neither of these opportunities were given to Scarlett, all she could do was shake her head and breathe desperately. The vibrations kept torturing her. From her clit to the deepest folds of her pussy, they kepting.
Fuck, this is making me so wet, Rave, who had been circling the show like a predator its prey,mented, rubbed her pussy and was biting her lower lip as she stalked. Eyes falling on her boyfriends unupied cock, she saw another person she could torment a bit, as well as a fitting tool to solve her current predicament. Having some problems there, tiger? she purred sweetly as she approached.
On thest step, she twirled around, a perfectly fluid motion that ended with her dancing a bit between his open legs. Big problems, John let her have some fun with him and retracted his hand. Much to his delight, it was immediately reced with her bouncy ass. Precum smeared from the tip of his cock over everything it touched as she grinded the soft meat against his.
Gasping, Ravemented, Mhm-aaah, I can feel that. For a minute, that shaking of her ass was all John could see and feel. He wanted to cum desperately, but his girlfriend decided to edge him instead. Wait until his pent-up desires caused him to plead with need. Clutching the remote in his hand, only his teeth were under more pressure than his knuckles. He refused to beg that easily. You are no fun, sheined, straightening back up and turning around.
In a devilish disy, she took hold of his cock with both hands, her upper arms squishing her petite breasts between them in the process. The shadows of her cleavage became deeper in reaction. Her nipples were as hard as her pussy was wet, the protrusions at the centre bumping out that little bit. Their colour and presentation made the Gamer desire to catch one in his mouth and gently bite it while his lips sucked against the soft meat underneath.
Immediately she begun jerking him, but the off part kept missing. She knew him too well to miss even the best hidden giveaways of his oing orgasm. Come on, John finally grunted in frustration as she stopped one stroke before the point of no return. His cock was visibly pulsating with the need to release. Some precum was even spurted out. His whole body was waiting for thatst bit, but Rave wouldnt give it to him and he himself couldnt.
Ooooh, tiger, Rave moaned, her hands currently away from his cock and travelling his muscr chest instead. Just beg a little bit. Say mistress and beg. I will let you finish in my mouth if you do, her sweetmands ended with her curving towards him and opening her mouth wide. Her pearly white teeth sat in the pinkish red orifice; the smooth insides of her cheeks promised to close around his shaft the moment she sucked him inside.
He had been in her mouth countless times already, he knew exactly how good it felt. A bit of saliva gathered at the tip of her tongue, stretched out beyond the confines of her lips. He could practically feel the flexible muscle rubbing against his sensitive spots already.
Oh, god, you are such a bitch, John growled. Rave didnt care at all about the insult, she knew she had won and he was just salty about it. Please, pleeasseee, Mistress, let me cum, he made it sound as miserable as he could; he knew exactly how this game was yed and wasnt looking for a back and forth.
Good kitty, Rave purred and immediately dropped between his legs. Onest tease was given in the form of a short kiss on the head of Johns cock. Even that bit of stimtion made him gasp for air, it felt like he was about to tear under the pleasure. Rave wrapped her lips around his cock and sucked him in. Then his field of view exploded into colours as his hips rose from the seat in a desperate thrust.
With absurd pressure, his potent seed burst into her mouth. A load that had wanted to be sttered inside a willing girl for way too long finally found its way out and tore down all thoughts in Johns brain in the process. His hips buckled upwards, eyes fluttering in the upper edge of his vision, but only met the resistance of Raves hand as her mouth filled with the cloudy liquid.
His balls tightened and tightened again, just as Rave gulped and gulped down each wave with evident delight. The pink lustre in her eyes was dancing at the magically delicious seed. No matter the amount, it was also a challenge to swallow all of it and one she took dly. Every cat liked its milk, after all, and she was one greedydy.
It was one of the strongest orgasms that he had in recent memory. As much as he despised being edged, the result couldnt be argued with in how ecstatic the final release was. Rave sucked him off as tight as her vacuum-sealed lips allowed her. Their glossy fullness glided over the deeply sensitive nerves of his orgasmic state. With a wet, smacking sound, Rave pulled back from his still sturdy erection. A film of sticky fluids connected them for bit, then she licked her lips clean.
Not used to you being a quick shot, she teased while getting up.
That is such an unfair thing to say in this situation, John grumbled and then got his view of the Sybian blocked by Rave positioning herself in front of him. She lost no further time to pleasure herself; now that her little torture session had ended in a sess, she wanted to get fucked by her well-endowed boyfriend.
Her dripping wet cunt was aligned with his cock within moments and then she slid down. Aaaaah, fuuuuck, she let out an elongated sound of deep pleasure as her pussy parted around his shaft. To her clenching folds, the already girthy cock felt even bigger, filled her outpletely and stretched her even, as it slid past all of her sensitive spots with its engorged head. Shooooo goooooood! she slurred when she had himpletely sheathed inside her.
Quivering, her body tensed and rxed all over. John wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Her back rested against his chest. Pressed against him like that, Raves shoulder was deep enough for John to look over it. As he showered the base of her neck in kisses, he increased the intensity of the Sybian yet again.
Moans that had grown quieter, the girls bing as used to the new intensity as they possibly could, surged with new tormenting ecstasy. Both Eliza and Scarlett pulled at their confining wraps and bandages. They held, however, and so all those movements were was useless writhing. The usually dull-looking material of the magical Sybian had long begun to glisten from the wild amount of pussy juice flowing over it. Combined with his girlfriends climactically gripping pussy wrangling his cock from all sides, John was sent right over the edge yet again.
Cumming inside her quivering quim was like melting in the best way. While sending his seed down her throat had felt better a moment ago, there was a deep and primal satisfaction about painting her womb white. The instincts of breeding called out to him as a man and supplied him with a high that could possibly only be surpassed if his active mind knew that he was actually about to knock her up. As much as his genes urged him to procreate, John waspletely satisfied with this orgasmic high, however.
Quick shshot again? Rave asked, a ragged inhale interrupting her for a moment.
You just came yourself, John retorted.
Girls y by different rules! Cumming easy and often is good.
Still hard, John moved a little bit under her squishy ass. Like I y by normal rules, he grunted, ready to continue as if nothing had happened. I am going to cum again and again inside your tight pussy. The grip around her waist became undone, and she started moving again, gripping the armrests of the chair for extra support. The right of which, John used Possession on, in order to follow the happenings on the Sybian as his girlfriend rode him.
Elizas initially clean maid uniform was dirtied by various fluids at this point. Saliva dropped from her chin and soaked into the blue cloth in front of her breasts. Beads of sweat rolled over her skin, and her skirt, short as it was, absorbed much of the overflow from her constantly stimted pussy. Her ckce panties did little in the way of stopping that development, were they themselves more liquid than cloth at this point.
In orgasmic writhing, her body would try to move away from the unrelenting vibrations that pleased and tormented it so. Her bound thighs could raise only the slightest bit, barely providing relief. Bereft of all senses but touch and smell as the tools wrapped around her head made her, as well as bound to this degree, all the blood mage could do was cum. Again and again, cum, the gaps and brutality of the climaxes dependant on the level of vibrations her master put on. Throaty, desperate moans continuously flew past her pried open lips, the metal ring showing no sign of budging.
Johns enjoyment was interrupted by a draft of wind pulling through the candlelit room. The source was the opening door, through which two figures walked. Maids in their own right, Aclysia and Beatrice, each holding a salver, made their way over to John. The smell of cinnamon covered pancakes and sliced apples mixed into the erotic aroma of the room.
The two Artificial Spirits took their position right and left of John. We followed the situation through your eyes, Master, Aclysia exined, lowering her salver. On it was exactly what the smell had indicated and Johns mouth began to water. He had chosen sex over food, but he was still hungry.
Aclysia suggested we serve you in our own way, Beatrice added, copying exactly the soft tone her elder was using.
Please, let us be of use to you, they spoke in unison. John had absolutely no intention to deny their wish, and so the prepared treats were presented to him in bite-sized pieces. Guided all the way to his mouth, John was experiencing his personal heaven.
Sitting in afortable chair with the woman of his dreams bouncing her perfect ass on his cock, he was being fed by two beautiful maids as he watched two masochists dressed up simrly being tormented in the most ecstatic way. This is the life, he sighed in pleasure, catching a piece of apple between his teeth and presenting it to his girlfriend, rather than eating it himself.
Turning her neck, she barely managed to get it, but soon it was being devoured by Rave. Best, mhm, aaah, yes you fill me up so deeply, tiger, she stopped in most of her movements as yet another orgasm rocked her, her hips still gyrating in small circles throughout it. The the best life, she finally agreed with a gasp.
As the tes had their content devoured, John increased the intensity bit by bit until the slider finally hit the maximum. At that point, the churning of the vibrations sounded like John was standing next to a power generator.
Scarlett was only a strained mess. Her muscles knew only the tensed state. The exception was solely her abdomen, as it rxed for seconds at a time to allow her to breathe desperately. Her skin was flushed deep red all over from the strain. At any given moment, she was screaming her lungs out with ecstasy, the deeply prating vibrations from therge dildo extension causing her pussy to experience hellish bliss.
Only two states were given to her, cumming and cumming harder. Multiple orgasmsyering on top until they unloaded in her sex sttering her love juices, squirting them over the already drenched cushion she was sitting on. The vibration stayed exactly as strong even as she came and so there was no moment of calming down, only a period between squirting that was just as mind-shattering as the rest of the experience.
Eliza was in a simr situation, although her heights of pleasure were further removed from one another. Furthermore, the massive amount of pussy juices from her climaxes had their force massively diminished by the panties between her legs. While this did make for a lesser visual spectacle, it soiled the skirt of her blue maid uniform even further. That made for its own greatness. Her stretched out tongue was long and slightly curved upwards, as if in search of something.
Satisfyingly loaded on food, John decided he could get her something. After a short exchange with his girlfriend, the two of them got up. Almost immediately, the numerous loads John had pumped into her began oozing out. Then she stood in front of Scarlett and ripped the mufflers of her ears, dropping them carelessly into the pool of wetness to her feet.
Since ya were so needful of my boyfriends cum earlier, Rave took two handful of crimson red hair. Here is as much as you need. Scarletts body was pulled forwards as much as her situation allowed. Her lips and the iron ring between them pressed against the pink-haired sadists cunt, the Technomancers tongue pressed inside. Unsatisfactory, judging by Rave spicing the deal. The quicker ya make me cum the quicker I can be convinced of getting ya off this thing.
That evidently worked, Scarlett mustering what little of her conscious mind remained in a desperate burying of her tongue, in search of the taste of honey and Johns cum mixed together and her mistress sensitive spots. Meanwhile, John was gently caressing Elizas head.
He, too, had removed her mufflers. You have been such a good girl, he told her, his cock just close enough for the tip of her tongue to swirl around the head. Such a good, naughty little slut, he continued. I know you want this. Carefully, he thrusted his cock into her mouth, just a bit past the lips, then he pulled back. He could see her disappointment in her whole, quivering mess of a body. Good girls get rewards, he told her, then did as his girlfriend across from him, brutally grabbing her head and mming his girthy dick all the way down to the base into her throat.
It was so sudden that he actually managed to get a gag reflex out of her. Not that it mattered, as he facefucked her relentlessly, her usual body control went back into effect. Only one more time John wanted to cum, then he would allow the submissives to rest. He and Rave exchanged a nce, that was all it took to establish that they were both equally close. Not even a minute after they had changed positions, their hips bucked against their chosen mouths. The prior sex didnt help their general horniness.
John simply closed his eyes and let the sensations wash over him as the vibrating throat milked him of his cum as it pumped into Elizas stomach. It was like her moans were tranting the Sybians power into something more fitting for his cock. He grabbed her hair tighter as his orgasm reached its climax, almost like he was holding taut the reins of a horse.
Oh, fuck, he groaned as he pulled his sensitive cock out. For the first time in a while, it went somewhatid. The cloud of lust in Johns mind dispersed for the slightest bit. Rave also looked satisfied. The majority of this little engagement was over. Both of them began to undo the bindings on the girls. When their legs were free, John put the Sybian out.
Freed, Eliza slumped against him and simply breathed audibly. When the gag was removed from her mouth, the blood mage immediately began talking in her usual, bloomynguage. Her tone was one of deep satisfaction, but yet more hunger as well. Fuck my fucking fucks, that was intense, she managed to press out, removing her blindfold herself. The dots in her eyes rotated in the odd shape of a heart, something that really only happened when she felt really turned on and abused. Her eyes fell on Johns cock. Master, if you are still wishing to punish me, this filthy piece of sin would love to be fucked in the ass by you.
And now I am as hard as a steel rod again, John thought as he looked over to Scarlett. With much help from Rave, the Technomancer was lifted off therge dildo, only to immediately copse down to the side.
I will be good, please, please let me rest, I will be good, she repeated over and over again like a broken toy. Nobody was even touching her anymore, still she was writhing and begging for mercy. I will follow all orders, just let me rest, please, please She still had her blindfold on and her hoarse voice sounded genuine, but John had the feeling she was ying it up for the roley value.
And here we see the difference between the masochist in it for her own pleasure and the masochist in it to please their master, John joked, leaving out the bit about their Endurance having a slight gap between them.
Then he went on to fulfill the crazy little nymphomaniacs request.
Chapter 501 – The smell of gunpowder
Chapter 501 C The smell of gunpowder
John hid himself awfully inside a pair of jogging pants, a slouching shirt with long sleeves, pair of sses and a cap. Interesting that sses dont count against the cap in the head slot, he thought as he walked on, his girlfriend holding onto his arm. Rave herself was disguised as her brte self with less conspicuous clothes: a dark green, frilly pair of yoga pants under a wide, white t-shirt. Guess Gaia is letting me get away with it because neither of the items are enchanted?
Seen anything interesting yet? Rave wondered, ncing over her own pair of sses to direct her blue eyes at her boyfriend. Her attempts at hiding were way less effective, her ass attracting the attention of every guy in a mile. Thankfully, it was a passing view only.
Kind of, John answered, quickly lifting his shades to use Possession on the desk of an open doored shop they were walking past. It was an annoying thing with the skill that he needed to look at whatever he wanted to possess with his own eyes. As he had just today learned, this included barriers made from translucent materials. Luckily, not energy, but he would have learned that earlier due to Mana Protection interfering with the skill.
pical as always, the Gamers disced awareness inside the counter picked up the ongoing conversation. An old woman wasining to her workers in the shop and obviously not done with it. You need a license for everything nowadays. Want more employees? License. Different product line? License. Import from anywhere? All an individual license!
So do I need to bring some cash to the usual ce today? one of the people she wasining towards, a man in histe twenties, asked. The almost humouring tone he presented the question with let John guess that this wasnt the first time this or simr conversations were had.
His attention shifted to another Possession he had ced in another shop, I am heading out!
Immediately upon that announcement, another person shouted from somewhere, Dont forget to drop by the White House on the way back!
The person making the initial announcement made a sour face. Seemingly a well-off businessman, his tone betrayed a level of unhappiness. Cant we skip it? I want to go a month without crawling to my uncle.
Sure, if you want us to lose tens of thousands of dors because we need to wait on the building proposal to be approved, then we can do that, his partner in business answered in a sarcastic tone. After a short pause and in a lighter tone, he added, All you are good for is your uncle anyway.
Very funny, dude, he took it with humour, then stopped for a second. Dont you feel watch- John broke the connection before the businessman could finish the question. Going around in disguise would have been pretty useless if he got caught now.
The Gamer was currently getting busy doing the thing he actually had promised he wouldnt do and spying on the Little Marnd. Well, to be exact, he was eavesdropping on semi-public conversations on this business district he found. It wasnt as impressive as the tube-shaped mall back in New York, but this was still a ratherrge barriermitted to nothing butmerce. One of three, if John understood all of this correctly.
Given that he had ess to a tourist guide, that understanding was quite vast but also as basic as it could get. Wide but thin, that was the correct way to look at Johns knowledge of the situation.
The Little Marnd subscribed its government to a changed form of the three estates model. They had the basic citizens, the military and the government, a triumvirate that was meant to keep each other in check through inter-tangling of rights and obligations to each other. Brought into life almost 200 years ago, it was obvious that such a system would show cracks eventually.
Which was why John could smell a powder keg despite the obviousck of gunpowder around. He had already seen that at least someone higher up in the military was unhappy with the bureaucrats, and the citizens also seemed everything but happy with the governmental influence on their lives. The corruption stunk to high heaven, and unlike the anarcho-capitalists in New York, these people were hesitant to pick up arms against thergely functioning system.
There is only so long you can keep shaking a bottle before it explodes, though, John thought, cutting thest of his Possessions off and just walking onwards and checking out the shops. A person skilled at reading auras could have easily seen through their disguise, given how much stronger they were than most people in the crowd. Such a person watching John would have caused some drama, but the Gamer was willing to y theirints about him doing some minor spying against their screwed up weingmittee.
At this point, John was certain that they hadnt sent reinforcements in time for numerous reasons that had nothing to do with the actual security of the White House. What exactly these reasons were, John was still debating. An attempt to show the military as inept, perhaps? Highly likely, from how Chemilia had been spoken to. To what end though?
John whispered the question over to his girlfriend, who hummed. Although she wasnt the smartest person around her boyfriend by a long shot, she was able to present some theories his mind didnt immediately go to. That and, although she didnt get all of the jumps and loops of politics, she was socially more apt than him. A valuable perspective to get into these discussions.
I have no clue, she, however, offered that simple answer. All I did in that situation wasugh at how embarrassingly untimely his entry was. I mean, if youre right - and you usually are, I guess - that he shouldnt have ever allowed us to talk to Chemilia for more than three seconds.
You are a genius, John told her as herments caused the puzzle pieces in his brain to neatly fit together. When she stared at him with that disapproving can ya exin to me, please?! look on her face C easily discernible despite the tinged sses C the Gamer went on. Untimely, our visit was dyed. The idea must have been to let the military fail in front of us for a bit and then swoop in to look like they were the much morepetent force around. All to impress Lydia. By the time we did finally arrive, the military already had the situation under control at that point and the weingmittee was no longer ready to immediately move well, the fat guymanding it wasnt.
I guess thatd make sense, Rave mused. Seems awfully inept though. Cant say I get the impression the government here is bad at their job of being bad.
John wasnt with her on that; a government that let itself be so unpopr it was ndered by just about every working person around had to be incredibly incapable. The fact that no higher power had arisen out of the USA gave him the impression that they all capped out at a slightly above mediocre level of skill. Still, he best give them at least the benefit of the doubt and not take too huge risks.
The whole takeover of New York had gone over as smoothly as it had due to the time invested into the sessful execution of a long-con. One inept bureaucrat presented with nepotism wasnt reason enough to believe the entire government was terrible at what it did.
Well, well see, John admitted, and they continued their little walk over the market.
___________________________________________________________________________
Their way eventually carried them back around in a circle. Only buying one little article that John spied randomly and thought could be of use, they made their way back to the yacht without any events worthy of mention passing by them. John peeked over his shoulder onest time before walking up to the main deck.
Ya dont need to check if we are being followed every fifteen seconds, Rave poked fun at him the moment they entered into the rtive safety of their home. Even if theres somebody stalking us, they aint getting anything useful.
Not the point, John rebutted. You know how much I hate info-brokers on my ass and you know exactly why.
Sure, your paranoia about it is just a bit funny to look at, she stated, nting a quick kiss on his cheek. The softness of the pink, glossy lips and the proximity of her warmth pulled her boyfriend away from any dark thoughts he may have had at that moment. Dont be grumpy when ya get to watch me change in a bit.
They went into the living room where Eliza, stark naked, was currently busy doing what she did best: eating copious amounts of crisps and watching some soap opera. Either she had run out of English ones or she was just searching for variety, as German was currently getting ryed out of the speakers aside therge screen.
Okay, Jane, you are absolutely right, John told his girlfriend after Eliza turned to greet them. Kneeling on the couch, her upper body peeked over the backrest. Naked breasts were on disy. Covered in crisp crumbs, it should have looked pretty unsexy, but instead John walked his way over. This immediately raises my mood by about thirty points of measurement. Can you be still for a second?
Eliza gave a confused nod, silent due to the extrarge piece of thinly sliced and fried potato between her lips, one she quickly consumed by wiggling her jaw back and forth, her hands staying put. Pressing his face into the insane slobs cleavage, John licked up salty fat and paprika voured crisps with his long tongue.
The fuck?! the blood mageughed out too loud, as per usual. Then she squealed in a mixture of delight and surprise when John picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of a potatoes. Where, in the name of a thousand dead fucking priests, are we going, you gloriously perverted asshole? she demanded to know, clearly hoping for another trip down into the sex haven.
Quiet, pretty little girls should keep their mouths shut! John dered, yfully tapping her ass. To answer your question, for now we are going nowhere; first I am watching Jane change while doing stuff with your body.
Mhm, I better make it a nice show then, Rave giggled and walked over to the television. Putting out the badly acted drama of the show, she reced it quickly with a ylist of background songs of the erotic kind. John switched off the lights at the same time and closed the blinds. The music video was suddenly the only light source in the room, a flickering of red colours and women suggestively wiggling on various stages.
Setting is ready, John stated, plopping down on the couch and positioning Eliza on hisp. He lost no time, opening his zipper and sliding right into her. Her breasts were pressing against his chest; wet with his saliva and still dirty with snack remainders, they made his shirt just as filthy. Filthy, however, was perfectly fitting with his mood in that moment. He roughly grabbed Eliza by the back of her head, slinging the other arm around her back, and pressed her against him as strongly as he could. You can moan if you want to, he whispered into her ear.
That was the immediate reaction he got, a groaning deration of bliss from the slutty blood mages mouth. John moved only the slightest bit, Elizas hips moving on their own from their want to serve his needs and her earlier missing out on being stretched around his girthy pole herself.
Rave stepped onto the table, empty except for a crumpled stic bag which she had removed in advance, and began swaying to the music. With a perfect sense of rhythm, her movements uracy to the beat was a hypnotic disy. Watching it all, her boyfriends eyes were consistently focused on her, even as his lips caressed Elizas neck from the nape up to her earlobe.
She was much more yful about the stripping than the other girl in the room had been a few hours earlier. Were Eliza had been wanting to please her master as quickly as possible while also keeping up the wanted amount of tease, Rave was out almost entirely for the show. For a solid minute or so, she didnt even touch her clothes, simply dancing, throwing her head from side to side and causing a cascade of brown that changed into pink at the climax of the song.
Through the strands of her thusly dishevelled hair, she gave John a long, erotic stare, slow movements apanying the valley in thendscape of sound. Hands sliding down her own curves, hips lowering, chest pushed out, she was a moving piece of pornographic art. She did a little twirl, wiggling her butt towards him as the music petered out. Turning back, she had her thumbs hooked into the edge of her shirt, stretching it teasingly as she bit her lower lips.
If John had the ability to, he would have framed every single moment. Indeed, in earlier days of their rtionship, he would have scrambled to get his phone and eternalize this disy. Nowadays, he knew he could get her to do this almost any day. His girlfriend liked to show off her sexy body and he liked to watch. Not in the least did he take this for granted, though; he was very aware what a lucky guy he was.
The song came to an end, Rave posing in an almost squatting, wide-legged stance on the table. A second as the program picked the next one in the randomized list, which started off with an untypically loud and ecstatic intro. In a movement almost too quick to follow, the shirt she had only grabbed before came flying off and sailed to the ground somewhere. John wasnt bothered following the piece of cloth, he just stared at his girlfriend.
In tight pants and a ck spandex sports bra, the kind that didnt press down on the size but instead snuggled perfectly around the contours of the third greatest body part of the female body physique (in Johns humble opinion), she kept the attention of his eyes perfectly.
Rave knew his top three from the order to the reasoning and she lost no time teasing it from bottom to top. She freed her breasts from their confinement first chance the quickly calming song gave her. The explosive opening was followed by the pink-haired bombshell ying with her naked upper body for an extended period.
Although only his third ce, John absolutely didnt mind the prolonged exposure to her tits. Petite as their size was, the light flesh of her athletic body curved wonderfully into these firm pieces of softness. Albeit it was Elizas body currently under his hands, he remembered fondling these breasts perfectly. From the squeezing feeling of cupping them to the hard nipples pressing into his palms.
Rave had a happy expression on her face as she pressed them together between her arms, shaking movements causing them to jiggle. Not by much, but they jiggled, and it was great to see the pretty pink crowns atop sway.
The song ended rather suddenly, a bass heavy electronic melody taking its ce. Rave turned around just as abruptly going with number two on her boyfriends list. Starting high and going higher, the techno was right up Raves alley as she presented her perfect ass. Exactly like the shirt, she didnt just rip her pants off immediately, instead pushing them down only that slightest bit before letting go of them again. John could see the upper strings of a ck thong peeking out.
She squatted, twirled and twerked, going through all the motions to show off her bubble butt. How its juiciness jiggled when she stood rxed, how the softness over the firm muscles behaved in full swing, how the pants across them slowly stretched as she pushed her hips out. A damp, dark spot between her legs left no doubt that she was enjoying giving this little show. Two finger ran over the fabric for a moment and she purred loud enough to overpower the music as it build up to the drop.
When it came, John had expected her to begin peeling out of the tight pants, but Rave was as good for a surprise as ever and literally ripped off her pants by tearing them clean at the seams, destroying her panties in the process. In a disy of martial prowess and confidence, she high-kicked into the air twice, sending a pant each flying and loosing the ruined thong in the process. While abrupt, John loved seeing his girlfriend suddenly naked and giving him one final pose.
Standing with her legs well apart, ass towards him, she twisted her back enough to give him a nice amount of side-boob along with the sight of her spreading her ass with one hand while showing the victory sign next to her winking face with the other. Hope ya liked the show, she broke pose after holding it until the current song ran out.
Following her as she stepped off the table, John greeted her with, Liked? How about lo- he began but was promptly interrupted when she kissed him on the lips. The second their tongues intertwined was the second Johns balls suddenly tightened and he began pumping his seed into Eliza. He grunted, not interested in hiding his orgasm in any way. She absolutely deserved to know that her presence pushed him right over the edge and it spoke to her dominating side just as much as it spoke to his in simr situations, a hand soon fixating their prolonged kiss.
Johns favourite part of the female physique was directly in front of him. Yes, the Gamer was a massive ass-man, but there was nothing that he appreciated more than a beautiful womans face. In his mind, that was so easily agreed upon with most of mankind that it wasnt usually worth the mention.
What were ya saying? Raveughed when she dictated the end of the kiss.
I love you, he answered immediately, doing her the favour of making it sound that little bit begging. He couldnt be just the dom all the time, that side was currently pleased by him being balls-deep inside the ultimate sub anyway.
One that got a p on the ass in the middle of her own orgasm as Rave went, A-dor-a-ble, tiger, then pping the other cheek before going towards Eliza, alright, ya little slut, my turn.
Mistress, pleasshe, the blood mage slurred, shuddering in climactic spasms. Jusht a mooom-ah-ment.
N-O-P-E, Rave decisively spelled out, almost shoving Eliza off her boyfriend. Leaving the blood mage quivering at the side, soon staining the couch with her leaking pussy juice, cloudy from the seed mixed into it, the matriarch of the Newman harem straddled over her boyfriend. Think we will run a bitte.
Not that anybody believed Brenda would mind that.
_________________________________________________________
And I will spank you if you dont get all of that off yourself, Eliza! John threatened, standing before the mirror with a bottle. Being the thing he had bought earlier, it was amonly avable item in the Abyss, and, although to a less magical degree, also was easy to get hands on in the real world. For what it actually was, the answer was simple: makeup. More specifically, the kind that hid skin conditions.
Pimples, rashes or tattoo-like scars from an ancient race of eldritch abominations made from tentacles, teeth, terror and terrorizing teethed tentacles. The reasons why John went with the magical version rather than themon one were threefold. One, this was more resilient towards water; two, it was going to stick for the next couple of days; and three, it was way easier to apply. It was a simple lotion that detected the irregr colour on the skin and then drew on his mana to instead create a realistic looking stand-in. The costs of this were so negligible, John didnt even see it show up on his character sheet.
The excess he simple washed away at the sink. Unnecessary parts didnt harden. This might be the most developed technology in the Abyss, John thought, marvelling at the ease and reliability of this readily avable product. Not that thats a wonder, considering what happens to people that fail to hide.
In this specific case, it wouldnt be the end of the world if he was found out. At worst, Gaia might get a little bit pissed if John scrambled his exnation. There was no easily discernible difference between the scar and a tattoo after all. John just didnt want to lie to his mother about yet another thing. Better to just omit it.
I have no fucking clue, Eliza spoke over the sound of running water, if that is supposed to be the dumbest threat in history or if you want me to look like an invalid fucking couch-fucktato in front of my kids grandmother.
Yes, John answered like a smartass.
Fuck you! Eliza kicked the ss of the shower between them. Her foot left a short-term window on the steam-covered surface. Due to Rave being in there with her, the whole bathroom was heating up from the stupendously hot water they were using.
John looked at his arm after drying it up. Looked exactly like it had before the whole Lorylim run-in, even the slight blue of the vein that was running through there was emted. A different girl suddenly appeared at Johns side, flowing up from the floor and startling her summoner.
Can I try? Undine asked in her melodic tone, pointing at the remaining bottle. Despite repeated assurances that it didnt bother him or anyone else in the group, Undine was still searching for ways to hide her own, more extensive scars. As he didnt think another such good-willed talking would change the question, John just handed her the bottle.
Carefully, the water elemental squirted some on her hand and then rubbed it on the red swirling patterns on her upper breast. The product was clearly not created with elementals in mind. While it did work at covering up the spot, it did so by creating an odd mixture of her usual blue, minus the translucency, and the texture of normal human skin.
Covering all of the scar tissue up in that way would have looked like she had suffered more than a few heavy burns in the past. Inparison, the scars had their emotional baggage but were at least aesthetically pleasing. Undines lips curved down in a frown as she cut the mana supply from the substance and then brushed it off herself as it turned into a dry dust.
We can look into it another time, if you want, John told her, brushing back the strand of her hair that she hid the disfigured part of her face under. I am fine either way.
I would appreciate it, Undine mumbled, blushing the slightest bit. If it made her happy, then John would oblige her. It wasnt often, after all, that his elementals came to him with a request for personal things. Aside from Sylph and her sweet tooth.
A knock on the door followed by an inquiring, Are you ready? from the unmistakable iron tone of Lydia echoed through the bathroom.
Just about, John answered.
Chapter 502 – Chocolate cake
Chapter 502 C Chocte cake
The side of the fork cut through the fluffy, dark brown foam like a sharp knife through tender meat. In the abrasive surface, caused by the many small pockets of air inside the crme being exposed, the light of themps over the table was caught. Underneath that was ayer of white, simple sugary stuff, adding extra sweetness to the lightly bitter note of proper chocte. Then anotheryer of brown. At the bottom, ayer of cake dough, rolled into a deliciousyer of thinness.
Thusly sliced, the dream of sweet tooths everywhere decided to fall over when John tried to pick it up. That made it easier to load the thing unto his utensil but also left a smudge on the te. Not that it really mattered, only Lydia was dining as if she was in finepany.
Some chatter was going on between parties on the table. Brenda was engaged in a bout with her husband and Eliza, the blood mage still speaking in a more stammering matter than usual but clearly warming up to Johns parents. Yet another trauma that was, if not banished, at least faced.
Lydia was having a nice chat with Beatrice. A chat in this case being defined as the queen talking and the robotic maid nodding in semi-regr intervals to indicate she was still listening, only throwing in the asionalment. Her elder in the sisterhood was sitting right next to her, but her attention was turned to Metra, the two of them involved in a talk about an episode of a series they had apparently been watching together in the hours John spent sleeping. The dreamless life of his Artificial Spirits was always going to be a bit of a mystery.
Against his worse intentions, John himself was engaged in an usual bit of banter with Maximillian, who had been strategically ced right next to him and Rave. Seems like your movie career fell absolutely t on its face then, he poked fun and moved on from their previous topic at the same time.
An unsubstantiated im! the former king took affront to that.
The hell are you doing in DC then? John asked, immediately adding, Dont you dare! when Maximillian looked over to the Gamers mother and already drew breath for the easy counter joke. He was avoiding the topic as best he could. Particrly since both his parents were having that post-coital glow of happiness around them. Okay, it was pretty much present all around. Something about the Newman genes must have had created areas of sexual relief.
Taking a moment to clear his throat, skipping the answer he wanted to give, Maximillian did raise his voice, Well, I was in the area to take inspiration from the scenery and to celebrate for a bit. He ran a hand through his thick brown hair, grinning self-assured while doing so. The strands stayed back in that natural way that was currently in fashion; the gravity mage had let his hair grow since they hadst met.
Rave gulped down thest slice of cake, before asking, Whats there to celebrate?
I got one of the main roles in a theatre bit, Maximillian proudly dered.
Okay, so your movie career fell absolutely t, Max, John repeated smugly, while tapping his fork on his te to create somewhat of a mocking noise.
You are technically correct for the moment, the fellow brown-haired man of good looks conceded the point.
Which is the best kind of correct, the Gamer went back to his cake.
Rave couldnt resist also going about and teasing him. How much of the role was yourst name though?
As it was, Maximillian was one of the few people John knew that used his actualst name from the Abyss in the real world as well. Granted, the house Habsburg wasnt extinct or anything, and he did have his bloodline ingrained into his memories, but John still found it to be an odd choice.
About 25%? the former king answered earnestly, not shy about this whatsoever. When trying to get into show business, one used what advantage one had. Helps that I am supposed to y a prince.
John could see it now, flyers tumbling through the air about an actual descendant of royalty ying a royal in a y. Combining that with a photo of Maximillian and they were bound to increase the likeliness of selling tickets by a nice margin, especially with the female crowd.
From across the table, Eliza suddenly jumped into the conversation. Can you even do stage ys with all the fucking walking you need to do? she asked, an easily missed bit of guilt swinging in her tone as she nced at the walking stick that the king had left leaning against a nearby piece of furniture.
Its somewhat limiting my choice of roles, but it works for the most part, Maximillian answered. Given pauses, I can act like its not even there. I just shouldnt put too much pressure on that foot for too long.
Well, Brenda also joined the conversation, I am sure you will look stunning. Dont forget to get us tickets. All three of us would love to go.
The third being Hex, who was still not around. Apparently, she wanted to do some patrolling or something. Johns paranoia whispered to him that she was in the process of backstabbing him, but only aplete moron would wait until this evening to finally do something. After all, why choose the moment when there was the whole group when they had been ample time to do the betraying with rtive ease.
John really needed to up the security measures around here. For the moment, Metra had assured him that she would stay near the house and keep watch. She liked the watchdog duty. A great relief for her contractor, as the berserker babe was one of the strongest solo fighters around him.
Consider it done, Brenda, Maximillian took a little bow in his seat. Looking for signs that the king was envious of his father or anything like that, John kept a close eye on his movements in situations like these. So far, nothing of the kind. Seemed like the king was only in it to get his dick wet. Which was insulting in its own right but much better than him making this whole situation even muddier.
John just realized that he felt like he hadnded in the middle of one of Elizas cheap dramas. Except nobody was making any fuss about any of this except him. Everybody was just carrying on. He did his best to follow suit.
Mhm, when you get famous, his mother continued the small talk, you getting busy with a married woman might put together a bit of a scandal.
Lydia dismissively blew air out of her nose. Gazing upon the amount of dirty deeds done in the show business, one can conclude that such a thing is less likely to happen than it is to, the queen exined in no uncertain terms what she thought of the situations. That aside, Maximillian is already adept at handling scandals at some level.
That makes two of us, the Habsburg descendant retorted.
Brenda loaded an extrarge slice of marzipan covered cranberry cake onto the queens te. Now, now, get along, Johns mother berated. I have too much cake for you all to get lost in bickering.
This is kinda just how we talk, Bren, Rave admitted, twirling a strand of her pink hair. Like, 90% banter around here.
Reminds me of my old drinking buddies, Benjamin Newman finally found his way back into the conversation as well. The many small conversations had converged into a big one. How do I miss them
Aclysia tilted her head quizzically, May I inquire what happened to them?
Brenda rolled her eyes in an amused fashion before her husband could answer. They went from drinking buddies to a scotch club.
John raised an eyebrow. Whats the difference?
Giving him side-eye as if he had just asked why they werent supposed to build their house out of a mixture of horse dung and mud, Maximillian shook his head. Really a Scotch club is much more refined, in it for the taste not the sensation of getting drunk. Highly uncivilized of you, John.
I find alcohol pretty uncivilized, the Gamer retorted. Disgusting stuff.
John Newman! his mother raised her tone in yful sternness. Did I just hear that you drank over in Europe? With their frivolously low drinking age!
Like anybody is even keeping that one, Rave giggled. I had my first beer when I was 15.
All of you are indecent as fuck, Eliza cussed, I could stop drinking tomorrow! Because
Because you could be pregnant tomorrow, John interrupted, causingughter around the table. I get it. It isnt happening yet. Can I marry someone before I get a kid?!
You heard him Brenda, he said he is going to stick his cock into my womb and impregnate me the moment he and Jane get hitched, the blood mage dered.
Thats not what I John tried to interject, but she and his mother had already decided to run with it. Again.
Oh my, thatd make for one interesting ceremony, Brenda giggled, probably imagining her son giving the yes and Eliza nakedly jumping on the altar the second the lucky pairs lips were parting. Because John could actually see her do that, he was happy that his mother added, Perhaps you should wait until the day after though. That night belongs to the bride.
Eh, Rave shrugged, I am sure we can work it out. Why she was now joining Team Impregnation, John wasnt too sure about. The way her blue eyes looked over mischievously made him understand that she was doing it to tease him though. He could almost see the pink lustre dance in her eyes. Almost, it was currently snuffed out for obvious reasons.
Is your engagement anything official yet? Ben inquired into his sons affairs. I dont see a ring
Nah, he just asked me if I would say yes if he asked, the Lightbearer opened up.
Ah Ben looked a bit torn by that. Slightly unromantic, but better than knocking up the girl you have been dating for a few months and then deciding to keep the baby.
I dont think of a secure engagement as unromantic, Johns opinion on the matter was quite clear cut. You lot realize that I will now dy the wedding until I am ready to have a kid, right?
Booooo! Eliza shouted, mming her hand on the table and causing a wave of clinkering sounds from metal and porcin. Booo, I say, you wait a second if he was conceived out of wedlock, does it mean you are actually a fucking bastard? THIS IS IMPORTANT!
Information: inconclusive, Beatrices semi-robotic voice passively echoed across the table. Analysis of specific situation: I lean towards no. Biological parents got married following conceiving of child. Argument could be made in case of mother wedding another man entirely but not knowing it.
Well, we never took a DNA test Benjamin began and giggled when that earned him some unappreciative or confused nces. I am kidding, your mother is one hornydy, but she doesnt cheat.
Okay? John was slowly immunizing against the continuous mentions of his parents and their sexual activities. Exposure was the best way to get over that whole thing, after all. Anyway, Jane and I are engaged to be engaged, so to say. Might happen next year or in a decade, well see.
Ja, not in a hurry, his girlfriend agreed.
From there, the conversation again fizzled into smaller topics. Brendamented on Elizas healthy appetite, as she was solely responsible for the destruction of about a third of all the cake around. Although I have to wonder where you leave all that, Johns mother ended that topic, looking at the t stomach under the tight shirt Eliza was wearing.
Tits and ass, the blood mage floppily answered.
Shortly after that conversation, John began the long dance of wanting to leave, involving repeated goodbyes, quickly jabbed small talk and numerous little jokes. Much like earlier in the day, Brenda was also quite happy to hurry them out of the house. There was no way the walls were thick enough to hide what she was about to do.
Your mother is the fucking best, Eliza told John, once they were on the sideway. Like, seriously a cocksucking be- her sentence was interrupted by her suddenly slipping on something andnding face first on stone. MOTHERFUCKER! she screamed as she got back up. In the otherwise empty streets of the quiet suburb, that scream was like a police siren.
Well, I saw thating, the Gamer sighed and helped her up. Must have earned some minor ire from Gaia for shovelling your bodyweight in sugar into you. The blood mage growled as she realized that this meant she had to limit future cake-times with Brenda to what her stomach could actually fit rather than what her magic could immediately digest it into.
Its dangerous to go alone, John joked, carrying her princess style from the moment forward, let me take you.
They then went to bed.
Chapter 503 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 1 – Blinds
Chapter 503 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 1 C Blinds
On the second day of the Washington trip, John walked around in the empty house conveniently across and then just a few houses over from his parents ce. It was in a bad state, although onlypared to the otherwise rich neighbourhood. In detail that meant some missing tiles on the roof, a bit of dirt on the outside walls, a wildwn and a busted lock on the backdoor. There was nothing really wrong with it aside from the fact it was settling dust.
A sign on the outside told John who to call, but he wouldnt make that call himself, so he simply wrote down the number as he looked around the ce. It was empty down to the floorboards, so it made sense that the owner wouldnt be in too much of a hurry to repair the backdoor. There was nothing to steal and the dust on the ground indicated that it had been empty for a while. Some small footsteps let John know that some kids had been ying here at some point. Also, a cat or some other small mammal had been making periodic visits here. Lastly there were fresh imprints of heels.
John added the fresh imprints of his own shoes to the dust as he made his way towards the window. The view from here is not as clear as I would have wanted, he said, his voice reverberating in the air. One needed to stand at an awkward position, almost pressing their face against the ss, to see the house of family Newman. Not great for a ce meant to house a spy.
Second storey is a better ce, a voice behind him pointed out, following with the cking of heels.
John looked over his shoulder to look at Hex. The hired bodyguard was a looker, for sure. With ck hair that kept close to her head and then flowed down straight as an arrow, she had a naturally discipled look to her. Her ck leather jacket and simple jeans worked nicely with that and the grey t-shirt she had on underneath showed only the slightest bit of cleavage.
Her hands were in her pockets, and when she gestured without pulling them out, she stretched the jacket and revealed the handle of a gun she carried in a holster hidden under her arm. An easy way to force Abyssals to reveal their supernatural abilities was to get them at gunpoint. Even if they didnt suddenly start moving at immense speeds, one could just shoot them. A ssical win-win situation for the bodyguard of a mundane person.
From her athletic body to her fair skin and no-shits-given expression, it was pretty easy to discern why thiste twenty years old decided that getting involved with his fathers love life was the quickest way to stay around him. Her presence might have even been a pushing reason why Johns parents were swinging so enthusiastically. Then again, that was pure spection; he didnt even know which one of his parents had made the suggestion or when it had really started. He didnt n to ask either.
Well, lets see that then, John gestured for her to take the lead. It was the first time he was meeting her, but the air was one strictly of business despite their casual behaviour. They had no feelings for each other, nor did they hit it off particrly well as she was one to keep her mouth shut most of the time. She does have a nice butt, he freely thought to himself when she walked up the stairs in front of him. They were the only two people inside the house. Howe you are in this line of work? he wanted to know, curiosity and impersonal silence bothering him. Just because he wasnt looking to make friends with her didnt mean he had to be cold throughout this meeting.
Hex was level 66. While that didnt make her particrly impressive, she was still a cut above the average and could have found work and money elsewhere. Safety, was the simple answer. Guarding a mundane is one of the safest jobs a fighter in the Abyss can get.
That did make sense. Between trafficking substances, magical gang wars, farming naturally forming barriers or working as a mercenary in some war betweenrger powers, just sitting around a person that had a secondary, effectively almighty guardian wasparatively easy. Also: better paid, usually people were willing to pay for the safety of their loved ones more than for a receable soldier. The only reason why there were so few people in this line of work was that there was no real way to rise further and that the market wasrgely saturated with even the few in it.
I see, John took thest step of the staircase and followed Hex over to a small room. Once there, it became easily apparent why it was a better spying position. The house was one of the designs that decided to slice the corners on the second storey. A window, installed in the resulting diagonal, allowed easy viewing of the target in question. Well, seems like you will be getting some help soon.
Good, I would have stopped working for you soon otherwise, she stated straight-up. John turned away from the blinds that were covering the inside of the window and gave her a silent look. If she was this willing to stop working, how willing could she have really been to protect his parents? I will keep my end of the bargain to my dying breath, Hex continued, controlling her tonepletely despite the much stronger Gamers presence. No need to threaten me. I know what the end of cowardly guards is. John nodded and lowered his levels of animosity by rxing his bodynguage. I am just saying that I am not going to be suicidal enough to keep guard over them alone, given that you make more and more powerful enemies.
That is fair enough, John admitted and turned back to look down the street. With his Agility perk, his zooming eyesight allowed him to look at his mother as if he was way closer. I have been toox with their security until now anyway. Turning around, he gestured for Hex to follow him. He had made the decision to buy this house and ce some sort of guardian inside by now and the hired guard had a list of potential other ces to check out for suitability.
Hex was interested in theing upgrades and additions, for obvious reasons, Any details I should know about?
I will mostly pay for golems that can keep twenty-four-hour oversight over the house and install them on key locations, maybe have another one installed as a co-worker of my father. Well see what I can do without raising suspicion. The problems with ns like that were that the more golems he ced, the higher the chances one of them was part of some ident that revealed their nature and administered part of the punishment to John. Gaia would then fix some memories, and all that would be left would be a Gamer whose difficulty level in reality had been raised to Very Hard.
Well, thates out of nowhere, John thought and then epted the quest. He already had a meeting that sent him running through the cityter today, so he might as well inform himself whatever the biggest cathedral in the capital was and make his way there. Alternatively, one of the numerous dates he would have over the week was surely going to allow that little bit of side-tracking. Those rewards were strictly too juicy to pass up on. A Max ss Level AND sex with Gaia (at least thats what he interpreted that second thing to be)? He would sign onto almost any quest for that.
A quick look at his hand indicated that Hex noticed the Gamer doing his thing, but she left it umented and instead continued on with the topic. Anything else?
Still debating whether I want to hire more people. They are more flexible but can also decide to be a leak. Goes without saying that I want to avoid that, John told her. Still debating whether I want to create an Artificial Spirit to this end, but thats a thing I have little influence over anyway. He didnt tell her exactly what the mechanical limitations there were, as she didnt need to know the details of how that worked.
It wasnt until John got the Sisterhood choice presented to him again that he could even consider creating a new Artificial Spirit for this express purpose. To get as much as a roll on that, he needed Artificial Spirit at 100 and it wasnt even in the thirties right now. Didnt help that it was levelling incredibly slow after the numerous resets it had already gone through.
Ignoring all that, he went on, I will also install some measures I wont tell you about. Just as an extra insurance. He stopped for a second to respectfully lower his head, No offence.
None taken, Hex shrugged it off, and they continued their sightseeing. John wrote down yet another address and phone number. The next step in the process would be to give it to one of those security golem manufacturers who would begin the very costly process of creating a whole fake life for a person that didnt exist and then have that person buy that house. Several millions would just disappear, but John could create money out of thin air, so that waspletely fine with him. I wouldnt trust a single person with my family either.
John didnt ask questions about that. It was beyond obvious that Hex wasnt her actual name (despite what she told his parents) and Observe had told him anything he needed to know anyway. They kept their chatterrgely professional, only two or three easy jokes getting chuckles from the other.
The walks between each piece of real estate went through barriers. John didnt want to run the risk of being seen by his parents and having to answer the questions what he was doing in the area when he said he would only visit in the evening. That would be pretty awkward.
In one of thest houses they went to visit, John posed the only personal question, Do you feel anything for my parents? It came in the wake of how close her rtionship with them had been through the months she had worked as their secret guardian.
Hex hesitated, understandably. Whatever she said had ways to sound wrong to her employer and she didnt know him well enough to guess what he wanted to hear. Which was perfect; John only wanted to hear the actual truth. Yes, but I wouldnt stay without the money, she stated. I might see them when I have an off day in the area, because they are good people and I dont mind being around them, but I dont love them and this is my job.
Alright, John found nothing wrong with that. In her situation, he would probably try to act in a simr way. He would fail, because he got attached to other people that showed him kindness way too easily, but logically speaking that was the correct way to handle being in her line of work. Expect a raise sometime soon, he told her.
You already overpay me quite immensely, she let a slight smile on her face, rxed that her employer didnt seem displeased.
Yes, but I am also filthy rich, he magnanimously waved at an imaginary wallet. They finished their tour shortly thereafter and went their ways. One a bit richer, the other a bit more confident about his parents security. Although there was one thing he was unhappy about. Why didnt you notify me when Maximillian and my mother got together?
Why would I have? Hex asked in return. He wasnt a security risk. Not only does he seem to be on friendly terms with you, he has a bad foot and his powers are impossible to use stealthily. Additionally, he had no idea she even was your mother until recently, the bodyguard shrugged. Not the first Abyssal she slept with where both parties didnt know what they were touching.
Right John got that line of argumentation, but that still didnt satisfy him. For the future, please notify me about Abyssals that get close to her.
Sure, if you got the time to read all of that, Hex answered readily, and from there they separated. The raven-haired girl returned to her duty while John had to go to a certain a house.
A White House.
Chapter 504 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 2 – White House
Chapter 504 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 2 C White House
John had to say that, in person, the White House looked a good bit smaller than he had anticipated. It was still an impressive building, the white fa?ade meticulously pure, the pirs stretching decoratively and those tall windows sitting in a perfectly even array across the three storeys as the American g waved on a g post atop the roof.
However, he wasnt here to walk into this version of the White House. John didnt know Trump or whoever would seed him, neither did he have any real interest in real world politics since they didnt affect him. Old Johns only interest in politics had been whenever people decided video games were to me for the most recent school shooting. New John made his (untaxed) money through magic, lived in a dimensional pocket on government property, sold items on an international ck market (for most intents and purposes that was what the Abyss Auction was) and fully intended to marry as many girls as he wanted in his lifetime.
So, as great as it was to look at this building, John was his own government and did not care for the authority it represented. Compared to Abyssal architecture, it is rather unappealing, Lydia put her own thoughts into words.
Its like looking at the shrivelled up cock of a nudist on Antarctica after giving blowjobs to John for the whole day, Eliza agreed. The metaphor was as odd as they came, but it was hard to disagree with that.
Those two were the only ones with him at the current time. Mostly because nobody was interested in politics. To be fair, neither was Eliza, and Lydia just apanied him because he asked, wanting to stay as much out of official affairs as possible for the remainder of her stay. The reason why he wanted these two toe with him was quite easy.
It would beplete suicide to ambush him while these two were around.
Alright, lets check on the other side then, John stated and raised his hand.
In essence, everything John looked at stayed the same. The fence, the trees, the house, even the bodyguards, they all stood at the exact same spot as their real-world counterparts. However, there were numerous differences despite that. As if someone had decided to take the textures and decided to design a White House +5, everything was amped up in its luxuriousness.
The house got lines of gold framing wherever it could get away with, the trees themselves had leaves of silver and tinum colour while the grass was a wonderful light green with tips of blue. Not all of it was a disy of vanity, however, as the golden lines formed intricate patterns that doubtlessly served some magical purpose. It was impressive, exuded an aura of power and was build on the backs of an overtaxed working ss.
At first nce this building, along with what else he had gathered so far, gave John a pretty easily identified enemy around here. Even with that knowledge, things werent that clear-cut.
Technically, the military was still part of the government, so the fact that he liked Chemilia meant that he also liked somebody who was part of this clearly corrupt ruling apparatus. Also, the people here still lived way better than the average folk had over in New York, and if he just went in and smashed this whole thing, there was no telling what chaos it could cause.
What the best way to handle this thing was would be shown only in the future. For now, he had a meeting with the leader of this golden heap. Afterwards, when he had a better grasp of the situation, he could try toe up with a scheme. Alright then, he announced and they walked up to the guard at the door.
It only took a moment to inform the man that he was there and that he had an appointment. The trio was escorted across a walkway and into the building, then through the numerous walkways inside and finally into the historic room, the Oval Office.
It wascking all of the artefacts of past presidents John was roughly aware of through media consumption. The pictures and busts of other people were decorating the walls instead, looking not less majestic in their demeanour but having no impact on the Gamer, as he had no idea who he was looking at.
A moment of hesitation struck John when he saw not one but two people sitting inside the room. Of course, there were numerous bodyguards as well, but those melded with the background, unlike the two suited up individuals, one behind therge mahogany desk and the other sitting in afortable swivel chair in front of the same desk.
The former was a man in histe fifties with an impressive build. When John had seen the pig-like bureaucrat that had met him, he had expected the president to be of simr bbiness. Instead he was met with a short, muscr old man whose suit was barely able to contain the thickness of his biceps. His hairline was receding and hadrgely turned grey, with only a few streaks of ck remaining, but his skin had fallen only the slightest bit and the dark brown eyes behind his sses looked as keen as they could be.
The other person was less impressive, a brte that had her silky hair in a ponytail. Her crossed legs were stuck in somewhat odd pants, widely cut and with pieces of cloth dangling off the sides without any clear purpose. Aside from that she looked rather in. Good, but not immensely so.
A sudden rm bell caused every bodyguard in the room to reach for their weapons, but the man behind the desk just raised his left hand with a knowing smile. It is fine, he said; he had a deep, calming voice that he wielded way more effectively than Bearings ever had. Rather than pretending that he was fatherly or anything, he simply spoke with authority and carried himself in a friendly manner. Our guest here simply used his Observe magic, nothing to be rmed about.
Just a reflex, I apologize, John stated and made a little apologetic bow. Not only had he gotten nothing out of using Observe, he had also just made a fool out of himself. I vastly underestimated who I am dealing with here, he admitted to himself when he straightened his back again.
A bad reflex to have, the woman at the table stated, giving John an inquisitive up and down. But where are my own manners? she stood up and walked over to offer him her hand. I am Lerylia Hertham, ambassador of the Lake Alliance.
Fuck, John thought as he smiled friendly and shock her hand. John Newman, leader of Fusion, he said, for diplomacys sake. The presence of a third party, particrly the strongest force in the general East Coast area,plicated things massively. Happy to make your acquaintances. With me are Lydia Augusta von Hohenzollern and Eliza Baros, the blood mage looked displeased at the sound of her ownst name but stayed silent.
The president rose from his desk, he was surprisingly short once on his feet, at about 1,65m if John had to guess, and with an amused tone he also introduced himself, I am Abraham Ryemeier, president of the Little Marnd. I hope you dont mind Lerylias presence; she insisted on being here and I do owe her a few favours. He gave them a warm smile, then looked over to the two women John had brought. I do offer you a seat, but it is to my understanding that you do not wish to be involved in matters political, Queen Augusta.
That is correct, Lydia answered. I only came because you seem to take an interest in me.
And I do deeply apologize for the actions taken in the name of my government, Abraham stated, letting his head hang in shame. I instructed him poorly when telling him to treat you with respect and I have only my own ipetence to me. You are wee to stay if you want to be involved in my discussions with the leader of Fusion. If you wish to enjoy your stay as a tourist, I offer that one of my guards show you around the White House. Many things are here to see. He looked over to Eliza, I extend that offer to you, Miss Baros. Knowing your history and temperament, I think this discussion will only bore you.
John felt like he was the basketball in a m-dunk scenario. Abraham had turned the incident at the dock into a scalpel that he now masterfully swung to cut all of Johns backup out of the room. By specifying that the president intended to have a discussion with the leader of Fusion rather than John Newman, Lydia staying would mean that she went back against what she had said before. He did all that while being perfectly courteous and offering her a look around in a property few people ever got to see from the inside.
Saying no would not only make her a liar, it would also send clear signals to the ambassador of the Lake Alliance that she was actually here just to support John. Same went for Eliza, if the blood mage decided to stay, John may as well write I dont trust any of you on his forehead with the subtext of If I wanted to, I could have you all murdered.
He hade into this house carrying expectations of enemy weakness and was cut down quickly. For now, he had to y along. Lydia agreed on her own, while Eliza waited for a little nod from the Gamer before tagging along.
Now it was only him, Abraham and the ambassador. Alright, seems like I locked myself in hard mode, John admitted to himself as he took his own seat, after being offered one. While he had lost the preparation stage of this negotiation, John was in no way the loser of this diplomatic battle yet. Just because the enemy team had the home field advantage, there was no reason to just give up trying. Well, lets hope they dont stumble about anything you want to keep secret, John started it off with a light-hearted joke.
Abrahamughed and the ambassador chuckled, a disy so convincing John wasnt sure whether it was fake or not. Indeed, wouldnt want them to find my predecessors stack of dead hookers, the president winked, and now it was on John to giggle, which he genuinely did. It was a good retort. Ah, but entertainment aside, I must say that my time is limited today, the president then went ahead, As much as I would like to joke around, I need to go make decisions that turn my hair a bit greyer.
Dont we all, Lerylia stated with a heavy sigh.
Indeed, John found himself agreeing, remembering all of the deaths his actions had caused until this point. He was good at managing the stress, but there was a definitive burden on his shoulders. What is it that you want to discuss then?
In general? I would love to have a long discussion with you about the rtionship our guilds will have with one another, Abraham answered.
That would be a long, long discussion, Johnmented, much longer than somebody who has little times for jokes would have today.
Yes, so we will have to stick to small formalities today, as I understand you are on vacation, the president shrugged and looked around the many papers on his desk. While they were nicely sorted, they were still a bunch of folders and stacks. Even in a perfectly arranged library, it could be hard to find a certain book. I would like to apologize to you for my subordinates behaviour at the docks with where did I leave it he opened and closed a few folders and then finally went, Ah, there it is!
I wonder if that ditzy behaviour is just there to charm me a bit more, John thought as he was handed a piece of paper. As he read it, Abraham summarized it out loud, not for the Gamer, but for the third-party present.
As my act of apology, I would like to offer this non-aggression treaty between the two of us, the president had a proper pleading, apologetic tone as he exined. Although you are the head of an entirely new power, the way you were treated on arrival is utterly uneptable. The details of our states rtion will have to be settled in a, as we agreed, long discussion, but I would like us to start on friendly footing and leave that little incident behind us.
Well, chucklefucks, John thought; once more the presence of the third-partyplicated things beyond belief. If he were alone with the guy, he could consider pping him silly verbally, tell him he was looking right through the ploy and then leave in a pissed stride.
Doing that in the current situation would make the Lake Alliance look at him like an aggressive expander. Which, fair enough, he was sort of looking to be, but his guild currently didnt have the power to get into a fight with them. He had to tread carefully, while he could dominate probably everyone in this room, his guild didnt have the military might to back that up on arge scale. Could I get a ss of water? John asked to get some more time to think. Quite warm today.
It is indeed, Abraham agreed, and one of the guards vanished from the room as John read through the contract again.
He had to find a loophole or anything else that allowed him to prevent being pinned down on this. Being unable to expand south for the foreseeable future would limit or at least slow the advancement of his ambitions tremendously. A non-aggression pact was also in his interest, as long as he could wiggle his way out at any point. Basically, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
The ss was put on the table and he took a sip, then he found a formtion he could get hung up on. Mhm, I would love to sign this, but this sentence I cannot agree on, he put the contract down and tapped on it so the ambassador could read it. The signing parties promise to exert no military force at any point on the ground each other rules, he quoted.
What is wrong with that? Abraham asked, the ambassador also raising an eyebrow.
What if one of my people gets kidnapped and located somewhere into your territory? John posed a question. I dont doubt that you would help me fix that situation, Mister President, but I would like my own people to work on such things as well. The two of them nodded, Lerylia much more willingly than Abraham. If I may offer a correction? John pulled a pen out of his inventory and, when he wasnt stopped, crossed out that sentence and wrote a new one underneath.
The signing parties promise to exert no uninvited military force on the ground theywfully hold, the ambassador read out loud. That seems like a splendid correction and a splendid treaty all around. As speaker for the Lake Alliance in this meeting, I greatly approve of this.
It does, the president agreed more slowly. Would you be willing to sign this with your correction then?
Any time, John assured, and three corrected copies were quickly made, all signed by both the head of Fusion and the Little Marnd. When Lerylia also put her name under them, as witness to the sessful process, it was official, and John stored his copy in his inventory.
A great asion for all of us, Abraham said afterwards, smiling widely. Despite Johns little detour, he must have been under the impression that he had just secured his reign from the new outside power.
The Gamer was also happy. As short as this conflict of words and niceness was, it reminded him again what a proper struggle was. It had been a bit since he had actually been challenged on this front. Victory was no longer assured, and as much as that irked his scheming side, the rest of him was ecstatic at a new hurdle to ovee.
And he had built himself the perfect little loophole to get there.
Chapter 505 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 3 – Sphere
Chapter 505 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 3 C Sphere
For some reason, John was much more impressed by the cathedral than he was by the White House. The uncreatively named Washington National Cathedral was just more imposing, with its many spires and arches and sombre grey colour. The way the shadows were caught in the carvings, fell from the segmenting stone constructs that spanned between the massive windows and the ground, an entire building dedicated to the inconclusive existence of some almighty creator.
To John, who did not believe in one god, this building was impressive not because of what was prayed to in it but because of the will and two-thousand years of history that had produced it. Do you want to wait outside or? he asked the typically anti-religious blood mage at his side.
All you want to do is get through that fucking quest, right? Eliza asked, plopping her ass down on a shallow stone barrier that swung elegantly around a green area. Make it quick.
You will have to wait on your lonesome, Lydia pointed out, intending to inspect the architecture from within. Although her reaction was less than Johns, she too was quite impressed by this building.
You and your love for dumbass stone stacked on top of more fucking stone, Eliza went from sitting to lying on the stone, her legs kicking up into the air one after the other. Get in there, do it, I want to go home or see Brenda or eat some ice cream, whatever the fuck you pick, just not be here.
Alright, Ill be back in a moment, John promised and they went inside. Now, the quest just says visit, so did I already clear it? he thought as they followed the central walkway.
Furrowing his eyebrows, John was quickly distracted from his annoyance by the silence inside the church breaking through the whisper of feathers. In front of the central piece of the cathedral, arge depiction of the life of Christ centring around his crucifixion, appeared a pair of golden wings with the featureless outline of a person between them.
The golden feathers whispered into the melody of the churchs divine silence something beautiful and soothing. No words, just choirs of the lowest possible volume. The silhouette remained hovering there for a second.
This had happened before, albeit much shorter in scope, back in Amsterdam. Another cathedral, another angel, and just likest time, it disappeared as quickly as it came, one blink of his eyes and the figure was gone. Did you see that? he whispered towards Lydia.
See what? the queen asked just as quietly, too busy scanning the impressive quality of the benches and the masonry of the ceiling.
Well, where is my booty? John thought as he tried to solve what this was exactly. Once the trio was back together outside, he presented a theory. Seems like Gaia is trying to reincarnate somebody, he told them.
That is positively ridiculous, Lydia smote that idea down. Revival is already immensely rare, Eliza waved with a giant grin on her face, reincarnation is unheard of.
So is someone wielding 5 elemental items at once orbining several elementals into one, John put both Siegmund and himself up as examples. Just because its basically never seen doesnt mean it doesnt exist. You should know that, you are standing next to a human goddess.
HOST! I am a fucking host for a human goddess, Eliza was quick to correct.
I know, I know, Johnughed and patted her head. You only try to bite me yfully, thats how I tell the difference. To prove him right, the blood mage snapped her teeth at his hand and missed on purpose. Anyway, she basically stated it in the Achievement I gotst time, I just didnt give it any thought because it seemed unrted to me.
Why would she weave your presence into this affair at the current time, then? Lydia crossed her arms.
Shrugging, John answered, Beats me, he nced at the cathedral and then, overly cheeky, added, Gaia works in mysterious ways.
_________________________________________________________________________
The vacation continued on pretty eventlessly. John spent the days wandering the city with the girls and keeping up with business emails he received from the people in New York. It became apparent rather quickly that the people he had appointed more or less spontaneously were varying immensely in their fitness for their new jobs. He would have to carefully coerce them out of those positions and see who he could promote into their position instead.
He had expected something like that to happen; he would have been stupid not to when he picked people based on arbitrary categories like talked back to me during the battle with Thorne. It was a strategy born out of the fact that there were no ways to prove who was qualified for what, since the former economy had run on strength and wit alone. The hope was that the randomly appointed would keep the system running long enough for people that were better at it to rise from the masses and take their ce.
For the stress he put them through, John fully nned to give the unfitting many a nice,rge sum of money to settle or start a business more closely aligned with their interests. Anyway, that was a thing he had to deal with when he got back. Other things such as handing out loans, checking on progress on numerous construction efforts and so on he could deal with on the fly even without being there.
On one day he was invited to a meal with Abraham, to which he took Rave, and they had a nice time together. Which was odd, but once they were done, he had a much better understanding of people that had good things to say about dictators. All their horribleness aside, they could still be nice people. Not everyones personality was as rotten as their goals were.
Although John had no idea why Abraham was running his country the way he was. That would be an interesting discussion. Maybe they would get to have that on another day. Maybe during the meeting for golf they had set up.
The evenings and nights, John spent over at his parents ce. They were just having idle conversation over coffee and cake, sometimes for several hours, other times for barely one. Nothing much happened during those, just his parents getting used to the many girls and teasing their son with old stories about how awkward a kid he used to be.
Stories everyone but him found great delight in.
As everyone was having a great time with it, he lived through it though. They werent doing it with any maliciousness, they were his family and loves, he could shoulder a bit of shame for them. That was how three more days passed.
Lydias vacation was halfway over at that point.
______________________________________________________________________________
It was shortly before noon on the Saturday. This day was nned a bit differently than the previous ones; Brenda had insisted they came over early today. Your father has taken off the weekend, so this will be a nice family day, she had told him over the phone.
Interesting enough that she only wanted him over on the Saturday though. Something told him they wanted the house empty on the day afterwards for some activities he knew but rather not think off in context with his parents. Either way, his golfing trip with Abraham was on Sunday, so it fit his ns as well.
They were set to leave in a bit, but John still had some time kill. Time he choose to use by paying Scarlett a visit. Like some of the other girls, the Technomancer had imed a room for herself even though she spent most of the nights somewhere in or around Johns bed. Some nights, mass cuddles werent what people were out for, apparently. John didnt get that, he hadnt spent a single night alone since having the chance not to. Missing the warmth of a partner at his side was a depressing thought on its lonesome.
I may have gotten addicted to femalepanionship, John thought and immediately decided that was a drug he wouldnt even attempt to quit. He knocked on Scarletts door and entered once he heard her voice from the other side.
What he saw wasrgely what he expected. The formerly empty room had been cleared of everything that wasnt the standard issue dark-oaken desk and the bed and reced with a technologicalndscape of screens and cables. They were bolted to the walls and ceiling, a few touch screens even lying on the edges of the floor.
The answer how Scarlett had even set all of this up in such a short amount of time came in the shape of mechanical tendrils with multi-purpose tools set on their ends, installed at several points inside the room. Most of them were folded up, retreated into their base like the cable of a vacuum cleaner. Nevertheless, their presence had made this whole work possible for the otherwise almost mundanely weak Scarlett.
The redhead herself was sitting with closed eyes inside her chair. A bunch of the tendrils, working above a workbench of steel, suddenly stopped moving when she opened them up. The circuits in her red eyes fizzled out as she stopped working her magic and addressed her visitor, What brings you here?
Just checking on you, since I will be spending the rest of the day with the other girls, John exined and looked over to what was being worked on. He saw curved tes of a well-known bronze colour, Baelementium, lying around, along with the materials purple and gold tinted alternatives, S and L-Baelementium, respectively. A sphere of rails and sockets sat halfwaypleted in the middle of it all. Didnt expect you to work on my request yourself.
If you want something done right, do it yourself, Scarlett stated the simple truth of her life. I have no idea how to craft with my own two hands, but I know my tools. Her chair creaked the slightest bit when she turned it towards John. As she spoke, a tendril nonchntly reached out from under the desk and put some oil on the axis. I have to outsource the more specialized parts, but I can do most of the welding, shaping and screwing. Cuts the cost immensely.
And also keeps it more secretive, John approved of that. Still thought you would tell me if you could do that.
Shrugging, Scarlett yawned and stretched, I thought you would guess it yourself. I was involved in research and development for years. Thorne didnt just start producing drones out of nowhere, someone needed to design those. She gestured at herself. Who better than someone who can control the entire factory line to build different iterations?
Fair point, John conceded and moved on. So, what can you build from scratch?
From scratch? Basically nothing, the redheadughed it off, wiggling her fingers in the air. Again, these havent held a hammer in their life. What I can build is entirely dependant on what I can get my hands on, she smiled in that dangerous way that made John think he was about to get an offer he couldnt refuse, with money and coercion that usually means whatever I want. Feels good to have worked to the top, but thats besides the point. As long as I have an idea and the necessary parts, I can do basically everything. You may call me a puzzle-master, rather than an actual crafter.
Wouldnt that be puzzle-mistress or do you want to go full male? John couldnt resist making a joke about her androgynous appearance. The fact that she was wearing her suit, like always, didnt help.
If I look like a guy and you still fuck me, thats pretty gay, Scarlett threw the banter right back at him.
If you suddenly have a dick, dont expect me to keep fucking you, the Gamer made that clear. Until then, I have seen you naked, and no matter how small your tits are, the way you moan is definitely that of amon whore.
Scarlett narrowed her eyes, You are getting pretty disrespectful. Do I need to make you take me to the yroom again?
Like I need the room, John walked up to her and dragged her out of the chair. Struggling against his strong hands, Scarlett put up a bit of a y fight as he shoved her on the table. Laying her on her back, John fixed her against the wooden surface by keeping a hand on her throat. Although she was grabbing that arm, she didnt try to free herself. Only struggle more. I could take you right here a throaty moan left Scarletts mouth, words failing her due to the constraints on her windpipe, but I have to go, so that will have to wait.
He let her go, much to her disappointment. Fucking m-jammer, sheined when she fixed her cor. Get me all worked up for nothing, she looked after him as he turned to leave. This will dy the ETA on this thing by at least 30 minutes!
Ill make it up to you when I get back, John promised and went out the door.
Chapter 506 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 4 – Skinny
Chapter 506 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 4 C Skinny
Right, I keep forgetting to ask, John asked across the table, his father perking up when he realized that he was the one being addressed, but how do you afford this house anyway?
Their house back in Springfield had been decent, but nowhere near this near-mansion of a residence. Combining that with the fact that a city in the middle of nowhere had considerably lower real estate costs than a wealthy suburb in the capital and one had to ask how an engineer could shoulder all of that.
Like, did you take a loan or something? the Gamer put some more details in his question as Benjamin chewed his meal, not wanting to answer with a full mouth. Ever the diligent host, Brenda had prepared a small buffet to be consumed over the day. As of now, her husband and Eliza were the only ones who really took up the offer, thetter looking saddened at the fact that she had to hold back.
No, Benjamin answered after having gulped. No, I optimized a screw.
Rave raised an eyebrow and then looked around. Even having grown up in the Abyss, she knew that what had just been said didnt seem to quite match the estate they were inside off. A screw? she asked.
Yes, I shaved 10 percent off the needed metal of the screw we use in most of our products while keeping the necessary robustness, father Newmanid out. In response, I got a bonusrge enough to buy this house with and a promotion.
For 10 percent on a screw? Rave was still confused.
I get that, John nodded and then tried to math it out for his girlfriend. If they use 10000 screws per day and each one of them costs a dor, then 10% is saving them 1000 dors a day. It adds up. It still sounded like his father was ovepensated.
In a secretive voice, Benjamin added, Truth be told, my boss was quite insistent I buy this house C Turns out it was owned by his uncle and a previous buyer had just jumped off.
Ah so moneyundering as well, John couldnt hide all of his usatory tone. Ultimately nobody had gotten hurt in that process. On the contrary, that money was probably better used buying a hard-working man a house than it was resting in the bonus of an already rich CEO. Just because that hard-working man was a stepping stone for that money to reach a member of the bonus-givers family didnt mean that it was inherently wrong.
Still, the Gamer couldnt quite help but feel that there was something bad about giving somebody a much higher bonus than they deserved on the promise they would spend that money in a way that served ones own ends. It was all ambiguous.
It would be way easier if everyone and everything was just clearcut, John thought. If shitty people were the only ones doing shitty things and nice people were the only ones doing nice things, the whole world would be genuinely easy to wrap his head around. Instead, the Gamer got a charismatic president who seemed more like a dictator, a self-serving director who also indirectly bought his father a house and a good friend who was fucking his mother.
Quite a handful of conflicting emotions.
I wouldnt call it moneyundering, but I dont think you can have all the nice things in life without touching the bad ones every now and again, Benjamin answered his sons usations in a perfectly bnced tone. Nevertheless, he gave John a stern look, looking at his suit of meticulous design and cleanliness, You made quite a bit of money, right? Tell me you havent gotten the slightest bit dirty.
To that, John had no retort. He had fooled the entire world that he was the defender in an unjust war. What was that against some money that took a curved path over a third bank ount? Laughing, he admitted, Look at me, trying to head my own business but still needing wisdom from my dad.
Benjamin patted his son on the shoulder, Hey, you have grown up fast while I didnt see you, but you still arent that old. Its fine to need advice. After a few moments, he let out a surprisingly heavy sigh. I have been meaning to say this but I am sorry I wasnt at home a lot thest few years. I just really wanted you and your mother to have a nice home.
Surprisingly, it was Rave who interjected on that one, Nothing wrong with that just dont forget your kids birthday over your wishes. The sour note in that one sentence pretty much killed the conversation. It must have been the first time that Rave was in a bad mood since they had started this series of visits.
Brenda was ready to fix the mood at a moments notice. We shouldnt stay inside all the time; you are leaving soon and we still havent used the pool.
Or the jacuzzi! John was way more enthusiastic about that.
Maximillian cleared his throat, We kind of used it while you werent here.
That almost hurts me more than the fact that you are having a devils threesomes with my parents, John stated in a quiet tone, as if somebody had just plunged a knife in his chest and he was choking out hisst words. Truly, he felt like Caesar after Brutus betrayed him. At least he was used enough to that fact of life now to make jokes about it.
What is it with you and jacuzzis anyway? Maximillian asked, not for the first time. However, as he had never gotten a really great answer, he kept that question at the ready for whenever the opportunity arose.
This time, the Gamer hade to have an proper answer. I once had a VERY, VERY deep encounter with a redhead at a spa, John remembered the tumble where he and his partner, in a half-drugged craze, had destroyed the whole rooms furniture in the process of fucking. We rxed afterwards in one C also fucked some more. I almost died of dehydration before that. That was a hyperbole, but the point stood.
Redhead? Which one? Maximillian asked.
Nathalia, John answered without thinking.
Only as the king blinked and then slowly widened his eyes in surprise, did the Gamer realize that Maximillian had no actual idea that he was actually screwing the goddess of volcanoes. There had only ever been (heavily substantiated) rumours about that. I actually didnt believe you would stick your dick in THAT one until now.
Who is she? Brenda asked, understandably curious.
A crazy cougar, Maximillian answered and was technically not lying in that description. Why didnt you bring her along by the way? That would have been a story I could write some friends about.
We are I dont want to call it on a break, but she wanted some space, John also wasnt lying when he said that. I also dont want to talk about it, very private affair, he wiggled his way out of that conversation, and then they finally moved towards the pool.
Well, technically John and his girls moved upstairs first to change into their swimwear. They had, after all, deposited it there in advance on the day of their arrival. It took all of the removal of three articles of clothing for the sexual tension in the small guest room to boil up.
John was surrounded by stripping girls, and the resulting erection pushed his fly open like he was in some cheap hentai flick. At the same time, the girls made no secret out of the fact that they were watching each others curves in addition to the stripping harem lead. All eyes were on the stretched fabric of his underwear as his twenty-centimetre obelisk of a cock pointed ahead in all its might.
Between that and his toned body, akin to a glorious (if thin) Greek god, with a well-shaped ass, it was fair to say that they had just as much to leer at as John. Which stroked his ego immensely.
This might pose a minimal problem, Lydiamented, her nipples visibly growing harder despite the nice warmth in the room. Johns pants fell down to his ankles, while agreeing chuckles filled the room from all sides. Only Metra let out a mocking sound, even if she was wearing an expression of amusement herself.
The problem is anything but minimal, the tan muscle girl stated and took the initiative, stepping up to her contractor and shoving him back with one hand. Between her superior strength and the hindering position of Johns pants, he had no choice but to stumble back andnd with his back on the bed. Ill take care of it, she effectively called dibs and climbed atop John, his dick confined between her naked, smooth pussy and his own body.
Theyer of cloth between them became immensely distracting in a few moments. Metra, in a dominating mood from the looks of it, slid his trunks down only as far as they needed to not be in the way. So, my job is to just-aaah, he couldnt withhold the moan when her wet pussy encapsted the tip and then slid down as quickly as her tightness allowed her to, y here?
Metra pulled the little cloth she wore over her chest away and gave view to her chocte brown nipples. And to tell me when you are about to cum, she confirmed in the tone of amanding officer not looking for any backtalk but with the lewd grin of a girl on her favourite ride.
They wasted no time and Metra rode him with an interchanging set of movements, mostly quick up and downs and gyrating of her hips. Her petite breasts jiggled, her halfway closed eyelids fluttered and her lips quivered between gasping breaths. Her face was flushed to a darker shade of brown, fully revealing her bliss, her ecstatic impression growing more erotic to behold as her lust grew. The berserker babe worked herself into a very different kind of frenzy, always keeping one hand on Johns chest to assert who was in control here. Even when she let out a loud cry from a shuddering orgasm she brought upon herself.
He had been in the dominating role so often recently, this little switch was rather enjoyable. The only thing that he felt somewhat awkward about was the ce that this whole thing was happening at. But this was better than stepping in front of his mother with a raging boner.
I am close, he groaned and found his cock exposed to the air for a moment. Compared to the heavenly warm embrace of a tight pussy, even the regted temperature of the summer home felt cold. Quickly feeling the brownish pink lips of Metras mouth taking its ce, however, John wasnt bothered.
It only took a few moments of sucking for John to be pushed over the edge ande in her mouth. She gulped that all down willingly. Apparently, there was some sort of difference between cum and other biologicalponents that allowed sufficiently advanced Artificial Spirits to break it down unlike regr meals. John had no idea how, but he was just thankful it was a thing.
She sucked his cock for a bit longer until it went from erect to semi and stayed at that level. While that was still cause for a bulge in his pool wear, a pair of simple ck trunks, it was preferable to the unmissable alternative.
Great, now the fucking rest of us have unscratched itches, Eliza cussed.
Youll survive, Metra flippantly answered and frowned at the micro-bikini she had to put on.
Now John had expected many things upon stepping into the backyard. His mother standing stark naked next to the jacuzzi and waiting for the water to fill up all the way wasnt one of them. There you are, she turned with her massive breasts jiggling as if nothing was wrong. She gave him a purely tonically interested up and down. Jane wasnt kidding, you really did get muscles, like wow.
Seriously, whose genes did you get that from? Benjamin asked, stepping into the picture in his own birthday suite. Aside from his mother in wet dreams, his fathers dick was thest thing John wanted to see. The man looked utterly in, only the slightest bit of muscle on his unshaven chest with a small amount of natural hair. At least Maximillian had the decency of keeping his swimwear on.
Why are you naked? John asked in a purely tired way. He had no more energy to be ashamed of his parents behaving outside his expectations. Especially since he remained the only one who found this immensely ufortable.
Benjamin tested the water of the jacuzzi with his hand. This is my property; I can be in whatever state of undress I want, he decided.
Yes, Brenda agreed as if that answered the why, nobodys business, she turned towards the westward neighbour, ESPECIALLY NOT OF SOME MEDDLING NEIGHBOURS! Only now John realized that one side of the fences around the backyard was much taller than the others. You know, I do think the Bible and Christianity in general did great things for our nation, his mother stemmed her hands into her wide hips and gave a serious re in the direction she had shouted at, but the meddling Christian housewife named Susan is a real endemic.
I would wager the theory, Lydia stated, that the Imic patriarch would be a tad worse.
Mhm, I dont want to get into that debate, Brenda stated outright. I dont know about all of that nonsense and dont care to either. I am a housewife with a loving husband and a son who can get me a whole bunch of grandchildren. She looked over to the prime breeding estate, Eliza, you dont need to keep those on either if you dont want to. Of course, that goes for the rest of you as well. Skinny dipping should be a human right as far as I am concerned.
Bitching, Eliza smirked and immediately tossed off the clothes. In the first ce, the blood mage was only wearing those topromise with societys expectations, with her supernatural physique she really didnt need them. Unsurprisingly, Metra immediately followed suite. As did Beatrice.
This modus operandi is morefortable, she answered Johns questioning look.
The rest of the girls were either good or ying with the thought only to dismiss it after a few moments. Looks good now, Benjamin said as the bubbles began to rise in the jacuzzi, embracing his naked form, the older man being the first one to get inside. Ahhh a really great gift son. Hop on in!
The Gamer epted his fate.
Chapter 507 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 5 – Dipping
Chapter 507 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 5 C Dipping
John was doubly thankful for the white table in the middle of the jacuzzi. Reaching just far enough out of the rather chunky electrical bathtub to not be bothered by the bubbling waters, the smooth stic surface served two purpose. Naturally, it was the ce where they were cing the beers between drinking. The thing the Gamer was much happier about was that it served as a protective barrier between his eyes and his fathers junk. Even if the ever-moving water surface would have made spying it near-impossible.
You really dont need to be this awkward about this, ya know? Rave whispered into his ear as John, who was anything but a regr drinker, finished his second bottle. Its just your naked parents.
Look, some people are just afraid of spiders for no reason and I am just John sighed, loud enough for everyone to hear. Look, its like with people who get weirded out when they see two dudes kissing in public. Its unlikely they are actual homophobes but that doesnt mean they will magically not mind it. He waved his empty beer at Aclysia, who took it and climbed out of the jacuzzi. Thats thest I ever want to talk about this. I am done, things are the way they are, I ept it.
Alrighty, that was good enough for his girlfriend, who nted a quick kiss on his cheek and then rested her head on his right shoulder for a bit.
On his other side, there was a nice, meticulous piece of ass busy bending down to the crates of alcoholic beverages resting at the base of the jacuzzi. Do you have any particr request, Master? Aclysia asked over her shoulder after putting the empty bottle where it belonged.
Just that SOME people should keep their eyes to themselves, an already tipsy Gamer growled at Maximillian, who was staring at his maids ass without any shame. John gave the butt a nice p, Mine! he dered. Tread carefully, buddy! The king had the wisdom to follow that very clear warning and only cleared his throat before taking a sip from his own beverage. Thank you, Aclysia, John said in a much nicer tone when the thusly pped handed him an already opened beer and then snuggled up against him herself.
Dont be too harsh with Max, Benjamin said, currently sitting opposite of John and in a very simr position. He is the only one with nobody to cuddle. His wife was under his right arm and, although not quite as touchy, Hex was definitely in easy ass-grabbing distance. The undercover guard had appeared at some point, helping Brenda carry out the beer, and joined them without many words.
The grey hexagons on her ck swimwear made John wonder if her codename hadnt actually been chosen because she was in the business of hexing people but because she simply liked that shape (or if it had something to do with her powers). Anyhow, she was there and drinking non-alcoholic stuff.
Its fine, Maximillian waved off. Ill recharge by sleeping with all my girls back in Hollywood.
Boasting with your own harem, huh? ssy, John drilymented. The alcohol made him more sarcastic than usual, and with the warm environment he was in, the cold substance bubbled to his head pretty quickly.
Hey, you im all the young girls with ass, I im all the maturedies with tits, I say we are evening out the scales, the former kings opinion was met with chuckles by Benjamin.
What does this make me? the oldest man in the round asked.
Maximillian had an answer at the ready, A very charitable person. John is not in a habit of sharing his girls
He means I dont do it, the Gamer rified putting his beer on the table and then his arms around the surrounding girls waists.
Yes, Maximillian continued on, and honestly, neither am I.
Well, when you get older you learn that sharing can you some positives such as a very happy wife, the woman in question did give a very satisfied hum as she scratched Benjamin under the chin, also the presence of another man isnt as bad as I initially feared. As they say, its not gay if the balls dont touch.
It really isnt that bad, Maximillian agreed, was pretty surprised after the first time.
Now John could have confirmed or denied this, but either way his only experiences in that regard were artificial cocks on his girls or tentacles. Instead of saying anything, he opted to silence that topic. A change quickly came about anyhow.
Who is rubbing my feet, by the way? Maximillian asked and saw a hand rise up. The person it belonged to needed to be down to her ears in the waters in order to reach out that far. Her lengthy ck hair, rarely if ever seeing ab, soaked in the water, swimming atop the bubbles.
Thatd be me, fuckface, Eliza giggled unnervingly, finally managed to notice?
By the time she finished asking the question, Maximillian had already moved away as if he suddenly realized he was holding a rod or uranium rather than just some regr metal. To his credit, he remained in the jacuzzi and rtively calm. Not calm enough that Johns mother didnt notice.
Something the matter between you two? Brenda asked somewhat confused. Nothing so far had indicated this to her, as Maximillian seemed to have reduced the distance he needed to befortable around Eliza by quite a bit. Without knowing what to look for, the kings very justified trauma was basically invisible.
Just not great experiences with crazies and she reminds of a particr nasty one, Maximillian spun together a lie that was close enough to the truth to be used consistently.
How bad? Brenda asked with a concerned face.
You know my bad leg? Causing that bad, Maximillian turned to get another beer but Beatrice did him the favour of getting it for him.
What?! the big-breasted MILF was outraged. I hope she is behind locked bars!
Everyone in the know nced at Eliza. She is, Maximillian assured, as that too was close enough to the truth.
That is good then Brenda rxed visibly, slumping back against her husband. Well, I think Eliza here didnt want to do anything bad to you.
No, from one fucked fuckhead with fucking problems in their fucking head to another, I was just making him face his demons, showing off her flexibility, the blood mage sat back in the seat of the jacuzzi and then stretched the offending foot straight into the air, without any help of her hands. Just a normal fucking foot.
Now that Eliza was the centre of attention, Brenda had a question for her as well. Why are you still wearing that choker? Despite being in the nude from the moment that was offered to her, the pretty little psycho had kept on the illusion weaving cloth around her neck. The reasons for that were shrouded only to the two mundane hosts, as with so many things.
Cause daddy likes it, Eliza answered in the most innocent, sweet voice possible. Her tone and bodynguage were that of a perfectly behaved nun, while the giant, insane grin that bloomed on her face, apanying her widely opened eyes, belonged more to someone that wanted to be fucked on the altar before an ongoing mass.
John would have majorly appreciated it, hadnt she used the forbidden word. Bad Eliza! he basically barked at her and got a cheekily stuck out tongue in response.
He hates being called daddy, Rave let his parents know.
I get that, Benjamin stated, and that seemed to be the first thing him and Maximillian disagreed on, as the king made a gesture that could only be interpreted as the fuck is wrong with you people. Look, I am as much a fetishist as the next swinger, way too much info, but incest, even as a roley, not my thing.
Thats not what the word daddy is about, the gravity king shook his head. Its a deep sign of submission. They ept you as the provider and respect you. Way better than master, thats just all about submissiveness.
Aclysia narrowed her eyes, You take that back right now.
Why? I am not wrong, Maximillian challenged.
Master is a word used for the person you are devoted to. At times this means being submissive to his desires, at others it may mean you have to tell them what they least want to hear. To my master I will be whatever he needs, not whatever he desires. Either way, it is all about the well-being of your chosen, Aclysia gave Johns earlobe a tiny bite that sent shivers down his spine and threatened his current state of non-erect tranquillity. That word is not a simple statement of the persons dominance of oneself. It is a way of life!
Huh, Benjamin was the first to break the silence that impassioned series of statements left. Brenda, we should try to pick up some Jewish women when we have the chance.
I do like that idea, honey, she agreed then suddenly straightened up. We havent taken our vitamins yet today! After that, surprisingly shocked sounding, announcement, Brenda quickly left the jacuzzi and tapped nakedly into the house, only stopping to slip into some houseshoes.
Left behind, Benjamin rolled his eyes. Your mother insist we take vitamins once a day, he conspiratorially whispered, loud enough for his returning wife to hear. She thinks its going to help us stay healthy or some humbug like that.
If it didnt do something, they wouldnt keep selling them, Brenda insisted in a tone that made it clear they had had this discussion a number of times and nothing was going to change unless they had a serious fight over it. Something that Benjamin obviously didnt want to, especially not over something as silly as drinking a fizzy liquid that tasted like cheap Fanta once a day.
He let out the breath held during drinking and gave his ss back to his wife, who left the premises again to put those two into the dishwasher. Worst case, it does nothing, best case she is right. Whatever it is, she insists, so I y along, he told the two men around. While Maximillian nodded, John had to admit that he was forced into situations like that pretty seldom.
Sure, there was an ample amount of situations he had to solve in regards to his girls personal life and problems, as well as some inner-harem conflicts, but for the most part things were running perfectly smooth and demands were a very rare thing. Now that I think about it, thats probably thanks to Aclysia, John thought.
All problems of food and hygiene, menial chores that could put quite the strain on a rtionship, were resolved by the diligent maid and her passive assistant. Everything else was quite easily resolved by Johns Charisma or took the shape of girls wanting to go out for a date, which he obliged almost every time. Basically, his harem was running as smooth as it possibly could at its size due to the numerous decisions he had made along the way.
Felt good to be shown he had made the right ones.
The day from there was simple and clean. They left the jacuzzi and yed cards for a bit. Johns drunkenness eventually topped off at him stripping out of his swimwear after all. It was true what they said about alcohol immensely lowering inhibitions. At that point, all of the girls (even Lydia, who hadpensated for the weakness of American beer by consuming loads of it) followed suit.
A couple harder drinks and John may have been unable to hold himself back from fucking Beatrice while watching Metra and Rave having a friendlypetition in the pool about who could swim faster turning mildly sexual. Instead, he wed hismon sense together and got her into the earlier used guest room.
When he returned from the tumble, Benjamin and Hex were gone. When Maximillian went to look for them, he also disappeared. Then the game repeated with Brenda. At that point, no host remained.
After sending Aclysia to make sure they were well, and from the report it sounded like John wasnt the only one whose loins were affected by the alcohol, the group decided to call it a night and returned to the yacht to cool down in more privacy.
It had been a pretty nice day, all things considered.
Chapter 508 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 6 – What secrets holds a golf ball?
Chapter 508 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son 6 C What secrets holds a golf ball?
Are we upper ss yet? Rave asked as they sat in the back of the golf-cart, driving them to the start of their game. The question was justified by their current environment.
Although this Sunday was considerably colder than even thest few days, the dedicated golfing barrier at the back of the White House had its own temperature regtion. Winds, caused byrge enchanted pirs, that must eat a fortune in mana upkeep, blew over the field of blue-tipped, finely trimmed grass. Most of the time, they were soft and barely noticeable, providing a nice cool to the artificial warmth and thergely unblocked sunshine. Only asionally would a strong gust roll over them. Some randomizing shenanigans must have been in y.
John was doubly thankful for the immoveable nature of his hat in conditions like this. Pretty sure we have been upper-ss for a while now. We are living on a yacht, for crying out loud, he answered. This conversation would doubtlessly be memorized and reported by their current driver, thus the Gamer was happy that his girlfriend had enough awareness of the situation to only talk about minor things.
Point, but it doesnt feel quite as posh as I have an entire golf course with simted weather in my backwn, Rave gestured at the barrier around them. Given that this whole thing was several hundred metres in diameter, she had a point.
The cart came to a halt and the two of them got off. The fine dirt road crunched under their feet and Rave stretched like a cat, revealing a bit more of her midriff than her already somewhat skimpy attire usually did. With a short tank-top and a pair offortable jeans, she was pretty casually dressed. John, by contrast, had only lost the jacket of his usual suit.
That made him the odd one out, as both Abraham and Lerylia had their own set of everyday clothes on. The former was wearing white pants and a dark green shirt, while thetter came in a blue top and had widely cut legwear of the same colour, once more outfitted with the odd slices of cloth that dangled seemingly without purpose.
This time, the ambassador was here on Johns request. Currently, they had no reason to be in a hostile rtionship. As the old saying went, keep your friends close and your enemies closer, although John would have added a potential to the enemies and also would not have kept them quite as close as he did Scarlett, for example. The basic wisdom still applied.
Abraham had suggested this golf game, a continued effort to either identify Johns true intention or build a stable rtionship with him, but who participated he had left open to the Gamer. Of course, John had asked his girls; aside from Rave only one person had looked interested. Everyone who wasnt around right now was either doing some finalizing tourism or hanging around back at the yacht.
Hands meeting in greeting, the presidents exchanged friendly smiles and some empty words that came along every such asions. The usual how are you and good in all its derivations running from one person to another as the little ritual repeated once for every pair that cared to go through with it.
I have a little something for you, Abraham finally went into some other topics and gestured towards one of the caddies. In a fluid motion, the broad-shouldered president was handed a book of the thick, decorated and sturdy variety, a leather binding keeping between itself countless, gold-framed pages. You expressed interest in the Little Marnds code ofw before. This copy was only settling dust in my library.
This book looks like it hasnt even heard of the concept of dust, John thought as he took it with the appropriate amount of respect. He took the liberty to look inside. Tiny letters contrasted in meticulously pressed ck from the white paper and every single page was filled to the brim. It was not a text to be read for enjoyment and wasnt formatted that way either. I assume thats just the corews? the Gamer asked. Over the years,wmakers tended to cobble together more pages than what fit in a single book.
Correct, Abraham confirmed as the gifted put the book into his inventory.
I will read it with great care, the Gamer assured, not hiding his enthusiasm. Abraham must have been assuming John was just happy to see what his forming guild could learn from the already existent code ofw. In truth, John felt like he had just been handed an old game manual, the kind that came with all of the cheat codes listed at the end.
Whether or not that turned out to be true was a matter that would take an analytical read-through to discover. If there was nothing, then John was frozen in his ambitions, but he would look at that problem (and what to do in the meantime) when he faced it.
Aside from the question of possibility, there was also the one of need. John knew that his want to take over the USA was one of pride, but his justification was based on the moral necessity of doing so. The Little Marnd, for all its ws and corruption, didnt seem to be an actually bad ce to live in. Frustrated, that seemed to be the general feeling in the air. People werent starving or anything, they just didnt feel like their voices had any relevance and thus were growing more and more restless. A bad situation, for sure, but maybe not one that warranted military intervention.
John would brood over this problem and if his takeover was the correct solutionter today when hed read thews. I am afraid I dont have a gift in return, he admitted with a hint of shame in his voice. Their future affairs aside, that would have been a sign of courtesy.
I am your host, for all intents and purposes, a gift is not required, Abraham benevolently let him go and then looked around. But I thought you wanted to bring a second person.
Ah well, she is a bit elusive, so she mighteter, John looked over the artificial hills of the golf course, the areas filled with sand and the ponds. Or she is already here, he added when he spied tinum blond between the lilyponds. Everyone turned towards the direction the Gamer was walking in.
In the clear pond, amongst the blooming pink flowers atop the pads, sat an expressionless girl. Her white dress was not a tad darker, neither close to nor underneath the surface of the water, as it soaked up not a drop of it. Hair of a wless, light golden colour disobeyed the artificial winds that blew but rather swayed to another worlds rules. The incredibly long ponytail, just like her dress, wasnt getting wet despite curling over the smooth surface, her movements not disturbing the calm of the water.
Around her a school of small fish gathered. Where humans felt a natural urge to stay away from the nk, animals just saw her for the gentle creature she was. An urge John shoved aside like it was his second nature, his attraction to her far overtaking such an (admittedly based) instinct. Nia, he called out to her, and she turned around with a turtle in her arms.
Yes? she asked, her tone as devoid of emotion as always. To someone who knew her less well, the scene, as she stared directly at his eyes for far longer than wasfortable, must have looked like she was going to scold him for interrupting her in whatever she was doing. A motion at her side indicated that she was trying to grab her stack of emotion cards, but both it and the bag they were inside of were resting outside the pond, as was logical.
We want to start soon, so stop your aquatic cuddling session, he informed her. Also, I hope you didnt bring that turtle from elsewhere! He didnt want the pariah to introduce new animals to this finely bnced, man-made ecosystem.
No, she answered and slowly lowered the shelled creature into the water before stepping out. It followed her all the way onto the shore of the pond and kept looking even for a bit after that. Only after Nia gave it ast and somewhat robotic wave did the turtle turn around and submerge itself.
Both Lerylia and Abraham kept a distance away, even instinctively stepping away as the nk approached. Clearly, they werent psyched at the prospect of the pariah being around them. John understood why. She is not here to disable any of your safety precautions and allow me to Observe you, he told them, you have my word on that. There was no way he could pull that off sneakily enough to make it worth the risk of soured rtions anyway.
The two politicians rxed slightly by that but still had to visibly force themselves to stand still and raise their hands to shake hers in greeting. The Maiden of Null, a great honour, Lerylia managed to force out a bit of niceness.
Maiden of Null? John asked, surprised. He knew that title already, it was the one that his Observe showed him every time, but it was the first time he heard it out loud.
A title given to the strongest known nk, Abraham exined to him willingly.
Oh? John raised an eyebrow. He had no idea when Nia had slipped into that position. Given that there were so few of them, it couldnt have been a particr broad field ofpetition. Still, did that mean every other nk was weaker than Nia when he had first met her or was this a case of Gaia handing out the title in advance due to her absurd potential? What is the title for men?
That is a good question, Lerylia shrugged, as she subtly put some distance between herself and Nia. Female nks tend to be stronger, so the strongest known nk never was a man.
Another huh came from John, simultaneously with his girlfriend who had also known nothing about any of this. This time, he wasnt going to jokingly scold her for that, this was pretty specialized knowledge.
Nia took all of that information with her usual visual uncaring, instead making way towards Abraham. The president straightened his back and raised his hand in greeting, only to be passed by as the nk fetched her bag instead. This went by withoutment, as Abraham was strictly relieved at being spared touching the pariah. Once the white piece of equipment hung over her shoulder, Nia returned.
Now what is up with that? John thought. The pariahs eyes had clearlynded on the raised hand for a moment, so she had made the conscious decision to ignore the offer where she had taken it with the ambassador. Odd and convoluted as they often where, the nk usually did have reasons for her actions. Well then, he pped his hands together, now that everyone is here, shall we?
They went back to the caddies and then to the starting position. Ever yed golf? Abraham asked John, who had the honour of the first swing.
Cant say I have, John answered, extending the question to Rave and Nia with a nce.
N-o-p-e, nope, the Lightbearer spelled out and then repeated the full word for rity. Unless mini golf counts.
Nia just nodded; apparently, she had some experience in the game.
Id rather not count it, Abrahammented on the mini golf with sarcastic disdain. Either way, the first swing of every yer on each hole is called the drive, the presidentmented with an obvious enthusiasm for the game. One of the caddies ced down one of those tiny stic things that were used to hold the ball on the first swing. That is called a tee. Anyway, the reason why we call that first shot a drive is because this Johns caddie suddenly presented him with one of the many different irons used for this sport, it had a chunky end, is called a driver.
John took it and weighed it in his hands. As expected, it was pretty end heavy, giving the swing a boost in intensity at the cost of uracy. Ideal, considering the target area, marked by thinner cut grass (giving it a lighter colour), was easily two-hundred metres away. Alrighty, the Gamer took his position, raised the club up high with both hands, a stance of certainty, and then swung with all his might. And missed gloriously. Well, thats embarrassing, he cleared his throat.
Abraham wasughing with all his might, together with Lerylia. Even Rave openly giggled and Nia held up the Amused card. My apologies, the president was the first one to recover. Even though we usually y a harsh game around here, we wont count that, if that is alright with you, John?
I would be thankful if you could look over my amateurishness, the Gamer nodded and attempted a second time. He was a bit embarrassed, but he already knew that physical activities werent his strong suit. Rather than keep his eye on the goal, John fixated what he was supposed to hit this time around. The pping sound of metal meeting stic at high speed confirmed the hit and the ball flew across thendscape. Thats better, John stated as he watched after the tiny dot. His visioning with a zoom feature certainly helped there. Itnded quite a bit away from the goal, but he was happy with just having hit it.
The game continued from there as John engaged in some semi-serious talk with Abraham. I got a question about your government, if you dont mind, the Gamer began.
Fire away, Abraham nonchntly agreed while making sure his shoulders were in the correct position.
I have realized over the days I have been here that your other two estates arent exactly happy, John stated outright. I dont know what exactly the militarys problem is, although I have some rough ideas, but the people seem to be mostly disgruntled about your massive licensing apparatus.
Ah, yes, that is a problem for them, Abraham answered, softly testing his driver with a couple of swings at the air. But it is a necessary evil. Without those licensing fees, the government cant sustain its current size and own counter-military. He swung for real and the ball flew far. His muscr body wasnt just for show, as the ball actuallynded within the goal zone.
Impressive, Johnmented on that, before continuing his questions on their ways from one ball to the next as the game moved on. Why dont you downsize the government and let go of the counter-military if that eats up all this money?
Because that would give them more power, the president answered. Less power centralized on me means we have to bicker about everything for longer. Before I took office, the Little Marnd was in a steady decline. The military refused to deal with the government, so I made sure the government had its own military. The third estate generally doesnt care about anything and has so many heads that negotiations are basically impossible. They didnt want to give money to themon cause by their own volition, so I had to introduce a set of systems aiming at gathering that money otherwise. It is to everyones benefit if I hold the reigns.
Red g, John thought but couldnt say anything out loud. As it was right now, his guild wasnt much different. Basically, all power rested with himself. In almost all ways it was even more concentrated. To what end then? he asked.
People need to follow the rules we set, Abraham stated. An equal ying field for everyone. As unpopr as the manyws and licenses are, they keep the ying field even and free from the lucky few just absorbing everything.
Nias second hit made her ball fall close to the distant goal. Which was good, since they had to head over there. It would be the presidents turn next. Ast question burned on Johns lips, Arent you undermining what your predecessors built in the process?
Somews need to be undermined, not everything is created equal. It was Abrahams time for his second hit, so they made their way over to where his ball hadnded. A mere couple of centimetres away from the hole. Any hit that was just the slightest bit too strong or badly angled would put the ball further away from the hole than it had been originally.
The president readied his iron, but before he could hit the ball, a particrly strong and longsting gust of wind hit the fields from behind him. Taking a step to the side to let the wind roll over, Abraham watched as the unshielded ball rolled into the hole, propelled not by the rules of the game but by the environment. Guess I win with only one hit, Abraham turned with a smile.
I guess you do. Johns eyes were keen.
Chapter 510 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son Finale – Once more, without her
Chapter 510 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son Finale C Once more, without her
They were having one more dinner over at Johns parents house and a friendly quiet had settled over the table. After ten days, there was very little to still speak about. His parents were caught up pretty well on his life now. Well, on what he could tell them about his life anyway. On the subject of introducing his parents to the Abyss, John remained undecided.
There was a pretty easy route in. If the vitamin intake was anything to judge by, Brenda was currently on a bit of a health-concern-trip. It would only take a bit of encouragement by Hex for her to pick up the line of martial arts Lydia had rmended and from there John only needed to find a good teacher for her. Maybe Raveing for a visit sometime and showing her would be enough. Still, that was a monumental decision to make on someones behalf.
So, John tried to ask in a hypothetical. He wiped off his mouth with a napkin and put his utensils down, then broke the silence, Here is a philosophical question, would you rather be safe or informed? The questioning gazes he got from his parents in response urged him to borate on that. If you had the choice between being involved in a friends or family members life, but in return they had to reveal to you knowledge that would put you in harms way, would you rather be blissfully ignorant or endangered in your knowledge? He made that soundpletely nonchnt and suave, that way his parents wouldnt think of it as anything more than their son having a harmless philosophical idea.
Mhm, his father chewed on that question for a moment, while Brenda was waiting for him to present his answer first. Difficult. My answer would depend on the amount of danger and for whom. If we say its a person close to my heart and they desperately need my help with it, then yes, I would prefer to know. He took a thinking pause. Perhaps this makes me sound like a coward, but otherwise, no, I would prefer to be ignorant. If its not something I can solve, then I dont see why I should get involved in every dangerous business out there.
I generally agree, Johns mother supported her husband in his answer. We have pretty nice lives here and we worked to get here. What about you, sweetie?
I want to know, so I can help protect them, the Gamer had his answer on his lips already. I have all this wealth and I am powerful in many aspects. I shouldnt ditch my friends or anyone important.
His father cleared his throat and put on the manliest voice he could muster. Its good to see you know your lessons well, John. With great poweres great responsibility, Benjamin smirked widely. I ALWAYS wanted to say that.
Too bad you are my father and not my uncle, Johnmented while shaking his head in an amused fashion. That reference falls a bit t, even if you have the right name.
Maybe, but I also dont want to get shot for it to sink in, so I can live with inuracies, his father retorted. That was fair enough so John dropped the topic. However, his father had onest thing to add, It is admirable that you want to help everyone however you can. If you find yourself to be outstanding, that is what you should do. Me and your mother, we havended it pretty good but ultimately we are just mundane people, he shrugged, and we are pretty upied with just our own little problems.
That is fair enough, John nodded and decided for now and forever that he would not introduce his parents to the Abyss. His father had just said it. They were just mundane people and they were happy that way. The only purpose their introduction would serve would be for John to feel better about not having to lie to them.
And he wasnt selfish enough to use that as his sole reason.
______________________________________________________________________
Dont let half a year pass before your next visit! Brenda guided them out the door with a bit of a scolding undercurrent in her friendly tone, only to quickly press a kiss on her sons forehead. It was nice to have you in the house again, even if it was a different house and you werent actually sleeping over.
It was nice, John agreed in repetition, giving her a deep hug in return. It was nice to have some hours of shelter. Ill drop by sooner rather thanter, I promise, he then stepped back to let his parents also say their goodbyes to the girls. Some of them got advice whispered in their air, others invitations toe on their own when they ever wanted to. All in all, it was a wholesome goodbye. He already missed them when the door closed behind them.
He was once more without his parents. This time, he hadnt just suddenly been separated by new interests and business demands, however. He knew where they were and he could visit them whenever he wanted. They passed a house diagonally across the street, where someone was busy taking off the FOR SALE! sign with a satisfied impression. A lot of real estate agents in the area were currently getting good news. What a lucky coincidence for them.
What a costly one for John.
Well, the state of affairs was as it was, and as such there was no sense crying over spilled milk.
____________________________________________________________________________
I suppose I cannot convince you to take a flight in New York? John asked a certain auburn brte as they walked through the Washington airport, just one day (spent fucking and flirting)ter. Ride the yacht home so we have a few more hours together?
Stopping in her stride, Lydiaid her hand on his face with odd gentleness. A proposal I would like toply to but one that my time does not allow me to, she stated. Do not worry, situation willing we should be able to see each other again soon enough. For all we know, your next vacation might lead you to my doorstep instead. I know you never went to see my pce in Berlin.
I do like myrge, epic structures, John gave that idea a high chance to seed eventually. It was only fair that he went over to her ce after she had crossed the ocean to see him. However, he had to sigh heavily and lean into the palm of her hand. Although her hand was a bit cold, the fact it belonged to Lydia was all John needed to feel warm. Whenever my own days arent busy again. I get the feeling it will only get busier from here on out.
It was you who refused my offer to stay in my household, Lydia jokingly reminded him, her gentle touch transforming into a light tap on his cheek. A slight smiley on her red lips. Thus this is your own fault.
Ah, it alles with cons and pros doesnt it? he asked the world. Such is the burden of making decisions.
Absolut, Lydia answered in German, her blue eyes flickering over to a terminal somewhere behind him. Close your eyes, John, and count to 10. She looked over to the rest. Every girl that could appear in public was present. The rest of you too.
A bit clich, dont you think? he asked but obeyed. In the iplete, red-tinged darkness of closed lids, he felt her arms wrap around him. He could see the equally tall girl in his imagination, slowly leaning in and then pressing her full lips on his. Where her hands were cold, her lips were hot in a way that scorched his soul and left a mark that no healing in the world could ever fix. It caused apse in his count, couldnt havested too long, but felt like itsted just long enough. Her scent and the texture of her lips were ingrained in his mind.
Until next time, my sweet affair, she whispered into his ear without any of the usual iron, just the voice of a woman in love. Wonderful, truly, to hear from her. The butterflies danced in his stomach a waltz that only faeries could write. Then she was gone, but his timer was only halfway through. There was a pping sound, apanied by a surprised yell from his girlfriend, then he opened his eyes.
The queen was already gone, had vanished somewhere in the crowd. A clean but thoroughly saddening separation. Then again, John couldnt think of a way that any goodbye from his girls couldnt leave him somewhat hollow. With a raised eyebrow, he looked over to Rave, who was rubbing her bum. She pped me! the Lightbearer exined. Lydia pped me on the ass! Like, the gal properly spanked me.
Well, thats a way to show she will miss us, Metra chuckled. Wouldnt have thought she had it in her, took her for more of a fucking prude.
You have been sleeping in the same John wanted to say bed when a sudden discovery behind the muscle girl caused his tongue to knot together. A very tall, very ck wearing man was cutting through the crowd. His frame was one of pure muscle, that much John could discern through the strained jacket he was wearing, looking like he had taken it at least one size too small. His ck hair was cut short and an eye patch of the same colour was partly disappearing inside it.
It had been a bit, but John would recognize that figure even outside his armour or the giant sword. What Sigmund was doing here at exactly this moment, John had no idea about, but fact was: there he was and the Gamer really didnt want to face the guy right now. Since thest time, John hadnt gotten a lot stronger and the Contender had wiped the floor with him. Not even thoroughly, if John had been on the losing end of a valiant struggle, that would have been one thing. Instead he had been used like a one-time napkin to swipe away some oil spills.
Luckily for him that he was currently standing on Sigmunds blind side. There was no doubt that this would turn into a brawl the second they were spotted. The ck swordsman was evidently famous for getting into hasted engagements, all he cared about was the challenge of the battle.
Funnily enough, it wasnt just John that saw that this was a pretty bad situation about to unfold. A raven-haired woman was at his side, at least a head smaller but herself around the 1,80m mark, which was pretty tall for a woman (although many of Johns girls yed in the same ballpark, but that was not fair to the average female). She moved with the elegance of an ancient aristocrat, except for the moment when she saw John and, by extension, Metra.
Seminaris had just as little interest to have her king candidate run into the berserker babe again as John had to put his life on the line. A silent alliance was forged with a simple exchange of gazes. in the same? Metra asked, raising an eyebrow. She noticed Johns attention lying with something behind her and began turning around.
Reacting hastily and without thinking, John went with one move that was going to him some sess and just threw himself at the brown-skinned tank of a woman. Must have looked a bit silly, considering she was taller and even a bit broader than him, but desperate times and all that. He locked her right into a French kiss, the prolonged sloppy kind. At first, he did so in desperation. Then Metra answered his advance with her own movements. Then his head became somewhat light from theck of air this forced on him. Then he just forgot for a second why he was doing this and just enjoyed it.
John Newman was, no matter how crafty, a massive pervert, and this pulled his attention right away from the important things and towards his growing erection. Only when they did part did he remember why he had started it. At that point, the destructive duo was already gone. Leaving John with a mildly turned on First of Wrath.
Hrrrrrr, she made a sound deep in her throat that was half growl and half purr, the blonde grabbing John by the cor. Now there, Master, what is getting you all worked up? she asked, a grin on her face that basically spelled out that she was ready to throw down right here, in the nearest restroom or wherever else, no matter how many people were around. Do that more often and I might show you what a Metracana learns over the years.
Honestly, John was speechless at the idea that she had withheld any sort of sexual trickery from him. That was just in rude. Ill see what I can do, John promised and made a mental note to do surprising things to Metra more often, even if the way she was currently holding more of his bodyweight in her one fist than he was on his toes was more intimidating than assuring.
Eliza suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. Causing everyone around, mundane or Abyssal, to stop and look in confusion. Out, I want to get fucking out of here, too many people with shit faces that stare like asses! she dered, her breathing way quicker than it should have been.
It was best to move this elsewhere for several reasons.
Chapter 510 – Daily Abyss, Nightly Son Finale – Once more, without her
Chapter 510 C Daily Abyss, Nightly Son Finale C Once more, without her
They were having one more dinner over at Johns parents house and a friendly quiet had settled over the table. After ten days, there was very little to still speak about. His parents were caught up pretty well on his life now. Well, on what he could tell them about his life anyway. On the subject of introducing his parents to the Abyss, John remained undecided.
There was a pretty easy route in. If the vitamin intake was anything to judge by, Brenda was currently on a bit of a health-concern-trip. It would only take a bit of encouragement by Hex for her to pick up the line of martial arts Lydia had rmended and from there John only needed to find a good teacher for her. Maybe Raveing for a visit sometime and showing her would be enough. Still, that was a monumental decision to make on someones behalf.
So, John tried to ask in a hypothetical. He wiped off his mouth with a napkin and put his utensils down, then broke the silence, Here is a philosophical question, would you rather be safe or informed? The questioning gazes he got from his parents in response urged him to borate on that. If you had the choice between being involved in a friends or family members life, but in return they had to reveal to you knowledge that would put you in harms way, would you rather be blissfully ignorant or endangered in your knowledge? He made that soundpletely nonchnt and suave, that way his parents wouldnt think of it as anything more than their son having a harmless philosophical idea.
Mhm, his father chewed on that question for a moment, while Brenda was waiting for him to present his answer first. Difficult. My answer would depend on the amount of danger and for whom. If we say its a person close to my heart and they desperately need my help with it, then yes, I would prefer to know. He took a thinking pause. Perhaps this makes me sound like a coward, but otherwise, no, I would prefer to be ignorant. If its not something I can solve, then I dont see why I should get involved in every dangerous business out there.
I generally agree, Johns mother supported her husband in his answer. We have pretty nice lives here and we worked to get here. What about you, sweetie?
I want to know, so I can help protect them, the Gamer had his answer on his lips already. I have all this wealth and I am powerful in many aspects. I shouldnt ditch my friends or anyone important.
His father cleared his throat and put on the manliest voice he could muster. Its good to see you know your lessons well, John. With great poweres great responsibility, Benjamin smirked widely. I ALWAYS wanted to say that.
Too bad you are my father and not my uncle, Johnmented while shaking his head in an amused fashion. That reference falls a bit t, even if you have the right name.
Maybe, but I also dont want to get shot for it to sink in, so I can live with inuracies, his father retorted. That was fair enough so John dropped the topic. However, his father had onest thing to add, It is admirable that you want to help everyone however you can. If you find yourself to be outstanding, that is what you should do. Me and your mother, we havended it pretty good but ultimately we are just mundane people, he shrugged, and we are pretty upied with just our own little problems.
That is fair enough, John nodded and decided for now and forever that he would not introduce his parents to the Abyss. His father had just said it. They were just mundane people and they were happy that way. The only purpose their introduction would serve would be for John to feel better about not having to lie to them.
And he wasnt selfish enough to use that as his sole reason.
______________________________________________________________________
Dont let half a year pass before your next visit! Brenda guided them out the door with a bit of a scolding undercurrent in her friendly tone, only to quickly press a kiss on her sons forehead. It was nice to have you in the house again, even if it was a different house and you werent actually sleeping over.
It was nice, John agreed in repetition, giving her a deep hug in return. It was nice to have some hours of shelter. Ill drop by sooner rather thanter, I promise, he then stepped back to let his parents also say their goodbyes to the girls. Some of them got advice whispered in their air, others invitations toe on their own when they ever wanted to. All in all, it was a wholesome goodbye. He already missed them when the door closed behind them.
He was once more without his parents. This time, he hadnt just suddenly been separated by new interests and business demands, however. He knew where they were and he could visit them whenever he wanted. They passed a house diagonally across the street, where someone was busy taking off the FOR SALE! sign with a satisfied impression. A lot of real estate agents in the area were currently getting good news. What a lucky coincidence for them.
What a costly one for John.
Well, the state of affairs was as it was, and as such there was no sense crying over spilled milk.
____________________________________________________________________________
I suppose I cannot convince you to take a flight in New York? John asked a certain auburn brte as they walked through the Washington airport, just one day (spent fucking and flirting)ter. Ride the yacht home so we have a few more hours together?
Stopping in her stride, Lydiaid her hand on his face with odd gentleness. A proposal I would like toply to but one that my time does not allow me to, she stated. Do not worry, situation willing we should be able to see each other again soon enough. For all we know, your next vacation might lead you to my doorstep instead. I know you never went to see my pce in Berlin.
I do like myrge, epic structures, John gave that idea a high chance to seed eventually. It was only fair that he went over to her ce after she had crossed the ocean to see him. However, he had to sigh heavily and lean into the palm of her hand. Although her hand was a bit cold, the fact it belonged to Lydia was all John needed to feel warm. Whenever my own days arent busy again. I get the feeling it will only get busier from here on out.
It was you who refused my offer to stay in my household, Lydia jokingly reminded him, her gentle touch transforming into a light tap on his cheek. A slight smiley on her red lips. Thus this is your own fault.
Ah, it alles with cons and pros doesnt it? he asked the world. Such is the burden of making decisions.
Absolut, Lydia answered in German, her blue eyes flickering over to a terminal somewhere behind him. Close your eyes, John, and count to 10. She looked over to the rest. Every girl that could appear in public was present. The rest of you too.
A bit clich, dont you think? he asked but obeyed. In the iplete, red-tinged darkness of closed lids, he felt her arms wrap around him. He could see the equally tall girl in his imagination, slowly leaning in and then pressing her full lips on his. Where her hands were cold, her lips were hot in a way that scorched his soul and left a mark that no healing in the world could ever fix. It caused apse in his count, couldnt havested too long, but felt like itsted just long enough. Her scent and the texture of her lips were ingrained in his mind.
Until next time, my sweet affair, she whispered into his ear without any of the usual iron, just the voice of a woman in love. Wonderful, truly, to hear from her. The butterflies danced in his stomach a waltz that only faeries could write. Then she was gone, but his timer was only halfway through. There was a pping sound, apanied by a surprised yell from his girlfriend, then he opened his eyes.
The queen was already gone, had vanished somewhere in the crowd. A clean but thoroughly saddening separation. Then again, John couldnt think of a way that any goodbye from his girls couldnt leave him somewhat hollow. With a raised eyebrow, he looked over to Rave, who was rubbing her bum. She pped me! the Lightbearer exined. Lydia pped me on the ass! Like, the gal properly spanked me.
Well, thats a way to show she will miss us, Metra chuckled. Wouldnt have thought she had it in her, took her for more of a fucking prude.
You have been sleeping in the same John wanted to say bed when a sudden discovery behind the muscle girl caused his tongue to knot together. A very tall, very ck wearing man was cutting through the crowd. His frame was one of pure muscle, that much John could discern through the strained jacket he was wearing, looking like he had taken it at least one size too small. His ck hair was cut short and an eye patch of the same colour was partly disappearing inside it.
It had been a bit, but John would recognize that figure even outside his armour or the giant sword. What Sigmund was doing here at exactly this moment, John had no idea about, but fact was: there he was and the Gamer really didnt want to face the guy right now. Since thest time, John hadnt gotten a lot stronger and the Contender had wiped the floor with him. Not even thoroughly, if John had been on the losing end of a valiant struggle, that would have been one thing. Instead he had been used like a one-time napkin to swipe away some oil spills.
Luckily for him that he was currently standing on Sigmunds blind side. There was no doubt that this would turn into a brawl the second they were spotted. The ck swordsman was evidently famous for getting into hasted engagements, all he cared about was the challenge of the battle.
Funnily enough, it wasnt just John that saw that this was a pretty bad situation about to unfold. A raven-haired woman was at his side, at least a head smaller but herself around the 1,80m mark, which was pretty tall for a woman (although many of Johns girls yed in the same ballpark, but that was not fair to the average female). She moved with the elegance of an ancient aristocrat, except for the moment when she saw John and, by extension, Metra.
Seminaris had just as little interest to have her king candidate run into the berserker babe again as John had to put his life on the line. A silent alliance was forged with a simple exchange of gazes. in the same? Metra asked, raising an eyebrow. She noticed Johns attention lying with something behind her and began turning around.
Reacting hastily and without thinking, John went with one move that was going to him some sess and just threw himself at the brown-skinned tank of a woman. Must have looked a bit silly, considering she was taller and even a bit broader than him, but desperate times and all that. He locked her right into a French kiss, the prolonged sloppy kind. At first, he did so in desperation. Then Metra answered his advance with her own movements. Then his head became somewhat light from theck of air this forced on him. Then he just forgot for a second why he was doing this and just enjoyed it.
John Newman was, no matter how crafty, a massive pervert, and this pulled his attention right away from the important things and towards his growing erection. Only when they did part did he remember why he had started it. At that point, the destructive duo was already gone. Leaving John with a mildly turned on First of Wrath.
Hrrrrrr, she made a sound deep in her throat that was half growl and half purr, the blonde grabbing John by the cor. Now there, Master, what is getting you all worked up? she asked, a grin on her face that basically spelled out that she was ready to throw down right here, in the nearest restroom or wherever else, no matter how many people were around. Do that more often and I might show you what a Metracana learns over the years.
Honestly, John was speechless at the idea that she had withheld any sort of sexual trickery from him. That was just in rude. Ill see what I can do, John promised and made a mental note to do surprising things to Metra more often, even if the way she was currently holding more of his bodyweight in her one fist than he was on his toes was more intimidating than assuring.
Eliza suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. Causing everyone around, mundane or Abyssal, to stop and look in confusion. Out, I want to get fucking out of here, too many people with shit faces that stare like asses! she dered, her breathing way quicker than it should have been.
It was best to move this elsewhere for several reasons.
Chapter 511 – Steps to take
Chapter 511 C Steps to take
Back aboard the ship, John was contemting. ying with a piece of Baelementium shaped roughly like a pencil, to be used in the project Scarlett was assembling for him, after noticing the gesture, he threw it in his inventory with the rest. Right now, he was weighing pros and cons between staying and leaving Washington DC.
Both had incredibly simple arguments. If John wanted to run for the presidency in this guild, his presence would help in the PR effort. The voting system of the Little Marnd was odd in many ways. The nomination was easy enough to get in theory: he had to convince three out of five army generals as well as two out of three civilian district heads. Apparently the threerge market barriers in the city had their own elections and the heads of those were ultimately the heads of the civilian estate. The army on the other hand was strictly meritocratic and people ascended up the ranks by a mixture of power and achievements.
Once he had the nomination, it would go into the actual campaigning process against everyone else who could run on their lonesome, being part of the internal government and as such not needing any such affirmations.
The Little Marnd had its elections every four years, the next date for nominations starting one year before the actual election. That happened to be in one month. In theory, this was good for John, as it gave him a fair amount of time to weasel his way into peoples awareness and position himself.
Still, one month wasnt a particrly long time all things considered. Given the strained political situation, the Gamer was sure he could make it work though. He just needed to make the right promises. The year after that would be a bit harder. Convincing a poption that the foreign power was the right choice to elect was certainly a task of difficulty. Well, if he had the backing of their elected leaders, it should be a possibility with a reasonable chance of sess.
Regardless of whether he was right or not, that was a question for then. The question for now remained whether he should stay over his announced duration. If he didnt manage to get himself nominated this time around, he had to wait four years, and who knew what would happen in that timeframe.
However, if he didnt go home, he may as well write his intentions on Abrahams frontwn by pouring gasoline down in the shape of letters and then throwing a match on it. There was no way a politician, who held the highest office for 12 years at this point, wasnt going to realize something was up and find out what that was by hearing around the ce. Johns best interest was to keep the current president in the dark for as long as possible, lest counteroffers threw his nomination out of bounds.
There was also the matter of Fusions main holdout being still in the process of consolidation. Johns leadership was required back home. His difort with public speaking aside, the Gamer was good at the administration of his country and was the highest authority to n everything. They needed to establish a proper army and get through with the first elections of public offices. Much was to be done.
Really wished I had longer than a month, John rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, looking for his girls for advice. How do you think we should handle this? The question caused everyone in the conference room to think.
Everyone but Scarlett, who had already cobbled together her version of the n. You need to go back to New York, she stated in a tone of fact. If you stay, you y right into Abrahams hands and also displease the people who wonder why you went down here in the first ce back in the territory you actually own.
John nodded; widely he agreed with that, but the flipside still made him hesitate, And how do you propose we solve the issue of nomination? I need to be here.
No, YOU dont, Scarlett told him. You are head of a country, for all intents and purpose, since when do those lead all negotiations themselves?
Ja, Rave snapped her fingers, the motion ending with her index finger pointing at the redhead. Ya can have a person sneaking around here for ya, that would work.
The Gamer hummed, getting with the program. No, sneaking wouldnt work, he told his girlfriend. Or, well, it would for a short amount of time, but it would be better to have somebody serving as ambassador do these things. Whoever I appoint could walk around and make appointments without Abraham thinking anything unusual is happening. That would be normal diplomacy after all.
Exactly, Scarlett reinforced. Sure, it would be way fucking easier if you stayed here yourself to do the talking, but its not necessary in and of itself.
And ya could, ya know, Rave threw another thought in the ring, invite some of them over to New York for a weekend. That aint unusual, or is it?
No, that is true, John hummed and thought back to Chemilia. Although scarce, the two of them had been in contact. She was a general he was already pretty sure to be able to get a vote from, as her displeasure with the current system was evident. It was so clear, in fact, John had ran an extra background check on her to make sure she wasnt secretly working for Abraham as a controlled opposition. So far, nothing pointed in that direction.
Either she was what she seemed to be, a genuinely disgruntled leader in the military, or she was so good at her double-crossing that John was going to be genuinely surprised when she finally turned on him. As it was, she seemed like a trustworthy confidante and taking a more cautionary stance towards her would make him seem gravely paranoid. In short, not worth it.
Okay, he finally spoke out with renewed energy, that is absolutely the way to go. Who is going to be the ambassador, though? He looked over the assembled people. Then he realized it didnt have to be one of the assembled girls here at all. Then he realized he had the perfect person for the job.
What did an ambassador have to have? A reputation of trustworthiness was the answer. One that allowed people to believe in the promises they made in the name of their country. They also needed to have a position in that country that made it clear they had the leaders ear, otherwise they were just glorified seat warmers nobody would talk to.
There was one person in Fusion that had both a reputation known around the world and was also widely known to hold a fair amount of sway within Johns guild. The Gamer was wondering whether or not that person wanted the job though.
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Seriously? Of course I will take the job! Magoi answered on the phone. Everything that gives me an excuse to load my actual job off on my son. Even better if I can go visit some new restaurants, running out of high ss over here.
John was a bit baffled at both the enthusiasm and the reason for it. Sure, the High Fateweaver was mostly in this whole thing to assure his family a continued existence in wealth by training Magnus as his sessor for a less dangerous job as headmaster of the eventual Fateweaver academy, but still. You are aware you will have to do a lot of talking, right?
Sure, sure, Magoi waved off, some sweet talk there, some promises there, should take a maximum of eight hours a day. We have a month to win over how many people? Five?
That is the number, yes, John was still recovering from how easy the man thought this was going to be. Why are you this enthusiastic?
Well, for a start, because I happen to have worked for one of the district leaders in the past, Magoi exined, so I am sure I can convince him. Then you will have Chemilia drag two other generals up north under the exnation of some advisor request, and then its basically down to just getting one more of the civilians over. And you give me a month for that. Plenty of time for sightseeing.
He wasnt wrong, but John couldnt help to think that things were going to be less smooth in practice. Lets hope it all works out he gave his doubts voice.
If you want to be double sure, you could leave Beatrice or Aclysia with me for long-distancemunication.
I think that distance is a bit too far. Magic or not, the whole mental connection gets less useful over distance and eventually it just devolves into nothing but an awareness that the other is still alive, John exined and then cleared his throat, carefully formting something else. Okay then, I aming back to New York shortly, and I would want you to get on your way a day after I arrive.
Sure thing, Magoi assured, sounding genuinely ecstatic about the prospects. Then he realized why John specified a day and added in a dry tone, Right, you need another training barrier.
Its a new month, John defended himself.
Sure thing the High Fateweaver repeated, tired at the prospect of spending yet another ten days doing little of interest inside a barrier.
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THE Magoi Magus? Abraham asked over the phone. It wouldnt have been an ambassador if the government he was sent to wasnt informed about him. He seems overqualified for such a simple position. Are you sure you dont want to send someone of lesser importance? Even though he was the president of the guild, or especially because of that, he must have known that sending such an important person over in an ambassador role was highly unorthodox.
As it is, Fusion has problems finding people that are adequate for roles, John tried to exin. I would rather send someone over- than underqualified over; my rtions with the Little Marnd are highly important to me. Now that was a double-faced sentence if John ever said one, and he did feel bad for it, but he still delivered it in an equal tone with the rest. It wasnt a lie, it just skipped the whole truth C that the Little Marnd literally meant the whole guild, not him in particr.
I am very happy to hear that, Abraham answered in a very appreciative tone in his deep voice. Either he was hiding his true intentions well or he was looking at John as a bit too much of a diplomatically cornered foe.
I do wonder if he is even consciously aware of thew I am trying to use here, John thought. It wouldnt have surprised him if the president simply forgot about aw that had been used not once before. However, it would have surprised him even less if Abraham was aware. Well, he would definitely be if the Gamer asked, so it was best to just assume Abraham knew but hope for the best case. Anyway, just wanted to let you know. Sorry if I ripped you out of anything, he had made the call at almost midnight. The first of May was almost over by now.
Oh, by no means, as president my sleep schedule is odd anyway, Abrahamughed it off. Surely, you are aware.
John actually was, but only in a limited extent. Whatever work he felt was excessive or didnt really need his direct attention, the Gamer delegated elsewhere as fast as he possibly could. For the obvious reason of desiring to spend more time with his girls inside bedrooms and less time with his papers inside offices. Also, because he had a more decentralized mindset. Abraham, on the contrary, seemed to be one of the types who wanted to do everything they could themselves. Well, my own sleep schedule varies a lot, John put it carefully. Anyway, I wont keep you any longer.
After he put the phone down on the table, he let out a long exhale and then an amused sound.
Well, that worked out better than I expected, he told everyone. Now, full sail back home. I do miss grinding again. He looked over to Scarlett. At the start of this vacation, he had told Siena and Undine to keep an eye on her, and nothing noteworthy had been reported to him. Thus, he stated with confidence, I trust you to run most of Fusions administration once we get back.
Scarlett raised an eyebrow, I feel like I missed something, for you to use the word trust in regards to me.
Maybe you have, John teased. Anyway, fact is that Abraham is extremely unlikely to just roll over and let me have his position. I need to get stronger and quick as well. Often, John contemted if the absolutely correct way to do this whole conquering was to just take a break for however long it took to level to 1000 and then just roll over everyone and everything without any meaningful opposition.
Not only would such a victory have been hollow, however, like beating Dark Souls with invulnerability turned on, but it would also make John appear like a very aggressive expander. Not to mention all the misery that the world would have to endure in those months or years it would take to get there.
Basically, its was Johns own need for aplishments and wanting to im the hierarchy of the world not through sheer force but through prestige that kept him from doing what was probably best for his personal safety. Although he was famous enough at this point that John wasnt even sure if he could have a quiet month if he wanted it.
Okay, so lemme summarize, Rave raised her voice to the background sound of Eliza munching crisps. Over the next month Magoi will make sure you get your nomination, with some visit by the Chemilia girl in New York, and the only thing we have going on is train?
That are our optimal steps to take, yes, John answered. That and actually checking out how strong the counter-military is in rtion to the actual military. No need to start a civil war on the losing side.
Chapter 512 – Less important philosophy and home
Chapter 512 C Less important philosophy and home
There were many things great to perceive, heavenly even, but one, most of his senses agreed, was a woman lying on her stomach. This was what he found now before him. With her hair of pink and barely d form, her sight made his heart flutter with love and some less pure feelings. The joyous sway of her legs was hypnotic.
A pair of ck headphones poked out from amidst the chaotic beauty of her hair. Unnoticeable things, aside from the curvature that gave way to two ears formed from her hair and shaped like a cats. He tried to focus his attention on something, but there was was just too much to look at. Her attention, meanwhile,y with something else C her phone whichy in her nimble fingers. More fun things came to his mind while seeing them; certainly, they were better wrapped around something he could provide...
Of the many things that made her the object of desire, this wasnt close to the top. The Japanese half blood was wearing only her underwear. Clothes more of string than of cloth revealed most of her form, covering only that little bit they were designed to. The temperature in the room was steadily rising, the girl was rxed. Time would undress her further, if he wouldnt rise from his seat before to do it.
This deliciousdy was rxed deeply in her position and happy where she was. Listening to music that even he could hear, as she had maxed out the volume. The beats drummed, the steady rhythm that the sway of her feet through the air followed. Still, she felt his eyes on her. Didnt mind being watched at all. She happily was the object of his passion, stretched seductively in the knowledge, meeting his gaze with her blue eyes. The pink lustre inside danced.
Her back was a slender thing, perfect to hold onto during a waltz, skin pale with a red note from the flush that took hold of her in heat and arousal. An athlete, one such she was doubtlessly, with muscles that shifted subtly under the surface. Moving back and forth caused a few wrinkles to appear over her body, a simple fact peculiar to the human shape. It didnt matter, even those shadows were hypnotizing in their own way. A trench ran across the middle of her back, a line to follow, from her neck to the root of her legs.
And there his eyes got finally stuck.
On those two mounds of flesh, so symmetrically round and deliciously looking. They were only the greatest thing he had ever seen, if he was allowed to make such a bold im. When she moved, just the slightest bit, the luscious meat shifted softly and kept moving moments after she stopped. A jiggle like pudding to his eyes and just as mouth watering. For now, he didnt dare move in. He simply observed and revelled in the mixture of torture and delight.
In this rooms warmth, by thedys choice adjusted, he felt a drop of sweat. It ran from his forehead down to his chin as he watched. His body was feeling more than the physical heat. Swiping it away, he refused to take his eyes off those twin spheres. Like drops of water outside the grasp of gravity, their curvature seemed out of this world. What dark pact must that woman have signed to achieve such gic perfection? What heavenly blessing had he been given to have that woman as his significant other?
He who yed games wasnt sure; he felt like he had more or less stumbled over this lucky find.
One could use a single word to describe this butt: perfect. Just perfect did not do justice to the delicious bum, however! The details of such a sight were numerous. More than a painting made even by the greatest artisan could capture in a single sitting. Still, he had to try, it deserved his undivided attention.
As full as it was, as much mass as it had to jiggle, it was not too curvy to seem absurd on her athletic figure. Rather, her back and sides curved delicately into that roundness. Bnce was kept in her figure, few could hope to emte. Wide as her hips were, they kept within reason to her frame viewed inpletion. Not a fat ass that just stuck to the end of a waist like a scarecrow. No bit was out of ce, her entire being flowed like he desired. Whether these were his original wants or they had been molded over the months with her thetter seemed the more likely.
The curve rose until the zenith was reached, the peak of the bounciness, and then it reversed in course. A crease formed, where the bountiful meat of her behind met with the smoothness of her thighs, following a steep decline. Framing in little thin shadows and with two clear lines, this gap between thigh and ass only made it look more attractive.
A peak of her honeypot, he would have gotten, were it not for the string. Not a lot of it, her smooth thighs saw to it, but it stilly there, between the deepest part of the crease. He yearned to feel that meat around his fingers, spilling in all of its erotic heat around his greedy motions. If he wanted to see and taste that part of her that he would let no other man ever touch, then he had to do more than just watch.
He could wait no longer and rose impatiently from his seat. With steps apanied by a quiver in his mighty hardness, which C freely visible C was cause for a longing gaze of the light-filled creature. His infatuation with her form was mutual.
And once more thedy wiggled her behind enticingly, knowing what woulde next. The admirer straddled over her thighs and his hands, greedy with lust of the most impure origin, descended. The crease between ass and legs was the ce his thumbs belonged. Sinking into the warm abundance, they almost vanishedpletely. Palms and fingers descended into the luscious butt.
Sight, although already marvellous, could bring no justice to the way it felt - from the way it squished to the way its warmth radiated against his palm. If he could, he would have forever and only ever felt this. Soft yet firm, such was theposition of thedys behind. The warmth that encapsted his fingers could only be likened to pure love. His fingers could dig deep, causing depressions in the blemishless flesh. New trenches in which shadows nested and added moreyers to the erotic picture. Truly, a sight even a Greek mason would find difficult to eternalize.
He clenched his fingers as much as the softness allowed, then rxed them. The skin of thedys bum was stretched and squished by his movements. The former move made it taut and even shinier, thetter concentrated the colour of her flushed skin and let him feel the juiciness under his palms. Such greatness, his hands were currently motioning over.
Spreading the cheeks with delightful slowness, he basked in their departed sight for a moment. The valley between the mounds was as beautiful as the surroundings. Still, the two holes between her legs which he loved to dabble in were currently hidden. The removal of the pesky cloth would have to wait. Now was time to keep worshipping.
His grab releasing, the behind fell back into its natural state. It became a short-lived spectacle in the process. The cheeks, they jumped back into position while disying the finest, deeply desirable motions such a small part of the body could make on its own. Their bouncy mass was what kept the motion alive, like pudding, and like pudding, so too did he desire to devour this. But not before pping the right cheek with a proper motion.
A sound much like the first beat of apuse echoed through the room. Perhaps also simr to a small explosive on New Years Eve? He certainly felt like it was the sound of a celebration. What other show but this was worthy of apuse? Everything but this was dull byparison, so this man found, as he watched a red spot form on the others light skin, the rough shape of his hand. Still, the impact caused ripples that reminded him once more of his want to taste, and now he no longer resisted.
Bowing down on this infernal temptation, he ced his lips soothingly on the ce he himself had caused to hurt in the way thisdy loved. The heat radiating from there was intense, more even than the air or the rest of thedy. The red tinge came with fresh energy, and he could not but keep concentrating on that spot. Light gasps escaped the lovers mouth; she let him continue. The beat of her music hammered like the beat of his heart.
His lips glided over the wless skin. A trail of kisses, tiny wet marks that he left behind on his loving path. None of them were adequate on their own to worship this soft cushion. Only thanks to their number, and a continuous attention spent on fondling, did he feel justice was done to this behind. An ass, he was so gleefully reminded, belonging to him. Not a great whileter dd he move on from kisses and delivered more perverse action upon her behind.
Cupping their mass as best his hands were able to, squishing her cheeks together, his tongue stretched outwards. Licking, kissing and sucking on the soft meat, he whispered sweet nothings. The feline ears of thedy picked the words up, and she giggled and gasped as he continued.
She flushed even deeper, with lust and want, as the hands on the clocks in the world travelled further, all of this attention was making her mind hazy. A small curse escaped her when her waning concentration caused her to fail at the game.
A final kiss, the appreciater ced. Ast breath, he took. Then he sunk his face into her ass entirely. What his fingers had experienced that, to a lesser degree, now his face did. The heat he could have sung about, but he was upied otherwise. Indeed, right now, he preferred to use his mouth to lick over the cloth. The sweet taste and rough feeling of thedys flow of desire through the soaked strip. He could feel both of her lower lips, swollen and ready to be parted, behind. Even though they did not talk, he felt like he cou-
What is wrong with you today? Raveughed, finally ending the Gamers overly borate train of thought.
What do you mean, what is wrong with me? the counter-question came after he, unwillingly, pulled his head up. You are lying here with your naked ass before me, what do you expect me to do?
More, I guess, Rave pulled back a little to slide out of her panties. Forey is nice and all, but youve been fondling my ass for like thirty minutes.
John blinked rapidly, then checked the clock. She was right. Huh, he made a surprised sound. Time sure flies when you are having fun. He looked away when the sound of skin rubbing over leather informed him about his girlfriend changing her position.
She was stretching towards him in a nice, willing doggy-style, e one, tiger, ya cant make me this horny and then leave me hanging.
That would have been immensely rude, so he really had no choice in the matter. With a sigh (that was purely lustful in nature), he grabbed his cock and aligned himself with her pussy.
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The way back home went over without a hitch. Sure, they ran into another Noodle swarm, but that one was much smaller and they also knew how to deal with them at that point. It wasnt even a dy, although another one of those giant fish put another scratch in the below-surface painting.
Lets hope the Harbour has some sort of drydock function, otherwise I need to wait until the public dock is finished to fix that, John thought. Not that he himself had any idea how to fix that. Unless Create could do that, which it might. Seeing how the skill was likely to count the entire hull as one item though, John did not want to imagine the mana cost on that.
The space in front of the boat suddenly began to look like the surface of a soap bubble. Slippery and with the colours of the rainbow hanging in the air, the affected amount of space grew in an elliptic shape around them. It was nothing to be worried about, just the standard visual effect of two barriers meeting and melding into one.
Just like a soap bubble, it also popped and phased them into the Hudson Barrier. They were back in New York, back home. In the distance, John could see Lady Liberty, her torch raised as if to greet him. At that moment, John felt a satisfied smile bloom on his face. There was just something nice toe back to a home he had built on his own. It was a kind of achievement nothing else could rece.
Not a whole lot of progress had been made on the docks or the battleship yard he had ordered, as was expected. It had only been ten days and they were still missing the actual instructors. They had the blueprints, so there was some work going on, but without qualified personnel it was slow.
To his happiness, though, he saw people just hanging out in the open and even a few ships sailing around. He had been afraid that it would take the citizens a long time to get used to the new circumstances, but it seemed things had stabilized rather quickly. Which also went to show that all the patrols must have been sessful; if the city was still crime-ridden, people would have been much more cautious than to just run around the ce.
While he had heard all of this in reports, seeing it with his own eyes was reassuring.
He steered the giant yacht around, once he had made his way past Liberty Ind, and then drove into his Guild Hall with rtive ease. The water around the Guild Hall behaved as oddly as ever. Where the space the Gamer directly owned ended and the Hudson Barrier began, the waves had a visual stutter. Same for the clouds in the sky. There was a thin line where they warped or disappearedpletely, only to reload on the other side of it.
Where the hell is Tilgun? John wondered, as the higher dragon had not been at his usual resting ce around the former Thorne HQ. Chances were that Nathalias brother was sleeping somewhere under the surface, but who really knew? Lets just hope he isnt rampaging around or anything.
John stepped off the boat with everyone else, and they seemed as d to have their home soil back under their feet as he did. They were living on the ship, but there was just a difference infort between being anchored in their own or foreign territory.
Although anchoring was the wrong word once the Gamer did sessfully find the drydock option. It erected some makeshift walls out of metals from nowhere around the yacht and then the water lowered just as magically, leaving the Boating Seaquence to sitfortably onnd, supported by steel beams that extended from the piers. Conveniently, it remained boardable, as the level of the ship somehow remained the same.
Compared to all the other physics-defying shenanigans that were part of the Guild Hall, this was a pretty light offense.
That done, they moved onto the next bit. Namely, relocating the jigsaw puzzle that was Johns project from the ship into Scarletts home. That wasnt tooplicated, since the Gamer had already loaded most of it into his inventory in advance. The remainders were carried by Aclysia, also in her inventory, allowing them a pretty quick and secretive relocation. For Scarlett herself, that would have been more difficult on different, more visited hours of the day.
They had timed their arrival quite well. Since Liberty Ind was actually a ce where people worked (namely in the Mine and the Farm), having the Technomancer seen in public would have put a bit of a dent in her cover. Just by virtue of being near him, her identity could easily be interesting to some.
Despite theck of eyes, the secretive Technomancer first scanned the entire area using her own powers and then insisted that Nia create a null-field around them to counteract any scrying magic from seeing more than a ck dot. While that was its own kind of suspicious, it definitely was better. If anyone was even watching.
John found none of this paranoid, as it was exactly the amount of caution he would put into action if he wanted to stay absolutely secret. The smuggling was sessful, the parts unloaded where she wanted them to, a room filled to the brim with mecha-tendrils. At that time, she also handed him a list of parts she couldnt create or put together herself.
Some of the more intricate parts still required either John using Create or a proper smith. Thetter, most of the time. Not only was Create unable to form Baelementium in such a way a proper smith could (at least not on Johns current level), but there were such things as hardening the metal with physical methods that were required for this project.
That and John didnt want to spend the time and mana. Particrly time was more valuable to him than money at this point, given that he could now tax people. Also, most of thend in the barrier was owned by Fusion, only exceptions being those ces previously popted. He could make a fortune of selling plots of soil.
None of this mattered to Magoi though, as he waited for John to get ready. The Gamer found this somewhat amusing, You seem to be in a hurry.
Look at this from my perspective, the raptor skull-faced fellow pointed out. I had to do your work for almost two weeks and suddenly I am offered a vacation. I would appreciate getting to the vacation as quick as possible.
Fair enough, John conceded and they headed into the barrier, the assembled harem in tow.
Chapter 513 – Events to Nomination 1 – Guided decisions
Chapter 513 C Events to Nomination 1 C Guided decisions
Green pasture, two houses, everything was as always with the grinds sponsored by Magois awesome time dtion abilities. Okay, everyone, lets- John wanted to address the gathered girls, when a window popped up in front of him and rained on his parade.
Granted, it was a good interruption. To keep with the parade metaphor, it was a rain of dor signs. Although unlikely to be attained, if John got the optional reward, he could finally break his stalemate on Elementalist.
Not like there was any reason to deny the quest anyway. He clicked yes and then raised his eyes again. Okay, sorry about that. Everyone, lets- Another window popped up.
And now somebody was just sting snippets of gold foil into the air. John epted that quest too. He already had a Max ss Level he could spend right now, from the church quest, plus the one he still had lying around precautionary. Basically, he could beat the quest pretty soon, both of the mentioned sses were already at level one, so only the challenges he would have to beat to get there were in the way.
Okay, lets make this quick, he tried a third time and almost expected some window to interrupt him again. Nothing, however, did. Except for Eliza.
What are you even going to fucking say? We were in this exact dumpster fire of a situation two bloody weeks ago, you cum-stained ass fucker, sheid out. Its going to be the same shit asst time. Dont waste anyones time with your dumbass speeches and go grind already.
What she said, Metra agreed, Nia nodding next to her.
Well, that was pretty clear. Okay then, John said, suddenly bing self-aware about how often he had said Okay in thest minute. Ill just be on my way.
Come back soon, Rave waved him off with a smirk, her boyfriend heading towards the white light gates in the distance. For the most part, Eliza was right. Those who wanted to train martial arts would do so out here, fighting each other, while John was going to take advantage of his busted experience mechanics and give them the Soulpotion every now and again. The only difference was that John was going to invest in a ss Level before.
Now, he had absolutely no idea what the challenges for the Gamer ss had been, but since he hadst touched it months ago, he must have just identally cleared them on the side. Not surprising in the least, since early challenges were incredibly easy. Now, the better question was whether he wanted to invest in Lover Boy or Gamer.
In Lover Boy he wanted to invest to due to the whole tease that there might be something fending off death by age in there. Something he had barely thought about, but now that he had to make the choice Lover Boy was still more of a long-term project while he was after rtively short-term gains. Gamer sounded just more attractive for this moment, no matter how much John wanted to bulk-up his sexual abilities.
And those choices were just as boring. EXP Pots were the most interesting on the face of it, but John was pretty sure that he could get more experience reliably from disabling loot entirely. Not to mention he didnt want to gobble those down at the end of any run. The advantage was that he could share them, but the Soulpotion he had was doing a good enough job at that. Improved Escape Rope cut the cooldown by four days, but John was pretty happy with the seven day version he had right now. He wasnt in the habit of overstepping his boundaries like that, especially since he dictated the difficulty of engagement.
So, Weight on the Scale it was. Just a passive, not particrly strong, take and forget kind of effect, but useful nevertheless.
And what do I have to do now? John wondered, looking at the Gamer ss.
Well, that will be a time sink, he thought. Exploring an entire Floor-based dungeon tended to take a long time. Generally talking, at least. There had been a previous iteration of an Alchemy dungeon that had been three arms and then led straight to the boss fight. For a moment, John actually considered whether or not this was worth it now.
The quest rewards had to be weighed up against the probably two Assaults he could run in the meantime. In the past, that would have easily gotten him one and a half levels. With thetest spike in experience requirements, he wasnt even sure if he got the one. So yes, this would be worth it.
Okay, that was nice. Unexpected, but nice. John opened his stat screen to check the exact difference. It was way more massive than he expected. That patch had reduced the experience he needed for this level from over three million to exactly fifteen-thousand. Well, reduced, it was doubtful the actual effort needed to level up was reduced in any way, but the number on his screen was smaller, so that was nice.
In saddening news, it had also kept the EXP he had held at that moment to the same value in percent. Would have been amusing if his overhang caused him to level several times the next time he got any experience at all and the confused system checked the numbers. No quick exploits here, however.
Anyway, that changed nothing about his decision. The level was likely quicker gained through getting the ss level, although that depended heavily on how the other 50% of the ss EXP were acquired. Additionally, John had already sunk a level in the Gamer ss and turning around now would have meant that one was pretty much wasted. That and 500 GP went a long way. He could almost buy 25 Skill Levels with that, which he could use for several things.
Alright then, decision made, John thought and stepped through the gate of light into the empty ne that was to be filled with his own barrier. The creation process went by quickly, and he and his group found themselves back in a red lit room.
While the lights, located in the corners of the ceiling, were originally white and blindingly strong, most of their long forms were covered by ss pipes. Pumping a dark red liquid through them, those pipes were thusly responsible for the dim, crimson light that bathed everything in a slightly unnerving atmosphere. The quiet only reinforced this. The only sound to be heard was the distant humming ofrge generators, keeping the pumps running.
asionally, pieces of something solid would rush through the pipes, causing a shadow to hush over the unevenly ted walls. The first time this happened, Gnome yelped and got into a defensive stance, despite knowing that the first room in a floor-based dungeon was almost always a safe room.
They stood on a mesh of steel, solid but letting them look at the pipes that also ran under their feet. Without a light source under them, their colour reminded John of clotted blood. In all likelihood, given that this was an alchemy dungeon, this was some sort of shady elixir based on the life-sustaining liquid.
I expect homunculus or something of the sort, John said out loud as they began moving. Aclysia took the front, while Gnome guarded their back. As the soil elemental positively hated the creepy atmosphere, this was the ideal position for her. Every few moments, she would look over her shoulder, to make sure nothing was approaching her from behind.
Their steps on the steel echoed loudly in the otherwise quiet dungeon as they walked through the corridors. Sylph cut through the same, often too narrow for more than two of them to walk side by side. John used what she saw to add details to his map. Fully exploring didnt mean he had to have been at every point inside the dungeon himself, just that he was aware of thepleteyout. As such, separating in search was a legitimate strategy.
Normally, he would have sent Siena out as well. The nightmare elemental was a bit slower, but her movement through the shadows allowed her to scout unseen. As it turned out, however, the floor of this dungeon was designed to torment the sadistic shadow spirit. Not with the intent to do so, probably (who knew with Gaia), but effectively.
The light everywhere, as reddened as it was, caused very little shadows of the needed depths for Siena to use to be around. What little there was was under the floor, and Siena couldnt ess those without crawling under the mesh or going down there incorporeal, which would have left her stuck. Normally that would just have meant that she needed to walk, but with her natural high-heel shaped feet, that was bound to end in a catastrophe. Unwilling to even attempt and be embarrassed when she eventually did trip, Siena simply hung around as her incorporeal self andined, Who even had the idea to make a floor with holes in it?
Sucks to be you, Smander mentally cackled. Maybe get proper feet when you evolve.
Mhm, but footjobs are so much less fun without heels, Siena mused, causing John to shudder, imagining getting one from her. He wasnt into that sort of stuff in the first ce, but there was a difference between the normal footjob and one where a spike he had seen impale hands like they were marshmallows at the height of his balls. They will stay as they are, it is the world that needs to change. The shadow spirits tone made this sound like the more likely oue.
They continued walking around through the absolute absence of enemies. Pretty odd, John thought as he added more and more lines to the paper. For every 5 metres, he made one line on the chequered paper. Absentmindedly, he trotted after Beatrice, who in turn followed Aclysia. His back was covered by Smander and Gnome. Baring a VERY effective surprise attack from above or below, he was safe. Even in those cases, Mana Protection would keep him safe. We also havent found a single room yet.
This was doubly weird as the path so far was a straight part, with only a single split. They had taken the left side, while Sylph had gone right. Both of those paths, so far, had been straight themselves. After flying for another minute, Sylph finally came to a door.
Hey, hey, there is something written here, its a number, its a 1, why is there a 1 here? Is that important? There is also something glowing and blue that has an image of a hand on it, should I put my hand on it? the air spirit chirped.
No, just wait for a little bi- John began but stopped when he saw that Sylph was already doing it. The scanner reacted to her tiny hand, shed green and then deactivated.
Aaaaaw, it went out, I liked that green, Sylph bbered.
Sylph! John made sure he caught her attention this time around. Be VERY careful when going in there. Okay?
Yes, boss, sir, master, chef, master, master, roger, roger! came the response, and Sylph acted like she was in a cartoon about superspies all of a sudden. Landing on the floor, she carefully looked around the corner. Audible sounds, that she fabricated herself, apanied her blinking as she took a dramatic look around. Then the tiny, fairy-esque elemental began sneaking. Not in a proper way, but the overacted, knee-raising steps Tom and Jerry would use.
It was pretty impressive that she managed to bnce on the grates while doing that. To her, each individual bar was like a very taut walking rope. At least she was moving slowly and kept an eye on her surroundings, so that was in keeping with Johns wishes.
It was a broad, rectangle shaped room. The white light was dominating here, giving this whole thing an aesthetic like the middle of a surgery room, as all of the red pipes converged above and below some sort of tank in the middle of the room. As it was forged entirely from steel, the only exception being a thin line of ss on the side, Sylph couldnt see whatsoever what was going on inside.
Walking around the outside rim of the room, the thunderstorm elemental slowly made her way behind it. An empty ss pipe was connecting that tank to a door on the opposite side from the entrance, a circumstance mirrored underneath the floor as well.
Until she took one of her little steps too close to the centre of the room and triggered something. With the sound of unlocking hydraulics, the front of the tank began to slowly part. The bloody liquid spilled out, emptying quicker and quicker as the gap between the two halves of the door widened. It vanished under the mesh, the ss line at the side clearly indicating how much was left inside the tank.
Once the metal hadpletely opened, out stepped a metal skeleton. A dark grey framework of a humanoid, forged from steel and stripped of most flesh. Minimal amounts still stuck to it, particrly the arms, connecting the different parts that needed sinews and muscles to work, but they were all thin. Red glowing eyes turned towards Sylph. Its shiny metal teeth were grinding to the work of biomechanical tendons, shaped like tiny steel pirs, where the cheeks normally were.
DU DU DUN DU DUN! the pvering air spirit thought the melody of that robot-assassin movie, as she flew up. As to not have John yell at her, her n here was to throw a single, strong shock at the enemy to keep them momentarily incapacitated and then fly away as quickly as she could. Alrighty, take this! Sylph announced putting her hands together at the base, the palms pointing at the target. HAAAAAAAAAA! she screamed out loud and unnecessarily as blue lightning gathered and then rushed out as a beam of energy.
Although her Stats didnt indicate this, Sylph had incredibly strong offensive magic. John had observed this in the past, but the elementals didnt y by quite the same rules as normal people in regards to their scaling of Stats to offensive power. Smanders spells varied with her Strength, Gnomes rocks got harder depending on her Endurance, as did the surface of Undines water spells, although they all still relied on Wisdom and Intellect for the regeneration and size of their mana pools. Sylphs magical attacks, following that logic, depended on her Agility.
Even with how heavily she was invested in that Stat, it was surprising to the mentally watching crowd that she one-shot her opponent. Huh, uh, hey, you are supposed to be sturdier than that! the thunderstorm elemental flew over to the fried corpse. I mean youll be back, right?
Chapter 514 – Events to Nomination 2 – Decision tree
Chapter 514 C Events to Nomination 2 C Decision tree
NOW, I get it! John said as he looked at the map. After Sylph had defeated the enemy on her side, the tank had closed again. After about ten seconds, the tank had been refilled with the red liquid and then the empty pipes leading up to the exit had be active. The moment the bloody mixture had reached the door, it had unlocked and allowed the air spirit to continue.
On the side with the rest of the group, John had an encounter with a robot that looked almost exactly like the one Sylph had met. The only noticeable difference was that its little muscle fibre was concentrated around the legs instead. Despite its level being 146, John beat it on his own and in only three punches no less. He didnt even need to use magic.
Apparently that kind of enemy was called an Adaptor. In keeping with its name, it was supposed to adapt over multiple iterations. At that time, John had been somewhat confused how leg-muscles were an adaptation to getting hit with lightning to the chest. However, as both doors had a 1 on them, the Gamer had an inkling of how this would turn out.
After that enemys fall, a secret side entrance opened between the two rooms and the group could advance in the same fashion. Once more, there was a simple split road. A little more exploration and the reaching of a door with a big 2 on it caused John to unravel this thingpletely.
The map he was looking at was the beginning of a decision tree. The Adaptors didnt change with each encounter, but with each wave. A quick clearing of all three rooms of this next row confirmed this. Left and right had been more advanced versions of the legs and arms encounter, while the one in the middle was abination of both.
The liquid that flowed on was transmitting the new information to the Adaptors still in their tanks further in. Sylph met back up with the group in that middle room once the side paths opened. She had beaten the one enemy on the right side handily on her own yet again. Their power increases were only small.
In effect, we can pick what is easiest for us as we go on, John exined to them as he turned a page to make a theoretic drawing of the entire map. Every row had two more rooms at the side, slowly expanding to be quite massive. After having detailed the map quite extensively, he pulled a red pen from his inventory and drew a line that only cleared one room in every row. I would guess that, at a certain point, we meet an ultimate version of any one path and that is the end boss, he said, either that or there is a maximum width and afterward the rooms will flow back together again and the final room is then buffed depending on what was cleared on the way.
Everyone nodded, Undine raising her melodic voice, That second one sounds more likely.
Yeah which means we have a somewhat hard decision to make, John stated. The side paths only open once every enemy in a row is defeated. So, it is in our best interest to clear as manypleteyers deep as possible to avoid backtracking too much.
Since their mission here was to explore the entire dungeon, once they defeated the boss, they would need to go all the way back to thest avable side path to clear the rest of the dungeon. How is that a hard decision? Smander asked. All we have to do is clear everything up to a few rooms before the boss. She swiped the pen out of Johns hand. Extending the map with the theoretic narrowing and then crossing through every row to indicate opened up sideways, until she arrived at thest three rows. There, if we only take one path from there on out, the boss gets way less fucking buffs. Problem solved.
In theory, you are right, John admitted. Just we are talking Gaia here. I think she learned to close loopholes like this by now. Nobody disagreed with that. If I was a betting boy, either one or both of the following two things are true. He tapped on thest three, untouched rows, One: the distance between those is so long that the backtrack is going to be absolutely horrendous. His fingers moved on and now tapped on thest room, Or two: there is an extra room that opens only if we beat the strongest version of the boss, so we have to rerun this entire thing if we cheese it.
I refuse to sit here and be bored for a second run, Siena informed them.
Shut it, shadow of more-whore, Smander cussed the piece of air the nightmare elemental was upying. You arent helping, so you dont get to make the choice.
Siena yed with the thought of making some nastyments, but ultimately decided that nothing would be more effective than just ignoring the endme elemental entirely. The amusement at the boiling rage Smander felt at that reached John. Before the grey and golden mes could be thrown around in a fit of rage, the Gamer decided to wrap this strategy meeting up.
Anyway, Id rather have a more difficult bossfight than run either of these risks, so we are doing a full clear from the get-go. He closed the exnatory paper and put the original page back on, fully intending to keep track of the actual map. Just because theyout was predictable, he shouldnt getzy. That and they needed to be able to spot irregrities to find the three Special Rooms. Oh, chucklefucks, I dont have a Revealer of Secrets, John realized.
Well, he had to hope that just finding the Secret Room would count or that he somehow was lucky enough to find one on the way. Typical for Floor based dungeons, John had put the loot active. They were bad for EXP farming anyway, so John liked to have some fun that way. The decision to always have it off during Assaults was now biting him in the ass though.
Thats inconvenient, he sighed as he got up. For a moment, he contemted using Escape Rope to go and fix this by grinding on the Maggot Ursas. They were a pretty reliable supply of Symbiotic Riddles and in the current level bracket. It was better to keep that 1-week cooldown for that extra-strong buffed boss though, in his opinion, so he decided that they just had to run with the way it was currently set-up. We MIGHT need to rerun this, but lets hope this does it. Anyway, starting strategy: as the enemies are pretty weak right now, we should separate.
The logic behind that was easy. If even John could beat one of those tin cans, then there was little danger in covering at least a couple of rows by separating. Doing so would save them massive amounts of time, and since they could alwaysmunicate through Johns mind, there werent any real drawbacks. Whenever the enemies began to get difficult, they could simply meet up again. In this configuration, the only person who wouldnt go out on her own was Undine. The healer stayed firmly attached to Johns left arm in her item form.
Since he was the person everyone teleported to if that became necessary, as well as the weakest solo fighter and one of three people in this group that could permanently die, that choice wasnt made because Undine wouldnt be able to take out at least a few of the weaker Adaptors but just to make sure the Gamer was safe.
It was actually a decision forced on him by Aclysia and the water spirit herself. Since he saw the value pretty clearly, he didnt put up much of a struggle.
That done, they all got moving. It turned out that Johns hunch about the distance wasrgely correct, as each new row was further away from thest. At first, he didnt mind that, since their separation meant that none of them had to backtrack in any way. Their group broke down to its singr, operable members, a total of six. Which became a problem at the fourth row with its total of seven rooms.
One of them would have to backtrack. That first time the choice easily fell on Sylph, since she was by far the fastest, but that problem only intensified as they continued to bigger and bigger numbers. The concept of the dungeon was really neat, since it allowed them to pick their own difficulty, but the way it was implemented majorly annoyed John.
It wasnt particrly fun to have to walk bigger and bigger distance to fight enemies that only slowly became more challenging. In that monotony, the only slight break John had found was helping Beatrice find the Secret Room. ced on her path, which was one of the central ones, she located the Secret Room through keen observing. Although her passiveness almost made her uncaringly continue on her path.
The steel mesh that covered the ground had clunked under her step, a sign that it was sitting loosely within its frame. As this was the only time anyone had noticed that noise in the otherwise quiet environment, that had ticked John off, and he ordered some further searching. After some experimenting, Beatrice managed to remove that piece of the floor and then went down adder to a locked door. She couldnt open it, but at least they had found that one. Their luck wasnt bad enough for that thing to be ced on Sylphs or Smanders path, as the clue would have been impossible to notice for the flying elementals.
They had been in there for three hours already when John, lethargic from the mind-numbing boredom, continued his task of sketching the map. His falling enthusiasm was clearly reflected on the piece of paper, the lines bing more sluggishly drawn the further they went in. No irregrities at all in they-out. They were at a width of 29 now, which meant a ludicrous amount of backtracking as everyone had to clear multiple rooms. The enemies themselves were somewhat challenging by now but still reasonably soloable.
I fucking hate this dungeon, John thought, wishing for something with a bit less walking and a bit more action. If the environment were interesting at least I feel like I have been walking through the same corridor for hours now. Everything always looked the same, the only difference being the upgrades on the Adaptors, turning this whole thing into a visual slog. Even though he wasnt the greatest at it, the Gamer would have preferred running some sort of parkour at this point.
If we have to rerun this, Aclysia reached out to him in agreement, I will need to cook several meals to exile my frustrations.
Smander cackled mentally, You do that, I call dibs on getting fucked. WAY better anger management.
Ladies, John was thankful for the conversation and partook in itughingly, I can do both of you at the same time, that wont be a problem. Finally, he saw a door in the distance. Without thinking about it, he pressed his hand on the little terminal, which opened the door upon the input recognition.
A mechanical sound echoed behind John. Designed to shove him into the room, part of the ceiling had lowered and was now presenting its t side to the Gamer. While Mana Protection prevented the initial effectiveness of this motion, it didnt just vanish but rather kept pressing against the arcaneyer with unrelenting force.
John had no other choice but to step into the room, as the constant grind was taking a toll on his mana, quickly burning through the entire pre-loaded barrier. He was greeted by a room that went against the standardyout by having two tanks inside the right and left walls rather than the usual central one. The door locked behind him, the first time it had done so in this entire dungeon, making it abundantly clear that this was a Trap Room.
The two tanks opened simultaneously, the bloody liquid running red through the mesh. A cloud of darkness, like an aura of ash, exuded from the tiny gaps of both of them. The typical sign that they were enemies buffed-up by the Horror mechanic.
Okay, I am going to need some help here! John informed everyone, quickly picking two people to help him out here, Aclysia, Smander, use your teleports. They tried, but to everyones shock they found that they couldnt. Something about this Trap Room must have blocked them out. John would have appreciated to know beforehand that this was even possible; this was way more dangerous than a lot of other things he had to cope with. Well, this is going to suck, the Gamer thought as he quickly prepared himself.
He assessed the light flooded room and the tools at his disposal and quickly came up with a strategy. As the enemies were still in their spawning-animation, or the real life equivalent, he turned towards one of the tanks and cast Arcane Echo over and over again. The ovepping circlesid themselves on the grated floor in their entire, two-dimensional appearance.
Concentrating on only one side, John hoped he could nuke one of the two Adaptors out of existence right at the start of the fight. He would have used Shardbound for this, but that skill wasnt guaranteed to hit, while the stacked area damage trap was.
In unison, the two Adaptors stepped out of their lightless confinement. Their mechanical core skeleton was still visible, but now that they were several versions in, biological features were more apparent. Strong muscles wrapped tightly around taut sinews, which were shaped from wire rather than flesh. Generally, these monsters were skinless; only their upper chest and head were covered in something approaching the human exterior, although colour and visible hardness made it seem like the material was closer to nails or teeth than regr skin.
Eyes glowing red as they activated, the ck energy of the Horrors gathered inside their empty stomach areas, as these robots had no organs that needed to be ced there.
Just like John had nned, the one located right of him was on the sudden receiving end of a blinding wave of purple and blue light as all of the Arcane Echos unloaded under its feet at once. Not expecting that to finish the robot off, he charged forwards. He needed to throw that Adaptor back into its tank for his n to work.
The Horror monster, although it took heavy damage,cked the necessary programming to be bothered by pain. Its muscles and even part of its metal frame had been scorched by the arcane might, but it remained operational and met Johns charge by standing its ground. The Gamers attempt to shove the heavy machinery was cut short by the enemys refusal to budge even an inch.
Which threw John in quite the pickle, as the punch thrown in retaliation reduced his mana enough that the second Adaptors hand broke through the barrier and pulled the Gamer by the cor, throwing him towards the middle of the room. Shit! John thought. His initial strategy hadnt paid off and now both enemies were together and jumping on him in unison.
His mana pool was depleted again and again as he tried desperately to get away from the duo. They were pummelling him with attacks that were vaguely resembling basic martial arts of the non-magic variety. Even without that magical backing, it was effective at reducing Johns HP. At a particrly bad point, the Gamer was nothing more than a yball between two pairs of crushingly strong hands punching him back and forth. It was only good that Gamers Body prevented his teeth from being knocked out of his face.
A desperate motion of his hand finally broke that stalemate, when his HP had already been reduced to below 25%. Apanied by a whip of water, it caused the two Adaptors to jump backwards, and a fireball thrown from Purgatory only widened that gap, allowing John to get some distance between them and recover somewhat. It was Undines healing versus the constant crashing of metal against her summoners bones that had John kept with as much health as he currently had.
His initial strategy was meant to prevent exactly this situation. While it hadnt been sessful in that, it was wrong to say it had no effect whatsoever. While the undamaged unit was moving with scary smoothness for a mechanical monster, the second Horror limped after itsrade as they begun their slow approach. Stopping and thrusting its middle outwards, the scorched Adaptor emphasized the swirl of dark powers between its ribs and waist.
John read the sign quite clearly and immediately dove to the side. As he rolled over the mesh, an unpleasant experience, a wavering mass of baleful energies flew by. Clearly defined, powerful ranged attack, the Gamer mentally took note of the enemys attack patterns, as he quickly went back on his feet and danced back as far as the limited space allowed him. The darkness inside the Adaptors stomach seemed weaker now. Some sort of cooldown, he thus added to his observation.
A second bolt flew his way, thrown by the undamaged unit. John managed to evade that one as well, but both of the robotic adversaries were ever so slowly approaching him. Their steps were methodical, they knew that they just needed to corner their prey and that rushing their charge would only give him more openings to slip through.
John felt his heel hit the wall, and slowly retreated along it. He tried to buy time for his mana to regenerate, as well as to position the two Adaptors advantageously. Eventually, both of his heels hit another wall, and he finally was cornered. The unhurt unit was approaching him from the front, about to pass the very tank it had stepped out off, the other blocking Johns escape into the open room.
With no luxury to wait any longer, John deactivated Mana Protection and went for yet another charge. Towards the absolutely healthy unit. A purely biological being would have been surprised by this decision, but their uncaring circuits caused the Adaptors to react fast.
Johns left handed swing was caught by the Adaptor at the wrist. Taking the arm into both of its hands, the robot clenched down in an attempt to snap the bones underneath the ck scales. I dont think you are nearly as strong as Nathalia, the Gamer mocked the unknowing, earless enemy as he extended his right towards the centre of the room. Undines glove form became undone and the ocean elemental appeared next to the wrestling duo.
Originally, John wanted to do what Undine was about to do himself, but he was grappled right now, so it would be more effective this way. All of Johns current mana, along with remainders of the water spirits own pool, concentrated in a jet of water. Although not immensely threatening from a damage standpoint, the raw kic energy forced the Adaptor to step sideways numerous times, dragging John along.
This culminated in the two of them being swept into the tank, after which the water subsided and Undine moved to intercept the second enemy instead. Although this confined space should have been bad news for the physically weaker Gamer, he smirked, a shadow falling over his face. Check, he stated, even as the darkness within the Adaptors stomach swirled in the preparation of another st.
It wasnt the only darkness that was stirring.
ded tendrils extended from the walls and hooked deep into the meaty bits of the alchemic creature as they tore muscle from metallic bone. Bondage in tight ces, Sienaughed in her overly sexualized voice, this is exactly the kind of y I am into. The hands of the Adaptor were forced open by its sinews getting cut, allowing John to quickly leave the tight chamber and the threat of being hit with a point-nk dark magic attack.
He left Siena to that endeavour. A small ce with shadows in three quarters of the directions meant that she had basically won already. The Adaptor tried to struggle free, but it only aplished the creation of ringing sounds as its fists hit the ce of its birth. It would also be its grave.
John went over to Undine to help finish off the second one. Even damaged and without the backing of itsrade, the Horror was a strong opponent. Reduced in his HP already and without Mana Protection, John gave the necessary respect to its raw, physical strength and kept his distance as he threw ranged attacks. While only a whittling tactic, it eventually seeded in killing the weakened Adaptor.
The exit opened, Siena had, as predicted, sessfully disposed of the other one, and John straightened his cor. This could have gone way worse if he hadnt invested as equally in his physical Stats as he did. I guess the argument can be made that Mana Protection would have kept me from all damage if I invested only in Mental Stats, I suppose, John thought, No idea how I would have killed them in that case though that build would need absurd, downright broken mana regeneration.
Not that it was a particrly important train of thought, John just liked to think how else his powers could have turned out.
Maybe if I just spend all points on Intellect? No, no, that would be stupid, he decided and walked back the way he hade, re-equipping Undine as Siena went back into her incorporeal state. He needed to clear the neighbouring room as well. Bogging down in any one Stat only works in badly designed systems.
That was one thing he wouldnt say about his powers.
Chapter 515 – Events to Nomination 3 – The second challenge
Chapter 515 C Events to Nomination 3 C The second challenge
The inability of group members to solo rooms soon became apparent. John was the first that had to give up on that front (and he wasnt even truly alone, having Undine with him). Three rows after that encounter with the Horrors, he had to throw his hat into the ring. Although not immediately dangerous, the encounter that convinced him had been too grindy and difficult for him to take the continued risk. As the person who had a simr amount of problems, Gnome met up with him and they tackled the continued challenges together.
Due to theck of her name-giving ground, the soil elemental only had her physical Stats to rely on. That carried her a bit further than it did John, but not much. Thankfully, the rows were also narrowing at that point, so them covering less ground at least came with less ground to cover.
Next to retreat was Sylph, although this was on order by John. As enemies got quicker, he was afraid they would eventually be able tond a lucky strike on the wind spirit and, ss cannon as she was, that was just about everything it took to shatter her corporeal form and cause her to die a little death. Which was an experience John would much rather she avoided having. Smander followed soon thereafter, although she went on her own volition. Since Aclysia was the closest, thats who the endme elemental tagged along with.
Beatrice was the person who persisted on her own for the longest time. Herbination of high mobility and strong regeneration meant that she had the tools to avoid most damage and wasnt too heavily punished if she failed, making her pretty ideal in the whole soloing department. Longest time only meant that she pushed one row past Aclysias singr streak, however; the difference between the two Artificial Spirits wasnt that vast yet. Given the difference between their fighting styles, this was bound to be a wider gap in the future, once they got more skills.
Anyway, after eight, mind-numbingly boring hours dominated by walking ever increasing distances between slightly more difficult iterations of the same fight, they finally arrived in front of the boss room.
Thank you, Gaia! John unironically dered, and everyone took a moment of relief as they got the confirmation they didnt have to crawl through this thing again. Okay, lets see here what the new challenge is he opened the window, hoping it would be something they could clear right now.
That is okay, John hesitatingly stated. He would be lying if he said he had never thought about doing something like it. Much like punching Frank in the face, however, it stayed at the thought since he was not really willing to shoulder the consequences. Although the catharsis of hurting his bully, however little with his pitiful original Strength, was a much greater reward for the hospital visit than probably not even cumming before getting squashed to actual death would be.
Now the situation had changed. He was mandated to fuck a girl. There was nothing forcing him to do it with this boss in particr, but John felt the tingle of excitement in his balls already. It was dangerous, for sure, to do it on what was likely to be a difficult encounter but he really wanted to.
He looked over the girls with him. Who would the lucky girl be? Well, there was only one real choice, being Sylph. Everyone else was either too big or too heavy to do both the fucking and remain mobile. Even the upsized air spirit was small enough to get fucked walking.
The feeling of the cold air of the dungeonplex on his balls was the first sign that this was perhaps a bad idea. Without undergarments or pants, he stood there in his shoes and the rest of his equipment on. Aclysia did voice her concern, Are you sure this is wise?
I am absolutely sure it is unwise, John responded. We should go scout out a weaker boss, make sure everything is safe and all that, rather than face a superbuffed version of an unknown one. However, Sylph eagerly jumped on him, bbering dozens of things everyone ignored, I want this to be done with these Gamer levels already AND I really want to do this.
And I wanna do this, this sounds fun, this looks fun! she closed her legs around her summoners hips and held onto his neck as best she could. Given her Strength and Agility, that was pretty well, and her naked breasts squished against his corbone as she snuggled up close. Is very Her pussy pressed against the tip of his cock. very, very, very She slowly sunk down, both her and John moaning as he waspletely sheathed inside her typhon of a pussy. Fuuuuuuunnnnn, Sylph gasped when she came to a halt. This is great, this is the best, this is how we should always fight!
We havent even started fighting yet, John told her, wrapping his right around her back to secure her that bit more.
Yeah, as I said, we should always do this, just always, during fighting and during sleeping and during walking and all that all the time always, yes, that is the best that could happen ever, I mean-
Shut it, Smander intercepted and pressed her hand on the entrance terminal, Lets just get this over with, I want to spend my days burning something. Not, I repeat NOT, in this depressing redlight dungeon where there arent even any Metras around. The door opened without a hitch and the group, led by Aclysia and Gnome, stepped inside. Everyone needed to blink a couple of times. The floodlights were no longer blocked by any tubes, causing everything to have a disgustingly bright tness to it.
John, after only a few steps, made the discovery that Sylphs pussy was basically made for jogfucking. Her unique properties, to have her internal winds change their intensity and effectively making it so that ones own efforts were rewarded with equal pleasure, reacted to every step he took and every bounce she made. That and her decently sized rack rubbing against his chest, even if there was a suit in the way, was just awesome. Something had to be said about the softness of breasts. Something very nice,plimenting, clever but also deeply philosophical. Sadly, John did not have enough blood in his brain toe up with that.
He did have enough blood to register the fact that the tank before them was twice as big as the previous incarnations. U-uhm, one thing before we start Gnome raised her hand and everyone behind her stopped. They hadnt triggered the boss yet, so they looked at her anticipating somest-minute strategy idea. D-did you just uhh, I dont want to start a fight or anything, she made a bunch of unnecessary gestures, but did you just use Metra as a synonym for strippers?
Yeah, Smander crossed her ck-ted arms, pushing up her massive cleavage. Something that John only noticed because of the situation atrge. His cock pulsated within Sylph. Luckily, they were standing still, so her pussy was only tight, wet, willing and sending a pleasurable bit of electricity crackling through Johns systems which caused his sensitivity to steadily rise.
That was a new thing since her transformation into a thunderstorm elemental. Once inside her, there was some special kind of electricity, John had a hunch it would be pink if he could actually see it, just frying his cock with continuous bliss. He actually could cum from just standing still, but it would have been a long process. The main thing that electricity did was turn his dick into a level of hard unparalleled. He felt like he could crush diamonds with his shaft. Not that he would try.
All that went through Johns head while he was staring at her tits. Then the fire spirit continued, What, do you have a problem with that?!
N-no! Gnome waved with both arms at shoulder-height, while making herself as small as possible. I did just want to make sure I got the joke he voice got more and more quiet and then she took a deep breathe. Okay, we can start now! If everyone is alright with that.
Rather than answering, Aclysia simply continued on her path forwards. One certain step and the sound of hydraulics betrayed that they had triggered the boss. The bloody liquid spilled out as it always did, causing Aclysia and Gnome to jump back to not have their sight robbed.
Unlike any of the prior Adaptors, the boss didnt wait patiently. Rather, it grabbed the slightly open doors and pried them open with such force that its fingerprints were permanently engraved into the now bent metal. In a continuous shower of its forming fluids, the boss bent forwards and roared through its metallic teeth.
Much like the beams, I find robot movies and cartoon references shouldnt be crossed, John thought and immediately did what the strategist of the group was supposed to do. Run away from the main fight and go for the most secure corner of the room. The girls all went ahead and barraged the boss in a wave of immediate attacks.
Smanders ball of fire was the first thing to hit, but its effectiveness was massively diminished by the still running crimson liquid. There was no more room left to go, so the open vent was now simply dumping all of the fluid into the room through a constant shower and geyser from up and below the tank.
Angered by her attacks evident uselessness, Smanders buzzcut was reced with a jet of gold and grey fire. The ck lines on her skin began to heat up into golden colour themselves. Just burn this thing! she shouted out, sending her unleashed buff out to Beatrice. Aclysia was getting the giants attention, but the passive maid was faster. The moment Adoptimus Prime was going for Aclysia, Beatrice went full-thrust ahead.
The tip of her spear ignited with Smanders fire, and shaft gripped with both hands, she thrusted forwards. She was already sailing through the air by the time her attack should have gotten through, Unsteady Limb doing her no good. With uncanny perfection, the boss had predicted her movement before she even made it and moved its massive arms with inevitable precision. An exact replica of that movement was hitting Aclysia at the same time, both maids being catapulted against the distant walls.
Oh, thats just great! John thought as the boss eyesnded on him, whirling his heel around in perfect synchronicity to kick Gnome aside as if she was a pebble on the road. Then he started charging. It was evident that the Observe window wasnt lying when it said that this one along with all the upgrades had also inherited thebat knowledge from all previous Adaptors.
The number one lesson it drew from all of thebat situations was, evidently, destroy John. A logical decision, given that it knew both that he was the tactician and that the groups healer was on his body. That the Gamer started running away with an air spirit bouncing on his dick didnt bother the colossus of metal, muscle and tes.
John, however, was busy thinking two words in quick session. Shit, fuck, shit, fuck, shit, fuck, as his naked ass tried to get more distance between himself and the alchemic fisting that awaited him. The vibrations behind him got closer and closer. Sylph, you got to h-aaaahhh-lllppp, John stated, a moan making it hard to see for a moment. Why did all of his girls have to have abination of sexy bodies and quivering quims?!
Uhm, I cant see, gaspingly, she answered, even if I could, which I cant, a moan escaped her lips, like, okay, I can look over your shoulder an itty little bitty bit, buuuuut, a prolonged sigh of pleasure, but not enough to aim and and even then IIiiiii, a prolonger shout as she came, wringing Johns dick so hard with her internal tempest that he felt his knees getting weak. He struggled and almost fell, catching himself at thest moment. Although he kept running, such manoeuvres reduced the already ufortably small lead he had.
Just throw them out randomly! John said, biting his lower lip. Not in a sexy way, he hoped the pain would keep him focused against the pleasure as he needed toe up with a n with a clearly diminished brain capacity. If anyone had ever told him that having a giant cock would be paired with the need for the absurd amount of blood that thing required to swell up, he would only have been 90% as enthusiastic about getting it. Despite that handicap, he eventually did manage to get the idea. Destroy the lights! he told everyone.
If the boss had intricate knowledge of all the battle strategies they had used, they just needed someone that workedpletely unlike anyone else. In other words, their hopey in a Combination, and John knew exactly which one was perfect for the job.
The sound of shattering ss could be heard on one side of the room and only that one side. John began to run faster, only to fall back into nothing more than a jog. If the overload of pleasure wasnt going to get him to fall first, his balls pping against his thighs was a worse torture than getting murdered by the boss would ever be. Not really, but the point was that he couldnt get nearly as fast as his 100 Agility and shoes would allow him normally.
John heard the impact of a fist against his Mana Protection more than he felt it. Sparks of arcane scattered behind him in the air, harmlessly glowing out as the boss recuperated. It hadnt even taken that swing with the goal of hitting John, the target had always been the barrier, through whose protection it knew it could get with only enough damage input.
Although the boss needing to get back in running form and Smander throwing a giant fireball in its face to hinder that greatly helped John, the Gamers steps got progressively slower. His field of view, on the other hand, got more and more unstable. He was almost halfway around the tank in the centre of the room. Aclysia and Beatrice were busy shattering the lights there through aimed strikes with their weaponry.
With one side of the room freed from the floodlights, the ones on the other side created a deep shadow from the tank. One in which the Gamer stopped dead, simply turning to face the boss head on. Who stopped just as he did, even taking a step back and away from John.
It was certainly not the ssy stare of the Gamer, getting closer and closer to cumming, that intimidated Adoptimus Prime. No, John was betting on another thing. The AI within the Adaptors had always been rather methodical and sometimes cautious. He had observed that much when he had faced the two Horrors and their slow approach to chasing before.
The other thing the encounter in the Trap Room had brought with it the reason for the boss hesitation. There was exactly one dataset that it had ess to in regard to John standing inside a shadow and that was being brutally and carefully stripped of all flesh by ws and tentacles. Of course, Siena could have never actually done that on her lonesome to this thing, but the boss had no experience with that.
Siena peeled out of the wall of the tank. I would love to do this myself, she hissed as she reached out to Sylph. What stopped her was the mesh. She still couldnt walk on it and she would have troubles manifesting out of such thin shadows, since her power worked with the shadow covered surfaces, not the body of dark as a whole.
I really hope this doesnt count as an interruption, John thought as Siena and Sylph Combined. From the feeling of it, his dick never left any tight space. It felt like the pussy was thest part that was disassembled of the air spirits body and the first part of the gothic girl that appeared in her ce.
This was the first time John saw Edge naked, and holy fuck, did he have to ask himself why he had waited this long. She was deadly pale, in a more white way than Eliza but definitelyparable, but the nipples crowning her almost D-cup tits had just the right shade of pink. Okay, due to her being pretty attached to him, that was all he saw of her body. Although he had observed her nice and thick ass before, so he wasnt losing out on that front. She had inherited the posture of her legs from Sylph, so it was only her upper body that hung a bit away from him.
On her face usually was a giant smile, but today it was arge O-face as she entered existence with a giant cock inside her. A Libido score of over 50, which had never gotten proper use before, was suddenly put into action with John busting his load inside her pussy.
Just as Edges own pussy was basically virgin, with only memories of her parts giving her sexual experience, John had never known the insides of her. It had both the insane, guided grip of tightness Siena could use, feeling like someone was massaging his cock like a form-fit cocksleeve, and the turbulent winds and electricity of Sylph.
It was no wonder that the first action between them was John mming her back against the tank and just letting his balls tighten over and over again. Sadly, he had no time to really enjoy the orgasm or properly wait for the afterglow to phase out.
Although intimidated and then confused, as far as its programming allowed, the boss was not about to wait forever just because of missing information. It had attempted to get back into the offensive, but Smander and Beatrice had started a series of harassment that, although futile, had the boss dyed until John could see more than Edges weirdly attractive double-set of pointy canines.
Alright oh fuck Alright, here is the n! John repeated inside her mind, just in case the feeling of her first fuck inbination with the orgasm, triggered by Johns magically potent seed dissolving inside her, had wiped it from her mind. Which it totally had.
Sure, whatever, I can do that, I can make that thing scream, just give me blood, give me its bloooooood, Edge cackled and moaned, then yelped in pleasure with every step John took. Only slightly taller than Sylph, the gothic girl had no trouble hanging on. Her wed left dug into his back, the ends pressed threateningly into Johns skin without ever cutting him. The thrill made this that bit more exciting, but he doubted he would cum a second time so soon.
Their way was short, right up to the tank and the endless stter of red liquid. By all definitions, this was Adoptimus Primes blood, and Edge identified it as such. She extended a hand inside, leaving John the displeasure of showering in it, and then guided it towards her mouth. Sucking it off her finger with audible moans and an unnecessarily erotic disy, in parting from her body shuddering still in the aftermath, she ingested the lifefluid.
The boss had worked through its two roadblocks at this point but was then quickly presented with two even bigger hurdles in the shape of Aclysia and Gnome. Those two wouldnt be removed that easily.
What darkness was created from the destroyedmps was suddenly sucked away as Edge summoned her scythe of vice. All darkness concentrated in one spot and then extended into the tool of harvest. AND AWAY YOU GO! Edge screamed aesthetically, wielding the massless, immensely long weapon overhead and striking downwards. Her arms were around Johns neck in this endeavour, he himself with the back towards the boss, a truly awkward position.
The attack came at the same time as the boss threatened to crush Gnome under its heel. Rather than finish that motion, Adoptimus Prime took a hasted step backwards, leaving it slightly off bnce. Even without information, the boss had enoughmon sense to know to dodge an attack from a giant scythe formed of darkness itself.
However, its dodge was immensely shallow, few centimetres separated its chest from the immaterial de. The boss wasnt the only person that could do a hasted step backwards though and so John quickly jumped after him, only to then let himself fall over like a bowling pin. Although it looked stupid, it gave the immensely agile elemental enough time to drag her weapon through Adoptimus Primes chest.
A robot without the capacity to feel it was suddenly subjected to untold amounts of torment. The calcted cool it had was suddenly broken, all data forgotten in favour of falling over and screaming. John liked his position more, lying under the, somewhat psychotic, eyes of a clearly flustered Edge. There were sounds of weapons meeting flesh and metal in the background as she begun to ride him with reckless abandon.
I still got a few more minutes, right? Right! Mothers, this feels soooo gooooood! she screamed out, her hips moving up and down in absolute absurd speeds that almost made it seem two of the pale-green haired girls were rocking their own world by riding on Johns cock. There was only one scream though, one of continuous pleasure.
John himself was just lying on his back and taking it all, the supernatural pussy around him gripping tight and the many folds of shadow and storm sheathing his dick over and over again. He was going to let her have her fun for her entire remaining duration. Not that he could have easily stopped her, or even wanted to leave that pussy anytime soon.
That had been a nice challenge to beat.
Chapter 516 – Events to Nomination 4 – Greater Challenges yet
Chapter 516 C Events to Nomination 4 C Greater Challenges yet
I would say that, John agreed and walked towards the secret entrance that had opened after the boss had been defeated. He had been somewhat preupied and thus missed when and how exactly, but none of that mattered anyhow as he only wanted to get out of here. Note to self: no more sex on grated surfaces, he mumbled, rubbing his ass, currently looking like there was aser grid running over it.
He was about to leave the dungeon and wouldnt have bothered to put his pants back on, only to take them off once home. Since he still had to cross the green fields and risk running into Magoi with a revealed cock, however, he opened his inventory and did it regardless. Then he went to check out what this extra room business was about.
Logically speaking, it could only have been the Treasure Room. Everything else was cleared already. His deduction was rewarded with truth as they entered a room where the walls were ted with gold, the lights had a normal level and the sci-fi-aesthetic vitrines disyed a number of treasures.
Most of it was pretty uninteresting. Arge amount of screws, nuts and bolts, just the standard drop from the enemies in the dungeon, but in absurd amounts. Some money that John deposited without even counting or checking how much his inventory amount had increased. He was really past the need for that. Two items with the Revealer of Secrets attribute, which he took with him quite happily. When he got to thest two ss disys, he found something properly rewarding.
That was the second he found of these. Although he hadnt even had a use for the first one yet, he figured that they, like most premium currencies in games, would be something he would be mouring for once theter Tiers of his Guild Hall rolled around.
Lastly, he got an item that was much in the same vain.
Not much to say about that, it would rest in the Guild Bank with the two Focusing Ornaments until he had a use for it. That done, he went and visited the Loot Basin, the room created by a Fateweaver Perk where natural drops were gathered over the course of a grinding session.
It was a very odd space, reminding John of a mixture of a depot and a small, family-owned supermarket. The simple, metal shelves were stacked exactly as high as John could still reach. stic rails were attached to the front of every level and had tucked within them a piece of paper that had the items name as well as the number. John Observed the items as he went by.
When he wanted something, he simply had to take the paper sign out and put it in his inventory. Through shenanigans, the paper, inventory space willing, would be reced with all of the stored items. If John didnt want it, he had two options.
He could feed the paper to a terminal next to the entrance door, creating an Abyss Auction offer into which he only had to insert his price. Usually he would just put it up for the highest bidder, without any base price, although that sometimes backfired with people sniping his offers. Not that he was bothered though.
The other way was to throw the sign into a trashcan on the other side of the door. That would, within 24 hours, make the item vanish back into the abyss it came from. As he had tested, this only worked with the paper, so he couldnt take something he wanted destroyed here and dump it into nothingness.
Items that had nothing done to them for a week also vanished. So, despite this barrier expanding to epass all the loot John ever got, he couldnt exactly use it for storage either. Items he brought in from the outside and left here, Gaia would put on the Abyss Auction herself. She informed him about this via a window, all to prevent him from abusing the Loot Basin in any way.
Items offered by the supreme deity were, understandably, sold within three milli-seconds. Some poor sod out there was wondering why Gaia had sold a perfectly normal tea set, a dildo and a copy of Machiavellis The Prince. The answer, that the Gamer had wanted a dildo as assistance while on his crusade to fuck at least once in any given room he directly owned, had spent the afterglow time reading The Prince while getting a blowjob and allowed his weaponized maid to leave behind a tea set for future uses, wouldnt have crossed any sane persons mind.
Attempts to fuck with Gaia by leaving items like a bag of condoms or a literal bag of trash behind had ended with both of these items suddenly falling on Johns head when he next opened an Instant Dungeon. Just good for me I didnt actually leave her a ss of cum or something, John thought as he gathered the paper signs in two different stacks, one for selling and one for keeping. He very seldomly trashed things.
Since everything was sorted by rarity, the deeper he got into the room, the more interesting it became. Sadly, the scarcer the content became as well. Common and Umon were pretty crowded; Rare had some items; Epic, he was happy if he saw more than three at any given day. He contemted whether it was even worth his time to look into the consistently devoid Legendary shelf. Always an optimist (in regards to loot essible by taking only a few steps anyway), John decided to check.
Much to his pleasant surprise, he actually did find something. A spear with a red shaft, covered in winding white decorations, often taking the shape of skulls or other parts of the human skeleton and a white de the shape of a leaf. For a moment, John dared to hope that he had stumbled over another mithril weapon. On closer inspection, the t de missed the silver hue of the legendary metal.
Well, just Adaptor metal, but still pretty good all around. The initial attributes seemed somewhat underwhelming. The base Sharpness was something John had barely ever encountered, never outside of low levels either. Point Reach was new, but could be summarized as a thrusting counterpart to Aclysias ranged shing attacks. Agility +5 was also nothing to write home about.
However, Battle Evolution promised that all of these Attributes would increase in strength up to ten times over the course of a battle, and it was definitely better than the makeshift spear Beatrice was currently using. John decided to add an All Stats +4 and Strength +15 to the weapon with Create, consuming the remaining 5 Attribute openings. Things he added extra always costed more in that regard.
The weapon vanished into his inventory, as it would take a couple of hours for Create to put the enchantment on it. Congrattions, Beatrice, you got a new weapon, how do you feel about that?
The passive maid reacted like anticipated and shrugged, Helpfulness, likely. Personal interest: low. I possess no attachment to previous or new weaponry. In summary: Its a new weapon.
You should be more happy about things Master gifts you, Aclysia told the younger creation.
If framed like that, I can agree to increased levels of happiness, Beatrice nodded, gifts from our master please me. I would cherish more. Additional items would simply stack up as I would do nothing with them, however. Adding clutter to the household. Uneptable. Minor increases in happiness like this are not worth this.
Aclysia wanted to disagree, but couldnt do so without approving useless things she had to store away somewhere in her cleanings. Therefore, she just stayed quiet. Smiling, John had something to add, Dont worry, I have a gift for both of you that wont cause anything to lie around, he quickly kissed both of them, us spending time together.
Although the green-eyed maids both smiled softy in an absolutely symmetric fashion, Beatrice had to add some idental sass to the situation. Correction: time spent with master may not add clutter, but persistent stains alwayse of it. Amused, John shook his head andughed quietly. Addendum: I do not mind the cleaning efforts given the origin.
Well, we better get back home and give you something to clean then, John stated and finished his business in the Loot Basin in a hurry.
_____________________________________________________________________
He returned to the house Magoi had copy-pasted from reality with only the two maids in tow. The elementals, universally exhausted and in want of just sleeping this recent dungeon crawl off like a very dull dream, had retreated into his soul and whatever odd home they had made for themselves in there.
Had a long day, tiger? Rave asked when he threw himself on the couch, his headnding right in herp. Although a nice pillow, the constant shifting under his head was a bit annoying. Not that he had any right toin, he was the one deciding to ce himself there despite knowing that his girlfriend was one of these people that didnt like to sit around still while ying Mario Kart. Dangit, she let out when she quickly lowered her arms again, having needed to raise them to allow John toy down.
Haha! Elizaughed with unrelenting Schadenfreude. You lost first ce, bitch!
Okay, but I got Johns head in myp, Rave answered, both their eyes glued to the screen, so you may win this game, but I win dibs or maybe the Lightbearer executed a wless drift in the final curve of the race, I win BOTH! she threw her hands into the air as she overtook the blood mage just a few metres before the finishing line.
Eliza turned into a curse-flinging mess of frustrated air-kicking. For a moment, John was afraid about the controller she held. It wouldnt have been the first she busted. As she threw it across the table and into the empty leather armchair, his fear was nullified. Suck a giant cock, Jane! the pretty little psycho ended her tirade, then went ahead and dropped herself on John. I demand cuddles!
You can have those, the Gamer allowed and wrapped an arm around the smaller girl as she made herselffortable on top of him. Can you lose the bra? he asked. The metal ring that held the leather piece together at the front was ufortable, pressing against Johns chest. Quickly, she did, and then he was left with only her soft breasts squishing on him. Perfect, he sighed, feeling like he had arrived where he belonged, and yes, very long day.
One of the worst dungeons we had to run in a while, Aclysia added on her way to the kitchen. Of the immensely boring kind.
It was monotonous, Beatrice underlined. Much like my personality or the colour scheme John consistently chooses for his creations. The passive maid stayed close, waiting for the promised sexual exploits to begin. Unlike Aclysia, she didnt have the experience or tastebuds to properly cook, so the only help she could provide was preparing ingredients. They let her prepare a meal one time. It had been a disgusting, if highly nutritious, almost-liquid sludge they were supposed to gulp down in one go.
Lydia had requested the recipe upon hearing about this. As expected, the time-constrained queen rather liked it, but not for the taste.
Got the ss Level? Rave asked, putting on some music now that they werent ying anymore.
Yeah, also Gaia was nice enough to decrease the inted experience numbers, he told her and then quickly summarized the events of the day.
Wow, that does sound like a sucky dungeon, she said by the end of it. Very climactic finish though.
Yeah, third Combination I fucked, John agreed, the other two being Cumslut and Lust, the tier three, sexualbination. Was rather interesting. Anyhow, I should finish that quest now.
John whistled, impressed by the choices he was given. All of this was rather potent. The Master Key was the worst though, so that was an easy out. On with the Grind! was pretty strong and would add a lot of free experience to his runs. The choice he went with was the leftmost, after some thinking.
Raiding was the pinnacle of difficulty and rewards in practically every MMO and John wanted a counterweight to the constant mob-grind that were Assaults. Although immense rewards was a bit loose on the definition side, he expected most it to be powerful items that he could use for multiple purposes. Well see what else we get, John thought; he would test this out the next day.
Hmm, John thought what to do with these new GP while he put his newly gained Stats into Wisdom. He had a total of 620 GP right now, that would buy him 25 Skill Levels, if he decided to spend them. He looked at his Stat Screen to get an idea whether that would be worth it or not.
Two things made him heavily consider the option. One being the ever-present Artificial Spirit Skill and the perks that came with it. The other was situational, namely Sienas Nightmare Elemental Summoning. He could buy her to max with those points. That would be a waste without a SEP, though, John realized. Postponing spending those GP until he was guaranteed to get something good out of it seemed like the smart thing to do.
However, even without buying extra points, Artificial Spirit was past the first quarter, so he could get a new Special Perk if he spent the AP now. He decided to get that done really quick, since he was already doing all of this finagling with his windows.
John went with Always Serving pretty much immediately. Although pretty much useless inbat, it allowed Aclysia to start fights with an already full Devotion bar. Given that she now possessed a taunt ability, this had immense value.
For the second choice, he only had 5 AP and was thus basically forced to take Enduring.
Sacrificing a whole Special Choice just to get to the Sexmaid and Lover choices again was a tall ask, but John really didnt need even tastier food and he really wanted to try the amazing pussy and themand triggered orgasms. Thus, he went with the thing that gave him nothing right now, after consulting with the girl affected.
Seems like Gaia is not going to give anymore weighty choices anytime soon, John thought, and he could hardly me her for that. The Artificial Spirits, Aclysia in particr, already had quite a bit of power behind them. Adding more and more potent bonuses would soon make them ridiculous.
Anyhow, now he just had to get done with Beatrice really quickly.
Are you kidding me? John asked. This was the third time he got this exact choice. The only thing that changed was the number behind Nimble as that was what he took every time. As he did this time as well.
Yet more recycled choices, but John actually had to make a pick here. The middle was obviously out. Even if he had suddenly changed his mind, John had the tingling feeling that he would actually manage to get Aclysia angry if he knocked up the passive youngling over her devoted self. Since he knew what Angry-clysia looked like from memories of Sylph and scenes involving their enemies, he was 100% certain he did not want to guide that sort of wrath towards himself.
The actual choice was between utility and his dick and, like almost always, he made the choice in favour of utility with a very heavy heart. Inventories were simply too good to ignore.
You look like you need to fuck somebodys face with your cock, not up, Eliza stated, and was already getting busy with his trousers.
Chapter 517 – Events to Nomination 5 – Raiding the time
Chapter 517 C Events to Nomination 5 C Raiding the time
Mhm, John looked at the vaguely familiar name, then up at the hill in front of him. Although itself normal looking, the Gamer couldnt help but notice the massive, dragonskull-esque formation of stones growing out of the pile of dirt and rocks. The air was humid, and the wet feeling under Johns shoes made him pretty certain he was in a swamp.
The night hade and passed, and now the Gamer wanted to test the new mechanic he had been granted ess to. When he had created the Raid, he hadnt expected a giant World of Warcraft reference to p him across the face, though.
I mean, this is obviously Onyxias Lair, he said and then looked over his assembled girls. I dont think any of you are really good at casting DoTs, are you? he made a highly referential joke. As they were hooked up to his mind, they all got it. Reactions were pretty limited; it obviously hadntnded that well. Okay, okay, lets just get inside.
The door was sealed by the teeth of the white-stone skull clenching together, but the moment the group approached, the thing began to open. A stream of sulphuric air permeated the surroundings with unpleasant smells and dry hotness, heavily shing with the average humidity they had just stood in. On the plus side, they were soon walking on stone, much more pleasant than the mud.
Exactly like the original raid, the inside of the structure was a simple, broad passage, shoulder high barriers of once-molten stone separating it from theva pools around. As someone who spent quite a lot of time aroundva on his own volition, the heat didnt bother John that much. His enchanted clothes helped with that as well.
The group stopped when they saw a flickering shadow in the light of theva, shifting over the wall of the corner in front of them. Arge beast, at least two times taller than John, came around, sniffing aggressively for the invaders scent.
Okay, Gaia, what the fuck?! John thought and immediately treated this whole thing with way more respect. He had gone in here under the assumption that he was going to face the usual content of equal levelled monsters, buffed up to present a challenge to a group of eight. Instead they were charged by a three metre dragonkin with a ive tall enough to split Johns entire body, as well as the guy behind him.
The monster swept that massive weapon around with no clear target, hitting Gnome first, much to the luck of Smander and Beatrice who still would have been hit by the quick attack. Dangerously sharp, the edge of the ive broke through the outeryer of the soil elementals barely raised arms and cut halfway through. Her earthen body began to glow around the weapon, as an iidva enchantment became active and seared her body with immense heat.
Q-quuuick, Gnome stuttered and whined, not from embarrassment but from the sheer pain she sustained. Drawing a deep breath, the dragonkin roared with fierce conviction, a challenge for anyone who dared to attack it. Gnome was forced several steps back as the elite monster kept on its steady attack.
Smanders fire attacks did nothing to the monster, as one could have expected, so she clicked her tongue in anger and went with a simple physical route. Flying right up to it, the endme elemental attempted to punch the dragonkin right in its face, but was met with the massive jaws of the creature snapping down in front of her.
Although this blocked her own attack, it bought some time for Aclysia to jump at the enemy with Marath in her hands. With Servants Strike buffing it up, the massive de managed to cut into the thick scales on the shoulder and further down to the bone, but no deeper. The dragonkin roared in pain, suddenly whirling its entire body around.
Aclysia was thrown off, and a muscr tail hit Gnome in her widely exposed back. Both of them flew into a pool ofva, something John wasnt too worried about. The weaponized maid was fire resistant and Gnome was a tough cookie; they would survive a short bath in molten rock. Now, he would still have paid that damage some more attention if a second shadow wasnt making its announcement on the wall behind this first guardian.
Given the state Gnome, their second most durable member, was in after just one attack and the amount of damage Aclysia could do with one buffed up attack, John didnt see this whole thing working out all that well. Neither did he want to put any of the elementals through the potential suffering of being killed while they retreated to safety to leave the Raid. Well, what do I have this for if I never use it? John thought and activated Espace Rope.
The dungeon around them began to swirl and stretch like a liquified portrait that went down the drain, being sucked downwards and leaving the group standing in the darkness, to be filled with another ID.
Undine would you he stopped talking as the ocean elemental was already flowing towards her sister and began mending the ss-covered gaps in her forearms. As interesting as it was to see a cauterized earth spirit, John was understandably unhappy to see her hurt to such a degree.
Level 250 was 99 above their current level, which wasnt the worst difference he had ever fought against. The problem here wasnt the enemy but Johns mentality towards it. Normal dungeons were designed to be beaten on the first go, so he had gotten somewhatcent in his expectations of difficulty.
Less Diablo mindset, more Dark Souls, John thought. If the normal enemy was as hard or even harder than the average boss he fought, then he had to adapt his mindset topensate. He would also have to experiment on what stuck when he left a Raid. Maybe there was a way to whittle the enemies down. Things I am not willing to test right now, he thought and prepared to open an Assault instead.
This was supposed to be training for a war scenario in the near feature. He didnt have the hours to waste on entering and exiting a Raid repeatedly, kiting and testing different strategies, for some acimed immense reward at the end that could be whatever. In times of preparation for conflict, it was best to stick to what one knew. Only desperate times called for experiments.
_______________________________________________________________________
Time passed by without a hitch afterwards. The remaining nine days within the barrier gave John a total of seven more levels. Even with Assaults, he couldnt reliably grind out a level a day anymore. Magoi took his leave rather quickly, ecstatic about his vacation. With the High Fateweaver on his way to do the diplomacy John needed him to, the Gamer was left with less time to grind.
Once his return was made public, John was swamped with work. His work days went to 10 hours baseline, often extending that by several more hours. Of course, he still managed to sneak in at least three instances of fucking a day, but he often had to do so in unorthodox circumstances. This only underlined his reputation as a pervert.
A particrly clear example was when John was caught with his dick inside Aclysia between two meetings. It was part of a day of over a dozen discussions and he simply had not had the patience to go somewhere more private. Unlucky for him that a few of the people he was to talk with had decided to arrive ten minutes early. What was normally apudable behaviour turned into a bit of an inconvenience for John as he had to ask them to wait outside. He still finished, but everyone knew that the smell of cinnamon Aclysia exuded afterwards was there to drown out more sexual smells.
Incidents like that piled up and soon John had a reputation. It wasnt surprising, one could even say it was inevitable, but he definitely preferred it when there was a smaller amount of people that had seen him naked from the waist down. The alternative, however, was to only have sex in less risqu settings.
Which in turn meant that he would have to go whole work days without sex. Given his Libido, that was barely an option. Although he preferred to not get caught, John also didnt mind being seen all that much, so he just epted that the history books would have him marked down as someone who often had sex in public offices.
Escapades like that aside, John was working ceaselessly on internal and external things that he simply couldnt delegate elsewhere. Either because of ack of qualified people or because somebody insisted they wouldnt ept anything not confirmed by John. Something the Gamer kind of asked for, as he realized, when he had put Seth on the post of temporary mayor. It had been meant to be a reward, he was the leader of the Enve after all and as such one of the people that had been with John from the beginning.
When John told him he wasnt suited for the job and was therefore dismissed, the guy looked so infinitely relieved that the Gamer genuinely felt bad about cing him there in the first ce. So much for my idea that he would grow into it, he thought, having hoped that a guy like this, with arge amount of conscience, would be able to lead arge amount of people like he had done with the small Enve. A na?ve position, John had to admit.
Weak of power and character, very few had taken Seth seriously as the extension of Johns will as much of the anarchy mindset still lingered. It would probably take years if not an entire generation before people appointed in Johns system were just assumed to be backed up by his power. For the moment, he solved this problem by having the new mayor, now properly elected, guarded by Beatrice at all times. That was effective symbolism.
Still didnt take care of all of the problems.
The most pressing issue was that of borders. When starting this whole thing, John had simply taken a map, put pins in for any somewhat important guild or other group in an area, and then drew a bunch of squares for what districts they had governance over. Many of them had been pretty happy with that solution, and the fractured nature of New York before John had pped a giant barrier on top of it had meant that there was a bunch of new space theyid im to anyway.
Unless there was actually a bulk of several groups in an area, then things got very hairy very quickly. People didnt want to be governed by a group only marginally stronger than themselves or that they simply hated the guts of for past transgressions. Sometimes there was a profitable shop right on the border and both parties wrestled for control over it. Same for interestingndmarks. There was a bunch of other reasons for border disputes.
At least, nobody was actually dumb enough to fight over them. No matter the (truthful) rumours about Johns sexual deviancy, they still respected his authority due to his raw power. It still needed to be addressed, however, and as no two problems were the same, no two solutions were either. Through abination of resettlement, redrawing, marypensations, tax breaks and resource transfers, John managed to solve them one by one in long-winded discussions that made him very happy to have raised his Charisma.
Only a few times, John had to act minorly tyrannical and force a solution on people that just couldnt be pleased. When alone for a moment, John scribbled down their names and districts. Not to have them removed, but simply to keep an eye on them and any opportunities to get into good graces again.
The internal borders were one thing, external borders a whole other. Neighbouring guilds were, with news of Fusions and the Little Marnds friendly talks, cautiously approaching John with diplomacy of their own. Interest to establish an embassy was voiced by some party and things of that nature were trotting along slowly.
One ocean across, John was finally getting an agreement with Amalia and the NTC about getting some naval engineers. The female guild leader let him dangle in ufortable positions for more than a few days, doubtlessly a punishment for his undermining of her authority during the whole yacht incident. Pretty sure that she would let him stew for a whole while, John eventually lost patience and sought help from Lydia on the matter.
After giving him some other numbers for the leaders of the Hanseatic Trading Company and a smaller, still relevantpetitor in Portugal, the queen removed herself from the discussion again. It was all she needed to do anyway, since John now was able to put pressure on Amalia, who had lost her monopoly negotiating position. Particrly the Portuguese were pretty stoked about the prospect of gaining some favours with a rising power able to ship wares from and to the new world.
In the end, the main envoy was still sent by the NTC, but the other two sent at least some people in advisory roles. Getting that whole thing through took him ten days though. Ten days during which the border redrawing was still going on, in addition to other small things, such as a minor reorganization of the police force, the smoking out of one of thest ve trading rings and problems in the numerous Fusion-founded building projects, to only name a few.
The obvious thing at the side was also the whole project of nomination. That was its own set of, sometimes hour long, phone calls and promises, how he could keep these promises, why he would keep these promises, guarantees andpliments going around. All while also ying the two-faced game of calling up Abraham once or twice for a friendly chat.
The thing about those friendly chats was that they were genuinely friendly chats. Both of them wereughing and having a good time. It was a nice change of pace only trumped by sex or general hangouts with his girls. Nevertheless, John stayed course. His scheme was close to fruition and he could apologize all he wanted once the nomination was in ce.
At the end of a particrly rough, 18 hour day (Well 15 hours, really, but he refused to let a day pass without at least some grinding), John fell forwards into his bed, his headnding right between Sienas thighs. Thick is justice, he said and put his hands on them.
Mhm, my kind of thick is indeed, the nightmare elemental agreed. What about the thickness of that womans head? She was referring to theirst case of the day, a talk with a small time guild leader that insisted on running her district like a socialistmune. John couldnt agree to that, not only because socialism was an obviously dysfunctional way of government but also on the principle that parts of his democratic union had to be democratic themselves. If he allowed one district to go about it differently, then he would soon be swamped with requests for exceptions that would ruin the whole union thing from the outset.
No, thigh thickness only, John stated and used the menu to get out his clothes. He justy there for a couple of minute, when his girlfriend decided to also fall face first into the bed right beside him. Hard day? he asked. Although less intense than her boyfriends schedule, Rave had made good on her goal to do work herself.
People are stupid when I cant punch them, her muffled voice reverberated from the mattress, then she turned her neck to look at John. Instead, she only saw thighs. Nice thick thighs, she muttered, also beginning to touch them with the remaining energy of a pervert. Somebody pamper me! she demanded. Treat me like a princess!
This can be arranged, Aclysia promised, presenting the two of them with therge oilcloth she always carried with her. The moment Beatrice saw it, she went to the bathroom and fetched some bottles of oil. John and Rave were soon treated to a massage by the households two maids, so it wasnt all bad. As a matter of fact, pretty much all was good, just exhausting with the current workloads.
Soooooo, the pink-haired hottie exhaled slowly in a deeply rxed tone as oiled up hands glided over her back. How much longer until the nomination again?
Johns answer had to wait until Aclysia was done with his lower back and a particrly strained spot down there. There was a moment of unpleasantness, then the proverbial knot in his muscles loosened. Two weeks, he then groaned in satisfaction. Things are going well he had to readjust his lying position as his growing erection was rubbing rather awkwardly against the oilcloth, so far. Chemilia ising with three of the five generals for a visit, this Friday.
Thats one more than we need, right? Rave asked.
Yeah pretty sure Abraham will catch onto things now, John answered. You dont miss four out of five of your army leaders leaving the country. He will get that something is up.
Siena giggled, Well, let the fly know the spider is already putting a around it, why not?
I dont like thinking of myself as a spider, John grumbled, but makingrge schemes like this isnt exactly a bald-eagle thing.
And the Gamer also was anything but convinced Abraham was a fly.
Chapter 518 – Events to Nomination 6 – In General
Chapter 518 C Events to Nomination 6 C In General
Oh, now thats very useful, John thought and chose the middle option. That was basically exactly what he wanted right about now; his project was going to be finished rtively soon after all. That aside, it was just the best choice. A free, semi-permanent Possession with Spellcarrier and the ability to save 1000 mana, even if he himself couldnt use it, was just obscenely strong.
Adding to that the fact that John had way more mana regeneration now and Possession, with its immense cost of 1 MP per second per slot used, was gettingmonly usable again.
Even with seven, his new maximum, Possessions active, and with Elementalist chosen as his active ss, he had over 10 mana per second to spare. Once he got his desired Extension, he would have a very nice, new tool in his toolbox.
The problem is still actually using spells in conjunction with Possession in a way that makes it better than the elementals, John thought. This was more of a problem of all of his own offensive spells costing so much mana.
Spellcarrier could only transfer spells he himself had after all. With the notable exception of Possession itself. A mechanic preventing him from hopping from one object to the next while removing his own body from the premise, no doubt. Not that he was free to do that in any case, as Possession was affected by range to some degree. It was like thetency increased by every kilometre. Past a certain point, about three kilometres away from himself, it got very bad very quickly. Also, Possessions couldnt enter or leave barriers on their own.
Like everything else in Johns arsenal, it was designed in such a way that it couldnt quite break reality as they knew it. It was, however, still pretty dirty. He made a mental vow that, now that he had the Wisdom to keep it running in the background without feeling heavily cut in his regeneration, to abuse the skill more. It reced the previous vow of always keeping one potential ss Level around for whenever he beat the Elementalist Challenge.
Getting synced with three is just asking way too much, he mentally grumbled as he dismissed all windows and looked at the Harbour in front of him. As he was right now, he could easily connect with one of the elementalspletely even without equipping her. Two he could pretty reliably tap into for short-bursts. There definitely was progress from his daily attempts. Three remained a distant dream. So John had changed his stance on the matter.
Anyway, none of that was particrly important right now. It was just that he had the moment to think and the Puppeteer Challenge had been conveniently beaten while he was standing there with nothing to do but watch the ship anchoring on his Guild Hall.
It was much smaller than Johns yacht, but that wasnt a fairparison. Covered in the typical greyish blue colour of military sea vessels, it would be hard to spy at a distance. A bunch of antennas were growing out of it, some of which looked purely technical, many more magical in their design, John noted the differences and simrities to normal warships.
Two-barrelled artillery turrets, one at the back and one at the front, were maintained. John could easily imagine why. Guns werentmon in the fighting ss of the Abyss because people got too fast to aim them properly and bullets were too small to put proper enchantments on, not to mention that people quickly developed the necessary defences against small, purely physical projectiles. In lower levels, they still saw use.
There were two ways to offset the disadvantages: one of them was to invest the truckload of money for things like Baelementium bullets, and the other was to just upscale the calibre. Carrying an entire howitzer around wasnt the best way to fight, so people still didnt like to do that. With a ship, that was an entirely different story, however.
So, not only did they haverger shells that properly allowed some magical stuff to be done with them, which made them dangerous to some higher weight sses, but in navalbat the actual win condition wasnt limited to killing the enemy, sinking their vessel would also do it. Ranged explosives would absolutely do it as well.
What was different from a normal ship was the abundance of jump-off points. Boarding was a viable strategy even in the 21st century if most of your crew had equipment that allowed them to walk on water. John knew, from the ns he had purchased online, that this ship was pretty good for a guild the size of the Little Marnd. Perfect for patrolling waters and secure shorelines. However, it would not be a decisive factor in arge-scale Abyssal war. What was a gship for a small country was just an apanying vessel forrger ones. There were a couple of monstrous battleships out there that could sink inds with theirbined firepower.
Things got pretty ridiculous once arge calibre cannon wasbined with a crew of several hundred mages charging it. Which was exactly why John wanted one. It was a giant do you even dare challenge this? question for any faction considering an aggressive action towards Fusion. If they got it build and working, that was. At the very least, it was an excuse for John to put some of his money into the pockets of the people working on the project. People on his payroll were generally loyal people.
The warship came to a halt and the crew on board got busy lowering a nk to let the people get off board. As it wasnt a vessel owned by John, the Harbour didnt do it automatically for them. Their ship suddenly doing things on its own without anyone aboard knowing why would have raised a couple of awkward questions anyhow.
John positioned himself and his entourage nearby in patient wait. It was himself, Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice and a small group of officials that he had invited over. I hope you had a pleasant sail, generals, John shouted up when a group of four, headed by the familiar face of Chemilia, walked down the slope of the lowered nk of metal. Their uniforms gave their identity away even more reliably than theirpany, numerous medals on their chest and stripes on their shoulders signifying a strong military code and culture.
We ran into some small troubles with more of those eels, the female general was obviously unwilling to call them by their actual names. Nothing too bad, however.
Before John could answer, a loud sneer could be heard from one of the other three generals. The person in question took a step forwards and crossed his arms. Seriously thought we would be visiting somebody who took better care of his territory than Abraham.
About two heads taller than John, but of a simrly lean build, the general stared down at the Gamer in wait for a reaction. His height alone was imposing, but hispletely hairless body was covered in midnight blue tattoos, adding a somewhat delinquent aura to his discipline. The kind of guy that looked like he could do anything at any second now.
John lowered his head, My apologies, General Terkal, but my guilds navy is not yet developed. I am doing my best to change this, but for the moment weck the means to properly patrol the sea. He straightened up again and gestured towards the city, just one river across. I am more than willing to show you every bit of mynd though. The cleaning up there is going rather well.
Mhmph, Terkal sounded hesitatingly impressed and took a step backwards to signify a less aggressive stance. I will take you up on that offer C right now in fact, he said despite this. He didnt look surprised that John knew who exactly he was and neither should he have been. Obviously, John had informed himself about the people going on a state visit. A search engine called Scarlett had been a great help with this.
The thin-looking general was a man of level 75, making him somewhat stronger than Chemilia. He was close to forty years old, but would probably have looked closer to thirty if one removed all of the lines under his skin. Apparently, he had magic that allowed parts of him to transform into beasts he had in in singlebat.
Ohe now, Terkal, be nice, a friendly tone caused the tattooed man to go from firm-standing to frozen in disciplined obedience. It belonged to a woman that looked to be between 18 and 20 years old but was actually close to a hundred. She had short, brown hair and cute freckles on her tanned skin that emphasized her nice smile and overall attractive farmgirl appearance C which didnt quite seem to fit into her uniform. Although that wasnt all that didnt seem to fit into her uniform, as she was rather stacked in both boob and butt department. To an almost absurd degree, in fact. At a level of 103, she was not only the longest serving but also strongest general. We are here for diplomacy, not to test him.
Although she said that, her smile staying in ce, her green eyes wandered to John in a challenging nce that only stayed for a second. What they were officially here for and the talk they actually wanted to have was vastly different, after all. Her name was Imere and her presence was the most surprising of all. ording to Johns info, and this had been backed up by Chemilia, Imere hadnt voiced either sympathies for or criticism against Abraham since he took office twelve years ago. The fact that she was getting in on this was either a sign of the real girth of Abrahams disgruntlement or John was looking at an obvious mole.
Her powers were based on water and rumour had it that she had gone through the same ritual as Lydia had, fusing her permanently with an elemental. Observe neither confirmed nor denied those ims, leaving John as smart as anybody else, but if she was part slime, that would exin her pretty immense tits.
Right, right, Terkal grumbled and backed downpletely. His respect of Imere probably came from their age gap. It was even highly likely that the shortstack general had been present for the tattooed mans training.
Thest general in the line-up simply offered John his hand for a shake, which the Gamer hesitatingly took. He felt the metal of the ring on the dark-haired and dark-brown eyed mans hand pressing against his own. 30 years old and looking only slightly younger than that, Ted was the husband of Chemilia and had a somewhat different story than the rest of them. Where everyone else had been born in the Abyss, Ted had stumbled into it by ident at the age of twelve,tent powers causing him to discover a barrier his would-be wife had made to y in on her lonesome.
It was the start of a love story rather than the horror tale it could have been if his first contact with the fantastic underbelly of the world had been with people that kidnapped gifted children and sold them to mana factories. It wasnt until he was eighteen that he had proper control over his powers to actually be counted as a member of the Abyss. At level 67, he was also the weakest amongst the generals. Reportedly, he was simr to Rave, in that he had a strong Innate Ability, an affinity for earth magic, but had found more sess in martial arts.
Although a pretty quiet fellow, John had to admit that the guy, with his military buzz cut and strong jawbones, was a good-looking man. Only a scar that ran across his face added a grizzled blemish to his otherwise neutral expression. Once their hands parted again, Ted took position next to his wife and took her hand.
Interesting that they allow people not part of the guild by birth to rise this high in the ranks, John thought. He could imagine that initiates into the Abyss had some special rules going on. New blood was clearly different than somebody like John, who had a bunch of different affiliations by now.
What followed were a bunch of greetings, Have you met and This is alongside a fair bunch of other small, diplomatic sentences that flew around the pier, before John begun showing them around the Guild Hall and exining everything he was asked about.
He skipped very little. The most important information he withheld was the location and exact function of the Guild Heart, as he found that dazzling the generals with his powers was a better way to convince them to side with him than skipping on a bunch of stuff.
After the Guild Hall, they set over to the mainnd and wandered around the construction sites. Here, too, John didnt lie about anything. In any other situation, showing the military leadership of another country the core of your building forces would have been quite the foolish thing to do. Given that they were paralyzed in their ability to take action thanks to Abraham and the friendship treaty he had signed with John, the Gamer wasnt all that worried, however.
A yeah, Guild Hall Tier 2 and friendly fire off, baby! John thought when the Achievement popped up out of nowhere, only to then hastily return to his talk. Lastly, this is the police station, he exined and gestured to a normal building that was part of the skyline. The advantage of having copied New York of all ces were a lot of skyscrapers he could repurpose for things. Disadvantage was that the entire infrastructure that sustained the skyscrapers had to be modified for abyssal usage first. Although still in the initial phases, the police force has been hard at work at maintaining the order I brought to the anarchy of this city.
The generals looked at least somewhat impressed, but Terkal, evidently a bit of a stickler, picked out a certain word in Johns announcement. Lastly? he asked, the ce where his eyebrow should have been rising up. You havent shown us either marine or army training quarters yet.
John had expected such ament and just smiled softly.
This is something we should discuss over dinner.
Chapter 519 – Events to Nomination 7 – Dine and Kiss
Chapter 519 C Events to Nomination 7 C Dine and Kiss
They had dinner inside the Boating Seaquence. The sun was sinking towards the horizon at that point, and one by one, the people only there in official function took their leave. John was trying to fend off the thoughts about the paperwork that even this half-day of talking to the generals had put into the backlog. Beatrice could take care of the boring and easy parts, but that left theplicated and lengthy things for John.
I miss you, Momo, the Gamer thought as his mouth formed nice words through a charismatic smile, goodbyes for thest guest, aside from the generals. She could help with the moreplicated stuff. Attitude or not, she could get some stuff negotiated. Beatrice is too passive to make any decisions herself and if I send Aclysia to talk to anyone well
The mayor turned away and John gave his weaponized maid a nce. Although her exterior was calm, as was her behaviour overall, he was pretty sure that she would hold people that didnt conform to his wishes quickly at knifepoint. That wasnt going to be helpful for his reputation. People already called him Perverted President on the streets, with a joking undertone. With good right.
Just this morning, he had been caught, yet again, with his pants down. To be exact, he had allowed himself to get his dick sucked by Undine during a video call with a pretty attractive subordinate, because he had gone four hours without cumming, and if he had to look at a beautiful woman after that long a stretch he would well, nothing would really happen. It was just that he already had the reputation anyway, so what harm was in getting a little blowjob under the table?
It had toe as it did. The woman noticed the sounds and, tipped off by the rumours, identified them correctly. Much to Johns surprise, rather than being outraged, she just chuckled and continued the conference. Evidently, people were starting to get out of the surprised and into the thats just our leader phase. People were willing to let a lot of things fly as long as their general quality of life increased.
Part of John wanted to see how far he could push it, but that was the same part that whispered into his ear to try and seduce Chemilia. In other words, a part best ignored. Or you could listen to it all the time, Siena suggested, and was ignored just as quickly.
John sat back down on the cantina table, next to Rave who was having some friendly banter with Terkal and Imere. Never caring about ranks and politically adequatenguage, she had pretty quickly won the generals over with her quick and free-flowing tongue. Wanna make out? she suggested towards the short girl when John sat back down at the table.
Excuse me? Imereughed at the Lightbearer. Can you repeat that?
Next to her, John had his mouth open to get in a word and somehow steer this situation around, but his girlfriend had other ns and took him into a light chokehold. I asked if you want to make out, Rave repeated with a wide smirk, ya know, just us two girls, making out. Wanted to ask since ya got here, cause you have these cute freckles. She let John go, since there was no way he could stop this train anymore. I had the decency to wait until the other people left. I think ya can praise me for that!
I guess I shouldnt be surprised, Chemilia chuckled at the sidelines; the quiet Raves suggestion had created was broken by that. With you having a pretty public harem and all that, John.
I have two questions, Terkal went in, his fingertips tapping on each other and deep interest in his eyes. Does this mean this harem is full of girls swinging?
No, John was quick to smite down that question. No. No, no, no, no C NO C nononono! Just no. The deal is I get to sleep with other girls and they get to sleep with the other girls in the harem. Yes, I am heavily advantaged in this deal, yes, I am good enough at the dicking that they are all satisfied, yes, you can be envious sorry, ranting, he cleared his throat. He had wanted to talk straight business the moment they were alone, but Rave had other ns and now they were here.
Second question! Terkal, somewhat disappointed, but still enthusiastic about this whole thing, cried out. It was fascinating how quickly men unified and dropped their aggressive attitudes if the topic was cute girls kissing. Where are we on the making out thing?
Still down for it, Rave licked her lips to make their natural pink fullness seem extra glossy.
No, wait a second, I need to get this, Imere raised a finger. So you can only sleep with other girls within the harem, but are you free to just go around and pick up new girls?
Uuuh, we didnt have that situation yet Rave scratched her head and looked over to John. Whaddya say, I go into a disco on my own and find some sexy girl, can I make out with her, ja or nein?
Blowing air out of puffed up cheeks, John had to think about this. It was a surprisingly hard question. I want to say making out yes, having sex, especially first time, no. If you drag them back here and I get to be involved, I dont really care what you did on the way. But I also dont want you to just make out with some girls I dont know all the time especially without me around to ogle it doesnt feel exactly like cheating but I dont like it hard to put into words.
I get the gist tho, Rave said, cause the girls are the girls and we love each other and everyone else is everyone else. Ingroup C outgroup and all that jazz. Its just different.
Yeah, John nodded, that put it as best as he could think of it. Sighing, he admitted, tant double standard, with how I can just go ahead and fuck more girls whenever or wherever I want
Its fine, I agreed to this, Rave interrupted him. She put a hand on his butt and squeezed as she stretched up to his ear. Slowly, she whispered, Youre a guy with big desires, I am your thirsty girl and we both profit from all the sexy, little perverts who are like me, that you gather around you. And I really like it, tiger. As a matter of fact, all the things you do to me, I like. I dont care about the double standard, because I am not a guy out for his own harem, I am your girlfriend and the head of yours C of ours. That makes me perfectly happy. Her sexually-charged voice was just loud enough for all the other men in the room to shift in their seats. The women flushed visibly as well as the temperature in the room seemed to rise several degrees. Offer is on the table, Rave winked and then stood up. Anybody else want a beer or some liquor?
Everyone at the table said yes and listed their preferences. The tone of this thing had grown to something like a casual get together. Politically minded or not, John had to admire his girlfriends ability to just make any situation a friendly get together. Since this was what they were doing now, John also dropped the serious act and joked, Normally, Aclysia here would get the drinks, he gestured towards the weaponized maid, who had taken position next to the table and took a little bow when she was addressed. I think Jane just got up so you can look at her leave.
Why would we want to Oh OH! Terkal, for the first time, looked at the stretched jeans currently facing in his direction. Everyones eyes were glued to that ass for a second, until Rave looked over her shoulder and gave a wink that confirmed her boyfriends statement, then the general grumbled, This AFTER telling me that I wont ever get to tap that. You are a scoundrel, John Newman!
Cant argue with that, John admitted.
Mhm, Chemilia hummed as the sound of ss came from the kitchen. You two seem like a very happy couple She turned to her husband, Hey, Ted, we are going to try that harem business as well, I want to have some threesomes with other girls and their system seems to work. It was voiced as a mixture of suggestion andmand. After a moment of thinking, the dark-eyed man just nodded.
Does he even speak? Rave asked as she returned with an entire crate of beer in one arm and a bottle of vodka in the other. As she put those things down, Aclysia went ahead and fetched the sses needed for the liquor, along with some stuff it could be mixed with.
Ted is a quiet guy, Chemilia scratched her husband under the chin like he was a puppy. Her whitish pink hair flowed like water as she affectionately leaned in, Also, I just told him I am willing to see him build a harem, so I dont think he needed to do more than nod.
Imere opened her beer by flicking the lid off with her thumb. Did you just decide that on a whim? she asked.
No, we have been thinking about going swinging for a bit now, but I dont really need more dicks in my life, Chemilias green eyes changed shape, the pupils inside them ttening into the minus-esque shape of a goats. I have enough bureaucrat cocks in my face anyway, every fucking day, she growled and grabbed a beer for herself and her husband.
Within a few moments of her holding them, the metal lids blew off from internal pressure. This was Chemilias Innate Ability: what she touched eventually turned inside out. With bottles it went rather quickly and could easily be controlled, currently preventing her beer from foaming all over her hand. When used on living beings, it took a while to build up, but eventually well, there was a reason why she had been covered head to toe in eel blood when they first met.
The idea of writhing with another girl in the sheets in front of Ted excites me, however, she calmed down and her eyes went back to normal. Seems to work for these two, she gestured towards John, who got a vodka mixed with orange juice without even being asked, so we might as well try something simr.
Aclysia put just vodka into Terkals ss upon his request. As she left the open bottle on the table, she left her ownment on the conversation, You can ask all fifteen girls part of Masters harem, it works very well, if you are as charming, attractive and sexually talented as he is, the praise actually made John blush a bit.
Ted is all of the above, Chemilia stated and scratched the back of her husbands head. Maybe we should have apetition? she jokingly suggested.
Okay, stop! Terkal mmed his hand on the table. You can have thatpetition, but I need my question answered: Where are we on the making out?!
We did get carried away from that, Imere agreed with a giggle, puckering her lips. I am up for it, sounds fun.
Mind if I join them? Chemilia asked her husband in a sweet voice, blinking up to him.
In answer, the guy seriously started bleeding from the nose. Not a whole lot, just a trickle of blood he quickly grabbed a handkerchief for and stuffed it into the offending hole. On second nce, he seemed like he was at least a bit Asian. By all means, the weakest general had a earthy, deep voice and these three words were the only ones he said so far.
Some quiet stuttering of the chairs over the floor apanied the shifting positions as the three girls gathered at one end of the table, the guys on the other. Imere found herself in the middle, Rave to her right and Chemilia to her left. John was sitting on the bench that was effectively part of the wall, same as his girlfriend, but he backed off to have a better view. All three of them took a sip of their drink as the cute trio began leaning towards one another.
It started innocent enough, just a few quick pecks on each others lips. Rave began pushing it pretty quickly though, getting her hands involved by caressing Imeres neck at all the points she knew were sensitive. You have really smooth skin, sheplimented, slowly sliding her left up and towards the back of her neck. I love these freckles, the whisper came just a moment before their lips met again.
Although slow, their kiss was much more intimate this time. Open lips, glossy and brownish pink, squishing against each other with minimal tongue involvement. For a time, Chemilia just watched with interest, absent-mindedly raising a hand to her shapely chest and massaging her right tit through the clothes. You two seem to enjoy this.
With a soft wet sound, their lips parted, revealing their partly extended tongues. Ya can join whenever ya like, Rave made that offer a mandate by stretching towards the general and grabbing her by the cor, pulling her like a stripper pulled the tie of a watching businessman. Giving her a kiss that started just as slow, his girlfriend made John a very happy voyeur.
Two hot, pink haired girls with killer bodies was the best. Bending over the table to meet halfway, the two pretty quickly escted this further and further. Watching with bated breath as they went from soft kisses to running hands through the others hair, the men pretty quickly emptied their drinks, only to be served new ones by Aclysia.
Dont forget about me, Imereined and thus transitioned the scene into all three of them engaging in very short, tongue heavy kisses. The wet sounds grew louder, sloppier and their faces blushed red with rising tension. Chests rose visibly underneath the military clothing; Raves shirt hid very little inparison.
In one smooth motion, the techno lover grabbed the open vodka bottle and put it against her lips. Air bubbles rose inside the clear ss, but no gulping was heard or seen. Quickly lowering the bottle, only stopping to wink at the gazing men, she then aggressively pressed her lips on Imeres first, then Chemilias. They both let it happen without further resistance, the strong alcohol only making more heat radiate from their skin.
Want some more? Rave asked, swirling the bottle still in her hand. It was still half full.
Give me that, Chemilia demanded and ripped the bottle from the fellow pink haired girl. She took a deep sip herself, before repeating the little game and filling her mouth up with vodka. Some drops escaped between her and Raves lips when the general moaned during the transfer of alcohol from one mouth to another. Through a haze of rising lust and the liquid drug beginning to pump through her system, she had instinctually begun grinding her crotch against the corner of the table.
To bepletely fair to her, Rave had been doing the same since grabbing the bottle and nobody could really see what the still seated Imere was doing under the table. All they could see was her leaning into her own shot of saliva and vodka with an open mouth.
This is fun, the short and stacked general giggled taking the bottle when it was offered to her. but I dont want to make my uniform dirty, so maybe we should st-
Strip, yeah, great idea, Rave interrupted with a lewd smile, knowing perfectly well what Imere had actually wanted to say. Ya guys dont mind, right? the question went out to the entangled parties. John and Ted shook their heads in unison. As a good host, she led by example, shirt and pants flying onto the seating behind her, leaving the athletic half-asian standing there in nothing but bright green yellow underwear. The sexy kind, living most of her days getting undressed by her boyfriend, she always wanted to have something pretty on.
Chemilia bit her lower lip at the sight. Fuck, you have a nice body, she stated as she started undoing the buttons on the belt that kept her uniform closed. The vest came off, leaving Chemilia in a ck, form-fitting top out of a spandex-esque material. Still an object of symbolic worth, the general didnt want to just toss it to the floor. Although the alcohol was quickly fogging her thoughts, this she was sure on. Noticing this, Aclysia stepped close.
I will deposit them nearby but out of reach of any dirt, the weaponized maid assured. A momentter, she was handed one article of clothing after the other. Vest, pants, then spandex top and bottom soon followed, revealing some pretty in, white underwear. Her body was anything but in to look at, however, with perfect bnce between moderately sized tits, softly toned midriff and inviting hips.
The universe is truly gracious, John mumbled, as hepared Chemilia to his girlfriend. Since he was suffering from a mild case of yellow fever and was decisively an ass man, Rave, with her almond eyes and bottom-heavy figure, won the sexiness contest ording to his personal taste. However, one could not deny that Chemilias more bnced overall appearance and clear European facial structure was immensely attractive. John noticed a movement on the table. Raising his bottle in the Gamers direction, Ted showed his appreciation through a silent gesture. By clunking his own ss against the bottle, John answered the gesture.
Imere hesitated for a second, then a carefree smile appeared on her face. Well, if we are ying this game like this, she stood up and quickly unbuckled her own pants. The same ck extrayer of clothing that Chemilia had been wearing was hidden under hers. In all due likelihood, the properlybat enchanted articles of clothing in their wardrobe.
She wore sexyce panties underneath that and her thighs jiggled almost as much as her ass as she moved. Although she wasnt really fat, she definitely had a bit more meat to her than the other two. When she pulled the top over her head, her tits spilled out freely, not a bit of bra in the way. Terkal could be heard letting out a very peculiar noise between moaning and groaning as he saw the hard, pink nipples on the freckle covered bosom.
No longer suspended by anything, they fell down, jiggling for a good amount of time beforeing to a rest. They were even bigger than Smanders, which looked extra enormous on her smaller frame, although the fact that she was wider helped offset that. Although overall firm, with the only interruptions to the smoothly tanned skin being the freckles mostmon in her cleavage, there was no magic that could keep them from slumping in ordance to gravity.
Oh my god, Rave moved in immediately and sunk her fingers into the abundant softness, coercing a sudden and adorable moan from the general. Oh my god! that only motivated the Lightbearer to push her luck even further kneading the breast and pushing them together as best could. These are awesome!
Hehehe, Imere giggled and raised the vodka bottle, well, if you love them so much, she poured the clear liquid into the gap between the orbs made of hopes and dreams, where it pooled together. Come and get your next shot, the general mused.
This train just keeps going, John thought, watching first Rave then Chemilia take a shot out of the ample cleavage and having no idea how this just continued to escte. His girlfriend was scarily good with people, just good for everyone that she wasnt maniptively minded. She got foreign generals to strip out of all protection and to get drunk just because she wanted to make out and she probably isnt even thinking she is doing anything unusual.
Thiss gonna be a bit of a mess, Rave stated with the beginnings of a drunken slur and turned around. Leaning against the wall with one hand and aiming the bottle at her lower back with the other, she pushed her ass out. Chairs creaked as the men leaned in further, Imere and Chemilia taking position behind Rave with stretched out tongues.
The vodka began to flow, rtively guided by the trench of her spine at first, then soaking into her underwear and scattering into dozens of small streams, as it ran towards the awaiting mouths below. The two generals slurped up what they could, going upwards to clean even her back.
Chemilia smiled and took a handful of Raves butt afterwards. Honestly have never seen such a nice ass, she stated, then gave it a proper spank that the neon-pink haired girl yelped and moaned, remaining drops of vodka flying off the rippling softness. You like that?
Ya can ask my boyfriend, Rave winked and stuck her tongue out at the general. Your tur- oy, the bottle is empty! Aclysia, gimme something new, doesnt have to be vodka.
At once, the weaponized maid bowed and went to the kitchen.
Even without the excuse of alcohol the trio was now very touchy with one another. The ice had been broken, gathered in a bucket, heated over a campfire while they drank hot chocte and then used for a group shower in the wild while wolves watched them.
Wolves that Imere now addressed, You know, we are already almost naked, why dont you follow suit? A younger John would have thought and probably said no to this. This John, who had already fucked in public, had a reputation for getting caught in the act and was already four potent mixes distanced from soberness, immediately started undressing.
Dis gonna be fun, Rave mused.
Chapter 520 – Events to Nomination 8 – Undisciplined Behaviour
Chapter 520 C Events to Nomination 8 C Undisciplined Behaviour
Whether it was the drunkenness or the recent happenings in the public and with his family had immunized him against sexual awkwardness, John didnt feel a hint of inhibition as he stripped down to his underwear and stood there with a very apparent erection. As a matter of fact, all three of them had raging boners hidden under the taut cloth of their boxers, which John allowed himself to look at exactly long enough to be absolutely certain of one thing. He was, indeed, that biggest guy in the room.
Speaking actual body size, John was the smallest out of the trio. Terkal was about 2,20 metres. Guy was a giant, but just asnky as the Gamer, with even less muscles. His whole body was covered in sharp, midnight blue lines, even his crotch, or what John could see of it. Begged the question whether his dick was tattooed as well. I am not curious enough to investigate, he decided.
Standing with his continuous stern look and then suddenly drinking a whole beer in one go, Ted was the most traditionally manly figure. A muscr body, the kind that Batman could be modelled after, with broad shoulders, rippling biceps and covered in small battle scars, none of which were too grizzly to be awful to look at.
All three of them were hairless. The tents in their underpants were definitely not small, they were both well-equipped in their own right, but John simply won.
The three girls whistled when the men had reached the same stage of undress as they had. Now we are equal, Imere gave them an enthusiastic thumbs-up, the motion carrying enough energy to cause her tits to bounce. To be fair, they were sorge and soft, pretty much every movement she made caused them to move in some way and all of them were enticing. Although, she was reminded of her own upper nudeness, Forplete fairness, I say one of you needs to lose the trunks as well.
Ya heard thedy! Raveughed, twisting open a bottle of gin that Aclysia had just given to her. Dicks out for she looked at the etiquette of the bottle, took a sip, swirled it around in her mouth to get the whole taste, then gulped, for this stuff, Ebmarah Mirror Gin some Welsh stuff, I dunno. Is good.
John had aint and raised his hand, HOLUP THERE, MISSES!
Rave threw her arms as if she was at gunpoint. Please, mister, what do you want? I will give ya anything! she leaned forwards and pulled her bra down just enough to reveal a nipple. Any-thing, she repeated slowly.
I have here with me, he waved an invisible piece of paper, a deration that states C and I quote, he put on non-existent sses to read, Females are onlypletely naked if they arepletely naked. Ladies, I see panties on all of you.
Semantics, Chemilia rolled her eyes.
Want me to get into semantics? John crossed his arms. See any of us wearing bras, mhm? If you want the clothing situation in this room to be equal, you should free the tits! Ted nodded profusely and Terkal shouted something in support.
More semantic- the general with the light pink, almost white, hair was ready to fight this resolution when her bra sailed to the floor. Her breasts had that wonderful bnce of size and firmness, definitely enough to marvel at the sight and even more to y with but notrge enough that gravity yet forced them to droop. Imere!
I thought that sounded all very logical, the oldest general kept her warm smile as she pulled back from the taller womans back, where she had just unhooked her bra. Johns eyes were already over at his girlfriend, who was just pulling off her own green piece ofce. Her tits looked exactly the same as they had done this morning. Petite, without any w and topped with pretty pink nipples that were hard and looked ready to be eaten, sucked and gently bitten.
Ya happy, tiger? his girlfriend asked,
Very, John stepped over to the table and took a deep gulp of his drink. A drop of precum oozed through the Preserver, his enchanted underpants. By the time the ss sat back on the table, he had already made a resolution. Well, since youdies obliged me, he opened his menu and turned towards them, Lemme return the favour. Suddenly, he was naked.
Two gasps were heard. While he still had something covering it, the two generals must have been able to deceive themselves into believing that their eyes were ying tricks on them. Now that they saw it in the flesh, however, there was no denying the Gamers mighty cock.
He leaned against the table and waved Rave closer with one finger. Obliging with a huge grin, she came close enough for him to pull her into his embrace. Her back was against his chest and she instinctually nestled against him. As his hands travelled her curves, the left stopping to roll her nipple between his fingers while the right caressed her stomach, her ass pressed against his cock. The vodka-soaked string of her panties rubbed against his shaft. How are we on the not wanting to be seen having sex in public front? he whispered a question into her ear. Generally, his girlfriend wasnt big on exhibitionism.
Silly you, Rave purred, turning her neck to kiss him. This isnt public and I like these guys and gals. With no further words she guided Johns hand right into her panties. It wasnt just alcohol that turned the cloth sticky. She sighed delightfully when he rubbed back and forth over her naked pussy lips, then let out a long moan when he curled his fingers inside. Oh yes, John, her tone was permeated with lust, John, she repeated when he began fingering her slowly. Joooohnnnn, her voice became a high-pitched whining of sexual bliss, only intensified when her boyfriend started kissing her neck. Just a few more strokes of his fingers, the heel of his hand pressing against her clit, and she let out a long, tense moan.
Her body trembled under his hands and she supported herself more on his body, her own legs not as reliable as John kept sliding his fingers over a particrly sensitive spot inside her tight folds. Left squishing her breast, soft despite its size, and rubbing the sensitive skin of her are, he felt her fluttering heartbeat. Taking a deep breath of the scent of her hair, bubble-gum and the summer heat, he asked her, You liked that?
Get me outta these panties, was her only answer. The atmosphere in the room had long since gone from business to carefree to heated and now reached its final stage with perverse. This disy and orgasmic moans from their hosts had broken down everyst bit of inhibition the four generals may still have had.
Doubtlessly, Scarlett was watching this whole thing through the re-installed security cameras and having one hell of a masturbation session to it. At least that was the best exnation John had for the rising temperature in the room. Underwear flew around andnded somewhere; nobody cared about it as they got naked. Even Aclysia, who did her work of cleaning the table quickly by throwing all tes and unneeded articles into her inventory, followed that trend, preparing herself to be of use to her master whenever he needed her.
Mhm, since Rave is upied right now, Chemilia stated with a bit of a jealous nce, suddenly having the bottle of gin in her hand. Teddy, honey, why dont you take her ce in our little game? The general moved her bnced hourss figure on the table, right next to John and his girlfriend and spread her legs wide. She had a fair bit of hair above her pussy, shaved into a diamond shape. Herbia was glistening.
Imere and Ted lost no time and kneeled down between her thighs. Before the alcohol even started flowing, they were already kissing the inside of her legs. Then the pink-haired woman began pouring the liquor and John was momentarily distracted.
The clear liquid started all the way up, making her corbone glisten, and then made its way through the valley between her breasts. It gathered a bit in the depression of her sr plexus, but the continuous flow kept it going. Over her tense abs it ran, her stretched body showing the softly rippling muscles under her flushed skin in all their well-toned glory. Finally, it arrived at her crotch, were it was eagerlypped up by her husband and the fellow general and sucked out of her pubic hair.
In the process, Ted and Imeres lips met, and soon they were sucking as much on the others tongue as they were drinking the alcohol. Chemilia was moaning, as their antics eventually caused them to take turns licking her pussy. The panties were simply ripped off his girlfriends crotch when Johns gaze travelled over from Chemilia to the shortstack generals bent over ass.
It was a fat and plump piece of meat, jiggling just like her tits with every move that she took. Currently left alone, Terkal did exactly what John would have done in his shoes, stepping behind Imere and giving that bubble butt a p so hard that it echoed through the room.
Gaia almighty, I wanted to do that forever, the tall man said and kneaded the behind thoroughly. Just by looking in the general direction, John got confirmation that his dick was indeed covered in the marks as well. Permission to spank you some more, general?
Imereughed, wiggling her ass seductively, Permission granted. She moaned in a wonderful mixture of pain and pleasure when her ass cheeks were treated to more t-handed strikes, one after the other, both slowly turning darker and darker as more blood flushed in. Fuck, yes, she shouted, her face still between Chemilias legs but no longer paying any attention to eating her out. The gin was resting in the pink-haired generals hand, Ted eating out his wives pussy only to taste her natural juices.
Out of a sense ofpetition, John turned his and Raves position around. His girlfriend realized immediately what he wanted to do, sitting down on the table exactly like Chemilia had. It only took a moment, then the two had a silent agreement and both readjusted their position. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, ass to ass, their hands found breasts and hair to y with as they made out again. Made out and moaned as the respective boyfriend and husband got down to one of their favourite activities and tasted the honey overflowing from their pussies.
To keep awareness of the situation atrge, this was way better than any porn they had ever watched while having sex, John used Possession on several things in the room. While his hands and mouth were payingplete attention to Raves thighs and cunt, crabbing her smooth skin and pushing into her gripping folds, he could see the two bombshells in all their glory.
Their lips and tongue only parted when they kept a shot of gin, which they shared like before. Sweet nothings were whispered in their ecstasy filled voices, growing more quivering and unstable the longer this went on. Grabbing tits and ass with heated movements, they only increased their moans.
Terkal had enough of just spanking the oldest general and positioned his cock to grind against her ass. Before he could move a lot or ask if he could fuck her, Imere turned around. I have something I always wanted to do myself, she told Terkal, who had a disappointed look on his face, right until she hugged his waist. It wasnt some sort of loving embrace, the expression on the shortstacks face was way too lewd for that. You are so tall, I always wondered if I could give you a standing tit fuck, she looked at the head of the bald mans cock, poking out between her breasts as they spilled around his crotch, only confined in their enormous size by her arm. I caaaaan, she mused and moved her chest up and down. Although it was definitely pleasurable as a view, the actual quality of stimtion must have beencking, alcohol was a terrible lubricant.
Let me assist you, Aclysia offered, causing John to pay close attention for a moment. The fun stopped where one of HIS girls touched another man sexually. It waspletely unnecessary paranoia, though, and Aclysia was thest girl to betray him in such a manner anyhow. Her assistance was strictly limited to her taking a tube of body oil out and graciously squirting the contents over Imeres breasts.
By the infernal beasts, yesssss, Terkal hissed as the melon-sized tits became quickly covered in the sticky lube and now glided over his entire cock effortlessly.
By Imeres breasts, you mean, the same giggled as she redoubled her efforts. Her eyes had an oddly thankful look inside them, but John had his girlfriend to pay attention to.
Ooohkay he heard Raves drunk voice to the sound of a bottle being swirled. Ive hadnuff alcohol for now ya can have the rest. Thanks to Possession, John was prepared for the sudden emptying of the bottle over her chest. Come on tiger, drink it all up, sheughed as his long tongue caught the drops and streams and followed them upwards.
Hey! Chemilia called out louder than necessary. I wanded more of dat ya stupid bitsh. Slurping noises reverberated in Johns ear, and when he had reached his girlfriends chest, he found Chemilia sucking on her left tit as if it would start spurting alcohol.
A strong urge to get in next to her and kiss her something fierce took hold of him. With some struggle, he limited himself to licking the remaining liquor off Raves other breast instead. They wanted to have the same harem rules as him, and that meant kissing another dude was out of the cards for her and for him it would be disrespectful to kiss another guys wife. Instead, he cleaned up Rave and then pinned her down on the table by both arms under his. The empty bottle of gin dropped from her hand in the process and flew into the seating that went along the wall with a soft thud.
I want you, he said something entirely uncreative and obvious, unable toe up with something better. His vision was odd, as if he was standing in a tunnel and the only source of light were her blue eyes, framed by her wild, neon-pink hair. His cock was already in position to thrust inside her.
Come get me, tiger, Raves voice was surprisingly clear for these words, as she smirked up to him with a nice, teeth-only smile. That was immediately transformed into a wide-open smile as she moaned in delight when he thrust into her. Slowly, he sunk into her folds, tighter than usual. Lubricated from alcohol, spit and (mostly) her own juices, John still had no problem parting her. Fuck fuck yes, oh my god, John, I am so horny right now.
I can feel that, he groaned. She was gripping tighter onto him than a small sizedtex glove did to arge hand. With his whole weight keeping her pinned down and helping him slide deeper, he stood only on his toes. He was breathing heavily, her spine curved off the table as she moaned loudly. Then he was down to the base and her legs closed behind his hips.
Holy shit, Chemilia stared wide-eyed, unable to believe that this monstrous cock fit inside the simr sized girl. Then she pouted, her mouth no longer upied with anything. Ted! she shouted, tapping her unaware husband on the head. Fuck me, now, hard, yes? He nodded, after looking up, and his wife made a very surprised noise when she was suddenly turned on her stomach.
You want it hard, he issued his second sentence of the entire visit, angling her bent over position so that her mouth was in kissing distance to Rave. Then he gave it to her as hard as she had wanted, mming right into her glistening folds from behind.
O-o-o-o-ohh ye-e-s-s-shhh, Chemilias words came out in vocal bursts, each quick thrust making her entire body bounce and pressing the air out of her lungs. She twisted her body and kissed Raves neck. John straightened his back and let her hands go to allow her to answer in kind, thirsty for more lesbian disys between those two. They immediately went at each other, as best as they could while they got their pussies pounded by their significant others. Youre shush a perverted bitch, Chemilia slurred between sloppy kisses.
And proud, Rave took it, gently biting the older womans earlobe and causing her to moan. Senshitive whore yourself, arent ya! she mocked and it went back and forth like that while their bodies shook in unison on the table, the bolts securing it on the floor creaking dangerously to the care of none of their drunk ears.
Although they only saw each other in the periphery, John and Ted were in a contest of fucking their girl harder. A contest in which John was the clear favourite, having higher Strength, Endurance and Libido in addition to his massive cock and unfair sex skills. The measurement he took for that where their moans and Rave was much louder, especially when he fucked her right to her second orgasm.
Of course, she had already been close from the previous attention from his tongue, but the same could be said for Chemilia, who had actually gotten a head start on that front. Still, the general only came herself at the tail end of Raves orgasm, giving the room a short window to listen to they symphony of the two orgasmic howls.
Behind them, Terkal took that as his signal to groan out, I am cumming, himself. He had been subject to the tit-fuck the entire time, his knees barely holding his weight through all the movement. Up and down, gyrating, squatting to suck on the tip for a while, Imere had gone through all the motions.
The young looking shortstack doubled her speed at the announcement and bombarded him with sexy lines. Yes, please. Blow your load all over my massive tits. Cover me in cum, let me taste it, her freckled face had never stopped smiling. Terkal, please mark me with your hot semen. Lemme taste it, now!
The general clenched his teeth and let go. His balls quivered and then he did all the things she asked for. Thick, white seed flew into the air, and after the first spurt came down again on her brown hair, she put her head into her neck and let the rest shower her face,nd in her wide open mouth and contrast on the tanned skin of her tits. It was arge load, for a normal man anyway, a dream havinge true as Terkal announced, I wanted to cum on these tits since I first saw them he stated, his voice trailing off as he watched the after show.
Imere gathered as much semen as she could on her fingers and sucked it off them like it was a ze of sugar. What was stuck on her skin was absorbed into it, and she shivered in a fashion that made John believe immediately that this girl was part elemental. Just like Undine, or the other girls who were purely magic in nature, absorbing the semen of a strong Abyssal caused the short and stacked general to feel undiluted pleasure from the mana inside.
Oh Terkal I am so close so close right now she moaned when she was out of his stuff to drink. You you wont stop at my tits, right, right?! her smile had finally vanished, making room for a desperate horniness.
The answer was the mansid cock bing hard again in a matter of seconds. With strength surprising for such thin limbs, he picked the much smaller woman off the floor and smoothly impaled her on his cock. She came immediately, her back slumping away from Terkal, who held her by her broad hips as he fucked her standing.
In a twist, her orgasmic scream, mixed with Raves own third orgasm, was what put Ted over the edge in turn. He mmed down into his wife to the base, who let out a high-pitched scream of delight when she felt him filling her up. All three womens voices intertwined for a moment and reverberated loudly from the rooms walls. Even then, Raves voice was clearly discernible and only grew louder when John allowed himself to fill her up with his own hot load.
Every other day, John just came whenever he felt like it. His almost immediate recharge put him in a position where a climax was something he just invited in. Now that he waspeting with another man, however, it hadnt been until he was sure he wasnt the first that he let loose.
And still, Raves walls were squashing down on him tighter than ever, milking him of every drop as he came with relentless passion. Getting filled with her boyfriends seed made her eyes roll back in her skull, her fingers curling on the table. Her scream suddenly became the quietest in the room, as she clenched her teeth, her jaw simply shutting closed from the immense pleasure. Primal noises continued to be pressed out of her lungs as she slowly calmed.
Ted admitted his defeat by pulling out of his wife and sitting down for a moment. Chemilia nced at Johns still erect dick and therge amount of semen that ran out of Raves pussy when he pulled out of her, giving away a clear curiosity. However, curiosity it remained. Even witnessing his overpowered sexual prowess, the athletic general had no genuine interest in cheating. Instead, she kneeled down in front of her husband.
Her lips closed around his head and she gave him a slow blowjob, nothing too intense for the post-orgasmic sensitivity. You fucked me REALLY hard, her voice was sweet and a bit more sober after her blood and adrenaline had been pumping that intensely for the past ten minutes. You earned yourself a reward, honey, just keep sitting until I make you hard again. Her husband just smiled and brushed back her hair. Being worse than John was a wide range and directly below that definitely didnty cant please a woman. Chemilia had stille twice.
John was ready to make Rave cum some more, however. A finger pressing against his girls sphincter, he looked at her for approval. Although still trembling, her lips gave him a wide smile, and he pushed one, then two fingers into her back entrance. Fingering her ass for a couple of minutes, to lube it up with her juices and stretch it somewhat, he eventually decided to not just fuck her in the boring missionary position again.
Inspired by the happenings, he did as Tarkel, with some important alterations. He turned her around and folded her legs together on the table. His cock prated her ass as he bent over her, his hands met and locked in front of her chest. Taking a sharp breath in as the familiar first pain of having her sphincter stretched sharpened her senses, Rave let it all happen to her, blindly trusting John in these things.
Then she was lifted off the table, her kneecaps raised up to her shoulders with Johns arms tucked underneath, securing her position. Now I can show you what Imere has been up to, he told her and turned around. The shortstack was still getting fucked while hanging off Terkal. Although her initial climax had passed, she was still unable to straighten up and her tongue was lolling out in a clear sign of ecstasy. Seeing that curved muscle so unupied gave John another idea, Terkal, mind if we borrow your toys mouth?
The guy looked up from the swaying tits for just long enough to understand the situation. If Imere ate out of Raves cum-oozing pussy, she would feel good, really good. Since the two of them werent an item, John was fine with filling Imeres mouth with his spunk. He would have kept even indirect transferal of his semen away from imed females. Even in this situation, he felt it needed to ask. Go ahead, Terkal grinned, clearly not as stuck up about such things as John was.
Each step he took towards them was a moan from Rave as her squished body bounced on his massive cock. He overemphasized each movement, making her shift more. The pleasure she derived from this was clear in her voice. You are so big, John, she moaned andughed, Fuck, stretch me so much. The pain of the initial pration was quickly vanishing, leaving her only with the bliss of feeling him inside her.
Oh my, Imere gasped when the creamed cunt of Rave suddenly appeared above her. For -ahhh- me? she licked her lips and took hold of the techno lovers thighs to pull herself up to the treat. How nice of youuuuu- she tasted a drop of his cum through a shallow lick. Oh mydy ocean! Those were thest words they heard from her before Imere burrowed her face inside Raves pussy.
Terkal took a sharp breath in as the pussy around him suddenly got tighter. Tighter. Tighter. The worse it got the harder he fucked her, unwilling to let Johns magic be the most powerful sensation she felt. Whether he seeded in this or not, only the upied shortstack could say, and her tongue was clearly not avable for speech.
Toes curling and fingers digging into Raves thighs, even as her whole body was wrecked by orgasms, Imere refused to stop tasting the mixture spilling out of Johns girlfriend. All the while, the Gamer fucked the delightfully squealing girls asshole.
Fuck Terkal pressed out, too tight Imere I am cumming again
CUM INSIDE ME! she screamed, immediately going back topping up whatever she could from Raves pussy. Squelching sounds of fucked holes, the sight of jiggling tits, the pping of hips against juicy asses, they all overloaded their senses with stimtion. Terkal took onest breath in, one more thrust, then he came for the second time.
Imeres reaction was drastic. Well-spanked, fucked and now filled with the magic semen of two men, she suddenly began squirting all over Terkals crotch. The explosion of pussy juices against him was met by the tall general with a sudden restart of his movements. Screaming her orgasmic song, Imere hung from her hips like a ragdoll, the only tenseness in her body being the spasms each thrust of his cock, as it kept filling her with that semen, she so craved C from the entrance down to the womb.
With ast bit of self-control, Terkal pulled out of her and safely got both of them nted on the floor, where theyid down heavily breathing. The only moans in the room where then from Rave, as John entered his own final spurt.
Raising and lowering her entire body in a fitting rhythm to his hips, he brought both of them closer and closer to the edge until they reached their climax simultaneously. The feeling of, admittedly assured, victory mixed with her sweet scent and moans and climactic high as he dropped her down to the base on his cock and filled her second hole up with his cum.
He closed his eyes and just let his cock pulsate and the orgasm roll over him, basking in the glory of the moment. Even through her back, he could feel her pumping heartbeats and their heavy breathing was almost in sync as it slowly calmed as they let the afterglow settle.
What the hell those three words were spoken when he lifted Rave off his dick and let her stand on her own feet, only for her to kneel down and waved Aclysia closer. The weaponized maid had watched this entire thing with jealous passion, not touching herself out of principle. As such, she basically stormed over when her mistress beckoned. They sucked his cock together. Looking over to the speaker, Chemilia, John raised an eyebrow. Are you ever not hard? she asked, riding her simrly surprised looking husband.
Only when I chose not to be, John grinned.
Chapter 521 – Events to Nomination 9 – Clean-up is hard
Chapter 521 C Events to Nomination 9 C Clean-up is hard
John was ripped out of his sleep by the sound of fists banging on his door. Well, that was not quite urate. The banging just caused him to get that slight bit aware that he was awake, the state where he could either wake up by moving his heavy limbs or just ignore any impulse whatsoever and seamlessly drift back into sleep.
So, what ripped him out of his sleep instead was the wrath of his weaponized maid directed at whoever was drumming at the door and didnt stop. It felt like something he shouldnt ignore, unless he wanted to wake up to the sight of Aclysia mopping up some suspiciously red liquid. Immediately, he was faced with the idea that dealing with the aftermath of her murdering someone would be less of a headache than his hangover.
Images shed up in his head. The cantina, then the toilet, the contents of his stomach, then more alcohol. Why did you do that?! he scolded his past self. Why the hell would you keep drinking after throwing up? There were some other broken pieces of imagery all of which included naked females and some sort of liquor or beer. Why do I even keep running into alcohol like this? I hate hangovers, yet I somehow drink again after some time!
As he heaved himself out of bed, a window informed him of his predicament in greater detail.
He just mentally mailed the list to Beatrice, whose upper body suddenly shot out of a pile of cushions behind him. Completely robotically, as if a mechanism had suddenly catapulted her back upwards to make her disy a perfect 90-degree angle between torso and legs. Acknowledged: will fetch these things. Question: will efficient intake suffice?
With an almost broken voice, John answered, Yes I will just throw it into my mouth He absolutely had no appetite, so whatever great meal Aclysia could have made out of the stuff he needed, right now he just wanted this headache and nausea to disappear. Even if that meant drinking one of Beatrices sludge meals.
Anyway, that wasnt the only window he got. A whole bunch of shit that his eyes strained to read and his brain needed multiple attempts to decipher wasid down in front of him. At least his bedroom wasfortable, even though there were about five times more cushions around than before, many of which were torn.
What the fuck did I dost night? he groaned as more figments of memory came back to him like a bunch of puzzle pieces. He already had the framepleted, but all of these shes still had to be put in the right order. At least there was sce in the fact that there was no you sucked your first dick achievement, so nothing gay had happened while his inhibitions had been lowered.
Another random memory red up: him trying to pick a perk for Lover Boy but being unable to read the swirling letters, followed by him deciding to press a button at random, but his legs suddenly decided they wanted to move backwards. Then his back on a mattress, the window closing, and a drunk Gnome jumping on his dick, throwing stuttering pornstar lines around like the most reluctant but clearly horny slut on the.
That was a memory he wanted to spend more time dissecting, but he heard continued arguing from the door that connected his captains apartment to the outside. Aclysias voice was controlled, for now. Annoyance was clearly rising through their mental connection. He managed to put his clothes on through sluggish movements in his menu, then move out of bed with a simrly low level of vigour, stepping around the gooey puddle on the floor that was apletely deformed Undine.
What is going on? he asked as he blinked against the ufortably bright daylight. Suddenly he found himself missing winter. Who is making a fuss? he scratched his head and yawned loud and wide, showing all of his teeth to anyone around.
President Newman, a respectful but somewhat afraid voice reached him to the sound of heels cking together. Lieutenant Klum of the Little Marnd army estate, pardon the intrusion!
Upon hearing that, John tried his best to not look hungover, or at least not like an addicted hobo that had found an oddly fitting and clean suit in the dumpster. Standing straight, however, caused his stomach to rumble, and he let out a very unprofessional burp. Excuse me, he stated, raising a hand to his mouth as rancid air escaped his stomach and he had to fight against the acid travelling along side it. Could youe back in like three hours?
He needed to throw whatever Beatrice would bring him into his system, take a long shower and brush his teeth for like ten minutes. His body felt sticky all over C it was highly likely his abs had been used as a delivery system for alcohol C and his teeth werent just covered in que, they felt like they had entirely be it.
I am afraid we have already been more than patient, sir, there was that respectful yet fearful tone again. We hope you have enough honour to at least let the ship go; even if you kill us here, all preparations have been made for your actions to count as a deration of war.
Deration of whaaa? John felt his headache explode as he tried to think. Ow- ow- ow- ow okay, please give me a second, I need to BEATRICE! he shouted out loud identally when he had just wanted to send a mental message. The trio in front of his door took defensive posture as if they expected an attack. In the room behind him, John heard the pained groan of his girlfriend waking up. Note to self, hangovers make mentalmunication difficult, he mumbled and just hoped the passive maid would hurry up. Sorry for that why are you so tense, what is this about war?
The soldiers exchanged a couple of nces as they somewhat rxed. Yo this guy is famed as somewhat sly, right? one of them whispered. Does he seriously think we believe this?
Quiet! the lieutenant shouted, causing John to experience yet another dash of pain and Aclysia to draw her knife. Again, the soldiers went into a defensive posture.
Aclysia John managed to croak that one word, then Beatrice tapped him on the shoulder, holding a ss full of a blue sludge. Oh thank god, he said and quickly gulped it down. It was every bit as disgusting as he thought, like munching on snails that had gone through a blender. Thankfully, there was a thick carpet on his tongue, so he tasted basically nothing of it as his Greater Hangover +3 went down to a Normal Hangover. He still needed to rehydrate something fierce, but at least his brain cells felt like they belonged inside his skull again.
Do I understand then that we are to be your hostages? the lieutenant asked in a tense voice, eyeing Aclysias knife. Or can we take the remains of the generals with us? We will go down with honour!
Okay, rx! John stated in a much firmer voice and finally straightened his slouched back. His synapses snapped together as he realized the situation. The visit of Chemilia and the other generals had been supposed to be over at 10 PM. It was almost twelve hours after that and the crew of the boat hadnt seen or heard of their generals since they started drinking C which they didnt know was the reason for this dy. As time went by, they must have gotten more and more nervous and finally decided that they were dead C put into a trap by the host. Your generals are fine, you dont need to worry.
He was met with a very sceptical look. Where are they then? the lieutenant asked. That was a good question actually. John still had to sew together his memories.
I will locate them at once, he assured. You can apan- he stopped, that was a terrible idea. Under the presumption that they were in a simr state as he was, showing them the naked, obviously thoroughly fucked, in all senses of that word, bodies of their generals was probably a bad idea. I mean wait in the cantin- he stopped yet again, remembering that Aclysia and Beatrice had both been in the same room as him when he woke up, meaning that the yacht still needed to be cleaned up. Is there some clean part where they can wait?! he asked Aclysia in a semi panicked fashion.
The sun deck should bear no visible traces of yesterdays happenings, the weaponized maid reported. Which meant that they still had done something there. This was the part where he would have sent Siena to check if that was true but, like all other elementals, all he felt from her wasatose silence. Whatever Raves suggestion to make out had started had escted way too far.
The sun deck! John quickly spoke. You can wait on the sun deck. Please, I assure you that I have no ns for a hostile takeover of your guild! He really didnt want to have gone through all of this scheming only for a drunken party to put everything in jeopardy. It would be a false, short-lived jeopardy, since the generals were still alive somewhere in this yacht. Most likely, John thought, examining all the holes in his memories of thetter stages of the evening.
With basically no other choice and some sort of emergency protocol clearly in effect, the soldiers obliged and John begun his search. Undine heaaaal meeee he heard his girlfriend cry out for help against her hangover. Too bad the slime girl was unlikely to awaken for the next few hours, so there was no relief for his girlfriend just yet.
Aclysia, please attend the needs of our guests, Beatrice, show Jane where we have the painkillers, John designated his maids to their tasks and then quickly stormed into the bowels of his ship. He almost slipped several times and had to jump over a pile of ss that came from the brilliant idea of bowling with empty beer as the pins and use a vodka bottle as the projectile.
From his memories and the quest text, he could stitch together that they had ended up in the sex room eventually, so there was a chance the generals were right there. With hasty steps, he arrived there and was immediately thankful for the fact that they always burned incense in there. Otherwise, thebination of cold semen and alcohol would probably caused him to vomit after all. As it was, those two smells were suppressed by sandalwood and orange, a much better duo for his nostrils.
As for sounds, there were two, some trashy Bollywood music that ran on repeat and the buzzing of the Sybian. John was afraid they had forgotten someone on top of that torturous pleasure device, for a moment. It was simply buzzing on its lonesome when he actually saw it. He walked over and pressed the off button, then he looked around in more detail. Since their little fetish den was a repurposed luxury apartment, there were several rooms to check out.
Pretty quickly, he found Terkal on the floor, leaning against the wall between two shelves holding gags and arm bindings respectively. His head was lowered, chin pointing at his naked body. There was a cropped whip loosely in his hand, his arms transformed into that of some muscr animal. John could guess what dom he had awoken for his quest.
More importantly than that quest he didnt even remember epting, however, was whether he could move Terkal to do anything. Hey Hey! John said, shaking the guys shoulder. Of course that was a terrible thing to do to someone in the state Terkal would awake to, but John really needed to avoid a war here. The situation was a bit more important than ufortable awakenings.
All he aplished was to get the tall man groaning, instinctively moving away from John and moving in his position to lean against one of the shelves. There was no way to force him to wake up aside from doing something painful to him and John wasnt quite that far yet.
Well, if he is the sadist, than Imere is probably the sub, John thought as he peeked into the bedroom, to find his expectations inverted and Ted bound to the bed inside, all limbs spread out and with his wife lying on top of him in a position that looked like she had legitimately rode his dick until she passed out. Ooookaaaay, John thought and walked backwards out of that room. Those two arent waking up either, I reckon.
Slowly he had to consider the painful option. Only Imere was missing now. The shortstack was nowhere to be seen. Not expecting an answer, John knocked on the bathroom door, the only ce he hadnt checked yet. Who is there? he got a surprisingly chirpy voice answering him.
Its John, he returned.
Up already? Well,e on in!
The Gamer had expected her to either sound almost dead or tell him to wait, but since this was how it was, he wouldnt say no. Gripping the handle, he pushed to door open and was greeted by the smell of vani soap and the sight of the shortstack general soaking in the bathtub. I could return that up already? bit, he said as he walked up to her.
Mhm, I think you already guessed I am part water elemental, she mused and he nodded. I had the wisdom to fall asleep in this tub, so I only had to put on the water when I woke up. Been recovering since. How did you get better so quick? With what you drank, I was actually half-expecting you to die.
Bullshit Gamer powers, John exined, seeing no harm in sharing that little information. I got a window that told me what nutrients my body was missing, just needed to get them back into my system All of that aside, he got to the actual thing, incredible thankful that at least one of the generals was looking well, your subordinates think I have trapped and or murdered you and are currently threatening me with sending message to Washington putting our countries at war if I dont open the Harbour.
Oh, right, those are around, Imere gave him a carefree smile and stood up. She had no shame about showing her curvy body, so John had none ogling it either. Not like he hadnt seen it extensively the past night anyway. Well, I would like to keep bathing a bit longer, but I guess this is more important You wouldnt happen to know where my uniform was left, would you?
One moment, he transferred the question Aclysia, who told him it was in her inventory. She quickly excused herself from the soldiers, which must have looked really suspicious. It will arrive here shortly, he told Imere, who dropped back into the bathtub.
Well, I can be here a bit longer then thank you.
Thank me for what? John was confused. All I did was y along to my girlfriend pulling off a crazy stunt.
Thank her then, the country looking girlughed and kicked some water into the air. I have been trying to get Terkal to see more than his superior in me for ages. This was rather effective. That was one way to put thebination of raw forwardness and alcohol. You have no idea how hard it is to date when you are over a century old and famous. Even the guys in their thirties think you are some untouchable legend.
I dont know, he looked rather forward about everything, John pointed out; the tall general had been pretty vocal about wanting the whole making out to happen.
I have been whining to him that I wanted to fool around with some girls for years now in the hopes he would find that attractive, guess he got the wrong message she sighed like only a person that couldnt give up on someone that annoyed them could, he is pretty dense sometimes.
The titfuck definitely did it though, John pointed out.
That and him whipping my ass for ten minutes. Thanks for THAT by the way, you gave very good instructions, she winked, havent been abused like that in years.
Guess I cant awaken an already self-aware masochist, John realized as he made a final check mark on the sensemaking behind his quest. I dont remember that part, he admitted. I hope that he doesnt get embarrassed and acts like this whole thing never happened, then.
Dont jinx it, Imere warningly raised a finger out of the water, then dropped deeper into the tub. But yeah, lets hope that.
If it doesnt work out, there is always room in my bed, John half-joked. He wasnt quite into girls this thick, physically speaking, but attractive was attractive. Imere had a cute face and a massive, smooth assbined with an attitude that seemed happy-go-lucky. He wasnt actively looking to expand his harem, but if she wanted in, his dick certainly would be happy about it.
She chuckled again, but shook her head. Not a girl for a harem policy of your kind. I want eitherplete swinging or just my man and he has just me. Yesterday was fun, but nothing long-term. She gave him a more serious look, And I cant even consider it until the current situation gets resolved. For a quick romp every now and again, as long as I am single, I will think about it.
I can respect that, the Gamer said and then heard his weaponized maid approach. I will give you the room to change, he said when she began piling the generals clothes on a stool. The bathroom was more than big enough for three people to move around, but it was a symbolic thing.
Yesterday had brought up the question how the harem would handle girls that were just visiting Johns bed, so to say. Although he hadnt quite figured everything out yet in that regard, it seemed very context dependant. He was at least clear on not sticking it into girls that were chasing another guy. He hadnt yet fucked Imere and he didnt n to flirt around anymore than he already had.
Imere waved after him. If I get fed up with trying, I will definitely consider it, she said, cause holy moley, I want to try the dick where that semen came from!
John stepped out and Aclysia closed the door behind him.
Chapter 522 – Events to Nomination Finale – The wanted discussion
Chapter 522 C Events to Nomination Finale C The wanted discussion
Upon seeing their longest serving general again, the three soldiers that had gone up to John rxed visibly. The Gamer had tomend the valour of these people, even if their assumption had been wrong. Going up to him and demanding answers, when they had been convinced he was murdering them all, was a lot harder than aiming the cannons at the yacht and Harbour gate and fire away. That would have been an even worse awakening. John didnt have the hull repainted only to have a hole sted into it.
Imere quickly ordered the soldiers to continue waiting on ship and give news that everything was alright. Wrapping yesterdays events in a bunch of diffusing coats, she mentioned with no words why they hadnt reported back or where the other three generals were, only that they were safe. This gave them enough time to begin the clean-up process.
Aclysia and Beatrice scouted the ships interior for any traces of disorder. Meanwhile, John ced the puddle that was Undine in the bathtub and let her soak for a while. It was pretty interesting to see a dehydrated ocean elemental, the water that fell on top of her immediately being absorbed into her body. When she eventually woke up, she did so without a headache. Despite the fact that she had not only gotten second-hand drunk per Johns mental connection but also put bottles of several alcohols into her system.
To nobodys surprise, water spirits got drunk very quickly. Just good for them that they had such an easy hangover cure. Either way, she went to restore Rave and the generals, who then all took very long showers. All of that took about two hours, which John spent in his office. Where the generals eventually knocked on the door and they restarted their discussion. Without Rave, who had voiced her disinterest in being part of the actual political stuff.
John was reading a very stupidint letter that somehow had made it on his table about the food he offered for free on the construction sites not containing enough tofu. I demand tofu be served every day to everyone, in the spirit of the environment! John read the thing and scratched the back of his head. The back of his leather chair lowered as he leaned against it and half-turned. A movement not done to reread the thing in a more rxed position but to reach the giant goldfish bowl that was resting on one end of the massive mahogany table he had put into his office. You can y with this, he said to the inhabitant of the bowl.
The golden crocodile hatchling, who had been happily swimming circles and tumbles in the water, settled on the ground and then shot up. With utmost precision, his tiny jaws snapped up the paperrger than himself, as Stirwin flew in a small shower of water onto the desk, mangling it like dogs allegedly did to homework.
Said desk dominated the otherwise small room in the Guild Bank with its presence, iming about a fourth of the total space. John was a firm believer that he deserved a big desk. One big enough to hide three women under, to give a specific example. Also the room would get bigger when he actually got to upgrading the building. He therefore feltpletely justified in putting some oversized furniture in the room in advance.
For when the upgrade would be happening: whenever he was done with the generals and this mountain of paperwork of thest 36 hours. He interrupted tackling thetter in favour of offering the four generals a seat. Its lessfortable here than in the conference room on the yacht, but he let the sentence end without further words, as Aclysia was currently getting rid of some rather persistent stains on the table there.
Yes, its fine, Chemilia was holding her husbands hand with a wide smile. Her skin seemed to glow almost, like she was beaming happiness. It was rather evident that she had needed a good fucking, although John wondered how Teds newly discovered fetish would y into having a harem. Then again, he had also bent her over the table, so he would probably have no troubles switching it up as he needed. Not Johns problem anyway.
It was Terkal grumbled, ncing across Chemilia and Ted and over to Imere, who crossed her arms and looked displeased for a reason obvious to John, a very surprising experience. Thats all I am going to say about yesterday.
John sighed in the shortstacks name. Alright, you do you, buddy, the Gamer was not going to get involved in their affairs either, instead he scratched Stirwin under the chin. The light spirit had turned the paper into a bunch of shreds. Okay, lets continue where we left off before my girlfriend put a tongue into the situation, he announced, picking up Stirwin and loading him into his breast pocket, where the infinity elemental wriggled around until only his head was peeking out.
Wherever that was, Terkal was back to his old bashing attitude, immediately challenging John on everything. Fusion has no army, no navy and no real allies. Why would we align with you in this.
Because it takes less energy toplete this structure than it would to reform yours, the Gamer answered quickly. Do you know the idea of system copse?
Of course, Terkal crossed his, once again human, arms, a system that doesnt reform and only adds more and more machinations on top of the base will eventually copse.
Nodding, John continued, A fate that befalls basically all governments, given time. The Little Marnd is about to copse with or without me. You know this, I know this, and if he is half as smart as I think he is, Abraham knows it too. Chances are, he is nning on it to use your insubordination to punch through his own reforms. John let that sink in for a moment, the happy squeals from Stirwin entirely unfitting for the tense atmosphere in the room. I am giving you a simple choice: do you want to rebel against him and try turning back the clock on your guild or do you want to join me and build something new?
He was expectingints, something along the lines of we can continue as is, but nobody seemed to think that. There was a third and fourth choice John skipped out on, being bowing down to Abraham or fleeing respectively, but he trusted they werent considering those.
Again, you dont have an army, Terkal stated.
I have me, John smiled in a self-assured manner, I have my familiars, my girlfriend, the original Metracana, the Maiden of Null, I have a strong economy and intelligence gathering capabilities on my side. The back of his chair straightened up with a couple of creaks. And I will have an army, if you agree to work with me.
Chemilia raised an eyebrow, That is a pretty dull statement.
Then let me rify the wider implications, the Gamer said. Fusion rises out of a bunch of anarchistic conglomerates. Everyone here has a business spirit, they know how to fend for themselves, and now they can use those skills in an economic battle where the only stakes are money. A great base to get a booming economy going. Terrible to build an army. There is no tradition to bind them together, no people to drill them and they know no discipline.
The generals nodded, that was what they had guessed themselves and what they had seen on the streets.
So I will simply copy paste you, John came clean. Well, inputer terms, I am going to cut you out and then paste you over. You as the leaders, however you are organizing your armies, all of it. He stopped patting the tiny lizard in his breast pocket and folded his hands. I will have an army and that army at the base is you.
How would working for you be better than Abraham? Imere was the one who raised the question, with a carefree smile on her freckled face, head resting on her hand. I want to hear some concrete promises. I am not looking to exchange a potential dictator for a true one.
Military spending coupled in the height of a percentage of the GDP, a seat on my council, five seats in the senate and you get to nominate the generals from your own ranks, although I will need to confirm them. A process that can also happen the other way around, should the situation call for it, John quickly presented a list of points he had thought about in advance.
Imereughed, Terkal looked bbergasted, Chemilia and Ted took it without any surprise. That is quite the list of promises, the tall general carefully formted. And you also say we get to keep the current internal organization of the army?
For all I care you can also reform it in the process, if you know any areas that need it, John shrugged. He would have an eye on it himself, but right now he had next to no experience on how to run an army. He had a bunch of knowledge that he could apply in theory, but that wasnt a proper excuse to meddle in a functioning military apparatus. Let me repeat: I will have an army if you agree to back me.
Doesnt sound like you want to stop at the Little Marnd in your expansion, Imere noted, eyeing him up with continued curious carefreeness. It was somewhat disturbing how nonchnt she was about all of this.
John hesitated for a second, then he admitted, No, I wont. Ultimately, I want to found a power that will take the empty seat in the Divided Ten. That caused some audible inhales. My ultimate goal is to do as our forefathers did and improve upon the European model with liberty, he quickly followed that up, and I am not going to run an empire like Romulus. Just a country where everyone can live as safe as is possible in the Abyss C without fear of getting suddenly assaulted by a gang that wants to sell them to a mana factory for quick cash.
Many parts of America are a rough neighbourhood, Terkal agreed. But your end goal aside, you are stuck where you are now without us, arent you?
The Game was forced to agree. Without you, I will have to concentrate many years on assembling my own army, yes. No matter how strong he got, there was no way he could reliably govern huge swathes ofnd with only himself to keep the peace. There needed to be an army until a loyal militia was formed and a militia until a police force was formed. Maybe this current project fails and I have to flee and gather power elsewhere. The then is unclear, but you want something that aligns with my interest, so we can make a deal about the soon.
We would have more power in this new government than we have currently, Chemilia voiced her support, unsurprisingly she was the first, and a percentage of the GDP sounds fair to me.
Her husband hummed in a deep tone. I dont like trusting you, were the only words he spoke.
I understand, John didnt take offense to that. You barely know me, but we sadlyck the time to test the waters extensively. The quiet general nodded to that and seemed content with that answer.
Terkal drummed his fingers against his thin arms as he thought. I have followed your progress for a while, John Newman, he informed everyone in the room, ever since you first appeared on television. You are powerful and you keep getting stronger. The winds of change seem to blow in your favour. I dont like your reputation as a pervert and I am not sure whether or not your prideful ways will ultimately be to the benefit of everyone, as you im. The hairless mans fingers stopped. But I can say the same about Abraham. Between you two, I think you are the lesser evil for my personal interests. You have my support C in vote and in arms.
Chemilia and Ted agreed through gestures and John felt a burden lift from his shoulders as he got the confirmation from the required three generals. Still, Imere had her own opinion to give voice to, You will have my vote but I will not support you in the case of war, she let them all know.
John only needed a moment to understand, Do I understand correctly that you wont support Abraham either?
Yes, she nodded. I have no strong feelings of support for you, President Newman, certainly not strong enough to fight against my own people for. This caused the other three generals to shift somewhat ufortably in their seat as they were faced with this ufortable idea. No, I will be the safe enve for those who dont want to partake in this squabble and the neutral party when the fighting ceases and the negotiations begin.
I respect that, John said to her for the second time this day, this time under vastly more serious circumstances. You have my word that I will not attack those under your protection and that, should we be victorious, you will be able to rejoin the army withoutplications. I have no interest in dragging parties that want to stay neutral into this conflict.
Imere smirked again. You are growing on me, John.
Chapter 523 – Tier 2 Guild Hall Upgrade
Chapter 523 C Tier 2 Guild Hall Upgrade
The generals took their leave in a diligent but nevertheless quick fashion. Everything had been said, agreements had been struck. They were in this together now. At least, as far as Johns quest was concerned.
All he had to do now was to wait on the nomination to happen and pray everyone kept their word. In the meantime, he would keep grinding, sending out courteous messages to the less assured parties and do paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.
How I would love a Momo toe along and do this for me, John thought as he looked at the stack of documents on his desk. Contact with the monochrome girl had been broken since a few days after their parting. She had just sent him a text message about wanting to have no contact to the people she already knew for a bit, for whatever reason. When she had then vanished from the Austrian court, she must have destroyed her phone or something. Fact was, he couldnt contact her and he had no idea where she was. Stupid rebellious teenage phases, he grumbled mentally.
Although there was still loads of it, John decided he had seen enough of bureaucracy for the day. There was something more exciting to get done anyway. Question: should I continue to work in your absence? Beatrice asked, doing her usual work on the minorly important or streamlined documents at the side of the table. Her being seated and working on the same table,plete with her ownptop, made it look somewhat unprofessional, but it was all the current space allowed. The question came the moment her master started to rise from his seat; she must have been paying attention to his thoughts.
Depends, do you want to see the show? John asked; he had decided to do the Guild Hall upgrade now and that would consist of several parts impressive to look at.
Denied, seen it once. Not interested in repeated sight, Beatrice answered the expected way. Further specification: answer is to be expected for most questions of this nature. Notable exception: I am as happy as I can be to see you naked repeatedly. Back to topic. Gesturing at the two stacks of paper and herputer, Beatrice continued, I will then continue to work until either: one, the stacks of papers done and emails answered are equal to papers undone and emails unanswered, two, all papers and emails are answered, or three, you need me to vacate the building to move it.
That was a thing about the Guild Hall, he couldnt relocate buildings upied by people. It made sense, although John was kind of sad about the removal of trolling potential that came with the ability to relocate someones house while they slept. He also couldnt move anything in the Guild Hall via the menu while the barrier was involved in a battle.
Well now that you say that John scratched his chin and thought. The barrier is going to get bigger again, so I will likely do some terraforming, ce new buildings down, re-arrange old ones might be wiser if you stepped out with me now.
Theory, Beatrice robotic tone was underlined by the cking of keys on herptop, Gaia will sass my passive existence by ssifying me as furniture for this endeavour.
The passive maid actually let out the awkwardest of chuckles, as she saw the window through his eyes. With a broad, stiff grin on her face, He He He, she let out exactly three sounds, then her face fell right back into passivity. Theory confirmed.
So it seems, John dismissed the window, fixed his cor and headed out. The corridors of the Guild Bank had a luxurious charm to them, narrow as they currently were. Covered in a protectiveyer of dark, tropical wood up to his shoulders and simple, beige painted walls everywhere else. Simple, roundmps gave light, neither too bright nor too soft, where the four-panel windows only showed the night sky. The fact that the lights activated automatically upon sensing certain levels of darkness was a sign of vain luxury, but it came for free.
Although it was very niche in its appliance, John found the Guild Hall to be his most bullshit of powers. He had swathes of customizable space and the buildings he could create ranged from useful in the case of Housing and the Storefront to who thought this was okay? for the Mine and the Farm. They created matter from free mana every day. It was pure bullshit.
John dropped a text in his harems group chat, asking everyone on the ind toe together. When the question of Where? came back from Rave, the Gamer sent his return with a smirk. A couple of the girlsined that this was interrupting them in something, but when he told them it was for the Guild Hall upgrade, they were quickly convinced.
As the barrier was frequented by workers in the Mine during the day, doing this overnight was the best possible time to do this. Right now, on this entire ind, it was just him and most of his girls. Arriving from the yacht rtively quickly, they met with him at the feet of Lady Liberty. Lets go all the way up, John suggested and they went inside the historic monument.
They walked past the Guild Heart, the blue sphere surrounded by swirling golden rings brimming with power as always. Since its initial deployment, it had gained an extra ring and grown somewhat in size. A response to the upgrade in Tier and the consequent increase of mana it supplied, no doubt.
Metra of all people dropped a line John wouldnt have expected from her, That thing makes me ufortable.
Why the fuck, Eliza was much quicker on the uptake, does a still object make YOU, miss I want to punch everything in the cock, ufortable?
It reminds me of Enki, the ancient weapon answered and made a grimace. My I guess you could say father. God of magic and stars, you can take your pick which one is actually true. His mana is what ultimately made my existence possible.
Family feud, then? John asked, unsure why she would be ufortable around something that reminded her of him.
Not with him, really never liked the guy he is dead anyhow, so who cares, Metra shrugged, ripped apart by Gaia, like all of Tiamats children during the fall. Guess it just makes me nostalgic for the creepy fuck he was one of the Hey, can I take you apart to see how you tick? I promise to put you back together afterwards! type of people.
Oh yeah, FUCK those with a skyscraper up their massive asses, Eliza was nowpletely with her. The sound of the metal stairs echoed through the confined space within the statue as they ascended up the spiral. Seriously, all of those cocksuckers need to get cut open without anaesthetics, have their still connected organs slowly put externally and then they can study themselves, fucking assholes!
Happy thoughts, Eliza, John said, as he knew for a fact that was one of the things she had actually lived through during her forced emotional calm at the hands of Mengele and Herman. Think about breakfast.
Motherfucker, there was no breakfast! she shouted back. You stumbled into the cumstained bedroom at one in the fucking morning with a bottle of schnapps in your hand, shook me awake, dragged me by the throat into the sexroom like amon fucking whore and then used me to show one of your new military throatfucker friends how to use a whip properly! Taking a deep breathe, she added, Best way to get woken up, by the way.
I do remember that just forget that was still today John grabbed the handle of the door that led them back outside. Most of my days, barely anything happens, and then some days, everything happens. I feel like I haveined about that before.
Ya have, Rave affirmed, which ya remember, Brainiac. Now lets get this done. I want to see what other bullshit ya can build!
Alright then, he pushed the handle down and they emerged on the balcony that surrounded the torch that Lady Liberty was holding. On the real statue, the golden depiction of a fire would be illuminated by floodlights. The Gamer hadnt installed any recement for that as of yet, so it was only them on the unobstructed railing on this windless spring night. Time to get this party started.
The first step was to spend the Guild Perk he had been granted from the generals arrival. As to where, that had been decided a while ago.
That done, he was promptly greeted with the same window asst time, asking whether or not he wanted to upgrade the Guild Hall now. Without hesitation, he confirmed and then the air. where the cylindrical barrier ended, turned into a spectacle of colours. Like a self-illuminating bubble of soap that was slowly erged, the walls pushed further and further away from the centre of the barrier.
John was delighted when he saw the border push past the northernmost point of the ind. Just barely, then it stopped and simply disappeared from in view again, but still. He now owned all of Liberty Ind. Which meant it was now time for some sweeping changes. First, however, he had to read.
Is this the part where we wait for half an hour while ya go through all of the new buildings and stuff? his girlfriend asked.
Yup, he went and scanned what Tier 2 gave him for new buildings. He didnt yet look at the upgrades to current ones, that was another matter entirely. For now, he just had to know what new things he wanted to add before he went ahead and re-organized theyout of the entire ind. After all, he could now terraform with money and time as his only limitations.
Johns eyes fell on several things he thought were worth adding. Most of them were just extensions of his Industry and Commercial districts, but there was one building that piqued his interest in particr. It was called the Weather Tower, and after reading through it, the Gamer found himself in a very good mood.
Remember that thing in Rome that could change the weather? John asked.
Rave peeked up at the mention of that, Yes? Did you get that? The heat loving girl was hopeful to spend the future winters under the artificial heat of a controlled climate.
At least a starting version of that, John confirmed and looked on the list of requirements and effects. Mhm, it wont be able to freely control the weather, but it can at least modify it. Basically, if it rains a moderate amount, it can size it down to a light drizzle or up to a proper storm, but it cant make it stop or start raining.
Rave nodded, Well, its a start. Can ya build it or do you need to go grinding?
Seems like I got everything I need, he muttered his answer as looked over the list. Just a bunch of rocks and metal got both in spades from the Mine he always kept a healthy supply of materials for times like this. some two-element material or higher also got enough Baelementium to cover that one Focusing Ornament well, I have them lying around, so I guess thats one investment for that, like any stingy gamer, he felt the want to keep rare resources close to his chest. However, it would be best if he didnt beat the proverbial final boss without ever using any. Huh, thats new. It must be ced on a small ind.
So, just like Romulus obelisk? Rave asked. Back in Rome, the pir that had stood in the centre of the emperors pce had also been standing with its base in ake. Seemed like that was more than just a design decision.
Going by the description, the Weather Tower used the surrounding area to draw from or dump in water used in the climate control. Normally this would have meant that Johns best bet was to ce that thing somewhere in the surrounding river, since that had ample water, removing any worry of a dryke in case of a long heat period. However, the Guild Hall normalized its appearance passively anyway. It was a thoroughly magical ind, after all, so he could ce the Weather Tower on an indke and the body of water would just moderate itself.
With that in mind, he got to work. His barrier was now 400 metres across, and before he did anything with it, he should terraform the entire thing to suit more to his liking. Being freed from the design of the tourism industry was expected sooner orter anyway, and since this new Tier had granted him a whooping 150 Room Slots, a drastic increase from the previous 100 total, he now had a lot of things to ce and think about.
He saw his money guzzle down the drain with each metre ofnd he put into the ocean. Doubtlessly, some people on the shore, that had seen the weird light show earlier, were now blinking profusely as earth, already covered in grass, suddenly appeared around Liberty Ind. In immense quantities as well, John filled most of his current barrier withnd, only creating a depression where his Harbour ended up.
The whole endeavour cost him almost two billion dors, meaning that he had to withdraw a not meaningless amount from the Guild Bank, and that was just the in earth put into ce. He added some hills and a fair number of trees so the whole thing didnt look boring and in, then drew roads around everywhere.
He put the necessaryke west of the centre of the ind, lying exactly where he stood, and a smallerke south of that just because he had the space. Also a beach, summer was fast approaching and he wanted to have a beach to rx and ogle his girls in swimsuits at. By the end, John didnt even want to look at the giant red number. It was a necessary expansion, but it still cut deep into his pockets. Not deep enough to make it a worrying development, however.
Before cing the buildings back on the ground, John had put them all into some sort of storage, temporarily separating him from Beatrice, he had a look at his new outline.
Smander snickered as she looked over his shoulder. You suck at drawing circles, came her immediatement.
You try to draw anything straight with just your finger and a barely adjustable tool! John snapped back, perfectly aware that the shape of his ind was a bit botched when viewed like this. Taking a look over the railing gave away none of that, however, so hopefully nobody else would ever notice or annoy him with this.
Lake Ravetoria? his girlfriend asked with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow. Thats so cheesy!
I wanted to call it something, John shrugged. The same exnation applied to Newman Shire. Anyway, time to get the buildings down. Lets start with the Central district.
Renamed from the Home District, there were changes to most aspects of the heart of the Guild Hall. Starting with the literal Guild Heart.
Guild Heart: The upgrading of this essential building remained free. Now powering the entire barrier with a base value of 50000 (up from 25000), it gave John a bit of wiggle room in his approach. It gained another ring and grew a bit further in size, but the sphere itself remained hidden in the fort.
Pce: Well, it was no longer just a fort. John had decided, because he didnt want to greet future diplomatic visits on his boat, that it was finally time to get a pce. As fine as the Boating Seaquence was, it wasnt a proper showcase of Fusions standing. Thus, the fort got a massive makeover.
John maintained the star shape of the base, with all ten of its tips, simply recing the boring grey stone of the fortress with walls of solid stone, coloured remarkably close to the white houses painting, engraved with some basic designs. Nothing too detailed, but enough to break up the monotony of endlessly stretching walls. He was very careful in this choice resisting the urge to go for the polished texture. He wanted the thing to stand out, not to sear its sight into their eyes when the sunlight was reflecting off it.
The walls extended slightly above the top of the fort, creating a seamless barrier around thewn John reced the current top area with. With the easy part done, John then turned to Lady Liberty and her socket. For the sake of Johns history boner, the statue and the tower she directly stood on had to remain as they were. Cleaning slimes had long since taken care of the dirt sticking to both, so they were as pristine as the day they werepleted.
However, the two boring squares they stood on, John wanted gone. After relocating to the base of the fortress, he couldnt change things greatly as long as they were upying the space, as per the rules, he went ahead and removed them. Conversely, the statue didnt fall whatsoever, as John ced a new structure in recement. A new, much broader, structure.
It was something between a pce, a tower and a cathedral. About a third broader at the base as it was on the top, a rim of arches framing a secondyer ofwn on the roof of the new pce and around the old socket, it was an impressive building. Hundreds of windows covered the three storeys, the space between the sses broken up by decorative spires and the corners robbed of their edge by round towers that contained elevators. Each side had its own gate, dark oak set into the white stone and a bunch of side doors.
The whole thing was a massive mixture between the wet dreams of a renaissance painter and a neo-roman architect with a dash of futurism. John was pretty proud of himself, even if he had wanted to make it about fifteen times as tall as it was now. However, he already had too many empty room in that version, and so he had to scratch what he thought would be epic for what was actually useful. It still looked way better than before.
That thing cost him a whopping 40 Room Slots though and was put at a mana consumption of 10000 per day. Given that it would sustain over a dozen people who lived the high life, that wasnt that far fetched.
The Magus Tower: No changes to its design, but it was moved off the one tip of the fort where it previously stood and ced on the green area to the west instead, close to the park. John imagined Magoi would want it as close to the new park as possible.
I.D. Gate: Also no upgrade on that front, John didnt see the necessity to spend further resources on the ability to open more barriers using the building, the three it could make right now were more than enough. John ced it in arms reach from his Pce, atop the fort.
Security Station: The Sentry Golems and the ability to deploy them at up to five different points all over the Hudson Barrier had been quite useful in keeping the area pacified. John took the upgrade to Tier 2 happily, increasing the Golems level from 30 to 35, the amount of them active from five to six, and giving him an extra two deployment beacons. He would ce those in high tension areas to remind rivalling gangs who was the boss around here now. This cost him 5 additional Room Slots and 1500 mana.
Cleaning Station: The same price increase as the Security Station for a simr effect. Up to 25 slimes would now be patrolling the ind and up to 5 areas marked inside conquered territory. Their trash eating capabilities were immensely important.
Training Room: Unchanged. As its purpose was narrowly defined by the Guild Perks, it couldnt upgrade any further.
Next, John took care of the Park and Newman Shire.
Weather Tower: At a Room Slot cost of 25, this simple obelisk of light grey stone, covered in runes made from metal and shimmering blue with arcane might, was a raw mana guzzler. It consumed 10000 mana per day, running at full capacity, and that was while still limited in what it could do. Higher Tiers would doubtlessly cut an even deeper hole into his mana budget.
Menagerie: Although the only current use of this building was that it made Nia happy, that was a pretty worthwhile investment. The upgrade cost five Room Slots but only increased the maintenance by 500. He ced it in Newman Shire.
Moving further north, John went to the Commercial district. There was not much to do there.
Storefront: This building went untouched. There were some passive upgrades to this highly customizable building, simply from being inside a Tier 2 barrier, but John wasnt using this for anything right now and, all in all, the Commercial district was supposed to be filled with people setting up shop anyhow. They could build and maintain their own houses if they wanted to live so close to the president.
Guild Bank: This, however, he upgraded quickly, and what an upgrade it was. Costing him 15 Room Slots and doubling its previous mana cost of 2500, it grew quite a bit in size, allowing John to hope for a massively increased office. As a matter of fact, he assured himself a bigger bureau by going into the detailed design and deleting the wall between his current office and the room next to it. He only then realized that had been an option. The amount of storage increased from 300 to 500 slots and Guild Members were now allowed to ess it from anywhere in the barrier adjacent to the Guild Hall.
The Transportation district was perhaps the most boring, change wise. Located in the north-east, it gained no new buildings.
The Harbour: John had no need to upgrade this further, as he didnt n to start a boat collection and the current Tier had been perfectly capable of holding his yacht and the military vessel at the same time. Granted, that was the limit, but John had also installed normal piers at most corners of the ind to let people anchor where they wanted.
Transport Station: The upgrades here had to wait, as they always needed some special materials. John wasnt going toin about this, teleportation was a potent thing to have ess to. He felt like he should push for the upgrade though. It promised him a special long-range beacon that could be put anywhere in conquered territory. No range indicator whatsoever. The extra 2 normal outposts and normal increase in range paled inparison to the possibilities that opened.
Onto the Industry, which had now been separated with the new Production district taking over many of its further buildings. The Gamer was going to order those in a minute. For now he needed to address what was actually in the Industry district.
The answer: a bunch of empty space. John suddenly realized that the Metal Refinery he wanted to built in order to increase his profit margin on his Mine, ingots just went off for more than ores, was an impossible endeavour. He was already at a negative 500 mana output, so he put Room Slots into something else instead.
Mana Factory: First, he upgraded the current one he had to Tier 2, giving him 5000 mana to pay upkeep with in exchange for 10 Room Slots. Then he built two more of those. Didnt feel great, but the fact of the matter was that he needed the extra power.
Transmutation Forge: Thankfully, it costed neither more Room Slots nor Mana, as John was running very short on both. The Building, looking like a chimney designed by a council of elder mages, had its scope of materials it could create from money increased. Even with that, it only covered low to mid strength materials and only John could use it, limiting its usefulness.
The Production district had absorbed most of the Industry district, simply because John had the space and liked to keep these things separate.
Mine: The backbone of Johns side economy, making it only marginally important in the grand scope of things, would see itself be a money-maker soon without a doubt. It now had deeperyers, where rarer ores spawned. Metals made from up to three different elemental infusions could now be found there, although those had an exorbitantly low chance to appear. However, this creation of money and jobs from thin air didnte cheaply. 15 more Room Slots and an upkeep of 10000.
Farm: For 2 and 3 Room Slots respectively, John added a medium greenhouse and a small pig shelter to this Building. This fit nicely next to the small field and chicken coop already in ce. The total cost rose to 4000, which was barely eptable.
Logging: This was a new building and basically the woodcutting equivalent to the Mine. The surrounding areas would naturally grow trees. Unlike the Mine, there was an incentive to leave the trees for a couple of weeks or days, as even unnatural growing speeds wouldnt create a fully-grown oak overnight. Sadly, it would be limited to oaks and simr, highly mundane or barely magical trees for now, as John had neither the Room Slots nor the mana to afford more than Tier 1 of the building. It was just best to get established in the market early.
He finished the whole effort with only 4 Room Slots and 500 more mana to spare.
Chapter 524 – The Final Election of the Little Maryland
Chapter 524 C The Final Election of the Little Marnd
It was the silence that told John that Abraham knew. Theplete silence of any word where there had been friendly calls initiated by both sides before. One day, two days, five days, a week, two weeks, the nomination, all the time passed without a single word between them. Like a friend scorned and a friend guilty, they no longer initiated a modicum of their starting niceness.
Although John knew that this whole thing had been fake from the start, a lie told to the other and themselves to make their political craft more effective, the Gamer couldnt help but feel the weight of his decision on his mind. Yet, it was what he had resolved to do. Doubt had to fall to the wayside. The course was set and nothing but a taut sail would get him there.
A sail for which he had to provide the cloth and the wind on a boat he had to build as it sailed. Sixteen hours of work a day, almost two weeks straight. Paperwork finally reached its zenith during that time, the many gears he put in ce slowly gripping into each other.
One person stopped filingints to him and instead talked to the actual official of the district. One person stopped insisting on help from him or his elites and instead went to the police station. One person stopped demanding things he wasnt entitled to. One person stopped, another person stopped, the culture was ever so slowly shifting and each was a grain of sand that was blown off the heap that was Johns desk.
No time to grow restful. His ambitions were at a breaking point. So much was bnced on him acquiring the Little Marnd, the cleaner a fashion, the better. Inheriting their functioning army and well-constructed infrastructure and injecting it with a healthy dose of money and economic reforms would catapult his guild from being dependent on just him to its own strong organization.
The Little Marnd annexed would mean that he had ess to therge,rgely unimed areas to the south. He could pressure the Amacat to join him in an economic andter political way. From there, he would have nearplete control of the east coast. Unrivalled in the area, he could gather his forces without any worry that he could find himself on the losing side of a local arms race.
Less paperwork, more experience. Still less than he hoped but hopefully enough. The fifth general remained silent, but he was sure to be on Abrahams side. After all, he was the presidents own nephew. Despite this, he almost looked as old as the president, somewhere around his fifties, with ck, short hair and a wrinkled face. The only segment of the army not underfunded was under hismand.
Should this go hot, it might not go as smooth as I hope, the Gamer thought not for the first time. He had tried persuading people of his own power level to his side. People like Sigmund or Egan. It was stupidly hard to even locate them. For no promises of money, fame or glory were they willing to join his cause. At least John assumed that; none of them ever answered his calls or mails.
First of June, 2018, John entered the White House on short notice. A civilian airne had brought him there, a typical mundane flight. DC was a city of busy people. John had no busy step as he entered the senate. He walked slowly and his feet caused prominent echoes in the diligent chamber. The air was already thick when he took a seat. Everyone seemed to know what was about to happen, nobody in the room was surprised to see him.
The room was arge semi-circle, rows upon rows of wooden tables with electronic disys iid into the surface standing on the downwards slope of few and broad stairs. The tables were supposed to be arranged in an equally spaced fashion, but a small yet noticeable gap had formed between four fifths of the room and the remaining part. At the bottom of the chamber stood arge monument of wood and gemstones, with many tforms on different heights giving special seats to the current members of government. The highest levels reached up to the watcher ranks a storey above.
We will now start the nomination for the candidates of the 2018 presidential elections, the speaker sitting behind the wooden podium inside the gold and silver decorated room announced. Arge memorial picture of Abraham Lincoln was painted across the wall behind him. The admittedly ugly mans stern gaze was all John concentrated on while an inconsequential list of candidates was read out like they had any chance of winning. A formality, just like Imere rising out of her seat and bowing before the assembled people was.
Inpliance with Article 132 Section 1 of the extended code of votingw, written by our great founding father, the oldest general raised her voice, I want to nominate a candidate from outside the guild. The candidate is present right next to me, she gestured at the Gamer sitting in the seat next to her. John Newman, guild master of Collide and president of the federal guild of Fusion.
Alright then, the speaker, an old man in his seat purely because of his connections, seamlessly continued on with the ceremony. Article 132 Section 1 requires a vote of confidence by the majority of at least two estates. Does the governments current president vouch for this outside candidate?
No, Abraham gave the expected answer, sitting in his seat atop the central monument. His eyes were closed, his muscr arms crossed, a pose of stoic rxation summarized in the way his head rested against the back of his chair.
The civilian estate, raise your arms if you want to vouch for the outside candidate John Newman, the speaker continued and coughed on dry lungs. This whole thing had the air of a graveyard and the seriousness of a dusty library. After having taken a sip of water, the speaker continued. I count two out of three votes in favour, the civilians have thus affirmed the wish to aid an outside candidate. Military estate, all generals in favour, please signal your support for John Newman, president of Fusion, as your candidate.
Together with Imere, the expected three rose from their seats. The fifth general, Matthew Ryemeyer, was sitting over in the rows of the government officials. A separation that had existed long before John arrived on the scene.
The military confirmed with four votes. John Newman is therefore confirmed as a candidate in the running for presidency, the speaker announced. The campaign may now start officially; the voting date is set for the 31st of June 2019.
And that was that. The ceremony ended with boring and empty words. Rather abruptly as well. John sat through the whole thing waiting for something to happen. Nothing ever did. The event just ran its natural course and ended. People got up and left. The heavy air travelled outside with them. It felt doubtful that this kind of atmosphere would be maintained for an entire year.
A vibration in Johns pocket pulled his attention to his phone. He expected it to be Rave, asking if he was done yet. Despite the very little that had been said, the whole thing had cost him two hours. Puffed up in smoke and many sentences. Instead, he found it to be a text message from Abraham, calling for a meeting.
Well, then, John thought, rolling his neck, lets see if he tries something stupid.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The ce of meeting was as inconspicuous as they could get in a short term, a random corridor in a random wing of the White House. Not a ce to dwell too long. I honestly expected worse, John announced his arrival on the scene in a neutral tone of fact.
And I didnt expect you to pounce so opportunistically, Abraham retorted, the smaller man pulling his cor straight. I took you for more than a rookie than you turned out to be. Your level of scheming impresses me, even if I am thoroughly disappointed by this.
John smirked in a wry way, Would you do me the favour of just giving up, then?
No answer, instead, the current president continued on. Digging up such an oldw, the little use you put into our contract I should have been able to see thising beforehand, Abraham folded his hands behind his back, but I didnt.
You had me outwitted at our initial meeting, John willingly admitted, but I am a quick learner. He looked around the small gathering. Abraham was backed by a bunch of bodyguards and his nephew, while John had the four generals and Nia with him. The nks presence assured him that no magical means of recording this conversation were present. For anything else, Scarlett had an eye on things.
I have just one question for you, John. Why?
Because I dont think you are what is best for the people here, the Gamer came straight at him. Because you are a hypocrite in your actions and because I need the Little Marnd for my ambitions.
That visibly angered the usually controlled man, a vein popping up at his temples, only slightly veiled by his receding hairline. You think you can do a better job than me?
That is the conviction with which I stand here before you, yes, John stood straight and looked down at the president. Call it arrogance if you want, I am certainly a prideful person. I have seen what your people think about your governance, and they are not happy, Abraham.
The man drew a deep breath and, although the vein remained, calmed his speech. Alright then. We have no more to say to each other in this regard. Lets make other things clear then. If you start the offensive, I will retaliate in kind.
I have no intention of making this a civil war, John retorted, met with the sound of mockingly blown air out of Abrahams nose. What? You dont believe me?
You expect me to believe you will sit and campaign earnestly for a span of time longer than you have been in the Abyss for? the fellow president raised a somewhat valid point. You have positioned yourself for a military takeover, sweet talking the military first and foremost and building that little wfully hold use into our contract.
Again, he wasnt wrong. The wfully hold thing had always been a thing John nned to use to shatter the legitimacy of intervening powers. As long as Johns side wasnt the one who fired the first shot, Abraham fighting his candidacy outside of the campaign trail would make his presidency illegitimate by the Little Marnds own constitution. This wasnt to say the neighbours couldnt find a reason to mingle in this conflict, just that John wasnt in vition of any treaty he had signed.
Doubtlessly, he still looked like an aggressor to the heads of states of his neighbours, but all he did so far was inpliance with thew as it was written. Semantics were important if he wanted to adequately defend himself against propaganda.
I understand those thoughts, John ceded the ground. All I have to do is not attack you to prove you wrong, so I think I can do that.
My military will see that you keep that word, Abraham nced over to the government guards, then to the generals behind John. When I win this election, I demand that you all resign, the current president stated. Unless you want to start a war after you lost the vote.
Terkal snarled; good to hear that it wasnt just John he behaved that way towards. If you win the election, you have the peoples mandate to get your dictatorship running, the tall man admitted. I wont stay in your way any longer. I am not interested in ripping apart the country.
I would say if rather than when, Chemilia echoed. Dont be sure of yourself, that was what got you in this mess to start with.
No, you made this mess, Abraham shook his head in a self-righteous manner. John couldnt help himself but think of the caricature of the old politician, too stubborn to consider any of his lifework false when confronted with past mistakes in an interview. But this works for me. Do you swear, on whatever you could find worthy, that you will ept the results of the election?
John had to stop there for a second, Whatever I find worthy, huh? Although it ultimately had little impact, he wanted Abraham to believe that he was earnest in this. A year was a long time, but he was willing to put that effort in, if it made his takeover smooth and skipped the bloodshed part. Anything that he could swear on that would convince the man? Nothing came to mind. In the end, he decided to make a joke instead. If you are elected again, I will respect our treaty of friendship and be a neighbour that shares in your peoples hopeful wealth and wellbeing. I have no intent of dividing your people by not epting what the majority of them voted on. I swear on my girlfriends ass.
Despite the tenseness of the situation, Abrahamughed all of a sudden. A deep sound, from somewhere unexpected that sent some saliva flying as the first burst pushed his clenched lips open with the force of amusement. THAT is what you swear on? he asked while cleaning himself up with a handkerchief. You truly are a youngster, by Gaia. He shook his head and then looked to Imere. I take it you will be the arbiter of today, then? The shortstack general had made the neutrality arrangements with Abraham a few days ago, with Johns knowledge.
You two big boys y nice and I wont have to intervene, Imere mused with a shrug.
Chapter 525 – Victory & Mouth 1 – Spiral
Chapter 525 C Victory & Mouth 1 C Spiral
John Newman had imagined himself in numerous situations when he decided to run for a democratically elected position. Down in the streets, showing people he was just a normal human, for example. Behind a podium, delivering a speech as best he could. Flexing his muscles a bit by using the elementals to help clean the streets or something.
Sitting in ate night talk show and speaking about his first campaign ad wasnt one of them. Although there was a nice and calm smile on his face, inside he was winding in difort. He was being blinded by the lights overhead that made everything look nice for the camera but made the crowd in front of the studio look like a bunch of not yet unlocked options in a character select screen, just dark silhouettes.
He was sitting in afortable chair, right next to therge desk of the hostess, a blonde catgirl of natural prettiness and painted on gorgeousness. The co-host was a grumbly insectoid of the praying mantis variety, whomented mostly by clicking his mandibles. Something that the crowd found funny every time and left the Gamer wondering what the hell was so entertaining as theyughed.
In other words, John had no idea what was going on, but he still had to be there.
Now, Mister Newman, your sudden nomination two days ago has caused a bit of a ruckus amongst the people, the catgirl said, leaning towards him in a way that let John see her whitece bra in the dcollet of her suit, the three top buttons open. She had breasts bordering on a D-cup. The Gamer kept his gaze focused on her red eyes. Personally, I heard some rumours a few days beforehand but thought it was entirely impossible.
Well, it was a rather sudden decision, John went along, moving his hand in nonchnt gestures as he talked. I found the line in a code ofw and decided I wanted to try.
This was despite getting along with President Abraham, right?
The two of us had some nice talks, yes, and I think he is a good guy at heart, John agreed, proceeding to speak his mind. However, I do think I can do more for this guild and America as a whole.
America? the hostess looked genuinely confused for a moment. Ah, sorry, you have grown up as a mundane, right?
That is right, John felt like his words were perfect to be written down and published as an interview in a magazine. Not the type of conversation he was used to, but so far this seemed pretty okay.
So when you say America, you mean the borders of the real world USA, right?
Ah, John made a noise of understanding and chuckled. Yeah, I guess that could be misunderstood. Yeah, I indeed mean the USA by America. I abhor the state many parts of the country are in, with the ve trade and abductions for mana factories, to name the two most gruesome things I can think of immediately.
So, you want to unify the entire continent under your rule? the catgirl asked.
Bad question to answer honestly on public television, dodge, John, dodge, he thought and reached for the water to get a second to formte an answer that was both a yes and a no. As he put the ss back down, his voice echoed with a humorous tone, That would be one thick country, I would be ruling. Quietly, he added, Take the bait please.
Yeah you could say that, the catgirl said and thenughed when her co-host clicked some indiscernible words together. Wow, Ktik, you are such a rude bug! Anyway, while we are on the topic of thick, there is an air of sexual rumours around you. Basically, you are being caught in the act pretty regrly and the fact that you have a harem is pretty widely known. Do you have anyments on that?
Thank god, she took the bait, John thought and grinned to himself. Not a whole lot interesting to say there. When I first learned about this whole Abyss thing, I found out that you people have a much more liberal stance towards the entire polygamy thing. I am just one guy who had the dream for a collective of cute and lovable girls to share a life with and was blessed with the opportunity to make that real.
Okay, that doesnt exin why you keep getting caught having sex in public ces though.
John raised a finger and wiggled it as a non-serious warning, That is not quite correct there, I keep getting caught having sex -mostly- between business meetings. In other words, in buildings that are part of my government.
So, you wouldnt fuck me right on this table? the catgirl asked, her breasts almost popping out of her shirt as she bowed even deeper towards John.
I would have to call my girlfriend first, we like to share first times with new girls, he joked and the blonde made an annoyed sound as she plopped back into her seat. Anyway, the rumours in that regard are absolutely true. I have the necessary self-control to keep it in my pants if its a serious day, but between all the bureaucracy I just need some rxing outlets, you know? Keeps my productivity high.
You certainly have a love for the productive and the free spirited, the hostess agreed. Which brings me to your first campaign ad, which we here at CPDI got exclusively. Roll it!
The advertisement rolled on a TV behind the hostess. It was entirely based on the You got a license for that? meme and thus poked fun at Abrahams immense government apparatus. Although John was clearly the focus of the ad, Beatrice yed her part with brilliant believability. Perhaps because the lightly sassy and robotic personality of an obnoxious license controller was basically written for her.
Meanwhile, John understood why CPDI didnt stand for Catgirl Pedestrians Do Interviews but Catgirl Perverts do the Interviewed. The fact that a channel like this even existed on Abyssal television made him a happy person.
If he could trust Scarletts report on the CPDI, had he agreed to the offer to fuck the hostess, that would have been somewhat normal. To be fair, it was already ate-night show and this was an age restricted show. Well, as age restricted as a Are you 18? question at the front of a website made it. John somewhat wanted to partake in some sort of erotic game show one day.
The ad came to an end and he barely managed to decipher the clicks of the co-host. Did you have a license for that ad?
John gave him a chuckle out of courtesy and had to reattempt his answer numerous times as he could barely hear himself over the crowd losing their collective shit over how funny they found thatment. I really dont get what they find so entertaining about this guy, the Gamer thought when theughter finally died down. It was produced over in my territory, so I only needed one to air it.
You got it rather quick, what is your secret? the hostess wanted to know. Two days to get an airing license was indeed rather hasty.
I am a high-profile individual, so I think they put me at the top of the pile, John shrugged and then went to take a jab at the system. There also may or may not have been bribery involved, but who knows if that isnt part of the current system?
Well that is certainly the catgirl stopped and raised a hand to her left human ear. It was a bit odd to see humanoids with four ears, but that was just the way they looked. Her nonchnt expression suddenly went serious as she nodded towards whoever was currently whispering into the button in her ear. We are interrupting the program for important news. In the northern economical district, it hase to a violent sh between two gangs of people. The reason for the conflict seems to be the current political situation.
Worried clicking from the co-host and rumbling from the ranks, John felt a vibration in his breast pocket and took the freedom to check it. I can verify getting simr news, he told the panel after reading the message from Scarlett confirming what had just been said. He looked straight at the camera after confirming it was the currently disyed one. I condemn any street fights or violent engagements, period, he sharply stated.
This whole thing came out of the left field, but the Gamer didnt have to think a long time about his response. Physical means were only to be used as enforcement when words failed. Right now, speech was doing perfectly fine.
Do you think that president Abraham orchestrated that attack to give you a bad name? the hostess showed her journalistic roots by immediately looking for some sort of scandal.
No, he denied t-out. Again, I believe he is a good guy at heart. Certainly, he wouldnt pull a move this underhanded. John rose from his seat, I cantment on this any further before knowing any more details. For all we know, this could just have been a drunk brawl that went too far and had some people shouting things. I will have to leave and investigate.
We understand, the insectoid co-host clicked.
Well, we will end the program here then, folks, the catgirl looked at the audience with a sorry expression. Lets hope candidate Newman is going to visit us again soon for a talk uninterrupted by bad news.
John nned to, he generally liked this program.
___________________________________________________________________________
Violence between our people is uneptable, Abraham shouted into his microphone, standing behind the heavily decorated wooden podium in front of the white house. As a show of strength, the white-armoured knights that made up the governmental guard stood in a closed line behind him.
The brawl had exploded into the story of the local news within hours and now everybody in the politicalndscape was forced to make ament on it. The two people that hogged all the screen time were John and the current president of the Little Marnd, to no surprise. Some hopeful candidates were still trying to enter relevancy but failed miserably.
John was watching the live footage together with Chemilia and her husband, as he was staying over at their house for the night. It was a surprisingly boring house in the suburbs, not terribly different from his parents ce. They were waiting in silence while Aclysia made them tea, the diligent servant even in other peoples kitchens.
It is clear to me that my supporters, loyal to the Marnd as they are, would never attack their fellow guild members. Of course, we have to wait for the conclusive report, but it is self-exining that people that support a foreign takeover, because things arent going their way right now, would be a bit more temperamental.
The idiot, Chemilia hissed as John clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white. So much for not wanting to start a civil war.
Its not that bad yet, the Gamer tried to convince himself just as much as Chemilia. He is using the incident to solidify his base. Seems like he really wants to go with the foreign invader narrative. It was an understandable angle, since John could probably win by relying on not being Abraham almost solely. In such a situation, the current president had to rely on what John wasnt as well.
Ted grumbled his own shortmentary on the situation, He is increasing the division.
As far as he is concerned, this is thest election he has to win, so he is fine with ying every dirty trick in the book, I reckon, John ground his teeth. This was already a powderkeg and now he is ying with matches. How out of touch can you get? It was infinitely frustrating that a person that was clearly smart could be this blind towards the obvious because it didnt suit their narrative. Maybe neither of us will have to start a civil war, one wrong move and we will just get dragged into it.
Chapter 526 – Victory & Mouth 2 – The neutral force
Chapter 526 C Victory & Mouth 2 C The neutral force
If only I could get my hands on a SEP, John thought. With how things were going, an evolved Siena would be quite useful. However, no luck had been had in that department. It didnt help that he had no time to grind at all currently. Not even a single gap in his schedule was bigger than half an hour and Instant Dungeons took strictly longer than that. Between campaigning and bureaucracy, there was absolutely no time for grinding.
He really only had himself to me for that. At least his domestic workload was steadily decreasing in scope, so there was reason to hope that he would find the time again once he no longer needed to fly back and forth between two states every few days.
Aside from the scheduling problems, disappearing for three hours itself was pretty dangerous. Although the situation with that initial fight seemed to have blown over without further consequences, John barely felt like he could justify sleeping some days. There was just no telling if he was going to miss something that required his immediate attention.
It said a lot that he considered looking at his character screen a de-stressing time. Okay, Sylph and Smander giving him a double blowjob certainly helped in the rxation process. He was sitting on the couch in his new house, the furniture a simple assortment of medium quality that hade with the proper building. In the week since the incident, he had bought himself this real estate in Washington. He didnt want to crash over at Chemilias ce continuously.
Together with him buying all the necessary parts for the Tier 2 upgrade to the Transport Station, it had been another cut into his money (and GP, as he had needed an extra Room Slot), but not nearly one as noticeable as the actual Guild Hall upgrade. This extra building had the side effect that he was now reliant on at least minor production from his Mana Factories to pay the upkeep cost for everything. He only saw that bing an increasing problem in the future.
There were enough problems right now to not keep thinking about that. Sadly, parts of another guild he had bought didnt count as conquered territory. If it did, he could have saved himself the back and forth between NYC and DC. That would have shaved considerable time off his travels. He understood why the system didnt count it though; if any piece ofnd he bought counted as his territory, that could have led to a bunch of abuse cases.
Any news from the primarchs? John asked, using his usual synonym for people around his current strength level. He hadnt quite given up hope yet to get at least one of those on his side. Not even for this current situation, just in general. His phone, lying on the table in front of him, provided a quick answer.
Nothing, I cant even locate any of them, Scarletts voice reverberated from the small device.
Is that unusual? John asked and then groaned as Nia suddenly decided she had enough of staring out of the window in search for cats (not that she would have seen any, they were inside a barrier) and joined the sucking of his cock. He would cum pretty soon.
Not particrly, they are few and most live somewhere out in the sticks, Scarlett told him. Also, if you are getting a blowjob, point the fucking camera at it! You cant be the only one having fun.
Alright, alright, he agreed with some mildughter. Thank you, Sylph, the Gamer added when the thunderstorm elemental took the phone off the table and gave it to him. He quickly grabbed the back of her head with his left hand and shoved his cock down her throat so she couldnt pver an answer that interrupted the conversation forever.
As the only feeling he received from her spirit at this were happiness and the words, Johns huge, giant, enormous dick! he didnt feel bad about this whatsoever.
Happy? he asked Scarlett, the camera now pointing at the three hotties sucking on his cock and balls. The answer he got was a picture of the redhead kissing her John-sized vibrator.
There was a betraying buzz in the background of her voice afterwards, alongside some minorly disruptive moans. Mhm soooo what is the n now? she asked him.
For now its business as usual give me a sec, he couldnt concentrate on the conversation anymore as his dick pulsated with the need to release. He pulled back and scattered his seed over the faces of all three girls, who then began licking and kissing each other in an attempt to taste as much of it as possible.
There were a lot of bashful, ecstatic and neutralments had between them in the process, but John didnt pay attention to those. Cumming for the first time in eight hours had just been thoroughly necessary.
I am going to have a nap, then I will go visit Imere, then a speech in the western economy district, a quick drive out into less popted outskirts, another speech there, then I wille back to New York over the weekend.
Why bother with the outskirts? Scarlett asked. I calcted this, they only make up 15% of the total voting pool. Swinging a few votes with them wont be important.
Thats a tad more pragmatic than I like, John let her know. It also sounds pretty immoral; I am still trying to rule over them, you know?
Dont me me, me the fact that democracy counts every one vote as equal, Scarlett retorted pretty quickly. Not my fault that the system is designed in such aoh Gaia yessss she must have hit the right spot with her vibrator, such an awful way that you are incentivized for pandering to poption centres.
He got another photo of her in side view, sitting with a concentrated but heavily blushing expression over some documents, her upper body in the usual suit while she was naked from the waist down, riding the vibrator that was fixated on her chair. Girls nonchntly riding sextoys while working must have been one of the fetishes John didnt know he had, judging by how quickly he got hard again looking at that.
Alternatively, it could have been that Scarlett was smoking hot and had a marshmallow ass he knew jiggled when he spanked it. Ast option was talking theoretic politics. He enjoyed doing that, but he didnt find it likely to give him a raging boner. Well, if you have so much disdain for it, how would you do it?
Give people who do more for society more voting power, Scarlett told him.
How do you even measure that? he continued asking as the trio at his feet got back to sucking his re-hardened cock. Well, two of them wanted to, but Smander instead wrapped his shaft inside her massive tits andughed at them as she gained a short-term monopoly.
By their tax bracket and effective tax paid, the libertarian minded woman told him. You reward everyone who is doing well in society and simhhhhmmmm, her voice trailed into a high pitch for a moment. She tried to get back to the topic at hand but let out a long sigh instead.
Talk to me, you hard-dildo-delver, John demanded in the tone he usually used when he was pinning her against a wall and abusing her masochistic tendencies. Seemed appropriate right now. He just hoped nobody heard his terrible pun on HDD right now andmented on how forced it was; it had sounded way better in his head.
And -aaah, sssshit this feels so good- and you m-mhm-motivate them to not dodge taxessss, she managed to get the sentence strung together, ending it with a climactic shout. Fuck me, this makes me horny.
John ignored thatst bit; he nned to put his dick deep inside her whenever he got back anyway. Okay, but at the same time everyone else will feel disenfranchised.
They still have their vote, Scarlett dismissed thatint with a lightly quivering voice.
A lesser vote.
There are way more of them, and if they want to have more influence, they just need to improve their economic standing. Its purely meritocratic. Well, she wasnt wrong, but John wasnt convinced that the individual store clerk cared about the fact that there were many of them and together they could outvote the store owner.
Interesting theory, he had to admit nheless, I will think about it, but I am not willing to put it into effect on anyrge scale.
Didnt expect you to, since you seem so concerned with the masses, Scarlett stated, herself always focusing on the sessful few instead. Anyway, I think your time is up. To prove her point, she changed his disy to a digital clock.
Yup John admitted, but found himself unwilling to stand up. There was a pair of giant breasts between his legs and Nia and Sylph were taking turns sucking the head of his cock as it poked out between Smanders red mounds of flesh. Guess I will run a littlete, he thought and resigned himself to another orgasm.
____________________________________________________________________
Imere had her military facility south of DC, down the river, at the site of Fort Washington. Wonder how the Noodles got by here, John thought as he entered the barrier. The answer was doubtlessly some pulled strings on Abrahams side.
It was a fortification that had clearly seen better days. The walls were originally made from even blocks of some reddish stone, but the fa?ade was in clear need of renewal with several of them cracked or already in the process of falling apart. The whole thing was lightly modern in design, the tall walls in the shape of a star, but the fact that it was even still designed with a fort structure in mind must have meant that it was over a hundred years old. Even Abyssal warfare had little strategic usage for walled off positions anymore. Explosive spells against this kind of fortification were too effective and modern mana-fuelled shields would have worked much better around a morepact design.
The array of buildings within the walls had the typical military feel to them. Largely practical buildings storing food and apartments within simple designs. Although there were people cleaning the ce even as John stepped inside, the guards at the gate clearly knowing who he was and letting him pass, there was a sustained amount of dirt everywhere that kept it from looking meticulous.
Seems like the cleaning crew got hit first by all the budget cuts, John thought as he stepped over a patch of grass that grew out of the road pavement. He saw Terkal in the distance, taking a very long route around several buildings and vanishing as quickly behind one as he could when he saw that the Gamers gaze was in his direction. Mhm? Well, if he doesnt want to be seen, I will do him the favour, he thought.
It was absolutely impossible to overlook the over two-metre-tall general, but John got a message on his phone that allowed him to look down for a moment.
Scarlett: By the way, thest part of your project arrived today. I put it in and now your sphere is done.
John: Yesssss~
Scarlett: Not like you get to use it anytime soon.
John: Dont ruin my fun. I still get to test it over the weekend.
There you are, the chirpy, somewhat flirting, tone of Imere reached his ears. His phone quickly vanished inside his pocket as the short general walked her curvy body over to him. How are you? Good I hope, because I am doing fantastic. Lets take a walk! She gestured firmly away from where Terkal had vanished to and her office building behind her. John also noticed she looked rather flustered.
You took a page out of my book, didnt you? John asked as he obliged her and they started walking from one facility to the other as if they were inspecting them. The Gamer already knew all he needed about the state of this location.
Whatever would you mean by that? she asked with a satisfied grin. No further inquiry was going to be had; he already knew she and Terkal had had steamy sex in her office on his way here.
Ah, nothing important, John waved off, smirking back in a simr fashion. Now, lets talk business, can you tell Abraham to take down the rhetoric a bit? I get that he wants to win, but
No need to convince me, I already called him and told him he was a big fat idiot on Monday, Imere interrupted him with a heavy sigh. He seems to have his strategy set though. At least you have your people keep a cool head I am just afraid that something he says will give somebody bad ideas.
If that isnt his intention anyway, John grumbled, creating an attacker that just misunderstood what he wanted to say was something he could see done as a cover up. It was certainly a way to terrorize the other faction without being liable himself. At least in a limited fashion. It was hard to discern sometimes what was a call to violence and what a harshly delivered criticism.
It better not be, Imere cracked her neck, or I will have to spank that youngster!
Chapter 527 – Victory & Mouth 3 – Go Home
Chapter 527 C Victory & Mouth 3 C Go Home
The result of Imeres efforts was a speech by Abraham with somewhat reduced anti-outsider rhetoric. John wasnt convinced that was really enough, but it was what they got. This whole affair is eroding my respect for the guy, the Gamer thought on his way to the airport. The current president of the Little Marnd was a much better peacetime diplomat than he was a unifying figure. He should have stopped at leading the foreign affairs or something.
Aclysia, with ck hair and a cute summer outfit of mostly white clothes, looked out of the window of the cab, to her phone where she was tracking their location on a map, then to John, whose face she deemed much more interesting. For a few moments, she had that dreamy look about her that people in love just had when looking at the subject of their desire. Extra fitting that some romantic ssical music was running in the background. The driver had changed the channel from the usual pop-music earlier, much to Johns appreciation.
Aside from said driver, it was just the two of them. Sure, the elementals were technically around, but they were sitting in a very mundane taxi right now. I request a few weeks off after this affair concludes, she let him know.
Off from what and what for? John asked, not able to imagine that Aclysia wanted an actual vacation of her household chores. That was also a worst-case scenario for his living. He could barely even remember when he hadst held a vacuum cleaner - probably back in Germany. Without the ordering hand of the maid, there would be a lot of clutter flying around in no time.
From additional duties such as crime fighting, guarding you and other non-chore rted upations, the weaponized maid answered and John took a relieved breath at the prospect of not having to figure out how a microwave worked again. Nothing against heated pizza, but he had gotten really spoiled in regards to his food. Well, he had gotten spoiled in most regards. With the purpose to get a drivers license. Also, a pilot license, maybe.
On one hand, I do think thats not the worst idea of all times, John leaned over to her to whisper the next part directly into her ear, but I dont think I want you in the driving seat for the entire time. The cab driver must have really been wondering what kind of roley the two of them were into at this point, but he was the quiet type and the Gamer didnt give a tosh about some random persons opinion about him anyway. Well, he cared enough to have said that part quietly.
Yes Aclysia hummed and took his hand while he slumped back into his seat. That would be a hindrance. The problem remains, however. She was right about that; it was about time they stopped relying on public transportation, given how frequently they were travelling.
If he thought about it logically, he really should get himself some sort of giant bus, basically as close to a hotel on wheels as possible, along with a private ne. So that hindrance aside, its still a good idea we get those, you, me and Beatrice, that is, John came to a conclusion, Whether we hire another person to usually drive and/or fly us around is another matter. At the base, we should be only dependant on each other.
Aclysia nodded, That seems like an eptable starting point. She had barely finished the sentence when the cab slowed down. They both looked out of the window. Still a bit away from the airport entrance, they hade to a halt.
Johns paranoia kicked in, his body tensing the slightest bit as he halfway expected a sudden ambush. It would have been a terrible spot to try, basically one of the most frequented ces, even from an Abyssal standpoint, in the city. Driving them out into the outskirts, to a trap barrier at an agreed location, would have been way more effective. In theory, Aclysia was checking on their location regrly to avoid exactly that.
Instead, the cab driver opened his mouth and informed them, Small traffic jam, not unusual at this time of the day. The guy, who Observe had already confirmed was a mundane earlier, told them. You two didnt have luggage, right? Might be quicker if you get out right now and walk the rest of the way. Cant imagine you want to sit in this car longer than you need to.
He was right, John didnt really want to. It was almost thirty degrees outside and, although the venttion was on full st, there was this usual hot car smell of stic. Pretty considerate of the guy, way more than the Gamer expected from taxi drivers. Right, he agreed and then grabbed his seldomly used wallet, only evering out on mundane shopping trips.
Despite the little usage, John still had reced his old one with a luxuriously soft piece of leather rtively recently. It just fit with his new nonchnt rich guy image better than the old, if still pretty high-quality, worn down one his dad had gifted him on his thirteenth birthday. That one he kept in a box with other keepsakes in his bedroom.
He reached inside, and then, without much in the way of consideration, gave the driver one hundred bucks in smaller bills. The tip was several times the price of the actual ride. Despite this, the driver only looked as surprised as he needed to be as he took and counted them. Wish you a nice day! he enthusiastically stated as John opened the door and stepped into the midday sun. The firm ground of the sidewalk felt nice under his feet.
Clever guy, John mumbled when he realized what had just happened. Doubtlessly, he wasnt the first young rich guy with a hotdy friend running around in DC, ready to drop some extrarge tips on the considerate driver. Now that he thought about it, it would be weirder if the local poption of taxi drivers hadnt developed strategies to identify and get asrge tips as possible from guys like him. He probably had us figured out after five minutes. The Gamer was actually amused by this, remembering how quickly the driver had gone from friendly chatting to deeply respecting their privacy. In hindsight, even the change of the radio channel made sense for that purpose.
Impressive, how good people could get at a job with so little qualifications as driving people around. John liked that about his fellow humans. It was something he had given little thought to back in school, where being a good studentted you no direct benefits aside from the ridicule of the quarterback, who also happened to be ve/boyfriend to the local bitchqueen. I may be a bit bitter, John thought and turned to the happy world that was his arm around Aclysias waist.
They passed the cars rather quickly; the traffic jam was indeed easier taken in stride than drive. Soon, they arrived at the airport and made their way to their station. John had an eager eye out for Sigmund, however unlikely it was to run into the same guy twice in this giant building.
Aclysias immensely good mood turned slightly sour when they were greeted by a very typical sign inside airports. Due to a previous ne arrivingte, we have to dy this flight by an hour. We appreciate your understanding, it read. So people had to catch their follow-up flight. Annoying, but it made sense.
They always write We appreciate your understanding, Aclysia got worked up about this, but my actual understanding of the situation is that they make you wait, Master, and this is uneptable.
I guess this is why we need a private ne, John stated as he looked around. There were a bunch of people ncing in his direction and inching closer. Once again, his paranoia felt rather triggered.
John was a bit confused at the choice there. Was itmentary about how the press was going to write falsehoods about him regardless of him meeting them or not? Maybe they were a bunch of tabloid trash and talking to them would give him a bad rap, while not talking to them would make him look like an entitled snob? Whatever was true, there was one thing for certain: he was overthinking this.
Might as well, John decided and pushed the Yes button. He popped into a barrier and he suddenly found himself in a very empty airport. Except for where he was, where there were suddenly a bunch more people than in the real counterpart, with more popping in now that they had seen him go inside.
Mister Newman, may I! Candidate Newman, Hivemind TV here and! Hello, John Newman! Hey there, big boy, remember this catgirl? A bunch of reporters descended on him like a swarm of locusts, only to alle a grinding halt about two metres away from him. Coincidentally, orpletely rted if one was honest, the rough distance covered by Eclys when pointed straight away from John by the extended arm of a maid that was about 1,80m tall.
Cameramen almost fell over as they had to stop their momentum or risk running straight into cutting range. You will keep a respectful distance from my John, Aclysia warned in the tone of the paparazzi murderer, dismissing her weapon into her quick-equip storage when there was nodding all around. Good.
Okay, you cane a bit closer, John allowed the reporters, happy to be in control of the situation. Although he wondered what they were all doing here. He looked over to the catgirl on whose talk show he had been recently. You, how did you know I was going to be here?
We have our sources. I could tell you all about it in private, the catgirl said, pulling the usual stunt and emphasizing her boobs as she talked. John was seriously tempted to show that kitty a good time, since he already had some of it to kill.
John thought about where he could possibly have leaks for his schedule. Who did he share it with? His girls, obviously, who else? The campaign managing crew he had partly hired and mostly gotten by referral of the generals. He didnt know all of them, so there was a big chance somebody there had, perhaps identally, told someone that he was going to leave at this day and the press had just camped since the morning.
Alright then, Ill take you up on that offer, John decided, putting the blonde catgirl under his other arm. He heard a pleased purring and the snapping of cameras. Would this cause a minor scandal tomorrow with lots of Candidate Newman has sex with a local catgirl! articles? Absolutely. Did he care? No, he was going to have sex with a local catgirl. Mentally, he assured Aclysia that she was very much going to be part of this.
I suggest we find a private ce then you mind if we bring the camera? the talk show host asked in more detail, clearly ready to take pleasure before business but also sell some rather saucy porn by making the pleasure into business.
First, however, I am going to answer some questions, John announced, standing there with half an erection and a full smile. Would be rude of me not to since you all went through the effort toe out here. Immediately, fifteen microphones were shoved into his face. He pointed his head at one reporter and thus allowed him to speak up.
What do you think of president Abrahams speech held earlier this day, calling you a foreign invader?
Same thing I thought thest twenty times he said simr things: its a dangerous rhetoric and I rather he didnt, John answered calmly. I have every intention of epting the results of this election and this kind of partisannguage isnt good for the stability of this wonderful country. Almost letting slip ament that people should look into Abrahams campaign advisors, John quickly sealed his lips. He was pretty sure that they would find a lot of foreign influence there, since he couldnt imagine the neighbours were just looking over at Fusion expanding, however peacefully he did it. Instead, he moved on, otherwise he would just partake in the same dangerous rhetoric, You, with the green tie, next.
Any word on the theory that you have been colluding with the Horned Rat to create this instability in the first ce?
Looking utterly confounded, John just shook his head as he furrowed his eyebrows. I am sorry, what?
Its a theory that popped up on a segment friendly with Abraham a few days ago. Is it true or not?
Obviously not, John felt like he was taking crazy pills. For a start, and you can look this up rather cheaply on the Abyss Auction, I havent been in the Abyss long enough to participate in any long-standing conspiracy. I also dont know what Ri- the Horned Rat would gain from doing so. He nodded towards a short woman with red hair, You, next.
You were about to call the Horned Rat something else there, what was it?
Well, thats what he got for having habits, Richard, its a nickname I gave him because hes a bit of a dick.
Follow-up question, she quickly went on before the Gamer could pick a new reporter. Have you two known each other for a while?
We met by chance or because he wanted to, cant be sure with that guy. We have a couple ofmon interests, particrly he has interests in getting on my nerves. It felt the safest not to mention the part where the Horned Rat wanted to use him as a counterbnce to Romulus. We are not a particrly tight-knit, which is why our alliance is purely defensive C once it actually goes into effect. Now! the redhead had more questions, as they all did, but John was quicker this time and moved onto the next person. You, with therge sses.
The reporter in question breathed in audibly like a proper neckbeard as he tipped his fedora. Dont you think your treatment of women is degrading?!
Only when they are into it, John joked, then I am all for degrading them. Otherwise, no, go away and find
Misogynist!
Aclysia, would you?
At once, the weaponized maid drew her dagger, but didnt get to move away as John kept her under his arm.
I meant DEBUNK him, not de-head him, John hastily pointed out.
I would just have taken a few pounds off him, Aclysia insisted as the weapon vanished again. I have never seen an Abyssal this fat To answer the question, my master is treating us all well and loves us as individuals. None of us are seen as objects.
Youre an Artificial Spirit a heaving breath had to be taken before the neckbeard could finish the usation. he has built the internalized patriarchy into you!
The knife made its return, Master has allowed me free will since I learned that it exists, the weaponized maid stared wide-eyed at the user, You will
Its okay, John interrupted, seeing no way how this was going to be a productive use of his time. Look, mate, you can have your opinion and I respect that you came out here to face me. Just dont harass me or any of my girls over it or I will throw a crocodile at you.
Wow the guy tipped his fedora a second time, YOUR girls? Really preten- OH MY GOD! Crying like a child that fell of the slide, the neckbeard tried to fend off Stirwin as John made his threat true and threw him at the guy. Even in the hatchling form, the infinity elemental had more Stats than a level 14 Fedora Tipper and thus put the guy in full retreat.
And that was thest time I will ever deal with that topic again, John dered, turning back to the reporters with a maid and a catgirl still under his arms, Stirwin climbing the outside of his summoners pants and soon taking refuge in Johns breast pocket. You, he pointed at a woman with nice thighs. Next.
Yeah, Kelly of the Thirsty Abyssals Show here, can we make this a foursome?
Sorry, but my girlfriend has only approved this catgirl, John had to deny. And I like to give new things a thorough inspection, he wiggled his eyebrows, if you know what I m-
He sensed fire. He was ripped to the ground by Aclysia. Together with the catgirl, he fell onto the hard floor. ring heat travelled by over his head. First thing he did was activate Mana Protection, then he quickly changed into his battle set at the flick of a button. It still took time to change, but at least he didnt have to drag every single item into its slot.
In the meantime, chaos broke loose, several magic attacks flying in his direction and hitting unrted reporters instead. Aclysia was already charging at the assants, a bunch of masked people that had scattered in a circle around them. They must have just entered the barrier; John hadnt been that rxed that he would have missed something like that.
Dont kill them! his mentalmand went out as the rest of his elementals manifested and scattered throughout the encirclement. Most of his mana went to Undine, who erected arge bubble around John and the frightened reporters with it. The spells were absorbed effortlessly, fire, ice and electricity, all shing against the barrier and fizzling out. Aside from the element of surprise, it didnt seem the attackers had a lot to offer.
Desperate sounds of pain and panic came from the hurt and their coworkers, afraid they may lose a member of their teams and friends. Leave this to me, Undine assured John that she got this under control, her form splitting into two, allowing her to maintain the barrier while also lending first aid where necessary.
John nodded and headed out of the barrier. His help wasnt exactly needed; the first thing he saw was Smander smashing somebodys face into a concrete pir. Cowards, the endme elemental growled, kicking the girl in question to make sure she was still alive, as to Johns wishes, then flying over to the next target. There were around two dozen of these masked assants around.
The second they realized John had stepped out of the protection, they aimed at him. The spellwork bounced off his Mana Protection with just as little an effect as it had on Undines shield. His mana was chipped down, but unless he stood still and took it for an extended period, he was basically invincible.
With one exception. A blue fireball flew into his direction and took of a hefty chunk of his mana. John turned to face the apparent leader of this operation, as d in ck and a mask as the rest of them. You make a lot of shit decisions for somebody in range, John stated as he summoned a wave of Shardbound. In a split second, he aimed and fired.
The guy jumped to the side, but John had calcted that in. Shardbound, per default, summoned four shards and he was in the habit of aiming two where his enemy was and using the remaining to cover both left and right of the target. Dodging with a fluid movement, the left shard only caught the (presumed) man on the foot and sliced into his heel.
Strong magic, in good shape, John noted, Observe only returned a nk window, as he threw a second wave out while the assant was still off bnce. This time he inflicted a more consequential wound, a cut under the shoulder, separating part of the tendon. With one arm now crippled, the guy immediately tried to leave the barrier, but John had now assumed control over it. Next time, bring a Fateweaver, the Gamer walked towards his target, side-stepping a hastily thrown third fireball, weak enough that it went back down to the usual red mes.
The guy turned around, doubtlessly to find the edge of the barrier and escape the traditional way C by smashing through the border with raw physical strength. Once outside, his wound would heal to his pre-entering state and he could just vanish into the crowd. A butterfly with yellow leaves for wings cut through the air in front of the man. A momentter, there was the sound of rumbling stone.
As an avnche of concrete and dirt, Gnome ripped apart the floor and created a tall earth wall, jumping from one of her butterflies to the next. Her unleashed ability ended once she had created a semi-circle north of the water bubble, cutting off the retreat of most assants.
Sylph flew over to the leader, standing back against the wall in a panicked attempted to find some route out. The remainder of his allies were getting cleaned up, with Aclysia, not particrly subtle, grabbing one of them and tossing that person like a sack across the room. They crashed into the wall next to the leader and slid down like a ragdoll. Then the maid approached, cold rage burning in her eyes.
It was likely a mercy when Sylph arrived first on site and pointed a finger at him. Zappidy zap! she chirped and a blue torrent of lightning burst out of her hand. His muscles tensed and jittered as he lost all control over them, standing on ident for a bit, then falling to the floor still spasming. Hope you dont have a heart attack or something! Sylph apologized as shended next to his head and poked his cheek with her tiny hand, about as tall as the assants hand herself. Very bad idea though, very, very bad idea, to attack Johnny, that is!
This situation was under control.
The situation atrge though?
Chapter 528 – Victory & Mouth 4 – Go – Home – Newman!
Chapter 528 C Victory & Mouth 4 C Go C Home C Newman!
Unmasking the leader didnt help John in many ways. A face he didnt know, an unknown name, Level 56, mercenary, no reason why he and his allies attacked John, but one very vital information. He and all his allies were part of the Little Marnd. Meaning that there was some sort of track they could follow with the name given.
There was every reason to track them as well. Two people had died in the initial barrage of spells. Lives snuffed out at a moments notice. Simply because they had stood too close to John. The rest, Undine managed to stitch back together as if nothing ever happened. In typical Abyss manner, none of them were shellshocked, leaving all the more room for outrage.
While Johnpletely understood that, anger was really thest thing he wanted right now. Boiling emotions could so easily lead to retaliation and everyone was ready to point fingers at the obvious culprit. Whether Abraham even had anything to do with this or not wouldnt matter once the first street sh happened and the whole thing spiralled out of control.
We are going live! he heard a reporter say and immediately stomped over, ripping the camera from the second persons hands. What are you doing?! The people need to know you were attacked!
Yes, they do, John agreed while making sure that both the camera was turned off and that nobody else had any device out enabling them to get the scoop. But not through spur of the moment, sensational and emotional press. One person clearly disagreed, trying to leave the barrier but finding themself locked by the Gamers supremacy. Here is what will happen, he dictated, fishing the phone out of his pocket. I am going to contact Imere, who wille here with the authorities and we will deal with this like a civilized bunch of people would.
The authorities are on Abrahams side, he is paying them! one of the reporters shouted. Another blew air out of his nose and stated something to the effect that this might as well have been staged. A shouting match began but was ended rather suddenly by a small earthquake.
People were attempting to keep their bnce as Gnome raised her foot a second time. Be quiet! the soil elemental demanded, only slowly lowering her posture when she was given what she wanted. Inhaling and then exhaling visibly and audibly, she kept her ashamed blushing to a minimum. I-I know we are all a bit worked up right now, so please listen to John and and let things be done the proper way. We know nothing for sure. Okay? She looked around, a pleading look in her hazel eyes. Please? she added more quietly, slowly beginning to pout. Maybe? She was shrinking together under the baffled attention.
It was pretty hard to put together the image of the elemental that could nonchntly shake the entire barrier, even if it was only fifty metres across, and the Asian brte that was now making her frame as small as possible.
Backup arrived a momentter when a person behind John suddenly made a pained noise. Naughty boy, wanted to film us having fun? the overly sexual voice of Siena rung out, presenting a phone dangling between her fingers. The sound of crunching ss reverberated between her ws, every swing from left to right carving tiny shards out of the disy.
The guy was holding his bleeding hand. No permanent damage had been done, but he was still trying to stumble away from the nightmare elemental that had appeared behind him. He tripped over his own feet while turning. Immediately, Siena crawled on top of him with sultry motions. A spider ready to strike.
She bowed down. And that after John said he is not into that? Mhm, daring I dont like it, whispering that sweetly into his ear, barely loud enough to let everyone hear, her fangs snapping closed with a throaty giggle, she caused very afraid sexual tension. Who else wants to try to take the reigns in this little get together? her yellow eyes travelled from one reporter to another, growing ever more intense in their colour as her form shifted into the colour of shadow, her hair rising like a candleme. Or maybe you want to give me an excuse to y? I will give you something to keep you awake at night.
I-Ill go along with your n! someone rather suddenly blurted out and disagreement was soon had. John didnt really like this, but if he had wanted to stop it, he could have. Sometimes, fear was an eptable thing to use, especially if he didnt want to have to debate for an hour about avoiding a civil war.
Thank you, he mentally sent Siena before having to y the benevolent guy. Get off the poor man! he said out loud and then let Undine heal his hand. John even used Create to repair the disy of his phone before handing it back. Such miniscule damage came with a timer of less than twenty seconds.
Having expected this, the nightmare elemental only whispered back, My pleasure. Seemingly, she had no problem ying the bad cop, even if it was a tad dishonest. With the crowd pacified, John went ahead and made the call.
___________________________________________________________________________
About an hourter, Imere appeared at the airport. They brought some special bags that existed for the sole purpose of moving corpses out of barriers unseen. John had Gnome keep them under the earth during the waiting time so the gathered reporters didnt have to look at them for the entire wait time. They were removed from the scene with as much dignity as the situation allowed.
Can you arrange for me to receive their families addresses? the Gamer asked the short general when that dirty affair had been taken care of and the officers, partly from Imeres force but mostly some kind of police department, began questioning people as to what happened. In case they need support.
I can, but if you do, do it anonymously, Imere told him, having a steady eye on the assants, who had also been restricted by Gnome by being buried up to their shoulders. Most of them were still knocked out. After this, I dont want the people left behind to be politicized.
Having that pointed out to him, John nodded, Okay, Ill make it a quiet effort.
So, what happened here? Imere asked; it was fitting that she was the one to question him.
There was a spontaneous interview here; apparently somebody in my campaign organization identally leaked part of my schedule or something like that, didnt get too digging into that yet, John couldnt suppress a bit of anger about not having gotten that private interview with the blonde catgirl now. It was a macabre thing to concentrate on, after two people had recently died. Forcing himself to move his thoughts elsewhere, he continued. My flight was dyed, so I figured I had the time. We talked and then I felt fire, being an Elementalist, John could feel the elements surrounding him even if he couldnt directly manipte them, Aclysia reacted and pulled both me and he raked his brain for the name of the catgirl and found it after a second, Memprisa, the host of the talk show I was on recently, to the floor. We identified the attackers, they were wearing masks and ck clothes, he gestured at the former piled up not far from where he stood, Aclysia and most of my elementals began fighting, under orders to not kill anybody. Undine prioritized creating a protective bubble around the journalists. The two dead we have must have been hit mortally in the first barrage. We defeated the assants and then healed everyone still hurt.
Imere nodded several times throughout those statements, indicating that she was listening. By the end, she sighed, Now I am torn for evidence gathering purposes, it would have been easier if you had left them wounded. Stopping to look at the prisoners, she continued a momentter, But I guess evidence wont really be a problem.
You have two corpses to show if anybody cries conspiracy, John spewed out as if he had taken a gulp of the vilest venom. That will properly politicize them.
Imere raised her arms defensively. Lets be calm, she said in a cheerful tone that didnt fit the situation but was needed to keep this day from getting any worse. Did you call anyone before me? He had told her all of this on the phone before, but she wanted a slower recalling. Also, and John understood this, she had to check if his story had changed in a meaningful way in the past hour. For all she knew, he could have been a liar after all.
No, neither did they, John gestured towards the reporters and told Imere how he had prevented news from getting out. No news left this ce. I dont trust Chemilia or Terkal to take this calmly, and even if I did, you are the dered neutral force. I did call my girlfriend afterwards, though. Honesty was important and he wasnt going to apologize for letting his loves know why he wasnt returning in time.
Hopefully, they may still have streamed the audio, the short general hummed and brushed past thatst bit. Either she understood that John was smart enough to tell Rave to not spread this info or that Rave was not going to do it on her own or she knew that she was unable to stop the Gamer from doing it anyway. Well have to look into that and hope no word gets out before were ready.
This was where John could have pointed out to her that he was sure that nothing like that was happening, since he had put Scarlett on exactly that task. That would have meant to reveal he had the means to be sure of it though, and he didnt trust the generals so far just yet. Really fortunate for us that nobody was livestreaming from the start. Seems to be themon medium in the Abyss.
Standard practice for group interviews, Imere informed him with a simrly relieved smile. Either they all livestream or none of them do. Some sort of honour code between the paparazzi. Guess even people worse than thieves have those. John felt like he could at least giggle at that while the freckled brte rubbed her forehead.
Well, by protocol, youll have toe with me to the police station and regurgitate this whole thing a third time, she apologetically informed him about the circumstances.
Thats fine, I didnt n to leave without this being addressed anyway.
___________________________________________________________________________
They made the announcement about the happenings towards the evening, with John present at it. He had a little speech after Imere, asking everybody who was in his faction, which was essentially the anti-Abraham faction rather than the pro-John faction, making it extra response happy, to stay put and not to point fingers. The investigation was ongoing and there was no reason to make any assumptions.
Shortly after, Abraham came out in full-force and wholly condemned the thing. He even drove out to meet John in person so they could appear friendly on camera together. Tensions remained high but didnt boil over. More importantly, the Gamer felt at least more certain that Abraham wasnt behind the attack than he was of the opposite.
If the current president had wanted to goad Johns side into starting the civil war there, he had just needed to phrase and act a bit differently. All usations against him would have been deniable and he could have made himself look like the defender to his foreign allies. Instead, he was letting the investigation run as per procedure. As far as John was aware, anyway.
A dayter, that certainty looked a bit different. Imere sought him out in his house early in the morning. He offered her some tea. I wont be here long enough that I get to drink it. A serious look on her face, she sat down. Look, the leader of the group that assaulted you C he is a higher up in the government guard.
John narrowed his eyes, I assume you dont know if he acted on his own yet?
If we didnt, I wouldnt havee here, Imere shook her head. No, he has let us know multiple times he did it because Abraham told him to. There were some audible sounds from the kitchen as Aclysia let the dirty dishes feel her emotions by cleaning them more aggressively than porcin appreciated. And I wouldnt have told you that if we hadnt noticed this morning that a message was circting through the inte from the guy.
So, you are telling me before I find out for damage control? John asked, impressed that they stumbled over that before Scarlett did. Either she wasnt the strongest Technomancer in America and the world after all or they had gotten immensely lucky.
More or less, because I have to insist that you leave the country. Seeing his expression darken, Imere added, still insistently talking, For now. He tapped the handle of his chair. We cant suppress that thing reliably, we dont even know who has it already or where ites from. The shortstacked general let him know. People will find out and take it as evidence.
And if they do and I am gone, that might keep them from revolting, because they know I am not around to help them? John understood the logic. I was nning to leave for the weekend; I guess this is just a dy, then. With this whole thing going on, his schedule was in shambles anyway.
Yes, Imere was clearly relieved that he seemed cooperating. For all we know, it could have been the guys n to just ignite the tensions. I am not ruling out that he is saying the truth, but I dont want to risk it. So please Go home, John.
Chapter 529 – Victory & Mouth 5 – A moment downtime
Chapter 529 C Victory & Mouth 5 C A moment downtime
John held a little speech over webcam and then took the next flight home, as Imere had asked. By the time he got off the ne, the video of his assant had already begun spreading. As was usual with news, the amount of people that knew about it rose exponentially, and once the snowball started rolling, there was no stopping it.
Well, at least I get why governments censor now, John couldnt help but think somewhat dark things as he walked through the New York City airport. The western one, Newark, to be exact. If I could control the narrative, this whole situation would be a whole lot easier to handle and once I fuck up, I would have done permanent damage to all trust in me everywhere. At least he immediately found the counter-argument for censorship. No matter how smart he ever got, he could never be right all the time. Dering that he knew what was best for potential millions of people to know or not know was beyond arrogant.
An enthusiastic outcry reached him, Jooooooooooohn! A momentter, he spied a half-Asian brte storming his way and then jumping thest metre of the way. Raves arms closed around his neck, the energy of her charge making him take a step back and then whirl her around once before they stopped on the spot. Then they kissed. Once quickly, a second time, after looking in each others eyes for a couple of seconds, long and lovingly.
And there goes my bad mood, he mumbled, resting his forehead on hers.
Good, she whispered back with a smile, I aint paying ya to have a bad mood.
You arent paying me at all. As a matter of fact, I am paying you, the Gamer pointed out. It was true as well, since she was working in his government now, he was giving her a sizable sry. For a real politician, this would probably fall under some sort of corruptionw, but in all but morals, he was a dictator.
Rave raised her head a bit and their noses touched. Wrong, she told him, I am paying ya in hugs and kisses. I think youll agree that makes what I provide more valuable.
I dont agree, no, John challenged her and lowered his posture until only a few words fit between their lips. I think Ill need a reminder.
They kissed a third time. Hands on her lower back, he held her body as close as he could. He hadnt felt her in a few days, some very stressful days. Now that he had her heartbeat beating against his chest again, the world was right. Her body was soft in all the right ces, with a hard core that reminded him that she was no pushover whatsoever. The love of his life, someone that he could share good and difficult times with so that they could shoulder them together. With lips that tasted of sweet bubble-gum and mint. The tiny metal ball of her piercing rolled over his tongue as they slowly got more heated.
Her left thigh brushed against his tight pants. Okay, okay, Raveughed and finally pulled back, blushing heavily. Through her baby blue tank-top, he could see her two perky nipples standing out. Yeah, I am not wearing a bra right now, she read his thoughts and winked, then unfolded her arms and walked over to Aclysia. Comeere, the techno lover demanded and gave the maid a kiss as well. Then they made their way out of the public eye.
From the airport to the Guild Hall was not particrly far. Mostly thanks to a rtively nearby teleporter, ced just on the edge of the new normal range of his Transport Station. Which, as it so happened, was now the exact same as the radius of the Hudson Barrier, 10 kilometres. Their centres being at different locations did ruin the satisfaction of perfect ovep, but it was still a nice coincidence.
They stepped into the pavilion, the blue floor lit up and then they found themselves back on Liberty Ind. Some random mineworker was returning from his coffee break at that exact moment, but didnt really seem to care about the three people suddenly popping up. He just greeted his president and went about his day. Abyssals really did have nerves for the unexpected to happen.
Seems like everything is the same way I left it, John noted, stepping out of therge pavilion. A slime was crawling into a nearby trash can, emptying it by munching through everything that was inside. A giant seagull sat on a pier and let its annoying cry be heard when it saw the Gamer, who immediately gave off a warning shot with Shardbound. Those things better not be pooping on mywn!
Yourwn, an easy-going voice shouted over to him, is several hundred square metres. I think you will manage! Metra, Qiadaid across her shoulders, came his way. She was wearing her usual, ck and grey cropped top, less than a sports-bra, and hot pants, almost less than panties. So how was the assassination attempt?
Barely threatening, John returned with a shrug. Bad for them that they dont have convenient powerparison data. Otherwise they would have known not to try.
Any news on why they did it? Rave asked.
Yeah John had only dropped a text message that he wasing back. Lets talk about this in private.
___________________________________________________________________________
John had already been informed that nothing of great interest had happened while he was gone. Still, when he found a stack of papers on his desk that was thinner than his hand, he was pretty surprised. With the extra days he had been missing, he had expected like fifteen times that amount on each corner of his desk.
Beatrice was quietly sitting on her own table, the ss kind, with aputer and everything she needed to work and nothing more. Aside from her passivity, the reason why John had given her an almost empty see-through desk was to always have as much of her body in view as possible. Lesser people would say that was a bad idea if he wanted to concentrate on his work, his counter-argument was that being turned on by the secretary was no problem if you could cum inside the secretary whenever you wanted.
The walls of his office were lined withrgely empty shelves, although more and more folders with archived documents were quickly filling those. A giant shredder, with the humorous title Comint Manager engraved in a que above it, stood in front of the wood-covered walls. Other upgrades to his office included a third, fully equipped ss desk, in case he got more help, and a new chair. It had cost a fortune, but it had an erge function that made three people fit on it. The application of this was obvious.
Right now, he was surrounded by two pairs of twins, more or less. Rave and Metra were sharing the half-couch armchair with him while Beatrice and Aclysia were sucking his dick under the table. The former looked really simr due to the way Metra had formed her current body out of Johns preferences in women. Meanwhile, the two-white haired girls were created in the image of two androids in a video game, where one model was based on the other.
So yeah, thats the whole story of that, he delivered in a clear tone, ending the exnation of everything that had transpired the past two days. Although the blowjob still felt heavenly, the months had taught him quite well to talk normally unless he was close to the edge. Or at least as much of it as I know.
So, uhhh, Rave scratched her head, resting on Johns right shoulder. Is he telling the truth or not?
I dont know, her boyfriend answered truthfully. If Abraham was a moron, this whole thing would be much easier. I cant properly predict the guy because he would try to act in a way that I cannot properly predict him to get away with the actual predicted choice when I dont expect it anymore.
Stahp! his girlfriend demanded. Damn politicians and your mind games! Okay, different question, what do we do now?
We wait for the investigation to conclude, John answered, groping her butt directly by moving the skirt she was wearing aside. A pair of green eyes was looking up to him, Aclysia slowly sliding all the way down to his base, her lips tightly sealed around his solid shaft. If they find Abraham guilty, this whole thing is over. I cant imagine most of his base fighting in a war he starts with such a cowardly attack. If they dont, we continue the campaign like before.
Should have just done the easy fucking thing and invaded from the start, Metra grumbled.
Id rather expend my time than the lives of others. They had this discussion regrly, but he wasnt going to let thatment slip by like that. There were some of his girls that preferred the punch first approach, even on the guild war scale, so it was important that they at least understood, even if they didnt agree, his approach.
Yes, yes, the ancient weapon backed down immediately, knowing her usual answer to that, being that a death in battle was glorious, didnt fly as well with more modern minded people. You can get grey hair in your mid-twenties then.
I do hope Gamers Body prevents that. That was apletely earnest statement. John really didnt want to have grey hair well-before his time. In all likelihood, his rising power level would make him immune to aging long before that happened, but still. Huh, talking of aging, my birthday is next month, he suddenly remembered.
What, really? Rave asked; he had told her before but she was terrible at remembering dates. When is it again?
Scheduled: July 24th, Masters birthday, Beatrice report to the slurping sound of Aclysia pulling back. Quickly taking the senior maids ce as Johns cocksleeve, the passive woman moved up and down halfway his shaft with bobbing motions of her head.
Aclysia licked her precum stained lips. We should celebrate both that day and the day afterwards, she suggested, brushing some of her hair back before leaning down to massage his balls.
Right, ya got your powers the day after your birthday, right? Rave asked.
Yup, he answered and then sighed lustfully. Beatrice was releasing his dick and Aclysias extended tongue was trailing directly after her. Their transition was seamless. I hope you surprise me with something expected, he winked at his girlfriend.
Wonder if we can get Lydia over for a day, Rave was lost in thought for a moment while she mumbled. Ill pull something outta my butt to make it a nice birthday hey, that also means we have been together for almost a year!
Thats another ten days on top? Yeah, John agreed. Time sure flies when you are having fun spiked with asional misery. He leaned back in his chair and groaned out loud. Okay give me a second here, he said and closed his eyes.
Sure, ya can have your seconds, Rave whispered into his ear; he could hear her glossy lips smacking as she talked. But when you are done cumming the first time, I will ride that dick, tiger. He felt her gentle touch trailing over his chest and undoing one button of his shirt after the other.
A giggle reverberated on the other side of his head. Ill go with the third, if you have the energy, lustfully, Metras words caressed him, her hot breath on his neck. Lets not kid ourselves, youll always have that.
Simultaneously, they kissed his neck, and his hips shot out of the seat and deep into whoever of the two slutty servants was currently sucking him. A momentter, his lust reached a searing height and his seed spurted out in a wonderful orgasm, fuelled by all the warmth and safety he was surrounded by.
Ah, home, sweet home, he gasped when he fell back into his chair. His erect cock flopped out into the open air when released, caught by Raves hand. By the time he opened his eyes, the two maids under the table were busy swapping his cum back and forth. A sight blocked from him after a moment, as Rave straddled on top of him. Simply moving her panties aside, she impaled herself on his cock.
And this is aaaahhhh, she gasped, her eyelids fluttering as she finally felt her favourite cock in the whole world again. No amount of dildos or Beatrice could rece this. Why I went with the miniskirt to-mhhm-day. Oh, Gaia, its been way too long! After all this time spent screwing, she wanted to never miss a day of it.
Now oh fuck. John felt the same way. No matter how many girls he had, all of them he loved he wanted to fuck at least once a day. Sad were the days where he didnt get to do that. Being inside Rave again after these days, inside her tight, quivering cunt, broke his concentration. To the point where he simply forgot what he had actually wanted to ask.
Instead, he lifted Rave onto the table and gave it to her proper.
Chapter 530 – Victory & Mouth 6 – Ave…
Chapter 530 C Victory & Mouth 6 C Ave
The rest of his day back, John spent genuinely rxing. He took a five-minute stroll across the beach, remembered that he was a perverted nerd and went back to his new pce. It was nice finally exploring that building, although he knew theyout already, given that he was the one who made it.
The base floor, in all of its expanse, was easily defined. The squareyout was divided into four evenly sized areas, separated by a cross shaped hallway that ran from therge doors to a central, spiral staircase. Two of those areas, northwest and southeast, were dedicated to guest rooms. Where the northwest had just one really luxurious apartment, the south had several rooms of about the same living standard as John had enjoyed over in Mansion Hohenstaufen over in Rome.
Northeast was one giant, currentlyrgely empty room, that John simply had named the ballroom. Although he didnt really expect a lot of actual balls to be held there, he wanted to prop it full with rare art to show off whenever there was any sort of party. Rave wanted to install all the necessary things to make it into a disco. Whether they found a way to do so without having the giant lights ruin the room for the upper-ss purposes remained to be seen.
On the idea of it, the Gamer didnt find himself on the opposition. One of the things he had been most careful about had been to make the walls very thick and isting. This made it perfect to have loud sex between these walls, to throw a giant party without waking anyone not attending or to murder someone who cried for help quietly. Granted, thest thing was not in the design purposes, but it would work nheless.
Southeast was a bunch of differently sized chambers for the sole purpose of backroom discussions. It was a pce and seat of his political power after all, so there was a decent chance there would eventually berge gatherings of people here thatd rather have discussions in privacy.
Interesting to John, on this day off, was the upper of the two floors, however. His new living quarters were too big. There had been too much space in the design process. Around 1600 square metres. That was more than 100 square metres per person. Under those circumstances, giving everyone their own apartment was rather easy.
Well, there was no need to give everyone their own apartment in the first ce or to use the 100 average for everyone. Undine, for example, just needed a sizable bathtub (or a small pool, depending on what definition the watcher fancied). They also didnt each need a living room asrge as John had on the yacht. Or a kitchen. For the elementals, who would likely use those rooms sparingly anyway, he hadnt included suchmodities. The Artificial Spirits also didnt need all that much space. He still gave them plenty of it; maybe they wanted to have a girls night in their rooms or something, and John wasnt going to confine them with ack of yground.
He had made his ownplex to be the heart of the entire thing, in location and design, making it the biggest. There was a room, basically just one giant bed, big enough for twenty people to sleep infortably. Arge bathroom nearby, with the much-wanted group shower, as well as a small living room for John and his small gathering of girls. A small kitchen attached to prepare snacks.
For the actual kitchen that Aclysia would be using to feed all of them was located just down a hallway that connected Johns apartment with a bunch of public spaces. A gaming room, a sparring room, an indoor pool, an evenrger living room, a relocated fetish room with their BDSM equipment, it was all there. Some of the rooms were superfluous, definitely, but John had to do something with the space.
Up there, he enjoyed the high life. Between catching up on some game releases he had missed, filling up his Steam library with games that he would likely never get to finish due to time constraints, and getting pampered by good cooking and great sex, John Newman felt like the prior days had just been a bad dream.
Despite his best intentions, now that he had the chance to grind again, he only did it for 3 hours. Quality time with his girls just felt like a more worthwhile investment. He knew that he was wrong, of course, since he was on level 169, about to gain another ss level. Thus, on the second day of his return, he forced himself to not take it rxed and actually do what he should have been doing.
Another Assault on the usual timer elevated him to level 170. Now he had
I have two ss levels to spend? the Gamer looked at his window in confusion and did the basic calction. I am level 170, so that 17 points base, plus the three extra on the maximum I got from quests, makes 20. I currently have 1 level in Lover Boy, 1 in Arcanist, 3 in Fateweaver, 3 in Gamer, 3 in Puppeteer and 8 in Elementalist thats 12519 so I only should have one to spend?
Looking for some sort of breakdown feature inside his menu, he eventually did find the answer: the Quest he had gotten and finished while he was drunk. It had given him an extra maximum ss Level that could only be spent on Lover Boy. Between his hangover and the panicked gathering of the generals, he hadpletely forgotten to use that and followingly hadpletely forgotten about it period.
Well, betterte than never, John thought, going ahead and spending that point. He had no need to beat the challenges, since he had three free level ups for that lying around.
Huuuuh, John blew out air as if he had just gulped down something hot. Thats some spicy choices there. Holy moly, if this ss wasnt so generally useless to me and I got an erection. There was no particr reason why he was saying this out loud. Maybe because his brain had been sapped of the necessary blood to think quietly.
Now, what would it be? From a raw efficiency standpoint, Experienced Lover was probably the best choice. Assuming it needed to be stacked from 0 when he took it, it wasnt that great, however. When he was using his Fucking passive, he was already providing over 100% more pleasure between the Skill and Lover Boys passive. It was also rather boring.
As of this moment, mathematically speaking, John provided double the pleasure of a guy that was already very good at pleasing the breasted half of the species. The bonus would increase that margin, but all he did at that point was what he already did but better. Since he was already brilliant at the normal things, by virtue of skill, stamina and bullshit abilities, why not go for the supernatural voured fun?
Enhanced Cum, while sounding fun, wasnt exactly useful. He could imagine that some follow-up choices to it would grant some interesting bonuses though. However, for this very moment, Domination Pact was just too sexy. The ability to ruin his girls orgasms or halt them at the cusp of release was as sinister as it was enticing.
He could just imagine them, writhing at his feet, begging for the release that they had denied themselves by relinquishing control over their own bodies to them. That ran even deeper than simply holding the remote for a vibrator. He could even do both. The possibilities, they were numerous and he wanted to taste all of them. With that, his decision was made and Domination Pact taken.
The actual ss Level was to be used now. Currently, his priorityy with Puppeteer, so it was going to be located there as well. He just needed to beat a few Challenges to get there. Checking it, the one presented to him wasnt particrly hard, something that cost him some time but no risk.
His left foot tapped against the darkness under his feet, creating a rhythmic sound. The nothingness of the I.D. Gate encapsted him. Well, might as well get to it, he thought, since he was already in motion. It was best to have the potentialbat update if things had such a huge potential to turn south soon.
Through entering a couple of dungeons, many of them without enemies even, as John didnt need them to beat the ss Challenges, the Gamer grinded out the necessary advancements. There were some odd challenges, like having a Mana de duel with himself using two Spellcarriers, while running in a circle around the fight. Another challenge had him possess six differently shaped stones, ce them on the edge of something, and have them jump off at the same time and bounce off the floor in the same way.
Most of it seemed to aim at training him at advancing his Possession mindset. Currently, the skill was protecting him from being confused from the multiple perspectives. That was downright necessary, multiple fields of view would have confused a normal brain. However, it only kept him from being confused. Proper coordination was another thing. He could pretty reliably pilot his own body and run another object at the edge of his mind. That had been pretty easy from the start and he had done it back when he had used a bird. What if he used five birds though? The answer was likely found in one of them bing the reason for a couple sitting behind the window of a diner to drop their coffee onto their toast by ttening itself against the ss at 20km/h.
So, it was good that John got those Challenges. It was a thing he had to train, just like his micro skills in Starcraft.
Well, that was easy enough. The middle choice was the clearly best one, especially since John wanted his Extension to be as good as it could be. He had alreadymitted to the mechanic and would keep going. It helped that he didnt really want the other two. Well, he could see Golem Creation being useful. Maybe one day, he would get it. Anyway, the progress had been made.
Great, John thought, pped his hands together as if he was dusting them off and then moved out of the barrier. With that out of the way I can go do my paperwork adulting sucks sometimes Times really had been easier when he hadnt taken responsibility for anything but himself and his direct surroundings. Not quite as meaningful, it was a nice stimtion of his pride that he was the main reason behind the safety of thousands of people, but easier. Sometimes he missed that simplicity.
From the I.D. Gate to his office in the Guild Bank was a march longer than before, one of the very few drawbacks of having a muchrgerndmass. Still, he arrived there in a rtively short time and walked through the corridors to the sound of distant mumbling. Several other people had set up office in the building these days, people John had hired to help him with allocating of funds, do the selling of the days products and take other such things that didnt necessarily need his attention. There was a degree of trust involved in this. He needed to register those people as official members of Fusion on the Abyss Auction and other sites, but that was just the way the state took shape outside of the Gamer.
Alternatively, he could have tried to stem the pile of paperwork, growing with each person that joined his guild, himself. In other words, there was no alternative. Here goes hoping that none of them will fuck up too hard, he thought as he passed several offices. The only indication that somebody was inside was the light shining through the milky window in the door. John had also made this buildingrgely soundproof.
He stepped past thest door before his own office, stopped, and walked three steps backwards. Then he knocked, waited for a second, then carefully opened the door. Jane, you there? he asked and peeked into his girlfriends office. Originally, they had tried to work in the same space, but that had distracted them with banter, sex and a small war fought with flying scraps of paper and erasers. Fun but not productive.
They still checked on each other regrly during the work hours. Not that it was hard to go next door. The wall between them was definitely necessary for things to work in an office space, however. Right now, he was more surprised to find her here, although that was following a trend. The more Rave had involved herself with internal affairs, the more she had found herself liking it. Much to her own surprise.
Seeing her boyfriend, she pointed at her smartphone at her ear and then raised her index finger. Just one minute, her gestures said and John sat down on the office chair on the guest end of the table.
Okay Ja, nein, I dont get that, Rave spoke into the device, rolling her eyes. See no, gimme a sec to exin this, she kept her good mood in her voice though, youre not getting additional funding for the project. I like ya, I like your hair, but ya cant keep giving me nothing and expect me to just rub my hands together and create money for ya. No, I wont further this to John. I started this project, so I will see to it that it gets done. You promised me some tracks and all I got is a bunch of construction sites in the city. Youll have to make do with what ya have.
She stood up and leaned against the table, one hand resting on it and tapping against the wood. Her pink eyebrows were furrowing slowly as a suddenly very whiny voice came from the other end of the line. Although her clothes were still distinctly more fitting for a jog around the park than a bank office, her bodynguage was pretty business-like. As a matter of fact, John wasnt used to seeing her like this and it reminded him of the mother that best was not named.
No matter the disdain Rave had for Nariko, seemed like some of her attributes stuck. Not that that was news. Ya know Okay. Okay. Yes! she smiled. Thats the spirit, ya go, girl! You get me that and we can talk again about extra funding. The talk ended shortly after that, and the Lightbearer put a giant check mark all over a form that required at least 250 words per field to actually count as filled.
As she threw it onto the pleted stack on her table, John had to point out, You know thats not proper procedure, right?
Ja, do ya know that the stack of papers on your desk is that small cause I ignore proper procedure to keep making calls and go to meetings? Rave ced her phone on the table and sat back down. Not in her own chair, no, she circled the table and took Johnsp as her seat instead. Touching his nose with her index finger, she smirked, How about ya let me get off with a warning, big bad boss? Unless ya want me to lose hours writing boring things thatll settle dust in some closet.
I am lean and at least true neutral! Johnined grabbing her wrist, giving her his darkest possible re. She looked back with a smile. He continued to re. Her smile got broader. His cheeks twitched. She winked. Suddenly they were bothughing; something about the situation was just funny. Okay! You win! he agreed, wondering if Nariko was also terrible at paperwork or if that was a trait her daughter had built up in defiance. Anyway, as long as it was just her, there was no real damage to his apparatus. Most of the things she did didnt require proper remembrance anway.
Raves main contribution were her people skills, be it via phone or going out there to meet in person. Administratively, she wasnt all that useful, but the fact that she could get differences between people out of the world with rtive ease was valuable. Where her charm failed, which did happen, her brawn was also a good tool to have in the field. Didnt see myself ever bing an office worker, she admitted.
Neither did I, her boyfriend agreed, although that wasnt the term he would have used. I thought you would just keep training and fooling around.
Yeah, thats fun and all but it doesnt really feel like I am helping this society you are cobbling together. Her attractive nose was suddenly surrounded by wrinkles as she made a heavy grimace. I think I am bing an adult. Taking on responsibility and junk. This is your fault!
John acted like he was taken aback, opening his eyes wide in shock, How, what, why?
If ya hadnt shown up in my life, I could have stayed in Springfield and killed time by having small gang shes and doing fuck all, she stated and slung her arms around his neck. A way easier life!
Mhm, but would you be happier? John wondered, and she was leaning in to answer that question with a kiss.
Both of their phones vibrated at the same time. One of them, they would have ignored, but this seemed like too much of a coincidence to actually be one. Rave was actually closer to his phone and thus fished it out of his inner breast pocket. The device recognized her aura and unlocked ordingly. Her eyes travelled over the lines on the disy.
A sharp inhale, followed by a long and quivering exhale, along with the emotionless look on her face made it clear that these were bad news. Wordlessly, she turned the phone to John. A couple of sentences on the unlock screen previewed a longer message.
Scarlett: I caught a secret service message from the Little Marnd. Fort Washington was razed. No survivors. They found Imeres corpse. What are we
Chapter 531 – Victory & Mouth 7 – The fuse is lit
Chapter 531 C Victory & Mouth 7 C The fuse is lit
Forever, the Little Marnd shall resist such foreign cowardice! Abrahams voice echoed out of the speakers of Johns officeputer. None but the owner of this space were there to hear it. John Newman himself could have or had the opportunity to rain down this level of destruction! This is an attack on us and it can only ever be understood as a deration of war!
Everything on the table jumped when the mentioned man punched his table in a fit of useless rage. Emotions had been boiling inside him ever since the initial message by Scarlett. Through the attempts to find out more by calling Abraham and getting subsequently ignored. Only to find his campaign opponent railing against him on a livestream two hourster. What had he even held his peace for?
WHAT A COWARD! John shouted, grabbing something random and throwing it against the closest wall. The object came right back for his head; he caught it in time, sparing himself the embarrassing scene of doing damage to himself. He looked at the golf ball, the only one that had a justification to be in this room, with utter disgust. He had to hold himself back from squashing it in his palm, instead, as calmly as possible, cing it back on the table.
It rolled for a moment, then found a resting ce in the depression Johns knuckles had formed. In an attempt to push down his rage, John fell into his chair and did his best to not break his phone. His eyes were hidden behind his hand as he listened to Abraham finish his speech.
Let it be known then, that I will give this war to him if he so desperately wants it! He is to relinquish his im on this country immediately. Those of you that are against me, keep your grievances until we have dealt with this threat to our way of life. Stand with locked shoulders against this tyrant!
Why? Why was he doing this now and like this? There had to be a reason. Imeres death, the death of her whole army segment, what made it necessary to Abrahams ns? Her mortal remains hadnt been shown in their entirety, only her face as she had apparently been turned into a pulp from the navel downwards. Part of John really wanted to believe that was just a prop, but nobody in their right mind would try keeping a person of the generals level locked somewhere.
No, if Abraham wanted to use this thing as his casus belli, then nobody could have survived. Anything but to assume that she was actually deceased C murdered C was na?ve and wishful thinking. Why did you do it, Abraham? John mumbled towards the phone.
Informed of this cowardly strike, generals Chemilia Smith, Ted Smith and Terkal Wodfell have all dered their loyalty to the enemy. Just the enemy, that was what John was now, what a brilliant stroke of rhetoric to convince the patriotic person. Their punishment shall be met in due time!
Then, John understood. The dy, he didnt understand the reason for yet. Maybe Abraham had needed to negotiate with a strong mercenary to help or he just wanted the tension to be as high as possible. With tensions high enough, Abraham had the opportunity to kill every single member of the army friendly to John in one swift strike. Meanwhile, him getting the initial message out through their publicmunication channels would him better support with the poption, at the very least long enough for him to pull off his entire n.
All he had needed to do was wait until the Gamer wasnt around to jump to help soon enough. Now, the traitorous president could clean everything up before John even arrived. At least, that was the way John expected Abraham to have nned this.
Doubtlessly, he had tried some sort of simultaneous strike on all unaligned forces in the military at the same time. It had just been the most important to remove Imere first, since she was the strongest of the lot. Pure pragmatism, fuelled by the paranoia that the brte wouldnt have kept her public oath to neutrality.
Should the generals and their forces all be eradicated before John arrived, that left the upstart guild master with no army to upy and Abraham himself could im being the defender. It was all so wonderfully crafted, if one had no ethics and no qualms about being a snake. It was almost admirable in its ruthless effectiveness.
John, everything is prepared, Aclysia mentally informed him and he immediately moved. All this speech was now was the crowd apuding the lies anyway. Even Johns Wisdom couldnt control his temper right now, and the look on his face reflected, if only a portion, of the wrath boiling inside him.
He exited the building to a scenery of cable works and busy people, a hastily thrown together ce to hold Johns own announcement. A podium that had been ced in the middle of the walkway was where he quickly took his ce. Themps on the camera switched on, they were live.
I did not kill Imere, she was a friend of mine, he wanted to say the most important things first. I have barely been given the information that she has been murdered, then I am already used of such a vile act. The truth is that I am not even in the area, he gestured at the Statue of Liberty behind him. What a disgusting action, to dere, on the corpse of the woman that stood for the peace between us, that it is war. Sadly, I see no more way out but to answer in kind!
I am deeply sorry to everyone who will be involved, but I cannot sit idly. Abraham has refused any attempts tomunicate, he wont negotiate with terrorists, so he says. What a great lie to dodge the need to defend his own conspiracy. The rim of the podium began to splinter under his grip as he kept staring into the camera. I did not kill Imere, she was a friend that I knew much too short! he shouted. And when the other generals that have put their trust in me to disce you democratically have their lives threatened by your arms, Abraham, then I will answer in kind! You wanted a civil war, the entire time! When I tried to keep you down, to hold against your rhetoric of hate peacefully, then you dared to use me of this! You are a liar, a chatan and you have broken your own countrys constitution, you no longer hold yourndwfully. All else I could want to say, you will hear soon enough.
I aming to save my friends, he ended his announcement with a growl and stepped away from the podium, that camera following him for a few more moments and showing the gathering of his harem and the elite fighters that they were beyond his girls.
_____________________________________________________________________
Twenty minutester, they were all gathered in the Thorne HQ; it was easier to hold the meeting there than have Scarlett sneak out over to Johns ce. Time was a resource they simply didnt have right now. I still cant break through, the redhead informed John. They use a mixture of normal interference and Technomancers, weaselling through all of thoseyers of protection is going to take a bit longer. I could force myself through easier, but I have to do like 3 things at once right now. Her red irises were indeed alight with more circuits than he had ever seen run through them.
Aside from the attempt at establishing a connection, she was also currently coordinating the effort of the small cast of supporting Technomancers she had unofficial control over C without them even knowing. An effort to keep Johns just recorded answer speech running on the Little Marnds public channel. To some people, that probably made him look all the more guilty, but he needed the narrative challenged. Otherwise, he was just guilty by default in the court of public opinion.
In other words, we have no idea about the state Chemilia and the others are in, John ground his teeth; for all he knew they could already be dead. Communications stopped shortly after he had told them what he had learned and Chemilia had told him they were going to talk to the president. Maybe Abraham just wants to bait me in with this bullshit.
Maybe, but we cant risk losing them; without those extra troops, your future efforts will be dyed demonstrably, Scarlett pointed out with cold pragmatism.
Ya can keep your logistics out of this, Rave went into discussion, arms crossed and eyes glowing with vengeful determination. As John said, were going to save our friends. If theres a chance theyre alive, then we WILL go!
The only question is how we will get there, John agreed; there was absolutely no doubt that they were going to take the quickest intervention route possible. Not only to up the chances of arriving before it was toote but also because this war had to end as quick as possible. The way things were now, the Lake Guilds could potentially intervene.
The only lucky break that John had in this situation was that the Little Marnd was so heavily centralized around Washington DC. As they were already fighting there, both the generals and enemy government forces were entirely focused there. Johns winning conditions were liberating the generals and their troops and then upying the White House. Abraham had to eradicate the same and then only defend until he could convince their shared, muchrger neighbour to help him.
Time was of the essence. They couldnt waste much more talking; every minute they arrivedte was a minute somebody could lose their life.
Any nes we can take in time? John asked Scarlett, as she quickly dug through travel times. Flying was obviously the first choice, but there was the chance that time between flights would make it a longer waiting time than driving. The need for a private ne was suddenly more apparent than ever.
One flight NYC to DC in thirty minutes, she reported back in no time. If you are lucky and leave now, you might still get through that entire getting on board process in time. John nodded and she booked the tickets for him. Only three seats open, though, she added.
That will be enough, he answered after quickly thinking about it. Aclysia, Beatrice and the elementals didnt need to or couldnt use the ne with them anyway. Through his inventory or by simply staying immaterial, they coulde with anyway. Only he, Rave, Metra and Nia actually needed space on the ne, and the nk could stand by unnoticed.
Magoimented from the side-lines after John exined this happenstance, I guess that takes me out of the equation, then. The High Fateweaver was a near invaluable asset in most situations, but in this specific one, having anotherbatant was more important than potentially cutting off the enemys retreat. They were heading out to face an army the actual strength of which, especially its leadership, they could only roughly guess. Speed was of the essence, and for all the things the High Fateweaver was, quick wasnt one of them.
Yes, the Gamer stated, I cant imagine youre particrly unhappy about that.
I can live without having to be involved in many more war situations, yes, Magoi agreed from behind his mask. I didnt get under your employ to die for your ambitions. Honestly, if youd ask me to support you in any endeavour too dangerous, I would probably refuse. It was a bit cold, but the High Fateweaver had been repeatedly clear on the point that he was looking at his position in Johns guild as his retirement.
Next to him, Eliza was grinding her teeth. The want toe with was evident all over her face, but she knew she wasnt going to be of any use. Best case was that she was going to do nothing, worst case Thana would run rampant on the battlefield and ughter everyone indiscriminately.
John was ready to leave when his phone suddenly rang. I fucking got it! Scarlett triumphantly called out, and the Gamer hastily grabbed his phone. The number on the disy was Chemilias; the Technomancer had connected them manually. Do it quickly, no idea how long I can keep this hidden!
John rose the phone to his ear. Hello? he asked, only to be met by a beeping noise. The general on the other end still hadnt picked up. Then, the clicking sound, followed by a raspy cough. Chemilia?!
John? How no time for that, you got the news of Abrahams response by now?! the generals voice rang out, slightly distorted from the many winding paths their connection had to take.
Yes, I know he desperately wanted the moment to actually grief, but this wasnt it. Right now, he needed to salvage this copsing house of cards. Imere is dead, I came to know this a couple of hours ago by chance.
There was a loud, angry shout in the background, evidently John had been put on speaker. It belonged to Terkal, as did the next sentence, Then why the fuck arent you here yet?! He sounded more like a beast than a man.
I tried getting in contact with Abraham before and honour what Imere would have wanted C which is get this situation cleared before we make any hasty decisions, John answered in a grave tone. Not that I need anymore evidence that the asshole is behind this himself by now. yed right into his hand.
We canment thister, Chemilia got their priorities straight. When will you be here? We managed to pull our forces together on the Roosevelt Ind, but we are holed up with nowhere to go. That wasnt terribly far away from the airport.
A maximum of two hours, John told her and looked at the clock, around 19 oclock, well hurry along as best we can.
You be- the connection suddenly cut off. Luckily everything that had needed to be said had been.
What a bunch of beginners, Scarlett huffed with the proud smirk of the validated master at her craft. Followed a full three false proxies before finding the right line.
John had no time to listen to the rest of her boasting. We are getting to the teleporter, he announced and they got moving. 48 hours, John thought, we should end this conflict in less than that. Thatll keep it from spreading too far and the Lake Alliance shouldnt be able to respond in that time. Thatst bit was spection, but it was better to give himself a timer that was somewhat urate than none at all.
The clock was ticking.
Chapter 532 – Victory & Mouth 8 – Steamy
Chapter 532 C Victory & Mouth 8 C Steamy
John was barely through the check-out when there was an attempt to pull him into a barrier. Doubtlessly people camping the position and now trying to dy him. It wasnt too hard to figure out which ne from NYCnded next in this airport, after all. Sucked to be them though. Just like the paparazzi barrier he had been asked to enterst time he was here, he was simply too strong to be forced into barriers by even low-tier Fateweavers.
Well, there went his hope to just forego this annoyance. The airport around them phased into total emptiness, not a single soul around but them. John took this chance to reach into his inventory and pull out Aclysia and Beatrice, in that order. The weaponized maids relief upon being freed from the stasis within his inventory was almost tangible.
I do really hate that space, I am sorry, Master, she stated as she began to grow from a figurine size to her normal one, then she realized the situation they were in. What a basic hindrance, are they hiding from us?
Seems that way. John tried to find whoever was behind this attack, but so far, no such luck. Now that he had entered the trap barrier, he couldnt simply leave again until he assumed control. Granted, the fact that he initially resisted meant that he was the strongest guy around in the Illusion Barrier department, but since they had used an item, that didnt really matter.
This was the first time the Gamer encountered an enchantment rted to barriers in person. Well, strictly speaking, he had encountered some utility once before, such as the magical fuse box back in the old arcade, which Jimmy had set up. This, however, was a properbat enchantment. Exceedingly rare due to how few enchanters were also Fateweavers by trait and the difficulty involved with creating such an item even then. Since they, on average, also had pretty low shelf-lives, just a couple of uses before they were worn out, they were resources seldomly employed.
They didnt do anything Fateweavers couldnt do themselves though. All their attributes had their value entirely in allowing even a minimally schooled person to either invade a higher-level barrier, trap someone much stronger than themselves or keep it from being easily entered.
Dying John by some substantial amount would definitely be a justified usage of these items. Since they had set-up this little dy and werenting at them guns zing, the Gamer guessed that the only people inside here were some weak to middle level power goons good at hiding their presence. Abraham and his elites were continuing the purge of their ranks.
Well, John wasnt nning to tag along their game. Sylph, he uttered the name and the thunderstorm elemental suddenly popped into existence in a green light and the sound of small bells. Find the edge of the barrier and try to smash it.
Roger, roger, salute! the green-haired storm the size of a hand bolted off as a greenish-blue bolt of energy and electricity. Her jagged charge carried her through the airport in no time.
One two three John counted, then Sylph hit the border at full speed, putting the size of the barrier at around a kilometre. Abraham hadnt been stingy in setting this up, more than enough space to y hide and seek. As he had been synced up to her mind at that moment, the Gamer suddenly found out what it was like for a fly to get caught by a windshield. Except the windshield was static and the fly was flying at several hundred kilometres per hour. You fine? John asked, genuinely worried. Barrier walls were more like pushing two mas against each other at the same poles, but at high enough velocity that didnt really matter. Much like hitting water when jumping off a considerable height.
No I hurt my nose, my cute little nose such a courtesanic nose There was no time toment that that wasnt even a word. It was just good that Sylph moved in her thunderbolt-esque manner, stopping to orient herself in between jumps. If she had flown in a straight line at maximum speed, she probably would have knocked herself out of corporeal life. The way she felt through their connection, she hade close enough at half. That she hadnt even put a dent into the barrier while moving at such speed was a testament to it being rather sturdy.
There were multiple ways to go about this now that a simple smashing was probably out. The obvious was to use Gnome to locate whoever was hiding and keeping this barrier active. It was so obvious, in fact, that the enemy must have taken precautions against it, since the soil elemental couldnt perceive anybody.
They could get there and have Metra have a swing at the barrier and try to break out the violent way after all. Chances of that working werent zero. If they could have justbined their physical powers, they could have pried it open guaranteed, but Illusion Barriers could only be damaged by one person at a time; different damage instances counted aside, not on-top of each other. Oddws of reality butws nheless.
Still, they were going to do that, since Johns actual n needed some setup anyway. Alright, Smander, Undine, I need you to join up with Stirwin and Gnome. This was a job for one of his more seldomly used Combinations. He was fine with taking the cooldown, it was much better than being bogged down here for an extended period.
The four elementals agreed, manifesting and then immediately putting their essences together. A swirl took the space between them for just a moment, then changed into a singr white colour. Nothing manifested, at least not in a proper, physical way, instead a cloud of white hung around the air and then swirled around John.
The fog surrounded the Gamer, a pair of clear blue eyes looked at him from within the mist, a shape slowly pulling together as it remained still. An immensely curvy woman,rge breasts, a waist that would have made Jessica Rabbit jealous and wide hips, appeared. For a moment, she stayed manifested enough for thework of Lorylim scars, ck and red, jagged and winding, from both of the affected elementals, to be put on disy. Then moved again and became naught but mist.
Anyments today, Sdina? John asked the Gamers Consciousness. She was an elemental of very limitedbat ability, more useful at giving advice. Her physical stats were downright awful. Any halfway strong person could catch and one-shot her.
Still, her unleashed ability was why John needed her here.
It appears to me that you need to keep the possibility of universal failure in mind, the voice of the steam elemental carried through his mind like the morning mist. There might be no liars in this affair.
I am considering it, John nodded; it had crossed his mind as well. However unlikely he found it, with how utterly perfect it yed into the traitorous presidents ns, there was more than one way to solve this riddle. At this point, it doesnt matter. Abraham has yed his hand and I am forced to respond.
Just remember to stay your hand, should the truth be different from expectation. That were thest words Sdina had to offer, as she began to heat up. Although her unleash was immensely useful in this situation, it also needed two minutes to charge up. That would give her a mere three minutes to use it before departing again, but John expected all of his opponents to either be done or located by then.
Well, I am going to do the smashing thing, Metra announced and moved out. That n went nowhere. No matter how much the ancient weapon showered the wall in strikes, all she managed to create were some cracks, no breakthrough. If she continued her ever more angry assault, she would probably, eventually, get through, but Johns n came to fruition first.
With the hurt Sylph, having travelled back in incorporeal form, sitting on his hands, John looked at Sdina as she pulled into a singr spot and then rapidly expanded. She kept expanding and expanding until steam covered the entire barrier in its milky wavering. Through the empty isles and shops of the airport, it drafted like a zing wind. Well, to Johns enemies, it must have been.
Nia waved at the fog like a confused kitten, What does this do?
Sdinas unleash covers a massive area in her fog, John exined, watching Sylph in his hands going from grumbling in a hurt fashion with a lot of Ouchs and Awawas to her usual chirpiness. To us, its a giant healing field. Not the strongest, but its persistence is what counts. That and that it heals everybody equally without any additional mana cost. For enemies, its a just as persistent damage effect.
The entire thing was immensely potent for group on group fights, but it was just a shame it was so highly conditional. Sdina was a sitting duck for two whole minutes before she got to use this trick and, as already established, sniping her immensely low HP off wasnt too hard. The drawback of losing (at least) two elementals for pulling this fog wasnt quite worth it. In their current situation, however, it worked out perfectly.
And since everything is now inside her element, John allowed himself a superior smirk, tracking those that wont fall over before this spell is over is rather easy. Siena, Sylph, I think thats your job. It was much easier to ry the positions of their adversaries to those hooked up to the same mentalwork as their mistborn radar.
Finally, something to do, Siena mused, poking her head out of Johns shadow for just a moment before moving away.
Ill go electrify them! Electrocute? That sounds so mean, but maybe that as well, dunno, maybe if they give up, Ill just fry them a little bit? the thunderstorm elemental darted off for the second time, staying far away from the walls.
Johns smirk went a bit sour as the air spirits little monologue did remind him that he was likely killing people with his move. More likely than not, since this was a damage over time effect from a level 170, 4-typebination. He didnt even know if his enemies were strictly bad this time around. They could have been people convinced that he was an actual invader of their homnd.
His smile vanishedpletely but he didnt order anyone to stop. The pledge to his own goals had already been made and he knew the cost when he had made it. Still, every time he had to kill to impose his goals, it left him majorly annoyed with the wider state of the world.
A desperate cry could be heard from somewhere, someone who had attempted to stay quiet, hoping for the damage effect to pass, only to be found by Siena. Dont make them suffer, John instructed.
__________________________________________________________________
A few minutester, they were once more in the normal airport and hurrying along. It was the typical strategy for running along. Creating a barrier at one point, running the whole distance it covered at superhuman speeds, exiting, creating a new one, rinse and repeat. Nothing unusual about that.
Except that John basically appeared in front of his mother at one point.
That was thest encounter John expected and not one he needed right now. However, there was absolutely no hiding next to a streetlight. Oh my, Brenda blinked repeatedly, then chuckled, I must be getting old, to only see you now.
That was just the barrier phasing doing its thing, but the mundane mother couldnt have known that. The bodyguard behind her very much could have though, Hex looking pretty unsurprised to see him there. If she had caught the news about the war, then she knew he had been on the way.
What brings you here? Brenda also didnt have that information.
And John absolutely had no time for smalltalk. Business, he therefore stated, somewhat out of breath from the running. Look, Mom, I am sorry, but I have to be somewhere, so
Ah, no, thats fine, she waved off. Just on the way to a pharmacy myself. I got a flyer about some new supplements and they sounded pretty good, so I want to try them. Something new on mushroom basis or something. Ah, but look at me, already bbering on again, sheughed and hit him on the shoulder. You go wherever you need to be I am sure it will be fun if you need all of them with you, she gestured at his girls, who had stopped with him for the moment.
Yes fun. Agreeing was much quicker than further talk, Well talkter! He then hit the road again. His mother turned to the streetlight and he was already vanishing inside a barrier again. What kind of bad luck must a man have? John asked himself as they closed in on Roosevelt Ind.
He checked his clock onest time. They had made it in less than two hours, it was 18:30. All thaty between them and their target now was a bit of water. Well, yall better get ready, Rave rolled her neck, in a much better mood than her boyfriend. A lifelong denizen of the Abyss, she hadnt minded the earlier deaths nearly as much.
Were getting this party started.
Chapter 533 – Victory & Mouth 9 – Battle at Roosevelt Island
Chapter 533 C Victory & Mouth 9 C Battle at Roosevelt Ind
Daylight was still shining on DC when John entered the barrier. It was a nice day, with a temperature neither too warm nor too cold. A terribly nice day for what had conspired and continued to rip its fangs into anything rted. Weather had very little care for the affairs of humans, it seemed.
A singr cloud drifted past the sun and put the world into a thin shadow. John looked at the scenery, realizing quickly why this particr ce had been chosen by the generals. The ind was covered in trees, a light forest with few paths running around, as good a ce to hide and stall for time as anywhere else. That the entire ind seemed to be under this barrier was thanks to it being the ce for another fort for the generals, namely Terkal.
This is fucking perfect, Smander grinned, looking at their battlefield. Sure, trees were normally quite fire resistant, but when sted with Tier 4 endme elemental heat, even they would catch fire.
Which was exactly what John didnt want. Standing at the edge of the ind, he gave everyone instructions. Smander, you are staying with me C in item form. I dont want you to put the entire ind on fire and fry our allies and enemies.
Gah! Fucking bore! She threw her hands into the air, but obeyed (with some more curses). The red and ck te-scale gauntlet soon covered Johns right arm from the elbow to the fingertips.
Alright first things first, we have to find Chemilia and everyone. He heard fighting noises from everywhere, asionally saw the flickering of magic between the trees. That could have been anything between two middle ss fighters sizing each other up to two random soldiers fighting. If this was the full force of the governmental forces versus the remaining military, then they were looking at somewhere between 500 and 1000 people fighting here. Exact numbers were hard toe by. To that end, we should separate. Beatrice, you go with Nia. Metra, with Gnome. Jane, you are with Aclysia. Sylph, youll be our eyes in the sky. This way, we can best coordinate.
While the tactics discussion was going on, John heard shouts including his title and name. He hadnt expected to go longer than a minute without being seen, so he just ignored that. Not like they had taken a particrly stealthy route either, walking over the bridge that crossed the river on the westside. The loyalists could know that their worst enemy had arrived, he didnt mind. Hopefully, Abraham was getting this message by some telepath, shitting his pants in response.
Alrighty, Rave rolled her neck and did some stretches. We gonna do a scene. Aclysia, you ready?
Whenever you are, Mistress, the weaponized maid agreed, and the two of them stormed into the forest.
John looked over to Metra, who was standing there with Qiada resting against her shoulder, eyes closed. I honestly expected you to be the first one to storm off.
I am enjoying the smell, the tanned blonde told him. Taking a deep breath through the nose, John had no idea what she meant. All he smelled was tree sap, with a light undertone of cold from some ice attack unleashed elsewhere and crystals of snow tumbling through the air. But you are right; Gnome,e now, Metras grin was as wide as it was threatening, the almost naked berserker babe whirling her weapon around, dragging a trail through the dirt as she stepped forwards. Lets see what counts for war.
Uhm okay? Gnome was a bit sheepish as she trotted after Metra, both of them moving with normal steps into the northside of the forest.
Guess this is where I leave, leave to up above, leave and throw thunderbolts like Zeus! Zeusia! Zeusphrodite! Audible Gasp! Can we legally change my name to Zeusphrodite? No, wait, Zeusphrodithor! Double the thunder, all the sexiness, all the thighs! Do I have nice thighs, John? It was pretty obvious who was currently forgetting their actual job.
You are mostly wasting EVERYBODYS time! Smander scolded mentally, John feeling his right hand lighting up in (to him harmless) mes in response. And if I dont get to light things on fire, neither do you, so keep your lightning to yourself!
B-b-but throwing lightning thats my favourite thing to do!
John knew how to solve this rather quickly, I will allow you to eat an entire bag of marshmallows if you do good in this battle.
WHOA, REALLY? Sylph suddenly saluted in the middle of the air. Okay, I am off, for the marshmallows! Her body was encapsted by electricity, and then she was already far above them.
Inparison to all of those shows, Nia and Beatrice leaving quietly, running at a moderate pace, was somehow boring. It was alsopletely expected, given those two and their personalities.
Left behind were John, wearing Smander, and Undine. There was a second reason that he favoured wielding the endme elemental over her blue sister today. All the wounded that came about during these fights, John doubted he had the luxury to stop for all of them. The ocean elemental had to be mobile to achieve this.
Meanwhile, John could use the extra firepower and, when joined, he and Smander had a far greater control over fire than she had alone. He was a focus for her often erratic mind. In return, she wasnt quite as destructive as when she was an extra body on the battlefield. It was like exchanging a napalm missile for a sniper round.
Speaking of round John thought and reached into his inventory, its finally time to give this thing a spin. His hand returned from his inventory window with a basketball sized sphere of a bronze colour. The surface, while shiningly smooth, was covered in trenches thinner than the stroke of a finely sharpened pencil. Through it, he was looking back at himself, Extension working like a charm. With an easy move of his arm, he tossed the item up a metre, where it reached the zenith of its rise and then stopped.
A flick of his thought activated an internal mechanism, enchantments that he had paid good money for working in tandem. A sound not unlike a startingputer reached his ears. The sphere expanded slightly, arcane light shining between the furthered gabs as the tes that made up the hull drifted apart, each of them shaped like a thick L. John was still unfamiliar with the process, so it took him a bit to stretch the tes even further away. He was using an entirely new limb, for all intents and purposes.
A secondyer appeared under the outside hull as the sphere expanded further, then a third. The dimensions of the thing became impossible to exin logically; the further the tes extended from the centre, a second, solid orb, therger they got. At the same time, more rows of metal than should have fit into the original sphere unfolded, each of them turning to their own speed and direction. It was a hypnotic sight, one John could take control over but chose not to, just like he seldom regted his own breathing. Viewed from the right angle, the entire thing had the feeling of a mand, which was why John had named it after that very same art style.
The Mand Sphere hovered on its own, guided by Johns will and propelled by its enchantments. Through the use of Extension and further Possession Slots, John had given it the ability to use a total of five of his spells, the total number of useful spells he had by himself. Mana Protection, Shardbound, Arcane Echo, Mana de and Arcana Strike, the first of which became active and put a blue hue around the sphere, extending slightly past the outermost circle.
Testing, John hovered his newest tool around, feeling its increased size. It was closer to the kind of ball used for gymnastics now, the bouncy kind kids liked to y with C except consisting of rotating, sharp edges and magical power, of course. Creating this thing had been a test of the skills of almost three dozen people. In an ideal world, Create could have supplied all the necessary forging, hardening, puzzling and enchanting, but John didnt even have the options for most of the enchantments and the more finely forged parts took up to several weeks to form with Create. Put simply, this was a work of crafting far above what he would be able to do without investing in some sort of crafting ss.
While he had no intention to do that, this was one of the things where he could instead pay to win, so it was all fine. All of that money had to go somewhere. Alright then. John was almost hesitant to send ahead the sphere as he walked into the forest. If it got destroyed, that was pretty direct mary damage. It was, however, also made as a tool of battle. Warfare is such a bad use of economic power, he grumbled. You are basically burning money and resources.
He had barely finished the sentence when a spell came for his head. A massive block of metal ground against Mana Protection, sending blue sparks flying as the arcane energy maintained its defensive tension. John raised his right hand andid it on the smooth surface of the square, pushing against it.
To his surprise, it didnt budge with just that. At a Strength of over 100, taking all the buffs into ount, he expected to be able to physically contest the metal control of a lot of mages. Was there someone of Lydias powerlevel around here? That would have made this situation a bit more difficult, since it called into question what John thought he knew about his opponents.
Now, lets not make hasty assumptions, there is another way to exin this, he thought and sent the Mand Sphere out to scan the perimeter, while he continued to fend off the continuously pushing block of metal through abination of brawn and mana regeneration. Since the Extension had a high level True Sight, it was uniquely outfitted for this task, better than John anyway.
John felt the magic under his feet a moment before the ground ruptured under him. Mana Protection was a shield against many things, including attacks from the dirt under his feet, but it didnt protect him from falling if the ground was suddenly torn away. He fell two metres, before the Mand Sphere finally revealed his assants.
A group of five people, all in the same, ck uniform, probably enchanted with a low level of invisibility, had the shroud ripped away from them. John didnt pay attention to their individual features, trying to get into the same mindset as he had at the battle of Warsaw. As long as he only saw the uniforms and not the people behind them, his punches would not be pulled. They would treat him much the same way.
Three of them moved in well-trained unison, the massive block of grey metal falling down on John like a hammer. Then the other two made the ravine as tight as possible, giving John only the reach of his shield to move in.
Clever, he had to admit, unable to dodge anywhere inside this cavity. They are using gravity to keep their own mana costs down while exhausting my protection. A central core of metal controllers, moving what would be impossible for each of them individually, supported by two earth mages. If John had been a typical arcane user, all he could have done was try his best to snipe them with his spells and then hastily free himself, all in the hopes of getting away from under the metal block before it broke through the barrier.
Well, John wasnt even the typical arcane user and even he was somewhat threatened by this development. The consistent pressure applied was actually eating at Mana Protection something fierce. This could have be a problem, since his defensives being tied to his mana pool made him reluctant to throw out Shardbound in return. It was a good strategy for a unit of less powerful Abyssals to tackle a single, more powerful enemy. Immobilization and exhaustion, two easy and effective steps.
Too bad John wasnt alone by any stretch.
Tendrils of darkness wrapped around one of the metal mages, pulling him into the shade of a tree, where sharp ws and a seductive smile were already waiting for him. Dont you deny my embrace, Siena beckoned sweetly when the man managed to stand his ground for just a moment. As a group formation, they were pretty good, but individually, they had little to raise in the way of resistance. The forest floor, covered in decaying bark and other nt matter, crunched under his feet and then the soldier lost his standing entirely.
Hisrades were unable help him. One of them was quickly hit by a whip of slimy water that threw him backwards, a second attack of the same kind hitting another in the side. Undines attacks werent damaging enough to take either of them out, but they were disruptive, and that was all John needed. The Gamers own mind was upied not only with heaving this metal block and throwing it away from himself but also, and mostly, with the guiding of the Mand Sphere.
It flew a curve through the trees, pulling tighter together to fit between two narrowly grown trunks. By sacrificing some of the power stored inside, the sphere elerated for a short burst. A light blue de, bordering on purple, appeared on one of the tes, quickly turning into a blur as the tes elerated in their spinning. The high-speed rotation turned the Mana de more into a mana chainsaw, cutting deep into their torsos.
Two lifeless, half-cut corpses fell to the floor, and John felt enough of the pressure vanish that he only had the giant weight to struggle with. With a small shout, he threw the heavy square to the side and pushed himself out of the hole. Do yourself the favour and keep lying there, John shouted at the two survivors. I am not out to kill you, but I will respond if you attack me again.
With that, he turned away from the fight, hoping that they would ept the warning. He had to will his gaze to only gloss over the red that was soaking into the dirt nearby. He had gotten five steps away, Siena and Undine both following him, when a flying rock hit Mana Protection. INVADER! TRAITOR! the man shouted after him.
John wished he could afford to spare them, could just walk away and let their attacks wash over his shield. However, doing that with every assant he encountered would soon mean that he had no protection left. Another thing he wished for was some sort of non-lethal takedown, like Nia had with her soul cutting. The best thing he had was the Mana de water variant that harmed a persons magic system, and that still came along with heavy arcane burns.
Purgatory ignited, reaching full stacks, whirling around, he flung the fireball right at his assant, who was hit in the chest and thrown backwards. As he rolled in the dirt, trying to get the fire out, his sole remainingrade came to help him. At least that one wasnt looking for a useless death, even though his eyes said he would continue fighting if he saw any use.
Neither of them was fighting now. John couldnt bring it past him to just execute those because that was the convenient thing to do. Do not follow me please, he requested and turned again. Just ept that you lost and leave. We are all too young to die.
Quietly, he went deeper into the ind, following the sounds of battle. His mind was steadily gathering information from everyone else.
Then Aclysia suddenly vanished from the radar.
Chapter 534 – Victory & Mouth 10 – The serving front [Aclysia POV]
Chapter 534 C Victory & Mouth 10 C The serving front [Aclysia POV]
Aclysia kept up with her cat-eared mistress. Although the white-haired maid was over two dozen levels higher, the different weighing of their Stats turned the Lightbearer into the faster of the two of them. To her side sprinted a small golden cat with copper stripes in his fur, Copernicus having manifested sometime on the way.
Not like ya toe out on your own, Cappy, Rave let her elemental know.
I wont fight unless you really need me, the sun cat answered, while jumping off a moss covered rock and right onto the thin branch of a young tree. But I havent slept in canopies for a while. This is what I am here for. You can fight your war, for all I care. Just do it quietly.
Youre such a tsundere, the Lightbearer giggled. Ya can say that youre worried about me.
All I am is concerned about my food source, Copernicus insisted.
Yeah, yeah, just be ready when I switch fighting styles.
Aclysia found the rtionship between Rave and her summon somewhat odd. The two of them didnt hang out a lot; entire days went by with Copernicus at best seen rolled up in some equal partsfortably and isted area of the yacht or apartment. Comparing that to the near constant interactions between John and the elemental girls or even John and Stirwin, steadily out for attention and snacks, didnt quite measure up.
Nevertheless, it seemed like those two had a functioning friendship, just one based on a respectful distance, Rave going into asional petting frenzies aside. Copernicus is much more a cat than Stirwin is a crocodile, the weaponized maid thought and continued to follow the two of them. She did not know where they were heading, but she trusted her mistress superior ears.
Rave turned her head slightly, suddenly jumping off the ground and against the thick trunk of a nearby tree. A momentter, Aclysia felt a bunch of small projectiles bounce off her skin, some kind of bullet, in all due likelihood. Nothing short of Baelementium would have even been a threat to her reinforced body from that very same metal. Worthless attacks, whose sources the white-haired servant spied quickly, only to see both of them get hit by a straight beam of light before her mistressnded on her feet again.
No time for you guys and gals, the Lightbearer shouted and continued running. Down a slope, Rave took a shot at some distant fighter, identifiable as an enemy thanks to theck of uniform. Abraham had more than just the governmental guard and his nephews branch of the military around; mercenaries had also taken to the field on his side. She hit, saving an ally from an untimely demise, but the brawl itself still continued. Solving that would have taken a few moments longer than Rave seemed willing to give.
The sound of an intense battle now also reached Aclysias ears. Although explosions, shattering and all manners of magical and physical noises could be heard all around, the area they were heading towards echoed with greater density. Metal was screeching, shouts of pain and the squelching of a body that exploded inside its armour.
They broke into a clearing in the forest. Not a natural one, it had to be said, that all of the trees that would have covered this space had only recently been toppled. The fresh colour of splintered wood and smell of sap mingling with the gore made this quite clear.
Greeted by the sight of somebodys life fluids exploding out of the gaps in their armour, Aclysia was relieved to find the person known for that sort of magic standing amongst a group of subordinates. COME ON, YOU COCKSUCKERS! Chemilia shouted, breathing heavily and covered in multiple wounds, many of them deep.
Her entire body was covered in blood, turning her pretty pink hair into a clumpy mess. Most of it wasnt her own, of that much Aclysia was certain as her internally exploded enemy broke down to the floor, his shining white armour useless against the goat-eyed general. She and her entourage were battered and bruised, many of them barely holding up on one leg.
I will show you medieval cosyers what for, she growled, pointing one fist at the two dozen knights still surrounding her. The governmental guard, a formation known for having armour as white as the house they were protecting, they were clenching swords, maces and shields, staying careful in sight of Chemilias fists. If they got hit often enough, their armour would mean very little.
There was another person to whom armour was a smaller concern. Rave lost no time, storming right into the battlefield at breakneck speed. Jumping, she was noticed at the veryst moment, a heavy maceing in her direction but missing when its wielder had a spinning kick delivered to the side of their head. Her martial arts caused a portion of the force to travel through the helmet unhindered. A quiet crack could be heard as the knights temple broke. The remaining impact threw his body to the side.
Aclysia was right on the follow-up, seeing several of the guards point their shields at Rave in something that didnt seem to qualify for a defensive motion. When the silver rim of the white surfaces began to glow with purple light, the weaponized maid knew for certain that they were about to use some sort of ranged attack.
From where she stood, a circle of white light expanded immediately. Each knight around her hit with it found the glow to stick underneath their feet and a sudden knowledge within their mind: attack thebat maid or be prepared to suffer the consequences. That took care of those immediately around her, but Rave had barelynded on her feet again and there were still several attacks about toe for her from multiple directions.
Aclysias dagger appeared in her hand, a cherished Christmas gift just as well used as a salver as it was as a weapon to support her loved ones. Her body suddenly sped up, Cutting Flurry boosting her Agility immensely as the three-hitbo propelled her body with each step. One, the dagger sliced through a mans armour from shoulder to waist like it was a piece of high-grade meat she was about to present to her master, the attack boosted further by Servants Strike. Two, the long katana that was Eclys appeared, a long-armed thrust prating another knights wrist, forcing him to drop the shield as his hand was crippled. Three, the massive Marath appeared and Aclysia fed it with her own lifeforce. Red energy burst painfully out of her forearms, seeping into the de as she twisted her body, pulling the de up in a long arc that ended above her left shoulder.
It had been a long road to give her enough Strength to wield this thing properly, but the result could not be argued with as a wave of crimson energy cut through the air, creating a diagonal dent inside the shield of a third knight. Despite all of those efforts, numerous beams of light still came for Rave.
However, the Lightbearer was very aware of her position, quickly lowering her entire body to the floor by stretching one leg out and resting her behind on the heel of the other, her pink bodysuit covered torso touching the dirt on the back. The attacks flew past her uselessly, hitting other knights instead. Rather than this being a mistake on the governmental guards part, it was a deliberate part of their strategy, however, the white light getting absorbed back into theirrades shields, who charged much quicker now.
Aclysia was attempting her best to intercede this second attempt as well, but came face to face with a guard equipped slightly differently. His armour was ornate with red and blue stripes and his shield had a surface shining like a mirror. Without as much as a thought, the weaponized maid moved in to immediately dispose of this hindrance.
The shield was raised to meet her overhead strike with the cleaver,rger than her entire body. Aclysias own reflection stared back at her, green eyes, white hair, a maid uniform her master had designed just for her and her sisters in creation. A part of her body, stained with blood. She didnt mind, just as long as she was useful to him. Time slowed to a crawl and her attack stopped.
Her will, more concretely, her connection with her master felt under assault. The distance between them became a weak spot, a fragile part for something else, something false, inserting itself. Suddenly, the connection to her master was gone and there was only this thing. Her mind struggled for just a few moments. Herck of Mental Stats, normally not a problem for her fighting style whatsoever, suddenly became a problem. Her mind simplycked the fortitude to resist this. For all the hardness of her body, her psyche was cracked open like an egg.
For how much I serve him, I should be his favourite, Aclysia saw her reflection say. Not Jane and her whims. What does she even provide? Love? Shelter? Nothing I cannot give him more of! The weaponized maid felt her arms slightly lower, holding the weapon limply. If only she wasnt there Aclysia felt as if her conscious mind was split, all but this poisonous envy was exorcised and sucked into the mirror surface.
NO! she shouted, uselessly, as her own body turned around and suddenly went to face her mistress. Raves eyes went wide when Aclysia suddenly assaulted her from behind. The heavy weapon that should have split this captain now caused a massive explosion of dirt, the Lightbearer dodging narrowly by pressing herself off the floor.
Relief and a despicable inkling of annoyance filled the maids mind upon this narrow miss. I would just have to ughter everyone around and Master would never have to know, she heard herself say. I can keep this secret from him, shelter my mind with the excuse that I dont want him to live through the trauma of seeing her die. Maybe it will break him, make him a broken shell. I could keep care of him forever then. He would need nobody but me.
I dont want any of that! Stop this! the real Aclysia, she hoped she was the real one anyway, shouted against her double, still in control of her body. Powerless, she banged against the inside of the mirror, as a dull eyed Artificial Spirit dismissed Marath in favour of Eclys, a weapon better at dealing with nimble opponents such as this pink-haired obstacle between her and John, HER John.
Shit, and here I was about to thank you for the assist, Chemilia growled as Rave came to a halt next to her. The fight stopped for a few moments, as the knights waited for Masters Shield to run out and allow them to concentrate their attacks again. The glowing shields were aimed and ready for a unified barrage. You took out four, but I get the feeling she is more dangerous than four.
Its Aclysia, she is more dangerous than most of thembined. The Lightbearer looked actually nervous and quickly put on her headphones as the knights took formation around their new, forced ally. We wont even be able to hurt her with most attacks; she is a walking tank. What is even happening? That girl would never backstab any of us!
That girl is a golem, right? Chemilia asked, hissing in pain when one of her wounds was ripped open again with a shift of her upper body. Little easier to mind control those, given the right tools.
Aclysia felt a lot of things in that short exchange. Pride for being acknowledged as a difficult opponent, trust in her loyalty and a sudden cursing of her own nature. Did this happen just because she wasnt a real person? Her ghostly fists continued to hammer against the ephemeral ss that kept her confined inside this shield. No, this is all wrong! I dont want to be against Jane!
If you didnt, you wouldnt be in here, her envy spoke, and her body began moving again. So quickly and surprisingly that her forced allies missed their beat to sync their barrage up with her attack. Chemilia barely managed to dodge and would have died guaranteed right there if it wasnt for the controlled maid focusing entirely on the pink-haired woman next to her. Rave dodged with urate movements, already well-versed in Aclysias fighting style. The many sparring matches they had with each other suddenly became a lot more important. This is all because she is around. Would you not love to be Masters favourite, instead of the eternal number two?
Yes, she would love that. She would love nothing more than that. To be with John, forever and always, paying attention to his every movement as he did for her. Minds intertwined and near inseparable. Lifelessly, she sat there and watched the fight unfold.
Their fight took ce at a speed nobody around them could hope to mingle in. Despite that, Rave and Aclysia were the focus of this battlefield, as much as standing in the vicinity of this blur of flying fists, des and light was a certain sentence of death. Dodging by nimbly throwing her head backwards, the Lightbearer curved away under Aclysias sword. Strands of her pink hair were separated by the silver-white katana.
Come on, Clysia, pull yourself together! Rave caught her backwards fall on her hands, then her sneakers suddenly collided with the maids chin. The attack and the subsequent ripple of golden light summoned by Copernicus blessing sent visible shockwaves out on the opposite side of Aclysias head, wavering like the air above a fire. The attack would certainly have sent a weaker opponents brain and body flying; the Artificial Spirit instead pressed the foot down with the strength of her neck. Green eyes filled with envy stared. So the good old beat her back to consciousness with the power of friendship shtick isnt working? Rave joked before trying her best to dodge the counterattack.
Her awkward position, almost doing a handstand in front of Aclysia, turned this into a difficult endeavour. Too difficult to dodgepletely, as the weaponized maid quickly exchanged her weapon for her dagger, catching Raves lower leg with the attack and cutting deep into the muscle. That was the entire wound, but it was a start at crippling the maids loved enemys superior mobility.
Girl, I cant just grow back together like you do! Raveined with a slightly nervous smile, her bodysuit closing back above the wound, keeping it pressurized and the blood loss at a minimum. This is no fun if ya dont banter back! the Lightbearer took her eyes off Aclysia for just one second, which was all the controlled spirit needed as an opening.
Cutting Flurry activated once more. Rave was unprepared for that sudden burst of speed, the weaponized maid now faster than her. The very first strike was sessful, Rave having to block the attack by letting the dagger sink through her palm. A sacrifice of one hand to protect herself. Through clenched teeth and pained groans, she used this bleeding grip on the weapon to guide Aclysias arm away, carried by the maids own momentum.
Sorry that I have to do this to your pretty face, Rave apologized, pushing her other hand right up to Aclysia face, the fingers stretched out. Incredible heat and blinding light hit her. Although resistant to fire, an excess of energy directly applied to her skin would still do damage. A point-nk burst of intense sunlight, such as this, was enough to turn her visage into a half-molten nightmare scene. Blind, deaf and unable to smell, Aclysia was in no position to capitalize on the other two swings of Cutting Flurry. Instead, Rave quickly moved on from this fight and charged the knight with the ss shield.
It didnt take a genius to guess that the tool Chemilia had mentioned was found in that object. Rave was already three metres away from Aclysia when her stride suddenly stuttered. A white light had appeared under her feet, onepelling her to turn around and keep fighting the maid. nting her foot on the ground yet again, the Lightbearer kept her charge and lunged towards the captain.
Rather than use his shield for what it was intended, the ornate knight moved his defensive tool away from the Lightbearer, giving Rave all the confirmation she needed. She continued her charge, even as the sweeping de of the captain travelled in her direction. It was about to cleave into the side of her face. Then the Lightbearer suddenly vanished.
She appeared again on the opposite side. Chaining one Ankle technique to the other, Rave went from the sessful Shift into a Drift, spinning her punching movement without a single move of her feet. Her gloved fist crashed into the mirror, spreading cracks through the entire surface. Not shattering it, however.
Taking a deep breath in, Rave regenerated as much of her mana as she could, but that was useless against the weaponized maid nowing for her again. Only her eyes restored inside her distorted face, Aclysia was about to deliver a strike with Eclys that would see the bonus damage of Masters Shield cleaving apart that same masters girlfriend.
Despite this, Rave smiled at the mirror, Oy, I smashed this thing, so how about you meet me halfway?
What a useless request, I wont stop now, I almost have what I want, the envious Aclysia stated.
Yes, she almost had what she wanted. She would be Masters favourite when Rave was gone.
Not for this price, the real Aclysia whispered, seeing before her what grim future would await her. A depressed John, who would refuse to rise from bed most days, a kitchen filled with silent guilt, the hole in every day as the whimsical leader of the harem was no longer there tough with them. Not on the life of the other people I love! Movement returned to her astral form and she pressed against the cracks.
The spirit of a lesser golem, even a broken shield might have been able to keep inside, but when the Artificial Spirit known as Aclysia refused to wear her damaged shackles anymore, the mirror shatteredpletely. As the silvered ss tumbled to the floor, the weaponized maid regained control over her body.
Her attack missed Rave by a hairs width, Eclys sending out a silver sh that cut through several trees. Creaking wood, tumbling to the forest floor apanied Aclysias words as she turned to the captain. How dare you twist my love for John into a weapon against my mistress? she asked in cold anger, striding towards the captain.
Knowing full well that he was entirely outmatched, the knight ceded ground step by step. Where do you think you are going? Chemilia asked with a wild grin from behind him. The battle hadnt turned into their favour yet, but the rebel leader stood in a very fortunate position at that moment. A simple punch into the mans open back sent him tumbling forwards. A desperate strike at Aclysia was easily reflected by the same, the knights one-handed sword flying away, his head soon doing the same in the opposite direction.
Just so we are clear! Rave announced, clenching her hurt hand, wrapped under her body suit like her other injury, I was holding back!
I understand, Jane, and I am very thankful, Aclysia took a small bow. You have earned yourself whatever I can give to you. Deeply sorry for the inconvenience.
Can you two keep the flirting for the afterparty?! Chemilia growled. We need to beat these assholes and find Ted. If I lose my husband a few hours after Imere, I will murder everyone.
Aclysia agreed with a nod, Certainly, and pointed Eclys at the remaining knights. Once the elite trio of women engaged, the tactics of the governmental guards changed drastically. Rather than continue their fight, they all attempted to leave the barrier. Arms were raised to the sky, ten of them fleeing sessfully with that simple motion. The others were stopped in their attempts by the gathered forces of Chemilia, Rave and Aclysia.
Tsk, the goat-eyed general let out the sound of annoyance, Fateweaver advantage, great.
Hey, at least we won this front, Rave looked at it positively.
There was an odd tug out of a sudden. Not on Aclysias sleeve or anywhere on her body in detail. It was just there, a constant pull on her very soul. She and everyone else around her all looked in the same direction. They felt that tug as well.
Like a ck hole torn into the fabric of magic.
Chapter 535 – Victory & Mouth 11 – The passive front [Beatrice POV]
Chapter 535 C Victory & Mouth 11 C The passive front [Beatrice POV]
The truth of the matter was that Beatrice had no strong feelings about the current situation. She felt like it was required of her to do so. Someone important had lost her life and that was sad, apparently. Now people were cornered and that was worrying, apparently. They could die and that would be terrible, apparently. Fundamentally, Beatrice got all of that, but she really couldnt muster any of the same emotional intensity that she felt re up from her master. Ever since the news of Imeres death had broken, there had been a raging fire, asionallypromising his usually calm thoughts. Inparison, she felt like the same block of ice as always.
What she did know, however, was that she wanted him to not be further saddened. This she was adequately certain about. A strange thing to have. A want, something that she could not let go without trying her hardest to attain it. Such a thing was normally missing from her mind, a void that she filled through whatever order given to her by someone else.
It made her wonder if she had always had this goal and it had just slumbered in her subconscious. Pretty likely, it was one of the fragments of Aclysia that was imprinted on her. Beatrice embraced it wholeheartedly, being like Aclysia did not strike her as a bad thing in most aspects. Her disability to keep her cool in certain situations aside, the eldest creation seemed content in her life.
Generally speaking, Beatrice valued her passivity. Although it made her feel somewhat alien at times, she didnt have the care to be burdened by that. It was liberating in an odd way. As long as she still had people to attach herself to. The more experiences she shaped, the more she became her own sort of person, the more the idea of just standing somewhere with no purpose became horrifying. The outside dictate didnt bother her, the idea to never have one again on the other hand, wasting away without any goal, that was something she was looking at with a bit of fear.
Shecked the capacity and, indeed, the patience to be envious of people who could dictate their own goals. Being told what to do was nice in its own way. Although she had never really known the alternative, so her opinion on the matter was rather uninformed. It was better to look at the words of others as guides than to just waste away emptily, that much she was pretty certain about. Didnt they have a word for that?
Term: nihilism, Beatrice found the correct one after racking her memories for a bit like aputer requested data from a hard drive. Definition: the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless. Personal opinion: invalid assumption, life has the meaning I ascribe to it. The happiness of those I deem worthy to order me.
The middle of a battlefield was probably an odd ce to think about all of this. However, it did make Beatrice feel a bit better. With an emotional range as stunted as hers, that shouldnt have meant too much, but in effect it felt like thest cog that her misshapen creation process had put into lockdown was finally oiled and the entire machinery was now ticking like the inside of a Swiss wristwatch. She felt whole in what she was, as stunted a thing as that had to be.
She kept following Nia, whose golden ponytail was currently curving through the air like a snake, despite them running at high speeds. As always, the pariahs hair was currently being yed with by whatever that odd creature in the nirvana was called again.
Beatrice could have passed her quite easily, but her order was to apany the nk, thus keeping her in the field of view was important. Thankfully, she had inherited her creatorsck of fear for pariahs, otherwise the knowledge that she wasnt too far from a being that could eradicate her from the spark of magic down to the extensions of her thoughts would have made her a bit nervous.
Their charge was defined entirely by the methodical speed at which they quietly progressed. This was what had given Beatrice all that time to think in the first ce. Nia was guiding them, the ck visor in front of her eyes, half-liquid and half-solid, oozing out of the roots of her hair, inbination with the silver lines on her back allowed her to track magic like no other. Her kind was famed for the anti-mage abilities and the Maiden of Null was the peak of this.
What she had focused on was a mystery to Beatrice. Sure, the passive maid could have asked, but they were heading to the same destination whether or not she did, so she didnt bother. One way or another, she found herself in a battle all of a sudden.
A sword wasing down on her head and she effortlessly knocked it aside with the Deathmetal spear. The design of the weapon didnt quite fit her ck and white maid aesthetic, with the red shaft and the entire skull decorations, and that genuinely bothered her. She would have much preferred a sleek and simple ck and white spear with a green gem in the handle to match her colour pallet.
The first person was still recovering from her countering effort when Beatrice was assaulted by two more. Their swords were rather odd, curved forwards and thicker towards the tip. She blocked both of them, one with the spear, the other with her bare hand. Sarcastic: congrattions, Beatrice spoke out as she got the confirmation that none of them could really hurt her. Your attacks deal less damage than I regenerate per second. I will now ignore you. Please flee or else perish. You have thirty seconds to decide. She lowered her spear and just stood there as they came to attack her all at once. Addendum: everything after the congrattions was not sarcastic. Countdown running.
While she was being battered by inconsequential attacks, her green eyes danced from one person on the battlefield to another. Their ce of battle was defined by nt matter that had been manipted as weaponry and then discarded, leaving overgrown brambles and twisted trees everywhere. In the shade of distorted canopies and a ceiling of thorny bushes fought two groups easily discernible. One was uniformed and wore weapons that were if not all the same then at least all designed with the same themes, making them easily distinct from the rough tumble of outfits and weaponry that the group of presumed mercenaries represented.
Her active thoughts were creating a profile of the objectives she had to fulfil here to act in ordance to her masters wishes. Four factions of interest, she analysed mentally once she had scanned the situation deeply enough. Ordering actions to be taken by importance: first, ensure Nia Faes survival. The nk had not stopped as the passive maid had, instead moving right into the fray. Her weapons of solid ck cut through bodies without leaving wounds, only making her victims copse on the spot. Second, ensure general Teds survival, Beatrice had located the man fighting with his back against a wall one of the nt maniptors must have made, vines switching control back and forth andshing on anyone in range. Third, assist in the survival of as many allied troops as possible. Fourth, eliminate as many enemy troops as possible. Targets acquired. Beatrice suddenly began moving again, noticing that the three people around her had indeed vanished.
Some people still had enough brain cells to not fight the thing they couldnt even hurt. Beatrice felt that humans were usually stubborn enough that this was amendable trait. Although her order of importance put Nia on the top, the nk was fending quite well for herself as of that moment, therefore it was on Beatrice to put urgency first and go protect Ted.
As easily said as it was done. The passive maid simply started running and didnt stop until she reached her target. Too quick for anyone to stop her, she simply weaved through attempted strikes. Only one person was standing directly in her path. They found themselves without a throat a blink of movementster, Beatrice thrusting her spear in full sprint and using Unsteady Limb to pull it back almost instantaneously. It lost her barely any momentum and only a few secondster did she sheathe her weapon in the spine of another mercenary.
Please allow me to alleviate your problems, Beatrice courtly announced her arrival. Through a pull of her spear, she lifted the assant off the ground and used him as a half-living projectile against one of hisrades right of her. Left of her, she made quick work by severing yet another throat with a simple thrust. A killing technique as boring as it was effective. Common courtesy requires that I offer the following question: are you alright?
Ted was stripped down to the ck full-body suit thaty under his usual generals attire. Even that was covered in tears, and his right biceps looked like it had been chafed away, almost to bone. It was a rather disgusting disy of torn muscle fibre, exposed to the air. Yes, he still answered.
Opinion: that is a lie, Beatrice observed, tilting her head a little bit as Twist Position carried her two metres to the left, the dull end of her spear crashing into the guts of a person that tried to be sneaky, only to then be ended by a spear tip to the heart. Observation: modern society says men should be more honest about their feelings. My personal feelings about that are inconclusive, but I feel like you should know. Reason: people that are fine do not need to be sent to the healer. Are you fine?
No, Ted admitted the second time.
Beatrice nodded rather robotically, fending of ashing vine by cutting through it close to the base. Update on answer received. Will send for healing aid. Mentally reaching out to her creator, she informed him about the situation. May Undine be sent over here?
Sorry, not right now, John answered rather quickly. Youll have toe to me.
Understood, Beatrice answered, noting theck of connection to Aclysia. Normally, John allowed them to use his mind tomunicate with each other by proxy. Evidently, things were happening all over the ce. State of affairs: Undine is not currently avable for travelling. I will therefore have to carry you to her.
I can walk, Ted grumbled, standing tall despite his many injuries.
I mean carry in the sense that I will have to do all the work, Beatrice exined in her semi-robotic tone of factuality, turning around. She was about to begin the leaving process when she saw the happenings on the battlefield. Addendum: well have to stand our ground until that fight resolves. Otherwise I risk being deleted.
The battlefield had turned from a bunch of individual skirmishes into everyone avoiding Nia. The distinction between ally and enemy was forgotten, all trying to get away from the nk, instincts overtaking logic as she fought and used her powers, sending them all into alienated scrambles. The choice of her opponent only reinforced this.
Wearing simple clothes fitting for a summer day, jeans and a shirt, was a woman of twenty, with pale white skin and ck hair. Like Nia, she wielded a weapon of non-existence, a pitch-ck sword with a straight de and no guard. Despite it being double-edged, the woman pressed her palm into the back without cutting herself, slowly pushing Nia down, who blocked only with the curved de in her left.
So, they call YOU the Maiden of Null? the fellow pariah asked. The grinding of their des caused not a single sound, only a slowly growing tear in reality. Unravelling the Illusion Barrier itself, their sh left behind only a gap that looked like someone had dragged an eraser over that spot in Beatrices field of view. Guess I will have a fancy new title once I am done with you!
Nia thrusted hernce at her enemys abdomen, who took a quick step backward and just out of range of the sleek weapon. You can have the title, the blonde nk spoke in her emotionless tone. I didnt pick it.
Where is the fun in just getting something? came the answer with a wide grin. You are Nia Fae. Its only fair that I introduce myself as well. I am Rime, pleased to make your acquaintance. She grabbed the handle of her de with both hands and pulled it aside her body, NOW DIE! A lunging step forwards, the tip of her unforged sword ripped through the air and added yet more damage to the world around them. Nia blocked wordlessly, then a back and forth began.
This was exactly why Beatrice didnt want to move. All her avable paths sent her through that zone of engagement, and with the uncontrolled waves of magic eradication flying around, she would not risk it. The alternative route was to try and cut through the brambles, but whatever magic had created them still kept them healthy. Even if she managed to cut her way outside, the risk that they would close around Ted behind her was too great.
Rime and Nia were like two styles of dancers shing to the same beat. Nia was moving elegantly and with precision. No wasted movements, just a steady flow of parries, dodges, counter-attacks and her own initiatives. Rime on the other hand was a relentless forward, always continuing to do something, much more like a dance at the club than in the ballroom.
When Rime missed another one of her attacks to Nia dodging with a narrow, calcted margin, the hired pariah clicked her tongue. By the empty one, your fighting style is ugly, she stated, standing idly to chatter for a moment. Surrounded by white tears in the air, Rime shook her head, You are just running, how fucking dumb is that?
Nia straightened her back and stared for almost ten seconds. Simply stared. Her blue eyes were trying to pierce deep into her enemy, at least thats what it looked like from the outside. Then she opened her mouth. You are annoying me.
Well that makes two of u- Rime stopped in her mocking response when the tears in the fabricated reality of the Illusion Barrier began to expand, like drops of watery paint on a piece of paper. What the fuck? Even though she was a nk herself, Rime could not believe it when she realized that Nias seeping anti-magic was the cause of this.
The barrier eroded into apletely white space around her. Only ck outlines indicated where things were, like a sketch made with a charcoal pen. In that nothingness was a creature. Made entirely fromyers of white and very light greys, it was a thing with four crooked legs, that only became even in their length when it stopped ying with Nias hair. It had five eyes, or something like eyes at the very least. Orbs that were stered irregrly over its triangle shaped head, with slits that moved within. Horn and shapes that could have been ears were located between in no logical formation. It looked two-dimensional, no shadows falling over any of its features, even as it opened its maw, rowed with liquid teeth that stuck together like molten rubber, and cried like a mixture of crow and toad.
There were more things about the thing, but Beatrice couldnt keep her eyes focused. Everything in that direction became blurry, a high-pitched sound ravaged her ears, and there was a constant pull on her soul as if it was about to be ripped out. Lesser golems utilized by mercenary and army alike began simply falling apart while weaker fighters bled from the eyes after staring too long.
Thest thing Beatrice really saw before closing her eyes to save her psyche from copsing was Nia reaching up and petting the enormous cat-like abomination. It is just a Nevrest. She heard Nias voice in her ears like through a badly adjusted microphone.
It isnt the reason for my ah, whatever, Rime sounded a lot happier now. You have something interesting to show after all, Maiden of Null! It sounded like the two of them were fighting more. Beatrice honestly wished they would stop. Nia seemed to be more gifted in their otherworldly craft, but her opponent was physically more able. Those two strong nks made it impossible for anyone else around to do anything. Something of a powerlevel equal or higher to the two of thembined had toe along and also not be entirely based on magic. Basically, only somebody like John could intervene right now. Until one of them won, this front would be aplete stalemate. They would just have a duel in this rift of magic.
And in the distance, Beatrice heard a giant explosion.
Chapter 536 – Victory & Mouth 12 – The zapping front [Sylph POV]
Chapter 536 C Victory & Mouth 12 C The zapping front [Sylph POV]
Pew, pew, pew, pew! Sylph audiblymented as she dodged the spells flying her way. Everyone was so tense up here, looking at her unappreciatingly as she flew by and made funny faces at them. Rx, big nosey, I am just here to look around, look there and over there and over there and over there and OH NOES!
Someone tried to throw an air sickle at her and she did an electric jump to the side. That she found immensely rude. All she was doing here was chatting it up; John hadnt even told her to fight. If they wanted it so badly, though, Sylph waspletely fine with showing them her own awesomeness.
The sky around here was filled with funny people and even funnier things. People that could fly naturally were a sought rarity in the Abyss. Yeah, sure, there was an arcane spell that allowed mages to fly and an ankle technique that allowed martial artists to walk on air, but both of those cost immense amount of mana. It was much better to just have an Innate Ability that allowed people to im the sky. There were a lot of shapes that took.
Sylph zoomed at the person who had tried to attack her. Moving at top speeds was funny since she had evolved into Tier 4. She had her little trick to fill her body with lightning when she had been a tempest elemental, that boosted her speed for short bursts. It had be the norm now; her body now did it on its own. She was super-fast all the time, she loved it. If she moved REAAAALLLYYYYY fast, her body even dissolved and became just a streak of electricity, reforming immediately when she stopped. That was an interesting tingling feeling.
Only drawback: it made guessing distances travelled a bit hard sometimes. Hey, you are being whoops! she talked to the air, having overshot her target by about two metres. Zooming backwards, refusing to look behind her out of principle and because flying without seeing was fun, she found herself about three metres before the woman. Give me a second I can figure this out! she promised the enemybatant, who was making swimming motions to stay in the air.
Looking equal parts confused and afraid about what he had aimed at, the soldier of Matthews army regiment could do nothing but wait for the thunderstorm elemental to do as she had said. Fleeing from the little goofball was impossible.
Flying at a diagonal, Sylph managed to stop a mere few dozen centimetres away from her goal. Haha! she triumphantly chirped. I almost have it! Just a little jump now and she found herself the same distance away, just on the other side. Elderberries and wobble-herbs! she said something with the intent of cursing. Evil words, very evil words, I dont want to say any so just insert some here with your mind powers, okay? she requested when the exact same thing happened again. With puffed up cheeks, she gave up on the zooming effort and instead goose-stepped through the air and up to where she wanted to be C right in front of the womans face. Boop! Sylph touched her on the nose with her tiny index finger.
The womans hair turned into a huge ball, like a dandelion ready to lose its seeds. Fainting, she fell towards the ground. At first Sylph found that funny, then she remembered that people died when they hit the floor from several dozen metres high.
Whoopsie! the fairy-esque elemental stormed after her shocked victim and flew in tight curves around her. Generating an upwards breeze, Sylph slowed her fall to the point where she got stuck in some canopies without any further harm. There you go, be a good girl and keep sleeping, and I am going to oh my mother, my marshmallows! Whatever she had even tried to say, it was suddenly swept away as she suddenly remembered that promise. If I melt them over Sallys hair, how would those taste? Would she let me? I think she would, I am adorable and she likes me, even though she is a bitch sometimes then again, she was pretty mad after the candy cane ident. Picking all that sugar out of her hair was sooooooo annoying! WAIT! She is almost bald now! AUDIBLE GASP! BALDAMANDER! I can call her Baldamander! I am a genius! A total ge-
Her words were interrupted by a stinging pain in her back. A projectile the size of a needle burrowing itself into her body of magically inspirited air. Given her size, she might as well have been hit by a spear. With her Endurance, that bit of damage was immense.
Immediately, Sylph moved. She made a little jump upwards, spying a swarm of thin magic missiles. It was hard to discern how long they were, the white projectiles drawing long trails after them in the air. Rather than shoot off into the distance, they flew wide curves and came for the air spirit again.
That hurt, that was so mean, who does that?! Sylph pvered as she took off. The needless were aiming for her but slower than she was at top speed. Flying high into the air, she was quickly met by a second, then third swarm, however. She had only short moments between jumps to find the source of this precise spellcraft.
It was a fortress in the sky. Well, fortress was a big term for the object, but Sylph was a small girl, so it fit from her perspective. Forged mainly from cogs and steam pipes, the colours of copper and polished steel, it was a marriage between a medieval tower and steampunk. Four balconies set around the circr walls of ticking cogs and on them stood mages in dark green robes. Three of them were casting magic, the fourth oversaw the entire operation. A blue hue around the entire thing betrayed the existence of an arcane shield.
One of the mages finished his preparations and flung another wave of the needles at Sylph. They seemed designed specifically to take out fast moving, low health enemies with homing, low damage but highly precise attacks. That is so mean! I say, so, so, so suuuupeeer mean! Like putting a jpeno in a gummy bear levels of mean! Sylphined.
All she felt was bullied. Not that that stayed for long. Whimsical as always, the thunderstorm elemental twirled out of the way of a swarm of needles and then began the deadly game of tag. Elegant streaks of white chased after a jaggedly flying fairy of thunder and wind. Across the sky, imed by mages of professional hired battle life, Sylph bolted from one point to another.
A direct approach was impossible. Flying towards the fortress meant she had to go through a swarm. One needle had already hurt. A lot. With her low Endurance, getting caught by an entire wave would be a death sentence.
White both left and right of her. A jump backwards, a third spell from below, forcing her upwards. Throwing out a massive gust of wind did nothing to deter the magical projectiles. Sylph zapped over to an enemybatant. Sorry, but can you stay still for a sec? she asked, speaking as if somebody had put a movie on double speed. See, I got this situation and so I need a bit help of somebody who has a broad, broad back and you seem to have a broad, broad back. Hope you dont mind, but then again, you are the enemy of John, so you minding isnt exactly a thing I should worry about, you catch me? I think you catch me. Dont think Ill have the time to catch you though.
Who what the hell are you even on about? the mercenary asked the tiny spirit in front of him. Before he could get any answer, his back was hit with a bunch of spells that couldnt redirect themselves around him fast enough. As he fell out of the sky, Sylph moved again. New swarms were steadily added to the chasing number of projectiles.
Nevertheless, Sylphughed. This was kind of fun. Dangerous, sure, very dangerous, but she had to really strain herself to keep dodging and that was unusual exercise. Her flight took her all across the sky. Every sessful dodge of a new attack was a greater swarm behind her.
A critical mass was eventually reached, with older spells fizzling out from the energy they consumed in travelling the distance. Still, she was being followed by a massive trail of white, like a magical jet engine leaving behind glowing condensation clouds, that also chased her. The metaphor fell apart a bit, but it looked pretty cool in her opinion.
I feel like one of those giant robots in that show that Raver-Janer likes that GUNS DAAAAAMN thing. No, wait, that wasnt the title of that show, Sylph pvered as she zoomed off the side. Circling around the fortress, she approached it like a meteorite caught in orbit. The closer she got to the source of the needles, the narrower the dodges became. One mistake and she would be done for.
Finally, close enough tond some good hits, she unleashed a barrage of lighting strikes. They arched out of her dissolved form and danced over the surface of the shield. Where they hit, the barrier lit up in an azure blue. She just had to keep circling and keep up the electronic pressure, sooner orter the shield would fall, and then she could destroy this sky fortress.
No more needles came. Something that she noticed just a few moments toote. A st of energy went into her direction, too quick and broad to be dodged effectively. It catapulted her back, tumbling through the air. All the space she had covered was lost, her body subject to some rather immense damage.
Her essence was ripped at the seams. The hole in her back her essence had managed to patch no problem, but now parts of her were drifting off like a heavy gas in winds. By the time she finally restored her bnce, her left arm was nothing but tattered scraps of energy, barely holding together, her hips and chest losing small fragments at the sides, and her long, light green hair became a blur past the hips, like an unfocused image.
Ow, ow, ow! she mumbled and saw the enemies once more charge their ranged spell. This is so mean, she cried. I wanna eat gummy bears and roll in biscuits. I wanna getid. Repeatedly! I dont wanna get hurt. Getting hurt is no fun! She tried to pull herself together, but baring healing or having time to rest in an incorporeal state, she would take a while to get her bodyplete again.
The fortress mages were ready, byparison. The first new wave of needles came. Sylph jumped to the side. Barely. Then the second. A couple of the white projectiles shaved along her legs, causing her essence loss to worsen. She was too hurt now to fly at her full speed. Going incorporeal wasnt an option; in the fading time she would simply be killed.
She would fail John and everyone else. That was the sober reality that hit her when thest wave of needless came her way. No! I reject that reality, I dont like it! she thought, growing restless at her own inability. I refuse, I refuse, I refuse, I say, think, whatever! I wont fail; damnit, Sylph, you have one job! DO IT!
The negative emotions, the connotations of failure, the self-aimed disappointment, it pushed the boundary of her body and unleashed her. A sudden, destructive surge of power took hold of her. The dodge that seemed impossible a moment ago was suddenly childs y. Three swarms were surrounding here and all three she dodged with two jumps. The sounds of the battlefield no longer reached her, her mind was silent, pure focus. She had one target. One target alone. The fortress had to fall.
A female form made from lightning rose in the sky, turning around herself. She grew up to her human size, pulled back her arm. Her entire, unsteady form glowed intensely. Quickly, the light seeped from her limbs and body, concentrating all in the raised right. A rod of lightning manifested, crackling power, all of what she had. The quiet was reflected in her wide open eyes, amber in the electric blue that had reced her normal form. Her arm snapped forwards. Like the god of thunder himself, she delivered the wrath of the heavens.
The shield struggled for a second, then was depleted of its remaining mana. The bolt struck the fortress and turned the entire thing into onerge conductor. All mages were equally hit by the voltage, their perceived securitying to a sudden and shocking end. Their concentration broken, the needles about to catch-up to the unleashed thunderstorm elemental ceased to be, fizzling out.
The mages jittered from the electricity forcing their muscles to contract and be loose. All bodily control was ceased. It kept dancing within the metal for far longer than any normal electricity would stay. Then, something short-circuited. A chain reaction was unleashed, the immediate effecting to the forefront in arge explosion that filled the sky with flying cogs and the purple mist of destroyed arcano-tech.
A scrap of metal flew closely by the empty faced air spirit. One blink and her unleash ended, her body slowly changing back into its damaged but human state. I I did it! Sylph realized, ready to do some happy jumps. The strange quiet that had grabbed hold of her mind disappeared, leaving the cheerful air spirit to celebrate her victory. I am the best, Sylph is number one And with just a single, one-armed jump of jubtion, her burst of power imed its price. Is all going very dark she mumbled, no longer having the power to stay in the air. Cant be eyes in the sky She fell, her body once more losing more of the magical essence that kept it together. Slowly, she disintegrated. Sylph is numberst dammit
The fighting continued elsewhere. She, however, perceived nothing anymore. Her body became undone in blueish, green fragments of energy. Her consciousness became nothing, lulled by cold darkness. A ce, perhaps more of a concept, of no thoughts and no words where she had to dwell until revived. Her first visit to that darkness, it was a trip apanied by a giggle of stranger things. They, or perhaps it, was unable to touch her but they could see her misery just fine. Their many-eyedughter she wouldnt remember.
An elementals small death.
Chapter 537 – Victory & Mouth 13 – The wrathful front [Gnome POV]
Chapter 537 C Victory & Mouth 13 C The wrathful front [Gnome POV]
Protect this guy, would you? Metra requested from the earth spirit and rose from Terkals mangled form. It was a miracle that he was even alive; almost every inch of skin was iled from his body, leaving only raw fat and muscles to the eye, with a whole bunch of blood covering that. Doubtlessly, it was the parts of beasts that had reced thenky guys usual body that made him this resilient despite the heavy blood loss.
Gnome had guided them to a ce heavily shaken by explosions. Quickly, they had found the main fortress, a pentagon shaped wall surrounding a bunch of facilities, all burning or otherwise heavily damaged. Terkals forces were alreadypletely annihted or dissipated at this point, the general about to be executed by Matthew. Thats when Gnome had erected a teau under him and Metra jumped in. A small skirmishter, and they found themselves in the current situation. The two of them around the barely alive general, a few metres above the usual floor versus fifty enemybatants, surrounding them.
The loyalists sole general and nephew of Abraham was wielding an unorthodox weapon. From an immensely long shaft of a simple brown wood dangled numerous chains the dark gold colour of brass. Each link was a little edge in itself, the sides sharpened and reflecting the colours of the rainbow like the surface of oil-stained water, and they all ended in des the size and shape of great white teeth. Unlike the links, whose colour indicated that they were made from pure Elementium, those small tips had the silvery white of Mithril. Fresh blood was dripping from the masterly crafted il, the source of the crimson obvious.
Metra rolled her neck with a smile on her face. I am going to do what I am best at.
Unless that is getting out of our way, I highly rmend you dont even try, Matthew stated, his words backed up by the fifty soldiers in formation by his side. That they formed a perfect circle around the two girls teau was a testament to their drill. That guy is going to die anyway. Now orter, you cant save him without a healer.
That was a likely truth. Undine was currently unavable. Terkals fate was sealed. Unless
Gnome extended a hand towards the ground and dug into the soil. Even from her heightened position, she could still feel the forest itself. I will protect him, if you protect me, the earth spirit told Metra, her brown eyes meeting Metras gaze with conviction.
A broad grin appeared on the berserker babes face. I like the firmness there, cuddle rock, Metra stated, as segments of dark grey metal began pushing out of her skin around her spine. Ill do my best to distract them, but with these many opponents, youll have to do some work yourself. Very quickly they multiplied over her body, with dark red lines peeking through the gaps when she moved, a few decorative ones even winding over the surface in a jagged fashion.
In its entirety, the armour looked somewhat futuristic, due to the tightly knit segments and overall sleekness. Short spikes were covering the pauldrons and the helmet, the gauntlets lightly wed. Metras face vanished under the grey segmentations, from her chin to the eyes, a green glow out of two tiny pitch-ck holes taking their ce.
BRING IT, SOLDIERS! SHOW ME WHAT COUNTS FOR WAR THESE DAYS! she howled, her voice metallically distorted. The halberds two crescent des twinkled dangerously in the evening sun as Meta crouched down and thenunched herself at the general. Immediately, Gnome erected an even taller wall around herself. The sound of retaliation attacks rung out against the stone, but she was already closing her eyes again.
Come on, you trained with this before, she mumbled keeping one hand in the dirt and another on Terkals body. Although this was just a copy of real soil, for the purposes of her magic, the matter inside of an Illusion Barrier was just like the real thing. There were very few differences in the first ce.
Being what she was now, Gnome could extract some power out of her surroundings. Grasnds were easier to shape, making it cheaper to move the earth from a mana perspective. Deserts fuelled her destructive power, boosting Strength and Endurance. Tundras allowed her some control over ice. They had tested all of this when she had gotten her new Tier. Forests, however small they were, were a concentration of life and gave her healing capacities.
They were nowhere near what Undine could do, but enough to give an unconscious man first aid. Life force pulsated through her, a pleasantly fuzzy, warm feeling, and exited again as a green shimmering around her hand that became a glow. Once the pull was steady, she allowed herself to open her eyes, confident enough that she could keep it going.
Very slowly, the wounds closed. Bits of iled off skin regrew, then fur grew over that as Terkal was restored not to his human shape but this werewolf like creature he currently was, although his arms reminded more of bears and his legs of a very muscr goat.
The hammering against the walls she had made continued. Distantly, she was aware of the vibrations of the fight outside. Heavy strikes from Metra and her enemies. The soil elemental had honestly expected that Metra would just wipe the floor with all of them, but the army core or Matthew must have been a formidable force.
Gnome concentrated on her healing. Even if she jumped in to help, all she would do was rip Metras bonus strength from her. The First of Wrath only got stronger from her anger as long as she fought alone, that was the rule of her power. It was best she did this and then tried
Loud cracks echoed when the armoured body of the berserker babe crashed right through the wall that Gnome had put up. At thest moment, she managed to shield the head of Terkal with her own body. A falling chunk of stone wasnt that bad for her health. Whew, this is more fun than I thought! she heard Metra say behind her.
The grey-armoured woman got right back on her feet and stood in the hole. Outside, the army core was retaking position. They had realized by now that they wouldnt get through the walls by just attacking them. Gnome would just rebuild them whenever they had chipped away at them considerably.
You arent half bad, youngster! she added. Her armour was covered in dirt and dust, but there were only a couple of scratches on the surface.
And what even are you? Matthew returned, holding up his il. This is hardened Mithril, yet I cant shave away this armour of yours! The only material out there that should be strong enough to achieve that is Astrotium.
Congrattions, you guessed right, Metra remarked sarcastically and then jumped right at the general. Ripping down with the force of her jump, Qiada was quickly blocked not by Matthew alone, but by four of his subordinates lending their strength as well. Swords ground against the sandalwood coloured shaft of the halberd at numerous points.
Together, they managed to throw her back. The ancient weaponnded below the hole. Gnome was unsure whether she wanted to close it or keep knowing what was going on. As long as Metra was there, they didnt seem willing to try their luck at going at it again. A couple of bodies in the ground gave ample reasons to the why.
The tes around Metras head parted and revealed her grinning face. Sooo, what do you think I am knowing that?
All I think is that Newman must have some pretty powerful backers if he managed to create an Artificial Spirit with Astrotium inside, Matthew returned. Guess that exins how someone that young got into such a position. No achievements of his own, all carried by bigger figures.
With every word of the general, the smile on the ancient weapons visage changed into something ruthless and deeply bothered. What the fuck did you just say, whelp? The question was met with Matthew swinging his weapon as quick as he could. The chains of his weapon bent over the entire five metre distance, about to hit the ce the blonde had exposed.
With ridiculous speed, Metra caught all five strands of sharpened metal with a swipe of her left hand. What? the enemy general felt the ground slide under his feet as he was dragged one turn around the ted womans palm closer. Her strength was irresistible. DONT JUST STAND THERE, I AM KEEPING ONE ARM OCCUPIED, CHARGE!
Four soldiers immediately obeyed the call. Their discipline was remarkable, but in the face of Metras green glowing eyes, it meant nothing. Let me guide you all the berserker babe growled, meeting the two of them approaching her from the right with a ruthless swipe that transformed them into four pieces. to the afterlife!
It urred to Gnome at that moment, that the only reason why this fight hadnt been decided already was that Metra had been enjoying herself. In other words, there was nothing for her to be angry about. She wasnt losing, her armour made her untouchable, and neither did she want this to be over too quick. Now, however, Matthew had stepped on some sort ofndmine.
Metra tossed Qiada with as much force as she could into the opposite direction of her assants charge. They were trying to hack at her head with swords. One of them found the massive thorn at the tip of the halberd burying through the back of his skull. The other was blocked by the taut chains of his generals weapon, Metra continuing to pull as if Matthews grip wasnt even on the other end.
Thest soldier of the charge saw hisrade fall over with a deeply confused look on his face. A momentary distraction that cost him his life. A hand d with the hardest material in existence was rammed into his ribcage, and his heart ripped from its proper ce a momentter. Metra tossed it away without care, the portal through which Qiada had found its target closed.
So, let me school you on a few things, Metra tilted her head with her grin now nothing but bloodthirst. In a motion dreadfully calm for a person this clearly filled with wrath, she kicked the still standing corpse of thest soldier so that it fell away from her. The ground around her feet was quickly turning into bloody mud. First, I wont let you, a fucking blue-blooded bureaucratic appointee, shittalk my current master, just because you are a little bit strong and uncle gives you nice TOYS! At thest word, she ripped back her arm and finally pulled the il away from Matthew, who reached after the weapon, well knowing that he was immensely less powerful without it.
Looking at it for a few moments, the berserker babe dropped the weapon without any further regard for it. The chain links shrunk down to their normal size, leaving a masterly crafted il soaking in the mud. Gnome was just happy that Terkal was out of immediate threat to bleed out, because the overwhelming presence of the ancient weapon made it hard to think. It was like the air was trying to choke her, a basic fear felt at something much stronger.
And your second mistake, Metra gripped Qiada and cleanly pulled it out of the corpse''s grey matter, was to even insinuate that my current master could have created me C the guy doesnt even want to be a king. Us Metracana and by extension Sargons aplishments being forgotten by you fuckheads, she angled her elbow for a wide arched swing, just PISSES ME OFF!
Matthew had the right idea about what was about to happen, quickly jumping to the ground as Qiadas de appeared out of thin air next to him. What are you?! the general asked, his voice now erratic and high-pitched. Doubtlessly, the man had seen some fights in his days, but there was a stark difference between fighting a hard battle and one against an invincible enemy that could hit him from anywhere.
Metra began a slow stride towards him. Although her attacks were impressive, Gnome knew that her mana reservoir was rather limited. Attacks of the dimensional tearing variety were some of the costliest spells out there, their potency more than making up for it. Since this fight was already decided by the fact that none of the other soldiers even dared to move as she approached their general, who stumbled and fell over.
PROTECT ME, YOU IDIOTS! Matthew screamed, and one of the soldiers, a blood-covered female, actually moved a foot. That was all the trigger Metra needed. In less time than it took for the military woman toplete her step, the berserker babe had rammed her hand through a portal and grabbed the soldier by the cor.
The woman was pulled towards Metra with immense force. As her body was too big to fit through the portal, she just flew through it as if it was air. Gnome had somewhat expected her middle part to be cut out and exit at the other end of the portal as a bloody pulp, but such abuses were not on the menu. Thankfully, the soil elemental really had enough gore for today.
Not that what actually happened was pretty. Metras hand dragged with such force that, even as it returned past the portals rim, the female soldier didnt manage to stop her own momentum. For all intent and purposes, she flew right into Metras de, Qiada cutting her open from shoulder to hip.
Thats one of the sentences that pisses me off no matter who says them, Metra turned back to the backwards crawling general, now just a sorry figure. They say people with grey hair have dignity in my opinion, you can all be the same cowards. The tip of her halberd dragging a trail, first over dirt, then through the asphalt of the way between two ruined military buildings, the ancient weapon continued, I wont let you die any dumber than you obviously are, so let me tell you. I am the first Metracana, Metra. Mother Chaos gave me the title First of Wrath, but the people of Akkadia and of all the empires I served in after had a different title for me Matthew raised his hand in an attempt to exit the barrier, onest hope immediately vanquished when a thrown Qiada ripped it clean off. Breaker of Armies. Metra reached the now screaming man and put a foot on his throat. Not that you will ever know the true reason of that. I say I was sessful in breaking yours even without the Entropy Arena.
His neck was broken with a crunching stomp.
Chapter 538 – Victory & Mouth 14 – The battle’s centre
Chapter 538 C Victory & Mouth 14 C The battles centre
John stepped out of the forest and onto a central za. The fact that there were no pathways leading up to it meant that this barrier predated the building of the real-life counterpart of it. Does this put the barrier at over a hundred years of age then? John wondered. Given that DC was the capital and poption centre of the Little Marnd, it wasnt too surprising that a barrier on a tactical spot this close to the White House had been in ce for this long.
Indeed, the fact that there was a monument here at all was more surprising, since the barrier so clearly preceded the erection of the Theodore Roosevelt memorial that should have been standing around there. To be fair, therge statue of tarnished copper was presenting someone John didnt know, as he approached the za, following him sighting arge gathering of people there. Aclysia was still missing from his mental connection, so that was slightly worrisome, but he didnt have the time to investigate. Although this was a cleaner cut than he was used to, he was still paying the usual mana cost for her, so he had no reason to believe she had perished.
If she had, he would have approached the za in a less calm fashion. Especially once he spied the short, broad man in his suit, standing at the foot of the za. John recognized Abraham first, although the flowing water elemental at his side made him an easily identified target. The president walked towards him in a calm fashion.
And the great traitor shows himself, Abraham spewed the second John was in shouting range. I have topliment you, I did not expect you to be this ruthless.
You can drop the act, the Gamer returned, ncing towards the remaining people. John had to assume that the president was the strongest member of his guild; the fact that he was here, guarding the Fateweavers under his employ on his lonesome, was testament to that. It would be difficult to take Abraham captive under these conditions. Much harder than killing him, even. Or maybe not,st thing we want to happen is that your people learn the truth about your game, right?
Abraham pushed air out of his nose in a mocking manner, with his stature that made him appear like a bull ready to charge. Every moment that passed, the guy only seemed to be more muscr. You trying to pin Imeres murder on me is unbelievable. I have nobody in my ranks that could create the raw destruction that levelled the fortress. It clearly came from a mixture of elemental forces at a strength only you could create in such a narrow timeframe.
And who aside from your secret service measured that destruction? John growled back. A great im you have there. Too bad the photos just show a destroyedndscape. Those could have been faked just as greatly as they show nothing clear pointing towards MY involvement.
Those sly words are exactly why I acted immediately, the president of the Little Marnd stopped, between the two of them were now ten steps. Duelling distance, if nothing else. You would just continue spouting your message of a peaceful election until you could hit another one of my allies-
YOUR allies?! John interrupted. Imere dered herself neutral, you arrogant-
She was my teacher! Abraham shouted back. I served in the military under her! Dont tarnish her name after you have vited her trust like that and put her into an undeserving grave!
Grinding his teeth, John stopped this useless line of conversation. Even if you arent guilty, you made it impossible to stop this now. The Gamer was convinced that Abraham was putting up this act, it all fit so perfectly into the narrative of him as the invader. He could have sent more questions the presidents way, but Abraham was obviously prepared for the big ones. Then lets y the game you want.
The Gamer was momentarily distracted by a robotic voice entering his mind, May Undine be sent over here? Along with it came an image of a hurt Ted. Very hurt, but still standing. Nothing that required immediate attention.
Sorry, not right now, John answered as quickly as he could. A minute earlier and he would have hurried over, but he was sure he would need the help of Undine in this engagement. Youll have toe to me.
Understood, Beatrice answered and dropped away again.
This is no game, John Newman, Abraham stated and took a fighting stance. The disadvantage here was that John still had no idea what the president was even capable of doing. Obviously, something physical, the smaller man was bulked up to the point that John thought his suit would rip at any given moment.
Having no wish to make this a lengthy fight, John sent the Mand Sphere flying. Over this entire conversation, he had made it take a long trip around the za to now approach Abraham from a blind angle. Now it was burning mana like crazy to elerate to otherwise unobtainable speeds. A Mana de took the rest of the energy stored inside, generating an edge of almost three metre length that rotated quickly, turning into a blue disk.
Abraham only heard the orb of his doom approaching on thest few metres. The chainsaw that had cut other people clean in half was aimed right at his arm. It would be better to take the president captive to get this entire thing resolved through talking, even if one party was forced to spill it, but John would take Abrahams death as well. There were a few kinds of people that he had no mercy for, and one of those were traitors.
Abraham turned half a step and quickly raised his arms in defence. That was enough. The whirling Mana de came to an abrupt halt against the presidents forearms. Part of the hardened energy even shattered on impact. The duration of the weapon expired a momentter; it dissolved into blue particles.
Fancy toy you have there! Abraham mocked, pulling his arm back and then punching the sphere as if the ded whirl was no harm for his bare knuckles whatsoever. Surprisingly, or perhaps expectantly seeing the disy just now, that turned out to be the truth. The Mand Sphere was thrown backwards, its hovering nature now turning out to be somewhat of a detriment as it had only air resistance to slow it. Or the tree it eventually crashed against, parts of it flying off. It would pull itself back together given time, as everything was magically rubber-banded together.
John didnt exactly have time to worry about that as Abraham turned to him. Bridging the distance with two jumps, he was upon John before Undine could react. His fist crashed into Mana Protection, once, twice, then John retaliated. Gathering the fire from Purgatorys ignition with Smander, he threw a massive fireball in Abrahams face. With little care, the president punched a third time, his muscles swelling immensely from the impact. He was basically a mountain of musclespressed by sleek ck at this point. Only when a wave of water crashed into his side did he distance himself.
The cut, followed by a quick dousing in fire and water, had left Abraham slightly less muscr but overall unharmed. The same couldnt be said about his clothes, under which John saw naked skin. Confused by this, the Gamer furrowed his eyebrows. All of the generals had worn special issue bodysuits under their normal clothes, infused with a good array of defensive properties. He would have assumed the president to wear a better version of that even. Instead there was nothing?
Whatever muscle mass Abraham had lost was quickly regained. His mystery ability only elerated inparison to before. John summoned a wave of Shardbound and watched the president hulk out even more after that, the damaged suit ripping more at the damage areas. What the hell is his ability? the Gamer wondered as he threw the arcane splinters at Abraham, who dodged quickly to the side and then approached again.
You made a big mistakeing here to face me! Abraham avoided every retaliation through moves way too nimble to be allowed on a balding fifty-year-old. John extended his right before him and fed Smander an immense amount of mana. There were no trees around, and even if there were, he had no more luxury to worry about a forest fire. A cone of fire appeared before him engulfing Abrahampletely.
It was vital that John won here. Once the Fateweavers were knocked out, the control of the barrier would default to him and they could continue this battle on their terms. Maybe bringing Magoi would have been a better idea after all, John thought, but defending the High Fateweaver would have meant they could have been less offensive in their strategy to save the generals. It was all difficult to evaluate.
Abraham emerged from the mes with purple glowing skin and slimmed down to his usual muscr form. The second his fist crashed again into the Mana Protection, he bulked up again. He was slimmed by the damage but gained muscle when he did some? No, that couldnt be it; he had gained mass even when they had just stood close to each other.
I am no nk, Abraham continued mockingly, the gold and grey mes of Smander sticking to his clothes, but beating a mage such as you is still my speciality!
John realized what he was facing then and deactivated Mana Protection. The fist hit him in the chest instead, knocked the air out of his lungs. In retaliation, he threw some quick punches himself. They barely did anything, bounced off Abrahams muscles and only turned them a bit smaller. The shirt of the man was further torn, the purple glow once more apparent. Shit, the Gamer clenched his teeth. Is there anything you wont tax?!
John fed some more mana to Smander and attempted to st it at Abrahams stomach, but the president jumped away again. Its hardly a tax if I generate new value myself, he stated, pushing back his sses. After attempting to dust of his shoulders, Abraham noticed the state of his clothes and simply ripped the parts hiding his torso off. I wish my ability was strong enough to rob from you, that would make me even more effective.
Its still bullshit, John growled, racking his brain for a new strategy. The muscle bound man in front of him, with biceps the sizes of entire babies, had beenpletely right, it was a mistake John had made to face him alone. So much, in fact, that the best idea he had was to y for time. What even is tied to that? You gain mana whenever I spent some and in response your muscles grow, but you can also convert those muscles back into mana to use a defensive spell?
Nano Mana, son, Abraham hovered a hand over his heart and slowly stretched it out. His white skin turned purple following the motion until he presented apletely covered fist. It hardens my skin in response to physical trauma. You are immensely mistaken to think my Innate Ability extends beyond the first part you mention. All I can do naturally is generate my own mana from other peoples spending.
John was about to entangle the president in further discussion, but Abraham didnt want to y on time. The moment a massive explosion in the sky distracted the Gamer, he was getting charged again. Since Mana Protection would only empower his enemy with every sessful strike hended, the Gamer kept it deactivated. The alternative was what happened next though, which was him and Undine doing all they could to block.
MUSCLE MAGIC! Abraham shouted as his fist crashed into Johns raised forearms. RECONVERSION TECHNIQUE! A spinning kick sttered Undines slime body out of his way. MANA SKIN! John had no other choice and released Smander back out of item form. With a short-lived cackle, the endme elemental locked arms with Abraham, only to be found the weaker party, lifted up and mmed into the ground like a rolled out carpet. AND THE PERPETUAL SURROUNDING AWARENESS TO TRIGGER IT BEFORE I GET HURT! Siena rose from Abrahams shadow in a sudden strike, only to be grabbed by the throat and tossed into the sky.
Abraham pulled his weight down in a martial art pose John was familiar with. Ascending Cut, the technique that both Rave and her father had used on separate asions, each time to devastating effect. In a desperate move, John darted forwards and rammed his opponent. Although this only made Abraham straggle, not fall, it was enough to let Sienand on top of their enemy without any retaliation.
Johns reward for this was being pinched between an elbow and a knee, his ribcage getting squeezed suddenly in a way that these bones definitely werent supposed to. Something may have broken, but he didnt notice. All he was aware of was the mouthful of dirt that manifested the moment he was thrown to the ground elsewhere.
He looked back just in time to see Sienas ws scratch inconsequentially over Abrahams face, her legs closed around the mans neck in the least erotic application of thighs. His defenses were steadily refilling in the shape of his muscles bulging from all the mana John was passively spending at any given second. The Gamer was fuelling his enemys strength due to all the summons and familiars he paid in upkeep the entire time.
Abraham caught one of Sienas legs, ripped her off himself and turned several times around his own axis, before sending the shadow spirit flying into the forest. I needed dozens of years to learn all of these techniques, the president turned to John again, to make them work together and learn different things that filled the gaps in my skill set. You might be atebloomer, but I got seventy years on you, Newman! Abraham rolled his shoulders, flexing his overabundant form. When faced with hard work and dedication, you talented, Gaia-gifted individuals should find yourself humbled more often! Like a bulldozer on legs, the president came running.
John expected a swing, but instead Abraham just kept charging with an outstretched arm. It caught the Gamer at the chest and dragged him along until he was rammed back-first into the rough trunk of a pine tree. There was no recuperation period, the smaller man using the momentary confusion that John felt from the impact to grab him by shoulder and leg. Lifted in his entirety, John had his spine bent into a very unhealthy V shape by the knee that was rammed into the path of his descent.
Undine and Smander came to the rescue. A whip of water pulled one leg away from under Abraham as a massive fireball hit him. Finally, John got an indication of damage, the smell of burning hair alongside a pained groan as Abrahams balding head caught just a bit of fire. There was no way that he generated more mana than John was spending. Even if the president used it more effectively, the Gamer should have won eventually.
Hopefully before his own HP depleted; it was already down to less than half. What was worse: Reveal still didnt work; for all John knew, Abraham could still have been hiding things. This fight was bound to be a headache. Abraham delivered a strike to Undine that made the slime girl explode from within. It was a shower on the surroundings, but it didnt hurt the defensively weighted water spirit too badly. The president came back on his feet a few metres away from John. They eyed each other up, unsure of the next move to make.
This looks like fun! An ecstatic voice out of nowhere arrived at the scene, apanied by the sight of a storm of grey metal and swiping strikes arriving out of a tear above the battlefield. Metra lost no time in assaulting Abraham, who kept a surprising calm and simply stormed towards John.
The Gamer was somewhat ready for the strike this time, meeting it headfirst. Rather than a sessful counter hit, what John met was air. Fucking Shift! John thought; only the martial art could be responsible for that. Now he knew how all the normal people in Dragonball felt whenever those overpowered bastards in that show started moving at untraceable speeds.
He already weathered himself for the hit in the back that had to follow, but instead he heard the sound of ringing metal. I am sorry that I return thiste, Master, Aclysias voice reached him, greeting him with the sight of Maraths t side stopping the presidents punch. I am furthermore sorry to have used this cooldown without asking first.
John hadnt even noticed her returning to his consciousness since he was getting pped around for a bit there. The tables were clearly turning in his favour now.
Abraham realized this as well, as he quickly threw an arm into the air and vanished.
Chapter 539 – Victory & Mouth 15 – Bridging
Chapter 539 C Victory & Mouth 15 C Bridging
John kept his eyes on Terkal as Undine covered him in her healing goo. It had a healthy green tinge, different from her normal body, and recovered that which Gnomes first aid couldnt. It had been fortunate that the soil elemental had been the one to find him, otherwise they would have had to carry the guy to Undine while he was bleeding out, and without the ocean elemental around, Johns engagement with Abraham would have gone even worse.
Following Abrahams flight, the Gamer and his allies had attempted to catch a few Fateweavers or whatever stragglers were left behind. In thetter endeavour, they were exactly not sessful, some secret signal tempting every remaining loyalist to flee in the same moment. With the Fateweavers, they had a bit more luck.
Being thest ones to exit, having to secure their allies retreat, John and his allies had a couple of seconds more to pick them off and, since the barrier experts had only rtively recently stopped working for the wider nonbat guild and were now integrated into the armies, theirbat experience was somewhatcking. What that resulted in was a desynchronized exit from this barrier, in turn leading to thest two of the six Fateweavers losing control of the Protected Space to the Gamer, preventing their leave.
They had been taken captive, hands tied together, and were kept elsewhere. In this miraculously unharmed office room were only John, his girls, the generals and their surviving upper staff. In total, there were only 200 people remaining. Abyssal armies were small, so this wasnt too disheartening.
People were getting healed and otherwise rested. While leaving a barrier did restore the body to a healthy state, Gaias way to prevent people that were beaten to an inch of their life appearing in the streets, there were some limitations that came with that. The supreme deity wasnt about to let herself be used as a cheap way to heal, after all.
If one entered the same barrier one had been wounded in within a small time frame, around 24 hours, the wounds would simply appear again. Taking a particr grievous injury and entering even another barrier within an hour would also cause it to reappear partly healed, depending on the length of the gap. In the case of such things as separated limbs, Gaia varied between creating a healed stump or afflicting the arm with some sort of disease that basically caused it to go necrotic within a few weeks as if it was a natural cause, all depending on the circumstances.
Even the healing that did ur was only for physical wounds. Unseen effects, not mundanely trackable, would remain, stamina would be depleted and mental exhaustion would not be mended.
In short, members of the Abyss were well-advised to heal up and fix what they could while still within their barriers. That way, they didnt have to worry about most of these things.
So, John turned away from the unconscious general and to Chemilia and Ted, who were both patched together already and changing into fresh clothes they had saved from one of the half-ruined buildings of the fort they were currently in. It was, ording to the generals anyway, the rallying point in case of victory. Fill me in, what happened between Imeres death and my arrival?
They had some time to kill, so they might as well talk.
Ted looked to Chemilia, who was closing the buttons on her uniform with a tired but steadfast expression on her face. The moment you contacted us with the information, me and Ted took ourbined forces and decided to meet up with Terkal, the pink-haired woman informed John. We hadnt yet made a resolution to fight or anything, simply deemed it best that we were together to face Abraham with the news. No offense, but we werent quite sure you were saying the truth.
I wish I hadnt been, so I cant me you for that, John nodded. That had been shortly after he got the message from Scarlett. That Abraham had kept the information from the three generals didnt surprise John, only that his strike had only hit Imere immediately. Likely, the forces he used to crush the opposition was an elite gathering that could only be at one point at a time. Once spread, the past few battles showed that they werent nearly as impressive.
Yes Chemilia leaned against the wall with the shadow of grief hushing over her face. Like John and everyone else who had known and liked Imere, she was waiting for a moment to properly stomach all of this. Anyway, before we could go out, Abraham brought thebined might of his forces down on Terkals fort. We began with defending this position, then we got your call. Eventually, they managed to break through the defences and we three made the decision to scatter over the barrier. Its a miracle we all made it through alive.
Cant say the same about much of the enemy leadership, Metramented with a grin, down to her usual skimpy clothes. If I understand correctly, we got the leader of the government knight dudes, whatever they are fucking called, the brown-skinned blonde nodded towards Aclysia, and I murdered whatever their general was called.
Matthew, Chemilia informed the ancient weapon.
Yeah, that cunt. Metra had way less respect for life than other people in that room, especially for the life of the enemy. Crudely aware that Abraham was probably as shocked about the loss of his nephew as they were about Imere, John felt nauseated by the senseless loss of life in this conflict.
He really wanted to go to Imeres old fort and inspect the ruins himself, check Abrahams ims and refute them with simple evidence rather than bloodshed. The president was pretty clearly guilty, this whole n just had the convoluted handwriting of an intelligent schemer, but John owed it to his principles to at least try and look for the peaceful solution.
However, there was absolutely no way that this could still be talked out. Too many lives had been lost and the tension had been already high going into this. Also, John simply didnt have the time to drive all the way south of DC and do extensive analysis of the rubble. Not if he wanted to be done with this war before the Lake Alliance had a chance to intervene. The winner was going to write history here.
How did you get the information from our secret service anyway? Chemilia asked an ufortable question. If Abraham didnt even want us to know her voice trailed off and waited for a response.
I have my ways, John dodged poorly, but this was not his secret to disclose. Meeting Chemilias narrowed eyes with a pleading gaze, he eventually got her to click her tongue and wave the topic away. She would ask againter, that much John was sure of, but at least for now they had bigger worries.
I didnt win, Nia suddenly dropped that line into the room. The nk was still holding both of her weapons, the ck visor in front of her face, the semi-liquid void partly seeping into her white dress and staining it grey. Her shoulders were pulled back and tense, a well-hidden indicator for the fact that she was annoyed. That point eluded both Ted and Chemilia, who took an involuntary step away from the battle ready pariah.
In a just as weird and sudden act, Beatrice stepped behind Nia and began massaging the blondes shoulders. In her fellowly passive, if slightly more emotional (mostly irony), tone the maidmented, rification: she also didnt lose. Stalemate was achieved until enemy retreat. Other achievement: idental annihtion of several elementals in the vicinity of the fight and tense shoulders. I also got a headache in the process. This should be impossible.
John wished that Beatrice hadnt mentioned that, because now he was thinking of the reason why and his brain trying to remember that thing the passive maid had seen in the nirvana made him raise a hand to his nose rather suddenly as a drop of blood ran out, apanied by a high pitch whistle in his ears. Dont talk of the what did you call it, Nia? Nevrest? The nk nodded, slowly rxing under the hands of Beatrice to the point that she at least dismissed her weapons.
Its right here, Nia stated in her emotionless tone and reached out to a nearby bookshelf and gently patted the air just above the wood. As if to confirm, Nias ponytail made a particrly inexplicable move, jumping up from simply dangling behind her back, flying over her shoulder and settling across her chest. Johns nosebleed only got worse as he tried toprehend the void tiger (for theck of a better word) existing on ayer on top of the material universe. He could imagine it, but that wasnt doing good things for his brain, especially since it was more or less confirmed.
John desperately put his thoughts elsewhere, imagining more material things. Several things sprung to mind, Abrahams head on a pike, Raves ass, Eliza back in the tank with a body riddled with nails. Random,rgely unpleasant images. At least his nose stopped bleeding. Aclysia handed him a handkerchief so that he could clean himself up.
How do you even get nosebleeds? his girlfriend wondered, looking at him with light worry. Shouldnt Gamers Body prevent that?
I think that the mere urate image of a denizen of the Nirvana is enough to partly disable it, John answered. He wasnt getting a window to confirm any of this, which was worrying in its own right. Just be thankful that you dont know it, its really unpleasant.
Nevrests are just middle level non-existences, Nia let John know. The Gamer wondered if these beings were ssified as void elementals and if they were rted to the Lorylim in any way. All he had learned so far pointed to the opposite, but one couldnt quite help but notice that they had very clear ways to mess with normal peoples minds. There was this one time the Great Empty One
Stop! John interrupted as he felt the veins that had just miraculously closed themselves burst again. As much as I would love to talk to you about things you like, Nia, you have to understand that this topic is literally killing me C very slowly, but still.
Nia closed her mouth and lowered her chin a little bit, which John guessed meant that she was feeling downtrodden. If he hadnt been in the process of pressing a handkerchief against his nose to prevent blood from dripping on the floor, he would have hugged and kissed her. I really hope that memory just fades away with time, John thought. Randomly remembering that image and getting a nosebleed every time would suck.
Topic: War, Beatrice brought them back on track. Enemy forces now consistrgely of the following factions: Remaining mercenary forces, the soldiers that survived Metras temper tantrums, leaderless government guards and random soldiers. Calcting in Mastersbat strength, if we attack soon, we are favourited for victory.
A groan from the side pulled their attention over to Terkal, who was rising from Undines healing embrace, one hand raised to his wolfs head. Thats one hell of a good message to wake up to, his voice was distorted into a permanent growl from his current shape. Can somebody fill me in whats going on? His body slowly morphed back into the (naked) form of a very tall andnky man, covered in tattoos. Very quickly, they summarized the situation while Terkal also found himself some spare clothes. By the end, the usually bashful general only wanted to know, Why arent we attacking immediately?
John was honestly surprised at the mans calm. There had been some blooming romance between him and Imere after all, very recent as well. The sudden loss must have hurt him the most. I hate my paranoia, the Gamer cursed himself, immediately thinking that Terkal was hiding something in regards to the murder. Observe thankfully put that to rest, the emotions window informing John quite clearly that thenky man was simply bottling it up for an appropriate time. He was a disciplined man, despite theck of showing that sometimes. We are letting the soldiers rest for a moment, the Gamer then answered. Also, one of my elementals died and I need to get her back.
They didnt need to discuss where Abraham was now. The White House was the centre of the Little Marnd government and there was no way the president would give it up. Symbolically alone it was too important but it also housed the entire bureaucratic data of the guilds expansive territory. Every official barrier of every member organization was filed there. Whoever held it by the end of this was the winner, at least on paper.
I see if Terkal had anyints on the matter, he kept them to himself. Simply getting healed topletion, he sat broodingly in a corner of the room and kept quiet.
Giving the enemy time to prepare was a dangerous call to make. However, just marching into a defensive position of the enemy with an exhausted force also wasnt the answer. It was a trade-off and one John had to take.
Recuperation needed to ur.
Chapter 540 – Victory & Mouth 16 – übersetzung
Chapter 540 C Victory & Mouth 16 C bersetzung
And then and then I dieeeeed waaaaahaaaaaaaa, Sylph was finishing her recount of what had happened before she died. Since John had been preupied with Abraham at that point, he actually didnt know. He was giving her lots of pats on the head since that kept the bawling thunderstorm elemental somewhat calm. As a reward, his hand was zapped every time he came in contact with her hair. Seemed like a crying storm conducted electricity identally.
Its okay, Sylph, you still technically won, he told her. Getting rid of that flying gear tower sounds more important than just looking at treetops. Although that did exin the explosion in the middle of it. Anyway, we shouldnt waste any more time.
It had taken almost an hour to restore Sylph. 48 minutes 59 seconds, to be exact. John kept tabs on these things nowadays to figure out if there was some sort of form. Well, that there was one was basically a given, figuring it out was the hard part. He had the rough idea that it was dependant on the elementals Tier and Level, but there were some modifiers involved that he wasnt sure about yet. His sample size being a bit small was the problem, and he wasnt going to create a bigger one anytime soon. This was knowledge he didnt covet nearly enough to kill his elemental girls over.
Yeah, lets get done with this, Chemilia agreed.
At the side, Terkal finally moved out of his stasis in the corner, Yes. Lets rip out Abrahams intestines until he coughs out how he killed her. The general hesitated using Imeres name and ultimately failed; his clenched fist quivered. I just wanted my battalion funded and now this all of this shit
Ted hummed in agreement and they all left the building. The rest had turned what remained of the army into a proper organization again. John had a testing nce over all of them. The level floor was 25, the ceiling 50, taking the odd level 16 recruit out of the equation. Utterly average fighters in most regards, beaten into a viable state through steady drills, but a whole 200 of them, formed up in three segments that were not at all equal. Terkals forces had clearly diminished the most, less than a quarter of the total remainders was under hismand. With over half of the remainders, Teds forces were the ones that stemmed the most members, his wifes troop making up the rest.
John remembered fighting a force like this, one guided by a giant, buffing machine in the sky over the capital of a state that history just loved to take up the back entrance. At the battle of Warsaw, he had fought one battalion of roughly that size. He had almost lost back then. To be fair only Undine had been there to help him, but that wasnt the point. All things taken together, current allies, enemies and the deceased all summed up, the Little Marnd couldnt even approach one tenth of the gathered army size that the Blood of the Proletariat, in itself one of the weaker Divided Gates, had mustered at that battle.
No superweapons, norge-scale weaponry, basically no navy, that was the force John needed because it was better than anything he had. It put things into perspective rather drastically, just how far the actual elite guilds were above everyone else. Made John wonder what kind of forces Romulus could muster in their entirety, with his currently reforming empire. Worse, what kind of resources the Horned Rat had ess too.
200 people, no superweapons, norge-scale weaponry, basically no navy, Fusion had a long road ahead of itself if it wanted to take the seat Johns quest and ambitions asked him to put it in. I should seriously look into building some sort of automatic war machine, like Liberty Prime or the Grey Golems except maybe not that unnecessarily huge.
At least the people they had were all healed up, mentally rested and there were a few Fateweavers among them. They gathered up and left the barrier behind. John watched with interest as all of the uniforms transformed into different mixtures of something like a dozen different articles of clothing. Just enough for people to not seem to dress in unison, but looked at as a block, John saw some repetitions here and there. When it came to disguising, the Abyss had it figured out.
Thanks to DC being a pretty popted city, to put it mildly, 200 people walking around in rtive density wasnt that unusual. They headed for the obvious target, the White House. By the time they arrived, daylight had finally faded. They were in the twilight phase of the day, where the suns rays were still lighting up part of the horizon but everything was bing darker by the minute.
The proper White House was resting peacefully behind iron fences, guards walking around. Thinking that those security people that only had to worry about guns were pretty blessed, John entered the barrier. What mundane fence had been before him a moment ago was now the borderline for a barrier that spanned over the entire building.
No money to spare for anything but his own security, John mumbled as he looked at the expansive shield. Protecting that much space that way couldnt have been cheap. On the other side of the barrier, he saw what Abraham had quickly gathered or had held in reserve. Way more than John thought, in fact, as every single bureaucrat that could fight also joined their president and his forces. The numbers had already been on Abrahams side, now he more than doubled Johns force.
That they were already getting into position to fight meant that they had positioned some individuals to stand at a street corner and just wait for John and his allies to approach. A simple phone call would have warned Abraham of theiring. The remainders of Johns forces warped in slowly.
For a moment, John contemted talking to Abraham and his forces again, but to what end? Abraham wasnt about to admit to his sinister schemes at this stage, he would rather sink with the lie. Instead, John equipped Purgatory and Undine again and punched the barrier. Not particrly damaging, but cost effective. Can you tunnel under it, Gnome? John asked.
Uhm let me see the soil elemental closed her eyes and felt downwards. S-sorry, no, extends all the way down, from the feel of things.
That already put them at a disadvantage. His side would tire itself, even if it was just a little bit, in tearing down this pre-charged barrier. Nothing he could do to prevent it though. Alright, the traditional wa- John wanted to announce.
Fuck that, Metra had other ns, ripping open a rift through which she emerged on the other side. Before anybody could follow, it shut close again. The ancient weapons portals were not known for being stable or longsting.
I am not even sure if this is a good or bad situation, John thought as he watched the berserker babe descend on her lonesome. It was good in so far that the enemy had clearly not thought they were already getting attacked. The grey armour wrapped around Metra as she fell five metres down and into the still formation taking enemies. Although sight on her was lost, John could guess where she was from the body parts suddenly flying around. Not even she is going to be able to fight all of those forever, lets get in there! John stated and they began pummelling away at the barrier.
Waves rippled over the blue surface from every attack it took. The more damage it took, the bigger the ripple, as if stones of varying sizes were thrown into a pond. The army, spread around the rim of the shielding energy bubble, covered the barrier in whatever means of sustainable offense were avable to them. The chaos Metras appearance inside had created shielded them from being hit by counterattacks, at least for a little while.
Get off mywn! John distantly heard Abrahams voice and saw the mountain of muscles, well, more of a hill since he wasnt the tallest person, charge Metra. In the hour that had passed, the president had buffed up to what John assumed was his maximum power. It looked somewhat ridiculous, the guy now had a neck broader than his head, but the strength was undeniable.
He punched Metra and the Astrotium d creation actually groaned in pain. Yeeeessssss! was the battle-hungry reaction by the First of Wrath and she attempted a counter attack. John didnt have time to keep looking; Abraham upying Metra meant that his army now had time again to throw spells through the inside of the barrier and at Johns allies.
A unified barrage of spells, like a salvo of guns over a barricade, sted at the attacking line. Several people were mowed down immediately, the rest attacking all the more desperately. If John hadnt feared ripping down half the White House in the process, he would have used Arcana Strike to crack this barrier like an egg. There was no way it had enough Maybel stored up to resist that raw destructive power.
We really need to get through this quicker, John thought, racking his brain which Combination would be best for that. Nearby, Nia managed to slip past the barrier thanks to her own nature, moving through it like it was a waterfall. That put the second wave of spells off, as the mages now had a nk to worry about.
Nia didnt get to act too offensively. Getting through the barrier had clearly taken her a lot of effort already, her body being dangerously translucent. Until she managed to anchor herself again, all she could do was to harass, dodge and go for the most opportunistic of attacks. Even with that strategy, she couldnt be ignored, which was all John needed.
Never getting an answer, the Gamer was quickly delivered from his dilemma when someone else solved it for him. Ya better give me some space, people! Rave shouted out, blue particles around her suddenly moving towards the cat to her feet. Her pink hair and blue eyes both lit up gold as Copernicus swelled up into the form of arge tiger, the power she drew from him also turning into overdrive.
Everyone scrambled to follow her advice as the techno lover struck a cool pose, arms pressed together at the wrist, and then unleashed a st of massive energy. Yellow, blue and red all flickered within the beam as it ravaged the barrier, the shockwave travelling over the entire surface, all the way to the back. It was a more concentrated, refined version of the continued st that Rave had used against her mother in the tournament. Months had passed, so she had worked to make it fit her bursting fighting style. Also on it not leaving her fainting from the exhaustion.
Still, the barrier stood. Rave wasnt disheartened by this, instead quickly going through a series of punches, supported by Copernicus lending the strength of his own ws. All of her physical attributes were also in overdrive for however long she could maintain this form. Each punch came along with an explosion of light around her; she looked like she was the centre of a disco ball reflecting themps at a rave. The barrier began to show cracks, the hardened mana fragmenting just that little bit. No gapsrge enough to break through, but nevertheless there.
Jumping upwards, Rave raised one leg high and let her heel crash down on the obstacle. The gold was drained from her hair from the base outwards, as she spent all of the remaining energy on a massive st of pink light that finally saw the barrier shatter and dissolvepletely. The sudden loss of anything hard under her foot made Rave lose her bnce, but her boyfriend quickly moved in to catch her.
Good job, John told her with a smile. Noting theck of her cat ears, he added, You fine?
Gonna need a minute, but I wont faint, Rave answered, winking at him. Ill catch up with ya. Go mess up Abraham.
You got it, John nodded, prepared to end this whole thing in a final confrontation. Neither side had Fateweaver supremacy, thanks to the presidents recent losses, so it would be hard for Abraham to flee this time. They could end it all here, this whole affair of ups and down would finally conclude.
Everyone else was already tearing down the fence. There were some more losses amongst themon soldiers as they tried to fight through the physical barrier and were shot at by the enemy who desperately tried to fend them off. At that, the enemy gathering of mercenaries, bureaucrats and professional soldiers were steadily showered in attacks by Sylph, Smander and Nia.
Aclysia charged at the fence while John let Rave sit down. Brandishing Marath, she executed a massive vertical swing, the enormous cleaver cutting through the fence, sending shards of metal and the stone base flying. Dismissing the weapon entirely, she and Gnome threw their heavy and strong bodies against the damaged fence. It bent, a second assault broke several of the segments bases from the fundament, and then the two girls had sessfully created a breach. The governmental guard immediately tried to plug it up with their own bodies, the white-armoured knights taking position, but Beatrice was so swiftly through the gate that Twist Position carried her behind their ranks before they closed them.
The passive maid methodically stabbed one of them in the small gap between helmet and neck, severing the vital nerves and instantly killing the person. They had to turn around to face that threat, but in doing so they opened themselves up to John, who threw two Arcane Echoes in quick session as he stormed through the breach himself.
The two waves of purple energy closely followed and partly ovepped, breaking on the armour of the knights but still causing clearly pained shouts from within as arcane burns covered whatever side they had turned towards the person that was hit by both of the attacks, who went to the ground. Not dead, John knew this thanks to Whisper of Mana not triggering. His mana regeneration increased by 100% if he sessfully killed someone with an arcane type spell. The disgustingly pragmatic part of John urged him to finished the falling guard off with a cheap Shardbound. Instead, John took the time to grab the knight and drag him out of the way of his remaining allies squeezing through the breach and spilling onto the White Houses frontwn one by one.
He had to tell nobody to keep casualties to a minimum. Everyone was too aware that they were fighting their own people. He left the average fighters to battle it out amongst themselves, between Chemilia, Terkal and Ted they had enough high tier support. Somewhere in the distance, John saw Nia sh with the other nk again. At least they had their logic-ripping sh somewhere away from the main battle this time.
Turning back to his actual target, John threw out a Shardbound at Abraham, who simply ignored it as he pummelled Metra with a flurry of movements. He was punching her so quickly in the air above him, she was stuck in ce and kept getting pounded. It was incredibly sobering to see someone dominate the ancient weapon this way, even if her armour kept her from being too badly damaged.
Abraham pulled down and gathered energy in his fist. Shit! John thought and attempted to interrupt the Ascending Cut like he hadst time. He was too slow; the power infused fist rose upwards and hit Metra in the stomach. There was a visible discharge of energy and then she vanished. Simply disappeared as if the world had swallowed her.
Whirling around to face John, Abrahams eyes were wide with confusion. What the fuck did you just do?! The Gamer was too worried about the berserker babes sudden disappearance to worry about the presidents feelings.
Its just another of your tricks, isnt it?! Abraham hardened his resolve and faced the Gamer. They were about to have their confrontation, John apanied by Aclysia, Undine, Sylph and Smander versus the hulk of a president.
Only two more metres between them. John wasnt thinking quite as logically as he should have, staying back and sniping at his enemy while letting Aclysia tank. The loss of Imere and now the worry for Metra urged him to feel the primal satisfaction of punching someone in the face. With Aclysia around, they would have the advantage in melee anyway.
John noticed a movement of all elements not far above him. It didnt take a genius to know that something incredibly bad wasing. Abrahams own trained reflexes, bordering on precognition, seemed to warn him about something simr. Both of them suddenly reverted their course. Just in time to dodge a ck deing for them in the middle of a meteorite of darkness.
Earth exploded everywhere as thending of a massive humanoid created a crater. A cloud of shadows hung cleanly around, only the split, double de of a massive sword moving. Wearing heavy te armour of ck metal, the darkness concentrating in the shape of a tattered cape, ck with grey decorations, hanging from his back, the neer stepped out of his crater. A face covered in battle scars came into view. Despite its grizzled look, the man it belonged to couldnt have been much older than John, one eye closed with a particrlyrge scar running across it. The other, dark green, looked ecstatic as he rested his nightmare of a weapon on his shoulder. The entire thing was about two metres, which still made it smaller than the broad framed warrior holding it. The hilt, forged into the shape of an ice flower, hit the pauldron with a silent chink.
In his left hand, the ck swordsman was holding something that looked like the kind of orb used by fortune tellers,pletely with swirling energy inside. Now this seems like a worthy challenge, he grinned and crushed that orb in his massive fist. Energies quickly expanded out of the sphere, which reached the ends of the barrier and created a grid on top of it. A very clear indication that this barrier was now in lockdown.
Sigmund had arrived.
Chapter 541 – Sieg & Mund 17 – No things being equal
Chapter 541 C Sieg & Mund 17 C No things being equal
Who are you?! Abraham shouted out and furrowed his eyebrows. All over, fighting slowly ceased as everyone realized that someone disgustingly powerful had just arrived on the scene, belonging to neither side.
How would you not know who he is no, I shouldnt assume that everyone has the amount of information Scarlett has, John thought and realized how every single puzzle piece fit together at that moment. Did you kill Imere, Sigmund?
Did you just say Sigmund? Evidently, the president had no idea what the ck swordsman looked like until now, but his name must have reached him. The older mans eyes wandered over Sigmund, over his entire equipment, the item forms of his elementals. What John had realized the second the Contender had made his appearance now dawned on Abraham. No
Neither John nor Abraham had killed Imere. Immense elemental destruction, covering five out of six elements, with the notable missing of light, all of these things could easily be applied to John. They were just as fitting, if not even more so, of Sigmund. Nevertheless, the Gamer had to know. Did you kill Imere? he asked again.
Imere? the ck swordsman rolled his neck, obviously bored by this conversation. Should that name tell me something?
Earlier today, did you raze a fortress to the ground?! John raised his voice into an usatory tone.
Ah, yes, that, Sigmund made a displeased face as if he had just remembered that time he had stepped into a turd. I ran out of strong enemies, so I thought: maybe I need to fight an army to have a proper challenge. As always, when he said that word, it echoed with the same power as an incantation. Aside from that one water woman, they were basically flies I killed them without even noticing it. What an utter waste of my time.
You you Abraham was shocked and for obvious reasons. Not that John could say he felt any different. There had been the lingering suspicion that there was more to this affair, but he had still been convinced that Abraham had been the one to clobber this whole scheme together. What do you stand to gain from pushing my guild into civil war?
Civil war? Sigmund looked utterly confused. There was a civil war looming? I dont have any idea what you are talking about. All I want to do is fight an army, just my luck that you had already assembled it by the time I got here. The ck swordsman grinned widely. I saw you fight each other. Man, I would have jumped right in and spared you the few lives you could use trying to stop me. The edge of his de tapped against his pauldron. Sam insisted I let her teleport out that Metra girl first. I let her have her wish and now The Contender gestured around. Now this barrier is in total lockdown. Neither you nor I can leave for the next ten minutes! Who dies, all of you or all of me?! ISNT THIS GETTING YOU EXCITED?!
John couldnt believe any of this. The death that had tipped this conflict over into open war had been nothing but Sigmund being bored? Imere hadnt even be sacrificed to any higher purpose, no, her life was just a pebble the ck swordsman had kicked off the road. What had been respect of each otherspetence had turned the Gamer and Abraham to violence as they saw in the act the schemes of the othering to fruition.
What a ridiculous conclusion. Never had John felt more like the Abyss was stirring around him than at this realization. Chances were the reason why none of the Primarch level individuals had ever answered him was because Sigmund had killed them all. How much stronger was he thanst time? Could they even beat him?
Not a thing they could think about as Sigmund had let them know, this was a battle they couldnt flee from. YOU ABSOLUTE BASTAAAARD! the bellowing scream of a chimeric man galloping and then jumping on his beastly limbs rung out over the entire battlefield. Terkal charged straight at Sigmund, who readied his sword.
FINALLY WE ARE DONE WITH ALL OF THIS TALKING! the ck swordsman met the scream in kind. He took a step back, the long ws of Terkals bearpaws flying by his face. A second wild strike came for the ck swordsman, dodging to the side with an arching step that rotated around his axis. His massive sword, Tietan, was lifted off his shoulder, cut through the air.
No! John cried out, trying to move the Mand Sphere in the way, but he was far too slow. With relentless force and supernatural sharpness, the ck de cut through muscle, sinew and bone,ing out of Terkals body on the opposite side of his ribcage. Immediately lifeless, the general fell to the ground as separated arms and bloody remains.
A second of silence, then panic. If he can defeat a general in one attack, what can he do to us?! that must have been the question on everybodys mind as they tried desperately to get away. Any attempt by either side to leave the barrier was met with failure, the item Sigmund had used ensuring that. Then they simply tried to run, hide, anywhere. Thebined forces that had just fought each other now taking to flight together.
Before John could even fully realize the death or think about what to do next, Sigmund was already on the move again. A massive leap carried him across the moderatelyrgewn. WHATRE YOU COWARDS DOING?! he shouted, instantly executing three people with hisnding alone, one crushed under his armoured boots, the other two by one arm each. Ramming his sword into the earth, he created a massive wall of stone that blocked the path for the rest. I told you, I want to fight an army, Sigmund growled, pulling his sword from the ground and pointing it at the herd of fearful humans. You can either give me what I wish or die trying to deny me.
Once more, the average soldiers hesitated. Sigmund simply waited for them to harden their resolve and in this opened himself up. A barrage of attacks hit him from behind. Slicing winds blew and a raging inferno of grey and gold mesbined into a massive tornado of searing heat. Shards of mana flew in and hit the massive man inside, sts of light followed, as Aclysia, Abraham and Beatrice moved in together. Differences were naturally put aside and there was no time for words of agreement.
With an overpowering swing of his sword, that pressed the des of grass to the floor, Sigmund dispersed the firestorm around him. John breathed in with hope; as shallow as it was, there was single cut on the ck swordsmans face and his armour looked slightly damaged. If they could hurt him, there was a chance to win.
The trio had now entered melee range and Sigmund grinned widely, Finally, battle! and swung his sword in a long arch in front of him. It crashed into Abraham, who visibly deted as his magic kept him from being harmed even by this de. At least that was the purpose, but the strength of the attack was more than he could take. As the president was pushed along the trajectory of the swing, the sword burrowed halfway into his raised forearms.
Even that little bit helped, as it slowed the movement enough for Beatrice and Aclysia to shower Sigmund in attacks. Chinks of his armour fell off, splintered like stone, while he avoided any attacks to his face.
Raising his arm in an attempt to counter, Sigmund lost his bnce when he was assaulted by weak spells. Individually harmless, but in their sheer number like a swarm of angry bees, the normal soldiers had epted that there was no getting away and hoped that, perhaps, with the help of those stronger people they could actually fall this giant.
With an ecstatic cackle, Sigmund attempted to assault the weaker army men first. Two steps he took, then a white light under his feet beckoned him back. Masters Shield affected the ck swordsman like anyone else and he answered its call by turning his massive weapon in his hand and ramming it behind himself.
It skewered through the chasing maid, two des exiting on her back before Sigmund whirled around and catapulted her away. He set after her, as thepelling effect was still active. Aclysianded on her feet and just ran. For a few more seconds, she would keep him upied. Seconds John used to hurry over to Abraham. The second he arrived, Undine changed out of her glove form and began healing him.
What is even happening? the president allowed himself a grumble as his skin closed. The healing he received doubled up as a source of his ability to trigger, not that there wasnt ample mana getting spent every second to refuel his muscles with.
Listen, John made it quick, I have a n. I have a spell I can only use once but it will deal massive damage. Its difficult to aim, however, so I need your help at immobilizing him. I dont care how you do it, just help with that.
Alright. It clearly annoyed Abraham that he was taking orders from the much younger person he was still antagonistic towards. At the same time, it seemed liked the president knew that he had made enough bad decisions in rtion to the Gamer in the past weeks and especially today. Ill be able to handle one arm!
That was more than John had actually expected. Everything indicated that Sigmund had only gotten stronger since they had fought in New York City, a terrifying prospect. There was no way to know exactly how much stronger, since he managed no sessful Observe this orst time, but the way he pped Aclysia around who at least managed to block every now and against time wasnt particrly promising.
Abraham was fully healed and immediately darted off. With worry, John saw his girlfriend charge into the melee as well. Stopping her wasnt an option in their current situation, but seeing her get into that battle still filled him with worry. Just as she wore a hardened expression, he had to push these feelings aside and look at this battle with stoic pragmatism. Undine wrapped herself around his hand again.
There were two options, either fight until the time ran out or defeat Sigmund. If what the ck swordsman had said was true, they only had to survive for another eight minutes. Eight minutes were an eternity in a battle of their level, however. They had to at least cripple Sigmund or else there was no way to get this done without further losses.
John ground his teeth. In a situation like this, all he could do was save his mana and scheme. The Mand Sphere flew high up in the air and provided him with a steady flow of information. Sylph couldnt, as her jagged movements were hard for John to analyse.
Zapping Sigmund with a massive lightning strike, the air spirit quickly jumped back. The effect forcing the giant to attack Aclysia had run out, and a single strike from the True Death enchanted de and the green-haired fairy would be gone forever. In a situation like this, it would be the best to have one strong elemental that wouldnt die as quickly.
Keep your distance, Sylph, John instructed, dont enter his attack range under any circumstances. Gnome, Smander, Siena,e here and fuse with Stirwin. We need another person that can at least put some Strength against his.
As they hurried over to him to follow his order, John watched as the life bars on his Artificial Spirits were decreased dangerously strike by strike. Their heavy and hard metal bodies were useful in this fight, but Sigmund had the power to tear into them with his mithril de. Beatrices health went down to below half as a diagonal strike cut her open from shoulder to the side of her ribcage. A bloodless wound that closed soon, but damage was done regardless.
Aclysia, use Cutting Flurry now! John instructed hastily as Sigmund went to double up on the attack. He was counting the seconds between each of the ck swordsmans strike, always anticipating that one extra powerful effect. It was fortunate that their enemys wind elemental had bbered out that she was reinforcing strikes every now and again. Although John hadnt worked out the exact recharge time yet, that Sigmund got more eager to move in aggressively whenever it was about to happen was all he needed this time around.
Obeying him immediately, Aclysia executed her three hit attack. In this, she didnt actually aim to hurt Sigmund, just at his sword arm. The first two attacks were quickly executed and knocked Tietan off its course. Rather than cleave Beatrice straight in two, the reinforced strike only hit the ground. A shockwave sliced through the dirt way past the tip of the de.
Sigmund attempted to pull his weapon back up, but the third strike of cutting flurry had Marath meet its sister de in the clear singing sound of two mithril des shing. NOW, GET HIM! Abraham shouted and everyone close enough seized the moment. Chemilia and Ted stroke together at one of Sigmunds legs, which gave in at the knee. The retaliation of his mailed fist was stopped by the president himself jumping in the way. Groaning, sharp te segments burrowing past his defences, Abraham caught it sessfully. I said Ill take one arm, he growled and clinged on as tightly as he could.
Weaker fighters showered Sigmund in light damage. Rave knocked him over the head with a sting punch that sent a shockwave out on the other side. Beatrice finally attempted to end this fight, thrusting her spear at the swordsmans head while he was defenceless.
Her attack came to a sudden stop between Sigmunds blood-stained teeth. The contender grinned, the leaf shaped de stuck, and wrestled the weapon from her with a sudden motion. That he caused a deep cut into his own cheek in the process didnt bother him whatsoever. With raw, brutal strength, he finally ripped his weapon upwards again and fought onto his feet.
Hacking and shing at anything around him, he turned all those too slow to dodge into mincemeat. Tednded on his feet after having jumped back, assuming a martial arts stance. Both fists should have been raised, but there was only one. When he noticed that his left arm was cut down to a stump below the elbow, he turned pale from shock and pain.
You bastard! Chemilia shouted as she supported her husband, keeping him from falling over.
Bastard, weakling, trash, ugly, disgusting, I have heard all and every of these words. I dont care about any of your insults. Sigmunds single eye spelled out the truth of his words, glowing with elemental power as he pulled back his sword. There was an empty two metre radius around where there was nothing but blood. Everyone kept their distance, waiting for the next action. NONE OF IT MATTERS, BECAUSE I AM STRONG!
He suddenly lunged forwards at the couple, a second and much more lethal attempt at killing them. Doubtlessly he would have seeded, were it not for the floor under him suddenly turning liquid and glowing with immense heat. A pool ofva, created by the Combination elemental joining the battle. Does your self-serving arrogance know no limits?! the amazon-likeva elemental asked.
The limit is where somebody manages to stop me! Sigmund retorted catching his fall sessfully. Until then, I will fight, I will kill and I will win with these powers that I had to fight, kill and win for! This world is just the sandbox in which the strong get to y by their rules!
This fucking monster, John thought as the ck swordsman moved in theva as if it was simple mud. It wasnt a particrlyrge pool, but even higher level people in the Abyss should have seared their ankles down to charcoal by now. Instead, he and Smlere engaged in a normal battle. She hit to the right, he dodged away and hit her with an uppercut, throwing her backwards. Even the 4-typebination was weaker than the ck swordsman.
He leapt after her with a wildugh, seeing the greatest challenge around in her. At the moment he was at the height of his jump, John reached out to Sylph. Now, hit him with all you have got! he instructed her, giving her all of his current mana.
Alrighty, here goes serious Sylph! the thunderstorm elemental mentally announced. The cracking of thunder could be heard as arge ck cloud formed around her within a second. It condensed, her shape shining through in electric blue, bolts of energy dancing over the surface. It all gathered in a single spot and then unleashed as a massive beam of lightning. It struck the unprepared Sigmund, who had tunnel-vision on his target, and continued to do so. The cloud shrunk only slowly as continuous energy was unleashed into the ck swordsman and it kept at it as he sailed to the ground,nding on all fours in front of the White House.
Nobody thought he was done with just that. As Sigmund tried to get back up, he was quickly surrounded. Smlere tackled him, preventing him from dodging anywhere, then Abraham grabbed his sword arm, repeating once more, I meant it when I said Ill take one arm, dammit!
Together, Chemilia and Rave kept the other arm suspended. Beatrice arrived, her weapon back in her hand, and was the first to sessfully prate the ck armour, nailing Sigmunds foot to the ground with her spear. Aclysia wasnt quite quick enough, just behind John as he ran as fast as he could.
Desperately, the ck swordsman struggled. John stopped his sprint less than a metre behind Sigmund. Pulling his sword arm as much as he could, the Contender still failed at wrestling himself out of Abrahams grasp. Left hand raising to aim at his enemys face, the Gamer prepared his strongest attack. Feeling the threat of death, Sigmund screamed loud, sessfully ripping his own left out of the arms of the two women.
The hand almost seeded in pping Johns hand to the side, but ultimately his range wasnt big enough. Taking half a step backwards, the Gamer secured his aim and then unleashed the Mana de stored within Purgatory. Arcane light burned itself into Johns retina.
Spell Storage 3, an attribute that allowed him to store a spell with up to three times his maximum mana as its cost. It had been a while since he had been forced to use it. Almost 15000 MP went into the Mana de, infused with three elements. Shadow, reducing its duration to a second but doubling the damage; wind, increasing physical damage dealt; and water, cleansing beneficial effects off the target.
The result was a an almost eight-metre-long, roughly sword shaped beam. Or it would have been unblocked. Although Sigmund had failed at stopping the attack, his arm had gotten in the way of it. In the span of one crawlingly slow second, John saw his attack sh against the open palm. Disintegrating it, from the te to the bone, the energy was eating its way upwards. Hand, forearm, elbow, upper arm, it all vanished under the attack.
For a moment, John was hopeful. The attack fizzled out as quickly as it came, leaving behind a sorry rest of a shoulder, burned away evenly. When a Mana de was stopped in its creation, it behaved much like a highly concentrated beam of water shing against a concrete wall. Even though it wasnt his sword arm that had been annihted, crippled this way, Sigmund should prove much more workable.
Instead, John heard a single word screamed from the ck swordsmans lungs.
IFRIT!
Chapter 542 – Sieg & Mund Finale – Hellfire
Chapter 542 C Sieg & Mund Finale C Hellfire
Ifrit, is this not what you wanted to see?! Sigmund asked with a stupendously joyful tone in his voice. A fight to the death, blood and mayhem? I bring to you what you want, so give to me the means to face this challenge! At the end of that monologue, an explosion of darkness forced everyone that was currently pinning down Sigmund back.
The hell does he mean, Ifrit?! John thought, knowing the name from Final Fantasy. It did dawn on the Gamer that he had no idea about the fire elemental that Sigmund had under contract, only that there was one. They all got ready to jump on the one-armed swordsman, but the very darkness that had shoved them off was still hanging around. Multiple spiked stingray tails were waving around like sharpened tentacles; the manta that was the actual shape of Sigmunds cape must have unleashed to force them off its master.
Within the artificial light of the manymps andnterns that illuminated the Abyssal White House, the thick smoke of shadow magic contrasted heavily against the white and gold fa?ade of the building. John could hear a voice, too deep to be understood and speaking in an Arabic tongue he didnt know, from within there.
A single terrible thought crossed his mind, Could it be that Sigmund hasnt even fought seriously until now? He wanted to dismiss it, then the ck swordsman emerged from the darkness at ludicrous speed,ing right for John.
A new left hand of living hellfire, a dark red colour, grabbed John by the throat before he could react. It seared itself into his skin, causing a pop-up to appear immediately.
Worrying about the words there wasnt something John had really time for as he was mmed to the ground. This IS a proper CHALLENGE! Sigmund announced, bowed over him. The right eye opened and yet more fire spilled out of the empty socket. The wounds on his face stopped bleeding, even absorbed the running blood back into the ck swordsmans body. His armour turned from its badly damaged state into a more pristine, polished state than ever before. It looked like an alloy of steel and polished obsidian, as impossible as that was. Let us fight until one emerges victorious, John Newman!
The Gamer knew he didnt have a choice in the matter. Instead, John was used as a plough as Sigmund started running forwards. Dirt and stones were parted around his back, tearing his suit and chafing open his back, before Sigmund decided he had enough of that and tossed the Gamer across the field like a pebble. mming into a metal fence, John felt it bend under his impact. Thanks to his pain tolerance, he got back on his feet quickly.
What he saw was utter domination. Sigmund was moving steadily from one target to another. With steps that caused the earth to break, turning the smoothwn into a shatteredndscape of many tes, he charged forwards. Always pulling a streak of darkness behind himself. All of his five elementals were now active. The situation was actually worse than it had been before.
In his path stood the two nks, Nia and Rime. Together, they attempted to block him, neutralize his power. The entire battlefield was witness to a rare and disturbing scene as the mere attempt caused Nia to be as translucent as a thin sheet of silk. The other nk next to her simply disappeared. No announcement, no scene, nothing, she was as if swallowed by something invisible. The Maiden of Null stood there dumbfounded, was run over and ignored otherwise. She was too weak to even threaten Sigmunds power.
In swift movements, Sigmund executed five people. He was a streak of ck and dark red, trampling over the lives of the weak. Finally, he shed again with Smlere, who managed to halt his advance for a moment. Long enough for Abraham, Aclysia and Chemilia to deliver a series of attacks. It seemed like they were actually dealing some damage, knocking him around and, with the final punch from the president, into the White House. Sigmund crashed into the century old fa?ade, shattering ss and one of the pirs in the process.
He jumped back to his feet immediately. Yes, fight, try to kill me, make this worth it! Sigmund was growing more ecstatic by the second, extending his burning limbs to the side and grabbing what remained of the pir. The moment he raised it, the fire extended to it, engulfing the white stone in crimson. It didnt burn the piece of architecture, it simply reinforced it as a weapon as Sigmund pulled back and threw the enormous thing like a spear.
It mmed into Rave as she was charging in, throwing her back and leaving Beatrice to try her luck on her own. With Twist Position, the passive maid managed to avoid a single strike, but the Contender was transitioning his downward strike into an arching sh seamlessly. The empty part between the two des of Tietan was filled with energy as he moved. Extended, his attack cut apart not only Beatrice but also caused a glowing line to appear on the White House, as if it had been freshly welded together. In reality, that had been anything but a joining piece of craft, and John watched ck jawed as the diagonal cut caused part of the tall building to slide down and crumble in a disy of dust.
Beatrice fell to the floor, barely any hit points remaining. For a moment, it seemed like Sigmund would finish her off, then he simply moved on, uninterested in an opponent that couldnt fight back. Instead, the ck swordsman went back to fight the remaining army. Nobody was under any illusion that they could hide from that thing anymore. From the strongest to the weakest, they all threw their attacks at the Contender.
Think, John, THINK! the Gamer scolded himself as he watched all of this helplessly. There has to be another n you can pull together. Just three more minutes, thats all the time you need to bridge!
Sigmund whirled around in a terrible kick that sent Rave flying away. He charged Ted and separated the mans legs like he was ripping the wings off a butterfly. A coordinated array of spells sent the ck swordsman flying backwards, but he caught his fall. Meeting Chemilia and Abrahaming for him with a quick lunge, he first took out the right leg of the female general then grabbed her by the neck and threw her with his left hand, leaving her throat seared.
All Abraham could do in return wasnd a punch in Sigmunds face. A solid punch, absolutely, but the ck swordsman continued to grin even as he grinded against the clenched fist with his face and slowly pushed back the president with brute strength. Then a roundhouse kick sent Abraham flying elsewhere, and the Contender took a second to reach into his mouth and made sure the blood elemental was keeping all of his teeth in ce.
It seemed they were hurting him, but he just shrugged it all off. Under that armour, his body could have been nothing but bruises, but Sigmund stood tall the entire time. Together with Aclysia, Smlere went to engage the ck swordsman.
There just has to be a way! John thought. His mana was quickly refilling, but nowhere near enough to pull any incredible stunts. Aclysia used Masters Shield and concentrated on dodging as theva-haired Combination went on the offensive. What can I do I dont have any aces left In pure desperation, John moved the Mand Sphere downwards.
Smlere hit Sigmund numerous times, forcing the ck swordsman to move. Suddenly, Sigmund spat out a load of blood. Then Masters Shield ended and he turned to attack Smlere. Theva elemental narrowly dodged, moved onto the counterattack and then split. Siena, Smander, Stirwin and Gnome, they all emerged from the central position. In a stunning disy of bravery for such a small creature, Stirwin jumped onto Sigmund and bit into his nose.
As humorous as that would have been in any other situation, now it just served for the crocodile hatchling to be gripped and ripped off like a tic. The bloody trench Sigmund created in his own face in the process didnt even make him flinch. Wallowing in pain within the clutch of hellfire, Stirwin screamed in squeaky sounds and much louder within Johns mind. A pitiful sound that ended when Sigmund clenched his fist tightly, squeezing Stirwin out of existence.
When John got the usual elemental death window, he was absolutely relieved. At least that hellfire didnt have the power of True Death. Tietan, the weapon that had, came for the remaining three. Sylph and Smander quickly flew away, while Gnome threw herself to the ground. That made the one swipe miss, but now she was helplessly lying there.
Sigmund loomed over her, grabbing his weapon with both hands, about to use this living stone as a perverse parody of Arthurian imagery. It was abination attack of Smander and Sylph, the former bestowing her attack buff on the thunderstorm elemental, that offset that catastrophe. A golden arch of lightning, dark grey side arms forking out of the main torrent, hit Sigmund and created arge Lichtenberg figure on the left side of the mans face.
John came to a conclusion. There was no n he could make. He had no more tools to abuse, his well had run dry. All there was now was a desperatest stand for little over a minute. As Sigmund regained his standing and immediately seeded innding a giant sh at Smander, John imagined that even a person that sucked at melee would be necessary in this engagement. Otherwise, one of them, if not more, could die.
The Mand Sphere crashed into Sigmund with nothing else but its own momentum. A st of light blinded him, Rave trying her best to use her beaten body at range, clenching her broken ribs with the other hand. John would have loved to heal her, or Ted and Chemilia, who had dragged themselves off the main stage and were doing their best to not bleed out. What remained of the army was operating under a scrambledmand structure, firing volleys of spells at Sigmund that managed to stagger but never mortally hurt him.
If they were to win, it would happen suddenly. John expected Sigmund to die standing, if at all.
With a solid attack delivered to his left leg, the Contender went on one knee. Breathing heavily out of the mouth, he swung his massive sword like a wild boar its tusks. Siena tried to get the jump on him, but her ded tentacles were blocked by those of her fellow shadow spirit. Sigmund got back on his feet, bloody foam gathering around his lips. Then he screamed ecstatically and started one more offence.
Like a guillotine, Tietan descended on Gnome. She stepped to the side as fast as she could, too slow. The sword entered her body at the right side of her neck and only stopped when the hilt hit the ground. Sigmund pulled his arm backwards with immense speed, the pummel hitting Abraham in the stomach. John arrived in person, jumped and sliced across Sigmunds face with Purgatory. If he hadnt already lost that eye, that attack would have done a whole lot more.
45 seconds, John thought as he did his best to distract the Contender for as long as he could. Sylph and Smander were the only support he could still rely on, everyone else was battered, bruised, broken or dead. An Abyssal army worth of people and Sigmund was stillughing like a mad god of war.
John weaved away under one strike and threw out a wave of Shardbound in the short gap. Moving his massive frame quicker than the Gamer could aim, Sigmund dodged by being elsewhere than John had predicted. The mana flew away into the star filled sky, wasted. While the Contender was concentrating on him, John Newman guided him away from the almost dead soil elemental.
40 seconds, John thought when that finished. Sigmund moved his shoulder into Johns direction; John ducked too quickly, falling for the faint, knee ascending at his jaw a momentter. The Gamer had no idea when the fight had gotten there, but he was catapulted right into the Oval Office, or, rather, the equivalent of it that was owned by Abraham. 35 seconds he managed to think as he got back up. His life was down to 40%. Maybe, just maybe, they could finish this.
Imend you all! Sigmund announced grabbing Tietan with both hands. The fire in his eye went from only the crimson fire to a swirl of energies. A wave of multi-coloured light exploded out of his body and cleared his surroundings of any attackers as he raised his massive sword above his head. I might actually die if I dont use this!
Fuck my everything, John thought as he saw what Sigmund had only threatened to usest time. Thrashing elements around him prevented anyone from approaching. John tried to get somewhere, anywhere, but so close to the source of it all, the raging energies only sent him flying against a wall.
30 seconds remained before the barrier locking fell. The crimson fire concentrated within the gap of the de. 25 seconds remained. A clear blue joined in, the two opposite energies joining instead of neutralizing each other. 20 seconds remained. Whimsical green infused itself in the de, the gusts of wind that kept John from moving only got stronger. 15 seconds remained. Fertile and earthy was the brown that was mixed into the insane vortex of colour. All four basic elements melded together into a white light that burned with iprehensible power. The beam of energy extended far above the de. 10 seconds remained. Without a counterbnce, the deep purple colour of shadow tinged the white light into a dark colour.
In battle all falls to the altar of the Arisens might!Sigmund chanted the power filled words and brought down his attack on the Gamer.
John felt weirdly calm as the roof above him disintegrated like his enemys arm earlier. Ultimately, the people he cared about would be able to leave the barrier by the time he was dead. That was the one thing truly important. But I refuse to just go! he thought and activated Mana Protection. What mana he still had burned away within two seconds when the attack engulfed him. Everything around him was just the dark light of the attack. Everything hurt. He tried to use the Mand Sphere as a physical shield, but it just melted to the state of non-usability on entrance. He put his left arm behind his back, protecting Undine from the damage. Her healing him continuously was all the help he wanted; he was forcing his mind on her to prevent her from changing into her normal shape and protect him with her body.
If he had to die, he wouldnt take her with him. The trip to hell was his alone to take and for all the lives he had taken, John was pretty sure thats where he was going to end up. Undines already thinned out mana came to an end. The attack didnt. His health dropped sharply. 1000 reducing by a dozen with each split second. Then, suddenly, the rate at which his HP decreased took a drop.
He tried to focus his eyes, saw a small, broad figure in front of him, protecting the Gamer with sprawled out arms. Abraham? John had a revtion as to who was standing there in front of him.
The president could have just left. Was it repentance for the wrong he had used John of or was the prideful man just protecting the building that was equivalent with his lifes work? Either way, his short frame was insufficient at protecting John; much of the vast elemental destruction washed over John and kept searing his face. His Health hit 240 out of 2445. More damage came in. Everything went dark. The feeling of being burned, sliced, whipped and bruised at the same time remained for a few more seconds.
Then those too disappeared into blissful oblivion.
End of Season 3 Arc 3
Chapter 543 – Epilogue – The worst enemy to have
Chapter 543 C Epilogue C The worst enemy to have
John awakened and that alone he regarded as a miracle. That he was feeling a soft, warm and overall pretty well was another thing, lying in a bed that supported his upper body in a somewhat upright position. Gamers Body had a way to make even clear losses feel like there was nothing wrong the next morning. Although his body was feeling absolutely dried out and sluggish. Moving his arms alone was a wilful undertaking. Also, somebody had bandaged his eyes for some reason. He could feel himself blink, but everything was dark.
For a moment, that made him think that he had been captured, but he didnt feel any bindings on himself. The smell of narcotics in the air also indicated that he wasnt captured but in an Apothecary facility instead. Why would my girls bring me here? They know I just reset to one state, John wondered, his mind still working sluggishly.
John? he heard his girlfriend; her voice was atypically neutral and quiet. Are you awake? She must have noticed his twitching hands. Soon he felt her warmth around the right one.
Yeah he answered in a parched tone; his vocal cords needed some oiling, so to speak. Can somebody get me some water? I am super thirsty. Also, I got a window telling me I am actually dehydrated.
At once, Master, he heard Aclysias voice, quiet and careful. Her feet tapped over the floor. Then he heard the sound of water pouring out of a sink. Being unable to see any of this was pretty bothersome.
Can you take this bandage off, by the way? he asked in the direction he thought Rave to be. Dont really see the reason for it.
John, you There was a moment of pause, a sound of heavy gulping. You you arent wearing any bandages. The sound of sniffing followed. We we didnt know what to do, they couldnt fix it and now
What do you the Gamer began to ask, then quietly reached out to Aclysias mind. Reluctantly, wanting to shield him from the sight, she let him look through her eyes. He saw himself tense when he realized his eyes were truly uncovered and open. He blinked a couple of times, slowly moving them up to Aclysia. An empty gaze, brown eyes with a milky stain spanning over them. Blind eyes. I see can I have the water?
Silently, Aclysia reached it towards him. He attempted to use her vision to move his own limbs. It was much worse than trying to coordinate oneself while looking in a mirror. Although he was used to coordinating with things outside of his body, he had at least always had his own perspective to anchor his movements to. Now he had nothing of the sort. Moving ever so slowly, he eventually managed to grab the ss.
A bit of the water spilled as his quivering hands failed to keep it steady. He drank too quickly, almost choking and spitting some of it out again. A pitiful sight, that was what he must have been at that moment. Slowly, he epted reality as what it was.
The Hellfire Damage, as it washed over Abraham and only harmed his face, pushing his health under 10%, it must have burned out his eyes. How did I survive? John asked; he didnt believe that he was simply lucky enough that the attack stopped after he fainted.
U-uhm, it was Undine the shy voice of Gnome almost made John jump. He had no idea who was in the room, and now that he knew that he wouldnt be able to find that out with his own eyes, it was sending his paranoia into overdrive. Once you fainted, she was able to revert and protect you s-she is fine! Dont worry! She is pretty mad at you though for not letting her do that in the first ce and not that we need to talk about this now because uhm She just stopped talking.
John closed his eyes and took a deep breath, not that the former gesture made any difference. I guess that takes Observe and Possession off my list of usable skills, the Gamer thought; both were heavy losses to his kit. Unless he attempted to find the Mand Sphere with his mind. Nothing. It must have gotten destroyed when John had tried to use it to block. He tried to open his character screen. It opened up in the nothingness that was his field of vision. At least that still works, he thought as he looked over it, confirming the Mand Sphere as destroyed. There were other things missing from his inventory, the Gamers set and his hat, Untouchable, most of all. Currently, he was wearing one of those white hospital shirts.
All of that aside, he couldnt believe that Possession was just useless now. Gaia was many things, but she had never struck John as cruel enough to make a core part of his skillset defunct. The description of the skill also didnt say that he had to look at it. Hearing something wouldnt work, neither should smelling, but touching something, that sounded like it should be possible.
It was like he was re-imagining the skill, strongly concentrating on the feeling of the ss in his hand. After a couple of seconds, he felt mana flow from his brain to his fingertips and his consciousness slipped inside the ss. Okay that works, he thought and looked around from down there. It wasnt the best solution and it would take practice to use as quickly as the old Possession, but it worked.
Now he could look around. Right of him was Rave, his beautiful girlfriend. Her eyes were wet and looking at him with concern. He hadnt said anything in a while, but right now a clump in his throat kept him from asking and saying all of the things he needed to know and say. Aclysia was standing next to Rave, Gnome a bit behind her. On the left side of the bed, Eliza was quietly sitting on a stool and staring at the floor. Beatrice was standing in front of a nearby wall, Metra leaning against the same next to her. The ancient weapon had her own eyes closed and looked ashamed of herself. The room was a typical hospital thing, cramped and centred around the white bed he was lying in.
If I get a pair of sses or contact lenses, its going to be just like seeing normally, John tried to give everyone a bit of hope, including himself. His voice made it sound anything but convincing, being downtrodden with clearly yed enthusiasm.
Even though those recements would work, it wouldnt be the same. His own eyes werent easily reced by a camera. He would also have to wear them all the time and pay the mana cost continuously. Possession no longer got its ridiculous range as well. This was more than an inconvenience, like a scar would have been; it was crippling in multiple ways.
He took a quivering breath in, wrestling down his emotions. What else happened after I fainted?
John, there is just so much Rave took a deep breath. I dont know how to tell you this. All of this You have been out for sixteen hours Her grip on his hands became tighter. I actually have no idea where to start.
Suggestion: let me do this, Beatrice chimed in. I will present the happenings quickly and chronologically.
John nodded approvingly, Do it.
Abraham is dead, the White House is destroyed, right out of the gate came terrible news. Terrible and expected news, John had held out more hope for Abraham than the building. That put Sigmunds killcount on the Little Marnd on two generals, one president and countless soldiers. Following his attack, Sigmund visibly grew stronger, announced he beat the challenge and left.
That, too, wasnt unexpected. The only way that John survived was that the Contender didnt see any reason to finish him off. Since he had only ever murdered out of negligence, seeing it just as part of battle, it was well within the ck swordsmans character to let John go. Humiliating, at least to a person as prideful as John was, but ultimately, he was happy to still be breathing.
I assume all of the documents stored there have been lost as well? the Gamer asked.
Yes, Beatrice put it as directly as always. We got Chemilia and Ted out of there. While their lost limbs couldnt be saved, they did survive. That was good at least. We lost sight of Nia in the process. She hasnt returned.
John tensed in the bed. Its been only half a day, right? he asked. Its Nia, shell be back, she is odd like that. He genuinely wanted to believe that. Between the timing and how utterly she had been outssed in the fight no, she probably was just in the menagerie. Is that all?
In absence of any government, power defaulted to the remaining generals. Chemilia and Ted dered you president. The southern guilds already dered that they wont go along with this. The true scope of the secession is still to be seen.
All we did, smashed by one man spoiling for a fight John mumbled. Most of the army he wanted was dead, half of the generals were dead, thend he wanted was splintered, what he got cost him his own eyesight. I suppose the bad news dont stop there?
The Lake Alliance gave us their ultimatum, Beatrice presented. They demand that John Newman be executed and Fusion be dismantled. If we refuse to meet that demand by tomorrow, they will invade our territory.
They wont even give me the choice of leaving, huh? he thought, once more unsurprised. There was blood in the water now and the patience of that faction had been thin from the start. Thats it?
In response to that public ultimatum, the Hidden Tradition sent you an offer. They are willing to act as our ally if you bring them Eliza. That concludes my report.
That was, finally, unexpected. In this sea of bad news, there was the single good one. Well, somewhat good, it heavily depended, What do they want with her?
They didnt specify and wanted to wait to talk to you personally, Rave answered, John finished his ss of water. They only roughly outlined that they wanted to try and separate Thana and Eliza.
John almost choked when he heard that. They can do that?! To what end?
Again, didnt say, Rave answered, and John handed away the ss that was his current eyes. Tears began flowing over his girlfriends face. Can we not talk about politics for 10 minutes? John, ya lost your eyes!
Yes he answered in a defeated tone. I honestly dont know what to do with that. Possession will make it less hindering than the average person has to deal with. They are just gone, and nothing I will say or do will change that. He wasnt even sure if he was still talking about his eyes or the people that were lost in this fight. Should I tear out my hair and curse the world? It were my actions that put my in that position. My ambitions and decisions. I overlooked something, got careless and now I pay the price.
He moved out of the bed and up to his girlfriend, as slowly as it took him to stay urate. Wrapping his arms around her, he too began to weep. The warmth of her body only made him realize that he would never see her smile on his own again. From now on it would all be recements, he would get used to it, he would have to, but the finality of it was still clear.
John Newman was blind. The cost of his conquest of the Little Marnd had been too high. I can still feel you, he tried to keep his spirit up as he quivered from exhaustion and unloaded sadness. You are still here, smelling of peppermint and bubblegum.
Of course I am, ya doofus, she sniffed and their embrace got as tight as it could. I am not going to leave ya because you cant ogle me anymore.
I am fucking killing him, the quiet voice of Eliza rung out. He almost killed you twice, he made you blind, he made the people I care about cry, the promise of death was hanging in her every word like the thin string of a guillotine. When that bastard ever shows himself, her tone drifted into a predatory growl, I will kill him.
Johns inability to deal with his own condition paled inparison to what the blood mage had to deal with. Still, it was her that was angry for him. As she looked up, dots and lines inside her left eye slowly turned around her iris. Her skin turned as white as bone, her hair grew longer.
I will break every single fucking bone in his body and leave him bleeding forever. Was it just Eliza making that promise now or was the blood mage just as present as the goddess of genocide within her? He will never sleep again, and when he is broken and crying for release, I will kick the asshole in the ribs and only make the torment worse. ws of blood and bone extended out of the bed of her fingernails and ripped into the bed. It was clear who she was thinking of while tearing into the mattress. Sigmund is going to die! she screamed off the top of her lungs that the windows cracked. I WILL TEAR DOWN EVERYTHING HE CARES F-!
ELIZA! John shouted back and grabbed the blood mage by the wrist. He tried to, missing her hand once, then seeding and pulling her towards him, including her in the hug with his girlfriend. I understand that you are angry, by god do I understand it, he whispered to her, but stay with me. You being with me is more important than revenge.
He made you blind Eliza joined the two of them in their tears, choking on her words. Blind John your beautiful eyes he took your eyes I dont I fucking will
Whatever we do next, John made his tearstained voice as resolute as he could, we do it together.
Author’s Note – Season 3 Arc 3 – A merry land
Authors Note C Season 3 Arc 3 C A merrynd
Man, that took way too long. About halfway through I realized this might have been better split into two arcs, one speaking to his mom and the other with the whole Marnd situation, but I like having things running parallel. I am not really unhappy with how things turned out, just stretched a bit here and there.
Lets talk about the end first, since thats most likely on everybodys mind right now.
Johns winning streak had toe to an end eventually. The meta reason that there is no tension if the story never makes him lose aside, logically there are just monsters in the Abyss that he isnt strong enough to face yet.
There was no Romulus toe and save him this time, so the wrecking crew that is Sigmund had toe for John eventually. It fits even better that he is the arrogant brute to Johns proud schemer. I like to think of Sigmund as what John could have been under other circumstances, and I think their initial meeting illustrates that point quite well.
I also understand that many of you will be surprised that this is even the final turn it took, of all the possibilities. Normally, I build up to the final bosses quite heavily, at the very least I make sure you know who it is well in advance, which is a trend I aim to continue. It wouldnt be life, however, if something unexpected didnt hit you over the head and cast all your sesses down into perceived insignificance. I am unlikely to pull this trick again as I find it generally distasteful in stories myself. Given the scope of this tale, I felt it appropriate once.
Back to Sigmund, he was actually a spontaneous addition made up a bit into Season 3 Arc 2 (Added to the Epilogue of Arc 1 in time because buffer). I n most of my story, but sometimes new puzzle pieces fall into the picture quite neatly. Thest time somethingpleted my ns by suddenly popping into my mind so thoroughly was Nathalia.
Originally, this was just nned as a pyrrhic victory for John without the loss of his eyes. He would fight Abraham, win through great efforts, but they would wreck the White House in the progress and what John wanted, thend and the army, would be greatly diminished and splintered. He still, arguably, got what he wanted.
So, why the eyes? Well, for one, because I already sacrificed an arm once and I dont want to get repetitive. Then because its something that simultaneously nerfs him heavily and is also solvable with Johns toolkit, as pointed out with the whole Possession thing. A skill that was bing increasingly problematic as John got the mana regen to abuse it and its range.
Fun, nerfing it this way is REALLYzy writing! you might say. Not sure I agree, but to try and convince you, I didnt do it primarily for that reason. It was a supporting reason, for sure, and ultimately made it triumph over other losses (the other two considerations were a massive scar or the loss of his voice), but it wasnt the main reason. I am just bringing this up so people arent uncertain when discussing this. I was aware that this would act as a direct nerf to his abilities and it was part of why I did, but not the main reason.
Now, if I really wanted to make this whole thing hit home, I would have murdered someone in the main cast as well. Beatrice and Gnome both got into situations where I could have murdered them quite easily. I am going to guess that thetter would have hurt a lot more.
I will fully admit that I chickened out of that in this case. This story isnt a ce where I n to murder the waifus. Not saying I wont ever, but you can be rtively sure they wont drop Game of Thrones style. That makes this story a bit less attractive to those of you that like some real weight to their consequences, I know, but as I often say, this story is meant to be happy overall, even if we dip into misery sometimes.
I hope the loss of vision at least appeases you lot on that front.
For the fight itself, it was very difficult to write. I will avoid ever doing a One versus Many styled fight like this again, with a lot of named and powerful entities. Its just too hectic for the written medium were things only ever happen in sequence. I think I got it done MOSTLY well; a notable thing that bothers me is thepleteck of mentioning Nia in the first part of the fight (just couldnt fit her in).
On the positive side, I think the fight on Roosevelt ind worked quite well, with the perspective changes and all that. First time I did that, felt very much like doing a shounen anime finale and I liked the way it yed out. You can expect more of that to happen in the future. I generally avoid doing perspective changes in the Gamer as I try to stick as closely to third person limited narrator as possible, but forrge scale, high stakes fights like this, it feels appropriate.
Now, for the two main parts of this arc, the visiting of his parents and the Marnd conflict. I dont have particrly much to say on either. Even though I have no ns of adding Brenda to the harem, as other branches and the trunk have done, his mother not having any screen time ever would have been a bit odd. Also introduced his father while I am at it. I think I am the second or third branch to do that, although they are all different people. There is a bit of wiggle room with Johns family outside of his mom.
Anyway, that whole thing was nice times and exposition. Lord knows I am fond of both of those.
The Marnd conflict yed out basically as I nned it. I added some stuff here and there I would have actually liked to extend in hindsight. For example, I would like to write a proper talk show appearance at one point, taking like 5 chapters, just because I think that would be funny. Didnt really feel right to buffer out the action any further though, since the tension had been a bit low for a while now.
Hope the politicking and the action were equally satisfying. Thats all I can really say.
So, yeah, thats all my thoughts on this arc. I am hoping for next arc to be a lot shorter, since it has a pretty clear through line. It will be called Separation because life isnt as gentle as intentions are.
This was A merry Land I will now be taking my in-between arc break. Normally I take one week off (or two between seasons) but this one will be a little stretched because I want to have the end of a release week coincide with a chapter that ends on 5 or 0 (its just much easier to keep an overview that way), for the first official releases, those being for the 10$ Patrons.
The break will therefore run until Friday the 7th of June for the 10$+ Patrons, Monday the 10th for normal Patrons and Friday the 14th for everyone else. Thats 11 days instead of the usual 7, but well be right back to 5 chapters a week after that. Hope you arent too bothered.
Ill use the extra time to pursue some side projects, so if you are fans of those, youll still get something at least.
Shout out as always to my Patrons, who make it possible for me to keep pursuing this story with rtive certainty that I might be able to live off it one day. If you havent yet, consider joining them please; pumping out daily chapters is actually quite a job!
Also, if youd be so kind, go give me feedback with the questionnaire below. Itll give me a good breakdown of public opinion, what you want and what you dont and will hopefully better this story and my writing in general.
Thats all folks, thank you for sticking with me for over 1,3 millions words already!
Oh! Actually, here is a thing I forgot. This arcs side story! Itsing over the next three release days and THEN I will take my break. This time around there was no proper ce to get in during the run of the story, so I am tagging it onto the end.
Momo Side Story – Black and White 1 – Find her own story
Momo Side Story C ck and White 1 C Find her own story
Momo remembered the buzzing of her phone quite well. As the wind of the air streamed around her, she also remembered thest time it had buzzed in her hand and how she had subsequently dropped it. Thatst fight she had over the phone still echoed in her mind.
Can youe back please? I could use your help with this! Ria had stated in a tone between begging and demanding. In the background, the rattling of tools had been heard.
Youre working again, right? Momo asked, immediately annoyed. You remember that this is exactly the reason why I am NOT where you are right now?
Yeah but
No, no buts, the artificial support had made clear. You like your work more than me, thats fine, but dont expect me toe at your call when you need an extra brain and some mana.
The workaholic nature of the steampunk princess had driven a wrench between them ever so slowly. Momo had been aware that Ria loved to tinker, how could she not have? That didnt make the near totalck of interaction outside of the workshop eptable in any way.
At first it all had been nice and sexy. They challenged each other with ideas about what to build next. Momo learned a lot about mechanics while also keeping the worst excesses of bureaucracy off her newfound lover. Between that, whenever the two felt their very fleshly desires rise up, there were a bunch of things in Rias workshops that could be repurposed. It was a time of equal parts intellectual and physical stimtion.
After a few weeks, Momo had wanted more from them, however. As intellectually pleasing as it was and as much as she liked supporting the princess, ity in her nature after all, doing ANYTHING outside of the workshop was basically impossible. Whenever she managed to drag Ria out of there, the tinker was just looking at her phone and the blueprints she had saved on it. Sure, when they were where Ria wanted to be, they were all happy, but that just wasnt how the monochrome girl wanted to spend her life, much less her love life.
It all had culminated in a series of fights that were infuriating in how little Ria seemed to care about them even happening. If the tinkering princess had shouted back, then at least Momo would have felt like she was worth something when she threatened to leave. Only when she finally cut herself off did the princess shower her with calls. If she couldnt help with this or that. Infatuated idiot she was, she had agreed more than once.
One day, when stumbling over some interesting information, Momo had finally snapped out of it. She realized two things. One, that she was once again just ying second fiddle to someone elses life story, and two, that Ria would never love anything more than her work. No matter how much Momo tried, there was no changing that. With that on her mind, feeling lonelier than ever, rather than just leave the court, she left Austria entirely.
It was time to find more independence out there.
I REALLY need you though, Ria had insisted. I promise that we will do something you want us to do once we get this baby powered up. The gears sound so cute when they are turning, you should hear them!
Momo had taken a deep breath, said, There is no us anymore, and hung up. It gave her an annoying mixture of guilt and liberation. Then the phone had started buzzing in her hand again. After staring at it for a minute, wondering if this time it would be different if she picked up, she finally opened her hand and let the phone drop hundreds of metres onto the roofs of Constantinople.
That way she cut herself off not only from Ria but also everyone else she knew. Maybe that was exactly what she needed. Momo would have lied if she said she went onto that decision with her usual logic.
At that moment, she really missed John and everyone around him. There was a lot of things she could have said about her perverted creator. For example, that he was prone to making decisions that stroked his ego. That he was trying way too hard to be a nice guy. That he was over theorizing most things. That he was hogging Aclysias devotion. That he wasnt paying attention to the people he knew and his harem in particr even when he shouldnt have had the time wasnt one of those.
Lets just keep going; dwelling on that isnt going to get you anywhere, you dumb, white-haired something, she sighed, scolding herself like she would have anyone else and putting the memory aside. A good adventure would hopefully push all of this out of her mind.
She was hovering over a bit of a special barrier. A type three city, the secondrgest in the Greek Ten Gates guild Prometheus. The real counterpart had been in Turkish hand for about 500 years and the way this barrier was structured, with Fateweavers making sure people could only get in on designated points, made it more difficult to get into than a lot of much smaller Protected Spaces. A measure to defend against the other great power just one strait away, the Great Sultanate.
It had made entering a bit annoying, but the security measures made arge degree of sense. There was more than a bit of contention between the two guilds over the ownership of this ce. Limiting the amount of entrance points maderge scale invasions easier to defend against, since actual fortifications could be built with that limited ess in mind.
As such, there wererge spires spread all throughout the city. Round things with onion shaped tips and pirs keeping their many stories standing upright, covered inyers of runes. Each one was its own military base, with at least 100 people manning each and supported with golems as the military bureaucrats kept tabs on every person that entered.
Getting through that had taken Momo a bit longer than the average person. Although she had be independent of John, she was still associated with him and rather high profile, both in power and recognizability. Chances were, every major guild on earth had a file on her, as thin as it was. Ultimately, they had let her go through when they had believed her that she was only there to do some exploring.
Now in the sky she was pretty happy that she was without a phone she had to check every few moments. The city was quite beautiful, clearly ancient, with dominantly Greek architecture out of the era of their most renowned philosophers. It wascking the orthodox Christian and Imic re of the real-world counterpart, instead it was dedicated to a cult of reason. Although it looked somewhat simr to Abyssal Rome in architecture, it was naturally grown and thus had the corresponding chaos of big cities to it that were modernized numerous times. A massive statue of Socrates in the famous thinker pose was brooding over the heart of the city.
It was easily fifty metres tall and his beard was hammered with such detail that Momo wanted to fly up to it and try to count the hairs. She had the feeling that there was a security apparatus out only to protect that statue, however, and didnt feel like getting in trouble with the officials. She was also impressed with how muscr the guy looked.
They do say he was a wrestler still thought he would be fat for some reason, Momo thought as she turned north and flew towards her actual target. She had an appointment with someone in the local library.
If you want information about new facts, visit Paris; if you want information about the truths in ancient myths, visit Constantinople. That was a saying the artificial support had stumbled over in her research. The reason for this were the simr natures of Prometheus and the Illuminati. Both found the search for knowledge to be the highest good in their magical societies. However, the French much preferred a centralized focus on useful knowledge while the Greek had a love for the search of esoteric things.
It was no wonder that the Illuminati were rising in power more steadily than Prometheus, but it was said that thetter had the happier people. How true that was, was up for debate and just some knowledge Momo had gained at the side.
What helped Constantinople with making its side of the saying factual was the fact that Prometheus had been around much longer and its libraries were filled with texts people had forgotten were even lying somewhere in there. Perfect conditions for the thing Momo was after.
Shended on the steps of therge building. Although the front had the typical triangr shaped roof upheld by numerous pirs, the main body of the building reminded Momo of a fluorite crystal. Not the colour, that was pretty boring, everything being covered in a white ster. The shape of the library was dominated by squares and rectangles attached to one another, with the odd tower here or there.
I guess they kept running out of room and just pped some more on every time? Momo wondered, now annoyed that she had thrown away her phone. With it, she could have just well, no, she couldnt have done anything. Even that information would have cost something in the Abyss and she had no money whatsoever right now. Fortunate for her that she didnt need to eat. This is what happens if you pay your girlfriends bills, she went inside, wings retracted back into her body, hoping that theck of funds wouldnt be too much of a problem.
The inside was very sparingly lit and had the typical smell of old books. There was an odd mixture of magical lights and modernmps hanging around. There was apleteck of torch holders or anything of the like; even if they were outdated now, back in the day those should have found some use. Why they wouldnt be anywhere close to a building where a ludicrous amount of knowledge was hoarded on paper was pretty obvious.
From the reception, Momo was quickly given a number for a room and was left alone to navigate thisbyrinth. For almost two hours, she made her way through thepletely nonsensicalyout of the archives. Of course, she didnt see a single bookshelf throughout, those were hidden away from visitors, which made this whole thing even worse.
Room 247, Momo thought, repeating that number in her head every few minutes to remind herself that she was not going crazy. Her fireflies were hanging around her like a cloud of lights, illuminating everything further than theyout originally allowed. The feeling of narrowness that beset her vision whenever she stepped through the darkness between one cone of light and the next was absolutely something she wanted to offset. In any sane system, that would mean second story, room 47, right? Right.
Which is where she went first to find room 1047.
She then thought it had to be building two, room 47. Question was which one was building two? The answer turned out to bepletely unimportant, since that assumption was wrong as well. Instead, the second building was counted as the first extension and had room numbers that began with the sign for alpha, followed by floor number, then room count.
In other words, there were at least three different systems by which rooms were organized within this cluster of archives. No wonder they lose things all the time, she thought when she finally found the right room, having just wandered around randomly until some sort of system seemed to resemble what she was searching for. That was, terribly enough, the best strategy.
She knocked on the door and was greeted with Greek words inviting her inside. Thankfully, she had learned thatnguage before going on this adventure. Ever since she first had found that hint in the Habsburgs private library, she had made her preparations for this endeavour. She had just hoped to be on it to go back to Ria instead of using it to get away from her.
This library is maybe the worst thing I have ever encountered, Momo stated truthfully the second she entered the office. It was so flooded with light that she almost felt her retina fall out despite not even having one. And I have fought a Lorylim infected elemental, the goddess of genocide and a golem the size of a skyscraper.
Its not that bad! the librarian immediately went on the defensive, as if Momo had offended him personally. Once you get used to all 47 systems, you can find your way around quite easily!
Just staring judgmentally and trying her best not to fall into a preaching that would maybe get her thrown out of the building entirely, Momo took a seat after being offered one. Anyway, sorry for the dy. Just to make sure, you are Glykos?
My wife likes to say that, the same smiled, and Momo repressed a groan. The young man had to be a father since he had just made a terrible pun. Glykos happened to mean sweet in Greek. Anyway, you would be Momo Newman, yes?
Just Momo, the artificial support insisted.
Well normally finished artificial spirits take on thest name of their creator ah, well, if you insist, the man turned to hisputer, not even addressing the fact that she was hours toote. The odds were rather high he had expected for her to arrivete due to the building. I will need some name though, if I am going to give you a library pass.
Just like that? Momo asked, having thought she would have to go through a bunch of trials to be given ess.
My higher ups have told me to not give you too much of a hassle, given who you are associated with, Glykos went ahead and exined. Also, we here at Prometheus are happy about any potentially re-discovered artefact. The sudden end of the middle eastern Abyss following the end of Babylon has left quite a few barriers and secrets lost to chaos. There could be entire cities out there that are maintained by just a few monsters crawling around inside them. And this Tialoyst thing sounds rather important.
Momo had sent the entire excerpt she had found over to this man, so he was as far informed as she was. The Tialoyst was supposed to be a staff forged by Enki, god of stars and magic, from Astrotium. Momo wasnt unhappy with her current weapon, it was a good channel for magic, but it was a handout by the Gamer and she wanted something to call her own, earned with her own work. Something that also was an upgrade.
A long lost staff made by a son of Tiamat sounded like just the thing.
Well, give me a surname you like and then you can go fight against the library. Thatment made Momo realize that the inside of the archives was probably infested with even MORE systems than theyout was.
Well, at least getting angry over that will be a good distraction, Momo thought about what she wanted to be called instead of Newman. What was a name she could give herself that described what she wanted to be in life or what she already was? Pretty hard to find something that doesnt sound terribly cringey she realized, going through numerous solutions. Her face became hotter and hotter from each thing she even thought about saying out loud. Finally, she surrendered and just got this thing over with. "Firefly."
Black and White 2 – Find her own worth
ck and White 2 C Find her own worth
It is therefore unknown why Lorylim concentrate their efforts on the middle east in particr. Increased activity in southern India, western Australia and eastern Madagascar are easily exinable through the ripped continent of Lemuria having disappeared in the triangle between these three locations. Although details of that event are scarce toe by, only orally passed down the generations and eventually carried together in another report, it is clear that the Lorylim were involved in Gaia taking such drastic action.
Much like we dont know why exactly the Lorylim act or what makes them focus on certain areas of the world, we fail to understand what they are. Their otherworldly appearance makes it easy to think that they, like whatever creatures nks are in contact with, stem from somewhere outside of this world. All evidence points to the contrary. In the way they enter the earth tethered Protected Spaces, they behave exactly like elementals.
We canpile a small list of facts. Lorylim were originally quiet, murderous monstrosities in a very limited number. Over time, they changed into a more corrupting, insane force that spread itself into tinier creatures. Their minds work unlike a humans and seems to be a swarm consciousness in perpetual disagreement with itself. Their bodies generally include things describable as mushroom-like and/or eyes that transform into jagged-teethed mouths when they blink. A rtion tomon mushroom people could not be established.
Their remain more questions than answers That typo was the point at which Momo closed the book and put it back into the shelf with a heavy sigh. Slowly, she hovered back down to the floor. She had been in the library for days now, if not weeks. The fact that she didnt need to eat or sleep had meant that she simply stayed inside in her endless search. It had been an effective way to get over her rtionship problems. By now, she was only thinking about Ria every now and again, tendency going even lower.
It felt like she was finally over her, which was good. By now, Momo herself was in love with this system of archives. Sure, the initial stages had been utterly infuriating. The whole thing was separated into areas that were anything between a single shelf chamber to the mainplex, where Momo currently was, that was like a kilometre wide warehouse, massive shelves stacked twenty metres high, with books covering every surface avable.
Well, not just books. The oldest records around were stone tablets with hieroglyphs that were the attempt of one person using their own writing system as none had properly established itself yet. Nobody knew how to trante that one. It could have been anything between the secrets of the ancient world to a list of tax deductibles. Then there was all the paper and papyrus before proper binding was a thing, the actual books, magically eternalized records written into ss orbs or other such gimmicks, all the way up to modern saving methods like USB-sticks.
And all of that was assorted into one of many different organization systems. The catalogue was so gargantuan that every head of the library who had wanted to organize these things had seen at best 10% of it done before he or she kicked the bucket, the next head came in, thought a different system would be better, and thus the game began again.
Unless one was looking for verymon references, it was basically impossible to find anything in a sensible amount of time. There were entire wings of this thing that hadnt seen light in years, books that hadnt been opened in centuries. All of this in total darkness, as sunlight could have bleached the records given enough time.
Once Momo had gotten over the frustration of needing to search around on her own, with only iplete or long discontinued ordering systems to work with, the treasure hunt had turned out to be quite enjoyable. The idea of being the first person to look at some dusty pages in anything between a day and a millennium was quite exciting. Her fireflies and ability to hover around on her energy wings also made this whole thing a lot easier.
All she knew from her original hint was that there was a staff called Tialoyst and that it was located inside a barrier in a treasure city south of Babylon. The name of the city was lost, but that it was described as a city and that she had the rough location already helped. By now she had found a couple of proper candidates.
Of course, the easiest way to get more information on this would be to just get me a new phone and call Metra through John, Momo thought and immediately dismissed the idea. Not only would that be too easy if it worked, the artificial support also doubted that Metra knew. She would probably say, Why the fuck would I know where a weapon that doesnt have a single de is? or something along those lines.
So that was out on principle and on likely oue. Anyway, Momo would have liked to stop stumbling over Lorylim reports whenever she was looking up things about barriers in the area. The ovep was highly distracting.
Here goes hoping there wont be one where I am going, Momo thought and grabbed another book with a promising title. Carefully opening it, Momo got to reading once she was sure that no face made from ink would scream at her. It was written in ancient Sumerian, an orderly collection of tablets. Thenguage was crude, since writing was still stuck in early, unrefined stages, but Momo had spent a good amount of time reading texts of this variety.
North of Nippur, carried grain to his majestys secret treasure city how do I trante that? Momo wondered, looking at the symbols etched into the y. Chamberfall Star no, Starfallen Chamber? In any case, this was exactly what she was searching for. Nippur was a city southeast of Babylon, so that limited the search area somewhat. It still wasnt reasonable to try and find this ce without further hints, but at least she now had a lead.
Looking further through the book, always on the search for this Starfallen Chamber, the artificial support eventually got herself what she needed. For a so-called city, there were very few records on this barrier. Much less than Momo had originally anticipated anyway. This one record was the first thing she found mentioning it in some detail.
The biggest problems would now be that many of thendmarks mentioned were probably no longer around. Either she now moved out and just hoped to find them or she had to find records confirming their existence and detailing where they would have been. Something she had to repeat doing until she could finally tether the location, roughly at least, to a modern city in Iraq or to one of the persisting natural marks, the rivers of the fertile crescent came to mind.
That took her another Gaia only knew how long, since Momo still refused to leave the library. Surrounded by so many books and words, the artificial support just lost herself in one of her favourite past time activities. Periodically, she allowed herself to read something else interesting. One time she caught herself on some detailed sexual exploits of famous historical lesbians. Had gotten her pretty close to masturbating, but this really wasnt the ce.
Then, one day, Momo found that she was done. Her pen added some more notes to a copy of the map of Mesopotamia she had glued into her notebook and finally reduced her searching area to a twenty-kilometre radius. Not the best, but narrow enough that she felt she could search it all quickly enough.
She looked through all of her notes one final time, mindlessly going over all of her other projects. Bureaucratic reforms of Rias courts that she would have wanted to do, designs of little devices, theories on magic and the details of spells she wanted to learn. They were all inside here, and with every bit of knowledge she carved out of the world, the once white paper got filled more and more.
Maybe, one day she would give the world her own book? That sounded like a way to establish her own worth, leave behind something like all the other people had left books behind for her. Another project for another day, she decided, putting her note back into her inventory.
Now, if only she could remember where the exit was
_________________________________________________________________________________
Momo crawled into the sunlight. Literally. It wasnt the main entrance she had finally found herself at, no, instead she had to fight some sort of golem made from pages that kept screaming things in Finnish, anguage that she did not speak, and ultimately emerged in some sort of ever narrowing shaft that finally spat her out like thirty metres above the ground at the side of a perfectly smooth wall.
Any sane person would have turned around when seeing the golem, but Momo had the feeling she may have gotten some permanent damage out of this enigma cube of archives. Squeezing herself out of the hole, she manifested her wings as she fell. ck limbs extended past her back, less even than the skeletal frame of birds. Sprouting from them camerge hexagons, white feathers made from energy and only maintaining the rough outline of their biological counterparts. The three corners at the top had only small lines between them and were perfectly attached to the ck outgrowths on her back. Towards the lower end, they were long and looked somewhat sharp.
The t energy wings didnt need to p for Momo to slow her fall, mana oozing out in ck and white particles that quickly dispersed in the air as her fall reversed. With a pirouette, she raised up towards the cloudy sky, the sun was only peeking through the grey mass here and there. Her swarm of fireflies followed her, as they always did when Momo didnt have direct orders for them.
She made her way towards one of the many spires to leave the city. It was noticeably less of a hassle to leave than it had been to get in. Probably because they now had their file on her in order. Alternatively, because they were less concerned about people leaving. Whatever it was, Momo came out back in reality and immediately began weaving together a spell.
Being separate from John had its perks, the biggest of which, in her opinion, was that she could decide what spells to learn herself. No decisions made by John (even if he had always listened to her requests) from a menu picked out by Gaia. The drawback was that she didnt learn new things instantly and that they werent quite as potent or unique. Instead, she had to work herself up from the basic things in every school of magic. Thanks to her rather advanced Intellect, that wasnt too hard, but needing to practice had been a bit odd at first.
What she was casting now was something she was well familiarized with already, being the very first spell she had learned. Mundane Ignorance, as it was called, a spell at the bottom of the tier list in the school of trickery and illusions. All it did was make her invisible to mundane people. In this, it was useless to most normal members of the Abyss, since mundane people could still perceive their presence otherwise and hearing disembodied steps or something of the like was a pretty easy way to get Gaias ire. Even easier was seeing an apple get picked up by nothing and disappear as the spell extended onto it.
In other words, it was too weak to effectively hide people walking through crowds. It took more investment into that school of magic before somebody could reliably get through the mundane world without getting noticed. For Momo, however, it was enough, since she didnt aim to walk around.
Invisible to the people around, she flew over the city of Istanbul and the strait connecting the two halves. Up in the air, she had nothing to be afraid of. There were no humans to perceive any sound she made that high up. The only risks she had were birds and airnes. The former could still see her while thetter she would have to be a moron to miss.
This spell was what allowed her to fly freely through the real world. Well, pretty freely at least. She was nowhere near as adept at that school of magic as Herman had been, her talentsy with other schools anyway, but it did the job and Momo was very happy about feeling the air stream over her face.
Reaching into her inventory she pulled out her e-reader. Might as well read something else while she was on her way east.
Black and White 3 – Find her own weapon
ck and White 3 C Find her own weapon
The ground below her continuously shifting towards a light brown was interesting. In Europe, everything was either covered in grass or dirt of a quite dark colour. Over here in the middle east, where rainfall was less abundant and mountains made much of thend difficult to cultivate, the ground had a different colour andy bare more often, the vegetation was limited to dry wheats, bushes and the asional tree. Around rivers, Momo often saw strips of fresh green, but those were certainly the exception.
Where there were people, other rules applied. Farmers had figured out how to adjust nature in a way that their risks were minimized. Although heavy rainfalls or extended dry periods could still ruin a harvest, the rectangle shaped fields were watered artificially, the ground ploughed, enriched with fertilizer and ultimately nted with crops bred to survive the conditions of the climate while yielding the maximum of edible parts.
Momo was quite impressed by what mundane humans carved out of the world in the absence of magic. Farming must have been one of the first inventions ever made, since it enabled the shift from a roaming to a settled lifestyle. The entirety of known history hinged on a few people having the idea to not just gather but also grow nts.
I wonder what I will look back on in a few years and realize how obvious a decision was in hindsight, she thought and lowered her flight until she was about a dozen metres above ground. There were several people overlooking the fields, some farmers walking in between the bushes to check on their nts health. None noticed her as she flew around; her spell was still active.
Having arrived in the rough area of the map she wanted to, all she could do now was go through the repetitive task of trying to enter a barrier, move and repeat until she seeded. Like an archaeologist who knew that somewhere, at a metres depth, there were ruins of an ancient city around here but had no idea where exactly. Well, actually, she got the much easier job, but the location problem was still roughly equivalent.
Now she REALLY regretted having thrown away her phone. There were enough map-drawing tools that she could have used to easier mark where she had already attempted to enter than scribbling educated guesses in her notebook. Also, a phone didnt begin to flip pages when a dusty breeze rolled over.
Covering a hundred metres of ground, she raised her arm again and suddenly found herself entering a barrier. Yessss! she enthusiastically hissed and lowered that hand with a fist pump. Marking the area with a big E on her copy of the map, she slowly descended. Turning to a nk page, she began noting down what she saw.
The city was built around a central ziggurat, stacked squares of light brown stone, surprisingly intact and painted with cobalt blue and gold. Each gently sloped wall ended framing an area that once must have been a traversable garden but was now a thickwork of green that Momos gaze couldnt pierce.
The front side of that pce sported a balcony only essible through the inside and three massive staircases that allowed ascent up to the highest level. Although it had a structure that was easy to defend on principle, the way that stairway was set up reduced that advantage tremendously, the only obstacle for a charging attacker bing height and distance. It was a showcase version of a fortress, not a proper one.
Below the massive wallsy a once orderly system of houses, gardens and roads, all turned into turmoil by the vegetation having been left on its own for thousands of years. There was a sudden cut off point, from where buildings were ced in seemingly random intervals around the heart of the barrier. Momo guessed that the original buildings must have ended there and more had been added with the passage of time, giving housing to the families of whoever had worked here once upon a time.
She spent a good amount of time flying over the city and making more detailed notes about the shape of rooftops or certain insignias she found multiple times. As payback for having her helped find this ce, Momo had promised Prometheus to return with the information of where to find this. Although the Great Sultanate imed all of the middle east as part of its ruling space, truth of the matter was that this part of the earth was so sparsely popted by Abyssals that it fell into the category of unsettled ground.
Momo was aware of two reasons as to why, in the thousands of years that had passed, nobody had attempted to properly im Mesopotamia, the former being tightly linked to thetter. First were all the barriers still around from the glory days, filled with numerous dangers. Second, Mesopotamiay in an odd position, closely between two leylines that merged east of Cyprus. Natural barriers spawned often here, making settling difficult but also so lucrative that each great power was keeping a warning eye on each other attempting to properly go there.
That this wasnt the most stable region on earth may also have something to do with it.
Done writing down what she felt was productive, Momo softlynded on the balcony of the ziggurat and looked inside. Although theck of wind had kept the ruinsrgely whole, all of the magic that once had lit up the ziggurat had long since dissipated. Sending a firefly ahead of herself, only seeing the stone walls from ancient times, she stepped inside.
Everything was quiet, absolutely quiet, which made Momo a bit nervous. In the tense atmosphere, she tried to distract herself by looking at the walls. Archaic use of an already archaic alphabet was stered all over the walls. Names of monarchs and their deeds, sterilizations of a bearded man grinding his axe on silver mountains. A massive blonde woman holding a spear whose shaft was attached, or perhaps came from, the tail of a ck dragon whose half-decayed body wound around her. Together they made up the outline of an eye and the slit.
Metracana, Momo mumbled the word that was engraved underneath, after stopping at that particr image, recognizing the blonde berserker in it. Taking a step back and dispersing her fireflies, the artificial support looked at the entire mural. Unwittingly, she must have stumbled into some sort of history room.
That dragon appeared over and over again. Winding around some, devouring other figures. For a moment, Momo thought there may have been two different ones. One dragon that was pristine, beautiful even, glittering with the waves of the ocean, the other was a hideous beast, covered with scars and eyes, flesh getting carved out of it by brave warriors, used to create items of great power. If the rare image of the dragons front hadnt been shown, showing the halves belonging together to a disgusting mouth that opened into four parts, then the fact that the pristine dragon was always looking right and the hideous one left would have tipped Momo off.
Chaos undying, mother Tiamat, she managed to decipher the words, following the windings of the image. Tiamat got progressively more hideous, even the pristine half of her face was eventually attached to a rotting body that continuously leaked water like blood from an open wound. Only a few of the five wings seemed to escape that fate, others reduced to skeletal remains. Every version of her was connected somehow, tails, heads and wings melding at points to create a vastwork; the image had clearly been expanded over time. The higher Momos gaze wandered, the newer the paint must have been.
There was a point where the artist had given into madness or been reced with someone clearly not right in the head, nevertheless talented, however. The words End it C End it C End it C End it formed a calligraphic masterwork, the repeated words flowing into the shape of Gaia. Her hands were closed around a tower, some sort of ball at the centre. No, not a ball, there was more to that, Momo just needed to lighten that area up more and look more closely. There were clearly details there,yers of ck and grey crossing over in a writhing mess. Momo just needed to study it a bit and maybe she would be able to
The entire mural suddenly exploded into rubble as ancient history was lost forever through two figures bursting through it. Oh my everything, who?! she shouted usatorily as she jumped backwards, wings spreading. The chamber was more thanrge enough for some manoeuvring.
Momos eyes adjusted in response to the blinding light that was constantly emitting from one of two beings now in the chamber with her. It was a woman with long, pale blonde hair that flew in straight strands as she jumped around. Her movements were quick, despite her wearing an borate grey armour, sticking closely to her curves and even winding around her breasts, framed with bands of golden sigils. She wielded a regr sized sword of a silvery white in one hand and a shield of dark bronze in the other. That was so regr that, in a world where there were people swinging swords bigger than themselves with one arm, Momo was a bit weirded out.
Not nearly as weirded out as by the womans enemy. It probably had been a wolf once upon a time. Arge canine, shoulders as high as Momos and several times longer. Along tail and back sprouted a myriad of tentacles, boneless hands gripping the air with smooth movements. The creature had no ears or eyes on its head, only arge maw with jagged teeth, a tongue lolling out. In the liquid ck fur that covered its body, more maws and eyes opened randomly, blinked, changed into the other, only to disappear again. With its breaths and from the many wounds already covering it, it exuded spores that quickly dissipated in the air.
Momo didnt need to guess who she was better off helping.
Still, she couldnt help herself and had toin, Seriously, you just destroyed an ancient piece of history! Worse, before I could take a look at it!
Who even are you?! she got shouted back at, the other woman jumping back when a bunch of tentacles came down on her like a bundle of whips. They crashed into the floor. Momo wasnt sure how she hadnt heard this fight going on before. Watch out!
The Lorylim infested monster turned its attention away from the knight the second it spotted Momo. It got on its hind legs as it inhaled deeply, chest expanding to the point of absurdity, then it unleashed a breath attack filled with the spores it was already oozing.
Momo concentrated and extended her left hand. A dice of white mana appeared in front of her palm, quickly unfolding into a cross shaped shield. Waves went through the surface of the barrier as the support spent more and more mana to keep it up. It was a resource she had a lot of, so she didnt mind this kind of contest of power at all. The attack ceased long before she even felt her mana pool threatened.
This fight was clearly on the tail end already, with the otherdy in the room charging with her shield raised, ramming it in the upright creatures soft belly and then shing it open with her sword. A cacophonicughter could be heard as the one maw belonging to the creature that had been taken hold of whimpered in pain. In a quick counterattack, it managed to snap its jaw around the knight. Teeth broke with the sound of snapping twigs upon the grey armour.
Momo was afraid that she would now have to fight a corrupted whoever she was. All it would take, likely at least, was for that wolf creature to repeat that breath attack point nk. Instead, it only retaliated physically, throwing its head around a few times and then tossing her across the room. Shards of its teeth followed in the wake of the knights impact destroying yet another wall.
Now attacking the artificial support again, the Lorylim was extending its tentacles in an attempt to grab her. No thank you, Momo decided, flying away, the ck limbs continuously chasing her regardless. The only tentacles I ever want close to me are Undines.
Weaving and dodging, passing over the blonde knight who was shaking her head and searching for her weapons, Momo flew a circle around the room. Her mind was quick at work. Folded Mana, thest skill her creator had gotten her, was incredibly potent but itsplicated nature forced a lot of attention to be dedicated to it weave. Between her hands appeared more and more lines, creating surfaces between them that cut through each other. It looked a little bit like crumpled paper, ck and white, more on more fireflies settling within, a bunch of spells that were folded together into one temporary object of mana, waiting to have their code finalized and be unleashed on the enemy.
Momo kept watching, estimating the enemys size, where her attack had tond for maximum effect, every little bit of the spell had to fit before it left her hand. Once it did, it would act out exactly like it had been programmed, no further adjustments possible.
The tendrils had her almost cornered, only a small gap was still open. Making her wings disappear, Momo barely squeezed through, lost her momentum in a catching roll and then tossed the Folded Mana. It rolled over the floor, 3 2 1 Momo counted down as it stopped underneath the wolfish nightmare.
Before it could turn around, the spell bundle activated. Barriers in the shapes of pirs appeared around the wolf, immobilizing it. A different kind of barrier then followed, ck in colour and defined not by the amount of punishment it could sustain but by the strength of its edges. Incredibly thin, these triangr energy razors ripped upwards, slicing deep into the base of the creatures legs and its neck. Both kinds of barriers dissipated a moment after they came, leaving thest part of the spell to run its course.
Glowing more intensely than ever, a swarm of twenty fireflies, in all their colours, red, green, blue and white, made their way towards the newly opened wounds. They settled there for a moment, their light growing even brighter, then they all burst in explosions that saw every limb blown off the Lorylim. The head was still on the neck, barely, flying upwards to the cracking of its neck. The female knight saw to it that it didnt stay attached and got any chance to regenerate, if it could, separating the bone and sending the hysterically crying andughing wolfs maw flying.
Momo got back on her feet. Two kinds of mana, the knight spoke in an admiring tone as she backed off. Most people dont even manage to get past the default blue arcane energy. Then again, you seem, like me, to not be born like a regr person.
To underline those words, the knight absorbed her armour under her skin and reced them with some boring travellers clothes. Comfortable jogging pants and a loosely fitting shirt. Artificial Spirits shifted their appearance like that.
Yeah Oh no! Momo looked at the rocks, big and small, scattered all over the floor. Glueing all of this together will take EWWWW! she quickly jumped back when some of the oozing ck blood of the Lorylim streamedughingly towards her, wrapping around one of the stones and partially munching away at it before dissolving into the spores.
Mhm what was here again oh, yes, that atrocious family portrait, the woman spoke up and confirmed Momos suspicion with that.
Okay, so youre a Metracana, then?
You know of us? the knight looked pleased by this, still emitting a continuous glow. Indeed, I am Lery, Second of Light you are just full of surprises. I didnt think I would run into anybody here. Much less somebody who knows what a Metracana is.
Right back at you, Momo continued to back away from the creatures corpse, epting, begrudgingly, that the image was forever lost. I go hunting for some ancient ruins and I find one of the people who just knew where it was smashing it in.
Well, the alternative was to let that thing roam around, Lery pouted, I think I did the right thing attacking it
Maybe you did, just do it without smashing ancient history next time.
Again, atrocious family picture, the Second of Light pointed out. I am ACTUALLY rather d nobody will ever have to look at that again. Even more d that Metra wont have to; she was always about to smash it when she saw it.
That does sound like Metra Momo agreed and suddenly had the blonde right up to her face.
You have seen her?! she asked in the tone of a big admirer getting fantastic news.
Dyed in her answer by the beauty of this Metracana, Momo gulped and was suddenly reminded that her Libido score was a full 25 and that she hadnt even touched herself in a while. Her face flustered as her hands were forcibly grabbed.
Please, tell me everything! Lery requested, her shining emerald eyes white open. Ill be forever thankful if you do!
Thankful is a good start, the artificial support thought and smiled weakly.
_________________________________________________________________
and thats all I can tell you, Momo finished up. Since starting the little tale, they had begun moving into the depths of the ziggurat. Sorry.
No, no, thats good, Lery waved her hands, much friendlier now that she had heard that the white-haired woman was associated with her senior. If she is in North America, we might be running into each other. Ill soon be returning to Master Enki anyway.
Ah well, if you dont mind me asking, what are you here for? It would spell some troubles if they wanted the same thing. Because, to be frank, I wanted to take a staff I read was stored here.
Oh, you mean Tiolyst? the Second of Light gestured dismissively again. Not what I want, so you can take it for all I care, if its still there. She winked suggestively. You dont have to feel like stealing it either, I officially allow you to take it as payment. For your help and for being nice on the eyes in this brown, boringndscape.
Arent you from around here? Momo asked with a chuckle; this flirting felt very much like it came from both sides now. Good, made it very likely to seed. You should feel awful talking about your homnd like that.
For once, the grass is greener on the other side, Lery said, the two of them stopping in front of a heavily ornate gate. Between the two of us, I am fine with taking a bit from each side, if you know what I mean.
I think I do, Momo stated, staring at the Metracanas shapely ass as she put her hand against the locked gate. A sh went through the runes, one of the few functioning mechanisms in this ziggurat, then it swung inwards.
Illuminated by the constant glow that came from Lery and Momos fireflies shimmered copious amounts of gold. Coins, vases, tablets, swords, spears, all of it made from the decorative metal. Completely useless, but pretty. After asking, Momo also put some of these things into her inventory. She would need money eventually and these things would sell to collectors for quite a sum. Of course, she would also give some to museums and the like, should she find any in the Abyss that were interested.
What she hade for rested on a pedestal of sandstone, held up by forked rods of steel. This is the Tiolyst? she asked; the thing didnt look impressive at all. It was a ck staff, light as a feather, with silver white lines spiralling around the length of the thing. There was nothing on the lower end and a simple grey hook at the head. It fit to her monochrome re, but it was also somewhat underwhelming, given the lengths she went to. Touching it, however, she felt her hairs standing on end as the power of this ancient weapon bristled through her like electricity. Simple design or not, it clearly was a mighty artefact. Okay, spare me the answer, already got it, this is it, Momo hastily added. What did youe here for?
This, Lery presented a clump of grey metal. Raw Astrotium. Worthless to everyone in the world but the two people than can shape it. I just recently remembered it was here. The boss was not amused with my forgetfulness, but thats okay.
They both had what they wanted and they had known each other for barely ten minutes at that point, but neither of them felt like they wanted to just leave so quickly. Would your boss mind if you take a bit longer to get back? Momo carefully asked. I mean, some star god isnt pressed for time, right?
He would, but he isnt really, no I guess I could have some fun for one day
Momo grinned, then cleared her throat and asked something more personal. Did you ever have sex with another girl on a pile of gold?
Once or twice, Lery casually began the process of bing naked.
Momo followed suit, Pretty sure you didnt with one that can grow a dick. Just going to put that out there.
Chapter 544 – Arc 4 Prologue – The Gamer’s Body
Chapter 544 C Arc 4 Prologue C The Gamers Body
Hmmmmmm, the Apothecary hummed as he stared at the screen. For his profession, he was a remarkably unremarkable fellow. Short, greying hair of a dark colour, the face a doctor would have, only the odd tube, reminding of a miniature chimney with a lightbulb on top, attached to his left temple and steadily dripping some sort of alchemical fluid directly into his brain and theboratory coat made him look like he belonged here.
Through Aclysias eyes, John was watching as hey in a tubr machine himself. It was rattling around him with deep vibrations. Hovering metal pieces, bent into unclosed rings, were going up and down his length. Blue mana lines were moving over his body in ordance, the arcane particles were caught again and the gathered information uploaded to the screen the Apothecary was looking at.
Oooh! A sound of revtion echoed, closely followed by another, Hmmm, yes, noooooo. It had been going like this for at least ten minutes. This was basically thest straw John had grasped onto to see if there was a way to heal his eyes. Regardless, he was running out of patience.
Doctor, I really appreciate your verbal engagement in the peculiarities of my body, but could you PLEASE tell me what is actually going on? the Gamer asked, staying otherwise put.
Hm? Oh, yes, yes, I am just looking at something highly peculiar is all. The Apothecary knew that Aclysia was watching for both of them, so he showed the screen to her. There were two human skeletons.
The left one looked like a normal MRI scan, for the most part. Joining the bones and intestines was an array of blue lines that ran through the body like a secondwork of veins, concentrated around lungs, heart, brain, crotch, lower spine and the joint areas. In contrast, the right one was basically entirely made up of those lines, as if a child had seen something beautiful and decided to repeat drawing it ad nauseam.
This is a normal Abyssal, the doctor exined, taking a touch pen to gesture around on his screen. As you can see, the pathways mana takes through the body are evenly spread and workpletely normally for whatever purpose they will be trained in. Now,paring this to your body, Mr. Newman. His hand travelled over to Johns image. Basically, your entire body seems to be made out of pathways. You have something along the lines of one thousand times the normal density. Normally that would ssify you as some sort of elemental, but using the touch pen, the Apothecary disabled that particryer and revealed a perfectly normal, if above average in fitness, male body. you are also still human. Thework seems to be capable of updating, leaving behind a new true body which it will actively restore in the case of damage. Very fascinating.
Aside from the scientific background, none of that is news to me, John had to hold back to not start screaming about the mans ipetence. Get back on topic.
Topic? the man asked and was subsequently grabbed by his cor and shoved against a nearby shelf. Delicate looking ss instruments fell out as Eliza growled like a wild animal at the Apothecary. Between the strands of hair, having grown long enough to reach her hips from her earlier outburst, stared widely opened eyes filled with insane rage.
His fucking eyes, you creepy shitstain, she cursed to the echoes of shattering ss. A second wave of that followed when the blood mage shook the much taller man. Get your smartass brain together and help him before I rip out everyst dysfunctional braincell you have and feed it to some creepy Cthulhu like monstrosity while nailing your mangled ass corpse to the bedroom door of your moron of a wife!
Eliza threw him back towards theputer, the dots and lines in her eyes spinning rapidly, where the Apothecary, gasping for air and with the speed of the fearful, got to work, looking over the scans again. Normally, John would have intervened. Today was not normal.
S-seems m-m-m-my colleagues did all they could alrea-already. With the reality check that he was currently analysing one of the strongest people on the continent, not to mention the lover of a girl that could react incredibly vtile, the Apothecary was stammering. B-because of the way your body works, now that this is the new updated state, no amount of healing will restore your eyesight. I am sorry! he backed away along the corner of his table, the crunch of shards getting ground to dust under his boots. There really is nothing we can do!
What about biomechanical recements? Aclysia asked for John. Surely, that is possible.
I I d-d-dont think so, no, the doctor gulped, very much aware that he was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Lying would definitely not get him away, but being the bearer of bad news was never good. The difficulty to operate on a body that doesnt just regenerates but resets aside The eyes we produce here in the Abyss are purposed for normal humans and normal magic density. Unless your body magically epts them, we would need to develop something specifically for you
John didnt see Gamers Body doing that. It sounded like some sort of Artificer or at the very least more mechanical focused path that he hadnt taken. There was no guarantee that ity somewhere out there either, so trying to specialize in that direction would likely be a bunch of ss Levels and otherwise spent time that didnt advance his core power set and didnt harmonize with it either.
How long would that take? the weaponized maid continued asking, her tone like an edge forged from ice.
I can only guess, but the amount of receptors we would have to put behind a single he quickly shut up when the cold gazes and silence made it clear that only a quick answer was wanted. Between ten and twenty years and he would have toe here to test regrly.
In other words, the biomechanics also werent an option. Get me out of here before I crack this machine open, the Gamer said in apletely neutral tone, too exhausted for detailed emotions. Hastily, the Apothecary gave the machine the necessary input, and soon John stood on his own two feet again.
Only for a moment though. The all-epassing darkness tricked his brain into thinking he was standing above a gaping chasm. He tried to bnce, but his body threatened to ovepensate. He put his feet further apart, which helped, but he still didnt dare to walk on his own. He just stood there, awkwardly, until his girlfriend offered her arm to lean on. Come on, tiger, lets get out of here, she quietly insisted.
Yeah, he agreed, reached into his inventory and withdrew a sizable sum of cash. A bundle of notes that he simply dropped to the floor with the words, For your troubles, as they slowly made their way out. He was somewhat dead inside right now, the initial sadness and shock having made room for a recuperation period in which he didnt knew what to feel.
Since both healing and recement were now out of question, John had no other choice but to look for the Possession solution. Luckily for them, the base of operations of a branch of the Apothecaries would have everything he needed, especially since the things John needed werent even that rare.
They made their way over to another expert in the halls, one not about actually fixing bodies but giving the tools to extend. On the extreme end, that meant things like extra robotic limbs; the man himself had a close likeliness to Doctor Octopus, with four mechanic tendrils on his back. Surely, that Apothecary wanted to talk John into getting some of those as well, but a still agitated group of girls was keeping him from asking dumb questions.
They purchased, rather quickly, a packet of contact lenses and a pair of sses, ck frame with tinted lenses so dark people couldnt see through them. Trusting Rave to guide the way, once John had walked enough for his body to be convinced that they were not about to drop down somewhere, the group managed to move at a somewhat normal speed towards an area where they could sit down.
This is going to take some fidgeting, he grumbled, having Aclysia give him the package of contact lenses. He turned it in his hands, carefully searching for the little gap between the folded lid and the rest of the cardboard. Clicking his tongue when he realized it was one of those sealed with an extra sticker of the round and slippery variety, John began scratching at it.
Fucker, give me that! Eliza grumbled and tried to rip the package out of his hands, but John moved his arms out of the way. He almost hit Rave in the stomach in the process, since he had only Aclysias and Gnomes eyes to badly guess everyones positions.
No, John firmly rebuked Eliza, who dropped her hand. Look, I am sure you mean well, but I will have to do this for the rest of my life, in all likelihood. The hand clenched into a fist. Better get used to it all as soon as possible. Finally, he got under the sticker and a few momentster held the stic capsules for the individual lenses in his hand.
Methodically, John pulled the stic sealing off the standard lens. Size and strength of them didnt matter, there was no fix to blindness found in lenses; all the Gamer had wanted was that they made it look like he had intact eyes still, covering the murky white that filled his iris.
Nowes the difficult part, he thought, Aclysia kneeling down next to him to let him see what he was doing in more detail. This, too, the Gamer rebuked, asking her to stand normally. The first contact lens fell to the floor, he failed to get it on his finger and so it simply rolled away. Leaving him to repeat the game of unwrapping another one. This repeated for the second, then the third. Finally, at the fourth, he gave up on getting this done just with the foreign perspective and grabbed the ss.
Using Possession on them, he ced them on his face and immediately felt infinitely relieved. The sight of Possession was, generally speaking, better than his own sight had been. Although Johns sight had always been pretty good, sparing him at least the need for sses that would have given his bullies even more ammunition, this magical vision missed the biological drawbacks. No outline of his own nose, no near or farsighted problems. Focusing worked the same, vision concentrating on a particr object or spot, but that the cone of his vision was bound to the surface of the sses instead of the rolling of his eyes was as odd as it coulde.
At least he now could look at what his hands were doing in a more urate perspective. With that, he managed to scoop up one of the contact lenses on his index finger. He sat there still for a few seconds, guiding his mana through his body to the tip of that finger. Once Possession had also taken hold of that object, he began raising it to his eyes. That was another experience that he could only describe as weird. From the view of the lens, he only saw his own finger on one side and, when he looked the other way, his slowly approaching face, then right eye.
Pushing something onto his own eye was ufortable, to say the least. Having to adjust it afterwards, to sit urately above his iris, was even worse. Then he had to repeat the entire thing. Eventually he did manage to fiddle both in, however, his girls watching him tensely as if he was brooding over his death sentence. Everyone was pretty drained today, only Eliza was still showing steady rage.
Alright, I think I got it, John announced and blinked a couple of times, with both contact lenses in ce. He could barely feel them as he looked around. He smiled, feeling that, perhaps, this whole thing wasnt too bad after all. He cancelled Possession on the sses and put them aside; still wearing the hospital gown, he didnt have the pockets to put them elsewhere. Then he stood up.
They were in some remote corner of the hospital. Nothing was going on here, patient rooms were lined up, but theck of doctors around indicated that most of themy empty. Standing worked, that was good. John took one step, then another one, at the third he allowed himself to look around more.
When he moved his eyes and neck like he normally would have when looking around, everything turned into a swirl. When moving ones head while staring at something, the eyes would naturally stay focused on that thing. Just like that, the possessed lenses stayed focused as John moved his eyes. That each of the contacts served at its ownplete field of view, rather than the puzzled together ovep of two normal to the human gaze didnt help. The emtion was close enough that his brain was tricked into expecting normal sight input. Neck and eyes, that was what that was designed for and used to. The extrayer of contact lenses, themselves not synchronized with each other, simply didnt fit into the paradigm.
John fell to the floor, catching himself on all fours by pure luck. He barely heard the worried cries behind him against the grinding of his teeth. Joy that he had felt a moment ago, having broken away the dullness in his spirit, now gave way to a storming see of emotions. Do I have to learn to see from the start like a toddler?! he thought and quickly presented himself with the answer: it would go quicker. In essence he already knew how to see, how to control Possession, all of the individual parts he already knew how to use. Putting it altogether would take time.
He tried to calm down, but was beset with the reality of his situation. He had lost, no, he had been utterly defeated. The only people he could save were those Sigmund simply didnt feel like killing. Gnome, Beatrice, Undine, Rave, he could have lost all of them and more. Rampant death all around him, evesting darkness in his eyes and he was powerless to stop any of it.
GODAMMIT! he suddenly shouted, tears of anger and ripped pride flowing down his face. GODAMMIT IT ALL TO HELL! Raising his fists, he brought them down on the floor with angry might, the tiled floor immediately shattering under his supernatural power. Even on the floor below, they must have felt the reverberations.
He tried to get on his feet, but the water on the contact lenses made the view even worse, his confused brain made all movements feel like he was drunkenly bncing on a tightrope. His shoulder ground upwards on the wall; Rave and Aclysia hurried over to help him; he refused the support, keeping them at distance with wild movements.
He stumbled three steps forwards beforending on the floor again. His head hit the ground, the pain and confusion only fuelling his anger further. Raising his clenched fist and about to cause more damage to the property, potentially ripping a hole in the concrete, John suddenly felt a sharp pain on the side of his palm. Tiny teeth were piercing his skin.
Breathing heavily, John looked at his raised hand, saw a golden thing dangling from it. Even through the blur of tears, he recognized Stirwin. A dark thing passed through his mind, to choke the pesky little lizard until his scales broke and this pain was done away with. John reached out to the golden crocodile hatchling. His hand closed around him.
Gently, now only sobbing, John removed the watcher of his pride from his hand, sitting down on his legs. The small infinity elemental sat in his summoners joined palms and looked up as salty tears fell down onto him.I lost goddammit it all, the Gamer whispered, his body quivering with broken eptance, and let his girls approach him.
Chapter 545 – The Gamer’s Losses
Chapter 545 C The Gamers Losses
It took a while for John to calm down again. All of the shocks had settled deeper in his bones than he had thought. He thought he was fine when he had Rave in his arms in the hospital bed. Now, he wasnt so sure anymore. The blindness was not the only punishment he had to endure, by far not. Many things needed settling, many wounds mental that only time and prolonged effort would close.
Once calmed down sufficiently, Beatrice and Metra keeping a lookout that nobody saw him in his weakened state, John took out the contact lenses again and went with the sses. Although still imperfect, the single static point of view at least didnt make him lose his bnce over and over again.
Thats gonna be weird for a while, Rave attempted to breathe some life back into their talks by tapping against the ck sses. Her smile and cheerful tone were both clearly forced, but they werent fake. They lived, they were learning, they were moving on, the old Hollmey motto. Brash but increasingly more necessary as life got more chaotic and cruel. Cant see whose butt youre staring at anymore.
John let out a dryugh, that was all he could produce. It was good enough though. The warmth of Raves hand in his felt more intense than ever. In all likelihood, his body was slowly recognizing the reality of the situation and diverting resources normally dedicated to sight to strengthen his other senses instead. Doubtful that something marvellous woulde of that. However, it was still interesting to mark human adaptiveness. What sight he had right now was, after all, not tied to any biologicalponents but his very soul.
Well, you can just assume that I am looking at all of them all the time, he joked back, his hand disjoining from hers to reach down to her hips and rest it there. For the bodies of his girls and his girlfriend in particr, he needed no eyes to find his way over them. For a moment they were just as happy as always, then John was reminded of his losses by a pop-up informing him that Purgatory had been sessfully repaired.
The World Ender set had survived the sh with the Contender, thanks to their Indestructible Attribute making it impossible topletely destroy them. Same couldnt be said for most of Johns equipment. Aside from the shoes, everything had been reduced to ash and cinders. On their own, the important enchantments on the stylish pieces of leather werent active. Unless Gaia sent some new Tokens his way, it would be best to retire those and get working on some new equipment.
Although also Indestructible, Untouchable, his hat, was also gone. It was enchanted to keep sitting on his wearers head even under illogical conditions, but even that must have had a limit. However it had happened, the fedora hadnt been around John when they found him, and with his knocked out state and apparent permanent eye injury, they had bigger worries than searching for the hat. Maybe it would resurface from the ruins of the White House, but John had an inkling that it would at least take a while until it found its way back to him.
He would have to checkter today if the Mand Sphere was still repairable with Create. If not, they would have to smelt it down for the base materials and reconstruct it. The second construction should be much quicker than the first, but it would be costly nheless.
Aclysia, do you happen to carry any of my spare clothes with you? he asked the maid. She did and so they quickly retreated into one of the many empty rooms around. Rather than go through the unnecessary task of fumbling into a t-shirt with sses on his nose, the articles were simple swapped from one inventory into another and John used his to get into those.
They were more nerdy clothes than usual, stuff he would wear in his free time. A ck shirt with a sceptre in 16-Bit style printed on it with the word ARCADE above and POWER underneath. John had found it humorous at the time of buying, with how much he relied on arcane magic and all that. Below that were pants designed to go out on a jog with, but he just used them toze around. Not his fault that sportswear was usually the mostfortable as well. Although he had decided to get rid of them, the ck, polished leather Gamers Shoes were the only footwear he had avable. At least he had fresh underwear; even though he had had ever-clean underwear in the shape of the Preserver, wearing the same trunks every day would have felt dirty. A decision that now blessed him; running around with his member dangling with every step, rubbing against the inside of his pants, would have been awkward and long-term unpleasant.
Nevertheless, this was anything but the usual smooth appearance he publicly disyed. Everything was better than the hospital gown though, which he left behind on the empty bed without thinking about it any further. Note to self: donate to this hospital, he thought, remembering that they owed them a fix for their floors. Then again, he would get a hefty bill from them anyway, that he was pretty certain of. For more than his own treatment.
The group made their way over to a different wing of the building, popted by all the soldiers that had been injured in a way that needed further medical attention than leaving the barrier could fix. Even though John was a bit harder to identify, thedies at his side, with their unordinary hair colours and/or eye-catching beauty, left very little doubt over who he was.
Some of them still looked with scepticism towards him, many more with relief, most of them were just too drained to care. It wasnt a big group, twenty people at best, sitting around in a public gathering and watching television with nothing else to do. Bloody lines stretched over some parts of their bodies, clean and very red. Others just waved around stumps where fingers or entire limbs had been.
John went to one of the nearby rooms and knocked on the door. Come in, a female voice echoed from the inside and John pushed down the handle and stepped inside. Chemilias face greeted him with a drained smile, a fitting expression. Well, look at that, I was wondering if you survived.
Thanks to Abraham, of all people, John admitted as he made his way over to sit down on a stool at the feet of the bed the general was lying in. From there, he could look both at her and her husband, lying one bed over. His view got stuck on their injuries. Chemilias leg remained nothing but a clean stump, right from below the hips, a disturbing tness under the nket. Ted, who had lost both legs and an arm in the battle, miraculously had regained the former, hanging in straightening binds. Where everyone else had a straight, crusted over line, his leg looked like it had ants devour part of it, numerous tiny holes slowly closing. Despite the unappetizing sight, it seemed to work. At least they found some of your limbs, huh?
The exact working of this was unknown to John, but the Gamer knew that losses of limbs within barriers normally lead to their loss in the real world a few days or weeks after, usually by means of necrotic tissue. Unless an Apothecary managed to, for theck of a better term, staple them back on before they began to rot. In that case, they could restore the body as a whole. He could only assume that both Chemilias leg and Teds arm hadnt been found, making the healing impossible.
Aye, Ted answered in his usual short-bound fashion, reaching out to a bowl of peanuts standing on a tablet hanging from a metal arm next to his bed. Could be worse.
Seems like you got away unharmed, Chemilia didnt make an usation out of it. As arade of his, recent or not, she was happy to see anyone get away with little injuries. Which made John doubly sorry to rain in her parade.
I cant say I did, he took off his sses, revealing his milky gaze. He heard their heavy inhales and quickly put the sses back on to be able to see their reactions. Neither of them looked like they were going to start cursing profusely, but Chemilias eyes had widened in shock. I am using Possession on these, he tapped on his sses, to emte sight. My eyes themselves are lost, however.
Are you doing okay? Chemilia asked after gulping, a dark red scar in the shape of Sigmunds hand on her throat. An ironic questioning from someone that couldnt even stand up without a crutch.
Honestly? I have no idea, John chuckled and shrugged. I thought I was, but I am just generally overwhelmed by this. I havent really lost anything since bing the Gamer all of this makes me feel like a powerless shut-in again He felt Raves arms around his neck. She bowed down to whisper something, but he met her with a quick kiss instead. but Ill manage.
Good, Chemilia nodded and made a grimace. Well be useless now though, especially me. She moved her stump around under the nket. A martial artist without two legs is nothing short of a cripple. Cant even fling fireballs from a wheelchair or anything.
I have absorbed what Thorne was into my guild, John stated. With or without Scarlett, he had ess to a series of engineers that was specialized in cases exactly like this. Ill make sure you get the best prosthetic limbs we can fabricate as quickly as possible. With a stupid grin, he added, We can make you better, better than you were before. Better, stronger, faster.
Ted got the reference and chuckled in his bed. What about yourself? the general asked.
My body is too different for bionics to work, apparently, John informed them. Itll take me some time, but I can rece my sight by Possessing contact lenses.
Do we have time? Chemilia asked, a clear reference to the situation with the Lake Alliance, that she was informed about, from some source. Nodding, hesitatingly, John quickly broke down what he himself knew of the situation with the southern territories of the Little Marnd, former territories may have been more fitting, and the more important bit about the Hidden Tradition. Thats unusual. That guild is highly istionist.
Cant exactly me them, John muttered. The Hidden Tradition was a united front of all the Native American guilds, formerly scattered over the continent, gathered on the southern half of the Appchian Mountains. It had originally formed when the first colonists hit the continent and grew as more and more tribes saw the necessity of standing together.
They made up a formidable force in the area, not as strong as the Lake Alliance but not to be underestimated. Attacks against them were also difficult, the mountains were hard to traverse and easy to hide barriers in. Protected Spaces set up and maintained over hundreds of years by people that knew some special shamanistic kind of magic.
Being the descendant of Native Americans, John was pretty sure they didnt exactly look favourable towards all of the guilds made up by invaders around them. Isting themselves was a sensible thing to do. Which only made the question what they nned with Eliza and, more likely, the goddess of genocide inside her, more pressing.
I am going to meet a diplomat of theirs in a few hours, John continued on. Thatll give us some answers, hopefully. You two should go to New York. Its easier if you meet the experts there for the construction of your recements.
Are we going to meet your mysterious Technomancer? Chemilia asked with sharp blue eyes looking expectantly.
I am afraid I cant answer that, John stated and stood up. Ille see you again after the meeting with the Hidden Tradition, then we can discuss what exactly well do in the future, he promised, and how we honour the fallen.
They let him go with supporting gestures, and John headed right out the door. What now? Rave asked as John lead the way.
Now, we are going to some ce where I can shovel some food into me, John answered quickly while reaching into his inventory and pulling out his phone. You already called back home, right?
Rave didnt need to answer and was outdone by Eliza anyway. How the fuck would I be here if your main bitch didnt?! I jumped on the first crowded, stuffy, fucky, asshole people, baby crying ne to get here! The image of the paranoid psychopath flying anywhere out of her own volition was a hard one to conjure. Also, one that made him feel doubly thankful that she was here for him. If he hadnt needed his hand to make a call, he would have put the unupied arm around Eliza.
As it was, he walked with Rave at his side, like usual, as the beeping of his phone waited for the recipient to pick up.
The cking sound of a call being epted, followed by the regal tone of the Queen of Steel. What is it, John? I am in a meeting right now, Lydia didnt sound amused by this, the Gamer knew better than to call her during her work hours except when he did it on ident, when he was especially horny or when he was drunk.
Is it important? John asked; he was about to drop all the bad news on her and didnt want to impact her day too badly. The proper thing would have been to send her a text message, asking for her to call when she had time, but he could already hear her scolding that he should inform her about such important things as quickly as possible. When it came to worrying about him, even the queen managed to subordinate her work to that feeling.
Not particrly did something important happen? Lydia caught onto his tired tone immediately. He confirmed and she quickly dissolved the meeting.
Then he told her everything.
Chapter 546 – The royal’s chosen Newman
Chapter 546 C The royals chosen Newman
On the other end of the camera, Lydia was hiding her face between her hands, having just seen Johns eyes. Up and down motions, hiding her gaze, apanied her shaking her head slightly; together, the motions painted a picture of shocked disbelief. Thank you for telling me early, she stated, I wouldnt have been able to rest this night had you told me once I was done with my duties. Her hands opened to reveal glistening eyes, close to tears, but the stern woman was holding onto herself.
You dont seem surprised, John noticed, to the sight of Lydia grabbing a handkerchief from somewhere offscreen and carefully drying the area around her eyes. They were now outside the hospital, sitting on the bench of a park that was still part of therger barrier. It had an adequate amount of privacy.
I am not, the queen of steel answered. Moronic as it is, the tradition to fight a tournament for leadership in case of a failed vote is still the most barbaric fragment our German or even European institutions have remaining within their constitutions, or whatever document acts as the recement for such.
With a heavy sigh, she dropped both of her hands. They hit her thighs with audible smacks. John could only see her upper body. The auburn-haired royal had ced her phone on the surface of a table; upon hearing that John would tell her a longer and more heavy-hearted tale, she had wanted to see his face.
You are not operating in such a civilized world. Grabbing power through wars and continuous efforts on a continent so removed from regtions and a way to keep eyes on the monsters of the Abyss, particrly in these times, was always bound to get you in trouble one day, she finished her thoughts, pressing her lips together until red was reced with white as she gulped. I just hoped nothing too bad would befall you.
Johns heart felt like a stone upon seeing the queen in this misery. Perhaps it wouldve been smarter of you if you had never allowed yourself to love me, he said, his lips moving by themselves, formting his doubts without thinking about it.
Aclysia, are you there? Lydia asked over the phone after looking taken aback for a moment.
The weaponized maid leaned into the camera, Yes, Lydia? This was no time for the usual titles of respect, the white-haired woman knew that. In emotional gatherings like this, she kept to using names. What is it that you want from me?
Can you p your asshole of a master for me? The queens tone was dripping with sudden anger. Seriouslyy into him, break his neck if you have to, Gamers Body should fix that.
I understand your anger, but this seems excessive, Aclysia stated.
Rave chimed in before John could ask anything, Dontcha worry, I got this. There was a sudden pain on his ear as she flicked his earlobe with all of her Strength. It hurt. It hurt a whole damn lot. Not enough to ovee Johns pain resistance, but he felt pretty abused nheless.
Whats this about?! he asked, somewhat angry. His own emotional state was anything but stabilized still. It had been less than two hours since he got the grave medical news and this was a steady up and down of emotions. Somewhere at the back of his mind, his Wisdom kept him frompletely flipping his shit.
Whats this about, in a very untypical fashion, Lydia repeated after him in a dumb tone. Do you not intend to ovee this obstacle as well, John Newman?! Are you going to stop and be less than the man I took you for?
His prideful wrath stirred again; he clenched his phone so hard a crack spread through the ss. No, of course no- he couldnt even finish before she continued. The clean tear ran down Lydias face, but her dark blue eyes stared straight into his soul even from the small disy.
Then what foolishness takes hold of you that you dare say that I shouldnt love you? she lectured him. When we she blushed, bit her lip for a second and looked down. Although she continued more quietly, John didnt dare interrupt. Her tone stayed decisive. When we sat together that one night and talked, when I told you I fell for you, I said I will allow myself this one weakness. She took a deep breath, blinking away the resurfacing threat of tears. That it may be, but dont YOU, of all people, dare frame my love as a mistake.
John let out a long, heavy sigh to rx the lump in his throat. Laid out like that, he quickly understood what he had said as a mistake. I am sorry
You better be, the queen went back to drying her eyes, herself exhaling quite strongly, each breath quivering. I cant take another vacation so early, although I loathe to leave you alone with this, John. Know that I wish I could be there for you right now. Genuinely.
I wish you could be here as well I could use yourmanding presence to keep my mind off the bad things and on what I have to do. Although he said that in a joking tone, it was true nheless. But I know. I will manage. Its my turn toe over to your ce anyway.
Indeed, Lydia blew her nose and sniffed. Still just a single tear, but her eyes were pretty red. Negotiate what you have to; if all else fails, you are boarding the next ne to Germany. My offer to make you king is still on the table.
Get in line, Lylytina, Rave protested, forcing the camera on her face. He is marrying me, and its either me alone or me first! Point is, ya aint getting that ring before I am.
Amusedly, Lydia blew air out of her nose. Perhaps I will im an heir first then, would you protest that as well?
Hold up you stuck up cunt, Eliza threw herself into the picture. Thats MINE, you fucking rigid piece of frozen shit!
Lydia hesitated for a moment, looking over to the blood mage. Not her reaction, but the clearly longer hair was what made the queen hesitate. She knew what the connotations were. You can insist, but the choice is not exclusively ours to make, she chose not toment, which was probably for the best.
Fuck you, Eliza growled, feeling her baby im threatened. I am the breeding sow here, do you hear me?! Vite that and I will make sure the fucking history books remember you as Lydia the meat rag!
Lydia actually chuckled. It is good to hear that you are all as dysfunctional as ever. I have less to worry about then. She looked at a clock behind her. I will have to leave you now. This next appointment is important and work will hopefully keep my mind upied.
I wont call you with bad news next time, John promised, intent on keeping it.
I believe you, the queen blinked and smiled widely, wider than he usually saw. It was a free and happy smile. The colour of her eyes lifted from the colour of steel to a happy summer sky like blue. How odd. Take care, my beloved John.
As her picture froze and then vanished, John felt the better parts of him in control again. Not in control of the situation, but in control of his decision making and emotions at least. Live, learn, move on, he chanted in his head the motto that he had struggled to keep the past few hours. Just for himself, it was hard to pull back together. Lydia reminding him that his girls had fallen in love with someone that would get back up, however, was the motivation he needed.
Nothing was a better incentive for the Gamer than making his harem a bunch of happy girls.
Sadly, that enthusiasm was dampened, as he soon had to go to a meeting with a mysterious faction that suddenly decided to benefit him to get their hands on Eliza. Didnt sound like a particrly great start. The better ce would have been to go start some sort of training effort for his contact lens problem. He probably could get some of that done in the interim though.
Okay, now I seriously need to eat something, he announced, pocketing his phone in case somebody else called him. He wouldnt know who; Scarlett was too effectively minded to want a conversation, especially since she and Magoi had to run everything right now. If I am going to use these depressed brain cells for anything productive, I need calories!
Fucking yes! Food! Eliza agreed. I havent eaten in like 10 hours!
Wow, the sacrifices you make for me, John smirked at her and they finally left the hospital area. Gnome went immaterial in response, reducing the group to John, Rave, Eliza, the maid duo and Metra.
At first, he wanted to go into some high-ss restaurant with them all, but he quickly realized that he would look pretty stupid with the sses on his head. Alternatively, he could have went for some junk food. Before he could make that call, he had an epiphany.
Although the south of the Little Marnd was in uprising, the north, or more specifically Washington, had fallen to thest leading figures the guild still had. Two generals that were, in turn, loyal to John. By all rights, this meant that this counted as conquered territory.
Lets go to the White House, he told everyone.
I thought we were trying not to suffer from anymore depression for the rest of the day? Rave pointed out. It would be pretty counterproductive to go to the ce of their defeat to that end.
John hummed in agreement as they took the sidewalk towards the capitals centre. It wasnt too far from where they were. Thing is, I want to put down the teleporter, he exined, the long range one. No need to buy food if we can be back home in an instant and have Aclysia cook.
I do have some eggs that will go bad in a few days, the weaponized maid approvingly remarked. What hinders you from putting it down somewhere less tainted, however?
I have no idea if there is an internal cooldown on the recement, and given that I want to rebuild the White House and make it, at least, the heart of central government, I should have the teleporter there already, John exined. After a few more steps he added, And I need to see for myself.
There were no further protests after that. Instead, Eliza started another topic. Yo, I have a, probably retarded, question, she turned to Rave. Chemilia and Ted are going to be fucking cyborgs soon, right?
I guess? Rave raised an eyebrow and slurred her counter-question, Whaddaboutit?
Isnt that mechanical fuckery going to interfere in their martial arts like a pogo stick up the ass? the ever-bloomynguage of the blood mage put into words something that John was also wondering about.
Kinda? the Lightbearer answered and scratched herself cattishly behind the ear. It''s kinda like wearing new shoes and all that jazz.
You bubblegum voured cunt, you suck cock better than you exin things, Eliza grumbled and looked over to Metra instead. The First of Wrath hadnt been particrly talkative in the past few hours, but addressed like this she reacted.
You know you can use martial arts through clothes, right? Metra began her exnation, everyone nodded. It takes a tremendous amount of practice, but eventually, you get used to working your martial art through ayer of cloth. The same logic can be extended to swords, clubs or any other weapon you can think of. Usually takes years to get used to just one weapon though, which is why you see most martial artists that actually get used to a weapon use that weapon for a while. I guess you can extend that same logic to biomechanical limbs. She shrugged at that point. They didnt have them when Ist got around to the topic. People just attached des to their stumps. That worked like a fucking charm.
Theres some martial arts that actually only work with weapons, but thats like school specific stuff, Rave added as the White Housewn came into view.
Next fucking questions, Eliza continued on, her insane grin having something of a predator thinking about her next meal. What about using some shit thats part of you as a sword?
Uhm I honestly have no idea, Rave answered. Metra also shook her head.
I guess it would make it easier, the blonde berserker stated, but I havent heard of someone doing that yet. Few people have the regenerative capabilities to even think about that, even fewer could manipte their bodies in such ways that a useful weapon could be made from their bones. It probably happened somewhere before, but it didnt cross my path.
Al-fucking-right, Eliza nodded, and they entered the White House barrier.
The devastation in front of them was cold. That was the word John had for it. He remembered the action, the massive sword caving metre long trenches into the ground, the fire, the shattering earth, the st that had ended it all. Before him simplyy a carved-out corpse of a building along with awn whose t surface had been broken into several pieces of different levels of elevation. None of it moved, only some relief workers ran about the ce, gathering what value could be saved and checking if they couldnt still find some limbs. It was a pretty macabre line of work, but less than twenty-four hours after the fact, there still was a chance, however slim, for reattachment.
Given the size of some of those ravines and how they had shifted throughout the battle, John didnt hold out much hope. What hadnt been found yet probablyy squished betweenyers of dirt. Still, it was a valiant effort and John wasnt about to negatively judge someone for trying their best to make it so theirrade still had a hand.
Nobody bothered the Gamer as he walked around, wordless. He had imagined feeling worse returning here, like it would have some sway over his soul. Sure, the air was a bit heavier, sure, he felt his damaged pride again, and sure, he looked at the cone of destion with a gulp, but all of that was actually less than what he had imagined he would feel like.
The White House waspletely done. There was very little to be saved. The once proud building had its most prominent part first horizontally shed and then Sigmunds final attack burn through it. The destructive cone split at one point. John saw a piece of wall, roughly his own size and height, at the head of that fork in the ashen ground. In front of thaty a ck cloth over a small but broad body.
The Gamer had no intention of lifting it and looking at the charred corpse of the man below. He just bowed down in front of it. They will remember you, he whispered, as a man who made mistakes but more so as someone who ultimately did what he thought best for his people. As much as John disagreed with the action Abraham had taken even before his arrival, there was respect for the fallen, particrly those sacrificing themselves to mend their mistakes, that had to be given.
John eventually raised his head again, adjusted his sses, his field of view sliding down his nose was extremely unpleasant, and ced the teleporter at a somewhat unharmed part of the building. Meaning, in this case, that the walls still stood, windows having shattered or molten from the extreme heat that came with Ifrits fire. Not only had Sigmunds attack directly destroyed much of the main building, including the Oval Office, but the resulting fire had eaten every single bit of furniture inside. A charred fa?ade was all that still stood anywhere.
The destruction of a national monument, be it only its Abyssal copy, made John only angrier. They were symbols of a nation, often bigger than a single lifetime in purpose. The only thing still shining in that mess was the deformed Mand Sphere, too broken to be repaired even with Create. John took it with him to at least re-use the materials. I seriously need to get even stronger to make Sigmund pay, he growled when he found himself back at Liberty Ind.
Eliza grabbed him by the arm and forced him to look at her that way. You will focus on getting your fucking sense of bnce back, you worry inducing retard, she let him know. She had that look again and a tone that made John almost break out in a cold sweat. It reminded him of the time he had seen the strongest man in the world get his heart ripped out. That German named dumbfuck is already as dead as a screaming pig in the ughterhouse.
Chapter 547 – Blind Subservience 1 [Erotic Content]
Chapter 547 C Blind Subservience 1 [Erotic Content]
Guided by his loves, the Gamer entered their new y room. Since there hadnt been a lot to improve on from the old design aboard the yacht, this room was almost aplete copy. The most notable difference was that, rather than an entire apartment with separate bed and bathroom, this was onerge space with one of those integrated and the other ignored.
In John typical fashion, the bathroom corner sported a moderatelyrge jacuzzi along with several shower heads across the walls and a hose. Thetter was there mostly to clean the tiled floor from all the sticky fluids a long night would create, but there were certainly erotic applications ofrge quantities of cold water. Especially inbination with white clothes. John made a mental note to add some in white shirts to therge closet with fetish uniforms.
There were some fluid rejecting mats and leather chairs hidden in another one, in case they didnt want to fuck on the nk floor. Easy to clean as it was, tiles werent the mostfortable surface for fun times. Aside from those changes, the room was identical.
Every single ss-doored drawer and closet was filled to the brim with neatly organized and meticulously clean toys of all varieties. Torture gear of the harmless, erotically appropriate variety stood around, waiting to be used, veiled in the soft twilight of the sunless room. The lights above were almost always set to a very soft red, harmonizing nicely with the golden light of the scented candles. Those, in turn, mixed together with incense and essential oils to impregnate the air with lustful scents. John had invested quite a lot in fitting candles, they ignited by themselves when somebody entered the room.
One eye closed, he walked along the walls and touched some shelves or parts of the walls randomly. It doubled as some more practice in the walking department, but the main reason was that he wanted to have multiple angles to view what came next from, however. As he did that, his girls stripped down. Whether this meant actually dropping their clothes or simply changing forms into that of a nude woman wasnt important. Fact was that, by the time Aclysia offered him a nice chair to sit on, they were all naked.
Just let us do everything, Master, she offered as he sat down. Just rx, you deserve it.
John agreed, both in principle and due to his sexual tastes. In his current condition, bumbling around wouldnt have made for great lovemaking, better just sit on his ass and move as little as possible. Hmmmm he hummed out loud, suddenly reminded of that new skill he had never gotten to test due to everything suddenly rolling down the hill like a snowball starting an avnche.
There would be no harm done if he tested both how sex felt with his new condition and Domination Pact. This newest skill said it allowed him to adjust, be it only by reducing it, a womans sensitivity and closeness to orgasm. After they gave consent. Question was who to test this on. The initial answer his brain presented was everyone, but that seemed a bit too hard to manage, especially the first time around.
He was still pondering how many and who, when Aclysia stepped away and was suddenly reced by Smander, who went right up to him.
With smooth movements fit for a skilledp dancer, she ced her left knee on the seat, gently pushing it against Johns still veiled erection. Keeping her other leg straight, the tall girls hips were elevated to a level where her crotch was grinding against Johns hand on the armrest. Only a second after feeling her oily love juices spreading, his fingers instinctively found their way inside her. The tangible inferno within her constricted around his middle and ring finger as she moaned.
You really enjoyed these puppies a moment ago, right? the endme elemental asked, pushing her chest out with writhing movements. Truly, these behemoths of jiggly flesh now presented to him made his mouth water with delight. Enticed by the sight alone, he beckoned her closer with a mental call. A momentter, his face vanished between her boobs.
What he felt briefly earlier was now his whole world for as long as he wanted. Surrounded by nothing but the fiery heat of Smanders body, transferred from the squishy awesomeness of her tits, his erection reached diamond status. With lustful movements, he lost himself in the valley, Smander writhing against him, riding his fingers and moaning his name.
Aaah, yesssss, the endme elemental hissed when he moved his fingers all the quicker. Her sensitivity rose as more effort was expended to fuck her, such were the inner workings of a fire spirit. Shit, even your fingers are so fucking good Aaaaaah! John had pulled back and was now sucking on her left nipple, gently biting it. On her bright red body, marks were barely visible, but he loved leaving them nheless. With her breathing elerating, each quivering inhale followed by a moan or gasp of delight, John let her nipple go with a popping sound. He put the tip of his tongue below the dark red are and travelled up the one ck line that spanned her funbags, flicking her hard tip for a moment before going further up.
It was like licking pudding, except this had a very firm outside. Every inch of her tasted sweet and smoky, the softness of her breasts giving way under the pressure of his firm tongue. Taut skin that glistened from saliva and its own perfection. John went as far as his neck could reach, then he vanished into her cleavage again.
Shivering lightly, John felt something colder touch the back of his head and something viscous settle over his empty side. The girl with the second biggest tits around must have felt the call to have her own worshipped. Mirroring Smanders position, Undine ced one knee in the gap between Johns spread legs while cing her crotch above her summoners empty hand.
Enjoy my breasts too, Master, the ocean elemental offered in her sing-song voice, a friendly tone apanying it. She was definitely still annoyed over the previous affair, but they loved each other too much and had gone through too much together to let one fight kill their attraction towards each other. The glistening twin globes of blue surrounded what of Johns head hadnt been covered yet.
Compared to Smander, the breasts of the ocean elemental were cold, but not unpleasantly so. John sort of loved being able to see nothing while lost in all of this firm squishiness. He could only differ between them by the different sense of heat. Groaning while he wildly kissed everything that jiggled around him, he took in all of the different sensationsing from their movements. The shifting position of hot and cold tits, their crotches drenching his fingers, the soft stimtion of their knees rubbing against the bulge in his pants.
After a minute of this, he finally pulled back again to give his open eye a feast. Slinging one arm around the other, Undine and Smander pushed their chests together in response. The difference in size was noticeable, the endme elemental was definitely bigger, but they were both so well-equipped that it barely mattered. Both pairs sagged a little bit with gravity, the heaving of their moans synchronized from John moving his hands at an equal pace. Perhaps the most marvellous piece of the entire sight was where their breasts squished together.
Blue marked with red, winding lines and red marked with a single ck, straight one, in perfect equilibrium going up and down, hard nipples at the helm of both. Before John knew it, he was leaning forwards, gently kissing one breast, then the other, only to suddenly catch both ares in his mouth. The two elementals had to pull their embrace even tighter to allow this to happen. Face to face, their mouths were contorted by cries of pleasure, feeling the sensitive tips of their breasts rub against each other to the swirling of the Gamers tongues.
M-master, Undine said the one word in the world John loved the most, I am cumming I am cumming Saying something to the same effect, albeit with more curse words, Smander joined the ocean elemental when they both were pushed past the edge. In the orgasmic tensing of their bodies, they once more blinded their summoner with their enormous tits. Even the Gamer felt his love for asses waver a bit at this assault.
Johns hands becamepletely slick with their love juices as climaxes caused the honey to overflow. He kept fingering them as they came, causing shivers and croaked gasps to emerge from their frozen bodies. Tongues stretched out, they just silently sailed through their blissful high before suddenly copsing into heavy breaths.
Although this meant that they slumped down to a level where John could no longer taste and enjoy their firm spheres of hopes and dreams, he waspensated with loving kisses to his necks, then cheeks, finally just a three-way tongue wrestling. Unless he chose to give a bit more attention to either of them, of course. Blinded or not, currently crippled or not, John Newman was still the king of this harem.
Which meant he had the authority here to give whatevermand he wanted. Their individual sexual tastes had long since melded into one debauched mess of BDSM anyway. Yeah, I really enjoy these puppies, John smirked, finally answering Smanders earlier question. He nodded towards his crotch, My dick would be an even better ce to put them to use. Looking at Undine he added, Both of you, get on your knees.
Undine followed his request quicker than Smander did, flowing off him and reshaping her sexy body between his legs, although both ultimately obeyed. Hoping his rtively still position would keep him from keeling over, John opened his second eye as well. There was a moment of disorientation, his direct field of view suddenly doubled, but nothing too bad. Now, while licking Smanders juices off his fingers, greatly enjoying the taste, he could actually look at both pairs in detail at the same time.
Together, they pulled pants and trunks off John in one swift motion, finally freeing his cock. The head of the enormous member was glistening with precum, smeared all over it from the soaked undergarments that had confined it during the gentle grinding preceding these new happenings. The mncholic beauty of the long-haired slime girl and the buzzcut harsh hotness of the reddy both leaned in, cupped their massive, heaving mounds of erotic meat with their hands and wrapped them around their beloved summoners cock.
All three of them gasped. John, because this was the first direct touch his dick was granted in over twenty-four hours, an eternity by the Gamers standards, and the two elementals because their breasts were really sensitive. In the case of Smander, this was just natural, Undine, however, could allocate her sensitive areas wherever she wanted. Ultimately, this made her chest more sensitive for all intents and purposes, a thing that became unimportant when the two of them wrapped their mind together and just shared in their lust.
Their nipples rubbed together as they bent forwards, mirroring each others movements. Individual thoughts were pushed to the back, all John felt when observing their minds was their shared want (rather: their shared need) to serve him right now. When it came to sexual encounters, he had trained his harem very well. Their subservience only made him enjoy the show all the more. Sloppily, they drooled over his cock; saliva, oily and watery, fell down on his shaft and their cleavages. Johns little expedition earlier helped, but was nowhere near enough to lubricate all of the bountiful surface.
Im gonna call dibs on that, there was a sudden announcement and Rave swiftly had her full, pink lips wrapped around her boyfriends cock. John had been so focused on his own pleasure that, despite his many alternative viewpoints, he hadnt noticed her approaching. In the most slutty, wet fashion, she sucked him deeper inside, the entire third of his dick that was growing past the envelopment of tits vanished in an instance.
Johns eyelids fluttered at the sudden ecstasy. Oh my god, he gasped as Raves tongue massaged the sensitive spot just below the head of his cock. A momentter, she began bobbing up and down, salivating more on her boyfriends cock. Fellow sadist or not, even the pink haired, half-Asian bombshell loved sucking his dick.
Her movements were painfully slow once John felt the mixture of saliva and pre-cum drip from his balls. With slick, wet sounds, Undine and Smander got in with the rhythm, rising, shaking and pressuring their tits in ordance to the harem overseer. While the two elementals stared at their conjoined boobjob with a depraved look, still drooling onto their cleavages, Raves blue eyes were looking straight at Johns. Her hollowed out cheeks pulled tight like a sleeve over Johns length, her lips were sealed around his shaft. Every bit not inside her mouth was being treated to the marshmallow softness of the greatest titfuck John felt he had ever had.
His sensitivity was on overdrive, both from the time since hisst release and, more strongly, his new blindness creating more room in his brain to be used for signals from his other senses. It really wasnt all bad, the intensity of these feelings definitely helped epting his new condition. It also put him right on the edge of orgasm after just a few seconds.
And thats where he remained for a little while. The crawling pace of the trios movements made his stimtion torturously drawn-out. Normally, the approach to orgasm was a sudden, steep increase, now he was slowly rolling up a hill. He wanted to cum; at the same time, he wanted to enjoy this for as long as possible. Whenever he was about to release, he willed himself to hold on for just a few moments longer. His cock was pulsating with perversion, his whole body ready to finally unleash.
Rave was massaging his balls with one hand, gently rolling the heavy sack in her hand. The pink lustre in her eyes goaded him to release, she could feel him holding back. Her hair, as orderly as her mane could have been normally, escaped from past her ears each time she went down on him. The tips soaked in the sexual mingling of liquids that lubricated the breasts around and under her. She went back up, the tip of her tongue circling around his cock head, the slick boobs quivering around his shaft. Then it happened.
Explosively, a giant load of cum filled Raves mouth. At least twice what John normally produced and as thick as only a first load could be, even his perverted girlfriend was overwhelmed by the suddenness and sheer amount. The first splurge she managed to hastily gulp down, but the second made her cough and pull back. More of his seed, way more, sttered all over Raves face and hair, and coated the already messy tits.
Seeing him defile their bodies like that only made John feel even better. Smander and Undine kept sliding their breasts up and down as his climax extended. Each time the pillowy meat went up to the engorged head, he sent more cum flying, still with enough force tond on their erotically distorted expressions and in their wide-open mouths. Absorbing his mana filled baby batter, the ocean elemental shared the bliss unleashed with her fiery elder and they came a second time, thebination of their sensitive breasts and the delightful taste sending them over the edge.
Johns white knuckled grip on the armrests and his hips rxed when onest violent spurtnded all around his cock. Strands of the slimy mixtures connected his dick with all three women that were kneeling before him. Absolutely glorious, he let out a forceful exhale and restored his breathing to normal. Until his girlfriend gave his pecker a little kiss and made him groan.
Ya really needed that, tiger, she spoke in a joyful tone, smiling up to him as she wiped ayer of cum, which was sealing an eye with its stickiness, away and then sucked it of her finger. Ready for more?
Are you kidding me? I NEED more! Johnughed and let out a series of pleased sounds when the worship of his cock continued. The only difference to before was Rave not permanently sucking his cock, instead she took turns with the elemental two. While they continued their titfuck when it wasnt their time, Johns girlfriend vanished from sight, her soft, plum lips soon felt pleasingly applied to his still full balls.
With the first orgasmic haze cleared, John had time to ponder who to put the Domination Pact on.
Chapter 549 – Blind Subservience 2 [Erotic Content]
Chapter 549 C Blind Subservience 2 [Erotic Content]
John watched the writhing mess that was the rest of his harem with pleased eyes. At the mercy of and squished between Sienas crossed legs was Eliza, rubbing her own pussy frantically as she was half-suffocating in the sadistic shadow spirits cunt. The blood mage wasnt the only victim: Gnome, wrapped up in dark tendrils, was trapped in front of Siena, both of them lying on the floor.
Dont ever stop rubbing your crotch, toy, the nightmare elementals voice was a hushed,manding whisper. No stopping, no matter how searing the pleasure gets, she continued on. John was doubtful of a normal person even being able to hear that through the thick thighs wrapped around their head. Only I can allow you to leave your dripping, swollen pussy alone.
John just had to one up her on that one. Eliza,e here, his voice echoed over the scene and the moans of Metra, who had Beatrice and Aclysia worshipping her midriff and crotch. Much to the Gamers pleasure, and Sienas reverse, the blood mage immediately obeyed. With as much haste as her continued masturbating allowed while walking, she made her way to where John was sitting. To gesture, he had to close one eye again. Yes, you know who your master is, he said in a lowkey threatening voice, cupping her face between his fingers, dont you?
You are my one true master, Eliza immediately answered, her perfect teeth showing with each word she formted, careful not to drop a curse in there and upset him. Eyes darting over to Johns cock, she began salivating, envious of the trio getting to suck his dick. A loud p echoed through the room when John pped her across the face.
Did I allow you to look away from me? he asked, grabbing her throat and mping down too tight to hear the answer that her blueish lips formed. The slick sounds of her fingers pumping in and out of her pussy only grew more intense. A visible struggle went through Elizas body, her consciousness attempting to keep her eyes focused on Johns while her lust made her lose control and they slowly rolled up. Throaty, choked moans escaped her wide open mouth asionally, tongue stretching out.
John kept her like that for a little while longer. The quivering of her iris, the slow darkening of her face from the rushing blood, the way her expression was contorted between pain, ecstasy and a desperate need to please him, it all put John right back on the edge of orgasm.
Cum, hemanded and, although he had no magic that could make that happen (not yet anyway), Elizas natural inclination made her obey anyway. Gargling, with only a few gasps of pleasure pressing thest bit of air she had out of her lungs, her hands stimted her clit and pussy with a few more moments and then pushed her right over the edge.
Not even Johnsmand could keep her eyes focused at that point; they half disappeared up her skull. Her entire body quivered, the asphyxiation heightening all her senses, and a stter of pussy juices burst out of her convulsing cunt. John was only able to perceive that at the side, his senses overwritten by the lightning of his own orgasm that rushed through every fibre of his being. He could only see her perversely distorted expression, only feel squishy tits and greedy mouths around his cock.
Good girl, he groaned at the tail end of his climax and rxed his grip. Life giving air was inhaled in a frantic fashion and immediately expelled again through coughs and moans. Eliza was still vibrating with ecstasy, her muscles weak, most of the weight of her small, bluish pale body, from the moderately sized tits to the nicely thick thighs, was resting in Johns hand. If he had stopped choking her entirely, she would have dropped like a puppet without strings. A real doll for my desires, thats what you are, you submissive slut.
Yessshhh, Mashteerrr, Eliza managed to slur out as her orgasm red up again from the renewed abuse and her bodys jubtion at the chance to breathe again. I am your fucking cumslut, a freakish whore you abuuuss- abuse however you want your your breeding sow that you can fill up with your fertile fucking seed whenever you want!
Oh god, why does that have to sound so good?! John asked himself, looking at her now sweaty midriff and lower torso. Her abdomen was shifting constantly, and he imagined thrusting into her already raw-rubbed cunt and fucking her relentlessly until he exploded inside her, his cum finally doing what it was meant to achieve, reaching her womb and then impregnating her. He still didnt want a child, but the thought of breeding his willing, cute masochist was just it sent a warm shiver up and down his spine. Not today, he told more himself than her, but she whimpered with disappointment anyway. I will mark you with something else though, do you consent to having your pleasure guided by me?
Ish thaaaat, onest,rge spasm went through her, then she gulped and answered properly. Is that a fucking trick question?! Abuse me and act like you would throw me away like some disgusting piece of trash once you are done with me, you filth-head!
That was way more than John needed to hear to have Domination Pact trigger. The mana gathered in his lower body, between hips and groin; an acute, inwards pointing awareness born from his new condition allowed him to sense it. Raw magical energy, rushing up his spine and the insane number of channels the Gamers Body had blessed him with, ran through him like electricity guided through the logic gates of a circuitry, taking a specific shape and finally passing out through his palm.
Eliza yapped for air when, with a light bolt of pain, the magic invaded her body. A second passed by eventless, then lines started to wind over the area between navel and clitoris. They quickly took the shape of a stylized flower, the outermost petals touching the crease where the crotch hit the thighs, the innermost forming a heart shape above her womb. It made Johns impregnation fantasies re up again, but he sessfully distracted himself by ying with this new spell he had.
It was a lot like Possession, in that he instinctively knew how to use this newfound tool. Sadly, there was no way to increase Elizas sensitivity, but he could easily adjust it downwards and, much more interestingly, cap her pleasure. With a dominating grin he watched Eliza bring herself to the brink of orgasm again and then just had her stay there.
Oh fuck oh fuck me she gasped, her whole body squirming in Johns grasp. I am I am no, fuck fuuuuck this is the best worst thing Masteeeer, I want to cuuuum No matter how much her fingers kept pumping in and out of her tight snatch, her ecstasy only ever rose but never found an outlet. She groaned in blissful frustration when John just blocked her sensitivity entirely, making even her masturbation useless, but leaving her as close to the finale as before.
You will cum again when I allow you to, the Gamer stated and released his grip on her throat. He looked over the myriad of tools in the room and decided to test something new on the blood mage. Not that I can get up right now, John thought, not willing to let his dick go unwrapped by breasts right now. Aclysia, Beatrice, would you do something for me?
Of course, they would, much to the dismay of Metra, who was now left alone while the maids went to fulfil their creators wishes. What the shit, John? the berserker babe growled and got on her feet. How am I going to get off now?
However I tell you to, he shot right back and waved her closer. Unless you dont consent?
Metra narrowed her eyes for a few moments, then shrugged and gave it a carefree smile. Whatever, could be fun. At least this is something new, so I wont knock it until Ive tried it. Lets see what you can do with that new toy. Once she was close enough, John put the mark on her as well. On her smooth cunt, the lines looked even better, showing their origin on the upper edge of the pussy lips.
Mhmm, John hummed testing his mental capabilities. There was no factual limit on the skill, but he felt it might be hard to keep these mental sliders he now had organized if he used Domination Pact a couple more times. One or two more he thought and looked to Siena who was letting out her annoyance about being short one toy on the cuddle rock she had remaining. Gnome, Siena, how about you two?
No, the nightmare elemental hissed, predictably. Getting dominated wasnt her style generally, having no control over her own pleasure was definitely not in Sienas screwed up fetish range. Her tentacles constricted tighter around Gnome as she fondled the soil elementals breasts. You arent getting her either.
C-can I make a choice here? Gnome tried to be outraged, but she only sounded meek. Between her flushed face and clearly wet pussy, it was clear that she was enjoying whatever Siena was doing to her. She even moaned out loud when the nightmare elementals sharp teeth gnawed on her earlobe.
No, the word sounded much softer, almost like a friendly denial, this time. The sulfuric yellow of Sienas eyes stared at John, who looked back with his one open eye.
You give me Gnome and you can y with Aclysia and Beatrice, he offered. Upon hearing that, the long-haired of the two servants almost dropped the toy she was carrying into position. There was a mental outcry, but John ignored it, mostly because he really wanted to see Gnome under the effects of the Domination Pact but partly because he wanted to see what erotic sights Siena could coax out of the weaponized maid.
It wasnt a secret that Sienas rtionship with Aclysia was like a cat and a dog. Didnt help that thetter had been in charge of every instance of the nightmare elemental getting punished by wearing a maid outfit. As such, Sienas reaction was a predictable, hungry grin. I enjoy the sound of that, her overly erotic voice whispered as she backed away from Gnome.
Thanks, the soil elemental said to John, walking towards him on wobbly knees.
Dont thank me yet, he grinned and pped her on the ass. It was incredibly firm, much firmer than human meat anyway, so it didnt jiggle as much, but at the moment of impact it was still soft and the satisfying p the impact produced made it all worth it anyway. Just like that, the mark of the Domination Pact also sprouted on her crotch. So I dont need verbal consent. Seems to be enough if the girl is a total perverted wanting to be dominated by me.
N-no! I mean that is so unfair! Gnome gasped, looking down on herself with no idea how to dismiss that im. I am not I mean I am, but Uwu. Uwuwuwuwu uwu-aaaahnn. The embarrassment of the cute stone was interrupted by Johns fingers trailing through her cunt. Ever since she had evolved, Gnome actually got moist when she was turned on. He liked that change, even though the former stone elemental had basically always been ready for him, seeing and tasting her getting more and more turned on was gratifying.
Dont you worry, John purred in a deep voice, I know exactly what you mean and what you need. He leaned up to her as much as he could. Dont you trust me, Gnome?
I-I feel like I shouldnt but yes, I do she took a moment to resolve herself and added, in an adorable quiet, Master.
John dismissed her with another p on the ass, and this time she gasped in pleasure. While he remained seated, the soil elemental and the two other marked girls were put on some contraption each. Aesthetically, it would have been the most pleasing if they all had been on the same model at least, but there were very few things in this room that they had three of. None of which qualified for what John had in mind.
Gnome had to be given the most attention. Against her shame but with her clearpliance, she was bound into something that was easiest to described as a narrow lounger surrounded by four metal rods, all joined at the sturdy base frame. The leather d middle part allowed her to liefortably on her back while the rest of her was spread out and fixed to the rods with tight ropes.
Once her naked body was sprawled out, the diligent maids prated her ass and pussy with vibrators. Gnomes skin was deeply flushed with lust and embarrassment when they were turned on, and she could only moan and struggle lightly, instincts driving her to hide herself from view. The inability to do so only made her gasp more. Her mouth was left unsealed, how else would John hear her beg?
Metra had a much easier time getting prepared. Simply kneeling down over the flexible, John sized dildo that was attached to the Sybian, she eased it into her drooling cunt. Didnt try this thing before either, the berserker babe was grinning anticipatingly, her midriff tensing when she was down to the base. Against a bit of protest, but ultimately with her agreement, Metra was also subject to some bondage. Legs were bundled together and wrists chained to her ankles, making it so she couldnt get off the erotic device on her own will. John was handed the remote while thest girl got prepared for his viewing pleasure.
Eliza was, predictably,pliant with everything. A wooden horse, that was what John had in store for her today. It had a triangr shape, the upper edge somewhat rounded off and wrapped in leather to not be actually painful to sit on. The main body was solid, blue-coated wood and two height-adjustable railings (ironically much wider than the sitting area) at the side were meant to hold the legs. The dots in her eyes spun with horny agitation when she was ced on it.
Quickly, her legs were bound with straps, wrapping them around the railings and her arms locked with a construct of strings and sleeves that began between shoulder and elbow and ran all the way down to her wrists. The extreme way this forced back her shoulders made her tits look magnificent.
Can I get my gag? Eliza asked Aclysia when they were basically done with her. I fucking love having that jaw-breaking ring in my mouth and making myself all dirty with my slutty spit. She looked over to John. Please, Master, I am a good girl, right? Please? My begging will be my sloppy screams of how fucked up you are making me. How fucked up I already am, please?
Jesus, she is pushing all the right buttons today, John thought, biting his lower lip and then nodding. It only took a few more moments for the ring-gag to be fetched and put into position. Prying open her lips and teeth wide enough for Johns girthy cock to m in without a problem, the securing strap was pulled tightly in position behind her head. It harmonized surprisingly nicely with her longer hair. With that, Elizas preparation were done as well.
This being the Abyss, nothing was ever as simple as it looked and the wooden horse had its capabilities activated at the push of a button. Immediately, the leg rests dropped to a level where Elizas weight was now entirely bncing on that narrow tip, pressing into her pussy. As if that wasnt enough, that very same sharp end also began moving. Back and forth, up and down, it grinded. It wouldnt be a wooden horse if it couldnt at least trot.
The blood mage had no idea this was a thing it could do, but her only reaction to it was a delightful squeal as her pussy was treated to appreciated abuse. Switching on the Sybian, John also gave Metra something more pleasing to ride and enjoyed the sight. Aclysia and Beatrice went over to an impatient Siena, removing themselves from the current scene.
Groaning in pleasure, he put a hand on Raves head as she was slurping on his cock. Hey, love of my life, he said perhaps a bit mockingly. What do you think about that? He gently pulled her upwards his shaft, her lips staying sealed around him every centimetre of the way. When she came off the top with a loud pop, thick strands of gooey body fluids still connected them.
Rave cleaned her lips with a cattish move of her tongue and swallowed whatever of his delicious precum she still had in her mouth. Only after that, she turned around. Behind her, all three girls were already at theplete mercy of their tools. Metra most of all, the potency of that Epic quality Sybian was not to be underestimated.
Shaking her hips as best as she could, which was barely, the berserker babes reaction was not to try and flee from that hellish stimtion. No, like with most other things, the dirty blonde woman was facing it with head-on stubbornness. I love this thinnggg, she gasped as her pleasure built up, only for her sensitivity to drop, turning her reaction into a groan of frustration.
Gnome had no words to add, only sharp sounds of shame, ecstasy and need. Although she had more room to wiggle her hips, indeed her whole body, the vibrators were firmly lodged inside her by means of thin ropes keeping them in ce. Her movements were futile attempts at finding relief, only serving her summoner and his girlfriend as a feast for their eyes. Steadily, her head was forced backwards as John spiked her sensitivity, then he withdrew again, giving her a moment to gather herposure and look at him with hazel eyes.
They had an agreement, amon if not mandatory one in the BDSMmunity, that she could opt out at any second if the embarrassment or the erotic torture became too much for her. Although her lips quivered and her spirit reached out to him, she never took the decision to its end. Today, her perverted subconscious seemed to stay in control and all she did was throw her head back yet again when John suddenly jammed her sensitivity back up to the maximum. The leather under her ass was wet with her juices.
The same could be said for the edge that grinded through Elizas cunt. Her unbound fingers were clenched into fists, her jaw tense but mouth pried open from the ring gag. Continuously drooling from both mouths, she sullied her body and the tool. The pleasure she was receptive to was by far the weakest, just a bumpy ride on a thin strip of leather, but Eliza was still feeling it. How so much masochism could fit into such a small, sexy body was incredible. What normal women would have felt as difort only made her all the more receptive towards bliss.
The raucous moans she made were as pitiful as they were musical to Johns ears. All the blood mage had eyes for was her master, who was having his cock caressed by the massive tits of Undine and Smander. While one was moving up, the other was going down, tongues stretching for a taste whenever they could. John had to reduce Elizas sensitivity the most to keep her on edge; seeing him dominate like this, even if it wasnt herself on her knees, made her incredibly needy.
Fuck me, thats nice, Rave finally answered after having taken the entirety of the situation. Really wanna walk around there and give them some spanks and whipping but! She suddenly turned back around and got back into her previous position. Then I would have to stop sucking your dick, tiger. No can do. She gave the top a quick peck with her sultry lips. This is mine, after all. Matter of fact, I wanna have some room here.
Chapter 550 – Blind Subservience 3 [Erotic Content]
Chapter 550 C Blind Subservience 3 [Erotic Content]
John raised an eyebrow, apanied by a disappointed whimper, when Smander and Undine both obeyed the request seamlessly. That they followed hismands, he was used to, but Rave having this kind of presence was something he admittedly hadnt paid too much attention to. It seemed like he wasnt the only sadist around that had trained their harem quite well.
The two elementals didnt just pull back and sit idly, of course; instead Smander jumped on Undine and began aggressively licking what of Johns two cumshots hadnt been absorbed off the ocean elementals breasts yet. Fire and water spirit quickly engaged in their own lesbian lovemaking. The only hissing sounds were those of debauchery; the two of them luckily no longer had any contact problems, like they had at the lower stages of their evolutions.
John didnt have too much blood to waste on thinking when his girlfriend grabbed his enormous shaft and wrapped her nimble fingers tightly around the base. Now I can y with ya some time.
Are you going to force me to call you mistress again? John asked, not exactly looking forward to being edged. He really wasnt in the mood for being the recipient of his own fetish. However, he also had a girlfriend that was simply the best.
Hand pumping halfway up and down, she sloppily sucked on his cock. A spurt of precum escaped him when she expertly pressed her tongue against all his sensitive spots, then slowly went up again. Nah, John, I am going to be a good girl for you today, she answered, stopping shortly to blow him some more. I can be a slutty little switch every now and again. She grabbed one of his hands resting at the side and guided it to the back of her head. Her blue eyes were filled with honesty as she said the one word he really wanted to hear from her, Master.
Of course, John knew that she was doing him a favour, but that mattered very little. Rave was either dominating with him or they were having sex on equal footing almost every time. Times his girlfriend let herself be so tantly dominated were few and far between; it was his equivalent of a normal mans blowjob. He couldnt help but gasp and immediately push her down.
Hastily, she moved her hand out of the way and opened her jaws wide as John slid all the way inside her throat. Suppressed gags created wet, desperate sounds. A newyer to the cacophony of lust in the sandalwood and cinnamon smelling room. Oh god, yes, he gasped, eyes closed, feeling her plush lips against his balls and crotch. I love it when you are like this. Horny and a ve to my whims fuck its only better because of how you usually are! Not that dominating willing subs was boring in any way, quite the contrary. Rarity just made this treat tastier.
He opened one eye again and the first thing he saw was her wiggling her perfect ass. On her knees, bottom raised, the two wless cheeks were stretched into a heart shaped, plum looking arrangement of fuckable meat, painted softly red by candle and artificial light. John would bury his cock there in a moment, he just wanted to test how obedient she really was right now.
Cat ears, now, hemanded. I want you purring on this cock, Jane. He bit back ament about her mother seeing her in this state, there was abusive and then there was personal. In that silent gap, his wish came true. Her wild, pink hair suddenly sprouted a pair of cat ears, her eyes went from blue to gold, the iris changing into a slit. The vibrations set in, happy sounds that surrounded the half of his cock buried inside her throat.
If John hadnt cum twice already, he would have at that exact moment. However, as he was, he was inplete control of himself. Right now, he was feeling incredibly good, at a level he could sustain for a while. He just held Rave in ce while making sure none of the girls on the machines would cum themselves.
The purring became more and more unstable, sometimes stopping even, as the seconds became longer and Raves eyelids heavier. Although having supernatural Endurance in her own right, she was nowhere near Eliza, nor did she have her powers. No, Rave was just human and the continued asphyxiation was slowly turning the world dark. There was no struggle from her side; even when John pulled her up a bit, she didnt take that as a signal that she was allowed to breathe, didnt try to rush up.
John only guided her up and down a little bit to keep reminding her what she was supposed to do. Her tongue worked sluggishly, the vibrations died down, her eyelids were almostpletely closed and fluttering, struggling to stay conscious. At the veryst moment, he yanked her upwards, a fistful of hair, and had her windpipe unsealed.
She coughed heavily, swallowed heavily, breathed heavily, blinked away the tears and stared at him with heavy love. How did you like that, Jane? he asked in a sinister tone.
I must be she croaked and was interrupted by her bodys need for air, I must be having a super subby day, because I am super wet right now! Wanting to see that for himself, he gestured for her to stand up. Wide-legged, she got up in front of him. Her face was a total mess, stained with cum, tears from the abuse, saliva and phlegm. Dark pink strands of hair were sticking to it, only making Johns cock quiver with more delight at her thoroughly fucked look.
Her entire body was glistening with sweat, beads of it rolling between the soft hills of her petite chest, the erect nipples protruding and moving with each deep in- and exhale. Muscles of her t stomach shifting slightly, the half-asians flushed skin looked predictably redder than her average, healthyplexion.
Knees red from the continued pressure she had put on them and quivering from her state of lust and recovery, her inner thighs were glistening with pussy juice. Even the trimmed pussy hair above her clit waspletely soaked. I touched myself a little while I was blowing you, she admitted with a wink, but I didnt cum yet C You would want me to when you cum inside me, right, Master?
Fuck me, why cant you be subby more often, you cheeky slut? John broke character for a moment; he was on the brink of sanity here.
Ya already said it, one of her ears flicked as stuck out her tongue. Thatd make this whole thing less special. Also, I me all of these masochists ya already have. She reached down to her pussy and parted the folds with both hands. Her pussy was positively dripping, several long strings of honey falling from the pretty pink, tight and shifting folds. Right now, ya can take me however ya like. Just say it.
Get on top of me, John growled after only a moment of thinking about it. He needed to be inside her, right now. She halfway turned around when he stopped her. Face towards me, slightly surprised, his girlfriend quietly obeyed and climbed on the chairs wide seating. She straddled herself on top of him and stopped once the tip of his cock was parting her outer lips. I can see your ass perfectly from several angles right now, the Gamer smirked and pped the juicy meat.
As she was still gasping in pain and pleasure, his fingers dug deep into the spankable bottom, pulling her hips forwards. With the other hand, he grabbed his prick to keep it steady. Smearing precum over the slickened skin between, one of Raves holes was exchanged for another. Her sphincter parted around his well lubricated cock to more mixed sounds of torment and delight. Once he was sure he was deep enough inside her, he ced his second hand on her butt as well.
He barely had to guide her. Through the months they had been together, his girlfriend had learned to enjoy having her formerly virgin hole stretched by his once small and now rather enormous dick. Kinky she had been from the start, but living with the Gamer and his endless sex drive had made herpletely perverted. Ah, Master, youre splitting me apart, she gasped as she sunk down bit by bit, her soiled expression melting from cheeky into a subservient ecstasy.
Her soft cheeks rested against his thighs now, he was all the way inside. The inside of her asshole was as tight as ever, gripping onto him. If Rave felt any more pain from being filled like this, it was masked under countlessyers of delight. With a sudden move that shook her body, John straightened up in his seat and caught one of her pink nipples in his mouth.
He sucked on it for a few moments, tasted the fresh salt of her sweat, his tongue whirling around the hard nipple in the middle. In response, his girlfriend did nothing but let out quick breaths. Unless she wasmanded to move, she wouldnt. Right now, she was taking her role as her masters toy very seriously. Her pussy drenched Johns groin as it continued to leak.
From sucking he went onto biting that nipple, rolling the erect protrusion between his teeth. Get moving, slut, hemanded; insulting her in the bedroom just felt good for some godforsaken reason. Important was only that she went ahead and did it. Her hips rose again, the walls of her anus grinding over his rod. Although she did her best to prevent her upper body from moving too much, curving her spine and pushing out her ass, turning it nice and firm as the muscles tensed, her ecstasy made the control of her body difficult. As little as the distance between them increased, her tit still stretched, John keeping his teeth in position.
The two of them kept eye contact the entire time, even if they were zed over and dull, few thoughts remaining and instinctsrgely in control. When the nipple finally slipped out, a little jiggling apanying her petite chests return to normalcy, although covered in bite and kiss marks, that was their signal to stop fooling around.
Grabbing the backrest, Rave anchored herself and rode her boyfriend with quicker and quicker movements. He kept kneading her ass, spreading, pping and groping the cheeks as every up and down put them through varying stages of firm and softness. Continuing to vanish between them and into the pried open back entrance, John felt the intensity of his pleasure rise.
Where do you want me to cum, Jane? he groaned.
Cum wherever ya wannnnnnt, Massshtttaar! was her quick, heavily slurred answer. Their hips met with loud ps, Raves hair flying up and down, her cat ears standing at attention. She had made good on her earlier promise and had not yet orgasmed, despite dancing a wild waltz right at the point of no return.
I want you to tell me where, John made clear. Do you want to taste my cum in your slutty mouth? Want me to keep being in this tight and well-fucked ass of yours or?
My pussy, his girlfriend finally answered. Fuck yessshhh fill my greedy lilcunt with your fertile cum, my magnificent Master. Give your kitty her cream, tiger! In a sh, he was out of her asshole and inside her cunt. Oh my Rave inhaled while getting thesest two words out. John prated her deep, very deep, and was almost about to cum.
With frantic movements, Raves hip shaking continued, desperate to make him cum, feel his sperm inside her and thus grant herself permission to orgasm. Although she managed this without Domination Pact, John let those who bore that mark share in the experience by rapidly undoing all sensitivity blocks in ce. The promise was clear, once he came, they would. A promise that, when he felt his balls tighten, he broke.
Feeling his cum shoot straight into her, Raves scream drowned out the moans of everyone else for a few seconds. The girls on the contraptions could only curse or whimper in frustration as John kept their sensitivity at maximum but locked them at what should have been the edge. He paid no attention to them, his entire world was filled with electricity, debauchery and the sight of his girlfriend.
His seed painted the inside of her womb white, her body slumped forwards and the scream stopped, presenting John with the defiled face of his girlfriend at the absolute height of her climax. Her golden eyes were rolled upwards, her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and all of her was tense. Shivering only in ordance to each spurt that was pumped up his shaft and into her.
Close to a minute passed. John. His first load may have been thicker than this one, but his purring girlfriend moaning not only his name, Master, but his title as well was continuing his orgasm for far longer than usual. There seemed to be no end to it. Each strand of semen shot into her was as intense as thest. Only when the well had run dry did he finally stop cumming. Somethingmented by disappointed gasps from both of them and the inevitable copsing of their bodies.
The fluttering of Raves strong heartbeat drummed against Johns chest. His own answered in kind. Lost in the heat of their embrace, their stamina slowly returned as time passed.
Their tranquillity was interrupted by the one woman around who still had the capacity to speak. Something that she was only capable of thanks to the relentless rage overpowering her pleasure. Let me fucking cum, you ass! Metra demanded, sitting in a figurative pool of her own juices, only growing slicker as those words were followed by ecstatic screams. Not because John caved, but because she was too close to push down those reactions.
John took a worried look at her bindings, which were straining but still held. For the moment. He took a nce over to the good girl, peacefully squirming in masochistic delight on the edge of the wooden horse, and the obedient rock, letting out begging sounds as the vibrators increased her pleasure ever more while the spell blocked relief.
I wonder if the orgasm they are going to have will be cumtive, John thought and pulled Rave off himself. Thanks to Gamers Body, he was restored much quicker. The second his erect dick was no longer sealing her tight hole, although that was a bit less of a fitting description for her thoroughly ravished cunt right now, cum started leaking out. Thick and white, it was already leaking onto the seat the moment he stood, leaving his girlfriend in afortable position. Ill tend to them for a moment, then Ill be right back for you.
She nodded, anticipation to be taken even more thoroughly echoing in her eyes, then John turned around. Usually, he would have punished someone who addressed him like Metra had just done by pushing them down to thest ce on the list. However, he was talking about the First of Wrath here and she wasnt nearly as submissive as the other two girls in the line-up. He had topromise his ambitions a bit here to give them both a good experience.
That being said, he couldnt leave it entirely unpunished. Beg for me to fuck you, John demanded.
Ill do Metra began but was quickly silenced by her master pushing his cock into her parted lips and fucking her face for a few moments. The perfect taste of Johns semen only increased her need to cum and her irritation towards her inability.
John slowly pulled out again as he said, You can break out of your bonds and curse me however you like, but you agreed to this, so you wont be able to have your climax until I let you. His dick slipped past her lips. Now beg.
For a few moments Metras green eyes burned with seething rage, then she reigned herself in. She preferred being dominated by force, if in any way, but this erratic machine below her and the cruelty of John had their own special vour. Her pride crumbled in a most pleasing fashion. Please, fuck me, Master, she half gasped, half spat out.
You will have to do better, John stated.
Air travelled audibly through her clenched teeth. I want you to fuck me, make me cum as hard as I can, Master, I beg you to do this to me.
And where?
Wherever the fuck you like, just, in the name of Tiamat, get that giant cock inside me and make me cum!
Good enough, John decided, circling around and pushing her forwards once he was behind her. Although her pussy was still filled and under assault by the Sybian, her asshole was tight and her sweaty, toned ass a perfect ce for John to squat over. Get ready, the Gamer warned with delightful sadism in his voice, expectant of what was about to happen.
I was created ready- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU- Metra was immediately proven wrong when her entire concept of self was momentarily obliterated the moment John sheathed himself inside her anus. She didnt even hear herself scream, couldnt see the world as her eyes vanished up their sockets. The cock in her ass, the vibrations in her pussy and the explosion of liquid from there, not even that she felt. Only the spike of suddenly released pleasure, like built up water behind a damn.
That was the same impression John got as Metra got so tight around him it was almost painful. He tried to thrust, could do so only slowly, had to keep the berserker babe as still as he could by grabbing her ponytail. Thrusting was pretty optional, however, at least at the start. Riding her through the orgasmic thrashing, like a wild horse being trained for the first time, John experienced plenty of blissful friction by trying to stay on top of her. The bindings creaked, seams tore, but it still held together.
Metras attitude was nowhere to be found, even after her scream died down to a whimper. Not ying with her sensibilities any further, John moved more and more into traditional fucking as her orgasm died down, only to be followed directly by another one. All the berserker babe was doing was salivate on the floor, where her head rested after John let go of her hair, her body limp aside from involuntary shivers. John was slightly worried, but that worry took a subordinate role to seeing this wrathful woman brought down to such a state. He felt the vibrations of the Sybian through the little bit of slut meat between himself and the massive dildo up her cunt.
Adding insult to injury, John rested his weight on her by leaning his arms on her back, pinning the mind-fried Metra down. A minute of self-serving fucking ensued, where he only cared about getting himself off as quickly as possible, treating the dirty blonde as nothing more than a cum bucket. Not that he even needed to try to make her feel good about it, her being so thoroughly trapped between one orgasm after the other, following such a torturous denial.
With one final p against her muscr behind, he spurted his seed into her. It was quick, unceremonious and absolutely satisfying. After having been forced to prioritize her, the whole thing had been an even better punishment than anything he could have imagined. Out of Metras cum-filled ass, he splurged two more thick strands over her ass before leaving the barely recognizable mess of a woman to recover. He did give her the mercy to deactivate the Sybian before he moved on though.
The confirmation that the denied orgasms stacked as well was wonderful. With that in mind, he decided to leave Eliza forst. Surely, she would appreciate having to face the most mind-shattering orgasm in his harem yet. An appropriate reward.
Which meant that Gnome was going to be his next victim. Bridging the short distance, holding onto one of the metal pirs for support, John was quickly between her legs. The lounger ended shortly behind her hips and was designed with the Gamers height in mind. As such, his cock was already at the perfect angle to thrust into her.
He grabbed the vibrator burrowed in the earth spirits pussy, as soiled wet as all of his girls had been and were. Easefully, he pulled it out, a smooth and steady motion. There was no need to hurry and potentially hurt her, even if it was just the slightest bit. Humiliation, that was what he aimed to inflict on Gnome, not hurt. Not everyone who was into being a submissive had to be into the pain.
When he mindlessly dropped the tool, Gnome managed to look up to her summoner. Fear for what was about to happen reflected in her hazel eyes, withyers uponyers of anticipation on top of it. Much like her panties failed to appear quite often, the stone spirit just couldnt hidepletely what she wanted.
Ill make this up to you with some less intense cuddling sometime, John promised as he moved in, leaving the other vibrator well in ce. Although she opened her mouth to answer, all that came out was a long moan, followed by nothing at all. Her lips simply formed an O and the metal pirs bent as her orgasm began and tensed up her limbs.
Too bad for her John wasnt done experimenting with Domination Pact yet. Prating her while her pussy was gushing and tightly quivering around him, ready to milk her masters cock, John delighted in her loss of self-control. He would worry about recing the equipment she was wreckingter.
All the way inside her, he enjoyed the feeling for a moment. The vibrations, much like inside Metra moments earlier, that caressed his shaft distantly; the orgasmic tightness of her earthen cunt; her slim, clean curves; Gnome not sweating even a recement fluid. Then he pulled back, and all of a sudden, her orgasm ceased.
Raising her head in confusion, relief and disappointment, Gnome looked at John. The flustered expression she wore had her wishes written all over it, and the moment he began thrusting back in, her climax continued, albeit weaker. What John had denied her to feel was lost, but he could still start and stop her orgasm while it was ongoing. Not as good as actually having control over their lust in its totality, but a good thing to know for future engagements.
Not that he didnt n on abusing the knowledge right now.
As slippery as both of them were already, John moved right into full-speed from that moment onward. He mmed into her, she came, he pulled back, she had to endure the pause, rinse and repeat ad nauseum. It made her orgasm less mind-blowing, but she seemed more thankful about that than anything and John was still getting his fix from forcing his control on her in such a manner. They were both winning out.
Another orgasm was fast approaching and John tossed away all control, simply letting Gnome feel as was natural. What remained of the climax ended, only to be reced by a fresh one when John thrust into her one final time. She found her voice again, but not much of it, a meek moan being all the shy earth spirit let out as Johns cum filled her up, her elemental origin delighting in the fresh mana being pumped inside her through such a delicious method.
Y-y-y-you Gnome stammered as they let the afterglow pass. You better keep that promise with the cuddles! her voice was way higher than usual from the nervousness.
John bent down and kissed her on the lips. I will, you adorable thing, he reassured and then went to face thest girl that needed relief.
Although Eliza looked quite happy in her situation. She didnt even seem to realize John was approaching the wooden horse. Not until he climbed onto the leg support anyway, standing on it. Thanks to the exploits of the past few minutes, he felt a lot more confident moving around. Helped by that he immediately grabbed Elizas head for support, and to m his cock into her.
There was a gargling sound when the blood mage came with ferocious intensity. Everything creaked, her thighs pressuring the contraption and threatening to burst the surface with their thick might. However, Eliza disyed a remarkable amount of control. When it came to not identally destroying things, she had gone through more training than anyone else.
Which was also why John didnt fear for his cock while he fucked her face relentlessly. Elizas long hair was just a mess, her tits were swaying with every thrust, and between the rocking of the wooden horse and Johns hips, her body was entirely at the mercy of outside forces. With curled toes, white knuckles, rolled back eyes and a throat constantly buzzing from a prolonged scream of ecstasy and bulging from the dick sliding in and out, she was just a sight for perverted gods.
John didnt ruin her orgasm in any way, although it was tempting. She had been such a good girl today, a proper submissive ve only existing to be under her masters sway. Fingers wing into the white base of her hair, he continued to give her the abuse she so desperately craved. Sexy little slut, he groaned his balls pping against her chin, drenched in the fluids of so many girls. Can you even hear me, huh?!
There was the weakest of nods, might as well have been an ident amongst the many spasms her body was going through, but John took it as confirmation. Hearing him even amongst an orgasm that made it look like she was pissing herself with pussy juices, sending streams flowing down the sides of the wooden horse, that wasmitment to her position.
The reward John had for her was several mouthfuls of cum that he sted directly into her stomach. Ah, fuck, you filthy little thing, he gasped, his vision fluttering and his knees bending. Only by supporting himself on her, pressing her pussy down on the grinding mechanisms even stronger, did he managed to remain standing.
His balls tightened again and again. With each spurt he pulled back a little bit, until the lower edge of his engorged head was lyingzily on the metal ring that kept Elizas mouth open. A few more spurts scattered over her tongue, desperate sounds apanied her attempts to somehow swallow the immense load, some of it running past her glistening lips.
You can recover for a bit, he told Eliza as her eyes slowly escaped the upper corner of their sockets. Just a little bit though.
Chapter 551 – Meetings 1 – Native
Chapter 551 C Meetings 1 C Native
The remaining hours to the meeting were spent in equal parts fucking and training his sight recement strategies. John didnt make any meaningful progress on thetter front. He could sit or stand and stare, even with both eyes open, just fine, moving was really the problem. It would likely have been easier to have two small drones act as his eyes, flying close to his head, since it was his old, natural eye habits that caused the majority of problems. Three reasons kept John from favouring that approach.
Number one, practicality, having the main source of his sight off his body meant he could get separated from it. Not a great n. Number two, pride, John refused to give up on this path now that he had started it. Number three, familiarity, he didnt want to lose the ability of having eye contact with people. So much ofmunication happened through the eyes.
Granted, thatst one would be only partially reinstated, given that he could look elsewhere with the possessed lenses without giving any indication to anyone around, but that was just how that worked out.
You know what I loathe most about this? John asked, walking around with one eye closed from supporting wall to supporting wall. He wanted to get to the door before going back to the more reliable sses. Like, honestly, absolutely hate about this current state?
Fire away? Rave answered in a wondering tone.
Its that this whole keeping one eye closed business makes me look like the turd that did this to me, the Gamer spat out. Now that he was done with gluing himself back together, he had the presence of mind to be absolutely furious at Sigmund. A well-ced anger by all ounts. From the murdering of allies and friends down to the losing two battles against him, everything about Sigmund put him squarely on Johns list of people he actually wanted to kill. Currently, there were only two people on that and the other, Maximillian, was not an earnest entry.
Happy thoughts, tiger, his girlfriend reminded him. Nothing gonnae of it if we search for the guy now, fight and lose again why am I even exining that to ya? Not like your super-brain doesnt realize it.
He sighed, forced to agree that she was right and that he did actually know better, Yeah, yeah got to stick to the things I can do right now. Stopping in front of the spiralling staircase, his mouth formed a few very dry words, Welp, lets see what this falls under... somebody please walk ahead of me.
Rave and Metra heeded that request and John started his descend. It was less awful than expected. Keeping one hand on the railing and taking it slow, he made it down there in apletely overstretched time, but smoothly. Felt pretty good. A few days of this and maybe he would be able to run, then the training with two eyes could start. At the door, he put on the sses and switched his Possession target. Although useless, he left the contact lenses in this time.
So many things I need to adjust now, John thought, wondering if there were some contact lenses he could just keep in forever or if he could use Possession with something different than his hands. He couldnt throw Arcane Echos with his feet or summon Mana des on his dick, so probably not? Wait, but I can use spells with Spellcarrier I can throw Shardbound with my eyes, theoretically huh.
John got a whole new idea about how to use Possession now. Not necessarily useful applications, using spells away from his body seemed way better than using them from different points on his body, but interesting nheless. Anyway, he didnt want to run around with his eyes closed the entire time, so leaving the lenses in the spiritual sense was the proper way to go about this.
They got to the Transport Station, teleported back to DC, left the White House barrier as quickly as they could and made their way to the ce the Hidden Tradition had named in the message they had left for John. It was a surprisingly nice little caf, at the outskirts of the city, hidden in a Protected Space within an alleyway. The entrance was narrow, a green door sitting between two other buildings with only a small window next to it, and the inside too small for more than maybe three groups of friends or onerge gathering to fit inside.
The wooden walls were tightly covered in little things: dream catchers, animal horns, decorated tools, many other things John would call clich Native American and even more things he had absolutely no idea about. A bar that was halfway hidden under arge chalkboard that listed prices for the beverages here. Almost entirely different kinds of coffee, only a few soft drinks and a couple of beers. Between there and the entrance were only about ten steps. There was no way to keep a secret from a table over and the whole thing had the air of a hippy paradise.
John was entirely confused and greeted with a happy wave by the pair already sitting at a table, the only two people in this caf. One of them was a bald guy with a thick, ck beard in a uniform that consisted of a white shirt and a beige apron that harmonized with his reddish skin. The Gamer understood him to be the owner of this fine little establishment. He was the most hipster looking Native John had ever seen. Otherwise, Observe made him out to be pretty unimportant.
Next to him was a woman easily in her seventies, in appearance at least. The deepest trenches in her face came from the very same expression she was making at that moment, smiling widely, which she must have done a lot in her life. With very high cheekbones and a face that had seen a lot of sun recently and over the course of her life, she looked like the friendly grandma out of many fairy tales with shy little farmers girls as the protagonists. She wore loosely fitting clothes made from light brown leather decorated with feathers and her white hair was tied together into a knot, fixed in position by wooden pins that looked like crossed arrows.
This felt less like a negotiation about him getting help for his current predicament than him seeing a grandparent he hadnt visited in a while. His own clothes didnt help that feeling, since he was still in a nerdy get-up. He would go shopping for a new suit, be it only an intermediary one,ter. Even odder, at least for John, was that Observe worked on this olddy. It had been a while since another political force let that work on them.
And it really didnt look like he was talking to someone whocked the resources to hide their true identity. My, my, I thought you woulde a little bitter, the, surprisingly strong, old woman said in the friendly tone of a grandma about to offer some cookies, gesturing at the seat on the other side of the table. Please, why dont you all sit down.
John looked at the seat, a stool that was so heavily cushioned and decorated with multi-coloured cloth that he couldnt even see its legs, with suspicion. It was barely just a cylinder of softness. This entire situation stunk, as far he was concerned. No such thing as genuine niceness existed in his political opponents, they all wanted something. He nced over his shoulder, Beatrice and Metra taking it as their signal to turn around and wait outside. Not that there was any more room at the table anyway. Between him, Rave, Aclysia and Eliza, every single seat was taken.
John almost fell over when he sat down; the thing was even softer than he had imagined and, apparently, had no actual legs. It was just a cylinder shaped cushion. The half-fall made his sses slip partly off his face, but Aclysia caught him before anything embarrassing could happen. Although afterwards firmly bnced, John felt rather disgruntled already.
Be a dear and make us a pot of tea, yes? Elu friendly patted the arm of the establishments owner, who answered affirmatively and got up. Not hastily or anything, he was remarkably rxed as he wandered behind the counter and began finagling with some things John couldnt see. Did you go mute, John Newman?
The question was asked humorously, but Johns paranoia immediately put in an along with blind? in there. Trying to keep himself from panicking or react harshly in any way, he put on a nice smile. No, sorry, but I was just expecting something different. I have a lot on my mind, you surely understand.
Yes, your current situation is pretty bad, the apparently friendly grandma nodded and reached out into thin air. When her hand vanished into a dimensional pocket, a very costly, inferior version of Johns inventory, he tensed up. Even as her hand appeared again with nothing but a pre-loaded pipe in hand, he didnt rxpletely. She snipped her fingers and a spark jumped from between them into the tobo, which caught fire immediately. Which is why Im here to talk to you.
She huffed and then blew the smoke as far away from the guests as the turning of her neck allowed. What could that gesture possibly mean? Did she want to show them that her faction was rich enough to buy these pockets but they had no reason to act mean towards the already weakened Fusion federation?
Youll have to forgive an olddy a question, my memory is getting worse on my old days, Elu remarked with a giggle. Once more, John noted something, being that he was told that he would have to forgive this. Clearly, this woman knew that she was in control. Since youre here, I assume you do, but just in case you dont, you know our offer, yes?
Johns eye twitched. What was this? This woman was harder to read than Abraham had been, at least he had taken clearly veiled diplomatic actions. They were spelled out in their intention due to the ultimate purpose behind them being clearly in serving to an actor with certain interest. With her, John had no idea what she wanted, why she wanted it, what she knew and what she wanted him to know she knew. Absolutely obnoxious.
Yes, I heard that you want to try and separate Eliza and Thana, John omitted the part where they wanted to help him in exchange. Negotiations as to what that pertained could be struck after he was sure he was even fine with what he needed to give in return. He was the weaker party in this, he had to know what was expected of him before he could be sure to ept any deal.
Ah, yes, it is good that you heard that, very good, Elu continued to smile. What a truly devastating weapon, in the diplomatic sense, a smile like that was. Distrusting a friendly grandmother type was incredibly hard. She had an aura that made everyone feel like they couldin about their day towards her and leave with some good advice and freshly baked goods. Well, what do you oh, you are a treasure!
Thatst bit went out not to John but to the barkeeper, who was bringing them their tea alongside freshly baked cookies, oddly enough. With chocte chips still liquid inside the steaming dough, the batch was resting on a wooden te that was quickly put down on the table. You should let the tea rest for a few more minutes, the owner advised, to let it cool down and properly expand its vour.
Elu was already pouring herself a cup, putting her pipe down by resting it on an ashtray. You know I dont mind hot things, why else would I keeping here? she joked as the translucent green liquid filled her porcin cup. The pot wandered back onto the table, the Native American then going over to the cookies, grabbing one, dipping it in her tea, then taking a delightful bite.
The cookies here she mumbled between chewing, are really good you should try some she swallowed and smiled widely. If you can see them, with how dark everything must be behind those sses.
She definitely knew that he had gone blind, John could see no other reason she would make that joke. From where? Did the Apothecaries already sell him out? He wouldnt be surprised; those people had no loyalties to anyone but their research funding.
He clenched his teeth, the utter disrespect he was getting bombarded with here was staggering. So, how about it? Want our help in trying to split your girl from that abomination within? Elu continued between bites of her cookie.
That did it. Veiled insults were one thing. Not being taken seriously he could also stomach, barely with his already damaged pride. Her now presenting what they wanted from him in return for their help as a favour? That was just too much.
Despite knowing that he needed their help to secure his guilds immediate future, John let out a rant that was just coated in bitter bile. You areing to me at my most vulnerable. After I lost my eyesight, there is an ultimatum out for my head, my guild about to be disbanded, my allies dead or crippled and I have no other choice but to consider letting you exploit one of the people I hold dearest in the world for some experiment in exchange for help. He took a deep breath, trying to rein himself in, but he wasnt quite done. And if that wasnt just FANTASTIC enough, you are also mocking me every step along the way. Fuc-
The sound of a cookie dropping out of an old shamans fingers and falling into a pot of tea interrupted Johns insult. Elu, with her mouth hanging open, and the owner of the caf next to her both stared at him with absolute bafflement.
John bit the inside of his cheek, cursing himself. Now he had to grovel before them in apology. Hurt pride or not, he still needed their help, unless he wanted to sacrifice everything he had worked for so far.
Uhm you are blind? No, pardon, one thing after the other, the Matriarch of the Shamans grabbed her pipe again and took a few unsure huffs. It seems I got a bit too familiar too quickly. With the way you came in here and your loose reputation, I thought... Excuse me, Im really sorry, President Newman.
John blinked a number of times. Nobody saw that behind his sses, but it was still the gesture of confusion he was used to. A confusion so strong that Aclysia shared it, tilting her head askingly for him.
I am I mean he stammered, not sure what to answer. In a move that no politician would normally make in negotiations, he asked their intentions outright, Why are you apologizing to me? Are you not here to force my hand into giving you something you want in exchange for your help?
I think we need to take this one from the start again, Elu looked just as confused as he did.
Chapter 552 – Meetings 2 – Niceness
Chapter 552 C Meetings 2 C Niceness
We offer our support for the current situation with the Lake Alliance and hope you agree to talk to us for a potential separation of Eliza from the dangerous goddess inside her, Beatrice quoted how she remembered what had been said during Johns time unconscious. Now, the Gamer absolutely couldnt me her for spinning that into what she had.
The message John had gotten had been: We will do this under the condition that you give us. Apparently, the true meaning was: We will do this, just promise us that we will talk about maybe doing that. In other words, Eliza running through that experiment wasnt necessary for an alliance. The Hidden Tradition wanted to help Fusion either way.
John didnt get it.
We had a long talk since you made that public broadcast, us over at the leadership of the Hidden Tradition, Elu let him know. We havent quite concluded that little discussion, but we hardly can when you are no longer there, can we?
Yeah, okay, but why? The Gamer could actually not believe that people would just help him because they could. So far, all he had gotten was pushback, the subversion with Scarlett aside. Whats in it for you when you help me?
The potential of joining your federation, Elu answered and dumped two sugar cubes in her tea. The Hidden Tradition has a long tradition of being peaceful and isting ourselves in our mountains. We arent necessarily against bing part of a collective American guild, as long as its a rule of prosperity and we are givenrge autonomy.
Arent you resentful towards the Americans for pushing you off yournds though? John had to ask. Elu had already been over a hundred years old when the first European explorers arrived and she must have seen how they took what many nowadays considered to have been theirnd.
However, all Elu had in response was a shrug. Would I prefer to have seen my people spread naturally over our ancestralnd? Yes, but the situation has never been that easy. She took a sip of her sweetened tea. We had our petty squabbles and wars before the colonizers came; nowadays at least the Abyssals have formed a unified faction under the Hidden Tradition. Being resentful isnt going to get us anywhere. We cant beat all of you, so we have to ept reality and find a path that will leave our children fertilend.
John nodded, it was a remarkably sombre way to look at all of this. It was also the only one that would keep her people from vanishing into obscurity. The Natives couldnt afford to wage war on all sides, they would be quashed within two generations tops. He followed Elus spotty skinned hand to the te of cookies.
Although our cultures may have found their way there differently, she snapped the cookie in two uneven parts, we, too, abhor the practices of very and tyranny. The matriarch dipped the smaller part in the tea and let it soak up some of the liquid before throwing it into her mouth. The Lake Alliance still practices in both of those. Even though they arent in favour of people getting abducted and put into mana factories against their will, they also dont prosecute it. They are unfit for us to join. I was in talks with Abraham she stopped for a moment, the Lincoln one, I should specify, to join him all those years ago. He was assassinated before it came to that. For all his diplomatic prowess, he was not strong enough to stop a bullet.
You really are considering joining Fusion? John was still in disbelief about this. After a morning of terrible news, this was like a golden streak of sunlight following a long night spent waiting for a hurricane to pass.
Again, she raised the bigger half of the cookie, still debating about that. Ultimately, we are sure that a strong, moral and righteous federation of American guilds is necessary. For prosperity and to be secure against future threats She ate that second bit without soaking it beforehand. Its easy to forget she mumbled while munching, that there is a bunch of literal Nazis sitting in Brazil and I know for a fact she gulped and rinsed the remains down by emptying her cup, they have at least some outposts in real Mexico and the southern US coast. Cant be too long until they are done recuperating from their losses and decide that outposts arent enough. I would rather not be ruled by Nazis or European imperialists or Chinese zealots. American, self-proimed freedom lovers sound a bit more sympathetic to little old me. She cackled; it was drier and less honest than usual, this was a pragmatic line of logic after all.
You have obviously given this whole thing a lot of thought, John stated and bowed his head in respect. Sorry for my outburst earlier I had a rough couple of days and my nerves are a bit shot.
No, no, I get it, Elu waved off, been a while since I had to do political stuff, guess I should have double-checked my message for potential misinterpretations. Really sorry about the awkwardness this caused. She reached out to pour herself a new cup, but found it already refilled.
Aclysia put down the pot. Those friendly to my master are deserving of my service, the weaponized maid informed the olddy, who narrowed her eyes and then recognized Aclysia from the broadcasts. It was admittedly hard, since she was currently in her ck-haired, casual summer clothed self. The person in the background of Johns speeches was a white-haired woman in a pretty distinct maid outfit.
Right, I heard you were a creator of Artificial Spirits you have two of them or is that blonde a third one? The true nature of Metra still eluded most, evidently. Even when hearing the name Metracana, that information was not so easily dug up.
For convenience, lets just say I have four, John answered, counting Momo in as well. Since that cat is already out of the bag, the fact that I can even see you is thanks to the Possession spell from the same school of magic. He tapped against his sses, these are my eyes right now.
Is it true then that Sigmund appeared on the battlefield? Elu asked, and John just nodded. This was information he had expected to leak very quickly, when several hundred people were involved a secret was hardly able to be kept. Just another reason why we need some sort of unified America. Whatever events created that monster should never have been allowed to happen, and now if not even you with an entire army as your help could stop him, then we have a big problem on our hands.
Did he harass your territories as well? John asked. Not that it would have surprised him, whatever was a challenge seemed good enough for the Contender, an unpredictable man now strong enough to count as a force of nature. If the world wants to fuck me over even more, he will appear before me exactly when its the most inconvenient to me.
Every now and again. He eliminated some settlements and sacred gravesites, then vanished off to wherever again, Elu affirmed. He killed several dozen of our members and eludes all capture not that I would even dare to try that now The old woman reached up to her temples and began massaging them. The true monsters of the Abyss are always hard to handle like this. They wreak havoc on whoever they want and then just appear somewhere else again. Its not like I have any right toin about this, but lets just say I find it really fortunate that the great earth mother has separated mundane from magical so clearly.
John just assumed that she meant Gaia by that and kept silent on the truth about this matter. Not like she was wrong on this. Advised by her father or not, Gaia had put the separation in ce. Also, he was in agreement, so this topic didnt really deserve any more attention.
Do you mean to keep the thing with your eyes a secret? Elu asked.
Not for long, it woulde out sooner orter anyway, John stated. There will be a ceremony for the fallen soon; I will announce it then. The elderlydy nodded approvingly; her ever present smile had a motherly nuance to it.
It is good to be honest with your people. Grey secrets can only darken when never exposed to the light. Well, you will manage that, Elu rmitted to her tea. Not like you need my advice if you made it this far. Giggling she added, Now that my friend behind the counter knows about this, it wont be a secret for long anyway.
Yes back to the topic at hand, John tried to get the discussion back on track and stretched his limbs, now more rxed than before. He still wasnt convinced that the Hidden Tradition was acting without ulterior motive, but for the moment it seemed like they hadmon interests. Either way, he didnt really have another choice in the matter. So I can expect you toe to my aid should the Lake Alliance attack?
We would much rather there wont be outright warfare, Elu shook her head. Wellmit to an alliance, purely defensive, as soon as this talk is over, unless youre against that for some reason.
Oh no, that sounds fantastic, John hastily assured her. No blood spilled was also in his interest. War was chaos, once it broke out everything could happen. Until the Gamer had a precise strategy how to swiftly knock out all enemymand centres, best pushing it all to one decisive battle where he had the advantage, he decisively was in favour of no enemy contact whatsoever. He had always preferredte game strategies over zerging down the enemy. We can have all the talks about whether and how the two of us want to merge forces afterwards.
Yup, the jolly grandma nodded and audibly sipped her tea. Which brings us to the second topic. What do you think, can we try? The question was guided directly at Eliza herself.
Having spent this entire time devouring cookies and sugar cubes, the blood mage was caught with her mouth full and lips decorated with sticky crumbs. Before she could answer, she needed to get her teeth unglued. Her brown eyes, like Aclysia she was in her mundane get-up,nded on the teapot. She grabbed the thing and simply put the spout to her lips, gulping down the entire remains in a few seconds.
Fuck me, thats hot, she cursed and threw the porcin back on the table; everything rattled, but nothing broke. Thank all of the searing spunk I have swallowed fresh from the cock, that I am good at that shit. Are we finally talking about the bonemongling im that you can rip that retarded murder-ass out of me?
She always talks like that, John said in a dry, apologetic tone.
Im aware, Elu smiled. Was rather potty mouthed myself when I was younger.
Yeah, right, Eliza snorted, ring the old woman up and down. Slowly it dawned on John that her increased melding with Thana from earlier may have once more spiked her misanthropy. This had happened thest two times a dot had turned into a line as well, and Eliza was in a considerable bad mood anyway. An idea that crept up on him a bit toote, the pretty little psycho was already in full rant mode. Like a rancid old cunt like you could ever properly curse around, fuck off into your hut, at least then I would get this stinking tobo stick out of my face.
Seriously, how the fuck are you still alive? Did the tar turn your lungs into a conserved piece of mummy meat? Fits the rest of your Grand Canyon of a visage. I am about 80% certain that I would get a picture of the moon if I tried face recognition on your ugly, old ass. What a disgusting craterndscape.
A small pause, Eliza either realizing what she was doing or simply waiting for the old woman to die of a heart attack from the frivolity of it all. Instead, Elu said five words. You are small and chubby. The blood mage froze and was immediately assaulted by the follow up. Also, your ass isnt nearly as nice as your boyfriend tells you it is.
And just with that, Elizas mood swung from needlessly aggressive, to insecure and frightened. Reaching past Rave and grabbing Johns shirt, she pulled herself towards the Gamer. John, help, this scary fucking grandma knows how to hurt me! Her eyes were actually widened from shock.
Shhhh, its okay, John promised her, pulling her over and into hisp. After brushing her long, currently ck, hair over her shoulder, making the tips fall all the way down to her thighs, he held her in a tight embrace and whispered. Your ass is as nice as I say, and even if she disagrees with that, who cares, right? Because whose ass is that?
M-mine? Eliza asked, more insecure than she had been in a while.
Wrong, he whispered in her left ear, gently biting it. Try again.
Yours? the masochistic amalgamation of character defects tried again.
Thats right, Eliza, you are my property and you dont have to care what others say about how you look. All that is important is that your thick thighs, round ass and slutty body please me, alright? he looked up to Elu, about to assure that this was purely a consensual thing and not some sort of very, but the Native got it without an exchange of words needed. Given her rather immense sexual score it was an easy guess to make that this matriarch had gone through her own series of experiences.
Fuck me, yes, that is all kinds of right, the blood mage hummed and nestled closer to his chest. Throw it you arrogant sack of bo-
Quiet! Johns voice was a whish in Elizas ears, and she immediately shut her mouth with an audible cking of her teeth. His embrace became constricting around her chest, as if to press the air out of her. Of course, she was much too enduring to be pressured by his Strength, so all it did was act as a symbolic gesture. Well, it also made him feel her soft boobs rather well against his arm. Good girls dont insult their masters allies. You will answer questions quickly and keep it short, maybe Ill do more than let you watch tonight if you do. You understand?
She nodded.
Say yes, master.
Yes, Master, she sheepishly stated, her eyes zing with desire. Needless to say, he could currently feel her leather pants with his erection.
Good girl, he stated. Sorry about that, she gets like this sometimes.
If I were 500 years younger, Elu shook her head. Ah, so sad. Do that girl a favour and knock her up at least three times. Big families are fun.
John doubted he had to convince Eliza of liking that woman any longer. Why does every older woman out there want me to get my cute little Eliza pregnant? he thought, as the girl in question grinned up to him with triumphant insanity. Despite hismand to be silent, she let out a series of happy giggles,plete in her unsteady tone that ranged from way too high to throaty deep. The owner of the caf was the only one unnerved by those sounds and made himself a little bit smaller behind the bar. No baby is nned in the foreseeable future, he made it clear, Eliza still giggled, grinding her ass against his cock.
My first partner also used to say that, then I was a mother of seven, Elu looked a bit dreamy. All happens so fast. Hmmm, good times.
John really disliked the direction this conversation was taking. He didnt doubt that the woman in front of him had once been beautiful, but she wasnt anymore, and old people fucking was an ufortable image to him. Old looking people, rather, since he had no problem with the image of Nathalia bouncing on his hips.
Fantastic, now I am horny, he thought and tried really hard to concentrate on the negotiations at hand. So, what is this about separating Eliza from Thana? Can you really do that? Why would you?
Theoretically, we guess we can, Elu answered with her lips on her cup. The Hidden Tradition has an ancient ritual that we use to separate entities that take root in a persons body. As long as the two have not be too closely melded, we should be able to banish the goddess of genocide from her bind on Elizas body as for the why, because we think it would make the world better.
After a moments hesitation, John responded, That is a sorry, but thats a terribly unbelievable reason. Its too easy and straightforward. He couldnt help but be skeptical. Who, aside from himself, ever had done something nice just because they felt it was the correct thing to do? For almost a year now, all he had encountered wereyers of intrigue. Something this clear was too good to be true.
If the Hidden Tradition wanted to set up a trap for John, he wasnt sure if they utterly sucked at it or if they were the greatest tricksters he had ever met. Aside from the Horned Rat, maybe.
What would happen with Thana once outside Eliza anyway?
Well, all old instances point to her dissipating into Faith energy, so she would probably need to reform into a new host or something. Since she apparently needs a human host that will put the next appearance of a god of her variety off for hopefully hundreds if not thousands of years.
And what if she doesnt just vanish? John didnt really want to take a gamble on the level 1000 incarnation of human ughter manifesting. As ufortable for Eliza as the current situation was, for the world atrge Thanas bound state was definitely the best thing.
Then the ritual just wont work, so we really lose nothing, Elu calmed that fear. Well, if John trusted her word. Which, for the exercise of this discussion (but not atrge) he did.
Although he had more thoughts on the matter, he knew all that was needed to give at least a basic response. The risk involved would be minimal, the Hidden Tradition were maybe the nicest people John had ever met in the Abyss or this whole thing was a giant hoax. Ultimately, this wasnt his decision though.
He ced a kiss on Elizas hair before asking in a calm tone, What do you think?
I think this whole fucking thing sounds way too fucking convenient to be true, Eliza answered. But if I can get this scumfuck of a mind-eating shitstain out of my perverted grey matter, then I want to at least take a look at the man-mayonnaise gargling ritual they came up with.
Alright, John nodded. So, we cautiously agree, but I want more details before going along with the actual ritual.
Sure thing, Elu nodded with the motherly smile on her face. Lets clean up the situation with the Lake Alliance first and then I can send you all the details.
Chapter 553 – Meetings 3 – Time to face resentment
Chapter 553 C Meetings 3 C Time to face resentment
For the first time in a while, John Newman couldnt sleep. After the information that the Hidden Tradition would defend Fusion had reached the Lake Alliance, they had promptly withdrawn their ultimatum. Hadnt taken long after that for the hostile guild to present a new demand. This time, it was only for a talk. John was already making security ns regarding that meeting. Blindly trusting people that had publicly called for his execution would have been pretty stupid.
That was only one of the many reasons why he couldnt sleep right now.
He was feeling tired, yet his eyes were open. All he sensed with them was the fluid covering them slowly vaporizing into the air. He blinked. His actual sight was located on a nightstand rtively far away, at the foot of the bed. He had slept while having Possession active before, most nights as a matter of fact, back when he was still levelling it. That the sses were still providing him with images, rtively easily ignored, shouldnt have hindered him.
His position was anything but ufortable. The enormous bed that stretched from wall to wall and covered more than half of his new bedroom was filled with pillows and the naked bodies of his harem. His head was resting on the soft and firm gtinous material of Undines body. Rave was sprawled out over him, her legs wrapped around his in a way that made it impossible to move, her chest on his, her lips close to his neck. Under his left arm, snuggled tightly against him,y Aclysia, letting out controlled breaths. Although the Artificial Spirit didnt sleep, just lying next to her master and doing nothing was a rejuvenating experience.
John knew that she was aware of his current sleeping problem, but so far, she had said nothing. Either she wasnt sure what to say or she wanted to give him the space to solve it himself. I am just happy you are here, the Gamer thought, his thumb gently brushing over the bit of her lower back where his hand was resting.
Of course, he knew his way around their bodies even when he couldnt see them, but he still didnt dare move too much, in fear of hitting someone else lying around closely. The room was warm enough that nobody needed a nket. The crumbled together cloth only added to the chaos John could see from the vantage point of his sses. It was an all around nice picture.
John knew that he was still blessed. He was rich. He was surrounded by people he loved and that loved him back. They were all sexy as damn hell. Given time, he would probably even reach a state where his new blindness wasnt a worrying factor. He knew all of that.
His mind was circling around ravaging cruelties he wished to inflict on a number of people. Sigmund most of all, the reasons for which were beyond obvious. That Apothecary that hadnt been able to help him and been a useless analyser about it. Abraham for kicking this entire catastrophe off with his hasty decision. Even Terkal for dying in such a useless manner.
Emotion driven wishes that he kept pushing down only for another one to rise to the surface. Sigmund aside, those thoughts were just spur of the moment annoyances. Births of a resentful mind that had no useful or even real reason to exist. It was all too fresh for his logical thoughts to banish these aggressive wishes. They didnt take control of him, they were under control, but they kept appearing and his mind from getting the rest he needed.
Master a whisper reached his ear, Aclysia speaking very quietly, as to not disturb anyone else. Her words were both in his ear and his mind. Listen to my voice and rx. Concentrate only on me. John knew what she was trying to do and attempted to obey. Close your eyes. He did as he was told. Take a deep breath in Lungs filled with air. hold it His expanded chest drummed with an agitated heartbeat slowing steadily. hold it His lungs began to revolt, wanting to relieve the pressure. Release.
Long and audibly, he let his body empty all air from its lungs. Good, Aclysia continued, Wait just lie still do not breathe empty your mind only hear my voice For a few moments, his body was fine, then an ufortable tug started spreading. Before it escted to any point, the weaponized maid allowed him to inhale. Take a deep breath in deeper deeper hold it
Although John couldnt keep his mind from churning out more subconsciously fuelled thoughts, they dissipated like small clouds, growing quieter and less frequent with each repetition of Aclysias hypnotizing instructions.
I love you, John, the weaponized maid whispered. Let that be the most important thought in your mind. She ced a kiss on his forehead before continuing. You are safe here, surrounded by the people you love. As if to underline that, his sleeping girlfriend tightened her embrace. Rx let the muscles of your arms of your feet of your chest let them all rx He hadnt even noticed that they were the slightest bit tense. A yawn escaped his mouth when he had done as he was told. I will count down from five now when I reach zero, you will be even more rxed even more tired
With each number, his body felt heavier, and when the countdown ended, he felt like he was gently sinking through the mattress and finally into the deep embrace of thoughtless, quiet sleep.
Good night, my John, were thest words he heard before beingpletely lost to unconsciousness.
____________________________________________________________________
For the first time, John was thest person to wake up. That wasnt to say the bed was empty outside of himself, Undine was still serving as his pillow and Sylph was giggling as she snuggled up to him. John blinked a few times before he remembered that no amount of blinking would get his eyes adjusted. Carefully, he sat up and crawled towards the nightstand, looking at himself. His own nude body was not the most pleasing sight first thing in the morning, but he had to get used to it.
The second the sses were on his nose, he took a look around his bedroom. The white painted walls were set in twilight, except for the bright lines around the closed blinds to Johns left, where some sunlight still broke through. He opened his inventory to put on his clothes, only to realize he had left none of them in there. Not that it mattered, he could just go to that massive closet they had, spanning the entire wall opposite of his bed, and pick something to wear. It held the clothes of every single member of his harem that wore clothes and then some more.
Well, I could do that or John thought and with a smile stepped out of the bedroom. There was only a straight walkway between the closet and the bed, leading to the door on the right hand side. Stark naked, he stepped into the living room, where his girls were scattered about and looked over to him with smiles and giggles.
The spacious living room was defined mostly by two corners. One was held by therge table meant for eating, itself close to the open kitchen where Aclysia and Beatrice were preparing breakfast. The other corner was held by a giant couch that, in its U-shaped might, made it impossible to even enter that corner except by jumping over it or stepping through one of the few gaps between its segments. There was a low, long table that stretched towards a system of shelves that centred around a 60 inch t screen television that was mounted to the wall.
What? Never seen a nude guy wearing sunsses? John joked, stepping into the room.
Not one I immediately wanted to bone, Rave returned in kind, with a warm smile on her face. Hope ya dont mind we didnt wake ya up or anything. Thought you could need the extra rest.
Yeah I did need that, John agreed, ncing at the clock. It was almost eight. He normally woke up around six. Aclysia?
Yes, Master? the weaponized maid turned away from her current work to look at him. She looked as beautiful as always and her green eyes looked at him with the ever-present devotion she had for him. For what she had donest night, for her support in general, she was overdue for a reward.
Ill need some help in the shower, care toe with me? he asked, and she gave him a diligent smile and a cute little bow.
I will be right behind you, Master, she promised, only stopping quickly to give Beatrice some more instructions about what she was allowed to prepare, not cook herself, and washing her hands.
Without the need to announce it, Rave was right with them as they walked into the shower room. Yes, an entire shower room, separated from where people had to take care of their bio-waste business andrge enough to allow the entire harem to get in. Aside from the massive shower area, equipped with several heads and a system where the entire ceiling could be turned into the source of running water, there was also a massive bathtub.
John went blind the second he stepped out of the changing area, separated by a ss wall. Since he didnt have to be worried about his carbon footprint, as this was all inside a barrier and fuelled by mana, the Gamer had no qualms about this room being heated twenty-four hours, seven days a week, with hot water running constantly through the bathtub. The side effect was that the roman style room, beige tiles decorating everything, was always filled with steam. Steam that settled on the sses immediately.
Okay, so I cant see with these if they get covered by something, John thought as he grabbed the sunsses and stored them in his inventory. He hadnt nned to take a shower with those on anyway. The moment they vanished past the window, the Possession ceased. John wasnt sure why he couldnt store possessed items in his inventory, aside from the current Extension. It made some sense; he couldntmunicate with Aclysia or anyone else while they were inside there. He also couldnt feel the Mand Sphere, it just automatically reconnected the moment he pulled it out again. Normal Possessions werent afforded that same convenience, it seemed.
Cleaning himself was one of the areas where John had no idea how to do it by himself in the future. Best idea he had was to use Possession on the shower head. However, the arrangement of always having at least one of his girls apany him inside was anything but unsatisfactory. Yesterdays immense need to learn to do anything himself had considerably lessened. Some things he would have to share the burden of his condition on, at the very least until he learned how to handle the contact lenses.
All three of them together went through a very cleansing experience. First, under the shower, where John was the recipient of a wonderful double blowjob. Then, into the bathtub, where each one of the girls rode him once. Then, just to rinse off, back into the shower, where he got yet another blowjob. Throughout the entire thing, John had to be either guided, seated, or hold onto something. He didnt look through Aclysias eyes. Even getting used to theplete darkness was important.
That aside, the sensitivity boost that he got from being unable to see at all made it all pretty intense, despite the routine such sex had be. Once they headed out again, Aclysia and Rave technically dirtier than before with the giant loads he had pumped into them, John went into the bathroom proper, put in the contact lenses, and brushed his teeth with one eye closed.
Alright, John, still naked, headed back out into the living room, Aclysia quickly getting back to the kitchen with her maid outfit forming out from her skin, Rave joining John on the table, wearing only sexy,fortable lingerie. It was eight thirty now, time for him to make the ns for his day. I need to buy a new suit if only a stand-in for one, he told everyone. So thatll get done after breakfast. Then we have that meeting with the Lake Alliance, then I need to look after Chemilia and Ted, he had given them an update on the situation with the ultimatum, but they had to do more beyond that, and that will dictate the rest of today. Anyone have anything to add?
Fuck me up the ass! Eliza demanded. Put that shit somewhere in your ns, because I seriously need to be distracted from my seething fucking rage!
John looked over to her and noticed that her hair was now down to her kneecaps. Although no further dots had transformed, Thana must havee to the surface sometime while John had been asleep. Since all of the furniture was still intact, it couldnt have been too bad. I think you need a meeting with a pair of scissors as well, he carefully suggested. I know Lydia did your hair thest few times you wouldnt ept going to a barber, would you?
Is the barber our anal queen? Eliza asked, No? Then fuck no, I am not letting some random ass ass fucker touch me with anything sharp!
Interrupting the little happy tune she was humming, a satisfied Aclysia intervened, Basic shortening, I can easily take care off as well.
You are the best, John stated and the blood mage also nodded.
The second day of Johns blindness did, all things considered, start like most others.
Chapter 555 – Meetings 5 – Blood analysis
Chapter 555 C Meetings 5 C Blood analysis
Although John would have preferred to try on his suit before Aclysia got it home, this situation was more important than looking decent on a meeting that would be hostile either way. Therefore, they, Tamara in tow, went back to the Guild Hall before anything bad could happen. They sessfully avoided any reporters outside, and inside Johns elementals and the Sentry Golems were doing their work at keeping people away from him.
Maybe I should just ce the teleporter on the roof of the Pce or something, John thought. He had hoped that higher Tiers would allow other people outside of Collide to use it as well, but so far there was no indication of that happening whatsoever. Paying the money to move it over seemed like a logical step to take. Would also make it much easier to have Scarlett sleep over at night in secret I should consider thatter.
They made it inside and stayed on the base floor. Under Johns lead, they made it to one of the many chambers to be used for private conversation. It was decorated like it belonged straight into an old mafia mansion, defined by two colours, dark oak and dark red. The carpet and the walls were of thetter colour, same for the cushions and leather attached to the chairs, but the furniture itself was dominated by the wood, from the central table to the boards of the tall shelf, rows of alcoholic beverages lined between a ss door.
Overhead hung a small brass chandelier, small magical lights shining like bulbs but flickering like candles on the top of each of the many arms. It illuminated every corner of the windowless room. There were chambers that had a view to the outside, the sses mirrored to make the reverse technically impossible, but John wasnt taking chances.
Under the guidance of Eliza, Tamara once more took a seat and watched them all like a child expecting a reward very soon. So, on the face of it, we have three choices, John began, keeping a close eye on the blood addict to gauge her reactions. Number one, we kill her and are just done with this topic. Quick, inhumane, convenient.
Tamara didnt even react to the threat of death, simply once more saying, Bloodmother, followed by a variation of her usual begging, can I have more?
No, shut the fuck up, the grown ups are talking! Eliza shot back, and the woman began to pout as if she got a breakfast consisting of hard meat on waffles and chocte day. Do I even want to hear the other two things you are going to pull out of your ass? This creepy slut can be axed and we can be done with this shit!
Well, yes, because I would rather not kill anybody, John stated and caused the blood mage to sigh. By all the love he had for them, sometimes it was really easy to forget how many of his girls had a rather careless look towards human life. To be fair, many of them came from times or circumstances were murder was a lot moremon. Number two is that we look for a cure.
Theoretically, there had to be one. If the blood of Thana could be refined, it also had to be removable somehow. Hopefully in another way than what Herman had used to revive Thana, since that had sessfully separated the blood from its host by making the blood eat the host. Even that would have gotten lost with the traitor. Still, if it existed, it could be uncovered. There was just one problem with this approach.
However, none of us have the technical know-how for that John continued. Which means we will have to trust at least one Apothecary. Rave made a sour face while Eliza justughed crazily like he had just said all the Lorylim need is a friendly cuddle. Not that he could me them, even during recent events, that ss of Abyssals hadnt been pleasant to deal with.
Not gonna lie, Rave spoke out. Im kinda getting on-board with option one right now.
Tamara still sat there with something approaching a blissful smile on her face. There was certainly an argument to be made that whoever she had been formerly was already gone. Her appearing on her own before them properly meant that she had either escaped whoever had taken care of her throughout the ills associated with her condition or that there was nobody.
The third option is to give her more blood, John finally ended his exnation.
No. The absoluteness with which Eliza presented that answer made it pretty clear that she wasnt even considering it as a potential answer.
Well, he scratched the back of his head. Then we are stuck with option two.
How about option four, shut her the fuck out and ignore the shit out of her? Eliza suggested, not about to start a debate on which she knew the Gamer wouldnt cave.
Not only do I not believe that that is going to work, John stated, already seeing themselves getting assaulted by this woman the next time they stepped out the door, I also dont want to have her out there, harassing people. I also have the suspicion that option four is just a disguised and long winded option one.
Fucking hell, okay, go take her to the Apothecaries then! Eliza screamed and was ready to storm off. Two steps towards the door, Tamara hasted after her Bloodmother and grabbed her feet. You creepy ass
Dont leave, please! I found you! the addicted woman looked up from the floor with big, teary eyes. You arent in pain anymore, Thana, I am so happy for you! I always saw it in my dreams! The cold, Bloodmother! I can still feel it, but now I see your happiness too. Your happiness and your hate for everything! The tears were rolling in big drops over Tamaras hollow cheeks, but she continued to smile widely, her teeth were perfectly white. No more nails, Bloodmother, no more shattered you, only two shards, right? No more faces?
The room was dead silent by the end of this. It didnt look like Tamara knew anything of value, but the revtion of all the suffering she had been indirectly feeling was staggering. How many people out there were infected to this degree? Unlikely more than a few dozen, but that was already a worrying number.
Fine, Eliza suddenly spat out, lets get here to the Apothecaries but I will hate every fucking second of it, you hear me?!
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The blood mage was indeed very clear about it as they managed to get into the Apothecary outpost on Ellis Ind. Since theirst visit here, John had cleaned the ce up somewhat. The extremely inhumane elements had been removed from the premises. Not by John himself, but by the justice system he had fundamentally been in charge of creating. Given that they were talking about doctors that ordered human resources from the Abyss Auction and disposed them like other people disposed of an oldptop, the Gamer wasnt feeling bad about that decision whatsoever.
As a matter of fact, he wished he could have gone with execution in some cases. However, while ousting them was technically possible by only souring the rtionship with the nebulous leading ss of the Apothecaries, killing was going to get John in trouble in the long term.
The new policies also meant that there were less qualified people around than before. Under anarchic circumstances, the worst kind of people had flocked to this building and thus it was almost empty now. The pleasant side effect was that, since everyone had been investigated thoroughly, John could be rtively sure he was dealing with decent people here. Well, as decent as they came.
John had the feeling that, internally, his name was spoken with a fair amount of disdain. Since that was the general attitude he held towards them, he couldnt be surprised. At the very least the Apothecary they eventually ended up with treated them to a lot of tongue clicking and rolled eyes as they presented Tamaras case.
It was a man with a beard John thought was impossible in real life. Two long narrowly twisted and gelled strands of ck hair that parted into a straight line underneath his nose. His chin, cheeks and the top of his head were bald, but what other hair he had formed something like a tall wall around his chrome dome. Literal chrome dome, the bald spot was reced with a shiny metal piece. Simrly, his eyes were reddish brown, circr sses directly imnted into his skull and peeking out like looking sses. The eye rolling was still possible through the dots of light projected onto the surface, serving as the iris.
Fine, okay, I get it, give her here, the Meddling Nick waved from his stool, the other arm leaning on the table. Didnt seem like he wanted to move his belly anywhere. Hissing, Eliza dragged Tamara towards the guy and then jumped back, infinitely ufortable being close to this clearly mad doctor. Medelnick grabbed a pre-filled syringe from some drawer and moved it towards the sheepish woman.
John grabbed that arm. It wasnt a challenge whatsoever, he had several times the doctors Agility score. What are you doing? the Gamer wanted to know, not letting anything happen without his knowledge.
Knocking her out so this wont take longer than it needs to, Medelnick wasnt afraid whatsoever. What, are you going to have me mmed against the wall like my colleague or do another search of myboratory? Do it, see if I care, you blind ass.
Listen here, you sack of shit and fat, Eliza growled, but John let the hand go and took a step back.
When looked at with questioning gazes, all John could do was shrug. Well, I have to admit he has balls at least well, no, he doesnt actually. When did they sable off your member, Dokt?
Yeah, right, they, I did it myself. Annoying thing was continuously taking brain blood, Medelnick pushed the syringe into Tamaras neck with a steady hand, put it back down and moved his arms into position at the exact time he needed to catch her falling over. His attitude aside, the man clearly knew what he was doing. With a quick Observe, John himself made sure Tamara was only knocked out, not dead or anything.
While she was ced on the typical white hospital lounger, John took the time to wonder whether all these things were already widespread amongst the Apothecary guild, if the New York people just had some filter for his name or if it was Medelnick himself who was the odd one out. Whatever the case, the Meddling Nick quickly took a sample of Tamaras blood, hair and eye fluid, of all things.
He did all of this quick, efficiently and, despite the fact that Tamara was, even in her withdrawal state, pretty, without any motions that could be interpreted as sexual. That he was a eunuch killed most of the interest to molest anybody, John could imagine. That he had a Libido of 0 underlined that significantly.
The taken substances were put into numerous tools that John didnt know the purpose of. It all fed into an oldputer screen, properly old, the kind that was built around a Braun tube. Units and signs John didnt know appeared, fluctuated and swung back and forth a bit, to eventually lock at values he had no idea were good or bad. He also couldnt figure it out quickly, which annoyed him.
All the Intellect and Wisdom in the world was useless if he had no idea what was even being talked about.
Medelnick, however, pretty quickly came to a conclusion. Give her more blood, he just informed them and then turned to them. The dots ttened for a second, his equivalent of blinking, then he just silently stared as if he was waiting for them to leave.
Instead, John had to ask, So you know whats wrong with her?
Urgh, Dokt groaned but, realizing he had to answer to get rid of them, quickly got to it. Essence mixing is nothing new. Dragons use it to create Kin, its essentially the basis for Demigods to be born and all that jazz. All we have here is standardized essence mixing with a blood medium. The mental connection is unusual, but I also cant measure that, so thats just your word and I dont care about it.
If its so normal, surely you can cure it? John asked.
HAH, it was lessughter and more a sound of outright mockery, right, you know what a Dragonkin looks like?
John did, actually, it had been the enemy that came his way in the Onyx Ones Lair, the Raid he still had to beat or even progress in. The one had been a massive mixture of centaur and lizard, with scales and everything. Nodding, he had a rough idea where this was going.
Sure, I could rip that person apart and stitch the organs back together in something that resembled a humanoid, Meddling Nick continued. But I cant undo permanent alteration to her DNA. This woman is already producing small doses of the addictive substance herself. Basically, she is keeping herself tripping, but not enough to get her fix. Murder her or get her all the way there, I dont care which. If you do nothing, she is just going to stay a confused mess looking for her mother.
Alright, John nodded. You have been surprisingly helpful and quick about it. I will remember you, Dokt Medelnick.
That better be a good thing, the Apothecary grumbled after them. John was sure it would be. While neither friendly nor sane, John was highly certain that Dokt was ethical,petent and that his utterck of sexual interest would mean he kept his hands to himself. An ideal candidate to be the Gamers go-to doctor.
Not the thing they had to contend with right now, however. Well lock her away somewhere nice and secure for now, John announced once they had made their way back to the privacy of their Pce.
Hold on a fucking second, Eliza stated. You dont want me to feed her more blood?!
Blood Tamara mumbled in her sleep, still knocked out from whatever Medelnick had injected her with.
Not right now, no, John answered. I realized that were soon facing that whole separation issue, so maybe fooling around with your blood and rted things should be postponed until afterwards. There was no good reason for that. The worst case scenario, that Thana would jump into a different person that was infected with her blood, seemed highly unlikely. Even when Eliza had died, the goddess hadnt switched bodies and, essence sharing or not, normal people didnt fulfil the condition of a shattered soul to even host Thana.
Nevertheless, there could be some sort of rampage by the affected. It was best to keep their powers low in that case. They could decide their ultimate solution, if the problem even persisted once Thana was no more, once this affair was done with. It was entirely possible that the entire blood thing would just disappear.
John exined his thoughts to thedies at his side and ended the entire thing with, So you have more than enough time to think about it.
Peachy as fuck, Elizas dry tone was dripping with sarcasm.
Chapter 556 – Meetings 6 – Technocrat
Chapter 556 C Meetings 6 C Technocrat
John felt pretty bad for practically imprisoning Tamara in solitary confinement. The room they gave her was luxurious, one of the many unused parts of the former Thorne HQ, close to Scarletts own area. It had everything someone could ask for, exceptpanionship. You will keep your creepy ass inside these walls, understood? Eliza stated.
Yes, Bloodmother, Tamara obeyed and sat down on a nearby chair. They closed the door, waited for maybe some drumming on the metal te. Even after John had locked it with a keycard, nothing could be heard, however.
John looked at the blue card for a few moments. It was his, able to open every single door in the building. Well, unless Scarlett decided not to, ultimately she could change which code corresponded with which security levels freely. The entire building was under her control and she wielded the circuits inside with the same precision as a brain surgeon moved a scalpel. Which meant that the card itself was receable. He handed it off to Eliza.
Thats not a ring, the blood mage noted when she took it. The fuck am I supposed to do with this? She didnt have her own one, as she never even stepped into this building without John around. Of the cliques that had formed inside Johns harem, Eliza and Scarlett shared none. As a matter of fact, the redhead seemed to associate with none of the girls closer. Given her secretive loner tendencies, that wasnt too surprising.
Rave poked the smaller woman on the forehead. Ya know ya gotta stay back in that line, stay with the baby joke, the Lightbearer jokingly reprimanded.
Well, somebody has to visit her at sometime, John presented his logic for the decision. Since you usually dont have a lot to do and she only reacts to you anyway.
You expect me, slobby, perverted, fuck-ass human hating, piece of shit me, to go out of my way to visit that super fucking creepy piece of shit addicted to my BLOOD?! Elizaughed out loud. Are you kidding me? Im not doing anything for that whore.
Im not forcing you to do anything, John shrugged. But I am going to be disappointed if you just leave her vegetating in there.
Es...ehrs...mhrm, Eliza made a series of indiscernible noises. The idea of disappointing him clearly struck a chord with her whose sound she definitely disliked. Nevertheless, her natural reluctance was making a clear decision impossible.
The Gamer went ahead and opened up some more about his decision. Look, we both know that your misanthropy is justified, but youll still have to get over it to at least some degree. I think that you having at least some responsibility for another person is going to be healthy, as he said that, he got the sudden idea for a convincing cherry on top. Just imagine its training for our kid. The way she is now, she is basically a four-year-old anyway.
Okay, what-fucking-ever, wszystko jedno, I just have to visit her every now and again, right? Eliza grumbled and put the card in a pocket of her leather pants. Although she still didnt seem enthusiastic, the fact that she at least agreed was enough for John to reward her with a little kiss.
Good, he let all his approval flow into that one word while he pulled back, then he finally had to turn to the other matters of today. Alright, Ill go meet Scarlett now to talk political strategy. I dont expect you want to join us?
Fuck no, I am going to watch some shitty si and get this fucking thing off my mind for the moment, Eliza erratically eximed and walked away, closely followed by Rave who winked at her boyfriend.
Also gonna go with no, tiger, she mused while waving goodbye. Neither of them wanting to go along was expected, given their disinterest in politics and all of that. That aside, John felt good knowing that they trusted him, or rather him handling his blindness, enough to leave him alone, even if it was just for the short stretch up the stairs.
While he had to head up to the same floor as the two girls, them going ahead and taking the stairs with the ease of the able meant that they were already through the teleporter by the time he got up there. He himself ignored the pavilion-esque outpost with its sky blue floor and instead turned towards the wall, which opened pretty much immediately.
Of course, Scarlett had been listening on every word they said, so her reacting quickly to his wish to enter was unsurprising. The wooden wall cover slid open, revealing countless cogs and mechanisms behind that turned this floor, even more than any other, into a ce that Scarlett could manipte ording to her wishes. John stepped into the room and the wall closed behind him.
There was only a single table in there. Walls and floor were nk, revealing cables, resting limbs of metal, drones or other tools. Scarlett was standing in her usual position in front of the window that separated her from the outside, looking down on the city.
Wonder how much she invested into making those sses secure from all manners of scrying, John thought as he approached her. Looking at her finely cut suit, he felt a light disdain for that style of clothes all of a sudden. It just didnt define her ass properly, which was the most feminine thing on that androgynous beauty. Something about the way she stood thrust her hips out more than usual as well. He passed the metal desk, including her hat lying on top and stopped next to her on the window. Now that New York was in a level three barrier, the view from here was more fantastical than it had ever been.
He could see Liberty Ind, the erged version with the Guild Hall structures scattered over it, and the numerous building projects all over the city. Youre making my city quite productive, Scarlett stated and took a huff from her cigarette while she reached between the red and ck of her shirt and vest and pulled out a new keycard. Dont give away this one. Scrubbing all the ess codes takes time I could use more productively.
Thanks, John took it off her and put it into his inventory. She seemed taller than usual. Dont want to give Eliza ess to everything? Dont you trust her?
In my experience, people at that level of power dont bother with double-checking everything, Scarlett mumbled into her cigarette, speaking more clearly after she blew out the smoke. So, no, I dont trust her, but not for reasons of her personality.
Fair enough, the Gamer had understood from the start, but he just wanted to start this conversation lightly. Sorry it took me until now toe here. Although they hadmunicated through text, this was the first time in almost three days they saw each other. I rationalized that you would have the patience to wait.
You werent wrong, the Technomancer dropped the remains of her cigarette on the floor, where the ashes broke off the butt and all was quickly ttened by her elegant shoes. No, only the tip of her shoes. She turned around and there was a very distinct cking sound.
Are you wearing high heels? John was entirely confused by that. Of all the people, Scarlett seemed too practically minded to get herself into that kind of shoes. The only person John found less likely topromise her footwear like this would have been Lydia.
Yup, Scarlett answered and dropped into her leather chair. Imagine this, you are trying not to worry about this guy that youre using, being used by and that you feel strangely fucking attracted to. Then you get the news that he has gone blind and then he doesnt evene visit you for two days. While you are working your ass off, looking at the situation pragmatically, you get a bit horny and look at yourself in the mirror, remembering that you arent the most feminine of fellows. Subsequently, you remember you both hate and dont own any dresses, but you have these fucking shoes, right? Might as well put them on, see if he even notices. She kicked both of the high heels of her feet and revealed the smooth scarlet stockings underneath. Evidently yes, but he doesnt sound attracted by them, so you are left with a very irritating cocktail of emotions. Speaking of which, you want something? Fluidly, she gestured towards a part of the wall that opened up in response to show an array of cooled beverages.
I get the feeling I should drink whatever youre having so you forgive me, John said, walking over to that wall.
You see that thing with the skull? Bring me that, Scarlett instructed, head leaning on her fist, looking after him with her crimson eyes. And bring ice cubes. Tilted as her posture was, her sharply cut, neck-length hair fell partly over her pink lips. John went along with it, even taking only that bottle, two sses and the demanded ice.
I am really sorry, he stated again, part of the floor suddenly rising as a stool. Not on the opposite side of the table, but right next to Scarlett. Sitting down, he poured both of them just a little bit. The ck stuff that split over the cubes like oil around an iceberg seemed somehow more liquid than water. In silence, they toasted by meeting their sses and threw the stuff down.
The sses were put back on the table. John noted that Scarletts ss no longer contained the ice cubes. With a raised eyebrow, he looked over to her, clearly swirling the ice around in her mouth. Before he could ask what the point of that was, a burning sensation spread through his mouth and he very quickly picked his ss up again, throwing the frozen water where it evidently should have been from the start.
It melted much faster than usual, neutralized the hotness and left a strong, pleasant peppermint taste behind. Phew, John let out and then was met with a quiet snicker that quickly grew into earnestughter. Within a few moments, Scarletts feet drumming on Johns thighs and he couldnt help butugh with her.
There was no saying what exactly was so funny, but the redhead seemed like she needed it and it just jumped over to John. They sat there, two of the most intelligent people that John was aware existed, like morons that heard a fart joke.
You are such an idiot, Scarlett finally reprimanded him, still chuckling a little. The smile on her face was slight, but it was there and it stayed. That was enough for him. Do you make a habit out of drinking suspicious liquid marked with skulls?
Only when youre offering, John defended himself, Scarlett still using him as her footrest. Another thing he was entirely fine with. Putting his skills to good use, he began massaging her. What are the odds I wont even be able to know where I am in a few moments?
None, that stuff has less alcohol than beer, Scarlett answered, swirling the bottle. Its just fancy mouthwash. Didnt want to taste like a smoker in case this leads to more.
I see, John touched some particrly good spot, or at least thats what he assumed happened, as Scarlett slumped in her seat and sighed. Really sorry that I am onlying now.
Dont be, she stated. Not your fault I dont know how to deal with wanting you beyond your body. I am just happy you are fine can you show me?
John took off his sses, hooking them into the neck of his shirt, and then, with way more effort, the contact lens in his left eye. There was no reaction upon seeing it, nothing major at least. The Technomancer just quietly looked for a few moments, then nodded.
Dont know what I expected, Scarlett said and stretched towards her hat while John got the lens back in. That was a thing he was getting pretty good at, at least. Even without any visual support. The moment his hands were free again, the redhead threw something his way. With the way his perspective was currently a head lower, it was a wonder he caught it sessfully. Even then, there were a few seconds of that wonderful game of do I have a firm grasp or not? with his hands losing contact again and again until he finally had it.
John was holding some sort of sphere. Baelementium, as he quickly realized, and enchanted. What is this? he asked.
A prototype for the core of the Mand Sphere, Scarlett provided the information he needed quickly. Weak hovering enchantment, too weak to serve as a recement, but its going to make your morning routine a bit easier, I reckon.
Having a movable drone would indeed make it easier to find his way out of bed than searching for a pair of sses would be. The two werent even mutually exclusive, so it was a good idea anyway. John expended a Possession Slot on the thing and was subsequently one perspective richer. Thanks.
Yeah, yeah, Scarlett waved off. Now show me what happened to the final product.
Well you are not going to like this, John warned her and reached into his inventory. What he pulled out looked like a bronze sphere of butter that had melted down halfway on one side like it had contact with a pan. Some of the shards for the other side were missing, making that half look more like a cracked egg.
Oh fuck me, Sigmund needs to die for what he did to this thing, Scarlettined as John ced what was effectively just scrap on the table.
What about for what he did to me? John wanted to know.
Your eyes, who even needs your eyes? Your dick is still intact, thats all everyone cares about, stop whining, the Technomancer let him know, a disy of crude and rather dark humour. Not that John was offended by this, they just had their earnest moment, this felt more like their regr talks. The normalcy was pleasant. You werent kidding when you wrote its unsalvageable. Well have to forge the entire thing again. Fucking fantastic, thats going to guzzle a bunch of resources.
Yeah well, all of that aside, there are several other things I want to talk about, John wanted to move this along, put his sses back on his nose and was ready to move this thing along when Scarlett opened her legs and his seat drifted as close as it could.
No, Scarlett said. First, her legs closed around his back, youre doing something for me.
Can we just cuddle? John joked.
Want to specte on the chances of that answer being positive? the Technomancer returned.
Of course, they did more than cuddle.
Chapter 557 – Meetings 7 – Eventualities
Chapter 557 C Meetings 7 C Eventualities
Light me a cigarette, Scarlett demanded, her naked body sprawled out on the table. Glops of semen oozed out of her pussy and red strains around her neck clearly marked where Johns hand had been through the majority of their engagement. Now that they were done with the sex, their roles reverted to their every day rtionship. There are packs in the uppermost drawer.
John pulled it out and was greeted with the sight of boxes upon boxes of the stuff, amongst a bunch of extra lighters. You really shouldnt smoke that much, he told her while cing one of the tobo sticks between her lips.
Shut it, she jabbed back while taking a deep huff that pulled oxygen through the fire, igniting the cigarette. With quivering arms, she raised her upper body off the table at least that little bit and tapped the ash off the tip. Smoking after sex is great. Dont knock what you didnt try. Challengingly, she extended the arm holding cigarette towards him.
After a moments hesitation, John shrugged and grabbed. Might as well try what this is about, he thought. The smoke scratched through his throat and only stayed in his lungs for a second before he exhaled forcefully. Just no, he maintained his opinion and hastily returned the rod of poisonous leaves to the person that actually liked damaging her internal organs.
Your loss, have fun living into your thousands, Scarlett sarcastically replied as she went back to huffing. Any reason you were so insistant on cumming inside me like five times? Normally you spread that more evenly.
Much like you wearing high heels, I dont have a logical answer for you, John stated and sat down in her leather chair, just as naked as she was, except for the sunsses. I guess its because I almost died a bit too often recently, but my instincts are yelling at me to leave my genome somewhere you are on birth control, right?
Still yes, Scarlett blew a ring of smoke into the air, followed quickly by a simple pir that urately went through that ring. Guess you only got the craving and not the actual wish, if you ask that.
If I did, Eliza would be running around in a much better mood, John reported. No, just a kink right now, I expect itll pass eventually. At the very least, I am not going to impregnate someone without thinking very carefully about it.
Whatever floats your boat. Scarlett rolled over on her stomach, hiding her ravaged throat but showing off her bouncy butt that was almost as red as her hair. As long as it also floats mine, we wont have problems. The circuits in her eyes began to dance as she began moving ones and zeros somewhere John couldnt see.
Like you having a problem is of any importance for my decision making, he joked.
It better be, she bantered back. Since I am twelve percent of your entire economy right now. She snickered to herself. If you think I dont already have stocks in former Marnd territory, you are pretty na?ve.
Of course, I know that, John rolled his eyes, a gesture apanied by slight neck movement to make it actually sensible for her. Twelve percent through? Myst estimation came out at nine, maybe ten. The palm of his handnded on her butt with only light p, gliding over the bloodshot meat for a little while. Do I have to break in some monopolies?
Do you mean break UP?
I know what I said, he stared into her eyes, and she gave him a pleased smirk.
Well, well have that conversation when I get there, she decided for them, finally having calmed enough to move. Unless you dont trust me enough to continue? She put weight on her feet and almost copsed as the muscles of her lower abdomen and legs hadnt quite recovered from the punishment they had received.
John wasnt even needed, Scarlett had held onto the edge of the table in anticipation of this, but he still moved in to catch her. No, were good, he assured her. I need your expertise in all of this. I dont have the time to deal with the economy in addition to all this politicking. Neither do I have the know-how. He leaned closer, I need you, and kissed her. The taste of smoke on her tongue didnt bother him whatsoever in that moment.
You are being one charismatic stud, I have to give that to you, Scarlett told him when their lips parted. He fell back into his chair, adjusted his sses and watched as she walked over to the pile of clothes they had produced. Grabbing her redce panties, she began the process of getting herself dressed again. The fact that the cloth darkened immediately upon contact with her crotch made John oddly satisfied.
He was ready to put on the nerdy get-up that he had entered in again when the wall parted and Aclysia stepped in. The weaponized maid took a small bow the moment she was inside. Thank you for letting me in.
We are done now, there was no sense in letting you wait any longer, the redhead factually responded. John wondered if that meant that Aclysia had been waiting outside and for how long. Neither were important; she hadnt contacted him, so she must have had no urgent wish to interrupt their lovemaking.
Crossing the distance, Aclysia presented John with his new suit. It was simple and well-fabricated. ck vest and pants, white shirt, no tie, the way John liked it. He put it on within a few moments, using his inventory, and made a slightly dissatisfied face.
Something the matter, Master? Aclysia asked, always concerned about even his slightest displeasures.
Just feeling the quality change, John exined. The suit was light, soft and made from costly materials. Yet the Gamer, thinking of his previous, enchanted suit, could still feel the numerous ways it could be improved. It sat just slightly off around his shoulders, the back of his neck rubbed against a corner in the shirt, and the pants were just a tad tighter than he wanted. Small irritations, an inch away from the perfection he had gotten used to.
It was ignorable with the t-shirt and the slouching pants because he had expected and knew how those felt. The suit just didnt measure up to his old standard. However, it would only have to do for now and he would have beenining about very inconsequential things if he said any of this out loud.
I need to get back on that sewing idea Aclysia was already taking precautions against future instances of this anyway.
I really dont get your hatred for ties, Scarlettmented as she fixed her own. Aside from that and her shoes, she was also clothed again.
Excuse me that I like to breathe, John retorted.
Do I look like I am suffocating? the Technomancer asked, gesturing towards her red tie. Maybe you are just awful at binding them?
Could be, I like my image without though, John stated, leaving the upper button of his shirt purposefully open to tease some corbone. At that point, Scarlett conceded the argument. Anyway, we have used up enough time. He didnt say wasted since he didnt really feel like that would have been a proper expression for something that he so willingly partook in. Lets talk strategy.
We bloody best, Scarlett agreed, not dropping her American way of talking for the British phrase. The look towards the outside was slowly blocked by a massive screen rising out of a gap in the floor that had just opened. John spared himself the question how many inches that thing had and the innuendo that would doubtlessly follow it. Instead, he just mustered the map of their current situation that appeared on it.
Way less change than I hoped, the redheadmented, falling into her chair with a sound equal parts relief, from no longer having to stand on her wobbly legs, and pain, from her ravaged bottom.
Well, I like your optimism, that you already coloured in the Hidden Tradition as if we could trust them and they are going to be part of Fusion eventually, John drily noted,pletely prepared for the correctioning his way.
If they arent at least our allies, you are going to die in that meeting, so we might as well take the condition allowing our current ns to continue as a given. Otherwise you will be gone and Ill you can imagine I have ns, she added thatst part hastily, as if she didnt want to think about that possibility more than necessary.
She was as pragmatic as usual, but the way she confessed her feelings through little gestures like that was absolutely adorable. Yeah for better or for worse, we have to assume they are with us.
Which brings us to the question of how we are going to handle the Lake Alliance, Scarlett stated. Best case, all hostilities cease and we have to take no further actions regarding them. Middle case, most likely in my opinion, they are going to remain openly hostile. Worst case, they will retract obvious meddling but will work against us in every way open to them.
Aclysia was a bit confused by that. Wouldnt the worst case be open hostility with them?
Scarlett shook her head, grabbed her packet of cigarettes, only to throw it back into the drawer. We can use the enemy more than we can use the hostility. Not only is a force we are at war with a brilliant propaganda tool, it is also much easier to fight in a war than it is to find spies C in the Abyss, at least. The drawer closed with the smooth whisper of well-maintained parts. It will also serve to prize the area. That could be ultimately bad for us, but in the current situation, we have more tools to abuse than they do. For example, we can pull the Small Lake Pact into our sphere by promising them backing in getting control over the unimednd between us.
Didnt you say they were basically terrorists? John remembered the description he had of that, otherwise unremarkable, force. Bunch of mediocre guys that maintain power through aimed strikes guided by a good leader?
Good enough for the task at least, Scarlettmented. They also maintain a healthy ve trade, dont care about abusive mana factory practices and have an all epted policy for traitors from any enemy camps.
Not exactly people I want to work with, John summarized but looked at the map, reacting to it with a grimace. Necessity might make a hypocrite out of me, wont it?
With one move you would secure your northern borders against anyrge-scale operation and gain an ally already schooled at border skirmishes with your enemy, Scarlett simplyid the facts out for him. You can worry about your morality once the war is won. Whenever you are the local power, nothing is stopping you from crushing them into submission.
Yeah I will likely do it, was as much of a promise as he was willing to make. The whole idea behind Fusion was to not work with people like that; the Small Lake Pact sounded way worse than what he knew of the Lake Alliance, who only tolerated these practices rather than promoting them. However, he couldnt do anything if Fusion no longer existed, so he might have to swallow the poison to fend off the disease. What about Amacat?
They are there, Scarlett told him. Making what little money their position allows them. They have much more to gain from siding with you than the Lake Alliance, given your rtions with overseas business partners, but I dont see them giving troops or joining your cause atrge. They pay lip service to the banning of forceful mana factories, but they dont check the insides often.
very?
Third biggest guild in export, fourth import. They dont enve themselves and protect all members from such a thing, but they have no problem being the trafficker.
Well, they got halfway there, John had to give them some credit. Seems like I could convince them to go the whole way if I promised the right things. You dont think they will support on arms though?
They will happily sell you everything you want in the way of arms, Scarlett repeated more specifically. Manpower or an absolute agreement to join Fusion? Much less likely. You will have to butter them up for a while and, frankly, the exchanges you had via email arent going to cut it. Someone has to go there.
Alright that we have to absorb the rest of the Marnd goes without saying, John contradicted that by speaking out loud. The original intention had been to gain ess to the unorganized small and medium sized guilds in the south by annexing the DC centred guild. Currently, John was also rightful head of state of thatnd, so he had to get it for more than just big picture reasons.
Problem was that he wasnt exactly in fighting shape right now. Meaning that he had to delegate that to someone able as well. At least there were some good news, if the Hidden Tradition joined John, they could expand westwards as well.
At least if the Lake Alliance didnt decide that they had to get there before him.
Any chances any powers surrounding the Lake Alliance could help us? John wondered. He knew the Golden Rose was active in the middle of the continent, although he doubted, he could spin that particr rtionship into a quick alliance. Aside from that, he wasrgely reliant on Scarletts council.
I would be very surprised, Scarlett told him. There are power struggles everywhere right now well, its America, so there are always power struggles everywhere. Basically, people are hoping we and the Lake Alliance bash each others brains out for the next few years so we are nice and weak when they themselves get in a position to act against us. Which is exactly what I would do.
Yup, John agreed. What do we in the worst case?
What can we do? Scarlett shrugged, one hand inside her vest to keep contact with her smartphone and through it ess to the inte. I think our strategy towards the Amacat shouldnt change. Having hegemony over the East Coast should be one of our highest priorities. Although you can be more thorough in your diplomacy, since there is no official reason to be hasty. The emptynds would be part of a chess game rather than our promise to the Small Lake Pact, it seems better if we annex them if we have the time to build them up again. Otherwise, we have to take extra precautions against sabotage and send more forces south.
If there was no obvious war, the Lake Alliance had every reason to send aid to the rebels in the southern Marnd. What would hopefully be a quick affair could turn into a lengthy, resource sapping guerri war under the right circumstances.
John checked his phone. I better go and find out what its going to be.
Chapter 558 – Meetings Finale – Cold Lakes
Chapter 558 C Meetings Finale C Cold Lakes
On insistence of all parties, the meeting took ce close to where the borders met. There was nothing great there, meaning that one of the most important gatherings of Johns political career so far happened nowhere else than a dirty table in a badly visited gas station that hadst been modernized twenty years ago.
Johns shoes separated from the floor simr to tape being pulled from bathroom tiles. Have they not heard of soap? he wondered as he tugged away his feet behind the front brace of the high stool he had to sit on. Why do they even put backrests on these things? It was way too low to be leaned against and the stic surface, smoothed over by a thousand truck driver asses, made the main seat a slippery experience. Putting both elbows on the table, John took a posture that looked more headstrong than he wanted, but everything was better than to just slip off and fall. In the worst case, that would make him lose his sses, so that would be a really bad situation to be in.
Left of him sat Elu, miraculously able to keep her bnce without any support. The olddy was so small that her feet didnt even reach down to the braces. With her eyes closed and a rxed bodynguage, she was sipping tea out of a thermos cup.
Lastly, across from John, sat the representative of the Lake Alliance. He looked pretty young, just a few years older than the Gamer, twenty-two at most. Also, he was pretty good looking. As his interest in guys was quite low, that was to say he basically only cared if they werepetition, he didnt analyse the guy too deeply. Strong eyebrows; broad, masculine nose; slightly cleft chin; attractively stubby beard; determined, dark green eyes; the counterpart to some dreamy hero in a female oriented story about whether to choose the good guy or the bad guy who was still good despite hanging out with bikers and wearing almost exclusively leather.
As this guy did. Which put him immediately in the category of people John didnt like. Bikers, particrly the heavy metal loving, jacket wearing types, had brought basically nothing but distress to his life so far. Which was a shame, since John himself liked to listen to AC/DC or Sabaton every now and again. A counterweight to the constant techno-bombardment his girlfriend put him through.
That aside, the important thing was that it was just the three of them in here and numerous bodyguards out there. John had technically brought the most, his elementals hanging around in their incorporeal state, aside from Siena. Visible were only Aclysia and Beatrice though, which stood against the nine people the Lake Alliance had brought and the ten from the Hidden Tradition. John felt rather favoured in the match-up, should ite down to an ambush with these forces. It helped that he had control of the barrier, just by virtue of his skillset.
John took a further look around in the tense silence, filled only by the uncaring slurps of Elu drinking her tea. If he hadnt been internally debating something, he would have started the conversation himself already. Always interesting what gets pulled into a barrier and what doesnt, he thought to himself while the decision was made at the back of his mind, the elementals each giving their input. Usually its just thendscape, including buildings. Unless someone touched some piece of furniture when they were pulled inside, or cars for that matter, those were stuck outside. Most of the time, it depended on the skill level of the barrier creator.
Smanders voice pulled his voice to the actual debate happening, which wasing to an end. They put an ultimatum for Johns death out, so I dont think they have any right to be offended if we do it.
I mean Gnome held the opposite stance but sighed and conceded the point. Yes, youre correct, we dont really need or stand anything to gain by skipping out on their ire.
Since even the soil elemental was with them on this one, John took the aggressive action. His untraceable gaze focused back on his opposite and he used Observe. It didnt reveal anything. Then John tried again, pouring his entire mana pool into the spell.
The fact that they sent someone forward that was wishing to fight first said just about everything about the Lake Alliances intentions. With just that information, John could already eliminate the option of peace. Not that he did that possibility any favour by forcing his way through whatever wards were in ce.
The stool of the Art Eater flew backwards as he violently got on his feet. Grabbing the edge of the round table, he leaned towards John, shing his teeth. They were either made or covered in polished steel or, more likely, a magical metal of the same appearance. His breath smelled like freshly welded metal or burning electronics, unpleasant and invoking memories of the firstputer John had lost to overuse. Think youre a clever fucker, do you?! his voice rang out.
You are about twenty centimetres away from me, so you can quiet down a bit, John reprimanded, not interested in backing down for the sake of easing the tensions. How about you show just a modicum of respect.
Respect, Jeremiah spat out, leaning back and staring mockingly. He ran a hand through his short hair, the gel keeping it backwards oriented. Despite being much older than he looked, the Art Eater had a temperament below even his apparent age. What sort of respect would I have for an oath breaker?
What oath did I break? John wanted to know.
The one where you promised not to take over the Little Marnd through military action?
No, I promised to not attack or send troops uninvited, John stated. I broke neither of these promises. My ally being murdered was the cause of the war, Abraham kicked it off, not me, and even then, I came on the wishes of the other generals.
Generals that had betrayed their country for you.
Abraham took military and vocal action against another candidate, John calmlyid out. By thew of his own guild, he was no longer the rightful leader of the Little Marnd.
And you are now?
In the interim between elections, by decree of the remaining leading figures, civil and military, yes. There is no one more legitimate than I as per the rules designed long before I arrived on the scene.
All of that was the truth, although John wouldnt im that this entire thing was squeaky clean. There was definitely a lot of dirty politics involved. On paper, however, he came out innocent. The entire room once more sank into silence. Elu opening her eyes and looking over the rim of her cup was what ultimately turned the Lake Alliances representative to drop it.
He really thinks he is a clever fuck, Jeremiah grumbled to himself as he turned to pick up his stool and sit back down. You speak of respect, while sitting here with your shades on. Didnt your teacher smack you for that kind of behaviour?
John hesitated, going over advantages and drawbacks. I will reveal it publicly soon anyway, he thought and put down the sses, only to show the truth just like he had done with Scarlett a few hours earlier. That actually got Jeremiah to stare in shock. If he knew just the least bit about Gamers Body and how sturdy it made John, then the Art Eater must have realized how significant such a permanent mark was. You lost your ally in my apparent enemy Abraham, John stated as he put the contact lens back in. The very same person who minimized the damage to me to just my sight. It''s not a good time to be strong as long as Sigmund runs wild.
Did he really breeze through the entire army? Jeremiah asked insistently. Their differences were forgotten for the moment, amon enemy was on the field.
Wondering if he could string that into some sort of alliance or at least truce with the Lake Guilds, John answered carefully. Breeze? Maybe, but I dont think so. We hurt him, I even took an arm from him. As much as I hate his worldview, I do have to admire his fortitude. There was no telling if he was an inch away from death or not. Between his regenerating armour and the blood elemental sealing his wounds, knowing exactly how close he was to death is impossible to say. That he won is the ultimate fact of the matter. Which means he is now even stronger than before. He let that sink in for a moment before adding. Which means he will look for stronger people, stronger armies, whatever gives him a challenge. He could appear anywhere again, before you, before me, and just fuck up our lives because he wants something to beat. It would be best if Elu was anticipating his next words.
Do you calcte your alliances around earthquakes, John? Jeremiah cut him off.
Immediately, the Gamer knew where this was going. Dont liken Sigmund to a cmity youll just weather when hees your way, John warned. If you could kill the source of all hurricanes, you should.
At the cost of leaving our most evident enemy time to grow? Jeremiah mockingly blew air out of his nose. Please. The Lake Alliance is willing to face the Contender should ite to it. No, YOU are the most definitive problem here. Sigmund MIGHTe to fight us. You are an aggressive expander, gathering power out to conquer us guaranteed. In your metaphor, why kill the source of a whimsical hurricane, if we can kill the source of a local earthquake? We wont negotiate with you any further than demanding your execution.
Foolish boy, Elu shook her head, finally bing part of the conversation. What is your guilds power worth in the face of an enemy threatening to end us all?
Everything we have to pay to maintain it, Jeremiah returned in a determined tone. Only our blood will be the price for our sovereignty. The Lake Guilds will only ever govern themselves. Fuck all of those rules and demands you bring and fuck your authority.
Negotiations were impossible after all, John thought, the decisions were already made. Then we are at war now, Jeremiah Arter? You choose the lesser but obvious threat to your independence over the small but overwhelming threat to your life? As a min-maxer, he could understand the idea, but the scales were rather heavily weighted towards taking care of the tant problem first, in his biased opinion.
That is what the council decided. As the Gamer had no idea how the internal decision making of the Lake Alliance worked, he could only make the educated guess that that was their highest decision-making body.
Then why have this talk at all? John wanted to know. You, by you I mean the bigger you, could have made this clear just as easily in a message than you could have here, without wasting either of our times.
Oh, I insisted, the Art Eater looked out the window, where Aclysia was standing and ring right back. I heard you had some delicious Artificial Spirits that you bring anywhere, but those outdo my expectations. They look soft in all the right ces. Slowly, his tongue crawled over his teeth.
Johns mood went from sour straight to cold, potent rage. You will do nothing to them.
Or what? Jeremiah giggled, clearly not fazed. Instead, he nonchntly leaned on the table and gave it a very slow, very obvious eye roll. What will the blind man do to threaten me, hmmmm?
I will break that pitiful thing you call a dick, John returned and immediately knew that he had hit a sessful weak spot. Sometimes, the pretty unnecessary sexual information came in useful. I mean, you got to use it once and now all you have is your hand, congrattions.
You are so dead when we meet again, Jeremiah decided and raised his hand to leave the barrier.
Having trouble getting it up? John threw some extra salt in the wound by blocking his exit.
Want me to break your funny little spine right here?! the Art Eater grabbed the table and tossed it aside. John adjusted his sses and got on his feet before he could slide off the stool. They measured each other up. Jeremiah was slightly taller, but raw Stats wise, he only triumphed over John in Endurance and Spellpower, if that Stat tranted roughly to how most spells scaled with Intellect and Wisdom.
Oh no, you can leave, the Gamer grinned with open superiority. Ill allow you to. I know you always go first. Didnt quite have the same ring as e first, but at least it was contextually correct.
At this point, Jeremiahs face was running red and a vein pulsated visibly on his forehead. With a side nce at Elu and an annoyed click of his tongue, he was out of the barrier.
Sorry, I know I shouldnt have done that, John immediately turned to the Old Grace with a much friendlier tone.
Oh no, he asked for it, the sympathetic grandma assured him. My first husband, weak as he was, also always got right uppity when somebody said something inappropriate about me. I approve of guys that stand up for their women but politically speaking that was probably dumb. Then again, were already enemies, so who cares?
Wonder why this didnt pop up for the Little Marnd. Probably because it was a civil war where I wasnt acting as Fusions representative? Technicalities are so annoying John sighed. This whole thing had been a massive waste of his time. Well, not necessarily. Do you have the promised details for the ritual on you by chance?
Oh, yeah, thought we might as well go over it when you are already leaving your house, Elu answered andughed warm heartedly, the bodyguards of Jeremiah leaving in the background. I know how hard it is for you gamers to get away from your screens for any amount of time.
That sounds like apletely true stereotype, John had to concede.
Chapter 559 – Ancient Indian Gravesites
Chapter 559 C Ancient Indian Gravesites
The theory is surprisingly straightforward, John exined to Eliza what he had learned, once he was back home. He was sitting on the couch in his living room, the television showing a nice wallpaper with the visualizer for whatever techno song Rave had put on at the lower rim. It wasnt just Eliza around. Everyone who was currently ounted for was around. Even Scarlett, who had a way easier time justifying visiting him here now that he had relocated the teleporter. Although I dont quite get the details about how they set it up
How about ya just start with the exnation before you say what ya dont get? Rave requested. Doubtlessly, she knew that she would have trouble following even without her boyfriend scrambling on the structure.
Right okay, first things first, you know how the Hidden Tradition is said to have a particrly odd way of elemental magic that nobody else around the world knows how to use? Everyone nodded. Well, its not any elemental magic, shamanism or anything like that its necromancy.
The fucking what? Eliza intercepted. How does any shitbrain out there mistake elemental magic for the school of doing magic shit centred around RAISING THE DAMNED DEAD?!
Because they dont raise the dead, they bind them to nature, John tried to exin and was met with questioning gazes. See, thats the part I dont get either. Apparently there is some very convoluteding of age ritual amongst the Abyssal Natives involving going to see mother earth.
Gnome sheepishly raised her hand, Uhm, Gaia or my mother?
Not clear about it. Elu only gave me the unimportant details, John answered. He had been told enough toprehend the logical chain of events but if he were to try to reconstruct the actual spells involved, he barely had any idea where to start. The fact that they use this technique to do more than just earth control indicated that its Gaia or that they actually see all of the elemental leaders, five of which are female after all. Whatever it is, we cant test it and it''s not exactly important Scarlett, I am really worried you are turning into an alcoholic.
The mentioned redhead stirred her coffee, equally distributing the shot of whiskey she had put in there. Turning into? she gave him an amused nce and raised her cup. My man, I have an addictive personality, so if I am not uncovering any secret somebody holds or having sex, you bet I am filling my system with some sort of drug.
Aclysia shook her head. Master voices his worry and all you can do is agree that you have a problem?
Its only a problem if I run out, Scarlett retorted, a joke that she, Eliza and Smander found the funniest. Dont be so fucking tense, the redhead grumbled and downed her coffee.
You have to be in ideal breeding condition for whenever Master decides to procreate, Aclysia demanded. Now lesser people, namely John, who was happening to drink at that very moment, would have choked hearing that. Scarlett just calmly swallowed.
First off, thats not his and much less your decision, Aclysia, Scarlett shot back with absolute certainty, putting her cup back on the table before leaning back and resting a foot on the other legs knee in a rxed fashion. Second, how about a bet? If I can go one month without any drugs whatsoever, you have to do me a favour. If I lose, then you can ask for anything in return.
Agreed, Aclysia went ahead rather abruptly.
One moment, John interrupted, still struggling to get that awful scratch out of his throat. Aclysia wont do anything I dont approve of!
Pah, Scarlett rolled her eyes. Okay, I wont make her strip, walk through the city and bribe a nun to walk after her, ringing a bell and chanting SHAME! every few steps along the name.
Cant wait for thatst season John grumbled, highly doubting that was what Scarlett had in mind in the first ce. All he had wanted to make sure of was that there was no other instance of him getting carried away against his will. Although he doubted that Scarlett was the type of woman that would sacrifice herself for him. Even if she was in love with him, at least enough to not stab him in the back, her self-preservation was way higher than anybody elses in the harem.
Neither can I, Scarlett answered. Season 7 wasnt even that good, but you cant help but be excited for these things toe to an end, can you?
BACK TO TOPIC! Eliza screamed. To the how the fuck do we get this piece of shit Thana out of the adorable blood hungry cunt steadily screaming?!-topic! A very fucking important topic!
Right, John cleared his throat. So, theymit themselves to thend in some ritual. In life, this means they are able tomunicate with the remains of those that made that pact before them. In death, part of their consciousness stays behind, not a true continuation of their life but more like an animated diary.
Okay, so they have an extra power in life and when they die they give back to that power, so far I get it kinda, Rave voiced her understanding. Sounds convoluted though, and if that just made them stronger than other people by default, they wouldnt be nailed into hiding in the mountains for so long. Wheres the kicker?
Well, first off, it requires a certain way of life, at least the way I understand it, John answered. Your ancestors no longer approve of you? Well, there goes your extra power. Takes generations to even set the damn thing up and then its flimsy. More importantly, it''s bound to wherever the mortal remains of the person rest. The further away from a resting site, the less potent the guidance. Works best in concentrations, graveyards, and if disturbed physically in their rest, the ancestors may react more than a bit hostile. He turned the ss of orange juice in his hands. Although they are still smart enough to not gain Gaias ire.
So, just as an example, Rave realized what he was getting at. If I identally built a house on an ancient Indian gravesite, would they curse me with bad luck?
Well, I dont think they can curse you, but you wouldnt be happy in that house, John answered. Fascinating what dumb stories have kernels of truth, isnt it?
This whole thing strikes me as a reversal of the German way of fusing with an elemental, Scarlett chimed back in. They fuse with an elemental in life, the Indians submit their souls to the elements in death.
Might be like that on a metaphorical level, but I doubt it works even remotely the same in practice, the Gamer stated. Otherwise, the Germans would have stumbled on it by ident and the world wouldnt be wondering how it works. The fact that they allowed me to know this much without any resistance means that they dont keep the information itself under wraps and yet it still is exclusive to them. Must be ratherplicated in its execution.
Still need to fucking know how this is rted to me, Eliza moved to put her feet on the table, but Aclysia pped the blood mages bare thigh, the purple eyed girl in her usual get-up of robe and minimalistic leather wear.
Right, we can get to that now, John answered. Here is how that cleansing ritual works: They will guide the spirits of their ancestors through you. They are not-human enough to take hold of any magical energy, including Faith, and drag it out of your body. However, they are still too human for Faith to be absorbed. Fragment by fragment, they will drag out of you what doesnt belong inside you until she is gone.
And the beauty of it all, he continued. Because of the piecemeal process, she will just dissipate into that weird Faith cycle. If it wont work, it just wont work, the spirits will fail to remove anything and we lose nothing except a bit of time. It all depends on the question whether you and Thana are too far bonded at this point.
Was about to ask if we could use that to solve that fucking Tamara problem, Eliza mumbled. But she and the blood seem to have bonded rather strongly already, so there is probably no solving that shit so conveniently.
Shouldnt be a problem if this works out, John tried to be optimistic. He really wanted a sess these days and Eliza getting free of Thana was important for an incredibly selfish reason on top of the ease it would put all of them at. Having Eliza finally able to fight again would make everything so much easier, it wouldnt even be funny. In the current condition he was in, such a capable force of destruction on his side would greatly diminish his worries.
John was fully aware that this was a reason why he was trying to make this happen quicker than he normally would. However, he wasnt trusting enough to just take this exnation as the full truth from the Hidden Tradition. In case the ancestor spirits were there to suck the energy from Eliza, rather than just disperse it, he needed to know in advance. Basically, he was trying his best to gather some more sources on this and check if he was getting lied to.
Speaking of Thana, whats she doing? Rave asked and tapped her index finger against Elizas forehead. She just chill about all of this?
She is keeping her mouth shut like a shit eating something, Eliza answered, pulling her legs to her chest and falling over like a domino next time the Lightbearer tapped her. Either she doesnt give a fuck, the blood mage continued with a light giggle in her voice, now lying on her side, or the cannibal cunt is trying to get me to lower my guard so she can ruin the ritual at thest second.
Well, I hope you got it under control? John asked. Wait, I am getting ahead of myself here. Knowing what we now do, do you even want to do it?
Yes, get the bitch out of my head, Eliza was rather clear on that. Because if I wake up one more time with my hand around your spleen, I will cry myself to fucking sleep for a month. I just want to function like a person, this whole piss-covered thing is worth just about any risk to get out of.
Alright then we wont lose any time on it, John stated. I dont want to risk anymore dots to turn to lines and progress your melding to a point where the separation bes impossible.
So, what, we are going tomorrow? Rave asked.
John waited for a moment before giving his answers, just enough time for Scarlett to break the news instead. There is no we going anywhere, her red eyes wandered over the assembled crowd. Yall are used to sticking together, but if you think the current situation allows for you to just waltz away and leave any other piece of work untouched, then youre so fucking wrong its not even funny.
Yeah, here is the thing, John borated. We need to start talks with Amacat and the Small Lake Pact, secure our borders, honour the fallen, keep everything running and also keep the people calm. Fusion is still young, so I dont especially trust any of our current sub-guilds to not defect the moment they smell instability.
Were separating? Rave asked, clearly not psyched by the idea.
Only in small ways, the Gamer assured and then listed what he wanted everyone to do. My immediate concern will be with our internal situation and dealing with the end of this war. Jane, Ill need you to act as a special force along our border, take some other people with you. Just be purely defensive, we want to be sure the Lake Alliance isnt trying anything. Aclysia, you will go to the Small Lake Pact as our diplomat.
I Master, I request you to rethink that order, the weaponized maid interrupted. In your current state, leaving you behind is against my interest.
I know, John spoke slow, understanding but with a certain urgency. But the Small Lake Pact seems to respect strength and I need to show them we are serious. I would send Jane, but you can teleport out if they turn out to be absolute scum.
We wont be able tomunicate mentally over that distance, Aclysia reminded him as if he wasnt aware of that.
Yes.
And yet you insist?
Its unpleasant, but it seems to be the best option we have in this regard, John stood his ground and Aclysia conceded by lowering her gaze. Downtrodden as she was, she would follow his n. Beatrice, you will be the other diplomat and go to the Amacat. Your job is to listen to the instructions Scarlett gives you. He looked from the passive maid to the redhead. Its enough if we keep them lukewarm in our favour for now. Once this Eliza thing is done with and I am more secure with my new sight, I will personally go and have negotiations. Scarlett will also try and find Nia in the meantime.
Thank fuck I am such a great multitasker, the Technomancer eximed, waving nonchntly. Since John had made this entire distribution of responsibilities up together with her, the redhead had no reason to be surprised.
Originally, they had wanted to spin Magoi into this as well, but the High Fateweaver had insisted that he actually needed to teach on the still forming university if that thing was ever to get off the ground. Since he had been very insistent, the raptor-masked man was, for now, out of the picture.
Once I am done with my line of stuff and things have settled somewhat, Eliza and I will head over to the Hidden Tradition. Although John wouldnt be of direct help in the ritual, it was best he was around in case Thana did decide to try and rampage. Not like I am currently able to waste time grinding or should get into a fight.
Right, his girlfriend agreed, looking unhappy about all of this. With a heavy sigh, she did ept the situation though. Alright, lets hope there are no more annoying surprises on the way.
Chapter 560 – Assured
Chapter 560 C Assured
John Newman put a fresh card into the cheap flip phone he had just bought and punched in a number that he had memorized. Finger hovering over the call button, he was re-thinking ying this particr card for this asion, but given the importance of it all, he did press and moved the phone to his ear. Anticipatingly, he listened to the repeated tuuuut of the phone.
Walking down the street, John heard the receiver picking up after exactly thirty seconds. This better be important, a deep voice with a squeaky undertone echoed in the Gamers ear. He didnt answer, instead letting the other person grow a bit annoyed. The sound of teeth chittering impatiently was his reward, along with the skittering of ws on a wooden table. Do you wish to be removed?
Well, if that was in your interest, you would have done it already, John took that opening. No amount of teasing was worth the risk of getting hung up on.
Oh? Now this is interesting, the tone of the deep voice changed into amusement. How did you get this number?
Hex noticed that there were people watching my parents, so I had Siena do some investigating. Followed one spy to his superior to that guys superior until she finally found a number, John answered. I had it for almost two months now, you might want to hire new people to keep a watch on those close to me, Richard.
The Horned Rat giggled on the other side of the line. Not even going to demand that I cease?
Would you? John scoffed and rolled his eyes behind his sses while he dodged a group of people blocking his stride on the walkway. Lets skip the annoyances. I am using a new phone and I''ll break the card afterwards, as well as having everything on it wiped, just in case you are paranoid. Right now, I am walking circles around Times Square. Nobody has been following me.
Secure enough, the god sounded pleased as he continued. Youre learning.
I kind of have to, John shrugged. Not least because of you.
I take that as apliment.
I know At the very least I hope you are watching over my parents for a reason thats not to my detriment.
They werent watching over your parents, the Horned Rat answered in a typically cryptic fashion. Whether this was just a line to throw John off or not, the Gamer didnt get to ask. What is it that you would sacrifice your direct line to me for?
Do you know about the soul cleansing ritual of the Hidden Tradition? John asked.
Yes. Ah, wait a moment, I want to take a guess. The Horned Rat hummed for a few seconds, horn scratched over bone. The image of the skull-faced creature rubbing its chin thoughtfully popped into Johns mind. With the leverageing from your new territorial gains, youre trying to find a fix for Elizas situation?
Wow, John was baffled for a moment. This might be the first time youre actually notpletely in the picture.
Oh? Lets assume I am not, the amused tone that Richard had was infuriating. Did he know after all and just wanted John to say it? We are an ocean apart and, as fun as you are, I do have more pressing concerns, usually.
You can find out the details with everyone else then, John forced himself to keep his tone steady and rxed, even if he felt like shouting at that dick of an ally. To correct you on your assumption, they approached me after I lost.
Interesting. I will y along then. I do know that ritual. Your inquiry is about whether or not it could seed in the task and if it could be abused in any way, is it? This time, the Horned Rat was right on point, so John just made an affirmative sound, and the god continued. I cant answer the former without knowing the amount of ancestral spirits involved, or the power thereof. For the second, no, the ritual can only disperse, and given the remaining agency of the ancestors, it would be very hard to use them for anything evil. They are an honourable bunch, the Hidden Tradition.
I have your word on that? John asked.
The Horned Ratughed out loud, Why would you even ask for my word?
Because if I am not convinced that youre telling the truth, I will call Romulus. Once that name was past Johns lips, theughter ceased. If there is even a chance Thana or her energy bes separated and hostile, I will go to any lengths for the emperor toe here. You are aware what that means, right?
Even if he doesnt make you a vassal in some capacity, the Horned Rat growled, taking away the figure I have been preparing, and even without that, should Romulus absorb the power of the goddess of genocide, it would mean an immense increase to his already stupidly expansive forces. You are threatening my schemes. Something shattered on the gods end of the line. I would be proud if you werent annoying me fiercely right now.
Do I have your word? John repeated.
Quiet. The Horned Rat knew that John wouldnt believe an answer that came too quickly and was also too prideful himself to just give in to being, essentially, ckmailed. I wish I could properly fuck you over right now, Richard continued. Something that would just embarrass you for a little bit, I still need your trust in the long term.
You will have to work on that a bit more, John waspletely neutral on that statement. It wasnt that he was opposed to the Horned Rat in every way, the god had done a lot of things that had ultimately been to Johns advantage. However, that he still had no idea what the endgame of the Horned Rat even was, the reasons why he acted and that he always seemed yful with the Gamer in a demeaning way had John left with no reason to ever take anything Richard said as a blind truth. Your word?
A long, deeply annoyed exhale echoed out of the speaker. I swear on humanitys existence, there is no way I can conceive that the ritual can be used to channel Thanas power elsewhere or separate her as a functioning entity, the Horned Rat finally answered. You have my word. Should the ritual work, no harm can be done.
_________________________________________________________________________
Ted and Chemilia looked at the windows in front of them. It was the same for both of them, an invitation into Collide. The Little Marnd was now a Vassal Guild and part of Fusion, but for the generals to bepletely wrapped into Johns inner circle, this was symbolically necessary. Practically, it was also rather important, since it gave them ess to the numerous functionalities of the Guild Hall, the teleporter, in front of which they stood, most importantly.
Few things effectively change from you being part of my own guild rather than the federation, John assured them. I can tax you either way. You do get numerous advantages for joining though. Most important of all, if you want me to reveal this next thing to you, this is required.
Alright, Ill trust you with this, Chemilia answered, shifting her focus on her crutch as she pressed the ept button. Her husband quickly mimicked the motion, and now Johns guild was at the maximum of 10 members. That would be a problem if either Momo or Nathalia returned right now, so there was an argument to be made to go for the Administration path next.
That wasnt of immediate concern, however. Great, then lets get out of here, John said, not wanting to remain at the ruined site of the White House for too long. At least the repairs were progressing smoothly, the ground getting fitted back together like gluing the shards of a vase with a different colour, the cracks all still clearly visible.
It looked like they would need another day and a half to get done what John had asked of them. With that information in mind, they teleported first to the Guild Hall and, from that central hub, to the skyscraper. John hadnt even finished walking up to the wall when it began to open. The trio entered Scarletts domain.
The Technomancer had agreed to this surprisingly easily, that is to say that John had asked if expanding the circle of people that knew the truth was okay and she just agreed. Didnt take a genius to figure out that she was nning something. However, the Gamer took it as a challenge to find out what that was instead of asking for the details. Obviously, something that would make the veil over her existence less needed. He had nothing beyond that basic assumption.
Whatever it was, John and Ted helped the one-legged Chemilia over the many bumps on the floor and towards the redhead that was looking at her phone screen. For once, there were no circuits in her eyes as she held the device, seeming to simply watch the video. Some Youtube video about movie critique, apparently. You arrive right on time, Scarlett greeted them, not taking her eyes off the screen.
What are the odds that you are banging her? That was the first question Chemilia asked after hearing Scarletts voice, confirming that the gorgeous androgynous person was indeed a woman. My guess is 100%.
Seconded, Ted added grumblingly.
Well, good to hear nobody lost their sense of humour, John couldnt help but at least be slightly amused. Only some limbs or organs. I am totally banging her by the way.
And who is she, aside from your mysterious information specialist? Chemilia asked. If you show her to us then
He didnt show me to you, we had an agreement, the Technomancer interrupted. And my name is Scarlett Thorne. The two generals needed a few seconds to make the connection. Between their location, its evident tailoring around the demands of an isted Technomancer, her name and her rtionship with John, they pretty quickly came to a somewhat urate conclusion.
Before they could get it totally wrong, John went ahead and exined the whole story of his meteoric rise in New York to the generals, who took it without making any fuss. Chemilia made a joke about the Gamer having a tremendous amount of luck with hisdies, but they didnt condemn or widelyment on the revtions.
John was put at ease by this, having silently feared for a much more vtile reaction. That they were willing to ept this con this easily, thanks to its usefulness in saving lives and time, was just another reason that he was sure he could work well with them in the future. As to why he even told them all of it when he might as well have lied about Scarletts real identity, it was raw professional honesty.
Mechanic tforms suddenly rose underneath the two generals. While Ted got away with a simple sidestep, Chemilia didnt have the luxury of her old speed and was scooped up. The crutch fell out of her hand when the angle got too awkward to hold it. Scarlett put down her phone and then made her way around to get to the actual reason why those two were here.
Lay down and get the clothes out of the way, the Technomancer told them. Although they looked sceptical, the proximity to John had the generals at least trusting enough that they did asmanded. They had to treat this as another Apothecary visit.
First time I do this in person, Scarlett said as she looked at the stumps. They were already healed, fresh skin covering the clean cut.
Maybe you want to get a helpful camera then? John teased.
I already have them, Scarlett reminded him, numerous mechanical tendrils expanding just to show off zooming lenses. Alright, this, she tapped on Teds forearm, will be a lot easier. A different part of the ground folded upwards, revealing a single rail on which a segment of the wall drove towards them. Arms are generally easier to rece, she exined to John. The technology is simply better developed because a lot more people lose arms than legs. That aside, the less joints topensate for, the less work.
The wall segment came to a halt within arms reach of the redhead and opened to a disy of a sheer endless amount of automatic precision tools of numerous sizes. Well, they would be automatic normally, following pre-programmed protocols, but under the Technomancers guidance they turned into finely tuned manual extensions of her will.
Part after part was teleported out of boxes at the base, outside of Johns view, and quickly assembled a basic skeletal outline of a forearm. He found this whole thing fascinating, since he rarely got to see Scarlett use her powers outside of the digital space. This was more tangible and the attention to detail, especially at the speed she was working at, she put into her work would have made Swiss watchmakers turn green with envy.
The entire machination came to a sudden halt and Scarlett grabbed the, clearly iplete, limb-recement and checked if the dimensions were correct by making Ted extend both arms and letting someser grids run over him. After nodding to herself, she put the mechanic skeleton back into ce. Alright, most important question first, do you want a receable or a stationary model?
Whats the difference? Chemilia asked for her husband, sure that the same question went out to her. Well, no, dont answer that, I can imagine that one is based on an adapter and the other gets jammed right into our bodies. Whats the advantage of either?
I like you, Scarlett smirked, always one for the straight-talkers. To the point then. Receables are easier to maintain and upgrading them is as simple as switching an old model for a new one, so there is next to no downtime, as long as you dont lose the old one. Stationary has more urate sense feedback. Normally, I would also bring up that they are ensouled, while receables dont tend to be; however, at the level of materials we are going to use, that wont be a problem. I would rmend a receable for both of you.
Ted nodded, Chemilia agreed more audibly, and the wall segment spat out a number of contraptions that looked likergeputer plugs, particrly the audio kind. Long pins of metals, rutted and with hooks that would twist into position once a limb was attached to them, securing the hold. Themselves on top of metal cylinders, it all looked pretty futuristic.
Wonder what would have happened if the Abyss had found the scientific method on their own, John thought. In the absence of need, technology tended to stagnate, at least before the Enlightenment rolled around and made research for the sake of research more and more popr. That fundamental fact of history affected the Abyss, who hadnt had to deal with disease or hunger to any tremendous degree, like anyone else. Magic society thus only developed in parallel to the normal world until rtively recently.
Even now, the gap between the twoyers of reality wasnt even thatrge and, in terms of achievements, steadily closing. Humans were a crafty bunch, even in the absence of magic they found ways to create the things they wanted.
Alright, these, Scarlett held two of the cylinders after having found fitting ones. Are the adapters for your new limbs. State of the art, Elementium conductors, Baelementium base, Mithril pin, incredibly difficult to produce, she warned them. Second ones wont be for free, so if you ever lose them, bring the cash.
Like you arent going to press that money out of me by convincing me of some tax breaks for you, John joked as he watched the two generals put the adapters on by forcing them over the stump of their limbs. They shrunk down to fit like atex glove, and Chemilia took a short, sharp breath in as if something had stung her. Nothing too hurtful, evidently, as Ted just stoically shrugged it off and thedy of the pair didnt raise it a momentter.
Alright, easy part done, Scarletts sarcastic congrattions rang through the room, Thankfully you dont have Hellfire scarring, that would make this whole thing way more annoying.
We had, Chemilia answered. The Apothecaries just scraped it off already.
Ah, convenient for me, the Technomancer shrugged it off and continued her work.
What followed was a lengthy process of measuring everything twice, asking for specific extensions on the design, ranging from something mundane as colour to hidden weaponry. After over half an hour, John didnt dare to imagine how long it would take for a normal engineer, the Technomancer had produced two suitable recement limbs of a polished grey. These are simple steel, she let them know. I saved the creation protocol to get the proper things done when I have all the materials I need. Until then, you can use these to get around and get used to the feel, even if the weight will be different.
Ted simply took his new hand and moved it into position to attach, while Chemilia needed mecha-tendrils to move her recement leg into ce. Will this hurt? the pink-haired woman asked; there was no fear in her voice. Guessing that she just wanted to be prepared, John wondered about the answer himself.
Oh, it will be hell, all electronic emtions of nerves will fire at the same time as the circuits synchronize with your brain, Scarlett stated matter of factly, lighting herself a cigarette in the meantime. I bet 10$ on each one of you that you will piss yourself from the pain.
I bet against that, John stated, just to get in on it. The limbs snapped into ce.
John was 20$ poorer by the end of the screams.
Chapter 561 – Legacy
Chapter 561 C Legacy
The rest of the day came and went, then the Saturday passed as well. Thankfully, days without any happenings aside from John returning to the paperwork mines. Everyone rxed a little bit, prepared for the tasks they had been assigned. Ted and Chemilia sparred with Rave or Aclysia to get used to their new limbs. Everything was progressing smoothly, including the things necessary for a task John wasnt looking forward to.
On Sunday John got the note that the clean-up of the White House waspleted; the subsequent moves were also close to done. The time for the public announcements hade. A prepared email quickly answered every single interview request he had gotten (and ignored) in the past few days. All he had to do was fill in an urate time.
It had now been four days, so the rumour machine was running wild. Parts of the truth had leaked already, involved soldiers having been asked, but the entire picture was only stitched together by ident and nobody was quite sure yet. John therefore doubted that he needed to give people more than an hour to arrive; doubtlessly there were teams in all journalistic establishments interested, simply waiting to respond to some sort of lead.
Nevertheless, John gave them aplete hour to gather up. He would also need that time, since his media team had to set up the podium, cables and everything else for their own livestream. It wasnt Johns style to leave the footage of events he attended to be tinkered with by news organizations without the entire thing also being viewable by the public. Just looking into modern news for ten minutes showed that there was always somebody willing to bend the truth, something seemingly afflicting all sides in every discord.
Not that the Gamer spent a lot of time thinking about that once he was at the White House barrier inside a shelter for construction workers, the kind that was enchanted to be bigger on the inside than the outside. It wasfortablyrge, honestly enough for a family of two to live in or allow half a dozen people to have a nice talk over a medium sized breakfast table. Originally ced to make work on the reconstruction more easeful on the workers, it was currently being upied by John to prevent the swarm of journalists outside from descending on him beforehand.
His thoughts were circling around nothing really. With the proximity of the funeral, he was facing the reality of the deaths again. He wasnt frozen with regret or guilt or anything like that, he had seen so many lives, more than a few rted to himself, snuffed out since the start of his journey, he was feeling slightly sociopathic in his almost utterck of grief. All he felt was somewhat numb at the realization that there were yet more people whose voice he would never hear again.
With him in the room were Rave, the two generals, Eliza and Gnome. His girlfriend was quietly holding his hand and leaving him to his thoughts while rubbing his shoulder. As always, she was taking this a lot better than him. Chemilia and Ted were sitting side by side, stoically with their eyes closed, the tall woman leaning on her husbands shoulder. Only Eliza and Gnome were quietly speaking to the sound of a pencil scratching over paper.
Everyone else, save Sylph who wasnt allowed around when important things were about to be revealed, was outside and making sure the press and the public were keeping to their designated area.
Yeah, I guess that adjustment would look better, Gnome whispered, as if to respect the silence. Eliza, even quieter, answered and the two continued to talk while John took a deep breath, wondering what it was about the human psyche that made the air feel so much thicker when anticipating a sad event.
Mister President, he was pulled from his slow thoughts by a member of the media crew knocking on the doorframe. We would be ready. We can go live on time.
Alright John rose from his seat and everyone made their way out of the shelter. lets finally honour the fallen.
His feet connected with thewn, the des of grass with their azure tips soft under his steps. The recement sphere hovered behind him as he walked forward to the clicks of cameras. A hastily ced barrier of polished metal bars separated Johns path to the left from a crowd of onlookers and journalists.
Normally, Johns appearance somewhere would have created some sort of audible reaction, be it cheers or boos. Much like him, it seemed the nation was feeling rather devoid of strong emotions, so he was instead met with silent eyes that followed him. John turned his head to the right, the sses on his nose, he hadnt even bothered to put the contacts in today, showing him the caskets resting on pedestals. Inside were the bodies of those that had fallen that day, be it to Sigmund, to Johns forces or to Abrahams. In the end, they had all died for their convictions in the country, at least the Gamer hoped that had been the motivation for most of them. He had, however, let the bodies of the mercenaries be removed for that reason. They would be buried how theirpany wanted, should one be found.
There were four particrly important caskets resting right behind the podium mounted with countless microphones. One was sealed shut, a picture of Abraham on the top with a charismatic smile. Every other was open, revealing to the cameras flying around the faces of the three fallen generals.
Next to the fallen president rested his nephew. Knowing what John did, he felt rather torn about having that man lying there, given what unnecessary cruelty he had disyed in his treating of Terkal. However, including even those he knew werent squeaky clean was a necessary sacrifice to bring this shattered country together under his leadership.
I am politicizing funerals now, John thought rather drily. Lets hope I keep it to symbolism and dont dive into condemning remarks. Then he turned around to look at the other two caskets. Both Terkal and Imere had only their faces visible. John had seen first hand what Sigmunds sword had done to the former and the reports he had about the half-liquified state the shortdys corpse was in had him thankful that he didnt have to look at it.
Sorry that I only see you now, John whispered towards the dead brte. He hadnt brought it over himself to look at her before it was necessary. A decision he didnt regret, but he felt he needed to make the apology for anyhow. They both looked surprisingly rxed. Deep down, John knew that was just the skilledbour of whoever had put those corpses here. A more esoteric side of him hoped that their apparent peace was with the thought that they could leave their work to John.
That he was crying didnt dawn on him until a tear stained the red cushion Imere was ced on. Possessions vision was as clear as ever, unaffected by the excess fluid running down his cheeks. Sigmund must die, John thought, taking off his sses and cleaning his eyes for a moment. It was a thought of numerous tones that no spoken word could reflect. A matter of fact for the security of his people, burning with hot rage for the wounds marking him personally and cold for the things those he held dearly had lost, but also despairing at the current impossibility of fulfilling that desire.
He left the sses off and stumbled towards the podium guided only by the sight of the sphere and his girlfriend. The sun burned down on both of them; it was a terribly nice day for a funeral, warm and with an endless blue sky. When his milky eyes appeared on the hovering screens, that made it possible for those at the back to see him in more detail, the shocked murmurs underlined the Gamers first words.
We lost, he said, leaning heavily on the podium. His emotional calm was blown away, the return to normalcy of thest few days ripped apart like paper as he allowed himself one more outburst to finally get over this affair. His knuckles were white from the grip he had on the edge of the wood, just as his eyes continued to glisten. We all lost. That is the basic truth of what happened four days ago. The Abyss showed that it can be utterly merciless. One man, with no other desire than to fight an army, threw into disarray any peaceful intentions Abraham and I had through one act of mindless ughter. All to get a kick no singr challenger could give him.
I dont particrly care if this sounds ridiculous, but this is the truth: Sigmund, the ck swordsman, attacked this nation and Abraham and I jumped on each other like idiots, only for the Contender to return and continue on his arrogant rampage. He ughtered whoever he wanted, fought whoever he wanted, and with his final attack, he destroyed the White House. It would have killed me as well, were it not for Abraham protecting me, at the cost of his own life. I got away with the rtively light punishment of being blind,pared to all the soldiers that died that day.
John ced his phone on the podium, maneuvered the recement sphere over his shoulder and began reading a list of names, every single fallen soldier that had died that day. He began with the lowest rank, careful to pronounce everything loudly and correctly. To most names, there was a casket that closed its lid and then slowly lowered itself into the already dug grave. Left and right behind the podium, from the fringe towards the centre, and one by one, the soldiers found their eternal resting ce in the soil of the guild they had defended.
The few names that didnt trigger any response came from those soldiers whose families, when presented with the choice, had preferred to have their loved ones be buried in a quiet and private ceremony. It had been arranged that they were asked beforehand, Johnpletely respected those that didnt want to have their fallen family be used in what could be constructed to be a publicity stunt.
Gnome and a few elementalists with an affinity for earth had the questionable honour of closing the graves. When John read thest four names on the list, the soil elemental was right behind him. Abrahams name echoed out of the speakers; the Gamer took a pause to rest his throat and let all caskets settled.
We honour the fallen, Johns breaking voice formed words he wanted to roar into the world. For now C and forever.
He turned to look at Gnome, who was gathering herself, then raised her foot and rammed it into the soil. The line drawn by the upheaved patches of dark brown dirt vanished from view as a row of connected stone pirs was created above them. Each pir functioned as the gravestone of a soldier. Through fine maniption, the earth spirit etched the name of every fallen, even those who werent buried below, into the two-metre tall wall.
Once that task waspleted, Gnome turned towards the centre. Instead of four stones for the three generals and the president, she created onerge pir. Terkal and Abrahams forms were etched standing proudly in the surface of the pir, with Imere standing between them, one hand in Terkals, the other on Abrahams shoulder.
It was a biased piece of art in many ways. Most notably, John refused to have Matthew eternalized there with those three, he only got his name engraved into the white stone. That Imere and Terkal also seemed to have any romantic connection at all was only a very recent development many people wouldnt know and whose actual viability would never be seen.
I really wish I had gotten to know you better, John thought, upon seeing the outlines of their faces. The entire structure needed more work, right now it only looked good from a distance; neither John nor Gnome had any more mana to give though and it was good enough for the moment.
I swear that this monument will remain here for as long as I draw breath, John stated after turning back to the podium. I swear that I will bring Sigmund to justice one day. I swear that we will rebuild the White House, and I swear that the Little Marnd will be united again, just as I swear that it will be a highly autonomous being in Fusion. Losing is not the end, even if the wounds are grievous. Even if those close to us get hurt or die, we will get up again. We have to get up again. Just like those fallen before us, we have to do our best to leave behind a world that is better. Let nobody fall in vain. I
Johns mouth hung open as if he had something else to say, but no more words ever came. No matter how much he racked his brain for anything to say, all he could think of weremon wisdoms and phrases that were equally true and empty. What good would saying any of that do?
I can only try to do my best he finally muttered into the microphone.
Apuse was thest thing he expected as the response.
Chapter 562 – Worried friends and common enemies
Chapter 562 C Worried friends andmon enemies
It wasnt loud apuse, no chants of his name, just the dignified pping of a moved, empathic crowd. Everyone was in on it, leaving John in awe as he had the possessed sphere fly higher to watch over the crowd. Several people were crying just like he was, more were lostpletely to their grief, some simply nodded with appreciation, nobody seemed angry or think he was using this to his advantage like he had feared.
Was it his raised Charisma that made his emotions be genuinely ryed to the people or had he just held an eptable speech? John leaned towards the former, which made him happy that he had been incentivized to go invest in that Stat, despite itsck of apparent usefulness in day to day situations. If somebody had used him of not being truthful in his mourning, he may have stabbed someone out of anger. Figuratively or literally, both would have only worsened his situation.
With nothing else to say, John put on his sses and grabbed his phone. The next person in line to speak was Chemilia, Ted standing next to the podium like Rave had for John. More speakers were nned, mostly consisting of the spouses left behind. It wouldnt be a proper funeral if the actual family of those buried didnt get to share their stories. None of it was forced on anyone, of course.
Aclysia met him in the backstage area, which was just a designated part of thewn where all the technical stuff was hidden behind some transportable stic walls. Here, Master, she offered him a handkerchief made from cloth and, once he was rtively tear free, a moist wipe that smelled of aloe vera. Combined, those two things got him into a rtively presentable state again.
Thank you. John kissed his favourite maid on the lips, after she had taken care of the resulting trash. He held her in his arms for a few moments, then he had to let her go and send her back out there. That she was back here was only a momentary thing; like most of his familiars, Aclysia was part of the security team. While there was currently nothing bad going on, John wasnt taking even the slightest risk today.
Alright, that was good, Rave put an arm around her boyfriend and rested her head on his shoulder. I know that sounds pretty poor, but thats really all I think of that, she continued. You fine?
Better than before, John admitted. Crying in front of thousands of people is surprisingly relieving. I feel like I finally dealt with this in its entirety, you know?
Naw, Rave let out an adoring sound. Come here, my nerd.
As they exchanged little kisses and deep hugs, John had tough. I like the usual pet name you have for me more, he let her know. Although I wonder why you even started calling me tiger in the first ce. That was one of the few things he hadnt asked about yet.
Dunno, was honestly a bit sarcastic at the start, she answered a few momentster. But we got closer and it had a nice ring to it, so I just kept it. Ya like it, dontcha?
Absolutely, the Gamer agreed, leaning in for another kiss. Freezing when the phone in his hand started to buzz. With a raised eyebrow, he looked at the disy. An unknown number met his gaze. Well I better take this? John said, unsure if he should. He was about 80% sure he was about to be met by the voice of the Horned Rat, essentially telling him See? I can do this too!, or something to that effect. Whyever we dont exchange numbers like normal people is beyond me, John realized as he picked up the call.
Buddy, are you okay? the worried voice of a man echoed in Johns ear. Hello? The Gamer was honestly bbergasted to hear him of all people. Dont tell me Lydia gave me the wrong number.
Max? John asked just to be sure.
Yes, Max, short for Maximillian, am I talking to John or a pir of redundant questions? the royal couldnt help but sass back. In Romulus name, I am watching the broadcast. I had to call up Lydia to get your number just to ask you: are you doing fine?
I mean yes and yes, John answered. Sorry, I just didnt expect you of all people to call me.
Neither did I ever expect to be worried enough about you to pull something like this, but here we are, Maximillian answered. Is it all true?
Again, yes.
You sound pretty fine. That was worded a bit usatory but the tone betrayed only genuine relief. Straight talk for a second, buddy, we are friends at this point, right? Like, all sarcastic bullshit aside.
Yeah, John found himself agreeing rather easily. That the gravity mage was going out of his way to call him like this was pretty big proof of that. It almost made up for the entire situation with his parents. Almost. We didnt start off on the best foot, but I would say youre one of the few guys I can hang out with.
Alright just wanted us to be on the same page on that Awkward silence ensued. Alright, I am sure you have your situation under control?
Yeah.
Girls happy around you like always?
Yeah.
Good Ill leave you to it then.
Max?
Yeah?
Thanks.
The call ended on a few more words of goodbye. Putting his phone away with a sombre expression, John felt a bit shaken, in a good way. As useless a conversation it had been, it felt good to know that there was at least one person out there that he wasnt in a romantic rtionship with that still cared about him enough to give him a call in times like these.
Are you not going to make a gay joke? John asked his girlfriend.
Hey, even I have enough tact to not do that today, she pouted.
______________________________________________________________________________
Just like the apuse, John hadnt expected the overwhelmingly positive reception by the inte. Under the guise of anonymity, there were more people open about their doubts of the Gamers honesty, but thosements were in a clear minority. There were even a few guilds of the southern Marnd thatid down their resistance just like that upon getting the news. Apparently, they had been loyal to Abraham and having the story of his demise verified aligned them with John against the threat of Sigmund.
A threat that also kept the calls for an election andplete independence rtively quiet. John was in constantmunication with all of the heads of the former estates. Since the governmental side of things had beenpletely wiped out, some lower-level pencil pushers aside, the old system of the Little Marnd was easily eliminated and reced with one of the Collide-sanctioned modern forms of democracy.
It certainly helped that Johns immediate action as the interim president (and overall leader of Fusion) was to get rid of the entire license system and drop taxes immensely. That was, unsurprisingly, a very popr thing to do. At the same time, he finally had to introduce taxes in the areas he owned previously, where he had run everything out of his own pocket. Because his home turf was more positively predisposed towards him and in no immediate threat of seceding, that change was epted pretty quickly. It had always been known that Johns no-tax policy was temporary.
He continued to hand out pretty cheap loans through the Guild Bank, however, at only 1% interest. Since most people could start their businesses using that borrowed capital, the economy of Fusion continued to expand and the Guild Funds were a nice ebb and flow of steady ie and outgoing loans, eventually leading to more ie. The system was operating at a bit of a loss at the moment, since it would take a while for the lent capital to pay dividends. Nothing the already present amount of cash couldnt buffer out for the time being, however.
John wouldnt have worried at all about this usually, he would have simply thrown some of his own money on the top to keep things fluid. Since grinding was currently not an option, at least not a safe one, he had to keep an eye on things. Roughly guessing, he could let it run for a month before he had to either raise taxes higher or stop giving out loans; both would slow down the growth of the economy tremendously.
The Lake Alliance dering war on Fusion was a bigger deal for most people. Much like with Sigmund, however, this mostly served to aid Johns interest in keeping his federation together. They had a very real enemy in the war and an elusive monster in Sigmund. To unify people, having these clear-cut enemies was pretty much a godsend.
I still could have done without either of those happening, John thought as he walked up and down his living room three dayster. Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice, they had all left ording to his wishes, leaving him alone with his elementals. Even Chemilia and Ted were preupied with the (currently diplomatic) efforts of reintegrating the southern areas. Metra was with them in case things got ugly.
In reality, John had a mountain of paperwork right now, but he wanted to concentrate on working on his condition rather than stare at documents all day. By now, he was confident enough to stroll around casually with one contact lens active. The lightly offset field of view was fine and the threeyered manoeuvring of it (Possessions own focus, eye-movement, neck movement) only caused nausea if he did it excessively by now.
Two eyes remained basically impossible for the moment though.
Huh, thates out of nowhere, John wondered but happily epted. It took a bit of the edge off the current situation. Speaking from a point of levels, this quest did very little to offset his current losses. 50000 experience would trante to 2, not quite 3, levels, something that he could have easily gotten in thest seven days if he could have grinded like usual.
Max ss Level, GP and SEP were all immensely good rewards, by contrast, especially since they were resources hardly avable otherwise. The SEP was particrly noteworthy since Nightmare Elemental Summoning was maxed out now. With it, he could ascend Siena to Tier 4, that would be a nice power boost.
John continued making his rounds around the furniture, asionally opening both eyes for small stretches of time. Although he didnt immediately fall anymore, his steps were stumbling at best and the only thing keeping him from losing his orientation was his familiarity with the surroundings and the recement sphere following his moves.
Well, she was right, this was a pretty non-intrusive opportunity to patch things. Wonder if that Possession rework will help with my current problems or if that is just an appliance thing, John mentally mused as he walked around the table. Formerly, Possession was as quickly cast as a thought. With the whole touching thing, it was like he was bending the flow of the spell to his new needs, resulting in a dy that could be pretty significant in a life or death situation.
With one hand jumping from rest to rest, John dared to open both eyes for a few moments. As always, the reward was aplete jumbling of his sight the second he took a step. By pure ident, he managed to lock both his views on the same object, allowing him to take the first sure step with both eyes open in a while. A lucky victory, to be sure, but John took it with a grin.
I am making slow progress here! John stated to the two people in the room with him. One was Smander; the endme elemental had been surprisingly caring in helping him. Whenever he was practicing, she was the first to volunteer as the person to catch him in case he fell. John was very happy with this, since she was the second-best person to fall into, with her squishy chest and all that. First was Undine, since she was just squishy all around.
Sitting on the couch and equally following him and the abyssal news show running on the t screen, Eliza had been watching John pretty closely for a while. Slow progress is good, the blood mage said, ncing in his direction. slow progress is good she repeated more quietly, then groaned in frustration, crossed her legs and closed her eyes. After a few moments, her aura appeared around her, only to flicker, vanish, reform and do it all over again.
The Hidden Tradition had told John that they were ready whenever he was, and John was ready whenever the blood mage was. Over thest few days, Eliza had done primarily three things: watch over John, train her self-discipline and visit Tamara. She was even eating only as much as a normal human, Aclysia not being around to cook may have been a supporting factor in that.
These were all good signs to John that Eliza was taking this as seriously as adequate. Currently, the war with the Lake Alliance was cold and John had delegated so much of his work that very few things needed his immediate attention. That came with an ever-present fear that somebody would fuck things up, but so far there had only been easily corrected errors.
Nothing exciting was going to happen until Eliza felt ready.
Chapter 563 – Separation 1 – Determined [Eliza POV]
Chapter 563 C Separation 1 C Determined [Eliza POV]
Fuck all of this shit, why the fuck does it have to be me, fuck my fucking fuck. That was only the middle of Elizas thoughts as she sat on her lonesome in the middle of Lake Ravetoria. An absolutely cringeworthy name for the body of water John had created in the west of Liberty Ind, which was also an absolutely cringeworthy name.
Her ck robe, drenched from the distance she had to swim from the shore to the egg-shaped ind in the middle, hung over the branch of a tree. Not to dry, just because Eliza hated the feeling of the wet cloth clinging to her body. For the same reason, she had parted with her leather top. The little piece that acted as a barrier between her lower lips and the sandy floor, however, she kept on quite happily. Almostpletely nude, she wed at the dirt and pulled a pebble from the fine sand, only to throw it at the water. The stone sank into the dark body of water, illuminated only by moonlight, and vanished from sight amidst the ripples.
Cocksucking fate for cocksucking bad luck bitches like me, she now mumbled out loud, only to beginughing at herself. Wasnt she over all of this self-doubt? Had she not vowed to that guy she loved that she would concentrate on bing better? What was she doing right now? She had snuck out of afortable bed just to have a midnight swim? What do you think about that, you dumb cunt? she thought, but the question wasnt aimed at herself.
Thana, like usual, didnt answer. The only clue Eliza got that she had even reached the goddess was the shifting of another consciousness inside her. She felt it in an unwanted twitch of her fingers, the shifting of her blood within the veins, a skipped beat of her heart. A little pushback and the living extinction event settled in her attempts.
It had now been a week since the funeral. John had been making progress with his eye problem, that was good. On the other hand, she had absolutely no idea if she was doing any better in the department of suppressing Thana. It wasnt like the goddess was conveniently pressing against her resolve whenever she meditated.
Come on, DO SOMETHING, YOU ABSOLUTE ASSMUNCHER! Eliza jumped to her feet and screamed at theke and repeatedly hit her own head.
A nk voice answered. I dont think you mean me with that? The blood mage whirled around to see a woman with blonde hair and a white dress stand there. Pale moonlight reflected in her equally white, perfect skin. She looked like a puppet, a very gorgeous, lifelike puppet.
Despite that Nia Fae looked translucent, like a piece of satin spanned across a source of light. Where the fuck did youe from?! Eliza growled, ready to charge at the creepy pariah. As if that exined everything, Nia just pointed south. Okay, why the shit was I even expecting something solid from your scatter-brained dumbass? Do you have any fucking idea how worried we all were when you just left all of a sudden?!
You care for me? Nia grabbed her (oddly enough dry) bag and pulled out the stack of cards. After some shuffling around, she held up the one stating that she was Touched. I thank you for that revtion.
Youre SO FUCKING CREEPY, I swear to shit, you porcin looking cumdump, Eliza didnt know what else to say. Despite all this time, feeling attached to someone was still so weird to her. Particrly because she knew exactly that the only reason why she even loved John was because he had been there at the right time.
Truthfully speaking, it could have been an absolute scumfuck that saved her and gave her a home. It wasnt like she had any particrly strong morals herself. John was the reason why she cared about human life; a different guiding hand and she could quite easily have been a mass murderer. She wasnt even certain which of those lives would have made her happier, just that she was currently ecstatic about being alive and that she didnt want to threaten that.
Suddenly, she felt a giggle rise in her chest. The more stressed she got, the more she had the urge to justugh like a crazy maniac. Bursting out into loud, unsteadyughter, she had Nia change to the confused card, the nk putting her head into a tilted position.
Any-fuck, Eliza eventually plopped down back into the soil. Go tell John that you are back. I have things to do this mind using shit about.
Thinking? Nia asked.
Thats the boring word for that skull-tearing fuckery, yes.
Minutes of silence passed in which Eliza looked at theke, trying to formte any clear thought. When she turned around, Nia was still standing there. Not feeling like repeating her statements, Eliza turned back to look at theke. Now that she was feeling watched, however, she peeked over her shoulder every few seconds, unable to think about whatever the hell she came there to find out.
About to scream her frustrations at the straight forward staring blonde, Eliza was interrupted when Nia suddenly spoke up, I am not here to stay.
Then why the fuck are you here? Eliza wanted to know.
Because it was on my way.
Pussy-ass-bitch, youre making about as much sense as awnmower on a fucking skiing site right now, the blood mage groaned. Your way where?
My way away from fear, to the southwest, Nia answered. I need to gather strength to not be afraid anymore, find things on the other side. What do you need?
Elizas eyes twitched. The cryptic babel was bad enough, that she even understood part of it was somehow worse. I need to know if I can control Thana.
Have you asked her?
Of course, I have fucking asked her, the cumstain isnt answering.
Have you spoken to her, then? Nia asked, leaving Eliza to stare with deep annoyance. Even the pariah got that signal, backing off half a step before continuing. The Great Empty one doesnt always talk to me when I just ask things into the Nirvana, sometimes you need to enter it to have a conversation.
That was maybe not the worst advice ever. Not like I stand to lose anything from doing that shit, Eliza mumbled and took ax meditation pose. How the fuck am I supposed to get to THAT ce though? The moments she and Thana were the closest were when she was filled to the brim with wrath.
Then there was one thought that would get her to find the goddess of genocide within her. A single word, attached to a person she had never met but wanted to murder more than any other in this world, even that asshole Mengele. Sigmund, he who had hurt the person that Eliza cared more about than herself.
It was the opposite of her usual meditation. Rather than calming herself in order to suppress the cmity inside her, she was working herself up into somewhat of a frenzy. All of the spine-ripping, face-tearing, bone-crushing fantasies she had came together. The only ovep between the calm effort and the vengeful one was the want to stay in control of herself.
The darkness behind her closed eyes faded for a different view. Eliza found herself standing upon the surface of a sereneke. Stretching across the horizon, the t, clear surface reflected no celestial source of light. Despite this, everything was illuminated as if it was the brightest day.
Souls of a cyan blue or crimson red wound their distorted humanoid shapes towards the sky, like the misty silhouettes of men and women. They condensed on an invisible ceiling, pulled together into a singr raindrop and fell into theke. Unlike the pebble Eliza had thrown earlier, they caused no ripples. She could also see exactly what happened to them beneath the surface.
Under the surface of theke was a mirror of the world. Where she stood alone on this side, a sheer endless amount of people was upside down beneath her. Still like stone pirs, they looked upwards. asionally, one of them would melt and drip upwards. Uponing in contact with the still barrier, the molten bodies dissipated into the fine mist that formed the tumbling spirits. Once condensed and fallen back down, their bodies would reappear, as empty as before.
Eliza looked down directly between her feet only to find her gaze met with hateful spite by her own reflection. One of bone white skin and different eyes, as shattered purple as hers were but with golden lines crossing through the circle. Except for three in her left eye, the same three that were permanently stuck as lines in Elizas own. Passive aggressive dipshit, stop staring and say something, the blood mage cussed out the goddess, who only met her with silence.
Eliza looked around once more, she waspletely alone on this side, all of the human bodies were piled up on the other. When she lost control of her body, she was amongst those frozen many, the only one able to move. In the tumbling mists the white-blue haired girl saw the faces that had long gued her day to day existence, talking to her. Back then she had found them annoying, thought them to be simple births of her deranged and damaged psyche. Now she knew that they had been the remaining consciousness of the many people absorbed by the goddess of genocide, crying out through the cracks while Thana was still not yetpletely formed.
Eliza took a step and so did Thana. Fucking dumbass, you can walk with me, but you cant fucking talk?! she growled, the hateful re remaining the only form ofmunication between them. At least the creepy bimbos advice is shit, so I got that gratification, the blood mage mumbled, then began to cackle as a spontaneous idea hit her.
Testing, she raised one arm; Thana followed the motion. She raised one leg; again, Thana followed the motion. Herughter grew; she did a retarded little dance that looked more like an epileptic attack. The goddess of genocide broke through the surface of theke with an angered scream.
Before Eliza knew it, she and Thana were tumbling over the surface of theke, disturbing its serenity as they took wild swings at each other. Mindless violence went back and forth, causingrge waves. In this theoretical space of their mind, their powers were no thing. It was just two equal shaped women beating the shit out of each other. It was the conflict itself that made a stormy sea from the serenity. Silent souls began to moan in protest and agony; the bodies underneath the split fell over and copsed.
Eliza could do nothing butugh as the goddess of genocide mounted on top of her and closed her hands around the blood mages throat. The grip had nothing threatening or erotic for that matter, Eliza felt absolutely nothing but insane amusement towards the wrathful contortion on Thanas face. Look at you she pressed past her lips, provoked like every other fucking human.
Feeling the grip around her neck suddenly weaken, Eliza grinned from ear to ear as numerous emotions shed over Thanas face. Realization, shock, then shock about the fact that she even felt anything at all towards any of this. Her open mouth quivered, the purplish lips pulling back into a disgusted grimace. I C hate C you, the goddess sounded like a hungry wolf assaulting her next meal.
No shit, you absolute piece of ass, Eliza growled right back at her double. Get out of my body and we wont have to ever fucking deal with each other again. You can ughter everyst fuck out there as long as you kill nobody I care about.
MY body, Thanas hands closed again as only her resentment for all things human took precedent again. Youre a parasite in MY body. Just brainwaves restored to the corpse that MY existence reanimated. A chrysalis stubbornly confining the butterfly you mean to birth. A mistake, a failure, a hindrance STOP LAUGHING!
Its just that this is the most amount of words your shitfuck brain ever put together and you liken yourself to a fucking insect?
Everything better than human.
Youre changing. Eliza didnt even struggle in any form, ignoring the goddess leaning down with her teethid bare. John was right, I am not the only one who is getting influenced here. Youre bing more human A deep growl came from Thanas throat, apanied with a clicking sound. youre afraid.
Liquid bone poured out of the goddess pores. Rapidly, it covered her face under a smooth surface, leaving only the eyes and holes for the nose exempt. Then, with shattering sounds more akin to ss, the mask began to crack along the lines of her mouth. A deep breath in and then it ripped open, hardened bone and her cheeks alike tore as her jaw unhinged, opening wider than any human ever should be able to.
A deafening scream blew hot air, smelling of blood, right into Elizas face as she stared down the nightmarish maw of the goddess of genocide. The jagged edges of the crack were refining themselves into rows of sharp teeth; the crimson lifeblood that spilled out of the fatty tissue, connected still by visible sinews and stubborn strands of flesh, of her ripped cheeks extended as sharp needles, the perfectly white teeth in blue-shaded gums behind even that. Threeyers of ripped teeth, the red middle extending beyond the outer bone like an extendable jaw, the needles growing ever sharper as they shifted between a crystalized and liquid state.
The sound came to a sudden end; the teeth snapped closed in front of Elizas eyes. Blood liquifiedpletely again and flowed through the narrow gap of the crack. Congrattions, you are fucking scary, the blood mage drily answered the intimidation attempt. She hadnt seen a lot of things worse, but she wouldnt feel threatened by something like that. Thana and her had been in a stalemate for months now; there was no way this was anything beyond posture. Want a Snickers? I hear bitches rx after they had a fucking Snickers.
Thana was back to staring, the shattered purple of her eyes glowing in contrast to the absolute white. Around them, theke was slowly settling back down, the surface still moving in oddly spherical waves, like boiling water.
You really are afraid, arent you? Eliza realized she had hit the hammer on the head. Her opposite freezing in response sealed the deal. Not like you were afraid of Romulus, that was basic, animalistic, that was all fucking you were, a beast Youre bing more human the more you and I blur together and you fucking hate it.
I wanted to murder that man you love, Thana gave a surprisingly immediate response. From the first moment, you ruined me, made me imperfect. I want to not think, to not feel, only ughter. Only ughter. Only ughter. I am fucking killing them. They kill each other all the time, they spread misery and filth, they only make each other miserable. Whenever a single bastard shows himself, I will kill them.
The bone ting grew all over her naked body; soon, the only thing still human about Thana was her shape and her words, the tone slipping deeper and deeper into a manifestation of misanthropy. A tail like an extended spine stripped of all flesh, with the protrusions sharpened into des and thorns, the length of the goddess entire body waved slowly.
I will break every single fucking thing they built and leave them forgotten forever. Eliza recognized those words. They will never sleep again, and when thest man is broken and crying for release, the ws let go of Elizas throat as Thana realized where those words she was speaking came from, I will kick them in the ribs and only make the torment worse. Yet, she was unable to stop herself as she mimicked what Eliza had sworn on the day John went blind. Sigmund is going to die NO! ALL! THIS IS MY BODY! MY FATE! MY WORDS!
Elizaughed erratically, beyond all reason, as she witnessed the goddess of genocide w at her body. Unsteady, mad sounds of delight underlined the self-geting acts of Thana. Ripping bone tes off herself, she sent the fused carapace flying in showers of blood. Even in this state of mental projection, her regeneration abilities disyed themselves as she ripped into her own flesh. It was a purely desperate disy of a beast trying to physically rip the emotional impurity out of her body.
Theughter continued even when Thanas wrath went from trying to carve it out of herself into tearing apart the person causing it in the first ce. Eliza didnt care for the pain. A ripped off leg, flying teeth, torn out hair, open guts, spilling on the floor, none of it was torment that she hadnt experienced before. All she had as a reaction was undying amusement at the goddess peril.
With a frustrated roar, Thana gave up, leaving both of them heavily breathing sitting in a dark red spot in the translucent bluendscape. Fuck you, the goddess of genocide cursed.
Now youre speaking mynguage, Eliza giggled. You know that thing where we are trying to separate your shit from my shit, right?
Yes.
Finally, they were talking about what she hade to discuss in the first ce.
Are you going to let it happen?
This is my body, Thana kept insisting, Eliza rolling her eyes in amusement. If I see the chance in that ritual to finally get rid of you, I will take it, the flesh-made doomsday evidently saw no sense in lying about any of this. But a moment of hesitation, a disgusted hiss when she realized she felt doubt. If it gives my purpose a chance to be reborn in an untainted form, then I will not struggle either.
So you would keep your tits calm during the fucking thing?
Force myself to the surface to continue this stalemate and fuse with your disgusting humanity even further in the process? Thana clicked her teeth in a chittering, mocking manner. I stand only to lose from that. Take your attempt.
Eliza smirked and closed the eyes of this dream body to shift back into reality. Not the easiest process, much harder than the way in, in fact. She had to calm this absolute hatred for Sigmund down, which was only possible by thinking about more pleasant things. When she felt herself drift from Thanas ne, she heard a few more words uttered with utter resentment.
You made me a failure.
Chapter 564 – Separation 2 – Continues
Chapter 564 C Separation 2 C Continues
Okay, slow down, John was massaging his temples after hearing Eliza out. First off, where is Nia now?
I have no fucking clue, the pretty, little psycho answered, sitting in therge bathtub and scrubbing herself off with a sponge. The water had an unpleasant red tinge to it, but the steady stream of hot water refilling quickly took care of that. John was waiting until it was clear again to get in. She was gone when I snapped back out of it.
John blinked with his one open eye. The great thing about the contact lenses was that the regr eye fluid made the condensation issue a non-factor. After a few moments, he sighed heavily. Well, at least we know she is fine. Did she say anything?
Something about heading southwest and getting stronger because she is afraid and shit, Eliza answered and then let out an oddly purring sound when John squirted some shampoo on her hair and rubbed it in with skilled fingers. Her hair reached down all the way to her butt once again. Dumb bitch said she didnt want to stay, so there is that.
I see John wondered what exactly was in the southwest. Was it a thing that was actually there or a thing in theyer of non-existence on top of that? The thought of the Nirvana quickly spiralled over to the image of the Nevrest. It was quickly fading from his memory; all he was able to recall now was some roughly cat shaped blob of white colour.
John, I liked the massage more, Elizas voice was childish and whining, and the Gamer looked down on his hands to find them unpleasantly wed into her scalp.
Sorry, John quickly apologized and went back to working the soap in with gently motions. A pleased giggle of an unsteady tone came from the blood mage, and John grabbed the nearby showerhead attached to the bathtub. After a few moments, and some more dark clouds going down the drain, the foam was washed out of Elizas hair. Okay, and Thana said that she isnt going to struggle?
She was a total bitch about it, like an absolutely major asshat, but yes, she confirmed.
Can you look at me for a second? John asked, and the blood mage raised her head to look up to him. No changes in her left eye. No further melding had urred. Okay, so you went in there to talk to that thing known for taking over your body on you own, John was relieved but still had to scold her. What were you thinking?
Fuck this shit, why the fuck does it have to be me with this shitty luck, fuck this non-existent god up his non-existent ass, Eliza went ahead and told him. Although he was aiming to give her a bit of a discipling, John had to chuckle. If you want to give me a spanking for being a bad girl, I would like to get it though, daddy.
No, no, do not pull that shit again, John warned and lightly smacked her left cheek as he finally got into the tub as well. As he sunk into the warm water, he sighed heavily. I guess its good that you didnt turn into a gore-disy somewhere in the living room though. Aclysia would have had a figurative heart attack I guess a core attack would be more urate? John pondered about that for a moment. Are you sure Nia didnt run away because of the way you looked?
The reason why they were even in the bath in the first ce was because Eliza had stormed into the living room, in way too good a mood to care about anyone sleeping, covered in her own blood and mud. In the process of crawling up to John in his bed, she had absolutely stained the sheets and gotten John himself covered in a fair amount of mud.
Thankfully, the Gamer and his harem had a policy of buying bedding that was highly resilient to all kinds of stains. Although it had been a while since John hadst used a washing machine. That was to say, since his stay-at-home mom had done most of hisundry, he had to quickly exchange a few texts with Aclysia as to what detergent he should throw the linen in the machine with and what setting to use. Even with that, he was 70% sure he had fucked something up.
Eliza herself had been banished to the bath, and John had followed her soon thereafter. I have no fucking clue what even happened while I was talking to Thana, the blood mage stated as she immediately switched positions from sitting next to John to sitting in hisp. Neither of us were in control, so both of us were? Anyway, I must have disembowelled myself or some shit like that.
Thats what you looked like anyway aside from the fact that you were in one piece, John was about toin about her broken regeneration abilities again, but he knew that would only lead to the same jokes as always being made on his expense. Do you trust what Thana said?
Enough to say I am ready, the blood mage answered. Insectoid cunt really seemed despondent with our current situation. Always thought I was the fucked one, but man, she was depressed about herself.
To give the devil its due, John carefully formted his thoughts while hugging the smaller girl, she is stuck in there while you still get to walk around.
Fair fucking enough, Eliza happily grinded against John, waking up even thest parts of him in the process. Can we fuck?
Not yet he decided against the protest of this male instincts. Just to double check: youre sure that Thana is saying the truth.
As sure as you are about that spiky-headed rodent, Eliza answered. Which is sure enough to not call the emperor fuck, so I say thats pretty damn sure.
We are gambling on gods not exactly known for their honesty.
Speak for yourself, Thana never lied, Eliza pointed out. Meddling piece of shit just never talked much beyond I hate you in the first ce.
Fair enough, John conceded. Alright then, well get this thing under way as quickly as possible.
Can we fuck first? Eliza was insisting on that bit, seemingly wanting to have the pleasure in her life be reinforced again. Granted that John had just heard how much pain she went through, bearable or not, he could understand that much.
Although he would have liked a full nights sleep, he couldnt deny that he was absolutely in the mood right now. His high Libido aside, knowing that Nia was at least fine and Eliza had made the necessary progress for them to keep going was such a burden off his shoulders that even his dick raised higher than usual. Yes, was therefore the only eptable answer.
________________________________________________________________________
John was making breakfast. Obviously nothing fancy, just scrambled eggs, buttered toast and some sliced smi to throw on top of that. The remarkable thing was that he could do so with both eyes open. Sure, he had to remain stationary, closing an eye whenever he had to walk somewhere else in the kitchen, but he was quite happy that he managed to keep his vision focused while he was looking from one ingredient to another already. The mental shortcuts needed were developing quite nicely these days. Progress was as steady as ever.
He filled two tes and then went over to the table, where Eliza and Metra were waiting. Thetter was gnawing on a piece of Baelementium. The way Metracanas (or at least the first of them) workedpared to usual Artificial Spirits was a bit odd. Rather than the usual Living Material Attribute, that allowed both Beatrice and Aclysia to consume things to add their own array of materials, Metra had the Stainless Life attribute, which restored her to the material standard she was born with at the cost of magic in the things she ate.
John was pretty sad that he couldnt abuse it to get tons of Astrotium out of her. Once extracted from her body, the legendary metal turned into simple lead. Much like Gamers Body had a normal state that was regenerated by HP, Stainless Life had imprinted a normal state on Metra that was restored by the much slower process of consuming magical materials.
It was good to know these things so the Gamer never had to wonder what would happen if, somehow, somebody managed to actually wound Metra. Her current eating was just against chafing damage. Strongest material in the world or not, Astrotium could still get scratches. The main reason she was here, however, was to report on the progress in the south.
Its going pretty well, the berserker babe sounded pretty bored by that fact. Chemilia and Ted arent exactly helpful, but its not like they need to be with how pathetically weak everyone there is. Conquest is more of a logistics problem than an arms one. Which is absolutely not my area of expertise.
Well, we better not make it an arms problem by pulling you from the area, John stated as he ced Elizas te in front of her, his own at the seat next to her and then sat down. His eyes tracked different things as he very slowly reached for the can of orange juice with one hand while scooping up some egg with the other. This was an advantage he had uncovered that was definitely better than his previous sight. He could track two different things urately (in theory) and without looking silly in the process because his actual eyes wouldnt cross.
That was even harder than walking around normally, but it was a thing he could do.
Maybe I should stick to you anyway? Metra made a pretty direct suggestion.
This conquest cant wait for the Lake Alliance to gain some clear local allies and prop them up, the Gamer shook his head. He had been over this topic numerous times in his head. We need it done as quickly as possible. The opportunity cost is too great to have you apany me. That aside, the chances of something happening to me are stupendously low. Even if the Hidden Tradition suddenly turn out to be Hidden Traitors, I doubt they would be stupid enough to do anything with Eliza around.
Ill fucking murder them if they murder him, the blood mage agreed with a mouth full of egg. Itll be a massacre so bloody even Khornate berserkers would get sick.
Have you learned Warhammer lore just to make a reference I would love?
Give me your baby already, you fucking nerd.
Baaaack to topic, John immediately dodged. Either people wont dare to attack me because Eliza would flip-out and Thana is going to rip them a new one or Eliza is going to be free of Thana and she can rip them a new one. Whatever it is, I feel pretty safe with her and my elementals around.
It was themon line of argumentation and it hadnt failed him so far. There was one particr exception, one event that could happen that he was keeping at the back of his mind. A bittersweet satisfaction filled his mind upon imaging it.
Metra nodded after a few more moments. As youmand then, Master, so it will happen. Rolling her neck and in her usual, carefree, if slightly aggressive, tone she added, Beating around weaklings is nicer than just sitting around, but I could deal with a proper challenge now and again.
John gripped his fork a bit too tight, the metal pressing into his palm. That word alone stresses me out, he shook his head, forced to rx his grip and continued eating. The chances of running into Sigmund again anytime soon were abysmally low. Even if he did, John was a challenge twice beaten, so what would the Contender really want with him?
Looking up from his breakfast, he noted that Eliza had stopped eating and was staring at him. Anything wrong? John asked, wondering if she had noticed his tenseness just now.
No, Eliza said, despite clearly having something on her mind. A twisted grin, between ecstasy and annoyance, appeared on her face. Have you contacted those mountain fuckers already?
Dropped a text when I woke up, John shook his head. I have their number, I have Lunas number, I dont have Richards number. Secretive piece of, he mumbled and his phone rang at that exact moment. A message detailing time and ce where to meet Elu appeared on the disy when John checked. When you speak of well, one of the devils.
Dropping a quick confirmation, the Gamer went back to concentrate on his food. He wondered if he would meet the actual leader of the Hidden Tradition soon. Elu was just the number two in that guild, power wise. In terms of leadership, there seemed to be more of a council thing going on. Ironically, the same was true for the Lake Alliance.
Well, normally people regard dictators as evil, but I dont think I am so bad, John thought, shoving thest bit of egg into his face. So I shouldnt judge how moral a guild is based on its power structure. Okay, so we have a bit of time, he said and swallowed. Want to y some games to rx before we go?
He wouldnt make any meaningful advancements in the seeing department in what time they had and all of the business recently had put a pile of unyed games on his Steam ount. To properly yputer games like in the good old days, he would have needed to retreat to the gaming room nearby that was outfitted just for that purpose, but there were numerous things on console he wanted to get some time into as well. There was also the option of both worlds, since therge television in the living room was connected to that powerful PC.
How about you just y some shit and I do some backseat gaming? Eliza suggested, which was entirely fine by John. Under those circumstances, he would probably try advancing a bit in Witcher 3.
Well, if thats what youre up to, I am out, Metra announced and got up. Backseating really isnt for me. Gotta get right up in that action.
And be defeated by a lucky draw out of a deathrattle effect?
Shut the fuck up, the berserker babe bellowed back and stomped off, eternally salty about that loss.
The remaining two of them finished their meal, loaded the dishwasher, put it on and then moved onto the couch. As the game booted up, John once more realized that he was still living the perfect life. Comfortable; the soft, leather wrapped pillows under him; with a beautiful girl who was one of many, whom he all loved in their individual ways, at his side; ying a video game. There was only one thing that could have made it better, and the fact that the present girl was a perverted little thing fulfilled it pretty much immediately.
You can y while I suck your fat cock, right? Eliza yfully asked, alreadyying down on the couch and stretching into hisp. Ambitiously, John tried to have a vision focus on her jiggling ass to his side and the screen in front of him each. While that was a failure, his brain protesting with slowly umting pain behind his eyes, moving the recement sphere in ce still allowed him to have a basic view of his favourite body part.
Being a good girl, Eliza even did him the favour to quickly toss off her robe so that her curves were only hidden by her usual leatherwear.
Yes, was, again, the only eptable answer (honestly, a foregone conclusion) and underlined with the sound of his zipper being pulled down. John began questing casually while the blood mage yed with hisid dick. With little kisses and strokes of her fine hands, the blood mage convinced it to increase its size.
This little guy gets so fucking huge, Eliza gasped as the member swelled from the size of two parallel fingers to beyond her entire hand. She nibbled at the base, just above the balls, letting the heavy, thick thingy across her face. A perverted expression dominated her when she took a deep whiff of Johns scent. Slick sounds echoed amongst moans when she began rubbing her pussy.
Having to run from one vige to another, John only had to hold the controller with one hand. With the other, he grabbed Eliza by the hair and dragged her up his joystick. She giggled lustfully, as her extended tongue left a wet trail on the side of his cock. You wanted to suck me off, not y with yourself, he said in a deep, dominating voice, so get to it!
He let go when her tongue came in contact with the engorged, pre-cum dripping tip, returning to y his game. Immediately, Eliza wrapped her lips around his dick and began blowing him. Halfway up and down she went, slurping loudly as she tasted him thoroughly. Circling motions interchanged with the simple bobbing; sometimes she would stop moving entirely and just let her tongue do the work, only to suck him in as deep as the position allowed.
The angle wasnt optimal, neither was that he was still wearing pants, but this casual way of getting a blowjob was a nice change of pace from her usual position on her knees.
That aside, he enjoyed being able to just take a hand off the controller whenever there was nobat going, reach to his right and have her ass in ppable distance. Each time he made her pale, blueish ass jiggle, the erotic gasp that reverberated around his cock made him feel like he was about to cum.
His orgasm built up nicely over a stretch of time. Slowly, he felt it impeding on his ability to dodge attacks properly, but he needed to finish this quest. Mindlessly, he breezed through dialogue he would have otherwise listened to eagerly, hoping that this quest would reward him with a few naughty bits. The Witcher series didnt hold back in that regard, which was just one reason why he loved it.
Hope was met with confirmation, a cut scene soon disying a hot redhead moaning enticingly. John quickly put the controller down and used his hands entirely to guide the even hotter white-blue haired masochist in hisp. Forcing her up and down at immense speed, hearing her masturbation increase in speed and feeling her moans grow more intense in response, the Gamer brought himself to orgasm by abusing the pretty, little psychos throat.
Her only response to that was a gargled scream as the cum shooting into her mouth was the signal her deranged mind needed to get off herself. They were both panting long after the cutscene ended. John checked the clock. We still have time for another quest, he decided and picked up the controller again.
Elizas lips parted with his dick, just so she could swallow her masters semen and then get right back to it.
Chapter 565 – Separation 3 – Socialized
Chapter 565 C Separation 3 C Socialized
You sure have some convenient powers, Eluughed as the car carried them over the highway. It was arge camper van, with high quality furniture, slightly worn down from repeated usage over several years. He, Eliza, Elu and someone she had introduced as her great, great, great grandchild (give or take a few greats) were sitting in the back on a quiet table. Like everything else about the Hidden Tradition, it had genuine charm about it, the smell of fresh coffee mixing with dried grass to create a weing atmosphere.
Which still had John nce around for traps. The advantage of moving focus in an untraceableyer on top of his eyes was that he didnt have to wait for people to look away from him. Everything he wanted to ogle at, he could without appearing paranoid to his hosts. As long as he kept his actual eyes still.
He maintained that he was secure enough with the blood mage sitting next to him, as well as the several elementals invisibly inside and around him, but that didnt fix his paranoia. I wonder if I would have these problems if Elu was a genuinely hot chick, the Gamer thought, more than aware of his own shorings. If there was a fateful encounter where he could bang some sexy indigenousdy, add her to the harem and expand Fusion in the process, for the low price of oveing that nagging part of his mind, he would certainly act on it. As it stood, John had found the girl currently driving cute, but generally treated the people of the Hidden Tradition with very well veiled distrust.
They were just such moral actors that it disturbed him greatly. For no other reason than it being the right thing, they wanted to help Eliza? Maybe even want to join Fusion? Well, John had an easier time understanding thetter thanks to the reasoning Elu had given him, that was a pragmatic argument rooted in a mutual understanding of necessity to be protected against the forces beyond their corner of the world.
I will have the opportunity to ask the other leaders soon enough, John thought, wondering what he should ask to, carefully, extract any hidden agendas they might have.
You sure have some convenient powers! Elu repeated louder and reminded John that he wasnt supposed to just sit there broodingly.
Sorry, was lost in thought, he quickly apologized, stretching a bit on the couch and absent-mindedly put a hand on Eliza head,bing her long hair with his fingers. Lydia was right, this is very nice hair, the Gamer thought, despite theck of care (outside of taking regr baths) and the recent growth spurts, the strands were flowing like liquid sapphire through his caress. What exactly do you mean?
Being able to teleport to DC like that, Elu specified. Originally, the native woman had wanted to take a ne over to the capital. Not one to waste time or money (although he admittedly valued thetter way less than the former), the Gamer had exined that he had a quicker way and so they had taken the Transport Station.
Seasoned RTS yers know where to put their teleport targets, John just shrugged off with a charismatic smile. Perhaps because of how nervous the approach of their target made him, an emotion that he hadnt had in the foreground of his mind for a long time, he was feeling the need for affection more than usual. He pulled Eliza into hisp, whose onlyint about that was her increased distance to the cookie jar, and cuddled her fiercely.
There was a lot rted to this trip that was immediately important for their future, and so John was nning out the effects of everything that could go wrong and the immediate contingencies for it. Over and over again, to make sure he had the best answer for any given situation. One oue in particr made him feel at unease. Perhaps the unlikeliest one of them all, it was the only one where John genuinely had trouble choosing between the two options presented.
I love you, he whispered into Elizas ear, who swallowed and turned to look at him. Before she could ask him, in her bloomynguage, what the fuck his pussy breaking ass was suddenly on about, he nted a quick kiss on her sticky lips. The sugar from all the bakeware she had been consuming made it all the sweeter. Dont you forget that, my dear broken angel.
Dont dont fucking use that one, Eliza physically cringed in his arms, which only served to get her deeper into his embrace. Completely by design, John was quite sure as he lovingly yed with her hair.
Hey, you called me daddy recently, this is my revenge.
You dont like being called that? Elu asked with a raised eyebrow, then giving it a dirty, olddyugh. Okay? And here I thought the men hadnt changed since I grew up. One of my granddaughters recently slipped up over the dinner table. Was a very funny moment when both her boyfriend and father reached for the salt.
I refuse to believe that meme actually happened in any capacity anywhere, John mumbled, but the hesitant nod of Elus present rtive only confirmed the tale. Maybe there is some sort of gene that makes people wrong?
Dont you mean gives people different tastes? Elu wanted to know, pouring herself a cup of coffee. A bump in the road threatened to make her spill some of the drink. She caught the wayward drops of the steaming hot liquid in her palm and then licked them off without a single care in the world.
John wondered if them sitting in this back area without any security belts was against some sort ofw. In case of a crash, they would probably have to fake injuries though. No, I mean wrong. Wanting to be called daddy is creepy.
Whatever you fucking say, Master, Eliza mocked him.
You just broke our sacred bond, John sniffed artificially while he groped all the parts of Eliza he could get away with in this setting. Of all the people to call me that mockingly, I thought you knew the second best. I am thoroughly disappointed.
Number one was obviously Aclysia, something that the blood mage also knew and didnt move to refute in any way. Well, our daughters will call whoever they get with daddy eventually, Eliza decided, notably not swearing a single time in that sentence.
I am just going to state that I hope that sadism is the dominant and daddy the recessive gene.
Would feel really fucking weird if they are my daughters and somehow not want to get piledriven into the ever-fucking cock-biscuits of whatever surface they get their pussy pounded on.
Also, daughters? Is that a decision already?
It better fucking be or gods non-existent ass can get ready to have my foot shoved so far up that I could tickle his broken fucking spine with my toes.
Elus dirty old grandmaughter got so loud the two of them were reminded that bantering wasnt really appropriate here. Dont mind me, the Old Grace assured them and John didnt really, but her grandson had turned beet red by now and that was a pretty sure signal that the Gamer may have to slow it down on the public sexuality a bit.
Also, he had just noticed that he was full on fondling Elizas breasts through the fabric of her shirt right now. She had stolen one of his for the purpose of going out into public today, a ck one with the mask of Reaper from Overwatch printed on top of it. It was way too long for her; Johnsnky build made it fit somewhat around the shoulders but the rest was dangling unnecessarily.
It was cute to see her in his clothes though, gave him a certain level of confirmed possessiveness that was oddly pleasing. With a lot of willpower involved, he parted with her soft, medium sized boobs and went back to just hugging her. The rest of the drive they spoke about less scandalous things, although John still had a boner when they arrived at their target.
Hagerstown was a decently sized city at the edge of the mountain range that the Hidden Tradition called home. As such itid on the edge of their territory, close to Fusions ground and wasnt even too far from the triangle point where the two of them met with the Lake Alliances eastern member, the Lower Lake Guild. As a meeting point, it was pretty ideal. Big enough to obfuscate their presence and at a location from where they could quickly move should something bad happen along the border.
If someone, anybody, wanted to get into any of the threerge guilds on the east coast, this was the ideal base from where to do so. Johns phone vibrated. He read the two words on the disy. A name and his current location. With a sting in his heart, he quickly put the phone away again before anybody could see the message. Probabilities had just shifted.
The Hidden Tradition had already kept their word in aiding John, their participation in the war was as official and public as the Lake Alliances deration had been the day after their meeting at that dirty gas station. At least they aremitted to their lie, if it is one, John thought as the enormous car rolled through the inner-city traffic and eventually arrived at what seemed to be a pretty nice restaurant.
Not the 5-star super deluxe kind of nice, no, the rustic charming kind of nice, the kind of restaurant likely to be visited with extended family because somebody got through theirmunion. Which was also the exact feeling that John got when he stepped inside and was immediately greeted by the sound of happy chatter, kitchen utensils cking against one another and a feast already in motion.
Guess I can forego the question whether or not us arriving early matters, the Gamer realized as he walked over the wooden floor. No special kind of wood, just a normal brown, the only difference between the floor and the beams under the roof was that the former was recently polished while thetter looked like they had been lying there for about 150 years. Not to say they were dirty, not a single cobweb in sight, but they had that shrunken, old wood look.
The walls were covered with simple white ster and isted basically nothing whatsoever. All sounds echoed freely throughout the entire two-story building. The upper half seemed to be a living area, at least John couldnt make out any way upwards. Thisck of privacy wasnt really a problem since the entire establishment was only able to hold one gathering in the first ce.
And what a gathering that was. John had expected, once again, to be met with some very stereotypical sights. Tanned, slightly red skinned people with crowns of feathers on their heads and covered in light leather, running around with peace pipes or otherwise decorated. There were some of those in the smoke-filled room he entered, with the exception of the pipe, but the majority was just normal.
The heavy smell of tobo and weed hung in the air, thetter much less pronounced but definitely present to the care of nobody. People were smoking cigars, cigarettes or nothing at all, making jokes about lung cancer their friends were currently growing on themselves. Wearing anything between traditionally shamanistic clothes to modern suits, they were a seemingly randomly rolled together bunch.
What connected all of them was their dark, long hair, braided most of the time. There were about twenty, men and women about equally represented, in the room, scattered between standing, sitting on benches or besieging the cold buffet. Upon Johns entrance, nothing really happened.
The Gamer wasnt used to that kind of reaction. Often his arrival at a scene caused chatter to cease and attention to shift. There were some interested gazes, for sure, but nobody seemed to intend to treat him special in any capacity. It was surprisingly refreshing.
None of that was to say he went ignored either. Elu soon waved at a young man who told his current circle of friends surrounding him onest joke and then came over. Wrestling down the idea that it had been a joke about him, John adjusted his sses. The moment he had no longer sat still, he had switched back to this more reliable viewing method. If the option had existed, he would also have gotten the sphere out, but they were still in the normal world and he had no idea if the kitchen staff was as in on it as the room obviously was.
The young man was average looking, with a long face and oiled ck braids. He was one of the more modern clothed fellows. A blue suit with sturdy leather shoes and a ck bowtie, a simple white shirt underneath. John was the taller of the two of them, by a noticeable but not significant margin. Compromising his image somewhat was the leather band wrapped around his head, sporting a single eagle feather. In Johns personal opinion, the man should have lost either the bowtie or the headband, thebination looked somewhat goofy.
Greetings, John, can I call you John? the man went in directly for one of the most enthusiastic handshakes the Gamer had ever been the recipient off. One handnded firmly on his shoulder, the other stretched out so naturally invitingly that John was answering in kind within the moment.
I think that should be fine? John said with a moderate amount of uncertainty as he was released out of the half-hugging handshake. Certainly, the guy wasnt even half as good looking as other diplomats John had dealt with in his time, but he did have a very infecting smile. I would feel better about it if I knew your name as well though. All my attempts to find it out with spies were rather unsessful.
It was supposed to be a joke and was taken as such, as the young manughed moderately in response. Well, since you are here yourself, feel free to see, you can use this Observe thing, right? he winked at the Gamer in a yful way. Only fair, given how easy basic information about you is essible.
Hmm, well, if you offer it so nicely, John had held back on using the skill out of respect. Also, cautiousness. Mostly cautiousness, to be perfectly honest, as he really didnt feel like repeating an Abraham situation. Elu hadnt minded previously, and now that he had the invitation, there was really no need to hold back.
Ahanu I notice no surname? John wondered about that first, because it seemed like the decent thing to do.
I put it aside while I serve all tribes, the chieftain-elect exined readily. Is that all this scrying spell told you about me? All questions needed?
No, I have one more, if that is alright with you? John asked; a gracious handwave was the indication he needed. Are you the strongest in your guild?
From a level standpoint, that seemed impossible, but John had been through enough to know that levels themselves werent everything. Elu may have double the base numbers, but it seemed Ahanu had ess to something very finely tuned to the specific magic of his people. In other words, he had ess to a bullshit ability. Not nearly as brutal as Johns, Romulus or Sigmunds, but definitely potent in its niche.
Yes, the answer came pretty quickly and, after John nodded to himself to signal that he believed it, the Gamer rxed. If their strongest person came all the way out of the nexus of his power, to a ce he was quite vulnerable at, then this showed a degree of trust. Trust that John had answered by showing up here without his usual entourage. Anyway, this is the famous Eliza then? Ahanu moved on.
Is there even a need to ask? John wondered, putting an arm around the smaller woman to keep her from hiding behind him. As usual Eliza met new people with a mixture of immense disdain and a dash of fear. Although that fear was less for what they could do to her than the reverse. Not like information about her is much harder to find.
Youd be surprised, Ahanu told him. Aside from knowing that Thana exists, its actually quite difficult nowadays to get any definitive information. Best we have is very shaky live footage that goes for hundreds of thousands.
That tall-haired piece of shit is still selling those recordings?! Eliza growled, keenly aware of Jeff, the announcer, having all rights to that video material. I should have pulled his lungs out through his mouth and let him choke on his fucking blood.
John furrowed his eyebrows. Sorry, but can you borate on that a little bit? Like, walk me through how you found what you did.
Well, basically everyone can find out you exist, thats pretty easy with all the buzz you are making, Ahanu said. Thats where we got to the first hurdle, articles on the Abyss Auction very rarely have cross references to other people and the information package about you only shows photos of you with, mostly blurred out,panions. John nodded, he followed so far. When looking for your name, we pretty quickly stumbled over the tournament in Germany though, so thats where we got the names Jane Hollmey, Nia Fae and Thana Newman from. The blood mage squeaked happily when she was addressed with thatst name, even if her first name was wrong in that instance. Your girlfriend, I assume, has very little reliable information about her avable, most of it is forum discussions elsewhere, I guess thats her mothers influence.
Cant say for sure, but probably, John agreed. This he had already noted before, although he wasnt sure if Nariko was keeping Raves name off the site to protect her eldest daughter or to keep her own reputation clean. I assume there is nothing about Nia?
On the contrary, we found the most about Nia Fae C well, the queen herself aside, Ahanu chuckled and exined. Apparently there is awork of pet owners that started tracking an odd blonde that would appear on their frontwns and pat their animals.
That makes way too much sense John had to concede, interested how those sightings would look like if projected on a map.
She is such a stalking bimbo, Eliza cackled. Really, how retarded can one blonde be?
Which brings us to you, Ahanu took a gracious little bow and offered to kiss Elizas hand, something that the blood mage reacted with a teeth revealing growl towards. Point taken, the Hidden Traditions leader backed off. The entirety of info about you is quite scattered. The only clear footage that exists is your announcement in Cologne. Then there is a report about a run-in with reporters, the one-sided fight against that swordsman, the immediately concluded fight against Alex?
Alexej, John corrected.
Yes, that guy. Anyway, that, the pretty chaotic footage of the group fight and then the sh with Romulus. Thats what we, as an organization, could do. Finding all that video material wasnt actually that easy, neither can we make any real estimates of Thanas strength from it, other than she is terrifyingly strong. But you seemed to be even before the change, though.
Because I fucking am, Eliza puffed out her chest, causing the overlyrge shirt to slouch away to one side.
I see John mumbled and realized that he had made a mistake in his assumptions so far. In Europe everyone knew more or less about Thana because people had taken way more interest in the press conference that had started the Five Day War. It helped that a bunch of people had been in the colosseum to tell their friends and family.
One ocean across, word of mouth was harder toe by, and since the damage Thana had done had been pretty contained, knowledge of her was limited. Helped, without a doubt, by the fact that she was eliminated as a threat the moment she appeared. By word of mouth, Thana would travel as a supremely strong entity that was defeated by Romulus. Just another god or member of the upper power echelons of the Abyss, in the perception of most people.
Johns mistake hadnt been too impactful, what the average joe didnt know,rge organizations would keep an eye out on, and John primarily dealt with those nowadays. His assumption that nobody would dare attack him as long as he ran around with Eliza was also still true. Not because of Thana but because of what the blood mage had done before realizing that wasnt her own name. Normal people didnt really have to bother knowing whether it was a boulder about to squash them or an entire mountain. They just had to be aware of what they were getting into.
Inconsequential, but interesting.
Anyway, enough of all of that, Ahanu waved off and gestured towards the smoky room. Why not have some fun? You arrived so much earlier already, certainly you brought the time?
Eliza looked unwilling, but John pushed her along as he followed the invitation.
Chapter 566 – Separation 4 – Planned
Chapter 566 C Separation 4 C nned
There was very little opportunity to keep doubting it, the Hidden Tradition was actually just a bunch of normal, pleasant people. Not universally nice, there were a few amongst the tribe leaders who left a first impression with John that could be briefly summarized as ''total asshats'', to put it into Eliza''s words. That only served for the Gamer to feel even less threatened. Total sweetness was never genuine, and he decidedly preferred eating cherry cake over munching raw sugar.
Which was one of the many pastries presented to him on the buffet once the breakfast assortment was carried off. We like to hold our meetings in a more rxed atmosphere, Ahanu exined as he sat down next to John. It was the first time they exchanged words in over half an hour. After having introduced John to every single person in the room, the Chieftain-Elect had left to have his own conversations. Another thing the Gamer was thankful for; he didn''t want to appear to be held by the hand like a child.
I noticed, John answered and waved away some smoke tumbling his direction. The open windows did very little to make the air any clearer, with just how many people were continuously smoking. Thus, the motion did very little as well, but at least he was spared the entire whiff of concentrated tobo.
''You know, Gaia, I am feeling rather resentful about that Gamer''s Bodyment, what with my eyes still not working and whatnot,'' he thought expecting the supreme deity to hear him. It was mostly sarcastic. There was a grain of genuine anger in there, but he understood the philosophical reasons behind Gaia staying her hand to help him as well as the difference between cigarette smoke and something titled demonic fire.
Which he had since looked into and found an adequate amount of information. Apparently ''demon'' was a qualifying term for certain elemental evolutions. Generally malicious but not Lorylim corrupted, their attacks were particrly effective against flesh, both in the immediate andsting damage department. In the case of normal people this meant scars were rather difficult to heal.
John had witnessed this first hand with Chemilia and Ted. For both of them, the attaching of artificial limbs had necessitated the removal of the scar tissue entirely. For thetter, the reattachment of the found leg had been a different procedure, finished quicker only thanks to an immense amount of money John had pumped into the whole thing to get more specialists working on it. The former was still left with the shape of a hand on her throat. Getting that treated would take years and it would neverpletely vanish unless they cut it off and healed over it, which wasnt exactly an option at the throat. Still better than Lorylim scars, but only slightly.
All of that, Gamers Body allowed John to get off rather lightly. Only permanent damage he was supposed to get by the damage type was when he dipped below 10% health. Just his luck that it would injure a rather vital part of his sensory system. Then again, better his eyes than a sense he couldnt rece with his currently toolkit.
It could have been worse. It could also been a whole lot better. Ultimately, the me wasnt with Gaia but with the oversized cunt that wielded the de in the first ce.
Want to try? Ahanu offered the box as he pulled out a cigarette of his own.
I have recently, and definitely no, thank you, the Gamer answered and pulled Eliza into hisp again. I have my addictive right here, I dont need anything else.
Seriously, fuck off with your stinking peace pipe bullshit, the blood mage cussed.
Ahanu only chuckled. With Elu around John could imagine most people here were rather desensitized already. Its not about the peace pipe, although thats a pretty narrow look at our ceremonial smoking in the first ce. The leader of the Hidden Tradition lit his cigarette and took a deep huff, having the courtesy to blow it away from John as he ate his cake.
Every time he moved the fork up to his mouth, the adorable little psychopath in hisp stretched towards the food with clearly disyed greed, mouth open. Every time he denied her, she let out an offended little squeal, only to try catching the next load. Sometimes John did her the favour, the other times he just couldnt help himself but bask in the taste of cherry to the sight of a bothered Eliza. Good times, he mused to himself as he listened to Ahanu addressing the gathering atrge.
Alright, everyone, I hope yourefortable. Soft murmurs and raised sses filled with water toasting towards the young Chieftain-Elect disyed their agreement. They were all sitting around the assortment of pushed together tables, forming a hollow square. In one of the few oveps with usual form, John was sitting on the corner of one of the short ends. We have a few things to discuss today: briefly, the exactyout of the ritual were going to perform now that our esteemed guests have agreed to it. Then, and this will take much longer I reckon, we will continue our discussion about whether or not to join Fusion as more than an ally. I am certain the presence of the president himself will finally put to rest some of the uncertainties we had in previous meetings.
Confirming nods and words approved of this structure, and so John was quickly briefed on the ritual a second time. It began with a quick confirmation of his knowledge about the way these things worked in theory, followed by a more interesting exnation about the ce this shall happen at.
We have many burial sites throughout the Appchian Mountains, Ahanu, the only one currently standing, said, everyone else listening nonchntly as they continued to eat quietly. Most of the tribes prefer to keep the dead to the resting ces of their families. However, a central burial ground exists, where we give the final rites to all those who served as chieftain, both as the Chieftain-Elect that serves as the head of all tribes and those of the individual tribes. The ancestor spirits there are the strongest and that is where we would hold the ritual.
Straightforward enough, John nodded. Is there a way to check if it would even work before we get there?
Sadly not, the ritual is not replicable on a smaller scale.
How long is it going to take?
Impossible to say exactly, but the longest recorded cleansing is said to have taken about an hour. I would say something like double that.
What happens if its interrupted?
Depends on the kind and strength of the entity, Ahanu answered. Thana is a goddess and as such, unless she entirely dissipated, would simply reabsorb the Faith that has been taken from her.
I see John thought about the consequences of that for a few seconds, whether that changed anything. Nothing objectionable was raised on his end, so he looked down to Eliza. He had to secure his sunsses with his hand in the process. Still want to do it?
Lets get this shit over with, the blood mage was clear in her path.
Alright you guys are aware of the dangers thate along with messing with Thana? John addressed the leaders again.
The Chieftain-Elect responded in the name of all of them, We do realize that messing with the goddess of genocide might cause her to erupt in anger, yes.
Less erupt in anger and just get to the surface at all, John corrected. A few people can make her retreat back under or make Eliza take the reigns over her body again. Mostly me and my girlfriend. I hope my presence in the ritual wont disrupt it?
It would but only if you were standing directly in it. If youre within the same Protected Space, there will be no issues. Ahanu sounded sure about this, so there was likely a precedent. You likely wont be able to see her, though.
Alright John hesitated again, this time because he would have to exin something carefully. I would like to suggest a series of signals in the case certain things go wrong. With a nod, Ahanu signalled the Gamer to continue. First off, we need a signal in case Thana breaks out and I need to help reseal her. Do you have any shy spells or do we have to rely on something like a phone number? This was under the assumption that Ahanu would be leading the ritual. As no contradiction came, John took that as a confirmed idea.
I could create a loud bang, like a giant balloon popping, but for that I would need to know how to identify the switch.
Aside from me trying to rip your fucking face off, Eliza interjected, my hair grows as quickly as Johns cock gets hard, when Thana takes over. After making an unwilling grimace. Guess we could shave this annoyingly long shit off to make that easier to see from a distance? Not like I cant make it regrow
Thatst part she mumbled to herself. John also wasnt looking forward to seeing her with a buzzcut, he preferred his girls with at least shoulder length hair, but it was temporary and logical. Unlike Smanders, Elizas hair would grow out again, and with her abilities, she could speed that process up. Not that the endme elemental would have let her hair get longer even if she could.
That should work, Ahanu confirmed, so John moved onto the second signal.
In case I dont seed in calming her down quickly, you should all leave the barrier as quickly as possible and note back for at least a couple of hours. You will notice it by Thana getting away from me; usually Elizas struggling freezes her in ce. In case I do seed, I will drop you a text and you can continue the ritual. At least if I understood right and the reabsorbing of already scattered power takes a little bit?
Yeah, there would be a little bit of a setback, but we could continue.
Now, for thest part. I assume you have taken precautions against attacks from the outside?
In that case we will defend the barrier with our lives. With or without you, this is the burial site of our ancestors, Ahanu spoke with a grave, convinced tone John hadnt heard him use before. Which made thest part more difficult to convey.
I understand, but youre strong, right? Johns question wasnt meant as apliment and he looked over to Ahanu. Although the Gamer only presented a pair of sses, the Chieftain-Elect must have understood the true meaning behind that question anyway. Eliza raised her eyebrow in mild confusion. It was for her sake that he was being this cryptic, so she wouldnt start rampaging like an unleashed beast.
Yes so you want to make up a signal where we leave without question?
Indeed, I know the cultural value that Protected Space must have for you is immense, but
Elu shouted over the table. If THAT happens, it may as well be lost already.
To what?! a different leader asked and a heated discussion was about to begin.
Ill let you sort this out between you. Eliza and I will wait outside, John said and got up, much to the confusion of the blood mage, who went with him anyway. Could you go ahead? the Gamer asked of her when they were half out of the door. I need to tell Ahanu something
The implication that it wasnt for her ears visibly bothered the littledy. Her pale lips became a narrow, white line and she demonstrably put her fingers in her ears as she stomped away so strongly that John feared for the floorboards.
Something the matter? Ahanu wondered when John stepped up to him.
Would you enter an Illusion Barrier with me for a second? the Gamer asked and Ahanu narrowed his eyes. I cant have her hear what Im about to tell you. With her stupendously good senses, John wasnt going to skip on any precautions. Nothing short of being in anotheryer of reality would convince him the blood mage wouldnt be able to hear him.
After a few moments, knowing that, even blind, John had the tools to kill him in a few moments t with their current power difference, Ahanu did nod. They both raised their hands and John lost no time. Sigmund is in this city.
Ahanus eyes widened. How do you
I have my sources, John skipped out on the exnation. He hadnt checked yet how Scarlett had found out, but the text, the one he had gotten shortly after arriving where they were, had contained only two words. Properly some security camera footage or a social media ount talking about a giant of a guy, John could only guess. Fact is, it isnt unlikely that he will meddle in this after all.
Then we should postpone the ritual until Ahanus reaction was exactly what John had predicted, so the Gamer cut him off.
Until when? The Contender wants to beat the strongest people he can find. In other words, if he is staying here, it may very well be that he wants to find and fight you, John made clear and Ahanu fell silent as the Gamers logic sunk in. And if you are dead, I assume that ritual will be greatly reduced in its potency. He didnt have to make the case why they should immediately pick up and leave this building at least.
If Sigmund was here to fight with Ahanu, however he learned of his existence, then he wouldnt want the confrontation anywhere else but where the Guide of Old Souls was the strongest. That and, if the Contender was aware of their presence in this building, he would already be here. Right now, they had nothing to fear.
Yes the Chieftain-Elect nodded. Why do you tell me this in secret?
Eliza cannot know this; her hatred for Sigmund is so intense, it already contributed to the melding once. I dont want to risk repeating that, John exined. Look, our course of action shouldnt change. Our best bet is that he has no idea where the ritual site is, so we should get it done before he finds out. I am only telling you this so you can have your discussion with all necessary information at hand.
Ahanu looked both thankful and perturbed at all of this. There was no way John could me him for that, was he himself not entirely sure how to deal with this. He had to pick between two paths. Alright, once we exit this barrier, I will give you the time to get outside and keep yourdy from hearing any of this.
Thank you, John nodded, and moments thereafter he heard Ahanu call for a toilet break while John hurried to catch up to the blood mage.
What the fuck is this all about? Eliza wanted to know once they were outside. Rather than answer, John immediately pulled both of them into a new barrier to keep any echoes from entering the blood mages acute ears. Of course that only got the small woman more upset.
John kneeled down in front of her and took both of her hands. Do you trust me? he asked, looking up at her. An entirely unfair way to ask this, he had to admit, the damaged girl only had one way to answer.
Yes but why do you have to keep a fucking secret from me in the first ce?! Eliza was clenching her fists to such a degree that her unnatural fingernails cut into her palms. Drops of blood fell while her eyes contained the rising water. Arent we beyond all this shit? Dont YOU trust ME?!
Because I am afraid the ritual wont work anymore if I dont, John thought, with pain in his heart, but saying as much would have let her figure out what he was on about. Likely, Eliza already had her suspicions, but the Gamer couldnt confirm that without asking things that would have pushed her in the right direction. I just want to be prepared for all eventualities, he allowed himself to say. You know how I am.
Right and youre usually a way too honest fuck-nugget with all of us, Eliza grumbled, and he felt only worse with how upset she looked because of his actions. With a few more heavy breaths, her mood swung to something more understanding. Although her voice was still raised, the tone she used was softer, You better exin it when this beaver peeling shit is over!
I will, John promised and leaned up to give her a quick kiss. If all goes well, we wont need any of those signals.
But John didnt like to bet on things going well.
Chapter 567 – Separation 5 – Discussed
Chapter 567 C Separation 5 C Discussed
After about half an hour, John and Eliza were invited back inside and the approval of making ast signal given. Some leaders seemed unhappy with the decision. Well, all leaders looked unhappy with the decision, it was just that they understood that, should pushe to shove, this was necessary.
Ahanu and John pretty quickly got a signal agreed on and that discussion was finally done with. Much to John''s relief, nobody brought any furtherints up, potentially slipping the info he kept from Eliza. It was done, dusted and even those John found to be unsympathetic moved on.
Now they could turn to the actual discourse of the day. Well then, President Newman, the Chieftain-Elect gave him the honorific with a friendly joking tone. I suggest you exin to us, in detail, what you envision us joining Fusion would look like.
Phew okay, John had expected to be riddled with questions while they discussed things, rather than him being allowed to take the initiative. Had he known it would take this course, he would have prepared some sort of presentation. To summarize things up front, I don''t intend to redraw any borders, to meddle in your internal affairs C as long as you agree to a set of principles C or force you into disbanding your current power structures. That being said, as a guild member of the federation, you pay either direct taxes or part of your own taxes to the central government, in which you will, of course, be represented. Also, people will be drafted into the army.
Does this mean we will no longer be allowed to maintain our own defense forces? one of the leader''s tossed in.
John shook his head, softly, to keep his sses steady on his face. No, you will be allowed to maintain militias. However, those could never be used to act outside of your territory, with some exceptions during wartimes. We would also have to discuss sizes if the local army ever got dangerous for the centralized one.
What are those principles you spoke of? another chieftain threw in when there was a moment of silence.
Freedom of expression, the ability for anyone who hasntmitted a crime to get involved in the political process, absolute intolerance towards any practices that take away an innocent humans right of self-determination, free markets and free exchange of ideas with the bare minimum of necessary governmental involvement, John more or less cited the list public on his own governments website.
Human? Ahanu asked. I assume this is just because of your mundane past? Surely you dont want to include all of the magical races that live within barriers?
John almost asked the stupid question who would even want to exclude sexy elven women from being included into society, then he remembered that there were literal Nazi magicians one continent south of his location. Yeah, just a slip of the tongue I should double check with the constitution I wrote All humanoids, then? No, wait, that would exclude people with a different shape. All sapient creatures?
Sapient? Ahanu asked. Dont you mean sentient?
John quickly exined that there was a difference and left it at that. Since he had to be schooled on this topic himself initially, he had no right toin that others werent aware of the definitions there. Common mistake and all that. So, there we go, rification error removed. Further questions?
There were, tons of them. Eliza closed her eyes not even halfway through the entire thing and just dozed off while John had to answer, listen, weigh in on discussions and negotiate. It quickly became apparent that the Hidden Tradition was fine with just about everything John proposed. The only real hang-ups they had were the part about the military and the way of representation. Everything else, they agreed on very quickly.
I simply cannot agree to sending our people into your wars, one of the less sympathetic leaders cried out, a sentiment generally met with nods by the other leaders.
One of them was Ahanu himself, I must agree, John, not only by the way our ancestral-given powers work but also by the pacifist traditions we have upheld thest two-hundred years, joining an army meant for expansion would be against our interests.
The goal of you joining the greater collective I aim to build is for safety, correct? John asked, causing Ahanu to hesitatingly nod. If everyone was as reasonable as you people are, I wouldnt need an army. Fact of the matter is, however, that there are enemies all around that need to be beaten into epting the principles we want the entirety of America to follow. Forming a federation for safety is useless if it doesnt conquer enoughnd to make us a force unattractive to be attacked. To that end, I need people that can fight.
That is right, but Ahanu mumbled as if he had a counter, but what the Gamer had said rang true. If they werent willing to see Fusion expand further, aiding it in the first ce would have been more dangerous than staying out of this entire affair.
John could see the general resistance in the room. It was obvious that more than half of the chieftains, as positive as their stance was towards his ambitions, refused to partake in any structure that would send their children out into war without the blessing of their predecessors. The other half looked at best willing to go along with what was necessary.
Well, time for the bread and butter of politics favours, John thought and very visibly pondered. Let me make a call, maybe we can work something out that works for both of us, he said and pulled out his phone. Many of the people in the smoke-filled room went to get a refilling of cake, while listening to the Gamers phone call.
It took almost a full minute for the person on the other side to pick up. Whats up, John? Chemilias teasing voice, harsh and equally soft like rough linen, answered from the other line. Or do you want me to call you president over the phone?
John is perfectly fine, the Gamer answered. I am in the conference with the Hidden Tradition right now.
Really? I mean, I got the update that you were going, but thats pretty fast.
Sometimes, things just happen all of a sudden. Not that he had to lecture her on that. The Gamer softly waved the blood mage left and right, like a child in her cradle. In her sleep, Eliza murmured something about skinning those annoying fuckwits alive. Not the cutest assortment of words, but John loved the situation nheless. Right, Im calling for business.
Get on with it then, I have to storm a smugglers den in like three minutes, Chemilia answered. No wonder the south rebelled when they have criminal hives springing up everywhere
That sounded like something that John wanted to know about in more detail another time. Would you protest if I offered a general position to someone? John asked, causing the chatter in the room to cease and the Hidden Traditions leaders to listen more carefully.
We are still three short, so no, if you find someone capable, I would be more than happy to wee them into the ranks although I mayin down the line if they are a total cunt, Chemilia quickly answered. Is that all you needed?
Well, I would exin it to you in more detail, but since youre in a hurry Take care.
I will, I have Metra with me, Chemilia assured him before hanging up. That put John at ease a fair bit. Her or Ted fighting again so shortly after getting their recement limbs was dangerous as far as he was concerned. Probably necessary to get used to them as well, though.
I should start doing some mock fights as well soon, John thought, hoping that would speed up his recovery. Just some low-level dungeons where things can barely hurt me anyway worst case, I can use Undine to
John? Ahanu pulled the Gamer out of his thoughts, impatient to find out what that had been about.
Sorry, John tried pocketing his phone, found that impossible with Eliza in the way, and thusly just threw it into his inventory. Okay, here is mypromise. Be it purely symbolic, I still need you to join the central army. Quickly raising a hand to halt anyints, for which several leaders drew breath already, John continued. However, we can easily design it so that all people drafted from yournds will only enter the unit of the general from amongst your own ranks. Then we dere that unit to only be used for defensive purposes around the east coast.
Letting that sink in for a few moments, the Gamer waited for somebody to ask the obvious question. Elu was the one who finally took the bait. Could you not just appoint somebody else as the general for that unit eventually?
In return for youing to my aid when all was stacked against me, I am more than happy to promise and guarantee, in whatever way you may want, that you will always have a general amongst my ranks and that that general will always be the one leading the unit responsible for defence of the east coast, John said clearly and with conviction. That he didnt have a (visible) steady gaze to back this up irked him in that moment, but the people around seemed quite receptive towards this idea.
This promise would necessitate a rework of the military system as taken over from the Little Marnd, John realized, but with the shortage of manpower he had been given and his ambitions covering way morend than the now subordinate guild had ever done, that was just a question of time anyway. Probably not what Chemilia had in mind when he had called her just now, but he had to get this show on the road already.
This way, you wouldnt have to operate too far away from your centres of power, not lose anybody in offensives and get more representation, John continued to sell them the idea. A dash of realism would make this proposal more grounded, Of course, if we were to lose in a war, you would still have to fight the advancing enemy. Simrly, if there is a surprise attack, you are the first responders.
Against invaders, we would happily help, Ahanu assured. And if Fusion is something for which to fight its worth, we certainly would defend it in a losing war you started. With all the guarantees that John had made just now, that was met with widespread agreement. There were still one or two hecklers amongst the crowd, who drew out the final verdict by asking a lot of detail questions.
Definitely should raise my Charisma some more, John thought, not quite happy yet with his performance in negotiations. This new position in the military prompted a lot of interest in the exact system of draft, how the military was financed and so on.
John admitted that the exact style of leadership had to be redone, but for the remaining questions he had quite easy answers. There would be several systems of recruitment,rgely dependant on mobilization. Primarily, the army would be made up of people that chose to fight on their own ord. Since this was the Abyss and people that didnt specialize inbat spells couldnt really just be given a rifle and thrown out there (although there were definitely less effective methods), mass recruitment wouldnt be particrly effective.
To maintain a steady flow of potential soldiers, as well as a uniting culture, John did want to introduce a mandatory one-year training for people that reached adulthood. During desperate times, even those who decided not to join the army but had gone through that training would one by one be drafted. For the financing, the central government would handle all of it.
It was a pretty basic and well-oiled modern, western military system, with adjustments to be made for the Abyss and its different demands in terms of equipment, feeding, pay, shelter and all of that jazz.
I think we have heard enough, Ahanu spoke loudly when the discussion finally came to aplete stop, people happily chatting about other things as they ate the remaining cake. Everyone who is for the Hidden Tradition joining the federation Fusion lead by Collide? Was that the name?
Yeah what did you think?
Cnder was what went through my mind, to be honest, the Chieftain-Elect smiled apologetically. English isnt my firstnguage, you will have to take it slow with me.
No offence taken, John assured.
Yes anyway, everyone in favour, raise your hand. Out of the twenty-one present chieftains and other leaders, sixteen raised their arm immediately, with another three slowly joining and only two keeping their hands down. Anyone against? Not a single raised hand. Thus, the council of the Hidden Tradition decides for joining Fusion with 19 for, nobody against and two withdrawn votes. Thanks be to the ancestors and mother nature.
Thanks be to the ancestors and the blessed spirits, the room echoed and people suddenly pulled heavily decorated pipes out of pockets, regr or dimensional, along with wooden bowls and a number of bags of different herbs.
Now it is actually time for the peace pipe, Ahanu exined to John who made an unwilling face.
I am not keen on smoking, he admitted, hoping that wasnt too rude.
Dont worry, there is no tobo in the ceremonial mix used for approval of a treaty, the Chieftain-Elect assured as he grabbed several different herbs, tossed them all into the wooden bowl, mixed them with his hands and then put them in the elongated pipe. It didnt take long for it to be lit and, after Ahanu had his huff, he handed it to John with a sense of urgency.
Imagining that a denial here would be equivalent to refusing to sign a treaty, John grabbed it and carefully inhaled through the wooden, hollow stick. Nothing happened, so he pulled a bit harder and suddenly his entire mouth was full with the taste of jasmine and daisies. Although not unpleasant, it still scratched in his throat. His exhale was ungraceful, dominated by coughing and him handing the pipe back.
You really arent keen on smoking, Ahanu chuckled and took the pipe back.
After that things went down easefully. Elu was quickly agreed upon as the general that should stand in for the Hidden Tradition, which was only in Johns interest. With her level, be it only defensively, she would be a massively useful asset. Also, she could handle Eliza, which was its own useful skill to have.
One by one, the leaders excused themselves afterwards. With the ritual agreed to start tomorrow, with how much time they had wasted on discussion, there was little reason to stay outside of the goodpany. John himself was amongst thest five before he decided to wake up Eliza and they left.
Stretching, a yawn on her pulled back lips, Eliza stepped into the daylight with the Gamer. It wasnt thatte, barely even evening, but driving back to DC and their home would have only had the advantage of their own beds. John opted to find them a hotel instead and book a room.
Something wrong? John asked when Eliza stopped dead in her tracks while they walked up to the entrance. It was a pretty dull looking building, with presumably dull rooms, but it would do for the night.
Nah, just my own fucking paranoia, Eliza stated and they went inside. The transaction was pretty quickly done with and John was handed a key.
Granted, he had no intention of sleeping in the actual room, for the sole reason that he and Eliza would get noiseints if they didnt retreat into a barrier, but he would have felt odd not to pay when he had more than enough money. That and he was likely to use the shower, which he could hardly do inside a freshly created barrier.
So, what are we going to with the remaining time? Eliza asked, throwing herself on the bed, sprawling out her limbs and waving her arms like she could draw a snow angel into the sheet. I am up for fucking.
John still had a choice to make. Lets go on a date, he said just to break the ufortable silence that settled in the room when he didnt answer. We get to have sex all the time, how often is it just the two of us in a new town?
I dont really give a shit about exploring whatever city, the blood mage spoke her mind, but jumped back on her feet. But fuck it, I am down, where do we go?
Wherever we want within legal and geographic boundaries of course, John answered with a smirk. Then that smile suddenly died when he realized that heading out and parading through the city was a massive risk. What if they stumbled into Sigmund by pure chance? Would he be foolish enough to attack Eliza?
John blinked, a question bubbling to surface. One that he couldnt solve and had no time to either as Eliza was already stepping towards the door.
On second thought, lets stay, he hastily urged and grabbed her extended hand.
Eliza turned to look at his hand, then up to him. What the fuck is wrong with you today?! Immediately, she exploded into a tirade, You keep doing cryptic shit, keeping things from me and being way less decisive than usual. WHAT IS IT?!
I John inhaled deeply, very slowly building the sentence he wanted to say next before speaking it out loud. I dont know what to do, Eliza, about something that is urgent. Her expression melted in a mixture of shock and disbelief. In the reflection of her eyes, John could see his own vulnerable silhouette. I dont know which decision is better. One is definitely going to save us a headache in the long run, but the other every emotion in my body tells me to pursue. I have no fucking clue whether to go with what seems logical or what I feel is necessary.
The elementals all had weighed in on this decision and been unable to find the perfect answer either. Smander and Siena had had a clear answer, but even they admitted that they didnt know it was the best one. Although one option was dominated by emotion, both had their logical framework, both had their necessity, both had pros and cons, and what John wanted to go with went against what his Wisdom told him too.
Going with either could make what I unleash on the world ruin countless lives Eliza, I cant tell you the details, but what do you think I should do.
Do you have a coin? the blood mage asked, and Johnughed out loud.
Thats your idea to solve my conundrum? he was honestly amused. A coin flip?
Yeah, but listen to me, you annoying motherfucker, Eliza growled and snapped the dime from him when John pulled one out of his inventory. Not for the first and certainly not thest time, he wondered how the money he created with his ability was automatically part of the global finance system. Heads, you decide what you want to do, John opened his mouth to protest but the blood mage held his mouth shut with her left hand. No, dont protest, you brickhead. You are John fucking Newman, you hear me? Make your fucking decision like a man and then breed me, you cum dispensary. Somewhere between amused and actually intimidated, her hand was almost crushing his jawbone, he nodded. And if its tails, I tell you whether to do the stupid, emotional, crapshoot thing or the logical, smart, John-Newman-definitely-isnt-a-dumbass-robot-who-should-shut-the-fuck-up-and-just-do-somethings-sometimes thing.
I get the feeling you are biased, the Gamer joked when his face was released.
No really?! Eliza was properly worked up by now, her eyes spinning and her clenched fist almost colliding with the furniture, which would doubtlessly have resulted in shards of wood flying everywhere. What tipped you off, Shitlock?!
Eliza tossed the coin into the air with such force that her dark red fingernail damaged the metal. While it still tumbled, John tackled the smaller girl, threw her over the shoulder and marched to the bed. Behind him, the t piece of currency hit the carpet with a dull thump.
What side itnded on was of no matter.
Chapter 568 – Separation 6 – Site
Chapter 568 C Separation 6 C Site
Here you go. Johns tone wasnt just good, it was downright ecstatic, as he flicked something at Ahanu. Catching it barely, the Chieftain-Elect looked at the dime. The heads side of it had a long scratch running over it. John beamed with satisfaction, sses on his eyes, apanied by an Eliza that would have had dishevelled hair were it not gone for short, currently ck, stubbles. The buzzcut was just about the only thing depressing his mood.
He just felt like fate was finally swinging his way again. Granted, only the events over the course of the day would show this, but he had a n and, potential consequences aside, it was a pretty tight knit one. The beauty was in its simplicity and the fact that, if it failed, John won anyway. There was one particr unknown that still annoyed him, well, potentially two, but neither of them were necessary for this thing to work out.
Once he lowered his arms again, the Gamer continued, Keep it in a pocket you dont mind losing. It might stretch out the fabric and all that.
Alright, Ahanu seemingly got infected by Johns good mood. Slept well?
You have no FUCKING idea, Eliza giggled erratically as she grabbed Johns arm and clung to him like a very needy sack of bricks. I got absolutely HAMMERED, it was the greatest shit. If I was some disgusting normal bitch, I wouldnt be able to walk. My womb gotpletely bloated with cum and I fucking love it.
She still isnt pregnant, John jokingly added, an insider joke that flew over Ahanus head, but he got the gist of it.
Bit more than I needed to know, the leader of the Hidden Tradition giggled and then made an inviting gesture towards the car he hade in, anotherrge van of the mobile home variety. More of a bus, as John decided while they entered.
It had two floors, barely high enough that John wasnt afraid to bump his head every step, with a small kitchen and rtively spacious sitting area, as well as a bathroom containing a single toilet and a sink, on the lower floor. The upper floor had a bedroom and a proper sitting area.
So far the two things that seem to dominate the Hidden Tradition are smoking and a love for mobile homes, John thought as they gotfortable on the lower floor. Dont like the former, but thetter I can get behind. After looking around some more, John asked, Did an Abyssal make this?
I get the feeling youre asking something else C tea, water, anything else? Ahanu extended the question while standing in the kitchen. Aside from John and Eliza, Elu was also there. This mildly stimted Johns paranoid side. Being together with the two strongest members of the guild while on the way to the ce where Ahanu would have his maximum power. The mix of his good mood and theughable niceness of the Hidden Tradition made him disregard that feeling.
Notpletely, John wasnt even sure if he was able to not have second thoughts about everything at this point, but as much as he could.
Well, I have a follow-up question, but I would like to know that first, John retorted. Also, just some water is fine with me also, did you get the message I wrote you yesterday? In a pause of his, very thorough, love-making session with Eliza yesterday, he had updated the Native on his ns via a text message.
Elu responded before Ahanu had the opportunity, Yes, he did, next time alert us about such things in advance, please. I need my beauty sleep, the elderly woman was only partly joking. Im very old and dont want even more wrinkles also coffee.
Can I just drink semen straight from the cock? Eliza asked, ready to slide under the table. John grabbed her by the cor of his appropriated shirt. We got caught before, dont be such a sensitive, sissy dick!
There is a difference between being caught in the office and just doing it in front of people, the Gamer very clearly stated. And you have been insatiabletely, Jesus Christ almighty!
I am on my fertile period!
Youre always on your fertile period! John retorted. And you cant get pregnant through the mouth anyway!
I think we just havent tried it hard enough, the blood mage crossed her arms and nodded to herself as if she had just said something sagely. Just REALLY fuck me up and maybe my womb will smell all that cum in my stomach and slide up my body to suck it out?
That sounds absolutely disgusting, the Gamer pointed out.
Motherfucker, we had our first face to face conversation while you ripped nails out of my flesh, I think were beyond disgusting, Eliza giggled. How about kinky?
I do not consent to that whatsoever and I am the one of us supposed to enjoy pushing that boundary.
Thats because youre a lowkey pussy. Look at you, lifesaver Newman, always doing the good thing like an absolute faggot.
I mostly try to make this world a better ce! John got fake-outraged and pinched the moody submissive in the left cheek. Of the upper pair, not the downstairs ones. What are you doing, huh? Attach yourself to me like a leech, force me to look over you, shower you with love and attention, get my maid to cook for you and all I get in return is a cussing cursed cumbucket that cant even fight because the apocalypse lives in her head.
I mean yeah fuck Elizas mood swung to insecure. Sorry for being a para- Ah! She was interrupted when John pinched her again, the lower cheeks this time.
Stop being sorry, sweet little Eliza, and tell them what you want to drink already, he told her and kissed her neck. Make it something reasonable, he warningly whispered into her ear. Or Ill have to punish you.
Ill take a water as well, Eliza announced as the engine turned on.
Once they all had gotten their beverages, Ahanu going with tomato juice himself, the conversation continued. Ive heard of your sexual exploits, the Chieftain-Elect mused, but its way worse in person.
Once I get back onto CPDI, all doubts about how bad it is are going to disappear, John thought, desperately wanting to finally put his dick into that blonde catgirl. You shouldnt believe everything you hear about me, but that thing is true, John assured.
Like the rumour that you have a very small penis? Elu cackled.
I am sorry, what now? John asked and Eliza burst outughing. Because of how ridiculous that was, the Gamer hoped, not because he had made a sorry face. No, scratch that, I am not even honouring that with a response. Can we get back to the message?
The council came together on short notice and decided to minorly modify the ritual in response, Ahanu put it ambivalently, due to Elizas presence, but it was all John needed to know anyway.
Good then John sipped his water. Whether Sigmund knew where the ritual site was or not, the Gamer had wanted to assure that the Contenders appearance was a very real possibility. The ritual site itself would already be terrible coteral and the Gamer didnt want to sour his rtionship with the Hidden Tradition by making them an unwitting pawn in his schemes.
Halfway through her coffee, Elu became much more talkative. For the record, I wouldnt have said anything if she went with the cum option, the dirty granny announced and giggled when both men in the room groaned. Ahanu because he didnt want to see that and John because he hoped they were done with the topic.
She said it! I am getting under this fucking table! Elizas voice was almost up to screaming volume.
John had to once more grab her by the cor, and the rest of the ride was spent bantering quite friendly about this or that. Because of Eliza and Elu being absolute sleaze-bags and him being, well, him, the topics dipped into the sexual every so often. Sometimes there was an awkward silence, as there was between people that barely knew each other, but it all went quite well.
It was nice to know that he had yet more people he knew he could work with. Seems like for every Alexej, Sigmund or Herman, there are ten decent people out there, John reminded himself that humanity, as a whole, wasnt that bad.
The road eventually transformed into a bumpy ride as they got off the highway onto poorly maintained sideways and finally ended up on dirt. John suddenly realized that, with everything else that had derailed their conversation, he still hadnt gotten an answer to the first question he asked. So, was it an Abyssal that build this thing?
Oh, right, yeah, but there are no magicalponents, Ahanu told him. I assume that would have been your second question.
Yeah John looked around and wondered how much bigger he could make this thing. Legally speaking. There was always the option to use enchantments to make the inside bigger than the outside, but John wasnt exactly well-versed on the limitations on that technology. The people that could apply it were about as rare as natural Fateweavers, that much he was in the know about.
Thinking about getting one? Elu asked.
I already have a yacht for sea travels, but overnd Im currently reliant on other peoples charity or public transportation, he exined. And since I usually have a lot of my girls with me, having arge car with enough space would be good. Also, you know, beds are nice. He also wanted a private airne, or several, but that was nothing these people could help him with.
Quickly afterwards, Elu had given him the name, number and address of the person who had built both of their cars and John promised to look into it. Whether he would actually give the job to that person was a question he could only answer after considering what other people offered.
I should set Scarlett on that then again, she might get offended if I keep using her as my personal search engine, the Gamer was a bit amused at his own thoughts. The bus came to a soft halt soon after that. Are we there? John wondered, looking out of the window to find them on a pretty nondescript area somewhere in the Appchians.
The mountains surrounded them on all sides and continued as far as he could see in every direction, if they didnt simply block his vision. In a distant valley there was a town, from where they hade. Aside from that, it was all green trees and light stones.
Not exactly, but this is thest point the car can turn without problems, Ahanu exined. So we are going the rest of the way on foot.
Wanting toin that having a hardly essible centre of power seemed impractical, John bit the inside of his cheek. Not only did that gravesite predate modern roads, he knew that the remote location was part of the point. The mere existence of the gravesite lent people of the Hidden Tradition power when they were nearby, they didnt even need to be in the barrier itself.
Ahanu stepped off the road and Elu followed him with a grace that no sane person would have expected from such an old, thindy. Due to their remote location and theck of mundane people around, none of them felt particrly inclined to hide their supernatural physiology. Neither were they about to start throwing fireballs, they simply jumped past or climbed over obstacles in ways above the normal.
Not that this was needed too often. Although John couldnt see it, Ahanu was clearly guiding them along a path up the mountain. The summerly warmth was greatly reduced between the height and the canopies of the trees. With disdain, John watched his suit get stuck on a splintered piece of wood and rip. With this normal piece of cloth, he definitely wasnt dressed for the asion. Honestly, he was more bothered by the torture his Overwatch shirt went through.
Mind changing into your robe? John asked when they stopped for a moment so that Ahanu could orient himself. Didnt seem like he was lost and Elu also hadnt said anything, but better safe than sorry. I really like that shirt.
Because of the logo or because I wore it? Say the right thing! Eliza asked as she was already peeling herself out of it. This is actually easier without any hair, shemented, the Gamer hoping that she wouldnt start thinking about keeping this hairstyle.
Well, its going to smell better than before, John fully admitted, quickly changing topic, as he inspected the partly torn piece of his gaming wardrobe. Sap stuck to some of the fabric. It exuded sweetly the natural musk of Eliza, her sweat and whatever shampoo she had used in the hotel. He tossed it into his inventory and then pulled out her robe. While she was on it, Eliza also got out of her leather pants. Underneath, she wore the usual ck pieces, held together by metal rings.
Now, if we get caught, people will think I am a massive fucking freak, Eliza pointed out with an adoringly insane grin on her cute face.
I can guarantee that nobody is behind us, John promised, leaning against a stone that overlooked the path they hade from and the phenomenal mountainside. This bit further up, and with a clear look between the trees, the sight only got more beautiful. If he had nowhere to be, he could have sat there for a little while and studied all the details and the patterns that continental drift had caused the mountains to rise in. He got to rest in that position for long enough before they continued making their way.
The barrier was muchrger than John had thought. They entered while still enveloped by trees, and it took them a solid ten minutes of walking straightforward, a well-trodden path suddenly appearing under their feet, before they arrived at the actual gravesite.
The ridge of the mountain had been modified. Where the rise should have curved back into a fall, it instead formed a roughly circr cliff that rose out of the forest floor. Atop of the teau stands a massive construction of trees, y and stone. The interconnected branches reminded John, in arrangement and form, of an arena, the colosseum in Rome even. Where the arches of that building had been orderly and led into a structure, however, these were archaic in position and size and led only into a hollow center.
Stone covered many of the trees or supported branches too thin to bear their load by forming mighty pirs of grayish white or red. y coveredrge cocoons, for ack of a better word, that were hung into the arch-like windows between the trunks through an assortment of taut strings that seemed like oversized dreamcatchers.
The size and shape of those pieces of impressive, if simple, pottery gave John the hunch that he was looking at the caskets holding the mortal remains of the past leaders. The floor was simple, even stone. Numerous members of the Hidden Tradition stepped out from behind the trees and took a clearly pre-coordinated position.
We should not disturb the ancestors for longer than necessary, Ahanu said. Although John sort of wanted to see the ritual happen unobstructed, he had been told before that he was to clear the direct premise, so he nodded and left the circle of trees after kissing Eliza one more time.
If the ritual stops, stay right here until Ie and get you, okay? he whispered to her.
Alright, the pretty little psycho pulled him back into another meeting of their lips, only then was he allowed to go.
John looked over his shoulder once he was outside of the grave-circle again, to see incorporeal forms of humans, surprisingly clearly defined, settled on the floor. A ritualistic song in the native tongue began and the Gamer felt a tightening in his chest, hoping that none of the choices he had made on the way here were wrong.
He sat down under a tree and watched as best he could from his position. The spirits soon transformed into a vortex of energy that spun around the girl, his girl, in the center of it all. Minutes passed, then an entire hour. ''If what they were doing wasn''t working, they would have stopped the ritual by now,'' John thought, more and more realizing that the horror of Thana may soon be removed from his life.
He turned inwards, to watch things elsewhere and noticed a certain pair.
Chapter 569 – Separation 7 – Invaded [Seminaris POV]
Chapter 569 C Separation 7 C Invaded [Seminaris POV]
The prior day.
Seminaris was standing at top of a building and looking down on a hotel entrance, watching the Gamer and this interestingpanion enter. Well, about to enter. The small girl stopped for a moment and looked in Seminaris'' direction. Standing perfectly still, she trusted in the invisibility that the other woman on the roof had put around the two of them.
The girl turned around again and Seminaris took onest nce at her aura. John Newman was as strong as ever, a blue that gradually shifted into a golden white, tinged with the colors of the elements, all ovepping and separating again. Strong, but not strong enough to be of any more interest for her ends of strengthening her king candidate.
The crimson onught that surrounded this woman, however, was a different topic. Like a thick drop of blood in the pond of reality it hung around her, edges continuously dispersing in an archic fashion, but the core strong and nigh impossible to see through, like thousands of sheets of stained ss stacked on top of each other. Each as thin as paper. Each cracked.
So, what do your eyes tell you? Thresta asked.
That you''re correct, Seminaris looked over to her sister with a moderate amount of repulsion. The Third of Darkness held true to her title. Brown skin of a shade that it was almost ck, a bald head, even the clothes of this age she wore were of the same style of the one she had preferred in ancient Akkad. Where the athletic woman''s eyes had normally been a dark brown, they were now a bright silver, two shining stars on a being of stealth.
It wasn''t Thresta''s choice, at least Seminaris sure hoped so. Foregoing their search for a new king in favor of some god''s ambition was uneptable. No matter if that god had an important part to y in their creation.
The Third of Darkness'' own aura was almost invisible, even to Seminaris'' eyes, a very thin smoke centimeters around the skin, dominated by an artificial blue that mimicked the aura of a mundane person. Enki sends me valuable information, Seminaris returned, having already heard why the Gamer was in this corner of the world. Apparently, the girl with him was possessed by a powerful spirit, something that Seminaris'' eyes confirmed. However, that something wasn''t making her more powerful. The aura disyed shows no power sealed underneath. This ''Eliza'' truly would be a challenge for my Sigmund. A somewhat easy one, but I won''tin about this find.
Father Enki, Thresta corrected with a sharp tone in her voice.
A father of mine he might be, but not in any involved enough capacity that I would honour him with that title, Seminaris denied and challengingly stared back. There was no need to kiss up to her. She was just a puppet dancing to the star gods tunes, with no autonomy, nevertheless power, to hurt the First of Patience.
One day, all shall call him by what he truly deserves, the Third of Darkness promised, then vanished into thin air, the invisibility spell that had previously covered Seminaris now limited to only herself.
Unafraid of being seen by the normal people in their houses or on the streets, Seminaris walked away. While not as impressive as Serestras cloaking spell, the weakest of the trio wouldnt be foolish enough to simply spit the First of Patience back into view. Gaia would do more harm to her than to Seminaris in such a case.
She descended off the roof via a staircase. Certainly, she could have created a portal back to her stay by opening an Illusion Barrier and casting there, but the little walk gave her time to think. This was the first time since Babylon that Enki had approached her. Millennia passed in which she hadnt even been sure if the whispered mentions of his name were truly him. Even now, she couldnt be sure this was truly the god or some form of imposter.
Perhaps I should have looked into this in the past, Seminaris thought but didnt keep herself on that for too long. Rarely had she operated in as much as the same continent in the past millennia and there was only so much information she had the time to uncover. Even rarer had it been that she had been given as free reign as she was currently. Much of her time had been spent serving an entirely unworthy man. One whose murder at the hands of her current master she still remembered fondly.
Should I tell Sigmund about this? Seminaris wondered, weighing her options. Attacking the Gamer again could prove detrimental in the long-term. The First of Patience was ying a finely bnced game between providing new challenges to her master and weakening every power around them equally while doing so.
Should Sigmund just smash the leadership of one area, they would be left for annexation by another force. If repeated too often, they would grow an opposition that even the Contender wouldnt be able to beat. Seminaris couldnt have that, so she guided her master into different directions. Whenever there was nothing more to fight, she would put it to him that being king was a challenge all of its own.
Of course, Sigmund wasnt fit to be a ruler, every oaf with a pair of eyes could see that. He was an impatient man, with an appetite for everything in spades and who liked to solve things by himself rather than to lead an army. However, all he needed to be was king, the ruling he could always leave to her. Seminaris smirked at the idea. Administering an empire from thep of a powerful lord, that was the position she had been born for and the one she yearned to fulfil once more.
Sigmund was ideal for this.
Right now, they were facing a shortage of enemies, however. The Contender was strong, not strong enough that Seminaris wanted to goad him into conquest yet, but too strong to find enemies for him easily. A problem she had seening years ago but couldnt do much in preparation for. Not like the supply of challenges was in her hand.
Her original n had been to invade the Lake Alliance, only to go and face whoever led the Hidden Tradition in their inner sanctum afterwards. Getting that information without the inte had been a truly grinding effort. Soon I can afford carrying one of these phones with me everywhere, she thought, making an annoyed expression as she strutted through the mostly empty streets. The knowledge of the entire Abyss Auction at her fingertips and she couldnt use it because that was simply asking to be located by Technomancers.
Instead she had to rely on the old-fashioned informants that hung out in shady corners at the edge of town. Those always had a bit more to tell in specifics, but never told the broad stories. Luckily, her eyes and those specifics were all she needed to make out who was a proper challenge and who wasnt.
Eliza was a bit weak. Clearly strong enough to fight Sigmund but nowhere near equal. That was better than being stronger than her master, but not quite what she wanted. The Contender had to be carefully presented with enemies he could beat while still presenting a danger, but not enough danger that Seminaris had to be worried. Sigmund himself had no idea she was doing this, since he trusted her so deeply. Which was good, his power seemed to reward him more the more threat he went through; there was no telling how him knowing his road was paved would influence this.
This cement made Eliza someone to be confronted sooner rather thanter. One more power boost and Sigmund may not even gain anything from fighting her anymore. That would be a shame. Resource management aside, Seminaris thought, the Gamer survived and this could be a problem in the long run
Currently, John Newman wasnt a threat, but he may very well grow to be one. Sigmunds final attack had miraculously spared him, but left him blind if those informants could be trusted. Once more, Seminaris clicked her tongue in annoyance. Being off the grid truly was bothersome for details like these.
There were two good reasons to fight Eliza at the current, therefore. Just her alone wouldnt be the challenge needed, however. Then all we need to do is drag some more people into the fight, Seminaris thought and the situation finally formed in her head. Thresta,e out, I need to talk to you again, Seminaris said after stepping into an alleyway.
The dark-skinned Third of Darkness suddenly appeared once more. Seminaris hadnt sensed her, not exactly anyway, but there was no way Thresta would ever leave without her mission confirmed. Since Enki clearly, for whatever reason, wanted Sigmund to fight Eliza, she would be around until that fight concluded. Seminaris figured that the star god wanted to remove eitherpetitor from the match, which one didnt matter. A truly arrogant way to approach this, to feed the lion with a wolf and assume it couldnte back to hurt him, Seminaris thought, her aristocraticposure hiding her amusement.
What is it? Thresta asked, clearly still annoyed about earlier.
If John Newman leaves with the Hidden Tradition, inform me, Seminaris smirked; if that woman alone wouldnt be a true challenge, how about another small army, with the two top members of that guild, on top? That might actually prove a little too much, so Seminaris would remove the Gamer from that engagement and take care of that problem herself. What struggle could a blind man put onpared to Metra?
In one fell swoop, Seminaris would strengthen her master, get a possible favour with Enki and remove the future threat of John Newman. It all worked perfectly. It wouldnt work if he just went home, but maybe he wanted to further his diplomatic efforts or something. She didnt particrly care. If he went home instead, well, then they would just continue as previously nned. An opportunity wasted, but an opportunity out of her hands.
When that happens, Sigmund will fight Eliza, Enki will get what he wants and so will we.
Thresta agreed with a grim expression.
__________________________________________________________________________
The day of the ritual
Seminaris still felt his thrusts against her groin when she peeled out of the sheets and hugged Sigmunds massive back. A hand trailed his muscles, rippling with strength far beyond the natural. She remembered a time when she could have counted the ribs on his narrow frame with her eyes alone. Three or four years back. The transformation had been steady.
Together with the power came the scars, however. Fine lines from clean des joined the unclear outlines of fire sts and the forked figures of electrocutions. Although the bed was not the silk she craved and Sigmund, sitting at the edge of the bed, was quiet, she felt happy. A puppet, that was what she used him for, but there was no reason not to love ones puppet. Gepetto had done so enough to create a real person, Gilgameshs brother had formed a dragon god from y and metal, dering him his favourite creation. Compared to that, what she felt for Sigmund was almost normal.
Today you will fight again, Sig, she promised him. The Contender suddenly tensed and turned to her. This was the first he heard of this.
You have found someone? he asked with excitement. While he may have been clueless as to Seminaris bncing of his encounters, the fact that she was the one guiding him was the very fundament of their rtionship.
Two working eyes red at her with excitement and Seminaris grinned back. The eye he had lost when fighting a lesser dragon had returned to him after the recent victory. Indeed, all of his body had been repaired through his magnificent ability. The half of his left foot that he had lost to the maw of a Deepmaw. A hollow part of his right biceps where a Shadowcrawler had ripped the muscle in half. Even the arm that John Newman had obliterated had returned, although having regenerated around the demonic energies of Ifrit had left it with scorched ck marks running over every single vein. Only the scars remained now, the crippling wounds had been removed.
Not only had Sigmund grown stronger from that fight at the White House, his body was entirely restored. Even Metra wouldnt stop him now. If they just kept her away from the ocean, Sigmund would clean the floor with Seminaris wrathful elder.
Like every great man that the First of Patience had ever known, the Contenders body was a canvas for his story, made up by the myriads of people who managed to wound him before their own tales ended. Every scar was a battle, a mistake and a lesson. Eternalized into flesh and seldom gotten rid off for some reason. Those who fought for their beliefs often wore their scars as marks of pride.
Yes, Seminaris confirmed, she didnt need to exin it to him. All he wanted to know was where. Who or why wasnt important, and the when was already clear. Such simplicity, she mused to herself.
It didnt take too long for Thresta to inform Seminaris that John Newman had begun to move. By car of all things. They followed them invisibly, the Third of Darkness cloaking their moves until they arrived at the mountain side. Sigmund wanted to go after them immediately, but Seminaris convinced him to wait for a few hours. She knew the location of their target already and it was best to give them time to gather.
But eventually they ascended to the ritual site. It was an annoying path, one where Thresta refused to aid them any longer and once more returned to her private invisibility. If she was still around, Seminaris could make a very educated guess on.
Why dont we just teleport there if you know the location? Sigmund wanted to know, his entire body trembling with anticipation. Branches snapped wherever her passed, the giant of a man, more than two heads taller than Seminaris, uncaring for the nature he trampled through.
I will need my strength to remove a pest from the site, Seminaris exined simply. A special ability that she carried through every incarnation was her Blessing of Preparation. The longer she waited between two spells cast, the stronger the next one would be, up to a maximum. To assure that she could fight John Newman somewhere else, maybe even kill him outright, it was best to have that tool charged. Teleporting there would ruin my preparations, as annoying as it is. She stared at a thorny nt that got stuck on the skirt of her grey dress. The Astrotium didnt tear, of course not, but it was annoying nheless. Sigmund stomped the branch down while she ripped herself free, then he pulled her up a rock.
Brutish and at times pretty simple, her master was at least courtly towards her.
They passed by a rock that overlooked the phenomenalndscape and the path they hade from without taking a single look around. Their goal wasnt far from there, and so they tested for an Illusion Barrier every few metres. Although Seminaris knew the area, the exact entrance was still something they had to find.
Or would have, rather, if John hadn''t sat in their path.
Chapter 570 – Separation 8 – Prepared
Chapter 570 C Separation 8 C Prepared
John undid the Possessions he had left along the ascension path. Their purpose had been fulfilled and there was no reason for John to keep spending that mana. Only two more Possessions stayed in ce afterwards, his sses and the coin he had flicked at Ahanu earlier. Even that was separated once John made the coin heavily vibrate in the man''s pocket. After all, the targets had arrived.
That Sigmund waspletely restored, from his arm to his eye, was something that John simply took as it was. It pissed him off hugely, new limbs and eyes bought by tearing apart the lives and bodies of hundreds of others. Selfish indulgence rewarded with a body stronger than 99.9% could even dream off.
Him again? Sigmund asked. The Gamer is not a challenge anymore, Sam. I am not even sure if he was the first time we met.
Quietly, John clenched his fists. That was absolutely correct, but that didn''t mean it was any less of a dent in his pride. ''Soon I won''t have to hear that fucker ever again,'' he thought, ncing over to Seminaris.
It was paramount to get Seminaris to use that first spell on him. Everything afterward was going to be a simple question of time. No, he isn''t who you''re here to fight, Seminaris told her master and smirked at John. He just happened to know Eliza.
''Wait, they''re here for Eliza?'' John blinked in confusion. That they came to fight him in addition to another army or just Ahanu, that had been his expected reasons for their invasion. ''Can''t ask them quite yet,'' he scolded himself and said what he needed to say. Look, I can only give you the warning, turn around or die.
Ultimately, their reason for being here didn''t matter. Only that they were here did. If it were up to John, he would have taken them ignoring the warning every day of the week. His mind was made up after everything. Ironically, the true win for him (and the world atrge) would be if what he wanted didn''t happen.
He is threatening us, Seminaris giggled. Sig, feel free to ignore the puppy. They both raised their hands and John immediately followed into the barrier.
The storm of blue light within the monument was still whirling atop the mountain ridge, a swarm of souls confined to an arena of ancestors and nature itself. Immediately, Sigmund knew where his target was. Seminaris raised an eyebrow, Seems like we''re interrupting something.
I am serious the Gamer began, but Sigmund was already stomping forwards.
Four elementals manifested around him, only to immediately switch into their item forms and wrap themselves around the Contender. A chattering, greenish air spirit first, pvering about the fun they were going to have today, turned into an amulet that settled around Sigmunds neck. Second, a woman made from flowing blood, a ck skeleton floating loosely inside. Still a liquid, she flowed over Sigmunds body and covered his skin up to the corbone. Third came the armour, born from a woman with skin as ck as obsidian, with a voluptuous curvy body that was covered by nothing, yet she covered Sigmund entirely once she turned into the stone te. Last was the ck manta ray, the shadow spirit flew one circle around his contractor, barely bigger than Stirwin at first, then turned into the ck, tattered cape that hung from Sigmunds back.
Extending his hand into the air, gripping into a pocket space, the ck swordsman retrieved thest bit of his equipment. Bit by bit, the massive ymore Tietan was pulled from nowhere, energy rippling through the air as the semi-sentient sword writhed invisibly with anticipation.
The Contender didnt take further notice of John, not even of the fact that the Gamer was standing in the way. With the same amount of effort or care that it would take someone to pass through a door, Sigmund shoved John to the side. Letting it happen, John flew a solid two metres to the right, his sses flying off his nose andnding somewhere else entirely. In response to the threat, and to restore Johns field of view, his elementals manifested. Undine took her usual spot around his arm.
Have fun, Sig, Seminaris shouted after him and the Contender gave a quiet thumbs-up that may have looked cool if John hadnt hated the mans guts.
Youre going nowhere! John shouted, clearly telegraphing his attack where he normally would have simply thrown a Shardbound. As he wanted, the response came immediately. Seminaris produced her staff from nowhere. The small scythe-like de at the top cut into space itself as she quickly whirled it around. John, the ground hey on, the elementals around him, they all were suddenly ced elsewhere.
And then he began to fall. Gravity pulled the Gamer down, just like it did with Seminaris. Clouds soared around them; the First of Patience said something mocking but the rushing of air made it impossible to make out. They were high above ground, that much John could discern rather easily. Some Protected Space in the distance that Seminaris had chosen to use as the dumping ground.
If there was one weakness within Seminaris teleporting powers that John knew about, it was that the First of Patience always teleported herself along with her unwilling victims, even when using it aggressively. The drawback of being contracted as a supporting force, most likely. It would have been a problem for John if she was still with Sigmund, assuring his retreat.
A short skirmish exploded in the sky. Smander and Sylph circled around the flying Seminaris and bombarded her with spells. Something that turned out to be a massive mistake as the First of Patience opened portals all around her that flung the attacks of one at the other. No damage was taken by either side, Sylph darting off to the side while the endme elemental waved away her sisters misguided attacks with a wall of me.
They were at a stalemate, but John just smiled as he followed all of this with the borrowed eyes. Falling like a literal rock at his side, Gnome was way more startled at their elerating fall. Even the earth spirits words were dragged away.
Just go incorporeal, he told her with some amusement, himself uncaring about the fall. Following that advice, the brte vanished into thin air, as did Siena, while John ordered back Sylph and Smander. There was no sense in attacking Seminaris right now, not if she just flung every attack back at them. John also wasnt exactly hard-pressed to defeat her.
Which turned out to be a bit of arrogance on his side. While Seminaris couldnt forcefully teleport someone else without her apanying her victim, the same could not be said for people going through portals that she opened in their path. Evidently having deemed John to have reached terminal velocity, she opened a portal under him that connected straight to the ground.
With a jolt of panic so intense that it synced his mind up with Sylph, he and the thunderstorm elemental came to the immediate solution for this problem in the form of a massive gust of wind that threw the Gamer sideways. Not watching that idly, Seminaris opened another portal a few momentster.
With even his sses ripped away, the Possession too distant to still use it, all the Gamer could do was feel his body tumbling through the air and watch it happen through the perspective of Sylph. It was like he was the ball in a funfair game. Which, given that it was giving him absolutely terrible nausea, was everything but fun.
The game came to a sudden and thankful end when Smander caught him by the arm and slowed him down to a gentle floating the rest of the way to the ground. Well, that was something, John shook his head and held onto his fire spirit; even while blind everything was swirling. All that tumbling had thrown his bnce in aplete mess.
Reaching around himself, John felt soft soil under his shoes and the gentle tickle of wheat against his palms. He was standing in a field somewhere, a clearly magical house, the top floor was floating, in the distance. Some Abyssal had found his love in agriculture and his field would now be used as a battleground, it seemed. The Gamer just hoped the explosions in the sky had been enough to tip whoever was living here off that they had to leave for a few hours.
Seminarisnded a few metres away from John, settling softly amongst the golden corn. All about her was a confident defence pose, one that transformed into a rxed mockery when John began tough. Did your bad luck turn you insane? the First of Patience asked. I have to admit, running into Sigs path thrice is
No, no, no, John waved off mockingly staring in her direction with his milky eyes. You dont know, thats whats funny. Seminaris tilted her head in an amused fashion, still thinking he was going cuckoo. I wondered again and again, howe you risked killing me? With Eliza around, I thought people would be wiser than that. Now I get it, a lot of people just dont take it seriously, because they dont know everything and YOU just dont know at all.
Taking a pause to fix his suit, the Gamer revelled in seeing the ck-haired woman catch onto the fact that there was something amiss. Nevertheless, she was maintaining her perceived superiority. I looked at your Eliza, Seminaris let him know with a smirk on her own. My eyes perceive all power, and I can tell you as a matter of fact, she is weaker than Sigmund is right now.
Okay, John shrugged. Good thing he isnt fighting her then. Now Seminaris gaze became bewildered, and John, although he should have yed for time, couldnt help but gloat. Do you really think I wouldnt have made a n for you the third time around? I was expecting you toe around, especially once I learned you were in the city.
More and more, the First of Patience lost her cool. Not because she necessarily thought John was telling the truth by the contents of his words, but because he was standing there with such an utterck of care for her opinion that she couldnt help but ept what he was saying. At the very least, she had to seriously consider the possibility.
Ahanu, his bodyguard, they all left already. They retrieved their most venerated ancestors and brought them somewhere else, all because I informed them that THIS was so likely to happen. You dont know whats inside Eliza and neither do you know what ritual you interrupted. THATS what is funny, John pulled his belt into the correct position and was finally done fixing his attire. I had two choices regarding this. Either I could have postponed the ritual, told Ahanu to hide somewhere and just wait until you were sighted at some part of the continent where it would have been impossible for you toe back in time.
John maybe you shouldnt hold a viin monologue? Gnome carefully interrupted.
Shut up, this is great! Smander and Siena disagreed vehemently at the same time.
I could have freed Eliza from her burden more reliably this way. Granted that you wouldnt have found and killed them anyway. Granted that she wouldnt have further melded until then. Granted, that you would wreak yet more havoc upon my territories, ruined the lives of how many more opponents and innocent bystanders, John went with the advice from the less morally righteous this time. It just felt too good to stand here and exin the demise of the Contender, watch his most trusted ally listen in shock. Or I could have went ahead with the ritual. Be it Ahanu or whatever else you wanted to challenge, they were the bait to get you here.
Bait to what end?! Seminaris wasnt even pretending to still be superior at this point.
The smile on Johns face died off. This path would, with the utmost guarantee, block the ritual from seeding the next time around. It would leave him and Eliza in the same situation as before. The removal of one uncontroble maniac came at the cost of a flesh made apocalypse continuing to roam the earth.
Simply said, there was no telling what would have happened in either case. It may very well be that Eliza remained in control until the end of her life, making this choice meaningless. It may also be that the decision today would end countless more lives in the long run than Sigmund could have ever imed.
Between two horrible decisions, John had taken the less reliable one. A sin that the Gamer was willing to bear. Because the initial reward for this would be the death of someone he hated. Because he trusted Eliza. Because the enemy he knew was better than the enemy he didnt.
I lost to you once, there is absolutely no denying that, John admitted freely. Your brute force overcame what ns and precautions I had in ce. I prioritized things wrongly because Sigmund meddling in this seemingly anarchic way wasnt something I thought was likely. This time, I might not win, what I really wanted will be impossible to attain, but the only loss today will be your king candidate reduced to a broken mess. I dont have to win against him myself, I just have to know the real challenge. The word dripped in disdain, both for Sigmund and the entity John was using to get rid of him. He may be stronger than Eliza, but can he defeat the goddess of genocide?
Seminaris mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to retort. There were no gods within humans. Whatever other entity he was talking about, she would have seen its power. Her opponents confident stance silenced all of those words before they could even surface.
John had already realized that the separation that fooled Observe would have also fooled any sort of aura sight. How would Seminaris see what Romulus himself hadn''t been able to? I guess you are quite patient, the Gamer was smirking again, openly mocking Seminaris as she threw her hand up and tried to leave the barrier. John''s Fateweaver levels prevent this. And I guess you would have a lot of people to look into, being just one person. Why read up on the person Sigmund has already shown he can beat, he gestured at himself. How would you find out about Thana without an entire information apparatus? Neither she or her host has done anything on this continent since we arrived. Don''t take it too hard on yourself.
Going for another approach, Seminaris whirled her staff around, about to open a portal. There was no way she was able to get all the way back to where they came from, she had nowhere enough Spellpower build up. However, John wasn''t going to allow her to try.
The earth under the First of Patience''s feet ruptured and their fight began. What should have been their objectives in Seminaris mind, John now had forced to reverse. One fights to flee and the other fights to dy. As Seminaris dodged the attack by flying upwards, John heard something. Through the miniscule bit of a connection he still had with his sses.
It was the earth-shattering scream of Thana awoken.
Chapter 571 – Separation 9 – Sacrificed [Sigmund POV]
Chapter 571 C Separation 9 C Sacrificed [Sigmund POV]
The Contender only modified at the depression in the ground left by his beloved Seminaris and her teleportation. It was a scarily smooth, half-orbital thing, as if someone had scooped an ice-cream spoon full of dirt from the world. It was really fortunate that this power couldn''t be used to cut people in half, otherwise Seminaris could make short work of any challenge that came her master''s way.
And Sigmund wouldn''t have wanted that.
His weight caused his feet to sink several centimeters into the dirt with every step. The segmented armor was heavy on his already massive body. Although he couldn''t wait to fight, he almost slowly. The anticipation in the air was palpable. The storm of blue energy whirled from within and extended far above the arena of stone and ancient trees.
Never had Sigmund felt so close to ultimate victory. Yes, every fiber of him was ready for fulfillment. This was the ce of his final challenge. Whatever opponent waits for him, it will be the fight of a lifetime and his victory will ascend him to his ultimate form. Once he won? The Contender didn''t waste time thinking about it. Something was to be found. A hero such as him, someone who overcame adversity after adversity, never faltering in the eyes of an enemy, with strength and the power of his will, there would be something he could direct his greatness towards once he had maximized his potential.
He still remembers that day. When the enchanted knifey heavily in his hand, the wizard that had dragged him from the mundane world weakened by Gaia''s curse. A difficult fight though. One that he wouldn''t even have fought were it not for the sweet whispers of Seminaris in his ear. His guiding light through it all, the woman that had seen him ascend from a weak-minded boy to a legend.
One more step and his feet carried him over the solidity of stone. The raised tform had that artificial smoothness that, in this dimension of a single melded unit of stone, was hardly found anywhere. Soon, it would all be splintered under the might of his conquest. He approached the massive trunks. They vanished into the ground without a single root in sight. Still smooth, the stone cked when the obsidian boots collided with it.
One, two, three, four full steps it took Sigmund to pass the tree. They might just survive this battle, Sigmund marvelled at the mighty nt before finally passing into the heart of the battleground.
It was perfect. No obstructions anywhere, an empty arena where their fight could be etched into the surroundings. The pottery with unknown purpose and primitive design hung from the many branches like strangely vignt acorns.
DO-nt fee- a disembodied voice spoke to Sigmund. The whirls of blue energy pulled together into human forms, strangely elongated. Only their faces manifested in their entirety. An endless stream of visages, each adding a scramble to one of several ongoing, confused sentences. Die Dont You must... feed Why must you be here? her dont Why is he feed Here? blind? You made the littledy Die Sad Feed Our little Lady.
Die. Sigmund. Do. Not. Feed. Her. Why. Is. Our. Lady. Sad? Freedom. Was. So. Close. Turn. Around. And. Die. For. Our. Ladies. Painting. You. Will. Be. The. Next. Of. Us. Die. Sad. Feed. Free. Die. Sad. Feed. Free. Die. All thats human will be set aze.
Sigmund waved his hand when he no longer felt like listening to the rambling spirits, their warning just faint nonsense in his ears. There had been dragons that had tried to persuade him to kill their rivals instead on his journey. Ancient mages guarding secrets, protected by a maze of riddles. He wouldnt be dissuaded by feeble illusions like this. The wave of his arm caused the blue mist to tear and gave him a nce at his opponent. A momentter, he was able to see her more clearly.
She was a small woman. Not the smallest, not by far, but below average. Her hair was shaved off, white stubbles on a sickly pale head. The bluish tones of her skin were only elevated by the tendrils of luminescent blue that connected her with the storm around. A storm that seemed to slow down when she turned towards Sigmund.
She had a cute face, despite the somewhat corps-y colouration of her features. Simultaneously, her opened robe and leather wear barely covered more than the bare necessities. Purplish lips and eyebrows contorted in confusion. The true purple were her eyes, which Sigmund spied even from the dozen metres now between them to have the look of shattered crystal to them. Seven golden dots surrounded a golden ring around the iris of the right eye. In the left, four of them had transformed into lines, piercing that ring. On both sides, they were slowly spinning.
Who the fuck are you? she asked in a voice that started at an almost painfully high pitch and ended in an unsteady deep. As she spoke, Sigmund caught a look at her teeth. Perfectly white, set in perfect order and glistening with immense sharpness. The ritual was working, so why the shit do they send you in now?
I am Sigmund the littledy froze, her eyes going wide, wider, until the white framed the brilliant violet. and you must be Eliza. The Contender felt like at least that introduction was the little bit of courtesy he owed an enemy. If there was a heaven, they deserved to know what man had yed them. I am here to chal-
Sigmund? a whispered word robbed the Contender of his voice. The air suddenly changed; the howling storm of souls began to change. Intoughter and sobs, as the ck swordsman realized after a few moments. Madughter and sobs of the deepest sorrow. Sigmund?! the littledys hair began to grow rapidly as her convulsing jaw snapped closed repeatedly with chopping sounds. Everything about her seemed tensed to the point that her body was trembling. Trembling with rage and hate.
The spinning gold came to aplete halt. All dots and lines seemed to shift between those two stages for several seconds, as if they couldnt decide in what shape to stay. Confusion settled upon the entire ce. Laughter and sobs merged. Elizas fingers curled into bizarre figures. Bones cracked under the surface. White, white, her hair flowed on, then, suddenly, it shifted into azure, just past the jawline.
With a terrible ripping sound her jaw unhinged, ripping open her cheeks. No blood sttered, only forming needle like protrusions that surrounded her still bone-white teeth, as she screamed a single word. His name. SIGMUUUUUUND!!! It had something wolfish about it, something hungry, vengeful and as clean as the ash settling from an inferno.
The Contender was ripped out of his paralysis and charged wildly. Whether it was fear that guided that action or the usual reckless abandon, there was no telling. Tietan soared through the air, mithril singing as Sigmunds mana flowed through the handle. He had a lot of it, too much in fact, with no idea how to use any magic himself aside from that which his equipped elementals granted to him. Like his strength, he used it with little refinement. His sheer willpower and might carrying him forwards.
Still, the attack seemed so incredibly slow. The two-hander left its ce across his shoulders, described arge arc, and while it descended, Sigmund could see the change in the littledys eyes. The quivering of the dots came to a stop. They looked the same as they had before she had heard his name. Then one more of the dots turned into a line. Then the entire thing inverted, only five dots existing. Then those began to spin slowly. The edge of Tietan reflected in them.
Then the weapon sunk into her. Slicing bone as cleanly as skin, brain matter or anything else. Through her head, throat, corbone, shoulder, the de went, then exited from her side. The right part of her body slumped to the ground like butchers meat left off the hook.
For a moment, Sigmund was relieved. The challenge he had wanted had turned out to be disappointing, but that fear was gone. He inhaled joyfully, keeping his eyes on his de and waiting for the sound of the rest of her flesh to fall to the floor. No such sound came. No blood soiled the floor. Except for the body part he had just cleaved off. Slowly he raised his gaze.
Air clung to the inside of his lungs. Blood pumped quicker and quicker through his veins. Terror permeated him and his entire vision got stuck on that smile. Half a face, one eye, a ripped open cheek, it was looking at him with such absolute glee that it was hardly fathomable. With every beat of his heart, the edge of his vision seemed to grow darker. His body felt like it was decaying next to her, his tissue ailing, his cells exploding, his organs failing. Only because he was bent forwards from his strike were they even on the same level, yet he was feeling like a bunny before the wolf.
A gurgling sound echoed from her cut-open windpipe. Short bursts of it, repeating quickly. Sigmund was still staring only at her face, his vision reduced to a ck tunnel were the only baleful light was the gold of her eye. Eyes, momentster, as the crimson life flowed from her intact skull outwards, shaping what was missing, turning into bone, muscle fibre, finally skin and details. The gurgle became a giggle, becameughter, as the sickly skin of her regenerated half turned entirely white. Liquid bone spilled out of her pores, covering the right half of her face in some sort of mask, smooth except for the holes over the eye.
When she opened her mouth, it shattered along her nightmarish maw. Three rows of teeth went along that side, human, needle-shaped blood and cracked, jagged bone. Now the ghoulish colour of her left half seemed so pure. Sigmund was petrified, not even moving when a hand gently touched his left cheek, a hand that should have been cut clean off. ws prated his skin as naturally as the sun set.
No, the rage was cold now. The hatred was still there, the utter disdain for his life, it all was as evident in the monsters face as it had been before. Indeed, it seemed to have been refined, tempered, into a tool meant to cull him down. Thana. The word sent shivers down Sigmunds spine, the creature continued tough, amused, happy, ecstatic about his fear and something else.
Then the expression suddenly changed. As if she had realized how impure her conduct was, she pulled her hand away so quickly that five trenches were shallowly dug into his skin. Sigmunds skin cells began to itch, as if they were dying off one by one. midy was supposed to heal him, why didnt she? Was she too frozen in terror?
You made me a mistake, Thana growled through clenched teeth. WRONG, I AM WRONG NOW, I FEEL I FEEL She looked at Sigmund, as if he was the source of this problem, air whistled between mask and jaw as it was sharply inhaled. Crimson light red up around the creature, an aura so potent that it looked like a drop of heavy oil in the water of reality. Wordless, the terrifying thing screamed at the sky. Screamed that it almost ripped Sigmunds eardrums apart. Screamed that he was catapulted backwards with winds that carried the iron stench of blood. Screamed that the earth around her cracked.
Gracelessly, Sigmund tumbled over the floor and every metre that he was thrown back turned out to be a blessing in disguise. His skin stopped itching, his vision returned to normal, fear retreated into his subconsciousness. One more tumble, he pressed himself off the ground with one arm and then stopped with his back against a tree. The tendrils of blue light still connected to that creature, but the storm was dispersed by whatever magic she had just used. The souls were distant, shackled to Thana still but far away.
A moment of respite, as Thanas aura disappeared again like an unsteady me. That was what Sigmund needed. Of course, my final challenge will be terrible, threatening and the worst I ever saw! he talked to himself, clenching the grip of his weapon tighter. WHAT CHALLENGE WOULD THIS BE IF NOT!
Now guided only by convictions and his own will, the Contender charged. The elementals awoke as well, fuelled by their masters boldness. Go, go, Siggy, y that beast! Erihana cheered him on like always.
midy offered a more down to earth reminder. The wound on your cheek its impossible to heal. I can keep you from bleeding out, but the wound will remain.
I will nail his body together if I must! Temturia growled in his spirit, the obsidian elemental the second he closed his contract with. The very first, Ifrit, was silent, but his torching presence filled Sigmunds mind nevertheless. Urging his chosen contractor, his champion, to present him a fight of legend. The god of demons suppressed the fear that red up again, growing stronger with every step, letting Sigmund fight like he normally would.
The separated part of Thanaid bloodless on the floor. New, bone ted flesh had reced it, blood pulsating without the confinement of veins through the cracks. The destroyed cloak and what had passed for her top slid to the floor as the creature met Sigmunds charge with a simple raise of her hand.
Cursed mithril was stopped short, grinding against the white protection of her palm, but Sigmund didnt take the time to be surprised by this turn of events. Immediately, he took a hand off the hilt and drew it back. A terrible punch of his ck gauntlet crashed into Thanas face and smacked her to the floor.
Frustrated growling was the only reaction when Tietan sliced through her body once more. What was covered by bone, the weapon didnt prated, but everything below that was fair game. Two slices, as quick as a sh, and the Contender had separated anotherrge chunk of Thanas body from her. Right leg, lower body, it was all left on the floor as Sigmund narrowly dodged a wild kick by jumping backwards.
The result was the same as before. Before the monster had even gotten back up, she had regenerated, the new segments of her body improved with the same carapace. Sigmund wasnt disheartened by this. What did he care about an expected oue. Society was full of expected oues. It was expected that a weak kid in ss would get bullied. It was expected that he would follow the same path as everyone else. It was expected that his strikes would be useless. None of it mattered! He was above it all, he was the Contender, the man, the hero, that would reach out and defeat adversity no matter its monstrous reincarnation!
Weak weaaaaak what is holding me back?! Thana growled punching herself, distracted and open for another assault. Whatever that creatures problems were, Sigmund was going to capitalize on them. Again and again, he assaulted the creature. Their exchanges were quick, splintered the already shattered floor and sent shards flying. Without form, they measured their agility and strength against one another.
Thana was his inferior in every way but defence. Sigmund pushed on and on. Every bit he sliced off her was reced with something he couldnt hurt again. Yet, he seemed to be doing something right, the creature growing more and more bothered. Even its regeneration must have had a bottom, an end point, and Sigmund would never stop until he had found it, if he had to fight for several days or not!
This is the conviction I want! the burning voice of Ifrit yelled in his mind, and suddenly crimson fire joined the scattered blue souls in the sky. Arabic signs seared themselves out there. More even than during the encounter at the White House, way more. Your lust for battle, your unwavering will, your POWER! at thest word, the band of signs had sessfully created a circle. A portal ripped open with the smell of sulfur, and for the second time in his life, Sigmund heard Ifrits voice in the physical realm.
The god of demons had a head that was a mixture of goat and bull, with three yellow eyes and four curved horns. Its muscle-packed body was covered by red fur, except for the torso and the bony ws. Reaching out through the portal, the god screamed his approval.
Yes, finally, you have the power to rip this ursed seal that holds me! Ifrit was beyond ecstatic as he reached down. The moment the golden ring that pierced his ck snout passed into real space, golden chains sprung out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around the ascended fire elemental. RAISE YOUR BLADE, MY CHAMPION, RECEIVE MY BLESSING, DEFEAT THIS CREATURE AND GROW EVEN STRONGER!
Sigmund smacked Thana across the arena and raised his weapon as he was told. A beam of hellfire red from his first contracts four-fingered hand and imbued itself in Tietan. The hollow middle segment was suddenly filled with malicious mana. Framed by the two ck des that grew from the ice-flower-like guard, the manifested fire of the demon god unified it all into one solid weapon.
Complete like the Contender was. My greatest challenge stands before me, I am hindered by past injuries no more, I will fight and fight AND FIGHT BECAUSE THATS WHAT THE GIFT OF THE ABYSS IS! COME, THANA, CREATURE, LETS SEE HOW LONG YOU CAN LAST BEFORE ME!
With raw rage, the monster took the bait and jumped at him. Their wild fight continued, iled swings and overemphasized movements that could have ripped anyone apart. Yet still, Sigmund had the upper hand, dodging her every attempt to strike back at him. However, she also managed to evade his blows. Until one fateful strike.
A missed jump at his face had allowed Sigmund to raise his sword up high. Now he was whirling around and setting after the creature. Thana barely turned around before he was on top of her. From the heavens, his sword came, with the entire weight and force of his body. She caught his de in her hand, but the impact forced her on one knee, and the Contender pinned her down with his legendary strength.
Youre going to die here, Sigmund growled to the approvingughter of Ifrit, staring Thana in her face without fear.
Above all, that seemed to make the creature furious. Die she hissed, a sound underlined by the melting of her bone ting. Hellfire scorched and made the white material blister. Die?! the repeated word came with a blood red flicker around her. DIE?! KILLED BY A HUMAN?! I, THANA, GODDESS OF GENOCIDE?! KILLED BY by. Sigmund her voice trailed off into dark ces, that azure mirrored ocean inside her inhabited by two thinking souls. Sigmund must die Sigmund the human must die Sigmund the one who blinded John must die she suddenly mumbled with two slowly ovepping voices, two very simr voices, one insane, recovered from the depths of pain, the other greedy, devouring, the one that Sigmund had been fighting. Two voices, one mouth, nine lines in her eyes. Two voices, a masked and an unmasked face, five lines in her left eye. Two voices, one hatred, fourteen lines in her eyes. The idea that you human can defeat me is fucking ridiculous.
ckened mithril shattered.
Chapter 572 – Separation 10 – Escaped
Chapter 572 C Separation 10 C Escaped
''Sylph, pull back one metre,'' John dictated, standing with his hands in his pockets in the field. What he thought, the thunderstorm elemental immediately put into action, darting away and ending the lightning barrage. It had been ineffective anyway, entering one of Seminaris'' portals and exiting again right above the earth. ''Smander, fireball, measure the strength. I need smoke, not me.''
''Roger that, boss,'' his fire spirit answered and conjured the attack as fast as was appropriate. It flew towards Seminaris. Quickly she closed the portals that had blocked Sylph''s attack and opened a new pair. The fireball disappeared at her left side, only to be spat out in the direction John was standing in.
The Gamer saw the gray and golden ball of fire approach through the recement sphere and the eyes of Gnome. Neither the soil elemental nor he moved to dodge or intercept the attack. No, John had predicted and hoped that he would be chosen as the target. Between the two nimble flyers of the group, the sturdy Gnome and the still invisible Siena, there was no tactician that wouldn''t have gone for the blind target. Particrly if that was also the summoner of all other threats.
Doing an eptable amount of damage, the fireball exploded on the Mana Protection around John. The heat seared the surrounding wheat, the golden color turning into ck smoke. John breathed it in, taking some damage from the unhealthy exposure, but he didn''t really care. Out of the smoke suddenly flew a swarm of sharp mana shards. Purple in color, some of them disappeared into the portal Seminaris had just put up, more managed to fly around it.
The First of Patience quickly took to the air in an effort to dodge, where she was immediately greeted by a lighting strike from Sylph. It struck and reverberated within the now ungrounded being ofet metal. It did very little in the way of actual damage anyway, but it also didn''t need to.
Again, Johnmanded walking out of the smoke, quickly conjuring water to quell the fire before it could spread. Not a gesture of niceness for the actual owner of the farm, John simply didnt want any battlefield developments he didnt have control over. Although he also was trying to keep damage to the surroundings to a minimum.
Scenes like this had repeated for the past minutes. A steady rotation of attacks kept Seminaris from gathering the Spellpower and time she needed to get herself out of this barrier. Given that she was a Metracana, they had yet to actually do any serious damage to her. Her Astrotium exterior, although more elegant than Metras, prevented any of Sylphs electrical attacks from doing anything serious while she was on the ground. Even that attack just now had done way less than John had anticipated. Shardbound broke on her dress without creating more than a few scratches. Siena had actually broken a w while trying to attack, leaving her hiding in Johns shadow to the tune of a thousand curses. Even Smanders fire had done very little.
Yet, Seminaris was trying to evade their damage. Either she was overestimating them, which John doubted given what he had learned about her eyesight, or the amount of punishment she could take at any given time was limited. Just some analysis John did at the side, since he wasnt really out to win.
No, all he had to do was wait. Given what he knew about Metracana, it was unlikely Seminaris would copse once her contractor was out, like any normal Artificial Spirit. However, she would feel it, and John had no doubt that he was going to find out by some reaction that Sigmund was dead. That this hadnt happened so far was actually the thing he was most worried about.
He had assumed Thana would wipe the floor and murder Sigmund in downwards of thirty seconds. Whatever was happening up there, all John got was an asional loud noise or a sh of light through the sses. Something so distracting he eventually just dropped the connection altogether. Not like he hung on those sses, they were cheap and receable.
There were numerous exnations for the dy. Cruelty being the first and foremost. John wasnt worried, at least not actively. The idea of Thana losing to Sigmund was ridiculous. Eyes on the task, John told himself, aware of the irony, and continued to coordinate the attacks.
Please, just let me get away! Seminaris shouted down to him.
Like Sigmund let Imere get away? John shouted back, mockery and disdain mixing into a twisted gratification. Or Terkal? Or the dozens of soldiers he slew that day? The many more before then? I have already sacrificed to remove your master from this world, what the hell makes you think I would waver now?
He didnt receive an answer as the fight in the air continued. A constant barrage of lightning, fire, mana shards and the asional rock being thrown kept the First of Patience moving and spending whatever little bit of force she could build up.
John kept analysing her every move. This was unlikely to be hisst encounter with someone who had teleportation powers, figuring out the ruleset and weaknesses could be incredibly valuable in the future. Much of Seminaris weaknesses seemed to ovep with what Metras drawbacks were.
Most importantly, andmonsensical, distance was the biggest contributor to mana cost. Seminaris had kept herself close during their deadly falling game and every defensive portal she opened, including the one dictating the exit direction, had been near to her own body. More interestingly, direct teleportation evidently was more mana intensive than portals. Otherwise, John really couldnt exin to himself why she was favouring thetter in almost all situations.
Seminaris bee-lined for the floor. Being up in the skies against two faster opponents opened her up to an extra 180 degrees of attack, and she evidently no longer wanted to give her enemies that advantage. Not that the problem didnt exist on the ground. Now, John told Gnome, who he had been sending half of his mana regeneration to since they had forced Seminaris to fly.
The soil elemental raised her foot and rammed it down to the ankle into the dirt. Where Seminaris stood, the ground solidified into tes that closed around her like the jaws of a Venus flytrap. Millennia of experience allowed her to act immediately, teleporting one metre to the side and hacking at Smander. Short as the de of her staff was and as magically weighted her Stats were, the hit was still surprising and found its mark, the weapon ramming into the fire spirits shoulder.
Smander took it with a clenched smile. Are we getting desperate? she asked, fire flickering from her tainted eye as the ck marks over her body heated up into the colour of glowing metal. Seminaris was hit point nk by a punch in the stomach. Although Smander did specialize in rangedbat, she was perfectly capable and sturdy enough to engage in close quarters as well.
Her fist collided with her target and exploded in a cascade of endme. Thrown back, the First of Patience broke through the hardened earth that had been meant to squash her. John sent his recement sphere ahead and slowly made his way over. Seminaris wasying on the floor, a dent the shape of Smanders gauntleted fist in her grey dress.
I think I get it now, John hummed as he approached her, the depression quickly disappearing. You have less Astrotium than Metra, dont you? he asked and immediately earned himself a pissed nce. Metras armour would never have dented like that. Those two things were all John needed to confirm his suspicion. Ah, well, look at that. They were probably experimenting with the lowest necessary amount of Astrotium when going the second time around?
So, what if they did? Seminaris had none of her usualposure left, desperation and rage reflected in her eyes when she stared up to him. Let the meathead have the metal, I embraced more of mothers being than she did. Of all the Metracanas, she spat that word out withplete disdain for the sister that had gotten the name, I am one of two who stayed as one. All of mothers patience, I unified inside me.
Knowing what little I do about Tiamat, I cant imagine that was much harder than holding even a speck of her rage, John smirked, staring blindly ahead while the sphere hovered teasingly in front of Seminaris face. He was ready to have any number of attacks dropped on the First of Patience, kneeling on all fours in the pressed down wheat. Of course he was aware that talking like this was to her advantage, but he had her at such a hopeless position that he didnt feel too threatened to have her build up this little bit of power. Goddess of chaos, right? Cant imagine she was ever too keen on waiting.
To his surprise, Seminaris only hadughter to that. A genuine, baffledughter, as if John had just said something so stupid it deserved its own page in a book holding the greatest fools in the world. Mother chaos didnt carry herself as the patient one, that much I give you, John Newman. However, mother was always ready to wait the First of Patience grabbed her staff tighter, sit tightly behind all seals and bonds those that feared her power put around her all of the elementals were at the ready, and as convoluted, self-destructive or terrible her ns may have been, she always got what she wanted by slowly C creeping C up. From the outside. From the inside. Carving into her own flesh to create children that would defeat her. That would seal her. That would carry out her will without anyone ever knowing. Seminaris smiled widely. Dont try to lecture me on the patience of mother chaos, for she always feasts on order when the time is ripe. You truly are just a new man, perhaps boy would be more urate.
You talk way too much, Smader decided, igniting a me in her left hand and stomping closer from behind.
I know youre there, I know your master calcted this to happen, Seminaris stated and John furrowed his eyebrows, something was off with the way she looked at him and how she said that. As if he wasnt really who she was talking to. If my pleas arent enough, then I swear on Tiamats name that I will do whatever you want C if you only let me get away.
Do you need your ears cleaned? John had to ask, I already told y- he stopped when Seminaris disappeared from everyones vision. No arcane light of teleportation apanied her vanishment. It was much more like that time a nk had disappeared before John. Except Seminaris couldnt have been one of those. Invisibility? Of what level? John wondered as the recement sphere desperately turned around to look for something that wasnt there anymore.
The Gamer kicked the floor where she had just been. He hit nothing. Whatever cloaking spell had just spread itself over her was terrifyingly potent if John and none of his elementals, not even Siena, had noticed any movement in a wheat field.
A goddamn WHEAT field, he told himself and threw a circle of Shardbounds so tiny that none of them would do any damage. All they were supposed to do was hit them and reveal their position. None of them did. He clenched his teeth.
The day was not yet lost; his Fateweaver skills must keep the First of Patience preparing an escape skill at least for a little while. Her mana reserves also had to be at least somewhat depleted. John closed his eyes, a symbolic gesture more than anything else, and concentrated.
There had been someone else here. Since when, he didnt know. Neither did it matter, at least not right now. Who that other master was, who this invisible person was, he could think about all of that once he had found them. The recement sphere hit the floor with an earthy thud. John had no use for it right now. All his consciousness was moved in service of someone else now.
Whenever John had one of his elementals equipped, their minds were merged with his. Their skills were at his disposal. As were their sensibilities. Normally, this bond was dominated by Johns active spirit as he was the body who acted. However, right now, it wasnt him who needed to lead.
Undines thoughts washed over his and encapsted himpletely, as smooth as a drop of water at zero gravity. When he still had his eyes, much of the way Undine sensed the world had been a mystery to him. Even now he didnt understand half of it. All he did know was that he could wield it now.
The miniscule vibrations in the air filled his entire being. Himself, first and foremost, the pumping of blood, the steady draw and exuding of air, it was deafening inparison to everything else. Quiet noises, smaller vibrations, Undine tangled up with Sylph and Gnome, borrowed their senses. The water spirits reliance on others to see had made her a master at drawing and hiding select information from those connected to her. A talent used for great and terrible things in the past, now extended to John while he sunk into theck of visual perception.
Earth moved under Johns feat and he was almost ready to strike before he realized those couldnt be his enemy. Too many movements, small, all around him. Worms, not two people moving hidden deeply. The invisibility spell selectively overwrote so much of Johns perception that it almost created a new depth of paranoia inside him. Whoever this was, he, she or it could have been around John forever now and he would never have known.
Deeper, even quieter noises, slighter vibrations. There had to be something. Nothing was perfect. Even if the spell was in theory, whoever was using it had to make a mistake at some point. An infrequency in the refreshment, the buzzing of magic. Something.
THERE! John screamed mentally and whirled around. He jumped at the crouching presence, only a few steps away from him, dropping Mana Protection so it wouldnt get in the way and grabbed something. Something thin and sharp, cutting through Undines glove form and into his hand. Crimson his blood ran down an invisible dagger. Within moments, his left grabbed further down, sessfully catching an arm.
Who he had caught was heavy. Extremely heavy. An attempt to throw him or her away failed, but a backwards drag worked. Slowly, the First of Patience faded back into his view, whoever he was holding as invisible as before. A female voice reached his ear. Dont forget your promise to our father, Seminaris.
Stop her! John shouted with mind and lung. Absolutely futile. Not only were his elementals already moving, but even theirbined attacks failed to rip Seminaris out of her concentration. A golden arch of lighting, engulfed in grey mes hit the second Metracana, just as spikes of condensed and enchanted earth shed against her. Both attacks broke on her exterior.
Still enough Astrotium for you, Seminaris lips returned his mockery in kind, he didnt need to see the expression to know as much, as she vanished to a sh of purple light.
John clenched his teeth, a secondter. Pain, a sensation he no longer suffered from unless the sources were magical, suddenly exploded from his abdomen like a cluster bomb had gone off in his guts. From the eyes of Gnome he saw how blood quickly seeped into his white shirt through a clean gash. A second invisible dagger, rammed down to the hilt.
The effects were immediate. Johns muscles began to involuntarily contract and release. He tried to at least keep his left hand in ce until someone else could grab the almost undetectable foe. Shivers, like he was suffering from a heavy frost, forced him to release his left hand. The dagger was pulled from his stomach, then his thumb was pried open with one skilled move.
Everyone was grasping at the air in front of John, but the presence was already gone. A bit of rustling in the wheat was the best they could get, without actually seeing any of the straws moving. An illusion of normalcypletely covered the direction she had fled in.
Dammit, John thought as Undines healing magic pumped into him. Gamers Body closed both wounds, then his health was topped off and the shivers became less, only to disappearpletely. Well, got only myself to me for that one, he mumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hey, Stirwin, you think I will ever learn to not assume I already won in situations like this?
No, the unintelligent voice of the crocodile echoed with a surprising amount of understanding in his spirit. To the end, even that stopgap jaw on his pride hadnt bitten warningly. Given the information they had had, the boasting he had done was apparently still at eptable levels.
Well better go up that mountain, he groaned and got on his feet. Seminaris wouldnt get there quickly, albeit much quicker than him. It was highly unlikely that she would find a scene she liked, even if Sigmund was somehow still alive. What if he somehow wins though? he thought.
Then he waved that ridiculous idea away again.
Chapter 573 – Separation Finale – Blood from Bone [Thana POV]
Chapter 573 C Separation Finale C Blood from Bone [Thana POV]
Thana hated herself. Immensely, deeply, absolutely, with everyst bit of energy of the millions ofst thoughts that made her up did she hate herself. The depth of it could very well have been the deepest point of the Abyss itself.
Because she started to be human.
Time seemed to stand still. Her body struggled while her mind stood in the mirrored ocean of souls.
It was much emptier than usual, and in that, Thana knew her weakness. The ritual had stopped, but the separated souls had yet to return to her. A lot of them, about half, all things considered. They were only slowly drifting back. Which was why this fool was pping her around like a human and her were supposed to be on the same level.
He couldnt hurt her, or he hadnt been able to hurt her. That crimson fire seared her flesh in a way that hurt. It actually hurt her, a being forged from agony and injustice. It made her absolutely furious.
You made me a failure, the goddess of genocide growled at the infection that her rightful forming within this body had identally pulled back from beyond the doors of death.
Wordless, Eliza stared back, holding back any and all influence she had. This should have pleased Thana. Finally, she had gottenplete control over her body. Not a single struggle held her back anymore. Pure and utter rampagey before her.
It should. It should be what she got to do now. Instead she was being pushed down by this human. Worse, she was standing here, in this ce she no longer had to be in and REFLECTING on it. Thoughts were for those she was to kill. Thoughts were to be filled with the optimal route to murder. Her own shorings, vanity, pride, desires, envy, greed, entitlement, joy, these were all concepts she knew, concepts she hated and concepts her sapience was now spewing out continuously like an open wound.
It was all making it impossible for her to ept that she was going to lose. Sure, she could have let herself be defeated by this man. Maybe she could have tried getting away. That was certainly what her primal instincts had told her thest time she had faced a stronger foe, even heartless he had beat her.
Her brooding came to a sudden end and she stared at her doubles shattered eyes. If raw power wasnt the answer, an answer that had made her lose to a foe who should have been physically inferior to her, then surely what had made him victorious would make her win as well.
There had been this thing she had briefly stolen from Eliza at the start of this. Power, disciplined power, maximized by a technique. Something Thana hadnt learned but Work with me, the goddess of genocide despised those words, even as she reached out to Eliza. Lets agree once and murder someone. What was necessary to appease these desires of a failure she had, she would do.
Eliza looked still quiet at the hand, her own hand. Right now, they looked exactly the same. Only the dots and lines in their eyes were different. The parasite and the host met their hands. Thana felt like her mind was burning all of a sudden. Yet more human feelings invaded her, but they felt strangely fitting. Something that she had no real time to be disgusted by, mild annoyance was as far as she got.
Sigmund must die she mumbled with two voices, two quickly melding voices. Sigmund the human must die Thana said her piece clearly and Eliza let it pass. Sigmund the one who blinded John must die Eliza said her piece clearly and Thana let it pass. Then, as one, they spoke, The idea that you human can defeat me is fucking ridiculous. She inhaled, a sudden memorying along with it.
Ya spread your meowana, the irritating cat-eared girl with as much cotton candy in her brain as she had on her head stopped for a moment to bite her tongue and attempt to speak in less retarded ways, mana through your whole body and then it does stuff ah, lemme just touch ya and ya will get it. Rave circled around them and sat down. Inhale deeeeeep, she instructed, into the chest, as little stomach bloating as possible. Yeah, like that, do that some more, gotta get ya used to the rhythm. Ya feel it yet?
Feel what yet? Eliza, as much as an idiot as she ever was, asked; she was not used to sitting still this long. Lying like a useless slob, yes, but not sitting. You know there is a shitload of mana pulsating through me at any given moment, right? You are trying to make me find the needle in the shitmire.
Should be about here, Rave stabbed at Elizas upper back with two fingers, right on top of her spine and between her shoulder des. Wasted breath formed uninformative words for a little bit, then, an actual exnation again, Anyway, thats the central mana distribution point, or just ki-centre for us martial artists. If ya do the breathing right, ya should be able to feel something there. Eliza went back to breathing, now with a strained face.
Mana flowed to that point. Internal imbnce caused by their shared existence in this body resolved as Eliza and Thana unified control and knowledge. From the ki-centre, they guided the mana to the lungs. The oxygen they had just inhaled was about to enter their bloodstream. Now, it carried everyst bit of mana they channelled with it.
Cold.
It was cold. Different from death marches through the snow, carrying rocks in a circle without boots. Different from the mouth of a gun pointed against heads. Different from the stare of mad scientists, given their title for ideas d in normal behaviour.
What poured through their veins was a refreshing cold, the feeling of awakening to a pleasant breeze under a ck sun. It gripped their heart. Spread into the surrounding cells and pumped into everyst fibre. Although it happened in less than a second, Thana could feel it all. Ki settling in muscle tissue, the joints, everyst vertebrae of her spine. Inside to outside, until the excess reached the skin. Poured out of her pores like smatic blood. Engulfing her entirely.
Thana let out the spent breath and pushed. That fearless hero facing her doubled his efforts. Have some more fight in you, do you, monster?! Sigmund growled.
Shut the blood mage of genocide pressed out her second breath, the FUCK third, the aura around her was a steady ze of controlled power, UP! Her hands clenched at the same time as she pushed upwards. The dark mithril that had blistered her exterior bones broke, the edge close to her ripped apart, shards flying everywhere. While Sigmunds face slowly contorted, Thana took hold of another memory.
Eliza was trying to keep her aura steady. Just a few seconds, that was all she needed. In theory, at least. Mana flowed, imperfectly, but who was she to care about internal bleeding? Hastily, she poured it into her ankles. She took a step without moving any part of her body other than her ankles. An impossibility she had often imagined, as that was the best way Rave could describe it to her.
Suddenly, she found herself standing elsewhere. Congratz, ya figured Shift out Rave interrupted her training with Aclysia for a second to say that. Also, to look almost amusedly at the foolish blood mages ruined feet.
Sigmund reacted fast. That much was true. One de gone, the Contender quickly twisted Tietan in his grip, presenting the still intact de to Thana as he went on the offensive again. His de struck the empty ground, causing it to quake. A massive, scarily smooth gap ripped its way through the earth from the excess energy.
Behind him, the two of them now standing with only a little bit of distance between their backs, Thana rammed her elbow backwards.
Remember, Foot and Hand techniques can be extended to the entire limb or even a weapon, if youre that skilled with it, Metra coached Eliza from the side lines as she repeatedly kicked a sandbag. Sometimes, often times really, its easier to shift the outburst of energy to the shin then hitting your enemy with your actual foot.
The sharp tip of Thanas elbow, further reinforced by the exoskeleton she had grown everywhere except the left half of her face at this point, connected with Sigmunds armour. None of the surface broke. Yet, the goddess of genocide heard the stter of blood.
Trick with the Prative st is that there is no trick, Rave was as unhelpful as ever. Like, ya gotta ignore the usual punching advice to aim for behind them and just punch at where they are and then let the ki out. Rest should be ruptured internal organs. Anyway, shouldnt you practice the Basic before the Master stuff?
Sigmund vomited a second gush of blood, his legs buckled, Thana red over her shoulder with immense glee. Happy with this fight, you absolute waste of biological material? the goddess of genocide asked.
Yes came the answer of a madman. YES! he red back, wide-eyed and with a crimson smile. There was a moment of agony on his face, apanied by a terrible sound dulled underneath his armour. Like thousands of small des screeching past each other. THIS IS WHAT I AWOKE POWERS FOR, TO GO TO THE EDGE AND WIN! Then he whirled around, his sword flying at her without any technique.
He was faster. Although Thana was sure she had just turned the mans liver into a bloody pulp, he was faster. Ki sunk into her ankles, the de once more hit air as Shift carried her a couple metres forwards. Sigmund was immediately after her. His first strike she deflected with her arm, then he savagely ripped his knee upwards and hit her straight in the chest.
She was sent flying. Diagonally, towards the edge of this disrespected burial ground. Turning in the flight, just in time to get her legs positioned correctly, the force of the impact bent the several metres thick tree shended on as far as its ancient trunk could handle. Bark shattered, stone, formed through generations of ancestral worship ritual, broke off from their hold around the tree, and the goddess of genocide jumped back with a hateful roar.
Sigmund dodged to the side, was hit by a follow-up leg sweep, but fell with his sword forwards, forcing Thana to distance herself rather than capitalizing on hisck of bnce. Stemming himself back to his feet with one hand, he ripped the other towards the sky. The ground obeyed the gesture, turning into spiked stone pirs. One of them came in at a lucky angle, hitting Thana and burrowing into a gap between the shoulder ting, dislodging the joint.
The aura around her left arm vanished moments after and the goddess of genocide growled at this unwee revtion about what separated her internal power circuits. Sigmund saw this and took his chance. He gripped his broken weapon with both hands and held the hilt at his side, tip pointed at his target. As he ran, wind seemed to gather behind his back, his strides growing wider as he picked up speed.
Thana gripped the pesky stone stuck in her shoulder and tried to rip it out. It was lodged, pressing against the inside of the bone te as her regenerative powers attempted to remove it from the inside. One great inconvenience she really didnt feel like dealing with.
And one that she didnt have time for either, as Sigmund was almost upon her, with enough force behind him that even she had to admit that her carapace cracking and that ursed Hellfire scourging her was a possibility.
You know you can use martial arts through clothes, right? Metra began her exnation; everyone nodded. It takes a tremendous amount of practice, but eventually, you get used to working your martial art through ayer of cloth. The same logic can be extended to swords, clubs or any other weapon you can think of. Usually takes years to get used to just one weapon though, which is why you see most martial artists that actually get used to a weapon use that weapon for a while. I guess you can extend that same logic to biomechanical limbs. She shrugged at that point. They didnt have them when Ist got around to the topic. People just attached des to their stumps. That worked like a fucking charm.
Theres some martial arts that actually only work with weapons, but thats like school specific stuff, Rave added as the White Housewn came into view.
Next fucking question, Eliza continued on, her insane grin having something of a predator thinking about her next meal. What about using some shit thats part of you as a sword?
Blood streamed out of the cracks, down her hands, far down, and quickly crystallized into an unsteady de. Thana ripped it upwards. It screeched against the ck mithril as the path of the ymore was forced to go over her head, rather than through it. Yes! Ifrit screamed, still bound and doomed to watch, but able to bestow yet more blessings upon his champion. The Hellfire red, engulfed Tietan as a whole. WIN, MY CHOSEN CHAMPION! I can taste your ascension already!
I WILL NEVER LOSE! Sigmund screamed in agreement and readjusted his grip to press down with all his might.
Thana was pressed downwards, her dominant arm still unusable, her blood sword slowly cracking, too hastily made and too fragile. It all just pissed her off. This had gone on for long enough. OH TO FUCKING SHIT WITH THIS SHOULDER AND THIS FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF MY BLOOD! she screamed and pushed onest time against the descending de before liquifying her own weapon.
Tietan ravaged through her, severed her left arm in its entirety and cauterised the wound with its cursed mes. For once, Thana experienced what it was like to have a wound that didnt immediately heal.
Sigmund suddenly seemed to rx. You fought well, he graciously said, looking at her. But Hellfire prevents regeneration from a weakened state. You should
Thana leaned forwards, got right up in his face and stared at him. The fuck do you think you are, you absolute waste of oxygen? she asked. Weakened state? WEAKENED STATE?! Instead of blood, bone was the first thing that regenerated, ripping out of the cauterised flesh and quickly forming what was lost of her corbone. Muscle soon followed. I just wanted to get rid of that stone. This is the same situation as the start, you just added a bit of anti-flesh fire, you absolute wanker. Her body suddenly went through a shiver. Its inconvenient. It takes longer. Thats all you are, inconvenient! Also, didnt I already tell you, a second throw, her voice was a bit croaky, Eliza made her too fucking talkative, to shut the fuck up?
Before Sigmund could respond with anything, Thana ripped open her mouth. A long bony spike grew explosively from the depth of her maw, well past her teeth, and impaled Sigmunds left eye. Screaming, the Contender stumbled back as he cried bloody tears. He caught himself by ramming his sword into the ground, holding it with one hand while watching Thana with the still intact eye.
The goddess of genocide continued to go through shivers, like a person about to vomit. Just, rather than the contents of her stomach, she forced this thorn out further and further. Waves of blood apanied every segment.
If a sword of blood was too weak, she just had to move onto the best material in her arsenal. An extension of her spine, manually grown and now slowly growing longer and longer. Shoved out vertebrae by vertebrae, connected not by stic gel but by more bone, ttened and with edges that individually looked like double-ded exes but quickly melded outside her body.
She grabbed the initial thorn, the hilt, with her restored left hand and pulled the tip out. Okay for the first time, she growled as she inspected the leaf-shaped tip. Then she looked at Sigmund and began walking towards him. Just a casual stride, blood flowing from her palm and fingers into the weapon she had made. It pulsated with her heartbeat.
The ephemeral tendrils that connected her with the flying souls finally made her im to that power true again, and those struggling, regretful figments of passed humans were pulled back into their eternal damnation amongst those many hoping that the goddess would bring them revenge. Thana gathered ki in her shoulder, then let it violently flow down her arm. The tip of the sword exploded. She clicked her tongue, made the sword regrow as if that little ident had never happened, then tried a second time as she waved it.
Sigmund was hit by a dull shockwave that threw him backwards. Giggling in a not entirely unpleased way, Thana said, See, if that had worked, youd be in two halves now. Then again, that would have been a mercy.
Caught by his shadow spirit, the Contender took a bold stance, raising his sword tip to the sky. Imend you! Sigmund eximed, under the illusion that this was the height of his opponents power. I might actually die if I dont use this!
Thana stopped and looked at him with sleepy eyes. Soul by soul connected with her skin, vanished underneath and raised her power a little bit, ever closer to what she was supposed to be. A shockwave of elemental force ripped over the teau, but the goddess of genocide just stood there. Waited.
The crimson fire, concentrated within the former gap of the sword, ranpletely wild, became a massive, pir-like me. A clear blue joined in, two opposite energies that somehow joined rather than neutralized each other. Whimsical green followed, transforming the pir into a massive vortex of power and colours. Fertile and earthy brown pulled the entire thing back into one spot. A grotesquely oversized de, ten metres at least, stretched upwards in blinding white. Then, that colour was dimmed by a deep purple.
In battle all falls to the altar of the Arisens might!Sigmund chanted power given sound and brought down his attack.
I amThana and Eliza, right and left eye, looked at the attack calmly. The human that is wolf to man. What hangs above the grandest feasts and threatens death, that I am. Song of Bone.Skeletal wings burst from her back, her powers restored far enough. Which burns their blood to ashes and grinds all their works and all that they have touched to dust, that I am. Song of Blood.A single pair of butterfly like wings, their patterns formed from crystallized blood and the membranes flowing life, joined on her lower back. With them came sounds like metallically distorted violins.Three choirs I sing, for I will devour the souls of humanity to fuel their demise. Song of Soul.Like an old, withered tree, separating blood and bone, branched out clear blue lines. It didnt stay withered for long. Beautiful, almost angelic sounds apanied the nightmarish disy of golden leaves sprouting, human faces contorted into grimaces of erratic emotions, lust, hatred, sorrow, shifting on the surfaces.Set my life aze.Aura and energy wings all med up by a massive influx of raw power, distributing equally through the system of the goddess through the mastery of and in preparation for a human technique.
Wrist techniques are widely epted to be the hardest stuff to do, Metra exined. But the most basic one isnt too difficult, at least byparison. Just make sure that its energy based and that the attack is about your own average power.
The tip of Thanas de connected to the onught of power. Her wrists turned slowly, her entire body did. Like she was performing a dance underwater. A macabre creature, following flowing movements, to distorted violins and a disturbing sing-song. The energy flowed within her, followed the tip of her de, then her circle wasplete and the elemental destruction was sent flying back from the centre of the arena to the very man that had made it so that the failure of a goddess of genocide continued existing.
It missed him narrowly.
When the energy had dispersed and Sigmund saw what had happened, all of his heroism, all of his Contenders will, it all vanished. An attack that hadnt failed ever to decide the fight in his favour had just been thrown back at him like it was childs y. Terror, the same terror he had disyed at the start and which had now returned, returned to his remaining eye as it reflected Thanasplete power.
You are my champion! Ifrit roared, Be no- he was interrupted when the goddess of genocide threw her sword into the portal. Without even looking, she hit the demonic entity straight between the eyes, the sword going through and exiting again on the other side. The golden chains, suddenly no longer presented with force trying to escape their sp, pulled the lifeless body back into the portal, which closed moments thereafter.
Thana didnt give a single fuck whether she had just killed that thing or not. Just that its Arabic screamings came to an end. If Sigmund hadnt been deathly afraid by now, he definitely was now, trying to crawl backwards. Allowing herself that cruel chase, the end of the Contender slowed her steps down, watching him panic with every step she took despite the distance between them staying the same.
Until he hit the stump of argely disintegrated tree with his back. Tietan was still pointed at her, the de having fallen back to its default state. With a backhanded wave of her hand, she made the second de shatter like ss.
Here is a fucking challenge for you, Thana stated as she caught Sigmunds left hand under her foot. Say 206.
Wh-what? Sigmund didnt look the part of his mighty body anymore, more like a frightened child. Normal tears joined the blood endlessly pouring out of his other eye. The expression he wore was that of a man who had risen from the depths and now got everything ripped from him by fate.
Dont look at me like that, you fucking ass, Thana growled. You could have tried being a good person, but no. You decided to go the route of the careless. You decided that because you could was reason enough that you should. That makes you almost worse than the people that made me necessary, she pressured his little finger with all the hatred she had for how much she talked right now. You just had less resources. Say C two C hundred C six.
Tw-two hundred si-AAAAAH! Scrapping off armour and skin alike, Thana moved her abrasive heel at immense speed, revealing the bone of only the outermost segment of Sigmunds little finger. With his perception of victory, the Contenders pain tolerance seemed to have left the premises.
Say 205, Thana giggled delightfully as she shifted her heel just a little bit. Sigmund only whimpered. I dont need you to y along, the goddess of genocide shrugged and crushed that bone anyway. Wincing in pain, Sigmund attempted to raise his other hand, to leave the barrier, maybe he could still flee, maybe he could
Shift quickly carried Thana over to the other side. She grabbed the half-raised arm with one hand and put the other on Sigmunds shoulder. Curved bone ws were coated and reinforced with blood, tore through the armour, into the flesh underneath and then the goddess ripped. A loud scream, spurting blood, a limb that flew through the air without and further use.
Want to know something truly great? Thana asked. Every time her lips parted, the needle-like teeth of blood formed behind the crack of her masked half. An ebb and flow of blood that underlined every word with the potential to have his throat bitten out. You wont die that easily. You got too strong. You can bleed for a while. Then she got back up, a much smaller figure that had to take arge step to cross the terrified mans torso. Too bad I dont know exactly how many bones there are in an arm, she sighed regretfully. Guess we have to do this the other fucking way around and find out by subtraction. Say 3.
Why would I? Sigmund asked.
Because if you dont, Thana giggled and nonchntly plucked out his remaining eye. A movement that Sigmund could do nothing against but plead. It was futile. I will just break the other parts, she wasnt even sure if Sigmund was listening over his own screams. Do yourself the favour, go along with me and you will only die very slowly. Say 3.
Th-three-aaaah. Time passed. fhotee Time passed. Fifty Time passed.
Look at that, I was wondering what kept you from bleeding out, Thanamented when she had broken open the armour to properly count the amount of ribs she was going with. The blood elemental quivered even in its item form. Honestly though, I have gotten bored of you, so well end this now. I have to get elsewhere before hees.
Over the course of those words, Thana felt how the union with Eliza began to slip. With it did her endless monologuing. At least that was an advantage.
Die, she growled, four lines in her left eye reverting. That man would be good fodder. Not a massive increase in power, but at least one she could notice. She tried to move, but Elizas mind nowpletely departed from her own.
You dusty old cunt, you arent taking my fucking body anywhere, the blood mage mentally screamed. With her went all of the martial arts knowledge, switched off like a light. The calming cool vanished suddenly along with her aura, leaving Thana stunned for a few moments. Everything seemed to turn, she felt weaker again. Of course, she was just back to her original power, but she hated being weaker. As little as the Aura itself mattered whenpared to the Songs, the techniques, as despicably human as they were, were too potent a weapon to pass up.
We still have one goal, Thana tried to negotiate. Let me
Get back to breaking his fucking bones then! Eliza dered. You dont need my help for that, do you? Useless sag of bones!
Irritating parasite, the goddess of genocide hissed. wing at her own face as she and Eliza argued. We had achieved progress despite being made a failure. Stop struggling and be under my sway again.
Fuck off! Eliza now spoke out loud as well. One of Thanas hands involuntarily grabbed the edge of her mask and began pulling at it. You are getting ejected, you absolute cunt! I can break the rest of his bones myself.
Youre so much like me, you twisted psychopathic piece of absolute
Yeah, but I want to be with someone who has a nice smile and a massive cock. Also, you know, stop the murder at people that fucking ask for it. You can return to being a massively unimportant background character!
Thana thought to the sea of souls. Being back there, with little in the way of overtaking the parasite in control. Herself now more human than ever and alone with her thoughts. No, she gasped in a panic, stumbled over her own feet and fell to the ground. I WONT BE SEALED AWAY AGAIN!
Then how about you stop being the countess of cunt-ville, poption you!
I am
I fucking know, shut up about it!
You are insufferable!
And yet youre going to be stuck inside me again, have a nice fucking day! Eliza got to the surface. Thana fell, she roared, then she realized that she could still hold on to some control. As the blood mage tried to get up and finally remove the mask, she punched herself in the face. What the fuck?!
Get out of my body, Thana growled and wrestled again for control. The two of them fell to the floor, rolled, scratched and dismembered themselves in an effort to somehow hurt the other. Their endless rolling sent them smacking against a tree. No, a tree stump. With some blood, still fresh, around it and a severed arm lying nearby.
Their consciousnesses melded again as both of them realized that their squabbling had allowed their prey to get away. The crimson aura red up again, ki gathered inside the neck joint and flowed with the air that formed a wailing of such power and volume that it was fortunate that only the dead were around to hear.
End of Season 3 Arc 4.
Chapter 574 – Arc 4 Epilogue – The Victory of the Failure
Chapter 574 C Arc 4 Epilogue C The Victory of the Failure
John looked at the former sacred site with one open eye. He only had the package of contact lenses in his inventory, so this was the best he had been able to do. Unsurprisingly, the entire thing was a wreck. Mostly the floor, which was probably the least valuable part of the structure. It had been reduced from one massive stone to diced and shattered chunks John could quite easily see working to cobble a street.
A massive gap at one side, with molten stone and charred wood at the edges, indicated where Sigmund had presumably used his finishing move. Now, John didnt see a corpse, but he did hear talking and spied Eliza momentter. Or Thana, John reminded himself, approaching very slowly and with Mana Protection active, what little good that would do him.
The figure standing still in the middle of the arena did have hair down to her waist, so an awakening of Thana had clearly happened. She was also naked, albeit only in the doesnt wear clothes sense, since all her naughty bits were hidden under bone ting. Her face was entirely visible, which was a good sign, as was that her skin had the usual sickly pale colour rather than white as paper.
What really made John wonder was that he hadnt been noticed yet. Either or, the two people inside that body both had senses far above anything reasonable. They should have noticed him already. Oh hey, theres an assurance that I havent been followed all this time, John thought, finding it unlikely that Eliza would have missed even that level of invisibility for a long time. Hello? he carefully called out.
The pale girls head suddenly jerked around, dots and lines fought a little bit for supremacy, then stopped at four lines. Oh, thank fuck, Eliza gasped and walked towards him. The she-cunt was really annoying me. I waited as close to the centre of the grave as I could, which was fucking creepy by the way, she pointed at the crater where something had made a U-turn and left a molten trench. Did I do good, daddy?
You know, just this once, I am letting you get away with that one, John smiled wryly and put a hand on her head. Yeah, you did good. The Gamer looked around. Where is Sigmund?
Yeah about that me and Thana kind of had a catfight and the fucker got away, Eliza made a grimace and Johns gut felt like it got filled with ice cubes.
Unharmed? he asked quickly. If that was the case, he had sacrificed Elizas potential separation for absolutely nothing.
Well, if you dont count the torn liver, the missing arm, she pointed at the limb John had overlooked until now, lodged away between two cracks, and the eyes, ironically enough. Also, all the other small shit. We only got into a fight when we were about a quarter through torturing him.
Ah, John breathed a bit more easefully after that. Still not as good as a death, but miles better than what he had just feared. Yeah, thats on me in all due likelihood. I let Seminaris slip away, so she would have been able to teleport him out you think they could have retrieved one of the eyeballs?
Uhm Eliza thought. First one got skewered, so I dont think so, second one maybe? Fuck me, didnt really think about where we tossed that thing. Just happy Thana didnt eat it, you know what the creepy bitch does also, why does it sound like you dealt with Seminaris by design.
Because well, now its time toe clean because I knew Sigmund was in the area, John said and Eliza grew very quiet all of a sudden. Not that unexpected, all he could do was apologize over it. I am very sorry. I didnt want you to fight in the city if there was a chance that he would go elsewhere. At the same time, I selfishly arranged everything so he would fight Thana. I decided to bet on the lowest chance so I could win even if the higher probability came true, he gave her a little bow. I am really sorry.
You used me as a tool? Eliza asked in a very neutral tone. You used ME as a tool?! she repeated with more outrage, ring upwards in Johns one working eye. Nine lines, that was all John needed to try and step backwards. Ally or not, right now Thana was within the Mana Protection bubble, so it couldnt protect him.
A lightning fast snap and suddenly he had her teeth in his neck. Unsurprisingly, the goddess of genocide was unamused about this development. What did catch John off-guard, however, was that he was being bitten. Skewered, yes, all the time, eviscerated even, but Thana had never been able to bite anybody. What had happened in Rome had created such an adversity against that in Eliza that John had assumed Thana wouldnt be able to do that without immediately ousting herself from the drivers seat.
The immense pain on the left side of his neck said otherwise. Touch of Humanitys Bane was applied as per usual, but John just wrapped his arms around the girl. Since he was already wounded, there was little reason to try to get any further away. Shhhh, he tried to calm his Eliza out of the rabid monstrosity. Its going to be fine. Yes, I used you, I am sorry. I was afraid that, if I told you everything, you would storm down the street in search of him. I needed to at least try and separate you and Thana, or I couldnt have lived with myself. I didnt convince Sigmund toe here. Although I have reason to believe someone else did.
His shirt was already ruined, two mountain climbs and getting stabbed did that, so the blood sinking into the linen also wasnt a problem. Over time, even the pain got somewhat okay. It took Eliza like three minutes to get back in control and remove her teeth. I am so fucking sorry, she bbered immediately.
Not a problem. Gamers Body will fix it in a second, John said and smiled. His expression turned a bit sore when the painsted, then downright worried when it persisted for the entire time it took for him to give Eliza something to rinse out her mouth with and for her to do so. He brought his fingers to his neck and carefully touched the deep bite mark. Looking at his finger with his one lens yielded the result he could already feel. Well, thats not good. Thats not good at all.
_______________________________________________________________________
So, you have been bleeding for AN HOUR now? Elu asked as she put a bandage around John. Last time he had needed one of those had been because Frank and his buddies had taken a football exercise too far. Probably the only time Frank had actually gotten punished, because it had been that overboard.
Yeah John was looking at himself through the recement sphere. The pressurizing cloth was already red. Not even leaving the barrier fixed it. It might have if I got it somewhere public, but thats just theorycrafting.
How are you so calm? Ahanu asked as John reached for the ss of orange juice they had poured for him. Thankfully, the mobile home was pretty stocked with refreshments.
Because I stacked pretty well on Endurance, the Gamer answered after putting the ss back down. Okay, sure, right now I am not regenerating Health, so thats pretty bad, but I am only losing 30 hp an hour, he quickly threw the numbers together again. Its going to take me over three days to bleed out. Not quite worried yet. He looked over to Eliza. Especially since I have the cure here, at least theoretically.
Choke on your own respiratory functions, Thana hissed, and the blood mage stillrgely in control put a hand in front of her mouth. After a few seconds, she took it away again.
I cant push her down again Eliza said, not for the first time. I thought with you around that wouldnt be a problem, but fuck me, she isnt going away. Fuck FUCK! Stop making John bleed, please! the pretty little psycho sounded genuinely desperate.
Halt! the Gamer raised his hand. Dont negotiate with her yet. Thats REALLY thest-ditch effort. He looked over to the two Natives. Long shot, but the ritual is probably out of question now, right?
We could try, but since she has advanced to a stage where she can surface to speak basically freely the chances are almost doubtlessly zero, Ahanu confirmed.
Okay, so thats out, John sighed. He saw three more options to maybe solve this little bleed-out. One, negotiate with Thana to lift the debuff. There was no telling what she would even want, but it, given who she was, couldnt be anything good. Two, Eliza managed to somehow get a handle on it. Three, they sacrificed a copious number of nks in an attempt to purge it.
Needless to say, the middle option was the best one.
Eliza, John therefore moved onto encouragement tactics. The loving variety hadnt worked, so it was time for the opposite approach. I want you to realize that
I know, I fucking love you, but I cant fucking figure it out! Its like she grew ustomed to the antidote or something.
You made me a failure, your human emotions disgust me less the more I have to live with them, Thana growled that answer back.
John, in the meanwhile, shook his head. No, listen. You realize that were going to go home soon, yes?
Yes?
And that everyone else is going toe home as well so we can tell them what happened, yes?
The shit you getting at?
Do YOU want to be the one to tell Aclysia that I am bleeding out?
Eliza suddenly sat so straight one could have used her to draw a perfect line. FUCK! she screamed and immediately scrambled to enter some meditative state. While the weaponized maid had no tools to actually harm Eliza, especially since the white-haired creation would die with John, there was no doubt that the nagging and food denial in thosest few hours would be almost enough for the blood mage to wish she was back in the tank in the Bloodfallens base.
By the by, this, he pointed at the wound, is also good news for us.
Why? Elu asked.
Because I wasnt the only one hurt by Thana today, John told her and poured himself a new ss. If this bitemarksts so persistently, what do you think is the condition Sigmund is in right now? he put the jug down and raised his ss. My bet is something beyond agony.
Ahanu and Elu both made a bit unwilling face. I would have preferred it to deliver him a swift death, the Chieftain-Elect carefully stated his opinion. Even the wrongdoers shouldnt suffer unnecessarily.
Normally, John would have been totally on board with that. However, with Sigmunds particrly egregious track record and list of things he had ruined for the Gamer, he did not feel the bad conscience quite as prominently.
Isnt there a risk that she will lift the curse from Sigmund just to get back at you? Elu suggested.
If there is one thing I am absolutely certain of, John shook his head, its the utter hatred Thana has for everyst man, woman and child out there.
Eliza, you did something! John informed her and the blood mage opened her eyes again.
The fuck you talking about, its still there! she eximed, only to be proven differently a secondter, when Gamers Body kicked back in. It was immediately visible on the bandages by the sudden cease of blood flow. Oh, thank fuck, she gasped and rxed in her seat. The leather pants John had given her created a humorous noise as she slid down the couch and halfway under the table. That was difficult enough. I had to like go around her and try to seal that connection my dumbass self.
So she is still there? John undid the fresh bandages as he asked.
Dumb bitch is still right on the surface, yes, Eliza stated. Why, its gone no- FUCK!
John had pulled the stained cloth off and revealed two rows of bite marks. Well, thats permanent scar number three, he sighed. Cant say I dont deserve this one though. Seems like, since we cantpletely seal Thana anymore, we cantpletely seal her healing adverse effects either.
Rather than agree, Eliza clicked her tongue in an annoyed fashion, then pped herself. This is going to take a while to get used to
Yeah but given the overall improvement of our situation, I will take a permanent love bite, John joked with a smile. Really, he was quite happy with today.
Author’s Note – Season 3 Arc 4 – Separation
Authors Note C Season 3 Arc 4 C Separation
I feel like I have a lot of things to address this time around, but no idea if that will actually pan out in a lengthy authors note Well see.
First things first, for those of you unaware, I write this way ahead of the official release. As a rule of thumb, I am 25 chapters ahead of the CHYOA release and 20 of the 10$+ Patrons. It is the 18th of June as I am writing this, chapter 4 of the arc has just released, titled Apologies, it is a day of thunderstorms and humidity here in northern Germany. My sleep schedule is utterly fucked, my mood is quite good and my food is standing next to me. Life is not the greatest, but I would say in the upper quarter of what I want from it.
Dunno why I went that wide on the description. Point being, I am generally 5 weeks ahead of you in terms of written chapters.
The first thing I want to address is the end of thest arc. Not to re-open any of the discussions, I am sick of those, but to express my general thanks towards those of you who didnt decide to go rabid on me and more to those who defended me. I am not a particrly emotional person, although my tendency to rant can give the opposite impression, but that was nice to see. Never been on the receiving end of such a concentrated push before. Although there was a simrly unpopr decision in Drip-Fed once, that story has less readers.
As of the time of writing this, I dont know for sure if there was actual damage to my poprity. I usually write down the amount of likes and views my chapters get after seven days. Well, a week hasnt passed since the first chapter of Arc 4 has been released, so I dont have theplete image yet. I wont have it until the arc is at least halfway out, I reckon.
Initial readings seem good though. Around 80 likes and 1200 views is what I estimate to be my average and the initial chapters are well in that ballpark. Data therefore indicates that everything is fine? Really hard to gauge these things, especially for long-term impact.
Its not a doomsday event though, so I am okay as far as that is concerned. I can work out small dips here and there. Didnt expect this to be one, but I dont know everything.
Ill close the chapter, therefore, on argely positive note. Things are moving forward, my Patreon is doing okay, and most of my readers stuck with me. Lets move onto things actually rted to this arc, shall we?
But not before I shill my Patreon! Here is a reminder for you people: I want to do this as my main job. Although the current amount of money I get is fantastic, its not enough to justify continuing for the next decade or even five years. Every dor helps, so if you enjoy my writing, I would be much obliged if you could make your way over toand send a bit of money my way. You get three chapters in advance and ess to the high-res waifu pictures (There are like 12 by now), even in the lowest tier!
Now, Separation might be the worst Arc I wrote this season so far, in my honest opinion. Start and Finish line are pretty strong, I think. The Arc starts with the entire emotional stuff, which is pretty hard to write from a bnce stand-point. If I dwell too shortly on it, it doesnt give it the proper impact and seems like an issue is just handwaved away. Too long and readers roll their eyes saying, I get it already, it sucks for him!. Doesnt help that I am one to try and actually give bad happenings their space in the timeline, while readers mostly experience time as Words spent on happening.
I solved it this time around by having Lydia deliver the smacktalk that dragged John back up. Cant wait to have my favourite princess back on the actual screen. Lydia is my personal best girl in this story. I have a thing for stoic women. Pretty sure I mentioned this plenty of times before, especially if you are on the Discord, but no harm in restating it.
The final stretch is something that A LOT of you probably waited for. As a matter of fact, I know at least a few who wanted this specific thing to happen. Granted, everything was built so you would want that, and it was pretty easy to seeing, but I hope that didnt retract from the curb stomp-satisfaction.
The way Sigmund got to fight Thana is a bit contrived, I can concede as much. Less so that Seminaris didnt know about her, I think the human error exnation works quite well there. What I mean is him getting there exactly when he did, with Thana weakened enough that there was a bit of a fight scene and them knowing where but not what the gravesite was. However, I dont think its so bad that it falls under handwaving yet. Ill leave it to each of you to form your own opinion.
Eliza action was something requested basically since the start of the season. Since Thanas awakening, the blood mage has been delegated to a speaking role. She does quite well there, but I can sympathize with wanting to see the crazy little bundle of murder do her thing again. Well, wasnt quite herself, but she was about half responsible.
Would it be more satisfying to see John beat Sigmund? Perhaps, I personally say no (because I am a sucker for schemers that dont get their own hands dirty), but this was the way this threat was supposed to be ended by my own designs. Well, sadly I couldnt fit one scene into the segment where Thana finally unloads into Sigmund. I wanted to have her use Seismic Step. Didnt fit, sadly, with how the guy was already totally beaten. I will get to use that skill another time.
So yeah, those two segments were pretty strong, the middle of the arc though was I dont want to say bad, but it didnt quite feel like I delivered the best it could be. Part of this is because I wanted to write the Hidden Tradition as nice guys and I dont think I write JUST nice guys particrly well. Everyone important always wants something greater in my stories, resulting in those convoluted schemes I am so fond of. Which is not urate to reality in my experience, lots of people just want to do something very immediate. Like, get the next promotion, eat something nice tomorrow, get a girlfriend, whoever that turns out to be. Even more people are just happy to stop somewhere in their ambitions and maintain a level.
I have those people in my story, I am just saying I dont feel like I do them quite as well.
Anyway, so the middle is a bit below the curve. Only thing I really want to get into that happened during it was the three-part sex scene, which is something I aim NOT to repeat. Not only does my main proofreader () not like my overly long lewds, having it concentrated like that leads to me counterweighting by skipping a long time until the next one happens. As evident by that triad of scenes being the only proper lewds in this Arc.
Oh, that and the Tamara situation, but thats mostly set-up for part of next Arc and things beyond that.
What this Arc also has is a name with multiple meanings again! Been a while since I got to do that one, so lemme exin! Separation rtes to: Johns separated eyesight (both in the blindness and individual lenses thing), Eliza and Thana, Johns n to separate Seminaris from Sigmund, Sigmunds flesh from his bones and Johns group scattering for different missions. Quite the list, aint it?
Unsurprisingly, the next arc will deal with all of those different thingsing to their conclusions. Unlike this one, I expect next arc to be immense. Lots of smaller stories that need to be told over quite a stretch of time. You will get a taste of one of the missions in the next couple of days as I, again, attach the Side Story of this Arc to the end. Well follow what Aclysia is up to.
There will also be a bunch of things at the side that I desperately want or need to get to. John has quite a few things on his hands. Getting back into grindable shape, diplomacy, the war with the Lake Alliance, finding Nia again, Sienas Tier 4 Evolution, keeping his allies safe, all the while expanding Fusions territory and own power.
And despite all of this, the next Arc has a bit of a silly name, one that I expect to tip many of you off where its eventually headed (geographically speaking).
This was Season 3 Arc 4 Separation, I hope to see all of you again for Arc 5 Flow Riding. The branch will be back on the third of August for high-tier Patrons, the sixth for normal Patrons and the tenth for everyone else.
If you have the time, please give me feedback via the following form, improvement is vital!
Aclysia Side Story – The Maidening 1 – A place of great opportunity
Aclysia Side Story C The Maidening 1 C A ce of great opportunity
The Small Lake Pact had its centre of operation at the body of water that it derived its name from. Lake Chamin, that was the actual name used by the normal people, was located close to the Canadian border. An actually quitergeke, ninth biggest in the entire country, it simply seemed small next to the Great Lakes not far to the west of it. Nevertheless, it wasrge enough to have eighty inds of varying sizes inside its blue expanse.
Spread over these eighty inds was the majority of the Small Lake Guilds. They were any size between just two and several dozen people, none of them dangerous on their own but all of them unified under three things: their hatred of the Lake Alliance, their ownership of boats and amon culture.
Their ownership of the surrounding areas was a slowly building thing, as was the Small Lake Pact itself, having formed in response to the Lake Alliance putting aside their own internal squabbles to be the local powerhouse. The Abyssals of this region had been quite happy just bashing each others heads in for a couple more decades, slowly going elsewhere whenever a n broke apart and one half had to leave the ind for somewhere not yet imed.
At least that was how Aclysia understood this area, both from the briefing she had gotten and from the time she had spent here. For over a week now, she had only heard Johns voice sporadically and the effects were dire. Not that her mood was necessarily bad, or that she was going crazy, but the withdrawal forced her to keep herself upied in ways that werent healthy for the small fortune she had gotten together on the back of Johns monthly allowances.
I hope he is eating healthy, she thought, taking the broom in her hands and giving the already clean street a good swipe. Left alone with Eliza if she hurts him in any way, I will forbid her from ever essing the sweets again, Aclysia sighed. Which have been doubtlessly plundered. I can hide them from Sylph, but I cant keep them away from that nose.
She hade to this ce to the mild surprise of the leadership of the Small Lake Pact. They had gotten the message that John was going to send someone over to have talks, not that she would arrive this quickly, however. Thusly, she had been told to wait, without ever having seen said leader. At first, Aclysia had taken the resulting dy in stride. A weekter, she was simply insulted. Not insulted enough (yet) to start a rampage, though.
For the waiting time, they had at least given her a house to stay in, on thergest ind in the rtive centre of theke called Grand Isle. It was dominated by farms and forests, which Aclysia found quite pleasant on the face of it. A calm surrounding off from the busy of cities. Not quite as nice as the ground her master owned, an adjustable ind was pretty charming, but charming nheless.
The area only had a low poption, around three thousand people. However, a total of three hundred of those were Abyssals, reaching an absurd density of 1 in 10. That was only the main ind as well, apparently all the smaller inds around, often only holding a single house, were inhabited mainly by Abyssals. That made every ind its own little fortress, as generations of internal conflicts had made the locals quite adept at using longsting trapping spells.
Spells that were quite excellent for the hit-and-run tactics they now employed against the Lake Alliance, covering points of interests in magic that would be costly to remove if spotted and deadly if not. Given this uncharacteristic density and annoying specialization of magic, it was of little wonder that the Small Lake Pact got away with continuously annoying the much more powerful force to the west of them over some plots ofnds they both wanted.
None of this excused having her wait for so long, however. Aclysia needed to cuddle her master again and do more, much more, in the terms of skinship if the opportunity arose. Best she could do right now was masturbate three times a day while listening to voice recordings and use up her secret inventory stash of his used shirts. Every time she was done with them, they smelled less like him. It was a sorry recement from the start.
John, when can I see you again? she asked the world, frowning when an attempt to reach him mentally was only met with the dullness of the distance between them. It was like running into a wall of cotton. Not unpleasant, just entirely disappointing. Unable to do anything else, she had taken to cleaning everything around the shelter she was given. It had been a house in a Protected Space that had clearly been left to its own devices for over a dozen years. Ivy had climbed the walls, the grass around was tall as it could grow and even a few spiders had found their way into the barrier. Spiders the size of dinner tes and creating cobwebs that gave off electric discharges, but still spiders.
If it had been just a day, Aclysia wouldnt have minded, but after her first night in that environment, a night without a loving master to snuggle up to, her cleaning instincts had taken over. At first, she had just wanted to pass the time, but as the days went on and her immense Libido remained unsatisfied, her impatience had caused her to go perhaps a bit overboard.
Everyst strand of grass had the exact same height, mowed down by hand. The fa?ade had been cleaned of all ivy, damaged wood reced, bought on the Abyss Auction, and painted in a fresh dark blue, the colour of Fusion. Had she had the artistic ability, she would have painted the proper emblem, but the flower with the six differently coloured petals, shaped somewhat likeets, that was the simplified version of it would have to do. She drew that on the door.
Soon thereafter, everyst spider was chased out. With them went the cobwebs. Dust was the next victim of Aclysias cleaning spree, the only interruptions for iting from her pleasuring herself wherever she was the mostfortable. Also showering,st she wanted was to be dirty when she finally got called to the leader.
Which just kept not happening. So, she reced faulty parts of the ceiling tiles. Also, she threw out the old furniture and reced it with mostly leather surfaces of the hydrophobic variety. Although she didnt cook here, everything inside her urged her to buy proper cooking utensils and before she knew it, she hadpletely reced that as well.
All the trash that came about in the process she stored at a clearly designated area on the bit of the street that was part of the barrier. She stacked it neatly by size and material. The run-down house she had been assigned to was now better than new, with being equipped with everything a family of four could need, down to a rice cooker. The only thing she hadnt gotten to was to rece the flooring, tiles on concrete. To get that done she would have needed to mix some new ster and that was messy work.
With all of that done, she was now in maintenance mode. Not a lot to maintain though, if the only person around didnt produce any waste. Nevertheless, she cleaned every surface, even the street, once a day.
Uhm wow, a voice appeared suddenly, belonging to a woman with dark red hair. She was quite attractive, with a slender body and a cute freckled face, even if Aclysia didnt like the piercings on her nose and lower lip. Earrings were one thing, one that the weaponized maid already didnt approve of. The Artificial Spirit didnt like people who had visible metal on their bodies. It was slightly ironic, given her origin, but her appearance was very much natural (if immensely beautiful) - white hair aside.
Despite this aversion, Aclysia would have been more than ready to fuck that woman, using her dick or not. It had been a week and she was getting really quite thirsty. However, doing anyone outside of her masters approved harem would have been an affront, so the weaponized maid put the broom aside and turned towards the visitor.
Didnt think the old crack shack could look like this fucking hell, the woman scratched her head. The boss will see you now.
Aclysia patted down her somewhat dusty skirt. I approve of this development, she let the woman know, and together they left the barrier. Aclysia didnt even bother with recing either the maid outfit or her white hair. Those things were done in order to dodge unwarranted attention. There was no harm toe from the few Abyssals around recognizing her and the mundanes could stare at her however they liked, she didnt care.
At any avable opportunity, she would appear as a maid. Her master himself had designed it for her and Beatrice to be worn. From the ck and white colour scheme, to the corset, white chest piecebo that pronounced her petite breasts and thin waist nicely, down to the long skirt, open at the side to reveal an immense amount of her long legs, decorated with ck stockings and garter belt, with every step. Even that was tight enough at the base to give a teasing of her ass. Just the outline of it, barely anythingpared to the invitation that the old mini skirt had been. Much more than many people were used to, however.
Next to her, the redhead in her skimpy clothes looked almost in. Didnt help that she had an equivalent amount of chest but nowhere near the ass. Even hotpants didnt make her a challenge to Aclysias unfair levels of beauty. Although being of Asian looks definitely helped in catching attention as well. Not that this was her goal, Aclysia just noted this as they made their way to a boat and then quickly drove over to one of the many smaller inds in the eastern half of theke.
Savage Ind, as Aclysia was aware, having learned the names of all of them over thest few days. Another way to offset the boredom, although one she had invested way less time into. Of those smaller inds, this one was notable for having an airport for smaller aircrafts. That was about it and not really of importance for Aclysia.
Alright, follow me, the redhead announced and raised her hand. The other side was much more impressive, with a three-metre high wall surrounding the entire coast of the ind. It was clearly made by an earth mage some time ago, visible by the way it was one single stone stretching on and the signs of aging all over its rough surface. A small dent in the wall was where they stood, apparently the predetermined arrival point on barrier entrance. Yo, I brought the Gamers slut, let us in!
Aclysia ignored that insult and just wished her master was actually here to be a slut towards. The gate opened slowly and the redhead stepped ahead. On the other side stood a yawning blonde, also quite attractive, also pierced. Seemed to be local fashion.
You should see the old house we made her stay in, immediately, the gossiping started. She cleaned all of it up!
And? I wouldnt want to stay in that dirty shack either, the blonde returned.
No, you dont get it, its not a shack anymore. I would move into that ce and pay you for it! This bitch cleaned everything up!
The gatekeeper looked at her friend like she had gone crazy, but looked at Aclysia for a second. Well, shy wallflowers need to be usable for something, the blonde gave her the up and down. Although she is hot enough to just stay in bed all day, no need to also be a fucking cleaner. At least the outfit works. The boss will probably like her.
Not as much as Kevian, the redhead pointed out.
Prolly, the blonde shrugged.
Aclysia let all of this happen without a care, only concentrating on not getting wet while she fantasized about fucking those two together with John. They could each bend over one of them. Better, they could give her master a series of lovingpliments and caress his body while she rode him. I really need to get back home and have master take me over whatever surface there is, the weaponized thought and therefore spoke up. I have no intention of being rude. I would, however, ask of you to point in the direction of said boss, if you would be so kind.
Hot voice too, youll fit right in, the blonde stated and pointed toward the north end of the ind. See that house?
Aclysia turned to follow the finger. Only then did she realize how much the surroundings were to her disliking. Outdoor furniture fashioned out of spare wood and old car tires, a hastily made firece, grass that was littered with trash, all of it had the aesthetic of a campsite that had been dered permanent home.
Aside from that, there were multiple small homes around, little more than shacks were people could sleep (and cook if they were lucky). Only one house seemed important, however, a two-story building with an almost medieval looking tower attached to it. Thetter seemingly predated even the wall, while the house itself had a more modern feel to it, although the stered walls also had signs of the elements wearing them down. Which, given theck of wind inside Illusion Barriers, was pretty odd.
Just forpletion''s sake, Aclysia also looked in the other direction, where a pitch ck cube of a building stood menacingly. It was much bigger than any other house around, so she had to ask herself why they wouldnt put their headquarters there.
Youll find the way yourself, right? the blonde asked almost mockingly.
Aclysia also ignored that. She was here to make allies for her master, that was the mission statement. Well, more exactly, she was here to get support for her master from the Small Lake Pact. To that end, being offended was not useful. More than that, she really didnt care if they were just attacking her. If it was something John had given to her, that would be another thing.
I will, the weaponized maid answered in a matter-of-fact tone and walked away.
The Maidening 2 – A place of dirty deeds
The Maidening 2 C A ce of dirty deeds
The first thing that Aclysia greeted in the building was the smell of booze, lots of booze. It mingled with half-fried electronics, oil and the iron smell of recent welding to create the impression of a proper workshop. Half-built engines stood all around the room, more were yet found in the bodies of motorbikes in several states of assembly.
By contrast, the first sound she heard was the familiar waka-waka of Pacman, followed by the game over sound and someone hitting the side of an arcade machine with the fury of the frustrated. Fucking bullshit game! a male voice shouted, and Aclysia found a guy in a leather jacket standing there. From the short blonde hair to the lean build, he was all around unnoticeable. Only his style made him stand out the slightest bit.
A style that immediately made Aclysia negatively predisposed to him and, as a matter of fact, everyone else running around in this workshop of a guild centre. Bikers had never been a sign of anything good. From before her creation, when a group of them had tried to abduct John, to Victoria and a sporadic few other encounters, bikers had somehow always been opposite of their interests.
Whether this changed today or not would be interesting.
Huh? the man noticed her and walked over. Since when did we have a maid? Well, good timing, my cock could use the cleaning. It wasnt an earnest suggestion, just a dirty joke. He still got much closer than Aclysia wasfortable with, however.
She put a hand against his chest when they were face to face. I request a formally appropriate distance, she let him know, and he grinned.
Oh, I think we- he started and stared down when she very firmly pushed him away with enough force that he couldnt resist. Gaia almighty, do you have arms out of pure metal?
About 80% pure metal, the weaponized maid corrected. I do confirm the spirit of the question. Please step aside, I am not here for you. Although the guy looked like he wasnt yet done aggressivelying onto her, he was evidently not stupid enough to push his luck and instead returned to his Pacman game.
Aclysia had already spied her actual target. It wasnt hard. The leader had a shaven head, the stubbles of hair interrupted by a broad scar that went from the top of his head to just above the eyebrow. That he was a heavyweight on top of that, a torso twice as wide as Aclysias and pecs of enormous size visible behind the jacket he was wearing over his naked chest didnt make him less conspicuous.
With him on the couch was a whole chattel of youngdies, if that term was applicable. They all had the same style as the two women Aclysia had already encountered, pierced, in skimpy clothes and all speaking to each other in pretty unttering ways. They all looked pretty good, but not downright gorgeous. Nothing she felt her master needed to possess over this unimportant ind dweller. Although the question of should was one Aclysia would say always too, since her beloved John should have all the women he could ever want at his fingertips.
Our guest of honour, the leader stated and put his feet on a low table in front of him. Between that and his unmoving arms around two brtes, it was pretty clear he wasnt getting up to greet the weaponized maid. Deciding to keep her behaviour courtly, Aclysia took a little bow, which earned her a sneer. Proper girls wont have fun around here.
This might be the case, Aclysia retorted. I certainly felt rather ignored this past week.
Because I entirely fucking forgot you even were there, the leader stated and had one of the girls put a fresh beer against his lips. Condensed water quickly formed on the ss when it touched him and the entire bottle was emptied into his mouth in one go. Too busy fucking and drinking and telling my guys where to fuck over those Lake Alliance faggots. Youre that Gamer guys puppet, right?
My name is Aclysia, I am an Artificial Spirit created by my master John Newman. I would much appreciate it if you could refrain from calling me a puppet, the weaponized maid kept her tone steady, but she was really beginning to feel her patience thin. May I be informed who Im talking to?
Umanien, the guy who fought his way to the top of this shithole, the mountain of muscles grunted. I wouldnt even bother with outsiders like you normally. Much less somebody who is here just to talk for some president who barely got his first hairs on his balls.
I will have to inform you that my master keeps all of himself smooth and highly cuddleable, Aclysia stated and tilted her head in confusion when that earned herughter. Did these people think that men who were pleasant to snuggle up to, with 100% skin to skin contact, was a humorous thing?
A woman then! the guy at the arcade machine shouted in and caused theughter to increase to a roar. The cking of the joystick against its frame underlined the surrounding amusement. Want to tell us if the tales of his small cock are also true?
Pacman let out ast waka before the entire arcade machine was smashed under the weight of Eclys. Although sharper than a razor, Eclys thickness didnt just cut the poor machine, itpletely ripped it apart and caused ss and smashed electronics to scatter all over the ground.
The blond man didnt even get to react properly before Aclysia had already dismissed her cleaver again, grabbed him by the cor of his jacket and mmed him against a nearby pir. With just one hand she pushed him up until he was helplessly dangling in her grasp.
Aclysias almond-shaped eyes were green mirrors of rage in an otherwise calm face. Mock my master one more time and your entrails will look like that machine youre so fond of, she threatened and then released him. She turned back to the leader, ignoring the biker as he slumped down on the ground, unable to give a response. My apologies for the property damage, she took a little bow once more. I will be paying for a recement.
Nah, that noise was getting on my nerves, Umanien didnt seem bothered by any of this. Quite the contrary, he seemed to actually listen to her now. Thats how we do things around here anyway. There might still be hope for you to fit in, maid puppet.
Aclysias fingers twitched a little bit. Remain calm, you are to try and get the Small Lake Pact on masters side, she reminded herself. You usually fight each other here?
The strongest gets to lead, thats how it is, Umanien squeezed his women tighter, who giggled excitedly. Everyone who wants to live the high life around here has to either suck up to the strong or be strong. I am thetter and these bitches here are the former. None of them minded being called that, and Aclysia couldnt help but be appalled at the revtion that they were neither loyal nor in love. They were just taking advantage of their beauty to leech off an actually capable person.
I see she slowly said, keeping her opinion to herself. However, she did have to wonder, What happens to those that lose?
They get to bring me a new crate of beer if I like them, the leader stated, stretching a leg and kicking one of the mentioned containers. Momentster, the guy Aclysia had so roughly handled jumped to his feet and hastily vanishing in some side room. Otherwise, they end up in the box.
The box? You mean the building on the other side of the ind? the weaponized asked; it certainly had the appearance to warrant that nickname.
Yeah, that old thing, Umanien thought for a moment, then finally moved. Alright, you all freshen up, I want to use my dick once this headache is done with, he told his harem of bootlickers. I and the maid will go to the box, show her what happens to those that disappoint me.
He got a bunch of agreeing statements and emptypliments in response. Not quite sure who she disrespected more, the loveless women or the guy who didnt care about his harem outside their bodies, Aclysia followed Umanien as he walked towards the door.
Gotta hand it to you, youre one tall thing, he stated, himself having only a few centimetres on her, although he was still twice as broad as her. Your master has taste in women, gotta hand him that much.
I appreciate thepliment, Aclysia returned, feeling a bit of hope for these negotiations. Have you thought yet about a potential alliance with Fusion? As you are well aware, we have amon enemy in the Lake Alliance.
I am not working with and much less for some hairless brat, Umanien grunted and the maids hopes sunk immediately. If he wants me to fuck over the Lake Alliance even more than I am right now, he is going to give me whatever I ask for.
Aclysia wrestled down the urge to point out his insolence for demanding things from John. What would the things you seek be?
He is going to stay the fuck away from mynd, for a start, and thats including that shitty bit that our conflict with the Lake Alliance is about in the first ce. Umanien nced at her to gauge her reaction. Aclysia nodded approvingly, this was one of the things John had already said he would concede on if necessary.
It was a short or middle-termnd loss anyway. Once the Lake Alliance was dealt with and Amacat pulled into Fusion, the Small Lake Pact would be surrounded on almost all sides. It was only a matter of time before John could move in and take them over as well. Not exactly the honourable thing, but this was not an alliance of friendship but one of necessity.
What else? Aclysia asked, seeing what she could concede on.
Money, lots of it, Umanien went straight ahead. Enough to finance whatever weapon I want to throw at the Lake Alliance.
We would need to find a sensible sum, Aclysia pointed out.
Didnt you fucking hear me? If he is going to use us, your master is going to give me everything I want, the leader growled. They were about halfway to the ck, boxy building now. The sum is whatever I feel like at any given day.
This is uneptable under any circumstance. Our economy is not for you to plunder through demands, the weaponized maids irritation slipped into her tone. You will not make such demands of my master.
Umanien just hadughs for that. I will demand that he lets me fuck his entire harem if I feel like it, he gave her a long stare. Yeah, thats another demand, he is going to let me fuck you right in front of him.
Aclysia felt like her annoyance suddenly froze into a clump of condensed rage. Alone the idea of being taken by a man other than John disgusted her deeply, doubly so without his approval, triply so as a token of some shaky pact and quadruple for making him watch. Of course, she knew her master would never agree to this.
They arrived at the building while Aclysia was still brooding about what to do. Her mission statement was clear. The current circumstances spelled failure and failing her master was a taint. She wanted to be his most reliable pir, a woman he couldnt live without even if he tried. However obsessive that sounded, she didnt care. What she wanted most of all was to be needed by him and being who he missed the most amongst all of his girls. Utterly selfish, she knew, and something normally under control because she loved not just her master but also all those that loved him (even Siena, in an odd way). Nevertheless, it was her truest wish.
John wouldnt mind if she failed, even if this mission could prove vital in the future. There was a stark difference between what John minded and what she minded, absurdly so when it came to doing things for him.
With one hand, Umanien pushed open the front door of the block-shaped building. There was no need to step inside to show what was going on. Rows of pirs glowed softly with purplish-blue light, pumping through crystal lines into arcane batteries. Aclysia could only see the one directly in the entrance area in detail, but that was all she needed.
A man, sweaty, naked and thinned down to the bone, sat in the ck building. Bound limbs, incapable of doing as much as moving a finger, were kept in ce by metal mps. Even his head was entirely fixed in ce, a tube rammed down his throat, probably pumping some sort of liquid food into his stomach and keeping him unable to bite his own tongue off to escape this torment.
Although there was a hole in their seats, the entire room stunk of human waste and the summer sun on the dark walls didnt make it any better. Aclysia just silently stared at the absolute cruelty. Those people couldnt move, couldnt see, could only hear each others gagged torment and the buzzing of the machines.
Those who lose get made useful, Umanien stated and let the door fall closed again without looking back. Mana still gets money made. He shrugged like he wasnt even talking about people. Some of those got sold to me though, cant feed all my guys to my alcoholism, heughed as if he had just made a perfectly sensible joke.
Aclysia had heard a lot about the cruelty of mana factories, but this went beyond her imagination. The idea that John could have ended up in one of these things. The clump of disgust inside her ignited like frozen oil. You say that the strongest leads your guild, yes? Aclysia asked quietly.
Yeah, thats why we arent as soft as your master, puppet, Umanien rolled his neck and yawned.
What if I was to beat you? Aclysia asked.
The guild master froze in his yawn, then looked at her with amusement. Then you could take over, for all I care, he stated with ridicule. Now be a good little puppet and behave. Crawl back to your master and tell him what I dem-
Aclysia raised her knife to the mans throat. We will fightthis is non-negotiable.
The Maidening 3 – A place of maids
The Maidening 3 C A ce of maids
See, you should have just done the sensible thing and stabbed me right when you could, Umanien mocked Aclysia across the space between them. They had no arena, not even a hastily assembled ring of tires on the ground, instead they just stood in the middle of the littered green area. Themotion quickly spread as gossip from one person to another.
A crowd of about twenty people, predominantly female, gathered with their backs against the wall. Aclysia heard them shout a series of unttering things towards her and dirty-worded support for Umanien. Words they would doubtlessly have for her if they thought her the favourite to win.
Aclysia hadnt just made the decision to fight in the spur of the moment. Should this Umamien turn out to be a foe she actually couldnt beat, she could teleport away. That John wouldnt work with him was already a given, so this battle was herst attempt at fixing what was already broken. With both hands, she grabbed Eclys and raised it in an aggressive stance, ready to thrust forwards.
The scum she was about to fight had more words. Ambush is as viable a tactic as anything else. Seriously, what the fuck is this even? An honourable duel? What use is honour for a puppet?
I have no need for surprise to be victorious against you, Aclysia returned, her focus as sharp as her de. For that nickname, you will pay in a few moments. My name is Aclysia and the only strings that hold me are those I chose. Fulfilment lies in purpose and I have found mine.
Yeah, yeah, spout your lines. I dont give a shit about what your upper mouth has to say anyway, Umanien grinned like the stupendously bad guy he was. You can imagine how Ill use you when I defeat you, right? Always wondered what a real doll would feel like.
Aclysia had enough of this ridicule. If he said that fighting here was allowed at any point and that this wasnt a duel, there was no reason for her to stand there and chat any longer. Her skirt fluttered in the wind of her sudden eleration.
Credit where credit was due, Umanien did see hering. That squarely put him outside the horribly weak bracket. At a sum total of 200 Agility, Aclysia knew she wasnt the fastest person around for her level. If he was quick enough to handle what came next was another question, however.
Umanien assumed a stance ready to duck under Eclys, and that was his first mistake. Aclysia didnt even intent on striking him with it, only feigning the beginning of an attack to force him to make a move anyway. Going under the feigned thrust, Umaniens open palms collided with her chest. It was a mixture of a proper attack and open groping. Bitter cold spread over her breasts, the physical kind. It prated past her surface and caused the metal inside her to freeze up.
The weaponized maid had already figured she was dealing with some sort of ice mage. That he was adept at the same armour-prating martial art as Rave was did honestly surprise her. It could be chalked up to her own arrogance that she was hit by something like this.
Now it was just important toe out on top of this trade of blows.
Eclys disappeared and was reced with her knife, much quicker than her usual re-adjustment of weapons would allow. Cutting Flurry was activated, increasing her Agility on top of all of that. Without a second, the knife had sunk into her opponents shoulder.
Umanien was of a high level, admittedly, but not high enough to dodge an attack from a disadvantaged position. The man squealed in pain and tried to jump back. If Aclysias goal had been to kill him, she could have grabbed him with her off-hand and rammed Eclys through his back. As it was, he may still have been of use to master if kept on a tight leash, so she let him go.
However, the three-hitbo was still ongoing and she wasnt going to let him off with just one wound, no matter how crippling. Although Eclys white de missed him by a hairs width, it pulled after itself a silver shimmering trail of energy that cut his bare chest open. A phenomenon that would have repeated with Marath, as Aclysia spun around her axis to whirl the massive cleaver around. It was a movement too much for the frozen segment of her torso; metal shattered inside her body, throwing the attack off her aim as her magically animated tissue was disced.
It hurt, it hurt a lot, but it wasnt a grievous wound. Not as long as she kept her crystalline heart away from those now sharp shards inside her own body. Umanien backed further and further away, the sh across his chest only shallow despite how far it ran. Aclysia inspected herself to make sure the damage wasnt too severe.
Much to her interest, much less than her shock anyway, the ice prevented her regenerative capabilities from kicking in. She couldnt even properly feel that part of herself. Even trying to actively rece it with other materials stored inside her only worked around the edges, at a rate basically equal to thawing.
It would have been a much bigger problem hadnt she been in possession of her own body heat, fed by magic rather than a beating heart. Due to that origin, there was a steady increase of temperature in that shock frozen part. Although it hindered her regeneration, it was ultimately not that much of an issue.
As long as it stays just one strike at a time, she reminded herself to remain cautious, keeping her eyes on Umanien. Having kept up on his steady steps back, Aclysia now set after him. Her foot had barely hit the ground for the first time when the guild leader turned tail and ran. Hesitating for a moment, she nced over to the onlookers.
Theck of an arena made it hard to make out when this duel was decided. That the crowd was still cheering him, although way less enthusiastically, indicated that the fight was still supposed to be ongoing. With that in mind, Aclysia changed back to Eclys and chased after him. Apparently, this was only over if he was either dead, unconscious or admitting his defeat.
She chased Umanien into the house and then stood in the main room confused. The small hesitation had allowed him to get enough of a lead that she now didnt know what sideroom he had fled into, it might as well have been up the stairs. The sound of numerous ss bottles clunking against their confinement in a crate was what tipped her off. In response, her entire body turned with robotic abruptness and she charged towards the door.
Fully expecting an ambush, she only acted like she was going right in. A strategy that turned out to be extremely wise, as a bottle of beer flew through the chokepoint of the door frame as she pressed against the wall outside of the room. It exploded into a myriad of pieces, and pieces of cold ss hit Aclysias frame. Although it ripped into the cloth of the maid uniform, it did no harm to her main body. It was just an inconvenience that the skin-like metadermis (a blend of silicone and metal given to her by one of her many perks) didnt extend to this emtion of clothing.
The ss wasnt the main danger anyhow. Under Umaniens touch, the beer had turned into a vtile liquid more dangerous than a Molotov cocktail, even if less terrifying in its appearance or explosion radius. A cloud of frost hung around where the bottle hadnded just now, settling over a piece of cement that could now be used as a makeshift mirror.
Gotta hand it to you, puppet, her opponent shouted from his presumed kitchen. You pack a big punch in that little body. My shoulder is totally fucked. Aclysia didnt blindly trust that statement, but between using Cutting Flurry and Servants Strike, that initial stab should have hurt a lot. But I just have to hit you with one of these! he threw another bottle out of the door. And you will be frozen down to your pretty ass. Can only say again that your master has taste. I can see that fat bottom even with that skirt.
Aclysia let him chatter away as she distanced herself from the wall. Careful to remain at an unseen angle, she stepped away and changed weapons. Double checking that her Devotion was indeed maxed out, a resource that she felt like a flowering tree in her heart, she put her n together. Eclys made room for Marath once more.
Running like blood coloured mana, lifeforce drained from her hands and seeped into the bulky handle. The silver-white weapon emanated a dangerous glow, one desire sated, the inhuman consciousness inside now awaited ughter. Aclysia was in no haste to satisfy that as well. First, she let her lifeforce recover. The stalemate could only change in her favour if he moved out of his position and she only got one shot at this before she had to try something different.
Adjusting her grip on Marath, she made sure it was sitting perfectly. Aclysia took one more breath and then swung. The cleaver was much too big for this environment and the wide arch she used didnt help. She was slowed down by the piece of staircase and the pir the de cut through, then she unleashed the shockwave.
More potent than Eclys, although with less avability and a self-harming requirement, the red ranged slice was buffed up by Servants Strike and cut through the wall, dissipating into argely harmless wave of force behind.
Which was exactly what Aclysia was banking on as she switched to Eclys and broke through the now damaged wall with her body. If she couldnt pass the chokepoint, then she would just make the entrance wider. Umanien could still have reacted in time to that sudden deconstruction effort, were it not for that disrupting energy opening up his ready stance.
In that situation, Aclysia reckoned her opponent had two choices. Either face her and try to fight despite his disadvantaged position or run away again. If it was thetter, she would use Masters Shield and swing Eclys with the immense buff, destroying the house and hopefully intimidating him enough that it wasnt necessary. He chose the former case.
Dropping the beer in his healthy right, he went into a swing. Aclysia adjusted the course of her de. Silver-white turned red as the entire length of her de smoothly impaled his left hand. Metal prated flesh, prated concrete and soon the hand of his damaged arm was nailed to the wall. Letting out an amused grunt, thinking she had just made a mistake, Umanien went to punch her now open side.
Devotion drained to 0 moments before the impact, then Aclysia felt her side freeze to a cracking sound. The cracking of bone. Letting out a pained rattle, the guild master looked at his now ruined hand. Fortification, the more seldom used of her two spender skills, had just increased her already buffed up body hardness by another 117%.
As she had to fear the magic more than the actual impact of his punches, Aclysia had little reason to go for the healthy hand over the one attached to a damaged shoulder. Indeed, she needed the hulk of a man to punch her with all the force he could muster. After all, she was relying on the force of the punch crippling him.
If it hadnt seeded, she would have disengaged, letting go of Eclys. Although it would have displeased her to let go of one of her weapons, it would have kept him nailed to the wall long enough that she didnt have to fear further retaliation. In a few minutes, she would have gotten it back anyway.
The back-up n hadnt been needed anyway. She stepped back and pulled the de out smoothly. Your loss, she stated, kicking the legs away from under the shocked man. Hended ufortably on one of the many crates of beer in the dirty kitchen. Admit it.
Fuck you, he growled and spat at her face. Luckily for him, it fell short.
Aclysia narrowed her eyes regardless and moved Eclys up to his neck until it drew blood. That she wanted him alive was something he didnt know yet and that want wasnt pronounced enough to allow such disrespect for too long. Admit it, she repeated, drawing a shallow line over his neck. One gulp, one move too hasty, and he would have killed himself.
Something which, to her immense surprise, he ultimately did by ramming his throat right into her weapon as he forced himself to get up. Although she despised this man, she had to admire the willpower needed to actually rise on his feet while having a katana in his windpipe. Two words, more gurgles than artictions, left him, Fuhrk yhrou He spat again, this time the red-stained saliva hit her face. Then the tip of her de cut something vital and he copsed dead.
At least a principled scumfuck to the end, to borrow a term from Elizas vocabry, Aclysia thought and grabbed a washing cloth from a nearby kitchen counter. It wasnt exactly clean, but it would suffice to rid her de and face from the staining liquids.
That done, she dragged the corpse into daylight, to present it to the crowd. They were adequately surprised, although nobody seemed overly sad about it. ording to the statements he made, I am now your leader, Aclysia said, realizing that she hadnt thought much further than this. Of course she was going to add them to Fusion now, but John wouldnt be able to administer this part until he returned from his business with the Hidden Tradition.
Even once he did, would they just ept him, because he was her master? Or would they insist on keeping her at the helm because they knew she was stronger? All these questions that she couldnt answer because a culture focusing around the strongest, sneakiest asshole reigning was so odd for her. Well, one thing she understood.
Feel free to leave and notify the rest of the Small Lake Pact of this change. Tell them also that theyre wee to challenge me. Three people went ahead with that allowance, immediately moving away. All of the men, as Aclysia noticed, leaving her with the entire harem of the now deceased.
Theing days would doubtlessly hold a few challengers for her. Also assassination attempts and the likes, since they really didnt like foreigners apparently. Good for her that she neither slept nor ate food that could be poisoned. However, she would have to think about leading this bunch, regardless of if it was permanent or not. She had no idea how to lead anyone in anything aside from one thing.
Say, what are your opinions on high-heels, stockings and French maid outfits? she asked the assembled group of pretty girls with biker aesthetic. Although Aclysia still wouldnt fuck any of them (even if she really, really wanted to satisfy her Libido somehow), the spirit of the question wasnt anything lewd. They looked at each other, unsure how to take this.
Whatever our opinions needs to be, Aclysia? one of them, the redhead that had brought her onto the ind, stated with some confusion.
Perfect, thought the maid.
Chapter 575 – Season 3 Arc 5 Start – Safety precautions
Chapter 575 C Season 3 Arc 5 Start C Safety precautions
John tightened thest knot and then looked at his work with approval before getting up. Leather and metal sat tightly around the pale arms, confining them to their position behind the blood mages back. Didnt think that our ytime skills woulde in handy in a time like this, he admitted, as he sat down opposite of Eliza on the table.
They were back home. A day had passed since the events at the gravesite, and surprisingly little had happened. Since the Hidden Tradition had been informed about the potential invasion of the Contender in advance, the almostplete destruction of their sacred site had been taken pretty well. As well as the loss of a five-hundred-year-old cultural centre could be taken anyway. Prepared or not, that must have hurt. At least they had managed to get the most venerated ancestors out there.
Nevertheless, once he had exined to the assembly in all detail why it had to happen there and what his reasons had been, they had just forced (well, heavily encouraged) him to do some ceremonial smoking again and sent him off. Nothing else had happened, and with the Thana situation being as it was, John had been in a hurry to get home and calmly deal with this.
And during the entire drive, the goddess of genocide had been a massive pain in their sides. Growling threats, snapping her teeth, trying to grab someone, it was like having a deeply malevolent four-year-old with the power to rip off ones head around. Needless to say, it was quite straining on the mind and John was very happy that they were in the back of a mobile home. One moment of Eliza wavering in her suppression efforts and they could have had a car crash on their hands in other cases.
Which was why, now that they were back, John had grabbed a bunch of their BDSM gear and bound her arms and legs together. Hadnt been easy; Thana had been trying to scratch or kick him the entire time. I am super fucking fine with this, the blood mage herself announced, looking at the gag thaty unused on the table. It wasnt the usual ring, but more of a biting leather instead. Her favourite gag would have gotten bent out of shape with almostplete certainty. I am notining if you want to ram your cock up any of my holes right now, you know? Wearing this shit gets me going right along.
As much as I would like that, its not happening, John responded and sighed. Binding her up like this had given him a predictable erection. Eliza wasnt the only one conditioned to BDSM, after all. We arent going to have sex anytime soon. Not even sure if well even sleep in the same bed.
Eliza was about to protest, but then she must have remembered the white outline of her teeth on the left side of his neck. That he didnt want her jaw anywhere close to him during the night was a pretty understandable stance to have. With how cuddly close the bed situation always was, no sane person would risk getting permanent scars like that. Neither the gag nor the bindings were something John saw as a proper guarantee, not with the crazy level of power both Eliza and Thana had. When the blood mage was asleep was the easiest time for Thana to get control as well.
That SUCKS, Eliza cried, jumping agitatedly in her seat, as best she could. Why arent we fucking anymore though?! That was the part she evidently didnt understand.
Because I dont trust Thana not to bite, grow teeth in your vagina or just straight up crush my dick, John pointed out what he thought to be obvious. That was just a level of tightness that he didnt want to experience. The mental images alone were horrible and his dick was thest ce he wanted a permanent wound on. So, were doing none of that until I am sure of it.
Without a way to deny any of those possibilities, the blood mage mumbled a series of curses to herself. John grabbed a package of gummy bears that they had left on the table a few days ago. Sure, they were a bit stale by now, but they werent exactly bad. He threw one of them at Elizas mouth to calm her down a little bit. Food tended to do that.
Although she sessfully caught the tasty treat in her maw, she spat it right back out before she had the chance to chomp down a single time. What the fuck?! she cried out, aimed at the person that was right where she was.
You will have no joy, parasite, Thana growled back and John leaned on the table. It was quite fascinating to watch that lovely face switch between different expressions in quick session. As were the dots and lines in her eyes going back and forth. Pleasure, taste, whatever I can deny you, I will.
Do you need to be such a total petty bitch?!
Your insults dont interest me.
Well, how about you stop being such a massive cockwaffle and I wont have to throw them into your ass of a face?
My interest in talking to you has ceased. Suffer and disappear. That was all Thana had to say before leaving Eliza to rage in her seat. John wondered how to deal with this. Normally he would go over to hug her, but he wasnt really looking to add to his scar collection. Then he thought of a solution.
Although the solution also moved about herself by the time he got it. From under the table, a blue mass began moving up, encapsting Eliza until Undine shaped herself out of it, embracing the blood mage tightly. Those two had gotten along pretty well for most of their rtionship, a Lorylim shaped bump aside, and Undine wouldnt be hurt should Thana snap at her. One, because it was a bit harder to hurt a girl made from slime in a way that counted as a wound, and two, because Undine wasnt human, so that debuff wouldnt even affect her.
Whether Eliza just managed to maintain control or the goddess of genocide came to the same realization and thus didnt even bother, the pretty little psycho calmed down without any further problems. Okay, she grumbled, okay, fuck it, I think I got it. No sleeping in the bed, no sex, no eating either, yeah, this shit is going to get annoying really quick.
That means the two of us can concentrate on rehabilitating for a little while, John pointed out, taking off his sses and pulling the package of contact lenses from his inventory. Either Thana will stop throwing her little tantrum and make it possible for us to have a working rtionship or youre going to learn how to stay in control again.
Or I will learn how to finally overtake her, Thana answered instead, in her typical wolven tone.
Maybe, but then I am dead, so I would like to discount that possibility, the Gamer said nonchntly.
I HATE how little you fear me, irritating human, the goddess of genocide snapped her teeth in his direction, invoking a light sting in his shoulder. The way that had been fixed did not bode well for the future. Since total suppression was out, it was entirely possible that Thana would eventually realize how she could prevent Eliza from helping out.
John couldnt help but chuckle nervously, blinking as the second contact lens was put in ce. Honestly? he put a hand on the marked part of his shoulder. I am absolutely scared of you, Thana. One mistake with you could be the end of someone I know or myself. Aside from that, youre one of the few things that can still cause me to feel genuine pain. The thing is just that I made the decision to keep you here because I needed you as a tool, the goddess pulling back her lips to an animalistic growl made him stop for a moment, Something that literally already came back to bite me. He lowered his hand to the table. So, I might be afraid, but I am the reason for this situation, I wont be frozen by it. After a moment of thought he asked, Eliza?
The hateful expression lightened up to his lover perking up at the sound of her name. Yes?
The more you two meld, the more human she gets, right?
Thats what this cumnoodle of a cunt told me, yeah, the blood mage confirmed.
Hm then we make a game of it, John stated his intention outright and ced another gummy bear on the table in front of Eliza. I want you to look at it like this, Eliza: I am punishing you for being a naughty little girl. The pretty little psycho seemed a bit confused. You cant sleep in my bed, because I don think you really value the honour of sleeping in the same room as me anymore. You dont get to have sex with anyone, not even touching yourself in ANY way, because you have been rewarded too much recently. You dont even get to eat anymore because Aclysia will be really pissed at you. You get to do none of this until he pulled his hand back and just let the gummy bear sit there. Thana actually acts like the failure of a goddess of genocide she is and epts that she has human urges like the rest of us. Including wanting to sleep in a warm bed with others, feeling pleasure and eating tasty things.
Fuck you, Thana slowly answered. That she even came out to cuss at him like that, John took it as a sign that he was onto something here.
Understand, Eliza? Thana isnt keeping you from anything, I am forcing you to teach her a lesson, he kept addressing the woman he loved rather than the thing she shared a body with.
Al-fucking-right, the blood mage smirked, evidently much happier with this line of thought. Undine flowed off her and made her way to the oversized bathroom, presumably to rx in the hot water. Something John would soon join her in.
As for this new arrangement, the Gamer had no idea how effective it would be. It might be that this was a critical point in their melding. A point where Thanas inhumanity was still at a point where she only cared about hurting everyone and had the slightest windows to do so. Alternatively, it could be that it was only going to get worse and the next step gave her even more influence, made Touch of Humanitys Bane more potent, while pulling none of her murderous intentions.
If thetter was the case, teaching her that at least John and his group were people she profited from agreeing with every now and again was absolutely useless. She was going to take over more and more and eventually rip them all apart, the doomsday that he could have pushed off until a new avatar of genocide formed happening in a few months rather than decades or millennia.
He would have to put her under Romulus surveince before it got that bad. If he even got the chance to. The uncertainty of all of this was awful. Like gathering speed by driving down a slope, seeing the ramp in the distance, but having no idea if there was something to catch him or an ocean of concrete waiting for him at thending spot.
John overall felt pretty great, however. He was still riding the high of being rid of Sigmund.
There we go then, he said and looked straight into the shattered eyes across from him. You can stay inside my Eliza, Thana, but I would much rather you epted how life is going and finally make peace with it. As just analysed, he had absolutely no idea if he wasnt spouting a load of crap there. If Thana believed he was telling the truth or if he could at least make her doubt herself a little bit, that was already going to help though. You would do everyone a favour, including yourself, if you epted that life is more than murdering everyst man, woman and child out there.
He didnt get an answer, although the shifting dots and lines made it clear that she had listened. Through some effort and being very mindful where he put his hands, he ced Eliza on the couch. She could have jumped there with her bound together legs, but he spared her looking that silly. Next he put on some si she liked so she wouldnt be bored.
Now that all of that is out of the way I have to call everyone and tell them what happened, he announced after having made sure she was asfortable as someone immobilized and under quarantine could be.
Eliza visibly shrunk together in her seat, knowing that Aclysia was on that list. Nobody would be amused to hear that John had gotten another scar, but none would take it as badly as the weaponized maid. His well being was that womans entire life goal, after all. Maybe the good news that came along would somewhat reduce the impact?
Chapter 576 – Good news and more good news
Chapter 576 C Good news and more good news
First, he called Rave. That was the actual, most logical person to start with in every metric. She was his official girlfriend, the first woman to love him and the person he loved the most out of all of his girls. Her reaction to all of the news was pretty easy. Does it look badass, at least?
Eeeeeh, John looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, wanting to hop into therge shower room after he was done here. One eye closed, he inspected the scar more closely for the first time. It doesnt look bad at least. With how sharp her teeth are, its all rather clean. Could almost be mistaken for a tattoo, but, you know, white. He turned to inspect the back side of it more cleanly. Thana had chomped down pretty precisely along the edge of his neck muscles. Upper jaw scars at the back, lower jaw scars at the front. I guess you could say it looks kind of badass? Would probably look pretty gruesome if she had actually taken the bite though.
Ill judge when I get back from here, Rave said and yawned. It was somewhat early in the morning and she had never been a particrly good morning person. Somewhat ironic, as John found, as she was so cattish in many other aspects and those animals werent known for their problems waking up. Whenever that is.
Soon, I think, John told her. Unless our war with the Lake Alliance goes hot soon. The Hidden Tradition can use all the people kept behind for the ritual for the border patrols youre currently running. Add to that the increased reintegration of the southern Marnd and we might be able to move more people up north.
That sounds nice. Nothing has really happened so I am feeling kinda lonely here, his girlfriend admitted, and John had to agree that being separated from her felt horrible. Same was true for every other girl currently not around. Well, Id love to chat more, butyaknowhowsitis, she cleared her throat to get the slurring under control, the longer I keep ya here, theter ya get done doing the things that allow me to see ya again. Ill hear youter?
Evening at thetest, he promised and hung up.
Next on the list was Aclysia. He braced himself for impact as he clicked on her name in his contact list. Tooting answered his nervousness, almost mockingly. For a pretty long time as well. It was very unusual; Aclysia would check her disy quickly and hurry to answer once she saw his name. When he was about to get worried, the clicking sound of a taken call reached his ear. My apologies for the dy, Master, she stated, and there was the unmistakable song of Eclys vibrating under the impact of another weapon.
John was pretty sure she wouldnt even have answered if it was something he needed to worry about. Still, he asked, Everything under control over there?
Yes, came the quick answer, followed by a scream of pain and Aclysia asking to be excused for a moment. A surrender demand echoed weakly from the background, a pained answer, then the weaponized maid returned to the speaker. I apologize again, Master. I will now proceed to give you the rundown of my sess, she sounded rather proud of herself, which made John feel worse because he was about to ruin her mood. First, he would hear it though.
It was a pretty short but interesting tale. Apparently, the Small Lake Pact was run on brutality, which exined their openness to bing a terrorist society at least. Their specialization in defence magic (of the trap variety) was also interesting to note. It opened up some new strategic possibilities that he would have to consider soon.
As to Aclysias sess itself, apparently she had reced the leader by beating him, although the man (called Umanien) had chosen to die by the end of the fight. That was something that John didnt particrly like to hear. Umanien had been quite a good strategist, at least what Scarlett had told him had made it sound that way. What Aclysia told him however made it sound more like he was simply the right kind of ruthless to effectively operate a terrorist cell. On a small scale, that could sometimes be mistaken for genius.
After hearing what Umanien would have wanted to work with Fusion, however, ranging from unlimited funds to having sex with Johns harem members in front of him, he couldnt honestly feel like he was all that sad about that loss of human life. Adding to that what he heard about the mana factory a momentter, he was pretty sure Umanien would have been sentenced to death by Fusions courts anyway.
Since removing him from power, Aclysia had spent thest two days beating back numerous challengers and establishing her rule. Further deaths had been avoided. However, it was anything but stable. The ouwing of mana factories and the otherws like that werent exactly popr. It was a miracle the entire Pact wasnt imploding already. Either it would soon or they honoured strength more than they hated outside influence.
When asked about that Aclysia responded, There is no need to worry about insurrection. Following your past example, I have allowed everyone a chance to leave. After my disys of superiority, several people took the offer. I have distributed thend to the people freed from the mana factories. Expectedly, most of those are as joyful as they should be with your designs to ouw the practices that tortured them. I thought this to be of your design.
Ah, so the subversive elements are either gone or lying low, John nodded to himself. Given the structure of that society, that almost guaranteed that the most powerful people were now out. That was pretty much guaranteed to be trouble in the future, especially if they managed to cobble together some semnce of an alliance again. Those were people skilled at harassing a much stronger power than themselves and now they had plenty of motivation to go after Fusion rather than the Lake Alliance.
That wasnt exactly optimal. As a matter of fact, it was the exact opposite of what John had sent Aclysia to the Small Lake Pact for. His original intent was to get bad people on his side and conquer themter. Now he had effectively conquered them and gotten the worst people against him. Overall, however, John was happy with this oue.
While the damage that those few people could do wasnt to be underestimated, the extrand in the north was something John could really need, not to mention the manpower. Even if they were loyal only to his power, he could still wield those guerri fighters that had stayed at the Small Lake Pact as he had originally intended. It would be less effective than he had ounted for, but it would still get the job done in spirit.
There were smaller benefits as well. For a start, the swift dismantling of the Mana Factories was a good polish for Fusions image. Combined with the fact that he could soon announce the defeat of Sigmund, although he would be purposefully blurry on the details, it would greatly improve his guilds current reputation. Getting a bigger name on the map and tales of their victories would make other powers think twice if they wanted to support the Lake Alliance in this race. It might even demotivate them entirely and cause some internal strife. There had to be some people in that federation that shared Fusions ideals of human rights.
Then there was economic expansion, although that would take a while to properly take root. The unimednd between them could now be taken by John, rather than ending up as a token in negotiations. Surrounded on all sides, Amacat might be more easily persuaded to join him as well. That was a question he would leverage at Scarlett in a few minutes, since she was taking care of that through Beatrice.
To put it short, this was not what he had wanted but it was better in most ways. He just had to keep an eye out for a growing underground resistance, but when was that not true? With the amount of criminals he had disced since he had started his conquests, it was just a question of time until some violent group of thugs banded together.
Just another reason why Scarlett keeps being so valuable to me John sighed internally. He trusted her at this point, but there was no denying how reliant he was on her. Administration, economy, intelligence, counter-intelligence, aside from actual fighting she was just about the greatest single contributor he had in every field. No wonder Bearings had gone to such ends to try and get her. Bad luck for him that he was a fat, weak bastard and no strapping youngd with godlike potential, he added to his thoughts and thenughed when Stirwin manifested.
It had probably been meant to be a warning, but the infinity elemental popped into existence a few centimetres above the porcin of the sink. First, he fell, then he slid down the slippery smooth material, tiny ws failing to get a grasp on anything until he hit the drain and sat atop the plug for a few confused seconds. Then, in the style of a true derp infested animal, heid down around the plug like that had been the n from the start and just stared at John with tiny silver eyes.
He reached down and scratched the surprisingly soft golden scales between Stirwins eyes. The infinity elemental squeaked in a deeply pleased fashion. That this was the same thing thatbined into a unnecessarily scary dinosaur or could grow into a water-ground dragon of a size beyond colossal was entirely stupid. One day, John might actually have the mana to take advantage of that.
Master? Aclysia spoke from the other side. Do you hear my voice still?
Odd way of phrasing that, Johnmented and then said the necessary. He had barely gotten the words permanent scar out when there was an absolutely terrible noiseing from his speakers. It was like someone was dragging a rusty nail over a chalkboard, only scaled up in volume until it started crackling and with an extra serving of emted bird screaming. It was such a bad noise that John was afraid to lose hearing in his right ear for a moment. Is everythi- he started, realizing he heard his own voice quietly behind himself.
He realized what he had just heard was, the interference sound of teleportation. It had been way worse thanst time, which may very well have been rted to the much wider distance between locations. Aclysia didnt particrly care for it, since neither of them had eardrums that couldnt take such punishment. The weaponized maid had appeared behind John and was now throwing her phone into her inventory at top speeds.
That was a pretty unnecessary use of that cooldown, John scolded as the white-haired maid immediately inspected the scar. Although he couldnt honestly be mad at her, it had to be said. What do we do if they decide you being gone is the perfect opportunity to go independent again?
Then Ill ughter them, Aclysia returned with enough coldness to instantly turn boiling water into ice cubes. After a few moments, a deeply troubled sigh exited her lungs and she wrapped her arms around his back. Whether this was a motion to soothe him or herself wasnt quite apparent. Ah, John, why do you do this to me? How do you expect me to ever leave your side when youe back to me hurt again? He wasnt really able to answer these distraught questions. Where is Eliza?
In the living room, bundled together with the sturdiest BDSM gear I had on hand, he reached behind himself when the worried servant rested her forehead on his marked neck. Although the angle was a bit awkward, he let his fingers caress her silky hair. I will probably have to get or Create some pieces from Baelementium or even higher grade, just to make sure it doesnt snap that easily. Please dont treat her too harshly. You know she didnt want this.
Yes Aclysia embraced him even tighter. Ill try to keep my wrath at a minimum This helps.
Well, feel free to stay there as long as you need, he told her and felt her head moving again. Inspecting the scar a second time.
This might not be too bad? she askingly proposed to herself. Unless you get a tan, its barely visible. It certainly is preferable to the marks on your arm. The red Lorylim scars were indeed less pleasing to the eye, looking like his bones cast shadows through his skin. Her fingers, smooth and gentle, trailed up to his throat. Albeit ufortably close byparison.
Yeah you mind if I call the others now? John still had four more calls to make. Technically, he had seven girls total he still wanted to reach out to over this, but he couldnt reach Nathalia, Momo or Nia, each for different, frustrating reasons he was only partly in the know about.
As long as I dont have to move, she stated, hands gliding over his naked torso. I am unsure how a separation from your body would affect my emotions at the current time.
You are more than wee to stay, he informed her. Next up was Lydia. Unlike everyone else, he didnt just outright call her. Rather, he dropped a text to ask if she had time right now. Unlike the loss of his eyesight, he didnt feel like this was an update important enough to interrupt her schedule over. To his surprise, he had a message returned within a few moments, saying that she was avable.
I hope youe bearing news of good nature, he heard her voice a few momentster. She sounded oddly distorted, a bit deeper than usual, her stern stonepromised by sniffling.
Are you are you sick? John asked, honestly confused. He had been under the impression that being sick was entirely impossible in the Abyss. Rapid mutation or not, what was themon cold against healing magic? How does that even work?
By having a vindictive biomancer specializing in bacterial theory in 1874 experiment on the flu and create a strain that can actually infect people with magical stamina, the queen answered and then coughed in a disgustingly slimy way. It was doubtful that this lengthy exposition was doing good things for her throat.
So, despite wanting to hear all about this, he stopped her. Ill find out myself, dont push yourself.
No, I am not finished with this and you shall listen, the stubborn monarch retorted as strongly as her condition allowed. This strain of the flu can enter barriers and isrgely resistant to all but the most specific or powerful of healing attempts, forcing its victims to resort to traditional medicine and bed rest. However, it seldom seeds in cultivating within people due to needing them in immensely weakened states. Another series of coughs. It is therefore that I have worked past my schedule, because whenever I wasying in my bed, I was thinking about you and that you were hurt. I am telling you this because I am literally sick and tired and I need to somehow manipte you into visiting me already.
I do wish I had the time, but I am kind of in a war right now, he sounded as miserable as he actually felt.
Are you carrying yet more troublesome information to my addled mind right now? Lydias voice was already hoarse from this amount of talking. That she had her eloquent way of putting everything really didnt help her right now.
No, actually, that war is nothing I would put in the worrisome category as it stands right now, anyway, he didnt want to worry her, so he added that part in his mind. Despite that, he heard a grunt from the other side that was entirely mocking. Even with an ocean between them, Lydia had deciphered that in a moments notice. No, what I actually call you for are recent developments. I would say theyre pretty much positive?
And by the end of it, Lydia very much disagreed. You absolute moron, she scolded, and the only thing that spared him one of the queens famous scoldings was a coughing fit she had a momentter. You had the opportunity to rid yourself, us all, of Thana and decided to do that instead? You realize that you used a nuke to remove a tumour, correct?
Yep, John conceded in a chirpy mood regardless.
Hearing that single word delivers me from worry and casts me straight into my usual frustration, Lydia let out a long, relieved breath as something metaphorical was lifted from her shoulders. Despite her chastising words, it was evident that she was quite happy about the general direction as well. Is the scar something that will remind you of your foolishness at least?
If I believed in a god above Gaia, then I would guess it pped this on me for that purpose, John conceded. Either that or he is a giant dick.
Those arent mutually exclusive as much as I would like to continue this discussion, I have to actually rest. Please converse with me in text messages for theing three to five days.
Got it, you sleep well, John wished her and was pretty sure he heard the phone fall out of her hand and into the cushions rather than her putting it down. She must have immediately passed out. Well this next one is going to be interesting, he thought and scrolled down to Metras number.
The talk with her was pretty straightforward. Of course, she was incredibly amused when John mentioned how he had outsmarted and pped around Seminaris for a bit. Then she got a bit more serious, hearing about that invisible assant. Serestra? No, if it had been her, you wouldnt have noticed Metra mumbled on the other end of the line. Absalm or Thresta, more likely. I would put my money on the former, but dont quote me on this. Given that you got Astrotium poisoning, I can only say that one of my kin being involved is incredibly likely.
Basically guaranteed, unless I somehow got on the bad side of Prometheus, John agreed. Aside from the Metracana, the only Astrotium wielding people had to have some connection to either Enki, who was dead as far as he knew, or Hephaestus, who was working with the Greece centred guild. Any idea who that master could be?
Your guess is as good as mine. Us Metracanas dont share some special connection outside of origin. We are basically one loose family. No idea who takes what contract if they dont tell me. That was as much as John had figured, but the question still could have given him something. Anything else noteworthy?
The Gamer finished the telling of the events. Metras reaction to the scar was a bit different.
Fucking finally, a kings body should be a canvas for his story. That you cant get scars is really fucking boring.
Your beauty ideals are all kinds of screwed up, John pointed out, decisively ignoring the king part.
Mine? Fuck you, Master. Your culture elevates the wless and its absolutely disgusting. Not only is it unattainable, the more different someone gets from your little temte, the worse it somehow is. Scars are a mark of deeds, hair separates men and boys.
Yes, I am sure the scar of identally having your thumb too close to a grindstone is absolutely beautiful, John drily responded.
A mark of a mistake that reveals that a person can or cant do something, Metra responded. Are you fucking telling me there is something shameful in that?
Feeling actually unable to satisfyingly answer that question, John gave ground. I guess I can see your point would you extend the hair logic to women though?
There is nothing wrong with pubic hair.
John felt ready to continue this for another hour to test where exactly her bordersy, but he really should move on. Aclysia was still attached to his backside like a brick to mortar. By the two hard dots against his back, he could guess pretty urately that she was both naked and ready to get this somewhere else.
Therefore, the talk with Metra ended on the note of Lets continue this another time and John moved onto Scarlett. He hadnt even picked out her number yet when her voice just echoed out of the speaker. I am already in the picture.
Could you not listen in on my conversations? Johnined, initiating an old routine of theirs.
Somebody has to, with your mediocre safety precautions, she responded. Anyway, I get the feeling that I would agree with Lydia if I had more than video material of Thana. As it is, Sigmund being out of the picture pleases me. Your scar is basically a non-factor, on the other hand. Cant even market that thing properly.
Didnt you work with Sigmund before? John asked.
I bought his services before, the Technomancer corrected. And had I known how exactly his powers worked, I wouldnt have pointed him at the free level up. Scratch that, had I known that he would cause more property damage doing the job than the guy he murdered did in damage to mypany, I wouldnt have touched the fucker with a ten-foot pole.
Huh maybe you should tell me that story in full some time?
Maybe. Not now anyway, I am getting some good things finished up. Lets just say we may not have to ask ourselves about Amacat anymore soon, Scarlett stated and the calling symbol disappeared from his disy.
Alright, one no, two more calls to make, John reminded himself that there was someone outside of his harem he should call over this. Before that, it was Beatrices turn. Albeit that phone call went as expected.
Emotional state: worried. Request: may I use teleportation to return to your location immediately? the neutral of her tone had been somewhatpromised.
Denied, John answered firmly, but tried to convey his understanding with his tone. Aclysia already did that without asking and I cant have both of you suddenly disappear from your diplomatic missions.
Hypothesis: Aclysia is currently much happier for having done the unwise thing and will actually get to enjoy your physical closeness, more tantly called sniffing you like a creepy dog. I want to point out that this makes her a worse servant and that I am envious. I will follow your order, however, Beatrice sounded like she had more sass to distribute. I rmend my recall from this current position soon.
Ill see what I can do, John said and that was thest of the calls with his girls done with. Now he searched for a number he only recently had saved. The person didnt pick up, so John waited until the inbox came on. Hey buddy, wanted to thank you again for the call you gave me recently. Dont want to put you through the experience of finding my newest life developments through television again, so here I go good news, Sigmund is basically dead
He put a heavily abbreviated, non-detailed version of the story out. Didnt want any important information to leak through a voice message of all things. That was thest call he wanted to make. Anyone else he wanted to know, like Magoi, he had already physically visited. Only Ted and Chemilia would have to learn via Metra, as he really wanted to just hop into the bath already.
Chapter 577 – So many questions
Chapter 577 C So many questions
The sensible thing for me to do would be to return to the Small Lake Pact immediately, wouldnt it? Aclysia asked, lying in Johns arms in the bathtub. The Gamer was feeling properly at home, surrounded by warm water, his main maid embraced and Undine giving him a blowjob under the surface. Her darker shade of blue was pretty well visible in the clear surroundings, as was his cock disappearing into her slimy mouth.
John closed his eyes and just enjoyed the slippery feeling. A hole made just for his cock, as tight as she could get away with without making every bob of her head a difficult endeavour. It quivered around him as she herself moaned, something he could only feel reverberating in his shaft, not hear in any capacity. The slime girl had put her pleasure receptors in her throat, she may as well have ridden him right now.
The advantage of this position was it being a bit more casual and the Gamer got to rx properly. He had already cum numerous times in the past thirty minutes, unloading the stress of thest day. He hadnt even really slept yet since he had fought Seminaris, only gotten a few naps in here and there. Thanks to his Endurance, he wasnt quite feeling the impact yet, but he would have to have a meeting with his bed sooner rather thanter.
Thats what you should do, yes John agreed hesitatingly, turning to kiss her pretty lips, finding them instinctively. The gesture was fuelled by the tightening of his balls as yet another wave of virile seed found its way into the liquid form of his ocean elemental. His intense magical essence inbination with her continued pleasure from sucking him off sent her right over the edge.
Enjoying it all blindly, John basked in the heightened senses. It wasnt all horrible, especially as he got more used to it. He had once heard an adage that went something like humans get used to everything after three days. While that definitely wasnt true, especially the everything part, it felt roughly adequate for his situation.
The blindness itself was something he could live with now. Some mornings he still woke up a bit confused at the open-eyed darkness, but that was more thanks to the fact that he still saw normally in his dreams. Granted, now that Sigmund had been taken care of, he had a much easier timeing to terms with everything.
Soon the orgasm was past and he parted his whirling tongue from Aclysias. But I am sure one day wont hurt too much, he added. It was something he absolutely wasnt sure of. A lot of things could happen in one day, including a lot of things that would hurt very much. However, John yearned for his girls toe together again. His life just didnt feel right without all of them around.
Strange how he hade here in less than a year, given his proclivity to hanging around in his room on his own beforehand. It all depended on who he was with, it seemed. Which reminded John that it was less than a month to his birthday.
I will tend to your needs, then, Aclysia happily rested her head on his shoulder and sighed when he casually slipped a finger inside her recently fucked pussy. Make sure food is on the table when you wake up again I do rmend you take your rest soon.
I was thinking about seeing Scarlett John yawned. Now that she was mentioning sleep, he did feel it all the more. I guess that can wait though. What couldnt wait, however, was John being about ready to fuck again. Water sshed as positions changed. By the end of his bath, every part of him had been cleaned repeatedly.
You wouldnt have happened to write down what you ate thest week, would you? Aclysia asked while they stepped out of the bathing and into the dressing area. John quickly dragged some casual gamer clothes on himself while the weaponized maid grew her usual outfit. Undine decided to stay in the bath.
I dont, no, John hummed to himself. I can tell you that it was mostly scrambled eggs, frozen pizza and toast, though.
Aclysia gave him an expected nce that spelled out her disapproval of this very unbnced diet. Out of respect for his honesty, and because she knew it wouldnt get her anywhere anyhow, she didntment on it further, however. I will prepare something with a high amount of greens in this case, she announced as they stepped into the living room. Between bathroom and kitchen, she stopped, looking over to the couch.
Eliza looked back like a puppy that knew it had fucked up and really hoped the big eyes would keep the punishment from being too bad. Hello, Aclysia, she carefully greeted, turning around with a number of hops on the couch. Unsurprisingly, she had heard the weaponized maids return.
Watching the entire thing, John held himself in the background as he let the white-haired girl work through her emotions. Aclysia had said she would try to not be too mad, but there was no guarantee she wouldnt do anything stupid. Annoyance shed over the maids face, followed by irritation, frustration and finally a tense neutrality.
Greetings, Eliza, the artificial guardian finally responded, without even the slightest bow. For Masters and your own sake, I do rmend getting Thana under control in time.
Ill fucking try, not like its easy, the blood mage justified herself a bit more aggressively than needed.
A forced nod was all that Aclysia had to return before she steered towards the kitchen. That went better than I expected, John thought out loud, looking from one to the other. Given Elizas proclivity for mood swings and Aclysias protectionism, this could have been one very messy fight. Thankfully, they cared about each other as well, not just about him, so their antagonism boiled down to a mutual understanding that neither of them were happy with the way things were right now.
Do you need a new haircut? Aclysia shouted from the kitchen. A justified question, given that Elizas hair was beyond even her ass at this point.
Huh, it hasnt grown since the fight, John realized. Normally any instance of Thana taking control had caused a sudden hair growth from the eleration of body functions, or something like that. Was it that Thana was just permanently active that kept this phenomenon from urring?
Their Observe sheets are still separated, John thought, looking over it. Aside from some marginal stat increases, nothing had changed since thest time he had checked. Didnt seem like his skills were going to bring him any new information on the matter. Normal analysis of the situation had to do. Thana being permanently active may have some consequences that not even the goddess of genocide understood yet.
________________________________________________________________________________
One of which, John found when he woke up again. Although the TV was still running, Eliza was lying on the couch, sleeping on her stomach, as her arms behind her back didnt really allow for another position. Judging by the expression on her face, she was having a nightmare of the mildly unpleasant variety.
Very carefully, following a hunch, he approached and caressed the side of her face. Just a gentle brushing of some recently cut hair, down to the middle of her back again, with the back of his fingers. His touch made her rx visibly.
Thana is currently awake inside Elizas own consciousness, John realized as he lovingly looked down on this girl he hade to care about so much. Seems like they sleep at the same time. The only evidence he had for this was ack of attempts to bite his fingers off, but that was pretty good evidence given her past track record.
It changed little about his worries, not even that he would keep her out of the bed, but at least they wouldnt have to worry about Thana going on rampages whenever Eliza nodded off. It made the acquirement of new, stronger bindings a less pressing issue. He was in the process of getting up, his hand outside of the reach of her jaws, when the girls eyes opened, with ten lines and four dots. John took the opportunity to get the references in order.
That was the first time he actually saw the above 1000 use being lifted in action. Reading all of these things about her state of mind made him feel oddly sad for her. Pity, really, since she hadnt exactly chosen the fate of being born as a walking apocalypse locked in the body of a mortal, now fusing with the very thing she hated the most. It couldnt exactly have been a nice fate.
Die, Thana said, and John could actually feel his heart stop beating for a moment. Not just his heart, every singlest one of his organs seemingly refused to continue its work. Then it all snapped back, blood pumping, but everything felt a tad crooked, wrong.
The goddess of genocide realized that, whatever she was doing to him at that moment, worked and grinned widely. Power surged and John quickly stumbled backwards. Too quickly, he fell over his own feet and hit the ground. Only after a bit more distance made by crawling did his Wisdom kick in again. However powerful that aura got, it wouldnt be powerful enough to kill him immediately. That aside, such forceful usage of her abilities was bound to wake Eliza up. There was no need to worry.
What the fuck is this cunt doing again?! the blood mage growled, and a fight between the two of them ensued. The auras effect vanished pretty quickly, and John could actually rx as he was treated to the honestly pretty silly sight. One mouth was throwing extremely long-winded insults and single-worded growled threats back and forth as the shared body rolled off the couch and proceeded to be hurled against whatever corners were nearby. It was more harmful to the furniture than them.
Luckily, nothing broke by the end of their shared tantrum, and Eliza climbed back on the couch with a lot of grumbles. Well, that was interesting, John stated as he got back up. It wasnt that he had lied earlier today when he said he was afraid of Thana, but that he actually felt genuine panic at what she had just done was still surprising. He proceeded to tell Eliza of his realization.
I didnt have a fucking nightmare, the blood mage informed him by the end and furrowed her eyebrows. That means HAH, Thana, you are such a total pussy! Ar- John was witness to the sight of Eliza chomping the edges of her own tongue off as Thana forced her to shut up in a pretty brutal way. Blood spurted out of her mouth before she could shut it and her tongue stitched itself back together. The head bashing against furniture had been much preferable.
The blood soon reversed flow, gathering itself in small orbs that hovered through the air and got absorbed back into Elizas system through the fingernails. While John was still relieved that he didnt have to figure out how to wipe Eliza off with a napkin without risking a limb, he had an epiphany. If Thana had been the one having a nightmare and his touch had soothed her somehow, that meant that she, even if it was just subconsciously, was already human enough to react to kindness.
I can use that, John thought, feeling a bit like a maniptive dirtbag. Emotions were something he used in schemes a bit too often. Well, if the future of humanity and the happiness of Eliza was on the line, he would embrace being a maniptive dirtbag. Now he just needed to figure out what a goddess of genocide would like. Be it a gift or a gesture or something else he couldnt think of right now.
Well, he would have all day for that.
Master, Aclysia spoke out from the open kitchen, pulling Johns attention to the smell that permeated the air. It was the mouth-watering richness of meat that had simmered for several hours. I hope you slept well?
Oh yeah, was out the moment I hit the mattress, John answered with a smile and went to the table. I thought you wanted to give me more greens, hemented jokingly when Aclysia prepared a te of gosh, the dominant red colour only somewhat hiding all the bell peppers, mushrooms and beans swimming inside.
Your sustenance is not subject of jokes, Aclysia scolded him without any harshness in her voice, it was banter of the usual variety. cing the food along with a ss of milk and the necessary cutlery on her salver, she carried all of it over. Within a few seconds, John began shoving his face with Aclysias cooking.
It was almost as good as shoving her against the shower wall and fucking her from behind. Which was pretty awesome in its own right, mindlessly great even, so that spoke to the quality of the food. Everything was diced evenly and the long cooking time had allowed everyst pore of everyst vegetable to absorb the broth. The faint, sweet hotness of it all tied the meal together and the meat was so soft it basically chewed itself.
Judging by the very audible grumbling of Elizas stomach close by, her nose alone was telling her what she was missing out on. There was no physical reason for her body to make its needs known like that, as it wasnt actually a need. Eliza was perfectly capable to survive without food or water for practically ever. The blood her magic produced came pre enriched with nutrients and oxygen. Maybe, if ess to air, food and water was restricted, basically if someone were to throw her into outer space, she would starve due to mana depletion. Eventually, probably, still, John wouldnt bet on it.
That was just the level of ridiculous Eliza was in terms of power. Thana cranked that up to a further stupendous degree. Still, between being able to survive without sustenance for millennia and being able to stop a nuke, as Romulus had been, down to the gamma radiation, the Gamer was not quite sure what he found more mind-boggling.
Probably the part where he was slowly getting into the same category of stupidly powerful.
Hearing a second rumbling, John presented a question to Aclysia. Over their mental connection, since this wasnt something he wanted Thana to hear. Did you prepare something that would smell this good for several hours just to goad Thana into caving to her desires?
Lets go with that, Aclysia agreed a bit too hastily for it to be the truth.
You did it because you knew it would torture Eliza in a way she could never enjoy, didnt you?
My servitude may have been slightlypromised due to recent events, the weaponized maid justified. Also, this stew will be able to feed you for a few days and provide a well-bnced diet. Pleaseplete it with regr intakes of milk and fresh fruit juice. I have stocked the fridge up on all of the necessary things.
Youre the absolute best, John let her know. If he hadnt been eating, he would have kissed her. As it was, he pped her ass instead, that was the next best thing. Letting out a diligent little moan, she yed right into his fantasies of being the man in the house.
Anyway, he switched back to talking out loud while scrapped thest bits onto his spoon. Before you leave, youreing to Scarlett with me. Were going to strategize and I want you present so we can ask about any details we might need.
Plus, he did have an excuse to keep her around for a little longer this way.
Chapter 578 – Things to go about
Chapter 578 C Things to go about
Leaving Gnome and Undine to keep a watch on Eliza, John and Aclysia left the apartment within Johns pce and went for the staircase. The recement sphere flew just a metre ahead of him, but the Gamer concentrated on seeing through the two lenses in his eyes. It functioned rtively well, as long as he had his hands on something.
The progress was pretty tangible at this point. Sometimes he would get into the correct state of mind, the correct way to guide the Possession, that allowed him to keep both fields of vision synchronized. Then it would slip again. Each time, there was a minor increase in the duration, each time he had to think about it less. Basically, he had the procedure figured out, now it was just a question of repeating it ad nauseam until it was a background process like walking.
It was still good that he was careful about these things, as he lost his urate perception on the staircase. Hitting his foot on one step, he first threatened to fall forwards, then overpensated to the point that his hand slipped off the railing. With Aclysia behind him, nothing bad happened, as she simply caught him and they continued on after he got himself together.
They emerged under the socket of Lady Liberty. He could have ascended further, into the statue, but they instead went to the door that led to the outside. There was a basic green area up there. Lots of space to walk around contemting existence and all that. Boring, however, as it was just that: a green area.
Maybe I should ce some trees up here, John thought as he headed for the sole difference in surroundings around. The Transport Station was sitting there in all its usual pavilion-like glory. Four side tforms opened from therge central one like arms made from circr segments. The blue glow in the floor intensified when they got lower, the building sensing its creator by whatever machinations the Guild Hall functioned.
He and Aclysia both stepped on. One second they looked at Lady Liberty, the next at a wall in Scarletts tower. As was typical, the wall rolled open, well-greased machinery parting and unveiling therge, mostly empty office of the redhead Technomancer.
There you are, Scarlett announced, toasting them with a ss of some clear liquid. In a rxed pose, she was lying back in her chair, feet resting on the edge of her table. Although she didnt look like it whatsoever, she was working. On the opposite side of the room, mechanical tendrils and robotic arms went through a series of motions. I suppose its time for our new strategy meeting?
What is that beverage you are drinking? Aclysia wanted to know before anything else happened. Her bet with the Technomancer was still on: Scarlett had to go one month without any drugs of any description. It had mostly been about cigarettes, but alcohol was included in that list. In the meanwhile, John looked some more at the tools the bloodstained Technocrat was guiding. They seemed a bit different than usual.
Water, Scarlett answered, first taking a sip and then sliding the ss over the table to let Aclysia check. Do you have any idea how much work I had the past week?
Judging by the question, a fuckton, John dared to guess.
A metric fuckton, Scarlett agreed, calmly raising her legs and getting on her feet. I spent thest three days upgrading my tools. Which was a pain in my sides. So, it hadnt just been Johns imagination.
The Gamer looked doubly closely at the mecha-tendrils and then realized what was off: parts of them had been reced with shimmering bronze metal. Baelementium? he asked.
With the amount of the stuff you supply, I figured I might as well treat myself on your cost, Scarlett stated, causing John to raise an eyebrow. I took it from the guild ount.
Hey, I was stocking up on that! John protested, but not particrly strongly.
Rolling her eyes, the redhead responded, And I had a use for it immediately. You wouldnt have given me ess without knowing I would take what I need. She was right on that front. Anything else you want to waste our time with before we get going? Reaching out to Aclysia, she got her ss of water back and emptied it in one go.
Dont act like you dont enjoy the banter, the Gamer snickered. Its about half of what defines having a rtionship with me. The other half being mind-blowing sex, of course.
I am 90% in it for your power and wealth, Scarlett denied, but a smirk of her own showed that to be a lie or, more likely, an overstatement. The rest is just being tolerated.
As she spoke, the room dimmed and the massive screen was lowered from the ceiling. Like theirst meeting, Scarlett evidently wanted to give them a visual. Something that John appreciated, since their now extended borders meant they had to deal with some forces he barely knew about.
Since youll go and properly integrate the Small Lake Pact into our territory and because I have already made arrangements for Fusion to go out and im the formerly untaken areas, Scarlett exined as the map appeared, our current situation looks like this.
Do we even have the resources to take control of those? John asked. It wasnt a question of military power, Fusions current shoring, since the only few engagements to be had in the area were between special operatives and on the information front, areas his guild excelled in. Rather, it was a problem of actually iming them.
To holdnd in a proper sense, it needed to be governed by the state, whatever shape that took, that imed it. Doing so meant that police stations, courts and other government buildings were all needed to establish presence, together with the people manning them. Since those areas, after years of conflict, were basically bereft of even a poption to rule over, they needed to be taken from scratch.
I am hiring some mercenaries to create preliminary fortresses. Once that is settled, were going to create some government sponsored program where moving gets encouraged, Scarlett yed with the ss in her hand, turning in circles. Basically, we are going to throw money at the problem until it disappears.
John wasnt too happy with that line of action, but it was certainly effective. Those areas were important in a minor and a lesser sense. For thetter, it established and connection to the Small Lake Pact. It wasnt exactly important, with nes, trains and cars being the fastest ways of travelling and all of them being mundane vehicles. More important was to deny the enemy that space, since it would half the distance between their current border and Fusions capital in the Hudson Barrier.
Regardless, using mercenaries was something he wasnt usually in favour of. Historically speaking, it was a terrible idea to rely on sell-swords too much. However, in terms of getting people quickly deployed, it was definitely a way to go about things. That and, in those defensive positions, they couldnt wreak too much havoc.
Thinking about it, mercenaries are actually pretty smart there, John realized, thinking out loud to see if he was on the money. Not only can we care less if the Lake Guilds catch wind of what is going on in time and wipe the operation out, but buying them also means the enemy cant.
Which, given the way Abraham bolstered his side with mercenaries, is something we dont want to repeat, Scarlett finished the train of thought. Also, we can dismiss them whenever. Theyll guard that bit of border for as long as we pay them, and I fucking overpay them so they wont switch sides, and once the war is won, we can remove them.
Unless we buy too many and they stage a massive rebellion, John thought, again, remembering what he knew about history. Anyway, I find it pretty bold to already include the Small Lake Pact as absorbed. Same could be said about the Hidden Tradition, but their inclusion into Fusion was basically a sealed deal already, while Aclysia had taken over the Small Lake Pact by brute force. Local culture or not, that wasnt exactly a smooth annexation.
Because youll make fucking sure it stays this way, Scarlett stated, putting the ss on the table with an audible knock. You have already heard what those guys specialize in, magic wise, right?
Defense, particrly of the fortification or booby-trap kind, John answered.
Yes, 300 people that are great securing a position while harassing an enemy one, Scarlett crossed her arms, her androgynous face putting on a bit of a taunting face. I dont think I need to tell you that we need those right now.
You dont, no, John agreed. Aside from the raw manpower, which was still something Fusion sorelycked since the disastrous culling of the numbers at the White House, their type of magic was perfect at giving them something they needed more than anything else: time.
John needed time to master his new sight. The Hidden Tradition needed time to properly organize. Fusion needed time to properly integrate them. Time itself would allow their still booming economy to grow further. In regards to the ns made just now, the more time they had, the firmer their grasp on those newnds would be. That was only mentioning all the internal things that needed attention to detail to solve.
Isnt it too risky to send Master out in his current state? Aclysia chimed in.
Between using Undine as a sensing cheat code and needing to get his ass back into gear, he will have to manage, Scarlett put it crudely and directly. Hes just going into an area where YOU were stronger than the strongest person around. That aside, youll be going with him. Just keep him safe and thats that.
Although it was worded dismissively, Scarletts eyes lingered for a few confronting moments on Aclysia during thest sentence. The weaponized maid nodded quickly, approving of this n.
Do you have some way for me to draw on this? John asked, thinking about how it would go from there. In answer, the ground under his feet vibrated, then parted in front of him. A podium holding a touch screen rose up and turned on to reveal the same map. Alright, so I will go north and make sure the Small Lake Pact is properly annexed, recruiting them as fighters. Most of them will be tasked with securing their stretch of the border he drew in purple along the affected segment, the mercenaries will protect this bit he added a red line, and the Hidden Tradition the rest green covered what remained of the border, while more skilled members of the Small Lake Pact harass whatever operation centres we find. A couple of randomly ced purple arrows finished the picture.
The war was still pretty cold, so this formation should make their border pretty secure. Of course they would have to keep forces further ind to ward against deep strikes via ne. Abyssal warfare was prettyplicated, with all those ways to get around that couldnt be countered. John wondered if some of those nes that just mysteriously vanished were just shot packed to the brim with Abyssals and had been shot down.
You are horrible at drawing, Scarlett pointed out, and not even Aclysia mounted a defence to that one.
Miss Summers used to say I was talented, John grumbled, remembering his art teacher from back in Springfield. She had always been nice to him, one of the few people in school that had been. Which, given how sexy she was, had been grounds for more than one beating by Frank. That had been worth it though. Anyway, what about the Amacat?
The Technomancer grinned widely, clearly proud of what she was about to say. You can consider them part of Fusion within the next five years, at the absolutetest.
Why? John asked, feeling that was expected of him.
Through Beatrice, I convinced some of their leaders that foreign investing was surely something they could profit from. I started by pumping some money into their military district John was slightly rmed by this news, but he trusted Scarlett enough to hear her out to the end, which made them trust us enough that they decided absolute ess to the stock market was a good idea.
Let me guess you already had ess to the stock market? John theorized, not believing for a second that Scarlett hadnt sunk her digital ws into something geographically close and centred around trade. So, youre now using thepanies you still own from the Thorne days in addition to the new Fusion presence. By ying them off one another, you can grow the former rapidly, while keeping thetter at a slow ascension.
All the while lending them money like there is no tomorrow, Scarlett confirmed, quoting John Adams next. There are two ways to conquer and enve a nation. One is by the sword and the other is by debt.
Basically, once we own the majority of their infrastructure and they owe us more money than they can scrape together each month, we just demand they join the Federation, is that the n? John wanted to make sure he got all of this right.
We could also just keep extracting their wealth. Whatever happens, we win.
As far as John was concerned, this was basically the best way to go about these things. A bit dirty, sure, but way less dirty than murdering soldiers and civilians. It was apletely bloodless takeover and the only people that were economically hurt by it, at least if all ran smoothly, were the people currently calling the shots over there.
If the leaders of Amacat had half a brain, it would take way less than five years for them to agree to joining Fusion, if they werent going to suggest it themselves. There was enough pressure to make it happen. Most of Amacats bordersy with Johns guild, now that the Small Lake Pact was theoretically part of it. Once they realized how Fusion was slowly taking over their entire economy, they would have basically no other choice.
Not like it would be bad for them either. As a trading guild, Amacat could basically take the ce of the NTC within Fusion. At the very least, they would profit from Johns rtionships with Lydia and other leaders in Europe. If he forgave them all debt upon joining, Amacat would experience an economic boom from all the advantages and fresh capital that would be given to them.
Alright, the Gamer nodded, having approved of this. Ill leave you to it even if I might have to break up your monopoly eventually.
Bah, Scarlett spat out. Cant have any fun on this market ce with your antitrustws and everything. Fuckingmunists.
Id make the argument that monopolies are inherently anti-capitalistic because they centralize economy, just around a small group of oligarchs instead of the government, John immediately countered.
Thats a good argument, Scarlett had to concede. I demandpensation, should you ever do that though.
Dont you worry, I will choke you out nice and firmly, while I remove your chokehold on my economy, John promised, earning himself a bit lip and a fuck me nce of her red eyes. We arent even close to done yet though. What about the western situation? Anything of note there?
Not really, if I am being honest, Scarlett shrugged. We cant expand west for the moment, as weck the manpower for as long as we need to guard the border and are upied on the coast. They both directed their eyes towards the uncreatively named Resistance.
Thest rebels from the Little Marnd had all gathered in a single province and put an alliance together with some of the small fry in the area. Whether that had happened organically or if the Lake Alliance had their fingers in the happenings wasnt clear, just that it was a thorn in their sides. Is there a way to utilize them as controlled opposition? John asked.
Scarlett shook her head. We dont have people on the inside and no idea about their exact resources. Best crush them while theyre still small.
Mhm, Ill keep Metra in the area then. Do you still need Beatrice in the Amacat?
For the moment Scarletts fingers drummed on the table as she thought for a few seconds. Since youre already going north, you could go to their headquarters for a few days after youre done around theke. Further our goals, look nice for the camera, et cetera. If things go well enough, you can take Beatrice back home with you and send some standard diplomat that only focuses on maintaining our rtionship.
Sounds good, John wondered when he would actually be home the next time, since he couldnt see those things take less than two weeks. What about the rest?
What ABOUT the rest? Scarlett sneered and quickly gave him the list. New Libraria has been in diplomatic neutrality forever, the Gestalt countries havent recovered since the Death Zone appeared a decade ago and Florida is full of raving lunatics.
So, youre saying Jane would like it there? John joked.
She unironically would, because your girlfriend also has a few screws loose, the redhead responded in a serious tone.
Now John was pretty curious, but he couldnt justify checking for himself. The one thing that pulled him in that direction was that thest thing he had heard about Nia was her heading south. By the way, is that a literal Death Zone or a guild name?
The former, Scarlett told him. Abyssals that try to live there just up and vanish. Not that anyone tried recently.
So many things going on in this world and John was messing with a fairlyrge chunk of them. Well, I guess well solve that mystery at some point, he dared to say, but they werergely done with the strategy meeting now. Once I am back, we will think about how we go on about the south.
Alright, Scarlett nodded, with all the moving parts they had little influence over, making ns that extended beyond that would have been fairly useless. When are you leaving?
On Monday, John answered after putting in order what he wanted to do before going. There doubtlessly was a bunch of paperwork stacked up, since neither him, Rave nor Beatrice was working on it. Much of the apparatus worked without his necessary input at this point, but he still had to sign some things before they had any official power.
Chapter 579 – Things to take care of
Chapter 579 C Things to take care of
John let the final words of his address echo by, taking a huge gulp out of a stic bottle to oil up his voice a little bit. In front of him was a crowd of reporters, quickly gathered on Liberty Ind upon receiving a mail from the Gamers official email ount after he had been done discussing things with Scarlett. A crowd that, albeit not quite asrge as it had been for the White House announcement, despite being given a whole day to gather, grew steadily in its number of participating channels the more influential he got.
Like anything else that John could use to measure his sess on, he liked it. This particr showcase came with an ever-growing pile of scandal-seeking question-askers though, so it definitely wasnt his favourite.
As to what he had just announced, it had been two rather simple updates packed into a two-minute speech. The joining of the Hidden Tradition into Fusion and the rough implications of that for the military and other such things, as well as Sigmunds defeat. He packaged thetter as a joined effort between their elite forces, which was technically true. No reason to disclose Thanas involvement, it would only make the aplishment look smaller while also reminding (or, worse, informing) people that he had the goddess of genocide around him.
Currently, that little tidbit, much like his rtions to Nathalia and the Horned Rat, were discussed in the corners of the inte dedicated to disliking anyone mildly sessful. It was best it stayed there. Even better would be if people got a little less resentful towards him, but John had already learned to live with the fact that some people just hated him because he existed. Compared to being bullied by people who could beat him up because they felt like it, having people gossip about him was downright paradise.
I could always throw Stirwin at whoever annoys me again, John thought, remembering that awful neckbeardst time around. I will take questions for the next few minutes, he said out loud, once he had put the bottle down again. Remain calm and raise your hands, I will pick you and someone wille by and bring you a microphone.
Immediately a bunch of arms went up. John just hoped they all actually had a question and werent just vying for his attention while they thought of one. In the corner of his vision, John saw the red light atop one camera switch off and atop another one switch on, the producer of the livestream having changed angles.
As was usual, Fusion streamed and uploaded theplete recordings of its press events on its own website. Just because John didnt particrly care for leaving the narrativepletely in the hands of news organizations that he didnt know. It was unlikely that a lot of people would go through the trouble of actually watching those streams, given the media cuts were much higher in quality, but having those things out there for things that may have gotten cut out was sitting well with him.
You there, John picked someone at random and an aide quickly walked towards the reporter. It was a person with the body of a person, but the ws and the face of a praying mantis. How somebody even managed to write articles in that form was beyond him.
Are there any new developments in the war against the Lake Alliance that the public should know about? she, at least judging by the tone of her voice, asked with only a minor undertone of cking mandibles.
Our strategy against the Lake Alliance remains purely defensive right now, John answered swiftly; this was one of the questions he had anticipated. Fusion didnt want this war and we dont intend to fight it until we can bring it to a swift end or if we are left with no other choice. The Hidden Tradition has agreed to guard part of our border while the southern pacification reaches its conclusion. The reporter seemed ready to continue, but John quickly stated. No follow-up questions, I need to be elsewhere soon.
Although the praying mantis woman continued to talk regardless, with the microphone quickly taken from her mouth, her voice barely reached Johns ears as he picked the next person. A living heap of slime, unshapen and honestly grotesque, raised its squelching voice. The Gamer couldnt help but think he was looking at some sort of Nurglite demon. Thankfully, this one didnt stink. Wiiiilll the reeeceeeent taaaax increases persist paaast the waaar?
In all likelihood, yes, John answered honestly. And they might get a bit higher even, but nowhere near what people paid before Fusion took over. They might get lowered again once our international trade is operational. For the moment the funds are necessary to pay our soldiers. And to give Scarlett the means to buy up Amacat from within, he silently added.
Next up was some sort of midget of the dwarven variety, broad and with a huge beard. Are there any ns to expand the Mines?
That was a bit outside of current affairs, so John needed a moment to think about that one. I assume you mean the ones on this ind? A quick nod confirmed this. I have every intention to, but its not entirely up to me. There are special requirements in y to upgrade any Building in my Guild Hall. To put it short: yes, but I cant right now.
The dwarf handed the microphone back with an obviously displeased expression. In the meantime, John was just impressed that he actually had dwarves working in his Mine. Since handing the hiring for that job over to some quickly set-up office, he hadnt really thought about that Building. Hell, he hadnt even been in it himself since it upgraded to Tier 2. I should probably change that soon, he thought, curious what had changed.
A couple more questions followed. Regarding his ns to do this or that, what Fusion wanted to invest next in regarding infrastructure, how certain buildings came along, what he thought about the state of public transportation and other such things. After about thirty minutes of this and with as many raised hands as at the start of the conference, John announced that he was done.
Much to his surprise, he was approached by a single interviewer after he stepped away from the podium. During the first few conferences, that behaviour had been normal, but after a while people had learned that he was done when he said he was done and to not harass him any further. At the very least not while Aclysia was around, anyway.
Seeing who this interviewer was, however, John was less surprised upon her assuming she could get past the weaponized maid. She was a blonde, pretty tall, but with enough size difference between her and him that she would need to get on her toes to kiss him. Two cat ears sprouted from her head, as golden as her hair, with a fitting tail gently waving from behind her curvy hips. Even more of an eye catcher, however,y north of her narrow waist, in the form of a pair of tits in the decentlyrge category.
That she was wearing some sort of mixture between suit and corset definitely helped to emphasize those breasts, the view ending just before anyone could hash a nce at her ares. John knew this catgirl, she was the hostess of that midnight show he had been on before and the one he still hadnt gotten to fuck despite his immense wish to. He also, as he had to admit to being pretty shallow in his desires at that moment, had forgotten her name. Luckily, he had a tool to solve this.
Cindy, John greeted her happily with a hug, thinking she wouldnt mind given her Rtionship Score. He was correct, she happily answered his open arms by throwing herself into them, herrge breasts squishing against his chest like pillows of raw happiness. The indiscrete clicking of cameras and shlights apanied the event. Although the Gamer had already resolved himself to the consequences of fucking a show hostess, he still didnt like this public disy. How about we take this somewhere slightly more private?
Sure, President Newman, she answered with a smile on her glossy lips. It wasnt the unfair, natural level of shine that Raves lips had, instead stemming from lipstick. Cindy was a girl of natural beauty, but professional use of make-up elevated her to gorgeous. While the Gamer still preferred his girls and their unaltered appearances, he wasnt one to condemn the use of outside help, especially if it was kept in healthy moderation. The Artificial Spirits appearance was technically just one big make-up, now that he actually gave the topic a bit of thought.
John ispletely fine, he assured, as they walked the little distance to Johns pce together and took up one of the many discussion chambers on the lower floor. This is the third time we meet and I honestly want to finally take you up on the offer you made the first time around, he joked when they had the wanted privacy, only the two of them and the diligently watching Aclysia in the room.
As the weaponized maid approvingly noted, Cindys reaction to John words was to reach up to the buttons on her vest. We can make good on that right now, she stated, her red eyes looking him up and down with unveiled want.
Sadly, John had to raise his hand haltingly. I dont really have the time right now, he had to confess. I am going on a diplomatic mission in two days, he slipped out, the blood missing from his brain making him a bit na?ve. That was all he identally told her, however. I do have to make some preparations for that. Paperwork, meetings, the day is only so long, you know?
Mhm, the day is indeed, she sighed, dropping back in the velvet chair. The look in her eyes changed to a mischievous coaxing. How about the night, then? You could always cum on my show again. The one time we had was cut rather short.
Oh, shes good, Sienaughed inside Johns mind. I wonder how loud this little kitty can purr.
John ignored her in favour of trying to suppress his growing erection despite his waning attention to things not firm, jiggly, bouncy, wet or abination of the four. That would work, whenever you can make time for me. I will be upied for a little while, but Ill make sure to write you when I get back.
How about tonight? Cindy put it directly. We can make special room for you, I am sure. Bowing over the table, her hands travelled towards him like a cat on the prowl. Her smile revealed a pair of tiny fangs, as white as pearls.
I dont have time tonight, John had to regretfully inform her. Still too much to do.
Tomorrow? she kept pushing and the Gamer kept wanting to cave. As quick as he could, he checked his schedule on Saturday. If there was one thing he missed about school, it was having weekends off guaranteed. He had to attend the opening of a new police station on the west end, make an inspection of the harbour, do paperwork, continue his rehabilitation training and squeeze some normal sex in between all of that.
If I agree, I wont be able to sleep for more than two hours, in all likelihood, John thought, remembering what more he had to do on the following morning, making sure everyone knew how to reach him and who was in charge of what in his absence. However, one nce at the catgirls boobs and he finally found a solution. I cant do Saturday either, he told her, watching her ears sink like airless balloons. Do you do shows on Sunday?
Normally not, she immediately perked up again, smelling the hope in the air. But we can put up a special, I am sure of it!
Since John would be leaving on Monday, he could make up for lost sleeping time by napping on the train. Unlikely to be the most pleasant experience, but he would survive. Not like he had to be at Lake Chamin at any given time, he just didnt want to waste anymore than he had already.
Alright, he nodded, you make sure of that with your producers and let me know at least 12 hours in advance, okay?
Cindy nodded repeatedly and when they got up to depart, hugging him again, she grabbed his junk during the motion. Gasping, she stepped back. I am looking forward to this, she smirked widely, and John returned the favour by pping her on the firm ass in the miniskirt as she stepped out the door.
As am I, he said, as if that wasnt abundantly clear already. Then the wood separated them and John rxed. No matter how much he wanted to push Aclysia against the nearest wall right now, the next opening in his schedule for sex wouldnte about until he had a clear conscious in regards to this other thing he needed to do today.
After all, there was someone that could hardly be left unobserved while he was gone.
Chapter 580 – Things to reveal
Chapter 580 C Things to reveal
This is the non-sexy kind of being fucking humiliated, Eliza grumbled while the door of the elevator opened. Folded together and bound even more than before, forced to remain in a foetal position, she sat inside a handcart. It had been either doing this or unbinding her legs. With how much of a pain it had been to get those confined in the first ce, Eliza being punched in the face by her own body while she concentrated on keeping control of her feet, John wasnt willing to do thetter.
This was the solution they had gone with instead: have Aclysia bundle the blood mage up, ce her in the handcart and drag her into the elevator. All to safely move her from Johns apartment over to Scarletts headquarters. The Gamer took a moment to answer herints by slowly raising his smartphone and taking a picture.
The fuck are you doing? she demanded to know as he followed that up by very obviously writing someone something.
I am showing this to Jane, he giggled.
Dont you dare, you pixted piece of shit! Eliza cried out, wiggling her head aggressively, as if trying to get the handcart to roll towards him. Because Aclysia still had her hand on the handle, and because that wouldnt work anyway, nothing happened. That absolute cunt of a half-cat, half-anime girlfriend of yours will never let me hear the end of looking this fucking stupid.
Well, she wasnt wrong on that front.
Rave: Bwahahahaha.
Rave: Carrying very dangerous cargo there.
Rave: Might kill someone by looking that stupid.
John: I almost want to upload it to the inte, but that would be too mean.
I have no fucking clue what youre saying to her right now, Eliza shouted, but I hope both of you fall with your assholes first on the unlubricated shaft of a jackhammer!
Rave: Tell Eliza I love her too.
Rave: Because I imagine she just screamed something about us getting ravaged by zombie beavers or some sort of construction tool.
John: I would say a jackhammer is more of a deconstruction tool.
Rave: And you would be an absolute nerd for being that pedantic.
John: Good thing I am an absolute nerd then.
Rave: At this point you might as well put me on voice chat.
John: Nothing going on where you are?
Rave: Well, my boyfriend is chatting with me, I guess thats something.
Rave: Might snap him a few nudes if he entertains me enough.
Rave: Or I might put them on r/gonewild if he is a meany and doesnt obey me like the princess I am :P
John: Alright, alright, My-HiME :P
Rave: That anime was atrocious and you shouldnt reference it ever!
Rather than answer immediately, John went through the few motions it took to start a video call with her. He figured she would like to see what was going on when they were already talking. Yello? his girlfriends voice echoed melodically from the phone a few momentster. He could only see her face on the disy; apparently, she was lying on a couch somewhere. In the background yed techno-music, barely quiet enough to not obstruct their conversation.
Hi there, bae, John answered in an overly chad-tastic voice that made Rave giggle immediately. Where are those nudes you promised, huh?!
Well, if youre asking that nicely, the picture became a blur for a moment as Rave turned on the couch. When the camera set its focus again, he could see her naked upper body in addition to her face. There ya go, tiger, like what you see?
Never going to change, the Gamer dered. Anyway, if you upload nudes again, I demand to be in it! Rtionship statuses need to be confirmed in all walks of life!
Kay, we can do that, Rave answered with a non-joking smile.
Which left John a bit confused. The line between what his girlfriend found eptable for the public to see and what not had always been... blurry to say the least. When she had been single, she had put her body (without the face) out to the inte a few times. She didnt want to be seen fucking by anyone but those she was also having sex with. At the same time, she had absolutely no problem letting everyone know all the details about her sex life, or, as it was now revealed, even showing pictures of both of them naked to the world.
Wanting to know as much about her as he could, to a degree that was only eptable between lovers, he carefully asked, What about a picture of us fucking, to finally get a better grasp on that line.
Rave bit her lower lip and made a sexy, thoughtful hum. I think that would be kinda hot, she confessed.
And doing a series of pictures during sex? he continued the line of question down the logical road of esction. I mean, we already did one back in Springfield but I dont want my skinny body from back then to get out there. That aside, his dick had been like three centimetres shorter.
As long as it stays kinda private.
Kinda?
Ya know, not absolutely public, she vaguely stated and rolled off the couch, revealing that she waspletely in the nude as he walked around whatever room she was in. Harem, friends, maybe, the hot friends that could join us every now and again. Granted, he also preferred to hang around without clothes when he was alone for lengthy times, but his girlfriend was not at home but in some sort of hotel.
Are you in an Illusion Barrier? John wondered.
Nah, she turned the camera towards the ratherrge window to reveal some people walking by just two stories down. I pay for where I stay.
Continuing the line of questions, how about we do a proper porno? Livestream? Just fuck publicly?
Now ya pushing it, Rave stated, turning the camera back towards her. In the motion, John couldnt help but notice the untouched curtains. Porno, maybe, same terms as the photoshoot. Could think about a livestream of a photoshoot, cause I am one sexy girl who could wear her birthday suit more often. Everything above that, nah, leave that to Metra, she yed with a strand of her pink hair as she stated that, twirling it in a fashion that John knew to fall under the, I aint no exhibitionist.
John couldnt help but say, Are you sure about that?
Yep, she retorted with the immediacy of a routinized answer.
No, seriously, the Gamer tried to push the topic. There was a pattern here, from the way she had always been one to wear very revealing clothes, over her talking about sex without any shame whatsoever, to the pretty unprecise borders of what she was fine with the public seeing. All of which had only gotten worse over time, as she was exposed to John and his own escting shenanigans. Like, we both didnt use to be sadists and you were never curious about anal before you met me, so maybe
John, I am not an exhibitionist, she interrupted him.
Neither was I until the cruise, and he still tried to make his point. With the debauched lifestyle they had, any suppressed kink would be a travesty. Well, truly sickening shit like necrophilia or fucking open wounds aside.
Johnny, she interrupted him again, staring at him through the camera. This time he shut up for good. That was a nickname she only used when she was unhappy with what he was doing right now and he hadnt heard it in a while. It alone would be ground enough to not pursue this any further, her blue eyes resting in a still face just made it doubly clear that he wouldnt be happy with the discussion even if he should be correct in his assumption.
Therefore, he decided what every man that thought he was right but didnt want the stress to anger their girlfriend did and ended the discussion as quickly as humanly possible. Well, might be a general thing for significant others, John thought, only have my own experience to judge by though. Anyway, I wont be able to look at your beautiful face for a little bit, he told her. I am going to put you right here.
Oh noooo, I am being stored with a handkerchief! Rave yed the part of the midget while her boyfriend put her in the breast pocket of his vest. Thankfully, she wasnt someone to hold any grudges in their rtionship for however short. That easy-going nature was part of the reason why they only ever had a single fight, which had also been almost a year ago at that point.
A muchrger reason followed John with the handcart in tow. Aclysia did the dishes and all other chores. As far as John knew, about 90% of all fights between spouses came from slowly mounting small annoyances in the household. Not a problem if the household always was in perfect order. The other 10% were bad life choices and personal differences. While there had been a few of the former, their mutual tolerance for thetter had kept them together through thick and thin.
While John didnt exactly have bumpy rtionships with the rest of his harem, it wasn''t all fantastically smooth; Rave definitely was the wless diamond in his box of jewellery. Alright, lets get her on here John said, he and Aclysia lifting the handcart onto the Transport Station.
Whaderya doing anyway? Raves slurred words echoed from his chest while she followed the events through the shaky camera.
Something absolutely RETARDED! Eliza shouted back in both an answer and a protest.
Were oh, hold on, I need to end the call for a second. Teleportation interference and all that, John remembered that just in time to fish his phone out, end the call, teleport over to the tower and restart it after they had put the handcart back down on the other side. Anyway, because I am leaving soon, after banging that catgirl, hopefully
Those are news I need in all details in a minute! Rave interrupted to make her interest in developments of that kind known. But no more tangents, continue.
Yes, we need someone who looks after Eliza.
They fucking dont, I am the cocksucking blood mage that doesnt need to eat, drink or breathe.
But you do need someone to put on a new series every now and again, John retorted. Unless you want to risk encountering some technical error and just lying on the couch, alone with the silence and the genocidal maniac in your head.
Point fucking taken.
So, youre taking her to Scarlett? Rave wondered. A couple of secondster, she continued, I can say that name where you are, right?
Yeah, but maybe you shouldnt where you are, John scolded her lightly. Anyway, no, redhead wont be the one watching over her. Putting the physically weakest member of Johns harem in charge of watching over even a held-back Thana would be an absolute disaster if things went south. Arguably, even the physical closeness that woulde about from Johns current n was a risk they shouldnt take. We have another candidate for this.
They arrived at a door without handle. After John swiped his master key card through the lock, it swung towards the inside on its own, allowing all of them to step inside.
It was a luxurious apartment, a spacious living room with a view over the city and an attached kitchen as well as a bathroom. The kitchen was in a state of absolute chaos, empty packages of food, primarily raw bacon, flying about. In the living room, cushions had been thrown about the ce, the chairs had been removed from the table and ordered in some sort of fortress formation. In the middle of which sat their caretaker.
Bloodmother! Tamara eximed, jumping to her feet and crossing over. Due to the easy avability of food, the blood addict had regained some meat on her bones, but she still looked rather frail. With the enthusiasm of a child, she hopped over and inspected Eliza with a series of quick touches.
Take your hands off me, you dirty human, Thana growled before Eliza could make her difort known.
Tamara stumbled backwards immediately, evidently afraid. You youre the bad Bloodmother. Give me back the nice Bloodmother!
See, Eliza, John joked. Someone thinks youre nice.
Thats not a fuckingpliment when theparison is this life-ruining cunt, the blood mage returned from her own mouth, and Tamara leapt in joy. You know this idea is fucking terrible still, yeah?
Well, its either this, buying an Artificial Spirit from somepany to serve you while were gone, which means we have to trust a third party, have redhead do everything via the cameras or leaving you on your own, John listed. Well, or leaving Aclysia here.
Which, I will point out, the weaponized maid interjected, I would be incredibly displeased by.
So, I say this is the best option we have, he said. Tamara here is loyal, in her current state, and will do absolutely everything you say. Even if we have to fear she might listen to Thana as well, she is nowhere near strong enough to burst through the walls. Or to remove your bindings.
Since this was Abyssal, high-grade BDSM equipment, the wires were basically unharmable with steel tools and John had made sure to make all knotsplicated enough that not even an enthused woman of Tamaras current intellect could hope to open them.
Bloodmother is going to stay with me? the blood addict asked with big, puppy eyes.
That fuckingpany is going to be atrocious, Eliza drily stated.
Well there is a way around that, John reminded her. As far as we know, she will stabilize if she gets some more blood. It was a choice they were still due to make. Personally, John found it cruel to leave a clearly grown woman in this state of mind and the only cure, aside from death anyway, was to give her more of the reason she was that way.
His girlfriend added, She might be less receptive towards yourmands if she bes sane again though.
Were going to have so much fun, Bloodmother! Tamara enthusiastically went up to the handcart again, rubbing Elizas cheeks.
Hands C off, Thana growled again, breaking her silence, since her words actually achieved something in this setting. Predictable for everyone in the room but the blood addict, the words made Tamara jump back into her fortress of wooden chairs for the second time.
Urgh, fuck this ball of crusted over bloody bullshit my life is, Eliza cussed and made a decision.
Chapter 581 – (Almost) Literally Vampires
Chapter 581 C (Almost) Literally Vampires
Okay, fuck it, cut me, Eliza blurted out after several quiet seconds. Literally, in the name of everyst non-existent almighty god creature out there, make this shit go over without any further headaches.
I get more? Tamara looked like this was the best moment of her life. First her Bloodmother came to visit her, apparently to stay for some prolonged period instead of the short visits Eliza had previously graced her with, and now she was to receive what she craved the most.
Yes, if you sit down and be quiet for a minute, John said, and for once, the blood addict listened to him. Even with the intellect of a four-year-old (which could be very smart when they wanted something) Tamara realized that she just had to wait for him to get things in order. Alright, first things first how much? Because I am afraid of what might happen if we just give her a ss full.
If Tamara had received the same doses as Travolta had, then it couldnt have been much more than a medium sized syringe of diluted blood of Eliza in a much weaker state. Conveying that logic to everyone else, he got a quick response from Rave. Id tell ya to go with the German saying Better too much than too little, but given what I saw Ja, nein, lets actually go with just a few drops.
I dont give a fuck, just make my caretaker not retarded please, Eliza begged with genuine exasperation. As far as she knew, she would be alone with Tamara for a week at the least.
I want to remind you all, Aclysia raised her voice, that the real person behind this caretaker might not want to take the task and that we are forced to leave Eliza either in my or redheads care if she is no longer capable or willing to fulfil our request.
I would literally rather spend that fucking week being repeatedly thrown into a meatgrinder than have this brain crippled creepy cunt call me Bloodmother every twenty seconds like some kind of mentally stuck clock, Eliza made her feelings on the matter abundantly clear.
While I, added John after having made sure the blood mage had finished, just want to relieve the person behind this shell already. Having her suffer like this for any longer just because we need someone to make sure Eliza isnt too bored while were gone is way outside of myfort zone.
Aclysia bowed in her diligent fashion. I hear and respect, my master. If youre willing and aware of the consequences, then I have nothing more to add. Knowing her, John could rather easily guess that she just wanted to remind him that this lowered the chances of them staying together on the trip, even if it was just marginally. Even the weaponized maid had things to be selfish about. Most of these things rted to time with him.
Alright, a few drops of blood well, I guess they normally got it injected, but drinking will have to do for now, John scratched his head and went into the kitchen. stic crunched under his feet as he quickly fetched a ss from one of the many cabs. For a knife, the steel utensils around didnt seem particrly adequate for cutting Elizas skin and he wanted to make this as quick and efficient as possible. Aclysia, can I borrow your dagger for a moment?
There is no need to make your own hands dirty, Master, Aclysia pointed out, but obeyed by pulling the weapon out of the Adaptive dery space. It was as sleek as always, looking like it had been cut straight from a sheet of metal in its entire radiant silver, caused by the mithril in its alloy. Ity cool in Johns hands for a few moments. By the time he had brought it to Elizas neck, the nearest part of her body where skin was visible, it had turned as hot as his hand.
I am making this decision, so I should be the one executing it, he exined his rationale. A bit esoteric, but thats how it is. Are you ready, Eliza?
You think some fucking slice at the neck is going to even bother me? the blood mageughed and just waited for him to get it done. Ive been tortured in way worse ways before you were born, asshole!
John could have answered something to that, but he simply pricked her skin with the razor-sharp edge and then pressed the ss against the open wound. A couple of crimson drops ran into the container, then the wound closed on its own again. Were it not for Eliza willing it, the blood would have just flowed back into her body.
Getting up to his feet, the Gamer looked at the lifeblood, slowly puddling at the bottom of the ss. To think that was the liquid that had defined much of his early troubles in the Abyss. Surreal, he mumbled, almost absent-mindedly, as he turned the ss around. It wasnt calling out to him with any temptation of power; as a matter of fact, the longer he looked at it, the more he felt the urge to get rid of it in a way that was more reliable than washing it down the drain.
That this was the blood of Eliza and Thana disgusted him in two different ways that intermingled to something truly vile and nevertheless fascinating. It was like looking at a rotting carcass, writhing with maggots. Not a pleasant sight, definitely not one to rest his eyes on for too long, but something that burned itself into his mind and stayed there for a while.
Oddly enough, he never had that feeling towards the flowing liquid when it was still connected to Elizas or Thanas body. Even when trying to get back towards her, it wasnt like this. Only now, that he was about to make someone drink it, much to that persons consent, did he feel that pull. Although it may also have had something to do with Thanas rising power.
What is Thana doing right now? John asked the blood mage. Although the goddess of genocide hated all of them, the one good thing about her was that she had absolutely no interest in being stealthy about anything. Combining that with Elizas ability to at least roughly read her body-sharing deitys emotions, it should give them an idea if they were about to do something absolutely horribly stupid.
Last thing John wanted to have was some Thana controlled maniac suddenly surging with power endowed by the Bloodmother. This all was way too close to vampires for Johns taste anyway. Made him wonder if vampires and their thralls were actually rted to identally leaked Abyssal practices. Well, actually, Meddelnick had basically confirmed as much when they had asked him.
She is as curious as we are didnt know that bitch could be curious, Eliza answered after looking inside. Aside from the questions about how to best remove someones asshole through their mouth or something.
At least you have somemon interests, John joked as he went back into the kitchen to fill the ss with some water. It was a worthless attempt at diluting it and more about actually making it drinkable. A few drops of blood would take quite the effort to drink from a ss. He also washed off what little was on the edge of the de while he was at it, making sure the spige alsonded in the ss. This was a fluid he didnt really want to enter the water supply in any quantity.
After all, the only way to get rid of it was to let it be absorbed by biological entities and then killing those entities. They had learned this thanks to Eliza and Thanas first fight, back when Nia hade out of nowhere to give her advice. The bloodstained grass they had left behind had turned red over the following days and resisted even the Guild Halls normalising automations. In the end, they had to go scorched earth on that spot, not because the grass was harmful in any apparent way, but because it was pretty unsightly. Also, John was interested in doing the experiment.
Well then, lets hope nothing horrible happens the Gamer announced as he turned the sink off and walked towards Tamara.
To the best of their knowledge and precedents set by other entities creating essence-bound familiars or thralls, giving the afflicted more of what changed them in the first ce had no more negative effects. It just allowed them to continue their existence without being defined by the constant craving. The trade-off they had to make for ess to powers normally outside their reach, the addiction and all the odd things that came with being shackled to an entity of higher power.
John carefully gave the ss to the blood addict, and she took it like it was goblet of gold containing the very essence of life. The first gulp she took greedily, while John gave the knife back to Aclysia. She didnt dismiss it into her extra space, instead clutching the weapon tightly as they all waited for Tamara.
The second gulp hastily followed. At the third, something in Tamaras sheepish eyes regained sharpness; she choked, but continued drinking. Concluding the fourth and final one was her lowering the ss with quick coughs. They gave her the time to pull herself together.
Where Tamara, the real Tamara in all due likelihood, said in a tone of voice more befitting a grown woman. With the fresh influx of blood, her regenerative powers revved up, her pale skin bing healthily flushed, the bags under her eyes disappearing and leaving her as a quite well looking, if still lean, woman. Where am I no wait, wait, wait I remember, I she looked to Eliza. Youre the source of that liquid
Wow, congrattions, you absolute cumbucket, Elizas tone was dripping with hostility. You actually found something I find even less ttering than fucking Bloodmother.
Im sorry? Tamara blinked numerous times as the memories from her time as a deprived addict kept flooding in. I there is a lot to chew through right now I started walking one day, without really knowing why, and now I am here?
Well, gather your shit and get up, Eliza stated in amanding tone of voice, which only earned her a confused nce and Tamara slowly shaking her head. There, you happy, John? She evidently doesnt have to listen to me anymore.
Until she hits her next addiction cramps, John reminded everyone and walked over to Tamara, offering her a hand. Sorry it took this long to get a decision regarding you. We have a lot on our te.
I uuhhh, the blood addict looked at his hand with an understandable amount of scepticism. In the now normal thinking womans head were memories of them discussing to potentially murder her. Evidently she remembered that it had been John who had insisted on not ending her life out of convenience. Thanks? she nevertheless remained confounded as she took his offer and he quickly relocated her to the couch. Can I ask who you actually are? she wanted to know once she was seated morefortably.
In the background, Aclysia began the process of bringing order back to the room by taking the chairs out of their fortress formation and putting them back at the table. Rave chuckled through the speakers, Thats gonna be a long talk.
Indeed, John stated, checking the time by looking at a clock on the wall. He still had about half an hour before the time he had nned for this entire event was spent, so he sat down and told Tamara all she needed to know to understand her current situation. From how he himself had learned about the blood of Thana, the death of Travolta and the Bloodfallens shady structure, Thanas death and resurrection, the revtion of Elizas true nature and the goddess inside her, to the recent happenings.
Tamara nodded calmly through all of it, like he was justpleting the picture she already knew the outline of. Given her rough mental connection to Eliza, something apparently akin to what John had with Metra, going by the description of it, it was likely she had some knowledge of all of these things that she didnt understand herself.
I am bound to the goddess of genocide she mumbled by the end of it. That is going to take a while to chew through.
Well, you shouldnt have drunk my blood, you creepy cunt, Eliza mewled from the handcart. Could have just lead a normal fucking life, but nooooo, you had to lust for power like every other corrupted asshole out there.
Eliza, I also want power, John reminded her to keep the hostilities somewhat in check.
You dont drink blood and call it some fucking liquid though.
Touch John had to concede that point. Goals and the ends one would go to to achieve them were a bit different. Although it was arguable that some of the political stunts he had pulled were worse than rationalizing the intake of some red, iron tasting fluid provided by a guild called the Bloodfallen as some power-boosting liquid.
I just I couldnt ept that I had hit the ceiling already, Tamara whispered, looking at the three people with powers far beyond the average Abyssal in the room. I dont think you can quite get how that feels.
Well, I know desperation, but not of that kind, John had to admit. Even in the darkest days in school, there had always been the light at the end of the tunnel that he knew he was smart and could make something out of his life once he was free of the dumbass social dynamics that came with sses. Anyway, I am not here to fault you for past mistakes and Eliza is just well, she just has to throw some insult in every sentence.
I also think youre a creepy fucking slut, the blood mage chimed in.
Quiet, John told her. Be nice to her, at least a little bit.
Her sanity depends on drinking my blood, I think I am justified in abusing her shit a little.
It means she has to stick around you, so its best if you two have some sort of rtionship thats actually functional.
Urgh, fucking fine, Eliza grumbled.
Tamara still looked anything but convinced about this, her brown eyes looking around the room. So what do you n to do with me now?
Well, in case you cant remember, I need a caretaker for her over the next few days, John pointed at the bundle of cuteness and character ws. And I honestly dont dare to let you out yet because your case is a bit touchy and you know a lot of things through your mental connection that Id rather stay secret.
I do?
You have the potential to, John corrected, since their connection was mostly based on fragments and feelings. Point is, she cant move, you cant leave, and in the interest of not having you two go nuts from being alone for an extended period of time, I think you would profit from looking over Eliza for a bit.
I guess? Tamara answered. Can I even refuse?
Yes, the Gamer assured her, to the sound of a chair being rammed under the table much more harshly than it needed to.
I rmend you take Masters graciousness, Aclysia chimed in, being invested in Tamara just saying yes already so her journey wasnt under even the slightest threat.
Rave giggled at this. As clingy as ever, Aclysia.
I will always cling to my master, no matter where he is going or why he is going there the weaponized maid had no shame for that. Only if John were to do some incredibly awful things and she no longer was able to recognize him as him would she ever threaten to leave him, this much was established between them.
Tamara sighed. I guess I need the time to work this out can I visit the inte from here or did you disable it?
You can ess it, but you wont be able to write on some sites, John made a grimace, he really hated being a censor of any kind. Security risks and all that, you are in a government building, technically speaking.
Alright I will watch over what should I even call you?
Fucking Eliza, you dumb wench.
Alright, fucking Eliza, you dumb wench, Tamara returned immediately.
John and Rave giggled, Eliza hissed, Aclysia stacked some empty bacon packages and threw them in a trash can.
You two will get along splendidly, the Gamer sarcastically stated.
Chapter 582 – Delegating Jobs
Chapter 582 C Delegating Jobs
Alright, here is Elizas phone, John ced it on the table as he finished giving instructions to Tamara. Ill be calling in when I have the time, so please pick up for her. Eliza herself had been ced on the couch, the handcart parked as best it could be in a corner of the room. Here is another one for you, he ced the spare flip phone he had used to call the Horned Rat next to it, use it in case of emergency.
He would likely hear about it from Scarlett before her, if she even survived that emergency, but Tamara didnt know that and he was not about to inform her about it. That aside, everything had been set. Arrangements regarding the way Tamara would cope with new withdrawal symptoms had been made, knowledge where cameras were shared, the fridge stocked and everything designed so the two unlikely roommates could enjoy this week with each other. Only the human element was likely to lead to some problems.
Nevertheless, John left that room with Aclysia shortly thereafter, since he had nothing more to do. He tried to give Eliza at least a head pat before he left, but since she snapped at his fingers the moment they made contact with her head, something he only barely pulled away from in time, even that had been too risky.
Jesus, let Eliza control that beast sometime soon, he almost prayed in earnest as he wandered back to the teleporter.
Thatd certainly be nice, Rave agreed from the other end. As much as I would love to keep chatting, I think ya gotta do things now, right?
Yeah, the Gamer agreed. Now that he had solved one problem, it was time to address another. Namely, the chain ofmand between all the departments had to be sorted out. With a quick goodbye and demand to be told what the whole catgirl thing was aboutter, Rave hung up the phone to leave John to it.
Magoi was on vacation, well earned with how much John kept relying on him for things. Although it was slightly disrespectful, John didnt trust Magnus to take over all of his fathers responsibilities. The eldest of the Magus children was reliable, without a doubt, but he had none of the talent, charisma or experience the High Fateweaver had.
Nevertheless, John was giving Magnus a lot of what his father would have to do in the Gamers absence. This happened because John recognized the need to give Magnus that experience, since he was going to seed Magoi as one of the most important people in Fusion one day. Furthermore, Magoi insisted on it and John wasnt about to deny a called in favour from the raptor-masked fellow.
Magnus would therefore be responsible to keep Fusion, the Hudson Barrier in particr, organized in the case of emergency. He would be the one to oversee public constructions in the barrier, and should diplomatse by, it would be his job to greet them.
For everything else, John would normally delegate things to Rave. Already publicly known as his girlfriend, quite powerful in her own rights and with experience in administration of the non-bureaucratic variety, not to mention charming, beautiful and all that jazz, she was a pretty suitable stand-in for his non-elected position as president.
Problem being she wasnt here at the moment.
However, the non-elected part partly solved his problems since he could leave a lot of the paperwork to the now elected district representative and the rest to his now pretty well worked in bureau. John was still somewhat ufortable with this, since it left much of his guild in the hands of people he only barely knew.
As it was, of his harem, only Scarlett and Eliza would remain in New York. Thetter was, of course, useless in this predicament, but the former put John somewhat at ease as he was pretty sure she would be able to keep any internalbustion from urring through maniption under the surface. Still, no one was around that could act as his chosen representative. No one he trustedpletely, anyway.
Perhaps this is a good time to start the General Assembly? John asked himself as he teleported onto the ceiling of his pce. The representatives had been elected, but the actual government body had not been put in session yet. He kept pushing it off, as he never felt like he had the time to deal with all of the consequences of putting Congress into action.
Once there was an assembly of voting people, they would form parties of interest. Once there were parties of interest, there were voting blocks, dealings between leaders of the parties, upstarts who wanted to rise higher in the party and the politicking went on and on and on. That aside, the entire system would have to go through several reiterations once it started moving. What John had designed was just a simple outline and there were moving parts in it that he probably didnt even know about himself yet. Maybe not about their necessity and definitely not about their own internal structure.
Yeah, bad idea to start it a day before I leave I will just have to pray everyone keeps calm while I am gone then, the Gamer concluded. It wasnt like he was unhappy with that in a general sense, he found it much preferable to leave the majority of governance to the local guilds rather than have this half-republic, half-power dominance hierarchy impose everything from the top. All he wanted to do was set the ground rules, the constitution, and then let everyone sort it out through non-violent means.
It was how the USA was (supposedly anyway) doing things and it had managed to grow to the worlds sole superpower. Couldnt have been that bad a set of ideas. Question really was more about whether the Abyss was a ce like the real world where those values could stick. All men being created equal was a nice principle when thergest difference between two people was how effective they were at their work, not that one could create city eradicating fireworks with their hands and the other could just sew quicker than normally thought possible.
Putting that aside, with administration and diplomacy covered, there was the question of military. Who would have suprememand while he was gone? They were still in a war and guerri strikes or just basic terrorism could very well happen. Just because John had no interest in turning the war hot right now didnt mean that the Lake Alliance had the same idea.
The elite forces that John had were scattered all over the east coast, and if the enemy put together some capable team, they could wreak havoc before John had a chance to respond properly. If its military, it should go to one of the generals, the Gamer thought, but none of them are here right now
Chemilia and Ted were still busy in the south, and Elu with the actual forming of her units along the guidelines set by Fusion, pulled almost whole cloth from the Little Marnd. It would take at least another week until he could delegate anything to her. Either he would have to have her drop that and leave it to her own subordinates, something that would dy the border defences in turn, or he had to pull back at least one of the old generals and leave the other person to rein in Metra.
While he didnt doubt that Metra had extensive knowledge in all kinds of warcraft, he wasnt as confident about her choosing a strategy that would conserve their already low manpower. Knowing that dirty blonde incarnation of wrath, she would just charge the enemy lines until they broke. Worked for her, but for people made out of more vulnerable squishy biological parts, probably not the rmended strategy.
I dont think theyll be happy about being separated like that but it is my best option, John concluded and pulled out his phone to call Chemilia. He got an answer rtively quickly, so it seemed they were in a safe setting right now. Hey, John here, he greeted.
Ah, Mister President, Chemilia answered jokingly, what can I do for you today?
Well, long story short, I am leaving the Hudson Barrier for anything between one or four weeks, he summarized for her, getting an understanding hum from the other side. So I need someone to hold the fort while I am gone. I dont really have any other choice but to ask you or Ted to do it.
Ill do it, she answered surprisingly quickly. Honestly, I havent gotten used enough to my leg yet, so I am more of a hindrance anyway.
She is right! Metra shouted from the background. I had to drag her ass out of a trench today!
While that was pretty rude, Chemilias only reaction to that wasughter. Probably some sort of funny situation John was not in the know about. Damn people having lives when I am not there and creating inside jokes I dont understand, he grumbled internally. If pushes to shove, youll still have to fight here, you are aware, right?
Yeah, but at least Ill have the proper leg instead of this stand-in appendage, Chemilia retorted. The point of the matter is I need time to train more. Ted doesnt have it as bad, what with all his original joints still being there.
Between me and you, can your husband actually keep Metra in check?
Shell listen, was Chemilias entire answer and John trusted her enough to believe that.
Alright then, I am leaving on Monday, so you should probablye here as quickly as possible. Ill have everything arranged that people know youre in charge of grand strategy until I get back. Carefully formting, he added. You can also ask about the current ns after getting your new leg.
There was a cracking sound as a third person entered the call. You can just say ask Scarlett about it, the Technomancer stated in a bored tone. Anyway, I am on board with this n. So, go ahead ande on over.
Well, you heard her, said John while stepping off the stairs and walking towards his apartment. Any further questions?
Nah, Chemilia waved off. Just put it all into paperwork so the bureaucrats have something to shut up about.
Basically, done already, John informed her. He had forms for delegating powers where he only needed to put in name and duration, as well as put his signature under it. The formality of it was the easiest part. Alright, see you tomorrow then, he finished up the conversation and threw his phone into his inventory afterwards.
What does the schedule demand of you next, Master? Aclysia asked.
I actually have a bit of me time now, he told her. You know, having lunch, training with the contact lenses some more, having sex, probably not in that order.
I would be more than happy to assist with all of those, the weaponized maid dered immediately, grabbing his left arm as they walked. Immediately, Johns cock began to swell in his pants.
Alright, lets see if we cantbine these activities for some time saving, he said with a wide grin. Blowjobs under the table was an easy way to get two things done at the same time. Simrly, he didnt have to make all contact lens training about just walking. Fucking her doggystyle throughout the room was its own exercise at moving.
Aclysia was open to do anything, so they entered Johns apartment to get the more rxed activity done first. There was still gosh, so he was quickly presented with a hot te of that, only for the caring white-hair to vanish under the table. A momentter, there was the depraved echo of Aclysias soft lips sucking greedily on her own preferred meal.
This is the life, John thought as he closed his eyes and concentrated on the duality of pleasures which his own tongue and that of Aclysia granted him. As he had used the time Aclysia needed to heat his dinner to fiddle in the lenses again, this actually had the intended effect. Closing his eyes would have done fairly little if he was still watching through his sses.
Slowly eating, not wanting any involuntary moan to cause him to spill anything, John thought about what he had to do on Sunday. The list was extensive but summarized by: nothing of particr importance. Indeed, there was only one thing, happening around midnight, that may have his attention.
Does the catgirl show happen?
Chapter 583 – Midnight Podcasting
Chapter 583 C Midnight Podcasting
It was happening alright, although not in the way John anticipated. Likest time, he had thought they would be what was essentially ate-night show set. A crowd tough at the jokes, bright lights shining down on them, a co-host, all of that jazz.
Apparently, they hadnt been able to drum together all the necessary people to fill such a room in such a short amount of time. The live crowd was the biggest problem, but from the typical co-host to much of the technical crew, they didnt really have anyone willing to work the extra Sunday. Nevertheless, management had wanted the event to happen. John understood, he was bing a pretty big deal and since it was essentially confirmed they would get the worlds first porn tape of him, with his agreement, there was a lot of money in it for them.
A bit of overpay here and there and they apparently had gotten together at least a small team of people sacrificing their Sunday. Still no crowd or co-host, however. Which meant that the usual studio wouldnt have been the greatest ce to get things done. In turn, that caused them to arrive were they currently were.
John sat across from a currently empty chair in a room. It was adequately sized and quite charming. Beige painted walls, twofortable seats, a moderately sized coffee table, a soft padded floor and a decorative closet that was, in fact, a draw-out bed. Stationary cameras and microphones were installed all over the walls, picking up sound and audio and rying it urately to the crowd at home, once they went live.
Most fascinating, for John at least, was that this entire thing was new. Which was doubly helpful because they had bought the studio within the Hudson Barrier. Way less travel time for him. Apparently, Abyssal news organizations were doing this recently. Smart move, just one that John hadnt noticed.
I guess you wont need a lot of technicians to keep this going, huh? the Gamer asked as he got settled; they still hadnt gone live. Approaching the table with swinging hips, Cindy ced the ss of water on the table, right next to Johns folded sunsses, in a most suggestive way, keeping her legs straight and bowing all the way down.
She was wearing a purple top, low cut, and only a tiny bra that John could see most of when her breasts hung down visibly, making him almost physically salivate. The colour worked nice with her strawberry blonde hair, a strand of which she brushed behind her ear as she got back up. An unmistakable sound echoed, when the tight leather pants she wore were stretched with every motion. She hadnt put them on to move well, just so her long legs and firm ass looked great. That mission was definitely aplished.
Cindy let out a sexy little giggle as she strutted over to her own seat across the table. No, we only need two to keep this set-up going. I hope you dont mind the more intimate setting?
I much prefer it to be perfectly honest, the Gamer told her. No blinding lights, no invisible crowd, no comentator who I barely understand nothing against him.
Mhm, I have some stuff to say about him once we go live, she hummed, scrolling over the notes on her pad on the table, as well as dropping a cube of sugar into her otherwise ck and steaming hot coffee. Evidently, they werent going to start with the fucking and John was perfectly fine with that. He had promised an interview after all.
John adjusted the vest of his suit one more time. It was a new one, much more durable than the mundane recement he had worn until the environment alone had destroyed it on his path to the Hidden Traditions sacred gravesite. Still not as good as his old one though. He would have to invest time to get a proper recement.
Above the single entrance, a ss door that connected to a dressing room, to the otherwise windowless room was a red timer that showed how much longer until the show began and then how much more official runtime they had. As they werent part of any actual program right now, they were allowed to continue for as long as they wanted or the technical crew tolerated. Cindy would get her updates through a small button in her left human ear.
John yed with the armrest of his chair while he waited for thest minute to tick down. Sunday had been truly boring aside from this event, and now it was technically Monday. Indeed, the most interesting memory he had was excitedly telling his girlfriend that this was happening and how much the location surprised him (once he had told her exactly where, she had also shown mild surprise). Rave had wished him, to quote A lot of fun in the interview and that Ill look up the recordings when theye out.
A soft buzzing rmed everyone that there were only five more seconds before they went live. Another nice thing about the setting that John realized was that he didnt have to speak to any camera or barely present crowd, only to Cindy, her teasing red eyes and her very pronounced cleavage.
The red numbers hit zero and the blonde catgirl began speaking. Heeeelloooo everyone, she greeted enthusiastically, ncing at the pad to make sure the live chat had started. Wee to the first CPDI Podcast, name still pending.
So, I didnt just imagine the setting was like that, John thought, folding his hands in hisp to seem rxed. It was much easier than previously. Not only had he gotten way morefortable with public talking by now, the actualck of anyone visible around was reducing his innate anxiousness to very much manageable levels.
With me is our very first guest, president of Fusion, head of arge harem with some rather prominent members, the Gamer and lover often caught in the act, John Newman, Cindy finished.
Johnughed at that introduction. I dont know if I support all of the things you just said about me, he joked, but its a pleasure to be here.
Oh, it will be a pleasure to have you, Cindy purred, biting her lip with all the elegance of a cat. If she had been sexual before, now that the cameras were on, she was just oozing lust. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat, by taking a sip of her coffee. The advantage of the wall-mounted microphones was that quiet things couldnt be heard, such as gulping and very quiet whispering. But before we get to the evening program, we should do the actual talking.
Thats pretty wise, because you wont be able to do that interview once were through, John stated with absolute earnest. A first time with him and his bullshit pleasure modifications gave him that amount of confidence.
Thats a promise, Cindy smiled broadly, then continued the show fluidly. For our viewers, this particr program came together on a short-notice and the format itself isnt hammered out quite yet. This is more of a proto-podcast than a proper first one. We have a number of topics we want to get to, but as we do have a lot of time, we will drift here and there every now and again. Long-time subscribers to CPDI can send in their questions via a button next to the live chat only visible for them. She took a moment to breathe. Alright, do you remember thest time we appeared together?
Do you mean thest time on CPDI or thest time in the news? John asked. To rify, he added, Becausest time in public was when there was the attack on the airport
Actually,st time would be the interview you gave recently.
Wow, tabloids work fast.
I do mean thest appearance on CPDI, however, Cindy crossed her legs in a painfully slow motion. The light from overhead reflected in the polished ck leather. It reminded John of the fetish gear he had back home.
Yes, I do remember, he answered, shifting a bit to sit morefortably with a dick at half-mast. Hard to forget.
Yeah, the situation was pretty different. To start with, I was assigned the day program because the colleague was on vacation.
Poor girl didnt get to know me, John couldnt resist cracking another joke; the atmosphere was just made for sexually charged banter.
I can bring her another time, Cindy winked; to no surprise, she was already trying to goad him intoing on another time. She was rather sad about it. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, isnt it?
Dont know if that still applies to me, John gestured at himself. Last time I was on your program, it ended with a pretty harmless public brawl during the elections. Really wish the hostilities between me and Abraham had ceased there.
Do you think you could have beaten Sigmund at the White House had you worked together?
Maybe, John couldnt give a definitive answer, but at least this was pumping the blood back into his brain. Sigmund himself isnt someone I would describe as particrly smart, but he has an ally who fits the bill, and she wouldnt have let him run in like he did, had Abraham and me not exhausted each others forces.
Do you have any grudge towards the former president of the Little Marnd because of this?
No, John answered, surprisingly firm even to himself. No, I can see why he acted that way, and what I said at the funeral were my true thoughts on the matter. Everyone makes mistakes in their lives, people with more power make more influential mistakes. I find it important to honour people for the principles they died for. Abraham sacrificed himself to protect me and the White House when he could have just stood aside and let Sigmund take care of me. I have nothing but respect for him and hope the history books will remember him, faults and all, but overall fondly.
So far, this interview was a lot more serious than the Gamer had anticipated. He didnt exactly dislike it though, especially not in this format. Cindy gave him all the time he needed to answer, unlike other interviews he had been in where everything had limits.
That sacrifice still meant you went blind, right? she asked while John was taking a sip of water. I barely notice it right now. You bridge it by possessing things, wasnt that what you said?
Yeah, John answered as he let out the air he held during drinking. I made it easy to see today, see, I got a contact lens in this eye, he tapped on his left, looking the normal brown, but none in this one, the milky shimmer over the blind eye was visible to everyone who zoomed even the slightest bit. I am still getting used to all of it, but one field of view works well enough for daily life. I prefer to do it with the sses though, since one contact lens causes a shifted field of view.
Alright seems like you are putting a lot of work into getting that fixed, Cindy sounded actually worried about him there. Is it hard?
Its a pretty hard hit to my pride, not going to lie, John returned, willing to have some fun at his own expense. I threw a tantrum when I stumbled and fell, the first time I tried being fancier with it. Caused some structural damage to a hospital. By now, I am making steady improvements though.
Thats good to hear. Plus, you brought the scumbag who did it to justice, right?
Sigmund is currently somewhere, trying to lick his wounds, but probably failing, John stated with some grim satisfaction. I normally dont wish for my enemies to be tortured or anything, as a matter of fact I would prefer it if he just died, but with him I cant quite feel bad. Not with all the people he killed for nothing but his own selfish advancement and my personal injuries.
But you are certain he wont be a problem anymore?
Barring some absolute miracle, he is worse off than dead right now, I have seen to that.
Any details you could give us on the how?
I am afraid that is a secret, the Gamer shrugged apologetically. Cant get any more into it.
Alright-y, Cindy dismissed the topic with a smile. Rulers and their secrets. Well, here is a bit more pleasant topic by one of our watchers. Omnius asks: yo, with how massive of a harem you have, I hope you arent sharing it with any other men? Do you manage to keep all of them satisfied?
That name seems familiar John thought out loud. Think I once read ament by the guy on reddit. To answer though, Omnius, the only time a second biological dick came close to one of my girls was when another man was fucking his own wife in the same room. There was a lot of making out between the girls, but that was as far as the swinging went and as far as I amfortable with. For the second one, do you think I could entertain a harem this big if I couldnt satisfy them all?
Well, that was quick and to the point, Cindyughed. Your harem really is a topic of its own though. There are some pretty usual members for Abyssals, although the sheer number of female Artificial Spirits and elementals you have is rather unusual. How many exactly, if I might ask?
I have four Artificial Spirits and five elementals, discounting this little guy, John answered and extended his hand, on which Stirwin appeared, since you asked only for the female ones.
Oh Gaia, he is ADORABLE! Cindy rose partly out of her seat. Can I pat him?
Yaasssss, Stirwin answered before John could, his squeaky voice causing the blonde girl to squeal herself. Scratching him between the silver eyes, she got more excited noises from the golden crocodile hatchling.
John realized he had been na?ve. How had he never thought of using the tiny, on-demand avable crocodile to try and pick up chicks? That was like running around with a cute dog and never using it to make himself look more charming.
He is way softer than he looks, Cindymented, and warm, is he a fire elemental?
Light, actually, John stated, thought for a moment, then decided against bragging with Stirwins title of Celestial Devourer. We call him Chompy.
I chomp, Stirwin actually managed to string two words together, very yfully snapping at Cindys finger. Nap! then the crocodile suddenlyid down on Johns palm and went incorporeal again.
Aww well Cindy sat back down, disappointed that the cute little thing was gone. Large boobs bounced when she hit the cushions again. Aside from those nine familiars, your harem includes, but is not limited to: the current empress of Germany, the Maiden of Null and the me of Destruction. Thats a pretty impressive line-up.
And theyre all pretty impressive girls, John returned with a happy expression on his face. I feel like the luckiest guy alive that they let me be such an important part of their lives, you know? Some of them decide to attach to my path more than others, but they all still stick with me and thats just something I love them all for.
Do you have favourites in your harem?
The Gamer had to think about that for a moment. Yes and no, he then said. I do care for some of them more than others, but I truly love them all. I once made an actual list in a fit, one of my worst decisions ever.
How so?
Because trying to quantify these feelings as some sort of pecking order is just wrong, John told her. Sure, for a healthy harem you need a core of girls that call the shots and keep things harmonious, but saying you are my least favourite? Thats just a recipe for disaster and its not even true a minuteter. Theyre all too dear to me that I will ever make a list again where somebody has to be at the bottom end.
Seems like you had your fair run in with troubles.
John let out a dry wheeze that was somewhat amused. I would have no idea where to even start onmenting on that. Since entering the Abyss, it has been a year of ups and downs. Between people, between guilds, between factions, there were a lot of conflicts I was drawn into or started.
Speaking of conflicts, Cindy segued, you remember us talking about my co-host before the show started?
Yeah, his name is Ktik, right? John didnt want to seem too rude.
Yes, his wife was not amused with her treatment at the press conference, the catgirlughed when John leaned back in genuine surprise.
His wife? The mantis reporter that asked the first question?
The very same.
Wow, what a small world, he scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit awkward. Dont know what to tell her. I had a procedure in effect and she had to abide by it like everyone else. Nothing against her, you or your profession, but as a leader and politician, journalists that are left to their own devices, especially groups of them, are just the worst.
That bad?
Feels like a swarm of locusts trying to suck all liquid out of your eyeballs, the Gamer returned truthfully. I hope the insect metaphor isnt racist or anything. My Abyssal manners practically dont exist.
Well, I dont think so, but I also dont get offended by awful cat puns, Cindy mused, her tail flopping in herp. Sticking with current events, you are leaving the city tomorrow, right?
Technically I am leaving today, John was a smartass before he could stop himself. Even the pretty easy catgirl in front of him was giving him the Really? nce when he said that, so he continued on pretty quickly. Yes, I am going on a trip to assure some developments. Another thing I cant say too much about, sadly.
Not even a bit of a tease? Cindy moaned, pulling at the edge of her top until her boobs threatened to pop-out. John gulped, but shook his head. That makes me a sad little kitty, she pouted and checked her pad again. She giggled, Another user question by someone called DevourerOfExhibits: are you going to show everyone your tiny cock or not?
Johns left eyelid twitched. I have no fucking idea where that rumoures from, he spat out, grabbing his pants. But since this is already an 18 plus program, he lowered the zipper, and we all know where this is going anyways, he pulled pants and underpants down in one swift movement. Fuck you, whoever started that rumour! In total silence, his pants hit the floor.
That recent exposure by the catgirl host had put his erection at half-mast again, so the world could now see about three quarters of Johnsplete potential length, itself already as big as the average dick. Holy mother Gaia, Cindy gasped, hungrily licking her lips. Uhm she tried to contain herself, ncing at the countdown. There is a bit more to talk about.
I am perfectly fine talking without pants, dont worry, John answered off the cuff and Cindy snorted as if he had said something utterly hrious. While he was already brazen from the bit of anger, he felt like pushing a little bit. You might as well return the favour. Cant imagine your, presumably mostly male, viewers enjoy looking at my dick for the entire time.
I mean, you arent wrong Cindy yed a bit shy.
John leaned to the left and rested his head on his fist like a bored king. Do it, he wanted it to be an encouragement, but it was more of amand. His charismatic, deep voice reverberated with the authority he usually wielded in most bedroom activities. As if he was threatening her with a whip, Cindy grabbed the lower end of her top. No, John stopped her. Lose the pants, all things equal.
That is unusual, she said, but stood up and turned around to show her butt as she wiggled out of the tight leather. Her ass was nice, round and spankable, all three things John was looking for in a woman. Her crotch was barren of all hair, something revealed after her sticky panties were removed, gooey strands connecting them to her pussy for a little bit. I heard rumours you were an ass man, but men usually want to see my breasts first.
To his pleasure, enough to solidify his erection at the maximum size of twenty centimetres, Cindy only sat down once he allowed her too. Nobody in their right mind could say he was small anymore. Just the way I lean, although I would never say no to a juicy pair of tits.
I am kind of surprised you arepletely hairless, Cindy admitted. Guys dont usually go out of their way to shave everything.
Which Ipletely get for mundane people, John told her. The amount of body hair I would have to get rid of every day ispletely uneptable. However, since there are those nifty shampoos that suppress regrowth, I dont see how anyone has any excuse. Most of my girls love being able to cuddle up to me without anything scratching or tickling.
Most?
One of them openly swears on body hair of most kinds being sexy.
Well, no unity when ites to sex appeal, I guess, Cindy gulped, adding more quietly, Although nobody could deny you are being very sexy right now, John.
You better get the remaining topics out of the way so we can start with the next segment, he advised jokingly, having calmed down again.
Cindy nodded and looked down on her pad, So, what''s the deal with
they knocked down the remaining topics as quickly as they could.
Chapter 584 – Purrversion [Erotic Content]
Chapter 584 C Purrversion [Erotic Content]
alright, that was thest subscriber question, Cindy emptied what little of her now cold coffee remained, threw the pad on the table and rubbed her thighs together like she had done for the past half hour. Her heavily flushed face bore an expression of relief, ncing at Johns cock, knowing that the moment she could finally feel it inside her was about toe.
Then I have one more question for you, John announced, opening his character screen and dragging his remaining clothes into his inventory. As his toned chest came into view, the blonde catgirl let out a wanting whimper. Are you fine with being a submissive?
Whatever you want, Master, she meowed immediately and Johns cock quivered in anticipation. Unsurprisingly, the sexy mixture of show host and porn star knew how to push the right buttons.
The Gamer only had one word for her, knowing this, Strip.
Cindy stood up and grabbed the lower edge of her top. The pink thing was basically the only thing she was still wearing and it flew off in a few wiggling motions. An arrangement of strings and cloth, barely hiding her nipples, called a bra followed momentster. John felt his lust pulsate at the sight of the catgirls nakedness.
Both her pussy lips and nipples had a nice, light pink colour, harmonizing well with the whiteplexion of her athletic body. Muscles shifted subtly under the smooth skin of her midriff, long legs stretched out of suggestive hips and her boobs swayed as she presented herself in all her glory. The inside of her thighs was wet from the wait, just like she had left a wet spot on her seat. That was the main reason why John favoured leather furniture.
Do you like what you see? the blonde asked seductively, slowly turning on the spot to show off every bit of her wless body. When she faced John again, she was biting her glossy lips, clearly unable to wait anymore. Do you want to have me, Master?
You will serve me first, John decided. Although he really couldnt wait to plunge into her, he wanted to enjoy a bit of submissive action first. Suck my cock, I know you wanted to since I dropped my pants.
Oh Gaia, yessss, she hissed and took two steps over the table, before falling to her knees between his parted legs. Slender fingers reached out to Johns cock, a trail of precum covering the lower side of it already. Grabbing the base, she leaned in close and extended her tongue. Within moments of tasting him, taking in the scent of the Gamer, a mixture of oils and raw masculinity, her red eyes got a dull look to them. Tashtesh sho gooood, she gasped while trailing up the girth of his shaft.
The very first Libido Perk John had gotten once more revealed its usefulness. Making it so both his pre and actual cum tasted wonderful surely increased enthusiasm amongst women to suck as much out of him as they could. Cindy being already one thirsty thing in her preferred setting, one of exhibiting herself to every viewer out there, she wrapped her lips around his head and went straight to work.
Although she had her experience in blowjobs, the catgirl still struggled with the Gamers enormous prick. She couldnt just go straight down, show off her deepthroating skills. Although she tried, he was just too big for her. Realizing this, she went for the more sensible approach. Bobbing up and down in methodical movements, her left hand pumping what her lips could not yet reach, she eased herself a little bit further down with each repetition.
Halfway down, three quarters down, until the hand had to be removed. With massaging movements, she caressed his balls instead. Good kitty, John grunted, scratching her cat ears. Unlike Raves, they were absolutely real, not just a construct made from hair. However, they had the same general weak spots.
Cindys eyelids fluttered as he found a particrly sensitive bit at the back, moans reverberating in Johns iron hard erection. For a few moments, the perverted catgirl even forgot to move, so taken was she by his skilful movements. When John firmly forced her to move again by pushing her down a little bit, he gave her a moan of satisfaction as her reward. He didnt need to fake it, just let it out.
Finally, when she had gotten all the way down to the base, her moans changed to a purr. John already knew what that felt like, but he still wasnt prepared for it. The already wonderful tightness of being balls-deep in her throat was pushed to new heights as everything began to vibrate. Oh, fuck yes, he gasped, and that was all the motivation Cindy needed to double down.
As her purring grew louder, more intense, she elerated the movements of her sucking. All the way up and then all the way down, in ever quicker strokes as she got more used to the way Johns cock stretched her. Her lust zed eyes stared up to him, seeking his approval.
Oh god, I wanted this, he grunted. Since you first offered, I just needed to fuck you, you horny little slut. All those insults did to Cindy was intensified her purring. John was right on the edge, but he didnt want to finish inside her mouth. Let me cum all over your tits, he said, and with one swift, wet movement, her lips parted with his cock.
Wherever you want, Master John, Cindy said as she simultaneously gasped for air. Pushing out her chest, she grabbed both of her tits and encapsted Johns cock between them. Saliva, phlegm and precum stained the surface of her breasts and lubricated them pretty much immediately.
John was in heaven. The soft flesh of the heavenly spheres shook around him in ordance to the catgirls yful hands and the rhythm of her hips. Im cumming, he gasped and exploded a momentter. Hot white seed spurted into the air, raining down on Cindys face and tits. The first few strands she let cover herself, then she bowed down in curious greed and, while her tits still squished the base of Johns cock, sucked on the tip. Oh you horny little thing, the Gamer gasped.
More of his seed pumped into her mouth, definitely more than she had anticipated. The catgirl still made the mistake of thinking of the Gamer as just another, if well-endowed, man and not the unstoppable Libido fuelled engine of ecstasy he had be. Still, she rolled with it remarkably well, basking in the delicious taste of Johns seed.
She opened her mouth, to show him that she had gathered it all. You may swallow, Cindy, he allowed her, witnessing her taking one gulp.
Thank you, Master, she said with a big smile on her cum-covered face. Yousted remarkably long. Feeling purring normally makes men cum immediately. Should I masturbate to give you a show while you recover to fuck me?
Recover? John furrowed his eyebrows. Do I seem any bit limp to you?
The catgirl looked down on the still massive and still erect cock between her tits. Eyes wide, her mouth opened a bit in disbelief. Before she couldment on this, the door to the room suddenly flew open.
There were a lot of things John anticipated entering the room. A needy Aclysia, hoping her physical presence would encourage him to let her join (which he would have anyway), any one of his elementals (but Sylph in particr), even an assault by some rebels he would have found more likely than what happened.
Being his girlfriend, stark naked, strutting in like it was nobodys business. From her impossible hair, over her petite tits to her perfect bubble butt, all was for everyone to see. Hey, tiger, Rave winked, leaving John speechless. Thought Id swing by and join the fun, she said when she was across the room and looking at the tiger girl. Seems like I got here right on time.
Jane, this is a podcast, he hastily informed her. There are cameras.
Yeah, I know, she winked and bowed down to Cindy. Lemme have a moment with my man and you will get all the cream ya could ever want, alright? The blonde catgirl, ying both the submissive and likely smelling the money this extra appearance of a fellow hottie would bring to her career, made room without any fuss. Straddling over John, who was still too confused to really do much, she added in such a quiet tone that the microphones wouldnt pick it up. Ill live with a few guys watching, her already plenty wet pussy connected with the tip of his cock. Steeled myself for that much while I decided whether or not to barge in naked.
John had so many questions, but they all had to wait. There was obviously a grave misunderstanding here, one that he had to clear up even though he had no idea if it would do any good at this point. In a just as quiet tone, he responded, No, Jane, youuuu, his words failed him when she slid down his cock in one long moan.
Its been too many daysssss, she hissed at the exact same reason for his self-interruption, now face to face with him. I just couldnt wait. The second I got back, I needed to see ya. I can take a few randos watching from another room as long as we get to have sex again. She nced at Cindy who was fervently masturbating while watching. And I couldnt miss the bonus.
Theres a whole lot more people watching, John gasped as the wet, familiar folds of his girlfriends pussy gripped his cock in a loving embrace of overdue satisfaction.
They can just cut it out in post, Rave dismissed, once more misunderstanding him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Leaning forwards, she whispered directly into his ear. Arent ya happy to see me, tiger? she sounded a bit irritated by now, although her hips were gyrating in motions that pleasured both of them.
No, Jane I mean yes, but he finally gathered himself, whispering back. This isnt being recorded, this is a livestream.
She froze in all movements as the message finally cut through her misunderstanding and lust-hazed thoughts. Next to his head, John could feel how Rave blushed so intensely that it felt like she was a small sun. Then, and this surprised her more than him, her pussy tightened even more around his cock and she let out a truly ecstatic gasp.
Oh fuuuuuuck, she moaned out. I mean oh fuck! she straightened and moved a bit up, moaned even harder as the friction sent pleasure up her spine like bolts of electricity. Although she may have wanted to just get up and leave quickly, she moved torturously slow, both of them gasping for more every bit along the way. This was more than just their usual longing after some time apart. Finally, she was at the tip. Then, a spontaneous word crossed her lips, a famous word that happened before great or awful things. Ah, whatever, she gasped and simply impaled herself on his entire length all over again. The excited shout she let out and the gush of liquid John felt against his groin made it pretty clear she had just had a small orgasm, from two thrusts with no forey. Already crossed the line so whatever she breathed heavily. She was right, leaving now definitely wouldnt eliminate what video material was already out there. Still, it was telling she chose to stay and continue to erratically moan. It feels soooo gooood right now
John was about to let out a victorious HAH! I knew it! as there was absolutely no more doubt about it. However, he felt like that wasnt the best way to get his satisfaction across. Instead, he grabbed Raves thighs, You know what they call it when you get excited by knowing that people are watching you, right? he whispered into her ear.
You are such a smartass, she pouted, then could only moan when her boyfriend suddenly stood up, taking control of the situation as she was now hanging onto him. Without dy, he fucked her where they stood, bouncing her with every thrust of his cock.
You are totally an exhibitionist, he announced, no longer whispering. His thrusts slowed down a little bit as Raves pussy continued to get tighter as her awareness of the situation grew. Arent you, Jane?
Ja, okay?! the loud words mixed in with the scream as her withdrawal from Gamer-sex was finally fixed through a healthy dose of heavy thrusts. There was obviously more to say about this barely suppressed kink of hers, now surfacing violently, unleashed by a misstep of her own. Rave had a bigger interest in getting fucked and tasting this new fetish than talking right now, however, Just hammer me, tiger, fuck me in front of all these people, ya total pervert.
Us total perverts, John corrected her gleefully. Although he didnt get a rise out of being this public himself, humiliating his girlfriend this way definitely did. This way being: with her consent, widening their debauched horizon and while giving her multiple orgasms.
In typical Rave fashion, his girlfriend got over this entire thing in a matter of minutes. What use was there to cry after it now that the whole thing was irreversible anyway? Her legs closed behind his hips, securing herself further.
Hmmm, think our audience likes my a-ah-ss? she cheekily asked while her hair flew in wild cascades from every thrust. She was already moving onto exploring this new side of herself, moving down one hand to dig trenches into her juicy behind, then give herself a lustful little p.
What kind of question is that even? John grunted in an amused fashion, turning them towards the first camera he spied. Who wouldnt like your perfect ass?
The the trick kind, she stuck out her tongue, then went straight back to gasping. Oh, John, I REALLY needed you inside me again.
God, dont remind me about us being apart at any time, he demanded and stopped in his thrusts to press his lips on hers. Their tongues sought each other and wrestled. Her taste of mint and bubble-gum fulfilled him. Despite standing still, John felt his lust rise further, Raves folds quivering all around him. Everyone will know though, he said when their kiss ended, lifting his girlfriend up and putting her back down, that they can marvel at your ass all they want, but its mine!
Rave bent over the chair, grabbing onto the backrest and presenting herself to be fucked. Showem, tiger, she challenged and immediately came when he rammed back inside her. Her spine arched, her fingers wed into the cushion. Yo-u-u-ure sssssuch a-aah stuuuuud, she screamed when hard, quick thrusts ravaged her. Yessss, give it to me, give it to your needy girlfriend, I want your cum, tiger.
She was ying it up for the watchers, but as cheesy as the choice of words was, her tone was absolutely genuine. Marvelling at every shockwave rippling through her bubble butt, John let her do as much talking as she wanted. He just wanted to make both of them feel good. Every new fetish was a new tool he could use for their debauched activities.
Through the sses on the table he could also keep an eye on Cindy watching them. Lying on her back on the floor, she was masturbating so quickly that her hand was just a blur. Still, her moans were much quieter than even the pping of Johns hips against his girlfriend. You want my cum? he groaned between clenched teeth, it was getting harder to keep going.
I neeeeeed it! Rave eximed, suddenly sprouting her own cat ears. Give me all your cream, John, fuck me and fill me uuuuuup!
At thest word, she got exactly as she asked, John mming into her cunt and his balls tightening, pumping a load as heavy as ever right into the depths of her pussy. Being filled for the first time in front of an unknown number of witnesses and generally having grown immensely perverted and synchronized to her boyfriends efforts, Rave had the third and hardest orgasm yet.
Her entire body was shaking, her torso going through waves of buckling and arching, as she screamed in intervals, dictated by the heavy breaths she needed to take. John yearned to see her face, so, as his seed was still painting her insides white with each second, he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back against his chest.
He could see her rolled up eyes, feel how uncontrolled her tensing body was, her heartbeat was drumming through her chest. You look even more beautiful right now, he whispered into her ear, before abusing her paradoxical rigid limpness to kiss her again. Just as she instinctively answered the affection, her orgasm spiked. Squirts of clear liquid gushed from her pussy, one after the other, drenching their sexes and adding a whole lot more wet stains to the carpet.
Oh Gaia almighty Rave gasped, relying heavily on her boyfriend to remain standing, as their orgasms slowly ebbed off. I feel so much better now. Ya made me one horny thing, ya know that?
Pretty sure you were one horny thing before, he pointed out, scratching her behind the cat ears. She purred and they had another quick kiss. Thats why we get along so well.
Mhm wanna trybining this new kink with the good old one? Rave asked, ncing at Cindy.
By all means, you start, he grinned and slowly pulled out of her. Cindy gasped, apparently unable to believe that he was STILL erect. She agreed to being the submissive, he told his girlfriend.
Hmmm? she hummed, licking her lips. Now thats just wonderful news. She stepped away from her boyfriend, who just watched. He had just had the reins for the past minutes and was still riding the high of being proven right. It was important to let his fellow dom express herself. Hey, Cindy, Rave almost sung as she stepped over her. I promised ya some cream, didnt I?
Yes, you did, Mistress, the catgirl went right along with it, leaning into the hand grabbing her by the hair and the cum filled cunt that descended on her face once Rave had straddled herfortably on the floor.
Rave gasped when the blonde beganpping at her pussy. She is gooooood, the techno lover told her boyfriend with a dreamy expression. Like really really reaaaallly goooooood, the pink-haired half-Asian pulled the catgirl deeper, thighs tight around Cindys head. How about ya give her some more, John? Rave reached down to the submissive hosts pussy, spreading the pink lips with two fingers. She needs it a lot.
Its finally happening, John thought and got down and dirty on the ground with them. No further forey, just his girlfriend riding Cindys face as he prated her. As simple as it could be and as satisfying. The catgirl pervert had a much more vtile reaction than he had upon entering her.
Suddenly hit by all of the things that came along with being fucked by John, his size, his experience, the multiple pleasure increasing skills and perks, the unprepared Cindy was immediately squirting all over the carpet. Tiger, her eyes just rolled back immediately, Rave joked, looking back over her shoulder with a grin.
Poor girl is the one to reveal to the world that getting fucked by me is a rough ride, the Gamer returned in kind. She still keeping it up or is she being a bad girl?
Rave closed her eyes and sighed erotically as her answer. Oh no, she is keeping at it.
Good, John started thrusting, slowly at first, not wanting to take her too hard from the start. Lets see if she can keep up. It only took a few seconds to get Cindy to her second orgasm, a minute for the third, then John was able to move freely in her constricting cunt and nailed her to the floor.
Muffled screams of ecstasy echoed out from between Raves legs, loud enough for the microphones to pick it up for sure. John had basically forgotten about them being watched at this point; he was taken in by the sight of Raves ass and the steadily spasming muscles of Cindys midriff as she just could not stop climaxing. One orgasm rolled over into the other as the Gamer showed her what the real definition of pleasure for a woman was.
It was just delightful. John had almost forgotten this feeling of a new conquest; it had been a while since he had actually fucked someone outside of his harem. While he did prefer the familiarity of his women, iming a new woman like this, even if it was just for a casual get together, yed into everything he ever wanted in life.
She suddenly squirted a second time, her pussy gripping tight onto him, and he could no longer hold on. With onest grunt, he started cumming. He did not stop thrusting, however; he had no reason too, for the Gamer, an orgasm was just a spike in pleasure. Basic or even extended limits of endurance during intercourse no longer applied to him.
His seed pumped into her relentlessly and her arched spine trembled. The constant screams were finally silenced as Cindy was no longer able to push out a single sound. Rave let out a disappointed gasp as the catgirl also ceased in her pussy eating efforts. Every single synapse must have been overloaded with sensations of ecstasy.
John prated her one more time, thest spurt of semen pumping into her, before pulling out. He didnt need to hear her ask for it to realize that she needed a pause. I think I broke her a little, he joked.
Ya always do that with the new girls! Rave pouted yfully and got up. I am so close too! she suddenly shoved him back into his chair and, just like when she had gotten in, climbed on top of him. Ya gonna finish it!
John grinned, he could live with that arrangement perfectly well. The program continued for a long while after that, although Cindy spent most of it spasming on the floor.
First times with John were just that intense.
Chapter 585 – Railing along
Chapter 585 C Railing along
And and th-aah-t Cindy tried to close the program standing, her legs shaking visibly as aftershocks of the past hour continued to ravage her body. That it-it finishes the pr-prograa-aah-m. A g-g-good night to you all
She had barely finished those words when the counter above the door deactivated, signalling the end of the livestream. Just like that, her legs gave in. John caught her sweaty body and gently ced her on one of the chairs. That all of the sexual fluids also staining her form immediately tainted the furniture was of little matter, as it was already guaranteed to either need to be reced or get a very thorough washing.
Should we leave you here or? the Gamer offered his help, but the catgirl weakly shook her head.
Ill be fine please lets have another interview soooooon, her toes curled and her lips pressed together as another convulsion wrecked her body. Maybe thatst bit of piledriving her into the floor had been a bit overkill.
Ill see when I can make time, John promised, gathered his pants and headed for the exit.
Hope ya can feel your legs soon, Rave waved goodbye as she followed her boyfriend into the dressing room attached. Meant forst minute make-up, changing clothes or just general pre-broadcast activities like brewing coffee, it was pretty home-y. Sadly, there was no shower around, a technical misstep as far as the Gamer was concerned.
This entire building is either waiting for more equipment, he grumbled as he pulled a towel out of his inventory to at least somewhat allow himself and Rave to clean themselves off. Or extremely poorly nned. What kind of porn show has no way of getting clean afterwards?
Prolly some bad investor choices? Rave suggested, and in a total vacuum of other exnations, John rolled with that. They had a much more interesting conversation ahead anyway.
So I have numerous questions, John spoke up once they were dressed, as freshened up as possible and stepping out into the summer night. In order of importance: how do you feel as an exhibitionist?
Stupid, Rave groaned, kicking a pebble down the road. Always thought that was totally not a thing I was into. Always dodged talking about it still had sex in bathroom stalls... Guess I was justpensating for my denial or some psychological idiocy like that. She snickered awkwardly and grabbed his hands, their fingers interlocking quickly. This was one of the more pleasant reality checks I got in my life though.
And whatre we going to do now that you know about it? John wondered.
No longer flee inside the nearest hiding ce when I feel like doing it, she answered after a moment of thinking. I still feel kinda awkward about it. Just went with it in the moment and all that. Dont really feel like testing where my boundaries lie on this. Also dont have Metras unrelenting urge to strip right now
If you had that level of exhibitionism, I doubt you would have been able to even deny it for this long, Johnughed and gained himself a yful pinch in the side.
Ya jerk, his girlfriend stuck out her tongue. Anyway, guess I aming with on future television appearances as well, she winked teasingly. Cameras aside, fucking more catgirls sounds right up my alley.
I doubt well have a hard time getting another interview, John dared to suggest. Well, it wasnt exactly a dare, since he heavily doubted anything that had his girlfriends naked ass in it would go anything less than the porn-equivalent of viral. Also, that small dick rumour would go away guaranteed now. Although there might crop up another about him using some magical version of viagra. He would be way less offended by that notion.
Cant wait for the news articles, Rave drily added, rolling her eyes. Thats the one thing that bothers me about this whole being famous stuff, the sheer amount of dumb articles written about us.
Well, you take the good with the bad? John sighed. Anyway, to the less important question: why are you here?
Heard ya were fucking a catgirl, hopped on a train cause I felt like it, his girlfriend answered giving him a cheeky nce. Didnt check beforehand to realize it was a livestream and not some recording though.
Figured, that was all John had toment on that end. After all, that was exactly the reason he would have expected from the love of his life. She wanted something, so she went to get it. That she didnt inform herself properly beforehand was to his advantage for once. You should really read up on stuff beforehand.
But thats what I have ya for! Rave protested. Ya do the thinking, I do the doing and I allow ya to be together with me, thats the deal!
I feel like this deal needs a rewrite.
No refunds, only kisses, she giggled and quickly ced one on his cheek.
I will live with this deal, he conceded and they arrived at a teleporter outpost shortly thereafter. Pretty quickly, they made their way down to Johns apartment, where a certain maid was already awaiting them.
Wee home, Jane, Aclysia greeted. I have prepared everything for a shower and or bath.
Youre just the best, ya artificial wonder, Rave hugged the white-haired girl. I missed ya, days are so long without any banter around!
Speaking of no banter around John broke the subject he least wanted to talk about. What am I going to do with you now, Jane? Youre still supposed to guard the border
Where nothing has happened whatsoever yet, she rolled her eyes. Ya value your border too much anyway. This is Abyssal warfare, most of the skirmishes will happen by some infiltration forces dropping in via public airline.
Unless they want to attack in full force, John pointed out.
In which case my small unit isnt going to be able to stop them anyhows, Rave returned and poked him on the forehead. And all of them are still there until the Hidden Tradition gets ready. Ya need to rx your paranoid brain a little.
If I rx at the wrong time, dozens or hundreds of people die, the Gamer was ready to continue, but then drew a quick breath and forcefully rxed. No you do have a point at the very least, I dont want to get angry now that I can see you again.
That Rave appearing on a high-profile show with him would let everyone know that she was gone from the borders. That could have all kinds of reactions, positive and negative, but in the grand scheme of things it really wasnt important enough to lose a lot of sleep over. As she had rightfully pointed out, should a great assault happen, for which there was no indication as of that moment, her presence would win them only a little time before she needed to retreat to avoid encirclement.
See, thats the spirit, she embraced him, and within moments they stood forehead to forehead, swaying to whatever beat Rave had stuck in her ears today. I am going toe with ya to the Small Lake Pact as well.
Is there any way I could even convince you otherwise? John wondered quietly.
Nope, Im not going to be stuck here administrating or bore my thumbs off at the border, she answered with the pink lustre in her blue eyes ring. Adventure is my middle name, so gimme one, tiger.
Why did I have to involve myself with a headstrong thrill seeker? John grumbled while lovingly caressing her back.
Cause the alternative was a headstrong morality enforcer, Rave reminded him. Ya think ya would have any more fun with Moi-m- Moira right now?
You know she isnt around, right? John giggled, not answering the question since it seemed obvious. You can use her nickname.
Not until I beat her to get that right back, honour between enemies and all that jazz, Rave announced. Their little talk would have continued, were it not for Aclysia clearing her throat to get their attention.
She got it immediately by the unteral andpletely synchronized decision of the pair to include her into the hug. Confused and greatly pleased, Aclysia snuggled up to both of them before she could stop herself. Ehem, she cleared her throat again, this time with a light fluster on her face. As much as this position pleases me, I do have to remind you that there is a train we have to catch in four hours and thirty minutes. I heavily advise that you clean yourself now so that you may sleep at least three hours.
Rave gave the weaponized maid a kiss. As the smallest of the three of them, the Lightbearer needed to stretch to aplish that much. Only one and a half hours nned in for us to celebrate our reunion? Thats pretty brazen, she stated.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Rave was sleeping deeply, unbothered by the rumbling of the wheels on the tracks. She had been absolutely right, it had taken something closer to two hours until all of them had beenpletely satisfied. Aclysia with herck of sleepiness had just gone along with everything while John and Rave, already in the mood from the CPDI podcast, had just been drunk off each others body. It was a drug they really couldnt resist, and they didnt try either.
That it had been the first time they had actually seen each other since Sigmund had been defeated hadnt helped. Although the Contender wasnt mentioned even in reference, John was still riding that satisfaction along, with his girlfriend indulging it all with him. As the saying went, confidence was sexy, Rave had always loved his proactive side more, and right now, John was feeling incredibly confident.
They had fucked in the shower, went to bed, had needed to go to the shower again, and only after a few more romps in the bed, with a quickie in the living room in the middle, had actually dozed off. Although it displeased her greatly, Aclysia had then forced both of them to wake up.
John had taken it a bit better; Gamers Body was just more flexible for these things. Meanwhile, his girlfriends least catlike aspect was how she needed her nightly, long sleep (rather than being able to just snooze several times a day) and two hours meant she was almost inoperable. She had barely eaten, trudged along with half-closed eyes, yawned more than breathed, and the second they had made it into the train, she had fallen asleep.
If he had any mind, John would have done the same, that was the n after all, but he was somewhat upied between looking at her cute sleeping face and caressing Aclysias curves. You seem incredibly happy, Master, the weaponized maid noted, nudging as close as the armrests allowed.
Doesnt surprise me, he mused back. The scars remain, but progress is back on track. Plus, I am with the two of you, so that would make even the worst situations well enough. Luckily for them, they had the cart for themselves, so he could be as hands on as he wanted without anyone raising an eyebrow. Not that he would have cared a lot about that.
You dont worry about all the things that could go wrong? Aclysia asked; as per usual she already knew the answer. She just wanted to hear him talk.
I always worry about everything that could go wrong, he sighed, calming himself of a number of nightmare scenarios jolting through his hands by reaching down to her butt and giving the firm meat a nice squeeze. Eliza, most of all, but what else is new?
Not much of the things around us, the weaponized maid cheekily answered; the wagons interior did indeed look like it was produced a decade ago. Its just me at your side, as always.
That will age like wine, I say, John answered, ying with the tips of her hair. And I will enjoy every years vintage. Happiness radiated off her face and surface thoughts like the midsummer sun on everything. John was almost blinded by the radiance of her small smile and the tiny giggle, like the purest little bells, that he won from her with thatment.
Is there anything new you need, Master? she asked to keep the conversation going.
I need a bunch of things, John answered and thought about the entire list. Enchanted sses and contact lenses for his new Possession sight to be more effective, more information about Hellfire to see if an opposite healing force existed, his new Mand Sphere, more effectivebat personnel, a Skill Evolution Point, to just mention the things he immediately could think of. Most of all I would like to take some time off though
Perhaps you should, then, Aclysia suggested, knowing full well it wasnt that simple. Your happiness should be first, my John, she was so deeply concerned that she actually used his name instead of his title.
Happiness is pretty nice, he told her with a smile. But I like working on this thing that gives me purpose more. I wouldnt keep going in this whole guild building effort if it wasnt satisfying, you know? Every advancement Fusion makes, every person liberated, every secure day that Collide has, it all lets me know that I am making a difference in this world and that is somehow more important than happiness to me.
I will keep a close eye on your behaviour. Overworking is prohibited! Aclysia sharply told him.
John justughed, appreciating her worry. With all of you looking out for me, the only thing I could ever copse from is this massive gift of a life I have, he promised and yawned, feeling the sleepiness settle in after all. I think Ill doze off for a bit keep watch, will you? John asked.
He dismissed the Possession on his sses, immediately turning the entire world dark. Being blind had the one advantage that, no matter the time of day, John could sleep like it was the darkest night. In that ckness, Aclysias whisper rang through his entire being.
I will always watch over you, Master, her soft tone turned into a hum, a little song that gently guided him to slumber.
Chapter 586 – What the maid made
Chapter 586 C What the maid made
John was so mind-numbingly pleased by what greeted him at the Small Lake Pacts former headquarters, now Aclysias base of operations in the region, that he could only run around with a grin.
Savage Ind was quite big. Sure, it was smallpared to the central ind, but the airstrip that covered half of its real version still only reached about halfway down the elongatedndmass. John really liked it, from a tactical and seclusion standpoint. The rundown wall running around its entire shore could use a refortifying, but Gnome could do that over the course of a day or two.
Really, John could imagine building a nice mansion here, install a proper harbour and basically turn it into a miniature version of his own Guild Hall, sadly without all the bullshit extras that came with his abilities. There were two noticeable buildings in the fortification, both within range of the only entrance at the only pier. A simrly run-down house attached to an evidently much older, medieval looking tower and a ck box that John recognized as the mana factory from Aclysias report.
Everything else was dominated by green areas and trees. Wonderfully clean green areas, separated with make-shift bordersid out by simple bricks put down on the ground in lines. A lot of effort must have gone into that, as a massive pile of trash, old car tires and beer crates in a designated area of the barrier showed. Whatever the greenery had looked like before Aclysia came along, it definitely had been suffering.
There was so much room to expand infrastructure around here that John just couldnt believe how barren this was. It was like he was stepping into thend of some nomadic tribe whose greatest achievements had been the discovery of houses. Potential squandered in the name of bashing each others brains in and terrorizing the neighbouring states.
Aside from Aclysia having cleaned up this entire mess, the greatest thing she had done had to do with the subjects she had inherited. All women around had been stuck into French maid outfits of the barely socially eptable variety. Combining this with the general proclivity of Abyssal women to be fit and at least average beautiful treated John to the sight of over two dozen maids running around and cleaning everything.
On one hand, I want to ask why, Ravemented from the side. Second, I dont actually care. Good job, Aclysia! she gave the weaponized maid an enthusiastic thumbs-up. John could only agree with the general assessment.
My job is far frompleted, Aclysia returned, ncing angrily at the one maid that was with them instead of running around the ce. She was a freckled redhead with a slender body and some marks along her lower lip and nose that indicated a recent removal of piercings. This did taint her beauty a little bit, but not in a way time wouldnt be able to fix.
The reason for Aclysias anger was quite simply that, in the few days that she had been away, basically nothing had made progress. Just a few hours after they had realized that Aclysia had vanished, rather than employ some invisibility shenanigans, everyone had universally agreed to take a break and just not stop doing so.
I am highly disappointed, Melthy, Aclysia turned towards the redhead who had the only adequate reaction of making herself as small as possible. Masters temporary residence being not yet cleaned out is entirely uneptable!
Always fascinating to hear the odd names Abyssals can have and the normal American names others have, John thought, particrly thinking of the mundane born Ted and Chemilia. Then he involved himself in the conversation to prevent his Artificial Spirit from tearing the redhead a new one. Alright, alright, lets rx, he grabbed Aclysias shoulders and gave her a gentle massage to keep her calm. Lets have a look at said residence first, shall we?
The residence was indeed a shithole. It had already looked awful from the outside, stered walls that maybe had once been white but had gotten that terrible dirty grey look to them by now. Except for the spots where it had just fallen off and revealed basic bricks behind it. The inside wasnt better. A cement floor had only the asional honour of the random carpet thrown onto it, with furniture scattered all throughout the main hall and cramped into the oddly small bathroom and kitchen.
The second story held the bedrooms and some more spacious sanitary facilities. That floor was even worse, however, as everything had the stench of cold sexual fluids, beer and old meat to it. Everything was sticky and the beds themselves were just mattresses thrown on the floor.
Well, there are Arcade machines? John tried to look at the positive side of things. Kind of like our starting point, right, Jane?
Travolta is spinning in his grave right now, cause ya dared liken his arcade to this drug den, Rave responded dryly, fleeing from the second floor as quickly as she could. They strutted towards an immense couch that was visible directly from entering, apparently the point where the former leader had spent most of his day. How does anybody live here EW!
Rave jumped back when she stepped into something that made a disgusting squelching sound. Raising her sneakers, both she and her boyfriend made a retching sound when they saw the construct of mold that may once have been a cupcake stuck to her sole. Immediately she began the process of scraping it off at the edge of the table, covered in massive amounts of tobo remains.
Okay, yes, this is not a residence I am going to stay in, John made perfectly clear. Aclysia, didnt you say you repaired a house on the main ind out of boredom or something like that?
Yes something like that, the weaponized maid looked away and the Gamer raised an eyebrow. I did it to forget how horny I was, Aclysia confessed after only two seconds of being stared at. I suppose we could move over.
Oy, you- Melthy raised her voice and immediately stopped talking when Aclysia pulled out her dagger in a sh. I mean Excuse me, Master, if I might interject.
You dont have to call me master, John assured her.
Yes, she does, Aclysia denied that outright.
John is really good enough.
You will not address him with his name, disappointment!
Rave giggle, and now it was her turn to give the weaponized maid some backrubs. Ya gotta chill yourself before ya kill someone, Aclysia, the Lightbearer told her. Or do ya wanna defy John?
In this particr instance, I do, the weaponized maid held against. Look upon this filthy ce. They wont get anything done without a firm schooling in cleaning, cooking and servitude.
A firm schooling, huh? John hummed and looked Melthy up and down. He could imagine one or two things about being a servant that he could teach her and her fellow bootlickers. Not like he would do anything to them that they wouldnt expect, given how that room above had smelled and the beautiful peoples decision to just attach to the strongest person in the society. Anyway, they must have really kept you upied, huh, Aclysia?
He couldnt imagine that this amount of trash was something that Aclysia would have tolerated in her presence. There was a rather constant stream of challengers, yes, the weaponized maid responded. If she had to fight a lot, there was less time to clean, exining these absolutely uneptable conditions. I relied on my newly acquired servants to clean. Evidently, I put too much trust in their enthusiasm, already having well-founded doubts about their experience. Aclysia raised her dagger. Therefore, I will now rule by fear until they know to properly serve you.
Melthy seemed ready to just run somewhere. That the only real escape was the boat that John had the key for in his inventory was a logical problem that likely did not enter the forced maids mind. Again, John intervened. Aclysia, I need you to put the yan back in the box and give me more of the dere.
Master, these unworthy little cunt-
Ooookay, Raveughed and shut the maid up by pushing her force reset button. In Aclysias case, that meant kissing her for a solid twenty seconds and not letting go until her body tension had reached non-critical levels and her face started flushing a little bit. Ya really need to cease and desist right about now, murder maid, the technolover then whispered and lightly pped her on the ass.
I am sorry about this outburst, Aclysia took a little bow when Rave stepped back from her. This amount of dirt around Master heavily offends me.
Alright sorry, you were saying, Melthy? John gestured for the redhead to speak.
Uhm yes, here is the thing about living on the main ind its for fucking losers, Melthy didnt do herself any favours in putting it like that, Aclysias green eyes widening to a degree that would have made a nuclear reactor feel cold from the shock.
Slow breaths, John mentally advised her and heard her very audibly inhale next to himself. Her dagger was reced with Eclys, but the weaponized maid just stood there, staring and clutching her de. Okay, can I ask why?
Fu Melthy swallowed, speaking really slowly as she kept eyes on the silver-white weapon. I mean, people that havent even conquered their own ind are generally regarded as inferior around here.
Okay, so let me take this slowly, John tried to wrap his head around this. Your local culture has it so everyone is specialized in trap magic of the kind best used for terrorist attacks, so you can fortify the inds you fight over with, essentially,ndmines. Your leader is whoever is strongest. People that cant even conquer or suck up to someone who doesnt own his own ind are treated as dirt and you somehow do all of this without an honour code that prevents things like night assaults or assassinations. Melthy had noment to any of that. Sparing himself the exasperated rant about how backwards all of that was, John just asked, How did you all not get taken over an eternity ago?
Well, in the past, whenever some outsider challenged and beat the current leader, they either integrated because they wanted to keep all of us trophy girls around, the redhead didnt even seem the slightest bit ashamed about calling herself that, or we removed them in another way.
Oh, now I get it, John thought, the people maintaining this style of society arent actually the fighters its all of the harem cliques acting as the reward or poisoning people that want to change stuff although I dont really get why John racked his brain a bit about that and came up with the answer that traditions, particrly of the brutal kind, could often stick around much longer than they had any right to. On some level he could also get that this allowed for the protection of the charismatic by the strong. Primitive but effective, in some way.
Understanding all of these things made the choice of residence a whole lot harder. The Small Lake Pact culture was maybe something he wanted to work on to reform rather than eradicate. For the purpose of raising some elite individuals, having a corner of his Federation where people could steadilypete over ownership of inds wasnt too bad. It would also give all of the battle hungry types some outlet.
The parts he didnt like were the utter dishonour with which those people fought, the way the harems just changed their central figure willy-nilly with little emotional bonds and this concentration of self-indulgence once somebody had made it to the top.
Battle codes were probably something he could spread quite easily, especially since Aclysia had already forced out all individuals that were a bit too unruly. Who remained didnt care enough to risk their necks over changes or were the survivors of the old system, likely happy to see it reced with something less toxic. Making it so people didnt attach themselves to the winners was a bit harder. Self-indulgence was also something not quite as easily fixed.
Nevertheless, the Gamer had already decided he was staying in the area for at least a week, so he might as well try toy some foundations. If he wanted to be respected enough to get changes boxed through, he had to respect the parts of the local culture that werent downright stupid. Alright, were staying here, he finally announced.
I hope ya dont mean here, Rave pointed at the floor, here. Lemme tell ya that I am not gonna sleep in that bed.
Well, I mean this ind but no, were not putting up with any of this, John agreed and checked his clock. It was around 2PM now. Okay, we are starting a grand renovation effort, he said and led everyone outside.
How grand? Melthy asked, oblivious to the amount of sweeping changes John was about to make to this ind whose dirty state she had called home for however long.
Okay, see everything around you right now? John asked, gesturing at the many miniature homes, the green area where the only paths were those made by repeated walking, the cyclopean wall, the gate, the house they had just left and the mana factory in the distance. Once were done the only parts I still want around are that, he pointed at the mana factory, and that, he pointed at the medieval tower. Instead I want some proper houses, a garden with crops that arent marijuana, a new wall, a better harbour, walkways and, you know, a bunch of things that you would actually expect at a ce of the 21st century.
Thats going to take a while, Melthy suggested, causing the trio of John, Aclysia and Rave to smile, leaving the Small Lake redhead confused. What?
Were going to get it done in three maybe four days, the Gamer dered and put his arms around two girls that shifted out of their incorporeal state. Isnt that right?
Undine simply nodded, while there was a quiet, Uwuwuwuwu from the soil elemental that had just appeared only to immediately have her butt fondled by her summoner. I-i-Ill see what I can do! Gnome promised after a few moments.
The gold-digger in the maid outfit still looked unconvinced, but John would show her the error of her ways in due time. Do gather everyone for me, Melthy. Before we start with anything, we need to discuss what buildings we want where. Plus you should get whatever things you have out of the current buildings before we knock them down.
Chapter 587 – Small Lake Reforms 1 – A less Savage Island
Chapter 587 C Small Lake Reforms 1 C A less Savage Ind
John sat at the helm of a gathering of thirty-four people. In Abyssal terms and given the size of the ind, that was a pretty sizable poption. It was no Rome, but that would have been likeparing a vige in a somewhat wealthy area to Tokyo.
Putting himself, Aclysia, and the six elementals out of the equation, there were still twenty-six more. Eleven of those were the harem of women who attached themselves to whoever was the leader of the Small Lake Pact. Another six were men who had followed the same logic in reverse, staying on the ind after Aclysia had defeated their leadingdy, who had subsequently fled the area. The remaining nine were people saved from mana factories, primarily the one on this ind. They came from vastly different backgrounds, being ves bought from the Abyss Auction, kidnapped low-level individuals or people that had lost their position in the Small Lake Pact and had been put in a mana factory to remove them as a future threat.
It was a bit odd to see that the males were allowed to wear whatever while all the women had to wear maid uniforms. Aclysia was less bothered by gender equality than she wanted her master to have things to look at. Eventually, he would have to fix that. Not that the girls seemed too bothered by this.
Everyone was sitting around a solid stone table created by Gnome on stools that were basically small pirs of granite with a pillow on top. It was the quickest, mostfortable solution they had. The Abyss Auction had flown those things pretty quickly, after the Gamer had paid for the special delivery subscription to this location. Pillows wouldnt be thest thing he would buy today, not by a longshot.
As for the people sitting around the table, they were eyeing each other up. Mostly outside of their own clique, if they even had one, but even amongst them there were power dynamics that John did not know about. Not the most stable group to work with, but there was one thing John could give them that would much ease tensions: prosperity.
Alright, John stood up and fixed his sses in position. Gnome, would you be so kind as to give us a visual of the ind.
Sure, John! the soil elemental responded a bit too quickly. She put a hand on the table and closed her eyes. Connecting with the ground beneath her feet, she felt out the borders of thendmass. Soon an urate representation of the inds outline appeared on the surface of the table. Itcked any height differences, which maybe would have been a problem forrger projects at other locations, but for the fairly t ind, that wasnt a problem.
Alright can you mark an area along the shore for the new wall please? His wish was followed, the entire rim of the map rising a small bit off the table. Hm he thoughtfully hummed and stretched to tap on a protrusion on the east side of the elongated ind. Curve the wall off the shore and a bit ind here. Connect it back he travelled in a bit south, here.
Uhm, why? Gnome asked.
Because I want to have a beach, John responded quite simply.
Smander looked at her ck fingernails as if they would ever need a shortening. Wouldnt it be absolutely retarded to have a beach if the goal is to defend this ind with that wall?
Having an Illusion Barrier on an ind warped the normal rules of Abyssal siege situations quite a bit. Normally, the most effective ce to defend against invaders was to leave the job to Fateweavers. They would fortify the Protected Space in a way that would make it harder for unwanted people to enter, limiting them to small numbers if anyone could enter at all.
This was counteracted by the people on the outside, generally Fateweavers themselves, to elerate the process, creating a barrier on top of the one they wanted to enter. It took steady precautions to keep barriers in the same ce from melding. Eventually, the Fateweavers on the inside no longer had the power to prevent it from happening, the barriers melded and the topyered barrier essentially acted as a ne that dropped a bunch of parachuted troops inside.
Although all of that could still happen on the water, it was a bit moreplicated. Particrly if the barrier had defined entrance points in the water itself. Rather than resist such a melding process, it was perhaps smarter to just let the enemy in. As long as the own Fateweavers were in control, the enemy couldnt just spawn in on the ind, even if that was where they had entered from in the real world.
They would need very good swimmers in that situation, or ships with mobile barriers, often severely limiting the numbers of assants. Basically, it reversed the rules of engagement from some magical shenanigans back to traditional siege battles. As long as the people within the barrier wanted it or the enemy didnt have some particrly powerful Fateweavers.
A bit, John admitted, with all of that in mind, but if we fortify it enough, the only viablending spot might as well be a death trap. The beach is going to be a depression inward, leaving a lot of wall to stand on and throw spells down at the enemy from. Combine that with a pretty heavy gate and we should be dandy.
Well, if you say so, Smander shrugged.
Anyway, so were going to rece that tragedy of a house over there, John tapped on the northern end of the ind where the hive of filth was located, marked with an icon a few momentster. Thank you, Gnome.
I d-do my best! she stammered, trying a cute little salute that immediately caused her to blush when she realized she was only looking foolish. John patted her on the head as he continued.
The mana factory is about here he tapped on another part of the map, as wide as he could stretch, and another icon appeared there. Alright, so thats the basics covered oh, right, harbour. Gnome could you put an icon where the current pier is?
Yes, Gnome answered in an almost dreamy tone, Johns hand still caressing her brown hair. Another symbol and John had everything that was currently around, he wanted to maintain and the changes he wanted for his own luxury.
Now, what do you all want on this ind? John asked the current inhabitants, who seemed rather confused towards getting a choice on the matter. Dont be like that, I am treating this basically like a vacation residence. You all will actually live here, so you should tell me what kind of life you want.
That was met with a whole lot of silence. The incredibly awkward kind, as if he had just asked for people to introduce themselves in a ssroom and waited for volunteers. No wonder, these people were not exactly prone to making their own decision. Looking to the strongest to decide everything top down was the norm around here.
Okay, then, the Gamer decided that he wanted to get this done today, so he had to be the benevolent dictator. If you have any suggestions at any time, or questions, just tell me. For a start, all of you should have your own houses.
We already do, one of the old harem pointed at one of the shacks.
Okay, first, those arent enough for everyone, John could not hide his disdain for those metal sheet roofed catastrophes. Second, I am not going to let my subjects stay in homes that barely have a toilet. You are getting actual houses where a bathtub fits in its own room. The people werent going toin about that, even if they looked doubtful. Next, youre getting farms and greenhouses.
Why? this time it was Melthy who wondered about this.
Cause, Sylph began pvering, having only muttered to Undine this entire time, fields are cool! You can, like, nt flowers and stuff and flowers smell good! Good smelling flowers improve work morale, you see, so it makes me a genius to tell you to nt flowers. Also apples are tasty, so do make some apple bushes!
Sylph, you absolute fucknugget, Smander shouted at her across the table. Apples grow on TREES!
Nah, theyre like potatoes!
POTATOES GROW UNDERGROUND!
Nah, theyre like melons! You know melons right? If not, look down, you have two right on your chest! Two huge, fire d melons! I just want to Yes, I will do that! Sylph suddenly turned small, transformed into a lightning bolt, darted across the table, changed out of electricity shape and dived into Smanders cleavage. Her aim was a bit off. Rather than plop right between the boobs, she bounced off the left tit and was catapulted away. Wheeeee! she happily eximed.
Smander groaned in exasperation.
You know, Johnmented while watching Sylph just fly off towards some cloud she seemingly found interesting. I find it admirable that youre still trying.
I just hope I learn to stop one day, Smander grumbled and then flew off after the younger member of the elemental crew. She wasnt exactly needed in this meeting anyway and, left alone, Sylph was enough of an airhead to fly full speed into the edge of the barrier. There was some limit to this sky.
Stirwin jumped off the edge of the table, as if he could also fly. Barely catching him, Rave reprimanded the small guy with a boop to the snout and then scratched him between the eyes. A momentter a, totally not jealous, Copernicus appeared in herp and demanded cuddles himself.
To quickly answer the question: a farm is pretty vital so that you have food in case of a siege. Sorry, distractions happen a lot around m- There was a sudden thunderbolt that stretched across the clear sky when a bored Sylph just threw around her power. Enough power to immediately take out at least five of the gathered people. Which everyone realized and looked adequately intimidated.
If it had been John himself who had done that, they maybe would have been impressed. That it was one of his six elementals and he just stood there like it was an everyday urrence seemingly gave them the reminder that the young guy in a suit was the Gamer and not some random renovator.
Well, thats just fantastic, thought John, sure that everyone would now be keeping their mouths even more shut. He was surprised when he was instead met with someone raising their hand respectfully. Yes?
Youre really strong, arent you, hairless man?
Putting the odd choice of nickname aside, something he learned via a quick memory share was based on something Aclysia had said to the former leader and a lot of people had heard, John answered, I would say so, yes.
And you would treat all of us well just because?
Because I can, yes, John waved off. I dont think strength is its own value. Strength is a tool to further goals in life. There are some people whose goals I dont acknowledge as legitimate, but thats a whole different issue. My personal goal is to make sure I leave a better world behind than I have entered.
The people on the table nodded along until he arrived at thatst point. But why? Melthy asked for everyone who didnt already know John.
After a moment of thought, the Gamer decided to just be honest about it. With a broad smile and an open-armed shrug he said, Sounds like the history books will write about me more fondly this way.
His smile seemed to be infectious, the members of the Small Lake Pact could understand such want to eternalize themselves. It wasnt their usual brand of expediency, but it absolutely was in line with their selfish values. Alright, Master, Melthy used that term only slightly teasingly, how about we get an arena, if you want your future fights to be so much more honourable?
See, thats a suggestion I can get behind, John encouraged, and soon more began to roll in. Design of the arena to keep things fair for different fighting styles, particrly the trap based one of the region, training areas, what kind of foods should be grown on the farms, cement of the houses, a secondary tower at the south end, a designated forest area, and a whole lot of details for the garden. John only had to reserve a spot for a future teleporter. If this ind was going to be some sort of centre for another member guild of Fusion, he best have a spot for easy ess. He ced it very close to his nned mansion around here.
Soon the map reachedpletion, with a few empty spots here and there to expand into should their current space not be enough, then they got to work. They had two and a half more days to get that thing done, and now trusting that Johns intentions were genuine, everyone was motivated to lend their help. Sure, only because their own house waited for them at the end of the day, but that was good enough for John.
First, they knocked down everything, aside from the tower and the mana factory, and threw all the trash that was created in the process on arge pile. Then they ordered a massive amount of building materials on the Abyss Auction. The joke here was that John ordered all of it from himself, buying the materials that were put there by the harvests and mining operations in his own Guild Hall.
That made the Abyss Auction one very costly delivery operation.
Even the premium membership had its limit though, especially when asking for ratherrge quantities of heavy materials. Luckily for everyone around, even those materials were only supplements.
With Gnome around, they could create all foundations and walls out of raw stone. What they needed were things like nks, paint and instion material. Also, John had to make a call back home so Magnus sent over a couple of Fateweavers to help with the expansion of the sewage and electricity system.
By the end of the first day, they had nopleted houses, but a bunch of semi-erected buildings. Much more got done on the second day, an actual full day, with John using the Combination of Gnome and Undine, an elemental called Nadine, to control the nts. Farms sprung out of the seeds he scattered across the ground, years of caring for growing trees and bushes immediately done with. One mana intensive task followed another as he next put walkways into effect everywhere.
As requested, a southern tower was erected from stone. Hours after that was done, John went north tobine Nadine again and grow his own garden. In the meantime, everyone was outfitting his mansion. Under the guidance of Aclysia, who had won a lot of experience in the ways of construction work in her time waiting on thekes main ind, people put together a pretty charming house over the course of a single day.
Sure, some tiles were crooked, some doors didnt close as well as they were supposed to, the carpet didnt always fit perfectly and they had to use differentmps for some rooms because they ran out of the one series seventy percent through the effort, but it all worked atrge. They all slept in that mansion that day, although in different rooms.
The third day was hastier. They had gotten behind schedule. While the building efforts for all the houses was progressing very swiftly, thanks mostly to Gnome and second to Undine, John had vastly underestimated the time it took to outfit all of them. From the bed to the washing machine, he wanted everyone to have the basic luxuries of the western world. While not particrly costly, they could only start with this in the southern houses once the Fateweavers arrived, as they had to install new parts of the electricity grid.
On Johns request, all of the resources on the ind, power and water most of all, should also be hooked up to the mana factory. That building had to be changed in some ways as well. Decorated so it looked less menacing and with all of the frankly torturous mana chargers redesigned without damaging the core mechanics.
The requested arena was built, the harbour much extended. Once the whole ship-building thing at home got into swing, John would have a few boats sent up here. Conveniently, there was a channel that connected thiske all the way to the Hudson River. Not big enough for a mega yacht, by his estimation, but a moderately sized vessel should make its way up there easily.
Although they made quite a lot of progress, with a bunch of housespleted, John was forced to admit that they would indeed need the fourth day. It wasnt a major thing by any description, it just slightly dyed him in his ns.
Day four therefore saw all of the detail work getting done. Walls were painted, furniture moved in and assembled. Splitting themselves in teams of six, they got all of it done in a timeframe that would have made the Amish envious. Superhuman strength sure helped a lot when moving a dishwasher up some stairs.
Towards the evening of that day, they put thest screw in thest ceiling to get thest blinds to sit neatly behind thest window. Although John had just wanted to pump up the infrastructure, it had also been a remarkable team building exercise, not in small part thanks to everyone sharing meals prepared by Aclysia, and the Gamer felt like he had learned a bunch about construction work. That was an experience that could onlye in handy in the future. He also made some major improvements in the contact lens department, as he did as much work as he could while training.
Then they had to actually invest a fifth day to fix all of the faulty stuff they had built. Turned out not having an actual experienced construction crew led to a bunch of small mistakes. Nothing was fundamentally wrong, Gnome knew what she did, free time artist that she was, but there were a bunch of kinks that needed ironing out.
Annoying about that wasnt that the work itself was difficult. No, John just had to double check everything because his paranoia was triggered after a couple initial incidents. Doing that took way more time than enacting the, often quite easy, fixes.
Then, however, they had finally done it.
Time for the next step, the Gamer nodded satisfied.
Chapter 588 – Small Lake Reforms 2 – Rude ways to say no
Chapter 588 C Small Lake Reforms 2 C Rude ways to say no
John, sitting inside the luxurious living room of his new residence, pulled a certain coin out of his inventory and began flicking it. It turned in the air with the satisfying song of metal. He caught it on the back of his hand, threw it back into the air with a quick motion, had itnd on the tucked thumb of the left and flicked it back up. The coin took a temporary resting ce on Johns extended index finger.
Someone walked up the stairs. He was listening very intently to the rhythm of the footsteps, to the sound of shoes. A steady stato, high heels, in quick step, but not hurried enough to run. Someone barged into his room, and John just smiled in the direction of the door. Melthy, did youe to get me?
Kind of? Look at this! the redhead said and shoved something in Johns face that sounded like paper.
John just let his eyelids sink halfway closed, expressing a mixture of amusement and exasperation. I know its easy to forget, the Gamers voice was dripping with sarcasm, but I am blind. He pointed in the direction of his milky eyes. So showing that to me wont do any good.
Oh, sorry, didnt notice you werent wearing your contacts, Melthy cleared her throat. So, do you want me to read it to you or something?
John turned the coin in his hand one more time. He felt the little trench where Elizas thumb had scratched over it with her unreasonably stable blood-fingernails. This was the coin she had tossed before the Sigmund confrontation. One of the currently very small collection of sentimental items the Gamer had collected on his journey.
No, just give me a second, he told her and threw the coin back into his inventory. In the same gesture, he pulled out the recement sphere. While he held the thing in his hand and attempted to do the manual Possession thing again, he suddenly found it to be tremendously easy. He had gotten better at it, but the real reasony with something else.
As always, impable timing, John grumbled as he flew over the words. It was rather odd to read what popped up in the blind darkness. It wasnt like he had eyes to focus on a single word with. Yet, he could. Magic was pretty odd. Give me another few seconds, I need to analyse something.
Okay? Melthy was understandably confused, but John didnt feel like she needed to be in the know about the details of his abilities. She was a subject that currently appeared loyal, but John didnt really trust her further than he could throw her. Almost literally, given that their rtionship was entirely based on their power dynamic.
So, what do we have here John went down the list. Alright, so the Possession upgrade is good, now that works intuitively again, surely makes my job easier. Potential upgrades for BOTH Shardbound and Mana de? John let out a quiet whistle. Thats going to be potent when I get there, I hope. Elementals in Item Form not costing mana anymore is interesting sounds like setup for future mechanics. He read a slight bit ahead and basically found that confirmed. Jesus, DOUBLING the mana cost? I mean, with Elementalist 8 thats right back down to 2,5 times 0,6 exactly 1,5% of my mana regeneration for each incorporeal and 3% for each corporeal elemental, for a maximum of 18% if all are active physically. Well, my premitted mana regeneration just rose from 19% to 28%. Possession not even taken into ount.
He had somewhat hoped that, with Sigmunds obvious ease at keeping five elementals summoned, maybe it wasnt THAT unlikely to keep all of them active without Gaias help. However, Sigmund had barely anything else going on and John had a number of different things going on. It was probably still possible, just a bit harder than he had originally anticipated.
A new ss, ey? John thought and opened the window to have a look at that.
Oh, so the blind monk archetype stuff, John thought, pretty happy with this. He would dump at least a few ss Levels into this, likely soon. Well, he would stop at one if it turned out that the Sticking Bonus was the Agility increase. Raw Stats were useful, but he would have much rather have something that made him less reliant on Possession.
Undine currently served as his crutch in situations in which his recement sight wasnt quite what he needed. While he could be sure that the water spirit would be by his side most of the time, there could always be a situation where she, as the healer, needed to be somewhere else. That was the most harmless scenario of them being separated. Best to be a mediocre fighter on his own, rather than a useless one.
Halfway to being Gaia independent, I suppose thats a good thing, John thought and rolled his neck. Then he reached into his inventory again and pulled out his shades, putting them on his nose. Alright, give me that paper, he made a quick hand gesture and was handed the thing he was supposed to read.
It was a long series of insults: about him, which left him amused for the most part; Fusion, which annoyed him at several points; and his girls, which had him grumble in mild rage. Overall, however, it wasnt anything out of the ordinary. He had gotten numerous responses like this over the day.
Responses to a nicely worded invitation to visit his ind that he had sent out once they had gotten done with the houses yesterday. They had gone to everyone in the Small Lake Pact, telling them with very nice words that John would hold a festival from Saturday to Tuesday. The problem was evidently in the niceness, as he got a bunch of messages like this today.
Any reason you show this to me and not my personalint manager? John asked, referring to Aclysia. Most of the insulting responses he had ignored, since many of them simply mocked him but then agreed toe with sentences along the lines of You write like a pussy, but I will eat your free food!
The Gamer really didnt care enough to honour that with a response. At the festival, he could prove all of them wrong. However, those who denied his invitation, even if they were somewhat courteous about it, he sent Aclysia to in order to punch an agreement out of them. Not the nicest method, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Or dangit, I cant think of a fitting downgrade, John thought, interrupting Melthys attempt to answer. Do you know of any barbaric tribes around the Roman age? I would say the Germans, but they werent united, and I feel like that would be unnecessarily offensive the redhead obviously wasnt versed enough in history to give him an answer, so John just sighed. Well, lets just say, when in Gallia, do as the Galls do, those arent around to be offended anymore.
Uhm sure, whatever, master-guy, Melthy wasnt as used to his antics yet, so her confusion was excusable. Well, Aclysia is currently out and this isnt any guy, this is the former number two.
Well, with me around he is knocked down to number eight or something, John crumpled the paper together and held his left hand up. With the flick of a mental switch, he equipped all of hisbat equipment. Purgatory activated a momentter, the armguard transforming into the dragon-w. Obsidian scales covered Johns arm from elbow to fingertips, most of it hidden underneath his suit.
As always, a sh of fire apanied the shift. While harmless to John, it slightly damaged the only minorly enchanted suit. More importantly, it jumped over to the piece of paper and caused it to catch fire. John watched it burn with minor fascination, fire always looked interesting in so many ways. The paper quickly crumbled, turned yellow, then ck.
I didnt expect the former number two to still be around, honestly someone of that high-profile sounds like he would join the resistance against me ah, well, John squashed the remains of the letter in his hand, causing a small explosion of ash and figments from the gaps in his fist. As he rose up, he let the cooling remains fall to the ground.
Aclysia wouldnt be happy about this treatment of the floorboards, but John felt like the effect justified the minor anger from his weaponized maid. At least Melthy looked somewhat impressed by this nonchnt disy of elemental power.
Tell me about the guy, anything interesting? John asked as they stepped out of the living room and wandered through the mansion. It was a bit barren, with all the empty walls, barely any decorations and only the high-quality furniture standing around rooms that still had a bit of the smell of drying paint clinging to them. Luxurious, sure, but aside from the few mistakes they had made during building, itcked any character.
Sand mage, big dick, somewhat cunning, thats about it, Melthy responded.
Not some sort of hidden puppet master that controlled the Small Lake Pact from the second ce because he was tired of attracting so many challengers? John asked and earned himself a raised eyebrow. Its probably what I would do after a while at the top. Get some other strong guy on my boat, prop him up, lose to him in a convincing fashion,y back and watch everyone else squabble while I stay and y video games in peace.
Well, if he was, why the fuck would I know?
I assume that youre in the know of some stuff if you know he has a big dick, John pointed out.
Why do you say that like you dont believe it? Melthy wondered.
Because I dont believe that you would call it big after seeing mine, Johns tone was openly flirting, which evidently surprised the redhead. That the Gamer was a womanizer was public knowledge, but he hadnt made any advances on anyone in the past four days.
The Gamer saw Melthys opportunistic mind spring into action. A ce in his bed was surely a ce from which she could do a lot of things. As a power-digger, she had no qualms about responding, We can check that out right now, Master, in a very seductive fashion. Evidently, she had not watched the porn stream, otherwise she would already know.
John, although he would dly throw her on the nearest couch and take her with the maid uniform still on, shook his head. No, I wont do that, he answered. Not yet anyway, he silently added. He had every intention to eventually fuck her and a whole lot of the other maid-looking hotties wandering around his newest property. Before that, he wanted to get a few things done that would make it less like he was continuing the entirely power based harem culture around here, however. So, no puppet master?
No, Melthy answered, slinking back into her usual, way too casual speaking pattern. Just a fucker who knew his ce C most of the time. Wasnt like he didnt try to advance now and again. He just wasnt an idiot enough to get thrown into the mana factory.
John hummed as they left the building. The sweet smell of flowers hung in the air as the sun shone down on them. It was a moderately hot day. Not enough to make John break into a sweat immediately, but of the variety where he didnt want to be outside for too long. Not smart enough to get where the wind is blowing from which reminds me that we should get some sort of artificial wind engine built BEES!
The shout of thatst word caused Rave to turn her head. Johns girlfriend was lying in a deckchair, wearing nothing as she sunbathed. Her recent eptance of sexual tendencies had the nice effect that she could do this without the slightest bit of shame or self-enforced bad consciousness. Although she didnt get turned on by doing this little exposing.
John didnt even try hiding that he, on the contrary, had a very pronounced erection upon seeing her naked form. It helped that she was still glistening from when he had oiled her up earlier in the day. We need bees, Jane, otherwise this entire garden is going to need renting with fresh seeds all the time.
I would rather have that than be annoyed by those things while I try to tan, his girlfriend responded. If ya get any, better be smart bees. There has to be some biomancer out there who sells that kinda stuff.
Maybe we canmission something? John suggested. Anyway, I thought you cant tan?
Nah, I can decide not to tan, Rave reminded him, turning on her chest, just to show her ass off to her butt-lover of a boyfriend. With waving legs and a huge smile, she grinned, I dont like having tan lines, but that aint no problem no more, so well see if ya prefer me caramel coloured soon.
Will undoubtedly look sexy if I have you and Metra at the same time. John followed a path of t stones that had been artistically arranged to cut semi-naturally through the circr arrangement of flowers. The many different colours of the petals encapsted the green area in the middle like sprinkles on a donut.
He carefully dodged around Copernicus, who had rolled together in the grass, and then sat down on the edge of the deckchair. Hands wandering to her shoulders, Purgatory wandering back into the inventory with the rest of hisbat equipment, he immediately began to massage her. She didnt need the extra rxation, but he provided it anyway. His nonbat set was a in shirt and sport pants.
Thought ya wanted to y some Wii Fit, Rave joked, even as she sighed thankfully, letting Johns hands do their magic.
Dont mock it, its actually great for my rehab! John proimed while running down from her shoulders to working along her spine. Anyway, was taking a break when Melthy gave me some news.
Yes, hello, the redhead was still around, just because she hadnt gotten different orders and was thus as confused as any worker when their boss was just walking around not exining anything. The jealousy in Melthys eyes, both at Raves objectively hotter body and the attention she was getting in the form of a clearly divine massage, was something John noted with satisfaction. After all, she was currently marvelling at his girl and his skills.
Guess the news is why yae here? Rave asked and, when John was about to touch her butt, turned on her back again, cheekily stretching out her tongue. Ya dont get what ya want yet, tiger.
I always get something that I want, John returned and moved on to fondle her breasts. Raves nipples were already erect, so his caressing touch goaded a lustful sigh from her lips. Albeit her chest was on the smaller side, John still had enough to work with in terms of wonderful softness. He could feel her heartbeat elerate as her gaze became more and more depraved. Anyway, it was a pretty rude denial toe to my party. Aclysia is currently gone, so could you do me the favour and convince them otherwise?
By punching them very hard?
By punching him as hard as necessary, yeah.
Ja, I could do that, Rave answered, but first ya gonna give me three things.
Whatever you want, Jane, he answered in a loving tone, bowing down to give her a long kiss on her lips. It was spontaneous, but in this heat, in the middle of this patch of the flower garden, with her so close, with his hands on her body, he couldnt resist to feel even more of her.
It went from one long kiss, to a series, with their lips momentarily parting with longing sighs every now and again. What started as a simple contact of their mouths soon became a wild wrestling of their tongues. Rave still remained lying, as John fondled her breasts and travelled over her curves, but more than a few of her muscles were tense now.
Ya gonna give me two more things, Rave whispered when she finally ended their kiss by gently pushing him back, the yful smile still broad on her now wet lips. One: ya gonna exin to me why you are even holding this giant festival. B: ya gonna make me cum, cause I wont be able to concentrate on anything now that ya made me this horny.
Fine with you if I do both at the same time? John asked, straightening back up, reaching between her legs with one hand. His girlfriend just nodded, then moaned loudly when middle and ring finger of Johns right hand curved into her cunt. Trimmed pink hair tingled Johns palm as he masturbated her wet pussy with steady movements, brushing past her clit every time.
Alright, ya can go ahead, Im -mhhhm- listening, Rave said as she writhed enticingly.
Well, its a pretty easy exnation, John stated while ignoring the demanding pulsation in his pants to take this further. I n to show everyone around the kind of wealth I can bring to this area. Its less for the leaders of the inds than all the people they stomp on. Pretty sure everyone would like sleeping somewhere that isnt a badly run drug-den. That aside, you know the saying the people need bread and circus?
Yeee-aaa-ah? Rave answered, her chest rising and falling in heavy, unsteady intervals.
I will provide both and, if everything goes correctly, theyll be quite happy with me as their new leader. Happy enough for the integration into Fusion to go smoothly even without me staying here, anyway, John exined, sinking a bit deeper into his girlfriend, finding a known weak spot, and then upping his tempo.
The reaction was immediate: Raves lower body shot off the chair, a single squirt of pussy juice drenched Johns hand, part of the chair and a bit of thewn, and his girlfriend let out a long, lustful squeal. A pretty tame orgasm, at least as far as encounters with the Gamer were considered, and she slouched back into her position pretty quickly.
Okay, that scratched the itch enough, Rave smirked, recovering in just a few controlled breaths, before swinging her legs over. Although she had left her clothes lying in the grass around, the only article she grabbed were her sneakers. She put them on by just slipping inside and then stood up.
Naked for just a few more seconds, her shoes turned into some quickly expanding, neoprene-like material, that crawled over her body, only stopping at her throat. It d all of her in a protective, pinkyer, a few ck lines separating the entire thing into segments. How do I look, tiger? Rave asked as she did a few stretches of her arms. The bodysuit went along without any sounds, designed for fighting and for Rave herself specifically. Sturdy ck gloves protected her hands and, although sleek and of the general pink, her feet and soles were also reinforced areas.
Sexy and dangerous, John said with a grin, pping her ass. Skin-tight as the body-suit was, it looked wonderfully enticing. Sadly, it didnt jiggle as well under the material and the lustre from the oil was lost. John would have to reapply thatter.
Ding, ding, Rave did a poor, if enthusiastic, impression of a bell. Correct answer, John Newman wins one blowjob once I get back. Winking teasingly, she added, Under the condition ya wait right here, naked.
You know I could ask any of the elementals to help me out in the meantime, right? John told her as heid down, licking her pussyjuice from his fingers. It tasted sweet and had a note of peppermint.
Sure, but just imagine how good its gonna feel if ya just edge the entire time, his girlfriends sadistic side showed with a slightly sinister smile. So, if ya have fun with them, how about ya put on a challenge for yourself, mhm, tiger?
Now she was just ying on his proud side to get what she wanted. However, just like she had her submissive days, John was willing to y along with her wants every now and again. Okay, I wont cum until you give me that blowjob, he therefore promised. She gave him onest, pleased wink, before turning. As always, he hated to see her leave but loved to watch her go.
As John gotfortable in what was now his sunbathing location, Melthy felt it adequate to ask. Why arent you going yourself?
That John had never gotten that window before maybe should have told him that he needed to spend more time outside. He took the Full Body Tan option and then watched as a bar on the bottom slowly filled up. A tiny bit faster when he took off the sunsses.
Me? Fight properly? Dear Melthy, I am a cripple, I cant do these things, John responded a bit too cheekily, grinning as he thought about the schemes he had in store for the next four days. A bunch of them were made without reason, for cases so unlikely that he had made the contingencies more for fun than for likelihood. Even the most likely chain of events would leave him somewhat entertained though. For now, in keeping with the promise he had just made, he had to strip.
Im pretty fucking sure your acting ass can wow Melthys response was cut short when she was exposed to the Gamers rippling abs. Oh C my C goddess, was the logical follow-up the moment John lost his pants and his whole might was on disy.
He considered for a few moments who was going to lend him a hand until Rave returned. It probably would have been easier to justy there than to edge until she got back. Especially since he normally hated edging. However, since it wasnt a thing done to him, but instead something he decided to prove he could do, his mindset about this particr instance was a bit different.
He quickly eliminated all choices but Sylph and Smander, then decided. By picking both. Sylph darted over from some other corner of the ind, where she had yed around, and Smander was quickly on her tail. When both of them, with the usual semi-hostile bickering between them, began sucking their summoner off, Melthy had no way to actually voice her concerns anymore.
Would you be so nice and bring me a pitcher of cold water? John asked as he leaned back, letting the sun caress his body as the elementals took turns deepthroating him. Dont want to risk getting dehydrated.
Hamena hamena I mean, yes, sir, Master whatever! Melthy responded and walked away with presumably wet panties.
Chapter 589 – Small Lake Reforms 3 – Infuriation
Chapter 589 C Small Lake Reforms 3 C Infuriation
It wasnt worth it, John suddenly blurted out, causing Rave to look at him like he was taking crazy pills. The edging, it really wasnt worth it, he exined further, yawning a momentter. He had stayed up way toote yesterday, having sex and ying Stardew Valley, sometimes at the same time.
Youre an odd one, tiger, Rave said and poked his right cheek with repeated stabs of her index finger. She hit a number of different spots and would have shook Johns vision if he had currently been watching with sses rather than contact lenses. Contact lens, to be more urate, as he had one eye closed right now. Why ya figure that out a dayter? Also, ya really seemed like ya thought different in the moment. Went all cross-eyed and all that.
Oh, the orgasm was FANTASTIC, the Gamer agreed within a heartbeat. Competes with the ones I have when really getting into the whole punishment routine. The hour I had to lie there, however, was the absolute worst.
Well, I thought I would be done in like twenty minutes tops, Rave stated, somewhat apologetically. Crossing her arms, she stood straight again, the wood echoing hollowly as she shifted her weight, changing the position of her feet slightly. But ya seriously came so hard, ya couldnt move. That was awesome!
For you, yes, John responded. I like doing that to people, not having it done to me.
Aclysia caressed Johns left shoulder. If Master so desires, you can do whatever you want with me, she whispered, the head maid inching just a little bit closer than was publicly appropriate. John just grabbed her by the hips and pulled her close, hand resting on her juicy ass.
Ille back to thatter, he promised, able to feel her warmth easily through the short-sleeved white shirt he was wearing. It was simply too hot to go about business in aplete suit. He had even exchanged his shoes for sandals. Even in the name offortableness, he could not exchange the pants for shorts, though.
Fashion or appropriate clothing were things Rave didnt care about. Neither did she have to, being the kind of sexy that could have worn a potato sack and still looked good, somehow. Today, Johns girlfriend was rocking a tight, skimpy top of a sky-blue colour, revealing a good bit of her midriff and her shoulders, together with hot pants of the yoga variety.
That she owned these clothes was just another sign for her suppressed exhibitionism that John could have caught up onto much earlier. Well, not just owned them, she had previously worn them as well. Rave was still covering twice as much skin as Metra, not a particrly disprovingparison, but she was still showing off almost everything of importance.
And John really liked that.
Not only did it give him something to look at, in addition to Aclysia and the lesser maids, it also meant everyone they weed would look at his girl and see exactly what he got to tap every day and they didnt. yed right into his power fantasies. To emphasize, and because his right side felt lonely, he pulled Rave close to himself in the same fashion as Aclysia.
To put a closing statement on the edging, John said, I have just as intense orgasms choking people and getting them into that ahegeo stage.
Ahegao, Rave corrected him. Its so awesome to see or be in that state, John, no idea why yaining about that right now. Getting fucked to the state ya feel like your brain is frying is just sooo gooood.
Which just shows that you are much more of a switch than me, John stated. Because I much prefer doing the fucking than getting into that stage. Ill remain here on domination ind, thank you.
Oy! As your girlfriend, I have the right to do the dom-ing every now and again! Raveined, pushing her lower lip out in a pout that was just mean with its effectiveness. Ya saying I cant ever edge ya again under any circumstances?
No, you can, he sighed deeply, caving on the subject. Its not like I think it doesnt feel good just not my preferred way to climax. As long as you dont make me wait an hour again, Ill y along with your sadistic episodes.
Got it, only 59 minutes next time, Rave joked, then yelped when John pinched her ass to punish her. Harder, she gasped lustfully, leaning up to John and kissing him on the cheek. Give it a nice p, if ya feel that hurt about yesterday.
I dont need a reason to spank you, you enjoy that way too much anyway, John pointed out with a grin, winking with his one open eye.
As ya said, I am way more of a switch than ya, Rave grinned and winked back. Just good that youre willing to be dominated every now and again. Its just more fun with you than the girls, ya know?
Oh, I feel that, John said. Nothing against dominating the wilful but
but its just so much more ecstatic if its a rare thing, Rave finished his sentence for him. Kinda like having really awesome sweets every day but there is this one treat ya only get once a month.
Yeah, something like that, John agreed. He would have loved to continue the conversation about their sexual preferences, it was one he didnt get tired of no matter how often they had it, but the sound of a suddenly appearing motorboat cut him off. Nevertheless, Rave needed to get onest word in.
Also, I love ya and your stupidly big dick, she whispered into his ear, yfully snapping her teeth and leaving John grinning like an idiot. Every decision he had ever made that had led to size increases was once more validated.
The boat pulled on to the pier and soon found an empty spot at one of the many sidearms. There were only two people inside, a guy with sandy blond hair and a raven-haired hottie. The power dynamic between them was pretty clear, with the woman sitting in the backseat despite the guy having an open one at the side.
Interestingly, as John noted, in the cases that a woman was the current owner of an ind, the guys she dragged around with her were usually much fewer in number but more equally treated. There was some lesson about sex differences there, but the Gamer didnt really want to look into it. You all remember the n?
The question was triggered upon seeing that this neer had a sizable bruise on his face. As everyone who Aclysia had threatened was marked with cutting wounds, this must have made this guy the dered second strongest of the Small Lake Pact. The deduction was made much easier by him being thest person on the guest list they were missing.
Do I remember your paranoid over nning? Yeah, his girlfriend agreed when the guy bound his boat to the pier.
As do I, Master, Aclysia assured, making an unwilling face. I dislike this n, but this opinion has already been voiced.
John kissed her. Dont you worry, nothing bad will happen.
Itll be humiliating.
That I can live with, given the likely pay-off, John grinned and, with onest squeeze of both butts, parted with their bodies. He took a few steps towards hisst guest. Hello there, Zensie, he announced, causing the sand mage to turn his head. By the time he had done so, John had opened his second eye.
He managed to take one step, two steps, then his field of view experienced a whole slew of problems. The half-working synchronicity of the Possessed lenses allowed him to stay on course, at least in the broadest possible sense.
Like a slowly escting drunk, he first swayed a little bit, getting worse with every step as he instinctively ovepensated, only to almost fall over the handrailing of the pier by the time he had arrived.
Although he could have saved himself by just holding onto that railing, he purposefully, and very inelegantly, half-hugged the new arrival. Terribly sorry about that, John said, patted his shoulder in a fatherly fashion. It helped that the Gamer was a fair bit taller than the guy. You just seemed like you would be useful this way.
And just like that, without them having even greeted, John had already aplished having his guts hated by the guy. Exactly what he wanted. Oh, no problem, Zensie responded, his voice dripping with poison. I am sure you can stand yourself now, your excellency! he attempted to p Johns arm off his shoulder.
The Gamer grabbed the shoulder with more strength, his arm didnt even budge at the feeble physical strength of the sand mage. Dont be like that, just because I am still bumbling around doesnt mean I cant absolutely wreck you, John threatened in a friendly tone. My blindness cripples my grace, not my power. Here, let me help you for your troubles. Undine, could you?
Rising from the nearby water of theke, Undine was a female upper body on a long tendril of water. The green tinted healing slime covered her right hand when she touched Zensie. A simple few seconds, during which the sand mage looked afraid but was unable to move, and the bruise on his cheek was gone. With no further words, Undine pulled the water pir back into thergerke and continued to rx within the expansive water.
With the festival, and all its noise, within the walls, the seclusive water spirit preferred to keep to herself out here.
There, all better, John stated and then turned around. Upon a mental signal, Aclysia came hastily to help him walk, as if he actually needed the help and couldnt fix it by just closing one eye.
He had put on ys like this for everyone, whenever they had arrived. In every other case, however, he hadnt done a bunch of things to create an absolutely horrible first impression. That he just wanted in this one case.
I am really sorry about all of this, the Gamer repeated, albeit a bit mockingly. Aclysia, could you give me my sses?
Certainly, Master, she confirmed, pulling the shades out of her inventory. The moment he put them on, Possession working seamlessly through his fingers, he suddenly walked like a normal person again.
Shouldnt have been so arrogant as to not put them on, but, you know, wasnt like I was expecting anyone important, the Gamer added insult to healing an injury.
Zensies expression was one of red, hot rage, his face as red as a tomato. The average looking guy was clearly grinding his jaws. That was when Rave swooped in. Ya ever been to this ind before? she asked, stepping up and taking the lead of the conversation.
I have been here a few times to fight the former owner, yes, the sand mage answered, ironically more willing to talk to the woman who had beat him up yesterday than to John now. His face went down to an almost normal skin colour as Rave pointed out the improvements they had made to this area alone.
Ya must remember the old harbour then, the pink-haired half-Asian stated. As ya can see, we upgraded a little bit. Room for more than two boats now.
Yeah, you also put up a new wall, the girl with Zensie noticed. Very impressive thing, I have to say.
John could only agree. Thepletely ck wall hadnt even been made just by Gnome. Rather, Gnome and Smander hadbined into Smlere to create a solid, smooth barrier of hardened volcanic stone. Of the extremely solid variety, with no air bubbles anywhere inside.
When his girlfriend and the guy started getting along okay, which was only natural with Raves Charisma and likeable attitude (as long as the person she was talking to didnt have the stern personality trait), he nonchntly put his arm around her. This was not part of the n, he didnt even do it for Zensie to get even more annoyed, he just wanted to act a bit possessive of her because that was one of those things love did to the mind.
Well, if ya think this much is impressive,e with us inside. Now that everyone is here, we can start with the whole festive stuff, Rave said. Zensie and his girl showed a moment of unwillingness. They probably thought that the wall was the most impressive thing they had renewed, with everything inside being the same old trash heap.
They were satisfyingly stunned when guided through the gate, however. Left of them, the expansive garden sprawled out. Bees had settled in just this morning. Bees that not only knew better than to bother humans, they also produced some pretty nice honey that they were willing to share with theirndlord.
Yes, John hadnt bought smart bees off some biomancer, he just found out that there was some bee-fairy people looking for a ce where the rent was cheap. While the drones were basically the same as normal bees, in appearance, the people inhabiting the hive were small mixtures of insectoids and humanoids. They had an actual court, with a queen, a king, a bunch of princes and princesses, diplomacy with hives in other barriers and so on.
There was a bit more to them, but that was something he would have ample opportunity to get intoter. Some butterflies also pped around, but those were actually just normal butterflies that had been delivered into the barrier by the Abyss Auction.
Beyond the garden, recing the trash and car tire littered grass area, was Johns mansion. Then, to the right, was the arena. The location they were also heading towards.
Although it was the facility John wanted the least to be necessary, it was also the one he was the proudest of. Surrounded by six obelisks, currently useless but to be engraved with security enchantments eventually, was a structure defined by three ring segments. The outermost was simply the viewing area, a bunch of benches circling around the actual fighting pit. After a sharp drop-off, they looked down into the, currently so-called, trick area. Itself segmented into six sub-areas, themed after the six elements, in exactly the same arrangement as Fusions emblem, the middle ring was supposed to give fighters the opportunity to take advantage of their unique magics. Alternatively, to allow at least some dirty tactics.
John wasnt one for just straight-forwards skull bashing, he actually preferred it if the wittier person won over the theoretically stronger one; as such, a battlefield that allowed for creativity was much preferred. All he wanted was to get rid of all the assassinations, first strikes and other dishonourable engagement tactics the people around here employed.
The innermost ring was the most boring, just a brown area of ttened dirt. A basic fighting pit for those that preferred their confrontations to be as direct as possible.
Sadly, the entire thing wasnt all that big. In total, it had room for maybe 250 viewers. 400 if they really cramped people on the seats and stairs. Right now, about a hundred people were gathered, clearly separating themselves into cliques. They could have easily filled the arena with the entire poption of the inds, something between 300 and 400, now that the mana factories were disbanded, but a lot of people had stayed at home, willingly or unwillingly.
John went down into the arena, not to fight anyone, just to be seen, and pulled a microphone from his inventory. Flipping the on switch, he tapped on it a few times to make sure it had connected to the speakers hanging around the ce. Alright, thank you all for heeding my invitation. Even those of you that needed some extra encouragement, he started jokingly. As you can see, with the help of everyone else who lives on this ind, I quickly had it developed from well a stinking ce of trash and dried cum stains to this, an ind of luxury. He made a wide sweeping motion around. Which youre wee to see more of as were going to do several tours over the course of the day to make sure you all have seen everything. Meals will be provided for free at the mansion at any hour, feel free to go there whenever, my servant Aclysia will have something prepared for every taste.
The weaponized maid used that moment to take a quick bow, although only a few people even noticed that gesture. Next to her, Rave giggled and friendly punched her on the shoulder, probably cracking some joke that John was too far away to hear. Sure, he could have moved the recement sphere over, but he was currently using that to observe the crowds reactions from the sky.
Thats the program for just today, however. I heavily encourage you to participate. Not only because this is what I will finance if youre under my rule but also for reasons I will get into tomorrow. Therell be a press conference, a bunch of reporters from the outside will be here, and I can just tell you: itll be a lot of fun.
He deactivated the microphone and began walking away. There was some chatting up above as the Gamer headed towards an open exit tunnel. Shortly before he arrived at it, when people were still paying some attention to him and he was in view, he took off his sses again. The result was predictable, although John took it a lot slower this time. He didnt fall, he just tumbled a lot, there were some giggles above, but he ignored them and reached a wall to support himself.
The Gamer grinned when he went out of view. Sure, this was the easy part of the set-up, but it was going well regardless.
Chapter 590 – Small Lake Reforms 4 – Running the circle
Chapter 590 C Small Lake Reforms 4 C Running the circle
John and Rave were just walking along with one of the groups getting shown around. The initial mass had been separated into batches of ten, which were each now being shown around by one of the maids. For this day, there wasnt anything else to do, so they decided to follow one of the tours, just to look at everything they had built inpletion once.
If that made the maid heading this particr tour, a girl with smooth, ck hair, pale skin, red lips, and of a short stature that bordered on stout but remained sexy, worry about their presence, she hid it with remarkable cool. Alright, follow me, she announced and they set out from the arena.
Need my arm? Rave asked, genuinely worried for a moment as John took a very slow step. Once again, he was making a bit of a fool of himself for trying the double contact lens approach. With a thankful nod, he took her offer. Luckily, the tour itself also didnt move particrly fast, so John could keep it measured.
Nevertheless, his crawling pace was noticed by everyone. Just as he wanted. They didnt pay too much attention though, as the guiding maid began telling everyone some trivia about their first destination. From the arena, they had walked north, into the gardens, following the outer path, with the wall to their left and the many individual patches that made up the actual gardens to their right.
Lets talk about the wall first. John Newman, who I dont need to introduce further, used some odd spell tobine two of his elementals to do it. He literally calls it Combination. Anyway, the wall was made by forming magma and then keeping it in shape as it was cooled to stone. A lot more durable than the old wall. Might look the part, but the wall wasnt made in one go. New segments were just seamlessly melted onto already existing one. Took like two days to go around the entire ind.
The Gamer didnt really like the nonchnt way she talked, but no one else seemed to mind. People here were just way more casual about everything. He bowed down to Rave, Have to say, I really like your tan, he whispered.
Although Rave had never been properly pale, she had always been on the lighter side. Now she had a bit of brown to her. Well, caramel, to be more urate with her ancestry. John himself had gotten more of a brown tone.
Ya tanned almost as fast as I did, Rave pointed out in a simrly quiet tone. Which is the usual bullshit. I am light mage, I can get as tan as I want. Your Gamer powers should give ya like a sun allergy, if anything, not get ya to catch up after like an hour of sunbathing.
If you include the time we spent fucking, it was more like two and a half hours, John pointed out. Also, you dont like me with a bit of chocte vour?
Doesnt really fit your nerd image, does it? Rave jokingly responded, then gave him a quick peck on the lips. Nah, its sexy. I need ya to get about two levels browner though.
Why that? John actually had no clue.
Cause then ya could grab a palm leaf, oil up, and fan me wind while I lie on a soft pedestal, his girlfriend returned giving him a lewd smile. Ya know, thatd be hot.
Oh, if were ying that game, the Gamer responded with a giggle, I want you to be as tan as you can get, then have a threesome with you and Metra.
Rave let out a little moan, imaging that. We could do both of these things at once guess were sunbathing againter. She bit her lower lips and looked her boyfriend up and down. Seriously, ya became sexy with time, like holy everything.
And you keep being sexy and in love with me, which is all I could ever ask for, John returned and this time leaned down to kiss her. It was almost a disaster, as he lost his bnce in the motion, one eye focusing on a tree while he stayed in control of the other. However, Rave caught him while answering the kiss.
In the background the maid continued the tour. The gardens have a pretty easy structure. Close to the mansion, its mostlywns and flowers, a rtively open space for people to lounge around. The further away you get, the more trees and hedges you get, ces to sit hidden between the nts and all that. Master said he wanted to have it Game of Thrones style.
Youre such a nerd, Rave giggled when she was reminded of that.
It has a ce in history, John grumbled, gardens usually had some hidden corners were people could talk a bit more privately. These things are essential for schemers like me also there is a lot of shade. He sighed quietly. Just sad that we didnt have time to install the fountains yet.
They reached the westernmost point of the ind, stretching like a thorn out of the elongatedndmass. A series of barrel shaped, hollow stones decorated the inside of the ck wall at that point. The lids were nted, revealing a finger-wide gap pointing towards the inside of the ind. From that gap and numerous holes flew a number of bees. The colony wasnt particrlyrge yet, so no vast swarms made their circles and they all came from only one of the barrels.
This is where the local bee-fairy court lives, the guiding maid exined. Master offered rent-free living, so they moved in pretty much immediately. We get to gather some honey once a month though, so I guess theyre doing something. Well, they also pollinate the flowers, crops and other nts on the ind, so I guess thats important.
Indeed, John had been quite lucky to find out about these so quickly. That he had earned himself a colony so quickly had nothing to do with luck, however. Apparently, they were quite a populous species and summer was their spreading time. Basically, a bunch of older hives had children they finally wanted to kick out and John had offered free housing without even asking for an experienced fairy court.
The result was that he got a shy, inexperienced queen moving onto his ind. Someone Sylph liked to visit often. They got along quite well, which was good for everyone. It gave Smander a few hours a day where she didnt have to stomach Sylphs antics and the bee-fairies integrated nicely.
Like some other insects, these creatures were apparently able to practice incest without any gic ws surfacing, cloning themselves as a new generation. Well, cloning in so far that no evolution outside of widespread mutation would ur. The offspring werent going to look the exact same or have the same personality traits.
Subsequent generations of the one colony he had gotten to move in would spread into the other barrels. Well, John also had two other courts saying they wanted to move in and he had no reason to deny them. His guess was that there was going to be some monarchical Europe style diplomacy going on rather soon. Doubly good for them that they were immune to incest damage.
John had no ns to be greatly involved with that. As long as they didnt go have wars in his garden over the most fertile flower fields or something, he really didnt care what they did. Maybe he would join a court session once in a while just to watch the diplomatic microcosm. That would probably be interesting wonder if theyre going to form, like, specialized ns over time or something, he thought.
As the maid had stated, once they moved around the corner and strutted along the northern stretch of the wall, the garden areas, separated by walkways of condensed dirt (another thing that John would want to improve in the future), shifted from tall hedges and trees to low hedges and flowers, to just flowers andwn the closer they got to the mansion at the northern tip.
John said this thing is built in Victorian style architecture. Absolutely no idea if thats true, but it really does beat the old shack. Personally, I would rip out all the doors, because opening them all the time is super annoying, but Master says something about privacy or some shit. Everyone can still hear him banging though.
Seems like she has a zero-fucks-given policy John, who was still very much present, thought while his girlfriend giggled. What are youughing for? he asked her loud enough for everyone to hear. Its me pping your ass and your moans that they hear half the time!
Ja and their faces are hrious, the Lightbearer retorted. By the way, peeps, whatchare smelling is Aclysias cooking. There was indeed the nice smell of food in the air. Sweet and heavy on the meat note, it drove out even the smell of the flowers.
Yes, as I said earlier, John added, you can go and eat your fill whenever. I suggest we finish the tour first though. The leading maid turned away from the open kitchen window with a sigh, it was pretty clear she wanted to get a serving of whatever was going on inside. However, disobeying John and not giving a damn that he was here to hear her were two different beasts. As such, they continued down the central path.
What about the tower? one of the tourists asked, when they had just begun moving. He was, of course, talking about the medieval looking thing, integrated into the mansions architecture. Why did you keep that?
The maid looked to John for that, since she actually didnt know. Because it predates the Small Lake Pact and I am a sucker for old architecture, John responded with a grin. Apparently it was built by French Abyssals that settled in this area, eventually driven out or integrating into whatever was here before you people started your way of life.
How do you know those were French? the same person asked.
They inscribed the inside of the tower walls with some sort of diary. Cant really read French and much of it has been covered in graffiti and stuff which is a shame because its up to 400 years old, he gave the short maid a re, who had the decency to shrink under his gaze. She had either been directly or indirectly involved with the rtively recent besmirching. Im going to learn French and decipher it all soon enough.
They then moved to the beach; there wasnt much to say about that. It was a beach. People were pretty surprised it was there, considering it hadnt been a week ago, but having a soil elemental and a fire spirit around made the creation of sand a pretty easy effort. John humble-bragged about that much, earning him a soft bite from Stirwin at some point.
They continued down the central pathway that ran from the northern to the southern tip. About a third down the ind, they arrived at the second remaining building. The mana factory has been newly outfitted with non-forceful seating. People instead give mana in shifts in order to keep the housing conveniences running.
That was most of the truth. The dirty secret was that John had actually kept two of the old, downright torturous instations in a now walled-off corner of the building. He didnt n to use them but the fact of the matter was that continuously siphoning an Abyssals mana away while keeping their hands locked was the only way to keep them restrained in the long term. In other words, he kept those as an emergency prison unit.
After showing everything but that inside of the mana factory, they went further down, although there were few interesting things in the southern half of the ind. The numerous houses of the people that stayed on Savage Ind were an immense upgrade from the previous shacks, no questions asked, but they were also just houses.
The same could be said for the fields and greenhouses that followed and the stretch of forest in the southwest. Impressive, new, pretty vast for the size of the ind, clean, most of all, but not all that interesting.
The tour found its end on the top of the second watchtower. It was a heavily modernized version of the one in the north, with heavily reinforced windows that could be used by people with long-range attacks to snipe at assants on the water. The roof was empty, but had arge socket for some sort of magical cannon to be installed at ater date. For now, the red tinged stone monument was good only as a viewing tform.
Most of the people in the tour werent romantically minded, so they had no interest in basking in the view. John, however, was triply so. For one, he hade to like looking at ces from high positions. With all the aerial viewing he had been doing since he got Possession and his flying elementals, it was almost natural for him. Well, that and the Gamer liked to make minimaps of the terrain and run some mental assaults on the location. The second reason was that he was looking at the fruits of his ownbour, so that stroked his ego. Thirdly, Rave was with him, and with her around, he would happily stand anywhere as long as it involved having an arm around her hips.
It looks pretty nice, doesnt it? John asked. The sun made the lush green grass everywhere expand like an emerald carpet. Trees stood silently in the windlessndscape. A perfectly straight path ran all the way up to the mansion. The six obelisks around the arena cut into the colourful view of the garden. All surrounded by the wall, like a distorted picture frame.
Its a lot humbler than Liberty Ind, Rave said and nestled against his side. I like who I am with more than the view though.
Hm, he hummed as if he had to think about whether or not he agreed, earning himself a pinch in the side. A lightly pained giggle escaped him and he softly ran his hand up and down Raves waist, feeling her naked skin under his hand. The motion was as perfectly smooth as the surface it travelled. Okay, okay, I agree, he answered when she pinched him a second time.
Thats what I thought, tiger, Rave pouted in a non-serious fashion. Then, likely having a spontaneous idea, she looked over her shoulder. The tourists had already moved on, as everyone wanted to check out the food that had been offered earlier. Wanna do a something? Like, right here?
I do like my somethings, John responded, and Rave pushed him just a bit away from the balustrade, before squatting down in front of him.
Small Lake Reforms 5 – Outdoor with the Girlfriend [Erotic Content]
Small Lake Reforms 5 C Outdoor with the Girlfriend [Erotic Content]
Rave didnt have to fight with either buckle or zipper for long. Not only was she pretty skilled at opening those by now, Johns immediate erection, in response to her dropping to her knees, strained both physical seals. I wanted to do this all day, his half-Asian girlfriend confessed when she pulled down his pants and his massive cock fell towards her.
It rested on her face for a few moments, a few more heartbeats pumping it toplete hardness. Already a drop of precum oozed from the tip and was smeared into Raves wild, pink hair as she stretched out her tongue to lick his balls. Then she sucked on them, just a bit of forey, while her face flushed and her eyes got that ssy turned-on look to them.
I know I am going to sound like a total slut, she gasped, letting go of his sack for a moment, but I love the way your dick smells, tiger. She grabbed the lower edge of her top and pulled it off, revealing the, frankly unsurprising, fact that she was braless. Her hard nipples were exposed to the air, the pink contrasting more now that her skin was a bit darker. It didnt look better or worse, just different and John loved variety in his life.
You can sound like a total slut whenever you like, Jane, John stated, closing one eye so he wasnt in danger of suddenly falling over. As long as were all clear that youre MY slut.
Guaranteed, there is no other guy out there who could make me feel like ya do, John. The pink lustre in her blue eyes red into the shape of a heart around her pupil, for a few moments, while she grabbed his dick with both hands, wrapping around the length of his shaft and still not covering it all. As they pumped back and forth, she wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock.
She barely went past the ns of the engorged head, leaving her tongue to mercilessly assault the sensitive area at the bottom. God, I love you, he gasped as she sucked him expertly. Doing this anywhere we feel like is so fucking hot.
Rave let go of his cock with a loud POP!. Ya sure ya aint no exhibitionist? she teased him.
Notpletely, right now, he grunted in response. Although its more about showing that I have the freedom to do it than actually showing off for me.
In a cute, faux-innocent voice, Rave mused, I like both of those things. Her hands pumped up and down his dry shaft. Precum oozed out, running down the wet area her mouth had left behind, then slowly dripping in a long strand. Although I am not really sure yet how far this kink goes, you know? Dont really get off on the thought of exposing myself to a crowd.
Then what are you fantasizing about? John asked, hoping the answer would be as debauched as he imagined.
He wasnt disappointed. Most of the stuff I wanna do involves ya and the girls, she gasped, clearly getting even hornier with every bit she told him. I wanna have the world see that my stud of a boyfriend is really fucking me, ya know? Sexy photo-shoots, some livestreams, some small-scale public events where a bunch of girls get to watch and get off on their own while I have ya to myself. Just having nonchnt sex in public ces and not giving a damn about anybody but us. No arena or something cray-cray like that. She bit her lip. Dunno, things that are recorded to be seen again and again or situations where I can almost feel the crowd are what turn me on the most when I think about it.
Just girls? John grunted. No guys?
Why would I wanna see some guy jerk off to me when I already got the best dick in the world right here? Rave asked in return, speeding up her massaging of his shaft. Thats not as hot as having all those envious, thirsty things wishing they were me. Also, I have this boyfriend who I KNOW would fuck me even harder if it was all about impressing those other sluts around.
Few of them will be even half as sexy as you, John added and earned himself a wide smile for that. If you want to do another livestream, we could make it a regr thing. Not like we have a reputation to lose.
I wanna start slow, kinda escte things, she said, only to witness John pull out his smartphone. Whatcha doing, tiger?
If we start slowly, we should do some photos, he grinned and snapped one after putting a hand on her head. He put the phone back immediately after, the one would be enough to start with. Now, my slutty girlfriend, how about you actually start doing something? Be a good girl and suck my cock, Jane.
Mhhhhmmm, she let out a long moan, I do love it when youre assertive, tiger. She leaned in again, her nose close to his base, one hand resting against his crotch, fixing the position of his cock in the depression between thumb and index finger. The other, she lowered between her legs.
John stealthily moved the recement sphere behind her, and saw the heels of her sneakers dig into her ass. Her legs were spread widely, her squatting form bncing on her toes. Hovering close to the ground, he could see the hot pants stretch around her pushing hand, a damp, dark spot clearly visible.
Gaia, fuck, ya really just smell that just good, she gasped again. Its not just the oil, its just you like all that sex ya had with me and all the other sexy girls in our harem has just made you permanently smell like a perfect fuck. She licked all the way up from his balls to the tip, again shallowly sucking him off until she had cleaned all the precum off.
John groaned; his sensitivity was through the roof right now. They werent exactly hidden; anyone with a good pair of eyes could at least see him and the pink-haired head on crotch height. A very real threat was also that the next tour would walk in on them. Theoretically, he could see theming a mile away, but his focus was lying pretty solidly with his girlfriend. That tingle of unforeseen happenings just made it more exciting.
Letting go of his cock again, already breathing heavily, Rave gasped. And how ya tasssteeee, Jooohn, she stretched the words to the wet sounds of her frantic masturbation. Its making me so wet. I think I am, like, a little bit addicted to your taste. She went back and bobbed down a couple of times, a little bit deeper each time, with barely any effort. Its seriously unfair, your dick is just delicious I could suck it for several hours and not get bored fuck, you made me such a naughty girl for you, John.
Were he had to gulp, were a perfectly debauched couple you and I---aaaaii. Thatst word came out as a prolonged gasp when his girlfriend all of a sudden took him all the way into her throat in one swift movement. Again, the pink light in her eyes took the shape of a heart. Whether this was a trained thing or just an instinct that now surfaced in all its beauty, John didnt know.
There wasnt a lot of time to think either. Rave was sucking his cock tight, moving up and down in steadily changing rhythms. Whenever her tongue reached one of his weak spots, she exploited it. From the recement sphere, John could see drops of pussy juice seep through her hot pants and drip to the floor as her hands moved quickly under the cloth. He could feel her rising climax in the moans that reverberated in his cock.
He could hardly hold on himself. Grabbing her hair in a seemingly telling fashion, Rave suddenly doubled up her speed. It only took a few seconds of that treatment to push him over the edge. The first spurt pumped into her throat just as her own moans reached their zenith. They orgasmed at the same time, maintaining eye contact while Rave slid a little bit further up his cock with every spurt of his massive load.
The less her mouth covered, the more her hand slid over. It didnt need a great deal of coordination, right and left were doing the same motion, just that one was jerking a well-lubricated cock while the other was fingering a gushing pussy. She retreated all the way until only the head was sealed tightly by her lips, taking thest three, still potently thick, strands of cum into her mouth.
Her hands slowed as their orgasms ebbed off. Tightly, her slender fingers closed around him and wrung thest few drops from his shaft. Leaving his cock as clean as was possible during such a tainted act, Rave pulled away and presented the load of semen in her mouth. She swirled the white gooey liquid with her tongue for a little bit, careful not to lose any of it, tasting its magical delicacy. Then, she swallowed.
Ya know, sometimes I wanna ask ya to invest in more Libido, just so we can find out what happens at the next step, Rave giggled, obviously light-headed from minor air deprivation, an extensive blowjob, her own orgasm and basking in the delights of the moment. Would it be something that convinces me to be a lil bit sluttier even?
God, if you goad me with that, I might just do it, John gasped and nonchntly nodded towards the balustrade. Going with the flow, his girlfriend smirked and understood immediately what he wanted to do. John helped her up, and momentster she had turned around, putting her hands on the railing and pushing her ass out.
There wasnt just a damp spot above her pussy, her hot pants were absolutely drenched. Although the tight cloth had left little to the imagination in the first ce, now it was even eating into her pussy lips, lustfully swollen, giving her one hell of a camel-toe.
John gently ran a finger through the central fold. Immediately, his finger was covered in the sticky love juice. The now moist finger was glistening in the sunlight and the Gamer couldnt resist to help himself to a taste, licking even that little bit off. Youre just as delicious, Jane, he hummed.
Dontcha wanna take this further? his girlfriend asked, wiggling her hips seductively. John dyed his answer for a little while, giving her ass a light p. While the satisfying p was somewhat dampened by theyer of cloth, Raves pleasured gasp was as true as ever. Course ya wanna y with my ass first, ya perv.
Not my fault you got the roundest, juiciest, firmest, jiggliest ass in the world, John grunted while kneading the soft cheeks in all the ways he knew she enjoyed. Squeezing them, spanking them, pushing them together, while his thumbs teased both of her holes through the hotpants. I am just going to return some of the attention you gave me, is all. He finally squatted down himself and pulled the yoga pants, and the panties underneath, off in a steady motion.
He would have done it fast, but he massively enjoyed the sight of the cloth first sliding down, then inverting as the groin area stuck to Raves pussy. Only after stretching a little bit did it finally let go, thin strands of pussy juice still connecting the clothing and Raves dripping pussy for several moments. Then they had made it all the way to the ground and John let go of them to taste his prize.
The moment he grabbed her hips, his tongue was inside her honeypot. Long licks or wiggling his way into her folds, John ate his girlfriend out with remarkable thoroughness. Although not used as frequently as Fucking, Pussy Eating was his oldest sexual Skill. It showed in his rewards, sweet pussy juice flooding his mouth while Raves moans went higher and higher.
John oh my fuck, tiger, I feel so gooooood right now, she gasped, her body trembling. Her own fingers had clearly not been able to satisfy her to any worthwhile degree. Not to say her earlier orgasm had been insignificant, just that her boyfriend gave her a higher level of pleasure. Whatreya doing to meeeee?! she squealed in the most delightful fashion as a sudden second orgasm rolled over her.
The Gamer would have been happy with just a little taste, but he wasnt going to stop pleasuring her now that she was gushing the nectar he had wanted from the start. Although her legs stayed firm, John could feel her quivering waist under his fingers, see the trembling of her back beyond her round ass and witness her depraved face from the recement sphere. Her head was lowered between her arms, showing a nk expression to the ground, all emotions washed away by the might of her climax, leaving only a ssy eyed mess, moaning in bursts.
It was a moment of clear weakness. If I am about one thing, John thought as he quickly got up again, aligning his cock with her clearly ready cunt, then its exploiting weaknesses in my girls. The dom inside him was pleased greatly when he thrust inside her.
Her head flew right back up, her spine curving, as the pration put a real spike into her afterglow. Thrusting once into her, seeing the vibrations jiggle her partly red-spanked ass cheeks, John couldnt help but go even further. He took hold of her arms and pulled them back. Whatre you doi-? she attempted to ask, but a second pping of Johns groin against her bubble butt shut her up for the moment.
He bundled her arms up behind her back, keeping them fixed with his right, while his left grabbed the back of Raves head. Her hair was just perfect for things like this, her inherited curse making it equally wild and silky, all the while being so dense that there was a lot to keep hold of. Thrust for thrust, he fucked her towards the balustrades, until her belly rested on the polished stone. How is this for a thrill, Jane?
Raves upper body was now hanging forty metres above ground. While that fall wouldnt have been anywhere near as dangerous for her as a normal person, it still had her brain put on the rm bells. Instinctively, she tried to take hold of something, but her hands were still pinned. She couldnt draw back either, as John kept her head in a tight hold.
At the same time, she was now much more easily visible, with her naked chest curving outwards from the highest point on the ind. Fa-aaaah-ntassssssstic, she shouted in raw ecstasy, her pussy clenching around him. Pussy juice spontaneously squirted as John reposition his sphere to maintain his view of her front.
Some hair was messily sticking to her face, first signs of sweat showing on her naked form, as her eyes rolled up, the lower half of the heart-shape still visible inside them. God, I love you! John couldnt help but exim as he fucked her as hard and as quickly as he could.
She came, again and again, she came. Mercilessly, he hammered her from one orgasm to the next. Ivsh yaaa toooo! she slurred her words as best she could. More gimme mooooarrrrr! Fill mhhhmme up with your hoooot stuff!
Pleads like this echoed from her mouth repeatedly, but John grit his teeth and kept going. He wanted to keep thrusting as long as possible. That he would be able to continue immediately after mattered little, he just wanted to keep drowning her in this moment of ecstasy.
Eventually, the difficult became the impossible. Very clearly, he felt his orgasm approach. Ast couple of times, he thrusted into her. One, his balls tightened, two, their hips pping echoed loudly over the towers roof, three, Rave had lost all words, both her and John were only grunts and moans, four, he came.
Shoving her hard against the railing, her ass and thighs squished against him, John let his seed freely pump into her. It felt like his entire body was engulfed in steadily pulsating heat. The folds around his cock milked him to the very same rhythm. Music that couldnt be heard, just felt with his body, underlined by the long note that was his tenseness andpleted by Raves continuous thrashing as her multiple orgasms came to a simultaneous conclusion. Both of them were quiet except for the ragged breaths they drew.
John felt his knees grow weaker and carefully attempted to draw them back from the edge. A failed endeavour, he stumbled and fell, pulling Rave with him. Shended on top of him; even through her back he could feel her heartbeat. They justy there for a few seconds.
With their superhuman stamina, they recovered rtively quickly. Okay, as awesome as that was Rave gulped and pushed out half a whistle. Thats enough for me in the public eye for today.
Alright, John understood, and they both grabbed their clothes. Johns had gotten away pretty clean. Sure, his shirt was going to reek of sweat, but that was excusable to some degree. Raves pants were still drenched, however. Ill give you one of my recement pants, he said and already reached into his inventory.
Hmm Rave looked at her drenched hot-pants, clearly ying with the thought to just wear them regardless, or specifically because, of their filthy state. It seemed she decided that that was a bit too much for her right now, though, as she took her boyfriends offer.
Chapter 591 – Small Lake Reforms 5 – Outdoor with the Girlfriend [Erotic Content]
Chapter 591 C Small Lake Reforms 5 C Outdoor with the Girlfriend [Erotic Content]
Rave didnt have to fight with either buckle or zipper for long. Not only was she pretty skilled at opening those by now, Johns immediate erection, in response to her dropping to her knees, strained both physical seals. I wanted to do this all day, his half-Asian girlfriend confessed when she pulled down his pants and his massive cock fell towards her.
It rested on her face for a few moments, a few more heartbeats pumping it toplete hardness. Already a drop of precum oozed from the tip and was smeared into Raves wild, pink hair as she stretched out her tongue to lick his balls. Then she sucked on them, just a bit of forey, while her face flushed and her eyes got that ssy turned-on look to them.
I know I am going to sound like a total slut, she gasped, letting go of his sack for a moment, but I love the way your dick smells, tiger. She grabbed the lower edge of her top and pulled it off, revealing the, frankly unsurprising, fact that she was braless. Her hard nipples were exposed to the air, the pink contrasting more now that her skin was a bit darker. It didnt look better or worse, just different and John loved variety in his life.
You can sound like a total slut whenever you like, Jane, John stated, closing one eye so he wasnt in danger of suddenly falling over. As long as were all clear that youre MY slut.
Guaranteed, there is no other guy out there who could make me feel like ya do, John. The pink lustre in her blue eyes red into the shape of a heart around her pupil, for a few moments, while she grabbed his dick with both hands, wrapping around the length of his shaft and still not covering it all. As they pumped back and forth, she wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock.
She barely went past the ns of the engorged head, leaving her tongue to mercilessly assault the sensitive area at the bottom. God, I love you, he gasped as she sucked him expertly. Doing this anywhere we feel like is so fucking hot.
Rave let go of his cock with a loud POP!. Ya sure ya aint no exhibitionist? she teased him.
Notpletely, right now, he grunted in response. Although its more about showing that I have the freedom to do it than actually showing off for me.
In a cute, faux-innocent voice, Rave mused, I like both of those things. Her hands pumped up and down his dry shaft. Precum oozed out, running down the wet area her mouth had left behind, then slowly dripping in a long strand. Although I am not really sure yet how far this kink goes, you know? Dont really get off on the thought of exposing myself to a crowd.
Then what are you fantasizing about? John asked, hoping the answer would be as debauched as he imagined.
He wasnt disappointed. Most of the stuff I wanna do involves ya and the girls, she gasped, clearly getting even hornier with every bit she told him. I wanna have the world see that my stud of a boyfriend is really fucking me, ya know? Sexy photo-shoots, some livestreams, some small-scale public events where a bunch of girls get to watch and get off on their own while I have ya to myself. Just having nonchnt sex in public ces and not giving a damn about anybody but us. No arena or something cray-cray like that. She bit her lip. Dunno, things that are recorded to be seen again and again or situations where I can almost feel the crowd are what turn me on the most when I think about it.
Just girls? John grunted. No guys?
Why would I wanna see some guy jerk off to me when I already got the best dick in the world right here? Rave asked in return, speeding up her massaging of his shaft. Thats not as hot as having all those envious, thirsty things wishing they were me. Also, I have this boyfriend who I KNOW would fuck me even harder if it was all about impressing those other sluts around.
Few of them will be even half as sexy as you, John added and earned himself a wide smile for that. If you want to do another livestream, we could make it a regr thing. Not like we have a reputation to lose.
I wanna start slow, kinda escte things, she said, only to witness John pull out his smartphone. Whatcha doing, tiger?
If we start slowly, we should do some photos, he grinned and snapped one after putting a hand on her head. He put the phone back immediately after, the one would be enough to start with. Now, my slutty girlfriend, how about you actually start doing something? Be a good girl and suck my cock, Jane.
Mhhhhmmm, she let out a long moan, I do love it when youre assertive, tiger. She leaned in again, her nose close to his base, one hand resting against his crotch, fixing the position of his cock in the depression between thumb and index finger. The other, she lowered between her legs.
John stealthily moved the recement sphere behind her, and saw the heels of her sneakers dig into her ass. Her legs were spread widely, her squatting form bncing on her toes. Hovering close to the ground, he could see the hot pants stretch around her pushing hand, a damp, dark spot clearly visible.
Gaia, fuck, ya really just smell that just good, she gasped again. Its not just the oil, its just you like all that sex ya had with me and all the other sexy girls in our harem has just made you permanently smell like a perfect fuck. She licked all the way up from his balls to the tip, again shallowly sucking him off until she had cleaned all the precum off.
John groaned; his sensitivity was through the roof right now. They werent exactly hidden; anyone with a good pair of eyes could at least see him and the pink-haired head on crotch height. A very real threat was also that the next tour would walk in on them. Theoretically, he could see theming a mile away, but his focus was lying pretty solidly with his girlfriend. That tingle of unforeseen happenings just made it more exciting.
Letting go of his cock again, already breathing heavily, Rave gasped. And how ya tasssteeee, Jooohn, she stretched the words to the wet sounds of her frantic masturbation. Its making me so wet. I think I am, like, a little bit addicted to your taste. She went back and bobbed down a couple of times, a little bit deeper each time, with barely any effort. Its seriously unfair, your dick is just delicious I could suck it for several hours and not get bored fuck, you made me such a naughty girl for you, John.
Were he had to gulp, were a perfectly debauched couple you and I---aaaaii. Thatst word came out as a prolonged gasp when his girlfriend all of a sudden took him all the way into her throat in one swift movement. Again, the pink light in her eyes took the shape of a heart. Whether this was a trained thing or just an instinct that now surfaced in all its beauty, John didnt know.
There wasnt a lot of time to think either. Rave was sucking his cock tight, moving up and down in steadily changing rhythms. Whenever her tongue reached one of his weak spots, she exploited it. From the recement sphere, John could see drops of pussy juice seep through her hot pants and drip to the floor as her hands moved quickly under the cloth. He could feel her rising climax in the moans that reverberated in his cock.
He could hardly hold on himself. Grabbing her hair in a seemingly telling fashion, Rave suddenly doubled up her speed. It only took a few seconds of that treatment to push him over the edge. The first spurt pumped into her throat just as her own moans reached their zenith. They orgasmed at the same time, maintaining eye contact while Rave slid a little bit further up his cock with every spurt of his massive load.
The less her mouth covered, the more her hand slid over. It didnt need a great deal of coordination, right and left were doing the same motion, just that one was jerking a well-lubricated cock while the other was fingering a gushing pussy. She retreated all the way until only the head was sealed tightly by her lips, taking thest three, still potently thick, strands of cum into her mouth.
Her hands slowed as their orgasms ebbed off. Tightly, her slender fingers closed around him and wrung thest few drops from his shaft. Leaving his cock as clean as was possible during such a tainted act, Rave pulled away and presented the load of semen in her mouth. She swirled the white gooey liquid with her tongue for a little bit, careful not to lose any of it, tasting its magical delicacy. Then, she swallowed.
Ya know, sometimes I wanna ask ya to invest in more Libido, just so we can find out what happens at the next step, Rave giggled, obviously light-headed from minor air deprivation, an extensive blowjob, her own orgasm and basking in the delights of the moment. Would it be something that convinces me to be a lil bit sluttier even?
God, if you goad me with that, I might just do it, John gasped and nonchntly nodded towards the balustrade. Going with the flow, his girlfriend smirked and understood immediately what he wanted to do. John helped her up, and momentster she had turned around, putting her hands on the railing and pushing her ass out.
There wasnt just a damp spot above her pussy, her hot pants were absolutely drenched. Although the tight cloth had left little to the imagination in the first ce, now it was even eating into her pussy lips, lustfully swollen, giving her one hell of a camel-toe.
John gently ran a finger through the central fold. Immediately, his finger was covered in the sticky love juice. The now moist finger was glistening in the sunlight and the Gamer couldnt resist to help himself to a taste, licking even that little bit off. Youre just as delicious, Jane, he hummed.
Dontcha wanna take this further? his girlfriend asked, wiggling her hips seductively. John dyed his answer for a little while, giving her ass a light p. While the satisfying p was somewhat dampened by theyer of cloth, Raves pleasured gasp was as true as ever. Course ya wanna y with my ass first, ya perv.
Not my fault you got the roundest, juiciest, firmest, jiggliest ass in the world, John grunted while kneading the soft cheeks in all the ways he knew she enjoyed. Squeezing them, spanking them, pushing them together, while his thumbs teased both of her holes through the hotpants. I am just going to return some of the attention you gave me, is all. He finally squatted down himself and pulled the yoga pants, and the panties underneath, off in a steady motion.
He would have done it fast, but he massively enjoyed the sight of the cloth first sliding down, then inverting as the groin area stuck to Raves pussy. Only after stretching a little bit did it finally let go, thin strands of pussy juice still connecting the clothing and Raves dripping pussy for several moments. Then they had made it all the way to the ground and John let go of them to taste his prize.
The moment he grabbed her hips, his tongue was inside her honeypot. Long licks or wiggling his way into her folds, John ate his girlfriend out with remarkable thoroughness. Although not used as frequently as Fucking, Pussy Eating was his oldest sexual Skill. It showed in his rewards, sweet pussy juice flooding his mouth while Raves moans went higher and higher.
John oh my fuck, tiger, I feel so gooooood right now, she gasped, her body trembling. Her own fingers had clearly not been able to satisfy her to any worthwhile degree. Not to say her earlier orgasm had been insignificant, just that her boyfriend gave her a higher level of pleasure. Whatreya doing to meeeee?! she squealed in the most delightful fashion as a sudden second orgasm rolled over her.
The Gamer would have been happy with just a little taste, but he wasnt going to stop pleasuring her now that she was gushing the nectar he had wanted from the start. Although her legs stayed firm, John could feel her quivering waist under his fingers, see the trembling of her back beyond her round ass and witness her depraved face from the recement sphere. Her head was lowered between her arms, showing a nk expression to the ground, all emotions washed away by the might of her climax, leaving only a ssy eyed mess, moaning in bursts.
It was a moment of clear weakness. If I am about one thing, John thought as he quickly got up again, aligning his cock with her clearly ready cunt, then its exploiting weaknesses in my girls. The dom inside him was pleased greatly when he thrust inside her.
Her head flew right back up, her spine curving, as the pration put a real spike into her afterglow. Thrusting once into her, seeing the vibrations jiggle her partly red-spanked ass cheeks, John couldnt help but go even further. He took hold of her arms and pulled them back. Whatre you doi-? she attempted to ask, but a second pping of Johns groin against her bubble butt shut her up for the moment.
He bundled her arms up behind her back, keeping them fixed with his right, while his left grabbed the back of Raves head. Her hair was just perfect for things like this, her inherited curse making it equally wild and silky, all the while being so dense that there was a lot to keep hold of. Thrust for thrust, he fucked her towards the balustrades, until her belly rested on the polished stone. How is this for a thrill, Jane?
Raves upper body was now hanging forty metres above ground. While that fall wouldnt have been anywhere near as dangerous for her as a normal person, it still had her brain put on the rm bells. Instinctively, she tried to take hold of something, but her hands were still pinned. She couldnt draw back either, as John kept her head in a tight hold.
At the same time, she was now much more easily visible, with her naked chest curving outwards from the highest point on the ind. Fa-aaaah-ntassssssstic, she shouted in raw ecstasy, her pussy clenching around him. Pussy juice spontaneously squirted as John reposition his sphere to maintain his view of her front.
Some hair was messily sticking to her face, first signs of sweat showing on her naked form, as her eyes rolled up, the lower half of the heart-shape still visible inside them. God, I love you! John couldnt help but exim as he fucked her as hard and as quickly as he could.
She came, again and again, she came. Mercilessly, he hammered her from one orgasm to the next. Ivsh yaaa toooo! she slurred her words as best she could. More gimme mooooarrrrr! Fill mhhhmme up with your hoooot stuff!
Pleads like this echoed from her mouth repeatedly, but John grit his teeth and kept going. He wanted to keep thrusting as long as possible. That he would be able to continue immediately after mattered little, he just wanted to keep drowning her in this moment of ecstasy.
Eventually, the difficult became the impossible. Very clearly, he felt his orgasm approach. Ast couple of times, he thrusted into her. One, his balls tightened, two, their hips pping echoed loudly over the towers roof, three, Rave had lost all words, both her and John were only grunts and moans, four, he came.
Shoving her hard against the railing, her ass and thighs squished against him, John let his seed freely pump into her. It felt like his entire body was engulfed in steadily pulsating heat. The folds around his cock milked him to the very same rhythm. Music that couldnt be heard, just felt with his body, underlined by the long note that was his tenseness andpleted by Raves continuous thrashing as her multiple orgasms came to a simultaneous conclusion. Both of them were quiet except for the ragged breaths they drew.
John felt his knees grow weaker and carefully attempted to draw them back from the edge. A failed endeavour, he stumbled and fell, pulling Rave with him. Shended on top of him; even through her back he could feel her heartbeat. They justy there for a few seconds.
With their superhuman stamina, they recovered rtively quickly. Okay, as awesome as that was Rave gulped and pushed out half a whistle. Thats enough for me in the public eye for today.
Alright, John understood, and they both grabbed their clothes. Johns had gotten away pretty clean. Sure, his shirt was going to reek of sweat, but that was excusable to some degree. Raves pants were still drenched, however. Ill give you one of my recement pants, he said and already reached into his inventory.
Hmm Rave looked at her drenched hot-pants, clearly ying with the thought to just wear them regardless, or specifically because, of their filthy state. It seemed she decided that that was a bit too much for her right now, though, as she took her boyfriends offer.
Chapter 592 – Small Lake Reforms 6 – Competition for Development
Chapter 592 C Small Lake Reforms 6 C Competition for Development
The unintended consequence of their pretty public lovemaking was that the amount of respect these ruthless people had skyrocketed. They stillughed when John lost his bnce and tumbled about the ce like a drunk bumblebee, but in general they became nicer towards them after having seen or heard about that. Unintended, but not unexpected, John could easily understand that the people who were all about ruthlesspetition would like a leader who had the balls to nail his girlfriend in front of the entire ind.
That he was really good at it more than likely helped, especially with the female half of the crowd.
John used his newfound political capital to convince everyone to ship out the rest of their individual poption to have a look at Savage Ind as well. Most followed that advice, causing Saturday and even Sunday morning to have a few more tours. Eventually, everyone had seen everything they wanted, though, and were just hanging around in or directly around the mansion. There were a couple of brawls, which either John or one of his elementals quickly broke up whenever they found one.
Funnily enough, once it was clear that violence was prohibited, people decided to take up after their new de-facto leader and began something the Gamer would describe as petitive orgies. He didnt intervene in those. As a matter of fact, he was almost tempted to join.
Before he hade to a conclusion, however, the first journalists arrived.
It caused a bit of confusion at first. The Gamer pretty quickly exined that they were here on his invitation. Of course, the reporters that didnt like Johns physical excesses immediately began filming the actions of his de-facto subordinates. Most other people just snapped a few photos. The headline that the Gamer was a pervert just didnt sell that well anymore, since it was such public knowledge.
Well, there was one program that really liked John and also extensively reported on the orgies, especially once they continued with very few people caring about the eyes of the world. Harilia here, from CPDI on-site reporting! a catgirl started up the livestream. She was pretty cute, about as tall as Eliza (or as short, one should say) with small breasts and a nice ass, ck hair growing down to her chin. Filming her was a camerawoman of the same haircolour, although she wore it longer, with a more bnced figure and a head taller. Both of them wore tight catsuits, of the shining ck variety, with arge V-cut out on the backside, ending at the base of their tail, just above the ass.
John simply looked at them through the recement sphere, which he had flown about the ce while he remained in the mansion. The second he went out there, he would be swarmed with cameras and microphones. Instead, he had Aclysia and the other maid show them where they should prepare to filmter and then had them receive the same tour as the members of the Small Lake Pact.
Observe had the two as quite interesting girls.
Of course, interesting meant: highly fuckable and ready for it. Which John nned to do. Although he was honestly surprised Cindy wasnt here. He would have to ask about that, should he get a private moment with them. Which, again, he very much nned to. I wonder if therere more programs like the CPDI, John said out loud when he pulled his attention away from the sight of the recement sphere and back to his current walking exercise. You know, 60% porn, 40% actual journalism.
Do you wish me to investigate this, Master? Aclysia asked, apanying his every step, just to be there should he fall. For now, he was doing pretty good with one hand on the wall. Even when one of the eyes desynced, the vertigo was somewhat bearable. Bumbling about like a fool in public actually did wonders to elerate his recovery, since he wasnt losing all those hours to looking good.
Actually, yes, do tell me if you find some programs, however small, John confirmed and he could actually feel how Aclysia made a high-priority mental note. As much as I like the people at CPDI I know, cant let myself be monopolized by one broadcast I should also appear on non-porn programs sometimes, otherwise the prim and proper crowd will dislike me even more.
Well, ya know, they can keep their stick up their bum while ya buttfuck the queen of Germany, Rave stated, then looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. Wonder if Lydia would appear on a livestream. You know, doing porn and all that.
I am actually not sure. John had to think about that himself. I would say she would be initially reluctant but we could talk her into it if we really tried. Although it could also happen that she just stonewalls and says she doesnt want the PR fallout.
Humming, Rave agreed, Ja, that sounds about urate.
Do you wish me to write her a text message and ask? Aclysia offered, as Lydia was much more patient with the maid. Basically, Aclysia writing that message would prevent an immediate rant from urring. That was, at least, in theory.
She would know the questiones from me, Johnughed and waved it off, a gesture that caused him to dangerously tilt forwards on his next step. Alright, keep taking it slowly, he mumbled to himself, then looked at the clock. The day was already half over. In more simple terms, it was noon. Ah, guess we should go and make the announcement, shouldnt we?
The start of the conference is scheduled for 12:30. Moving now is not strictly necessary, Aclysiamented.
But it would be wise if we arrived there, just in case some more technical work needs fixing, John remarked and so the three of them moved out. What he had thought would happen did immediately, with everyst reporter remotely close to the mansion descending on the entrance like a swarm of ants on a piece of cake in the park.
Right up until Aclysia stepped out of the frame behind him and closed the door with an audible Thud!, at which point they all slowed down and walked elsewhere as if they had never attempted to catch him on his way to the arena. Indeed, as the best ce for gatherings on the ind, John had designated the fighting pit as the ce for the press conference. It also made for a nice background. John liked his impressive settings, no matter how boring an announcement was.
Not that boring was the word John would have chosen for the announcements made today.
Following him, over the next half hour, people streamed into the area. Reporters scurried around in the actual fighting pit at the centre, checking that their microphones were in position on the conjured stone podium. The two very different crowds, being those who had grown up in the Small Lake Pact and those from the outside, contrasted quite heavily when John took his position behind that podium.
Everyone of thetter category was listening, while the former was busy chatting and continuing their orgies. They had gotten a bit too rxed now. Since he didnt feel like delivering his speech like a presentation to an uncaring ssroom, John decided to take measures. Sylph, can I borrow you really quick?
Sure, sir, Master, guy, Johnny Long-John, beeeeeee right there! she mentally announced, and John counted down from fifteen. The barely humanoid shape of lightning that Sylph transformed into whenever she reached top speeds arrived by the end of the countdown, stopping shortly before her summoner. The joke is that I was hanging out with the bees! she exined while twirling around as the small fairy she was most of the time. The beeeeees, John! Those beeeeeees have kneeeeees! BEEEEEEEES!
Always nice of you to keep peoplepany, John encouraged her and stretched his arm out. Now, could we? They had actually spoken all of this into the microphones, but that hadnt made the crowd pay any more attention.
Sure, sure, sure, lemme just do dis and dat and I think I got it! at thest word, Sylph changed again, this time into a streak of pale green energy thatnded in Johns open palm. Quickly, it took the shape of an elegant rapier of the same colour, the metal singing at a high frequency when John raised it to the sky.
A ferocious lightning bolt cut straight upwards. Pale blue electricity raged on for several seconds, searing all its rapidly shifting paths into the retinas of the onlookers. When it suddenly ceased, it did so with the typical roar of lighting. Save to say, John had his attention now.
Thank you, Sylph, he said, and the air spirit turned back, quickly darting away again to go chat it up with Smander and Gnome, sitting with Aclysia on a nearby bench that the soil elemental had created. Alright, everyone listening now? People had indeed stopped fucking around, chats and verbal fights were put on ice, dicks back into pants, peoples attentiony with the guy at the centre of the arena now. Fantastic.
John went through his mental notes again, checked what he had to say today, how to best present it and why it was necessary. He listened to the silence, only hearing a waiting cough, and took onest breath.
So, the Small Lake Pact is under my rule, he dered the big news right out of the gate. Reporters had already guessed as much, it was hard not to, but the cameras nevertheless clicked in mass when a great deal of photos was taken. During a diplomatic mission, my beloved servant Aclysia was witness to a number of crimes, effective very inside a mana factory highest of all. It was uneptable by the values Fusion represents and, as such, she took the opportunity to challenge the former leader. As local tradition apparently has it, I didnt know about this, her victory in that duel made her the new leader. Which, in turn, makes me the de-facto head of operations around here.
He let that settle in, just so everyone watching had an opportunity to think through all of that. Personally, John thought that he had to mention his own ignorance about local traditions, just out of honesty. If he always portrayed himself as a wless guy, that would have some serious ramifications when he inevitably screwed up. Screwed up again, rather, given past incidents.
All of that said, the Small Lake Pact will NOT be immediately annexed by Fusion, he followed all of that up. Several people went from yawningly listening to the expected news to sitting upright and intrigued. As a mixture of local traditions and my own principles on the way life is best lived, I hereby announce a tournament for my position as leader. However, that wont be the only thing at stake here, for all of those that think they wont even bother trying to fight me. All of Lake Chamins ind of moderate size, so all excluding the insignificantly small and the giant central ones, are hereby seized by my authority!
That caused a massive uproar, especially amongst the leadership crowd, as they were all suddenly robbed of their anarchically acquirednd. John let them scream their lungs out for a bit, hearing out Zensie quite clearly as the former second strongest protest extensively.
Those inds will serve as prizes for the tournament, John exined calmly and things immediately quieted down again. Sorted by size, with the smallest at the bottom and thergest on top, the 25 inds I deemed big enough to fall into the earlier categorization will be given to the 25 performers in the tournament. The one exception being this one, he knocked on the stone podium. Savage Ind, with all its renewed infrastructure, will go to the absolute winner, regardless of rtive size.
This was the best idea John had for reforming thepetitive structure of the Small Lake Pact into something that would work within Fusions framework. A ce where numerous fighterspeted for the best living conditions, continuously training to maintain what they had won or even rise higher up in the next tournament. It was somewhat in line with the local traditions and served as an outlet for all the violent types that doubtlessly existed within any sizable country.
The tournament will be happening right here, in this arena. You will fight one on one with all abilities you naturally possess. All items and equipment you bring into the fight must be with you from the start, not necessarily visible, however. In the case that somebody is adept at creating items DURING a fight, these fall under the first rule. Murder is prohibited, as is doing anything to your opponent before or after your fight. You can pull whatever cheap tactics you want in the confrontation, outside of it I want to see a fair mindset.
The Small Lake Pact people epted that begrudgingly. John could hear their grumbles through Sienas ears, who was stalking around in the shadows to spy on any outspoken dissent. Not to remove themter on or anything, the Gamer just wanted to know who to keep an eye on.
If you dont like what I am doing here, then youre wee to try and beat me. The Small Lake Pact will be integrated into Fusion should I be the victor of the tournament. I will reform things further from there. Like, installing a central government on the Grand Isle, making it so the owner of the inds have positions of economic privilege, not ruling power. Repeated tournaments in the future that all members of Fusion are invited to. Making military service mandatory for all ind owners. Having everyone whopetes state in advance who their direct supporters are, be it lovers, family or something else, and giving them some lesser benefits as well.
He stopped there, waiting for a reaction. There was none. Apparently, people didnt quite realize what thatst point would mean. If supporters were receiving their optimal rewards by binding themselves to a fighter in advance, then that would hopefully put a dent into the current paradigm of gold-diggers attaching themselves to the strongest person they could whenever they wanted.
Of course, it wouldnt prevent that outright, but John was pretty sure that was even possible. More powerful, able people would always attract more attention than anyone else. It just made it so that the opportunists had to make a choice and stick to it, as opposed to the free flopping around right now.
Taking really effective measures against it was tricky, at least without bing so tyrannical that his reign was worse than the social situation. Maybe this incentive would be enough, but only time would tell. If he won the tournament, of course.
Now, aside from myself and the people of the Small Lake Pact, I invite the surrounding guilds to participate as well. You can all feel free to send one representative. If that person wins, good on you, you now own the Small Lake Pact. Even if youe in at a lower rank, I will still give you the ind. Although you may lose it in the future fights, of course.
John reached into his inventory, retrieved a bottle of water, and took a huge gulp. Speaking for extended periods did parch the throat something fierce.
As for when the tournament will be happening, he continued afterwards, that would be the next two days. I hope youre all looking forwards to it. This will be the time for many of you to rise through the ranks. At the very least, this I can guarantee you, the future under me will be more interesting than continuously sleeping in shacks and ruined houses, he raised his hand in goodbye. Ill be in my garden in an hour, feel free toe ask me questions, reporter or not, then.
Chapter 593 – Small Lake Reforms 7 – Details
Chapter 593 C Small Lake Reforms 7 C Details
That would be the exact order I currently have in mind, John finished the ranking of the inds, a list that was scribbled down and hung on a well-visible space so he didnt have to answer that question over and over again. People were interested to see how high in the list their current living space was. Not really to see how well they had to perform, or who they had to attach to, to maintain that position, but to gauge how much higher up they could go.
He looked over the crowd standing around him. Rather nonchntly, he was sitting on a table with Smander looking over a nearby barbeque, from which Aclysia asional served him a nice slice of grilled meat. As far as he was concerned, this was the best way to have a Q&A session. Especially since the serving didnt end at the meat being put on the table.
While Aclysia moved a finely cut piece of pig up to his mouth, he gestured towards a random person in the crowd. As he was chewing, they presented their question. Does your decision to include neighbouring guilds in the tournament include the Lake Alliance?
Yeah, John answered, then swallowed and borated. Whether they take the offer up or not is their choice, but I am putting it out there, war of aggression or not. Thatst bit was a politically convenient framing more so than the absolute truth. It also wasnt false though. If they want to send someone over, they better hurry, write-ins end tomorrow morning.
If you lose, will you really leave all of these things here? Was the next question.
John nodded affirmatively. Everything I built will stay. If Ind anywhere lower than first ce, you are free to take over whatever ind I would get as well, since I dont have the free time or the resources to defend that. What I cant guarantee is the bees staying, you would have to take that up with them yourself.
Whats up with the maid uniforms?
Aclysia took that one, giving John time to chew on a new slice. I instituted that change upon my victory against the former leader. Master really likes maid outfits, you see, and I saw no good reason that they should stay in their wholly inappropriate biker aesthetic.
We kinda had bad experiences with bikers in the past like, repeatedly, Rave added, lying nakedly nearby, working on her tan. Her presence caused all serious publication to stand to Johns right, so they could take photos of him without her in the frame. All uncaring programs stood on the left and all dirty people were around her. Rave took the liberty to pose a little bit for the cameras, but generally justy there, seriously uncaring about their presence. As she had stated yesterday, just being watched didnt do it for her as much as doing things while being watched. Masturbating evidently wasnt too high on the list of doing things.
Next, John pointed at the next person that caught his attention.
Whatre you going to do with us, if you win? the question came from a native person, not a reporter.
You are to guard the stretch of the border you share with the Lake Alliance, including the areas you previously had fights over, which Fusion is currently settling, he had gotten news from Scarlett recently that that effort was already well underway, so there was no harm in revealing it publicly. Would be, rather, sorry, I am kind of taking my victory for granted already.
Dont you think you should keep your sexual exploits more private? asked a new person.
No, John made it short, just yawning at that question. You dont have to like it, but its not affecting your quality of life in any way. Neither am I advocating any kind of free-use society. I exclusively fuck girls who know about it publicly. Again, feel free to dislike it, but I am notmitting any moral wrong. Next, you, with the yellow ne.
You briefly went into it during your speech, but could you tell us what exactly you n for the Small Lake Pact long term should you win?
Well, first the entity known as the Small Lake Pact will be disbanded in its entirety, John stated and shrugged it off. As far as I understand it, its just an alliance of convenience anyway as the people here turned away from bashing exclusively each other and decided to fuck over the Lake Alliance instead. Then the entire new area will be cut into new provinces and districts. Those will then have their local leadership elected along the guidelines Fusion dictates in general. Grand Isle would serve as base of operation for Fusion in the area.
The main purpose I would have for the area is military andpetitive development. Everyone that is part of Fusions military would be granted the right to take part in future tournaments, to be hosted every five years. People that win the inds would be paid a monthly sum, again depending on how high they went up, which they could spend however they want. People that joined them as supporters will be given administrative rights for that ind, in other words they get to put out building permits and such things should they decide to even open that ind for other people. Easily put, they would be allowed their miniature, independent entity within Fusion. As long as they remain victorious in the tournaments.
This is to keep elite troops motivated to keep training even during peacetime. It would also be a great source of entertainment, as I do n to have those tournaments broadcasted. Its all in all a subversion of local customs, where I force a degree of honesty into the former backstabbing and remove the easy solution to permanently eradicate rivals when you have the opportunity.
For everyone who doesnt want to partake in that tournament system, however, life around here should be like everywhere else in Fusion, especially once the war is done with. That giant exnation finished, John reached for the orange juice on the table. Hope that covers everything.
Will you also bepeting in future tournaments, then? I assume that people that want to keep their inds, or any inds for that matter, will have to keep fighting.
Ah, right, two things I should rify there, John acknowledged. If you score higher than your current ind, but you like where you are at that time, you can stay and the ind you skipped out on will just go to the next avable candidate. As to my own participation, as defending champion, and a guy with already way less free time than I want, I would probably stay out of the main tournament. If the ultimate winner feels like theyre strong enough to challenge me, then theyre wee to do so and well duke it out.
And what if they win? the same person asked a justified follow-up.
One for which John didnt really have an answer. Thats difficult I would obviously dislike it if they decided to secede at that time I would have to negotiate that with the person, if it everes to it. Which John very much doubted. Since he nned to put up the next tournament in five years and he was 16 days away from his firstplete year with these powers, which had already made him one of the strongest people in the Abyss, he doubted that there would be anyone who could stand up to him at that time.
Especially since Sigmund had done John a favour, although through means the Gamer didnt really approve of. The Contender chewing his way through every single elite individual in the area meant that John faced even less of a challenge from some random mighty peopleing out of the woodwork than usual. Of course, there might be people who survived that encounter, but John doubted they would be interested in facing the guy who had beat Sigmund.
They may have been if they had been aware of the Gamers exact involvement in the Contenders demise, but they werent, so it wasnt a problem.
Can you exin how the top 25 cements are going to work exactly? From what I understand, it will be a 1-on-1 bracket tournament.
Thats easy, well have drop-out brackets for every phase that has people that could ce in the top 25, mathematically speaking, John answered. Following that was a bunch of trivia or questions to some affairs that were happening back home, some of which he had heard from, some of which he hadnt. He stayed pretty light on the opinions there, just reiterating that he was trusting Chemilia, Magoi and everyone else currently operating the state to do the wise things. He could have identally undermined their authority if his hot-take differed from theirs. Some news stations liked to exploit such missteps.
Eventually, someone more pleasant stepped to the forefront. The ck haired catgirl he had spied earlier stepped up to his table, her camerawoman in toe. Hi, I am Harilia with CPDI, mind if we ask a question live?
Only if I get to ask a question first, John retorted, his mood immediately rising.
Because your public persona is that of a bit of a smartass, now I need to have a rification, Harilia shot back, her tail sassily curving behind her tight,tex covered butt. Do you mean you only mind if you get to ask that question first? Because, if so, its in my interest to say no.
I think this is one of the times were takes one to know one applies, John answered.
Oh my Gaaaaaiaaaa, Rave groaned from the background, just she raised her head from her lounger and blinked at the neer. Just lemme pat ya in the bedroom, ya sexy lil thing.
Not that big into patting, unless you actually mean to eat out my pussy until I scream. We can do that, Harilia responded with a flirting smile, and Rave giggled affectionately. Or we can do it right here, I dont mind and clearly you dont either, the catgirl liked her lips as she looked up and down Raves body. Ya sexy beast.
Can we keep her? Rave asked her boyfriend, then was distracted when Copernicus jumped up to her. What, Cappy, ya jealous?
I do, incidentally, require some pats, the suncat replied. And since Nia isnt around, youre the best candidate. You may scratch me under the chin.
I may do that, but only because youre warm and fluffy, Rave said and began giving her elemental some attention.
Anyway, I just wanted to ask where Cindy is, John finally got his question out. She seemed rather enthusiastic to see me again after ourst encounter.
And here I thought you were an ass man, Harilia half turned, twisting her round booty in his direction and giving herself a nice p that thetex jiggled with the soft meat underneath. Yet youre asking for the big-tit blonde.
8 out of 10, John thought, scanning that ass as quickly as he could before she turned away again. That puts her on Sylph and Smanders level of ass, thats pretty good. I mean, I can have all two, pardon, he winked at the camerawoman, three of you at the same time, I was just curious.
Well, if you need to know, Harilia bowed over the table, looking around conspiratorially. She had a more cute than sexy face, which worked quite well with her somewhat bratty attitude and shorter height. Truth is, she couldnt really feel her legs for two days and missed the opportunity to sign up for on-site work. Especially because I signed up immediately after cumming like ten times from that porncast you did with her. She licked her lips, they were surprisingly red for herck of make-up. Had the hunch you would have something to say soon after leaving.
I see, John grinned, finding all of this to be quite spectacr news. Then he looked into the camera. Hey, Cindy, if youre watching this, hope your legs recover quicker next time. Im open for repeat sessions and training. Then he looked back to Harilia. Alright, you can ask your question now.
What do you think about nailing me in the ass right here, right now? she came out of the gate pretty strong.
I sadly have to decline, John told her. Other things to do and I still need you working for the next two days. Dont want to have your program miss anything important during the tournament because you cant walk anymore, you know?
Im a bit sturdier than Cindy, Harilia countered.
John knew, her Endurance was more than thrice that of her blonde colleague. Still He leaned towards her and whispered in one of her cat ears, You can take this as a promise that well have some fun after the tournament is over, alright?
I can work with that, Harilia grinned. Whats your general position towards anal?
Doggy, preferably, John joked.
Chapter 594 – Small Lake Reforms 8 – Predictable and Unpredictable Contestants
Chapter 594 C Small Lake Reforms 8 C Predictable and Unpredictable Contestants
And there he is, John grinned, tapping against the window, causing Rave to strut close and look over his shoulder.
John, thats just the garden.
Oh, sorry, am looking through the sphere, in the same direction. In his satisfaction, he had gestured without thinking. He was looking at an attractive, early twenties guy with dark hair, a stubby beard and a masculine face. Jeremiah Arter, the same guy that had met John to make the deration of war from the Lake Alliance official, had just arrived. Anyway, told you Jeremiah woulde.
Barely in time, Rave noted. It was Monday, 9:30 AM. Tournament sign-ups were going to end in thirty minutes and fighting would start quickly after that.
He brought a nice ship too, John added, seeing it through the eyes of a curiously darting around Sylph. Its not a yacht or anything, butpared to the motorboats everyone around here is using, its pretty good.
Where did they get all of those from anyway? Rave wondered. Not like people just have mobile barrier generators lying around.
They dont have mobile barriers, John told her. Apparently the ind barriers themselves are designed to let vehicles in with the people who enter them. No idea how that exactly works, but I guess its an extension of how you dont lose your clothes when entering a Protected Space.
Guess that makes sense, the Lightbearer hummed and giggled, putting her arms around John. I know that face, she stated teasingly. Youre waiting for me to ask: oh, great wise Gamer, how did ya know he would be the oneing along? While you exin this to this, your totally lovestruck girlfriend, and stroke your ego, do you also want me to suck your dick?, arent ya?
Without all the honorifics and I was just hoping for the first question, but if youre offering John looked at her all hopeful. Boasting about a n in motion while getting a blowjob was his definition of a pretty good morning.
Nein, Rave denied in German, I aint asking either of those things. She made a yful noise and began nibbling on his ear.
Youre only doing that because you know it makes me suffer!
I AM a bit of a sadist, Rave purred into his ear, her right hand harmlessly wing up and down his back. And aside from having ya beg for release, this is the second best way to torture ya a little bit, ya know?
I could just bber about it without being asked! he protested.
Butcha wont, her seductive voice in his ear was joined by her other hand creeping down to his pants and grabbing his crotch in a domineering way. Cause John Newman hates it when people dont take his bait.
You know, with how well you know me, I should never let you go anywhere without me, he grumbled, then couldnt help but moan when Rave found the most sensitive spot on his dick even through twoyers of cloth.
Ya know ya dont have to worry about that, Rave giggled, because I love you, tiger. I have loved you for a while now and its not fading anytime soon. I love your mind, she caressed the back of his head, her nimble fingers parting his short hair, and your body, the touch on his groin turned into a softly circting motion.
John turned his head to kiss her, escte this whole thing so he could have a quick way to have fun with and get rid of this quickly forming erection. Seemingly reciprocating the intent, Rave leaned up to him. Then, when only a sheet of paper would have fit between their lips, she immediately drew back. Oh,e on! the Gamerined, left quite bothered.
Rave stuck out her tongue as she took another dancing step backwards. So how did ya know that he would being? she asked.
Grumbling something unttering while trying to shut out the needy pulsating in his pants, the Gamer briefly considered calling for any of his elementals to quickly take care of this problem. The way his girlfriend grinned at him, however, made it clear that she would consider that a win for her. Which not doing anything also would have been.
In the end, the fact that he was limited in time to a quickie made him decide to grit his teeth and wait for this hard-on to pass. Youre evil! John did need to make that clear.
Im the harem-leader, girlfriend and future fianc of the guy who is conquering the USA in the name of his pride, she winked at him while leaning onto the nearby dinner table. Being a lil bit evil is part of the description.
One, I dont enjoy you putting it like that, and two, TOTALLY evil! John corrected her. I am not -just- doing this for my pride! I expect you to respect that!
And I expect a very nice ring, like, the best ring when ya get on one knee, Rave countered, twirled back over and booped him on the nose. I bit the bait, tiger, ya can start rambling about your victory now.
John barely managed to not spill the beans on his current progress on making such a ring. Instead, he said, Well, maybe I just keep acting annoyed because I know you like watching me squirm so much? he suggested.
Hmmm, maybe ya do, Rave admitted. I mean, ya do love me.
I do most of the time, the Gamer felt more blood return to his brain and sighed one more time in exasperation. Alright so, here is why I knew he was going to be the oneing here, John started. Because its him.
Rave, half-amused, half-annoyed, shook her head in short bursts. And ya wonder why I would tease ya.
I didnt wonder, I was frustrated, the Gamer rified.
Smartass.
Bubble-butt.
Ya know it, now, get on with that exnation. Guess that was the hook that bait was hanging on.
Okay then. The situation I created when announcing that tournament, especially after rifying I allowed a contestant from their side to enter, put the Lake Alliance in a ce where they HAD to make a move, John borated. Not doing anything wouldve been a massive PR loss. I dont expect a leadership that deres war in a fashion as aggressive as they did to take such a thing.
I get that bit, Rave answered. Cant have us gain such a huge chunk of territory, particrly filled with people they struggled to take over for decades, in a matter of weeks. Would look very bad.
Yeah and I would use that continuously against them, John looked back outside; Jeremiah had long vanished from the field of view, now in the arena and properly writing his name on the list of contestants. Fusion has upped at least the appearance of its strength tremendously recently. The Lake Alliance now looking weak would give me a pretty big stick to hammer them with diplomatically. Real numbers dont even matter at that point.
Alrighty, thats the motivation for WHY theye here covered, Rave yed along, pulling the information from his nose. So can ya demonstrate to me why it was HIM exactly who woulde here?
I have scraped together information on every single high-level individual in the Lake Alliance and surmised a list of six that I would deem dangerous or close to dangerous to me at my current level and state of health, John gestured towards his eyes. So this part was a bit more spection than Im usuallyfortable with, given that all I had was third-party info about most of them. I took my gamble that Jeremiah would be the most lets call it explosive amongst them. People like that need time to be reined in and convinced that another course of action would be the smartest.
Ah, I get it, Rave chimed in, thats why ya announced the tournament on such a short notice!
Yup, John chirped back, quite happy. Its so simple. They HAD to make some move and amongst the six people that could even attempt to spoil my ns, Jeremiah both has the personality to jump on such an asion and dislikes me heavily. In other words, they sent the guy the most motivated, because I didnt give them the time to think this over and pick who was most fitting instead.
Ya sure he hates ya that much? Rave asked. I mean, what did ya do to him?
I called his dick small.
Thats it?
Its 9 centimetres.
Oh wow!
First time I could actually do something with THAT bit of Observes intel, John joked. Did you know he only fucked once? Poor guy must have been so embarrassed, he hasnt tried since.
That almost makes me feel bad for him, Rave pointed out. I mean, only almost. To be that under-boned must be terrible.
I can somewhat sympathize, being that I didnt use to be the most well-endowed myself-
Thankfully, you only grew over the months, had enough problems sucking ya off when your dick was smaller, Rave jokingly interjected. Practice over time equals profit!
-But, John continued almost without pause, he threatened to eat Aclysia and Beatrice and my empathy is very finite for people that threaten what I own.
Understandable do ya say it like that cause ya made them or because it tickles your dominance fetish?
Yes, his answer came as swift as it was cheeky
Figured, Rave stuck out her tongue. Still, one encounter weeks backs seems a bit much to base that much hatred on.
Well you remember that livestream?
No, Johnny, I forgot about me embarrassing myself and encountering a new fetish in the process within a week, she answered dryly, tapping her feet to a steady rhythm. That John could read out of that her current mood, being only fake-annoyed, told him that he was spending just enough time with the love of his life.
Dont know how much of the pre-porn segment you noticed, but I got a question about showing my tiny dick to Cindy already. The person sending it was called Devourer of Exhibits.
And?
And Jeremiahs official title is Art Eater.
Thats super uncreative though.
Said the light mage using Neonlights to the Gamer using the Gamer, Johnughed at the minor irony. Anyway, I had that hunch checked by Scarlett and she put it under pretty likely. Given that he still cared then and what happened after the question, I am absolutely sure he despises me. Jeremiah emerged from behind a pir of the arena. And new, personal grudges can often supersede old, societal ones.
Seemingly random, Zensie walked near the Lake Alliances fighter. The former number twos steps slowed while passing Jeremiah. John couldnt hear anything; the sphere through which he was looking was keeping its distance as to not cause any suspicion.
He could see lips moving a few times though, then Zensie dropped something, which Jeremiah stepped on to hide it. At that exact moment, a voice rung in Johns head. So, uhm, the targets have met Gnome reported, having followed the tremors of the earth around Jeremiah, Siena hiding in Zensies shadow, with both of them supported by Sylph and Smanders aerial coverage and all of it coordinated by Undine.
Yeah, I happened to see it myself, he answered. He wouldnt have relied on such a chance thing to get confirmation on his ns going on. When using all his elementals, he could track things quite reliably, especially in a controlled environment like an ind with a limited amount of people on it.
O-ooh Gnome sounded a bit disappointed. Uhm, Ill just stay here and wait for you?
Gnome, you did a good job, very timely report, he praised her, as his luck shouldnt mean that her efforts should go unrewarded. Ill give you a very nice hugter, alright?
Yay! the soil elemental eximed, not even hiding her enthusiasm behind any embarrassment.
I wanna get in on that, I wanna, I wanna! Sylph chanted, and before John knew it they had agreed to some sort of group hug.
Well, things are moving ording to n so far, John stated and stretched. Lets get to the arena. Rave offered her arm, and the Gamer dly relied on her.
Just onest question, Rave said when they were walking down the pathway. What would ya have done if they had sent someone else after all?
I had contingencies for the other five ultimately, Jeremiah is just the one I think I can fight the easiest. Him being the one whoes here isnt necessary for the n to work in its entirety. Just the easiest way to control for the desired oues, the Gamer answered. If they hid someone and threw something ridiculous on the table things may have gotten dicey. Sadly, there is no such thing as a riskless scheme. At least not on this scale.
So ya would just have pulled something out of your butt?
Just because I like to n everything ahead of time, doesnt mean I cant improvise, John smirked and they continued their little back and forth until they arrived at the arena. He made sure that Jeremiah saw him, then braced himself to let go of Raves arm and for the inevitable fall that would follow.
He didnt have to do any of that as a lightning girl ripped him away the second he let go of his girlfriend. Yay, cuddles! Sylph eximed, having evidently decided that now was the time for the n made a few minutes earlier. John is narrow but has broad chest to rub face on! Sylph recharging her affection batteries!
N-no fair! Gnome hurried over. For a moment, John feared the soil elemental would jump on his half lying body. He was pretty sturdy, but having an Asian-hottie shaped boulder crash on him would have still shaved some HP off. Luckily, she stopped herself and, admittedly awkwardly, just walked up to him,id down next to him, slowly embraced him and nuzzled close.
She was holding onto him with wide open eyes and a deeply ufortable look on her flushing face. Yet, the cuddle rock only hugged his chest tighter.
I wanted to start that hug, Gnome mumbled and followed up with a quiet, Uwuwuwuwuwu, when both John and Sylph got enticed by her cuteness and deeply embraced her in return.
As the group hug slowly shifted into a sitting position, Smander arrived on the scene. Everyone having fun, huh? she cackled, the buzzcut, redheaded redskin joining the fun through a forceful motion, cushioned inrge part by her breasts, smothering Sylphs face and causing her chattering to be muffled for the moment. The bra of mes didnt even hurt the air spirit, Smander had gained more than enough control of herself in that department.
Eeeeep! Gnome made a sudden sound, looking back over her shoulder, where Undine had appeared out of nowhere and lifted the skirt of the first contracted elementals yellow summer dress. Whatre you doing?
Once more, no panties, Undine noted in her typically calm voice, causing the soil elemental to go from red to crimson. Not even with all these people watching.
If Gnome could have turned intova, she would have turned into a molten puddle right now. S-stop showing them my butt, youuuu- she whined but was interrupted when Undine flowed into the group hug.
John was now surrounded by a four-elemental sandwich. Smanders hot breasts smothered his chest, even with an empty head in the way. Sylphs short and light curves were enthusiastically pressing against him. Gnome was holding onto him with the strength of the earth (and the embarrassment), while he couldnt help but grab at her still semi-exposed butt, soft as mud. Undine was encapsting all of them in her cold squishiness, her own breasts supporting Johns neck as the quiet ocean elemental kept her arms around him.
It was a very nice group hug.
Just a bit bad cing wise.
From the arena, he heard Aclysias voice, who started the tournament right on schedule. Alright, the fight order has been decided. First contestants please enter the arena. John didnt really need to care about that. Most of the match-ups were randomly decided. The Gamer had only done some minor fixing to make absolutely certain there was no way he faced Jeremiah anytime soon in the tournament. The finals would have been too suspicious, so the semi-finals was where they were designed to face each other.
He also knew that he was in the second half of the brackets because of this. There was no way he even cared about who was fighting in this first round. He hugged more intensely rather than listening to the names. The first one passed, some random from the Small Lake Pact. versus Mistress Jane Rave Hollmey, participating in the name of Collide.
John was stunned, Rave giggled. She still calls me that.
No, wait, thats not the issue here! John eximed. When did you enter the tournament, how, I mean, why, I mean
Ya said, and I quote: aside from myself and the people of the Small Lake Pact, I invite the surrounding guilds to participate and one per guild, she smirked. Well, ya didnt say ya were here for Fusion and as Collide is technically the leader of Fusion, Im gonna do that. She booped his nose; her boyfriends arms were still stuck under slime and cuddles. Did you think I would just stay out of the action? Come on, tiger, ya shouldve known something like that wasing.
I am honestly impressed you figured out such a tantly unintended logic hole, John blinked rapidly. I dont like the PR damage youre doing to my brand by effectively doubling Fusions victory chances though.
Dont ya worry, when we face off in the finale, I am gonna punch ya so hard nobody is going to think of that anymore, Rave promised. By the way of the bracket design, the finale was indeed the only time they could face.
Jane, please stop flirting with Master, Aclysia, who could follow all of this by just checking her mental connection to her creator, spoke out loud, her voice echoing through the speakers as she continued to stand in the heart of the arena. I understand the sentiment, but were short on time anyway and I will have to disqualify you in fifteen fourteen thirteen...
Gotta bounce! Raveughed and ran off in the direction of the arena.
Rave Side Story – Fighting and the Girls 1 – Nearby Problems
Rave Side Story C Fighting and the Girls 1 C Nearby Problems
Rave ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Which was, admittedly, quite fast. So fast, in fact, that Copernicus had trouble keeping up with her. The suncat wasnt hooked up to Rave in the same way Johns elementals were. Sure, they had their mentalmunication, but the equal distribution of power was just another aspect of her boyfriends bullshit overpowered abilities.
At the start, Copernicus had been vastly ahead of her. At level 76, he had outssed her by several multitudes. Not that it had mattered most of the time, as the sr feline didnt care much for joining fights. Although that contract had increased Raves own power at the time, by sheer virtue of being connected to such a powerful entity, that was about as far as it went. By now, their roles hadrgely reversed.
Rave was about level 150 at this point, she didnt quite remember the number John had told herst time she asked and she didnt really feel the need to open her own Stat Screen to check. She could, thanks to being in a party with the Gamer, but seeing her own capabilities as numbers always made her scratch her head a little. She just liked the rough gauging of powers between people by the level, that was good enough for her. To that extent, Copernicus now benefited slightly, having reached the low eighties.
Slightly was as far as that went though. Sure, he would be pulled slightly up along her, but in all likelihood, Copernicus would be stuck somewhere under half her level eventually. He could still fight along with her, but only was effectively at her level when he unleashed. Even then, he was better holding back most of the time, as any expenditure of energy on his part shortened the duration she could benefit from her cat-eared form. Her buffed state was more of a stalemate breaker than an extra pair of ws were, most of the time.
Three two the countdown reached near its end as Rave leapt over the barrier that separated the seating from the drop and the arena below. She soared right over the sandy field that was the earth area of the second ring andnded in the central fighting pit. One. Mistress, I must request that you keep within schedule for future fights.
Aw, dont be like that, sweet cheeks, Rave joked back and pped the maid on the ass. Ill give ya something niceter, alright?
Aclysia blushed a little bit, not because of the publicity, but just because even that little tap got her Libido going. Clearing her throat, she continued on, The rules of the tournament have been stated. To remind everyone, however, I will repeat. Using any outside items that get teleported or thrown in will lead to immediate disqualification. Using lethal force is prohibited. Attacking candidates outside the ring is prohibited. The fight may not leave the confinement of this arena. That is it. Begin once I have left the premise.
While Aclysia walked off, she brushed her hand past Raves and gave the Gamers girlfriend a quick nce. It was a pretty clear signal that she wanted to talk. The Lightbearer acknowledged it with a quick nod, turning the motion into a rolling of her neck. Ya should just give up, ya know? Make this quicker and all that, she suggested, doing a couple of stretches. They didnt reveal any more skin; what she was wearing was sitting tight and was pretty minimal.
For reasons of efficiency, of course. With the hot weather and her ability to regenerate mana from sunlight while in catgirl form, revealing a lot of skin was just better. Although she very much enjoyed the stares that came along with that tasteful reason. Over a week ago she would have denied that bit. Felt pretty good to be in the clear with herself.
If she wanted to go for peak performance, she would have put on her bodysuit anyway. That thing was optimized to allow sunray absorption through it. It would also have eaten her current clothes. Putting it on was very unlikely to prove necessary.
Pffff, why give up if these sissy rules are in ce? her opponent mocked. Youre just the Gamer dudes main bitch anyway.
Copernicus took offense to that, hissing from his ce at the ground. Did you just refer to her as a female dog?
What if I did?
Then I am going to w your face off.
Cappy, thats not necessary, Rave assured, kneeling down to scratch her elemental behind the ear. Ya so cute when ya actually care about me. Aclysia must have stepped out of the arena at that moment, as her enemy raised his foot off the ground and then aimed a kick at her head. Continuing to scratch the sr feline with the right, she caught that foot effortlessly in her left hand. See, thats a bitch move, she yawned.
Surprised, the guy tried to pull his foot back. He somewhat seeded, but only by pulling his heel out of his shoe. Oh my Father Light, Copernicus meowled miserably as he jumped back, spine arched and golden, copper striped fur puffed up, Take a shower!
Rave reacted like every human. The conscious mind thought, Oh, so it stinks? Better not test that while her lungs were instinctually drawing fresh air through the nose. Well, supposedly fresh air; it really had the acrid stench of old, sweaty sucks to it. Gaia almighty, e, she eximed, pulled the shoe off and threw it full force against her enemys head.
It hit perfectly, the sole stering across his face and then ricocheting back. Copernicus was evidently ready to follow that up, getting into a pouncing stance. Instead, both her contractor and he looked as the guy slowly,edically, tilted backwards and ultimately dropped to the floor.
Yo, ya there? Rave asked, walking over and gently stubbing the guy in the side. did I just throw a shoe hard enough to knock someone out?
It might as well have been him being confronted with his own stench, Copernicusmented as they stepped away. A few of the maids hurried over to drag the fallen contestant out of the way and announce the next fight. It should be expected that the weaklings drop by the wayside rather quickly.
Hey, he couldve been some super strong dude in hiding, Rave argued.
He could have been, Copernicus agreed as he let himself be picked up by the Lightbearer, only to decide he liked walking himself better and immediately jumping out of her embrace the moment he had been pat once. Then, without any further words, he began strutting away.
Rave reached out mentally, but bounced off a wall. Keeping his privacy was something the suncat had always practiced. Practically every time they had a mental conversation, it was because he started it. Hes a bit of a mean cat, but hes fluffy, she thought, having signed up for this knowingly when she picked him over the other light elementals that had advertised themselves. Something is irking him though well, dont think hell pull an Undine dont even know if he can pull an Undine, she thought as she made her way over to Aclysia. So, whaddup? she asked.
That little brush of their hands was a kind of secret signal between them. Basically, it meant that Aclysia wanted to talk to Rave without John involved. Siena also appeared on the scene, elegantly dropping out of the shadow cast on the short tunnels wall. We need to have a quick chat, the shadow spirit announced in her overly sensual tone, running her de-like fingers over each other in a sharpening motion.
Okay, if the chaos brigade sends someone over, it must be kinda important, Rave joked. Chaos brigade was the name she used for the quartet of Eliza, Undine, Smander and Siena. Those four formed the clique of more or less insane individuals in the harem. Of course, those then interconnected with the other cliques. Rave knew all of them by heart.
Smander was best friends with Sylph, even if both of them would vehemently deny that (depending on the day for thetter), Sylph, in turn, got supremely well along with Stirwin (not a harem member but harem adjacent), Copernicus (same status applied) and Nia. Nia was one of the people Undine liked to be around because they could just sit together in silence when the ocean elemental had reached her word maximum of 200 for the day. Undine and Nia formed another clique with Lydia that Rave had simply titled the quiet ones.
Lydia had a lot of contact with Siena of all people, just because the shadow spirit liked to entangle her in debates. As the queen was rather susceptible to being intellectually challenged, she basically always bit, which amused Siena greatly and caused the two of them to be frenemies. For some reason or another, Gnome tended to be the mediator in those cases.
Gnome was also part of a lot of household discussions with Aclysia and Beatrice. While Beatrice kind of belonged to all cliques and none, her neutrality making her equally easy to get along with, the people she standardly spent the most time with were Metra and Aclysia. The weaponized maid was also simrly interconnected with anyone, being one of the main information nodes within the harem.
Of all people, Aclysia had the most contact with Rave and Lydia, though. Rave herself was in the group that she knew John called the hot heads being herself, Metra and Nathalia, the dragoness herself also being a bit of an equally contentious and liked member of the harem. When she was around, anyway.
And all of that only scratched on the surface of theplicated web of interpersonal rtionships that had been created over the many months, every new member adding a wideryer ofplexity.
They were all friends in some shape or form. Sure, at first nce, the only thing they had inmon was that they all loved the same man, but there was no reason that had to be the only connecting thing between them. Often unseen by the Gamer, they had their own little dramas and talks. It wasnt like a group of over a dozen girls (or people in general) could continuously get along without any bumps whatsoever.
Is this about convincing Scarlett that we should have a party over at her ce again? Rave asked. It was a n proposed by her and agreed on by most girls, since the Technomancer was currently a bit left out. She got along with John just fine, but she wasnt really integrated in the core harem and that was something the Gamers girlfriend didnt like. Not that Scarlett needed to be best friends with any or all of them, but they should know each other outside of ending up in the same room (or bed) every now and again.
That wasnt a problem for someone like Cindy, who clearly wasnt someone John wanted to get romantically involved with, but for Scarlett they would go the extra effort. Problem was that the redhead was a terrible recluse. Most of the time they had spent together had been on the short sail from New York to DC.
This whole thing would have been a lot easier if Momo had been around. Sure, the support was a bit bratty, but she sure knew how to break the ice with people and talk them into social activities. Rave was pretty good with that herself, except for the intellectual and stern types. Scarlett definitely fit in the former andrgely in thetter category.
No, I have put that on the program for the next meeting, Aclysia responded.
Oh, should check the chat, shouldnt I? Rave had forgotten to look in there today. They had scheduled talks every now and again. Most of the time they just devolved into bantering and talking about this and that. Sometimes they devolved even further into some lesbian fun. Fewer times they actually had important stuff to talk about. Like someone needing to blow off some steam about another girl or John doing something they found stupid.
Those meetings were something Rave told her boyfriend about and he had quickly distanced himself and said something along the lines of, Pretty sure its healthiest if you girls have somewhere to get that off your chest. Youre always wee toin to me directly though.
Despite that, Rave sometimes dragged him to those sessions. Just to keep the mood light.
Harem management wasnt always easy, but she found it fun pretty much all the time. It really helped that everyone knew that they were stuck with each other through whatever woulde up in the future. Also, that there was a clearly established pecking order, with Rave and Aclysia firmly at the top. Not just because they had the longest history with John, but also because they were the most reliable and connected of the bunch. Basically, Rave handled the talking and Aclysia the scheduling and that smoothed over almost every issue before they could be any real problems.
Yes, you should, Aclysia remarked. This, however, is about Masters birthday. We are a mere two weeks away.
Ah, right, that could be a bit of a problem, Rave admitted. The ns kinda involve us being home, dont they?
Yes, we need to make alternative preparations, the weaponized maid agreed. At the current trajectory of events, Masters schemes wille to fruition here on Wednesday. It is not guaranteed that we will be able to finish our dealing with the Amacat before then.
Would kinda suck cant really get Metra to drive all the way up here. Also Eliza cant leave New York Rave sighed, scratching her head. Really hoped his first b-day since he got his powers would be really special, ya know?
Yes I am currentlypiling a list of alternative measures. We will discuss this further when the tournament has ended for the day, Aclysia clearly wanted to get to something else. The reason for this sudden meeting is a proposal by Siena, which she has insisted to be confidential and immediate.
Rave nced over to the nightmare elemental that had been uncharacteristically quiet. Well, not that she talks a lot in general, just when shes out in the open, the pink-haired harem leader corrected herself. Waddup, Sinny?
I Siena lowered her voice. This will be confidential and neither of you willugh, she stated as if they had already promised, Aclysia and Rave who nodded slowly. I would like an hour alone with John on his birthday, towards midnight. Her yellow eyes averted and the shadow spirit seemed flustered. I want to-
Rave interrupted by raising her hand. Ya got it, she promised and patted the shadow spirit on the shoulder.
Jane, I must request to think about Masters precious time a little more carefully, Aclysia reacted before the shadow spirit actually could.
Nah, if Siena is actually willing to ask for something, instead of just, ya know, taking what she wants like usual, Rave was reminded of a particr egregious ident involving missing candy, a hungry Sylph and the blowing of half the fuses in the Boating Seaquence from the subsequent temper tantrum, then I am willing to give her like one hour towards midnight. Cant really guarantee John wont bepletely overfucked by then though.
Siena let out a snideugh, As if he could ever be satisfiedpletely. His lust is the only sin he carries bigger than his pride.
Rave could onlyugh in agreement.
Fighting and the Girls 2 – Distant Problems
Fighting and the Girls 2 C Distant Problems
Ya really dont need to do that, Ravemented telepathically as she watched from her vantage point. Sitting on top of a rock in the earth segment, she followed Copernicus movements as he jumped around their opponent. It was a pretty one-sided fight, almost exactly like a cat ying with a mouse.
They were still massively stronger than almost anyone attending the tournament. In fact, the only people Rave knew for sure were a challenge and likely to win against her were John and the Art Eater. A few others had shown to be pretty capable over the day, with a surprise candidate from the Amacat also sting her way upwards through the bracket. Rave would probably meet her in the half finale if everything went on.
She could have asked John for the girls level, but she preferred to do these things on the fly. Especially in a tournament setting where she wasnt really in any danger.
Im not just a glorified mana refinery! Copernicus hissed back way more intensely than Rave had anticipated any answer to be. At the same time, he seemingly decided to end the fight, his golden fur glowing and transforming him into a streak of light as he pounced with more force than his small body indicated, ripping the enemy to the floor.
The floor, in this case, being the artificial pond in the water section of the arena. While Copernicus jumped off his opponents back, securing himself from the wet fate, the opponent dropped in like a boulder. Copernicus hadnt harmed him in any meaningful way, at least Rave didnt see any blood in the water that would be evident of ws getting used, but the person gave up anyway. Likely out of a sense of futility.
Ya wanna talk about that? Rave asked once Copernicus strutted over to her, the suncat walking with his tail raised high. Cause I get the feeling we should kinda talk about that.
For all I care, shortly, the light elemental meowed back as they walked off. I just dont like being the weakest around, the sr feline opened up surprisingly easy. For all of his cattish mood swings and indecisiveness, Copernicus wasmitted when he actually did make a decision. Im going to manage, just irks me sometime.
Well, I still need ya in an advisory role, Rave reminded him. Denying the reality of their power situation wouldnt do them any good and Copernicus was the one responsible for much of her growth. On her own, Rave liked toze around and only do the minimum training. Wanting to keep up with her boyfriend in some fashion had solved the motivation issue. She still sucked at deciding what she should train though, which was where the sr feline was the most important.
Sure, he was weaker than her, but being a light elemental, he had a lot more insight into a lot of the magical aspects of her toolkit. At the same time, he was the one to create the training regimen.
I know, youre awful at organizing, Copernicus purred back in a friendly, mocking fashion as they tapped out of the arena. And my original intention in serving you was to only give you the tools to fend for yourself. Which I am doing a splendid job at.
Eh, 6 out of 10, Rave returned in an equally bantering fashion. Cant beat Romulus yet.
Of course you cant, Copernicus meowed and rolled his neck in the same way people rolled their eyes. Point being, I just dont like being one of the weaker people around. Not a paradigm myst contract shared.
Ya dont talk about that one a lot, Rave pointed out, barely even knowing that there was one.
Because it wasnt a great time, Copernicus meowed back. I mean, the weather in Germany is nice.
Eh, could be hotter, Ravemented, remembering her own younger years in Europe.
But, Copernicus continued, had I known that the idea behind the contract was to eventually meld with someone, I wouldnt have taken it. I liked the guy, but I wouldnt have died for him, and him then trying to figure out a version of the ritual that forced me toply not cool.
People that are mean to cats deserve a kick in the balls, Rave eximed.
Ah, there is my favourite girlfriend! the Lightbearer heard John greet her once she had made it out of the arenas innards and back up to the watchers area, particrly the area the Gamer had reserved for himself and those close to him. Not far below, a couple of news channels had put up their cameras filming the entire event. And her attached sass cat.
We gonna be fine, right? Rave asked, lowering her hand down in front of Copernicus face. After looking at it for a few moments, sniffing as if that wasnt the same hand he had seen countless times before, he rubbed the side of his face along her hand.
Like I would let this get me down; the alternative is breaking the contract and going back to that immensely boring elemental ne. Listening to Sol and Father Light bickering again. Youre momentarily obnoxious, but I can deal with that if it means I get to stay here.
Youre such a tsundere, Rave giggled, pulling her hand back up as Copernicus turned to leave and stroll around the ind on his own. Im gonna ask Aclysia for some tunater, kay?
Good contractor, Copernicus shouted back onest time before jumping down a few stairs and eventually vanishing from sight.
John evidently didnt mind the momentary ignoring, as he was on the phone. Who ya talking to? Rave wanted to know when she sat down on his right. That side had been imed by Smander until a moment ago, the endme elemental respectfully giving the Lightbearer her spot. The left side was covered by Aclysia, who was embracing the Gamers and snuggling up against him.
At this point, that had be the habit of almost everyone in the harem, so Rave followed suit. She hadnt always been that touchy with him, although she was generally someone who liked physical contact. It was just that her boyfriend had changed so much for the better that constantly hugging him was just so satisfying.
For a start, the body under those clothes may still have been rathernky, but she could feel muscles way more than bones, which had been dominant in the early days. It was immensely more satisfying to press against a body with that mixture of firm and softness of rxed muscles. Then there was him looking way better, that eliminated any subconscious inhibitions she may have had towards being seen with him in public. Also, just the reputation they had by now making it so she didnt care whatsoever. Obviously, there was the fact that she just kept loving him and her body was both trained and naturally inclined to just be happy when she was around him, the closer the better.
Last but by no means least was the fact that he smelled amazing. Although they still hadnt sessfully rediscovered that awesome cologne that Nathalia had introduced once upon a time, they had gone through numerous alternatives. By now, they had a number of different treatments. At least every three days, John was subjected to a full body oil massage by Aclysia. He showered every day, having high quality body wash rinse his body clean. His clothes were lightly perfumed, again by virtue of Aclysia. Lastly, the constant cuddles with all of the girls, who all had their own pleasing fragrances, be it by their own hygiene products or by nature.
It all mixed together,yered into an enticing scent of burning sandalwood, cinnamon, freshly cut oranges and just general sweetness that had probably seeped so far into Johns pores at this point that he would have serious problems would he ever want to get rid of it. Thankfully, it wasnt so intense that it drowned out all other smells. Rave hated it when people smelled like they had jumped into a bathtub of perfume. There was such a thing as too much of the good.
Its Lydia, John responded hastily before returning to his phone call.
Rave was suddenly happy that Copernicus had just departed. Whenever the suncat heard of Lydia, he felt the need to make a number of remarks about his distaste of the ritual. Given what Rave had just learned in such a casual fashion, she understood, but it didnt help to get the two of them along.
Yeah, yeah, its all going well oh, seems like its my turn soon No, not in the tournament, he lowered his voice to make sure none of the reporters picked things up, I need to make sure somebody has plenty motivation to do something stupid Rave faintly picked up an answer, while she tookplete advantage of her situation, her fingers working not only on her boyfriends torso but also Aclysias arm. It was nice to have one pretty high quality specimen of the male side and a bunch of individually beautiful girls to y with. Hey, Im not creating a traitor, I just encourage somebody who was a dick from the start to actually put his money where his mouth is!
Rave couldnt help but giggle when John was entangled into a little argument, in which he had very little to say that wasnt a mere attempt at getting an answer in. Like anytime else, Lydia had her way around scolding John, even if he was probably way cleverer than her at this point. Eventually, they reached some sort of agreement and John shifted in those little ways that told Rave that he was about to get up.
Gimme the phone, if ya dont need it, the Lightbearer said, before her boyfriend could end the call.
Sure? John was a bit confused, but after giving Lydia a quick warning, handed over the phone. Love you, he said and nted a quick kiss on Raves lips.
Not sure if ya talking to me, the princess or your convoluted schemes, Rave joked while putting the phone against her ear, looking at her boyfriends ass while he walked away. That had also definitely gotten more toned when he got more muscr. Mine, she thought happily.
Yes, John gave the smartass answer, winking at her with a natural smoothness.
Youre stealing my move! Raveined; they bothughed as he walked away, waving over his shoulder. Then she put the phone against her ear, Hey there, Lylytina, whatcha wearing?
My underwear, the matter of fact tone in which the always so stern woman presented her answer made Rave giggle even more.
Not like ya to wear so little, the Lightbearer pointed out.
The summer is merciless.
Dont you have air conditioning or something?
Weather here in Germany does not normally reach levels that such things are necessary. Therefore, no, I have nothing like that installed within my work room, she retorted, sounding a bit nasal in her words. I also have to take contention with you calling me a princess. I am either queen or empress, depending on which level of aristocracy you observe.
Well, excuuuuuse me, princess, Rave answered immediately and had a genuineugh at her own joke while Lydia groaned, having heard that joke way too often. Sorry, but you walked right into that one.
I suppose I did.
Ya sound better though, sickness away?
Thest few symptoms are sticking stubbornly around; I would categorize myself as recovered, however, Lydia confirmed, adding in a sarcastic tone, Who could have guessed that hearing good news of my overseas lover would contribute positively towards my wellbeing.
Yeah, things have gone pretty well recently, Rave let out a bit of a sigh. Which traditionally means something has to go wrong soon.
That is a facy, Lydia stated. A chair creaked in the background, then piano music began to softly y as the queen did what she usually did when she felt like she had a minute to get away with it. It is simply that life itself is made out of good and bad segments. Unless you do something that would lead to an umtion of debt, there is no need to assume something will go bad though.
Rave blinked rapidly for a few seconds, Are ya trying to sell me some hopeful message right now, miss pragmatism?
Nein, Lydia answered so quickly she identally switched back to German. Hope is a bad decision influencer. I am simply stating that there is no universalw that dictates that good times must be followed by bad times or vice versa. Its a misconception born from the way humans think.
Jeez, yes, Lyly, I know, Rave joked, ya need to rx and not take everything people say apart on a fundamental level, my girl.
I suppose I could stop, but I find it hard to judge when you are genuinely wrong and when you are speaking in jest. I do apologize, Lydia responded with a sigh. While we are on the topic of me and lectures, please make sure John is not repeating ns like his current one too often. Its a way to grow enemies.
Well, he calls it machia-whatchacallit.
Machiavellian, Lydia stated.
Thats the one!
Well, it most certainly is. I know he is aware, but with him its a constant struggle to find out if he is being extremely smart or simply arrogant at times.
He usually got things, so I dont think we need to worry too much.
Last time he didnt, he had the lucky oue of only losing his eyesight, Lydias iron tone sunk right into Raves chest, as if someone was pushing a frozen piece of metal against her. At the same time, the tune in the background turned to slow, deep notes. I grant him that it wasnt majorly his arrogance that caused that, he weighed the odds and came up short, but I want to keep the odds of repeating that as low as possible. Surely, you dont need that preached.
I really dont, no, Rave answered in a serious tone. Heavy stuff yeah, Ill keep an eye on him. In less serious but still unpleasant news, did ya hear about the birthday problem?
I am in the know and in the process of formting my alternatives, the queen responded swiftly, the piano picked up to a quicker, less damning melody. Since I already took my schedule into ount, I am flexible around the allocated time frame.
Ah, alrighty, Rave hummed. And did ya hear about that thing Smander bought?
Is it something that doesnt burn?
Pretty sure a couch can burn
What would she require a couch for?
Apparently she and Siena have like some sort of n? Dont quote me on that, you better ask them yourself.
I certainly think that having agreed to Sylphs proposal was already service enough to make good on my general cooperation willingness.
To be fair, it is a pretty hawt idea.
The way you pronounce that word offends me oh, Mother Metal
What? Rave asked, confused as to why Lydia suddenly sounded so shocked. Even the piano stopped.
I just realized I am currently engaging in idle talk and gossip Lydia mumbled into the phone, and Rave could just see her pinching the bridge of her nose. What a waste of my time.
Aww, dont be like that, Lydia, Rave pouted into the microphone. I can hear ya having at least some fun.
Do I sound amused?
No, ya sound not extremely annoyed, which is your version of amused, Rave teased. A frustrated sigh came along with something that was almost augh. Now you DO sound amused! the Lightbearer eximed triumphantly.
I am forced to admit that your antics are my social life, the metal mage conceded. I suppose I have another few minutes. Do inform me what else I have missed between the girls and skip nothing that I could use to annoy Siena with.
Fighting and the Girls 3 – Internal Ascendance
Fighting and the Girls 3 C Internal Ascendance
So, was there a case like that? Rave wondered, her conversation with Lydia having continued for a little while, even after John returned. Roles were now reversed, her boyfriend having first sat down next to her, then nudged ever closer until they ended up in their current position, with the Lightbearer sitting between his straddled legs, Johns arms around her waist.
There have been several cases like that, Lydia responded. People have been attempting to force the melding ritual on elementals since the practice was originally discovered. The disgruntled and unepting are a constant throughout any history.
Thats so mean though, Raveined. What do ya do when ya find them?
We punish as appropriate, often with the death penalty, Lydia responded. Germany needs a good standing with the elemental nes in order to continue our court culture. If we were to let the conduction of forceful meldings go by unpunished, it may be that we would soon find ourselves at a sort of elemental boycott. That and its wrong from a moral perspective.
Must be nice to have something thats both personally and publicly condemnable, the Lightbearermented, realizing that it wasnt a luxury that leaders had all the time. There were things that were awful that had to be done.
Even nicer would be if these things ceased to happen Lydia sighed and continued. Between you and me, the melding ritual is incredibly simplistic and the circle needed for it can be etched into basically any surface. The forceful ritual only differs that you need to draw that same circle from the elementals essence. Hardened disdain snuck into her voice, doubtlessly fuelled by her own, partial elemental nature, Drawing the necessary amount out is like bleeding a human to the edge of death. In an ironic twist of fate, the forced party retains most of their personality traits upon the sessful fusion of both characters, however.
So they kinda screw themselves over by making it so the person thates out at the end is way more the elemental than themselves? Rave asked.
Yes, which is why the death penalty is mostly invoked if we catch someone before the ritual. If it is only revealed to us afterwards, we usually convene with the corresponding elemental leader unless its an air elemental.
Lemme guess, she a chatty one?
Mother Wind is a headache invoked, Lydia confirmed. Imagine Sylph, but as ancient as magic, more powerful than most other gods and with a very dark side.
How dark?
One of her titles is Terror of the Dreamless.
I aint even sure what that means but it sounds bad.
Once upon a time, she is said to have torn down an entire dreamscape. The dreamers left alive only ever saw the darkness when they slept.
I also dont know what that means, but it sounds worse. Also more like something up the shadow elemental alley. Ya know, Siena is literally a nightmare elemental even if she doesnt use her dream invading abilities all that much.
Air elementals are the most intertwined with other elements and the Mother of Air is the foremost example of that, Lydia retorted, the piano in the background ying onest little tune before a high note ended the song. I need to return to work now, at least if I want to have time to take a shower before my next assignment.
Ya go do that, Rave said her goodbyes and then they finally hung up.
_______________________________________________________________________
The tournament continued uneventfully. The first day ended without a single worthwhile challenge. When the second one rolled around, however, that changed rather drastically. The number of fighters still in the race had immensely shrunk by now and the schedule had the dropouts fighting for the exact cementster today rather than giving any breathing room.
Coupling this with enemies that, while far from truly dangerous, could actually put up a bit of a fight, Rave felt the drain on her stamina over the course of the day. The longest break she got between fights had been an hour, at the very start of the day. The less fighters there were, the stronger they became, the shorter the breaks between rounds she was participating in.
Between the quarter and her semi-final fight were only five minutes. You doing fine? John asked, going through the same treatment but looking unbothered.
Dunno, Rave answered, keeping her breath steady and controlled, while sipping on as much water as she could justify without running danger to overload. Everything feels a bit fuzzy right now. In a good sense. She gave him a light-headed smile. I like this.
While she was exhausted, she wasnt terribly so. It had been a slow grinding down over several hours of fight-pause-fight. Her muscle fibres were tingling, blood rushing through her body, lungs working at full capacity. Thoughts operated at a minimum, instincts primed to react to the next sudden danger.
It was a state of narrow-minded concentration, the intensity of which she hadnt experienced before. Sure, she knew a battle trance, being in the zone, with only adrenaline and reflexes on the surface. This was bigger than that. Born slowly from hours of on-offbat.
John looked at her somewhat worried. You got this though?
Oh, I got this, Rave smirked when she heard her name being called.
Yeah, so, the unmotivated ck-haired maid yawned into the microphone. First semi-final fight, Rave of Collide versus Corith of Amacat, youe down here and get that done.
Fluidly, Rave rose from her seat. The edge of her field of vision was a bit blurry, but the centre all the sharper, as she walked up to the edge of the seating area, stepping onto the barrier and simply dropped down. Shended gracefully, legs bending, one hand assisting in feathering the rest of the impact.
Alright, Copernicus reached out to her mentally. It would be best if you put on your headphones.
Right, Rave agreed; her elemental had been keeping an eye on her ever since the strain had begun to manifest itself in this light-headed way. She grabbed the headphones, currently resting around her neck, and pulled them over her ears. Sounds were muffled for a moment, until she effortlessly slipped over into the catgirl state. Contrasts of light and dark intensified as her pupils changed into a slit shape. Strands of pink hair bundled together into cat ears,pleting that little transformation. The bridge of the headphones curved around them perfectly, being designed for catgirls in general and for Rave specifically.
With that new pair of ears, the over-ear pieces on her head didnt impair her hearing whatsoever. On the contrary, like sight and smell, the sense was amplified. Rave calmly breathed in through her nose and out for her mouth as she strolled towards the centre of the arena.
She fiddled with a couple of buttons on the left ear piece. Since it had proven a bit disadvantageous in the past to have a cable flying around, and because her bodysuit had no pockets, she had eventually gotten a pair of headphones with her music integrated. It was actually something that Scarlett had screwed together for her.
Knowing all the music on there by heart, she only needed three seconds tops to recognize any of the openings. Click by click, she went through the library until she arrived at a song she felt like fighting to and put it on pause.
Her opponent dropped into the arena in a simr fashion. Although without headphones, Coriths aesthetic reminded Rave quite a bit of herself. The Amacats participant was a woman in her mid-twenties, appearance wise at least, judging age of higher level Abyssals was a different beast, of blonde hair and clearly northern European descent. The bodysuit she wore was a in ck, as tight on her curves as on Raves own.
Figure wise, she wasnt all that impressive. She had an okay butt and breasts of an average size. That wasnt to say she was mediocre looking, she was about a seven out of ten, just not as drop-dead gorgeous as the harem Rave usually hung out with. Nevertheless, she had quite the carefree smile.
Wanna have some long talk about why the Amacat even sends someone to this tournament? Corith asked, her voice reflecting that she was exhausted in a simr fashion as Rave was.
Nah, the Lightbearer answered, shaking her arms a little bit to rx them. Already know from my boyfriend. Lets just have a friendly bit of bashing each others faces in.
Corinth grinned and took a fighting pose. Rave, however, kept a hand on her headphones, waiting for the announcer to leave the arena. The moment she was out, Rave
A guitar echoed, ying a few cords. Corinth didnt move, letting the techno lover take her own stance. Electronic notes soon joined the intro, building up. Both of them moved ever so slightly, instincts sharpened by fighting experience looking for that one small opening to exploit.
When the song echoed two words into her ear, Press Start, Rave forced the issue along with the explosion of bass. Charging straight ahead, she almost caught Corinth off guard, but the blonde adjusted her footing to meet the assault in time.
Rave moved to the song. Every beat was a punch or a block, every melody a swiping movement of arms or legs. Back and forth, they exchanged attacks and defences, gauging each others strength. The Lightbearer knew of Corinth only what she had seen so far in the tournament. She wasnt aware whether her opponent had done any research into her person, but Rave was already used to people knowing at least some of her abilities.
It became apparent pretty quickly that Rave was the better in every aspect when it came to raw physical power. Although the beat made her timing somewhat predictable, the speed at which she acted and the flowing of punches and kicks from varying angles eliminated any advantage that may have created.
Rave pushed the aggression further, prying open Corinths defences with a one-twobo and then following that up with a high kick. A blue Aura ignited around the blonde like a me, her speed increasing drastically and allowing her to pull back just in time to save herself from the heel to the chin.
With the golden light that decorated Raves ankle, that one sessful kick may have been all that was needed. Copernicus blessing gave every of her connecting kicks and punches an aftershock in the form of a wave of what was, essentially, glowing kic energy. Between the initial impact and that second damage, a forceful blow to the head was guaranteed to do a lot of damage. Well, even more than for the average person.
Corinth used her Aura-fuelled speed not to start an immediate counterattack, but instead raised her foot in a quick stomp. The dry, condensed ground dpressed at explosive speed, causing a sudden cloud of dust to envelop Rave as she turned back on her feet. Thats a martial art I didnt know before, she thought as she skipped back, able to see fairly little and not wanting to fill her already taxed lungs with dry, fine sand.
She had to jump several times, only emerging in the fire segment of the arena. Something that caused a bit of a disgraceful scene, as shended on one of the pressure tes in the area, causing a nearby methrower to activate and sending its scorching energy out towards Rave. The fire wasnt all that dangerous, at least not for the short time Rave was subjected to it, the Baelementium in her body suit kept it from doing any damage.
It did, however, distract her for a mere moment. A moment she could have used to react to the sudden transformation of the sand cloud, as it converged into a small area. Friction heat and magic caused the sand to melt into a spear shaped mass of red-hot ss, which Corinth threw without actually touching it.
Now it was on Rave to fire up her Aura at thest possible moment. Blue light engulfed her, boosting her physical capabilities further. This wasnt, however, why she used it. From her spine, to her lungs, to her bloodstream, focusing into her ankles, she took a step without moving her legs. Shift ryed her position from the path of the spear to just behind, as it passed where her chest had just been and then shattered against the wall.
Sand mage? Rave wondered about her opponents ability, Innate or Acquired didnt really matter. Maybe ss? She kept on the move, not wanting to remain in the area where a wrong step could sear her hair off or close to the ss shardsying about. While running, Rave extended an arm towards her enemy, pointing with a single finger.
Mana flowed to her hand, straight from its origin in her spine. The key difference between martial arts and magic was that one was utilizing mana inside and the other outside ones own body. As such, the mana she now used gathered in front of her fingertip and then beamed out as a multi-colouredser.
While it had the appearance of light, it didnt travel at the speed of it. Of all the magic schools, it was, however, still one of the fastest. Corinth sessfully dodged the first one, but Rave kept firing to the unsteady melody of the song. Eventually one connected, then a second, the blonde backing away as Rave continued to run along the circr rim of the inner arena field.
The Lightbearer extinguished her Aura and took a deep breath while she was running. If there was one disadvantage to martial arts, it was that regenerating mana while the Aura was active was immensely difficult. Drawing mana from her steady breathing and the sunlight itself, Rave was able to keep firing thesers without risk of running low anytime soon.
Corinth must have realized the same thing. For a moment, it looked like she would surrender, hesitating in her movements, her arm half raising. Then she grinned. Rave knew that expression. Although the Amacats representative had realized her victory was immensely unlikely, she would at least try to push herself to the utmost limit and see what that would get her to.
To Raves surprise, this led Corinth not into meeting her in another melee engagement, but instead to running towards the water segment of the arena and throwing herself into the pond. Fist flying towards the surface of the water, she used some sort of technique that caused the body of liquid to suddenly explode in a simr fashion as the ground had earlier. Drops of water flew into the air in a fine mist.
Then suddenly stopped.
Particle mage! Copernicus meowed into her head. She controls whatever elements within a certain size category.
The mist became an obfuscation of Raves sight again. She could only blindly fire into the white, wobbling mass. Lasers werent particrly effective at that, the heat losing itself within the many small drops while the minimal force failed to punch any holes into the veil.
With no other option, Rave charged inside. Aura ring up again, she sent her fists flying in seemingly random motions, always following the beat of the song that was now entering itsst build-up before all of the parts of the song came together.
Each punch blew holes into the mist, Clearing Hits designed specifically to scatter gas-based attacks. With every punch she felt her muscles and lungs burn more. Physical exhaustion now surfaced in full force. A steady breath was sacrificed to the desperate pumping of much needed air. As her body grew heavier, her vision narrowed more and more, her mind became more awake. She felt as if she was about to grasp something bigger. She just needed a bit more of a challenge, a bit more of a hurdle to ovee, then she would realize something.
What that something was, she had no clue, she just knew that this stretching of her capabilities was an awesome amount of fun.
What wasnt was the fact that, no matter how much mist she blew away, she just couldnt find her opponent. The cloud was growing thinner with every Clearing Hit she threw. Eventually she would have dispersed all of it, but until then Corith seemed determined to pull all water particles she still had back together and just frustrate Rave into submission.
Then it wasnt just mist anymore. A storm of sand suddenly engulfed her. Together with the remaining water, it mixed into a vortex of mud. While it stuck on uselessly over her bodysuit, Rave had to shield her eyes. She quickly realized that the idea here wasnt to hurt her, but to immobilize her until enough mudnded on her to be used as some sort of coffin.
The song kicked into its final segment and so did Rave prepare for the climax of the battle, firing up her Aura to the maximum and raising her foot. What she was about to do was risky, for sure, but also the exact thing her instincts told her to do. She wasnt one to think much about whether this was actually the best course of action.
Massive amounts of ki gathered in her hip as she raised her foot all the way. Then she suddenly brought it down, the energy ripping down her leg with it, travelling through veins and bones. A single mistake could cause her muscles to tear and that was the luckiest oue.
However, she managed sessfully to execute the Grandmaster technique. Her sole connected to the floor, t and all at once, the energy sting out and into the ground. Seismic step caused the earth under her to crack suddenly. She was the centre, the very cause, for a localized earthquake, the tremors of which could still be felt up in the watchers area.
The force caused even the particles in the air around her to stop for a moment. Then Copernicus blessing mimicked the force of the explosion as a wave of golden light that travelled above the floor. As if a stone had been thrown into a pond, the wave moved outwards, creating an undercurrent so strong that the cloud of mud, while not dispersed, becamepletely harmless for a few moments.
Moments enough for Rave to move along the climax of the song. She stormed outwards, knowing exactly where her opponent had to be. Exiting the cloud, she immediately spotted Corith in the earth area. The enemybatant raised her hands, trying to raise more of the sand in that area, to throw at Rave.
The Lightbearer felt her hairs tingle, she was so close to releasing this thing. Just a bit more resistance, a bit more difficulty.
Fading out like a candle at the end of its lifecycle, the aura around Corith vanished, just like the mud cloud and rising sand fell to the floor without any further impact. The Amacats representative breathed heavily, as did Rave as she hastily stopped her charge. Well guess I am tapped out of everything Corith said, breath- and manaless, then fell over with a giggle.
_________________________________________________________________________
You sure youre fine? John asked again, to which Rave only weakly nodded. Sitting felt really good right about now. That fight had only been about four minutes, but it sure had been taxing. Now her break would only be as long as however long John needed to beat his opponent.
Ya go an have your own fight, she stated, still trying to grasp at that something Corith had failed to tickle out of her. John had to leave, by the rules he had set himself, fights were to start as quickly as possible after one another. No, wait, one more thing, tiger, she eximed, grabbing him by the sleeve. Gimme-
She didnt even have to finish that sentence. John was already bowing down to her. His kiss was firm, decisive, his lips surprisingly soft against her own. Although aggressive in its motions, he was also gentle, their tongues touching only for a moment, as he didnt want her to waste any more of the breath she needed.
A short kiss, but a wonderful one, although her pumping adrenaline may have made these things a bit more overbearing than they needed to be. Ya getting ever better at these, Rave giggled like a young girl in love, which she factually was, when he pulled back.
I get a lot of practice with a beautiful girl, he answered, lovingly running his hand through her hair for a moment. Ill be back in a bit.
See ya in the finale, she teased back.
Chapter 595 – Small Lake Reforms 9 – Convoluted schemes in motion
Chapter 595 C Small Lake Reforms 9 C Convoluted schemes in motion
Most of the tournament was pretty boring.
Of course, this was expected. Statistically speaking, chances of John encountering someone who was a proper challenge were very low. Adding the realism aspect, the Small Lake Pact couldnt produce someone like that out of nowhere, since their strongest guy hadnt even been that hard to defeat for Aclysia. Indeed, the most difficult enemies around were those sent by the Amacat and the Lake Alliance.
That the Amacat was even participating was a bit of a surprise. Corith, a blonde martial artist, had sought out John in advance, however, so he didnt need to worry about it. Basically, the Amacat wasnt actually in the tournament. She, as a higher up in the security apparatus, had just asked to be sent over for the chance of owning an ind in the area, even if it was for only one year. At level 91, she was pretty capable.
Still, the actual and only real threat around was Jeremiah. Level 212, he was a proper threat to John and guaranteed to have some sort of nasty ability beyond his capability to eat Artificial Spirits. First I encounter Sigmund, who was a different vour of my Achievements, and now this guy, who is a weaker version of Romulus god-eating, John thought.
Now, at first nce, being forty levels lower did put John squarely in the disadvantage. It was also likely that Jeremiahs abilities could at least somewhat rival the bullshit that was Johns six elementals. The more elite his opponents became the more their unique abilities could keep up with Johns. It was logical, talented individuals often started with advantages.
On closer inspection, Johns situation looked a lot less dire. Said gap kept decreasing, but it was by no means non-existent. Six elementals and two Artificial Spirits that all scaled with him were still supremely above most peoples fighting power.
Then the level gap wasnt even that terrible. For one, because the level system didnt follow a standard RPG design idea where gaps above 3 could easily lead to defeats due to exponential forms and steadily reced gear. Instead, levels were just a short-cut to gauge rough strength. The real question was how Stats looked in rtion to one another.
40 levels tranted to 200 Stat Points for a normal person. Despite his high level, Jeremiah had not yet broken whatever ceiling increased that for him to 6 points. 200 Stat Points wasnt nothing, but it wasnt a massive advantage.
Especially since John wasnt actually 200 Stat Points behind. He had himself unlocked the 6 and 7 point scaling at level 80 and 109 respectively. That gave him another 151 Stat Points (29 for the levels until the 7 points bonus, 122 afterwards), decreasing the gap by three fourths.
It would probably be worth calcting items into that as well, but John wasnt na?ve enough to assume that Jeremiahs Base Stats would go unbuffed. If not All Stats, then at least the Stats that mattered. Best to n with parity in that field in mind. If he was wrong, he would get a pleasantly easier fight. If he was horribly wrong, he would get wrecked. That was always a risk, sadly.
All of that nning was vastly more entertaining than the tournament brackets. Another thing of statistical nature. The closer they were to the beginning of the tournament, the more weak people were participating, lowering the chances to encounter anyone John couldnt beat up on his lonesome. Most of the time, he didnt even need magic.
Or he wouldnt have needed, rather, if he hadnt been fighting with his eyes open. Kickboxing, as it turned out, was a horribly inefficient way to fight if, halfway through a kick, his body suddenlypensated for a nt that wasnt there and caused the Gamer to topple over like a domino. That didnt make him lose, most people didnt have the damage to chew through his Health Pool in a sensible time. The few he encountered inter stages of the tournament didnt have the stamina to batter through both Mana Protection and Johns HP.
Stamina was also something Rave could have needed. You doing fine? he asked his girlfriend. The tournament had already progressed to the semi-finals. Fights had been going back to back since the morning, ever closerpetitors grinding against each other, with minimal pauses in between. Everything was progressing as he had wanted, but he also hadnt ounted for his girlfriend participating.
Dunno, she gave a bit of a worrisome answer, although her breathing was still controlled. asionally taking small sips of water, Rave wiped some sweat off her forehead. Everything feels a bit fuzzy right now. In a good sense. She gave him a light-headed smile I like this.
On one hand, seeing her like this was basically validation that his intentions when making the second phase of the tournament unnecessarily hasty were working exactly as he wanted. On the other, he couldnt help but continue to be worried. You got this though?
Oh, I got this, Raves smile turned into a smirk and her name got called from the centre of the arena, echoing out of the scattered speakers. With surprisingly fluid motions, she rose and went up to the edge of the viewers area, only to then jump down before John could get anymore words in.
Well, at least her enemy will be just as exhausted, he thought out loud.
There is no need to be worried, Master, Aclysia attempted to calm him down, picking the water bottle Rave had left behind on the bench and putting it into her inventory. I am certain Jane can handle some exhaustion. I have seen her more out of breath before.
Different kind of exhaustion, John mused, knowing exactly what his maid was getting at. I shouldnt worry; Copernicus will keep an eye on her. I think I can trust him that much. The suncat kept himself isted at most times. Like every other feline out there, he preferred to onlye about when he wanted something. The other way around went often ignored. Luckily, one of the things the light elemental seemed to want was for his summoner to remain victorious andrgely unscathed.
There were other things to worry about. Largely the steps of the n that would follow directly after this. Although he was following the fight between his girlfriend and Corith, his attention was also on the other side of the arena, where Siena was currently hanging about in the shadow of Zensie.
I have been here for two days, sheined, when recognizing her summoners mind. I dislike being bound.
Yes, yes, you much prefer doing the binding or doing the bound, John skipped past the innuendos. That aside, its not even true, you took a break yesterday!
Short breaks are important if you want to keep performance up, the shadow spirit giggled. Long breaks can make things a lot more exciting.
And they were right back to the innuendos. John really wanted to know what that break had been about, but Siena had firmly shut him out and told him to stay out for the duration of whatever she was doing. As a respectful gentleman, and a pervert that loved most surprises, he obeyed, having a hunch that it was somehow connected to his uing birthday. Although that may just have been wishful thinking.
All of that aside, he had to ask the question for which he originally shifted his attention. In the arena below, Rave and Corith began a wild exchange of blows. How are weing along? Is he pissed enough yet?
He is gathering the remaining disgruntled forces, yes, Siena responded. While I delight in your ridicule of this shallow man, I do have to admit that I dont get the reason for it. Aclysia already cleaned up around here, didnt she?
She cleaned up the idiots, yes, John responded quickly, having only waited for someone to finally ask that. The second Siena realized he was about to go onto a tangent, she regretted her question. It was toote though; John wouldnt be stopped by her feeble mental resistance. See, Aclysias approach was direct. She called for everyone who disliked the things she immediately implemented to step up and fight her. Effective at quelling any immediate resistance, for sure, but the second we are gone, the more intelligent dissenters will undermine Fusions authority in subtle ways. Dont forget, we have learned that the second way around here to eliminate anti-culture takeovers in the past were assassinations.
He was taking a pause, in order to let Siena make a follow-up question or ament. Instead, the nightmare elemental said nothing, hoping that this whole thing would simply end there if she just didnt engage with the topic further.
Master, may I ask how making Zensie angry with you will cause those dissenters toe out? Aclysia interjected into the mental conversation. Unlike Siena, she loved hearing John talk, particrly when he showed how he had once again outsmarted the opposition in some way. While the weaponized maid was also on team pride-watch, she did feel her own bit of satisfaction whenever her master proved he was one hell of a man.
Also, she liked that it annoyed Siena, who mentally groaned.
Johns answer was dyed as he was following the happenings in the arena. The centre had suddenly been consumed by a giant dust cloud. Only when Rave appeared again, skipping backwards in quick leaps, did he take a breath of relief. Siena, on the other hand, giggled when the Lightbearer stepped onto a pressure te that activated a methrower. It wasnt harmful, but it did look a bit silly.
Then the cloud of dust was suddenly pulled together into a ss spear that Corith chucked at Rave. Through firing up of her aura, Johns girlfriend dodged, using Shift, and consequently bombarded her opponent withserbeams. Huh, particle mage, havent seen that before, John thought, immediately recognizing the ability his girlfriends opponent possessed. Wonder how long she could have controlled the spear for, considering it melted into arger unit.
Master, your answer, if you would be so kind, Aclysia nudged him along to keep him talking.
Right. Simply put, I am using the same strategy we used in New York. Bring the strongest or most likely leadership figure opposed to you tomit to adversarial action in order to have the rest of the enemy coalition gather around them. Difference this time being that I needed to give people a way to actually remove me.
Given that they werent even able to murder Aclysia, it seems they arent na?ve enough to try and assassinate you, Siena dide back to the conversation. They should have simply approached me, I would have been really pleased to divorce your head from your shoulders.
You dont mean that, you adorable shadowlurker, John returned, half-mocking, half-flirting. Anyway, this is where the Lake Alliancees in. Of course, Zensie wouldnt work with them without a reason. Before I came along, they were the great uniting enemy. I had to give him someone to hate. Granted, he made it pretty easy for me to piss him off.
And what, Master, would you have done if he turned out to be a patient and pleasant fellow?
Absolutely nothing, John couldnt help but shrug, which would have looked pretty random to anyone watching. Its not like I lose anything if that n fails. Would just be stuck in the same situation as before. See, the best ns are those where you dont run into a risk of worsening your own lot in life.
Very wise, Master.
No, Siena disagreed in a raspy, still deeply sexy tone, that is not very wise, that is about as basic as nail-ripping is to torture.
In the fighting pit, Rave disappeared from sight again, this time by storming into a cloud of mist. That she voluntarily went in there made the thing a bit less tense. Anyway, John continued on, so far so good, I seeded in making Zensie take the straw presented to him. Now, the question is which path he is going to take once the tournament concludes
Since he dropped outst round, he hasnt been doing anything, Siena told him. Just sat here brooding. So quiet. So vulnerable.
Probably mulling over his possibilities himself, John hypothesized as the fight below came to an end. Announced by a minor earthquake, which the Gamer felt pretty firmly in his buttocks, the mist cloud turned mud storm came to a sudden halt. A massive wave of golden light dispersed it further, and Rave came storming out a momentter.
The fight wasnt decided by any great punch. Instead, Corith ran out of mana mid answer manoeuvre. Both women just stopped moving at that point, with the blonde representative of Amacat giving up willingly after a respectful handshake.
Well, whatever he chooses, Ie out on top in some way, shape or form as long as I win this tournament, John thought, this time to himself, as he rose from his seat. Both to greet his girlfriend and to get ready for his own fight.
Jeremiah rose on the other side of the arena.
Chapter 596 – Small Lake Reforms 10 – Vs Art Eater
Chapter 596 C Small Lake Reforms 10 C Vs Art Eater
Now, why did John want the tournament to happen at such a breakneck speed that all fighters would exhaust themselves in the process? The simple answer was: because he would not be affected by it.
Gamers Bodys many virtues included a much more thorough recovery from fatigue than was reasonable. It protected John from such long term effects as sore muscles, but it also solved most problems of exhaustion after just some resting. Provided he wasnt suffering from any debuffs in the dehydration or starvation departments.
It was an advantage that John seldomly got to use insidebat, but when he dictated the rules, there was no reason not to take advantage of every little thing he got. The entire design of the tournament had the goal in mind to exhaust Jeremiah before he got into the arena.
With some more or less expected oues.
For one, the fatigue had been clearly less sessful than John hoped. The Art Eater was clearly sweating, but his breathing was well-regted and his posture straight. Basically, he looked like a marathon runner that had just finished the firstp. Sure, he was a bit strained, but he could easily continue for a while longer.
Cant say I am too surprised, John thought, still satisfied. That the person with 400 Endurance was able to stomach a whole lot more than anyone else, including Rave, participating in the tournament was well inside the scope of predictable results. At the same time, the man John was looking at wasnt the tall ck-haired guy he had came to know Jeremiah as.
Instead, he was looking at an irond warrior, quite literally. The Lake Alliances representatives skin was polished bronze, shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow as if a thinyer of oil had been rubbed over it. A previous fight had caused the clothes on his chest to disintegrate, revealing the silver-white lines, thin as they were, outlining his muscles, just as gold segments covered more vital, usually less protected, areas of his physique, like stomach and joints. Despite the clearly metallic shell, they still rippled with the flexibility of a well-trained human.
Baelementium, Mithril and Elementium, that the Art Eater could present all of those rare metals did speak to his powers. It also spoke to ack of foresight that his Stats reflected. Not that an Intelligence of 18 is really that bad, John thought as he rolled his head. If it is supposed to be equal to my Intellect, he is only seven points lower than I was when this whole thing started. Given the amount of bad decisions I used to make well, I still make bad decisions sometimes.
There were two Stats that Jeremiah Arter had at absurd heights. Aside from Endurance, his Spellpower was also in the low four-hundreds. Of course, having two Stats that high meant that the others had to be low topensate, as such Strength and Agility reached only 105 and 76 respectively. At the same time, the Art Eaters mana only reached an E rank.
Those were all the pieces of information that John had gathered at their first meeting, where he had pumped all mana into Observe to break through Jeremiahs protections. Whatever those were, they were currently active, so the Gamer could sadly not take a stock of the metal mans doubtlessly buffed up Stats. It was best to assume at least the physical ones to be increased drastically.
John had surmised that Jeremiah had been some sort of transformer (not in the autobot way) by his original Stat distribution. That Spellpower had to go to something and it sure as hell wasnt going to be magic attacks, not with that low mana. It had to be that or some other sort ofrgely passive effect, the Gamer thought, as he finally arrived in the middle of the arena.
Now, as to why Jeremiah had pulled this card already, it was either to show off or because he wanted to end previous fights quicker. A better strategy would have been to let his superior Endurance wear his enemies down, just to leave John guessing for as long as possible. Thankfully, the Art Eater wasnt particrly inclined to execute proper ns.
Man, I would love to boast about all of this, John thought, only a couple of steps between him and Jeremiah now. Cant do it without potentially giving away lots of things though well, no viin monologue today. Everyone ready?
The question was of course dedicated to the present familiars, who appeared at his side one by one. Aclysia had already been there, standing to his left, Sylph and Smander materialized in the air behind him, Gnome on his right side and Undine was seen only for a moment before shifting into her item form and wrapping herself around Johns right hand.
Even Siena showed herself for a moment. Using up her three-day teleport cooldown, she appeared right next to John. Visually, it was the exact same as her shifting from incorporeality, which was quite important. If she had just appeared orter on attacked from Jeremiahs shadow, it could have prompted a few questions John didnt want anyone to wonder about.
Finally, I can wreck your smug ass, Jeremiah growled.
Woooooow, hostile, John responded with sarcastic surprise, fixing his sses. Aside from the World Ender set, the two rings, Purgatory and the ne, the Gamers get-up today had been the same casual thing as the past few days. A white shirt with short sleeves, ck pants, leather shoes. It revealed that both Purgatory and the Undine glove only reached up to his elbow, but that was more of an idental thing, really. Didnt know you swung that way, buddy.
The Art Eater needed a moment to understand what John was getting at, then tried his hand at threats a second time, even more angry. I will tear you in half!
Well, however you do it, Ill still have a bigger dick than you, the Gamer responded casually, looking at the autumn-leaf-winged butterfly that fluttered past him. That was the moment when the announcer was out of the arena and the fight began.
Jeremiahs first move was absolutely predictable. With an angry roar, he leapt forwards. Not at John, as he noted, but at Aclysia. A motion that, all the same, was blocked by Gnome. Activating her unleashed ability, the soil elemental began moving, partly against her will.
The condensed sand under their feet turned into a fertile brown as it came under the sway of Gnome. As a torrent of earth, she created a U shaped wall around Jeremiah, as she travelled from the nearest to the farthest butterfly. John could hear the impact of metal on stone, once, then a quick second time,ing along with Jeremiahs fist ripping straight through the wall.
So, he will still go for the logical target inbat, rather than the emotional one or perhaps he just wants to hurt me emotionally first, John analysed the situation. The first step to winning this fight was to understand his enemys weaknesses. Now for a bit of a yground move John thought and ordered Aclysia to grab the fist.
The weaponized maid got a grip moments before Jeremiah could pull back. Putting a foot against the wall, she pulled on the arm. On the other side, there was confused and frustrated screaming. The reason why John called this a yground move was because this reminded him of two kids y fighting, one of them trying a kick and the other catching the foot. While it was a bit goofy, it was a pretty effective way at immobilizing someone.
Aclysias position was much better than Jeremiahs. Thanks to his own ineptitude, his arm was stuck in a tunnel in which wiggling around was basically impossible, and Aclysia could use her legs to support herself in this tugging match while Jeremiah was slowly getting pulled against the wall. How difficult is it? John asked, continuing to gather data.
Quite, Aclysia answered with a single word as she continued to strain herself.
If the weaponized maid was challenged with her total 641 Strength in her superior position, then Jeremiah must have been at least around that number. Somewhere in the 500-700 area, John guessed, as Jeremiah was still clearly losing. More and more of his arm came into view, until he was up to the shoulder and could be pulled no further.
Not aplete idiot, the Art Eater switched tactics the moment he realized he couldnt escape that grip. Instead, he targeted the wall that was keeping him confined. His Baelementium covered left crashed into the brown stone again and again. The odd angle did prevent this from being immediately sessful, but cracks started showing soon.
Gnome, focus on repairing the wall, John ordered, coordinating everything mentally while standing in a rtively rxed pose. Smander, you go do what you do best.
You got it, boss, the endme elemental replied with glee radiating off her surface thoughts. Shended at the neck of the wall, something that Jeremiah didnt fail to notice, only increasing his struggles. Gnome poured mana into the cracks of the wall, just as Smander gathered a firestorm between her hands.
Grey and gold fire cascaded into the narrow pathway. With no escape possible and the wall, acting as a sort of focus, the Art Eater was now subject to a heat so intense even people in the back row could feel it. Excess fire flickered over the top of the wall, a sea of mes that blinded everyone, apanied by a rising cackling from a very happy pyromaniac as she turned up the heat even more.
Too much! Gnome warned, her usual shyness overpowered by the need of quick rification, the walls she was tasked with maintaining now starting to melt. It would have been too mana intensive to continue under those circumstances.
Before Smander could dial it back down, Jeremiah finally seeded. He broke through the stone at a second point, his metal skin glowing red with heat. The structural integrity of the wall, half a metre thick, was beyond risky at that point and the Art Eater managed to break sideways through it. While he may only have been around Aclysias strength, he was definitely faster, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her forwards rather suddenly.
Aclysia was still positioned to tug in the opposite direction. It wasnt a loss in the strength match that made her lose her footing at that point. Rather, it was both of their overbearing power that caused the barrier between them to breakpletely. The excess force now pulled them at each other.
TELEPORT! John panickily dictated the moment he noticed the wall crumble. Aclysia reacted just in time to use her three-day cooldown to bridge a distance of just a few metres and reappear behind her master. Where her head had just been, Jeremiahs unnatural, steel-like teeth snapped at the empty air.
Despite just having been bathed in mes, the Art Eater seemed less bothered by that attack than the exhaustion he had to go through previously. Not that John had a long time to look at that, since Jeremiah immediately came trampling towards him like a humanoid bulldozer. Johns body moved extremely slow byparison to his mind, as he went through numerous meanings of this apparentck of damage, the logical exnations of the causes and, finally, what his n had to be to win this fight.
He had weighted the scales through a bunch of small actions, just to make his loss in this fight as unlikely as possible, despite their very much on-par levels. Now it was time to use all of them.
And it all started with dropping Mana Protection.
A superheated fist of metal and man crushed into Johns face with the power to pulverize bones. His nose was mashed into a bloody pulp, just as fractures spread all the way into his cheekbones and sses were crushed, all while scorching his skin off. Although Johns pain tolerance made all of this bearable, it was high on the list of things he would not want to ever feel again.
As he flew backwards, the vision of his sses first fractured, then vanishedpletely. The item he had possessed was now broken beyond the point of usability. He could have used a new Possession on any of the shards if he got hands on them, but for now he was robbed of his own vision.
Not wearing contact lenses seems awfully unprepared of you! Jeremiah mocked when he saw the milky brown of Johns eyes.
Catching himself with his back against a stone wall, doubtlessly the littlebyrinth that was the shadow segment of the arena, John felt all unease suddenly vanish as Gamers Body took care of the damage. All five hundred points of it, over a fifth of his HP. I honoured you with the reliable method of sight, John answered, deliberately in the slightly wrong direction. I guess you wouldnt be so nice to let me put them in very quickly?
My answer is a pretty clear: FUCK YOU! Jeremiah dered, turning away from the Gamer to once more assault Aclysia. There was part of John that did want to find out what would happen if the Art Eater actually seeded in taking a bite out of Aclysia, but caution won out over arrogance and curiosity in this case. A new stone wall appeared between the Artificial Guardian, focused only on getting away, just as thunder and fire rained from above.
Both elements washed over the Baelementium hide dealing seemingly no damage. Conserve your power, John therefore ordered. That someone d in a metal of elemental origin wasrgely immune to elemental damage was to be expected. Gnome, hide Aclysia underground.
R-roger! Gnome answered, concentrating her magic to open a hole underneath the weaponized maid. That would take a few moments at least; if it was an immediate thing she could do, John would have used it to trap his opponent instead. Sadly, that didnt work with the faster variety. If they had tried it on somebody of Jeremiahs speed, he would have grabbed the edge and pulled himself out again before anything meaningful was aplished.
I hate encounters with defensively weighed statballs, John thought, as he bought Gnome the time she needed to close the hole above Aclysia before Jeremiah could dive after and have a close quarter dinner. Since the start of the fight, he had sent his over-regenerated mana to Undine. It could have been used to heal the damage he took moments ago, but John prioritized this more aggressive approach.
Pointing his right palm in Jeremiahs direction, John and Undine sent out a continuous st of water. Steam rose as the cold liquid collided with the glowing metal body of Jeremiah. Simply crossing his arms in a defensive stance and standing his ground, the Art Eater let it roll over him. John had hoped the sudden cooling would have dealt some damage at least, but that didnt seem to be the case. Nevertheless, the attack achieved its main objective, disorienting Jeremiah long enough so that Aclysia could finish hiding.
The moment the hole was closed again, the stream of water ebbed away. John didnt want to pay any more mana on this than he had to. Look at you, Gamer, Jeremiah mocked as he rxed his pose, water dripping off his muscr metal frame. Your first sessful effort in this fight, hiding someone from me. He ran a hand through his short, ck hair.
John had to suppressments on how cheesy that supposedly cool pose looked or make another joke at the expense of the Art Eaters minimal endowment. No reason to indicate just how well he could see even without his own vision or to make yet more dick jokes, those were quick to get stale.
Without any further words, he instead decided to turn tail and ran into the shadow segment, having Gnome seal the entrance behind him (something that he needed to provide the mana for as she was tapped at this point). Right now, Johns advantages had been greatly diminished. The four base elements had all proven to deal next to no damage and he couldnt rely on Aclysia either. Time to test thest two damage types he had avable.
If those dont work either well, then I really backed myself into a corner here, he thought, wondering what Combination he had that could break him out of this predicament. He came up with potential backup ns, but none of them worked particrly well. So this better work John thought.
The shadow segment of the arena was a maze. Although it barely deserved that name, due to its rather limited size, the many sharp turns and the near absolute darkness the thick walls and heavy ceiling provided great cover. He dropped a couple of Arcane Echoes as he hurried along to a hiding spot. I suppose this is where you beg for my help? Sienas whisper reached his spirit.
Do I have to beg?
I want to hear it, her sensual voice teased with a sinister giggle, therefore, yes.
Okay, fine, John bowed down in a remote corner. Please, great mistress Siena, do aide me.
Hmmmmm, she hummed with both lust and doubt. How about a promise?
John was getting a little bit annoyed at this point. This was hardly the time for the nightmare elemental to y her games. Tightening his connection with Undine, taking advantage of her incredible ability to share senses with the other elementals, John probed for the happenings outside.
Jeremiah was evidently contemting whether to chase after John or not. Gnome had also gone underground at this point, while Smander and Sylph were flying so far up that he couldnt reach them. Shrugging, likely thinking himself invincible given how the fight had gone so far, the Art Eater headed inside, breaking down the wall Gnome had erected at the entrance with a few punches.
What do you want? John asked, with clenched teeth.
One hour of your time, whenever I demand it, Siena answered quite clearly and immediately.
This almost felt like she was trying to kill him again, but if that was her goal, she could have gone ahead right now. Surrounded by darkness and with his defences lowered, all the nightmare elemental needed to do was slit his throat and be done with it. So, it was pretty clear that she hadnt suddenly reverted to her old, even more malicious self.
Fine, you have it, the Gamer finally conceded.
Trust me, darling, Siena giggled, you wont regret it.
With those cryptic words, the shadow spirit dove into her element, plentiful around them. Let him step into one of the Arcane Echoes first, John instructed. Siena obeyed that, only watching Jeremiah from an adequate distance as he made his way into thebyrinth.
The fuck is that? the Art Eater mumbled to himself when he came across the aforementioned spell. In the darkness of the smallbyrinth, the three ovepping, purple-glowing circles that made up the ndmine state of the AoE spell stood. Well, Gamer, if you think Im going to y along with your games he dered, taking arge step over the mine, youre sorely mista-OW! and went right into another one that John hid right around the corner, almost impossible to spot when taking a giant step over the initial one. SON OF A BITCH!
Huh, so arcane works, John noted the outcry of pain and clenched his left hand a few times to get it warmed up. Now, Siena, you go ahead.
With a sadistic smile, the nightmare elemental dropped from the ceiling. Quiet until the very moment her ded tendrils assaulted Jeremiah. It was a short and sobering test. The des screeched over the armour tes, digging small trenches into the Baelementium, prating it even at ces, but failing to do the same to the vital areas covered with Elementium. By the time Jeremiah had turned around for a counter attack, Siena had already dropped back into the darkness.
Sobering and predictable. Nevertheless, John now knew that both shadow and arcane damage were effective. He had a resistance to the former, unlike the almostplete immunity to the other elements, so thetter was really his best bet.
Well, seems like thest option it is, John thought andmanded Siena to keep on the down low. Could have spared myself some trouble if I did this from the start, he thought somewhat sarcastically, as he got up and into position. If this wasnt such a bitch to recharge, throwing it around would be way more viable.
Come out,e out, wherever you are, Jeremiah sung as he continued to step through thebyrinth, asionally punching a hole in the outer walls to not be at the mercy of the total darkness again. Although Sienas scratches had already disappeared under the metal hull again, Jeremiah was now more careful than he had been before.
Which was why he reacted in time when he took a careful step around a corner and found himself presented with a blue-slime covered palm, pointing a dark purple shard of raw arcane energy at his chest. With all of his Agility, nting his feet firmly on the ground, he ripped his torso to the side. Johns Shardbound flew right past him and the Art Eater allowed himself a smile, pulling back an arm to once more ruin Johns face.
Until a searing pain in his left leg caused him to let out a long, pained shriek.
John had no interest in using lethal force against Jeremiah, so he had used his right hand, pointed at heart and torso, as the bait. This close, anyone would first see the hand and spell so close to their head and dodge them. That John had poured about a t 1000 mana into that attack made it more than a feint as well.
The true danger had been the lower left hand though. The Mana de stored in Purgatory may have been infused with three elements, but those only added damage effects, they didnt transform the spells arcane origin. As such, it had been disgustingly effective.
Left leg caving in, thigh bone almostpletely eradicated, leaving only a frame of bleeding flesh, Jeremiah toppled to the ground. He tried to pull John with him, but the Gamer stepped backwards when he sensed the very start of the movement. Being blind was really more of a blessing as long as he could rely on Undines senses.
All the stumbling around for the past few days had been to the end of Jeremiah underestimating John himself as an opponent and it had worked tremendously. Give up, the Gamer demanded.
Get fucked, Jeremiah growled back and John rolled his eyes with a long sigh.
Its always the same with you hot-headed types, he shook his head. What do you even think is going to happen now? Are you going to menacingly crawl towards me? The Art Eater grabbed the wall, fingers sinking into the stone, and tried to fight himself into a standing position with his remaining good leg.
A leg that was surrounded by shadowy tendrils and ripped away in the process. Be a good victim andy down, Siena whispered into the crippled mans ear. On the ground or not, that was a bit too close. An elbow flew her way and caught the shadow spirit in the cheek. She immediately unleashed, all of her curves suddenly bing ck and exuding a sort of dark mist. Hissing, she tumbled back, but was evidently ready to turn as much of the man into metal scraps and mincemeat as she could.
Lets not be unnecessarily cruel here, John stated, observing Siena to remind himself of her Agility.
Unbuffed thats 402 and he was able tond a square hit. Also in the 500-700 range? John wondered, still gathering data. He didnt think this would be thest time he would fight the Art Eater. So, where are we on the giving up thing? the Gamer asked and only received a long stare. With another sigh and a scratching of his head, John said, Well then. Guess we are being a bit cruel with you after all lets drag him into public view.
Chapter 597 – Small Lake Reforms 11 – Vs Lightbearer
Chapter 597 C Small Lake Reforms 11 C Vs Lightbearer
And there we go, wasnt that hard, was it? John asked, having finally gotten Jeremiah to admit his defeat. Namely by nailing him to the floor with Aclysias swords. Hadnt been the easiest task. For a start, they needed to tire him out by having Gnome and Smander press him down, being the strongest of the lot. Then John still didnt want to risk Aclysia getting close, so he had to take the Eclys and the salver-dagger off her and use them himself.
At that point they also confirmed that mithril could cut through the Art Eaters metal exterior. An information that John didnt need to get, especially not by going through public torture, but that he took as an extra, since the Art Eater had insisted on being so stubborn. Right up until the Gamer threatened to use Marath on his other leg.
John had aimed to keep it at wounds that would be healed by Jeremiah leaving the barrier, show a level of benevolence and all that. There was an easy argument to be made that he should have crippled the Art Eater in some way, he was one of the most elite individuals of the enemy faction after all, but the Gamer didnt want to employ such obviously cruel measures. He was fine with somewhat torturing someone who just didnt want to give up, heavy and permanent crippling was a bit outside hisfort zone though.
Of course, Marath was so thick, not to mention way too heavy for John to wield properly, that this wasnt a guarantee anymore. Which is why John had only threatened it. If Jeremiah had kept growling instead of saying the magical phrase I give up, John would have just shrugged and dered himself the winner regardless. It was doubtful anybody would have protested that, but the visual wasnt quite as good. The threat had proved effective enough anyway.
Need me to heal you? the Gamer offered after removing all weapons from Jeremiah, who undid his transformation and was now a regr fleshy person, bleeding out of a stump wound. Before the Art Eater could just throw an insult his way, John offered a reminder, You still have to fight for the third ce, if you want that ind. If you leave now, youll just be disqualified.
For a few moments, it looked like the wounded man would deny the offer and just leave the barrier, but then he must have remembered something. John would have loved to take a peek inside his head and check on the why. Had the Lake Alliance put some back-up ns in motion, did he want to look the least bit graceful or had Jeremiah just remembered that he lost absolutely nothing by epting this? Go ahead, he growled, aggressive enough that John didnt believe he was up to something unexpected.
There was an expected thing, however, that John was surprised to not happen. Namely for Jeremiah to immediately assault him or Aclysia the second Undine had patched him back together. Seems like he isntpletely unreasonable, John thought, having readied himself for that case, but now could only look after his opponent, walking out with rtive dignity.
Looking through the recement sphere, as his sses were still pretty crushed, he reached into his inventory, his hand immediately finding the box of contact lenses he kept inside, and quickly popped a pair of them out of their stic cases and fiddled them in. By now, that movement had gotten so routine that he hadpletely finished the process by the time Rave approached him.
Well, that gave me some time to gather some breath, his girlfriend stated, rolling her shoulders. It was probably a true statement, but John doubted it counted for much. Even with as little sport as he had done in his life (before he got his powers anyway), he knew that lightly traitorous feeling between two sets of workout where the body felt a bit rested but really needed another hour.
We can just skip this, you know, John told her, not feeling particrly inclined to fight her. He was stronger than her and, unlike the other way around, if he fucked up seriously, it would really hurt. Apothecaries werent that far away that they had to worry about a chopped off limb, but it was still better not to push these things too far. There are no stakes in this for either of us.
Kinda but I feel so close to something, Rave responded, looking down at her hand and clenching her fist. Her copper cat eyes went up to stare at him, pupils narrowed to near invisibility in the bright daylight. So, I wanna have this fight.
Well, if you say so John said, perhaps a bit too dismissively.
At least if he went by her answer. Dontcha hold back on me, Johnny, she almost hissed.
Copernicus meowed from the floor, You should take this seriously. It sounded almost like a warning. Giving the suncat a nce, John noticed the earnest in the elementals eyes, together with a hefty amount of suspense.
Alright, John agreed and took a fair amount of step backwards. The only thing stopping their fight from starting was this conversation, and if he was actually going to battle her, the prime objective was distance between them. Something that Aclysia also picked up on, taking her ce between the two of them, Eclys in hand.
The battlefield still bore the scars of the earlier fights. Arge bowl-shaped depression where Corith had used a technique to violently dpress the ground. Two holes out of which Aclysia and Gnome had risen following their victory over Jeremiah. The shadowbyrinth, riddled with holes. The water segment, half-refilled by water pumps on the floor of the pond. Much of the sand belonging to the adjacent earth segment lying all around, converted into mud.
What was still intact was the wind area, a somewhat boring segment where pipes sticking out of the floor would create sudden gusts in response to pressure tes. That resembled the fire area, which, some scattered about ss aside, was also unharmed. Lastly, there was the light area, an upside-down dome of mirrors.
Looking at those areas again made John realize just how pressed for time he had been in designing this ce. There were so many cooler ideas he could have enacted if he had just given it more thought and resources. Alright, its Jane, John thought, putting Mana Protection back on. Thanks to his absurd Mana Regeneration, it was already topped off again. Main problem is that she knows basically all of my tricks, at least at an instinctual level. Thankfully, she isnt the scheming type, so she probably doesnt have a battle n.
Rave reached up to her headphones. The integrated mp3-yer was activated through the push of a few buttons on the catgirl-friendly design. Tapping her heel on the ground, she tuned into the bass of whatever song she had put on. John, in the meanwhile, coordinated the position of his elementals. A subtle shift in Raves posture, a slight leaning forwards, the tensing of her legs, kicked the fight off.
A golden arc of lightning, encapsted by grey fire, seared itself into the eyes of the onlookers in its path downwards. The Smander-buffed attack by Sylph hit right on the mark. There was simply no way that Rave could have started the fight quicker than the thunderstorm elemental, with her near 1000 Agility. It struck true, a continuous torrent of electricity and fire.
If John was supposed to be serious about this, then he would throw the strongest opener he had at hand. The shout of pain he heard in response tugged at his heartstrings, but if he was going to get soft on her now, that would have just insulted her. Part of Raves bodysuit disintegrated under the attack, but the Baelementium reinforced thing, while not quite as reliable as metal skin, did a good job at neutralizing most of the attack.
The thunder ebbed away with a loud crackling echo. Immediately, Rave sprung into action. Quite literally, as she took a giant upwards leap, Aura igniting. Her arm stretched out towards the air spirit, it looked like the desperate attempt of someone to catch a fly. Nope, nope, nope, Sylph dered, darting away as a bolt of blue electricity. You aint gonna catch me, aint gonna touch, cant touch me. Do-dodo-do, cant touch me!
Dont need to catch ya, Rave responded, her open palm having never closed in anything resembling a grasping motion. The explosion of shing light that followed spread throughout the sky in a massive cone of red, blue and green. It was a reckless and extreme spending of mana, the attack covering such a giant area that even Sylph couldnt dodge in time. The air spirit was smart enough to realize that, not smart enough, however, to realize that her response to it was hasty and stupid.
Sylph attempted to go incorporeal. In theory, that would have saved her. In practice, there were a few seconds during the shifting between the two states where an elemental was extremely vulnerable. To an attack of light at this scope, one second would have been enough. It was reckless, extreme and effective, and within a moment, John got the confirmation window that the thunderstorm elemental had just been killed.
Oh my god, she has a n, John realized when his girlfriendnded on all fours, feathering her fall with feline grace, and immediately dodged a joint counterattack by Smander and Gnome. Her body bent out of the assaults by both of their fists with ease. Too much ease, for Johns liking. Sure, Gnome was a slow one, she was there for the threat of massive damage and area control, like a typical tank, but Smanders Agility counted above three-hundred; she should have been able to catch-up to Rave.
Instead, the Lightbearer continue to thread through attacks. Even with her Aura extinguished again, she was fast enough to keep dodging reliably, just as long as she focused on defence. This did not add up to Johnsst information about her Stats and he checked on her quite regrly.
Not regrly enough, John realized, looking at that window with an open mouth. There had been a massive jump here and it must have urred in thest two days or so. Was it the way the tournament pushed her in a different way than the usual training? It was the only possible exnation. John did some quick math and had an addition epiphany: Rave had just broken through the Stat per level barrier, going from 5 to 6.
By the time he had analysed all of that, Smanders patience had beenpletely exhausted. Taking off, she gathered a massive ball of fire above her hands. If anyone bullies Sylph, its me, Jane! the endme elemental shouted and threw the magical mass of exothermic energy at the Lightbearer.
Rave didnt seem to have the breath to answer, all of her efforts narrowed on fighting, and this worried John more than any level of banter. Whatever his girlfriends n was, it seemed to be more akin to a loose priority list of who to knock out in the perfect order. Which was actually exactly how John would have approached this as well, knowing his own and her full capabilities.
Without Sylph on the field, Rave was now the fastest acting fighter. A speed advantage that she now used in a flurry of motions. Aiming first for Gnome, now alone and rather outmatched in the speed department, Raves Aura red up again for just one punch. Although the Lightbearer failed to hit the stomach with the downwards motion, the soil elementalsparatively slow backwards motion only changed the point of impact to her upper right leg.
Gnome was anything but a soft target, but Rave had done the majority of her training with Aclysia and had a lot of practice with cracking enemies that were focused on an outstanding defence. Although the initial impact of her punch did only cause a few cracks in the surface, the technique that came afterwards, Prative st, sent most of the force of the impact through the surface and into Gnomes thigh. Where it exploded in a mixture of raw martial arts and Copernicus blessing, causing an aftershock to ur within the earth spirits body.
The result was a surprised Gnome, falling backwards with her own momentum, as one of her legs was suddenly separated, revealing the dirt and rock that her body consisted of at the resulting stump.
Rave had no time to finish her off, whirling around to face the enormous fireballing her way. That would definitely harm her more than Gnome. Aclysia, get in there, Johnmanded, following a bad feeling, as well as seeing the fragments of unspent mana that Ravesst punch had unleashed.
It was an unmistakable sign that she was working on the long game. Aside from her regr way of punching her way through problems, John knew that his girlfriend could sacrifice some of her attacks effectiveness in order to create those mana fragments. What was usually a sign of a novice unable to properly dosage their power could be fodder for Copernicus, unleashing him and giving Rave yet another immense, if short, boost in power.
Basically, she was setting up her ultimate win condition. One that John had to genuinely be wary of, knowing exactly that her final attack had taken down the mana barrier around the White House.
Rave now pointed her right hand at the fireball. Aser beamed out in a straight, focused line. Its multiple colours would have left dancing dots in Johns retina would he still have used biologicalponents to see.
Two magical forces shed. Elements that usually did very little in the way of interaction ground against each other as their supernatural originspeted in a struggle over who got to upy the space. It would have been a much clearer struggle if it had been between solid elements, kic energy would have solved that question within moments, but the continuous feeding of mana into the continued attacks by both parties created a stalemate. A concentratedser against a massive fireball of gold and grey, it was a scene akin to that Dragonball anime that Rave had showed John before.
You cant be fucking serious! Smander eximed, likely mentally and physically at the same time, although John only heard the former. Unable to ovee Raves resistance, the endme elemental continued to pour her mana into this endeavour. As did John, desperate to prolong this doomed encounter for as long as possible.
The mistake was that she had agreed to make this a fight of attrition with Rave during zing hot noon. With her Aura deactivated again and mana absorption from the sun at the highest possible levels, the Lightbearer was running on basically infinite mana. The only thing holding her back was the rate of conversion.
A petty little handicap byparison. The beam of light suddenly broke through the fireball, just like an arm-wrestling match coulde to a rather abrupt end, and came out again at the other end. The attack sted a hole into Smanders abdomen, the endme elemental spitting out an oil like liquid while falling to the ground.
Christ, John thought, having taken this seriously, but not having anticipated this level of struggle. Gnome, now! he nevertheless coordinated the efforts of his familiars. The earth spirit opened a hole in the ground under Raves feet. Reacting immediately to the sudden tremors, Rave moved and skipped out on even sinking into the trap.
While she recovered her bnce, John sent several Shardbound attacks her way. The splinters of mana came in swarms of twenty, aimed to only be a nuisance. Which they doubtlessly were, Rave shielding her eyes from the three waves. Some of the attacks still hit her, adding bloody scratches on her face to the wounds, a few even managing to get through the bodysuit she was wearing.
Most of all, however, they provided cover for Aclysia, who had now arrived at the scene. With a quick thrust of her sword, she aimed at Raves abdomen. They didnt have the luxury to hold back anything but the most lethal means. Luckily, nobody around here was easy to kill by any stretch.
Although Rave managed to hastily dodge the de, the same could not be said for the shoulder that followed. Aclysia, with all her Strength, weight and momentum, crashed her shoulder into Raves sr plexus. All air was knocked out of the Lightbearers lungs as she was catapulted away. This entire engagement had been so hectic, none of the special areas of the arena hade to use, and it didnt seem like they would anytime soon either.
Still, Rave managed to catch herself. Her gloved hands hit the ground first, acting as a violent brake that had hernding change from a disgraceful impact on her back, to semi-bnced backflip right into a standing position. Spitting out blood and saliva, Rave raised her fists in a fighting position. The look in her eyes was equally sharp and narrow.
Smander was still recovering in the background, tapped in the mana department and not blessed with particrly effective regenerative abilities. Gnome, however, rose to the ground, her leg reattached with the surrounding soil. Together with Aclysia, they now went back on the offensive.
An offensive whose true nature Rave must have instinctively looked through, pointing her hand at the ground and sending out a quick burst of light at the weaponized maids shadow. Siena, the only elemental that was still matching Raves current speed, was violently ejected as her ce of dwelling ceased to exist. It didnt exactly hurt the nightmare elemental, but it left her confused for a few moments.
Moments enough for Rave to ignite her Aura and meet her opponents in melee. A melee she was the easily dominant factor in, much quicker than either of them. In just a few attacks, she once more neutralized Gnome and was then engaged in a one on one with Aclysia.
Although the weaponized maid kept taking damage from the armour prating strikes of the martial arts adept Lightbearer, their situation was more of a stalemate. One that couldntst long. Fragments of mana were flying everywhere. A satisfying mass, it seemed, by the time Siena re-joined the battle, her formplete darkness as she hissed with annoyance. The mana suddenly began moving, drawn by an otherwise unfelt vortex towards the open mouth of Copernicus, who had kept himself nice and distanced until now.
John tried to throw some attacks in the felines way, interrupt the happenings by the means of Shardbound. Although a particrly powerful shard hit right on the money, Copernicus continued to devour the mana regardless. In a nova of sunlight, he transformed from a harmless looking, if impressive, golden house cat into a massive tiger.
A transformation that also had its effects on his summoner. Raves hair and Aura went from pink and blue to the same gold of the sun. Her power hit that massive boost, allowing her to rtively easefully dodge Sienas attacks. John felt a bit useless looking at all of that, but his Stats werent high enough to be anything but a nuisance in that melee engagement.
All the power Rave had right now didnt give her eyes in the back of her head, however. With that in mind, John sent a sizable portion of mana to Smander, who acted immediately. A fireball, small but not insignificant, hit her in the back, sending her one step forwards, into the range of the lying Gnome, who grabbed her foot. Without a single word,pletely in her fighting trance, Rave raised her other leg. A quick Focus Stomp separated a second limb from the soil elementals frame. A motion that took too long, however.
Eclys was thrusted forwards. By the time Rave began to react to the motion, Siena had wrapped a bunch of tentacles around the Lightbearers legs. All she could do now was twist her upper body in an attempt to get away. It was somewhat sessful, the weapon only cutting deep into the side of her left shoulder, as opposed to prating her joint.
Then there were words, words that were forming power into sounds. All of a sudden, ast barrier was broken down right in front of Johns eyes, caressing his ears with a song that Rave had hummed numerous times before. The rhythm was the same, even if the lyrics were slightly changed.
A solemn reign, to those few that rise up high,the golden light encapsting Rave grew more intense, radiating with heat and energy that John could feel on his skin despite the distance. He wanted to give at least a useless warning to Aclysia. Raves words seemed to roll off her tongue quicker than time allowed.And we all fight, let our worlds collide.
A punch at immediate speed, a motion invisible to John, Aclysia, Siena or anyone else around. The very same, utterly destructive spell that Rave had used against Nariko now burst out, refined and amplified. From where Raves fist connected with the weaponized maids stomach exploded theplete spread of the rainbow.
The metal made maid was sent flying at a ridiculous speed, as the magic consumed the sand before them and transformed it into ss in less than a second. Siena and Gnome were sted away by the shockwave, itself an amplified version of Copernicus blessing, actually managing to kill the weakened soil elemental in the process. A cone of utter destruction in front of her, a circr, devastating shock everywhere else, all originating from that impossibly fast punch.
Perhaps too deep in the zone to recognize what she had just done, Rave turned to John. Lights were still flickering all around the ce, disced shes without clear origin. They were hanging in the air from the sheer overload of magic, not unlike remains of arcane after a powerful Arcana Strike, just with a different element in mind.
She took one step towards John and he decided to meet her halfway. At this point, if she had the power to take him out as well, she deserved that victory as far as he was concerned. Mana Protection would at least even the ying field somewhat.
However, the moment they were at a striking range, the gold drained from Raves hair, flickered out of her Aura and thest step the Lightbearer took, albeit confident in its stride, broke away under her.
John caught her in his arms.
Chapter 598 – Small Lake Reforms 12 – The first battle of the war
Chapter 598 C Small Lake Reforms 12 C The first battle of the war
I can walk by myseeeeelf, Rave whined, slowly shaking her legs while John carried her out of the arena. Ya dont need to carry me- Ah! The half panicked noise came when John threw her up a bit in order to reaffirm his grip on her.
If you walk yourself, how am I going to carry you like the princess you are? John asked, kissing his pouting girlfriend on the lips. He tasted a bit of blood; she was still hurt and clearly barely conscious. After having copsed moments ago, she had quickly woken up again. The moment John pulled his lips back, she passed right out again, though, her head hanging down.
The Gamer didnt head immediately for the exit. Not by a longshot. First on his list was to heal the familiars that had survived. Starting with Smander, because that was the quickest and easiest, the endme elemental going incorporeal once Undine was done with her. Siena didnt need the help; as a matter of fact, she had already disappeared elsewhere.
Aclysia, however, was a bit difficult. I am not sure how to get you out of there, Johnmented, putting his girlfriend down for a moment, just to scratch his head. Not the most helpful motion, but that was all he knew how to do in that moment.
The weaponized maid was embedded half a metre deep into the solid stone wall. Well, half of her was anyway. Her lower body was gone, to be found as molten drops of metal all across the ss cone.
I would say this is about a tenth of Sigmunds ability in terms ofrge-scale destruction, John thought, looking at the entire thing again. The shockwave around Rave hadnt reached particrly far and it didnt seem to affectndmarks all that much, while the main attack was all direct heat without fire. If something was zed and started burning, that was more of a side effect than the actual intent of the attack. Against the actual target though John thought, and looked to Aclysia, A fourth? Third? Not that easy to melt Aclysia Dont think that could have killed me in one punch either, but its getting there.
For data collecting purposes, the weaponized maid added to his thoughts, not all that bothered by her current position, as the pain had faded after the initial impact. I had Fortification active before the impact.
Well, not sure if having a harder body makes a big difference against that, Johnmented, still scratching his head. It wasnt just how deep Aclysia was buried, but also the fact that she was like two metres up. Without Gnome around, he couldnt just get her out of there.
I am going to rectify this problem myself, Master, Aclysia stated and John saw her sessfully ripping an arm out of her lodged position, grab the edge of her confinement and pull herself to freedom. She dropped in Johns arms, although less gracefully. She was heavier and just existing from the ribcage upwards.
That marks two killed and two crippled to the point of non-functionality. I am honestly impressed, Jane, John nced at his girlfriend, awake again, but only in the way that somebody who is in delirium was awake. Her eyes were moving, there was something like a smile on her face, she gave him a thumbs-up, then she was out again. His attention returned to the half-present person in his arms. Sure is good you encapste your core these days, John noted, watching as Aclysias stomach reformed centimetre by centimetre.
The material for this appeared from seemingly nowhere. Artificial Spirits stored excess material in a sort of inventory space. At this point, Aclysia had plenty Baelementium to pull from, that she passively created from lesser materials that entered her body thanks to the Twilights Body ability. The only really irreceable part of her was her core, thusly. Its destruction would end her life. For that reason, it was hidden under ayer of the only material that she had avable that was even harder than the elemental metal: Nathalias scales.
Master, there is no need to wait for me, Aclysia announced from Johns arms. I will have to see to the cleaning of the arena regardless of your next actions.
Right John had to agree there. While the material lost wasnt necessary to Aclysias reconstruction, they were still talking potential millions of dors in molten L- and S-Baelementium here. For Aclysia to enrich that much, it would take days to weeks. Best to have it be absorbed back into her again.
That aside, the arena was a total mess. They were going to pause the tournament until it was at least partially fixed up. At least the damage hadnt spilled out to the watchers area. That would have been a catastrophe for Johns reputation, especially if it hit the reporters.
With all of that said, the Gamer still wasnt going to just leave. You currently dont have your teleport, he reminded her. Should Jeremiah decide to follow his appetite right now, while were weakened, that would be a problem. Best I wait here at least until youre regenerated.
Dont worry, Siena mentally reached out to him, sending a mental picture of her overseeing Zensie and Jeremiah talking. From their expressions, the mood was quite heated. Which was likely good for John. He is upied with his toy.
And youre getting all of that? John asked.
I put your ears where you wanted them, Siena answered and caused the Gamer to pull out of the conversation with a grin. Everything continued to go along as he wanted.
John took another look at Aclysias health bar. It was still down to a fourth, but her regeneration was as absurd as ever, arguably more than his own mana regeneration even, so that state wouldnt stay for too long. Alright, Ill leave you to it. Carefully, he put her down and nted a quick kiss on her lips. I want you to know that I am absolutely happy with you and your performancetely, Aclysia, he told her before leaving. Youll have some rewardter, okay?
The weaponized maid smiled widely, her hips reconstructing themselves. Completely clothed, the maid dress was a part of Aclysias body after all. A non-moveable part (like her hair) because of some rule of minimal thickness in order for detailed magic impulses to get through. Not that it was too important, it was basically just some cloth after all. Your thanks is all I need, John, she spoke lovingly, holding his hand for a few seconds after they parted.
He gave her ast squeeze, then she let go. I like giving you things, so let me do this, he told her and then took off with Rave. Carrying his girlfriend all the way back to the mansion, he chatted with a few reporters that approached him. The things he answered were pretty unimportant, just how he felt now that he had won and other things of that nature. Everything more substantive, he ignored for another day.
At the mansion, he excused himself, went up to his and Raves bedroom in the second story and put her on the bed. That the sheets became a bit dirty because of that didnt bother him particrly much. After carefully nudging Rave awake again and talking her calmly into getting out of her bodysuit, like a sober person to a yful drunk, he got to healing her. The wounds werent too terrible, nothing really life threatening. The worst thing would either be the cut on the shoulder or some broken ribs, thetter being a potential wound that John couldnt confirm. He just saw the still-growing hematoma around her sr plexus where Aclysia had crashed into her.
Undine fixed all of that. Green healing slime was dispatched to one wound after another. A lot of it, replenishing a level 200 persons vitality was more taxing on the mana than some average goon. As such, John had to give his own mana to the cause, but it all worked out.
He put the nket over his naked, unblemished girlfriend and just smiled at her peacefully sleeping face. A tapping of tiny paws announced the arrival of someone else. She did well out there, Copernicusmented, clearly wanting to be noticed.
Thats an understatement, John answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Youre helping her a lot more than I do, the Gamer continued, gently brushing the pink, wild hair aside to see more of her. When it was just the two of us, we used to train together all the time. Hell, even throughout much of the tournament, we did it together. I kind of miss these times. It was all a bit easier.
Copernicus prowled by underneath a nightstand, rubbing the side of his head against the legs, then continued to walk along the walls, repeating that same marking with each bit of wooden furniture he came across. It cant be helped, the sr feline stated quite clearly. She needs techniques, you need only repeated usages. The kind of experience you need also differs.
Right, John now lowered his hand to rest on Raves thigh, just to feel her warmth through the sheets. The touch had nothing sexual. This is the second time I had out-levelled her and she suddenly jumps ahead of me as well.
A true pain in my sides, her and her unpredictability, said the cat as he finished his way around the room and jumped onto the bed. His minimal weight sunk the smallest bit into the bed as he tapped over to his summoners resting ce, sitting down and gracefully curving his tail until it stopped in front of his paws. Yet, I cannot deny that I like her.
The Gamer couldnt help but giggle, gaining himself an unappreciative nce from Copernicus silver eyes. You are just such a cat, John told him with a warm smile. He didnt have a lot to do with the suncat, but they did share a sense ofradery over this sleeping beauty. Can you keep her safe when I cant? he suddenly asked.
Preparing yourself for failure? Copernicus asked with a mocking purr.
Preparing myself for the inevitable, John returned, his eyes closing a little bit. He felt the weight of the world again. With his guild expanded by yet another swath ofnd and a good amount of people, the responsibility he had to bear was once more on the forefront of his mind. Our path is adventurous to say the least. Without all the romanticism thates along with that word, I might as well just call it dangerous. Therell be a time, no matter how hard I try, where my initial ns fail in some way. I am preparing for that time, back-ups and back-ups for those back-ups,yers of security. I cant guarantee anything without wrapping an armour around those I care about though. An armour that would be equally protective and restrict all movement. Which is a life I dont want for anyone.
There was silence following that. The question John had posed still hung in the air. Ultimately, Copernicus answered. If it meant protecting her, I would die for it.
__________________________________________________________________________
Alright, Jeremiah, this is your ind, John told the Art Eater, a dayter. Everyone waspletely recovered; the tournament had been wrapped up and now the inds were distributed to everyone ording to their cement. Of course, Jeremiah had won the battle for third ce. Won in the sense that Corith hadnt even wanted to bother being beaten around for a few minutes for a slightly bigger ind and immediately gave up.
With them were a whole bunch of people, as they were going from one ind to the next and doing a little ceremony each time. Basically every person of some power and reporter that wanted to see this thing through was around.
Fantastic, the Art Eater responded, rolling his neck. Ever so slowly, a grin appeared on his face. It was clear that he was about to do something. And that means that-
That means that this is now grounds of the Lake Alliance, specifically the Niagara guild, John interrupted him. The earth began to rumble, an earthquake inside a Protected Space, as massive amounts of dirt were moved around. Something that could only have one possible origin. Which makes this a war zone, isnt that right?
Jeremiahs grin died as slowly as it hade as he realized the Gamer had already foreseen what came next. There was a sudden tumult when a number of holes opened up under less powerful individuals and Johns elementals assured that the more powerful individuals ended up in the earthen confinements. People stood around, confused as to what happened, as Johns overdesigned scheme came to its conclusion.
Just like people that came with John onto the ind were brought under the earth, people that had been there beforehand were suddenly ejected onto the surface. People that wore the insignia of the Lake Alliance, a simplistic depiction of the Great Lakes on a hexagonal, were forced out of their hiding spots.
Rather than exin himself, either to the confused onlookers on his side or the shocked Jeremiah, John just grabbed his phone and yed a file he had already open. A snippet of a conversation between Zensie and Jeremiah.
So, what, were going to ambush him? the former second of the Small Lake Pact spoke in the recording.
As long as we get the drop on him, the fucker wont be able to do anything.
When though?
When he transfers the ind. Nobody can say we did something dishonourable. My superiors cant circlejerk about an invasion as well, careful cowards, once the ind belongs to me, the Gamer will have technically invaded the Lake Alliance.
John stopped the recording. Look, my dude, he announced with a grin. You arent smart enough to get ME on technicalities. Especially if I am the one writing the words.
Siena had put recorders all around the ces that Zensie and Jeremiah met regrly. The moment John had found out in what exact way they nned to try and one-up him, he had sent Gnome to the ind. Of course, he hadnt just put her into a boat and driven her over, that would have been way too obvious.
There was a pretty reliable way to smuggle Gnome somewhere though. Namely, fusing her with Siena into Darkness. That elemental could travel unseen even between shadows, creating an outline on the floor of herself that was easy to miss if one wasnt paying attention. That way, Gnome had been put on the ind unseen, hid herself underground, waited since yesterday evening, and umted Johns mana for the past few hours. Which was also how she could even move that much soil reliably.
All of this was taking advantage of tools and knowledge only the Gamer had. The Combination skill. The absurd 500 kilometres his elementals could distance themselves from him. Getting information unseen and being able to gauge his enemies responses by regrly using Observe on those he found out were in on the conspiracy but didnt have a protection against scrying magic.
Now, I am going to make you an offer, John said, keeping an eye out for the reporters, many of which had hastily started recording upon this whole thing suddenly going down. You can fight me here, with your scattered forces, he gestured towards the Small Lake Pact traitors, all currently confined in their own holes, then towards the reinforcements the Lake Alliance had not-so-sessfully smuggled there, recovering from their sudden ejection into open daylight, or you can admit defeat, for the second time in as many days, and I will let you and your people go. The traitors will stay, of course.
Watching Jeremiah turn from self-assured to beet red with rage was the greatest reward John could have asked for. This entire n had beenpletely overdesigned for this simple aplishment, but John wanted to ride it out nheless. It had been a mere side plot of his bigger aspirations anyway.
This isnt over, the Art Eater growled.
Fighting it is, then? John asked, raising his left hand, which was engulfed in mes a momentter as he equipped Purgatory. The sight of that item must have put a dent in the mans rage, as Jeremiah turned a bit pale now, likely reminded at the spell that thing had unleashed on his leg. That it wasnt recharged didnt actually matter, Jeremiah couldnt know that.
Fuck you Jeremiah spat out and then walked off with shoulders hanging in defeat.
John could only stretch like an aplished man on a vacation day.
Chapter 599 – Small Lake Reforms 13 – The results
Chapter 599 C Small Lake Reforms 13 C The results
There were a few things that Johns victory that day aplished. First and foremost, it pacified the area for good. Between the capture of the remaining subversive elements, his pretty hard-fought victory in the tournament (the idea that Rave hadnt been fighting seriously didnt even surface) and his humiliation of the Lake Alliance, he gotplete acknowledgement by everyone who still had been unhappy with his rule.
It helped that he didnt punish a whole lot of people. After sitting down personally with everyone, he separated those who were pulled along from those who tried to rise up with conviction. Thetter he then further broke down into those that could prove dangerous if left inside the country and those that wouldnt. Aside from those few who were both convinced and dangerous, he let everyone go with no or minor punishments, likemunity work hours or fines.
For those few, John had the luxury of just banishing them from hisnds. If they had been terribly high level, killing them while he had them pinned was basically a necessity. As it was, he stripped them of all their resources, money andnd, and sent them out on the street, making sure they were aware a return would nullify this pretty mild punishment.
Going by his usual strategy, John would have to execute them. Death was, after all, what he threatened to those who didnt take his initial ultimatum to either leave or integrate. Pretending to integrate only to stab him in the backter was something he had to punish quite harshly. He would have as well, normally, because if there was one kind of people John had no mercy for it was traitors.
The reason why he was lenient in this case was that he had done everything in his power to encourage this rebellion. Encouraging someone repeatedly to stab him in the back only to then murder them all in cold blood was not an act he wasfortable with. Sure, it was still justified, they were no less traitors, but it just felt dirty.
That made the Small Lake Pact about 12 people lighter. Not a huge loss, but not inconsiderable either. Combined with Aclysias actions beforehand, the guild had lost about a fourth of its former members to death, in a few cases, and simple flight in most. That still left John with well over two-hundred new Abyssals, many of which were adept in the localbat magic, so perfect for guerri warfare.
In summary, the main thing John hade here for, integration and reform of the Small Lake Pact, had been an absolute sess. All that remained was to organize them into a proper strike force and then he could use them as he and Scarlett had previously nned.
The secondary benefit of the convoluted scheme that had lead to this, otherwise attainable, result lied in the humiliation of the Lake Alliance. So far, their war had been entirely cold. Although John wasnt quite sure if he would draw parallels to the Cold War. Aparison to the Phoney War, the eight month period at the start of World War 2, during which the French and Germans werergely just looking at each other over the border, seemed better. Granted, that also wasnt 100% urate, because there were actually a few manoeuvres there, as opposed to the total silence so far.
Anyway, it was arguable whether or not this battle switched the current war from cold to hot. It was over in less than a minute, a failed ambush and a subsequent, allowed retreat. No lives had been lost. However, thanks to this whole thing happening under the many eyes of third party reporters, the entire story would soon hit the public, which was entirely in Johns interest.
He would seem magnanimous andpetent, letting the enemy live while having found out their ns well in advance, while the Lake Alliance, and Jeremiah in particr, would seem like they were ipetent. They lost nothing but face and that was entirely how John wanted it. The families of the soldiers back home would hopefully make a bit of a fuss, not wanting to bet that Fusion would be that nice next time, while the Lake Alliances leadership was now hesitating and wondering just how careful they had to be when nning. At the same time, the surrounding guilds were sure to even further distance themselves from the party so clearly on the backfoot.
All of which would y right into Johns n to end this war in a simple, white peace. Nobody was going to earn or lose anything.
But why though? Rave asked when he exined this to her. Pretty sure we could take them out.
John had to pull the spoon out of his mouth before answering. Well, that and chew the piece of meat that hade along with the explosion of vour from the stew he had just shovelled into himself. It had that perfect temperature, hot, but not so hot it was burning his mouth or anything. Given a few more weeks or months of preparations, pretty likely, yes.
So why arent we? his girlfriend continued to ask, overpowering the voices that echoed towards them from the nearby living room. They were currently standing in the kitchen. Well, John was standing, the Lightbearer was sitting on the ck surface of the kitchen counter, just a bit away from the sink. The rest of the furniture had a metallic grey to it, while the tiles were a clear white.
Because we arent going to stop after the Lake Alliance, the Gamer answered and nced towards the open door to make sure nobody was listening in on them. Through the recement sphere in the actual room, he couldnt spy anyone who was close to the door.
To be triple sure, he gave Sylph some of his mana to keep sounds from leaving this room. The only thing he wasnt secured against in this situation were nearby ced eavesdropping spells. Sadly, he had no counter to these to this day and they would be equally effective anywhere in the house. Thankfully, they were pretty rare.
Rave respected his pause, probably noticing that her boyfriend was doing something that was important, even if she couldnt exactly guess what it was. Once he felt like he could speak freely, he continued, If youre an expanding empire, which we are for the sake of this exnation, you dont want to fight powers that are roughly equal to you. You want to continuously eat people less than half your strength, conquests that take a few days and are executed with very little in the ways of resistance. Expending resources, particrly manpower, in a war against a power that can fight back can take years to recover from.
So ya want to make peace to gather more power to crush themter? Rave asked, showing that she had understood the basic concept. In order for us to keep momentum and stuff?
Momentum and save lives, John added thatst thing. Every war that is finished swiftly and with the minimal amount of casualties on both sides is a good war. He took another spoon from the bowl of stew he was holding. I want to make white peace, gobble up more small guilds south of us, Amacat, then just sit still until our quicker growing economy naturally propels us into a state where we can wreck them in a few decisive battles rather than drawn out grinding.
Still feels wrong to just keep humiliating them and then back off, when were so clearly winning things.
Dont buy into our own propaganda, John warned her with a wrinkled forehead. All we did so far were victories on the PR front. Conquering and then holdingnd is an entirely different beast especially with howplicated it is to have an actual battle in the Abyss. The Gamer sighed. Our greatest strength continues to be that we have a pretty absurd amount of high level individuals concentrated around me at the head of this guild. In the way of rank and file soldiers, however, we are only now reaching fighting shape. The clueless recruits from our hearnd, the remaining soldiers from the Little Marnd, the locally powerful fighters from the Hidden Tradition and now the trappers and assaulters from the Small Lake Pact we have good numbers now, in theory, but they all have such vastly different backgrounds and fighting styles that its going to be hard to make a cohesive army out of them. Another sigh, even heavier this time. Doesnt help that I want to maintain all of those individualities to have a wider array of tools at my disposal.
Sounds like ya have to do a lot of thinking, Rave stated and slipped off the kitchen counter in a fluid motion. She looked stunning as always, her tight jeans and cropped, green top showing off what she had in all the right, not all that subtle ways. Firmly, she took the basically empty te from John, ced it on the counter, and grabbed him by the arm. But ya can do that tomorrow. Lets go!
She dragged him along into the living room.
There stood, sat and walked around about fifty people. The inhabitants of Savage Ind, a poption that had grown a fair bit after several of the traitors former subordinates decided to stay, Aclysia, and a couple of other people, like loyal ind owners. The gathering was predominantly female, about nine girls per one guy. Of the elementals, only Sylph and Smander were present.
All of those that were now living on the ind had been supplied with maid uniforms of the same design. John hadnt even been involved in this, neither did Aclysia have the opportunity to put her thumb on the scale yet. They just decided to do it. Another sign of the changing times that they were now doing things that pleased John of their own ord.
Those women that werent d in the ck and white of maids were those that hade out owning inds, the most important of which being Corith, and the two reporters that John had invited to partake. Harilia and Umi, the two ck-haired catgirls from CPDI, had predictably taken the offer. Despite him making quite clear that the press conference he had held between the awarding of the inds and this little party was the only interview they would get from him.
They were obviously out for some other type of material. John was almost willing to give it to them. A willingness that rose pretty quickly when he was dragged along to the massive couch that stretched along one of the long walls of the rectangle shaped room. On the low table in front of it rose a mountain of booze. From beer to vodka to some magically brewed stuff whose names John could barely pronounce, it all stood in a box filled with an ocean of ice cubes. Shot and normal sses were arranged around the further enchanted cooling box, many of them already used. On the normal dinner table nearby were bowls for people to enjoy the stew, along with normal drinks. So far, those had only been used to mix with the spirits.
Rave ignored all sses, simply fished out a random bottle of some herbal schnapps. The lid was off with one well-trained motion and got tossed away by the bombshell of a half-Asian pink-haired girl, who took a huge swig. Then a second one. Then a third, quickly grabbing her boyfriend and kissing him deeply.
A couple of drops ran down their chins when the cocktail of alcohol and Raves saliva messily flowed into Johns mouth. It tasted sweet in the first moments, then bitter, as herbal stuff tended to do, but John didnt dislike the taste. Especially as it was followed up by his girlfriends cheeky tongue, swirling around his own.
The guests noticed their hosts sudden return from the kitchen and the rather public disy of him putting his arms around his girlfriend, grabbing her ass with one and a bottle of beer with the other. In reaction, they gave apuse, cheers and whistles, the pretty perverted kind. Evidently, people already knew where this was heading. Johns reputation didnt leave much imagination to the contrary. Neither did the music Rave had put on, heavy beats with carefree lyrics, a video of almost naked women dancing to the lead of the singer on the television on the wall.
Aclysia came up and opened his bottle with her bare hands, simply pulling the metal lid off with her own sturdy exterior. A feat John could also have aplished, but would have been lessfortable doing, considering he was still squishy on the surface. Raising that bottle, he turned, Rave now under his arm. Alright everyone, I wont hold any great speeches right now, doesnt seem to be the ce! he shouted against the music. Lets just have a great time and get drunk!
That was exactly what they did.
John wasnt quite sure why he had agreed to this n, suggested by Rave, considering his past experiences with alcohol had always led to some amount of considerable pain, but he just felt like drinking again regardless. Drugs were very dangerous, but for the moment, he was quite happy to forget his worries and just get a bit tipsy.
Which he actually managed to do. Shot-kisses aside, hergely managed to stay away from the liquor and stick to the beer. It didnt taste quite as good (yet, he was feeling this whole acquired taste thing slowlying true), but he wasnt getting smashed within less than an hour, so that was pretty good.
Same could actually be said about almost everyone around. John guessed that the people around here had a much higher alcohol tolerance than he was used to. At the very least they didnt seem bothered regardless of how many bottles they went through. The greatest problem was thebination of many girls and a limited number of toilets. A problem that John didnt share, simply going outside to get his business done, and didnt care to learn a lot about.
However, even though people, some very drunk outliers aside, stayed coherent didnt mean the mood didnt steadily rise in heat. Guys were dared to take off their shirts, John being one of them and dly obliging, while the mini-skirt wearing maids were one by one convinced that panties were really not that necessary to keep their outfits together. Foul-mouthed banter was thrown across the room along with the underwear, much of which John didnt even hear as his girlfriend pushed him into the couch and gave him apdance, ending with her naked, but nothing further happening yet.
At least not anything involving John. Same couldnt be said for the other guys. With one or two girls in tow, rarely three, the other males in the room retreated somewhere else to get to know their femalepanions a bit closer, to put it decently. Not that they wouldnt have done it right in this room, but a sober Aclysia shushed them away to the other houses on the ind or guest bedrooms. Both John and Aclysia were in agreement that they didnt want other men in the room whenever this thing escted.
Which was going to be pretty soon, given the massive bulge in Johns pants following thatpdance. His naked girlfriend was strolling about the ce without a care, not even that odd a sight between all the maids, many of which had pulled down their uniforms to show off their tits. At this point, he was the only guy remaining and all the women around kept shooting him nces and looking around.
Then John saw Melthy. Although the redhead didnt hold a candle to the drop-dead gorgeous babes of the Gamers harem, she was quite the beauty. A beauty unapologetically leaning against the wall, one leg angled and raising her skirt, drinking beer with one hand and rubbing her pussy with the other, for everyone to see.
John walked over to her. Despite the alcohol and his condition, he kept his bnce wlessly. Their crossing gaze was his guideline. Speeding up her self-pleasuring in response, Melthy moaned and sexily bit her lower lip as the shirtless Gamer approached. Having fun? he asked, stepping way closer than was needed for a conversation. The conversations in the background seemed to grow more quiet, then cease, only the beat of the music apanying their conversation as everyone held their breath for this development.
Eh, Melthy responded in a carefree fashion, one pretty unbelievable considering the wet noisesing from between her legs. Could be mhmmmore fun, Master, her flippant tone wasnt even something John cared about at this moment.
Instead, he leaned even further towards her. He was taller than her and he loved that, as it allowed him topletely envelop her with his presence when he put a hand against the wall, next to her head. In her blue eyes a fire was flickering. Well, what do you suggest to make this more fun? he whispered, close to her lips,ing closer ever so slowly.
No fucking clue, the redhead answered, stopping her masturbation to bring her hand up to her lips. For a moment, it looked like she wanted to halt the Gamer, but then she went straight to sucking her own juices off her fingers. When she was done with that, she gasped, I think you got a few good ideas.
John pressed his lips on hers.
Chapter 600 – Small Lake Reforms Finale – A Serving of Maids
Chapter 600 C Small Lake Reforms Finale C A Serving of Maids
John shoved Melthy against the wall, as they wildly made out. With his dominance doubtlessly established over the Small Lake Pact, there was no more need to hold back. Finally, he could fuck all of those maids running around with a clear conscience. Well, those who wanted, anyway.
While he escted the situation with Melthy, parting her legs, brushing up her inner thighs with his hand and eventually reaching her wet pussy, Aclysia addressed the gathering for him. Everyone who doesnt want to have sex with my master, please now leave the room, she announced to the background of the redhead maids surprised moans, the Gamers fingers bringing her such immediate and clear pleasure that the surprise broke the kiss.
Nobody left, the crowd had already purified itself, with those who were attached to other men than John going with those very same guys earlier in the night. This left behind a crowd consisting of over forty horny, remarkably beautiful women, alone in arge room with a tall, handsome guy who was already shirtless.
John was all too eager to show everyone that he didnt just have the looks. Although his greedy lips muffled her continued debauched cries, Melthys voice still echoed unmistakably as the Gamers fingers sped up. Within moments, his fingers were drenched by a splurge of clear lovejuices. The redheads legs buckled as she came, quicker and harder than she likely thought possible.
Letting her copse to the floor, writhing and moaning as she slid down the wall, John tasted her sweet honey on his fingers. That was a nectar sweeter than any booze. He turned to the gathered crowd and winked. To his infinite pleasure, that alone caused a few words mumbled under erotic exhales. Fuuuuuuck so quick just with his fingers? Oh Gaia, let me be next
The two catgirls had a less surprised reaction, as they had probably watched the porncast over and over again. Instead, they wanted to know something. Can we film this? Harilia asked directly, her camerawoman, Umi, pulling a hand camera out of nowhere. Better yet, can we stream this?
No streaming, Rave answered quickly, strutting over to the feline perverts with quick steps. But ya can film. We gonna figure out distributing rights and that stuff afterwards. Whether the catgirl epted or not wasnt to be heard, as Rave did to her what John was continuing to do to Melthy.
All females wanting to have sex with my master and that are fine with being filmed can stay, Aclysia updated the terms of service. No one left still, maids just shrugging, if they reacted at all instead of staring at Johns abs. Never had he been more thankful for the general attitude of no fucks given around here. In this case, I believe there is nothing left to warn about, Aclysia shifted her long skirt to the side, revealing, between a garterbelt, her own bare pussy. She blushed lightly, letting the horniness she had barely suppressed until now get to her head as the mood reached its boiling point. You are strongly encouraged to remove your panties if you havent yet, but keep on the uniforms.
A sharp pping sound underlined that announcement as the naked Lightbearer escted the situation with the catgirls by smacking the shorter Harilia on the ass. The shinytex jiggled under the impact, demonstrating the thickness of her ass, just like her sensitivity as she moaned loudly from that one spank. That doesnt go for you two, Rave purred in a teasing tone that wasnt looking for backtalk. Strip out of that, now.
Stripping is fun! Sylph shouted, flying through the room in her big form and very obviously naked. Making her way over to John, she stormed right at him. Halfway having anticipated some sort of shenanigans by the thunderstorm elemental, the Gamer managed to catch her in his arm. Green hair whirled to invisible breezes when she asked repeatedly, Can I suck your dick? Can I? Can I? Can I?
Her straightforward enthusiasm at times like these was incredibly refreshing. Of course, John was also desperately looking for some way to find relief. Not that she would get to do that alone, as her red-skinned sister-in-contract made clear when she also hovered over. If you leave me alone in this m clump, I am going to burn the house down, Smander growled, only half joking.
No reason you cant share, John grinned and nodded towards the couch. He wanted to sit for what was about to happen. Many flustered eyes followed him as he made his way over, although the number was steadily decreasing by the amount of girls starting to engage with each other. Guess theyre realizing I cant work on forty girls at once, John thought, which was annoying him a bit. The picture of dozens of maids going at each other, with his girlfriend, Aclysia and the two naked catgirls in the mix, was a great trade-off though.
They were everywhere. Sitting in chairs, wing into the hair of another girl between their stocking-d legs. Sprawled over the wooden floor, eating each other out. Leaning against a wall, rubbing each others pussy while they watched everyone else. Some were just a writhing clump of people and booze, drinking the flowing alcohol out of the valley between exposed breasts and then licking the remains off until they sucked on hard nipples. Naked skin, ck and white cloth, moans, gasps, sweet nothings and yful insults, they filled every corner of the room with debauched action.
The couch was not exempt from this. As a matter of fact, the cushioned leather furniture was, unsurprisingly, the ce where the most girls were gathered. Especially, once John took his seat in the middle of the thing.
Immediately, he was beset on all sides. Sylph and Smander settled down between his parted legs while a cascade of maids washed over him. It was glorious. Blonde, red, raven, even a few more exotic colours were in there, like green or white. The differences didnt stop at the hair colour of course. Eye and skin colour went along the entire spectrum, short and tall girls with breasts of all sizes and bodies from lean to stout, but all well trained with no amount of obesity seen anywhere. The only thing that was monotone was that, aside from the familiars John had brought, everyone was human. Not really a problem, as far as the Gamer was concerned.
He had barely pulled his pants into his inventory when his hands, indeed his entire attention, got imed by this tide of sexiness. Breasts and bodies grinded against his naked chest, a dozen maids vying for the attention of the guy who brought Melthy to orgasm in less than ten seconds with his fingers alone. Be it the alcohol or that John had demonstrated a kinder nature than previous leaders, the women allowed themselves a much pushier attitude than he had thought. Kiss me please, Gamer, one of them gasped, a brte with immense, bare tits that had managed toe out on top of thispetition for skin-ship. At least as far as his left shoulder was concerned.
Her tongue was already on-route to his mouth, when John pulled one arm out of the confinement of slutty writhing, grabbing the brtes cute face. Do me the favour and call me master, he stated in a firm, yet kind tone. That would make me a very happy man.
Master, the brte immediately answered in a submissive way. Master, the word was immediately echoed by the serving of maids (John had just decided that was the appropriate equivalent for swarm right now) around them. They didnt say it with quite the conviction Aclysia or Beatrice had, but they also didnt just pay lip service to the word. There was a certain, understandable level of veneration for John after everything he had just done.
The raised Charisma probably helps, he thought, underlining again that he should push that Stat to 100 one day soon. Basking in the title being repeated again and again by horny maids around him, as well as the two elementals flirting with his erection, a much more pleasant and immediate thought filled his head, God, can my dick even get any harder?
The answer was a resounding yes. By courtesy of his girlfriend, who cleaned the mountain of booze of the table in front of him, an easy task thanks to all of it being in a cooling box, and stepping on top. There was a moment where it seemed she would lose her bnce, she was quite drunk, but she took the stage. Dontcha two jusht stay there! she slurred and waved at Aclysia and Harilia. Lets give my John something to watch! Lets dance!
As you wish, Mistress, Aclysia took a little bow and stepped onto the table. Shrugging, the petite, bottom-heavy catgirl followed. She was clearly interested in something more than dancing, but would y along for a start.
Two of them naked, one still in her special, less slutty but still incredibly sexy, maid uniform, they began to swing to the beat of the background techno. John hesitated to call it a dance. More a rhythmic disy of three girls making out with each other, exploring one anothers bodies with their hands, while swinging their hips in ways that allowed John (and everyone else in the room) to do the same with his eyes.
His cock was pulsating with every heartbeat, the girthy member as hard as was possible and dripping with precum. Precum that was first spread by the elementals hand movements, then licked off by their busy tongues, only to be gulped down when they finally stopped their flirting and went straight to the blowjob.
John couldnt help but groan loudly when Smander first sucked him inside. Her soft lips slid down his entire length smoothly. The inside of her mouth was immensely hot, her oil-like saliva the perfect lubricant, especially as it mixed with his own juices. Once all the way down, she stayed there for a moment. John felt like his cock, his entire mind, was melting in the pleasurable heat. Unfair! Sylphined. I asked first! Sylph! I! Meeeeeee!
Smander rolled her eyes, ck and gold on the left, white and ck on the right, and pulled back up. Go ahead then, dont be such a fucking slowpoke and thenin, you quick-moving airhead.
Sylph had some retort to that, but it was spoken while she took the endme elementals ce. Some mumbles that reverberated in Johns cock while she went down. Her mouth was its own beast entirely. Erotic little shocks jumped from caved in cheeks as she sucked him in deeper. Electricity that gently heightened Johns sensitivity, while she massaged his weak spots with her tongue.
Jesus Christ, fuck, John gasped. The individual quirks of his elementals and their bodies spiced up his sex life in all kinds of ways. With this entire situation going on, he came rather suddenly, his hips darting a bit off the couch.
It was a quick but deeply satisfying orgasm, straight down Sylphs throat who gleefully wiggled and moaned as she swallowed it all. By the fifth spurt, she came herself. Her nature as an elemental made her sensitive towards the influx of mana-heavy semen from her summoner.
The girls all around seemed disappointed for a moment, stopped in their movements. Amon misconception arose, that the Gamer was like other men and would need some time to recover. One that was immediately dispelled when Sylph pulled back up, slurping sounds apanying the entire, vacuum tight motion, to reveal a cock no less erect than before.
My turn, Smander grinned.
Lets not ignore all of you any longer, John wore his own smile when he finally kissed the brte, still so close to him. Their tongues intertwined on his aggressive action, as the girls around quickly went right back into their fight for his attention. The moans all throughout the room only grew louder.
It was a glorious make-out session. One after another, the girls won his attention and kept it. They tasted of so many things, strawberry, cherry, herbs, beer, liquorice, peppermint or whatever else their lipstick orst beverage contained. Once his lips had met with that of another woman, they didnt want to let go that easily, of course. It was the work of his nimble fingers on their bodies that convinced them to make room. The argument being their convulsing bodies falling to the side and making room for someone else.
A few girls John saw twice, namely Melthy, who had recovered to get into that mix, and that somewhat sassy ck-haired girl, whose usual uncaring attitude clearly didnt apply to having multiple orgasms. He was pretty certain that, over the course of half an hour, he saw everyone at least once. Somewhat hard to keep track, even for his brilliant mind, of this hazy heaven of his own making. Surrounded by beautiful babes scantily d in the uniform easily in the upper ranks of his fetishes, all wanting to taste his lips and the skill of his hands, a catgirl, his head maid and his girlfriend dancing and pleasuring each other on the table in front of him and two gorgeous elementals deepthroating him in quick session.
However, even that eventually grew monotonous. John craved for more, a hunger that rose with each kiss, with each load of cum he sted down Sylphs and Smanders throats. This was great, yes, but there was yet more to conquer than mouths.
Feeling her masters growing appetite, Aclysia acted first. Swiftly and only to the minor confusion of Rave, she stepped off the table. Having had their fill, for the moment anyway, Sylph and Smander didnt have to be greatly convinced to make room. The harems pecking order was in full effect. Johns cock was exposed to the air for only a few moments, then Aclysia had exchanged her usual skirt for a much shorter one, akin to the cosy uniform she used to wear, and mounted John in a reverse cowgirl position.
John felt her ass more than he could see it, only catching a glimpse when she was all the way down, her curved back thrusting her hips backwards. Nevertheless, the feeling of her bubble butt cushioning on his hips over and over again was all he needed at the moment. He had other things to keep his eyes on anyway.
Aclysias pussy gripped him tight, as she moaned his name. John, yes Master, your huge cock is splitting me apart it feels sooo gooood! Her voices pitch increased with every bounce of her fat bottom. John my master, John I love you Oh Master, Master, yes, yeeesss! Her pussy was quivering with ecstasy, constricting around his cock with milking tightness.
Normally, John would have answered something, at least his own I love you, but his mouth was still imed by the endless greed of forty maids clumped around him and spread throughout the room. His kisses may not have been reinforced by a proper Gamer Skill, but he had more than enough experience in that field regardless to make it addicting to a bunch of supremely horny girls.
Instead, all he could do was grunt along, as Aclysias sleeve of a cum-craving cunt moved up and down in ever quicker motions that made the couch creak under every impact. John had lost count how often he had cum before, not caring about disying any kind of endurance when he could instead show the basically limitless amounts of seed he carried. As such, when Aclysia threw her head back and shouted out her orgasm, he simply let loose.
Cum pumped up his shaft and exploded into Aclysias artificial pussy, painting the walls, indiscernible from flesh in its feeling, white with the massive, thick load. Masssshteeeee-aaaaaah! the loyal, perverted head-maid screamed as she was flooded. She may not have possessed the same sensibility as the elementals, but being filled with her masters seed never failed to give her that special kick.
Just as pumping someone full of cum never failed to give John immense satisfaction. He was inplete agreement with his instincts that that was the best ce to spread his seed. Although he also liked to waste it in other holes or on bodies at numerous asions.
When Aclysias orgasm had ebbed off enough that she could move safely, numerous gooey strings connected her groin to Johns. Her breathing was still unsteady, a moan escaping her lips from the simple pleasure of him slipping out, leaving her pussy gaping and cum dripping out after just a few moments.
There were a few moments of silence, with Johns still erect dick dribbling somest drops of cum. Aclysia took a single step away, back onto the table, where Rave was riding Harilias face. pping Aclysias ass once it was in range, Rave broke the silence with a few irritated words. Whatre yall just standing around for? Somebody go ride my boyfriends cock before he gets bored!
You heard my girl, John echoed the sentiment, nodding towards his unimed member, just standing impatiently at attention. A smallmotion was about to break out, but Melthy reacted the quickest, the most used to John and his peoples shenanigans by now. The lithe redhead straddled over Johns hips, spread her pussy, wet with the multiple orgasms she had already had, with her hands and then slid down.
Now, John wasnt quite clear about her sexual history, which had undoubtedly seen a few partners before him, but it waspletely clear that she took great care of herself because she was almost as tight as Aclysia. Fucking a new girl was a bewitching feeling, like always, second only to having sex with those he loved. That he could have both on the same day was just the cherry on top of his life.
The cherry on top of that cherry was watching Melthys eyes quivering and then slowly rolling up her skull as her mouth opened wider and wider, a silent scream, as she took in his cock. Even without him moving whatsoever, all the pleasure bonuses did their number on her.
Gaia, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuck, the redhead repeatedly cursed. Oh my fuck, shit this is too good, this is too good, I am I am cumming I AM CUMMING! The second he was all the way inside her, she came, suddenly and violently, with her pussy squirting a wave of clear liquid all over the point of their connection.
With a smug grin, John let her have her moment of realization. Her breathing stopped for a few moments, as if her whole body had shut down in response to this overwhelming pleasure. Then, like aputer sessfully rebooting, she suddenly started again, blinking repeatedly to get her eyes back into focus.
Having fun? John cheekily asked the same question he had before kicking this whole thing off with their little kiss.
I Melthy gulped and never got the rest of the answer out, as John thrust into her from below. Instinctively, the redheads body moved along, causing her active mind to be drowned out by the pleasure once again. Although she didnte again quite as violently, the multiple orgasms were clearly readable from her face, voice and quivering mannerisms.
He was always ready to stop, in case she passed out or she screamed something about needing a pause. Nothing like that happened, so he just continued to fuck her as she rode him from one orgasm into the next, often ovepping, always leaving her breathless. Only when his balls tightened again and he pumped yet another load into the awaiting cunt did he stop. Wordlessly, she got off him and made room, managing to stumble to a nearby chair and take a seat.
Another maid quickly took her ce. John could read it in her eyes that she thought this was an entirely overyed ordeal. There was no way riding him was that great, despite the skill he had already shown. Well, she was quickly taught her lesson when she, too, came pretty much immediately upon pration.
It was a scene that repeated over and over again. A new woman, arrogant, anticipating, curious or greedy, took the ce of thest, well-fucked and barely coherent maid, only to inevitably share the same fate. One orgasm when their tight holes first experienced all of Johns bullshit abilities, then numerous more as the Gamer began fucking them himself, finished off by sting one load inside them. Through that pattern, he fucked all of them, and it was glorious. Even if it took hours to get through all of them.
Hours during which those already served or waiting were gathering themselves in yet more lesbian fun and booze drinking that John could follow through the recement sphere hovering about the ce. He was giving creampies to dozens of girls, one blurring into the next, and being served a live lesbian orgy.
He came inside Sylph again, her and Smander having waited their turn as well, and then only had three people left to fuck. The two catgirls and his very own girlfriend, who had just waited and watched from her position on the table.
Well, who ising next? John asked, shaking his head at the girls who were ready for a second serving. Everyone once before we see how much more stamina we have, he grinned.
Guess youll have to take on this cute little kitty here, Rave purred, pointing at Harilia. Although their position had changed numerous times, right now the petite catgirl was once againpping up Raves pussy juices.
What about you? John asked the camerawoman, Umi, who was just as naked but seemingly hadnt done anything but film the ongoing scene so far. You happy with just watching?
Purrrfectlyyyyy, she moaned that single word, not even touching herself, despite her pussy literally dripping. Evidently, her voyeurism was on the rather hardcore side.
Alright then, John could have it either way, not like he had any reason to lust for one girl more. He still did. He just was satisfied regardless for the moment. As it was clear that Rave wouldnt let Harilia stop what she was currently going, John had an excuse to get up from the couch. He took one step out of the massive puddle of girlcum that thest forty girls had left behind and took his position behind Harilia.
The table was so low that her legs connected to the actual floor, meaning that she was effectively kneeling in a doggystyle position, her upper body supported by the surface. Remembering their first conversation, John could only grin as he was about to plunge into her favourite hole in his favourite position.
Squatting down behind her, he aligned his cock with her back entrance. Slippery as his cock was already, he parted her sphincter quite easily. That she clearly had taken it up the ass numerous times before helped, as she waspletely rxed as he spread her open with his enormous prick.
Oh, she is liking thisssss, Rave inhaled sharply when a purring sound reverberated from the still moving tongue.
So am I, John grunted as he had widened her far enough to smoothly sink down the rest of the way. Her ass was tight, hot and absolutely wonderful. Her ck tail waved slowly in front of him, a signal of her clear pleasure. After having others do most of the moving for so long, John was enthusiastic to do the fucking himself again. Especially because this cat in heat had an ass that rivalled Smanders in its bounciness. One that he now framed between his thumbs and his groin, grabbing her hips.
Drawing back, he first moved slowly, getting her used to his size. Although her purring continued, she didnt have the reaction of the maids before her and was taking this even better than Cindy. When she said she was sturdier than her colleague, she hadnt lied. Which John took with a grin as he put a bit more force into his next thrust.
The table shook and her ass jiggled when he mmed deep into her with one solid motion. Her spine arched for a moment, her head flying up despite Raves gasp. Oh shit, yes, you totally overthinking tease, Harilia managed to press out, the constant purr in her throat underlining the pause between each word. Fuck me up the ass! Harder, master!
She was ying along with the general theme of the party, and John couldnt help but groan because that was exactly what he wanted to hear. Forcing her back to work, Rave pulled her head down. Hey, I also have needs here! sheined and then moaned when her pussy was again being parted by the skilled tongue of the catgirl. If ya break my toy, ya take her ce!
Guess Ill have to be extra hard then, John announced, very much wanting to be the one between his girlfriends legs. Giving him a wink that she had wanted to hear exactly that answer, Rave then closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of the tongue inside her while itsted. A tongue that was now thrust deeper inside her at regr, short intervals as John picked up the speed.
Now moving with all his force and ability, sometimes changing angle and rhythm to scratch other itches, John prated the ck-haired catgirls ass with relentless force. The table let out protesting noises, unable to slide away, lodged in ce. Meanwhile the noises that echoed from the catgirl could be described with a single word: orgasmic.
Although she had managed to not immediately copse under Johns sexual abilities, she had made a mistake (others would call it a very smart move) that now put her ecstasy firmly above that of all the maids John had fucked before. Where he had just simply railed them to the best of his ability, something that had yielded quite awesome results, with Harilia he was fucking her up the ass, something that she quite clearly preferred. In summary, he knew her weak spot.
Which was now causing her to climax every few thrusts, her pretty pink pussy gushing liquid every time he mmed into her and squirting immense amounts whenever her multiple orgasms stacked to a mind-wrecking crescendo. Between the iron grip of John and his girlfriend, her body tried to move in erratic patterns, tensing all over, while her tongue still managed to instinctively work on Raves cunt. Her small frame was going limp, then overly tense again, in rapid session roughly coinciding with the heavy thrusts by the Gamer.
Johns orgasm was rising, more with every thrust. Harilias constant shifting only served to cause her inside to caress his cock in different ways, when fucking her was reason alone to go straight towards cumming. I am close, he growled, seeing the catgirls ears turn on top of her head. I am about to cum he warned, and it seemed the perverted feline mustered herst bits of self-control to move her hips in ordance to Johns thrusts. One, he mmed against her; two, he sent jiggles all throughout her bubble butt; and three, he let out a throaty sound as cum stered the inside of the catgirl.
Seeing this development, Rave let go of Harilias head, which shot upwards with a shout on her lips in response. All of her sass was lost in her rolled up eyes. John couldnt resist his sadistic tendencies in that moment, taking his hands off her hips and putting them around her throat. It barely even deserved the title of choking. The amount of pressure he exuded on her neck was minimal, didnt hinder her breathing whatsoever. Simply, it was where his hands were idly sitting at the time. It was all about the gesture, since John had no idea how much the catgirl would enjoy this type of treatment. Just a bit of domination on his part.
Rave bit her lower lip when she saw that and, while Johns feelings were all focused around each little bump of pleasure that came with every singr strand of cum he pumped into the catgirl, furiously pleasured herself. It was by far the longest orgasm he had this night, and he enjoyed it thoroughly, as it culminated thest new girl he got to fuck in this massive orgy.
Nevertheless, the second Harilia went limp and thest drop of cum was wrung from his current orgasm, John didnt hesitate one second. The catgirl was clearly unable to continue, unresponsive in any conscious way as he pulled out of her and then gently put her on the couch behind him. All she did was shiver asionally. In a few minutes, she would likely recover, but until then
I have a promise to keep, John whirled around and went to his waiting girlfriend. Wildly his lips assaulted her, showering her in kisses from the neck to the corbone. Laughing, she spread her legs around him and then closed them behind his hips when he smoothly thrust into her.
We gonna go aaaaalllll night, she whispered into his ear.
Chapter 601 – One thing done, rewards a-plenty
Chapter 601 C One thing done, rewards a-plenty
This is actually an eptable hangover, John thought when he awoke on the couch the next morning. He was missing some details here and there of how things had gone, but he remembered the vast majority of it. Which was rather pleasant. I can deal with alcoholic experiences like that.
His body felt a bit sluggish, like the I dont want to get out of bedziness one could feel on winter mornings had seeped from his liver into his brain. Just raising his head with half open eyes was a bit of a challenge, but the Gamer had the advantage of not needing to do that. His mental eye just switched from the contact lenses to the recement sphere and then got the flying piece of metal to hover around.
The room was sticky and gross and didnt smell particrly great. Unsurprising, given the amount of dried up body fluids and booze everywhere. John was just happy he had the floorboards treated to be resilient to all kinds of seeping. Aside from bottles, people and ripped maid uniforms were also left all across the room.
Sometime during the night, John had decided to get a bit rougher with those that disyed some submissive or masochistic tendencies. Those people had the ruined remains of their uniforms used as impromptu bondage. Giving a quick once-over, the Gamer counted how many people were still around.
It seemed everyone was still right where they had been when he hadid down. Most people had passed out shortly after John had engaged with them. The maids, naked or not, were still lying in poses approximating the position they hadst been fucked in. John could see his semen between the legs of all of them. Thank god for Abyssal birth protection, he thought; he would have quite the situation on his hands if there was just one amongst those girls here who disliked being on the pill or something like that.
John shifted his attention from the room atrge to his immediate surroundings, finally opening his eyes. Covered by a nice sheet of Rave and Aclysia (Sylph and Smander having retreated to their safe haven inside his soul) and an actual nket, he was quitefortable. More importantly, there was the visual treat of seeing Aclysia with dishevelled hair.
Raves unique properties always gave her a pretty wild look, so seeing her have even messier hair after a night of rough sex was nice but not all that different. Byparison, seeing the always orderly and clean Aclysia and her silky white hair in utter disarray, with some of it clumped together through matting and perverted actions, was incredible. She really rocked that absolutely wrecked by cock look. Although John was, of course, biased on that front.
Slowly opening, unfolding all of their emerald beauty, Aclysias eyes met his. She hadnt been sleeping, since she physicallycked the ability to, but instead just rested her mind while cuddling up to her loved ones. It was a pretty close recement and visually indifferent. Her advantage was being able to wake up whenever, perfectly rested.
Hey, could you start on breakfast? he asked, mentally to not disturb the slumber of everyone else around. Especially his girlfriend, since Rave tended to get cranky or non-functional if she didnt get to sleep all the way through. Something with a lot of bacon and eggs, for everyone if possible?
Certainly, Aclysia gave him a tiny nod. Shall I also prepare fresh clothes for our guests?
That would be smart, yes John answered, wondering how they could clean up everyone. Well, there were a couple of bathrooms, so as long as people woke up one by one, it wouldnt be too much of a problem.
It is medically inadvisable to keep a pair of contact lenses in for prolonged periods, Aclysia reminded her master, probably just to keep the conversation going for as long as she could before she had to break off physical contact to get working.
John chuckled quietly, What is going to happen, I am going to go blind? Regardless of that joke, he agreed with her. Dont worry, Ill take them out when I go get a shower. As they were bog-standard contact lenses, John tended to throw them away mindlessly. Buying them was basically spare change for him.
This mindset would change whenever he managed to get some unique ones tailored to his current needs. A thing he was still working on but hadnt given urgency to for as long as he was still working on keeping his bnce. Which, given yesterdaysrgely wless performance, seemed to be a process nearingpletion. It was good to have theplete recement of his sight in graspable range.
Aclysia gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then gently slid out from under the nket. Although she waspletely naked for a few moments, something that she must have done over the night to have smoother skin contact, she strutted awayfortably, growing out her usual uniform as she manoeuvred her way through the sexydies scattered about.
Once her ass was out of staring range, John turned towards a stack of windows. Ever since he had beat Jeremiah in the tournament, he had let the Achievements and other things build up to go through as a present to his own sess when he got done with this entire thing. Luckily, windows gotpletely transparent whenever he didnt want to see them, otherwise this n would have been impossible to execute without blocking part of his vision.
I wonder if that is true anymore, what with the windows being the only things I can still see with my own eyes John thought as he pulled the stack in front of himself and read them one after the other. To people not in his party, it must have looked like he was browsing on an invisible phone.
Horrible pun attempt, John thought and saw another window queue into the end of the stack. Just another corner, peeking out from behind all of thoseyers. It reminded him of a buggy Windows encounter, when dragging around a task caused all of those afterimages to appear and stick. Feels good to level again though.
That was his first gained level in almost a month, the longest levelling break he had since that initial patch he had gotten. The Gamer could only hope that he would get back to doing what actually gave him his title soon enough. At this point, he really missed the simple pleasure of grinding and the clear reward of numbers. He was a bit overloaded onplicated, political scheming. All should be taken in equal measure.
Adequate reward, John thought, reaching down to his girlfriend and caressing her impossibly soft hair. Letting out a cute little gasp, she stretched but remained asleep, rxing again after resting her head in the little depression between his shoulder and chest.
Oh, free Wisdom, Johns enthusiasm about that was mediocre, the same way somebody would appreciate finding a penny after checking their full bank ount. A single point of Wisdom was not much, but nevertheless something he liked.
Well, Zone-Tan must have been really impressed with his performance there to be the first non-Gaia god to give him an Achievement (albeit not the first to give him a reward). To be fair, he had seriously messed up a lot of girlsst night. They were probably going to remember this part of their young adulthood for the rest of their lives. Which put a giant smile on Johns face.
Since he had gotten that Max ss Level on Lover Boy, there was no reason to not spend it immediately. He still had free levels for that ss, after all. Maybe it should tell me something that I keep getting free Max Levels and Level Ups for Lover Boy and Lover Boy alone but I think I already know all the things that says about me.
Hooooo, boy, John thought as he read through all of that. This was an actually hard choice. As much as it pained him, Sadists Will was out. The only truly masochistic members of his harem were Eliza, Scarlett and, to a much lesser degree, Gnome. Although the rest of them liked the frequent spanking, the asional light bondage and the rare choking, none of them were so deep into it that John thought Sadists Will would oftene to use. Better to pick something generally applicable.
Which was exactly what Dominators Will was. It raised the cap of people he could keep view over and gave him the new tool of putting their sensitivity into overdrive. Didnt quite have the functionality of making them orgasm onmand yet, which was something John desperately wanted, but it seemed to lead in that direction.
Lovers Will offered a specialist as opposed to a generalist approach and actually piqued Johns interest a whole lot more. For a start, it was a new skill, so taking it wouldnt alter Domination Pact, whose two current upgrades were likely to show up again on future level ups. Then there was its wording: increases all pleasure of all kinds for each other by 5%.
5% wasnt a lot, considering all of the other bonuses John already had. As a matter of fact, the level in Lover Boy alone added another 5% to all of his sexual output. The thing was just that this specifically specified ALL pleasure of ALL kinds. It sounded like, for example, if John was to bake a cake and give it to Rave (the target his mind immediately went to), it would taste 5% better to her. That this was the first case of such a skill being mutual only furthered Johns curiosity.
So, he took Lovers Will. He wanted to see where it could lead and, more than that, he wanted to have his girlfriend love life with him even outside of the bedroom. It was nice to have something that furthered that particr front. I am going to put it on herter, he decided, as he could not do it without her consent.
Not like he didnt have another thing to look into anyway. He finally had some more Stat Points to distribute, 28 of them in total. Hmmm John scratched his temple as he looked at his Character Screen. He always went with Wisdom, usually, but he did determine to raise his Charisma recently and 28 points was a hefty increase there. Especially since he was about to go have a diplomatic engagement with the Amacat guild, it was worth the thought.
His main goal, Wisdom 500, wasnt that far off either, just another 75 points. Pretty hard decision all around.
Well, if I am aiming for peace negotiations soon, being more convincing is going to help me more than some more mana regeneration, he ultimately concluded and put his finger on the plus next to Charisma, keeping it there as the points drained from Avable Stat Points into the Stat. Then he looked at his Character Screen again, clicking a little button so disy his Stats as if he had all of the equipment he had set on short-cut on.
Maxed out Fucking and Nimble Hands now, John noted, quite happily. Also interesting that Source of Satisfaction was currently in its stage where it gave him bonus Libido. Normally, when he wasnt having sex, it was supposed to decrease his lust instead. Then again, he was lying with a pretty clear level of morning wood under his girlfriend, so maybe the skill already knew more than he did.
Well, that was a bunch of expected and useless pay-out. Nevertheless, he would still take those rewards, particrly thatst bit. Rave still called him good-looking, but in, so maybe that would finally fix it.
There was also thatst window Gaia had sent him when he hadmented on the pun.
Well, that was short, sweet and anticlimactic.
He was immediately distracted by the soft whisper of his girlfriend slowly rising into consciousness. Morning, John, she said, do I smell bacon?
Aclysia is in the kitchen.
Is it done?
I would say a bit longer until its nice and crunchy.
Long enough for a morning quickie?
John grinned, the passive had indeed known more than him.
Chapter 602 – School and go
Chapter 602 C School and go
They had breakfast in the garden. Not because John particrly wanted to leave the house, but because there was no room big enough to hold the formation of tables they had improvised to amodate everyone. The Gamer had, after everyone had somewhat freshened up, insisted that they all have breakfast together.
Between then and now, he himself had taken a shower, made a deal about the distribution and profit share he would receive from the recordings ofst night, had sex with Rave and some other of his girls three times and just generally enjoyed life in full. As to why he called this early meeting in the day, there was a simple reason.
Ill be leaving in a few hours, he announced after everyone had eaten enough to wrestle but the worst of hangovers down to eptable levels. For everyone else, Undine was doing them the favour of curing them.
Those words were met with little surprise. People must have realized that, now that his business here was concluded, the leader of Fusion had to move elsewhere. It did beckon a few questions though.
As you should already know, I have made arrangements for some people toe from the Hudson Barrier over to the main ind here and establish a governmental institution of this new province. The new name is still pending, but the change itself is well under way, he started on his exnations.
Rolling his neck, he continued. Thats, of course, what is generally going to happen. Infrastructure being built, police force being recruited, local elections getting put under way, all that stuff. As to the inds, aside from the core rules of Fusion, they are under effective self-governance as I have promised.
Which raises the question of what will happen to you all, John looked over the arrangement of people. Surprisingly (well, not all that surprisingly) Aclysia had been in possession of more than enough maid uniforms to rece the ruined ones. As such the guys, with their shirts and jeans, stuck out of the arrangement like an unsexy, sore thumb. Because I dont intend to stay here and manage this ind. Instead, I will delegate this task to someone else, he gestured to his left, and the weaponized maid rose up from her seat in response, Aclysia will be in charge of this ind in my stead. Tell them what your ns are.
Aclysia took one of her little bows as he got seated. As you wish, Master, she stated in her calm, melodic voice, before addressing the crowd atrge. Her tone got a lot less submissive when talking to them. I have two intentions for this ce. Number one, maintenance, this is where most of you will likely find your upation. The fields have to be looked after, the security measures checked, the buildings kept clean and the garden tended. You will be paid by Fusion for this work she hesitated for a second, and you will be allowed to wear whatever you want.
Having to suppress a bit of a chuckle, John did his best to keep quiet. That Aclysia was even the mildest bit put off by allowing girls to pick something to wear that didnt y to her masters fetishism was amusing to him. Well, put off was a bit strongly worded. Confused as to why they wouldnt naturally do that may have been more urate.
Secondly, I want to establish a school here, Aclysia continued, standing straight and with confidence. An institution to teach, exclusively women, the craft of being a proper servant. This will range from cleaning, cooking and household calctions, tobat, etiquette and sexual lessons, enacted with toys, if Master isnt there for a demonstration. John had not heard of that side of the n, but he did approve of it. We will only take applicants above the age of eighteen, of course, and they will also be presented with a number of different lessons that may turn out to be useful.
It was a pretty ambitious idea, simply because John couldnt imagine the market for this was particrly great. First, women that decided, on their own, to sign into a maid school, and second, the pretty scarce poption of Abyss. Because it was the Abyss, however, this could work out, given the number of weirdos and the level of fame Aclysia enjoyed at Johns side.
Those of you who have no intention to be simple ind keepers may apply for that school when the preparations are finished. Either as students or teachers, Aclysia borated further. If epted, tuition will be free. Teachers will be paid from my own funds. The so collected tone of the weaponized maid suddenly rose in enthusiasm. The goal of the school is to train new generations of women into the honourable, fulfilling and wonderful role of maids. As maids, it is our sacred duty to tend to and protect our Master!
I am not quite sure thats the standard definition of maid, John thought, still keeping his mouth shut and that thought buried where Aclysia couldnt see it. She might have gotten offended. Especially the protect part. Maids arent historicallybatants
Aclysia cleared her throat to resume in her gathered fashion. It should be stated that, while I prefer everyone would be open for it, being on this ind in the future does not necessitate that you are avable to Masters advances, sexual or otherwise. This goes for the employees for ind tending as well as the future school and all its students and teachers. I do, however, advise that you leave whenever you want to properly settle with someone else. This is a ce for bachelorettes or people happy to tie themselves to my John. Simrly, the maids trained here are under no obligation to serve Master or in Fusion by their graduation A but I would much rmend that was hanging in the air during the pause she took.
People had been quietly listening, mostly because everyone was aware of what Aclysia herself was capable of even without her master around, but now that there was a longer pause, they started to whisper amongst themselves. Opinions were quietly exchanged.
If you have any questions, I ask you that present them now, Aclysia said after letting this go on for a little bit.
Arent you a bit too busy to run a school? was the first question flying her way.
The weaponized maid shook her head. Although my schedule is currently quite upied by following Master around, there will be peace in the future, and during that I will be avable often enough. Especially once a long-distance teleporter is installed and I can travel here in a matter of seconds. Which was an item high on Johns list of priorities. I hope that this is done by the time the school itself is built.
Okay, so how fucking many do you even want to train? the maid asking that question shrunk away when Aclysia gave her a long, annoyed stare. Sorry for the swearing
A minimum of one and a maximum of one hundred students should be in training at any given time, Aclysia swiftly responded after that apology. A number of different questions flew in afterwards, most of which she could answer quickly as John had asked them of her when he had first heard the idea.
His doubts about the viability of this school had already been established, but that aside he absolutely loved everything about this. The world absolutely needed more maids. That many of them would likely decide to go elsewhere after receiving a very broad, cost-free education (which he was damn sure Aclysia would do everything she could to rival even top-level universities) was a bit sobering, but at the face of it, he loved it.
It certainly helped that, as he was pretty sure most girls that stayed here in any capacity would be open to have sex with him at least once, he had his vacation ind of maids to fool around with. While he may find a few more loves amongst those, it was more likely he was just going to have some casual fun with women that perfectly well knew what they were getting into. If they came just for the education on maidhood, John would leave them alone no problem and make very sure everyone knew that rejecting him wouldnt cause any disadvantages for them.
He may have been a pervert, but he had no intention of throwing his power and influence around to essentially coerce women into sex. Not only was that sleazy as all hell, he really didnt need to do that.
So, what, are we going to be some sort of little harem? one girl asked a rted question, and John audibly hummed at hearing that, causing attention to shift to him.
Having put himself on the spot like that, it seemed it was his turn to answer something. I like that, the little harem. I mean, there is a lot more of you even now, numerically speaking, but Ill be perfectly blunt: I dont look to love any of you, and if you all want to see me as some casual fun yourself, thats all fine. As Aclysia alreadyid out, once you actually have a proper rtionship, you can just cut ties with this ind. Im fine with that. So yeah, you would be the little harem.
After that, arrangements were made pretty quickly. The girls and guys that had left the party yesterday before the orgy started all made clear that they had no intention to be part of that. John offered them that they could stay for a month or two, while they searched for some housing elsewhere. An offer they took with gratitude.
Of the forty girls that had slept with John, all but two decided to stay. The Gamer expected that number to dwindle further as the (soon to no longer be) maids realized that he wouldnt be here every other day, but more like every other month. After all, with the life they had previously lived, he doubted many of them saw their fulfilment in doing cleaning and gardening.
A subgroup of five girls, Melthy first amongst them, voiced their interest in Aclysias maid school. For that, the artificial guardian dered Melthy temporary vice-headmaid of that school and in charge of making sure the building would be constructed properly. Although the head architect was a Fateweaver Magoi had sent over during the initial construction spree. Given more time than a few days, that guy was sure to create a nice, Victorian looking building.
With all of that concluded, John dered the meeting over. People quickly scattered to sleep some more or just get some alone time after all of this closeness for the past hours. The trio of Rave, Aclysia and John didnt lose any more time on the former Small Lake Pact and soon stepped to the harbour and the run-down boat that the former leader had owned and John had inherited. It had been cleaned quite thoroughly, but it would need a newyer of paint before it ever looked proper again.
The Gamer was more inclined to just throw it away once he got some better ones built. He looked back to the ind after he had started the motor. I think we did pretty good here, he stated.
Rave giggled, sitting down next to him in the middle-sized vessel. Talk about selling things short, we did fantastic, looking back herself, she counted down. I got a power-up, ya got way better with your eyes, more territory, humiliated the Lake Alliance, reformed a local culture to something less toxic, formed, pffff, sheughed a little louder, formed a school for maids, all pretty great.
I dont appreciate your mockery of thatst point, Mistress, Aclysiained from the backseat. Would you not like more servants to help with the daily chores?
I would like more girls in kinky maid uniforms around me, Rave admitted easily. Doesnt mean I cant also find it funny. Her eyes got stuck on the medieval looking tower that had survived all of the reconstructions. By the by, did ya ever trante the scribbles inside?
Some of them, Johnmented as they began swimming away. It was his turn tough. It was a number of hate-poems about being sent to the middle of god-knows-where by a certain humanoid, dickish rat.
Oh wow, Rave eximed, joining him in his joy, even Aclysia giggled a little bit.
Chapter 603 – 2B welcomed
Chapter 603 C 2B weed
John made a disgruntled face as he moved the phone away from his ear. Reason for that motion was the nail-curling sound of bone and cartge snapping under too much force, along with the gargled scream of someone choking on their own blood. When things became quiet, he put the phone back to his ear. You could have just said Please call me againter, Metra.
Whats the matter, John? the berserker babes voice came from the other side, a tapping rhythm in the background of the call. John could just see her, nonchntly standing in a room, the walls and herself painted with blood and gore, holding the phone in one hand and tapping the shaft of her weapon on her shoulder with the other. Do you want to avoid all of the death your actions cause and mimic the sinless ruler?
There is a difference between avoiding responsibility, which I am not, and not wanting to listen to somebodys I think spine being squished into their lungs under slowly rising pressure from the foot of an ancient, sapient weapon of war and murder.
I tried to kill her fast, Metra defended herself, the girl was just pretty good at regenerating. Kudos to you for identifying the cause of death by sound alone though.
Its a skill I would rather not have, John grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Whatever, are you done then?
Yeah, base smoked out. Resistance broken.
Wait, do you mean local resistance or the collective we have named the Resistance?
Take a guess and dont try to insult me in the process, big boy, Metra answered, the sound of her voice indicating that she had a giant grin on her face. We localized their base of operation. Few of the higher-ranking members may have gotten away, but this pain in my ass is gone.
That was tremendous news. If the south was properly pacified, then he had more troops to show as his figurative teeth whenever he decided to put diplomatic pressure on the Lake Alliance. Also, just the general advantage of having quelled the rebellion before it could spread to even more of the small guilds around that were individually weak but could turn out to be a problem if they banded together against Fusion.
I will have to do some sort of assembly with all of the small fries eventually, convince them to join peacefully and all that, John thought and already rolled his eyes at the amount of faces he would have to remember. It would be so much easier to just roll over them with an army and say that they were part of Fusion. Too bad I have morals and believe in the sanctity of life and all that crap, he poked fun at himself. Well done then. What are you going to do now?
Ted and I are going to hang around the area for a few more days, establish some garrisons, make sure nobody else is up to some shit and then well return to the Hudson Barrier, Metra summarized the n. Now that we got me out of the way, how are things with the Small Lake Assholes? Tournament through?
Tournament through, everything went without a hitch, John reported. First articles about Jeremiahs double failure are already circting. A few are worded in ways that make me read like the bad guy, but hey, the story is getting out there.
You should just hack their hands off for lying.
We dont really do that anymore.
Sucks to be you then, Metra answered, but thenughed. Im just kidding, that kind of censorship never worked long term anyway. I take it, youre on the way to Amacat then?
Yup, about to arrive in Boston, John answered, looking out of the window and seeing the buildings fly by the train. We only had one dy, it was fantastic. Why do you ask?
Oh, you know curiosity, Metra was obviously dodging, but she did so with another carefree giggle, so John didnt think much of it. Ill see you soon then.
If I get done here in a week, like nned, then yes, John affirmed and ended the call shortly after that. The great thing about the trip to Amacat was that he didnt have anything great nned to do there. He was essentially there to look good and talk pretty. Maybe he could get something on the way regarding integration, but the main goal was to simply allow Scarlett to do her thing that would force them into economic dependence and eventual absorption.
Which wasnt really much work with how much stronger Fusion was and the fact that they surrounded them on all almost all sides that werent coast. Only the north bordered on some other guild. Basically, he was going to be like Italy negotiating a deal with Monaco.
Rave yawningly awoke when the train brakes shriek shook her from her sleep. Are we finally there? she mumbled. They had been on the road for a good bit. Having set out around ten, they were now arriving about five hourster. John had thought it would take way longer than that to get there. Which was why he had announced himself for the Amacat tomorrow.
Yeah, and well have the rest of the day off, the Gamer answered, kissing his girlfriend awake. Enviously, Aclysia nudged closer, and he gave her a quick few kisses as well.
The person sitting opposite them, a thoroughly mundane person, had tough at that point. He had been there for a while, reading his book and not paying a lot of attention in the pretty crowded train. Sorry, dude, but what the hell are you? It was a justified question, as he had witnessed everything from the squished spleen conversation to this wild kissing with two immensely hot babes.
I guess a single fitting word would be aplished, John answered with a grin before getting up, the train having ground to a total halt. The guy was evidently bored, as he followed John. Given that this was the final station and the train had to empty outpletely, they were next to each other in the corridor for a little while.
Were you roleying on the phone earlier or what? the random man asked.
I guess you could say that, John responded fluidly. He could practically feel the raised Charisma pick his word in the perfect, smooth delivery. Another girl on the phone, other things to talk about, you know how it is.
I really dont, I only ever had one girlfriend at a time, the guyughed as they took slow steps along the corridor, creeping towards the door. Are you some kind of important businessman?
Again, a valid question, given Johns current suited-up look. I prefer investor, the Gamer chatted back quickly. You wont ever have heard of me and doubtfully ever will, I prefer to keep things private.
I understand, its just interesting to see someone who lives in such a different world appear in a normal train, you know?
John looked at the guy for a couple of seconds, quietly getting another Observe and a look on his aura, all to make sure he really wasnt talking to an Abyssal. Yeah, he answered by the end. We really do live in different worl- His words were cut short when he took the next step. While staring straight ahead, his coordination was basically perfect now, but with his head turned and him looking from the corner of his eye, his Possession given sight desynced slightly and caused him to stumble forwards.
He tried to hold onto something, but Aclysia in front of him had already taken another step, while his other hand narrowly missed the backrest of a nearby seat. Then his fall came to a sudden halt. Although weak by the measures John was used to, his mundane conversation partner had a grip strong enough to secure him.
Guess even in your world you have some normal problems, huh? the guy joked as he helped John back to a secure standing and then let go of the Gamers shoulders.
Oh, for sure, John agreed. The crowd suddenly moved a lot quicker, some sort of clump near the exit must have gotten resolved, and quickly after, John stepped onto the stone tform outside. I hope you have a nice day, he wished his short-term acquaintance, and the mundane person just waved awkwardly before walking away.
I apologize for that, Aclysia stated when they had gotten out of the stream of people and stopped near one of those awfully overpriced vending machines. I should have been in position to catch in case that happened.
Not a problem, John assured his weaponized maid, patting her on the head. If you look after me too much, I wont be able to live on my own and you wouldnt ever get to do anything else.
Statement: she desires both of those oues, an equally neutral and sarcastic exmation suddenly reached Johns ears as Beatrice approached them. Like Aclysia, she wore her public appearance, giving her ck hair and a grey summer dress whose skirt was just long enough to be decent. The mole under the right side of her lips ented their sultry, pink form quite well and her green eyes were looking at him with quiet intensity when she stopped.
We got back the serving twins, Rave joked, looking at the two of them standing next to each other. They were the same height and there were only a few subtle differences in their exterior: the side of the mole under their lips, Beatrices chest being a little bitrger and, of course, the length of their hair. Twins was apletely applicable description.
The clearest difference between them was their behaviour though. Addendum, Beatrice ignored Raves statement, Aclysia has failed to remainposed in the face of your recent scarring and consequently failed to properly execute her mission. Conclusion: she is a selfish servant interested in being close to you more than being useful.
That is I Aclysia actually stuttered as she tried to find a way to counter these ims. I was immensely worried about Masters wellbeing!
This does not run counter to my point, Beatrice stated, staring down her elder whileying into her. Factually, that was the basis of my im. After being informed that he was safe, you regardlessly decided to leave the post you were assigned to. This had the potential to jeopardize an important strategic expansion. You also used a limited resource to do so. Consequence: nothing. Alternative oue: you might have been able to finish your mission earlier. This would have allowed me to also see him earlier.
John didnt want to intervene just yet, as it seemed Beatrice really needed to get this out of her system. Instead, he just let Aclysia let her head hang and mumble. This is correct, I apologize for having acted rashly.
Confession: the main reason this irks me is because I was not allowed to do the same, Beatrice said in her usual tone, although a hint of irritation made its way in there. Turning to John, she took that little bow she had copied from Aclysia when she had gotten her memories shared. It is good to see you in good health, Master. I wee you in Boston.
It is very good to see you, Beatrice, he said and embraced her in a deep kiss thatsted for almost a full minute. She tasted of cinnamon and a sandalwood aroma filled Johns nostrils now that he was this close to her. Both things naturally sexually stimting and, thanks to repeated usage in massage oils and incense, he hade to be trained to immediately expect sex because of. He was almost like Pavlovs dog, except he wasnt salivating, he just got a massive erection. When they finally separated, he mumbled, Youre using Aclysias tricks now?
Effective and pleasing to you, Beatrice stated with the weakest of smiles. Conclusion: appropriation necessary. Calmed to her usual levels by as little as that kiss, the passive maid turned back to Aclysia. Note: I just wanted to make the point. I am not angry. No grudge holding. Lets continue serving.
Yes, the weaponized maid responded with a much broader expression of joy on her face. Then the two maids, moving with unspoken, perfect coordination, each grabbed one of Johns arms and snuggled up close.
Oy! Raveined in a yful manner. Imma let ya get away with that this time, but I have a permanent reservation on all of that guy there.
And I dont like this, John announced, to the surprise and sudden letting go of both of the maids. Before they could take a step away, he had his arms around their hips and pulled them towards him. This is much more my style. Lets go. I want to eat something and then his hands wandered a little lower, taking two grabs of the equally round and squishy asses, I got some worshipping to do.
They didnt feel like walking, so they ordered a cab. John squeezed in the backrows middle seat, his hips stuck between two majorly more squishy ones. He couldnt resist more than thirty seconds, that both of the maids were leaning against him with their stupendously sexy bodies and faces didnt help, and throughout the entire drive, his tongue was parting lips or trailing over necks. Rave minorly entertained the driver with small talk. Which didnt stop the middle-aged guy to be so distracted by the little sighs Aclysia and Beatrice let out that, during one particr long nce in the back mirror, he drove right into the back of the car in front of them.
Luckily, they were pretty close to their destination at that point. John just threw the driver apletely oversized tip for the troubles. He did the same for the rammed party when they threatened to call the cops because of the scratch to his bumper. If he got held up any longer, either his stomach would copse or his balls explode, and neither were feelings he was out for.
Just a corner further and they arrived. A towering building, with curved walls that were entirely windows, sitting on top of a blocky base that was dominated by yet more ss. The monotony of materials used aside, the InterContinental was an impressive building and a four-star hotel.
Yet that wasnt Johns endpoint.
He raised his hand and he, as well as everyone in his party close enough to be affected, entered the barrier.
In typical Abyss fashion, whoever had put this barrier here initially had waited for the real world equivalent to finish, then upgraded the hell out of it with vanity and magic. Each window was surrounded by a frame of pure gold. Drones were flying in steady, smooth fashion all around,ing from somewhere in the lower floors and distributing packages by entering higher floors through holes, like bees buzzing through the hive. The words American-Canadian-Trade spanned in big, silver letters over the entrance.
I prefer something with more stone, John thought, always a fan of castles, particrly more modern looking ones, as he walked towards the entrance. You were staying here, right? the Gamer asked. Which room?
Confusion: yes, I have been staying here, no, I didnt have a room, Beatrice answered.
There was no need to ask what she meant by that. John immediately understood that she had simply been standing quietly in some undisturbed corner whenever she wasnt needed, waiting for either more instructions or for her next appointment toe along.
ncing at the reception, he saw a queue that would take a while to resolve. The way to the restaurant, however, seemed mostly vacated. Apparently, they had arrived at a less busy hour. Although the urge to get busy with his two white-haired servants was the stronger of the two, John made the wise choice and went to satisfy the need he could without much of a hassle.
They better serve good food here. Aclysia sounded like she was threatening the cook already.
Chapter 604 – Charming people
Chapter 604 C Charming people
John scraped some of the remaining food off the te and onto his fork. He naturally sat upright, not too straight, so that he would have seemed stern, or slouching in any way, which may have made him appearzy. No, he was at that perfect level where his suit could show off just how perfectly it was sitting.
Sitting next to him, Rave had already finished her much smaller meal. Her arms were on the table, one hand raised and supporting her head, as she watched him with a content expression and a small smile on her lips. That extra Charisma definitely did something already, shemented.
John nodded as he, somehow, managed to answer clearly despite chewing. I think so too, but tell me, I like second opinions.
Seems like your muscles are a bit more visible under your clothes, if that makes sense, Rave tried to exin it. Like, you are still narrow, but I wouldnt be surprised anymore to see your abs when you take your shirt off.
John looked down at himself. Now that she said it, he could definitely see that. Seems like it should be Strength that does that. Then again, it just pumped up the muscles I already had to look better. Anything else aside from that?
A bunch of subtle behaviour things, I guess? Rave asked him where she was supposed to provide an answer. Ya just seem sexier, cant really put my finger on any specifics of it.
Good enough, John thought as he put thest bit of meat and mashed potatoes in his mouth, finishing the meal. Then, happy with life, he leaned back in his chair and just enjoyed himself. After the four of them had arrived at the restaurant, John had quickly been recognized.
They had been offered one of their private dining rooms, an idea that the Gamer smoothly agreed to. Subsequently, they were guided through the luxurious dining room, then through the even more luxurious backroom, up an elevator and ultimately to the part of the restaurant segment of the oversized building that was dedicated to private rooms.
That long walk seemed to have served as a sort of timer for the staff to arrange everything within, as the room was clearly bigger than was necessary for just one table with four chairs. A fresh candle was burning atop the round table, a white sheet covering its surface and falling all the way to the floor. When John had sat down, the satin-like material had parted around his legs like water, removing any obstruction it might otherwise have caused.
Having Observed the sheets, John had quickly found out that the actual sheet ended at the edge of the table, everything else was just a fancy illusion. As were the flickering mes on the bronze chandelier above, creating afortable twilight in the hazily warm room. The creamy chocte coloured walls sported paintings of heroes and demons, set into golden frames that harmonized with the skirting along the corners of the room. The ceiling was its own painting, showing a map of the world, with overemphasized wonders of architecture painted on top of many locations, standing in the Abyss and the mundane world equally.
After having ordered, they were brought their food pretty swiftly and then left with a bell they could ring for service. John already knew that trick, it was connected to a second one wherever the workers stayed when they werent needed. Anyhow, he and Rave had started eating, and that was where they were now, talking about this and that.
When there was a knock on one of the two oak doors that led into the room, John was a bit confused. He had thought they knew not to interrupt their customers unasked when they already had those bells anyone could ring. When the person then also decided to enter, he understood immediately what was going on.
He was looking at a man of a progressed age and of a lean build. Wearing a ck suit with a blue tie on a white shirt, he wore his evident wealth in a more held-back style. The materials were clearly fine and the cut a crafting grade above what the average person could afford, but not overly decorated. To the untrained eye, he might have passed as a simple businessman.
He had the face and expression of a friendly, phnthropist grandfather, something that was hidden from view for a moment when he lifted his hat in a greeting gesture, revealing the backwardsbed remains of what had once been a proud hairline and had been reduced to something that just barely covered his baldness through styling.
I hope I am not interrupting anything, Berden greeted, putting his hat back on his head, while John was still busy marvelling at his pleasingly smooth Stat values. My name is Berden Drechsler, I am
One of the higher-ups in Amacat, yes, I know of you, John said with a smile, and he didnt even have to lie there. He hadnt been able to attach a face to the name before, but Scarlett had given him ess to her files on the people in Amacat, so he had already done a lot of reading on all of them. You can enter, but I have to warn you that the other two, he gestured at the empty seats that had been provided for the maids, are not missing.
There was questioning quiet afterwards, with only two quiet noises reverberating in the air. One was his girlfriends chuckles, the other were the quiet, wet noises of a casual blowjob. Under the table, Aclysia and Beatrice were working his shaft with their tongues, always careful not to let any drop of precum escape and cause a stain in the ck carpet.
The moment John had assumed they had privacy, he had asked them to slip under the table. Although he wanted to seriously take Beatrice through all stages of sexual ecstasy already, he needed at least one relief orgasm, and there was no reason they couldnt have provided that while he was eating. He had already had it as well, but neither he nor the two maids felt any need to have them stop.
Berden couldnt see any of this. A little bit of his naked ass aside, Johns lower body was hidden under the illusionary cloth. In response to this absurdity, the experienced investor justughed. Not the first business meeting I am going to attend where somebody is getting sucked off under the table, he said and casually walked closer. May I sit?
Be my guest, John gestured at the empty chair opposite of himself. Rave repositioned her own so that she sat directly adjacent to her boyfriend, then pulled out her phone to pass the time. A gesture that made the businessman slow in his movement for a reason. With interest, John noted that he didnt speak up, however.
This hadnt been coordinated with Rave, but this little interaction already told the Gamer a couple of very interesting things. For a start, Berden didnt like the potential of being recorded in any way. That wasnt saying too much, John himself disliked it in principle, and didnt necessarily mean he was about to discuss something Berden didnt want his fellow guildmates to know. What John found more curious was that the Old Caut didnt ask for the phone to be shut off again, despite being a high-ranking member of Amacat and indeed the main-owner of this very building (likely how he already knew that John was here).
Guess I am in the driving seat, then, John thought, putting his elbows on the table. Hadnt he announced the presence of the two girls under the table, nobody would have guessed by the way he carried himself that he was being sucked off right now. Thats good, means we are on the same page regarding our rtive power.
He had gotten used to it by now. That he, despite his much younger age, was often in a position where older people had to ask him for favours, saw him as an authority figure and he could decide the future of them with a decision that may just be a spur of the moment thing. What had been odd was now something he was used to. Stirwin appeared on the table and moved to plunder whatever scraps he could from the te, making sure that his summoner didnt start taking his position for granted.
Dont worry, John stated when Berden had taken his seat, nothing is being recorded in any capacity, you have my word.
Raves fingers moved over the screen. Just checking my games while ya two talk about money and territory and , she confirmed, casually dismissive about the situation. Here I was told we had the rest of the day off.
Well, we arrived early, John responded, answering a question Berden would have likely asked a few momentster. Towards the businessman, he continued, I was nning toe to tomorrows gathering; you really didnt need toe here to greet me out of schedule.
Too kind of you, President Newman, Berden bowed his head a little bit. However, someone of your stature should be given the necessary respect.
The opinions differ about how much that is, John gave him a friendly smile. Seems mine is a little lower than yours. Regardless, what can I do for you? The Gamer was very much looking forward to hearing this. What could the business be that Berden wanted to present him that he was willing to act on his own? Admittedly, John liked talking to people with their own ns and ambitions.
Yes he seemed hesitant, as if he was about to ask for something gargantuan. John was so anticipating, he almost forget Beatrices lips around his member for a moment. See, I have noticed that Fusion gives out very cheap loans. I would ask you to consider refinancing my debt.
Thats it? the question slipped out before John noticed he wasnt thinking it. He cleared his throat and continued in his deep, smooth voice. No, sorry, what amount of money are we talking here? It had to be some absurd amount for this to be worthy of some out of schedule meeting.
About 200 million, Berden said. I have guarantees on all of it, they would of course go onto you, but I would pay 5% less interest over the next 20 years, so it would save me a lot of money if you agreed.
John fell silent, only because he stopped himself from saying anything else dumbfounded. Okay, sure, 200 million is a good amount of money, but for Fusion thats absolutely in the budget he thought, still massively underwhelmed by all of this. His disappointment aside, he acted cautiously and agreed, Fusion is certainly willing to invest some more into loyal neighbours. If you could prepare some information on those guarantees and how their transferal would look, I would be more than happy to refinance your debt.
Honestly, John would have been happy to just immediately say yes. Regardless of guarantees or not, having one of the leading members of the Amacat in his pocket to the tune of 200 million bucks would carry them immensely towards their goal. With the guarantees, if he failed to pay them, Fusion would likely absorb considerable amounts of Amacats economy overnight.
Of course, of course, the experienced investor nodded happily and reached into his breast pocket, pulling out an USB-stick. You will find everything on here. My debtors have already agreed to the transferal. Whenever youve made your decision, contact me and well finish up the contract.
Sure, John threw the data container into his inventory, to be inspected by Scarlettter. For all he knew, Berden could be trying to install a virus on Fusions central databank to spy on their transactions. It would be immensely beneficial to the guy. As far as John knew, he was some sort of money mage. An utterly useless power in the real world, but perfect for someone whose life was focused around transactions, as he could basically control his bank ount from anywhere, ess to technology or not.
Like many kinds of magic, the exact way this worked was beyond John, but the fact was that it did.
Anything else you want? John asked, rxing as the disappointment was overwhelmed by the skillful exchange under the table. Beatrices lips travelled up and were seamlessly reced by Aclysias. As to how John even knew who was sucking his cock between the identically squishy lips, the answery in their techniques. Aclysia was more enthusiastic and focused a lot of her energy on Johns weak spots, while Beatrice was utterly consistent and provided a well-rounded pleasure. A very nice back and forth between them.
Yes, see Berden started, and John was all ears again. Could it be that he had used the less controversial thing to test the waters first? Honestly, our defence department is able to expand a whole lot thanks to Fusions recent investments. For the first time in years, well have the money to finance an expedition to the Antic Fuse, kill some of the natural monsters there and make some profit that way while securing our trade routes. However, we dont have enough ships.
Ah, John didnt move an inch, mimicking the intrigued, but once again he was left with a lukewarm feeling of Thats it?. Not only was it a boring thing to talk about, he also spoke of we, in other words, this was just something that the entire council wanted John to know before the meeting tomorrow. Right. Fusions dockyards are still expanding and its going to be a while before we have covered our own demands for a navy, he let Berden know. So, all I can offer is that you send us a couple of your guys to train with us.
It was a supremely loaded offer. Once guest workers were inside the Hudson Barrier, John would make sure they were treated so well that they, at the very least, had only great things to say about Fusions wonderful capital. It was a pretty easy propaganda tool and created something that John called external patriots. There probably was a proper term for it, but he didnt know it. The ultimate goal was to have people weing annexation.
I see, Berden sounded more disappointed than dismissive. I will bring that up with the board. Its still quite a good offer. There were a few more moments of silence, during which the tapping of Rave on her screen and the sucking sounds under the table once more were the only noises in the room. Then, the businessman began to rise, smoothly for his age, but definitely still showing it. I have already made arrangements that you will be given the presidential suite, he let John know. Just drop by the reception and they will give you the key. Ignore any queue if there is one.
Thanks, John bowed his head, then reached for the bell. He could go for a second meal before retreating into his conveniently assigned stay. The food here is exquisite by the way. Mypliments to the chef.
Ill make sure he hears that, Berden promised, made sure his hat was sitting correctly and then marched towards the door. The moment he was out, the Gamer reached under the table and mercilessly ravaged Beatrices greedy mouth. He wanted to cum once more before the server got over.
Chapter 605 – A double of maids [Erotic Content]
Chapter 605 C A double of maids [Erotic Content]
Rave gave John a quick kiss on the cheek when they arrived in front of the elevator, both of them in possession of keycards that unlocked ess to their temporary suite. Im gonna step out for a bit, check if the disco in the cer is as good as I heard, she announced. Sally, wannae with?
The question was directed at a person who only then materialized, Smander appearing behind John. Sure, not like Ill have anything fucking else to do, the endme elemental agreed, continuing while John was still a bit confused, Sylph, what about you?
You inviting me? Wowsie, didnt think that! Sylph chirped when she popped into existence, asrge as she got, to the smell of a flower field in spring. Thought you would be too much of a bitch to ask me, that would be so mean, but I already thought, Hey, maybe Sally doesnt want me around sometime, Im just gonna going to take a nap, or something like that. I mean-
Sylphs tirade was brought to an end when the much taller fire spirit pressed her hand on the green-haired girls mouth. Dont make me regret this, she almost begged.
You sure about this? John asked her, and in return Rave leaned up to his ear to whisper the answer.
I had ya for breakfast, so Ill let ya enjoy your symmetric dinner in peace. Just keep in mind that drunk me will want a midnight snack, she ended that announcement with a quick p to his bum and then stepped away dancingly.
Looking after her with a grin, John loudly eximed, Youre too good for me!
I know! the techno lover shouted back, stepping away while swinging her hips in that teasing way that made her pants dig into her wless ass and always managed to get John supremely horny. Onest wink over her shoulder and Johns girlfriend left him alone with Aclysia and Beatrice, who followed the happening with silent approval.
It was a quick trip to their apartment. John just had to hold the key card against a scanner under the floor panel and it automatically started moving upwards. The presidential suite was all the way on the top of the building and consumed the entire floor. Not that John cared about any of that.
The elevator spat them out in a luxurious entrance area that led into an oversized, luxurious living room, with numerous luxurious rooms attached. John didnt really have much more attention to spare for the environment than single word descriptions. He would explore this ce more in the morning, for now he had his considerable lust to take care of.
Which in essence meant that he found the bedroom as quickly as possible and entered it with the two maids in tow. At that point, all of them were naked already. Johns cock quivered with every pulse of blood that increased its hardness. With movements of unquestionable servitude, the maids were already halfway kneeling to continue their earlier work when he stopped them by raising his hand. Wordlessly, they straightened back up and awaited to hear his wishes.
Aclysia, get out the massaging stuff, John stated after a moment of thinking.
As you wish, Master, Aclysia announced and reached into her inventory. First, she pulled out the wax cloth that served to prevent the oil from staining areas it wasnt meant to. While Beatrice spread that cloth over the bed, the weaponized maid put a small number of bottles on a nightstand, arge one filled with the actual massaging oils and a number of smaller ones, containing essences that increased muscle rxation, pleasant smells that would linger or had other beneficial effects.
John only needed that first one for what he had nned.
Beatrice and Aclysia now stood on opposite sides of the bed, their hands diligently folded in front of their crotches. It was the passive maid who raised her voice first. Everything is prepared, she stated, her robotic tone breaking at the anticipation of soon feeling the Gamers hard cock again. Pleasey down, Master.
No, he responded, taking a bit of pleasure at their visible confusion. You willy down. Its time I paid some attention to your bodies. Perform some maintenance, if you will. John gave them a suggestive wink, not that there was a lot to misinterpret, while strutting over to the bottles.
John, Aclysia didnt move while Beatrice already took her ce on the mattress, I must remind you that it is my chosen path to serve you. I do not possess muscles that need to be rxed. As such, I think its more logical to
Interjection, Beatrice spoke up,ying on her back, having taken to her robotic tone now that she was making a statement, Aclysia is, once more, more concerned with her own desires than Masters orders.
That is right John hummed. He had been about to kiss Aclysia and assure her that this would be fine, but now that he had gotten that reminder, he decided to rather please his dominant side a little bit. Reaching up to her face, he gave her cheek a firm tap, before grabbing the white-haired beautys chin. You will obey, not think, his deep voice reverberated in a kinkily threatening manner. I appreciate your opinion on matters, but if ites to fulfilling my urges, you arent just a servant, you are my ve, you understand that?
Yes, Master, Aclysia stated, gasping when Johns other hand travelled down from her neck, arrived at her right tit and twisted the pink nipple until it hurt, only enough to make her next exhale a pained moan.
Say it, he demanded, the hand moving further down.
When ites to your lust, I am not just a servant, she caved immediately, her green eyes locked with his, I am your perverted maid, Master, your sex ve. I am sorry, I will not question your orders aga- aaah. His fingers travelled over her already wet cunt and interrupted her surrender with a moan.
This was already all he had wanted to hear though, so he simply shoved Aclysia onto the bed. On your back, hemanded again when shended on the soft mattress, bouncing once before quickly moving into position, lying parallel to her equally sized twin.
John took the bottle of oil and climbed onto the resting ce after them. While he was absolutely ready to just fuck them senseless on the spot, his bouncing cock was testament to that, he wanted to indulge in their bodies for a little while first.
Since youve been such a good girl, John now spoke in a much friendlier tone, as he got on top of Beatrice, Ill start with you.
Appreciated, my master, Beatrice said with the remainders of neutrality melting as John graciously poured oil onto her lower body, stomach and legs. He wanted to be thorough, starting down at her feet, making sure he covered every little bit of her. The anticipation, her desire, must have been at a greatly deprived peak, as even the short touches to the sensitive areas between her toes caused Beatrice to quietly writhe.
He didnt dwell there for too long. Neither on the shins, which he oiled up until they glistened. Once he was done there, however, he got to caress her thighs, which was much more pleasing. The smooth, soft flesh (well, silicone) was the centre of his world for a little bit. The only thing distracting him was her glistening slit, the bare cunt untouched by oil, only wet with its own juices.
To force himself to look elsewhere, before his determination wavered and he just started fucking her, he moved on. Her t stomach was a work of art. Literally, in this case, as Beatrice had to consciously form it. Although it was rubber and metal, it felt absolutely genuine under his hands, the pale skin stretching over only barely visible, but perfectly tangible, faux-muscles. An even better imitation, not in terms of quality but feeling, was the next part, however.
Beatrices breasts were a cup sizerger than Aclysias. A decent C and, as such, plenty to y with as Johns hands rolled over the squishy things. It was wonderful to see the depressions his fingers caused and the way they jiggled back into form once his oily palms had made the meticulously clean spheres all shiny. He poured some extra oil in her cleavage and spread it with well-seasoned motions. Although the maids were the primary massagers in the group, John still had plenty of experience in the field. Through Nimble Hands, he also gained a considerable amount of intuition and a pleasure modifier for this area of activity.
All of which culminated whenever he focused his efforts on her erect nipples. Beatrice''s sweet little moans kissed his ears in all their beauty. Her voice, so much like Aclysias, was almost indiscernible in those moments. It was a voice he loved, whoever it belonged to, so serene and collected in the usual moments, but now high-pitched and indulgent.
His hands moved up and to the sides, covering the rest of her in oil. Up to her neck and her arms, they were quickly done. Only one spot remained and Johns fingers travelled there with torturous slowness. Once between her legs again, he used yet more of the cool oil directly on her exposed pussy. Beatrice whimpered, then gasped, then moaned out loud, as her master gently spread the slippery liquid.
Slightly, her hips rose off the cloth, clearly yearning for even more intimate touches by John. Something that, with equal regret and glee, he denied her. Just a massage, for now, he told her, flicking her clit, leaving her with a sharp gasp before moving on to Aclysia to repeat the little game.
His method was the same, although less patient. With every passing moment, every bit of their bodies he touched, more of his willpower was chipped away by his Libido. That and he was in a bit of a punishing mood regarding Aclysia, and her distress at being left without attention for so long, only for what she received to be conceivably less, was an emotional abuse that tickled Johns sadism in just the right way.
Turn around, hemanded once he was done, sitting between the two of them. As if he was the line by which they were mirrored, they obeyed simultaneously and soony on their stomachs. At that, John felt himself give to his pressing urges just a little bit.
Two loud ps filled the air as Johns hands smacked both of the asses at either side of him. Under the impact, they jiggled magnificently, their absolutely equal shape causing a symmetry of lust that was hard to challenge in its perfection. A twin cry followed the echoes, Master! they both eximed in debauched tones, a habit that Beatrice had started and Aclysia had picked up once she saw how much it pleased him.
Precum ran down Johns cock in wild amounts, but it wasnt time yet. He wanted to give them the worship they deserved. Reining himself in, he raised his hands and then continued his work on both of them, covering them area by area. Aclysias arms, then Beatrices, Beatrices lower legs, then Aclysias, back and forth like that until he had covered all decent areas, leaving him only with their thighs and butts untouched on this side.
John worked on them in order, starting with Beatrice.
There was so much more to work with at the back of their legs. From the knees upwards, her legs quickly thickened. John needed both hands to properly cover the entire, soft width of the passive maids still thighs. He worked all the way up to the crease between legs and butt, his index finger slipping in there. For a moment, he remained still, only moving his hands a little bit to create some rxing pressure, basking in the heat she was radiating. Hearing her panting, her every lustful breath.
They only grew louder when he got done with her second thigh and moved on his most favourite part of the female physique. Skirting the edges of the bubble butt, John first circled the luscious meat and then moved down from the top. Unsatisfied with the amount of glistening the pale skin showed afterwards, John picked up the bottle of oil again.
Once he had squirted a good amount of the clear fluid onto her backside. He greedily went back to work. With motions that were just as well described as groping as they were as massage, he spread it all equally. The phenomenon he had so loved with her tits earlier, seeing the pushed down sensual meat take its firm shape again, was amplified with her big ass.
Spending way more time than he needed on that part of the body, John felt his own pulse rise to an excited drum. When he spread her cheeks to oil up her sphincter, he had her moan his name, but that was just the cherry on top. The true glory was what happened in front of his eyes, under his hands.
He loved every second of it. The way the softness spilled between his fingers when he grabbed, the smoothness sliding under his every motion, the visual perfection of the wless skin, they were a mere fraction of the reasons why he was so firmly an ass man. The best part of it all was that, when he finished with Beatrice with another p that caused her to cry Master! yet again, he got to do it all over again.
Although he had just done it, with a body almost exactly the same, he couldnt help but enjoy it. That feeling as the hardness of her bones was drowned out by more and more softness along the rise of her thighs. The breaths, growing from quiet to audible panting, as the green-eyed maid followed him with her depraved gaze, marvelling at what little she could see while obediently remaining still.
Again, he circled around the stunningly sensual disy of the orbs of flesh. Again he needed more oil. Again, he yed with her behind far longer than he needed to. Before he knew it, his hand was raised high and smacked down with such intensity that Aclysias back curved from pain and pleasure. M-aaah-assster! she screamed in erotic torment, her pretty pink pussy gushing between her lightly parted legs.
With every part of their bodies glistening in the golden light of the rooms dampenedmps and the jiggle of his heavy impact still shaking through Aclysias backside, Johns lust finally tookplete control. Rather than just put his cock inside her, even the perverted side of the Gamer decided to be a bit more creative. Mostly because he imagined any further dy would turn the two of them into absolutely dick-craving perverts.
Now it is your turn, he said andid down on his back, hands folded behind his head and his cock erectly standing. Through the haze of their lust, the two maids needed a moment to process that request. Then Aclysia quickly had her hand on the bottle and Beatrice was grinding against him the moment oil hit his body. When a proper amount of the slippery liquid had been put on him, the Artificial Guardian joined in that motion.
Of course, they werent going to just use their hands. That was for proper, rxing massages. This was a scene of pure debauchery, and as such, only full-body grinding of their slippery bodies against their master would do. It was reminiscent, in many ways, of the time he first had fucked Beatrice. Then, too, they had been all thered up in oil and rubbed on him, gasping with every little touch of their pussy lips against his hairless legs.
For a few moments, John thought they wouldnt touch his dick at all. It was surprising, a moment of revenge perhaps, as untypical of them as that seemed. However, it became apparent, the moment they had covered everything else of his aesthetically muscr body, that they had simply found a silent agreement. As one, they changed positions, sitting up and turning around, pressing their butts together with Johns cock at the centre.
The Gamer had not known he wanted something so bad before receiving it before.
Squished between the four half-orbs of desire, John immediately gasped. He had stepped from the promisednd of massive maid fuckfests into the heaven of servicing buttjobs. They moved in wonderful harmony, Aclysia leading and Beatrice following the movement intuitively.
Although he couldnt wait to be properly inside them, this feeling, and the view even more than that, of being between the two kneeling maids as they shook and rose in service to him, was simply too good to interrupt. As such, he simply let them proceed and enjoyed himself.
The slippery skin provided little in the way of friction, causing Johns pleasure to only rise slowly. To make up for this, the two maids soon alternated their unified ass-shaking to several different rhythms. Moving against one another, one reaching the top while the other was at the bottom. Grinding forwards and backwards, their hips following a circle. Quicker, faster, whatever they could do to increase their masters delight.
It worked like a charm. To the loving gaze of the two, John was pushed to the point of no return. I am cumming! he announced, the two girls elerating on the final sprint, and then cum sted from Johns iron hard cock. Itnded all over the girls, particrly the first few spurts, tainting part of their hair and upper back. Most of what followed soon decorated their oiled-up asses, however, white, cloudy liquid running down the shining curves.
John grunted with satisfaction, white light dancing at the edge of his vision, as he saw this defilement of their bodies by his seed. It only proved to increase his pleasure, a few more spurts of cum adding to the sinfully sexy view.
Alright, he grinned when he had calmed down. With one orgasm done, he could think clearer again. Lets clean this up again and go take a shower. Dont want to invite Jane into an oily bedter.
Chapter 606 – Decent rooms and awesome cuddles
Chapter 606 C Decent rooms and awesome cuddles
John awoke the next morning to the wonderful and familiar feeling of a number of mouths slobbering all over his dick under the nket. Although he stretched to indicate he was awake, letting out a hearty yawn, he didnt move in any way that would interrupt that morning service. Instead, he focused his senses on finding out who was at work there. He could have checked with the recement sphere, or used Possession on something else, but just using his sharpened sense of touch was exactly the kind of mental exercise he could use to get up in the morning.
I wonder how they know when they can start sucking me off without waking me up too early, John thought as he waited for enough sensory data toe in to make some initial guesses. Much like a Starcraft 2 yer who set a unit out to scout, he had to make sure he knew everyones position first. Maybe there are activities in my surface thoughts that give it off? A certain level of morning wood?
The former, Master, Aclysia responded in his mind. Her presence was of no surprise, as John had made no attempt to obscure his thoughts in any way. Although it is hard to read when your dreams end, I have gotten quite adept at it. However, Jane just went ahead at the perfect time. As always, her intuition towards her loved ones borders on precognition
No, bad Aclysia! John scolded her, not a fan of just being given the answer to one of the participants. That his girlfriend woke up before him was rare, but not unheard of. Still though, Let me solve this on my own!
I apologize, the weaponized maid submissively answered and shrunk her presence in his mind while letting her master get back to his thinking.
There were four girls all around, he could feel that much by the number of tongues and lips on his dick, as well as hands on groin and balls. He already knew Rave was there, her enthusiastic and expert teasing of his weak spots was unmistakable anyhow. Then there was Beatrice, with her methodical approach. The very fervent assault of a hot pair of lips gave away Smander, while a cooling, much squishier presence sneaked in her love here and there, a flexibility only Undine could have.
To his surprise, that meant Aclysia wasnt there, but he was certain of this counting. Finally using his Possession of the recement sphere to have it hover off the floor and over the bed, he threw off the nket to reveal, indeed, that he had been right in his count and reasoning. As for where that put his favourite maid, he just had to reconnect with her mental presence to find her in the kitchen.
The routine of a wonderful morning drew on for over half an hour. After the blowjob had concluded, they moved into the bathroom. John and Rave brushed their teeth, then moved into the spacious shower with Undine and Beatrice in tow. Out of the bathroom, the contact lenses in, and John rewarded Smander for her part in waking him up with a morning quickie and lots of kisses.
Then, he finally got to explore this presidential suite. Not too hastily, he could maintain normal walking speed consistently for now, rare stumbles notwithstanding. His impression was that the whole thing was nicely designed, but gave a bit too much of a hotel vibe for his taste. This was mostly due to the furniture. Between the reddish brown walls, the dimmed windows and the ck and gold decorated ceiling, the creamy champagne coloured carpet wasnt out of ce, but it didnt harmonize as well with the otherwise dark colours that John preferred.
The idea behind its colouration, as well as the white cushions on the seats, couches and everywhere else was quite clear. Their meticulous cleanliness was a show of the hotels high level of quality. Simrly, the vast amount of space was a sign of the renters status. For John, however, it was too much space. He didnt like having to take ten steps to get from the vast array of armchairs and couches around the oversized TV over to the table. Even less did he like that there was a fully stocked bar at their disposal but the kitchen was a separate room.
Aclysia had already finished their breakfast, boiled eggs (already peeled), along with bread, several toppings, and a sd at the side. Pretty bnced in nutrition, not too much and customizable enough.
The one thing that John did truly appreciate about this hotel was the presence of an indoor whirlpool of a decent size. He had lived without a jacuzzi for a little while now, and now that he was finally around one, he couldnt wait to hop in. Beatrice, John asked the maid that had basically be his secretary, do you have my schedule in mind?
Affirmative, Master, the passive maid responded, while helping Aclysia clean off the table. Please tell me day and time you wish to be informed about.
How much longer until my meeting with the Amacat leadership? he asked a rather simple question. Not that he didnt know his own schedule, he was pretty sure he remembered it perfectly, but he usually liked having a second person confirm things for him.
2 hours, Beatrice responded like clockwork to the rhythm of tes being stacked into the dishwasher in the kitchen. That confirmed Johns suspicion.
Alright, John rose from the table and rolled his shoulders as if he was warming up for something, time for the whirlpool then. Gnome, could youe out?
The soil elemental, who had stayed incorporeal even during breakfast today, appeared next to John. In her yellow summer dress, the brte was as cute as ever, standing a bit smaller than John with her well distributed, if overall average, curves. That cuteness came only a little bit from her body; it had even diminished a little since her recent evolution had caused her to take on a more adult appearance. Most of it instead came from her behaviour. Top of all, her shyness.
Y-yes? she asked, blushed a little, pulled her shoulders up in a motion that could have been either embarrassed or self-encouraging, only to repeat, Yes! almost too firmly. I am here, what can I do for you?
I want you, the Gamer responded with a clich line that made his girlfriend giggle in the background, Aclysia radiate with a fair bit of jealousy and Gnome, well, Gnomes face went from reddish to the colour of the tomatoes that had been in Johns sd.
Are you I mean am I I mean, uwu No, wait, I want uwuwuwu, Gnome stammered a bunch of incoherent words, fell silent, only for her mouth to open and close repeatedly. It was absolutely adorable to see her shift on the spot, searching for words. It was always interesting to see how much worse she reacted in situations without stress. If they were in the middle of a fight, or if there as genuine thing of importance being discussed, this kind ofplete system stutter would have never happened.
It likely didnt help that John was stark naked. Scarlett had assured him there were no cameras around, and even if, the Gamer rarely wore clothes in the morning. There was just no reason to, everyone around knew every inch of his body already. Also, it motivated a bunch of girls to spend their mornings naked too. It gave all of them a nice amount of eye candy.
As the earth spirits confusion continued, her brown eyes spinning behind rapidly blinking lids, John decided to go for the force restart. Now, as she wasnt aputer and he didnt have a keyboard, the best option he had were her quivering red lips. Gently, yet firmly, he ced his hands on her chin, causing her to focus her eyes on his as he leaned down.
Ever since her transformation from stone to soil elemental, the parts of her that mattered had this firm softness to them. Like a balloon filled with fine sand or mud, except that the surface was nothing like rubber and more akin to stretchable, polished marble. It was a feeling very hard to put inparison to something else. Her taste was strong and earthy, like the smell of autumn leaves in the sun after days of heavy rain. Her skin was pleasantly lukewarm, well, her face was more like a small sun.
Their tongues touched, not a whole lot, they werent wildly making out, no wrestling of their mouths, just a seeking of as much contact as a kiss allowed. First Gnomes embarrassment seemingly went intoplete overdrive, but then it peeked, her eyes focused and she returned the kiss in a more and more controlled fashion.
John broke the kiss by resting his forehead on hers, which made her look up to him with big puppy eyes. Youre just so fun to bully, the Gamer didnt even try to make an excuse for himself.
You are a big, sexy meanie, Gnome responded in a pouting tone of voice, her blush stabilizing at a still clearly reddened, but no longer worrying level of embarrassment. I just wanted to ask: do you already want to have sex again?
No yes, John responded, putting a hand around her hips and slowly guiding her towards the door that lead to the whirlpool. I didnt have sex in mind, I just thought you deserved some cuddles. I feel like I owe you some attention. Although I ampletely ready for more fucking at all times, he grinned, especially with you, all of you.
Gnome chose not to respond to thatst bit, only averting her gaze as she followed Johns motions, the two of them taking steady, almost dancing steps. I dont think you need to give me that much more attention she mumbled so quietly that John almost didnt hear her, but I wouldnt say no to it
Good thing I have already decided then, John said, the door swinging open automatically once he got close to it. They stepped through and entered the room, the other girls following soon thereafter. None of them tried to make themselves part of their moment, the rest of the harem just wanted to be where John was for the next two hours. Cuddling couldnt take that long. Rather, it usually didnt.
The jacuzzi wasnt the only thing about the room that John loved. In its entirety, it was more like a private spa. Walls of ck marble, red veins running through, with a floor of reddish wood, the surface ribbed to prevent slipping with wet feet. The whirlpool was easily big enough for ten people. Then there was a considerably big indoor pool and an entrance to a sauna in one of the corners, while arge area for standing had chairs and loungers of the kind used for professional massages. All of it was oriented so the people enjoying any part of this spa (aside from the sauna) could look out on Boston. While the look over the city wasnt the most impressive thing by itself, this height and distance covered made most sceneries a great sight to behold.
Gnome changed from her summer dress into nothing by the time they reached the jacuzzi and stepped inside together. You dont want to keep it on? John asked, mostly to tease her.
It would just get blown up by the bubbles! she dered something that John wasnt quite sure he believed. I-I would like a swimsuit or something she continued as they sunk into water until they satfortably. John was a bit deeper as the soil elemental, courtesy of her partly sitting on his thighs. ...but but I dont want to stop being close to you.
Oh my Lord, you are the cutest thing, John gasped and finally got to hugging her as the bubbles started rising. His arms just closed behind her back and he felt almost clumsy in that motion, despite all of his Agility, due to the perfection he got to experience in return.
Gnome only slowly embraced him. Her chest pressed against his, her chin nuzzled up against the rxed muscles of his neck, as her hands moved around his sides, finding their way through the gap between his back and the wall of the jacuzzi, finally closing when one handy on top of the other. She angled her head just a little bit, resting the side against his own, and hummed in satisfaction. A calm beat, the pulsation of magic inside her that reced the drumming of a heart, so violent byparison, soon came to dominate all of Johns senses.
I like being here, the soil elemental said, her voice devoid of all shyness or embarrassment, just content. I am here for you, with you, John. I always have been.
This is supposed to be for you, the Gamer answered, feeling oddly emotional all of a sudden. It was like this hug was equally all the gratification in the world and caused parts of him to dislodge that he had, mostly subconsciously, built to save himself from fears and doubts all the way below. This wasnt the first time this had happened. Last time had been on the ship, when she had simply asked him if he was okay. Unlike that time, he didnt suddenly start to cry, although he would have lied if he said he wasnt getting a bit misty eyed.
Noticing this immediately, Gnome moved her hands in soothing rhythms. No words were exchanged. This wasnt what John had nned for, and it thankfully faded pretty quickly again. A little episode that reminded him that, for all the confidence he could justify nowadays, for all the power and all the influence, money and rtionships, that all of it was still built on the back of him being a human. No matter how much he evolved, he too needed something as simple as a hug and a moment of quiet security, something that wild sex with loved people, as fun as that was, wasnt really a recement for.
Youre doing all good, Gnome assured him when he had calmed downpletely.
Well, the fact that I dont feel like I am suddenly going to burn out is testament to that, he smiled and pressed her against himself a little stronger. All of the stress is manageable right now. This is just nice
Chapter 607 – Supremely Average
Chapter 607 C Supremely Average
John was turning a pen in his hands and tried his best to stay focused on the presentation he was subjected to. Exnations about economic developments in different barriers across the city, trade outposts and manufactories elsewhere, admissions of criminal activity inside their borders, where they couldnt deny it, in between.
The board of Amacat directors nodded to themselves with satisfaction, ncing asionally over the birch table to their guest, from their red leather chairs. John felt like they were stroking their own egos more than they did what this presentation was actually designed to do: impress him. They never stopped advertising how close their working standards were to Fusion already, that they had no problem following the rest if it meant they could have a free trade agreement.
Spinning the pen around his knuckles in a motion he had always thought incredibly useless when the cool kids in ss had tried it, but now understood that he desperately needed to upy himself in some sense, John watched the logo imprinted on the side. Amacat had a level of self-recognition, using the symbol of a cat behind the six letter abbreviation of their full name.
The depiction of a feline, orange between a ck pen and golden letters, was likely meant to represent a tiger. To John, it looked more like amon housecat. If it was just a bit fatter, he would have sworn it was Garfield. He had to resist the urge to write downsagna on the summary handout he had been given, almost a one to one repeat of the presentation, making either it or the papersrgely obsolete. Managing to repress that urge, John had to make some sort of joke to bnce it out, Well, if you already agree to all of Fusions core principles, why dont you just join my guild? Thats the best free trade you can get.
That earned him a bunch of chuckles, people following the intent of his tone, leading to nobody in the room taking the suggestion seriously. They exchanged a few follow-up jokes about how wonderful that would be but that they had to decline. It dragged on way too long, everyoneughing after every sentence said. Loud enough to seem earnest, but not so long that they wasted time. Socializing well trained to be just the right amount between a number of people that evidently had stuck together for a while.
It didnt take too long for them to get back to presenting John a bunch of data. The whole thing was incredible. John should have been paying the deepest of attentions, they were essentially giving him a rundown of all but the most secret power centres they had. Communication buildings, trade routes, important harbours, with all of that info he could have upied this whole area effectively in less than 24-hours. Sure, he would have to defend those positions afterwards, but by that time he would already be three steps ahead. Regardless, the Gamer couldnt help but suppress a yawn of boredom.
There was no reason to think about military engagement. Because it was clear that Scarletts scheme for integration would, in some way, shape or form, eventually be reality. There was one simple reason for that: the leaders of Amacat were all, every single one of them, supremely average.
They held a good amount of power, for sure, and John wasnt about to call them stupid in any way. Oligarchs atop an ordered, reasonably capitalistic society, they adhered to a bunch of rules and a decent amount of ethics. A few of them were apparently businessmen in the mundane world as well. They all had dirt on them, as CEOs tended to when in their world for too long, but not more or less than what was expected or eptable.
And theyre all without ambition or vision, John thought as he was shown a chart of expected growth of Amacat as a whole and the ten biggest conglomerates, whose leaders made up the council, in the next quarter. Their ns to invest in new markets others had already established themselves in, thus signifying it was one with a future. Building projects of decent sizes, but nothing world moving. They were all too happy to just continue the status quo and keep making money.
Because Amacat wasnt actually a guild. It was just a bunch of merchants controllingnd and paying a defensive force so they were secured during their trades. John had to recontextualize what he thought the origin of this guild to be. What he had heard made it sound like the Amacat had been a valiant effort of several rich individuals to carve out their corner of the world. Given the current disy, he was more convinced it was all an ident.
Much of the Amacats core territory was affected, in some way, by minor leylines. The natural (well, semi-natural) flows of Faith tended to follow the path of major rivers, but often took turns and adjusted to cross through major poption centres. Their purpose was to feed into the major leylines along the tectonic gaps with as much energy as possible. As such, ces where many people dwelled were sort of like smaller mas on the way to an irresistible pull.
With all that in mind, the northern east coast being the point where such a leyline flowed into the ocean was unsurprising. Having gathered a lot of power from the middle of the continent, there were a number of monsters that spawned naturally around it and, if left alone for too long, would cause all kinds of shenanigans. Mostly for the local Abyss, since Gaia would eradicate anything that followed its instincts and attempted to meddle with the normal world. The monster got to cause one sort of catastrophe of some level, an outbreak of a disease, a sudden and uncontroble fire, a very bad idea imnted in the head of a person in high ces, one such thing before it was destroyed without leaving any trace.
It was, therefore, a ce of great danger. Good thing one could always buy mercenaries to take care of those problems. John could see the self-propelling spiral quite clearly. A man with money arrived in the area, because the mundane side of it was quite pleasant to live around. He doesnt want the monsters to invade his new residence. Joining up with some fellow, well-off people, he decides to give a number of mercenaries a contract to regrly clean out the naturally spawning barriers.
It works and, even better, the businessmen get even richer off selling the rare remains of the monsters and the materials created alongside them, things unattainable by any other means (unless your title was the Gamer anyway). They grow more powerful, branch out, find simr problems in the surrounding regions, use the same scheme there and then expand further. Somewhere along the way, negotiations with the mercenaries be unpleasant. To be less dependent on them, an army is established that takes the job over; now the mercenaries are just supplements.
Eventually, the people in charge notice that their natural spreades to a halt. Maybe they are bordering on regions where the leylines have be too weak to regrly spit out monsters that are worthwhile to harvest. Maybe a different force is already taking care of the problem there. Either way, the people in charge just decide to stop and continue making money as they always have. Creating a pretty wealthy and secure area of the world. One that might be able to muster the resources to roll over its neighbours.
Who never would, because it was now based on a decentralized form of government and a military whose main purpose was to pay for its own upkeep. Even if somebody with the necessary ambition was born, the effort it would take them to rise to the top and reform this entire thing into an apparatus ready for war was enormous.
It reminded John a lot of the Nethend Trading Company back in Europe. With the stark difference that they didnt use their money to propel themselves further. They just took the risk aversion approach and sat contently on their behind. Now they were a pretty developed region that the Gamer couldnt help but think was a juicy addition to his own rising guild. It wouldnt cause any headaches, it was already guaranteed to be profitable, and the whole culture was already pretty tame.
The whole problem here is that this generation of leaders is WAY too content, John thought and looked over the assortment of people again. None of them was younger than fifty, none of them had a level higher than fifty and all of them were here purely because of the money they had, be it by inheritance or their own dealings. I cant work with this.
John had a simple way to negotiations. Find a person in high ces that felt strongly in some way and use them as the crowbar to pry open the lid of the system, find the weak spots, then exploit the hell out of them. This took several shapes.
In an agreement with Scarlett, he had sessfully prized the area of New York City into two camps, creating a basic unity he could build on after defeating the enemies to the justnded Collide.
The effort to take over the Little Marnd had all been defined by his struggle with Abraham. Using the presidents own ambitions against him, John had managed to insert himself into their political system as a viable candidate in the elections. That it then had ended in a war had been a misfortune.
Just recently, he had yed that game on the double, using both Jeremiahs impatience as one of the top 5 of the Lake Alliance and creating a traitor in the Small Lake Pact that would serve to, again, prize things.
The exception to this strategy had been the Hidden Tradition, who had approached him, so that whole procedure had been unnecessary. This time, however, it seemed frankly inapplicable. None of the leading actors here seemed to have any ambition, for or against John or even to increase their own standing in the world. They were all neutral actors, to be swayed by whatever the tides of time would bring to their door.
An easy field to till, all things considered, all he had to do was stay course, be nice, buy stocks, give loans, increase his influence and do it all with a charming smile and the best interest of the people in mind. If he kept all of that up and let Scarlett do her thing in the background, the given five years were really thetest point at which the Amacat was effectively part of Fusion.
It was just incredibly boring.
And slow.
And boring.
Slow by Johns standards anyway. For the peaceful takeover of a country, five years was not terribly long. History was full of examples for those conquests taking immense stretches of time. Although these things tended to happen much faster, like almost everything, in the modern age.
It would be optimal if I had someone young and dynamic in this council who was sympathetic to joining Fusion, John wished to himself. The joke earlier had been to see if there was someone here who was at least thatst thing, since nobody filled the former two. As it had been shown, people were as much open to joining as they were content with staying as they were. If John gave them enough reasons, they would just do it, but until then they would keep their feet still and bother with their own businesses. Some hot, self-made girl, he continued to wish, nodding along as if he was truly interested in the ongoing presentation, that would sell really well with the public.
So, what do you think, President Newman? one of the councilmen asked. John didnt even care that much who.
Putting up his nicest smile, the Gamer responded swiftly. Its a number of good projects you have nned for the future, he spoke in a much sweeter tone than he felt, and the room hung on his lips as if he had a monopoly on honey and used it exclusively to coat his words with it, very reliable in their profit generation. Fusion will be happy to hand out loans just a few percentage points above what we give our members. I could even be convinced to fully finance a few of the projects, as long as Fusion will be given partial ownership by the end.
The leaders looked at each other with a series of grins, before orderly exchanging contact information with John and making some first appointments. Even in this, they were all in agreement that it was fine to just make their business when it wasfortable. If this was a room full of ambitioned people, they would be on John like a swarm of locusts, all trying to get his attention first so his resources would mostly be guided towards their huge new undertakings.
At the same time, those kinds of people were pretty unlikely to have ouwed very and the generation of energy in mana factories utilizing that immoral practice. Maybe I shouldnt be too sad about them being a bunch of boring old men, John thought as he turned his attention to the summary paper he had been given along with the presentation. I have just one question, if I might.
Always, always, mister president, Berden encouraged the Gamer to just ask away already. Being called by that title was one of the few things John found a bit odd.
Please, John is enough, he therefore said before tapping on the page. If I look at this breakdown of the economy correctly, and I mean no offense by this, the people here arent actually the CEOs of the top 10panies, he gave them a look over. Its the ces 1 to 8 and then 10 to 11. Is that correct?
Everyone looked towards the person who had the rank 11. Not to assign me or anything, it seemed they were just in agreement that they didnt want to be the one to take the responsibility. Clearing his throat, the mid-fifty suit of a person, rocking the same look as Richards human form, but with way less style, the exnation was as simple as it could get, albeit not as short.
Yes, my conglomerate, General Temerity and Associates, while a strong and stablepany in their own right, he just had to put that in there, John guessed that the self-aggrandisement was there to assure him that Fusions willingness shouldnt waver because of this, has recently been overtaken in total value by the neerpany nned Spikes is something the matter?
No, no, John waved off while pinching the bridge of his nose. Immediately upon hearing the name out loud he had groaned. Terrible, terrible pun, he thought, having immediately deciphered this situation. He had already had a hunch, but that just confirmed it. Next chance he got, he would strangle the person responsible. Something they would likely enjoy. Continue, please.
They made it quite big, especially recently, despite their odd name, the person continued. John could only think that temerity also wasnt a word he would use to describe the speaker. We invited them, or tried to, anyway, but they have declined, saying they prefer being unknown by the public.
I see, John was all too happy to drop the topic now. Anyway, that was all I wanted to know I guess this is another question, so pardon me, but do you want to discuss the potential of having some of your people learn on my dockyards? Now would be the most opportune time, people from the Nethends are instructing over at my dockyards for another three years.
Of course, of course! Berden most quickly agreed.
Chapter 608 – Recovery from boredom
Chapter 608 C Recovery from boredom
John was finally done after eight hours. It hadnt been one continuous meeting, luckily not, but rather an endless stream of events. The main meeting concluded and then somebody outside of the room wanted to talk to him, still important enough that John obliged. They had brought a friend or two and information had been dumped on the Gamer like candy on a particrly nice and cute kid on Halloween.
After talking to the first few people that passed him off in the hallway, John decided to just ask for an empty conference room and temporarily set-up shop there, wanting to knock everyone out in a semifortable way. This turned out to be the absolute worst decision he had made in a while.
His location was, apparently, shared to everyst interested party in less than 30 minutes. Sure, sitting in an armchair was morefortable than quick talks in a hallway, but now that he was at a defined ce, rather than somewhere random, they were drawn to him like iron sand to a ma. It wasnt that John hadnt thought that this approach would attract more people, it was that he had underestimated the number of those who wanted to talk to him.
Between all the boring introductions, attempts to get him to invest and sales pitches, Johns only lifeline were bathroom and food breaks. Thetter he used for quick relief with his elementals while the former gave him an excuse to just enjoy silence for half an hour. Regardless, he continued to talk to people even when he was internally screaming already.
SAY SOMETHING INTERESTING! these words echoed inside his head while he smiled charmingly and gestured for people to continue. It failed every time. More mediocrity was thrown his way and, worse, the businessmen lower on the food chain werent even all that charming. John had thought the presentation by Amacats council to be dry, but it had been a silky caress of his earspared to the stammering rundown that he asionally got down the line.
Still, he put up with all of it for the reason of two simple letters: PR. Maybe he wasnt exactly in need of a good reputation, but it would help him a whole lot if he got one. The sacrifice was just a few hours of boredom, not nearly high enough to storm out of there all bothered.
When he finally had thest hand shook and thest proposal heard, having Beatrice take notes of everything on her smartphone (which really just allowed Scarlett to keep easy tabs on everything), the Gamer was done. Excusing himself from the gathering he had identally kickstarted, everyone satisfied to have been heard, John made a beeline to his suite.
Once there, he copsed face first on the couch, his head the only part thatnded on thighs rather than the white leather. Jaaaaneeee, he whined like a dog that had sat alone in the summer heat for an ufortable period, love meeee.
Wow, that bad? his girlfriend asked and looked down at him. Her body had that fresh smell of a recent shower,bined with that flushed, post-workout look to her skin. Something that John could see very well, as she was wearing only some incredibly tight hotpants and a sports bra. Like, how boring was it?
You remember that literature teacher we had back in Ashcroft? The dull olddy? He turned on his back to have an easy way to look at her. Talking to her midriff was nice and all, but not quite as great as looking at her face. After thest hours, he just appreciated every single pore on her sexy face that much more. Or did you have the luck of never encountering her in your ss?
Rave had been one year Johns senior in the school, being about two years older than him. It added up thanks to her having lost a year between highschool and Ashcroft by essentially wasting a year on partying it up in Springfield. Not a waste ording to her, but she had always hated school, as John knew from numerous stories that he was always happy to hear from her. He knew an incredible amount of useless details of the person above him. If he ever forgot any of them, he would punch himself.
Dull olddy literature Rave had to think for a few moments. Oh hellz nah, dont ya mention that beast of boredom Flung around me! I was doing fine having forgotten about her!
Well, it was like a ss from her, Johnid it out, Rave shuddering so strongly that the dangling strands of her pretty pink hair swayed. Except eight hours long, she made a disgusted sound, and aboutpanies that likely wont exist in twenty years instead of timeless works of literature.
Okay, ya need a fun injection right now, Rave decided, scratching the top of his head with slow, gentle movements of her nimble fingers. In a less affectionate gesture, Copernicus appeared out of nowhere, jumped onto John and parked his body on the Gamers chest. Less affectionate, but still somewhat, as John greatly appreciated the natural heat of the almost weightless suncat. What do ya wanna do?
First I John started, feeling a buzzing in his left pocket, causing him to sigh, need to check my phone. What he was expecting was some sort of unpleasant message about some scandal at home or something to that effect. Few people had his personal number, as the numbers on business cards he handed out were for his office in his Guild Hall, Beatrice and a second mobile phone he only used when he wanted the business world to be able to reach him.
When he saw that the message was from Scarlett and not Chemilia or someone else who could carry him bad news, he immediately felt better about it. When it then was a picture of the redheaded Technomancers ass, he felt ecstatic about it. Her butt was pushed out and so close to the camera that her head was the only visible part of her, aside from the round cheeks and her upper thighs, with a lewd smile on her androgynous face. The trimmed, blood-red hair covering her cunt had clearly absorbed some moisture.
Seems whatever Scarlett just sent you is right up your alley, Rave hummed, looking at the rising tent in his pants. How she knew it was from Scarlett, despite not having seen the screen, well, it wasnt that unusual for once. The Technomancer had gotten into the serious habit of sending him nudes whenever she felt like it. John turned the screen to show his girlfriend. The pink-haired half-Asian bombshell just a had a single word toment, Saucy.
If she was here right now, I would so absolutely bend her over and spank that ass until it was as red as her hair, the Gamer eximed, reaching down into his pants and giving his cock a few pumps. A motion still well-trained from his years previous to having any luck with thedies, but utterly useless. He may as well have rubbed his finger instead.
Luckily, his girlfriend was both around and not cruel enough to tease him in the current situation. Get your pants off, tiger, she winked, amand he didnt need to hear twice and Copernicus took as his signal to leave again. Except the Gamer took everything off instead of just his pants. With his dick free and quivering out in the open in its rock-hard state, she had a hand wrapped around it in no time and started pumping with slow movements, lubricating the shaft with the dribbling precum.
John himself was using one hand to touch whatever of her body he could while still holding the phone with the other. A new message opened up on his screen, a short video with the caption, Thats a promise, John~ and the content of Scarlett, in the same pose from the photo, pping her own ass and moaning along to the loud echo it created. Pulling her left asscheek to the side, she first showed off her fuckable holes before letting go. The video ended shortly after the jiggle of her ass had settled.
Jesus Christ, John gasped, put right onto the brink by that sexy little disy. Under his fingers, he felt the muscles in Raves butt shift as she bent down to his cock. The movement of her hand elerated to a blur of ecstasy, her lips closing tightly around him, wetly pressuring the weak spots at the border between head and shaft. She didnt start sucking him off, not really anyway, she had simply moved into position to prevent a mess now that his balls tightened and he started pumping cum in absurd quantities.
With Source of Satisfaction in its Libido boosting state, he approached a load of 30 millilitres. Basically, he was giving her a small shot worth of sticky white stuff, spread over several strands splurged out over a considerable bit of time. All good that it was tasting like the greatest liquid candy in the world thanks to the perk he had gotten at 25 Libido. Well, that Aclysia kept a supply of bananas and strawberries ready surely helped as well.
As it was, Rave willingly took and kept every little bit of semen she could milk from him in her mouth. It even went as far as that, while her hand massaged thest few drops out of his shaft, John could feel her legs squirm a little bit. The taste was clearly getting her going. After about two minutes of this, she finally raised her head and swallowed with a satisfying gulp.
Haaaa, she let out the held breath in a moaning fashion. Fuck, now I feel that I havent seen you in eight hours, her words made that sound like an eternity. Which, in many ways, it was with how much time they spent together. Reaching behind her back, she let out a series of grumbles when the hook of her bra protested her decision to get naked. Quite persistently as well, Rave almost sliding into cursing because of it. Stupid this is why I wear things you can just pull of normally! All I wanna do here is be naked and sit on my boyfriends face, world, is that too much to ask?
I think the world is trying to tell you toy down and let me dominate you instead, the Gamer suggested, his words underlined with a kiss to her subtle abs and the sound of unhinging metal.
Welp, the technolover let out that single word as she carelessly threw her bra backwards. Guess Im having a subby day then.
Seriously? John asked, raising his head in surprise. If I knew it was as easy as that then
Look, I know you dont often run into the problem, because ya dont have to wear them and most of us harem gals have magical clothing or just dont wear stuff with hooks or something, Rave told him as she changed positions from sitting to lying on her stomach, but if the hook stops protesting all of a sudden, thats a magical sign. Dont dare to call it easy.
Why do you even bother with that bra then? John was still confused. The great thing about having a girlfriend was that he could look the gift horse in the mouth and still expect to keep it afterwards.
Rave rolled her eyes, while looking over her shoulder, wiggling out of her hotpants. Cause its the mostfortable one I have right now. All the other ones I got with me are tight for some reason.
Maybe your boobs are growing, John joked.
Isnt that whatcha wanted when ya first saw me naked? she teased while John climbed on top of her. There was no bondage equipment around, so he had to do this old school, take her arms and force them on her back, pinning her down with his weight.
Hey, you basically forced me to give you that answer! the Gamer protested while rubbing her wet cunt. First you sneak up on me while I look at some random stuff from your fathers collection, which he just keeps openly in his media room, then you insist we watch it, and then you ask me whether I think you look better than that stic pornstar even without the tits! Not my fault I like to C for myself!
Oh nooooo, Raveughed and moaned in equal measure. You didnt just make that god-awful pun!
He spanked her ass with as much force as he could, but still failed to silence her giggles. B quiet, he added with a smirk, only causing her to snort. Even though she had agreed to take the sub role today, John had more of a bantering than a dominating day. God, I swear you are way too sexy when you smile, he gasped as he went back to running his finger through her cunt, smearing some of her juices on her back entrance.
I love ya too, tiger, she responded with a wink, then ncing towards his dick. That she couldnt wait for the moment it was inside her, whatever hole he chose, was written in into her flushed face.
Wanna marry me? he returned in the same tone.
That better not be the actual proposal! she shot back in a warning way. Cause ya would like the answer, but not the way Ill never let ya live this down!
What would you do that could be so bad?
Take rtionship advice from your bitch of a future mother-inw.
Thats bad.
No, it just ruins the life of the kids.
Were going to have kids? Last time I checked, you werent sure about that.
At the very least we gonna breed some through Eliza.
That sounds incredibly wrong.
Ya know she wants it.
Want is such a weak word sometimes how about craves it?
Kinda like I cra-aaaahve- Rave had been about to get sassy with him, John could just feel that, and that was the exact moment he chose to ram it up her ass with nopromise. Well, okay, he had prepared her with his fingers for a little bit beforehand, he wasnt going to split her sphincterpletely raw, and they were both lubed up. Point was that she was thrashing under his hold, letting out blissful gasps of pained pleasure. Ya absolute dick!
To the sound of steady, moderate thrusting, he responded. I love you too, even if youre being kind of bad about the whole being submissive thing you agreed to.
Guess I cant force the mood after all, she stated and let out a long moan that grew louder with every bit of his cock that vanished into her. I totally get why some girls be buttsluts, nowadays.
Considering joining Lydia? the Gamer groaned, unable to keep the pleasurepletely from straining his voice. Even the way her back looked was just too sexy to him. He was getting drunk off her body and that natural sweet smell she was exuding, better than any perfume he had ever smelled.
Nah, not that extreme, Rave inhaled sharply as her boyfriend upped the tempo and intensity. pping echoes reverberated through the oversized,rgely empty living room. For a moment, all talk ceased, as they bothmunicated only through sounds of bliss and the tensing of their bodies. Then they reached a simultaneous climax. Quick, satisfying and relieving. Just Rave swallowed as she got over the aftershocks, saying that considering a buttplug for my birthday aint the worst idea youll ever have.
Wonder if I can find one with a cattail John immediately got thinking, slowly starting to move again. Ill see what gift I can get you.
And dont ya worry about your own, she gave him a loving look. We have ns.
John couldnt wait to see those for himself.
Chapter 609 – Pleasure Bay
Chapter 609 C Pleasure Bay
The water of the pool was fantastic. Warm, it surrounded John up to the shoulders, as he sat on a bench inside, just in front of the back wall of the whole thing. A wall that was also the window separating him from the outside. He was as close to the view over the city as he could conceivably be.
Slowly, the day was fading from the city and leaving it dark. Although Illusion Barriers showed whaty beyond them, it was a lifeless representation. The many lights a city would dazzle withy dormant, showing the Gamer a city frozen the day after humans vanish. Chernobyl must have looked a lot like this the day after they evacuated it, he caught himself thinking. Well, less modern and generally less rich, but just as oddly vacant.
Kind of a shame it aint night yet, Ravemented when she sat down next to him. She brought a tablet with her, hovering over the surface of the water. On it were two sses, cocktails that Aclysia had mixed for them, the weaponized maid standing next to Beatrice, both ready to take orders at any moments. They were also close to the control panel, something that the Lightbearer took advantage of. Can ya two increase the temperature by like 2 degrees?
Certainly, raising the temperature to 41 degrees, Aclysia responded and fidgeted with a few buttons. From over there, she could control water temperature, height, waves and even the amount of bubbles.
John didnt even try toin about the heat. She would have just countered that it was only a bit hotter than the jacuzzi, to which he would have said that these were two immensely different ways of rxation and then they would have started y-fighting about some random topic. Instead, he asked. What, already waiting for the club to open?
Honestly, the club underground here is kinda meh, Rave responded, reaching onto the tablet and positioning her ss in a way that she could catch the straw with her lips without needing to raise her arm again. After taking a gulp from the pineapple-based cocktail, she continued, Not sure if its the actual club or the people yet, either way, way too little party and way too many breaks in the music.
Why do you want it to be night then? John wondered.
Just thought it would look pretty awesome, you know? she said.
John wrinkled his forehead as he had a bit of trouble following her. I have no idea what you mean by it, so not really, he looked out the window. I know you mean something about the view, but thats about it Although he didnt want to outright say it, he was trying to make clear that his girlfriend was sucking at exining things again. She was slowly getting better at it, but in general Hollmeys were just not that gifted in that department ofmunication.
The sky, she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and it clicked with John.
Right, less light pollution equals brighter stars, he remembered. That was one of the awesome things about Illusion Barriers. Since the city outside was an empty simtion, the sky was almost untainted. I think this building zes bright enough that it wont be that great though.
Still better than a whole city.
That is undoubtedly true, he conceded and went to drink some of his own drink. He deemed it to be too sweet for his liking. Pineapple and coconut mixed to create a blend thatpletely drowned out the alcohol. Tasty, sure, but also extremely dangerous. At least in the sense that drinking four of them before realizing they were getting one extremely drunk was a very real possibility.
Regardless, John preferred something simpler like vodka and orange juice. That at least had the resemnce of alcohol remaining in it, reminding him that he was currently poisoning himself for fun, while also tasting quite good. Also, beer. Beer was good. Especially the imported stuff. That still begged the question though.
Why exactly am I drinking a cocktail right now?
Because I felt like having some so I am dragging ya into it with me, she reported, taking another sip. Unless ya have something else for us to do that is fun enough that I dont get boredom shbacks from Misses Flungs ss.
Knowing you, you just slept through them.
Nah, I just stopped showing up to her ss eventually, Rave told him. Like I would waste the day sleeping, who am I, Copernicus? She looked over to the hovering tablet where a certain other light spirit tried to climb on top. Thankfully, the things hovering was fixed in parallel to the floor, so that little weight caused no tilting whatsoever. By keeping his tiny ws at the rim of the ck carrying utensil, Stirwin eventually made it on top.
Only to jump right back into the water when John hushed him away from the beverages with a wave of his hand. He was not going to find out what a drunk crocodile was like, especially if his dick was dangling nakedly under the surface and there was a very real chance of Stirwin bing even more bite happy than usual. The infinity elemental went back to just swimming around by wiggling his body rhythmically, the long tail propelling him forwards.
They went silent for a little bit, just happy with each otherspany and no immediate topic to talk about. As John looked out into the Boston Harbour, he suddenly spoke up, I may actually have something we could do, although I have no idea how interesting its going to be.
Do tell. Rave was all ears as she finished her drink.
________________________________________________________________________
Huh, thats one no, two new mechanics, Johnmented on the window he got. First, Natural Barriers being separated entities from normal Illusion Barriers was something he thought just to be a title, but Gaia now officialised that by promising him specific rewards for them. In a category above that, this was the first Local Quest he encountered. There was a high chance he would meet that mechanic separate from the Natural Barriers in the future.
Rave did a few stretches next to him. Something she was quickly interrupted in by some sort of worm creature breaking out of the cement under her. Big enough to swallow her whole, its brown, segmented body ripped upwards next to John. Its hardened head parted into four jaw segments.
Well, it would have had a better chance if it could have opened that jaw from the start, John thought, not rmed whatsoever by this development. Sucks for it that it had to break the concrete first. He threw a quick Observe at it before it would doubtlessly perish.
Rave had kicked herself off the opening jaw, having easily created enough distance between herself and the biological pit below her. Gross! she shouted, aiming her left paw down the depth of the open maw. A ray of light burst out, flew down without resistance. There was a hissing sound. Whether that was the mouthless beings cry of pain or just the sound of its insides being cooked, John wasnt quite sure about, but it curled together like a waterless snail, Rave bouncing off its slippery body and managing tond gracefully just a metre away from where she had stood. Super gross.
Well, it wont get worse than that, John promised her. Observe said that was the strongest one.
For realsies? Rave looked more disappointed than d to get that information. Not all that surprising, given that she was out to fight something that was at least a bit dangerous. Enemies a third her level and dead after just one attack didnt really fit the bill. Kinda expected more
John could only shrug. So did I, but this is a ce marked for regr clean-up, so its kind of expected that nothing too bad will hang around. He looked at the corpse, anticipating something to happen.
After all the time he had spent hunting things in his Instant Dungeons, seeing a monster that didnt fall apart into ashes, dust or other small particles the moment it died was outside his habit. He had heard it often enough that he wasnt surprised, but just seeing a regr old corpse was, well, it was disgusting, with all of those smells and liquids the shutdown body systems of the half-cooked creature exuded.
He took arge step back. Getting into this barrier had taken them a bit of time. First, John had to ask if he was even allowed to. After all, this was the source of a good amount of ie Amacat could generate on their own ground. Naturally regenerating or not, he was essentially asking if he, the leader of another country, could lead a mining operation on their soil.
The answer he had received had been a resounding yes regardless. After having made such a good impression on everyone, including the CEO of the corporation in charge of most monster killings, they were all too eager to themselves get into good graces with him. Especially after he assured he would leave all the corpses to be harvested by the local people. He was quickly pointed at a location where a barrier had been confirmed and been marked for cleanout tomorrow. Essentially, he was giving the fighting forces a free day tomorrow.
After all of that had been done, they still needed to get over. Not that huge of a problem either, as there were a number of drivers just waiting to chauffeur some of the rich room renters around the city. Traffic had been the worst enemy, but eventually they arrived at Pleasure Bay, a location within the city.
Most of the Natural Barrier covered the huge swathe of water that gave the location the Bay part of its name. The cause of the Natural Barrier also ended in the middle of that half-encircled bit of water, being a small hill of fractured pieces of shifting lights, like polygons of a rainbow, radiating away its energy. A temporary oddity from the leyline must have caused a stream to run along this course for a little bit, causing this mass of Faith energy to be entrapped here when it fixed itself.
John wasnt all that knowledgeable about the way Natural Barriers actually spawned. It seemed like something he should look into. Because the leyline only partially ran through New York, he didnt have a reason to really do it so far. What he knew, however, were a lot of statistics and battle tactics.
To the normal fighters that thing could have been pretty dangerous, John reminded his girlfriend. The average is level 25 to 50, after all. They would have needed to group up and all that. Thinking about it, this means the local army probably has an absurd amount of battle experience. Feeling a slight rumble under his feet, John stepped to the side, only to have another worm break out of the concrete. That one was a bit smaller and only level 52, but would still be able to swallow him if it tried enough.
Well, John had just dodged by taking a leisurely few steps and now he ended that threat by summoning a quick Mana de, slicing the thing into two halves. ck blood squirted out, luckily bouncing off his Mana Protection before it could do any harm to his suit. Not the most interesting monster hunt, he conceded while this second worm copsed, but I do really want that Guild Perk, so
Well, alright, Rave continued her stretching as if nothing had ever happened. Hope its not all worms around here. Cant hunt stuff that I have to wait for being dumb enough to attack me.
Right, Sylph, can you go scout around? Smander, Undine, I want you to take care of things that are in the water. Beatrice, Aclysia, you go around the beach and shallow water, you wont be harmed if something drags you under and all that.
Affirmative, Beatrice answered for all of them, the elementals appearing then quickly scattering to follow their assigned jobs. While this whole thing wasnt all that challenging, it was still somewhat entertaining. That aside, John could use it to train his sight a little bit more.
And he could always use that.
Chapter 610 – Cull the boredom
Chapter 610 C Cull the boredom
John was face to face with a creature that was, curiously, immune to Observe. It had metallic skin, ran on four long, thin legs that reached out of an elongated body. Its head had a single eye between two knife-like ears and a maw that only consisted of seven teeth, four at the top, three at the bottom, and looked more like a shredder than something to eat with. Probably because this thing had no gullet food could be swallowed down. The only purpose of those teeth was to bite.
I wonder if they use these things as part of the anti-scrying charms I keep running into, the Gamer analysed. Given the overall metallic look of this thing, it wouldnt have surprised him. Well, if it operated by the same rules as everything else, enough mana must have fixed the issue. Lets start with investing 100, he thought and was immediately rewarded with sess.
Well, that hypothesis was correct, he thought, feeling at ease because of the low level of the creature. It was the third kind of enemy he had found in this barrier so far. Aside from it and the Dearth Worm, there was also a sort of eel in the water that evolved into the Foggy Noodles and its swarm mates.
At least all of this was rather easy thanks to all of these creatures being immensely stupid and malicious, a mixture that lead them to headless aggression towards any humanoid they saw. The Ars Hound was no exception whatsoever. The two of them were staring at each over the pushed over seats and tables of a coffee ce, as John had just turned the corner to see it. It seemed like the monster had made its base here while feeding on whoever was lower down the food chain.
To its credit, that wasnt too stupid, it blended in quite well with the metallic surfaces of the table. Well enough to be missed by things with worse eyesight anyway. John did not belong to that category. Regardless, neither of them were moving right now, although the monster was clearly waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
The Gamer decided to take the aggressive role instead, suddenly starting a sprint. His goal was to jump over the circle of toppled over furniture, into the circle the Ars Hound was crouching in and take the monster out with a couple of kicks. All entirely realistic with his Stats and Skills.
In execution, he picked up speed, began pressing himself off the floor with one foot, had his vision suddenly desynced, as one contact lens reflexively decided that the way the sun suddenly reflected into it off the polished surface of a table was way too important to ignore, failed to actually jump from the sudden vertigo, and fell like a board of wood. Except, unlike a rigid board of wood, he had a lot of squishy parts that bent when he collided with the edges on his way towards the ground.
God, I am thankful that I get neither injuries nor feel bothered by normal pain anymore, John thought as he rose back up. Otherwise that would have hurt tomorrow. Refocusing his eyes by closing them for a couple of moments, then blinking rapidly for a few more, John slowly got up. Not unbothered by the monster, of course, the Ars Hound had gone into the offensive the second he had taken his inelegant dive.
Arcane sparks flew around every time the creature rammed its maw against Mana Protection. The skill was utterly unnecessary in this environment. Even without it, John couldnt be killed by these things unless he decided to not struggle whatsoever, but he liked his clothes to stay intact.
Well, thatll take some further getting used to, he grumbled to himself, his hand suddenly snapping forwards. To the Ars Hound, it was an undodgeable attack, and John caught the monsters head. Then he started to squeeze. The natural born monster tried to get away, bellowed and cried with hatred. If it had shown the whimper of a dog in pain, John would at least have made this quick, but all that thing tried was to hurt him in any capacity it could. Right up until its skull could no longer take the pressure and copsed under the Gamers grip like a can of tomato soup, an oily, red liquid splurging out of the sudden cracks.
John threw out his hand to get at least some of the liquid to fly away. He had made the assumption that the thing was entirely metal. At least the blood didnt have any nasty tendencies. In his experience, the two damage types Gamers Body was the least effective against were poison and acid. Poison worked on him like it would on most regr people of simr Endurance, he just had the advantage of knowing what he was afflicted by. Meanwhile acid was straight-up the worst, since it would continue dissolving him even as Gamers Body regenerated him. Sure, he took less visible damage from it, any amount of acid that would have cleanly eaten through a person was very likely to just stop at the skin due to counter-regeneration, but it dealt massive damage to his HP pool inparison to other types while also keeping the affected body parts out ofmission for longer.
He left the corpse behind and walked back towards the beach, where Rave was building a sandcastle with Sylph and Gnome. Didnt sound like ya did that well there, tiger, she pointed out when he kneeled down next to the piling hills and towers.
Fell on my face, he responded, more interested in what they were building than another addition to his track record of escapades. Sylphs segment of the entire thing was just a bunch of scattered piles and holes she dug seemingly at random to get the necessary building material. Next to that, Rave had created a tower on a half-ind, a deep trench running around it, dug until she had hit water. The part that Gnome was building was by far the most artful, a wall with numerous little decorations, which she formed with only her hands. With her powers she could have hardened the sand to make her job a lot easier, but it seemed the soil elemental was caught up in the simple joy of crafting.
A blood red wave of energy parted the still body of water, the special attack from Marath. Apparently, Aclysia was betting on area attacks now. Guess we gotta step away again, Rave said, having noticed the same. Shortly after they retreated from the sandcastle, the turmoiled water washed over it, leaving the halfway good-looking construction as an assortment of bumps in the now universally wet sand. Dont ya have some Combination that would get this done quickly?
Normally I would have Massacre, John responded, scratching the back of his head as he thought about this himself, but she isnt good in the water and the range of her aura is limited. Massacre was one of the few triple exclusivebinations, with the special ability that beings less than half her level around her simply started dying. Sounded immensely powerful, and it was, but the drawbacks were rather hefty.
Because the aura couldnt stop at anything less than murder. When she killed 10 beings with the aura itself, she also let out a banshee shriek that killed eligible targets instantly. Combining Johns general dislike towards killing people and the disability of Massacre to discern between friend or foe, she was basically a giant disaster button. Didnt help that she was a thoroughly terrible, self-loathing person who just wanted to kill and nothing else while she existed.
Regardless of all that, in situations like these, where there were only weak enemies around, she would normally be optimal. Just, sadly, she wasnt a great swimmer. Its only five more enemies anyway. No more worms, right?
I cant sense any, Gnome responded, still looking sadly at her ruined castle wall.
Then we just have to wait for Undine to track down the remaining in the bay, an elongated body was suddenly thrown into the air and consequently eradicated by a fireball, eels. Four more.
It was a great blessing for John that he had elementals that could localize enemies within their given habitat, otherwise this whole effort would have taken way longer. Have to say, Ravemented, while John watched the quest counter slowly tick up, was an okay way to spend an evening, but Im now firmly in the mood for some clubbing.
Well, I do not condone that, John gave her a well-acted disapproving look, even if you wanted to do that, there arent any baby seals around.
It took Rave two seconds for that joke to click. Oy! her shout of protest was apanied by her stemming her hands into her hips. Do I look Norwegian to ya?
I think you could rock blond hair.
Course I could, doesnt fix the facial structure tho, now dozzit?
I guess you are right about that anyway, I might actuallye down into the club with you.
For serious? Rave raised an eyebrow. Are ya that bored?
I at least want to check it out once. Ill probably leave after showing off that youre my girlfriend to everyone, he honestly stated with a grin. Then Ill well, I still have to beat Witcher 3, but I dont think theptop is going to run that really well. Divinity Original Sin might work out better.
We wanted to y that together!
Right well, Ill find something. The Gamer was looking forward to spending a few hours on actual video games. Days were he got to do more than sneak in the asional Hearthstone match, or other rtively short games, were good days, in his book. Aaaaand, quest done!
The mass of Faith at the heart of the barrier suddenly destabilized, exploding upwards as a fountain of shimmering triangles. They hung in the air for a moment, then became a vortex that dissipated, leaving them in an unusuallyrge, but otherwise nowpletely normal, Illusion Barrier. Seemingly, the presence of monsters kept Faith energy shackled to a location.
It looked quite pretty, but was over so quick that John didnt really get to appreciate it. It was like seeing a single firework go off. Instead, John decided to check out these rewards he had gotten. First off was the new Building, the Butchery. It made it so that, everytime John pacified a Natural Barrier, a number of corpses, presumably scaling with the Tier of the Building, would automatically be teleported back to the Guild Hall and then processed into all pieces that could be further manufactured or eaten.
Interesting, but, as far as John was concerned, not all that useful. Especially since he didnt see himself making a habit out of hunting for Natural Barriers. That would have required a lifestyle in which he had less societal responsibilities to take care of. If he had taken a more small-scale path in life, like staying with a local guild somewhere that didnt really take part in global affairs, then he could have done so. Summarized, it was another one of those mechanics that he could have used, had he chosen another path in life. As it was, it was just a nice addition of vour to the core mechanics he actually utilized.
The Monster Hunter ss also fell under that description.
John would probably invest in it at like level 900, just to see what the potential perks where, but there didnt really seem to be anything there he had a use for. The only part he was remotely interested in was thepass, being able to sense Natural Barriers sounded like something useful, but that was nothing so good he was going to invest the phenomenally limited ss Levels he had.
Can a man get some more power just shoved in his face around here? John thought, knowing full well that he wasining on a ridiculously high standard. At least I got a Guild Perk, been a while since I got one of those. Three more and I get the next Guild Hall Tier. Progress on that front has been pretty stagnant recently.
He withheld on spending the point immediately. Since he wanted to invest into the Diplomacy tree and that would unlock the Federation mechanic, he guessed it was best for him to be avable and at home, before a bunch of people were suddenly surprised by whatever this change entailed
Shortly after, they returned to the hotel. They simply left the barrier behind; it would likely persist for long enough for the actual soldiers to enter and do the clean-up. If not, John hadnt been told to contact anybody once he was done and he had no intention of making calls to find out what the right course of action was, all while waiting on an empty beach.
They returned to their suite first, to take a shower, rx for a little bit and slip into some morefortable clothes. While lounging on the couch, nakedly just cuddling, for once not in the mood to immediately get nasty on every surface they could find, John remembered a little thing that he had forgotten over a hungover morning quickie.
Right, Jane, I wanted to tell you something, he immediately cut to the topic. I got this new Skill from a ss Level recently called Lovers Will. It increases all kinds of pleasure we get from each other by a bit. Its permanent, unless you stop loving me, I can only target one person and I need to tell you all this so you can give consent to it. Want me to, or no?
If it werent you, I would say no to that, Rave let him know, cause that skill sounds a bit shifty, if I am being honest.
If it were in the Puppeteer ss, I would definitely agree with you, this seems like the kind of thing that could mutate into mind control or something like that, he nodded. However, its from Lover Boy and it has limitations on that you both need to love me and give consent, so I think its fine.
Something something, love is the most reliable shackle, something something, Rave bbered, giggling about her own parody of philosophical talks. I trust ya, John, so you can go ahead and use it.
That she knew fully well that magic like this was a bit creepy if one thought about it for more than ten seconds, but still agreed because it was him, made John extra certain that he couldnt havended a better girl no matter how long he had searched the world.
They leaned towards each other, chests half meeting, hands brushing over skin to revel in the others warmth, while their lips met in a loving, tender kiss. Their little pact was sealed, John feeling something flow into her from him. At the same time, something of her also entered him. Nothing more than a trickle of magic, a mutual exchange of something deep.
John felt a hot tingle on the back of his left hand. Likely feeling something simr, Rave parted from their kiss at the same time, looking down on herself. The tingling concentrated in an area, the knuckle of his middle finger, then suddenly ceased. A dark blue, tiny mark appeared there, like a self-spawning tattoo, winding lines that partly reached up to the finger and travelled down the attached sinew. John had to say he found it quite aesthetically pleasing, even though he wasnt all that happy about being marked like this without being asked.
Huh, didnt sign up for that, Rave had a simrint, and looking over to her, hers felt a little bit more valid, even if her tone was as nonchnt as he felt about this. Her mark stretched horizontally, rather than vertically, while maintaining that same aesthetic with the heart in the middle. More importantly, it was in a slightly touchier area, between her vagina and navel.
John couldnt help but immediately feel turned on. Marking the area above her womb with a spell that, in essence, bound the two of them together even more tightly was right up his alley. The dark blue shade even resonated nicely with the bright pink of her neatly trimmed pubic hair. Small as it was, it looked good and yed right into his more possessive desires.
Then it disappeared.
Huh, Rave let out another surprised sound, noticing Johns slightly disappointed look following that. What, ya liked seeing that? she asked, giving his sudden erection a little poke. Want me to keep it?
Can you do that? he asked, to receive an answer in it appearing again on her groin. Before asking any more stupid questions, he just looked at his own mark and tried to will it away. Without any hitch, it obeyed. When he wanted it toe back, it simply drew itself again. Huh, it was his turn to make that noise. Neat.
So ya want me to keep this or not? Rave asked, the two of them leaning close again until John could feel her words on his lips when she spoke. Because Impletely fine with everyone seeing that you have changed me forever.
God, can you stop making that even hotter to me? he asked, giving her a quick kiss. Yeah, I want you to keep it visible.
Everything that shows you own me, right? What about your mark? she asked teasingly, already knowing she was going to like the answer.
Like I would take anything off that shows people that you own me, he said simply, then they rewarded each other with a much deeper kiss, bodies so close only the physical impossibility prevented them from actually bing one, even though the moment they shared made it feel like they were regardless. It was easily the best kiss of their life so far.
The Lovers Will mark was only one of a few reasons for that.
Chapter 611 – Day Planning
Chapter 611 C Day nning
John woke up on the couch the next day. It was so unusual for him to wake up and immediately be able to see that he, for a moment, thought he was still dreaming. Then he had a look around and determined that he must have fallen asleep while gaming. Despite this, the television was shut off, as was theptop attached to it, the controller was sitting orderly on the clean table and a thin nket covered him. All of which were undoubtedly the work of the two maids.
Yesterday evening had gone as predicted. After a few more kisses, actually managing to keep their sexual urges in check forter, Rave and John had gone down to the club with a few other girls. It was a lot more to Johns liking than he had anticipated. Mostly because the music was actually at a level where one could still talk without having to scream. He had danced for a little bit with all of his girls, then retreated to the bar, where he got hit on by three girls and one guy.
He rejected all of them, but it was a nice confidence booster, if he ever needed those. It was also the first time somebody of the same sex had tried to approach him. Had been a bit weird, but he just gave a firm, No, sorry, I am straight, and that topic was done with only a shot of vodka shared between them. A quick parting gift, some nice small talk, then John got to just sit there with Smander and talk to her for a little bit.
It eventually drew the fire spirit back to the dancefloor, which was when John took his leave. He was just happy that her fire-based, scanty clothing burned at an unnatural cold by now. Still warm, but nowhere near hot enough that somebody could have burned themselves on her. Otherwise, her being in a crowd would have been a massive fire hazard.
Anyway, John went back to his room and let himself be pampered while he gamed the night away, right up until he must have blinked for a moment too long and just keeled over. He reached out with his mental connections to make sure it wasnt the case that any of his drinks had been spiked and now everyone had been kidnapped or something. A purely paranoid assumption. From the kitchen echoed the rhythmic cking of a sharp knife into a wooden board anyhow. It would take someone who was equally master chef and impersonator to get Aclysias work rhythm down to that degree.
Beatrice? he thought, not feeling like shouting at six in the morning; chances were that Rave was still in bed, sleeping the sleep of the tipsy drunk, probably cuddling with someone. The passive maid left the kitchen and walked towards her master at a steady pace, stopping once she was an arms length away. The intend was clearly to be in groping range. Naughty thing that she was.
I am here to serve, Master. Beatrices controlled voice was a wonderful thing to hear first thing in the morning. The visual of seeing her take that slight little bow, giving an eyes-closed, obedient expression in the process, only served to make John notice his morning wood with a fierce pulse of sudden awareness. Now that he thought about it, he actually hadnt cum in 12 hours. There had only been cuddles and videogames in the evening.
Which, of course, were nice, but now the Gamer felt like he was seriously pent up. Incredible how standards shift over time, he thought, then thought about it some more, then again, I just shifted from solo to group activity. Really, the only thing that changed is the length of engagements and number of times I can cum...
Observation: you seem to realize that you lose so much time a day fucking that you could probably have conquered the world by now, would you limit yourself, Beatrice delivered to him what he was just about to think. Addendum: but what would such a life be, right, Master?
Her neutral tone and emotionless face made it unclear whether she was being sarcastic or earnest with thatst question. For someone who was able to peer into her mind, John found the answer to be both. Dont act like you dont like it, he challenged. Not that youre wrong on either front. Anyway, I should switch contacts and all that. Can you do me a favour ande into the bathroom with me?
Affirmative. I can be your partner for the morning quickie.
Maybe I just want you toe with because my shampoo is in your inventory?
Negative. rification: chance estimated at 0%. I can be your partner for the morning quickie.
John just chuckled, and they quickly went through the morning routine. Halfway through the shower, Rave joined them, having somehow sensed that she was missing something fun, then they all went to the breakfast table together. Which was also the point at which they got dressed to some degree. If there was one reason to put clothes on, it was to prevent food that somehow fell off from dropping on his just cleaned body.
Alright, Bae, John said between two bites from the cream cheese covered bell pepper stripes that Aclysia presented to his face with all her devotion in every movement, whats on schedule today?
Nothing official, Beatrice reported, standing at the short end of the table, looking at her phone. You have set for yourself four hours to look through the city and visitrger barriers, should there be any. This activity is set to start in an hour.
Right, John nodded along. Thank god we have no tour guide for that one. If I have another of these average minded suits talk me around, he chomped down on the second half of the currently presented bell pepper, I will actually fall asleep walking.
Whyre ya doing that in the first ce? Rave wondered.
Just checking how the actual people are living around here, her boyfriend responded. You know the usual stuff, getting my own impression of the people that I want to be part of Fusion, seeing whether they like the current system or not, letting everyone know that Im not just hanging out with the elites, all that jazz. Also, I heard there are a few shops that have stuff that I want.
Oh? Rave stretched, looking down on her chest in the process. We might wanna visit a clothes shop while were at it. Need new bras.
Sure, we can do that, John nodded, that wouldnt be a detour in any capacity. Not sure why you dont have magically fitting ones in the first ce.
Cause Im not made of money and I got my size just fine.
Pretty sure your father was swimming in dor bills.
Sure, but I could either spend what he gave me on cool stuff or underwear that I dont even wear half the time, she retorted, and John had to concede the point, making them turn back to Beatrice, who they looked at expectedly for quite a few seconds.
Question: do you wish for me to continue? the passive maid opened her mouth to say something unexpected. You interrupted my report in the middle, I therefore assumed you didnt want to hear the rest.
Thats a bit too much on the passive-aggressive side, John pointed out.
Beatrice slightly tilted her head. Interesting. Communications are confusing sometimes. I predicted that would still fall under friendly banter.
It kind of does, but its pushing it. Would work better if you went somewhere along the lines of: can I assume your interruption has concluded, or do you wish to postpone the continuation until your bantering is done?
Data saved, Beatrice nodded and then awaited confirmation on actually going on. Giving her a simple nod, John licked some cream cheese off Aclysias index finger. Information: you have received 57 requests formunication from outside parties, 52 from the locals, 4 from the Hudson Barrier and 1 from the Little Marnd. I have rified that none of them are urgent and summarized their matters. I also prepared potential responses. Rmendation: take two hours after lunch to take care of these affairs.
Yeah, add it from 1 to 3 in the afternoon, John agreed; if they left at eight and returned at around noon, that was an hour he could eat and fool around in before having to deal with anything else. Whats after that? Aside from Lydia wanting me to call her today at four.
Most of your afternoon is empty, Beatrice assured him. Whether you decide to fill it with empty talks to bureaucrats or do more fun a hint of seductiveness sneaked into her voice for a moment, but vanished again as she continued, things is up to you. In the evening, you have been requested to partake in an online meeting with Chemilia. In misceneous news, the Lake Alliance has released a report detailing Zensies side of the happenings during the eventsst week. A look over is rmended.
Alright, rather rxed day then, John said and, towards Aclysia, added, could I have a bit of the pie now?
Certainly, my John, Aclysias voice was an absolute swoon. Something about this morning apparently had her in a very good mood. This reached from making a breakfast that had an incredible amount of variety and effort to it, from her just humming little songs as she totally lost herself in being close to John. Now that she even forgot to call him Master, the Gamer couldnt help but ask though.
Did something really nice happen while I was asleep? he asked.
No, she said that singr word with such utter sweetness that John almost felt like a child being pampered by his mother. It was a little bit creepy; for the most part he felt very appreciated however and that was nice. Regardless he wanted to know more.
Why ya in such a good mood then, Aclysia? Rave asked, looking a little envious that she had to eat by moving herself. Cause ya look like I imagine Eliza is gonna look whenever she finally gets her kid.
I have simplye to a realization regarding this, Aclysia tipped on Johns left middle finger and the Lovers Will mark that was inly visible there. This mark that my John had put on him by marking his little pact with you, beloved Jane.
Okay? Rave asked for John, who was just as confused. By sheer ident, Aclysia was keeping him from peering into her thoughts. When he steered his mental eye in the direction of her thoughts, he just saw an oppressive wall of tender love, and trying to find anything in there would have been like trying to swim through cotton candy that hugged him along the way while whispering how happy it was that he was there. Nice, yes, probably very rxing all things considered, but not very productive.
Whenever he gets another one through his ss, Aclysia continued to swoon as she fed her master even more, her body brushing against his at every opportunity, he will give it to me and then I will not only be marked by John, but he will also have something on his body that shows our connection. A slight pause during which she blushed, almost moaning in a way that definitely had a more depraved aspect to it. For everyone to see, forever on our bodies.
Yandere alert! Rave shouted out loud. Everyone hide the knives before she gets the idea that the best way to preserve her love for eternity is to cut off Johns head and cuddle it until she dies of thirst!
I wouldnt do that! Aclysia protested, forcefully snapped out of her loving trance. The very notion that I would kill Master is absurd! That aside, monopolizing him runs against his desires and I have no intention to ever do such a thing, so youre doubly wrong!
Rave giggled, apparently feeling that the violent reaction that she got meant she had hit some sensitive area. Still a lot of yan in that dere. Like, how do ya know ya gonna be the next one, if there even is another one.
Aburhahrhr, that was the best way John could describe the series of shocked noises that left Aclysias mouth as it opened and closed repeatedly. Certainly, I am the second favourite of the harem, but even if I am maybe the mark will have other effects, so it would maybe be better on others, but I am the second favourite and as such it logically should go to me, but the effects could be really useful on someone else and
Aclysia threatened to enter a logic spiral, something that hadnt happened in quite a while. Funny that some bugs never leave the system, John thought as he went for the universal restart switch and kissed her deeply until her flustered state calmed, signified by her hands reaching around his back as if she never wanted this to end. Still, it had to eventually. Honestly, the way the mark is right now, it would go to you next, he did assure her. But you are right, if this turns out to be the condition for me being able to prolong the lives of other people I love, as Gaia has teased, it will go to Lydia instead.
Brushing a silky strand of her straight-white hair behind her ear, he smiled at her to calm her down. Without further words, he simply reached out to her mind, and when she met his thoughts, he tried his best to erase the barriers between them. Their conjoined thoughts were stirred towards a simple revtion, being that they had all the time of their lives together to find something they could mark each other with, be it a spell or a ring.
I love you, John the weaponized maid whispered, before they kissed again.
Chapter 612 – Friday Compilation
Chapter 612 C Friday Comption
Its really annoying that the lenses have to have the same enchantments to count as a set, John thought as he equipped them. Its super annoying that I cant just use the Inventory for this, well, I can, its just its own annoyance. Although it was possible to use the character menu to put contact lenses into his Head Slot (and back out), doing so would leave them without Possession, as the spell broke upon being stored in the inventory. Only notable exception being whatever his current Extension was. Even that connection was separated until he pulled the item back out.
During the normal put-in process he could cast Possession normally, which was why he favoured it over equipping the lenses first and then sticking a finger into his eye, either blind or with a third person view. John looked around the small store as he synced up his vision again.
It wasnt a lot to talk about, an average street shop, white walls with sses lying on or hanging from specially made sockets, more resting on podiums in the middle of the room. Simply put, he was at an Abyssal optician. From all the information gathering he had done, this was the best ce to buy enchanted contact lenses in all of America. One wouldnt have guessed that from the size of the shop, but it was a rather niche product, all things considered.
John had to, at the very least, admit that they were prettyfortable. He couldnt feel them being there whatsoever, which was an improvement from the very slight resistance he had felt before. They also had a number of extra enchantments that were helpful. Meticulous kept them clean, making removing them something he didnt need to do everyday, Find Point made them glow so they could be easily found should he take them out and misce them, True Sight 3 would just aid him along the way and Normality Layer gave his eyes a standard brown appearance, painted over the milky reality.
Pretty good and quick work, the Gamerplimented once he was certain he could look around again without problems. You developed that yourself? This technique that prints enchanted contact lenses, I mean? It was a rhetorical question, since Observe had already told him as much. Like usual in such a situation, John kept that to himself, since it would possibly spook them out otherwise.
Jeffrey, probably not the first Jeffrey John had met, cleared his throat in a slightly nervous manner. Yes, I have created it, Mister President.
Just call me John or however else you would address a normal customer, he tried to put the guy at ease. Didnt do that much, the store owner still had his shoulders raised and stiff. Doesnt seem like its my presence itself that is causing his difort, John analysed, trying to find the root of the problem. Ah, that would probably be it, he suddenly realized what the problem was. Could you, given time and better materials, create a better printer with stronger enchantments?
Of course, but its a veryplicated process, so it would take time to get used to the new materials, Jeffrey continued, eyeing him up suspiciously. Right now, Im the only one who can create that machine.
Dont worry, I have no intention to hire someone to change that, John assured with a charismatic smile and the nervousness slowly dissipated from the mans shoulders. The middle-aged guy had probably invested half his life into that work, so having the ns stolen by the neighbouring country would have ruined whatever future fortunes he could have made with it. Your machine is pretty interesting. Works pretty fast, prints enchanted objects it couldnt be expanded to things other than contact lenses, could it?
As far as John knew, every item out there still had to be enchanted by hand, using extra materials to achieve bonus effects. If there was a way to mechanize that process and use pre-enchanted cartridges or something like that, then Fusion being the first power to take advantage of it would be quite important. Sadly, the answer was a denial. It doesnt really print the lenses with enchantments, it just makes it really easy for me to do the work despite the small size of the object, Jeffrey was willing to give that much away. If I am not around for it, it would just create contact lenses with the minimal magical attributes that survive the shaping process.
I see. John couldnt help but be disappointed. For a moment there, he thought they stood in front of a magical industrial revolution. Still, something that made the process easier was already valuable. As were mass-producible contact lenses with a True Sight attribute. Could I interest you in a deal?
That depends entirely on the deal, Mister President, Jeffrey now sounded nervous again.
Again, you can call me something less formal. Anyway, I have two deals, to be entirely precise, John reached out to the cash register; the second he touched it the amount he owed for the pair of lenses was automatically withdrawn from his inventory. One, I would like better ones than the ones you just made. The best you can conceivably make. I will fund your research, give you the materials, whatever is in my power, you will get. All I want is regr updates on the sesses, you can keep the way you make better lenses to yourself, if you so desire. More easily, for the second deal, I would like you to continuously produce lenses of different standard sizes for me, of whatever quality you can produce in a steady stream of good quality, nothing outstanding.
The intent for the first was rather clear. If John was stuck with wearing contact lenses, he was going to get the most powerful pair he could get his hands on. For the second deal, John wanted to have his entire army equipped with those. Couldnt be wrong to make the soldiers more resilient against illusions while also helping whatever sight impairment they had.
I will have to talk about this with my family, Jeffrey hesitatingly stated. I hope that is alright with you, Mister President?
John gave up trying to convince the guy to use whatever other title there was. Sure, you can contact my office with these numbers, he pulled a business card out of his wallet. Before he handed it over, however, he also took a pen out of his inventory and wrote a number with a moderate amount of zeros to it on the card. Tell them thats my baseline financing for your shop. I will also pay for a move to New York, should you want toe to the Hudson Barrier.
Jeffrey looked at the number with wide open eyes, taking Johns extended hand with a slow, dreamlike movement. Their handshake was firm, but only because the Gamer made it so.
Pleasure doing business with you, he said before leaving the shop.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Aside from that, the tour through the city waspletely eventless. Structure wise, it was a Type 2 city, a bunch of barriers of varying sizes, some very close together, but no city-spanning mega Protected Space. Not for ack of interest, apparently, but because they hadnt been able to get their hands on a Fateweaver capable enough to produce an Illusion Barrier Mass Anchorage. Before the fall of the Fateweaver organization, the prices had been too high, and afterwards, those Fateweavers had quickly found their homes in other, more powerful organizations.
If Magoi was to be believed, things were currently stabilizing in his profession. The new locations and affiliations of the formerly monopolized membership was written down and those who were willing to do work for third parties entered into a register. It was a lot morepetitive than the former system, but not quite as smooth around the edges.
Good news, but not all that rted to Johns current day. Having visited a lot of those barriers over the day, he could confidently say that the people around here were happy. Which was nice to hear in general, but didnt make takeovers particrly easy. If there was supposed to be any kind of longevity to Fusion, it had to leave the areas it conquered better off than before, something a lot easier when they were absolutely depraved hellholes. With a non-hostile takeover, that wouldnt be quite as bad, but it would still be best if John could present them a number of improvements to their lives.
There was one thing, however, that he found amongst most of these wealthy,rgely happy citizens. A certain level of annoyance that there was no proper political system, only a set of oligarchs at the top. No call for revolution or anything, thanks to those oligarchs making pretty sensible decisions, just a general wouldnt it be nice if? feeling.
As it so happened, Fusion demanded from all member guilds that they followed some sort of republican model. Meaning that this was the one thing John knew for sure he could give that they wanted. Question was just if that was enough. Time would tell.
They returned to the hotel. John had lunch, then went through the calls Beatrice had taken. Most of them were resolved with the message the passive maid had pre-written, soft-worded denials or agreements, nothing that John had to think about for anything longer than a second. There were a couple different things that, due to badly conveyed information or a slightly moreplicated happenstance, had him make phone calls. Most annoying of those was a revtion that his massive project of building an Abyssal mega-warship had to be restarted from scratch.
Apparently, it hade to light that they had welded things to the base already that turned out to be faulty and the only way to get those back out was to dissemble that part of the base, which also meant they had to take everything above it out. There were also some dimensional errors that hade to light, although those might have been fixable.
While that did annoy John, it was nothing that actually made him angry. In the first ce, that shipspletion was not the primary goal of building it, as backwards as it sounded. Sure, he would have loved to have something he could use as a mobile fortress in wartime, especially once Fusion took a ce in the top ten guilds of the world, but for right now it was more important that he had people working. He was going to want arge force of experienced shipbuilders, and this project was giving everyone, from the simple dock workers to the engineers, a bunch of experience. The secondary benefit was that a whole lot of people had employment thanks to the project, making them happy and well-fed.
So, a dy of this project by a few months was ultimately not that important. Hopefully, anyway, for all John knew a war would be dered on him on the day of the originally scheduled finish date. Better to have a dyed mediocre product than a rushed faulty one though.
The person making the report was obviously relieved that John wasnt ripping their head off for that. Overall, not the biggest piece of news, just an unwanted one. Afterwards he made one more call towards thergest local TV station, who had offered to tform him the next day, an offer John dly took after having a talk about what that would actually entail. Beatrice scheduled that for tomorrow, and that part of his day was also done.
He took a bit of time to read the report by Zensie that Beatrice had mentioned. It turned out to be a rather one-sided recollection of how John had goaded him into siding with the Lake Alliance. Overall, it was nder, with the former number two of the Small Lake Pact continuously framing himself as innocent and loyal, had it not been for the disrespectful ways in which John had behaved. The Gamer decided that this was best ignored, waiting for the whole thing to blow over.
Another bit of a break followed; this time filled with nothing but his favourite activities. Proper downtime, which he was split between wanting tost for as long as possible and finally passing as the next thing on the list was calling Lydia. Hearing the queens voice was always nice.
I am most pleased by your recent achievements, John. Especially when this was what he was rewarded with once he had told her what she had missed thest few days. How curious, it feels like an eternity since youst didnt make me sick with worry.
How often do you want me to apologize for that? John whined, closing that Achievement, still feeling properly guilty.
I will have you ask for forgiveness on repeat until we next kiss, Lydia stated, her iron tone and way to formulize things not quite matching the content of that sentence. Regardless, I approve of this takeover n more than I do yourst one. A minimum of people suffer under economic annexations, if executed well.
I dont intend to pull a United Fruit Company on them, so it shouldnt ruin anyones life.
And nothing less is expected of you, my love, Lydia responded, giving John a warm shudder as he imagined her beautiful red lips forming thosest two words. This contact lens thing piques my interest as well, are you willing to share more information on that topic?
Yes but also no, John told her. Technically youre the leader of another guild, so I shouldnt have told you in the first ce.
Indeed, that was not the intelligent course of action from a leaders point of view.
Too bad I see myself as your lover first.
No, you do not, the metal mage stated, and the piano in the background changed to a lightly mncholic tune. If you defined yourself as such, you would be by my side at the present. I would also think less of you, however, if you lived just for me. Two attributes that we certainly share.
Hmm, yes, I do agree with that, the Gamer hummed. Anyway, I cant tell you a lot more even if I wanted to, I let him keep all the important secrets and only bought his services.
Maybe one day I will have to order his products from you then, Lydia theorized. Enough of this, however, let us talk about topics of pleasantry, not business.
And so, they did, for almost an hour they exchanged philosophical and economics questions, little jokes and eventually a few lewd instructions. Then Lydia had to hang up and continue her day. Start it, rather, time zones were a thing.
Last item on the list of the day was that talk to Chemilia, which wasrgely eventless. Some back and forth regarding the ship situation, any unexpected developments in the economy, advancement in her control of her robotic limb, the training of the army, any enemy troop movements, such things. The only thing notable was that the border was still quiet. Which, on the one hand, was fantastic, but on the other meant that John had no excuse to send the former Small Lake Pact people in there.
He would not be the first one to run sabotage actions. That was like being the first party in a war that started shooting civilian ships that potentially smuggled ammunition. It would look incredibly bad on the world stage. Well, if it wasnt needed, John was also happy to just let this war continue to be eventless. Starting next week, he would initiate the white peace negotiations and then things would hopefully just resolve without any real bloodshed.
That was the Friday, pleasant, butrgely eventless.
Chapter 613 – In the public
Chapter 613 C In the public
John looked down on the crowd that had gathered in front of the hotel turned headquarters turned hotel. It was a sensible mass of people for this early time of the day, about a hundred, maybe two hundred people. The total poption of Abyssal Boston was unlikely to exceed 4000, so John felt like he was drawing quite a bit of attention for what was little more than a pre-scheduled event. Wouldnt be a visit of the head of a foreign power if there was no speech or something.
Hm, its gone, the Gamer said, speaking more to himself than anyone else.
Whats gone? the voice of his girlfriend echoed out from behind him. He turned to see her sitting on the couch, dressed up in a sky-blue top and skinny jeans. She looked especially good that day, although John couldnt quite put his finger on the why. Everything about her seemed about as beautiful as ever and yet still there was this little bit extra. Some slight change that he subconsciously noticed.
He would try to solve that mystery another day, because he was absolutely certain he could or already had, just not actively.
The difort, he responded, turning back to look at the crowd. I used to be afraid of speaking to crowds, then I was just ufortable with it, now I just think of it as normal, I guess. Its not much different than going into an important ranked game in League of Legends. Sure, if I fuck up, I get demoted, but there is nothing Im inherently nervous about anymore.
Isnt that a good thing? Rave asked; she must have noticed that he didnt sound all that excited about that revtion.
He slowly nodded, It definitely is. Just feels like Im getting further and further away from the person I used to be, you know? Not that that is all that bad either, I was an objectively worse person in all aspects, as far as I can see. Its just he gestured helplessly, slow change is weird. You wake up one day and notice that you have been doing a thing for six months and you dont even know when it became a routine. You look at an old photo and notice that your face just looks a bit different and you have no idea when age did that.
Ya giving me dunno, uncanny valley over here, Rave stated.
Uncanny Valley is when something looks human, but not quite, John corrected her, but I have no idea if that feeling I talk about has an actual term. Non-stalgia would be what I would call it. That sounds negative again, though, its more of a Huhokay kind of feeling.
I guess I get that, Rave stated and got up, putting an arm around him once she arrived at his side. A slow, gentle kiss was ced on his neck. Wanna stay here and philosophize all day or do we go down there and get it done?
Hmm, I guess well get it done and then Ill see about doing things I am more interested in, he conceded, and they, along with the two maids, left the room to go attend that meeting on the proper schedule. By the way, John spoke up while they went inside the elevator, I think Ill try an Instant Dungeon today. Just a level 100 one, dont want things to be too dangerous, but just some actual action.
Im gonna tag along for that, Rave smiled, evidently approving of the idea. Can eitherugh at ya stumbling around or help ya if things get dangerous somehow. Beats sitting around here anyway.
There was a loud ding and the doors of the lift began to open. Immediately, there was the follow-up sound of numerous cameras going off at every second, causing a bunch of shes to burn themselves into Johns retinas. Well, no, he had no retinas to be burned into, so it was just annoying shes. Something that Aclysia didnt take too kindly to either way.
As she stepped out of the elevator, the journalists hurried to the sidelines, creating a corridor that John could walk through unobstructed. Her reputation must have preceded her, as Aclysia was already known for her aggressive handling of overly obnoxious reporters back home. Then again, John recognized a few of the faces in the crowd, local news wasnt a particrly developed part of the Abyss, so most of the stations were active across the entire continent.
They made their way through, Aclysia marching ahead, while John took the liberty of putting his left arm around Beatrice as well. If they were going to take a lot of photos of him, he would be on them with his girls, looking unapologetically well dressed, groomed and happy. That he had to part with them about fifty metrester, as he was guided to the podium, didnt mean he wouldnt take any short amount of body contact he could get.
Aclysia and Beatrice took position standing shortly behind him, while Rave just stood directly next to him, taking a pretty carefree pose. She, or any of them really, could have sat down at one of the many chairs lined up behind the podium. They were there for exactly that purpose. It seemed like they preferred to be close to him, though, and John loved that.
Why dont you hold the speech, Jane? he joked, loud enough for the front row of people to hear it but away from the microphones.
Nah, I am fine with looking good, addressing crowds isnt my thing, the Lightbearer waved off. Like to actually see who I am talking to and all that.
John just smiled in agreement, that did seem more like her. He turned to the actual crowd, the people who hade early got to sit around the tables that had been carried outside by the staff. Around them, respectfully allowing those sitting to watch unobstructed, stood theter arrivals.
He leaned onto the podium, grabbing the rim and bending towards the microphones. All actions in order to make his bodynguage create an aura of readiness or just general concentration on the topic, signalling that he was all there for the crowd. At the same time, he kept a rxed impression and swayed a little bit while he talked, not wanting this thing to be too serious.
Many times, he finally started, I am asked why I am even doing this. What stakes do I, a mundane borntebloomer, even have in the state of the world? Of America? I have thought about it numerous times. Is it because I am patriotic? Well, yes, that is part of it. The USA has its many faults, but I think having been born here was definitely one of the better draws in my life, so I think its good to have a level of pride in what the founding fathers put together and we have to maintain. Thats not quite it, however. Is it because I am prideful or, perhaps, even arrogant, thinking that I get to carve out my part in the world? Well, yes, again, that is part of it. I have the power and the mind and the will to change the world, and I am going to be damned if I dont use it.
Those reasons, however, have a shared part to them. Carrying things from the past into the future. Creating new things in the present for the future. Both of them deal not with what I have right now, but what we will have tomorrow. I have found a philosophy in my time in the Abyss, shaped by the many people that I know and, most profoundly, by thedies that I havee to share the good and the bad times with.
It is the duty of every human being to create a world that is better than the one they found. Everyone in the measure they find themselves able to. Workers, innovators, businessmen, politicians, parents, servants, bureaucrats, everyone can do their part as who they are. Be it just to serve breakfast as good as they can make it or create a whole country for the reason of peoples safety and the conservation of their individual liberty.
John stopped there for a moment to take a sip of water. With a dry giggle, he then continued, Although thatst bit is doubtlessly me expressing aforementioned pride again. And that isnt necessarily a bad thing, I guess. The Christians believe that pride is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. They also have a virtue to oppose it humility I personally dont believe in God, but I think religion has some interesting things figured out I can happily admit that I shouldnt boast as much as I do, but I am getting side-tracked.
He was tempted to continue on that little tangent, as the people seemed to be pretty interested in the things he was saying and this unnned, more organic bit was causing them to ease up towards him more visibly. There was a schedule to keep, however, so he had to wrap this speech up sooner than any more tangents would allow him too.
Following through on making the world better will give you purpose, his voice was firm again, as he went on with what he had nned to say, and aplishing things along the way will certainly give you something to be proud of. Of course, there will be failures along the way. Honest missteps or self-deception that what is best for you is best for everyone. A little lie here wouldnt hurt, would it? I can do better with this money than they can. If I just avoid this ufortable talk, things will work themselves out eventually. Pathologies, small ones, big ones, and a constant struggle againstcency, arrogance, stagnation and nature itself, as it tries to upheave everything through the sheer force of unknown, unforeseen circumstances.
Sure, its hard. Its a struggle and there will be sacrifices John hesitated, halfway reached up to his head before he stopped himself and went back to gripping the podium, he went on as fluidly as he could, sacrifices along the way. There is no guarantee anything is ever going to work out. I firmly believe, however, that if you, the individual, continue to work for what is best not just for you but also yourmunity, then the world will reward you with opportunities. The struggle is life and knowing it is to be human.
Now, being here today is part of my struggle, although a rather pleasant part of it. The people of this I want to say country again, but you Abyssals prefer guilds anyway, you have been giving me a warm wee and its been a pleasure so far to talk to all of you. I am happy to make more business with you where I can, and Fusion would be happy to increase its ties to the American Canadian Trade guild whenever we can. Thank you all for listening.
He went to standing upright, moving away from the microphones, and the people cheered. There were a few standing ovations, but for the most part the crowd had a moderate level of happiness with his speech. Which was about what John had expected, since he hadnt delivered anything world moving or any great announcements. Just his personal beliefs and some pandering.
The thunderous apuse was reserved for the true achievements he would hopefully earn in life.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Later that day, muchter, John was sitting in a talk show. He was one of five people on the panel. One host and three other guests, separated into two camps. John had heard of none of them in his life. Something that just irritated him further with being part of these talk shows where they had a maximum of two minutes to formte their thoughts about issues that sometimes needed hours to be discussed properly.
Do you think the war against the Lake Alliance by Fusion is just? That question, for example, from the host was so extremely loaded, John just wanted to scream. I am going to give the word to you first, Lesley. And then the guy just handed it to his opponents first, just brilliant.
At least the seat isfortable, John thought as he leaned back into the red cloth with a straightforwardly annoyed expression. The whole program had been a catastrophe, as far as he was concerned, and he would be damned if he took part in it again in the future. Even if the host would have been a hot catgirl, he wouldnt have let this kind of dirty tactics run over him. That it was just some journalist guy instead just furthered his annoyance.
Well, how could it be? Lesley, his opponent on the couch and an in-shape middle-aged woman, with a resting bitch face that John just wanted to punch, stated that with such a level of smug righteousness that the Gamer threatened to actually get angry. Just look at Fusions stage on the world. They are steadily expanding, they are using numerous dirty tactics and they are just always trying to meddle in things they have no right to. What kind of just thing could ever be created by a person known mostly for his harem building?
Interesting, the host said. John knew they were using that word specifically to not sound partial. Well, what does the opposition have to say to this?
Oh, opposition, am I? John thought, catching every single one of those little snipes. For the first part, he started, immediately drowning out his co-speaker. Your question is loaded to the extreme, the war was not started by Fu-
Formtions really arent the thing we should be discussing here, the host interrupted. Please stay on topic, Mister President.
John ground his teeth. Fine, he spat out, trying to keep his cool. If you know me only by my harem building, then-
This is also not addressing the question, the host went in again.
Yes, the person sitting next to Lesley grinned, stay on topic, Mister Newman. Is the war just? She was someone just there to reaffirm the opinion of the middle-aged woman, while Johns partner was some meek professor that barely spoke loud enough, if he spoke at all.
Its not as easy as to whether or not its just. We have to start by asking ourselves what just would mean in this context and who is to me for what. I can throw usations of this simplicity around as well, but what would that-
Ah, it seems time has run out on this question, the host interrupted for a third time. Johns knuckles had a white colour at this point. Somewhat rted, Fusions takeover of the Small Lake Pact has caused controversial rumours to surface. Mainly, Mister President, it is said that you forced someone to betray you, is that correct?
No, I didnt force anyone to do anything, John returned quite firmly.
So, there was no betrayal by anyone?
No, some parts of the former Small Lake Pact sided with the Lake Alliance in an effort to overthrow me. This is despite me working with local culture and creatin-
So, there WAS betrayal that was motivated by you?
John furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head somewhat. What even is that question?
Just give me a yes or no, please.
You cant just what do you mean by motivated? That could mean so much.
Dont y dumb, Lesley forced herself in, without being put into her ce by the host whatsoever. There was a report released publicly that detailed how Zensie was goaded by you into betraying him. That certainly happened, didnt it?
Sure, if you only take the heavily edited version the Lake Alliance published as gospel, then you can say I made him betray me, John answered, his voice dripping in sarcasm.
So, what you are saying is, the host chimed back in again, parts of the report are true?
Yes, of course they are, they havent just made up the event, John couldnt believe the kind of tremendously stupid grilling he was receiving here. I appeared weak because I chose to no longer wear my sses all the time, so Zensie betrayed me, as I anticipated. He already had the reason, then he got the conviction, and when Jeremiah appeared, he had the opportunity. The true thing about that report is that I wanted to antagonize him. Because he, from the start, gave me no respect. I could see from the start that he would take the first opportunity to remove me. I was just smarter, thats it.
The prolonged silence of the host told John that they had gotten something that they wanted out of that statement just now. If he had said something that destroyed their narrative, he would have interrupted him.
Fantastic, John couldnt hold back sounding bitter inside his own head as the show continued. He had a tremendous few days, but it seemed that the world wasnt done yet throwing struggles in his way after all.
Chapter 614 – Slander and Cries
Chapter 614 C nder and Cries
I C hate C the C press, John growled as he finished reading the article that had been written overnight. Not the greatest thing to start a Sunday with. These absolute assholes. His outcries caused Rave to raise an eyebrow in confusion, and he turned to her to read out loud what pissed him off so much.
John Newman, the president of Fusion, has admitted that the report put together by the Lake Alliance was truthful. Zensie betrayed me, as I anticipated, he said in a talk show on Saturday, The true thing about that report is that I wanted to antagonize him. I was just smarter, thats it. These statements put the leader of the aggressively expanding guild in a damning light. It seems the only thing that the leader of Fusion was truthful about in his speech earlier were his pride problem and that people that try to do the right thing often trick themselves into actions are only self-serving in truth.
He tossed his phone on the table. The entire article continued to present him and his past actions in a negative light, but that first bit was the one he had the biggest issue with. It was one thing to have a bad opinion of his actions and a whole different one to make up things or cherry pick the evidence. These absolute cunt-waffles! They edited out all the context I gave to the situation and clipped the quotes back with only the bad sounding bits remaining. Taking a moment to let out an exasperated breathe, he added, And then, just so everyst moron out there got it, they attack my character. They arent reporting on the news, they are making the news.
Rave picked up his phone and read it with a continuously more pissed expression. Wanna go over there and smash their fucking building in? she asked, putting the device back down once she was done.
Sighing heavily, trying to calm himself, John got up and walked up and down the room. Yes, but that wouldnt do any good. It would only prove their point. He was used to getting bad press, there was always someone who disagreed, but there was a difference between people that just thought he was misguided, people that thought he had an awful character and people that were willing to tinker with quotes for a hit-piece.
He had to hand it to the Lake Alliance for creating that report in the first ce. What he had perceived as a nonsensical attempt to tarnish his character had turned out to be a great angle of attack for the adversarial news organizations. John had wanted to keep public eyes off this thing, because reminding everyone that he was a bit of a schemer wasnt a great way to run his public rtions. People would voice doubts whether he was genuine or just a Machiavellian opportunist, riding the human rights wave to assure himselfpliance in the areas he conquered until there was nobody left to oppose him.
John picked up hisptop, opened up a text document and began typing away. At the same time, he had to ignore the quickly mounting alerts about mentions of him on social media. Just a nce at it was enough to know that nothing said there would improve his mood. Aclysia! his warning voice echoed out, as he heard the door towards the entrance area opening. I just said we ARENT burning their building down.
The head of the author surely would not be missed on his shoulders, the weaponized maid hissed back. John didnt need to turn to know she was gripping Eclys. Most of it must be vacant anyway.
Agreeing in a passive tone, the only thing that gave Beatrices bloodlust away was the content of her words. Agreement. Addendum: I could get a spike to show it off with.
No, no and no, John told them, typing, deleting and editing sentences in a hurry. Beatrice, I trust you more to keep your cool, so you, on your own, are going to that channel and will insist that they release the full VOD to the public. Dont threaten violence or anything like that but dont leave until you either have a promise on paper or arranged a talk between me and whoever is highest up in that mediapany. Make as much as a ruckus as you need to not get ignored. I swear to everything, this is why I insist on recording my interviews
He had let himself be talked into not doing so because he wasnt the only guest and the others werent as interested in being permanently avable to the inte to see. The argument had seemed weak at that time already, but John had wanted to be understanding and caved. Now he basically had confirmation that it was just a bullshit excuse in the first ce. His phone vibrated on the table, but he had no interest in getting up and dealing with that right now. The sender had her ways to be insistent, however.
Scarlett: Yo, I wake up wanting to cash in on that bet I won against your maid and suddenly there are like 17 hit pieces on you, whats going on?
John clicked on the tab and opened a barebones looking chat program. It was an alpha version of Fusions internalmunication software. As he had previously requested, Scarlett was working on it when she had nothing else to do. Since she was one hell of a busy person, and she had to make that thing as secure as possible to hold it up to her standards, progress on it was slow. Right now, it was safe enough to be used for limited exchanges via text, which was why only he, her and a few select others had ess to it.
John replied in a flurry of finger movements.
John: 17?! There was just one half an hour ago!
Scarlett: Alright then, a concerted media smear campaign. I see you are already typing up a response.
Scarlett: I guess you dont want to talk about how this wouldnt be happening if you were just willing to break a few bones?
John: No.
John: Do we have any friends in the media that are writing up counter stories?
Scarlett: Let me scan, going to take a few minutes.
Minutes that John used to continue to formte his side of the events. The awful thing about this whole affair was that he wasnt willing to glorify himself like Zensie did, painting himself as basically innocent. Instead he tried to be as truthful as he could. Which would make him credible in the long run, but in the short-term would create a bunch of headaches.
My first real media scandal and its something this stupid and obviously fabricated, the Gamer thought. Lying by omission, ssy act, really.
Scarlett: Alright, Airter and Twitter have some journalists who have already voiced outrage over this. Problem being they wont be able to write proper response articles before tomorrow, most likely.
Scarlett: Kudos to them for releasing this on Sunday, most journalists and editors are trying to have a rxed day.
John: Which means the pressure for a correction wont be there until everyst idiot who already dislikes me has read the thing. Great, cant wait to hear the myth of What about that time the Gamer forced someone to side with his enemies? How is that morally defensible? for months toe.
Scarlett: Forget the months, right now, its important that the Amacat leadership doesnt take associating with you as a risk.
John took his hands off the keyboard for a moment to massage his forehead. Right, he thought, having forgotten that those risk-averse businessmen would probably be influenced by this in some capacity if he didnt solve this quickly. Perhaps I should just write what makes me look the best he thought, looking at the truthful summary of the events he had written so far. The admission that he did want Zensie to betray him and had acted extra dickish to that end would give those people some immediate fodder. If he just conveniently skipped that then
Well, then he would be a hypocrite, contradicting the things he had said yesterday. It was so tempting to just lie about this, sail the smooth waters, have the guaranteed gains in the short run. Just not be principled and resolve all of this with a couple of white lies. Then continuously lie every time he was asked about it.
I cant, John thought, feeling tired this early in the morning. He was just not willing to be yet another politician lying for their own gain. Typing ast few sentences into the document, he copied the entire thing over into the chat and sent it to Scarlett.
John: Make sure this gets distributed to the proper people.
Scarlett: You sure?
John: Yes.
Scarlett: Alright then.
John leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. After a few seconds, Rave and Aclysia poked their heads into his field of view. Ya need a cuddle? Rave asked.
I need a mountain of cuddles, an underwater blowjob in the jacuzzi and a stiff drink, at the same time, he responded, although he, with his limited experience in alcohol, actually didnt know what a stiff drink even was exactly. He just knew he needed it. God, this is a headache. Not like Ill get an apology either. Theyll just correct to something like Although we werent truthful in our exact choice of words, the president of Fusion has admitted that the content wasrgely correct. I cant even sue them for it, because there is no damn court.
Unless Amacat joins Fusion, Rave pointed out.
Unless Amacat joins Fusion, John repeated, nodding. Even then, setting up the courts will take an eternity and they will probably just move somewhere to Mexico or Quebec or whatever. Argh! Throwing his hands into the air, he shouted, This is so frustrating! If I was half the asshole theyre making me out to be, this wouldnt even be a problem. Theyd be dead and Id beughing!
Ya said no to the murdering thing, Rave giggled and suddenly dropped on him. But I can make yaugh! Before he knew what was happening, she had her hands on his stomach and assaulted him with wiggling fingers. While John wasnt particrly affected on a physical level, he wasnt really ticklish, it worked pretty well mentally.
What do you think youre doing?! he eximed,ughing out loud, trying to get on top of her instead. All that that motion aplished was that they fell off the couch and continued to wrestle on the floor. Before long, John managed to get a moment of superiority in and forced a kiss on her that she returned after just another second of yful struggle. Stop being so beautiful, you wild thing, he stated.
Mhm, she looked around mischievously, like a cat that momentarily pretended to no longer be interested in her prey. No, she then, unsurprisingly, returned and threw him off her with her physical superiority well in use. John flew until hended on his back a metre back, immediately beset by his girlfriend again, who straddled his groin. Grabbing him by the cor in a sexy way, she pulled him into a kiss on her terms instead.
Before John knew it, Rave wasnt the only one tending to him. Aclysia and the elementals all swarmed around him, vying for his attention. Lips and loving whispers surrounded him, distracting him from his plight, which seemed pretty distant byparison. Most true of all rang the words of Undine.
Remember that theyre just against you, her song-like voice echoed out loud. Irritation with them is appropriate. Lies are never pleasant. In the grand scheme, however, their nder does not matter. It will wash away with time and only leave them less credible. You can never please everybody. Aim your wrath at those that are truly a threat.
Right, right, John nodded, hearing things he already knew but didnt hurt to hear again every now and again. Now more level-headed, he still sighed at the prospect of the near future. Alright, now we wait for Beatrice toe back. He rose out of the pile of girls, not because he strictly wanted to, but because he still wanted all of that jacuzzi stuff.
Everyone followed him to the spa room, except for Aclysia, who went to work on the stiff drink part of it all. Gnome had a question though. How much would it even help if they release the actual recording?
Honestly? Not that much, John answered. At least not in the immediate time frame. What it essentially does is that it allows people who actually care about the truth to check whether I was taken out of context or not. Too bad most people dont care that much about checking on things. Not that I can hold that against them, I take a bunch of news from distributors myself and dont check the source. There are only so many hours in a day. Point being, the people that believe me or the station will likely continue to believe me or the station for the duration of the actual outrage. All the recording will do is clear up things in conversations between friends and family over the years, should this ever be brought up again.
Smander rubbed his shoulders when he got into the tub. Being a fire spirit, she didnt really want to get into the water. She could, it wasnt like she was still the low-level elemental that could potentially be killed by putting her into a hot spring, her form was much more stable now, but it was still not her preferred environment. It does force them to correct their own story though, she tried to be a positive voice, which was rare for her, and John appreciated it.
Dont worry, Siena aspirated into his ear with her overall sensual voice, as Undine slipped under the surface of the water and fulfilled the underwater blowjob part of his rxation program. There are always little idents that can happen to people too bothersome to deal with.
Again, no, not going there, John kept firm on his stance.
Although he was certainly fantasizing about it.
Chapter 615 – Double-down
Chapter 615 C Double-down
Johns fist kept colliding with the table as he failed topletely suppress the wild desire to punch something so hard it shattered into a thousand pieces. At the same time, the constant knocking only annoyed him further. And I had just fucking calmed down, he growled, reading thetest update.
In response to Beatrices appearance at their set, thework had just taken a photo of her at the reception desk and written an article that could be summarized with: we release our VODs a week after the actual program, we will not be bullied by an angry tyrant into changing this policy.
The photo was a masterpiece as well. They shot Beatrice from behind, at a moment where she was leaning onto the desk in what could be interpreted as a threatening manner, while also hiding her inexhaustibly passive expression. Thanks to her outfit and white hair, this much was all that was needed to identify her. John had to concede that battle and recall her from the premise, before her presence could give them even more fodder.
So, they were doubling down on their narrative. John couldnt quite work out the stations motivation though. Was it really just for the clicks? Did they care that much more about increased traffic for a few weeks than they did about their integrity? No, that couldnt be it. If it was just them, then there was no way so many other mediapanies were following their reporting by echoing their sentiments in their own articles.
In other words, there had to be a reason. John had already sniffed one out, a very likely one, but whether or not it was true, well, a number of calls would confirm that. Grabbing his business phone, the Gamer looked for the number of Berden Drechsler. A tooting sound reached his ear when he confirmed the call.
Ah hello, President Newman the hesitating tone with which he was greeted already caused the Gamers expectations to sink tremendously. A pleasure to hear from you. Do you have anything you want to talk about?
John noticed everything dodgy about formtion. From the way he clearly knew what was going on to him intentionally dodging the phrase anything I can do for you just to avoid any potential requests on that suggestion. Yes, he answered regardless in a hopeful, almost chirpy tone. He needed to sound like he was unfazed, as if the whole thing really didnt matter. Because it actually didnt, all that mattered about this whole affair was what people believed to be true. See, it seems parts of the media have decided to go about smearing my name. Pretty baseless, most of it. I already published a written response to disperse initial misconceptions, but it would be preferable if we could start some sort of broadcast.
Ah, yes, I see well, I do agree that it would be a good idea
John closed his eyes and silently, slowly inhaled. Here ites, he thought.
but I am afraid I have no time for it. Your investments have given me a lot of things to work on, aside from Sunday being a bad time. You know, all the media people are at home and all that
Sure, lets pretend that it takes the same amount of effort to get a small response video done as it does to create a press conference, John held his bitterness in his thoughts as he kept a smile on his face to keep his tone genuine. There was nothing to be gained from him trying to force anyone to do something they didnt want to. The best oue there would be that he mitigated the damage of public perception at the cost of his reputation with the actual ruling people. No, no, I understand. I must say its rather disappointing, however. A little shaming could maybe achieve something though.
D-dont get me wrong, Mister President! the old investor stammered into his phone. Berden stood to lose an essentially bottomless well of lending money if he fucked up here, so John understood him to be quite nervous. I will look into this and make sure my media team takes appropriate measures to support you!
Appropriate likely tranting to something that was utterly neutral. Lip service to both sides at once, a little message that made clear they acknowledged the thing going on, while doing their best to keep their heads down. I am sure you will, John said, lowering his tone in the process. Have a nice day, Mister Drechsler.
He barely waited for the response before ending the call and rubbing his face as if he just awoke from a bad dream. Then he selected the next number. Over the course of two hours, right up until noon, he went from one local contact to the next. The answers he got were always the same. I would, if I had the time, sorry. I dont know enough to weigh in, sorry. Ah, Ive flown out of town for today, sorry. Cant help, sorry. I am not important enough to be of help, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
Spineless, unambitious cowards, John cursed when he had gone so far down the list that he didnt even need to bother. No one, not a single one of the businessmen, had the will to stand up to anything. Their strategy was to keep their head low and just wait for the whole thing to pass them. Just dont invite controversy, that couldnt possibly work out. Avoid at any cost.
It was remarkable how people with that amount of wealth and power were that afraid of a mob on social media. Then again, and this was something he only got after some more pondering on the issue, there was anotheryer to this than the usual fear of boycotts. This was the Abyss, sufficiently ruining ones reputation could lead to fireballs flying at the face. Especially a danger for the leadership of Amacat, who all had powers or abilities focused around administration rather thanbat.
John growled at nothing in particr as he fell back against the backrest of the couch. Whatever video response he did, without support from the localmunity, it had next to no reach where he actually needed it and would do no better than his text already did. It was pretty clear, at this point, what the intention of the media attack was. A simple dy in Fusions annexation efforts.
It was absolutely clear at this point that Amacat was just waiting for someone to give them the right incentive to join arger federation. Nobody with power around had interest in making a proper political body. They just obeyed themon ethics that worked over in the mundane economy and continued to make money. The oligarchs wanted ess to a bigger market and had no care for havingwmaking powers, the people wanted some way of representation, Fusion could provide both in addition to international rtionships and more funding than anyone locally could dream of. For them, it was anything they could ever ask for.
Basically, John was pretty certain he could just announce Scarletts n to the council, they would nod along, act like they totally could not do that, negotiate for some period of time, then skip the whole middle part and go directly to where they joined Fusion in a slow process in exchange for debt forgiveness and some concessions about trading rights. All it took was a lot of encouraging talks, time and convincing deals with the individual top members. Anyone who knew Fusions values and power as well as Amacats inner workings could see that at this point.
Including the Lake Alliance, whose leaders must have been enormously annoyed at that point in time, that geographical distances had prevented them from integrating this economically strong area into their own federation. The Lake Alliance that John currently was at war with and who really couldnt care about whether or not something was a well-executed smear campaign or not.
Although the Gamer had no idea how exactly they had their meddling fingers in this affair, it was clear that they profited the most from it. If John had to pause negotiations for a week, the stated duration of his visit, then he would leave with nothing but a few niceties exchanged. They had taken great advantage of the leaderships cowardice and essentially put his progress on ice. From a distance, making negotiations was much harder. It would take a long time to get that done. So long that the war would be over by then.
Was it a terrible setback? By no means. A few months at worst, a few weeks at best, if he got the Lake Alliance to agree to a simple peace. Regardless, having wandered into this trap and now finding himself unable to get out of it annoyed John fiercely. Getting outmanoeuvred on a political level was something that was bound to happen at some point, even the greatest minds made mistakes, but that didnt make it any less frustrating.
How can I get out of this? John thought desperately. I could lengthen my visit but that means I have to celebrate my birthday here It was a rather arbitrary limit to set for himself, especially when the thing to be gained was such a massive increase in size and power for Fusion. However, it would be his firstplete year in this world of might and magic. He didnt want it to be filled with negotiations and nagging. He wanted a proper anniversary full of rxation, fun and festivities.
His own wishes aside, he couldnt imagine his girls would approve of staying. What were the alternatives? epting the loss. That just made him grit his teeth and kick the floor in frustration. A petnt feeling, for sure, but taking a loss was just the worst. The third option was that this scandal blew over in a matter of a few days.
Thing was just that John had basically no influence over that. His generally averse stance towards the media meant that he had few friends in that field. The few he had were almost all part of the CPDI station and that news station was, although John found them pleasantly in-depth, pretty niche and not taken that serious on the basis of being a porn program. Which was, to be fair, a pretty good basis for scepticism.
The ways the scandal could develop were threefold, as far as John could see. The most likely option was that the concerted effort of the adversarial programs continued to double, triple and quadruple down, keeping the story alive for as long as they could. Less likely was that the counter-narrative of pro-Fusion forces took hold fairly quickly. Which one of the two the majority of the public believed wasnt even that important at that point. All that mattered was that the investors and CEOs believed that there would be massive outrageing their way if they associated with John.
The third option was that a whole different, bigger scandal simply drowned out this one. That was a total gamble. It could happen, it could not happen, who really knew? Certain was only that such a thing was hard to fabricate, especially on a short notice. John had no scandal he could suddenly pull on other people, neither did he have the channels to distribute it, even if he could.
Therefore, all he could do was wait and pray that something would happen that he could capitalize on. Which was absolutely the worst. It was like ying a game where he had to rely on a teammate to revive him, but this was gym ss, so Frank would beat up anybody who dared to help out the nerd after ss. Doubtlessly at the behest of Vanessa, his queen bitch of a girlfriend.
Pleasant thoughts, John, he scolded himself, since the weak-bodied, socially shut-off person from back then really wasnt what he wanted to remember on a day that had no reason to be terrible. Well, he spoke up, causing the girls who had left him to get through with his nning and thinking, to turn their heads, turns out I cant do anything.
Okay, that sounds bad, Ravemented.
It is pretty bad, he said, gesturing in the direction of the exit. And I am willing to bet that any step outside of here is going to be met with the worst kind of paparazzi descending on us like a swarm of locusts trying to drink every fluid in your body.
Didnt ya use that metaphor for them before?
Im using it as often as its urate, which is always, the Gamer retorted as he dropped Scarlett a message. Since he had bottomed out on resources that could help in this case, he could only try to see what the media expert amongst his girls and allies had to say.
John: Last ditch effort, you wouldnt have a n to get me out of this mess, would you?
Scarlett: Maybe, maybe not.
John: Noooooooo, you are not doing this to me right now, are you?
Scarlett: Time will tell.
Scarlett: OR WILL IT?!
John: I should have never shown you TTS.
Scarlett: I have read every article on 1d4chan by now.
Scarlett: My memetic chaos knowledge is through the roof.
Scarlett: Tzeentch is objectively the best chaos god by the way.
Scarlett: Anyhow, I have a gamble I can take. Its less of a n than it is dangling bait in front of people. Also, telling you right now would be boring.
Scarlett: So just sit there and wait, big boy.
John: Alright I trust you, you know that, yes?
Scarlett: And I will have fun with that~
Right, so Scarlett is being a massive cunt, John eximed, to the confusion of nobody.
Regardless, Rave couldnt help but make a joke, Ya mean she is pulling a you on you.
She is pulling a Richard on me, yes, John corrected and agreed at the same time.
Are ya admitting youve basically be the same as that furred dick?
Its absolutely undeniable at this point that I have the same dickish tendency to wave around my intellectual supremacy, he had raised his hands to put thatst word in air quotes. Anyway, apparently we have to sit and wait now. So, since there is nothing else to do Aclysia, get me another drink. We are going to just waste the day in the name of carefree sex, booze and videogames, I guess.
Oh no! Rave shouted, acting out the greatest shock she could. Those are my three favourite things! How will we deal with this crisis?
Chapter 616 – Everybody loves chests
Chapter 616 C Everybody loves chests
I dont get it! Rave whined as she suddenly shot up from the couch. She reached under the back of her top and began the arduous process of unhooking the bra she had called her favourite just about three days ago. Why does this one feel tight now! So annoying!
John put the game he was ying on pause and turned to give her a really good look. It clicked inside his head as a joke he had already made and her appearing even sexier than usual recently came to the logical conclusion with the situation as a whole. Okay, Jane, real talk, your boobs must be getting bigger.
Really? she asked and fully exploited her woman privilege by grabbing her own funbags right in front of John. Arent there any other exnations?
The alternative exnation is that Aclysia has been screwing up when doingundry, causing your bras to shrink if that even is a thing that happens to bras, I know nothing about them orundry in general John mumbled the second part. Always felt like the oddest gap, that he could speak several differentnguages at this point and had read more books on government and philosophy than was healthy, but had no idea what the symbols on aundry machine really meant.
Gaia almighty, Rave gasped as she weighed these two options up against another and came up with one being tremendously less likely than the other. Okay, lets say I believe that, can we actually check?
Sure, John said and gestured for to get up. Roll up your top, yeah, just like that, lean towards the camera wonderful, he had taken out his phone and was now snapping a quick picture. The haste with which it was made aside, it was a wonderful photo. The Lightbearer was just too photogenic, putting a natural smile on her glossy lips even as she stood there, her loose top raised and stretched between her thumbs at the height of her corbone.
Cant ya just use Observe? Rave asked, as she let her top drop again and then took a few steps towards him. Now, it was entirely possible that John was in full-force cebo mode now that he was convinced she had gotten bigger in the chest department, but he could have sworn her breasts bounced along her feathering steps.
If you went up a full cup size, yes, John answered as he searched for a different photo in his phone. Somewhere he had, with the utmost guarantee, a shot of her in a very simr pose. He was collecting pictures of her like a money enthusiast would coins. Perhaps even more than that. Which sane man in love (although those may very well have been mutually exclusive) would say that was unusual though? Otherwise, no.
Did ya even try though? Rave asked with a giggle, already knowing the answer.
And potentially deny myself another half-nude picture of you? he pped her naked ass, his t hand immediately going into a groping of the soft meat, feeling the panties that had settled in the valley. What am I, an idiot? Why are you even wearing clothes right now?
He surely wasnt. Since they had resolved to stay inside, he had just been going about stark naked. As had Jane, for the longest stretches. Thetest return from the shower hade along with that minimal get-up though.
Stretching up to his ear, she whispered, So I can take them off again, slooowlyyyy. A gasp followed when her boyfriend gave her a second, firm spank on her bubble butt, followed by Rave nibbling on his earlobe like a horny little kitty. One hand wrapped around his cock and slowly, tightly went up and down the length.
Alright, Johns voice was unfazed by this, even though it all felt pretty good. Thats you one year ago, thats you now he swiped back and forth between the two simr pictures. God, youre beautiful, it just slipped out of his mouth, not that he wouldnt have said it normally.
The Rave he had met, with the shorter, even more dishevelled hair, sure had a youthful, chaotic charm to her. His modern-day girlfriend, however, had aged a little in all the right ways. The longer hair, a slightly more adult look to her face, eyes that looked towards him with definite, long-term love, the only thing that was definitely the same was that energetic smile she had, no parts acted and all parts his to enjoy.
Incremental changes that, now that he actually looked at her face side by side, surmounted to the person he loved even stronger today than he had back then. God is a bit much, ya can call me Jane just fine, she cheekily responded to his mindless utterance and kissed him below the ear. We cant solve the booby question if ya zoom on my face though.
Its such a beautiful face but I guess I can be convinced to stare at your tits instead, the Gamer retorted, scrolling down the necessary bit. The answer that presented to them was quite obvious. Her breasts had indeed gone up in size and not just a little bit. Her nipples were clearly further down while her breasts were no less firm. John confirmed that for himself by taking the hand off her ass and sliding upwards, taking a nice handful of her right tit. Again, could have been entirely cebo, but he could swear he felt the extra squish and it was awesome.
Not that there was any other indication needed than just looking at her chest. It was just clearly bigger. To such a degree that John felt stupid for having missed it until now. But when? was Raves question, as she must have felt simrly. It was her own body they were talking about here after all.
Well, first exnation is biology, I say, John went with the obvious. You had the potential to grow bigger breasts, so you grew bigger breasts over the past year. No idea about the speed at which boobs usually grow could have been happening throughout the entire year or just started recently. I would guess its been happening the entire time and your recent power increase have just elerated it in the past week so we now suddenly notice. Thats all theory though, fact is he took a pause to throw his phone into his inventory, then to lift his girlfriend up, carrying her in front of him, that you have bigger boobs now!
Boobs that were at the perfect height for him to press his face into and just do a good old motorboat, despite the thin cloth still in the way. They were definitely big enough to get that to a satisfying degree now, as he could feel the squish and the jiggle now, where before he had just the softness. A deeply satisfying softness, nothing to be said against small breasts, but John loved this middle ground between firm and jiggly that moderate sizes were best at providing.
He took two steps and then dropped forwards, much to the surprise andughter of his girlfriend, as they bounced off the couch. Youre really happy about this, aint ya, tiger? she mused, fingers running through his hair as he pushed up her top, took hold of her breasts and sucked on the pretty pink nipples. They had be a bit darker in tone, not as much as she had in general though.
Their shared tanning efforts, even if they were temporarily on halt, had definitely given both of them a considerably darkerplexion. John thought his girlfriend looked a bit better pale, the neon colour of her hair just harmonized nicer with a lighter shade. However, he also preferred dark chocte and still delighted in Christmas sweets. Seasonal variants were absolutely something to be enjoyed.
Hmmm, Rave gasped as John failed to provide an answer, too busy to continue worshipping her chest. Which also answered her question without words. Fuck I dont even know if its just the day your enthusiasm or if they didnt just get bigger but also more sensitive her caressing motions became a light wing into his scalp. But I feel like I could I could I
Words became cut-off, high-pitched groans as her body curved off the sofa, her chest the most pronounced. Johns attention was still solely on that area of her body. His tongue circled her are; his teeth rolled the hard nipple that crowned her breasts between them; marks were left behind wherever his kisses were too enthusiastic; all the while his fingers flicked and pinched where his mouth currently wasnt, fondled and groped.
His momentary obsession had be a challenge. One that he passed perfectly when Rave copsed back down in a series of quivering moans. He looked up, saw her head fly left to right, then stop, trembling, just like the lids of her closed eyes, before stretching backwards and letting out a long, throaty gasp. Unmistakable signs of an orgasm.
John backed off a little bit to let her wallow in the afterglow. First breast only orgasm you had, I think, he said with some pride. New achievements were always nice.
As were new Achievements.
Yeah yeah, whoow, Rave didnt have a lot of words as she recovered. Definitely that. That was different she shivered onest time, then gave him a broad, perverted smile. Are we gonna stop there though? she closed her long legs behind his butt. Or are ya gonna make them jiggle?
Realistically, there was only one answer to that.
Moving the panties out of the way, grabbing her by the waist, his cock already aligned perfectly, he slowly sunk into her. She was as tight as the first day, which, given that his dick had be considerably bigger, meant that her folds were gripping him so tightly that every centimetre was its own road to heaven. Regardless of that, it felt like she was made for him. For all he cared, the opposite was true, he was made for her. The size his prick had nowadays, a size he was perfectly content with, had her shout the entire way.
Oh, tiger, youre stretching me, her loud voice was filled to the brim with passion. Oh, fuck that feels good already. I love you, John, I love you, deeper yeah just like that Aaaah, an aftershock pulsated through her, her pussy constricting for a moment. Regardless of that, she was so wet that he could continue to prate her. Yes oh tiger yeeeesssss, she hissed when he was all the way in. Keep it slow Im way too sensitive right now.
The temptation to just m away at her was definitely there. However, she did seem in the mood for something more tender and John was not sadistic enough to forego the wishes of his girlfriend, or partner in general, so tantly. Alright, he agreed and only moved at a gentle pace. Like this?
Yes. She bit her lower lip, kept her eyes closed for a moment, just enjoyed the pace as her hands crept towards her sensitive areas. Mhhmm, ah, youre hitting all the right spots, John oh, that feels so good.
It was such a quiet way to make love. No pping of hips, no squelching sounds, no screams of ecstasy. In that quiet, however,y beauty. The lustful panting that they shared as each pleasure impulse was drawn out to its maximum effect. Raves inability to keep her eyes on John, no matter how hard she tried. Between pinching and ying with her chest and rubbing her clit with slow, sensual movements, the sensations ripped control from her in short gaps of instinct.
Her voice grew louder, words less coherent and her legs slowly urged him to elerate his speed by pressing into his back. Just as he could witness her surmounting lust under him, he saw the movement of her breasts slowly go from essentially still to proper swaying. No doubt to give him a better view, she was now using both hands on her clit, framing her chest between her arms. Up and down they jiggled, now that the Gamer had reached a steady rhythm of medium intensity. It was still in the area of rather innocent lovemaking, especially by their standards of depravity and supernatural power.
John couldnt help but gasp and say, I love you, Jane, I love you so much.
I love you too, I love you too, she assured in a heated tone, the pink lustre in her eyes having gone into a clear heart-shape. I love how much better youve be I love being as perfect to your imagination as I can be I just love being always being together with you, John.
He stopped moving and suddenly kissed her. That was more important than the pleasure, she was more important. The ultimate bliss was that he could have both. As their tongues intertwined, he went into her with small thrusts. Muffled, the moans escaped whenever their greedy kiss parted for a moment.
Are you going to cum? Rave asked, the growing intensity of his thrusts likely having given it away. Grunting an affirmation, unable to do much more, his next attempt at kissing was interrupted by a plea. I want it all over my tits, tiger, please, her begging was almost cheesy, but in the first ce it was genuine and John had to clench his teeth to not just unload inside her as his response.
God, youre way too good for me, you horny, hot beast, he stated as he pulled out of her in a hurry and mounted her chest. His slick cock slid over the juicy softness of her C-cups. Once, twice, he was ready to burst, trying to get himself off as quick as possible. Raves words certainly helped.
Please, I need it, she pleaded, a desperate look on her face. The perverted echoes of his girlfriends fingers plunging into her cunt reached Johns ears. Give it to me, tiger, give me all of your hot cum. I want it so bad. I need it. Cum all over me.
With onest, loud grunt, he fulfilled her request. He could barely see it, stars dancing before his eyes when the first shot of the virile liquid sttered out and across Raves face. Eyes closed, tongue stretched out, Raves desperate panting reached its height when she tasted his cum, felt more of it drop on her tits, and finally rubbed herself over the edge that she had avoided falling down until that point. Her lower body shot up, several waves of pattering could be heard as she squirted her love juices into the air.
John let out the breath he had held without knowing as he got off Rave. Whew, that was wow he said. A bit more wow than usual.
New toys are always more exciting, Rave joked, scooping some semen off her boobs. ncing up to him as he, with clearly weak legs, chose to stand next to the couch, she rose an eyebrow in confusion. Why ya no sitting?
Because I overshot the goal and now there is cum all over the couch, he said, scratching his head. And on the other side, you made a mess.
Well, we gotta stop having mind-blowing sex all the time, Rave shrugged as she slowly rose up. Her top fell over her chest in the process, soaking up the pretty filthy liquid. Darnit, she cursed when she noticed. I feel like a mess. Everything is slushy and just wooooow, she gasped, sounding a bit like Sylph. Im fully against having mind-blowing sex, if that wasnt clear.
I think the lesson here is to not send out both Aclysia and Beatrice at the same time when were getting nasty, John dered, watching Rave get on all fours. Whats that going to be once you get done?
Clean-up, she announced, winking at him in her whimsical way, beforepping up the seed John had spread on the seating. It was doubtful that actually served to make the couch any cleaner. Aclysia was doing the chores around here, so everything had basically maxed out hygiene.
What it did do, however, was presenting John with his girlfriends perfect ass while she moaned about his cum tasting so good. That she wiggled it seductively onlyid testament to the fact that she knew exactly what she was doing there. Johns dick twitched, and with an overyed sigh he got behind her. As much fun as her bigger breasts were, he could not deny what he was: a decisive ass-man. Their pretty empty Monday continued to be eventless.
Chapter 617 – Photoshopping
Chapter 617 C Photoshopping
Oh, I really like this one! Gnome eximed as everyone went through a mountain of recently developed photos that had been brought into the suite by Aclysia. As to what the photos depicted, they were all different shots of Aclysia, sometimes with Beatrice in the frame, doing poses either wearing or next to numerous products. As the article line was quite expansive, both happened pretty often.
The photo the earth spirit held up was a pretty cute presentation of Aclysia in a winter outfit, a thick scarf wrapped around her head. Hands in oversized sleeves pulled up the scarf to her mouth, half-hiding her face, leaving her adoring green eyes to stare into the camera.
You are adorable in this! further specified the soil elemental and showed the one she meant to the weaponized maid. How did you look so cute?
Who cleared her throat in a clearly embarrassed way. It was really odd to see their roles reversed like that. Apparently even Aclysia could be a bit shy when they inspected a number of photos of her. I was told to think of whatever I loved the most.
Let me fucking guess, Smander picked up another photo and stared at it for a few moments. You thought of a perfectly clean kitchen the size of a family home?
Aclysia had no mind to pay to sarcasm, No, I thought of my John, as is natural.
I personally like this photo the most, the Gamer voiced, holding up one of Aclysia and Beatrice together holding a salver, both of them smiling nicely for the camera, wearing their maid outfits. The actual product sold was some kind of washing detergent, but John really just liked seeing both of them smile. What did they tell you to think about there?
I was given no instructions for my thoughts in that picture, Aclysia responded with a respectful bow. They did, however, promise that I could take home some sample products. It was the idea of free things that thusly propelled my mood.
I was told to copy her expression, Beatrice added to the exnation. That it was such a perfect replication was one of the reasons why John liked that photo so much. He was a sucker for symmetry.
Did you like going there? John inquired as he looked through a number of different photos, just out of curiosity. Most of them were cute, some of them were sexy and just a few of them were hrious. At least to John, seeing Aclysia with a chainsaw in her hands, posing as if it was a holy relic she had sessfully lifted from the pope, was worth an unhealthy number of chuckles.
It was an interesting part-time, the weaponized maid proimed. Were it not for my obligation, however, I would have rather spent the time at your side, Master.
That was the expected answer, What about you, Beatrice?
It was a photoshoot, she gave the most unhelpful answer anyone received ever. It was also a statement of truth. Regardless, it was annoying.
But did you like it?
Pondering, she announced, staring ahead while she did exactly that. When she hade to a conclusion, her eyes suddenly went back to John. Result: it was interesting to some degree. I dont dislike being used for advertising purposes. Simply taking orders to look good was a level of pastime I can agree with. Counterpoint: appears tiring over long stretches. Would prefer to stay around and do nothing after a while. More importantly, I do share the baseline that being with you is more enjoyable.
John hummed his understanding; this was a much better and more formted answer, one that he could actually work with. Not going to lie, I was thinking about using some of you girls for advertisements, he confessed while watching Beatrices eyelid twitch, a gesture he had never seen from her before. You dont like that idea?
My irritation is a separate issue from your statements, the passive maid let him know. Do pay it no mind.
Sure? John decided to get his exnation done first. I was just thinking that messages would be paid a bit more attention to if there was a cute face attached to it.
Ya wanna sell your propaganda more sessfully? Rave joked, but she wasnt even that wrong. There was no answer for her, though, as Beatrice suddenly knelt down next to the low table and picked up a number of photos.
She neatly stacked the equally sized pictures, created a number of towers that way and sighed as if she had just relieved a full dder once she had started doing that, although there was no sign that she was stopping.
Sylph flew over andnded on one of those stacks of photos. What are you doing? Is it fun to stack photos? Is there anything that is so great about the surface of the table that you want to see? I mean, it is pretty shiny. Shiny stuff is cool. Like zed sugar on cakes. Thats pretty cool. Although I prefer my cakes hot and freshly baked. Those are the best cakes. Ah, but I am not allowed to eat entire cakes anymore. I get all scramble-brained when I do that.
Youre always scramble-brained, Smander mocked.
Not true, not true, not true! the tiny air spirit protested, waving her hands around, which threatened to topple the tower she was sitting on. Especially since she was just encouraged by the swaying. Oh, oh, this is fun, side to side to side to side to forth to side to-
Beatrice suddenly pinned the tall stack down with a single finger. You will cease, the maid spoke in her usual passive tone but with an intensity in her eyes that Sylph shut up and cowered down. I am working. There must be order.
Y-yes, Miss Aclysia, sir, Sylph raised her hand in a nervous salute, sweat drops running down her face at aedic pace. I will not ravage the kitchen ever again. With that shback to dangerous times, along with the scramble of names and everything, the thunderstorm elemental hovered straight up like a balloon that had been let go.
John raised an eyebrow as he watched Beatrice first stack all photos, then start to sub-categorize them by single and duo shots, then further break that down by product size, until the former mountain of photos was a neatly organized array of smaller stacks. Only when that was done did the passive maid rise from her kneeling position again and noticed that everyone was watching her.
Inquiry: is something the matter? she asked, as if nothing unusual had happened.
Kind of? John said. Seems like yourpulsive ordering has gotten a bit worse.
As my character bes less unnaturally passive, my inhibition towards acting out the desire to adjust my surroundings to be more aligned decreases, Beatrice stated as if that was a known fact that everyone should have been aware of already. That chaos was also particrly bad.
John could somewhat get that reasoning, but he nevertheless made a mental note to keep an eye on Beatrice and her future development in this regard. It seemed that this was her own developing unhealthy obsession. Aclysia wanted to make sure every woman in the world knew he was the greatest guy out there and Beatrice couldnt stand anything being disorderly. Luckily, the weaponized maid wasnt going to act out in any matter too crazy, while the passive sister remained unmotivated to do too much.
It was true that Beatrice was acting more human over time, but her emotional range hadnt really increased. Strong emotions were an immense rarity, most of the time she just hung around neutrally in a slightly good or slightly bad way. Additionally, she would still value an order higher than her own desire to adjust some cements of items around the house.
Well, alright, he said and Beatrice cleaned the ordered pictures off the table soon thereafter. The question naturally arose: why had there been a massive photoshoot with Aclysia in the first ce? An answer to that could be found in the conversation John had with the phone on the table, or the redhead on the other end of it.
So, that clean up the debt Aclysia had with you?
Absolutely, Scarlett answered, only to then burp into the speaker in a very much udylike fashion. Fucking fuck, do you know how hard it was to not drink for a month? I think my liver was bored shitless the entire time. Stupid bet.
Indeed, the bet between the bloodstained technocrat and the weaponized maid hade to an end. Scarlett had won, not touching any drugs, not even caffeine, for an entire month. The thing she had asked for had been rather tame, namely to use Aclysia as the model for a wide-spread advertising campaign. Given that she could easily attain supermodel status on looks alone, that wasnt the stupidest thing to ask for.
And now youre getting drunk while chain-smoking cigarettes, John assumed.
Like an absolute winner, she confirmed, her voice already betraying a level of tipsiness. Plus I got a bunch of hot pictures of your maid now.
Which I dont even know why you want them, John tried to stitch together whatever n she was hiding from him. That he just couldnt get it doubly annoyed him. The press was tarring him, the loudest part of it anyway, so they were currently still in worst-case-scenariond, with no sign of John getting out of public perception in the next few days. Counter articles had been wonderfully ignored from all screeching parties.
He had to rely on Scarlett. Which was okay. If he just knew what was going on or tried to help it. Not being the master of his own fate sucked. He knew perfectly well, though, that she just revelled in her intellectual superiority over him during these moments. I hate having schemer friends, he announced.
A, is the high and mighty Gamer threatened by a woman smarter than him? Scarlett ridiculed him over the phone, much to his irritation but several girls glee, Rave and Smander most clear of them all. I hear people do enjoy your torment.
When youre together with this guy for a year, ya enjoy every moment with him, Rave said loud enough for the phone to pick up. Including those in which he squirms and pouts like a baby.
Not a baby John grumbled; the sad thing was that it was his best retort in that moment. Also: the hell youre smarter than me.
Do you know for certain Im not?
Well, no, Intelligence isnt a directly trantable Stat to my own Mental Stats John heard the triumphantughter from the other side, followed by the sound of a bottle getting guzzled down. It was highly doubtful that it was simply beer she was putting in her face there.
Dontcha worry, yeeerrrr, Scarlett sounded progressively more drunk with every passing moment. Yallve something to do soon. Everything will escte and then the trap snaps.
I feel like this is something I should know about, John suggested, feeling that this entire thing was getting way bigger than he had signed up for. All he needed was an end to the hate mob so that the council would meet with him again without fearing public outrage. Whatever Scarlett was setting up here sounded bigger.
Would ya really be satisfied if I just fucking told ya? Scarlett teased.
Her slurring is getting so bad she sounds like you, Jane, John allowed himself a little joke.
Such a charmer of a boyfriend I have, Rave answered in a sarcastically dry tone.
Youre the perfect girlfriend that is relishing in my intellectual loss over here. His tone was a copy of hers down to the letter. They started yfully fighting with hands and feet, something that she eventually won by stabbing his forehead with her toe. Anyway, no, I wouldnt so youre sure you got that under control.
There was a sound of shattering ss. Dont worry aboudit.
What was that?
Dont worry about it.
No, I mean the ss.
The empdy rum boddle Whew, my liver is really out of form didnt think Id get thish drunk this quickly, better put some vodka on top!
That sounds like a horrible idea. And John was infinitely sorrowful that he was not around to see the androgynous technomancer get absolutely smashed outside of her normally so collected mindset.
Yes know what doesnt sound like a horrible idea right now? Her question was followed by a series of urging vibrations from the same phone they were speaking through right now. Slowly John picked it up and could read the scrolling text, You, me, atex outfit, a bottle of oil and a riding crop.
Wouldnt thetex outfit and the oil sh?
Mhmmmaaybe, Scarlett said, then there was a sudden trashing sound. Shouldnt get so drunk around ces I dont know.
What wait, youre not home?
Nope, nned Spikes headquarter, Boston, Mishter Prezzident.
John refused to think about that name too much. nned Spikes was the ninth most powerfulpany in Amacat at this point. nned basically sounded like nt. nt Spikes. Thorne. Thepany was named Thorne. It was Scarletts pre-existing localpany from her days before John came about and such a stupid pun. Of course, conspiracy theorist would use that to create a (oddly enough correct) connection. Like all evidence that Scarlett leaked, however, it was so stupid and required such an amount of brain bending to get to it that most people would just dismiss it.
So youre in Boston which is probably why you dyed the photoshoot despite winning the bet yesterday, John tried to tie things together. Why would Scarlett go anywhere herself? Hey, you arent thinking about
A loud snore interrupted his theory, the technomancer had passed outpletely.
Chapter 618 – Outrage Stage
Chapter 618 C Outrage Stage
John finally got the n.
That didnt mean he all that much liked what he saw in the execution of it. It was effective, if it worked, that wasnt the issue, it just all felt rather risky. The first step of the entire thing was based on whether or not the enemy media took the bait that was the sudden new advertisement campaign by nned Spikes.
They didnt just take that bite. They pounced on it like a famished Bengal tiger on a crippled cow. Minutes after the first photos hit the inte, there were the first blog posts. Hours, the first opinion pieces. A dayter, there was the full front of the adversarial newspanies.
To them, this must have looked like a gift from heaven. An easy way to further the scandal, keep Johns name on the front pages and show every other CEO out there what exactly they would do to them should they associate with him publicly. They dug up everything, everyst detail about nned Spikes past that could remotely be interpreted as something bad. Every decision at every level of management, from mistreated customers to ethics vitions of any variety.
John would have loved to see nothing whatsoever turn up. However, not only would that have hindered the n in this instance, but being apany led by Scarlett, there was actually quite a bit of information that looked pretty bad. Selling of partly untested products (that didnt seriously hurt anybody, but still), multiple bribery incidents, acquisition of already upiednds through deals that people couldnt really say no to and a number of other misdemeanours.
Nothing as serious as the stunts she had pulled back in New York. Nobody had their windows smashed in the middle of the night or their legs broken after being pulled into a dark alleyway. Especially no cases of sudden vanishing from the area, which basically meant death but nobody found a corpse.
John sometimes wondered how many lives exactly he had saved by now, simply by forcing Scarlett to operate under a system of properw. Sure, she wasnt the type to see death as the first solution, but she definitely saw death as a solution. The terrible thing being that she was usually right when she said he would spare himself a lot of trouble if he would just be a bit less reluctant in that department.
The point was, nned Spikes had a bunch of very real things to take a swing at. Still, all those ethics vitions could be somewhat countered. Putting out a faulty product was an honest mistake and the victims were reimbursed for the problem. There was absolutely no evidence for the bribery, just some people that said something. All acquisitions ofnd had followed the proper procedure, the contracts said that. Those and numerous other excuses could and were deployed by the PR department of thepany.
The one thing they didnt have an answer for, though, was the demand for the person who had put this advertisement campaign into motion to show themselves. Capitalizing on the outrage the adversarial media had created, they themselves used the tool to now beat that unknown CEO into submission. So far the theory, anyway, and right there they fell into the trap Scarlett had set for them.
It was Tuesday, July 17th 2018, John peeked out from behind a curtain, surrounding a hidden area in front of the nned Spikes headquarters. It was a rather boring office building, five stories, a whole lot broader than tall, with simple walls, simple windows and simple colours. The logo of nned Spikes was a representation of what the name was supposed to mean as a non-pun, being a line that had resemnce of stock development, spiking at several points.
Over and across a metal fence, guarded by security people in ck suits, sat the crowd of journalists that had turned up for this. There was a rather clear line between them, a number of seats down the middle that went untaken as a bunch of the media refused to associate with the propellers of the smear campaign.
John let go of the curtain before anybody could see him. Getting there unseen had been a massive pain in the sides and he wasnt about to ruin that just because he was too curious to see things with his own eyes. Well, with his own body-attached vision, to be more urate.
I dont really get it, Rave confessed at that moment. How exactly is this going to fix the present situation? All I see is ya creating another scandal with you at the centre.
I mean, yeah, thats exactly what this is, John responded. Its not exactly elegant what were about to do. Its all about creating incentives and shattering the perception of the news. His exnation was cut short when the media event finally started. A voice he all too well knew from speakers reverberated through the air.
Congrattions, you annoyed me into showing up, she said, as if this actually hadnt been her n whatsoever. I am the CEO and founder of nned Spikes, Scarlett Evelith.
Really, thats thest name youre going with? John wondered as he listened. It was obviously something stapled together from Eve and Lilith. To what significance, he wasnt quite sure. Scarlett couldnt hear his question, though; she simply continued.
So, to address the criticism here, youre dragging mypany through the mud because of an advertisement campaign that has a hot maid in it. There was a pause in which John could hear the sound of a metal lighter being opened to light a cigarette. Anybody want to exin to me why?
There was a moment of shouts flying around, as if that was the stupidest question in the universe. John had to imagine all of that, as he looked at the curtain that separated him from view. Before his minds eye, he could see the reporters in the enemy camp getting into a light frenzy as the CEO they came here to extract a submissive apology from appeared cocky more than anything else.
Calm down, fucking hell, Scarlett mumbled into her microphone. Alright, you there, just say it orderly.
A testing sound, somebody clearing their throat, then a male voice, well-spoken and every word pronounced to be perfectly understandable, You are surely aware of the controversial statements John Newman has made on Saturday. There-
No, I am aware of perfectly reasonable statements that you lot took out of context and printed with half of it missing, the bloodstained technomancer responded. Then you did the same to his public statement. Do I look like I give a shit about your lies? I first met the Gamer in New York several months ago and have been waiting to work with him since. Your smear campaign doesnt faze me.
Just like that, all the reporters had left, was anger, going back to shouting at the woman behind the podium. The main weapon of a smear campaign was intimidation. Not all that effective against Scarlett. That woman was likely to meet any attempts at putting her in her ce by ripping apart the entire livelihood of her enemies. Her knowing all about the current ongoing surely helped.
Whatever, you dont even need to take my word for it. John, you can take over, that was the Gamers signal, quite obviously, to get out of the visually blocked area.
He and Rave walked up to the podium, where Scarlett was standing in the flesh. Until the veryst moment, John had thought that the redhead would employ some level of trickery to keep her face out of the public view, but there she was. The usual outfit, a ck suit with a red shirt and tie, shades in her breast pocket and a stylish hat on top. ck and scarlet red all over, with the exception of her pale skin and the white paper of the slowly burning cigarette.
The shouts from the adversarial media grew louder as they realized that they had been yed. Their thirst for a continued scandal had been channelled into creating universal awareness of this media event, and now John was going to use it as a tform to clear his name. A very forceful tactic, one that wouldnt have worked if they had yed their cards just a little bit more careful.
I have indeed met Scarlett several months ago in New York, before Fusion was created, even, he admitted freely. Them admitting to this so easily was due to their first meeting happening somewhere with eye witnesses. There wasnt a huge chance that would have caused anything to happen, but Scarlett had evidently surmised that it was best to keep the false identity she had built as close to the real one as she could without giving anything important away.
Not the stupidest approach. The fewer lies a story had, the less were the chances that anyone would say something contradictory to the narrative over the years.
And since nobody else wanted to do business with me thest few days, I got to do a lot with her. He shrugged it off as if nothing happened, and the adversarial media had, at this point, stopped shouting and was simply seething in their seats, as they could do nothing to stop the Gamer now.
This event was too high-profile to not report about it. Even if they didnt and risked the rest of their quickly waning credibility, there was no recording they could deny the release of this time. This event was being watched by neutral and John-friendly reporters as well as being livestreamed. There was no way they could drown out this news, no matter how hard they tried.
This was essentially all that John had needed, a tform amplified by somebody who was locally influential. Scarlett had used her first public appearance to be that person and, in the process of having people drag her out of hiding, created an even bigger stage. However, it wasnt like this didnte with its own drawbacks.
A question! a reporter from the friendly camp shouted and raised his hand. Pointing at him, the Gamer allowed him to speak up, a microphone being quickly carried over. Alright, so, if youve known each other for several months, is it safe to assume that she is part of your circle of lovers?
Scarlett answered that question by taking control of the podium again, Yes. Dont know why that is so important to you, but there you have it. Im also of the mind that Amacat should join Fusion, but thats up to the council to decide.
And now that question is on the table as well, John hadnt thought the Technomancer would push that issue right here. Whether that was smart or not, he didnt know. Yes, well, if Amacat wants to join Fusion, we will happily enter negotiations, he therefore put it carefully when he got the podium back. Right now, however, I want to actually talk about the issue at hand. Which is the scandal of thest few days.
He went through the events from his perspective. From the appearance at the talk show, to his reaction to the smear article, to why he wrote the things into his announcement as he did, over to every single lie or distorted tale that had been told about him in the past few days. The only thing he omitted was the cowardice of the other businessmen, the little jab he had made earlier would be enough to signal to them that they lost more money in investment by ignoring him than the media campaign could have ever cost them.
Now that someone else had taken the brunt force of the fall and they were going to get a look at nned Spikes expanding rapidly over a few days, the people leading Amacat would doubtlessly flock around him in all their boredom. Just like the first day. Even without a lot of ambition, they had the basic opportunism of businessmen. At least, that was Johns prediction for this.
There was more than one word fight he had through the entire discussion. People were all too happy to shout in that he was the liar, ignoring all decency or protocol. John had the urge to scream Youre Fake News! at several points, but that wouldnt have looked particrly well. Especially since he knew so little about the person who had coined this phrase outside of memes. Real life politics were something he wasnt particrly in the know about. So he should avoid association.
Regardless, by the end of his speech, he hadid waste to the very foundation of the scandal and its intent. It would continue, there was no doubt about it, the adversarial media was not out of gunpowder to shoot with. In many ways, this whole thing gave them more of it. John having a lover in the upper rankings of the Amacatpanies, Scarlett saying they should join Fusion, they were both easy angles of attack.
It was just not a narrative they could pick up and suddenly run with. Which was all John needed to continue buttering up the local leadership.
Chapter 619 – The Technomancer and the publicity
Chapter 619 C The Technomancer and the publicity
Kinda surprised ya were willing to give up your anonymity to get this done, Rave pointed out when they all were back in the presidential suite. The press event had concluded without further hups. Immediate developments could already be seen on multiple sites, John scanning things by hand that Scarlett had summarized for him already. A pure I want to see for myself action.
Not really rted, Scarlett stated, snapping her fingers in Beatrices direction. Be a good girl and fetch me a drink, Bae. Something you just need to pour into a ss with ice in it. The unspoken part was that the Technomancer didnt trust the servant to do any mixing without a clear list of instructions and measuring tools. A very wise policy, given Beatrices tendency to p meals together for maximum nutrition, rather than taste.
At once, Scarlett. The passive maid took a little bow and went to the minibar. As they had refused most room service, it hadnt gotten restocked in the past few days. So far, that wasnt a problem, but with the almost alcoholic around, there would certainly be some holes in the arrangement of bottles soon.
Maybe you should keep it down for a little bit? John suggested. When they had met shortly before the speech, it had only been Undines healing powers that had brought Scarlett back from being a walking corpse. Just saying, seems like your tolerance has decreased drastically.
What absolute fucking nonsense, she waved off in a clearly pissed fashion, a motion she used effectively by also grabbing the ss Beatrice had returned with. The name escapes me right now, but there is this concept that work is done less effectively the more time you allocate for it to bepleted.
The baseline logic of procrastination? Rave suggested.
Stressing your workers out to no end because you allocate the minimum possible time? John had an alternative in mind.
Scarlett sipped on her drink, swished it around in her mouth for a few moments, then made a pleased sound. Parkinsonsw, she stated between gulping down that first sip and putting the entire remaining alcohol, scotch judging by the colour of it, into her system in one fell swoop. Same thing, double, add one more ice cube, shemanded Beatrice.
At once, Scarlett, the passive maid said the same words, took the same little bow and probably even retraced her steps and exact motions to a clockwork-like degree of uracy.
Back to the initial topic, the Technomancer crossed her legs and John couldnt help but be reminded, by that simple motion, that he hadnt had her in way too long. Way too long being defined as longer than 24 hours. Now, he felt, wasnt the time, though. I had nned to reveal myself to the world around this time anyway.
Rave hummed, ordering a drink from Aclysia, then dered, Nope, I dont get it. Okay, which one of ya two Brainiacs wants to exin to me why we just did any of what we did.
John and Scarlett exchanged a nce, one of the redheads eyebrows rose in a challenging fashion. Guess well have to see how manyyers of this I can peel open on my own, the Gamer thought. The immediate thing we gain from this is a bit of control over the narrative thats been going on, he began to summarize what he knew Rave already understood vaguely. Its by no means perfect, but because we have now so thoroughly undermined the foundation on which this entire media scandal stood, we have the momentum and this whole thing will likely fizzle out in one or two days.
The whole incident made clear that we need a better media team, Scarlett added when she got handed her second drink. Fully active central media from us, better rtions with other newspapers, contacts even in those that are lukewarm towards us. That we even got caught on the backfoot by this is embarrassing. After a moment turning the, presumably quite cold, ss in her nimble fingers she bluntly said, And never, ever, agree to a fucking show without our own recording of the event.
No need to remind me, Johns voice a clear grumble, and he suddenly felt like a drink himself. Aclysia, can you get me some of the usual? Low part vodka though.
Of course, Master. Aclysia was on the move immediately. A tiny green streak was following her around, Sylphs constant chatter mixing with the city jazz ylist that Scarlett had put on the television the moment she entered. Gnome and Undine were in the spa room, while Smander had excused herself earlier and was just wandering around the building doing something. Siena, however, was on the couch with John and Rave, Scarlett having imed one of the armchairs for herself.
John just observed all of this because he was feeling pretty great hanging around like this. Although the fact that they were all wearing clothes was a bit out of the norm after thest few days. Soon he had his hands on his own ss, filled with orange juice and vodka, and happily put little doses of poison into himself. Second point, he continued, is that I actually needed someone within Amacat to negotiate with. Since I didnt find anyone with the proper will around here to make changes, having Scarlett insert herself like this is like a heaven sent.
I can take a seat on the council, it is my right bypany value, Scarlett once more supplied additional information. Plus, I already put the topic of joining Fusion on the table. Her voice, already on the deeper side for a woman, went even further down in her satisfaction.
In a pretty blunt fashion, John criticized, having arrived at the conclusion that it had been too on the nose. Just stating you are pro annexation is not going to sit particrly well with the leadership or the people, I would say.
It wouldve been a mistake if you did it, Scarlett agreed over the cusp of her ss. I, however, can do whatever I want. Because Im not pro annexation, Im pro joining. Have you forgotten what the people below the leadership want?
The Gamer had not forgotten in the slightest. Political representation, yes, I am aware, but I am not trying to start a revolt here.
Scarlett blew air out of her nose as if she found it ridiculous to say that. Her attitude towards all tools being fair, if the context justified the means, meant that she likely was all in favour of stirring up the mob for their own means. Himself, John would have been happy to keep that as ast resort; he thought the council could be convinced easier.
Anyway, reason number three. John postponed that discussion with the Technomancer; he wanted happy rxation for now. They could have their strategy meetingter. Scarlett being hidden is actually dangerous for us.
What, how? Rave blinked numerous times.
Finishing up her second ss, Scarlett beckoned Beatrice close with a seductive wiggle of her finger. Indulging in one desire after another, the Technomancer first kissed the maid in a horny fashion, then got a third drink on the way. Because we are at the mercy of whoever else knows about me, she said, staring at John and his new and improved frame of better visible muscles under the fashionable suite.
And we dont even know who all does, the Gamer added, smirking at the knowledge that his mere sight was slowly turning Scarlett on. The only person we know about for certain, and thats bad enough, is the Horned Rat. Red here staying hidden forever would have meant that somebody could have just pushed out the truth about her existence, and thus how Fusion came to power in such a smooth way, and deal damage to our reputation.
And her being in the open changes that how? Rave wasnt quite following.
Its easier to run a counter-narrative if the subject of the myth is already out in the open. John put down his ss and pointed at the contents. This is only orange juice.
Rave raised an eyebrow; she didnt get where this was going, but she got that she was being toyed with here. Nevertheless, she took the bait. No, thats orange juice and vodka, she stated.
Right, so its your word against mine, unless you have a way to verify it, Johns voice was reverberating with a challenging tone.
Lemme take a sip, Rave suddenly leaned towards the ss. Before she could reach it, Aclysia, at her masters mentalmand, put it out of range. Grabbing the air, stretched over hisp, his girlfriendined, Oy! How do you expect me to verify if ya wont let me try?
John furrowed his eyebrows in a yfully angry way. Why would I let you take my drink or, even worse, pry into the social life of someone based on some rumours one of my enemies put out there? Mighty petnt of you, to demand that level of authority. He reached out and gave her a heavy smack on the bottom. Bad girl!
Bad girls want vodka! Rave pouted when she got back to sitting straight. Doing her the favour, John handed her his drink. With a mischievous look on her face, she emptied what remained in one go. Needs more vodka, she dered, offering the ss to be taken back.
The Gamer didnt, instead giving her an usatory stare. I heard you had cherry juice in that ss, isnt that right?
Uhm it was orange juice with vodka? The Lightbringer wasnt following that as well. Ya can still see the remains here, she pointed at the little puddle that seemingly always remained in a ss. The orange colour couldnt possibly be mistaken for cherry.
Letting out a series of disgruntled noises, her boyfriend did take the ss back anyway. The point is, even if the used ss doesnt reflect it as well, that we can just keep saying the story of Scarlett being an Amacat CEO is true. Everything else is a conspiracy. No, you may not uwfully inspect her background on a mere rumour. In a deserted tone he added, Its pretty outstanding how good you can hide dirty secrets in a principled, libertarian society. Not that Im saying the alternative yields better results.
He looked a little bit at the empty ss, just quietly. There was one of those moments where he knew what he wanted to do next, but his brain just decided to bepletely in blockade mode and first inspect that thought without actually questioning it. Only for him to then raise the ss to Aclysia after an awkward pause. She took it smoothly and got his refill on the way.
If they were to level that usation in the vacuum of a non-revealed Scarlett, John said after clearing his throat, then that would lead to people just filling in the gaps themselves. We would have to deny things or fill those gaps along the way. Usually that leads to looking way too suspicious. Especially if the informationid out by the enemy slots so well into the way Collide started off. Its not a situation in which we outright loose, but in that information war we start on the backfoot and thats pretty bad.
Okay, but now that Scarlett is out in the open, people could just use scrying magic on her to confirm stuff, right? Rave asked, not quite understanding yet whether this was the smartest way to act or not after all.
Scarlett looked up from her third drink just as John got his second. In the information war over the public, the only thing that really matters is perception, she stated outright. Scrying magic has the drawback that its hard to share by means other than words. Unless there is a guy so credible everyone is swayed by his report, whatever he gets out of observing me, its just another voice in the field. Plus, I have already taken precautions.
She had indeed, and they were of the incredibly strong variety. It cost John a whole 3000 mana before he went through her barrier ofplete information clouding. Above that, he slowly got the revtions of an Observe sheet that was her false identity. Level 52, very intelligent, lowly adapt at electrical magic, but no mention of technomancy. At 10000 mana spent, he finally did get a corrupted version of her real character sheet. They had tested this quite extensively. Only because she had wanted to be friendly to him specifically, had their first meeting even yielded a truthful result.
Not that this is a wless strategy either, John pointed out. There rarely is such a thing. If I was attempting to counter this out myself, I would just talk about the Technomancer that is the heir of Thorne and leave out any connection to this Scarlett, he gestured towards the genuine article. At which point I would dly invite people to investigate to find out there is no such person anywhere in the tower and-.
Please do spare me further theories, Rave pleaded, having heard enough from her boyfriends strategic side. I get it, having her out in the open actually minimises risks. Dunno if I get all of the details, but I get the concept. Just one more question: would it really be THAT bad if people learned about Scarlett? Ya two make it sound like Fusion would just miraculously copse if it ever got public.
It would be kind of bad. John tried to gauge the worst damage it could do. It would definitely be a stain on our reputation. Nothing that would copse any system though. The people who would be the angriest would probably be the higher ups here in Amacat and the people we beat along the way. Otherwise, the worst thing about Scarlett being a known factor is that all enemies will be on the lookout around their devices.
So not that bad, got it, Rave summarized for herself and gave him that I know youre overthinking stuff again look.
Good so yeah, thats the three reasons why she would have wanted to reveal herself. Did I get everything, Scarlett?
You forgot one, she answered, sliding out of her vest and then throwing it on the back of her armchair. The initial one, funnily enough. When John sat there mulling for a few moments, Scarlett just shook her head in a downright mocking manner. Look at you, unable to see the obvious things.
Do tell me, because Im feeling stupid but I just dont get the thing he said.
Now that I have a public persona, I can run the fuck around wherever I want, she tantly stated, and John did feel like a proper idiot. That was, indeed, absolutely obvious. Which includes actually hanging out in public with you or going to a beach. Do you know how fucking odd it is to never have been to a beach?
Wait, what? Rave almost keeled over from surprise. Ya never went to a beach in your life? Ya live in NYC!
Best I got was a strip of sand next to a swimming pool, Scarlett reported; she didnt seem too disgruntled with this. My fucking idiot of a father always liked to keep me hidden, by whatever cost. She put her drink down for the moment and just rxed in her seat. At least he didnt make the mistake of spoiling the shit out of me and make me some sort of bratty princess, she stated fingers drumming on her knees.
Craving a cigarette? John guessed.
You have no fucking idea, the bloodstained Technocrat stated, grabbing a cigarette from her vest and then searching for a window or balcony on which she could get her fix of nicotine. Instead, she got to take a surprised look at Aclysia offering a fire. What suddenly got your cogs lubricated, Aclysia?
This establishment is not owned by Master, the weaponized maid stated. As I hold no respect for people that ignore him in his time of need, you are wee to ruin this environment along with your health.
Only temporary then, Scarlett grumbled into her cigarette, moving her head so that the tip aligned with the me once Aclysia put the me on. Not great, but Ill take what I can get, she exhaled the smoke slowly into the air.
Master, Beatrice spoke up from the sidelines, holding her smartphone. Report: the half-hourly update of your missed calls. Number: 38. umtion over: 2 hours total. Would you like me to list the names of callers?
No, John waved off, putting an arm around Rave. Well wait a little bit before we get back to them. Let them dangle.
Sometimes, the Gamer liked to be at least a bit petty.
Chapter 620 – Oligarchy Steps Back
Chapter 620 C Oligarchy Steps Back
Louisiana, the French colony, was purchased in 1803 for, adjusted for modern values, the price of 251 million USD. The acquisition of the area doubled the USAs size and still made up around a fourth of its totalnd mass to this day. It had been an extraordinarily cheap acquisition, even if thend was scarcely popted and had next to no infrastructure.
It was basically no surprise that he would have to grab a couple of billions in order to make an effective purchase of Amacat happen. They had a developed society and numerous wealth-producingpanies. Even for an Abyssal area, their poption was low, however. Something that surprised John to some degree. Apparently, people werent too motivated to live in an area that was basically the same as the normal USA (minus democracy but plus magic). Made some degree of sense, why live in a world of danger and opportunity only to stay where those things had been figured out already?
Combining that with the fact that wealthy areas tended to have lower birth rates and the smaller poption worked quite well. The point, however, was that the area John wanted to purchase, while effectively smaller, was more valuable. Regardless, John couldnt imagine it was either out of his financing or dealership range.
Get out of my seat.
The words unkindly started the conference, a certain redhead staring down at the man of progressed age currently sitting on number seven of the council. That Scarlett was there wasnt surprising to anybody, they had arranged this meeting with her having made her attendance clear. That announcement had been made a day ago, it was Wednesday now, so the memo had to have reached everyone. That she was iming a seat one above her cement as analysed a few days ago, however, was beyond the expected chain of events.
Do you need your ears cleaned? Scarlett asked, taking her hat off and cing it in front of the man, already preparing to take her seat there. Thanks to Fusions financing, my worth beats out yours. ording to the rules you keep, that makes this my seat. Now stand the fuck up, I dont have all day.
The mans expression was purely confused. No irritation, no degradation, not even a bit of anger. Shown proof of this by Scarlett, annoyedly clicking her tongue before pulling out her smartphone, having to navigate it by hand, the man just rose and everyone below her rank in the order sat down one further as Scarlett inserted herself into the power structure.
Visually alone she stuck out from the suits violently. Between the elderly men, wearing in colours, her bright red hair and clothing theme shed like a warning sign. That she was gorgeous in her androgynous way, with smooth, pale skin amongst all the wrinkles and age spots, and sat there with a clear attitude while everyone else just remained in their seating like rocks, only added to the difference.
Ehem, Berden, sittingfortably at the head of the entire thing, cleared his throat and turned to John, who had silently watched the entire ordeal. Let us begin by apologizing for the journalistic harassment you have gone through the past few days, mister President.
Not your fault, no need to apologize, the Gamer waved off, counter to his true thoughts on the matter. Water under the bridge, as they say.
Most gracious off you, President Newman. The old investor lowered his head and raised it again with a quickness that clearly indicated he just wanted to move on from the topic already. Infuriating Aclysia in the process.
The motion is too quick for proper submission, her thoughts echoed into Johns head. With his crimes, he should be crawling on the floor begging for Masters forgiveness.
Gently prodding her, he made Aclysia realize that she was thinking a bit too loudly. ncing over his shoulder, the two maids behind him kept their calm expressions. Go easy on him, at his age his bones wouldnt like crawling around too much, John joked as he turned back to Berden, who continued to talk.
We would like to talk about a few different investments Fusion might be interested in, starting with-
Scarlett tapped on the table with the edge of her metal lighter. The motion grabbed peoples attention. Before she even opened her mouth, John was pretty sure everybody knew what she was going to say. Instead of boring all of us with a list of things you want foreign capital for, how about we talk about a proper way to make everyone wealthier? she asked, taking a pause to light herself a cigarette. Nobody stopped her. John because it wasnt his ce, and everyone else because they didnt know how to handle this. Lets just join Fusion proper, then you can stop asking for the member rates on interest and just take the loans.
There was ufortable shifting on the table. Even ambitionless as they were, the prospect of just joining a bigger power came with some natural hesitation. Hesitation that John needed to dismantle. However, it didnt seem to be his ce to speak up on this topic unless addressed. Even if everybody understood that Scarlett was in his harem, he had to at least keep the appearance that he didnt want to meddle in their convictions.
Thankfully, Scarlett could hold her own in an argument. Taking a deep huff, she tapped the ash off and sent it tumbling to the ground, before breathing out a long pir of smoke. What are you people so silent about? she challenged. You know it would be to your advantage.
Amacat is one of the businessmen hesitatingly opened, looking around for somebody to take over the entire time, quite sessful as an independent entity. Has been for over a hundred years.
It also agreed to join therger US guild In Lincolns days, Scarlett held against. Because the people back then understood just as you should now that there is more money to be made in a borderless America.
Precedent is such a nice thing, John thought as everyone was silenced by that argument. The almost unification of the Abyss in the area of the USA by Abraham Lincoln could have been the second greatest thing the man ever did, with arge gap between it and the abolishment of very of course. Unlike his greatest achievement, the Abyssal structure he worked on putting into ce fell apart when a bullet went through his brain. Well, the Little Marnd tried to hold on, but what happened to it over the course of history currently ended with Johns name.
That might be true Berden eventually spoke up, but that was then, and now is
Now its more important than ever to be inside a strongerwork, Scarlett spoke up. It wasnt much of an interruption, with how hesitantly the old investor spoke in the first ce. Her tone was calm and factual, as she borated, North America isnt less threatened by outside forces than it was back then. Do I have to bring up the fucking Nazis sitting one hemisphere down? Maybe the post-colonization powers stabilizing in the Old World, interested in spreading their influence to some of thestnds to get together a proper central army in the world? We can join an American federation now or be taken over by someone else in a dozen years or two.
Once more, her statements were followed by utter silence. It persisted for more than a minute. The little creaking of chairs as people shifted their weights was the dominantyer of sound. The councilmen were each trying to gauge the opinion of their peers, not wanting to step out of line with what they said next. Next to that was Scarletts continued smoking, the bloodstained Technomancer lounging in her own armchair in a rxed fashion.
She nced at John over the table, the Gamer the sole person sitting on the west side of the room. The challenge was clear, they had arrived at a standstill, it was his job to break it. Fusion he rose his voice, breaking his non-involvement stance, would happily offer theplete forgiveness of all loans currently handed out to members of the Amacat. As a baseline of negotiations.
Saying this hurt Johns wallet. It hurt to the tune of 7,3 billion dors. Was Fusion wealthy? Yes. Was it that wealthy? Also, yes, but barely. The loans were already handed out, John practically didnt have that money anymore, but it would have trickled back in over theing years. Completely letting go off it was
Well, Fusions budget could be counted in the millions again thanks to Johns liberal spendingtely,bined with his inability to generate money out of barriers right now. They werent running on a deficit, thanks to loans made much earlier paying their interest and the raised tax rates, but Fusions government had nowhere near the financial breathing room it should have. Luckily, Johns budget didnt reflect on the state of the economy as a whole, which continued to roar along in its upwards trajectory, a good percentage of growth each month.
What John really needed was to just halt all major expenses for a while and let several billions stack up. Eventually his economy should reach a state currentlyparable to Rex Germaniae. Lydia had trillions at her disposal, that much was no secret whatsoever. Given ten or twenty years of development, Fusion should be able to do that much. Although that was theorizing with the extra power of Amacat in mind.
R-really? Berden was baffled, the highest member of the council had re-financed all of his loans onto Fusion recently and this forgiveness meant that he would be essentially debt free. A pretty good thing to be as apany, because that meant new loans could be taken with a clear conscience almost immediately, spurring more growth.
Yes, John confirmed, ignoring the pain in his wallet. The second thing I would offer you is a political and justice system. You would lose your current governmental status, but in return my forces would protect you from any future outraged mob that might arise. He meant Fusions police force by that, but the silent thing didnt pass them. Any threat that the police force couldnt handle, the Gamer surely could.
John was himself one of the best arguments John could bring up as to why backing him was a good idea. Being under the leadership of one of the potentially most powerful people not only of the now but of human history was quite the assurance. Not to toot my own horn too much, he thought, as he watched these things churn through the council members heads, but siding with the guy who made it where I am in less than a year is just generally enticing. Cant imagine Alexander the Great continued to have the same resistance everywhere as he just continued to roll over battlefields.
This is all rather gracious, one of the lower members of the order spoke up. But I have barely taken any loans from you byparison, so why would I agree?
I said thats the baseline, John reminded them all. Im more than happy to negotiate on a number of different things that will deal with your personalized situations.
He said that, hating every word of it, because he knew exactly what they would ask for. Like a local monopoly assurance? the obvious question came and John loathed it. These people were endlessly boring in their future prospects, but when it came to hoarding what they already had, they were perfectly capable of great thought, it seemed.
As a gamer, John was already negatively predisposed to the local monopolies that charged abhorrent prices for a lousy inte connection, because they had nobody thatpeted against them for those customers. Having read up on economics a whole lot more, he understood perfectly well that monopolies were just an all-around negative force on the market ce. They had no incentive to innovate but all the reasons to choke out whateverpetitor might enter their market corner through the sheer force of their established might.
It was a governments job to break up these monopolies in the least intrusive way possible. Not to assure their existence. That could only lead to stagnation of systems, in the long term. Regardless, John had to swallow the bitter pill in order to make the future work. We can strike a deal that outsidepanies will not be allowed to enter markets here that yourpany is currently dealing in. For a time anyway.
There was an awkward silence again, people once more trying to gauge the general idea in the room. Then one of them spoke up. So would you be fine with and absolutely arduous negotiations ensued. Long-winded, boring talk about percentage points and exact dates of expiration. John went through all of it, simply because he had to. Every exchanged word put him closer to the goal that he could clearly achieve now.
Not in one day. The council sitting was eventually called to an end, for people to think about things discussed. John only went to his room for half an hour that evening. Ear against the phone every step he took, he spent his time buttering up those sceptical or making ns to have dinner with them to then butter them up.
He used every bit of his Charisma that he could. Listened to old businessmen talk about their fishing hobby with great interest. The next morning he spent ying mini-golf, hearing that his partners were all so sad their legs werent really good enough to run over the bigndscapes of proper golf anymore. Regardless, he was there and he continued to look good and smile for the figurative cameras.
More negotiations, in private, in public, with individuals and groups, all of Thursday burned away in a stream of work and talk. Then, finally, on Friday, he had a piece of paper in front of him signed by the majority of the ten members, with the remainder likely to go along after a few more talks. A contract that detailed out Amacats joining of Fusion.
He had done it.
It hadnt been the most difficult expansion ever. Hell, John wouldnt even have said that it was difficult in any of the usual ways. Like the Louisiana purchase, he hade here expecting progress, maybe buy some small things, and found out that the entire area was suddenly up for sale.
The concessions he had to make were, all in all, eptable. Temporary, local trade-protection had been granted to basically everyone for five years, meaning that Amacat was going to continuepeting internally, whilepanies from elsewhere in Fusion couldnt directly set-up shop inside the borders. It would lead to all sorts of work-arounds, but that wasnt exactly Johns problem. After those five years, things would be lifted one by one, allowing the markets to bleed together over the course of another three years. A few local monopolies would extend even beyond that, but all of them were dated.
All debt towards Fusion would be forgiven, as stated. As for those projects that Fusion helped finance and thusly would have partial ownership of, those parts would be bought off Fusion by the actual owners of the projects.
John argued that he nned to do that anyway once he had gotten a bit of profit out of the projects. In reality, the ownership had been the primary tool of the nned economic takeover, and had now be obsolete. Since he didnt want something as meddlesome as partially government owned property to stand around everywhere, that seemed like it would be a bureaucratic nightmare to everyone involved, he also didnt feel bad to back out of that business. Even if it was at a slight loss.
The people sent over to study ship-building in New York would continue to stay there and return to work wherever they pleased once they were done. Fusion would pay for all costs associated with that.
What Fusion got in return for all of these things was the right to immediately install a local government abiding by its principles in the Amacat area and, more importantly in many ways, the official ownership of allnd not currently privately owned in the area. Well, the actual ces were still owned by the mundane governments of the US and, further north, Canada. It was more about Illusion Barriers erected on those ces.
On an almost minor note, the responsibility to clear up the Natural Barrier spawning around the Leyline was transferred to the Fusion military. The remaining body parts had to be sold and processed locally, that fell under the temporary trade protections (and it just made the most sense, since that industry was already working). John was quite happy about that, since it was another source of goodbat training in peacetime. It even doubled up as a continuous stream of revenue and potentially rare materials. An all-around win for him.
Chapter 621 – And flights back home
Chapter 621 C And flights back home
You think you can just leave along with me, without looking suspicious? John asked Scarlett, as they walked around the Boston Airport. There was no reason to take another journey on a train, when they could take a flight to quickly get back to New York.
No, she answered, making sure her shades sat neatly on her face. She had contact lenses in to hide her red eyes, but the pale technophile wasnt used to sunlight in the first ce. Luckily, today was a rather pleasant day in terms of temperature, a nice Saturday to get home on. Not that it matters, my appearance is rippling out in the news cycle anyway. Unavoidable, really, if there is this sudden ally of yours in the area you quickly convinced to join your cause.
Fair enough, John conceded. The theories around that would likely be wild. They had their official story and it was close enough to be true to be told repeatedly without fucking it up, however, so things should just calm down and continue as normally. Ahhh, I am just so happy that worked out well.
Yeah, thanks to whom? Scarlett asked, throwing a chewing gum in her mouth. Likely as a distraction, so her mouth had something to do while she couldnt have a smoke.
Thanks to you, Scarlett, the Gamer immediately conceded and wondered how he could reward her. I dont think youre the type for reward kisses, he mused, ring at her pink lips. When they werent distorted in some sort of scowl, they looked soft and sensual, like the lips of young women just tended to. Sadly, they were currently stretched into a mocking half-smile.
I cant buy things with your kisses, she confirmed rubbing her fingers together as if she was polishing a coin. So no, thats useless to me.
You cant buy things from getting fucked either, yet you keep wanting me to bend you over the table and spank your ass until it gets as red as your hair, John pointed out, putting a hand on her waist after they had went through the terminal gate. He kept his butt-touching to a minimum, even if it was hard to hold back between her closeness and his girlfriend walking ahead of them, her round ass stretching her skinny jeans to a degree that was bad for Johns blood cirction.
Dont make me horny or well join the Mile-High club, Scarlett threatened him with a good time.
As much as John was open for sexy times, this was one of the few things he actually had to say no to. Short flight, small bathroom stall, he just shortcut his reasons, plus, do you really think Im not already a member?
No, you had an excessive orgy. Scarlett knew, of course she knew.
Excessive is just the right word, even by modern standards, John agreed smoothly, remembering those few hours fondly. What reward would you like then?
Take me on the beach, Scarlett suggested, or demanded rather, judging by her choice of words, in a rxed fashion. Sparing himself the question whether she meant to the beach or not, he just nodded and then bowed down to kiss her.
Even though he didnt get to see her pink lips rx, they were just as soft when they pressed against his. Just like her whole body had, under the mannish suit, that female warmth he just so craved with his every pore. Strands of her scarlet hair tickled his nose, curving unruly out of her bob-cut. He ignored it, as his tongue wrestled with hers for a few blissful moments.
The happy smile that appeared on her face was just as cute as the little blush. Facial structure aside, she looked incredibly feminine at that moment. So, youre giving out kisses for free now? she asked in her usual tone between tease, mockery and banter. You should think more economically.
There is an endless supply, so I can give them away for nothing, he decided and kissed her again. Shortly after, they got on the ne and went back home.
_________________________________________________________________________
The teleporter John had left close to NYC airport was a godsend. After all this time away from home, he hadnt felt like calling a cab and dealing with inner city traffic nor to walk there once entering the Hudson Barrier. With the teleporter, he could skip all of that, ending up right on top of his house.
ARE YOU PROUD? he shouted up to Lady Liberty, resisting the urge to pull the contract out of his inventory and waving it around like a madman. Purely symbolic, the only reason he did that was for himself. For no reason that was immediately apparent to himself. Something about doing right by the ideals he was raised on.
The girls with him reacted in several different ways. Aclysia and Beatrice just let him do whatever he wanted, Rave giggled but kept her opinion to herself, only Scarlett spoke out. Youre screaming at a tall tinfoil statue, I think we have better things to do, the ever-busy Technomancer stated, and it was hard to disagree with that.
Let me have some things, John grumblingly pleaded as he lowered his hands. I like my symbolism. But youre right, we have a lot of things to do. Beatrice, time table please.
Time current: 12:38. Next activity in schedule: return speech. Pre-scheduled since the first of July, attendance mandatory. Time until: 1 hour 22 minutes, dutifully, the passive maid summarized and then added, No further nned activities detected in the schedule. Note: Master wanted to make sure all administrative procedures were in proper proceeding. Additional: the Lake Alliance has yet to respond to any attempts at negotiations.
Well if they like ying coy so much John sounded joking, but he was more annoyed than anything. The moment he had sessfully ended negotiations with Amacat, he had reached out to the Lake Alliance.
A few hours of dy were, while not expected (John figured he would at least have gotten an insult back immediately), understandable. A whole day, however, clearly meant something was going on internally that prevented a clear answer. Which could have been good or bad, John had no way to know.
He shrugged and moved on. Alright, heres the n for today then, he announced, blinking up to the sun. It was slightly warmer over here in New York, but only bordering on ufortably hot, not quite there. First things first, Ill go visit Eliza.
It was obviously up the priority list to look after the ball of insanity, presumably still bundled up in her room. Contact had been limited, sometimes they could only talk for a few minutes. He had made an effort to call at least once every day, but time was a scarcemodity sometimes and especially in thest three days.
Ill go look for Mat then, dont want her to feel lonely, Rave announced with a smirk. Nodding, her boyfriend gave the Lightbearer a thankful look. In another situation, he would have visited Metra first, but Eliza was simply a more troubled person. Plus, the berserker babe was unlikely to mind. Still, he liked that Rave would let the blonde know they were back while also making his visit less crowded.
Afterwards Ill go hold that speech, spend a few hours catching up on my paperwork, make sure everything is in order with the government officials that are going to Amacat and all that. The Gamer looked over to the short-haired of his two maids, Beatrice, I would ask you to start sorting now so I have less to do on that frontter.
Affirmative, she confirmed his request with a little bow and began the walk towards the elevator that would bring her to ground level. From there, it was only a short distance to the Guild Bank and Johns office. She continued listening through the mental connection even as she went out of view, since she had been tasked with keeping his schedule in mind.
Then, Ill swing by your ce, John looked over to Scarlett, who had lit herself a cigarette and was already halfway through smoking it. I think another strategy meeting is in order. Ill bring Chemilia, just so you know.
And? Scarlett gave him a challenging smile. Someone watching isnt going to stop me. Especially since that girl already saw you naked.
Sure, but I thought we could hit it up on the beach afterwards instead, John replied. He wasnt too shocked to hear that Scarlett didnt care whatsoever about people watching them bang. Actually, the opposite would have surprised him more than anything. Celebrate your newfound freedom, since you asked for it earlier and its a nice day for it anyway. He gave her a wide grin. I can bring some toys as well, although they wont be of the usual beach variety.
See, now youre thinking like the guy I wanted to fuck from the start. Scarlett took a page out of Raves book and gave him a wink. The dayid out, they spread out to get their individual tasks done. His girlfriend gave him a peck on the cheek before going into the building, them separating right there, while Scarlett shared the teleporter ride to the skyscraper with him before taking her own turn into her mechanically shut-offpartment.
It was only John and Aclysia then, the weaponized maid happily tapping along her master in silence. Normally she would have asked him something, just so he would start a conversation and let her hear his voice, but she was evidently more than content just walking next to him with their arms around each other.
John, however, felt the need to hear her calming voice, so he asked, How do you feel about being back home?
Its been a long two weeks, was her immediate answer and John could only agree. Not only because they had been busy throughout most of it, but because its been actually closer to three weeks. They had left on Monday, July second, 19 days ago. The dy hadrgely been on the back of the renovation efforts on Savage Ind.
Right, that reminds me, John said, following that train of thought. Maybe we should rename Savage Ind to Servant Ind, given your ns with it.
Its not necessary, Aclysia assured, despite looking clearly ttered by the idea that he would change the name of an ind for her.
Ive been looking for a new name anyway, he waved off with his free right hand. Savage Ind is a pretty awful name to call my base of operations in the region.
May I suggest Servitude Ind instead then, Master? the maid suggested with an adoring glint in her emerald eyes. Servant Ind does not have the correct ring to it, in my opinion.
Whatever my beloved maid wants, my beloved maid gets, John promised and, as his reward, felt Aclysia lean her head against his. It didnt look like much, it wasnt even that much more body contact, but it made all the difference the Gamer wanted. He didnt even need to look at her thoughts to feel the joy beaming from her being like warmth from the sun. Well have a lot of time in theing days, by the way, he said, maybe we should look into getting that drivers license.
That would be most helpful, Aclysias head shifted as she nodded slightly. They had agreed a while ago that they should be looking into getting a bunch of licenses for things, mostly cars of different sizes and for private airnes. John was tired of calling cabs or sharing space on the ne that he could use to instead stretch his legs or stretch his girls bodies. Plus, independence from the shackles of public avability meant John could upgrade his private vehicles with all the things he wanted.
Like a massive bus with a sauna. Sounded impractical in reality. Combining space that was bigger on the inside with the mana machinery that could convert magical power into water and electricity, however, made it more than feasible. Now he just needed a great car engineer, a master spatial enchanter and a magical engineer to get all of that done. That was actually where the trouble started. Plus that wouldnt be cheap whatsoever.
The tent of Raves father, Reagan, had been worth 500 million dor ording to her. John assumed that something on wheels would cost a whole lot more. A vanity expense he couldnt justify just yet. Regardless of that, being able to drive a normal car would already solve a bunch of annoying problems.
I wonder if I can get a ck Cadic, John thought out loud. Like, of the old timer variety.
I will look into it, Aclysia assured, followed by, What do you require that specific car for? If he had been dealing with most other people, thosements would havee the other way around. The weaponized maid was eager to first make her services known and then ask the (for her) unnecessary details.
Honestly, just something incredibly vain, he shrugged, footsteps echoing in the corridor that led to a single, familiar door at the end of it. I want to drive somewhere while sting Back in ck by ACDC and they sing about being in the back of a Cadic. Also think it would fit being ck.
Where would you want to drive with that? Aclysia asked, already knowing the answer.
John just gave her a kiss on the top of her head and smirked, he didnt feel like saying the obvious out loud. Okay, brace yourself for impact, he warned her instead. The door to Tamaras room, where the blood addict was currently looking after the source of said blood, was solid ck and blocked all sounds from entering or escaping. At least to Johns hearing which, while sharp, didnt exceed human boundaries in any meaningful way.
Chapter 622 – Pretty Little Psycho
Chapter 622 C Pretty Little Psycho
The door slowly opened. Mechanical, like anything else around here, it retreated into the wall to the right and revealed a sight that was confusing in a multitude of ways. Standing in a room of moderate messiness, not above the eptable level to show friends, was Eliza. The bindings on her legs had been removed, while her arms were still fixed behind her back. One leg outstretched in front of her, a perfect 90-degree angle to her straight torso from Johns side view of her, she simply stood there, as still as superhumanly possible.
Meanwhile, Tamara was stacking Fruit Loops on the ttest part of Elizas foot she could find. She had apparently just gotten the tenth in ce when she had turned to look at John entering. The blood mage and the addict were both looking at John. John was looking back. Aclysia stepped into the room and began picking up dirty socks.
Uhm the Gamer also entered the room, allowing the door to close behind him. Finally in motion, his bbergasted mind managed to unravel the situation. The reaction that suddenly burst out when the confusion had settled was intense amusement and he couldnt help but startughing.
Something met with a short-lived change on the pretty little psychos face and her suddenly moving her foot. It didnt get far, John guessed Thana had been aiming to throw the colourful cereal at him. After just a few centimetres of movement, the motion suddenly stopped and the hateful expression vanished. An angry one took its ce when the Fruit Loops fell to the floor, no longer supporter on the angled surface.
Fuck you, you cock-allergic daughter of a miscarriage of a race, we almost broke our record! Eliza cussed at her mind-mate when the cereal hit the ground. Seriously, go eat a bag of dicks you massive, unfucked, unloved, unyielding shit stain on my life! Take a fat one! Stuff your face with semen, you annoying fuckwit. JUST SUCK A DICK!
Thana didnt honour any of this with a reply. Which set Eliza into a continued cussing fit, stomping on the floor with rtive weakness, asionally breaking out into fits of intense, shrillughter. Not of the amused kind, rather, it sounded like she was about ready to gnaw her own foot off. Which John was actually afraid she would do when she threw herself on the couch and continued to throw insults that always involved some variation of penis and eating.
She has been having episodes like this for two weeks, Tamara stated dryly, picking up the cereal and throwing it in trash can while Eliza slowly tired herself out. In case youre wondering about it, she really craves some cock.
I got that, John responded and looked at the blood addict. Since he had left, she had recovered tremendously. Her brown locks, the only part of her that still had been in a great condition beforehand, framed a good-looking face. Not outstandingly beautiful, John would say a good 6 out of 10, but definitely an improvement on her haunted, thinned down, pale look. Getting her fix of Thanas blood had helped recover her to looking like her age of twenty-seven.
Again,ughing like an absolutely crazy person, Eliza went from banging her head into the cushions to sitting upright on her heels. Crave is putting it mildly, she stated, her left eye twitching. I feel like my vagina hastched onto my brain like a Facehugger in Alien.
Funnily enough, that is what they used to think happened to women that were hysteric John scratched the back of his head. Now I wonder whether that was guys or girlsing up with that theory. Anyway, hello, Eliza, Im back.
Eliza blinked rapidly for several moments as that information sunk in. Oh, fuck, I thought I just rebounded into seeing crazy shit again, but youre actually back, are you?
Yup, John announced and quickly paced across the room. Bending down to her, he embraced her deeply. Im back, my dear broken angel, he whispered into her ear. The giggle he got in return was, while still on the clearly more insane side, immensely happy.
I still fucking hate that nickname, she answered, snuggling up against him as best as her bound state and the back of the couch allowed her. Right after she had finished speaking, John heard a series of snapping sounds next to his ear. Never more than sounds. He still distanced himself before he could lose an earlobe.
Hello to you too, Thana, he added, the inverted formation of golden dots and lines in the shattered purple of her eyes staring at him. How have you been? Throwing Fruit Loops at someone seems a bit petty for you.
Die in a ditch, you absolute cretin, the goddess of genocide let all of her hate flow into that statement. In Johns opinion, it was actually less than before. Which, along with her using an insult that was longer than two words, pointed at some changes while he was gone.
A blink, and the eyes reverted to the ones of the girl he loved. Huh, bitch hasnt actually talked in eight days, she reported, looking longingly up and down John as he towered over her sitting form. Okay, John you absolute fucker, you standing there like a magnificent stud is not helping my orgasm cravings! WHY DO YOU LOOK EVEN BETTER THAN LAST TIME I SAW YOUR DUMBASS?!
I invested in Charisma, John put it shortly. Gesturing towards his eyes he added, Also, you know, got the contact lenses basically figured out. No more sses. I think I look better without those.
Do you ever?! Elizas unsteady voicemented, her left eye twitching. Ah sorry her mood suddenly copsed, eyes wandering towards the floor. Im just I dont know, since you were gone and the whole withdrawal from food and sex and basically everything kind of got my fucking idiot lunacy revving up again like a former alcoholic at a mandatory wine testing.
Its fine. He caressed the side of her cute, pale face. Ah, I really want to kiss her or make her suck on my thumb or something, he thought, she had those sad puppy eyes that just begged for a facefucking. Sadly, he couldnt do that without risking having his dick permanently chomped off, so that was absolutely not a thing. I take it youve been getting better with the control thing?
Yesssss, she hissed, breathing in audibly as she smelled something, presumably his musk at crotch height. Her eyes went a bit ssy. But also, fucking dont know how much. Thana is also trying way less. She has acted up more in thest 5 minutes than she has in thest five fucking daysbined.
And it still feels rather harmlesspared to when I left, John had to agree, the goddess of genocide seemed to have lost much of her motivation. I take it she hasnt caved on the food front, since youre still following themands of the punishment?
Havent slept in a bed, havent eaten anything, havent climaxed once, Eliza confirmed. That was actually overshooting his punishment, since he had just told her she wasnt allowed to sleep in HIS bed. Regardless, he caressed her hair in an adoring fashion.
Is she truthful here, Tamara?
Yup, the brtemented from the sidelines, chowing down some bacon while she watched Aclysia upgrade the kitchen from okay to meticulous. Even stopped smashing furniture with her head after a few nights. Nightmares, thrashing, all of that.
I fucking told you, I didnt have any nightmares! Thana did, Eliza growled at her guardian. Be my wing-woman, you stupid cunt!
Look, Eliza, I know you desperately need some approval, but I want to get out of here for a walk, so I am going to call it as I see it to impress your overlord here, Tamara answered.
Waving off, John responded, Overlord is a bit high for me. For your request, however, I will amodate, he barely even noticed how he slipped into the more borate way of talking he usually reserved for BDSM. Nothing in the past two weeks has been reported that makes me worried youre going to devolve back into the state you found us in. Since I am back now and I intend to look over my Eliza, you are free to walk around on a few conditions.
And those would be? Tamara asked.
For the immediate future, youre going to stay in the Hudson Barrier. Dont worry, there is more than enough room to walk around and everything. Also would appreciate it if you could remain somewhere we can easily check on you. He took his eyes off Eliza for just a nce; he was just too drawn to those purple eyes, begging for his attention. You know, just in case it turns out you do need new blood supplements sometimes. There wont be any cameras at your new ce.
Great, privacy, Tamara stretched happily. I can use that.
As could I, John decided as he and Eliza stared at each other. Aclysia, find her a new ce to stay.
Now, Master? the weaponized maid asked, somewhat hesitatingly. Clearly, she wasnt as fond of the idea of leaving him alone with the pretty little psycho.
Yes, now, John grabbed a handful of Elizas hair. It was even messier than usual, half a month of her only showers being by another persons hand would do that. Still, it was silky smooth and not matted in any capacity. It was the usual length, about halfway down her back at the longest tips. Since Thana was now permanently active, she didnt have those growth spikes anymore.
Aclysia put down the cloth she was using to clean the kitchen, washed her hands and, once they were dry, stepped up to Tamara. The blood addict seemed a bit overtaken by these quick events, but then she just shrugged. Works for me. A few momentster, they were out the door.
You still havent managed to show Thana that she has to live with her human urges like the rest of us, John went ahead and used his harshest tone. Grabbing Eliza by the chin, he forced her to move her head until she had to look all the way down to see him. What do you have to say about that?
Im really sorry, Master, she gasped, skin flushing. Wearing nothing but her armlock and her leather two-piece, hiding her sexual bits to a barely decent degree, she was almost sexier this way than naked. She is being a stubborn bitch about it.
Evidently yes, John answered and let a few seconds pass. He was looking for something, just the slightest hint that Thana was going to bother him some more. Aside from those few initial attempts, however, it seemed she just didnt even try anything. What is she doing right now?
Watching, like a total creep.
Mhmmm John was tempted to give Eliza something, anything really, to eat and watch whether or not the goddess of genocide would make the masochist spit it out, like she had done previously. I would prefer it if Thana just caved on this, he thought. If he let Eliza eat on her own terms again, then Thana could just experience these things through her. The intent was for the flesh-made doomsday to ept her humanity and for that making her act out her urges herself was vital.
Therefore, it was best the set of axioms he had put up for Eliza stayed in ce. Only when the goddess, by her own decision, gave into a craving her continued melding with Eliza had caused, would there be progress to be made. At least, those were Johns feelings on the matter.
However, he still felt like the blood mage deserved some relief. You have not yet given me what I wanted, sweet little Eliza, he continued in the harsh tone, only softening it up with his next statement. But you also have followed the punishment I set up for you faithfully. You are a good girl. Her lips parted slightly; John could almost see her horniness exude with every exhale. And good girls get a reward. Bend over.
He let go of her chin. Taking a slow stroll around the couch, by the time he sat down, she was already pressing her chest into the seating. Her juicy ass was a luscious disy of firm meat, the blueish tint of her pale skin forming two symmetrical spheres. The ck piece had dug deep between them already and failed to keep the love juices of her pussy contained. Seeing that glisten on the inside of her thighs made John desperate to just rip that barrier off, take out his cock and ride her for the next hour.
But he couldnt. The best, safest thing he could do to her cunt was gently run a finger over the smooth leather. He had been in there often enough to know she was tight enough to grip a single finger at normal times. These werent normal times.
There was another thing he could do that was almost as fun though. He kneaded her treasure of a booty for a few moments, reminding himself of how lucky a man he was, before raising a hand up high and bringing it down with enormous force.
Elizas scream of pain was part of arger symphony of pleasure. The red imprint red and vanished in a second, as it always did, due to her regenerative powers. Regardless, the pain remained, ording to what she told him anyway. Do you like that, slut? John asked, spanking her a second time.
Yes! she shouted along that one. Harder! she begged when there was a third one. MORE! PLEASE! Every p on her firm ass caused her voice to rise, stuck at the high end of her so unsteadily pitched tone. Thank you! she eximed by the seventh time his hand came down on her. He was giving it to both sides equally.
Good Lord, youre such a filthy piece of work, he said in an amused tone. Able to orgasm from being pped alone Thats why I love you so much. He bowed down and gave her taut backside a gentle kiss, before going back into the routine and spanking her brutally for the next minute.
I love you too I love you too she panted, so close to her first orgasm in twenty days. She looked over her shoulder, desperate for that release. Her pussy was overrunning with juices, running down her thick thighs. Just before she was about to cum, he stopped. No noooo, pleeeeease, she begged, looking at his raised hand, wiggling her ass. I need this. Master, I need this so bad. Please make your slut cum!
John hadnt even nned otherwise; he just knew it would make her orgasm that bit harder if he acted like it for a moment. With a satisfied, sadistic smile on his face, he spanked her onest time. He watched her head fly up in a silent scream as several spurts of pussy juice splurged out and rained onto the couch like a held back waterfall.
John himself felt like he could cum for a moment. This whole thing made him so horny, he could almost explode without any further involvement than the sight of his favourite subs quivering, then copsing, body. It stayed at almost, however, which was good for his pants, but bad for his current state of mind.
Man, it is tempting to just throw caution to the wind and at least try to finish between her thighs or something, the Gamer thought, but reined himself in. There would be ample opportunity to release his lust over the course of the next hour, even if it wasnt with Eliza.
Alright, time for us to move back to my ce, he said.
Chapter 623 – Fluff Hour
Chapter 623 C Fluff Hour
Are you really fucking sure about this? Eliza asked when John undid her arm constraints. 100% certain that this is a good idea? Because I, sure as fuck, am not.
HAH! heughed mockingly. Im rarely 100% certain about anything anymore. About this, I am pretty sure though. John threw the shackles on the dinner table and didnt think about them much further. Eliza had shown that she could stop a bit, so he trusted that she could go about without crushing anything too valuable.
John inhaled the scent of his apartment. He had stayed away so long, the part of his brain that blocked out familiar scents had unclogged. For the first time, he could actually smell these surroundings, rather than just feeling neutral.
It was a blend of numerous things. The smells of healthy soil after rainfall, charcoal and flowers intermingled represented the elementals presence in the room. Ayer of orange, cherry and sandalwood from Aclysia and her oils, not to mention Johns own cologne. Under it all, a refreshing bit of mint, Raves usual smell. Ultimately, it allbined into a sweet and husky smell that made John feel home but was perhaps a bit heavy for people unused to it.
Walking to the kitchen, John let a hand slide over the table, then looked down at his hand with surprise, seeing the dust he had just scooped up with that motion. Right, three weeks no cleaning by Aclysia, John thought and brushed the grey, fuzzy matter off. It wasnt a whole lot, less than should be expected really, but it was clearly there. The maids would get to itter, there was no need for him to do anything about it.
His target was the sweets closet in the kitchen. The thing creaked open just a little bit, and a POOF next to Johns ear rmed him to m it shut again as quickly as he could. A living lightning bolt stopped in her tracks since her entrance into paradise had been sealed. Blue crackling ebbed away, leaving the dominantly green air spirit inside to reveal her tiny form.
Let me in there, pleeeaaaaaaaaseeeeeee? Sylph immediately began to plead. I have been such a good girltely. I should get what Eliza got! Like, just instead of spanking, I should get super much sweets and stuff. Dont you know what they say! Sweets for the mistress, more sweets for the maid and the most sweets for the concubine!
I think the saying goes Gold is for the mistress C silver for the maid C copper for the craftsman, cunning at his trade. Good! said the Baron, sitting in his hall, But iron C cold iron C is the ruler of them all. John didnt even know why he bothered finishing saying all of that, since Sylph had probably stopped listening less than halfway through, nodding in a relentlessly over-emphasized way.
Yes, yes, gummy bears C colourful gummy bears C are the rulers of them all, nicely said, big Jay! she said, showing that she had actually listened but only heard what she wanted. And clearly, I, Sylph, supremely cute connei conee conssseei the thunderstorm elemental babbled on for a little bit, trying to pronounce the word connoisseur. Eventually, she gave up on that, appreciator of all things sweet and courtesan, concubine and green-haired adorbs-adorbs elemental deserve - deserve! - marshmallows!
Okay, John agreed and watched the tiny air spirit explode with glee. The smile on her face was of such amazement that the Gamer just couldnt help himself but pander her a little bit to see it more often. But! he still had to discipline her a little bit, since he didnt want her to be annoyingly entitled, youll have to wait on the dinner table and take whatever I give you withoutining, okay?
Sir, yes, Master, Sir! Sylph made a perfectly rigid salute in the air, keeping that pose for a few seconds as she hovered around Johns head. It looked rather entertaining, like someone was dragging a cut-out photo of her over a background in a picture modification program. Only once she was at the edge of Johns vision did she break that stance and properly flew, moving much quicker to the living room.
And all I wanted was to get something small, John thought as he opened the closet again. Only to m it shut again out of surprise when another voice spoke into his head. Well, that there was another voice was hardly cause for concern, it was just the suddenness.
The melodic voice had a simple request, Do you have something for me? Along with it came the rise of Undine out of the puddle she had crept along the floor as. John wasnt quite sure why the slime girl just loved flowing around as a shapeless blob, only to reveal herself in all her bouncy, gooey glory when she was standing somewhere, but she sure did it a lot.
Okay, first off, dont do that, John scolded the ocean elemental. Tapping against his head, he pulled the closet open finally and had a look inside. If youre in my thoughts, you could at least let me know by not concealing your presence. Second off, youre supposed to speak out loud, youngdy.
Undines blind, golden eyes narrowed in a dismissive way, the rest of her expression staying as mncholic as always. Apologies. That single word was so dry that John wondered how it coulde out of a being made exclusively from magic induced water. I would like some sweets as well. Can I have some?
Sure. John wasnt even sure how this happened, but as Smander, Gnome, Stirwin and even Siena also appeared in the kitchen, all showing their interests through various gestures and nces, the Gamer was forced to just plunder the sweet stocks. With arms full of sugary treats, he returned to the dinner table, where Sylph was sitting in a chair, using her human sized form, chatting with Eliza.
And then I zapped him and he went well, he went nothing, he just stood there like I didnt zap him, all shiny and metal and I was thinking, like, I want to kick your shiny metal ass!. Actually, I was thinking I wanted to bite it, but then I thought that was too close to kissing, so I decided against it, because I dont even want to kiss Johns butt, because I think thats weird, but I like when he kisses my butt, so maybe I am weird?
It sounded like she was talking about the fight against Jeremiah, but John wasntpletely sure. You are certainly weird, John told the thunderstorm elemental, putting the load down on the table. But youre adorably weird, so its fine. He picked her up, a rather easy effort since she weighed basically nothing, sat down and put her down in hisp.
The leotard wearing girl let it all happen without struggling. Indeed, she only moved once she was in hisp, making sure everything sat perfectly andfortably. John bundled up her hair and gently moved it so it spilled over her shoulder. It fell even past the seat, the tips waving in some invisible winds.
John felt her body electrify his senses in a deeply pleasant way. It was hard to describe, since being hit by electricity wasnt exactly pleasant usually. Like numerous, extremely thin rivers of warm, refreshing water running through his skin was maybe the best way to put it. The tiny girl was vibrating excitedly when John reached out to the pile for her. Everyone else, save for Eliza, also took something.
Can I have that? Can I? Sylph asked, looking excitedly at the package of gummy bears he pulled open in front of her. Proud that she managed to keep her hands to herself this time, he put the open pack on the table and pulled out a single one of the edible gtine bears. I can have that, right? Like, I get that, right?
Yup, John confirmed and fed her the small thing. While she was chewing and happily swinging her legs under the table, the Gamer cuddled the fairy-like girl. Much to the jealousy of the other,p-sitting sized girl across the table. Hey, you can have cuddles too, Eliza, he let her know, grabbing the one thing he actually wanted to get from the closet.
It wasnt much in terms of size. Value wise, however, the single sweet was immense. Wrapped in actual gold foil, it was a round chocte whose intense cocoa fragrance was oozing even past the metal wrap. Dark chocte around a nougat filling, a hazelnut in the centre, all of it of the highest quality, refined by the highest magical means.
It had been something that John had apparently ordered while drunk during that little orgy he had with the four generals during the Little Marnd affair. He didnt remember, but the fact that it was there didnt change. Like a bottle of extremely fine wine, he had just put it aside for a special asion. Tempting Thana with it seemed like it fit the bill.
Just eat that but just dont be the one to eat, John exined.
Yes, Master, she stated in a sweet, submissive tone, putting the sweet in front of her on the table and staring at it. Her reaction was obviouslyyered on top of some moreplex emotions that John could see stir under the surface of her unusually empty expression. The whole punishment routine was there in the first ce to keep her from getting too frustrated or sad over her current lot in life.
If Thana never caves, Ill have to think of something else, John realized. He was pretty certain that the goddess of genocide would give in sooner orter. Only pretty certain though, so hed better make a back up n. Ill do thatter, he decided, after looking at the clock. He only had 50 more minutes before he had to get some more guild leader things done. Better to use this time to rx.
Getting more gummy bears, he fed Sylph, who continued to supply him with his necessary dose of adorable by squealing happily in his arms whenever she got another hit of sugar. Soooo gooooood, gummy bears are so good, sweet, fruity, sugary things, I love them, I love them so much! the air spirit eximed.
Just stop before you start hallucinating, John warned her. He hade to live with, and even appreciate in some ways, Sylphs immense chattiness. However, when she was tripping on a sugar rush, something he wasnt even sure why it happened, she became a bit too difficult too handle at times.
John looked around to see the other elementals enjoy their sweets as well. Their reactions werent as overbearingly cute as Sylphs, but all interesting at the very least. Well, with the exception of Gnome, who was arguably just as cute. Taking bites out of a chocte bar, she smiled quietly to herself and hobbled in her seat as if she was about to hear very exciting, good news. When she noticed Johns gaze, she blushed but failed to contain her excited hobbling.
Smander, sitting next to her, was almost wordlessly flirting with her lollipop. Turning the candy on a stick in her mouth, she looked like the stereotypical blowjob enthused girl as she pulled it with a pop, only to give a few good licks. Her excitement at the sugar was a little less out in the open, but she was definitely enjoying herself.
The most graceful about all of this, Siena, stabbed her treats with the tip of her ws, before moving them to her mouth in the fashion of a dangerous devildy. Her fanged jaw ripped the gtinous sweets clean off, leaving her to chew in a diligent way, while she read a book she had taken from somewhere. To turn the pages, she had transformed the fingers of her other hand into normal ones, none of the ws to be seen.
Likely identally, Undines sight was the most amusing. Not a fan of solid food, since digesting that took her a long time, during all of which it would be visible inside her, John had supplied her with something that was basically bought for her anyway. Well, for her and certain sexy times. Namely, it was a spray can containing chocte cream. Seeing her put that to her lips and just fill her see-through cheeks up with it was simply funny to John. Especially since she regrly over-indulged, giving her cheeks that bloated look.
Moments like these were what reminded him that they werent just beautiful or powerful or whatever people might think when looking at them from the outside. They could just be as dorky and adorably as any other person. Being the person who got to see them at these slightly odd stages was an interesting privilege to have.
Of course, normal people wouldnt have reacted quite that intensely to food. For elementals, eating material goods was a raw and delightful luxury. They couldnt get too much down, their bodies just werent made for absorbing solid matter that way, but it was intensely tasty to them. Being able to eat regrly was one of the reasons, experts theorized, why elementals even agreed so often to getting into contracts. On the elemental nes, they had no food. Only energies that were all around that naturally sustained them.
John was still nning to send them back there for a week or so. He had them all continuously summoned since he had originally gotten their skills. While this didnt create any drawbacks for them, he wanted them to see what home was. Especially since Gnome, Smander, Sylph and Undine had all been dormant tier 1 elementals. That was to say, their souls had existed as part of the realm and they had no individual consciousness until John had separated them out through his attempts of getting a contract.
Sometimes he wondered about their names though. All four of them were rather famous names, used in many games or stories to stand for their respective elements. That he grabbed all of them was either a stroke of immense luck or they were just about as default as John was as a name and the actual luck had been that they hadnt run into anyone sharing them yet. Siena was a different story, but she had mother issues, so maybe sending her back wasnt the smartest thing to do. He didnt even know what would happen if he sent Stirwin back there
Speaking of Stirwin, where is he? John thought, he had seen the golden crocodile hatchling in the kitchen and the silver eyes had clearly stared with desire towards the closet. That was when he noticed a miserable little squeal from the floor, directing his eyes down. Tiny ws were scratching harmlessly at a foot of his chair, the infinity elemental having gone ignored and hungry so far. Oh my god, I am so sorry, John said that, but he had to giggle a little bit.
The crocodile must have walked over from the kitchen and, too small to get onto the table, waited down there. Now John let him climb on his summoners hand and then got Stirwin to the table. Barely as long as two hand-spans, half of that being his tail, the light spirit dashed for the gummy bear pack, only to be held by the end of his tail.
That didnt deter Stirwin from trying to get there anyway. Small and somewhat stupid in this, his lowest, form, he just kept walking, not gaining any ground. Only when John grabbed a gummy bear and presented it to him, rather than Sylph, did the crocodile stop moving. Opening his maw, revealing the copper, flesh-like tissue inside, Stirwin waited for the gummy bear to be sacrificed to his tiny, needle-like teeth.
Which happened at a snap, when John brushed the tip of the gummy bears head against the crocodiles lower jaw. Small or not, Stirwin was still designed after a creature that hadnt changed much of its bite-structure for millions of years. With good reason, as even the bite strength of the developing jaws of the hatchling managed to rip the gtinous body into several pieces, one by one gulped down the greedy maw.
Stirwin was also sated by just one gummy bear, sprawling out his limbs and simply closing his eyes afterwards.
John scratched him between the eyes, until he fell asleep.
Chapter 624 – Successes and Vacation Days
Chapter 624 C Sesses and Vacation Days
Yo, Master, Metra greeted John in her typical, carefree way. She raised her hand in greeting, although not to wave, rather for some sort of p, it seemed. Deciding to go along with that, John moved to give her something along a high five. Only for his hand to be violently grabbed and the ancient weapon pushing him down. Reflexively, he tried to work against it, but the pressure she put up was just too much. Slowly she twisted his arm. Before it got too ufortable, she let go. You should really invest some more in your Strength, she stated.
John shook his wrist until Gamers Body made the pain go away. I dont n to invest my Stats to be better at greeting you with arm wrestling, he joked, moving closer to the ever-so-slightly taller woman. Plus, I normally have more fun greeting people this way, he grabbed the back of her head, fingers parting around her high ponytail, and pulled her into a kiss.
Of course, she could have quite easily resisted, but the berserker babe was too pleased with his manhandling of her. John had figured out that, although she wasnt submissive, Metra was much happier with him if he just took charge around her. It would likely doubly please her if he did so with genuine physical overpowering, but he couldnt serve her with that likely ever. At least if she kept growing along his level, there was no way he would ever exceed her physical Stats unless he started focusing immediately.
Metra was harder than his other girls, to no surprise. From her toned muscles, over her tallness, to her character and history, she was just all around a more solid character. The kiss reflected this, the two of them genuinely fighting for supremacy with their tongues, hands groping in ways that were definitely improper for the public.
Thankfully, they werent quite public. Sure, the press was right around the corner, but between them was a solid wall and a curtain that functioned as a door, so no eyes to see John but those in the waiting room with him, which were exclusively girls from his harem. Well, also Chemilia and Ted, but those he didnt mind watching anything, they had already jumped over that line.
When Metra slid a hand into his pants, however, he had to call it there. Alright, hot stuff, he said, giving her almost naked ass a p, Im about to hold a speech and Im not doing that with an erection.
Pah, Metra rolled her eyes, but backed off. Theres another way to ensure that that wont be a problem. She knocked twice on the table that stood in the middle of this waiting room, the implication was quite obvious.
Sure, but I dont have that sort of time, John looked at the clock, only a minute more before he was supposed to get out there. The waiting room was much morefortable than the trailer he had waited insidest time. Mostly because it wasnt as cramped. It held about the same equipment otherwise, ced to sit, eat, make coffee or some basic meals, but nothing world moving.
It was quickly reached from the teleporter that he had ced on the White House. Although John very much liked Liberty Ind for a background of holding speeches, Lady Liberty atop his pce was quite the imposing sight, that ce was pretty busy. Additionally, showing the White House and its restoration process was its own value.
Well, Ill head out there now, John announced and turned towards the exit.
Wait a sec, Rave stopped him and got up to make sure his suit was sitting all right. He still stuck to the nonchnt look, with the upper buttons open, revealing a good bit of corbone, and no neck essories of any description. He normally wouldnt even have worn his vest, with such good weather. Given the ce where he would speak, however, and the magnitude of the announcements, he felt that it was better to go with the full attire.
Not like you to be worried about my clothing, John pointed out, while Rave tugged at his cor.
Well, Aclysia is upied, so somebody has to, his girlfriend answered and gave him a quick smirk, may just be an excuse for me to do this though. With that she assaulted his neck, putting her lips down and giving him an aggressive kiss right there. The clear intention was to give him a hickey for everyone to see.
She let go and looked quite content with herself, even after Gamers Body must have made it disappear again. What are you smiling about? he wondered, touching that ce, wondering whether the love bite had stayed despite all logic.
Yall know its there, thats good enough for me, Rave winked.
I also have this, for anyone wondering, John showed his left hand and the Lovers Will mark that stretched from the lowest segment of his middle finger, down the knuckle and the sinew, to the wrist, a stylized heart shape on the base of the finger, all made from dark blue lines. Another nce at the clock made him turn around. Okay, seriously need to go now. See you in a bit.
It was the first time in a while that he went onto the stage on his own. Rave said she didnt want to just stand in the background again, Aclysia was still trying to get Tamaras apartment situation done, Beatrice was doing paperwork and the elementals just didnt feel like it. Metra would have been willing to, but she was still wearing only the partly see-through ck clothes that would have been risqu even at a beach. As the Gamer wanted to have at least one broadcast where the more morally minded members of the Abyss couldntin about him, he had asked her to stay somewhere outside the camera view.
John took his first step into daylight and immediately heard the familiar clicking of cameras past the metal fence that had been put up. Smiling and waving, he followed the red carpet that led up to a podium about fifty metres away. The sound equipment around was still a temporary set-up, but the podium itself was no longer a mobile, wooden thing. Rather, it was an impressive thing made of stone, part of the very floor, a tform elevated about a metre above the White Housewn.
To his left, John could see the people. The front row was taken by journalists, who had been given extra space out of necessity for their profession. Something that John hadnt done before, but since he was now trying to make a few friends in the media, it was best to treat them a bit preferentially even outside of dedicated press events. Behind that were simple onlookers, the crowd of normal people who lived in the area and were just happy to see some piece of history with their own eyes.
The amount there, having grown to several hundred people, if not exceeding a thousand, let John feel a bit dizzy from his sense of aplishment. However, the knowledge, and subsequent view, of what was on the right, put a damper on that.
The White House bore no more direct signs of Sigmunds destruction. The soot had been rinsed off, the unsavable parts of the building taken away, and left behind was now a clean ruin that was in the clear process of rebuilding. While a lot of work remained to be done, a sort of skeleton structure of the buildings outline was already in ce, and the famous centre with the oval protrusion and Roman-esque pirs partiallypleted. John hadnt even told anyone he wanted that part to be focused, since he had figured it would take the longest to restore, being the area that Sigmunds attack had directly hit and basically evaporated. It was, however, great for the optics.
Between the partly restored White House and the elevated grey stone tform stood the memorial to the losses of that war. The details had been increased, by Gnome, artisans and the families of the deceased. In the walls that connected the individual graves of the soldiers, where their names rested, photos had been eternalized with shadow and depth being the only paint. It was quite the masterwork, if John might say so himself. Names were left to be easily read, but from a distance, it created the effect of a flowing coge of memories. Happy pictures, sombre pictures, wedding pictures, they all had been eternalized in some way on the two-metre tall wall.
At the very least, it was far superior to this post-modern (or just modernistic, the line was a bit blurry) dreg that some people called art but mostly boiled down to some metal tes being pped together into shapes. Sometimes those shapes even resembled something, but that seemed to be, especially in statues, coincidence rather than intention.
The memorial also meant a lot to John, even without the artistic value, who walked up the few stairs on the east side of the tform, only to stare up the central pir for a little while. The people he knew personally, who had died on his path, were depicted there in greater detail than ever. For him, they were the stand-in for all the corpses he had piled on for his ambitions of, what he at the very least thought to be, a better world.
Oddly enough it wasnt Terkal or Imere whose eyes, still and judging, gave him the most trouble. It was Abraham. John wasnt sure why, just that he felt that way. Maybe the fact that Abrahams alternative world view could have turned out to be correct in the long run? Maybe that he had died to save John? The Gamer could never know for certain. Hesitatingly, he turned around and walked up to the podium.
Sorry for the dy, he started, leaning onto the podium as he liked to do. Having something to hold onto just gave him that little bit of security. He probably looked a bit silly though, as he immediately raised one hand again and reached into his inventory. As many of you, most of you really, are likely aware of by now, Ive spent thest two to three weeks travelling our northern neighbours.
He retrieved a stack of paper from his inventory. Unlike contracts of old, agreements didnt really fit on a few pages anymore. Instead he held up what almost justified a book binding. And it was VERY sessful. Both the Small Lake Pact and the American-Canadian Trade guild havee to join Fusion.
The crowd cheered loudly, and John, smirking, raised the paper even higher, which made the people only grow louder. Apuse of this level had likely been impossible in a crowd of the Hudson Barrier. People there, even with Fusions values, had grown up to fundamentally care about money and influence. Here in the Little Marnd was one of the few ces where people still had an education system that taught them they once, in history, almost became the heart of an Abyssal super-state. People with that education were a lot more enthusiastic towards seeing that dream fulfilled.
That second part is likelying to a greater surprise to all of you. Its only been sealed yesterday, so I am happy to make that historic announcement, he put away the contract. They were convinced by the arguments I can make apparent at any stage. Fusion has brought prosperity to all those that follow its principles. From the former anarchic territories around New York all the way to here, a free and secure market ce, equalws, equally enforced, and human, excuse me, humanoid rights have made everyone richer, happier and able to take the adventure that is the American Dream. Its all I ever want to bring to this, my home continent.
With a moderate amount of paranoia, John looked about the ce, wary for any assassins that might jump out of the crowd and shoot at him. Normal bullets barely even fazed him, even without Mana Protection, but maybe an enemy would create some special ammunition developed against Gamers Body, using high-grade materials. It was neverpletely outside the realm of possibility. As far as he was aware, not even a headshot would straight-up kill him, though. He had recovered his spine before, so his brain shouldnt be that much different. Something that would st away his whole head maybe could murder him immediately, he had no experience with that, but he liked to think it would just deal a truckload of damage to his HP.
He noticed he hadnt said anything in a few seconds and continued, Fusions total size has exceeded over a hundred thousand people. It is high time that I let them properly be represented in a governing body, rather than make all decisions on my lonesome. Soon, well release a clear breakdown of how the federal system will be designed and who will be elected in what way. After some further discussion, it has be quite clear that the previously suggested system has been a bit simplistic. Hopefully, this wont ovepensate.
However, before I and my government can deliver on this, I must inform all of you that I will be taking a break from all public affairs until next Friday. The main reason for this is because my birthday ising up. Generally, I must say I can just use a proper break where I have nothing lingering at the back of my mind. The recent weeks have been a bit taxing. All other aspects of government will function as normal. You have nothing to worry about in that aspect.
He gave the crowd a smile and continued to speak for a little bit longer about this and that.
Chapter 625 – Subordinates and Subordinates of Subordinates
Chapter 625 C Subordinates and Subordinates of Subordinates
I get the feeling I should have knocked first John reflected on his actions, looking at the disy in front of him. It was a debauched scene, Ted lying on his back on top of therge business table, naked. John couldnt see a whole lot of the man, though, only his middle and legs, as the generals crotch and face were covered by two women. One was expected, his pink-haired wife Chemilia, riding his dick with the fervour of the sexually fulfilled couple.
The other, however, was someone John hadnt expected to see around here. A blonde, with a bnced figure and more toned muscles than he had previously guessed to be under her ck bodysuit, was sitting on Teds face with a pretty ecstatic look on hers. Right up until she noticed the Gamer and almost toppled over out of her face-straddling position.
Mister President! the blonde woman caught herself in time, only having shifted enough for Ted to rise up from his pinned position with a look of slight disgruntlement on his face. Given his passive nature, that was already a clear indication that Johns interruption was not all that weed. Didnt expect you toe in!
The neer was Corith. The woman that had fought Rave in the semi-finals of the tournament and the chief of security of Amacat. Well, former chief of security, as a quick Observe informed John.
I was wondering why I hadnt seen her whatsoever while I was visiting Amacat, John thought while he slowly stepped backwards through the door again. Ille back in like 10 minutes, feel free to finish your business, he said and just closed the door. There was no telling whether they actually resumed the fucking. The walls were soundproof, something he himself had made sure of.
He leaned against the wood-covered lower half of the hallway and pulled out his smartphone. Dropping Rave a quick text about what just happened, he awaited her inevitably amused reaction while just humming to himself. Had to figure someone else would use the precautions I made to the Guild Bank to have some fun on office hours, he thought to himself.
Chemilia had been his stand-in regent while he was gone, along with a number of other people. As this was the current ce of governance, with his central administration located in these rooms, having her work here was expected. She had been given her own office, and now she was using that office in simr ways as John would.
I wonder whether this is my bad influence, the Gamer thought. Chemilia had been amongst the many officials that had caught him mid-act a number of times. Being on the opposite side of the dynamic was interesting.
The thing he wondered more about was Coriths participation in the whole thing though. The generals being a bit on the easy-going side when it came to sex wasnt surprising to John; the very first time he had met Ted, they had ended up naked and drunk in the same room within a few hours. Courtesy,rgely, of their respective pink-haired girls.
Another question being if I want to try and score with that woman myself, John caught himself thinking with his dick. Regardless of the origin of that thought, he looked at it properly and decided he would just leave Corith alone. He had just recently gotten an ind full of maids. Not to mention that the entire CPDI cast of hot catgirls likely wanted to sleep with him at least once. He could spare backing off some potential conquests in order to let Ted have some fun with a small harem of his own. Wow I now have arrived at the point where I skip out on potential partners because I feel like leaving someone to other guys John realized just how far he hade on the front of sexuality.
Eventually the door opened and a fully clothed Chemilia waved him in. You really should have knocked, she said, as he followed her into the room and pulled the door closed behind him. All windows had been opened to get the smell of hot sweat out of the room. No signs of recent coption remained, everything had been cleaned neatly.
A nce towards Corith showed that she had gotten off, at least. An Observe towards Ted, however, showed that he had definitely not.
However, he also didnt mind by the look of it. John could not understand that whatsoever. Thest time he had agreed to being edged for a prolonged time, he had done so knowing he would get off eventually. Being brought to the edge and then just dropped sounded like it would drive him insane. Thankfully, the saying to each their own existed.
Both he and Chemilia were wearing the first issue of Fusions new standard uniform. It was based on the old Little Marnd uniform, which in turn was based on the standard American army one. It wasnt much to look at, especially since they had taken off their jackets and hung them from an assortment of hooks on the wall. Just buttoned up shirts andfortable pants, both equipped with a number of pockets, big and small, to carry utensils if needed.
In contrast to the American uniform, which was usually some shade of dark green, the Fusion uniform was predominantly a dark, greyish blue. The exception to this were the silver stripes on their sleeves, showing their ranks as generals. They were better visible on the shoulders of the currently unworn vests. Also, on the left side of the chest was the symbol of Fusion, sixets of individual colour and details pertaining to the elements.
The shirt, on the other hand, had the symbol of the member guild on it. This way, the ce of origin was both covered under Fusions federal authority, but also closer to the wearers heart. It was a symbolic choice that Lydia had suggested when they had had a talk about it. In the case of Chemilia and Ted, although they were members of Collide for technical reasons, they kept the symbol of the Little Marnd on their chests.
It was the first iteration of the uniforms, so they had minimal enchantments, all of which were purely defensive. John had decided to take over the idea of the Little Marnd and actually put the main enchantments on an underlying bodysuit. The creation of those was cheaper and they sat tighter to the skin. Negotiations about mass production of those were still ongoing, the person who had produced them previously had been a fierce Abraham supporter. While he wasnt a traitorous individual under Johns governance, background checks had been made, he was anything but friendly towards the Gamer.
So, how did this happen? John wondered, sitting down with a smile. He had just gone through numerous hours of boring bureaucracy, so he could use some sensationalism in his life right about now. I was aware you two wanted to give this whole harem thing a try, but seeing Corith there is a bit unexpected. I already know that she wants a job here, so you can skip that part.
Chemilia and Corith exchanged a nce, the general ultimately making a passing gesture that caused the blonde to speak up. She was wearing her ck bodysuit now, very simr to Raves. Me and Chemilia actually knew each other from some past things. The rtionship between Amacat and the Little Marnd had always been good, so us military folk met up every now and again for training. When I shot her a mail asking for a meeting, she agreed. We met over a nice dinner, we talked about this and that, conversation eventually arrived at you and your fucking habits. Things kind of escted from there.
I see I AM being a good influence on the world, John grinned, stretching in a fulfilled way. There were likely a lot more details to that tale, but the summary was enough for him. Both of the women made a cautious gesture, while Ted let out a single, amused blow of air through his nose.
I didnt want to just ept her into the army without asking you first, so I asked her toe here. Didnt expect you to arrive exactly on time.
I have my good secretary back, he exined, gesturing at Beatrice who had followed him around without a single sound so far, just looking pretty and absolutely neutral about the situation.
I check the clock at regr intervals, the passive maid simply stated, before dropping back to her background role.
Anyway, Ill leave this matter entirely in your hands, John shrugged off. I trust you to make the right decisions in regards to the military, Chemilia. Saying that, he gave Chemiliamand over a person a good bit above her own level.
However, John wanted his army to be based on overallpetence and leadership, not just raw power. Therefore, having a subordinate that was stronger than their superior was a situation that would happen from time to time. In the Abyss, where the power difference were so vast, that could easily lead to an unstable guild, but as long as he himself was at the very top serving as a warning, things would be fine. Hopefully, at least, since he couldnt be everywhere at once.
At the very least Corith didnt look like the type of girl that would start any trouble internally. Alright then, Chemilia took the responsibility and immediate dered, Corith, youre wee in my leadership staff. You on board with that?
Absolutely, Corith grinned, how is the pay?
Probably less than what you got from Amacat, John wrapped those words in a joking tone, but they were true nheless. Things are likely to get better down the line though. Corith nodded, that was the reason, ording to Observe anyway, why she had joined his cause in the first ce. Speaking of things getting better, how are your limbs?
The question was aimed towards their mechanical recements. Good, Ted answered first, raising his hand, moving the finger of his left smoothly. John could neither see nor hear the mechanical movements; under the glove he was wearing it looked entirely natural.
Your experts do good work, Chemilia said, so smoothly that the lie inside it couldnt even be noticed, unless one was already in the know. With Corith around, the mention of Scarletts name was best skipped. The general moved her right leg around for a little bit. Ill still need more time though. I can walk, I can run, but for fighting its still pretty unreliable. A few more days or weeks and I should be back in good enough shape though.
I do know that feeling. John blinked. The quest about his recovery still hadnt finished and, given the asional issue he experienced in high-movement situations, there was still some things needed to get used to. However, like Chemilia, he was sure he was on the finishing line.
The phone in his pocket vibrated, and John went to check what message he had gotten this time. His initial expectation was Rave to poke for an update on the situation, the actual thing he got was a bit more urging.
Scarlett: Stop talking and get her ass over here. I have all day, but I dont n to spend all of it sober enough to have a coherent talk about strategy.
Scarlett: Seriously. Ill be drunk on liquor or cock in the next two hours. Get in fucking motion or I am crashing your economy.
Scarlett: You know I can.
He did indeed know that she could do that. Not quite as easily as she made it sound at that moment, but even with a few hours, the amount of damage she could do would probably scratch the billion. This is all assuring to hear, but the thing Im here for does ask for our attention, he therefore decided. While he was about 99% sure she wouldnt do anything like that, the threat alone was enough to move him to action.
That aside, he was more than happy to provide the cock drunk requirements.
I guess, Ted, dear, you want toe with us or?
Ill stay and work, he denied. Large-scale tactics arent my field.
Alright, show Corith where we stay while were at it, she winked at the blonde, members of my staff should always be nearby.
Hmmm, sounds like afortable stay, Corith mused, winking after her confirmed superior in professional and love life.
John and Chemilia left the room. When they were a little bit down the hallway, the Gamer said, For the record, I ampletely okay with you using your staff as your own harem gathering. As long as your work doesnt suffer because of it.
It wont, Ill end this experiment before I endanger my entire battalion due to ipetence and nepotism, she assured him. Still not sure how this entire harem thing will work out for me and Ted. Im not going to look at your example and assume that it works that easily for everyone.
Wise policy, John nodded, his circumstances were unique after all. Ill hope it works out at least on a small scale for you. Its a lot of fun, if a bit crowded sometimes.
Also pretty impossible on arge scale, isnt it? Chemilia asked, and John shot her a questioning nce. Notrge scale as in, the number of girls, she rified, since John was living proof that that part worked quite well, if one was exceptional. I mean on a societal level.
Ah, yes, that cant work, John agreed. Whether it was because he was just smarter from a Stat standpoint or because he had generally experienced a whole lot since starting his journey, he understood that monogamy was actually incredibly smart by now. In a society where polygamy was the norm, the powerful men just had all the women. While incredibly ipetent men were usually doomed to a level of loneliness even in monogamous societies, causing things to stack up at the top drained potential rtionships from even the average people.
That was bound to create an absurd amount of resentment for the people at the top. The same could be seen in badly bnced money or resource distributions. In other words, harems like Johns had to be the exception. As sad a fact of life as that was, the numbers game had it bnced out that way. Then again, most people also seemed to be built to have only one proper rtionship, with a number of flings that varied depending on the couple.
John had wondered whether he should signal to people that monogamy was good, before they tried to imitate him and the entire system would copse due to resentment 200 years down the line. However, not only would that be entirely hypocritical of him, it was also a very much theoretical problem right now. Currently, he held the same stance towards it as he did with most aspects of society: keep his hands off any social engineering and just let people do as they please.
Themon people would know best what was best for themon people. Maybe it would take generations for people to realize that the initial solution was already the best. Maybe some entirely new social dynamic would form and be a clear improvement on the current way of things. Such things were impossible to say.
Maybe I should give my hecklers more credit sometimes, John sighed, it was easy to be against all of those that disliked him on the basis of his frivolous lifestyle. Not like more morally minded people didnt have a point in talking about decency whatsoever. Just difficult to talk to people that are already convinced youre wrong.
I would be surprised if all of them were just stone walls withoutpromise, Chemilia pointed out. Personally, I suggest you reach out to some reasonably leadership figure and have a private talk with them to test the waters. A few moments passed, during which her lips were parted in a certain fashion. It indicated that she had something more to say but wasnt sure whether or, if at all, to say it. Then, she just mmed the fact on the table, Youre way too happy to do things in public. Have to say, John, you like to show off to a dangerous degree.
"Guilty as charged, the Gamer could only concede the point.
Chapter 636 – Strategy Meeting
Chapter 636 C Strategy Meeting
The wall closed behind them with the smooth sounds of well-oiled machinery snapping into ce. John, Chemilia and Beatrice entered Scarletts domain. Sitting in her swivel chair, back turned towards them, she was looking up to the giant screen that she usually employed to disy the map of the region.
Currently, it was instead holding a bunch of code. Now, John barely had any background in coding. Best he could show was that he had been the best in the IT ss, programming some minor things with Java. As such, proficient wasnt a word he would use to describe himself.
The code on the screen, however, even without extended knowledge, did not fit any standard programmingnguages. Sure, it had all the square and pointy brackets one could want, but a number of arcane symbols in the code that had no ce in the Englishnguage were rather telling that something was off.
Okay, John, listen, Scarlett suddenly spoke up, without looking over. This line of code, she waved towards the screen, causing one line to be outlined with blue marker, is supposed to create a signature scan of the phone-holders magical footprint that then gets sent to the database.
Sure? John answered, walking towards the table. Exchanging a confused nce with Chemilia, they watched the redhead as she continued on.
Its supposed to, Scarletts fingers tapped steadily on the armrest of her chair, to make sure a first signature does not get immediate ess to the program. They first have to be confirmed by the magical signature of a person with moderator ess. Thats what this bit does the marked area changed, so why, the fuck, does it instead just create a backup in the moderator area on the server side, all while not giving ess?
I dont kno- John tried to tell her, wanting to ask what all of this was about, but Scarlett interrupted him.
Be quiet, rubber duck, Im exining the code to you. Her red eyes red, the magical circuitry inside them shing numerous times. Shutting up, although he was still supremely confused, he just listened to her ramble on, marking different areas as she talked about. So this bit makes it scan, this bit checks whether theyre already in the database and what rank they have, and this bit creates a new entry if they arent. This bit then assigns a descriptor to the entry, depending on whether or not a moderator confirms them, giving them either the role of confirmed member or intruder Ah, THERE IT IS!
Scarlett suddenly jumped out of her seat. The expression on her face made it look like she had just seeded in finding her mortal enemy and she was now taking the greatest pleasure in tearing them limb from limb. To John, it just looked like she changed a line of code. Found the bug? he asked, now having an inkling about what was going on.
Yes, Scarlett fell back into the armchair and turned towards her two visitors, the screen shutting off the moment she took her eyes off it. Had the wrong shortcut set for intruder, so it would give the moderator title but the shut-outmands for those that arent confirmed overwrite the essmands so they still couldnt use the program.
Well, I am sure you know what youre doing. John understood what she was talking about there, at least in theory, but he had no idea what she was doing broadly. I just have two questions.
No, you have a million questions, because thats the type of person you are, Scarlett corrected him, fidgeting with a pack of cigarettes. She opened the box, it was almost full, only to toss it back on the table. A pain in my fucking ass with all the things you keep wanting to know.
Last I checked you liked it when I was a pain in your ass, John pointed out.
True enough, Scarlett conceded the point, resting her head on her knuckles. Get the questions out of your system already. We have better ns for the rest of the day.
He was about to point out that she wasnt doing herself any favours by bantering back at any given opportunity, but decided to get on with it himself. So, first: rubber duck? that question was easy enough. Of all the things he had been called in his time, and thanks to Eliza that was a big catalogue, that one was new for him.
I used you as a stand-in for one, Scarlett exined with a semi-bored expression. When programmers are stuck, its rmended they talk to some inanimate object and exin the code in detail for what it is supposed to do. Helps find bugs or unwanted features. Its called the rubber duck method, so there ya go.
That was easy enough, second question though. Didnt know you wrote the code, much less potentially faulty one, I always assumed you just will programs into existence. He knew that sounded a bit stupid, but he was still interested in hearing her exnation.
Technomancy is the art of manipting electronic input. Scarlett rolled her eyes, again reaching for the cigarettes and again throwing them back. The Gamer guessed she was trying to reduce her consumption after she had been chain smoking thesest few days. I cant just will code into existence. Writing it with my mind is a lot quicker than typing, is the whole thing. Also, way more prone to bugs, unless youre good at it. She crossed her legs. And I happen to be the best.
John could imagine that a number of bugs or unwanted sentences would sneak themselves into his code if he had to write stuff out with his mind. He would be in the middle of writing amand line and suddenly have twenty words describing whether he could eat steak off his girlfriends butt for dinner today.
Kudos to her mental discipline, I suppose, John thought. Well, those were all of my questions, so we can start now if you want to.
I do, Scarlett said, grabbing the pack of cigarettes for the third time, this time unable to resist the temptation of nicotine. Before long, she was exhaling smoke. But there are some things we should get done first. A part of the floor next to John opened slowly, metal lids made from numerous segments moving in unison, as a tform rose. On ity three items, all of them of a bronze aesthetic, with shimmers of gold and deep purple.
Yes, finally! Chemilia eximed, as she walked around John to marvel at the mechanical leg. Calling it a work of art would have been an understatement. Just like the arm lying next to it, its structure was primarilyprised of Baelementium, reinforced by the rarer shadow and light infused versions of the already 4-elemental metal. The internal mechanisms and cables were hidden under numerous tes that interlocked to create a shape very close to a normal human limb. Of course, they still maintained a very mechanical appearance, particrly around the joint areas.
Chemilia inspected the whole thing closely as Scarletts matter-of-fact tone bragged about her creation. Once equipped, it creates an illusion around itself that will fool even a mundanes sense of touch. Internal mana flow is possible, so martial arts are possible, but I rmend you train carefully. I dont care if you rupture your tendons, thats your problem, but fixing this thing because you blow the joint up is going to make me mad as all hell. Also, both have hidden weapon slots, I just installed some des for now. You can switch it out yourself, its on a standard socket.
John, in the meanwhile, walked over to the third object. A basket ball sized sphere. The individual segments the surface was made out of were only apparent thanks to the different shimmer, gold and deep purple, that they had to them. Touching it, he couldnt even feel the tiny gaps. Nice to have this back, John said, picking up the Mand Sphere Mark 2.
The repair, orplete rebuilding rather, had taken long enough. He left the recement sphere he had used in the meantime on the tform. If he should ever need it again, it was best somewhere safe and this was likely the most secure ce in the city. Including Johns own home. Using Extension on the Mand Sphere, he immediately slipped into the outside perspective.
The surface split, the L shaped tes parting slightly, as the sphere took its weight off Johns hands and hovered on its own ord. Having it move around for a little bit, the Gamer nodded, satisfied, and began charging the Mana Storage that Extension applied to the chosen item.
He would also have to pick the spells for it in a bit, but that could wait for after the meeting. Just like for Chemilia, actually putting on her finished leg had to wait. Sure, she could do it now, but putting it on was a tremendously painful experience, as all nerve endings red up, connecting to their new arcano-tech continuations.
Now, we can actually talk about this. Scarlett turned back towards the giant screen, which red up and immediately disyed a map of their current situation.
And well beyond their current situation. Nothing John saw was terribly surprising to him, he had polished up his knowledge about the continental situation sincest time. I see the Golden Rose borders are as unsteady as ever, hemented on the elephant in the room first.
John had only asionally thought about Moira Brighton, the redheaded pdin that had first exined the Abyss to him. Their chance meeting had been a pretty important early step in Johns life, purely for the information, and potential protection, she provided. That he had decided to go with Collide instead of her had shifted her importance pretty quickly into the background. He had actually expected to never really see her again.
Right up until he heard that the power vacuum he had left behind when taking out the Bloodfallen had allowed the Golden Rose to rise from their regional confinement. Since the Bloodfallen had bound the many, much weaker local guilds into a unifiedwork, the Golden Rose had been whacking at moles, so to say. Without that coordination, they instead got to swallow them one by one.
Well, that was one reason.
John wasnt privy to all the details, but the Golden Rose had apparently moved its English branch to America little less than ten years ago. That they would need some time to settle their affairs, consolidate their organization and get to know the localndscape all likely contributed to their formerly Springfield-centred situation. Also, and this was just as John understood it, Moira had some sort of powerful, inheritable Innate Ability. Her reaching adulthood and getting closer towards mastering her spells meant that they had a likely elite individual in their ranks. Whether Moira was more on Chemilias or Raves level remained to be seen.
Maybe I am just trying to rationalize away that I may have created my own biggest roadblock via ripple effect, John analysed his own thought process. Then again, Moira seemed like a moralpass to me, and Lydia said the German branch was able to be reasoned with, so there might be the opportunity for a peaceful takeover here
Of course, their borders are unsteady, Scarlett grumbled into her cigarette. Trying to put order on everything, control what type of magic people learn, do all of themanding with a hammer in hand, running around like a sparkly police force. The overly-liberal minded Technomancer snorted in contempt. Fucking authoritarians with their rules. How am I supposed to run a business over there?
By doing what iswful? John suggested. I mean, that cant be too bad.
You just look what minimum wage has done to numerous economies in the world and tell me again that regtions cant be too bad, Scarlett retorted, took a deep breath to follow that up, then reined herself in and waved it off. We can discuss cause and effectter. Just like we can worry about the Golden Roseter. They are preupied and so are we. Or did you have any sess inmunicating with them yet?
Just as little as I had with the Lake Alliance, John sighed. Getting stonewalled on numerous fronts was annoying. He had put some people on getting in touch with the rest of the guilds that inhabited USA soil. Establish rtionships and all of that, be they hostile or friendly. The middle of the country was, even though the Golden Rose was spreading continuously, still dominated by small fry, local guilds that had no real power aside from their numbers.
The Dust Walkers were some sort of Native American founded but nowadays entirely mixed guild. Apparently, they didnt utilize technology all that much, mostly hanging out in canyons and doing whatever they were doing. There was contact, scarcely. The report John had gotten basically said that there was that one guy amongst them that checked their smartphone once per week and that was how theymunicated with the outside.
South of them was the Catto Nation, and stupid name aside, John wanted to go there. It was one of two areas where numerous magical races, created from humanitys fantasies but now very much real, coalesced to live their life on North America. As the, again, quite stupid name, indicated, there was apparently a catgirl majority there. Well, cat people, but the Gamer was very much biased in his perception. Why the catgirl majority area of the world was in the western USA and not Egypt, as he would have guessed, John did not know, but he certainly was happy about it.
Contact with them had also been established and was quite prolific. Hanging out with the CPDI hadted him some sort of benefit outside of amazing sex with cat-eared reporters after all. The porn/news channel was very popr over there.
Next to them was the Outer Mandate. No contact with them yet. Theycked a leader to talk to, which made things difficult. What that guild really was was an umbre term for all the foreign tributaries of the Mandate of Heaven, Chinas super guild and one of the (currently) nine members of the Divided Gates, the strongest guilds on the globe. Depending on how rigid they were on holding onto these tributaries, John could run into some massive problems down the line.
North of that were some other small fry guilds and something called The Crave up in ska. They were just sitting there, doing nothing for centuries. Very friendly fellows, despite their menacing name. At least that was what Johns diplomat on that front assured him. While the Gamer was curious about them, they were so far away, in location and importance, Scarlett didnt even bother showing them on the map.
The Gobbo Nation was the goblin equivalent to the Catto Nation. Not much to say about them, except that they were incredibly aggressive towards Fusionsmunication attempts. They were annoyed that the Gamer had not yet appeared on their own favouritework called SSSN (Shortstack Sluts Search News). The defence John had for this was that he had not yet heard of thiswork and that he would be happy to talk to them.
That was a currently ongoing diplomatic affair he would happily see through personally.
The Upwest Corner waspletely devoid of any information. All that John knew about them was that they existed. Nomunication attempts had yielded any results.
The Lake Alliance grew a bit, Chemilia pointed out, pulling Johns attention back to the local problems. Seems like they gobbled up a few of their own border areas.
As we grew stronger, those opposed to us get closer and look for how they can keep up themselves, John stated, nodding as he noticed the changes. Nothing too surprising although I hate how our borders look with the Lower Lake Guilds
Aint from a really high ce you have there, after we doubled our size in thest two weeks, Scarlett pointed out. Although the name disy would be twice as big for Fusion if we got that single area that protrudes into our space.
Cant you just rewrite the code to curve around there? John asked, only half-joking. Was it pure vanity that he wanted to see the name of his guild as big on the map as possible? Yes. Did he still want it? Absolutely yes. Map painting was about half the reason he even yed grand strategy games.
I could, but that doesnt seem like its worth my time. Scarlett forced out the sorry rest of her cigarette by dropping it on the floor and stepping on it. Just work harder, then you get your bigger name.
Sure, sure, let me do all the work so I can give you a bigger free-trade zone, John grumbled in a yfully offended matter.
What else are you good for, John? Scarlett asked, giving her lover a very tiny smile.
A number of things, the Gamer defended himself.
Interruption. Beatrice suddenly did exactly what she said. The intent was expressed to keep this short. Stay on topic.
Scarlett nodded towards the passive maid. Good girl. Did you have any luck with contacting our other neighbours?
New Libraria refuses to answer. West Gestalt says they want to stay neutral, but also ask if we would help them against East Gestalt. East Gestalt says the same but in reverse. The Death Zone is still there, doing nothing. Florida, well, John scratched his head, after I had to personally decipher the riddle they had put on the Abyss Auction, just to get their email, they didnt respond to me personally but instead wrote an email to my office and have you read it?
I dont check your office mails, so no, Scarlett answered, giving him a questioning nce. With a wave of his hand, he told her to go ahead. A few momentster, the map on the screen was reced by Youtube, ying the link they had, without any further context, sent him.
They watched the entire thing. It was quite amusing, but nobodyughed because none of them were sure what they were looking at or why they were looking at it. Even Scarlett was too perplexed to say anything before it ended. So, Florida continues to be crazy she mumbled. In other words, there is nothing about our current situation we can really improve right now, is there?
Not really, seems like we have to wait for developments, John agreed, which wasnt what he wanted whatsoever. I want to organize a meeting with all the small local guilds around us, try to get them in, but as far as major developments go, were currently confined to waiting for someone to do something. Be it the Lake Alliance answering to my white peace suggestion, them attacking or some third party doing something.
There was agreeing silence after that, nobody really had anything to add. Then the strategy is waiting, Chemilia summarized. Frustrating, but good for your vacation.
Chapter 626 – Strategy Meeting
Chapter 626 C Strategy Meeting
The wall closed behind them with the smooth sounds of well-oiled machinery snapping into ce. John, Chemilia and Beatrice entered Scarletts domain. Sitting in her swivel chair, back turned towards them, she was looking up to the giant screen that she usually employed to disy the map of the region.
Currently, it was instead holding a bunch of code. Now, John barely had any background in coding. Best he could show was that he had been the best in the IT ss, programming some minor things with Java. As such, proficient wasnt a word he would use to describe himself.
The code on the screen, however, even without extended knowledge, did not fit any standard programmingnguages. Sure, it had all the square and pointy brackets one could want, but a number of arcane symbols in the code that had no ce in the Englishnguage were rather telling that something was off.
Okay, John, listen, Scarlett suddenly spoke up, without looking over. This line of code, she waved towards the screen, causing one line to be outlined with blue marker, is supposed to create a signature scan of the phone-holders magical footprint that then gets sent to the database.
Sure? John answered, walking towards the table. Exchanging a confused nce with Chemilia, they watched the redhead as she continued on.
Its supposed to, Scarletts fingers tapped steadily on the armrest of her chair, to make sure a first signature does not get immediate ess to the program. They first have to be confirmed by the magical signature of a person with moderator ess. Thats what this bit does the marked area changed, so why, the fuck, does it instead just create a backup in the moderator area on the server side, all while not giving ess?
I dont kno- John tried to tell her, wanting to ask what all of this was about, but Scarlett interrupted him.
Be quiet, rubber duck, Im exining the code to you. Her red eyes red, the magical circuitry inside them shing numerous times. Shutting up, although he was still supremely confused, he just listened to her ramble on, marking different areas as she talked about. So this bit makes it scan, this bit checks whether theyre already in the database and what rank they have, and this bit creates a new entry if they arent. This bit then assigns a descriptor to the entry, depending on whether or not a moderator confirms them, giving them either the role of confirmed member or intruder Ah, THERE IT IS!
Scarlett suddenly jumped out of her seat. The expression on her face made it look like she had just seeded in finding her mortal enemy and she was now taking the greatest pleasure in tearing them limb from limb. To John, it just looked like she changed a line of code. Found the bug? he asked, now having an inkling about what was going on.
Yes, Scarlett fell back into the armchair and turned towards her two visitors, the screen shutting off the moment she took her eyes off it. Had the wrong shortcut set for intruder, so it would give the moderator title but the shut-outmands for those that arent confirmed overwrite the essmands so they still couldnt use the program.
Well, I am sure you know what youre doing. John understood what she was talking about there, at least in theory, but he had no idea what she was doing broadly. I just have two questions.
No, you have a million questions, because thats the type of person you are, Scarlett corrected him, fidgeting with a pack of cigarettes. She opened the box, it was almost full, only to toss it back on the table. A pain in my fucking ass with all the things you keep wanting to know.
Last I checked you liked it when I was a pain in your ass, John pointed out.
True enough, Scarlett conceded the point, resting her head on her knuckles. Get the questions out of your system already. We have better ns for the rest of the day.
He was about to point out that she wasnt doing herself any favours by bantering back at any given opportunity, but decided to get on with it himself. So, first: rubber duck? that question was easy enough. Of all the things he had been called in his time, and thanks to Eliza that was a big catalogue, that one was new for him.
I used you as a stand-in for one, Scarlett exined with a semi-bored expression. When programmers are stuck, its rmended they talk to some inanimate object and exin the code in detail for what it is supposed to do. Helps find bugs or unwanted features. Its called the rubber duck method, so there ya go.
That was easy enough, second question though. Didnt know you wrote the code, much less potentially faulty one, I always assumed you just will programs into existence. He knew that sounded a bit stupid, but he was still interested in hearing her exnation.
Technomancy is the art of manipting electronic input. Scarlett rolled her eyes, again reaching for the cigarettes and again throwing them back. The Gamer guessed she was trying to reduce her consumption after she had been chain smoking thesest few days. I cant just will code into existence. Writing it with my mind is a lot quicker than typing, is the whole thing. Also, way more prone to bugs, unless youre good at it. She crossed her legs. And I happen to be the best.
John could imagine that a number of bugs or unwanted sentences would sneak themselves into his code if he had to write stuff out with his mind. He would be in the middle of writing amand line and suddenly have twenty words describing whether he could eat steak off his girlfriends butt for dinner today.
Kudos to her mental discipline, I suppose, John thought. Well, those were all of my questions, so we can start now if you want to.
I do, Scarlett said, grabbing the pack of cigarettes for the third time, this time unable to resist the temptation of nicotine. Before long, she was exhaling smoke. But there are some things we should get done first. A part of the floor next to John opened slowly, metal lids made from numerous segments moving in unison, as a tform rose. On ity three items, all of them of a bronze aesthetic, with shimmers of gold and deep purple.
Yes, finally! Chemilia eximed, as she walked around John to marvel at the mechanical leg. Calling it a work of art would have been an understatement. Just like the arm lying next to it, its structure was primarilyprised of Baelementium, reinforced by the rarer shadow and light infused versions of the already 4-elemental metal. The internal mechanisms and cables were hidden under numerous tes that interlocked to create a shape very close to a normal human limb. Of course, they still maintained a very mechanical appearance, particrly around the joint areas.
Chemilia inspected the whole thing closely as Scarletts matter-of-fact tone bragged about her creation. Once equipped, it creates an illusion around itself that will fool even a mundanes sense of touch. Internal mana flow is possible, so martial arts are possible, but I rmend you train carefully. I dont care if you rupture your tendons, thats your problem, but fixing this thing because you blow the joint up is going to make me mad as all hell. Also, both have hidden weapon slots, I just installed some des for now. You can switch it out yourself, its on a standard socket.
John, in the meanwhile, walked over to the third object. A basket ball sized sphere. The individual segments the surface was made out of were only apparent thanks to the different shimmer, gold and deep purple, that they had to them. Touching it, he couldnt even feel the tiny gaps. Nice to have this back, John said, picking up the Mand Sphere Mark 2.
The repair, orplete rebuilding rather, had taken long enough. He left the recement sphere he had used in the meantime on the tform. If he should ever need it again, it was best somewhere safe and this was likely the most secure ce in the city. Including Johns own home. Using Extension on the Mand Sphere, he immediately slipped into the outside perspective.
The surface split, the L shaped tes parting slightly, as the sphere took its weight off Johns hands and hovered on its own ord. Having it move around for a little bit, the Gamer nodded, satisfied, and began charging the Mana Storage that Extension applied to the chosen item.
He would also have to pick the spells for it in a bit, but that could wait for after the meeting. Just like for Chemilia, actually putting on her finished leg had to wait. Sure, she could do it now, but putting it on was a tremendously painful experience, as all nerve endings red up, connecting to their new arcano-tech continuations.
Now, we can actually talk about this. Scarlett turned back towards the giant screen, which red up and immediately disyed a map of their current situation.
And well beyond their current situation. Nothing John saw was terribly surprising to him, he had polished up his knowledge about the continental situation sincest time. I see the Golden Rose borders are as unsteady as ever, hemented on the elephant in the room first.
John had only asionally thought about Moira Brighton, the redheaded pdin that had first exined the Abyss to him. Their chance meeting had been a pretty important early step in Johns life, purely for the information, and potential protection, she provided. That he had decided to go with Collide instead of her had shifted her importance pretty quickly into the background. He had actually expected to never really see her again.
Right up until he heard that the power vacuum he had left behind when taking out the Bloodfallen had allowed the Golden Rose to rise from their regional confinement. Since the Bloodfallen had bound the many, much weaker local guilds into a unifiedwork, the Golden Rose had been whacking at moles, so to say. Without that coordination, they instead got to swallow them one by one.
Well, that was one reason.
John wasnt privy to all the details, but the Golden Rose had apparently moved its English branch to America little less than ten years ago. That they would need some time to settle their affairs, consolidate their organization and get to know the localndscape all likely contributed to their formerly Springfield-centred situation. Also, and this was just as John understood it, Moira had some sort of powerful, inheritable Innate Ability. Her reaching adulthood and getting closer towards mastering her spells meant that they had a likely elite individual in their ranks. Whether Moira was more on Chemilias or Raves level remained to be seen.
Maybe I am just trying to rationalize away that I may have created my own biggest roadblock via ripple effect, John analysed his own thought process. Then again, Moira seemed like a moralpass to me, and Lydia said the German branch was able to be reasoned with, so there might be the opportunity for a peaceful takeover here
Of course, their borders are unsteady, Scarlett grumbled into her cigarette. Trying to put order on everything, control what type of magic people learn, do all of themanding with a hammer in hand, running around like a sparkly police force. The overly-liberal minded Technomancer snorted in contempt. Fucking authoritarians with their rules. How am I supposed to run a business over there?
By doing what iswful? John suggested. I mean, that cant be too bad.
You just look what minimum wage has done to numerous economies in the world and tell me again that regtions cant be too bad, Scarlett retorted, took a deep breath to follow that up, then reined herself in and waved it off. We can discuss cause and effectter. Just like we can worry about the Golden Roseter. They are preupied and so are we. Or did you have any sess inmunicating with them yet?
Just as little as I had with the Lake Alliance, John sighed. Getting stonewalled on numerous fronts was annoying. He had put some people on getting in touch with the rest of the guilds that inhabited USA soil. Establish rtionships and all of that, be they hostile or friendly. The middle of the country was, even though the Golden Rose was spreading continuously, still dominated by small fry, local guilds that had no real power aside from their numbers.
The Dust Walkers were some sort of Native American founded but nowadays entirely mixed guild. Apparently, they didnt utilize technology all that much, mostly hanging out in canyons and doing whatever they were doing. There was contact, scarcely. The report John had gotten basically said that there was that one guy amongst them that checked their smartphone once per week and that was how theymunicated with the outside.
South of them was the Catto Nation, and stupid name aside, John wanted to go there. It was one of two areas where numerous magical races, created from humanitys fantasies but now very much real, coalesced to live their life on North America. As the, again, quite stupid name, indicated, there was apparently a catgirl majority there. Well, cat people, but the Gamer was very much biased in his perception. Why the catgirl majority area of the world was in the western USA and not Egypt, as he would have guessed, John did not know, but he certainly was happy about it.
Contact with them had also been established and was quite prolific. Hanging out with the CPDI hadted him some sort of benefit outside of amazing sex with cat-eared reporters after all. The porn/news channel was very popr over there.
Next to them was the Outer Mandate. No contact with them yet. Theycked a leader to talk to, which made things difficult. What that guild really was was an umbre term for all the foreign tributaries of the Mandate of Heaven, Chinas super guild and one of the (currently) nine members of the Divided Gates, the strongest guilds on the globe. Depending on how rigid they were on holding onto these tributaries, John could run into some massive problems down the line.
North of that were some other small fry guilds and something called The Crave up in ska. They were just sitting there, doing nothing for centuries. Very friendly fellows, despite their menacing name. At least that was what Johns diplomat on that front assured him. While the Gamer was curious about them, they were so far away, in location and importance, Scarlett didnt even bother showing them on the map.
The Gobbo Nation was the goblin equivalent to the Catto Nation. Not much to say about them, except that they were incredibly aggressive towards Fusionsmunication attempts. They were annoyed that the Gamer had not yet appeared on their own favouritework called SSSN (Shortstack Sluts Search News). The defence John had for this was that he had not yet heard of thiswork and that he would be happy to talk to them.
That was a currently ongoing diplomatic affair he would happily see through personally.
The Upwest Corner waspletely devoid of any information. All that John knew about them was that they existed. Nomunication attempts had yielded any results.
The Lake Alliance grew a bit, Chemilia pointed out, pulling Johns attention back to the local problems. Seems like they gobbled up a few of their own border areas.
As we grew stronger, those opposed to us get closer and look for how they can keep up themselves, John stated, nodding as he noticed the changes. Nothing too surprising although I hate how our borders look with the Lower Lake Guilds
Aint from a really high ce you have there, after we doubled our size in thest two weeks, Scarlett pointed out. Although the name disy would be twice as big for Fusion if we got that single area that protrudes into our space.
Cant you just rewrite the code to curve around there? John asked, only half-joking. Was it pure vanity that he wanted to see the name of his guild as big on the map as possible? Yes. Did he still want it? Absolutely yes. Map painting was about half the reason he even yed grand strategy games.
I could, but that doesnt seem like its worth my time. Scarlett forced out the sorry rest of her cigarette by dropping it on the floor and stepping on it. Just work harder, then you get your bigger name.
Sure, sure, let me do all the work so I can give you a bigger free-trade zone, John grumbled in a yfully offended matter.
What else are you good for, John? Scarlett asked, giving her lover a very tiny smile.
A number of things, the Gamer defended himself.
Interruption. Beatrice suddenly did exactly what she said. The intent was expressed to keep this short. Stay on topic.
Scarlett nodded towards the passive maid. Good girl. Did you have any luck with contacting our other neighbours?
New Libraria refuses to answer. West Gestalt says they want to stay neutral, but also ask if we would help them against East Gestalt. East Gestalt says the same but in reverse. The Death Zone is still there, doing nothing. Florida, well, John scratched his head, after I had to personally decipher the riddle they had put on the Abyss Auction, just to get their email, they didnt respond to me personally but instead wrote an email to my office and have you read it?
I dont check your office mails, so no, Scarlett answered, giving him a questioning nce. With a wave of his hand, he told her to go ahead. A few momentster, the map on the screen was reced by Youtube, ying the link they had, without any further context, sent him.
They watched the entire thing. It was quite amusing, but nobodyughed because none of them were sure what they were looking at or why they were looking at it. Even Scarlett was too perplexed to say anything before it ended. So, Florida continues to be crazy she mumbled. In other words, there is nothing about our current situation we can really improve right now, is there?
Not really, seems like we have to wait for developments, John agreed, which wasnt what he wanted whatsoever. I want to organize a meeting with all the small local guilds around us, try to get them in, but as far as major developments go, were currently confined to waiting for someone to do something. Be it the Lake Alliance answering to my white peace suggestion, them attacking or some third party doing something.
There was agreeing silence after that, nobody really had anything to add. Then the strategy is waiting, Chemilia summarized. Frustrating, but good for your vacation.
Chapter 627 – Beach Evening
Chapter 627 C Beach Evening
From the strategy meeting, they split into two groups. Chemilia took the new, finished limbs to her husband, for them to equip in some private setting. John and Scarlett, on the other hand, went back to Liberty Ind. Since they had both done all necessary work in the hours preceding the strategy meeting, they could kick back on a clear conscience. Not that Scarlett felt particrly bad about putting her own desires over that of profit maximization.
As John had nned, they were going to the beach now. It wasnt a far run. On the west side of his ind, John had made a beach when the size of the Guild Hall barrier had been increased during the Tier 2 upgrade. Like the forest north of it, there was low activity in the area.
There were no production facilities around those districts. The only Guild Building around was the Weather Tower, and that didnt require any sort of work from anyone. As the Guild Hall was mostly a ce of resource gathering right now, with some refining and entertainment happening at the side, people flocked to where they worked and thus the rest of the Guild Hall was rtively untouched.
At least, that HAD been the case when John had checked on the beachst time.
In the time he had been gone, the beach must have established itself as some sort hang-out spot since a crowd of people was upying the stretch of sand with towels and grills and umbres. Granted, thetter two were by now put down or folded in, since the sun was hanging rather low and evening was approaching slowly through the long light of summer.
Now why would they all be here though? John asked himself. It wasnt like the Hudson Barrier was missing areas perfect to take a swim in the name-giving river and bay area. The first answer that came to mind was scenery: the Guild Hall was, with all itsndmarks, Lady Liberty most of all, quite the awesome ce to be around. John was totally biased in that assessment, but he would argue that it objectively beat some concrete surrounded stretch of sand.
The more realistic answer, John realized, was probably the white slime creature that crawled past his feet and over the sand. Mysteriously, the semi-sentient goop was not picking up any sand as it moved along. People were looking towards it with jokes andughter, picked up some packaging or other trash their stay at the beach had umted and threw it at the slime.
It wasnt a gesture of malice in any capacity. On the contrary, this was like giving pigeons bread. The slime spilled around the waste as happily as a one-purpose creature could be and began to dissolve it, before moving on and taking care of other trash.
It wasnt alone in this task, another slime was patrolling the border of the beach, where sand hit grass, while a third one sat in the water. Those slimes spawned from one of the Guild Buildings, the Cleaning Station, and their sole purpose was to clean up the ce by eating trash. A total of twenty-five were around the ind, and up to five designated areas in conquered territory, at any given time.
And in them, John saw the exnation for the crowded beach. Not only did the people have a nicer scenery, they could also litter the ce without any worries. Nobody had to make a decision to make between the bad consciousness of leaving trash at the beach or having to ovee theirziness. The proper thing to do between the two was obvious, butziness was a tremendous force.
Packaging, left ashes, even torn clothes or forgotten socks, the slimes ate it all happily and without care. They were smart enough to leave clothes recently worn alone, so nobody wasing out of the water to find out they were stuck in the swimsuit, but stuff left in the open for days? Could be considered munched.
Not only did that mean the beach itself was almost perfectly clean, but apparently the slimes had also been quite active at water filtering. At least if the one sitting in the water of the Hudson was any indication. Well, that and the tremendously less murky colour. It was approaching a clearness that John associated with photos advertising a tropical ind vacation.
The Gamer had taken other steps in that direction, such as settling natures most effective filter organism, ms, in the waters of the Hudson Barrier. Not just normal ms, he had bought some magically reinforced super ms from Portugal. The size of a table each, they were advertised to be the greatest in water clearing. However, they were a million a piece, so he had only gotten ten, put them into the Guild Hall and just awaited the results.
He hadnt expected it to grip in less than a month. He also hadnt expected the Cleaning Station slimes to act like the channel cleaning ones in the Nethends. The difference in water quality was extra noticeable at the border between Guild Hall and proper Hudson Barrier. A thin reminder that the two barriers were still separate that caused clouds and waves to break for a moment, only to then travel through regardless. Evidently, it did prevent mixing to some degree, as the water of the Hudson outside the barrier Well, it still looked like the murky, likely filthy and city muck infested mess it was.
Better scenery, cleaner beach, cleaner swimming water. The question wasnt why were people bathing here? but why would they go anywhere else?
Having solved that mystery didnt help the fact that John wanted privacy. Nobody had approached them yet, but people were looking in their direction with clear recognition. Not all too hard, given that he was rolling up with as much of his harem as was currently possible. In other words, aside from Momo, Nathalia, Nia and Lydia, everyone was there. Even Siena was showing her face.
Such a mess you are in, she purred out words as well. How do you want to solve that people are upying what is yours, John? A show of dominance would certainly hush them away.
O-or! Gnome interrupted, making a much nicer suggestion. We could just you know squeeze ourselves in there?
Yeah, no, John decided and opened his Guild Hall window. Im going with Siena on this one. This is my property, so Ill at least demand that I be given the space for my own activities. After pushing a few buttons, he put a hand on Gnomes head and gave her a few assuring pats. Dont worry, I am not going to just kick them off or anything. Come with me, Ill need you to put up a few guideposts.
It took a couple of minutes to get everything set-up. Some stone pirs functioned as the corners for the part of the beach John demanded for himself. It wasnt an unreasonable amount, about a fifth of the entire thing. Some people were a bit grumbly about getting thrown off their towels and having to go further down south, but it wasnt like the rest of the beach was jam-packed like a Chinese swimming hall. They had more than enough space to settle elsewhere.
Generally, though, people were understanding, or at least epting, of the situation. Once John had evicted everyone, he turned towards the two Sentinel Golems that had arrived at his location, following his call via the Guild Hall menu.
They wererge, blue orbs, solid and spherical, with bits of gold attached to them, partly protecting that core. John was reminded of Probes from Starcraft 2, the Protoss worker unit. There were a total of six of these from the Security Station. They operated much like the slimes, except for guarding purposes. At level 35, they werent even that weak. They could beat up about 80% of the Abyss quite easily, at least in theory.
They could also speak in a limited fashion and take orders, which John took advantage of at that moment. Okay, I want you to stay nearby and be ready to tell anyone passing into this area, he gestured towards the four cornerstones, that this is my private part of the beach and they arent wee. If they refuse to leave, you have authority to use minimal necessary force to take them out of this area. Repeated offenders, like 5 times, you can kick off and ban from the beach entirely, for four months. Understood?
Affirmative, robotic voices echoed back, and the Sentinel Golems went about their business, hovering away in patrolling patterns. This left John and the group to finally attend to the beach. It was already past eight, so tanning was out of the question. Everything else one could do at the beach, however, very much was still an option. It all started with getting in their swimsuits.
John just unequipped everything, stood there naked for one second, then equipped some swimming trunks he already had in his inventory. With that, he was still only the second quickest person to change into their beach wear, not counting those that didnt need to change at all, since Metra simply stripped out of what little she was wearing and called it a day. Of course, nude bathing was entirely appropriate at Johns beach. Sex would have been as well, but John couldnt help but notice that there were families further down the beach.
Now, the Gamer may have been a bit on the degenerate side of perversion, with all the bondage and the choking and what not, but he was definitely notfortable with doing overtly sexual things with minors around. Even if the chance they would see the act in question was pretty small. Nudity was okay, he didnt feel like children would be all that bothered by naked people running around, and if the parents were, well, he would install a sign in the future.
Not that anyone but Metra opted for the nudity route in the first ce. Sure, Aclysia and Beatrice were technically naked, but they still had the appearance of bikinis on them. Even Smander put on some swimwear, her usual mes extinguished. The elementals had their one set of conjurable clothing, for everything else they had to change like a normal person. Something that Gnome created herself a stone booth for.
Sex on the beach is out then, John informed everyone, with a nod down the beach. Nobody, not even Siena or Metra, disagreed with that assessment. At least when it came to children, there seemed to be a moral consensus in his harem. Which was good, seemed like a rather important topic to be unified on.
Gonna be honest, not a huge loss, Ravemented, stretching out. A motion that revealed, through a proper disy of underboob, that her current bikini top was a bit too small. Her breasts had now settled on a pretty decent C-cup, with no signs of growing further. Have heard horrible things about having sand inside thedybits. Dont wanna try to experience that for myself.
Yeah, actually, fuck that, Eliza agreed, sitting down on a towel. Apparently she didnt feel like swimming. Scarlett, however, tapped towards the water. Unlike everyone else, she had opted for a one-piece swimsuit. Not even a particrly interesting one, it was just ck and set tight on her body, like swimsuits tended to do.
Not that a bikini would have revealed that much John thought, ncing at the redheads rather t chest. She wasnt aplete washboard, but there was very little to create a cleavage with, to put it nicely. Not that it bothered the Gamer, he liked having all the sizes at hand. The objectively best boob size was the size he got to touch, after all. Then again, would like to see her midriff. Her boobs were small, but the rest of her body was still to die for.
His sexual interests were quelled, or at the very least went under the surface, when he watched the Technomancer tap into the water. There was no wind and only a minimum of waves from other activities in the Illusion Barrier, primarily moving ships, so the proper back and forth of a beach was missing. Nevertheless, Scarlett tapped curiously around in the shallow water of the shore.
It was strangely innocent to look at. She wasnt frolicking like a child or anything. The woman freed from her istion, imposed for safety by her parents continued out of logic, wasnt the type to do anything too enthusiastic. Nevertheless, the way she took her first walk through the wet sand, left her footprints and wiggled her toes around in the saltwater was just heart-warming to behold.
To John, that little moment was a better reward than the whole territory expansion had been. Ironically, if he told Scarlett that opinion, she would have called him a moron. So, he didnt, he just walked up to her, wordlessly, took her hand as the water spilled around his ankles, and gave her a kiss. A tender, long and loving kiss, that she responded to, first surprised, then just as happily. He closed his arms around her, held her close, tasted her lips. The note of cigarettes was a bit distracting, but gum and alcohol had transformed most of her taste into a nice mix of mint and sweetness.
When they parted, she attempted to speak up first, but John interrupted her. I love you, he said, the two of them swaying silently to a rhythm nobody could hear. I think its about time you hear that.
I wow, okay, that came out of fucking nowhere. Scarlett was a bit startled by this, and John couldnt help but take a bit of sadistic enjoyment out of that. It was hard to make the Technomancer blush, since she was usually so brutally honest with everyone, including herself. But not as a tool, or a business partner or something else, without any maniption or anything she gave him a secure smile, I love you too.
Chapter 628 – Two unequal fears
Chapter 628 C Two unequal fears
Come on, firecunt, Eliza growled at Smander, shoving her towards the water, do you want to do this or not?!
The endme elementals heels dug a trench through the sand as she did her best to resist the much smaller womans physical force. Water rose as steam from the ground as she heated up. First off she continued her best to have the movement stop, but Eliza kept pushing. Something that John observed with interest, as this amount of physical force would normally have roused Thana to do something. thats Smanders toe hit the water and she managed to muster enough strength to take a step back. racist!
Are you fucking kidding me, you fat-titted piece of ignited fart gas? the blood mage responded with crazily amused bewilderment. Laughing manically, Eliza stated, Dont give me that racist crap and just get into the water! You said you wanted to do it!
You even got yourself a bikini for it, John chimed in, looking her up and down. Smander had the sort of figure that belonged into as little clothing as possible but for that clothing to be as tight as it could be. Her giant breasts, the biggest in Johns entire harem, were barely covered by the tiny ck and red top she was wearing, giving side, under and front boob view. The jagged ck lines that covered her curves made her narrow, hourss waist fly over nicely into her wide hips andrge, round ass. God, I could look at all of them for hours, the Gamer thought, still not sated on ogling any of them, no matter how often.
It didnt help that her outstanding breasts were jiggling in a salivating way with every bit of resistance she took against Eliza. Speaking of Eliza, she was looking like a tasty treat herself. Sure, the blue two-part swimwear she had gone with conversely hid more skin than her usual outfit (without the robe anyway), but that didnt make her thighs and ass any less appealing. Also, something about her shortness just made her so enticing to grab, push down and do things to.
John nced over his shoulder. Its almost eight thirty, can these families please go and throw their spawns into a bed?! he mentallyined, having to work really hard on suppressing an erection over here. Sure, Rave had said she wasnt that enthusiastic about beach sex, but John was more than certain that he could find a way around the sand issue. Or another willing babe among his harem.
Yes, I said I want to try getting into the water, Smander shouted, yet again managing to kick back when her feet touched the clear water. I didnt fucking say I wanted to be shoved into it. Cant I take this at my own pace?!
No, Rave shouted, standing to her knees, a few metres in. A beach ball was spinning with perfect bnce on her index finger. Weve been waiting for 5 minutes now and all ya did was stand there and stare at the water. Get over it already. Ya were more enthusiastic about facing down Lorylim than ya were about this.
Thats two different issues entirely! Smander dered, finally getting Eliza off herself. The blood mage had decided that she was sick of shoving and just stomped around the indecisive fire spirit. One was facing something I had resolved to due to pride and revenge and all of the feeling bullshit. This is like jumping into an ocean of acid!
Undine peeled out of the saltwater. Completely in her element, the pure ocean, cleaned of most human waste, she moved with fluidity and grace that could only be likened to running water. Extending both arms towards her fellow scarred elemental, stretching out of the ocean with her upper body fully formed, she said, Let me take your hand.
The tranquil wave of her voice calmed Smander a little bit, and John happily watched, as she allowed Undine to wrap her fingers around her right. The two of them had a bit of aplicated history between them, but it was all footed in the care they had for each other, a care that was disyed in that very moment.
Do I feel like I am trying to dissolve you? Undine asked, nting her head slightly, the typical mncholic glint in her golden eyes.
No, Smander conceded immediately.
Then be wee to my realm, Sister, the ocean elemental stated and gently pulled Smander forwards. The first step Smander took into the water was apanied by her jumping at the cold feeling around her feet and a hissing of water evaporating on her heated skin. A heat that also affected Undines hands. Do not worry, you have nothing to fear from water. You are much stronger than that.
I know, I know, Smander grumbled, mostly to reassure herself as she took more slow steps. When she was in up to her thighs, she slowed again. The boiling had stopped, brought back under control. Smander took deep breaths as she got used to these odd surroundings. Carefully, John put an arm around her waist.
Come on, you basically got it already, he tried to motivate her further. cing a quick kiss on her lips, he whispered into her elf-like ears, No need to stop now, I know you can do this.
That was thest bit of motivation that Smander needed. Not exactly, or not only, because it was aimed at calming her, but because of how she, as a person, dealt with people trying to help her. Okay, stop, I can do this without yall continuously encouraging me! she dered, herpetitive side triggered.
That so, Sally!? Metra shouted over, the berserker babe grinning as she went ahead and tried the mocking way of encouragement. The initial hurdle done over, that might very well work wonders. Come here then, you sissy piece of shit!
Ill punch you in the face, Mat! Smander dered as the treatment indeed worked perfectly. Taking one more moment to steel herself, the endme elemental then began to wade further, until water spilled around her shapely ass, midriff, and was almost up to her chest by the time she reached the ancient weapon.
The punch to the face was instead exchanged as a semi-serious headbutt between the two tall women. How about you dont waste everyones time next time, you smoking hot piece of ass? Metras half-threat, halfpliment sounded extremely odd to John. They had all of these little internal jokes between them that he knew fairly little about.
How about you stop being such an aggressive cunt, huh?! Smander responded.
Interruption, Beatrice suddenly emerged like a slowly rising submarine next to them, turning her whole body towards them. Youre both wasting further time as of this moment.
SHUT IT, BEATRICE! both of them responded at once.
I will need further specification what I need to shut, Beatrice responded.
Eliza interrupted before anything further could happen. Why THE FUCK are we even in this deep?! she asked, having followed Smander. A whole head shorter, she was dipping her chin in the smooth surface of the water. I thought we were ying some shit.
Which I maintain, I wont be part of, Scarlett stated, swimming nearby. She wasnt particrly great at it, but she had enough experience from pools. I am not having death by beachball on my gravestone because one of you superhumans decided to be a retard about their strength.
You just got to be one with the waaaateeeeeer. Sylph also swam by, but unlike Scarlett, she just had her legs sprawled out and was drifting over the surface like a leaf. Sitting with his front ws on her left breast, like a valiant explorer, Stirwin was looking over the scenery with the best grin a crocodile could muster. The water, Sally, you got to be one with the water.
Ill make you one with the water! Smander backed off Metra and grabbed the thunderstorm elemental by the leg, dragging her under the surface. That she had to go down under herself suddenly became a side issue for the endme elemental. When they surfaced again, steam was rising off Smanders buzzcut.
Sylphs wet hair, on the other hand, was so abundant that it hid most of her face from view. I am blind, help, everything is shaking! Sylph dered, bouncing like a buoy, too confused to control her magical mass in a way that would allow her to either float or swim.
Bwahahaha, Smander found this greatly amusing, right up until a beach ball hit her in the face at over a hundred kilometres per hour. It bounced off, causing her to fall back into the water for a moment. By the time she got back up, furiously looking for the culprit, Rave had caught the ball and was spinning it atop her finger again.
What did we sayst harem meeting? Johns girlfriend warned. Less bullying the Sylph!
Yes, I am adorable, silly Sally shouldnt bully me! Sylph dered her, very expansive, opinion on the matter. I am high-courtesan and mistress of sweet stuff! Bullying me is mean and only big old mean meanies do that and you are most certainly a dumb, mean, meanie bitch Sally!
Distracted as she was from her own cascade of words, the air spirit didnt notice when the beach ball hit her on the head next. We also said less insulting Sally! Rave voiced her second warning.
You do decide a whole lot of stuff on these meetings, the owner of the harem chimed in, John really feeling like he was missing a lot of stuff. Sure, he attended those meetings sometimes, but he had long since decided that it was best that his girls had some time amongst themselves to get things off their chests that he maybe shouldnt be privy too. What did they say about him when he wasnt around, he wondered? Well, given that theyre all still here and happy with me, nothing too bad, he pushed down any potentially self-sabotaging doubts and decided to have fun instead. Anyway, pass it over, Jane! Unless you want to keep hitting people in the head.
It is kinda fun, Rave informed him, but hit the ball over to him at a sensible speed regardless. John hit it back towards her, then headed into a shallower area. He didnt have it as bad as Eliza, but he would have preferred to stand somewhere better. Eliza also tracked up towards the coast, a little further than him, and soon stood rtively close to Sylph. They formed a pretty loose circle and just bounced the ball between them. asionally it got a bit heated, especially when Metra got the opportunity to smash the ball in Beatrices direction.
Take that, you spoiled piece of shit! the berserker babe shouted, smashing the ball so hard John was surprised it didnt explode immediately. The ball flew over to Beatrice, the passive maid using her immense Agility to react properly and bounce it up into the air.
Calling excrement spoiled is redundant, Beatrice retorted, waiting for the ball toe back down to her position at a sensible speed. I also do not contain biological waste. I am purely made from metal and synthetic materials. With that she passed the ball over to Aclysia, leaving Metra to seethe at the fact that she still couldnt get a proper insult in on the passive maid.
Insulting Masters creation is a taboo, Metra, the weaponized maid decidedly stated, gently passing the ball to Gnome. I request you cease further activity on that front.
M-maybe we should all just swear less? Gnome suggested, continuing to hit the ball. While John doubted it was on purpose, the ball fittingly went on to go over to Eliza.
Where it plopped into the water in front of her.
The blood mage was just standing there, arms loosely hanging. Everybody looked worried, the ball had been slow enough for a normal person to hit. For Eliza to not see iting was as impossible as missing a kick directed at a veryrge and very close wall.
Eliza? John asked, carefullying closer but not getting within arms reach. All the people had left by now, it was only them. Which was a very good thing should this all suddenly head south.
Why? the single word passed her lips, and John wasnt quite sure who he was talking to. The tonecked any signs of Elizas unstableness, sudden, violent mood swings were nothing new for the blood mage, but he could at least tell that it was her voice most of the time. By the same token, it had none of that wolfishness that Thanas tone carried.
It sounded weak, confused and deeply troubled. Like a normal human that could not find an answer to something and was just so tired of the nothing that stretched out before them.
She raised her head, and John could see her eyes. 4 dots, 10 lines. Why? she asked again.
Why what, Thana? the Gamer asked, very softly. He was surprised himself that he could speak to the goddess of genocide so calmly. Tell me, I will listen. Silently he hoped that Eliza understood that she shouldnt wrestle control back right now.
Thana cupped some of the clear water in her hand. Why do you continue to be happy? she asked, the clear liquid slowly running down her hand. I dont understand. How can this existence be anything but empty? Every breath you take pollutes the air, every thing you consume, every thing you make, every thing you want, you desire, it all just fuels vices and potential ends. What is there? Why do you continue to be?
Because I am human, Thana, John answered quicker than he thought he could. Wisdom and Charisma mixed into words that he felt confident in saying instinctually. It might very well be that I pollute and that the things I do are bad for me and my surroundings. However, I am also one of the kind of creatures that inhabit this that has the power to do all of these things C and to fix them. So I continue to be happy as I improve the things I can and see other people improve the things I cant. He approached another half step, lowering himself until he kneeled in the ocean and she was looking down at him. Because the alternative is the emptiness you feel right now.
Under the surface, he reached out to her hand. Master, this is a terrible idea! Aclysia cried out to him mentally, a sentiment echoed by Beatrice and all elementals, all except Siena.
Help her, would you? the nightmare elemental stated instead. Despite of how awful the circumstances might be, even though the oue was likely terrible, uncertain at best, Siena encouraged him.
John took hold of her hand and raised it above the surface of the water. It was maybe just wishful thinking, but he didnt get the feeling that Thana would hurt him. Nothing had ever indicated she was a good actress. Hell, she had always disyed her hostile intent openly. Right now, she wasnt even trying to use that killing aura to damage him, much less move.
I know you think I am acting in self-interest, and true enough, I am, he told her, closing both hands around hers. Like Undine had done earlier with Smander, John now needed to pull Thana somewhere ufortable. Just that he had to present to her an idea, which was harder in most ways, particrly since this one was no less opposed to her than fire was to water. But maybe, if you cannot find happiness in your current frame of mind, then it is time to find a new one.
You made me this, Thanamented, not in a threatening or angry way. Indeed, she just sounded hollow, no less tired of this point than the situation as a whole.
Yes, I am partially responsible for you ending up this way, John nodded, wanting to be nothing but honest towards this fledgling humanity he saw before himself. And I would do it again if I had to. Thana, its not my intention to make you suffer, but as long as you fight against the most basic thing I want to protect, lives, I cannot help but push against you. As it so happens, I have won in this. We both know that you can never be the primal force you were born as again.
No I cant
Then do you wish to keep struggling endlessly against a world that will not budge for a goal that you cannot attain? John asked her, his thumbs gently gliding over her skin, hoping to keep her calm. You can continue to do so, but its not going to leave you any happier. Perhaps you should at least try to be human? I know it disgusts you, I know you never thought you could end up this way, I know its all not what you wanted from life. Just, maybe, its time to stop with what you wish to be and start epting what you could be. What do you think of that, Thana?
He never got an answer.
Chapter 629 – Beach Evenings and First free mornings
Chapter 629 C Beach Evenings and First free mornings
Pity, Eliza answered, when John asked her why she let Thana speak up in the first ce. Normally she tries to tear me down or some shit like that, this time she was crawling up to me like some degenerate that. She pointed at a cleaning slime that was going about its work, wrapping itself around a pile of dripping packages. Dripping with the remaining juices of their former content.
A content that was orderly assorted on a stone b table next to a grill they had brought with them. Smander was breathing mes onto the coals, trying to make them burn down to white, hot ash quicker. Come on, the fire spirit whispered to the red flickering, be strong and let me taste steak.
John continued his conversation with Eliza, And what is she doing now? Since the talk earlier, Thana had not said a word. The pretty little psycho had taken back control without any struggle. Afterwards, the beachball game had dissolved and they had gone back to sit on the now empty and dark beach.
11 PM, everyone had scrambled. They were all alone.
Yeah, thats the super fucking weird thing: she has retreated as far away as she can and is just I dont even know, moping? Eliza responded and John stroked his chin. He was tempted to get as touchy with the blood mage as he usually was, now that Thana seemed to be lying the low. There was a risk in that, but not more than there was in what he had done minutes earlier.
However, he still decided to stay his distance because the punishment use was still in effect. It had worked so far, so it was best to be disciplined and not touch her squishy thighs. I prefer contemting, lets not ridicule her when she has been making progress, he told Eliza and brushed a hand through her hair. That much he allowed himself.
Yo, Metra suddenly plopped down on the towel next to him. Been meaning to ask, whats up with that? she tapped against the Lovers Will mark. Gesturing towards Rave and the heart-shaped mark above her crotch, she added, Did ya two decide to get a matching tattoo while ya were gone?
John indeed hadnt fully exined this thing to everyone yet, simply hadnt had the proper opportunity. Not that there was a lot to exin about it. He quickly broke it down for everyone, where it came from, what it did, what he hoped it would evolve to in the future, and all that. The only information he left unsaid was why he picked Rave over anyone else. That bit was so obvious, it needed no stating.
Afterwards, everyone had their curiosity satisfied. I want a ve mark Eliza grumbled reaching down to her crotch and framing the space above her womb between her hands. Right here. That would be so fucking hot Oh fucking fantastic now I made myself horny She punched the sand next to her to distract herself. Still cant fucking orgasm, fucking Thana being a fucking bitch, urrrrghhhh.
John left her to her frustration, just as he looked to Metra for an outlet of his own lust. The idea of giving Eliza some sort of mark struck his own perversions with quite the force. With a grin and no further words, the First of Wrath moved down towards the tent in Johns swimwear. Which disappeared into his inventory immediately and left the tanned, muscr girl to work with his erection.
Salty, sheughed with an erotic smile after taking an initial lick, tasting the sea on her master.
Mhm, Im getting in on this, Rave suddenly decided, approaching John from the front.
Thought you didnt want to do anything on the beach, her boyfriend teased, while already putting a hand on both of their heads.
I didnt want to have sex on the beach, this is totes fine, she responded, and John wasnt going to further question her reason. One, because blowjob, two, because this was EXACTLY the blowjob he wanted now that he was back.
With Raves new tan and Metras general middle-easternplexion, the two of them were as close as tinum blonde and neon pink haired twins as they could get. Blue and green eyes looked up to him as cheeks hollowed around his shaft and kisses showered down on his balls and groin. Dear god, this is good, he gasped when he quickly came the first time, into Metras mouth.
She backed off, once she had wrung every bit she could from him. Leaning towards Rave, the two of them engaged in a kiss, swapping back and forth his massive load, swallowing a bit of it at every turn. Their hands were working in rtively good unison at masturbating John while they were upied that way. It wasnt the perfect synchrony of Aclysia and Beatrice, but it was as close as was reasonable.
I want something tooooooo, Eliza whimpered, having gotten on all fours and looking like a scorned bitch in heat. Havent had any cum in weeeeeeks. Oh fuck, I have be such a whore, its not even funny how much I need that.
But you wont get anything, so sit down and watch, John told her while Metra and Rave started round two of their blowjob.
The rest of the evening was pretty eventless. Fun, for sure, but nothing to really sing home about. They had their barbeque, looked at the stars for a little bit, talked about this or that over the glimmering embers of the fire and eventually packed their things and left. What stone marks Gnome created, they left behind. The cornerstones were necessary and John couldnt imagine that they wouldnt need a ce to change away from prying eyes or a table next time.
Back at home, they took a group shower and John got to properly relieve himself. As could be expected, a group shower easily evolved into an orgy. Something that was perfect to give John the physical exhaustion he needed to drift into a peaceful slumber.
________________________________________________________________________
The Mand Sphere slowly rose from the custom-made socket its stand-in had formerly rested in when John slept. The Gamers awareness slowly rose and, as had be customary by now, the first thing he did was move around the sphere to take a look at his situation. The giant bed he was lying in was one giant cuddle with him at the centre, Rave and Metrayered on top of him.
Im not used to you deciding to sleep with us, John whispered towards the ancient weapon. Like all Artificial Spirits, she didnt require sleep, and unlike Aclysia (and Beatrice to a lesser extent), Metra wasnt somewhat addicted to being around him. Her staying throughout an entire night, rather than patrolling or just moving her body, was therefore quite unusual.
Metra opened her eyes and smirked. All of this, John could only see from above. There was no practical reason to sleep without the contact lenses anymore, since there was no more hygienic risk to keeping them in all the time, but John had kind of gotten used to the darkness. It was a sort of sleeping and awakening ritual now. Not seeing anything was also oddly liberating, especially when he was amidst people he trusted sopletely.
I just felt like it, the First of Wrath answered, taking his chin and initiating Johns first kiss of the day. It was a nice taste, first thing in the morning, strangely metallic but pleasant overall. Another thing about being properly blind was that he felt his tongue swirling around hers so much more than he did in any other situation.
Their make-out stirred the other people in the bed to awaken one by one. Nobody was in a hurry to wake up. There was nothing nned for the day. There wasnt even anything they had to be anticipating a change on. Barring a sudden emergency, John was now off all work as was everyone else around him.
Two more days before I turn 19 John thought, feeling a tad older than that.
A number of morning quickies were followed by another shower, this time less orgy and more actual showering, although it would be a lie to say that nothing lewd was going on. Then, breakfast. To food and chatter, John spoke about his ns for the day.
Sho, he slurred a little bit before swallowing his current bite of marmde covered toast, Im going to meet with Magoi today. About time I get back to grinding, and this seems like the best day. The next day would have worked too, but he didnt want to go into his birthday exhausted from dungeon running and his birthday itself was obviously off-limits. Anybody wants toe with?
The question was directed mostly at Metra and Rave. Scarlett wasnt the type to waste her time in this fashion; she also immediately shook her head, continuing to read news stories on her phone. Eliza was going toe with him whether she wanted to or not, so John could at least supervise her a little bit. The elementals and Artificial Spirits would obviouslye with him.
Both of them denied, which came as a surprise to John at least in his girlfriends case. I gotta n stuffs. She mysteriously waved and winked with a giggle. Want everything to work out as perfectly as it can, if ya catch my drift.
I do, John nodded, once again feeling excitement for his birthday ignite. This was the first time since he was a child that he had felt this way. Being a loner and generally getting older had degraded the value of birthdays tremendously over the years. Now he actually had something to anticipate.
Copernicus could be heard amusedly purring, looking up from his te on the floor. She has to drag a bed into the woods, the sun cat announced, earning himself an annoyed look by Rave and Siena, of all people.
While John was really curious, he didnt want to ruin the surprise for himself, so he kept his mouth shut. Alright so just the usual suspects, John nodded along. His goal was to use the one to ten ratio inside the barrier to get the eyesight problem done with entirely. After a few moments of thought, he added, Would it be easier for you to prepare things if I was gone for two days? Pretty sure I can convince Magoi to give me the extra day
Their agreement was that Magoi would use his powers to help out John once per month. Sincest month had been, well, busy, he hadnt used that offer in June. Magoi being an honourable guy would, with some talking to and grumbling from the High Fateweavers side, likely agree.
If she said yes, he would just use thest day inside the time dted barrier to rx ande out as fresh as ever. That was a lot easier to justify when he lost one out of twenty days instead of one out of ten. Still a waste, but not one quite as awful, and he would get rewarded with potentially bigger surprises.
It would Rave stated, moving her clenched lips left and right as she thought. It looked quite amusing, at least Sylph and Eliza thought so, carefree giggles and mad cackling intertwining into a lightly obnoxious mixture. Luckily it didntst too long. Ill drop in at some point though. Two days away from ya are a bit much.
Noints from my side, John stated and was suddenly assaulted by a couple of windows.
Do I get to try and endure a second round of mind-shattering sex or? John wondered. He was more than willing to try, being a vegetable for a few moments had been worth that particr orgasm, even if he only remembered bits of it from before his brain fried. Generally he was intrigued what she was going to change, though. Mostly what Skills she was going to allow SEP to be used on in the future.
She sounded so nice today, and John wasnt quite sure how he deserved that. Literally everything was going his way right now and it made him immensely suspicious. Whether this Catch-Up Buff would turn out to be useful, time would tell, but he was basically guaranteed to get it.
And there was the dampener for his mood. Urgh, Richard ising over, he informed everyone. Quest I just got says in the morning of my birthday. Ill get some nice rewards for just greeting him at the harbour, with cameras attending
Didnt think that rodent could be ever that useful. Scarletts reaction was the opposite of what John wanted to hear, being confirmation that the Horned Rat was an annoying thing. On his inquisitive re, the Technomancer only shrugged dismissively. Having the birthday of the glorious leader and not using it for PR is a wasted opportunity, so whatever fucking motivates you, works for me.
I could just decline the quest, John dered, hovering his finger above the button. Last time I had a public event with that dick, he essentially told the world to kill me in under a year, if at all.
Do you seriously want to forego the rewards? she asked.
No John sighed and epted that quest as well. 30000 experience were almost two levels for him right now. No idea how that wouldpare after he spent effectively 20 days in Instant Dungeons, but it was free and the GP would be useful for something. I can leave it to you to organize that?
As long as you choke me out good as a reward, Scarlett demanded. Also do yourself the favour and increase Charisma to 100 while youre grinding. Its going to make future things so much easier if you are as smooth as butter on hot bread.
Ill consider it, John stated, the mention of his raised Charisma making him suddenly aware again how much deeper and more pleasant his voice had gotten over time. Maybe I should pick up singing at this point, he joked to himself. He could even try to sing at the fest he was now holding. The reason why that was now happening aside, the Gamers pride did approve of throwing a party to himself.
Can I have some subconscious glee around here? the Gamer thought, saving his finger from the warning snap of Stirwin, who hade sprinting over the table, running lom between the dishes. It would have just been some yful gnawing, even if it hit. John yed with the crocodile a little bit by lowering his finger until he was almost in range and then pulling back before he got bit. Of course, he also epted that quest. He would be insane not to. Two more Guild Perks meant he could fill out an entire category in one go.
And suddenly he had a lot to do for the next few days.
Chapter 630 – Gamer grinds again 1 – Press Any Key to Start
Chapter 630 C Gamer grinds again 1 C Press Any Key to Start
A long sigh reverberated from behind the raptor mask. Magoi reached for the cup of freshly brewed tea that Aclysia had poured him a little bit ago. Throwing a fair chunk of the content between the teeth of dinosaur skull, he somehow drank it, as the exhale of held air soon testified. Why do you do these things to me, John?
The two of them sat in front of the High Fateweavers tower, to the direct west of Johns own home. A simple white table had been carried outside, along with a couple of chairs. Simply a nice ce to spend mornings, when the summer invited to use the sun rather than the artificial light of electronics or magic. Aclysia and Beatrice were standing right and left behind John, as was usual.
Leaning back in his own chair, the Gamer couldnt help but smirk like he had already won the discussion. The tone of the High Fateweaver wasnt directly dismissive, justining about something they both already knew he would agree to. Well, I do need the help, so it seemed to be the sensible thing to ask, you know?
Sensible sensible pah, Magoi mumbled, throwing his arms up in a theatrical fashion. About as sensible as the smartphones you young people keep staring at. Small disys, you need to scroll every three seconds, why dont you just get one of these? He waved around his sturdy newspaper. The ever-updating pages wobbled in the windless warmth of the sun. Proper pages, something to hold onto and look ssy with.
Looking ssy is a necessity I have long since transcended, John dered. I mean, looking ssy is just a way to impress thedies and I have no real need to do that anymore. I have all the girls I could ever need and more.
You didnt ever need more than the one, I would wager, Magoi pointed out, himself a happily monogamous man.
Eeeeeeh, John made a bncing, doubtful gesture with his left hand. If I hadnt gotten my powers, I would have probably been happy with just getting one, but my Libido was always above average. Given my parents and their behaviour yeah. He ended that topic before he could think about it any further.
Magoi was probably rolling his eyes at that moment. Sure, sure, people in the west have confined themselves to one wife for generations, but you are special.
No, I am not, and no, they havent, John returned with a chuckle. All throughout history, men, especially powerful men, have gone ahead and slept with additional women, approved by their wives or not. I made sure everybody engaged with me knew this from the start. I would say that at least puts me above people that cheat on their spouses.
I will concede that much, Magoi agreed; his tone, metallically distorted by his mask, made it clear that he was done with the topic. In the first ce, the High Fateweaver didnt actually have anything against John and his practices. He was just ying devils advocate. Like the Gamer, Magoi was liberally minded. As long as it didnt damage anybody else, one was free to do whatever one pleased. Given that this was the Abyss, the not damage anybody else part was not as widespread as either of them would have liked.
I think I have improved things tremendously in that aspect at least, John thought. Time had flown by and he had been active in America for about 5 months now. What he had enabled with his action had drastically decreased violence in most of the areas he had covered. Since Fusion, like all working states, effectively dered that the military and police forces had a monopoly on violence, people suddenly needed to find other ways to solve their differences.
There still was the odd Abyssal who decided a fireball was a proper response to sses being priced too high, in their opinion, but thew dealt with them pretty swiftly. In general, Fusions police force was moving pretty effectively and swiftly. Not only because they could count on being reinforced by much stronger people if things really went south, but also because many of them were used to so much worse. Most of Johns officers or higher administrators were those that had stood with him during the whole New York conquest. To put it mildly, they had been through a lot since.
So, what exactly do you want? Magoi finally asked, looking at his pocket watch. Reading the time, around 9 AM, he pressed the metal lid back on the chain-bound, golden contraption and slipped it back into his suit pants. Time dtion until midnight tomorrow?
I would actually prefer the full forty-eight hours, the Gamer said, so we would get out on my birthday at around this time. I have a lot of catching up to do. Not the nicest request when you got off vacation so recently, I know.
There have been worse, Magoi dismissed with a wave. Compared to having to administer for you, or teaching even, sitting in a barrier for 20 days isnt that bad. Its just a long time. The High Fateweaver stroked the chin of his mask, which looked a bit silly. Then again, he was a fully-grown man wearing a dinosaur skull and a top hat with a butler uniform making up the rest of the odd outfit. Oddly enough, it was the green bow tie that tied everything together, pun partially intended, at least as far as John was concerned.
This will dy the new IBMA, wont it? John asked. The anchor atop the former Thorne HQ, responsible for creating the category 3 Hudson Barrier, was not a unique device. It was costly to produce, for sure, but by no means impossible. What it was, however, was intensive in time, resources and skilled oversight. The one they had was, measured against any other device of the same design, a hastily put together thing. It would onlyst a few years at best before the steady flow of magic ate away at some of the internal imperfections and gradually transformed them into proper causes of system failure.
A few years was good enough to make a few more, though, and John had immediately requested that Magoi would start with that. As an IBMA was the culmination of basically all Fateweaver enchantment and engineering knowledge put into one device, Magoi was using the creation of the second one as a way to teach his Fateweavers. It was also a good way to seek out who had the talent to seed him in skill, where his son was already supposed to seed him in position.
A level of nepotism that John wasnt entirely fine with. Then again, being the leader of Magus Magi, Fusions Fateweaver education and administration sub-guild, wasnt necessarily a job for the most powerful person. As long as Magnus remainedpetent, something that the overly reliable man clearly was, things should work out just fine. That aside, even if he was only slightly above average himself, Magnus had all the theoretical know-how he ever could have.
Its a real shame that he has all that discipline and determination but none of the talent to properly make use of it, John thought, wondering at the same time whether that sameck of talent had produced those other two characteristics. If I had a way to alleviate that talent problem, then I would have someone truly capable on my hands
Well, yes, by at least those two days, Magoi answered his question. I took my vacation while I had to wait for everyone else to get their runes perfectly done, since they only had to follow instructions for that; the next part is going to be a bit moreplicated. We have to adjust the exact ces of the internal frames, then pour concrete over the baseyer, then do the same for the secondyer and so on.
The frame isnt consistent across all anchors? John asked. He wouldnt get involved in the making himself, but he also would never build a nuclear reactor and appreciated at least knowing somewhat how they worked.
No, you need to adjust for distance to leylines, pre-present barriers, set the strength of ovep protection, maybe program in specific entrance points, all of that, Magoi listed just a few of the things that they could or had to modify, by the sound of it. And I am not leaving all of that to the students without looking over their shoulders the entire time. One mistake and we have to pry open the concrete and thats a massive pain.
John spared himself the question whether or not Magoi could just continue the sses in the time dted barrier. For one, he didnt want a bunch of students running around while he grinded, risking a potential leak about future abilities he might acquire in there. Then there was the nightmare of organizing all of those students to actuallye with them. Letting some of them fall behind on their training would have its own series of inconveniences he didnt want to bother with. Lastly, for the IBMA to be transported in and, after the two days, back out, was also quite the hassle.
Why do you even pour concrete over that thing? John asked instead, remembering the shape of the IBMA they already had. It was a pyramid of stacked arches, with tforms sticking out at the corners and, at the lowest level, along the sides as well. Thirteen tforms in total, eight at the base, four in the middle, and one at the very top, each big enough for one person to stand on. Correct me on this, but concrete isnt magical in any way, so what benefit does it have to encapste the whole thing?
Its precisely because it is not magical in any way that it is useful, Magoi retorted. If we dont inste the individual runes and internal mechanisms, theyre just not going to work the way you want them to. Its kind of like copper wire and making a ma. We also need proper footing in the proper positions to activate it and standing on the raw thing is not advisable. Something might get bent out of shape plus all the holes. The High Fateweaver took another gulp of tea, then jokingly added, At my age, every fall might be myst.
I think youre a bit sturdier than the average grandpa, John dared to suggest.
If only I was a grandpa! Magoiined, and as if on cue, his wife opened a window.
Mabirl must have overheard the conversation from whatever room she was currently in, the living room if John remembered theyout correctly, and decided to chime in. Have you helped Magnus find a wife yet, John? Bing a grandparent is hard when your oldest son decides to spend all of his days working!
Dont you have two daughters as well? John wondered, a rhetorical question, since he had met both of those.
I have a free spirited party addict and a brat, yes! Mabirl shouted back, only half-joking. That was some new information about Stefanie Magus, the middle-child of the family. It exined so much as to why the mother of three knew so well how to handle Rave. Although that woman seemed to have a downright divine level of patience anyway.
Well, I n to go drinking with him sometime soon, maybe something wille of it? John shouted back. Even despite the housewifes own raptor masked, he could feel her warning gaze. Yes, I do swear I am not going to put my own dick between him and anything remotely interested in him.
Good, Mabirl approved with a nod, then closed the window again.
Okay, the Gamer turned back to Magoi with a solemn expression. If SHE was my girl, I would probably stay with just one as well. You have a headstrong wife. Of course, he was joking. Mabirl wasnt that different from Lydia in those aspects and he got the feeling that, in sixty years and three childrenter, the queen of Germany would reach levels of stern unheard of.
I have the best wife, Magoi returned in amused tone, a.k.a. the love of my life, a.k.a. me getting supremely lucky. He finished his tea and then rolled together his newspaper before throwing it into a dimensional pocket. Shall we go then or do you have anything else you need to get done before? Seeing how were wasting ten minutes for every one that passes.
Oh no, do lead the way, John said, and the two of them got up. The I.D. Gate wasnt too far away. Just the little walk to the heart of the ind and then up a few stairs that brought them to the grass covered roof of the star fort on which his proper pce with its semi-gothic aesthetic was resting. They didnt need to get in there, since the I.D. Gate stood on thewn. The three doors in a stone wall looked out of ce.
Regardless, Magoi opened the middle one and both of them stepped into the pitch ck, seemingly endless space behind. The High Fateweaver did something, at his skill level gestures were unnecessary, and the ckness was exchanged with a grassy in as if somebody had simply switched a light on.
Alright, my home, he snapped his fingers and apletely urate replica of his tower appeared. Your home, he snapped again and Johns old house appeared out of nowhere.
Cant you make my new house? John asked with a careless grin.
Sure, but then you dont get the time dtion for the next five days, Magoi responded in a serious non-serious tone. Replicating that huge a building is difficult. Also I will have to freestyle the internal appliances.
Right, I do wonder about that John looked around. How do you get running water and electricity in this ce? Can you just will mana generators into existence?
No, I can just will a connection to the water and electricityworks into existence, Magoi answered. Have you ever seen a fuse box in a barrier?
Yeah, a few times, John nodded, first time had been back at the old arcade, where Jimmy had made it. Then, much more recently, he had witnessed more than a few being installed on the to-be-renamed Savage Ind. You can just replicate those.
No, Magoi denied. But I can get them to work instantly.
How does that work? John wondered, since he had seen the amount of manualbour that had gone into actually making those things.
With preparation, the High Fateweaver reached into his dimensional pocket and pulled aptop out of his dimensional pocket. Without materials, it would be impossible, but if you bring all the necessary parts with you, he put theptop back, then snapped his fingers. Theptop appeared on top of a table, gettingplicated things done isnt thatplicated. You just need to know what is simple enough to create and what is tooplicated to put all that thought into. I have made so many Protected Space fuse boxes in my day, the details are seared into my brain. As long as I bring the necessary metals in myself, I can just install them inside houses I create without much thought.
So, its experience and talent? John summarized.
As most things are, Magoi confirmed and looked at his pocket watch again. John could hear the tiny mechanism for the seconds. It clicked once, then there was a way above usual gap. One to ten, Magoi confirmed, putting the clock back into his pocket. Here are your transitionary gates. As he said that, the squares of light opened as a row along thendscape. Do go ahead and do your thing. Ill be working on my book.
Writing down your biography? John wondered.
Yes, book four, my modern life, Magoi shook his head. I would like to say that you wouldnt believe how much I have gone through in my life, but I think one could write several books about your own adventures, John.
Maybe, the Gamer wondered how long that story would be, just to this point.
Chapter 631 – Gamer grinds again 2 – The first goalpost
Chapter 631 C Gamer grinds again 2 C The first goalpost
And there we go, John thought, having made sure everything inside his temporary quarters were as good as he could make them. That he could onlymunicate through text the next few days was going to be annoying. He could make calls, it would just sound very stretched. Well, there are always recorded messages, he thought as he flew over the short announcement.
He had somewhat mixed feelings about this. It was a straight-up buff to him, most things considered. Being able to buy SEP, even if they were quite costly, was good. Having more Skills he could use them on was also useful. With those new targets, he could now evolve, listing them in their totality: Nightmare, Ocean, Soil, Endme and Thunderstorm elemental summoning, Arcane Echo, Possession, Mana Protection, Shardbound, Mana de, Arcana Strike and Shifting Momentum.
These newly avable evolutions piqued Johns interest quite a bit. What coulde of Shardbound or Mana de, both quite powerful in their own right already? Whatever would follow Arcana Strikes orbital bombardment? Maybe an actual bombardment from orbit, rather than just a hundred metres off the ground? What could Mana Protection be?
However, he was currently looking for an SEP to use on Siena. The Nightmare Elemental had been sitting on Max Skill Level for a while now, which was horribly inefficient. A lot of Skill Levels on her new stage could have been earned already. The change to the strength of the Skill Evolution options scaling with the Skill Level was something John had anticipated for a while now. He was actually surprised it hadnt been that way sooner.
Seemed to be a case of this is supposed to be easy for your starting times that had been left in ce way past its need.
The changes to Artificial Spirit gave him somewhat mixed feelings on this. The Skill was already levelling considerably slower, thanks to the repeats it had gone through, so he was getting Perks at a way slower rate than he once did. Having the Special Perks, the only ones that really mattered in his experience, be reduced from 4 to 2 was pretty harsh. Especially since one of those was supposed to be the Skill Reset choice.
On the other hand, he could now get a Special Perk whenever he had enough superfluous SEP. Thing about that being that SEP were a resource phenomenally limited in supply and rich in other uses. That he could now buy them changed fairly little about that fact. The limitation on when he got to power them up didnt bother John that much, he had bunkered up on AP previously anyway, to spend them whenever he felt he could make some massive gains for Aclysia, Momo or Beatrice, whoever was around at the time.
The reduction of Special Perks aside, this looked all dandy. Who knows, maybe the Special Perks got rebnced to make this all worth it? John theorized with some hope. As much as she could be a total teasing piece of work, Gaia wasnt a monster and she seemed to have some sort of soft spot for him, given that she threw him the asional soft ball or gift, even. Those niceties stopped at reasonable levels, though. There was theoretically nothing stopping Gaia from instantly levelling him to 1000. She just wasnt that nice to him.
She must have looked at him as an entertaining person. He was amusing, watching him do the right thing made her happy and sometimes she could toy with him a little bit to get a kick, or an orgasm, out of it. All of that said, he was just a person and she watched over and was invested in the fates of billions. His powers just gave her an excuse to be more directly involved.
This was Johns analysis of her character anyway. At the end of the day, she was sheer infinite power pushed into the body of a baby, left to grow up as a human but so much more than that. Who knew what sorts of logical conclusions somebody with the power to instantly kill anyone on earth could draw? What sort of information on a cosmic level she might have that John couldnt even grasp?
Thoughts for future me with more rity on the matter, John decided and stretched. Now that the Hotfix was through, he could finally get started. Well, he could have gotten started immediately, this didnt give him any debuffs for a change, but he wanted to getfortable first. Walking through the copy of his house was always nostalgic. All the furniture inside were unblemished copies, moreplicated things likeputers and TVs were missing. The fridge worked though, so that was nice.
For everything else, John had his gamingptop.
Theyout for this week was the standard grinding procedure. Of the 16 to 18 hours he was awake 8 to 10 would be spent grinding, with the remainder being dedicated to rxation and eating. While this did sound pretty wasteful, John really just didnt want to stress himself out too much. He could kick it into high gear for a few days here and there, but it was best if he didnt strain himself unnecessarily.
There was the argument to be made that he should really spend the minimum amount of time eating and sleeping, grinding up to 15 hours each day. While it was true that this would yield the greatest results, John didnt want to live that kind of permanently whipped existence. Yes, being stronger would mean he would have less to fear for his loved ones. Perhaps naively, John opted to live not just the safest but also the most fulfilled life.
If God had to rest on the seventh day, then I can take my afternoons off, he reasoned to himself and opened something he hadnt looked at in a way too long time.
A nice, clean te, courtesy of the levels he had gotten via Achievements after the Small Lake Pact affair had concluded. Felt rather fitting to start there. Gnome spoke up while he was making his choice about which dungeon to pick. M-maybe you should, ehem, she cleared her throat to properly harden her resolve to speak, you know, go for something below your current level for now?
Tsk, Smander clicked her tongue, hovering in a lying position as she waited. We already did that when we were out in Amacat, what John needs now is to challenge himself.
She isnt wrong, John agreed with his fire spirit here. Always interesting to check who was giving the advice he went with on any decision. Usually, each elemental stuck to a certain theme in their advice.
Gnomes being cautiousness, Smander kept to boldness, Siena usually cared about his advancement, Sylph aimed for what was entertaining and Undine counselled him on what it was worth to actually be invested on. Stirwin probably would have given advice simr to Gnome, although more along the lines about what was realistic, not what was secure. If he could talk more than one or two words at a time, that was.
At this point, I just want to get this whole thing done with and that means going beyond what Imfortable with, the Gamer stated in a way that put an end to the discussion before it could really start. That aside, I was never our main fighting power. My defenses are strong enough that, even if things go south, you have enough time to save me. Worst case, Escape Rope is off cooldown, so theres that.
With his lifelinesid out like that, there was no more resistance. Now the question was just what to push himself with. Obviously, he shouldnt go with the Corruption dungeon yet. Not only was getting into a Random category a horrible idea, he also didnt feel ready yet to face even faux-Lorylim. Especially since these faux were of the simted power level that could seriously influence his psyche.
Assault was out for the simple reason that there was pushing himself and then there was asking for failure. Unless he employed the usual tactic of fort building, there was no way running from monsters for hours on end was a good idea. If he did employ the usual tactic, well, then he was sitting around and giving orders most of the time, which was the opposite of the intention here. Waves were out for the same reason, they were just easier Assaults, after all.
Arena was worth a thought, but also discarded rtively quickly. Fighting boss monsters did involve a lot of running, but only in a limited, typically t area. The kind of enemy also dictated how much moving was actually necessary.
Better to have lots of small enemies in a changing or challenging terrain. Siege was also out because of that, given that it was all about making a n of attack around breaking into a stationary thing. It was a step-up from Arena fights, but still not quite as good as the remaining two options. One being Floors and the other being Capture.
Floor was obviously one of the ssics. It involved a lot of moving, numerous enemies of varying strength and a crawl towards a boss. That was just the thing, however, the way to the boss was, more often than not, a crawl. Huge areas of the dungeon had to be explored and that usually was done via walking.
Capture, however, seemed exactly what John wanted right now. The entire thing was about getting an objective and then carrying it back to the point they had spawned at. It was a kind of dungeon he had liked to try and cheese in the past, just aiming at taking out all anti-air measures the dungeon spawned in with and then sending Sylph or Smander to make quick work of the objective. Gaia had quickly taken measures against that, such as lowering the ceiling of the dungeon, giving basically every enemy reliable anti-air tools and other such things.
Anyway, he didnt want to cheese it this time around. Given the generally obstructive, parkour-likeyout of the dungeon, it was already great from a running perspective. That he had to also adapt to enemies while on the move and he had to get in and back out as quickly as possible, all fed into this being the best option for his current predicament.
The only option for Capture was Lizardmen, so that question was answered before it could be asked. Moving into one of the Gates, John immediately spawned the dungeon. There was no need to ready themselves beforehand.
John and his eight familiars suddenly stood in a circr ruin. Withered pirs, covered in vines and moss, framed a cobblestone floor. In the centre of ity a basin of untainted white ster, something like an oversized golf hole at the bottom. Doubtlessly the ce where the objective was to be ced.
Said objective was an orb. Even from where John was standing, he could clearly see it, shining with azure brilliance atop a tall pole. In turn, that pole stood atop a mixture of forest and fortress. Pathways slithered upwards through tall walls and past watchtowers, decorated with tropical trees. The architecture was vaguely Aztec in design, grey and light brown stones. Wooden tforms or barriers had been erected in addition, making the winding path even more of a lom. The whole thing was rather heavily nted as well. It would be a slog, sometimes even a climb, to get up and a contest of bnce back down. Doubtlessly, a number of currently invisible traps also awaited them along the way.
Attempts to go around all of that would be unsessful. Past experiments had shown that an Illusion Barrier wall was around the premises. The only way to get up there was to take the intended path.
That was just thendscape anyway, there were also the enemies. Swarms of Pterodactyls circled over the hill like vultures. On the ground, giant lizardmen and women alike were holdingrge, stone-tipped spears. Save for a cloth wrapped around their groins and golden decorations to their many small horns, they were naked.
Not that this gave John anything to look at. The women didnt have breasts or anything. Since these were eggying specimens, they were quite the opposite of what John, a mammal down to the instincts, expected of the opposite sex. These females were generally two heads taller, bulkier and had a bright red colour, while the males were of a moderate blue. Not to say they were small, the lizardmen were at least two metres each, covered in thick scales that outssed many armours. They were muscr and stood in a hunched over way, enting their short necks.
Lastly, a green type of enemy was rustling around in the underbrush, asionally sticking their heads out before quickly disappearing again. Sometimes they came into view in their entirety, running around, sitting on a watchtower, watching the Gamer and his entourage. They wereparatively tiny creatures, only as tall as a lizardmans knees, that resembled geckoes. Huge eyes, bulgy heads, the only difference seemed to be they had bodies more like monkeys, scales aside.
The typical triumvirate, air-guards, ground-guards, objective-returners, John thought as he looked over everything. The pterodactyls Observe titled them as Razorteeth Divers, the lizardmen were Brocteans and the tiny geckoes were Slerkins. Doubtlessly, the first would harass with dive attacks, while using their sheer numbers to make air attacks unattractive. The Brocteans would be the standard obstructions, trying to stop him from advancing through lethal means. Meanwhile, the Slerkins entire job was to make sure that, should he get the objective, he didnt get too far with it. They would try to wrestle it from him and, should he lose it, carry it back to the origin point. A rather simple dynamic, which by no means meant that it was easy.
The enemies kept watching the group. John doubted they were above sending at least a few people out in a defensive assault. It was just that they wouldnt do anything until anyone left the spawn area. As long as they hadnt crossed the pirs, things wouldnt begin.
Thatyout was the reason why John normally didnt run Captures. Nothing about his toolkit was based on speedy victories. Since Sylph-cheese was out, there was no way they could even get to the objective in five minutes or less. The realistic thing to aim for was 16-30 minutes. If he averaged out at 20 minutes per clearing and ran without pause, that would be 9% per hour, 90% in 10 hours, so not even a guaranteed level up on aplete work day with overtime.
Byparison, Assault gave him a third to half a level for a four-hour stand-off. It wasnt a whole lot more effective, but it was way more reliable and he could always stretch out the timer a little bit further if he wanted to for even greater rewards. Capture would be the unquestionably best way to level up, if he specialized in things like speed and stealth.
All of that aside, he wasnt even going for effectiveness yet.
Chapter 632 – Gamer grinds again 3 – Eyes on the target
Chapter 632 C Gamer grinds again 3 C Eyes on the target
Okay, so heres the strategy, John eximed, once he felt like he had figured everything out. Sylph, Smander, you are going to keep the Razorteeth Divers upied. For this first attempt, I want to see how well I fare with as little obstruction as possible. Gnome, youre going to keep closely behind me. Protect me from attacks from behind and do make the ground more even if I am absolutely stuck. Aclysia, Beatrice, youre going to clear the path ahead of me. Keep the enemies upied, dont aim at killing them. Theyre just going to respawn. Keep Masters Shield ready in case I fall. Undine, youre staying in item form, as per usual. Siena, you protect me if I need to recover, so stay ready for emergencies. Stirwin
He looked at the crocodile hatchling. Stirwin was standing at attention as best as a hand-sized reptile could. With his silver eyes, the light spirit looked back, mouth agape and the fleshy tongue lolling out slightly, like a happy dog.
Sit. Themand was obeyed, although Stirwin didnt get down on his behind like a canine would have. Instead, heid down in his entirety. Given the stubby legs of this form, that was the best he could do anyway.
John just hoped none of the enemies would make it a priority to hunt the crocodile. Stirwins hatchling form was entirely weighted into Endurance, so he could take quite a bit of punishment. Against lizardmen in the level 171 to 175 range, surviving a few stray hits wouldnt really help if he got actually focused though.
One day, Ill have the mana to make you big and strong, John thought, taking his eyes off Stirwin and checking a fewst things. Purgatory was activated, his suit sat tight, Mana Protection was at maximum charge. Thatst thing was particrly important, since it let him make a few mistakes before he had to pay for it with his own mana. A maximum of five, if he had to guess. These lizardmen didnt look like they would do anything short of skewer him.
Still, that meant he could take a pretty fair amount of stabs that would have been lethal for most other people. Bonus points, he didnt even have to protect his vital organs. Aside from the brain, everything he had that was necessary for life had been torn, stabbed or cut at least once in his life so far. With no long-term detriment. Aside from the eyes, of course.
Alright then. John rolled his neck, everyone having assumed their position in the formation. Sylph and Beatrice were right at the edge of the spawn zone. 3 2 1 Lowering his stance, he himself got ready for themand he was about to give. GO!
The group stormed out of the ruins. Immediately, the lizardmen went into action as well. Raising their spears, they drew their arms back, and dozens of the weapons suddenly cut through the air. There was no clear target for them, but the sheer number still made them a threat. Aclysia and Beatrice cut down a few of them mid-flight, the elementals simply dodged. John and Gnome were a little less capable, taking them head-on. Two of them bounced off Mana Protection in a re of arcane blue, chipping a third off the pre-charge.
That would have been one third of my HP bar right there. John couldnt help but feel a tinge of excitement at that. The only two enemies he had fought in thest few weeks that were actually able to hurt him were Jeremiah and Rave. Both of these had been in rather controlled settings. It was odd to feel a sense of happiness about actually being threatened.
The Mand Sphere hovered above John, keeping pace with him and giving him the ability to look around himself. While the actual field of view he had with the sphere only covered about 180 degrees, he could change the direction he was looking at basically instantaneous speeds. Going back and forth too quickly would have a simr blur effect as shaking ones head from side to side, but it still allowed him to keep a birds eye view of the entire surroundings at a high degree of reliability.
Through that, he could see Gnome behind him and how she took one spear to the chest. It buried into her, the impact slowing her for a moment. Calling her sturdy would have been an understatement. As she continued to run, she pulled the spear out as if it was nothing more than a pin stuck in her shoe, and tossed it aside. The rest of the projectiles simply missed them, burrowing into the grass of the small in between the ruins and the hill.
As the lizardmen rearmed from weapon stands standing under their watchtowers, Beatrice fluidly jumped up the first hurdle, a five-metre-tall wall. One leap mid-sprint, and she simplynded on top. A feat Aclysia almost mirrored, running closer, then jumping and stretching her left arm out, her right holding Eclys. Getting a grip on the edge, she pulled herself up. By the time she joined Beatrice, the younger maid had already gotten into a brawl that John could also only see thanks to the Mand Sphere.
John was a fair bit behind. Aclysia and Beatrice both had considerably more Agility than him. Himself being at, all buffs included, 126, he was outssed by Aclysias 215 and absolutely left in the dust by Beatrices 595. Although they all seemed slowpared to the speed devil in the sky, zapping pterodactyls.
John had to jump to the side to not get hit by a falling, electrocuted monster, which scattered into ash-like particles upon impact with the floor. He finally reached the wall and grabbed one of the vines covering it, pulling himself upwards. Propelling himself halfway up the wall with his brawn, he reached upwards with his left. Purgatory failed to get even close to the edge or another vine, but John had aimed for a weak-looking part of the wall anyway.
The dragon-scale grade equipment rammed into the gap in the stone, breaking it open into afortable grip, allowing John to pull himself even further. Looking up, he was suddenly met with the yellow gaze of a female Broctean. Holding a spear that was adjusted for her size, she had no problem stabbing down and actually threatening to reach John. The first attack found him unprepared.
Three highly active Possessions make keeping track of the Mand Sphere harder than I thought, John realized, blinded for a moment by the sh of arcane that rebounded the impact. Something that bothered his opponent more than him, since the Gamer no longer looked through retinas that would stay bothered after the fact.
The second stab he managed to dodge. He had secured a grip with his right hand again, the Undine-glove covered hand tightly closing around another vine. By letting go of the crack, he gave himself the opportunity to twist out of harms way.
He wanted to look up to the enemy, anticipate their next movements. Only one eye obeyed thatmand, the other following the still moving spear tip as it rushed past where his head had been. Quickly, he closed that eye, putting more stock in the Mand Sphere, as he used the internally stored mana of his Extension to conjure a Mana de on it.
1500 MP were transformed into a glowing blue de, which then transformed into a ring as the Mand Sphere started rotating its outeryer at max speed. The whirling death passed by the enemy, cutting them in half in the process, leaving John to climb the rest of the way up.
Beatrice and Aclysia were involved in a skirmish with four other enemies, another two just standing by, simultaneously cutting off their retreat and blocking Johns path for advancement. One of them charged at John once the Gamer was standing on top of the wall. A smart strategy, on the face of it, since he had decided to stand still for the few moments it took to readjust his eyesight.
However, the Gamer had anticipated this response already. Having spent 1500 MP gave him a stack of Shifting Momentum. As the spear came for him, he disappeared in a series of blue, white and purple shes, only to reappear immediately ten metres further down the path. Keeping to the left, wanting to take advantage of the gap the offensive had created while also steering clear of the skirmish, he ran. Behind him, the sound of rumbling earth announced Gnome, raising herself up on a stone tform to easily clear the obstacle.
The second Broctean guard didnt just leave the gap open and ran to intercept John. In this, he opened his back to Beatrice, who suddenly used Twist Position to, just like John, move instantaneously. Her spear found its way into the back of the monsters knee, painting the white de purple with the creatures blood.
This allowed John to advance a little bit unobstructed, but soon the main force of the skirmish moved in his direction. For several seconds, he was forced to stand still, engaging in the dance of attacker and defender with a couple ofrge bi-pedal reptiles. John repeatedly feigned left and right, trying to get the defenders tomit to anything. They just shifted their weight so they could react in time. Either of the Artificial Spirits could have broken up this situation, but this wasnt meant to be an effective clearing but a test for John. As such, they held back from exerting too much influence.
Assaulting them wouldnt have been too easy anyhow. Even here, the ground was sloped. At basically every point along the path, the defenders of the objective would have the high ground. Now John Newman wasnt Anakin Skywalker and the Brocteans sure as hell werent Jedi Masters, but that was still an advantage to keep in mind. For people that were limited on footing, anyway.
John finally went for the strongest distraction he had, charging at the enemies. They took aggressive stances, missing the Mand Sphere that had circled around them. Spending the remaining 500 MP stored inside the Extension plus 1000 of his own, the flying ball once more became a spinning de of doom. John was quite liberal with this spending, as every kill he managed to get this way added a further stack to Whisper of Mana.
The passive didnt get to shine too often, since he got most of his kills with his elementals rather than arcane magic. In this situation of self-reliance, however, it was working wonders. That the restored Mand Sphere allowed him to use Mana de at considerable distances was a sure help as well.
What would have been the certain way into the business ends of two pointy sticks now became the easiest path forward. He passed between the two falling over lizardmen, like through a macabre swing door, and advanced towards the next hurdle. The earth became progressively steeper, until John could no longer run but had to half-crawl, half-climb further.
It wasnt too different from ying in the woods near Springfield, he found. Simply manoeuvring from one graspable obstacle to the next. Except that any imaginary enemies he may have had as an enthusiastic child were now very much real and threatening. Every trap as well, as he found out halfway up the slope.
One root gave away under his hand in a strange way. John felt like his weight pulled something. He tried to put it elsewhere, maybe undo the mechanism, but it was toote. At the top of the slope, numerous stone contraptions suddenly shot out of the dirt. It was a shallow wall, riddled with holes. Holes out of which three salvos of arrows were suddenly loosened.
A surprisingly unthreatening trap. John just moved the Mand Sphere ahead of himself, the projectiles bounced of the whirling Baelementium like nothing. As he made his way up the rest of the slope, Aclysia and Beatrice ended their engagement down below and stormed to arrive at the next location ahead of him.
Something that they, especially Beatrice, did with ease. It made John feel quite slow, although all this destruction was buffing him up, thanks to Purgatory and its own Attributes. Slowly he was getting more Strength and Agility.
This is going to take a while John thought, realizing he had only beaten the first two hurdles. He was maybe a tenth of the way up and the path winded along. Nothing new, just felt a lot different in action. Well, moping about it wont help me. His feet hit the ground again.
Pitfalls, more arrow traps, lizardmen throwing their weapons or weight his way, steep ascensions, climbs and even a little maze. He had to get through all of it, and much to his satisfaction, he felt it actually helped. Which was saying a lot. Usually, growth was noticed after a while, not felt actively. A particr example of this was when an earlier situation repeated: him narrowly dodging a spear by twisting to the side.
While his one eye, again, tracked the tip as the other remained staring forwards, John didnt need to close it this time around. He still had to concentrate on having the lens angle snap back into synchronicity, but he could do so before the enemy had even finished their strike. John ignored the enemy. Something that they retaliated by changing their thrust into a body m. Nothing too threatening to John.
Even though the pre-charge had long since been broken through, John was anything but vulnerable. With now 4 stacks of Whisper of Mana, he was regenerating 5 times the normal amount of MP. In theory, that put him up to 69 mana per second. However, as the sustained costs of elementals and everything scaled with his current regeneration, rather than his base one, that number was brought down by a little over 17. Using all the decimal numbers, he came out at 51,64 mana per second or 3098,83 per minute.
All he needed to do was keep the buff refreshed. To that end, John went through a rhythm of ignoring enemies for 30 seconds and then trying to kill one the next half minute. Refreshing the buff was high priority. Having more mana to spend meant that he could use Shifting Momentum more often and it buffed up his tankiness tremendously.
Just too bad that the cost of Mana Protection isnt counted for Shifting Momentum, John thought. If he could take 1500 mana worth of damage and then immediately teleport ten metres away, that would have made him a lot more versatile in situations he was on the backfoot on. Anyway, he had finally reached the top of the mountain.
Two four metre females were the final hurdle, or would have been if the maids hadnt engaged them already. The enemies were quite tough, but their scales couldnt stand against the high-grade weaponry Aclysia and Beatrice used. The former had an easier time, Mithril cutting through the scales. Not quite as easily as normally, the second-hardest metal in the Abyss, Mithril sunk through most things like a hot knife through butter. Through the scales it was more like a solid chocte bar. Which was to say, there was resistance, but nothing a bit of extra force couldnt solve. Which was exactly why Aclysia was going after her opponent with the cleaver Marath.
Beatrice''s weapon, while also white, wasnt Mithril. However, a spear had the advantage of being designed to puncture through things and puncturing was one of the best ways to handle armour, be it forged or natural. Combined with Beatrices Agility and skills focused around quick movement, she danced around her target, stabbing at the weak joints or aiming to slide the de between ovepping scales.
Regardless of the many injuries the two Broctean females sustained, the moment John passed between them, their attention immediately shifted towards him. One or two standard hits from the smaller males? John could shrug those off quite confidently. Two desperate thrusts at his back by the oversized lizard women? That was just asking for his mana pool to be depleted.
He dived forwards, the Mand Sphere confirming the spears missed, and rolled forwards. The n had been to get right back onto his feet, but as he rose up, he felt a sudden rush of vertigo. His eyes were looking in different directions, he stumbled, then fell t. Immediately, he tried to get up again. Aclysia used the enemys unbnce to unleash a crimson energy wave upon the Brocteans back, killing her instantly.
Beatricecked such a burst option and could only harass her own opponent further as a hissing scream echoed from the Brocteans many-fanged mouth, going for a second stab. It would have connected quite clearly, were it not for Siena, rising out of Johns shadow in a mass of ded tendrils, all connected to her back. They wrapped around the spear, twisted it out of its path, before the nightmare elemental leaped at the monster and gouged out the creatures eyes with her sharp ws.
Thank you, John shared with the shadow spirit, as he used the very same pole that held the objective as help as he got up.
Dont worry, I love to get my hands dirty for you, Siena mused into his mind, before slipping back into his shadow as he grabbed the orb. It was surprisingly heavy and radiated a pleasant warmth. About the size of a football, it was possible to hold it with one hand, but two was just better for security.
As it left the socket, and John immediately began to move, the atmosphere change. Courtesy of all the gecko-like heads that shot out of the underbrush. The Slerkins watched John for a moment, then like a tide of Yoshis, all began moving. John could feel the vibrations in the ground, due to the sheer number of them getting into motion. Around a hundred, that much he was sure of with a simple look through the Mand Sphere.
He conjured a wave of Shardbound, separated it into ten individual crystals, and then shot them out equally spaced in all directions. He didnt even have to aim for every single one to hit something; the Slerkin were all going for him and had no regard for their own security. All they were created for was to secure the shiny thing and put it back in ce.
Every Shardbound hit and instantly killed one Slerkin. The information that they had very little in the way of life force didnt give John much sce. More were already spilling out of the tropical forest surrounding the obstacles. Killing them wasnt an option. Only running was.
John no longer had the luxury to pay attention to other peoples battles. Instead, he was burdened with the task of heading back down everyst slope. What had been exhausting to crawl up was now bing the reason for an ever elerating sprint. Through enemies and over hostile terrain, he moved at breakneck speed. Quite literally, as John found himself unable to keep his view straight.
He had trained running a lot. The faster he moved, the higher the chance that his eyes would get stuck on something individually. Why that was a thing, he didnt know, but that was what he had learned over time. Regardless, what he had practiced was normal back and forth running, usually in the same environment. Right now, he was above his usual top speed, with hundreds of things around him that could be instinctually focused on.
For several moments, he managed to fight back the desynchronization with sheer willpower. Every time one eye threatened to derail, he blinked and immediately got it back on track. Then, he failed, just a little bit, but it was enough to get one step confused. Stumbling over his own feet, he turned into a high velocity projectile of limbs and confusion. Although the steep slope was passed, the general trend was still downwards, so he only picked up more speed.
Several times he rolled over something hard or sharp, chipping off at his HP. Mana Protection shielded him from enemy action, not his own ineptitude. What his fall finally stopped at was the t surface of a wall, which he collided with chin first, causing his neck to rock back with a remarkably disgusting sounding CRACK. For a moment, he couldnt feel anything from his neck down, then Gamers Body kicked in and prevented him from bing a paraplegic permanently.
John shook his head in an effort to recover. Nerve damage is super unpleasant, heined with a mouth full of dirt, opening and closing each eye individually several times until his vision was recalibrated. The ten seconds this took were more than enough for the Slerkin to catch-up to him. At the very least he still had the objective.
The tiny creatures piled onto him, were immediately rejected by Mana Protection, but only to recover and jump at it again. For a moment, John looked at nothing but a disy of, remarkably cute, monsters covering his entire field of view. Stuck between a wall and a swarm of thieves, each of them taking a chunk out of his mana pool, he had no choice but to ask for some help. Gnome, could you help me out here?
Rather than give a stammering answer, the soil elemental let deeds speak. The ground under John suddenly shot up, scattering the assants into several directions, while giving him a boost back into running. He quickly found his footing and then almost lost it again as a trap activated and spewed slippery slime all over the next steep decline in thendscape. Regardless of the fact that he was more sliding than walking, he managed to get down and roll. This time, without nting his face into the dirt on the recovery.
The chase continued with John improvising a lot of his path rather than just follow the one he had taken up. With his superhuman physique, he could simply leap down a number of obstacles. Dropping ten metres reverberated in his legs, sure, but they werent going to break or anything. On the decline, ignoring the winding way was quite possible. Even if the enemies did their best to make his life hell.
That John still had the orb in his arms was nothing short of miraculous by the time he arrived at the foot of the hill. Only the in now separated him from reaching the goal. Not that the Slerkin made this any easier. On the contrary, so close to failure, they seemed to go into a frenzy, doubling their speed and suddenly catching up to John. They jumped and wed at his Mana Protection, exceeding his regeneration by a long shot.
Just once, it wasnt his eyes that made John fall. Instead, the small beasts managed to break through Mana Protection. Several of them grabbed his heel, yanking his left leg backwards. Shit! John thought, so close to the goal. In an effort to get this done without having to call for help, he tossed the sphere forwards. It just needed to hit the bowl; from there it would roll into the endpoint on its own ord.
It was a shoddy toss, hastily done mid fall. As such, it flew through the rim of pirs and bounced. The second it first hit the ground, everyst Slerkin suddenly let go of John and rushed after it. John already felt his heart sink. The objective bounced a second time, then a third, only toe to a halt in a gap between two of the cobblestones that made up the floor. Right at the rim of the endpoint.
John could see it, just sitting there, so close. Wait through what am I seeing that? the Gamer realized that the Mand Sphere was hovering way too high for the perspective he was looking through. Additionally, the perspective was waddling closer to the orb, not the kind of movement the Mand Sphere employed.
Almost unable to believe his eyes, John saw a tiny golden crocodile, that had just been sitting there, turn and boop the sphere with his snout. The Slerkin were quick, very quick, but Stirwin had given the ball the little push it needed to roll down to the endpoint. It vanished down the ck hole at the centre and unleashed an invisible shockwave that transformed everyst monster still in the barrier into scattering particles of dust.
Shiny toy! was all Stirwin had to say.
Chapter 633 – Gamer grinds again 4 – Repeat ad nauseam.
Chapter 633 C Gamer grinds again 4 C Repeat ad nauseam.
In the end, that single run had taken 24 minutes and 9 seconds. Had the Slerkin gotten their hands on the sphere well, Siena would likely have solved that predicament. Regardless, they had managed to get the object to the end location. The 3% experience John got from that was, of course, fairly insignificant. In terms of progress towards his sight, however, it had worked splendidly.
John had stumbled, fallen, lost orientation, and other such things. While each instance was mighty unpleasant, it was also the reason for the exercise. Not to mention the clear improvement that had been made in some fields.
Alright, everybody, were going to take a short break and then go again, he announced, closing the dungeon to remake itter. It was best to let everyone recover first, have Mana Protection top out again, that sort of thing. I want you to protect me a little less next time around. Alright?
Through their actions, Aclysia and Beatrice had minimized his contact with enemy action. Sure, they hadnt blocked all of it, but they could have done way less. The intention here was to gradually increase the difficulty with every run. Although Aclysia didnt like that strategy, she agreed to it. They went back in again a littleter.
And then they went back in again.
And again.
Numerous times, the entire waking morning, they spent repeating that dungeon. Then they went back to the house to eat. Only to return to dungeon running two hourster. For another four to five hours, they went in to the Lizardmen Instant Dungeon. The next day looked exactly the same.
Some runs looked better than others. Generally, their clear time could be described as a negative trend. The less protection John had, the slower he advanced. This waspletely expected. In a run for actual sess, he wouldnt have been the g carrier anyway. What did improve, however, was Johns sight.
By the third day of these repeats, John felt like he had no more problems whatsoever. Gaia seemed to disagree, however, since the quest didnt get fulfilled. Having the second opinion of the supreme deity of the world, John decided to keep going. On the evening of the fifth day, finally, did he get the pop-up.
Fantastic! he eximed, stretching with all due satisfaction. The best news was, of course, that he had beaten the Goal of the Quest itself. However, all of the rewards were a lot more tangible. Taking into ount the two levels he had gotten thanks to all of the dungeon runs, he now had 28 Stat Points to spend. He hadnt so far, because he knew he would get more and spending everything at once was more satisfying. Especially since there was no rush.
Otherwise, a Max ss Level was always good. He would think about using that momentarily, but first, it was Skill Evolution Time. He opened his menu, ready to just go ahead and do it, when he heard something odd.
Could you do me the favour, John, and hold onto that for the moment? Siena asked, causing John to freeze.
He had heard her perfectly well, the words made sense, but the meaning that came out at the end didnt quite make sense. Pardon? he asked furrowing his eyebrows.
I do not want to ascend a Tier right now, the nightmare elemental spelled it out more directly. Her sensual voice spoke in a calm, melodic pattern, she was clearly being earnest about this. Hold back, be a good boy and there is going to be some more satisfaction in it for youter. I promise.
Okay, give me a second, John said, but already dismissed the menu. You, Siena, are deliberately foregoing power for the moment, in order to pursue some sort ofter satisfaction.
Narrowing her eyes, the shadow spirit hissed, Does that displease you?
No, no, he defensively waved his hands. Its just that youre more of the stab first, think of consequencester type. So its kind of unusual. He took a pause. How long are we talking here?
Mhmmm, she half-hummed, half-moaned, I dont think that matters, youre already firm in your decision, arent you?
Well, she was right. John wouldnt use the SEP on her when she was against it. He simply hadnt considered that she could be against it, thus him moving ahead and almost doing it. Since his general stance towards his elementals was to treat them like people, not tools mon sense, as far as he was concerned), forcing a change on any of them would have gone against his values.
Regardless, this did annoy him a little bit. He was just going to hazard a guess and say that this was rted to this bed in the woods surprise Siena had been somewhat nervous about. Which meant he was going to waste about 15 days worth of increased productivity. It was safe to say that a Tier 4 Siena would be more helpful in clearing dungeons. It wasnt going to be some sort of great revolution of their clearing strategy, but even just 5% more efficiency could make a huge difference over any meaningful timeframe.
That and the Skill Levels he could gain in that time. There was one more evolution after that one, after all. Well, I guess I am just going to sit on it then John decided. There was a window for the second Quest, the one for beating Rehab in the current timeframe, but John wanted to get his other affairs sorted before he checked out what the Catch-Up Buff was.
Therefore, it was first time to take a look at his own Stats. 28 points to spend and he had already made the decision to get Charisma to 100, so that was 22 of them gone.
And that was equally unspectacr and very, very interesting. Did that mean he could have a harem of infinite size now? That was what the numbers said, but then again, those were always a reflection of what he could theoretically do, not of the practical reality of things. As such, the limitation was likely not infinity but the number of girls John Newman can talk to regrly.
Still though, Rtionship Slots had been a mechanic he only once had really interacted with, when it dipped into the negative for a few moments, and otherwise just faded into the background. That they werepletely gone now, therefore, wasnt really an impact on his mood.
However, since Charisma now hit 100, he also got two Synergy Perks!
Kind of interesting. Not particrly powerful, but also not the worst. Giving his girls a little bit extra Libido before sex would surely be interesting.
That was a lot more interesting. A bit of bedroom maniption was right up Johns alley. From the way it was worded, he could tell that this wasnt some mind-control shenanigans. It just made it easier to convince those interested in him to see things his way. Something that he wasnt struggling with anyway. If there had been any sinister note to it, he wouldnt have wanted it. At least not without the ability to toggle it. The idea to identally talk someone into something they wouldnt befortable with the next morning didnt ring well with him.
That both of these Perks were somewhat weak didnt bother him. Libido was a vanity Stat anyway, whose solitary Perks were enjoyable enough, and Charisma had such a broad range of base applications that its Perks being rtively weak was pretty justified.
The remaining 6 points wandered into Wisdom. With that Charisma side-track finished, he really wanted to aim at the 500 Perk for MP/sec.
Interesting that the first sexual skill I got is thest Ill max out John thought, scratching his head. Do I use my tongue that little? Well, no, thats out by default, the Skill is at Level 99. I just use itparatively less Given my love of dirty talk and my more sadistic leanings, I guess that makes sense. He stopped in his thoughts for a moment. Dear Lord that sounded cringy. I should stop analysing my sexual habits like its a strategy guide.
The much better question was what to use that Max ss Level on. The choices he found sensible were Lover Boy, Puppeteer and Unfound. The middle was the most obvious choice. sses clearly provided stronger perks in the higher levels and Puppeteer was already at 4. Plus, further upgrading his Extension, given how useful the Mand Sphere was, couldnt be wrong.
Lover Boy was also already at level 3 and John was really interested in where Lovers Will would go. However, he had to admit that this wasnt the smart choice.
Unfound was the new ss he had gotten for being blind, essentially. It was at level 0, which conversely made it extra juicy to get a first level into. Every ss had a number of bonuses, usually 3, only one of which stuck around when it wasnt the active ss. John, most of the time, kept to Elementalist, since that provided Stat bonuses to all 6 elementals when active. Levelling Unfound would allow him to find out which one was its sticking bonus.
Puppeteer and Unfound were the reasonable things to invest in. Ultimately, he decided to go with Puppeteer. Yes, Unfound tickled his fancy immensely, but he had restored his eyesight to normal levels now, so getting a stand-in wasnt as important. Of course, it was easy to state that it would have been wise to be able to see more than others, but was it really wiser than investing into something he knew made him stronger?
John doubted it.
Alright, Puppeteer if I remember correctly Yup. John switched to the ss and found he had already gone through the motions of getting it ready for the next ss Level. Wasnt that difficult when he was always running around with at least three Possessions active.
Well, thats boring, John thought. Those were the exact same choices he had gottenst time, except Polishing 1 had been reced with Polishing 2. Overwrite was pretty useless still. He rarely encountered situations where that would even be useful. Most of the time he brought his own possessable objects. Plus, now that he needed to touch things to use the Skill, it was even less useful.
Golem Creation was good in theory, but John didnt really need more things to dump mana into and crowded the battlefield further. Maybe he would go for it down the line regardless, but not right now.
Making his Extension even better was basically a no-brainer. Usually, he equipped it with Mana de and Mana Protection, since those were the best spells to boost offensive and defensive capabilities of the Mand Sphere. As a third spell, Arcane Echo sounded quite good. Also having more mana saved up was always useful. It was boring, but it was an easy choice.
Now, onto that Buff, he decided and opened the second Quest window.
Thats so nice of her, John thought, seriously feeling like everything was getting back on track. Which also awoke the counter-feeling that things had to fall apart again, in some capacity, in the not-too-distant future. Before I go and get stuck on either of these, lets actually see what this does.
To call that insane was nothing short of urate. The buff was pretty longsting, persisting right up until his birthday. He would have 15 days to take proper advantage of this, which was more than enough time. While the best part for him, doubtlessly, was the EXP gain being increased to twice the usual amount, the entire array of other rewards was nothing to be sneezed at either. John still had a bunch of Equipment Slots that were filled with temporary or second-rate items. To be precise, his Head, Chest, Underwear, Legs, Feet and essory Slots all could use something more useful. The only thing that might stay on were the Perma Lenses and Helbrechts Soulpotion. However, the former were very much a stand-in for something better that he could buy down the line and the Soulpotion hadrgely lost its use at this point. Giving the experience it could save to Rave was like dropping water on a hot stove. Okay, it wasnt quite that dramatic, but it didnt provide easy level-ups for those around him anymore.
Nia or Lydia could have profited from it a bit more, but neither of them were around. Whenever he had the chance, John had instead given some of the boosting concoction to Magnus, but he was already at the edge of his potential, so it did fairly little.
So, there was a lot of loot he could potentially use. Aside from him, Beatrice could always use a better spear. It wasnt that her current one was bad, the Deathmetal Spear was quite powerful, but it fell short whenpared to Aclysia and her Mithril weaponry. Well, if there is no proper drop for her, I think I could just buy her something once this is done the Gamer thought, Quadruple money should get my finances right back up there maybe I can even announce a tax break at my birthday festival. Thatd surely lift the mood.
Master? Aclysia carefully asked when John had been lost in thought for a while. They were just standing in the darkness of an undefined Illusion Barrier. Have you made a decision?
Im having a bit of trouble right now, he admitted, torn between two paths forwards. Originally, he had just wanted to go back to grinding Assaults, as he had always done. However, the bonus experience for higher level enemies did make him hesitate. There was one Instant Dungeon, a very special one, that was guaranteed to give the highest return on time investment here. The enemies there were much higher level than them and the bosses were said to have absolutely fantastic loot. Multiplying the experience, they got by another figure and getting more of the best loot in the game, yeah, that sounded like the path forwards.
Thus, John made the decision.
Chapter 634 – Gamer grinds again 5 – Time to Raid
Chapter 634 C Gamer grinds again 5 C Time to Raid
It had been a long time since John had first opened the Raid. A lot of things I recently did Ist did a long time ago, the Gamer realized. Not surprising in any way. Before them was a mountain, rising over the border of a murky swamp. Its front had a massive stone formation, partially natural, partly shaped, that depicted the skull of a toothed dragon.
The swamp itself was filled with exactly nothing. John didnt even know how far it stretched. It was a fair assumption that much of it was useless scenery. Not like that knowledge would do him any good. No, wait why wouldnt that do me any good? he asked himself. Instant Dungeons are game-like not carbon copies of every singlest game mechanic. There is no reason to assume the enemies are tethered to their spawn points. Even if they are, they probably wont regenerate instantly when running back.
John hadnt too often tried to kite bosses outside of their boss rooms, if they even had any. There just never had been a reason to try or it had been simply impossible. A lot of bosses had a tendency to be a lot bigger than the doors that led to them. Or the arenas were sealed off in some fashion.
There was a saying John had heard from a raid leader in World of Warcraft once: Everything that can be kited will be kited. A good and proper stance to have, particrly in the game where there were guaranteed threat mechanics and spells were usually cast on target. In the world of reality, kiting actually presented numerous issues.
For a start, real world enemies were rarely stupid enough to tunnel vision on one enemy. That much was obvious. The furtherplications actually came when kiting was sessful. Hitting a running enemy sounded pretty easy, but speed tended to be inconsistent, depending on obstacles. Should Smander, for example, decide to throw a massive fireball, it could hit, best oue, miss, a waste of mana, or she could even aim too far ahead of the enemies path and hit the person kiting. That was just one person throwing a spell. Melee was even more difficult, especially if the target and the kiting person were among the fastest in the raid.
So kiting as it was known from video games wasnt quite realistic in most real-world scenarios. However, there were parts of it that were easily copyable. First, luring the enemy into a position more advantageous for the chased party. Secondly, hit and run left even real enemies confused and often unable to respond properly.
John had rarely employed these tactics in the past because they were straight-up unnecessary. Bosses he fought were designed to be kible. As long as he didnt underestimate them, stayed cautious and nned for their abilities, ying within the frame of the boss arena had been perfectly functionable. The biggest drawback to kiting, regardless of video games or reality, was that it took longer to kill an opponent by letting them chase you around for a while. John usually valued his time over his security.
With these enemies, that was a bit of a different story. He could easily recall the one they had met. A Dragonkin, a four-legged creature not unlike a centaur in body-structure, but less influenced by a human and more of a proper dragon. Just the shape of the torso had really reminded him of a man, the head had been clearly reptilian.
The first time around, it had established its dominance quite clearly, taking one medium wound while treating both Gnome and Aclysia like bowling pins. What had ultimately gotten John to retreat was the threat of a second oneing their way.
That thing was immensely tall, thick and likely quite heavy. Perhaps fighting it in the swamp wouldnt be the worst idea. Especially if John couldy some groundwork first. It would limit its mobility worse than theirs, hopefully, while reducing the risk of a second one noticing themotion. The additional enemy may notice that itsrade was missing, however.
Alright, information gathering time, he thought and sent out the elementals. First order of action was to find out the size of the actual swamp. The answer measured it at quite small. A mere one-hundred by one-hundred metres, with the ceiling of the Illusion Barrier being lower than the mountain peaks. Not a whole lot of area to y around with when fighting an enemy with about ten metres of reach with his weapon (John just assumed that first Dragonkin to be the same and male).
Anyway, there was no way to get above the actual insides of the dungeon, so that was interesting. John may have copsed the mountain on top of all inside enemies if he thought that was an option. However, he had his doubts that such a magic manoeuvre would go without Gaia immediately patching the thing. More than likely, she had already wizened up to the Gamer pulling stunts like that. Even if she hadnt put some protection in ce, John doubted a few tons of mountain rubble were enough to kill the Dragonkin and the so-far unseen dragon. Worst case, they would permanently have angered every single enemy inside, while levelling the field, causing them to all attack as one whenever they entered the Raid.
Which would have made it unclearable until they out levelled it by a significant margin.
Definitely not worth the risk. Especially since the dungeon limitations meant that he had to be inside (or Gnome had to be, rather) to do it effectively. Although its worth an analysis whether changes we make to the dungeon even persist, John thought. Even if they tore down the mountain, it might be that it was simply restored once he came back.
So, that was the second order of information gathering. John had Gnome uproot one of the mangroves standing around. Then he had her create a stone tform to stand on firmly in the up and down wavy wetness of the swamp. Lastly, he had her create arge hole, which quickly filled with water. Additionally to all this, he used Combination between Gnome and Undine to create Nadine.
She was one of his most used Combinations, even though she was only moderately useful inbat scenarios. A girl of a retracted personality and a beauty that could be expected whenbining two already gorgeous women into one, the green-haired nt elemental was mainly servicing him when it came to creating gardens and the like. When fighting, her main strength was restriction.
He only needed her for a little thing, namely growing some trees that werent native to the area. To that end, he always carried a ss full of apple seeds in his inventory. The intent between these changes was to see if things got fixed and, if yes, what did. The uprooted tree was damage to thendscape, the teau and hole different kinds ofndscape maniptions and the apple trees were for introducing entirely new things into the barrier.
They exited, John counted down from ten, and then went back in. The uprooted mangrove was still uprooted, the teau and the hole were both still there, but the apple trees were gone. So I can manipte thendscape that is already here, but new things introduced wont stick around, the Gamer analysed. That knowledge wasnt immediately useful, but more information was always better than less. It also confirmed that, if he were to blow up the mountain, it would stay blown up. Now, to use all of that to my advantage.
First off, they had to modify the swamp. Right now, it was all nice and swampy, with murky water and soft, yielding mud underneath. The depth was wildly inconsistent, as Undine scouted out for him. It was something that he couldnt discern with the naked eye. At some points, the water went up to three metres deep, apparently. While many or most of these things were of greatest disadvantage to the Dragonkin, it wasnt like John or his elementals couldnt be hindered by these things.
Only once he had optimized everything to his liking, did John send Sylph into the proper raid area. Remember, your job is only to annoy one enemy into following you, John told her, stomping the remaining mud off his shoes, as he now stood on a stone tform. Get him and thene straight back to me.
Roger, roger, her response was a robotic imitation. I will not do the proper fighting and only do the annoying zapping and then, when he is all up and chasing me, I wille straight back to you for reward cuddles. I want all the reward cuddles! I want to be cuddled by you front and Gnome back, for maximumfy cuddles!
I guess we can arrange something? John responded mentally as the pale blue streak of electricity weaved into the raid. The teeth of the dragon sank into the ground when she approached, giving easy ess to the inside. A waft of hot air carried with it the smell of sulphur, rolling over thendscape. John made sure everyone was in position again.
Gnome and Aclysia were left and right of the entrance area. Smander and the Mand Sphere hung in the air above, the endme elemental much closer to the mountain. Beatrice and Siena were standing on an almost invisible pathway in the water. Awork of stone paths, twenty centimetres under the surface. The nightmare elemental was clearly annoyed about getting her feet dirty. Undine was, for a change, not on Johns hand but in the water instead. She was more valuable as information gathering in this environment than she was for the potential heals. Instead, John had equipped Stirwin. The usefulness of this was questionable, but there was no harm in it either. Himself, he was standing on a stone tform about fifty metres away from the dragon-maw entrance.
Everyone was ready, following Sylphs vision andmentary of the matter. Be it through their own connections with her or, in the Artificial Spirits case, utilizing their connection to John to look through her eyes by proxy.
Alright, I am in, and its hot, and there isva left and right of me, inside some sort of stone basins, and it looks waaaaayyyy hotter than regrva, so that makes it super hot, I guess? So thats hot, yeah, super-hot, like, Smanders body hot and I dont mean her body temperature, I mean her big old funbags, cause she has biggy itty titty bits. Uh, uh, there is something moving, wow, yeah, thats a big guy, thats the big guy, Dragonkin sighted, repeat, Dragonkin sighted!
It was the same Dragonkin as before. The towering, dark-scaled creature was unmistakable thanks to the gash in the scales of his right shoulder. While the original wound had healed, a scar remained. Interesting, John thought as he took note of this. Due to the length of time between now and hisst visit, it was impossible to say whether the healing had taken ce instantly or over an appropriate amount of time. A rather important detail.
Since damage on enemies stayed between visits, they could whittle them down through tactical retreats from the barrier. Creating a giant wound through somewhat reckless tactics, then leaving the barrier, entering once they had all recovered, to an enemy still bleeding or hurt would have been quite effective. Another limiting factor to this was how practical it was to actually leave the barrier, since the out-ofbat condition was harder to fulfil than it may sound like.
He would have to look into thister. For now, this first fight had to be gotten through. Sylph threw a lightning bolt at the Dragonkin, not that it was necessary to get the creatures attention. A warning hiss was followed by a swing of the massive ive, but even for the level 250 Elite monster, Sylph was too small and nimble a target to hit easily. Which must have been why it opted for a fire breath as its next attack. Area of effect always proved more effective against targets like the thunderstorm elemental.
Now, Sylph wasnt the smartest elemental around, but even she understood that. Upon noticing the Dragonkins chest expanding with air, Sylph darted deeper into the cave, behind her enemy. It may have been the opposite of her order, but it was definitely the right call. Or would have been, rather, if this didnt cause her to run into a second Dragonkin.
This one seemed female, the outline of breasts still apparent on the human torso that was attached to the lizard-like body, overall leaner than her male counterpart. She clutched a staff in one hand and raised the other in a slow motion. Balls ofva from the basins along the tunnel walls rose in ordance, then flew as a unified wall towards Sylphs new position.
I am in the big troubles! the thunderstorm elemental reported, as the fire breath still covered her way back. The wall of molten rock was so wide, it was guaranteed to also hit the male Dragonkin, but John could already ount for them being immune to all things fire rted, or at least resistant to a degree where any damage was too miniscule.
TELEPORT, NOW! Johnmanded, and Sylph obeyed just in time, popping up next to him, mumbling, So thats a three-day cooldown spent, while stroking his chin in a thoughtful matter.
Sawryyyyyy, Sylph apologized with a very odd pronunciation and John pat her tiny head with one finger.
Dont worry, trial and error are standard for a Raid, he assured her and thought about the next best strategy. The enemies inside showed no intention ofing out, just because they had encountered an intruder. That was assuring in some ways, but annoying in others. Do I just send Sylph in again? No, she made the optimal decision in dodging behind the breath attack, so she would just end up in the same situation. Well, if she zapped the Dragonkin faster and immediately retreated that might work, but the margin of error is too small for my liking. Aclysia? She is fire immune, but a bit too slow Beatrice then? She has Elemental Resistance 7, so that should keep the worst from happening. Plus, she has good health regen. Counterpoint is that she dies permanently, unlike Sylph but she still has her teleport, so we can try and get out rtively scot-free.
The decision made, the passive maid walked in front of the entrance, but before she tried, Gnome had to make some more adjustments to their walkways. Unlike Sylph, Beatrice couldnt just fly over the deep parts of the swamp to get to John, a direct path had to beid. That done, she moved in.
The Dragonkin reacted in the exact same way to this second invader as he had to the first one. First, he attempted an attack with his massive ive. While that was almost sessful, at least measured against the perfect dodge Sylph had executed, it still missed. The breath attack that followed immediately after was, however, interrupted. Beatrice didnt feel like just taking such an attack.
John was in her thoughts as it happened, and it was rather interesting to watch herpute through several routes and deciding that the best way to avoid damage was to attack. It was a process that happened much slower than such a kind of analysis inbat situation demanded against stronger opponents.
The consequence of which was that she got doused in a first wave of mes. Something that she could have avoided, had she only made her decision faster. Her attack was as simple as it was logical, grabbing her spear as far down as possible to maximize reach and then thrusting at the Dragonkins lower jaw, utilizing Unsteady Limb to make it as quick as possible. The de scratched over the scales, cutting only a few centimetres deep, but the impact was enough to force the mouth closed, making the fire a harmless torrent, flickering out between clenched teeth.
If she had been as quick with her mind as she had been with her motions, or at least several times faster than she had disyed in that moment, she would have been able to avoid taking any damage whatsoever. Ill raise her Wisdom and Intelligence in the near future, John decided.
He could start working on that pretty soon, since he still had a load of Stat points for them to distribute in theory. They were still several levels behind him, but the Gamer didnt have strong enough items to feed to their Consumption mechanics recently, keeping them from catching up to him as the ceiling rose, being Johns own level.
The more pressing question was how much damage Beatrice had taken and the answer was: a decent amount. 300 Health Points were gone, just from the start of the breath attack. She still had 2000 more though and regenerated 13 per second. There was no need to be overly concerned. Although this meant that it would have dealt 1000 damage had she not had her Elemental Resistance. That was a much scarier thought.
The attack had definitely seeded in angering the Dragonkin either way, and Beatrice turned to run. Immediately upon losing sight of her opponent, she used Twist Position to move a metre diagonally forwards in something that was a mixture of teleporting and dashing. The decision to not go straight-ahead was what saved her as the Dragonkin mmed his weapon down in its entire, several metre length. Even getting hit by the shaft would have been lethal, as it would surely have exposed her to a follow-up attack.
Beatrice didnt make that judgement blindly, though. John had sent the Mand Sphere after her to give her a secondary point of view even as she retreated at full force. Essentially, he was giving her tail-vision, which was quite useful when running from a colossal lizard centaur. It also confirmed to John that the female Dragonkin around the corner didnt move, at least not yet. She must have been waiting for the fighting sounds to grow more urgent or for someone to enter her own field of view. Either of these worked, at least theoretically, in Johns favour.
Now to find out whether all of this preparation was actually worth the time, John thought as Beatrice headed for the entrance. It was still entirely possible that the Dragonkin wouldnt leave the dungeon, even if it was to chase an enemy. Given what he had learned about them being permanently wounded, that could be abused in its own way though, so he would be happy with whatever happened.
Beatrice ran past the withdrawn stone teeth, and the Dragonkin let out an angry roar as he, with surprising grace, cut the corner. All four legs trampled over the floor, gaining speed down the stone slope. Then, he slowed down. John anticipated that this was the point at which the enemy would turn around. No, he didnt. He had just noticed the swamp in front of him and didnt want to storm into it at the speed of a car on the highway. At least, not until he saw Beatrice just run straight through water and towards Johns position.
Much to the Gamers glee, the Dragonkin drew the wrong conclusion, thinking the water to be shallow, and elerated again. This monster seemed quite rash in his decision making, not even stopping to look around, putting one foot into the water and immediate losing his footing as he mmed down expecting solid ground, to find only water.
The pathways that John had Gnome create under the surface were almost invisible and, more importantly, only half a metre wide. For a quadrupedal creature of the Dragonkins size, the way was narrower than the distance between his legs alone. He couldnt chase down that path even if he knew exactly where it ran along.
Carried by momentum, the second front leg also mmed into the water. The Dragonkin reacted correctly by mming the tip of his ive into the path that he knew was there to prevent himself from slumping further. An explosion of steam urred as the heat enchantment on the weapon caused the surrounding water to boil instantly. Left to his own, the monster would have seeded in stemming himself back ontond, his hindlegs desperately securing his position.
Hindlegs that were now quite the obvious weak spot, open to attacks from the two Strength focused members of the party. Aclysia and Gnome, moving from their tactical position at the sides of the entrance, stormed forwards. Ramming into the legs with sword and heavy body, they shoved the Dragonkin the rest of the way forwards. It screamed in panic, for a moment just on its belly, lying on the pathway. Then a wave of water hit from the left, Undine having gathered strength for a moment like this, causing the Dragonkin to tumble into the deepened swamp water.
The rest of the fight was unspectacr. The Dragonkin tried to get back ontond, thrashing around, trying to grab something. Whenever he did. Gnome would either transform whatever he grabbed into mud or she would simply stomp and punch the hand until the Dragonkin let go. If that didnt work, Aclysia could always sh at it. The water level visibly decayed with time, the Dragonkins body heat and weapon enchantment boiling much of it away, but that didnt really matter. At the very least, it wasnt quick enough to solve the monsters predicament before a rain of attack spells by John and Sylph ended his life, with an asional punch by Smander against the fire immune enemy mixed in.
It was a thoroughly dirty victory. The Dragonkin held onto dear life for quite some time. He was clearly strong, terrifyingly so, but brought into a position where he couldnt utilize that strength, he might as well have been target practice. Once it was clear that he was unable to get out, though, John ended him by using Arcana Strike. Throwing the utterly destructive spell against an immobile swamp-victim was definitely unfair. Though, that didnt lessen the rewards whatsoever.
John could only smile at the ridiculousness of all that.
Chapter 635 – Gamer grinds again 6 – Slow and Steady
Chapter 635 C Gamer grinds again 6 C Slow and Steady
Alright, lets keep this fucking ball rolling! Smander screamed, feeling her power surge as the levels rolled up into her summoner.
The very same had to curb her enthusiasm. Nope, this is where we step off the gas pedal for a moment, he told her, and everyone gathered on the stone tform, with the exception of Undine who was watching from the water, looked to him for an exnation. Although a few already got the general logic. Look, I just jumped to level 184, he said, as he dumped the 42 points into Wisdom, to no special effect. There is a new ss Level avable. Were going to get that done first.
Why though, that went perfectly! Smanderined. You got six fucking levels out of it, you just said that, we should keep pressing and get you even more, thats going to be even more helpful!
Because this wont work for the next enemy, he gestured at the swamp trap they had built. We already know that female Dragonkin further down the tunnel is a mage of some sorts. She wont have any reason to follow into melee range. This is a Raid, Smander, we need to proceed with caution and treat every mob along the way with the respect we would reserve for a boss normally. Well abuse the shit out of this Instant Dungeon where possible, but we have to figure out what is possible on a case by case basis. One mistake and, well, its death or cooldown usage.
So, we should get working on prodding for the weaknesses right the fuck now, the endme elemental insisted.
No, first we should maximize the tools we have, he held against her. We are not in any particr hurry, Smander. We still have over 14 days. Also, you can expect the enemies to drop the amount of levels they give pretty quickly. Every level less difference between them and me means a lot less experience. It reduces both the amount of experience I get and the bonus factor.
Thatst bit was based on a lot of assumptions, since John wasnt in the know how exactly Gaia arrived at her reward numbers. For Achievements it was obviously whatever she felt like, for monsters there was some sort of form. Although John was going to guess that the bonus for beating something above his level had some sort of diminishing returns on it to prevent him from jumping like 40 levels if he was tangentially rted to the death of a level 600 individual.
While that did prevent him from explosive growth in such cases, it also meant that the experience reward for the Dragonkin would only diminish noticeably once he properly approached their level. In other words, he was likely to get 3-4 levels for the next few kills as well, but then he would hit some sort of soft ceiling and it would suddenly diminish to reasonable levels.
Fine, have it your way, I guess, Smander snapped at him, crossing her arms under her breasts. Although she let out an annoyed click of her tongue and looked to the side, John couldnt help but feel rewarded when she pushed her massive boobs up with her forearms.
Not quite time for a sex break yet, he warned himself, before the enticing sight of his fire spirit could properly ignite his desires. Source of Satisfaction made it a bit easier to keep his head calm in most situations, but once the switch was flipped and the Libido debuff reversed into a Libido buff of the same strength, it was quite difficult to just walk away. Dont be like that, Smander, John tried to soothe her, not wanting her to pout regardless.
He walked over and gave her a loving kiss on the left cheek, right on top of a number of ck lines that ran over her red skin. Dont be like what?! she hissed back, evidently annoyed with the current situation, the lines ring up with gold and heat, just as a few mes flickered up from her buzzcut, making her hair appear a bit longer at the top of her head for a moment.
Like that, he kept his voice soothing and deep. Come on, look at me. She nced at him out of the corner of her ck eye. John wasnt satisfied with that, so he took her by the chin and turned her head slowly. Although she wasnt ying along, she didnt resist either, until the golden and ck irises of her left and right eye were both focused on him. Do you trust me, Smander? he asked.
Of course, I do; doesnt mean everything you do is the smartest thing ever, she immediately shot at him before he could make any sort of point, pping his hand off her chin. Without taking any insult, he moved it up to her left cheek.
I absolutely agree with that, I would be surprised if even half of what I do is the smartest thing ever, he said, knowing full well that implied that at least some of the things he did were in that category. He did actually believe that much and he had good reason to take that much pride in his actions. A different question then. He still kept his voice level and deep, trying to do nothing but reach Smander with his intent. Do you love me?
The slightly taller endme elemental seemed to heat up again under his hand, but it was a different kind of warmth this time. Yes, I do, you moron, what does this have to do with anything?! she growled, leaning towards him until their foreheads collided. It was a somewhatpetitive gesture. Dont make this weird.
John simply held his ground against her, not intending to push back more than necessary to aplish that. I know that you want the best for me, even if youre being aggressive about it, he told her and suddenly pulled her into a right and proper kiss. Smanders eyes widened in surprise, but she let him do as he pleased, even moved yearningly after him when they separated again. And I know you love the part of me that takes bold action the most, but we have to be smart about these things, okay? I am not harming any of you more than I have to, you are too dear to me for that.
The endme elementals rage had melted away now. Against Johns newly raised charm and the honesty of his words, her issue with taking a detour on their path to victory was nothing. Mother Fire, I do love you, Smander gasped. Their foreheads touched again, but in a gentle manner. I love you even more than I thought possible, despite all the things you did for me particrly that one thing
She was talking about the events that apanied her ascension to Tier 4, of course, and the intentional disaster that had been. No more words were necessary to talk about that, lessons had been learned from that foolishness already. All that John wanted to remind her of was that she was dear enough to him that he would go along with her wishes, even if he thought them to be ludicrous, as long as it was truly important to her. That he would stick by her in the darkest time.
Before John knew it, their minds were synchronized perfectly around that mutual love for each other. Then, suddenly, Undine too was inside the mix. Two elementals in perfect sync with him at the same time. A part of him remembered the Elementalist ss Quest. Just one more elemental in the mix and he wouldplete it, allowing him to finally gain the 5-type Combinations and
It was that same part, be it its greed or matter-of-fact attitude, that unravelled their unison. For a moment, John was confused that there were only his thoughts in his head, then he remembered that this was the way it was supposed to be. Those thoughts felt a bit lonely on their own, but even though the end had been a bit abrupt, he also felt more fulfilled than ever. It felt a bit like separating from Rave for the night in the first days of their dating, when they still had slept at separate ces sometimes. He was less alone in the world, but he also felt that loneliness more intensely now. An odd dichotomy.
Fine, have it your way, Smander repeated her initial statement, but now her tone was soft in a way that it almost never was. Also, stop calling me Smander, its way too long. Sally is fine.
Yeah! Sylph exploded onto the scene from the right side of Johns view, dropped that single word, bounced off Smanders breast and immediately exited again to the left of her summoner. The Gamer couldnt help butugh out loud at that particr disy of the air spiritsck ofmon sense.
They left the barrier thereafter, and John changed to Puppeteer. He hadnt even started working at the next ss Level yet, so he knew this was going to take a few hours at minimum. These particr ss Challenges were rather interesting though. They were all focused on the Mand Sphere and his handling of it.
The first one opened him a special barrier that had a number of rings in the sky. His job was to fly through all of them with the Mand Sphere in a set amount of time. At the face of it, a rather easy task, but it was well-designed to be quite difficult. He had to use the hovering enchantments capability for bursts of speed through mana injection to cut corners several times. There was no dictated order either, so he had to use spatial awareness and numerous attempts to find the best route. Which furtherplicated that was that, in certain intervals, some of the rings would move. There were optimal times at which to cross them, before they moved somewhere that wasnt as easy to reach (or the opposite).
After about half an hour of failed attempts, he had the optimal route. Another fifteen minutester, he beat the Challenge. That was a quarter of the ss Level.
The next Challenge was easier, but also less fun. He was to Possess two humanoid-shaped objects and go through an entire yoga routine with them. The kicker: one of the objects was to be one figure and the other two figures behind himself. He had to keep track of the instructions in the video and remember thest two figures he had made and urately mimic them. One mistake and he would have to start over.
He beat that one on the second try. His memory had been good even before he dumped copious amounts of points into his Mental Stats. Although he liked to say if I remember correctly when speaking to people, that phrase could almost be struck from his vocabry. He didnt have photographic memory, so things like texts he had only nced at werent archived immediately, but it was harder for John to forget things than it was to remember in basically every case.
The one true exception being things rted to the Nirvana that Nia was connected with. Whatever had appeared during the Little Marnd conflict, he could no longer remember any of it aside from the massive headache he had gotten thest time he managed to conjure its image.
That was another quarter of his ss Level anyway.
Lastly, a Challenge for the remaining 50%, he had to go to his Possession Slot cap (being 9, if including the Mand Sphere as an extra one). Then, he had to make all of their visions spin continuously in circles and run one-hundred metres in under 25 seconds without falling, while keeping that up.
Now, that would have been hard enough under normal circumstances. Unsurprisingly, having ones mind filled with the vision of a Beyde times nine was confusing. However, if two of those spinning motion blurs were ones eye recements, then that just made things that much harder.
John Newman wouldnt have been John Newman if he wasnt a crafty fellow, though. The Challenge just said he had to spin, nowhere did it specify he had to see anything with that. What did he do, therefore? He closed his eyes, put the Mand Sphere into a dark chamber under the earth and otherwise Possessed a number of marbles that were then put under bowls. No problem with all of that motion blue if everything was dark.
He still had to run a hundred metres blind. Thanks to abination of Undine helping him and himself having gotten rather used to the darkness, that was basically no problem though. Definitely not Gaias design intention, all of that, but he got the ss Level anyway.
Hellooooo, there, John salivated at the choices he was given. Level 6 did seem to be the number where the system checked what he had specialized for so far and then gave him the proper juicy choices. Combination had also popped up at that level. That made the efforts in thest two hours or sopletely worth it.
John was going to be a bit illogical for a moment and immediately dismiss Polishing 3. Not necessarily because it was bad, on the contrary, it was a reliable increase in power and usability, but because it was boring. Well, he could also make the argument that storing more and more mana wasnt worth itpared to the other two choices, because he was first and foremost a mana regeneration build. Storing things for emergencies was good, but not that good, and three spells for his Extension for free was already plenty. If he really needed more, he could spend some Possession Slots, he generally had more than he needed anyway.
Mana Double or Projection? John wondered, immediately leaning towards the former. Projection was attractive, no doubt. Having a copy of the Mand Sphere he could use to scout without having to fear to lose it, or just to double up the Mana Storage while he overregenerated his MP, was incredible. Sure, the 50% penalty was quite hefty, but he was sure that could be eased with future Perks and it wasnt hefty enough to make the whole thing useless.
However, Mana Doubles future excited him even more. The 50% of current regeneration was, again, very hefty. However, the upside was also insane. 50% of his Physical Stats, even if it was just the Base ones, was quite powerful. Especially when put on top of a Baelementium forged object. It was a way to make an inorganic object scale with his levels. Boosting the survivability of the Mand Sphere was nothing to sneeze at, since he relied on it for a number of manoeuvres.
That aside, it could be surprisingly helpful to have an Extension that could smell and grab. Right now, the Mand Sphere, like all Possessions could only hear, see, and feel. Adding smell to that, be it only for the moments he expended the mana for it, could be quite useful and having hands was just generally good.
In the future he expected a number of improvements. Mainly for the mana cost to drop, the Stat copy to increase and, hopefully, the uracy of the manifestation to go further. Maybe, just maybe, it would be a 100% urate copy of him. A sane man would have first thought of the applications in public life for that, to be able to have a press conference while also sitting in a backroom and doing some proper work. However, John mostly wanted that ability so he could double-prate one of his girls by himself.
So, yeah, if that was where this could go, he was 100% on board. Even if it wasnt, the scaling on his Extension alone was good enough that he decided to opt for that over Projections. After having picked Mana Double, the Skill appeared on his Character Sheet. Like Third Eye or Combination, it couldnt be levelled by conventional means. Regardless, it was there, and John used it immediately.
The Mand Spheres surface broke open into its many surface tes. The normally spherical distribution warped into the rough outline of a humanoid. The arcane heart of the contraption red, visible between the dimensionally foldedyers, for just a moment. Then, suddenly, arcane energy grew around the shape, giving it shape and details..
It was indeed a copy of John. Bright blue and purple, it hovered there, a few centimetres above the ground. The outside was slightly translucent, still showing the tes of the Mand Sphere underneath, but when John reached out to touch this manifestation, his hands couldnt get through the mimic of his clothes, as hard as Baelementium tended to be.
The copy was indeed dressed in Johns current clothes. Testing, he removed his vest by putting it into his inventory. The Mana Double also lost it. He put it back on, only to take it back off, but physically this time. Only when it no longer counted for the Equipment Slot did it also disappear from the double.
Next interesting question, John thought and, after making sure he held onto Stirwin item form in another way, lost pants and underpants. Disappointed, he clicked his tongue, the crotch was smooth like on a mannequin, with a surface that reminded of a ystation 2 era game. Then he felt a bit awkward for wanting to have seen a dick that badly. Well, it would have been my dick, he justified to himself, then looked at the copys face. It was undoubtedly him, but a low-resolution version. Everything looked a bit blurry and the blue and purple colour was just flowing on regardless of what features it painted, so that made things mildly confusing. Size and broadness were perfectly urate though. It was just the finer details that had to be worked on.
Locking the dick behind progress is just mean, John noted, as he assumed he would be able to unlock thatter on. Well, actually he had assumed it would just be there from the start. It would look pretty odd, all blue and translucent, but it should have at least been present. Here goes hoping I make quick progress which is basically a given.
As for the senses, they were as John had expected. This Mana Double had a perfect copy of all his intact senses. Meaning it could smell like him, touch like him, hear like him but it didnt see like him. Instead, its sight worked basically like the base items did, in that John could readjust his point of view to be anywhere on the surface. Not quite as smooth a proceeding on a human body as it was on a sphere, but he could get used to it.
That is definitely worse though, John thought, when he checked whether the spinning Mana de trick worked in this form. The answer was a resounding no. The Mana Double wielded the Mana de like he would have. May have been a bit overenthusiastic about this for the moment, its definitely worse inbat than the normal Mand Sphere, he analysed, but for the future, this has a lot of potential. No use crying over it now.
Instead, he decided that getting more ss Levels should be the priority.
Chapter 637 – Gamer grinds again 8 – To the boss
Chapter 637 C Gamer grinds again 8 C To the boss
The first thing John noticed was that the swamp water was back to its previous levels. All that which had been boiled away was back. Whether it had rained back down, otherwise condensed, or been refilled by magical means was up to interpretation. Fact was, it was back. The changes John and everyone else had made remained, however.
The teeth of the Raid were sealed back up, making John hopeful for a moment that the first enemy may have respawned. Now, this being grounds for joy may be slightly confusing to some, but an enemy that was both easy to farm and gave ludicrous amounts of experience was exactly what John was looking for. Sending Beatrice in to scout, however, it turned out that only the entrance had been reset and probably only to give them the maw opening sequence again. It looked quite imposing, but he was seeing it for the third time, so his respect was rather limited.
It was like that hard bossfight that followed an awesome cutscene, to which some idiot decided to put thest save point in front of said cutscene and make it unskippable. The awesomeness was rather diminished if it was something he had to sit through before every attempt at the boss. Eventually, the whole thing was just annoying.
Now, how to approach that second Dragonkin? John wondered, summoning a map of the caverns as they knew so far. Shortly after the entrance the entire thing suddenly twisted right. A long, slightly wound corridor followed, at the end of which the first Dragonkin had stood, just in front of a second, now left oriented, corner. Sylphs nce at the female Dragonkin had been rather hasty, but it hadnt looked like she was too far away, ten metres at worst.
She had used theva in the nearby basins to attack. It was basically a given she also had the fire breath and fire immunity. By her looks, she was physically inferior to the first Dragonkin, but not by much. It was also somewhat likely that she was more agile, although that was inferring information.
Trying to goad a mage into their trap was unlikely to yield any real results. Also, he doubted she would leave the area. Sure, spawn-point tethering wasnt a thing, but John was just going to assume another thing and say that a mage utilizingva basins wouldnt move too far away from saidva basins.
The good news was that, if the main weapon was thatva, John had several ways of recourse. He drew up a battle n. Aclysia and Beatrice were to go on in first and take the initial wave of attacks. Once the enemy realized they couldnt utilizeva, they would either have to go into some sort of physical attack pattern or try to get creative with it. If the former happened, John was fairly certain the two Artificial Spirits could, with backline support from Smander, the Mand Sphere and Sylph, take the Dragonkin out given enough time. In the case of thetter, Smander and Gnome would fuse into Smlere and contest that control.
Johns calction was off on two instances. The Dragonkin didnt decide to either get creative or go physical, she decided to do both. Although theva couldnt hurt the Artificial Spirits, it could immobilize them, so the Dragonkin created tight bindings around their feet with theva, while also wrapping a bunch of volcanic stone around the business end of her staff, creating a massive hammer. The second miscalction was to think Smlere could stop any of this, the Dragonkin was a bit hindered by the volcano elementals efforts, but ultimately turned out to be the stronger of the two magic users.
A retreat was forced, spending the teleport cooldown of each bound Artificial Spirits. Smlere escaped on foot, the Dragonkin chasing her right up to the stone teeth but no further. After a warning hiss, the creature turned and walked back to her original position.
What to do, what to do John thought as he pondered over alternative ns. They had blown their initial advantage, so Aclysia and Beatrice would get directly assaulted with binding attacks the next time around. He could buff up Smlere by making her a three or four type Combination, but that woulde at the cost of something else he had been preparing.
The next n he came up with was entirely focused on controlling the enemy, rather than creating favourable conditions. That worked better. Aclysia and Beatrice still charged in first, but while the enemy was focused on immobilizing them, Gnome and Siena sneaked behind the enemy bybining into Darkness. In theva lit cave, Siena wouldnt have been able to smoothly slide through the shadows, a problem Darkness didnt have, as she could create her own shadow. It was equally obvious when spotted and easy to miss if something else was going on. Smuggling Gnome behind the frontline that way was the true value anyway.
While the Dragonkin tried to immobilize the Artificial Spirits, Darkness split, leaving Gnome to grab the female lizard centaur creature by the tail. Startled by this, the enemy divided her attention. Siena running up her back surely also didnt help. Although Siena was thrown off in the following thrashing, Gnome managed to hold onto the tail with her raw Strength and Endurance. Although a bit sloppy, this was good enough for John, as time was bought for the maids to hack themselves out of their half-formed bindings and then get into melee range.
From there, it was a desperate fight, Smander, Sylph and even Undine soon joined in. As did John, with the Mand Sphere, giving all the orders from the safe outside. The Dragonkin seeded in several of her strikes and magic attacks, killing Sylph and Gnome, at one point sting Beatrices torso off her legs with a hammer strike and almost squashing Smander in her fist. Thatst one turned out to be the Dragonkins fatal mistake, as it opened her up to an attack by Aclysia that cleaved her spell-casting arm straight off. After that, the battle soon swung in their favour, with the Dragonkin managing to hold on for another five minutes before Siena managed to tear the monsters throat out.
That took two hours for one mob totally worth it though, John thought as he allocated twenty of the newly gained twenty-one Stat Points into Wisdom, pushing it to 500. He had finally gotten there. The remaining one point he kept for now, not quite sure where to locate it yet.
Oh yeah, its alling together, the Gamer smirked. That was one hell of a hefty increase. It pushed his MP Regeneration to 28 per second, leaving a lot of mana open beyond that 9 that he usually paid as Sustained Cost. Well, it could be 10, he drily thought to himself, running the calctions out of sheer boredom. He had to wait for two elementals to be revived and that would take a bit. 10%, or 2,8, for the Artificial Spirits, 2 MP per second t from the contact lens Possessions and 15%, or 4,2, for the elementals. Would be 18% if the item form didnt make the active summon free, he gently pat the golden egg that hung off a chain from his pants.
Boooooooreeeeeeeed, Stirwinined. Cane out?
Yes, John confirmed and the infinity elemental jumped off to stretch his leg. Thest few days had been a bit of an experiment as to whether or not he could keep Stirwin equipped for several days and whether that would keep adding mana to his eventual Unleash. The answer, sadly, was no. The maximum seemed to be about half a day. There was no cheesing out a massive Stirwin to throw at the Raid boss.
The next Dragonkin enemy seemed to be just another female mage, already a bit more difficult because that one stood at the end of a very long corridor. The strategy against her was rather simple at first: have Sylph kite that one into the short corridor where they had beaten the other one and do the same again. Given that they now had some experience in fighting that creature, it should have been easier.
Well, there was a nasty surprise. Not for any of the girls inside, but for John. Halfway through the fight, an invisible Dragonkin, a whole lot smaller than his brethren, which put him at around Johns size standing, tried to assassinate him.
The Gamer was tipped off slightly in advance, noticing the footsteps along the swamp pathway. The water above the stone ways turned out to be useful for more than just hiding the ways themselves. Not that that even seemed to work against the Dragonkin assassin, who found the path towards John rapidly.
Two strikes with arm-long daggers bounced off Mana Protection, taking down the pre-chargedyer almostpletely. At the same time as arcane sparks flew, the enemy was unveiled. Aside from his size, the assassin also had considerably more bright orange hair falling from the ridge of his back.
A third strike then dug into Johns mana pool, but the Gamer had managed toe up with an emergency measure. Using Mana Double, he brought the Mand Sphere back from the cave, as he ran away from the Dragonkin assassin. Something that only caused his mana to dwindle further, the monster was easefully keeping up with him on the ground. Thanks to the speed boost from gaining 50 Agility and John having that hint just a few moments earlier, he and the shape-shifted Mand Sphere met up and the Gamer used his double to fly himself up into the air.
That still wasnt secure; the assassin was spewing concentrated fireballs at them (or hims, rather, since it was two times himself) but not at an interval regr enough to get through Mana Protection, as long as they dodged most of those.
Inside, without Johns mana to support them, the girls had a bit of a hard time, but ultimately were victorious against the mage, with only Sylph dying again. Fighting against enemies with many area attacks in confined spaces clearly wasnt her preferred battleground. Afterwards, they came out and made rtively short work of the assassin. All that Dragonkin could do was relentlessly attack, his defences were incredibly low, so he was easy fodder when forced to fight multiple targets.
Also seemed like he was worth less experience, or the two enemies counted as one. Could also be that John was already going through the motions of the experience gain reducing drastically due to level approximation. He was level 191 now. He still held off on spending the Stat Points, wanting to think over his next priority carefully. That was best done once they were done for the day. Which was after the next fight.
After yet another recuperation period of revival, rest and mana refilling, they scouted out the next and, from the looks of it,st enemy pack. The winding path through the cave entered an oval room from the right side. It was decentlyrge, but unlikely to be the boss room, as two male Dragonkin with a ive each guarded arge stone door, less crafted than melted into shape. The boss was almost guaranteed to be behind that.
After some debating on how to approach this, John decided to emte the strategy that had initially worked for them. They did so by separating into three teams. Team one (Beatrice and Sylph) would lure one Dragonkin out into the swamp, team two (Gnome, Aclysia and John) would kill the trapped Dragonkin, and team three (Smander, Siena and Undine) would upy the other one, focusing only on surviving. Team one would go help team three out once the Dragonkin was trapped.
It went well, it worked, but to say it was a clean kill would have been a tant lie. While they did manage to separate the two enemies, the kiting into the swamp wasplicated extremely by the higher distance they had to goad the enemy through. The first time, Sylph, the original girl on kite duty, was overenthusiastic, causing the Dragonkin to lose sight of her, turn around and sandwich team three, leading to their wipe-out pretty much immediately. At this point, the elementals got a bit cranky at the amount of times many of them had died that day. It was Johns newly buffed up MP regeneration that kept their deaths rtively short.
Attempt two went better, Sylph and Beatrice working off each other to maintain the enemies aggression towards them. Just that it, again, killed Sylph on thest few metres. A cone of fire seared the ss-canon out of existence. That Dragonkin was also more cautious than its predecessor at the start of the dungeon, so he didnt fall into the swamp as easily. With a lot of force, shoving and prodding, they still managed to make him fall in eventually. The Dragonkin died much in the same manner as the initial one, slowly getting ground down by a sheer endless barrage of spells.
Problem was just that team three still inside was half-wiped out before Beatrice even got back, Undine teleporting back to John and Smander only standing thanks to beingrgely immune to fire. Although, ironically, not aspletely as her opponent was.
So, they killed one, but their power was too low afterwards to kill the second one as well. Smander also teleported back to John and they recovered again, reviving Siena and Sylph, who were both very cranky now.
Attempt three, they just had to deal with the one, so they could pretty smoothly execute the working strategy without having to split anyone off. Which made the whole thing so much easier. In the end, they killed thatst enemy.
And that was worth only 4 more levels. The brakes were definitely being gently applied. Not that Johnined, he had gotten twenty-one levels since getting into this barrier. He had almost gotten back all that lost time, at least as far as power growth was concerned.
He called it a day there. Which was long overdue. His want to get one more pack done had put them at 14 hours of either fighting or revival pauses. They were all in need of a shower, a good meal and sleep.
Chapter 638 – Gamer grinds again 9 – Death is a Core Mechanic
Chapter 638 C Gamer grinds again 9 C Death is a Core Mechanic
It was the following day and John was taking things very slow. He spent his morning looking at his Stats. He had exactly 50 points to spend, so that was quite something. Torn between several possibilities, John did his usual elimination thought process.
I think I am good on Wisdom for the time being, he decided. Hell, I think I am good on MP in general, so putting points into Intellect isnt really necessary either. Charisma also feels like a finished project for the moment. However, and this is pretty stupid, if I might say so myself, Libido sounds so very tempting
If he had points to spend and knew not where to put them, it was basically always the smartest to dump them into Endurance. No amount of damage he could theoretically do mattered if he didnt have the HP to take on punishment in return. Plus the usual reason of giving his familiars more time to help him.
Strength and Agility both had good arguments for the asional raise as well. Physical Stats could juste in handy in several situations and he didnt want to fall behind on Agility so much that he couldnt follow enemies with his own eyes. Well, that specific example wasnt a point anymore, given that Possession was more influenced by his mental than physical abilities. In general, however, the point of not getting outpaced too much stood.
So why did he want to dump into Libido? Actually, one logical reason. It would get all his Stats to 100. There was bound to be some sort of Achievement for this. On the illogical side, the Gamer just really, really wanted to indulge more in his depravity and whatever Perks he would get, along with the Stat itself providing a boost to his sex life. Libido did increase his own sensitivity while also making sex with him better, although the former was a much more pronounced effect than thetter. It was a pretty selfish Stat and pure vanity. He still wanted to do it.
With all the good decisions I have made recently, I think I can get away with doing something stupid, he thought and lowered his hand on the plus button. Then he stopped. Not because he had thought otherwise, his resolve was quite firm on this, but because he had realized something. I think it would be best if I do this before I have some kind of orgy yeah, lets give myself a challenge! I wont have sex until the boss is downed!
That deration came suddenly and to the shock of all the girls that were lying in the bed around him.
Master, Aclysia was the first one to speak up, this may take days, are you sure you can survive that?
Yes, Aclysia, I still control my Libido, not the other way around, he answered, dismissing the Stat Screen. Siena gave him a doubtful look, of the slightly joking variety. Which of hisst two statements she was doubting, that was up for interpretation. Okay, look, this isnt a particrly well-thought out idea, its basically just me having decided something stupid and fun and piling more stupid and fun on top of it. He gave everyone a wide grin. But whats life without doing something like that every now and again, huh? At the very least, the sex well have once the boss is down will be one of the most amazing victory rounds I have ever had.
Getting pent up for a few days and then releasing it all after also doubling his Libido wasnt something he would normally do. Celibacy was basically just one step down from edging. However, right now he was in a mood for it, so he decided to do it. Whether he would regret it in a few days, if it even took that long, remained to be seen.
Alright, next point on the day order John stretched and Gnome took that pause in his speech to interject what she thought he would say next.
we work on your ss Level, right? she asked. Probably while getting some items again?
She was close, but not quite there, so John had to shake his head. No, not quite. Thats the point after the next one. For now, I need to have a chat with Magoi about some things. That caused some confusion, and John took a deep breath to start the exnation.
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Be it Super Mario, Dark Souls, World of Warcraft, Europa Universalis, Minecraft or whatever other game came to mind, whenever things got difficult, there was amon thread. It connected genres that had no business being connected, span through the ages of video game development and was essential to almost all game design.
Death.
Whenever there was a level or a boss or a scenario that was just ready to fuck the yer up the ass without using as much as a drop of spit as lube, death was the way to learn. Well, that and maybe quickloading, but the difference wasnt all that big. The point was that the yer was reset to a point earlier or transported back to a safe ce to try again.
Normally, John would not have that luxury. All his abilities aside, he was still a person and people die when they are killed. However, there was something, someone, here that allowed him to resolve that issue in his favour.
Magoi Magus listened to John over the edge of his newspaper. The man was a Fateweaver, one of the founding members of the guild even, and Fateweaving was the art of creating a barrier in which people were teleported away from the jaws of death moments before it happened. John was aware of how it worked, at least on a theoretical level.
Every barrier, no matter who had created it, was ultimately a blessing bestowed by Gaia to give the people she separated from the mundane world a space to solve their affairs in. As such, every Illusion Barrier was a part of Gaia and everyst one of them fed into the supreme deitys consciousness. In other words, Gaia knew everything.
More than what currently was, she also knew what would be. In this world, future telling was an art of getting into a certain mindset that allowed the mind tobine all current information into a seemingly unavoidable oue. It was something beyond predicting, but it was still based on what a person knew. Gaia, knowing everything inside a barrier, could make 99,999% urate predictions of the immediate future for everything included in that space.
Of course, every prediction made in a world that didnt have a written fate was wed, if only minutely. She could read the body and mana of the people inside, but as long as she didnt also check (and control) what everyone was thinking, the cascading effects down the line made highly urate predictions of the future impossible. Immediate future was possible because, whatever action somebody took, Gaia had a faster reaction speed than anyone could act.
However, it seemed she delegated that sort of knowledge to her vast subconscious. This was evident by her actually getting surprised by some of Johns antics, as well as the fact that people had eventually found some sort of magical flow inside barriers that continuously kept track of the future within. To what end was another mystery, themon thought was that they were there to properly know when a barrier could copse naturally.
Whatever it was, Fateweavers had learned to tap into that stream. In a purely mechanical fashion, however. They couldnt read it, trying to do so caused the human brain to simply copse. It was to know the position of every single grain of sand on a beach, leaf on a tree, molecule in the air and strand of muscle. The people who attempted and simply forgot, their mind shutting out all of that unnecessary knowledge, were the lucky ones. Moremonly was theplete shutdown of all non-vital brain functions. Ego, personality, memories and thoughts, all caved under the absolute weight of information and that was it. It could be treated, but usually left the individual different.
John himself had gone through a simr problem once, but Gaia had fixed him right up. Whether it was the quickness of the help, Gaias perfection at that craft or Gamers Body that had caused his mind to stay intact was another thing John couldnt know for certain.
The way Fateweavers got around that problem was to not interact with the stream themselves. Rather, they attached something to it. Something like a warning system, that measured the predictions as they streamed. Due to the sheer girth of information passing through at any given second, the technique could only go a few seconds into the future. Should it detect a human death, the system would go off and teleport the corresponding person out of harms way.
As to why that didnt create a feedback-loop, what with the person that should die in the prediction then not dying because of the prediction, thus the prediction not being made in the first ce, thus causing the prediction to be made, the answery in the way the Fateweaving was attached to, notpletely part of, the barrier.
It had to be part of the barrier itself, but also had to remain undetectable by the actual prediction system. Were it spotted in the barrier, the system would create a paradox, causing the Fateweaving to fail. It was, therefore, more like a small soap bubble attached to arger one. Attached, kind of one unit, but still separated by enough factors to prevent a paradox.
It was no wonder it had taken people thousands of years to create thatplicated of a system. That was just the breakdown of it anyway, the application was likely even moreplex, even if Magoi made it seem easy. He had once said that it was incredibly difficult to learn, but once one had the trick figured out, also very easy to apply. John was going to trust him on that.
Anyway, that solved the problem of dying for John and the Artificial Spirits, who counted as quasi humans thanks to their soul pattern being so simr. Elementals had their own ways of cheating death. One that John could no longer stomach.
He had been prepared for some deaths amongst his elementals. At least so he had thought. However, each time it happened, it felt like someone was chipping away at his soul with a frozen pick. That was in addition to the guilty conscience he got from letting them experience that sort of pain. He could no longer stomach that. Much less the likely even worse losses that would befall them during the boss fight.
As such, the thing John needed to know was whether the Illusion Barrier could be modified in such a matter.
Hmmmm, Magoi folded his newspaper, put it on the table, and stroked his chin, for once without his mask. Even the High Fateweaver had to expose his skin to the air sometimes. His hairless head was covered with a number of scars, three of which were particrlyrge. The man had lived anything but a safe life and age was catching up to him these days. Youre asking me for something no Fateweaver has done before.
I know, John returned. He had asked about this before, because their lives were obviously dear to him. Until now, he had been quite happy with having Escape Rope for all situations that could be potentially dicey. It had sufficed, Instant Dungeons were not in the habit of being absurdly difficult, only appropriately challenging.
There was no reason to request the development of a new technology when there was no need for that technology. However, with the Raid he was pretty sure that they would have to attempt the boss over and over again. A three-day cooldown just wouldnt cut it. He wanted to dodge the pain wherever possible.
If there was no way for it to work, then that would be terrible, but he would get through it somehow. If the elementals died, that was awful, but not a tragedy, if he died (almost died, rather), he got teleported out, and the rest of the party with him. They would all pull themselves together and get the Raid done despite the pain, because they shouldnt let this sort of levelling opportunity pass. There was no way something like the Catch-Up Buff would appear again anytime even remotely soon.
Can it be done? he asked, annoyed that there was no basis of this sort of research he had ever found. Elementals werent an exceedingly rare craft. There should have been numerous attempts at getting this done. To be fair, the average person likely didnt experience their elemental dying at Johns current frequency.
In theory Magoi hummed. They have souls, after all. If theyre enriched enough, which those girls souls definitely are, they should have a signature that can be tracked within the prediction stream. His fingers danced over the surface of the table. Whether it actually works when the theory is applied to the math or praxis is difficult to discern.
John made a displeased expression. You would need test runs, is that it? He could provide that, but he really, really didnt want to.
Yes maybe, Magoi seemed to have a sudden idea, taking out his phone.
Oh? Here I thought our youngster technologies were beyond your analogue supremacy, John poked at the old mans love for all things vintage and physical. Why dont you send your news with a pigeon or something?
I could do that, but that would take a little bit longer, Magoi waved him off. You need to know the difference between what is convenient, he raised his phone, and what is proper, he put up the paper.
Whatever you say, High Fateweaver, John mused to himself. Then, in a more serious tone, he asked, Who are you contacting?
Someone who is better at figuring out theoretic stuff than I am, Magoi responded. I am very much someone who learns by doing. Since that isnt an option, I am going to get someone who is better at all the number crunching.
That someone, as it turned out about 30 minutester, was Magnus Magus, Magois oldest child. John could absolutely see it. Since Magnus was so sadly untalented, he would have read all the books and practically breathed all the theories. While he would not be able to put the solutions into ce himself, he would be able toe up with them.
Think we can iste the soul-pattern of elementals within the information of the prediction stream? Magoi asked, once Magnus had been informed about the whole situation.
Magnus shook his head, causing his long, almost ck hair to wave andnd on his lean, muscr shoulders. With just six subjects and no test runs, its impossible to find a general pattern his stern voice trailed off and Magoi looked a bit disappointed, but more so expectant of what woulde out of his sons mouth next.
It urred to John that Magoi was lying to him, at least in part. That he was a practical thinker was likely true. That he wasnt as adept at number crunching as his son was a bit questionable. That he needed his son to bounce ideas off of was absolutely false. He already knows how to do this, at least in theory, John realized, ncing back and forth between father and son. But he is waiting for Magnus to figure it out himself.
John wondered if he could do such a thing. Stand next to his own, less able son and just pull out of their life and thoughts to let them do as they needed on their own. Do something slower and likely worse than he could, just so they could learn. It was an ufortably hard question. As was whether pulling outpletely would be the right choice, when his child could require the guidance.
Somehow, though, the look on Magois face, disappointed and expectant, also had something tranquil about it that John couldnt understand. Was that the way parents looked at their children? Would he only be able to feel that way when he was a father himself? It looked equally terrifying and desirable.
Magnus finally spoke up and John was separated from that train of thought. The general approach is impossible. The specialized route could work. Well have to use a pre-human soul pattern version of Fateweaving that works around Johns specific pattern.
Right, right, Magoi said with a proud smile on his lips. The fact that he had already known that was the answer was leaking out of each of his happy pores. Well then, lets get to figuring it out, the High Fateweaver said and gently nudged his son towards the tower he was using as his home. They left John just standing there.
Dont you need me for that? John shouted after them. If they were trying to recognize his soul pattern, whatever that was exactly supposed to be, it sounded like they would need to keep looking at his aura or something.
But Magoi just shook his head. Oh no, you just go along and do your things. Then he closed his door behind him.
Scratching the back of his head, John decided to just go along with the flow.
He needed to get a ss Level and more items anyway.
Chapter 639 – Gamer grinds again 10 – The boss could be easy…
Chapter 639 C Gamer grinds again 10 C The boss could be easy
Easy choice, Physical Double and done, John thought. The rest was good, but that left thing was exactly what he wanted going forwards. Activating it, the Mand Sphere warped into the copy of him in a matter of three seconds. Unlike before, the outside was no longer a shifting mass of blue and purple, but now had the proper colour of Johns clothes and the tanned, light brown of his skin. It all still looked a little bit translucent, with the tes of the Mand Sphere visible under the surface if he really tried to find them. Regardless, it was progress in the right direction.
And, as Gaia had promised, his dick was there. It was hanging limply, but John was pretty happy that he didnt get an erection while staring at a mirror, essentially. He was a bit of an egomaniac, that was undeniable, but there had to be a limit to everything.
Anyway, it was there, it was a bit see-through and John couldnt test right now whether he actually felt things that secondary cock felt like it was a sexual organ. I kind of hope yes, but that begs the question whether it will also hurt terribly when someone kicks me in the secondary balls wait, I am immune to basic physical pain, that wouldnt even bother me, no need to worry about it. Wonder if it shoots like arcane jizz though?
Things to test after he had beaten the boss. After all, he had said he wouldnt have sex in any way until that was done.
One might think that the first day would have been the worst. That would be wrong. The first half of the first day of his announcement, he was still riding out the previous night. For the rest of the day, his motivation was still high. It was the second day on which John was seriously tempted. Going to sleep between his girls, waking up cuddled by naked bodies, taking a cold shower only to see Smander flying around in nothing but her ming underwear.
Also, Beatrice seemed to find it funny to tease him. Her actual manners or ways of speaking never indicated anything, but she seemed to spend a lot of her time around him fixing the positions of flowerpots or other things low to the ground. Every time, she bowed by keeping her legs straight and folding down by the hips, making her fantastic ass stand out like the piece of art it was.
Nothing was outside of her usual modus operandi, but John could just feel that she enjoyed teasing him, and he was a bit happy about that. Beatrice showing she enjoyed anything she did of her own volition was good. However, he would have been thankful if it hadnt been built on his misery.
He could have caved at any point, of course, but since he had said it out loud, he now had to go through with it. Just to prove it to himself. None of the girls would hold it against him. Some of them would use it as the punchline for jokes, but that was expected between friends and lovers. Only Johns own pride held him to his word.
The third day was also quite bad, but not as much. By the fourth, he had himself under control. It was an interesting feeling. He was no less horny and his eyes were drawn to boobs and butts and sultry lips at all times, but he just felt a certain rity. It was like passing that point when being hungry, where the body just epted it wasnt going to happen anytime soon, so it went and suppressed the feeling for the moment. Being sated would have been much nicer though, so John didnt suddenly turn into some sort of sage.
He was nicely distracted running numerous dungeons though. Arena, Floor and Assault, he mixed and mingled those while Magoi and Magnus worked on figuring things out. It built him a nice backlog of loot that he could feed to the Artificial Spirits, got him a total of 4 more levels, getting him to 199, and his money stacked up high again.
As for the extra 28 Stat Points, he put them into Strength and Agility. For now, he decided to get all Physical Stats up to 125. It was an arbitrary number, but he felt that going for 250, the next threshold for a bonus, would have been a bit much for a short-term goalpost.
There were 9 days left, when Magoi and Magnus finally had everything adjusted. Apparently, they had gotten done a day earlier but double and then triple checked everything. Given what was at stake, John wouldnt have it any other way. They just had to close and recreate the barrier with that new Fateweaving in ce.
In old times, Fateweaving had to be tuned to the individuals within a barrier, rather than just sapient beings in general, Magoi exined how it worked. The quickest way to find their soul pattern in there is to look for things that had parts of yours, because youre connected and all that. The same can be said about the elementals, so we decided to simply do that as well, while we were at it. The drawback is that only the people in the barrier right now are covered though.
With his bases covered, John was now free to wipe as often on the unknown boss as he wanted.
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They stood in front of the molten stone gate at the end of theva-framed tunnels. Greyish ck, it closed perfectly, despite the surface of cooledva being wavy and unsteady in its shape. Several metres tall and with no handles, it looked like a boss door. John wondered how it would open.
He wondered that from the safety of sitting outside. There was no way he would enter the boss room himself. His core contributions could be given from a nice distance. Although there was no chance of him dying now, there was still an important difference between him getting killed and anyone else. If any of his girls were lethally wounded, they got teleported out. If he got caught in something deadly, then all of them were teleported out. His death was an instant wipe, while there was still hope to win the fight with one woman down.
Gnome and Aclysia each put a hand on the stone door and tried to push it open. They had no sess. John got a window.
Chucklefucks, John thought and began the march into the caves and towards the door. As he walked through the hot air, he missed his old suit. That one had been enchanted to make himfortable no matter the environment. While his current one was also drenched in magic, it wasnt as powerful and so he was sweating as he passed the basins ofva. It only got hotter the further he went in.
It urred to John that this was the first time he actually walked into the Raid proper. That very first time, from which they had retreated in less than a minute, notwithstanding. His strategy of throwing hordes of sexy familiars at enemies to beat them up for him while he was making ns and supplying resources truly was unfair, at least as far as Instant Dungeons went. While that didnt put the greatest of light on his manliness, at least as far as that was defined in traditional terms, John didnt mind it. It being unfair spoke to it being effective and he was all about that life.
Just because he tried to live honourably didnt mean he had to live like a moron. Too many people thought that they could always just do the right thing in the proper manner and it would just lead to a magical wondend. Those people are still better than those who give up on any sort of a better world in the name of personal gains though, he scolded himself, before his mind slipped too far into justifying the other side of things.
He arrived in front of the door and took position in the middle of the group. Aclysia and Gnome once more pushed the molten gate, and now it began moving with the scrunching of stone on stone. The air got even hotter, although the ever-present smell of sulphur was reced with a sweet and smoky fragrance, a bit like meat roasted over charcoal crossed with vani.
Aclysia and Beatrice led the way into the room behind, being their fire immune vanguard. For a moment, John wondered if he should test Gaias patience and just not enter. The door was open now, the window hadnt said he had to enter. The intent was clear, though, so John decided to not tease the supreme deity that had been so gracious recently.
That sounded equally nice and foreboding. John closed the window and went in with the rest of the group. For the moment, everything was quiet. The only sounds were their footsteps and the bubbling and sttering ofva. A ring of the glowing orange was surrounding a stone area at the centre of the room, fed byva falls that trickled down along the walls from some immense height. The room was enormous, both in width and height. At the east and west parts, about 200 metres apart from one another, wererge holes in the walls. Stepping stones led over the ring ofva towards them. Perhaps calling it ava moat would have been more urate. It was easily twenty metres wide. The ceiling could have been a whole kilometre away, or more. It was a sky of stctites and smoke clouds, so distant did it appear to be.
The group stepped over a bridge of segmented stone that connected the entrance to the central tform. The door snapped shut behind them, causing a loud noise to echo through the arena, which should have been impossible given its size. Everything looked ck, red and orange, but nothing had a purity in its colour. Even the surface of theva was stained with spots of ck, where little inds of g had formed on top.
The boss was nowhere to be seen. Given the general likeness to Onyxias Lair that this Raid had, John had expected the boss to be arge ck dragon lying sleeping. The boss arena looked a lot like the World of Warcraft equivalent as well. However, there was no enemy to be seen. The only thing that John spotted that was odd was a throne at the far end of the room, standing on a tform across theva moat.
As the group stepped further towards the central stone tform, the segments of the pathway disappeared one by one, sunk under theva. Can you raise them back up? John asked Gnome, not expecting a good answer.
Only very slowly, she nodded. Yes but the earth here is hard and seeped with magic. It would take a lot of strength to control anything. That was about what he had predicted to happen in terms of bnce. Gnomes magic being reduced in strength was expected. At least her physical power had increased topensate slightly, apparently that was the bonus a soil elemental got from being in a volcanondscape.
Gnome wasnt the only one suffering from the environment. Himself, he was properly glistening with sweat now. The air was surprisingly humid, making it stick to him in all kinds of gross fashions, even though he hadnt even really run yet. Undine was in her glove form, sticking to his hand, and he could still feel her difort radiating from her surface thoughts. Sylph and the Artificial Spirits seemed fine, however, and Smander was unsurprisingly happy in this environment.
And there you finally are, my dear guests, a female voice suddenly greeted them with a mocking, courtly tone that only self-entitled aristocrats and great actors could produce. Although the voice came from nowhere and anywhere, Johns and everyone elses attention immediately turned to the throne. It was still a good four-hundred metres away, so the figure that now sat down on the red-tinged stone seat wasnt all that easy to make out.
Sylph was ready to make her way over, but John held her back with a mentalmand. Let me, he told her and the Mand Sphere began flying. Unlike through Sylph, Observe could be cast through Possessions, so sending it out there was going to give them more information, even if it would take longer.
I must say, I have enjoyed my existence, as unceremoniously as it started, I would be rather sad to see it end now, the womans voice continued to speak for everyone to hear. The group kept a look around, John adjusted his stance, lowering his centre of gravity to have a better reaction time. His feet almost got stuck in one amongst the myriad of tiny cracks that covered the ground.
Are you saying you have been here this entire time since I created the Raid? John asked in a moderate tone. Whether he shouted or not, thedy could either magically hear him or not.
Certainly. I guess I should thank you for that rather than kill you, but I yearn for the world outside. Ah, such a base desire I indulge in, but s, the only way for me to be an entity to leave this ce is to kill you and take your life force. Such is the covenant Gaia establishes with us creatures your Instant Dungeons create.
So, Ive heard, whether or not I believe it, John answered and only got a moderate chuckle in response. The Mand Sphere was now close enough that he could see her quite clearly. She was intensely beautiful, a woman with ck hair, long, elegant limbs, in a dress of red satin. However, her eyes were entirely filled with a glowing orange, a simple, slit pupil of ck in the middle. When she smiled, she revealed shark-like teeth, triangle shaped things unfit to eat anything but fresh meat ripped from bones.
He was really happy he had made the Fateweaving preparations.
What you believe or not, what is true or not, I dont really care, Presta announced, pping her hands together. The earth began to vibrate softly. This is the only path to reality I know, so I will take what I must.
The cracks in the floor radiated the colour of molten rock.
Chapter 640 – Gamer grinds again 11 – 113 Attempts
Chapter 640 C Gamer grinds again 11 C 113 Attempts
The group wiped within 30 seconds on their first attempt. A gush ofva exploded from the cracks in the floor, just a weak one. A second of tranquillity, then a massive st, like a magma geyser, had followed that ripped the entire floor open. John had narrowly escaped with Steam Step, the sudden explosion of force under his feet sting him to the side.
A hole had been left in the ground where he had been, then he hadnded, and the exact same had happened, but that time he didnt have the luxury of a cooldown to save him. None of the elementals had been around either, many of them hit by the shower of molten rock from the first explosion.
The final result had been John taking a bath inva. As one could imagine, that got rid of Mana Protection rather quickly, and before he knew, he found himself back in the grassy heart of the barrier. Everyone else fell half-a-metre onto the green carpet after him.
Thus began the cycle of learning. They stocked up their resources, went back in and were teleported back out after 20 seconds this time, courtesy of John falling into theva immediately. Steam Step had been spent and he wanted to see if he could outrun the explosion. The answer was yes, he could, but that area of the arena just went ahead and exploded under him as well.
At attempt 5, John had figured that there were predefined segments to the massive central stone te. Should anyone stand anywhere on them, they would start to heat up, sent out a weak gush ofva after 5 seconds and explode properly after 10. At attempt 12, they had roughly worked out where the outlines of the segments were. They were about 10 metres wide each and followed an almost hexagonal pattern, twisted lengths to their sides here and there. Knowing that, it was much easier to dodge the explosions. They just had to keep running along the rims and avoid the centre. Two seconds after the weak gush, they jumped on the next te and moved along that way.
The whole time, Presta wasughing at them from her throne. Any attacks thrown at her by the flying fighters, who were unbothered by all of this, bounced off a magical field. It was at that twelfth attempt that they survived long enough that they could see phase 1 properly. There were three core mechanics. One, the floor they had already struggled with. That was persistent and in answer to their movements. It wasnt deadly now that they had figured it out, it was actuallyughably easy to dodge. Once a segment of the floor had exploded, it remained a hole in the ground. However, if the number of exploded surfaces exceeded 10, the oldest hole would resume its original state over 10 seconds.
That mechanic just forced constant awareness and movement. It wasnt going to kill them by itself, even over the entire span of the fight. At least not in phase 1.
The other two mechanics were directly linked to each other. After John had been running around for a while in the main arena, just getting used to the rhythm of things and mapping out the outline of everything in his head, a Dragonkin assassin suddenly assaulted him. The invisibility spell broke on first strike against Mana Protection, a somewhat fair showing real opponents seldomly mirrored. In Johns experience, real people that could go invisible would stay invisible even after they slid the knife in.
Just like the one they had encountered before in the preceding tunnel, this assassin was rather easy to dispose of, once spotted. Relentlessly aggressive, they only had their offensive going for them, so the group burst that assassin down and that was it. Well, until another one came out of hiding immediately. Then, about thirty secondster, another wave of two.
As they gave no experience, as per usual for spawned monsters, they were a proper nuisance. They also chipped away at Johns mana. Although chipped made it sound almost harmless. Chunked away at it would have been more urate, even if didnt sound as good. The assassins naturally knew that he was the juiciest target. Everyone else was either flying or a whole lot tankier.
Still on that 12th attempt, just killing the assassins as they came and moving around, they worked out that the Dragonkins came endlessly from the two side tunnels. Sylph at one point spotted something invisible swimming through theva moat, around the stepping stones, so thats what tipped them off. Since Presta was still impossible to attack, it was obvious that they had to deal with those spawning areas first. Beatrice and Smander were sent to scout them out. John kept Sylph from scouting duty since he had wizened up to the fact that she was just going to fall victim to some sort of area attack if he let her go in an uncontrolled environment. ss cannons were best supported.
That revealed to them the third mechanic. Beatrice, despite being on foot, arrived in her side tunnel faster. Every stepping stone she used to jump over theva moat sunk after a few seconds. She arrived in a sizable, elongated chamber. At the back was a red crystal, brimming with power, in front of it a guardian. A Dragonkin of the male warrior variety. On Smanders side of things, the west side, things looked basically the same, except there was a female mage on her side.
Didnt take much imagination to figure that destroying those crystals would disable the shield. John told Beatrice and Smander to ignore the guardians and just destroy the crystals to see what would happen.
Smander was sessful first. It disabled the assassin spawn, so that was nice. Prestas shield red visibly and weakened, at which point she shouted, Now this is getting interesting! and begun to throw fireballs at random parts of the arena. She did so without any effort, remaining seated. Although they rarely hit anywhere close to anyone, the explosions were obviously dangerous. Additionally, they triggered the hit areas own explosion cycle.
Beatrice was sessful momentster. There were no more assassins, but Presta, with her shield downed, decided to jump into the main arena. Fighting with ck ws on her suddenly scaled hands, she assaulted the group. Beatrice and Smander were suddenly ignored by the guardians they themselves had done their best to get around. Both Dragonkin headed for the main arena as well.
The 12th attempt turned into a pretty quick wipe at that point. The group was crushed between the mage, the warrior and theirdy. Presta alone was a force to be reckoned with. She was as quick as Beatrice and punched as hard as Gnome. Her fighting style was wild, but had little wasted movements. Physical shes and punches were mingled with destructive fire magic. Furthermore, she didnt approach anyone herself, she didnt chase anyone either. It seemed beneath her to move towards an opponent at a speed quicker than appropriate for a leisurely stroll.
Ignoring her wasnt an option because of this. Left to herself, Presta threw fireballs that were even stronger than the previous ones. Their explosions covered a wider area and, worse, every segment that destroyed itself because of that impact stayed broken for the remainder of the fight. At one point or another, she would have caused the entire arena to sink into theva.
While also having to deal with those Dragonkin guardians, the group didnt have the power required to keep Presta upied at all times. A constant rotation was necessary to prevent lethal injury.
So, obviously, those guardians had to be defeated first.
Before the 13th attempt, John created a visualization of the entire battlefield in his head, one that he shared with everyone in the group. It would be immensely helpful for future strategies andmands.
Attempts 13 to 26 were all dedicated to testing several strategies at approaching this first phase. Since they couldnt ignore the guardians, the question was in which order to kill them best. Mage first, warrior first or, maybe, try to kill both at once? Thatst one was soon discarded and it turned out their group had fewer problems with killing the mage than they had with the warrior. Likely because they had cheesed out the three that had been in the tunnel with dirty tactics, while Dragonkin female had been fought straight-up.
At 27, they had a pretty working strategy at taking out the westside guardian. They would let the first wave of assassins spawn and defeat them, then Beatrice, Sylph, Smander, Aclysia and Siena would go deal with the western guardian. John, Gnome and Undine were left behind to attract the new spawned assassins and defeat them. As to why the three of them, the answer was quite firmly that John and Gnome werent good at getting across the stepping stones. Not as good as flyers or more agile builds anyway. Two extra, even a little bit clumsier people would cause more of them to sink, robbing them of a way back. Well, not quite true, Aclysia and Beatrice could have walked through theva, maybe even leapt across in thetter case. Really, it was just Siena who would definitely be stuck, something that could be fixed by going incorporeal. Regardless, they would be slowed down by that, and that was bad efficiency.
The problem was then that Sylph still had a habit of dying against the area attacks. Siena also got caught up quite a number of times. Without those two extra fighters, defeating the male Dragonkin became extra difficult, especially since John, Gnome and Undine still couldnt skip over to help. With one assassin less to fear, he dared to send the Mand Sphere in to support, but that was about all. As long as assassins spawned, John also didnt have the mana to support the girls, even ran into danger of gettingpletely beaten out of mana.
Normally, under such circumstances, he would had disabled Mana Protection and just taken the physical damage. However, the assassins let him know, the one time he tried that, that they were perfectly adept at cutting off heads from invisibility. The interesting thing for John to find out there was that he would indeed die if someone took his head of his shoulders. Might seem like an odd thing to wonder about, but Gamers Bodys limits were poorly explored, due to the necessary injuries he would need to sustain to see those limits.
Anyway, how well the group performed in the west-wing dictated how much mana John could conserve and how many fighters continued the encounter. From attempt 27 forwards, they spent their fair share of attempts dying at the second guardian. The first was usually beaten, but not easily so.
At attempt 40, they called it for the first day.
Day 2 of the boss tries started with Prestaining that this Fateweaving thing was such absolute cheating. She wasnt wrong. But, whatever, she sighed in a forcefully unbothered fashion, seeing you insects die again and again is entertaining in its own right. Go ahead then, do continue. You can fail over and over again and amuse me. Being a temporary existence here isnt bad in its own right, you know? I have an entire pce at the back.
John had no way, or interest, to confirm the validity of that. Instead, they went ahead and continued the fight. Having slept over their mistakes, everyone was performing considerably better. In that 41st attempt, they had figured out the little hints the female Dragonkin gave before throwing her big area attacks and the way they spread as well. It was vital information, allowing Siena and Sylph to survive that encounter.
For the east guardian, they had resolved to use Combination to put Gnome, Smander and Stirwin together into the 3-type version of Smlere. The volcano elemental could cross the moat quickly even without the stepping stones and was of bigger help than Smander alone would have been, while allowing Gnome to partake in that part of the fight in some way (and one to make Stirwin partake just generally). It did, however, put them on a 10-minute timer to get in there, beat the guardian, and get back out.
To protect himself against the assassins, John kept back the Mand Sphere in return. If only it had been a perfect copy, then the Dragonkin may have tried to murder it instead of him at least some of the time. However, its washed slight translucency was enough to give the difference away. That and, John guessed at least, the Mand Sphere reeked of metal, while John smelled of sweat.
Smlere failed to get out in time, but they did beat the guardian in that 41st attempt. Also at the cost of Beatrice and Sylph. Leaving John alone with Presta when she jumped over the moat. Which, of course, had John running away from fireballs and asionally send in the Mana Double activated Mand Sphere for harassment. He failed to do that with the proper care one time, causing the Extension to get heavily damaged as it was punched into the floor.
John saved the Mand Sphere from getting destroyed by flying it into his inventory. Although the rest of the group soon managed to return, Presta made short work of them. Every misstep in melee range against her meant the person was already one foot in the grave. Undine strained her mana to the utmost, just as John gave her everything he had, but the rate at which people were punched out of the fight just exceeded theirbined mana regeneration. Eventually, Gnome got teleported out, having been about to be sted into a million pieces by a terrible strike. From there, the 41st attempt soon ended in a wipe.
Regardless, they had made progress, so they were in high spirits. Once the Mand Sphere had gone through the repair function of Create, they were right back at it. The west guardian felt like rtive childs y now. As it did in the next 15 attempts, during which they slowly optimized their east strategy. Eventually they had it so far nailed that Smlere would retreat before the enemy was actually down, arriving at Prestas usual jump-in point by the time the group defeated the guardian, which automatically disabled the crystal.
With three people, the Mand Sphere included, already at the scene, going into melee with Presta wasnt that scary. It still got them wiped though, because Presta pulled off a number of moves and spells that they simply had to analyse first. Arches ofva suddenly cutting through the sky, a stomp that made all segments adjacent to the one she was currently standing on instantly explode, fire breath and w extensions.
At one point they had dealt enough damage that tails and wings were added to her human form. It luckily didnt make her any faster or stronger, but it did give her more mobility and an extra limb to attack with. Also, as John noted as the sole surviving member of that attempt, the number of maximum holes in the ground rose from 10 to 20. That didplicate things a little bit.
Then they were suddenly in a slump. Sylph, Siena and Smander all managed to get themselves killed at the first guardian. Whether they had gottencent or in unlucky, John couldnt quite discern, but fact of the matter was that it happened. That attempt was doomed from there. As was the next one, as the good mood had been burned away by the hours and the vacuum was filled by a sudden depression. The next two attempts had a death at the first guardian each, so John called it at 63 attempts for that day, even though there was more time.
They had seven more days in the time-dted barrier. With fresh minds and after a fantastic breakfast (bacon and eggs), they went into the Raid once more. Attempts 64 to 71 werent anything special. They took it slow, got back into the rhythm of things, and cleanly pushed to Presta each time and to her winged phase sometimes. If there was one thing that allowed this whole thing to work out, it was that, despite being intelligent, the dragoness was stuck with the behaviours Gaia had created her with. She never tried to innovate around their strategies. Neither did she make feints that looked like things she had done in past encounters.
As such, as hard as it was, if they just did it often enough and watched closely, they could improve little by little.
Attempt 72 was when they finally got her to turn into a dragon. That was where the real challenge began. She was huge, she was mean and she put them on a timer. Every time dragon-form Presta took to the air, she let down a barrage of fireballs from her mouth. Like her fireballs in phase 2, those caused holes that were unaffected by the limit for copsed segments. This way, more and more of the battlefield was transformed into swiss cheese.
Presta, she was totally fine withnding in theva. As a matter of fact, she seemed even quicker when she was standing in theva, plus her w and tail swipes causedva to fly everywhere then and that was just a very mean kind of cleave attack. Most of Johns group? Once most of the battlefield was gone, they were in trouble.
Presta flew up after every minute, staying in the air for thirty seconds, thennding again. Her scales were so hard that they had to slowly hack through them. Even Marath did nothing more than crack the surface. Killing her was a long-term project. One that they failed on repeatedly. More tries, more slight innovations and perfections there, getting the transition between phases perfect.
They found all the little exploits they could. Like dying the end of the first phase until John ended it perfectly with 4 Whisper of Mana stacks from killing assassins with Mana de. Synchronizing all of Aclysias cooldowns in such a way that she could use Masters Shield twice at the start of phase 2. Sure, one version was much longer in duration than the other, but the taunt was the only way to get Presta to move anywhere in that phase. Even the dragoness knew that getting hit by the 1000% buffed attack by Aclysia would hurt her quite a bit.
When Presta went into the air the second time, they utilized a particrly mean Combination of Sylph, Siena and Stirwin called Skyver. A dragon of its own right, although of a warped appearance. It was lean, making it graceful in the same way a missile is graceful. On its four legs hung such massive ws that it madending impossible. John liked to call it the Dendepthr of the air. Unlike the deep-sea predator, Skyver didnt grow with time, though, it was just the same kind of cruel and cold creature.
Even as a pressure elemental, the Combination was inferior to the ck dragon in the air, only about half as big as the twenty-metre long dragon. Regardless, it was a challenge and a damage source up there. As to why they did it the second time Presta was in the air, the answer was that they could afford some holes in the ground. The fireballs, permanent terrain damage aside, were quite easy to dodge, so those were 30 seconds the group could regenerate mana in and do some healing.
Little optimizations like that went a long way. Combined with the learning process of getting around enemy attacks, they got closer and closer to the kill. Scales they had only been able to scratch were soon burst by the time they sumbed. Then Presta was actually bleeding when she hunted down the remains of the group.
Day 3 came to an end at 110 tries. They had optimized everything they thought they could. Now it was just to execute it all as well as theory allowed. To do that, it was best to be rested, fed and ready. Day 4 started. 111 wasnt it, they knew that immediately when the transition to phase 2 had Smlere return to position toote, leaving just the Mand Sphere to spar with Presta and causing it to be damaged again. 112 wasnt it, John let the Whisper of Mana stacks drop.
Then, at the 113th attempt, it finally happened. Everything went perfectly. The guardians dropped without any deaths. Mana was as full as it was realistic ording to calctions John had run while falling asleep. They took almost no damage from Presta, weaved in and out of her attack range, tagging each other out. They got her to dragon form without taking any casualties. They chipped away at her scales, around face and back particrly, trying to blind or ground her by hitting her eyes or wing muscles.
Then, they seeded.
Skyver, about to separate back into itsponents, descended on the ck dragons head to get in somest damage. Normally that would have gotten it chomped in half, but Presta reacted just a little bit too slow from exhaustion. Her maw caught half of the pressure elementals six wings, broke them between her razor-sharp teeth, but the left side of her face was turned into mincemeat by the arm-long ws of the monstrous elemental.
Most importantly including her eye.
Three elementals, all sharing the hurt of theirbined state, fell to the ground. This hurts, you insolent creatures! Presta roared, raising her right front leg to squash the three elementals now in front of her. Die, Ive had enough of this round of ytime. Die so that I may be healed! Unlike other enemies in the raid, the bosses (and the enemies directly rted to the encounter) werepletely rejuvenated at every attempt.
Blind in her left eye, the ck dragon should have raised her left leg for any action instead. Now she was using the same side to support her weight as she was already vulnerable on. So, when she twisted her head to see better what was in front of her, posture dyed her reaction to the Aclysia, Beatrice duo that came flying into the corner of her halved-vision.
Her entire body contorted, to use her long neck like a whip, but Smander, Sylph and the Mana Double all grabbed her by the horns mid motion. Together, they were able to at least stall the massive dragon. Beatrice rammed her spear into the already obliterated hole where her eye had been, cracking through the weaker bones behind. Presta screamed, not quite dead, then Aclysias attack hit as well. Servant Strike and Maraths energy wavebined with the sh of the extremely heavy, sharp and massive weapon to create one sh that cracked what little remained of her scales in the area. The little damage that Beatrice had caused to Prestas skull suddenly became a massive gap as mithril chopped through dragon bone. Ast tension went through the ck dragoness body, then she began to keel over ever so slowly.
She had disintegrated into ash and dust before she hit the ground.
Chapter 641 – Gamer grinds again 12 – Massive Improvements
Chapter 641 C Gamer grinds again 12 C Massive Improvements
Oh my Lord John gasped, feeling like he was about to climax then and there, without receiving any sort of actual pleasure. His throat was a bit sore from the massive victory nerd-scream he had let out moments ago. Now, he fell over. That hended on hard stone didnt quite matter, he was just happy to lie down.
The temperature in their had dropped immediately upon Prestas death. It had gone from extremely to pleasantly hot. Simrly, the tendency of the floor to explode under them had ended and the tiles that were gone returned from theva. Most of the other girls also sat orid down for a moment.
They werent mindlessly stressed out or anything, since they had taken healthy breaks between attempts. Additionally, this had only been the third attempt of the day. No, the reason for lying down was the same as copsing during or after a strong orgasm: pure satisfaction and relief. They all gathered their breath individually, then gathered in some sort of victory cuddle. Even Siena degraded herself to be part of it, although she refused to jump around in glee like everyone else. Well, Undine also joined her in that, and although Beatrice did it, she didnt move a single muscle in her face.
John was too happy to mind any of that. Alright, lets check out the loot, he announced, and they all marched over to a stone chest that had spawned in the middle of the room. That the drops didnt go to the Loot Basin wasnt all that surprising, Gaia liked to give him dramatically appropriate drops at the dramatically appropriate ces. It had the same aesthetic as the door, molten rock roughly shaped like box and sealing perfectly tight despite the unsteady form. Gnome and Aclysia had to lift the lid together, pulling it up and then taking a number of steps to the side before dropping the impossibly heavy stone b.
Traditionally, the sight of what was inside should have been a load of gold, but John was presented with a less fantastic and more clinically pleasing sight. First off, there was the money. 250 million USD, except the catch-up buff quadrupled that amount to a full billion. The chest was by no means small, but even in the biggest bills, one billion dor wouldnt have fit into it. Instead, John was presented with a golden check, signed by Gaia.
She has a surprisingly cute signature, Johnmented, looking at the cursive G followed by an overdesigned aia that looked heart-shaped in its totality. He looked at the thing for a few moments, inspected it for anything else of interest, but found nothing. Reason being that he would never see it again once he put it into his inventory.
The currency number for his inventory wasnt how much money he actually had in his inventory, he had found out with time, it was how much money he was allowed to pull out of nothing. The difference between the two being that he wasnt guaranteed to get the same 5 dor bill out that he put in, only a 5 dor bill that was epted as proper currency. This check would dissolve into potential value and that would be that.
Although the question how he didnt cause massive intion on the world stage was still open. That had to be some shenanigans on a level only Gaia could correct.
At least that solves my money problems for the moment, John thought with a smile to himself. With one billion extra dors, he could run the country safely for like a week. Expenditures are sure to explode once government is formed, he realized, the first sour taste of reality mixing in with the sweet, sweet victory of the day. Before it could settle, he checked the rest of what the chest contained.
A number of scales, ws and horns from Presta wandered straight towards Aclysia and Beatrice. They were okay crafting materials, but right now he had two Artificial Spirits to feed back up to his current level.
In the Umon bracket, he got 2 eyes, 1 tongue and 2 hearts (oddly enough). They all came in appropriately sized jars and seemed to be of the human form. Which was good, since John could only imagine the heart of the actual dragon to have been the size of a pony. Those were all materials he could do basically nothing with, having mostly alchemical values. He would offer them to some choice allies and acquaintances, Medelnick, the eunuch Apothecary, came to mind. Also Jeffrey, the creator of Johns contact lenses.
Which reminded him, as he put these things into his inventory. Beatrice, have we heard back from Jeffrey yet? He had made the offer and then backed off the affair. Unless it required his direct attention at negotiation, he didnt want to spend more time than necessary. As his secretary, the passive maid would have been the person who this information stopped at. Thanks to her personality, it was easy to trust her to make sensible decisions. If she wasnt 100% certain of Johns stance on the matter, she would refer it to him, otherwise she would just go along his lines without questioning things.
Yes. But her personality also had some annoying traits, such as her stopping at that answer.
And which version exactly did he go with? John prodded further.
Recollection: Jeffrey agreed to move to the Hudson Barrier. Money and help has been sent, Beatrice borated. Do you wish me to inform you who was sent?
No, thatll be enough. John shook his head and smiled a little bit. Having raised Beatrices Mental Stats (and he had raised her Intellect in the days of the Fateweaving adjustment) had the advantage that she remembered a whole lot more about the things she was doing now. Previously, she had known everything that could be easily qualified as important. Such as his schedule, who he was supposed to meet and where. Now she also had the capacity to save some data about their targets surroundings, personality, hobbies, what other people were associated with something by sheer chance and such things.
She was bing a wellspring of data that John either didnt have the time to get or wanted to double-check on. Although his memory was still better than hers in basically every aspect, having someone to cross-reference with was just reassuring.
Continuing on with the loot, John moved onto the Rare items. This was the first category he didnt get everything in, despite the loot multiplicator. Of the five possible items to get, he was rewarded 3 different ones.
First off, there was the Red-ze de, or des rather, as he got three of those. They each looked identical, light crimson, stainless des, one edge, with no grip or guard and rtively short. That was quite interesting, as John had gotten numerous swords before but never just the de. With the tang, it could be secured to basically anything.
Maybe Ted and Chemilia can use that? he wondered, turning the metal between his bare hands. It radiated a supernatural heat that intensified into a dangerous scorching towards the edge. He measured it against his lower arm, clicking his tongue when it extended from his elbow to the middle of his hand. Clearly too long for Ted, Chemilia could work though, he thought and threw all three into his inventory to give to Scarlett for exact measurementster. They werent nearly as good as mithril weapons, so Aclysia would have no use for them.
Next thing he got was one Dragonyer te. It was a full body te armour. This was actually the second time that John had seen aplete set of items being seen as one solid one, the first time being the Armour of Brandenburgs Miracle that Lydias father had been wearing to boost his sorry fighting capabilities. It was quite okay. That was to say, it was excellent when taken at face value, but when thinking about this armour consuming every item slot, then it was just okay. Its best Attributes were against fire and sh attacks, so dragon breath and w swipes.
As someone who didnt need physical defence Stats, John wasnt a fan of armour. Between Mana Protection and Gamers Body, there was just no need to be afraid of being shed or something. Better to invest into enchantment and looking stylish in battle. Thetter had a fair dash of Johns vanity, but in his defence, lighter clothes tended to ept magic resistance enchantments easier.
For thest Rare item he got, he received one Core Crystal. It was a ck, roughly round object. While it did approach a sphere, the surface was covered in dents and t segments. It looked like a heavily mistreated d100, without the numbers. Apparently those sorts of crystals grew inside dragon brains and were their primary magical organ. At the size of a plum it didnt look like too much, but apparently it was a strong crafting and enchanting material. He kept it for eventual use and would sell it if he found none.
In the Epic department, John got quite lucky. Lavaripper didnt drop, but from the sound of it, that was another sword or scythe or some other kind of weapon that he didnt know what to do with. Instead, he got two 15-kilogram Mithril ore pieces and one 1-kilogram piece of refined Oblivium.
The Mithril alone was worth a fortune. He had no idea how much actual metal could be refined from the pieces of silver-white veined rocks, but he was happy to have it nheless. The Oblivium was even more interesting.
Except for Mithril and Astrotium, all supernatural metals were created by mixing natural metal with elemental energies. The standard idea was that the strongest metal that could be created this way was Elementium, saturating an amount of metal equally with all six elements. It wouldnt have been magic, however, if there werent some ill-understood exceptions (that would likely be understood one day, but that could be left to scientists).
Oblivium was one such exception and, furthermore, one that John was already familiar with. Filled beyond the standardly epted threshold with infernal power, the ck metal was created during one historical event, being the ascension of Nathalia to godhood. As that had happened in a less strictly separated time, that metal had been identally created over in the real world, which Gaia then scraped off and since locked away somewhere.
Meaning John could very well have been the only one to have ess to it. Purgatory was made from that material, as was the Ne of the World Ender, two items that he had worn for a long, long time now and had no intention of recing. As for its strength, it appeared to be physically inferior to Mithril, but when it came to Elemental Resistance, particrly fire, it was a fair bit better. Not immensely so, if one would give all the natural Attributes of the two metals points and counted them, they would arrive at roughly the same number, but enough to be relevant.
I do wonder if these can be blended, he thought as he put both into his inventory. He already had a rough idea of what to do with them, especially once he got to legendary and got even more lucky, receiving one of each item.
Hoarding Space was, however, unspectacr. It increased his Inventory Space by 10, from 70 to 80. Good, very good even, John had long wanted his inventory to get bigger so he could carry more emergency food and the like, but just boring for the Legendarybel. Dragon-blessed Mithril was slightly above that, but also just a crafting material. The difference between it and normal mithril being that it was simply better.
Regardless, John was happy to have it. More ore meant more material to work with. He wanted to make a weapon for Beatrice with this. The Deathmetal Spear was good, but Mithril was simply better.
Once the chest had been plundered, John got a new pop-up.
Oh, fuck me yes, John smirked as he looked between the choices and then picked the right one with a firm move of his hand. Loot was nice, but not nice enough to forego two SEP over. Alright, lets get out of here, I have a lot of points to spend and then I am just going to he tried to find an eloquent way to put it, but failed, so he resigned himself to being blunt. I am going to fuck you all so hard until I cant feel my own legs anymore and I have drained everyst drop of cum I pent up thest few days inside your tight sexy holes.
L-lewd! Gnome eximed, waving her hands in embarrassed motions in front of her beet-red face. Too lewd! Bad John, you cant just cant just say that out loud, her voice petered off as she looked to the floor. but I miss having you inside me so
Lewd! Smander echoed her elder with a mocking cackle, patting the Asian looking soil elemental on the back. Calm down, cuddle rock, thisll be awesome.
I dont doubt that, t-thats not the point! Gnome got worked up, only to push her fingertips together and then mumble something. kinda wet dont needy masturbated. Was all John could make out before he got all of them out of the Raid. Using Escape I.D. opened a window asking him if he was sure he had done everything in the Raid. He confirmed and then was back in the darkness. A few more steps brought the group to the grassy ne.
They went back to their house and all just rxed. Some girls went to take a shower, others a nap. The maids went to wolf down more of the items they had hoarded to give them level ups when needed. John excused himself for the moment and went to his room alone. He wanted to have some peace and quiet while he made his upgrade decisions.
Putting on some Metallica on theptop he had put up there, he threw himself on the bed and got casuallyfortable. Pants were off, his chest was covered only by a light t-shirt and his toes wiggled in the air as he rested against the wall. He opened his Character Screen and scanned everything.
Alright, what all do I have? John wondered and listed. Minus the 50 points for Libido, I got 49 Stat Points to spend. 2 SEP, setting aside the one for Siena. One ss Level.
He went with the Stats first, since he had already set himself a goal. 22 Points went into Agility, 25 in Endurance, leaving him with another 2, which he just put into Intellect and was done with it. I guess I am going for Intellect 500 next, he just decided. Unless a better goal presented itself, more mana wasnt necessary, but seemed like the most useful thing.
Up next was the ss Level. Luckily, he had already gotten the Challenges for the next Puppeteer level beat. It had just appeared rather obvious that he would end up in this situation soon, so he had taken the break presented by the Fateweaving adjustment to get this done as well. He was actually kind of excited for this next Perk, this whole Mana Double thing was just nice and had proven quite useful in the Raid already. He couldnt wait to see how it developed further.
Quick progress is nice too bad this is likely the high-point of it, he thought. There was no way this absurd levelling pace would keep up. Unless the next Raid was easier than this one had been, something very doubtful, there was no way they could beat it quickly. Knowing Gaia, the enemies in that next Raid would be around level 300, and that would be difficult. With 5 more days, they might be able to kill a few more normal mobs, but John was keeping his expectations low. He had already gotten around 40 levels in the span of two weeks, so there was really no reason to ask for further niceties from Gaia. Anyway, Perk.
What do we pick in this ss, he mumbled to the rhythm of Whiskey in the Jar. Projection was still attractive, but he liked the other two choices more, so he once more skipped out on it. Copy Double and Power Double were both immensely useful. On first look, Copy Double may have been the clear winner by the Physical Stats bonus alone, but there was an important difference there. Copy Double gave the BASE Stats, Power Double did not. So, despite the percentage actually decreasing from 60 to 50%, it was an overall increase due to scaling from a higher value.
John spared himself running the math about when 80% Base was better than 50% total, as he had already made his decision, however. Power Double was fantastic, gaining ess to his inventory was tremendous and the fact that equipment was mentioned to not work at that point was a hint towards it being possible down the line.
A thing that needed to be kept in mind though was that the Mana Double could kind of already equip weapons. They wouldnt give any Stat bonuses or activate other non-passive Attributes, but it wasnt like a sword in the Extensions hands just popped out of existence. Unlike with John when he went over his equipment count, in which case items did just automatically get drawn into his inventory.
All of that said, he went with Copy Double. The Gamer wasnt looking for another melee DPS, tank or frontline fighter in any way. What he wanted was the ability to be in two ces at once. To that end, Copy Doubles lower upkeep cost and further detailing was exactly what he needed. Once he had picked the Perk, he immediately tested it.
The copy was, indeed, wless. John felt like he was looking in a mirror and grabbing the arm no longer produced the feeling of grabbing a solid metal-man. There was heat and the softness of skin and fat over loose muscles and the feeling of soft fabric to stretchable clothes. All of it a copy by magical means, but an urate one regardless. However, there were still two ways to check for the authenticity of the copy. For one, it didnt smell like him. Where Johns cologne was basically ingrained into his being, a pleasant sweet, smoky smell underlined with vani, fresh sap and something spicy, the Mand John smelled of metal, in and simple.
The second and easier essible one was that the Mand Sphere had a different aura than him. As a Possessed item, it did have one, but it was pretty clearly a shard of a bigger one. If one could even see that much. The ability to see the auras of Possessed items itself was already umon. Basic aura sight was not. If the average Abyssal would check on this double, they would see nothing. Maybe some would mistake that for him being a nk, but only if they had never looked at a nk before. Their auras were more like empty frames thanpletely gone. More likely than that even, they could think he was hiding his aura with an item. That could cause its own series of ufortable questions in some cases though. It was, however, at least going to make the double seem like the genuine man.
Well, lets hope it gets further obfuscating with future Perks, John hoped and checked the Challenge, expecting something wholly unreasonable. As Puppeteer was now level 8, it was at the same point as he was stuck at with Elementalist. However, what he found was quite reasonable. Huh, just another racing challenge, he said to himself, literally. That sounds possible, doesnt it?
Mand John opened his mouth and even moved his lips, but failed to produce any sounds. John proper furrowed his eyebrows.
Cant speak either well, there is always more Perks, he noted down and decided to give this state of the Mand Sphere some nickname that would make future talks about it less confusing. Twice? That could work, but seems like it could lead to some misunderstandings in casual conversations. Maybe just go with German and call him Doppel? Would also work with Doppelg?nger but Jane and Lydia will never stop making fun of that. Twoman? No, even I wouldnt want to hear that pun every day. Mhm ah, Jack! Ill go with Jack.
That had been the name of the mechanical sparrow he used to Possess. Seemed to work rather well and was nice and short. He reverted Jack back into the Mand Sphere for the moment. At 20% of his mana regeneration, he could justifiably keep that up all the time, but having to control a body double at all times was a bit awkward and likely confusing for the girls. Better to hover around as a sphere. Was easier to use as a flying eye anyway.
Now, what to spend these SEP on? he continued to wonder about things. His first instinct was Mana Protection. It seemed best to increase his defence first. Nodding to himself, he clicked on it and checked out the choices.
Oh, thats easy, John thought. Arcana Istion was out, no question about it. Strong effect, but very niche and way too high costs. Thornshell was okay, but more for a tank build. Particle Skin forced John to give up the pre-charge, but in return freed him of the necessity to activate it. The reason why the pre-charge was neat was because John usually picked his fights, this was especially true in dungeons. However, in public life, having something that just automatically activated when somebody tried to stab him in the eye or shoot him with a sniper round was incredibly useful.
That aside, John had been wary for a while of people like Metra, that could open a portal behind Mana Protection. They were exceedingly rare, sure, but one of the people he had seen use a spell like that was Izha, the Lorylim that kept appearing on his path. Better to be secure against that now that he had the opportunity.
So, while Mana Protection (and Thornshell by extension) was better in the dungeon environment, Particle Skin made him more secure in day to day activity. Given that he found other humans to be the more challenging aspect of living than things he beat up to gain levels, Particle Skin was the choice to go. On a sentimental note, the Skill sounded almost exactly like Abrahams Nano Mana, but the difference was that Particle Skin was above the skin while Nano Mana had been in it.
Now, for the second SEP The choices were manifold, but he was mostly torn between Shardbound and Mana de. The thing between those two was that he hade to dislike having two variable spenders. Shardbounds immense flexibility was outstanding, but it also made the Skill difficult to use as there were so many things that had to go into it. John had found that he was using it either as a spray and pray or in the same sniping way as he had its predecessor Mana Ray. It was highly effective at both, but it could always be more effective.
Mana des primary drawback was range. Its size was dictated by the amount of mana spent on it, making uses below a certain threshold, about 700 mana for 1-2 metre length, somewhat useless. As damage also went up with mana spent, John sometimes ended up with massive swords when he wanted to hit something right in front of him. That could be a problem when an ally was right behind that same enemy. That aside, he was never really using it as a sword. It was always either a limited range beam or, nowadays, a whirlwind on the Mand Sphere.
Both of these were already immensely effective though, so he would rather improve on Shardbound than on Mana de right now. That Shardbound was maxed out while Mana de wasnt helped toe to that conclusion.
Not looking for specific AoE, even though Mana ss does look pretty good John thought and then looked at the other two choices. Swarm Splinters seemed to be Shardbound but better, sacrificing the flexible costs in part for tracking. The spell sounded like what Sylph had encountered during the Little Marnd fight against the sky fortress. If it was the same, that was quite potent.
John looked at Arc Lance with the greatest conviction. It had always drawn him to long range, high damage spells and this seemed to be the next iteration of that path. The one functionality he would lose was the ability to set traps, it sounded like. He had seldom been able to take advantage of that though and Arcane Echo did the same job well enough.
Picking that concluded this proper upgrade session. Alright, girls, I am ready when you are, waiting in the bedroom, he sent out the mental booty call. To his surprise, Aclysia responded first. The surprising part being what she responded with.
Beatrice and I will be joining youter, we are going to prioritize cooking for the moment. The weaponized maid didnt sound annoyed in anyway. On the contrary, she sounded quite happy. Clearly there had been some sort of background deal made. Siena also stayed silent, while the four other elementals all signalled that they were on the way.
Before they arrived, John quickly dumped the remaining points into Libido. It was time to see what those Perks were.
That was nice. John, in his whole career as a lover, had always had an eye for whether or not he could make his girls climax before he did. More often than not, he got them there several times before he did himself and then they had a synchronized orgasm at the end regardless. That was all willpower, knowing his lovers well and skill. Now he had something that would make it extra eventful when he filled them up and that just made him grin.
He could hear it already, the girls begging for that creampie. Not just because they were in a naughty mood and wanted the dirty talk, but also because it would give them a genuinely awesome orgasm.
Good, good, was all John felt at that. It was a start, but he was more interested in where this would go.
Now THAT was a fetish dreame true. What man didnt want to have his cock sucked enthusiastically? He could see it, girls swallowing the load with the deepest fervour, moaning in delight as they tasted the cum on their lips and dripping on the floor as it made them orgasm themselves. Fantastic.
And THAT was Johns DEEPEST fetish wishe true. The begging part he barely cared about, it was just there should he have been a submissive (or for the days where he was taking the part, rare as that was). That ability to tell his girls what they had to do and being able to reward them for it with raw pleasure, even more, to tell them to simply climax, that was the greatest gift he could have asked for.
And (a showerter) it was time to put all of that to use.
Chapter 643 – Gamer grinds again Interlewd 1 – Commands and Rewards [Erotic Content]
Chapter 643 C Gamer grinds again Interlewd 1 C Commands and Rewards [Erotic Content]
Gnome, Smander, Undine and Sylph, the four of them were inside the bedroom with him now. Smander and Undine were already naked, a simple difference for them, putting hiding mes out and forming private parts out of her slime, respectively. Why Sylph hadnt stripped yet, even she probably didnt know, but it was definitely not out of shame. Gnome, for her part, was only lightly flustered, ncing back and forth between her feet, her sisters and John, clearly wanting to get rid of her clothes, but too embarrassed to do so without reason.
They stood in a line, a wonderful line, each in a pose that brought out their personality. Gnome, slumped forwards, trying to make herself a little bit smaller than she was. Smander, upright and with a hand stemmed into her hip, grinning widely. Undine, simply with her arms dangling and equally rxed and straight, watching and waiting. Last but not least, Sylph, hovering, her mouth steadily moving as her hands ran over her curves.
I want this so badly, you know? she pvered about. All tongues and fingers and scissoring make concubine a sad girl. Women are all soft and gentle and stuff, but I need Johnnie, I need Johnnie inside me, pounding me like the head concubine I am, yes, yes! She nodded to herself as if she had just said the most obvious thing in the world that nobody could disagree with. John, are you ready? Can we start? A neediness of a level that he had never heard in Sylphs voice surfaced. I mean it, I really want you. I love you, I need you, I want to cuddle you and you to grab me and do naughty, naughty things to me!
John grinned, himself sitting on the edge of the bed. He was naked, his short hair still a little wet from the shower he took just now. He didnt want to be all sweaty from the Raid during sex. He would be plenty exhausted during it. Yes, were going to start in a moment, he responded, causing Sylph to first cry out enthusiastically, then moan when he got up and his erect cock bounced. A wet spot appeared in the fabric of her green leotard as the perverted thunderstorm elemental touched herself. Get naked, Johnmanded and watched their reactions closely.
This was as much the end of his short celibacy as it was a test of all those new Perks he had gotten. It was vital to know how exactly things worked. It was also one other thing, one that he kept from the girls for the moment. Undine and Smander felt nothing at themand, for obvious reasons. Gnome and Sylph, however
John had an eye on their bodies and minds and he could see how his suggestion did a little more to them than usual. It was morepelling than a simple demand. Not just a request they yed along for the fun of it, but a mutual exchange. They traded obedience for pleasure. The very demand itself informed their subconscious about this.
If John hadnt mentally informed them all about these Perks, that moment itself would have done it for him. Like all other trades in a civilized society, nothing forced them to take it. It was seductive, for sure, but if they had really wanted to resist, they could have done it without straining themselves. Seductive, not mind control.
Neither of them had any reason to take that out, however. Sylphs clothes, from the leotard to the pendant she wore, unravelled into streaks of green and silver energy that separated from her skin and then dispersed into the air, leaving the tiny woman and her decently sized breasts and elegant curves in to the view. Gnome followed suit, her yellow summer dress falling apart into grains of magic. Her body was more bnced, not quite as curvy but smoother in the way everything flowed together.
Sylph outright moaned once she was naked, while Gnome held back sessfully, only whimpering a little as she bit her lower lip. Both of their skins were flushed with lust, however, marking the obvious effects obedience had on them. Especially, when contrasted to Undine and Smander, who stood there still unmoving. They didnt orgasm from that little bit, which was equally disappointing and proper. It would have been a bit difficult to have intercourse if every littlemand he gave them turned them into a twitching mess for a few seconds. It seemed that the Perk obeyed the same logic as everything during sex, which was that a climax was something that had to be worked towards in at least some capacity.
Regardless, it was quite potent, Gnome shifting around and now keeping her eyes on her naked summoner for much longer than she nced away. She was turned on enough that her shame slowly began to subside. The arms that may have been moved to hide her breasts and cunt froze so close to their goal that they obscured nothing and, on the contrary, only framed those erotic areas of her body. She truly was a master-crafted statuee to life.
John wanted to have a bit more fun with that experimentation. Move your arms away, let me see all of you, hemanded, and after a bit of hesitation, Gnome obeyed. Not knowing what else to do with them, she folded her arms behind her hips. The motion caused her C-cups to stretch and be pushed out seductively, the increased rate of her breathing didnt help with that. Her head hung to the side, shame ring up again. Look at me, Gnome, he said, walking over.
She did but her lust didnt increase further. Which was also good to know, since John also hadnt intended tomand her in this instance. Knowing that he could turn it off by simply not wanting it to be an order was valuable knowledge in and of itself. He was eye to eye with the hazel-eyed soil elemental now.
Ill tell you as often as you need to hear it, his soft voice reached out to her as he slowly leaned in for a kiss. Youre beautiful, never be ashamed of anything about the way you look. Their lips met. They were so surprisingly soft and he could feel heat radiate from her face like from a dark stone that had bathed in the sun for a while. Lust, embarrassment and love all caused her to flush, most of all around the cheeks.
Uwuwuwuwu she made her cute little noise when she and John parted again. The Gamer licked his lips, still tasting her sweet, earthy aroma, like the air after autumn rain mixed with summer honey. He was getting an appetite for more than that, something more intense and more fun than kissing, in many ways.
Sit down, he got back into the leading role, gesturing at the bed. This time, he addressed all four of them. If there had been any doubt about the effectiveness of the Perk left, it was cleared up when they had all sat down and the previously unaffected half of them began to pant or shift as if John had been caressing theirrge breasts for two whole minutes. Spread your legs, he continued, feeling their horniness spike every time they did as they were told. Start masturbating.
Johns cock was rock hard, watching them all obey in their individual ways. Sylph rubbed her clit with one hand, while sucking on the fingers of the other. Her eyes were glued to his quivering cock and her moans left no doubt what she wanted to suck on instead. Not that she wasnt messily bbering about how much she wanted to suck him off anyway. Next to her, Undine was instead ying with her breasts, kneading them and caressing the nipples. Smander preferred a mixed approach, groping her own left tit roughly, digging lines of shadow into the soft, overabundant meat, while plunging two fingers into her burning cunt. At the right-hand end of this line of sexy elementals, Gnome had both hands lowered to her groin, ying with both her pussy and asshole at the same time.
John took Undines chin. Although she was blind, they still managed to cross their gazes and exchange something there. At the very least, the way her golden eyes looked up to him was immensely satisfying. Cum, hemanded. The ocean elemental shivered in an anticipating way, but then slowly shook her head as nothing further happened. Too soon, alright, the Gamer mumbled to himself and let go. He had a pretty good idea about the way this worked now and it satisfied him quite a bit. Although the perverse, dominant side of him would have loved more power over them, he realized that these were reasonable boundaries.
He decided to continue with the actual program he had nned. After stepping one to the left, he kneeled down on the floor. Yes, his dick was hard enough to be used as an armour pration weapon, between the increased Libido and his pent-up desires, but he could wait just a little while longer. He ced a number of kisses along the inside of Sylphs thighs and took in her scent, a mellow breeze over a field of spring flowers.
When he arrived at her sex, her hand had already moved to the side. The pretty pink lips of her pussy were parted slightly already, swollen with lust and wet with her clear liquid. Kissing the clit on top now, hidden under a little hood, John coerced more moans from Sylph. Hers were the loudest, underlined by those of her fellow elementals. The Gamers tongue was simply more able than their own fingers.
John reached around under her legs, shouldered her thighs and grabbed her ass, pulling her as close to his face as was possible. Yes, yes, yes, Sylph chirped when his tongue prodded and invaded her folds. Little jolts of electricity made the muscle a little numb, but at the same time they awakened more of John to the perverted exercise. Ah, youre so warm and wiggly and your tongue is so nice and long. Sylph didnt particrly care about whether or not what she said was sexy or not, she just pvered on. Her high-pitched moans between words were all John needed to hear anyway. Ahhh, yes, John I love you, I want you deeper inside me, just a little more oh, I have missed this, I needed this. Ahhh, I am already so close I am
Sylph pinched her hard nipples as her eyelids fluttered. A long sigh escaped her; a prolonged, audible exhale in which a slight reliefy, providing ease to a deeper, more ecstatic problem. John dlypped up the little gush of her honey, before parting from her. That was quick, he grinned to himself. Being able to make her orgasm so quickly was an aplishment. Good girl, heplimented her.
To his surprise, that caused Sylph to moan as if she had just followed amand. Evidently,pliments also fell into the boundaries of the Perks capability. Yet another thing that was very good to know.
Keep masturbating, he reminded her as he moved onto Undine. The thunderstorm elemental obeyed, her fingers hastily going back to their work. In a much more erratic fashion, as if to make up for theck of Johns skills as a lover.
Undine awaited him eagerly. The moment he was positioned between her legs, she stopped pleasuring herself and leaned back, using both her arms as support. Her blue body darkened almost unnoticeably around her cunt. A sign that she was concentrating her pleasure cells (or the magical slime equivalent thereof) in that area.
John took the invitation dly. Her crotch felt cool against his lips; she tasted a bit salty, but it mixed with a sweetness and created an altogether deeply pleasant vour. For a while, Undine was strictly silent. All reactions to Johns movements were purely in thendscape of her mind, an endless sea shaking with pleasant ripples. Ripples that became stronger and higher, until they wererge waves and the ocean elementals voice slipped out.
Her every moan was like a note in a little song that only John and the other harem members ever got to hear. It motivated the expert moves of his tongue further. He curved and prodded for the spots where Undine had created the greatest weak spots this time around. Conscious or subconscious, even in the generally dense concentration of pleasure nerves, there were little bundles to exploit.
Deep in the tunnel she had made inside herself, John found it. His tongue was just long enough to reach it. With the tip, tensed into a sharp form, he circled that spot. Aaaah, Undine gasped lustfully, and John could hear the whisper of bedsheets that were wed into, saw the quivering of herrge breasts and tasted increased flow of her pussy juices. Watery as they were, an overabundance of them dripped down his cheeks. He slurped and drank greedily, not wanting to waste any of his girls precious fluids to the floor. Something that became downright impossible the greater the turmoil of ecstasy inside Undine became. More and more the pussy juice spilled, then a sudden gush exploded from her lower lips.
The slime of her pussy constricted tightly around his tongue and Undine screamed out his name. John himself groaned, incredibly turned on as he was. Still, he forced himself to continue this strategy. Undine, like Sylph, immediately plunged two fingers into her cunt upon his withdrawal.
Fucking finally, Smander greeted him with a depraved look in her unequal eyes. Rather than wait for him, she took his head with both hands and pulled him towards her cunt. Her thighs squished into the sides of his head, forcing him into a prison of heat and lust. All around him was like sitting next to a campfire, but in front of his mouth was the fire itself.
If she wants it that bad he thought, amused by her aggressiveness and turned on by the softness of her thighs. Immediately unleashing the full might of his perverted knowledge, he teased her clit and prated her folds in rapid intervals. His confinement only heated up further, the legs around him trembled, sometimes backing up enough from his ears that he could hear again. His cock was dripping precum upon hearing them all.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, Smander rapidly cursed, her fingers digging deeper into her summoners skull. Sylph and Undine had grown much louder, the first orgasm having raised their desires rather than relieving thempletely. There was no getting around it, they were all addicted to sex in at least a minor way, and getting that first fix only worsened their cravings.
With Smander, he didnt have to search for her weak spots. The inferno of lust inside her cunt behaved differently with a tongue inside than a cock, so John could easily find her g-spot and mercilessly assault it. Soon her somewhat oily, smoky juices filled Johns mouth in arge wave, the orgasm silencing the endme elemental, save for the asional choked groan or curse.
Hesitantly, and with a bit of force from Johns side required, she opened her legs. Keep going, John told her as well, and Smander, without as much as the illusion of defiance, followed the trend of her sisters. He was grinning ear to ear as he moved onto thest girl waiting for his attention. Not only did he get to have fun with his new favourite toy, things would also line up perfectly, it seemed.
The reason why he had started this little orgy off with this pussy eating session was that the Skill of the same name was about to max out. Once it did, all three of his sexual Skills would be topped off. He would have eaten them all out regardless of when that happened, but now it was guaranteed to line up with his caring for Gnome.
The soil elemental had a very clear reaction to John being between her legs. Being that she didnt even notice until he grabbed her like Sylph earlier. Her eyes had been mostly closed and even now that they flew open, they were zed over. She had worked herself into quite the state already. Her pussy was moist, not as overtly wet as the previous three. Not for ack of horniness, but because of her own rather unique physique.
Regardless, her pussy was slippery. She didnt need much in the way of lubrication because she herself was so smooth and wonderful. J-john, she stuttered and gasped; if she wanted to say anything else, it was lost in her sudden, unashamed pleasure. She moaned loudly, almost shouted, sounds that could have been words ofpliments and embarrassment, as John ate her out.
He approached her a bit more tenderly, only slowly ramping up the speed and intensity of his movements. At some point, she could no longer sit upright, her upper body falling down onto the bed. It urred to him that this was the same bed, or at least a copy of the same bed, that he had first had sex with three of the four present elementals, Smander having been taken elsewhere.
Now that she was lying, John had a nice view down her t stomach, to her shapely breasts and the face peeking up between them. She had a nk look of debauchery on her face, mouth slightly open to let the sighs and moans escape, eyes closed about halfway, the colour of her face almost feverish. John couldnt resist anymore; he ramped his assault up the rest of the way, and her head flew back when he sucked on her clit, circled it with his tongue and generally did perverted things to her tight pussy.
Her spine arched most pleasingly to Johns eyes, and he flew the Mand Sphere around to keep sight of her face regardless. She didnt go fully cross-eyed just yet, but what he was doing to Gnome definitely had her close to it. Her teeth were now clenched, then forcefully rxed with a snapping for air. They clenched again, then opened in a long shout, John feeling the tremble all over her body just as he tasted her earthy aroma in his mouth, a more intense version of her kisses.
He couldnt help but sent out a mentalmand as Gnome was pushed over the edge. Cum! The forceful thought reached everyone in the room. There was just a second of hesitation as the word reverberated inside their minds, was understood, and there was a chance for resistance. One that nobody took, and then the room exploded into a symphony of orgasmic cries.
Gnome remained the loudest amongst them, her shout turning scream as her orgasm intensified, physical and mental climaxyering on top of each other. Undines sing-song voice almost reached her, while Sylph and Smander provided a bottomyer that was no less beautiful. With deep satisfaction. John backed off and stood up.
He licked their remaining juices off his lips.
He wasnt going to stop there.
Chapter 642 – Gamer grinds again Interlewd 1 – Commands and Rewards [Erotic Content]
Chapter 642 C Gamer grinds again Interlewd 1 C Commands and Rewards [Erotic Content]
Gnome, Smander, Undine and Sylph, the four of them were inside the bedroom with him now. Smander and Undine were already naked, a simple difference for them, putting hiding mes out and forming private parts out of her slime, respectively. Why Sylph hadnt stripped yet, even she probably didnt know, but it was definitely not out of shame. Gnome, for her part, was only lightly flustered, ncing back and forth between her feet, her sisters and John, clearly wanting to get rid of her clothes, but too embarrassed to do so without reason.
They stood in a line, a wonderful line, each in a pose that brought out their personality. Gnome, slumped forwards, trying to make herself a little bit smaller than she was. Smander, upright and with a hand stemmed into her hip, grinning widely. Undine, simply with her arms dangling and equally rxed and straight, watching and waiting. Last but not least, Sylph, hovering, her mouth steadily moving as her hands ran over her curves.
I want this so badly, you know? she pvered about. All tongues and fingers and scissoring make concubine a sad girl. Women are all soft and gentle and stuff, but I need Johnnie, I need Johnnie inside me, pounding me like the head concubine I am, yes, yes! She nodded to herself as if she had just said the most obvious thing in the world that nobody could disagree with. John, are you ready? Can we start? A neediness of a level that he had never heard in Sylphs voice surfaced. I mean it, I really want you. I love you, I need you, I want to cuddle you and you to grab me and do naughty, naughty things to me!
John grinned, himself sitting on the edge of the bed. He was naked, his short hair still a little wet from the shower he took just now. He didnt want to be all sweaty from the Raid during sex. He would be plenty exhausted during it. Yes, were going to start in a moment, he responded, causing Sylph to first cry out enthusiastically, then moan when he got up and his erect cock bounced. A wet spot appeared in the fabric of her green leotard as the perverted thunderstorm elemental touched herself. Get naked, Johnmanded and watched their reactions closely.
This was as much the end of his short celibacy as it was a test of all those new Perks he had gotten. It was vital to know how exactly things worked. It was also one other thing, one that he kept from the girls for the moment. Undine and Smander felt nothing at themand, for obvious reasons. Gnome and Sylph, however
John had an eye on their bodies and minds and he could see how his suggestion did a little more to them than usual. It was morepelling than a simple demand. Not just a request they yed along for the fun of it, but a mutual exchange. They traded obedience for pleasure. The very demand itself informed their subconscious about this.
If John hadnt mentally informed them all about these Perks, that moment itself would have done it for him. Like all other trades in a civilized society, nothing forced them to take it. It was seductive, for sure, but if they had really wanted to resist, they could have done it without straining themselves. Seductive, not mind control.
Neither of them had any reason to take that out, however. Sylphs clothes, from the leotard to the pendant she wore, unravelled into streaks of green and silver energy that separated from her skin and then dispersed into the air, leaving the tiny woman and her decently sized breasts and elegant curves in to the view. Gnome followed suit, her yellow summer dress falling apart into grains of magic. Her body was more bnced, not quite as curvy but smoother in the way everything flowed together.
Sylph outright moaned once she was naked, while Gnome held back sessfully, only whimpering a little as she bit her lower lip. Both of their skins were flushed with lust, however, marking the obvious effects obedience had on them. Especially, when contrasted to Undine and Smander, who stood there still unmoving. They didnt orgasm from that little bit, which was equally disappointing and proper. It would have been a bit difficult to have intercourse if every littlemand he gave them turned them into a twitching mess for a few seconds. It seemed that the Perk obeyed the same logic as everything during sex, which was that a climax was something that had to be worked towards in at least some capacity.
Regardless, it was quite potent, Gnome shifting around and now keeping her eyes on her naked summoner for much longer than she nced away. She was turned on enough that her shame slowly began to subside. The arms that may have been moved to hide her breasts and cunt froze so close to their goal that they obscured nothing and, on the contrary, only framed those erotic areas of her body. She truly was a master-crafted statuee to life.
John wanted to have a bit more fun with that experimentation. Move your arms away, let me see all of you, hemanded, and after a bit of hesitation, Gnome obeyed. Not knowing what else to do with them, she folded her arms behind her hips. The motion caused her C-cups to stretch and be pushed out seductively, the increased rate of her breathing didnt help with that. Her head hung to the side, shame ring up again. Look at me, Gnome, he said, walking over.
She did but her lust didnt increase further. Which was also good to know, since John also hadnt intended tomand her in this instance. Knowing that he could turn it off by simply not wanting it to be an order was valuable knowledge in and of itself. He was eye to eye with the hazel-eyed soil elemental now.
Ill tell you as often as you need to hear it, his soft voice reached out to her as he slowly leaned in for a kiss. Youre beautiful, never be ashamed of anything about the way you look. Their lips met. They were so surprisingly soft and he could feel heat radiate from her face like from a dark stone that had bathed in the sun for a while. Lust, embarrassment and love all caused her to flush, most of all around the cheeks.
Uwuwuwuwu she made her cute little noise when she and John parted again. The Gamer licked his lips, still tasting her sweet, earthy aroma, like the air after autumn rain mixed with summer honey. He was getting an appetite for more than that, something more intense and more fun than kissing, in many ways.
Sit down, he got back into the leading role, gesturing at the bed. This time, he addressed all four of them. If there had been any doubt about the effectiveness of the Perk left, it was cleared up when they had all sat down and the previously unaffected half of them began to pant or shift as if John had been caressing theirrge breasts for two whole minutes. Spread your legs, he continued, feeling their horniness spike every time they did as they were told. Start masturbating.
Johns cock was rock hard, watching them all obey in their individual ways. Sylph rubbed her clit with one hand, while sucking on the fingers of the other. Her eyes were glued to his quivering cock and her moans left no doubt what she wanted to suck on instead. Not that she wasnt messily bbering about how much she wanted to suck him off anyway. Next to her, Undine was instead ying with her breasts, kneading them and caressing the nipples. Smander preferred a mixed approach, groping her own left tit roughly, digging lines of shadow into the soft, overabundant meat, while plunging two fingers into her burning cunt. At the right-hand end of this line of sexy elementals, Gnome had both hands lowered to her groin, ying with both her pussy and asshole at the same time.
John took Undines chin. Although she was blind, they still managed to cross their gazes and exchange something there. At the very least, the way her golden eyes looked up to him was immensely satisfying. Cum, hemanded. The ocean elemental shivered in an anticipating way, but then slowly shook her head as nothing further happened. Too soon, alright, the Gamer mumbled to himself and let go. He had a pretty good idea about the way this worked now and it satisfied him quite a bit. Although the perverse, dominant side of him would have loved more power over them, he realized that these were reasonable boundaries.
He decided to continue with the actual program he had nned. After stepping one to the left, he kneeled down on the floor. Yes, his dick was hard enough to be used as an armour pration weapon, between the increased Libido and his pent-up desires, but he could wait just a little while longer. He ced a number of kisses along the inside of Sylphs thighs and took in her scent, a mellow breeze over a field of spring flowers.
When he arrived at her sex, her hand had already moved to the side. The pretty pink lips of her pussy were parted slightly already, swollen with lust and wet with her clear liquid. Kissing the clit on top now, hidden under a little hood, John coerced more moans from Sylph. Hers were the loudest, underlined by those of her fellow elementals. The Gamers tongue was simply more able than their own fingers.
John reached around under her legs, shouldered her thighs and grabbed her ass, pulling her as close to his face as was possible. Yes, yes, yes, Sylph chirped when his tongue prodded and invaded her folds. Little jolts of electricity made the muscle a little numb, but at the same time they awakened more of John to the perverted exercise. Ah, youre so warm and wiggly and your tongue is so nice and long. Sylph didnt particrly care about whether or not what she said was sexy or not, she just pvered on. Her high-pitched moans between words were all John needed to hear anyway. Ahhh, yes, John I love you, I want you deeper inside me, just a little more oh, I have missed this, I needed this. Ahhh, I am already so close I am
Sylph pinched her hard nipples as her eyelids fluttered. A long sigh escaped her; a prolonged, audible exhale in which a slight reliefy, providing ease to a deeper, more ecstatic problem. John dlypped up the little gush of her honey, before parting from her. That was quick, he grinned to himself. Being able to make her orgasm so quickly was an aplishment. Good girl, heplimented her.
To his surprise, that caused Sylph to moan as if she had just followed amand. Evidently,pliments also fell into the boundaries of the Perks capability. Yet another thing that was very good to know.
Keep masturbating, he reminded her as he moved onto Undine. The thunderstorm elemental obeyed, her fingers hastily going back to their work. In a much more erratic fashion, as if to make up for theck of Johns skills as a lover.
Undine awaited him eagerly. The moment he was positioned between her legs, she stopped pleasuring herself and leaned back, using both her arms as support. Her blue body darkened almost unnoticeably around her cunt. A sign that she was concentrating her pleasure cells (or the magical slime equivalent thereof) in that area.
John took the invitation dly. Her crotch felt cool against his lips; she tasted a bit salty, but it mixed with a sweetness and created an altogether deeply pleasant vour. For a while, Undine was strictly silent. All reactions to Johns movements were purely in thendscape of her mind, an endless sea shaking with pleasant ripples. Ripples that became stronger and higher, until they wererge waves and the ocean elementals voice slipped out.
Her every moan was like a note in a little song that only John and the other harem members ever got to hear. It motivated the expert moves of his tongue further. He curved and prodded for the spots where Undine had created the greatest weak spots this time around. Conscious or subconscious, even in the generally dense concentration of pleasure nerves, there were little bundles to exploit.
Deep in the tunnel she had made inside herself, John found it. His tongue was just long enough to reach it. With the tip, tensed into a sharp form, he circled that spot. Aaaah, Undine gasped lustfully, and John could hear the whisper of bedsheets that were wed into, saw the quivering of herrge breasts and tasted increased flow of her pussy juices. Watery as they were, an overabundance of them dripped down his cheeks. He slurped and drank greedily, not wanting to waste any of his girls precious fluids to the floor. Something that became downright impossible the greater the turmoil of ecstasy inside Undine became. More and more the pussy juice spilled, then a sudden gush exploded from her lower lips.
The slime of her pussy constricted tightly around his tongue and Undine screamed out his name. John himself groaned, incredibly turned on as he was. Still, he forced himself to continue this strategy. Undine, like Sylph, immediately plunged two fingers into her cunt upon his withdrawal.
Fucking finally, Smander greeted him with a depraved look in her unequal eyes. Rather than wait for him, she took his head with both hands and pulled him towards her cunt. Her thighs squished into the sides of his head, forcing him into a prison of heat and lust. All around him was like sitting next to a campfire, but in front of his mouth was the fire itself.
If she wants it that bad he thought, amused by her aggressiveness and turned on by the softness of her thighs. Immediately unleashing the full might of his perverted knowledge, he teased her clit and prated her folds in rapid intervals. His confinement only heated up further, the legs around him trembled, sometimes backing up enough from his ears that he could hear again. His cock was dripping precum upon hearing them all.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, Smander rapidly cursed, her fingers digging deeper into her summoners skull. Sylph and Undine had grown much louder, the first orgasm having raised their desires rather than relieving thempletely. There was no getting around it, they were all addicted to sex in at least a minor way, and getting that first fix only worsened their cravings.
With Smander, he didnt have to search for her weak spots. The inferno of lust inside her cunt behaved differently with a tongue inside than a cock, so John could easily find her g-spot and mercilessly assault it. Soon her somewhat oily, smoky juices filled Johns mouth in arge wave, the orgasm silencing the endme elemental, save for the asional choked groan or curse.
Hesitantly, and with a bit of force from Johns side required, she opened her legs. Keep going, John told her as well, and Smander, without as much as the illusion of defiance, followed the trend of her sisters. He was grinning ear to ear as he moved onto thest girl waiting for his attention. Not only did he get to have fun with his new favourite toy, things would also line up perfectly, it seemed.
The reason why he had started this little orgy off with this pussy eating session was that the Skill of the same name was about to max out. Once it did, all three of his sexual Skills would be topped off. He would have eaten them all out regardless of when that happened, but now it was guaranteed to line up with his caring for Gnome.
The soil elemental had a very clear reaction to John being between her legs. Being that she didnt even notice until he grabbed her like Sylph earlier. Her eyes had been mostly closed and even now that they flew open, they were zed over. She had worked herself into quite the state already. Her pussy was moist, not as overtly wet as the previous three. Not for ack of horniness, but because of her own rather unique physique.
Regardless, her pussy was slippery. She didnt need much in the way of lubrication because she herself was so smooth and wonderful. J-john, she stuttered and gasped; if she wanted to say anything else, it was lost in her sudden, unashamed pleasure. She moaned loudly, almost shouted, sounds that could have been words ofpliments and embarrassment, as John ate her out.
He approached her a bit more tenderly, only slowly ramping up the speed and intensity of his movements. At some point, she could no longer sit upright, her upper body falling down onto the bed. It urred to him that this was the same bed, or at least a copy of the same bed, that he had first had sex with three of the four present elementals, Smander having been taken elsewhere.
Now that she was lying, John had a nice view down her t stomach, to her shapely breasts and the face peeking up between them. She had a nk look of debauchery on her face, mouth slightly open to let the sighs and moans escape, eyes closed about halfway, the colour of her face almost feverish. John couldnt resist anymore; he ramped his assault up the rest of the way, and her head flew back when he sucked on her clit, circled it with his tongue and generally did perverted things to her tight pussy.
Her spine arched most pleasingly to Johns eyes, and he flew the Mand Sphere around to keep sight of her face regardless. She didnt go fully cross-eyed just yet, but what he was doing to Gnome definitely had her close to it. Her teeth were now clenched, then forcefully rxed with a snapping for air. They clenched again, then opened in a long shout, John feeling the tremble all over her body just as he tasted her earthy aroma in his mouth, a more intense version of her kisses.
He couldnt help but sent out a mentalmand as Gnome was pushed over the edge. Cum! The forceful thought reached everyone in the room. There was just a second of hesitation as the word reverberated inside their minds, was understood, and there was a chance for resistance. One that nobody took, and then the room exploded into a symphony of orgasmic cries.
Gnome remained the loudest amongst them, her shout turning scream as her orgasm intensified, physical and mental climaxyering on top of each other. Undines sing-song voice almost reached her, while Sylph and Smander provided a bottomyer that was no less beautiful. With deep satisfaction. John backed off and stood up.
He licked their remaining juices off his lips.
He wasnt going to stop there.
Chapter 644 – Gamer grinds again Finale – Final Spurt and AS Upgrades
Chapter 644 C Gamer grinds again Finale C Final Spurt and AS Upgrades
A spear ripped its way through Aclysias stomach. It was a graceful and terrible piece of gear, one piece, made from a material with a metallic shine, ttened and sharpened for the entire length of it, with leaf-shaped des that now opened by some magical mechanism, creating hooks.
John didnt even have any idea where it hade from. Whether a trap or an enemy had thrown it. All he was clear on was that a second one came in and nailed Aclysia through the shoulder. Ripping them out wasnt exactly an option, at least not one they could take quickly. With the hooks on both ends, pulling or pushing was out until they had snapped the damn thing and it appeared to be quite hard.
A third spear rushed through the air; this time John was at least able to make out the origin. Some sort of four-armed creature standing on top of one of the many cliffs that surrounded them. The group was inside a granite canyon, at least that was the best way John could describe it. Three valley paths stretched out from where they were, all surrounded by dark grey rock, yellow and silveryers decorating the splintered walls.
They were inside a new Raid. John had opened it to check whether they could take advantage of a few more level-ups using the high-level creatures inside. Given that Aclysia was already through three fifths of her HP, he kind of doubted it. The name was Valley of Stone and Thunder. The sky was wonderfully clear.
The creature ducked back behind one of the many rock formations above, before John could Observe it. He had more luck with another one that appeared on the neighbouring teau between two canyon arms. His naked eyes made out little more than the silhouette, four arms, two considerably thicker, otherwise hunched over and apelike.
Yeah, I am not dealing with that, John decided, having a deja vu to thest time he had entered a Raid. This time it didnte immediately. Since he still had Fateweaving on his side, there were no better conditions to run a Raid. As a matter of fact, John had already created the silent policy of No Raiding without Fateweaving courtesy of the 113 wipes they had experienced.
He did try to get one of the Sicklemen. For a whole day they tried, since one of those would easily be worth a days worth of grinding. It turned out to be quite the shitshow, however. The first problem was to even get on the tforms.
There was a safe spot in the centre of the crossroad area of the canyon. It was outside the throwing range and thus allowed them to stand at ease. A single step out and they were immediately targeted.
There seemed to be one Sickleman per teau. As such, they only had to deal with one at a time if they approached things properly. That was already enough though. The spears flew quick enough that even Sylph had to pay attention to dodge them and they had an endless supply of them, judging by how carefree they chucked them around.
Anyway, from that safe spot they had to run through a field that was hard to navigate on the ground due to the cleft and uneven treading, while being nice and t from above, letting the Sicklemen aim with ease. It was usual for at least one of them to be killed on the way. That the spears were long enough to nail a person to the floor if hit didnt help.
Once at the teau itself, the wall was a good fifty metres tall. Climbing it was difficult. Flying up was the superior option. As for flying in general, the Sicklemen didnt even try to aim at the harder prey that flew above and either shrugged off weak hits or dodged the stronger ones by shrinking into a shadow. Unlike Siena, tiny spots of darkness seemed to satisfy their requirements. Not quite the shade of a pebble, but something around a book page in size was enough for them. Which was odd given their size.
They ignored flyers, unless they got in range. Then they moved with disgusting quickness and executed abo that was a guaranteed one-shot to Smander. Namely, they grabbed the target with their sickles, then pulled them to the tarant-like fangs that hung under their eight-eyed head and skewered the brains of the unlucky target. Smander had not been happy about dying like that. Sylph was too small to be affected, but she still had to dodge swipes and her attacks were mostly ignored as the Sickleman continued to pick off those who had to run.
The only exception the Sicklemen made to their ignore aerial targets rule was when the aerial target turned into two slowed targets. In other words, getting flown up there was its own set of risks. Even when they, towards the end of the day, managed to get a reasonable number of people up there, the Sickleman fought in such an alien way that they didnt quite know how to handle it. Like a cat or a spider, the creature often stopped moving mid-fight, only to then attack in an absolute lethal fury. Everyone who got grappled, well, that story had been told.
As John learned on the asion: Raid enemies retained marks from wounds they had taken in previous encounters, but were healed of all wounds instantly between attempts and did not retain any crippling. By the end of the day, they therefore decided that it was not worth using the rest of the Catch-Up Buff duration on more fruitless attempts.
They had only 4 more days after all. What they did instead was easily summarized in Assaults and Arenas. John wanted items and experience, so those were the best roads to that goal. It went byrgely eventless. Three days were entirely spent on that end, and thest day in the barrier was then dedicated to cleaning themselves up. ording to all clocks, they woulde out at about eight in the morning on Johns birthday.
Although that meant it was technically already his birthday, everyone had the silent agreement to not congratte him just yet. Would have been odd anyway, given the time dtion and everything.
Those remaining 3 days they used in full were not as fruitful as the previous two weeks, but that was a tall order anyway. John gained about one and a half level for every day, putting him at level 211 once everything was over. Which, of course, meant that he got another ss Level. Staying consistent he improved Puppeteer further. Finally getting a ss beyond level 8 was something he liked to have under his belt, even if it wasnt the ss he wanted.
Im not quite sure if Switcheroo is powerful enough to warrant a position at Perk number 9, Gaia, John thought. Of course, its good bute on, level 9 in a ss and you give me a basic bitch teleport? The supreme deity was silent, so John sighed and looked at the other two choices. Switcheroo was ignored, he could get teleports elsewhere, even if this one was immensely potent.
Between the other two, the choice was pretty quick, since John already knew what he wanted and one of those choices fit the description and the other didnt. Fighter Double was good. Like, extremely good. Detail Double, however, had the ability to speak and thuspleted his ability to be at two ces at once. Well, almost, the Mand Sphere couldnt enter or exit Illusion Barriers on its own yet. That aside, it was exactly what John wanted and he picked it without further questioning things.
Then it was time to finally upgrade the Artificial Spirits. He had spent Stat Points along the way, but could put some Perks into action. He started with Aclysia, as was tradition.
Huh, well, its boring, but at least its predictably boring, John decided. Artificial Spirit choices hade down to 1% upgrades quite often, so those being rolled into one window for everything was at least straight-forward. Going by pure mathematics, it was best for him to increase Strength, so thats what he did.
The idea that this would keep him upied for a few years struck him as rather realistic. There were a total of 90 increases he could make there, with 2 per natural cycle of the Skill being avable. A Skill that already needed months to max out and only decreased in speed. Scratch years, make that decades, John thought and moved onto the next thing.
At least that was what he nned to do until he saw that awful thing.
No! he eximed. Why, why would you ever make it fill sideways, thats just torture! Bottom up, make the bar fill bottom up, oh my God. This he noticed the girls surrounding him looking at him with amused or startled expressions, his outbreak having been rather sudden. He took a deep breath, I am calm I am calm and moved on.
Oh hey, thats also new, John thought, then went over the choices. Sword Specialization was out, for the same reason as always when he was presented with the ability to give Aclysia ranged slice attacks: she could already do it by virtue of her weapons Eclys and Marath. There was no urgent need to give her that ability.
While Juggernaut was powerful, as anti crowd control effects tended to be, John didnt want to give her more spenders when she had so few builders. To that end, True Block was okay. Taking damage had never been the greatest threat to Aclysia, but if she had the ability to prevent it and get all the other advantages that came with sessfully blocking, such as keeping the advantage in the pacing of the fight, that was good. The choice was made and True Block was added to Aclysias repertoire.
He still wasnt having kids anytime soon and Headmaid was attractive for her servant university project, but John wanted the Sex Servant Perk and for the love of everything that was holy, he would have it. The idea of Aclysia getting 100% more horny when the switch was flipped, to make her orgasm onmand and whatever the hell an AMAZING pussy was supposed to feel like. Well, he had a rough idea, Siena and Smander could create states with their sexes that were simply unfair. He needed to know more about this and there would be time for experimentation. For now, he just picked the choice and was done with it.
I like this newyout, John concluded that upgrade session. It was a lot easier and streamlined, less of the vtility between extremely boring and powerful choices with vastly different AP costs. Onto Beatrice!
Seems like the previous Nimble choices havent tranted into this system, John observed, then picked the Swing increase. Since that was the only way he found to even increase that resource so far, it seemed best to invest in it.
John loved Elimination. Like, seriously, that thing looked absurd. However, with her limited Reverse building options, or rather the limit she had in terms of regeneration of Swing, he didnt see much chance of it to ever be cast at a duration that was worthwhile. Especially because the spenderpetition Twist Position was so much better and more versatile.
Like Aclysia, Beatrices weapon had a ranged option, as seldom as it was used. Given that her weaponry was subject to change, it would be quite smart to get Spear Specialization 3, boring as it was. Needle Assault also didnt strike John as all that great. 10% of Beatrices Strength basically meant that most strikes would bounce off the enemys defences, if assuming roughly equal level. It could still be effective, but John thought the general improvement of better handling of her weapon and ranged attacks to be superior and as such picked the leftmost thing.
Those were pretty juicy. Engine of Order went out first. For a start, because John thought he was already good at calling out lies himself. Secondly, because the people they had to be wary of wouldnt be able to be caught by a lie detector test. Thirdly, because he was afraid of what would happen to her semipulsive adjusting of the environment if he boosted her pattern recognition further.
Enigma Code was the clear winner between the remaining two choices. Increased Wisdom already meant a higher Swing regeneration, but that was just the bonus to mind control immunity. That had been the whole reason he had even gone ahead and increased their Mental Stats. Not that he would take it back now that he had done it. Enigma Code was picked and that was that.
All of that decided, he checked both their character sheets one more time to be sure he had all their Stats correctly in mind.
He did the same for the elementals, while he was at it.
Chapter 645 – Birthday Newman 1 – Beautiful overcast days
Chapter 645 C Birthday Newman 1 C Beautiful overcast days
Well then, Magoi closed the barrier with a p of his hands and then offered one of them to John. Let me be the first to congratte you, although I have to ask how old are you turning again?
It didnt sound like he actually forgot; John could recognize a hook for a joke when he saw one. His hand found the one of the High Fateweaver. 19 now, he responded and awaited the jesting retort. Instead he felt his hand being gripped more intensely.
19, Magoi repeated, a wistful tone dominating his voice. Youre doing an awful lot in your life for someone that young. You dont really look the part anymore. When I first met you, you definitely fit the part. Now the High Fateweaver let out a rxingugh and hit John on the shoulder in a fatherly fashion. Now you fit a whole series of greater roles. Not all of which I approve of, but who am I to make that judgement?
A good friend, advisor and ally, John retorted smoothly with a smile. Their handshake ended after one more friendly squeeze. Then, without further words, Magoi opened the door, and John, ahead of the rest of his girls, stepped into the sunlight. The time had passed, almost exactly a year ago, maybe an hour earlier, he had woken up with these strange powers.
What he had done with them, what he had earned himself, became immediately apparent when he was out the door. Jane Rave Hollmey, his girlfriend and love of his life, immediately sprung into his face. He had fully anticipated something like this, catching her with his hands on her thighs. She secured herself with legs and arms, and they bothughed as he whirled her around.
He didnt stop, even as the spinning confused his senses and things got harder to keep track of. Eventually, his endless spinning caused him to fall. The grass was wonderfully soft and hended with his girlfriend on top of him. Some of the longest strands of her pink hair fell on and tickled his face. The rest framed her head. Before the backdrop of an overcast sky, she seemed like she had taken the ce of the sun. The pink lustre in her blue eyes certainly radiated enough to rece the corona of an eclipse.
Happy birthday and I love you, tiger. Rave leaned down and they kissed. She tasted of peppermint and bubble-gum, of wondrous hopes and fulfilled dreams, of a sweet life and the promise of an even sweeter future. Her body was warm and so was her breath on his face. She was nimble, sultry, and beautiful. A wild creature of lust, love and longing. One that he had tamed, just as she had saved him. In several ways at several times.
The wet parting of lips quietly bore testimony to the end of their kiss, and John immediately missed her touch. If she had remained there, he couldnt have talked to her, however. Neither could he have appreciated the rest of his girls that descended on him one by one, as his girlfriend still sat on top of him.
They must have coordinated this in advance, as John realized quickly the order in which they kissed him. Aclysia was there first, tasting of orange, chocte and home. Gnome was next, then Smander, Undine and Sylph, all with their tastes and ways to kiss. Then, Rave was suddenly on top of him again. Close your eyes, tiger, she instructed, and John did. He even did her the courtesy of distancing the Mand Sphere from his active mind. Even without it, he had already worked out who was next.
There were rustling, measured steps approaching. A methodical kneeling in the grass. Then a hand on his cheek. Not the delicate hand of a princess that had been sheltered, neither the rough hand of a woman that had to work her whole life. Rather, it was the hand of a musician and of a dancer. Long fingers on nimble hands, not hard or soft, but real and present. Next, he smelled citrus and metal, then her lips touched his.
Her lips had always been the most beautiful part of her. Honestly speaking, they were even better than the already wonderful glossy and full ones of his girlfriend. Naturally red, he knew that without seeing her, and swung with more artistry than the body of an ancient violin. Soft where they should be and as perfectly sized as a man could wish, perfectly symmetrical as well. A mouth made to kiss, to scold, topliment and to smile. Too bad the person it belonged to liked to scowl so much more.
Hello, Lydia, John said and opened his eyes. He was met by the sight of auburn hair, then the pair of greyish blue eyes, like steel forged with the light of the sky. I missed you.
I have been desiring yourpany as well, John, Lydia gently flicked his nose in a manner more joking than scolding. Next time, I insist, you will be the one visiting me. Crossing the ocean for you is tiresome and my affairs are never in enough order to allow me these visits on a clean conscience.
I will see what I can do, John promised her with a smile. The queen of metal backed off and left him open for the appreciation by the rest. Siena was the next, and the nightmare elemental kept him to herself for a surprising while. Her kiss was hesitant at the start, as if she wasnt sure that she could actually do this. Then she seemed to realize she had done this hundreds of times before. Unlike usual, though, Siena was not willing to use too much tongue or exaggerated movements. It made their union surprisingly pure.
She tasted of the night and of the tense atmosphere before panic. Below all of that, as John noticed for the first time, she tasted like cinnamon, oddly enough. It was weird to find that out at that moment, but then the taste hade to dominate his senses, and he loved every moment of it. Finally, she pulled back, moments before the other girls would have started toin.
Fucking finally, Metra wasnt stopped in her grumbling by the general mood, but quickly and carefreely dismissed her mild anger when she dropped down. Her taste was difficult to describe. Salt, distantly, and the aromatic smell of leather. Sweetness and the aroma of metal, iron and magic. She didnt stay for long.
There was a moment of pause, a hitch in the order, then Beatrice approached. The passive maid gave him a thorough kiss. Perhaps a bit too robotic, but still filled with love and care, with barely found purpose but clear desire. Her mouth tasted weakly of incense, cherry and jasmine. Thest kiss of this cycle. Except for Rave, who allowed herself to give him another quick peck, before standing up and pulling him with her.
Alright, 1, 2, 3, she directed with aughing count and then all girls spoke as one, a chorus of absolute beauty to him, the man who loved them all. Happy birthday, John.
Thank you. He was the happiest man in the world right then, he didnt doubt that for one second. The only damper to his mood were the girls that werent there and the two girls who hadnt partaken in that group kiss right now. The order had been the one in which he had met them all, with notable holes. Some of which they couldnt fix, some of which they could. What about you two? he therefore asked Eliza and Scarlett.
I really fucking want to, but... The blood mage gestured towards her eyes, the lines and dots therein, and made an annoyed grimace. Understanding this, John still approached her. What the fuck are you doing?! she asked, her voice outraged even as she got on her toes and leaned upwards.
I think I will take my chances, John said and kissed her as well. He wasnt entirely na?ve in doing this. He had been kept up to date over the most important developments via text messages, so he knew that Thana hadnt done anything since the little talk they had at the beach. There was still a chance shed burst out at that exact moment, but John wanted this day to be the happiest it could be and that had to include kissing the pretty little psycho.
They hadnt kissed properly in almost a month, and the initially careful meeting of their closed lips soon became aplete indulgence of each other. Although her overly pale appearance gave the impression of someone who had been in cold water for too long, Eliza always was a bit warmer than the average person. Although her taste was nothing too out of the ordinary, the sweetness of saliva with a hint of metal from blood, it was the way she met his advances that he loved the most. Her head was tilted even more than necessary, making herself the clear bottom in the situation and leaving him to lead everything down to the way their tongues wrestled.
She grabbed him by the sleeve, clearly wanting this to continue for a while, and John obliged her. For several minutes, they continued to kiss, and as they got more confident that Thana wouldnt intervene, they got bolder and bolder until John was about to swoop her off her feet and do things with her body that he had longed for every moment he couldnt.
Keep it forter, Rave stopped him just before he could by whispering those four simple words into his ear. Dont ya worry, thisll be a long night, tiger.
With a fair bit of difficulty, he and Eliza departed from each other. The blood mage actually looked like she was about to cry. Her breathing was clearly elerated and her legs shuffled in a tell-tale fashion. Rather than say anything, she just whimpered.
Later John nodded and reined himself in, ncing at Elizas body. Under the open robe, most of her was revealed, as always. Although all of the girls were wearing the best versions of their mostfortable clothes, they were still wearing their mostfortable clothes. John wouldnt have it any other way. This was his birthday, the one who set the formalities was he and his highest wish was for all of them to be happy and rxed when they were with him.
It did help that all of them looked so sexy in their favourite outfits.
Anyway, what about you. John turned to Scarlett, who was standing there with both hands in her pockets, clearly waiting for this whole thing to just end.
Seemed like an absolute waste of time, the Technomancer retorted clearly.
Hmmm, John hummed thoughtfully while walking the few steps over to her. With red eyes, she followed his movements until they stood almost chest to chest. A waste of time, huh? he repeated and then kissed her anyway. She didnt struggle, not genuinely anyway. Unlike Eliza, Scarlett liked to put up a fight, so he had to slowly convince her. Of course, it was all a charade.
Likely, Scarlett had simply calcted that she would like this kind of kiss more than being one in a series. Loner that she was and so badly integrated in the wider harem, she didnt want to y by the rules. John should have punished her for that, but not today. Instead, they ever so slowly escted things. She had that minty taste of alcohol and an echo of nicotine that had been freed from the unclean ash and left only the aromatic note.
He kept it short, at least whenpared to Eliza or the previous series of kisses. However, the second he was separated from Scarlett, he immediately grabbed Lydia again. The queen let him pass, his arm wrapping around her narrow waist and pulling her close as if they were about to enter a tango. Are you not satisfied? she asked with a sharply raised eyebrow.
Not by a long shot, he answered, he had been without her even longer than Eliza. The only difference was her missing hadnt been as evident to his mind because he didnt have to see her all the time. Now that she was there, breathing, speaking and luscious, he was going to recharge the parts of him that desperately needed it.
Eventually, thatst kiss also ended, although he kept an arm around Lydia. In a gesture that showed, clearer than words ever could, that she also did not want to leave his side, she nuzzled against him and put an arm around him herself. Have you gotten taller? The question was more formted like a statement. As Rave imed his right arm for herself, John got a pop-up.
Yes, he could respond clearly.
Chapter 646 – Birthday Newman 2 – Harem and Style
Chapter 646 C Birthday Newman 2 C Harem and Style
Most people, when asked, would describe the most beautiful day with a perfectly clear, blue sky and a warm sun shining down. When they were asked what the perfect day was, they would have vastly different answers. Some would stay with the blue sky and the sun. Others would talk about soft autumn rain that pattered on an umbre. Yet more would romantically report about that one day they spent next to the window during heavy snowfall, enjoying the cosiness of their home.
Personally, John found today to be quite perfect (and he didnt just say that because it was his birthday). It was summer and he liked summer more than the other seasons. That hadnt been the case when he had been a loner, his preferred season then had been autumn,te autumn specifically. When it started to get cold enough to turn on the heater but snow wasnt yet making walking anywhere a total slog.
With the ess to hot girls that just looked too good in tight pants and cropped tops, he hade to love the summer. Plus, outdoor sex was fantastic. Anyway, John wasnt the greatest fan of the days the sun seared down and made an already hot environment even hotter because that was how heat transfer by radiation worked. A day that was both warm and overcast, that was where it was at. Theyer of clouds blocked the direct sunrays, keeping the grilling and the overly bright ball of sma from reaching the people walking on the earth.
It had all the advantages of summer without any of the drawbacks.
In fairness, it had to be said that only a few of Johns girls were actually affected by the weather, as far as their choice of attire went. Among those few affected, however, was Lydia, and seeing the usually uniformed queen wear a summer dress was just fantastic.
It was a one-piece thing, in the colour of her hair, with a long skirt and designed withfort over sexiness. That would have bothered John a little bit on a girl like Smander or Siena, who loved to unt their curves, but with Lydia it just fit. It was backless, however, and her orderly braid dangled down the line her spineid out. Everything about her was aligned.
John was flying the Mand Sphere far above the ind and looked around. For having only two days, Scarlett had put on quite the show. Numerous tents joined the buildings all over the ind to create andscape between city outskirts and a fun fair. While most of the buildings were north and east of the Guild Hall, in the Commercial and Transportation districts, the tents concentrated in the (currently empty) Residential district in the southwest.
Smart, that way the people partying dont get in the way of the people working, John decided. Along with the tents of all shapes and sizes (well, not quite all, the sleeping tent variety was nowhere to be found), there were also stages scattered about. Currently, all of it was vacant, except for the workers making the final preparations. John walked up to the edge of the star-fortress walls and peeked over with his own eyes. The different perspective revealed nothing new, but it looked prettier than the birds eye view. When are things starting?
At 9, with the arrival of that oversized rat, Scarlett answered, reaching for the breast pocket of her red shirt. Due to the warmth of the day, she had foregone the jacket and tie. The upper two buttons, she had opened. Had she had more than a petite note of breasts, she would have created quite the cleavage that way. So, in about 30 minutes. We should get moving soon.
Richard, always making sure I n my day after his needs, John grumbled and watched as Scarlett pulled a strip of gum out of her breast pocket. He had actually expected a cigarette.
You made a deal with the proverbial devil, Lydia told him. As it stands, you have no justification to be surprised about that development.
Surprised isnt the word I would use to describe my mood, John countered. Irritated is much closer He squeezed her waist a little bit, and they began walking. Looking around, John noted that Magoi had quietly taken his leave, likely during that whole initial kissing thing. He could see the old Fateweaver walking away while shaking his head and jokingly mumbling something about young people. Something else urred to him when he looked between Scarlett and Lydia. He came up with a little scheme. So, how are you two doing?
The thing with Scarlett was that she was absolutely horrible at socializing in the harem. Not because she was awkward or anything. It seemed more like she was uninterested in things like friendships atrge, so getting close to a clique of girls was outside her usual zone of operation.
Well. Good enough. They confirmed in their individual ways and that was it. Somewhat to Johns disappointment. The two were kind of simr in some ways, like Metra and Smander were simr or Nia and Beatrice. With a bit of honest mischief, the Gamer had looked forward to seeing whether they would kick it off. In the past, their interactions had been rather limited. Really, the two had only been together for the duration of the boat ride from NYC to DC.
Right now, it seemed the two had the same reaction as most people that met for the first few times, despite belonging to the same circle of friends. That being, measuring each other up, sticking to people they already knew and just slowly gauging the others behaviour.
Of course, they knew a little more about each other than that short boat ride. Lydia had learned about Scarlett through John and Scarlett was herself, having learned all about Lydias public and a lot of her private persona through all themunications she oversaw. Despite that, or because of it, they were still keeping a moderate distance.
His interest in their way of rtionship as fellow workaholics aside, John wanted to break the ice. It wasnt required that everyone in his harem liked each other, but he much preferred it. His harem was like a family he had built, and even if the members sometimes fought one another and there were some that wouldnt really hang out only with each other unless forced to (Eliza and Nia came to mind), some sort of kinship would be good for all of them to have.
On that front, they were pretty sessful. Only Scarlett made it difficult for herself to be integrated. She could be charming and John wouldnt describe her as difficult to get along with, quite the opposite in fact, but the Technomancer tended to keep her conduct limited. This was something that had to change, as John didnt want her to float around as some sort of semi-affiliated entity. He loved her, and as such, her fitting in was a task he had to fulfil. This current situation seemed pretty good at binding Scarlett a bit further into their socialwork.
Now what could a monarch and a CEO possibly have inmon as an interest he asked himself. Well, that could easily be a set-up for a joke, he amusedly blew air out of his nose. That captured Lydias attention for a moment.
Before he could finalize the way he wanted to put a topic into words, she spoke up. You have transformed more than I anticipated, she said, and John felt a bit of him tense at that. For the better, Lydia eloquently added, and he immediately rxed again. You arent just taller. It appears that you I struggle to formte this well.
I fit my clothes better? John suggested, since that was the way he had previously heard his increased Charisma state described.
That and more. It may sound odd, but the way you stride, it pleases me as your partner.
John looked down at his feet as they walked. By now they had gotten off the star fort and were walking down the road to the Harbour. I dont see it, he had to admit. Must be a fish in the water situation.
Indeed, Lydia nodded and tilted her head just a little bit. A tiny strand of her hair fell, and she brushed it behind her ear as she looked up at him. You look good. You arepetent. You are powerful. You are intelligent and wise. She wasnt saying these things to makepliments. It was more a mixture of statement of fact and expectations she had of him. Youre also petty, prideful and rigid at the oddest principles.
I was afraid there for a second, youre not in the habit of making me look good, John responded with a snicker. Theres only so much of a birthday gift I can stomach.
You already have everything a normal man could desire in his life. Lydia raised her chin in a royal fashion. If I were not to offer you criticism as one of your women, who else could force you to improve? John had no witty answer for that one. I must admit that your current tannedplexion is also to my liking. That goes for both you and Jane.
The Lightbearer interrupted her chat with Metra to give Lydia a smirk. I know right? Seasonal skins are best skins!
Lydia, missing the gaming reference, only furrowed her eyebrows, and the conversation died right there. Good for John, as he could now smoothly interject with the topic he had picked. So I am thinking about reforming the tax system to apply mostly topanies.
WHAT?! Scarlett immediately took the bait, shouting out. Do you want to choke your fucking economy, you moron? Dont just spout such bullshit without even consulting with me. That she was immediately riled up by this was a bit more than John had bargained for, but it might work out in his favour.
I must, albeit cautiously, agree, Lydia immediate scolded him as well. Overtaxing organizations, particrly those that can create employment, is a horrible strategy to gain revenue. A progressive tax system on the individuals that make up any sort of guild or corporation is much better.
Progressive taxes. Scarlett scowled and rolled her eyes, gaining herself a challenging nce by Lydia.
Perfect, thought the Gamer, who had gotten them exactly where he wanted them. Something that Scarlett evidently noticed at that moment, giving him a long stare, but it was already toote.
Do you have an alternative proposal? Lydia asked with a mixture ofpetitiveness and genuine interest.
Only tax goods as they are sold, Scarlett responded directly. All goods, for all I care, from groceries to houses. The people will have all of their money and the whole bureaucraticplex that everyone has to deal with dissolves.
This will lead to a vtile state ie. Lydia shook her head, not dismissing the proposal outright, but being clearly sceptical of it. The state must be able to work with a steady stream of revenue. Being at the whims of buying behaviour will not do. Taking a share out of paychecks is a necessity to create a proper budget.
A vampire economy in action. Scarlett produced a cigarette from somewhere and lit it with scorn in her eyes. Your predictability bleeds my pockets dry during downturns. What you call vtility, I call the flexibility of the free market. Why - the fuck - should the state be exempt from that? Getting a cut out of all revenue should be good enough for you. Instead you want to get a cut on the business, private and transaction level. It''s absolutely horrible, takes thousands of hours of calction per month, and if you put the tax rate in some area too high, you potentially kill an entire economic sector.
Seeing the state as a solely ipetent actor, spoken like a true libertarian, Lydia drily stated and was ready to follow that up with a retort of substance when she was interrupted.
Seeing the state as your salvation, that wasnt Scarlett speaking, but Siena chiming in, like a true German.
Lydias eyelid twitched, and she separated from John to fall back a bit. Not before letting him know she had also realized that this had been his intent all along, by virtue of clicking her tongue in a semi-annoyed fashion. Regardless, they were already having a discussion. There was an argument to be made that politics and economy were not a great thing for people to get to know each other over. Between random people, a valid point, as John found.
There were a lot of people that were unable to have an exchange of ideas without getting genuinely offended that those ideas were getting challenged. He didnt take either Scarlett or Lydia for such a person. Some side banter and Scarletts New York ent (read: curses) notwithstanding, they remained civil. Siena chimed in every now and again, sometimes saying something that just got either of them a bit angry or something that caused both of them to shut up and rethink what they had just said. If the nightmare elemental got too obnoxious with her interruptions, Gnome was there to mediate.
Mission sessful, he thought with a grin.
Mission sessful, Rave giggled and gently stabbed his right cheek with her index finger. Ya maniptive dick you. Could have said ya had ns to get Scarlett integrated into the social circle. Ive been trying for weeks!
More of a spontaneous decision, really, he let her know. Well see if this even sticks beyond this discussion. If it just took Lydia for Scarlett to build a bridge to the rest of you, that would be nice. Although, now that she can go outside, maybe youll have an easier time in general. John opened his inventory while he said all of that. He had gotten two items that he wanted to check out, after all.
He pulled out the jacket first. Fucking hell, he mumbled when he touched the fabric. It alone was incredible in every aspect. The tactile sensation was softer than the softest cotton and the surface smooth, without any fuzz. Not slippery though, just smooth. Like a smartphone disy or another kind of ss, all while remaining flexible.
In its appearance, it was a jacket for a suit. The only thing odd about it was that there were no seams anywhere. With its dark ck colour, it looked less tailored and more like someone had managed to give a shadow shape.
Looking interested, his girlfriend raised her hand. Oh, Gaia almighty, Rave gasped when he handed her the jacket. So smooth and soft its super-ultra-wonderful.
Yeah, John easily agreed and pulled out the pants as well. They had all the same attributes, from colour to cut (orck thereof) to material. What is this? the Gamer wondered and quickly Observed both, looking at the two windows.
The descriptions werergely the same, just a question what those Attributes were. Indestructible needed no exnation. Total Comfort was exactly what it sounded like, as was Shapeshifting (Shirt). The other three, John hadnt encountered before. It was time for an inspection. The less interesting one first.
Okay, yeah, thats good, John thought. The ability to change the extra Attributes he would enchant on this thing at will was not to be underestimated in any way. He would do things with thatter. For now, the other Attribute sounded WAY more interesting.
A I had hoped for some bullshit Deus Ex Machina save for me, like a mechanic that saves me from death once a week or a random chance to get aided by angels or something, John thought. Not that this was bad. The part where it INCREASED his general Ire gain aside, it was quite useful. Having an emergency memory cleanser was useful, even if it was limited in scope. 100 people sounded like a lot, until he had a supersonic fistfight on Times Square. I wonder if Romulus is going to throw a fit if he sees me in this.
The emperor was just about the only person John could imagine that would be annoyed seeing him in something that radiated Gaias influence. If it came to it, the Gamer was pretty sure that Romulus would at least listen to an exnation. The two items simply looked too good and Modify was too versatile to forego them otherwise. Also, there was thatst Attribute.
That would just save him a lot of headaches in the future. Currently, he only had Purgatories transformation from an armguard to a dragonw to take into ount, but that had already been enough of a headache in the past.
John put on both items and looked so fly that even the devil would get jealous. With the ease of a thought, he made the jacket transform into a shirt. The white one he was wearing at that moment was automatically put into his inventory. The shirt was just as well designed, the buttons taking on that copper colour. After another thought, it switched from long to short sleeves, and was about as perfect for summer as it could be with its colour.
Ya need to stop making hugging ya the best thing ever! his girlfriend dered, wrapping both arms around him. Ya smell amazing, ya have a firm body and now ya wear clothes that feel better than our bedsheets, and thats enchanted silk! She rubbed her face against his shoulder like a cat marking its territory.
No can do, you would hug me less if I obliged there, he dered.
And that was a truly terrible prospect.
Chapter 647 – Birthday Newman 3 – Let the Festival begin
Chapter 647 C Birthday Newman 3 C Let the Festival begin
With the ever so slightest amount of smugness did John note that the ship the Horned Rat arrived in was smaller than the Boating Seaquence, Johns own yacht. The amount of satisfaction he drew from that was dampened by the weaponry the vessel disyed, however.
It wasnt an Abyssal warship per se. With its white hull and birchwood decorations, it was definitely a luxury piece, but the te coil-like protrusions at the side plus railgun on the roof just below the bridge were all clearly military grade weaponry. The ship wasnt a lot smaller than Johns either, so even that initial gloating was barely justified.
Youre totally thinking about installing weapons on our ship right now, Rave used her impossible mind reading powers on her boyfriend, who shrugged.
I might, he conceded immediately, somewhat wary as the vessel drifted past the open entrance gate and into the Harbour proper. It would be a snug fit, between the two super yachts. Maybe not upgrading the Harbour to Tier 2 was a mistake, he thought. In the past he had opted out of it because he didnt think hed need the space. Evidently, he had not been consideringrger powers than the Little Marnd visiting. If more than Richard woulde here today, that would clog the Harbour uppletely.
He nced around. The red carpet had been rolled out for their visitor, connecting the Harbour to a stage that had been erected. It was the standard metal construct one would find at any kind of event, decorated with banners that showed Fusions logo hanging from both sides to hide the bare frames from direct view.
Behind a metal fence, people werezily hanging around and waiting for things to start. The journalists were allowed past most restrictions. A concession John had made in the starting effort to get a bit cosier with the press atrge. A blonde catgirl in particr caught his gaze and waved towards him. He waved back, although that was the current limit onmunications. Neither he nor Cindy could leave their positions.
To his interest, he saw the catgirl then turn and address a small, green-skinned girl. She had red hair, pointy ears, sses and extreme curves. A very short and very stacked girl, in the boobs and butts department. Still within reason, though. It was like someone had taken Sylph, amplified the green filter, shaved 10 centimetres off and then pped Smanders curves on the resulting product.
John wasnt big into shortstacks, he preferred the tall and athletic types, but her attractiveness was undeniable. Given that she was, quite clearly, a goblin and her body type, the Gamer made the educated assumption that she was from the SSSNwork. The Shortstack Sluts Searching News was the favourite program of the Gobbo Nation, with whom he had contact recently.
Whatever Cindy had said evidently ticked the goblin off, as she began gesturing in usatory ways. The blonde grinned down with equal parts contempt, ridicule and predatory supremacy. However the rivalry between the two monster girl pornworks had started, it was clearly alive and well. John would engage with that at some point. If not to get himself in better standing with both the Catto and Gobbo Nation, then because the opportunity to bang a shortstack was in it for him.
It was one of the few body types he had not yet had fun with. Just because it wasnt his absolute favourite body type didnt mean he wasnt attracted to it. John was a simple man and loved basically all shapes the female physique came in. Things like morbidly obese aside. Anyway, it was, all in all, a pretty shallow reason, but given the name of thework, nobody there was likely toin.
He returned his gaze to the Harbour, not that the Mand Sphere had stopped looking over that general area. The ship hade to a halt and the Harbour was doing its thing and stretched out its piers and fuel pipes to connect in the most convenient way. Soon, the first people stepped down a flight of stairs that had been gently lowered.
To Johns surprise, he saw neither the Horned Rat nor his suit fa?ade amongst the five people that went off board. Four of those were bodyguards in a blue and red uniform, nothing John had to pay attention to. Only the one at the centre was a person that caught his attention.
She was gorgeous, even amongst Abyssals. She had a particrly cute nose, well rounded and just the right level of narrow. Amid a face of healthy, tannedplexion sat a pair of dark red lips, evoking wonderful desires. Her hair was a sleek ck cascade,bed thoroughly and parted unequally at her forehead, therger half held by a jewel encrusted barrette. Eyes of a dark brown reflected intellect and discipline, their colour harmonizing with the simrly dark azure of her silky dress, flowing from her shoulders to her ankles.
A basic Observe yielded no result, and John didnt want to be too rude by prying it open by utilizing the Reveal part of things. She approached with slow, measured steps. John had seen photos of her in a briefing session before and she also seemed vaguely familiar in other ways.
Is that the daughter of aristocrat Celeste? John asked Lydia, when he got a clue. The ck hair and general shape of her face reminded him of the noblewoman that had attended the meeting that had concluded the Five Days War.
That is Marie, yes, Lydia confirmed his suspicion, the queen narrowing her eyes. I do wonder what she seeks. Along with her and John, only Rave was standing in direct meeting position. The maids and Metra were nearby, but not close, while the elementals had dispersed for the moment. Scarlett and Eliza had retreated to somewhere less public.
The Illuminati were ruled by a triumvirate that represented three segments of society. The fantastical creatures, headed by the Horned Rat, the nobles that inherited their powers and obligations, headed by Celeste, and the meritocratic workers, scientists and whatever else there was, headed by a man named Norahnon. Marie was, therefore, next in line to inherit a ce on that council. Not only was a standing member visiting, but also an heir.
Marie walked the rest of the way and stopped before John. Her hand moved up ever so slightly, and John, although he wasnt familiar with that sort of greeting, took a small bow and greeted her by kissing the back of her hand. A whiff of parchment tickled his nose and he spotted the faint remains of ink on her otherwise clean hand.
Wee to Fusion, mdy, John said as he straightened back up. I did not expect other visitors than the Horned Rat. He saved himself the question where that mischievous god was, he had already found the answer. As always, Richard was aiming at bothering him in some small way.
Right now, the Horned Rat was at the back of the stage John was supposed to have his festivity opening speech on. John was able to see him there by a lucky nce with the Mand Sphere at the right time. Of course, John could have turned this situation around by appearing there as Jack, but doing so would have revealed his new toy, and he was going to keep it under wraps for a little while, lest some enemy caught wind of it.
So, he yed along, begrudgingly. At least he had a beautiful guest to distract himself with.
I am not surprized he failed to mention me, Marie responded, her ent was clearly French, but not overly thick or difficult to understand. I assume you will need no exnation of his reputation, no?
I really wont, John agreed with a warm smile. Although it seemed Marie herself was of a more regal demeanour, his Charisma managed to make her mirror the expression in a small way. I trust he will appear to bother me soon enough. Until then, I am more than happy to meet you for the first time.
We havemunicated in zhe past, you and I, Marie let him know, and he furrowed his eyebrows as he quickly burrowed through his memory. That was something he thought he would certainly remember. Was it before he got his powers? Very unlikely. A second clue she gave tipped him off. Although we have never met, that much is true.
Minerva? he quietly asked, and she seemed pleased that he had unravelled this so quickly. Next to him, Lydia tensed up a slight bit as the name caused her toe to the same realization as he did. At the very start of his adventures, when Herman had been spying on him, there had been a chat room for all those that had bought the highest tier information package. Members of that chat that he had met during his time were Lydia and Maximillian, both going by their court titles, Magoi, under the alias Anathema, and now Minerva, of which he had only known that they had been French so far.
The world was quiterge, for it to have taken that long for him to meet her, but also quite small for that meeting to happen at all. Things loop back around, the Gamer thought, as he stepped back and gestured down the red carpet. Shall we, Lady Marie?
Just Marie will be enough, President Newman, she said; although her outward appearance was noble, her character seemed quite easy going.
Please, call me John, he replied in kind.
I like ya, Rave chimed in, and the four of them walked down the carpet to the sound of clicking cameras and the asional waves of cheers. The Artificial Spirits made sure the reporters respected the rules and didnt approach them. What brings you here, aside from Richards request?
Richard? Marie asked, not in the know.
Its a name I gave the Horned Rat, he was quick to exin.
Intrigued, Marie probed further. Why?
Because it shortens to Dick and I was tired of calling him Rat all the time, John answered, hoping she would giggle in response. Instead, there was a short pause.
Richard shortening to Dick makes little sense to me, butnguages have their quirks, she ultimately said. As you asked, however, my path brings me here in pursuit of my curiosity. I am a historian at heart and have been unable to follow your path for a little while now, since SecretBlonde mysteriously vanished. If you have the time, I would appreciate chronicling your story in detail at some point.
Not exactly a mystery to me, John thought, but what had happened looked like a mundane incident, Gaia had made sure of it. Regardless of that, Maries interest seemed genuine. There was the sneaking suspicion that the Horned Rat had picked her to meet John carefully though. Whether she was in on it or not, there was a chance Richard was using her to get a clearer picture of Johns journey and character. How long will you be staying? John considered it regardless. History would be written about him and it was best to define oneself before others defined him.
For now? A week, she answered, and John couldnt help but wonder what that first part was alluding to. Any further questions he had were interrupted as the Horned Rat decided it was time to pull the trigger on todays annoyance.
Listen. The one word boomed over the area. It didnte from the speakers. The Horned Rat was foregoing the odd sight of a three-metre-tall rat humanoid holding a microphone in his ws and just used his magic to carry his words where he wanted them. I am the Horned Rat, I speak for the Illuminati. Only that initial utterance had carried the spell and every further word was simply loud. And today I am here to congratte John Newman, your president, on his birthday.
John himself was now walking up the stairs and waving at the cheering crowd. There were several hundred people here, probably one or two thousand in total. Quite a gathering for the Abyss. The Horned Rat looked somewhat disappointed by the Gamersck of surprise. No, the beautiful woman did not manage to distract mepletely, John told him, while being handed a microphone by Aclysia.
The privatemunication via the window done, the Horned Rat continued his addressing of the crowd. Now, now, all of you, the Illuminati has made a pact with John as you were all parts of much lesser guilds. That being said, this Fusion thing he created, it is working quite wonderfully. Mypliments to all of you working people.
This is actually quite nice, John thought. Maybe Richard isnt going to fuck me over in any way this time maybe I am jinxing it.
As it is, as it stands, the Illuminati is happy to show its friendship with your leader and extend it to you people atrge. We would like to create an embassy on this very ind, showing our future alliance.
And there is the selfish motive, John sighed internally. He could have spoken out against that, but that would send a bad signal. Not only would it seem like he had no control over the program, which was the case but the people didnt need to know that, but he could also make himself a bit unattractive to future allies by so publicly denying a nice offer by a current one. That also covers what the For now? meant, John thought, as Marie would doubtlessly be that ambassador.
He had no reason to refuse any of this, no good one anyway. All he had was a general cautiousness towards things the Horned Rat did, no matter how nice they looked. Sure, none of what he had done had been to the detriment of the Gamer so far, but that was no excuse. Giving power to the most benevolent of actors seemed like a super great idea, until that benevolent actor turned out to be a fraud, a traitor or a normal person that could make mistakes. Better to keep ones cards close to the chest.
That is a nice birthday present, John joked into the microphone, just to seem like he was in control of this situation. The Horned Rat and I will be further rifying things in private talkster. No need to bother all of you good people with it.
He stepped up to the edge of the stage, just as a sunray peeked through the clouds and only hit him and his direct surroundings. A great dramatic timing, as John appreciated, watching himself from the air through the Mand Sphere. He was stillnky, long limbs on a slim person, but his arms were now decently muscr and noparison with a twig would be met by approvingughter from a group of bullies. His new suit also did its part, sitting on him with such utter perfection that the outline of his chiselled chest was roughly visible, all while being absolutelyfortable.
I didnt n to make a huge fuss out of this initially, he started the speech he actually wanted to give to kick things off. But things and reasons and vanity convinced me that I should have arge festival for my birthday. Today and tomorrow, you all shall feel the concentrated wealth and fortune I bring to thends I call mine. Food and drink will be free, works of art and souvenirs I have no control over, so dont haggle with me for the prices, he made it sound like a joke and enough people in the crowdughed to make it satisfying.
You will find programs pinned all over the ce. For the sake of our sanity, I would ask you to not approach me, my girls or any higher officials you may recognize outside of Q and A sessions. There is a lot of you and we, especially I, want to enjoy the day as well. During those events, you cane and ask whatever. A reminder to my friends in the press, again, he made sure to make it clear by his tone that it was a joke, that they have their own interview timeframes, so leave the Q and A for the public. Thats about all I want to say to start things off. You will see me again here in the evening! I wish you all a wonderful day!
There were chaotic cheers all throughout the crowd. Jokes were shouted back, along with congrattions. Just as John was ready to go, crowd mentality suddenly showed its prettiest side. Someone started singing Happy Birthday to you, and within seconds it had spread throughout the entire crowd.
John wasnt exactly old, but he was certainly old enough that he felt a bit awkward when at the receiving end of a song usually reserved for childrens parties. However, he would have lied if he said that awkwardness was the first thing he felt. It was just a tad different however, if it wasnt children and parents singing it but arge crowd.
The level of appreciated he felt left him speechless. They actually went through all of the verses in the sometimes bumbling, incoherent but steadily progressing way only a crowd could. He noticed his girls, who were mostly as dumbfounded by this as he was. Then Sylph suddenly dived down from somewhere and sang along while dancing in the air over the crowd in her carefree voice. Raveughed and also went in. Lydia joined, a bit hesitatingly. One by one, all of their voices mingled into the chaotic choir. In the distance, Undines crystal-clear voice also reached him. Even the Horned Rat became part of it, although he was singing in an unserious tone.
It was all so incredibly genuine that John felt odd. There was the sort of lump in his chest that he normally associated with crying, but his vision was clear even as thest notes of the simplistic song echoed away. God dammit, you people are too good for me, he said, realized he had lowered the microphone and then repeated himself. WAY too good! he insisted when they jokingly booed at him.
For the first time he felt like it wasnt just the Guild Hall he had created that was his home.
Chapter 648 – Birthday Newman 4 – The Gifts of the Rat
Chapter 648 C Birthday Newman 4 C The Gifts of the Rat
This fabric The Horned Rat reached down to Johns cor and rubbed it between the two tips of his bony ws. Inspecting the Gamers new shirt, now that they had pulled somewhere a little more private, the god of cmity hummed to himself. Every word of his deep voice was undermined by rodent squeaking, creating an unpleasant disharmony. Schattengarn, now that is something you dont see every day. Gaias blessing is woven into it as well she gave it to you as a present?
John reached up and slowly but firmly pushed the hand off his cor. Letting go, the Horned Rat waited patiently for an answer. The red light in the sockets of his bare, four-horned skull glowed steadily. Yes can you do me the favour of actually telling me what Schattengarn is? John was feeling like they could have an actual discussion.
They had made their way to Johns pce and were currently residing on the base level, inside that segment exactly made for meetings like that. It was just the two of them, John now sitting down in one of the red-cushioned chairs, which like every other piece of furniture around here were fashioned from a dark wood.
The Horned Rat was much too tall to fit in a chair. Well, at least for the moment John thought that in. Shrinking down to a more manageable size, the god sat down. His short grey fur stretched at some ces and creased at others, while his tail slung around the backrest once. The tip kept dancing around, like a foot stomping to a tune; Richard seemed to be in a good mood.
I can safely assume you know what Oblivium truly is. The Horned Rat did him the favour of exining without any mind games. Schattengarn is a metal that is the shadow equivalent. Impossible to create by any current artificial means.
Doesnt exactly feel or look like a metal, John stated now fumbling with the fabric himself. But I guess something that defies one rule doesnt have to obey another.
Yes, yes. The Horned Rat leaned back and the chair creaked. His eyes flickered down as if he was afraid the seat would copse under him. To John, it was always amusing that beings as powerful as them still had to worry about such utterly mundane things. Shifting his weight a little bit, Richard continued, Gaias gifts will make mine seem quite unappealing inparison, I am quite sure. Well, except for one of them.
John couldnt help but fold his hands and give the Horned Rat a long stare over the criss-cross running fingers. Do I need to be afraid of those gifts? he asked. Because it seems you would benefit more if you gave them to me on the stage.
That depends entirely on my goals, the Horned Rat waved off in his typically amused, cryptic fashion. Perhaps you assume me to want to be popr with your people? Do you think that would be right? The Horned Rat raised his hand so that, from his perspective, Johns face was framed between his inhumane fingers.
Right, that wouldnt be your foremost desire, at least not when ites to me. John nodded, trying to get into his opposites head. A counterweight to Romulus, thats what you want me to be ah, you dont want my gifts to be seen publicly because they are tools that might be best unknown?
The Horned Rat lowered his hand and pped three times. Bravo, Newman, you have seeded in reading my most basic intentions. He didnt seem all that impressed, his voice was downright mocking. Then it turned dark, went even deeper than usual with the squeaking turning into a sound more akin to scratching inside a wall. You are to be my weapon against Romulus. John felt like the air was pressed from his lungs as the Horned Rat rose from his chair slowly and loomed over him. I let you run free and do your foolish conquests because you will one day be stronger than me and I need you to develop nothing further than this petty little grudge between us. And I let you do what I want because I see in you a kindred spirit, a friend, perhaps even a sessor to my cause once I am no more.
The light of the chandelier seemed to dim more and more. John attemped to breathe, but his chest stayed t no matter how much he tried. His field of view grew darker around the edges, until it was only the outline of the pentagram-shaped skull that he could see anymore. The red dots flickered with anger.
Your powers are so vast that even I fail to understand thempletely. I let you y your games because that seems to be the easiest and quickest way to have you achieve power, and in that freedom I let you have The Horned Rats head was blotted out by his hand that approached Johns face. It was ufortably close and only got closer. The w of his index finger wasing directly for the Gamers left eye. You let yourself be permanently blinded.
John finally managed to struggle a little bit. A little bit of air, a little bit of movement. Both too little toote, the finger reached into Johns eye and harmlessly took out the contact lens. Then the pressure and everything was suddenly gone and he gulped for air like a drowning man that had finally reached the surface. It caused him to cough several times, he even had to blink back a few tears.
An act. At least some of it was just an act. If the Horned Rat had any genuine intention of hurting him, then Particle Skin would have triggered. As to what Richard had said, it was more difficult to discern what had been truth and what lie.
Not too bad, the Horned Rat admitted, his tone a nonchnt musing, while turning the lens before his inspecting eye. High quality, moderate enchantments.
Dont ever do that again, John growled, in control of himself again, ring up at the Horned Rat. He often thought about striking at the god for his endless mockeries. Then just as now, the Gamers Wisdom held him back from doing anything he knew was hopeless. The Horned Rat was three, maybe four times his level, not to mention a god with ess to magic he didnt know the limits of. Regardless, that experience had been awful enough that this resolve was tested.
Its a warning, John Newman. The Horned Rat put the contact lens on the nearby table. It changed colour from translucent to gold to be easier to find. Your body is a valuable asset. Dont damage it any further. If you dont want creatures like me to boss you around, get stronger.
John forcefully calmed his breathing after onest grunt and stated, If youre trying to NOT make me hate you, thats the wrong road to go about things.
The Horned Rat shrugged and sat back down. Hate can be a powerful motivator. I think you will find it difficult to genuinely despise me. A friendly dislike is what our rtionship is built on. Isnt that so, buddy?
Dont push it. The Gamer was back to growling, and Richards flickering eyes extinguished for a moment and he sighed. He sounded genuinely tired of things. Can you give me that back now? I dont like being blind in one eye. He could have just grabbed the lens himself, but he would have needed to get up to do so.
I can give you that or I can give you these. The Horned Rat reached into the air next to himself and pulled something out of a dimensional pocket. It was a small box, the kind rings were traditionally kept in. Richard tossed it across the two-step distance between them, and John caught it. He inspected the box itself for a moment, but found nothing about its velvety surface out of the ordinary.
Giving the god a half-blind nce, John then opened it. Inside he found two new contact lenses. They werent just curved pieces of translucent stic. On their small, thin form, golden lines formed a peculiar shape. A ring of gold and silver-white runes, so tiny they must have been written with the tip of a needle, crossed by seven lines. The shape was peculiar due to its familiarity. It was the same appearance Gaias and Thanas eyes had.
Richard guessed what he was thinking. Isnt it fascinating? The most effective shape of runic enchantments is a circle. The most effective way to add further specifications is to add a line that crosses. Every further line makes the entire thing more unstable. The lines will erase themselves if the craftsman loses their concentration or the grip on the magic. An enormous loss in time and resources, I can tell you. Seven, equally spaced, is the maximum before the adjacency of the lines causes them to mess with each other. I wonder whether its a chance that both human gods mutate exactly this shape into their eyes. He snickered a little bit, while John Observed his gift.
It was quite incredible. The materials that went into this were probably cheap for a world power, due to the little amount needed, but the craftsmanship that went into it was incredible. As were the Attributes. Having powerful friends really paid off.
Ah, who am I kidding, the Horned Rat continued his earlier monologue, its guaranteed there is a connection. Gaia decides to obey the rules of the world, after all.
That sentence pulled Johns interest away from the item for a moment. Decides? What do you know? From that single word, he could already surmise that Richard had ess to knowledge he, himself, had not.
The Horned Rats teeth parted, then closed again. An answer he might have wanted to give in spite suddenly turned into a voice ringing with the power of prophecy.
One brother knows it all, but cannot see the species wall.
One brother knows nothing, but the tainted all.
I know more than either, but less than both.
And that makes me the mediator of this world.
One brother has always been alone,
He will rise as ivy and spring and bone.
One brother has always been a leader,
Thus, he can always, always fall deeper.
And the great Lady, resting on the pebble of gold,
Giving powers to virgins and souls,
Of which none of us know the true goals,
Might just be more than ten millennia old.
I have ns and schemes and plots,
And know stars that will grow with rot,
Will you ept what they will have wrought?
Certain are the things I know,
And the sands of time that flow,
And the powers that grow,
All fit into a new eras mould.
The Horned Rat fell silent, and John eventually realized that nothing more wasing. Then he quickly took out his smartphone. You mind if I write that down? he asked, just for courtesy, he would do itter either way.
No, go ahead, the Horned Rat was oddly quiet, like a preacher that had a personal revtion in the middle of a sermon. I did not mean to speak a prophecy today, he informed John. The moment of rity came, and now its gone and I dont know what half of it means
Well, if you could unravel half for me, that would already be appreciated, John stated, but wasnt expecting anything. Especially after the Horned Rat shook his head in an amused fashion.
No, no, that would mean I have to tell you things I do not yet know you will align yourself with me on, Richard cackled, regaining his usual behaviour. s, as much as I enjoy our little talks, I have to solve this. I do rmend you to wear those. He pointed at the now closed box in Johns hand, which the Gamer still hadnt gotten to Observe. And here is my second gift to you; I think you will appreciate it much more, despite of how useless it is in the grand scope of things.
The Horned Rat pulled a mirror out of his dimensional pocket. It was an entirely ck thing, from the swung handle to the polished reflective surface. John took it and Observed it quickly while Richard left.
The description had him stop for a moment, and despite what had happened a few minutes ago, John found himself saying, Thank you, to the god.
Your love for her serves me as well, so dont think Im being too nice to you, the Horned Rat said, as if to prevent them to grow any closer. The door closed.
Chapter 649 – Birthday Newman 5 – A prescription that could make the blind see
Chapter 649 C Birthday Newman 5 C A prescription that could make the blind see
John turned the obsidian mirror in his hands for a little while. Having had a look at its few Attributes, the Gamer knew that it would break after just one usage. While there was no sign how long the connection wouldst, it was safe to assume that it wouldnt be too long. The question wasnt whether he was using it, the question was under which circumstances he would do so.
It was burning under his nails to do it right now. A pathway to an object of his longing had opened up, even if it was just a temporary one. However, that wouldnt have been right. He wasnt the only one wanting to see her again. Although Nathalia had initially had an attitude towards the other girls in his harem that could charitably be described as domineering, she had be friends with a few of them, in her own, dragon goddess way.
He picked up his phone and quickly wrote a message into the group chat in Fusions barebonesmunications program. He was also reaching out mentally to everyone among his familiars who didnt know yet what was going on. Reactions came in quickly, everyst of his girls seemed interested in being present. If not for their rtionships with the fire of destruction, then out of some curiosity. Three of the girls had had limited or no contact with her, Beatrice and Scarlett had only ever heard of Nathalia, while Metras exposure had been only that one night they spent drinking after the Five Days War concluded.
Given that was the same night that Nathalia had decided to leave, and she had been correspondingly short on words, not the best setting to get to know somebody.
With everyone on the way, John was to upy himself in other ways. He picked up the little box with the contact lenses again and decided to go through its catalogue of unknown Attributes.
Alright, lets see here, John thought, and started at the top of the list. Blessing of Binding well, thats easy enough, I suppose.
Pretty neat, basically a better version of the enchantment Untouchable had, he thought, still wondering what had happened to his old hat. That question aside, it was nice to have insurance that he couldnt lose these lenses unless he was extremely stupid about it, given their clear value.
That was a bit more interesting. What this would allow him, in essence, was to see the illusionary appearance of his surroundings and the one that the Reveal part of Observe showed to him. Normally, whenever he saw through an illusion, it was then gone for him. Not universally useful, but it had its applications, in case he wanted to urately y along with something. Also, if he wanted to give urate orders to people still affected by the same illusions. Better to tell them punch through that wall over there, its not real than, there is an enemy three metres away at your 5 oclock, or, worse, referring to things he didnt know they couldnt see.
It was good that a True Sight enchantment came along with this. Although Johns own Observe cut through most stuff anyway. At level 100, whenever it was cast, it was as if he had already used 50% of his max mana to reinforce the Reveal. The important difference between Observe and the True Sight enchantment was that he needed to use one and the other was passive. A passiveness that came at the cost of potency, but at level 9, he was quite sure the enchantment on the item could get things done.
Guess making Observe a passive would make for a good upgrade in the future, John thought, as the door to the room opened and the first few of his girls, Aclysia and Beatrice, stepped in. Those two had been close, of course. He acknowledged their entrance by changing seats from the chair to the couch, where they soon snuggled up to him. They were silent for the moment, letting him do his thing
That was a very interesting thing to have. Steep cost, very good effect though. This is going to help A LOT whenever I face that super-invisible Metracana again, John thought, quite sure that True Sight 9 wouldnt be enough for that one. That aside, fighting enemies that burrowed or in areas that had a lot of obstacles, this would be useful.
Now THAT was something he wasnt even aware existed and would have been quite useful until two days ago. It must be quite rare, since John had tried to look into something like this and came up with nothing. As it was, this was useless to him, since he had already mastered the art. I am almost touched Richard thought of that, though maybe I can abuse it in some way regardless? John wondered internally. That it was easier to resync might enable some shenanigans. Time would tell.
Another VERY neat thing. Not useful in every situation, but definitely wouldnt hurt to have.
That was, without a doubt, the most interesting enchantment on this item. It was the first time he saw Durability as a cost for something. The good news was that Durability on his contact lenses was unlikely to matter. The bad news was that he would be deprived of all the other bonuses, and potentially his eye-sight in general, while he fixed that damage. Given the Legendary status of the item and its general strength, repairing it would take quite some time.
As for the ability itself, it was unquestionably great. Seeing things from the future was always good, even if there were a number of further limitations. For a start threatening was a very loose term. That could be anything that harmed him in some way, be it mentally or physically, to a serious degree. Secondly, it specified one within the timespan. So, on days that he would face two threatening events, he would only see half of it. It didnt allow him to get sloppy. Lastly, there was the general unreliableness use of future sight. He was almost certain that the stuff he would be shown was going to be ambiguous in a way that was infuriating but just useful enough to keep using it. There was also the question about how deterministic those visions were. As the existence of fate as a set pathway seemed to be disproven, once he knew about a future event, he could theoretically prevent it.
Future sight always came with all sorts of headaches; it was a shame it was potent enough that he had to deal with all of those.
There was also the drawback of the Horned Rat getting updates on him whenever he used this. Of course, he built in some advantage for himself, John thought, oddly happy that it was at least an up-front thing he didnt have to pry out of the items. It was much preferable to the time Richard used Momo to spy on him and gave her Broken Wings. Best to assume that gives him something like a massive blogpost of information whenever I use this, from location to current goals. Should keep that in mind.
John still saw the Horned Rat as an uneasy ally and giving information away to the god ofing cmity seemed like a bad idea on multiple levels. Also, fundamentally, John absolutely loathed being spied on. The difference between Richard and the paparazzi was that he couldnt threaten one of them with serious consequences C yet.
He already knew this one, his finger had just moved along and tapped on it by force of habit. It was as neat as ever.
Nothing too unusual here as well. An improved version of general illusion stuff. This was quite important, as he needed to hide the lines at the very least and emte his natural colour of his eyes at best. Not sure if he was going to make a lot of use of the ability to set them otherwise, but it couldnt hurt to have them in case he needed to pass off as someone else for some reason.
John quickly set them to his natural brown colour and had the lines hidden underneath. Does this look about right? he asked into the room, which had been filled with the remaining girls, chattering among themselves. Only Scarlett was missing for the moment.
A bit lighter, Master, Aclysia told him and Rave nodded along. He trusted both of them to know the colour of his eyes better than himself. He didnt spend a lot of time inspecting them, after all. He changed it, but apparently missed the mark, as the weaponized maid shook her head. That is too light.
Eliza came over and squatted down in front of John so he could easier look at her. Give me a second and I will show you the correct fucking colour, she promised, looking into his eyes, still wearing the urate version of his contact lenses. Then her own left eye changed from the purple to the same brown. There you go, can you hurry that shit along already?
Not like I am the reason for the dy here, John grumbled, ncing around to make sure Scarlett was still not present. He spared himself the question since when Eliza was able to do something like that. Given that she had developed heat vision before, changing the colouration of her iris was less surprising.
Even in their brown colour, they still had that aesthetic of shattered crystal and the golden lines stood out a whole lot more in the darker colour. Once he had urately replicated the colour. It vanished out of her eyes by shrinking into smaller patches and then going away entirely. There was a question on his mind though.
You did say before you could change your breast size, right?
Yeah, what the fuck about it?
And how much fat you have?
Still yes and still what the fuck about it?!
And you can control your bones, right?
At this point she was just giving him an angry stare.
Okay, okay, he jokingly waved off and closed the Appearance Setting window, happy with the result. My question is just why you dont make yourself taller, youin about it quite a bit and it should be possible.
Because I dont fucking want to! Eliza replied.
Why?
BECAUSE I DONT WANT TO, YOU GOO-DRIPPING CUNTNUGGET! she screamed back at him quite loudly, showing her teeth and growling for a few seconds. Knowing when to hold and when to fold, John waited a few seconds until her mood, inevitably, came crashing down from sudden anger. Fucking sorry the question just makes me as angry as a cum-hungry whore at a modesty demonstration.
No, I was a bit too teasing there, its fine, he assured her and gently patted her head. I like you being on the smaller side, for a bunch of perverted reasons, was just curious.
She gave him her lewdest, happiest smile, then remembered she still couldnt act on any of those desires. You have that fucking chocte thing? she asked, I wanna stare at it until Thanaes out of her moping ground.
Contemting mind pce, he corrected her to give some respect to the very confused goddess of genocide currentlyying low. Then he pulled the candy out of his inventory and gave it to her. It looked a little bit worn down now. Like most candy, it wasnt designed to be held a number of times. The gold foil had been stretched out of ce and the chocte underneath had doubtlessly melted somewhat from repeated exposure to body heat. Regardless, it was a delicious, high quality thing.
Eliza took it and sat down at the table, putting it in front of herself. A few secondster, she banged her head onto the table, creating aedically hollow noise. I JUST WANT TO FUCKING EAT SOMETHING ALREADYYYYYY!!! she screamed again, suddenly rising up with extreme wallowing. Then she continued to stare at the candy angrily, although that was aimed at someone she would have needed a very special mirror to look at.
John looked at thest Attribute on the lenses, just as Scarlett arrived at the scene.
Another thing in the could be useful category, but with a much broader application range. He would have to carefully evaluate when to use this, though. usations of mind control by witnesses or resisting targets wouldnt be good for his reputation.
Alright. He took the contacts out and threw the box into his inventory. It was itself mostly unremarkable, it just looked good. He would have alternative uses in the future. He then unequipped his current Perma Lenses (an ironic name right about now) and put in the Vision of Cmity set by hand, while using Possession on both.
The difference was just as noticeable between them and the Perma Lenses as it had been between the Perma Lenses and bog-standard Apothecary coloured lenses. He couldnt feel that they were there, but that had been true before. The true differenceid in the quality of viewing: it felt like he had made the switch from 30 to 60 FPS, while also pushing viewing quality from HD to 4K. Everything looked sharp, way sharper than his natural eyes had ever allowed him.
Which also made all of the girls in the room a whole lot more beautiful. If he looked closely, he noticed things about their forms that he would have needed his fingers to discern previously. More information and he may have seen too much, there wasnt much attractiveness to be earned from seeing sweat nds, but as it was, they just looked better. Well, they looked clearer, sharper, and by virtue of them looking beautiful already, they looked better. The polished table didnt look gorgeous because of the better vision, it just looked better rendered. Would he be looking at a dog turd, the better vision wouldnt have polished that.
The Phase Sight and Connective Gaze already worked in tandem to give him a secondaryyer on which he could see the connections between him and his familiars. It was interesting to see, the elementals were woven closely together, already close to an interlocked unit before reaching him, moving on as a tightly knit tapestry towards his chest (or upper spine, where he knew the magic producing part of the human physique to be). The Artificial Spirits were connected to him through strands of a normal arcane azure individually.
The secondaryyer was like a watermark whose intensity he could shift at will. He couldpletely ignore it or intensify it until it overtook his normal vision. He dubbed the first, normal vision the Mundane Layer and the secondary, showing how the world was with illusions stripped away and connectionsid bare, the Abyssal Layer. Seemed like a fitting way to name things, given the state of the world.
He switched back and forth between the two a bit more as he eagerly went back to paying attention to the mirror. Alright, lets not dy this any more than necessary! he dered, unable to wait any longer.
Even if it was just for a minute, he needed to see her.
Chapter 650 – Birthday Newman 6 – Nathalia
Chapter 650 C Birthday Newman 6 C Nathalia
Wouldnt it be smarter to try and replicate that? Scarlett asked while John and a few others moved the furniture around a bit so they could all stand and sit around the couch while facing the same way. The question was obviously pertaining to the Vision of the Ashen Lands. If you want to see her that badly.
Smarter in what way? the Gamer returned, as he had thought about that down to the bottom already. It would be what I want, yes. However, Nathalia left with the express purpose that I dont have constant ess to her, so I would be going against her wish. That aside, I am not even sure I can replicate that and I am not going to risk breaking it during research. Neither am I going to risk that somebody who could do it learns of this whole thing and potentially learns where she is.
Rave raised an eyebrow and chimed in, Dont trust Nathalia to defend herself?
Quite the opposite, I think she might break whoeveres in by fucking them to death, he replied with a straight face. She has 130 Libido and hasnt had sex in several months. None of us, including all buffs, exceed 65. And were a horny bunch.
That was, of course, quite the understatement. The average person had a Libido around 10, maybe 15 if they had a sex drive quite above the norm. John had been a supremely horny guy at a Libido of 19, at the start of this, but still in realistic limits. Nowadays, the lowest of his girls had Libidos around 30, with Siena topping things out at 56 and Aclysia a close second at 53. Libido wasnt strictly limited to sex, Siena had gotten a bunch of her kicks out of less savoury activities in the past (and still did the few times John let her torture as she pleased), but it was still mostly about fucking. The higher the Libido, the higher sensitivity and neediness, with thetter being countered by Wisdom (or Intellect in non-Gamer cases). Endurance was somewhat of a counterweight to the sensitivity, but that seemed to weigh a bit differently between men and women. A higher Endurance made a guyst longer, while it allowed a girl to experience multiple orgasms without a need for them to gather their breath.
If John hadnt had the perk of bottomless balls, he would have invested way more into Endurance. As it was, he could satisfy everyone around him without the need for such things. Much better, as far as he was concerned, since cumming once inside every girl in an orgy was way more satisfying than moving from one to the next while stillsting himself.
Dont ya have a Libido of 100 baseline yourself though? Rave asked, then answered her own question. Ah, right, out-of-sex debuff. How much does it take off again?
80, John responded, one for every level in Source of Satisfaction. Calcting the other bonuses in, I usually have a Libido of 52. Given that I have 10 times the Wisdom, thats pretty easy to manage.
Easy to manage didnt ount for his indulgent personality and the 160 points swing he experienced when things did get saucy though. During sex the debuff turned into a buff, so his Libido spiked to a ridiculous 212. That was still a better ratio though than Nathalia had, given her considerably lower Wisdom of 257 (that was the number he had gotten before the Observe system was patched) to a Libido of 130. Plus he was in that heightened state while already about to get his dick wet.
What I was getting at is that I am not even sure we can TALK to her, John said and put thest chair out of the way. She might just be so horny, she jumps at the mirror, and I am NOT having anyone try to exploit her in that state that isnt me. For security reasons He felt a dark shadow take hold of his expression for a moment, as he imagined the scene. The remainders of the sentence, he growled, and because nobody but me touches my Nathalia.
There were a number of reactions to him disying his possessiveness that openly, none of them surprised and most of them openly positive. Aclysia and Eliza, in particr, looked at him with absolute adoration. Those two liked it the most when he behaved like he owned them, to a degree. For the other girls it was either the confidence he disyed or the apparent strength of his love for them that made them like what he had just said.
There was a sensible limit to these things. Namely, it was sexy that he wanted to keep them to himself and his harem (to them anyway, not like any of them had gotten into this unknowingly). If he got so overbearing that he would get jealous over other guys doing as little as harmless flirting, then that would be another topic. To almost everything, there was a limit to where something good became something creepy or harmful. That much wasmon sense.
Alright, lets see if this works like I think it does, John said, steering his thoughts into more pleasingndscapes in his mind. His girls took their ces along the wall as he took position about three metres in front of the couch. Holding the mirror out in front of himself, the reflecting surface pointing at him, he mentally formed the wish to activate it.
It vibrated in his hands. Weakly at first, it slowly responded to his desire, until the safety precaution was ovee. The mirror cracked without a sound, and John carefully let go of the handle and stepped back from the now hovering object. Like a growing web, the cracks multiplied in waves, spreading all over the mirror. Soon, the mirror began to drift apart, scattered into hundreds of shards, spreading into a circle.
He pulled the cor of his shirt into position onest time and checked that he wore the Rings of Ash and Fire, as well as the Ne of the World Ender. They all had the same aesthetic and were made from the same materials, an ashen ck metal, Oblivium, making up the majority of them and a glowing orange gem, shards of the crystal of destruction growing in Nathalias chest, decorating them. He had been given the rings as gifts from her, while the ne was from Gaia. It was all associated with her, regardless of origin. He also wore Purgatory under the shirt. He wanted to show that he was still wearing what she gave him in a subtle, normal fashion. Having a dragon w didnt spell normal.
The circle formed just as John dropped into the little gap in the middle of the couch that his girls had left open for him. Rave immediately leaned against his right side, while Aclysia, taking the left now, seemed more rigid and remained sitting straight. Her rtionship with the dragoness was a bitplex, having started on paralyzing fear.
An orange glow flicked along the inner rim of the circle. Then, suddenly, arched across the empty space in the middle. As if looking through a looking ss, an inwardly curved sight of a volcandscape greeted them. There was the edge of a nostalgic hot spring to the left, a basin in a ck rock ind among theva sea dominated view. John barely took note of any of that. Right in the centre of the vision was the woman he wanted to see, sitting on a throne of ck stone.
Nathalia was as beautiful and dangerous looking as she ever had. Her red, orange glowing hair was wild, wavy and long, parting around two elven ears. Three ck horns graced the top of her head, two that curved backwards, twisting once in their lightly segmented structure, halfway to the pointy tips. The third grew from her forehead and cut into her hairline,paratively short and sharper.
Scales like splintered rocks decorated the side of her face, underlined her eyes and ran down her body. Symmetrically, the scales continued down her neck, growing towards her corbone to encase the diamond shaped, orange crystal resting there. They spread and hid the skin of her arms entirely, stretching into spiky growths at the she shoulders. More of them covered part of herrge, firm breasts, just a little more than was necessary to keep her nipples from view.
The light brown of her skin, akin to a tanned Latina, was visible perfectly on the rest of her body and her midriff, as only the sides of her narrow waist, the continuous flow of her hourss figure, was covered by the scales. Underneath her belly button, they grew together, creating a V shape that hid her cunt from view as well. There was a gap between those scales and the ones that covered her crossed legs from the thighs downwards, creating the illusion of her wearing stockings C of the deadliest variety. In the cracks between the scales pulsated the fiery orange of her energy.
I had almost forgotten just how sexy she is. John couldnt help but be bitter about that amazed thought. My memories, as vivid as they are, dont do her justice. I doubt this vision is either
He looked back up and was taken by the parts of her that were sexy beyond mere physical appearance, the parts that showed more personality. The red, full and parted lips, revealing the pearly white teeth of a carnivore, withrger fangs and sharper incisors. Her slightly turned up nose, disying a level of arrogance, but also aristocracy. Her eyes. Those seas of energy. Threeyers that blended together. A dark orange outside, a clear middleyer and the golden centre. Surrounded byshes and thin, natural mascara of ck obsidian and crowned with unusual, dark eyebrows, so long they disconnected from her face as they spread to the side.
She sat there in a posture that screamed forceful rxation. Her legs were crossed, but he could see the tensed state of her thighs. Her arms were lying on the rests, but her wed fingers were digging trenches into the volcanic stone as if she was working soap with a knife. She was leaning back, but her breasts were rising and falling as quickly as someone struck with heavy fever. The lower half of her lips quivered and her sharp eyes stared straight at him.
John, she said that single word, and he shivered. Her voice awakened in him the lust of their shared moments. It was deep, certainly deep for a woman, sensual and raspy in the most pleasant way possible. It was like the whisper of a fire, but underlying was not the cosy safety of a hearth, but the terrible fascination with a towering inferno.
Nathalia, he answered in kind, and she reacted the same way, closing her eyes and saying his name silently a second time, moaning alongside. That his voice had the same effect on her that hers had on him was wonderful, but right now they were bound to looking at each other. I needed to see you again.
I long for you, Nathalia answered, every little shift of her body betraying both her power and her unrelenting urge for satisfaction that she could not receive by herself. Every waking, I am still stuck in this prison of my own making. Nothing would be easier than breaking out and ravage the world like I did before I met you. I devour what is brought to me and I please myself how I need to but its not enough There was an odd pause, then she continued in a slightly, hacked off way, I en...dure bebecause I I love you.
It sounded off and the hesitation didnte from any sort of embarrassment. It took John a moment to realize what it was. She had been saying thatst bit in genuine English. Ever since he had met her, she had talked in Draconian, thenguage of her supernatural kind, automatically tranted by a world-spanning spell Romulus had weaved over two thousand years ago.
That she took the time to learn hisnguage while away from him took himpletely by surprise. He was already touched by the confession, but that she was trying to do that of all things in the meantime he had falsely assumed her to spend all time either masturbating or sleeping. There was the part of him that wanted to scream all the questions he had now. Why she was enduring something neither of them wanted. What made her take this decision in the first ce. If she couldnt at least make an exception.
Deep down, however, he knew the answers and the reasons. She was clearly doing her best to control her urges to create something between them that wasnt based on mindless indulgence. All he should do was to respect what she had done. Between the two of them, she was suffering a whole lot more from this arrangement and she did it all so he could prove himself to her. Whether that test made sense on a logical level mattered fairly little, only that Nathalia was satisfied with him.
It clearly took her a tremendous amount of effort to remain even this coherent. I love you too, Nathalia, he assured her with conviction and was thankful that the rest of his harem, albeit present, was silent. I promise that No, sorry I am not getting strong as quickly as I can, he looked down, somewhat ashamed of his behaviour all of a sudden. I am being cautious where I probably dont need to be. Sometimes I am the opposite and dont know where I step. I waste time for vain things. I
Quiet, Nathalia growled so deeply that fire rose from deep within her and flickered out between her teeth. Her eyebrows came closer together, giving herte twenty, early thirty face a scolding look. I dont need your excuses. I know exactly what kind of man you are. Dont forget who I am, John, I am not one of those moral arbiters that care about your perfection. Its precisely that you are sinful andpetent in the same breath that I want you to be my my she struggled, panting ever more heavily as she pushed out thest word in English again, Mate
Having gotten the word out only made things worse. The dragoness eyes zed over; her breathing slowed but got so heavy that her shoulders moved along her heaving breasts. The scales on her torso involuntarily retracted, revealing her hard nipples and a pussy that was leaking so much so quickly that John could almost immediately see the stone under her glisten along the inside of her thighs.
He hadnt even noticed that he was leaning forwards, as if he could jump through the portal and press his face between those chocte slices of hell, until there was a cracking sound. Nathalia had clenched the armrests of her chair so tightly that shards were sticking out between her fingers. More fire escaped from her clenched jaw as she reigned herself in with visible strain.
Eventually, she stabilized again. I long for you, she repeated her initial statement. This celibacy does not mix well with my urges. I desire nothing more than the end of it C nothing more than you to end it by proving yourself worthy to me. You havee so far. I have heard most of it, and John, you made me cry, do you know that?
She looked up, and for a moment, none of her horniness seemed to matter and she seemed just as vulnerable as any other person that was in love with someone that had gotten hurt. He didnt have to ask what she cried about, there was only the one incident that had left him scarred enough to cry over. Since she didnt want to hear his apologies, he let her hear his darkest satisfaction, I made him pay.
She nodded slowly, gracefully, and gave a sinister smirk. Yes, I heard that too. It would have never happened if I was there and, as much as it gues me that it happened, you couldnt be aplete man, aplete she stopped in her fluid Draconian, searching for an English word thatpared, only to pick a very odd one, emperor, if it never happened.
John wondered whether that was her mistranting something, but the more obvious idea settled into a knot in his stomach. That she thought of that word specifically to describe what she wanted put a very easy read on her intentions: Only a man whose story and power rivals that of Romulus can be my mate.
I am honestly getting a bit sick of gettingpared to the guy, the Gamer thought, but then realized something. They knew each other for hundreds of years. Yet she chose me in aparative heartbeat. He could only make guesses for the why, but on the face of it, that was something that neutralized the annoyance he felt.
The orange edge of the vision flickered. Our time is running short, the dragoness dered, her lips contorting into a scowl. I am certain you have more things to say and I would like more of yourpany, even if you cant fuck me in this current state we find ourselves in how annoying. She clicked her tongue. You make me do things I would have never done when I was by myself, its quite bothersome. Still, I find myself feeling rewarded whenever I do you better make it all worth my while.
Whenever I get you back, you will never think of any man but me with sexual interest again, John dered, only half joking. It managed to stabilize the situation around a less serious tone.
You look so much better Nathalia was back to moaning between sentences and another flicker of the vision caused her to let out an exasperated sigh. Ah, I cannot deny it John, let me say it once more, I love you. I long for you. Do not doubt these things. She shifted in her seat, unable to find a position that was trulyfortable. Now, do me the favour and leave whatever room you are in. I wish to address your lesser partners in private while I have the chance to still bestow a gift for your birthday.
John wasnt entirely fine with that. As long as the connection stood, he wanted their contact tost. He wanted to speak about unimportant things, banter back and forth and do as lovers do and be silly, joking and serious with each other, all in the same breath. However, Rave tugged him on the sleeve and silently formed a Please? and he could hardly refuse Nathalia AND his girlfriend.
I guess you do deserve some time to discuss amongst each other, he conceded. The reason all of them were there in the first ce was so they could speak with Nathalia as well. He rose and walked up to the vision. His hand came as close as it could to a magical phenomenon that projected light onto basic air. I will see you again, he promised and walked away.
Behind him, she said her own final words. Do not die on me, John, the Abyss of your continent would not survive it. It wasnt an idle threat. Tell my brother that he is allowed to help you now. Her tone was as measured as it could be in her state and doubtless in its statements. That is the first gift I can give to you. What do you humans say on your days of spawning? Happy birthday, John.
Thank you, Nathy, he answered, knowing she would hear it, even if they didnt see each other anymore.
Chapter 651 – Birthday Newman 7 – Gifts to himself
Chapter 651 C Birthday Newman 7 C Gifts to himself
John could have spied on the gathering, like he could have spied on so many other things, but decided not to. Trust was fundamental and he would not vite what was put in him by listening to things he was specifically asked not to witness. Which meant he now had some time to kill on his own.
No idea how much longer they will talk, he thought once outside the pce, checking his clock. He had only had 15 minutes with Nathalia. It felt like way too little. Aaaaaah, I wanna hold her and talk and I want to massage her before screwing her brains out of her sexy body! he screamed mentally, while ruffling up his own hair. Being in love with a woman that wasnt around and he couldnt talk to whenever he wanted was hell. People in the past must have had a giant amount of faith he realized, given that people could be away on wars or trading missions for years, with nothing but unreliable letters tomunicate.
Even Johns current situation with Nathalia was better than that. Maybe he shouldntin that much. Just three generations ago, people were loaded up on boats and shipped across the ocean to die in Europe at his age.
I keep thinking that if I were to anger just the wrong person I wouldnt get away unscathed, he philosophized the time away. Compared to the average Abyssal though He suddenly had a number of images sh through his mind. The trench and open warfare in Warsaw. Himself ughtering the mind-annihted crew of thending boats when Bearings attacked Liberty Ind. The sight of Sigmund cleaving numerous people apart with one swing of his sword, Tietan.
Spilled guts, a ravagedndscape, blood everywhere, the stench of the battlefield and the sounds. The squelching and screaming and whimpering, ovepping with all the cracking and rumbling and burning. Rather than disgusted, he felt a bit fascinated by that part. He took no pleasure in seeing those images again, but he wasnt dominated by their appearance either.
Yeah, think I got it better than those who dont even have a fighting chance, John mumbled and pushed his unneeded equipment back into his inventory. Thinking of Tietan It was still early and he didnt have anything immediate to do. Prime time to get something on the way he wanted anyway. He dropped Rave a quick text message so everyone knew where he was when they were done, not daring to go through Aclysia in case of information backflow.
Then he got moving. Walking anywhere truly alone bore a mild level of risk, but with Particle Skin existing, he was more confident than ever that he could stave off any assassination attempts until teleportation skills were used. If he even needed the help.
First, he went back into the building, walked by the room his harem was currently holding a conference in, then reached the middle of the ground floor where a spiralling staircase led up and down. He could have taken the elevator instead, but the stairs were faster. His movements reverberated on the metal steps, as he walked downwards.
The eleven-tipped star fort that his pce stood on was, for the most part, a thing of solid, white stone. This was one of the many adjustments he had made to it. Really, only the shape of the old thing remained. Eventually, he nned to make use of all of this room down there. As it was, he didnt even fill the second story of his pce properly. That floor alone was 1600 square metres and several of the rooms had been left empty and sealed up to use at someter point. The star fort was the base that pce stood on, and several times bigger as such. iming all of that area would create such a massiveplex that John had no idea how he would ever fill all of it.
Okay, he had a few ideas, but none of them were realistic with his current standing.
Instead, there was only one room down there right now, holding the Guild Heart. The blue sphere was, as always, glowing, with three golden rings circling around the core. Since he had gotten it, it had grown tremendously in size, now being as tall as him, even without hovering above its oval socket of valuable looking metals.
Alright, north eastern door John thought and looked around. There were eleven doors along the walls, spaced out evenly, except for the one side of the fort that had just one, rather than two, spikes between its corners. Each door was heavily fortified and could only be opened through physical means. As much as John trusted Scarlett to write secure programs, programs could still be hacked and, worse, potentially detected at a distance. Be it through connections to something or electrical discharge.
He wanted as few people to know where the Guild Heart was as possible. If it was destroyed, most functions inside the Guild Hall would shut down. Until it was repaired, they would have to make due with manual mana influx, and John wasnt even sure if that would work. The Guild Heart was not just the energy source but also distribution system, odds were that nothing would be powered even if they had the mana.
Every door had three levers that were somewhat camouged as t decorations. First step to open a door was to pull them into an upright position. A brute strength test that Scarlett, for example, failed at. John guessed that nobody below 50 Strength would be able to even start the whole thing.
Once the levers were upright, they revealed a circr number disy at the top of their raw iron length. The tip was twistable, and the number snapped along 0-9 by an analogue mechanic. The correctbination of numbers had to be put into the right order. It wasnt any sort of reference to anything John had or liked either, just a three numberbination out of a randomizer, different for each door. Then the three levers had to be pushed back down in the correct order before the three-inch-thick door revealed a doorknob with a keyhole that John could then use to properly open the door. The key was the same for all doors, the one easy thing about the whole process.
That whole ordeal gave him ess to a dark tunnel. Confidently, he stepped through the pitch ck. Behind him, the mechanisms of the door reset with a number of clicks. If he had failed to remember any of the steps correctly, it would have sealed and only allowed a new try with a separate reset code for the levers or after 24 hours.
Perhaps a bit overdesigned, but John didnt like to take chances. He would love to upgrade the doors to a better material, but even Baelementium in those amounts was a bit hard toe by. For the moment, it was a blend of numerous lesser magical metals.
The tunnel eventually led him to another door that was a one-way window, enchanted to look like a stone wall from the outside. Listening for any steps, John opened that door after he was sure nobody was around. Then he was in the semi-public tunnels that allowed people to walk through rather than around the spikes of the fortress, as well as ess the staircase that led up top and themon ess route to Johns pce.
Alright, that all still works, John thought, satisfied. The route was only slightly shorter and way more of a hassle, so he wasnt in the habit of taking it. As there were two days of festivals on his ind, though, he wanted to be sure all the security measures were still in perfect condition. Now he stood in front of a crossroads, left and right would lead him out, forwards to the staircase/elevator that led to the grass-covered roof of the fortress.
He turned right and went outside.
Music andughter filled his ears from the distance. The majority of activities were held down south, but even in the Commercial District, some fun was had. A band yed music he moremonly associated with taverns and numerous workers were taking an extended break to talk, eat some free barbeque and flirt with the attractive harp yer.
A few people recognized John. Well, all people that looked in his direction recognized John, but only a few made as much as the attempt to talk to him. Most of them were stopped before they got to him, friendly fellow festival visitors informing one another of Johns request for rtive privacy during the event. Whenever someone missed it, John managed to dissuade them from any lengthy talks with a smile and a few warm sentences. Worst case, he had to give an autograph. Giving an autograph felt super weird.
A few people were distracted from his face long enough to look at the red lines on his arm. His Lorylim scars had beenrgely ignored by people so far. John assumed that the average joe failed to identify them as what they truly were, given how they looked on regr humans, like the cksmith in front of him. He could have tried to hide it, but photos with him having them from the cruise had already been in cirction by the time he had conquered New York. He wasnt lying about their origin, but unless he was asked, he was happy to omit that information in front of the public. Someday he would talk about it, when there was nothing else to deal with.
I wonder if some hot girl is going to ask me to sign their underwear or boobs or something, the Gamer thought, trying to challenge fate. No such luck though. He got the rest of the way to the Harbour with only shouts of Happy Birthday, Mister President and the likeing his way. Once there, he grabbed a jetski and drove off.
His target wasnt terribly far away, especially not when moving across water at over a hundred kilometres per hour. The phone in his pocket vibrated when he was barely out on the water, and once hended, he read the message from Rave that the meeting was over. He hadnt been willing to check his messages while driving.
Well, thatsted a lot longer than expected, he thought. In total, the vision must have gone on for 30 to 40 minutes. John could have talked with Nathalia for a little while more, but things were as they were. He left the jetski where it was and walked off the artificial, or at least heavily modified, beach onto the green area ind. On the real-world side of things, this area was a golf club. Previous to Fusions arrival, the parking lot further away had been a business meeting ce for the usually shady individuals. There had been a long-term barrier at the very tip of the golf club area that was now integrated into the Hudson Barrier.
The effect on thendscape was quite interesting. Where the previous barrier had been, the copied nts had been left to foster for a long while. It was like somebody had taken a ruler and drawn a line through thewn, on one side the grass had been left to grow wild for years, on the other it still had the resemnce of controlled growth. There were a number of other visual effects along that line, but John didnt care to look around too much.
More important were the structures around. A twenty-metre-tall furnace made from some sort of ss stood cold, blue swirls inside its translucent walls changing their shape at a snails pace. The contraption was connected to a ruinedwork of paths that led down to the water. It hadnt been repaired since Johnsst visit.
The two-story house, standing a bit further away, had been, however. The hole in the wall had been patched with fresh red bricks, which made it stand out particrly, given theyer of soot that had made the rest of the walls a greyish colour. There were some smaller, normal looking forges around, one attached to the house, another two in the open, with the usual equipment of furnace, anvil and basin, among other things.
A woman was working on one of those anvils, overseen by a surprisingly thin-armed man. One he had seen previously, the other was new, neither were why he was there. He approached and they continued to work, although they had clearly noticed him already, as evident by their greeting.
The master is in the house, is all he was told, and he thus spared himself the question and left them to their work, since they seemed to be focused on that. John took arge step over a ck boulder that he knew for a fact to be a coal elemental in reality.
Quite certain that knocking was an unnecessary courtesy, he walked into the house. The door looked like it would scream out, but the hinges were well-oiled, so the only sounds were his footsteps and the creaking of a rocking chair. The room was bleak, dominated by greyed out, wooden and metal shelves, lined with all sorts of mystical forging materials.
The person in the chair was hideously disfigured. His naked upper body was thin; even though John knew it tomand surprising physical power, it looked frail. The scars didnt help. They were oddly linear next to each other and covered every inch of him, save for the skin above his heart, as if he had been thoroughly ploughed through with barbed hooks. The nose was entirely gone, as were the ears, and the lips didnt look the part anymore, although they did hide his teeth still.
John couldnt help but scratch his right arm, the bones starting to itch. This seemed to happen every time he was around either the source of the scars that arm bore or someone who had been marked by the same horrific creatures. The man had been covered by a Lorylim once. The true miracle was that he was still alive. His name was Marathyu, he was the smith of both Aclysias cleaver Marath and Sigmunds sword Tietan.
I SAID C to C let C me C DIE! he screamed throwing a wet washing cloth in Johns direction. The Gamer caught it rather easily, then put it away. It was reeking. Largely left without sweat nds, the cksmith must have been using it to clean himself and regte his body temperature in the summer heat.
You never said anything to me, at least never something that clear, John retorted, and his voice caught the cksmiths attention more than his presence had. How did you know the dream? It was a cryptic question, but one John had been wondering about for a while. Last time he had seen Marathyu, the mad cksmith had mumbled something that had been strangely simr to the story John had told Aclysia during the cruise, the one about a smith that became a warrior guided by a crow.
Sadly, the answer he got waspletely unusable. Seeing and mumbling things are rities you cannot fathom.
John waited for something more, but that was it. Maybe there was something in there, but he wasnt there to crack riddles. Either he had identally spoken a minor prophecy back then, it was a coincidence, or the Gamer getting connected to the Lorylim, in a minor fashion, shortly after telling that story had caused it to ripple through some sort ofwork. He had hoped to confirm one of those theories, but it wasnt an urgent matter.
A much better question was the one he had next. Do you still forge?
HA! Marathyu let out oneugh, threw himself against the back of his chair and caused it to topple over backwards. Once he was on the ground, he broke out into properughter, shrill and unnatural. Unlike with Eliza, John didnt find any beauty in that and he also had no attractive woman topensate him for the painful spikes. Just an insane genius.
Letting the man continue, John essed the Guild Bank. Since it had been upgraded to Tier 2, it could be essed in barriers adjacent to the Guild Hall. In other words, anywhere in the Hudson Barrier. He pulled out a bag, opened it, and fished one piece of its contents out. The moment he threw it onto the ground next to Marathyu, the cksmith stoppedughing and instead listened to the sound the small piece of metal made when it bounced off the floor.
To John, it sounded like a regr knife hit the ground, but for the scarred man, it must have been some sort of tragedy, as tears welled up in his eyes and he sat up. His hands approached the object on the floor.
It was about a finger long and twice as thick. ckened, the metal retained some of its original silver hue in the way light reflected on it. One side of it was even, a wonderfully, slightly diagonal edge, the others were more jagged and cracked.
It was a splinter of Tietan. The ck Mithril sword had had one of its two des shattered by Thana and John had had those splinters gathered and given to him by the Hidden Tradition. To be more correct, he had requested it and they seemed happy to be rid of them. ording to Ahanu, his people found ckened Mithril to be a perversion of nature.
John understood the sentiment, even if he didnt share the adversity.
My master craft The smith took the shard in two hands, uncaring that its unfathomably keen edge immediately drew blood from his palm. John carefully put the bag he had the remaining shard in on the floor. One careless move and it too would be sliced open. Its broken its brooookeeeeen!
It was a great weapon, Johnplimented, having not aimed at quite this emotional a response, just at getting the smiths attention. Good thing that he had a lot of patience for dealing with unstable people. Do you still forge? he asked again, firmly. Or should I leave you alone to die?
No heaven, no hell, no sleep, for those who havent made the perfect weapon. No heaven, no hell, no sleep, for those who are, Marathyu grumbled and looked up to John with his dark eyes. They were clear, although not exactly normal. John could talk to him now. I can offer you nothing. With these little shards, I can make nothing of value. Even if I could, I have no breath of the fire of destruction left to melt it with. You might as well go to a normal Mithril smith and have them use Imizihn, he spat that out with utter disgust, as if the usage of that material (whatever it was) was an insult to the very concept of his craft.
No breath of the fire of destruction, huh? John mumbled. Since that was Nathalias title, it must have been tangled up with her somehow. If there was someone in this world that had ess to that material, it would be himself or the Horned Rat. Describe it to me, what is that?
Ash, a mixture of materials seared by the goddess me breath, Marathyu answer. Mixed with coal and other things, it unleashes its remaining magic and allows the heat on the magical level to match that on the physical. Mithril doesnt like to change its shape, you have to force it.
John thought about that exnation for a few seconds. Is it the ash itself or the magic that you require? he asked and then reached into his inventory again to retrieve the refined Oblivium. The cksmith began to quiver with his entire body when he saw the scorched ck metal. He raised his hands ever so slowly and John offered it for inspection. Shortly before touching it, the cksmith pulled away. Then he moved back in. It was the kind of hesitation a priest would disy before touching something sacred.
What is this? he asked, turning the ingot in his hands. By the looks of it, he was seeding in reading the properties of the metal from its surface alone. The fire of destructions touch burns intensely yes yes, with this, I could do more so much more than just ash
That was exactly what John wanted to hear, and he pulled out the Mithril ore, normal and dragonblessed, he had as well. Although these also surprised the cksmith, he was almost disinterested byparison to Oblivium. Can you forge me a weapon with this? John asked, it was more a question of quantity than quality or interest. The materials were good and Marathyu clearly interested, but it may not have been enough.
He had one kilogram of Oblivium, a total of 45 kilogram of Mithril ore and about 2-kilogram worth of de shards. He knew, as a matter of fact, that this weight would change along the forging process, but he still had no idea if this was enough at the start. The most important question was how much actual Mithril could be won from the ore.
Yes yes more than one spear John hadnt even mentioned he wanted a spear yet, but he left the smith to ramble on, there is more I can do with this not infinitely more, but maybe another small weapon or I can Marathyu picked up the shard of Tietan. Bring me the little sister of this dead de. I thought her to be the lesser product, but I need to hear Marath sing again to hear what I knew not and you have more of this... the cksmith tapped on the Oblivium ingot. I can smell it on you! Show it to me, show it, I need to see more!
John obliged the request, but with a clear level of caution. He showed the Ne of the World Ender to the smith, then the rings. He didnt seem interested in either, waving them away after making a number ofments about these materials being wasted in these deathless states. When it came to Purgatory, he almost had the same reaction, but then hesitated and ripped that armguard from Johns hand.
The only reason why John didnt react to that with preparing an Arc Lance was that Purgatory had the Indestructible Attribute. If anyone had a way to disable that, he expected it to be someone like Marathyu, but it would have to take a little bit more effort than this room allowed. If he would start something remotely looking like a spell or ritual, John was ready to kick the smiths teeth in. The Gamer wouldnt take any risks with Purgatory. With the exception of the Mand Sphere, it was his strongest piece of equipment.
Aside from inspecting it, however, Marathyu didnt do anything. He offered it back to John. Show me its true form, he requested, and John strapped on the armguard to oblige. He activated it and the Gamers Clothes enchantment of his new suit/shirt did something interesting, the short sleeve extending downwards.
As the mes of the transformation died down, it became clear that the two items had melded. Not fused, notpletely anyway. The dragon w still ended at the elbow, but the transition to the soft fabric of the Suit of the Chosen was seamless. A few scales even covered the sleeve above the elbow, although none reached the shoulder. His whole left arm was covered under the two items.
It gave him an asymmetrical look, with his right arm still bare, the red, tattoo-like scars, inly visible. Not that that was too important.
Marathyu nodded three times, then gestured for John to change back. I can improve that as well. Bring me Marath and its wielder and I can begin working.
Cant you just start right now? John asked. Marathyu smiled like a friendly grandpa, a deeply disced look on his ravaged face.
The work must be done as one.
Chapter 652 – Birthday Newman 8 – Forge and Rat and Chaos
Chapter 652 C Birthday Newman 8 C Forge and Rat and Chaos
John departed from the forge, leaving the raw materials behind, and hastily drove back to Liberty Ind, only to change to arger boat, make a few phone calls, ande back with Aclysia and Beatrice. Thetter hadnt been asked for, but if she was to get a spear, she should voice a few preferences about itsyout.
I have no preference, Beatrice said.
DEATH WILL HAVE THE SHAPE IT NEEDS! screamed Marathyu.
Clearly John hadntpletely thought through how that interaction would go. I guess, she will get the spear she gets, John thought and ced Purgatory on a table that was now in the room. Aclysia ced Marath on the table as well. That it didnt even bend under the weight of the weapon and all of the raw materials was impressive.
Another, Marathyu said, knocking on the silver-white cleaver.
Pardon? John wasnt quite sure if he got that right.
ce C another C sword C on C the C TABLE! Marathyu screamed. Aclysia looked to John, John raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and allowed her to. Better more improvements than fewer. The good thing about dealing with a clearly insane man with only one purpose in his life was that John could be absolutely certain he wasnt getting scammed. Aclysia pulled Eclys out of her inventory as well. Another. The small one you still have.
Aclysia was more unwilling to oblige that request than the previous two. Although Marath and Eclys were both much stronger weapons, the unnamed salver/dagger she still had in her Adaptive dery was something with more emotional value. It was a Christmas gift from John, Lydia and everyone else and what she usually carried outside ofbat.
Its going to be fine, John assured her. A sharper knife is better, right?
Yes, Master, Aclysia conceded with a heavy sigh, logic and emotional attachments didnt mix well in this case. Regardless, she obeyed, and soon the dagger was also on the table. Compared to everything else, it looked remarkably in.
Marathyu looked at it. Mithril alloys, BAH! he spat out, but left it lying there as he mustered the contents of the table. I will need a few more things, he said.
And what would that b- John started when he heard a deep, squeaky chuckle behind him. He knew who it was without turning around.
Would you look at that, we meet again so quickly, the Horned Rat stated as he got through the open door, shrinking down in the process. The god seemed to always be as tall as his surroundings allowed him to. From experience, John knew that he wasnt opposed to looking ridiculous either, walking around as a miniature body attached to arge skull. It all seemed designed to get a hard grasp on his true personality.
What was that line out of that Vind manga Rave showed me? John thought as he put on a half-smile. Everything is a ve to something? What is your desire so strong it enves you, Rat? He kept that to himself, instead saying, Has been way too short a time. What was that, an hour?
Just about, the Horned Rat responded. Some days are busier than others.
You can say that again, John agreed. Once this was done, he would get back to the festival and only do idle things for the rest of the day. His birthday had been quite busy. Not that it bothered him too much. He wasnt doing anything he didnt want or felt forced to. Whether he did this or went home to y videogames the entire day was his choice and that was all he really wanted from a vacation day. He wasnt even obligated to attend the Q&A panels. He would though. What brings you here?
John had already mentally resigned himself that the Horned Rat saw what was going on and didnt even try to hide it. At least it wasnt some super-secret project.
I wanted to talk to him, the Horned Rat gestured at Marathyu. I require his skills for something that I cannot get elsewhere.
Whatever you want, venerated one, Marathyu kneeled down before the god, leaving John to raise an eyebrow and look back and forth between them. This behaviour could either be immensely suspicious or Marathyus regr behaviour. There was no telling for certain. You are exactly what I need to keep working.
Yes, rise, Richard quickly rxed the situation. You arent of any use to me grovelling, as fun as it is to look at. Do fulfil his order first. One of his horns pointed at John, as the monstrous humanoid nodded in the Gamers direction. Would be rude of me to insert myself ahead of the queue.
Plus, you would have to inform me what you order, John thought, but didnt probe for answers he wouldnt be given. Well, what else do you need? he asked the cksmith instead, leaning on the table with one hand. Because I cant really take anything from Richard over here and I dont want him to get his meddling magic in there.
Even if I provide and promise not to track you with any of those things? the Horned Rats tone was surprisingly serious.
Depends John had no way to disable the ways the god followed his movements, yet, but he was strong enough to at least notice such things existing. What do you swear on?
Oh? Getting assurance and trying to learn something about my goals, nicely done, the Horned Rats teeth creaked as the skull twisted into a broad smile. What do I swear on Ah, I know. This or that no, how about he raised one hand for the pledge, putting the other before his chest. I swear by the things I will not yet tell, by the sands of time and the waking world, that the materials I contribute will make it so I cant spy at you through the resulting items and improvements.
John let those words echo to silence, then nodded. At which point, something he did not expect happened and the Horned Rat grabbed his own left arm below the wrist. It ripped open at the elbow. Instead of sinews what stretched through the flesh on the inside were millipedes, wiggling their legs. Instead of bones,pressed clumps of ck feathers. The blood was a ck ichor, refusing to drop even as the Horned Rat dismembered himselfpletely and dropped the arm on the table.
Once there, it began to fall apart. The heads of rats and mice peeled out of the furred surface, screaming and squeaking as they formed halfplete bodies, all sharing the same skin. Feather reced part of the fur, also growing into wings. The millipedes were joined by cockroaches that gnawed holes into the entire thing. In its entirety, the arm was threatening to fall apart into all manners of animals and insects generally associated with bad luck anding disease. The hand itself slowly melded into the head of a dog or some otherrger canine.
I renounce you, the Horned Rat said, and the writhing and shaping came to a sudden end. Every half-alive part froze and the entire thing hardened into ivory. A twisted abomination of an art piece was what remained lying on the table.
I did not expect that when leaving the house today, John mentally mumbled to himself. Even for him, that disy had been a bit disturbing. Anything else? the Gamer asked Marathyu. The cksmith was practically salivating over the arm of the Horned Rat, but listed out a number of things that John could provide himself. Well, he called the elementals, and they could provide it.
Oil from a fire spirit, the stronger the better. Smanders saliva qualified for this, so there was that. John had wondered whether that was something he could sell before. The answer was yes; although the demand was very small, when it did sell, it fetched a high prize. The endme elemental had refused to spit to fill a bottle though and John was a bit cautious about selling anything that came out of her body, given her modifications. With Marathyu and his own background, the Gamer didnt have that inhibition.
Undine also supplied some water. Upon seeing Stirwin, the cksmith also asked for a few of the crocodiles scales. In that, his greed was almost as big as the one he disyed for the Oblivium or the arm. The infinity elemental provided, but only after being bribed with chocte. The sweet taste convinced Stirwin to part with just a few scales. Sylph got some of her lightning bottled in a jar, Gnome mixed coals with her own soil and Siena, after making a bit of a fuss, parted with some of her silky hair.
During that entire process, security started pouring into the area. John had called Chemilia and the chief of local police for a joint operation that would heavily survey the forge and its surroundings until John got his things done. With the number of valuables he would leave around here, this was the bare minimum.
There was one more thing Marathyu wanted and he asked for it in a pretty odd way. The burning must be tamed, ask for a counterweight. The words were apanied with a pointing towards the door. John, just wanting this gathering thing to be over, went along. The Horned Rat also followed, his arm regenerating slowly but visibly from the stump. It wasnt a tasty sight. Larva reared their head from the ichor, formed into pupae, then cockroaches, which rebuild the arm segment by tiny segment by morphing into the usual appearance.
John took one step outside the door and was immediately greeted by the exnation. A serpentine dragon was resting his head just outside the door, having slithered its clearly hydrodynamic body ontond. At a total of fifty metres length, he had quite the easy time to do so. Even without hindlegs. He only had four arms, closely located next to each other, on the front half of his body.
He had navy blue scales, with the notable exception being the bleak white stomach and the six ck horns that grew out backwards. The lower jaw of his reptilian head was smaller than the upper one, creating a beak-like look.
Tilgun blinked once, his two eyelids closing and opening slowly. The eyes resembled those of his sister, darker on the outside towards a glowing centre, just that they went from midnight blue to white. Now, now, this is interesting, the maw of souls stated, his mouth opening and John getting a pretty good look down that teethed maw, big enough to chomp a bus in half.
To Johns surprise, the dragons breath smelled quite pleasant. Tilgun, what are you doing here? It was potentially convenient for the Gamer, but that didnt mean he wasnt confused. Sure, the maw of souls had been spotted in the Hudson Barrier asionally, but their contact had been limited quite a bit.
I dropped wards around here to find my way back whenever I desire, the higher dragon exined, and one of them picked up the magic signature of Nathalia, so I wanted to check. When they vanished, I thought I might as well go visit the only person around that pays me some genuine respect.
Ah, well, it was a short-lived conversation I had with Nathalia, John informed the maw of souls.
One that youll likely have more of in the future, the Horned Rat whispered into his ear, putting his one hand on the Gamers shoulder. Just keep aplishing things and I will gift you a few more visions.
John didnt like having this carrot dangled in front of him, but he would take the extra motivation for things he would do anyway. Growling, Tilgun nced at the Horned Rat. And what is this heretic doing here?
d to see you too, zealot, Richard cackled. Those two knowing each other was no surprise by any description. Dont worry, I will sin some more so your usations are well-founded.
Tilgun raised his head the slightest bit and hissed, a fine mist of salt water escaping his mouth in the process. Mother Chaos hates you, the higher dragons voice was oddly quiet for a creature of his size.
But the ancient doesnt, so my schemes are safe. Are you going to interfere with my schemes? Standing there, one arm down and tremendously smaller, the Horned Rat stared at its fellow monstrosity. Himself, John had no idea what was happening, but he could feel a growing pressure in the air.
Tilgun nced at John for a moment, the sheer size of his body making it hard to discern where exactly he was looking at, then lowered his snout in a submissive fashion. No, no, I value my life, Rat. I will remain observant; you can have your schemes. The two of them had nothing more to say to each other and the higher dragon moved onto the Gamer. In a much nicer tone, he spoke to John. It appeared TIlgun was the kind of person that punched up and ridiculed down. Do tell me what my sister has been up to, if you would be so kind.
Whats in it for me? John asked, remembering old interactions with the dragon.
Mhm, you can receive a small answer on your own. This information isnt too greatly sought after.
Nodding, since there wasnt a lot of bartering room here, John then quickly summarized. She is still in her self-imposed exile and told me you are allowed to help me now.
Allowed Allowed?! Tilgun curled upwards andughed loud enough that half of the city must have heard it. His hands mmed into the ground like a jolly drunk would hit a table, except the entire earth shook, rather than just a few sses on the table. Aaaaah, sister, that is so like you. He slowly calmed, amusedly talking to himself. I still havent seen her in 700 years and she just allows me to help you. Priceless.
Will you? John asked, happy that he had gone for urate and not the diplomatic retelling. He had guessed that, if he changed the wording in any way, Tilgun would have called it a lie.
For the amusement, not her will, the maw of souls giggled. Allowed such a wonderful sibling. What do you need?
I dont know, to quote the cksmith, The burning must be tamed, ask for a counterweight, John reported. Since it seems best to just go with the first thing thates to mind when dealing with insane people, what do you think of that?
Youre asking for something I am not that willing to part with but this could be fun, so whatever. A shiver went through the higher dragons body, and then he suddenly spat out a whole number of things. Gold coins, valuable looking bones, swords, shields, other pieces of weapons, protection and equipment. With a tip of a w, he searched through.
Did you keep all of that in your stomach? John couldnt help but ask.
Do you really want to know? That would be your small answer, Tilgun returned, making John hesitate. He had a better question, even if he was pretty sure the calibre of answer would be disappointing if this was of the same level.
No, the Gamer therefore denied and was rewarded through the Horned Rat giggling and telling him the answer.
Tilgun here is what we call a wandering dragon, Richard exined. Subspecies hurricane dragon, to be exact
I was actually born a storm drake, Tilgun corrected, absent-mindedly. Do not cut short the amount of souls I had to consume to grow to this level. There was less nutrition in those times.
As you wish, a storm dragon then, a wandering dragon nheless. Those that fall under that category have an organ above the stomach that allows them to store their hoard on their travels.
Ah. Now John at least knew what he was looking at and why. Kind of like a social stomach for ants and bees just for narcissistic lizards. He kept thatparison to himself.
There it is Tilgun finally picked something out of the pile of things and flicked it in Johns direction. He caught it, despite the mucus covering it making it quite unappealing. It was some sort of metal, ocean blue, and radiated a natural calmness. The clump in Johns hand was barely as big as an orange and seemed to slowly melt at the touch of his hand.
Wonder if he made Romuglehn with this stuff John mumbled, remembering the mana roads in Rome and the reportedly unobtainable material Romulus provided to make them. Now, for my small question What are the Lorylim?
Racist towards champignons, the higher dragon joked.
That was about as helpful as John had expected.
Chapter 653 – Birthday Newman 9 – Back to the island
Chapter 653 C Birthday Newman 9 C Back to the ind
Everything was washed out, as if somebody was putting his vision through a car wash. Through the blur, John could make out the rows. There were people sitting there. He couldnt look around. There was a ck blob at the head of the gathering that reminded him vaguely of himself. There was a scream, then a knife. It was the only clearly visible thing in the room. It approached his own open back. The vision stopped.
John found himself back in reality, looking after the Horned Rat as the god headed back inside the workshop while he himself stepped onto the boat. As Richard had already been with him, the Gamer had thought it the prime opportunity to use the Vision of Cmity without giving the god any information. It also reduced the durability to 75, but that wasnt too terrible.
He already wanted to repair it though, as the drop in Durability hade with a noticeable degradation in his sight quality. This should have been impossible, given that the sight was enabled by Possession, not the lenses themselves, but it was still better than the Perma Lenses had provided. Likely, it was the Harmonized Attribute suffering from the damage.
Now I realize how much of a limitation the before you sleep part is, John thought out loud. The most opportune time to repair the lenses was while he was getting some shut-eye. Visions given also only applied to the time between when he used the item and he next slept. No gaming the system by making a vision every night. Unless he felt like staying awake through the night as the lenses were repaired.
Creates menu told him that repairing thempletely from 75 Durability would take about eight and a half hours. That lined up well with his sleep behaviour.
He blinked a few times, getting used to the now slightly worse vision. After activating the engine of the boat, he looked back on the ind for a few seconds, making sure his security was all in ce. When he was ready to drive off, a worn-down table suddenly hit the front window panel of his boat and rolled down to the deck underneath.
Well, it was worth a shot, John thought, trying to move the table with the Possession already in ce. It was the same one that Marathyu had stacked all materials on. John had tried to use it to spy on the Horned Rat. To no surprise, Richard had noticed and teleported the table to the Gamer to send a message.
A table wasnt all that great at walking, especially not when lying upside down. Even with Possession, it only managed to get a few centimetres far before Aclysia arrived where ity, took and tossed it overboard. While it flew back tond, John took the clearly useless Possession off. Then they drove back to Liberty Ind.
The moment he stepped off and onto the Harbour, he was greeted by Rave pressing herself against him in a heated kiss. Her entire chest curved against his and that was just wonderful, especially given the rtively recent increase in squish in the top of that area. There ya are, tiger, she hummed, not letting go of him. I say this totally beats that whole upgrade ordering stuff, am I right or am I right?
Totally, John answered and picked her up princess style and walked on, the two maids following them closely. No need to spend the entire day around here. Behind him, the Harbour was loading the normal sized boat back into the yachts internal dry dock. Hope those two hours without me werent too boring.
Nah, she responded, holding onto him by keeping her arms around his neck. How did the upgrading go?
Well, the preparation for it is done, he said, quickly got her up to date and then ended on, Apparently hell be done tomorrow already.
Thats very fast for the amount of work hell have to do, Rave remarked.
Yeah, Ill take it. Feel a bit vulnerable with so many of my valuable items out of hand. He made a sour face, which his girlfriend must have found funny, as she snorted withughter and then ced another kiss on his cheek with her glossy pink lips. Also, someone is going to try and stab me today, apparently.
Isnt that kinda bad? she wondered in a nonchnt tone, taken by his own rxed way of stating things.
Depends on the way Gaia defines threatening, John told her. Is it life threatening? Then yes, that is kinda bad. Could also be threatening to my reputation depending on how I handle things. Perhaps the fact that it would hurt me is enough to count as threatening. Its all very unclear. Anyway, I am going to be prepared for it, even if Aclysia has to fight with a spare sword. From the way it looked, its going to happen during the Q&A panel.
Coolio, was all Rave had to respond to all of that, swinging her legs a little bit as she kissed her boyfriend some more.
Anything Nathalia told you that I can know about? he asked, wanting to hear at least a little bit more about the dragoness.
She told us a few things not that ya cant know them but its kinda private. Rave rested her pink head against his shoulder. At this point, they were well into the Commercial district. Unlike earlier, he didnt get congrattory shouts. The mental grace period must have passed or something. He wasnt mad, he had been appreciated more than enough today already. Mostly harem management stuff and a few things she knew that we might wanna get mostly lewd stuff. Unsurprising, Nathalia had disyed a certain knowledge about drugs of the sexual variety before. Oh, right, I can tell ya about the cologne though.
Did you get the recipe? John asked, perking up. Whatever Nathalia had given him he had long since run out of, getting more of it would be fantastic.
Lydia wrote it down, think Scarlett did too, although she was skeptical that it could be as amazing as we made it out to be. Gotta get the list from them hey, can I be slutty with ya for a sec?
You can always be slutty with me, Jane, he told her with a smile. It had been a few hours and that was bad enough as far as he was concerned.
One of her kisses turned into a whisper next to his ear. Its been two days. I really wanna suck it right now, her sultry voice caressed his ear with the proper amount of improperness and the Gamer suddenly elerated his steps. Before he knew it, they were inside an unupied tent that was used for storage. Rave had suggested it, and if it worked, it worked. I see someone cant wait, she giggled when he let her to the ground.
You dont offer a man a blowjob and expect him to not get excited, John stated, watching her kneel down on the wooden panel that had been thrown on top of the grass. She was wearing quite the usual clothes today, a pink top and dark blue yoga pants, but the colours harmonized nicely and they were the highest quality varieties she had. Plus, as the two quickly rising points in her shirt proved, no bra. Wait a second. He reached into his inventory and pulled out an outdoor pillow. Aclysia and Beatrice announced that they would wait outside.
Thanks, she chirped and tugged it under her knees. Just a little thing that made things morefortable for her. Alrighty. Rave licked her lips and brushed her wild mane back. Although it never got in the way by some arcane means, it was still a sexy and probably instinctive gesture. Time to have lunch, she mused as she grabbed the zipper of his pants and quickly pulled down both his pants and underpants.
His cock flopped out, already more than semi-erect, and she lost no time, taking it into her mouth with some subtly wet noises. With one hand, she grabbed the base and pumped in the rhythm of her head bobbing back and forth, slowly going deeper. Within moments, he waspletely hard and he groaned softly, because he knew it would motivate her further.
With a pop, it came free again. I wanted to wait until the evening, she said while giving his cock a few more pumps. I really did. R-E-A-L-L-Y. Seriously, but She licked off a big drop of precum that oozed from the tip and shuddered. ya just make me so horny, tiger. She went back to sucking him for a few seconds. Fuck, you taste even better than before Ya wouldnt happen to have a second pair of pants for me in your inventory, would ya?
Pants and panties, he assured her. They had run into a fair amount of outdoor fun problems before. Maybe you should just strip though. He made sure to make it sound normally in tone and formtion, but he still had the intent to use his Charisma-Libido Perk. It wasnt strictly necessary for him to make things amand. The important thing was just that the target obeyed willingly, aware of that promise of lust in his voice.
It had the desired effect.
Raves tanned, light-brown skin flushed, more than the immediate excitement of the situation warranted. Oh, this is new she gasped, as she pulled her top off and freed her tits with a jiggle. Her legwear soon followed, after she had kicked her shoes off, leaving herpletely naked. With every article she removed, her breathing got a little bit harder and now she moaned outright as the reward hit her. I like this, I like this a loooot, she emphasized, not that the glistening between her thighs let any other interpretation pass.
Kneel down, he instructed her as he removed his own clothes. They were in no danger of being caught or seen, but being stark naked in this semi-public setting was still a bit exciting. Rave was clearly turned on more by it though, panting with an open mouth and an outstretched tongue by the time she was back on the floor.
Give me moremands, she requested, her eyes zed over. I want to know how far this goes.
Oh, it goes all the way, he assured her with a grin, then gave her what she wanted. Arms behind your back. She obeyed and moaned. Suck me off. Her head basically flew forwards, lips skilfully taking hold of his cock. All the way down, hemanded, wing into her soft mane with one hand. Soon he felt the softness of her mouth against his base. Look at me. Her half-closed eyes flew open, the pink lustre in her blue eyes had taken the clear shape of a heart around her pupil. Cum.
Her eyelids fluttered, as the gaze she focused on him instead rolled up her skull. Muffled shouts of lust reverberated in his cock as he fucked her face with as much gentleness as that depraved action could be executed with. The writhing of the mucus covered inside of her throat was quickly getting him to the edge of orgasm himself. He only held back long enough for her current orgasm toe to a proper calm down, then slid out of her throat.
Rave understood what was expected of her without further words and slid her lips over the sensitive spot under the ns a few more times to bring him topletion. When his cock pulsated and his balls tightened, semen pumping into his girlfriends eagerly awaiting mouth, John couldnt help but grin. Especially as Raves body, just getting somewhat rxed, suddenly became rigid and uncontroble again.
The Libido 100 Perk had upgraded his cum from tasting awesome to tasting like the tastiest thing anyone could ever taste, plus giving the ability to orgasm from drinking it. Another two things Rave was experiencing for the first time, her eyes now firmly stuck on the upper corner of her vision. Dont swallow yet, hemanded her, giving her just another jolt into her climax that he was fairly certain, by the spike in her high-pitched moaning and wet dribbling, had her squirt a little bit.
When she had wrung thest few drops from him, she pulled back, revealed the entire, extremelyrge load, then closed her mouth, swallowed, and revealed her clean mouth. Then she spent a minute or so licking his erect member until it waspletely clean of anything that wasnt saliva.
By the end of that, she was still quite flustered, but had calmed down enough to keep her voice steady. Did ya just make me climax twice while giving YOU a blowjob? she asked, in a clearly good mood.
Yup, he answered, in an even better mood. Sorry to keep secrets from you, but I thought this would be a nice surprise.
It is kinda sad I popped it now Rave admitted.
If it makes you feel any better, I dont think I would have survived if you didnt let me cum before the evening. He pulled out a steamed towel from his inventory and cleaned his dick properly with one end. Then he offered it to Rave, who used the other half to wipe her own shame clean. Two towels would have been better, but he only had the one, and it beat the paper alternative by miles. Actually, dont think thisll be enough until then either.
Perv, she joked.
Ya know it, he mimicked her tone in response.
Mhm well, I guess I gotta let the other girls have their fun as well, Rave said, handing John the towel, who threw it back into his Inventory. It was still mostly clean, being a big towel for a rtively small mess, but most of the steamed warmth had disappeared. She slipped into her pants and, still topless, took her phone out of her pocket to send a message around in the harem chat. John was also seeing it and could discern that some sort of non-coitus agreement had just been amended to allow blowjobs before the evening.
You think Lydia is going to let you get away with this? John asked his girlfriend. You know how much of a stickler for agreements she can be.
As a matter of fact, the stern voice announced the queens arrival on the scene, just as Rave pulled her top into position. I am not fine with this adjustment. Lydia put her own phone away and crossed her arms. I will tolerate this instance, however, given that I was promised an hour of your time.
Well, it wasnt a promise that John had given, as her visit had been kept a secret from him.
But who was he to say no to a queen?
Chapter 654 – Birthday Newman 10 – Practical Date
Chapter 654 C Birthday Newman 10 C Practical Date
They left the tent after John had quickly pulled his equipment back into ce. Aside from Lydia, everyone separated from him for the time being. Prior arrangements were being kept and the girls had other things to do. By the look of things, she would have him until around 1 PM. Anything you want to do especially? John asked the auburn-haired queen that he was now alone with.
Guide me through your industrial areas, she requested, and John smiled. It wasnt the most romantic backdrop to a date, but it was a very expected one. You can start with this, she gestured at the Commercial district they were currently residing in.
Unlike other parts of the ind, it was somewhat livened up. There were a lot of buildings, only two of which, the Storefront and the Guild Bank, were actually maintained by John and the Guild Hall. Well, he maintained the Guild Bank, the Storefront was rented out to various shops. Those who didnt want to afford that rent had used the vast space that remained to set up their own buildings. They werent part of the Guild Hallwork, not for the moment anyway, and had to power their own electricity and such things because of it. This made the buildings severely unattractive for housing, but good enough for a small storage, crafting and selling room to be built.
Most of the Commercial district could be put into one of two categories: either they were shops focused on using the cheaply acquired things out of the Production area or they cooked for the people working there and in those refining shops.
Thend is basically free, John exined to Lydia how he had motivated people to set up around here. They just need to fill out a form saying what they n to do and how much room they will need. A bureaucrat then looks at it, may change things around a little bit, and designates an area to them. They get a small construction crew for help and the basic building materials are provided. Once the building stands, they are left to their own devices.
A scheme on the costly side for you, Lydia pointed out. The number of restaurants you have attracted this way would increase motivation in the workforce, however. Another however I can offer you is that you should acquire a better architect. These shops look dreadful.
She had a point. Those freely built shops were essentially just boxes in thendscape, with arge frontal window and, sometimes, a veranda. t roofs and artless brick walls created a very monotonous area. Yeah, he agreed with her. I am going to fancy this up over time. That I had people working here was the initial goal.
He looked around. Like earlier, the amount of actual work getting done today was quite low, save the restaurants, who were likely making record profits. As the shops around were almost exclusively small businesses, people tended to be their own bosses, so they had likely given themselves the day off or at least took it easy. A logical decision, given the festival and theck of fresh materialsing from the Production district for the day.
Unlike them, the workers of the Buildings in the south were contracted by Fusion, and since today was sort of a holiday, they had gotten it and tomorrow off. Paid leave, as John was a gracious man. There is going to a pretty massive update soon, he told her, lowering his voice to not spoil the surprise for the people that passed them. I can upgrade the Guild Hall to Tier 3, I just havent yet found the time. Plus, ites with a new mechanic thats a tad awkward unannounced.
Its best to start at a basic level and scale up. I do approve of your approach to this in general, Lydia stated as they marched down to the Production district. What do you intend to do with that area? she asked, as they passed the Industry district in-between.
Production is for raw and Industry for refined stuff. Currently, I have basically nothing there though.
Wont installing a Building meant for refining the raw goods condemn half of the shops north to irrelevancy? The queen gestured to the buildings shrinking behind them.
Probably a few, thats capitalism, John shrugged. I am pretty confident that well have enough metal, wood and food to supply both areas, but some people gettingcent and not making the cut is unavoidable. I will have something in ce to make the transition back into the normal workforce painless, but I am not going to prop-up failing businesses. The Industry area will focus on arms anyway. Fusion simply needs to own at least some of its own military supplies. I dont want to be dependant on any sort of third-party when ites to my national security. That just seems like itll create massive headaches.
Historically, states that overly relied on mercenaries or foreign supplies found themselves in precarious situation quite often, Lydia agreed, and they stepped along in silence for a little bit. When John decided that he had enough of just walking next to her, he put an arm around her waist and gently pulled her close. That decreased their speed by a bit, but he was much happier this way. The queen in her summer dress didntin with a single word either.
Just out of interest, he shot an Observe at her. It went straight through, Lydia wasnt in the habit of wearing personal protection against scrying magic.
You have gotten a bit stronger, he remarked, carefully.
She noticed his hesitating tone regardless and immediately called what was making him ufortable. You can address it as it is, John. I have arrived at the peak of my potential. She looked at her hand that wasnt holding onto him, her greyish blue eyes darkening. I was born with not inconsequential potential, butpared to you and the rest of our circle of lovers, I am just a small campfire next to a burning house. From here on out, all improvements I may achieve will be marginal.
John didnt want to agree with that, but it was the truth. The level of her potential the group mechanic had told him was the same as the one she had now. He had helped her storm towards it during the tournament, allowing her to peak a few years earlier than she would have naturally. Level 90 was by no means low. Magoi had been level 79 when John first met him. Even assuming that age already had reduced his capabilities by that point, the High Fateweaver had lived almost 500 years.
That timespan was awfully longpared to their current lives and awfully shortpared to immortality. Especially when taking into ount that she would age quick, at leastpared to the rest of them. John had to honestly say that he preferred his women in the twenty to mid-thirty range. Not that he would stop loving Lydia because of a few wrinkles. Avoiding that case was still preferable.
If I find a way to elevate your potential, I will tell you, he promised her.
For a few moments, she just looked at him. From the colour of lead, her eyes slowly cleared to their normal colour. It irks me on an independently minded level to be in need of your charity. As long as it is you, my love, I will ept it quite happily, however. She hummed to herself. May it have anything to do with this and the mark upon Janes lower body? She tipped against his left hand and the Lovers Will mark around his middle finger.
Maybe, its the theory anyway, John told her and then sighed. With no clear answer yet.
There is no need to be hasty, she assured him. Unlike you, I live a safe life. Nobles rise up against their superiors less frequently than you get into fights while conquering half a continent, as you may imagine.
Oh yeah, no doubt about that, John agreed without much thought. That reminds me, whats your stance on the sentence a kings body is the tapestry of their history?
A dislikeable truth, why?
Metra likes to say it. She is a bit more into battle scars than the rest of us.
There is a certain charm in some marks upon the body, Lydia gave her more detailed thoughts on the matter. It shows that a person has values they are willing to bleed for. Scars are also quite gruesome and I would be lying if I said I found them inherently attractive. Quite the opposite, in actuality.
So, no certain opinion? John asked.
I can state with certainty that I dont dislike them, but that I am enjoying that you dont gain them easily.
That was good enough for John to be done with the topic, especially since they had arrived at their goal. So, what do you want to look at? he asked her, gesturing at the three Buildings currently in the area. The Farm, the Logging or the Mine?
Understandably, she went with thest. The first two werent much to look at and also less magical. Sure, the Farm had chickens and pigs appear out of nowhere on a cooldown, up to a threshold, and people didnt even sow seeds into the fields, but aside from that it was just a normal farm that was tended to in appearance and function. The Logging, simrly, had saplings appear from nowhere, and they grew remarkably fast, but it was still just trees growing.
Compared to that, the Mine with its spawning new and fully stuffed ore deposits was supernatural and interesting. Above ground, it didnt look like much. A miniature mountain, with arge entrance and a number of small houses in front of it. Thetter were part of the actual building, used for breaks and delivering the won ores.
There is no other ce like it in the world, Lydia said as they walked towards it. At least not to my knowledge. The closest equivalent we may have are Natural Barriers and the materials created along with them.
Which, given that my power is fuelled by Gaia and Natural Barriers are some sort of stray bits of her power, are likely quite alike, John finished her thought, and she nodded. Well, this is more controlled and monster free. At least for the moment. I get the feeling some might spawn atter stages.
They went inside, passing the hole in the side of the mountain, leisurely reinforced with a wooden frame. Along the walls sat numerous pick axes andrge sacks. Why would anyone use that equipment in the modern age? Lydia asked, furrowing her eyebrows as John picked one of each up.
Because these actuallye with the Mine, he told her, weighing the surprisingly light pickaxe in his hand. When you try to remove them from the area, they disappear, and apparently they suck as weapons, but they can break any kind of ore you find in here, no matter how hard the metal or stone naturally is. The sacks we do provide though.
Isnt there a minecartwork?
Not one we have made and not on every floor, he told her, and one of her furrowed eyebrows now shot up. Come on, lets check it out, I actually wasnt in here since thest upgrade myself. I just know all of this stuff from reports.
The tunnel soon opened up into a wide-open room, which must have hollowed out the majority of the very small mountain that they were inside of. The walls were lined with copper and iron ore, easily discernible by their colour, with some gold and silver sparkling about at rare intervals. In the middle of the room was a typical mining elevator.
I would make the assumption that the metals found increase in their natural rarity the further we descend? Lydia asked as they stepped onto one of the three constructions, more resembling cages than anything else. The floor was quite solid and had the endpoints of tracks on them.
John pushed the button standing for the deepest floor and answered, Yup. The elevator started moving with a few creaks. As they went down floor by floor, the amount of lightbulbs that hung along the walls decreased, as did the amount of tracks they could see winding into the growing darkness. See, the entire thing changes itsyout daily, he continued to exin. Upper floor only change a little day by day, so youd be able to keep up with the changes. As it goes lower, its getting more intense. Although its apparently not that deep yet that the floors justpletely change from one day to the next.
The elevator came to a halt, resting on the floor of the currently lowest level, and the door of the cage opened by itself. Only the hall directly around them was illuminated. Given your earlier statement, the tracks and lighting also change daily? Lydia asked.
Yeah, when it was tried to add some manually, it was gone the next day. Not worth the hassle, John said and pulled a shlight from his inventory. He handed it to Lydia, who turned it on and guided their way as they picked a tunnel at random and started spelunking. Compared to a normal mine, its pretty safe, he continued. No cave-ins, and during the reset hour, everyone still inside is simply teleported out, so people cant go missing even if theyre stupid enough to get lost in the darkness.
Convenient, Lydia stated, then turned her shlight and directly found an ore node. It had little to do with normal mining. The node was quite the obvious bump in the wall, and once spotted, looked almost like it didnt belong to the mountain. Regardless, John would have marched right past it, it was just that dark. I can feel the concentrations of metal, she stated when he looked at her with some intrigue.
Well, thats convenient for me, heughed and took the pickaxe. The tool was made for this specific Mine and John was quite the brawny fellow at this point.
With one swing, he caused chunks of ore to splinter off and fall onto the ground. Once he got most of it out and the light blue veins that ran through the stones became less dense, he got the sack and threw the ore in there, only to then shoulder the thing.
Normally, he answered Lydias questioning eyes, people here get paid by the hour. I dont particrly care how they do their work. We have some overseers, but we generally get enough yield, so people dont take disciplinary measures. We also allow frencers that are paid by the amount and kind of metals they dig up. Those get paid less, generally; I like the reliability of employees more. Some frencers bring in a lot of good stuff though. Of course, people get paid more the deeper they go.
An utterly impossible and intriguing thing you have here, as per usual, Lydia summarised her thoughts on the matter.
Chapter 655 – Birthday Newman 11 – To talk, to banter, to dance, to kiss
Chapter 655 C Birthday Newman 11 C To talk, to banter, to dance, to kiss
John dumped the sack of materials in front of the currently closed office responsible for counting these things. Even if they were confused about where it came from, they would know what to do with it. Anything else you want to do? he asked her, and Lydia crossed her arms to ponder for a few seconds.
Aside from the pleasure of yourpany? Not particrly, Lydia answered directly.
How about we make this apany of pleasure? he couldnt help but ask with a lewd smile.
Contradictory to Jane, I possess self-control.
Or maybe your Libido just isnt high enough OH SHIT! he eximed as he suddenly realized something. We NEED to get you a higher-level ceiling ASAP!
She tilted her head, borate, if you may?
If you cant get more levels, you cant get a higher Libido! John dered.
There is no problem to identify with that state. I have a level sex drive for a woman of my age. Emotionless, she shattered the Gamers conviction, like scolding a child that was crying about not having the right size of the toy it wanted. Going by the statistics you provided, it should even be slightly above average.
Not average for my harem though, he grumbled, kicking a pebble down the road. Is it wrong for a man to want a harem of hot girls that start lustfully panting when he whips his dick out?
Perhaps not, she shrugged, no longer capable of being surprised by her lovers perverse exmations. You are not entitled to any such reaction, however. Then she leaned up to his ear. I may not be as much of a nymphomaniac as you desire, but you and I are both aware that I am not without my kinks.
He had to suppress the joking mention of the nickname Eliza had for her and instead just smiled thinking about it and iming that asster in the day. There was no way his girls would let his birthday pass without an orgy. If they did, that would be perhaps the gravest injury he ever sustained.
How is your bird, by the way? he asked instead, getting the topic into different waters. As queen of Germany, the patron god of her guild, the two-headed eagle that was the god of emperorship, was somewhat attached to her. That connection went as far as it being reincarnated as a chick when she had gotten the position.
Which was also thest time John had seen that bird. Several months had passed since, so a level of curiosity was justified.
She has grown past the stage where she desires my constant attention, Lydia responded, with a somewhat heavy sigh. She kept sitting on my shoulder for two days straight, once I had returned from myst visit here. As such, I am quite happy that she is getting more independent.
She? John asked, since he had always assumed the eagle to be of the male variety. Not entirely unfounded, given the way German gendered its nouns.
I was caught unaware by this as well. Evidently, the Reichsadler changes genders to fit the head of state after each reincarnation.
Wouldnt that make it Reichsadlerin? John jokingly suggested the female (non-existent) version of the word and earned himself a punishing re. Hey, the Englishnguage is so screwed up, I get to make fun of other ones as well sometimes! he defended himself. Especially if its something we also have. Like, you can say tigress but you cant say catess, because thats the rules.
I will concede the point thatnguages have ws, the queen stated.
Anyway, John brought the discussion back around, if she is somewhat grown up now, cant you bring her around? Or would that cause international headlines?
It would bring moreplications that gue my mind than it would erase, Lydia confirmed his suspicion. Given that it was not just a god but also a patron deity, there were certain rules attached. The most fundamental one was that patron deities were not supposed to leave thend of their custody. It wasnt a hard rule in peace times, just an encouraged etiquette. Which was why the Horned Rat was so happy to vite it, most likely.
In war times, a number of independent gods made sure that patron deities stuck to a purely defensive role. It was a pact that made expansion between the mega-sized guilds on the globe difficult. Invading a territory that was defended by a god without being able to utilize ones own was quite difficult, as one could imagine. As a second person happy to ignore this rule, Romulus took Sol and Luna on any battlefield he wished. If that neutral covenant of gods decided to go against him, well, they were just further fodder for his god yer ability.
It was a pact against gods of death or destruction, too apt at killing. A natural reflexive measure by gods of nature, art and other such non-violent things, to keep their followers from getting massacred in the thousands when a war came about. Ironically, it was the very god of war, Krieg, that was heading that pact. The result was quite mixed, but without that pact, the Abyss would likely have been even more of a chaotic, torn mess.
A question of my own, then, Lydia raised her voice when their conversation hit a temporary halt. You reported to me earlier that you are nning to upgrade this ind soon, correct?
He nodded, Today, probably, he specified.
Will you be given the ability to ce a second long-distance teleporter? she asked.
Good question, John answered and opened his Guild Hall screen. Now that he was back on his Gamer ability-controlled soil, he could check the buildings and their future upgrades. Good news, says here I can ce an extra two also Internal Teleporters, whatever those are? He would find out soon enough when he actually upgraded the building. I suppose its time you join Collide then, cant use those otherwise, he teased.
Nein. She used the German word, just because it could be stretchd a bit longer and created more sound to deny him with. It hadnt been a serious suggestion anyway.
Guess youll have to send me text messages instead, whenever you want toe over. He shrugged. Attach some nudes and Ille running every time.
Youre a pervert, my love, she sighed.
You know what you signed up for, he giggled. Do I have to remind you that you were so interested in having sex with me that Jane just had to ask you if you wanted for us to hook up.
I had been informed about your escapades at quite a detail. A girl is entitled to be curious, especially if she is careful in her protection. The auburn queen rested her head on his shoulder. Mentioning this topic, have you limited your own virility?
Yeah, he responded. Gaia gave me the ability to toggle it on or off in an Achievement recently. Has been toggled off since.
It has been quite foolish of you to not have desired such an ability earlier.
Well, I didnt really have a reason to, until that whole orgy with 40 maids happened. You all have that magical permanent protection going on well, so did they. He shrugged, as best he could without disturbing her position. You know how it is, no real reason to seek a solution if there is no problem.
You should be wiser than that.
We both know that, if I have a blind spot, its sex with hot women, he retorted.
That is not an excuse, nor a justification, its an admission of fault. She elerated her next three steps, then turned in front of him. Her finger stabbed against his chest, as her hard eyes kept him in focus. Do not be faulty, my love, be supreme.
Hmmm, I just might be if you call me that again, he said. Stepping up to her until their chests almost touched, he took both of her hands and looked at her. He had to say that he enjoyed the little extra height he had gotten. Lydia was still almost as tall as him, but the extra two centimetres made a bit of a difference.
Lydias eyes softened up, as she allowed herself a small smile. Is such the case? she wondered as she leaned up, her red lips getting closer as she formed those two wonderful words again. My love, she whispered, just before they met in a kiss. The momentsted for several seconds, then a passing person whistled in their direction, screaming something jesting.
John took it withughter, while Lydia turned the slightest bit red. It was absolutely adorable, since it was so hard to make the queen blush in any capacity. She also regained herposure quite quickly, so he didnt get treated too much.
I was merely surprised, she stated, clearing her throat. In case you need the assurance. I would never be embarrassed of our rtionship.
I dont. Its still nice to hear.
Even though you can create some tremendously ufortable questions during my press meetings.
Oy, me the paparazzi for that, not me!
Perhaps if you didnt publicly unt you gaining another forty acquaintances by putting them in maid uniforms, I would not be asked about it, she retorted, holding her head high and Johns arm close to her chest. As such, I will me you both. Now, let us continue.
Their steps carried them to the main ground of the festival. The so called Residential district, was actually just two green areas. The smaller of the two, closer to the centre, had a few trees decorating it, but the other was just a grassy ne. It had a designation, but no actual buildings.
At least normally. Today, a city of tents had been erected. The smell of numerous types of food was filling the air. A lot of it were specialities of a season, something nobody around had any regard for. zed apples, cotton candy, speculoos, ice cream and all other kinds of sweets were around. For actual food, there was fried chicken, fried noodles in boxes, all kinds of bakery articles, burger shops and soup ces. To go or to eat while sitting at the tables that had been ced along the improvised ways.
Of course, there were a number of tents outside of the food offerings. Many offered the games typically seen at such events, just modified for the Abyssal audience. Trying to throw a basketball into a hovering, for example, that moved every few seconds. The quicker one managed tond, the more points, the better the prize.
They walked past a whack-a-mole stand, where the moles actually came out of a liquid surface at random ces, rather than clearly visible holes. Another shop had people throw darts of different shapes and different elemental properties, changing the way they behaved in their flight. It was all quite harmless and the children around had quite a bit of fun.
John had never seen so many children of the Abyss at once before. In his experience, parents made the, mostly wise, decision to keep their children quite separated from the Abyss as they grew up. Especially here in the USA, it had been pretty smart to keep the young ones from getting too much exposure to the uncontrolled use of magic. The potential of abduction only making things worse.
That so many families had the trust in him to bring their families to this ce validated his conviction. He was doing the right thing. People that had been scared werent anymore. That was one of the prime things he wanted to aplish.
The adults didnt just have to look at their children being entertained though. There were a number of ces for things less simple in their enjoyment. Tents in which improvised jazz lounges allowed people to talk over soft music. A small stage on which unknown bands gave live concerts, some awful, some quite good, all in it with fun and enthusiasm. A particrlyrge tent was home to a cinema, enchantments keeping most outside noises from interrupting the atmosphere.
John and Lydia entered none of these. They were quite happy walking in circles and just talking as they inspected things. The ways were broad enough that they could move freely. It was the pleasant level of crowded, where it was clear the festival was well visited but nobody felt like a sardine in a can.
Eventually, Lydia stopped them, however. Let us enter here, she said to John gesturing towards the inside of one tent. Inside, a bunch of people danced to the tunes of a piano and contrabass. It was a very slow melody, which allowed people to move in steady, calm rhythms.
John yed along happily. Sure, he agreed, and both of them stepped inside. Their arrival caused some heads to turn, but that was it. Just as they would have wanted it. They stepped into the crowd as just two more dancers. May I, mydy? He bowed, like a noble on court, asking for her hand.
Lydia was more amused by this than he had anticipated. Her lips spread in a smile wide enough that he could see her white teeth contrasting to her ruby red lips. Certainly, John, she answered and thenughed out loud when he took her in a storm. His handid on her hip in a second, the other found hers and their fingers interlocked, just as she took hold of his shoulder.
ssical music seemed to improve her mood tremendously, the Gamer made sure to make note of that in the future. They stepped right into the slow melody.
Lydia had been drilled in courtly dances for several years and had continued to practice for long after that. For her, dancing and ying the metal-keyed piano of her grandfather had been a rxing ritual for a long time. As such, she was a way better dancer than John. However, the Gamer had gotten his fair share of practice by now, and the slow rhythm limited what could be shown off regardless.
Where other couples around them fumbled their rhythm sometimes, badly measuring their steps to the others height or showing other signs of inexperience, the Gamer and the queen didnt stop once. They just looked into each others eyes, wordlessly, as they stepped circles through the grass in front of the little stage. Large circles at first, around the outside of the crowd. With every minute the song continued, however, they found themselves closer to the centre. Others were taking a pause, moved on or simply had to find the rhythm as a couple again.
Then they were at the centre. Time was a distant concept. Their dance stayed always ssic. There was no sexuality in the motions of twirling and graceful steps. Only appreciation for the others presence and a deep understanding of the others movements. John paid close attention to where she wanted to move, even if it wasnt any sort of traditional step order. They never fumbled, never pulled at each other and never collided. The distance was perfectly measured and as intimate as two clothed people could be.
What eventually stopped them was the musicians taking a break. A list pirouette that made the skirt of her summer dress whirl elegantly and Lydia came to a stop in his arms. Our hour must be close to ending, Lydia pointed out in a whisper, both of them standing frozen otherwise.
The hour of the two of us alone today might, but Ill be there for you eternally, he promised her.
Will you seal that with another kiss, my love? she asked.
A pact too sultry to pass on.
Chapter 656 – Birthday Newman 12 – President and Entertainer
Chapter 656 C Birthday Newman 12 C President and Entertainer
Alright, this thing seems to be on, John spoke into the microphone in front of him. It was a regr desk microphone often found on events, a thin thing with good quality, connected via a bendable cable with a broad socket. He moved it around a little bit so he didnt have to bend forwards to such an ufortable degree.
Down the long table, Rave, Lydia, Gnome and Aclysia (sitting in that order from his position) were doing the same. The white nket was whispering a little as it was pulled along with all the adjustments. In front of them, the people filled the rows of seats that had been put up, some more standing along the sides. It was a rather typical convention panel in its design.
Everyone ready? he asked down the table and got numerous signals. His girlfriend gave him a thumbs-up, Lydia solemnly nodded as she poured herself a ss of water, Gnome fumbled around (looking as ready as she possibly could be), while Aclysia nodded a bit mechanically. John turned his attention to the crowd. Hello everyone, wee to todays Q and A. I hope youre allfortable and ready to ask us a few questions. We may go on massive tangents, thats part of the program. If you have a question, do please form a line at either side of the seats, we will take questions from each side. Only one question per person and please keep things brief.
Disimer, Aclysia chimed in, getting all of the technical announcements out of the way. This event is being live streamed and you will be clearly visible while asking a question. This event is not suitable for minors, adult topics can and likely will be discussed. This is not a press event. Journalists are advised to be patient until their turn at the gathering with my John tomorrow at 4:30 PM. The panel withholds the right to not take questions. This goes especially for Lydia, who refuses toment on anything that could, in any way, go against German interests. We thank you for your understanding.
Coolio, that all the announcement stuff? Rave asked, looking around.
Well, I think we should also introduce ourselves properly, John responded. People are probably aware of who I am, just taking a wild guess, but the rest of you arent on the screen that often or not around here. So why dont we tell everyone who we are, what we do and why we decided to be on this panel?
Sure, his girlfriend agreed, ya go ahead, show us how its done, tiger.
Alright, so I am John Newman, the Gamer, he fluidly took the invitation. Although some people mistakenly call me the yer sometimes, which annoys me on some level, but its not wholly inurate, given He gestured towards the right and at the four other girls sharing the panel with him. Anyway, I am the guild master of Collide and in turn the founder and president of the federation known as Fusion. I am attending this panel today so you regr people can directly speak to me without being at the mercy of my spam filters or the media.
Looking to his right, he gave the signal to his girlfriend that it was her turn. She fluidly took it. Cheers, her chirpy tone echoed into the microphone. I am Rave, real name Jane Hollmey, I am the girlfriend of this guy, future fianc and I just do whatever I feel like to improve Fusion. I came cause this sounded fun. Hope your questions dont prove me wrong. She winked and passed the momentum on to the next person in line.
Lydia Augusta the Fourth of house Hohenzollern, Empress of Germany, the same went directly into it. I shall spare you the length of my other titles, with respect to the casual atmosphere. My reasoning for attending is to properly rify things, should topics be raised I think my input is needed on.
There were several moments of silence, before Gnome realized it was her turn. I-i-I- She gulped so loudly the microphone picked it up. I am Gnome, uh, the first of Johns contracted elementals and kind of the leader of us? Im here to represent us in these questions her voice trailed off into a mumble, Sally forced me to because she wanted someone there and every other candidate was Sylph. With a furious blush, she realized she was still talking out loud and gestured wildly. N-n-not that t-t-that those two are bad or something! I am totally okay to be here! Happy to answer your questions! The crowd seemed amused at her behaviour, people giggling and mumbling. It had the predictable effect on Gnome. Uhm, uh, uwu uwuwuwu uwuwuwuwuwu
There was something like a collective Daaaaw, from the crowd, John and Rave included, watching the embarrassed cuddle rock shift in her seat and, bright red, look down on herp. Unable to resist the urge, John got up and patted her on the head until she calmed down. Meanwhile, thest member of the panel got her introduction out of the way.
Aclysia, Artificial Spirit created by and head servant of my master John Newman. Attending to prevent journalists from daring to jeopardize this question and answer panel, the white-haired maid dered.
Introductions out of the way, John continued, once he had returned to his seat, lets start things right up, left side start. Do not try to take the microphone from the handler, please.
The order was obliged; the first person stepped up. Okay, so, hello everyone, the person, a guy in his mid-thirties, said. Immediately, John knew that his request for briefness would not be obliged in this case. He had seen enough Q&A panels in his time to not be surprised by this. People just loved to say more than necessary. I just want to say, happy birthday to you, President Newman, and thank you for all youre doing.
All of it? John couldnt help but be joking. Hey, dont forget that I make you pay taxes. I wouldnt thank me for that. That got a few chuckles, including from the (somewhat nervous) guy standing there.
Abyssals were hardened to threats to their life, but public speaking was its own beast entirely. Uhm, yeah, anyway, I wanted to ask a number of things, but given my ce in the queue, I think I should ask the most obvious thing for everyone else waiting: how old did you get today?
I am neen now, John answered swiftly, somewhat surprised that that got the people murmuring. Guess my age hasnt been broadly known, he thought. To be fair, I look like I could be anything between 18 and 24, what with my high Charisma and all of that.
I know right, Raveughed at the reaction of the crowd. This guy doesnt act like neen at all anymore. Somebody of that age shouldnt have that many aplishments!
Hey, when you have to ship around incredibly small army contingents with modern mobility options, its not that impressive anymore, John tried to downy it, but only a little bit. Imagine if Alexander the Great had been able to transport his troops by train and could have bought all necessary supplies at a local Walmart, or something like that. Modern warfare is a tad quicker and magic just elerates things further.
Ya saying it aint impressive? His girlfriend poked at his shoulder. Ya not gonna be like Yeah, you should all kiss my prideful ass?
I am saying its realistically usible, he responded, sitting as tall as he could. Not that anybody but me could have done it. Well, other people could have, with the rightbination of drive, power andpetence.
Lydia chimed in, It is a mixture moremonly found among talented young people. As the necessary conviction to change the world is likely to diminish with age. Influence, strength andpetence are more likely to arrive with age. Its a natural bncing of forces within human society. Quite an impressive piece of our collective psyche, if created biologically or divine aside.
Didnt expect you to be pro limiting the youth, John pointed out, as Lydia was only a few months older than himself.
If we listened to every foolish n inexperienced teenagers and young adults have, we would find ourselves in a never-ending spiral of enacting badly thought out ideas and solutions, the queen justified. That some people have to spend their entire life to change just one thing about society atrge is, while frustrating to behold, better than the alternative of unrelenting, alienating change.
Speaking in general? John asked, as he could imagine a few cases where immediate, quick change was much better.
Speaking in general, Lydia rified and took a sip of her water.
So, yeah, thats what I meant with tangents, the Gamer joked, turning back to the crowd. Alright, right side, next question.
I want this to go directly to Gnome and Aclysia, the person said, the soil elemental bing as rigid as a nk of wood upon hearing her name. Do you serve John Newman or do you love him?
Love, Aclysia rified immediately. Master has always left me and his other creations the space to make our own thoughts.
To a degree that was actually harmful once, John thought, recalling the whole debacle that was Beatrices creation.
Uhm yeah he has always treated us well and Gnome cleared her throat. Speaking only for myself, once I had grown enough to be capable of love, I couldnt help but see him that way. He is so gentle, but so vulnerable sometimes I just wanted to protect him and be there for him and he does look pretty handsome She pushed her index fingers together; her words were awkwardly quiet. The whole tent listened to the heartfelt stammering in absolute silence. A-and because he was so nice and able to get angry for those he cared about and and because I felt like he needed me just as I needed him, I couldnt help but fall in love and uwu yeah
God, youre way too pure for me, I swear to everything, John blurted out, causing someughter from the crowd.
She really is, Rave agreed and then pointed at the left side. Lets keep the ball rolling, next question.
She was pointing at a short woman, a bit on the pudgy side but not unattractive. Alright, I am going to be the one to ask the awkward question, she announced, already blushing a little bit. As someone who has greatly enjoyed the two, ehem, adult videos you have starred in so far, are there ns to make more and, if yes, will they include more of your harem?
Who was even in those so far? Rave asked.
That would be you, me and Aclysia, John reminded her. To answer the question: We have been ying with the thought of recording some private stuff. I am, certainly, nning to have future appearances on the CPDI and otherworks of simr nature. So, I guess you will see more of me He stopped for a second, as this next part felt a lot more awkward. As for the second part of your question, whether any of my girls decide to tag along is entirely up to them.
The reason why saying that felt lessfortable was that his girls were clearly going to be the prime reason why other guys tuned into those videos. It didnt really bother him, as a matter of fact, he got a slight kick out of having something others couldnt, but it was still odd to say out loud. Regardless of all that, he had quite the erection under the table. His girlfriends enthusiasm about these things was rubbing off on him.
Well, Im going to tag along a few more times guaranteed, Rave announced, earning herself some whistles from the audience. My butt belongs exclusively to my boyfriend here though, so dont expect anything but reverse gangbangs, she added with a wink, before leaning over to John. He met her halfway, so the whisper couldnt be picked up by the microphones. Their enthusiasm is getting me all tingly, tiger. Think we can supply these poor souls something soon?
To think you ever denied being an exhibitionist, he poked fun at her, earning himself a kiss on the cheek before they went back to sitting normally. There was a strong consideration for her desire to be fulfilled. John Newman lived to please his girls, after all. That would be that question. Next.
Do you actually love all of the women that you sleep with?
Oh, thats a simultaneously very easy and difficult one, John gave an initial non-answer, then rified. All of the girls you see around me regrly, I absolutely love and adore. People like Cindy from CPDI and many members of the former Small Lake Pact, I either like or barely know. Those times are made on the mutual knowledge that its just fun, though. I know I am quite the pervert with an appetite, but I do my best to do right by everyone I do have sex with.
With a surprising amount of sess, Lydia underlined his words with her stern tone. He has been truthful in his conduct about all of this. None of us have been goaded into a rtionship with him to find ourselves one of many. That he actually seeds in making us love him despite his broad harem goes to his credit.
Well, Rave had to slightly disagree there, I kinda found myself being asked if he could build a harem one day. If I had said no, he would have stayed with me alone, though.
Which was a supreme day of my life, John added with a nostalgic smile. I would have stayed with her if she had said no. I mean, look at her. Plus, I was less than I am now back then. That she said yes was like a gift from heaven.
Ya mean my girlfriend is like a gift from heaven.
I try not to state the obvious too much. John grinned, standing up to cross the little distance and kiss her.
The person asking looked mostly surprised and happy by that answer. They were likely one of the more conservatively minded individuals in his federation, the Gamer realized. Hearing all of this wasnt just based on lust from five sources across two questions must have been quite nice.
Suddenly, something aligned. The way people sat and his own standing position in the room all made sense in a forceful way. An intense feeling of deja vu hit him. It didnt even take him a second to guess what was going on.
He turned around before there was a scream. The knife that was meant for his open back instead found his hand. Sparks of mana flew, as Particle Skin activated and made it possible for John to grab the sharp edge of the weapon like it was nothing and yank it away. Beatrice rushed up from the background to pin the assant to the floor.
Confused mumblings started, nobody quite sure what was happening. John looked down on the attacker, a man with dishevelled hair and a gaunt look on his face. Observe quickly ced him as a non-important drug addict, his weapon was a bog-standard kitchen knife. To the Gamer, both of these were about as threatening as a mouse was to a lion.
Hand him over to the authorities, he told Beatrice, after he was sure he was dealing with a normal crazy person, thinking they should make their mark on history by assaulting someone important. Nothing that he had to deal with personally. Interesting that thats what the vision showed, John thought. The threat clearly wasnt the man, so could it have been the way he might have overreacted if he hadnt known about the attack?
He could have broken that guys neck with a self-defending swipe of his arm. Not to mention how Aclysia could have reacted. Neither things that would have looked good on running cameras. Threatening was really too vague to make easy conclusions.
Security must be stretched because I ordered so many of them to stand by Marathyu, he analyzed, then turned to the panel, quickly exined what had happened, and then urged people to continue as if nothing had happened. Nobody had gotten hurt, so there was no reason to inconvenience themselves.
The next question was right up his alley and put the mood of the Q&A back into casual mode. So, what is your favourite observable moment about the female physique in motion?
Now thats something I havent thought about too much, John hummed. Specifically things I can see when they move on their own Well, the obvious answer is hate to see her leave, love to watch her go C you know, me being an ass man and all that. Close second is that moment when a girl with nice thighs sits down and does that squishy thing where they broaden out. Hard to describe, but I think you know what I mean.
Nodding, the speaker stepped away from the microphone. Hey, the person for the next question spoke up. So, I have heard youre into 40k- Rave groaned out loud and slumped forwards on the table in a dramatic fashion.
Ignore her, she has an intense dislike of the franchise, John told everyone. She might be straight from heaven, but, unlike her butt, she isnt perfect.
How about ya get yourself a hobby thats not all about people shouting EMPRAAAAAH and talking about stupid perks and damage rolls for hours? Rave grumbled, head lying on the table. Dad yed that stuff with literally anybody he could at any hour he could. Raw boredom.
Well, thats your opinion, honey, John stated in a yfully motherly tone.
Dont tease me, Johnny, just get that question over with.
John gestured towards the person, who then continued, Right So, since youre into 40k, is there a chance to meet you during gatherings where we y?
I have to admit that I havent yed it a lot. I only got enough money to get into the hobby proper once I got into the Abyss. Which says a lot about the prices for the miniatures, I suppose Anyway, I was more of a lore enthusiast. I would be open to attending such events once I have less stuff to deal with. Cant really give you a definitive answ-
He stared at the window in front of him intensely for several seconds. The words didnt imply that anything bad had happened. There was no direct cause for concern or reason to rush over. However, he still wanted to see Eliza as quickly as he could because of this. Sorry, I have to end it here, something important just came up, he told everyone, the crowd starting a series of disappointed and surprised mumbles. Ill make it up at the second panelter, I promise.
A few questions couldnt measure up to the importance of the pretty little psycho.
Chapter 657 – Birthday Newman 13 – Biting the Chocolate
Chapter 657 C Birthday Newman 13 C Biting the Chocte
Johns hurried steps carried him to his apartment within the Pce. Everyone else was right behind him, keeping up with his pace. Together they created a constant drumming on the carpet, right until they arrived at the door. Pushing down the handle, the Gamer stepped inside.
Simply sitting on the couch, looking over the back when they entered, Eliza seemed as normal as ever. Except for the five lines in her left eye, looking so odd among all the dots. Fucking finally, thought I would have to sit on my ass the entire day, she grumbled in her usual tone, wiping the remainders of tears from her eyes.
After ending the panel, John had immediately called her, so he was already aware that those werent her tears. Apparently, Thana had begun crying after giving in. At the time, he was only concerned as to why Eliza was sobbing on the phone, now he could ask the proper question. Can you tell me what happened?
Not much my dumbass mouth can tell you, to bepletely fucking honest with you, Eliza shrugged, pulling her legs to her chest and resting her chin on them. John soon sat down next to her, with the rest of the girls scattering throughout the room, listening quietly. Just had that delicious looking fuck nugget sitting on the table. Then she came crawling out like the worlds saddest legless beaver and I just let her do the fucking thing. She unwrapped it, threw it in our mouth, chewed it twice, then swallowed it like somemon piece of shit candy, started to bawl and now she is fucking gone.
Gone gone? John had to get very specific there.
No, not gone gone, Eliza conceded. More like even less present than before. I cant even reach that stupid cunt. Its like I dont even fucking know. Like she is putting herself into that cold-water tank you found me in, but forcefully and mentally. I tried to contact her once, but all I get is a fucking translucent barrier or some shit. Mentalndscapes are bullshit.
That was, admittedly, not what John had intended with the further melding. The hope had been for Thana toe around and turning (rtively) normal in her behaviour. Instead it seemed epting her growing humanity in the slightest way had caused her depression to skyrocket. Scratching his head, John tried to understand the ramifications this could have.
They do say it gets worse before it gets better he thought, feeling progressively worse for the goddess of genocide the more she understood the woes of being a moreplex being than murder everything.
Rave picked something up while her boyfriend was still pondering. Wait, ya said like your tank-thingy so she locked herself in?
Abso-fucking-lutely, Eliza confirmed.
Ya telling me that she cant suddenly try to bite any of us?
Thats what it feels like. She would have to kick a shitload of dust up before trying to get back into control of our body. With that little rification had, Rave propelled herself at the blood mage and started hugging her like a long lost plushie.
Finally, I can touch ya crazy little thing again! the Lightbearer eximed enthusiastically.
What the total cock-sucking shit-fuck do you think youre doing, you absolute slut! Eliza screamed out loud as she was assaulted by more cuddles and kisses. Get off me, I dont deserve any of your attention, you overly nice whore!
Ya gonna get my attention and ya gonna like it! Rave dered, pinning the much stronger Eliza under herself. If she had really wanted, the blood mage could have forced herself out of this at any time. What her mouth cussed and her actions said didnt line up, especially once she startedughing in a crazy, fulfilled way.
The best thing about all of this was that there wasnt a single sign of things suddenly turning. Had Eliza been wrong in her assessment, there were more than a few opening that Rave gave that would allow for her to be disembowelled or end up with half of her throat missing. Nothing like that happened. Johns girlfriend had made the bet, trusted Eliza, and won. Granted, given that John had gotten away with kissing her quite extensively this morning, the odds were quite good.
Which made John doubly sad that he had to put a slight downer on the situation. Eliza, he stated, his serious tone causing the two girls to stop with their fooling around. Could you tell me again whose body you have?
Yours, master, she stated and thenughed maniacally. To use however, hahahaha, you wa pffft, nt. John kept his eyes steady, waiting for the proper answer. Her mood suddenly swung from yful to deprecating. Sorry, I dont fucking know how to read the mood she mumbled. Its our our body, mine and Thanas Her voice became quieter and she furrowed her eyebrows.
Rave backed off, the two of them sitting back upright soon. You never before, John said, stated it was our body. It was always the two of you saying it was mine. Eliza growled at nothing in particr, angry at the fact that she hadnt even noticed that change in her mindset until then. Now, this doesnt have to be cause for concern, John persuaded her. We always knew this was a melding process. Something like this was bound to happen sometime down the line. Do you feel different in any other way?
Not really, but what is my shitty opinion worth if I cant even keep track of whates out of my fucking mouth? she hissed and then made a very confused. Umu?! sound that was downright hrious. Reason being that John reached over to her, gently pinched her cheeks and began to roll the soft flesh between his fingers. Tha fuhk you doihng? she asked, her pronunciation predictably affected.
Touching my adorable and needlessly self-deprecating dear broken angel, he told her, let go off her cheeks, then pulled her into hisp for his own hug. When she sat secure with her back to his chest, he enclosed her deeply between his arms, kissed her scalp a few times and then nibbled on her ear. Look, you need to keep a close eye on the parts of yourself I cant see, okay, Eliza? Chances are that thest few steps of the melding have the fewest directly noticeable changes. The spikes of aggression you had before were from the urge to murder that she has now basically lost, after all.
She heated up in his embrace. John could feel her superhuman heartbeat like a steady drum, even through twoyers of clothing and her back. It was doubtful that it was just lust in y. Actually, John was pretty sure lust was the underlying emotion the pretty little psycho felt right there. I am scared, John, she admitted, in such a tiny voice that he couldnt help but hold her even closer.
We are almost through with this fusion thing between the two of you. Dont worry, one day well look back at this and be happy that we got through all of it. Nothing bad will happen.
How can you know that, you optimistic dumbass?! she asked; now she was quivering as well.
I dont know, he told her truthfully. I do feel it, however. This will all pass. Because you are meant to be happy. She let out a mocking giggle and he let her go for just as long as it took to turn her around. The tears of uncertainty were rolling over her face one by one.
You are such a dick. Her tone was unstable, going from shrill for one syble, to deep and raspy for another. You know exactly where Ie from, how can you say some shit like meant to be happy?! Thats cunt-speak. Youre just an absolutely useless piece of shit which still makes you better than me!
That was then, this is now, he softly retorted, again pulling her against his chest. He just had to guide her; she fell the rest of the way on her own volition. Quickly, she hid her tears in the depression of his right shoulder. With his left, he patted the back of her head.
Whats different?
I am here, he stated, his voice a firm promise. And I am not going anywhere. Not until you are waking up next to me smiling every day. Once we have achieved that he gently pulled her off to show her his genuine smile. Then Ill still be there for you C forever. Because the only reward I want for helping you is that you stay with me.
She sniffed and blinked, a fewst tears rolling down. How about you stop making me cry if thats your goal, you absolute jackass? she said and then let out a choked series of giggles. Fucking fuck, do you have any idea how awfully happy I am hearing you say all of that? Its sickening!
Good, that means I got you hooked on me, he joked and leaned in for the finishing touch. Her lips tasted of salt, no wonder with fresh tears, but behind that was the same sweet, metal-noted taste he had always known. Youre still my Eliza, he whispered to her. Never forget that. Now, do you promise youll keep a lookout for the other non-immediately apparent changes, big and small?
Yes, she whispered back.
Good He held her for a while longer. The atmosphere was content as everyone took a collective sigh of relief, audibly or mentally. Even Scarlett could be heard grumbling something in the direction of Thank fuck. Elizas situation had been a point of general strain in the harem atrge, like having a friend that was waiting for potentially horrible medical news. Now that things looked like they had improved tremendously, only time would tell whether this current stage of peace was as reliable as it first appeared to be; there was at least an opportunity for some rxation.
As it was, John hoped that his birthday luck continued and this was as good as it looked at first nce. The timing of this couldnt have been much better. After all, he could now say something he had wanted to for a while.
So, Eliza. Herst tears had dried and it was time for the light-hearted things to settle in again. You know what it means that Thana ate, right? The blood mages eyes lit up, the myriad of facets in her shattered purple eyes reflecting her anticipation for his next words. You were a good girl and good girls dont need to be punished anymore. You can now eat whatever you want again, you can sleep in my bed and, if you want to, you can orgasm again however much you want.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck yessssssssssssssssssss, she eximed, her body heating up again C this time it was definitely majority lust. I need you to fucking m into me, you absolutely monster stud slut-maker you!
No fucking! Rave warned. Only blowjobs!
I WILL FUCKING TAKE IT! Eliza screamed and grabbed Johns shirt with quivering hands. JUST TAKE ME ALREADY, OH MY FUCK! ITS C BEEN C WEEEEEEEKS!
Well, I, for my part, could need a shower, he winked, staying rxed even as the cock-crazy girl in front of him seemed like she was about to implode from ack of semen inside her body. You are more than wee to join me, I think you could freshen up a little bit as well.
Whatever you want, wherever you want, just fucking do me! She went from screaming to shouting, shaking John with a considerable amount of her strength. I can feel your fucking erection pressing against my cunt right now! YOU HAVE UNFAIRLY THIN PANTS!
Well, you go ahead and wait for me in the shower and Ill be there in a minute, he promised her. Bonus points if you wait for me in a way that makes me want to take you extra hard. There were no further words needed, Eliza jumped off him and stormed towards the door that led into the oversized bathing room. Aclysia, would you be so kind as to prepare something she really likes in the meantime? he asked of his maid.
Of course, Master, it is time for dinner anyway, the weaponized maid responded.
Alright, Ill see you all again in like thirty minutes, I think, John grinned. Ill try to keep things brief. They just nodded. The wonderful thing about having a harem that was highly functional was that none of them tried to butt in and im that bit of his time. They, without any jealousy or envy, epted that this was Elizas turn and waited in the living room, chattering among themselves.
Remember though! Rave warned him a second time. Only blowjobs!
I know, John answered, his smile unwavering.
I know ya know, but does horny John know? she jokingly reprimanded, then winked and made a motion as if to shush him away. Go, feed our resident baby-crazy girl. I think shell be very happy to find out about your upgrades.
She most certainly would be.
Chapter 658 – Birthday Newman 14 – Enjoying the Sub
Chapter 658 C Birthday Newman 14 C Enjoying the Sub
John could see his pretty little psycho through the ss wall that separated the shower area from the changing room. When people were actually showering, hot water flowing, the wall turned into a misty tease of the luscious forms behind. Right now, it waspletely clear, allowing him to see the naked body of Eliza.
It had been a little while, but he had not forgotten an inch of her. Her blue tinged, pale skin, the purplish tint of her lips, nipples and cunt. More importantly, her form. When he had first met her, she had been simply lithe. Being reborn in a new body had thickened up a few parts of her that had looked too bony before.
That was to say, the only really thick part about her were her thighs. They presented a luscious target for his gaze as he watched her, dragging each piece of his clothes into his inventory. She didnt look back, just stood there with her eyes closed, arms folded behind her back. Without seeing it, he knew what it looked like. A perfect top to those meaty thighs, it was round, firm and just so spankable. Her midriff was a t wonder, under which her subtle muscles shifted with every little move of her torso. Even further up, her chest may have been about average overall, but on her small frame they looked pleasingly big.
John was finally naked and stepped inside. The air of the heated room immediately caressed him with a pleasant promise. It smelled of all the different shampoos his harem used, each smell already affiliated with pleasant times. Together, they created an aroma of indulgence. In that atmosphere, even the way her shoulders curved into her neck looked beautiful. Although no amount of perversion could have elevated it to the ce his gaze wandered to next.
With every step he took towards her, the blood mage panted heavier. Her sultry, full lips were parted, allowing each breath to escape with a sensational, wordless whisper. A fine nose and elegant cheekbones made the picture almost perfect. Open your eyes, hemanded her, and Eliza obeyed. The light purple of her supernatural eyes harmonized wonderfully with the golden dots, lines and rings around the standard ck of her iris.
She moaned, a little bit of confusion entering her eyes as she experienced his newfoundmand ability for the first time. The confusion was immediately reced with understanding when she saw Johns broad smile. No need for exnation, she trusted him and knew about the bullshittery of his powers. Any questions could be askedter, after she had tasted his cock again.
John grabbed a fistful of her hair. His hand hid most of the white, leaving the azure blue it shifted to at the neckline to be what stood out the most. Not that he paid a lot of attention to that, as he pulled her head backwards and then aggressively pushed his lips on hers, using height to dominate her with a kiss alone. Already, by the time their tongues began to wrestle, her eyes werepletely ssy.
His cock was pressed against her stomach, he could feel her lustful trembling. Precum smeared on her smooth skin, but the few drops were nothing against the flow from her cunt. When he caressed the inside of her thighs with one hand, several gooey dropsnded on the back of his hand before he even touched her pussy directly.
When he finally did touch her dripping wet lips, her whole body jumped. He curved one finger into the sucking, tight folds; she suddenly became rigid. The edge of his palm pressed against her clit, and Elizas tongue became limp.
You shaved, he noted in an approving tone. He hadnt minded the little bush of white hair she had sported before, but he definitely preferred his girls eitherpletely clean shaven or with a decorative trim. I like it. That was all he had to say before going back at her.
He tookplete control of the kiss, masturbated her softly, and the flow from Elizas pussy turned into a gush. With a muffled shout, her rigidness was torn, the quiver of her stomach rippling through her whole body. John felt more of her weight on his hair-wing left, as the white mane became taut and her legs turned into pudding.
I told you to wait in a way that would turn me on, he whispered to his orgasming submissive between kisses. And you just stand there? Exin yourself - Now. Making thatst thing amand rather than a request, he assured that she would feel little spikes of pleasure with every word. Words Eliza would have to press out through her orgasm, as he kept fingering her.
I didn mhhhhm didnt know if you wanted to shower or bath, Masssstaaaahr, she gasped. Her pleasure-induced slurring only got worse when John changed from kissing her lips to kissing her neck. Ahhhnnnd I I didnt -ah- want tooooo- to just kneeeeeell down witho-aaa-t you t-telling me toooo. Finished with her exnation, themand unfolded its full effect on her and John felt how the gushing that had just started to ebb off was renewed in its strength.
Mhm, thats a good girl answer, heplimented her in a flirting tone. Youre a beautiful little slut, arent you? The flirting only made things worse, as yet another one of Johns new Perks was put into effect. Towards a willing target, flirting increased their Libido by 20% or 10 points t, whatever was higher. John usually kept that ability disabled, not wanting to distract someone from the talk they were having because of a harmless little flirt, but right now was exactly the time he wanted to use it. It increased her Libido from 30 to 40 and with it her sensitivity and experienced pleasure.
With the scream of another, stronger orgasm, she announced, YOUR obedient slut, John! Having heard that, he couldnt resist to indulge himself more. He pulled his hand off her trembling shame and then dragged her by the hair to the wall holding the row of showerheads. With her weakened legs, she threatened to copse at every step. Her masochism turned them from pudding into an unstable nothing, and her knees finally gave in at thest metre.
John caught her, but not in any ttering way. His second hand closed around her throat and forcefully pulled her up, ramming her against her wall. Her tits jiggled wonderfully at the impact. Moaning escaped her lips in bursts as John choked her. He let go of her hair, grinded her body up the dry tiles with his superhuman strength, until her curled up toes had no more contact with the ground. Her face turned darker as the asphyxiation set in, her tongue was lolling out, creating a depraved look of ecstasy on her face.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was pushing himself against her. His grip rxed for just long enough for her to take a rattling inhale, then he sealed her mouth with his again. Pushing his cock between her clenched thighs, he started thrusting reflexively. The thick meat was surrounding him, all of it lubricated extensively. At the upside of his shaft, he felt the source grind along his cock, and the girl that was a submissive slut for him, attached to that dripping cunt, climaxed a third time.
His thrusting became more intense; just one change of angle and he would easefully slide into her breeding-ready hole. The temptation was there; Johns mind slowly went nk as every thrust between her thighs pushed his horniness closer to the drivers seat. The continued hacked off noises from her choked throat only encouraged him to let his desire take over. His left hand was looking for a good grip in the surroundings.
And found a pretty unwise ce.
A wave of ice-cold water washed over them as Johns hand rested and held onto the handle of the shower. One pull back for a new thrust, and he had identally twisted it all the way into the blue marked area. He immediately knew what had happened and calmly put it out again, but it was still enough to give him a little shock and space to think clearly. Only blowjobs, he mumbled to himself, looking at Eliza, whose hair was now sticking to her head, having the same realization.
Unceremoniously, he stepped back and let go of her. Still weak in her legs, she immediately copsed to the floor. She caught herself by holding onto his legs and was now face to face with his erection. Can I?! she asked, her tone unsteady and so ravaged by desire that it was a miracle she even managed to ask the question.
John left her dangling for as long as he needed to twist the handle back to the hot level he preferred and pull. As these were showers fuelled by magic, the dreaded time it took for hot water to arrive was cut out. Neither was there any vtility in what then came. It was the exact same level of heat that angle of the handle always produced, a deeply pleasant hotness. You can y with it, but no sucking yet, he told her, after he had bowed down to Possess the tile she was sitting on. The sight of her bare crotch, ass and thighs was too wonderful to skip out on.
Eliza pressed her face against his massive erection. Like the absolute pervert she was, she sniffed at the hairless dick, kissed the sack and licked the shaft. Coooock, Johns hard coooock, the degenerate psycho gasped, grabbing it with both of her hands. Finally, ah, its so hot. Her long tongue travelled from the bottom all the way to the top. There she froze, the panting from her wide open mouth even hotter than the running water.
John grabbed her head with both hands before she could disregard his orders. Do you want to suck it? he asked.
Yesh, she whined, her lower lips stuck at the swollen head. Pleashe, let me suck it. I need to shuck it. So certain he was going to say yes, she let go off his cock. Arms spread out, as if to show she wasnt masturbating, she waited.
You cant, he told her, and Eliza looked like she was ready to cry. She needed this so badly, it was ecstatic to withhold it from her. Then his grip on her hair intensified. I am going to use you, cock-crazy bitch, so just stay STILL! he screamed thatst word as he mmed into her mouth.
Her hands looked like they were grabbing at something invisible, and through Possession, John could see her whole lower body tense up, then release. Every action he took, it seemed, set an orgasm off in her more intense than thest. The scream reverberated in his cock as he fucked her face mercilessly.
Her throat was perfection. Without any problems, she took in his entire length again and again. She remained almost absolutely motionless. As she should, John had given her amand after all, so her staying still provided her with a constant stream of rewarding pleasure. As if she hadnt been able to climax just from getting her face fucked before.
Fuck I am so close John gasped, weakened from the earlier thigh situation. The blood mages tongue, the only part of her she dared to move, pressed against his shaft that bit harder. Eliza Eliza Eliza Now he sounded like the crazy pervert, and he was every bit fine with that as he looked down. He caught her eyes for just one moment, then he was past the point of no return.
Attempting to pull out, fill Elizas mouth with his improved cum, John was stopped once the head threatened to slip past her lips. Stopped by none other than his masochistic lover herself. Disregarding his order to stay still, her arms suddenly wrapped around his hips. She pulled him towards herself, her head rushing forwards, until her nose hit his groin. There was absolutely no time toin or change this, if he had even wanted to.
Thatst,plete mming into her throat caused his balls to tighten. A massive load rushed up his tensing shaft, and he groaned as it pumped directly into her stomach. Cum, drink my seed and cum! His breathless words left his mouth before he could even think about them. He first felt the effect in the vibrations of her muffled scream.
From his Possession below her, he could see her squirting. Large amounts of love juice were forced out with high pressure, one wave after another, as threeyers of orgasms fired off simultaneously. One from drinking his enchanted seed, one from following themand to drink it and one from the simplemand to climax. Theyyered on top of each other, forcing her to squirt again and again with each strand of thick cum he filled her with.
Her cheeks were hollowed out, her throat quivering along with her whole body. She was milking everyst drop she could from him. With her eyes rolled up, it was clear that she was nothing more than a bitch in heat at that moment, needy for that cum. His spurts became lighter with time, just as her squirting was reduced to gushing, then dripping.
You perfect fucking god, I love you, Eliza he gasped, as their orgasms slowly subsided. Her arms let go of his hips and he pulled her off his erection. Until the veryst moment, her lips stayed tightly around him. Then she breathed like a drowning person.
Oh my fucking fuck shit yesss, she gasped. That was exactly what I needed A few more ragged breaths and she fell back into the sickening sweet tone she used when she tried to be especially cute. Master, can I have more, please? I need more! I can taste your semen on my tongue, just a little bit. I think its even better than before, but this useless little slut cant discern that without a second load. Or a third or maybe five?
Johns answer was to m right back into her throat.
Chapter 659 – Birthday Newman 15 – Deus Vult and Punch
Chapter 659 C Birthday Newman 15 C Deus Vult and Punch
To say that Eliza was gleefully stuffing her face with casserole and pudding would have been an understatement. The way she was grinning, shovelling things into her face, only taking pauses to rinse everything down with c andughing was nothing short of amazing.
By the time everyone else had eaten one portion, she had gone through seven, and ultimately Aclysia cooked up a second quick meal for her, then a third. At the end, John distracted her frompletely emptying their fridge by carrying her to the couch, cuddling her and feeding her little pieces of chocte. The entire time, she was giggling like a high school girl in love for the first time. A very crazy high school girl, but a high school girl regardless.
Her reactions were so absolutely adorable that Rave and Aclysia soon joined in feeding her chocte. This made Sylph envious, so John soon had two cute, short girls in hisp, which got fed chocte as long as they kept giggling and fidgeting.
The rest of the harem soon found themselves involved in idle talk. A movie was put on in the background. Something out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nobody really paid attention. Halfway through the movie, Rave realized this and put on some music instead. That bass hammered through the room as she drove it all the way up. Then, when people startedining, she put it back down to loud and then sensible levels. Handling of theptop that controlled therge t screen was handed to Lydia, for security reasons.
Ya dont need to be such party poopers! Raveined afterwards.
I happen to like having functional ears, John retorted, then pointed at the floor. Also, that. Sunken into a hill of goo, Undine continued to quiver as she recovered from the fit ofughter she had just gone through. It turned out that, to tickle a slime girl, the second-best way was to subject her to heavy bass at an absurd volume for several seconds. Having her whole body vibrate was, apparently, quite tickling.
The actual best was, of course, fizzy tablets, but Undine had asked not to be subjected to those without warning. A fair request, people didnt like being subjected to surprise tickle attacks thatsted for several minutes without any way to stop them, usually. Such a shame, given how hard it was to hear her beautifulughter otherwise.
I should give Undine some sort of appreciation day soon John thought, then realized that he had the same urge for all the girls. Ah, big harem problems, I want to have a day alone with each of the girls, but that would be like two weeks gone Ill find the time though. Maybe if I scatter it across several weekends?
Aclysia, can ya bring me something to drink? Rave asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. Like, a beer or something like that?
I have none currently in the fridge, Aclysia remarked, although that was only a minor setback. I can set out to the storage area, if you desire.
The storage area was about 90% of Aclysias own segment of the Pce. While John had given each and every one of the girls their own apartment, most of them were, by now, too heavily modified to be called living spaces anymore. Aclysias apartment was basically a kitchen and a table, in case she had guests, attached to several rooms in which she hoarded cleaning utensils, food, drink and other household or luxury articles. Over time, she had gotten John to put cooling chambers in there. Then a smoking room. Then well, there was a lot there now.
Almost everything a man could want to eat, Aclysia had stocked up in some fashion. Every item was bought with her monthly pay that John gave the weaponized maid. As that was quite a bit of money and Aclysia was very careful about bncing his diet, only the best things were kept there. As she usually finalized her cooking n a week in advance, she moved over everything to Johns fridge during Sunday nights.
And, of course, she had a chamber full of alcoholic beverages, should the need arise. The only thing I have stocked up in this kitchen is vodka and orange juice, the weaponized maid specified further. Not the biggest surprise, those two thingsbined into Johns favourite drink. Would that drink satisfy you, or do you crave a cold beer specifically?
Rave put her hands together in a praying motion and asked, with a sweet smile, Id really like a beer, if its not too much trouble.
I will oblige, Aclysia said, rising from the couch. As I am already making the trip C does anybody else require something in the way of beverages? There were several people raising their hand and orders were made. Before Aclysia could leave, John tapped Sylph and Eliza on the shoulders. Reluctantly, they got off. Well, Sylph just began to rise like a balloon, Eliza actually got off.
I am going to tag along, just in case you need the extra inventory space, he said as he got up. It was very unlikely to be needed. Before Aclysia could make the decision whether she wanted to insist he rxed or just take the opportunity to be alone with him for a few minutes, he just led the way. Mainly, he wanted to stretch his legs a little bit. Behind him, Eliza began cussing wildly at Smander, the two of them getting into a verbal yfight.
Maybe you should actually grow out your hair, you skinhead incineration chamber slut! That was thest he heard before the door closed and reduced every sound to nothing.
John was about to say something to Aclysia when his eyes noticed something odd. It was a re in the air, the shimmering outline, leaning against the wall opposite from him. It was only on the Abyssal Layer of his sight. He narrowed his eyes, and the shimmering turned into a tabard and a set of crusader armour, as Observe peeled away at what True Sight 9 had already spotted. Aclysia was left confused, until she inspected his thoughts. Because she was only informed of the figure from his sight, she also knew there was no reason to take any defensive measures.
Hey, Konrad, John said raising his hand in a nonchnt salute. Deus Vult.
DEUS VULT! he shouted back.
DEUS VULT? another voice screamed, a second knight peeking around one of the heavily decorated corners. Now that John had peered through the first illusion, others of the same kind were dismantled in less than a second.
DEUS VULT! Konrad Kamradsrat, leader of Lydias bodyguards, confirmed.
deus vuuuuuuult?! it came drawn out from somewhere fairly far away.
DEUS VUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULT! the two present knights screamed. WE MUST RETAKE OUR INVISIBILITY! Konrad added and raised a gauntleted hand in front of his eyes, like a child subscribing to the cant see me if I cant see you idea.
John drily chuckled at the overacting roley. Interesting that I can see you lot now. I was wondering if Lydia came without you again.
The first time was a great besmirching on the Knights of Teutons honour; I insisted that our Deus given empress take us with her this time. So we Vult it! he cleared his throat. On a more serious note, our numbers are recovering well and many of the armours lost or damaged are being repaired. Some have even been recovered from the battlefield.
Ah, thats good. John hummed, tapped the crusader-impersonator on the shoulder and then moved on. You continue doing a good job!
We will, DEUS VULT! To the echoes of the other knights mimicking the battle cry, John walked down the corridor. He had more of a passing rtionship with Konrad and his people. Friendly, yes, but they didnt really know each other. John was maybe open to changing that in the future, but for now a professional niceness would do.
Aclysias segment was the third closest to Johns own, being two doors over. Contrary to expectation, the closest wasnt Raves, it was Elizas. Because it was much more likely that the blood mage would need some emergency attention. Raves was in between instead. Of course, both wentrgely unused. John had visited Raves ce once or twice, it was basically a merchandise paradise, but he couldnt recall ever going into Elizas ce. Wonder what she has in there, he thought, once they had passed the door.
Pulling a key out of her Inventory, Aclysia opened the door. Due to the not insignificant amount of sweets and food stored, the door was just about the only one in the Pce that was locked. It wouldnt stop an invader, but the way it was broken would at least show whether it was Sylph or Eliza.
They went inside, passed through the small living room, turned right, walked through a normal looking door, and then found themselves in a thin corridor. Several doors were symmetrically spread across the walls. Orderly tags left of the doors reported on contents and the temperature within. The alcohol chamber was third on the left side. The contents were kept at 6 degrees Celsius.
Gripping the thick handle of the insted door, Aclysia squeezed, then pushed it open. Behindy the promisednd of the indulging alcoholic. Heavy shelves, lined with bottles and cans, sorted horizontally by type and vertically by alcoholic content. At the back wall were crates, pallets and barrels. Just the metal, party variety. John did have to wonder whether she kept wooden barrels with stuff still aging in another room. Definitely not a thing hed put past her.
Aclysia pulled the bottles off the shelves, put them into her inventory, while John took one of the cartons of canned beer and put that into his own. He preferred to have too much over too little. Even though they couldnt getpletely hammered just yet, it was likely that the drinking would continue once the program of the day had concluded.
Before they left, Aclysia made sure to write down which brands she had to stock up on and pulled the bottles second in row to the front so everything looked neat and orderly again. Then they made a quick visit to where she stored the fruit juices, grabbed what was needed and then went back to Johns apartment.
Thest thing he expected when returning was another guy to be in the room. Almost as well dressed as John, he sat on the couch next to Lydia, a walking cane, leaning against the table, in front of him. Yo, buddy, Maximillian greeted, running a hand through his dark brown hair. It had grown quite a bit since theyst met, now reaching down to the vacationing kings chin in a stylized dishevelled way. I heard you brought beer?
Oh my God, John gasped in only half-faked surprise. What have you done to your hair, thats atrocious! You look like Keanu Reeves, except not at all breath-taking.
Lydia nodded triumphantly. As I told you, this style does not fit your facial structure.
Its fashion in Hollywood right now, he defended himself, grabbing his cane and getting up. Fluidly, John took the hand that was offered to him afterwards and the two shook hands in a proper greeting between friends. You arent done sassing me yet, are you?
Im never done berating you, Johnughed. I was just going to say that you strike me more as a trendsetter than a follower. You getting the fashionable haircut feels just wrong.
True enough. Maximillian took thatpliment, even if it meant that he had to give up the argument. Well, what would look better on me? he turned to Lydia, John listening with one ear as he walked towards the open kitchen. Once there, he pulled the carton out of his inventory with one hand, and put it down on the floor like it was weightless.
Short, was Lydias very basic and straightforward retort. You have an objectively handsome head structure, framing it with hair is not doing you any favours.
John was reminded that those two had been a couple once, but his jealousy was kept in check by the absolute certainty that Lydia was fervently in love with him and that Maximillian was over her for a long time. Now they were friends with history. If that ever changed, John would know pretty quickly by a change in the moderate distance between them. Also, the Gamer was certain he would have to fuck up tremendously to lose Lydia at this point, and at that point he might deserve it.
There was, however, another thing he was quite angry about, regarding the vacationing king of Austria.
So, I should just get his haircut? Maximillian asked, nodding towards the owner of the Pce.
Its not a bad style! John insisted, now running a hand through his own, lighter brown hair. It was a few steps above a buzzcut, long enough to part around his fingers and just barely enough to grab, but not enough to reliable hold. It hadnt grown in months, thanks to the same magical shampoo that kept his body hair from growing.
I wouldnt go quite that short, I like to have something that my stylists can work with, Maximillian said, then grabbed a strand of his hair. But point taken, I guess I am getting rid of this. Anyway, he took the beer John offered him, only to put it in the air next to him, still closed. It proceeded to gently fall to the table, its gravity diminished to non-harming eleration. A bitte in the conversation, but happy birthday, buddy.
Thanks, John leaned against the dinner table. Maximillian still hadnt sat down, so they were talking with the couch in between them. That was, until he slowly stepped around and towards the Gamer. I was actually surprised you hadnt dropped me a text yet. Somewhat assumed you had forgotten.
I wish I had forgotten, Maximillian joked, but actually looked rather nervous. See, I resolved to give you a very simple and personal gift you get to punch me in the face.
John had to think about those words. You sure? When he finally had resolved that he heard correctly, he wanted to double check. Maximillian nodded, so John pushed himself off the table. You know I am not holding back?
See, when I originally resolved to make that gift, I hadnt realized that you would get taller and broader, Maximillian continued to joke, but it was quite clear now that he knew this was going to hurt. Just try to remember I didnt know she was your mother, okay?
Well, when you did find out, it didnt stop you, John answered, equally non-serious in his tone, but rolling his right shoulder to warm it up.
Maximillian giggled. The damage was already done, so I was like might as well enjoy it.
Not like this is going to stop you in the future, is it? John wondered, letting that little bit of anger he had bubble up. It was still a mere echo of the initial seething hot rage he had felt, but it was going to be quite satisfying.
Hey, your mother is an attractivedy and she has been calling me. Who am I to refuse the invi- The king didnt get to finish that sentence, as John swung at his (at that moment) annoyingly handsome face. The king had chosen his standing position wisely. Not a single piece of furniture was between him and his way to the floor. He just mmed down and groaned in pain. Not too long though, as John immediately called Undine over.
Whew, he made a satisfied noise, looking at his motherfucker of a friend rolling his jaw. We can make a deal that you have to gift me this every year, whenever you did as much as mention that youre still sleeping with my mom.
I tshink nexsht yeahr might kill me, Maximillian responded, something quite clearly swelling rapidly.
Was that actually necessary? Lydia asked from the background, as Undine arrived on the scene and applied the green-tinted heeling slime to the bruised cheek. All you did was temporarily hurt him for something that your mother already scolded you for that you shouldnt be mad at.
Look, this wasnt about logic, John retorted, grabbing a beer for himself now. His mood was even better now than before, and he hadnt even known that was possible. At the trip back to the couch, he helped the healed Maximillian up and they sat down together. This was all about a friend punching a friend in the face.
You are correct, that does not sound logical at all, Lydia stated, raising an eyebrow.
I get it, Rave stated.
This is why I like men more than women, Metra added, putting her feet on the table. Until Aclysia gave her the death re and she put them back down. Way easier in the way they handle their problems. Just punch each other. Gilgamesh did the same with Enkidu. They punched each other until they became friends or so I have heard, that was even before my time.
Well, violence does solve some problems, John said.
Then he, Maximillian and everyone else toasted.
Chapter 660 – Birthday Newman Finale – Federation
Chapter 660 C Birthday Newman Finale C Federation
From there, much of the day passed in a blur. They drank a little bit over two hours, nobody got more than a slight bit tipsy, then John went to that second Q&A panel. It was a good but not particrly noteworthy time, even with Maximillian attending as a surprise guest. They walked around the festival for the rest of the day, sometimes splintering into smaller groups, sometimes dragging the Gamer inside an empty tent to suck his dick.
Having a bunch of high Libido lovers really paid off. That his dick had essentially turned into an orgasm dispenser (as unttering as that sounded) helped with the motivation to suck him off. Negative side was that, by the time the sun set, everyst girl knew about his newmanding and flirting passives, as well as his further improved cum. Well, more than half of them had known already, everyone that was in the barrier with him, but he had still looked forward to surprising some of them.
Between keeping a moderate surprise and getting his dick sucked though easy choice. He still had one thing he hadnt shown them yet, so he wasnt going to show uppletely without new things.
Now that the day had turned into night and his birthday slowly came to an end, there was just one more public event he had to attend. It was also going to be the longest one. Once more, he got up on therge stage by the Harbour. On the back of the stage, as well as the sides,rge screens enabled people further at the back to easily see what was going on.
He was alone on the stage. As to why, he wasnt in the know. The things he was going to do on stage could have profited from some input by his harem, but they had collectively refused the offer toe up there with him. Something was obviously up. With the day approaching its end, he had a rough idea.
Regardless, with or without them, this would take quite a bit of time, so he just started. Okay, wee to todays final event. I hope you all had a lot of fun, because I sure did. Now, I dont want to waste your time, so lets just jump right into it John announced, only to have the screen behind him suddenly ck out. Something he only noticed because several people in the crowd started shouting about it.
Ah, the wonders of Murphys Law he mumbled into the microphone. Well, good thing we dont need the screen for that first part, so were just going to continue with the program while the technicians fix things up.
The crowd seemed not to mind either way, and so John just gathered his breath. It was a truly good thing that he hadnt thrown all his Stats into just Intellect and Wisdom. He would have stayed calm with those, but only Charisma allowed him to really find the words fluidly despite the interruption of his ns.
As you all should be aware, I have game themed powers. This extends into basically every aspect of my life, including this here space called the Guild Hall. He walked up and down the stage to give his speech a level of casualness and a dynamic appearance. At the same time, he did the proper thing when giving a speech, ignoring the crowd as a whole and looking at the individuals that made it up. Looking from one face to the next, he was able to get a good idea of the general mood. The fewer people he spotted looking down on their phones or something like that, the better he was doing.
And as my GUILD Hall is affected, me governing a GUILD also falls under game mechanics. I would tell you about all the boring, long-winded details he made sure to take the steps especially heavy and slouching as he said those words, but it could be in the interest of national security to keep things ambiguous. He grinned at the crowd. Plus, you know, boring and long-winded. I dont think any of you are here for the school experience.
He continued to walk. Now, here is what you need to know: whenever I fill out a category of Guild Perks, the Guild Hall upgrades. I have withheld from investing into the category I want because it could cause a window to pop-up for all of the guild masters of guilds that are members of Fusion. All of those now had a bunch of time to read the email I sent out regarding this. Some of them may even be watching the livestream right now. In which case, John waved at the camera, hello, hope youre doing fine right now. Especially you, Ahanu, I still owe you!
That got some whistles from a subset of the crowd. It appeared a few members of the Hidden Tradition had made the trip all the way to the festival. Given that their leader was rather popr, it was expected that they honoured the mention of his name.
While he let those people calm down, John quickly opened his Game Points Store. As it was right now, he had three Guild Perks. For 1000 GP, he could buy one Guild Perk. Maybe that wasnt the best way to spend those, but he had 1115 and upgrading the Guild Hall right then was something he had already decided to do. The only thing he wanted to buy more than a maxed out Guild Hall were more ss Levels, and those cost 5000.
The quicker he got a better Guild Hall and improved Buildings, the more money he would generate over time. Increasing the economic base of Fusion was never a bad idea. Okay then, here we go, John announced and tapped the first level of the Diplomacy category of his Guild Perks.
The first thing that happened was that he got a message himself that asked him whether he wanted the Little Marnd to join the Federation known as Fusion. Funny that the system even asks me that, but I guess it makes sense, John thought, confirming the choice, then confirming a second time for the Small Lake Pact. At the same moment, a number of other windows rolled in, telling him who had all epted the invitation. He only paid attention to the big names. Magois sub-guild was in there, as was the Hidden Tradition and Amacat. Some very small, local guilds denied it. John assumed they were startled and had no idea what was going on.
As he got no denial by things like Niagara denied the invitation, he could assume it had only gone out to the guilds that inhabited the space Fusion currently owned, directly or indirectly. It went exactly as John had thought it would go, so he was quite happy. Without much further thought, he tapped the remaining three Guild Perks in the category.
John quickly read the list of things the Federation actually did, as the description on the Perk itself had been rather scarce. It was a small list of important things. A list (already adjusted for the fourth Diplomacy Perk) that he didnt share on the livestream, but internalized after one reading.
- Members of the Federation could use the Training Room to train up to level 25.
- People in the Federation took 50% less damage from friendly fire during engagements with an opposing faction.
- People in the Federation now had a 10% chance to send a small amount of money to the Guild Funds and an even smaller chance to drop an item whenever they killed a monster inside an Illusion Barrier (Natural or otherwise). The amount of money and strength of the item would scale with the difficulty of the monster.
- Leaders of member guilds were now able to use the Perk enabled Buildings in the Guild Hall, aside from the Training Room. Currently this was just the Transmutation Forge and the newly gained Embassy.
Alright! he picked it up, before things got too boring for the people in the crowd, that just saw him tap invisible windows in the air. That was sessful, now to the exciting part! He turned to the screen, which flickered back to life. What was disyed was no longer John, but instead a view of Liberty Ind from far above. The video feed was aplished by strapping a camera onto the Mand Sphere. That it managed to send all the data back was nothing short of miraculous, but modern drone technology was just that good.
Wonderful, it works. Alright, keep your eyes on the screen, but dont forget to look around to witness things with your own eyes, cameras are just a substitute for the genuine thing. John smirked as he hovered over the button that confirmed the Guild Hall upgrade to Tier 3. There is going to be something beautiful in a second.
He pushed the button. What was normally invisible, the cylinder-shaped borders of the Guild Hall barrier, suddenly turned into a spectacle of colours. As if somebody had liquified a rainbow or upped the colour intensity on a soap bubble mixture, the whole thing shifted around, colours drifting through each other but never truly mixing. Then the cylinder began to expand. The 400-metre-wide thing stretched further and further, until it had more than doubled in size, going to a full kilometre. Then, the spectacle red away again, leaving only the darkness of the night.
John hadnt nned to upgrade the Guild Hall during this even originally, only to get the Federation thing done. While Scarlett had nned all of this, he hadnt had the necessary Guild Perks to do this. However, since the opportunity had arisen, he had taken it. He would make sure the technical staff that stayed past the originally nned hours would receive a nice bonus.
And now, we have a lot more space to work with, John pulled the attention of the awestruck crowd back to himself. For the sake of a simple demonstration, he opened the Guild Hall map and drew a line ofnd, where he previously couldnt. The Mand Sphere turned to catch it spawning once John hit confirm. There was an adequate amount of surprise. Not everyone here had caught thest time John had gone through a Guild Hall upgrade. Even if they had, the ability to just create andmass at the press of a button was odd even for John.
Now how much do I actually have to work with, the Gamer went to check his new Room Slot maximum and the amount of mana the Guild Heart provided him with. The answers were unequally insane. His Room Slot maximum increased by 500, from 257 to 757 (basically tripling, were it not for the few Room Slots he had acquired by other means than natural progression), while the Guild Heart quadrupled its output to 200000 mana.
Oh, that will be useful, John thought and pressed the yes button. Normally, Buildings couldnt be modified or even ced if a person or foreign object was in the way. It was also disabled strictly if there was abat situation. I wont have to stop with basic ind design then. More to show off, he grinned, pleased to have a crowd to impress. Alright, here were go!
John did his best to not pay attention to how the billions he had earned recently, through the Raid, other Instant Dungeons, selling things in general and taxes, were going right back down the drain. First off, he doubled the diameter of the ind. He tried to keep it somewhat round, but that was quite difficult drawing with his finger. Every time he pressed the confirm button, the people watching let out a series of OOOooooh and Wooooow.
If it didnt cost so much money, John would have yed around for their reactions, but he wasnt vain enough to waste millions to get augh out of people by scribbling a dick into the river. He was thinking about it though.
After he had extended the original shape to fit better into the new kilometre he had to y with, he wasnt quite satisfied. It was just round, the hollow area in the northeast for the Harbour notwithstanding. After some thinking, he added some bumps here and there for a bit more asymmetry. Also an extrake in the Park, an extra beach at the Residential area and six decorativekes around his own Pce.
Happier with that look, he checked which new buildings he wanted. His eyes first turned to the Production district. Obviously, the money-making apparatus of his Guild Hall was going to receive the highest amount of attention.
Mine (Room Slot Cost: 35. Mana Maintenance: 25000): His first upgrade, it increased the size of the visible Building. In proper terms that meant that the miniature mountain became a very small mountain, with an extra two buildings joining the two that had already been in front of the entrance. Under the surface, it was as expected: more floors were added to find more valuable metals in. There was a mention in the description of creatures lurking on the lower floors, so he would send some trained personnel down there to check things out before he opened the floors to the general miner.
Farm (Room Slot Cost: 30. Mana Maintenance: 10000): As always, the Farm itself actually did not receive upgrades. It was just that new, better segments to attach to it were unlocked. The sole goal John had for the farm was a Turkheir farm, though, so he wasnt under any pressing issue to improve the Farm. Regardless, he extended the farm with several different kinds of grain (some of which he had never heard before) and added some animal shelters that would supply different kinds of meat. The idea was to have enough supplies generated by the Building that he could easily feed a few dozen people on them alone. Just in case there was ever a siege situation.
Logging Camp (Room Slot Cost: 30. Mana Maintenance: 20000): Last time around, there hadnt been enough Room Slots or mana left to make the Logging Camp more than Tier 1. As such, an upgrade to Tier 3 was tremendous. Lower level trees, being those normal or just slightly magical, would grow at a quicker rate than before, while new, properly magical trees would also grow. Unlike the Mine, they would be quite easy to find, the thing was to let them grow to the optimal stage before felling them. John imagined that, like all other Production Buildings, Tier 4 would get the really rare resources and Tier 5 the downright legendary ones.
With the three present Buildings upgraded, he also added 4 new ones.
Oil Tower (Room Slot Cost: 20. Mana Maintenance: 20000): This Building created oils. Not oil in the sense of things that were pumped out of the ground. At least not exclusively. Rather, the Oil Tower could be used to refine any sort of magical, oily substance. And by refine the Building of course meant create out of nothing, although the description said it would go tremendously faster if the actual source was provided. The Building could be set to produce a number of different substances passively, in parallel or just focusing on one. Of the highest rarity stuff it could produce, it didnt even provide a litre a day. Not exactly unfair, what it could make was of considerably high and reliable value.
It had to be added that John didnt choose this Building for the money though. Instead, he had seen that it could provide him with numerous things needed in the production of the cologne of Nathalias recipe. It was entirely selfish in origin. Not that he wasnt willing to make money off it, once he had what he wanted.
Herb House (Room Slot Cost: 20. Mana Maintenance: 10000): Operating on the same function as the Farm, the Herb House supplied herbs and other rare nts depending on what sort of extensions he bought for it. This was also quite selfish, as this supplied him with yet more ingredients for the cologne. Plus, the most basic thing he bought was a small marijuana patch. Exclusively for private use. Private use being that he wanted to surprise Rave with it, who had at least smoked pot before. Also, he was a bit curious himself. There were also a number of different herbs that could be used for massage oils or shampoos or to have extra fun sexy times.
Fishery (Room Slot Cost: 50. Mana Maintenance: 60000): This one was exceptionally costly, but it did make a lot of sense. What it was, basically, was a Mine that created exclusively living targets. The Fishery had to be ced on a coast or a veryrgeke. Sorge that John would have needed to rethink his entireyout, if he had wanted to do that. Every day, like the Mine, fish would spawn in swarms, some rarer and smaller than others. If given the necessary environment to survive, the fish would stick around, but not leave the confines of the Guild Hall. If they were caught by any other way than the fishing rods the Building provided, the fish would despawn immediately. Same thing if they were killed before they left the water. An auto farm function utilizings guaranteed at least some yield every day.
The fish could provide quite a number of things. Food, their scales could contain rare minerals or be good crafting materials themselves, same for their bones and whatever other appendages they might have that could be useful alchemic ingredients. It was useful in arge number of ways. It would also let John employ yet more people.
Silicate Ind (Room Slot Cost: 35. Mana Maintenance: 25000): This was basically like the Logging, except for rocks and crystals rather than wood. All over the ind, stone formations would grow, maybe the odd crystal, that could be smashed and taken in. Although the rocks would also be magical, the crystals were the really rare resources. Quite a few gemstones could be won there. As building material, the stones would also serve a number of purposes. The Building had to be ced on its ownndmass surrounded by saltwater though, thus giving it the name Silicate Ind.
That was all regarding the Production district, but of course there was a whole lot more. Moving onto the Industry area, John fixed one of the more pressing issues first. Namely, that he had more than 300 Room Slots but was already running out of mana.
Mana Factory (Room Slot Cost: 15. Mana Production: 25000): Turning into white towers with green roofs, the Mana Factories also quadrupled their output. John increased their count from three to six, giving him an extra 150000 mana to y with.
Mana Storage (Room Slot Cost: 15. Mana Production: 5000): Just for the extra safety, he also put down this building. Although its own production was much lower, It could save up to 1 million Maybel (that being the official term for what John called MP). The mana could only be used to fuel Guild Hall things, but it would still serve as a nice safety line should something go wrong. Some of the Buildings had potential extra costs, after all.
Transmutation Forge (No Costs): There wasnt much to say about this Building. There were more materials he could buy with horrendous amounts of money there now, alling with their own creation time. It was nice to have and, because it was a Building from a Guild Perk, free to upgrade and own. If push came to shove, he could use it to supplement a few other things he needed for the cologne. Generally, it was cheaper to buy them off the Abyss Auction though.
Perfumery (Room Slot Cost: 15. Mana Maintenance: 10000): Thest in Johns I want this cologne! line of Buildings. When fed with the necessary ingredients, it wouldbine them into a well-smelling blend automatically. The end-product could be adjusted and, because it had all the necessarypartments, manualbour there was perfectly possible as well.
Up north from there was the Transportation area.
Harbour (Room Slot Cost: 25. Mana Maintenance: 25000): Also going up to Tier 3 from 1, the Harbour now had enough room to hold a bunch of ships in addition to Johns yacht. Otherwise, it was just an unimpressive looking assortment of magical piers.
Transport Station (Room Slot Cost: 10. Mana Maintenance: 10000): The teleporter had its range increased, again, and went up to 7 outposts he could scatter about the Hudson Barrier and its surroundings. The real interesting bit was that it supplied him with an additional 2 endless range teleporters, as previously discussed with Lydia. Whenever he found the time, he would put one down on Servant Ind and another around Lydias main residence in Berlin.
Scanner (Room Slot Cost: 5. Mana Maintenance: 5000): Easily enough described, the Building scanned iing vessels in the Harbour for potential dangers. It would alert John to the amount of people on board and any potentially harmful substances. It would also, and that was the really important part, tell John if and where any sort of scrying magic was being used in the confines of his Guild Hall.
In the centre of the Guild Hall, there were quite a few changes.
Pce (Room Slot Cost: 40. Mana Maintenance: 10000): There were no changes in look or capabilities to the Pce or the star fort it stood on.
Security Station (Room Slot Cost: 20. Mana Maintenance: 5000): The Sentry Golems had their level increased to 40 and their number rose to 8. They could patrol an additional 10 areas now. A function barely needed anymore, as most remaining gang struggles in New York had long since been dissolved.
Cleaning Station (Room Slot Cost: 20. Mana Maintenance: 5000): Slime count increased by another 15, making it a total of 40 grey blobs crawling around eating trash.
I.D. Gates (Room Slot Cost: 2. Mana Maintenance: 500): John was still missing a reason to actually upgrade this, so it remained as it was.
To the west and northwest was, then, the Park. It wasrgely decorative, John had even gone so far as to ce some of those spire-like, tree-covered mountains there, and sported only a few Buildings. Quite a few more than in the past, however.
Magois Tower (Room Slot Cost: 20. Mana Maintenance: 5000): No changes were made to Magois home, just a slight change of ce to be closer to the centre. Conversely, that still meant it was further away from Johns home than before, as the rtive size of the ind had changed more.
Weather Tower (Room Slot Cost: 50. Mana Maintenance: 40000): Before, the Weather Tower was only able to modify the weather that was already there. Now it could make any weather John wanted inside the Guild Hall. Except that it still had to be within the boundaries of the season. He could make it a very warm winter day, but it would still be a winter day. Future upgrades would change this, but for the moment, he was just happy for the ability to dictate the amount of clouds and when it was allowed to rain.
Menagerie (Room Slot Cost: 15. Mana Maintenance: 5000): He didnt get a lot of personal use from this, but the Menagerie did attract some paying visitors, so it wasnt a total waste of an upgrade. Also, whenever Nia returned, and he had denied her extra cute animals, she would likely very softly drum against his chest with the slightest bit of protest on her nk face. The upgrade increased the number of animals living inside and allowed them to roam around the direct surroundings as well.
Elemental Inds (Room Slot Cost: 60. Mana Maintenance: 30000): Those were actually 6 Buildings that roughly did the same. They had three functions. Number one, they attracted wild elementals to the ce, making it a ce where summoners could travel to make contracts. Also a ce where Johns elementals could mingle with their kind for a little bit without John having to actually let them go back to their ne. Number two, they would increase the drop rate of elemental infused materials for all Buildings that John had in the Production district. Number three, they actually produced pure elemental essence of their respective element themselves. John had no idea what to do with that, but it sounded quite valuable. Really, the first two reasons had him already sold on them.
He ced the six, quite small, inds off the west coast. There was no particr reason, other than he thought it looked better that way.
Midnight Forest (Room Slot Cost: 5. Mana Maintenance: 5000): The majority of the forest was not a building. It was just a bunch of trees, just like Newman Shire to the south of it. However, John did ce a Fairy Lantern there. It supposedly attracted nature spirits. More interestingly, it made it so it was always midnight in that particr corner of the Guild Hall. It was just a cheap thing that sounded really interesting.
As thest thing, there was the Commercial district.
Training Room (No Cost): Now ced right at the edge to the Transport area, because all Federation members had some reason to get in there and try pumping their level up, even if they had barely more talent than a mundane person. Going up to level 25, ignoring their actual potential being lower than that, was quite valuable.
Embassy (No Cost): ce next to the border of the Central district and just across the street from the Guild Bank. As it would be a reliable method to contact distanced guild members in the future, it was mostly of value to John and his administration.
Guild Bank (Room Slot Cost: 40. Mana Maintenance: 15000): The Building got bigger, which was good, since John used it as the seat of his administration. Now members of Collide with the necessary ess rights all had their own Guild Inventory pocket that they could store things in. Limitation being that it was only usable within the Guild Hall or the adjacent barrier. ess to the actual Guild Inventory was now possible from all conquered territory though.
With that, John still had 134 Room Slots and 42000 mana to go. He blew all of it quite easily on getting some worthwhile looking Storefronts in the Commercial area, as well as some nice-looking houses in the Residential district, that now actually could be one. The mana was a bit short, but he fixed that by only giving those things the bare necessities. The standard houses and stores were not entitled to the cooling chambers, indoor pools and whatever other luxuries there were in the Pce and Magois tower.
It had to be said that John was basically out of money and bunkered up materials by the end of this endeavour, but it was all worth it. He thought so, at least. The improvements were vast, the potential for future profit immense. It did look quite crowded though.
[Authors Note: Icons on map do not represent actual Building appearance. The limitations of mapmakers]
Better crowded than underutilized, I say, John thought and then finalized his interactions with the crowd. He had been ying off them the entire time, asking if the Building would look better there or over there. It had been all fun and games. Of course he hadnt exined everyst detail of every Building to them, for the same reasons he kept other details secret.
I wish you all a good night! he said his goodbye, got ast cheer, and walked off the stage while waving. A few people started the happy birthday song again, but it didnt catch on and petered out when the Gamer went out of view. I really had enough ttery for the day, he said to himself, quite eager to get back home and see what his girls were nning for him.
That was when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Somewhat confused, and surrounded by technicians eager to call it a day themselves, he pulled it out to see who was writing him at this hour. Of all people, she had been one of thest few he had expected.
Siena: Meet me in the Midnight Forest.
Chapter 661 – Shadows and Stars
Chapter 661 C Shadows and Stars
Huh, they can adapt pretty quickly, John thought, as he followed the request and walked towards the north. Seeing as the Midnight Forest wasnt a thing what an hour ago? The entire updating thing had, of course, taken quite a while and it was shortly before actual midnight now. It actually seemed like he wouldnt get his birthday orgy on his birthday. He had no one but himself to me for that though, given that he was the one who suddenly introduced the Tier 3 Guild Hall upgrade into the schedule.
The Gamers theory was that whatever Siena wanted had been originally organized for the Newman Shire. Scarlett had followed the presentation from a distance, informed everyone what was going on, and they had quickly relocated their efforts to the new environment. It hadnt even urred to him that any of his actions may ruin any surprises they had nned with the Guild Hallyout in mind. This would have been the time to feel bad, if they hadnt been able to fix it. Instead, he just felt proud to be surrounded by such capable women.
The Guild Hall was emptying more and more with every minute that passed. The Buildings were shut down, everyone had been given vacation days, so there wasnt even a night shift that kept a few lights burning. Only the ships that carried the visitors of the ind for the night glinted in the distant Harbour. Across the water, there were more lights, artificial glitters that interrupted the sacredness of the night.
John took the steps out of the Commercial district and the orderly, dark outlines of the Storefronts were slowly reced with the random arrangement of trees that he had ced without much thought. On the stone path cutting apart Newman Shire and the Midnight Forest, he stopped. He pulled out his smartphone, sent Siena a message. A second artificial light cut into the natural darkness, leaning against the base of a tree. John wandered over, picked up Sienas phone, then put both of them into his Inventory.
If this was her game, he didnt want to introduce more illumination into this quiet shade. Between the trees, he saw two glowing orbs of sulphuric yellow appear just for a few seconds. Their sudden disappearance followed the words, Come, John, in the nightmare elementals sweetest, most seductive tone. It sounded like temptation and rang with the slightest level of nervousness.
Given such an invitation, he would not resist. In the quiet of the night, he stepped off the stone path and into the forest. The trees that had just been around him previously now surrounded him. Their wide trunks didnt have anything menacing. On the contrary, the windless quiet was deeply soothing after such a busy day, happy or not.
With every step he took, the light changed. It didnt get darker or lighter, it just changed. He soon realized that it was the light of the city around that was blocked out by the Fairy Lantern,pensated by the growing light of the stars. He couldnt see the Building itself; it was further west than where his steps carried him.
Just as the light changed, the quiet of the forest was underlined by a slowly growing melody, fiddled gracefully on a violin. Siena was guiding him with the sound of the instrument. Often, he caught her eyes in the darkness. Sometimes, a note of her curves in the starlight that fell through the thick ceiling of canopies. He always kept his eyes focused on the world around him, looking for her.
All the while, the melody continued to beckon him. It was wonderfully soft, had no hard edges, was just a continuous stream of notes that echoed through the trees. Despite being from a source that could not appear in nature in its specific design, the sounds of the violin seemed to belong in this environment. The shadow spirit had mastered the instrument in its entirety.
Eventually, the forest opened up into a small de. Its westside was dominated by one of the small, ck mountains John had put there to give the midnight theme more power. Otherwise, it seemed to be a simple gap in the mechanic that had ced the trees there. In the middle of the de stood a bed. It wasnt particrlyrge or otherwise impressive, but it did lookfortable. It was obviously there for the asion, so John walked over, took off his shoes, and thenid down. His head rested on the sole cushion provided, no nket was to be seen.
The moon was eclipsed.
That was the first thing he noticed. Likely influenced by the Fairy Lantern, the moon had turned into a thin ring of intense silver in the sky. Around it, the stars were impossibly bright and numerous. All light pollution had been removed. It wasnt even the sky he knew. The stars clustered around the ck spot that was the moon; he recognized no formation within their spread-out beauty. He stretched out his arm, wondering if he could take the moon and forge a perfect ring from it. The violin faded.
His raised hand was soon taken, surrounded by slender fingers. Quietly, Siena lowered it back down to his chest, as sheid down next to him. When he tried to turn, she gently pushed his turning head in the opposite direction. Following her silent wish, he continued to look at the sky.
It has been difficult between you and me, the shadow spirit whispered in his ear. She embraced him, became the nket that was missing. Even though he knew her nature and her body radiated no heat, he felt secure and warm. Because I am not a creature of niceties. I want the sick and twisted to die. I want those who dont help themselves to stopining and do whatever is necessary to be free of whatever holds them down. Stabbing and torture and, yes, some hypocrisy are perfectly fine tools for me. You, your goals arent that different. You weighed your values and your tools differently and that that made all the difference.
She took a deep breath; it was clear that saying all these things wasnt easy on her. Such a prideful, beautiful being such as her wasnt used to admitting faults. Much less did Siena strike John as someone who liked reiterating what she had conceded before. Regardless, she continued. Her sensuous voice continued to caress his ear.
I am still twisted. When I think of torturing those that have tortured others it fills me with joy. I dont think I can change that, not even for you. Its part of who I am, with all my faults and all my traits, but She stopped, holding onto him ever more tightly. Afraid, he realized, that he would get up and leave. For you, I am willing to rein myself in. I am willing to listen to you, because I know you are willing to listen and think about what I say. Even if you dont usually agree, you are not just dismissing me. You give me time, you give me reasons, and I love that.
She ced a kiss on his cheek, then a second one. Her full lips felt even softer than usual. Her hair brushed against the side of his face, as she turned to look up with him. I wanted this to happen where it was just us and the world as it could be without any cruelty. Quiet, simple and beautiful. Sheughed a little. You made this so much better just by ident.
There was a long pause, John first waiting, wondering if she had something else to say. Then, he had to gather his resolve to speak. This sky is beautiful, he said, speaking his truest thoughts. Framed by the trees and the mountain, it felt like he was looking at infinity through a fish-eye lens. However, its worthless if there is nobody I can share it with. If I had nothing but this sky, I would grow bored and resentful. He turned his head and saw Siena. If I had nothing but you, I would never be bored. I would sometimes be angry, justified or not; I would be frustrated or maybe even disgusted. But I know that youre trying and I know you have bettered yourself so much already. If I had nothing but you, I would love my life.
Sienas eyes did get a little bit wet at that confession, but she didnt cry. Just a few blinks, and she looked like she always did. Just, with a smile, that was so innocently happy that it almost didnt seem to fit on her seductive face. Leaning towards him, that smile turned into a kiss. A deep and fulfilled kiss, longing for nothing but what she already had at this moment.
I have two selfish requests, Siena quietly stated. And one reward that is as virgin as anything I could ever give. She raised one hand to her purple lips and gently pulled down her lower one. Even inexperienced, I am sure it will be a sensual adventure, John. It sounded a bit stilted, as if she was saying something, she wasnt quite sure about.
The Gamer immediately knew where this was going, but his cautious nature prevented him to just agree outright. Even if there was little he could think of that would cause him to disagree. What is your first request? he asked.
I want you to make true, for at least a little while, on what you said just now, she rose from his side and straddled on top of him. The smile that now spread across her face was much more in line with the Siena he knew. A bit arrogant, criminally attractive and carrying the promises of darker, wonderful things. Her head took the spot of the eclipsed moon, leaving her looking like she was wearing a crown of starlight. Make me feel like I am the only thing you have in this world.
His eyes fixed on hers, this was easily done. You are all I have, right here, right now, he assured her, his hands brushing up against the outside of her thighs. It was a motion equally loving and lustful. He could not deny the desires her form straddled on him invoked. That the purple, liquid shadows that normally covered her pale blue skin were quickly evaporating, save for those that made it look like she was wearing stockings, did not help. Her purple nipples were erect and her pussy glistened in the starlight. It wasnt just him that was ready to consummate their loving rtionship on a physical level.
Her smile showed her fangs and she chuckled in a deeply pleased fashion. It only stopped when she bit down on the appearing w of her index finger. A gesture to rein herself in, it seemed, as her other handy on top of Johns right, slowly guiding him up the curves of her hourss body. Everything about her was tempting, refined sexuality. A woman at the peek of beauty and danger.
My second request, she gasped, likely by design and desire equally. Her hips slowly grinded back and forth, her pussy lips getting parted by Johns cock under the ck of his Pants of the Chosen. When she actually asked the question, she forced herself to stop. Can you trust me C absolutely?
I already do, John answered. To his surprise, she shook her head heavily, her silky, greyish pink hair flying.
Absolutely, John, she emphasized again, and this time he knew what she was getting at.
Yes. His response was simple, firm, and came along with actions that spoke much louder. From his thoughts to his memories, his ns and schemes and dreams, down to his mana and the mechanical things thaty underneath, he opened it all to her. A hand reached down into his very soul, careful not to touch things it didnt need to, even if it could have. It took hold of what Undine had ripped out before, what Smander had asked and foolishly taken before, and now Siena herself pulled out the one SEP that he had kept for her.
There was no harm in this. With just one Skill Evolution and with her Elemental Summoning maxed out, Siena couldnt have subjected herself to the Lorylim even if she wanted to. What it did was take the choice from John and it served as the most powerful sign of trust that he could give anyone, given what else he opened up.
Given willingly, John experienced little pain in the process. It wasnt how things were supposed to go, a twisting of his powers, ceding ground to a force only half subjected to it. His fingers dug more intensely into her thighs than he would have liked as the SEP was drawn from himpletely. Until thest moment, her handy on his.
Her skin unravelled into an unsteady mass of absolute dark. The area was sopletely lightless that it seemed two-dimensional. Unlike other elemental upgrades, however, John could still realize the outline of a person in that darkness. She didnt just turn into arge pir of elemental power, like the others.
His hands, still touching that darkness, felt the raw torrent of magic her transformation unleashed. The kickback he got was less than pleasant, however, so he pulled them back. His pants were fine though, likely due to the Schattengarn used in its creation.
The Mand Sphere, so far having followed him on the mental equivalent of auto-pilot, flew around, so John had a better view of what was happening. After about thirty seconds, the darkness consolidated again. It retook the outline of Siena, curves that awaited their finalization but were unmistakable already. The wavering ck went still, then began to peel off and tumble into the air, fragment by fragment.
It started at her feet. They were still shaped like high heels, with said heels remaining so pointy that John had no idea how she bnced on them. They now had a midnight blue colour, sprinkled with silver dots, something that slowly changed into purple. It was like the path of the night itself was running up her legs, from the starry midnight around her ankles to the purple minutes before the sliver of the sun dding her meaty thighs. Shortly before the legs flowed into her wide hips and shapely ass, this purple mass ended in an ever-swirling border.
The colour of her skin was slightly changed, the light blue now having a silver, rather than grey, undertone. It made it look a little less dangerous, a little more elegant. The shape of her narrow waist and bodacious chest was unchanged, something John was quite happy with.
Her arms were like her legs, the purple of a day that had just ended flowing into the night and its stars, star-like constetions, interconnected with thin silver lines, starting above the wrist and covering the back of her hand. Long ws of a translucent dark blue ended her fingers like a crystallized night sky. Her face came into view, somehow looking rejuvenated, despite John being unable to find any faults with it before. The fullness of her lips, the shape of her nose, the swing of her jawbones, it was all just better, despite being the same.
The darkness peeled away from her eyes, revealing the change inside them. Her scleras were now pitch ck, but silver lines ran through them like drawn constetions, all running to the silver-white of her iris, with the slit pupil. What remained of the shaping energy bundled together into her hair. Longer than before, now going all the way down to her butt, it had gotten a bit darker, from pink to proper purple, and was just as silky smooth as ever.
He marvelled at her for several moments. Not much had changed in totality. Thats what he thought, at least, before he realized that part of the darkness still lingered on her lower back. Unravelling, it revealed a very long, prehensile tail, shaded like her arms and legs. It decreased in thickness over the length, starting about as wide as her arm at the elbow and ending at the size of a finger. Were it not for the elongated, spade-shaped attachment on it, fanning things out. Along the rim, the same blue crystal of her ws run, making it clear that this appendage could also cut, if Siena wished it so.
You seem less stealthy than before, John had to say, with all the glowing silver bits It could turn out to be a potential problem, even if it looked wonderful.
I dont feel less stealthy, Siena giggled, the cutting crystal dissolving, before she grabbed him by the cor and kissed him. If the moonless night could have had a taste, sweet, cool and addicting, this would have been it. He met her tongue with his own, could feel her fangs. All I feel, she whispered between kisses, is more. More power, more possibilities C more you.
John had to agree that she looked like more in everything. Even that tail was attractive to him, did it invoke a certain level of subus iconography. Although it was muchrger than the representation of the average demon in media. Ill fully trust you on all of that, he said with a smirk. Now, not to be too much of a narcissist, but I was promised a reward and I think I deserve it as well.
Sienaughed, her every word a sultry sigh, even if she spoke at a normal level. You, of all men I have ever met, are the only one who ever deserves that. Her body slid backwards, her hard nipples and soft breasts dragging over his chest, until she was no longer straddling his hips, but instead kneeling between his parted legs. Graciously, she reached for his pants.
Chapter 662 – Siena Going Down [Erotic Content]
Chapter 662 C Siena Going Down [Erotic Content]
John changed his position a bit, while Siena pulled his pants off. Using the pillow and the headboard of the bed, he half sat, allowing him to look easily at hisp. Once she was through the pleasingly erotic disy of nakedly opening his pants and tugging them down, he just pulled them into his inventory. Same for his shirt, there was no reason to deny Siena the eye candy that was his own muscr body. At least half of the motivation behind getting ripped was to be more attractive.
Too distracted by his dick, the moonshade elemental didnt immediately notice either thing. I have never looked at this thing so intensely, she quietly said, grabbing it tightly with one hand. The idea of Siena, the sadistic Siena, lowering herself to sucking his cock already had it fully erect. Alone by the shape of her lips, he was already turned on. Given who she was and that his member would be the first her mouth touched in her entire lifetime, that just made him extra hard.
His perverted hope had been that she would be immediately taken in by the sight of his dick, but Siena had her reservations. Just because she had resolved to reward him like this didnt mean that she was suddenly as into it as the rest of the harem. The hope was that the next minutes would show her why they were and give her every reason to follow the trend.
Please dont call my dick this thing, John pleaded, his eyes only resting on her. As she had wanted, she had his undivided attention. It was quite easy. The hand that slowly pumped up and down his shaft, barely covering more than half of it at any point. Her gorgeous face, framed by the cascade of purple hair, with those moonlight eyes focused on his cock. The way she kneeled on the bed, with her upper body lowered and her ass raised.
John discovered that the current angle made him wish she didnt have the tail. Although its curious curve was interesting to look at, the base being attached to the lower end of her spine meant that it blocked the view of the gap of her butt. What he saw of the round bubbles was still wonderful, but it wasnt quite the same without the middle.
Can you get rid of your tail? he asked, having a shimmer of hope. It could have been like Smanders armour or just elemental clothes in general, an additional feature that was easily gotten rid of when desired.
After trying, not clearly knowing herself, Siena responded, No. However, I can please you like this Her tail took a sharp turn, pressing closely to her body. By curving underneath her like that, John had almost full view of her shapely bottom again, what was still visible of the tail blocking out a little of her left cheek. It was a giant improvement C and he waspensated for the rest.
A smooth feeling caressed his balls. It was a bit alien at first, but he soon realized what it was and it was pleasant in the way the flexible surface slid over his most vulnerable part with such softness. It was like a rubber leaf with a will, gently weighing and massaging his sack.
The spade-shaped tip was more flexible than he had thought, just as he had underestimated the length of the tail. It had wrapped around and stretched under her all the way to his genitals. Is this more to your liking, Master? Siena purred, using the title just the slightest bit sarcastically.
John let her get away with it, mostly because she added a second hand to the handjob she was still giving him. Yes, he groaned, closing his eyes for a few seconds. It wasnt as pleasurable as getting sucked off, but this was also the first handjob he was receiving from Siena that was more than a way to keep him on the edge.
When he opened them again, Siena had gotten very close to his iron-hard rod. It doesnt look pleasing, and yet She didnt finish that sentence immediately, just let her sensual voice flow out naturally. Your cock, she made sure to pronounce the word carefully, it is big. Mhm, I felt that before, when you fucked me but seeing it so close is different He could feel her breath on his dick. It doesnt look pleasing, and yet it makes me so horny.
The truth of those words was written in her expression. Her lids were partially closed, her pupils dted and her mouth agape, letting breath for panting breath escape. Every inhale was taken through the nose, however, and Siena shuddered.
In the name of your musk is intense she moaned, her hips wiggling. Through the Mand Sphere, he saw her purple pussy drip several drops of her love juice. It had a silver hue to it, yet another quite unusual thing. You take care of your smell, but this this is Finally, her tongue appeared, covering her lower teeth as she leaned in. this is the smell of a man no of the man of my John.
He loved being referred that way. Possessiveness being disyed by his girls was just wonderful, even if it was just one word. It made this all feel so much more real. Even after a year, that he was sitting in a bed, put into a magical forest, about to get his dick sucked by a beautiful woman made from living darkness, sounded quite odd when summarized as what it was.
No part of his mind dared to question any of this though.
Siena hesitated shortly before her lips made contact. There was still a level of repulsion inside her, a natural disliking of the act. More than that, a nervousness to fail. When it came to sex, she wasnt used to the possibility of failing. John could feel those thoughts rushing by.
Kiss it, hemanded. It was nothing more than encouragement, if she had really, truly been so sickened by the idea, she could have pulled out. Johns own thoughts stilly bare, letting her know that he waspletely fine with that. It was all her choice, but he had in interest in her making the one to proceed.
Suddenly, sheughed. Ah, hesitation should be beneath me, she announced and then pressed her lips against the base of his cock. It was a quick kiss, vibrating with the moans of her reward, her hands still working the upper half and the tail massaging his balls. It was a full package of worship, especially once Siena returned for more and more kisses. Ah, this texture she sighed between kisses. Every new smooch sounded wetter, sloppier. It was wonderful. its so hard. This is just so satisfying. Its so hot Aaahhh A small shout of lust escaped her. Oh, John, what have you done to me? I just cant stop kissing it!
The greatest part about hearing her say that was that he knew it wasnt yed. She was genuinely wondering, genuinely in love with him and genuinely feeling this way about him and his cock alone. A certainty that this wasnt some suppressed blowjob slut in her, but a side to her that only existed for him.
She backed off a little, licked her lips, then looked at her still moving hands. They were covered in quite a bit of precum by now, especially the left one. Siena let go off of his dick and raised it to her face. Her tongue stretched out, quivering, as if she was about to taste something forbidden. When she finally reached the ck skin of her hand, it didnt take long for things to escte. The careful touch of the tip of her tongue became a gasping lick across her palm, then a moaning sucking of her fingers. Sho delishious, she slurred, as shepped it off her entire hand.
Just watching for a while, John leaned back. The lewd noises of her sucking her long fingers, one by one, and the caved in cheeks that came along with those motions, were pleasing enough for a while. Then, when she was just about done with her second hand, he cleared his throat, You can have more, straight from the source.
Sienas eyes wandered down the now unattended dick. Yessss, she hissed, grabbing it with one hand down by the base. You enjoy this a lot, John, she noted as she got into position.
How could I not? was all he had to answer before he felt rather than saw her tongue touch his cock. Like her hand, the initial contact was reserved, but itsted even shorter. Three long licks, she took up and down his shaft, then she jumped the final hurdle. Her soft lips wrapped around the head of his cock, and he groaned.
Oh God, finally, he thought. He would have lied if he said he hadnt dreamt of this exact moment for months. It was every bit what he wanted it to be. Worse, it was much, much better. The inside of her mouth was a perfectly soothing cool, the feeling of stepping out of the summer sun into the shade, just as a breeze rolled by. Her tongue figured out all of his weak spots in seconds, likely utilizing knowledge she had from the other elementals. Whatever inhibitions a normal girl would have had, a gag reflex or just respect to the sheer size, Siena had none of them. Now that she had taken in the head, her psychological barriers were quickly crumbling. With bobbing and lightly rotating motions, she went deeper and deeper.
The reason why that was bad was that this was Siena. Sweet, sadistic Siena.
Oh, you enjoy this a loooot, she mused through their mental connection; even as she was sucking him off she could tease him. Your lust is so delightfully easy to manipte with my tongue I do this and he groaned, loudly, as her pointy tongue glided along the underside of his head, pressuring all the sensitive nerves in the process, and so much more of your tasty juicese to me this way.
Take me into your throat, hemanded and she obeyed. The potential reward convinced her and she wanted to do that anyway. It turned out that John yed himself with that, as her throat was a wonderfully tight heaven, vibrating from moans and pulsating in a terribly sensuous way. Little tendrils seemed to surround him, caress his weak points like small tongues. She was definitely inhuman and quickly learned the details of her new body (although her old body could have been just as capable of this, for all they knew) to use them to full effect.
Full effect being that John was immediately pushed to the brink of orgasm. Only for all pressure to suddenly vanish. Despite being deep inside her throat, he felt barely anything. She slid up. Make me cum! a frustrated John groaned.
No, Siena refused the order, feeling so much more satisfied with the denial this brought to her summoner. Aahhh, but I do want to suck it some more, she gave the extremely sensitive cock a lick. Its delicious and so hard. I never had anything more satisfying in my mouth in all my life.
What do you want? John wanted to bring this to the point. His hips rocked up involuntarily, when she tightly gripped his cock, then released him again before that motion could get him off. She had learned way too quickly for his taste, but she had always been an artist when it came to sex.
Serve me as I serve you, Siena giggled and, painfully slowly, stood up. Every little bit of her curves was shown off in the silver night. She caressed herrge bosom, entuated her midriff with her travelling hands, turned around and pped her ass. The jiggle was stopped when the skin stretched as she kneeled down, her dripping wet pussy descending on Johns already open mouth.
Her lower lips tasted like her kisses, just much more intense: sweet, cool and addicting. There were two things John cared for: to get off inside her mouth and to win more of this sweet nectar. Of course, she had absolutely no need to try and deny him the former to get him to do thetter. The Gamer was a passionate lover, and being between a gorgeous girls thighs, holding her ass and prating her cunt with his tongue, was a wonderful use of his time as far as he was concerned.
Yes yeesssss. Especially since Siena let out such honest, loud shouts of debauched ecstasy. Already close from sucking his cock and themands she had obeyed, it wouldnt take a lot of Johns aggressive devouring of herdy bits to push her over the edge. Something that he, as a fellow sadist, had a good grasp on.
She would not orgasm unless she held up her end of the bargain, she knew that. Slumping forwards, she soon had his cock back in her throat. The mixture of her inhuman mouth and intense enthusiasm enveloped him with pleasure. Back and forth she slid, in and out his tongue went as his lips moved. Moans and wet gulps echoed. Tightly and lovingly, Sienas tail wrapped around one of his arms.
Then, Sienas lips closed tightly around his ns. Her tongue extended impossibly, wrapping around the edge of his head, and quivered with every high-pitched moan. They were both at the edge C and jumped together.
The silver-tinted liquid gushed over his face, squirted into his mouth, just as he pumped semen into her mouth. What orgasm his tongue provided was intensified by the one the taste of his cum triggered.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck, Siena thought something very ungraceful, before her mind waspletely swept away by the onught of pleasure. The dark in her eyes dominated, half-closed lids quivering. They both gulped it all down instinctively, although Siena soon stopped drinking and just found her lips pressed against her summoners groin. Her throat was milking him for everyst drop he had, her body craving it. Aside from the taste, as his elemental, the mana itself also made her feel raw pleasure. It dissolved slowly, made her dizzy, prolonged her climax far beyond Johns.
Something he took advantage of shamelessly. He ravaged her pussy with his tongue, made her orgasm a third time by the time the two parallel ones were teetering out. Revenge in the form of mind-blowing orgasms, the best form of revenge. The moonshade elemental went limp after some time, with John still all the way inside her throat. He couldnt help but thrust up into her.
Now guided by nothing but the wish to taste more of his cum, her tongue and the tendrils in her throat were moving wildly. He spanked her ass as best he could, feeling the sharp scream reverberating in his shaft. He had never made her this helpless to his assault before. This weakness to drinking cum had to be well secured in her memories.
What better way to anchor it than a second load straight into her stomach? Her pussy tightened around his long tongue, a fifth orgasm, fuelled by his cum filling her a second time. Every bit of her body shivered on top of him. Squished breasts on his groin, the ass under his hands, her mouth and pussy around cock and tongue.
With every spurt he came, he calmed from his edging-infused heat. By the time her throat wrung thest drop from his shaft, he waspletely satisfied. For a few minutes. It was enough to end his merciless attack on Sienas pussy and gently roll her off him.
Breathing heavily, she ever so slowly recovered herself. The magic burning away inside her made it quite hard. Toes curled and muscles tensed randomly for several minutes. Just continuing to honour his first promise to her, heid down so he could look at her face closely, and waited for her afterglows to subside.
And how did you like it? he asked when her breathing returned to a regr pattern.
Intense, she said, with one word. Less demeaning and more fun than I figured. She smiled suggestively at him, although there wasnt much more to suggest, naked and glowing from intercourse as they were. As much as I would love toy here with you for a little while longer, she stated after a few more moments, sitting up, there is the rest of your harem and the remainder of our nned program. Even the way she said that word made John shiver.
Alright, so, how do we do this? His question was apanied by Siena covering her torso under ayer of liquid shadow. There was little difference to before, just that it was a tad darker. Otherwise, it appeared the same, down to the slowly shifting rims of the leotard like covering. No leotard could have ever shown off that much cleavage and still sat in ce, though.
Ill leave now, Siena exined to him. You wait ten minutes, thene to the yroom.
Chapter 663 – The Gift of the Harem 1 – Two tigers to the Harem [Erotic Content]
Chapter 663 C The Gift of the Harem 1 C Two tigers to the Harem [Erotic Content]
John arrived more than ten minutes after Siena. She had likely run the way, while he had walked at an enthusiastic pace. Given her Agility, that would have bought them a good amount of additional time. He entered already naked, having lost his clothes once he was in the confines of his Pce. Only for the way back had he taken the measure of even putting them back on.
The y room was Johns spiritual home, the temple to his very worldly lifestyle. Except it was quite underwhelming as a temple. Really, it was just a single room, with beds in one corner, an open bathroom in the other and ss door closets upon closets filled with sex toys lining the walls. Everything was designed for two things: pleasant sexual experiences and ease of cleaning. This went especially for the floor, arge, smooth surface. Soft enough to celebrate any kind of love-making on without causing pain, but also firm enough that it wasnt hard to walk on.
After he had entered, closing the door with the Mand Sphere, his cock immediately rose to full might. The disy before him right out of a dream.
All 12 of his present girls were right there, in the centre of the room, wearing the same things. Stockings and garter belt, softly squishing their thighs and emphasizing their legs. Lingerie of the criminally sexy variety, with gaps in them that allowed nipples to be twisted and pussies to be prated without taking the pieces off. All of it ck and of the finest materials, just like the leather cors they wore, the kind that belonged in every sex ve fantasy. Around their lower arms were bracelets. They were surprisingly sturdy and very easy to use, either to hook them onto chains or each other.
They stood in a semi-circle, Rave at the centre, Beatrice and Aclysia at the ends. Their distribution created a pattern as symmetric and aesthetically pleasing as possible. They bowed, with such minimal dy between them that it was clear they had practiced. Wee home, Master, the chorus of their longing voices hit him. The dimly lit room smelled sweetly of lemongrass, sandalwood and vani. His cock quivered with desire.
Their bow changed into aplete kneeling, but only Rave spoke now. We know just how much you like sex, Master, she spoke slowly and respectfully, avoiding even her own usual slurring of certain words. How much you love to dominate us. We trust you with all we are, so we trust you with this gift. Until you wake up again, you may use us however you see fit, my Master John. Whatever hole you desire. She yed with her sultry lips, then all of Johns harem turned around, folding their hands behind their lower backs as if they had been bound, and pressed their chests on the floor. In whatever way you desire, Master.
In whatever way you desire, Master, all of them echoed.
John couldnt help but groan at the sight of all of their asses, presented in this perfect fashion. Large, plump, toned and tight, broad and narrow, they came in various shapes. The thing they all had inmon was the wonderful roundness of a delicious bottom, the firmness of the skin and a great amount of squishiness that could be exploited.
Between those round cheeks were pussies that were all ready for everything he could do. There were no signs of them having prepared themselves in any way. From the most submissive to dominant, at the thought of giving themselves to John in their entirety for the night, they were just naturally wet. None of them were forcing themselves to act in line with his fetishes, they were all too happy to take the position.
Youre all too good for me, John said, switching on the flirting Perk to increase their Libido. This was going to be a night for the ages, so he would pull every trick in his register, with no holding back. Stay still, hemanded everyone. His instincts shouted at him to get right to fucking, to breeding if possible (something he kept impossible through the fertility toggle). However, his active mind, perverted in more intricate ways, had other ideas.
Their pussies went from wet to dripping as themand rewarded them in trickles for constant obedience. John walked over to Eliza and put the Domination Pact on her. Asking for her approval in this instance was not needed, since he had just gotten a nk check of consent from all of them. The mark, like a flower with a heart at the centre, appeared above her womb, further different from Raves Lovers Will mark by having a red, rather than pink, colour. He did the same for Scarlett. A third was possible, but he didnt have an urge to put it on everyone immediately.
No, what he wanted more than anything, with every fibre of his body and soul, he was iming now. Those little preparations done, he almost ran over to the love of his life and positioned himself behind her perfect ass.
Knew ya would pick me fiirsssssssst, Rave started smug, but ended in a giant shout of lust. For her, it was the first pration in three days, and in that time, John had gotten Fucking reced with Sexual Mastery, which gave him even more absurd bonuses and instincts during sex that every woman out there dreamt a man had.
The thick drops of his precum mixed with her overflowing juices as John slid into her. Slowly, adjusting his angle so the head of his cock and every centimetre afterwards scraped over her G-spot with terrifyingly erotic uracy. Halfway in, he stopped, pulled back. He worked with shallow but quick thrusts, to great effect. Raves pussy was incredibly tight around him, and only got tighter as he exploited her most sensitive spot.
As more of her slick pussy juice covered his cock, he ramped up the depth of his thrusts. Then, with one particrly hard one, he mmed all the way into her. Her perfect ass squished against his groin, the force rippled in the abundant meat, Raves hands clenched into fists C and she came. Before the lust could wrestle control of her limbs from her, John expertly snapped the cuffs together. Her shoulders trembled, her toes curled, her spine arched, but her arms remained in ce.
Of course I pick you first, Jane, he eximed as he went into full force. With every deep pration of her quivering quim, he robbed the chance to respond from her. You and your beautiful fat ass! he gave it a nice, loud p. And your slutty, sensitive pussy! How could I pick anyone else but you for the first He grabbed her below the waist. creampie The wet squelching of their lovemaking caused the other women in the room to gasp. today!
His whole body tensed up, pressed against and inside her. For a brief moment, he could feel how perfect their bodies were for each other. His cock was girthy enough to stretch her, exactly long enough to fuck her with maximum force without reaching her cervix. Her pussy was tight and her folds massaging him with every sensitive spot he caressed with his thrusts.
Then he exploded inside of her. In a silent scream, her torso rocked off the floor. Her mouth was wide open, sometimes managing to press out a groaning sound of ecstasy as his massive load flooded her insides. His hot cum pumping into her womb felt just right. Without conception even, she just wanted to feel this. Feel her strong boyfriend, the love of her life, mark her most private parts with his seed, the ultimate result of his pleasure.
She copsed back onto the floor, still shuddering with every spurt of his orgasmic semen that was pumped into her. I love you, she said, earning herself another p on her ass. I LOVE YOU, MASTER! she repeated much louder.
John grinned, feeling her pussy grip him as tight as during a climax for a moment. That she could be so submissive and masochistic at times was just wonderful. Although there was a bunch of other girls that were practically begging for his attention with the way they wiggled their asses, making the garter belt dig into their juicy backsides, while running sexual fluids soaked into their lingerie, he remained inside his first girl for the time being.
You want more, slut? he asked, pping her ass again. With satisfaction, he watched the caramel of her tanned ass turn into a darker, more reddish shade. Spanking her more with one hand, he grabbed her mane with the other and pulled her into a half-raised stage. All she did was moan. I asked you a question: do you want more?!
Yes! she eximed, just as another SPANK echoed through the room, making her voice a mixture of moan and pained outcry. The torment kept her mind awake, her instincts sharp. Lust was in control, but the fog of raw debauchery was chased away by the ever rising adrenaline. More, Master, give more! Im your pretty sex ve for today, do with me whatever you want!
You just know how to push all of my buttons, John gasped, fucking her with slow strokes. Do you want to suck my cock?
I want to feel you everywhere, Master her voice as soft as the gentle pleasure he was now bringing her. Whatever hole you want to use, I will dly let ya! She slipped up a little bit at the end, but he could hardly fault her for losing control of her tongue. After all, the Mand Sphere was transforming into Johns double before her eyes. As naked as the original, Jack got on the floor in front of her, presenting his perfect copy of Johns dick. Looking over her shoulder once to make sure he was still there and she was getting this right, his girlfriend then shuddered. Is it my birthday? I suddenly have two tigers.
Having two Johns in the room seemed more of a wish fulfilment for Rave and his other girls than himself. At least the Gamer felt that way when he took the reins of Raves hair from himself and she went to suck his cock with such immense eagerness that it dwarfed even the events earlier on his birthday.
Its just like the real thing! she gasped with raw glee when he let her breathe one time. Its the same warmth, the same hardness, it even smells the same. Jack grabbed her hair and forced her back on the erection she was praising. After half a minute, he let her go back up. Fuuuck, this is way too hooooot, she continued to moan. Getting double teamed by you I just love you Im gonna cum Im gonna
John forcefully pulled her mouth back over Jacks cock as his original dick smoothly hammered into her over and over again. pping her ass, grabbing her by the throat, fucking mouth and pussy, her arms still fixated behind her back, he had absolute control over his girlfriends body, was the source of all pleasure and pain. The extra pleasure he felt through Jack registered in full force. Her throat vibrated around his one cock, just as the folds around the other tightened in yet another orgasm.
Having felt like an absolute monster when it came to sex before, the Gamer felt like he had finally ascended to sexual godhood. Bringing multiple orgasms to his girls was now a matter of ease, the number of tools he had expansive. Just how expansive and just how good he was, however, he underestimated, right up until he felt his balls tighten again.
Cum for me! he roared for the entire room to hear, while pumping more fresh cum into Raves womb, defiling her stomach, fucking her to a proper orgasm. At the very least, he wanted to add anotheryer to her orgasm. If a few of the other girls also heard him and reacted, that would have been wonderful. That the entire room turned into an orchestra of orgasmic screams was a scope he had not anticipated.
Being forced to wait, themand to stay still, the sounds of John and Raves coitus, imagining the time, not too far away, it would be their turn. It all had made the other girls in the room horny enough that Johnsmand was strong enough to push them over the edge. This was doubly true for Aclysia, who had her own obedience pleasure Perk on top of Johns general one. Her shout rivalled even Undines natural songstress voice in its volume and his beloved weaponized maid squirted by his words alone.
Rave also squirted C harder. With the cock of her man filling her up twice with his enchanted seed, shepletely forgot where she was. The shape of her body itself was a distant concept. All she felt was the searing hot cum that filled her, the hands that gripped her and the endless, absolute torrent of lust. Her face was entirely devoid of any emotion that wasnt raw debauchery.
Her body was a mess. A tremendous mess that John indulged in with all his might. The surprising effect of hismand elevated his own orgasm to a point where he let out a series of breathless groans. Quivering and milking him for all of the absurdlyrge load, even by his standards, Raves pussy was so tight around him he didnt dare to move. Even her throat, as deep as he was inside it, seemed to gulp and gulp all of his semen.
Cum hungry angel He didnt manage to get out a proper insult, as his mind could not lie about the love he felt. You absolutely perverted thing of iprehensible beauty. He was still cumming, she was still cumming, another sudden squirt adding to the messy state of his legs and the floor. The girls around calmed down to a lustful panting. Wonderful music, still, to calm down to for the Gamer and the Lightbearer.
He pulled out slowly from her mouth first. Superhuman physique or not, Rave still needed air to survive, even if she could hold her breath for a lot longer than the average person. The moment Jack let go of her throat, his girlfriend copsed to the floor like a used washing cloth. He was about to be worried, when she started mumbling things.
John, please give me mooooore. It was a weak begging, but potent in its words and longing intent. I love you, I love your coooock. Moooore, I need more of you in my life C in me. Fuck me, fuck your girlfriend pleasssseeee.
He was reminded of that time he had fucked her while lust-crazy from having Cumslut equipped. Back then she had said that she had been kind of broken by his sexual expertise already. Right now, she also looked the part. He knew that she would recover though, she always recovered. Without concern, all this did was make him incredibly horny.
Ille back, dont you worry, he whispered into her ear, through Jack, while pulling out of her pussy as well. Her walls clung to him, didnt want to let him go. He still kept on, and when he was finally out of her, the absurd amount of semen he had pumped into her now gaping, twitching cunt came running out in a disy too erotic to not give her onest p on the ass before he got up.
Morrrrrre, tigerrrr, she purred, evidently not having heard his words. I want mooore. You make me feel so goooood.
John opted to ignore her, as hard as his erection made that, and instead scanned the disyed asses for his next partner. They were all so juicy; if he didnt make a decision quickly, he would just plunge into whoever was closest. He wanted to have a bit of a n though and he wondered how much higher his own ecstasy could go.
Chapter 664 – The Gift of the Harem 2 – Black and Blue [Erotic Content]
Chapter 664 C The Gift of the Harem 2 C ck and Blue [Erotic Content]
As sexy as the view around him was, just letting all of his girls stay bent over like that was second to seeing them actually engage with each other. Alright, you can all move and y with each other. Just be ready when I call for you, he told his harem. Eliza, Aclysia and Beatrice were the first to move, hurrying over to Raves quivering body. Tongues were immediatelypeting to taste the delicious mixture of the harem heads pussy juices and their masters cum.
Master, take me next, Scarlett aggressively begged, walking towards him on all fours. You know you can use me in all sorts of ways. I am open for every fucking thing you can think of, just put that giant cock inside me already. Do it, Master! She had reached his cock now, was about to lick it, when John gave her a p on the cheek. The redheaded masochist inhaled sharply as the pain spread across her face.
Respect your fellow sex ves, John growled, fully in his role for the evening. Its pretty clear you need some punishment. Stay there! he used the Domination Pact to ensure she wouldnt identally orgasm from following that order. He walked to the walls, quickly returning with two bullet shaped vibrators, a butt plug and a chair. Stand, he ordered Scarlett, after putting thetter down.
Once the redhead had risen, he gave her face a couple more light ps. The kind that barely hurt, reddened the cheeks and were mostly about demeaning someone. Are you going to fuck me as my puni- she started, but John shut her up by grabbing her open jaw, pinning her tongue down with his thumb. Wordlessly, he pushed one vibrator into her pussy and stuck the other into the drenched lingerie, fixing it above her clit. The cables were long enough that the small remotes at the end could be hung from her garter belt at the waist. Once fixed there, John twisted both of them to the middle intensity. Going full power for however long it was until he got back to her would be overkill.
Youre not going to beg me again, he told her, slowly lifting the Domination Pact, making her get ever closer to an orgasm with every word he spoke. Youre going to have fun with the rest of the harem and maybe, if I am feeling nice, I am going to fuck youter. Understood? With his finger still in her mouth, she could only nod. In her red eyes red the depravity. Chances were that she had wanted something like this, at least subconsciously. Good. He let go off her mouth, then forced her to bend over the chair.
He pped her bubble butt. Thank you, Master! she eximed, much to his glee. Resolve to not im her ass growing weaker, John decided to hurry things along. He grabbed the butt plug, rubbed it against her pussy to lube it up, and then pressed it against her backdoor. It went in slowly, her sphincter stretching around the widening object, until the broadest part was in and the rest went into her with a sudden pop, leaving only a fake ruby to be seen between her smooth, pale ass cheeks.
It was at that moment he lifted the orgasming restriction fully. Scarlett came immediately, her body writhing, hands gripping the armrests of the chair tightly. Not letting her have that moment, John grabbed her by the hair. While she was still orgasming, he threw her to the remaining harem. Those who werent trying to get some of his seed from Rave, who screamed as her oversensitive body experienced another orgasm at the greedy tongues of her fellow harem members, were watching John and masturbating. Even Gnome was openly plunging her fingers into her sshing cunt, face red with feverish lust and suppressed shame.
Undine, Siena,e here! he shouted, as he sat down. The water spirit obeyed with haste, flowing towards him with a needy look on her translucent, blue face. Meanwhile, Siena took things a bit more graceful, rising from her self-pleasuring position on the floor in a teasing way, strutting over slowly. Something that John rewarded her for by grabbing her with Jack and forcing her to take the rest of the way quickly. Undine, you just earned yourself the privilege of pleasuring my real dick because you dont leave me waiting.
Thank you, Master, Undine gasped, immediately copsing her lower half, reducing her height in a way that looked simr to kneeling, especially once she reformed her legs in the proper position. She must have read his surface thoughts as she did exactly what he had hoped. Enormous breasts, of a squishy/firmness rtion that was unique to the slime girl in his harem, wrapped around his cock. So hot, she gasped, lowering her head to suck him off while her hands served to shake her funbags up and down.
Annoyed, Master? Sienas tone was calm, teasing. Even if she had agreed to serve him for the night, she couldnt get out of her skin, it was quite clear. The Gamer was perfectly fine with this, it would have made things boring if they all reacted the same.
Quite a bit. Luckily, I know how youre going to make this up to me, he answered, devouring her curvy body with his eyes. Then, in a deeper tone, he added, Bend over. She obeyed so quickly that her breasts jiggled when she came to a halt, wing at Johns right armrest. Grabbing her by the waist, Jack immediately thrust into her, the force shoving her into a kiss with John.
Her pussy was hell. It was the nightmare of any man that wanted to impress a woman with his sexual skills, purely because it was just too good. Inhuman, with every little fold and bump adjustable to press against sensitive spots and walls that could writhe by themselves, it could make anyone cum in an instant. John, as much as he would have loved to say the opposite, was no exception to this.
Maybe, if it had just been her, he could havested at least a little while. With Undine also sucking the head of his cock, her firm tits around his shaft gliding up and down, and the desire he felt from having just dealt with Scarlett, there was no chance. A hand on both of their heads, feeling Sienas silky hair and holding Undine by one of her stubby horns, securing kiss and blowjob in ce, he groaned as he came into needy holes.
Moans reverberated on his lips and his shaft as they came along with him. He wasnt sure where to look. Into Sienas ssy, silver-white eyes, or Undines golden ones, as strand after strand of his cum was shot into her blue body. In the end, to spite the shadow spirit a bit more, he decided to only pay attention to Undine, grabbing Siena by the throat and pushing her away as he squeezed.
Haaaaaah, a hoarse sound left the moonshade elementals throat at that rough handling. You have such strong hands, she gasped, not all that bothered by the little choking he was pushing on her. Because she wasnt that much of a masochist, he didnt go full force.
Although her pussy had made him cum immediately, Jack continued to thrust. With Source of Satisfaction where it currently was, he got his balls refilled every minute. He could cum five times in quick session no problem even without that. Tapping him dry was basically impossible. As much as her pussy was an orgasmic hell, he could shoulder that burden and make his sadistic lover cum again and again.
Come on, I know you want to y a bit, John told her, letting go of her throat. Go ahead. y. You know the boundaries. Barely were those words out when Siena was already assaulting him. Her fangs pushed against his neck C without drawing blood. ws circled his nipples carefully. Although he didnt usually fancy the position, John was perfectly capable of acting a little bit the submissive and the slight pain did heighten his senses to a wondrous degree.
Plus, the cries he got from Siena in return were wonderful. Getting her own fetish satisfied to some degree made her pleasure that much more intense. She moved in long-winded curves, almost hypnotically. With her torturing his right side like that, John thought, My left feels a bit empty
Barely had he finished that thought when Undine started to split. A second version of her, disconnected from the one still sucking his dick, rose to sit down next to him on the broad chair. Master, her voice was like singing ss, every syble dripping with the nectar of lust, please, indulge in my body however you wish. She presented her lips to him.
They kissed and he could feel how the contact made her shiver. She must have concentrated all the pleasure slime in her lips. Likely the same was true for the version of her on the floor, except that one would have also spread some to her breasts. For the ocean elemental sucking him off was just as good as riding him. No, it was even better. The ability to locate where she felt sensitive brought with it those perks.
Sucking him off, having the undivided attention of his mouth, it quickly brought her to another climax. Siena nibbled at his earlobe, gasped and let out little cries, then a long one, as Jack sped up. The kisses Undine received grew more aggressive. John sucked on her lips, figuring out where she was so sensitive; he might as well have been teasing her clit. Unable to control herself, needing some sort of outlet, the Undine in hisp raised her head and howled at the ceiling.
Johns cock erupted. Semen sttered into the air, decorating the water spirits face and tits. Therge blue bags of pleasure around his cock looked so good zed with white it was impossible not to groan. Undines scream went higher in pitch, as every drop of semen thatnded on her was something more she tasted. It was all absorbed into her body, slowly, causing her blind eyes to roll up in the meantime.
Siena was leaning against his body, only quivering and panting as she was filled up herself. He wasnt done with them yet, however. Your breasts, he simply stated, and in a mindless haze of lust, they obeyed without hesitation. Undine and Siena got closer, curved their bodies, and pressed their magnificent chests against his head.
They didnt stop there, also caressing him with their hands as they whispered sweet nothings. I love you, Master. Your cock is sooo goooood! More, ah, give me more! Make me your ything! Cum inside me, cum whenever you want!
Jack went back to fucking, Undine back to sucking him off while shaking her breasts. Smothered by squishy meat, John caught whatever nipple he could. Every little touch made the two elementals moan. Reaching down between her legs, he caused Undine to form her pussy, and he instinctively fingered it. Although her lips had had the same concentration, he was just better at delivering ecstasy this way than purely by kissing. It was still second in intensity to what the hard cock between her breasts brought her.
Feeling a touch on his right nipple, John looked down to see Sienas tail yfully circling it. Curious, he caught the extra limb with his unupied right, immediately being rewarded with a sharp inhale. His interest now piqued, he yed with the spade-shaped tip. Around the rim, he only gained little sighs, but towards the stem, where the tip was attached to the normal pointy end of the smooth tail, her voice grew ever louder.
The surprise in her ecstatic moans simply proved that she hadnt been aware of this new sensitive area either. A very thin line directly at the stem was causing his touch to send waves of ecstasy to run through her like electricity. Almost, her tail escaped his grasp, as the muscles twitched and tensed. He caught it just below, pulled it towards his mouth, and nibbled at the rim.
It was a tad harder than an ear, but flexible and boneless regardless. As such, it felt familiar and new at the same time. Toorge for his teeth to reach that extremely sensitive middle, he treated the outer rim more like an earlobe C to great effects. When he kissed his way towards the stem, then began to lick it, he could feel Sienas entire body writhe.
Oh damned Mother Shadow she eximed, then said nothing more as she tightly gripped Johns head and pulled him as deep against her chest as she could. Her pussy, that he had managed to get somewhat used to, suddenly became unfathomably tight, with all the bumps and tiny tendrils prodding at his weak spots vibrating softly. Her silver-sparkling pussy juice came out with a sudden squirt. Feeling that John wasnt going tost long under these conditions, Undine also pressed her squishy bosom against him more intensely. The version in hisp redoubled the efforts of her hands to move her breasts in stimting ways.
It worked like a charm and John came inside them for a third time. His mind shut off for a moment and screamed out the samemand as he had when fucking Rave. Three simple words, aimed at the whole gathering of girls, Cum for me! and the whole room exploded into a symphony of debauchery. Even louder this time, as the girls had worked each other up into a frenzy through sight, masturbation and lesbian engagements. He could hear their shouts, the pattering from numerous gushing pussies soiling the floor, his name, professions of servitude and love.
It was so much that John had to close his eyes to be able to make sense of all the things he was experiencing. Even behind closed lids, the raw lust jumped like white lightning over his magical vision. As cool as their bodies were, the breasts around him didnt help his mind calming in any way. He was shouting, his left hand was absolutely drenched from a constant, watery stream running from Undines pussy. She sung his name on the note of ecstasy. He couldnt help but continue fingering her as he came again and again into her mouth. It was milking him almost as much as Sienas pussy was, thebination causing his hips to rock off the chair, Jack to press so hard against Sienas plump ass that it spilled against his thighs.
He was just about to calm down from that orgasm, when something ripped inside him and it instead doubled in intensity. A gargantuan load of cum was suddenly splurged into the two elementals, who had nothing but louder screams to react to it with. Their bodies were already trembling, tense to the point of immovability. Their own orgasms red up again at the influx of their masters searing hot seed.
Time was a distant concept, he didnt know how long thissted. They were all frozen, except for the pumping of their genitals in the effort to fill them up with more cum. Ever so slowly, the pleasure ebbed away, first to extreme levels, then to normal orgasmic levels, then to thinkable levels and finallypletely. Well, aspletely as still being inside them allowed.
After a minute or so of gathering their breath, John cleared his throat. Underlined by the moans of the other girls, continuing until it was their turn, the Gamer put forward a simple request. Would you mindbining into Cumslut?
Siena and Undine stood up straight, sharing a lewd, almost dreamy smile. They had been fucked so thoroughly; they were fine with temporarily bing someone else. It was just fifteen minutes, after which they would likely pass out for a little while. Even that experience just now paled inparison to being Cumslut, thanks to her insane amount of Libido.
Of course not, Master, they replied as one. Their bodies blurred, were sucked into the same spot and spat out the big-titted goth. Before she could say anything, John just pointed at his groin and mentally gave her to understand that this was the usual case. He didnt want any dys between this and him fucking whoever tickled his fancy next.
Sure thing, stud! Cumslut obeyed and changed into her item form. A purple strap-on. Well, it looked more like a purple dildo with a broad base, but it was a strap-on, as evident by it simply holding onto Johns groin when he pressed it against that area. There was a brief pause, then the magic took hold and he felt the item as if it was his own second dick. He also felt something else. An intense warmth as Cumsluts Libido flowed into him.
Things were going to be a bit crazy for the next 15 minutes.
Chapter 665 – The Gift of the Harem 3 – Insane Ecstasy
Chapter 665 C The Gift of the Harem 3 C Insane Ecstasy
Even with his 500 Wisdom, John was only barely able to control himself. All bonuses included, his Libido did now reach over 1000. The air itself caressed his wet cocks. Three of them, in total. Even though Jack copied his normal items, the same was not true for the elemental ones. However, he did get the same Libido as John.
The air in the room had changed into an eager anticipation. Everyone remembered or had at least heard of thest time John had equipped Cumslut. Rather than afraid of the mind-breaking sex that was about to befall them, the girls just got more excited. They all wanted a turn with this distilled form of Johns sexual desires. Admittedly, some more than others.
That same air caressed his cocks, enough to stimte them. Precum was dripping in thick drops from that little stimtion alone. Reflexively, he grabbed his cock, doing the same with Jack, none of the pumps did anything, he needed to find a cunt to fill up with seed C fast. The sliver of his active mind that still worked could only dictate the direction, what actions would be taken was out of his hands.
You will all climax whenever I cum, hemanded, the words passing his lips instinctively. He may not have been able to fuck all of them at once, but this was a close second. He had already experimented with something like this. He could tie the orgasms to something happening, but they could only obey if they noticed it.
If he were tomand You will cum whenever this girl orgasms, they could only obey if they noticed one such orgasm. Simrly, You will cum whenever you hear me snap, also only worked if they heard the snap. If the wording was Whenever I snap, however, it worked without them seeing or hearing it happen. It had to be something that had him at the origin, so the magic that made themands work could pick it up automatically. The usual limitations still applied, but these conditionals could still be useful, before their effect naturally ran out. Which happened quite quickly once the fucking was done with.
Johns eyes wandered through the room and fell on the closest cunt around. A pair of purplish pussy lips, an already widened asshole underneath, between two pale, round cheeks, stretched and with a blueish tint. Eliza had stopped masturbating,id on her back, had her thighs pulled back and held with her hands, thick meat framing her breasts. Her mouth was open, the outstretched tongue drooling onto her tits, her cunt even wetter.
Mashtaaaaaah, pleassssshe, she slurred, speaking with her tongue still lolling out. The Gamer, or his Libido, rather, had already made the decision. John and Jack stepped towards Eliza. All in one fluid motion, he took hold of her legs from her, squished her small body into an even tighter package, causing wrinkles to appear on her stomach, and pushed both off his cocks into her pussy and asshole.
Immediately, they both came. Elizas tight holes were too much for his 1000 Libido state. Holes that had gone unfucked for weeks, begging for his seed. She got much more than she could have hoped for. The pretty little psychos mind turned into an absolute scramble of ecstatic emotions as Johns cum flooded her pussy and anus.
Jack hadnt arrived in position yet, but had an orgasm at the same time nevertheless. Just barely, he managed to aim his cock to prevent any of the cum that came shooting out from hitting him. Instead, all of it was sttered across Elizas body. Every rope of cum thatnded on her was in itself asrge as a normal mansplete load and of an even thicker white. Itnded on her rolled up abdomen, the insides of her stretched thighs, her squished together tits and, of course, her face. Her head had been thrown back, not just because of the orgasmic convulsions crackling through her muscles, but also because her submissive instincts made her present her mouth at the optimal angle.
With just that one orgasm worth of seed covering her, Eliza looked like she had been pulled from the end scene of a hentai. With the juicy difference that this was all very real, she wasnt two dimensional. John could smell her, feel her, touch her. The doubles hands grabbed her by the throat and clenched tightly, then he mmed his cock into her wide-open mouth in one fluid motion.
Triple prating a girl on his own was absurd. The quivering folds of her pussy, the slutty pressure of her asshole, the tightness of her throat, feeling it all at the same time was more than any one man was meant to handle. However, John Newman wasnt just any one man, he was the Gamer and would take what he desired.
Eliza was little more than a piece of meat between his two thrusting bodies. Of her upside down face, he could only see the chin. He knew what kind of face she was making regardless. All he cared about was fucking her anyway. Having this baby-crazy slut he loved, could use however he wanted and who loved every second of it, how he had missed this.
Although he fucked her with such force and speed that it looked like he was just ramming into of her without thought, there was more to his thrusts than met the eye. His Skills had long be second nature, even when he was going at one of his girls so roughly, he still managed to hit their sensitive spots instinctually.
His hips were a blur, Elizas pussy so wet that he could move despite her permanent orgasmic tightness. Everyone was focused on the happenings; even Rave had recovered enough that she could watch in awe. The harems engagements and masturbations became feverish, as if part of Cumsluts Libido also reached them by simply watching the hardcore disy.
The squelching sounds of her holes, her choked out cries, the pping of his hips against her ass, it was the melody of Johns dreams. Her cum covered tits jiggled up and down as John found, even in the absurd speed, the perfect rhythm. Under all the different sounds, John could hear the faux-leather sheets of the floor tear, Elizas unupied hands wing into them.
To think that, just half a day earlier, it was a very real possibility that she couldnt be involved in this orgy. A truly terrible thought and a timeline that hadnte to pass. Now all he had to think about was the beauty of her depravedly contorted body and how good it would feel when he came inside her again.
Something that didnt need too long to happen. Although his balls began to pump out semen, he simply continued thrusting. It painted her insides white. Her womb, her ass, her throat, they were all dominated by his cum. Still he continued to fuck her. The entire room was so lost in orgasm that his thrusts were the only guided movement around, everything else was mindless twitches and contortions.
Elizas pussy juice wasing in so many squirts that John could feel it drop from his balls, swollen to keep up with the insane amounts he came at every turn. Twenty seconds after that orgasm, when the room barely started to calm down, Johns shafts quivered again and a new wave of cum came shooting out.
This happened a fourth, then a fifth time in quick session. All lesbian engagements in the room were now broken off as his girls were reduced to multiple orgasms by hismands alone, lying twitching and moaning, sprawled out on the floor. Everyone he wanted to satisfy, he could, while the girl he actually fucked was reduced to nothing more than a quivering heap of flesh. He couldnt help bute a sixth time due to the inherent satisfaction of the situation.
At this point, Elizas body began to bloat. Not to any absurd degree, not yet anyway. With about two litres of cum pumped into her, her stomach and womb just began expanding topensate. It only encouraged John to fill her up a little bit further. Obviously, he didnt want to have her puff up to any grotesque degree C just a little bit more. Just one orgasm more, just two orgasms more. When it was closer to three litres, the perverse part of him finally felt satisfied.
He fucked right up to the edge of the tenth orgasm with her, then pulled out of all her holes in a sh. Wide agape, her pussy and asshole immediately began to leakrge globs of his thick seed, just as three orgasms worth sttered all over Elizas body. The blood mage was breathing heavily, having held her breath for the past engagement. She felt dizzy, disoriented and as if her womb was more in control of her body than her brain was C and her womb was very satisfied with all of that hot seed sloshing around inside it. The rest of her perverted self was also gleeful. Her throat hurt so good, her pussy was raw, her whole body felt ragged and used. She could still feel his grip on her throat and it made her suddenly arch off the floor in another orgasm, while she was getting showered by more cum.
If Eliza had something to say, her body was in no state to formte it, and John was already turning to find the next unmarked cunt around him. Even if it was just the fantasy of impregnating them, he wanted to fill the insides of every womb around him to the brim right now. That was the highest instinct his absolutely inhuman Libido ingrained in him: to breed.
Please, Master, a voice, usually so hard, had been softened from metal to flesh by her desires. Take me, I have been longing for your hard rod for so long. John had already turned towards her. Her begging was unnecessary, she was simply the closest right now. Bent over, spreading her pussy a bit and her back entrance more, Lydia continued to beg. Seeing the disciplined queen prostrate herself like that was its own wishe true. Fuck my ass, fuck all of me, use me, Master!
Get up, John said the bare necessities. He had to help her, her legs were weak from all the orgasms, including the one she was still experiencing, triggered by Johnsst climax. He grabbed her arms, bent her over, and soon enough his cocks were filling all three of her holes. The treatment she received wasnt all that different from Elizas, although he was a bit more careful with her.
She was neither as masochistic nor as sturdy as the bundle of insanity still twitching on the floor behind them. Having it together just enough to respect that, he fucked her in a way she could barely take. He had control of her; the things that were holding her up were the cocks inside her, his grip on her arms and only third her own legs. Jack was holding her by the neck, but only squeezed lightly. Although he was endlessly ravishing her bottom holes, he pulled out of her throat to let her breathe. He intensified the choking a bit, at times. Whenever it looked like she wasnt enjoying it, he backed off immediately. After a few seconds, he had found the exact border.
And having found that exact line he could skirt, he fucked her hard. After only half a minute, he was already cumming inside her. Perhaps half a minute was actually long by current standards. It was when he could go back to mindless thrusting that those intervals got shorter and shorter.
His semen pumped into Lydias athletic body. Her healthily tanned skin was flushed with excitement from top to bottom. Her B-Cup breasts quivered, her ass pressed against him of her own ord. As great as her body was, it was her face that John loved the most to look at it in that situation. Those brilliant red lips, tightly closed around his cock, her noble face contorted in ecstasy, her blue eyes underlined with a light silver tone, rolled up in their sockets.
First her body tensed, then it went so limp that holding onto her arms had little purpose. However, her legs were so weak now that he still had to grab her somewhere else to support her. He chose her hips. Identifying an advantage in the situation, he angled her body so that he thrusted into her from above, focusing more of his force on her ass than her pussy.
The butt-slut of a queen reacted to the focus on her favourite hole with delighted gargles. Getting right back to using her, John soon had her at the point of absolute ecstasy. The way he hammered into her ass, gave her just enough oxygen and spanked her had her ride one continuous orgasm of magnificent intensity. Still, there was a spike whenever he filled her with more of his cum. The heat, the magical properties, themand, they intermingled with the raw debauchery of the fucking and therge cock smashing her ass to create moments of mind-breaking climaxes.
If she could have, she would have screamed out how much she had missed this. How she had, at least once per day, satisfied herself thinking of him. How often she had watched those two videos of him freely avable. How all of those chat sex sessions hadnt been enough and only this genuine thing truly satisfied her cravings. More so, how much she had fantasized about getting prated in all her holes at once and how ted she was now that he could do it without the help of the maids.
Of course, to say any of that, John would have needed to stop using her as his personal cum bucket. Would have needed to pull out of her throat, stop fucking her holes so hard that all she could do was scream. None of that was an option, not to his Libido-overdrive and not to her mindless state of lust.
Tears escaped her eyes, reflexive productions of her body due to the rough handling. That there were no signs of any difort only added to her ruined look, something that John found deeply, unfathomably erotic. Wanting to see more of that, he used Jack to pull away the metal ring that held her braid together. He didnt need to do any more to open her hair. The shaking from the ongoing fucking caused it to dishevel all on its own.
He came inside her, two times, three times, four times, continued fucking her and making her squirt. The rest of the harem was slowly getting used to the constant orgasms. Depraved kisses and sloppy caresses were exchanged between them. Five times, six times, until Lydias stomach began to swell. Her auburn hair was a mess, strands sticking to her cheeks, framing her depraved expression. Messed up like this, she almost looked like a different person, but only almost.
Having finished pumping that sixth load into her, he pulled out of Lydia and let her drop to the cushioned floor. She simply copsed, lying there like a ragdoll, while John plucked his next victim out of the air. Sylph had been floating by, panting, gasping and watching as closely as she could. Without any ceremony, standing where he was, he pulled the chatterbox into a lustful embrace. His arms wrapped around her small frame as his cocks invaded her bottom.
It felt like she wanted to embrace him in return, but she only managed to close her arms around his neck before the pration robbed her of the ability to move her legs to follow suit. Oh Master, John, Master John, Johmster! It did not rob her ability to speak, not yet. So big! Two big dicks are inside me, its so good! So, so good! Theyre stretching my holes so nice! This is the best! I only ever want to have more sex with you, lets never do anything else! Lets C l-l-eeeeetssssss-
Her stream of words finally ebbed off when John shook his hips and thrusted into her from below. Long green hair dangled, waved with every bounce the tiny thunderstorm elemental was subjected to. Greedily, he kissed her lips and neck. Her insides sent electric shocks into his body that rejuvenated muscles that had begun to tire from all the recent movement.
Unupied, Jack stepped away to find someone else for John to press his cock into. It was Gnome, lying on the ground. Noticing his approach, she spread her legs, looked to the side for a moment, then managed to keep her eyes on him with an adorable expression on her longing face. The soil elemental bit her lower lips, ncing at the cock that was now approaching her.
Aplex mixture of emotions washed from her mind into his. She was wondering how it would feel to take three cocks at once in their current state, a bit saddened that she would only get the one. Simultaneously thankful, certain it would be too much for her. How much she loved to watch, the voyeurism that was so much stronger in her than the rest of the harem. That she wanted to be bullied by him, treated carefully and loved all at the same time. How much she craved his cock, such a primitive desire. More and more things, contradicting and amplifying each other, all brought to a silence when her summoner kissed her lips, sunk into her and reduced the world to a simple knowing of adoring passion.
Her arms and legs slung around him, her mind went white. As white as the thick, hot sperm that started flooding her. Equally inside her tight, earthen pussy and Sylphs thunderously twitching holes, John unloaded immediately. Still, it didnt stop him from moving. He kept cumming, kept fucking them, their kisses tasted wonderful on his lips, the perfect taste to entuate the sounds and feeling of this orgy.
Gnomes eyes were rolled up, as John desired them to be, her tongue wrestling with his. On Sylphs well-fucked expression was a big goofy smile, but the only sound that left her was an endless scream of ecstasy, only momentarily halted when he kissed her.
His continuous orgasms soon overwhelmed even their elemental ability to absorb his semen. It was hard to even speak because of the multiple orgasms. Fucking Sylph in a total frenzy made her pussy a hurricane of sensations. Its unique properties wielded her force against him, making him cum continuously, pumping them full of his seed with every load asrge as thest. By the time he was done with them, they were no less bloated than the other girls before them. John even treated Gnome with a cum shower, just like Eliza. All the soil elemental did, her mind utterly shattered for the moment, was unashamedly scoop the tasty semen into her mouth.
Having barely released Sylph, John was suddenly tackled and thrown to the ground. He growled, heavily annoyed by the fact that one of the harem members had the audacity to step out of line. Youre going to get punished for this, he warned the heavily tanned blonde.
Fuck it! the culprit screamed, pressing John down with her, admittedly much superior, physical strength. Metra climbed on top of him, a feverish look in her eyes; at least she had the decency of using the reverse cowgirl and presenting her firm ass to him. Your words, by Marduk, they make me cum and I fucking just NEED to know how it is to getpletely filled up by one man alone! Punish me as hard as you want, Master! Break me if you ca-!
She immediately choked on those words, as Jack arrived at the scene, grabbed her tinum blonde ponytail and pulled her mouth over his cock like a sleeve. No protest, no attempt to act against what happened, as this was exactly what the berserker babe had bargained for. Below, John grabbed her waist, aligned her holes with his cocks and then went deep into her.
The first pration, he let gravity do the work. Groaning and gasping, she slowly got impaled on his iron-hard erection. Slippery as they both were, this could have happened a lot quicker, but she was so beautifully tight that it took a while. Above, the double was absolutely ravaging her face already. She was a piece of metal, not meat, no less usable for his pleasure but without the bothersome limitation of having to let her breathe. He never slid out of her throat, only back and forth inside it.
When her muscr thighs touched his legs and her pussy lips were gushing onto his groin, when he was as deep in her as he could conceivably be, he came inside her. Even without a proper womb, this was what his breeding instincts told him to do. Yet another body that he sent three ludicrouslyrge loads into, to the bare satisfaction of his instincts. He wanted more.
Their mental connection was unsteady at the best of times, but John could feel her raw ecstasy and underlying anxiety. It felt good, way too good, the thickness and amount of cum amplified its magical effects, themand still affected her C most importantly, his cocks were hard, hot and now moving to hammer into her with her masters absurd ability of lovemaking.
She was cumming. Her toned abs were tense, her whole body was tense, yet she couldnt feel her arms and legs beyond the curling of her fingers and toes. The brutality with which he fucked her face was awe-inspiring. She was cumming. He thrust into her from below again and again, the echoes of their fucking animalistic and raw. Although she was on top, she most definitely wasnt in control. She was cumming C she was loving it. A second orgasm overloaded all of her senses, her anxiety washed away by the lust. What if he could actually break her through sex?
John added the spanking of her ass to the pping of their hips. It was merciless. He hit as hard as he could, was almost annoyed that she was enjoying it so much, were it not so erotic that she did. Her body was entirely moving in reaction to him. He came, again and again and again, until she was so full that more cum was leaking past his cock while he fucked her than he pumped into her.
Never fucking again make a move on me without my permission during sex, Metra, he growled, once he was done with her. Jack pulled out first; she slumped forwards when he stepped aside. Then John pulled out and rolled over. Her stomach quickly deted to more sensible levels C she looked five months pregnant until a puddle of cum and pussy juices formed around her hips. Do you understand that? You are my servant, my sex ve, you dont get to make the decision when I fuck you. Best you get to do is BEG, understood?!
Yessssh, my kiiinnng! she screamed, an aftershock strong enough to be an orgasm suddenly making her lying body contort and her pussy squirt. I am your sex ve! I am your servant! Youre my king! The blonde berserker babe reached down to her clit and rubbed fervently, her body craving more. Aplete withdrawal from all pleasure was too much for her mind to handle so suddenly, she needed to please herself to slowly calm down.
Aclysia, Beatrice,e here! he shouted into the room not even looking around for where they were. There was one more thing he wanted to experience while he still had two dicks on himself. Hurriedly, they heeded their masters call. He didnt even have to tell them what to do, they just lowered themselves in front of him, got on their knees.
Aclysia was to his right, Beatrice to the left. It was the right of the first maid to grab his real cock, while the passive younger one grabbed the purple replica. They both looked so incredibly turned on in that moment. Although seeing the ssy, barely focused eyes and erotic expression on Beatrices usually still face was superb, Aclysia looked that bit hotter. Whether it was her higher level of devotion, the long hair, or the Perks that had made hermanded orgasms that much harder, Aclysia looked like she was living for this solitary moment of sucking him off C and that was all John could ever ask from his sexy, Asian-looking maid.
Bending therge rods towards their mouths, they immediately started blowing him. With the synchronicity these two found so easily, they had already figured out the optimal way to angle their approaches and their rhythm. Now they were greedily working his cocks, tongues constantly prodding at his weak spots, going deeper and deeper with each slide. As one went down, the other went up, until they deepthroated him in a steady back and forth.
Jack, basically on autopilot, had found his way to Rave. He only noticed when he prated her asshole and fucked her against a wall. A simple, secondary craving he subconsciously had gone to satisfy with his most beloved woman. Her cries were coherent, which only made this whole thing hotter. Oh, fuck yes, Master! Your fat cock feels so good in my ass!
He would have fucked the maids faces as well, but the way the double-blowjob had to be set-up made that impossible. Neither did he want to ruin their rhythm by forcing them along. It was a work of art, their mirrored faces were going in a perfect tandem already. All he could do was put a hand on each of their silver heads and moan.
I am cumming, he sighed, knowing it to be thest one before Cumslut split. Both of the maids slid all the way up upon hearing that announcement, only to slide back down together, as far as they could get at the same time. Their faces were squished together, Beatrices head slightly on top, their emerald eyes staring up at him with anticipation. They felt the quivering of his shaft, the tightening of his balls as they massaged them. Then, the cum that flooded their throats.
John let out a long, deep shout, mixing with the orgasmic screams of the room atrge. Raves was loudest of all, as he came inside and still fucked her. The eyes of the maids rolled up in unison, throats vibrating around him, milking him for yet more of his cum. He dly gave all he could, basking in the moment for as long as itsted.
Then he had to pull out. A fewst strands of cumnded on their faces, making it seem like he had spread two entire normal loads on them. Then his second cock disassembled into magical energy. After a few seconds, Undine and Siena appeared and immediately copsed, squirting and shouting, as all the happenings of the past fifteen minutes affected their reformed bodies.
His cock was still hard, the maids still horny; they immediately went to attend it. Kisses and tongues softly caressed the erection as John looked around. With the Libido of Cumslut lifted, his mind was a whole lot clearer.
The room was an absolutely wonderful disy of degeneracy. Eliza had recovered for the most part, letting Scarlett eat out her pussy. Through her insanely elerated bodily functions, she had dealt with all of the semen inside her womb, leaving her still cum-covered but her body looking basically normal, the bulge of her stomach gone.
The same could not be said for Lydia, nor for Sylph. Those two were moving, twitching and moaning, showing the first signs of controlling their limbs. Gnome had it better, already recovering from what little attention she had received inparison, masturbating fervently while watching everything else in the room going on. The look on her face as she did so was unashamedly depraved. It seemed these events were finally making her voyeuristic side break out in full force.
Metra showed absolutely no signs of her usual self. Absolutely drunk on sex, to the point of having properly reduced her mind to a broken nothing, she was busy making herself climax over and over again whilepping semen off the floor. Seeing her in such a state, John would have lied if he had said it didnt turn him on, knowing that he did that.
And while everyone he had attended to looked ravaged, the rest of the room hadnt gotten away at all. Lesbian actions and the chain orgasms hismands had caused had taken their toll. Even though his dick hadnt touched them yet, Smander and Scarlett looked like they had been through a rough night already, with Aclysia and Beatrice also in need of some more attention. Although the Libido was gone, the wish to cum inside all of them at least once remained.
Regardless, it was time to rx this scene a little bit. Alright, no more cumming when I do, he first stated, lifting thatmand. Lets clean ourselves up a bit.
Chapter 666 – The Gift of the Harem Finale – Maids, and redheaded devils [Erotic Content]
Chapter 666 C The Gift of the Harem Finale C Maids, and redheaded devils [Erotic Content]
There was quite a bit of time spent utilizing the shower and the hose in the bathing corner of the y room, but by the end all of them were as good as new. Almost, as no amount of showering could fix the raw-fucked states some of them were in, pussies gaping and still dripping semen sometimes, but that was that.
Even Metra recovered after a little bit. When asked if she would ever dare to force herself ahead in an orgy, especially one where they had all sworn to only do what John said, she responded with, I wont ever disrespect John or his harem like that again, in a serious tone. Then she added, in her usual, more carefree voice, I think you gave me a case of post orgasmic ve disorder. That punishment will stick.
Thats good then, John hummed, not quite knowing if this was true. Certainly, she looked a bit more subservient after he had reined her in like this, but whether that was going tost was another question. Whether it was a change for the better was also up for debate, 1000 Libido John was a bit prone to overreactions when something rubbed against his kinks.
He did note though that she had called him my king in her moment of brainless ecstasy. He couldnt imagine that she said something like that lightly, consciously or not. This was not, however, the time to investigate these things. Instead, John concentrated on his suddenly rising orgasm. He had been fucking Raves pussy and Elizas throat throughout the conversation.
Their naked, wet bodies had been too sexy to ignore, so this was much was expected. The only shame about the situation was that they had gotten rid of all the lingerie, cors and arm bindings to shower. Not that they looked any less good without them. Scarlett had also been freed of her vibrators, but not of the butt plug.
The bath is ready, Master, Aclysia informed him, her and Beatrice enviously looking at the two women he pulled out of. They wouldnt have to desire what others had for long, as John and Jack walked over and put an arm around each of the maids on the way to the jacuzzi. He sat down in the middle of the north side with the head maid, while the passive one stayed with his double on the exact opposite.
Its your turn now, he said to both of them through both of his mouths. Embraced by the hot water, he pulled their pale skinned bodies over him. The rest of the harem also got into the tub, splitting itself along the two sides. Although most of his attentiony with the maids, this provided a wonderful scenery. Looking left to right, he saw all their faces, the breasts they presented to him when they were close and how they kissed and loved each other when they sat further away. If he looked around the maid in hisp, he could see the happenings on the other side from another, more butt focused perspective.
Thank you, Master, the maids replied in unison, even utilizing the same tone of voice. They ran their hands through their hair,bing the wet manes backwards so the silver strands wouldnt get in the way so much. It was a surprisingly good look on them, especially Aclysia with her longer hair. Regardless, John just wanted to be inside them already. His hands grabbed their juicy asses, his cocks were aligned, and he pulled them down.
Beatrice felt like usual. Folds gripped his cock, wet enough for him to sink in while experiencing every centimetre of wonderful friction she provided. It was every bit a perfect replica of a tight human cunt, perfect for fucking. On the other side, Aclysias pussy was amazing and John had to clench his teeth not to cum immediately. The maid herself had no intention to hold back, immediately shouting as she was properly prated for the first time since she had gotten the Sex Servant Perk.
She gripped him so tightly that sleeve was an understatement. At least as far as the sleeves of normal clothing were concerned. This was more like atex glove measured perfectly for his hand. There was no doubt that her pussy had assumed the shape optimal for taking his cock and his cock alone. Although not asrge a difference as John thought there would be, the result left nothing to be argued with.
His fingers dug into the soft meat of their asses and he came. Where his bodies werent surrounded by hot water, they were by the breasts of Siena, Undine, Smander, Aclysia, Beatrice and Rave, all pushed against him. Kisses showered his cheeks, the backs of his necks, his lips. Semen shot up his shafts and finally defiled their clean cunts. They moaned and whimpered softly, sensual and gentle sounds. A much-appreciated change of pace.
Not that John could have taken it too fast if he wanted. With Beatrice, he could go straight into a moderately paced rhythm, but he didnt dare thrust too quickly into Aclysia. The weaponized maid as well needed to take things slowly. Even her sensitive areas had been relocated so that John hit them with even the most mindless of thrusts. Her pussy walls glided over his shaft in a massaging fashion, always exactly as tight as she could be without hindering movement.
He guided her rise and fall with his hands. Your butt is fantastic, he couldnt help but exim, wing in and feeling his fingers get half-surrounded by the spilling softness. I am so blessed to have you.
No, Master, it is I who is blessed Aclysia moaned as she slowly impaled herself on his cock again. To be able to serve yooooou her whole body tensed up as a small orgasm suddenly rushed up her spine, it is the ultimate bliss! John caught one of her nipples with his teeth, and that was enough to intensify her experience into a proper scream.
Gradually, they picked up the pace. Unable to hold back, John came inside them a second time on the way, but eventually Aclysia and Beatrice rode him at the same pace. With that achieved, they moved onto the more artful ways of lovemaking. They rolled and circled their hips, yed with the angles of the pration. Every motion was taken in unison, doubling the experience. Through whichever eyes he looked, he saw a beautiful, white haired maid, riding him and staring with adoring eyes. It was wonderful.
His third orgasm wasnt achieved at any rush. Intricately and sensual, their constant movements raised his lust by the second, but in a gentle fashion. Sometimes they had to take a pause, climaxing many times themselves while riding his respectable size. It was like he was guided up a shallow mountain. Of course, at the topy a cliff that he then dropped down nheless.
His orgasm was intense in the unique way drawn-out pleasure was. It was a moment equally clear-minded and dulled with relieving lust. He groaned out loud, leaned back and closed his eyes. All of his senses were concentrated on the maids sounds and the way their pussies reacted to being pumped full of even more semen. They clung tightly, from orgasm and the wish to have all of it inside them.
They continued to ride him until they got the veryst drop out. Then after that, for as long as they remained in the jacuzzi. Aclysia and Beatrice both had content, almost dreamy smiles on their faces when he finally told them they were done with the refreshing. A cleaning slime he had called had finished mopping up the sexual fluids that had been everywhere, leaving the room as renewed as themselves.
However, John didnt even get to that area. The second he was out of the jacuzzi, he sat down on the edge of it and pulled Scarlett in his direction. His hand hit her round bottom with a loud smack, droplets of water flying off as she let out a loud gasp. You still have to get punished! he decided; her crime against harem courtesy was only second to Metras. What do you have to say for yourself?
Do your worst, Master, Scarlett practically begged, panting so heavily her tongue stretched out when he spanked her a second time. Show this bad girl her ce. Do it, I know you want to.
Clicking his tongue John pushed against her butt plug, pressuring her back entrance. Clearly you dont regret anything. You just want my attention. Well, if youre going to be that way He pushed her aside again. Stand against the wall, hemanded her, and she obeyed, shivering as the reward hit her. Domination Pact immediately sealed her capacity to orgasm. Masturbate - Hard. Dont stop until I allow you to and dont sit down. Smander, the endme elemental had been watching and now grinned, e here.
Sure thing, Master, she purred and quickly approached. When she stopped before him, she turned her head and looked at Rave. How about we do the thing now?
The thing? John wondered, momentarily distracted from his original n to press his face between her boobs. Also ncing over to his girlfriend, he caught her looking mindful.
Guess we can. Aclysia, do the thing, the pink-haired Lightbearer passed the order down, and Aclysia reached into her inventory. She pulled out a linen bag and opened it, whispering something to the contents. The cloth suddenly started to burn, leaving the items inside to the bare view. John recognized the ck splinters to be the remains of the Vision of the Ashen Lands. Immediately, he knew what was going to happen.
In a matter of seconds, the shards melted together into a solid clump. Fiery mana expanded around it into a humanoid shape, which then condensed into Nathalia. It was her, although she was missing her scales, the stone in her corbone and her eyes were a simple red, with the pupils of a snake. Only her horns remained, as far as her original features were concerned.
This form is so weak, she immediatelyined, looking at her hands. Its been aeons since Ist used an avat-rrrrrrrr, her monologue was ended by an aggressive purr as she noticed John, standing there, his hard cock out. Her eyes immediately zed over and her pussy started dripping with all that her Libido was worth. There is what I go through these troubles for. You have grown more than your clothed state indicated.
The Gamer had better things to do than ask how, that was a question forter. Right now, all he cared for was to bridge the distance between himself and the dragoness and kiss her feverishly. Theck of heat on her dark lips immediately let him know what the visual had already indicated. This was not the genuine Nathalia. It was, however, her will that was present, and that was reward enough.
An advantage that he noticed quite soon after that was that she really was incredibly weak. Even he managed to push her down to the floor within moments. His hands wed at her bright orange-red hair. It was incredibly bright, despite theck of its supernatural glow. Suddenly, he was inside her.
By my fire, yesssss! Nathalia hissed, her spine arching up and sharp nails digging into Johns back. Harder, John, HARDER! she screamed, not bothered by anything as little as forey. Make this lesser body feel all it can! Obliging with glee, John hammered her into the cushioned floor. With all the Strength and Agility he had gained since she had left, he thrust at her in a raw, rough pounding. Every thrust could be felt reverberating several metres away.
She came so quickly. An initial orgasm that was clearly triggered by the mere presence of an actual cock inside her. How long? he wanted to know, a simple question with a simple answer.
An ho-aaaaaa-ur. Her answer came as a long scream, her long legs closing behind his hips.
Not nearly as long as he wanted, but also not terribly short. It gave him the time to do more than the barest fucking to satisfy her. He grinned, realizing he had the rare opportunity to utilize the fact that Nathalia was a pervert of all descriptions. For a change, he was the physically superior partner, a perfect opportunity to force out her more submissive side.
Do you take the pledge to serve me tonight? he asked. This thing was discussed between the harem in advance, so she must have known what they had nned.
Yes. It passed her lips with a bit of difficulty. Her switch switch had to be flipped first, until then her pride would make her words difficult. Whatever you want, just fuck me, John!
Master, he corrected her and was met with defiant gasping. Call me Master, he insisted in a hard tone.
It was the first time that Nathalia met hismanding tone. She felt thepel, knew what the reward was. A new orgasm clouded her mind and her pride was swallowed in the name of pleasing her potential mate. Master! Her pussy gushed as she caved and was rewarded for it. Master, fuck me as much as you want, just dont stop!
John had absolutely no intention to; he continued to hammer her burning hot cunt. Her pussy was absolutely made to be fucked. That sounded like a redundant statement, but the thought crossed his mind regardless. Admittedly, horny men were usually not the source of high wisdom.
Oy, dont forget about me! Smanderined, not realizing that Jack was already behind her. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. Through the double, John looked over to Scarlett, checking that she was still following his orders.
Continue, hemanded her, just to double the efforts. Both of her hands were already working her pussy at an insane pace and she was relying heavily on the wall to support her body. If it werent for hismand to remain standing, she would have slid down immediately. Her legs were weak, quivering, anticipating an orgasm that just didnte while her lust went higher and higher. You will cum whenever I do.
Jack left the masturbating technocrat behind and ced Smander down so her head was next to Nathalias C just with her body pointed in the opposite direction. Buzzcut and orange mane, the two redheads soon found themselves in the exact same position, as Jack plunged into the endme elementals pussy.
Johns bodies were embraced tightly by the infernally hot girls under him. Theirrge breasts pressed against his chests as he kept hammering them with all the force he had. An entirely primitive, savage form of love-making, all about force. Exactly how those two loved it. Every deep pration of her cunt was more fuel to the fire inside Smander, her pussy feeling better and better with each thrust.
However, the sharp cries of Nathalia were what pushed him over the edge. More. More, more, more, she shouted right next to his ear, a minor pain that he dealt with dly. I longed for you C I long for you. Stronger, quicker, get mighty and make me yours. John, Master, whatever you want me to call you, give me more. Be worthy and make me yours. Make all of me yours. Make me your mate. Take me, show this vessel pleasure that satisfies even my real bodys longing for you. Take me, fuck me, satisfy my longing, a pause, a sharp inhale then a long scream as he took onest thrust into her, BREEEED MEEEEEEE!
Deep inside the dragoness, he came, deep inside Smander, he came. Panting with deep satisfaction, feeling the overflowing pussy juices against his groin, his cum flooded their wombs. It was a moment of conquest, having them pinned down under him and marking their insides with his seed.
Scarlett enjoyed a second of relief, before John put the screws of the Domination Pact back on as tightly as before. He had told her she would get to orgasm, not that the orgasm was going to be a satisfying one. Whimpering, she submissively continued to masturbate.
John straightened his back, enjoyed the look on the infernal duos faces for a moment. Smander was simply ssy eyed, wearing a grin and cackling in a fashion that challenged him to do more. With her eyes in the upper corners of her eye sockets and her head slumped to the side, tongue hanging out, Nathalia was in a less coherent state. That changed when he started thrusting again. For other girls, it would have worsened things, but for the millennia old nymphomaniac, sex was an anchor.
Her light brown body was shaking back and forth under the renewed attack. Most of all, herrge tits, swinging and jiggling in a hypnotic pattern, while she gathered her mind and looked at him again. More, she begged again, and he picked up the pace. You are so much better, capable of so much more! I cant wait for you to be my mate. You are strong. You WILL seed and we will breed!
Is that what you want, huh? Be a baby crazy slut like Eliza? John ridiculed her a little bit, straining to not cum so quickly again. A difficult task while he was fucking a fantastical cunt of mythological tightness and Smander and her hellish pussy at the same time.
Show me you can dominate me, be someone that can survive all my love! she shouted, a broad, ecstatic smile on her face as he delivered her from one orgasm into the next. Then I want you to mark my womb forever. Let me make you an heir. Let me be your mate! Master!
Dominate? Like this? he reached down to her throat and choked her. Gently at first, then, noticing her pussy clenching down further and further, with more pressure, until the muscles on his arms were all strained. Smander looked over, enjoying the disy thoroughly. Seeing her summoner assert himself like that was its own cause to gasp.
Then he came inside them again, unable to stand the grip of Nathalias pussy any further. The dragoness thrashed as much as she could, her bodacious body winding between his hips and his hands. Your cum, she pressed weak words past his hold. It burns soooooo goooood
So hooooot Smander echoed the sentiment, writhing around herself. To Johns pleasure, the usually bickering duo of fireborn women was too busy with their lust to engage in a duel of the tongues that went further than a literal duel of the tongues. It was hard to say why they started kissing or who initiated it, but the fact was that their lips met. Upside down or not, sloppy or not, it was a kiss and it muffled their cries.
Another lustful scream rose and fell into despairing gasps as John gave Scarlett all of three seconds this time around to feel her climax start, only to block it again. Please, please, Scarlett was at the point of begging earnestly now, her high-pitched tone had nothing calcting anymore. Yet her fingers still moved.
Leaving Smander to be fucked by Jack some more, the endme elemental deserved a proper railing after she had been left for almostst, John pulled out of Nathalia. Not to leave her behind, of course, he was going to use that hour to its fullest potential. The second he grabbed her avatar by a horn and dragged her up, the dragoness snapped out of her lustful state.
You best be as strong as I need you to be, her dominant side reared its head again, otherwise your body will break during whatever I will do to repay you for these humiliations.
Dont you worry, Nathy, he pulled her into another kiss, deep and loving, you will not be disappointed, I promise you. I will not fail you or your longings.
Actually blushing, which was adorable, and averting her red eyes, she stated, Good that we are clear on that fact. Then she let herself be manhandled further and tossed to the floor, right in front of Scarlett. With Johns cock in front of her face, he just had to wait for two seconds. Submissive or dominant mood, Nathalia would never be able to resist sucking him off. Especially after she too learned that the taste of his seed had been even further enhanced. One lick, and her wide-open mouth was all his for the taking.
You improved further, purred the dragoness, going all the way down and sucking him clean with one skillful, tightly sealed movement. For a few moments, she just tasted what she could of his seed. Very good, she moaned when she swallowed. Ah, I love the taste of cum - I could get absolutely addicted to yours.
Using one of her horns as a love handle, he fucked her face. The gagging sounds he got in response were a wonderful reward, especially as he was about to let the sadist in him run a little bit wild. Turning most of his attention to Scarlett, he raised his left and gave her an echoing p. At the same time, he rxed the limitation of Domination Pact and let her experience a slight bit of relief.
She screamed, then whimpered, the usual melody. One that repeated several times, as John inflicted little and big pains on her body, each time letting her orgasm for a few seconds. He pped her face, twisted her nipples, choked her against the wall, pulled at her hair and made her say demeaning things. The entire time she was masturbating. Her desperate cries only grew louder as the degenerate treatment triggered her masochism. John knew how to y to his partners kinks.
In the meantime, he was happily feeding Nathalia her favourite treat, cumming into her mouth, throat and stomach. Each time, she reacted differently, wanted to experience his improved seed in different ways. Delightfully screaming when the taste made her climax, her vocal cords would have formed his name, would she have found the will to separate herself from this source of perfect taste.
It was written in her eyes, however, that she was ecstatic about the fact that she had forced him to invest those first points into Libido, pushing him to 25. One more time, he filled her mouth, pulled out and watched how she swirled the magnificent load with her tongue. Ish sho wonderful, she slurred, open mouthed. Your prioritiesh are all to my pleashure, Mashta. Then she swallowed and shivered as another orgasm overcame her.
Scarletts face, neck and chest were flushed with little bruises by that time. To a more innocent mind, they could have looked quite bad, but John was in this business long enough to know how much he had to pull his aggressive tendencies.
Then, suddenly, John changed positions yet again. His n had been to y with Scarlett until Smander was satisfied, and the endme elemental was currently lying twitching on the floor C with Jack now next to John. Stop, was the simplemand he had for Scarlett, before catching her copsing body.
Nathalia was dragged back to her feet as well, the two standing redheads pushed chest to chest. Then John prated both of them, lifting the Domination Mark at the same time. An explosive orgasm made short process of what little remained of Scarletts thoughts. She went cross-eyed immediately, her sultry lips forming arge O, with no sound leaving her. Largely because Jack had his hands around her throat. Choking was just too much fun not to do it with a consenting submissive slut.
With Nathalia, he concentrated on pping her round chocte ass though. Before she was gone, he would have abused or defiled every centimetre of her. Nathalia was bigger than Scarlett, in practically every way, which only made the contrast of fucking them against each other that much more satisfying.
Do you promise to be a good girl in the future, Scarlett? John asked, rxing his grip on her throat. For half a minute, the only answer he got were moans and the feeling of hot pussy juice gushing onto Jacks groin and feet. He had to p her ass and repeat the question for her to register it.
Ill be good, she pressed out each word between a cascade of lustful cries. Dont stop Use me mooooore It feels so gooooood Nobody can abuse me like you I dont I cant even imagine being with anybody else but Masssssss- Thest word turned into a hiss of glorious pain, then was silenced entirely as he spanked and then choked her again.
Lets see if you will remember that in the future, John mocked her, then mmed into both redheads equally and let the contents of his balls pump into them.
More! Nathalia moaned with every spurt of cum into her. Mess me up more! This taste will have tost me a while Aaaaaaahh. Threatening to fall, John caught the dragoness avatar by slinging one arm around her waist and the other around the chest, resting his hand on her ample bosom. He pinched her nipple, as little rotations of her hips rubbed her delicious bubble butt against him and let the remainder of his orgasm dribble inside her.
You will have more, you wont forget this C you will never forget me, he whispered into her long, elf-like ear. I will give you every reason to remember why youre bing exclusively my woman.
He let Scarlett copse to the floor; she had been teased so much that cumming inside her once was enough to put her temporarily out. Well, that and the fact that she was the physically weakest woman around. Nathalia, on the other hand, he guided back to the middle of the room, fucking her every step along the way, driving her before him like a proper breeding sow. Or, well, lizard, in this particr case.
The harem flocked to his position. Even if they werent receiving his immediate attention, they wanted to have the chance for a kiss, or just be around as they had their lesbian fun. Things couldnt escte much further than they already had, all of them had cum in at least one of their holes, and John was more than satisfied to stay the course for the evening.
Chapter 667 – Afterparty 1 – Sudden Call
Chapter 667 C Afterparty 1 C Sudden Call
John awoke ever so gently. He felt clean, he felt warm and he felt secure. He also was all of these things. Through a miracle of clear-mindedness, they had managed to celebrate thest half-hour of the orgy in the showers, before making it to the bed and falling asleep immediately. It had been something around 4 hours of uninterrupted fucking. Even the Artificial Spirits needed to rest their consciousness after that.
Hey, Master, he heard Metras voice in his ear after he yawned and stretched a little bit. His eyes were open, but he couldnt see more than a thing. The thing being his Gamer ability windows telling him how much longer it would take for the Vision of Cmity to be repaired. The answer being: not long enough for it to be worthwhile to get out bed without them.
Morning, Mat, he mumbled, feeling the First of Wrath sliding on top of him. Aclysia must have left the room already, otherwise she would have imed that spot already. A look through the Mand Sphere confirmed this. Aclysia and Beatrice were missing, likely preparing breakfast. Well, lunch, it was already noon. The elementals had also retreated somewhere else. It was Eliza, still fast asleep, snuggled up to his left, Metra on top of him and Lydia resting her head on his right. There was also his girlfriend, who he remembered to have fallen asleep where the queen now was. Her unsteady sleep movements had transported her to the foot-end of the bed, though, where she was now sleeping in a position only a cat could findfortable.
Of course, Nathalia was no longer around. Her body had eventually dispersed, the shards that she had formed out of gone from obsidian to normal, translucent ss, molten into a near-perfect sphere. Observe had ced it in the Epic crafting material category, the remains of a godly avatar. There were, however, no direct uses for it. John had just ced it in the Guild Bank, something would be done with it.
To the veryst second, he had made sure Nathalia got his attention and his love. It may not have been her real body, but he had valued the time nheless.
The only person John didnt know the whereabouts of was Scarlett. In all likelihood, she had woken up ahead of everyone else and went to work. He would find out in a minute or two. First, he had an ancient weapon lying on top of him, a very much wet pussy on top of his morning wood.
Want me to take care of you, my king? she asked, in earnest subservience. The treatment during the orgy really must have stuck for more than John had initially guessed, as none of her usual aggressive behaviour went through. She wasnt grinding against him, she wasnt just taking him, she wasnt even wording the suggestion in a way that made it more of a foregone conclusion. She was simply offering.
God yes, was the first reaction John had, groaning as Metras slick pussy enveloped his cock. You shouldnt call me your king. I still dont want that title.
I know, such a fucking shame. She sounded more like her usual self now, sitting up to ride him better. Bringing the Mand Sphere around, to get a good view of her chiselled body in the meantime, his hands explored her You really fit the part. Regardless of whether or not you take the role, you deserve the title. Youre not as strong as Sargon yet, but youre getting there. I can firmly say that youre a better lover than he was. Being taken by him felt great, but you serving you feels fantastic. Youre the first king I dont mind being a sex ve for.
Is that what our rtionship is now? John wondered. Well, I guess I did say that yesterday, but you dont have any obligation to keep to that. It was a spur of the moment thing.
I am your servant, your lover and your sex ve, and whatever else you want, John, Metra moaned andughed at the same time as she said that. Fact is that I havee to love you and my love is hard earned and odd. As long as I take an interest in you, I will be more than our contract demands. Show me how you write history, my king, and I will be on your side. She sighed lustfully as his hands explored the details of her thighs. I wont call you king in public, if you insist.
I do, John answered since he didnt want that title. Being favourablypared to a legendary historical figure first thing in the morning by someone who had actually known that figure was quite an ego-booster. It didnt take too long for him to shoot the first load of the morning up into her.
Metra bit her lower lip and kept her orgasmic groans suppressed, knowing he wouldnt approve of her waking the rest of the harem. It really did seem that she respected him and his authority deeply now. In the past, she would have just screamed her lust out. That she was taking the whole ve to HIS desires thing seriously only served to upgrade his erection from morning wood to iron-hard meatpole.
Well, you seem happy about this development. Metra grinned, not failing to notice. The movement of her hips continued, even as the two girls on Johns side slowly awoke. Held back screams or not, they were making a lot of noise and it was about time to get up anyway. Youre a total pervert after all.
Guilty as charged. John shrugged with a somewhat smug expression on his face. Having willing sex ves is like up there in my sexual fantasies. The operative word was willing, as in, having taken and remaining in the role of their own ord. Im looking forward to your future servitude, Mat.
Just point me in a direction where there is ughter or your dick and Ill be satisfied, she eximed, then gasped and leaned forwards, supporting herself on his muscr chest. Speaking of that fucking cock by Chaos, that thing makes me weak It feels way too good to ride you.
Lydia grumbled as she blinked a few times in an effort to wake up. And you have the audacity to im that privilege first in the morning.
Theres more than one way to happiness, Lydia, John told her, the Mand Sphere shifting. Soon thereafter, Lydia was getting her ass fucked from behind by Jack, while hugging Johns arm. Being in two ces at once was awesome. Eliza woke upst, and he was about to suggest to her cussing self that there was a lot of space on his face, when he suddenly heard the ringing of his phone. Eliza, could you get me that? he asked, as the blood mage was closer to the nightstand.
Yeah, sure, why the fuck not?! she cursed while crawling over Raves still sleeping form over to the device. Greet me with the sight of two whores taking your cocks, then send me to fetch your fucking phone, you absolute piece of double-dicked garbage. Make me a mindlessly jealous piece of dumb ass.
Come back here quicker and I just might be close enough to give that dumb ass a spanking, he suggested and sessfully motivated Eliza to return with his smartphone quicker. Just in time for the Vision of Cmity to finish repairing as well. Eight and a half hours, it had taken, which meant he had also slept for almost that long. Just in time to take the phone and answer the call, he had them Possessed and put into his eyes. Hello, John Newman here.
Do you always take that long to answer your private phone? a snarky voice came from the other side. It was a bit distorted by the typical difficulties of transmission, but he did recognize that sarcastic servant immediately regardless.
Do you always take that long to call friends and family? he bantered back, then gave Elizas ass, nicely presented to him, a loud p. Since this was not a business talk, every other act of lovemaking around also continued. No, but seriously, where the hell are you, Momo? How have you been? He had a bunch of other questions, but he needed some basic answers first.
Well, first things first, happy bted birthday, she answered. I can hear its been happy. Let me guess well, one is Eliza, definitely. Also, I hear Lydia moaning third I barely know so Metra?
Thank you and full score.
Great. Meant to call you yesterday, but had to find out that the shops were I was didnt take dors, so I had to fly to a whole different city where there was an Abyssal presence to buy a new phone.
Okay, I slightly change my initial question: where the hell are you that they dont take dors?
Turkmenistan, she answered straight out.
And what are you doing in Turkmenistan? It was a state north of Iran and Afghanistan. John spared himself the question if she knew to avoid the local poption. It was one of the most totalitarian states in the world, with a clear Muslim majority. Abination that usually didnt spell well for female independent movement. Not that she had any reason to fear them. Just Gaia could get annoyed if Momo ran into too much trouble.
Again, he thought her smart enough to veil up and keep her head low, at the very least. Better yet would be if she could go invisible or something.
Well, this is going to take some exining, Momo responded. You got the time for me to go over everything that happened since we parted?
Just one second John answered, came inside Metra and Lydia, then was back at her with his full attention. Okay, yes, go ahead. You can skip to the part after you left the Austrian court, I am well in the picture until that point.
Alright, so, I went to Greece to get information, spent a long time in the local library, which is terrible, dont ask. I found that an item that I was searching for was inside a treasure city, or something like that, in modern day Iraq
You mind if I put you on speaker? John asked, this sounded like something that Metra wanted to hear. She gave him the go ahead, and so it was done. The little orgy they had going on was also temporarily halted, this sounded a bit more important. Even Rave joined them, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. After hearing Momos voice, the Lightbearer was quite focused though.
So, I found that ziggurat with all of those supposed treasures inside. You got anything against me plundering Mesopotamian cities, Metra? It was a genuine, if somewhat aggressively delivered, question.
Did you open any graves? the berserker babe asked.
No, only treasure chambers.
Then I dont give a shit, go on. Metra visibly rxed, slouching against the wall. It wasnt that she was relieved, just that she no longer had to get ready to wreck Momos face when they next met. Dont disturb the dead, thats all I care about.
Alright. Well, I found that ce, some ancient art piece depicting the chaos dragon Tiamat, all the Metracanas, Gaia, and some other stuff
Wait, I know where you were now! Metraughed out loud. Piece of shit family portrait, that could only have been Lyostes Rest!
So THATS what the name was! Momo shouted out. Why she hadnt just called to ask Metra from the start about something she was certain to know at least something about was another question John didnt bother asking. She would have had her reasons, even if it was something as stupid as wanting to have her own adventure.
Do you have a photo? he instead wondered, since that picture sounded pretty interesting.
I WOULD, Momo let out a disgruntled sound. If some sort of wolf Lorylim and Lery hadnt smashed right through it. That announcement made Metra so unreasonably joyful that she fell overughing. WHY ARE YOU ALL SO HAPPY ABOUT DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT HISTORY?!
Because it was a sentimental piece of crap! Metra responded still giggling. How is Lery anyway? What was SHE doing there?
I made sure she left satisfied, Momo giggled in a lewd way, confirming that her time with John and the harem did leave her a bit perverted herself. Anyway, she was looking for raw Astrotium in the name of Enki or something, I got this staff...
Metra snapped back up, just as John stared at the phone as if he could look deep into Momos eyes through it. This had just changed from a little tale to something that could have wide-reaching implications. What did you just say? the berserker babe asked.
Yeah, I got Tiolyst, is that bad after all?
Nobody cares about that staff, Metra said dismissively. Only Seminaris kept bickering that she should have it. You say she was ordered by Enki, yes?
Thats what she told me anyway, why?
Because Enki should be dead. Those words were delivered with a mixture of absolution and confusion. An oxymoron, reflected in Metras eyes. The purge of Babylon. Fallen Marduk, Tiamat, Abzu and all the others, Gaia eradicated them for their insolence to even try and strike at her. There is no fucking way that stargazing shitlord survived.
John hummed as his own thoughts circled around this revtion. This was a new piece on the board that fit into a number of different slots. Do you know something else about Enki?
Lery said that she would return to North America, to him, and hope to bump into Metra on the way. I guess he is pretty close to you.
The number of ways the piece fit reduced; its shape became clearer. Sadly, he had no way to confirm whether any of the theories he came up on the spot were true, but on the face of it, John was willing to bet that Enki and the mysterious master for whose help Seminaris had pleaded were one and the same.
That the Lorylim kept creeping up whenever something from ancient Mesopotamia was involved was another thing he noticed. Especially with how Izha had talked to Metra in the past, saying that she had all reasons to be respectful towards the Lorylim. At the time, John had put it off as another nonsensical thing they said, but there was more to it. Much like Enkis role in all of this, the way the Lorylim connected to Mesopotamia was unclear. They preceded, by all John knew, the empires in the area by an unknown amount of time. At the very least he knew that the Lorylim did not have their origin there.
It would have been a much easier riddle to crack if they did.
Sorry to interrupt you with that, John told her. You just brought me a few pieces that could solve a lot of puzzles. So, what else did you do?
I researched the fall of Babylon. You know, since I found out that Gaia eradicated an entire area of the map, I wondered where was the border? Where did absolute destruction reach? Until where could the aftershocks be felt? I found no answers for that, so I started making my own map that took thest few months. Still not done with it.
I see John was forcefully putting his pondering to the background. It was important that he actually paid attention to Momo, now that he heard her again. Are you happy? he asked the question most important.
Extremely, the support responded. John, I didnt think the world could be this small C this big. There are so many things in so little space, so much history, so many people. I She took a deep breath. I thought I would wish to return immediately to you if I ever spoke to you again. And, please dont take this the wrong way, but I was wrong. I miss you, I miss Aclysia and Gnome and everyone else, but I havee to love this working loneliness more than them and you. This time spent with my thoughts, doing things that I can do. Its hard to describe
I get it, John assured her. Its all up to you. Whenever you want a ce to call home, my doors are open to you. Whether you decide to join my harem again or just be a friend, its up to you. I can go either way although I would certainly prefer one oue over the other.
Yeah not gonna lie, I am torn on that myself. Momo sighed. Ria and I didnt work out and well, I have tried dating since and it just doesnt seem to work whoever it is. I didnt realize how easy a rtionship with you was until I had something that didnt work as well. At the same time, I dont want toe crawling back to you. You know, I really have to mull over whether its the right thing for me to choose you after all.
Good, John told her inly. Because Ill be honest as well: Im not going to take you leaving my harem a second time. I have my own conditions for a happy rtionship and one of those is that you arent indecisive. I get why you left the first time, life experience and all that, but I am not going to take you wobbling between what just feelsfortable on any given day. If youe back and make amitment to be with me after all, you do make thatmitment.
Yeah, we can agree on that, Momo answered firmly. I wont really know until I see you in person again, I guess. Also I am still changing, with all of these new experiences flying in, and I want to feel like that has settled. Her tone changed into being thoughtful, and carefully hesitant. It was certainly simpler when I just oriented myself on the base you gave me. Pre-programmed emotions waned with time, even while I was still connected to you. What I felt for Aclysia no longer feels as forced what remains is because of the memories I have of her. Ironically, now that youre no longer my master by mental connection I do appreciate you more for it.
You have all been changing, John mumbled. I guess this happens when you dont keep Artificial Spirits on a tight leash, mentally and physically. They stray from the original vision in unforeseen ways and just be people of their own right.
Yeah She sighed, then, in a forcefully upbeat tone, continued, But whatever! Whether I return to you as a friend or yet another lover in your oversized girl cab, Ill decide whenever I actually return. Until then, I should enjoy this freedom!
Just enjoy it by only dating other girls, John stated, only slightly joking. Dont care how hypocritical that sounds, but I dont like knowing there is some other guy fucking you. I cant and wont stop you, I dont have any right to before you have actually decided to be with me again, but I will disapprove!
Well see, she cheekily announced. Anyway, tell me what youve been up to. Ive been out of the news cycle for several months. Something interesting is bound to have happened, right?
Yes John said, touching his face. A lot of things have happened.
Chapter 668 – Afterparty 2 – Sudden Goddess
Chapter 668 C Afterparty 2 C Sudden Goddess
Momo took things surprisingly well. That was to say, she didnt have a strong emotional reaction to any of it. She didnt pry at things too much, didnt make any longments about anything. Her whole attitude towards his tale, his victories and his injuries, was quite clearly that she had nothing to say that he hadnt heard already. Through a number of heavy sighs and sarcastic apuses, she did let him know that she cared though.
Thebination of those two factors was all John could really ask for. He wasnt looking for another berating. Neither did he care for being treated dismissively. She listened, she understood, she felt empathy, she knew he was talking about past events that she wasnt entirely in the know about. Although theyers of sarcasm and banter could hide it, Momo was still a supportive person at heart. Having that character trait included, in optimal cases, knowing when one was best advised not meddling.
The conversation ultimately ended with Momo saying she would try to stay in contact every now and again, but ultimately would keep the phone in her inventory most of the time and preferred to be unavable. Not exactly how John would have wanted it, but it was an improvement from no contact whatsoever.
Once the phone wandered into Johns own inventory, the little morning orgy they had continued, with Rave now in the sheets with them. After cumming two more times, satisfying the harem present in the process, they moved out of the bedroom. They checked on the kitchen very quickly, where Aclysia was preparing several things of a moreplicated or time intensive nature. Evidently, she was taking advantage of Johns busy morning routine.
He headed to the bathroom, then the shower, checking up mentally on the elementals in the process. They had headed out to their respective Elemental Ind, wanting to check those things out. John was likely going to join them thereter, since he wanted to actually inspect all of the things he had built in person. Knowing their effects was one thing, knowing what those effects looked like in practice another.
As for Scarlett, she was actually waiting in the bathing room, soaking in the hot tub like a wet noodle in a boiling pot. There were purple marks, most pronounced on her throat, all over her body. Nothing that looked like she was getting a beating on the regr, but quite possibly painful. She told John that she had skipped on the opportunity to get them healed immediately, because the little pains were actually quite exciting.
Which caused John to give her a (definitely less rough) morning fuck. That just checked all the sadist boxes. Back out of the shower, all of the girls were in the living room, surrounding the table on which Aclysia had built the weirdest buffet of breakfast, lunch and birthday treats. Most important of all was the threeyer, orange-chocte cake in the middle. Luckily, they all had the necessary appetite to go through such a meal. The energy expenditure yesterday had been quite extensive, after all.
I heavily apologize that you had no birthday cake yesterday, Aclysia stated, as she cut into the brown, sugary mass. My original n did not calcte in that I wouldnt have the night before to bake and Icked the necessary facilities within the barrier to prepare everything satisfyingly.
The 2 days in Instant Dungeons were rather spontaneous and on me, so no reason to apologize, John stated, as he had a piece of cake loaded onto his te. As they say, betterte than never. Do I have anywhere to be, Scarlett?
The Technomancer detached from Undine, now bruise free, and yawned while she answered, Only the closing ceremony, rest is voluntary. Her teeth snapped shut and she slightly shook her head. I think I am going to take another nap after this. I didnt sleep that well C for some fucking reason. She red over to Rave.
Not missing this, the Lightbearer perked up, fork in her mouth. She cleaned it of cake before asking, What are ya looking at me for?
You kicked me.
I did?
Yes.
That doesnt sound like me. General coughs and mumbles all around the table were had as people tried their best not to directly mention Raves terrible sleeping habits. I didnt steal any nkets at least!
Lydia shook her head. Its summer and thebined body heat of everyone in Masters Pardon, the queen cleared her throat to get the behaviour that had been fucked into herst night out her system, Johns bed is more than enough to make a nket superfluous.
You know, you can continue calling me Master, mydy, John tried his hand at charming his queenly lover.
I will do so when it pleases my erogenous desires and this is not the case as of this moment. Take what you can get, John, you will be happier for it, Lydia responded, trying to sip her tea, but noting that her cup was empty. Aclysia, may I bother you for a refill.
Give me some too, while youre at it, Gaia said, also making a te hover in Johns direction. And give me some of the cake, while youre at it.
There was just a few moments of baffled silence, then movement around the table just resumed as normal. People in the Abyss were hardened to sudden happenings, people around John doubly so. That the supreme deity decided to just drop in without any sign was surprising but failed to produce more than a second of proper confusion.
Normally you announce yourself by opening a portal first, John pointed out, as he loaded a piece of cake onto her te. The second the dark treaty on the porcin, a green glow encapsted it and made it hover back to Gaia. She had simply appeared in one of the empty seats.
Gaia grabbed the te and the glow waned. Light brown hands, the tone mostmonly affiliated with Europeans living along the Mediterranean, carefully ced it down. Her appearance had not changed further since thest time they had met. She was still rather short and petite. Save for the ass and thighs, of course, so marvellous that the naked squish drew all eyes to it. That they were so easy to see, with the four strands of hanging cloth that made up the skirt of her one piece dress either hanging down or hiding her crotch from view, only further emphasized their attractiveness.
She knew exactly where he was looking, shifting a bit, then crossing her legs in a painfully calcted motion that almost let him see the promisednd between her legs. Instead he only got to pay attention to the milk-coffee coloured curve of her butt twisting a bit more into the foreground. That Gaia had taken the seat next to Eliza by tactical means was basically self-evident at that point since John was able to look over the short blood mage.
The Gamer forced himself to look up from those thighs, slid over the skin-tight, lightly glistening, surface of her ck dress with its colour-shifting runes, and instead looked into the green eyes in her attractive, round face. The long strands of whirly hair, their colour an intense green, seemed to flow in an almost mocking fashion as she grinned at him.
I did want to visit you yesterday, but when I found the time around midnight, you were in the middle of something, she stated, taking her first bit of cake. Fantastic, Gaia eximed, wiggling in her seat in a fashion more adorable than sexy, youre easily the best thing I ever indirectly created, Aclysia.
I wouldnt haveined if you dropped into my business there, John put forward with yet another charming smile.
Yeah, right. Gaia only gave him sass for it though. Like you can charm the goddess of everything into an orgy where all your fangirls agreed to tell you how great you are. You couldnt even handle me alone, like I would trust you to separate your attention and still manage to actually get me off.
Like that was a problemst time John grumbled, remembering her orgasm expression quite clearly. Well, everything around that expression was hazy or missing entirely, but he had at least one mental picture of it, so he was quite certain it had happened. But fine, point taken. With the way you waltzed in here, I doubt youre in the mood now.
Arent we smart? Gaia wondered, looking at a bottle of milk. Through the translucent container, John followed the liquid lowering by a few centimetres, just as it rose from nowhere inside the ss in front of the supreme deity. An absolutely casual use of reality bending powers.
Couldnt you just will milk into existence? John wondered.
Sure, I could, but why would I do that when some is right there? Gaia asked, taking a sip and contently munching on some more cake. Anyway, I am just here to answer your question really quick. I have things to do, reality to oversee, free will to respect, such things that make your little lives worthy of living, you know?
I have a bunch of questions though, the Gamer responded.
Yeah, tornado-fuck, Eliza cussed her way into the conversation. What fucking question are you going to answer. Whether youre wearing panties today or not? With a snip of her fingers, Gaia teleported Eliza from her seat over to the couch. Two metres above the couch, to be exact, leaving a short-lived stream of Fuck, cunt, ass, piece of shiiiiit, to be followed by more muffled curses as the blood mage was forced to lie with her face down in some cushions.
Not talking to you, disrespectful cum-bucket, Gaia said.
Despite the pillow, John could hear the insaneughter, basically spelling out that Eliza did not take that as an insult. Anyway, could we stay on topic? John asked. If time was limited here, he wanted his answers sooner rather thanter. Do tell me that wasnt the question youre going to answer.
Would be worth it to say yes just for the look on your face, but no, Gaia quickly finished her slice of cake and then leaned back. I am here to answer the one question that only I can answer, the answer to which wont change anything about the things you do. Consider it myst birthday gift.
I cant ask for something practical like, what the Lorylim are or how I could achieve world peace in three years? John was presenting that more jokingly, but he was genuinely curious if he could get such information out of her.
That would be more direct involvement in the course of history than I want, the supreme deity simply pointed out. Go ahead, ask the question.
John put his cutlery down. It felt awkward to ask one of the most important questions about the origins of the Abyss at break-lunch, but that was just the way things went in his life. What is Gaia C what are you? The rest of the table, all of which had either been there when Romulus told his story or been informed afterwards, listened carefully to the answer.
Thatll be a long answer, but thats exactly what you want anyway, Gaia mused, a joking glint in her green eyes. The rings with the seven lines in her irises were circling ever so slowly. The Gaia that you know, this body, was enabled by Remus. What you heard was true, this is the body of an infant that Remus used as a target of his god-making powers. Gaia the force was not made by Remus, he had no ability to create Faith. His power was to concentrate it in a single suitable vessel, nothing more. Gaia the force in reality stems from the worlds rules as theyre written.
John leaned back in his chair, slowly going through what he had heard there. It was basically what he had known already, just confirmed. Things certainly lined up, as far as the mechanics of them were concerned.
That might not be all of it though, Gaia continued and made him turn his head in quick motion.
Might? he asked, the mere presence of the word confused him. Is there something you dont know?
There is something I avoid to know, Gaia told him and looked around the table, then at nobody and anyone that might be watching her speak. If you have ever dreamed lucidly before, you will know the feeling. You know that, if you stretch your mind, you will be able to wake up. You will be able to confirm this is all a dream and just wake up. That is the feeling that ovees me when I think about the question of whether or not I was before I took this body.
And the great Lady, resting on the pebble of gold, might just be more than ten millennia old, John remembered the line from the Horned Rats recent prophecy. It had been quite direct already, but now he knew exactly what it meant. Resting referred to the act of sleeping, while might just be went further than the usual prophecy ambivalence. It was that Gaia herself did not know.
Why not confirm it? Lydia asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
Because I enjoy this state, Gaia answered, looking down at her hands, clearly ufortable with the subject. This dream, if it is one, is going to end when I decide to take that knowledge. The only thing thats strong enough to limit my omniscience is me. Just like I make the decision to not read and guide the minds of humans, just like I decide to not make this a deterministic universe, I may have decided to forget this. Once I decide to learn the truth again and that I am done ying human in pretend
The supreme deity snapped her fingers and everyone in the room found themselves in an endlessly dark void. The concept of gravity itself was gone, they just hung around the area. Then they didnt anymore, John could feel his own mind unravel along with everyone elses into nothing but absence. It was the utter non-existence where not even silence was allowed. Before they were consumed fully, they were back at the table. Gaia grabbed her te, on which a new slice of cake had appeared.
this dream ends, she continued, stabbing the sweet treat without any intent of eating it. And with it, all of you. This might simply be one of many worlds that I dream up. I just decided to tie myself in more closely in this one. Perhaps there are things Outside of me. Perhaps I am just thinking about nonsense and this is all real. The sheer infinite powers I have might just stem from my ce as the logical extreme of the rules of magic and Faith. If you want my personal take on it - I doubt it. I am standing at the edge of memory. Luckily for everyone here, I enjoy this state, so I wont take the drop.
And suddenly, she was gone.
Chapter 669 – Afterparty 3 – If It Ends & It Never Will
Chapter 669 C Afterparty 3 C If It Ends & It Never Will
John slowly ced his eating utensils down. It wasnt that he had no more hunger, but the appetite was definitely gone for a moment. Well, thats useless and incredibly heavy knowledge, he thought, letting the eerie silence settle around the table as everyone else disyed simr reactions.
Like he assumed most people had, the Gamer had yed with the thought whether they lived in a simtion before. Also, like everyone else, he had eventually just stopped thinking about it, as there was no way to prove it. Considering it was all fun and games, until a supreme deity waltzed into his life and dropped the bombshell that it very well might be true.
Knowing it also didnt serve him in any way. There was no practical application for this. It wasnt like being aware of the fact that this was very likely to be a dream suddenly propelled him to a fourth dimensional being with reality bending mind powers. It was just there. Something he was now wizened up on because he just had to find out about it.
The question was how to handle that knowledge. It was easy to dismiss the thought experiment. It wasnt quite as easy to dismiss the potential end of their entire universe at the mere boredom of Gaia. In the end, however, there were only two possible responses to this. They could either let this swallow them whole and cause a spiral into nihilism or they could ept this, shoulder the burden, and carry on.
Alright, he therefore took the charge on making the quiet go away. Nihilism really wasnt his style. So that at least exins how multiple dimensions seem to be a thing. Apparently, Gaia just dreams in parallel or something.
Makes ya wonder how screwed up her brain must be, Rave bantered right back. I mean, my dreams are weird, but this is a whole different level of stupid.
I mean, at least its coherent, he stated in a drily appreciating tone. So thats something.
Ya know that maybe none of this is making sense, but cause we never knew anything else, this is what we define coherent as, his girlfriend retorted.
Huh, yes, actually He furrowed his eyebrows, then giggled a little bit. Man, this must be shocking me worse than I thought if you manage to out-philosophize me, Jane.
Oy, say more mean stuff like that and I wont be sorry next time I take ya in mid-sleep Full Nelson!
Slowly thawed up by the couples y-fighting, one by one, everyone else in the room resumed their participation in the now. They werent equally able to shake this off. He and Rave seemed to cope with it well enough, perhaps only trumped out by Sylph, too whimsical to care. Most affected was Lydia, who didnt seem toe back to reality for a long while.
You okay? John asked, when the queen quietly held out her cup to Aclysia.
I am bothered. She shook her head.I am aware of what the correct response to this knowledge would be, lest I n to invite hopelessness to my mind, but I still find myself contemting the implications of this on things that have happened. None of it can lead anywhere. If she really is dreaming, then everything is included in it. Most importantly, she did say she let free will be a thing, which is a worrisome implication that she can make it not so, but also means that it currently exists in spite of this being a mere creation of her sleeping mind Lydia trailed off, clearly stopping herself, slouching forwards.
John stood up and walked over to rub her back and let her rest her head against him for as long as she needed. Yeah, it does cause some immediate existential dread. Denying this wouldnt solve the problem. Better to face and talk about it. Let your mind go where it needs to. Ill be here and we can make sure that our reason doesnt fail if anyone ever gets anxious, alright?
He could feel how her spine straightened back up to her usual posture and she gave a slow nod. Chances were, they would all lie awake tonight. Maybe a few more times over the next week. Then even fewer times over the month. A couple of times over the years. Eventually, once or twice over a decade. Things like this never went awaypletely, but they faded with time.
Soon, they just continued with breakfast. There was nothing else to do. Reality may not be based on what they anticipated, but it was their reality. Given what they all had been through and what they all felt, it wasnt a bad one.
___________________________________________________________________________
Soooo, how was your birthday party, sweetie? Brendas voice reverberated from the phone, while John massaged Raves back with his other hand. His girlfriend purred, in a perfectly human way, loud enough for his mother to hear. I hope your girlfriend can still walk?
Mom, can we not talk about sex? John requested, still violently ufortable whenever the topic came up with his parents. I had a great birthday, a wonderful night, can we leave it at that?
Sure, sure, his mother giggled. They had actually talked shortly yesterday. With everything else going on, it had been an under two-minute call reduced to the necessities. Today, John had a lot more time. So, when are you visiting again? Your father and I want to give you your gift in person.
Do tell me its not another one of your vitamin supplements, John almost begged. His mothers interest in health products had be a bit obsessive. Not to a worrying degree. Certainly a few levels under aggressive veganism. Still a bit more than the average person that took vitamin D during winter.
Of course, John had set Hex (and one of the surveince golems that masked themselves as friendly neighbours) on checking where she got those. Neither the bodyguard nor the Wardeth (that was the name of thepany) golem had found anything suspicious. Which made John feel quite a bit paranoid.
Maybe I should ease off on the scope of investigations a bit. Knowing about the surroundings of their acquaintances and the shoesize of their pharmacist is quite overkill, the Gamer thought, as his mouth continued to move. I assure you, my diet is bnced, I have a girl that takes care of that.
Yes, I know Aclysia is doing my job now, Brenda put forwards. We have been exchanging recipes. I didnt even know you could use carrots like that. Hyper sensitive about these things, John closed his eyes and ignored the phrasing to the best of his ability. Anyway, you didnt answer the question, sweetie. When are youing over?
Difficult to say John tried his best to dodge details. Luckily, fluidly lying was one of the advantages that came with a high Charisma. His left-hand stopped rubbing Raves oiled back while he hid the truth from his mother, though. Mypany is having some issues right now and I need to be around in case something happens.
Oh, that doesnt sound good, worried, his mother spoke into the phone. Do you need help? It all sounded pretty valuable, so I dont think what your father and I could put forward would help much maybe if we sold the house in Springfield
No, no, John quickly dispersed her concern. We are having some issues, no troubles or problems. He realized he had just used three words for basically the same thing, so he stopped and reformted properly, There is a situation that could develop in either an unpleasant direction or resolve without any furtherplications. Either way, I got a handle on things, I just need to be around to put the right countermeasures in ce, whatever my detractors decide to do.
Alright Brenda sounded mostly appeased. You got an ETA on that? Thats what you fancy business people say, right?
In emails, yes, Johnughed, then mentally went through his calendar. I think I can swing by for a few hours next Sunday. I can bring a few of the girls as well, if you want.
Of course! his mother replied enthusiastically. Wouldnt be half as fun if I couldnt press all of your harem for all the details youre too ashamed of to talk about.
Mooooom John whined, suddenly feeling like a thirteen-year-old that had been barred ess from the Xbox, could you not?
A hand reached up to his ear and Rave snatched the phone from him. Gimme, she said, when she already had it. Hey Bren, whats your baby boy whining about this time? A little pause, during which the Gamers girlfriend stretched out again. With a sigh, John resumed his massage, now with both hands. Hes giving me backrubs, like a good boy. The conversation moved on.
If you werent on the phone with my mother right now, I would stop straddling your squishy cushion of an ass and start spanking it so violently you couldnt sit for the remainder of the day, John thought, earning himself a wink over Raves oddly attractive shoulder. The Lightbearer had sessfully read his thoughts C like so often. Now she was wiggling her bum under him. Which was just unfair, as he was only wearing boxers.
Ja, ja, John is just overcautious and stuff No, finances are good, no worries there. Made some recent investments that left us a bit thin in fluid capital, but lotsa assets acquired, so no biggie Mhm? Oh yeah, Ill bring e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e, everyone I can Sure uh-huh Funny thatd ya mention that, they resolved that ording to bro code, was kinda funny Will make doubly sure shees along Yes Yesssssss Alright, hope the weather will be good Alrighty, love ya, future mother-inw.
John had only understood about half of that, but the phone was now offered back to him. Quickly, he wiped the oil off his right hand with a wash cloth that had been ced on the couch table, then he returned the device to his ear. You havent put a ring on her yet, have you? his mother immediately made sure.
No, not yet, John answered, gaining himself a happy little tune, hummed by his girlfriend. Since she already knew that he was only preparing things so the question woulde under the perfect circumstances, there was nothing lost on discussing these things (in minor detail) in front of her. You will hear of it before she does, dont worry.
Unfair! Raveined, but he shut her up by going back to rolling her rxed muscles under his palm. Her legs and arms stretched out and wed softly at the oil cloth covered couch, like a cat that had just woken up. Unfairrrrr, she purred again, from deep within her throat.
From there, the phone call devolved into pleasantries. How Brendas neighbours were doing, how she and Johns dad wanted to visit him for a change (something the Gamer still had to prepare a faux-home for), what recent happenings were and other little updates. After about twenty minutes of that, the conversation ended with his mother saying she had to start preparing some food for when Benjamin came home.
Immediately after he put the phone down, he unequipped his boxers and hisid dick went into full erection. Guess ya aint interested in your mom after all, Rave teased, seeing this reaction.
Can you not? John asked, feeling the blood flow back to his brain already. Nothing killed his excitement more than thinking of his mom, except the word daddy maybe. I dont have an incest boner, why is that so odd for you?
Its not, his girlfriend giggled, as they both moved around a little bit, so John found himself at a better angle. Just fun to tease ya with it. He grumbled something unttering. Aw, dont be like that tiger I can repay ya with anal, how does that sound? It sounded quite fair, so John grabbed the oil bottle again and put some of the lubricating lotion between her round ass cheeks. Although she had gotten a bit wet from the massage, that was only her pussy and he wasnt going to ram it into the back entrance dry. Usually, he was thered in pre-cum topensate, but not this time around.
The oil did its job and he sank in without any problems. Oh yeah, he thought as he felt the soft tightness of her asshole around him, heard her moans and saw her back tremble in pleasure, this definitely makes living in reality worth it, no matter what origin it has.
Lydia leaned over the back of the couch, to Johns left. Perhaps still a bit shook by the recent developments, the queen had finally caved and partook in the tradition that clothes were not usually worn inside the Gamers home. No uniform, no shirt, no pants, not even a summer dress. She wasntpletely naked, though, sporting the same type of sexy,ce underwear everyone had worn during the orgy yesterday. To Johns liking, it did give him another vour of (what amounted to) nakedness.
Is this how you spend yourst vacation day? she asked, the hint of disapproval in her expression greatly offset by the fact that she was basically shoving her petite tits in his face. The pink nipples stood out heavily from the ckce, easily visible thanks to the gap in the bra made specifically to make them essible.
Before he answered, John gave one of the nipples a kiss, sucked on it and circled it with his tongue. With his sexual skills, even that much made the adoring queen pant and distracted her enough that Jack could form behind her. Same problem as with Raves butthole, but without oil in reach, he decided to just push into her pussy, through the slit in her panties. It hadnt even been an hour since hest fucked Lydia, but he was going to take advantage of it, while she was there.
No, were going to do some things today, he assured her.
Thats Lydia gulped, trying to speak normally despite therge cock sliding in and out of her. Thats good as pleasing as this is, you have many things to inspect, she moaned, just as Rave came, burying her face in a pillow she had grabbed at some point. John couldnt help himself, dropped his own load inside them, and thus forced the conversation to halt for a climactic few moments.
Whew, he huffed afterwards, continuing to thrust when the orgasms had subsided. Just some mellow fucking. How much longer are you staying, Lydia?
Ill have to leave tom-mhm-orrow, she gasped her answer. A painfully short visit, but he was happy she hade over in the first ce. Giving her a long kiss, he let her know that, without wasting much in the way of inadequate words. He also put some ns together to maybe give her a pleasant surprise.
Chapter 670 – Afterparty 4 – Inspecting New Things
Chapter 670 C Afterparty 4 C Inspecting New Things
John watched his girls slide into their clothes. The way panties slid up smooth legs, shirts were stretched by breasts and pants had to be forced over bouncy asses were all enticing. I wonder how long I could watch them dress and undress until I would get bored, he asked himself, then answered his own question, I would probably be fucking one of them long before I could get bored ah, who am I kidding, I would fuck all of them and never get bored even if I couldnt.
Are ya ready? Rave asked, strutting towards him. She was wearing yoga shorts and a basic t-shirt. Both were white, contrasting with her tanned skin, and had a number of blue and green lines as decorations. Of the other girls, only Lydia had changed her attire from yesterday, now wearing a yellow summer dress with a remarkably short skirt. It was a tad darker than Gnomes and was missing the impressive embroidery, but they still looked rather close right now. Which was adorable.
His girlfriend was probably asking because of his erection, inly visible due to the bulge in the Pants of the Chosens ck cloth. Doing his best to ignore that, he would never get anywhere otherwise, he stood up. Almost, he had to deny regardless, walking over to Eliza. Hey, I have a gift for you, he told the blood mage and reached into his inventory.
Whatever the fuck could I deserve right about now? she asked, wrinkling her eyebrows and lightly adjusting her choker. It was a thin piece of ck cloth, undecorated, secured in ce through a thin rope that ran through golden eyelets, bound into a cute little ribbon in front of her throat. It was also the second item she owned that could make her look like a normal girl. Scarves werent appropriate for the season.
Plus, she loved wearing the choker, because she was naughty like that. If he bought her a cor, she would have worn that outside too, there was absolutely no doubt about that. Aside from that was just her robe and her leather, metal ring secured bikini top and bottom. Which had led to some problems, because theck of shoes meant that she carried dirt inside. One recent argument Aclysia and Eliza had due to that fact had convinced John to buy her something nice to take care of things.
His inventory produced two pairs of items. A pair of thin socks and leather boots of the borderline fetishistic variety. They were as ck as the rest of her outfit and polished to really fit in nicely. Three leather belts between ankle and upper rim let the thing be adjusted properly to the dimensions of her legs. Additionally, they looked rather nice as decorations and John had been assured that the buckles were more than strong enough to hold the bodyweight of a 1,62-metre-tall girl with above average thighs.
You deserve every gift I want to give you, John rified, but this one is also practical AND sexy. Come on, try them. He gently handed all of it over to Eliza, who made a bit of an unwilling face. The reason why she was wearing so little in the first ce was because the blood mage disliked tight clothing. Getting her to wear things that hid at least the sexual bits under the robe had been difficult enough. Eliza would have just closed the robe at the front and ran around naked underneath had John and Lydia left her back when they first had to dress her.
The good news were that she had since worn normal people clothes numerous times, not to mention the ample sessions of BDSM or roley that she had spent in bindings or maid outfits. It all served to reduce her animosity towards constricting clothes. They dont look like shit, so thats good, Eliza said, inspecting the boots. She wasnt quite as enthused about this gift than she had been about her scarf or the choker, but she put them on regardless.
Soon she was standing and John had to keep himself from salivating. The flexible leather stretched over her knee, ending at the border where Elizas thighs started to properly juice up. Between her thong and the upper rim was a territory of plump seductiveness, framed for everyone to see and only him to touch. He had grabbed the perfect size (not that it mattered, like all Abyssal clothing they had a basic resizing enchantment on them).
They dont look shit, but I am sure I look absolutely fucking stupid with those, Eliza grumbled taking a few steps, adjusting the belts a little bit, then nodding to herself, smiling for a few seconds, then making a sour face. Just give me some basic bitch shoes, these look too good on my fat legs.
Nonsense, John retorted and, because he wanted to do that anyway, dropped on his knees before her and kissed those nicely framed thighs of hers. Those are mine, are you insulting what is mine, Eliza? he asked, giving her the dominant stare, despite his position between her legs.
N-no? she asked, suddenly a bit unsure. Theck of consistency in the way she reacted to things was sometimes bothersome, but right now it was adorable, as it made her blush and wiggle a little bit like an excited and embarrassed girl that properly talked to her crush for the first time. John couldnt help but bite the inside of her thighs.
Good, he said, standing up, after giving her butt a little p. Because youre my beautiful little Eliza. I like those shoes, I think you should wear them often. He bit his lower lip, her legs were really an unfair weapon. Cant wait to see her slowly take these off, he thought.
You like these shoes, I should wear them more often, Eliza repeated, as if he had just given her a hypnotic suggestion. Which he hadnt, although the Vision of Cmity and his Charisma were both theoretically capable of it. This was just Elizas own submissiveness at the work. Fucking fine, even if they dont look that good on me she trailed off towards the end there, as John gave her a warning re. LET ME INSULT MYSELF YOU ABSOLUTE ASS!
No.
But I am a fat, useless piece of shit!
No.
Yes, I fucking am, you trashcan of a second rate girl collector!
No, and nobody here is second rate.
Well, I am. So, fuck if I know about everyone else, but I can deduce from myself and roll that pile of dung down the feces-hill from there! Because I am just the most useless, good for nothing b of cock-hungry whore...
Eliza John no longer had to act the part of the annoyed dom, his voice became quieter and deeper.
What the fuck do you even see in me?! she continued to talk, suddenly bursting out intoughter. What are you doing all of this for, huh? I am not fucking worth it! How often does shit need to happen to convince you otherwi-
ELIZA! he now shouted, and that shut her up. For a moment she just stood there, then it looked like she would copse, but he hugged and kissed her before that could happen. Remember how dear you are to me, okay? he whispered to her. I love you. You are a big part of my world. You have no need to put yourself down and you definitely shouldnt insult the rest of my harem. You know how much I love all of them as well. He stroked her white and azure hair. You understand?
Yes yes, sorry, Eliza mumbled, now calm again. She looked past John and towards everyone else. Sorry didnt mean it that way.
We know, Rave giggled and yfully flicked the blood mages forehead, ya have been having less of these episodes, so I am all happy, giving Eliza a quick smooch herself, Rave then initiated the actual move outside. Once past the Pce walls, the harem splintered off. Scarlett wasnt interested in sightseeing, the elementals were still hanging around the Elemental Inds (but would jointer), while John had something else he wanted to take care of first. That something also excluded Lydia, who would wait for him to get done with that task. Eliza and Rave, on the other hand, just couldnt be bothered with political engagements (in general or for this specific instance), so they decided to wait with the queen.
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John was apanied only by Aclysia and Beatrice, therefore, as he walked to the Harbour. Although this was a diplomatic thing he was about to engage in, he was technically still on vacation. Nobody had any right to me him for the fact, that he walked with his arms around the maids waists. Who he was going to meet already knew everything about him any way.
Awaiting him at the ce where pier andnd met, Marie only raised an amused eyebrow at his approach. John let her judge, countering whatever negative impressions she might get with a charismatic smile. Fluidly, he stepped out from between the two white-haired maids and took the hand he was offered for a greeting kiss.
My deepest apologies that you had to stay the night in the yacht, he stated, initial greetings done. With a wave of his arm, he turned around, and they began walking immediately. To his pleasure, she didnt protest that he guided her with a hand on her back. He could feel the raven-haired nobles naked skin, as her azure dress was of the variety that didnt cover that part of the body.
He could have tried to push that a bit further. Quite obviously, Marie was open to his advances. The slow boil made many meals more delicious, however, so John was content with what he got for the moment.
I have stayed there during the trip, thepartments satisfy my standards, the noble answered. The question remains open whether youre epting me as the Illuminatis ambassador, John.
Yeah, thats what I wanted to talk about, he took the easy in. Of course, the Horned Rat decided to start this procedure, but I dont think its of any importance to discuss the details of this matter with him. Not when youre the one actually staying here.
Tzat is apelling point, she answered, her French enting through. May I entrust you with something?
Whatever youre happy to share, I am happy to hear, John responded, his tone as conspiring and sexy as he could make it. Which was very C and had quite the effect thanks to the natural deepness of his voice.
Altzhough the Horned Rat may have invited me toe here, I have no obligation to y along with his schemes. I may be persuaded to omit some things he would like to know about you, whenever he asks in zhe future. There was minor pause, during which she brushed a strand of hair back. For a few favours, of course.
Mhm, whatever could I offer you? John thought out loud. My story? You said you would be interested in that.
Your story and some first-hand experiences, shall we say? she giggled. Who knows? Perhaps, in time, I wille to join your little clique of women. If Lydia can, zhen I dont see why I would not be able to. I certainly dontck zhe power.
Lydia and I have our rtionship not because of her power, John pointed out. I love her and that has nothing to do with her rank or her magic.
It remains true regardless, insisted Marie with a chuckle, pride glittering in her dark eyes. Zhe Illuminati have more resources than Rex Germaniae could. I am stronger than her and, as you can see, more beautiful as well. I would be a more than adequate recement. She nced over to John when his hand disconnected from her back and wandered into his pocket instead. Is something the matter, John?
You wont gain any favours with me by trying to oupete a woman I love, he stated outright and saw the smile on the nobles face quickly fall into a shocked expression. He looked menacing. It seemed that Marie only now realized that he hadnt been spouting empty lines whenever he confessed his love for his harem.
You know she will have to turn on you when you and Romulus inevitably sh, yes? The daughter of the leading Aristocraft of the Illuminati raised a valid question, one that John found himself asking a few times a week himself. With one important difference.
There is no such inevitability, he stated and narrowed his eyes. And what makes you any different? What is to say I wont one day sh with the Illuminatis ambitions in the world. You call yourself a historian, you should know how alliances shift over time.
Marie opened her mouth, then closed it again. I concede the point, she simply said, clearly trying to escape the argument that she had unwisely started. Resisting the urge to make a surrender joke, John let this go. He had gotten across what he wanted to, that he wouldnt tolerate any veiled insults of his loves, no need to sour rtions.
I do wonder whether thatpetitive streak is buried deep in her character or she could be convinced to let it go John thought in the ensuing silence. If she will keep trying to work herself to the top of my harem, should she even want to join properly, then that could be a problem. My Charisma should take care of it, its done the job with Nathalia. I am not so sure I can just convince Marie by fucking her until she is satisfied to just not care, though.
It was certainly the case that his interest in her character was lessened by the fact that she had, if tactfully, badmouthed Lydia. Not to the point he didnt desire her anymore, she was attractive and clearly smart, it just took some of the wind out of his sails. Adding her to the harem proper was never a priority, John barely knew the woman. Currently, he weighed in on them being just friends being fine, potentially with benefits, if things aligned themselves like that.
Would you say love is a requirement for fun, John? Maries thoughts must have gone in simr directions, as she asked that question with a clear intent on her dark pink lips. Although the answer to that was fairly obvious, judging by Johns past actions, it seemed that she was re-evaluating what she knew about him.
Not at all, he responded, smiling again, but keeping his hands in his pockets. In an age of protective measures, one doesnt need to risk their life to gain some thrill. A rollercoaster is enough of a ride for most of us. The analogy there was quite clear to everyone, but he liked this little game of dancing around the real thing they were talking about.
As you say, but such secure entertainment may be dull with time, Marie retorted. Be it due to thrill being lost or the desires for more awakening. What iz it you would do in either case?
I dont think I could ever tire of this, so I cant answer the former. It simply evades my imagination, he smoothly returned, then took an artful pause. For thetter I am but a man, so I am weak in many ways. I will say truthfully what I can give and what not. There might be disappointment had, but I cannot know unless we go there. While I can imagine and infer on this point, the future is not written, he looked her clearly in the eyes, and neither of us knows the other particrly well yet.
Zhat is, once more, as you say. The noble lightly bowed her head. Tales of your character have been selling you short in many ways. I took you for an intelligent but lustful man. I wasnt wrong, but zhe picture was iplete.
Too bad I dont n to let you go to correct the ideas people have at your home, John joked, as they finally reached their destination.
The Embassy was an interesting building. Shaped like a cylinder, with an adequate amount of windows interrupting the white, blue-trimmed walls, it stood just across the street from the Guild Bank. A fluidly thinning antenna broke up the monotony of the buildings shape, although it did make it look a bit like a bowling pin with a low polygon count.
It was big though. Although the original purpose of the Embassy was only to produce Communication Crystals, the fact that it was a Tier 3 Building also added several rooms to it that allowed it to fulfil the usual purpose of an Embassy. At least thats what the description had told John, this was the first time he actually went inside.
There were 2 entrances to the Embassy, one on the north and one on the south side. Two entrances flowed into a circr hallway, separating the floor into three segments. Two apartments on either side, and the Crystal Chamber in the middle. From the top, the wholeyout would have looked like a pokeball. A joke he made towards Marie and she, to his pleasant surprise, actually understood.
Sometimes he forgot that people that grew up in the Abyss could still be normal people and have yed the same games as everyone else.
There were three floors like that, each built the same way. Although that made for a total of six apartments, the Crystal Chamber stretched up through all floors, could be reached through a number of staircases that spiralled along the walls. They inspected that room first. It looked quite pretty. The symmetry of the stairs aside, therge, light pink crystal that stretched from the floor all the way to the ceiling sparkled in the light.
John could interface with it just by touching it, as could Aclysia and Beatrice. Marie also got shown some windows, albeit less detailed ones, and it said her permissions were locked. As much as John wanted to make a showing of the fact that he wanted good rtions with her and the guild she represented, he didnt want her to know how everything worked, so that was an appreciated piece of design.
He quickly worked out how Communication Crystals worked. Every Communication Crystal could be contacted from the Embassy, either individually or as part of one of numerous groups they could be set to belong to. While within Fusion owned territory, the Comm Crystals could also freely contact each other. Outside, they needed to recharge one day between exchanges. Same applied to the Comm Crystals making contact to the Embassy.
John made the very first Communication Crystal, only one could be spawned per day. It gave him a number of shape options, earrings, piercings, even a buttplug decoration was among them. He went with the least intrusive shape he could find, which was a nail cover. The thin crystal didnt even count as a piece of equipment, which was quite useful, as John pressed it on the nail of his thumb and it magically stuck. It was colourless and smooth, so it looked like he had applied a bit of nail polish to that finger. Barely noticeable, all things considered.
Going for a test run, it turned out that only he could hear it when somebody tried to contact him from the Embassy. The description of the item also imed that only the most thorough kinds of magicalmunication interference would affect the Comm Crystals. Pretty nifty, all around. Which it had to be, given that these thingspeted with mobile phones. There were some advantages and disadvantages to both kinds ofmunication. Luckily, it wasnt a big ask to maintain both at the same time.
They then moved onto looking at the apartments, which had two very useful attributes to them. That was, aside from being spacious, well located and high on privacy assurance. Number one, there was a terminal in each of the apartments that acted as a way for people that got assigned to the room to contact members of Fusion. Basically, they could use some parts of the Embassy as if they were guild members, without actually being such. The same number of ambassadors could be assigned as there were apartments. Number two was that all of the rooms were customizable through Gamer-powered menus, to design the spacious apartment however the assigned ambassador would prefer it. Even theyout of the walls was changeable.
If you want to, we can make it official right now, John offered. Marie was nning to stay for a week and return as an ambassadorter, but as far he was concerned, she could spare herself the trip back overseas. She agreed to the role, but said that she would have to return to Paris regardless, to get everything officialised back home. Bureaucracy and court traditions and other such things.
John was interested to see more of her regardless.
Chapter 671 – Afterparty 5 – A sudden French possibility
Chapter 671 C Afterparty 5 C A sudden French possibility
This tea is incredible, Marie dered, taking another sip of what Aclysia had given her. I dont think I could do this better.
Aclysia is the best, John confirmed, then sliced into a piece of cake with his fork. He had brought both the tea and the cake in his inventory, remainders from the breakfast that were too good for the coldness of the fridge when his inventory could preserve them.
She is certainly quite good, dont know about the best, the French noble responded. I dont make a habit of dealing in absolutes. All issues and states have nuances that need to be explored.
For the sake of conversation, John asked, Do tell me something that is nuanced like that? He could think of a list of things himself, but he was interested in hearing her.
Zhe issue of having a nobility, she brushed a strand of her ck hair back into the orderly, unequal parting of her hair, an issue that had its origin in a very different social setting. You needed fighters, capable leaders of armies and people that could administratend. A bloodline iz a good way to assure a steady stream of people, especially when such people need to enjoy a very specific upbringing to be capable of their posts.
In modern days, however, meritocracy allows us to find such people easier, especially since information distribution andmunication has be so much easier, John stated. There is no need to elevate families above others. Not when you can pass all necessary information through books and data.
And yet, no matter what time, humanity will always recognize names, Marie answered, finishing thest bit of her own cake. Even in zhis republic you were born in. Bush, Lincoln, Kennedy, Washington, people that bear those names, bear the inheritance, they create certain feelingz in the average person. Im no proponent of the tyranny of the masses, but I think that there must be something true about things zhat people feel instinctively.
John hummed, also chewing the rest of his cake, leaning back before he responded. Yes, I can agree with that in general. He looked around. Over the course of half an hour, Marie had decorated this living room to her liking. Everything had a royal re, expensive wood and gold decorations. The walls were a simple white, the ceiling covered in decorative patterns shaped from ster that rivalled a pce, the floor covered by a firm, blue carpet.
She had proven to have a re for old timey things. There were replicas of paintings on the wall,ndscape artistry, sprawled out green forests and misty mountains, in the style of the Renaissance era. A grandfather clock swung, the pendulum visible behind the ss, the sound of the steady back and forth calming. The room was still a bit barren, the rest of the apartment yet to be designed, something she would have ample time forter.
Pardon my question, he continued to another topic, but I do have to wonder, what historical figures might you be rted to, then?
Two namez, that you might find more or less exciting, and that share a mistake between them. Marie smiled lightly. I am rted to Napoleon Bonaparte in a dishonourable way, being that my father is out of zhe line of Alexandre, one of Napoleons children out of wedlock.
Huh, I never really thought about the children of Napoleon, admitted the Gamer. Its a bloodline that fizzled out of relevancy rather quickly.
As you say, the Bonapartes were like a flower that bloomed for only one season. Beautiful in many ways, but unwanted in the grand design of the gardener. A doom he brought onto himself, many of his victories can be attributed to the use of magic. The ingenious use of magic, as zhe legends attest to, but magic nheless. Regardless, my rtions to Napoleon is incidental, my bloodline precedes his by hundreds of years. Do you wish to guess who it started with, John?
Jeanne dArc, the Gamer shot immediately and grinned when her surprised face told him he was right on the money. Your families main holdings are in Normandy and Bretagne, yet your main residence is in Orleans. You said it was quite old and that your ancestor also used magic to bring about a miracle C to her eventual ill fortune, as Gaia likely saw to. He shrugged a bit in his seat. I havent dug deep into everyone overseas, but I know my basics well enough to make educated guesses.
Magnifique, Marie smiled, her white teeth showing, I am d to see your reputation as a schemer doesnt make you end at being a tactician. Alzhough quite a basic deduction, very quicklye to. Indeed, my bloodline was founded by zhe maiden of Orleans, even if our name bares no resemnce to it.
Maries family bore the name Damocles, after the antique Greek legend. The origin was likely that they were meant to be the sword of uncertainty that could strike the enemies of France down at any moment. Well, I am impressed, John had to admit. I can assume youre no holy virgin though?
She raised a hand to her mouth and giggled behind the partial covering of her slender fingers, a very graceful anddylike motion. No, no, I cannot state as much. I would not be as foregoing as I was if my maidenhood was still intact. I am a child of these times with old roots, which I honour, but I am neither holy nor a maiden.
Hey, I could be just that attractive, John joked. Weirder things have happened.
It certainly is true that were both beautiful enough to engage even those sworn to their purity, Marie stated. I zhink that has a higher value. A life lived like a puritan is a life shackled in ignorance in search of bliss. There is a kind of elf that inhabits a part of Paris that illustrates this quite well.
And there it is again, John thought, at the initial statement of hers there. She twisted the thing I said into apliment for both of us. A bit irritating It wasnt the worst habit he had ever seen on somebody, but he did continuously notice it. Especially since she was so unapologetic about it. What she had said about Lydia was still at the back of his mind.
She hadnt asked for forgiveness for what she had said. All she had done was avoid the topic. That was good, in a way, but it left John with a sort of ashen aftertaste. It was an iplete solution from her side, that much was certain. However, as this was just their second meeting (and their first proper one), he held back on making any sweeping judgements about her reasons for going about things the way she did. Whether she was too prideful, ashamed, or just didnt register it as an issue, all that remained to be seen. Because of this, he also didnt want to waltz in and berate her. Even if it irked him, he wanted to learn more about her first.
Do tell, he said instead, keeping all of these things at the back of his mind, as he leaned forwards on the table to listen intently.
Happy to have his interest, Marie straightened up visibly, having slouched slightly over the course of the conversation. Theymit themselves to the idea of purity so highly that they iste themselves individually. The number of their poption is strictly regted amongst them and they only find love for one night to conceive. As you can imagine, theyre quite the unhappy people, spending years not exchanging any words with anyone, but honour and culture keeps them to their ways.
That does sound horrible, John had to agree, ncing towards the grandfathers clock. Not to condemn you to a simr fate, but I will have to take my leave soon. The day demands more of me.
The noble let her unhappiness about this show. I enjoyed talking to you a lot, John, she stated, emptied her cup and then put it down on the mahogany table. I hope we can repeat this sometime soon. There was a small pause, a regretful look in her eyes, as she cast down her gaze at her hands. Hopefully with less carelessly picked words.
There might be hope here, John thought as he rose from the table and crossed its round shape to lower himself at the side of her chair. I am willing to entertain whatever rtionship you could want to have with me C as long as you inform yourself of the things you have to give in return. As he was about to leave, he decided that he might as well leave her with the proper and clear information that she needed to think about what he was about. Being part of my harem basically means that you are in a rtionship with not just me but everyone thats part of it as well. My girls are all friends and lovers of each other, in some fashion. Whether this is worthwhile for you to pursue, you have to decide. Whether it will work should you do he made a sour face and shrugged, thatll remain to be seen.
He could have pointed out that his track record was pretty clear in these things. However, telling her that he had never had a girl try to join his harem fail at it would have been pretty rude if she then turned out to be the first one. That aside, Johns interest in her was renewed. She was quite witty and knew interesting things, was beautiful and smart, all things John valued highly. Plus, although the condition had be better over the course of the year, the Gamer was still pretty weak to women that gave him attention.
Just that she seemed to constantlypare herself to others and wished to outdo them was a bit of a problem. There seemed to be a bit of a self-esteem issue going on with her. Whether this was too little or too much, John wasnt quite sure, but he leaned towards thetter. However, he had yet to meet the person without vices, so it wasnt a deal breaker.
He kissed the back of her hand again, in goodbye, then stood up. Once he was above her again, their brown eyes met. Hers were a lot darker than his, he could see his silhouette mirrored. More than himself, he noticed her lightly flushed features, how her breath exited through her slightly parted lips. Although her Rtionship Score remained hidden, it was quite evident that he had an arousing effect on her.
I think, she said very slowly, very quietly. I would like to be pursued instead, John Newman.
Now thats a deration I didnt expect, he thought, as he tried to understand the implications. Is she saying that she is leaving it to me how far things go and she is already willing for everything? Perhaps she wants the position in which she is able to reject me? Or is this just a test to see what I do next? If I push this on, and some political objectionse of it, she is the heir after all, me would be put mostly on me. Women can be soplicated Letting none of those thoughts reflect on his face, John trusted in his instincts, leaned down, grabbed her chin, and kissed her.
Although the meeting of their lips was tender, his hold of her was firm. He didnt use his tongue and neither did he make itst long. Marie let him stay in charge throughout the entire thing, clearly answering the motion willingly, but not trying to stay connected when he pulled back. For a few moments afterwards, he searched in her eyes for her intentions, any hidden desires or motives. He couldnt find any, they were locked away behind a noble upbringing and individual strength of character.
Then I will pursue at my pace, he announced, and she smirked satisfied. Its going to be slow at times, because I am busy, and probably breakneck at others. I might stop somewhere, when you want more, because I dont think I want more from you. I will be honest every step along the way though. Does that work for you, Lady Marie?
Wonderfully, she sighed, brushing a finger over her now glistening lips. Your kiss is soft and beautiful like a butterfly but determined like a hungry wolf, anyone ever told you that?
No, he answered honestly. However, he would archive thatparison for his egos sake.
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So, yeah, thats what happened with Marie, John finished reporting to his girlfriend. As per their agreement, she got to learn everything about his side-adventures. He would have told her anyway, if it wasnt for that. Rave wasnt just his girlfriend, she was also his best friend, and there was nothing he wouldnt have confided in her with.
Wanna have my guess why she wants you to chase her? she asked, and John nodded. When it came to social things, the Lightbearer quite often saw things he didnt. Reason number one, she just likes it. Rave also had a tendency to exin things in ways that were equally unhelpful and cryptic while saying the most obvious thing ever.
You are still terrible at exining things, John therefore teased her and earned himself a p on the ass. You can do that as often as you like, but I will return three spanks for every one received! he warned.
Why is that exchange rate so skewed in your favour, tiger? Rave wanted to know.
Because your ass jiggles when I spank it and the world demands more jiggle, he stated. Also, because I am the head of the Bank of Spanks and I say that thats the exchange rate. I have made the deal, pray I dont alter it. He gave one of the warned ps to her butt right then and there and was rewarded with a surprised, pleased yelp. Also that. He grinned, leaving his hand where it hadnded. Anyway, is that another one of these confidence is sexy moments?
Ja, Rave booped him on the nose. Look, I was really straightforward with ya, but I still liked it way more when ya went after me. Girls are just made that way, we like the attention and we like seeing guys make the effort. She made a couple chaotic motions. General statement, exceptions may apply, men can enjoy getting chased too, .
Alright, I can understand that much, John was following along the exnation well so far. Actually, did guess that point in some way. You said number one, though, so whats number two?
Bee, his girlfriend said and raised both of her hands and index fingers. Furrowing his eyebrows, John looked up, trying to find that insect. Then he realized she meant the letter B, remembered her odd listing habits, and just heard out her exnation. She definitely wants ya. You definitely want her. Physically. When ites to how well you would work as lovers his girlfriend shrugged, both of ya dont know, so shes handing it off to ya, because you have more experience.
Aaaah, yeah, that makes sense, John nodded, understanding.
Rave had a follow up question for him. Ya think shespatible with us?
No idea, he replied honestly. She didnt say anything too disagreeable after the Lydia thing
Something, the queen herself interjected, taking time out of her conversation with Eliza. That I will act like I didnt hear for the sake of international stability.
Yes, thank you, the Gamer nodded in the brtes direction. Anyway, she didnt say anything bad after that, but I just I feel like she may have some people issues that could be a bit difficult to resolve.
Like what? Rave asked.
Like the typical aristocrat grew up without peers or superiors thing, John exined. And not in someically distorted way where she obviously thinks everyone else is beneath her. She is a good person at heart, I believe that much, I just think she may not be aware of her own superiorityplex. If I am even right and thats it.
Alright? Rave didnt sound like shepletely understood, but also like she had gotten the core of it. Whadderya nning to do then?
Honestly? I dont know, John responded. I am going to go y this one close to the chest. Because of her position and the fact that shes going to live across from where I work, I am going to be pretty careful about this though. Probably going to not have sex with her until I know her properly. A number of gasps, some of them overyed, but all of them genuine in origin, came from the girls around him. I know, shocker, he drily stated. The thing is that this whole thing feels unusual. Like if I didnt already have all of you, I would have definitely fallen for her by now. She just has that special something once I get intimate with her, I am pretty certain itll be difficult to make things less.
Metra giggled, stepping up to John and throwing an arm around his shoulders. By Tiamat, you sound like a pragmatic romantic. Just stick your dick in her, Master, youre the ruler. You get to do what you want.
Pretty sure I am a respected ruler because I could but dont, John retorted, not hesitating to grope Metras butt as well.
I am conflicted, Lydia hummed. You slept with me quite early in our actual rtionship, and things worked out fine.
Yes, they did, John agreed. But things are always a bit different. We had sex after Jane suggested it and you were just interested in my body at the time. Things developed from there and it took several weeks and its not like that went without problems. Lydia nodded, he was voicing exactly why she was feeling conflicted. Also, there were less of us back then, things were still wild and wonky and we didnt really know what we were doing, just that we were having fun. Were a cohesive group now, a family of lovers and friends. Right?
Right! Rave agreed, cing a quick peck on his lips. For what its worth, took us like a week to do mouth stuff for the first time and then another week to actually have sex.
You mean aside from that one time you bribed me with a blowjob.
Yup, Rave grinned and ced another kiss on his cheek. And I nned to let ya wait at least a month. Just worked out differently cause almost dying makes me super horny.
It really does John mumbled, remembering the way his own reproductive instinct kicked in after near-death experiences. I am almost sad I cant abuse that.
Anyhowzels, his girlfriend continued with that nonsensical word, ya and me hit it off pretty quickly by most standards. Aclysia had to be given Libido first. Nathalia, okay, well, it was either riding ya or eating us. Eliza here Rave rubbed a certain part of her throat, yeah, that happened. Elementals ya had to teach. Lydia just told us her part. Momo decided to get Libido in the first ce. With Nia you also flirted and waited for a bit after meeting her. Siena was pretty quick. Metra also very quick. With Beatrice ya waited for a while after her creation so she could form more as a person. Scarlett nock of wanting, but ya waited for quite a bit with here as well.
Thats about urate, John blinked, wondering where this was going.
My point is, Rave read that thought and rested her head on his shoulder, that love and lust areplicated. If ya think waiting is good, wait. Theres absolutely no reason to approach everyone ya meet the same way. People are different and so your approach should be different. Marie told ya to pursue her, so youre free to take this at whatever pace you feel is right. She, his harem allowing, easy-going dreamgirl of a bubble-butt having girlfriend, gave him the most encouraging smile he didnt deserve, Youre my tiger, so I trust ya know whats best.
I love you, John just had to say. Whatever happened with Marie, whether it was sessful or not, he was just happy knowing that he would always have Rave. He rested his head against hers and just hummed happily. Kisses couldnt do his feelings for her justice, nothing could. He hoped the happiness he felt radiating from his skin did it at least make her feel a fraction of it.
Given that she hummed in tune with him, that seemed quite possible.
Chapter 672 – Afterparty 6 – Fae Forest
Chapter 672 C Afterparty 6 C Fae Forest
They met up with the elementals close to the Midnight Forest. With the exception of Scarlett, everyone who could have been there was there. They moved in and there was a general sense of awe at the way the day was reced with the starlit night. As John noted, there was no lunar eclipse. Whatever blocked out the moon had moved, creating a sickle not unlike the normal lunar cycle. With the difference that the celestial object looked much closer and the blockade moved visibly.
So thats how the passage of time looks here, he stated as they walked through the trees. They werent the only visitors. A few of the people that attended the second day of the festival were also interested in exploring this newndmark. Since yesterday evening, the Fairy Lantern had also been doing its job.
The further in they got, walking towards thentern on a post, so high it even looked over the trees, the more fairies they found. They came in many shapes, but they had a few things inmon in any iteration. First, they were quite small, even the tall ones only reaching up to Sylph when she was in her usual form. Second, they all didnt know what shyness meant.
Sapient balls of light, tiny fae with six eyes and the abdomen of spiders but the wings of dragonflies, tiny humans with dresses of leaves and grass, to only name a few, circled around John and his girls as they walked around. They didnt stop with looking. Jokingly, theynded in hair and hid behind ears. Joyfully, they bounced off breasts and climbed into clothes. Mischievously, they tickled and flipped skirts.
It wasnt all fun and games. The way theyughed was inhuman. That was to say, the sounds were very well in the human range, just the freedom with which theyughed invoked in John a certain unease, as it sounded like someone who had foregone reason entirely. It wasnt just maddened, like Eliza, it was just strictly different.
And sometimes, when John looked around, he caught some of them turning into different entities. Red eyes and dangerous smiles and words in an unknownnguage that beckoned children deep into forests. As adorable as they were, like all fantastical creatures John had encountered so far, they were born from humanitys collective consciousness. Fairies were often depicted as benevolent things, whimsical and helpful. At the root of all stories, however,y the fact that they were different. They werent as morally categorizable as angels or demons were. They were part of nature and the unknown.
I might have to tear this down, John mumbled when he saw the shadow of a branch transform into a many-headed snake that slithered up a tree, howled at the moon and then burst into a swarm of butterflies of a toxic green colour. Rave caught one of them on her finger, yelped when it bit her and incinerated it with a quick burst of sunlight.
The entire forest hissed for the duration of the sh.
Imma say ya might want to consider that, Rave agreed, thereby warned. Although the fairies had only found their way to this ce over thest twelve hours or so, the changes were already apparent. While their true bodies were apparently quite small, fairies had some sort of possessive effect on their surroundings. Many of the trees around the Fairy Lantern were changed, their leaves light blue, with bark of silver. Flows of sap, flowing more fluidly than water, made the unnaturally scattered branches appear like a waterpark, and the fairies danced on the streams.
The fairies and Sylph, who had begun to mingle with them at some point. For quite obvious reasons, she fit in quite nicely. Although herugh wasnt inhuman, just carefree, and her attitude had nothing of the odd bloodthirstiness, Sylph was attended to by a bunch of the fairies. They made her a little crown of des of grass and pieces of bark, put it on her head and bounced over the twigs with her.
Less and less of them, as John noticed. The number of dangerous fairies increased, as they passed the de where the bed still stood. Under the frame of the bed was a darkness soplete it couldnt exist. Eyes of silver stared and followed them. Observe came up with no result whatsoever, not even a sassy remark towards the bed. The silver eyes closed, but the darkness remained.
Those fairies were different. They wererge and had fleeting forms. They, too, found interest in one Johns elementals. Where Siena walked, the snakes and nebulous hounds that wove their bodies out of shadows and strands of starlight followed, as if her trail was something that could nourish them. The moonshade elemental hissed at them, her ded tail whipping, when the things came too close one time. From that point onward, none of those dangerous faeries came close to her or anyone of the group again.
Aclysia, Beatrice, John stopped for a moment, as they werent too far from their destination now, go and watch over those other people that are wandering around here. I dont want anyone to be lost. He also put a few of the Sentry Golems on patrolling duty nearby and gave them warnings to say to people thinking about entering.
For a moment he considered using the Vision of Cmity to get a warning about any potential mishaps. Doing so, however, would have reduced the quality of his sight, warranting another repair, and he wanted to get the Blessing of Binding activated. To do so, he had to actually wear the contacts for three days continuously.
The maids obeyed and walked off in search of those other groups. Monitoring their mental connection closely, John walked deeper into the forest. I thought this would just be a fun vanity thing, lets hope I can still save it to be just that.
When they arrived at the Fairy Lantern, John saw a few unexpected things at once. Themppost was situated between two ck rock formations. Although all of the Guild Hall was decorated for summer, somehow, the floor between those rocks was covered in golden leaves. They didnt seem to be actually dead, they were too firm and stable, but the colour was that of autumn. They made for an oddly soft and feathering ground to tread upon.
The trees around had been warped. None were higher than Johns waist, their branches made up abyrinthinework that stretched around everywhere, melding to create one cyclopean unit of wood. Each branch was thick enough that John could barely wrap his hand around them. Where the trunks should have been, there were rings of impossibly healthy bark. The cores were hollow, and out of those hollow stumps flew golden and purple glowing particles. asionally a fairy woulde flying out.
Two figures of human size were close to the centre of it all. Sitting on one of the branches, the Horned Rat stretched his feet towards the empty centre around the Fairy Lantern. He acknowledged Johns arrival with a silent nod. The Gamer was too distracted by the other person to ask what Richard was doing there.
With the grace of a cat, she stepped along the maze of branches. Her body was d in long strands of white silk, fluttering after her steps like visible winds. More like a liquid, unaffected by gravity, her silver and gold hair followed her head in the shape of a drop that was getting pulled along by a magical force. Her skin was either pitch ck or as white as milk, depending on what one decided was the base and what the lines shifting on top. Aside from the shape of her body, the only thing that seemed remotely human about her were her eyes, simple and green, although the feeling John got when his gaze met hers was like hearing any other fairyugh. She was merely borrowing the appearance of a human.
The host of my court has arrived, the daughter of Titania said, her voice like a knife of ss cutting through snow. She missed no step as she spoke; indeed, it looked like she couldnt stop even if she wanted to. Her long legs moved like flowing mercury. I am honoured to have found the light of your light, Earl.
I am not an earl, John stated, wondering how he should approach things. Trying to cross this maze sounded like a headache, but for what he knew climbing on top could have been a grave insult. Before he could make a decision, Sylph was already dancing over the branches. Tiny, at first, then in her big form. Compared to the tall woman that was Methenia, she still looked rather small.
The Bramble Dancer did not take offense to this. Instead, she smiled. Soon her and Sylphs movements synchronized, their steps and gestures the same, while they danced around the middle. John was reminded of the two electrons of a helium atom, as represented by the Bohr model.
Youre the Earl of this space, Methenia exined, while passing him. John quickly came to the conclusion that this was one of the few women he had ever met he wasnt interested in in the slightest. Her face was oddly rectangr, as was her torso. Although all of her movements were graceful, she was t both up and downstairs, no tits or ass to speak of. She was less a woman than a slightly feminized piece of nature. Youmand the space a court of fae is set on, this makes you the Earl. The Earl of the Bramble Court. Your wish is mymand. Let the shadow dance with us.
Those two statements sounded disconnected by the rules of grammar, her tone, however, made it sound like these things were no different. Looking to Siena, the moonshade elemental was already getting on top of the maze of brambles. And the rest of us? John asked, as he resigned to adding Earl to his list of unwanted titles.
Pass between us, Methenia said. As we dance. The gale that grows, the star, and the daughter of Titania.
John, just wanting this whole thing to start making sense sometime soon, went along with the wish and passed the maze. It was surprisingly easy. Although, looking behind him, he noticed that the other girls soon found themselves on entirely different paths, despite having closely followed him. There was a blur where branches should have been at some points, making his brain hurt. Ultimately, they all made it through though. Except for Lydia, who, no matter how often she tried, always exited where she entered again.
Crossing her arms, the queen tapped her foot a number of times. I tire of tests like this, she dered and refused to attempt again. It wasnt like they couldnt speak with each other over thebyrinth anyway.
Well wrap this up quickly, John told her and turned to the Horned Rat to ask the immediate question. And what are you doing here?
Catching up with family, you could say, the god returned with a giggle. Although John wanted to point out that Richard didnt exactly strike him as a fairy, he had seen other odd things in thest few minutes. At the very least, the Horned Rat had his arm back. No, really, I am just spying on you and what this is all about.
Yeah, that sounds more urate, John mumbled, then turned to Methenia. Youmand this court then?
No, Earl, youmand the court, I am the head of it, the dancer returned, her, Sylph and Siena now synchronized in, once again, thergest possible distance. Whatever you desire, I will have had it willed.
Right, then, as Earl, make sure none of the fairies ever harm a human - or any other sapient being - that enters here, he stated, going into further detail, before he could be hit with the insides being outside isnt harm or other odd ideas faeries may have about life. This means that you wont lead anyone anywhere from where they couldnt get away from on their own, you wont break skin or cause injuries and you wont charm anyone into doing anything they wouldnt agree with when they are of a normal, human state of mind. Do you understand?
I obey Methenia stated, the branches under her feet cracking and breaking away once she had stepped off them. John guessed this meant she wasnt particrly happy about such restrictions. To alleviate a potential source of disgruntlement, the Gamer specified a few other things.
You can disregard these orders if somebody is harming the fairies in this forest. You can y with people, for all I care you can confuse them a little bit, just dont make them chase a light and suddenly find themselves on another continent. He didnt even know if that was possible, but the forest felt a good chunkrger than what he had originally made, and with all of the other twisted things going on, he wasnt going to take a risk. Just remember that you set up your court in my human space, so you have to y by my rules. Youre wee to leave if that bothers you.
The cracking stopped, now there was just the asional creaking, as she continued to dance along. The white and ck of her face continued to flow symmetrically, until it vanished under the silk wrapped around the rest of her body. I listen, Earl.
For once, John had the luxury of knowing he could take care of this problem effectively, should it go south. Deleting the Fairy Lantern was as easy as a few clicks. Defeating Methenia should also be quite easy, as she was less than half his level. He nodded, satisfied, and turned around to leave.
The forest already seemed to readjust itself, as he witnessed through the maids and the Mand Sphere, with the predatory fairies rising out of the shadows and all relocating north. They didnt seem to n to leave, but they would make their own, creepier corner of the Midnight Forest.
The Bramble Court is at your service, Earl, Methenia assured. We cannot distance ourselves too far from here, the light of thentern keeps us clear, but listen we shall, if you make where we can hear the call.
So, I got myself an otherworldly security force? Lovely, John thought, only somewhat sarcastic. He would take all the help he could in case of invasion. Alright, Ill leave you to it then, John dered, ncing at the Horned Rat, then making his way back out of the maze.
Chapter 673 – Afterparty 7 – Elemental Islands
Chapter 673 C Afterparty 7 C Elemental Inds
Always interesting what environmental effects happen when I ce Buildings, John stated as they crossed the stone bridge that led them to the first of the Elemental Inds. Hisment wasnt actually in reference to the Earth Ind they were about to step onto, but the Air Ind in the distance. Reason being that there was a floating ind hovering above the one he had ced.
They passed a Sentry Golem on duty, something that Lydia noted approvingly. Youre minimizing the risk now. Good. Obviously, John didnt want a repeat of the fairy forest. After they had left, John had found several people harmed from events before he had made themand. One had an arm covered in butterfly bites, another had his hair turned into a thorny mess that had to be shaved off and the third had been bitten by the thing under the bed and couldnt stop dancing until Undine healed the wound.
Even though he assured all of them that such things would not happen in the future, John doubted they would take another stroll through the Midnight Forest. In like fifty years, it urred to the Gamer, therell be a couple of young people that walk through there like its absolutely nothing, thinking fairies are all fun and games, until they go somewhere and learn that it was all thanks to my presence I have be pretty powerful.
It wasnt quite on the level of trantes anguage to be understandable by everyone who hears it yet, but John definitely was progressing in making his corner of the world somewhere the usual rules didnt apply to in the expected ways. Who knew? Maybe, in like one-thousand years, some people would start worshipping him like some worshipped Romulus. Maybe that would already happen in one year.
By the by, Rave spoke up, when they had taken their first steps on the ind. Can we talk about ya not getting through that maze?
What is there to converse about in that topic? Lydia retorted, her eyes hardening. Fairies and I cannot stand each other. Their whimsical ways infuriate me and to call their respectless assortment of harmful woond critters with horns and teeth and other protrusions a court offends me personally.
Ya got history with Methenia or something?
One of her siblings, in all likelihood. I made one of my subjects banish a fairy court from hisnds after they caused 3,2 billion dors worth of property damage by causing a chain reaction that culminated in an explosion in a mana factory. The queen crossed her arms. I was told at the time to move my iron smelling ass out of colour distance.
I cant say I am too surprised you dont get along with fairies particrly well, John admitted as they stepped through the forest. The ground was peculiar. Smooth and hard, brown stone that spilled around the trunks of the trees like a hardened zing. Tiny earth elementals reced the usual dirt found on forest floors, sentient pebbles that rolled around, with no higher intelligence to speak off. A few bigger stones could say a few words. Boulders with arms and legs waved and said a very slow hello.
None of the inds were particrlyrge. Maybe fifty metres, if measured at the broadest possible point. Sizeable enough to be worth a walk, but nothing one could sessfully hide a lot on. Although elementals shaped like rocks were the mostmon ones, there was also a number of other things. Walking nts, pools of mud that slugged around and other earth-based beings all existed. The one John found most impressive (and unusual) was a being whose outline looked like a man, shaped entirely from gears and clockwork, walking around in correspondingly rigid motions.
None of them seemed hostile in any way. A few visitors were already on the ind, looking around, climbing on top of boulder-shaped elementals, whoughed very slowly and jolly in response. Those that didnt want to be interacted with made this very clear through hissing sounds or polite words. They behaved very much in line with human expectancy, which was why John looked at things a bit more rxed.
If one got lethally poisoned by petting a cat that purred the entire time, suddenly grew spider fangs and ripped into the persons arm, then that was unexpected and quite unfortunate. Sure, one should be aware that fairies were unpredictable, but John couldnt fault people for being curious and then getting surprised by something that alien. In contrast, if a two-metre wide turtle that probably weighed a ton told a visitor to please not try to shoot a photo of its belly, then the person that got squashed by a sitting stone tortoise was in for a Darwin Award.
Numerous elementals gathered around him and Gnome, thanking them for this ce. Elementals loved getting out of their home ne as the continuously assured existence there was (at least supposedly) quite boring. In the human world, they could experience such things as food and smell and other tastes of magic. With the right design decisions they could even get to know what Johns elemental girls felt at least once a day. Something that was impossible between elementals while they were on their home ne. It all required a manifested body.
Normally, such a manifestation required a summoner. In rare cases, Natural Barriers allowed elementals to use the Faith inside to manifest themselves. In even rarer cases, such Natural Barriers werent popted by monsters, so elementals could freely materialize for as long as such a hotspotsted. That could be for a few days or a couple hundred years. The Elemental Inds were a series of artificial hotspots. They worked mechanically the same way, supplying the power for the spirits to manifest themselves.
The amount of power handed out to that end was limited, which prevented these inds from getting absolutely swamped in entertainment-starved elementals. When John strained his senses a little bit, honed by Elementalist and Elemental Unity, he could feel all the spirits waiting in line. They couldnt perceive anything happening on the Elemental Inds until they actually manifested, but they all wanted to be there.
Whether more artificial hotspots like this existed, John did not know. Lydia did, however. I am aware of a limited number, she stated, some dating back to times so distant that we arent sure who made them in the first ce. Stonehenge is the most renowned among those, its the only known ce on earth where elementals of all kinds and fairies pour into the same barrier. Replicating that spell has been a universal failure. There is a general procedure that can be used to attract one of the six elements at a time. As such, this space is only special due to its cost effectiveness.
She finished her exnation and the group reached the actual Building. It was a small temple in an ancient Greek style, albeit made with brown stone, rather than white. Through a wall of pirs, the group stepped and found a rectangle shaped basin, in which an earthy brown fluid gathered. It looked a bit unappetizing, like very fluid mud. John threw an Observe its way before anyone went ahead and touched it.
John checked the Attributes of the thing to get an even better understanding. Most of it was just vour text, describing how this magic would behave in motion or that elementals could eat it to gain a spike of mana. Something that caused John to immediately urge Gnome to try drinking it and report on the strength of the effect. If it could be used as a potion in battle, to heal them or to give a general power boost, then that was important.
However, she reported that it was a minuscule effect whenpared to the mana he was sending her every second. Maybe it could have been useful at earlier levels, but he had outssed it by now. Annoying, he thought, but maybe itll get stronger at higher Tiers, making it worth my while. I should keep an eye on this. Hey, Lydia, what is Terrium?
Terrium is Lydia began, only to stop when the exnation she wanted to start didnte. Furrowing her brows, she had to admit, I do not know of this material. What makes you ask?
Its mentioned in the Infused Material Attribute. If I leave some metals soaking in there long enough, they will turn into Terrium at a rate of 1 gram per 100 days, John exined. It will also naturally form if nothing is soaking in the pool at 1 gram per 1000 days.
U-uh, Gnome swiped thest bit of essence from her mouth, to her it tasted as nd as still water. Must be something really good if its created that slowly, right?
I do have a theory, John responded, to nobodys surprise, John Newman always had a theory. Just need to get to the next shrine thingy to confirm it. Lets move on.
Across another bridge, and they found themselves on the Fire Ind. Heat radiated from every surface, doubtlessly courtesy of the red crystals that reached out from everywhere. Observing them showed them to be decorative things only, that would crumble into useless shards if broken off, so Johns interest in them faded pretty quickly. Just like on the Earth Ind, numerous smaller elementals came flocking to John and one of his elementals. Appropriate to the where, the who was Smander rather than Gnome this time around.
There were safe paths over the ind, but a miniature volcano in the middle of it fed a constant stream ofva. As it was a peaceful flow and no spouting of molten rock into the air, everything was as safe asva could be, albeit still extremely hot. A cave entrance at the side brought them into a surprisinglyrge cavity underneath. Sorge that no magma chamber could have logically existed, but that hadnt stopped any of Johns Buildings or general abilities so far.
Surrounded by ten pirs of fallingva was a circr crack in the ground that held a ruby red liquid. There was nothing worthwhile mentioned in the Observe. Every instance of earth was reced by fire, with rted adjectives swapped to keep with the theme. Only one thing caught Johns eye and made him shake his head with an unbelieving giggle.
Oblivium, he simply said. 1 gram per 100 days with base metal, 1 gram per 1000 days without. Looking over to his other girls. These things produce, albeit at an extremely low rate, the elemental metals that shouldnt be producible.
Thats ludicrous, Lydia stated, raised a hand to her chin in a thoughtful matter, then put on her nicest, most seductive and non-serious smile. Oh, my beloved John, would you promise me a trade agreement over these metals, that none but Fusion and Rex Germaniae may receive these priceless metals? With every word of that question, she stepped closer to him, until she whispered into his ear and a stray strand of her auburn hair tickled his chin.
What about the rest of Romulus empire? he asked teasingly, even as he groped her nice butt. Sometimes he wished it was bigger, it was certainly the least impressive one in the harem, which just made it firmly above average. Tall bar and all that. Very nice to touch regardless and so soft that he wanted to rest his hips on it, while his dick was buried deep in-between.
Lydia, unable to keep the act up, switched back to her disciplined tone. The emperor can certainly supply his own ambitions. Youre my beloved, perhaps you can allow me to profit from this, my most unwise decision at infrequent asions? Although her tone was back to the usual, the way her perfect, red lips moved so close to his skin and she pushed her curves against his body and hands was making him feel more warmth than theva.
Ill think about it, he earnestly promised. But dont take advantage of my love for you too often. I might get the idea youre only doing these things to use me.
It wouldnt be worth the hassle and the hit to my pride that being one of many girls is, Lydia stated, and they kissed quickly. Only genuine adoration could make me so foolish. That was a deration John neither wanted to question nor tease. Therefore, they just moved on to check out the remaining inds.
On the Water Ind, numerous crystals served as springs for crystal clear water that flowed towards the Hudson in small to medium sized streams. A castle of those light blue gems formed the local shrine, the Elemental Essence inside, dripping steadily from a chandelier-like formation into arge bowl bnced on a thin pir. One more Observe and John had the double confirmation, as it would produce Poseidury.
For the Wind Ind, reaching the shrine was a bit moreplicated, as it was located atop the flying ind. John checked it out with only Sylph and Smander in tow, the two elementals apanying the Mand Sphere. There was a metal cage, inside it a bright green liquid hovering in a spherical shape. Through Observing it as well, John learned the name of the impossible wind metal: Tempi (as oddly cute as that name was for a material).
The mountain splitndscape of the Shadow Ind was odd to behold. ck miniature mountains, that he had ced there just like he had in the Midnight Forest, had changed. The shadow their small spires cast were pitch ck, many rocks no longer cared about the grip of gravity and just hovered about. One of those pitch-ck shadows turned out to be the entrance to a cave. It was an interesting experience to descend into it. No matter how much John searched, his hands couldnt find the walls. All the orientation he had was the light of the entrance and a dark purple pool that glowed softly in the darkness.
John felt like something was watching him, a presence like spider legs on his neck. Even though he had only met her once before, he recognized the Mother of Shadows gaze. Seems like that one has a bit of an easier time looking into the real world, John theorized, since he had felt no such things at the other temples. Either that, or none of the other Mothers are interested.
Whatever it was, the Mother of Shadow didnt say anything, as John went to confirm that this pool would produce Schattengarn. That one he was particrly excited about, given the legendary quality of his currently worn clothes.
Chapter 674 – Afterparty 8 – Light Temple, and future tours
Chapter 674 C Afterparty 8 C Light Temple, and future tours
Thest ind did not have a shrine or temple among thendscape. Rather, the temple WAS thendscape. Surrounded by a thin strip of grass, separating it from the Hudson, the Building was lowered into the ground. Arge rectangr basin, stretching from one end of the Light Ind to the other, fashioned from some sort of golden stone and decorated with silver bits. It was a structure without shadows. Most of the surfacey exposed to the summer sun, reflecting the golden rays as a steady glow. In the corners where the darkness should have had at least some presence, the Building itself radiated a steady, weak gold.
The way down into the t court thaty three metres below where they stood came in the shape of an unnecessarily high number of stairs. tforms grew from the rim of the basin partly into it, then split into two flights that ran down the walls. It looked impressive, the symmetry was beautiful, but quite impractical. The group descended into the court below.
The Light Essence gathered in arge, shallow pool in the middle of the court. Outside of that, the area was empty. Doorways without barriersy in the middle of the protrusion of the stairs. Poking his head inside, John found abyrinth of gold and silver mirrors. He was quite certain that it was bigger than it possibly should have been, given the size of the ind, but with every surface being reflective, that was impossible to gauge urately just by looking. More importantly, John couldnt tell what the purpose of the whole thing was.
Is that just another decorative thing or is there something up with this? John wondered, looking at one of his many reflections. Then at the little light that tumbled nearby. A light elemental that sort of reminded him of Sylph in that she was tiny, cute and flew off at quite the speed. Turning into a beam of light, she bounced around between the mirrors until John couldnt spy her light anymore. Not that there was a shortage of others. A bunch of glowing elementals had gathered, turning even the entrance of thebyrinth into an impressive show.
It was like he was standing in the middle of a kaleidoscope. Well, it would have been if he went somewhere where he was actually entirely surrounded. Something he didnt want to invest the time into right now. At some other opportunity, he could easily imagine taking a date there. After he had made sure that getting back out was rtively easy.
John turned around to see the rest of his harem explore the temple by themselves. Beatrice in particr seemed to like it around here, measuring the perfect symmetry of everything and wiggling her butt in a rare disy of excited happiness when she walked into thebyrinth. That made her the most joyful of Johns girls, but only the second happiest person that hade along.
Waddling towards the shallow pool of Light Essence, Stirwin jumped in. Mhm, maybe the Gamer started to think, then got a pop-up.
yup, he finished that thought, watching the crocodile hatchling grow rapidly. A tiny crocodile, special basically only in its colour, changed into a shape that no currently alive variant quite resembled. Legs stretched until they seemed more fitting on a scaled wolf than a reptile. Muscles rippled more intensely under the surface of thicker, sharper, golden scales. The head had grown longer, the scales around the maw curved into an outside row of thin, sharp teeth, while the actual ones inside the copper flesh of its mouth were dull and stable, designed to hold onto something.
At one and a half metres, about half of that being his tail, Stirwin still wasnt enormous, but definitely something a zookeeper would advise people to keep at least five metres distance, unless one wanted to lose an arm to those massive jaws. Maybe more, considering this particr crocodile could sprint effectively.
Hey there, John greeted the adolescent form of his light spirit. How are you feeling?
Hungry, Stirwin responded, his usually so squeaky voice now a deeper tone, fitting for his bigger form. He raised one of his wed hands. Another important difference to the usual crocodile was that the infinity elemental possessed four fingers and an opposable thumb. The structure was pretty human; the scales covering them, the sharp tips, and the membrane that stretched up to the first of the three finger joints were not.
Before their eyes, Stirwin morphed back down into the small hatchling form, taking the youth size in-between for a moment, and then went back up to Adolescent. You can switch freely? Thats pretty neat.
Indeed, it is, Stirwin answered, trotting out of the pool and then stretching like a dog, quite the odd disy. Ahhhh, its been a while since I was in this form, he eximed with a satisfied yawn, his tail wagging slightly. There was no annoyance in his voice.
Still, John felt like he owed the Tier 5 elemental an apology. Sorry for keeping you in that small shape all the time. I still dont have the mana to reliably use you. Plus, you know, Undine is just the more secure option.
No worries, everything is more fun than being sealed for hundreds of years, I told you thatst time, Stirwin stated, then yfully lunged at a stray light elemental that looked like a mixture of a cotton candy cloud and a salt crystal deposit. Before actually catching it, the infinity elemental stayed his jaws and drew back.
Last time was a few months back, so I just wanted to make sure you still feel the same way, John said and checked his inventory for something he could feed Stirwin. There was some soup he still had, thest slice of his birthday cake and a bit of chocte, none of which felt fitting. Looking to Aclysia and Beatrice with the question on his mind, the former of the two maids soon pulled arge piece of raw meat out of her inventory.
I will need to restock on steak meatter, Aclysia stated, reaching out into the air. Then she froze when the knife she wanted to use to cut that piece into more presentable slices never appeared. Somewhat embarrassed, she lowered her arm again. Will this thing serve in one piece? she asked.
Aclysia could have reshaped her limbs to do the cutting instead. It was a bit awkward, ording to her it was like using a fork to eat thick soup. Entirely possible, but more than a bit ineffective. Ill take it! Stirwin eximed, wiggling his back half like a dog ready to y catch. And catch he did when the meat was thrown in his direction, snapping it straight out of the air and wolfing it down in one chunk. Better, Stirwin eximed and then began to walk away.
Where are you going? John wondered, not intending to stop the infinity elemental but curious regardless.
Going to hop into the water, swim a little bit, then probably going toy down at the beach for a while, Stirwin answered. You know,ze around. This appears to be the theme of the day.
That sounds about urate, John agreed and watched, with some amusement, the golden crocodile climb the stairs. Even with long limbs, his feet werent designed for slopes of that variety. With nothing else to do, the rest of the group followed the crocodile out of the basin. For reference, the light metal is called Solunian.
They watched Stirwin drop into the clear water and then swim away. Keeping his limbs close to his body, the infinity elemental moved his entire body in wave motions. It allowed him to pick up a surprising amount of speed. The water of the Hudson was wonderfully clean at this point, so they could follow the golden crocodile even after he dived a few metres down.
Afterwards, the group began the migration towards the other areas of the Guild Hall they still wanted to check out. As they walked past the gothic buildings of the Residential Area, John checked the messages on his phone. There was an excited feeling in his chest when he got a single text message, but he was immediately let down. He had ordered the people guarding Marathyu to text him as soon as the smith was done. Instead, he was now reading a message from Maximillian.
Maximillian: Yo, regarding what you suggested yesterday, I would be free Friday evening. That fit with you?
John: Today would fit me better, but I guess I can make the time. Thats still in my vacation days. You wouldnt mind if I brought someone else, right?
Maximillian: As long as you actually stay true to your word, you can bring the entire football team of New Zend, for all I care.
John: Right, right, all drinks on me youre a king, you should have this sort of money.
Maximillian: Hey, I am not a king right now. I am a self-exiled member of the royal family and thusly have no ess to the treasury! My savings have to keep me alive until I go back home.
John: Fair enough.
Not the message he wanted to get, but nothing to be actually disappointed about. While he already had his phone out, he also checked his clock. It was already 15:30. Nothing about how bright the day was indicated the advanced time, didnt help howte they had all gotten up.
Whatcha writing with your boyfriend about? Rave asked, having nced at his phone and seen the kings name. Ya nning a date?
I guess you could say that, what, you jealous? the Gamer asked, putting a hand on her fantastic butt.
Nah, she kissed him on the cheek, I know ya cant quit me. Is this about your guy night out?
Yeah, still have to try and convince Magnus toe along, he responded and thought back tomunication attempts with the much older Fateweaver. I want to see if I can help him with hisck ofdy problems by, you know, getting him ady to have problems with. Or at least having a fun time with the guy, I dont know him all that well and I feel like I should, given that Magoi is well, he is old.
Rave hummed, a bit downtrodden thanks to the implication. Dont really see it most of the time, but yeah, he is.
A bridge was crossed in a somewhat gloomy silence, the mention of death did that to most conversations, but John didnt n to dwell on the feeling for long. The news of earlier today was still hanging about and made everyone vulnerable to falling into somewhat nihilistic thought patterns. I have to attend the press gathering in one and a half hours, he informed everyone instead, bringing people back to reality.
Cant ya just send that guy? Rave asked, pointing at the Mand Sphere hovering above them.
I could do that, John confirmed with a nod, and if I had already revealed that I can do that, I would. I want to keep that hidden so I can catch somebody off guard the first time around.
A tactic I support wholeheartedly, Lydia let everyone know.
Its kind of like, in professional Dota, you often only buy a core item when you can finish it in one go to surprise your opponent with the reveal that you have it, John drew a gaming metaphor that immediately caused the queen to look at him with a rather deadpan expression.
I will assume that this metaphor is urate to our situation, the queen dered. Taking a little, sarcastic bow, John showed his gratitude for her believing in him.
They arrived in the Production Area and had a bunch of things to look at, none of which were all that interesting or outside of expected disy. Silicate Ind, the ce where the crystals grew, was covered in rock formations and crystals, with a set of Buildings west of the bridge that crossed the Freedom Channel. Like with the Mine, those Buildings supplied the equipment used to harvest those materials, as well as a convenient ce to set-up an office rted to these things.
The extensions to the Farm were simrly boring, the Logging Camp was a bit more interesting, because of the divide between the old and the new trees that grew there. As the Logging Camp had gone from Tier 1 straight to Tier 3, there were a bunch of mundane or basically mundane trees currently fully grown around. Between them were all of the clearly magical saplings, many infused with different powers thanks to the Elemental Inds.
There were trees whose leaves actively acted against gravity, one kind that had all of its leaves close to the grass and its roots at the top of the trunk, a particrly beautiful tree looked like it was growing ss, but touching it gave the impression of birch. Something that worried John a little bit was a clearly fire infused tree that was radiating heat and whose leaves were dropping a liquid that set fire to the grass around it.
I guess the people doing woodwork around here will have more interesting jobs in the future, John stated, scratching the back of his head, having absolutely no idea if that thing should just be uprooted right now or if it would be worth it to encourage it to grow and work around the fire hazard it presented. Bae?
Yes, Master? Beatrice asked.
Please write an email towards the Logging Camp officeter that they will be given extra funding to hire a team of specialists that can identify all of these trees and how to tend to them, John brushed one of the leaves with his naked fingers, the tree hadnt grown beyond his head yet. Given that it had only appearedst night, that was still impressive growth, even for the Logging Camp. In response to his touch, a strong squirt of that liquid was released, covering Johns hand. After a few seconds of being exposed to the air, it lit on fire. John just watched it burn away, the blue glowing of Particle Skin underneath. It dealt so little damage, he didnt even see his mana drop. Also tell them to make sure they get a summary on everything and to send me a copy of the file. I want to know what exactly were producing. Thinking of it, do the same for the Mine, the Fishery and Silicate Ind.
Affirmative, Beatrice stated, making the notes mentally. She had more than enough Mental Stats at this point to keep these things in mind without a need for a notebook or something simr.
There was the option for John to just Observe everything that his Buildings produced. However, not only was the information from Observe limited to the interesting snippets, it would also take him an eternity and a half to actually do that. Not to mention that he would have toe double-check whenever someone thought they had found something new and wanted to impress the President with it.
Better to delegate those things, a few hours to spend on the work he HAD to do and fucking his harem. A much better use of his time. Much, much better. The Oil Tower and Herb House, new as they were, were both doing what they said on the envelope and the visual presentation of either wasnt too interesting.
The Oil Tower was a tall building with the colour of tar. Inside, numerous ss containers were slowly filling like giant syringes, drawing liquids from nowhere, plungers rising into the ceiling. Each container could be set to create a different oil, at vastly different speeds depending on rarity.
The Herb House was a building with a bunch of roofs, some normal, some ss, some t, some nted, one some sort of funnel. The rooms inside were just as mixed, specialized towards growing the different things John had built the extensions on the building for.
In the Mine, they descended to the lowest level, to find what that whole creatures lurking in the darkness business was about. Originally, John wanted to send a team, but since they were already taking a look, they might as well. What they found was quite interesting.
The monster was entirely harmless, basically an ore vein that ran around but yielded extra results if sessfully caught. It did still have a level though, so future mentions of this kind may have to be looked at again. Also, there definitely would be that one idiot stupid enough to get himself killed by that thing, weak as it was. Therefore, he would issue an official warning about the floors 21 and downwards (currently, the Mine went 25 floors deep).
After they had checked all of that out, John needed to get to that press meeting. Aclysia and Beatrice woulde with him, while the other girls scattered about. They agreed to meet at the Perfumery once he was done. If everything went ording to schedule, the first sk of Johns cologne should be finished by then.
Chapter 675 – Afterparty 9 – (Sexually) Charged Interviews
Chapter 675 C Afterparty 9 C (Sexually) Charged Interviews
Theyout of the press conference wasnt that different to the Q&As. John was sitting on a table, equipped with a standing microphone, a ss, and several bottles of water. The rows of chairs before him were filled with journalists. Way fewer, logically, than there were people to attend a public Q&A. Thanks to having to fit fewer people in, the seats had also been spaced out more, allowing a generous amount of leg space for everyone. Beatrice was checking everyones pass at the entrance, Aclysia was handling the microphone and showing the journalists to their seats.
Theyout may have been the same, but this simple act of pre-assigned positions changed everything. The further to the front, the more likely John was to take the question, that would be themon feeling at least. Most important was who John gave the first two rows to. Everyone behind that would feel equally slighted. That was the theory, anyway. It was impossible to perfectly predict how a bunch of actors would behave in any given situation.
In that third row (and onwards) were ced an assortment of channels that had three easily categorizable stances towards John. Either they were all for him (bootlickers), all against him (detractors) or so small that John had no idea about their opinions. Although the Gamer liked stroking his ego even more than the next man, he had no use for people that would say everything he did was awesome. He almost disliked them more than the haters, because those he couldugh at. The bootlickers were people who wouldnt hold him to his mistakes, which was a disastrous road in the long run.
In the second row were, predominantly, ced those that had been reasonably positive or negatively nted towards his actions. Both of those factions he could live with. They had biases, they stated their biases, but they still gave credit or criticism if something he did REALLY was to their liking/disliking.
And then, in the first row, was a wild mix of newspapers. There were some bootlickers, some detractors, a lot of people representing channels, who John had thought exemry in their fairness, and,stly, Cindy from the CPDI as well as the redheaded goblin shortstack from SSSN that he had nced at yesterday.
Inviting two news channels whose content was about 70% porn to this serious journalism event did cause some general annoyance, especially since they had been given the two seats in the middle of the front row. John knew this. He had been advised not to do this by Scarlett and Lydia. However, he had the reputation that he had because he was who he was.
Looking at the crowd, John did not regret anything about this decision. Although there were elves, humans, dwarves, a few insectoids, lizardmen, a fishman and something John could only describe as a tentacle armed fellow with a Rubiks Cube for a head, they all had that prim and proper attire of suits and boring dresses.
Queue in the slutty catgirl and the horny shortstack. Cindy was using her fantastic rack to the best effect, as always. Not caring for etiquette, she had thrown on a simple shirt in the hot weather. Simple, in this case, meant that it had a cleavage sorge and so stretched that John could see the edge of her small, whitece bra, likely of the push-up variety. The whole mouth-watering disy was further emphasized by her blonde hair, harmonizing with the yellow of her shirt to create a frame of gold around those pale tits. Rounding that up, she wore tight pants and high heels.
Her face, like always, was naturally gorgeous, but perfect through make-up. The blue shade around her red eyes was a nice contrast, any imperfection of her skin carefully masked, eyshes lengthened and mascara applied. Even her cat ears seemed to be brushed up for the asion. Although still a step below Johns girls (none of which needed make-up to look that good), she knew how to cross the remaining distance quite well.
As much as John appreciated staring at a woman whose clothes he could peel away in his memories, Worlina was also a feast for the eyes. With breasts that were just asrge as Cindys but on a much smaller frame, the greenskin had subscribed to a simr strategy, but a different style. She wore a more disciplined look. Her red hair was bound back into a ponytail, she wore sharp sses, through which blue eyes gave him an intense look, a wink inviting him to go further down. Over her insanely seductive mouth, worthy of the title blowjob lips, he arrived at her buttoned-up blouse. The buttons were stretched, almost reaching the level where there was a genuine chance they may pop off.
Two clear dots in the white, frilly fabric showed that she was not wearing anything underneath, if the jiggle that apanied her movements wouldnt have given it away already. Down a narrow waist were bare thighs, reaching out from a pair of short yoga pants. Overall, she was rocking a variant of the sexy teacher look (of the clearly and immensely thirsty variety).
Among all the suits and boring dresses, those two were exactly what his kinky mind needed to keep his attention firmly in the moment. Worst case scenario, he would have had Aclysia to look at, but if his eyes darted off the crowd all the time, that would seem uncourteous. John had no problem withing across as indecent, but impolite he refused his reputation to be.
All confirmed guests have arrived, Master, Beatrices voice reached him mentally. Shall I close the entrance?
Please do, John confirmed and waited for her to span the chain between the two posts. It was a barrier of minimal effectiveness, but with their surroundings, something that only symbolized a wall was enough. A hurray for civilization, he thought, giving Beatrice some time to walk from the back to her position left of the crowd. She was the second microphone handler.
Once she had picked the microphone up, John gave the crowd onest look. Although it drew his eyes naturally towards the sexy disy right in front of him, he still gave everyone an equal smile, as his view flew over them. The Mand Sphere was hovering behind him, patrolling the back of the tent, to make sure no bad assassination attempt repeated itself today.
Alright, he cleared his throat and sat straight, upper arms lying on the white cover of the table. Let us begin. Standard disimer applies, I reserve the right to not answer questions for security or personal reasons. If youre too obnoxious, Aclysia will be happy to throw you out. Otherwise, feel free to behave however you want. If you have a question for me, just raise your hand. One of my lovely maids will bring you a microphone. You are allowed to ask follow-up questions, but stay within the topic you started. Hands had already shot up. John had to hold himself back from picking either Cindy or Worlina. Instead, he pointed at some elf in the second row.
Knowing that you will unveil the details in the near future, could you tell us an exact date and some ideas that went into the uing election and representation system? the question was delivered in a nicely smooth and melodic voice, like John would expect of an elf.
I dont want to give a binding date, life has a tendency to spring surprises on me, but I am looking to present things on Saturday and put it into effect in the week after to give everyone a chance to make their thoughts known. Although I have already discussed what I have in mind with all current leaders ofrger areas, and got their okay, having a couple thousand more eyes on it may reveal anything we have missed. As for ideas, like everything else about Fusions design, heavy inspiration was taken from the American system. The member guilds of the Federation should have a high amount of autonomy and be able to meld their local government how they want to. For the federal government, there will be a chamber elected by the people, a chamber put in ce by the states and a chamber put together by me personally. Its not quite as republican as the original, but thats just how things are when ounting for the Abyssal needs. I hope that gives a rough first idea.
It does, the elf nodded, but didnt sit down yet. Evidently, she was taking that offer for follow-up questions. John could have given Aclysia a mental signal, but he had no reason to do so. It was just a precaution they had. Since you mention the rtion to the American way of doing things Will there be an Electoral College?
No, John denied pretty clearly. And, just to give you some more context, thats not because I think the Electoral College is a bad idea. I also dont necessarily think its a good idea. What it sets out to do, make it so the less popted areas arent effectively ignored when electing the representative for the whole Federation, is pretty noble. On the opposite end, making someones individual vote worth less because they live in a state with a high poption is also unfair. Someone close to me has suggested only letting people vote that own property and pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. Of course, we dont have welfare yet, but just in theory.
John went over a few different examples of how voting had been done in the past or could be theoretically. Lottery, inherited votes, literally buying the office, councils, and a bunch of other things in between. Ultimately, he ended on a joking note.
I havee to the conclusion, and hold onto your seats for this one, that all systems are wed. There is this illusion flying around that having a one-vote-per-one-person system is the universal best. To put it in terms of two quotes: Democracy is the tyranny of the majority and Democracy dies as soon as people realize they can vote themselves money. OF COURSE, I am not saying that democracy is horrible. Winston Churchill put it best when he said that democracy is the worst kind of governance that exists C except for all the other ones that have been tried. Anyway, the main reason why we wont have an Electoral College is that the head of state is sitting right here, John gestured at himself and his sleek, young and attractive appearance, and since I am not up for vote, thinking about the best system is pretty moot.
Alright, what about the head of government?
Will not be elected by the people directly in any fashion in the current designs. This part will be a bit more European in design. Largely because I am effectively a monarch and they have more experience in making systems with that. The Gamer grabbed the water and took a quick swig. Feel free to criticize once we get there, I am open to be convinced otherwise.
The elf sat down and John gestured towards one of the people in the back. A guy mimicking Johns haircut, but with a fat chin and a round jawbination that made it look quite bad, stood up. How did you deal with the assant from yesterday, Mister President? Any reason to suspect he was sent to kill you?
I heavily doubt somebody out to kill me would send some weak, drug-crazed maniac with a kitchen knife, the Gamer stated with a chuckle. He has been given to the police, who are currently restraining him. Nobody had any problem with that announcement. Unlike John, they were used to the idea that any Abyssal prisoner had to have their arms permanently restrained to be unable to leave a barrier. He is going to be rehabilitated if possible. They dont know yet whether he is permanently damaged or if he is going to calm down with therapy. Anyway, the matter is out of my hands and I wont be following it closely.
That question wasparatively quickly answered. The man sat down and left John to the front row. One more, he told himself. Rule of three and then Ill let that thick goblin ask a question The way the light reflected on her (either lotion covered or sweaty) thighs was too enticing. John was happy that the sheet on the table prevented people from looking under it, otherwise every photo they took off him had a potential of his risen pants being in the shot.
Gesturing towards one of the normal journalists in the front row, John watched a proper looking, early fiftiesdy stand up. You have been trying to better your rtionship with the media recently, is this rted to the negative reporting you received in Boston?
Negative reporting John grumbled, letting out an exasperated exhale through his nose. Thats a nice term, I would call it nder. Yes, thats inrge part rted to it. I realized that you lot have power, so he put on his best non-serious voice to take the edge off the next few statements, I decided to give you a little bit of ground and y nice with you, even if many of you put your nose into my private life where you have absolutely no right being C like a bunch of bomb-seeking dogs hoping for the next drama explosion.
I have a follow-up thats only somewhat rted, would you mind? John gave her the go-ahead with a motion of his hand. You have also been trying to mend things with the more conservatively minded crowd, what is the reason for that?
Oh, thats easier and also moreplicated. John made a thinking expression as he quickly went through a number of ways to phrase what he wanted to say next. The thing is that I dove as happily into the Abyss as I did one year ago because I wanted to be free of many of society''s shackles, the ability to build a harem first and foremo-
The Gamer heard a sudden loud rattling and unhealthy breathing, looked at the back row, and saw a fat neckbeard with a fedora going from red (the colour of an obese man at 30 degrees Celsius) to deep red (the colour of a triggered stereotype). John sent out a mental distress signal to a certain elemental. Then continued normally.
-st. I wasnt even aware the Abyss had a conservative crowd until I really got into building up Fusion. Which was an oversight on his part, he could have inferred from the existence of the Golden Rose quite early. The reason why we have or had frosty rtionships was because they dont like that I am living in excess and my reaction to that was to mock them. Now that I actually got into earnest contact with some people, they learn that I am not all that bad and I learn to ept their criticism. I guaranteed wont give up my harem ever, but I might be able to humble myself in other ways over time. He gave a nice smile for the camera. I am still young after all.
The good will he had just built was likely going to get a fair dent because he gave the word to Worlina next, but John didnt care. Half-jumping off the chair, causing her entire stacked body to jiggle, the goblin raised her voice once Beatrice bowed down with the microphone.
I have been given ess to your email exchange with the Gobbo Nation. Her voice was of a higher pitch than John was used to, something between having inhaled helium and the average woman. Unusual, but not unpleasant, and fitting given her fun-size. In it, you state that you would be willing to try and work with us AND the less sexy tall bitches right here, the goblin pointed over to Cindy, who turned her ears backwards and hissed. To that end, are you aware of the Nympholympics?
No, John leaned forwards, the title alone sounded like he would be interested, do give the short version please. I can be filled in on the details in a private interview.
Sure thing, stud. The goblin shortstack grinned widely. That there would be an interview with the SSSN was a foregone conclusion. Just a matter of scheduling, really. The Nympholympics happen every ten years, and its us species and women that have the proper stance towards casual sex having apetition for everyone to see. If you dont mind being filmed while you use your huge cock to make dozens of slutty whores cum for you, you could enter as a male contestant. It would certainly boost your credibility among us nymphomaniacs. You interested?
Ill look into it, but I can fundamentally say that I like the idea. John shifted in his seat to get his erection into a morefortable position. Worlina sat down and left him to pick someone for a new question. With a sigh, he bit the bullet and picked another person from the back. The neckbeard to be exact. Look, John stated before the microphone reached the guy. I meant it when I said I dont want to deal with any SJW bullshit ever again, so you can ask me something real or a crocodile will drag you out of here.
Oh, wow, directly threatening me the fedora-wearer sounded like he tried to shout, but his lungs were getting crushed by his obesity, preventing such loud exmations. I wanted to ask when you would introduce direly needed affirmative action, but given yourst answer, I just want to know if you would even be willing to see someone for unconscious bias training to counteract your toxic mascULINITYYYYYYYY-
Even his lungs had the capacity for a horrified scream when he felt his seat being grabbed by a toothy maw and dragged backwards. Pulled away from underneath him, the fat man hit the floor and found himself face to face with a reptilian infinity elemental. Hello again, Stirwin greeted with the best grin a crocodile could muster. I would say its a pleasure, but my nostrils are better developed now that I am this big, and by the devouring of all stars, you stink.
Y-you cant eat me! the neckbeard said and whimpered desperately when Stirwin grabbed one of his arms and dragged him off.
I could, but you dont look all that tasty, the crocodile mused. No, were just going to give you cardio. Remember how I scratched your facest time and you ran around in a circle in a panic? Well, this time, you will run an actual circle and I C I will y a hungry, hungry hippo.
Dont actually harm him, John shouted after Stirwin as the journalist was dragged out of the tent. Turning his attention back to the journalists present, he assured them, I dont usually react to stupid questions with violence, but I dont like being berated. Anyway, Cindy, do ask your question.
Thanks, John. The blonde catgirl winked as she stood up in a deliberately seductive manner. She leaned towards the microphone, making her cleavage something that screamed my eyes really arent important right now. You have gone on record a few times saying you would like to create some more adult videos. Do you mean to only appear on programs like mine to that end or will you create your own channel? If you will, how would one horny little reporter go about getting on every once in a while? Just out of interest.
I am open to making my own channel, but its mostly because my girlfriend is feeling exhibitionistic. Basically, it would be spur of the moment stuff we film because were feeling dirty. I can do with or without camera, I dont care that much. As for taking part, well, obviously there wont be talent scouting, Im the only guy allowed to be involved in this project. I guess we would create some sort of chat room that we invite people to, if theres interest from both parties. Not a clear answer, but the best I can give you. He added, after a little pause, Also we should schedule another podcast soon. I am telling this to all of you right now and publicly, your chances of me agreeing to an interview rise astronomically if I dont have to limit myself to thirty second soundbites. One-hour in-depth talks minimum. I want to have conversations, not infomercials.
Chapter 676 – Afterparty Finale – Cologne and Concerted
Chapter 676 C Afterparty Finale C Cologne and Concerted
The entire harem looked intensely at the whirl of ss in front of them. An enigmatic construction of translucent pipes and artfully forged metal segment, all stuck together by reinforcing magic that couldnt be changed by hand, only influenced through a menu that John had no intention of touching at the moment.
It was the centrepiece of the Perfumery. The automatic piece that did exactly what the Gamer wanted with the ingredients provided. Raw ingredients had been put into containers all throughout the oriental internal design of the oddly Chinese themed building. Herbs went into that ce, oil was poured into sks along that wall, water with different mineralponents and degrees of purity had been assorted. All of these things had to be done by hand, just so that this centralbination mechanism could magically withdraw it.
nts were ground into a pulp within a spherical blender, mixed with water that came out of nowhere, boiled away, then the dust mixed with just enough oil that the resulting mixture fluidly made its way down a nted, curved pipe. All over the contraption such events took ce, kilos and litres of ingredients losing their original shapes on their path to a miniscule sk at the bottom, the size of a mouth spray bottle. Drip by drip, it filled up with an amber liquid.
When the process hade to an end and thest drop dripped from the funnel, the podium the little sk stood on was lowered. A head fit for spraying sealed the opening, appearing on top out of thin air. A little pop-up informed John that it was safe to take it out of the contraption, which he did.
John took it with a lot of respect. Dropping it would have been potential millions in cost. The bulk of the stuff inside there was extracted from monsters that appeared in Natural Barriers around volcanoes. Much of it had been synthesized with the new Production Buildings, but not all of it. Also, John just wanted to smell so good everyone wanted to cuddle him again. That was just a generally fantastic attribute to have.
Having washed as clean of the perfume he had worn as a quality knock-off of this one, John smelled as neutral as he could currently. Of course, all of these smells were stillid into him and it would take more than one shower could do to rinse these things offpletely, but he wouldnt wait for several days to try this.
Under anticipating gazes, he applied just a little bit of it to his wrist to test the smell. He didnt have to bring his nose close to be enveloped by the symphony of smell. Most intense was the smell of fire, all of the pleasant applications of it, to be more precise. The smell of long-smoked meat, well cooked steak, burning candles, incense and sandalwood. Intense, a hint of sweetness, but overall a manly, husky smell. Underneath were a few gentle notes. The aromatic note of a field after autumn rain. The mysterious scent of oriental spices. The slightly salty musk of a sea breeze.
To John, this whole array was pleasant. Very pleasant indeed, it was a smell he didnt mind wallowing in. Much like he, as a man, was more susceptible to red lips, curvy bodies, and the sweet smells of womanhood, the girls with him reacted more intensely though. The smell unfolded in the air around him as he shortly stripped out of his shirt and sprayed it onto a few key areas.
Yessssssssss. Eliza, with her more than acute senses, was affected by this the most. Thats the shit. Fucking fuck, you smell like you got back rescuing kids from a forest on fucking fire, while also building a house with your bare hands and jog-fucking me through the entire thing!
I guess thats one way to say I smell manly. John grinned, standing there still shirtless. There was a wave of reactions, bit lips, rubbing legs, flushing faces, from all of the girls. They were all subconsciously recalling all the sex they had enveloped by that scent C and imagining all the sex they would be having in the future. That the Gamer had gotten more muscr, taller and overall better looking between the months he hadst put this scent on poured litres of gasoline on a nostalgic fire of lust.
Nobody was left unaffected by this. Although the cologne itself had no inherently aphrodisiac properties, it would have been aplete and utter lie to say it didnt make him more desirable. John Newman looked like the reincarnation of Adonis, his voice was deep and pleasant, he was tall, he was clean but not boringly unblemished and now he also smelled like the most attractive man in the world. Through spending of resources, time and Stats, the Gamer had be a masculine force dominating sight, smell and hearing with his mere presence. It was ingrained into all of his harem that he had his ways to make taste and touch subservient to his advances as well.
Something that spurred his harem into action. It was hard to say who moved first, likely Metra, maybe Rave or Smander, but John soon found himself surrounded by their bodies. Theypeted to reach his lips, but with eleven girls in the room, that was a rough field to get any sess in. Ever the benevolent master of his harem, Johns tongue wrestled with all of them in quick turns. Those not blessed with his attention at any given moment kissed his body instead. Warm hands travelled over his defined muscles, reaffirming Johns conviction that he had made more good than bad decisions in his life so far.
Alright! Lydia eventually snapped herself out of the trance. We require a relocation! Somewhere private, where I can indulge in this sudden desire to just the queen cleared her throat, bask in your scent until your semen fills my asshole to the brim, to put it mildly.
If that was putting it mildly, John really wanted to see what the auburn-haired royal had in mind. However, only Gnome seemed to urgently want to move as well. The rest of his girls were perfectly happy where they were. It was remarkable, really, how perverted his harem was. Public sex being fine was the majority position, not by a small margin.
Metras hand slid into his pants and grasped his erect member. I am willing to serve my king right here, she purred, her lips aggressively assaulting his neck. The first drops of precum were wrung from him. A vibration echoed in the pocket of his pants.
Through the salty taste of Undines kiss, Johns thoughts on the matter were temporarily sealed. Even if he found the time to speak between all the tongues that he had to wrestle with, his mind itself was a bit short on blood to formte ideas with. The steady attention to the rest of his body made sure of that. The vibrations persisted.
Johns own hands explored the surrounding curves. He wasnt even aiming at anyone in particr, just groped, caressed and teased what his hands found. Each time, he figured out who he was touching before moving onto the next of his lovers. One hand found a naked, extremely squishy breast. Smander moaned when he pinched her nipple. The other glided over the fabric of a leotard. Sylph giggled excitedly when he touched her pussy, the fabric between her thighs damp.
The vibrations became so intense that John could hear them. It snapped everyone out of the moment long enough for John to realize what it was. Alright, short stop, he managed to get out, much to everyones disappointment (including himself). With Metras hand still clenching his cock, he fished his phone out of his pants. What the? his tone drained the erotic mood from the situation.
He was receiving a stream of messages, as was Rave, now that she checked to bother her phone. Aclysia and Beatrice also pulled theirs from their Inventories, subject to the same alerts. Spread through the slowly progressing Fusionmunication app that Scarlett was writing and the oldwork based on traditional programs, more widespread but infinitely less secure. Both channels were hitting him with a steady stream of security notifications.
The Hudson Barrier was under attack.
What the fuck? Rave now asked for him. Whats going on, who is attacking us?!
The Lake Alliance, John calmly responded as he went to his contact list. Normally he would have gone for the call back option, but in that swamp, that would be ineffective. In the distance, he heard an explosion. Somewhere east of their position. Presumably the dockyard, John thought, as that was doubtlessly where they would hit first.
The bundle of lustfully intertwined limbs that was the harem unravelled into a bunch of battle ready individuals. Unsure expression, hard eyes, a sense of confusion and annoyance settled in the Perfumery. Ya mean they wanna retaliate after all? Rave asked. Although John had only mentioned it briefly, he had informed his girls about potential ways he saw the war progressing at some times. He wasnt one to withhold information from them.
I doubt this is purely because of the way I humiliated Jeremiah, otherwise they would have done it much sooner, John responded, calmly scanning through the list of alerts to get a view of the situation. Like he had thought, there was a big push going on at the dockyard, but smaller assaults were going on at the Fusion Trade Tower (as the former Thorne HQ had been redubbed) and the local Hudson Barrier government building over in Manhattan. Although I didnt think they would retaliate now and certainly not in such force The disy of his phone changed as the connection was established. Chemilia?
Yes, Im here, she responded, her tone hardened. Now was not the time for their usual banter. What are your orders?
I want you to meet with Ted and Corith, gather up a sizable force of at least fifty people and wait at the Harbour for further orders. Take one of the boats from my yacht and get it into position. You have a security card, right?
I have it on me, yes. Orders received, I will contact you again when we have organized. The phone was put down and John was left a moment to exin things to the gathered girls in detail.
This is a worst-case scenario, but its still under control, he calmed down any initial worries that may arise. We have protocols for full-fledged invasion. The police force should be instructing the civilians to either leave the barrier or seek shelter in safe areas right now. Magoi is going to put the barrier into lockdown in thirty minutes. What we need now is intel on the enemy. Scarlett, do you have anything for me?
The question was directed at the phone still at his hand. 18:00:23 C 18:00:24 C 18:00:25, the seconds ticked by without answer. Then, a sound like white noise out of a radio. Distorted words could be heard, sometimesing properly in tune, only to fade out again.
Damage hull achieved. Is a massive thing. Will time... destroy. That was one voice, male, sounding somewhat bored. TH out.
10 minutes until Egg a bunch of scrambled noises, the voice was so heavily distorted John couldnt make out whether it was a man or a woman talking, invades central objective site.
Progress to hitlist target Voidsmith location good. No update on Fateblocks, a yful female voice reported. First resistance ered and broken.
Dont forget, Jeremiahs growl could be heard clearly, confirming, without a doubt, that this was the Lake Alliance. If the Gamer shows his face and theres a chance to kill him we the connection broke suddenly. A couple of fumbled words came through, Anchor Retreat spare sluts Onest, coherent sentence, Well do as much damage as we can, cant sign a peace as the bnce is, then the white noise vanished as well.
Got to hand it to their encryption, Scarletts voice echoed out. I cant push any deeper without revealing my presence in thework, so youll have to do with that.
Its a start, John mumbledbining the pieces he got in a number of different ways. After a few seconds of thought, he sighed. Seems like this is my fault. They likely interpreted my offer for a white peace as me wanting peace at any cost.
Thats a nice fucking theory right there, Eliza eximed, but shouldnt we HURRY THE SHIT UP AND ANSWER THE ATTACK?!
No, John responded firmly. We need to make sure we make the correct move. We cant just run headless into the situation and risk missing the enemy. Their primary goal is damaging Fusion assets, but they did mention that killing me would be something they have a n for. Eliza growled like an angry wolf at hearing that. Alright, we need to secure our most important assets first Metra, you go and protect the IBMA. Youre our strongest single fighter and most mobile so you would be best for that mission.
As youmand, my king, the berserker babe reached into a tear in space next to her and removed her halberd from her inventory. Before she could storm off, John quickly grabbed her by the wrist.
I want you to be very aware of something, he told her in a genuinely worried tone. If you face Jeremiah C no matter how sure you are you can take him C y it defensively. Dont take any risks. I dont want him to eat you, not even the slightest bit, we dont know what could happen if he does. Understood?
Metra grinned and patted his shoulder. I can take care of it, John, dont ya fucking worry about anything! He let go of her wrist. Although the tone of her answer was as casual as always, the look in her green eyes was hard and focused. The First of Wrath was in her element in situations of warfare.
Alright, Jane, I want you to go and protect Magoi, he told his girlfriend, while opening the Guild Hall menu to fiddle with the Weather Tower controls. He should be in his tower. I think Fateblocks is code for him and Magnus. Even if it isnt, the enemy would be gunning for the only person that can reliably block their escape route. Best take him or them to the Guild Heart room, thats the safest ce we have around here. Eliza, you should also go with them.
Alrighty, Rave nodded and looked at the blood mage, who still looked immensely pissed, but went along with the Gamers orders without furtherments. Both soon ran out of the door that Metra had left open.
Lydia crossed her arms and closed her eyes. You know what I have to do in this situation, yes?
Yes, John kept it short. As little as it pleased either of them, the queen of Germany couldnt get involved in this fight, unless she was directly attacked. There was the option for her to ignore what was proper or throw herself into the battlefield with the expressed purpose of getting hit by a stray shot, but the disciplined royal wasnt one for such trickery. Stay in the Embassy or the Pce.
I will observe things from the Statue of Liberty, Lydia stated, pressing her lips together until the colour drained from their red perfection. Being limited by honour from helping her beloved in a situation like this couldnt have been pleasant for her, so John ced a quick kiss on her lips.
We have been through worse, he quietly assured her. Ille to you before the day is over, you have my word.
And I have all trust you will keep it, Lydia rxed a little bit, then walked away. Undoubtedly, she would be surrounded by her bodyguards by the time she was out the door.
This left John with his familiars. The two maids and the five elementals were looking at him as heid out the remaining ns. Voidsmith that must be Marathyu, he thought. I need to go there to secure the equipment upgrades, but I also cant let the other three locations go without protection. The dockyard is the most affected from what I have gathered so far, but Scarlett?
Yes?
I hate to ask this but do you think its a high priority securing the Trade Tower right now? The Technomancer was in there and, by virtue of him being him, John wanted to make sure she was safe a lot more than he cared about the billions of dors in material and finishedbour that was currently getting shredded elsewhere. What his emotions dictated, however, was not strictly what he should be doing.
Metra will distract them long enough on her way to the IBMA and I am basically impossible to find in here, so go do the pragmatic thing, you fucking idiot, Scarlett scolded him, only to let out something between an exasperated sigh and a single giggle. I am illogically happy to hear your worry though.
Okay John mumbled, I wille and relieve your position as soon as I can.
Take your time, in this personally designed skyscraper, I am a god, Scarlett snickered, before John put his phone away and turned to his familiars. The Mand Sphere hovered right beside his head.
Heres the n he told them.
Chapter 677 – Hudson Brawl 1 – Organizing the response
Chapter 677 C Hudson Brawl 1 C Organizing the response
John walked towards the Harbour with a determined gaze. People all around were interrupted in the festivities. Although some were rmed by the explosion earlier, many more didnt think too much of it. A distant thing, something they would surely be informed about when it hit the news cycle. Sabotage, a singr instance, nothing more.
Which forced the security people to run around. Shouting, forcing music to be disabled and lines standing to get something from gift shops to focus their attention on them. Orders were barked, confused men and women obeyed or bartered. When the Gamer passed such an event, he said a simple few words. Usually, the expression on his face was good enough to make people evacuate.
Although there were things only he could do, running straight to his target would have left a worried expression with the people he passed and aplished nothing. Better to walk with confidence and a stern expression to let people know I got this under control, he decided, walking while also navigating Sylph and Smander to cover as much ground as possible.
Their presence would lend credibility to the securitys statements, wherever it was doubted. As they could fly and were overall quicker than John, they could fulfil that task and quickly get back to him before it mattered. ncing over his shoulder, he looked to Beatrice.
You know you could help them? the question had to be formed verbally, as the passive maid had ignored the wordless mental appeal that Smander and Sylph had started acting upon. Although Beatrice couldnt fly, she was still more than fast enough to support this action. Same went for Siena, but the moonshade elemental was hiding in Johns shadow, as per usual. Also, the shadow spirit wasnt exactly a reassuring sight or known for her easing diplomacy.
I made my choice, Master, Beatrice simply responded, an uncharacteristically firm look in her green eyes. Without further drilling into her reasons, John just nodded and they continued walking. He had other things to think about.
Lets look at this properly. What are my victory conditions here? he asked himself. I am being attacked here, so the proper question is what their victory conditions are. I already identified material damage or killing me as their primary and secondary goals. What I do against the second is clear, the first though
He would win if he beat them back before they dealt a wanted amount of damage, that much was obvious. The question was with what intent they were destroying things. Mere sabotage could be easily taken out as a possibility. Not only did the intercepted information he got go against that, it would also go against their current behaviour. The attacks were on-going, whereas sabotage would typically be more strike and retreat behaviour.
No, this is meant to be a prolonged engagement for maximum destruction. A showing of strength and intimidation.'' The Lake Alliance must have figured out the obvious; they knew that a white peace meant Fusion overtook them in basically all aspects within a few years. To prevent that, they had to force John into a position where Fusion was weakened and he had to ept stifling terms to limit its growth. At the same time, they had to avoid whipping the people of Fusion into war-enthusiastic frenzy.
To that end, the Lake Alliance couldnt have picked a better day to attack. Therge stream of visitors from Fusions other territories meant that the Lake Alliances fighters could get into the Hudson Barrier, and gather in key locations, without any gs raised. On less stretched days, the local police would have found something off. The extra security he had put aside to oversee Marathyu didnt help either.
At the same time, all target locations the Lake Alliance may have were notoriously low on people. As everyone working for Fusion was put on paid leave for these two days, the dockyard, the government buildings, the trade centres, they were all vacant. They could deal all the material damage without causing the oldest and most powerful wish among people that existed: revenge.
John closed in on the Harbour, grim determination on his face. They need to grind me to dust in order to make me ept any sort of peace on terms favourable to them, even if they win today, I wont back down. Another explosion in the distance was evidence that the Lake Alliance was perfectly willing to go for dust. That his enemies understood that they had topletely force Johns hand made the Gamer strangely calm.
It was much easier to deal with such straightforward warfare than the maniption of the Horned Rat or the madness of the Lorylim. Not any less painful, though, as a skyscraper on the southern tip of Manhattan started burning. The fire spread with unnatural speed and intensity.
They still made two mistakes. John stopped next to Chemilia, who was overseeing the gathering of soldiers. Anyone not part of the evacuation protocol, or done with their assigned area, was hurrying to this location. Only a sorry force of twenty right now, but a start nheless. Well, one mistake and one risk, to be fair, they had to take thetter. If I win today, I can run roughshod over them. What prestige they have left will be broken and their forces likely severely damaged. Todays oue will be critical for Fusions future performance in unifying the East Coast. Theyre wrong to think I am still the same power level as two weeks ago, though.
John. Chemilia nodded in his direction. Corith was right behind her, Ted was missing though. My husband has been around Manhattan at the start of this. He is currently observing the situation.
Good well, not good, but the right reaction to have, John answered. There were a total of six fighters in the Lake Alliance that John had deemed as threatening to him. What was threatening to John could squash Chemilia and Ted in under a minute. That was the reality of Abyssal warfare and its thorough inequality between participants. His phone buzzed; he quickly pulled it out to find a message from Scarlett. Intel says were dealing with something between 100 and 300 enemies, he summarized the little report he got from her.
Not the most urate estimate but, for a lot of moving targets, way more precise than most other leaders could hope to have in under fifteen minutes after an enemy engagement started. Two of the enemy forces were quite close together, assaulting the dockyard and the Fusion Trade Tower, both west of Liberty Ind and having been part of the same barrier pre the establishment of the Hudson.
Contrary to the first wave of intel he got, thergest force was actually east, on Governors Ind. This was where Johns project of a supermassive Abyssal battleship was currently growing. The raw amount of material that was stored there already made it a juicy target. Thebour that had gone into the only partly done hull segments was also nothing short of insane.
All of that aside, Governors Ind was, as the name made quite obvious, an ind. As such, it was harder to run a counterattack on that location. The onlynd connection went through a tunnel that went underwater. Given the enemies clear ess to explosives, that would be a foolish route to take. An attack per boat was the only possible one.
Honestly, John wouldnt have minded losing the progress on the battleship. They had disassembled the entire thing before, they could start over again. All of the materials there were another matter though. It was the biggest stockpile of shipbuilding materials they had. Depending on the amount of damage that would be dealt to the ships being built currently, those things would be needed to quickly make up for their losses on the proper navy project.
The good thing was that metal was rtively hard to ruin, so the destruction of those stocks would take a while. Regardless, John had to get there. Whats the n? Chemilia asked. With those new options in mind, John had to alter his current idea a little bit.
The main problem is that we dont know where the enemy elites are, he stated. Under other circumstances, I would stay here personally to wait until we got word of were any one of them appears and reinforce that position myself, but we dont have that luxury right now. Instead, were going to do things in reverse. Chemilia, I want you to remain on standby here until we can be certain where there ISNT one of the six high-level enemies. Your job is to take care of all the average soldiers and limit the widespread damage they do. If you can, go to Manhattan first, take care of the situation there, then the dockyards. Any problems with that strategy?
Shouldnt we focus on the dockyards first? Chemilia asked, since she was given permission to do so. It was admirable that she put strategic importance over the position of her husband. Likely, this was more due to trust in Ted than loyalty to Fusion.
Theyre going to keep damage on the docks on a minimum, the NTC naval engineers are staying there. They wont risk angering a foreign power like that, if they have any idea what theyre doing. Anything else of value is going to be destroyed before we get there. John exined, and the general nodded.
Then, what are you going to do? Chemilia asked.
Engage the enemy on two fronts, John responded, as he marched towards the jet skis. If the enemies were looking for an opportunity to copse on his position, then there were three ways to deal with that. Either he could try to make it a trap, something he wasnt quite confident enough in doing with how little he knew of the enemy and their abilities, or he could hide, or, enabled by what only he could do, he could divide and conquer.
The Mand Sphere warped into the double of John. With Jack, the Gamer could appear at two different ces and thus make any ns of the enemy to copse on him a near impossibility. Only if they had aura sight capabilities high enough to see which of the two was the real one could they hope to spot the difference. A risk, for sure, but one small enough John was willing to gamble on.
Jack would take the two maids to Marathyu, while John proper would go with the elementals to Governors Ind. The reason for this split was quite easy C the elementals could only follow his real body in incorporeal form. Without that detail, John would have needed to grab a proper boat to fit all of them on, and those were much better utilized for troop transport.
Of course, the enemies could also realize that the real body was the only one that could take the elementals with it in that way. On this point, John was willing to bet entirely on the enemy having no idea what was even happening. Nothing like the Arcane Double existed in normal spell craft. Just like Combination, it was categorized as a Game Breaking spell. Another reason for the split was that Jack was the weakerbatant but also needed less protection, meaning the Artificial Spirits could concentrate on supporting each other in battle.
That there were suddenly two John Newmans caused some confusion even amongst the gathered men, including the general and Corith, neither of which had been informed of this ability yet. John got on one of the two jet skis and already drove off, while Jack turned to smile at them. If it werent for the fact that they had just seen the transformation, nobody around would have been able to tell this was not the Gamer.
Never forget, men and women of Fusion, he stated in a pompous tone. Despite the situation, John tried his best to keep his sense of humour. even in the darkest hour, when there is despair and everything seems hopeless, that theres one thing that is undoubtedly true. Jack swung himself on the other high speed boat. The two maids got on behind him, through some reshaping of their bodies they could take the space normally reserved for just one person.
Your President is quite crafty.
Chapter 678 – Hudson Brawl 2 – Good News – Very Bad News
Chapter 678 C Hudson Brawl 2 C Good News C Very Bad News
There was fantastic news for John when Jack arrived at the cksmiths workshop. All weapons were finished, disyed for John to see, each shimmering dangerously in the sunlight.
The dragon w had changed the least. Still stretching from elbow to the fingertips, it was an assortment of unequally sized facets, spreading like obsidian scales over the skin, and ended in dangerously curved ws. Two differences stood out, however. The constant, red flickering around it, an aura of thin fire, and the back of the hand being covered with thin silver and ck lines, Mithril and Oblivium respectively. They formed a pattern that reminded John of the eye of a snake, a gap like a slit pupil surrounded by lines like the fibres of a pupil.
As the appearance section said, this weapon also lookedrgely the same. Veryrgely. That being a y on how enormous the weapon still was. Two-metres tall, as broad as five hands ced next to each other, with only a third of that dedicated to the actual edge, and as thick as the span between thumb and extended index finger. A brutal weapon, made for superhuman strength and solely to cleave things apart.
The katana that was Eclys had gained a blue hue, likely due to the Poseidury that was now part of it. It had gotten a tad longer, but remained as graceful and deadly a weapon as ever.
This one was quite a bit more changed. The once quite simple, t piece of sharpened metal was now covered in intricate lines. It had a proper grip now, clearly designated for just one hand, but no guard still. The de was so long, it blurred that line between dagger and short sword. It was also now sharpened on both sides.
Last was the truly new weapon. An ivory shaft led into a spear tip of a rather interesting design. It had a diamond shape, but the central part was hollow and the prating pointy end curved where everything else was symmetrical and the corners jagged. The inner rim was also decorated with those blue and ck lines.
It looked perfect for Beatrice, on the colour scheme alone. The bnce between fluidity in the design and symmetric jaggedness was like a physical mirror of her personality. John had no idea what half of the Attributes on it or the other weapons meant. Sadly, he didnt really have the opportunity to check right now either.
This was due to two reasons. For one, he had a battle to fight. His real body was still on the water, but things were going on everywhere and he really couldnt justify reading text and analysing all the possible uses of everything for the next ten to twenty minutes. That would have to wait untilter. This was, however, the lesser of the two reasons.
The primary one was that he did not currently hold of any of these items.
Today must be my double lucky day! eximed the woman that had them. She was a tall one, a giant by most descriptions, the kind of build you only see in video games or Guinness World Records books. Somewhere above two metres, broader than John, with arms that would have made Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his best day) get green with envy.
That she was, indeed, a woman was only distantly recognizable from her face and hair, a very square looking jaw, framed by very short, brown hair, but herrge breasts were enough of a show. She was someones wet dream, muscr and looking like she could make death by snu-snu a reality C but definitely not Johns.
I am so d that Metras form was shaped by my desires and not her own, because that is probably what she would have looked like, the Gamer thought in an effort to calm himself. The items had jacked up her Stats by absurd percentages. 175% for Strength and Agility and 500% for Endurance. The 250% on Intelligence wasnt going to be too impactful, but Johns analytic mind still noted it down.
Helen was holding all five of his new weapons. A task normal human biology should have deemed impossible. In addition to the two massive arms growing out of her leather-armour d torso, a pair of spectral blue limbs was attached to her shoulders. Her lower right arm was surrounded by Purgatory, aside from that she was holding a weapon in each hand. The two heaviest ones, Tieamarath and Perfect in the lower arms, Eclys and Salver in the upper.
John scanned the remaining surroundings. The Mithril furnace had been shattered, albeit that looked like a work too meticulous to have happened during a fight. A few corpsesy around the ce, security that he had sent here. Many of them simply had their throats crushed, a few had what seemed like stab wounds. Johns eyes darted back to the weapons that were rightfully his. All of them were clean.
She must have arrived with at least some weapons of her own, but discarded it when she found these better ones. Which could prove important. Beatrice still had the Deathmetal Spear, but Aclysia had nothing. For just one day, he had not made it a priority to give her a recement. Not between all of the festivities and interesting other things to do. An oversight on his part.
Aclysia, well distract her for a little while longer, you go inside the house and see if you can grab anything you can fight with, John instructed. Also see if Marathyu is around. The maid nodded and slowly began to move, something that Helene followed with a watchful eye.
The Gamer, under other circumstances, would have jumped straight at her. His festival getting ruined was one thing, the loss of life among his subordinates a severely higher other. However, her Stats had her both quicker than Beatrice and stronger than Aclysia, he needed to y this tactically.
Hiding his anger behind a dry smile, the Gamer spoke up, You wouldnt be friendly enough to give those back if I just ask nicely?
Helen did genuinelyugh at that, which annoyed John even more. Hell no, boy, she shouted, her lightly wrinkly face contorted into a toothy grin. I just went to the ce with the most security, thinking I would have a fun time! Didnt expect you actuallymissioned FIVE things from that insane cksmith!
Aclysia had made her way to the house, only for the door to be pulled away from her as it was opened from the inside. Scar covered, like always, Marathyu stepped out, hands bleeding, some fingers crushed into a state where the white bones had prated the skin from the inside. YOU CANT WIELD THEM! the cksmith screamed, furiously gesturing. YOU ARE THE WRONG ONE! YOU MISHANDLE THEM! TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF THEM, THEY WERENT MADE FOR YOU!
Dont make mee over and crush your legs too, oldie, Helene mocked, while Aclysia forced Marathyu to sit down. Anyway, finding these is a REALLY nice thing, but finding you, the tip of Eclys pointed at John. His own anger was only amplified by Aclysia, seething that her weapon was threatening her master now, be it only a fake body. yeah, youre the real prize here. The hand holding Salver reached to her right ear, pressing some sort ofmunication device. Yeah, guys, I got eyes on him.
I have found her discarded weapons. Only one is a sword. He was sent mental images of blood covered weapons, two axes, some sort of thorn on a handle, and aforementioned sword. It wasnt much to talk about, more white and silver, a low-parts Mithril alloy, but a sword regardless. This still meant that Cutting Flurry wasnt going to be usable for this fight since that required three swords total.
Huh? Yeah, of course I am sure, hard to mistake the guy for someone else, he looks like Prince Charming went through hell but still made it in time for his make-up appointment! Helenemunicated with whoever was on the other side of thework. The FUCK do you mean you can also see him?!
NOW! Johnmanded and Beatrice stormed forwards. The Arc Lance flew by her, an elongated, sharp mass of mana, half crystalized, half raw, crackling energy. Although it failed in Johns secondary aim, to st off the left half of Helenes face, the primary objective was fulfilled. To dodge, Helene twisted her body C and did so just a tad too enthusiastically. The Arc Lance ripped off her ear and themunication device with it.
That the enemy had confirmation that he was at two ces at once was useful for him. However, he couldnt allow them tomunicate that one of them had a visible aura and the other didnt. It was all about minimizing the chance for them to get to the right conclusions.
FUCK YOU! Helene screamed and reared around, hammering in Beatrices direction with all four weapons. Greeted by such a wall of arms (John more than got where Helene got her title now), the passive maid stopped. Only a step back aided by Unsteady Limb allowed her to dodge, even then, only at a hairs width.
Helene was faster than Beatrice and stronger than Aclysia, this was already established. What gave John hope they could still win was based on three factors. Numerical advantage, Skills and the enemys inexperience with her newfound power. He had seen it before, with Eliza, the inability to urately gauge just how much force a move would have. If they could keep her off-bnce, neither her speed nor power would matter.
Why do you have to have the perfectly annoying ability in this situation? John mentallyined as Helene whirled all her weapons in Beatrices direction. Once more, the passive maid dodged backwards, with more space between them this time. This strike she had anticipated.
Fuck, that bleeds a lot, Helene growled, reaching to her ripped off ear. You know what, fuck you, I am just taking your shit and the woman reached up with one hand, evidently trying to leave the barrier. One moment, John felt nervous, then Helenes face turned red with what little more anger could possibly boil up inside her.
Everything was going ording to schedule; the barrier was already in lockdown. As long as Magoi could keep his concentration (about an hour, he had assured, for an Illusion Barrier of this size) and the IBMA was active, nobody could leave. Not unless the High Fateweaver allowed it.
FINE! Helene spat out, turned away from Beatrice and came storming towards John. He could feel the vibrations of her trampling long before she reached him. If I cant go, then I will just murder you on my own! Who even needs reinforcements?! A white ring barely touched the charging warriors feet, and with a scream of wrath, she changed course. The same Skill that had hit her told her that bad things would happen if she didntply to this urge to attack another target.
Aclysia stood her ground. Her Devotion spent on Masters Shield, she could only use generators to counteract the enemies attacks. The thrust of Perfect, she met with a Servant Strike, deflecting the shaft to the side, before the tip could reach her. With True Block, she attempted to knock aside the arm wielding Tiemarath, another sessful thing. That the weapons she was wielding were so differently weighted didnt help Helenes bnce issues.
Still, when over 200 kilos of muscle, woman and metal charged at anyone, even deflected blows had an impact. Simply running Aclysia over, they both went to the ground. Pinned under all that weight and power, the weaponized maid was stabbed in the face C once with Salver and Eclys each. It hurt, John could feel it, it blinded Aclysia, but as a being without a brain, it was far from lethal.
The artificial guardian reached for the dagger in her face and tried to keep it where it was. Distracted by this, Helene didnt notice Beatrice swiftly approaching until the passive maid was already in her thrusting motion. The Wall of Arms twisted around, Masters Shield didnt prevent someone from blocking or counterattacking. Thetter was out of the question, and even the former was a failed effort. Beatrices spear, despite being as straight as a weapon could be, seemed to weave between the blocking des, found a hole, and sunk into Helenes armour. The Deathmetal Spear cut through the leather, cut through skin, but only managed to hit a rib.
Helene forced Beatrice back and then jumped off Aclysia, pulling Salver from the weaponized maids grasp, when she was threatened to be stabbed in her vulnerable side. Quickly getting on her feet as well, Aclysias head turned from a destroyed mess into the beautiful face John was used to, with a sharp, dangerous look in her eyes.
Taking Masters gifts from me is unforgivable, the weaponized maid stated, every word delivered with murderous intent. I hope rot eats you alive, dishonourable deviant.
Honour is no fun. And what honour is in sting my ear off anyway?! Helene returned. Likely thanks to her Endurance, that wound on the ear was bleeding a lot less now. The cut at her back was shallow. Neither wound would hinder her, or cause her to slow anytime soon. All parties stared at each other, unwilling to make the next move carelessly, until the white light under Helenes feet faded. You can keep your threats, while I go and take your masters head!
With that announcement Helene turned to storm at John again. Masters Shield had run out, nothing was stopping her from going after John again. Of course, the Gamer had expected this. Rather than just watch, he had moved further and further back towards the water. Now that the Wall of Arms was bulldozing his way again, he did nothing. Nothing until she was so close that he couldnt take any more risks.
There was one giant advantage that controlling Jack had over his proper body. One that John used to make a slightlyedic escape. Standing there, arms crossed, wide-legged, and smirking tauntingly, he shot up into the air. The Mand Sphere could fly, and thus, so could Jack. Helene tried to leap, to still hit him, but he just went diagonally and she flew by him, flying ten metres forwards until shended in the water.
It was for this one moment, that John regretted having filtered the Hudson. Although a petty satisfaction, having her submerged in the murky green soup that was the New York Bay could have been a small bit of payback.
Aclysia and Beatrice hurried over, while Jack remained in the air. He wouldnt be a help in the physical battle anyway, his job was to coordinate and throw a spell where he saw an opening. What this little trick of his did was force Helene to fight on the softer ground of the shore, where her weight would be a disadvantage, for as long as the maids could keep her from pushing back ind.
Helene effectively walked on the floor of the sea. At her height, she could stand and breathe after only a few steps. The trio could see her approaching easily, thanks to the clearness of the river. Maybe more threats after all, the Wall of Arms growled as she approached slowly. This fight was far from over, neither side had taken real damage yet.
It also wasnt the only one.
Chapter 679 – Hudson Brawl 3 – A Multitasker and Benevolent Pragmatist
Chapter 679 C Hudson Brawl 3 C A Multitasker and Benevolent Pragmatist
Johnnded on Governors Ind, leaving the jetski sitting in the sand. The key, he removed and threw into his inventory. It would be quite embarrassing if he got stuck here because somebody stole his vehicle. Then he started walking. That there was no weingmittee for him struck him as odd. He already knew, from Helenes words, that they had seen him approach.
Theyre either trying to get the drop on me further ind or are pulling back to avoid confronting me, the Gamer theorized, as the crunching of sand under his soles was reced by the soft thump of grass and dirt. Pirs of smoke were rising all over the ind, meaning that picking one target first was kind of difficult.
H-hey, uhh, Gnome entered his thoughts very carefully. Are you doing fine? Like, should we keep quiet so you can keep your concentration on both fronts?
John shook his head physically out of sheer habit. No need to, I can keep these two consciousnesses up in parallel without any issue. Effectively, he had split his mind in three parts. One was controlling Jack, one was concentrating on what his real body was doing, and the third was gathering information from both of them, filtering out what was essential. There was no need for John to keep track of the feeling of air rushing around Jacks face as he flew around, but the things Helene said were potentially useful. Simrly, that third part was needed to properly ration Johns mana pool. It was a mental exercise of the highest degree, but months of controlling things outside his body and taking in information from the elementals had gotten him used to such straining spiritual activities. Its more advanced than the auto-piloting of a mechanical sparrow, but I have a lot of levels in Puppeteer and a truckload of Intellect now, plus its just easier with the Extension.
Fucking genius we got here, Smander responded, as she manifested along with Gnome, Sylph and Undine. Stirwin hung around at the edge of the ind, swimming in the shallow water. Although the Light Ind had allowed him to assume a form that wasbat capable, it was still subpar whenpared to the rest of them. He would be able to easily hold his ground against the average soldier, but in a fight against someone around Johns level, onnd, the crocodile was more likely to get in the way. Better for the infinity elemental to survey and catch stragglers.
For once, he also didnt equip Undine. He didnt have any immediate concerns about his health pool, so he wanted to have the extra body on the field when getting into dangerous territory. He could have equipped Smander or Sylph instead, but the same logic applied to them. Siena, on the other hand, he still hadnt gotten to test what her item form even was, and this was not the time for experiments.
His earth-bound view was limited, so John instead followed Sylphs eyes. The scope of the engineering operation that was happening at this ce became apparent immediately. The original shape of the ind had long been changed. With the help of Gnome and standard earth mages, the whole ce had been transformed into a sort of bowl. Lying inside the deepest point of the depression was one gargantuan piece of metal. One could mistake it for some sort of monorail, but the true nature of this thing was quite easy, it was the central part of a ships skeleton. The spine to the ribs that grew into the sky in nted fashions.
It had to be said that, due to the sheer size of the project, mistakes were quite often made. Just a few pieces being a few metres too long or too short, or many pieces being centimetres apart, could cause the entire ships skeleton to be stretched out of bnce. When the hull would be hammered on top, those underlying problems could cause parts of it to snap open, and that was only the most obviousplication. Thest thing John wanted was a supermassive battleship that looked like a childs attempt to build something out of toothpicks.
Given that Fusion didnt have a wealth of experienced naval engineers, it could therefore not entirely be credited to the sabotage that those ribs were nted and hanging in unhealthy-looking angles. It was just a fact of the project that it would take a long, long time before things were built properly.
Good, they seem to have wasted a bunch of time on trying to damage the ship, John thought. Less time for them to go after my material stockpiles. Siena?
Yes, my Master? she moaned back, as inappropriate as ever.
Do sneak around and see what you can find, he told her. A ck hand beset with translucent, dark blue ws of polished crystal reached out of his shadow, the rest of Sienas body soon following. You did say you were no less stealthy than before, lets put that to the test.
I have been testing my new capabilities already, Siena responded, smiling widely as the constetions on her hands, feet and tail glowed intensely. Then the surrounding skin shimmered, became translucent, only topletely vanish in the end. The invisibility spread all over Siena, until all of her had vanished, and that silver glowing dimmed away into nothingness.
John could still perceive her, instinctively thanks to being her summoner and properly thanks to the True Sight on the contact lenses. It wasnt as potent a camouge as hiding in actual shadows, but it would keep most eyes off her. As much as he would have loved to let her keep her secrets, he needed his intel to be asplete as possible to make urate ns. While she ran off, she opened her mind for her master to quickly scan through the discoveries she had made this morning.
John hadnded on the southwest of the ind, Siena was going north, Sylph was keeping general overwatch, and Smander was going east. The same direction out of which a new explosion shook the ind. With no other leads to go on, John decided to take the rest of the group in that direction.
For once, he didnt feel like he was crawling behind his allies. Gnome and he were roughly the same speed, while Undine had a theoretically higher Agility, but her slime body made running itself an ineffective way of movement. Instead, she moved over the ground by leaping as a wave from one spot to the next, like some sort of reverse skipping stone.
They quickly arrived at the site, a burning warehouse, with about twenty enemybatants moving to leave the site behind. John stormed right at them, ready to force whatevermander they might have to reveal himself by brute forcing the issue. It was their clothes that stopped him. A wild mix of standard things that one would expect on civilians. Not the uniformity he was used of militaries.
It shed with what his brain usually did in these situations. To suppress the reality of murder for as long as it was necessary to be effective, John concentrated on what made his enemies a unit. Military uniforms were the easiest things to look at, an article of clothing and also a manifest, observable thing that made it easy to ignore the individual that had friends and family and just see the servant of the enemy faction.
God, I hate war, John thought,ing to a forceful halt. Gnome, Undine, as well as Sylph and Smander, all stopped in their assaulting motions in response. They were sacrificing their advantage, born by the suddenness of the, perhaps expected, attack. Surrender, the Gamer spoke out loud.
It was an absolutely unrealistic prospect. John didnt have the capability to ensure they would really sit this out. This was the Abyss, disarming someone wasnt as easy as taking their gun away. They could promise to sit this out from this point onwards, the Gamer would move on, and they could just continue.
Please, he added, urgently, looking at a bunch of either confused or mocking faces. Just surrender, sit down, look at the water, wait for this whole thing to be over with. You just blew up some material, I can live with that. Surrender, stay out of the fight. Keep to your word, or I will have to-
Let me interrupt ya right there, your gameness, one of the soldiers shouted. We arent going to surrender, so you can take yourpassionate speech and shove it up your ass.
John took a deep breath and closed his eyes, regaining his calm. That someone took that opportunity to strike at him was absolutely expected. An axe collided with his head, bounced off Particle Skin, while leaving the Gamer standing as straight as before. I guess I should thank you for making this easy for both of us.
Eyelids flying open, John moved directly into an uppercut. Feeling the jaw of his enemy break against his knuckles was a feeling he wasnt used to. Normally, he wore gauntlets or gloves, dulling that reverberation in his arm.
That person flew back; John didnt know if it was a man or a woman, he was ignoring their faces. Without a uniform, it was harder to get into the state of mind he used for battle, but by no means was it impossible. He had done what he felt he had to, now it was the chaotic simplicity of battle.
Although calling what ensued a battle would have been a misuse of the term. There were twenty soldiers and five creatures that were, byparison, demigods. What few strikes reached John left him unfazed, Particle Skin preventing the impact from even influencing his bnce. At the same time, his kicks and punches, delivered with skill of a seasoned kickboxer, catapulted enemies away. Theynded, dizzy, coughing, vomiting or writhing with pain, depending on where they had been struck. He was the nicest target to fight against.
Where his punches broke bones, Gnome had to hold back to not pulverize them. The soil elemental tried her best not to kill and, unlike Smander, Undine and Sylph, she did not need a reminder for that. The fire spirit scorched the attackers with her grey and golden mes, the ocean elemental defended her masters territory by locking people into bubbles of water they couldnt escape from, and Sylphs lighting ravaged the bodies of fighters carelessly. Those three, for their individual reasons, were not as concerned with taking lives.
The battle came to a clear and sudden end when Gnome used too much force in grappling someone. Their arm came off their shoulder with one disgusting sound and they screamed their lungs out as they went to the ground. As he went to the ground, John corrected himself. The few enemies still standing were not keen on continuing upon seeing that culmination of raw superiority. The battle over, John could see them as individuals again.
S-sorry Gnome stammered, unsure what to do with the arm she was now holding. The guilt on her face was just another reason why John wanted brutal engagements like this to be over as quickly as possible. His women, powerful as they were, were not weapons of war but a harem to be loved. Sure, Metra enjoyed her massacres, but he could convince her to find other past times.
John gently took the arm from Gnome and then kneeled down. Hold him still, hemanded Gnome, as he tried to press the arm against the blood-spurting socket. Undine flowed over, dropping the few people she had kept upied, who immediately started coughing up saltwater.
LET ME GO, YOU FREAKS! the male soldier screamed, terrified. Adrenaline, pain and whatever stories he had heard about the Gamer made that a justified feeling. Regardless, his writhing was suppressed. John held the arm in ce, while Undine dropped arge helping of her green-tinged healing slime on top. Fresh skin closed the bloody gap between body and dismembered limb. Then one of the fingers twitched and the man fell into a quiet state. No less panicked but, with his body restored, now without the impulse to w at his surroundings.
Make sure you let an Apothecary look at that within the next three days, John told the soldier, just giving someone who surely knew it a reminder. If Gaia decides its not properly reattached, you wont have a fun time with necrosis. Then he stood up, turning to Undine, Make sure nobody is in a life-threatening state. Then catch-up with us.
As you wish, John, Undine responded, immediately splitting into two, then four versions of herself. Those copies were too difficult to control at arge range, so she couldnt leave one of them there while they all moved on, but it was going to allow her to quickly see to the task.
Just so the blind elemental wouldnt have to individually touch everyone up and down for their injuries, John took one more detailed look around and sent her to everyone that seemed gravely injured first. A couple of those he had to quickly retract again, as they were dealing with corpses. Cruel as it was, John turned with hard eyes to the survivors.
He could have used Gnome to cement them in the ground, but that would have taken time and mana he didnt want to waste. You have surrendered, he told them, waiting a few moments for anyone to do or say anything that would prove the opposite. I will remember your faces. If Ie across any of you on this battlefield again, I cannot spare you or anyone of the Lake Alliance again. Sit here, keep your heads low, wait until youre taken prisoner or take your opportunity to flee, when you see it. I dont care C Just do not fight.
He was met with weak nods.
Chapter 680 – Hudson Brawl 4 – Delicate Silicate [Rave POV]
Chapter 680 C Hudson Brawl 4 C Delicate Silicate [Rave POV]
And thats the second group John has encountered and defeated, Scarletts voice echoed out of the Lightbearers phone, as she paced up and down the room.
As John had suggested, Rave had met up with Magoi and, with his wife, went into the Guild Heart chamber. Magnus was not with them, only Eliza and Copernicus. When this whole thing started, he was outside the barrier. As it was, he was safer than anyone inside the Hudson Barrier, even if the enemy tried to assassinate him specifically, pinning someone down in the streets of central NYC (an adept Fateweaver no less) was an incredibly difficult task.
And now hes back to the searching part of search and destroy, the Technomancer continued her live reporting.
Cant ya just tell him where the enemies are located? Rave wanted to know. With all the other things Scarlett just wormed her way into knowing and doing, leaving John to scout himself felt ineffective. I mean, ya told us the areas they were in, whats the difference?
The difference, the sound of Scarlett sipping on some sort of, presumably alcoholic, drink interrupted her answer for a moment, is that they smashed the cameras between then and now. The other avenue I have, themunication devices they use, are encrypted to hell and back. I would either need to act in a way so obvious the enemy Technomancers would spot me or take it so slow I wont get done before the battle is over. They dont have phones on them and I cant scan for them in thisrge an area. Another sipping sound. Best I can do is track what our allies are doing and see which cameras have been taken outst. By the by, Chemilia hasnded in Manhattan now.
What about Johns double?
No clue. Nobody but that cksmith lives in the area, and now that security cleared out of there, theres no tech around thatd allow me to check things. Only way I get anything is if any of the trio that went there decide to get their fucking phones out of their signal-blocking bullshit inventory. Annoyedly, the redhead clicked her tongue. My mistake that John went there not knowing an enemy elite would be there
Dont beat yourself up over it, Rave remained cheerful. I imagine theres a lot of signalsing your way right now.
Yes, sure, but Im the best at this, so that shit wont fly, Scarlett returned. Its my job to coordinate these things so we can make the optimal decisions and a failure is a failure. I should have marked the security personal in ce with some higher priority code so I would check them first whenever they got attacked I just didnt have the time and thats a shitty excuse for something that valuable.
I can give ya a spanking after this is over, if that would make ya feel better, the Lightbearer joked, only to be presented one of those blue windows her boyfriends ability conjured. Although she saw them way less frequently, after a year of being confronted with them, she didnt think much of them anymore.
This particr one, she could see because she was a member of Fusion, the second-highest ranking one by settings, which gave her a certain amount of powers over the Guild Hall. Nothing in the way of cing Buildings or editing thendscape, but she could mess with options and receive notifications for things in Johns absence.
Speaking of jobs she mumbled. Sentinel Golems were level 40. It was impossible for the average soldier to dismantle several at the same time. It didnt take a genius toe to the conclusion that one of the enemy elites was assaulting the Guild Hall. The question was whether or not Rave should act on that information.
That alone was enough for Rave to make the call. If theres damage to be prevented, then me sitting here wont do any good, she thought, looking to the people she was here to protect. Of course Eliza would be fine. If the Lake Alliance had someone capable of actually harming her, then John and his allies were, to put it bluntly, fucked anyway. Yo, she turned to Magoi and Mabirl, would you two be fine if I left?
Magoi immediately made a waving motion. Go. If anyone attacks us, I will just leave the barrier. That would let the enemy leave as well, but the chances of them finding us here are pretty slim anyway. Rave nodded and then made her way up the spiral staircase.
Usually, walking up and down was no problem. That was because John didnt have a lot of guests and who was over he trusted. For the most part. Should the Pce ever be more frequented, the same measures that now obstructed Raves path out of the chamber might be active on a regr basis.
Thest segment of the staircase was lowered, allowing an array of tes toyer around the pir the steps were spiralling around. Curved and interlocking like the mechanism around a camera lens, Rave had to admit that it looked pretty sturdy. She felt some sort of second-hand pride over John taking these things so seriously. Theoretically, taking one of the doors out was quicker. However, there was a difference between the doors and this mechanical wonder.
The doors had been cedter, forged as individual pieces and assembled to create an analogue mechanism that couldnt be hacked, only opened via the correct code. This closed ceiling she was staring at was part of the Pce, as such hooked up to the Guild Halls power grid and manageable via the options menu. Which was particrly useful because it meant Rave didnt have to remember the password.
After finding the right menu, she tapped one button, and the hatch opened. The stairs rose back up, allowing her to just walk up to the Pce proper. Once there, she tapped the same button again, and the whole mechanism closed again. The sealed floor looked equally smooth everywhere. Ayer of red carpet magically appeared on top of the closed hatch, obscuring the existence of the room underneath further.
Rave strut towards the southern door, itself also reinforced with a heavy metal sheet that had rolled down from somewhere. The whole Pce was in lockdown. Another few taps on the menu, and she was outside. Standing in the grass, she did a few stretches. Cappy? she spoke out, while her flexible sinews loosened up.
Yes? the suncat asked, sitting down next to her, his tailid around his feet.
Ya wanna stay here or are ya fine with letting me carry you?
Since this is a somewhat serious situation, Ill do you the favour of tagging along. You might need to go all-out after all, Copernicus responded with an equally benevolent and mocking purr. With no further words, he transformed into a streak of light. It slung itself around Raves wrist and turned into a copper band that satfortably tight around the ck glove of her battle suit.
She rolled her neck and shoulders, took a deep breath, and let the intense sunshine fall on her face for a few seconds. Where clouds collided with the rim of the Guild Hall barrier, they simply disappeared. They reformed on the other side as if they had naturally passed through. This phenomenon was exactly why Rave was fighting in the Guild Hall, rather than run around the ce.
The Weather Tower guaranteed that this was the hottest summer day it could be, the heat from the sun fell intensely on the Lightmage. A heat that she much preferred and that charged her body with power. Here she dropped down into a starting position, we her heel pressed against the wall behind her, go!
The blue of an activated Aura surrounded her, aided her speed as she sted forwards. Jane Jane, why cant we ever just take the stairs?! Copernicusined.
Your face can take the stairs! sheughed back, pulling her headphones into position as the pink cat ears sprouted on top of her head, boosting her physical capabilities even further. With a basic touch to the right speaker, she put the music on. Electronic beats filled her human ears, while that extra, supernatural pair on top heard the wind whistling by their folded back shape.
Rave elerated further, every step bringing her closer and closer to the tip. Displeased meowing echoed in her mind as she leapt twice. Once to get from the grass onto the stone rim, then from the stone rim into the air.
WHOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO! Rave shouted, spreading out her arms and legs for a few seconds. With as much momentum as she had brought into the jump, the fall carried her far southwards. Forward speed didnt change the pull of gravity, however. The fortress under Lady Liberty had been raised to a clean ten metres from the roughly six Fort Wood had naturally.
A ten-metre fall wasnt dangerous to Rave, as long as she stuck thending. Having quite a bit of practice at this particr jump, she brought her limbs back close when the floor was approaching. It looked like she would hit the ground running, but her feet just stayed still in a particr arrangement. Right up until the veryst moment.
Her left foot kicked down. Ki flowed down her leg, gathered in her ankle, and created a flow of energy. The downward momentum she had gathered was suddenly counteracted, overtaken by an opposite force. Anti-Fall, an uncreatively named technique, that allowed the user to prevent falling damage to be lethal. As long as they could channel enough opposite energy, of course.
In Raves case, her Anti-Fall allowed her forwards trajectory to continue for a little while, and then connected her feet to the floor in a perfectly fluid motion. No roll, no moment of heavy impact, she continued to run as if she had nevernded in the first ce. Her Aura went out, slowing her a little bit, while she regained the mana she had just lost. It wasnt a long process. The L-Baelementium her suit had been fed was the optimal material to absorb the sunlight. It was still second to her naked skin, but that was a worthwhile trade-off to the protection the suit provided.
Silicate Ind wasnt too far off. At top speed, Rave could cross the five-hundred metres in about ten to fifteen seconds. To anyone of the security force still on the ind, she was little more than a blue-engulfed, pink streak going by. Grass, street, bridge, rock, she blitzed over all of it, finally arriving on Silicate Ind. Immediately, she spotted her enemy. Someone quick enough to react to the immensely sudden arrival.
Raveunched into a straightforward attack. All of the force she had turned into a charge. Her right went flying. Copernicus blessing appeared on her heels. The clenched fist approached the face of her opponent, a remarkably attractive one, with long, pointy ears parting straight blonde hair. An elf, who whirled around and performed a sweeping gesture. One of the tall, blue crystals that grew around obeyed the motion, twisted and turned into a cascading barrier between the two of them.
Raves charge came to stop, but not without shattering that obstruction into a million pieces. A million pieces that all stopped in the air, turned their pointiest bits toward her, and then came flying. Her Aura red up, power surged into her ankles once again, then she found herself behind her enemy. Flying around, she went for a high-arching kick.
She felt an impact, but also saw some crystalline spikeing for her head. Her hands crossed, blocking the crystal, the tip shattering on her reinforced gloves, the rest blocked with raw force. A moment of stillness urred, as Rave smiled up to her opponent, her foot pressing against the purple-blue flickering of an arcane barrier.
Hi, the Lightbearer mused, as they remained in that somewhat awkward position, foot pressing against shield and gem-spike against hands. Im Rave, and youre currently assaulting my property. Wanna say anything to the First Lady of the guild youre currently pissing off?
Mhhhm, the elfs tranquil voice sounded almost bored with this situation, how about, Im just following orders? Dont really want to be here
Well, youre wee to surrender, Rave suggested with a smirk. Ill give ya a kiss on the cheek if ya do.
Thatd get me in trouble the elf sighed. How bothersome cant you just surrender, let us do our thing and we sign that peace deal afterwards?
Kinda like my boyfriend having money to pamper me with, so nope, the techno lover stated. The song changed, a clear signal that the talk itself was about to be done with. So whatre ya called? Cause I could dub ya cutie, but Eliza would get jealous. She doesnt like tall blondes.
I am Remia, the elf stated and sighed again, heavier. Fine lets do this then The hand she had held up to keep the pressure on the spike going suddenly dropped, and with it, the force that Rave was pushing against. The Lightbearer let herself fall to the floor, then pushed herself back up before the next wave of crystalline destruction could catch her. The Shift technique delivered her to a better position, her hand pushed against the Mana Shield and unloaded a scatter-st of light.
The barrier withheld the attack, but the blinded Remia ripped her arm upwards. Crystals ruptured the ground under her, surrounded her like a rose with petals made of red thorns, forcing Rave to jump back. Smirking, the Lightbearer took a stance a few metres away.
Chapter 681 – Hudson Brawl 5 – In claws of impending doom
Chapter 681 C Hudson Brawl 5 C In ws of impending doom
RAAAAAAAAAH! Helene screamed, thrusting Perfect forward. Using Twist Position, Beatrice moved sideways. Rather than striking at any opening that her enemys bad form may have revealed, the passive maid found herself hurriedly stepping backwards when Eclys shed in her direction. The Wall of Arms would have followed this up as well, hadnt an Arc Lance forced her to raise Tiemarath upwards as a shield.
As sluggish as that motion looked, it was still delivered quick enough. Helene stabbed at Aclysia, who tried to seize the moment, with the artificial guardian finding her shoulder prated and her whole body thrown backwards from the impact. The giant of a female took three steps forward unopposed before Aclysia and Beatrice could position next to each other again.
Bleeding from several small cuts, Helene grinned as she felt the solid dirt under her feet again. After minutes of fighting, she had made her way out of the sand and wet soil. With a brutal assault of Tiemarath and Perfect, she forced the two maids back further.
Flying downwards, John attempted to kick the giant females head. He aborted the mission at the slightest hint of Helen reacting. Even boosting his backwards motion by burning some mana, Eclys scraped at his sole. It was just a shallow cut. If he had been there in person, it wouldnt have gotten through the sole of his shoes.
As it was, however, a gash opened in the magical skin that surrounded the Mand Spheres spatially distorted shape. Blue energy flew out as a thin mist. To no disadvantage that John got made aware off, aside from the fact that Helene, without any doubt, now knew that she wasnt fighting the real him.
What the fuck CANT you do, Gamer?! Helene shouted up. What is that, some sort of 100% urate arcane clone?
No, its the item I normally possessed warped into this shape, John responded truthfully, the soldiers that had seen the transformation would leak that secret anyway. See, the way I do this is he made a dramatic pause, raised his hands like stage magician and
Bought enough of the Wall of Arms attention for Aclysia and Beatrice tounch a sudden offensive. With her superior Agility, Helene reacted in time, but was still caught on the backfoot. Instinctively, she countered the quicker force first, only moving one arm to block Aclysias strike while the other three aimed to destroy the passive maid. A reaction that the trio had anticipated. With what little Devotion Aclysia had generated, she cast Masters Shield again.
The white circle spread outwards and left a light under Helenes feet. The same had to reverse her priorities, now only trying to block Beatrices strike while attacking Aclysia. With her feet firmly nted, that twist of motion wasnt as sluggish as John hoped it would be. With True Block, the weaponized maid knocked aside the salver with her arm. Barely, she dodged Perfects tip. One more strike to deal with, all in the matter of a second. Tiemarath descended, and all Aclysia could do was hold up the found sword in defence.
Chipped and damaged from previous interactions with Mithril, the sword could not hope to stand the impact of the cleaver. Breaking clean in half, it was like a piece of paper under an axe strike. The descent of the weapon continued, slicing into Aclysias neck and splitting her down to the navel. Had she been made of flesh, the attack would have cut her clean in half.
Although Aclysia was hurt by the attack, it still opened the way for Beatrice. With a one-twobo of Twist Position and Unsteady Limb, she moved behind the counterattack and then aimed for Helenes head. The Deathmetal Spear was on perfect trajectory to impale her skull. At the very least, that attack would have taken an eye. For a moment, the shocked realization of this was apparent on the Wall of Arms face.
Then the spear went through her. Quite literally, as Helenes body became as translucent as a ghost. Surprised and smirking, Helene moved to finish off Aclysia, putting extra force on Tiemarath topletely split the weaponized maid.
And Tiemarath did go through the uncut part of Aclysias body. However, it didnt seed in causing an injury either. Everyone hesitated, unsure what was going on. Helene sliced more at Aclysia, Beatrice tried to stab Helene, Aclysia mended her wound as quickly as she could while dodging. John counted the seconds. One two three.
Beatrices spear, that had been in her incorporeal form, was ejected from that ce in space. All the weapons of Helene in contact with Aclysia suffered the same fate, the force strong enough to fan Helenes arms wide open as she suddenly manifested again. Colour returned to her as translucency faded.
Sadly, nobody was positioned properly to take advantage of that opening. Allbatants just stepped back, repositioned, and tried to make sense of what just happened. That must have been one of the weapon enchantments, John immediately analysed. This is bad. She was already getting used to her extra power, if she figures out what the weapons can do as well, that just puts us at a further disadvantage.
Cautious suggestion: Withdrawal? Beatrices thoughts reached out to him. The same idea had crossed his own mind as well. He gnashed his teeth until his jaw hurt at the thought of taking it.
She killed several of my people, and if we dont defeat her now, theres a chance she takes off with our best equipment. Not to mention what other havoc she might create on her path. Damn it, I should havee here as John, not Jack. If he was here with his proper body, the elementals would be better equipped to deal with this enemy. Aside from sheer numbers, they had a higher array of ranged attacks. Even if they failed to win with the five of them, Aclysia and Beatrice could always teleport to his position, while the reverse wasnt possible.
Helene must have noticed the shift in the trios aggression. Grinning, she put one foot forward. Aclysia and Beatrice took one step back. The same thing happened again. Nobody found an opening to start another attack, but it was clear that the tide of battle had shifted.
That distraction wasnt exactly honourable, you know! Helene shouted, not making the mistake of looking in the Gamers direction. John was careful to fly at an angle that would cause her to look at the sun if she did. A pretty basic but effective defensive manoeuvre.
Well, you know, Im an honourable guy outside of battle, but if ites to winning, Ill take almost all roads. He still hoped this chit-chat would have caused some sort of opening. I mean look her- The rest of the word and sentence were suddenly silenced.
Despite being present as a construct of metal and magic, John could feel the air being pressed from his lungs. His eyes suddenly burned, as if he had been awake and swimming in salt water for three days. Staying in the air itself turned into a struggle, and he slowly descended. At first, he thought this to be another weapon enchantment he didnt know about, but Helene was also affected.
Just as Aclysia and Beatrice went to her knees from the sudden, supernatural pressure in the air, Helene had to ram Tiemarath into the ground to keep standing upright. This wasnt an increase in gravity. John knew that feeling, and Maximillian, if he was even nearby, wouldnt have gotten involved in this fight anyway.
No, this particr feeling of helplessness was rted to a different entity. One he found standing in front of the insane cksmith with the broken arms. Taller even then Helene, the dark-furred humanoid was hunched forwards, the red lights in the empty eye-sockets of its skull, itself a mixture of rat, goat, wolf, and many other things.
The Horned Rat turned around; saliva dropped in thick globs from the bleached white carnivore teeth. On contact with the grass, they caused the green to melt away, smoke rising from the acid burn. Creaking, the gods maw opened, his smooth, long tongue showing in the fleshy interior of the skull. You hurt my smith.
Every word caused the pressure to intensify. The maids were on all fours now, a fate John followed once he made contact with the ground. Helene remained standing upright, her raised Stats allowing her to withstand that power to some degree. While the Horned Rat approached, she fought to only stand on her own feet again.
Yo, this isnt your war! Helene dered, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Whether it was from straining herself or the cold fear, John couldnt know. What he did know, however, was that the Horned Rats physical capabilities were below that of Helene in her current state. At least, that was what thest sessful Observe he had gotten on the god had told him. The Illuminati arent involved in this, you promised to the world that you wouldnt get involved in Newmans affairs until a certain date!
Oh? Youre trying to argue with me, brutish one? the Horned Rat stopped in front of Helene C towered over her even more than usual. It appeared he had grown to above four metres now, and continued to bulge even as he spoke. I am a GOD, little creature! his voice became distorted, deeper. I have sworn no oath to you, I am free to deceive you and your fellow mongrels however I deem fit. His arms were thicker than tree trunks now, rippling with muscles. This isnt a matter of the Illuminati; this is a matter of you hurting someone who was working in my schemes. I care not for your miserable little faction or what the politics may think of today. His skull grew with the body, shifted in shape. Horns twisted as they became longer, teeth grewrger, extra holes for four additional eyes formed along the sides. I will punish you and you alone for yourck of care in who you hurt.
Suddenly, the pressure was lifted. Screaming mindlessly at the top of her lungs, Helene attacked the Horned Rat. All four weapons came for the massive torso of the gargantuan gods body. He didnt care to block any of them. They cut and prated his skin, but the Horned Rat just hunched over the Wall of Arms.
The acidic saliva dropped on her in viscous batches. With screams of pain and terror, she tried to pull back, but the Horned Rat grabbed her shoulders. No, pinching would have been more urate. Under the still growing colossus of a creature, her shoulders looked like that of a childs. Between just two of the dull, rough ws that tipped the gods fingers, he held her on each side.
And what miniscule thing you are. The Horned Rat''s voice was undeid with the gawking of crows, the squeaking of rodents and the barking of wild dogs. What was it that made you a woman that hurts before she thinks? Was it the death of your father at the hand of a Small Lake Pact thug? Perhaps the rejection of the one man you ever cared about in favour of his career? Was it that your favourite shop got blown into the skies by some stray Abyssal that thought the prices were too high? Was it the tragedy, was it the drama, was it theedy of life? Was it Thomas, was it Klermiz, was it the death of Janna at the hand of Lorent?
Why do you know you know the name of that terrorist? Helene gasped.
Silly mortal thing, the Horned Rat said and ripped her right arm out with the same ease a kid takes the wing of a butterfly. The spectral limb above it vanished at the same time. I know all affairs you leave behind. All the things you will never finish in your life. His voice overpowered her screams with ease. Because I am a god. I am the cmity that knows others are approaching. And you, you were a story I told my tormented children for their amusement. One of thousands that I follow. I read and sort your lives like librarians devour books. And now C your story ends.
No NO! she shouted, first in defiance, then in pain when her other arm was ripped off just as easily. Blood spurted everywhere. The Horned Rats head rose, the rest of the body standing still. The body of a snake grew from the gods neck, extending the reach. NOO! Helene cried one more time, a drop of acid already beginning to melt the left side of her face, before the giant teeth took hold of her.
Bones crunched as the Horned Rat secured his bite, then raised the skull crowning the ck snake to the sky. A quick motion raised the heavy body, legs still reaching out between the jaws, waving in desperation. Then the Horned Rat rxed the muscles. His body convulsed, making the body slide deeper into the acid coated innards of the god.
The maw shut when he had swallowed her whole. Ill be taking him with me, the Horned Rat told John, who just silently nodded. There was a sudden filter on his thoughts, like ayer of radio static. Even if the god had seemed like he was willing to discuss this, the Gamer was most definitely not in the mood for banter after all of that. Scooping Marathyu up with his massive hands, the Horned Rat disappeared into some portal he opened.
That was when Aclysia and Beatrice slumped together like lifeless puppets.
Chapter 682 – Hudson Brawl 6 – The Drop
Chapter 682 C Hudson Brawl 6 C The Drop
Jesus fucking Christ, Richard, John thought, as the images from Jacks sight flooded over. Even where he was, the supernatural pressure of the wrathful gods presence influenced him. The whole thing overpowered his senses. Although he wasnt forced to his knees, he did have to lean on a nearby shed for support. The whole separation of minds things he had going was currently getting violently pried open.
now, Theron he heard a very quiet voice and was immediately set into defensive mode. The elementals moved, but there was no enemy to be seen they could have protected him from. Which just meant that the enemy was invisible. Something that John had ovee in numerous ways at numerous asions.
Looking around with his own eyes, and the corresponding contact lenses, provided nothing. The enemy was cloaked better than that. It was likely that, if John concentrated on the right spot, the enchantment would do the rest. Logically, the next step was what he had done to locate that Metracana. There was no way one of the Lake Alliance was even better at hiding than that ancient weapon. All John had to do was connect with his elementals, Undine and Sylph first and foremost.
However, he couldnt. The brute force of the Horned Rats power still tore through his mental connections, disturbing his concentration. Goddammit, Richard, John thought, now irritated. Just in time for this Theron to reveal himself.
Peeling out of the, no doubt shared, invisibility, the man came into sight about ten metres away from John. Already sprinting, the enemy approached John. A short man with brown hair and a tired look, that was as much as the Gamer could perceive, watching as Theron weaved his way through the sloppy counterattacks of his elementals.
John summoned two Arcane Echoes and dropped them to his feet, not trusting himself enough to aim an Arc Lance. The two runes appeared and immediately were consumed into waves of magical might when the enemy stepped on them. Arcane burns appeared on his shirt and pants, seared part of his skin mildly, but did little damage overall. Certainly, not enough to prevent the fist flying into Johns stomach.
While Particle Skin prevented the impact from hurting or bothering John in any way, the status effect caused numerous ill effects. The elementals fell over, their senses confused by the messy data they received through the mental connection. Something worsened infinitely because of how much they were interconnected. In action-heavy times like these, their information sharing was constant, and now all of that fired right back at them.
Across the water, Jack was suddenly harder to feel. As were Aclysia and Beatrice. It wasnt the worst; it was definitely still operable. Whatever was happening with the Horned Rat wasing to a slow end, so Johns mind managed to split into three operations again. At least that was a plus.
Forcefully, he shut out all the elementals from his mind, so the Connection Fizzling didnt affect him too intensely. Still, his reactions werent fast enough to prevent the next two punchesing his way.
Finally, John had ordered his mind enough to move normally again. A Mana de extended from his left hand as he shed downwards, finally forcing Theron back. The brown-haired man stepped away, remaining in striking distance, as the four elementals aroundy on the floor uselessly.
So, they had someone who could properly counter me after all, John thought as his mind raced to formte a proper strategy. He was in a clear lose more situation. Without his elementals, it was hard to keep the guy at a distance and the more he was struck, the more this Connection Stuttering became a thing.
As it was, he had to y for time. The debuff would run out in a minute and there was something else he could do to increase his chances at a melee victory. All connections were damaged, but Jack was stillrgely controble. There was just a bit of mental manoeuvring he had to do.
He saw and heard Undine cry out in pain at the same time. Not because of Theron, that man was still standing ready for his next strike, but because of that invisible additional enemy. Apparently, it was their n to take out his elementals while they could. Taking them hostage would have been useless, it was highly unlikely they had a weapon that could kill them. Nobody really knew how sturdy John was, Gamers Body made sure of that, so taking out the elementals while they were down was a good strategy.
Also, one that John absolutely hated to witness.
Rushing forwards, he used another Mana de to keep Theron away, then wildly jumped at where that invisible fellow should have been. That person was too quick, however, John finding nothing. Except for the squishy wetness that was a sprawled-out slime girl, covering the ground hended on.
ITEM! he screamed this single, mental word at Undine. It cut through the fog around her mind, concise enough to rattle her to that single action of switching states. Although she took up the left arm instead of the usual right, in her confusion. At the same time, John forced every other present elemental to go incorporeal.
Something that he had hoped they wouldnt be able to take advantage of if he caused enough confusion. While the weapon of the invisible assant was too far away from any other elementals, Theron reacted with a bored look on his face and stomped down on the dematerializing Sylph. Already a ss canon, the extra vulnerability the shifting moment provided caused this simple attack to instantly kill the thunderstorm elemental.
Youll pay for that, John growled, feeling the unseen knife bouncing of Particle Skin as he got up. His mana was dwindling quickly, already down to about 1000. Although pushing the elementals to an incorporeal state was allowing his effective regeneration to rise to above 20 a second, he still found himself outnumbered and disadvantaged. Ill have to disable Particle Skin, he thought. It required an active wish on his part to overpower the passive activation of the Skill, but it was regardless possible to conserve his mana in situations like this.
As the barrier was lowered, with no visual indicator that his enemies might have picked up on, Theron decided to oblige the small talk. He started doing so with a heavy sigh. I am sure I will, in some way, he stated, scratching the back of his head. This is all a massive pain in my sides. But, what Lakamun wants, Lakamun gets. Demz da rulez.
Another set of rules in this world that I reject and will soon rewrite, John announced, reaching out to Undines consciousness. It was a very slow process, at leastpared to the instantaneous understanding they could reach normally. Even after he got through to her, all he got was an ocean of thoughts that made no sense. Waves mmed against each other in her mentalndscape, rain fell from the water towards the sky and nothing behaved like it should.
In that state, Undine as a glove was nothing more than a very well sitting and protectiveyer on his left arm. Which was helpful but not the healing capability John had bargained for. His disadvantage just kept growing. Observe returned nothing on Theron and, without Undines help, the invisible enemy remained invisible.
ying on time it is then, John thought betting on three possible avenues for victory. Number one, he survived long enough for Chemilia to clean up every other area and ultimatelye to this ind. Number two, he seeded in shaking off the debuff and could use the elementals again. Siena was still hanging around somewhere, so she coulde in as reinforcement. Optimally, he could just let everyone else go corporeal again. Number three, he managed to turn this around on his lonesome. While unlikely, this wasnt impossible if he yed his cards right.
Checking on Jack, his double was swaying along like a drunk towards a severed arm. He still needed time.
Time his opponents didnt want to give him anymore. All that thinking had cost John only a couple of seconds, enough time for the two enemies to strengthen their resolve and attack. John suddenly felt a knife being plunged into his neck. The pain was a mere inconvenience, he rammed back his elbow and hit something, but only lightly. Severing his throat on the way out, the attack dealt a considerable amount of damage, a third of Johns HP was gone in one moment, but left the Gamer in the same physical state as before.
What the fuck? the whisper reached Johns ear. To them, it must have looked like he could just instantly regenerate. Theron wasnt distraught by this, however, still looking to get his own attack in and worsen Johns debuff. With Shifting Momentum, John teleported behind the Interrupter mage and started running.
Take your nk Lite powers somewhere else! the Gamer shouted over his shoulder, simply running in a straight line. Theron (and the invisible guy as well, presumably) immediately followed after him. The intent wasnt to actually run away, but to gauge how quick they werepared to him.
As it turned out, quicker, but not by as much as he had expected, fighting two melee-oriented people as a mage build. Not until Theron became encapsted in the blue of an Aura and started using martial arts to catch up anyway.
Fantastic, John drily thought to himself, so he can do that as well. Maybe I can exhaust his mana supply to take the force out of the connection interruptions? Whether or not that was possible was left on the wayside of considerations. The Gamer was too upied suddenly falling over as another invisibly delivered stab invaded his side. It only took 200 HP off his pool, but still caused his flight toe to an abrupt end. One foot nted down on the floor and he whirled into a roundhouse kick. It connected with nothing; the invisible enemy was already gone.
Theron threatened to reach him any second now. That was when Jack finally got the item off the dismembered arm of Helene. Dumping it into their shared inventory, John opened his character screen in frantic hurry and dragged Purgatory in its usual slot on his left arm. Only when it was in ce did he remember that Undine was already in that slot. Something that would have normally meant it wouldnt work, since Undine wasnt a piece of regr equipment that could enter his inventory.
However, just as he realized his blunder, he also realized that Purgatory was equipped regardless. The obsidian scales connected with the sleeve of the Suit of the Chosen, but their ck entirety now had a dark blue tinge to it. Translucent blue energy constantly drifted from the dragon w, in mist-like fashion. John would have loved to inspect what any of that meant, but he had to react to the attacking his way.
Therons bored looking expression didnt change, even with the sudden appearance of Purgatory. John shed in his direction with the ws. Stopping short in his charge, Theron let the swipe pass him. Come on, the Gamer thought trying to switch the missed swipe into a thrusting motion. ws werent the best weapon for that. In fact, they sucked. He needed more reach, something with a pointy end.
Something formed in his hand, reacting to his thoughts. It barely entered his vision, a de of wless ice. It was thin, the guard was thin, the de was thin, but long and bing ever sharper along its way to the pointy tip. An estoc, as John recognized and immediately used to his advantage. With that sword in hand, he had all the reach he could want. What enchantment had produced it, he couldnt care less about at that moment.
While Theron had ignored the appearance of Purgatory, he couldnt ignore it when a sword of ice threatened to pierce through his stomach at an angle that put everything behind his ribs at risk as well. Utilizing Shift, the man suddenly vanished from in front of John. Having seen that martial art more than often enough by now, John reacted in a drastic fashion.
His MP hit 0, as a massive ball of manaunched from his right hand. The arm had already been stretched out for bncing purposes, so it was just a matter of opening his palm towards the sky. The charging form of Arcana Strike caused his assants to hesitate for just one second, and that was all he needed to teleport forwards with the Shifting Momentum stack he had just earned.
He turned around, switching the estoc into his right hand. It was cold in his hand, but not to the unpleasant degree expected of ice. It felt more like touching a piece of cold ss and was surprisingly easy to hold for how smooth it was. Guess Ill have to get fencing lessons from Lydia soon, he thought, pointing the tip of the weapon towards his enemies. He was no longer swimming against the stream in this tide of battle. Just a few more seconds, and the debuff would fall off. Seconds that he could gain.
By causing the Arcana Strike toe back down immediately.
Chapter 683 – Hudson Brawl 7 – Rising Annihilation
Chapter 683 C Hudson Brawl 7 C Rising Annihtion
An Arcana Strike that had been given no time to charge was quite weak. At least, whenpared to what it could achieve when left to cultivate for a little while. John had spent 2943 mana on the spell. What he got in return was less damage than he would have gotten if he had invested all of that mana into spamming Arcane Echo. To put things into perspective. For 3000 mana, assuming everything hit just one target, he could have dealt over 4000 damage with Arc Lance, about 2000 damage with 20 Arcane Echoes, and Arcana Strike, the thing he went with, dealt 1700 damage if fired immediately.
However, there were three important things about Arcana Strike that made it better in this situation. One, its radius of explosion, even triggered immediately, was bigger than that of Arcane Echo. Two, it didnt just deal damage to enemies. Three, it was visually impressive. Particrly thosest two parts were important right now.
John charged back at the enemies he had just escaped from. Much to Therons surprise, but the Interrupter mage clearly knew better than to stay when there was a beam of light shining down on the ground where John had stood earlier. Like always, the Arcana Strike announced its descent this way.
Turning to run, Theron conceded the ground to John, who just grinned as the weak energy mass descended on his position at supersonic speeds. Soon, Johns field of vision was consumed by purple and blue. While it did say 1700 damage on the box, an amount that would have killed John with the level of damage he had already taken, he actually took no damage. A courtesy of the Guild Perk that turned friendly fire off.
Under the cover of the explosion, John had a few seconds of protection, and that was all he needed to finally read through the Attributes on the Purgatory upgrade. Information was the basis of warfare, and although hecked the time to properly think about them, knowing them was half the battle.
A better version of Spell Storage. Easy enough to understand. Better in all ways except that he could no longer prepare elemental infused Mana des with it.
Nothing to be said, nice to have.
This was the Echo of Destruction Attribute, but minus the fireball throwing at the end of it. However, it did provide other bonuses, so the question was whether those were worth losing the fireball. The answer was already yes, given the Arcane Ascension bonus.
And there was the answer to why equipping over Undine had worked and why he was currently holding an estoc made of ice. The splitting thing was quite interesting.
Nothing came to mind immediately here either, aside from the fact that this was useful. Particrly inbination with the previous Attribute.
And there was the recement for the fireball. Was more immediately useful, so John appreciated it.
Sounded interesting, time would tell if it was useful.
The light around John faded, leaving him on his feet, visibly unharmed, in a field of burned grass and scorched earth. Standing straight, with his shoulders back, the sword lowered and Purgatory stemmed into his hips in a fist (he didnt want to cut himself), he radiated as much certainty and confidence as was possible. The purple mist that hung around in the ten-metre area of the explosion added an imposing aura to all of it.
Oh? John taunted with a grin. Wheres your confidence gone? Not so eager when you cant surprise me, are you? It was a bluff, there was nothing about this situation that made him any less attackable. All that mattered was that they believed it. Therons eyes darted to the right, looking at something, or likely someone, invisible to John.
That was all fine by him. All that mattered was to dy attacks from the Interrupter mage further. Just a little more and
The fuzz between his and Undines consciousness was ripped away like a sheet. Their minds mingled, ovepped,id together like long lost lovers. A rush of cold determination filled Johns mind as his sensitivity for the surrounding world suddenly spiked. Without the other elementals around, it wasnt as potent. Still enough for him to feel that knifeing for the right side of his neck and catch it when the tip started cutting the skin.
Purgatorys ws drew blood as he mped down on the arm with all his force. The air next to him turned from translucent, into a wavy disy of a human outline, until a shape peeled out of the invisibility. A guy with badly dyed green hair, lip and nose piercings, and brown eyes came into view. The denim vest and torn jeans only added to the punk image.
Their eyes met and the no-longer-invisible mans went wide with fear while Johns grin showed his white teeth. Leslek, John recognized the face from an information briefing. I had only marked you down as a teleporter, who knew you could go invisible? Feeling the bones in the arm squish together under the force of his grasp, John leaned closer. But now I see you.
Around John, Gnome and Smander appeared again. Leslek tried to pull back, but only seeded at cutting himself more at the separating ws. What the fuck, Theron?! he screamed at his ally, standing still at the side lines. WHY CAN HE ALREADY USE THEM AGAIN?!
Beats me, Theron responded, standing there with his arms dangling and an overall disinterested look on his face. Why couldnt you kill him by slicing his throat open? Some things just dont work exactly as expected.
The wonders of having a high Endurance, John thought, as happy as always that he invested in sturdiness somewhat. Undine was rapidly filling up his health pool again. Even absorbed into Purgatory as she was right now, she could still ooze out her healing slime. It happened underneath the scales and was immediately used up by regenerating Johns health. To people not in his group, all those that didnt have ess to the interface, that whole process was almost invisible. Only that the one slit in his shirt also mended itself, Gamers Clothes doing its work as his HP topped off, could have given any indication.
Checking on those bars in the corner of his vision, John realized that Raves HP was slightly down and her mana was going up and down repeatedly. So, you sent someone to attack my Guild Hall as well, he stated while twisting Lesleks arm away from his throat.
The green-haired punk stabbed at the arm holding him with a second knife, but it bounced off Purgatorys scales, causing no harm to John. Quickly, Leslek recovered and tried to stab Johns stomach instead. Having already twisted the guy into a bad angle, John just rolled his eyes and kicked away his feet. At the same time, John ripped the guy up. It turned out John was quite a bit taller, making Leslek dangle by his bleeding arm.
Look, you may be a more agile build than me in theory, John stated, not having gotten a sessful Observe yet, but I got you gripped and we already found out that you cant kill me by stabbing me with those things. He didnt mention the part where he got extra Agility and Strength from Rising Annihtion thanks to the bit of the floor that the Arcana Strike had ravaged. Sure, that was just a couple of points, but it was still noteworthy. Even more important were the All Stats he gained by having the World Ender setplete again. Do yourself a favour andply, before I remember what you two did to my Sylph
The Cleansing Mist of Purgatory intensified and the gripped arm turned pale as heat was sucked out of it at a steady rate. How long it would need to cause actual freezing was something John was willing to experiment on right now.
Fuck off! the punk dered, trying to stab John yet again. Something ended by another ck gauntleted hand catching the arm.
I can remember for you, John, Smander announced with an evil grin. The ck lines on her face turned golden as the fire inside her grew hotter and hotter.
Stuck between heat and cold, Leslek screamed as multiple pain signals rushed through his body. DONT JUST FUCKING STAND THERE, THERON!
Well, what do you expect me to do? the man asked with a wide shrug, face to face with Gnome. There is a very cute boulder in my way.
C-cute? she stammered, averting her eyes for a moment in embarrassment, her hands rising to hide her face. N-no, youre just trying to distract me to punch me or something! she shouted and took a proper stance.
Theron sighed, This is such a bother. Then, suddenly, his eyes got sharp, the martial arts Aura red up and, with two Shifts, he skipped behind Gnome. Raised fist, he closed in on John. A fireballing in the interrupter mages direction interrupted his charge. He twisted out of the way, barely dodged a stab of the ice estoc, then had to jump back as a wall of stone rose between him and John. There! his voice echoed, I tried, you happy?
Nnnno! Leslek hissed in pain. John dropped him and so did Smander. The daggers dropped out of his hands when he hit the floor. Attempts to pick them back up were unsessful. One hand was frozen to the point ofplete numbness and the other had its sinews burned away. Shit, fuck, shit! he screamed, then teleported a couple of metres away.
John rolled his eyes and had Smander fly after him and drag the struggling guy back before he could get on his feet. This was no longer a battle. His winning condition had been cleared, Leslek had been taken out, and it was quite clear that Theron wasnt in it for a suicide charge. This was a clean-up.
He stepped out from behind the separating wall, the estoc and Purgatory ready. If it came to it, John would give this Arcane Ascension a test and st the guys arm off. Do you surrender? the Gamer asked. Although he was feeling a dark urge to hurt the guy for destroying Sylphs body, there was no need to unnecessarily strain things. Theron didnt seem cruel or even antagonistic, just pragmatic about his situation.
Sure, he therefore answered in the expected way, shrugging. I vow by the Great Lakes that I wont do anything else in this battle. With those words, he plopped down into the charred grass, sparks of energy scattering with the rising ash that caused. Raising one hand to his ear, he took off themunication device he was wearing and offered it to John.
He had Gnome take it, so he could maintain the distance between the two of them. There was no way he was getting close to the interrupter mage without further insurance. John held the piece against his ear, while Gnome was cementing both Therons and Lesleks hands in the floor. It took quite a bit of effort and was unlikely to hold them back for long, but it was the best John had against fleeing attempts.
He turned the earpiece in his hands, then put it into his inventory. While he couldnt tap into themunicationwork with it, he had already tried with those of a few normal soldiers and found them to be aura locked, Scarlett would likely have an interest in looking at them.
Alright, roll call. John went around to test his mental connections. Gnome, check; Undine, check; Smander, check; Siena?
Right here, the moonshade elemental stated, her sexy voice a nice, momentary distraction of the cruelties and blood of the day. I was just about to return to you, when this displeasing interference hit me. The rest of the ind is clean.
Great. Aclysia, Beatrice?
Present, the former answered for both of them, they stepped in front of Jacks vision to underline things. Consciousness recovered; this was a deeply troubling experience.
M-maybe, Gnome suggested, we should do some group cuddlingter to get over it? J-j-j-just if you want to!
Sure, John gave her an amused answer and then inspected thest two mental connections he had. Sylphs was silent like a grave. It was still there, but her consciousness was dormant until he had the mana to restore her. Which would be a little while longer. More forpletions sake, he turned to the connection with Metra. All he got through it was a distant feeling of boredom.
Taking out his phone, he then moved to get an update on the overall situation. Immediately upon gaining a connection, numerous text messages rolled in. Only one of which his eyes stuck to.
Scarlett: Jeremiah is fighting his way up my tower.
Shit, John cursed. Metra fighting Jeremiah was exactly the scenario he had wanted to avoid. He looked at the two elites he had just beaten. If he left them alone, there was a chance they would escape. Theron didnt strike John as the type that would cause trouble, while Lesleks arms were officially out ofmission for the moment. It wasnt without risks, but he cared more about protecting Metra than he did about the guaranteed capture of these two.
Gnome, Smander, Undine, Siena, I need you tobine and fly over to the IBMA. Those fourbined into Sdina, an elemental that could fly. The steam elemental wasnt a quick flyer, but that was the best they had without the option to mix Sylph in. I will follow with the jet ski.
Alright Gnome hesitatingly answered for all of them. John only ripped themunication device off Lesleks ear before starting to run towards the location where he had left the boat. It was a straight and eventless sprint, past some beaten groups of enemies. Nobody had gone against their word.
The jet ski was unharmed and sitting where John had gone ashore. Reversing Purgatory to its armguard shape, he pushed the thing back into the water and jumped on top. He wouldnt get there before the Combination ran out, but he would get there.
At the same time, he had moved Jack to drive back to the Guild Hall and support Rave. ording to the reports, she was at the Silicate Ind right now. His worried eyes were directed at Liberty Ind. Jane held her own so far, I dont need to help her as urgently as I need to protect Metra. Wait, what the Blinking a few times, he realized something that Jack would have to investigate immediately.
The entire ind was shaking.
Chapter 684 – Hudson Brawl 8 – Sink or Swim [Eliza POV]
Chapter 684 C Hudson Brawl 8 C Sink or Swim [Eliza POV]
Eliza had felt the tremors for a while now. They had been tiny at first, little quivers. She had assigned them to distant explosions initially, knowing that the enemy was assaulting the Guild Hall. Now, they had be too numerous, too intense and, most importantly, too longsting to still being from mere explosions. Something was going on outside. Far away.
What is bothering you? Eliza raised her head from between her knees, cowered together on the floor as she was. What met her was the concerned face of Mabirl. The woman was bent forwards, the gue doctor mask in hand, her ck, curly hair was falling. You have been silent this entire time, the housewife continued in a motherly voice. So, something is clearly wrong, want to talk about?
No, fuck off, Eliza hissed back and immediately regretted it. Her lips pressed together and the muscles in her jaw tensed as she ced her chin on her knee and stared forwards. There was no need to treat Mabirl that harshly. If he was here, John would scold her. Regardless of that, her jaw stayed shut. Her teeth even began to ache when the Fateweavers wife smiled so kindly.
Dont worry, youll be fine, Mabirl simply stated as she slowly sat down on the ground opposite of Eliza, forcing the angry stare of the moody psycho to be directed at her face again.
You shouldnt be nice to me, I hate people, Eliza grumbled, as another quiver went through the ground.
I raised two daughters, youre not going to get rid of me with some bad words and unsteady behaviour, Mabirl responded. So, tell me, what is wrong?
I Eliza took a sharp breath. She didnt know what she hated more. That she was so easily manipted with kindness or that she even saw kindness as something to be manipted by. Ah fuck, she cussed. Sorry that I am being this shitty I just really hate to talk to people I dont know
Dont worry, just say what is bothering you, in whatever way you find mostfortable.
Its just another tremor, I feel so fucking useless. Like some sort of invincible clown standing in some sort of trench in the Great War, getting shot into pieces over and over again while doing abso-fucking-lutely nothing of note.
Im sure John thinks youre very important, Mabirl tried to ease that thought.
Yeah, for no fucking reason that asshole thinks a cumdump like me is actually more than the trash he should feed me Eliza smiled while thinking of the Gamer. But that doesnt change the fact that all of them are doing SOMETHING useful and I She suddenlyughed way too loudly. Im sitting on my stupidly fat ass again, wasting oxygen! And I dont even know why! Im sure I could fight again, Thana pissed off into some corner of my soul, so why am I sitting here throwing around verbal shit like some sort of mixture of cricket and dung beetle?!
Mabirl didnt say anything, just looked at Eliza as she scratched at the stone floor.
I know that fucking guy worries about me, thats a reason, the blood mage continued her grumbling. Thats not the main thing everytime I try to do something good, I hurt someone. Literally every fucking time. Im afraid that itll happen again and that Ill go too fucking far one time that I just wont be able to control myself and then this entire fucking life I currently have breaks into so many shards that no amount of trying will put it together. All Ill have is even bloodier hands...
Finally, Eliza had no more to say and just buried her head between her legs again. But what do you want to do? Mabirl asked.
I dont fucking know, Eliza answered and screamed into the tiny darkness she made between her legs and torso. I am so fucking strong, this stupid shit that is my life made that much possible, I want to use it but I fucking cant!
Eliza, the housewife spoke clearly. You want to be a mother, right?
Yes.
Do you know what the biggest burden of a mother is?
Giving birth is supposed to hurt like an absolute fucking truck, so I guess that, she answered, peeking over her kneecaps. Her joke didnt find any reception, Mabirl stayed serious.
Its that you have to take the risk of giving your child to the world. The world is cruel, unpredictable and vast. Still, you have to send your child out and you have to watch and stay out of its way, otherwise they wont learn to walk. Do you understand?
Life is full of uncertainties? Eliza asked, kind of getting where this was going. And I have to face that shit? She had heard and understood that numerous times before and, once again, she found herself unable to ept it.
And some things just will fail. You will feel awful about it, there is no way around it. Youre a smart girl, you know that. Mabirl reached out to the blood mage and gently caressed her face. Right now, you not doing anything could cause things to go horribly wrong. You going out there could also cause things to go horribly wrong. If your head cante to a logical decision, go with your heart. Do you want to feel useless or do you want to worry John? Do you want to see things you care being destroyed or are you willing to potentially do harm yourself? Do you want to be safe and sheltered or do you want to risk and learn?
Eliza took a deep breath and made her decision.
____________________________________________________________________________
With closed eyes, Eliza stepped through the tunnel that lead out of the Guild Heart chamber. Unlike Rave, she had been able to remember the passcode, albeit she had the same administrative rights to open and close things as the Lightbearer. All damage the Guild Hall map showed so far were affecting the Silicate Ind. Until that changed, Eliza had to rely on her senses to find the source.
Maybe I should turn around after all she caught herself thinking, doubt gnawing at her. What if Thana is fucking with me? Maybe she is just letting me be happy so my guard is down No, stop, you absolute idiot, that bitch has locked herself deep in our soul. She cant get out. She cant. Shell stay in. No matter how often she repeated variations of this, she couldnt quite believe it. At least she had a task to upy herself with.
For the moment, the tremors source was too far away to make a clear guess. Her senses were beyond superhuman, but even she couldnt urately make out the ce of origin for a tremor that seemingly spread over the entire ind. What she could do was slowly approach the issue. Once outside the tunnels, she walked north.
That turned out to be a lucky pick. Every few metres, she could feel the trembling stronger under her boots. Granted, the regr pulses also made it easier for her to check her directions every few seconds. From north, to north-west, to north-north-west, she specified her direction. The more certain she became, the quicker she walked, until she ran at a moderate pace.
Aside from the one elite that Rave was fighting, there had been no other enemy sighted on the entire ind. As such, all soldiers had left and only Sentry Golems were patrolling the area. They were everywhere, except for that one ce that Eliza soon realized that she was getting into.
The Midnight Forest, she had visited it just earlier today with John and the others. She had also been there yesterday, helping to put the bed in the ce Siena wanted. At that time, it had seemed like a dark forest with an odd sky, earlier today, it had been a creepy fantasy wood, and now it was just eerily silent.
All except for the tremors. So close to the source, they felt like proper earthquakes. Only minor ones, nothing that would cause a grown person to fall, but enough to make a ss of water slide off a table. Subsequently, also enough to shake the leaves of the trees, creating a steady rustling, as if heavy winds were blowing through the canopies.
There were no fairies to be seen. All the changes they had made to the nt life were still present. The living waterpark of sap and bark was still right where Sylph had yed with it earlier. Another tremor, from Elizas left. Where that creepy ass dancer was, she realized, and quickly weaved through trees, the ck robe fluttering behind her. The smell of ash filled her nose.
The trees soon cleared, leaving ess to the valley between the two downsized mountains where wood had been twisted into a circrbyrinth. Abyrinth that no longer existed. All that was left were charred branches, sticking into the air. They had been smoothly cut, but the sliced areas were steadily burning. Eliza walked through a trench towards the sole possible perpetrator.
He had the stature of a strongman. He was tall and muscr, but not in a lean way. Arms and belly, especially, were buffed up to an imposing stature. Most of his ck hair wasbed backwards and a salt and pepper beard of crinkly volume hid most of his face and a fair bit of his neck. Arge nose split blue eyes, surrounded by wrinkles. In one arm, that man held a massive axe, the ck and red weapon resting on his shoulder; the other was choking Methenia. The man reminded her of someone she wanted to forget.
Even struggling, it seemed the unnatural urge to dance consumed the fairy. There was a melody in the way she threw her arms and legs around. Several gashes on her body had been stapled shut withrge rose thorns that grew out of her flesh, if she even had any. Bored, the man turned to look at Eliza.
Ah, the creature, the man eximed, just as another tremor went through the ind. The source was right under their feet. Something was growing in the earth. A deposit of something. Something hot.
The only fucker that can give me names is John, so take that creature shit and shove it where it belongs?! Eliza growled, taking a deep breath and assuming a martial art pose that Rave had taught her. The movement felt mechanical. Well trained, but still clunky. She hadnt fought in months. Not as herself, anyway. All she had was some minor sparring and punching a sandbag. Let her go.
For all I care. The man tossed Methenia to the side like a pebble; the fairy flew far, almost colliding with the side of the mountain, were it not for Eliza running over and catching her. Whatever she thought of that woman herself, the blood mage knew that Methenia was part of Johns property now C and that was what Eliza hade to protect.
The hand that had held Methenia formed a w and pulled back. Spikes of stone suddenly grew out of the mountain and pierced Elizas back. One of them tore a big hole the size of a fist through where her liver should be.
You say you are no creature, but humans dont survive that, the man stated dismissively.
Humans also dontmand stone to form into sharp spikes, you decrepit mongoloid, Eliza cussed back. With sheer force, she moved away from the mountain and carefully ced the fairy down. While pulling the spikes out of her body, Eliza noticed that Methenia was dancing back towards the brokenbyrinth. Can you get the fuck out of here, please?!
I must oversee the court, the daughter of Titania dered without a second thought.
Grabbing her by the shoulder, the blood mage growled. Your court is out of session.
You have no authority to dere this.
Thornefucker, Im the future mother of your Earls children! Get the fuck out of here or I will just murder you myself so I dont have to worry about your dumbass, Eliza half-screamed.
Whether it was the threat or the invoked authority of John, Methenia obeyed with a sudden twist in her movements. Half a pirouette turned her around and she danced off. The invader just watched all of this, obviously caring more about the thing he was actually doing. Another tremor shook the trees.
Alright, now I can fuck you up, Eliza growled and charged at her enemy. Straight-up, no tricks needed, her superior power should have easily handed her the victory in a few moments.
Instead, it was Eliza who found herself too slow to react when the man raised his axe. It descended on her slowly. She could see the shifting of the starlight on its polished, red edge. Hear the howling as it cut through the air. Her perception was as sharp as ever. Why the fuck am I so slow?! she thought, and the answer came immediately from the corners of her mind. Because I am still afraid.
The axe split her clean in half. Every crack of her bones, every bit of her brain squashed, her muscles torn and her tissues ruptured, she felt in real time. Unpleasant, painful, but not exactly bothersome for the blood mage, who had gotten used to so much worse.
Although her active power was inhibited by her current paranoia, her regeneration was as potent as ever. By the time the axe crashed into the floor between her legs, her body had already regenerated. Split clothes fell to the side as Eliza threw her punch in reckless abandon. The man caught it in his hand without a problem. Her fist looked so small in his bearpaw of a hand. It reminded Eliza of something unpleasant.
The footage I saw of you made you seem so much more threatening, but the Gamer was always good at information warfare, the man said, their locked fists trembling. Eliza was still pushing, but it didnt amount to anything. Youre strong, he did admit, but you arent as strong as me. I am Lakamun, strongest of the Lake Alliance. And you, creature, he raised his axe with a grim expression, are unlucky that I am the one of us who will hurt this upstart in his ambitions and pride however I desire.
The thorn that ended the shaft of the axe at the head end was pointed at the ground and Lakamun rammed it into the floor. A massive shockwave rippled out, uprooted nearby trees and quaked the entire ind. At the centre of it all, the ground under both of their feet gave away, crumbled into what the invader had been preparing underneath.
Glowing orange magma spluttered into the air as the rock, dirt and wood fell into it. Lakamun stood on the surface as if it was solid ground, unbothered by the heat. None of which were luxuries Eliza had. She fell, her naked back was immediately seared by the molten rock. With a mere gesture, the Lake Alliances strongest made theva swallow her.
Everything became heat and pain.
Chapter 685 – Hudson Brawl 9 – Dance on the Volcano [Eliza POV]
Chapter 685 C Hudson Brawl 9 C Dance on the Volcano [Eliza POV]
What the fuck am I doing? Eliza wondered. That she could still think was its own wonder. Her body was in a continuous state of scorching and regeneration, all while the viscous surroundings made it equally hard to move and gave her nothing to grapple. This entire process hurt, but it was still less than those nails that had rested inside her for 70 years. Although the thousand degrees surrounding her were far less pleasant than even the near-freezing cold water had been.
Everything was dark. Even if there had been light somewhere in this molten mass, her eyes didnt exist long enough to perceive it. She was just hovering there, slowly sinking. If I just stay here long enough, she thought. John wille and save me. Im sure I can survive a few days in here Vibrations filled theva around here. Evidently, there were bigger ns for this than to just seal Eliza in.
Hes going to create a volcano, she realized, a clump forming in her heart. Theyre trying to deal as much damage to the Guild Hall as possible, so that motherfucker is going to create a giant, fuckass, destruction spewing mountain and just bury everything underva and soot. And here I am too afraid of myself to stop it.
She felt as if someone had pped her. Words echoed in her mind along with it. Youre never going to aplish anything.
The words came from a tall man with a salt and pepper beard. His eyes were brown and his stature far less imposing. Objectively, he was nothingpared to Lakamun. To a seven-year-old Eliza, her father was the scariest man in the world. Especially when he was in a drunken rage, like today. He was a coherent drunk, able to talk properly and walk straight. Just his emotions, those boiled overpletely.
Eliza didnt know why her father had started beating her one day. Looking back at it, it may have been that her mother had an affair and that this man wasnt actually her father. That he had found out and consequently started drinking heavily. The times and their shared, intense faith had prevented them from separating. Perhaps that would have been good, had her parents taken the next logical step and talked about their issues.
Rather than indulge in all manners of sins topensate instead.
Never! You hear me! her father spat out, the bottle of cheap vodka wandering to his lips as he left his wifes child cowering on the wooden floor. Splinters of wood pierced through her dirty clothes as she pulled herself into a bundle that was as small as possible. If she just made herself unnoticeable, she had learned, then he might not beat her anymore. The taste of blood filled her mouth, she was lucky. Somehow, only her milk teeth ever seemed to suffer from these beatings.
She was cold.
The fire of the chimney cracked. Small as it was, it gave some heat on this autumn night. Only for her father in his chair though. Time passed. Eventually, her father began to sob and Eliza rxed. Once he was crying, he didnt beat them anymore. Eliza raised her head. The first thing she saw was her sister, hiding behind the only shelf in the house. If the situation was reversed and Cecylia had pulled their fathers attention first, Eliza would have done the same.
Because she was afraid of the pain.
Eliza looked up to the shelf. It wasrgely empty. Some herbs, a few tools, nothing fancy except the bible with the gold letters on the leather cover. A ridiculously costly thing they owned, so old that the words inside had been written by monks, not printed by presses. The cross lorded over them, standing on the highest shelf, looking down like a disappointed god.
She hated that book. The Latin inside was undecipherable for everyone in the house, yet her father treated it like it was the only valuable thing they had. Something so absolutely useless, whose messages nobody in the house even cared about. The urge swelled inside her to topple the entire shelf over, grab that damned book and cast it into the fire. Maybe her father would realize what a horrid creature he was if he saw the Bible burn. Maybe it would teach him that, in his absolute narrowing in following one teaching, his inability to follow all the others was creating a child that could no longer afford to be one. Maybe it would all be better from then.
All these things were nothing but fantasies. She didnt do it.
Because she was afraid.
And her father sobbed, I am sorry I am sorry, but the next day was the same.
Although she was now near immortal, she felt like that child cowering on the ground again. It was so easy to do the same as her parents did. Just ept things as they were and let things fester. Nothing was easier than that and nothing hurt more in the long run. There was only one difference between then and now. Back then, her demon had been a physically stronger man that she couldnt escape from. Now, she had the power. There was no need for hopeful fantasies.
Thana, do you even care? Eliza asked, pushing against her uncertainties. No answer. The barrier between them in their conjoined soul remained strong. Alright okay If she could have taken a deep breath, she would have. As it was, she focused her regeneration and drove it to its limit. Muscles formed quicker than they could burn, ayer of blood and bone formed over her skin. Magic intensified, with every passing moment she wielded it with more certainty. Thana didnt move. Didnt stir. Didnt interrupt. She was dormant.
Im in control, Eliza thought, this time a joyful realization, not a desperate mantra. Im strong, I can help John, I can help! The magic reinforced her body until even theva didnt hurt her anymore. The earthquakes grew stronger, the volcano would erupt soon. Crimson, her Aura red up.
Eliza burst out of the surface of theva and soared into the air. Molten rock flowed or cooled and broke off her carapace. The Midnight Forest was no more, there was only a t mountain with arge crater, filled withva. On it stood Lakamun, turning around with wide eyes, just in time to see the blood mages momentum to reverse, gravity pulling her back down.
The moment her feet made contact with theva, she moved. The Lake Alliance elite was surprised, but he wasnt slow. His right hand rose, and with it an arm from the molten sea that attempted to drag her back under. She Shifted, right behind the apparently middle-aged enemy. Who met her with a swing of his axe. The de failed to cut through her bone ting, but catapulted her away.
Helpless, she tumbled through the air. Arms and legs did little to stabilize her flight. A cracking sound, several cracking sounds. Snapping, squelching, growing, cracking, segment for segment, her spine elongated past her skin with blood and bone. A tail as red and white as the rest of her grew at a rapid pace and allowed her tond securely on all fours. ws on toes and fingers grabbed into the rock of the inner side of the crater walls.
Finally, oxygen filled her lungs. It rushed past her gnashed teeth. It felt odd, somehow, that her lips were exposed to the air. A piece of ting was missing, but so was the desire to actually form it.
Monster! Lakamun shouted, his voice straining as another gesture of clear effort took his power. Gamer or not, you should not be! The axe whirled through the air, sending forwards a wave ofva towards the blood mage.
Grrrrrr. She felt the vibrations in her throat as she growled like a wild animal. An angry wolf, revealing its teeth, unthreatened even by the rolling force of nature. Blood filled her mouth. Mana gathered in her neck. Gathered air was pressed out of her in a violent scream, RAAAAAAAAAH!
The sound was a mere carrier for the raw force of the martial art. They called it a Beast Scream and nothing could have been more urate at that moment. Forces met, and Elizas proved to be the bigger one. Copsing backwards, the wave gave way to the scream, and the scream pulled with it drops of blood from Elizas mouth.
Crystallized and elerated, they turned into potentially lethal projectiles. Lakamun himself found parts of his skin and clothes suddenly cut open as they flew past him like bullets. Threatened, panicking, the invader guided all the power he had prepared to destroy the Guild Hall in its entirety towards Eliza.
With wild gestures, hemanded theva and the stone to attack Eliza. Laughing maniacally, she started running. Spikes of solid and molten rock came for her as her feet flew over the superheated stone of the crater wall. All of it too slow, all of it too little, it followed her like a track. A sudden sharp turn, evading the pit that appeared in front of her, and she ran onto the boiling rock.
Abination of her speed and another martial art called Clear Walk allowed her to treat the liquid floor as if it was solid concrete C just as long as she stayed in motion. Remaining standing in the middle of the crater, Lakamun raised more and more attacks. Shift carried Eliza from one ce to another; with fluid steps, she moved along. Steady, her Aura flickered like blood around her.
She was dancing, circling, around her prey. An invisible line hindered her, the point where his ability shifted from partial to absolute control over his trained element. The sea ofva was waving, quivering. Eruptions sted away under her feet, hands tried to drag her under, boulders rose from underneath and flew her way. She weaved through all of it, around her prey, circling, dancing.
A gap. Shift. She was in front of Lakamun. Her fingers spread out. One sh and she could watch this human bleed out like the filthy invader he was. His movement was quicker, had anticipated her attack. His empty hand rose to the sky and with it was all theva in the crater pulled into one upwards stream that pulled Eliza with it.
It got her left leg. Enveloped it. Burned it with heat fuelled further by magic. Eliza continued tough, uncaring, unthreatened. Theva could have one leg. She just needed to straighten it. The right one, she raised high. The foot was dangling loosely from the joint. Suddenly, she brought down, the whole sole colliding with the upwards stream ofva.
The Seismic Step scattered the attack into a million drops. A sudden change in pressure caused Elisas own eardrums to rupture and immediately grow back together. Visibly, a shockwave spread through the air. Without proper grounding, the force catapulted her further upwards.
Yet, Lakamun was not done.
The scattered drops pulled back together, as many as the man could still gather. Coalescing into a giant hand, it reached after Eliza. A second time, Seismic Step, theva was blown apart. Further, she raised into the sky.
It was no longer feasible to go after her. So far away from Lakamun, his control over the elements waned to a point where there was no way it could threaten Eliza any longer. Still, straining himself to the fullest, the man forced the scatteredva to coalesce into numerous tendrils. A hundred-metre-tall pir of partly hardenedva rose from the now empty crater up into the sky, slowly reaching for the blood mage.
Who ceasedughing, finally, to look at the mere man. From up there, he looked like an ant. Like prey for an eagle. Her right hand snapped out of its socket, as the ulna grew too and pierced the skin. It continued to elongate, bing straighter, but never perfectly linear. The smooth surface was interrupted by myriads of trenches, big and small, through which blood followed the bone from inside her body. While the veins spread over the bone and a tip formed, Eliza snapped the white piece off her own arm.
Although the bone was now disconnected, and her right hand reverted to its previous state, the blood on the grown weapon reached out with tendrils towards thework of the left now holding it. They met and the bone continued to change, elerated even, until the tip had taken the shape of several oversized, stretched out carnivorous teeth melded and twisted together, blood crystallizing between where the gaps should have been.
Holding the shaft of thence she had born, Eliza drew back her arm. To achieve what it takes, I will immte myself. The words of power went past her lips as blood formed the outline of butterfly-like wings behind her back, adding the beauty of crimson flowers to her nightmarish form. Bloodburn.
The wings, the gaps in her carapace, the veins on thence, they all red up with blood red fire. It flowed around the frame of crystallizedworks, burned away her life for more power. She had much to give. Distorted sounds, like violins, consumed the air around her.
She had reached the highest point of her ascent, theva was closing in and she let loose the spear. Thence screamed notes as it descended. A screeching song of a violin, jubtion in the murderous tones as it, thin and uncaring, cut through the ascendingva like gamma radiation through a piece of paper.
Then, the entire tower ofva stopped. It quivered, just like the heart of its controller, onest time, then rxed into the state of final death, copsing into falling stone and drippingva. Not long thereafter, Elizanded on her feet, unharmed. Her eyes fell on the corpse she had produced.
And she started salivating.
Chapter 686 – Hudson Brawl 10 – Foul [Metra POV]
Chapter 686 C Hudson Brawl 10 C Foul [Metra POV]
The first rule of every battle stance was that it had to threaten something. Usually, this was achieved by pointing the tip of the weapon, whatever kind that was, at the enemy. The best way to discourage a charge was to present the chance to get impaled, after all. So, too, did Metra take her halberd in both hands, holding it at the back half to gain the maximum range advantage as well.
Normally, she favoured the fittingly named wrath stance. Unlike other stances, the weapon was pulled back over the shoulder in that pose. The threat was being greeted with an overhead strike. Somewhat risky, to leave oneself open like that, but it could end a fight in a single hit. However, there were three things about that stance that made it unfit for the current situation.
One, she was using a halberd. The wrath stance was much more fitting for a sword. When executing a strike, a de just had more surface to cause damage with. Getting hit by the shaft of a halberd could be painful, but the arm was still on. As Metra was equally a fan of the brute force approach to things and had the self-confidence that she could aim the oversized axe des on Qiada, this didnt normally stop her.
Two, she had been ordered by her king to fight carefully. When she had seen him as John Newman, that order would have gone right out the window, as she would have applied her own definition of careful. As it was and with her eptance (or perhaps projection) of his sovereignty, she did take the loyal approach.
Lastly, and this was the purely pragmatic reason, her opponents skin was entirely metal, and the spike of a halberd was better at punching through armour.
Jeremiah brushed some remaining ss and microchips off his shoulder. Both parts of the door he had charged through moments earlier. You look like you had fun, Metra said, her voice distorted as it vibrated out from the helmet. Technically speaking, she wasnt wearing armour. It was more urate to say the armour was her skin.
The form she normally had in this contract was still underneath, but that was more like ayer of rock under a vein of metal. Her eyes, more a flicker of green energy bound to a location than actual parts of her physical body, at the moment, looked out unobstructed by the fact that she was wearing a helmet.
I never had such a hard time climbing stairs, Jeremiah responded, stretching his arms and legs in the meantime. He didnt seem hurried whatsoever. Who nned this building? The hallways make no sense and you have security barriers EVERYWHERE. I had to climb elevator shafts to get to some fucking ces.
We just took the ce over. Metra shrugged, wondering what her best course of action would be here. If small amounts of Astrotium were lost to scratches and such things, they would be naturally recovered by the chaotic powers of Tiamat making up arge part of her origin. Should the Art Eater be able to eat a chunk of her though, that piece was likely lost and bound to his body instead. Something that she could not allow. Regardless of Johns orders, her body was itself a sacred thing, forged by creator and king Sargon and blessed by Mother Chaos. If you dont like it here, Ill dly guide you to the afterlife.
Under other circumstances, she may have considered retreating. She would have hated doing so, but even Metra knew to pick her battles and her structural integrity was worth more to her than her own pride. She had maintained this body for millennia; she wouldnt give it up now just because she didnt feel like ceding some ground.
However, she was protecting the IBMA on the order of her king. As it was, she chose to just take the most careful approach to this fight she could while also fulfilling themand given. It helped that Jeremiah seemed sox about this whole thing. He even checked his phone.
I guess youre tasked with destroying this thing at a certain time? Metra asked, slightly tilting her head. The small segments her spiky armour was made out of stretched and bent like rubber topensate. Living metal was convenient like that. Gotta say, its not the worst emergency escape n ever made.
Seems like I got lucky too, having you as my opponent, the Art Eater dered. Scratch that, I am just lucky that your asshole master even has you. I would have put away the Metracanas as a myth even if I had somehow learned about you without this coincide- He barely dodged when Qiada came flying for his head, then charged at his now disarmed opponent.
Although Metra didnt remain without her weapon for long. Spell Storage allowed her to imprint a dimensional cut into Qiada before throwing it. As it was, the golden, hieroglyph covered halberd flew into a tear in space, rather than over the edge of the t roof, and emerged again in a tear behind Metra. With meticulous timing, she caught the weapon as it flew by her. This whole manoeuvre left her in the same stance as before the attack and Jeremiah toomitted to his charge to stop.
Qiada rushed forwards, the spike going through the shirt, but sliding off the bronze Baelementium skin of the Art Eaters shoulder. While it failed to produce a wound, the gap between spike and the back of the axe de was wide enough for Jeremiahs arm to get stuck in. Greedy teeth snapped half a metre away as the charge came to a forced end.
How many people do I have to teach this over the aeons? Metra growled and then raised her voice into a shout, DONT INSULT WHO I SERVE! just as she raised Jeremiah. Through the use of the proper angle and momentum, the lodged shoulder became enough of a secure grip that she could whirl Jeremiah through the air.
The Art Eater sailed towards the edge of the roof. Not on Metras design, his shoulder had simply be dislodged. With a bit more force, he would have fallen down the entire skyscraper. Even if that hadnt killed him, it would have set him back for a while, and something good for Metra was bound to happen in that time.
As it was, Jeremiah managed to catch the railing and pulled himself back up before Metra could threaten him in any way. What followed was a quick exchange of attacks. A back and forth of unsessful swipes, strikes and blows. Blocked, dodged or simply missed, the two of them moved back, forth and sideways. All Metra cared about was to always be the closest to the IBMA.
Although Qiada was too low quality a weapon to hurt Jeremiah, the fact that she was using a halberd versus a man utilizing fists put her at an advantage. Especially because she was the defender, range had immense value. That Jeremiah didnt use martial arts helped as well.
It was a raw slug fight and it was clear that Jeremiah was skilled at those. The majority of his wins he must have gotten because he ousted his opponents. And it was true, he was stronger, quicker and more enduring than Metra. The range and the First of Wraths expansive battle experience were what equalized the field.
At least, that was when she was rtively calm.
I hate fights like this, Metra thought, letting her irritation and anger flow free. Boring, stalemate shit. How is this even a battle, she stated while raising Qiada high with one arm, when nobody GETS HURT!? It came cracking down, the de descending on Jeremiahs head like a guillotine.
Jeremiah tried to catch it with one arm, a self-assured smile on his face. It got wiped off as quickly as his conviction when he, despite sessfully catching the weapon by the shaft, only slowed the descent of the attack. What the fu-? he gasped, bringing his second hand to help, sessfully stemming the tide.
Metras empty left darted forwards, vanished in a tear and reappeared at Jeremiahs side. The wed gauntlet dragged across his ribs down to his waist. Metal screeched as it was violently cut open. Qiada may not have been hard enough to cut through that te, but the Metracanas own body doubtlessly was.
You, BITCH! Jeremiah screamed, finding the power of anger in himself. The rush of adrenaline gave him the little boost required to rip apart Qiadas shaft. Wood splinters and the ded head flew to the sides. Metras push became the force that caused her to drop forwards, towards the smaller mans teeth.
Shit, Metra thought, having too much force in that movement to reverse the course. Lowering her chin, she went for a headbutt, at least her head was too wide to take a proper bite out of. Which was why Jeremiah didnt go for her head. With no regard for how it looked, only desperate to turn the tide of battle, he dropped to all fours and snapped at her ankle.
Pain, proper pain, rushed up Metras leg and filled the rest of her body, as the Art Eaters teeth went through her Astrotium te like it was nothing. A second bite, way quicker, severed her entire foot and ruined all bnce she may have had. She managed to guide her fall away from Jeremiah, at least, and rolled away. In a stroke of luck, Jeremiah concentrated on devouring the rest of her foot before going after her.
It gave her enough time to regenerate a sort of stump and get back up. As seldom as she was actually harmed, she still possessed the regeneration speed of an Artificial Spirit. Just the materials she had to that end were limited. Astrotium flowed from everywhere to regenerate that limb, as did the softer mix of Mother Chaos scales, among all the other things.
Those, the Art Eater could make little use of, but all of that metal soon appeared, covering his own fists in the dark grey colour of lead. Oh yeah, Jeremiah grinned as he got up, that hit the SPOT! Another charge, much quicker than before. Having ingested a piece of the first ever Artificial Spirit increased his powers tremendously. Enough to actually make Metra feel the impact when she blocked his strike with crossed arms. You taste fucking foul by the way!
But just because he was more powerful now didnt mean the First of Wrath was suddenly hopelessly outmatched. The green flickering in her helmet had grown to two flowing streaks of energy, rising like long candle mes. You desecrated what Sargon created. Her voice was calm on the surface, but the strain under it was easy to notice. Jeremiah may have strengthened himself, but the ancient weapon was now as pissed as she possibly could be. Consider yourself lucky we arent standing in Tiamats domain.
Whatever you want to say to make yourself feel better, bitch! Jeremiahughed and brought his second fist up to her stomach. Metra took the impact, even though it dented her armour, and pushed Jeremiah back. He took arge step back, put his bnce on the backfoot, allowing the First of Wrath to quickly set after him.
In a series of punches, she pushed him back. The thorns on her knuckles punched holes into his hide, but he just shrugged it off. In a euphoric rush of adrenaline and power, Jeremiah just freelyughed, as he regained his bnce and went back at her. Metra dodged his attack, then tore a hole into the fabric of space, sending a straight punch through it that hit Jeremiahs head from the side. Following that up, she tried to kick away his legs through another portal, but he dodged that with a swift series of steps.
Space was created between them, space that Metra used for a charge on her own. Except that she, before reaching Jeremiah, dove with her entire body through a portal to appear again behind her enemy. Raising both fists, joining them together, she struck at his open back. It smote him to the floor, tiles shattering and cracks spreading for several metres. Quickly, Metra grabbed him by a foot and iled him around.
Concrete dust rose, more every time the metal body hit the floor, until Jeremiah managed to kick Metra in the face. It forced her to release her grip, but her armour also cut his foot open in the process. Only his fists were covered in Astrotium.
The dust settled as both of them recovered into standing position, but, somehow, the surroundings didnt clear up. A damp mist set over the area, Metra only realizing what it was when an almost invisible creature of steam split into four of Johns elementals. Dont interfere, Metra let out a warning shout, as they got ready to do exactly that.
It wasnt some sort of plead for fairness. Metras wrathful self-empowering only worked if she was fighting alone. Right now, it was more important to have the raw power to counter Jeremiah than the numbers.
Jeremiah grinned widely, looking at something behind Metra. What the fuuuuuck? Smanders voice caused the First of Wrath to dare a nce as well. Together with everyone else, she saw the rising volcano on the Guild Hall.
Lakamun finally got his preparations done, Jeremiah boasted. He is a demigod, you know? No idea who he descended from, some Mesopotamian guy, but more than strong enough to reduce your little ind to ash! We just had to buy him the time and space!
Ill give you all the space you could ever want, Metra returned and their fight continued. The First of Wrath had to act more conservatively, her mana pool almost empty. However, she also didnt need more tricks. Sealed by his metal skin or not, underneath the shiny exterior, Jeremiah had numerous injuries.
They were somewhat evenly matched. Metra thought herself to still be the stronger one, but she had to be wary of those teeth at every moment. As it was, the fight entered another stalemate where neither could get an edge. Jeremiah continued to grin, especially as a massive pir ofva rose into the sky.
Thats the power I am talking about! he shouted and, extremely suddenly, backed off from Metra. In her anger, that confused the ancient weapon for a moment, then she remembered what the true objective of the Art Eater was.
She couldnt risk a desperate jump into his way, that would only get more of her eaten, so she focused her remaining mana into two more portals. She reached out and the green light in her eyes dimmed away, as a series of elemental attacks showered Jeremiah. If she had managed to take a hold of the Art Eater even with her raised Stats was one question, but now that the elementals had gotten involved, Metra was most definitely too slow.
Just like he had done in the tournament, the Art Eater shrugged the attacks off without any meaningful damage. He smashed through a wall that Gnome erected, ran through the grey-gold fire and smacked Siena aside without a problem. Then he mmed into the pyramid-esque anchor.
It didnt take much to ruin the IBMA. In the first ce, it had been a hastened product, but just one segment getting bent out of shape had cascading effects on the rest. As concrete was turned into dust and rune-inscribed metal broke, bent and shattered from the impact, the sky cracked all around them.
By some miracle, or perhaps Magois extreme talent, the Hudson Barrier did not fall immediately. Although imposing, the web of refracting light that spread from above the skyscraper outwards was all that happened. It was, however, enough.
See youter, losers! Jeremiah grinned and raised his hand to the sky, immediately vanishing.
Metra felt like screaming. Gathering her breath, either to mindlessly roar her lungs out or start screaming at the elementals that had been just as useful if they hadnt been there, she was interrupted as an entirely different sound reverberated through thendscape. Distorted violins, forming a melody of death.
More worried than angry, Metra hurried to the railing to see what was happening with that.
Chapter 687 – Hudson Brawl Finale – Aftermath
Chapter 687 C Hudson Brawl Finale C Aftermath
Jack found Eliza, standing next to the corpse. His actual body was still getting up the tower, but he was at least aware that things hadrgely concluded. With the destruction of the IBMA, the Lake Alliance had a window to flee. Magoi couldnt do both, keep the barrier together and hinder people from leaving, so this battle was officially over.
Seeing what John currently was seeing, through the eyes of his Extension, and having heard what Jeremiah had said at the end, the Gamer knew that things had not gone nearly as smooth for the Lake Alliance as the Art Eater had thought when leaving. Once they realized their own losses, Jeremiah would likely be in a strictly worse mood.
This didnt really elevate Johns own feelings on the situation. To him, this entire thing had been a senseless strain on resources and loss of life. Not to mention that he was seething because, right now, he was learning through Smander that Metra had lost a fair chunk of Astrotium.
That was something John could get worked up about, the Jack-guiding split of his consciousness had to deal with the worry for the blood mage. She was just standing there, in front of the corpse. Her exterior was close to how Thana had usually looked, but not quite there. She had the carapace and the tail, but the only wings she had were that of Bloodburn. Albeit, for the first time, not burning away. The four wings had a steady shape, thin membranes of blood, partly crystallized. It was equally beautiful and macabre.
The corpse in the middle of the crater was from a middle-aged man. Ance of bone had blown a hole through the axe he had raised in defence and his own chest behind that. Somehow, the force of the impact had made him drop to his knees, leaning backwards, arms now lifelessly dangling. He looked like an unbeliever that was forced to acknowledge the angry face of god in hisst moments.
Normally, she would have noticed him by now. Eliza? he called out, carefully, once he descended into the crater. Aclysia and Beatrice were right behind him.
It all happened in a sh. The wings red up again, a crimson Aura encapsted the blood mage. She vanished, then appeared again in front of Jack. Before he could do as much as raise a foot, her ws had already ripped a hole into his stomach and went out on the other side. Only then, did her purple eyes rise.
Animalistically pulled back lips copsed into a horrified expression as sapient light returned to her purple eyes. J-john? she stuttered, looking down at her arm and where it was. II
Shhhh the Gamer pulled her into his arms. Dont worry, this body cant bleed nor cause me to die, he said and stroked her hair as she began to cry. Itll be alright, itll be alright
_________________________________________________________________________
Give me some time alone, please Eliza said, once Jack had managed to get her back to the Pce. Naked, the carapace had fallen off sometime along the way, and clearly afraid, the blood mage didnt look anything like the threat she actually was. Slowly, Jack nodded, and allowed her to close the door in his face. Then he reverted back into the Mand Sphere and began the trip towards John himself. Having a hole punched into the Extension also damaged the original product, so a repair session was greatly needed.
Beatrice, keep a watch on Elizas room, he mentallymanded from his position in Scarletts apartment. Once he got his confirmation for that, he let out a troubled breath and sat down on the couch that came rising out of the floor.
With him were the surviving four elementals (Stirwin was still swimming out there), Metra, and Scarlett herself. Magoi and Rave were attending via phone conference, their faces projected on arge screen covering a wall. When Chemilia stumbled in, the gathering was officiallyplete.
You got hurt? John asked, while Undine was already flowing over.
Three of them ganged up on me and I got stuck somewhere with that extendable de, the pin-haired general exined. Still notpletely used to this mechanical leg thing.
Did it get damaged? Scarlett asked, earning herself an unappreciating nce from John for how uncaring that question sounded. What? Its so much easier to mend wounds than it is to fix a mechanism THAT intricate, the practical thinking redhead shot back and lit herself a cigarette.
You arent wrong, but it still makes you look rather He stopped himself and pinched the bridge of his nose. No, never mind, I know how you tick Sorry, Scarlett, just a bit tired right now. Been a long- He checked the clock, 18:52. Given that they had needed time to get to this ce as well, John rounded down to arrive at the number he spoke, forty-five minutes.
Itll be an even longer night for me, Magoi made himself the centre of attention, using an urgent tone. Listen, the barrier copses once I go to sleep or otherwise lose consciousness, so I just want your quick agreement with this n: you know the near-finished IBMA we have been preparing for Boston? I would call the best Fateweavers I currently have and finish it in the next twelve hours. Any problems with that?
It could cause some strain with the people in Washington DC, as that was where that anchor was originally meant to be ced. Not only was John sure they would be understanding, given the situation, but he was also certain that he could smooth over any differences this could cause. Yes, go ahead, he therefore gave the go-ahead.
Then Ill leave you to this, Magoi stated. On a joking note, he added, I better get some time off for this overtime work!
Sure thing. John forced himself to at least smile at that. The half of the TV dedicated to Magoi went ck, then waspletely imed by Raves face. Continuing on, the Gamer opened the Guild Hall menu. Although most damage had been averted thanks to Eliza and his girlfriend, there was still quite some repair cost to pay.
The Midnight Forest and the adjacent areas of the Commercial District, Newman Shire and the Elemental Inds were all wrecked and disced. The surviving fairies had taken temporary residence in the green areas further south, but that wasnt a state tost. Because there was now a t, former volcano instead, the whole area had to be reshaped before the Buildings could be repaired. At least Silicate Ind was only damaged to an extent that would fix itself over the course of two weeks, although John would be able to elerate that process by paying real money.
Shitty freemium mechanics, he grumbled mentally. Do tell me, how did that fight against that elf go again, Jane?
Was pretty boring, gotta tell ya. We both had basically infinite resources, so we just continued throwing stuff at each other the entire time, his girlfriend reported. Didnt help that she was fighting defensively the entire time, apparently she was just buying time for thatva guy. Remia was her name, by the by.
Right. John nodded. Originally, he had wanted toe along with Jack to help her in that fight, but the growing volcano had pulled his attention first. Not that it mattered, by the time he would have arrived at either location, the entire battle was already ended by Jeremiah smashing the IBMA.
If there was a single sce in this entire thing, it was that the smug expression the Art Eater had on his face when getting away would most certainly be wiped once he learned of the losses on his side. It didnt do much to lift Johns mood, but it did help a little bit. The next part put a dampener on it again.
How are we in terms of casualties? he asked, looking at Scarlett.
Stillpiling urate data, she replied. Right about now, it seems 29 of ours and 31 of theirs? We also have 62 confirmed captures. That roughly covered the amount of people John had fought on Governors Ind.
Surprising that many of them stood to their word, he had to admit.
That figure apparently includes Theron, Scarlett continued, which actually surprised John less. That green-haired punk you talked about is gone though. Seems like both broke out of the little confinement you made for them, but Leslek didnt decide to stay.
Sounds about right, John sighed. I need to find a better way to confine people after beating them if I want to keep being nice. He suddenly felt how dry his throat was, reached into his inventory, and pulled out a bottle of water. Before he could open it, a mechanic tendril moved around to offer him a bottle of vodka. After thinking about it for a few seconds, John grabbed the bottle and took a heavy swing.
The cooled alcohol ran down his throat and left a pleasant warmth in its path. In that moment, that feeling was dangerously seductive and John realized how people became alcoholics when he took the bottle off his lips. Then the aftertaste of pure vodka set in and he shook his head in mild disgust. It was, however, a day like this. He gave the bottle back to the tendril, and Scarlett had it offered to Chemilia as well, who took a smaller gulp. Then the elementals had their own chance at it. It was just a day like this.
The only person in the room who couldnt drink was Metra. Something that Gnome only remembered once she had offered the Metracana the bottle. S-sorry! the soil elemental hastily pulled the offer back.
I would if I could, Metra responded, more amused than anything.
N-not just for that Gnome continued. We shouldnt have gotten involved at the end there maybe
Yeah, and I should have estimated the durability of my weapon better. Shit happens in battle, Ill survive. Metra crossed her arms over her cropped top. Although Id be a fucking liar if I said I wasnt immensely pissed off.
Right, I have two questions about that, John chimed in. One, does the loss weaken you, and two, if we recovered the Astrotium, could you reabsorb it? Metra didnt have the Living Material Attribute, she couldnt eat things like Aclysia or any other AS could. What she had was Stainless Life and the Chaos Principle. Inbination, they set her bodyposition and made sure she always returned to it, with enough time.
Honestly, I have no clue. Metra shrugged. Something like this happened before, Jeremiah isnt the first creation devourer ever encountered, but I didnt care to listen back then.
Well, by the wording of things, it sounds like you could absorb any piece of Astrotium to make up for what you lost. Like, as long as it restores your natural bnce of materials, the origin of it doesnt matter.
Fucking fantastic, so we just have to find any old piece of star metal, along with small parts of numerous deceased gods, the ancient weaponughed. As to the weakening bit, I feel physically the same, but the armour will be a bit thinner. Shouldnt have too much of an impact, I always had the most of the metal among my siblings.
Alright lets hope we get lucky, John answered, only to growl, unless we can rip those pieces right back out of Jeremiah, that is.
That does sound like a fun time. Metra grinned from ear to ear.
Whats the status on the remaining damage? John turned back to the actual discussion. The alcohol was unfolding and it made him more pissed. It also helped himprehend the situation as a whole. More alcohol would have definitely shut thattter bit off.
We have lost immense amounts of government documents, most of the skyscrapers that were copied have been damaged in some form, what can be salvaged of the fleet remains to be seen. I would estimate the damages to be anywhere between 2 and 5 billion, not including private property. Scarlett hung on the bottle of vodka without a care in the world, her liver was trained to get through more than the rest of them. The good news is that we have 0 civilian casualties.
That is pretty good, indeed. John nodded, then his hands drummed on the edge of the couch. The way I see it, this whole thing ended in the worst way for both factions, he summarised the matter. Even if not as widespread as they may have wanted, they did manage to cause wide economic damage to us. However, they did lose two of their strongest fighters, with another one captured. Fusion can recover from this in a few months, but it will take them generations to find people like that again. Basically, we got fucked less by this whole thing.
So, Rave asked through the connection, whats the n?
The n is to take them, metaphorically bend them over and have our way with them, her boyfriend responded. The Lake Alliance is no longer a threat to us, at least not an existential one. At worst, theyll be to us what the Small Lake Pact was to them.
Scarlett lit herself a cigarette and blew smoke into the air. We have to be very careful while we engineer that peace deal, she stated. A statement absolutely true, since John wanted to avoid having a terrorist neighbour at basically all cost. There were also other eventualities to take into ount.
Yeah, he agreed and rubbed his eyes. Just as the Mand Sphere entered the room and he threw it into Create for the repair. 35 hours. When I could use being in two ces a lot right now Alright, here is whatll happen, he continued nevertheless, I need to have a chat with a number of people. Scarlett, I trust you to hammer out a modest deal thats in our long-term interest
Economic envement, got it, Scarlett stated with a straight face, huffing deeply through her cigarette. Only when John raised an eyebrow in her direction, did she give him a dry chuckle while exhaling. No, no, I got it. I have a contingency draft somewhere that I can fit to this whole fucking situation.
Alright. John nodded. Getting a list of bullet points is enough. Send it to me for approval and give it to Aclysia once you have it. He would have done it himself through Jack, but he would rather have the Mand Sphere fixed as soon as possible than lead what should be the easiest part of negotiations.
Aclysia? Rave asked. Ya think thats going to end well? They went against us, kinda sure she is in a stabby mood.
I am in a stabby mood, he retorted. Thats the point. Aclysia will not ask nicely for them toe to the table, because we dont have any reason to be nice anymore. If I dont have a peace deal by tomorrow evening, they will be having a bad time.
Alright, I trust ya know what youre doing, tiger. Rave smiled, and even through the filter of the screen, that did make everything a little better. Imma go mingle with the people a little bit, help with cleaning, be a role model and all that bees wax.
Ill join youter, John assured her.
Chapter 688 – An Angry God
Chapter 688 C An Angry God
John wolfed down thest bit of the fourth gran bar and carelessly tossed the trash to the floor. Normally, he would have at least put the wrapping into one of the trash cans but he was in a hurry and the slimes would get to it anyway. Between the conference and the hasted steps that carried him away from the Pce, he had only taken the time for a quick shower. Which had doubled as a chance for him to make sure Lydia was okay and get her up to speed. For once without any fun in the bathroom.
At least my clothes clean themselves, he thought, trying to stay optimistic, as he grabbed the golden doorknob of the Embassy and pushed. Once inside, he turned left and eventually arrived at a door. The back of his middle finger knocked against the wooden surface three times, then he waited. Not too soon thereafter, Marie opened the door.
She must have expected him as the dress she wore was more fitting for a court dance than a casual afternoon. Like every other he had seen her in, it was tight around her slender curves, of remarkably high quality but not all that decorated. What had changed since earlier in the day was her face. There was a stressed looked on it, not tired but exhausted, her eyes having that sunken appearance to them.
John. Her voice reflected this change, not having energy for any formalities. With a simple step sideways, she invited him inside.
There was a pop in his ears, like the bncing of pressure inside them. The atmosphere changed, as if he had stepped from a happy world straight into the site of a recent battlefield. Which was bizarre, given the world outside actually was the recent battlefield and the insides of Maries apartment in the Embassy had been left unharmed by any of this. Although Marie had done her best to create a royal looking and ordered ce for herself, everything around was infested by the ill will of the wrathful god sharing the space.
At first, that seemed to be limited to that awful pressure. Then the door was closed behind John, and he noticed a wolf spider the width of two handspans sitting above the frame. Staring, waiting, the fangs moving as if chewing. Slowly, he looked down to the floor, only to find tiny insects gather and hide under his shoes. Instinctively disgusted, he tried to step away from them. He could almost hear them skitter away as they ran for the walls and vanished in the miniscule gap of the carpet.
The grandfather clock swung along. On it sat a crow.
John hadnt noticed the bird until then, quiet as it was. He hadnt noticed a lot of things in the room, slowly unfolding around him. Whenever he noticed one thing, another one appeared and something else seemed to vanish. The wolf growling under the table caught his attention. Then another skitter behind his head caused him to look for the spider again. It was gone. Under the ceiling, however, now hung awork of ck ivy. From its poisonous looking leaves hung the dismembered, bled dry arms of rats and mice. He blinked, and the entire thing changed into an octopus, its tentacles spread and splitting to emte the winding vines.
The grandfather clock swung along. Around it coiled a snake.
John lowered his gaze, breathing slowly to stay calm. Scratches came from inside the walls, along with squeaks. It seemed that worms drilled their way out of the solid stone, but when John turned to these movements at the edge of his vision, he just saw the spider again. It stared, then began to move. The slow, methodical steps of its eight legs were almost painful to follow.
The grandfather clock swung along. The spider reached it.
Adventurer. Cawed the crow. Tool. Hissed the snake. Stared the spider.
John blinked again. All three vanished, melding into the afterimage of a distorted mass of limbs behind his eyelids. The most nightmarish dragon he had beheld in any imagination he ever had. When he looked again, the Horned Rat was sitting in the chair before the grandfather clock. He must have been there the entire time.
The pendulum swung. John was in the presence of an angry god.
As it was, the Horned Rat didnt look much different than usual. As a matter of fact, he was less imposing than most of the times, having shrunken down to easily fit into the chair. If he were to stand right now, he would have likely been as tall as John, perhaps even a tad smaller. The skull didnt look distorted in any way, the horns were as straight as usual. Nothing about this should have been any more imposing than the titan of a nightmare the god had been earlier. Yet, in the red fire of his two eyes was all the same dread John had felt then. It was a wonder Marie didnt look like more of a mess in this atmosphere, she must have suffered it for thest twenty minutes at least.
He had wanted to ask where the Horned Rat was, but hadnt expected to just find him immediately. Now that they were standing face to face again, John didnt know what to say. Even he didnt manage to crack however subtle a joke in this situation. Instead, there was something he wanted to say all of a sudden, something he realized.
Months ago, he therefore started, I told Aclysia a story. Do you know that?
Interested, the Horned Rat tilted his head. No, he spoke with absolute finality.
It was more of a stream of consciousness than a real narrative. A smith who had never forged came to create a weapon on the advice of a crow, John continued and the god leaned forwards with genuine interest. The smith became an adventurer and the crow guided him through helping several people, few of which were thankful for what he did. Throughout that adventure, the de the adventurer had made and carried became dull and bent. At the end of it all, the crow guided the adventurer to a sleeping dragon, who he was himself. The adventurer used the subservient weapon to defeat the dragon.
John left the thing he had realized unsaid. That the smith and the adventurer had, at least in an archetypical way, been a metaphor for himself had been clear from the start the weapon had be a woman. A stream of his consciousness meant that, regardless of how little he thought about it, the story was constructed from his own view on the world. The adventurer had been himself, in some ways; the weapon had been Aclysia, in some ways; and the crow, so he now came to believe, was the Horned Rat.
That dragon it got killed by a dull and bent sword? the Horned Rat asked.
It tried to melt the sword, seeded, but in the process incinerated itself, leaving the adventurer to find the treasure left behind, John recounted truthfully. Like all stories, it sounded rather stupid if recounted like that.
Heh The teeth of the god parted just a gap. Haha The gap grew wider. Then, it opened wide, the fleshy insides bing entirely visible. AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Roaringughter echoed out, blew away spiders and zombified rodents, wolves and cockroaches, crows and snakes. They all vanished under the surfaces of the furniture and, once out of sight, ceased to exist.
All the while theughter continued to grow louder, the Horned Rat shattering the wooden table with a gleeful p of his hand. The entire building quaked, as the erratic sounds became multiyered, booming with the magic that afflicted the gods voice often. John stood still, but Marie soon stepped over and held onto his arm, a deeply terrified expression on her face. He neverughs like that, she whispered.
In his joyous cacophony, the Horned Rat identally squished the back of the chair with his tail and fell over backwards. He caught himself, it would have been amusing regardless, if his continuedughter and movements wouldnt have smashed more furniture and, quite certainly, provided yet another reason to be unnerved to all the people currently on Liberty Ind.
Eventually, the joy ebbed away and the god of cmityid on the floor. Sprawled out limbs, surrounded by the splinters of his own making, the Horned Rat continued to be caught by asional chuckles. Whew, he said, rolling over onto his stomach. By Gaia, a delicious thing you said there.
Well, I am happy to be of entertainment, if nothing else, John responded with a wry smile. Whether the Horned Rat understood his ce in the metaphors of that story, and what he thought of it, the Gamer didnt ask. He had an inkling that the answer was so obvious that it would be insulting to question things. Sometimes I think it might be babys first prophecy.
You wouldnt have to guess if it was one, if you spoke it, the Horned Rat stated, clearing his throat. Sounds more like you did some cold reading in story form. There is a reason why you can generalize most narratives. Finally, the god managed to get back to his feet. The giggle he let out now was more along his usual, teasing tone. Look who is getting closer, all ording to my ever-growing schemes.
Marie, noticing now how tightly she had held onto Johns arm, slowly let go. Your plot may be what starts things between us, but it will still be our decisions, Horned One, she retorted, seeming a lot braver now. Well, talking to the Horned Rat brashly was a lot easier than with other gods. Which had made that entire rage episode all the scarier.
Yes, yes, youre totally not dangling on my strings, Richard said and made a couple of nimble movements with his raised fingers, as if he was pulling along some puppets. Be a treasure and make tea for your guest.
It was a less than courteous way to tell Marie to leave the room. Given the circumstances, that was extra insulting, and the ck-haired woman did furrow her brows. Regardless, she followed the rmendation and walked away. On the way, she fixed her barrette to sit properly.
I guess you already know what I want, John dared to suggest.
You want to know where I put Marathyu and, if you can get it out of me, what I n with him, the Horned Rat turned around and sat down on the chair he had personally reduced to a stool. Hm and something extra, perhaps?
Lets talk about that after you answer the part you correctly guessed, John said, walking over to the intact chair on the other side of the broken table. They both looked with fascination when the splintered te began to regenerate, the piles of wood on the floor growing smaller in response.
Your powers never cease to be interesting, Richard mused, then continued along the topic. For the moment, the smith resides on my ship. He will return to France with me, where I will give him everything that he needs to work for me. Once I have what I wanted, I will return him to where I found him. As to what that is, you will be unsurprised if I stay quiet.
Maybe Ill just ask him once hes back, John joked, to the Rats amusement. They both knew that, on the off-chance that Marathyu would even answer, what came out of his mouth would be mostly nonsense to the Gamers ears. The other matter, because of what you did, I need someone to represent the Illuminati at the uing peace talks.
You need someone that condemns my actions, you mean? the Horned Rat asked, not the slightest bit offended. If only symbolically, someone that supports you in all statements that you did not know I would devour part of your opposition.
Youre a patron deity, John answered in a matter of fact tone. You know better than me that you cant go around meddling in foreign affairs. I would much prefer not dealing with Krieg and his conve of bnce keepers. Marie returned and ced a single porcin cup on the broken table. Not at this current juncture and not for something I actually didnt have any hand in.
Hah, that will be a headache in theing months, the Ho Rat agreed. While John blew steam off his tea.
What will be a headache? Marie wanted to know, evidently not in the loop.
Oh, right, I was too busy brooding to tell you, Richard giggled and made a vague gesture towards his teeth. I ate someone from the Lake Alliance because they deeply offended me.
Daughter of a member of the Illuminatis highest governing level, Marie knew quite well what the repercussions of that could be. Someone unimportant?
She tasted quite important, the Horned Rat flippantly responded, now digging at his teeth with one of his ws.
For help, Marie looked to John, who was happy to oblige. She was one of their six strongest members, he gave the actual details.
Marie groaned, the wide-ranging effects this could have not escaping her. While the Lake Alliance wasnt a threat for the Horned Rat alone, much less the Illuminati atrge, it would garner them international attention of the variety nobody really wanted. Horned One, you bring our guild great trouble. I will have to contact my mother immediately and make sure this whole affair iz taken care of properly.
John took a sip of tea, found eye contact with the Horned Rat, whose skull creaked as it stretched into a grin. You heard that, Gamer? he asked out loud what the two of them just quietly agreed on. Turning to Marie, the god added. We have just found who can do all the condemning you want.
Chapter 689 – Updating the People
Chapter 689 C Updating the People
You got everything? John asked via mental connection and got an affirmative, if hesitant, signal back. He had just confirmed what conditions he wanted Aclysia to present to the Lake Alliance. The biggest obstacle was less the terms and more the question whether or not they would even answer any calls.
Responding from the other end, Aclysia voiced her difort, Master, is it truly wise to hold a press conference without me or Beatrice around? You are quite light on bodyguards at the moment, perhaps
I have Metra and the elementals with me, itll be fine, he responded. His mood had stabilized considerably since returning from the Embassy. Overall, he was still feeling pretty annoyed with the situation, but he had calmed to a level of eptance by now. Repeating the Hollmey adage a couple of times in his head also helped. I just need to get all of these talks out of the way. Then I can go help Jane and look after Eliza.
A worried sigh filled his mind. I am certain you know what is best, Master, the weaponized maid stated and reached out for the mental equivalent of a quick kiss. Their thoughts intertwined for a moment, then Aclysia distanced herself to see to the task John had given her.
Alright, John rolled his neck and took a cookie out of a nearby bowl. He snapped it in two, ate one half himself and presented the other to Sylph. Having respawned just a few minutes ago, the thunderstorm elemental was as busy babbling as ever. Right up until she full body hugged that cookie and started nibbling on it. To pass the time, and somewhat rpense the air spirit for dying again, he scratched her fluffy head with his index finger.
Not that her happy humming and trance-like eating didnt pay him back with her adorableness. If it werent for Sylphs reaction to sugar overdoses, he would have spent the next ten minutes in a state of patting and feeding her. It was like getting to see ones dog or cat after a hard day of work, it just cheered him up.
Light fell into the tent for a moment, as Metra parted the slit cloth that made up the entrance to take a peek outside. How long do they take to get done with this? she asked, crossing her arms but remaining standing where she was. The whole ce is already standing, so why cant you just immediately start your announcement thing?
The berserker babe pointed with her head at the entrance and therge stage that stood not far away from their current location. It was the very same stage that John had opened the whole festivities on, that he used to broadcast the Tier 3 Guild Hall upgrade and that he had nned to hold the closing speech on as well. A closing speech that now had to double as his public response to the attack.
Two reasons, one feeding into the other, John told the First of Wrath. Primarily, I just announced that this would be happening like half an hour ago. I dont think most people have realized that the invasion was even a thing yet. By dying the event, I give social media the time to spread these things. The announcement will have a bigger impact the more people see it live. To that end, I have told the technical crew to double check every cable, the excuse being that I am afraid the earthquakes from the volcano may have dislodged something and I dont want to start with even the smallest risk.
Which, Smander chimed in, stepping behind Johns chair and pressing her boobs against the back of his head, is an actually valid concern, so nobody can say a fucking thing. She reached down and ran her hand through his hair. The weather was already warm, even though John had deactivated the Weather Tower now, but between her boobs and her palm John was grilling. The squishy and gentleness of the entire thing kept him in ce though.
Along with his humour, it was quite clear that his Libido was returning to him now. Notpletely. The events of the day put a damper on things, the loss of life and theoretic meaninglessness of that life in the face of reality being the dream of an iprehensiblyrge deity. Not exactly abination that resulted in a raging erection. Smanders care did get him to a solid half-mast though.
Also, the journalists will be thankful that we gave them at least some notification ahead of time, John finished the topic. Also, also, Sally, any reason youre being this nice right now?
Youre just so hot when youre angry, the endme elemental confessed immediately. Not to mention victorious. Turns me right the fuck on.
Im with her there, Metra said. Under other circumstances, this would be directly leading to a blowjob under the table. Instead, the topic sort of died off. The evening would contain a lot of lewdness, that much was certain. For now, they were just waiting for all the cables to get checked.
About ten minutester, John was walking up the stairs of the stage. The crowd was a wild mixture of journalists and the few people that prioritizeding here over doing anything else. Presumably, mostly visitors from other parts of Fusion, who didnt have to check whether their house had gotten away unscathed.
Cameras from private individuals and news channels were all directed at the stage. Overall, the crowd was smaller than at the opening ceremony. To very little surprise. Hello, John started basic and serious. I will keep this short, as there are things to be done and people to talk to. Today, we were attacked by the Lake Alliance. It was a full-force invasion. As far as we could gather so far, its entire goal was to intimidate and deal as much damage to the infrastructure as possible. As for the why, I have engaged recently in attempts to sign a white peace with them. That is to say, I wanted to immediately have all warfare cease, with no losses of territory or other concessions on either side.
Sadly, he had never really talked about these ns in public. This whole announcement would have carried a lot more weight otherwise. Everything that made the Lake Alliances attack seem even more unjustified would be good for his cause. As it was, those that already believed him would say he had indeed done so and those who didnt like him would simply state that John was simply saying this to look good. It would take Lake Alliance administrators toe forward and confirm this, but it would likely get lost in the stream of news even if they did.
Needless to say, John continued after a long pause, that offer is off the table. While it is true that they managed to deal considerable economic damage, Fusion will recover. They, however, left with considerable losses to their forces. More importantly, fundamentally even, if they think they can waltz in here, during my fucking birthday festivities, ruin our homes, kill our soldiers and get away with it, they have severely underestimated the character of this Federation!
John was a tad ufortable with this bit of the speech. He was now generalizing the tens of thousands of people under his rule, direct or indirect. However, this was a necessary bit of collectivizing. If he didnt lead them in a unified direction, made them feel their anger was justified, there was no national action that could be taken. If he didnt take a stance, that would mean this was an issue up for debate and he would have none of that.
As such, he had to prescribe the people what he wanted them to feel. Their confusion and frustration over this event would have to be taken somewhere. Best John decided where that was, as much as it irked his fundamentally individualistic principles. However, now that he had fired things up, he needed to calm them back down, I also have no interest in spending yet more lives on this. The white peace will no longer happen, but peace itself, I am still willing to offer. On my terms. Fusions first priority is to ensure prosperity and safety. The meek, those that have their power under control and dont use it needlessly, will inherit the earth. I have no interest in engaging in a long campaign to crush the Lake Alliance. I will do what I need to. What that turns out to be is in their hands now. I expect this to be resolved in 24 hours or I will start taking measures.
He stopped talking to gauge the reactions in the crowd. For the most part, he liked what he was seeing. Most people seemed pleased with this course of action, but, as always, there was a subset that looked angry. John guessed that there were equal parts those that just wanted peace, no matter the situation, and those that wanted to just skip the fair treating of the enemy and just utterly crush them all. To either of those factions, John looked in the wrong. Either he was a warmonger or a spineless coward. Always interesting how people taking a middle position could be assigned either extreme position.
For now, this is what we will do: the festival, as much as it pains me, is over. Everyone who has the time and strength, I would ask to help in the clean up efforts. Ill see to it that you will be provided food for the duration of your work, but I cannot guarantee you will be paid immediately. We are still estimating costs, so you will likely be given an IOU that you can exchange for a sum at ater date. In case you have lost your home in the fights, please contact an official. As you are all aware, we do notck housing space, having copied so much of New York City and New Jersey. However, most of those houses have not been connected to any sort of infrastructure yet. While you wont exactly need heating in this weather, life without inte or electricity sounds like hell to me, so
He took a little pause to let the jokend. It got a fair number of giggles. Abyssals were used to sudden, turbulent changes in their life and could take a bit of humour even in times like these. Which was good, otherwise John may have gotten in trouble for that one.
Yeah, until your homes are fixed again C or a new ce is built C youll be allowed to live here in the Guild Hall. While that didnt fit with either of his two current ns, having those houses be used for rent ie or as a ce for the army to stay, using them as emergency shelters wasnt the worst idea ever. And before anyone asks: No, you dont have to worry about the Hudson Barrier breaking. We have things under control. For anything else, Fusion will release the details to the public on our website as we verify them. That is all. I hope you can make the rest of this evening a pleasant one.
With adequate apuse, John turned away and walked off. The second he took the microphone off his cor, a window opened.
Pretty unsurprising, John thought. He had half forgotten about this Quest. Now that it was in front of him, however, he could only shrug and ept this oue. He handed the microphone and everything else he was tangled up in over to one of his tech guys and then quickly began walking elsewhere. Metra walked next to him, on his right, and Gnome materialized to his left.
So the soil elemental carefully asked. Why did you not tell everyone who actually you know died?
I was afraid I would word it too aggressively or sound gleeful, so I opted not to do it in such a public setting, he responded. Especially because I have no idea how beloved Lakamun or Helene were. I could conceivably talk about Theron being captive, but that might collide with immediate other ns. As it is, we might let him go fairly soon, and I dont want that to cause any widespread confusion. Best to keep this under the rug. At least until tomorrow.
He said all of this wary of therge crowd of reporters looking in his direction. Nobody was staring directly at the trio, those people had mastered the art of following everything that was in the corner of their eyes. As much as they stood over there and he remained where he was, the risk of them catching anything was minimal. If a few people with extra sensitive ears did, he would still have enough usible deniability.
Doing a quick mental check, he found Beatrice unchanged in her position and mood and Aclysia upied with a phone call. She had managed to get someone of the Lake Alliance and was now working her way up the ranks fairly quickly, it appeared. Things progressed smoothly, as far as John was concerned.
Were going to need to get you a new weapon, John stated, looking to Metra. That Marathyu is gone right now is a bit ill timed Still, we should start nning this now. What do you want, a new halberd?
Optimally, yeah, Metra answered, folding her hands behind her head as they continued to walk. The motion stretched the fabric of her grey, partially translucent mini-top to a dangerous degree. Although I can wield whatever weapon you offer me anyway. I am not picky.
John nodded and automatically looked down at her delicious midriff and the way the clearly visible muscles shifted with every one of her steps. The half-mast from earlier returned and went up to three-quarters risen. With every task done, it seemed that more of his lust returned to its rightful ce.
Putting an arm around him, Metra leaned over. I am happy to serve you as the sex ve you made me, my king, her teeth snapped together next to his ear in an oddly sultry, if primal, sound. Whatever way you want, I will serve.
Not quite yet, John stated, not for ack of conscious desire. His dick just refused to go the rest of the way. If he had gone the full erection, he would be stomping towards the nearest tent immediately. As it was, he put his arms around Metra and Gnome and was happy with his life, fondling their round butts. Ill see if I can repair Lakamuns axe for now. A bit more axe than Qiada was halberd, but the closest thing of quality I can get in the short term. Once we gather some new materials and Marathyu is back, well get you an upgrade. He grinned at Metra, How would you like to have a weapon forged using all six supreme elemental metals?
Fuck me sideways, John, Metraughed, grabbed his chin and mildly forced him into a sudden and wild kiss. Her tongue was on the aggression, right up until John fired back, grabbed her by the ponytail and got on his toes. The few centimetres he had grown since acquiring Metra put him on eye-level with her, so thatbination allowed him to im the loving high ground. Eventually, he ended the kiss by pulling the blonde berserker babe away from his lips. You really know how to please a woman.
More like a tomboy battle enthusiast, John retorted, let go of her hair and put his hand back on her ass with a nice smack. Which, given who my girlfriend is, should surprise nobody. Anyway, you said you lost some other materials along with Astrotium, right? Small parts of gods?
Yes, Metra responded in her usual carefree manner, although her breathing remained a bit heated. That Johns fingers skirted dangerously close to the valley of her bubble butt didnt help. Neither did that her extremely small hot pants left her brown flesh free to the greedy touch. As you know, us Metracana were highly experimental and Sargon decided to just throw the highest quality shit at the wall until something stuck together. Scales of Tiamat, teeth of Abzu, eyes of Marduk, tools blessed by Enkidu. I doubt you can find any of these things today. Astrotium is at least found sometimes, even if we have no idea how the fuck it is created.
Mhm John would have scratched the back of his head, if his hands werent upied in more pleasant ces. What about Lyostes Rest? Could there be something there?
Huh, Metra let out a grunt after a few seconds of thought. There might.
Do you remember exactly where it is? John wondered, as he formed the procedure to this situation. Shaking her head, Metra denied this and the Gamer continued, Then Ill see if I can convince Momo to tell us or meet with you in the area. Once we have peace, youll have a few days to take a flight down there and check things out.
Its really not impeding me in any way, the First of Wrath reminded him. No need to send me to the other side of the earth.
Metra, he looked her deep in the green eyes, you should know me better by now than that. When would I ever leave any of my loves hurt in the most miniscule manner? That aside, modern aircraft makes this less than a week of a journey, so its not that much to ask. Well have to hire some private machine though, otherwise we wont get you through security
Seriously, fuck metal detectors, Metra grumbled.
We hopefully wont have to deal with them much longer. Once this whole peace thing is done, Fusion is unofficially going into a period of internal focus. We have expanded a lot recently and its time to order things properly. Plus, the whole birthday has given me the wish to spend some time just with all of you and less with my desk or foreign diplomats
M-more time for cuddles? Gnome asked, hopeful.
Among other things, John responded with a lewd smile, then kissed her on the cheek before she could ce the tiniest, cutest ofints. For now he sighed afterwards, as Newman Shire came ever closer. more work.
Chapter 690 – The inhuman Court and the perverted Earl
Chapter 690 C The inhuman Court and the perverted Earl
Either fairies had less power during the day or they had given their all defending the Midnight Forest. Thetter was much more likely, but the real answer didnt matter too much. John strutted through the unchanged trees, careful not to disturb the tiny, fantastic creatures that were resting on leaves and shades between the roots.
The only fairy that still moved was Methenia, dancing circles around a birch. Without her enigmatic home, the movements of thenky woman seemed misced and downrightedic. Sure, she was still stepping with all the hypnotic grace of a viper and spinning with the fluidity of ake, but all of that only heightened the impression that she was a fish out of water. In the normal sunlight of the normal forest the silky drapes wrapped around her looked like a normal material. Putting apulsive dancer in that situation was about as serious as a drunk badger in a chocte bar factory.
My Earl, Methenia greeted him, bowing in one step and twirling on with the next. I have had an encounter with wife your third. She threatened the wholeness of my body and the end of my physical shell would be the end of my soul.
What a convoluted way to say that she dies when she is killed, the Gamer thought. He didnt have to guess who that third wife was supposed to be. Another question came rted to that though. Why do you call Eliza my third wife? We didnt get married.
What is a marriage, but the decision of two people to share their life together? Methenia asked.
The promise given to share ones life together, traditionally before a representative of a higher power and themunity atrge, because marriage is a level above a normal rtionship, John exined with a raised eyebrow. If it was just the same as living together, we wouldnt have it across cultures and it wouldnt be a thing many people yearn for.
A silly tradition for silly beings, the fairy decided, vanishing behind the trunk for a moment, then stepping back out. What difference would there be, between the day preceding the promise and the day following it? Is your life not the same right now as it will have been then?
The difference is no, never mind John had better things to do than argue the difference between a couple that was married and one that was not married with a being that wasrgely defined by the fact that she only looked human. Exining the intricacies of human society and proven social constructs was a three-hour conversation/exploration in and of itself, especially once polygamy was added to the mix. I am here to ask how things went on your front C and how bad the losses are.
The summoner of ash and rock delivered death to the shapes and souls of hundreds of my kind, Methenia responded. The wolf fell, as did therge gardener, and the little gardener as well. However, I remain, and with the way the court feels, it will be an easy task to reshape it, my Earl.
John had no idea who or what those three were. Although he had the feeling he had seen the wolf C and was all too happy not to have to deal with that anymore. Thestment intrigued him. Why would it be easy to reshape the court? If most of you died by Lakamuns hand at the first day of you being here, wont that be taken as a pretty bad omen?
The ughter on the first day is, indeed, an ill-fated sign. Methenia nodded, hands sliding over the surface of the tree as she did a quick circle around it. Like the ashen ground of arge forest, consumed by fire, so too is the incineration of our kin a sign that these are fertile grounds. Especially as the fire happened in summer, my Earl. That aside, now that the little gardener is dead, I can invite my friend of the miniscule greenery. They had a feud, one I could not resolve by politics of my cousin fifth removed on my fathers side, and thus the death serves in convincing him. He knows many that wille.
John tried to understand the idea of wanting to move somewhere where arge number of humans had been incinerated. In order for me to move into a concentration camp, I either need to be bribed with a considerable sum of money or I need to be really desperate he let that thought experiment trail away into his subconscious. At the very least the conflict part he could get. Politics were weird, especially the feudalistic types that fairy courts seemed to adhere to. Well, it was the closest equivalent.
The Gamer looked around the exhausted fairies. Several of them, as he now noticed in greater detail, were injured, but Gnome was already tending to that. Her healing powers werent all that great but, as long as they remained in the forest, they were present. He moved his mind to get her some help, but only ran into an already ongoingmunication.
Undine, do help me with this, the soil elemental called out to her younger sister. Of her usual shyness, very little was present. Instead, her voice was dominated by concern. Presented with such a clear request, the ocean elemental soon appeared and John pulled himself out of their coordination efforts.
Ill see to it that the Midnight Forest is restored as quickly as possible, he continued his conversation with Methenia. I think your people do better there.
They do, the fairy confirmed. As much as we like the summer and the sun, the summer and the moon are more pleasant. Lights dance more beautifully in the darkness. John nodded along with that. How many spans will it take you, my Earl? Or is it mere cycles that youll need?
Youll need to define those terms for me, John stated, equally patient and curious. He didnt expect to understand fairy culture anytime soon, but he liked getting bits and pieces at least. It was like taping together the lore of a game through diary pages scattered throughout it. I assume a cycle is a day? It could also be an entire year, depending on what cycled around what.
A cycle is the time from when the sun rises and rises again, a span is the number of fingers on one hand, Methenia responded swiftly, raising her own hand as she swept by. Quickly confirming that she did have five fingers.
Does a span have varying lengths depending on the number of fingers someone has? he asked.
A span is the number of fingers on one hand, Methenia just reiterated slowly, as if exining things to a child.
Careful, Metra growled on his behalf. The tone you take with your king dictates whether or not I will personally rip you to shreds one day. For once, John didnt scold her for this, but instead touched her butt some more. His hand hadnt moved since they walked there and, with how stressful the day had been, he was in no mood to take any lip from some unattractive fairy he barely knew. Not that John generally liked getting talked to like that. Normally, he just had more patience for it.
I apologize? The fairy evidently didnt know what she had done wrong, but knew better than to get on Metras bad side. Daughter of Chaos, I mean no disrespect to our Earl. His court is where I reside, but he asks the questions of a child, so he will receive the education of one.
The First of Wraths green eyes began to glow as her anger rose. Before she could do anything that John wouldnt approve of, the Gamer slid his hand further down and trailed his skilled fingers over her cunt. Sexual Mastery made even this much immediately effective. That she had gotten worked up certainly helped. Either way, Metra was distracted from her aggressions by the sudden, soft moan she had to let out.
To be fair, John could have dissuaded her more reliably in different ways. For a start, he could have just told her to step down. That he went for this approach, he easily chalked up to his own returning Libido. Same was true for the next part. Sit down, Metra, hemanded, in the blissful way.
The ancient weapon obeyed, soon squatting on the floor, her face roughly at the level of his crotch. Immediately, she gasped lustfully, a rewarding jolt of pleasure rushing through her. The brown tint of her face darkened further as it flushed with desire. The smell of Johns cologne was more intense on that height, the Gamer having deliberately spread it that way. Not as well trained as Eliza, Metra didnt suddenly start salivating with a wide open-mouth, ready for a facefuck, but the way she sat there definitely opened the possibility for training her towards that position.
Good girl, Johns dom instincts made him say, grabbing her by that highly convenient metal ring that gave her wild, blonde hair a semnce of order. He pulled her towards his pants, were a clear tent showed off hisplete erection. And he stopped there. For the moment, all Metra got was the smell and feel of his cock under the pants.
He would see to it that they would have more fun as early as possible.
I ask questions like a foreigner, Methenia, the Gamer returned to the subject at hand as if nothing unusual was going on. Which, by his standards, there really wasnt. The fairy seemed more interested in Metras behaviour than anything else. Certainly, she nor any other fairy seemed offended or bothered by the disy. You will either answer me with some respect or point me to someone who can educate me without being belligerent in the future. Either way, it should only take me a few hours to restore the Midnight Forest.
In and of itself, repairing that area of the Guild Hall was of low priority. While interesting to look at and, no doubt, a point of prestige, it didnt produce anything. Well, at least John hadnt gotten any form of taxes out of the fairies yet. There might be a chance of that, if he asked in the future, but for now he just cared to resettle them where they belonged.
Of course, that was the first reason why he wanted the Midnight Forest back as soon as possible. Having the fairies roam around elsewhere could lead to a number of other problems. Just because they hadnt changed Newman Shire yet didnt mean they wouldnt, especially once night rolled around. He had a second reason, which was purely political. Making the volcano, the most visible result of the Lake Alliance destruction, vanish quickly was good for optics.
To that end, he was pouring money into the repair functions of the Guild Hall. It was going to leave him without any personal savings to speak of. Fusions funds had also been used to this end (it was, by basically all ounts, a problem regarding a public ce). Inbination with the recent spending on Amacat and the festival, their coffers were left extremely empty. Austerity was something the Federation would have to engage in soon.
John just hoped he wouldnt have to raise the taxes further. He wouldnt hear the end from Scarlett. Maybe I should ask her to gift the government some money? No, she wouldnt do that, unless things got really bad. Guess I have to ask her for loans instead, he sighed mentally. What do I even love her for? Not like she does anything else for me aside from helping me n, keep up an informationwork and keep tabs on my economy. Right, also sucking my dick. Rather important part, given how easily I am manipted by that.
The court thanks the Earl for that splendid news. Methenia did another bow in her next pirouette.
If there is something you need in the meantime or to aid in the remaking of your court, let me know. After saying that, John immediately felt his Wisdom present him with a rification that he better add right now. I am willing to provide you with almost anything within my power.
The blood of the enemy would sanctify the roots of our portals well, Earl Newman, the fairy stated. The one named Theron would do. I heard he was held by your lordship, so his is a blood you have currentmand over. I would dly drench the new tree with it.
Definitely a good thing I rified almost anything, John thought, ying with Metras hair, hearing her heavy breathing. How much blood? he asked, if they were talking just a few drops, he could still oblige in a rtively sensible fashion.
The contents of his veins, his heart and his mind, Methenia stated. John did not need a trantion for that one.
Yeah, thats not happening, the Gamer denied. Rule of thumb, if it sounds like something the Aztecs would do, we arent doing that here.
As you say, my Earl, Methenia didnt hide the disappointment in her uncannily calm, smooth voice. The butterflies have taken flight, then.
I guess thats some idiom in the vein of in that case, were done here, John thought, not feeling like risking another minor confrontation. He was too horny and too busy to go on anymore. If you need to contact me, send one of your quicker, smaller fairies to the Pce and find either me, one of my elementals or my maids. I will also send you a smartphone in theing days.
Smar..tphone? Methenia responded, sounding highly uncertain for the first time. What is such a thing, my Earl?
Amunication device, Ill make sure its exined to you when you get it, John cut it short, then looked down to Metra. Knowing how powerful she was made that depraved look she got down there all the better. After making sure there was no more fairy in need of medical attention, he said his goodbyes and quickly guided everyone else into a quieter corner of the forest.
He didnt have time for more than a quickie between appointments, but he would use that time.
Chapter 691 – Quickie and Prisoner
Chapter 691 C Quickie and Prisoner
For no reason other than his own lust, John made Metra take the short walk on all fours. She crawled along next to him, looking more and more turned on along the way. Something that, John knew for a fact, she would have hated under previous masters and probably wouldnt have enjoyed as much as she did under him until quite recently. Yesterday had clearly been a breaking point in their rtionship.
John wasnt used to such shifts having a clear-cut date to them, but he wasnt going toin about it. Not since it yed so much into his favour. Although Metra had not enjoyed being a submissive in the past, she knew how to y the part properly from observing others. Not that she had to be very creative in this instance.
Once they were a good distance away, John just told everyone to stop. He put a few Sentinel Golems into the area, to make sure they werent disturbed, then positioned himself behind Metra. It was a quick affair, he pulled down her soaked hot pants, got rid of his own legwear, then went straight to business. Taking her doggystyle out in the open, covered only by the densely standing trees, was extremely liberating.
His cock was soon lubricated to the maximum, so fucking her hard and rough wasnt a problem. All he cared about was getting off. To that end, he was remarkably uncreative, only keeping his grip on Metras hips and thrusting. That was, with his knowledge of her sensitive spots, more than enough to send her over the edge three times before he filled her up.
Not that one orgasm was enough.
That one had barely ended and he was standing. With onemand, Metra was sucking his dick. He guided her movements with one hand, while groping Gnome with the other. For once more needy than embarrassed, Gnome joined them, and after John had shot his second load into Metras mouth, he fucked the soil elemental against a tree.
After his third orgasm, John felt much better. He could have continued, of course he could have, but that was enough to let him go on with his day without feeling pent up. Thank you, Gaia, for allowing me this life, despite all the trials and tribtion, he thought. Cumming a few times cleared the mind quite nicely, so now the day was drifting towards eptable again.
He pulled a steamed towel out of his inventory, Aclysia had prepared a new one this morning, and they cleaned themselves off. Metra had to work with a pair of Raves yoga pants for the moment as John didnt want her to walk around with that damp spot between her legs. If spot was even the right word in this context, consuming about a third of her hot pants entire surface.
Urgh, why do I even have to wear anything? Metrained as she slipped into the stretchy fabric. Although her ass wasnt as perfect as Raves, the berserker babes butt was beautiful, bouncing as she let the waistband snap into position. Back in Akkadia, nobody cared if I was fucking naked.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do, John told her, not particrly interested in having this argument for the seventeenth time in its entirety. I dont want to be so depraved that I walk around everywhere in the nude. I still want to be a somewhat functioning role model for people and that includes being able to fit into polite society. Do you want to defy me, Metra?
No, my king, the First of Wrath grumbled, clearly not content but epting of the situation as she had always been. What else do you have to do anyway? Cant we just go back to the Pce and continue this properly?
Aside from the full day job of running around the city and fixing things, showing my people that I am helping them on the ground level? More importantly, aside from checking on my sweet, little, and once more going through a break down, Eliza? John asked and rolled his neck. It felt a bit stiff, he probably had strained some muscles thanks to the repeated orgasms. Well, that depends on what kind of update Aclysia gives me. Speaking of that, he pulled out his phone, its just about the agreed time.
As if onmand, likely having waited for a window in the conversation, Aclysia contacted him mentally. Report, she initiated the contact, I have sessfully arranged for a meeting in Boston tomorrow, as you have asked me to. Although my obvious threats failed to impress them initially, once the demise of Lakamun was proven, they were more than willing to initiate peace talks. The negotiator changed at that point as well.
Wonder what that means, John thought. Did the person speaking first simply retreat from the conversation out of shock or were they forced to take a step back because Lakamun was the head of a pro war faction, now fatally weakened? Lots of other possibilities as well, could be as simple as a bathroom break. He turned from the internal analysis back to the conversation. Thank you, Aclysia, would you say they are absolutely sure to attend the peace talks?
I found no single reason for them backing out. Simrly, I have no ultimate confirmation that they will agree to the terms as I have presented them, Master, the weaponized maid quickly responded. The final negotiator was rather nervous, however. They might be creating some scheme.
Well take the necessary security precautions. Shouldnt be too hard, since this will happen on our soil, John responded and then began walking. The next part, he said both out loud and in his thoughts, Alright, we should give the Lake Alliance something so theyll be less nervous.
He started walking, but not before putting his arms around Gnome and Metra again. There was no way he wouldnt feel someone at his sides. For him to skip that luxury, he would need to be in a real hurry. If someone used the scene to snap a photo of him and write an article along the lines of John Newman enjoys leisure stroll while city still burns, then the Gamer would make that sacrifice.
Not that they had the longest walk ever. They had already been in the southern parts of Newman Shire so the Pce was only about a hundred metres away. Although Metra had given a reason to return there just a few moments ago, John wanted something else from inside the building.
They passed by the Cleaning and Security Station. Both Buildings were normally unremarkable. Small towers, barely bigger than John, the former with a round and thetter with a square roof. In both cases, that roof was tremendously oversized, giving the impression of mushrooms. Underneath thatrge rim, normally, rested a few slimes or Sentry Golems that were not needed.
Right now, they werepletely empty. John had manually assigned patrol routes for all the golems. The slimes, on the other hand, now had the task of eating all the ruined crystals on Silicate Ind. As far as John understood it, they wouldnt be involved in the actual repair process. The Cleaning Station was a normal Building and, as such, entirely optional. The restoration of its shape to the defined setting was something the Guild Hall did by itself.
While the Cleaning Station looked like always, there was constant buzzinging from the Security Station. Its roof turned slowly, looking almost like a decoration in a park. All of this was likely to signal that it was currently working on assembling one of the destroyed Sentry Golems. John only slowed his steps for a few seconds to observe that thing, then passed it without thinking much further about it. The way his Guild Hall worked was, in many ways, just as enigmatic as the core of his powers. Gaia had done some programming and was feeding it in reality defying ways. While they were technically things John had ced, he had no control over the actual design of things.
He was the Gamer, not the designer. That was sometimes frustrating, but if he had to program his own abilities, he would probably still be busy figuring out how to debug Possession.
They took an elevator up the Pce and John stood atop the star fort, looking northwards. Does it look smaller to you? John asked, gesturing at the volcano. Since he had already invested the money, the thing was supposed to vanish within a day. From what he saw, the whole thing did seem to have shrunk, but that may have been a hopeful trick he yed on himself.
Yeah! Gnome answered, a bit too enthusiastically. Uhm, she noticed and eventually became so self-conscious that she began to stammer, I-I mean l-l-l-l-l-loooook over there! She pointed towards the east of the volcano.
John immediately spotted what she was referring to. A bit of road that was running so straight next to the rise of the t mountain that it couldnt have existed in that state had it been caught up in the natural rise of rock. Good catch, heplimented the cuddle rock and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed intensely, then they turned to the Pce proper.
They ascended to the second level of Johns home and walked towards an area that he had just dubbed the guest room. In essence, it was something he had filled with all the necessary bits for someone to live in. There was no one who still needed an apartment though, so it had just been left empty, as John had already put the work in to create it.
For thest half hour, it had be the dwelling for a sort-of involuntary guest. Theron was residing there, waiting for John to decide what was happening next. As it had already been proven the guy wouldnt flee if given the easiest of chances, the Gamer didnt see any reason to lock him up in any capacity. Although two Sentry Golems were still around to rm John if there was something sketchy going on.
As it was, John entered the room after knocking and found the interruption mage mid-yawn in front of the television. Like in Johns own living room, the thing was controlled over aptop. Theron had decided to go on some website and started watching a series. From the LANAAAAAAAAAAA that echoed out, John knew that it was Archer before he actually looked at the screen.
Audibly, Theron hit the spacebar, causing the thing to stop at aedic frame of an ocelot, then turned around. Got to admit, you have it nice here, the tired-looking guy said. Almost happy I got caught. Could get used to this couch.
I have to admit, youre scarily cool about all of this, John responded, not feeling particrly trusting of Theron. Obviously, the guy kept his promises, but the way he did it just screamed suspicious. It also screamedzy. If John had been a less paranoid person, he would have just surmised that Theron wasnt feeling like doing any of this. Instead, and the Gamer knew this was likely pathological, he was on the constant lookout for any sign that his opposite would slip up in his act.
Well, I lost, so now its not my problem anymore, right? Theron responded and yawned again. Meanwhile, John grabbed a chair from the nearby table and positioned it so they could talk.
What is it in this context? the Gamer asked, honestly curious.
You know, this, a hand reached up from behind the back of the couch and made a circr gesture, the war and stuff. Lakamun can go deal with you, since he wanted us to attack you so badly as well.
I guess that lends credence to one of my theories about internal factions. John felt pleased with himself about that. There had to be an internal counterforce that was growing after I both humiliated and didnt harm any of their people. I will just break the news to you: Lakamun is dead.
Theron was taken aback by that announcement. His half-closed eyes actually widened to the level of an awake person. Seriously? Wow. That seemed to be all he had to say about the demise of the demi-god. After a few seconds, he even settled back to the previous look. I guess thats good for you?
I didnt want any casualties, but in the interest of sparing you any propaganda talk: yes, yes, it is good for me. Especially if he was the main warmonger on your side, John sighed and shook his head. You could possibly know. What did I even do that you people decided to attack me? Was it really just the takeover of the Little Marnd?
Lakamun started talking about you the moment you took over New York. Theron shrugged. He doesnt likepetition. Even he didnt guess you would rise that meteorically though. That you took over one of our allies kind of gave him justification to escte things. Helene was sporting for a fight anyway, Jeremiah knew you had something tasty, and Leslek is a bootlicker. You know, the usual stuff.
John wanted to say that letting the strong lead on the basis of being strong was a pretty bad idea exactly because of situations like this. What stopped him was that he had no idea how the Lake Alliances internal system actually functioned and that he would have looked like a giant hypocrite saying that. All wars Fusion had been involved in, so far, came as a result of Johns own actions. In some way, shape, or form, he had invited the conflict and used the growing power of his Federation to support him in ending it in his own favour.
Instead, the Gamer decided to get to the point why he hade there. I am releasing you, he stated.
Oh, cool. Theron was already in the process of raising his hand, the usual gesture to leave a barrier, when he stopped and gave John a long stare. You look constipated, my dude.
You cant just leave without asking me why, John whined. Thats against the rules.
That sounds bothersome though. Theron yawned for the third time. You mind if I just pretend to listen while concentrating on howfortable the couch is?
Fine. John did a throwing gesture to express his discontent, but this was better than nothing.
You could just stop behaving like a super-viin? Gnome suggested.
But where is the fun in that? John asked back, then went on with the exnation, Its simple, really, the Lake Alliance has confirmed they will talk to me and I am sending you back to show that I am pleased. Do let them know that I am not out to utterly dismantle them and just ease the tension in general. This can all end without furtherplications.
Urgh, Theron groaned, raising his hand further. Just when I thought I was out of responsibility for a few weeks at least. Leslek wont stop screaming into my ears. Neither will Jeremiah.
Well, look at it like this, you do the work now to get the war over with tomorrow, John stated. No more stress after that.
Sure, sure. Theron didnt sound particrly convinced.
Chapter 692 – It was me.
Chapter 692 C It was me.
There was quiet in the room, after John shut down theptop. His thoughts circled around the obviousst point on the list that he absolutely had to attend to. Has enough time passed? he asked himself, checking the clock hanging on one of the walls. Shortly after 8 PM, it read. Over an hour since he had left Eliza in her room.
There was no set amount of time she had asked for, just that she wanted to think. Maybe an hour was a bit short for that, given what she had to work through. If he went there now, he did risk going against that wish. However, John was far too worried to wait any longer and he was out of excuses not to upy himself with this topic.
If it was Lydia or Rave or any other of his girls less prone to self-doubt and panic attacks, John might have found the patience to wait things out. Might being the operative word. As it stood, however, it was Eliza.
Eliza, my sweet little broken angel, John thought and started to move towards the door. An hour has to be enough. Gnome, Metra, he said, mentally calling out to the other elementals that hung around incorporeal as well, do get into the city and help with the clean-up. Ill follow you as soon as I am done.
I I think you should keep someone around. The soil elemental knew exactly where John would go and what the consequences could be.
No. Regardless, Johns answer was a firm denial. She wont hurt me.
She skewered Jack earlier, Smander weighed in.
That was then and now is now, the Gamer responded, wanting every word of this discussion to be thest. She did not attack me on the way back. Eliza wont hurt me, he spoke out loud, so Metra didnt have to wonder what was going on. If this sounds like the words of a lovestruck fool, then I will be the fool. I will work this through with her on my own. I am the one who keeps dragging her into the world and makes her change, so it is my responsibility to help her shoulder that change.
He looked from Gnome to Metra and back. The berserker babe was fine either way, but the earth spirit was remarkably defiant. Eventually, she, too, lowered her gaze and let out the tiniest of sighs. Just be careful, John. I, uhm, well, I really like Eliza, alright? I dont want to lose either of you, so I want you to be careful and She realized she was repeating herself and stopped with ast, just be careful.
I will, John assured her and they parted in the hallway. Metra, Gnome and the materializing elemental girls went the quickest route to the exit while John, alone, walked towards Elizas apartment in the monumental building. As ordered, Beatrice was still standing in front of it. The only moving she had done since John left had been the regrly timed blinks. Go help in the city as well, would you? he asked. She doubtlessly had followed the happenings mentally.
Command acknowledged, Beatrice stated, bowed and turned towards him. I require secondary confirmation to demote my stance on it from denial to reluctantly obedient. Question: does Master truly desire to be alone with one of the few people able to permanently harm him, potentially in a harmful state of mind?
Yes, John kept it short.
Command acknowledged, Master. The passive maid bowed again and started walking. I shall proceed to leave you alone with your potential doom. Earnest: I wish you sess.
Thank you, John only reacted to thest part. While somewhat annoying, he couldnt fault any of his girls for being worried. Past incidents had given more than enough reason to assume things could turn south quickly. Either way, he moved on and knocked on the door. No answer. He waited ten seconds and knocked again. Still, no answer. Eliza? he knocked for the third time. Nothing.
At that point, John threw decency to the wind and just grabbed the handle. Pushing it down, he found the door unlocked. Not that it would have stopped him either way, he could unlock any door in the Pce through a few taps on the menu (or good old violence).
A peculiar smell reached Johns nose. It was the odour of fresh paint, with a slight note of wax. It was a kind of smell that he wasnt terribly familiar with but recognized anyway due to that unusual blend. It was the fragrance of oil colours. No reason to be rmed, at least not on its own merits. Just not what he had expected.
Into Elizas apartment led its own, smaller hallway. A small alcove held an empty closet for shoes. A sharp right turn led into the living room. If the apartment had been situated next to the outside, there would have been another door there to keep the cold air out. As it was, John stepped in without any barrier.
It was dark.
All curtains over the three windows were neatly shut, only frames of light entering through the tiny gaps between window and cloth. Those flimsy remains of the day, weakened by thete time, were the only source of light in therge room. Reflecting that illumination softly was a white wax cloth that had been spread over the ck carpet. It was quiterge, shielding the floor across the entire width of the right-hand wall, opposite of the window.
As for the wall itself, it was entirely covered in paintings. Maybe just onerge painting. The border was difficult to draw in this case. Individual canvases had been ced next to each other, some so close the border was barely discernible, others with a noticeable gap between them. Seldom were they perfectly aligned. More often than not, the corners didnt touch, giving the entire thing a disconnected, chaotic foundation.
What was depicted on them was wildly different. Some were a portrait of a person, others of a scene. Looked at in their entirety, they were all connected into an overarching motive. John almost wanted to call it a narrative, the colours flowing on and on. Red, blue and white were predominant, although other colours were used as appropriate. There was just a difference in detail between where those three colours were used and anything else.
The green of the tree was urate, the blue sky vibrant. The pink colour of skin was detailed, the red of blood seemed to flow despite the use of simple colours. The gold of winding decorations was beautiful, the white all-epassing interruptions.
Finding himself in there was easy. His face stretched over an entire canvas and his upper body consumed the majority of the two underneath it. Those were located in the bottom left. Finding Eliza was also easy. Her picture was right in the middle.
The blood mage had drawn herself smiling, although John could see from where he was that many moreyers of paint had been applied to that particr section than anywhere else. It had seen arge number of redrawings. Another one would be necessary soon, arge sh of four ws ruining the wonderful rendition of herself. Only one eye had escaped it. The painted Eliza was looking towards the painted John.
The entire construction was brilliant, and John found his attention involuntarily drawn towards it. He recognized many scenes, albeit the angle was different than his own. There was a picture of the containment room he had first seen her in, drawn from the inside of the tank. Sigmund standing between the pirs of tree and rock, the Hidden Traditions sacred resting ce. Above himself, John spotted Rave, surrounded by the other girls, all sitting around a long table. One detail at the border of one picture flowed into the neighbouring one. Gaps between pictures became walls in a visual maze of beauty and horror.
One scene he couldnt ce at all was the image of a bible in argely empty closet. The book loomed as menacing as a book could loom, ced in the top right of the wall-stretching creation.
Johns eyes returned to the rendition of himself. Not because he wanted to, but because the entire thing was built that way. Ity right where the golden rule put the natural focus point of human perception. On one hand, it pleased him that she had given him that important spot, on the other, the implication was to his disliking. Eliza had made herself the centre of this assortment, but failed to make herself the focus.
John finally managed to rip himself away from the fascinating painting. There were more details to explore, more things he wanted to see where words failed. This was a sight beyond private, something he felt only he was allowed to explore. Just like he took responsibility for Eliza, he had earned himself the right to know everything about her. He would dly let her know everything about himself in return, if all of it could be expressed through words.
He turned around. All of the furniture that had filled the room by design had been pushed into the left-hand third of the room. Tables, chairs, couch,ptop, dresser, decorative nts, they all had been shoved and piled into one giant mess in front of therge TV hanging from the wall. The tables were entirely imed by a chaotic mixture of oil colour tubes and paint spots. In that chaos and darkness, John needed a second to find her.
Sitting on, perhaps, the only unimed surface of the couch, the white-azure haired girl was motionless. Her legs were pulled to her chest, arms tucked away between thighs and lower legs, her face entirely hidden between her knees. She was naked and clean. It appeared she had showered, at least.
Carefully, John made his way through the mess. Eliza, he said softly, stepping through the legs of a toppled chair. No reaction. Eliza? he asked, more urgently this time. Still, no reaction. Eliza! he almost shouted, now rmed. He tripped on some pillow he failed to see in his hurry, fell forwards, but caught himself before he could fall on top of her. Immediately he started inspecting her for signs of self-harm. There was nothing she could do to herself that was lethal, to the best of his knowledge, but she could still do things that would hurt. She was as warm as ever, no signs of willingly slowed metabolism. At his touch, she even raised her head a little bit. He was greeted by shattered purple eyes, the golden dots and lines inside seemed to glow. Eight dots and six lines. Thana, John said and immediately pulled his hands back.
Thana, the goddess of genocide repeated her own name after him. A title. Something they gave to me as I formed. Thana She lowered her head again and remained motionless.
John wasnt sure what to do in this situation. For a start, he decided to sit down. If Thana wanted to be violent, she had just missed her best shot. That aside, that time in their rtionship seemed over anyway. Thana, why are you here?
That question got a weak chuckle out of her. Nothing about it sounded joyous. Nothing about it sounded wolfish or murderous even. It sounded like the colour grey looked. In some corner of my human mind, I hoped you would be asking about me, she stated. Hoped you would care for how I am feeling. How fucking awful. I hate all of this.
Im sorry. The Gamer was equally honest and blunt. I really am. Under other circumstances, I would be happy to try and help you. I He took a short pause to try and put these next words as adequate as he could. I told you before I dont enjoy making you go through your personal hell. The alternative is just that you be the hell of everyone else, including me and Eliza, and I cant have that. Normally, I would love to try and help you through the troubles I caused for you, but but I
Youre too worried about her, Thana interrupted, her voice just loud enough to hear. Once more, the goddess raised her head a tiny bit, enough to look at John with one eye. Slowly, firmly, he nodded. How sickening, that I understand this, she bemoaned. Howplicated how ironic. We used to fight over control of this body. Her love for you was what pushed me out again and again. Now wepete over the sweet silence of subconsciousness. I wish both of us could relinquish the duty of being an active mind.
John just listened to her, until silence took hold again. Then he leaned towards her. If it was love that ensured she always stayed with me, then love can bring her back to me, right? He took hold of Thanas chin and guided her to raise her head further, turn it towards him. There was no need to force her, she offered no resistance, just let him go along the motions.
Perhaps I will rip off your face instead? Thana wondered out loud. You could heal the wound, but the scars would be hideous. I can ensure that.
Its a risk I am willing to take and a price I am willing to pay, John decided. Just as long as I still have her. Without further dy, he leaned in and pressed his lips on hers. There was absolutely nothing he got in return. No love, no hate, no passion and no retaliation. It was just a kiss, as in and boring as pressing two nks of wood together.
The motion itself was entirely unsatisfying. What the situation made it, though, was important beyond everything. Especially once John pulled back and stared into the same eyes that had met him. He just had his first kiss with Thana. It wasnt something he had ever thought likely to happen, but had imagined would be at a more impactful time if it ever happened.
I can respect you, Thana stated, her voice regaining something of her old wolfishness for the next words. How utterly reprehensible. She closed her eyes, pressing the lids forcefully together. A few moments passed, then they opened again. Lines and dots were reversed.
Eliza, John spoke her name with utter relief and immediately closed his arms around her. Just as she did. Dont ever hide from me like that again, you hear me?
You should have left me in Rome. The blood mage entirely ignored the plea. I hurt you, John.
No, you didnt, it was just a copy of metal and magic, he pushed against that, just wanting to hold her right now. He knew that was an answer that dodged the core of the problem, but now he just needed her to be happy. We have learned the lesson now, you can watch yourself, right? Face these problems with me C for me. Please, Eliza?
Its hard, John. She quivered between his arms. The words poured out of her, too quick to be spiced up to the usual degree. There was only the sadness of the realization. I hurt you. I did it. Not Thana. It was always our it was always my body that did it. Never actually me. When I lost control over it and she got control, she hurt you. This time, I I just felt these urges and I couldnt control them. I wanted to devour that corpse and I wanted to ughter you when you startled me. I am so fucked up, John. I am just messed up piece of shit.
Stop, he interrupted her and embraced her so tightly that he hoped it would press the air from her lungs. He didnt want to hear anymore self-deprecation. Take it slow, Eliza. One step at a time towards betterment. Do that, can you promise me?
I have been fucking trying, you asshole. He could feel her fingers digging into his back, her tears on his shoulder. Its not working.
Of course its working, you dumb slut, he couldnt help but retaliate in kind. Just because youre making progress doesnt mean its getting easier as you push along. I have been beside you every step along the way, havent I? I am telling you its working. Dont give up on me now, do you hear me?
John I hurt you
Yes, he admitted. And I would take every scar for you. She took a trembling breath, but he continued, ignoring any attempt of hers to interrupt him. I know you hate to hear that, but you will not leave me, do you hear me, Eliza? Youre mine and I, I am also yours. What it takes of me to give to make you whole, I will give, because I would be even less if you left.
Fucking hell, youre just reasoning yourself into an abusive fucking rtionship, you moron, Eliza sniffed, sounding oddly happy all the same.
No, John hardly disagreed. Youre not abusing me, Eliza. Youre not forcing any pain on me. All sacrifices I give are on my own ord. What I am, my sweet broken angel, is in love with you. So never hide from me again like this. If you need to think, I will give you all the space you need, but if you feel sorrow and anguish, you should cry in my arms.
Chapter 693 – The Troubles and the Cuddles
Chapter 693 C The Troubles and the Cuddles
The great thing about Abyssal clean ups after catastrophes was that rescue missions were a non-factor. Everyone could evacuate with the ease of raising their hands. Unless a Fateweaver was suppressing the process or they were so tremendously unlucky that they had both their arms incapacitated in some fashion.
None such cases had been reported to John so far, meaning that they were looking at a simple case of rubble pollution and damage reports. The former, people could solve remarkably quickly with a few shovels, carts and cars. 185 metric tons of rubble sounded like a gargantuan amount, until it was subjected to 200 people at the peak of (and sometimes slightly beyond that) human physical capability. Add magic to the mix, the ruins of a house could be disassembled in a ludicrously short time.
Thetter, John had to run around the city and decide what to do with. The burned-out skyscraper was the most pressing task at hand. Although the true extent of the damage could be vastly lower or higher than what first readings indicated, initial reports stated that the fundament of the whole thing had been weakened to a dangerous degree.
It was quite clear that, had it not been for Chemilia, the Lake Alliance would have strategically blown up structural weak points so the whole thing would topple over. There was a limit to how much a skyscraper could nt while it copsed, but the spread of destruction would have been remarkable regardless.
Failure or not, John now had to face the decision of what to do with the building. Three possible roads were open to him. He could tear it down in a more controlled fashion, he couldmand reinforcements to be made in an attempt to save the skyscraper or he could wait for more detailed information toe in.
As always, each of these options had any number of risks and costs associated with them. Demolishing the skyscraper was quick and painless, if done correctly. Cleaning the entire thing and refurnishing the insides could be more costly than just putting up a new one. Raw money questions aside, John took a liking to the idea of changing the skyline inside the Hudson Barrier up a bit with more Abyssal structures. As impressive as these towers of concrete, metal and ss were, they didnt have hovering balconies (or whatever else one could want).
Due to the sheer amount of living space they had open to im C not to mention the number of other projects they were already chasing C John hadnt looked into doing much in the realm of architecture yet. All he had done on that front was to make sure certain areas of the Hudson Area, particrly Manhattan and North Brooklyn, werent transferred from Fusion ownership to private hands. That way, he had the space whenever he wanted to get to it.
A few decades ago, there would also have been the concern of losing whatever government documents may have survived the fire. As it was, John was sure that they had back-ups of basically all important data in digital form. They would need to take some time to set things up again, but nothing of absolute value, like criminal records or the register of citizens, should have been harmed meaningfully.
What spoke for keeping the building around was the symbolic value. An attachment to the real USA, whose political system John so happily copied things from. He also happened to think that his home nation, for the most part, had nice architecture. On that front, he was still salty that the Hudson Barrier didnt actually stretch to the Empire State Building.
Well, at least that means it couldnt have gotten blown up in this attack, John convinced himself of the silver-lining, as he finalized his decision. I definitely cant do nothing. The weakened structure will eventually copse under its own weight, and I am not having that disaster on my hands. Question is if I want to keep it around or not, really looking at it
John gave the partly ckened tower of ss a final analysis. Its once polished, ss surface now looked like the spotted carapace of a silverdybug. In the real world, this building was the One World Trade Centre. That it was that particr building that now threatened to fall down on NYC was an irony that did not evade the Gamer.
Regardless, it was just a giant tower of ss. Impressive due to the size, but not all that great to look at. John decided that it was best removed and reced with something more magical in the future. Outfitting the entire structure with magical connections had been a pain in the first ce, so John could save himself some money if he put something in its ce that had more sensibility.
Now, how do I tear down I giant skyscraper quickly? was the next question John had to ask himself. Once the thing was reduced to rubble, he could leave it to the clean-up crew again. As this was a ratherrge building, John didnt really want it to just be imploded, but every other technique was likely too slow to take care of things before it copsed on its own. Guess I dont have a choice thisll cost some mana.
First, he had to evacuate Manhattan. Easily done, everyone around was hooked up to the chain ofmand anyway. Then he had Gnome erect earthen walls to prevent the rubble from flying anywhere once the actual demolition started. Through Scarlett, John got himself the blueprints of the building and analysed the support structure. Once he was certain he got everything, he moved Gnome and Sylph into position and continuously funneled mana into them.
It all went down pleasingly smoothly. Gnome destroyed all pirs, damaged and functioning, at the same time. The skyscraper copsed in on itself, one story after the other getting crushed by gravity and the weight of the stories above. ss and concrete bounced off the walls in a steady shrapnel fire. John could only hear this, as a thick cloud of dust was pressed into the confines of the wall. Although the inside of an Illusion Barriercked natural air currents, meaning the cloud would just rise straight up anyway, John didnt want the thing to pollute the entire district on its way back down. As such, having an air spirit solved that problem inrge part.
The preparation took something close to an hour, the execution less than six minutes.
I think I could get used to the demolition business. John nodded to himself. The whole procedure wasnt too different from his usual scheming. A long, methodical build-up with a swift, explosive conclusion. What do you think, Eliza?
After she had calmed down, John had convinced the blood mage toe out into the city with him. It had been a slow progress, partly because he himself didnt know what would happen exactly. First Beatrice had met them at the teleporter, then they had gone over to Rave, talked to Chemilia and finally some random people. At no point did Eliza seem to have or let John know about any murderous impulses.
As it stood, Eliza was in control of herself, for as long as she didnt engage in battle. That was easily worked with. Also, potentially, this meant the blood mage could actually fight again in the future. If it was just a question of keeping Jack around her, that was a possibility he was willing to entertain. Certainly, it was an upgrade from a rampaging Thana. Not an immediate solution, but steps in the right direction.
Once a few days had passed and they had all calmed down and observed this a little, John nned to suggest they did some training to see if she couldnt learn to tame her savage outbursts. As long as all participants were people with high regenerative capabilities, that would be a worthwhile endeavour to help Eliza along. Since she had actually seeded in suppressing the urge to feast on Lakamuns corpse, there was the potential for greater control.
I think youre a giant fucking show-off, Eliza retorted. It had been a good amount of time since she had left the room, so she was back to her usual self. Well, John guessed that there was still a lot on her mind, but he kept her mind from uselessly spiralling around it into a depression. Fuck you for being so fucking tall! she suddenly screamed and stomped on his foot.
Why is that bothering you this time? John wanted to know, more amused than anything else. A simple stomp failed to hurt him in any meaningful capacity, HP or otherwise.
Your perverted hand is on my shoulder, why the fuck is it on my shoulder?! sheined, involving him in an aggressive snuggle. Because youre way too fucking tall! A furious stare of envy went past John and towards Aclysia, who was standing on the opposite side. True enough, John had his right hand on the weaponized maids butt. The problem with Eliza was that he needed to bend towards her to properly touch her ass.
Not a whole lot. The difference between their height wasnt that extreme. John was a head taller than Eliza, so her waist and everything above was easily reached. Just her butt was, thanks to the recent extra two centimetres, finally too distant to reach without a bit of stretching. Even that would get ufortable if kept up for too long, so John had to surrender and go for shoulder or waist instead.
Why dont you tall fuckers get together and breed a space elevator or something! the blood mage continued. Use your fucking babies to shoot yourself right into the stratosphere. At least I wont have to deal with your bullshit once you retarded ruinations of my mood are up theeeerrrr-
Eliza was interrupted by John diving down and quickly lifting her on his shoulder. Now youre up there. He smirked up to her from between her thighs. So how is that?
Goooooood, she said, her mood so suddenly swinging into appeased that John had the urge to bend her over something as punishment for being so bratty in the first ce. He didnt go there, instead just pping her juicy thigh with the hand formerly on her shoulder. His aim was perfect, hitting that naked area between her boots and leather thong. New boots and clothes. Because Eliza had a tendency to rip her clothes when she fought (or in a number of other scenarios), John had arge stock of both. Motherfucker, she gasped lustfully, do you want me slick up your neck, you degenerate yboy? Because youre on the best way to make me ooze my filthy juices all over you.
Okay, Eliza, new rule, John decided, you dont get to refer to your wetness as filthy. Because I dont like the mental image.
Really? the blood mage bowed forwards, her head and falling hair taking up most of his vision. Only a little bit of the sky, quickly fading from purple to ck, was visible around her. Is it as bad as daddy?
No, its like two tiers under that. John would have made supporting gestures, but he was busyparing the squishiness of Elizas thigh to Aclysias ass. By a slight margin, he deemed the ass to win. There was just more jiggle there. I just like eating you out and when you say oozing filthy juices I cant help but imagine you have like a cold down there and that Nurglite gue I wish upon nobody. Crotchrot is evil.
Alright? Will try not to piss you off with that shit, I guess. The blood mage was nicely docile on that front.
Gnome and Sylph soon returned to their position and John turned to Aclysia. The weaponized maid let him know where else there were immediate decisions that had to be taken. Not too many more, but enough to keep him upied for a little while.
Until a little past midnight, John moved around the city. He told people what buildings to tear down, which to reinforce and, more often than not, did the brunt of the work required on those fronts while he was already there. He did some dirty work, talked to some of the people in a normal fashion, held a few speeches in official capacity and ultimately did his best to leave a positive impression.
Once there were only tasks he could have elerated but didnt require his specific attention, the Gamer called it a night and went back home. The first thing he did back in the Pce was take yet another, way more thorough shower. One of the usual, Newman Lifestyle? variety. Eliza was fucked against the wall, Rave rode him in the bathtub, Aclysia and Beatrice rubbed him down with soaped up sponges and their hands, Undine sucked his dick whenever there was an opening and all other kinds of erotic scenes unfolded. There wasnt a second Johns cock wasnt getting worked in some fashion and the girls he couldnt pay attention to were busy with each other.
Once they were all meticulously clean and smelled nicely from the shampoos and cologne, they relocated their get-together into the living room. None of them put their clothes back on. Only Lydia kept wearing sexy lingerie, rather than beingpletely naked. Contrary to expectations, the orgy didnt escte further from there. While things definitely remained sexual, with all the nude women around, what followed was more of a giant mountain of cuddles.
With immediate desires taken care of, everyone had a bigger urge to indulge in closeness than yet more perversions. John found himself at the centre of an ever-shifting exchange of hugs andpliments on the couch. All of the uncertainties of the day, all the anxiousness and existential dread, broke into a life-confirming hour of simple honesty.
It warmed his heart, as his naked girlfriendid against him. Her smooth skin was more pleasant to brush his palm over than silk. We really are a bunch of crazies, arent we? she asked with a smile, kissing his neck. To take this day and end it by hugging each other with smiles and no tears.
Lydia came along and sat down on Johnsp, facing towards him. Her brilliant red lips closed in on his, and wordlessly they engaged in a prolonged kiss, sealing the Gamers answer before he could even think of it. It was full of passion, the queen writhing on top of him, her moderate breasts pressed against his chest and her slick pussy slickening his recently dried cock.
I observe it to be a sign of beauty, the auburn-haired royal stated, her heated tone shimmering through her well-chosen words. She said something the Gamer found wonderful in that moment. That John Newmans harem cane out loving life even when faced with a terrible present. We are stronger than the uncertainty, are we not?
John took the queen by the waist and gently, slowly, made her slide over his dick. The gasp she let out was raw sensuality. We are the best, the Gamer decided, it felt like an inadequate answer. There was just nothing that could measure up to what she had said.
Chapter 694 – Another busy day
Chapter 694 C Another busy day
John woke up like he usually did. Warm, clean and happy. The only contrast to most other mornings was that nobody was bouncing or sucking on his cock. By some miracle, he was the first person awake. Well, aside from the maids and Metra, all of which were already out and about, getting their duties done.
Feeling quite energetic, John only kept lying in bed for as long as it took to beat the inherent want to stay under the warm nket. On other mornings, he would have also had to put in his contact lenses, but he had kept them in overnight to get the Blessing of Binding activated. Once he managed to lift the nket, he manoeuvred himself out of bed. It was quite a challenge to do so without shaking anybody. By a lucky coincidence, Raves nightly adventures must have first caused everyone to distance themselves from John and then she herself had rolled away. He couldnt exin how else he wasnt covered by anyone and his girlfriend was holding Eliza in a full body hug. It looked like Rave was a sloth holding onto Eliza as her branch.
John he heard his name when he was almost out the bedroom door. Turning around, he looked at Lydia, recognizing her voice. The queen still had her eyes closed and rolled over onto her other side. It was just some innocent sleep talking. That definitely was a close second to waking up to a blowjob.
With a smile on his lips, John stepped out of the bedroom and gently closed the door behind him. Then he enjoyed the quiet for a moment, not thinking, just rxing. Even the elementals were still asleep, leaving him alone with himself. Most of the times he had rare moments like this, he cherished them. This morning, however, he had no particr urge to be alone. Nothing to think about that he wanted quiet for.
Luckily, he didnt have to wait too long for someone toe his way. While he pulled the repaired Mand Sphere from his inventory, the door opened and the two maids returned to the room. Aclysia led the way, Beatrice closed the door behind them, both walked a bit into the room and then took a simultaneous bow.
Good morning, Master, they greeted in unison, only for Aclysia to take the lead in speaking afterwards. Do you require our services?
That was a very good question. Not right now, no, John answered. Somewhat to his own surprise, he wasnt feeling particrly horny. He still didnt bother to put clothes on. Maybe a bit of a massage while I get breakfast? he suggested as he walked towards therge table in the living room.
As you wish, Master. The weaponized maid only did a slight bow that time, then made a quick gesture towards Beatrice. While Aclysia strutted towards the kitchen, the younger Artificial Spirit took position behind John and rubbed his shoulder in a rhythmic fashion. At first, the texture of her touch was that of gloves, then that of naked skin on his own. Given that Aclysias own maid uniform was reced by her naked curves, John could safely assume that the passive maid had also gotten naked.
One would think that this had lost its lustre by now, but John was as interested in watching their nude forms as he had always been. The perversion had gotten not a bit weaker through exposure. If anything, John felt that his desires had been amplified over the months. Albeit that could easily be pushed to his steadily rising Libido.
Looking was enough for the moment. Much like his meals, he felt like getting an appetite before digging in. What is for breakfast, by the way? he asked, while Beatrices thumbs pressed into his neck. The light puncturing loosened a sore spot he hadnt even realized was there.
Your protein intake has been low recently, I was going to make porridge with nuts and cocoa, Aclysia responded, taking out the oats to start on exactly that task. If this isnt to your satisfaction, I may oblige if you speak up, Master.
May? Since when do you get options when your master requests something? John asked in a joking fashion.
Since I have been put in charge of your nutritional intake, Aclysia responded, swinging a spoon in his direction with all the intent of a sassy housewife. The motion reminded him that they still had to take a good look at her and Beatrices new weapon. Time for that would have to be found tomorrow. Now be a good master and let me take care of you. Beatrice, make sure he remainsfortable.
Affirmative, the passive maid responded with a rare smile. Something John could only see because she bowed down to kiss him. For a few seconds, the wet sounds of parting and meeting lips were all that cut through the quiet. Then Beatrice straightened up again. Statement: I am eager to serve in any capacity able.
Mhm, I think I would prefer it if you got under the table now, the Gamer stated. Although the massage was skilled, it only made John realize that he would need to take the time in the next few days to get his whole body rxed thoroughly. The more rxed his shoulders got, the sorer his back felt. That kiss had awakened his lustpletely and now his erection was standing at attention.
Task acknowledged. Beatrice failed to make those two words sound sexy, but she made up for it with what followed. Mission: give my kind, beloved Master a masterful blowjob until he is satisfied and I can taste his delicious seed over and over again. Honest addendum: I was hoping for this oue.
By the time she had finished speaking, John could already feel her breathing on his cock and soon thereafter her tongue and lips followed. He leaned back in his chair and ordered what he had to do this day. There was no shortage of tasks.
It was five in the morning. How he was this awake despite having only slept about four hours was beyond him, but the human body was weird even without getting pushed into superhuman territory. Maybe he would sleep twelve hourster topensate for it. Perhaps he would suddenly feel very tired in a few hours. Always difficult to ascertain.
Anyway I have to go to the airport with Lydia at 7:20 can I still he crunched some numbers in his head, yeah, I should be able to get to Boston for the peace deal at 20 oclock. He groaned and put a pin in his thoughts to reach down and take hold of Beatrices soft hair. She was really working on making him cum as quickly as possible and seeded at it as well. Not that John was known for his stamina when it came to first times of the day. Once his shaft stopped quivering, he went right back along with his thoughts. Getting from Boston back here in time to meet up with Maximillian is going to be a bit more of a task Maybe I should cancel?
That would certainly have been the easiest path to take. Of the three things he had nned for today, that was the one he had the least obligation to do. However, as hurried as that would make his day, this was also the first sessful night out he had nned with Maximillian and cancelling on such short notice would have been quite a dick move. Not to mention that he had no idea when they could have the next opportunity. Especially since John had somehow managed to rope Magnus into it as well. It wasnt like either of these two were known for their ample amount of free time.
Ill just have to drop them a message that I might runte, John decided and pulled his phone from his inventory. Well, that would have been what he did if it had been there. He recalled that he had left it lying in the bedroom in case he got any emergency calls. It must still have been there. Getting up to fetch it wasnt an option, so he had the Mand Sphere morph into Jack instead.
The only risky part of the manoeuvre was to open the door. Once he had managed to do so quietly, the fact that Jack could hover delivered him to the nightstand without a problem. Jack put the phone into the inventory and John pulled it out at his current position.
A neat trick that he would try to use to his advantage in the future. Although the range of it was limited to the distance he and his Extension could be away from each other while maintaining a good signal. Which was about 5 kilometres, given that they were in the same barrier. If they werent, distance hardly mattered, the connection either broke off immediately or after being reduced to almost exclusively white noise.
Those limiting factors aside, the ability to get an object up to the size of a nightstand from point A to point B basically instantly was ludicrous. Bigger things were theoretically possible, but John hadnt seeded in cramming them into his inventory yet. Perhaps once he worked on getting some more slots for that mechanic. Those had always been scarce toe by.
I should get some Strength or Endurance scaling for this, he thought in a suggesting tone, just in case a certain deity was listening. Jack closed the door again and changed back into the Mand Sphere. Meanwhile, John checked his messages.
There was a small flood of messages but the fact that none of them had woken him up must have meant that none of them had been too urgent. There was one from Magoi at around one in the morning saying that the IBMA recement had been finished. That was a nice start, although John was a bit sad that he wasnt around to see the cracks in the sky disappear. That must have been an interesting visual.
A whole slew of messages afterwards were from Scarlett,piling more damage reports. He just scrolled over them, not too interested to look at the numbers at the moment. There was going to be ample time for thatter, since he would spend about eight hours today just sitting around. At the tail end of messages from the Technomancer was her saying that she would go to sleep and be out for a while. That was around an hour ago. John doubted he would hear from the redhead until the afternoon.
Note to self, take her somewhere nice, John thought, since he was once again working her to the bone. Luckily, Scarlett was almost as addicted to working as she was to alcohol. Not that she is actually addicted to alcohol, she quit for a month Although I dont know whether that actually means she isnt minorly addicted, given that she went right back into it... I would need to look into research on that front. Oh, whats that?
A message that was earlier in terms of time than all other messages, but arrived through a program that had been given incredibly low priority, was thest one to be cleared. It was a rather simple line of text, delivered through Discord.
Gravity King: If you cant make it today, I would understand.
As John had already made his decision, he quickly dropped a message to deny that.
Jeehan: No, no, I should be able to make it. I might runte (actually, I will 99% runte) but I will definitely show up.
Once the message was out, John realized what name was disyed there. Jeehan I guess I should change that at this point. Must be thest tform I still use that nickname on, he thought and quickly edited it to TheGamer. When he had started using the Abyssal side of Discord, he had gotten onto the SecretBlonde server about himself. Now he didnt really need that obfuscation anymore. Not that he even used Discord a lot these days.
Not expecting Maximillian to respond at this ungodly hour, John put down the phone and closed his eyes for a moment. His attention shifted to the second orgasm, quickly rising, and the feeling of Beatrices lips as her head bobbed up and down in hisp. Just as he was about to cum, he felt a bit of squishiness applied to the back of his head. Boobs of the smaller variety, pressed against him.
Hold it, he heard the disciplined voice whisper from slightly above. Hold it. There wasnt much she could have been referring to, so John decided to go along with it for the moment. Hold it, a third time, themand echoed out and, at that point, his body was actively trembling from the amount of pressure inside his balls. Release. He was finally allowed and pumped Beatrices greedy mouth full of his second load of the day.
Feeling a bit dominating this morning, Lydia? John asked and opened his eyes to see the queen standing above him, with her auburn hair confined only in a standard ponytail. Before she had her morning shower, the metal mage didnt think it worthy of her time to go through the process of braiding her hair.
Although you give me little opportunity to, I do enjoy partaking in the positions opposite of submission and masochism, sometimes, Lydia responded. What is our breakfast going to be?
Porridge, Aclysia answered as quickly and to the point as the queen preferred, with cocoa and nuts.
A good meal, Lydia nodded. Quick to prepare, quick to eat, upies the stomach for a while.
And she doesnt lose a word about the taste, Johnmented out loud, earning himself a scolding flick to the forehead.
Taste improves morale, that is its biggest value, the militaristic woman dered, then walked away from John. Now, I will go to the bathroom and go through the necessary parts of every morning, she managed to formte that quite elegantly. If you are inclined to it, I would be joyous to have you present in the showers afterwards. I do think you should give me a bit more to remember you by before you apany me to the airport.
Of course, mydy, John agreed without hesitation. Little did she know that their time apart would be much smaller than she anticipated. That wasnt a reason to decline the opportunity for a nice round of make the queen forget how her legs work through the tools of a good butt fucking though.
Chapter 695 – A quick drop in Germany
Chapter 695 C A quick drop in Germany
This could be a much easier affair were you the owner of a private airport, Lydia stated as they stopped in front of the security gates. People stepped around them, wanting to check in themselves. To that end, John and his harem were slightly in the way, but not enough that anybody asked them to move.
Ill put it on the list of future Guild Hall Buildings, John assured her.
That option exists? the queen asked, raising an eyebrow. Before her lover could answer, she furthered the thought herself. I suppose it does logically follow, as evident by the Harbours existence. Would there also be an option for cars, toplete the triumvirate of vehicles?
Yeah, havent built any of them yet because I wouldnt get a lot of use out of them, he answered and then yawned. That sleep he hadnt gotten was slowly taking its due. This is why I shouldnt be fucking until four in the morning one day and try to get up at a sensible hour the next. Well, I can sleep a bit in the next few hours.
You should consider the option heavily in the future. It would make visits to your home a lot easier. Albeit, I dont think this is going to be a problem for us two anymore, would it? Lydia asked and mustered him with an iron gaze.
Whatever could you mean? John asked and grinned so broadly that the lie immediately was discovered.
Crossing her arms, the queen shook her head heavily enough for her masterly made braid to peak past her back for a moment. Your antics have been noticed, John. I know your mood when you have to say farewell to one of us and you are not replicating it believably. She raised one finger to his chest and stabbed at his ribcage. You think me a fool that cant decipher the most obvious of situations?
I just thought it would be funny to see your face, John admitted, doing his best (and purposefully failing at the same time) of looking guilty. You know, when you say goodbye to us and I say goodbye to all of them, he gestured at the rest of the harem following the scene. Could have been funny.
Lydia went back to a crossed arms stance. I am no item for your amusement, John.
The fuck is going on exactly? Eliza asked. She wasnt entirely alone in her confusion, although it was only her, Metra and Sylph that had absolutely no idea what was going on. Everyone else was either in the know or could also guess where this was going.
Our beloved and quite irritating Gamer here, Lydia turned to the blood mage to exin, has recently upgraded his Guild Hall to a higher quality. With it came the capability to ce more long-range teleport outposts
Oh, alright, I get it, Eliza spoke up. Fucker has to fly over to Germany now to ce the broken-ass station over there and thought it would be funny to get on the same ne as you.
John shrugged, the only thing he felt bad about was that he didnt obscure things better. That about sums it up, he admitted. Lydia and I have been talking about giving Fusion an embassy space in Berlin anyway. All it takes is for the pre-agreed ce to be officially given to me. Once the prepared paperwork is signed and thend belongs to me, it belongs to Collide and therefore I can ce one outpost over in Germany. Only thing I dont know about is what happens to the outpost if the contract gets broken and the territory is technically no longer mine.
A question of no current concern, Lydia dismissed and looked at one of the clocks that were everywhere in the airport. Come then, John, we have a flight to catch. Looking over to the rest of the harem, the queen only gave a respectful nod. I would prolong this farewell further. However, as it stands it will be open to me to return without long travels from this night onwards. As such, I will simply say untilter.
Laterz, Rave waved and the rest of the harem followed suit, as John and Lydia turned to the gate to actually check in.
You know, John spoke up while they stood in line for the security checks. You cant actuallye through the teleporter at will. Only members of Collide can use it.
Is this another futile attempt to get me to join your guild? Lydias tone had a sharpness to it that made it clear she was not having this discussion for the third time. I said it clear and I will stay true to my oath, not even in name or for convenience shall I swear fealty to someone else than my people.
No, John tried to dissuade her through strong words and gentle gestures, putting an arm around her shoulders. It worked, Lydias blue eyes taking a familiar grey tone. I wanted to remind you of that, nothing more. Youll have to send me or someone else a message whenever you want toe over. They took a step as the queue moved forwards. Since you already saw through me, I guess you made arrangements to that end already?
Selbstverst?ndlich, Lydia answered, using her Germanpletely consciously this time around. More often than not, when she slipped into her mother tongue, it was because she was worked up about something. Aclysia and Beatrice are both easy to reach and convince to apany me, should I desire so.
They would be the logical choices, John agreed. Our biggest problem will be the time zones though. You are six hours ahead of me. When you want toe over for dinner, itll be lunchtime here.
I honestly dont care about such administrative obstruction, Lydia let him know. Getting on her toes, she ced a kiss on his lips. Her hair smelled of citrus. I will take the wonder of being able to see you at my leisure, despite an ocean parting our homes and countries.
It sure beats phone calls, John agreed, then they had to part momentarily to get through the security check. Since neither of them had any luggage, the process was quite quick. Although the Gamer was actually a bit confused when Lydia stepped through the metal detector without any issues. Only when they were out of hearing range from the security, he asked, Isnt half of your body technically metal? How did you get through there?
He knew for a fact, from fights in the tournament, that her hair was made from a fair chunk of copper. It was easy to forget that Lydia wasnt technically a full human, but half an elemental. That aspect of her background only surfaced in very specific circumstances.
Two things intertwine to this end, Lydia exined. The metal as it is part of my physiology is too magical to be detected by mundane scanning equipment. Even if it wasnt, I believe the traces of metal in my system do not amount to enough to be noticed. Metal detectors dont outline your veins either.
I just wish the Artificial Spirits could get through that easily, John mumbled as they continued through thebyrinthine airport. I have my ways for Aclysia and Beatrice, but having to bribe Metra in will lead to trouble at one point or another.
I am not aware of any easy solutions to this, although this also isnt my area of expertise, Lydia admitted. Did you have any luck finding a solution?
An immediate one? No, John responded with a heavy sigh. Seems like metal detectors are too new and Artificial Spirits too rare to make this something Abyssals bother to research. I would guess someone out there knows a solution, but its just hard to dig up because it isnt mass-produced. The best way I have found to deal with this is to put Scarlett and Metra on the same flight and she takes care of it. Aside from that, well, he shrugged, I think I should just get a private machine already to eliminate these issues.
That would be the best way to go about this indeed, Lydia agreed and they walked on in silence for a little while. When they arrived at the waiting area for their flight, they still had twenty minutes to pass before they could board because that was how things worked at an airport. She asked a sudden question, Are you even certain that you can actually ce an outpost on territory that was leased?
Absolutely certain? No, he answered truthfully. I tested it by buying property in the Little Marnd before, but that didnt work because I owned the property, but the property was still part of another guild. Lydia was already inhaling deeply to give him a lecture, but John just continued on. The way the thing is worded makes it quite clear that it should work if I own thend. As long as you actually transfer ownership of a few square metres to me, it should work. Otherwise, I implore Gaia to warn me right now, before I have to take a flight back somehow.
They both waited for several seconds. John for any windows to open and Lydia for John to react to any windows. She could also read them herself in theory, given that she was in his party. Finally, something popped up.
There we go, the supreme deity confirms it, John stated and moved the window so Lydia could easily read it. In doing so, he gestured around in a way that looked quite odd to the people sitting around them. Not that the content of their words didnt already make them look a bit looney. Gaia had a tendency to make people forget about talks like this in a more natural way. Less mind-wiping and more what did I eatst Sunday?
It was one of the services she supplied for free. John had gotten liberal usage out of it back in Springfield, without even being aware of it most of the time. Namely because Aclysia used to run around as the most attractive cosyer in town. White hair alone would have garnered her all the attention, but wearing the dress of 2B from Nier;Automata as well should have propelled her to town or even inte fame within a few weeks. Neither happened, because Gaia kept interest on a logical low. Not eliminated, just reined in.
You are lucky, John Newman, Lydia stated after reading through the Achievement. Were it not for that, I would have forced you to stay here. Establishing experimental connections should not trump attending a peace deal.
The Lake Alliance can seriously fuck off. John didnt bother to hide his irritation. Coming to the peace deal like 5 hourste to make them sit on hot coals for that time is a risk I was very much willing to take. Feels like an adequate reaction to all the stuff they have put me through. Once again, Lydia seemed ready to berate him, but the Gamer raised his hand. Look, I am not thinking logically on this, I know, and I wont do anything thats actually going to harm anybody. If getting a direct line to visiting you was dyed by weeks, potentially, because they had to assault my home, that would raise my irritation to unhealthy levels. Look at this as some form of venting.
Lydia instead exorcised her berating through a long sigh. I see your point, my love, I do, she just admitted, and they turned to more pleasant topics in the remainder of their waiting time. They boarded the ne without furtherplications. During the trip, sitting with ample space in first ss, they talked a little bit, slept a little bit and made out a little bit. Given that it was an official flight, Lydia wasntfortable doing anything else and John had no particr urge to do something on the ne toilet either.
They could have probably gotten away with doing things right there in their seats, since all of the other attendants of first ss were part of Lydias bodyguards, but that was a whole other category of ufortable.
Afternding and checking out of the airport, they immediately entered the Abyssal side of Berlin. Like Rome or New York City, the German capital was a type 3 barrier, meaning that a massive Protected Space contained its own city. Apparently it wasnt terribly old, not even 200 years. Given Berlin had, for most of history, been quite unimportant, that wasnt too surprising.
They got into a limo and were driven over to Lydias residence. John spent much of the time looking out of the window, fascinated by the sight of yet another ce he hadnt been to. Fascinated and, in some ways, appalled. Berlin had an overly visible distinction between rich and poor districts. Of course, even the poor lived better (in a material sense) than their equivalent in the mundane world. If that hadnt been the case, they could have simply left. Still, districts were separated by broad roads or even walls. Buildings on one side were gold and gem-encrusted, on the other grey and in need of repainting.
Lydia let it be known with few words that she hated every bit about this and John understood her wish for reform more than ever. Everything had the touch ofcency to it, a society that had grown fat on traditions and gotten enough of a cushion to not think about making changes before the whole thing inevitably copsed.
Odd in this was Lydias home. It was its own district, by all ounts, surrounded by a simple park and a few additional buildings. While it was indeed a pce, it was one of the most moderate ones John had ever seen. For the most part, it looked like an apartment building. A very big apartment building with an uncharacteristically high amount of decorations, but still in the ballpark. Long walls with equally spaced out windows in stacked rows. Compared to some of the aristocratic mansions in the adjacent districts, of course nobles centred their households around the seat of power, it was almost humble C but only almost.
There were four things about it that were quite imposing. In order of least to most remarkable, in Johns opinion. The decorations on the rim of the roof were pleasingly symmetrical and the bronze statues standing on the corners were artfully crafted. Therge dome tower, beset with more statues and golden ornaments. The gate underneath it, a massive thing of stone, pirs and masonry, covered in heraldry and art. Lastly, the thing that he was looking at was a building that should no longer exist.
The Berlin Pce had been damaged in World War 2, deemed repairable but subsequently torn down by themunists in East Germany. You know, once upon a time, John admitted while they walked through the courtyard, I thought of socialism as something that sounded pretty nice. The principles still sound pretty humane. Yet, every time the ideology gets into power anywhere, they only bulldoze the past and enve the future.
Socialism andmunism is inherently seductive because it is so utopian, Lydia responded while they walked on through the building, preserved by putting it into a barrier long before that whole political thought was even formted. Its ws are not immediately obvious. You know the saying, no heart he who isnt a socialist before his twenties, no brain he who still is one in his forties.
Not sure thats the exact wording, but that sounds about right, the Gamer responded. Well, not like the ideology has done only bad.
They stopped in the middle of the courtyard as Lydia gave him a long stare. What good did it do, John?
He only now realized that he was talking to a woman who had lost her father to the Blood of the Proleteriat. Bad move, he scolded himself, but he had already walked into thatndmine, so he might as well state what he meant. It created the pressure needed to birth many social programs, such as health insurance. You wont catch me sayingmunism is something to base a government on, but some of the underlying principles can be used to achieve some positive results.
I entirely reject the notion that we have socialism to thank for these things, Lydia spat the words out like they were poison. The moment she realized her tone, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and gathered herself. Although I suppose you can observe the history as it has happened to interpret it that way. Giving the credit to that abhorrent miscalction of a worldview seems like a terribly unteral analysis to me.
I would need to dig deeper to debate that, John dropped the argument, since that was his actual stance there. It might very well be that it was just the time that made those things popr, with early industrialization and what not.
That appears closer to my view on it, Lydia stated, and they continued moving, dropping the topic like a hot potato.
I guess I will have this talk in a calmer atmosphere, John thought to himself, since he was actually interested in having it. Seeing what good one of the most destructive forces ever had brought was a fascinating topic to try and tear down with someone else. If he warned Lydia beforehand that this would be the topic of a discussion, she would probably be happy to have it. Be it only to tear everyone else a new one. I guess she could have a great time preparing with Scarlett on that front
They left the building on the other side and arrived at a ce that had not belonged to the original construction. A house ofte renaissance design but clearly built with modern materials. With a fresh coat of azure blue paint and a little garden attached to the front of it, it appeared like a nice ce to stay. Although it was rather small, particrly between the Berlin Pce and the houses of the Abyssal aristocracy that stretched out behind it.
My grandfather used this as the house for spurned guests, as he liked to put it, Lydia informed John. Those who he deemed necessary to be in close range but too obnoxious to have them sleep in his pce.
They do say Frederik the Great was an odd fellow, John mumbled, scratching the back of his head. He couldnt imagine people were generally too offended by being put there. Truthfully, it looked like a much nicer ce to stay than some room inside the pce. What does it say about me that youre making this the embassy?
That I am not my grandfather. I dont make the court convene here in the first ce. This is strictly my home and workce C and its awfullyrge. Lydia took a little pause to re at the aristocratic houses in the distance. Were it not for this awful need for prestige, I would have moved into a practical office building months ago. Regardless, she reached into her own pocket dimension to retrieve a piece of paper, sign this.
John took a moment to look at the contract. Only minorly to inspect what was written, he trusted Lydia, but to inspect the artistry of the whole thing. The dark blue ink on the creamy colour of the paper looked like someone had dipped their quill in the night sky and used it to write into a desert. Aside from Lydias own signature, there was also Romuluss name in the bottom area. As Rex Germaniae was still technically part of the empire, that was a necessary step of this whole thing.
John took the pen that Lydia offered him and added his own signature to the contract, a second copy for Romulus and a third copy for himself. It was a pretty quick affair, without any onlookers to make it feel official. He actually preferred it that way, since he wanted to get this concluded quickly. Once all of it was done, John simply ced the teleporter outpost next to the house and that was all it took. Given that it looked like a dark, wooden pavilion with a blue ss floor, it actually fit quite neatly into the scenery.
As always, it has been a pleasure to visit you, John, Lydia let him know once the thing was in ce. Evidently, she was under the impression he was going to leave immediately.
You know, I do have some time before I have to leave, he said with a smirk and gestured towards the house. What do you say, you actually show me this new embassy you gifted me? He liked to believe the implication was quite clear.
Lydia smiled in the slightest of ways.
Chapter 696 – A little ease
Chapter 696 C A little ease
The inside of the house was of fine quality. Lydia had hired the same internal architect for basically all her holdings, but this house had been designed by her grandfather. As such, everything was a lot morevish. While Frederik the Great had been known for streamlining the state budget, he was also one of the most renowned patrons of the arts in his time and it showed.
Adorned by masterful carvings, the dark wooden furniture across the room exuded the grace of a past age. Finely woven tapestry covered the perfectly aligned floorboards, themselves covered in ayer of enamel. The walls were of caramel coloured ster, smoothly applied and painted on with gold and silver. Paintings hung on the walls in frames that were almost as artful as themselves. All of that was only the living room.
The thing was that John and Lydia didnt get any further in. The house has three bathrooms, but only one kitchen. I trust that will be enough for you the queen barely managed to get out, when John went on the attack.
Although she may have nned to at least show him the building properly before they did something, once John took control of the situation, she was done for. He simply stepped behind her and took hold of her body. One hand brushed up outside of her thigh, sliding up her summer dress in the process, the other slid into the opening for her shoulder.
Uncivilized pervert she gasped jokingly, his fingers quickly rolling her hardening nipple between them. As she wasnt wearing a bra, her petite chest was open for plundering. As was the back of her neck, where John now liberally applied his lips to leave a few love bites. You could at least wait until we get to the bedroom-mhm. Her breath was forcefully expelled at thest word, as John brushed over her panties. Where he pressed a little more, he could feel the fabric dampen.
Shove me off and we can stop until we get there, he whispered into her ear in his deepest voice. Combined with his continued hold of her, equally firm and teasing of her sensitive areas, it had the desired effect of only making the queen of steel formable like y in his arms. John had long since figured out that women liked to be handled with measured force and in an assertive manner. This was doubly true for his harem. After all, those were some of Johns most obvious qualities.
He gently bit into the upper part of her ear and enjoyed the squirming of the sterndy in his loving embrace. None of it was actual resistance, only yful struggling, instinctive reactions to the pleasure or her pressing her ass against Johns groin out of trained habit. Fine, she spat out, gasping, and leaned fully into his attack. Do what you want beloved
Being called that gave John almost more pleasure than their physical contact. I love you, he answered, just because it felt right, while ring and middle finger of his right circled her clit. The panties were still in the way and he didnt n to remove them soon. This current situation pleased him on an animalistic level that he was happy to indulge in for a little while longer.
Although one of the smallest pairs in his harem, her breasts still provided a pleasing amount of softness under his palm. That the stretchy fabric of her summer dress pressed his hand so closely to her chest only furthered the feeling. Drumming heartbeats reverberated in his grasp, growing more intense with every bit of teasing he subjected her to.
You dont have to miss any of this in the future, John said while continuing his masterful probing. Whenever you feel stressed or lonely or, you know, just in horny, I am just one teleporter away. Ill always do my best to make time for you.
Such stressful lives we lead, you and I. Lydia kept her quivering voice in check for just that sentence, then let out a long gasp again. So much work so far apart Ahhh, a high-pitched moan ended her words, the queen turning wonderfully weak in his grasp.
One day you will have your reforms done and I my conquests. Then, when we can delegate most of our work to others, well have all the time we want to indulge, he dered and speed up the movements of his hands. We just got to work in preparation of those days, right?
Y-yesssss, Lydia barely managed to answer, mingling it with her delighted moan. Her damp panties turned into a soaked mess, as an orgasm caused her pussy to overflow with the delicious love juice. Adding no further pleasure to her climaxing state, he just let her writhe in his arms. When her gasps became heavy breaths and her body shuddered rather than spasmed, she managed to say, I do not require this dress anymore.
John couldnt help but grin, he had been just about to ask a question to that end. Moving his hands up to the back of her neck, he grabbed the rim of the cloth. With a satisfying tearing sound, the doubtlessly costly article of clothing was turned into a piece of fine waste. Ripping it off her curves, he revealed the rest of Lydias skin.
The summer was fitting her. Although she hadnt gotten nearly as tanned as Rave or John himself, the summer sun had left its mark on her athletic body. Less than brown yet more than northern European white, her skin stretched taut over her healthy, barely visible muscles. Turning her around, pushing her back until she sat on the table, John took a long look at her.
Lydia seemed diforted by this, after a few seconds had passed. Theres not much to look at, inparison to your other lovers, she stated in a rare moment of weakness. Her upper body twisted, partly hiding her breasts behind her shoulder.
Like I care however marginally more or less beautiful you are, John responded swiftly and strongly, finding the idea almost offending. Firmly, he pushed her shoulder back until she was facing him with her entire body again. None of us are perfection and I dont need that either. He leaned forward and kissed her impossibly red lips. If you want to, I could try finding a way to improve your physique.
I wanted to put into question your ability to do so, for a moment, Lydia shook her head. Then I was reminded of who I am talking to. She leaned up to repay his kiss with one of her own. If you can do so, I would be thankful, earnestly. I feel something less than jealous towards the others, but its an unpleasant feeling nevertheless.
I will solve it, then, John assured with all the authority he could muster. Whether the Lover Boy ss would reveal something to this end or another avenue to sess opened, he did not know. Generally, if he really wanted something, his powers would eventually reveal to him a road to get there. It wasnt in the habit of being an easily attainable goal, but it was there.
That was enough of the serious thoughts, however. John opened his character sheet and tapped the button forplete unequip. Suddenly nude, he gave the queen something to visually indulge in. Given the long road he had gone on himself in order to obtain a more attractive body, he couldnt fault her for wanting the same C even if he thought it thoroughly unneeded in her case.
To underline that opinion where no more words could do any convincing, he kissed his way down her body. He left yet more hickeys on her body, this time in ces that nobody else would see. Blemishing her smooth skin was its own little pleasure. There was satisfaction in corrupting things, be it in the most minor of ways. It spoke right to the darker, more primitive parts of Johns character. The same sadism that told him to push her down on the table and choke her while mming into her cunt over and over again.
Exceptional situations aside, Lydia wasnt too big into masochism though. As such, John held back and cultivated his tender sides, concentrating more on her soft whimpers and the little shivers that intensified the closer he got to her cunt. Taking a momentary pause, he ripped off her panties like her dress.
Her orderly trimmed pubic hair had a simple triangle shape and was of no obstacle. He simply kissed around it and, when he started sucking on her clit, it was too far away to distract him with any tickles. Already damp with all the fluids her underwear had failed to absorb, her pussy turned into a dripping wet disy now that that obstacle was removed.
John concentrated the efforts of his tongue exclusively on the little bean under the hood. Heat surrounded him when Lydia ced her toned thighs on his shoulders. Although her honeypot tasted deliciously sweet, with just a faint metallic aftertaste, the Gamer wasnt going down on her exclusively for his delight. Just like he grabbed his own cock to spread precum equally on the massive shaft, a motion that brought him no pleasure, he used the pussy juices to lubricate Lydias back entrance for the near future.
Each time his fingers pressed against her sphincter, the butt slut of a queen gasped. She was as clean down there as was possible; Lydia had always kept good care of herself and, since she had gotten ess to someone who was willing to fuck her ass well and proper at any time of the day, nowadays her hygiene was simply impable. Had I been aware you would take time for this her voice trembled, I would have kept the plug in
John could give no answer. A hand was ced firmly on his head, short nails dug into his scalp with a pleasing amount of pain. Just the sheer reminder that Lydia usually had a buttplug in her ass for the majority of her visits was enough to create a lustful groan deep in his throat. Along with that came a sudden increase in the amount of precum he produced. Without a doubt, he was now dripping on a million-dor carpet.
Nothing to care about at the moment. It wasnt like Lydia was treating the table any better or that she wouldnt be origin of some stainster on herself. Right now, the sinful haze of lust was much more important, made manifest through the tiny cries of Lydia. He hadnt yet properly made her feel pleasure. Whenever she was really turned on, the queen moaned loudly, with nopromise. Before then she kept somewhat quiet.
Although his tongue skills could have brought her to this point eventually, he felt that this was enough as far as preparations went and got out of his ufortable half-squatting position. Letting out a disappointed gasp when his tongue no longer circled her clit, Lydia removed her thighs and hand obediently. Grey-blue eyes looked to her lover for his next move.
Turn around, hemanded, and she obeyed with an adequate amount of haste. A drawn-out, erotic sigh confirmed her reward and was quickly turned into a loud gasp. John pressed the head of his cock against her asshole. Where do you want it? he asked.
Lydia red over her shoulder, her annoyance masked by lust. Is it required that we engage in this game?
John smiled and dragged his cock down to her pussy. Its too much fun to tease, he defended himself and angled his hips so his hard prick was resting against the queens back entrance again. He liked that view, his erection resting in the valley of her ass. Sure, it wasnt the greatest in his harem, but it would still be a crime to describe it as anything less than enticing. So? he challenged, grinding against her.
My butt, John, Lydia admitted with a sigh. I desire you to fuck me up the butt.
Not quite as obscene or loud as John would have wanted, but he didnt have any more patience to dy this. Pressing his cock into her sphincter, he forced himself into her. The pration happened slowly. Although he had done his best to provide ample lubrication, it was just as important to stretch her out. Since they had done no prior preparation, just plunging into her would have been an experience of the unpleasantly painful kind.
Instead, his slow approach brought security and a gently rising pressure. Lydias face was a view of tremendous satisfaction. Her mouth was wide agape, her eyes stared into nothingness and her brows furrowed. A nk expression of lust. Sighs escaped her, then gasps and the fully fledged moans he had wanted to hear, growing in intensity and volume. Finally, he was all the way inside her.
Is this what you wanted? John asked, pushing even further. Lydia was forced to take the quarter step she could, her pussy now resting on the corner of the polished table.
Yes, she answered, less a word and more gasping for air. By Mother Metal, youre so big. How how this keeps being a surprise to me is a mystery but youre filling me so much its
John interrupted her by pulling back the slightest bit. Words were reced by more interesting noises, be it less intellectual ones. He went back in with a slow thrust, then pulled a bit further out. This cycle repeated itself numerous times, each time he moved a little bit more, each time she got a bit louder. The tightness of her sphincter became less constricting as she got more acquainted to his girth.
After about two minutes of constant stretching, John finally felt like he could move without problem. That he was able to smoothly pull out proved him right. When he then impaled Lydia on his erection properly for the first time, the anal queen immediately screamed out loud. The tightness he had worked to loosen returned, as Lydia came for the second time.
John wasnt going to let her peacefully ride it out this time. Albeit it took more effort than he had bargained for, he continued to move. Holding onto Lydias arms, he fucked his auburn-haired lover from behind. Soon, the pping sounds of his hips colliding with the cushion of her ass gave a steady rhythm to Lydias debauched shouts. Wordless as they were, John could still decipher the clear meaning from them: More!
The orderly braid bounced in the depression of her back, as John increased the force. Heavy, the table under Lydia creaked but didnt move. Her pussy, most importantly her clit, grinded against the corner. It was a distant second from anything John could directly provide, but it was stimtion of her cunt regardless.
It was so easy to get her into a state of constant orgasm under these conditions. Easy for John, at least, whose sexual prowess was either unmatched entirely or in the realm of legends. What his own experience provided only amplified his knowledge of her body. He knew how Lydia liked it almost better than herself.
Steady, that was the name of the game. As simple as it was, Lydia liked the rhythm precise. It fit her character oddly well, whether that was for a reason or just biological coincidence didnt really matter. The fact was that John just had to keep the force and the speed roughly the same. The wiggle room he had was in the angle of the thrusts, not that he could get particrly creative with that under these circumstances.
Indeed, he was quite happy to keep things simple. One man fucking his perverted queen up her favourite hole at a fast and hard pace. He had done this earlier today in the shower. Hell, he had done a whole lot more in the orgy less than two days ago.
Yet, the orgasm that rose inside him was as pure and ecstatic as always. Thrust for thrust he got closer. He didnt need to announce. Lydia started moving against him, noticing the tell-tale signs of the Gamers peaking lust. He himself was oblivious to them, but he knew for certain that they watched him as closely as he did them. Appreciation for this mutual love was thest thing that crossed his mind before his thoughts were temporarily wiped out by the torrent of pleasure.
A torrent that physically manifested through the rush of cum that made its way up his shaft and then filled Lydia. mming all the way inside her onest time, while his seed was already painting her insides white, he groaned. The noise vanished under the queens orgasmic scream.
A wet, running noise made it clear that Lydia was squirting her brains out, as the proper anal fucking mixed with the sudden orgasm of receiving the Gamers cum. The clear liquid either drummed on the carpet in a steady rain or pooled on the table. Regardless, John loved every second of it, as his inhumanelyrge load filled her guts.
Before long, they both slumped forwards. Lydiay on the table, John on top of her. Neither of them were particrlyfortable. As long as John continued to send more spurts, insignificant as they may have beenpared to the start of his orgasm, into the queen. Neither of them cared to change this though.
Only after about a minute of heavy breathing did Lydia move slightly under him. How is it she began, clearly swallowing to keep control of her words, that all activities we partake in together end up like this?
Thats hyperbole, John shot back and pushed himself up a little bit so he could see her face better. Aside from that, I dont see you actuallyining.
Lydia was, once again, smiling. Not so subtly this time.
Chapter 697 – Unexpected Drop
Chapter 697 C Unexpected Drop
John stepped out of the teleporter. The change in the air between Berlin and New York confused his senses for a second, as did the shift of natural light. Neither distracted him enough to keep him from moving though.
The Transport Station on top of the Pce was a muchrger version of its outposts. Fashioned from dark wood, the pavilion-like structure had a roof of bronze and golden tiles, Baelementium and Elementium respectively. Aside from the dominant main tform, there were also two smaller attachments. All of them shared the same design philosophy. Most importantly, all of them had the blue, ss-like floor that was the actual teleporter.
Stepping out of the Building, John was greeted by Aclysia with one of her fluid, little bows. The weaponized maid was the only one waiting for him, not that the Gamer had expected anybody else. Whenever you have the time, I need you to take a look at the carpet in the living room, he told her, pointing over his shoulder. Lydia and I made a bit of a mess. Not too bad, but you know how this goes.
Of course, Master. She simply nodded. Do you wish to take a quick shower?
Would be awkward if I didnt well, I would feel awkward, John responded, imagining sitting at the negotiation table with his dick recently having been in someones ass. There wasnt any filth that remained on there, but it was still bad etiquette. So yes, I am getting Scarlett afterwards. Should be quick enough to catch the flight, right?
John had already calcted in his head the amount of time he had for everything. The schedule wouldnt have worked even remotely if they didnt have a teleporter that brought them directly to the airport. Just for reaffirmation, Aclysia nodded and, after a moment she spent thinking, followed the Gamer. The stains can surely wait, she simply stated when John threw her a questioning gaze.
One quick rinse in the shower, and a corresponding handjob,ter, John was already on the roof again. Then he and Aclysia teleported over to the Fusion Trade Tower. Although Jeremiah had wreaked havoc on the stairways and some elevator shafts, the thing was still mostly intact. Especially those floors he had been conveniently able to bypass. Courtesy of Scarlett making the parts she didnt want him to snoop around in the easiest to traverse.
Thanks to that, the teleporter had gotten away unharmed. From there, it was as simple as turning to the wall and entering Scarletts apartment through the opening she created. Except that, today, the wall stayed closed.
This immediately concerned John and he pulled his eyebrows together. Is she sleeping or? He kept his thoughts to more likely and less threatening causes for this uncharacteristic dy. He had received messages from her up to four in the morning, including when she went to bed. Although it was unheard off that the Technomancer slept more than eight hours, if even that, she had had a very stressful day yesterday. Maybe that was enough to knock even her out for a little bit.
As likely as that may have been, Johns trained inclination towards doubt made him too worried to just let this go without investigation. Especially after he dropped her a text message through his phone and got nothing in response. While he didnt need Scarlett for the peace deal, she was supposed to be there as a representative of Amacat. Anotheryer to the lie they told the public about who she was. The redhead would have never missed out on her own ns, not even for sleep.
John let his hand glide over the wall. The wooden panels seemed inconspicuous, boring even, but he knew better. His fingertips soon noticed a miniscule bump in the otherwise smooth surface. It could easily be mistaken as a minor production error. From that bump, his hand trailed two panels downward, causing him to crouch. On that panel, he looked for a sh on the surface, another minor thing that could have a much more likely cause than wanted design. He found it, counted the number of shes with his fingertips, then went that number to the left in panels.
That one, he pressed with his entire hand, providing an equal distribution of force. After five seconds, the panel gave just the tiniest bit and there was a clicking sound. John removed his hand and then the suddenly loose panel. Behind it was a safe. There were two codes for this one. One would open the safe itself, revealing a number of faked, important looking documents. That was the bait for anyone who could have gotten this far on ident.
The proper code, the one John punched in now, was the emergency entry option for Scarletts living quarters. John had insisted for some options like this to exist. Turned out it already did, he just needed to be given the proper instructions.
The machinations in the wall moved slow,pared to the swiftness that Scarletts guidance spurned them onto. Soon enough, therge room came into view behind gears and pumps. John and Aclysia stepped through, and after exactly ten seconds, the wall closed behind them.
Despite the four months he had known her, this was the first time he went in there and didnt see her immediately. Most of the time she was behind the desk, the rest she was walking somewhere else around that massive hall, tinkering with some construction that she hid in the walls and under the floor. This also meant that this was the first time John walked towards those doors on the opposite wall that led into the actual living areas.
Now he just waltzed towards them, only stopping himself when he stood right in front. In case that she actually was sleeping, he didnt want her to wake up to the sound of him bulldozing his way into her private chambers. As such, he opened the door carefully.
The smell of cold smoke wafted in his direction, causing Aclysia to let out an unappreciative sound. Exactly this is the reason why she isnt allowed to consume cigarettes indoors, the weaponized maid whispered while they got in. It was cramped, long hallways leading to tiny rooms. All the machinery had to get its room somewhere and it clearly came at the cost of this segment. Everything was semi-clean. That was to say, there was some clutter left here and there, but generally the surfaces were clean. Really, the smell that stuck to the wood was just about the only thing that could be filed under unpleasant.
It was also rather clear that these rooms werent used as often as they had once been. The cupboards and other surfaces had a clear look of abandonment to them. Rings from formerly ced down pots or sses paid testament to those things missing, having likely been moved to Johns own apartment. While Scarlett didnt stay with him every day, the trend towards moving in permanently with him was clear. Really, she only stayed in this area to work or sleep directly after work. Also to drink.
At the very end of the hallway, having passed the kitchen and bathroom, John found the bedroom. He heard Scarlett before he opened the door, a muffled sobbinging through the door. At that point, he threw caution to the wind and just burst in. Scarlett?! he almost shouted as he entered the tiny bedroom. It was hard to miss her, sitting cuddled up under the nket, staring at her smartphone.
Hey John, she greeted him with a weak voice, sniffing, with tears rolling down her cheeks. You are exactly what I fucking need. Cuddles, now! That was not what he was expecting when he burst in there, but he obliged in a hurry. He had never seen the Technomancer cry, so he gave the situation a certain gravity.
Quickly, he got on the bed and, when she offered, under the nket with her. She was naked, but he kept his hands off herdy bits and just held her like a good man should when consoling (one of) his girl(s). For a moment, he thought whatever was on the screen was the reason for her sadness, but it turned out to be the first episode of Spongebob Squarepants of all things.
Whats going on, Scarlett? he asked as gently as possible. Even Aclysia looked worried, closing the door of the windowless room. The artificial light from themp above kept everything illuminated properly.
Drop, she answered with a sniff and then giggled as if she had just said something ridiculous. Not quite sure what she meant with that, John blinked quizzingly a few times. Sub-drop, sorry she borated. Like, what we did on your birthday was too good apparently and now suddenly there were new tears rolling down her cheeks, and now biology just decided I am feeling unfathomably sad and everything fucking sucks because of endorphin crash or something! Her voice got way too loud for what she said and John just held her.
I didnt know this could happen to you. I am so sorry, he stated, holding her tightly. Certainly, he had read up on the topic beforehand, stumbling over it when researching other things about BDSM activities. Apparently, submissives could get quite a bit of a high out of being abused, and if that highsted too long or ended too abruptly or if it was just a bad day for these things, there could be an emotional crash afterwards. For purely biological reasons. Burning through high amounts of endorphin and adrenaline simply had its side effects.
Not that there never could be any psychological reasons, but Scarlett didnt seem like she was suffering from any guilt over her position in the bedroom. That would have been a paraphilic drop and a much bigger reason for concern.
While doms could also experience all of this, it was a whole lot rarer.
It hadnt been a problem John had encountered so far. The only one he treated as rough (or rougher, a lot of the time) than Scarlett was Eliza. While the blood mage had her own basket of issues, needing to worry about biologicalplications like this wasnt one of them. As such, John had simply forgotten about this being a possibility. To be fair, Scarlett hadnt had this issue ever before either. The birthday orgy simply must have pushed things further than usual, which was a very fair statement to make.
Not your fault. Scarlett was surprisingly reasonable, despite her state. Still, she couldnt stop crying. Which only made things worse. If there had been a cause, they could have talked about it and tried to solve it. As it was, this was more akin to a clinical depression. Nothing logical could immediately solve it. Just too much fun and the stress from yesterday, I think do you have a I cant even think of the word paper thing for nose
John reached into his inventory and retrieved a package of tissues, opened it for Scarlett and let her pull one out. She did her best to dry her eyes, then blew her nose. At the very least, she stopped crying for the moment. She also leaned heavily against his chest for support. He wanted to tell her that she should have called sooner, but this really wasnt the time for reprimanding words. Any negativity would be amplified tenfold, so it was something forter.
Instead he just stroked her shoulder while she put the Spongebob episode back on. I dont even know why I am watching that, she confessed, talking over the squeaky voice of the cartoon character. Who even thought it was a good idea to give people depression for fucking? Its not fair
Well, when was biology ever fair? he asked, probing how she would react to humour. You dontin when you get a hangover.
Id take a thousand hangovers over this, Scarlett mumbled, pulling the nket closer around them. I cant control me. Everything sucks and I feel like nothing makes sense anymore and like nothing could ever convince me otherwise. She took a trembling breath. I dont even feel like myself do you think my dad loved me? That was an incredibly loaded question and came out of nowhere. Before John could formte as much as a hasty answer, she already shook her head and said, Forget it, was a dumb thing to ask, and started crying again.
The good news was that this was not going tost. Within a day, at most, her body would rebound and the chemical cocktail that was making her like this would bnce out to normal levels. Sadly, John did not have all day. After they spent some time finishing that Spongebob episode, he had to bring up the urgent topic.
Scarlett, he kept his voice steady and calm, careful not to give her any reason to be disturbed in any fashion. I have to go to the peace negotiations. You know I would be gone for a couple of hours. Do you want to try ande with me or stay here? You dont have to sit at the table, but I would at least be around for the flight. Otherwise I would have someone stay with you here Aclysia or Beatrice or Rave, whoever you think
Dont bother with that, she sniffed. If I keep sitting here, I think Ill go crazy. Why doesnt Undines healing fix this, huh?! Honestly, John had no idea. It cured hangovers. Well, it cured the pain part of hangovers. Dehydration and other such things persisted. In all likelihood, it was a problem of Undines healing being not yet strong enough to heal something asplicated as hormone-based depression. Scarlettughed again, to underline this was a joke, but she also sniffed in the same breath.
Aclysia and John helped her dress by gathering her clothes for her. With the slow moves of a sick person, the Technomancer got dressed and stood up. After they had gotten her to the teleporter, she was moving more steadily. Once they were at the airport, she seemed way better. Not good, by most descriptions, she had bags under her eyes from ack of proper sleep and her eyes were further reddened by all the tears.
All of that got them some odd stares at the airport. Including from his girls. He had Aclysia exin the situation while he continued to tend to Scarlett. This whole thing had her so scatter-brained, the weaponized maid didnt get through the security check the first time around. Luckily, their reaction to seeing someone whose entire skeleton was supposedly metal was not to press any emergency buttons but to make her walk through a second time.
It also earned John some Gaias Ire, but not enough to make him feel concerned. Second time around, Scarlett sessfully tricked the scanner and things moved on smoothly. Except for that one time the Technomancer suddenly ran to the toilet. Rave set on after her for that, as John hardly could. Ten minutester both returned, with the red in Scarletts eyes clearly renewed. It contrasted quite starkly with the blue contact lenses she was wearing to hide her naturally red eyes.
That was thest massive attack she had, luckily. They bought some of the unnecessarily costly chocte in the airport and, once she had wolfed that down (and yet more cuddlester), she seemed to be on the road of recovery, finally.
Not that he stopped cuddling her during the flight.
Chapter 698 – To talk about peace
Chapter 698 C To talk about peace
How do you feel? John asked the Technomancer once they had arrived in the hotel that doubled as the Amacat headquarters. They had bypassed the press as quickly as possible and gotten into the protective embrace of the lobby. Although Scarlett had stopped crying and since eaten at least some food, it would be false to describe the androgynous beauty as healthy looking. Gaunt would be the proper word.
Empty, Scarlett responded in an exhausted tone. I think I am reasonable again, but now I just feel equally tired and dont know, like a calm pond but the underwater side of the surface? Cant even muster the energy to feel annoyed by it, even though I know it fucking sucks.
Alright Gnome? The soil elemental manifested next to them and already seemed to know what he wanted from her, given that she walked up to Scarlett immediately. Do take her to the presidential suite, where we stayedst time. He just trusted that it was avable and that the person overseeing the reception desk knew better than to ignore a request from John Newman. Ille and look after you as soon as we get done here, alright?
Dont be fucking stupid, Scarlett cussed at him with as much energy as she could muster. I have a ce at that table, you need me She trailed off, that surge of enthusiasm clearly waning quickly after she had made the mere basis of her point.
I need you, John confirmed, gently pushing her towards Gnome. But not for this and not in this state. Trust me, I can handle this. He brushed back some of her hair and smiled. You concentrate on getting better.
She appeared unwilling about this for a few more seconds, before slumping against Gnome and sighing. Okay, she simply confirmed. Yeah I wont be of any help in this state Mumbling that, Scarlett was guided away by Gnome. The soil elemental was the right mixture of patient, caring and cuddly that she should be able to fill whatever the Technomancer needed filled in theing hours.
Once the lifts doors closed behind them, John breathed a bit easier. Although it was true that he would have appreciated Scarletts presence at the peace talk, he was a skilled negotiator himself. Not that, with their position, it took someone brilliant at that task to finalize the things as they were. It was her surveince powers that he would really miss until she had recovered. He had gotten quite used to having her ability to instantly scan the around.
The chances for anything bad to happen in her short absence were minimal. Dont jinx it for yourself, John thought as he made a mental note to inform himself again on how to properly deal with the drop. Preferably in the most preventive fashion possible. With all of that handled, he turned to the walkway right of the entrance.
Seconds and thirds inmand were already crowding the lobby, keeping a respectful distance to the Gamer. The atmosphere was almost thick enough to cut with a knife. Lake Alliance and Fusion forces were all waiting for him to take the lead. Veiled hostility and uncertainty mixed into a dangerous concoction. Now it was Johns decision whether he wanted to throw a lit match into the powder keg or spill so much water on it there was no chance in hell it could blow up.
At least, unlike other parts of the Abyss (particrly the American one), the gathered officials werent entirely made up of fighters. Dealing with consolidated organizations meant that others than those that could beat their way to the top could rise through the ranks. People with specialization in intel gathering magic or just in old diplomats may not have been able to rise to the top of a guild, but they could at least be more than grunts that got squashed in the power struggles.
Even as it was, the Lake Alliances will to fight must have been at an all time low. Their strongest fighter was dead, while John came in apparently unharmed, unbothered, and surrounded by his usual clique minus one elemental that just vanished in the elevator. In trying to break his will to fight, they had hurt themselves much more than they had bargained for.
John bowed down to Eliza and whispered in her ear, If it wasnt for you, I couldnt do this. Lakamun would have destroyed much of the Guild Hall and, with him alive, this peace talk would never have happened. He scratched the back of her head and she let out some sort of oddly pleased noise, close to the cooing of a pigeon. You did good, Eliza.
Are you absolutely fucking sure you want to encourage me ripping peoples spines out through their mouths? the blood mage asked. Because thats what youre doing when you say I did good for absolutely ending some asshole, you couch potato sack of gaming shit.
It would have been preferable if he could have lived, from a moral perspective, John summarized his thoughts on the matter. On a practical level, him dying means we can end the war sooner and that preserves the lives of moremon people. I dont like exchanging lives, but there is an argument to be made that this is the best course of action.
Ya two can keep flirting after were done with this, Rave decided. I wanna be somewhere else. Weather is good at home. Lets get this over with. In response, John put an arm around her and led the way of his procession.
Ladies and gentlemen, he raised his voice as he walked over the red carpet parting the two factions. To the right, Ahanu, Elu, Chemilia and Ted were the most prominent faces. To the left, he only recognized Theron and Leslek, although the blonde elf by their side must have been Remia. Notably, he didnt see Jeremiah. Marie stood a bit aside from everything and was watching with interest. Lets make peace, he dered and led the way into the negotiation room.
Calling it that was slightly dishonest. In reality, it was the main room of Amacats restaurant. Cleared out for the asion, the tables were arranged in arge, three-segmented circle. There were three tables for the Lake Alliance, one for each of its sub-guilds, and four tables for Fusion, delegated to John, Ahanu, Chemilia and Scarlett respectively. Standing isted was the one table for the Illuminati.
They were holding this conference in the restaurant, rather than one of the many, many actual conference rooms, by design of the Gamer. John much preferred the greatly decorated restaurant. The creamy brown colour of the walls, the light of the chandelier, the dark red curtains, the white ster of the ceiling, shaped into flowers, flowing around paintings. It all evoked the feeling of a pce built during the Enlightenment. As a side bonus, it was also more than big enough to leave room to all the advisors that attended along the leaders. Theoretically, there was also enough room for the journalists. John had opted to keep them out of the actual negotiations. Once the thing was getting signed, or notably not signed, they were going to be let in.
Everyone took their seats. Be it on the repurposed, round restaurant tables or the rows of chairs behind them. The only person on their side that John already knew was Remia, being present as the apparent leader of the Heart of the Lakes. The Lower Lake Guilds were represented by some tired looking man, with Leslek standing behind him. Niagara, the guild that Jeremiah belonged to, had a moment of struggle where nobody wanted to take the seat. Finally, some man gathered the balls to just plop down. Once there, he immediately seemed to regret that decision, but it was toote.
As a means of starting, John started things off in a friendly, almost casual tone, I would have liked for everyone to introduce themselves. Before we get to that, however, his wandering gaze stopped at the green-haired punk, sit down.
That he was the only guy standing irked John. It felt like a disrespectful gesture. Whether it was or not, the Gamer wasnt going to take the chance. He would much rather be seen as an overly stern host than a weak one. Whats it to you?! Leslek barked back and only hardened Johns resolve that way.
Before he could start the natural chain of calm request, debate, threat and, if all else failed, violence, the man sitting in front of Leslek turned his head and simply echoed Johns request. Sit down. Thus confronted by his own side, the punk took two steps back and imed an empty chair.
John mustered the leader of the Lower Lake Guilds with more interest. He was a middle-aged fellow. At least he looked the part. Dark, sandy blonde hair of medium length wasbed properly, a few grey streaks running through. His face had quite a few wrinkles, but was attractive, objectively speaking. The stubby beard that covered his square jaw helped. Overall, he had the look of a grizzled police veteran. Which meant the suit also fit him well. John had no idea who he was and decided to take the risk of using Observe. Under the current circumstances, it was quite minimal.
For someone who was supposedly afraid of what John had just done, Emrik hid it supremely well. He just nced in Johns direction for more than a standard look, then moved his attention elsewhere. His face stayed still the entire time.
That one could be a problem in the long run, John realized. Last thing I can use is clever people as my enemies. Particrly the kind that know to keep themselves low. There was no reason to worry or dwell about that at the current moment, so he moved on. Thank you. Lets continue then. I would like the people of my faction to introduce themselves first. Then those of the Lake Alliance. Finally, the Illuminati will state their reason for being here. Does anyone take issue with this?
Nothing was raised, so John led by example and continued speaking. I am John Newman, I am the leader of the Federation of Fusion. Aside from the Federation as a whole, I also represent the areas of and around New York, owned by Fusion, and the areas formerly known as the Small Lake Pact. He gestured at the empty chair to his right, between himself and Chemilia. Scarlett Evelith cannot attend today due to medical issues. Its nothing serious, but it stopped her regardless. Because sickness befell her so suddenly, we have no recement.
The silent part was that none was needed or wanted either. By no party. Ever since he had liberated the capitalists from their political obligations, they were very happy to stay out of those chairs and just lobby a few people to do all of the negotiation work for them.
I am Ahanu, my tribal name has been relinquished for the time being, the Hidden Traditions leader announced himself. Like always, he preferred a suit with a bowtie over things that may be usually affiliated with the indigenous people. This didnt stop his gics from being what they were, however. His long face and oiled, long ck hair had all the markings of the typical native. The leather band wrapped around his forehead tied the entire look together into somewhat of a fitting package. I hope we ensure peace and prosperity for everyone. In the name of the Hidden Tradition, I swear that no tyranny shalle of these negotiations.
John gave the young leader (not quite as young as himself, to be fair) a surprised nce. He hadnt expected anything aside from attendance from the Hidden Tradition. Looking back with a smile, it was quite clear that Ahanu hadnt said that out of any ill will or fear. He was just stating his principles. Which was all fair, the Hidden Tradition had joined on the conditions of high autonomy and that Fusion would be a force for the better of its people. Elu, sitting behind Ahanu, nodded approvingly.
Chemilia Smith, General of Fusion and leader of the temporary military government of the Little Marnd, the pink-haired soldier introduced herself in a short manner, passing the ball onto the opposite side.
Remia of the Heart of the Lakes. The elf sounded almost bored, and while everyone waited for her to continue, remained silent. Instead, she smoothed over some wrinkle in the table sheets with her fingernails.
Emrik Telford, the same eventually spoke up, his voice deep and charismatic. Newly appointed head of the Lower Lake Guilds. I will be the main negotiator for our side.
H-heiko, thest guy stammered, and it was already clear he wouldnt have a big presence in these talks. Representing N-niagara.
Thats the man I talked to for arranging this meeting, Aclysia mentally informed her master.
Our luck then, it would have been quite a bit harder to push Emrik around, I imagine, John thought and looked over to thest person that had to introduce herself.
Marie Damocles, I attend zhis meeting in the name of the Illuminati, she smoothly entered the stage. My purpose, aside from being the neutral observer of these talks, is to apologize, disavow and make amends for the actions of the Horned Rat during the events of yesterdays battle. My guild has no interest in partaking in the affairs of smaller organizations halfway across the globe. Regardless, it was our patron god that caused trouble and it would be beneath us to not take responsibility.
The leader of Niagara was visibly more at ease after hearing that. If John had the proper backing of the Illuminati, there would have been no need for any of this. He could have rolled over them and much of the continent without experiencing meaningful opposition if the Horned Rat was with him. Right up until the point when Krieg intervened and smashed everything he had built. The other two leaders of the Lake Alliance didnt let their feelings show.
John grabbed the reins of the negotiations again. Not too difficult a task, since everyone was expecting him to do that. You can negotiate what the Illuminati should give in return in private after this is over, or right here after we are done. Whatever you are morefortable with. He underlined the almost joking words with a nice smile and benevolent gesture. I dont think we will have to talk about things for too long. My list of demands is rather short. I need to ask just one question before I present the most important one, John stared into Emriks dark green eyes. Where is Jeremiah?
Chapter 699 – A Scalpel Deal
Chapter 699 C A Scalpel Deal
From the moment John asked the question, he knew he wouldnt like the answer. An unsettling silence set about the ce, attention shifted to the poor guy sitting in for the Niagara guild. Heiko slowly opened his mouth, H-he is gone.
The three words registered in Johns ears and set off a chain reaction of thoughts and emotions. usations of cowardice, annoyance, displeasure, schadenfreude, hatred and amusement mingled into a vast cocktail. To the outside, all the Gamer did was lean forward, rest his head on the clenched fist of his left and tapped on the table with the index finger of his right.
Tap. Tap. Tap. A steady rhythm underlined his prolonged stare at Niagaras representative. Unblinking, the force of Johns eyes, born from Charisma and the raw power of the mind behind them, caused Heikos breathing to elerate. The cold sweat forming on the mans forehead could practically be seen flowing from his pores in real time. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Finally, his finger stopped.
Gone in what capacity? Johns voice was finality. All the tension that had previously existed in the lobby now exuded from him. Through the simple pushing of a mental switch, he activated Hypnotic Gaze. He would get the urate answers, no matter what.
The second the Attribute of the Vision of Cmity affected Heiko, his nervous posture seemed to rx. A change that nobody could possibly miss, but John didnt care. He had already intimidated the Lake Alliance during the fight yesterday and when he had Observed Emrik moments ago. In proper Machiavellian fashion, all cruelties he wanted to get done, he should get done in a minimal timeframe. The stick whipped quickly; the carrot was to be rationed over time.
He left sometime in the night, Heiko answered in a fashion that seemed impossibly calm for him.
Do you have any idea where he could be?
No.
Did he leave anything behind, anything that appears unusual?
No, only his normal possessions. Although we havent actually looked through all his things yet.
Are you certain he left the Lake Alliance for good?
Yes.
How?
He killed tw-
HEIKO! Emrik interrupted this disy finally, but the man was a bureaucrat of little will. What John was doing to him was stronger than the warning. Someone with abined Intellect and Endurance of less than 25, the Gamer could dominate without any problem, as it turned out.
-o people apanying him and stole a bunch of money. Even if he came back, we would be persecuting him. John averted his gaze; he had heard everything he needed to. Wha Heiko looked around, snapping out of the trance. What just why did I?
How far Hypnotic Gaze truly went was something John had to experiment on in the future. This was the first time he had actually used it outside of minor tests with his girls. Exactly how much information and of what variety he could draw from people could be of importance. Getting this kind of official, if ssified, intel, was one thing. More interesting was the question how personal things had to get before even weak-willed individuals pressed their lips together in defiance.
The problem with this was that John wasnt usuallyfortable using this thing. He also had an inkling that it was more of an interrogation elerator than anything else. Originally, he was happy to have this so he wouldnt have to torture people in the future. Right now he appreciated not having to draw all of this info out in prolonged question segments.
While the room reacted to this news and Johns ability to draw it out, the Gamer himself turned over to look at Metra. The First of Wrath was sitting along with the rest of his harem one row behind John. Well, technically two rows, there were so many girls there that they needed to arrange the chairs that way to make room. Regardless, the berserker babe was angered by what she had learned. An anger that she, like usual, kept in check.
John turned back to the actual gathering, where Heiko was now looking ready to copse from stress and guilt and Emrik was ring at the Gamer with clear disdain. The reason, the Gamer started, unbothered by either, I asked about Jeremiah first was that the return of the Astrotium and other materials he devoured from my Metra is the most important demand I have. His finger resumed the tapping. Him not being around anymore means you cannot negotiate on this term whether you would want to or not with a long sigh, John sat up straight and switched to a more rxed tone, which means continuing to be mad about this right now wouldnt serve either of us well. Here is my proposal. You agree that these materials be returned to me, should you bring Jeremiah to justice for deserting, and I agree that I will release everyst prisoner I still have.
There was renewed mumbling in the room; Emrik summarized the thoughts of everyone on his side with a simple question, Just like that?
I havee to make peace not to bully you lot, John stated outright. And this isnt even predicated on you agreeing on my other terms. Whether we even make peace or not, I simply want the guarantee that you will return to my woman what was taken from her.
One of your women. Remia opened her mouth for the second time in a bored correction. Simply shrugging, John let that remark be whatever it was. He didnt care to have that discussion in this particr setting.
Do we have an agreement? he asked instead. And to be perfectly clear, should Jeremiah be found on my territory, I will end the matter personally.
Yes, Emrik nodded after some hesitation, this exchange is eptable.
Great, John snapped his fingers. A gesture purely for the effect, since he was giving the actualmand to his maids via telepathy. Rising in a mechanical fashion, Beatrice bowed once she stood and walked towards the entrance. I have had some brought here. Send some people along with my beauties here and you can confirm I am letting them go. The rest back in the Hudson Barrier will be left to return home on their own. Well, I will give them enough money for two meals and the necessary train rides.
Leslek, Emrik immediately decided ncing over his shoulder and pointing towards the door, where the maid was waiting, with his head. Heiko, you too, he added when the punk was rising from his seat. Take your time confirming who is who, the lead negotiator stated, the table to his right suddenly vacant. Heiko was incredibly relieved to go anywhere else.
Not a bad move, he is removing the person I can easily press intel out of from the premise, using an excuse I just gave him, the Gamer analysed and kept quiet until the small procession had left the hall. For my remaining demands, John raised his voice again, lets start with the borders. I wish for a single area in the south-east of the Lower Lake Guilds to be transferred to my ownership. With a gesture of his hand, John made Aclysia stand up this time around. She quickly walked over and pulled a map from her inventory, cing it in front of Emrik. John had the exact visual memorized.
Why that province? Emrik asked.
Because I want the border to look smooth. John knew he couldnt exactly present that reason and expect to be taken seriously. Simply to increase the distance between your safe spots and my important cities, he said instead, having known that question wasing. The area he was asking for wasnt a backwater, but neither was it particrly important.
Emrik looked at the map for a little while longer, searching for any ims that may be hidden in there. Aside from that one province transfer, however, there was nothing to find. I will consider it, the middle-aged man finally dered and returned his attention to John, depending on the other terms.
I only have four other terms, John stated, counting things down on his fingers. One, the Lake Alliance will not expand its borders in any capacity in the next two years. Two, in return, Fusion will not expand its borders by means of warfare for two months C until the end of September. Three, the Lake Alliance must release any and all ves it may have and immediately ouw ve trade within its borders. Four, peace. No secret operations, no sabotage plots, no hampering of trade, just peace. No violence shall be exchanged between our guilds for the same two years.
John fell silent and so did the room. What he had just suggested was, on the face of it, incredibly benevolent. Fusions dominant position could be used to leverage so much more. Money,nd, guarantees, internal policy changes, there were a lot of levers John could pull if he wanted to. Not all of them at the same time, of course, there was a point where any country would much rather fight to death rather than be humiliated so thoroughly.
However, Emrik understood what was really going on and so did a bunch of other people once they thought about it for more than a minute. John wasnt out to destroy the Lake Alliance. Aside from anger, he had no reason to do so.
What the Gamer really wanted wasnt as easy as breaking or annexing a country. The goal was to make the Lake Alliance stagnant. If they failed to increase or just recover their power, something quite likely since demigods werent easy to find, they would find themselves dwarfed by Fusions further rise in strength.
Of course, that paradigm could be reached today, by absolutely crippling the Lake Alliances economy. If history was anything to go by, especially the Treaty of Versailles, breaking a country in a peace deal was the best way to create a very deep-seated animosity. Regardless of whether or not the people of the Lake Alliance would be hostile towards Fusion on a vengeful basis, John ultimately didnt profit from shattering his current enemy.
Because, once his conquest campaign was over, John didnt want to rule over ashes. Giving the Lake Alliance a peace deal that appeared downright forgiving today meant that they would remain in a functioning country. One that didnt hate John. One that could, once their military and economic inferiority was realized, join the Federation in a peaceful and smooth manner. One that then had resources and manpower to offer, instead of debt and anger.
Rather than swing a sledgehammer, John needed a peace deal that was a scalpel. Carefully cutting away at the Lake Alliances ability to proliferate while creating no wounds that would fester into futureplications. By skipping out on the, admittedly satisfying, destruction of the Lake Alliance, John would have the gratification of a worthwhile future addition to his guild.
In theory. Problem with these kinds of more fine-tuned operations being that they didnt have a simple guarantee attached to them. Not that smashing a country into an anarchic power struggle had a particrly predictable oue either.
While the question of the Lake Alliances future was an open one, the beauty of this deal in the presence was that there was absolutely no way for Emrik to deny it without looking unreasonable. John had already promised to return all prisoners of war, he had even guaranteed that Fusion itself wouldy low for a while. Sure, that was self-serving, two months were a good span of time to get internal consolidation done, but that wasnt obvious on the face of it.
We ept those terms, Emrik finally dered, to nobodys surprise, leaving John to smile.
Then this is a good day for everyone, he dered and got up. The leader of the Lower Lake Guilds did the same, and both of them met in the middle between the table formation. They both kept their expressions still while they shook hands, the Gamer joyfully smiling and the Tracker sombre and serious. Apuse went through the hall, started by Ahanu and Elu.
I look forward to seeing your government system unveiled, Emrik stated, only heard by John in that steady pping. That was all the confirmation that was needed. The Lake Alliances de-facto head could see the writing on the wall and was already preparing for the entrance of his guild into Fusion. In a way, this was bad for John, since this meant they would do so in a way that was best for them rather than best for him.
However, if he wanted to be the head of a system that was about concentrating all power on him, he should have started out with an empire. This was a concession he knew he had to make at several junctures. I am certain you will find it agreeable, John simply answered, and their hands departed. Im not looking to be a tyrant.
Everyone starts with the best intentions. Emrik walked back to his table.
Chapter 700 – How to Fast-Travel
Chapter 700 C How to Fast-Travel
Hey John carefully shook Scarlett. Sometime during the negotiation and its aftermath, she must have fallen asleep. Although the signing itself had been concluded quite quickly, Emrik refused to actually end the meeting until he had final verification that the prisoners of war had been let go. As a consequence, they had spent another half hour idling around. This was bad for the Gamers remaining ns for the evening. Another instance of him having a reason that hardly qualified as an excuse in a public setting.
Once he got so strong an entire nation couldnt stop him, even if they put all resources together, he could pull things like that. Would go right along with the semi-serious persona he was building. Until then, it was best to y along the rules of diplomacy.
Hey hey, Scarlett he continued to quietly whisper. All of those thoughts aside, he had the present conundrum of getting her back to New York. The only reason why she was even there was because John didnt want to leave her alone in her current state. While she was a big girl and could get back to the Hudson Barrier on her own after she had slept, there was the risk that she would wake up, alone, while still experiencing the drop. A minimal risk, but not one he wanted to take.
As such, he now had to wake her up and get her on the ne with the rest of them. Rave stood behind him, watching the endeavour. Maybe she and I shoulda just stayed home, she suggested. Moving her about the ce was clearly not the smartest idea.
Yeah, John could only agree. He had thought that maybe the thing would fix itself on the ne ride. As this was the first time she was experiencing the drop, there was no telling how long Scarlett was going to be affected. If she had gotten over it before the negotiations began, he knew that she would have regretted noting. He had also been in a bit of a rush, although he was smart enough that this shouldnt be too much of a hindrance. If I am honest, I couldnt stand the idea of just handing her over like something I dont want to take care of.
Rave squat down next to him and nted a quick kiss on his cheek. Ya dont get to dere yourself the sole overseer of mental health around here, alright? she stated in a jokingly threatening way. Were basically a family so we pull each other up. And I mean a family like your family, not like mine, ya got it?
Yeah, John assured and leaned his head against hers. Then he tried to gently nudge the Technomancer awake for the third time. A bothered little sound escaped her lips as Scarlett woke up. Eyelids fluttered and opened. How are you feeling? John asked, once her red eyes focused him.
Like someone shot my dogst week and I hadnt had a proper meal since, she answered in a hoarse voice. Can I have some water? By the time John looked at Aclysia, the weaponized maid had already turned towards the kitchen. With some more groans, Scarlett sat up straight. Better, overall, though, she continued after she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. How long was I out?
Just over half an hour, Gnome reported, having kept watch the entire time.
Things went well then? she asked, before taking the ss of water from Aclysia with a thankful nod.
Our terms were epted as presented, noplications, John told her with a smile. There was no need to worry.
I guess not, Scarlett grumbled and emptied the ss with threerge gulps. Afterwards, her voice sounded much better. Okay, I think I am over the worst of it I hope this never, ever, happens again. She shook her head, to hush away the remaining darkness. Fucking Gaia almighty, if thats what an actual depression feels like, Id rather lose all my limbs than have that level of hopelessness and doubt all the time.
Sounds really bad, John could only agree. He had been slightly depressed before, he even hesitated to use the same word to describe that slump. Ironically, the worst day of that down phase in his life had been the eighteenth birthday that he had spent only with his mom and his gaming PC. The very same day before he had gotten these powers, which, in turn, enabled him to skyrocket out of that bad mindset.
Looking back at himself from where he was now, he had been quite pathetic back then. There had been nothing but his ownziness to hold him back from improving his lot in life. Sure, Gamer powers made everything a whole lot easier, but there was basically no argument why he had to waste his life before getting them sitting around and masturbating all the time. He had always been a smart guy, so if he had just worked out a little bit and asserted himself more, rather than think that everything was useless because he was just a bullied nerd anyway, he may have been able to get somewhere. If he took it one small step at a time, at least.
Or maybe that bitch queen Vanessa would have ruined his self-esteem categorically the second he tried to get somewhere. Regardless, John had to apply some honest self-criticism. He could have been a better person back then but hadnt strived to be. Probably a Wisdom deficiency, he joked to himself. What I had at the time must be quite easypared to your own body failing to produce the chemicals that signal happiness though.
Urgh Scarlett groaned and stretched. I wont lie, I still feel like water flowing down the drain. I just want to sleep the rest of this off and then okay, now to say something super girly, but I want to have sex without any fucking gimmicks on a soft mattress under a warm nket. The usually freakier redhead crossed her arms and looked around challengingly. Just this once.
Sounds all fine to me. Rave grinned and gave the Technomancer a few head pats that she took with an equally embarrassed and deadpan expression. Anyway, we need to catch a flight back to New York, dont we?
Jane, Jane, Jane, John shook his head a few times and sighed. Were not flying to New York next, were flying to Burlington.
Uuuhh. His girlfriend looked up, but not to stare at anything specific. She just moved her eyes about to signal she was thinking. Lets pretend for a sec that I vaguely remember a conversation and totally didnt forget where that is and why were going there. T-O-T-A-L-L-Y didnt, I swear, she presented thatst bit with big eyes and a cute pout.
Clearly, she tried not to get teased for this, but John was already flicking her forehead. Ya dunce. He copied her speaking habits for those two words, then exined things to her properly. Burlington is on Lake Chamin, you know, the Small Lake. Were going there because I want to install the long-range teleporter on Servant Ind.
Servitude Ind, Aclysia corrected him. It was a mistake John made quite often, mostly because he hade up with Servant Ind (and it flowed much better in his opinion).
Yes, he agreed regardless, since he had essentially gifted that plot ofnd to his first maid. Added bonus, travel time is about half, because we check out at a smaller airport and all of that. If all goes well, we should be back home an hour earlier. He would still runte for his drinking appointment, but not as much as he had feared. All thanks to the smoothness of the negotiations. He had assumed a lot more shouting from Jeremiah. In that sense, his absence was quite useful, even if John would have preferred having Metras missing parts back.
The Art Eaters sudden flight from his guild at the first sign of defeat was something he couldnt really make sense of. There were many attributes John thought Jeremiah possessed. The cowardly pragmatism that was required to leave ones own country a day after its defeat was not one of them. As such, he would be more than interested to find out about the reason, whenever he was caught.
Which wasnt something he was going to invest a ridiculous amount of resources into. As much as he wanted to do that, on principle alone, Fusion wasnt in a state where that kind of expenditure could be made. Especially since Metra wasnt crippled in any real fashion. All they could do, for the moment, was stay alert for sightings of Jeremiah. One day, he would be found, John was certain of it. Someone like Jeremiah wasnt good atying low for prolonged periods.
Well, lets go then, Rave decided and got back up. The decision was only dyed by a quick pee break, the water having rushed through Scarletts system quite quickly. Afterwards, they were on their way to the Boston airport. They, once more, came to be reliant on the taxi service. Which was a bit moreplicated than usual. Simply because of numbers. John, Rave, Eliza, Scarlett, Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra, that was theplete list of people on the move, the incorporeal elementals aside. They had to rent two taxis, just because that was quicker than getting one of an adequate size sent over. Even then it was squeezing thing.
As was usual at this point, John spent the entire drive making out in the backseat. In his defence, there wasnt a lot of other stuff to do during the drive and he was squished between Scarlett and Rave. His hands practically had to rest somewhere on them and their mouths, well, they also had to be upied in some way.
Scarlett wasnt really into it at first. That was to say, she was clearly willing to do it, but she didnt seem as enthusiastic about the act as usual. After about five minutes, he had worked her up a little bit though. The drop was quickly fading now. As it hadsted somewhere between four and six hours, John was happy that it was a rtively short one.
As fate would have it, though, John had no time to really satisfy the appetite he was working up. Certainly not during the taxi drive. Not when he got to the airport, as they identally timed it so perfectly that they were allowed to board the moment they arrived at the lobby. Not during the flight, for logistical and honour reasons. Once again, the toilet smell pushed him off. With enough horniness, that could be ovee though. Unlike Lydia, he had several girls around this time that would do it with him there as well.
Which was the crux of the issue. He had several girls with him there and he was terrible at choosing. Doing just one of them wasnt an option and doing one of them after the other wasnt either. As such, he had to hold back.
He was extremely tempted once they hadnded. Opening a barrier and having a quick orgy was as easy as it sounded. Except for the time he wasted doing so. He was even more tempted once they had made their way over the Servitude Ind and he had installed the teleporter. The mansion they had built was so close, but he still had to teleport back to New York.
Once at home, he finally caved. Most of all because his girlfriend was just as horny as he was and started making out with Eliza once they were in the living room. Before John knew it, things had devolved into a massive lesbian orgy. Come on, tiger, Rave tempted him with her sexiest purr, were gonna suck you off and then you can have your guy evening with a clear mind, alright?
And they did. Rave, Eliza and Smander sucked him off right there. That wasnt enough though. Scarlett, Sylph and Gnome took round two. Siena seduced him into a round three with her stupidly attractive voice and the sheer novelty blowjobs from her specifically still had. Round four, she kept going, just that Aclysia and Beatrice also joined the fun.
Then he managed to rip himself away and go take a final shower. A shower in which Undine was already waiting for him. Who he, predictably, proceeded to fuck against the wall. Didnt help that she split into three of herself and scrubbed himpletely clean with all their squishy features. Lots of jiggle was had in those fifteen minutes.
About forty minutester than he actually should have, John finally managed to head out. The lesbian orgy, continuing even as he closed the door, was a very good reason to stay. Even though an orgy was something he could have practically every day and a night out with fellow men was something he had actually never really done before, the allure of the former was intense. Sex really was the most primal and one of the strongest motivators that existed.
However, he still managed to get on his way. All he needed to do was drop a message to Maximillian, asking where he was, and then make his way there. Once he could no longer hear the moans, the Gamer wasnt even that tempted anymore. He even had a moment, standing atop the star fortress, where he experienced tranquillity.
Damn sexy seductive vixens, heined about his harem mentally. With their round butts and wonderful breasts of varying sizes. Ah, they look so good when I cover them with my cum defiling is such a great feeling NO! Bad John! He mentally pped himself, feeling his own room pull on him like a gravity well of perversion. Distracting himself, he looked down to the ind.
Although it was already dark, the city lights and the moon were more than enough for Johns eyes to scan through the darkness. Of the volcano, only a pitiful little bump remained. Zooming in with the Agility perk, he could even make out the Fairy Lantern. Even from this far away, the Midnight Forest seemed odd. It wasnt as simple as a dark shroud lying over the area. The trees just seemed to curve oddly, some of them moving in the wind stillndscape. Little lights flickered up here and there, only to hide again. More fundamentally, there was the feeling of looking at something unnatural in Johns gut. The fairies had clearly moved back in.
Johns phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to read Maximillians answer.
Gravity King: Were at the Little Whirl. Bring fifty-dor bills.
Chapter 701 – Guys Night Out 1 – Bae Circle
Chapter 701 C Guys Night Out 1 C Bae Circle
In the southeast of the Hudson Barrier, where the outskirts of real-world Brooklyn met the water, was a very special district. Its borders were formed by the copied infrastructure, inner-city roads forming a ring around it. In the real world, it was called Bay Ridge. A quite standard district of New York City, it was dominated by family houses, orderly ced along the grid of district roads, cutting everything into rectangles.
The real-world poption was around 80000 people. The idea that there were almost as many people in a single district as Fusions entire, roughly, 120000 members was downright sobering. It also meant that, like the Hudson Barrier as a whole, it was like a shirt five sizes too big for what John currently needed. There was absurdly more space in the Hudson Barrier than was actually required. Not even 10% of all of Fusions membership lived in the Hudson Barrier, although it was quickly growing to be the eventual major poption centre of the Federation. Currently it ranked third, behind Washington DC and Boston.
That aside, the Bay Circle, as it was called on the Abyssal side, was the only district in the Hudson Barrier that had both a designation for building purposes and was entirely up for private individuals to ask for a building permit. There were other areas that were up for distribution to wantingnd owners and other areas (all owned by John, Collide or Fusion, which did make some difference) that were to be filled only with facilities designed for a specific task. What industry was best left alone and confined to a singr area?
Sex.
Any city headed by John Newman, at this point a world-renowned yboy, would of course attract business of the lewd variety. Not that the Abysscked a want for perverted things in the first ce. Using hisst few grains of decency, John had issued aw, fairly quickly after the creation of the Hudson Barrier, that present establishments were to relocate there and future ones would go exclusively there.
The idea was, of course, that the Hudson Barrier was supposed to be a ce where families could actually live and a porn shop at every third corner was not something John thought helpful to that end. Giving the industry a whole district to work with was still quite generous though. If it was everpletely filled out, it would doubtlessly be thergest gathering of sexual establishments in the world.
As it was, the area was just starting to change. The aforementioned family houses were being quickly reced in the northwest corner of Bay Circle, having made room for about fifty buildings with more business space. It was a thing that would doubtlessly spread over the entire district bit by bit. For the moment, it was just that clump though.
Red light was a predominant design element, to no surprise. John had only made clear that he would not tolerate oversized penis towers that could be seen from a distance. As long as it was day, he wanted people to be able to walk or dive by the Bay Circle without being assaulted by its nature. After nightfall, most things were fair game.
Pulling the key from the jet skis ignition, John therefore crossed the street into a real trip of a light show. Giant signs shed for his attention, illusionary dancers followed a fifteen second routine of showing off and wiggling their fingers, and names that were equally alluring andical tried to pique his interest. The only thing that really managed to catch Johns gaze was a tall corner building with walls entirely made from thinly framed windows. In the style of the Amsterdam red-light district, numerous girls were disying their bodies there. Once they recognized who exactly was looking at them, they redoubled their efforts, but John looked away and moved on.
This must be the most lively ce in the entire city, at this hour, the Gamer thought, not at all surprised. The ce was positively buzzing, to the point that nobody walking around even stopped to recognize him. Only the owners of stores or otherwise working personnel had enough rest to concentrate on his specific face for long enough. Not that anybody approached him, that lesson had sunk into enough peoples minds at this point.
In the, unsurprisingly, predominantly male crowd, he heard a whole lot ofnguages. English, for the most part, as expected, then a wild mix of othernguages spoken by mundanes and only by fantastic races equally. Out of those, Dutch was the one he recognized the most frequently. I guess all the engineers I requested are having an impact? he thought. I guess only single, young people would really take the offer to work overseas for a few years.
As he had been to the Abyssal red-light district of Amsterdam, John had absolutely nothing against that development. If they eventually opened a restaurant around here where his girls could serve as the tes again, he would likely be some sort of member. Maybe I should just sponsor that? he asked himself, but quickly perished the thought. I dont have the money right now and much more important projects. Itlle when ites.
He passed a shop for sex toys and drugs, a bar with naked waitresses, a house with arge mask above the entrance for swinger gatherings, a voyeur cab and a number of other things. Many didnt cater to Johns taste, were either too submissive or a bit too fringe, but nothing was so degenerate he was worried. Although he was principally against intervening in any industry, particrly sexual liberation, he also didnt want to let a shop exist where people jerked off to hamsters getting microwaved. Perhaps an extreme example, but weirder things have happened.
Thergest building already in the district was the CPDI media centre. It was where John had his podcast with Cindy a while ago and it was currently being further expanded than originally nned. Quite possibly topete with the SSSN outpost that was growing right across the street. Both buildings looked almost like normal buildingplexes right now, but John had no doubt that the eventual paint job and decorations would change that.
His steps didnt carry him there, though. Instead, he took a sharp right turn. He passed a medium sized fast food ce. Although there was some sort of mention of a blowjobing along the upper cost menus, most people seemed to only buy the food. Even in a red-light district, people wanted to have some peace while eating, it appeared.
One building further and John arrived at the Little Whirl. Despite its name, it was everything but small. Aside from the porn newswork buildings, it was maybe even thergest one around. The main body of the building wasnt particrly tall, but went very wide, with a bunch of cylindrical towers sticking straight out of it in equal spacing. Only a particrlyrge, central one bucked the trend. With windows only between those towers, it was a simple but aesthetically pleasing building. Especially once the pink outlines of dancing women, painted onto the ck stone fa?ade, were taken into ount. Made with no doubt magical colour, the equally alluring and safe-for-work shapes glowed softly in the night.
Therge ss door was guarded by two bouncers in suits. One overlooked a row of people, waiting to be left in, the other stood idly. Either as backup or, more likely, to let VIP and invited guests through. John approached thetter without any worries, walking up the white-stone road that forked off the normal walkway and cut the frontwn of the establishment. There was the usual frustration about some of the semi-drunken youth that somebody got to cut the line in such a tant fashion, but the Gamer didnt care.
Hands in his pockets, John didnt even have to wait for the security person to open the way for him. The second he was recognized, the door was held open for him. Thank you for your visit, Mister Newman, he was greeted in a formic but respectful way.
Must be spreading that I dont like being called Mister President that much, he thought and walked in after giving the man a thankful nod. Through another automatic door, the entrance led him directly into the lobby. It was a white tiled, quite clean area, with potted nts decorating the corners and a slick, ck and smoothly flowing reception desk at the back. Four ways led deeper into the building, two to either side and two at the left and right wall.
An attractive, redheaded receptionist greeted him with a well-trained smile. Hello, John greeted in a smooth voice, his Charisma and natural weakness to womening right through, sad as it makes me that you have to send me along, I am here to meet some friends. Would you happen to know where they are?
Of course, Mister Newman, she responded with a voice obviously trained to be sultry. To someone who spends a lot of time around a moonshade elemental speaking in that tone naturally all the time, the difference was immediately recognizable. Faked or not, it was sexy.
John is good enough, he assured her, shifting his smile from friendly to flirty and leaning on the reception desk. Do feel free to spread that to all the women working here. I am here for fun, after all, so be casual with me.
Where do you think you are? the receptionist asked in a genuinely surprised tone. Other women working here? This is a gay strip club.
Johns smile dropped in favour of surprise for a moment. It was an impulsive reaction, although his mind had dismantled the joke before she even got the chance to look at it. Being cheeky, I like it, heughed as well, truthfully. But do tell me how this ce works, I havent been here before.
The Little Whirl, the redhead reced herughter with her professional tutorial voice, is an outstanding establishment for equally outstanding gentlemen anddies. Where other strip clubs only offer physically attractive women in a twilight setting, we at the Little Whirl stand for quality and visitor experience. The other girls and I are here not only to look good, but also to be interesting conversation partners, if you should so desire, and even more than that, should both of us desire.
Gesturing behind her, in the direction the massive central cylinder must have been, the receptionist continued. In this direction you will find the public area. You will find a vast array of ourdies there in a setting more akin to the usual strip club. Should things exceed the realm of just looking, sex is allowed wherever wanted, as long as it doesnt interfere with the business running atrge.
She shifted her attention to the two hallways that stretched out to the sides. There you will find the private chambers, to be taken only by being rented in advance or given to our very special guests She overdid it a bit with the gasping in that part, but John remained interested regardless. Who you meet in those private rooms can be filtered by your interests. You may also state your preferred clothing. While you will spend the night in thepany of ourdies, we do restate that the sexual part of any engagement is based purely on consent and doesnte as part of the package. You will find that some of our girls wear chokers. White means they wont engage in any sexual activity during work, while ck ones are open to the possibility. Should you see any red chokers, it is an encouragement to be more straightforward about things.
I will keep my hands to myself unless wanted, got it. John just nodded along, this all sounded very sensible. Anything else I should know about?
If you had brought any of your harem with you, John, they would be allowed on the private stages, just in case that interests you. The receptionist winked and then picked a card out of a holder. In case you like our set-up, this is our sponsor. They would be happy to install a proper stripping setting wherever you want.
John looked at the card for a moment, before throwing it into his inventory. Ill consider it, he promised with arge smile. While he wouldnt need this in the Guild Hall, there was the Sex Dungeon Building he could use instead there, other locations, like Servitude Ind, could doubtlessly profit from such a ce. Three more questions, if I may.
Of course, the receptionist smirked. Aughing group of new arrivals, five guys and one girl, walked past with a wave. Like almost all Abyssals, they were in very good shape. Yet another reason the sex industry was different in the Abyss. Looser morals and fitter peoplebined to form a steady want to indulge, with all the extra options that magic opened.
Alright, question one lets say I or any of my friends manage to convince one of you lovelydies that we are worth your time, are there private retreats? Although John had, drunkenly, epted fucking in the same room as other guys before, he would much prefer if he could opt out of that.
Our private chambers are enchanted to be bigger on the inside and do lend the necessary space, he was ensured. For an extra fee, you are allowed to stay the night, but we are not a hotel.
Alright, second question, drinks and food, can I buy this sort of stuff around here or? He just let his voice trail off, the rest of the details werent important to the actual question.
Second verse same as the first, John, there is everything you need inside your private chamber, the receptionist looked down to theputer in front of her to check something, and your handsome friend has already paid for our deluxe care package, so do drink and eat to your hearts content.
Superb. Last question. John straightened up again, ready to go and actually start the evening. It was also his turn to be a bit cheeky with her. Could you tell me where they actually are now?
Of course, just one second, the redhead answered diligently.
Chapter 702 – Guys Night Out 2 – A Gamer, a King and a Fateweaver walk into a strip club
Chapter 702 C Guys Night Out 2 C A Gamer, a King and a Fateweaver walk into a strip club
The entrance was surprisingly boring in appearance. A t metal door, marking the centre of the cylinders protruding into the white corridor. An electronic disy under a white L1 showed the simple word upied. Scratching his head, John wondered whether he was supposed to just wander in. Ultimately, he decided to knock first.
Ten seconds passed, and he raised his hand to repeat the motion. Just before he could knock again, the door opened and John was greeted by one of hispanions for the night. Evening, Magnus said in his usual, shortly worded fashion and weed the Gamer to step in with a wide gesture.
Evening. Thanks, John returned the greeting, then entered quickly. Immediately, he felt right at home.
The private chambers design must have been what gave the Little Whirl its name. Every piece of design was ced to create the illusion of a swirl around the tform with the stripping pole in the centre of the room. Although the space was fairly limited, it was well used. The tform was big enough for one girl at a time to work her art. A bar at the left-hand side smoothly curved along the wall, while the right-hand side held a staircase that rose up to the high ceiling and a second story. Presumably the sleeping quarter were up there.
Aside from that, there were twelve chairs spread across three tables equally spaced out around that central stripping pole. The closest of which was where Johns friends were sitting in the proper lighting of the room. As the receptionist had promised, no twilight was hiding anything. The walls, floor and ceiling were all painted to further increase the whirl effect.
There he finally is, Maximillian spoke up when the Gamer sat down in the remarkablyfortable armchair. Pardon me, I would give you a hand, but, as you can see, both of them are rather preupied.
Indeed, sitting on the former kings good leg, was an ebony woman with chin-length ck hair and bright blue eyes, contrasting her red choker intensely. Wearing a cropped top and hot pants, she showed off what John felt was best described as a dancers body. Lean, with her feminine bits not toorge or heavy to cause any hindrances during the swaying, swinging motions.
Regarding Maximillians hands, one was working on her breasts through the clothes, the other had slid into her pants and was groping her naked butt. As per the colour of her choker (and the giant smile on her face), thedy was more than fine with this treatment. A seconddy in the room was working on the bar, a white cor showing that she was averse to any sexual action during work hours.
On the looks side, she was tall, blonde and green eyed, with a curvy hourss figure under a sleek, white dress beset with silver embroidery. If there was one thing that ruined her looks for John, it was that her jawbones were a tad too pronounced. Something that she counteracted by putting her hair into voluminous locks.
Rather than give me respect, you plunge your fingers into ces you really shouldnt. What else is new? John stated in a careless tone as he leaned back. Next to him Magnus also sat down. Thanks for actually tagging along, by the way, he said to the eldest Magus child. Didnt really expect it.
As long as you pay. Magnus shrugged and smiled weakly after a few seconds, signalling that it was supposed to be something like a joke. For the asion of the night, the equally lean and muscr Fateweaver had bound his dark brown hair into a ponytail. Just like John and Maximillian, he was wearing a suit. The poorest of quality between the three, but still pretty goodpared to the average. Reaching down to the table, he picked up an almost empty ss, eliminated the almost part of the description with a quick gulp, and then ced it back down loudly. 3 shots, tequ, he then suddenly decided, looking over to the bardy. If you would, Nina.
Sure, the blonde replied in a friendly tone. In the time it had taken John to get there, they must have already broken the ice. Not a surprise, given Maximillian being a charismatic fellow and thesedies getting paid to be open to advances, up to a certain point.
Dont know if I ever had tequ, John reported, trying to think back. No, wait, I definitely had some during a ck-out, so I have no idea what it tastes like anymore.
Its absolutely horrible stuff, Maximillian reported and turned to his escort for the night. What do you say, Aletra?
I say your friend shouldnt be so stuck up about where your hands are, the ebonydy responded with a wink in Johns direction. Maybe he would be less cranky if he called somebody for himself?
I dont think he is physically able to not be cranky, Maximillian reported, and the two of them leaned closer for a kiss. There was no love in the gesture, only the heat of the moment. Not that John was bothered by this in the slightest. Everything went well, by the way? the gravity mage asked almost nonchntly.
All as I wanted it to be, John confirmed, just as a tablet was ced on the low table. Cheers, Nina, he thanked her, using her name just to help him remember it. Although he had no reason to believe that he would be a regr of the establishment, it would be awkward if he kept calling her you the whole evening. Same for Aletra.
With some respect, he raised his shot ss and looked at the translucent liquid inside. Then he nced over to the salt and the lemon slices. Alright this is how Magnus, seriously? Maximillian started his exnation when the Fateweaver just raised his ss without any tone and threw down the alcohol without a single word. I told you earlier to respect the drinking customs!
I dont like lemons, Magnus answered. Neither were using a tone that made John think there were actual hostilities. Also told you that earlier.
I could give you oranges instead, Nina suggested, leaning onto the Fateweavers chair. Would mean you have to drink another tequ though.
He paid already, the Fateweaver gestured at Maximillian. Im all in.
Get me a second one as well, John stated, quickly picking up the shot for himself and drinking it without any of the ritual. The disgruntled face Maximillian showed at that was half the reason why he did it. You look like I just burned your g, the Gamer giggled, then suddenly shook his entire body as the strong alcoholic taste spread through his mouth and then his body as a wave of heat. Nina picked up both empty sses and went back to the bar.
You might as well have! Maximillian retorted. Traditions are important!
Sometimes I forget that youre such a conservative, John bantered right back. Between you not fusing with your elemental and being such a MILF hunter.
I am sorry that my views are not as easy as all tradition good, lets never be an individual. Maximillian rolled his eyes. Then again, you are quite a bad liberal, freeing the ves and all that.
How is that anti-liberal? John asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
Lets see, Aletra, who won the civil war here in the USA again?
You better not ask me that because I am ck, the same prefaced her answer in a joking tone.
I am asking you because youre a smart youngdy, Maximillian flirted right back, moving his hand over her round ass. A detail John only noticed because he was looking at the same and reminded again who he was and where a good portion of his blood spent its time.
Good save, Aletra giggled and ran a hand through the kings hair. As suggested, he had cut it to a sensibly short cut since they had met on Johns birthday. It definitely looked much better. That would be the Republicans.
Good girl, Maximillian traced his hand down the ebony dancers midriff. The Republicans, who you would generally call conservatives, right?
Maximillian John used the gravest tone he could, like he was the bringer of the worst news ever conceived, conservatives they conserve the values of a society its in the name they were acting either in a liberal or a Christian fashion when they did that.
So, youre being a conservative just for USA values? the king shifted the goalpost right under Johns nose. The grin with which he did that made clear that he knew exactly what he was doing. Although it could also have been rted to the fact that he was now running a hand over Aletras crotch.
If you want to frame it that way, sure, John answered with a shrug. I dont exactly care about whatbel you p on me. I just find the idea that getting rid of very is an anti-liberal position to be remarkably stupid. Then again, what do I expect from you of all people? He threw his hands into the air in an overacting fashion to take the bite out of those words.
Just pulling your panties, buddy, Maximillian responded, quite clearly distracted by the fact that he was actually pulling both Aletras pants and panties. Looks delicious and smooth down there, he whispered, which was still loud enough for everyone to hear. The only other noises in the room were the pouring of drinks and soft ssical music in the background.
That does it. John mmed his hands on the armrests. Okay, why do you have a hotdy in yourp but Magnus and I have to y the voyeur?
Because Im a king and youre just a president, Maximillianughed and pulled Aletra closely against himself. In a stage whisper, he stated, Listen to him, he thinks hes people. Describes you as just hot. Like one word is enough to describe such a fantastic piece of chocte brilliance. Only emperors get more than kings.
Youre not even a king right now, you went on vacation on your own ord. You have less official power than Magnus here, John reminded his opposite in a dry tone, pointing at the silent Fateweaver, just as the tequ arrived. Since youre so high and mighty, do show me how its done now. He raised his finger warningly. And then I demand ess to my own sexyp warming escort!
I am fine if you call me a slut, Mister Newman. Aletra turned towards him, to Maximillians temporary disgruntlement. I saw the videos, I know you like doing that. she moaned suddenly when the king she was sitting on reached into her pants and rubbed her clit with a few skilful movements. Not as good as John, that the Gamer just felt free to assume, but probably pretty good regardless.
If you want to be called a slut rather than whore, I suggest you be a bit more attentive to who called you. Maximillian used the same deep tone that John got into whenever he was ying the dominating part. It was basically the male counterpart to women putting on the sultry tone and was instantly recognizable as being not too serious. You know what to do, he stated, raising the other hand to her mouth.
Her tongue was surprisingly long, as John found out while it travelled over the back of Maximillians hand. You put salt on the back of your hand, the king said, while Aletra did it for him. Using cinnamon instead, Magnus pulled along. John also mimicked the motion, once the shaker was back on the table.
With a fair bit of annoyance, to be sincere. He really wanted to have a woman to do these things for him himself. Preferably Eliza, she was the most satisfying to use in such a manner. Literally any woman would have done it though, from his harem or not. The whole thing that irked him was that Maximillian was showing off. Went right into his pride.
Then you grab the lemon or lime or orange, Maximillian continued, the ebonydy still moving for him, her motions slightly dulled by a genuine gasp leaving her lips. The entire time, the king had continued rubbing her clit, something that now reflected in a certain dullness in her blue eyes. Preparations done, you do it in the following order: lick salt, drink shot, eat citrus. Alright? Nods all around. Cheers!
Cheers! John and Magnus echoed, everyone raising their ss and following the procedure. The quick exchange of extreme vours was quite interesting. Salty, then the strong alcohol,stly the intense sourness. John weed thest quite eagerly. While he wasnt too fond of the taste by itself, it was much preferable to the shot.
I dont like tequ, John decided at that moment, as the window warning him of light tipsiness opened. Can I get some sort of mixed drink? he asked Nina, who had spent the entire scene leaning onto Magnus chair.
Sure, she answered. Anything specific?
Nothing too out of the ordinary, otherwise I dont care. John shrugged, just wanting something to drink.
What about you, hon? the blonde asked Magnus, bowing forwards so her tight dress created a very in-depth view of her cleavage. At least to where the Fateweaver was sitting. Another whiskey neat?
Water, tall ss, Magnus answered after shaking his head. Shouldnt get too dehydrated. I want to function in the morning.
Good thinking, Nina agreed with aplimenting smile. What about you? The request went to Maximillian, who was once more making out with Aletra.
Just a beer, he answered hastily, clearly having found his drink of choice somewhere around thedys tongue. Only when John hammered on the table did the king pull his attention away. Okay, okay, rx, buddy.
You dont get to tell me to rx while you show-off in this manner. The Gamer pointed at the gravity king in a yfully threatening manner. Do not forget who I am, Maximillian, or I will ruin every woman you will ever touch by iming her myself. You know I can. Im a sex god without the mechanical ssification!
Fine. Maximillian rolled his eyes, although they both knew perfectly well that John was right. You have your phone with you? That was a clear yes, the Gamer just had to pull it from his inventory. Connect to the wireless and it will install an app. You can use that to fill out a preference sheet and whoever fits the best and is avable wille here. We can call one girl for everyone that is here plus one.
Alright so, Magnus, you also calling someone? John asked as he followed the instructions.
Already did, the quick answer came, and John looked up from the download bar. Just in time for Nina to ce down the drinks they had ordered.
Not too often somebody specifies one of us few white choker girls, the blonde stated, putting the beer in front of Maximillian. All he checked was that and good conversationalist. The waternded in front of Magnus.
I can believe that, John confirmed the first statement, immediately checking for ck and red himself. For a little while, he looked over the list. It was quite detailed and allowed for high variance. Too much variance to fill it all, as he found out as he confirmed some boxes for testing purposes and saw the number next to the word Avable change with every decision. More than a few times, it dropped to zero. Not that he was too picky. The only two details he actually added were a request for a girl with an at least nice booty and at least slightly submissive tendencies. For everything else, he was willing to be surprised.
Of course, picking a woman that way was objectifying, but John had three retorts should a reporter use him of that in theing days. One, he was a dominant sadist, he liked objectifying women (to a degree). Two, he didnt go to a strip club to be a virtuous person. Three, nobody forced those girls to work there. Most of the job description was selling their bodies, be it only visually. If they wouldnt have liked it, they could have left.
John looked at what he had been given. It was a clear liquid, sparkling, with some ice cubes in it. A questioning look caused Nina to quickly inform as to what he was looking at, Gin and tonic.
Ah, well, I think I like that? John wondered, picked up the ss and took a sip. It was quite bitter, had a sweet note and went down with the typically alcoholic aftertaste. A whole lot weaker than the tequ though and the tonic did a good job masking it with its own aftertaste. The fact that it was ice cold also helped. Yup, I like this, John decided, then leaned back and turned to Magnus. Really surprised you came along on a trip to the red-light district if you arent looking to getid especially with the two of us.
The words were underlined by the fact that Aletras orgasming moans were muffled by her ongoing kiss with Maximillian. Although the night had barely begun (at least for John), it was already quite clear it would be more than just three guys sitting together and drinking. Not that he had really expected it would be only that.
Im going to work for you for years. Might as well get along. Magnus shrugged and looked into his ss. Im just not looking for quick fun. Im not like you two. I just want a simple rtionship with one woman. Thats it. Nobody in the room made fun of that.
Absolutely respectable. John nodded, serious for the first time since he had entered the room. Proper, even, if Im being honest. Max and I, were just He didnt want to say anything that sounded arrogant, but he failed to find a better word than the one that he eventually said, special, I suppose.
To be fair, Maximillian weighed in, ending his make-out session for the moment, the post-orgasmic Aletraying on him, Im eventually going to marry and, when I do, I am going to heavily reconsider this entire fucking more than one girl business. All depends on who I settle with and whether I actually grow up to be a rational person.
Well, we can immediately discount that possibility, John joked. He didnt even feel the need to voice that there was nothing that could ever make him give up his harem. The polyamorous web of rtionships felt absolutely natural to him. Anyway, if you were already resolved, then no harm done, I suppose. He looked at the app again. So, are we going to request an actual stripper as well, or are we just going to fumble around?
Stripper, Magnus responded immediately, causing John to shoot him a brow-raised nce. Letting out a noise that was half scoffing and halfughter, the Fateweaver stated, Just because I want a dedicated rtionship doesnt mean Im not a man in a strip club.
Chapter 703 – Guys Night Out 3 – Just bantering with the guys
Chapter 703 C Guys Night Out 3 C Just bantering with the guys
Just what is it with you and maid uniforms? Maximillian asked, actually paying attention to his drink and the guys for a change. Not that he stopped groping Aletra in ways inappropriate for politepany, but quite eptable in the odd dimensions of proper conduct that John moved in. How exactly he had tailored himself a life where he was having a harem-approved night out with the guys to the tune of strippers, the Gamer didnt know, but he sure appreciated it.
Admittedly, he had been a bit skeptical about the presence of unknown women before. It had seemed like it would just make things unnecessarily awkward. However, they were paid professionals and it showed. They didnt interrupt any of the mens conversations, stayed reserved and smoothly partook once addressed or things seemed to slow down. The only thing their presence barricaded was talking about more secretive issues. Albeit, most of those John wouldnt have wanted to mention in any public setting.
That analysis aside, John had just heard somethingpletely outrageous. Just what is it with me and maid uniforms?! he bellowed, making himself as big as possible, while remaining seated. Do you seriously question the beauty of the maid outfit?
Do you? Magnus added with one of his thick eyebrows raised, an unlikely ally in this time of distress.
No, no. Maximillian raised his hands and waved in a dissuading fashion. One quickly wandered back to his beer, the other (even faster) to Aletras ass. Maids are attractive, absolutely no doubt about that. I am just saying youre being a bit too enthusiastic about it.
Well, youre wee to hold that wrong opinion, John dered and looked back down to the phone in his hands. This entire discussion was just a smaller thing in therger topic of the stripper request. While John had already sent his personal order, the one for thedy that would (wo)man the stripping pole had to be democratized.
All I am saying, Maximillian continued after taking a sip of his beer, is that she is going to take it off anyway, so whats the point?
That she is taking it off in the first ce! John immediately countered.
Stockings, Magnus added the single word, as if it was a factual andplete rebuttal. In Johns opinion, it was perfectly valid. It also started a chain of other beautiful things about the maid outfit.
Garter belt! he put another one out there, only to make sure.
Lace lingerie, Magnus one-upped him.
Rather than search for something else, John aimed his further berating at the king that deserved it. Do you just want her to waltz in here naked and start dancing?
I mean, that would be pretty hot, would it not? Maximillian stated.
Yes, John conceded, but not as hot as her stripping out of the maid uniform! Where is your sense of wonder?
My sense of wonder is below my appreciation of naked women, he stated and looked at the ebony beauty in hisp with hungry eyes. What do you say about that, Aletra?
The red-cor girl grinned, grabbed her tiny top and pulled it over her head in one smooth motion. Delicious nipples the colour of dark chocte came into view, already hard atop her small breasts. They say actions speak louder than words, she purred and dropped the piece of clothing on Maximillians head. Before it could actuallynd and obscure his vision, it suddenly changed trajectory to fall towards the ceiling, leaving the gravity mage to lean in and suck on the perky breasts.
You know, I am slightly envious of that, John eximed.
With a wet smack, Maximillian let go and took another swig of beer. You should. I do prefer bigger tits, but by Gaia, this slut is smooth in all ces. Exactly what I wanted this evening. He softly spanked her ass and gave it a nice grab. How old are you, I wonder?
31, Aletra responded, taking Maximillians beer from him to take a sip herself.
And you dont look a day older than 25. I love the Abyss. The vacationing king let himself be kissed. A small stream of beer ran down his chin. The sip she had taken hadnt really been for Aletra herself, evidently. Somewhere next to them, the discarded top suddenly dropped to the floor.
Not what I was referring to. John leaned back in his chair again, checking and unchecking boxes to see the avable number change. I mean being able to use your powers for pretty mundane actions. Because the things I learn create skills, I dont have the choice to use them to show off. He raised a hand as if he was going to conjure some sort of demonstration, but nothing came. Although I have a number of ways to rain arcane destruction on you, I cant freeform arcane energy. I get that the resulting spells would be much weaker than properly formted and consolidated energy, but I would like to be able show off a little bit more. Suddenly, a sword of mana stretched one metre out of his hand. The purplish-blue thing persisted for the standard 3 seconds, then scattered into harmless particles that faded away. The only exception to that is Possession.
There are worse fates, Magnus remarked from the side. Whether he was taking offense or not, given the Fateweavers ownck of talent and power, in the traditional sense, was not apparent by his tone or behaviour. He just drank his water.
For sure, John just agreed. Just a minor thing I would like to have but dont. The Gamer grabbed his own drink and took a huge gulp. The gin and tonic rushed through with a pleasant sparkle.
Sorry if thats a stupid question, Nina spoke up in the short-term silence, but from the way I heard your powers described, couldnt you just learn about manipting arcane and it would create a skill that would allow you to do that?
Not quite that easy. John shook his head. In general terms, whatever skill my powers create will be pretty clear in its wording. I pay this much mana and get this effect. There might be skills with variable cost, but I havent had one with a variable oue yet. The closest I get is to channel mana through the elementals, and while that does work, ites at the disadvantage of costs being rather vague, so I over-invest most of the time.
He had no issue describing all of this to the blonde, or any other stranger for that matter. The basics for this were all in that info gathering still flying about and the elemental bit was simple inference. Realistically, this was information anyone could get if they were determined enough to scratch at the surface. Something like an actual list of all his skills, he would keep much closer to his chest.
Basically, the system is built to give me things that have an easy mathematical through line. If I had skill that was just Move Dirt, how would the cost be calcted? In cubic metres? Would the density of the soil y a role? Would it just be the weight of the afflicted area? How could I figure out the cost before I use the skill? John realized he was rambling and cut himself short. So, yeah, I cant have such freeform things easily avable. It wouldnt work well with how the system works. He finished his ss. But Gaia could at least give me a way to cancel spells, that way I could do some threatening without having to fire the thing into the dirt afterwards. New drink please.
Same thing? Nina asked, taking the ss from him.
Same thing, he confirmed, and she made it so. Looking around, a question urred to him. Where are the toilets by the way?
Upstairs, Magnus stated, pointing at the steps that curved along the circr wall. Horrible design w.
Yeah, John could only agree. Presuming somebody was extremely drunk and had to puke, or just generally pee, making them stumble up a flight of stairs was just cruel.
It is, Nina agreed, having doubtlessly some stories to tell about incidents that had caused. Knowing drunk people, there was a lot of vomit to be cleared off the floor after especially wild mornings. Be a trio of darlings and keep yourself under control, yes? If you need a pause, just go to the roof for some fresh air.
Alright, John answered, Magnus simply nodded and Maximillian gave a thumbs-up, his tongue upied inside Aletras mouth. They quickly thereafter finalized their stripper request and John dropped a text message back home that he was pretty likely to bang a hooker that night.
Rave answered with a kiss emoji and a picture that contained her, spreading a bound-up Elizas pussy, and the rest of the girls, engaging in all manners of lewd interactions on the couch in the background. Underneath were the words, Dont forget what you have at home, tiger~.
He, with the utmost guarantee, would not.
What are you grinning at? Maximillian asked, momentarily freed from his prison of French kisses, as Aletra rose from hisp to quickly take her hot pants off as well. She reminded John of Metra a fair bit, at least when it came to exhibitionism and clothing choices. As far as John knew, the berserker babe didnt have an expansive track record of being a slut. That was a side she had awakened thanks to his actions.
You know, just my girlfriend telling me I can have fun for the night. John smirked and saved the picture in his ever-growing folder of pretty harem pictures. As long as Ie back with an appetite in the morning. And I can guarantee that I will spank her perfect round ass tomorrow. His new gin and tonic arrived and he enthusiastically attended to the drink. Unless I get the worst hangover ever.
Well, who has the right to be envious now? Maximillian grumbled, but his attention didnt stay too long at it as a now naked, and definitely wet, Aletra popped back down in hisp. She whispered something in Maximillians ear, he whispered something back, then she reached down to his crotch. The height of the table prevented John from seeing anything more than that, a doubtlessly deliberate design decision.
John was just sober enough that he could sense the effect that the alcohol had on his judgement in this situation. Normally I have just a nket aversion to other guys getting their dicks out where I can see it. That always goes away when I get drunk. Wonder where the initial aversion evenes from? I dont mind public showers, like the swimming hall. Only exception is my father, but I think thats rtively normal? Who likes seeing their parents naked? Given that, must be my basicpetitive side showing? Other males in the room equal potential hindrances to fucking the attractive females? Sounds pretty primitive and about right
The introspection came to a sudden end when he heard footsteps. It didnt take a great pair of ears to pick them up, the steady loud Tap C Tap C Tap had the trademark sound of high heels. Apparently, there was a staff ess on the second floor. At least that was the quickest exnation John had for the fact that the pair of sound-causing feet soon appeared in view.
Her legs were slender, with thighs a bit thinner than John preferred, all packed up in leather pants that gave her shapely ass a nice shine. A clingy, ck top revealed a fair bit of midriff, a t stomach that belonged to a dancer. Above that, she had a decently shaped rack. A tad smaller than Raves, a tad bigger than Lydias. Her long hair was a simple brown and styled in a somewhat wild fashion. As for her face, she looked quite attractive, as was to be expected, with a particrly full set of lips.
She wasnt as good looking as any girl from Johns harem, at least that was his take on the matter. Regardless, she was great to look at and her ass was nice. That was about all it took to make John interested. Janna said we could just call you John, Mister Newman? she asked in a voice that was wonderfully casual. No overyed sultriness, no attempt at making herself seem overly intellectual, just a normal person using normal words.
I assume Janna is the nice redhead at the reception, John said and then nodded. Yeah, just my name is perfectly fine. Whats yours?
Lemia, she answered and arrived at his chair. Mind if I sit down, John?
By all means. He grinned, just too eager to finally have something to upy his hands with. In one fluid motion, she turned around andnded in hisp, squishy ass pressing against his half-erect dick. Were going to have a fun evening, the Gamer dared to prophesize, while he started sliding a hand over her legs. Sitting, it was clear that she wasnt as tall as he had first taken her to be. High heels really did y a trick in that regard. She could only be a few centimetres taller than Eliza. Maybe I should stop measuring everything against my harem? he asked himself and then quickly decided that he would just continue as he was.
I was very excited to hear you would be here today, John, Lemia quietly stated, putting her arms around his neck and twisting her position a little bit so they could look at each other. The ck choker on her neck harmonized nicely with the rest of her dark outfit. As did her dark green eyes. I wanted to thank you.
What for? he wondered, brushing up the inside of her thighs.
Making this ce. I was sold as a ve from Ennd. She brushed strands of her hair behind her ear and looked at him with all seriousness. I would have spent my entire life stuck in a mana factory if it hadnt been for you cleaning up around here. Thanks to yourws and provided housing, I was able to build myself a life out of the shambles, in these past few months. I am not the only woman, let alone person, I know that has a story like that. For that, truly, earnestly, thank you.
That hit John a bit by surprise and he stopped in his sexual advances for the moment to hear her out. Its nice to hear that I did something good from someone directly, he admitted. I usually just get to look at system trends, not the reality on the ground.
Lemiaughed and pressed a kiss on his cheek. No need to get too serious, I just wanted to get that off my chest. How often does one get to meet the leader of the guild Federation they live in?
When said head is that guy, Maximillian chimed in, and youre working at a strip club, I would reckon about twice a year at least.
You picked this ce! John shouted across the table.
And I have no regrets, Maximillian dered, pping Aletras naked ass with enough force that it echoed this time around. The ebony girl moaned with raw, perverse passion. The sole article of clothing she was still wearing, the red choker, was clearly not just for show. All the while, her arm was moving in very suspicious motions, but John had no reason to concentrate on that. Now that he had his own girl, he had much closer curves to pay attention to.
That was just a side-theatre though. When it came down to it, he was there to have a good time with some guys he knew for a change. Whiskey, Magnus simply said, handing the ss of water to Nina, interrupting the silence.
How can you drink that stuff? Maximillian wanted to know. I always found whiskey and scotch to be disgusting.
Youre young, Magnus simply retorted, reaching into the inside of his suit and retrieving a metal box. Once on the table, he opened it to reveal an arrangement of cigars. Smoking here or outside?
Outside, please, Nina told him, and the Fateweaver just nodded.
Smoking cigars is a pastime I can respect, however, the king added to his earlier statement. If one has to dirty their lungs and the surrounding, it should at least be with style.
See, thats something I cant get behind, John shook his head. I tried a cigarette once and it was the single most disgusting thing I ever put into my mouth.
Ah, I can see your problem, Maximillian snickered. The cigarette should be smoked, not eaten, buddy.
How about you sit on a bag of dicks? the Gamer suggested, shaking his head.
Hmmm, Aletra hummed her way back into the conversation. I could do the sitting and dick part, Max, she suggested and earned herself another p on her chocte bun of an ass.
A bit early for that, but if you want to get under the table for a little bit and repay me for earlier, thatd be a start, the gravity king suggested, and so it was done.
Dont groan, Magnus stated, not looking up from his hands as he clipped the cigars and prepared everything else he needed before going outside. Im not in a strip club to hear a man groan into my ear.
Dont worry, said Maximillian over the sound of his own zipper. I am absolutely with you on that front.
Look at you, being sensible, John remarked sarcastically. Just make sure we dont have eye contact either.
Why? Maximillian asked and instantly broke that rule, to the wet sound of soft lips working on his dick under the table. What, you think I would confuse the beauty between my legs with you? How insecure do you take me for?
Well, you did insist on walking around with that mboyant cape all the time, John mused, while copping a feel of Lemias breasts. They were 100% natural and soft, nipples hardening under his gentle touch. Already her paleplexion was flushing red with lust as John indulged in more of her bodys softness and searched for her weak spots.
Are you besmirching my kings coat as a mboyant cape?
If the shoe fits, John giggled.
That article of clothing is older than your family line!
And it still looks ridiculous, the Gamer insisted and took things a bit further, nibbling, then biting on Lemias ear when the reception of the former action was good. Since he had only specified at least slightly submissive, he now had to explore just how far she went. Asking would have taken a bit of the fun out of it. Be a good girl and give me my ss, he whispered amand into her ear.
There was a slight hesitation before she followed. When she did, John almost feared she would drop it. A sudden, explosive moan escaped her as the Charisma-Libido Perk did its dirty work. However, as the reward only came once his hand was on the ss, he just quickly grabbed it before anything bad could happen.
What did you just do? Maximillian wanted to know, something everyone else in the room mimicked with their eyes and expressions.
Trade secrets, buddy, John answered with a grin.
The king crossed his arms. You mean Gamer bullshit, right? he said, then shook his head and emptied his beer. I would like a pina cda.
Under the table, there was a popping sound, then a ck hand reached up over the rim, Can you make me one too, Nina? I think this is going to be my night!
Youre sucking off the once and future king of Austria, the blonde replied in a dry tone. You better hope this is your night.
You said it, girl, not me! Aletraughed and went back to her task at lips.
What brand of cigars are those, by the way? Nina asked while taking the empty bottle from Maximillian. Hemleys?
Magnus turned to her with a surprised expression. Well, as surprised as the stern man could muster. No, but close, he grumbled, raising the prepared cigar up. Bowing down, Nina took a quick smell test. Can you guess?
No need to guess, thats another dic nt, plus it has a cinnamon-like note, so it has to be Rewling, Nina stated and smiled when Magnus nodded. My father was big into cigars and I learned a thing or two guess that sounds like I have daddy issues, given where I work.
We all have our cross to bear, the Fateweaver shrugged. Whether thats one you actually have, no idea. I wouldnt dare to make that assumption.
Youre a lot more serious than our usual customers, Nina decided, not in a displeased tone, then she walked over to the bar. Whiskey and two pina cdaing right up.
Get them their drinks first, Magnus decided and stood up. Ill be smoking for a bit.
On a spontaneous note, although his dick told him to stay right where he was, John decided to tag along. I can use some fresh air, he decided and gave Lemia anothermand. Be a good girl and wait for me, Ill be very attentive when I get back, I promise.
Alright, John, the brte responded, let him get up and then sat down to wait. While the Gamer headed for the stairs behind Magnus, his gin and tonic in hand, Lemia ordered some drink herself. Maximillian took the moment to just lean back in his chair.
Were drinking J?germeister when you get back down here! the king decided for all of them. One shot for everyone!
That was just one of many decisions to be made that evening.
Chapter 704 – Guys Night Out 4 – Summer Night
Chapter 704 C Guys Night Out 4 C Summer Night
Once he was standing, John had to admit that he was quite a bit more drunk than he had bargained for. Although the Game windows were warning him of the stages, he still wasnt great at knowing what stage corresponded with what level of motor function loss. In this specific case, he was experiencing something that his girlfriend liked to call the alcohol got stuck in my feet.
The fresh air on his face did its part to fix that though. It had cooled down a lot since John had gotten inside. Thin fog had settled in the city, driving down the temperature through the moisture. Not to a properly cold level, it was still above twenty degrees. The t rooftop was pretty boring. A few stic chairs and ashtrays were around. The duo ignored both and just stood at the railing, looking down on the moving people in the nearby streets. There was a kerfuffle at the entrance of the Little Whirl, but the bouncers had it resolved with a few firm shoves.
Can you exin that to me? John asked, looking away from that little incident and instead pointing at the mist in the streets. There is no wind to carry it here, so where is the extra moistureing from?
Hm, Magnus hummed to himself and fell silent for a few seconds. With a metal lighter, he warmed up the foot of the cigar. Once he seemed happy with the result, he put the cigar in his mouth and properly fired it up. Admittedly, he looked quite ssy with that giant brown thing in his face. Why, that eluded Johns understanding, he just did. Long or short answer?
How long is the long answer? John asked with a raised eyebrow.
Gently, Magnus exhaled a cloud of smoke; it tumbled through the air and eventually scattered until nothing of it remained to be seen. The Fatewaver looked at the cigar, then raised it to John. About as long as this cigar wouldst, were I to smoke it all the way.
John was roughly aware that a good cigar couldst two to three hours. Since this was some absurd, in-barrier grown tobo from d of all ces, he was just going to assume that it was a very good cigar. As he didnt want to spend the entire evening out here, the decision was rather easy. Short answer then.
Hmph, Magnus scoffed as if he was disappointed by that answer. Gaia makes it appear. There is no wind, youre right, but the borders of the barrier make a copy of whatever weather phenomenon drifts through their equivalent position in the real world.
Different question then, why is there no wind? John wondered. If she goes through the trouble of copying sunrays and water rted weather phenomena, why does Gaia stop at wind?
There are a lot of things not included in barriers, Magnus mumbled into his cigar, relighting it as John took a sip of his gin and tonic. Barriers copy fully functioning nts, but no animals. There are microbes in the soil, but no insects. Certain magical creatures like orcas, huntsman spiders and typus aside.
Why does it not surprise me that two of those three examples are from Australia? John thought, but didnt want to go down that road of questions as well. Okay, but why though? he asked again.
Once again, Magnus didnt answer immediately, only looking at John for a moment to signal he was thinking on the best way to formte his response. It was oddly ttering. To see that someone took the time to not just spout the first answer that came to mind but actually mulled it over. Although that put awkward stops into the conversation, it ultimately led to a higher quality of it. Something that was especially interesting because, unlike John, Magnus was not a genius of any description. He was just a hard-working guy with a lot of acquired knowledge.
We dont know for sure, Magnus Magus finally responded. It could be that Gaia just wants to reduce the number of moving parts. She cuts out those that arent absolutely necessary. That would make the barrier easier to maintain. What else? It could be an observation that she made that, if those things were left in, the barrier changes too much over time. Perhaps she found it cruel, in the case of animals, to create them and immediately eliminate them once the barrier closes. There are a lot of studies on that from the Mountain of Time that you could read about it. For a sizable donation.
Huh. John was left a bit baffled for a moment, while the Fateweaver pulled new smoke into his mouth. A questioning nce caused the Gamer to add, Its just that you talk a lot when its about your work.
Magnus hesitated for a moremon reason this time around, it seemed. After a few moments of introspection, he shrugged and said, I always liked Fateweaving as a profession. Its just a shame Im never going to be as good as my father. New smoke was blown into the air. Dont mistake my realism for whining. I worked for what I have and Im proud to have it. But enough about me. Are you fine with being here tonight?
What makes you ask that? John couldnt help but respond with a question of his own.
At no point this whole night did you look as happy as the moment you got a message from Rave, Magnus simply stated and left it at that.
Scratching his head, it was Johns turn to think about things. His erudite mind had cracked the whole thing open within a second, however. Well, two things can be true at once, right? On one hand, there is no ce on earth Id rather be than where my loves are. On the other hand, I dont want to live my entire life never having hung around other people. While I would probably be happier in the moment if I was over there, I think Im going to have a happier life if I do things like tonight every now and again.
There was a light chuckle from Magnus, once the Gamer had finished his answer. I cant reverse yourment about me. You talk a lot in general, he said and continued to work on his cigar. I fought with my father beforeing here, you know?
What, did he object to youing to a strip club with me? John joked. I know your parents are pretty conservativepared to me, but He stopped when Magnus shook his head. Oh, you mean America here? A nod. John waited for an boration.
I didnt think this should be where we put our name. I can happily say that I was wrong. Both of them looked out beyond the red-light district and over the water. This is a good ce. I feel like I am at the heart of something that is moving in the right direction. I like it.
John gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. Youre going to over-inte my ego, he joked and took another sip. His drink tasted like ice cubes. Magnus just grunted something, putting an end to that topic. Already having a new one in mind, John jumped right into it. You seem to get along well with that Ninady.
Immediately, the Gamer earned himself a side nce that signalled Magnus difort with where this was going to go. Shes interesting, he conceded. Didnt expect someone to talk to in this ce. Maximillian chose well. Made the two hours I had to spend alone with him less awkward.
Well, if you enjoy talking to her, maybe you should see if you can do it outside her work hours, John suggested.
She is a stripper, Magnus summarized his immediate revulsion to the matter.
She isnt going to be forever. John shrugged and drank his remaining ice water. Might not be the greatest thing to tell people, but I doubt she wants to stay here forever. She is in it for the fun and the cash, probably. While on the topic of things that wont be forever, you know as well as I do that youre not particrly powerful. Youre going to live how much longer than the average person? 50, 70 years? He shrugged again. You dont have my luxury of an eternal life to fill with mistakes. That aside, I am not suggesting you immediately start looking at marriage brochures. Just that you arent seeing somebody right now.
A stripper though the Fateweaver didnt seem convinced yet.
Hey, one of my girls I met through her ughtering a room full of enemies and allies and my girlfriend in a fit of insane, pain-fuelled rage, John tried to press some humour back into the situation. Another tried to stab me for the first few months. Another got herself infected by Lorylim. Another got herself infected willingly. He paused and stretched a little bit. I think you can handle a stripper.
Ill think about it, I suppose. Magnus leaned on the railing. My father asked you to set me up, didnt he?
Well, he asked that I make you tag along whenever I go out on any sort of guys night, the Gamer responded truthfully. With a snicker, he added, I heavily doubt he had this particr rmendation in mind.
The door to the rooftop opened carefully. Speaking of the devil, Nina poked her head out. Carefully at first, likely not wanting to interrupt any important conversation. You were taking a while, so I thought Id bring you your whiskey. She approached them once she found them in silence. Magnus took the ss with a somber motion.
Ever had a Rewling? the Fateweaver asked, offering the cigar to Nina.
Been years, havent been able to afford them since I moved out, she answered and slowly extended her hand towards the cigar. It looked like she was uncertain whether he was ying tricks on her.
Feeling entirely unneeded (in the way, really) John announced, Well, Ill be back inside, you two have fun, and headed towards the door with a wingman smile on his face. Really do wonder how you will react to this news, whenever they be something noteworthy, Magoi, he thought, as he closed the door behind himself. Better question is whether Mabirl is going to let me off without a giant lecture well, I think shes cool, so probably?
Out of curiosity, John checked out the bedroom. It was an odd one. Four bed segments were equally partitioned through fluffy-carpet-covered walkways. The odd factor came from the round shape of the room. The beds were individuallyrge enough that their almost triangr shape didnt matter all that much. Additionally, those were beds for fucking, not for sleeping.
Feeling a more pressing urge than curiosity, John went to the bathroom. That one was just a number of toilet stalls, undivided by gender, and a shower (likely for emergencies or the odd morning after). After emptying his dder, making very sure he shook all the drops out, he filled his ss with some tap water, quickly gulped that down, and then made his way back down to the actual main chamber.
Maximillian was having a lovely chat with Lemia, while still getting his dick sucked by Aletra. A new arrival was already busy on the stripping pole, albeit only with simple, teasing motions, rather than the actual show. She was a redheaded woman wearing a maid uniform of the easily removed variety. At the insistence of both Magnus and Maximillian, they had requested a stripper with DD-cups, which John found overblown. Not that it was to her detriment, she looked good, they all did, otherwise they wouldnt havended a job here.
Good job keeping my seat warm, John grinned when he got back and consequently caused the earlier issuedmand to be fulfilled. The brte gasped for air as the sudden pleasure got her right back to the same level of heat as she had been before he left. Nina is busy, so you have to get me a new drink, he told her, this time without amand. He didnt want to make it too easy on himself.
Yes, Master, she swiftly responded with the exact phrase he wanted to hear.
Plopping back down in his seat, he looked over to Maximillian. You having a good time, buddy?
The best. The king toasted with his Sex on the Beach. What about Magnus?
He is smoking a very good cigar, so I guess its just us two for the next while, John stated in nebulous but very clear terms. Well, us two and these three lovelydies. Who would you be?
Ruby, the actual stripper of the evening responded. Thats not my stage name, before you ask, she read his mind, her lips spreading into a wide smile. They were as red as her choker. You do look much better in person than in the pornos I watched, John.
I never saw you before, but I am eager to end that trend, the Gamer smoothly responded, taking the drink that Lemia basically ced in his hand. Once the brte was back in hisp, he was all too happy to kick back. Literally, in some sense, as he felt so rxed that he pulled his shoes into his inventory and ced his feet on the armrest of the empty chair next to his.
Rxed, a girl in hisp and a drink in his hands, with anotherdy to look at and a buddy across the table, John felt like he had actually arrived in that high-society guy evening that he had imagined.
You heard the man, spoke up said buddy, also leaning back. Show us all of you that you like. I am sure our friend on the roof wont mind if you start right now. He looked over to John. I trust you brought those fifties?
I got you covered, John assured, groping Lemia in a rough fashion that got her squealing wonderfully.
And things progressed from there.
Chapter 705 – Guys Night Out Finale – A wonderful life
Chapter 705 C Guys Night Out Finale C A wonderful life
John wasnt sure where to look, a feeling that he had quite often in life. Strategically, his gaze should havein on Maximillians face. A secondary choice was his hand of cards. Emotionally, however, it drove him more towards the steady swinging of Rubys body around the polished pole and the bobbing of Lemias mouth, polishing his pole.
As it was his turn, he managed to keep his concentration on the table. All order it once had had long since been reced with absolute chaos. A small J?germeister bottle was nearing the end of its lifecycle, Johns and Maximillians shot ss standing next to it. A change from the earlier One drink at a time order policy due to the fact that Ruby had to get off the stage whenever they wanted something. Although the dancer was the least vital to the current mood, the two men still wanted her to continue her delightful disy.
Regardless, Ruby sometimes needed to stop. Be it because she wanted to take a small break between dances, because she wanted to talk or because Maximillian required her to get yet another game to the table.
Inspecting what he held and what was on the table, John ced two cards down, then flipped one of the visible ones over. Maximillian reached down, turned around the card that had just gotten flipped, then hesitated and went for the left of the two John had ced. The moment he saw the Queen of Hearts, he threw his cards into the air.
In the name of Romulus fucking galldder! the gravity king cursed and would likely have gestured around even more wildly, had it not been for the situation under the table. How?! You never even yed this game before!
I listened to the rules. John shrugged and reached down to w into Lemias hair and pull her all the way down into a deepthroat. She looked up to him, eyes tearing up slightly from the strain it put on her body. Professional or not, she just wasnt trained to deal with something his size. Did you seriously think you could outgame the Gamer, Max?
I won a few times, the same grumbled and leaned over the table. It seemed he was done with trying to challenge John Newman to games and instead poured both of them a shot. Have your victory drink then, Maximillian remarked, sliding Johns ss over the table.
Catching it, he retorted, And what are you having?
The constion prize, the gravity mage freely admitted, then the two of them raised their sses in unison and put the herbal schnapps into their system. Although the taste was intense and sweet in a rather unique way, John had to admit that he rather liked this liquor. You know that it is really easy to hate you?
I hope you dont just say that because your ex is in my harem, John felt free to shoot back in that tone, because Maximillian hadnt sounded particrly serious in the first ce.
Careful, if you take jabs like that, buddy, Maximillian raised his finger, wiggling it menacingly. Or I will retaliate in kind.
Knowing exactly what kinds of details he didnt want to be privy to, John threw up his hands in defeat. Alright, you win this point, he conceded and gestured for the king to continue. Tell me, then, what you mean.
Basic resentment towards the sessful. Maximillian took the bottle of J?germeister and held it against a light. With a sour face, he evaluated the remaining contents, only to empty them into his mouth. Youre a few years younger than me, yet youve gotten so much more done than me. Having to measure against you sucks. Maximillian put the bottle down with a grin. Thank Gaia I know you personally. Youre a bundle of power, paranoia and perversion, youre just also a hard-working genius.
And youre a superb actor and beloved king, as well as an arrogant asshole, Johnughed, and Maximillian joined in with a snicker. The conversation fell silent for a moment, as they both followed the swaying motion of Ruby. Noticing their attention, she sped up her dance, made her movements wilder. Herrge breasts jiggled around; her hands pulled at the miniskirt. With a few steps and twists, she grinded against the steel pole. Her tongue slid along the smooth metal seductively, just as two fingers slid into her quim.
John watched the disy intently, feeling an orgasm rise and his cum pump into Lemias stomach. Sudden, intense moans reverberated around his cock, proving that it had the usual effect. An effect she hade to expect, no doubt, given that this was far from the first time he had climaxed since she got down there.
The fact that Maximillian suddenly and audibly rxed on the other side of the table likely meant he was going through a simr experience at the moment. A fair bit drunk, the line of what he wasfortable with had moved quite a bit out from where he had started the evening at. This went so far that he just went out and asked the question that popped up in his mind, Ive been wondering, how often can you cum in a row? Like, as a representative of the normal guy?
I wouldnt exactly call myself representative of the normal guy, Maximillian gestured at his, admittedly handsome, face. That he answered this so freely spoke to his own state of drunkenness. Like three, maybe four times? Depends on the mood. Why? Something else you want to lord over the rest of us mortals?
Well, I started below that, before I got Skills for things, so not really? John kept it vague to start with but then shrugged. I can basically get hard whenever no matter the amount of times I came in thest few minutes.
And suddenly it makes sense how you can satisfy that entire harem of yours all the time. Maximillian shook his head. No need to be jealous of you, though, I have someone who can take care of me right here. He looked under the table and made a beckoning gesture. Within the moment, Aletra got up, showing her smooth body again.
If the previous conversation hadnt been enough to prove the mood, then the fact that John didnt care whatsoever about what happened next definitely did. Aletra and Maximillian exchanged sweet nothings, Ruby was ordered to bring new drinks. After cleaning her mouth out with half a bottle of champagne, Aletra was making out with the gravity king like wild. Then they proceeded to fuck on the table. It was quite the quick series of events.
Or maybe not, the second Ruby had gotten those drinks to the table, John started drinking the second half of that champagne bottle out of her cleavage. There was some more banter between all of this. Something to the effect that the Gamer didnt deserve to have two girls to himself. John retorted that he wouldnt share. Soon enough, he retreated to the bedroom with the two girls while Maximillian continued on where he was.
Things got hazy from there on out. A rhythm established itself. Sex was had, John holding himself back so the two could actually use the stairs when they went back down. Temporarily satisfied, he and Maximillian talked and drank. That both of them were pantsless during that somehow didnt matter whatsoever. Once their appetite was back, they split again. Either Maximillian and Aletra or John with Ruby and Lemia would get to the bedroom. The other party would remain where they were. There was no cross-fucking going on, the two men were quite principled to that end, even drunk.
Eventually, Magnus returned from the roof. The Fateweaver had a big goofy smile on his face that didnt fit with his usual stern persona. With Nina in the room again, the drinking intensified. Even though he was by far the most sober out of the three of them, Magnus didnt care whatsoever about the established way of things. Instead, he and John yed a round of poker while he was facefucking Lemia. It was all very odd and carefree.
At some point someone said something and the gathering quickly dispersed from there. Maximillian stayed in the Little Whirl for the night, together with Aletra. Magnus managed to get a kiss on the cheek from Nina, while John made his goodbye to thedies that attended him simple and somewhat professional. Somewhat because he almost tripped over his own feet in the process.
He had the presence of mind not to use the jet ski to get back. How he found his way to the closest teleporter outpost in the Hudson Barrier, however, was its own set of events. After making sure he was at least going into the right direction, he called Rave. His girlfriend was still awake and was happy to listen to him babble about the evening as he walked.
A happiness that, and she made that very clear, came entirely from the fact that everything he said sounded incredibly funny. Both because of the content and the way he drunkenly presented it. He told her to shut up. She flirted back that he shoulde back home and make her.
Then he got lost in some empty neighbourhood.
About thirty minutes he spent either walking in circles orying down on somefortable looking grass. Rave was still talking to him the entire time, with the patience only an amused girlfriend could have. At some point she said she had sent Aclysia out to fetch him and asked for an address. Once he had found one to give, John sat down with the actual purpose of waiting. The weaponized maid eventually found him and brought him back to the teleporter.
Once home, Aclysia forced him in the gentlest of ways to drink a good amount of water, eat a cream cheese covered bagel and to take a shower with her. Admittedly, thatst part was more to her benefit. Even drunk as he was, he managed to have some fun. Rave joined someway through. It was all much better than with some random hookers. They knew all his weak spots and in the privacy of his home he was happy to behave in the regr ways. To a more important degree, he loved them, and that made all the difference in most things.
Eventually, however, he was too tired to continue and swayed into bed.
____________________________________________________________________
So, how much do ya regretst night right now? Rave teased, poking Johns face continuously. She was sitting on the chair next to him, although only half and not exactly in the way normal people sat. Her lower legs and feet were on the proper seating, the rest of her stretched over, with one hand holding onto Johns right leg to stabilize her position.
The Gamer was trying his best to ignore his girlfriend. A task that got continuously harder the more bacon and egg he shovelled off the te and into himself. With every bit of nutrition swallowed, the hangover debuff was diminished, returning some of his concentration. Regardless, he kept a stoic expression.
Ya know ya cant be mad at me, Rave insisted, stretching towards him in a very cat-like fashion. Im adorable!
She was absolutely right about that and John dug into his breakfast with a heavy sigh. I dont know if regret is the proper word, he grumbled, loading more egg on the fork. I just did things Im normally notfortable with. That always happens when Im drunk He raised the food to his mouth and spent a few seconds chewing. Not like seeing Max without pants is some sort of apocalyptic thing. He wanted to turn his head, but couldnt without getting stabbed in the teeth. Why are you still poking me, by the way?
Cause your cheek is soft so its weirdly satisfying, Rave said. If ya want me to stop, raise your arms and let me sit in yourp. Gotta re-mark my territory.
John obliged, and his girlfriend soon hindered his further eating efforts through her presence. Given that the hangover hadnt been that bad, courtesy of the bagel, he was happy to forego the rest of the breakfast in favour of cuddling her. Putting the fork down, he slung his arms around her narrow waist and just held her.
As fun as that locale was, I think Ill insist we just go drinking next time, he told her. Strippers are pretty distracting when you try to have a talk. Although conference blowjobs are something I should introduce byw.
What, every guy at the negotiation table should just get his dick blown under said table? Rave giggled, resting the back of her head on his shoulder and scratching her boyfriend behind the ear.
Or pussy licked, I wont discriminate, John promised and smelled her hair. Like peppermint, it smelled. Although I guess that will lower general productivity by quite a bit. Not everyone can keep their cool like Max and I.
Id suggest that I tag along next time, then you wont have to sleep with some rando-prostitutes, Rave hummed, which was quite an odd thing for a girlfriend to say. Out of her mouth, it made perfect sense, though. That would kinda defeat the purpose of a guy evening though, wouldnt it?
Yeah. John kissed her neck. Maybe we should invite him over and he can bring one of his girls if he gets bored and we just have a rtively normal eveni- why are youughing? Raves entire body was shaking inside his embrace, and the second he asked that she suddenly exploded into a fit.
It took her over ten seconds to finally answer the question. At least, she attempted to. I I just it shook her, image whew I imagined that we, like, invite him to some sort of strip poker double date and he he brings Bren and your face she continued tough.
NO! John eximed, turning his embrace into a constricting grasp and getting up. Bad Jane, very bad girl! he dered, but she only continuedughing as he dragged her over to the couch. Once there, he threw her over the back, then dove after her, pressing her into the leather cushions. They wrangled for a bit, but her superior Strength was neutralized by the raw force of her amusement. John came out on top, sitting on her back, her arms pinned under him. He started pping her naked ass. Like every time when at home, they wore no or very little clothing. What are you?! he shouted, as the loud pping echoed through the room.
Laughter was reced with cheerful moaning. A very bad girl that likes to tease her boyfriend! The admission came so quickly and freely that John was almost disappointed. Focusing her power, she wrestled her arms free and had turned the table shortly thereafter. Just that she pinned him down with the two of them facing each other, leaning down for a kiss. Hey, not my fault that a sessful rtionship has a few negative interactions a day. I didnt make the rules.
Where did you read that? John wondered. Why did you read that?
Some credible psychology blog thingy, I can send you a linkter, she answered. And cause I am the best girl of this harem, somebody gotta learn how human interactions work.
And they say polygyny has no good effects on people, the Gamer grinned and leaned up for another kiss, only for Rave to pull out of range. Jaaaaneeee, he whined, you taste sweet and delicious, you cant just deny me that.
Well you smell smoky and hot and I dont need to kiss you for that. She stuck out her pierced tongue, the pink lustre in her blue eyes mischievously shifting. What do I get if I kiss you again?
Hmmm. John had to think; they went through this interaction frequently, and he wanted toe up with something new. A very beautiful dress, he suggested.
Wedding dress? Rave asked with a raised eyebrow.
No, no, no, he was quick and fervent to deny. We agreed that question would happen at a much grander ce and time. I just mean a dress in general. I have never seen you in one, because you hate long skirts like Aclysia hates coffee stains.
They flutter everywhere! Rave defended herself. Anyway, so ya gonna give me something that ya want to see me in for something ya want? What do I have from tha- ah! A pained, surprised gasp escaped her when her butt was suddenly spanked again. Turning her head, she saw Jack grin at her. Double tiger is not fair! she dered.
I say a casual morning threesome with your boyfriend and your boyfriend is exactly fair. John grinned, already feeling her slick pussy grinding against his dick. So how about we go do that and then I buy you a nice gift and then you wear that for me.
Throwing her head back in another episode of carefreeughter, Raves hair turned into a pink cascade. Fine, fine, you win! she dered and gave him that kiss he craved.
This really was the ce he always wanted to return to.
Chapter 706 – The Fusion Government
Chapter 706 C The Fusion Government
Hello, everyone, John addressed the crowd in a downright ecstatic mood. Well, crowd was arge term. For a change, the Gamer was speaking exclusively to cameras. For the sake of audio control and distribution, what he was about to present was being recorded and would simply be uploadedter. A change his media team had insisted on because they were quite overworked in recent days and doing things in the studio was way less stressful.
John obliged themrgely because of thetter reason. That, and he actually wanted to use the studio he financed for once. Everything had that new shine to it and smelled like a freshly unwrapped game disc. His entire crowd was the camera crew and the director. His stage, a simple and clean studio with a giant monitor behind him. A desk and chair went ignored. If he wanted to, he could have mimicked ate-night host.
He much preferred to keep walking though. My break got cut a bit short, he continued, so you will have to forgive me if I take another one rtively soon. In good news, should you have missed it, the war with the Lake Alliance is over. The borders shifted very slightly.
John turned his head to confirm the graphic was being disyed on the screen. It was the exact same that Emrik had looked at on paper a few days prior. Nothing really remarkable, its just this one province right there, he pointed at it with a pointer he had been given for exactly this purpose. Rather than aser, it was more like a motion-controlled mouse, with which he could also draw or go onto the next part of the presentation with. But peace is good, peace is really good. Peace and prosperity for everyone is what I want, and having gotten it, my mood is fantastic today.
However, today is not about any of that. Today is actually about a thing I scheduled before the break and thest ditch effort of the Lake Alliance. That I am still able to host it on time is great, because this topic has been left in question for long enough anyway. Today, I am going to present to you the actual system of Fusion.
As you know, currently, Fusion operates under a very simple three-stage system. There are local guilds, there are state guilds and then there is the Federation. Everyone listens to the person further up the totem pole and thats that. In other words, until now, Fusion more or less ran under feudalism. Effective, but nothing good for the future. In theing months, we are going to concentrate on consolidating out internal affairs so everyone, no matter how weak or strong, has the opportunity to be represented, the right to prosper and a society in which they feel obligated to contribute. Optimally, those three are in bnce.
John took a pause and walked over to the desk, where a bottle of water had been left for him. At the exact same time as he drank from it, he pressed the button to make the presentation go to the next image.
Lets start with our internal borders. What you can see here is the de-facto state of things. Outside of the Hidden Tradition, which enjoys pre-agreed independence privileges, everything is either directly or indirectly part of Fusion. John noticed that the names for the Little Marnd and Amacat were already changed on this picture, which meant he had a stern word to exchange with whoever designed the graphics for this presentation. As a professional, the Gamer just moved on as if nothing unusual was happening. This goes against my vision for the future. The line between local and federal government ispletely blurred and causes a bunch of confusion in terms of which office is in charge of what. We need to break things up a bit.
Another click, another image appeared.
There we go, our blurry mix of local and federal states has been neatly dissolved. What you can see here, he circled around the external border continued by each smaller state, is Fusion. The Federation has certain rights and obligations in terms ofw-making power that we shall get into in a little bit. Important for now is that we are all clear about this one thing: Fusion, like the US government it is inspired by, itself holds no or very littlend. Fusion is a construct. A Federation that is made up of member states, or guilds, however you prefer. It is empowered to act in the name of those states in certain things but otherwise should leave them to self-governance.
Another water break allowed John to quickly order his thoughts, streamline how he wanted to continue things. Nobody was served if he jumped from one topic to the other, so he was best advised to describe what was on the actual image and get into the government details when it was time for them.
What you can see here are those new states. The Hidden Tradition remains unchanged. The Little Marnd is renamed to just Marnd and I will step back from being president of that state as soon as local elections are done. In the interest of streamlining things, its best if I dont hold too many positions across different levels of different governments. That aside, I can only do so much work.
South of that is the Meltpot, a temporary name that the locals are wee to change and a state that will grow, should our borders in that direction expand at any point. Taking the ce of the old Fusionnd, centred around New York City, is Collide. It felt almost nostalgic to say that name out loud in any important capacity. That is the guild that I have been leader and part of for a longer time than Fusion has existed, and those are the parts of the Federation that I will govern directly. The North Lake is formed from the old Small Lake Pacts territories while the Amaca Coast is the political entity that shall rece Amacat. Again, temporary names that the locals are wee to keep or rece with something they deem more appropriate.
John paused to let that settle and took another sip of water to keep his voice well-maintained. Then, he clicked and the map was reced with an empty sheet, Fusions logo in the background as a watermark. As the Gamer continued, corresponding bullet points appeared on the screen.
How the states govern themselves isrgely left to them. They must, however, follow the guidelines as set up by the constitution that was always avable on Fusions website. To summarize the most important ones: first, the system must be a republic with democratic elements. How far reaching those elements are is, as promised, left to the states. Whether you simply elect representatives by district or you go full direct democracy is left to you. Second, the government needs to be ountable to its people. There must be non-violent ways to remove corrupt officials from office. Simrly, no one position should be able to amass dictatorial power and no one individual should be able to hold multiple positions in the government. Third, the rights of the individual are sacred. Natural rights of thew-abiding citizen cannot be limited. This means that speech is free, every human is free and that movement within the Federation is free.
He left the filled slide up for a moment for the viewer to take in, then moved onto the next one, the same game repeating itself. As it is, however, there are certain rights the states transfer to the Federation. Most importantly of all, the states are not allowed to hold armies, although the citizens can form militias if they so desire. The Federation alone hasmand over the centralized armed forces. Although certain groups within the army may find themselves with exceptional tasks, such as the Hidden Tradition Army, which is to be recruited only from them and only to be deployed in defensive capabilities around the east coast area. For reasons of their traditional magic and an agreement that was struck when they joined Fusion.
John felt best to juste clean with that particr exception to the rule. It would never be a secret anyway. The more open it was, the easier he could shrug and say that that was just how that particr thing worked. Due to their ancestor-fuelled magic, the fighters of the Hidden Tradition were a lot more effective in the local area anyhow, so that was an easy point to reason if anyone ever tried to argue why they had such a privileged position among the states. Not that John expected the discussion to arise anytime soon.
There is also the obligation of taxes. Fusion will take a cut of the revenues from its member guilds to fuel its own operations. Should there be a surplus, we will use it to pump up some of the weaker members by giving them funds to be invested into their infrastructure. John walked back to the table and went for another water break. The bottle was slowly emptying. With a simple hand gesture, John signalled that he would need a new one and started walking to the other end of the stage. While the table was out of frame, an assistant would ce a fresh bottle on it.
The list of detailed rights and obligations is too long to recount them here. You can find them online, which I rmend you do if youre looking to make it in a political career. Now, he pped his hands together to make things a bit more energetic, lets look into how the federal government is going to be run. Unlike state government, I do get to decide that after all. He grinned and clicked again.
This, here, is the extremely simplified version of it. Its a mixture of the British and American government, with a hint of pre World War 1 Germany and a hint of my own ideas. As you can see, I am right here, at the top. He used the mouse to circle his box. I have spent quite a bit of time internally debating whether or not I want to make this so tant or whether I even should have a position that is so fundamentally rooted in the system. If I was 100% true to my ideals, I should make myself an electable force. However, and Ill just say the silent part out loud, I have made this Federation so I deserve to lead it. Its not exactly a pretty statement, but I am also a wed person and I wont make a country that gets turned into something I disapprove of. On a more pragmatic note, force is the supreme authority from which all others are derived and I happen to be the centre of power in a raw, destructive sense, he shrugged, and thats just the reality of it.
He could already see the headlines because of that announcement, but he had made peace with that. Every alternative to the momentary scandal had left him with an ashen taste in his mouth. He was going to be a dictator in name. Thankfully, because this was the Abyss and he didnt need to run a regime of suppression and military supremacy to remain in power, the rest of the system could be tailored to be a lot more libertarian.
As President of Fusion, I am the head of state and I appoint the head of government, which is the leader of the Fusion Cab. All other members of the cab are also appointed by me. Theyre my advisors and ministers, the executive work will be split among them. It should be noted that I can appoint whoever I want, if they agree, of course, but just like on the state level, nobody can hold more than one position in the government. Just in case somebody got worried that this cab would grow out of proportion in the importance of its members.
As per my other direct powers, I suggest the members of the Supreme Court. Picks that need to be confirmed by the electorates representatives. This isrgely copied from the US system, except that it isnt the Senate equivalent in this system that confirms the Members. More on thatter. On the Legiture side of things, I simply hold the ability to veto in parliament. My veto will immediately cause any one proceeding in parliament to stop, although the topic may be brought up again in a revised fashion. I have no powers to suggest or vote in newws myself, that part of the process is entirely up to the democratic side of things. Notable things I do not have the power to do on my own: decide the budget and dere war. In case we are attacked, I can respond immediately though.
He returned to the table and unscrewed his new water bottle. It had already been opened for him, just so the snapping sound from the lid didnt echo in the microphone. Professionalism could be such a wonderful thing in the most minute details.
Lets exin the rest of the system from the bottom up. People that pay taxes and are above the age of 18 have suffrage. They elect their state representatives in anonymous, free and direct elections. Each state has one seat per district, with a district currently being defined as an area expanding from a central point that holds 1000 people. The area part of the definition was purely there to prevent excessive gerrymandering. Every districts borders had to be as circr as possible. The number of people that make up a district can be adjusted by the legiture to ount for poption shifts, John continued. The House of Commons purpose is to be the voice of the people. It elects the Speaker of the Commons from its members, who is the leader of parliament. They are also thew formting body, debating and voting onws to be passed onto the House of Exceptionals.
The House of Exceptionals is much like the US Senate, but with some modifications made for Abyssal governance. Starting with what is the same, or what was the same, the members of the House of Exceptionals are not elected directly. They are either, as they were in the US before that was amended, appointed by the state guilds or by the Fusion Cab. Thetter is the case so that extraordinary people whose power or influence spans across multiple states also have a seat in the government.
This time, he didnt say the silent part out loud. Namely that, if John didnt give those people some way to be represented, they were quite likely to either make a city-levelling fuzz or join some guild somewhere else that would give them political power. To prevent thetter case especially, both this position and privileged ranks in the military were necessary. That didntpletely eliminate the possibility, but it was as far as John could go withoutpromising the republican foundation he was going for.
The House of Exceptionals purpose is mostly to be a check on individual states. Because the House of Commons is elected by the poption, some guilds will naturally amass more power in that branch of government than others. Its just a reality that there will be poption centres. The House of Exceptionals will make sure those poption centres dont dictate things for the rest of the Federation. However, as they shouldnt have the power to outright ban any proposal ever, aw that has been suggested by the House of Commons and been sent back 3 times can be presented to parliament directly by the Speaker of Commons. In every other case, the House of Exceptionals will take a vote for aw, perhaps in a somewhat modified form, to be presented to parliament. Once in parliament, every member of the House of Commons and Exceptionals vote on thew.
Having presented that information dump, John guzzled down half the bottle of water. His voice was beginning to get hoarse and that would be a problem. Afterwards, he felt quite a bit better.
Because the House of Exceptionals is only asrge as a quarter of the House of Commons, it only makes up a fifth of parliament. This means that the Commons can push through anything that they have a clear majority for, given enough time and attempts. Anything that I dont veto, at least, John thought to himself, feeling that particr power quite strongly. He would have to do his best to use it very carefully and wisely.
At a fifth, the members of the House of Exceptionals can be the deciding few votes, however, depending on the party lines that are drawn at any given time. As for the structure of parliament itself, the Speaker of Commons makes the program for a session, while the longest serving or, if there is a tie, the oldest member of parliament makes sure the program is followed in an orderly fashion. Laws pass on a standard majority. People that arent present will have their votes counted as abstained, unless specified otherwise by handwritten letter that has to contain their reasons for their vote and abstinence I realize I am losing myself in details now. John stopped and looked directly at the camera. So I think the overview is given. This is the structure of our system. Lets use it for peace and prosperity, everyone.
The director made a signal and the recording was cut.
Chapter 707 – Ministers and Mentions
Chapter 707 C Ministers and Mentions
John yawned long and hard while he scribbled thest name into the roster. Contrary to what one may believe, John didnt stock the Fusion Cab with his girls. Most of themcked qualification, interest or opportunity to take those roles. The elementals, for example. John was more than sure that some of them, Smander and Undine first and foremost, were able to do good executive work (Sylph was too bubbly, Gnome too shy and Siena too stabby). However, the fact that they could only operate in a 500km radius around John and, more to the point, would have a very hard time travelling anywhere unseen, limited their effectiveness immensely.
Eliza was obviously out; she was too unstable and not interested in any sort of government position. Metra? Slightly different case, but same general strokes. Scarlett? Yes, definitely, except she didnt want to be the person who had to break up her own monopoly. Rave? Far too spontaneous to be put in charge of a bureaucratic apparatus.
Although they werent there, Nathalia and Nia could also be discounted for their own, fairly obvious reasons.
Which left the ever-reliable triumvirate of white haired, ck dressed maids. Aclysia had been appointed head of government, as John trusted her the most to govern in his interest. That she didnt really need to sleep in any capacity would surely help her in organizing things. Her title would have been chancellor by traditional terms, but, once John had given her the position, she had dered herself First Servant of State instead.
John wasnt even mad about that. A bit wordier than chancellor, sure, but the numerous puns couldnt be missed. Every word was part of it. John was the head of state and essentially the embodiment of Fusion. Servant was the most obvious, pertaining to Aclysias position as his maid. First was a double meaning in that she was both the first girl that had started serving John and the first in the lines of officials serving the state. That it was a title that other historical people, such as Frederik the Great, had used helped the matter.
Beatrice was appointed as the head of the financial department. Allocating funds ording to paradigms set by John and Aclysia was something she should turn out to be quite good at. Financial calctions also happened to be among the things that John had previously pushed off to her anyway, so she had a lot of experience in the matter already. Aside from that, she would still be his secretary.
And thest of the three was not technically a maid and not technically there. Actually, John spoke into his phone once his yawn and recounting of thest two days to her had concluded, what are the odds that I can get you into a maid outfit when you get back?
How about null? Momo responded swiftly. I like my poncho; I can hide my fireflies under it.
You can have a maid outfit with a poncho, John stated and imagined that design. Since Momo had a downright t chest, giving her the same uniform as Aclysia and Beatrice wouldnt have worked to any benefit anyway. I think that would look adorable. Little White Maidenhood.
You know that nickname is a reason to absolutely not do it, right? He could practically hear Momo shaking her head. Anyway, you done with your minister picks?
I was donest week. John stretched in his seat. Currently, he was alone in his office in the Guild Bank. I got confirmation by everyone ahead of time. I barely know most of them, but I guess thats going to change in the future. Ill have to see them at least once a week to get my updates. As John had no lovers to fill the positions with, random people of skill had toe about. Only Magnus, as minister of infrastructure C or Fateweaving, to bepletely honest about it C was someone who he knew directly.
Great, so, the reason why I am actually calling Momo started, only to be interrupted by John who just had to tell a quick joke.
Aside from hearing my sensuous voice?
Look, you sound hot. You happy? the sassy supporter fired back immediately. Or do you need to bloviate some more to feel better about yourself?
I am afraid there is an aching in my heart that only your return will fill, Momo, he responded just as swiftly.
Psh. This time he could practically hear her rolling her eyes. Right, like you dont have over a dozen other girls to keep youpany.
You know perfectly well that I would miss any one of them would they go away, the Gamer insisted, now serious. I have enough love for all of you.
Which just makes you extra weird.
I know.
I dont dislike it though.
And you cant lead with that because youre one big tsundere, as Jane would put it.
And you cant lead a normal lifestyle because you are a giant pervert, Momo stated and giggled. Ah, I did miss these quickfire exchanges. Youre good at those.
And youre getting better at givingpliments since you left well, giving mepliments, John responded, his chair creaking a bit when he leaned back. Not that you ever had trouble saying nice things to everyone else.
You know what they say about not appreciating things until they are gone, she responded. Although, to be fair, you gave me the name of a sexually transmittable disease.
I named you after the word monochrome! John shouted in exasperation. What does a man have to do to be forgiven for that?
I dunno, Ill think of something before I get back, she stated. Kissing my feet, maybe, or putting you into therapy for your obvious sex addiction.
I will have you know that I was abstinent for several days recently.
What? Really?
Yes! It was during myst grinding session. I challenged myself to not get off until we beat the Raid boss.
And?
And it was absolutely horrible, you try being surrounded by willing, downright craving, women and not doing anything about your morning wood. He shuddered at the mere memory of it. But I did that, so there, I have control of it! Im not an addict.
Okay, youre just extremely indulgent.
Yeah, thats blindingly obvious.
Surprised you arent getting a blowjob under the desk right now.
How do you know I am not?
Your tone would be different, Momo told him. Even if you try to hide it, I could tell.
I guess thats expected of someone who was in my head for a while. John leaned forwards, resting his elbows on the table. A change of posture purely for the sake of itself. Did you make any progress on your resolution?
Im not deciding whether I re-join your harem before I get back to you, the Artificial Supporter stated and, in an amused tone, continued, I know you would just love it if I fell to my knees and sucked your dick first thing on reunion.
That is what my dick would want, sure, he freely admitted. If you ask me as a whole, though, I would go for a hug first, then a passionate kiss, if you initiate it, and then I would carry you somewhere.
Princess style? Momo asked.
No, more like uh dont think there is a specific name for it, John scratched his head and looked over to the secondputer where Jack was sitting. Although the Gamer was making a leisurely phone call, he was also doing work. The perks of being able to control a double. Its the kind of carry where I would cross my arms under your butt, lift you up and you would partially sit on them while holding onto my neck. Not exactly stable, but works for the ten steps to the nearest bed.
Ah Momo sounded almost impressed. Only almost, though. By the fact that you mention a bed, I am just going to assume that fucking would be the next step of that chain of events?
I mean, my dick is still an essential part of me, John stated.
You know what? I wanted to make another reprimandingment at the expense of your Libido, she let him know, but I just decided to be nice instead. Sure, you have a massive desire for lustful moments, but you are quite the smart romantic under all those innuendos.
Guilty as charged. John smiled. There is more to being a womanizer than being a sex god C although it helps.
Dont remind me of sex with you, please, or I will actually have tond and take care of myself Momo pleaded with a sigh. I know thats just stroking that overinted ego of yours, but you did kind of carve yourself into my expectations for sex life didnt ruin what else I had of it, but when I feel lonely I always remember you, none of those other girls I had since.
Okay, drastic reversion in topic then, John stated. Maid uniform aside, would you be open to joining my government when you get back? I would like you to either rece Aclysia in her position or be minister of magic and research.
You want me to be your chancellor? She sounded genuinely surprised by that.
I trust Aclysia to make decisions in my best interest, John stated. But thats exactly it. The Fusion Cab is my advisory board as much as it is the executive body and Aclysia isnt going to give me a lot of pushback. That aside, to state the unttering but obvious thing, youre the smartest one amongst you three. I did raise Aclysia and Baes Mental Stats a bit ago, but thats still true.
Which means you would trust me more to find independent solutions to problems so you dont have to do any work, Momos dry tone identified the unsaid thing immediately.
You know me so well. John shrugged and leaned back in his chair again. What can I say, I want to have more hours in the day for gaming and doing the pleasurable parts of being an adult. This is on the table whether you decide to get back with me or not, by the way. I cherish yourpany.
Giving me loads of work is an odd way to show that.
I know you secretly enjoy it, babe, John stated in the least serious flirting tone he had. I havent forgotten that you used to help Lydia for fun. Youre like her and Scarlett, you like work. You need something to do, otherwise you go crazy. Ill give you every bit you could ever need and a nice evening when you need to get rid of the stress.
Stooooooop, Momo pleaded. I dont want toe back yeeeeet!
Alright, alright, heughed. I will stop mixing work into the punch. He stopped for a moment, and the pause in the conversation let him recall something. Sorry, you were trying to get somewhere before I mentioned that my voice is sexy.
Right, Momo sounded a bit defeated by the fact that she had failed to get back to that until now. I wanted to say that I was calling because of the request you sent me. You know, the whole meet with Metra to check whether or not there are recement materials thing?
I remember it like it was yesterday, he joked, something made funny by the fact that he had literally sent that text yesterday.
Just wanted to confirm that I am up for it. I have a few minor temples that we could get to as well, if the main site doesnt yield anything. Having said that, Momo let out another one of her sighs. That simple info cost me way more of my time than I had bargained for.
To be fair, you called me, John put emphasis on the verb in that sentence. You could have just as easily confirmed this with a text message.
Yeah yeah The support fell silent for a second. I honestly just wanted to talk to you again. Dont know what that says about my previous statement about liking the loneliness
You can do both, just takes that you like me more C in small doses, John joked.
I guess and I think I got my fix for now, Momo reported. Ill call you again sometime next week, I think. For all I know, you will have an hour worth of tales again then.
Well, the aim is to keep things on the downlow for a little bit, said the Gamer, not sure how sessful that is going to be. With a grin, he added a spontaneous joke to the end of the conversation, Fair warning though, my time is precious, so I need to be paid one nude per call.
Sure hear you in a few days, Momo responded in a hesitating tone, then abruptly ended the call.
John put the phone on the table to look at hisputer screen again. An automatically updating list of tasks showed the remarkable amount of progress he had already made. If Beatrice had been around, he could have been done already. The passive maid was calcting the budget, however.
Just another reason why I want Momo as chancellor, the Gamer thought. Aclysia can take over the financial stuff and Beatrice can be my full-time secretary again. I really want a woman in this room His phone buzzed suddenly, and he picked it up with one questioningly raised eyebrow. That turned into two pleasingly raised brows a momentter. Momo, you wonderfully lewd thing.
The nude he had requested in jest had arrived in his inbox. It was the first time he saw as much as a picture of her in months. Her skin was as milky white as ever, almost glowing in the open field she stood in. Camera raised high with one arm, she took the selfie at an extremely high angle. It allowed a view down her t front. While the equally distributed, miniscule rise of her breasts was disappointing to some men, John was not part of that group. The nipples, clearly hard in the picture, and the way they fit on the rest of her body was enough to rouse his male instincts.
Her t stomach was something basically every man could agree on being wonderful, though. Not as toned as those Johns other girls, it was simply a snow-white disy of kissable wonder. The upper, barely peeking part of her smooth pussy stood out thanks to its pink colour, the same as her nipples and lips.
Lips that were pressed together in a pouty, embarrassed fashion. The redness of her face mixed well with that, as did her eyes. They seemed almost hesitatingly raised at the camera, as if she would have much rather looked away but didnt want to seem without courage. Her bleached white hair was as orderly as ever, cut sharply at the jawline, framing her blush wonderfully.
It was unlikely that sending John a nude was causing her to be embarrassed. She had never been particrly shy about him seeing her naked. No, it had to be the fact that she was doing it out in the open field of whatever part of the Middle East she was in today. It was basically impossible anybody saw her, but that didnt change that she was revealing herself in the wild.
Her expression was adorable, her body was to cuddle and kiss and lewd, and her attitude was more perverted than she would have admitted in words. Luckily, one picture spoke a thousand of those. Much more than the message he got afterwards from her saying, But just because you asked for it! did.
God, I hope youe back to me and be one of my girls again, John thought, really wanting to be the one who got to im this woman as his, every day. Especially since he remembered her juicy ass just as well as the rest of her, even if he couldnt see it on this particr image. He had to create a Momo folder on his phone to archive the image properly. Out of respect for her decision for independence, he had deleted all images he had previously. It was safe to assume he could keep this one.
And now this is a problem, he thought and looked at the tent under the table. Sending out a mental signal to the nearest of his elementals, he resigned himself to wait for a way to take care of it until the help arrived. Since he couldnt touch himself, doing more work was the only option.
Thankfully, the help was always eager to take care of the problem.
Chapter 708 – Perfect Weapon Inspection
Chapter 708 C Perfect Weapon Inspection
The day had been wonderfully eventless. Distributing the announcement had gone without a hitch and all reactions (positive and negative) were pretty much exactly like John had predicted. He had a bunch of invitations from newsworks asking him to be the first guest on their newly founded podcast format to talk about that. He had only answered the two that hade in a day earlier.
That, and the call with Momo, aside, it had all been a bunch of the usual. Paperwork, meetings, pleasant talks with his girls, email exchanges, some chatting with Maximillian, sex with his girls, more paperwork, making phone calls, a blowjob under the table, lunch break, pussy eating on the table, and yet more paperwork. The hours ticked by in a nice and steady mix of rxation, minor boredom and intense joy. Exactly the kind of day John wanted right now, one where basically nothing unexpected happened and he just got to exist mellowly.
After working for about ten hours, he left the office and went to the Pce. Not to go and y video games for the rest of the evening, but to get one more three-hour grinding session in before he went to bed. A return to the regr schedule of working and grinding.
Guess I am a bit early, John stated, as he and the elementals were still missing the two maids for their full party. As they now had their own obligations, Aclysia and Beatrice werent hanging around him all the time. For thetter, he got a mental confirmation that she was on the way already. The weaponized maid, however, was quite a bit away. After having taken care of her immediate organizing duties, Aclysia had gone to Servitude Ind to start on her maid academy pet project. Because of that, their mental connection was disrupted.
Not that John was too bothered by any dys. He was going to do one Assault session today and then go to bed. Since tomorrow promised to be quite the rxed day as well, he could sleep in for a bit. If he even needed that extra sleep, which was doubtful.
With not much else to do, John took a look at his character sheet.
Two levels had been gained since he left the barrier on his birthday. All 14 points had wandered into Intellect. No real changes otherwise. I do have a lot of GP, he thought, wondering whether it would be worth it to invest some of them into something. He came up short with anything he could afford and was something he wanted immediately though. Therefore, he decided to just bunker them up for the moment.
Beatrice came into view the moment he closed the window. Greeting: good evening, Master, she dered with a bow, once she was in sensible speaking range. With a wave of his fingers, Johnmanded her toe even closer, just so he could squeeze her butt in his own manner of greeting her.
I just love today, he said and then guided her towards the I.D. Gate. Together with the elementals, they got into the dark behind, waiting to be filled with whatever Illusion Barrier John needed today. Its as good a time as any, he thought and then created a standard green in, like Magoi liked to, as their momentary ying field.
It wasnt yette enough that the endlessly stretching green would have been tinted by the ck of night. The brunt of the heat and radiance of the sun had eased off, however. It left them in a nice and calm warm on the windless in, a good time for rxed experiments.
Alright, John pped his hands together, lets see Perfect, about time we get to properly know what your new weapons do.
Affirmative, Master, Beatrice stated, and her hand disappeared into her inventory. After retrieving her new spear, she presented it to John with both hands.
John let his fingers slide over the shaft. It was perfectly smooth, the light beige colourplimented by veins running through it, only slightly darker, almost invisible from even the slightest bit of distance. Those veins formed the outlines of teeth, eye sockets, fingers, skulls and carapaces. Like fossils eternalized in ivory instead of stone, the Gamer thought, wondering how that grotesque arm had been worked into this work of art. He gripped it with both arms and lifted it out of his maids presenting grasp. Heavier than I thought, he noted.
Magic opened many avenues to influencing the properties of metal. Even in mundane reality, metal was a material that could be changed in quite a number of ways. Alloys were among the most basic ones, but the forging and tempering process could change the final product by quite a lot. Famously, the Japanese folded their metal before forging katanas with it, causing it to change on a molecr level.
Introduce enchantments and magical materials to that mix and one could create a vast array of possible oues that John had barely looked into. All he knew was that there was a craft to it that people could learn, right up to the degree where so many things influenced each other in such subtle ways that it was anybodys guess what would happen. As far as John was concerned, magic was simply a science that was poorly understood. One day someone would decipher what caused certain changes, even if it was something as random as the direction the wind was blowing that day.
Until then, John lived in a time where only the most basic things were well explored and everything else was foring generations to figure out. The reason why all of this went through his head at that moment was because his own expectations for Mithril had been tainted by Lord of the Rings. Light as a feather but hard as dragon scales, as Gandalf had put it.
One would guess I knew better, given the vast discrepancy in dragon scale quality I have encountered in my day alone, John mumbled as he thrust and whirled Perfect around for a little bit. It had more weight to it than he would have thought. Not enough to be a handicap, though, at least not for him. This wasnt another Marath situation (or Tiemarath, as it was now called), where he could barely lift the ymore.
The Mithril head, where the weight was concentrated, must have been treated specifically to that end. John was, admittedly, adequate at weapon usage at best, but he understood two things. The heavier a weapon was, the more force its momentum produced and the lighter a weapon was, the easier it was to handle but the sharper it needed to be topensate.
As such, having a heavier weapon wasnt a disadvantage. Quite the contrary in many cases. There was an argument to be made that every weapon should be as heavy as possible, while not incapacitating the wearer. It was an extension of the good old slow but heavy versus fast but light damage argument.
In this regard, Perfect seemed to have struck the middle ground. It was somewhere between Eclys and Marath in weight and John guessed the head to be no less sharp than either, despite its peculiar shape. The lower third of the tip, closest to the shaft, split in a jagged fashion, creating the two shorter sides of an elongated diamond-shape that framed the hollow centre of the de. On the remaining two thirds, the silver-white de curved gracefully into the traditional leaf-shape of a spear tip. ck and blue lines ran over the inner rim, Oblivium and Poseidury, respectively.
The entire weapon was a work of art. Wonder how the de is attached to the shaft, John thought, inspecting that particr part closely. He couldnt see any gap nor a binding. It was more like the ivory had been convinced to bond to the metal. Given that the shaft was also much longer than the originally supplied arm, something like that happening was squarely within the realm of possibility.
Having taken a close look at the weapons physical aspects, John moved onto the Attributes. To refresh his memory, he started with a basic Observe.
Alright, I know Indestructible 4, that just means it cant fall under 40% Durability, the Gamer thought. Spellslicer is Spellslicer and Separation was the thing on Purgatory He weighed Perfect in his grip again. I guess there are counter measures to an enchantment that allows it to cut through basically any material? Maybe its just there to make deflection harder and handling easier? Otherwise I cant exin why Marathyu would have left the weight in ce. Anyway, no idea what anything else does, so lets take a look at it.
That was an Attribute right after Johns taste. It was useful in battle, since it allowed Beatrice to pull off some manoeuvres akin to Thor and his hammer, and outside of it as thievery protection. Anything that kept things he or his girls owned in their hands was a good thing in his book.
Interesting very specialized, John thought. It was a natural deterrent for either Aclysia or Beatrice to ever gopletely independent (he remembered this Attribute being on Eclys and Salver as well). The name had promised something grander, but he also didnt know what ripple effects it would cause yet.
This was something out of the category clearly evil that John didnt really want but wasnt surprised to get when hemissioned work from an insane cksmith. Note to self, dont be greedy and force either of the maids to alwaysnd the finishing blow on raid bosses, he already reprimanded himself. Since the Attribute specified that it had to be the killing blow, this could lead to John manoeuvring himself in unnecessary danger for a few extra Stats.
Very useful mobility Attribute to have. Being able to walk on water and fly, essentially, in one Attribute was pretty good. The dodging condition wasnt too harsh in general. Beatrice was skilled at not getting hit. Having to NEVER get hit in order to maintain the max-stack version of the buff was more difficult, but the 30 steps alone were enough to say this enchantment was pretty good.
It was lucky that Helene sucked so much at aiming, they would have been in a lot of trouble if she had managed to fire off that energy ray. Aside from that, this rewarded measured attacks with incrementally advancing offensive power. The great thing was that the more this stacked, the easier and quicker it would be to get more stacks. John was reminded of rk from Dota 2. Slippery bugger had a passive simr to this, increasing his attack speed for every attacknded. Although that passive was even more busted, since it was every attack and also stole enemy heroes stats while raising his. The stacks were also maintained if he switched targets.
Anti-regeneration effects were always wee and this was even more than that. The fact that this also pointed out weak spots was fantastic. Sure, that was also the drawback of it, since only those points being struck caused the healing reduction to trigger. Although I am not even sure this is healing reduction, John scratched his head while he went over the text a second time. It specifies speed. Does that mean treating the wound with healing magic would also be slower? Because that would be even better than normal anti-regeneration effects. Time would tell, for now it was basically a way tond extremely nasty critical hits.
Well, this is a thing, John said to himself, broadcasting all information to the girls around. Of course, the conditions were heavy. In order for Perfect by Design to trigger, Beatrice had to dodge everything, couldnt miss anything, had to remain sound of mind and within 500 metres of John. Quite theundry list of conditions. The reward was absolutely bonkers. Battle-deciding, tide-turning levels of bonkers. The resource quadrupling was where the money was at but the idea that a spear could extend its reach to 100 metres was just as bonkers. Especially if Johns hunch was true and the thrusts were more effective than the average melee shockwave extension.
Okay, Beatrice, John handed the spear back to her and then followed his first instinct as a gamer, I am going to punch you now but purposefully miss, do tell me if you feel any magic flowing from the weapon. She nodded, and he did as described. His fist flew by her beautiful face by quite a margin.
Result: negative, the passive maid reported.
John wasnt surprised, so he moved right along. Test number two: I will try to hit you, but be purposefully slow. Do dodge and tell me if anything happens.
The scene yed out, John throwing a punch at the speed of a normal fistfight. Not slow by mundane margins, but Beatrice side-stepped it without issue. Result: negative, she echoed her earlier statement.
Test three. John still wasnt surprised, but he would do himself a disservice if he didnt try everything. I will now try to actually punch you. I will not hold back in any way, shape or form do dodge, understand? For the sake of research, he would have been willing to hurt her a little bit. Details like this could be key to survival in the future. That didnt mean he enjoyed hurting his girls though C outside of very specific and consensual ways in the bedroom.
Affirmative, Beatrice stated and got ready. Even with John taking a serious swing at her, their Agility difference was toorge as that a random punch had any chance of hitting her. He would have needed to surprise her or change the condition of her footing. Ready and on straight ground, Beatrice didnt even really need to try to twist her shoulder out of the way. Result: negative, she said for the third time.
Okay, so the cheese shields are standing in the regards to friendly fire, John summarized with a sour expression. Bit annoying, but I guess thats how it is. Next Attribute to inspect, Crescendo. He raised his hand and let Purgatory switch forms from the armguard into the dragon w. Test one, I want you to, very softly, hit my palm with Perfects blunt end.
Beatrice took a little bow to signal her understanding, then whirled the weapon around and tapped John on the palm. Result: positive, she stated. Emotion: surprise.
Well, that makes two of us, John answered and lowered his hand. I expected it to either not work at all or only if it dealt at least a fair amount of damage to someone. Hmm. He stroked his chin with his not-wed hand. Okay, short follow-up test. I want you to cut me C but only barely.
Affirmative Beatrice answered in a hesitating fashion, turned the proper tip towards him and then thrust above his head. Result: positive, she stated.
You didnt hit me, John stated with furrowed, confusedly raised eyebrows.
Incorrect, stated the passive maid, taking a leisurely pose. Do you wish to hear the details, Master? Smelling a trap, John slowly nodded regardless. Beatrice took a long breath in and then rattled down a long series of words, Report: Since my creation 121 days ago, to be more detailed, since my first stirring of personality thereafter, I have always felt something was off about your look, Master. It was a continuous source of irking. I could not identify it, but it was minor. I ignored it like the mismatched flower pot in the Guild Banks third corridor. With my raised Mental Stats, I have been able to realize the source of that irking. Reason: you had a singr strand of hair that was longer than the rest. Conclusion: I just cut it.
Ah okay. John ordered that info in and drew his conclusions. Not before he asked something that he really shouldnt have. Whats wrong with that flower pot by the way? I made sure we only brought in blue ones.
Affirmative, the colours match. Correction: all flowerpots in the Guild Bank have white rectangles as their rim decoration. The one in the third corridor has squares.
Fantastic, now I know it and wont be able to unsee it John already felt the regret settle in. Well have that fixed whenever it starts driving me insane. Back to the point, one more test. Hit me softly, then hit Gnome softly and tell me exactly when you feel the original magic being lost.
Two taps and an adorable rock squealing from being pokedter, Beatrice reported. Result: magic was lost upon contact with Gnomes body.
Alright, we know three things now, John stated. He counted with the fingers of his left hand, one wed tip raising with each point made. One, no matter how narrow a hit, a hit is a hit. As long as some piece of worn equipment or body part is hit, its enough. Two, Crescendo stacks are gained even if you dont deal damage to the target. Three, we can do at least a minor Reckoning Bomb.
Reckoning Bomb? Beatrice tilted her head quizzically. Request: rify terminology.
John narrowed his eyes for a moment. You should know already, at least roughly. You got most of my gaming knowledge when you were made. He leaned forward to stare into her emerald eyes. This is you pulling an Aclysia and just getting me to talk, isnt it?
Beatrice shifted her gaze to the side. Certain characteristics remain maintained, following your emergency copy of her memories into me, she exined herself with a straight face. Truthful statement: regardless of rough knowledge, details elude me. I would prefer certainty in knowledge over sureness in assumption.
With a smile, John ced a quick kiss on her lips and then straightened back up. Lucky for you that I love exining things to you, he stated. Reckoning was a passive in Vani World of Warcraft that made it so that, whenever a pdin was critically hit, they gained a stack that would make their next attack hit one extra time. The joke: it could stack an infinite amount of times, without expiration, so people eventually figured out to hit a pdin with a trash tier weapon for hours on end so an absurd amount of stacks could be built. They would then proceed to one-shot some sort of boss.
Limitations: stacks disappear upon hitting a secondary target. Time limit. Stack limit, Beatrice reminded him.
Sure, but this still means we can, with enough preparation time, buff you to 100% bonus Agility for the first strike of a fight. I think thats pretty good, John exined. Fringe application, but I would rather have some cheese than no cheese.
The Gamer loved cheese.
Chapter 709 – Further Maid Weaponry Analysis
Chapter 709 C Further Maid Weaponry Analysis
John weighed the sword in his left. It was a sleek weapon, entirely made of polished ck. It could have been mistaken as stained ss or ice, but in reality it was obsidian. Taking the shape of a single-edged de that was only three fingers wide and about a metre long, softly curving over that length, it looked like a natural extension of Purgatory.
Which, to be fair, it was.
A sabre, huh? John thought as he swung it around a few times. I guess that fits. A sabre was the premier shing weapon used for duels. Since this weapon was the second part of Fire and Flow Ascension, creatable thanks to the fact that Smander was currently infused into the dragon w, it only fit that it was the counterpart to the thrusting-oriented ice estoc.
He tossed the weapon into his right, unprotected hand. Immediately, he felt the heat. Like the cold of the estoc, however, it didnt harm him or cause difort. It was like he was holding his hand close to a campfire.
He looked up to see the formerly simple green in in front of him utterly torn apart. Gnome and Sylph had been going around, aimlessly tearing holes into thendscape. All of which happened in order to gain Rising Annihtion stacks. The moment those maxed out, he gave Undine a signal and she, too, changed into item form.
Normally, it was impossible for John to equip two elementals at the same time. However, Purgatorys new form warped more than one rule. The Cleansing me that surrounded Johns arm from where the Suit of the Chosen melded with Purgatory down to his fingertips suddenly exuded a white mist as well. The mist didnt stay for long, blowing over to Johns right hand and wrapping around it just as Undine wrapped herself around it as the usual,tex-like glove.
The energies intertwined. Rubbery material turned into dark blue scales, a colour-adjusted copy of Purgatory that soon melded with Johns shirt as well. Thats pretty neat, he said out loud, shifting the sabre back into his left and then summoning the estoc as well. Although he couldnt see himself utilizing those weapons too often, it was a nice emergency melee option for his kit. Definitely need to look into getting a fencing skill, he told himself, then pointed his fists at an area of unharmed grass.
A bolt of golden and grey fire burst out, searing the grass. Directly next to it, a focused jet of water blew a hole into the floor, leaving the adjacent green covered in frost. John dismissed the sabre in his left and opened his hand. A light purple orb manifested before his palm, gathered energy for a second, then burst out as a semi-crystallinence of magical energy.
Cleansing Fire, Cleansing Mist and Arc Lance, John had used all three in quick session to gauge their rtive effect next to each other. The results were as he would have predicted. Cleansing Fires projectile dealt damage in a nice radius, even if it was rtively shallow. Cleansing Mists destruction was very focused, prating deeper but dealing little damage to the surroundings. Arc Lance had them both beaten in both ounts. The 1000 MP cost spell had caused a very odd crater at the impact site, more shaped like the upper half of an egg than the even distribution one would assume with that word.
Guess I cant expect too much from something thats free, even if it has a condition, John thought, just as Undine was evicted from his arm and forced to retake her normal shape. Rising Annihtion had been drained and, since she was the elemental infused second, she was forced to be unequipped by Johns system. He moved the fingers of his left around. Well, this is still quite an improvement over the old thing.
I am sorry for the dy, Master, he then heard Aclysias voice and looked up to see her standing in the unharmed rest of the in. She was in the process of bowing, much deeper than usual, and John gave her a calming smile when she raised her head again. I was dyed by the staggering amount of work that had piled up since myst, proper visit to the ind.
Its fine, you came at exactly the right time anyway, John told her. We are inspecting the new equipment. With a gesture, he guided Aclysias view over to Beatrice and Siena. The two were locked in a steady series of blows. We have found out that Endless Step can be stacked by friendly individuals, he exined, while uploading what had happened while she had been gone into the weaponized maids head. However, only if the sparring match gets heated enough, so it doesnt really havebat applications, which is sad, but it is how it is.
I see Aclysias answer was a bit distant, her mind struggling for almost half a minute to sort all of the (even summarized) information John was bombarding her with. Eventually, however, she had it all figured out. I suppose it is my turn then, Master?
He nodded. Lets go heaviest to lightest. Show me Tiemarath. Heeding his request, Aclysia pulled out the massive ymore. She didnt even try to present it like Beatrice had with Perfect earlier, the same pose as a knight offering his sword, but instead rammed the de into the floor where it stayed put. Even with half of its de hidden in the dirt, the end of the shaft reached up to Johns chest.
Unequipping Purgatory, allowing Smander to witness things with her own eyes, John followed the same procedure as he had done earlier.
Alright, I found out what All Thats Weak Must Die does from Perfect, so I only really need to inspect thest three.
The old lifedrain ability that Marath had possessed had caused the next attack to deal extra damage and create a shockwave. Compared to that, this was quite different, but fundamentally better. Physical Stats increasing by 100% was a tremendous boon, especially since that also made an increase in HP and regeneration thereof, making the cost more bearable. Whether it was good or not hinged on just how much sanity this enraged mode cost. If Aclysia couldnt discern friend from foe anymore, then Scourge would be useless.
Better test that first, John thought and had Aclysia put a hand on the de and activate the Attribute.
A harmless shockwave erupted from her skin, leaving a thin, crimson aura hanging around her. Her hair fanned out as if minorly electrified and her eyes opened until the white dominated. Master this feels dangerously fantasssstic, she hissed in a very much unmaidenly way.
But you can still understand me, right? he asked.
Yesssss. Her green pupils darted around. This must be how Metra feels when she fights. Ah, I wish I could destroy something right now. John noticed that Tiemarath began to radiate heat, golden lines peeling out of the ck tness of the des sides.
Alright, thats enough, he told her, and the crimson aura dimmed away. Immediately after her hair had settled down, Aclysia seemed diforted. Something wrong?
Nothing to worry about, Master, she assured him. A simple case of momentary confusion due to quickly shifting states of mind. It will fade soon enough.
Alright. John nodded firmly, but kept a close eye on Aclysia just so he could catch her and shower her in kisses if she seemed actually harmed by any of this. The drawback on sanity didnt seem too severe in the moment, though, which was the info the Gamer had wanted. How well she would respond to orders while actually fighting was another thing they had to discern.
And there was the exnation for the heat he had felt. Also, another and more potent anti-healing effect. That just added to the finality of being hit by Tiemarath. The way this was formted, however, caused John himself to pause for a moment.
Hellde and Hellfire are pretty close and this says MOST specialized means He felt a bit of hope towards someday finding a cure for his blindness. Not a whole lot of it. He had already been aware of one thing that could shrug-off Hellfire damage and that was Thana. If it took being the (likely) strongest regenerator on earth, then chances werent all that high John would ever get there. As tempting as it was, he didnt n to invest everyst point he got in the future into a regeneration tank build.
I dont even have it that bad, he told himself and shook his head. Really, my sight is better now than it was before thanks to these lenses. Getting my own eyes back is not high on the list of things I need, as satisfying as it would be He moved onto thest Attribute on Tiemarath before he could get stuck on dark or sentimental thoughts.
That sounded really useful and really confusing. Not like something he needed to inspect closer at the moment. Since this had no immediate concerns affiliated with it, John preferred to look at what Eclys and Salver could do first and then have all of it tested inbat scenarios. Next weapon, John said.
Tiemarath vanished into Adaptive dery and Aclysia presented Eclys to her master. In the proper fashion, this time. Down to her taking the knee as she raised the silver-white katana up to him.
Peculiar new title, John couldnt help but notice, especially because of the things he had learnt about Gaia in recent times. Eclys being Weightless was interesting, given the decisions made regarding Perfect and Tiemarath. Then again, Marathyu would have been aware that Aclysia had three weapons that could fulfil different roles. Eclys was the Artificial Guardians standard armament, it being opted to be more manoeuvrable and thus better usable in standard defence situations made sense. That aside, it wasnt like the Mithril weapon wasnt sharp enough to justify the loss in immediate force.
There were another 4 new Attributes that John had to look into.
That must have been what Helene had done to dodge Beatrices attack. By itself, only interesting as a defensive cooldown. Nice to have for dodging and repositioning, but not fundamentally outstanding.
Now this made it a bit of a different story. Being untouchable 1/10th of the time was okay. Being untouchable 1/5th of the time on two independent cooldowns, that was quite potent. However, it was still nothing more than a defensive tool.
There were two good things about this thing. One, the obvious, being able to take 25% of the damage for John was superb, especially with that immensely raised Health Regeneration. Secondly, the less obvious, this was the perfect follow up for Scourge. After draining her own health for a little while, she could elerate her stabilization quite a bit. The Mental Stats would likely be of use to that end as well, although they werent as interesting.
The t Devotion cost also meant that this was something that could be kept up more and more as time went on. Wonder how he managed to forge something that interacted with a specific mechanic only Aclysia has, John scratched his head, or maybe this is the system working things out instead? Either way, its cool that it exists.
On one hand, even momentary hindrances in mana regeneration could throw an enemys battle n off by quite a bit, and Devotion was always hard toe by. On the other hand, this was another case of being quite boring.
Wait a second, John crossed his arm, where is Reality Cut? The Attribute that had allowed Aclysia to attack at range had been removed. The same had been true for Tiemarath, but he hadnt thought too much of it. Now, however, Aclysia had no ranged attack on either of her weapons. Well guess I have to take Sword Specialization 3 next time it shows up
Uh-hu, John just grunted and returned his attention to Aclysia. Alright, lets wrap things up, show me Salver.
Dyed Cut, another Twinde, Manaburn, lets take a look at things, John quickly listed those things he didnt know.
NOW were getting somewhere! John eximed when seeing the Attribute. Since Salver profited from Reality Cut through Twinde, there was a very easybo to make. Step one, dodge by going into Reality Fracture. Step two, cut, but not cut, the confused opponent. Step three, be tangible again and unleash the cut. Optional step four, immediately do a normal follow-up attack.
There were other applications as well, of course, but this basic synergy made John a happy camper. Game design like this was interesting and opened lots of doors. The cooldown was a bit restrictive, but that was the point of those things.
This was exactly what John expected after thest Attribute. It enabled the samebo when wielding Eclys. More than that, it encouraged a steady back and forth between both weapons to take advantage of all the cooldowns.
And this just reinforced that. One weapon emptied the mana pool, the other prevented immediate recovery. Made for quite the nastybo. John really couldnt wait to help Aclysiae up with all kinds of stratagems for these.
Alright, he pped his hands together to get everyones attention, minor change of ns. Because of howplicated some of our new equipment is, we wont go into an Assault just yet. Instead, were going to use this night to do some sparring and return to the usual schedule tomorrow. You know, lets learn how to walk before we run.
Fine Smander rolled her eyes, clearly not satisfied with the idea to spend the next few hours either as a glove or y fighting. In that, however, she was the only one. Everyone else was either fine with this development or didnt care either way.
Chapter 710 – A Basic Sunday.
Chapter 710 C A Basic Sunday.
John barely dodged away when the crystal ws swiped by his face. It was just a joke! he eximed, struggling to find his footing. The reaction to his exnation was a simple prolonged hissing sound.
Siena fell down to all fours. Her silver-blue skin turned ck and purple, shadows rising off her like a dark mist. The constetion covering her hands, feet and the tip of her tail spread all over, silver dots connected through thin lines, all dimmed by the flowing darkness. Only her eyes stuck out like a fog light, silver-white rather than their old sulfuric yellow. Her silky, purple hair followed her movements as if she was underwater.
It was an equally frightening and alluring sight.
I am not, the moonshade elemental screeched in a very untypical fit of genuine rage. A pair. Her tail waved, but the sharp tip stayed aimed at Johns face the whole time. The motion reminded John of a bizarre mixture of cat and scorpion. Of SHOES!
During yesterdays testing, John had also asked Siena to switch into her newly acquired item form for the first time. The result had been exactly what Siena currently denied, a pair of shoes. Very elegant, ck shoes, whose midnight ck leather would have fit brilliantly to the rest of his Schattengarn outfit. John found it quite fitting, given that the shadow spirits feet were themselves formed like high heels. The only other elemental that naturally wore shoes was Sylph, and she could take hers off.
Sienas pride, however, had taken more than a small hit by the revtion that she was footwear. Within the second of recognizing the fact, she had switched back to her normal shape and then angrily hissed and stabbed at everyone who dared to do as much as mention it. A mistake that John now had repeated while getting dressed for the day.
Just a few careless words and John getting dressed for the day turned into a very angry Tier 4 elemental tearing at the bedroom carpet. In a surrendering fashion, John raised his hands. Im sorry, he stated, looking her deep into the eyes. I didnt mean to insult you. I was just having a bit of fun at your expense.
I am not shoes! Siena yapped again, while her Unleashed state faded away. I am not! In Johns defence, hearing the usually sultry and innuendo loving smooth-talker reduced to grumbling snaps was strangely adorable. It urred to him that this desire to see women (or people in general) in states like this was the main reason that men got into trouble so often.
Correction. Johns head flew towards the bed, where a naked Beatrice was cleaning her masters morning load off her chest. He was sending her very obvious signals to shut up, both mentally and through gestures, but the passive maid just continued talking. You are a potential pair of shoes.
Siena was once more engulfed in dark mist. Be quiet, you useless kitchen appliance!
Statement, Beatrice began, still ignoring all of Johns warnings. I would be a general household appliance. I am not useless, my meals still supply the necessary nutrition. I can prepare ingredients either way. Better than you can, and you have knives for fingers. All of the sass was delivered in the usual straight and passive tone. Conclusion: your insult is weak. Much like your resolve to serve Master.
Cease your chatter already! Siena was back to hissing, what little progress had been made already reverted. The only difference was that her tail was now pointing at Beatrice, who failed to take any of this seriously. Instead, she sucked a scooped up drop of Johns cum off her index finger. I hate the very concept of being worn already, being on his feet and used to tread the ground with is beyond degrading!
rification needed: you do admit to being potential shoes? Beatrice asked and only got a very dangerous growl as her answer. The kind of sound that was only ever given as ast warning. It was at this moment that Stirwin walked in.
The juvenile crocodile was as big as the Light Ind allowed him to be, a state that he held about half of the time. At this specific moment, as far as John was aware, he held it because he could have a bigger breakfast this way. Rave said she felt a disturbance in the harem and sent me to lookzy as she is, Stirwin reported.
I CAN HEAR YOU! Johns girlfriend shouted from the living room.
Ironic joke, Beatrice spoke up again. You and Stirwin have the same potential
For the love of God, Beatrice, John whined, seeing where this was going. Stop!
There was a moment of silence in the strained bedroom. A confused infinity elemental, an angry shadow spirit, a concerned Gamer and an uncaring maid all existing in a moment of disharmony. Then, suddenly, thest of that list continued, ignoring her masters order by uttering two simple words. Crocodile leather.
Stirwin let out a short, shocked squeal in response to that, sounding nothing like his size would have made one think. Sienas response, however, was exactly what John had anticipated. With another hiss, she flew up the bed and at Beatrice, the two of them engaging in a bout. The Gamer was ready to jump in at first, but realized immediately that the moonshade elemental had withdrawn her ws.
As serious as the fight looked in the first moment, both sides were pulling their punches. Knowing that they wouldnt hurt each other, John closed his wardrobe and walked away. Join us for breakfast when you got it out of your system, he simply told them.
The living room already smelled like pancakes, sparing John the question what was for breakfast. Most of the girls were dressed this morning, a rarity spurred by the fact that the Gamer himself had thrown on clothes after the morning routine of morning blowjob to shower sex to bedroom sex had concluded. Granted, thatst step was more improvised than normal, but John had needed to take a look at some of his normal clothes today.
The sole reason was that he was going over to his parents ce in a bit and he didnt want to do so in his Chosen attire. Those two items could pass as normal in principle, but John felt like he was inviting trouble if he spent several hours with his parents in those clothes. Better to just wear something mundane.
I barely fit into this shirt anymore, he had to remark, causing Rave to look up at him.
Hamena hamena hamena, was her genuine reaction upon checking things for herself. Since he had gained a tremendous amount of muscle since buying these shirts for his previously thin,nky body, he now filled it outpletely. It was almost so tight one could see his toned physique through the cloth, but only almost. If it had been that bad, John would have had to change into something he could actually breathe in. Cheap gaming shirts, the kind John could afford before all of this, were not known for their stretchiness.
The Gamer turned around posing a little bit in his pants, equally tight. The belt around his waist was purely decoration, he no longer needed it for his clothes to stay at the appropriate height. Although he personally found his ass unremarkable, on his girlfriend, it had a nice effect.
Just go on like that and we will ruin these clothes! she eximed, pausing the video she was watching on the TV to attend breakfast. Said clothes were a somewhat fancy white blouse and stretchy, baby blue jeans. And I dont have much else I can wear outside of that.
I would have a solution for that, John stated, looking at the clock. They were supposed to be over at his parents in the early afternoon and it was barely past seven at the moment. Since there was next to no travel time to Washington DC, courtesy of the teleporter standing at the White House, they were in absolutely no hurry. So, we have the time, just saying.
Hnnnnngh, Rave couldnt resist at least pping her boyfriends ass in passing. Gimme kiss, she whined in poor grammar, and leaned up to him. Happily, he obliged. Then they went over to where the first meal of the day would soon be served.
Well, first meal in their case. Sitting on the table, reading news on her phone, Lydia looked up to greet him, A good morning, my love.
Good afternoon, he wished her, while sitting down in the chair next to hers. Once properly seated, he gave her a good morning kiss as well. At least the time zones align properly for this meeting, huh? Over in Germany, it must have been about 13 oclock right now. Although this was on thete end of the scale for lunch, it was still in the range and so the queen must have decided to take her meal over here.
It is a minor convenience, indeed, Lydia agreed, sipping from the tea that always surrounded her when she was around Aclysia. Having the luxury of your head maids cooking every day will prove beneficial to my overall work morale, even if I lose half an hour of work to sitting around idly.
Well, I hope you have some more flexible days. John winked, cing a hand on her upper thigh.
Today has proven to be quite flexible, the auburn-haired woman let him know, before finishing her cup. Rex Germaniae and the empire atrge are going through a rxed period. The initial reforms have been passed, structures adjusted and the budget for the rest of the year has been allocated to all member states, negotiations having been concluded. She reached out and ced her right hand on his neck. I find only the day to day running of my states to busy myself with at home.
How fortunate that Fusion and I are approaching such a simr state of internal stability. His voice trailed off into a whisper, while they leaned towards each other. In a time without major threats and spreading prosperity, what are two rulers at the peek of their youth to do with their free time?
We arent at the peak yet, John, Lydia reprimanded him in a tone as soft as gold. Which was only soft inparison to the steel she normally d her words with, admittedly. We arent even twenty yet, not truly. Thest part was in likely reference to the time they had spent in time dtion. As aging progressed normally within those spaces, in terms of their bodies, they may have been closer to their twenties than their birthdates implied.
John didnt feel like calcting that at the moment, instead bridging the paper-thin distance between their lips for a second kiss. A more fervent one this time, their tongues intertwining in a loving contest. His fingers dug into the softness of her thighs and her hand on his neck made clear she wasnt going to let him go anytime soon. John could still taste the tea on her lips. It was quite bitter today, a variant of ck tea, most likely.
More warmth encapsted him when his girlfriend embraced him from the other side. Purring, Rave nibbled on his ear. Im here too, ya know, tiger? she seductivelyined and caused John to slowly part with Lydias lips to go back to the peppermint sweetness of the Lightbearer.
Banging her fist on the table, a doubtlessly envious Eliza made her presence known. For the love of all cumbuckets in the gxy, cease and fucking desist! she demanded. At least until I had my fucking breakfast!?
Hmmm. John did her the favour to pause momentarily, although Lydia and Rave stayed attached to him. Both now had their arms wrapped around him. Trying to distract himself, he looked over to the open kitchen. Aclysia was one of the girls that had not yet gotten dressed for the day, not properly anyway. Wearing nothing but an apron, she was flipping pancakes and stacking them on several tes, worthy of a meal that would go to over a dozen people. There was also the seductive smell of bacon. How much longer until breakfast is ready? John asked. The sight of the weaponized maids naked back did not help get his mind on other tracks.
It will be ten more minutes until I have prepared everything, Master, Aclysia reported quickly, smiling over her shoulder. Do feel free to use the table in other fashions until and even beyond then.
Tempting John said and then groaned lustfully when Rave pressed her full lips against his neck and gave him a short-lived hickey. Before he did any of that, he wanted to get his day in order, that was what the breakfast talks were for. Alright, so, anything to do today that bears mention outside of visiting my parents?
Dont think so, Rave answered, but she was not exactly a reliable source. Aware of that herself, she turned her head to the bedroom door and shouted. BAE? What does John have to do today? Like, important stuff outside of visiting Ben and Bren?
The aggressive pillow fight noises from the bedroom ceased for a moment. Then the robotic voice of the passive maid offered a simple answer, Statement: aside from the aforementioned scheduled activity, this Sunday offers only emergency paperwork.
Thank God that Sundays are days off even in the Abyss, John thought. The want for a scheduled free day had infested the amalgam of shadow societies at some point in the past two millennia. With the amount of new people raised by mundane parents that went into the Abyss with every generation, it was no wonder certain things were assimted into it with time. The fact that most Abyssals still spent a good chunk of time in the real world helped, without a doubt. Are you tagging along? he asked Lydia.
While my free time is more flexible, it is limited regardless. Too limited for the hours dedicated to that visit, she sighed and moved her chair a little bit closer. Truly saddening, I find your parents to be pleasingly mundane and quirky, at the same time.
Well, how about I make this up to you in other ways, then? John suggested, his hand sliding up her thigh just as his right went between Raves legs from behind, groping ass and pressing into her cunt at the same time.
That does it! Rave dered, her voice already heated. We are ruining these clothes!
Chapter 711 – Breakfast Privileges [Erotic Content]
Chapter 711 C Breakfast Privileges [Erotic Content]
I have breakfast blowjob privilege! Rave continued and quickly climbed under the table before anyone else could get there ahead of her. She was barely between his legs when John had already unequipped everything he was wearing. Whether she was mad about the fact that his clothes werent caught up in said ruining, she didnt show.
I love that you call sucking my cock a privilege, John gasped when she, losing no time, took him into her mouth. Soft, hot lips formed a tight ring around his girthy erection and went down with a few, lubricating bobs of her head.
It is criminally pleasurable, Lydia weighed in, peeling out of her clothes in the traditional way. On the other side of the table, Eliza was doing the same. It seemed that getting dressed before they actually left the Pce had been doomed to fail from the start.
FUCK ME! Eliza screamed in a very blunt fashion. Her three articles of clothing (she didnt wear the boots inside because she was a good girl) were discarded much faster than theyers of Lydias queen-worthy uniform. Her gaze wandered from Johns face to the Mand Sphere hovering idly by. You double-existing prator,e on! Her voice suddenly switched into sickly sweet tone. Pleeeasseee?
Im a weak man, John mumbled to himself, sending the Mand Sphere flying over. So how hard would you like it today? he asked while Jack formed in his image. Eliza opened her mouth to answer, but any words she had wanted to say were interrupted by Jack forcefully turning her around and grabbing her by the throat. The small, pale girl was mmed onto the wooden table with a satisfying smack. On second thought, I dont care what a cocksleeve wants, John stated in his dom voice.
Elizas eyes were overflowing with ecstasy, as Jacksrge hand pressed her throat against the table. Desperately snapping for air, apletely vain effort, her head turned more and more red. Only a croaked moan escaped her, when Jack slid into her quickly overflowing cunt.
Youre such a piece of submissive trash, John said, lifting Jacks hand so that Eliza could take a rattling breath. The air was rapidly expelled from her lungs as he immediately started fucking her. Say it, hemanded.
Im submissive trash, Eliza gasped, her pussy tightening as the reward rushed through her. Another loud smack echoed through the room when John pped her twice across the face, making her spine arch off the table.
LOUDER! Jack demanded, as John lowered his gaze and shifted his main attention back to the half-asian deepthroating him. Her pretty blue eyes were opened wide, keeping contact with him, as tongue and throat milked him. Keep saying it until I say I believe you! Themands kepting.
Im submissive trash! the masochistic psycho screamed and wound under Jacks reinforced grasp on her throat. Not tight enough to keep her from breathing, just from moving around too much. Im submissive trash! Im submissive trash! I- aaah-mmmhhmmm, suuubmiss- Every time she repeated the phrase, a jolt of pleasure ran through her system. With her sensitivity and Johns Sexual Mastery, he had pushed her over the edge two times before Lydia cleared her throat to get his attention.
And what do you intend to do with me? the queen asked in her straightforward fashion, stemming one hand into her naked hip. I doubt youre getting Cumslut out for such a minor engagement as this.
I would have to call Undine here for that anyway, John responded and instead gestured towards the table. Theres always another way than fucking.
I suppose there is. With a smile ying around her lips, Lydia imed the table in front of the Gamer. Her long legs were barely parted when he already leaned forwards to kiss her clit. Within seconds, he had her moaning.
Lydias nimble fingers parted his short hair as she let out tiny cries. Sounds that got lost quickly in the remaining debauched noises. The wet squelching from Raves deepthroat, Elizas choked screams and the continued pping of Jacks groin against her gushing cunt. They all united into a harmonious song of lust, going through crescendos and drops in tone, whenever Lydia or Eliza came.
John felt his own lust rising. Quickly, to no surprise. Elizas tight breeding hole and Raves throat made for an ecstatic duality. Approaching the edge, his cock tensed. Exactly the signal that his girlfriend understood to be her cue to stop. Her sealed lips travelled up to the tip in a hurried but steady fashion.
Stop! she eximed and John barely managed to oblige. So close to cumming, staying still inside Elizas quivering quim was torture. Everything inside his sex-fuelled thoughtsmanded him to thrust a few more times and fill her up already.
A desire Eliza shared. Tongue stretched out, ssy eyes staring desperately up to Jack, her lips formed the question her constrained windpipe could not. Please make it quick, the Gamer pleaded, unsure how long he could keep control over himself.
Dont ya worry, Rave promised as she got on the table. Saliva and precum were already staining her beautiful face, some of which had dropped onto her white blouse, where her decently sized chest caused it to rise. I said were ruining these clothes! she dered, pressing two fingers against the crotch area of her pants. Immediately a wet spot started forming, pussy juice seeping in. Circling her clit, Rave gasped. Youll buy me something pretty afterwards, right?
Only the best for my Jane, John groaned, understanding what she wanted. With some difficulty, he pulled out of Eliza. Her legs and her cunt both stayed tightly around him, clearly intent on getting her womb painted white. Once Jack had managed to depart from her, John and his double repositioned slightly. Finish me off, he gave a straightforwardmand.
Lydia simply grabbed his cock and started jerking its well-lubricated length off with one hand. Like Rave, she was masturbating in the meantime. Their different states of undress made it a vastly different procedure. Where the queen pumped two fingers into her tight snatch, Rave continued to rub her clit through her clothes. Soon, she also aggressively yed with her nipples.
Eliza was taking the whole thing with more devotion, to use a ttering term. The pretty little psycho slid off the table and onto the floor. With both hands, she grabbed Jacksrge erection and started pumping, all while her mouth was kissing the base and softly sucking on his balls.
As close as he had been already, these two approaches and the view itself soon pushed him over the edge. He didnt try to hold back, wanting to release what had been dyed. His seed rushed up his shaft and spurted into the air. Most of it hit the mark, covering a perversely enthusiastic Lightbearer in hot spunk. Raves fingers, spurred on by kinky wish fulfilment, pushed her over the edge as the first gooey strands covered her clothing and quickly turned it into a mess. The two superhuman loads of her boyfriend and his magical puppet had more than enough volume to do what normally would take a whole group of men.
Her blouse looked least affected, courtesy of its bleached white. Regardless, the pattern the strands had made and the thick globs that failed to be absorbed properly made it a wonderful mess. The blue jeans were less affected but the white of his cum was much more pronounced on the background. Most of it surrounded the damp spot above her pussy, having been where thest few spurts hadnded. On the other side, Raves face was also covered by quite a bit of cum.
Why does it feel soooo gooooood to get ruined by you, tiger?! Rave wanted to know in a lust-crazed tone. Without any hesitation, she tore open the cum-soaked blouse and her pants with two quick gestures. Just like that, her ruined look wasplete, tainted and torn as her clothes were, with her wild hair and perverted gaze.
I have no clue, John responded, looking at something marvellous, but I fucking love doing it.
Do more! I want ya to really mess me up, John! Rave demanded, spreading her pussy lips. John was about to oblige, ready to spit roast his girlfriend on the table, when Lydia and Eliza made their presence known again.
You had your privilege already, Lydia dered and forced herself between John and his girlfriend. Presenting her ass to the Gamer, the auburn-haired queen looked over her shoulder with her own demanding expression. Certainly, I deserve some of your attention as well, my love?
JUST GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING CUM ALREADY! Eliza screamed, aggressively shoving her spankable ass against Jacks cock. I dont care if its not the exactly real shit, just make feel like I am getting bred, please, I fucking need it! Im submissive trash that needs to be dominated!
I believe that, John smirked, causing Eliza to suddenly orgasm when the earlier givenmand was fulfilled. Well, you heard it, Jane, I have obligations to our harem.
But urgh, fine! the pink-haired bombshell of a girlfriend dered. Just dont forget me down here!
Dont worry, I wont. John grinned, already knowing exactly how this would go. Grabbing both Lydia and Eliza by the hips, he soon prated their waiting pussies with ease. Sometimes he wondered how his 20 centimetres even fit into Eliza, but her supernatural physique scattered those worries before they could impede on his debauched actions.
Soon, the pping of synchronized thrusts echoed through the room. Their asses jiggled under John and Jacks repeated pration. Love juices ran down their smooth thighs, when they werent scattered by the impact of the rough fucking. The table creaked. It would have been pushed in either direction if it hadnt been for the bodies on both sides. The force of every plunge into their wet, tight cunts cause their bodies to shake.
To withstand it, they had leaned onto the table at first. Soon, however, Eliza and Lydia shared a dull-eyed nce. In a moment of primal understanding and shared moans, the two dominated women raised and locked their hands, supporting each other instead. Not three seconds after their fingers had intertwined, they stretched into a heated kiss.
The perfect moment to mix things up, as far as John was concerned. Suddenly, he sped up his assault on Lydia. Quicker, harder, he fucked her and gave her round ass a quick p. John had a hand in picking girls for his harem that liked at least a bit of a spanking and throughout the month that basic sadistic motion had been ingrained into them as a thing of raw pleasure. Just one of many ways he had influenced them in these addicting intertwinings of their bodies.
The kiss with Eliza broke as Lydia screamed her lust at the ceiling. Mother Metal, she gasped, a torrent of white, hot pleasure rushing up her spine. Then, she whimpered, as John pulled out of her twitching pussy. The Gamer felt the air of the living room on his drenched cock for a moment, then shifted his angle just a slight bit and plunged into his girlfriend.
Yessss, I love ya! Rave screamed. Although he couldnt see more of her than her legs, John could hear her moans perfectly well. Could feel the gripping tightness of her greedy cunt perfectly well. He fucked her quick and hard, the same way he had fucked Lydia and exactly how he took Eliza in that moment as well. Although the masochistic blood mage got herself a few more than one p on her jiggling bottom.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck Eliza gasped over and over again in a rather uncreative fashion. Youre so fucking big, John! Use me, you oversized stud! It feels so fucking
Shut the fuck up, ve, Jack growled at her, not because John actually disliked her profanities, but because he preferred her submissiveness. Talk to me in a proper fashion!
I am sho shoooorry Massssshtaaaah! The request coincided (or caused) her own sudden orgasm. John pulled out of Rave and Jack out of Eliza the moment he felt the orgasmic constricting of her wet folds. Pussy juice squirted against his groin as he gave the submissive sex ves ass a departing spank. One cock went right back into Lydias hole, still twitching with the aftershocks of her orgasm.
Always right where I need you. The auburn-haired metal mage let out a drawn out moan, her eyelids fluttering as she was slowly prated. Just ah jussst what would I do without you, John? I dont know how long I could live satisfied without this teleporter in ce
Lets never find out, John grunted. I dont care for that knowledge, not at the cost of having to live without your body for any prolonged time. While he said that, Jacks cock sunk into Raves throat. There had been a moment of confusion before his girlfriend realized the rock-hard erection was offered to her and she shifted her attention away from asionally licking Elizas clit.
It was a simple strategy: make one girl orgasm and use the resulting recuperation time to fuck either hole of his girlfriend. A terrible thing, really, that the Gamer was just too good at sex. Rather than keep that rhythm, he soon had all three of them in a state of constant orgasms. An ebb and flow of climaxes and aftershocks interrupted by new pration. John mercilessly indulged in their bodies, thrusting at whatever pace he felt fitting, choking Eliza, spanking Lydia sometimes squishing Rave between thrusts into pussy and throat at the same time.
They could have continued like this forever, were it not for time and endurance in the most general sense. John felt his next orgasm rising and, despite the ability to continue beyond that in a raw physical sense, he knew that it had to be thest one for this engagement. He made sure he was inside Lydia and Eliza for the final thrusts, wanting to give them the loads they had so desperately pleaded for.
Cum! he roared, following a spontaneous wish. The moans of four women reached his ears as themand echoed out into the open room. Lydia, Eliza, Rave and Aclysia, their voices intertwined into a choir of climactic height. John didnt find the time to wonder what the maids sweet tones were doing in there, not in the moment in which his world turned white and he pumped wave after wave of seed into their awaiting holes.
He still thrust into them while he came. Diminishing movements, bing slower with each wave of white that painted their insides. They fed more, almost painfully intense, pleasure into his ongoing orgasm, until it became unbearable and John just froze for the final seconds, cockpletely surrounded by their hot insides.
Then he let out a long, rxing breath.
Chapter 712 – Dress Replacements
Chapter 712 C Dress Recements
Aclysia was wiping the floor clean of her own love juices. Sorry, John dered, helping her by grabbing a washing cloth himself and taking care of the table they had soiled. Breakfast was ready, but the ce to eat it at had to be wiped off.
It took me by surprise, Master, nothing more, Aclysia stated, still only wearing an apron and her skin flush with recent pleasure. She was bent over, presenting her juicy ass and wet cunt. A drop of her lubricating juice drooled from the pretty pink pussy. John turned away before he could forget himself and returned to the table.
Word controlled magic is pretty fuzzy sometimes, he said as he began wiping his cum off the table. It wasnt exactly the kind of work he liked doing, but it was one of the prices he had to pay for having sex on every surface in the house. The mundane worries that came with exceptional joy. Aside from the minor grossness that he naturally felt at the fact that he was wiping away sperm, it wasnt that different from cleaning anything else though.
Under normal circumstances, John had no problem mentally guiding which of his words were affected by his Libido perks. When things got hazy and heated, though, impulsive thoughts meddled with those reasoned boundaries. In such a situation, a simplemand as cum could easily go out and affect more than he would have consciously bargained for, courtesy of that consciousness being clouded by lust.
For any person other than Aclysia, that didnt necessarily mean anything. Allmands could be resisted at the ease of a thought and the word-triggered orgasms required a certain level of horniness. Whether that could be reached just by standing in the kitchen and watching him fuck, John wasnt quite sure. If anyone could enjoy that enough, it would be the weaponized maid. Regardless of the state of mind, however, Aclysia had her own, Artificial Spirit rted, perk that made obeying his sexualmands a thing of ecstasy. Two things stacked to make her getting caught up in these things (as long as she was in hearing range) an inevitability.
Of course Aclysia could have resisted themands regardless but who would say no to a free orgasm? Particrly one of the immensely intense variety? Aclysias Libido, and her sensitivity by extension, was so high and her double reward for obedience so intense that she had squirted where she stood. Just another thing that made John feel like a sex god.
He returned to the kitchen with the now dirty washing cloth and wrung it out in the sink. Aclysia rose from her position on the floor and grabbed a dry towel instead, to make the cleaning of the floorplete. In doing so, she also kneeled before John, whose dick was unapologetically erect. Before the weaponized maid could think about anything else, she was already kissing the engorged head.
Her mouth opened to take in the rod, but then she realized she had actual work to do and cleared her throat. Master, do you not require a shower? she asked, likely to distract herself. Although her hands were working on cleaning the floor, her eyes were glued to him, darting between his dick, his abs and his face. I am sure the other three would be delighted to have you in there.
Sure, they would. I just wonder, what would I shower for? John asked, himself looking between her eyes, lips, the cleavage the apron created and her protruding butt. I just used my dick and itll get wet again during breakfast, guaranteed. Somebody will want to give me a blowjob under the table. He looked at Aclysia and her entranced expression. With a mouth slightly agape, she seemed hungry for more than the little taste she had carelessly indulged in. Lets finish cleaning and setting the table, he said, his arm twitching, ready to grab her white hair and m her throat down his cock. Then that somebody can get to doing exactly that.
And Aclysia proceeded to do exactly that.
______________________________________________________________________
Thorne used to own a shopping centre.
A vertical tube with floor upon floor of shops set around it in ring after ring. To each shop belonged a set of rooms for workbenches, staff and other such necessary things. The shops had been connected to vast storehouses via teleportation, a luxury made affordable through the quantity of people using it and the specialized design. That shopping centre hadnt been the only one of its kind. It was a standardized construction by a specialized architect, and contained in its own, extensive Illusion Barrier. ess was scattered over the city throughplicated, Fateweaver procedures that tethered doorways in real space, invisible to mundane people, to the doorways inside.
That shopping centre had been quite a problem when Fusion took it over.
Basically, everything about its design was enabled by existing inside a category 2 city C a ce where there was a high concentration of Abyssals and Illusion Barriers, but norge, all-epassing city barrier. Once John had decided to put an IBMA into action in New York City, this shopping centre had therefore put a number of questions in motion.
Number one, was it even worth it to maintain it? Easily answered, yes. There was no higher concentration of (admittedly low to mid-level) crafters on the entire east coast. Business boomed when concentrated in a single spot. A person that went out to buy a pen could suddenly remember they also needed a lightbulb, new cushions and, while they were already there, ice cream also sounded lovely! It was very easy to get someone to buy more if there was more on offer. As such, dismantling this infrastructure would have been foolish, to say the least. Customers aside, all the craftsmen that John would have had topensate for throwing them out of their old workshops would have been a massive headache.
Second question was where the shopping centre was ACTUALLY located. Since ess was granted through dimensional shortcuts, for ack of a better term, finding the building itself was harder than one might think. Thankfully, Scarlett had the necessary data stored and the answer was, quite simply, in Bayonne, the district bordering the harbour that the old Thorne HQ barrier had been located in.
That made enough sense, given that it had been squarely in the Thorne controlled area. As a rted fact, people still called that district of the Hudson Barrier the Thorne Turf, or just Thorne for short. A remainder of the old anarcho-capitalist days that would likely survive history.
Having located the building, preparations had to be made. The ess from doors at other locations would be lost, but that was a thing of limited range anyhow. Physical adjustments had to be made, roadworks nned around it so public and private transportation had an easier time reaching it. Double and triple checks made sure no Protected Spacesyered on top of the shopping centre. If such a case was found, the offending barrier had to be dissolved ahead of the IBMA being activated. If not, there could have been an awkward melding of structures.
Aside from the question of those third parties, there were other, infrastructure rted problems. Would being integrated into a category 3 barrier mess with the teleportation? Would water, electricity and inte ess need to be put in ce? What about the people that worked there, did they want housing next to the real location now that the doors were no longer a thing? What were the costs for all of these things?
It had been a stream of minor issues that John had to delegate to appropriate parties. Luckily, all of that was already in the past. The Hudson Barrier had been established months ago and those problems had been solved before then. Now John looked at the concrete tower in front of him with minor annoyance at its ugliness.
It wasnt that tall, roughly equivalent to a four-story house, but was quite broad. Round, grey and featureless, it grew from a circr depression in the ground, surrounded by staircases that led to the boring ss doors. As unappealing and in as it looked, the shopping centre burrowed deep into the earth to make room for the many floors and underground storages.
Is it wrong that I think the scorch marks make the building look better? John asked his girlfriend, as they walked up to it. He was referring to the ck spots that the Lake Alliance had left on the exterior. Unsurprisingly, it had been on their list of targets. Towards the bottom, judging by the little force they had sent there. Given that it was a ce where private individuals went after their business, that fit into the Lake Alliances scheme to hit Fusions property first. From the reports John had gotten, the soldiers attacking this position had retreated to help wrecking Manhattan instead, likely as a response to Chemilias counterattack at the time.
Whatever the reason was, the shopping centre had gotten away with minimal damage to its awful exterior.
Nah, it does look better. Rave nodded. Was thinking about prettying it up somehow.
Yeah, was considering it as well, but didnt take the time to think about the how yet, John told her. I dont want to drill into the walls and have people hit a cable and put half the teleporting pads out of business or something like that.
How about ya put a crown on it? Rave suggested, causing her boyfriend to look at her in a very confused way. You know, like a metal thingy held by gravity?
Oh. John understood and looked at the circr thing. I guess that could work? A simple iron construction, held in ce by a weighted gpole at the centre of the roof? We could hang banners and simr things from it. Would at least hide the ugly fa?ade.
E-x-a-c-t-l-y, Rave spelled out and they wandered inside. Business was slow but steady. People were still getting their affairs in order from the attack a few days ago, so some shops were closed and customers were rarer than usual. John wasnt bothered by this, little customers meant little queues.
Since her previous clothes had been adequately ruined, to the point that Aclysia just tossed them into the trash, Rave was now running around in her usualbination of cropped top and yoga pants. The clothes were also the reason why they were at this ce right now. Just the two of them, the remaining girls had been left at home. Perhaps as a gesture of respect by therger harem.
The inside of the shopping centre was a lot more aesthetically pleasing. White tiled floors and artificial lightbined into a weing atmosphere. Each shop had a front window and was separated from its neighbour by a decorative marble pir. Each window had the exact same width, each pir the same design and everything was made from the same materials.
Beatrice would love this ce, Rave stated, looking over the metal railing at the edge of the walkway. The inside was shaped like a doughnut, ring after ring stacked around a central hole. They were currently on the uppermost floor, making the view downwards quite impressive. Surrounded by over a dozen elevator shafts, the building extended down infinitely, it almost seemed like. The distant floor was little more than a white dot.
I love this ce, John stated. Beatrice would probably find some potted nt thats angled incorrectly.
Snickering, Rave stepped away from the railing. That does sound like our passive gal. She took Johns arm and the two started walking, ignoring the attention they got from bypassers. Ya have any specific shop in mind?
Not really, he admitted, smiling the smile of a guy on a date with his loving girlfriend. The only shop I really know around here is the one that I got Elizas boots from. Since they do leatherworking, that wouldnt really do it.
They wandered around for a little while,menting on things they saw in the windows and sometimes changing floors. After about twenty minutes, they passed a shop that sold essories of all kinds, little things of different decorative value to be worn on a person. We should get two of these. Rave pointed at basic, ck chokers.
Why? John asked. I mean, chokers are hot, but why should we get more? Eliza has hers and thats a special one.
We feed them to Aclysia and Bae, Rave answered. I think it would be a nice addition to the maid outfits.
Hmmm The mental image appeared quickly in Johns mind. The colour scheme fit and, as he had already said, chokers were indeed very hot things to look at. Yeah, sure, lets do it, he said, and they headed inside. Two minutester, they were back out. You know that I love you?
Ja, Rave responded swiftly and kissed him on the cheek, but do feel free to tell me why this time.
Because you dont get hung up staring at all the other things in there for ten minutes, he said. You dont care to look around for vain things like earrings or new tongue piercings or whatever else fancy things. You know what you want, you get it, you move on. Its wonderfully simple, being with you.
Could say the same, but then ya suddenly decide to y 15d chess again, teased his girlfriend and, in a rather odd, spontaneous gesture, bit his shoulder. You smell tasty! she defended herself when John broke outughing.
I thought I smelled sexy, he responded, still chuckling. What did I get this cologne back for? I might as well rub myself in barbeque sauce if thats what you wanted.
Ya can smell tasty and sexy, those two are closely rted!
What tells you that? John wondered.
My stomach. I get butterflies when I am with ya, so thats proof, right?
I dont think the scientificmunity would let that fly, John suggested, then suddenly stopped in his tracks and pointed at the window of the shop a few metres in front of them. You will wear that, he decided.
Rave nced over and slowly nodded.
Chapter 713 – A pair of mundane parents
Chapter 713 C A pair of mundane parents
Oh my, Brenda said when she opened the door andid eyes on her future daughter-inw.
Raves new dress was a mixture of wonderfully elegant and criminally sexy. It was backless, shoulderless and sideless. Basically, the top part of it only covered her stomach and most of her breasts, rising all the way up to her neck where It wound around to stay in ce. While this did cover her cleavage, itpensated with a wonderful bit of side-boob. Given her firm, decently shaped breasts, that was a sight he was happy to give the world. Only the sight though.
Downwards, it flowed into an asymmetrical skirt. The front of the wavy fabric only reached to her knees, while the back went all the way down to her ankles. The entire dress was made from one kind of cloth, a sky blue that harmonized with the colour of Raves eyes. It wasnt just monochrome, however, silver and ck embroidery intertwined in jagged waves, travelling all over the surface.
No need to dress up for us! Johns mother eximed, looking away from the pink-haired beauty to the rest of the assortment.
Aclysia, Beatrice and Eliza had simr looks to them. All three had reced their unusual, white hair with a simple ck through their individual, magical means. They were also, all three, wearing very simr, in ck chokers. The maids had taken the addition to their looks enthusiastically, while Eliza had to wear it for the illusion (and because itplimented the rest of her look). While the twins wore summer dresses of the mini-skirt variety, Eliza had stuck to her usualbination of grey shirt and ck leather pants.
Metra had decided to stick to her usual outfit. The weather had only gotten warmer since theyst visited the Newman household, so she could get away with it without raising suspicion. Last in their group was Scarlett, who was following the general trend for once and actually wore a dress of her own. It was more conservative than the others around the chest area, likely because she didnt have any cleavage or side boob worth showing off, but was especially tight around the ass topensate. It was the same red colour as her hair and eyes, although thetter were hidden under boring brown contact lenses.
Nonsense, John answered with a smile, himself wearing a simple white shirt and fashionable pants. A downgrade from his usual suit but an upgrade from what he had picked out this morning. After Rave had put on the dress, it had felt wrong to bring anything less than his B game, and the gaming shirts were definitely C at best. I dont get to show them off to you often enough, so I will tell them to wrap themselves up nicely!
If you say so, son. Benjamin joined the conversation at the door with a coffee mug in hand. It was covered in mathematical equations and the logo of thepany he was working for. Likely some sort of promotion gift. He, too, had a look over the six girls that John had brought with him. How about youe inside? It seems that you have someone new to introduce us too.
Kind of? John answered and followed the invitation. They left their shoes in the entrance area and were then invited deeper in. It was fortunate that his parents were well-off and could afford a house where the living room was spacious enough to contain all of them. Otherwise, John bringing his harem would have been a pain.
Things got tangled in little talks about tiny topics, while everyone got seated at the table. His mother had already prepared most things, but a few more had to be brought in from the kitchen. tes with freshly baked cookies, an apple pie and a marzipan cake were all ced in front of them. Happy birthday again, John! Brenda dered, once everything was in order, and gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek.
John actually felt embarrassed about that and turned a shade of red. Why, for the love of God, can I fight dragons the size of small skyscrapers without twitching but my mother still makes me feel like a fourth grader? he asked himself as Rave snickered next to him, amused by his ashamed state. Thank you, Mom, Dad, he said, giving them both a warm smile. Embarrassment aside, he did love his parents.
Dont thank us yet, Benjamin said and pulled a conveniently close drawer open to take something out. It was a small package, barely bigger than a box of tissues and wrapped in colourful paper. We werent sure what to get you at first, his father admitted, while handing the box to John. I always opted to gift youputer parts or new games, because we have the money and you really liked those. Since you lead your own business now, daddys money isnt that impressive anymore. He stopped for a moment tough and look across the table. Please, youngdy, you can just start eating.
Oh, thank fuck, Eliza gasped and reached out to the cookies. John hadnt looked in her direction, but she probably had worn the expression of a constipated starving woman. The smell of the cookies in particr made it hard to me her for it.
John carefully unmade the wrapping around his present while his father continued. Since valuable things were out of the question, we wondered what we could give you that would be more emotionally resonant. The Gamer skilfully removed thest glue strip and pulled the paper off without tearing or crumpling it unnecessarily. We hope you like it.
Inside was the kind of cardboard box that was often used to hide valuable presents. Made out of cheap materials, but good quality, it was good looking in the moment but easily discardedter. John paid little mind to it, pulled off the lid and looked inside.
What looked at him were younger versions of his parents. Much younger. Judging by the slight bump of his mothers stomach, she was pregnant with him in the photo, which meant she would have been about his current age at the time. Crazy to think that she had me when she was 19, he thought and couldnt help to wonder if he would have a simr turn in life.
He was about to thank them for it, as simple as it was, a keepsake was always a nice present, when he realized he was looking at more than a simple photo. Carefully, he reached into the box and pulled it out. The photo wasnt printed on paper, but on ss, and there was more than the one. Stacked on top of each other, the equally sized ss panels waited to be brought to light. The room was respectfully silent while he did.
There were neen photos in total. Each of a year in Johns life, each showing him with his parents, each in a happy moment. The first few were a bit odd. He knew the baby and small child in those were him, but there was a certain level of detachment. As the pictures progressed and the memories got more vivid, the connection intensified. It was sweet and bitter. Sweet for the happy expression of his parents. Bitter for the photos ofter years. His parents couldnt have known it, but the one for his sixteenth year in particr evoked some bad memories. He remembered that day clearly. It was when he had lost hisst friend to Frank and Vanessas bullying.
John had faked the smile that day, to not worry his father. It was the same time Benjamin had started to work harder and be home less often. When he was, however, he always took the time to spend with his son, and the Gamer didnt want to sour that. It was such a boring, mundane story for someone that would be a recluse.
While that bullying had now faded into the past, however, his parents smile in the photo was something he still saw mirrored when he put the photos back into the box and looked up. Thank you, he said, his voice slightly hoarse. He wasnt about to start crying, but the memories had made him emotional. Its good to know where I came from good to have something I can always remember you by.
Took us a really long time to sort through the photos, Brenda admitted with a motherly smile, while taking the hand of her husband. We have a lot of happy ones, but its hard to find them with all three of us.
Is that a silent request to get me to visit more often? John asked, in an effort to bring light-heartedness back into the room.
Not all that silent, Ben grinned. Look, were getting old and youre sessful. You must have a bunch of interesting things to tell!
Youre not even forty, John rolled his eyes. I should be able to, though. The situation I was talking about resolved a few days ago. Ill try to swing by at least once every other week. He put the box aside and waited for an answer.
Thats great! Brenda eximed. But maybe donte around that often. No need to fly here every time. I imagine thats bad for the environment and your health.
Right, global warming is a thing normal people are thinking about, John was reminded. Since he was (indirectly) able to create water out of mana and grow nts wherever he wanted, climate trends werent exactly a thing he cared about anymore. If it ever became as serious an issue as some of the more rabid promations prophesized, he could just hole up in an Illusion Barrier. His parents would be long dead by then, as would be any other mundane person he had ever known.
I have to travel a lot anyway, he said with a dismissive gesture. The reality of being sessful is that I have ces to be. Might mean I have to burn a bit more fuel, but I am not that worried.
Well, its your future, I guess. Brenda clearly didnt want to get into that political argument and Benjamin seemed not bothered in the first ce. Anyway, how about you introduce us already?
John looked over to his redheadedpanion, who was ying with a small fork in an effort to keep her hands busy. Im Scarlett, she said quickly. Im the co-owner of Johns business, you could say.
Ah, so that makes you the woman that couldnt attendst time around? Benjamin asked.
You could say that. Scarlett ced the fork down. Honestly, your son keeps me busy all the fucking time, so I dont even know if I should have taken time for this. Rave insisted Ie along.
If ya wanna be part of the harem proper, ya gotta know Bren and Ben, demz da rulez, the pink haired girl stated. I know, cause I wrote them.
I dont really get why, the bloodsoaked Technomancer shook her head, Its not like theyre part of it.
Because were one big family and so we should know the parents, Rave justified herself. Dont ya dare question my wisdom.
I think your wisdom extends to the question what kind of scratches cats like the most, Scarlett retorted.
I also know what kind of scratches you like the most, so be careful! The Lightbearer poked the redheads shoulder. If ya get the drop next time, Ill cuddle ya until ya never want to let go.
Scarlett grumbled something but didnt chase the point any further. Speaking of family, Brenda interjected, and John already knew where this was going by the segue alone. Where are we on the baby front?
No changes, John eximed in an exasperated fashion. Grandkids after I marry. I marry when Im ready. Thats it. He decided that this was the best point to grab the cake knife and start slicing into things. Happy birthday to me; my wish, dont follow the topic please.
Hes getting tired of it, Eliza announced the obvious. Fucking coward that he is.
Look, John rified quickly, the annoyance loosening his tongue. I really, really, really want to breed you, okay? I am just more reasonable than that. Different topic. Now.
Alright, honey. Brenda waved off with a smile. You look really good in those dresses C all of you, she talked to the gathered girls, then picked out Rave specifically. Didnt think you would wear one though. Last time we were here, you had a look at mine and didnt seem all that interested.
John and I found this shop that stitches soundwaves into the dress, Rave exined and gestured at the embroidery. I can wear my favourite songs, so that was cool enough that I wanted to do it.
Benjamin burst outughing. Young people have ess to such odd things these days, he exined his sudden amusement. I was wondering what those sound waves were about.
We were just lucky to stumble over that shop. Ive been trying to get her into a dress for ages, John continued the discussion. Wonderful as she is, my girlfriend sticks out quite a bit during high-society gatherings.
Her hair alone would do that, Brenda noted, although she was only half right. In the Abyss, having pink hair wasnt so unusual that it would cause people to turn their heads.
My bubble butt alone would do that, Rave remarked, making a more truthful statement.
I imagine that your whole gathering of girls would cause a bit of attention, if you bring them everywhere, father Newman hummed to himself. Which I guess you do, given how open you are about things.
I do. People in my circles sleep around a lot but I think Im the only one with this size of a consolidated harem. John shrugged with a smile. Which I dont particrly care about, I do things my way and theyre working out nicely.
John is very attentive to our needs, Aclysia dered.
How is Hex doing, by the way? John asked. He had continued to get reports from her, but it would have felt odd if he didnt hear how things were going from his parents. Everything fine?
She recently got an internship at a pharmacy that works with mypany, Benjamin reported. So, I often see her at work. Much to both of our pleasure.
She adjusted her cover, I see John didnt care much about it. Hex was doing her job and his parents had been safe for months now. The security measures he had in ce were tight andyered. Since things were working and everything was in order, John was satisfied.
Why dont you have some cake? Brenda offered, looking at Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra.
This figure doesnt maintain itself, Brenda, Metra retorted quickly, her direct manner of speaking quickly focusing attention on her. Cant load myself with sugar, someone has to satisfy Johns craving for different body types.
He seems to be into anything as long as its thin, Benjamin said with a mouthful of cake. I mean, yeah, youre all different proportions, but nobody ever seems to be under athletic. He nodded towards his wife. I, for one, like a bit of pudge.
Dont call me pudgy! Brendained, crossing her arms under her immense breasts. Plushy is the word you should use, darling. Has nobody ever taught you that a happy wife equals a happy life?
I keep my wife happy in other ways so I can poke fun at her sometimes, Benjamin chuckled and looked to his son for support. What do you say, John, should we pamper the women or tease them?
I get teased all the time, so I dont see why I shouldnt fire back in equal measure, John stated clearly.
Oy, I never tease ya! Rave dered, then immediately began snickering. I cant even say that withoutughing at myself. She leaned over to her boyfriend and whispered into his ear, loud enough for his parents to hear. Remember that one time I had you edged for hours?
Why? John groaned, yfully shoving Rave back. Why do you keep making me ufortable in front of my parents?
Well, there is no need to be ufortable, honey, Brenda dered. Do tell us about your sex life, we dont mind. Were family, we can be honest with each other.
Were family, I dont want to talk about sex with you, John threw it right back into her face.
Hes very insecure about bing a mamas boy, Rave joked.
No, no, I am not, John growled. Stop. Stop this right now!
But its so fun to wind ya up, tiger!
And this, Benjamin dered, is why I get to call you pudgy, Brenda.
Chapter 714 – The Birthday Season
Chapter 714 C The Birthday Season
The rest of the Sunday passed without notable events. Talking with his parents was pleasant, but a mundane thing. After a few hours of cake and tea, they took their leave and went back home. Once there, John decided to leave the photos in his trophy room. As much as he felt emotionally attached to them, he didnt want to hang them up in his own apartment. For one, it felt self-aggrandizing to have a timeline of himself on the wall. Although the Gamer was not one to hide his pride, that was a vour of arrogance he didnt subscribe to.
Secondly, perhaps more importantly, he didnt want to have the high definition photos of his parents hanging around where he regrly had giant orgies. That was just asking for awkward eye contact with the still images.
Instead, they found their ce on a podium next to a few other things he kept for sentimental value. Examples of those would be the golf ball from his first game with Abraham, a few cooled drops of molten metal that had formerly been the Construct of Order that Romulus had destroyed at Warsaw, a feather from the Reichsadler that Lydia had gifted him at some point and a bunch of other, smaller things. Admittedly, John felt that his trophy room needed some more real trophies before it was worthy of the name.
The following Monday ticked by without any noticeable events as well. Both days had John grind a whole Assault session of four hours. Although that didnt give him a level, such was the nature of growing EXP requirements, it was still progress made. Aside from that, it was the usualbination of lust, diplomacy and paperwork.
Tuesday, however, was a noteworthy day. It was thest day of July, which had been a busy month for John. Over the course of it, he had integrated the Small Lake Pact and Amacat, ended the war with the Lake Alliance and put the actual Fusion government system in ce. While thatst thing was technically an on-going process, it was without doubt that a whole lot had happened this July.
Aside from that, it was the one-year anniversary of Aclysias creation.
Celebrations will not be necessary, the weaponized maid dered when everyone piled on her in a good morning group hug.
Whaaaaaa? Sylph cried out in surprise, being the quickest to bber about. Nonsense! Celebrations are always necessary! Celebrations for everything! Celebrations for brushing your teeth! Celebrations for getting out of bed! Celebrations for celebrations! Especially, we need lotsa celebration for your birthday or creation day or making day or whatever you want to call it! Celebrations means cake! Audible gasp! We should do a cake celebration and bake cake for the cake celebration and bake cake for the cake of the cake celebration and bake
Sylph lost herself in a continuous stream of celebration cake requests. Which opened the window of opportunity for John to say what he wanted, Well, the celebration might not be strictly necessary, but I want to do it anyway.
Yeah! Rave eximed, both her and her boyfriend doubling the intensity of their embrace under the silky bed sheets. Ya gotta want something!
Aclysia blushed the slightest bit, but kept her voice steady. I have received a gift in the shape of upgraded weapons and an addition to my outfit recently. I require no further things.
There is always more to gift than things, John told her and gently kissed her neck. Yours is the first birthday in a line over theing weeks. You, then Gnome, Jane, Smander, Undine and Sylph C on the same day C, and Momo. We should make August a happy month!
No need to mention me in that list, I aint celebrating my birthday, Rave announced.
Thats mighty hypocritical of you, John pointed out. Youre getting a birthday, live with it!
Johnny his girlfriend gave him an unappreciative nce.
Dont you Johnny me, if you have bad memories, then I just got to make happier, new ones! John dered and pulled Eliza, who had been only minorly attached, deep into the group hug. I have big time experience at that.
This is all so vomit inducing fucking awfully sweet. The blood mage gagged, even as she wore a broad, maniacal smile on her lips.
The point is, nobody is having sad or skipped birthdays around here, John stated in the tone of absolute authority. Not after you all made mine so fantastic. So, Aclysia, he turned his attention back to his first maid, be as selfish as you want to be. Today is your day. Before you say anything, I have already arranged it so that no paperwork wille our way today, so you dont have any responsibilities to weasel yourself out of being happy!
Aclysia shut her mouth when herst line out of being gifted was cut off and she instead had to concede the point. Is it truly fine for me to be selfish, Master?
A little bit, always, John told her. Today in particr, as much as you want to be.
After a few moments of thinking, she slowly peeled herself out of the cocoon of naked hugs. Not to stand up, but to have the room to properly kiss him. Let me prepare breakfast then, she said, and kissed Rave next. Once you are sated, I wish for two simple things. Eliza, Smander, Undine, Metra, one after the other she kissed all of them. A long, proper kiss between lovers. I wish for all of us to be together
And cake for the cake celebration of the celebration cake celebration cake of the celebration cake for the celebration by the celebration cake Sylph was still bbering on until she, too, was pulled into a deep kiss. Aclysia tastes like cherries, I love Aclysia! she then eximed instead and embraced the just recently freed maid.
The weaponized maidughed, three wholeughs, as pure as bells and as purifying as the greatest herbal tea. Beatrice, Scarlett and Gnome were thest to be kissed, before Aclysia finished her sentence, and I want us to experience my second dream.
About an hourter, a morning uninterrupted by the diversion of sex and spent in a rather pure, loving way, everyone found themselves on or around the couch in the living room. Due to thebination of summer warmth and high-quality venttion, the room was just the right level of cosy. All kinds of electronics were shut down and the blinds closed, leaving everyone sitting in the lulling twilight. Over the course of the breakfast, Lydia had even joined them, making the gathering asplete as it could be.
Aclysia was sitting in Johnsp, leaning against him, her eyes closed. Everyone was still naked, but there was no sexual tension in the air. Onlyfort and happiness to show everything they all were to each other. Everyone was waiting for John to start this dream. Everyone was anticipating this. Aside from Aclysia, nobody had ever heard John tell a tale. They had heard the summary of that first time, but were interested regardless.
The Gamer was unsure where to begin, but that was always how it went with these things. He didnt really think about what he wanted to say, only let his brain know that he wanted to tell a story. Although he wasnt sure what, he knew when his mind had managed to create something. And so, he drew breath and formed it into words.
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Once, there was light. Perhaps it was shadow. There was no reference at the time to say what each was, no contrast to draw. Maybe it was twilight, neither white nor ck, but grey. Whatever it was, it split one day, and then there were ck and white and both mingled to form a grey.
With the contrast came certainty and with certainty came more contrast. The white and the ck stretched away from each other endlessly, pulling the grey out between them until the grey, too, began splitting. It turned into colours and into shades, and when there were no more colours and shades to split into, it split into up and down instead.
A world was born from the stretching certainty. One ofrge oceans and vast deserts. Tall mountains and deep pits. A world of life and, soon after it was born, death. In the face of death, the life grew more certain and contrasted. The road to their end diversified until life became hard to categorize.
And after aeons of this stretched world growing more certain and more contrasted, a tree began to grow. It was a horrid but necessary tree, as the first person that stepped up to it had to find out. A young woman, who rested after exposing herself to the contrasting world.
What is it you seek? the tree asked, and the woman wasnt startled.
To understand, the woman said, burrowing her head between her legs. What is under your branches I can see without thinking of its individuality.
Are you crying? the tree wondered, its young canopy waving in the verdant winds and spending little shade. If you cultivate me with tears of sadness, you should know that I will grow to protect you and help you understand, but you will have to fight to leave this ce.
I will take this trade, I would never want to leave anyway. The woman sniffed and cried her tears on the roots of the tree. Its branches extended, putting more shade over the nearby world. Where the shade was, the contrast between all things became lessened. There was no longer a grey and a different grey, there were greys. There was no longer a green and a different green, there were greens.
The roots of the tree extended too, burrowing through the earth and winding around the woman, who felt secured by their embrace. A long time, she smiled, enjoying the ability to perceive the world without being overwhelmed. A long time, she existed, feeling fine that there was peace. Then, she missed the one green or that certain grey that she had seen outside the reach of the trees shade. The desire gnawed at her until she could no longer resist.
I wish to venture beyond your protection again, the woman said to the tree, and felt how the roots that had grabbed her grew tighter.
You have known when you made the decision, the horrid and necessary tree spoke, that my protection and the shade that I offer mean that I will not let you leave freely. If you want to leave, you have to fight.
But the woman had no means to fight, tangled as she was. You are a worse monster than the contrast I fled from, she dered.
Am I so? the tree asked, not sure himself. I will let you judge. Be at the border of my roots. You may not leave, but you may see.
And the woman was pushed to the edge of the canopy that she had grown and saw to the world beyond the shade. There were wonders there and many bones, and she grew silent. Stepping over the bones came a man with hard eyes that ignored her and walked to the tree.
Your shade intrigues me so, the man said. I wish to use it as a weapon so that I may see my one enemy and my other enemy as my enemies instead.
Are you willing to y? the tree wondered, its canopy waving in the verdant winds and spending shade. If you cultivate me with the blood of your enemies, you should know that I will bind your enemies as one and hurt them with thorns, but those same thorns will cut into you when you try to rid of me.
I am stronger than thorns, I will use you and it will not break me, the hard-eyed man decided and went back into the contrast. He returned with his enemy, who became an enemy upon being in. One of many, but one sacrifice was enough. The tree grew, grew from the abundance of blood. The woman whined when the thorns poked her flesh, but it didnt break her skin, just as long as she didnt struggle.
And the hard-eyed man ventured out again and again. The trees shade allowed him to move in ways that others could not, and one day he had won. Thus, he spoke to the tree that he had cultivated with blood, I no longer need you, so I will now rid myself of you, like I have rid myself of my enemies.
And the horrid treeughed. You made me a giant, man with hard eyes. What your enemies feared is not what you are but what you made. Try then to rid yourself of me. Around the hard-eyed man grew a wall of thorns. It was thick, much thicker than the roots that bound the woman. Although they didnt grasp the man, they surrounded him.
And the manughed and decided to climb over the wall. Barely had he put a hand on the wall that the horns drew blood. He tried to climb and soon his hands and feet were torn and shredded. Unable to feel his fingers, he fell and cried. The pain is unbearable, heined to the tree.
Youre the one who made this pain and now I wield it, the tree stated and took great in glee watching the one hard-eyed man failing to escape over and over again.
The woman turned away and spotted, standing at the line of shade and contrast, another woman. A graceful one, that smiled towards the bound woman. The graceful woman walked towards the tree.
Horrid tree, are you aware that there are others like you? the graceful woman asked.
This irked the tree, who had grown sorge. I am not.
Then give me of your power and I will use it to destroy the tree that is more horrid than you, the graceful one said.
I will give you of my power, but to what advantage to you? the tree wondered.
I will rid the world of the most horrid tree, that is all I seek, the graceful woman dered and the tree believed her. Thus, it made her a sword of its leaves that she took and returned with after three days. I must rid the world of you, for you are now the most horrid tree and have grown toorge to be necessary.
You cannot rid of me with my own sword, the tree said in an amused fashion. Whates from me cannot be used to destroy me, and since you wielded it, you too have been sworn to me.
The graceful woman struck at the tree, but the tree spoke true. Although her fate was better than the bound woman or the bleeding man, she was now confined to see the world in the shades of the tree, no matter where she went.
Until, one day, a man turned up. A tall man with awake eyes and nimble fingers. Have Ie to the horrid, once necessary tree? the man asked.
This irked the gargantuan tree. I am the horrid yet necessary tree. Imand for you to cultivate me with the tears of your sadness. The awake man shook his head.
I have no such tears to give, my sadness doesnt belong to you. He looked at the bound woman. The world in which it was necessary to protect from is now very small.
Imand for you to cultivate me with the blood of your enemies.
I shall not spill blood to cultivate you, only by necessity. He looked to the bramble wall, and heard the man within. The time for conquests has passed, for better or for worse.
Then Imand you to destroy the trees more horrid than I.
I have chosen you as the horrid tree I live under. There may be more horrid trees, but you are the one that is my charge. He looked to the graceful woman and offered his hand. The trees most horrid were culled in time and now its time to put down arms.
The graceful woman that had lost hope saw the mans hand and gave him the sword of leaves. Do what you intend, she said and offered her palm. The awake man cut into her hand and his hand, and they dropped their blood together on the roots of the tree.
The leaves of the tree shook under the red winds and grew thinner. Spots of light cut through the shade and the contrast returned to the dark close to the trunk. You cultivate me with the blood of yourself and your loved ones. Why? the tree wondered, letting go of the bound woman and the bloody man.
So you may be necessary, the graceful woman answered.
So you may not be a tyrant, the man added.
And they lived among the leaves.
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The room was silent for a little while as everyone went through what they had heard or waited for a potential continuation.
It was Scarlett who broke the silence. The fuck did any of that mean? she asked.
John shrugged. Youre asking the wrong guy; I just told the story as it formed in my mind. Theres probably some right interpretation to be found, but I dont have it right now. He stopped for a moment and looked down at Aclysia. Was it bad?
No, John, she said, using his name very purposefully as she opened her eyes. It was odd, it was fascinating, it came from your heart, it is something I can think about. Caressing his face, she smiled. It was a dream you gave me, its the gift I desired. Within a moment, their lips met, only to be interrupted by Lydia humming loudly.
My fellowdies, my love, the queen spoke up and knocked on the table to get everyones attention, I would like to discuss this story in-depth. As I am aware this kind of analysis isnt of interest to all of you, I suggest we take this elsewhere.
Well, Rave spoke up, lets see who cares for it and then we see which party is smaller and that one moves. Raise your hands if ya wanna stay and talk about it. All hands, even Sylphs, were raised. Welp, there we go, no need to move.
John found it wonderful that they could have a morning that was intellectually stimting.
Chapter 715 – Mt. Cuddle Rock
Chapter 715 C Mt. Cuddle Rock
Uwu Gnome let out the tiniest sound while nibbling on the waffle John had given her. Sitting next to her on the bench, he just looked at her face with a content smile. She was a prettier view than the Hudson.
It was another day, another birthday. Well, contract day would have been more urate, perhaps. On the first of August, exactly one year ago, he had first summoned Gnome. Now he was having a date with her to celebrate the fact. Something that she had requested after he made the same offer to her as he had given Aclysia yesterday.
Although a date, in this case, was really just an hour of the two of them alone. Afterwards she wanted to go back and do much the same as Aclysia had wanted. Which was for everyone to be together and just enjoy a free day.
Gnomes profile contrasted with the background of verdant green trees nicely. The white skin, somewhere between pale and tan, the curve of her nose, her brown eyes focused on the chocte covered waffle, her pink lips as she munched on it very slowly. Eventually, she noticed his staring, nced at him, then stared at the waffle again, slowly turning red.
Silently, John put an arm around her shoulder and the other one on her thigh, in a rtively decent ce. It was the usual way he took hold of one of his girls when sitting next to them. It was equally to signal that he wanted to protect them and his sexual interest. The Gamer was not interested in pretending that he wasnt in love with their looks. Not as much as he was in love with who they were, but the former definitely helped with thetter, and he wasnt sure how he would react if one of them ever became hideous, as unlikely as that was.
He knew that made him a bit shallow, but at least he was honest.
Gnome didnt mind either way. Although John could never shake off the impression that she was cute as a button, she was also an attractive thing. A bit in, being brte with brown eyes, average height and average curves (as far as the members of his harem went, anyway), but attractive in the bnce of all of those features.
Uwuwuwu she continued to make the embarrassed sounds, as she nestled against his chest. Even her own, willing actions made her turn red. As John didnt push her, simply letting her lean onto him and eat her sugary treat, she calmed down again though.
He smelled her hair. It had the aromatic smell of a meadow in autumn, minutes after it had rained. A very earthy and naturalistic scent, difficult to find in the urban settings John normally moved in. It made him quite happy and, even though they continued to be silent, he could see that she enjoyed his attention.
The dead giveaway was that she stayed where she was. Their mutual feelings for each other were beyond question, so it was of little surprise that she did. The way her bare legs waved, shifting the skirt of her yellow summer dress, betrayed her good mood. John even caught her humming a little melody and swaying her head to it while she ate, although that quickly ceased once she realized what she was doing.
The waffle grew smaller and a ship drifted by on the river. John recognized it as one of the people he paid to inspect the waters. Since the magical oysters he had settled had cleared the once murky water to a staggering degree, he was looking into settling some wildlife in the Hudson Barrier. It would have to be a very delicate process; he had to make sure the entire thing was self-sufficient and self-bncing. Multiple contractors were currently busy designing an ecosystem. Right now, people were scratching their heads as to how the Guild Hall would influence those things, especially the Fishery.
Although the swarms created by that Building couldnt leave the confines of the Guild Hall and scatter into the wider Hudson Barrier, the same wasnt true for any predators settled in theke. Since the fish had to be caught with the Building provided rods to be real in the edible sense, the question was whether those same predators could eat them. If yes, then predatory fish could rely on a basically infinite amount of food and that would topple the bnce of the entire ecosystem. If not, then they could settle some smarter predators that could learn that they just didnt get sated when hunting in those areas and therefore stayed away from them.
John shoved the purpose of the ship aside and instead took the view as a whole. It was difficult; his mind liked to pluck bits and pieces of what he saw and analyse them quickly to the deepest avable level. It was an incredibly useful skill to have for thebat strategies he often had to develop rapidly. When it came to enjoying a romantic setting, it could be quite bothersome.
A movement in the corner of his eye caused him to look down to Gnome again. The adorable soil elemental was offering the rest of the waffle to him. Through tactical eating, the remains of the chocte covered treat had taken the shape of a heart. Feeling the strings tug at his own, John bowed down and took a bite. It tasted just as sweet as it looked. Every new bite confirmed this.
When he was done, the only bit of chocte remaining was on her lips. She tasted even sweeter than the waffle. Not factually, there was just a hint of chocte and sugar on her tongue, but in ways more true than reality. Her blush was of a healthy light red tone this time, more excitement than shame. Grabbing his shirt with both hands, she kept him in a kiss that he had no intention of pulling out of anyway.
Her pink lips were so soft. John remembered times when she had less control over her density. At the same time, she had also been a manifestation of stone then; now she was soil, and soil was a bit more malleable. Tiny wet sounds echoed whenever their lips parted for moments at a time. Moments that were filled with little gasped Uwus and chuckles.
John wasnt really sure how long they kept kissing, just that it was like time halted for them while their lips touched. The summer warmth lent itself to hazy moments of passion. That he barely had opportunities to breathe properly while they made out didnt help. The world was quiet, safe for the soft whisper of the waves against the nearby shore.
Their tongues and minds were intertwined. The separation between their thoughts was thin, barely existent. He felt her embarrassment and the love that trumped it. She felt his lust and the love that trumped it. Basic reactions their lesser minds wanted to act out, but they didnt because of who they were with.
A sudden honk ended their wonderful unity and caused John to angrily re at the water. Barely audible, John heard the metallically adjustedughter of Magoi Magus as he drifted by on his boat. Mabirl, standing next to him, gently hit him on the head with her cane. Whatever talk they had, it happened while waving at the interrupted couple.
John bent over forwards, grabbed a rock from the floor and chucked it at the water. If he had stood up for it and gave it all, he might have been able to actually hit the boat. As it was, the stone barely hit the water.
Meddlesome gue doctor, John grumbled, the wonderful silence interrupted.
Uwuwuwuwuwu Gnome was now properly red again, abination of the rebound from the past however-many minutes and the fact that they had been so crudely noticed. So embarrassing she mumbled, while John patted her head. He would have preferred to brush through her thick brown hair, but the ever-present twin tails at the sides made that a bit difficult.
I would tell you to just ignore it, but knowing you, thats not an option, he joked and ced a quick kiss on her scalp. Just concentrate on me, Gnome, right now its just us. The truth of that was easier to sell thanks to Magoi sailing off at full speed. At least the High Fateweaver had the tact to just be a joking interruption, not a date killer.
Okay The soil elemental embraced him and basked in his scent. Presumably, that was calming to her. I love you, she whispered out of nowhere.
I love you too, he responded just as quietly, and the silence settled in again. For a while, they just existed there that way. Two lovers, unbothered by the passage of time, like two rocks in shallow water.
Do you like my hair? Gnome suddenly asked.
Hmmm, in what way? John had to ask back. Its surprisingly soft, so thats nice. Its also very thick, so there is just so much to hold onto He let out a pained chuckle when Gnome lightly punched him in the ribs. ...Sorry, couldnt resist, he apologized, notpletely serious.
I know you cant, she pouted, which only made her more adorable. John squeezed her in a sudden, two-armed embrace. In response, she made a sound between a rubber duck and a surprised puppy. H-hey w-w-why?
You know exactly why, you sweet cuddle rock, John dered and pulled her over into hisp so smelling her hair and cuddling her was easier. Now, go on with that question, I honestly dont know in what way you want to know I like it.
Like the style Gnome exined hesitantly. Its not like I chose the twin tails. I was just sort of made with them and I never bothered to change them
That is a hard question, John hummed. Im honestly not that big into twin tails, he said straightforwardly. Gnome didnt take that as an insult or in any other negative way. She had asked a question and was prepared for almost all answers. Your current hairstyle I find alright. I think you would look good with basically anything, what you currently got going is cute, but a bit too involved for me. Simple open hair or the old, simple twin tails would be more to my liking. He shrugged. I think Im just a typical guy in this regard, I like things easy.
Okay, Gnome nodded to herself. Ill keep that in mind.
For what? John asked.
For when I next evolve. Her legs were waving again. Two more times, right? I can still change in little and big ways maybe Ill manage to fix my stutter sometime
What stutter? John asked. All I hear is adorable booting upplications. The shy way that you start your sentences with just adds to my wish to protect you, you absolutely wonderful thing.
N-no! St-stop that! she demanded, immediately flustered.
But you dont have any problems speaking once you actually get going. John innocently pretended like he had said nothing ttering. Just a little cute stutter at the start. Not worth mentioning.
Well, I am self-conscious of it! Gnome dered and lowered her head. Im the leader of your elementals, right? I have to be a role model!
No, you dont, responded her summoner immediately, causing her to nce at him in a confused fashion. What you have to be is someone all of them respect. Thats what a leader is, someone everyone listens to. And, when ites to it, all of them do. He took a little pause to let that sink in, then finished up with, Because, when ites to it, you are confident in what you do.
Uwu you cant just uwuwuwu Gnome got stuck for a little while unsure what to say. You cant just make me feel this ttered! I dont know how to handle that!
Good, makes it all the more satisfying to tease you, John grinned, and then had to wrestle with Gnome for a little bit as she freed herself of his embrace. It was a fight he couldnt have possibly won, not while sitting. Gnome wasnt just a little bit stronger than him, so the earth spirit had soon managed to get out of his loving arms. She still sat in hisp, however, just facing towards him now.
Out of pure habit, he put his hands on her hips. Youre an evil man, Gnome used him, her hazel eyes reflecting her conflicting feelings.
But you love me, he stated.
but I love you b-but youre still evil!
As long as I want that love to stay with me, I think I cant ever be truly evil, he theorized and leaned forwards to kiss her. Something that he was denied. Now that, he grumbled, that is an evil thing to do. You cant just deny a man a kiss.
Why not? Gnome wanted to genuinely know. Do you think youre entitled to me, to any of us?
Of course not, John was almost offended that she even asked that, Im just not sure if I can survive without your lips on mine. I have this terrible disease its called being me
That is a ah, I just cant Gnome leaned forwards and gave him that kiss he sought. Bantering with you just isnt my strong suit, she mumbled, while taking him into her arms. Compared to hers, his hugs must have felt crude. John didnt know how she did it, but between her slender arms he felt safer than anywhere else. It was just the right level of tight and genuine.
Thats alright, he whispered, and they continued to sit there.
Right up until Gnome mumbled, I want to do something lewd
Chapter 716 – The Quiet and Kinky Ones [Erotic Content]
Chapter 716 C The Quiet and Kinky Ones [Erotic Content]
And youre sure about this? John asked, not because he had any doubts about the situation himself.
They were on the sun deck of the Boating Seaquence, Johns mega yacht. Despite being fairly high up, it was difficult for anyone on ground level to see them, courtesy of the manyyers and barriers. Being discovered was still a very real possibility, especially by beings that could fly or were otherwise scrying.
The sun deck was extensive enough to have room for a jacuzzi, several loungers, arge grill and a bench wrapping around a circr table. Through one of the yachts many internal mechanisms, the table had been lowered into the floor, leaving the bench easily essible. John was seated opposite of it, having taken a lounger and ced it there. The back of it was adjusted so he could sit upright while looking at the earth spirit.
Y-yes! Gnome eximed in a high-pitched voice that ryed anything but certainty. Her bodynguage didnt help the matter. Blushing furiously, the soil elemental shifted on the bench, sitting right in the middle of it. Her hands were pressing the skirt of her dress between her legs, as if that was necessary to hide her shame.
We can still do the usual lovemaking, you know? John really didnt like seeing her this ufortable. No need for you to push yourself like this.
No! Gnome almost shouted, then took a pause to gather herself. One long inhale and one long exhaleter, she managed to shily say, I want to push myself I want I want you to watch me With those words, her sun dress began to disappear, crumbling into grains of dirt that vanished as they fell. Look at me, John. Her words were a little bit firmer now, and she spread her legs.
The sunlight kissed the naked skin of the Asian looking elemental. Smooth and healthy, with no wrinkles or unnecessary fat. Her pink nipples were already erect atop her moderately sized breasts, a nice and firm C-cup. They rose and fell with every of her controlled breaths and were partly reddened by the embarrassment that still held her face in a red blush.
Regardless of her evident shame, Gnome was biting her lower lip, expressing another, intense feeling. It was reflected in the little gasp that escaped her and her dulling gaze. A little shift of her shoulder caused Johns eyes to jump there, travel down her slender arm and follow her right hand as it slid up her inner thigh. Her long legs werent particrly thick, but neither were they slender. They were in that middle ground of normal,dylike legs. As someone who worshipped the female physique in most vours, the middle ground was more than enough for John.
Her hand stayed in ce, but Johns eyes trailed down the lower border of her thigh. The soft curve shifted into a delicious squish, where her firmly above average butt rested on the thin, stic wrapped cushion of the outdoor bench. Feeling his cock twitch in his pants, John leaned forward when heid eyes on her cunt. She was spreading her delicious pink pussy lips with two fingers. The twitching folds were already glistening wet.
With a sweet, tempting sigh, she let those same fingers slide upwards. Without them, her pussy lips tightened into their regr position, the inside slightly showing. It wasnt the look of a virgin, neither did she look like the hundreds of times John had fucked her by now had caused any detriments. The colour and shape of her pussy was simple, fresh and attractive. It looked even better when it stretched a little bit, following the circr rubbing of her clit.
I ahh For once it wasnt stammering that dyed Gnomes words. I often wondered how it would feel to have you mhhmm watch me Her spine arched when she slipped two fingers into her tight cunt. Quickly, the hand on her thigh reached backwards, grabbed the rim of the bench and kept her more securely in ce. I She swallowed and let out an intense moan when their eyes crossed.
John felt his clothes intensely on his skin, around his groin in particr. Not only was Gnome more daring than usual, she was also way hornier than she had ever been when he had pushed her. That wasnt to say that he felt bad about those past instances, they had a mental connection and he knew for a fact he had never forced her in any unconsented fashion, just that he could clearly see this was working her up a whole lot more. Her pussy was already dripping, its juices running down to her asshole, and she was still only masturbating. Without any doubt or arrogance, John could say that he was better than her own fingers.
Ive been she continued, Ive been so naughty I dont even have the highest Libido out of us elementals and still I masturbate the most Her Libido was still over 20, which was superior to John before he had gotten his powers. He had masturbated three times a day during those times. It spoke more to the quality of the sex that the elementals and most of his girls werent rubbing themselves at every avable opportunity.
How often? John asked, while unbuttoning his shirt the old-fashioned way. It had the wanted effect, Gnomes interchanging motions of fingering and clit-rubbing elerating.
O-once a day, the soil elemental admitted, stammering in a mixture of embarrassment and shame. Her hand suddenly rose in a panicked gesture. N-n-not that y-y-you dont satisfy me every day or something like that, quite the opposite, you have a really nice big dick and andI mean, you are, I am She got stuck babbling nonsense.
Get back to rewarding yourself, Johnmanded to help her snap out of it. Immediately, her fingers feverishly circled her clit. A small gush of love juices prattled onto the white floor as the reward hit the soil elemental. Keep talking, why did you masturbate every day? That wasnt amand, only a genuine question. He had an inkling, thanks to a kink of hers he had only discovered during the recent orgy. He opened thest button of his shirt.
Hello! the single word suddenly chirped into the conversation. John turned his head to see Sylph, big and already stark naked, hovering in the air next to him. Im here to join, Im here to suck dick, Im here to ride dick, Im here to be ridden by John, Im here to call you Master if youre in the mood, just pleeeassseee let me have some fun too!
As horny as John was from watching Gnome masturbate, while having no outlet himself, he did have to decline. This was the earth spirits birthday, she should have his undivided attention. When he opened his mouth, the Gnome was carefully interjecting.
I-I called her! she said, a bit too loudly. I called her she repeated in a calmer fashion. I want her to to help you with your b-boner.
That was the second most awkward dirty talk he ever had (number one went to Nia) but strangely adorable regardless. As for the actual contents of that announcement, John had absolutely noint. If thats the case. He spread his legs, and a joyous eximing Sylph soonnded at the feet of the lounger. Lets start with putting your mouth to better use, you horny breeze.
You can call me weirder things, Sylph babbled. More demeaning things. I like it when you call me things! Love it! I love you! I love this! She unzipped his pants and pulled them down along his undergarments with one swift tug. Its so big and juicy and so lovely. I reaaaallly love dick. No, wait, I dont love general dick. I love your dick. Johns huge, fat, big dick. She stopped talking for just long enough to lick from his balls up to the tip of his cock. Haaaah, tastes so good. Smells so husky. Love it, I love, I love you, I just need this inside me every day. All the day. When its my day, Imma have this inside me all day. Yeah, Imma get fucked and eat swe-
John could still feel the vibrations of her vocal cords (or elemental equivalent thereof) when she took his cock into her mouth. Hands grabbing the armrests tightly, he groaned out loud. Sylphs mouth was an electric heaven. Sticky wet and tight, she created an absolute vacuum between her cheeks and his cock. Tiny thunderbolts jolted through his cock, causing not a single instance of pain, while heightening his sensitivity to reasonable extremes. Stretched lips, hollowed out cheeks and a loving, amber gaze, theybined into the perfect debauched blowjob face.
Oh Mother Air, its stretching my throat, Sylphs voice reverberated in his mind. His dick is so big. Big dick, big, big dick. I love to suck it I want it deeper. Need to feel it slide in and out of me. Her lips had barely gotten into contact with his groin when her head started bobbing. Being his concubine is the best. The pulsing the taste so manly I love him. I love his cock and I love him. Im so wet just from sucking his cock I think I could cum
The vibrations were no longer an aftermath of her words, but of her rising lust. The fingers digging into Johns thighs trembled more and more intensely as time went on. Sylph had always been a horny thing, very good at using her overactive tongue for more pleasurable things. Like most of his girls, she had also been trained to be more than a bit of a blowjob slut. A development much reinforced by the rtively recent upgrades.
Her eyelids fluttered as the mere act of sucking him off somehow sent her over the edge. Intense, muffled shouts of ecstasy reverberated in Johns shaft, but the thunderstorm elemental just kept sucking. Taking a sharp inhale, John looked up, in hopes that his eyes would be distracted by something less sexy and allowing him to hold onto the ecstasy for a few more moments.
What he found was Gnome, writhing in absolute perversion. Her moans were so loud that John had no idea how he had missed them for even this half minute. Not even to mention the massively wet noises, echoing from her hand, merely a blur as it rubbed her pussy raw. Heels digging into the cushion and holding onto the back for dear life, the earth spirit barely managed to stay in ce as her spine arched and toes curled.
The moment they crossed eyes again, both brown and doubtlessly hazy, Gnome continued where she had left off, I n-needed to masturbate every day, because cause Her lust-wrecked voice barely managed to pass the words past her moans. Because its addicting to watch you! The confession was finally out, along with an orgasmic scream.
John couldnt hold on any longer himself, groaned loudly and came down Sylphs throat. It was raw liberation, a high-pressure release that pumped the thunderstorm elementals body full with the thick, white liquid. Her thoughts turned silent as Johns Libido Perk and the absorption of her summoners mana intertwined.
In her orgasmic state, Gnome continued to half-scream her exnation, Sex with you is better, so much better just when I watch you, its different. I love both, so I keep watching you or your memories, and you just keep getting more a-a-a-attractive so I just keep locking myself in and
Thats enough, John assured, letting out a long exhale as his orgasm subsided. I understand the difference between physical and psychological pleasure quite well. Youre a voyeur, Gnome, its your fetish. Youve never done something creepy or wrong because of it, so you have nothing to excuse yourself for. You are that way and thats fine. Arguably looking at his memories was a bit creepy, but he had been vaguely aware of that for a while thanks to Sylph and Smander babbling about it. If he had taken issue, he would have put a stop to it.
Gnomes climax was petering out as well. She sunk onto the bench, shivering with aftershocks and a smile on her heavily flushed face. T-thanks, she mumbled.
Nothing to thank me for either, John grinned, because I will go ahead and abuse this knowledge C maliciously. Pushing a very reluctant Sylph off his cock, he rose from the lounger. Hover in front of me, he told the thunderstorm elemental.
Oh, is it time, is it time? the fairy-like elemental chirped as she followed the order. Licking the sticky remains of precum from her lips, Sylph began to rise like an air balloon. On the height of Johns crotch, she stopped and stretched. Her body, tiny as she was at her one and a half metres, had curves in all the right ces. Her breasts were likely smaller than Gnomes by a slight margin, but on her smaller frame they were more emphasized. The rest of her proportions were much closer to an hourss figure than the bnced build of the soil elemental.
John grabbed one of her surprisingly thick thighs and gave the weightless elemental a light shove. With a wheee she rotated halfway around until the Gamer was faced with her round ass rather than her delicious chest. Cascading green hair, longer than she was head to toe, slowly followed the whirl. John grabbed it, wrapped it around his hand once and used it as a rein.
It is time, he confirmed, rubbing his cock against her drenched pussy. Several drops fell to the floor in gooey strands, and Sylph looked over her shoulder in perverted delight. The babbling girls red lips contorted into a giant, lewd grin when he prated her eager cunt. As much as he loved the sound of her voice, in situations like this, the drawn-out shout she let hear, was much preferable to the stream of nonsense.
A scream that was echoed by Gnome quite intensely. Losing no time, John started thrusting. Satisfying ps echoed over the sun deck, every time he mmed against Sylphs ass cheeks. She was practically made to be fucked standing, light andpact as she was. That her elemental pussy was so easy to prate helped the matter. The turbulent energies that made up her body reacted to his every thrust. Electricity and walls made from solid wind, for theck of a better description, intensified the more force he put into his own movements.
Lightning of raw pleasure rushed up Johns spine. Fucking any of his elementals was always a unique experience. With one yanking movement of his left, he pulled Sylphs back against his chest. Is this what you wanted? John asked, reaching around the thunderstorm elementals tiny waist and spreading her pussy like Gnome had done earlier.
The brte never gave an answer. At least not as far as words were concerned. Mouth open wide, letting out one heavy pant after the other, she was too busy staring at the ce where Johnsrge erection was repeatedly sinking into Sylph. The rhythm of her pumping fingers soon matched that of Sylphs bounces.
Groaning in a deeply satisfied fashion, John kept his eyes on Gnome while biting one of Sylphs elf-like ears. While Sylph wasnt one of the true masochists among his girls, it was fair to say that she had at least a little bit of every fetish inside her.
So hard Even now, the thunderstorm elemental was pvering about. Her nonsense had broken down to such a degree, however, that John couldnt help but find it hot. Cock messssss mhm-me up more I want to be more of a mess mhm ahh hard harder bounnncing so much
John had to tense both of his arms to keep Sylph from flying off in her ecstasy. One orgasm after the other, he fucked into her, just like Gnome was bringing herself to one after another. For the briefest of moments, he considered taking the Mand Sphere out of the observer position and get Jack involved. He decided against it, there would be ample opportunity to test how Gnome would react to watching and getting fucked at once another day.
Instead he concentrated on what was happening right now. With Sylph at the mercy of his supreme lovemaking skills and Gnome of her own fantasiesing to very real fruition after months of hiding, he didnt need to have any qualms about indulging himself. When he felt his lust rise beyond the levels offortable pleasure and into the realms of ever-increasing heights, he took a step forward.
One step and he stopped, fucking Sylph thoroughly for ten seconds so she didnt have any time to calm down. Then another step, same rhythm, a third and he was directly in front of Gnome. He raised his left leg onto the bench and leaned forwards. With wordless mental instructions, he got Sylph to grab the back of the bench left and right of Gnomes head.
The prated cunt was now in front of the soil elementals face. John could only see her nk expression, wiped clean thanks to raw passion, due to the Mand Sphere providing the alternative angle. His own eyes were glued to Sylphs lean back. Although not his favourite part of the female physique by any description, anyone who thought there was nothing attractive about the smooth skin and shifting muscles just hadnt found the right woman to marvel at yet.
With her gripping the bench and his better footing, John was able to double his tempo. Sylph howled her lust high into the air, her head forced back due to Johns persistent pull on her hair. His breathing went louder and louder as he pushed himself to the edge of what he could do. Muscles tensed and his lungs burned, but he didnt let up, not until he felt that final thrust that connected with Sylphs squishy ass with a loud smack.
Just as he came and made Sylph forgot where up and down was through rough fucking and mana intensive seed, Gnomes mouth formed a big O. A silent scream apanied her entire body spasming. One of her legs slipped off the bench as her hips violently darted from the cushion. Luckily her grip still kept her in ce.
The intense and blurring motions of her hand turned the clear liquid that squirted from her pussy into a messy spread. In several waves, Gnomes intense orgasm found a physical outlet, second only in force to the repeated pumping of Johns cum into the greedy and, for once, silent thunderstorm elemental.
Warm sunlight on his back made this entire climax that little bit better. The freedom of doing it where he wanted, the knowledge of having given Gnome a show intense enough to get her to squirt by her own hand, theybined into one satisfying orgasm for him.
John didnt even realize he was holding his breath until he suddenly exhaled, his second orgasm ebbing away. The two girls with him on the open deck were nowhere near recovery. Sylph was a jabbering mess and Gnome didnt recover control over her limbs for several minutes. Sometimes she would just suddenly shiver and moan, an intense aftershock running through her. Only when that hade to an end, John slowly pulled out of Sylph.
Want to go on in the more traditional way? he asked, his now freed cock hanging almost directly in front of Gnome, as erect as ever. The soil elemental gathered her breath as best she could, blushing and biting her lower lip at the same time. Her immediate kink cravings were satisfied, but that didnt cure her horniness. In many ways, it only made it worse. It was predictable, therefore, that she eventually leaned forwards and started sucking on her summoners dick.
There was still a lot of her birthday to celebrate.
Chapter 717 – Relaxed Times
Chapter 717 C Rxed Times
Improvements are slow, but I did gain another level recently, John reported and dismissed the window. The higher my level gets, the harder it is to just grind more out. As potent as my powers are, seems like Gaia still wants me to work for the incredibly high echelons of might. He reached out for the cup of cold water in front of him.
It was another hot day in New York City. 28 degrees Celsius on high humidity and with no clouds in sight. Even being outside the Hudson Barrier didnt help much, only the softest of breezes asional rolling about. As it was, there was only the veranda of the caf in whose cooling shade they, and many others, had decided to escape to.
By all descriptions, John was faring better with the heat than his solepanion. Be it because he was regrly cuddling with a fire spirit, the general cuddling heat generated when sleeping in his bed, Gamers Body or the enchanted clothes he was wearing, his sweating was kept to a minimum and he was rtivelyfortable.
Marie, on the other hand, was steadily fanning air into her face, using the menu. The ck-haired French aristocrat wasnt doing badly in the heat. The tanned colour of her skin indicated she had spent more than a bit of time around the Mediterranean parts of her homnd and was used to warm weather. Regardless, the motion never stopped.
The steady flow of air lightly swayed therge brim of the sun hat she was wearing. It was a stylish piece, sharing its ck colour with her hair and the summer dress she was wearing. An article that was clearly designed for Johns viewing pleasure. Tightly sticking to her body, it emphasized her decentlyrge breasts and lean figure. Gold embroidery formed stylized swords and the fleur-de-lis, abination of the Damocles house and traditional French royal iconography.
John was rapidly developing an appreciation for these sleek and sexy dresses. It was very possible they would soonnd among maid outfits and lingerie on the list of clothes he was immediately attracted by. It would be an acquired taste, in this particr case, but a genuine one regardless. Repeated exposure to new things did widen the horizon, after all.
Your steady growth iz enviable, Marie answered, changing the angle of her fanning from her face to her cleavage. A gesture that got her more than a bit of attention. The caf was packed to the brim. Aside from the weather, the location also drew people to this ce. It was just across the street from Central Park.
Most people had the decency of looking away. A few of the rougher looking types didnt care about such things and were openly taking Maries disyed curves as an invitation to feast their eyes on them. Something generally fixed when John managed to get their attention and give them the most intimidating stare he could muster. Thebination of his now clearly muscr build and 100 Charisma did ensure that anyone of that category of men caught this way kept their eyes to their table afterwards.
A second group was also staring at Johns date and, personally, the Gamer disliked those a whole lot more. The working-ss folks may have been rough around the edges and unkempt in their behaviour, but at least they were straightforward. Compared to that, the suited-up hyenas that were hanging around, unting their influence through clothes and bragging flirts, made John feel sick.
Not to say that everyst person that looked remotely rich in this caf pissed John off. There was tactless scum to be found in every social ss across every time in history. The majority of either category were good people that kept to themselves and nced asionally as the male gaze was directed by base instincts. Of the two outlier groups, John just disliked the rich ones more.
Zheirck of respect seems to offend you, Marie noted the obvious and leaned forward, pushing her breasts up by resting them on her arm. A cross-shaped pendant dangled between the emphasized juiciness. The hint was rather obvious.
John stopped ring at everyone around them and returned his gaze to her. If she wanted to be looked at, the Gamer was happy to oblige. Yes and no, he admitted. Ill admit that Im not used to going ces where people dont know my face. That normallyes with at least respect of power. I like being reminded that Im not that special to the mundane world atrge. He sipped from his cold water; the ice cubes were shrinking by the minute. People staring at my date, however, is disrespect I dont take lightly in any setting.
They cannot be med, Marie managed to formte that sentence without her ent dominating every word (although it was still very much present). I have a body men desire, it iz only natural for them to look. They have no other choice. John considered if he should mention her self-aggrandizement issue, but she moved on before he coulde to a decision. I was surprised, however, that you suddenly asked me out today.
I happened to have an empty afternoon. John smirked; since Gnomes birthday, three days had passed and it was now Saturday. Most of my girls are busy with organizing things or going after their hobbies. I thought I should pay you a visit.
As much as I deserve your attention, her phrasing was as arrogant as ever, I have to ask if you truly have nothing better to do? Your guild is going through interesting times. I wouldnt want to distract the hero of his tale while sharpening his sword.
Interesting as they may be, they are also rather stable. John shrugged. Really, the most pressing thing I did today was learn about traffic rules through some good old practice.
What is zhe purpose of that knowledge? Marie asked and leaned back. Now that she had his attention again, there was no need to emphasize her breasts like that. Instead, she sipped from her own drink through a straw, which was its own, less blunt disy of sultriness.
Ive been doing a crash course the past few days. Well, Aclysia, Beatrice, Metra, Jane and I, to get theplete list. Were finally getting our drivers licenses. He emptied his five-dor ss of ice water and leaned back in his chair. About time. Always relying on taxis was pretty annoying. The test is on Monday.
I expect you will pass? Marie asked, only to prevent the conversation from bing a monologue.
Theres basically no question about it in the case of the maids and I. John let out an amused sound. In Janes and Metras cases, they might fail because they fool around. Im surprised they even got through the theory part. They thrive more on the practical side of things.
Failing to get both in bnce is a shameful disy. Marie shook her head quite intensely making her straight, ck hair fly off her shoulders for a moment. A rulers significant other should never be a hindrance. It would never happen to- She stopped when John audibly mmed a finger on the t surface of the table.
He would have gone with the entire hand, he was easily mad enough for it, but he didnt want the entire verandas attention. Worse than that, if he didnt carefully control himself, he was almost certain he would break the table. As such, one finger had to do and it did. Youre doing it again, he warned her.
Doing what again? she asked, furrowing her brows in a confused fashion. Theck of self-awareness caused John to let out a frustrated groan.
Youre insulting one of those dear to me while alsoparing yourself positively, heid it out clearly for her. You did the exact same thing towards Lydia the first time we properly talked. Honestly, I have threatened people over insults alone. Youre lucky that youre witty and attractive, otherwise my interest in you would have withered away the first time around.
The directness of those words had Marie taken aback. I apologize, but you brought up her personal failings and-
Its not a failing, John interrupted her again. Its a w and she is working to counteract it as best she can. We all have them. I made a joke about it and she is probably going to pass anyway. Jane isnt stupid, she just doesnt care for rules and regtions. You would be well-advised to stop thinking of yourself so highly if you want us to ever be something. Im not sure I can stomach any further degradation of my loves and Im very sure that the rest of my girls wont tolerate having you around in the harem proper, unless you improve.
Silence settled on the table afterwards. Once the initial rush faded, John knew that he had said a lot of things and perhaps a bit too harshly. He had meant all of it, however, so he didnt offer an apology. Marie finished her drink as well. They both looked at their hands.
Right up until someone approached the table. John guessed it to be the waiter, but instead found one of the earlier identified suited hyenas stepping up to the table. Leaning onto the table, his shoulder blocked Johns sight of Maries face. Presented only with the mans back, the Gamer had no immediate way to get attention without immediately resorting to physical means.
Hey there. The guy had a well-trained smooth voice. He was probably attractive as well. At the very least, his body shape was in the fit area. If you want to have a better time, why dont you leave with me? The guy must have seen that their talk had gone pretty sour pretty quickly and swept in at the first opportunity.
Maybe vulture is more urate than hyena, John thought, ready to do something. Ready to stand up, he heard Maries voice.
Youre not a man half-worthy of my time, she said in a sharp tone. You carve no destinies and find no new paths in broken worlds. Search for your better time amongst your opportunistic kind, zhere is nothing I have to discuss with someone rude enough to interrupt an honest talk with the impure ambition of a lust-seeking cur.
Wow, didnt realize behind that pretty fa?ade would be a babbling fucking weirdo, the guy cussed, but didnt back off. Fine, I wouldnt have bothered if I had known that anyway. What kind of fucking asshole are you when I was so ni-
John grabbed him by the shoulder, no longer interested in being a bystander. Do us all a favour and back off, the Gamer said quietly, as they had garnered more attention from surrounding tables than he liked. Mydy isnt interested, and I assure you, you wont like what happens if you harass her further.
The vulture of a man opened his mouth to respond, but his open mouth only produced a high-pitched sound of pain when Johns grip intensified. Like iron bolts, the tips of his fingers pressed between muscle and bone. When he rxed his hand, the guy immediately backed off, threw another series of curses, but kept his distance.
For a moment, John expected Gaias Ire toe his way in at least a small way, but it seemed he had measured his strength well enough to be believable. He didnt sit back down, with all the eyes on him now, John wanted to be somewhere else now.
Let us move elzewhere, Marie suggested, evidently of the same mind. They quickly paid their bills and were then on the road. Their steps brought them further north, away from the central park and the Hudson Barrier. For no particr reason. Im genuinely sorry for offending you, the French noble spoke up. I will reflect on it, or attempt to, zhat is good enough, no?
Good enough? Well see, but its all I ask for. John kept the truthful theme going and they continued on. By the way, I have a question, he gestured towards her breasts, but for once not for their sake, that pendant, are you Christian?
In a certain sense, Marie said, the word sense changed tremendously by her ent. In my family, we study the Bible extensively. You might imagine, with our ancestor, that we take the scripture more seriously than others in the Abyss C to my houses benefit.
Its not the worst holy work to get inspired by. John had an easy time agreeing to that. Although he was cherry picking the quotes he observed, and wouldnt call himself anything short of an atheist (in the sense of not believing in any of the mundane religions), influences of the Bible on his western mind were undeniable. I guess the more interesting question is whether or not you believe in God.
Zhat is rather difficult a question, Marie answered. Something has to stand at zhe beginning of everything. Is it a consciousness? Is it another entity zhan Gaia? I fail to find a definitive answer to these questions.
Even with the extra knowledge John had, that they were likely something the supreme deity dreamt up, those answers were hard toe by. Who was to say there wasnt something a level above Gaia that had made her? Who was to say there was nothing above that, even? It reminded John of the Hindu idea that the elephants holding the world were standing on turtles and that it was simply turtles all the way down. A logical loop that beckoned an impossible exnation.
Regardless, I believe there is something that watches over us, whatever it may be, Marie answered the question with a shrug. It may be na?ve, but it frames zhe world in a way that makes sense to me. I would call myself a Christian, but not a particrly good one.
Interesting I would be happy to discuss the theological at some further length sometime, John told her. I like asking myself big questions. It reminds me that I dont have the definitive answers for everything, and Lord knows I need those reminders, he chuckled.
Your conduct is arrogant sometimes indeed, Marie responded.
Look whos talking! John responded in an overtly dramatic fashion, then they bothughed. There was some hope for her attitude, if only he could drum some more self-awareness into her head. Which reminds me, he continued on, maybe we should visit a church?
Do you want me to repent in front of the Lord? Marie asked with an amused fashion. Swear my oath of betterment before the cross? An effective strategy, maybe.
Not what I had in mind, but lets go with that, the Gamer responded. Who knows, maybe youll witness what I was getting at and I will have something to tease you with.
You have stirred my interest. If it is another part of your tale that is worthwhile to record, then I will be happy to witness it with my own eyes. Adjusting her head, she waited while John grabbed his smartphone from his pocket and looked for nearby churches.
As it turned out, there was a cathedral not too far and its name was too fitting not to aim for it. ording to the trivia, it was thergest Protestant cathedral in the world, despite being only two-thirds built due to funding problems.
They were heading to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Chapter 718 – Angels and Intel
Chapter 718 C Angels and Intel
John still loved cathedrals. Sure, they were overdesigned pieces of immense impracticality, but that was part of the point of their existence. Cathedrals were the highest ces of worship; their entire purpose was to make one feel the presence of God through their design. Even from the outside, the church loomed in an odd way above John. In one way, it imposed him, on the other, he felt respected.
The idea that an inanimate object, a building of all things, could respect him was incredibly odd. Regardless, that was his impression. Marie waited for him with one of her slender eyebrows firmly raised. You look at this building with more veneration zhan a sweets addict looks at a chocte orange.
Thats less bloomy than your usual metaphors, John couldnt help but respond with a joking observation.
It is a- Marie began to correct him.
A simile, yes, sorry. John waved off. Potato, potahto. Anyway, I just really like big stone buildings with impressive windows and cultural value.
As a leader, I find function to be more important zhan form.
In this case, form is the function, John retorted, causing Marie to fall silent for a second.
Then she bowed her head in a literal disy of bowing to his wisdom. Touch, she conceded the point, and they finally headed inside. The second they were past the grand wooden door, the French noble looked to her potential lover with anticipation. I am awaiting this surprise of yours.
Hmm, well see if it happens at all. I dont have control over it, he told her.
Is it another part of your Gamer abilities? Marie wondered.
Hesitantly, he shook his head. No, I think this is something else that Gaia just tangled me up in. I dont know exactly why. He kept his voice respectfully low; this was still a church after all. Honestly speaking, Im looking forward to what she pulls out of her head next. Gaias involvement, indirect as it is, usually works out to my benefit, even if I have to dance around like a monkey for her amusement.
Your powers, your life and your character continue to intrigue me, Marie chuckled. It is no wonder that you attract such a circle of capable and beautiful women. The willpower you disy in handling so many at zhe same time ismendable.
So, you can makepliments, John acknowledged in a surprised tone.
Rolling her eyes, Marie responded, Im fully capable of zhepliments. I do not often have reason to praise aspects of strong characters. Zhere are many more weaknesses in others that need addressing.
Well, do less of thatst bit and more of the praising and youll make a lot more friends, John told her as they arrived in front of the altar at the cross section. Do you want to take that oath?
Hmm. Now it was on Marie to hum thoughtfully, taking off her hat and looking up at the cross and Christ hanging from it. cing the hat on a nearby bench, she then joined her hands in the typical prayer pose, closed her eyes and lowered her head.
John had expected her to say what she swore out loud, but she kept it between herself and God. On a surface level, this annoyed him, just because he wanted to hear her say it. If she took her faith moderately seriously, then her making that oath quietly would be more effective though. Words to other people were fallible in formtion. Words to God, if one believed in that, for those only intent really mattered.
I have offered and I have asked, Marie broke her silence and picked up her hat again. We shall see if that haz any impact on my behaviour you regard as positive. I will expect something to be offered to me in return.
Is that so? John asked and would have hugged her in a very indecent, butt-touching way were it not for their surroundings. Instead, he opted to do what was allowed. Taking hold of her chin, he turned her towards himself and looked into her dark eyes for a little while. I dont think you should feel entitled to rewards because you fix a w of yours, he told her, but I will happily offer you encouragement.
Her rebuttal had to wait, as John bowed down. It was their second ever kiss, longersting than the first one, but no less tender. Tongues carefully explored past their usual boundaries and the intertwining of their lips was a slow motion. The wet smacking that underlined the end of it echoed in the quiet cathedral.
You have given me a lot to think about, John Newman, she whispered when they brought some distance between each other again. It irks me that you cannot stop criticizing me, but I prefer your honesty to the boring home I left.
Im often told things like that. John grinned. That Im difficult but enjoyable. I guess that goes to show that I have something to offer that you are willing to muddle through difficult conditions for.
Oh hey, there it is, he, rather cryptically, tagged onto what he had said before that window suddenly popped up. Reading through, he found the price reasonable and the different rewards quite interesting. Favour was useless, he didnt have any Ire. Even if he did, the amount cleansed was pretty low. Regardless, something to stay aware of in the future. Between Luck and Intel, he preferred Intel. Items werent something he wanted for, and if he was targeting something specifically, he could just grind it out. Intel was harder toe by and intel by the supreme deity herself was surely something worth his while (especially since she guaranteed as much).
There was another thing that piqued his interest. He already knew that Gaia was trying to reincarnate someone from the previous Quest he had gotten in this affair. Now he also had the confirmation of the persons gender. Which quite clearly meant that the nice booty that had been previously promised must have been hers.
John pushed the button, and immediately the air changed. Turning his attention to above the cross, the Gamer was able to witness the formation of the figure.
Specs of golden energy appeared out of nowhere and coalesced into a humanoid shape. The radiant glow made it impossible to nce at any distinct features, but now that John was aware of the gender, he thought he made out the outline of breasts and a feminine waistline. That may have all been confirmation bias though.
Golden feathers of a metallic lustre reached out behind the beings back. Those wings, he could see clearly. They were immense; evenpletely folded they quintupled the width of the angel. Something was off about them, however. The way they moved seemed hollow. It was as if they werent properly solid. Like there was no flesh those feathers attached to. Instead, it seemed the golden quills just hovered at the position they should have.
The one other thing that John could clearly see were eyes of verdant green, the colour of Gaias hair and life itself. They stared at John with mild curiosity. Strands of hair, their colour consumed by the glow, flew around her head in a heavenly breeze and a halo hovered above.
Do you see tha- John asked and looked down to Marie, whose eyes had turned bloodshot. It was of such intensity that it felt ufortable to just look at. Directing his gaze back at the cross, the angel was already gone again.
I saw a glimpse of wings, Marie mumbled and then closed her eyes, glorious golden wings on a golden body She reached for Johns arm. A beautiful sight, but I require eyedrops now.
I wonder why I oh, the contact lenses, John answered his own question before he had fully formted it. If the raw sight of the angel was too much for human eyes, then the fact that he didnt have those anymore would protect him. An unintended but positive side effect. Also only a theory. Looking around, none of the mundanes had noticed anything. At least that was consistent with past appearances.
I dont have eyedrops, but we can get out and start with some water, he told her, while his reward Intel appeared. It was a window with quite a bit of text to it. A location, basic information about the people inside it and what they were doing. John read it all very carefully. and then we might have to end this date early
_____________________________________________________________________________
You sure you insist? John asked Marie, about twenty minutester. They were talking, while nursing her back to rtive health. Eyedrops and some water really were the best that could be done to help her. Luckily, that was also enough. The red colour had greatly diminished and all that stuck around now was an increased rate of blinking.
To do any more than that, he would have needed Undine but the slime girl was still in the Hudson Barrier. While the elementalscked the ability to enter or leave barriers by themselves, they were perfectly fine if left inside them. Unlike the first time this had happened, when Nathalia had suddenly carried him off into an adjacent Illusion Barrier, they now had the increased distance perk. Through some arcane machinations, that allowed them to stay in contact, even if the connection quality suffered. For something like this, he wouldnt have expended a teleport cooldown, however.
very is deeply dishonourable, Marie simply stated. I want to see it fought and abolished at every turn.
Seems more like an American or British mindset to have than a French one, John joked and earned himself a poisonous nce that could havee straight from Lydia.
Zhe world likes to forget that the French abolished very before either did, she stabbed his chest with a finger. Her honest annoyance emphasized her ent immensely, While zhe world atrge iz often disappointing, I ezpected better from you. Stupide, trs stupide!
Je vous demande pardon, he quickly apologized in French. Was just meant to be a joke, the French have made numerous historical contributions.
Youd do well to remember zhis, Marie crossed her arms. You Americans like to joke about white gs and boast your aplishments, seldom remembering that your independence was thanks to our contribution.
John could only nod, to show he agreed and to dissuade her. It seemed to work, so he returned to the original topic. If you insist on tagging along, I wont say no. It just wont be pretty by any description and thus not what I would normally want associated with a date.
Im not a weak-willed woman that needs to be protected from bloodshed, I am Marie of house Damocles, the Illuminatis foremost family, the same insisted, and it was decided.
Your foreign affiliation is exactly why you should think carefully about getting involved, John reminded her. If you insist, then I will not stop you, but whatever consequences are born from this are yours to bear.
Im no patron god, I bear no obligations to withhold myself. Brushing an unruly strand of her ck hair behind her ear, Marie stood her metaphorical ground. Aside, zhese are only ve traders, no? Nothing for anyone to take offense over.
As far as the Intel goes, yeah, John confirmed.
What he had received from Gaia had been the location of (hopefully) New Yorksst remaining ve trader guild. How they had survived the past few months was a mystery John would look extensively intoter. That their location was overlooked was easily exinable. As long as they were outside of the border of the Hudson Barrier, hiding from anyone who wasnt a Fateweaver was quite easy.
How they received new humans to sell and had arranged to get things done without Scarlett being notified in any fashion, however, was the more mysterious part. For thetter, exnations could be easily found. As far as the former was confirmed, John would look into the part the police force dedicated to this area yed. There werent a lot of people, so any corruption should be quickly identified.
Along with the location, he had also received the levels of all members of that guild. Information that would have been valuable for other organizations, but was limited to twelve people in this case. Twelve people of no particrly impressive numbers or standing. Which was also why John had decided to end the date in favour of waltzing in there by himself and cleaning things up.
As much as he preferred spending time with Marie, if he allowed the misery of whoever was stuck down there to continue for longer than needed, he would have felt like the scum of the earth. None of that showed on his face, though. For the moment, he kept calm, almost joyful. There was no need to channel his anger before it was actually time to strike.
We cant know if they have customers or other potential threats present, though, he gave her to mind.
Zhen why are you going by yourself?
Because I have six lifelines to burn and am basically guaranteed to have control over the Protected Space once I get in, John told her. Im just saying that I cant guarantee that I can protect you.
I wont need your protection, she stated, my decision is made.
Chapter 719 – Clearing out.
Chapter 719 C Clearing out.
On the mundane side of things, the ce they arrived at was perfectly inconspicuous. Just another street in northern Manhattan, filled with apartment buildings and corner stores. There was some minor filth flying around thanks to a couple of crows that were picking apart a garbage bag that had been left out for collection.
They flew off when John and Marie walked by them. Once they had passed, the crowsnded on the floor again. Circling their previous scavenging site, they returned to it once they knew they were safe. John only spotted some half-spoiled avocado remains being slung down their greedy beaks before he focused his eyes on what was in front of him.
Once they were at the correct address, both he and Marie raised their arms and entered the Illusion Barrier.
That answers one question, at least, John thought and checked his phone. While it was still functioning, the signal was jammed. Scarlett couldnt have located this ce no matter how hard she tried. That made it easier for those people to slip under the radar. Im still going to have an investigation into corruption. You ready? the Gamer asked hispany.
Marie reached into her pocket dimension and retrieved a book. Once fully in her hand, it flew open. The pages scattered into the air, forming a whirling cocoon of white and dark blue around her, the handwritten words blurring in the motion. After about three seconds, the pages flew back towards her hand.
Folding and sticking together through magic, they attached themselves to the transformed leather. What had been a hard cover was now the grip of a sword, with the pages soon finalizing into the shape of a de. It looked quite elegant, a gently curving, broad de, as thin as oneyer of paper. The individual sheets that made it up disappeared, their borders melding away, words spreading out equally over the length of the weapon.
John found that quite fascinating. He had no idea about the powers nor level of Marie, he just assumed both to be potent. As far as he knew, the Damocles family session was dictated by who was acknowledged as strongest by the current house head among all members of a generation. Marie herself had two siblings and doubtlessly a few cousins that John didnt know about. Still, she was the sessor, that had to count for something.
A Papersword, Marie said and lowered the finished weapon. As uncreative as zhat is, I believe thats what you call me. She must have read the question right from Johns mind. John saw several words on the de re up and the ink simmer away, like water through a filter. Just as they had vanished, Marie began to turn invisible. Im ready, yes.
Does she get to store spells in the ink of her sword or how does that work? John wondered about the implications and possibilities of that. I would assume the stronger the spell, the more ink is necessary and she only has so much room? Is it a per character thing or could she have a massively powerful spell that is just written as fire? I have so many questions. Regardless of any of that, he trusted that the French woman had his back and approached the door.
Contrary to his initial belief, supported by other ces of this nature that he had raided before, this ce was clean. Cleaner than the street they hade from, visibly, and very clean in general. Everything inside the barrier was clearly being checked on regrly, the walkway had not a single stain on it and the building that reced the apartment building that stood there on the mundane side of things was a mixture of mansion and fortress.
Marble walls rose three stories high in their white and ck glory, interrupted byrge windows. The frames were reinforced metal and all blinds were drawn shut. The five gold-trimmed steps at the front led to a solid steel door, likely several inches thick. The t roof was separated into two levels, a high middle and two lower side arms. On top of the middle one stood a person, looking down at John as he approached.
No rm had been rung yet, although John could distantly hear the nervous chattering. He had been spotted and they werent happy about the fact that Marie had disappeared. Wonder how they aremunicating. Low range walkie-talkies? Those would be safe from Scarlett and Technomancers in general, unless she got into the barrier.
He approached the door and saw someone slide open a piece of metal, allowing them to look outside. Normally, in those situations, one would be asked name and intent, but John only heard the words, Shit, shit, SHIT, SHIT! as the visor was violent mmed shut again.
Appropriate, John drily stated as he equipped Purgatory, along with the rest of his battle gear, and used Active Aura for the first time in forever. Mana surrounded him as a fiery aura, bundled into Ki within his body and gathered in the joints of his left arm. The Impact Punch collided with the steel door and mmed a fist-sized dent right into it before ripping it out of the wall at the hinges.
The door flew three metres into the room, and John stepped inside. It wasnt often that he used one of the two martial arts he knew, but in this situation, it had felt like the simultaneously cheapest and most impressive way to make his way inside.
ITS THE GAMER! the person manning the door, a sickly smooth looking woman with a nose that looked like it belonged on a bird, shouted into her walkie-talkie. They had wisely retreated from the door in a hurry and were now trying to get away as fast as they could. John paid little attention to the luxuriously designed entrance and extinguished his Active Aura. His Mana Regeneration kicked back into action.
While pulling the Mand Sphere out of his inventory, he prepared an Arc Lance. Waiting until his target was on a natural chokepoint, namely a doorframe, he then unleashed the spell. The good old trick that basically every videogame ever had taught him worked like a charm here as well. To be fair, he was probably over-calcting this affair, his target wasnt even level 30.
The Arc Lance blew away arge chunk of the womans left thigh and caused her to fall over. She tried to crawl away, the Mand Sphere flying past her, but John caught up to her with a couple of quick steps and picked her up with his wless right. He threw her into one of the fantastically designed chairs. Promptly blood began to soak into the seat, flowing from her leg at a massive speed. His attack must have hit an artery or something.
Whimpering in pain and confusion, the woman tried to escape the Illusion Barrier. John could feel the weak pulses from her raised hand whenever she tried. They bounced off uselessly against his grip on the Protected Space. Well, this is a problem. John looked at the wound he had caused. At the current rate, she would bleed out before he was finished here. Should have aimed for the foot
He had three ways to fix this. Letting her leave the barrier, calling Undine (for which he would have needed to leave this barrier, the distance between them was now too great for a mental connection) or the third, very painful option. Painful for her, that was. It was a necessary cruelty, but he needed her incapacitated anyway.
Activating the Cleansing Fire of Purgatory, he pressed his fire engulfed palm against the wound until it was cauterized. It was a temporary solution, but it kept her from bleeding out before John was done there. Please please dont kill me, she whimpered when her body stopped trashing from the pain.
I wont, John assured her to keep her pacified for the moment. By thews he himself had put in ce, the woman before him would either be locked up for a very, very long time or get the death penalty. Truth of the matter was that he needed the witnesses, so keeping her alive for the moment was a purely pragmatic decision. Regardless of that, John didnt like seeing someone in pain. He just epted it as part of the dirty business. You just keep sitting there.
With those words said, John picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed the button at the side. Wherever you currently are, whoever you are, I am willing to ept your surrender. Ill be waiting in the entrance area. He then turned to Marie, who was still hanging around. While she was invisible to him on the Mundane Layer of his vision, he had no trouble spotting her on the Abyssal Layer. Do you want to just wait here with me?
If Marie was surprised that he could see her so easily, she hid it well. Are you seriously going to wait for zhem here? she asked. A spotted fox that waits for his prey at the entrance of their burrow will go hungry.
John didnt answer immediately, as he had to track the movements of his Extensions and the rtive position between the two of them. Well, he said slowly, position calctions taking most of his mentalputing power. I am not one fox, is the thing, he said while taking measured steps through the giant entrance room.
He climbed behind a desk, likely meant to take coats, and then stood firmly where he was. Then he raised his foot and mmed the heel down as strongly as he could. The marble floor cracked, but didnt break. Once more, twice more, changing the angles to spread the destruction equally. After the sixth stomp, something gave. He quickly jumped on the table, the ground caving where he had just stood. Shards of rock fell into an underlying hallway, and John looked down on a person that was half buried under the rubble.
Marie looked over with interest and witnessed as Jack approached from elsewhere in that tunnel. Having found two people at the same time, Johns double had chased them down until they split at a juncture. A n that might have worked had it not been for what John just did.
Even if you cant get away, you still try to hide and hope that I somehow wont find you, do you? the Gamer asked and sighed. Coordinating efforts with himself, the person Jack was holding was thrown up the hole simply and caught by John, like an item on a construction site. Adding the humiliation, John let the man dangle above the hole by the cor of his well-tailored suit. You will tell me everything, he just stated.
A growl was followed by the quick drawing of a pistol from a concealed holster under the armpit. John didnt even attempt to stop the motion. The gun was aimed at his stomach and the trigger pulled three times in quick session. Each bullet bounced of Particle Skin without causing any harm to him. He barely even felt the impact. It was like someone was lightly pping his stomach with their t hand.
Thats just rude, John sighed and tossed the man into the entrance room. Once the second man, who had been knocked unconscious by the rubble, had also been brought up, Jack resumed his scouting of the remaining building. For the moment, John had his double run around aimlessly, basically in search and destroy mode.
I see, Marie finally continued her earlier statement and then jumped down the hole. I will search the building as well. Should I find someone, I will bring zhem here.
I would be much happier if you stuck around Jack, John confessed.
Shaking her head, Marie brushed some stone dust off her dress. Im not a damsel that needs your protection.
No doubt about that well, I wont force you to do anything, the Gamer said and stepped away from the hole. This wasnt really the time for unnecessary small talk. There were people in chains somewhere in this building and the quicker they got those opened, the quicker he would be able to alleviate the pressure on his mind. Then he could make all the jokes he wanted again.
That aside, he had long since learned that there were women one couldnt reason with and that they were sexier for it. Although the submissive types were also wonderful. John just loved them all, really.
John jumped off the table and turned to the man with the gun. Three more bullets came his way, all to no effect. A fourth one struck him in the eye, however. While that didnt cause any more harm than the previous ones, it was a thoroughly unpleasant feeling. Irritated, John grabbed the guns barrel with his left and turned it into a sliced and squished clump of scrap.
You will tell me everything, John repeated, while forcing the man to look into his eyes. Hypnotic Gaze activated. Be calm. The man rxed slightly. Be C Calm, John repeated, putting all of his authority and Charisma into those words. It had the desired effect and the man dropped the ruined pistol. You will tell me everything, the Gamer said for the third time. No reaction. The hypnotic suggestion must have been too broad. Everyone had things they would never say. You will tell me what I want to know about this ce.
I will tell you what you want to know about this ce, the man repeated in a trance, confirming that this angle worked. With the difference in Johns Charisma and the Wisdom of his current target, the hypnosis became basically mind control. Notpletely, otherwise this whole thing would have been even easier.
John skipped the things he already knew, who he was, what rank he had in the organization and other things Gaias intel and his own Observe already told him. Where do you keep the ves?
The merchandise has rooms in either the third story or the second undergroundyer, depending on obedience and value.
John kept his urge to punch the guy for using the word merchandise in check. Barely, when he remembered that this meant most of the people kept here were stuck in some sunless room underground. Punishment had to wait. Violence would rip the guy out of the trance and make further questions difficult.
Adjusting Jacks search priorities, he had his double save those ves underground first. How do you acquire ves?
We run a shop in the red-light district and use it to scout out potential targets with little social connections. Once we get their trust, we lure them here and sell them. We also got some merchandise from the Lake Alliance in the past, but that stopped when the war started.
John tensed up. Which shop?
Reilos Mark.
He rxed slightly. That something like this was going on in the Bay Circle was still quite bad, but if it had been the Little Whirl, John would have felt conceivably more guilty. Especially after the talks he had with the girls there. I guess the ce is a bit too libertarian at the moment John thought. He had resigned himself to some things he found creepy going on there. That an abduction plot could run there, undetected, spoke for the police there being toox.
Do you have any connections to officials? John asked, hoping that rooting out corruption would fix this problem without additional legiture.
Yes.
Who? John asked and received a short list of names, most of which he didnt know. Those he did recognize, he only did distantly. The apparatus of Fusion had grown beyond hisplete control months ago and, in moments like this, it showed in a fashion that the Gamer thoroughly hated. No wonder some people be control-freak dictators.
John had a bunch of other questions for the vers.
Chapter 720 – Responsibility
Chapter 720 C Responsibility
Another word on Maries paper sword simmered away. The edge shimmered with a blue light, crystal clear water flowing as an intense stream towards the tip. Once there, it vanished into nothingness. Whatever arcane machinations summoned the liquid, they didnt give it a long-term existence.
With three quick shes, the French noble carved the lock out of the door in front of her. Jack, who stood next to her, grabbed that sliced up obstacle and pulled it out of the wood. The door swung open afterwards. They had realized that it was safer for whoever was inside if she cut out the locks, rather than punching the door in. Nobody had gotten hurt, but it had been close once and that had been enough of a warning.
The two of them stepped inside and towards the man cowering on the bed. He looked rather frail, feminine and beautiful. I guess the proper term isdyboy, John thought, somewhat surprised to find someone like this here. ves were generally divided into three categories: pleasure,bour and resources. First were the generally fetishized sex ves, whose fantasy John very much was into but whose reality he found appalling. Second were people that had muscle strength to take over all the menial tasks. Third were pretty much Abyss exclusive, people that were either harvested for mana or knew some sort of magic that people found useful.
This guild had specialized in the first and third category. Unsurprisingly, this meant that the majority of people locked away were women. When it came to sex ves, males were the less requested gender by quite the margin, and when it came to the abilities and mana harvesting, gender mattered fairly little. For every five women kept inside the building, there was one guy, just about. In total, thirty-one people had been inside the barrier. Eight guild members, three customers and twenty pieces of merchandise.
Going by Abyssal standards and poption numbers, this had been a sizable operation. That it had slipped through the cracks for this long was terrible. Ill put together a task force that searches all of NYC. If there are other stragglers out there, I need to snuff them all out, John thought. He hated the fact that his own reputation entered his mind during that.
If he had been a good person, he would have only thought about how terrible this was for the victims. Instead the uing articles about this and the general feeling of administrative failure were a chink in his patience and pride that was purely selfish in nature. With a sigh, he stopped fighting against that side of his personality and let it into his thoughts. If nothing else, it was extra motivation to get things fixed. He just needed to be vignt, as always when it came to his pride, that he didnt let it take the steering wheel. That would be one quick and self-destructive trip into narcissism.
Thedyboy was too scared to ask a lot of questions. His level was so low that he was little above a mundane person. No wonder they had feltfortable leaving him in argely unsecured room. Through careful but firm handling, Jack managed to get the guy moving. It was thest corner of the building they had needed to search.
Sitting in the entrance hall, waiting for Marie and his doubles return, John red at the vers and customers. He had separated them from the ves by having one party gather at one wall and the other at, well, the other. Sitting in the middle, he acted as the necessary border. Among the former ves, some had been here short enough or where of generally strong enough character tosh out. Something that John had nothing but sympathy for but couldnt allow.
He felt his control over the barrier slip as a more capable Fateweaver entered. Without any hesitation he let go of it. If he had struggled, he could have put up a little bit of a fight, but he had every reason to believe this were his alliesing in. Just as Marie and Jack came into the room, thetter morphing back into the Mand Sphere, a number of police men entered.
They wore dark blue, greyish uniforms, the usual colour for Fusions officials. The cut was slightly different from the military, looking more elegant and less mass-produced. Disyed on the chest was the proper version of Fusions emblem, sixets in the colour of Johns elementals shing at the central point and fusing into a vortex. The rough form was the same as the flower-like simplified model, but the grade of detail was much, much higher.
There were four of them,ing and scanning the situation. Tagging along with them was a Fateweaver, who wore a regr looking suit, and Metra. Yo, the blonde berserker babe greeted as she walked over. You could have told me you would have a date this fun, I would have tagged along.
Would have somewhat defeated the purpose of the date, John answered as he got up. If I may, Marie, Metra, Metra, Marie, he gestured between the two of them.
Oh, youre the brat that insulted Lydia like an absolute fucking moron, Metra noted and offered her hand to shake.
You seem to have no issue insulting me yourself, Marie stated, ignoring the hand in favour of giving the ancient weapon a long re. With far less reason. Zhat I am more beautiful and more powerful than the empress of Germany is an easily observable fact. Your manners and choice of words is even more beneath me.
Yeah, she is going to be difficult, Metra remarked in Johns direction, lowering her arm. You sure she will be worth the trouble?
Lets keep the answer to yes, John stated in a tone that he hoped shut both of them up with its severity. Im not in the mood for this.
She started it, Marie dered, mistaking his tone for judgement.
Ill end it as well, Metra grinned and cracked her knuckles.
You both shut up, the Gamer growled, and this time the girls noticed that he wasnt kidding. I have no patience for arrogance or strife, not here, not now, is that understood? They both nodded silently, although that initial attempt at a handshake wasnt repeated. Smoothing things over wasnt his current priority. Instead, he waved towards the captain of the present police force.
Mister President, he was greeted with a salute, as per your request, we have brought the detainment vehicle.
Good, John simply answered and looked out the door. It was a rather standard looking car of the transporter variety. Lots of room in the back allowed for a lot of cargo to be loaded in. The cargo, in this case, being prisoners.
Getting detained Abyssals from one ce to another was a bit of a hassle. Usually, they had to be transported through real space. That was somewhat feasible for individuals, but moving groups through the inner city of the big apple was a real bother, especially since the people in question could enter Illusion Barriers whenever they wanted. With that limitation, it was no wonder that people usually murdered their opposition when they got the chance. Moving and detaining was a giant pain.
The workaround John had for this problem was that car. It had a mobile barrier generator built in, only a small one, but it was enough. Having a Fateweaver around to maintain itbined into the ability to move at least weak Abyssals rtively easily. For the case that somebody tried something anyway, Metra was around.
As they had only one of those cars at the moment, they would need to drive them over in two trips. Anotheryer of annoyance, but just how it was when resources were in the process of being built up. This internal focus period is really necessary, John thought. All the funds that had previously gone into warfare and expansion could now be redirected into infrastructure problems.
Start loading them in. Metra, keep an eye on things, Johnmanded the people and things got moving. Taking the captain aside for a second, the Gamer lowered his voice, Ill be keeping a personal watch on this affair. Nobody who doesnt have my express permission talks to these people, no matter what rank they have, understood?
John had already found out who the corruption ended at, thanks to extensive questioning of everyone. Those people would still be running around for a few hours to a few days though, before all the mechanisms to catch them could spring into action. Until then, the Gamer wanted to keep this on the low and efficient.
Somewhat intimidated, the captain nodded and then went to help his men with the task at hand.
_____________________________________________________________________________
I Marie started, very hesitatingly, about an hourter. The situation had been resolved, for the moment. Official questions were made and John had decided to continue their date. To get his head clear, if nothing else. I apologize.
For how you talked to Metra? John asked, having waited for exactly this topic.
For speaking in the way I did, despite promising otherwise, the French noble confirmed. It was unbing of me.
Little steps, John encouraged her and offered her a spoonful of the ice cream he was eating. She took it with little hesitation. To be fair, Metra is a very direct person, he continued. Same as Eliza. We all get along by teasing one another and poking at our weaknesses while also supporting each other when it actuallyes down to it.
That does sound rather pleasant, Marie admitted.
Problem is you cant have that without taking a hit to your ego sometimes, John continued. If your response to having your imperfections attacked is to be rigid and assault theirs instead, while also elevating your own good traits, you donte across as a good person. Basically, it feels like you refuse to y ball.
How do you mean that? Marie asked, confused by that metaphor.
Alright, John put down the spoon to have more room to gesture, look, Im a pervert.
I fail to see how zhat is rted to this. She looked rather confused.
John took the napkin from underneath his ss of ice cream and slid it over the table towards her. Is it true or not? he asked, taking his hand off the paper.
Your sexual exploits are rather renown, yes, the ck-haired aristocrat said. One could even say your debauchery is aedically overblown reality, an epic of erotic proportions.
Alright, so, the ball, he took the napkin back, is now in my court again. The second he had it at the edge of his table, his demeanour suddenly changed. Wow, Im incredibly sorry that I get to live out my desires. As it so happens, Im more attractive and interesting than all the other men you have ever met. He flicked the napkin off the table. And just like that, he continued in a normal tone, the ball is off the court. Thats what you do.
Zhat is an exaggeration, Marie hesitatingly dered.
Sorry to break it to you, but it really isnt, John told her. This is the third time I had to cut into this topic with you today and the very first time we spoke it was an issue. When you canpare yourself to someone to establish your superiority, you do. When you are assaulted in the slightest of ways, you immediately highlight what you are good at, while addressing that the other is worse.
Your own pride issues are rather Marie started but stopped when John leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and making a smug expression. A frustrated sigh escaped her beautiful lips.
You didnt get a lot of pushback growing up, did you? John dared to suggest.
Are you calling me spoiled, John Newman? Her tone was rather sharp. What had started as an apology from her had turned into an analysis of her behaviour. John wasnt surprised that she took that badly. Confronted with their ws in such blunt a manner, most peoples mood soured. He just needed to finally hammer this point into her skull.
Look, I would love it if you were rotten to the core, at least when ites to the bedroom, he joked. That ys right into my own depravity. To answer your actual question, before your beautiful eyes sear holes into my forehead, he said and took a more open posture in the chair. Im calling you arrogant on a pretty deep-seated, subconscious level. Just like I said earlier, if youre working on that, we can get along. He shrugged. If you dont, then I might be able to stomach it thanks to your other qualities, but I can guarantee you that my harem wont have it.
Let us assume it is as bad as you say, Marie stabbed her own ice cream, reducing the artful disy into a multi-coloured mush, how would one go about fixing it?
Well, John bowed down and snatched the napkin of the floor. Lets y ball. He thought about a topic for a moment, then started, You know what the greatest thing about Jack is? My double? He slid the napkin over to her.
She took it and asked, Is it that you can marvel at yourself without a mirror? John couldnt help but giggle, while he received the napkin back. On the attacking front of bantering, she definitely didnt need help.
No, its that I can y two videogames at the same time, he rified and then said, but nice to know what you would do first when getting such an ability. The tiny paper towel wandered over to her.
Like I would waste my time with such frivolity, Marie stated and started to slide the napkin back. When she noticed that John wasnt moving to receive it, instead eating his ice cream and staring at her expectantly, she stopped in the motion. Alzhough it would not be an action without cause? she slowly added, her tone making it sound like a question.
Still self-aggrandizing, but I will bite. John took the paper. There certainly is a lot to look at. Too bad that youre Christian.
What could my faith possibly have to do with my attractiveness? Marie asked.
Taking a dramatic pause, he then asked, What, you arent going to wait with the whole sex thing until youre married?
Obviously not, Marie retorted.
So, youre a dirty sinner?
I fail to observe all tenants of the faith, but I told you earlier that I am no true follower of the church. My values are my own, to have me branded as She realized that he was pushing her mid-sentence and sighed. I apologize.
Dont apologize, John reached over and took her hand, resting on the napkin, keep ying. Lets tug at each other, tease and prod at our little insecurities, show them, discuss them, solve and confront them and build the trust needed to confess the bigger ones. That is what being in a rtionship with me means, Marie.
I think I am starting to understand She moved her hand a little bit, so their fingers intertwined. And zhis is harder than I thought when I made my promise earlier. Court always praised me as good at socializing
You are, without a doubt, charismatic, Lady Marie, John assured her. I just dont think youre good at keeping friends, and I dont know if we can be more than that until that is fixed. He realized he had pushed her a bit into sensible territory, when the folding of their hands became almost a grip of hers on his. You okay?
Ill need time to think, she said with a sad, almost teary, look in her eyes. As much as John disliked being the cause for such an expression, at least this meant that he had gotten through to her. Would you apany me home, John?
Chapter 721 – Getting new toys
Chapter 721 C Getting new toys
John closed the door of the car behind himself and stretched. His driving instructor gestured towards the door of his business, and they both got inside. He was a middle-aged man called Hank, with dark hair and on the chubby side of things. Once his business with him was concluded, the Gamer would probably forget about him in a few weeks.
Alright, that was number 3 in as many days, Hank said, once he was sitting at hisputer. Waiting across the table, John just nodded. After about two minutes, a piece of paper was given to him. Thats your interim license. You know the drill already; the real card will arrive in the mail in about two to three weeks.
The Gamer took the paper with a bored movement. As Hank said, this was the third test he passed in thest three days. Reason for these repeated tests being that he had to prove he could drive different types of vehicles.
Hurray for the efficiency of bureaucracy, John thought, unable to decipher how he could get a bank card in three days but a drivers license took two weeks. One would think that getting a money-holding ount established would take longer than creating a stic card for an already passed test. Making sure there were proper anti-forgery measures in ce could only cause that much extra wait time. Thank you, he just said, taking the paper. At least there were workarounds. So that allows me to drive most things, yes?
You got a B-ss, so you can drive a bus if you wanted to. Hank stopped the typing for a moment to look at John. You were the guy that wanted one of those specifically, right?
Yes. The Gamer nodded. Since, apparently, the standard license only covered vehicles up to 26000 pounds, John had decided to knock out several sses at once so he was on the safe side of things. From looking around, busses were often quite a bit heavier than that. Plus, and this reasoning he understood a bit better than that arbitrary weight limit, buses had a different shape, so they behaved differently in how they were handled.
Truthfully, he would have gotten an A-ss immediately as well, but this was where his young age came in. Apparently, one had to be 21 to drive truck-trailers. Also, to drive interstatemerce and operate school buses. John found all of these things to be incredibly arbitrary, but thats how it was. With the B-ss license, he was supposedly able to drive A-ss RVs without a problem, which was its own sack of confusion.
As he didnt want to re-outfit something the size of amercial truck, the A-ss license was unnecessary anyway. He would have just liked to get it while he was at it. He didnt really need the C-ss either, that one allowed him to drive vehicles that were primarily farming equipment, but he had gotten all of those knocked out anyway.
The actual tests had been rather easy. Written exams were a joke for him. When it came to the actual driving, his life experiences up to that point came in rather handy. Aside from having already steered several kinds of waterborne vehicles, John had also been using Possession for a year. While neither directly tranted to car driving, they had trained his mind to easily get used to different movement rules. That and years of video games. Driving wasnt so different from games. Some buttons were pushed and things happened.
It was a rather dull game with minimal input, but it still helped John to think of it like that.
Well, hope you have fun with that bus then, Hank continued. What are you anyway, some sort of millionaires kid?
Self-made, actually, John said, knocking on the table as he got up. He had no interest in small-talking his day away here, as friendly a guy as Hank was. Ill probablye back in two years to get thatst license.
Sure thing, was a pleasure teaching you. Hank just raised his hand in a simple goodbye wave, then they parted ways.
______________________________________________________________________________
Sess, Aclysia reported with a smile, holding up her own stack of interim licenses with a hint of pleased pride.
Sess, Beatrice echoed, her face as still as usual. There was no emotion disyed on her face or in her bodynguage. The entire procedure had been mere form for her.
When he started head patting both of them, even Beatrice started smiling. They both stretched into the motion like a set of puppies. Good girls, he purred, making them glow with happiness. No more taxi driving and instead getting blowjobs in the back seat makes John one happy master, he continued, while his hands glided over their silky silver scalps. Then he looked over to the other two girls that had been supposed to finish up their licenses today. And whats your excuse for failing? he asked, inpletely amused and teasing fashion.
APPARENTLY, Metra started out in a very aggressive fashion, youre NOT supposed to honk repeatedly at the fucking sack of bones that crosses the street at a snails pace. Cant even threaten to run them over by stepping on the gas, just a little bit!
You were driving a bus, Metra, John pointed out.
AND HE WAS STILL ON THE STREET WHILE I HAD A GREEN LIGHT! the First of Wrath eximed. Urgh anyway, I will have to retake the test another time. Failed because of bad temper that woman can go fuck herself
John could only snicker to himself hearing all of that. That Metra turned out to suffer from prolific road rage was absolutely unsurprising, but pretty amusing regardless. The bigger wonder was that she managed to get through the previous practical tests without anybody scolding her for it. Youll get it done next time, right?
Of course, my king, Metra crossed her sun-kissed arms and scoffed, Ill just scream internally for the duration and maybe murder the instructor afterwards.
Statement: that would be counterproductive, Beatrice chimed in.
YOU THINK?! Metra snapped back.
I know, the passive maid said. Apology: did not think you needed that rified.
You are insufferable.
Truth: and you failed to get your drivers lice- ow, Beatrice was interrupted when John hit her forehead with a karate chop.
Bad Beatrice, he scolded her. You can keep teasing Metra when she is less seething. Anyway, its not that bad. We dont even have our motor home yet, so having a normal driving license is sufficient. Now, Jane, John turned to his girlfriend, how did you fail?
How do ya know I did? Rave asked, kicking the couch she was lying on.
You wouldnt be this quiet if you didnt, John said and sat down on the edge next to her. Grabbing her shoulders, he started massaging. Now, what did ya do?
Broke the speed limit, she grumbled. Like doubled it.
Why did you do that? John wanted to know.
Got buddy-buddy with the instructor, kinda cool dude, felt like I got this and said gotta go fast! and floored the gas pedal, she grumbled. Apparently, not that funny a joke.
Well, normal people die in a car crash, John reminded her. So they arent that fond of someone speeding around in the New York inner city. With a truck.
I did it on a long, empty street! his girlfriend justified herself. Anyway, he was cool enough to let me retry tomorrow
Thats good. John kept rolling the muscles of her neck between his skilled hands, and soon Rave stopped staring at her phone and justid there in a thoughtlessly rxed state. Which was exactly when John raised a hand to smack her yoga-pants wearing ass.
After a surprised half-moaning yelp, she eximed, Ya jerk!
Your jerk, the Gamer pointed out while she sat up. Here is something to make you feel better, he said and pulled her into a loving kiss. He held her face on both sides, scratched her lightly behind the ears, while their tongues intertwined. He let out a painedugh when she, in a motion of minor revenge, pinched his ass, but stayed connected to her lips.
After half a minute, they backed off each other just slightly. Yeah, that helps. She gave him a bright smile and another quick peck on the lips. Alright, what now?
Now, John told her, we take care of the remaining mundane things. He rose from the couch and pulled her with him. They hadnt even been back home long enough to get undressed; John had been thest arrival following the parallel running tests, but he already wanted to head back out.
After all, what was a driving license worth without having something to drive?
____________________________________________________________________________
Last taxi ride of my life I hope, John thought, hearing the guy drive away from him. It had been the worst drive of his life so far. The taxi had been greasy, the driver unkempt, fat and unwashed, and he had steadily flirted with Johns girls. If it hadnt been for the fact that they were moving on inner-city highways, the Gamer would have kicked the guy out of the door. As it was, the only (petty) revenge he could take was not giving a tip.
All of that didnt matter though, since they had arrived at their target: arge car dealership in the western outskirts of New Jersey. Two reasons brought the Gamer to this specific location over any other ce they could have shopped at. One was a simultaneously extensive and expensive arsenal of potential vehicles to buy. The other was that this was a dealership that was owned by an Abyssal. While the wares themselves werent magic, apparently this was more of a hobby business, having someone in the know would make things a lot smoother.
John had announced himself a few days prior, so the second he stepped inside, said owner waltzed towards them. He was anky guy with gelled back, light brown hair and a big, well-faked smile. As far as his appearance went, he was neither handsome nor ugly, he inly looked like someone that encapsted the very concept of salesmanship.
Hello, Mister Newman, Ive been waiting for you! His enthusiastic greeting came with an extended hand. I am Barnie Rubenford, we corresponded over email, as you surely remember!
Given that I initiated the contact, I better. John took the hand, just out of courtesy. He got the feeling this would be more of a headache than he had bargained for. People that talked a lot like this had to be sexy, adorable, funny or authentic to be tolerable. Basically, they had to be Sylph.
A fakeugh echoed through the air while Barnie turned around. Of course, of course. Mister Newman, Ive taken the liberty to prepare some of the things you showed interest in. If you would, I have parked them right over here!
Although the majority of the shops merchandise was parked outside, many of the particrly expensive and visually impressive cars had been stored within. In the silver-white of the highly polished store, they stood out like fine art. Which, to be fair, a car was. Much more than what many proper modern art stores offered, at least. Although John had never been a big fan of this mode of transportation, he had to admit they were quite aesthetic and fulfilled a fundamental purpose. That alone made them more tasteful.
They entered a section where basically all disyed merchandise was painted in darker colours. This was unusual; everything else was either white or some variance of silver to keep with the dazzling design of the building. Their presence and concentration likely meant that Barnie had done his research on John and found out that the Gamer preferred darker colours when it came to his attire. I dont like his attitude, but he is good at his job, John admitted.
First and foremost, we have this. Barnie stopped next to an SUV. V6 Cylinder Engine, over 400 horses strong and ah, what do I annoy you with the technical details. The important bit for you, Mister Newman, is that this baby drives.
Youre right, I dont care too much about the technical numbers. John nodded and looked around it. It was a rather standard SUV. Bulky, somewhat mean looking front, flowing into arge main body. How sturdy is it?
As sturdy as a CAR can be, sir, Barnie answered. The emphasis on the word car was likely to remind John of the mundane nature of the materials used. The windows are bulletproof, frame and chassis reinforced. Whoever you could get into a car crash with better be well-insured, their car would be totaled.
How many seats? John asked.
Barnie pped the roof of the car. This bad boy can fit up to eight people in it. Closing his eyes, John took a deep breath to ignore the meme his life had be. The sound of the door opening made him return to reality and just ignore the mental pain. Theres two seats in the front and two identical, three person benches in the second and third row. He took a step to the side and made an inviting gesture.
Imma check it out, Rave said and went inside. Adjusting the seat and grabbing the wheel testily, she seemed prettyfortable. Checks out, she said, leaning her head back.
The seatse with integrated heater, separately activatable for back and butt, if you pardon my French, the car salesmanughed in a self-indulging manner.
Aclysia opened the back row door. Despite having three rows of seats, there were only four doors in total. The middle row seats needed to be folded forwards to ess the back row and there didnt seem to be a lot of leg space there. It was a space limitation that only a bigger car would have solved. Cleaning? the weaponized maid asked a single word, inspecting the seats and the floor covers.
The seats arepletely covered for fluid absorption, wiping them off will do the trick for all situations, given they are kept in good condition. Barnie winked at John. Dont you worry, Mister Newman, this car will be able to handle the size of your character! As will all the other ones! I have been careful in selecting only the most fitting of customizations for you.
Very considerate, John admitted and stroked his chin.
Can I get a test drive? Rave asked.
Of this specific car? Im afraid not very quickly, Barnie answered with an apologetic bow. If it would be enough for you, we have the same model with other internals sitting outside. It wouldnt need to be manoeuvred out of the building first. Does that work for you?
Ja. Rave got out of the present one as Barnie summoned one of his employees with a double-p, apparently some sort of signal. While his girlfriend was guided away, John took a moment to sit in the drivers seat of this one himself.
It was reallyfortable. ncing to his right, he found it to be an automatic car. There were the brakes and some buttons that could do any number of things. Adjusting the height of the neck support and changing the leg space until he had the optimal angle for handling the steering wheel and pedals, he found himself feeling like he was sitting in a customized box. Exactly how he should feel in a ce that he could spend several hours sitting in.
Mister Rubenford, John spoke up, and the car salesman bowed down into his field of view immediately. Onest question about this one, he kept his voice low, is there support for a mana engine?
None is currently installed, weck the technical know-how around here, Barnie reported truthfully. However, this car isrgely a standard construction and any arcano-technician worth their salt can install a mana engine under the hood rather easily. I wouldnt rmend taking it into public spaces afterwards, however.
John nodded. Arcano-tech had the tendency of being rather easily identifiable as magic, with all the blue glowing and partly hovering bits about it. Alright. Make it so this one is standing outside when were done with business here. I need to get home after were done here. He swung his legs out of the car and mmed the door shut behind himself when he was out. Aclysia did the same momentster.
Of course, of course. Barnie pped his hands twice again and another worker hurried over. While the car salesman gave instructions, John walked over to Metra who had taken a liking to a motorbike.
You want that? John asked, rather liking the way the scantily d, brown-skinned blonde looked at the jet-ck bike. It was one of the more heavily designed variety, lots of stic bits covering it, the engine partly exposed. Leaning forward, she had one foot on the metal protrusion meant exactly for that purpose. The pose caused her ass and toned thighs to stick out rather seductively.
You have a whole bunch of nice tools in this age, the berserker babe responded, stretching even more, now that she was being watched. Honestly boggles my mind that the mundanes came up with this kind of stuff, confined to their physicalws.
Necessity drives ingenuity, John told her. You wouldnt be allowed to drive it the way youre currently dressed though. Quieter, he added, And you cant use a mobile barrier to get around that, as annoying as that is. Although mobile barriers were a technical device, they still required a Fateweaver to power them. When John had asked Magoi about that, the High Fateweaver had said it was a technical limitation that may get solved one day. Currently, however, it was very much present.
Metra grunted and got off the bike. That mobile barriers even exist is another point I can only respect about the modern age. Anyway, yeah, I want this. She knocked against the stic screen at the front.
John didnt even need to open his mouth, Barnie was already right next to him and took the note. A real pleasure doing business with you, the salesman dered and gestured towards the remaining merchandise. I have a bunch of other offers, if you would be interested.
Over theing hour, John tested and bought a number of other cars. Not only did he want a wide variety of vehicles, he also wanted enough that his girls didnt need to bicker over them whenever they needed them. To that end, he bought a second SUV, two more motorbikes, two vans, a bubble car (there could be some necessity) and a standard four-seater.
John got out of thest one, having taken it for a test drive, and nodded in a content fashion. I think thats all I want for now. You have the address of my garage? Since John couldnt really take all of those cars with him, he would just have them delivered to a ce he had rented to store them.
Of course, of course. Barnie nodded several times. I will have them brought there and the keys handed over within the week.
So, in the next two days? John joked, since it was already Wednesday.
Laughing way too enthusiastically at that, Barnie pped John on the shoulder. Yes, yes, Mister Newman, you know how the business world works!
In some ways. The Gamer smiled. Before we go do the paperwork what about the special projects I asked about?
Ah, yes I got in contact with an old timer collecting friend of mine; he is keeping a lookout just for you for that very special thing you wanted. Barnie sighed theatrically. However, no guarantees. Such things are rare. You might be better advised going to an actual car builder and have a rebuild done. As I understand it, you only want the visual anyway.
Hmm, yeah, you might be right you know someone for that?
Ill look through my contacts and will let you know, Barnie promised. As for the other thing, I just got the confirmation that theyll take the job. Your custom limo is being built.
Alright. John smiled and then nodded towards the office. With this arrangement of mundane cars bought, now he just needed to find the time to travel out to the Hidden Tradition to start the building of his personal motorized home and he would be set when it came to cars.
Up next would be working on his pilot license. Technically, he was also in need of a captains license, but his naval movement all happened in mobile barriers, so that wasnt a pressing concern. He would do that whenever he had the time. Once he had all of that knocked out, his mode of travel would be considerably more self-sufficient. A great prospect to have.
Before he could do any of that, however, there was Raves birthdaying up.
Chapter 722 – His girl’s day
Chapter 722 C His girls day
Whyre ya even doing this? Rave asked, taking one blind step after the other. A cloth around her head ensured that she couldnt see anything. Despite that, she walked pretty confidently, being led by the hand by her boyfriend. I told ya I dont like my birthday!
And I told you were still going to celebrate it, John responded in a firm tone. No ifs or buts, except for butts, we can have lots of butts.
Was about to say, that doesnt sound like you, the Lightbearer giggled,ing to a halt when John stopped. So, what is this, my birthday present?
Yup, John said, circling behind her and working on the knot of the blindfold. We pooled some money and resources to get you something. The vision-obstruction was removed. While Rave blinked, her eyes getting adjusted to the light, John put the blindfold into his inventory, to return to its ce in the yroomter today.
Uh, what am I looking at? his girlfriend asked. A valid question, and what John had predicted, even if it wasnt what he had hoped for.
They were standing before a building. Red bricks were orderly stacked, separated by white mortar, two stories high and twenty metres wide. It was a simple building, not in but not extremely decorated either. A short walkway parted awn and led to a double-winged, ck ss door. Its yours, John said.
Ya giving me a basic brick building? Rave asked, looking at him with a simultaneously confused and anticipating look. She knew him well enough to already be aware that there had to be way more to this. Where are we anyway? Is everyone else waiting inside?
Bay Circle C maybe, John answered thest two questions first and kissed the back of her head.
Ya giving me a basic brick building in the red-light district? Raves question was pure teasing, there was no offense taken. Ya wanna start selling me likemon whore or something?
Common whore? I would never! John defended himself. That would be a wasted investment, I could get rich off selling booty pictures alone! She giggled and leaned against him; his arms closed around her almost instinctively. Swaying to the beat of their hearts, they stood on the sidewalk. I didnt want to start decorating the exterior, thats all for you. Now, lets get inside and show you the actual present.
Alright, Rave smiled, the sunlight catching in her wild pink hair, lets see what ya got in store, tiger.
As in as the outside was, the inside was furnished with the highest quality furniture he could find in a hurry. ck and white pieces with lots of polished bitsbined to give everything a luxurious re. That was just the entrance way as well. Resembling the Neonlights ce they had been to in Amsterdam, as well as the Little Whirl, they were first led to a reception desk. From there, the rest of the building could be explored.
John showed her around the upper floor first. There was a kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom, but all of those were only moderately sized, fitting for someone with an average ie, rather than the luxury they were used to by now. That was because all of those were only meant for temporary stays.
The rest of that floor was filled with rooms designed for specific purposes. There was an office, a studio for photography, one for sound and singing and something that John unashamedly introduced as a porn set, including a couch, a bed and a professional stripping pole. Given that it was Rave whose fantasy was to get filmed sometime, she reacted to that with a lightly lewd giggle. Thest room he showed her on that floor held one of the newly avable teleport outposts of the basic range variety. With it, she could visit this building quickly whenever she wanted.
Despite their high-quality equipment, all of those ces looked rather in. Like I said, we didnt want to decorate the ce for you, John exined, while they went all the way down with the elevator, skipping the middle floor. This is your little castle; you can use it however you like.
The doors opened, letting them out at a little elevated VIP area over arge floor. The ground was separated into manyrge square panels, made from a stic that was translucent but still gave an adequate amount of grip for the soles. Four pirs gave the room some structure and minor separation of segments. In the exact middle of the room was a tall tform with a bunch of technical instruments installed into the circr rim. Along the walls were seats, benches and tables, and one wall housed a bar. At the moment, everything was ck and sleek, with some minor, neon decorations.
The area they were on overlooked everything like a balcony. A staircase led down, but John ignored that for now, instead passing thevish couch that stood there and walking to theputer panel installed into the railing. With the touch of a few buttons, he caused the artificial light in the room to dim and be reced with a myriad of smaller, coloured lights. The floor panels activated, glowing at pleasant levels in green, blue, red or yellow, the colours changing positions to a beat that suddenly kicked up.
Aww, ya gave me a disco! Raveughed and took his position at the panel, to y around with the options. Thats such a rich-man sweet thing to do! She stopped pushing buttons and seeing what they did for just long enough to give him a proper kiss. Which took over a minute, all things considered.
No money is worth anything if I cant buy nice things for mydy, John stated. This buildinges fully stocked with booze and all the other fun stuff you could need. How you use it, Ill leave to you. He shrugged. You can rent it out, only use it for private parties every once in a while, use it as your office building, all yours to decide. He booped her on the nose. Just remember that you still have to obey thews about public decency and noiseints.
But wheres the fun in being First Lady if ya cant break all the rules? Rave pouted.
Talk like that more and youre in for a spanking! John warned her.
So ya giving me a reward? she asked with a wink and hit the off button. All the lights went out, leaving them in absolute darkness.
For a moment, John thought she had made a simple mistake, then his girlfriendunched at him. The force of the impact sent him stumbling back. Laughing, he fell into the soft, leathery cushions of the couch. The tour isnt over yet! There are a bunch of side rooms on this floor for different genres and potential fucking, you know, like the Neonlights! he let out the falseint, while his hands found her round butt. In the lightless underground room, the pink lustre in his girlfriends eyes was the only source of illumination and it was only a truly weak one, barely enough to make their faces visible.
I saw the floor n on the console, we can skip that. Securing her ce, straddled over his legs, Rave ran her hands through his short hair. Imma rock your worldter, she promised, feeling his growing erection in his pants. For now, ya just hold me, alright? I want to say some stuff.
John obliged readily, embracing her in a more decent, loving way. Their foreheads and the tips of their noses touched as they looked into each others eyes as deeply as they could. Alright, his voice was considerably softer now, keeping with the suddenly so tender moment, Ill listen when youre ready.
It took a few moments, during which Raves arms came to a still, wrapped around his neck. John, she whispered, very slowly, very carefully picking her words. I love you. I say that a lot, I know, but it keeps being true. Sometimes, it feels like the only thing thats really, actually, doubtlessly true.
There was a pause but he kept silent. This didnt feel like his time to speak. Not yet anyway.
Youre youre just there. For a whole year now, you have been there. Even when you werent around, you were still with me in my thoughts or you still sought me out by whatever phone call or text you could. I dont think there was a single day in the past year in which you didnt enter my mind at least once. Her brilliant blue, pink-illuminated eyes blinked once. The honesty inside them was undiluted, a reflection of love and presence. When I feel like going wild, you give me the space to do so. When I feel like I am going crazy, you pull me back. When I feel vulnerable, youre there to protect me. Being around you makes me a better me. I never knew that I wasnt whole before I met you. As vulnerable as that makes me feel sometimes, I know that you would never take this happiness from me. I know that you and I, were going tost. For that, above all else, I love you.
Another pause, Rave took a deep, audible breath. John recognized the pattern, it was the kind of breath one took to keep turmoil emotions in check. A gulp, then augh.
Rave raised her gaze to the ceiling and blinked a bunch of times. Urgh, she let out a frustrated sound. I thought I could say some sentimental stuff without crying!
If its tears of happiness, I will dly see them every day, John told her in a serious tone.
Oh mahdy Gaia, thats terrible! his girlfriend eximed. What kind of corny, baritone beast are ya and what did you do to my boyfriend?
Well, what sort of sentimental beauty are you and what did you do to my girlfriend?
Shut it, ya big Brainiac nerdbag. She gave him a small headbutt. This is your fault! The first tear ran over her face.
Ill happily take me for that, he said and gave her the small smile of a content man. You dont have to look at me if you feel morefortable like that.
Rave took the offer, their embrace tightening to thefortable maximum. Her wild hair tickled his ear, cheek and nose, but it was all just a tiny botherpared to the adoring wonder that was her warmth pressed against him. Maybe I just want to cuddle you more, ya big jerk, she whispered.
Refusing to answer, letting the tender mood settle back into the dark of the room, John kept silent. He counted. Not seconds. Seconds felt like a horrible unit of time at the moment, an inadequate and mechanical tool, for rational thoughts. No, he counted her heartbeats. The intense, strong pulsing of a loving maidens core, it reverberated in his being more intensely than any other thing could have ever hoped to.
You have given me so much. He didnt realize that it was him talking at first. Because of you, I learned to be confident, learned to be more than I was. Wanting you, wanting to be with you, wanting to be more with you, its what drove me to do better and better. You are the face of stupid childish dreams I had and you made them real and you made them significant. Now he suddenly felt the tears welling up. Youre who made me unfold into who I am today. You believed in me, encouraged me and confided in me. Youre the first real friend I ever had, Jane, and that made all the difference. The sob escaped him, and he partly buried his face in her neck. I love you.
They were both quivering. In the darkness, they felt only each other. Nothing of the remaining world existed. Not many tears rolled, but Johns insides were a sea whipped up into a frenzy by love, the emotion too intense at that moment to be properly controlled.
If I told you he heard a few notes sung wonderfully next to his ear, this was only gonna hurt. He had only heard the song once before, but he recognized it immediately. That dance in Amsterdam had seared itself into his memory. The words of the song, her smile and her genuine love, they had just been as intense in the crowd then as they were in the istion now.
If I warned you, he answered with the second verse, that the fires gonna burn. Together they sang the song from back then. Some of the phrases resonated with terrible precision. A result of random chance, perhaps, of humanity experiencing many variations of the same troubles and eternalizing them in text and song. That rationale didnt take the beauty for him and her out of it.
Would you let me lead you even when youre blind? In the darkness, in the middle of the night?
If I told you we could bathe in all the lights, would you rise up -e and meet me in the sky? Would you trust me when youre jumping from the heights? Would you fall in the name of love?
When theres madness, when theres poison in your head C when the sadness, leaves you broken in your bed.
Together they sang, together they finished. I will hold you, in the depths of your despair, and its all in the name of love.
Then there was silence and still. Their quivering bodies no longer moved, aside from the beating of their hearts and the rise and fall of their chests with every breath. John blinked the remains of his tears away and kissed Raves ear. I will do everything for you, he promised.
Yeah, she kept her answer simple, her tone reciprocal. Were still going to change, arent we, tiger?
For a long time more, he agreed. Theres still much to be done in this current chapter of our lives. Conflicts that could change us because of necessity
Dont ya sound that negative, Rave reprimanded him lovingly, stroking the side of his face with one hand while rubbing her cheek against him like a cat on the other side. Were people with responsibility; therell be a lot of stuff we have to do, but we have each other, we have all our other girls, we have our friends, well get through all of it with them.
Who sounds corny now? John asked with a giggle.
I do, I watch anime, Im allowed to sound corny, she joked in a silky soft tone. If I wanna use the power of friendship, I will!
Im sure, if somebody can manage that reality bending feat, itll be you, he said, inplete seriousness. Nobody else could possibly be awesome enough otherwise Thatpliment came out incredibly stilted, and John blushed when he realized that.
Daww, youre cute when youre awkward, his girlfriend added insult to injury. Then, she suddenly got serious again. Were going to get married someday, right?
Yes, John told her.
Will that change us? For the better? Rave squeezed his head a bit tighter than wasfortable. I dont know if I trust myself there
Youre yourself, Jane, he told her. Were going to be a family. A real and proper one. You, me, Aclyisa, Eliza, Nathalia and all the others of our lovable harem. Things will change and well grow closer together because theres nothing more important than we are to each other. After a few seconds. And the children well have one day.
Well have those Rave mumbled, knowing it to be true and letting out a singleugh at the realization. Whenever I think about that, it strikes me as odd. Yes, well have those they better be adorable!
My genes might make that difficult, John stated. Depending on whether or not Gamers Body rewrites my DNA down to the inheritable chromosomes. Otherwise, well, maybe if the girlse more after my mother than me, theyll look kind of good He got a headbutt again, moderately intense this time. Ow!
Ya ruined it, Rave decided and straightened up. She gave him a little p. Ya ruined the moment with your science and hypothetical talk. Getting up, she summoned a little glowing orb above her finger tip. With it, she quickly found the console and the proper light switch. The disco was flooded with electrical light and John saw his girlfriend stand there.
Despite her choice of words being rather usatory, she had a big smile on her face. Well, sorry that I have honest questions, he said, as things quickly returned to their usual banter. That he could have tearful talks, honest talks and funny talks with her in quick session reminded him of how well theyplimented each other. They were both quick thinking people that took life seriously, but not gravely so. Well, Rave a little less than John, but she was willing to entertain him.
Well, whenever we have a baby, shell be adorable, Rave decided, and shell have my hair.
Gender decided already, have you?
Turned into Yoda, ya have?
Just answer the question, you bootiful vixen, John demanded.
I have a fifty-fifty chance of being right, thats better than my usual odds when I just babble along. Rave grinned. Anyway, ya still have to show me the actual main floor, right? Wonder what ya could have hidden there. I mean, what else is there aside from hobby ce and party ce?
Ah, well John had the feeling she might be underwhelmed by what came next. Either that, or she would punch him in the gut.
Ill just show you.
Chapter 723 – Distanced parents
Chapter 723 C Distanced parents
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! multiple shouts greeted the two of them when John opened the door of the saloon on the base floor. As Rave had pointed out, the upper level was for hobby and private activities while the lower floor was for parties. It was only fitting, in Johns opinion, that the floor in between struck some sort of middle ground.
It was more of a traditional drinking establishment. A simple carpet and wooden furniturebined with the mahogany bar into an Irish pub feeling. Small speakers hung in the corners, the light could switch between many colours, but the former couldnt reach the absurd, teeth-rattling bass levels the subwoofers underground could produce and thetter were limited in scope, variety and switching speed to a make for a less distracting background experience.
The intent was to have a ce where people could have beers and talk without going overboard with their partying. A staircase and two elevators connected this floor with the one below. Another two elevators were sealed off, unless one had the necessary key card. Which, as of that moment, only he and Rave had.
Thank you, thank you! Rave said, looking around the gathered people. The entire harem was there, save the ones of Johns girls still missing or self-exiled. Further than that, Magoi, Mabirl and Magnus Magus had taken the time out of their day to attend. Even Maximillian was there. Although definitely more Johns friend than Raves, the vacationing king got along with the Lightbearer well enough that John felt like inviting him. Really kind of yall to sh- the rest of her sentence got stuck in her throat when she saw three particr people peel out of the crowd.
Regan and Nariko Hollmey walked towards their daughter. Although it had been months since John hadst seen either of them, they hadnt changed much. Both were marching towards their fifties and, despite their advanced levels (especially in Narikos case) showed that more clearly than other Abyssals that John had run into. If he had to take a wild guess at the why, it was probably due to stress.
A man with a stubby, three-day beard of average height and normal brown hair, Regan seemed topensate for the dark rings under his eyes with his odd clothes. Today, he was wearing a stylish, dark blue suit jacket over a bright Hawaiian shirt,plete with palm tree iconography. A bright green bow tie, more fitting on a clown than a businessman, added visual confusion to the already shing outfit. The cargo pants didnt help either. At least his shoes, ck, polished and with darkces, fit with the jacket.
Nariko was a bit subtler in her weirdness. Sure, the traditional Japanese kimono that she appeared in wasnt usual for this part of the world, but at least it was one piece of normal clothing. It had the same midnight blue colour of her dishevelled hair, halfway tamed by a ponytail. Pink flower patterns decorated the robe and the English butler gloves stuck out of her wide sleeves like a grandfather clock in a porcin shop.
A bit behind them, looking a lot more presentable in her green top and jeans, the green-haired Liz Hollmey looked at her parents and older sister with worried nces. An emotion that John shared. Although he had been the one to organize this meeting, he was not quite sure how it would go.
See, I had something prepared for this, Regan spoke up in the silence of his daughter, but then your lovelypanion here, he gestured at a very happily lounging Copernicus, lying on one of the many wooden tables, presented me with the perfect gift for you.
A ss was raised. A regr jar for pickles, the preserved vegetables still swimming inside. It would have been perfectly normal, were it not for the confused, golden crocodile hatchling sitting inside the ss. Looking past the rim, one pickle stuck in his tiny jaw, Stirwin looked around.
Its a croco-dill, Regan boasted.
Everyone groaned. John especially hard, but even everyone already in the room, who must have seen the jar in advance and been prepared for something, was affected by the absolutely terrible pun. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Nariko shook her head.
Only Rave let out a tiny, Heh, and snapped out of her frozen state. Thats just so you, Dad. She walked up and lightly punched his shoulder. Ya cut me off your money, break contact and then ya suddenly show up again and whats the first thing ya say? A pun.
You sound a bit unhappy to see me, Regan carefully suggested.
Whaaaaat? Rave crossed her arms. Noooooo. Why would I be unhappy to see my parents, one of which spent the majority of her life NOT spending time with me, especially on my birthdays, and the other spending the majority of my life NOT telling me why she did that. She turned around to John and waggled her finger at him menacingly. Ya gonna answer for thister, Johnny!
Your polyamorous boyfriend was at least considerate enough to invite us, Nariko stated, folding her arms into the expansive sleeves. Something you could learn from. Weve been waiting for you to call us.
Oh, its us again, is it? Rave asked. Of course, your first action is to berate me, Mother. Whatcha gonna do next, effectively disappear from my life for 12 years and then join the enemy faction during some war against Fusion?
Its unbing of a Hollmey to hold unnecessary grudges, Nariko dered. I did what I knew to be best at the time. Learn, live and move on, Jane, you should have taken at least that much from my lessons.
The happy birthday aura in the room was under serious threat, so the Gamer took some drastic measures. Before his girlfriend could answer and this family drama could worsen, he firmly grabbed Rave by the hand and dragged her towards the bar. Sit down here for a moment, would you? he requested. Her lips pressed together, she nevertheless yed along. The Gamer then gestured towards the rest of the Hollmey family to follow suit, which they thankfully did. Liz led that charge, less invested in this emotional conflict than anyone else.
Dispersing a bit, the remainder of the crowd broke up into little groups that got their individual topics going. They all would follow the happenings with the family somewhat closely though. Drama was always tantalizing. Beatrice, I swear to God, if you or Metra get involved in this, I will do unspeakable things to you, he mentally warned the passive maid that was hanging around a bit too close forfort. Thest thing he needed when dealing with a precarious family situation was a straight-sassing maid delivering robot talk.
Beatrice stepped three steps away from the bar, behind which John took his ce and grabbed a bottle of sambuca. Without asking, he poured four shots out and ced them before the silently brooding family. Liz, to his left, got hers first. Then Regan, Nariko and finally Rave.
Sweet, Liz remarked gleefully, staring at the clear liquid, illegal drinking.
Cheers, I guess. Rave was willing to pull along with this easily, at least. Her mother wasnt, but under the peer pressure of the rest of her family, she caved and all present Hollmeys exchanged a quick clinking of sses followed by the downing of the alcohol. The ring on Narikos left hand showed for just a moment.
Alright, John took the sses back, Jane, I promised in the past to not try and patch up your family situation, and that isnt what this is. He leaned onto the counter and gave her the most serious nce he could muster. If you get along with your parents again or not is up to you, I just wanted to break the radio silence.
Does this mean Im unnecessary around here? Liz asked.
No, Rave answered, looking at her dangling feet, youre the only one thats allowed to stay, guaranteed.
Nice. The youngest Hollmey smirked. Evidently, she was used to the family drama and just took it with some humour.
So, John sighed and looked at the parents, Nariko in particr, I did my part. I wish you would show half the enthusiasm you disyed when I contacted you.
Honestly surprised ya showed up, Mother, Rave added in a mumble. Of all the birthdays, its this one.
I happen to have time now Nariko said slowly.
And ya got back together? Gesturing at the ring, the Lightbearer voiced the obvious question, Its really us again now?
After the Five Day War concluded, Regan chimed in, things went a bit hectic. The Abyss Auction was ready to let your mother go at any given time, should the new ruler of Germany demand it. That was the ploy to retain public rtions from the start.
John remembered theorizing that at the time. Since Nariko had worked with Maximillian, should the gravity king have won, she would have secured expansive trading concessions for the Abyss Auction. A monopoly had to be well-maintained, after all. Having it appear like Nariko was acting on her own was the way they had usible deniability in the case, which hade true, that Lydia won instead.
A demand that has never and will nevere, John pointed out; he fashioned himself a bit of an expert on the mindset of the current ruler of Germany. He had very deep and repeated contact with her, after all.
Yes, Nariko agreed. But the highest echelons remain wary. Germany is one of our most profitable markets, while also having the biggestpetition in the NTC and HTC. My importance in the Abyss Auction was diminished and hasnt been restored since. In respect to my past aplishments, I remain on a high pay, but I had enough time then and my career prospects are frozen, for the moment, so I got into contact with Regan again. The same put a hand on hers, and she took it dly. It took us a few weeks, but we decided to try the whole marriage thing again.
Fantastic that I hear about this now, monthster, Rave said and drummed with her fingers on the bar. Ya know, I actually did send you a message every now and again, right? Its not the weekly updates you demanded I give you, but it''s way more than your noted answer messages! I never got anything else back, so why would I bother inviting you to a birthday I didnt want to celebrate in the first ce?
It would have shown that you possess at least a modicum of adulthood.
Rave took a very deliberate and slow breath. Mom, she then said, youre an entitled twat.
Jane Hollmey, Narikos expression was one of deep disappointment, you will speak to me with respe-
OR WHAT?! the Lightbearer interrupted with a shout and jumped to her feet. The blue martial arts Aura red up around her, activated by pure agitation. Youre going to give me a curfew? Try beating me up? Im stronger than you are and I have been doing fine without you for years! I could go the rest of my life without ever knowing what you do! If all you want to do is scold me for everything, you can fuck right off to whatever hole you crawled out off, you greedy, stuck-up, selfish harpy!
Nariko was actually speechless at this outburst, as was the rest of the room. Rarely did Rave actually curse and fewer times did she get angry. At that moment, the wrath had turned her beautiful face into a reddened grimace. John just opened himself a beer, as Regan looked to him for help in the prolonged silence that followed.
The Gamer shrugged. As far as he was concerned, his girlfriend was absolutely in the right. Granted, he was very biased, he had heard her rant about her parentsck ofmunications for months, but he liked to think he had the objective side of things on his side as well. It was very telling that Brenda had called Rave more times in one month than Nariko and Regan had in the past year.
Unless things got violent or the discussion was getting stuck somewhere, he had no intention of intervening.
I wanted you to have a home, Nariko said, too shaken to make her voice sound anything else than hollow, I thought you understood that by now.
I epted your reasoning, I never said I approve of it! I dont know that home, Rave spat out, her arms flying around as she gestured wildly. Im sure its nice, fuck it, I would love to go there. Just the second we at least talked again, you abandoned any real contact again! I just wanted a family!
I didnt abandon you, you were doing fine, Nariko defended herself.
YOU GOT MARRIED AGAIN! MY JOHN GOT HIS EYES BURNED OUT! Rave screamed from the top of her lungs. AND YOU DIDNT EVEN SEND ME A GAIA-DAMNED MESSAGE! Moments passed and Raves Aura suddenly fizzled out as her voice broke into a quieter tone. At least an offer to talk about things, thats all I would have needed I got that from Dad, I got that from Liz, just you, after all the efforts I made, because I somehow thought maybe we could at least talk to each other when it was important, just you left me alone. John came out from behind the bar to hug his girl, now that she was getting a bit calmer again. I didnt think you could and you somehow still disappointed me She sniffled into Johns shoulders. I fucking hate my birthdays.
Copernicus hopped onto the bar and sat down in front of Nariko. The suncat, to the day one year under contract now, only stared silently at Nariko in that insistent, judging way only cats could.
I Nariko started. Do you do you really mean you would rather never hear from me again?
Of all the things that Rave had said, that had apparently struck her mother the hardest. Yes. Raves answer might as well have been a p. Perhaps, a p would have been more merciful. I would rather have this lingering disappointment in my life than you.
Nariko hid her eyes behind her hand, as she rested her arm on the bar. I am so sorry, Jane she whispered. I didnt know that I thought She never finished any justification or defence for her actions. I am sorry, was all she said at the end of it.
Rave grabbed Johns back intensely. What do I do now? his girlfriend whispered, confused by that reaction. I just needed to unload all of that.
Depends how much you care about your family, John answered just as quietly. You can either throw her out or try to sit down again. Theres no guarantee Nariko will learn from any of this, so you might have the same problem as before if you do. Ultimately, you have to go with your heart.
I dont like what my heart is telling me though, Raveined.
Theres never a way to absolute happiness, only to better days, John reminded her. With a sigh, Rave then removed her arms from his back and began distancing herself.
I hate ya for putting me through today, tiger, she said. We are gonna have a talk about bad surprisester.
John nodded. He deserved that much. Although he had known that something bad was going to happen, he hadnt thought it would go this bad, but given that Rave returned to the bar and sat on the stool next to Nariko, things seemed to go back on the upswing.
Guess I better return to my post as well, John thought and walked behind the bar. As much as he didnt want to be actively involved in the reconciliation, he was still her boyfriend and should at least be around. Also, I think a few more drinks will make this go down a bit smoother or they could have the opposite effect better moderate things carefully.
And that was what he did.
Chapter 724 – Lukewarm relationships
Chapter 724 C Lukewarm rtionships
You were always a good singer, Nariko stated, as if she was reading data from a chart. Thats why I hired that instructor, after all.
Which I really liked, her oldest daughter responded, her enthusiasm carrying the emotion in the conversation. I liked singing! I also liked that you were around when I practiced.
You could say it was a decision that really Regan took a pause for extra effect, resonated!
Rave did the courtesy of giggling, while John just shook his head. Low-key, he was noting down all of the puns forter usage, however. It was only bad if he wasnt the one to do them.
His girlfriend continued, Didnt like it as much when you stopped paying him, a few years after you left kind of a mean move.
Mean? the kimono-wearing woman blinked. What about it was mean?
Ya know, getting me to start singing and then take the instructor away because youre no longer around? Rave presented a counter question. How is that not mean?
That wasnt the cause of my actions. I simply had the report that you practiced in your own free time and knew the instructor couldnt teach you anything worthwhile anymore. I simply cut the cost and left you to acquire the rest of the skill on your own. Narikos finger circled the rim of her half-full ss of champagne. I suppose you will now proceed to tell me I should have actuallymunicated that?
I knew I had to get my mind reader capabilities from someone, Rave sarcastically poked her mother, who sighed and sipped on her drink. I took that as a sign ya didnt care about me or my singing anymore. I barely practiced since.
Which is a real shame, John chimed in and cleared his throat. When he continued, he sounded a bit croaky, Since its always such a wonderful thing to hear her sing.
Are you a pony, John? Regan suddenly asked and caused the Gamer to look at him with a raised eyebrow. You sound a little horse.
Gaping like a fish out of water, John then groaned and took a particrlyrge swig of his beer. No offense meant, Regan, but youre overdoing it.
I think Ill decide that, the dad-joking dad answered with a smug smile.
Nariko shook her head. Men, always hard to stay on topic with you around.
Is that a man thing? John honestly wondered. Anyway, you two were getting along?
Well, I dont have the urge to strangle her anymore, Rave confessed outright. Its a start.
That had been how things went for the past hour. They drifted to some topic, some childhood story surfaced and the Hollmey family then proceeded to clear out a bunch ofmunication difficulties they had. It cleared out a few things, especially since Rave was backing off from being overtly aggressive and Nariko was showing at least a bit of repentance in all instances.
Alright, to stop dancing around something, the pink-haired girl leaned onto the bar with a challenging smile stered on her face, do ya still disprove of my rtionship with John here?
Liz leaned on in the same fashion. I think I might get in on it, she said, which got her disapproving nces from her father, her mother and her sister. Which, to Johns disappointment, was like the entire reason why she even said it, retreating from the conversation, and the bar as a whole, with a giggle.
Ill leave you to your drama and make some connections with all the powerful people present, she waved away, is good for business.
You go do that, Nariko remarked with a nod, then resumed the topic at hand. I have never been against your rtion with the Gamer. John remembered a few times he had felt the exact opposite opinioning from her demeanour, but that was likely her general brashness and overly high expectations than something directly wrong with him. It is the kind of rtionship you choose to have that irks me.
Right, John leaned against the closet with booze, but will you ept that this is how things go now or will you keep insisting we should change how we go about things?
Youre being quite cocky, young man, Regan reprimanded. You were more respectful when you were ten centimetres less wide.
Well, back then you could have broken me over your knee. John kept his tone light, not wanting this to sound too much like an insult or anything. Nowadays I could mop the floor with you one-handed.
Rave warningly pointed at her boyfriend. No threatening Daddy, John!
Wasnt the intent. The Gamer bowed his head. The point is, Im in the luxury of beingpletely honest, because I no longer have to be afraid youll hunt me through the city with the proverbial shotgun. I, of course, still respect both of you as my girlfriends parents. If nothing else, I would like to have your blessing for our current rtionship and what wille in the future.
Its just that well continue no matter what you say, Rave added and mischievously stuck out her tongue.
Speaking for myself, Nariko began, you have my blessings to go on as is. That was surprisingly easy. So surprisingly that even her no-longer-ex husband looked taken aback. I was worried about a number of things. Mostly about how this would reflect on my career and whether or not you could be happy being one of many girls, Jane. She finished her champagne. Since the scandal about this has mostly blown over and my career is on hold anyhow, the former point is null. That youre happy and that the Gamer is capable are both self-evident. That one of my daughters would be part of a harem in any fashion annoys me. Being the leader of one is at least mildly eptable. That John happens to be a rising influence in the world makes it a drawback that I will live with.
I- uh. Regan scratched the lower end of his chin, where his beard slowly vanished to reveal the regr skin of his neck, and hesitated for a second. I cant say I wholly agree, but you have had that harem arrangement for how long now?
The duration of our rtionship minus less than two weeks, John put it simply.
Basically, started as soon as John found someone else he wanted to get busy with, Rave added.
If it stopped at getting busy with, I would have a whole lot more room in my bed, John mumbled, looking at the room and the scattered groups of his loves therein. Lot less emotional investment in one-time flings.
You not throwing them away is one good attribute about you, I suppose, Regan said. Ill ept your rtionship, not because Im happy about my babys status, but because thats just the reality of the situation. Although that wasnt a ringing endorsement, it was a blessing regardless. On one condition!
Oh Lord, what could it be John thought and made a gesture for him to continue.
No more adult videos!
Ah, Nariko let out a shocked noise, likely having just been reminded that was a thing that existed. Youre right, Regan. That is a shameful disy that has to be stopped immediately. John Newman, I cannot believe that, in all your degeneracy, you would drag Jane into...
The berating continued in the background, but John just looked over to Rave. It wouldnt be effective if he dispelled this myth. Plus, he had a little hope that Rave would find it just as awkward to talk about sex with her parents as he did. It would have given him an easy road to banter back in future teasing on that topic.
No luck on that end though. Actually, the Lightbearer spoke up, interrupting her parents ramblings, I want to be in those. Turns out Im an exhibitionist.
I dont care for the camera, John added, just toplete the picture. I just do what I usually do. I have absolutely nothing to hide.
Point being ya cant demand this away, Rave sighed. Tried suppressing that fetish for a while. Didnt really work. After a few moments, likely because her mother showed genuine exasperation over this development, the Lightbearer added, Im probably going to join another porncast this Sunday. John has an interview with some cute greenskin.
Nariko pinched the bridge of her nose. What did I do wrong to get you as my daughter? she quietly asked, falling back into her earlier patterns of mistakes. In this one instance of it, John found it alright to be lenient.
Rave, however, was just born to tease. Ya know, abandonment issues make for very unruly daughters with lots of strange desires, she pointed out in a dry tone. Just saying.
In a disy of tremendous synchronicity, Nariko and Regan took a deep breath and even mumbled, Ok, under the exhale at the same time.
Well live with it, Regan decided, more open on this front than his wife, apparently. Given the mans liberal stance towards porn, John still remembered the openly disyed porn collection in his media room, that wasnt too surprising. But we wont be happy about it!
Seems like we got a theme going there, John mused. Sorry, your daughter fell for a hopelessly perverted case like me. You know what you say, simrities attract.
Im pretty sure the saying is the opposite, Regan retorted.
Ah yes, and how right they are, the Gamer grinned, having bet on that response. After all, Rave is a spontaneous, fun-loving, peoples person and I am a calcting, sess-loving nerd. Even if he hadnt gotten any pushback, he could have spun himself some way to make it work. That was the beauty of sayings that were so tremendously general. On a serious note, Nariko, he took a business tone, I have a proposal.
Yes? The blue-haired woman reacted to his sudden shift in tone by assuming her own dealmaker persona. It wasnt a huge shift, but her blue eyes definitely hardened. I must inform you that Im in no position to speak for the Abyss Auction right now.
I know, thats not what this is about. He shook his head. The Hollmey n, small as it is, does hold some territory, right?
Under my leadership we have gotten a hold on some property, left alone by Korean raids, yes. Nariko seemed intrigued where this was going. It doesnt exceed a single ind by much, but it exists regardless.
How about joining Fusion?
The question hung in the air for several moments, lost between the happy chatter in the background. Nobody but the people at the bar heard it. Rave, who had known John wanted to suggest something like this already, awaited her mothers answer.
After thinking thoroughly, Nariko slowly shook her head. No. Not like things are, she said.
John wasnt surprised. Korea, more specifically the Dangun n, separated as its real-life nation currently was, was one of the Abyssal superpowers. It had multiple patron gods, a massive number of avable people and a wealth of resources. Their semi-control of Japan wasnt just an act of vengeance. From a purely hegemonic point of view, it also assured ess to the Pacific Fuse, the eastern equivalent of the massive Natural Barrier that John had met Tilgun in.
As those points followed the tectonic lines, it was ced off the east coast of northern Japan. As long as the ind nation itself didnt produce a worthwhile power to take control of its natural resources, the Koreans could exploit away. The added bonus was, should something terrible be born in that ce, it would hit Japan and not Korea.
Aside from its own resources, making it a middle power among the nine Divided Gates, the Dangun n was a strong ally to the Mandate of Heaven, who were said to be second only to the Sons of Rome. Some would dispute that and say that the Illuminati actually took the number two spot, but, save for war, there was no way to know for certain. The Illuminati kept their cards close to their chest and the Mandate of Heaven isted its elites in enves, highest of all was the Forbidden City.
It would certainly be unwise to take such a move right now, John agreed. Perhaps once the alliance with Illuminati bes fully active
That wouldnt do, Nariko denied once more. As horrible as the piging of Japan is, the Koreans are there for predictable interests. Money, resources and vengeance, thats all they want. I have found an arrangement under those circumstances and I wouldnt trade it away to rely on a power on the other side of the globe, led inrge part by the Horned Rat.
Cant argue with that, John conceded. Then, when Fusion itself bes a member of the Divided Gates, would you be willing to consider it?
At that time, on the day that Im sure that you could protect my birthce and should you still honour my daughter, I will dly pledge allegiance to you, Nariko promised.
The rest of the day passed by without big events.
Chapter 725 – Shortstack Sluts Searching News
Chapter 725 C Shortstack Sluts Searching News
Very good decision, John noted, when he walked into the preparation room. He was in the new SSSN outpost in the Bay Circle. Since he hadst inspected the building, during the guys night out over two weeks ago, it had been partlypleted. Importantly, there was studio space that was now usable, which was all John had needed to hear to make an appointment.
What is? his interviewer asked, looking up to him. She had to stretch her head quite abit into her neck to do so, given that she was almost half a metre smaller than him. Worlinas nose was about the height of his sr plexus. A very cute, pointy nose, sitting in an equally cute but round face. Long, pointy ears stretched out to either side, their colour a bit redder than the rest of the goblins green skin.
Sexy sses sat on her face, their red frame harmonizing with the colour of her lips and her crimson hair. It was currently bound back into a bun, except for some decorative, unequally parting strands that framed her face with a slight wave, covering more of the left side than the right. Itbined with the cleave of her white blouse, the ck pencil skirt and thigh-high stockings for a sexy teacher look.
A look that wouldnt have worked quite as well were it not for the curves she was rocking underneath those clothes. Tits bordering on the double D, emphasized by the small frame they were on, and an ass that was made to jiggle, with thick legs making up the rest. Despite being that stacked, she wasnt pudgy in any way, as shorter girls with curves like that tended to be. Her waist was narrow and her stomach t. Presumably. John had no way to verify, thanks to the way her tits stretched the blouse, only letting it rest against her body at the belt of her skit.
Johns mind went through various methods he could gradually ruin that disciplined look. All of them debauched and grounded in an understanding that he would be able to do itter. Hell, knowing that she is a hardcore masochist, she probably put up this look only for it to be ruined, the Gamer thought, only to answer the question, You got a shower room attached to this. He pointed over to an open door, through which he could see a number of showerheads mounted to the basic, white-tiled wall.
It was a very simple set-up, akin to the showers used for swimming halls, but exactly the right design decision for a set like this. After a porn shoot, there were usually at least two people in need of a shower. Making someone go home, like John had to do after the catgirl interview, covered in sweat and sexual fluids was absolutely horrible. Having one shower at the site was an improvement, although that still forced people to wait around in their filthy state. A shower room like that was exactly the right thing to take care of things after a porno shoot.
Catgirl News didnt have one, Rave chimed in. This time, rather than barge in during the second half of the interview, she wasing in as part of the program. Like Worlina, her clothes were pretty conservative C by the standards of Johns harem, anyway. A baby blue top stuck closely to her curves, short sleeves decorated with bright green stitches. For her legs, she hid her smooth skin under white, blue-striped yoga pants.
There had been a bit of deliberation in the morning about how slutty she wanted to look for the camera from the start. Since a big reason foring along, aside from touching butts with a stacked goblin, was to cater to her exhibitionism, that hadnt been an easy decision. Ultimately, she decided to y it safe and not to take the Metra approach.
Gross negligence, Worlina dered, stemming her hands into her wide hips. Leave it to the CPDI to not know the fundamentals! In a much sweeter tone of her high-pitched voice, she added, Coffee, tea, anything you want? She gestured at the rest of the preparation rooms furniture. There were three basic segments, a lounge corner to wait in, a small kitchen supplying fundamentals and a wall of mirrors and chairs for styling.
John requested water, Rave a beer, and Worlina fetched both from the fridge for them. What if we run out during the livestream? the Gamer wondered, while the two of them sat down in the lounging corner. Do we just ask for new drinks?
Yeah, no sweat, the goblin answered and swaggered over to the mirrors. Out of a bag she had ced over there earlier, she retrieved a lipstick and gently repainted the red of her lips. John had guessed that it was make-up. Not everyone could be as blessed with such utterly gorgeous looks as his harem was. A bit of artificial help was fine, as long as there was still more skin visible than paint.
John and Rave spent a little bit of time chatting while Worlina checked on the rest of her make-up and style. The chair she sat in for this was, unsurprisingly, low enough that she could get in without a problem. After she had gone over everything, she put a ck earpiece in, something to stay connected with the technical crew, no doubt, grabbed an electronic pad and turned back to her guests.
Alright, the actual interview room has microphones and cameras at multiple angles throughout the room, so you two wont be required to wear any equipment, the goblin gave them the final breakdown and winked, it would get lost anyway.
That was the same set-up as John had experienced during the CPDI interview, so that didnt surprise him. Sounds good, he said and stood up since things were evidently moving towards starting now. There were still ten minutes to the agreed hour, but there was probably some preparation to be made inside.
Through a door that was 90% ss and 10% sound-proof-sealing frame, they entered the interview room. It clearly belonged to a porn news station. Shelves with cubic segments disyed a number of sex toys, predominantly (but not exclusively) cuffs, gags and dildos, along the far-off wall of the equally cubic room. While the lighting from the ceiling was white, the red carpet and walls reflected it back with a crimson touch. Some other pieces of equipment stood around in a decorative fashion. They were all made from metal and ck leather, with lots of hooks and very oddly ced cushions attached to them. BDSM equipment, basic and advanced, presented like normal furniture.
Some kind of chest in the corner had an image of whips and chains printed on its red surface. Ill just take a wild guess and say that thats where the rest of the stuff is, John thought. He could get almost everything he needed for a good session out of the shelf C except for the ropes needed to actually do the B part of BDSM. Long leather strips dont make for good disy pieces, I suppose.
Air venttion softly brushed over Johns clothes, the usualbination of the elegant Schattengarn shirt and pants, ck with minor red elements. ncing at the ceiling, he found arge number of bottle lid sized holes probably responsible for that. If he really concentrated on it with his superhuman hearing, he could pick up the vibrations of whatever magic was responsible for this process. It was highly doubtful that the microphones installed into the walls would be able to record any of that.
They made their way to the middle of the room, where three chairs stood around a low table. Said table was unremarkable, a ss te on a silver metal frame, but the chairs were rather interesting. Their wooden frames were adjustable in arge number of ways. Aside from the basic angle of the back, there were also ways to change the height of the back, the height of the chair itself and the width of the seat. Thest bit was achieved by having the curved armrests open outwards, making the attached, red, leather-wrapped cushion roll out. Without magical means, that would have caused some annoying protrusions in the middle of the seat.
There were a bunch of seemingly unnecessary bits as well. Wooden bars that were attached to the frame without purpose, until closely inspected. They were movable and had either holes in themselves or metal eyelets attached, that could be necessary for the nned activities beyond talking.
John took a moment to search for a brand or something, didnt find anything, then sat down. The cushions were fantastically firm, while giving in enough to be soft. It was likely some sort of memory foam, which made it perfect for prolonged sitting or, as a random example, be forced toy on with arms bound to the back and legs to the armrests and a vibrator attached to the clit.
He spent the remaining time fidgeting with the chair to adjust it to be perfectlyfortable. Particrly in general height, that was necessary, since those chairs were pre-set for the general staff. Unlike the CPDI, where the catgirls fulfilled most of the reporting and very few of the technical roles, the SSSN employed goblins, male and female, in all positions. They still had humans helping out though. Rumour had it that things often became quite busy in the studios, beyond the actual recording set.
Based rumours, John was very certain.
The electronic disy above the door sprung to life, starting the countdown to the shows start. Worlina made sure she had her pad set up correctly. John and Rave checked that their drinks were in reach. Then things were ready and Worlina turned to the side, addressing whatever camera was focused on her for the opening segment.
Hello, dear viewers, she greeted in a pleasingly calm and sultry tone of her high-pitched voice. Wee to the first episode of the SSSNs own porncast. Todays host is me, Worlina Smickl. She adjusted her sses in a deliberately sexy fashion. You, our dear subscribers, have voted on the questions we will ask todays guest and, once we have finished that segment, I hope you will find much enjoyment in what wille afterwards. Now, without further ado, let me introduce todays guests. There was a bit of a preamble, listing titles and some aplishments of the two, then she turned to John and Rave. The Gamer could practically feel the frame zooming out to include them. John Newman, Rave Hollmey, wee to the program.
Thanks, Rave enthusiastically replied, not minding her actual name being skipped like that.
Its going to be a pleasure, John asserted, folding his hands and leaning back in afortable fashion. Do you have a name for the program already?
Just a few test names. We hurried to put something together after your first appearance on one suddenly poprized the genre, Worlina responded swiftly.
How about Stackedcast? he suggested with a joking smile on his lips. Next to him, Rave snorted with surpriseughter, only spurning her boyfriend on to continue. Tagline could be We may be short, but the format sure isnt!
John, thats terrible! Rave eximed, punching him on the shoulder while stillughing.
Well take it under suggestions, Worlina promised, also chuckling, just less pronounced. How do you like our set, by the way?
A bit overtly sexual, John admitted. Puts my mind all towards the second half of the show, which you can take one way or another, but I do respect you and the CPDI for actually doing some proper journalism along with the porn.
Bit of a basic bitch suggestion, Rave chimed in, but maybe add some potted nts or something.
Well also take note of that, their green-skinned host promised.
Have to say though that the chairs are fantastic, the Gamer moved into praise, now that he had delivered some critiques. He didnt want the viewers or the broadcasters to get the impression he was dissatisfied. Where did you get them from?
Theyre made by Tentem Zibblebruks, one of the most famous craftsmen of the Gobbo Nation, Worlina answered proudly. I can give you the contact info after the show, if you want.
Id be very thankful if you could, seems like the kind of equipment I could really use in my own yroom. He took a short pause and gave Worlina a sexually charged stare. You wouldnt mind if I tested these things a bitter, with the equipment your employer so graciously kept as part of the set? Through eyes and mannerisms, he made it abundantly clear that he regarded her to be part of said equipment.
Shivering, Worlina raised one leg and slowly crossed it over the other, shing her red silk panties for more than a second. Of course, Ma- Mister Newman, she cleared her throat, clearly trying to stay focused on the interview. It had barely begun and there were a lot of things to talk about before the fun parts. Speaking of the equipment, before the interview started, you remarked that our outfitting is better than the CPDI, could you borate on that?
Only to make sure their set is better when I get there next time, John rified. But yes, showers in the prep room are a must-have, thought that would be amon understanding. Aside from that, wipeable seats just makes everything more pleasant for the people that have to clean afterwards. Which, given that you have cleared those two conditions, makes me wonder why you put down a carpet for the floor. The heel of his sock, they had left the shoes outside, dragged over the softyer of fuzz.
There was a moment of silence, Worlina reaching to the button in her ear to signal she was getting a message from the staff. Its a special fibre, I have been assured, very easy to clean.
If ya can, we would take the contact info for that as well. Rave looked to John. Id say Aclysia would appreciate that a whole lot, for future houses.
Carpets have been a bit of a problem yeah, thatd be good, he agreed. Anyway, sorry for hijacking your program, I think I was here to answer questions, or something like that?
The format is made for tangents, Worlina assured him with a smile on her red lips. Regardless, the shortstack looked down to her pad. First question, so the question most people voted on, is tits or ass?
Is is there still debate about that? John was too bbergasted to answer immediately.
Would bet this is a case of Joke answer won, his girlfriend guessed, then partly stood up to turn around in her seat. One leg straight, the other resting with the knee on the seating, she held onto the armrests and pushed out her round ass. To answer the question though, she just said and winked at Worlina as a substitute for the camera.
John stretched toward his girlfriend and gave the presented butt a nice, echoing smack. That answer has my firm support, he said, unable to lift his hand without giving the bubble butt a few more squeezes. How something was allowed to be this jiggly and firm at the same time was beyond him. How were men supposed to concentrate on anything aside from sex with women like her around?
After letting him get his fix, the Lightbearer pulled away and sat back down. Much to the disappointment of Worlina, who was changing which leg was up and which was down. There seemed to be a tiny dark line in her panties at this point. Alright, second question, Worlina moved on smoothly. Big question, this time. How is Fusions internal focus going at the moment?
Oh yeah, that is a big question, John said and ordered his thoughts to give a coherent presentation. Well, the elections are being organized nicely. Most local ones are through at this point, but for the state levels, organizing proper procedures and making them fraud safe is taking a little bit. I find the parties that have formed interesting. The economy-
If you dont mind, could you give us an overview of those parties? Worlina interjected. You would have the most urate picture of things.
Oh, sure. John scratched his forehead. Well, its hard to put names to things, since many local parties are in the process of merging to bepetitive at a state or national level. Until thats done, I cant really say who is what, but I can give you a breakdown of the factions, as I have seen and been informed about them, if thats enough?
Please proceed, Worlina confirmed.
Okay, so, the biggest group we have is the independently minded. Those consist of Abyssals that want to be left to their own devices in basically all aspects and seem to be mostly content with the limited capacity Fusion has to intervene in local matters. Some of them would rather that thews of Fusion dont exist whatsoever, allowing them to get back to the dog eats dog world of before, but those are, like, the extremists of that group.
Then we have, and this surprised me as a mundane born person, the Supernatural People Party, which is just about the only thing thats joined up fairly quickly. They are currently unified in wishing Fusion expands in programs to allow fantastical races, such as you, he gestured at the shortstack host, easy ess to mundane disguises and for areas to be created around the country that match their preferred habitat.
In third ce there are, what I call, the conservatives. Conservatives by my mundane measure, anyway. Those want society to have a tighter and more defined social fabric, be it by culture or byw. Im all in favour of those that want the culture of the Abyss to be more solid, I think the anarchy that reigns in many parts of the USA serves very few people. For thews well, they might have a point sometimes, but I am generally not a friend of government intervention.
Dont you trust yourself to do the best thing? Worlina asked.
Well, I trust myself to do something well-intentioned, John responded. I happen to think that, if I personally went through ordering every single government response, those would all be pretty to very sessful. The problem is, I cant. That then leavesws to be written and interpreted by judges, officials and bureaucrats, which dilutes the solution down to bing a problem onto itself. I would therefore like to reserve such a blunt tool until strictly necessary.
My tiger has both trust and pride issues, Rave joked from the sidelines, taking a sip of her beer.
Following suit, John grabbed his bottle of water. In this case, my issues are creating a liberal state, so good news for everyone, right?
Would you like to continue with the parties? Worlina asked.
Sure, sure, John nodded, after having a quick refresher and putting the bottle back down. Not much more to say, honestly. Among the remainders, I could only discern the loyalists, people that think Fusion is great and support it entirely.
Also known, Rave chimed in, once more in a jesting tone, as the John cant do wrong-party.
Sighing, John could only nod. There are several among those loyalists that havee to put me in the position of some infallible ideal. Ive, of course, failed plenty in my time, even though my overall trajectory is upwards. He shrugged. I suppose they see me as their Romulus, which isntpletely wrong, but I dont really know what to do with a crowd of yes-men.
Afraid that theyll make you careless? the host asked.
Everyone with any level of power should be. He nodded intensely. Im a prideful guy, which Im thankfully aware off, so I can take precautions to humble myself. Thing is, most leaders are prideful, even if they hide it well from everyone, including themselves. Its very easy to get an ego-feeding loop going, once everyone underneath starts suspecting their promotion chances rise when they say nice things and only present progress. Under those circumstances, everyone gets invested in not rocking the boat and risk their own position, so the leader is told he is doing great and everything is going great, while they crush the lives of everyone else under the boot of force, without care or notice. Yes-men are the road to corruption.
While on the subject of parties, is there any reason why they dont find any ce in your political framework? Worlina asked. Since she wasnt looking at the pad, this was likely a question of her own wonder. They have to form up as essentially privatepanies.
Because I dont know if the party system willst forever, and if you marry yourself to the spirit of the age, you find yourself a widower in the next, John responded, having thought about this quite a bit. More than that, I am certain that those parties currently forming will notst forever. Enshrining them in government structures will make it harder for them to fall apart when they really should, just like it will make it harder for new parties to form. Id much rather have parties be a de-factowork of like minded people than a de-jure faction in government.
I see, I see. Worlina nodded along. You certainly thought about this a lot.
Someone has to. He smiled and leaned back. For the rest of Fusions internal affairs, they are looking pretty rosy. Everyone who wants work can find work, since we have so much room to expand into. We are training Fateweavers at an elerating rate, although it will take at least another year before we have properly learned ones made in Fusion, so to say. Recovery from the war with the Lake Alliance is going swiftly as well, particrly in the ship building department.
There was a crime scandal recently though, wasnt there? Worlina asked. This is also a topic the subscribers voted for, so it fits we go there next. The incident where you, personally, raided a ver hideout and found officials affiliated with their operations.
The only reason why it was so extensively reported on was my personal involvement, so I wouldnt call it a scandal. John folded his hands in front of his chest. We should have found out sooner; Im not making excuses for that. As it is, we have found the officials responsible and appropriate punishment was given out. I would personally take this as another warning that the government shouldnt get too big, otherwise corruption like this gets easier and easier to hide.
Okay, next topic Worlina said and looked at her pad, this goes specifically more to you, Rave, the question is what positions the girls of Johns harem prefer. I would assume you would know more about that.
Well, no, I dont know more about that, I know about the same, Rave dispelled that myth quickly. John here keeps on the lookout for what we like, so hell know what positions we prefer and make sure we get into them often enough. But, ya know, I can answer the question, since Im already talking. She winked at John, who made an overly magnanimous gesture, as if he was handing the stage to her. I personally love reverse cowgirl the most, I like having a good amount of control. After that, if hes on top, probably doggy. Just love it when he ms against me, ya know?
That this topic came directly after an expansive discussion about government seemed like a microcosm of Johns life, he realized. Rave continued on regardless.
Aclysia, prefers the same positions, for different reasons. Mostly because she wants to show her butt off to John, while serving him. Nathalia was always partial to the traditional cowgirl. Eliza uh I dont know if restrained counts as a sex position point is, she doesnt care much for what position she is in as long as she cant get out of it. Gnome likes missionary, she is innocent like that. Smander also prefers lying on her back, cause she wants to show off her tits. I dont think you can really name the positions Undine prefers, given that she is liquid and takes multiple at the same time, when she can. Sylph definitely loves getting fucked while John is standing and holds her. Lydia likes doggy the most, cause reasons
Rave skipped out on a detailed exnation. The queens love for anal wasnt exactly public and they would probably get an earful already for just mentioning her. After a little beer-sipping pause, Rave continued.
Nia I actually dont know She scratched her head. I guess it would be missionary, by the amount of times I have seen her get in that position. Siena is standing doggy, she really likes having John put the extra work in. Metra is another cowgirl-girl. Scarlett I wanna say restrained again? Rave looked to her boyfriend for help.
You know that thing where I push your legs up until your knees are next to your head? John asked a rhetorical question. That. Eliza loves it too, by the way.
Course she does, its basically being bound, Rave answered. Well,st on the list is Beatrice, who just likes it however. Girl has no preferences and its weird.
Thats just Bae.
No, Im Bae!
No, youre my girlfriend, she is Bae, John couldnt help but say that in the cheekiest tone possible. Itsmon sense.
It took them a while to get back to the topics and even longer to finish all of them.
Chapter 726 – Shortstack Slut. [Erotic Content]
Chapter 726 C Shortstack Slut. [Erotic Content]
and that was also when I first choked somebody. To be fair, Eliza was practically begging for it, John finished the recounting of events, a response to the question if and when he had joined the mile-high club. Having retold it in quite a bit of detail, he managed to get both of the girls present heated up. He had also activated the Libido buff on flirting a little bit ago, so that was likely another factor.
Not that either Worlina or Rave were wanting in Libido.
Those were good times. His girlfriend couldnt help herself but slide a hand up the inside of her thigh and run a finger over her crotch. Creating a rather visible cameltoe and dark slit in her white yoga pants this way, it was blindingly obvious that she had her mind on continuing on to the next set of the program.
Something that Worlina entirely agreed with. That was thest question for today, she announced, fanning some air into her cleavage with the pad. If you want to, we can now get into the porn part of porncast.
If we want to? John asked, not for rification, but for something that he felt was missing in that sentence.
If you want to, master, mistress, Worlina immediately understood and John smirked.
Rave smirked and, still touching herself, sighed lustfully, Good girl. Two words that made Worlina shudder visibly with pleasure. Since John had found out that she was a rather strong masochist through Observe before, Rave was also aware. He wouldnt have kept such a juicy detail from her. John, can ya be a darling and pick out what well use along with her?
Sure, the Gamer agreed, giving his girlfriend the first opportunity to sample the goods. While he walked over to the shelf and chest, he moved the ever-present Mand Sphere into position to follow what was happening. There was no way he would miss the next part.
He scanned the tools and Rave stood up. Swinging her hips, she walked over to Worlinas chair. The goblin turned a bit greener, as blood flushed through her skin in lustful anticipation. Without any words, Rave bowed down and pressed her glossy, pink lips on the red-painted ones of the show host.
The power dynamic was immediately obvious in every single way. Rave pushed the much smaller woman deep into her chair. One hand on Worlinas throat, Johns girlfriend dominated the kiss through skill, passion and raw strength. Fondling her left tit at the side, the Lightbearer leaned in further, until she suddenly snapped back.
There is a lot to y with on tiny little you. She grinned, only to get a gasping moan in response. There wasnt more she could get past the choking grip. After pping the goblins tit, its jiggle partly suppressed by the bra, Rave let her hand wander down. Her index finger trailed over the (now shown to be definitely t) tummy of her victim, over the taut skirt, and finally to the edge of said skirt. Once there, she pushed the ck fabric up and properly revealed Worlinas panties.
They were surrounded by the visible green of her thighs, cut off and slightly squished in by the rim of her stockings. Dark red and of finece, they dug into her pussy with wet tightness. Taking a short pause to seductively lick and suck on her fingers, Rave then proceeded to slip her hand into the panties. Just as her fingers sunk into the goblins pussy, Rave eased her grip enough for Worlina to take a breath. Moaning and gasping, she reached up to the back of the chair, just to hold onto something.
Were gonna have a lot of fun with you, Rave said in a loud whisper, doubtlessly so the viewers could hear it as well. Nice and squishy short thing. Be a good tool to get my boyfriend off and well make sure your beautiful ass will get the spanking it so desperately craves. There was a long pause during which only Worlinas moans and the wet rubbing of her cunt could be heard.
The longer the pause went on, the more annoyed Rave looked. Her grin turned into pressed together lips and her brows almost met in a semi-angry stare. Finally, the hand masturbating the greenskin stopped and she pped Worlinas face, only to grab it firmly afterwards.
What do you do when your mistresspliments you, cocksleeve? the Lightbearer asked in an aggressive tone.
T-thank you, missstressss, Worlina pressed out her answer as hastily as she could, clearly on the edge of orgasm.
Suddenly seeming appeased, Rave smiled again. She yed the part of the dominatrix really well. Good girl, she purred, her fingers resuming her work and even hastening it. Worlinas moans became louder and louder, then turned into a series of muffled shouts, underlined by the smacking of lips. While kissing the masochistic host, Rave yanked down the blouse at the cleavage. The magnificent,rge breasts popped out, having been barely contained from the start. The light orange colour of the nipples was unusual, but harmonized much better with the green than pink would have. Grabbing one of the already erect nipples, Rave pulled, just as her fingers finished the submissive off.
Spasming in the U-shaped confines of her chair, Worlina pressed herrge chest intensely against Raves hand. The Lightbearers fingers partly vanished in the green spill of soft goodness. The wet sounds between the legs intensified, as gushing liquid eased Raves rapid movements even further. The kiss broke and made way for Worlina to throw her head back and shout out her orgasm.
And standing behind the chair, she saw John. What do you say when your mistress gives you an orgasm, slut? he asked just as he moved one of the wooden elements and made it snap into a usable position. He didnt receive an immediate response, Worlina was too busy staring at the giant tent in the Gamers pants. Answer, he growled amand.
Thank you, mistress! the shortstack eximed, then let out a long, post-orgasmic sigh, as the reward of obedience spread through her nerves.
Youd do better if we didnt need to remind you of everything, Rave reprimanded and pulled back to stand straight. Imma get back problems if were gonna do all of that stuff down there, she broke the y for a moment.
Guess we have to test how much these chairs can do. John pressed the lever responsible for raising the entire construct. The seating started at the height of Johns calves and rose all the way to below his hips, beforeing to a stop. An eptable level, all things considered.
For some reason, Worlina looked absolutely adorable up there. Sure, Johns own legs wouldnt have been anywhere close to connecting to the floor at that height, but half a metre made quite the difference. With her tits spilling out of her cleavage and the panties that were now more wet than dry, she also looked supremely sexy. The heavy panting and slightly undone bun only added further depravity to the situation.
You know, I was really looking forward to ruining her look myself, Johnined.
A, Im sorry, his girlfriend apologized in an equally mocking, earnest and yful fashion, a very odd mixture.
Worlina teasingly cupped her breasts with her hands. Theres still more to ruin, stud, she moaned, twisting her nipples.
Stop, Johnmanded, without the magic. Regardless, she obeyed, at the harshness of his tone. What makes you think you have any right to speak up unless addressed, Worlina?
Worse, what makes ya think ya have any right to touch yourself. Rave shook her head. Worlina hastily let go off her owndy bits. Seems like she needs some discipline, tiger. Ya got the stuff?
Of course, he responded and handed her two cuffs that he had temporarily stored in his inventory. The other two he kept to use himself, sharing the work. With well-trained movements, they proceeded to wrap the cushioned leather around her wrists and ankles, then proceeded to bind her into position with ck rope. They also tilted the backrest backwards a bit in the process, to get her into a near-lying angle.
Worlina didnt struggle, while her hands were chained to a post behind her back. Her legs were folded, lower legs pressing into her thighs, and knees resting on her shoulders. They were fixed in ce through tight bindings, wrapped several times through holes in the armrests. By the end, her body was just one neat, tiny bundle of a stocking framed, round ass, squished together, heaving tits and a flustered, green face. The red-framed sses harmonized with the rest of her slightly disced outfit, sitting tilted on her nose. She wasnt even looking through them, her flustered gaze going right over them and into Johns eyes.
I guess there is more to ruin, John admitted and looked at his girlfriend. But I still think it was bad of you to just go ahead and do that without me.
Hmmm. Rave circled around the chair, stopped behind the back, grabbed it and bent forwards. The Mand Sphere followed along, John subconsciously wanting to see her backside in those yoga pants shift during every movement. Smiling at her boyfriend, she said, Ya get topletely ruin mine as payback, how about dat?
Terms epted, John dered and opened his inventory. A few easy clicks and he waspletely naked. Just in time for Jack to fully materialize behind his girlfriend. Before he could surprise her in any way, she smiled over her shoulder. She couldnt have heard the doubleing, he was hovering, so this was just another moment where she read her lover perfectly. How about we give the viewers something to marvel at, huh?
Just as he asked that, he had Jack take two handfuls of her pants and tear them open. He didnt stop, not until the entire thing was so utterly destroyed that the remains were easily peeled off her legs. She kicked them aside without a worry. The top followed suit, revealing her und tits in all their decently sized, perky glory. Only her panties were still on.
Jack deliberately removed those the civilized way. Grabbing the ck lingerie by the string around her hips, he slowly started pulling. He was very careful not to get into the view of the camera, and Rave was obviously aware of that. The firm ass pushed out for maximum presentation, she moaned as the sticky fabric was removed from her glistening cunt. Strands of gooey love juices connected the panties to her for a long time, the crawling pull prolonging the strands life almost down to her knees. Once thest broke, Jack hastened the movement and discarded the panties rather quickly, leaving Rave naked.
While all of this was going on, John had his own admirer. Worlina was staring at his cock with perverse admiration. Her open mouth was practically salivating at the sight, the reaction of a well-trained cocksucker. This will be in the way, the Gamer decided, doing to the goblins skirt what Jack did to Raves clothes.
The tattered ck piece fell away, and John dropped his cock on top of the red panties. His dick,rge by human standards, looked absolutely gargantuan on her. The underside became slick from the juices that drenched her underwear as he grinded forwards. Rolled up as her body was, the tip of his cock travelled all the way between her breasts. It wouldnt have taken much more to reach her lips.
Do you want to suck it, Worlina? he asked, while sliding back.
Yes, master. The greenskin squirmed as little as she could.
Do you love sucking cock that much?
I love sucking cock more than getting fucked, master, Worlina responded, and Rave whistled in the background. That was some serious dedication.
John slid forth again, further this time. With extended tongue, Worlina waited for his cock. Just barely, she managed to lick a fat drop of precum from the tip before the Gamer pulled back. Too bad you dont get to decide how I use you, he said before ripping her panties off and pressing his cock against her pussy lips. They were the same colour as her nipples, a light orange, and seemed rather fresh despite John knowing that this girl deserved the title of whore.
Something he didnt mind too much. He would be the best fuck she ever had and they both knew that this was just fun. More on his mind at that moment was whether he would actually fit inside her. He had read up on Goblin biology beforehand, but doing this in person was a whole different thing.
She wasnt as tight as he would have thought, which was a good thing since he had no idea if he could have moved otherwise. Still, getting into her was slow, sinking torture, during which he kept his teeth clenched, his hands dug into the armrests and a continuous groan of ecstasy escaped his lips.
Doubtlessly to the pleasure of the viewers, his male grunts werepletely outdone by a series of moans and shouts. Worlinas eyes opened wider and wider as the massive rod split her. Her bodys desperate attempts topensate for his size were practically massaging his cock. What would have been an incredibly painful experience for a human female, for a goblin, it was just part of their design and a wonderful, stretching feeling.
This did include the fact that John reached all the way to her cervix and pushed against it. It only sent Worlinas pussy into a gushing frenzy. Rewarded with such a reaction, he kept pushing despite his normal inclination to the contrary. The bump in her stomach was visible when John finally was inside her with his entire, 20-centimetre, girthy cock.
Still peeking over the backrest, Rave followed the happening while rubbing her pussy. Do you like my John inside you? she purred, and Worlina gave her what could be a nod or a simple spasm from the intense pleasure. A, look at her. Johns girlfriend reached down and gave the shortstack a little p on the cheek. All cock-drunk already. Oh, and ya havent even started thrusting yet!
Im just stretching her out a little. He grinned, enjoying the unique sensation of literally stretching a girls pussy in all directions. Around him, wet walls of flesh were writhing and clinging. The intent to milk him was obvious in every pulse that went through them. He looked up from the squished together tits and to his smirking girlfriend. Behind her, Jack followed the pumping of her fingers. How about I give you some attention in the meantime?
I do like me some attention, Rave mused and looked over her shoulder just in time to see Jacks hande down on her ass. Inhaling sharply, she let out a pained gasp afterwards and wiggled her ass, as if begging for more. Already, the red imprint of a hand became visible on her tanned ass. Raising his hand again, Jack soon followed things up with a second, then third and fourth p.
Each time, Rave moaned and gasped. God, I love this woman. Sadistic but loves a spanking. Shes just fantastic. John leaned as far forwards as he could. Meeting him, his and her lips soon wrestled, all while he continued to spank her ass. He felt the shaking of her body and the moans through their kiss and heard the sharp sounds.
Tiger,e on, Rave gasped between movements, the wiggling of her ass intensifying. Dont make me get myself off. Her fingers slipped out of her cunt and spread her pussy lips wide open instead. Youre so much better at it.
Youre really good at getting me to do what you want, you vile vixen, John whispered back as he moved his double behind her perfect ass. Prating her may not have been as unique as the shortstack, but there was absolutely no way that fucking his girlfriends tight pussy would feel anything below tremendous. Today, well, it was downright legendary.
It must have been thebination of the three things. Being able to satisfy her sadism, feeling the aching from her red ass and knowing that she was being watched by an online crowd. Three satisfied fetishes, mixing with the general physical and emotional satisfaction that came with getting fucked by someone loved.
Oh fuuuuuck, Rave gasped, biting her lower lip, as her eyes travelled upwards and partly vanished under fluttering lids. I love that hot dick of yours. It slides in so deep. Fuck, yes, mhm get it all the way inside me youre making me a size queen, you damn stud. Sheughed a little bit at her own joke. Too bad I also only care about your cock your stupidly hot, hard cock. I dont ever want another man inside me never in my life only you.
Good girl, John said. Although it didnt make her shiver in delight, it still caused Rave to moan and smile in a pleased fashion. The pecking order was clear, he was on top, his girlfriend submissive to him, but in turn dominating over Worlina, who was just a piece of sexy, greenskin meat for this exercise.
Then he started moving. Fucking both Rave and Worlina at the same time, mming against their round butts at different angles, was about all he could have asked for in life. As much as he loved his girlfriend and never tired of the sight of her, he had the opportunity to observe an entirely new experience here, so he lowered his gaze to the shortstack.
Everything about Worlina was jiggling. The force of his thrusts rippled through her entire body. The way she was bound together for his pleasure, that force made her ass, her stocking-d thighs, her rolled up tummy andrge, blouse-framed tits all move in response to his assault. It only encouraged him to go faster.
It broke Worlina in less than a minute.
The Gamer was simply too much. His abilities had only improved since the orgy at the end of the Small Lake reforms, thest possible reference Worlina could have had for his sexual prowess. His Libido had risen, his sexual Skills had been summarized into a more powerful one, levels on Lover Boy had been gained and Source of Satisfaction had increased. Even without any of that, it was doubtful that any woman could have prepared herself for the raw ecstasy John Newman could hammer into them.
If Worlina had any regrets about not bringing back-up to help her with this magnificent cock, then those thoughts were killed by the white lightning that rushed through her entire nervous system without end. The ropes holding her were constantly taut from the throes of pleasure that repeated orgasms put her through, her tongue stretched past her red lips and eyes rolled up, wide-open.
Co--- yssss, mastaaaah, fff- uncontrolled sounds sometimes escaped her screaming mouth.
Cumdumps dont get to talk, John growled warningly, something she failed to C could not - notice. Her screams continued, only grew louder when he twisted her nipples and aggressively fondled her squishy tits as punishment.
Listen to your master, Rave managed to get a coherent sentence out, despite her own ssy, barely present gaze. In a sh, her hands wandered from the backrest to Worlinas throat and squeezed. Bad girrrrllll, Johns girlfriend dered, although the sharpness was taken from her word thanks to the intense moan that escaped her. Just as her fingers grew tighter, her and the goblins pussies constricted as well.
In that moment, he could barely move, and was interested only in setting off the orgasm that had been building up. His hips jerked forwards, seed spluttered deep into Raves pussy and was loaded directly into Worlinas womb, the tip of Johns cock pressed against her cervix.
They squirted. They both squirted all over his groin and the floor. Rave was silent,pletely overtaken by the climactic debauchery. Disying a dumb-fucked expression, no doubt simr to the one Worlina had on her face, currently hidden behind the Lightbearers arms, she tensed and loosened all muscles in waves of ecstasy. Each wave caused a new gush of love juices to taint the carpet.
John wasnt even close to done though. Paralysed for only five seconds, he resumed moving and went at it just as intensely as before. There was one short moment where Jack stopped. Fuck my butt tooooo! Rave managed to exim between spasms and moans. Sliding into her back door was done within a few seconds. Not with the usual elegance, but she clearly didnt care for some minor pain at the moment.
He kept up the insane pace, the sound of his hips smacking against Worlinas ass basically indistinguishable from a well-delivered p. Indeed, the affected area turned greener over time, but John had no care. Sometimes he heard the goblins voice, gargling cock-drunk nonsense, when Rave let her breathe. Otherwise she was fulfilling her role as a sentient fleshlight wonderfully.
Racing towards the finish line, John soon came a second time. He dropped half of the load inside her, watched her tiny body bloat a little bit in response to all the semen being pumped into her, then pulled out and spread the remainder over her blouse and stockings.
Moments of orgasmic tension passed and suddenly faded. Heavily breathing, John stood over the goblin, cock still quivering and dribbling drops of cum. Raves hand loosened as she threatened to copse to the side. Jack caught her, held her for half a minute, then she had recovered enough to stand on her own.
Oh, I love you, Rave gasped, forcibly normalizing her breathing. Gaia in everywhere, I came hard there what now?
Now you help me get her out of there, John said and gestured at Worlina. Between her spread legs, thick globs of cum oozed out of her quivering quim. They ran down between the hills of her firm ass. A fantastic disy that John seared into his memory. Not one meant tost, though.
The ropes were removed quickly, the cuffs left in ce, however. John dismissed his double, he wouldnt need help for what followed. He and his girlfriend had a silent understanding for the next step.
Worlina was unresponsive, only quivered and moaned from touches. That was, until they had lifted her off the seat and ced her on the floor. Once down there, something in her brain must have flipped back on. Some semnce of sapience; although, judging by her behaviour, it must have been raw, instinctive sentience.
She immediately stretched towards Johns cock, but he stepped back to keep out of her reach. Like a dog being baited with a treat, she continued crawling. Something Rave soon decided should be made harder, binding the arms together behind her back.
Lets see how great of a cocksucker you really are, Whore-lina, he said and grabbed her by the hair. The bun, thest part of her outfit that had gotten away rtively unscathed, waspletely ruined by the time he had dragged her over to his chair on the other side of the table. Her stumbling, numb-legged steps didnt help her much.
Once he sat down, Worlina on the floor in front of him, he put his cum and pussy-juice covered cock on her face. Dont suck it, hemanded, and thanks to the magic in those words, even the craving goblin understood. She only looked through her sses at the massive member, panting audibly. All of her was aplete mess.
Rave made it a bit better by ripping open the tainted blouse after sitting down next to the goblin. The breasts dropped down, nothing holding them anymore. They sagged more than John preferred, were juicier than firm. His girlfriend made those thoughts unnecessary by gripping them and rolling them greedily in her hands. Naked, only wearing stockings and sses now, Worlina was less of a chaotic visual.
Youre totally knocked out by my boyfriend, Raveughed into Worlinas long ear. Nothing indicated the goblin had understood her. Man, girls outside our harem have, like, no stamina.
Dont be too harsh on her, she is still present enough to suck my dick, John let out an underhandedpliment. Which you may now do, Worlina. Impress me.
He barely got to say thest two words; the greenskin moved as fast as she could to get his cock off her face and into her mouth. Sloppily, hastily, she started bobbing up and down in hisp, taking half of his length with every movement. John appeared bored, sitting in the chair with both arms on the rests.
Her technique wasnt too bad. That was to say, nine months ago, she would have probably been one of the best he ever experienced. Nowadays, he was pretty sure all of his girls were better than she was. Especially since she didnt go past that halfway point.
Clicking her tongue, Rave moved one hand off Worlinas tits and to the back of the greenskins red hair. Ya know, Im letting ya suck my Johns cock. She sounded pretty annoyed. If were being that nice, ya better make it worth his while and impress him!
With a sudden shove, Rave pushed the submissive shortstack all the way down Johns cock. Having her throat forcefully envelop his cock was a new sensation. He groaned, pleased. It was incredibly hot, having his switch of a girlfriend dictate the pace of another womans deepthroat rhythm.
Rave enjoyed it as well, first biting her own lower lip, then Worlinas ear. At some point, she must have also switched to masturbating the goblin. This bitch is absolutely gushing! she eximed, elerating the pace at which she made Worlina suck him off. Mindless or not, at least the goblin knew how to properly suck while the rest was being dictated for her.
Jane John groaned, feeling another climax on the horizon. cum!
She did, suddenly and with a surprised shout. Shoving Worlina all the way down to the base of Johns cock, she was also responsible for the movement that set him and, by extension of his seeds attributes, Worlina off. Squeezing the foam of cushions until the pleasure numbed the sensation of his hands, he felt his balls tighten for the third time.
After her womb, he now filled her stomach with wave after wave of seed. Rave was once more underlining things with her delightful moans as themanded orgasms let her feel her own release. Time stood still for a little bit while they all revelled in their moments of pleasure.
Now ya did it, Rave gasped, the first to recover. Unsurprising, since themanded orgasms were the weakest John could hand out by far. Not to say they were weak, it was still a proper orgasm, but it was nothingpared to even his fingers. Pulling the totally ruined redhead off Johns cock, her lipstick leaving a bit of a mark on the hard rod, Rave then pushed the shortstack to the side. Gasping for air, her pussy sometimes squirting a little, Worlina justy there, once more shut down. Lemme show people how to properly suck ya off.
Im all for that, John said, already groaning loudly when she had barely taken him in, her tongue alreadyshing against his weak spot.
And once more, the Newman proved too much for the average pornstar.
Chapter 727 – Master of Puppets
Chapter 727 C Master of Puppets
I have great news! John dered when he entered the living room.
I have greater news! Rave shouted back from the couch and waved him towards her. Or funnier news, at least. Check this out!
Walking over, John leaned over the back of the couch, while the Lightbearer raised her phone to let him see what she was talking about. What greeted him was the sight of some man looking like his soul was leaving his body through his open mouth. Why are you showing me some dudes blowjob face? John asked, highly confused, then he noticed the green-skinned redhead between the guys legs. Is this Worlinas video library?
Ja, Rave responded, snickering a little bit. With a swipe of her finger, she scrolled over the thumbnails. All of them disyed Worlina sucking a guy off and that guy looking absolutely lost in ecstasy.
All of them except the veryst one, which disyed the goblin limply lying on the ss table, eyes rolled up, wearing only torn stockings, tongue lolled out and covered in absurd amounts of cum. That was the state they had eventually left her in. Rave had to close the show, since the actual host hadnt been able to say anything anymore.
Took them almost a week to make that public, but there it is now. Hrious, his girlfriendughed, then proceeded to read thements about her ass. John didnt find it quite as funny as she did, but it was amusing. After climbing over the back of the couch and dropping on the cushions, a needy Eliza came crawling his way. Anyway, your news?
Before answering, John had to pay some attention to the naked submissive that was putting her chin on his knee like a sad dog. What are you doing on the floor? he asked. The nude part of things was hardly surprising. He was disrobing quickly himself. He was in his living room, after all.
Dumbfuck cumbuckets dont get to sit on that dead-cow-covered pedestal, Eliza grumbled.
Shes been mopey for thest half hour, Rave said. Stupid depressed teenage phases.
Go fuck yourself with a Bad Dragon cock, you seizure inducing cunt-muffin, the blood mage cussed, much in the usual manner. Just having a mood.
I feel like youre missing an adjective there, John pointed out.
Big fucking mood. The rification didnt rify anything at all; the tone really didnt make it sound like she wanted to actually fuck. Instead, she just looked up to John with big eyes.
With a theatrical sigh, John bowed down and grabbed her under the shoulders. Quickly, he pulled her into hisp and ced her ass against his immediately growing erection. Whether she was in a fucking mood or not, her cushion of a butt surely put him in one. The focusy on cuddling her though. Just feeling down? he asked and kissed the back of her neck.
Yes, Eliza answered. I dont deserve cuddles
Nonsense, Rave chimed in and cattishly got in on the hug by nuzzling against them. You deserve all the cuddles, ya mood-swinging subby thing you.
Noooo the white-blue haired girl meekly protested, but she was already too deep inside their arms to get out.
Aclysia is going to make dinner now, thatll cheer you up, John promised and stroked her hair. Until then, he would just cuddle her and deliver the news. Anyway, what I was getting at was that I got the Puppeteer Challenge beat.
Oooh, nice, Rave sounded at least adequately excited.
Two days ago, John had reached level 220.
And since then spent most of the time trying to beat the ss Challenges. Conveniently, he was able to get through most of the stuff while doing Assaults anyway, so he was able to squeeze out another level by today. Most Challenges presented to him were tests of basic knowledge in the Possession area, just scaled up for his new limit of Possession Slots. Only the final one had been a bit more difficult being a parkour he had to run inside an ongoing Assault, somewhat resembling beating a co-op Portal 2 level by himself. Only Jack and the Possession spell had been allowed as tools. All the while, his familiars had to fight off the usual waves of enemies and the asional boss monster.
He had managed it on the first try, beating the clock by only twenty seconds. It wasrgely thanks to his high Mental Stats that he got the puzzles solved so quickly. Otherwise, the timer he had been put on by Gaia would have beaten him.
The big reason why this level was so interesting: it was the first time he got a ss into the double digits. If this had been another ss, the girls couldnt have cared less, but since this was another upgrade to Jack, they were somewhat invested. Their lovers double had spiced up the sex life by a considerable margin, after all.
Ya spending that ss Level now? Rave asked.
Thats the n, her boyfriend answered and opened the window. Having to take one hand off Eliza was a bit of a shame, but short-term sacrifices had to be made for long-term gains. He pushed the Level Up confirm button and a whole slew of windows opened, where he had only expected one or maybe two if Gaia was feeling like handing out an Achievement. First and foremost of all came the expected one.
Wait, final level? Ah, lets not get distracted, one thought process at a time, John reprimanded himself and read through the actual choices. Oh, thats juicy, he said, something that Eliza and Rave hummed in agreement with. They were able to see and read the window as well, thanks to being in a party with him. While the Gamer quickly arrived at the decision he would make, he was still interested in their opinions. Well,dies, what do you say?
Wizard double not, Eliza dered. That shit is useless for you. You dont need that thing to be close around you and 10 mana per second t is going to be irrelevant at some point any-fucking-way. Only good thing it offers is an easier time at throwing your arcane bullshit from two different locations more effectively, but since you can already do that, its a giant fucking waste of a level.
I mean, I would have just gone with, seems kinda bad, Rave chimed in. But that sounds smarter, so lets go with her exnation. I think ya should go with Warrior Double. Having it equip its own items seems kinda busted and good Physical Stats mean ya have a good front liner.
But do I need one? John asked, just as the rustling of pans echoed from the open kitchen.
Touch? Rave said in an uncertain tone. So ya wanna go with the Ambassador Double?
That would be my choice indeed, John confirmed. Its Stats are a whole lot lower, but the utility it offers I cant get anywhere else. With the Ambassador Double, I can get so many more things done than are realistically feasible. With as big as a country we will end up once this is over, the ability to be at the east and west coast simultaneously, while allowing the elementals to travel with me and having the ability to stay in mental contact with everyone, just seems absolutely busted.
But its worse inbat, Rave just made a statement.
But its worse inbat, John echoed with a nod. A sacrifice I am willing to make. I have more things to worry about than maximizing my odds inbat.
Hmm. His girlfriend swayed her head in one direction. Hmm, she continued to hum, swinging her head in the other direction. That sounds smart and all, but I kinda want ya to invest in power wherever ya can. Dont want another Sigmund situation, you know?
I absolutely get that, John nodded. But always being afraid of the worst wont let us make decisions that carry us best into the future.
I trust ya, so push the button, Rave said.
Just dont ever get fucking hurt ever again, or I will have to rip them a new one as well, Eliza growled. He kissed her white head.
John confirmed his choice, and so that was done.
Those were some pretty incredible rewards, especially since Gnome was due for a Skill Evolution, having recently maxed out. What still irked him slightly was the fact that there was this limit on ss Levels. Of course, there had to be one somewhere, but he had hoped it would be level 20. That way, he could have levelled Elementalist until he paid no mana for the elementals anymore. Not that 50% cheaper was anything short of insane, especially since the mana cost would doubtlessly rise with future patches.
I need to make a call, John said and grabbed his phone out of his inventory. As Gaia eluded to, the choice was blindingly obvious. Maniptor wasnt really his style, neither was Maker, and the choice of Master didnt tickle his fancy because of the acquisition bonus. He really didnt need a fourth Artificial Spirit in his life (fifth, if he counted Metra).
Metracana Master immediately provided him with another 3 Consumption Attributes for Aclysia and Beatrice, as they would be upgraded from Epic to Legendary quality. That same upgrade would give them +4 in all Base Stats, aside from Libido. Not a giant upgrade, but noteworthy. He also hoped that this would be the way to eventually get that internal metal cultivation of those two to create Astrotium, which would be absolutely insane.
However, he didnt want to just go ahead because of the way things were formted. If this proper binding was sudden and without consent, he didnt want to just suddenly bind the First of Wrath to himself. There was no indication that she would refuse or that she wanted out of the current contract they had, but just doing it without asking her would have been against his principles.
So, thats the situation, he summarized thest few minutes to the berserker babe, after having reached her. Are you fine with me making that choice?
Hmmm Metra hummed over the phone, maybe if you no, you know what, Ill just say yes.
Really? John asked, having heard her intention in that dropped demand. No if you dere yourself king ultimatum?
Look, Im pretty invested in you at this point, I wont let you take a suboptimal route because of this oath, answered the ancient weapon swiftly. Moreover, Ivee to the conclusion that Im right and that there can be no Abyssal state where the head isnt a moral person with absolute power in force and administration. It just doesnt work, not in a world where it takes one extremely powerful guy to fuck things over and your glorious state blocks itself at every corner. Peace is too fragile.
In other words, you think that there will be some crisis in the future where I HAVE to dere myself king in order to solve it?
Dictator, king, emperor, any of the three, Metra said and yawned. I think you basically moved yourself in a position where its inevitable with that wonderfully idealistic Federation you cobbled together.
John disliked that he couldnt deny that possibility. Well see, with time.
Yup, Metra yawned. Anyway, push that button.
Without further hesitation, he did. Nothing immediately happened, so that was a bit disappointing. Then, after about five seconds or so, he suddenly felt something seething pressing against his mind. What in the he was busy thinking, then realized what was happening.
Oh, hello there, he heard Metras voice in his head. Just had a window pop-up in front of me, asking whether I really wanted a permanent connection. Guess Im stuck with you for now.
Metra, fucking hell! Smander suddenly weighed in. Your mind feels like Im standing next to a boiling pot of water all the time!
Hey, Im pretty calm right now, the First of Wrath responded. Its just this piece of shit door squeaking whenever someone goes through it. Having to guard the hallway while Scarlett runs around reprogramming things in her tower is fucking annoying.
Thisll take some getting used to John thought, his mind expanded by yet another person able to converse through it. Thework of souls connected to his only grew more busy.
Shoving all of that away to have some quiet, feeling on-going conversations flowing through him without listening to them, he checked on this actual new ss.
Well, itll take a while until I can level that John thought. Not only did he doubt he could find any Astrotium anytime soon (unless touching Metra somehow counted), he also had other things to focus on. Now that he had filled out one ss, that was a good sign to give something else some attention.
Before he could make a decision as to what, though, he had a few other windows to chew through.
New toys, John hummed, he really liked those. Gaia was so stingy in handing them out, probably because she was afraid of feature creep. Not that John could me her; his powers had long since exceeded the basic paradigm of get levels, grow stronger, even if that was still at the core of everything.
Best to check out what those new toys actually were, starting with the Modification.
That wasnt insanely powerful, but in terms of utility it wasnt to be underestimated. Since he had lost the reach of his gaze, having to rely on his hands alone had made Possession less useful than he liked. It was only a supporting Skill in his current set, but the ability to cast it with this whole body definitely made it more viable. The Extension part of it was also insanely useful.
A bit underwhelming, though, that this was something he couldnt keep all the time. Not that more customization was a bad thing. That he could only have one Modification at a time meant that those things could have a bit more oomph behind them. Largely because John couldntbine them for ridiculous effects.
Now, there was hoping that Overclock would be more ridiculous.
That is so cool and so underwhelming, John sighed.
Whaddya mean? Rave asked, reading through things.
When would I ever use this?
Uh, when there are a bunch of enemies inside a building and ya want to smoke them out? she suggested. Like, Possess the entire building and then throw stuff at them!
Two giant ws in that, John told her. One, I would only have five minutes to do that and I dont know if even my mind is able toprehend being an entire building quickly enough to do a lot with it. Secondly, this consumes ALL Possession Slots, he took a small pause and, when Rave blinked in confusion, borated, that means I cant use Spellcarrier along with it. I would literally just be the building. I could scan with this Skill, but Gnome is more reliable at that and doesnt leave me blind afterwards.
Because of the Overclock Drawback, John would bepletely blind for one day after using the Skill and blind on one eye for another one after that.
The only situation that I can think of that this would be useful in is if we get into another Warsaw situation. I could use this to make one of those giant golems attack the other. Or I could have taken over the Construct of Order. Thats not insignificant, but rather niche, all things considered. He closed the window with a sigh of disappointment. At least the Ambassador Double gives me what I want.
Where is Jack anyway? Rave asked since she couldnt see the Mand Sphere around.
Im currently using him to do paperwork, John told her. Do you see how useful it is to be in two ces at once? I can be a ruler AND chill nude in my living room, cuddling my sweet, little Eliza.
Im not sweet, and Im not that little, and youre a perverse cuntfucker, the same grumbled, her mood clearly improving.
You sure you want to give me ideas? John asked, moving his hips just a little and making his dick slide up and down the smooth valley between her butt cheeks. The answer to that was a resounding yes, Eliza twisting her head around to offer her lips for a kiss. An invitation he dly took. About twenty secondster, Elizas pussy was enveloping the head of his cock and she was slowly sliding down.
Imma have a go in the showerter, Rave dered, evidently still satisfied from earlier that day. At least satisfied enough to not get ahead of the two maids that were looking enviously out of the kitchen and doubtlessly wanted to serve him under the table during dinner.
Still cuddling Eliza while she bounced in hisp, John continued talking. Im having my monthly grinding day tomorrow.
I remember, Rave kissed him on the cheek. Ya told me at the start of the month.
Sure was an eventless month so far, he sighed in a pleased fashion, half because of that, half because of the way Eliza circled her hips. It was already the 19th of August. Outside of birthday celebrations, the interview and the one date having turned into the uprooting of a ver organization, nothing had really happened. There was no sign of anything outside of Smanders, Undines and Sylphs contract daysing up next week either.
Kinda like that, kinda hate that, his girlfriend mumbled. Ya know, no danger and no fighting make Jane one bored thrill seeker.
I would have thought facing your parents was enough of a thrill for a year, John joked and was quickly stabbed in the side by two fingers.
Dont ya dare bring that up, I will actually punch you! she warned.
John shut his mouth and fucked Eliza, with a grin.
Chapter 728 – Augusta 1 – The Queen’s Lover Boy
Chapter 728 C Augusta 1 C The Queens Lover Boy
Are you, factually, retarded? Lydia asked, her borate speaking pattern momentarily shaken by the outrageous thing that had juste out of Johns mouth.
Having managed to get this Sunday offpletely, Lydia had decided to stretch that one day into a ten day weekend to be spent with her lover across the pond. It was something they had nned in advance and that was easily enabled with the teleporter eliminating travel times almostpletely. When Aclysia had fetched her earlier, she had already waited over at Fusions embassy in Germany.
A short timeter, they all met with Magoi and Mabirl at the I.D. Gate, went in, split for the two houses, adequately far apart from each other, and unpacked their bags. Literally, for once, since Lydia had actually brought a bag full of spare clothes and hygiene articles with her.
Once that had finished up, they had gotten together in the living room and talked a little bit. John wasnt too bothered to start grinding immediately. It was also the moment he had told her his ns. No, I feel rather lucid on this decision, actually, he responded, not offended by her outburst in the slightest. What he had said was quite stupid on the face of it. I do n to max out Lover Boy next. Ive thought about it.
And what, in the name of God, Mother Metal and Gaia, could those thoughts possibly have amounted to? How deep were you inside your debauched, nightly haze, if that is the oue? Lydia crossed her arms and stared at him with eyes of steel. Do inform me, beloved, for I am burning red with the urge to know what your rationale is this time around.
Alright, lets start with the process of elimination, John told her. My number one priority next should be Elementalist, we agree on this easily, yes? Just nodding, knowing what he would say next, his queenly lover didnt interrupt him. But I cant level that right now because I just cant beat the ss Challenge. Synchronizing my mind with three elementals at the same time seems impossible. Theres too much pulling in different directions, when there are four minds involved.
Yes, yes. Impatiently, the heel of Lydias boots mmed against the tiled floor over and over again. The queen may have been the only one of his girls that preferred that they both wore something. Only in Johns Pce did shepromise and wore nothing but lingerie instead. At the moment, she wore a variation of her usual outfit, being an 18th century military coat, over a white shirt, with light brown pants covering her legs, only partly visible thanks to the thigh-high leather boots she had on beyond that. Proceed with your thoughts. I wish to dismantle your hypothesis and drill into your proud, stubborn skull the proper course of action.
Look who is calling the kettle ck, he couldnt help but joke.
Lydias fingers danced over her arm. Your sass is much disced.
Heughed and stood up. Come now, Lydia, he said, stepped next to her chair and offered his hand. There is no need for this much agitation. You trust me to not be aplete fool, right?
Do I? she asked, while dropping her upright posture in favour of a long sigh. Then she took his hand and let him pull her into a position they were bothfortable around each other. Two hands joined and raised, his other on her hips, her other on his lower back, both of them standing together. To a melody so well studied they didnt need to hear it anymore, they followed a basic three step procedure that had them dance in the little space between table and couch. Johns old home offered little, whenpared to thevish mansions they could both afford.
Lets continue with the elimination, then. John only needed to whisper now to reach her. Metracana Master will likely grant me great boons, but the first level alone is unattainable. Monster Hunter is nothing for my build. Housekeeper is an even greater waste than you think Lover Boy could be. Martial Artist doesnt fit. Unfound is worth a thought, but not necessary. Disciple is just useless at the moment.
And this, Lydia''s quiet voice was still a reprimand, just a less harsh one, still leaves you with four. Fateweaver, Lover Boy, Arcanist and Gamer. Out of those four, you chose the one that increases your impressiveness during coitus. Something that, we both are aware acutely, you have no need of.
I have very little reason to level Fateweaver, since I can already operate a mobile barrier, the Gamer retorted. For Arcanist and Gamer, I had to think a while. I think Gamer would elerate my growth a little bit, so its not exactly a bad decision to take it earlier. Arcanist is obviously the otherbat ss I can invest in, so that would also be valuable. However, there is a very simple, powerful reason why I am going with Lover Boy first.
Their eyes reflected in each others for several seconds. Whether Lydia got the message immediately or needed a few seconds, John wasnt sure, only that she did eventually. Youre an absolute love-struck fool, she scolded him.
I know.
A cretin of a man, guided by his perverse desires.
Now thats a bit harsh.
An enigmatic puzzle of paranoia, desire and power that I just keep falling in love with.
That does sound like me.
Youre an idiot.
Guilty as charged, he whispered and leaned down. Her red lips pulled away from his and she stepped out of the dance.
It irks me how incapable I have be of being properly mad at you, John Newman, especially when I know its to your detriment that you make me so lenient, she dered, her heavy boots drumming on the floor. In marching steps, she walked up and down in front of the television. Aclysia had installed it earlier. Allowing myself the weakness of loving you proves to be a weakness indeed. Do you have further reasons?
Lover Boy has the paint job of a pure sexual ss, but it seems more to be an intimate rtionship ss, the Gamer answered. Its not just you, Lydia, I want my life with everyone to be the best it can be.
Es besteht kein Agitated, Lydia slipped into German for just a few words, before restarting in english. There is no reason to hurry this. Moments shared with you are already those I desire the most, the remainder of the harem feels the same. Focus on Arcanist, grasp the power to stay safe!
And once Im done with Arcanist, what then? John asked. Shouldnt I be investing in Gamer then, or into whatever follow-up ss surfaces at the time? When will there be time to invest in Lover Boy? If security by personal power is the goal, then the answer can only be: once I am threatened by no one anymore. He took a pause and walked after her. Although he kept his hands to himself, he wanted to be near Lydia. Nearer, at least. Thatll take years, Lydia. More than that, I only have so many Max ss Levels at my disposal. I get one for every ten levels. We could reach a state where it takes me months to get the necessary levels, as conditions increase and time is a limited factor.
We have that time, beloved, the queen shook her head and put a hand on the side of his face. Years are not an issue for us. I may not have your lifespan, but I will not die young.
John closed his eyes, concentrating on her warm touch on his face. cing his own hand over hers, he finally let out the deep insecurity thaty at the base of all of this. Will you not? he asked. Lydia, I have the same fear for you that you have for me C for far more reasons. Compared to the average Abyssal, youre strong;pared to the enemies you make, you are not. What if someone of my current level decides to assassinate you one day? How often can such a thing fail until someone seeds?
He opened his eyes to find Lydias face still and thoughtful. There was no immediate counterpoint she could deliver. Its not just you I worry about. Scarlett and Jane both have less than 30 levels to grow. You three are no gods, no familiars that scale with me, no ancient weapons. Jane is at least a fighter, and at level 200, there is way less to worry about. Scarlett has a high level, but herbat ability is basically null, and you, you said it yourself. Youre a campfire next to a burning house. The Gamer and the Lover Boy sses are the ones that should help me alleviate this problem. From all I could gather, Gamer would help with the general approach on this. Lover Boy is where I get to help you, my loves, specifically.
Please, Lydia, if you care for me for as much as I care for you, then you have to understand why I want to focus on this.
You are Lydia started, taking half a step forward and framing his face with both her hands, the greatest mistake I have and will ever make. Then she leaned forwards to kiss him. She was one of the girls who didnt have to do more than that, being almost as tall as John himself.
The reward of her red lips was all a man could ever ask for. She tasted sweet, with a note of iron, like always. Citrus smell gently rose from her auburn hair and filled his lungs, while their tongues intertwined. Lydia was the best kisser in his harem. Not for theck of talent for everyone else. It was just that, when Lydia kissed him, all of those harsh and caring words shembasted him with culminated into the loving intent behind them. That she had the softest, most gorgeous red lips out of all of his girls only helped the matter.
Then, she pulled back. Then do what you must, my beloved John, she whispered. I ept your reasons. As much as I would want you to prioritize your own safety, if this puts your soul at ease, then be done with it. Their hands glided down their bodies until they swayed in close embrace to their heartbeats. We could have less of these issues if you had just agreed to stay in Germany with me. Life would be infinitely more secure in the civilized halls of my country.
I suppose so. If I only did the thing that was the safest, I would still be in Springfield and just grinding on the daily, with minimal amounts of human contact, however. The Gamer was happy that the conversation was taking a turn for the better. Im d you challenged me on this.
Being a ruler can be a lonely fate. The queen kissed his neck. Having found you was a blessing in the disguise of opportunity. You and our lovers, they are the anchor I didnt know I needed. Her lips wandered from his neck to his face and she gave him another peck on the lips. Now, stop wasting your time with me. You have to make good on your decision and I think even Gnome is getting impatient if youre letting her wait much longer.
Well, I have one ss Level I can spend right now, he told her. So, I would do that here.
As you wish. Just dont let those Perks awaken your desires. She tabbed his corbone twice, warningly. I am certain you had plenty of satisfaction before I arrived, so you better put business before pleasure for at least a few hours.
No promises are made, Johnughed and found several pieces of metal in the room rising from their resting positions. Okay, okay, I promise Ill go take care of things after I pick the Perk, he conceded, and the threatening articles settled back down. I thought we had removed that stick in your bum.
If said stick is the only thing that allows me to make you the slightest bit serious from time to time, I am happy to have it stay there forever.
Also, you enjoy buttplugs.
Ick the words to properly describe how much I want to walk back the statements I made over the past minutes.
Youre wearing one right now, arent you? He grabbed her butt as if he could actually find that out through theyers of clothes.
No answer will be given. Do your work and you may find outter. Lydias answer was absolute, although the slight blush told John all he needed to know.
As fun as the banter was, he actually needed to get this show on the road, so he opened the menu and clicked on Lover Boy. He still had two free levels for that ss, so he didnt have to worry about the ss Challenge in any way. Not that he thought he would have any particr difficulty to beat those ones.
The choice was immediately obvious. It irked him a little bit to give up the ability to put Domination Mark on anyone he wanted, but it wasnt like he had gotten a lot of mileage out of that. For the most part, he wanted more Lovers Will marks. Plus having ess to a sensitivity increase was just fantastic. Dominating Lover it was.
Alright, Lydia, you know the mark I put on Jane? he asked, in order to fulfil the conditions. She nodded, and he quickly exined everything that it did. Which didnt take too long, since Lydia already knew about both Lovers Will and Domination Pact. Once conditions were cleared, they sealed the deal with another kiss.
Both of them expected the hot tingle that came along with the spell doing its work. John felt it at the back of his left hand. It quickly coalesced in a single spot, the middle joint of his thumb, and drew magical lines inside his skin.
Where he had known that feeling before, Lydia was still a bit surprised. Surprised may have been not entirely correct, given that she moaned into his mouth while the Lovers Will took hold of her and left a part of John with her and part of her stuck with him. It was a union beyond the intimacy of their bodies.
When the tingle faded, they parted from one another. Lydia was blushing intensely now, breathing at a quick and heavy pace. Shamelessly pulling at her belt, she took a look at this new mark on her body.
It was the exact same as Raves. Located between navel and vagina, a bit closer to the former, it stretched vertically. Dark blue lines ran in straight and slightly wavy fashions. At the centre, right above the womb, they made up the shape of a stylized heart. Perfectly symmetrical to the side, two arms stretched out. John felt like those were representative of her fallopian tubes or something. That may have just been his fetishist mind talking though.
The lower bits of it, some lines stretching down from the tip of the heart, barely touched Lydias trimmed pubic hair. Peculiar, the metal mage dered, and the mark disappeared. Only to reappear a few momentster. I assume you would prefer for me to keep it visible?
Yes. John didnt have the presence of mind to get any sort of quips out. Having his personal mark on his women yed into everything his perversion stood for. Marks were a sign of possession and he was a possessive person when it came to his girls. The location was raw intimacy. More than that, the desire that he kept having to suppress to just finally knock up one (or all) of them was only highlighted.
The amount of scandals I risk for you, my love, Lydia sighed with a smile and strapped her belt back into ce. I will oblige, be it only because I find it strangely wonderful to wear proof of you so close to my sex. Another sign of your moral corruption, no doubt.
Dont you push off you being a kinky one at me, the Gamerughed. You are the buttslut around here, after all.
I dont fancy you putting it like that, Lydia said, her face resuming a normal colour as she got her horniness under control. May I see your hand?
He raised it, and she inspected his new mark. They were both on his left hand. Raves old one, with the centre-heart on the knuckle of his ring finger, and this new one with its core on the middle joint of his thumb. Both had a couple of lines extend upwards, forming a tattooed ring around the finger, and a single line that followed the path of the sinew connected to the wrist. They almost met, but only almost.
Im keeping it, he told her before she could ask. There was no way he would ever hide any proof of his harem on his own body. Well, maybe if it was some grotesque shape on his face. That was an extreme case though.
I know. Lydias smile grew from slight to clearly visible, she even showed a bit of her white teeth. I hope for your sake that you rified this with Aclysia and Eliza beforehand. Otherwise, I fear for your safety.
Of course, I did, the Gamer nodded. Neither of the two had been psyched by the idea, but they knew he had to set his priorities. Johns theory was still that Lovers Will was the ability through which he could prolong the duration his girls lived. What specific mechanic that manifested as would be seen down the line.
In that case, I rmend we leave now, Lydia told him. You have another girl to attend to and I look forward to what she will be.
The hope was that Gnome would evolve into something even more adorable.
Chapter 729 – Augusta 2 – Fall in Love in Summer
Chapter 729 C Augusta 2 C Fall in Love in Summer
They headed outside where the rest of the attending harem, in this case only Johns familiars, was waiting. By some cushion politics (John liked to refer to internal harem affairs that way), they had given Lydia the room to enjoy a quiet half hour with her lover. Now it was time to attend to the next matter on the list.
Alright, John pped his hands together, Gnome!
Yes! the same answered in an equally firm and startled tone. Stepping forwards, somewhat mechanically, the soil elemental was the centre of attention. Something she disliked immensely, but had to put up with for the moment. I-is it time?
Yup, he answered nonchntly, trying to take some of the edge off. Dont worry, youve been through this twice before. Nothing bad will happen. With her, he could say that without conjuring any bad memories. Part of why Gnome was thest of his elementals to ascend to Tier 4, despite being the longest serving one, was because she hadnt jumped through any hoops. Sylph had just skipped Tier 2, Undine and Smander had done their thing, Siena had arrived at Tier 3 and Stirwin had arrived at Tier 5.
I hope so Gnome mumbled and, when John ced a hand on her head, let out a small sound that was as adorable as a kitten meowing for the first time. Itll be fine, itll be fine, she whispered to herself, while John patted her for onest time before the transformation. Eventually, she nodded and he stepped back.
Being next to an evolving elemental was a bit of a risky business. Except for Siena, her Tier ascensions had happened without any dangerous elemental torrent. Differences between kinds, I suppose, John thought while he opened the window in question. Lydia was right next to him, watching with great interest. She had never attended one of these evolutions and was intrigued to see how it would go.
Even in a nation full of elementalists, evolutions like this were a rare thing. Normal people didnt have ess to some mechanic that just triggered them with purpose and, apparently, there were a bunch of difficulties in having elementals evolve normally. Hurdles most people didnt jump over because they didnt benefit them directly. That the Germans usually fused with their elementals only further decreased the amount of times this happened.
John clicked the golden plus next to the maxed-out Soil Elemental Summoning Skill, and the window popped up as per usual.
Interesting choice, John mumbled.
A binary choice, Lydia seemed to disagree. Unless you can use your recently demonstrated ability to argue terrible choices to prove this to me as well, the spring elemental is out by default. There is no way you would profit from the seasonal bonus before evolving Gnome again.
That is true, the Gamer could only nod. Sure, Tier 4 elementals took a long time to gather Skill Levels, but it shouldnt take aplete year. He actually had a good reference for this in the shape of Undine, who had evolved to Tier 4 Christmasst year and whose Skill was currently, eight monthster, at level 94. He suspected it would max out after another three weeks tops.
Then again, if I count all the days and weeks I spent in time dtion maybe that would add up to something close to a year? Certainly would be enough time to get towards Spring, he thought and scratched his head. I think we should ignore the seasonal bonuses for the purpose of this choice, he finally said. They seem rather secondary anyway. What do you think about this Unleash change bit, by the way?
Its rare, but not unheard off, Lydia shrugged. Much like some humans start with a generalist Innate Ability and slowly realize their true potential lies in a specific subset of that category, some elementals change their Unleashed state over the course of their evolution. The major contrast being that humans learn these differences, while elementals evolve into them. A paradigm born from our biologically, gradual advancement versus their magical teau-based nature, no doubt. Making sure her braidy orderly over her shoulder, the queen of steel showed another smile. Despite that little fight, her mood seemed to be extremely good. Maybe it was even because of it that she was. I should be surprised of this being a presented option, but it seems I have gotten ustomed to your bullshit powers, as Jane would put it.
Enough exposure would do that, John hummed and looked up from the window and to Gnome, who had been reading the contents through his mind. Do you have any opinion on this? he asked. He was the one who had to make the decision in the physical sense, but when it came to actually picking things, he liked to leave it to the affected.
Uhm, I think autumn elemental would be the best choice, Gnome spoke up.
That definitive an answer surprised him, he had expected more fidgeting, stuttering and perhaps a mild suggestion in any direction. Any reason why?
I uwu I, uh, I-i-i-i Now that was more like what John had expected. Patiently he waited for the leader of his elementals to calm down and continue. I think it would match best with the colour of my dress she finally mumbled, turning a light shade of red.
John couldnt help but startughing. Thats it? he asked, not in an usatory tone. For a decision as potentially important as this one, it just seemed like a very flimsy justification. She was right, of course, the sunflower yellow of her dress would harmonize nicely with the gold of fallen leaves. Well, as you wish then, my cuddly rock, he smiled and moved his finger towards the option.
Youre going through with this based on a colour preference? asked the queen at his side, stemming one hand into her narrow hips with a disapproving expression.
I have done dumber things for only slightly better reasons, John responded and gestured towards Smander. Opening her mouth a bit, the endme elemental shook her head and let the issue pass her by without an argument. Johns hand connected with the window and the confirmation was made.
A quiver went through the ground under them, flowing towards the brte in their midst. Dirt created more dirt, breaking out of thewn in a circle around Gnome and swirling up in a brown vortex. With every passing second, it became denser, until John could no longer see his earth spirit among the flying soil. As a pir of solid dirt, it finally came to a standstill.
Everyone kept the distance they had previously taken. The pir was a strangely artful thing, courtesy of its whirling shape. It was strangely symmetrical as well. Almost like several helixes ovepped.
John had only started following that train of thought when the outeryers of the pir changed colour. Dark red, brown and gold, theyers peeled away as butterflies with wings of autumn leaves. It was a gargantuan swarm, being freed ever more by the dissolving pir. Theypletely engulfed the surroundings in their beauty.
After about thirty seconds, the butterflies began to glow, the veins on their wings bing clearly visible, and fell apart into glowing particles. It was a mystical sight, gorgeous and mncholic, thanks to its short-lived nature. John reached up, several butterfliesnding on his hand.
He presented those small, leaf-winged creatures to Lydia. They were surrounded by them on all sides, a swarm that was tumbling about, glowing, dispersing, growing and fading away, all at the same time. Is it normally this spectacr? Lydia asked, as the ones on Johns arm, one by one, followed the same fate as all their brethren.
Its always different, he responded.
There was a gradual shift as the rate of fading stayed consistent and the newly created butterflies became less numerous. The swarm slowly cleared, leaving only a humanoid figure, covered in leaves, standing there like a mummy of autumn.
The leaves were closely sticking to her curves; John could see that little had changed about them. Gnome was still a bnced package. Averagely sized breasts, a softly swung, not overly narrow waist and well-curved hips that fluidly continued into long, slender legs. There was a bit more definition to her midriff, John felt, a little rise in athleticism and the firmness of her breasts, but no changes to her figure that were particrly outstanding.
Slowly changing their arrangement of the autumn colour spread to the single rule of a golden yellow, the leaves melded together into one unit. Parts of them crumbled away as a fine golden dust that swirled around and gathered elsewhere,bining to make her new clothes.
A gap was created between her shoulders and lower arms, a dozen centimetres where her paleplexion could be seen. The separation made the remaining gold around her hands gloves and left her shoulders to flow on as the main dress. A simr thing happened on her legs, bing free from the base of her legs to halfway down her thighs, creating stockings this way. For a moment, it seemed like that would leave her torso covered by a sort of leotard.
The dust of the fallen leaves attached to her hips, however, and spread out as veins into the air around. Bing ck, the typical yellow-gold of the dress grew between them, then the entire construct fell as a skirt with tworge, frontal splits, simr to the maids or Gaias outfits. Its rim, just like the rim of the gloves and stockings, was an unsteady disy that seemed like a mixture of the many shapes leaves could take.
The ck veins then spread outwards. They spread over the torso, skipped the skin and continued on the gloves and stockings. The further out they went, the more the ck drained into a reddish brown. At the chest, the veins split into many branches, only to unify as the edge of the dress shortly below the corbone, too far up to create any sort of cleavage, appearing like a ttened V. Above that line the remaining leaves began to peel away, leaving yet more of that wild border, and revealing the remainders of Gnomes new form.
Her slender neck came into view first, a round chin, lips of an elegant shape, as red as a ripe apple and almost as sultry as Lydias, a cute, stubby nose and finally her almond shaped eyes with the fitting colour of hazel. Unlikest time, Gnome didnt seem to have grown any older in her appearance. Of Asian facial structure, she seemed somewhere between 20 and 25 years old, mature and adorable.
The remaining leaves on her head were slowly pushed apart as the hair underneath gained its volume and shape. The yellow surface broke into evenly spaced segments, and six butterflies, like the ones that had surrounded them earlier and had manifested for her previous Unleash, beat their wings as the elementals brown hair fell. It had, perhaps, changed the most. The intense brown was no longer separated into twin tails. Instead, two braids confined it to the sides of her head. Those braids met at the back, became one, and fell down with the remaining tide of her slightly wavy, brown hair. That new hairstyle,bined with the intense colour of her lips, helped make her look more adult.
D-d-do I C dammit! Gnome stumbled her first sentence in her new form and cursed as adorably as anyone could curse. Umu That was a new sound, less panicked than the usual Uwu but no less embarrassed.
You do look wonderful, John assured her, knowing what she had been about to ask. The reborn elemental let out a sigh of relief and smiled while blushing softly. Even while appearing like she was wearing the autumn forest itself, the earth spirit remained the same easily flustered thing she had been since her first evolution.
Thank you, John, she said, grabbed the sides of her skirt and did a curtsey. I have once more be stronger thanks to your care. I hope we make the one year we spent together into many more. This sounded like something she had prepared to say on the actual anniversary of their contract. Like her, he felt it more appropriate at this point. Had the timing for her evolution lined up properly, that day would have been even greater.
But there was no use crying about that. What was important was that he went through a few things now that she had evolved. First and foremost, he desperately needed to hold her. Sure, finding out about her Stats, new Unleash and item form were all important, but what he really cared about the most was what she felt, smelled and tasted like now. This was the same soul he loved in a new body.
Gnome must have thought something simr as the two stepped towards each other in unison. Their arms wrapped around the others body and embraced them closely. Out of a sudden impulse, John picked her up and whirled her around. She was so much lighter than she used to be that he entirely overdid it. They whirled around twice, then his miscalction threw him off bnce and they fell into the grass.
Theynded on their sides and wasted no time with getting up. Their lips pressed together and Johns senses were filled with her presence. Her body felt soft, as soft as a humans, without any need to concentrate from the autumn elemental. All of her was squishy in all the right ces, although the texture of her dress, something between paper and a dried leaf, provided some oddity. More than that, she had the feel of a human, but she had the warmth of mid-autumn, only about half of regr humans temperature. Not that John found that off-putting or unusual in any way, none of his elementals really had a human warmth to them.
Her lips were hot and her tongue wet, as it coiled around his. They were making out in a slow, loving fashion. They were exploring each other. Her earthy taste filled him, a taste echoed by the smell of her hair. It was the scent of the forest after rain, pine needles and the breeze that brushed through thest remaining flower beds of the year. They were all intense sensations, simr to what she had exuded previously, but more defined and detailed.
Once his hands groped her butt, a firm and round pillow, and didnt move anywhere else to explore, they knew they were done with this for the moment. Unable to control himself, it was only thanks to Gnome that the kiss finally ended. We have many other things to do today, she whispered with a smile, her perfect embrace surrounding him with security and love.
Right, right, the Gamer conceded and moved on.
Chapter 730 – Augusta 3 – A complete analyzation of updates and upgrades
Chapter 730 C Augusta 3 C Aplete analyzation of updates and upgrades
The most basic things had to be put first, so John threw an Observe at the autumn elemental while they got up.
Nothing unusual going on there. Aside from her weight now being considerably lower, as John had already verified the regr way. The Tier 3 to Tier 4 transformation didnte with any increases to her Stats, so he wasnt sure what he had expected. Always ttering to read about the emotions segment though.
Alright, lets cover the next bit, John moved on. Item form first, show me what you turn into.
Gnome nodded and closed her eyes. Please dont be shoes, please dont be shoes, please dont be- The third repeat of the chant was interrupted by her body transforming into earthy brown energy and then reshaping into something entirely different. With an audible thud, the item hit the ground and stood upright.
A long, gnarly shaft presented itself to John. By the brown colour, it seemed to be wood, but the way it reflected the light made it seem more like stone. Touching it didnt help much with the distinction. It had the smoothness of polished rock but the many furrows and gaps associated with cured wood. The way it heated up under his grasp didnt feel like it resembled either.
At the end of the shaft, currently reaching high up into the air, several autumn leaves twisted together into arge thorn. The head of the weapon was a rectangr b of grey stone. The rims were decorated with yet more leaves, whose unwavering forms appeared to be rather sharp. Getting hit by this would deal an unnecessary amount of cutting and blunt damage.
It was a warhammer, a two-handed one at that. John tried to lift it with a single hand, found himself unable to, and then tried again with both, which still served to be rather difficult. The Gnome hammer was heavy, Tiemarath levels of heavy.
Hnnnnggghhh. John pressed his teeth together and the air from his lungs in an effort to lift the damn thing over his head. Several seconds passed, but he seeded and mmed it down on the ground in front of him. The earth for several metres in front of him turned into a wave of stone spikes ripping upwards. It resembled Gnomes Tier 2 fighting style more than anything, but it was also what John had wanted to happen when swinging that thing.
Huffing and puffing a few times, not even trying for a second swing, he gave Gnome the mental signal to change back. A momentter, she stood in front of him. Impressive, but sadly unusable, he summarized his thoughts on the matter.
Aside from the obvious Strength limitation, something that he might be able to solve down the line as he did another round of bnced spending, there was the issue of two-handing the thing. With the ability of Purgatory to be one with either Undine or Smander, the former being his usual equipment target, he had one Hand Equipment Slot free nowadays. As basic mathematics dictated, one was lesser than two. As cool as it was to split and reshape the earth through swings with a giant hammer, Purgatory was strictly better and more in line with his build.
Gnome seemed a little bit bothered by this announcement. Sorry Im not of use she mumbled and let out another, Umu, when he put a hand on her head and patted her in the usual fashion. Her hair was as soft as conditioned cotton.
Dont worry about it, he assured her. Sylphs item form isnt really good for my build either, Stirwin and Smander are extremely niche, Siena He looked over to the moonshade elemental who hissed in return. The chants from moments ago must have soured her mood considerably. doesnt have an item form. He didnt want to have an argument.
Correctio-
Beatrice, I swear to my love for your very butt that I will tilt every single piece of furniture in the living room by five centimetres and forbid you to do anything about it if youment on this, John shut her down immediately.
Correction rescinded. Beatrice bowed down hastily, the closest thing to a panic that she could leisurely disy.
Anyway, the Gamer continued, the only item form that I can truly and consistently use at the moment is Undines. And thats fine. Im a summoner first and foremost, I supply power, tactics and supportive fire. I dont need to use you all as part of my equipment. Spreading out my power is more my style anyway.
That was met with universal nods. Partly because the opposite, theplete centralization of power, reminded them of Sigmund. Just because a hated foe used a certain fighting style didnt make that fighting style wrong, but it still felt tainted to the lot of them.
Last point on this checklist then, John decided and stepped away from Gnome, instead pointing at the butterflies that flew around her. Lets see what those do.
Although they were fewer in number than before, it was certain that they were once again tangled up with her Unleash in some fashion. Gnome nodded and the experiments started carefully. First thing she did was try and move them about with her mind. Since she had already experienced this prior, this was simply like switching from one bike to another. Perhaps a minorly taller one, since she did still have to get used to the new feeling a little bit.
Once that condition had been cleared, Gnome sprawled them out in the distance. Considering the earthen torrent that hade aboutst time they had found out what her Unleash was, everyone took an extra three steps back. More than double the distance, on average, than people had taken when she had evolved.
H-here it goes! she stumbled and raised one hand as if she was about to, very carefully, push a big red button.
Several metres away, one of the butterflies red up with intense light. The insect of little wood and dried leaves transformed into a thin stone rod of a greyish-brown that then prated the floor. After only one second, it had extended to its maximum length, being about five metres tall. A few seconds passed with nothing happening. Then, the ground around suddenly broke open, somethingrge burrowing under the surface and into all directions. Another few seconds thereafter the rod expanded several times in girth, branches of stone expanded around and sprouted yellow, gold and red-brown leaves. They began to tumble to the floor immediately.
Intrigued, both John and Lydia walked towards the tree, Gnome following cautiously despite this being her power. Once they arrived on the fluffed-up ground, Lydia kicked a chunk of the loose dirt aside to reveal a root of brownish grey stone underneath. That answered the question of what had made its way under the surface.
Is there purpose in this beyond its spawning? Lydia asked, turning to Gnome. Is it in your ability to manipte this tree?
Uh, kind of? Gnome answered, without even doing anything. Its made of stone, so I can use it in the usual ways
Thats semi useful. John scratched his chin. Her Unleash provided the same resource with which she fought and built a minor obstacle. Given that it could be used at least five times in quick session, this would provide a good amount of controble material in the rare case that they were in an environment where there was none otherwise. What about the leaves?
L-let me try! Gnome once more pointed a hand at her target. While it might help her concentrate and guide her power, such a gesture wasnt strictly necessary. The leaves of the tree fell off all at once and transformed into fine dirt, which Gnome then settled on the floor. Also usable in the usual ways, she reported, then mumbled, no need to say that, Gnome, they have eyes
Youre thinking out loud again, boss, Smander remarked from the background.
If you dont have anything to add, then you should jus- Wha? she only realized what Smander had said after a little bit. Whirling her head around and looking at her surroundings. Once she noticed that people were giving her bemused nces, her gaze wandered to her feet. Uwuuwuwuwu the usual noise escaped her.
John gave her some more headpats to console her, while he looked at the tree shrinking visibly, as new leaves sprouted. So, the tree converts its solid stone into dirt through those leaves, he analysed and followed as several of the leaves slowly, naturally tumbled to the floor. Given enough time they will also degrade into a pile of dirt There will still be more dirt than before, though. He tapped his chin.
The exact conditions of creation could benefit more varied testing, Lydia shared her thoughts on the matter.
Nodding, he had juste to the same conclusion, John looked over to Smander. Could you ask Magoi toe over here for a second? I need him to create a number of floors of varying materials and thickness.
Hey, hey, why not send me? Sylph asked and zapped in front of Johns nose. Given that she was barely bigger than his hand at the moment, he almost went cross-eye reflexively. I am the quickest and the talkiest of your elementals, I can do the ziplining over and the talking and stuff.
Youre not that great at being concise, John told her honestly and booped her on her very tiny forehead. He didnt need to say much more since Smander was already on her way. If youre bored, you cannd in my hand and Ill tickle you a little bit. He offered his palm.
Tickles are tickly andughy and fun! Sylph eximed, took the offer, and was then assaulted by Johns thumb, rubbing her tiny stomach. Like a yful kitten, she hugged and bit it while he was doing so.
In an effort to pass the time, he decided to double-check recent changes he had made to his arsenal. Most notably, what Attributes the Artificial Spirits had been bestowed with since he had acquired Metracana Master.
The ascension to Legendary rarity had screwed with a bunch of the nicely allocated Stats he had for her. He would have to fix that in the future. Over the past few levels, John had taken a short detour from raising her Strength exclusively to getting her Charisma to 50. Since she was doing more official work now, her being a better negotiator seemed rather important.
Aclysia had agreed and partly urged John to make this call. Having beauty, diligence, power and a silver tongue, she now was a priceless asset in his bedroom, household, battlefield and political chambers. Being involved and downright necessary in every part of her Masters life was the deepest wish of the maid, so this development pleased her immensely.
As for the three new Attributes that were avable now, Acid Resistance 5 was a standard for things that John put on himself and his Artificial Spirits. Single Step and Mental Bacsh, however, werepletely new things.
A very weak Attribute, given its constraint, but the best in the immediate utility department the catalogue that John had to offer. He hoped to rece it sometime soon with something more useful.
This, as niche as it was, John loved to have. With the extreme rise in Mental Stats he had invested into, this was bound to pay dividends in certain situations. A lot of people would try to exploit the usual weakness of Artificial Spirits, only to hurt and expose themselves. Well, that was Johns hope on the matter. He didnt actually know how many people using Possession or simr spells were out there.
No other new Attributes here. Same problem with the Stats though. Aclysia and Beatrices profile were looking rather samey these days. Given that they fulfilled different categories of the melee fighter role, that was of little surprise. There was no need to fix what wasnt broken.
There was a thing that Aclysia had but Beatrice didnt, however, that the Gamer desperately wanted the passive maid to have. Namely, the ability to convert things inside her into Baelementium. As it was, Beatrice only had Refined Body, which purified materials inside her. It didnt create better ones and it sure didnt create Baelementium or anything above that. It wasnt a pressing issue, having her feed off Aclysia worked, but the metadermis, Aclysias impossible I cant believe its not skin metal exterior, was a nice improvement from Beatrices silicone. Not necessary, the silicone was almost exactly like flesh, but it would be nice regardless.
Hello, John, aka my employer, aka the guy who just had his red-skinned elemental interrupt sexy times with my wife. Magoi arrived on the scene in a semi-pissed mood. That was to say, he was clearly annoyed, but didnt let that influence his behaviour too much. Next time, I prefer a text message.
You have a tendency to not answer them immediately, John retorted. But I am sorry about that. I know the feeling.
I know you do. The sigh that followed soundedically distorted, thanks to the metal echo his raptor mask added to everything. Alright then, youngster, what do you need today?
Id like three square pads of concrete of increasing thickness, please, he said, as if ordering pizza on the phone. And three identical ones of some metal, lets say steel. Of the same thickness levels.
Coming right up, Magoi said and rxed his hands with impressive gestures. Like a stage magician, he whirled around his cane, struck a pose and then snapped. Suddenly, one square appeared. Repeating the process five more times, each time trying to make some impressive or menacing pose and snapping his fingers, he created all the requested areas. That would be all?
That would be all, John confirmed. You may now go back to shagging your wife, he added with a smirk
Yeah, okay, thanks, boss, Magoi responded and tipped his top hat in a sarcastically respectful fashion.
John waved after him and then instructed Gnome, Do use your Unleash on the centre of each of these. She had five butterflies at that moment, so they would have to take time for the respawn question as well, while they were at it. Even with one data point missing, the remaining five would give some insight.
While Gnome went about doing that, John checked on the other two pieces of his equipment that needed some final inspection before he went big-boy grinding.
Not that there was much to inspect. He had just used the Modify Attribute on the Chosen items to p on some generalist bonuses. He would have loved to put something really exciting on there, but he simply hadnt invested enough into Create to have ess to any really interesting enchantments. The one thing on there that was worth mentioning, Afterimage, he had gotten done by a third party.
It wasnt even that great either, a minor, daily cooldown that helped him out in a pinch. Better to have than not, anyway, and thanks to Modify, he could remove it and the other enchantments whenever he felt like it.
He dismissed all of the windows and looked up, just in time to hear a series of cracks and metallic splintering, as stone aggressively and quickly burrowed through the materials in the ground. Impressed, John whistled and walked forwards to check things out in more detail.
There were two most notable things about these extra experiments: the extension of the roots and the shape of the resulting trees. For all of them, the trunk was about five metres high. Considerable differencesy, however, with the girth of the trunks and the number and size of the branches. The thicker the obstacle underneath was, the less mass the resulting tree had. The more dirt surrounded the roots in their entirety, the bigger the tree.
As for the roots, it appeared they always expanded with the same amount of energy. This was rather easily visible in the concrete. Although the trees were smaller with each instance, the destruction of the floor was roughly equivalent. Basic concrete had little to offer against magically reinforced stone. Solid steel was a bit more in the ways of resistance, but had also caved considerably.
The interesting bit was that the destruction radius for the steel was a fair chunk smaller, confirming the idea that the energy used was equivalent. The roots had a limited amount of it, so if the material they had to burrow through was harder/less craggy, they wouldnt get as far.
This is a pretty heavy anti-armour ability, John deduced by the end of all inspections.
That is an understatement. Lydia crossed her arms. This is an utter death sentence for anything slow and reliant on ting, inorganic or not. Even if the material is extremely hard, blowing a fist sized hole into it with this would be enough to create a tremendous advantage. Targeting weak points at the joints will lead to strategically devastating results.
John imagined one of the Grey Golems of the Communists and one of these trees destroying everyst bit of structural integrity a leg might have by having the roots bust open the knee. I can see that, he agreed and turned to Gnome. Congrattions, you are now the anti-armour specialist of the group.
Y-yay? Gnome sounded more confused than happy about this development.
Chapter 731 – Augusta 4 – When the Deity Plays Along
Chapter 731 C Augusta 4 C When the Deity ys Along
Not muchter, John stood in the typical darkness that preceded an actual dungeon run. Humming to himself, he moved his head from side to side, thinking at a rapid pace.
Whats the fucking hold-up?! Smander finally burst out when this continued for over a minute. I want to BURN something, John! BURN! Why are we standing here like salt pirs?!
Im considering how to best do this, John answered, still thinking. That he hadnt gotten a n after a whole minute wasnt due to some temporarypse in his intellect. It was just a bad case of indecisiveness. The problem is, heid out verbally, that I want to make CONSIDERABLE progress in the next 10 days. Purely mathematically speaking, I should get something between 10 and 15 levels, if I grind away every day for ten dedicated hours.
Undine flowed over and pressed her cool, liquid body against his side, his shoulder bing enveloped by her immense breasts. And what would the desired amount be, Master? she asked. So obviously begging for his attention, John couldnt help but kiss her before he gave the answer. Her blue lips tasted salty.
58, he gave his answer afterwards. Thats the number of levels I would need to max out the Lover Boy ss. This was apletely ludicrous idea, the Gamer already knew that. Making as much as a quarter of the levels he had achieved over a year in ten days would bepletely absurd. It would be more, even, than he had achieved with the Catch-Up Buff.
That was the goal though and, in all essence, there was more than one road to sess. It wasnt that he actually wanted 58 levels, although he would most certainly take them, but 6 Max ss Levels. If he could get them any other way, that would reduce his goal by 10 regr levels each time.
Lover Boy had, historically, been the only ss for which he got specific Max ss Levels. The hope was there that this would be true in the near future as well. How to force the issue, however, he didnt know and was what he was currently struggling with. Were there any specific Instant Dungeons that he could use to spur Gaia into giving him Achievements for exactly what he wanted?
Well, sometimes the supreme deity just yed along. Reading through the Quest, John could only think, She really wont make it easy, huh? while epting it.
Long Assaults were hell. The reason why John stuck to his 4-hour sessions was because he got exhausted. Not exactly physically, Gamers Body made that a short-term issue at worst, but primarily mentally. Being under constant threat by endlessly spawning waves of enemies was a lot of fun initially, but after several hours the spikes of adrenaline from bad situations and bosses just wore down the psyche. Four hours had been the time John had grownfortable with as being repeatable with only a minimal break. Which was why he still went with it, despite the experience multiplier growing with a prolonged stay. That ALL experience of an Assault would be lost if he failed at whatever moment during it only added to his caution to not overdo it.
Also, on normal days, he couldnt free more time than that, but that was neither here nor there.
If he pushed himself and was clever about it, it should very much be possible. It would him a giant sum of experience and he would get through with the Quest. In all due likelihood, it would be a total hell-walk. The randomness didnt help either, it was against Johns nature as a schemer to do anything blindly. If there was any time to try something like this, though, it was while Fateweaving guaranteed their survival.
Since this was the only road that made his ridiculous goal somewhat feasible, he had to take it.
John checked his inventory to see if he had everything he would need for a prolonged stay. Food and water, first and foremost. If he wanted to perform at his best continuously, at least one break to get some calories and protein into his system was advised. He would also have to take a bathroom break at one point or another, which could present itself as difficult.
Since we dont know what kind of environment well end up in, please be ready to Combine, John reminded his elementals. Depending on the primary materials avable around them, using certain Combinations, like Smlere with herva, Nadine with advanced nt control, Somi for sand, or Sinflut for extreme water, would be mana efficient. It wouldnt be necessary, the same effects could generally be achieved by the normal elementals putting their powers together in a more traditional way, but if they wanted to use their resources optimally, Combinations were the way to go.
He got nods all around and then decided to open the Instant Dungeon. A simple window asking him to pick at random opened, and he epted. The darkness around them was reced, the doorway of light behind John vanished, and the grinding began with the building of their arena.
An empty city rose, building for building, around them. Three to five story buildings rose from the floor. Square things with t or only slightly tilted roofs that would have housed inner city apartments, restaurants, bars and bureauplexes equally in real life. Theycked the individuality of the usual inner-city house, though, being all designed with a building block mentality and given the same greyish-white paint job. Only streets of a darker grey and purely whitemp posts added any other shades into the environment. It didnt help much.
At least the sky is blue, John thought and looked up into the barely clouded sky. The Mand Sphere, Sylph and Smander were all rising towards it, everyone on the lookout for enemies. Gnome, how thick is the pavement? he asked, considering she should use her Unleash to get the necessary materials to erect their fortress tower. Each butterfly was on an individual, thirty-minute cooldown. Since the 16-hour stay was already confirmed as per menu decisions, they had no reason to use that ability sparingly.
Just the usual, there is a lot of dirt underneath. I have everything I need, the autumn elemental responded, and started gathering the necessary power to create the outpost of the usual design. It was still a tower at heart. Unless the dungeon had specific challenges they knew about in advance, that was the most reliable basic design.
Hey, hey, hey! an oddly static and extremely chirpy, male voice echoed out through the city. Now, this,dies and gentlemen, is entertainment!
I remember that voice John thought and soon spied a hovering ball of energy above the city, through the Mand Sphere. Yellow and light blue electrical arcs bounced around a centre that seemed to always point at the onlooker, no matter the perspective (as he verified through Smander and Sylphs eyes). That centre changed, bouncing up and down in bars and erratic waves, while the sphere exuded yet more words.
Hello, it''s me - I was wondering if after all these years you''d like to meet? the sphere cited that one song by Adele down to the music in the background, and was suddenly teleported directly in front of John. Although its been only about a year, good chum, hasnt it? it added in that radio announcer voice.
I knew it John thought and immediately tried to punch the damn thing. Best to decrease the levels of that final boss as quickly as possible.
As quick as lightning, the Radiohead Ry jumped upwards. Oh no, no, my dear listener, Im going to provide great entertainment today and I wouldnt want to be interrupted! The squirmy, stretched sounds of switching from one channel to another was the announcement of a new song. Ladies and gentlemen C this is Mambo No. 5! The jazz started up and all around the city, enemies spawned, a few of them so close that they started charging at their location immediately.
There were three variants of enemies, as John quickly verified with a number of Observes.
Note to self, John thought, if either the Elementium or Mithril Pebble drops, immediately enshrine in the Loot Focus. If he put something into the Loot Focus, unlocked by the Fateweaver Level 3 Perk, it could drop from every enemy he fought. He hadst tried to make proper use of that mechanic with the Mithril Ore that had dropped from the Raid Boss C to no avail. Since he wanted to use that same ore to get his maids new weapons, it had been eventually taken out. Sometimes opportunities had to be sacrificed for short term gain.
Even if the odds were 0,001% per enemy, having the steady chance to gain a minimal amount of these ultra-rare metals every time he grinded was a tremendous boon.
All of that aside, John had to make a battle n to deal with the situation at hand. They came towards their position and the Gamer gave the mental signal to his earth spirit. Pavement cracked and splintered as six stone walls grew from the floor and formed a tower. Inside the empty courtyard that formed, a thick pir rose upwards like a screw, an image conjured thanks to the spiral staircase along the side.
John used that as his ride upwards and stepped off when he was about ten metres off the ground, leisurely walking onto the walkway connected to the walls. Thanks to the stone, he was protected to the height of his navel.
Should I add a roof or a door or something? Gnome asked. The six walls plus central pir was the base form of the tower. The purpose of the wall was obvious, protecting their position from being easily swarmed. The central pir was a rtively recent addition. Its main purpose, conversely, wasnt actually to be able to get up or down. Primarily it served to limit the movement ofrge enemies that broke through the walls.
Everything beyond that was going to be adjusted as the situation called for it. John quickly went through the little things he knew about his enemies. The Redestruction Workers seem to be the primary threat since they can both dig and have explosives that presumably work against the walls of this tower. I want you to reinforce the base, add a ring of pure stone around it, three metres tall, so they cant climb it easily. Extend it underground whenever you have mana. I dont want them toe out from below us. He looked up to the Smog Noodles; Smander and Sylph were already flying out to meet them inbat. Make a roof with small holes through which smog can escape, should one of them somehow make it in here regardless. The third major enemy group were the Road Sharks, for which John quickly formted a strategy as well. Currently, they were located in the middle of the street, so these city fish could swarm all around them. They couldnt pass under the walls, so they were only swimming in circles and sometimes spewing shrapnel at the walls.
The metal load bounced off with sparks and screeching. No considerable damage was dealt, only a few scratches in the stone, but there were also just three of those sharks at the moment. Should they continue to ignore them and let more spawn, the constant fire would eventually wear down the walls.
The moment Gnome finished the door, all three of the sharks dove under the asphalt and rapidly moved towards the opening. Instead of the tower in general, they shot their shrapnel at the one elemental and two maids still on the lower floor. Once Aclysia and Beatrice stepped out of the tower, and off its stone floor, the sharks immediately switched to melee attacks, as the Observe info had indicated.
Interesting Gnome, can you break open the road around us in a swirly pattern? he asked and sent a mental image along with it that expressed a bit clearer what he meant.
If they were only able to swim through asphalt and always prioritized melee attacks, John would use that simple programming to funnel them through a path of his design. Enemies with such simple attack programs could easily have their pathing exploited. It wasnt quite a tower defence game, sadly, but it was a start.
Since it was a low-mana effort, breaking regr asphalt was childs y. At least whenpared to all the magically reinforced stone Gnome had to move or create out of the dirt. Therefore, she broke up the road first. John watched a single, newly spawned Road Shark that swam towards the tower and followed the single avable path immediately. That part of the strategy was working.
There was, however, an unexpected reaction from another kind of enemy. The two Redestruction Workers that had moved to attack the tower stopped in their tracks and turned towards the giant holes in the road. Kneeling down, they made overacted hammering motions with their bare hands, like builders in an RTS game, and the damage in the asphalt closed at a rapid pace.
While this messed with his funnelling n, John did take note of this other behaviour of his enemies. If Redestruction Workers prioritized keeping the city in a pristine state, then that, too, could be used for crowd control. Experimenting further, John raised his hand. The requested roof was barely in its starting stages, so he had a clear shot.
The Arc Lance charged for three seconds, then ripped out of the energy ball in his palm that signified its gathering stage. Arcane energy, partially crystallized, tore through the air and the head of one of the Redestruction Workers. Its yellow helmet flew through the air and disappeared, as the rest of the body crumpled to dust and ash, like Instant Dungeon enemies usually did.
The other humanoid monster jumped to his feet and forewent the repairing efforts in order to attack John. Once they feel threatened, they will immediately focus on me as their target, good to know, the Gamer made a mental note.
Oh, what a splendid headshot by the Gamer! the Radiohead Ry shouted out, having steadilymented all of this, as if it were a football game. It seems like our home team really needs to step it up a notch. How about we give them a little boost with this famous little video game jingle? The tuning sound once more preceded a song bit being yed. GOTTA GO FAST! the Sonic theme song echoed out. GOTTA GO FAST! GOTTA GO FASTER C FASTER C FASTER C FASTER!
With each recounting of that word, that Redestruction Worker elerated, until it simply stormed by Aclysia, preupied with those Road Sharks, and entered the tower. The weaponized maid had been unable to react in time, but her passive, younger sister delivered on that front. With a quick forward thrust of her spear, she prated the monsters shoulder.
Although Perfect cut the limb straight off, the Redestruction Worker wasnt defeated. Still moving at an absurd speed, he pulled a dynamite rod out of his overall and threw it. An attack fuelled by Unsteady Limbs finished what Beatrice had started. The enemy fell and dissolved, but the explosive was already tumbling through the air.
John felt the shockwave under his feet as the supernatural dynamite burst into a wave of heat and kic force. The good news was that the tower was sturdy and the explosion did very little to change that. The bad news was that the force of the explosion was instead confined to an unyielding space with only two avable paths for the energy to escape to the outside - one of which was right next to the Gamer. John tumbled and caught himself on the wall. On ground level, Aclysia, Beatrice and Gnome were all damaged and blown off their feet.
Oooooh, that looked like it hurt! the Radiohead Ry announced. But also like it didnt hurt that much! Despite being currently munched on by Road Sharks, the long-haired maid is getting back to her feet and her twin is hurrying on the scene to help! Only the leaf-dressed girl is staying inside the tower C for what purpose? Only the Gamer would know!
We definitely need to get rid of that, John thought and looked up to the Radiohead Ry. It didnt seem like it had any intention of engaging inbat, but its song-based interruptions were too much of a wildcard to leave around. Killing it would give them a thirty-minute breather from that at least. That aside, reducing the level of the actual Radiohead spawn could only work out well for them.
The basic form of their base made John quickly decide thebat roles of his familiars. Sylph, Smander, always focus on the Radiohead Ry when its alive. Ill use the Mand Sphere to concentrate on the Smog Noodles. He felt ridiculous saying that name in a serious manner. Undine, help the rest on the lower level. The ocean elemental flowed off his arm and immediately was on her way. Gnome, you focus on maintaining the tower and scanning for enemy positions. If you engage inbat, only use mana offensively when absolutely necessary.
R-roger! she responded with only a slight stammer.
Aclysia, guard the opening. Beatrice, support Aclysia by fighting around the entrance and making sure no Redestruction Workers repair the asphalt. Use your mobility to focus on quick strikes and stack up what of Perfects Attributes you can. Return to the inside of the tower whenever your health drops below 50% to regenerate. Siena, you support her in that, use your invisibility to take out any solo targets you can get the drop on. Dont risk getting caught, you dont have the health regeneration for it.
Sounds dangerous C Ill oblige, Siena moaned into his thoughts.
As you wish, so it shall happen, Master.
Orders acknowledged, Master, the maids answers followed in quick session.
And so, the 16-hour grind strategy was set.
Chapter 732 – Augusta 5 – Radiohead
Chapter 732 C Augusta 5 C Radiohead
Have to say, kinda happy I cant kill it anymore. Felt pretty bad about doing that over and over again, you know? Sylph chirped into the Gamers thoughts. Its just talking and thementary is kinda funny so I want to hear it, also the music is good. Can we bring music into the next Instant Dungeon? I think that would make things more-
For the love of fuck, Sylph. Smanders answercked her usual aggressiveness. How do you still have energy? I almost want to admire you
They were on the final stretch of the 16-hour grind. It had been torture. For the first four hours, everyone had been extremely high performing. For another two, it seemed alright. John took this as a sign that he could push things a bit further in the future.
Past that six-hour mark was where things became difficult. It was like going to a massive party with giant motivation to hang out, gulping down an energy drink at the very start and then feel the energy getting sapped over a thirty-minute period way into the evening.
Siena was the first to really suffer from this. More than anyone else, she was made for bursts of power and decisive attacks, not prolonged engagements. Smander was the second who needed a pause. Then John, Gnome, Undine, Aclysia and finally Beatrice. Only Sylph worked constantly without a break. As long as she stayed in motion, it seemed mental fatigue didnt really affect her. Useful and a bit odd, but John didnt question the gift horse. Especially since they needed the thunderstorm elemental to keep hunting down the Radiohead Ry.
The strategies had to be adjusted in order to amodate the people that needed rest. When Siena had to use a teleport cooldown to escape getting killed by three enemies, having gotten careless due to her exhaustion, John analysed the situation. There had to be a way to allow everyone to sit down, maybe even sleep for anything between thirty minutes and an hour.
The tower, at that point, had grown to be a massive fortification with walls thicker than his arm was long and a ring of massive stone around it. It was pretty safe for someone to retreat into it. All Gnome had to do was create an extra chamber at the heart of it that shut out the noises as best it could. Once that condition had been cleared, the only question was what the essentialbat roles were and who could fulfil which one while another person rested.
Top of the list was, no doubt, taking out the Redestruction Workers, since they were the only ones that could threaten their position through tunnels and explosives. Killing them was a job that could be assigned to arge number of people, thankfully. John, Smander, Sylph, Siena and Beatrice were all optimal for this. If one of them took a break, it didnt affect that part of the operation too much.
The Smog Noodles were the second problem, since their toxic breath could smoke them out of the tower. Only John, Smander and Sylph could really take them on and there were a lot of them at all times. Sylph being steadily avable really saved their butt on this front. When John or Smander took a break, the remaining two could at least stem the tide.
Road Sharks were more of an afterthought. Aclysia, Beatrice and Gnome were the three that were best at taking them out, simply baiting them into attacks at the gate and then slicing them apart. Unless left to grow into a massive swarm, which steadily shot shrapnel at the walls, they werent particrly dangerous. It was just that someone needed to guard the entrance.
When Gnome, Undine or John took a pause, that created other, unique strategic difficulties. Undine was the most obvious, losing ess to healing for a little while was quite terrible. Without John, they lost the centralmand and, although they had theirbat roles, the familiars became less able to react to individual situations optimally. The Mand Sphere, no matter if in its original shape or as Jack, was also unavable during those times. While the Possession was maintained, John was unable to control things in his sleep.
However, the pauses Gnome took were the two tensest stretches. Without her ability to repair the tower and to track underground happenings, they had to be steadily wary of tunnels appearing around the tower. Not inside the fortification, thankfully, since the secured ground stretched far below earth level so many hours in. If half a dozen Redestruction Workers managed to tear a hole into the side of the tower, that would have been a giant issue regardless.
It actually happened once as well. A situation they only managed to solve by having Undine use her Unleash to defend the second opening herself. In the past months, she hade into control of the rage that befell her in that state C although they were still best advised to leave her to herself and keep their distance. Her attacks were a bit too sweeping forfort. She also managed to manoeuvre herself into a pincer and had to use her teleport.
Between hour seven and fifteen, there was always at least one person taking a rest, sometimes two. It was horrible, but they muddled through C for the most part. Exhaustion was truly their worst enemy, and at one point, everyst one of them had used up their teleportation cooldown to escape a bad situation.
They somehow did it though.
Now there was just one final hurdle.
Everyone looks like they would rather be somewhere else! the Radiohead Ry eximed in its 1950s radio voice. Well, lets be a charming fellow and see if we can help them with that C I hear graves are a great location in the summer!
Here we go then, John thought. Everyone, get ready!
The Radiohead Ry, thest in a series of respawns and invulnerable thanks to mechanical protection, darted down to the tower. In a dramatic fashion, it hovered in the air in front of the gate. John himself came out of the protection of the dark inside and blinked. He had spent thest fifteen hours and fifty minutes in darkness, guiding his Extension and everyone else. There was very little use in throwing his actual body into the fray.
The reason why he decided to change this was because Radiohead was too much of a wildcard to stay bunkered up in some location. Remember, if hes too hard, were doing pure dy tactics, he told everyone. The Assault was won on a timer, not by defeating the boss. Otherwise, follow the strategy. The core parts of this strategy were a purple energy ball hanging above and a small golden egg dangling from his waist.
Waiting for the dramatic scene to y its course, even spawned enemies held back, gathering in the background.
In a grungy voice, the Radiohead Ry started singing a single word, Hello, as its electrical currents expanded. The sphere became a humanoid, fizzling energy. Blue and yellow, formed the outline of a suit. It steadily shifted. If there had been a pause button, every frame would have looked as if a child was drawing the rims of the clothes. In the continuous flow of time, however, the steady movement made it look intimidating. Hello, it sang for the second time, raising a microphone, made from the same electrical surges, to his head. Hello. One final time and that same head manifested to be a solid, wooden box. Two tuning knobs at the bottom, a bar for the frequency, and therge speaker made it out to be an old timey radio. The tiniest of satellite dishes was on the top.
John had barely Observed it before he let loose. There was a pir of arcane light, as the sphere above aimed. Then, suddenly, everything was consumed by purple light.
The following recipesbined for the easiest cheese in history: 1. a definitive spawn time at the end of an encounter. 2. an ability that continued to charge endlessly, increasing its destructive power and radius. 3. Immunity to friendly fire.
John had cast Arcana Strike in the second hour of the encounter, when they were all still well-rested enough that he could regenerate his mana to full without being too worried and after the base had been firmly established. Before the Guild Perk that had disabled friendly fire, that strategy would have been suicide. Now, however, he and the entire harem stood in a ze of arcane glory that reduced the city to nothing.
Through the eyes of Sylph, his own were filled by nothing but purple, he followed the arcane nuke. Buildings directly around them simply ceased to exist, were disintegrated into their particles. Further out, it was the shockwave that ripped through the concrete and sted it into pebbles orrge chunks, depending on the distance.
The colour of the entire thing was a royal purple, deeper than any other arcane spell that the Gamer had ever used before. It was unlike any other explosion. No mushroom cloud rose; instead, the arcane power dispersed into some sort of nebulous energy that hung around like a floating mountain made out of translucent satin.
How low, came the final word out of the refrain as dust settled and revealed an unharmed Radiohead.
Well, fuck, John blinked, with his burning eyes. Stirwin, go! he shouted and reached for his belt, throwing the golden egg like a pokeball.
The secondary benefit of spending mana continuously for 16 hours straight was that he definitely had reached something new on the front of feeding his favourite crocodile.
Ill take it! John thought. One million mana, just to get that guy up to normal fighting strength. What an investment C what potential for more.
With roar and momentum, Stirwin exploded out of the egg in a sh of light that blew a hole into the remaining arcane cloud. Four metres of magic, teeth and scales manifested in the shape of a crocodile that was closer to a dragon than to its non-extinct cousins.
Two rows of teeth snapped at Radiohead. An outeryer, razor-sharp scales that extended past the lips, and thick, sturdy teeth of a silver colour in the copper gums inside the proper mouth. Although the boss dodged, flying backwards, the sheer intensity of the bite produced a loud, hollow sound.
Argent eyes focused their slit, pitch-ck pupils on the target. Stirwin reached out and shed with his w. His limbs were long, much longer than a normal crocodiles no doubt, and ended in almost human-like five fingered hands. The webbing, scales and giant ws pulled that image away from a properparison. This attack, too, missed, although this time on virtue of a song.
Ocean man, take me by the hand. Those words preceded some Admiral Akbar looking fishman appearing in mid-air, literally taking Radiohead by one arm and yanking him out of the way. Afterwards, he disappeared into a cloud of nothing.
Stirwinnded on the ground, once a street, now nothing more but dirt and dust, crackling with purple energy. The infinity elemental whirled around, his two-metre long tail sharp enough to cut the average person into two with that whipping motion, and stared. The zing gold of his scales exuded heat like a minor sun, ridged scales stretched over his back like ded mail. Due to his hindlegs being longer and more muscr, the head was naturally lowered when he took firm stand.
You misfired, Stirwins voice echoed in Johns head, much deeper and more dangerous than he was used to. This wasnt even the adult form of the elemental and the voice already made Johns hairs stand on end. Not out of fear, he trusted the giant chomper, but because of the sheer power of awesome.
Regardless, the criticism was true. Seems like it, he agreed. There was a minor chance that the final bit of the song was an invulnerability spell. More likely was that John had pulled the trigger at the tail-end of the spawning animation and thus wasted the chance to (quite literally) nuke the boss.
The Arcana Strike wasnt wasted, every other additional enemy they would have had to fight had just been incinerated. All the Redestruction Workers that spawned would be busy fixing the city until the Assault was over and the Road Sharks were fish out of water. Only the Smog Noodles could be a minor interruption at this point.
No use thinking of it now, I suppose, Stirwin growled into Johns thoughts with such intensity that his soul rattled. An actually pleasant side effect, as it hushed away the sleepiness, at least for the moment. The traditional way of murder then, the crocodile continued out loud and charged forwards. RIP AND TEAR!
Sylph, Siena, Smander, Undine, you four, Combine, John dered, after quickly deciding which of the Combinations would be the most useful here. Since they were facing a higher-level enemy, he wanted to have quality pieces over quantity.
Hismand was heeded. Not that Radiohead was just sitting still while they went through that motion.
Is this the real life? the Bohemian Rhapsody began. Is this just fantasy? The world around them flickered like a broken monitor and the ground tilted. Caught in andslide. Countless boulders suddenly started rolling towards them. No escape from reality And to top it all off, Johns feet suddenly felt like they were made out of super-heavy lead.
I hate lmao-random fights! he shouted and looked over to Gnome. Tree wall! he shouted with mouth and mind. Although Gnome (and all other familiars) suffered the same drawback to their mobility, the butterflies moved about just fine. Four of them were currently ready and quickly formed a line between them and the approaching rocks. They transformed, first into the thin pirs, then, several secondster, into the trees.
And several seconds was exactly how long they had. Stone ground against suddenly spawning stone, all of it reinforced to be even harder than the normal variant, as boulders collided with trees. Then the same boulders just suddenly disappeared and the entire world resumed to its previous levelness.
Stirwin jumped at Radiohead, who continued to concentrate on dodging. A giant golden crocodile was snapping his jaws at an electrical suit with a radio for a head and all John could think was that he really missed his couch. A ridiculousness that wasnt made any better when a gothic lolita was added to the mix.
In a streak of green and ck, Edge cut forwards. Im here again! the long-haired incarnation of sadism and dancing eximed, the addition of Undine and Smander to the mix adding ck and red lines all over the left side of her body, even running over her dress. Let me cut you and maul you and hug you really tight until your innards explode out of your mouth!
Jokes on you, darling, Radiohead responded, the speaker moving with every word. I dont have any innards!
In the four-type Combination category and the current situation, John had to decide between Edge and Smlere. Although Edges Unleash wouldnt work in this situation, there was no blood to ingest, having a quick flyer seemed more useful than a slower ground-based fighter.
A calction that proved to be correct pretty quickly, as Edge darted around Radiohead and shed at his back. The wound was shallow, but more importantly, it cut off his best retreat route. Only barely did he escape Stirwins maw. Dont worry, darling, Edgebined Sylphs chirpy voice with Sienas overly sexual tone, I will find some.
Aclysia and Beatrice stormed into the melee as well. The forty level difference between them and the Boss was bridged rather well by Edges presence and the fact that it was four against one. Five if one counted John, who used the Mand Sphere as a tactical presence, cutting off Radioheads retreat into the sky. The second it would try, the Mana de Beyde would spring into action.
The only real choice the boss had was to try another song. Goodness gracious great balls of fire! it was a line so slurringly sung John barely deciphered what it was before he actually saw the meteor storm heading for them.
I am not dealing with that today, John thought and pointed his left hand at the enemy. The Arcana Strike had maxed out Rising Annihtion anyway, so he had no reason to hold back on the Arcane Ascension. Well, usually he would have held back purely because he wasnt at an optimal striking angle, but tired John just wanted to get this over with.
Purgatory pulsed, the individual scales, from those that connected to his shirt down to the fingertips, having their outline highlighted by blue light. This was usually followed by a giant arcane sword, but John no longer needed to pre-charge the spell, which opened a few more interesting avenues.
Rather than a single, short lived energy beam, what gathered in Johns palm were five times his maximum Mana worth of Arc Lances. At one-thousand per unit and a base value of 6000, that made for thirty javelins of partly crystallized energy.
They ripped outwards one after another, like bullets out of a machine gun. Radiohead had ignored John, having been beset from all directions. Something it must have regretted quite a lot when three javelins prated its sides in quick session. Twenty-seven more were to be dodged, and the boss managed. Only by throwing caution to the wind though.
GUT YOU! Edge screeched, using her wed left to slice open the back of Radiohead and send him flying to the ground. Grounded, the boss was immediately impaled by Perfect and cleaved in half at the hips by Tiemarath.
Daisy dai- Radiohead spoke hisst, before Stirwin caught the speaker between his jaws and crushed the damn thing. The meteors in the sky disappeared and the Assault ended shortly thereafter.
Chapter 733 – Augusta 6 – Rewards
Chapter 733 C Augusta 6 C Rewards
From a raw time investment point of view, it turned out that a 16-hour Assault was more effective than smashing ones head against a Raid Boss for a couple of days straight, even with the Catch-Up Buff.
John would have infinitely preferred fighting Lady Presta again over this absolute slog of massacring individually weak enemies. He felt like he had spent the entire day ying Minesweeper on a slowly elerating treadmill, while getting electric shocks for every time he lost OR won OR stopped ying for more than 5 seconds.
The rewards, however, were so good that he had to keep this in mind for the next time he really needed to get a lot of levels fast. Although he still didnt like the risk of these things. Sleep, he dered and got universal nods. Sylph had already passed out. Her high-power adrenaline made her crash instantly the moment the action was over. Currently, she was being carried by Smander.
They made their way back to the house, where, to his surprise, he found Lydia waiting for him. Given that it had been sixteen hours, he had assumed she had gone to sleep already. Instead, she was hanging out on the couch, with aptop in herp.
Sometime while he was gone, she must have sumbed to the summer heat, only rising as the warmth inside the barrier continued to scale with the warmth outside the time dtion, as she was currently wearing ck hotpants and a white, sleeveless top. They were very un-Lydia-like clothes, but they suited her. No, that was selling it short, the sexy girliness of those clothes contrasted her usual militaristic get-up to create an adorably casual look. Her hair was in the usual braid, so there was an element of normal inside this surprise.
She looked up from the screen, her mouth already open and brows furrowed. It was the standard berating expression, but she immediately softened up when she saw John. You appear to have gone through purgatory, she remarked in a soft tone, closing theptop. Where have you been? We were scheduled for fencing practice.
Got a Quest for doing a long Assault.
Youve been fighting since this morning?
Yup, John only answered as the energy sapped remains of his harem went about their preparations toy down. In the elementals case, that meant cing Sylph on the couch and then all retreating to their sanctuary in their summoners soul. For the Artificial Spirits, they walked up the stairs and prepared to warm their masters bed. Showers could be taken in the morning.
I see, I had a hunch that something of this nature could have urred. Lydia put theptop to the side and got up. Was it worth it?
8 Levels, 2 Max ss Levels, definitely worth it, John answered. Since he was level 230 now, that made for the second of those two.
It must have been quite straining. Lydia reached out to him and rubbed the back of his neck. Do you need to eat? I cooked something. It may be subparpared to Aclysias creations, and cold by now, but it may help you.
John shook his head, almost too tired to answer. No, no I just need to sleep. He blinked very slowly and only barely managed to open his eyes. He focused on the red of her lips, the rest of the world seemed washed out. He couldnt open his eyes enough to see the upper half of her face.
Was it worse than Warsaw? Lydia asked.
From a raw stress level? Yeah Warsaw at least had some resemnce of waves, he mumbled and yawned. As much as I enjoy talking to you, I really He stopped when he noticed he was being guided up the stairs. When did we?
Lydia softly pushed him along. When you answered that you have no need for food, she answered, sounding caring, motherly even, at the moment. Walk, dearly beloved, you can rest soon.
John didnt quite remember arriving in the bed.
__________________________________________________________________________
When he woke up, he still felt exhausted.
That was a rare experience to have since he had gotten Gamers Body, but that was still the state he was in. I dont want to do that again for a while, he grumbled to himself, too tired to think it.
You may want to further define what it is, Lydia whispered into his ear. He turned his head to look at her. He hadnt even removed the contacts for the night. With the dishevelled hair that usually came with sleeping, the queen was lying next to and partly on him. I know one thing you will always want to do. A moment after that was said, he felt her hand on his morning wood.
John couldnt help but groan, he was always sensitive first thing in the morning. I mean do an Instant Dungeon that long, he borated and, as his reward, Lydia rolled on top of him and kissed his lips. The maids were no longer in the bed, while the elementals still slept. Different strokes for different species.
As her lips pulled him into the waking world, her pussy enveloped his cock. She must have had a dream of the particrly sexy variety, wet and ready as she was that morning. With a whimpering moan, she slid over his length. They were both feelingzy, so early in the morning, so they only slightly moved their hips under the nket. John was missing the visual somewhat, but having her lying on his chest was quite an eptable substitute.
Are you awake now, John? Lydia asked, as they enjoyed this leisurely lovemaking.
Mostly. His cheeky answer was all the queen needed to confirm things for herself.
Then confirm that I have heard your tired mumblings correctly, eight levels and 2 Max ss Levels, is this correct?
Yup.
You realize that I must ask why you havent chased such outstanding results before?
Because its pure hell? John asked.
As I see it, none of you have died. I believe you that this isnt an experience youre keen on repeating but mhm Lydia had to stop for a second to let out a lustful sigh. Aahh your cocks size stretching me out like this is a distraction of the highest magnitude
Am I making the anal queen a size queen as well? John couldnt help but gloat about that. Somewhat rightfully, he earned himself a disapproving re.
Risking that your ego intes, I am certain that you would know how to use your size properly, whatever it might be. Her stern tone suffered somewhat from the throaty moan that followed directly after that statement. I indulge in what you offer, beloved, but it is not your size that truly makes me want to ride you first thing after I wake. Rising off him, she revealed her breasts, small ones on the border to average, and drummed on his corbone with her index finger. Now, stop distracting me, I need to berate you.
I can give you a number of other reasons why I didnt do it a lot in the past, John said and reached out to those breasts, rolling her perky nipples between his fingers. Out of respect or lust, she let him continue. Starting with the worst, sixteen hours without sex just isnt my style. Then there is the fact that taking this amount of time out of any day is a struggle in and of itself, I am a busy man. Im also not particrly fond of risky oues and I have to HAMMER, he grabbed Lydia by the hips and thrust into her hard a single time, making her auburn hair bounce, home that I wont get any experience if I fail sometime through. Every single one of our teleport cooldowns was blown in that Assault. Next time around, some people are going to die at some point. Not quite sure if we can deal with that, since the difficulty stays the same. Honestly, this Assault was also pretty easy. Two out of three mobs had exploitable behaviour and the boss was hard only because it was random. Lydia fell on his chest again, her pussy gripping his cock with orgasmic spasms. The little shifts of her hips were enough to send him close to the edge. I much prefer the guaranteed, smaller reward over the potential high-reward gamble. Ill look into going to five or six hours in the future though.
Having dumped all of that information on her, he embraced her tightly and came deep inside her while smelling the citrus in her hair. This closeness under the warm nket definitely rivalled seeing her writhe on top of him.
It was a pretty gentle orgasm for the morning, on both of their parts. I will ept your reasoning, Lydia whispered into his ear, as they calmed. When you have reasons of this length, my nagging proves of no further use to either of us.
Its for a thing thats a lot more fun, then, John said and opened his menus. I only have one level up ready for Lover Boy. After that, well have to spend some time clearing the Challenges. He grinned. Ill likely want your assistance in that.
My hero, Lydias dry tone already made him chuckle, he presents me with a way to have copious amounts of intercourse AND have it be useful.
Thats me. John grinned and earned himself a kiss. His cock was still inside her and hard. The twitching of her folds around him was easy to feel. Despite her tone, Lydia was clearly looking forward to a few hours of attention from her lover. Anyway, lets see what we have here
Well, that was an easy choice. Arouse struck him as utterly unnecessary at his level of sexual godhood. That aside, it was a bit pushy, to put it politely. He liked his sexual Skills either to increase his performance or require consent.
As fun as fucking lots of different women was, it was very much an exception to Johns daily life. He had his core harem and he was more than happy with the spread of girls he had in it. Getting rewarded with experience points for being promiscuous sounded just wrong.
Experience of Love, however, just meant that the time he spent fucking was actually useful beyond the pleasure. That had always been enough to motivate John, but if he could get it, why not take an ability that let him fuck his way towards more levels? Now it would take 500 minutes (or 8 hours and 20 minutes) to get to that daily cap. Even the Gamer didnt fuck THAT much on normal days.
Lydia must have finished reading the screen as well. At least herment made it pretty clear that she did, You are determining whether you can conceivably use this to its maximum effect, are you not?
The question is if blowjobs count, John hummed. If I mark Eliza, I could conceivably get her to suck me off for the entire work day. Hell, if I get enough marks, I can just put shifts out there. If they dont, Ill have to arrange it so Jack does the work while I fuck around He grinned. Thisbines my two favourite things, nning and having sex.
You are an absolute oddity. Lydia couldnt help butugh. In this case to your favour. Now take it, make this a thing worth both of our whiles. She was, of course, right. The Perk specified that they both received experience. While Johns levelling mechanics for group members had a steeply rising requirement past their natural potential, it was still possible. As little as the progress would be, Lydia would receive some benefit from this.
That aside, it wasnt like he wanted the other two choices. She was right, he clicked it, and then wildly made out with her. Only a little prelude to theing hours. They fucked in the bed, they fucked in the shower, he got a double blowjob by the maids during breakfast (which was Lydias cooking from yesterday C delicious, despite her ims to the contrary), and then the entire present harem engaged in debauchery.
Purely to fulfil the Lover Boy ss Challenges, of course.
John took a few minutes among the orgy to properly test what counted as sex for the purpose of Experience of Love. The answer was: basically anything that involved their primary sexual organs. As much as fingering Lydias pussy or receiving a handjob was enough. Notably, fondling her breasts or making out wasnt. Not on their own, anyway. There had to be some stimtion of dick or vagina.
Eventually, they had the Challenges done. John got to picking the next Perk immediately. Lydia wouldnt have let him hear the end of it if he added another hour to the orgy only to be indulgent. The orgy was ended with one more orgasm. After some more cuddles and a recuperation period, things got into motion again. Aclysia moved into the kitchen to get lunch ready and Beatrice cleaned up the living room. It desperately needed it.
And there it is, a naked John eximed, walking over to Lydia who was lying on the couch. Apparently she had problems feeling her legs. See?
Raising her head and torso with some effort, Lydia brushed back some of her cum-soaked hair to read the window. This is utter cow dung, she simply dered.
Cow dung in your favour, he added.
It will more than double my potential, as per your systems boundaries and derations.
Thats what it says. He happily nodded.
They were talking about Shared Steps. Sexual Submission was another choice that John didnt really like, although it at least required consent to be reaffirmed. Regardless, not what he wanted. Lovers Bond was more interesting and, if thepetition was anything else, he would have taken it.
However, Shared Steps was just too good. At the moment, only Lydia and Scarlett would benefit a whole lot from it, but that was bound to change as John levelled up. That aside, the fact that Lydia alone would raise her potential level from 90 to 190 was worth taking the Perk. It applying to everyone who had a Lovers Will mark and giving another one of those marks was immensely powerful.
Level 6 and upwards really was the ce where Perks ramped up.
The choice was made and John withdrew an item from his inventory that hadnt seen a lot of usage in quite a while. It was a sk with a long neck and a round body, the bottom ttened to allow it to stand. It came with a leather holster that allowed it to be attached tightly to a belt. At the moment, the translucent thing was filled to the brim with a golden liquid.
I offer you this tribute, my Queen, he said and handed her Helbrechts Soulpotion. It was a present he had received from her during the tournament. Back then, it had been vital in allowing the rest of their group to catch up to the enemy team and their much higher levels. Its usefulness diminished quite strongly in the upper one-hundred range.
Thest time it had really seen use was when John had used it to get Magnus to the peak of his potential. Since then, it had mostly spent its time sitting in the Gamers inventory. Now that Lydia had bigger shoes to grow into, giving her this only made sense.
This invokes a certain sense of nostalgia, the auburn-haired metal mage said and took it from him. The ss lid was quickly pulled off and the contents of the sk guzzled down into her stomach. Directly thereafter, John got the ability to level her up with his powers. A simple click and she was level 91.
So, how does it feel to break through the ceiling? the Gamer asked.
Anticlimactic, Lydia responded, as she gave back the Soulpotion. It appears I have better things to do now than simte the effects of changing taxes on my economy. She looked at her hands, then made a fist and smiled. I had already epted that I had peaked, having a new horizon to march towards, it fills me with determination.
John couldnt help but snicker.
What was so entertaining about that? Lydia needed to know.
Undertale reference, dont think you yed it.
Is that the game with Sans?
How do you
My exposure to memes through you and Rave has given me knowledge of the most useless variety.
Chapter 734 – Augusta 7 – Further investments and the Envious Maid
Chapter 734 C Augusta 7 C Further investments and the Envious Maid
80 more points into Intellect and I have that goal cleared, John thought, stroking his chin. I guess getting my Physical Stats up to 250 equally would be my next goal after that. Ill figure out which one to start with at that time. He dismissed the window and instead focused on the goal for this extended grinding session. 4 more ss Levels. Either I get some more handouts from Gaia or I have to clear 40 more regr levels.
It was conceivable, if he continued doing super long Assaults. With rising experience requirements, he doubted he would get 8 levels per clear though. That aside, doing that repeatedly was bound to exhaust him mentally to a point where he would fuck up and lose an entire days worth of progress in one go. Better to just stick to the Quests Gaia gave him.
Which meant he would have to clear a Floor I.D. all on his own.
Master, may I ask something? Aclysia spoke up the moment he dismissed thest windows, and John gave her the go-ahead with a simple gesture. He had felt her waiting for a while now and could already imagine what the question was. You currently have four avable Lovers Will marks. I understand that Scarlett stands to profit from getting the third one, but there is no pressing issue for that fourth one. I would kindly request that you brand me, my Master.
With no subtlety whatsoever, Aclysia framed the space above her womb (if she had had one) with both hands. Index fingers and thumbs joined to make a heart shape. The clothes underneath shifted, as Aclysia squirmed. A depraved look entered her eyes. She was quite clearly turned on by the sheer idea.
If you could mark me forever with your love, my creator, thatd be my highest honour, Aclysia took a step towards him. Her breathing was elerated to an extreme degree. Weak legs trembled, failing to carry her at her usual height, making her head drop to the height of his shoulder in a mixture of bow and pre-orgasmic spasming. I wish for you to be etched into my very being, visible to anyone who dares question your magnificence, I-
Aclysia, John interrupted her by softly chopping her on the forehead. The flustered expression diminished and made room for a scolded pout. As much as I love everything youre saying right now, youre getting a bit possessive-crazy.
I just want to be yours, John, she mumbled like an innocent schoolgirl that was professing her love for the first time.
The Gamer put an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Are you saying you arent already mine? he asked in his most dominant tone. He could practically see the hearts rise from her head as her expression changed into a flustered smile and the blush returned, more intense than ever. If thoughts could be visualized, hers would have been a giant pink sun at the moment.
Of course I am, Master, she gasped. My purpose is to serve you; nothing brings me more joy. Whatever you ask of me, I will obey.
Then I must ask you to be patient, he said, and that sun copsed into a ck hole of disappointment. He could actively feel his own mood getting depressed by the sheer intensity of it. Although John wanted to pull out of this event horizon of dark emotions, if he backed off now, he was afraid of how his weaponized maid might take it.
Patient about? Aclysia asked, as if there was any doubt about it.
About the Lovers Will mark, he said very slowly, carefully navigating the minefield he found himself in. He would have been lying if he said he hadnt expected her to have a rather intense reaction to this situation.
Her brows almost met and she clenched her jaw to such a degree that John actually heard the metalponents screech inside her mouth. Thats C not C fair, she dered, emphasizing every single word. I have been with you the second longest, I have never left your side C except to serve your interests elsewhere. I deserve this! In her agitation, she grabbed him by the cor. I demand our bodies to be connected through magic and love, just like our minds are! A mark on my sex and a mark on your hand, a disy for eternity. I C deserve C this!
John knew she had the power to considerably hurt him, but this was Aclysia. No matter how mad, she could never do anything that was to his harm. It went against her nature and everything she believed in. Slowly, he exined to her, We do not know yet what these will do in their entirety or how many I will have ess to. Under other circumstances, I wouldnt hesitate. You do deserve this. But you also have to understand that I have to prioritize holding these for those among you, my loved harem, that will stop growing at some point without them.
Taking a very slow breath, Aclysia let those words echo out. Its not fair, the weaponized maid whispered, her voice delicate. Ive been your most loyal, the most caring, why is this mark of love another thing you have to think about in such a mechanical fashion? The hand on his cor dropped and dangled lifelessly. Would you let me go for a second, John? she asked.
That she went through three different ways to address him in the past few minutes went quite the way to show how distressed she was. He obliged, let go and took a hastened step backwards when she suddenly pulled Tiemarath.
The weapon wasnt swung anywhere close in his direction, instead the weaponized maid mmed it down on the ground as if it was a hammer. The graceless attack was apanied by a very udylike shout of frustration. Three more times, she struck the floor withrge swings, the giant cleaver devastating the poor grass.
Offended interruption: youre ruining the integrity of the green field, Beatrice spoke up. Her inability to properly read social cues threatened to make her a half-piece of sass, as Aclysia whirled around and executed an overhead strike at the younger maid. Beatrice took a leisurely step back, and the tip of the weapon sliced through the air in front of her. Warning acknowledged, was all she had to say.
Hhhffff, Aclysia drew a long breath through her barely parted lips. Haaaaaaaa, and let it out just as slowly. Tiemarath disappeared into her Adaptive dery. As a Gamer, John knew that a little bit of unnecessary violence helped the process of calming down considerably sometimes. I will she slowly said, clearly unhappy about things, oblige your request, my John. I will be patient, even though I rightfully deserve it.
Thank you, John said earnestly. Without the increase in maximum potential, Lovers Will was little more than a symbolic thing. Its only other offer was a 5% increase in all pleasure from all sources, which was nice but negligible. A symbolic thing was quite potent depending on what it stood for, however, and Aclysia was absolutely right that she deserved the Lovers Will mark before most of the remaining harem.
Hug me! Aclysia demanded in a pouty tone. Her usual behaviour had broken up a little bit under the storm of emotions and it would take a bit of caring to restore her to her usual calm. Without hesitation, John pulled her back into his arm. She buried her nose in his shirt and unashamedly sniffed up his scent.
It was weaker than before, but the pink sun knocked away the hole of disappointment. John visualized it as a star picking up a baseball bat and knocking the sadness into next week. Of course, that was an impossible chain of events on every level, but it looked interesting in his head, so he went with it.
Anyway, Im going to do that solo Floor next, he announced to the gathering, while stroking the back of Aclysias silver-white head. Anyments about that?
Are you going to try and cheese it? Smander asked.
She was referring to the fact that the Quest hadnt specified that he needed to beat a dungeon of his current level on his own. By the rules as written, he could have gone into some level 15 thing and just breathed at the enemies to kill them. However, he wasnt going to do that. Gaia was nice enough to give me this opportunity. Ill keep my exploitation wishes to a minimum.
Probably smart, Smander admitted.
A little less adventurous than I prefer it, Siena sighed. Annoying that supreme deity of ours is second only to annoying my mother in raw gratification.
That a-attitude is what led to you being locked up for dozens of years, Gnome pointed out, shrinking away a little bit when the moonshade elemental gave her a side-nce. I-Im just saying.
My path led to John, so I say it couldnt have been too much of a misstep. Lets call getting locked away an unfortunate side-effect.
Lets not forget how long it took me to set you straight, John chimed back in. In his arms, Aclysia started to happily wiggle her bum, which was the final sign that she had recovered. Now they were just cuddling for the sake of it. Neither of them were in any hurry to let go. Anyway, while Im gone, you should help Lydia train.
The metal mage getting more levels as quickly as possible was tremendously in Johns interest. A big part of him hoped that she would develop pretty quickly. He didnt mean her powers by that, although that would be eptable as well, but her body.
Based on the development of Raves breasts, which was the best thing to base anything on, John had theorized that he had involvement in their quick growth. Either because of Lovers Will or because of her general power increases, her body had matured a bit in some ces. Because she always had been a stunner in all aspects, most of these other changes werent particrly noticeable.
There was also the possibility that neither of those two things had anything to do with anything and Rave had just continued to grow as her genes hadid out.
If it was the Lovers Will mark that had an influence on things (mostly doubtful, given that it was a mechanic and nothing to that end was in its description), then Lydia would pretty up some more soon. If it was the level increases (likely enough, all things considered, to have some effect), then power levelling her could aid in making her even sexier. When it came to her face, there was little to improve, at least in Johns opinion, but Lydias breasts could use a minor or fair size and firmness increase, her figure a bit more narrowing around the waist to transition from a lean column to an hourss shape and, to that same end, her hips could be a bit wider to give room to a rounder ass. Also, her thighs. Those were definitely too lean for Johns taste. They didnt have much to squish and he loved having thighs to squish.
Nothing of that was necessary, Lydia still could have easily squared a ce in a model career, but it would have elevated her to that supremely unfair level the rest of the harem was at. John doubted that there was a denser concentration of ludicrously beautiful women on the. Then again, he was quite biased.
Well help her train! Sylph promised. Well make her stronger and more beautiful and then well have lots of lesbian sex while youre away! Why? Well, uh, because I want to! I want to have lots of fun and then I want to have more fun while youre around!
She doubtlessly is your familiar. The her in that sentence came out of the house, wearing a white shirt, buttoned uppletely, and ck, wide cut pants that were stuffed into her boots. The outfit of a fencer and fit for training. I anticipated you to pursue your own training by the time I could properly feel my legs again. What are you mismanaging your time for?
Cuddles, John joked, while Aclysia slowly distanced herself from him. Ill be back as soon as I can, he promised the weaponized maid.
Just be sure it wont be a return by Fateweaving, Master, she answered. Your sess is paramount. I wish for all of your harem to find its happiness in the path shared with you.
John gave her a broad smile. Youre the best, Aclysia, he told her and quickly kissed her on the forehead. Out of interest, what are you going to train? he asked Lydia. The queen of steel had her Innate Ability, so that would be the obvious start, but it wasnt like there werent other things she could look into.
I will not be training any specific one of my abilities today C with a sole exception to be made for fencing, since you already skipped out yesterdays agreed session, the auburn-haired royal answered. I am unsure as to how this improvement of my potential actually works. Does it simply raise how far I can go with my current abilities or does it allow me to pursue magics and skills that were previously unavable to me on the basis of my talent in the field being subpar? She held up a book that John recognized as basic instructions for martial arts. I will spend today on finding what this new opportunity you have opened for me truly entails. Be it that I will be able to fix my embarrassing mediocrity in meleebat, learn more advanced techniques of metal control, or if it is only that my Stats can now rise higher without any improvement to my actual abilities.
I think your melee performance is pretty good, John let her know.
Its only adequate on the level of skill. Lydia shook her head vehemently. I fence better than most people, but fencing alone does not win melee engagements.
There is that trick with your hair
Do you want for me to bald after a fewbat engagements?'''' Her joking tone apanied her lowering the book. The trick I used on Ankleshanker during the tournament was entirely reliant on his size, the forest environment and the bad lighting. I wouldnt bet on it, not in that form, to win me any usualbat.
John didnt miss the dependent use bit in the middle of thatst sentence. Ill leave you to your experiments then. He smiled broadly. It was clear that Lydia had spent a good amount of time thinking about how she could get more powerful. There was no way she had prepared in the half hour between the orgy and right now. That book, for example, must have been something she had already carried with her in her pocket space.
John could easily imagine Lydia realizing she had peaked when her training sessions stopped yielding real progress over the course of days and weeks. It had never gotten to months, since he had stepped in now. Knowing that he was the sole reason she could get more powerful was great. He would have been lying if he said that the bit of power he felt over her because of this didnt feel good. Much more intense than that was the knowledge that he had helped her. Making a positively defining change in a loved ones life was often a reward in its own right.
He finally turned towards the light gates behind him, leaving a happily chatting harem behind.
Chapter 735 – Augusta 8 – The Solo Dungeon
Chapter 735 C Augusta 8 C The Solo Dungeon
I hope I get at least some Mithril pebbles out of this, John thought as he entered the random Floor I.D.
He had gotten a few of those (with the number of enemies killed, it had been an inevitability) and one was now the Loot Focus. He could have gone with the Elementium Pebbles instead, but he could produce that with his elementals (in theory, at least) and he had reason to believe that Aclysia would eventually be able to enrich that material inside herself. After all, she was already creating S and L-Baelementium, all the elements were already present.
As for the rest of what had been in the Loot Basin, he wanted to go through it in some detailter. After hours of fucking, he craved some danger. Doubtlessly, bad influence from his girlfriend.
I do wonder if I would have gotten these enrichment options if I didnt also have contracts with the elementals. My different areas of power do cross over at times. He rolled his neck and checked his surroundings.
He was standing in a cage of sorts. Wooden logs and withered trees were bound, bent and crossed into crude shapes resembling bars, themselves covered with tattered cloth. It was all very primitive. There was an exit, an arch created by two young trees bound together, but John ignored that for now. Instead, he walked to the right, aiming at the bars of his cage-like starting area, lifted the drapes and looked outside.
It was an ocean of clouds, stretching and shifting endlessly around. Its pure white drifted towards one location somewhere to Johns left. With the little view he had, he couldnt make it out yet. During their travel, they split aroundrge stone pirs, each beset with gnarly trees or cages like the one he was currently inside of. Most of them were connected via wooden bridges. Halved logs, with their centre carved out to create something resembling sure footing. They seemed about broad enough for two people to walk side by side.
John felt confident enough in his sense of bnce that he didnt care much about how wide it was. The problem here was that it had no railing, making flying off it more than easy. Lucky me that I have some support, he thought, looking over to the Mand Sphere. Before his eyes had finished wandering, the sphere of rotating tes already began morphing, and John found himself face to face with his double.
Just because he was alone didnt mean he had to do this with his own two hands. Without the elementals, he just had to rely on Possession more. Note to self, buy some mechanical birds to keep with you at times like this, he thought. Thats a good idea in any case, lets me keep tabs on the surroundings while I am out in the mundane world Should have realized that earlier. As necessity creates ideas, I guess this just goes to show how much I rely on the elementals usually. And how little I interact with the mundane world.
In absence of better possession targets, John grabbed some rocks off the craggy floor and threw them into his inventory. They would disappear when he left the Instant Dungeon; unlike his Loot, they couldnt exist outside this made up space. Not that he would mind, he wasnt particrly attached to random rocks.
He sent Jack out first, the double hovering ahead. No horrible or cruel creature showed itself the moment the safety of the spawn area was left behind. John then followed. Ill have to weigh my safety, MP and HP against the Mand Spheres durability, the Gamer continued to analyse his situation. While his own resources regenerated much quicker than the Mand Sphere did, this whole thing would be a failure if he died. Given that clouds werent known for being a ce one couldnd on,ics and cartoons aside, he guessed that falling down at any point would be a game over.
Especially at the start, he was best advised to y it safe.
Even after John left the spawning area, no enemies showed themselves. He proceeded to cross the first bridge. The entire time, he expected some kind of harpy to show up and try to throw him off. Nothing of the sort happened. For now.
Outside of the bridges, John felt confident enough to take charge himself, and so entered the first cage before his double. Immediately, he found himself charged by an enemy.
The monster looked somewhat regal, the well-groomed feathers making the little light reflect on it like a ck armour, but the way it assaulted him from the dead angle created by the door was anything but honourable. Itsrge sword was shaped like a giant quill, only a thin edge surrounding the greyish-white core.
John caught the weapon in his left, more than willing to experiment in his first encounter, especially since Jack guaranteed him that no further enemies would approach.
There were good and bad news. The good was that Purgatory continued to be a ridiculously reliable protection. No matter how hard the Corvus Knight pressed, its de didnt cut through the obsidian scales. The bad was that the pressing very much worked. Johns arm was forced lower and lower by the opponent. In the long term, that would bring John into a bad position. In the short term, he was already in range of the Corvus Knights beak. It let out a victorious purr.
John raised his right. Anticipating a punch, his enemy raised its shield. It looked like ovepping feathers forming a circle. The Gamer hadnt gone for the physical assault, however. His open hand made contact with the shield, then arcane energy started pouring out in a prative ray. A thousand MP spent on Mana de, the spell ripped through the shield, then the body behind it.
In pain and confusion, the monsters attack weakened, and John let go of the sword. In a quick follow-up, he threw a well-ced hook at the Corvus Knight. He felt feathers give and bones break under the hard surface of Purgatory. Light as the enemy was, this had the satisfying side-effect of catapulting it backwards. The monster turned into dust mid-flight.
Huh. John shook out his hand. He hadnt expected the enemy to die immediately after two hits. Then again, he hadnt expected either of the two attacks to be that sessful. Well, the enemies are supposed to scale with group size, he monologued and turned towards the exit.
Once more, he set foot on the wooden path, still paying attention to the surroundings. If this is the tutorial section for the Instant Dungeon, then theyll throw the next thing at me immediately, he thought and was proven correct. Three four-legged, winged shapes peeled out of the dense clouds below. Being prepared, he immediately used Jack to throw an Observe their way.
The three Magryphs flew around Jack, ignoring him entirely. They were quick, ck and white streaks that cut through the air. With extended talons, they headed for John. The quickest reached the Gamer while he was still on the bridge, the intent to push him off it clear.
Talons rammed into John, and the Gamer turned on his heels, unfazed. As if it had just ran into a brick wall, the Magryph came to a violent halt, only to be thrown back when the Gamers fist mmed into its ck face. While the monster was busy tumbling away, John pointed his open palm at the enemy and shot out an Arc Lance. He missed his intended target, the head, thanks to the monster desperately beating its wings. However, he still hit one of said limbs, ripping a sizable hole into the left one. Robbed of its ability to fly, the Magryph soon sunk under the clouds.
John needlessly adjusted his cor. The great thing about Particle Skin was that it hard-countered situations like this. As long as there was an instance of damage that was blocked, all associated physical effects of shoving were also countered. The potential counter to this was grabbing him, but Particle Skin also had a shockwave defence against that, if he so desired it. A weak shockwave, someone with Strength around his Intellect level could ovee it, but a shockwave regardless.
The remaining two Magryphs backed off, not intent on falling prey to the obviously ineffective tactic themselves. John could have sent Jack after them, but they were too fast to make that a worthwhile endeavour. Lets just hope the dungeon wont spawn more if the old ones are still active, the Gamer thought and moved on.
This Instant Dungeon would usually be a pain in his sides, but for todays goal it wasnt too bad. Since he was doing this alone and for a Quest, the goal of clearing this Floor wasnt topletely explore it and get everyst secret it had to offer, but to clear it as quick as possible and get back to more effective forms of grinding (or to the next Quest).
After he cleared a few more Corvus Knights out and was certain that the Magryphs would leave him alone, John sent Jack ahead to scout. He already had a pretty good idea where he had to head in order to find the boss room. The direction the clouds drifted to seemed like a pretty dead giveaway, so he followed whatever path went the same way.
Things got a bit dicey once when a Corvus Knight spawned up as a buffed up version (or a Horror, as the Advanced I.D. Settings liked to call them), but aside from that, it wasnt too difficult. It reminded John of his first Dark Souls ythrough. Shortly after he had learned that the enemies were designed to be fair, not hard, and that he just had to give them the necessary respect, the game turned out to be surprisingly medium in its difficulty. Aside from some very much designed to kill passages.
Thankfully, this was more Sens Fortress than Anor Londo, so he had to deal with less stunlock gimmicks and more positioning issues. As he was alsorgely immune to knockbacks, he had little to worry about. When the Magryphs had discovered they could still annoy him with non-offensive wind magic, the type that only caused gusts but nothing that sliced or was otherwise directly harmful, they became a bit more of a problem. Weathering heavy winds with his Physical Stats waspletely doable though.
He found the boss tform quickly and, after 20 minutes of carefully advancing, he arrived there as well.
The boss was visible from a distance. No cage was blocking the view of what was on top of that tform. Instead, arge central tree had grown to be some sort of deadwood throne, upon which the boss resided. Around him, four Corvus Knights stood guard. Even standing, each of them was only half as tall as the seated boss.
The first issue was that there was no pathway between the ind he was currently on and the boss ind. Which meant that John had to rely on something else. Well, this is going to be fun, he mumbled, with a nce at the Magryphs still hanging around. Their count had gone back up to three, but aside from asionally throwing gusts of winds his way, they had been of norge concern. Once he was up in the air, however, they were bound to take advantage of it.
Not like he had any other choice, though. Since the boss could fly, using an Arcana Strike on the tform would, at best, kill the Corvus Knights. The boss itself would doubtlessly be triggered by the spell and attack John wherever he was. At that point, he would have had to fight the Corvus Lord entirely without mana. Not the best path to go about this.
All he could do was make sure he had his mana topped off and then go ahead.
The Magryphs continued circling in the distance while John picked himself up and began hovering forwards. Being in his own arms always felt weird, no matter how practical it was. Once he was halfway over therge gap between his origin point and his destination, the flying enemies suddenly all turned into his direction.
Figures, John thought and started sending mana to Jack to burn in the name of flying quicker. Even at top speed, Jack wasnt quick enough to outpace the Magryphs. Furthermore, they were already in perfect position to intercept him, so a confrontation was inevitable.
The first monster narrowly swooped by them, the second mmed into Jacks upper body. John got rid of that enemy with a quick Arc Lance. Just in time for the falling-apart body to make room for the third assant. The impact sent all three bodies downwards. Jack didnt have Particle Skin and was, as such,pletely beholden to thews of kics.
The Magryphs main goal seemed to be to separate John from his carrier. In a quick call, and to the surprise of the monster, John decided to oblige. Throwing himself with Jack as best he could, he fell. They were still a good means above the clouds . While his double finished off the second Magryph, the Gamer waved his arms to fall forwards as best he could. He would have missed the boss tform by a good eight metres, were it not for Shifting Momentum.
One moment he was falling towards the clouds, the other he stood firmly on the craggy stone tform. He still felt the shock of the fall in his legs; the impact was there regardless of the way he hade to contact with the ground.
Immediately, one of the Corvus Knights came running forwards. He was fast, but his movements were predictable. John sidestepped the thrust, grabbed the arm and executed a seamless throw over his shoulder. The monster was sent flying over the edge. John heard something behind himself, saw it through Jacks eyes and immediately dived to the side. The ground shook, a massive halbert cleaving into the stone. Much like the swords, most of it appeared like an oversized quill. Only the head was some sort of ck crystal, taking the shape of an axe, a spike and a hook, all conjoined into one formation.
The Corvus Lord raised his weapon and let out a series of caws. Not the most intimidating of war cries John had ever heard, but it did the job for the monsters subordinates. The third Magryph rose into view again, John splitting his attention to deal with it and the three Corvus Knights at the same time.
Jack extended his hand, a purple ball forming in his palm. Taking the three swipes directed at him willingly, John sacrificed his mana in favour of an attacking opportunity. The Magryph rose past Jack, to observe the situation, robbing him of a clear shot. The Arc Lance continued to charge instead. John crushed the skull of one of the Corvus Knights with another left hook, a winning strategy that had no need to be changed. Having decided on its target, the Magryph dove down, now past Jack. A gamble that didnt pay off for the monster, as a sudden Mana de turned its path into aser cutter, more reliable than an Arc Lance.
As ash and dust rained down on John, he used a newly gained stack of Shifting Momentum to carry himself forwards, escaping the next two strikes from the Corvus Knights. They turned their gaze ind, away from Jack. One of them paid with its head for that, as the still-charging Arc Lance was unleashed at the easy target.
John had also miscalcted slightly. The Corvus Lord reacted to his teleportation quicker than he had anticipated. Instead of a confused boss, the Gamer was met with giant talons gripping him. He was raised and smashed into the floor. Particle Skins shockwave charged and unloaded, breaking him free but taking thest of his avable mana.
The good news was that he was at two stacks of Arcane Whisper, so he regenerated 55 MP per second. It could have been more, had he not decided to leave all the elementals back at base in their corporeal forms. A slight inefficiency that he felt confident enough wouldnt matter by the end of this. To regain some mana for offensive purposes, John deactivated Particle Skin.
John rolled to the side before he could get grabbed again. Sure, he rolled right into thest Corvus Knight, but a stabbed shoulder was preferable. Especially since Jack was right on the scene and kicked the monster in the back. That didnt quite do the job, but it sent the raven noble off bnce. With two quick moves, John pulled the sword out of his right shoulder and then grabbed the thin leg of his opponent. A strong tug, and the Corvus Knight fell.
Jacknded, stomped on the monsters face and took out thest add that way. Simultaneously, John got back on his feet. Just in time to jump over a low swipe of the massive halberd. At the height of his jump, he was picked up by Jack, and both rose up into the air.
This would be so much easier if I got the necessary Rising Destruction stacks, the Gamer thought. With that, he could have just nuked the boss. He still could have, but that would put it on a 24-hour cooldown. Arcana Strike was also an option, but he didnt think he would profit from using it with his current mana. It would take too long to charge into anything meaningful.
He didnt see many other ways to win this though.
The Corvus Lord beat its massive wings. Not to fly, more as support to his jump. First his beak snapped at Johns feet, a narrow miss, then the point of the halberd threatened to impale the Gamer. It would have seeded as well, had he not activated the Vergopunk Shoes to create a sudden explosion of steam that carried him and Jack further upwards and out of range.
Jack let go of his original, and John dropped down on the four-metre goliath of a humanoid. Hended on the Corvus Lords shoulder; his impact apanied with a punch. It felt like he was punching a bag of wool, all of the energy was lost in the fluffy feathers. If that hadnt been the big obstacle to hisst easy avenue to victory, he would have thought it to be quiteforting to scratch.
As it was, the Corvus Lord''s hand wasing to swipe the Gamer off its shoulder. Alright, fine! John shouted, more to himself than the boss. He raised his left and activated Arcane Ascension. Any Mana de he would have summoned with his current mana would have been too short to even reach the enemy. With Arcane Ascension, that wasnt an issue. 35000 mana worth of Mana de poured out, ripping through the boss eye socket and the presumed brain behind. Just to make things extra certain, John moved his arm slightly downwards, using the whole 3 seconds to create asrge a wound as he could.
The boss soon faded under him, and John had to catch himself once more. Thats a 30-minute cooldown turned 24 hours, he grumbled. Without the environmental destruction caused by his elementals (primarily Smander), stacking up Purgatory was a lot harder than he had thought. At least I did it, he sighed as he put his feet on the ground.
The Quest Completed window opened to confirm that soon after.
Chapter 736 – Augusta 9 – Items and Chicks
Chapter 736 C Augusta 9 C Items and Chicks
Talk about wasting space, John thought, raising his hand to leave the barrier and read the remaining windows. At least its kinda good?
I did wonder about that. John scratched his head as he headed out. That was another lucky break in this entire thing. Overall, the dungeon had been of middling difficulty. He had needed to burn a few item cooldowns, but only Arcane Ascension really stung in that regard. That it was rtively short, having only taken 30 minutes, was a nice contrast to the previous slog.
The gathered girls also seemed surprised to see him back so soon. He came out of the gate of light and strolled right into a pause. Lydia was gathering her breath, clearly covered in sweat. She was drinking water that had small particles of metal floating in it. She was using it to keep her mana high while also rehydrating, in all due likelihood.
Seems like Ie back at the perfect time, he said and stopped. Rather than go towards the house, he made an inviting gesture towards the gate he hade from. If youre resting anyway, why dont we check out what the recent loot has been? I only took a short nce at it earlier.
I take your request as you having suceeded in your Quest then? Lydia asked, while fighting to get on her feet. Realizing his mistake of not helping her, John was ready to resume moving towards them after all, but Aclysia was already next to the queen and offered her hand instead. Thank you, Aclysia.
It is always my pleasure to serve, your highness, the weaponized maid said fluently. The elementals also approached, chatting among themselves. Beatrice quietly hung around, as usual.
Please, you no longer need to call me such. Lydia smiled and put a hand on Aclysias cheek. Youre a cherished friend of mine C and much more than that. You are someone I love.
Lydia Aclysia blushed a little bit, at a rare loss for words, then the two of them leaned towards each other, I, as a lover of Master and a woman of character, I too adore you. Before Johns eyes, two members of his harem shared a moment of tenderness, then they exchanged a long kiss. It took almost ten seconds to end and tongues were clearly involved in a semi-aggressive fashion.
Not only was John incredibly happy to see his harem get along incredibly well internally, this also gave him a respectable hard-on. For thetter, he didnt have time right now. Do I have to assume that the training you did while I was gone was a bit more involved than fencing? he joked, once the two women had put a bit of distance between them.
Do not assume such silliness. Lydia shook her head and took a quick sip out of her sports bottle. Any such activities will be dyed until after the training. Although I will not deny that I would appreciate having Aclysia around me more frequently. She looked over her shoulder. Or any of you, for that matter.
What about me, what about me? Sylph asked and flew around the queens head. Do I get to hang around with you, Lyly? I want to! You have tasty cookies next to sweet tea!
I am certain it can be arranged, just dont distract me from work, Lydia said and a hovering te of metal slowly pushed Sylph out of the queens field of view. And let me see where my stride carries me, if you would be so kind.
Yes, yay, of course! Sylph dered and sat down on Lydias shoulder. The weakness the royal had once allowed herself, to love John, had seemingly bloomed into a bunch of rted weak spots. As it was, John couldnt feel too bad about making Lydia softer in this regard. He had a feeling both she and her nation would be happier for it, as the decades ticked by.
They entered the gate and then the Loot Basin. Like always, it felt like they were inside some mixture of a depot and small-town supermarket. Metal shelves were stacked fiveyers high and equipped with stic rails that could hold paper cards. On those paper cards would be written what the item was and how many of them John had gotten. They were also useful for some other automated processes, namely throwing them away (by throwing the paper card in the bin inside the Loot Basin) or feeding it to theputer, making it create the Abyss Auction pages for him.
While the Loot Basin was, theoretically, infinite, it cleared itself out after a week at thetest, so John couldnt use it for storage. At the moment, there were only the usual five rows, each dedicated to one rarity.
Ka-ching, John made a bad money sound as he took the paper card allocated to the money he had earned in thetest dungeon. He simply threw it into his inventory and, after a short grace period, all the money stacked into the shelf vanished. The paper card was also gone, all the money now residing in his inventory in its ce.
Then there were some pretty random things. A silver button, an elegant fork, a childrens book covered in glitter, and other very much sparkly items. Doubtlessly the Shiny Thing that the Magryph could drop. There were also a few feathers and scrap metal from other mobs, but nothing interesting. The next row, for Umon drops, contained much the same. Nothing useful among it.
In the Rare category, they found the Shield of the Ravenlord and one of the swords the Corvus Knights had used. Neither were particrly useful, so John just kept them to feed to his Artificial Spirits for level progress.
Epic was much more interesting.
Now would you look at that, John said, walking past the gathered pebbles and to the singr item that caught his attention. It was a gauntlet, although that was selling it a bit short. More urate would be to say it was a futuristic piece of battle equipment that attached four des to the fingers of a gauntlet. Looked at from the front, they had a triangr shape, more like a wedge than a traditional de, with the edge on the palm side of things.
Those wedge-des were of a simple metallic colour. Nothing fancy like Mithril or the misleadingly in look of Astrotium, but in between. Just the honest, metallic shimmering of refined steel. Each w was attached to a finger segment, ck metal covering the three sub-segment and the joints underneath. Notable, the thumb had no de, only a covering. The palm was made out of a flexible, brown leather, while the back was one thick te of the same ck metal, trimmed with bronze and a sigil in the shape of a raven on it. The gauntlet continued further up, also making up a guard for the lower arm.
It was clearly inspired by a lightning w from Warhammer 40k, butpromised in size and ridiculousness to be wearable by a human.
John couldnt resist and put the thing on. The second he had pushed his fingers as deep into the sci-fi weapon as was possible, he heard and felt the internal arcano-tech operate. The entire thing shrunk to fit perfectly around him, tes adjusted their position and the Suit of the Chosen extended downwards, just like it did with Purgatory, to meld with this new equipment. Cables interwove with the ck fabric and added a bit of roughness to the sci-fi look.
John moved his right hand around for a little bit. Making a fist was absolutely impossible, thanks to the length of the ws. The metallic things were themselves longer than the Gamers fingers. When he rxed his hand and let it dangle at the wrist, it reminded him a bit of a velociraptor. It did say it had another form, John thought and tried to trigger it. Nothing happened, until he tried around a bit more. Only when his fingers were straight and pressed together did the mechanic spring to life. The te at the back of his hand slid back and with it the des followed previously unseen rails, snapping into position further down.
Neat, John hummed, now able to make a fist. Thanks to the te having slid back, the movement of his wrist was limited, he could no longer pull it up, but that was a worthwhile sacrifice for being able to grab things. Grab things in a very limited capacity, it should be said.
The des still extended a fair bit beyond his knuckles. They would make every punch a very messy (and effective) experience. It was clear that this was a weapon, designed for harm first and everything else second. Purgatory also inhibited his ability to grab things by virtue of its sharpness, but this also limited his dexterity. The difference in quality was evident, but the Talon of the Ravenlord was still impressive.
I suppose this will be a good second hand weapon, outside of Fire and Flow Ascension, the Gamer thought, wondering if there was a way to set this to automatically unequip whenever that Attribute was activated. Sure, Purgatorys secondary manifestations didnt consume any Equipment Slots, but there was the physical limitation of having only one right arm to wear a gauntlet on.
Upon his mental inquiry, a window opened to confirm exactly that and he pressed it. Options were a nice thing. At least I got something out of this he said and looked towards the rest of the contents. While doing so, he noticed Lydia looking bothered. Something the matter, Lydia?
The queen was standing next to the shelf segment that held the Mithril pebbles. Had held the Mithril pebbles, they were currently hovering in front of Lydia. Six seven eight she counted out loud. Eight pebbles.
Sounds right, John answered and dragged his newest equipment piece into his inventory. It should be nine, I know, but I took one and put it in the Loot Focus.
This says a total of ten were dropped, the queen retorted and tapped against the stic rail.
Oh, nice, another one but why is it eight then? Now John shared her confusion.
Announcement, Beatrice chimed in from the side, this paper card deres the existence of 5 Elementium pebbles. Present are only 2.
Okay, this is only getting odder, John said and stepped out of the row, following a hunch. Look around the other rows, he instructed the elementals, alert me if anything moves.
Why would anything move? Lydia asked, while she and Aclysia were following the Gamer. Your loot has been strictly limited to items. Not once have your created enemies been able to leave an Instant Dungeon.
Youre right about the second part but wrong about the first, John told her. First time I had the opportunity for a live drop was when I fought some rat-wolf creature that was guarding a chest inside my firstrger Instant Dungeon. A chest that had contained Nathalia, funnily enough, but that would have distracted from the point. Rtively recently, I got a living slime pet out of a dungeon and added it to the Menagerie.
He stepped into the Legendary shelf. If he said he expected it to be empty, he would have been lying. As there were no further items in the Epic category, he knew for a fact that the Firstkill Bonus for Radiohead Mark 2 hadted him a Legendary item. None were around. At least not around theyer at chest height, where items usually were stored first. He did find a paper card for one item named Children of the Sun though.
John, I have located the missing pebbles, Lydia informed him and pointed at the lowest level of shelves. She must have used her Innate Ability to scan around for the tiny things. Going down on all fours, John lowered himself to floor level and spied into the depth of the shelf.
A pair of dark red eyes looked back at him. They belonged to a chimeric creature, a mixture between a panther and an Australian magpie. A cat tail was slung around its paws and ws, the base of it framed by tail feathers. While the cat parts of it were pure ck, the bird parts were all ck and white, with the dark parts only slightly dominating the light ones. Holding a silvery-white pebble in its white, ck-tipped beak, the Magryph chick tilted its head. Around ity some more of the pebbles and under it was a softly glowing, golden disc.
Well, hello there, little buddy, John said and, noticing the culprit had been found, the rest of the harem soon converged on their position. Carefully, he reached out and tried to take the Magryph out of its hiding ce. This only got him swiped at by the tiny front ws.
The behaviour wasnt particrly surprising, this was a cat-raven after all. What got John more was the thing that he actually felt his skin being broken. He didnt care whatsoever for the pain, but at his Physical Stats, something like kitten scratches shouldnt be hurting him. At least while he wasnt being looked at by mundane people, at which point Gamers Body did some self-nerfing to not disy his abilities too clearly.
Regardless of its actions, John seeded in grabbing the animal with one hand and pulled it out of hiding. In protest, it dropped the Mithril pebble and let out a sound that John found to be an odd cross between a fire rm, a synthesizer and a seagull. It was an extremely obnoxious sound, but that was the point.
Hind legs and a puffed-up tail dangled out the bottom and only the bird head, with panther ears twisted back in an aggressive disy, peaked out from the top. The Magryph chick was tiny. It continued to let its protest be known. John carefully ced it down on the floor, where it immediately tried to run away. John blocked it with his hands. To which the chick reacted with more synthesized siren wobbles and by spreading its wings in a tiny threat posture, presenting the talons in a threatening fashion. Three ws went forward, one to the back, slightlyrger than the rest.
Apparently, the animal wasnt able to fly yet. Which made her little hoard way more impressive since it would have needed to climb up and down the shelves to get to any of these items. I call it an animal, but technically its the same thing as the monsters I killed well, minus the unrelenting drive to harm me. That is a pretty important distinction.
John, do please tell me that is not a Magryph. Lydia sounded more than a bit shaken.
I could do that, but I would be lying, he said. Judging by your reaction, they are pretty rare.
Fifty, Lydia told him. A total of fifty, or around that number anyhow, live on the globe. They are raised exclusively by one family in northern Australia.
Anything useful they do? John asked, while having a sharp beak peck at his hand. The neck of a bird could stretch a surprising distance, he found. Aside from trying to hurt poor nerds?
I only have heard of them being the worlds greatest treasure finders; theyre attracted to shiny things like hogs are to food.
No doubt about the attracted part. the Gamer nodded. Aclysia, can you oblige it for a little bit and throw it a pebble? The weaponized maid obeyed, picked one of the pebbles the Magryph had hoarded and handed it over to the aggressive little thing. Immediately, upon picking the silver-white metal out of Aclysias hand, the Magryph grew more docile.
The siren cries stopped and were reced with another sound. More eptable, but no less odd, the Magryph let out a series of robotic voodoo notes. As someone who had stumbled over the cry of the Australian Magpie on Youtube before, John recognized these as being an actual sound they made.
The vocal range on this thing the Gamer mumbled. Do they only get about one and a half metres in general?
Lydia shrugged, her arms crossed. I only know what I do thanks to the urging of one of my treasurers that we should invest in a Magryph for Natural Barrier expeditions. I am no expert on the field of chimeric creatures.
The cat ears turned atop its head, as the Magryph slowly ced the pebble down and then yed with it by knocking it around with its beak. Expectantly, it asionally looked up to John and let out a single cry, now closer to the high-pitched cry of a baby chicken. What do I do with you? John asked with a sigh. Ever since he had initially touched it, a window was hovering in his field of view.
First Quest I got with a Punishment segment, John thought, but clicked ept anyway. It would be any of these three choices anyway. First things first, John said and left the rest of his harem to watch the chick while he retrieved the remaining items. Lets go back and do some research. Then well decide whether we keep it or not.
Chapter 737 – Augusta 10 – Golden Girl
Chapter 737 C Augusta 10 C Golden Girl
It turned out to be a she. After returning to the house, they managed to get into contact with one of the Australians raising these things. For once, it was a free exchange of information. Evidently, John was talking to an enthusiast, who was just willing to share her (judging by the name Judith) passion for the subject. Well, they were writing, not talking. Talking was downright impossible due to the time dtion. Writing was only slightly awkward.
The important things that he had learned were, for one, that Magryphs were notoriously hard to find and breed, but not thatplicated to raise. If they were given a small share of shiny stuff, adequate housing and food, they made for loyalpanions. They werent as tameable as dogs, but this wasrgely because they were less pack-thinking. Magryphs were considerably smarter and able to figure out who to obey and to what gain; given enough time, even adults could be loyal to partners. A raised chick definitely recognized someone as their superior.
As for power and size, Magryphs operated in a wide range in the former case, but did not have much in thetter. Magryphs could be anything between the power of an elite Abyssal fighter and someone of a low Primarch level, like John currently was. In that regard, the ones that John had faced had been top of the line. None of that power actually lived at the moment. In size, the smallest specimen ever recorded was 1,40 metres and thergest 1,60. Not even remotely close enough to be ridden, which saddened John somewhat. Riding on a gryphon into battle would have been pretty up there on the badass scale.
The Gamer had also posted a photo of the Magryph into the harems group chat and gotten a number of heart-eye emojis. Particrly his girlfriend seemed to love the looks of the small thing. Currently, the female chick was ying with Stirwin and Sylph. The tiny trio triumphantly tumbled over the table, until the Magryph slowed down and did nothing aside from guarding its pebble.
Aclysia, we dont happen to have cat food, do we? John asked, since he got the rmendation that young Magryphs liked the dry pellets, after they got soaked in water. Of course, the answer to that inquiry was no, making John go down to the next item on the list. How about minced meat? Bananas? Theter could be squished into a pulp and that would apparently do it as well. Meat was best, but Magryphs were omnivores.
I am certain we have some minced meat. I will fetch it at once, Master, Aclysia responded and marched out of the living room and into the kitchen.
Do you n to keep her? Lydia asked.
I am heavily considering it, John responded and used Observe on the small thing. It was an unremarkable window he got in response, basically the same as he got for Observing the dungeon monsters, but with a lower level and synonyms for the word baby sprinkled in here and there. Also, no Loot Table. I have been given three options, right? And we both can agree that putting her in the Menagerie is a giant waste.
If I understand correctly, she would never grow up? Lydia asked.
She would essentially cease being a real being, John responded. The Menagerie creates animals that do not eat each other, are only friendly to each other and other people, and that cannot be eaten. They dont procreate and if one dies, by being killed or because theyre part of a species that ages, they respawn. Sure, if theyre left alive, they show they have individuality, but they exist solely for the purpose of being cute.
Sometimes, he felt a bit immoral because of that. However, it wasnt like they were suffering because of it. Having the Menagerie was about as shady as using some chat bot program to get off. The entire purpose of the animals was to be adorable, thats what they did and thats what made them happy. It was just wrong to look at them as animals in the traditional sense.
As of this moment, the Magryph was different. Sure, she was made from nothing, but now that she is something, throwing her into the Menagerie to have some variety in the cute spawns feels wrong. Aclysia returned with a bowl half filled with minced meat. John took it and ced it on the table.
He had already positioned his other hand to keep the Magryph from dashing towards the bowl, but the chick just kept sitting there. Only its beak went from lowered to attentively raised. John pulled a tiny bit of the minced meat off and offered it to the bird-cat. The animal just opened her beak and left John to not only ce the food in her mouth, but push it in there until the swallowing reflex kicked in. He was actually feeding a young bird that expected the food to be vomited down her throat, to put it in unembellished terms.
Anyway, the remaining two choices are to keep her or sell her, he continued on, while gently shoving more food down the Magryphs throat. It was a very odd but also satisfying feeling. The Judith woman said she would be interested in buying her already, every extra female and bit of fresh genes is apparently worth a ton even if I am surprised that genes are even a concern. He paused in his motion as the bird-cat lowered her head to signal she was still swallowing the previous piece. Im just going to assume you would take her as well?
I would be a foolish leader to not leverage my influence over you for the gain to my nation at some points. Lydia shrugged. I denied the necessity of a Magryph at the time, I still dont subscribe to it, but a positive deal for a new asset and a content subordinate is something I would dly negotiate for.
Right, so thats something we could do. John saw no reason not to sell the Magryph to Lydia over some Australian woman, even if that would drastically cut his profit margin. As it is, however, I am being offered a new ss and the ability to immediately level that ss. From the Quest rewards, thats doubtlessly the best one. As nice as a Legendary item was, the Talon of the Ravenlord was made for a melee build, which John wasnt. It was a temporary stay in his arsenal, so investing into it seemed like a bad idea.
Aside from the rewards the question was really whether he wanted to keep another pet or not. Right now, they had Stirwin, Copernicus and Eliza.
Wonder if she would punch me or start panting like a dog if she heard me say that, John chuckled at his own joke. But seriously, we have two pets that arent really pets. Copernicus is a cat that only likes to be pet twice a week, doesnt really need to eat and doesnt have a toilet to take care of. Stirwin just swims around the Guild Hall. Aside from feeding them, taking care of them is extremely easy. In terms of space, we definitely have it. The Magryph raised her head again and opened her beak; the feeding continued. Its all a question of motivation, John mumbled. Do we want to take care of her or not?
He looked to the remaining harem. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was arge deal of enthusiasm to keep the Magryph. Not to be overly stereotyping, but women did tend to like cats a lot. This was a cat with extras. The only person that John could see voting against keeping her was Nathalia, who would likely look at the pet as a nuisance. Nia, the other person who was missing, would have been more than insistent that they kept her, though.
The Magryph let out a sound between a ravens purr and kittens meow. When John offered the next bit of meat, she didnt open her beak, no matter for how long John kept it hovering in front of her. Beatrice, go order a few feeding syringes and a dog bed or something of the like, please, the Gamer announced, right, and also a litter box.
So, you ARE intent on keeping her? Lydia asked while the passive maid stepped away to do what was asked.
John checked his smartphone before answering. Using her harem-reading powers, his girlfriend had already started a poll asking for everyones opinion on keeping the Magryph. Votes tumbled in slowly, as was expected with the current difference in experienced time, the trend was clear, however.
Lets go with yes, for the moment, he answered, putting the almost empty bowl to the side, where Aclysia immediately picked it up and moved to throw the leftovers away. Unless I run into some serious issues, keeping her just seems like the most useful and humane approach. He wondered if he could convince those Australians to make some sort of breeding pact, but that was an issue for down the line. He also wondered where they got their initial Magryphs, but as far as the Abyss went, the answer to that could only be either magical experimentation or Natural Barriers.
Given that there were many different kinds of gryphons, John was willing to bet that the original mixture came out of a Natural Barrier, created by human fantasy, and most further types were created. Presumably, the magical creation of a Magryph took an absurd amount of time and resources, so absurd that breeding a poption of fifty was cheaper, or the knowledge had gotten lost and rediscovering it would take a lot more effort than the breeding did. Since Magryphs didnt provide anything essential, the incentive to do any of this also wasnt present.
If he ever took greater interest in the matter, he would have a longer talk with the breeders about it. For the moment, what he knew sufficed.
Anyway, until I ampletely sure, well have to take care of her anyway. John picked the Magryph off the table, something she protested to until John took the Mithril pebble in his other hand and allowed her to keep it around. Once she was holding it with her talons against her stomach, she was willing to be held in his arms. She was nice and fluffy, particrly the feathered part. The wings shifted a bit against Johns arm and chest, the fantastical creature lying on her back. Which also means you, he scratched the Magryph under the beak; she reacted with a pleased chirp, need a name.
Raven? Gnome suggested. While the Magryph was half Australian Magpie rather than crow or raven, those three birds were pretty simr.
Hm, John hummed; the name reminded him of the character from the Teen Titans. I like the name, but its a bit too on the nose for me.
Shinybeak! Sylph eximed. Because she likes shiny and has a beak!
A bit too simple. John shook his head, and they went through a number of different names.
Bronwen, Lydia suggested. It is a name from Arthurian legend.
That does make it attractive, but its not that feminine. The Gamer made an apologetic face. I know Im being picky about this. I always spent ten minutes hammering in names in the character creator. He looked down, then remembered a name he liked from Dark Souls, the game was still on his mind from earlier. How about Velka?
Where does that originate from? Lydia inquired.
Its the name of the goddess of sin in Dark Souls, he told her straight-up. Her holy animal is the raven, so it sort of fits.
I like Velka, Gnome agreed, so did the other elementals, the maids and, although she found the reference unbing, Lydia. Shortly thereafter, the now named Velka fell asleep and John ced her on the couch. Their supplies wouldnt arrive for another ten hours at least.
Alright, now that she is asleep, lets discuss this thing. John reached into his inventory and pulled out the golden, softly glowing disk that Velka had sat on. It was the Legendary drop from Radiohead. Having gotten two in as many days was pretty lucky, even if he was almost guaranteed one of them. This disk was a bit less exciting than a live chimera, but the one Attribute it offered was exciting.
The long-term value of this was insane and he had Single Step to rece anyway. Beatrice, eat this, he decided quickly and offered it to the passive maid. Looking at it for a while, the short-haired maid said something unexpected.
Request: may Aclysia have it instead? Looking over to her elder, the passive maid added, I am under the impression that she deserves a reward as recent decisions have left her with less than she deserves.
That Beatrice decided to state her intentions so tantly was pretty like her, to forego his orders in favour of being kind, however, was something new. The reason was the recent denial of Aclysias request to receive a Lovers Will mark. Although the logical part inside John didnt want to give this item to his weaponized maid, he looked over to Aclysia for her decision.
I thank you for your empathy, Beatrice, the older maid smiled genuinely, while shaking her head, but I need no handout. I will get what I deserve in time. This is required so you can catch up to my number of Perks and be of better use to Master. This must take priority.
Understood. Beatrice proceeded to take the golden te without any more insistencing or questions. It appeared her empathy had been used up for that and her passive nature had decided that no further rification of the matter was needed.
Seeing his second maid devour the item with a number of quick bites gave John another idea. Say, Lydia, he turned to the queen, who was looking over the sleeping Magryph, you get a temporary power boost by drinking Mithril-mercury mixtures, right?
This is urate. Lydia looked at him, first just out of conversation courtesy, then with careful intrigue. The Gamer was well aware that he had a schemers grin on his face.
Would it be possible to get permanent, smaller boosts by taking in raw, exceedingly powerful metals? He pulled a Mithril and Elementium pebble each from his inventory. The silver-white and the golden piecesy in his hands like pills.
Under any normal circumstances, absolutely not. Lydia raised one hand to her chin and stroked it carefully. It would just be digested into mana. However, one could use martial art meditation techniques to funnel that mana into overloading magical circuits and strengthen the muscles. If adequate potential is present, this could be used to generate massive advances. Those same advances woulde alongside considerable damage to the body tissue, however.
Which would be a considerable problem, if one left that damage to take root and lead to permanent crippling. John only grinned wider as his n came together. A powerful healer would be required to steadily overlook the operation, someone that can immediately fix all ailments as they arise. Undine flowed onto the scene, having heard her cue. What do you say, is it worth a shot?
Its not an unheard of procedure, the queen thought out loud, martial art prodigies have been known to go through training like that, utilizing outside sources of mana to quickly increase their own potential and ovee fighters with decades of experience in the span of weeks. Of course, I am no prodigy in the field, but with the help of Undine, my mistakes should be diminished Finally, Lydia nodded. On a theoretic level, it should work. It depends on my ability to perform the meditation. Slightly less important than my bodily integrity, however, is the question if you truly want to part with these materials.
That she hadnt started with that just meant she already knew what his answer would be. The way I see it, Ill gain a more powerful and potentially more beautiful lover, so this is a worthwhile investment. He grinned and gestured towards the door. Lets see how this pans out in practice.
Lydia sighed, You know I am not you, right?
Chapter 738 – Augusta 11 – Fencing, Grinding, more Feeding
Chapter 738 C Augusta 11 C Fencing, Grinding, more Feeding
Johns enthusiasm was curbed by that announcement and what it entailed. Whether Lydia could actually meditate in the martial arts sense was a thing she did not actually know yet. She had less than forty minutes to train between him leaving to do the solo dungeon and him returning with the Magryph situation. First she had to practice the basic thing, get skilled enough at it to keep it up at the necessary level and only then could they actually put that power levelling n into motion.
Thats what she meant when she said she wasnt him. There was no convenient way to just unlock a Skill for her and be immediately knowledgeable about the subject. Instead, she would have to take some time, at least a few of the eight remaining days, to practice this. If she even had the ability to learn it, that was still in question.
For the sake of efficiency, those questions were temporarily pushed back. Instead, they focused on John acquiring the Fencing Skill. Once he had it, he could go out and level it in Instant Dungeons and she could concentrate on her meditation attempts.
You will be wielding the estoc the majority of the time, correct? Lydia asked, while they took their stances across from each other. John nodded, and she continued. Excellent, I must admit that my experience with shing weapons is much diminished, so I have less to teach in the field. As it is, in the field of lunging, I can be of greater assistance.
Lydia pulled her rapier from its sheath. It had the light grey colour of refined steel, but John knew that the material its de consisted of was much different. It was a metal called Ferforitum, something easily moldable by a metal mage. As long as Lydia kept it in her zone of absolute control, the area where her magic was the most effective, its inherent softness would be countered by her constant control over it. It was a much more energy draining usage and there was a very limited amount of this artificially created, otherwise useless metal.
The rapier was mostly a thing of convenience and ceremonial value. Inbat, it served as ast-ditch melee option. For training, it was formidable, as Lydia could simply dull the edge. Not that this was necessary towards someone who regenerated immediately from practically every wound.
Should I use some practice weapon or? John asked.
No, if you have ess to the same weapon at all times, its weight is what you should ingrain into your memory, Lydia responded. I do, however, request that you hold back on your full power. I may be technically more skilled than you are, but that only matters so much. A great bowman will seldom be more deadly than someone with a submachine gun.
I wont hurt you on purpose, you have my word on that, John promised without hesitation, while Purgatory spread over his arm.
Equip your new w as well, Lydia advised him. You want to be used to the entirety of your weight distribution.
Alright. John just went ahead and threw on his entire battle equipment at that point. Undine infused herself into Purgatory, and he summoned the ice estoc. So, whats step one? Do I put one arm behind my back?
That wouldnt serve you very well, this is practical fencing, learnt forbat, not aesthetics or tournament. Lydia raised her weapon, stretching her left hand out to the side for extra bnce. Strike at me.
John did as requested and lunged at her. Since he wasntpletely green in the regards of meleebat, he got the basics right. His backfoot was firmly nted, pushing him forwards, his arm came from the side, gaining extra force from the longer motion. Lydia knocked the estoc aside without much of an issue.
Stay, shemanded, and he obeyed. Circling around him, she observed him from the side, clicking her tongue in a disapproving fashion. Your kickboxing training has gotten you good and bad habits, it appears. She sheathed her rapier, once she was behind him, and put one hand on his left shoulder, pressing onto his upper back with the other. You attack with force in mind first, she exined. This works to your advantage in a fistfight, but youre not working with a dull object. In fencing, the question is whether an attack connects. Force is only useful to break a guard. If youre thrusting, this isnt your primary concern. Stand at ease, keep your back straight.
I guess I shouldnt have drawn my arm back at all, then? John asked, quick on the uptake. If my only concern is tond a hit, then telegraphing my attack is not worth the extra power.
Indeed. With her own rapier, Lydia demonstrated. If you are sure tond a hit or if your attack is already telegraphed for whatever reason, drawing your arm back for the extra force might be worth it. She mimicked the motion John had made just now. Keep in mind, however, that an attack that goespletely straight is also easier to block with a shield or the like. For a normal lunge, you are best advised to stand like this. She nted one foot back, the other slightly in front, kept her back straight and her rapier raised to chest level, the arm half folded. The lunge has three basicponents. Thest two of which you executed well enough. You extend the arm, you take a shallow step forwards, dont raise your foot too far from the ground, and then you use your backfoot to propel all of you forwards. Your back remains straight. She held each posture for a moment while she spoke, then dropped into a rxed stance. You achieve the highest amount of range this way. Optimally, you break skin in the first two steps and thest one is driving the de into the body. This is also why you do these things in sequence, rather than all at once.
I guess this is why they say fencing is more artful than boxing, John said, only half joking. There were more involved strikes in boxing as well, but that art was mostly about generating force. Once lethality was guaranteed by the nature of the tool, uracy and depth of the strike became more of a focus. Having understood that difference, John took his initial stance again, and they faced each other again.
Although the path for fencing may be different from boxing, the starting conundrum and final goal are the same, Lydia continued her lecture. You need to ovee the defences of your enemy and be so sessful in it that you cannd the winning blow. Although a lunge may be a fast way to finish a fight, where the tip of your sword is aimed will inform your enemy where you want to strike.
That was a rather basic reminder, but John took it withoutining. First he was guided through the correct way to execute lunges at different heights, then how to react to themon parries, how to best parry himself, and so on. Eventually, they moved away from only going estoc against rapier and instead Lydia brought magic into things. This was still practical fencing, after all, just learning how to fight other fencers was pretty useless in that regard.
When hended his first hit through Lydias manoeuvrable shield, he finally got the pop-up.
Alright, that did it, he announced, and Lydia lowered the metal pieces. He had struck through heryer of metal tes, but only hit a secondyer behind that. Lydia hadnt been out to make herself the practice dummy, understandably.
Superb, Lydia rolled her neck, then I suppose you should now resume your regr grinding, while I resume my meditation attempts.
Well, you can do that if you want to, John answered, but I was going to call it quits for today. The sun had barely moved, still standing in the middle of the sky and frying everything with its rays. Regardless, he had been awake for sixteen consecutive hours now. In terms of levelling progress, the day had been aplete failure. Aside from that, he had gotten a whole slew of things done or discovered today. Theing days promised to be more eventful.
Lydia yawned, as if him saying that suddenly made her realize that she had been up for the same time. Perhaps I will follow your lead on this asion, she conceded.
_____________________________________________________________________
Three days passed, with the only notable event during them being that John finished the third part of the Augusta Questline.
And had been promptly presented with Part 4
The Quest popped up after Lydia had shown first sesses on the meditation front. Since Gaia wouldnt have given him a Quest he had absolutely no chance of clearing (at least he believed she wouldnt), he was now 99% certain that the strategy they hade up with to power level Lydia was going to be a sess. The remaining 1% were the usual paranoid doubts that he rarely managed to shake off.
Aside from levelling Fencing, he had concentrated on running five to six hour Assaults. This had brought him another four levels. The difference in efficiency was clearly evident, but there were things that not even John was willing to grind out. He was still a human that needed breaks.
On the morning of the sixth day, he stepped down the stairs and into the living room. He was greeted by the sweet smell of carpet cleaner and Beatrice rubbing a sponge over a particr segment of the floor. The couch had been moved to the side in order for her to clean the entire affected area. Next to her, Aclysia was holding Velka by the scruff of her neck, the Magryphs feet dangling in the air.
The chimeric species rted to cats had excess skin and fat on the back of their neck. Since feathers in that area were also extremely short, grabbing it was much like grabbing a kitten by the neck. Ears perked and legs dangling, Velka was looking at her Mithril pebble, currently removed from her possession. Unlike three days ago, she didnt break out into cacophonicints. The Magryph was quickly learning that they took the pebble from her whenever she did something bad. She would get it back quicker if she just let them tell her what it was.
Relieve yourself in your box, Aclysia said, emphasizing every word, while gesturing from Velka, to the stain, over to the stic box filled with kitty litter. This wasnt a berating that would have worked for a dog or a cat, but a Magryph was considerably more intelligent. Do you understand? Aclysia asked and got a short-warbled song in response. You will get this back, she held up the pebble, after you prove that. The tiny material piece wandered into Aclysias inventory.
Velka was ced on the floor and let out a number ofining sounds after all. One warning re by Aclysia, and the Magryph went quiet, however. After an incident involving the chick stealing a fork from the kitchen, the pet had understood that the woman with the long, silver-white hair was scary.
Did she go number one or number two on our carpet? John asked. That Velka had the lower body of a cat meant she did not possess a single cloaca. Whether that was better or worse, he had no opinion on. Conversely, Magryphs stillid eggs though.
Number one, Beatrice supplied the wanted information, while moving from scrubbing with a sponge to drying the foam off with a towel. At the same time, Velka tapped up to John and sat down at his feet. cing her right talon on his foot, she gently scratched, waited two seconds, then repeated the gesture. All the while, she was presenting her open beak and letting out high-pitched cries.
Another thing that Velka understood by now was that John was the only one who fed her. A deliberate decision, in service of fulfilling the Quest. Being the person who gave her nourishment was going to forge some kind of bond.
It was decided they would keep her now. Sure, she had soiled the carpet on numerous asions now and she could be a bit annoying in her search for shiny things, but neither was something he didnt expect from a child. Since she was so quick on the uptake, she had already learned to stay out of the kitchen; John expected that these things would smooth over theing weeks.
Taking the Magryph, he scratched her fluffy belly, while walking over to the table. The entire time, theck and white beak of the bird-cat nibbled at whatever finger was closest to her head. Wait here, John instructed, once he had ced her on the table. At first, she tried to follow when he walked towards the kitchen. Gently pushing her away from the edge of the table, he repeated, Wait. This time, Velka obeyed, walking around on the table but making no sign to jump off it.
John opened the fridge and took out a bowl. It contained cat food pellets that had been left soaking in water overnight. Of course, he couldnt just feed her cold food, so he had to move it into the microwave first. Once it had reached body temperature, he used a spoon to make the transformation of the cat food into a light brown sludgeplete. Afterwards he sucked as much as he could into a feeding syringe and returned to the table.
Velka chirped excitedly, jumping left and right, then sprinting towards John when he picked a chair to sit down on. Alright, alright. John couldnt help but smile, the childish enthusiasm was contagious. Calm down. She didnt, Velka hadnt learned the meaning of those words or his tone yet. Instead, he had to grab her so she remained still. Her tail feathers fluttered happily while he pushed the syringe into her mouth like the beak of a mother bird and pushed the liquid food into her. It was a pretty close recement to the natural experience.
After two repeats of this, John had emptied the entire bowl and Velka no longer opened her beak as a demand for food. In the morning, she was always extremely hungry. John scratched her between the cat ears; Velka purred from deep within her throat.
And she is going to be as big as Sylph one day? Smander asked, suddenly appearing next to John. While the Gamer was unfazed by this, Velka jumped up and ran to the other side of the table. Suddenly appearing humanoids were probably pretty scary, at her size. Didnt help that the fire spirits skin and hair were all red, natures premiere warning colour.
Yeah, although I have no idea how quick she will grow, John answered, trying to get Velka toe back to his hand by wiggling his fingers. Judith said Magryphs take about a year to mature and another year to reach their physical peak. Problem is, I have no idea how my Gamer powers will interact with that. For all I know, the Tamer ss could have mechanics that make her grow at an elerated rate. Doesnt help that Velka didnt even hatch in the first ce. His new pet didnt react to his invitation, only staring at Smander.
Wings spread out as far as possible, Velka had feathers and fur puffed up, all to make herself seem as big and scary as possible. John honestly found her more adorable that way, she looked like a very angry fuzzball. A hissing sound escaped her beak.
Smander, could you sit down? John asked and gestured at the chair next to him.
Sure thing, boss, the endme elemental responded. Once she was on her cushion of a butt, the Gamer put a hand into her neck and pulled her into a kiss. She tasted delicious and smoky, even a bit spicy. Her tongue was hot inside his mouth, as he ran a hand over the soft stubbles of her buzzcut. He didnt push it too far, it would have felt awkward with the young pet watching.
Aside from the pure indulgence of the moment and the joy of kissing his hottest elemental, there was a practical reason for this kiss as well. By making Smander appear lessrge and showing that she was one of his lovers, he hoped to take the nervousness out of Velka. It worked well, the Magryphs hairs settled down, and when John invited her again, she slowly tapped closer. After some chin scratches, shepletely calmed down.
Smander tried to pet her as well. Only after Velka had inspected her hand by smelling and nibbling on it was the endme elemental allowed to do the same. Alright, thats enough attention for this moment, the Gamer finally decided, as Aclysia started bringing in the breakfast. Once more, he picked up the chick and put her on the floor.
Stirwin was already waiting for her, and the two engaged in some y fighting. Sylph soon joined them as well, at least until breakfast was prepared.
Velka was fitting in well with their little family.
Chapter 739 – Augusta 12 – Meditation and Taming
Chapter 739 C Augusta 12 C Meditation and Taming
John ate breakfast, had a nice time talking to everyone, then headed out for an Assault and returned six hourster for lunch. While they walked over the green that separated light gates, the fell into the usual banter.
Wheeeeeeeeeeennnnnnn, Sylph stretched the singr word out for an eternity, only ending it when John looked at her. When do you think Velly will learn to fly?
About a month, you already know that, responded the Gamer. You could just take the information I got from Judith out of my head.
But then I dont get to talk to you and not talking is boring so I ask because asking makes conversation and conversation is fun-fun! the thunderstorm elemental babbled. Velly is fun-fun and adorbs-adorbs too; I want to fly around with her and give her sweets!
Unlike you, she can put on fat, so Id be thankful if you didnt overfeed her on sugar when she gets older, John warned.
Why Velly? Undine chimed in.
Because Velly is adorbs-adorbs and fun-fun, so I want to hang out with her and teach her how to fly a loop-de-loop.
No, I mean The ocean elemental sorted her words. Why call Velka Velly? It has the same number of sybles.
Because Velly is adorbs-adorbs and fun-fun, so I want to call her something thats cute and things that end on ly are cute.
Does that mean youre calling me cute all the time? Smander asked.
Yeah! Sylph eximed enthusiastically.
I do get that. John looked at the endme elemental. Although she was more sexy than cute, with that curvaceous, openly disyed hourss figure and being even taller than he was, one did not preclude the other. This opens the question how you arent calling this cuddle rock, he grabbed the nearby brte by her butt, Gnomely though.
Uwuwuwu the same let out a shy sound and blushed. Probably because I am not cute she mumbled.
That is just straight up heresy, John dered and pulled her closer to himself. If they hadnt been walking, he would have kissed her on the mouth. As it was, a quick one on the scalp had to suffice. Youre the cutest thing ever.
Yeah! Sylph dered. So cute I dont need to add a ly because its self-evident and stuff. Super obvious! Super mega ultra obvious!
What about me and Undine, then? Siena asked.
Uhhh, I mean, youre cute but uhhhhhh. Sylph hovered out of Sienas view and hid behind Johns shoulder. Undine is really scary sometimes.
But I am not? Smander grumbled.
She also forgot to mention me, despite me asking. The moonshade elemental had a simr contention with that announcement.
Eeeeehhhh. Sylph climbed on top of her summoners shoulder and sat down. Youre way too nice to be scary. Youre a giant softie. Softie Siena!
Too astonished to answer properly, Siena only managed to formte, How do you function?! when they were almost at the house. Aclysia and Beatrice went inside and the elementals scattered all about the ce to go after their individual hobbies or self-rewarding activities, like stone sculpting, bathing, napping, ying with Velka or having sex. The hour break between Assaults had to be used properly.
John walked over to Lydia. Sitting on a cushion they had ced on thewn, the queen of Rex Germaniae was currently waking from hertest trance. Her white shirt disyed circr, damp spots around the expected areas, bigger than the weather could have caused. He reached into his inventory and retrieved a bottle of water. It still had the coolness of the fridge.
Lydia took it with a thankful nod, remaining seated but stretching her legs. It is truly fortunate that you did not decide to try your hand at being an assassin, talkative as you are, she remarked.
Im sure I would learn to be quiet, John retorted. I would have fewer loving girls to talk to as well. I heavily doubt Id invest in getting elementals if my focus was on sneaking around.
I suppose so, Lydia conceded the point, taking a sip of the water, while John plopped down next to her. She reeked of sweat, not in the attractive sense. She had been sitting there for six hours, likely only taking breaks where necessary. There were some people that never stunk because of their workout. Lydia was not one of those, especially not in these conditions.
The Gamer just ignored the protest of his nose and kissed her on the cheek. Something like this wasnt reason enough to put distance between them. He would much prefer her after a shower, but a little mundane reeking never hurt anybody. How is the progress, lemon?
I Lydia blinked at him several times with genuine confusion. Did you just refer to me as lemon?
I did.
Why?
Well, you always call me my love or something to that effect, so I thought I should give you some nickname as well. He grinned, disying clearly that he was not serious about this.
Lydia shook her head. And your choice fell on lemon?
Well, you bring something fresh into my life and your hair always smells of citrus.
I suggest you cease; Lydia has been fine and will continue to properly address me.
Yas, queen. With a hand shaking from workout, Lydia gently punched him on the shoulder. She was sighing and smiling at the same time, took another sip out of the bottle, then spilled the rest over her head.
A waste of perfectly good drinking water, Lydia mumbled to herself, even as she pulled the hairband off the end of her braid. With a few motions of her hands, she fanned out her hair. Gently waving, it fell over her shoulders and halfway down her back. The few strands that loosely framed her head normally were now part of an auburn whole. Where the sunrays hit her, the dry tips of her hair were more of a copper red.
You look cute with your hair open, Johnmented, ying with it as if it were his own. He didnt even try to keep his hands off her. Not that the metal mage minded. Quite the contrary. She put a hand on his leg and they continued their conversation without paying any mind to this.
My progress has been satisfactory, Lydia stated.
From you, that sounds pretty good.
It is decently positive. Positive enough that I think we can consider the next stage.
Johns fingers parted her hair into several strands. Ive got two more Mithril pebbles. I guess you would want to start with the Elementium though? It was the weaker of the two metals. Not by a wide margin, but by a margin regardless.
That is correct, Lydia confirmed and then looked down on herself. Lets prepare, then. Quieter, she added, I do hope we nned this correctly. As little as I like the risk of being crippled, I want to be stronger.
Itll be fine, John assured her. They had used thest few days to make sure everything about the theory was sound. Everything about it was working in theory and had been used by other prodigies in the past. It was the powerlevelling of talented Abyssals. Those that dabbled in martial arts, at least.
They got up and went inside to go through the preparations. The first step was to liquify the pebbles. Lydia was only half a metal elemental andcked the teeth to properly chew them at that size. Like with everything else, optimal absorption of nutrition (being mana in this case) only came about if the intake was properly diced down. Both metals needed an individual way to go about this.
For Mithril, this was an easy but nevertheless involved process. The pebbles were dropped in a container filled with mercury. The container was sealed and its pressure decreased with the help of Sylph, and then cooled down by virtue of Sylph and Undinebining their powers in the old-fashioned way. Of all the Combinations John had, none were an ice elemental, oddly enough. Regardless, with those two, they managed to skip the entire industrial requirements. Not that it would have been possible if Lydia hadnt already possessed the remaining equipment.
With the pressure lowered extremely to 0,2 millipascal and the temperature cooled to about -39 degrees Celsius, mercury had reached its triple point. John would have loved to see the metal rapidly change between solid, liquid and gas, but it was all happening inside a metal container. He could have theoretically used Possession to look inside, but that wouldnt have served him in any way since there was no light source in there.
As for why they were doing all of that, apparently one could boil Mithril this way. It was how smiths got it out of ore. The resulting product was a liquid mercury-Mithril alloy, which could then be further processed by separating the mercury through some magical furnace action. John didnt know about that and it was outside the scope of what Lydia needed.
Elementium had no such processes, so they had to go the physical route and sh it into a bunch of tiny pieces and toss those into water. Aclysia got busy with that, using her dagger, Salver, to slice the pebbles into ever tinier pieces. It was an unusual application of her cooking skills. Lengthy as well, slicing an Elementium pebble with an enchanted Mithril knife worked about as well as cutting a dried kidney bean. Absolutely possible, but mishaps were to be expected. More than one wooden board and parts of the kitchen counter were destroyed by Aclysia slipping up. If this hadnt been a temporary kitchen, the weaponized maid may have thrown a small fit.
After the physics experiments and the dicing was concluded, however, they had several bottles filled with power sources for Lydias meditation.
You should n for a pee break, John joked, while Lydia sat down. While all of this had been going on, she had been able to take a shower. Something that would be undone pretty quickly. Theing mediation would cause massive physical strain on her, with all the usual consequences. Although he joked and the research was done, he was still nervous about the potential failure. This had been his idea and they wouldnt pull out now, but messing with martial arts was still something that was very painful if it went south.
I already have, Lydia responded, giving him a side smirk that indicated that she was joking herself. To start slowly, she took the first bottle of Elementium. Shaking it so that the metal particles would be scattered throughout the liquid, she took a small sip, then closed her eyes. Everyone looked at her with anticipation. Undine was nearby, ready to start healing the moment the group interface showed Lydias health bar dropping in any capacity.
There was a slight diminishing. Half hugging, half flowing around Lydias back, the ocean elemental attached herself to the queen, and the HP went back up.
Its working, Lydia announced, then grabbed the bottle again and downed the rest of it in one go. There were no further words and John stepped backward, taking everyone else, aside from Undine, with him. He wanted Lydia to have the quiet she needed to concentrate.
What will we do in the meantime, Master? Aclysia asked, everyone else listening in on the mental conversation. Shall we resume grinding?
I dont want to head out without our healer, John denied. More than that, I dont want to leave while Lydia is doing this. Well hang around and just kill some time. Maybe I can finally get Velka to like me enough if I spend some hours with her. Thatst bit he added just to do something productive. Outside of ying with the Magryph chick, he would likely game and fuck the time away.
_________________________________________________________________________
Stay still! John demanded. He was in the bathroom with a girl and for once he wasnt having fun doing it. He also wasnt naked, only sitting next to the bathtub, in his right hand was ab and the left was holding the cat-bird that really didnt want to be in the water.
Velka let out her protesting call, a mixture of synthesizer and a fire siren, and managed to wind herself out of his hand and climb out of the bathtub. With his Agility, John could have stopped her, but he was vaguely aware that he would have a future of terrible annoyance in front of him if he forced the Magryph into the bathtub now and made her develop a fear of being washed. He could make her clean through some rough means at the moment. Once she got bigger, this wouldnt be an option.
He had to make her get into the tub by her own volition and he had to show her that it wasnt that bad. None of this would be an issue if she hadnt toppled over that orange juice ss, John thought. It had been a small incident while he had yed with her. In an overenthusiastic motion, she had done a triple roll and knocked over the ss. The resulting spill covered her.
Usually, Velka was pretty good about keeping herself clean, neither magpies nor panthers were known for being ungroomed animals after all, but being covered in sticky fruit juices was too much to handle without a bath.
Watching the Magryph scratch on the closed door, creating tiny trenches in the mundane wood, John scratched his head and sighed. Then he had an idea and opened his inventory. Withdrawing half a dor in coins from his inventory, he put the miniscule value between his hands and shook them like a rattle.
Velkas ears turned towards the shiny click-ck sounds, then her whole body stopped its escape attempt and instead went to investigate. When John revealed the coins he was holding, she came running his direction. First, she tried to jump up. When she realized she was much too small for that to be a sess, she started climbing his leg.
With clearly telegraphed motions, John stretched out his arm and let the coins fall into the tub. Velka used her position on his leg to get on the rim of the tub. She let out a single caw and looked down at the clear water below. The tub was only filled to a degree she could still stand in. The surface was softly rippling, and on the floor settled the shiny coins.
Mrrra, the Magryph let out a mixture of meow and caw, as her head moved several times to allow her to inspect the coins from multiple angles. Then she stared at John for a moment. Whether she wanted to say Can you get me those shinies? or Really, thats your strategy?, the Gamer wasnt sure. Maybe she was just looking at him because he was standing there. Whatever it was, he wasnt moving, only taking theb back in hand and waiting.
Eventually, Velka jumped into the tub. Once in the water, she sttered around for a while, clearly ufortable. Once she realized she could stand though, the Magryph calmed down considerably. About a minute after that, her greed overcame the wish to keep her head above water. One by one, she picked up the coins and ced them in one corner of the bathtub. After she had sorted them by size, biggest at the base, John tried to clean her again.
He didnt have to do too much. He went through her cat parts with the brush and let her do the rest herself. With the natural aversion ovee, her cleaning instincts must have kicked in. The way she was sshing around, however, made it pretty clear that John had put way too much water into the tub.
Note to self, get a baby pool, John thought. If Velka was cleaning herself like a bird, that was the best way to give her a shallow water supply. Although I am somewhat sure she will just w a hole into it I guess the best would be some kind of shallow pond with a soft waterfall attached to it? Having a pet, particrly such an exotic one, sure created a lot of things to think about.
Alright, lets get you out of there. The Gamer reached down to pick up Velka and her newly earned coins. You get to keep one, he told her, spacing them out in front of her. He held up his index finger and pointed at the coins in sequence. One, he repeated slowly. Velka seemed to understand and let out two caws. One. He didnt budge. The Magryph lowered her head, waiting for John to change his statement. As he didnt, the Magryph eventually picked the dime of the bunch and looked after the remaining coins vanishing into his inventory with sad, dark red eyes.
John felt sort of bad for taking things away from her, especially since she found out how to maximize her adorable factor, but he couldnt just give her things all the time. Otherwise, her hoard would grow too fast and, if he really overdid it, she would grow up to feel entitled to things. Now, he grabbed the air dryer, stand still.
When it came to being dried, Velka was all willing. There was a moment of surprise when the hot air hit her. After that, however, she just closed her eyes and purred while John moved the electronic device around her tiny body. Feathers and fur puffed up, making Velka seem like she had turned part sheep.
He turned the air drier off and a now clean Velkaid down on the floor, immediately falling asleep. At the same time, a window opened.
And there we go, John thought, satisfied. The Quest beingpleted in this manner underlined the decision to keep her to make it a certainty. Before he had a look at the rewards, he wanted to move, however.
Carefully scooping Velka and her new coin up, he stepped out of the bathroom. He ced the sleeping Magryph in her dog bed next to the stairs. After scratching her between the ears onest time, he got up. The tiny thing stretched out in her sleep, reaching a pose that would never have beenfortable for any human.
I guess Magryphs are just as liquid as cats are, John joked to himself. He was ready to check out the Tamer ss, when he got another window open.
Checking on Lydia became his highest priority.
Chapter 740 – Augusta 13 – Royal Makeover
Chapter 740 C Augusta 13 C Royal Makeover
Despite his eagerness, John approached his queenly lover carefully. Intent on making not a single sound, he slowly opened the door. How long did that take, three hours? he asked himself and confirmed that guess with a quick look at his phone. A long time in terms of this day, an extremely short time in terms of gaining just under 60 levels.
He arrived at the scene, where Beatrice stood. The passive maid had been an observer for the entire time, and through her eyes, John had asionally checked on Lydia. As time progressed, more and more of the bottles had been emptied and the queen had been transformed the slightest bit. Now that the Quest waspleted, he wanted to confirm things with his own lenses.
All of the prepared liquids had been used up at this point, the bottles and other containers scattered over the nearby field. Undine was still spilled around Lydia, obscuring the view on the changes somewhat. The only thing that he could immediately make out was the fact that Lydias breasts had grown by one full cup size, being on the upper border of C now. It was entuated clearly by the regal queen having opened the upper two buttons of her shirt, allowing a hint of cleavage to be seen. Droplets of sweat ran down the valley between them.
I guess this confirms that it is mostly martial arts that causes body perfection, the analysing part of Johns mind chimed into the situation. Pumping massive amounts of ki through every fibre of your being would make sure that everyst toxin and impurity is expunged. Having Undine heal through the entire process probably helps as well.
A few more minutes passed by while Lydia burned through the remainder of thest bottle. Report: her consumption of materials increased with time, while instances of taking damage decreased, Beatrice chimed into his thoughts. Levels per time estimate: 1 level per 3 minutes 40 seconds average. First hour: 1 level per 2 minutes average. Second hour: 1 level per 3 minutes average. Third hour: 1 level per 6 minutes average. Projection for fourth hour: 1 level per 9 to 12 minutes. Data inconclusive.
Thank you, Beatrice. John showed his gratitude by putting his hand on her lower back C and went a bit lower from there. Taking a step to the right, the passive maid nuzzled against him. Shortly thereafter, Lydia awakened from her trance.
It was sudden, her eyes flew open and she raised one hand in a sharp,manding gesture. Undine flowed off her. Silent, Lydia rose to her feet, and stretched. John immediately noticed that she had gotten a bit taller, he had a very good eye for those things. Especially since he was so intimately ustomed to how she had looked previously.
Her breasts and overall size were far from the only change. The copper red of her hair was more intense than before, even if the overallplexion of her scalp remained in the auburn area. Its texture had changed slightly, the waves growing more wild and ordered at the same time, creating that naturally perfect look that either didnt require any effort at all or hours of styling in front of a mirror.
Under the white, sticky shirt, John realized further changes of her figure. Her waist had narrowed a little bit, while her hips (and ass, as he spied through Undine) had increased in size, stretching the fabric of her formerly perfectly fitting pants. This problem (read: blessing) extended to her thighs. Her body shape had gone from a lean column to a slightly bottom-heavy hourss.
Her face was the least changed. Since there was little to be improved, that was of no wonder. Only her skin seemed to be in better condition, smooth and glowing with her newfound power. How are you feeling? John asked, the continued silence making him somewhat nervous.
Lydia raised her hand and looked at her slender fingers with curiosity. Then she looked at John directly, causing him to notice a golden ring around her iris, surrounded by a sea of greyish blue. It is difficult to describe. Awake, as clich as that word is in this context, perhaps? She looked down at herself, noticed the changes on her body. I require a bath, a mirror, arge meal and a change of clothes, in that particr order, she announced and started walking towards John.
In a quick and definitive motion, she grabbed him by the cor. He didnt struggle, not even instinctively, when he was pulled forwards into an intense and sudden kiss. Her lips and tongue greedily intertwined with his, as if they had been longing for each other from afar for years. A surprisingly intense moan reverberated from her. The kiss only grew more demanding, more heated.
John couldnt help himself, his right hand sliding first over the intense swing of her sides and then down to her ass. His fingers felt firm, jiggly meat and he groped as intensely as he could. His left and right hand held butts of the same grade of perfection.
The intense smell of sweat that had bothered John earlier wasnt present in any capacity. God bless martial arts, John thought, as he groaned out loud, only for Lydia to push him back.
Flustered, the red-lipped royal smiled in her slight fashion. Enough for now, my love, she said and stepped out of his half-embrace. Your reward for aiding me in my selfish wish to be stronger and beautiful wille to you soon enough.
I dont think you can really say it was selfish if I was the one that insisted on enabling this now to make you more secure C also, I think I am the primary benefactor of you going from gorgeous to something above that. John grinned, his left hand still fondling Beatrices behind, whose emotionless disy slowly devolved into a turned on panting.
Be that as it may, Lydia dismissed the topic, knowing they would only have a lovers quarrel over this, I require to be clean to befortable for what follows. Do me a favour and Observe me, beloved, I am interested in the numbers your ability puts on things now. Unlike John, she had no idea that she was somewhere around level 150. There was no Quest Completed pop-up for her. Regardless of that, he was interested in seeing how specifically her Stats increases were allocated.
It had been a perfectnding for the Quest. All of her Stats had increased by a good amount, although her Physical Stats definitely had gotten the most of it. That her Charisma had increased was visible by her looks alone, but John found it most interesting that her Intelligence had gotten a sizable boost. Given thement on the Horny part of the Emotions segment, John could guess that her grey matter itself had gone through some positive restructuring.
Lydias eyes got stuck on something else. I dislike Gaia just presenting omniscient snippets of my character to you, she pointed out; there were several segments of the Observe window that she could have meant by that.
You were the one that asked for an Observe, John retorted. You are aware that you can open your own character screen to check your Stats while you are in my group, right?
Lydia raised her hand to her nose and pinched the bridge of it. As a matter of fact, I had forgotten about that rarely used feature, she admitted, then opened the same to not have to look past Johns shoulder to see her own Stats. Opening these with a matter of thought may be the usual for you, John, but I find it alien.
No need to justify to me, I didnt say anything, John said, trying (and failing) to keep a teasing smile from spreading on his face.
Struck by something else, Lydia mumbled, No wonder my whole body is craving your attention, my Libido has essentially doubled.
I know, right? the Gamer eximed with pure joy in his voice. Wonderful world we live in!
Shaking her head, equally amused and annoyed, the queen began to walk towards the front door of the house. Ill prepare to oblige that craving then, if you dont mind, she announced. As she strutted away, John got his first proper look of her improved butt. Where it had previously been slightly above average, it was now firmly ced in the upper echelons of wonderful.
The undersized pants dug into the gap between the round cheeks. Something that was probably ufortable, but nevertheless marvellous to look at. Her bubble butt was firm, but jiggled slightly with every step regardless. John couldnt wait to press against it while fucking her ass in whatever manner she preferred today.
Lydia! he shouted after her, and she looked over her shoulder, auburn eyebrow raised. Dont masturbate until you see me after the shower! he made that an officialmand, which was why he was so specific in his wording. It was a tiny, dom thing, but he really wanted to be the source of her first orgasm with her newly increased Libido.
Lydia looked a tad offended by thismand. She also looked a bit guilty. Chances were she had nned to do exactly what he had just told her not to do, first thing after the water was running. She could ignore hismand, of course, but now that he had said it, he liked to believe she would oblige. Lydia had always been a switch and, given his own tendencies and training of her, that meant that she had a submissive side he could use to satisfy his own wants. An increased Libido should also help his desires in this regard.
Without an answer, the horny metal mage turned and walked away.
Suggestion: use me for initial relief, Master, Beatrice whispered into his ear, her hand sliding directly into his pants. She grabbed his cock and was already giving it a few pumps before he could answer.
Impossible to resist when you phrase it that way. They had some tangled engagements in the past three hours, understandably. As much as John had prioritized Velka, both because of the Quest and the novelty of the pet, he was still the Gamer and had spent more than a few minutes in the bedroom.
Which was also where they had to head now. As much as John was willing to have fun outdoors, he didnt want to hear Mabirls nagging afterwards. The living room was the next possibility, but Velka was there. Asleep or not, doing it in front of the chick felt weird. Whether that feeling would change when she grew up, John didnt know.
They went inside, passed by the kitchen (where Aclysia was working) and went upstairs. Once they had arrived at their destination, John sat down at the edge of the bed and undressed by pulling his clothes into the inventory. While Beatrice got on the floor and subsequently started worshipping his cock in a wordless manner, John opened his ss screen and checked out what that new Tamer ss was about.
That was exactly what he expected it to be. Wish the Max ss Level came with a free level as well oh, well, cant be too hard to teach her how to sit, right? Actually, John wasnt sure how hard it would be. He was sure he could motivate her to sit onmand with a shiny. Whether she would obey even without a reward involved was the real test.
Well, Ill work on thatter, John decided, withter likely being after they were out of the time dtion. There was little reason to chase this during his optimal grinding time. Teaching Velka was something he had no urgency to do since she wasnt and likely wouldnt be part of his core skillset. She was a pet that happened to be tangled up with his mechanics. You having fun down there? he asked Beatrice.
The question was born out of the fact that she had only been kissing and licking his erection so far. She was worshipping his cock in the safe way, without sucking or deepthroating. Yes, Master, she answered in a matter of fact tone. Pushing his curiosity via their mental connection, he coerced her reasoning out of her as well. I am using the time you need for Gamer activities to perform forey. Request: fuck my throat once your hands are avable.
Youre pushing all my buttons today, John hummed in a pleased fashion, while Beatrice resumed thering his cock in her saliva. Then he read up on the next window, demanding his attention.
Gaia was right, she had aided him more than enough. He had wanted a ridiculous 58 levels, or the 6 ss Levels associated with it, and came closer to that then he had any right to in that short time. 2 ss Levels he had received through Quests, one of which had also spurred him to make the majority of the progress on his normal levels. Through those, he had gotten another ss Level the natural way. This grinding session hadted him a total of 13 levels and 3 ss Levels, so far. Finishing that Quest would require he pushed himself a fair bit, but it wasnt impossible.
Then there was only one remaining thing to do. Closing the Tamer window and instead opening the one for Lover Boy. John invested the free level up he had gotten along with the Max ss Level.
John was already sure what he would be taking, but whatever his choice would have been was made irrelevant by the sound of someone trampling up the stairs. At the speed of a car on an inner-city road, Aclysia burst into the room. She flew at John and pinned him down on the bed. You will take the first choice, she said, her tone subservient in no way. I C deserve C this, she added, every word emphasized beyond a healthy degree.
If John had been a less wise fellow, he would have disagreed or at least teased her in some fashion. Looking into the depraved, lust-maddened, emerald sea that were the eyes of his favourite maid, however, the Gamer bit the inside of his cheek and kept the cheekiness for another hour. That was his choice anyway. Harems Love was the most applicable to his situation.
You would have to let go of one of my arms so I can click it, the Gamer told her. As if she was only now realizing where she was, Aclysias head snapped back ten centimetres. Her hair tickled his face. At the edge of the bed, Beatrice was licking the precum off his lower head, moaning at the delicious taste.
Ehem, Aclysia cleared her throat. My apologies, Master. She did her best to suppress the crazy. To no avail. Now that she had his assurance, the weaponized maid was giggling and squirming. She was straddled over his navel, her clothes retreating into her body and revealing her cunt. With every move, she coated a bit more of his abs in her sticky love juices. P-please, do make the choice. The excitement made her stutter.
Not much of a choice now, is it? John thought to himself, then confirmed the Harems Love option. Aclysias breathing elerated further and her hands travelled to her groin, framing the area above her womb, like she had done a few days ago.
Please, Master, I need it now, she begged in a whining tone, her illusion of self-control shattered in an instant. Ive waited too long, I cant anymore, not when I finally can have it. I need you to be etched into my body and soul, need you to wear my ring of magic on your skin. The creepiness of those words was more than overpowered by the raw adoration and perverted lust she let out with every panting breath. Do it, whatever consent you need you have it, jus-
John cut her short by beckoning her down with a wave of his finger. Bending down, she took his face in both hands and kissed him. Magic formed inside him and rushed into his maid like a heartbeat. The marking process was inherently pleasurable C for both of them. Once the magic had taken root in Aclysia, it reverberated back into the origin, a strong echo filling Johns body and making its way to his hand. It was a series of small, pleasant jolts.
For Aclysia it was more, much more. The deep, psychological gratification she felt at finally receiving what she so rightfully deserved made her kiss an undisciplined, sloppy mess. Her eyes were unfocused, ssy and only barely open. John took control of the wrestling of their tongues. Despite still being the one whoy on the bottom, he had no problem dominating her by biting her lips and wing into her silky hair. His midriff was getting soaked in repeated gushes from her pussy. All the while, Beatrice was deepthroating his cock, having started the second he confirmed the Perk.
Once the tingling of the magic ebbed away, their kiss broke. Aclysia sat up and looked down at herself. Above a glistening wet cunt sat the dark blue lines of the Lovers Will mark, gently curving they formed the outline of a heart and other decorating shapes, right above her womb and the path of the fallopian tubes. Well, where those organs would have been would she have possessed them.
Thatst part was no hindrance for Aclysia to experience an orgasmic aftershock the second she saw it. Yes. The single word was high-pitched and gasped,pletely in keeping with her deeply turned-on appearance. Her gaze flew to his left hand, where Raves and Lydias marks on her masters body were. They found nothing, opened wide in shock. W-where?! The panic and outrage radiated from her being. Seeing her mark on John was almost as important as receiving his.
Over here, John raised his right hand to calm her down. Around the ring finger of his right hand, the typical formation had appeared. A ring of dark blue magic around the base of the finger, some lines extending around, a particrly long one running down the sinew to the wrist. Now were even closer, Aclysia.
Ah, the weaponized maid sighed, the turmoil of lust and love inside her far beyond sane boundaries. Master, creator, my John. She looked over her shoulder, finding Beatrices mouth sliding off his cock with a wet, squelching sound.
A quick mental exchange happened between the two maids. John failed to listen in. Too distracted was he by the white-haired, Asian (at least in appearance) beauty on top of him. It only got worse when she rose and the light yed over her athletic shape. Long, gooey strands connected her cunt to the ce she had sat on.
Fill me, Aclysia gasped and positioned her pussy at the head of his cock. Both of them were lubricated enough that this would be a simple endeavour. Carve your shape into me, make me writhe and bounce on your cock, Master! She stayed above him, her pussy lips barely touching his cock. She was waiting for him to move and she looked like she would go insane if she didnt get fucked by him soon.
They said to never stick your dick in crazy. John had always been terrible at following that advice. All he had managed to do was pick his crazies carefully. Since this one was all crazy about him, that was fine anyway though. That is how this works, right? John asked anyone out there that might listen, but didnt care for any answer he might get. After all of that disy, he needed to be inside her as well.
He grabbed her by the hips. The moment she felt his hands pull her, Aclysia dropped down. A single stroke and any semnce of sexual endurance John had was already ruined. Her hot pussy engulfed her in all her wetness and with all her tight folds, all of it made to pleasure him and only him to the maximum extent he could feel. He was all the way sheathed inside her.
And came.
There was much fun to be had in theing hour.
Chapter 741 – Augusta 14 – The Lover, the Queen and the Attendants [Erotic Content]
Chapter 741 C Augusta 14 C The Lover, the Queen and the Attendants [Erotic Content]
Haaaaa, Lydia let out a long breath of lust and resignation. A mix that was born from Johns earliermand being fulfilled and seeing the Gamer sit on the bed, with the two maids on the floor before him.
The room already smelt of hot sweat and semen. In the time it had taken Lydia to shower, John had fucked Aclysia and Beatrice, while also extending Lovers Will to thetter. The mark he had gotten in return was on top of Lydias, both winding around his left index finger. John didnt care too much for the positions, especially not now. His hands were resting on the beautiful girls worshipping his dick.
Their beloved masters thick seed was oozing from their pussies and dripped on the floor. Each others fingers pumping into their gaping holes certainly didnt help the fluid being contained. Their mouths contested for his cock, showering it with kisses and attention. A fake challenge, put on for his viewing pleasure, where one allowed the other equal time in deepthroating the Gamers delicious rod.
This is certainly the scene I imagined I would find, Lydia continued. Her voicecked the usual reprimanding tone. Instead, it was diminished to a soft, almost appreciating, whisper. It would have been difficult for John to take any berating seriously anyway since the queen had entered his bedroom wearing nothing but a towel.
Her long hair was open, falling down her back and around her still hidden breasts. Well, you are still in my household, was all John had to say. Now C Strip. Without a hint of shame, Lydia took a swinging step forwards and pulled away the white viewing obstruction.
Her breasts, despite beingrger, seemed firmer than before, barely sagging at all. A real good bitrger, being noticeably almost in the D-cup area. Her skin was taut and smooth in all ces of her newly acquired hourss figure. t stomach with softly showing abs swung into wide hips and thighs that seemed impossibly soft for how fit the rest of her was.
The trimmed hair she used to sport she had shaved off, leaving only Johns mark under her navel to decorate her groin and emphasizing the dark blue lines all the more. They contrasted quite strongly with the pretty pink of her dripping cunt below. A dripping doubtlessly reinforced thanks to the order she had just followed.
In case you are wondering why they have marks now, he raised his hands from the maids heads to gesture at them, the newest Perk made it free for familiars.
Lydia just nodded, her feverish gaze wandering to his dick. Centimetre for centimetre, it became visible as Aclysias head slid up his length. By the time the maids soft lips disconnected, strands of saliva and precum breaking as she further distanced herself, the noble was on her knees. Her streak of reddish-brown was what parted the pale, white-haired servants into a symmetric image, hair length aside.
Rather than im his dick, the maids now turned their attention to Lydia. Their hands brushed over her smooth skin, careful to stay away from the sensitive bits. They honoured their masters wish to be the cause of Lydias first orgasm in this improved body. How do you feel, Lydia? Aclysia whispered into the queens ear. Are your sharper senses providing you with newfound veneration for Masters cock?
That I cannot deny, Lydia answered with a hint of self-control. Her left hand closed around the base of Johns cock. Mouth open, she panted lustfully, every hot breath felt on the lubricated length. This higher Libido is truly messing with my head. It feels so much hotter. She gave it a few shallow pumps. Looks so much more delicious. She gave the head a wet kiss. More than ever I just feel the need to suck it
Go ahead, then, John encouraged her. Wrap your red lips around my cock, my beautiful queen.
Lydia wouldnt have needed the invitation, but she took it anyway. Ast trembling inhale, she took, before opening her mouth. It was a careful blowjob, not for ack of skill, but for a respect of the new quality and quantity of sensations she experienced. Her strawberry red lips closed around his ns; her tongue whirled around the head. She tasted him, moaned, then she slowly slid further down. The lustful glow on her face only intensified.
Just like that, John groaned in appreciation, moving his hands from his maids to her head. He held her open hair back, so it didnt get in the way. All the while, Lydias ssy eyes were focused on his cock. Bobbing up and down to gather breath and provide him with stimting friction, she sucked him deeper and deeper. Depraved, slurping sounds echoed out whenever the vacuum seal of her lips broke.
Soon he was in her throat. Something unexpected happened when he hit the back of it. Moans, far more intense than the regr experience should have let her feel, reverberated in Johns cock. Lydia snapped back a bit in surprise, then went back down, for much the same reaction. Her body experienced genuine, physical pleasure from taking his cock in so far. Grinning, John took note of this. It was a rare trait to have, even among his harem, and one that his fetishist mind appreciated immensely.
Lydia was positively surprised by this development as well, evident by her suddenly doubling her movement. Inplete disregard for her own demand for air, she slid up and down his cock, making it repeatedly push against that sensitive spot in the back of her throat. Her reverberating moans grew into muffled screams and eventually her movements came to a sudden halt. Sensuous lips around the base of his cock, her eyelids fluttered. Her face was contorted into an orgasmic grimace and John could only wait and appreciate. Thanks to dropping several loads before she came in, he was a good bit away from the brink.
This wasnt the orgasm he had nned for, but it was just about as satisfying. Lydia shivered several times before she slowly slid back up. The moment his cock was out of her mouth, she started coughing and inhaling desperately, trying to gather the breath she had denied herself. Oh by everything she forced out. Had I known this was a side effect I would have certainly acted in ordance with your wish to help me to a higher Libido. She swallowed and normalized her breath for the most part. I didnt know that performing fetio could be that intense.
Most everyone else needs mymands to get off, John informed her, and specified further when she looked inquisitively, I think only Eliza and Nathalia are able to actually, physically, get off by sucking me off. Well, and Undine, but she is a special case.
Lydia raised an eyebrow at that information. I find myself in unusualpany then. She gave his cock renewed attention. s, I dont mind. This experience is much too pleasant. She let the girthy shafty across her face while kissing his balls. Ah, this is truly dangerous. The intense musk of your manliness is filling me with unknown intensity. Your cologne and your sessful conquests are imprinted on your delicious cock. It just makes me ache to have it in my throat again. Greedily, she licked up the underside of his shaft with one long stroke. It ended with her tasting a thick drop of precum, his cock and her body quivering. Then, she shook her head. Listen to me babble like a cockdrunk blowjob slut.
Beatrice leaned towards the queens left ear. You can drop the like, your majesty, the passive maid purred, the erotic emotions of the moment affecting her tone. Looking at you worshipping Masters cock, there is no doubt about what you are.
While the short-haired womans hands glided over Lydias curves, caressed breasts and pussy, Aclysia leaned in from the other side. You have always been a lewd woman, desiring my John, the weaponized maid whispered, ying with Lydias right nipple while her other hand went down to the queens delicious bum and grabbed it.
With his own eyes and the Mand Sphere, John witnessed how her chest and butt spilled around the maids elegant fingers. There was just so much more to squish now. Lydia couldnt find it in her to disagree. The increased sensitivity of her skin and the cock in front of her must have been too distracting.
Aclysia wasnt done yet either. The hand on Lydias butt pped it lightly, caused a quiet sound and gentle jiggle, then went between the round cheeks and to the tight hole at the back. You have always been a lewd woman, she repeated, while pressing her middle finger against Lydias sphincter. As it slipped in, the queens expression derailed back to the erotic panting that she had disyed before the first orgasm had cleared her thoughts a little bit. You love it up your ass, you love to get fucked by Master, dont you think it only fits that you would love serving him with your mouth as well?
It did feel tremendousss, Lydia hissed, stretching her tongue out and ying with Johns cock. Fhine, she slurred, unable to close her mouth and speak properly. Im a shlut, a blowjahb shlut. Ihve it when Jshohn ushes all my holes! Her confession was rewarded by triumphant giggles from the maids. Another finger was pushed into her back entrance, Beatrice assaulting her clit at the same time, both massaging therge breasts of the auburn-haired beauty.
Despite all of this looking better than ever, John still found that he was closest to Lydias most attractive feature. Why dont I give you what you want, then? John asked and pulled her red lips over his cock again. He hit the back of her throat and groaned as her moans once more vibrated around his shaft. John dictated the pace now, but Lydia was perfectly willing to go along.
With all of the attention she was receiving, all of her sensitive areas getting rubbed, prated or fingered in some fashion, Lydia was quickly brought to another orgasm. She wasnt the only one. Johns seed spluttered down into her stomach. While his seed filled her insides, its magical properties causing her climax to rise even further, he slowly pushed her upwards. Every new spurt hit previously untainted areas, only to be swallowed all the same.
With lips, tongue and hands, she wrung thest drops from his shaft. John let go of her with a satisfied sigh. Onest time, she went all the way down with her mouth, then wentpletely back up and released his (rtively clean) cock with a wet pop. Delicious, was the first word she lustfully sighed. It took her clear effort not to resume sucking him off immediately. Ah, John, just what are you doing to me? The yearning of my body now seems equal to the yearning of my heart and I cant seem to handle it.
You are really chatty today, John noted.
Do you dislike that, my love?
Oh, oh no, quite the contrary, he assured her quickly, while Lydia finally failed to restrain herself and kissed the sensitive spot at the underside of his ns. Hot damn, you are really falling in love with this, arent you?
It feels so incredibly rewarding, Lydia mumbled.
At her sides, the maids nodded at each other and rose to their feet. We will take our leave, Aclysia announced.
Statement: we will leave you your intimacy to indulge in the remainders of Lydias improvements, Beatrice added and both of them bowed at the same time. A spike of lust went through John, seeing the two naked and raw-fucked maids stand before him with his mark on them. A second spike followed when they turned around and their identical asses swung on their way to the door.
I am much obliged, the queen managed to say between kisses on Johns dick.
Should we take it to the next level then? John asked. As much as he loved seeing her dedicated on the floor before him, he wanted to see how much her sensibility in other areas had improved.
We shall, Lydia said, slowly distancing herself from his cock and then climbing onto the bed. A silent agreement was struck about the position C and to keep the best forst. John went from his seat at the edge of the bed toy down on the centre of it. Within a few seconds, Lydia climbed on top of him and assumed the cowgirl position.
The best would be to see her ass jiggle while he pounded her back entrance, so the logical step before then would be to disy her tits and body as a whole. Giving her a bit of control before he fucked her into the mattress seemed only right. She got on her knees and immediately dropped down on his cock.
She was tight. Tighter than before, almost impossibly tight, but also so incredibly wet, willing and wanting that she took him inside regardless. Lydias lower lip vanished behind her teeth while a long moan apanied her first sinking down his shaft. While his eyes were focused on her face, he felt the slick juices dripping and, when she touched him, smearing onto his groin. Her defined midriff tensed and rxed, while she took desperate breaths.
What a dangerous day for my sanity She finished the sentence with a prolonged sigh. Lydias old habit of being rtively quiet until a certain point in the intercourse had either vanished or had already been ovee thanks to the earlier treatment. Thetter was much more likely, but John hoped for the former. A womans moans were one of the sweetest sounds he could hope to hear.
I think driving you crazy issss- haaaa John had to stop talking for a moment to give sound to his own lust. Although he thought of himself as having rather high self-control when it came to behaviour during sex (not really when it came to the question of sex in general), the gripping insides of his favourite queen were overwhelming even his mental control. He got it back after a few moments though. ...is part of my job description as your foreign lover.
Lydia softly gyrated her hips, barely raising them in the process. They were enjoying a moment of rtive calm, while they let her womanhood get used properly to the girth of Johns cock. A bit of loosening, to make future movements more fluid. Perhaps, she hummed and raised her hands, but first and foremost you are to love me, are you not?
Definitely, John agreed, unable to figure out how he would even go about not doing that. He met her hands with his, their fingers interlocked. Consensual handholding C the ultimate degeneracy to add to their intercourse. I love you and all that you are, my Lydia.
Taking possession of an empress, how presumptuous, she asserted with a soft smile. One that soon vanished, her red lips instead parting into an o-shape as she finally pushed herself up. With that simple movement, their little dialogue came to an end. Both were instead focused on the raw debauchery of the moment.
Her riding motions were slow, for now, but John had enough to take in regardless. The changes in her expressions as the prations made waves of pleasure wash through her. Subtle and not so subtle shifts in the muscture of her abdomen and her thighs. Oh fuck, John gasped when his eyes noticed the way his own cock caused a bulge to appear when it vanished inside her. By itself, that wasnt too interesting. However,bined with the Lovers Will mark, it became a splendid thing. The bulge stopped at the lowest lines of the mark. His cock stretched deep inside her, but not quite so far it would have touched the womb and caused some unpleasant reactions.
John had never watched out for that before, but now that he had noticed that little detail in the marks cement, he only loved it that much more. The revtion made him suddenly more sensitive and he groaned as Lydia gradually increased the pace.
Soon her breasts and hair were in steady motion and John no longer knew where to look. At her t midriff, that bulging below the mark, her thick thighs, her lustful expression or the hypnotic circr swaying of her tits. Before he knew it, he was encapsted by that steady jiggle. Their size made her wild ride that much more of a feast for the eyes. Dark pink nipples on healthily flushed skin, they drew circles into the air. Right up until John decided he had enough just watching them.
His torso curved off the bed, their hands parted, only to wrap around each others bodies, bing gradually more sweaty. Drawing her chest against him, John pushed his face between the soft valleys. They werent as notably immense as Smanders, but they were bigger than Raves breasts by a noticeable bit. There was more than enough to lick and kiss and have his face enveloped by, at the very least.
Sweetly painful, he felt Lydias fingers w at his back. Her nails were short, but with her intense embrace, she still managed to make them felt. All the while, she continued to bounce in hisp. Her moans, directly above him, grew ever louder. John could only groan in unison, while he caught one of her nipples with his mouth and yed with it, using tongue and teeth. They let the passion flow freely through them and their bodies became more and more tense until the moment itself had to tear.
They orgasmed together. Embraces were tightened, moans spiralled into screams. Her pussy gripped him strongly, as waves of his cum shot upwards and deep into her. Her nails dragged over his back, a slight pain that only heightened his experience, while he sucked on her hard nipple and held her elegant body in his strong arms.
As the climax passed and the orgasm ebbed off, their passion only went higher. A series of kisses delivered Johns mouth from her breasts to her neck. Uncontrolled, they toppled over. Their bodies wound on the mattress for a little while, until thest waves had passed and John pulled out of her. He backed off, giving Lydia the space she needed to turn onto her chest.
Head and torso lowered, ass raised, she presented her backside. The round ass cheeks were firm, thanks to the muscles underneath tensing. John gave it a nice, loud p. A moan underlined the sharp echo, the jiggle spreading into her thighs before vanishing when the queen ced her own hands on her round bottom.
Dont make me wait, my love, she gasped, pulling the cheeks apart. Above a cum-drooling cunt sat her sphincter, rxed, glistening with spilled pussy juice and ready to be fucked. I need to know how much greater the pleasure is from it now. Take me, John, fuck me like the anal-loving pervert I am.
John was already getting into position. Squatting over her butt, he angled his cock downwards and pushed against her puckered asshole. ncing over her shoulder until the moment of pration, Lydias eyes rolled up her skull once the head of his cock was inside her. You like it, Lydia? John grunted in debauched amusement.
Failing to produce an answer immediately, Lydia instead lowered her hands to the mattress and wed at the sheets. Even her mouth followed the motion, biting the cloth in instinctual animalism. All the while, she groaned and shifted underneath him. It could be mistaken for a disy of pain, but John knew the look of one of his women losing control of her thoughts to raw ecstasy. Deeeepeeeerrrrrr, she managed to press out between clenched teeth.
Grabbing her hips, John did as requested and split her tight back entrance with hisrge cock. The moment he was fully inside her, he immediately started moving. Slow and steady thrusts, as willing as she was, her sphincter needed to go through some loosening before the main thing could start.
Not that Lydia wasnt already experiencing her first orgasm. Some jumbled words escaped past her bite, but John didnt care to rify what any of it could have meant. He took it as just another vour of moan.
Following a spur of desire, John ced his right on Lydias head. He parted her messy hair with his grip. Part of his body weight now rested on her skull, the rest impacted on her bottom with his thrusts. The dominating position was right up his alley.
The bed creaked as he felt the resistance of her sphincter weaken, allowing him to indulge more in the pleasurable friction of her asshole. First, he went harder, only increasing speed on the pration. The reverberations in the air from the impact, the pping of their hips and their intertwining groans and moans, motivated him to go faster, harder, until he was putting his entire supernatural strength into every movement.
Lydia came continuously. With his weight pinning her down, he barely managed to keep her from writhing around in an uncontrolled fashion. Her insides were gripping his cock with every move, protesting when he slipped out and tightly embracing him on the way back in.
Johns rising lust was sapping his brain power, like it so often did. Without thinking about it in any fashion, simply obeying his savage instincts, he pulled Lydia up by her hair and shoulder. Almost limp, she hung from her hair, only letting go of the bedsheet when it stretched too far. Her teeth continued to be clenched, intense grunts escaping her, until she saw the second cock getting in position where her face had just been mushed into the mattress.
He didnt even have to push her towards Jacks cock, she went down all on her own. He let go off her head, resumed grabbing her hips and fucking her with all his might. Greedily, wildly, the queens lips worshipped his doubles cock. Within a moment, she was deepthroating him. The new love for sucking him off intertwined with her old and still intensely present fetish of getting her back entrance hammered, to very potent effect.
John heard the repeated squirts from her pussy soiling the sheets. He didnt need to see any of it to know that Lydia was nothing but a pleasure-consumed b of cock hungry meat at the moment. To be fair, he was little more himself. The sensation of her throat mixed with that of her asshole and John felt the next, giant loading quickly.
All the way inside her on both ends, Johns grip intensified and he came. A sudden and deep relief washed all through him, apanied by an uncontroble torrent of ecstasy. While he painted her throat and guts white, Lydia continued to gush love juices all over the bed and gagged screams echoed from her filled throat.
When the first semnce of reason returned to John, he had Jack pull out of Lydias throat. While he was still cumming, he wanted her to actually breathe. Thest spurts of that orgasm instead decorated her hair with its thick white.
Once he was out of her ass as well, sanity restored in that post-sex rity. He gently took the quivering Lydia and moved her to a spot in the bed that was less tainted. Jack returned to being the Mand Sphere and hovered off.
Laying down next to her, John then gave her the good old post-coitus cuddles. Wordlessly, they drifted off into a rxing nap together.
There would be enough to do after they woke up.
Chapter 742 – Augusta 15 – Informal Stress Tests
Chapter 742 C Augusta 15 C Informal Stress Tests
The Gamer had four days for eleven levels, in order to fulfil thest Quest. Mathematically, that was possible, but extremely difficult. There were only two sources of experience that promised quick enough results. Number one was the Raid. Since John was pretty sure the Sicklemen were still too big of a challenge, he decided to not mess with that challenge for now. The other was running more absurdly long Assaults.
That was risky, although John currently sported a sess rate of 100%; with only one instance attempted, that wasnt saying too much. He had also gotten out of there feeling like a tissue that had been left in the pocket of pants duringundry. It was still the safer and overall more realistic approach.
Given the Quest reward, John was willing to try it. There were another 638 GP on the line. That didnt put him anywhere close to the 5000 needed to buy a Max ss Level, but it was a start.
John started number crunching. The exact machinations of the Assault calctions, just like his experience requirement curve, were hidden to him, but he had been keeping notes and was able to make some educated guesses because of it. Lets see, if I assume that every level will take about 45000 experience and I kill 225 enemies and 2 bosses per hour, with the multiplier at Tier 46 for regr enemies being 4,6 and for bosses being 37, then that makes the form EXP=((225*hours)*4,6+(2*hours)*37)*hours.
Going through the math, John quickly came up with a table of things. Just for ease of thought, he scribbled all of the numbers down on the notepad he kept in his inventory for times like these.
He could have continued beyond that, but he doubted he would clear anything beyond the sixteen-hour mark. A full day seemed like the right time to stop. Maybe I should look into buying some cocaine or simr performance enhancer, John thought, only half joking. He wasnt quite sure how drugs interacted with Gamers Body. Alcohol and cigarettes hadnt given him some kind of addiction meter so far. Chances were that he was safe from physical dependency.
If that was true, using some to ensure he benefitted from a truly outrageous reward may have been worth it. Main question was whether him taking cocaine (or some magical equivalent) would boost his elementals performance for the required time as well. There was only so much he could do on his own.
He knew for a fact that they were minorly affected by him getting drunk. When he was really hammered, they got tipsy by extension. That was mostly because his senses were so confused it ebbed through the mental connection though. He hadnt observed a simr effect from drinking coffee. Elementals aside, he knew for a fact that the Artificial Spirits were not affected by this, being not as closely tied to his soul.
If there was some Abyssal drug that let him and his elementals stay wide awake for 24 hours or longer, though, then using it would likely be worth some light to medium aftereffects. Running a single 24-hours Assaultted about the same rewards as thirteen 7-hours ones. Speaking from pure technicality, he could be knocked out for 4-5 days after that sessful, super long run and cut even. Sleeping being included into those rest days.
Cutting even wasnt the point though, doing something that would otherwise be impossible was.
He would set some of his many government underlings on researching the topic under the pretence that he wanted to suggest aw to the House of Commons that banned extremely harmful drugs. One strike, two targets down C he only had to be careful that the report was truthful and no bribery put the Abyssal equivalent of pot as highly harmful on his table.
Best I put the resulting task force under Aclysias control so she can have a close eye on potential corruption, the Gamer ended that train of thought in favour of addressing the issue at hand.
The bare minimum he had to do in order to fulfil this Quest was run four Assaults of the 13-hours variety. John was even less willing to do that than the 16-hours hell he had already been through. Getting through medium hell once was way better than to go through minor hell four times.
The next break-even point was at two 16-hours Assaults. If he did one today, he would have two days to recover and then had to do ast one on the final day of his stay here. Then there was the nuclear option of going for a single, 22-hours one. Although, with how far his experience bar was currently filled, 21-hours would also do it.
There was also the option to mix and vary in several ways, but if he started counting those, he would never get done. Best to pick one approach for now.
Since the 13-hours approach sounded incredibly exhausting and the 21-hours Assault was something he didnt think he could beat, it had to be the middle option. Which meant they were going for a repeat of the start of the week. Only to do it again.
Resigning himself to the attempt, John and everyone else went for onest refreshment nap and a proper meal. Inventories were prepared to have some rations in them, liquid food of Beatrices making and jerky, for the most part, and a fair amount of drinking water. After the resource preparation came the pre-battle strategy.
First they picked out the Assault they would face. Since they had gotten to experiment around in thest three days, the Instant Dungeon of choice was the Feral ID.
It had only one major enemy type, being a kind of mutated deer that had giant, lipless maws and ck fur. They were aggressive, easily killed and favoured gathering in waves of a few dozen beforeunching an attack. This created a natural lull between intensebat phases, which should be a tad easier to handle than constant stress. They had ranged attacks in the form of illness-inducing spit. In game terms, they threw debuffs, but they only affected John, because he was human, and Undine, because the liquid mixing with her body mass had ill effects on the slime girl.
The second enemy type was some sort of giant mole. It didnt attack too often, but it was something that could potentially burrow under their defences and create weak spots that way. They had incrediblyrge ws and were pretty tanky. Thankfully, it was unusually passive for a dungeon monster.
As an added bonus, the boss spawned in predictable intervals of exactly thirty minutes. It was a stag variety, several timesrger, healthier and smarter, with antlers strong enough that they could threaten the fortifications the Gamer would put in ce. The most dangerous thing about the stag was that it was intelligent enough to retreat.
Regardless of that, with the normal enemiescking ways to ovee fortifications, this dungeon provided the opportunity to rest inside a safe room in the centre of the tower. They also made some changes to that tower in order to be a better defence against this particr dungeon. The first step was to make it something else than a tower.
Because the only way the stags could break into their fortification was through ramming it with their reinforced antlers, going for a less tall target was preferable. They would, instead, use something closer to a bunker. Its roof would describe a t curve making it hard to ram. Inside the bunker, they would have the resting room and some sort of makeshift toilet. Within 16 hours, John was bound to need it at least once.
Goingpletely underground was also a consideration, but John respected the moles too much. Gaia had doubtlessly put them in to avoid exploits like this and he wasnt about to run face first into the trap.
Once the bunker was reasonably secure, Gnomes job would be to change the floor around it to be a stone grid, rather than forest ground. Supernatural or not, a deer was a deer. If they slipped into the gaps between the blocks and broke their legs with their own momentum, then that was a cruel but entirely effective tactic.
If they had the mana to spare, someva under that grid would be worth a thought, but that was an extra, not a base tactic.
With those specific adjustments nned, they then moved to put their ns into practice. Although John was more confident about this than having to go into a random Assault, he still wasnt entirely sure if they could make it.
For good reason.
The hours one through five were unremarkable. They moved along like always. Only when there was a Horror spawn did they have some problems. The buffed up deer got stronger andrger the more of its fellow monsters died around it. Focusing it was always a priority. Luckily, this dungeon was weak against aerial manoeuvres, so Smander and Sylph were their main carries for this round, with back up from Jack/the Mand Sphere.
As far as Combinations went, they used several. Smlere wasbined in the beginning phases, creatingva pools to force the enemies to funnel through certain locations. Well, that was the secondary bonus. The main reason for doing this was to torch the forest and make it more difficult for the enemies to gather into herds in rtive secrecy. If John could thin out the enemies with Arc Lances before they got into the proper attack stage, then that had a positive effect on the people that guarded the bunkers entrance. In todays design, there was extra stone already located around it for emergency closing.
Aside from that they used Shadowme (Smander + Siena) for specific burst situations and Nadine (Gnome + Undine) to create new nts in advantageous positions. Those three Combinations were used, effectively, as damage and utility cooldowns.
Hour six was where things started to get straining. Having learned his lesson fromst time, John started the resting cirction there. Smander was the first to go, since he wanted to have his fliers as rested as he could for the harderte stages, when everyone was getting tired.
Hours seven to ten were eventless. The only thing notable was the increasing difficulty due to energy levels draining.
Hour eleven had a giant blunder at the start of it, which continued to cause issues down the line. They failed to kill the boss at the turn of the hour; the stag retreated, badly hurt but still able to fight. The group continued to fend off the deer, unable to spare anyone to chase after that boss. Something that woulde to haunt them, once the next one spawned and they suddenly had two to deal with, even if one was hurt.
For the next half hour, they had to carefully handle their resources, pick their targets optimally and make sure the bosses didnt break through. Even if charging the bunker was pretty difficult, due to its shape, they could still scratch away at the stone pretty effectively. The antlers were just that hard.
They barely managed to kill both by the time the one at the start of hour twelve spawned.
Hour twelve was a stabilizing time. As in, they struggled to stabilize. Undine was in need of regenerating her mana and a pause, which was why they sent her to sleep the moment they had half of a handle on things. They managed to keep their grip on the situation, no matter how often it tried to slip away.
Hour thirteen went by rtively well. Sylph had to use her teleport cooldown, having carelessly gotten herself in a pinch while finishing off a boss. Beatrice also needed to use hers, otherwise she would have gotten skewered by a stag. Since there were so many ends on the antlers, the chances of them hitting the vital core was ufortably high. Better to expend a teleport than to have Beatrice teleported out by Fateweaving. That, or have her experience the extreme pain of getting her core cracked.
The destruction of it would be her death, but those things could take and recover from some damage. It just hurt a whole lot.
Hour fourteen was marked by one of the moles attacking their position out of nowhere. Previous problems like this, they had been able to anticipate thanks to Gnome. As it so happened, this was Gnomes resting period. The mole destroyed a good chunk of the floor grid, making it easier for the deer to attack. Aclysia and Beatrice held out as best they could, but they werent able to stem the tide of the mole, a swarm of deer and a new boss spawn.
Only thanks to Sylph using her Unleash, getting enough negative emotion from the idea that someone would interrupt Gnomes rightful nap, did they manage to take out the swarm. The Mand Sphere got hit by a stag in the process, bing too damaged to be safely used for the remainder of the encounter.
Hour fifteen was a cascade of bad events. Gnome woke up just in time to warn them of another mole attack. A Horror spawned along the boss, making prioritizing targets immensely difficult. Just as Aclysia and Beatrice moved away from their guarding position, the stag knocked over one of the half-burned trees. The thick trunk provided a path for an entire swarm of deer to safely make it over the grid made specifically to inhibit their movements.
John could have handled one or two, but he was facing a whole sixteen of the things. Aclysia, Smander and Siena all used their teleport cooldowns toe to his defence. While they managed to clean out the insides of the bunker, they did so at the cost of surrendering the outside. The boss and the Horror were still alive, with thetter having grown immensely powerful.
And so hour sixteen was a desperate clinging. They got their second wind, thanks to the end being in sight, but all of that energy had to be concentrated on purely defensive measures. Killing the enemies was a side effect of defensive necessity. The only goal was to make it through. At some point, they had to push the emergency button, unleashing a long charging Arcana Strike. That reset the situation, but it also left them without fortifications for thest ten minutes. Those were defined by everyone defending John from endless spawning enemies, trying their best to prevent a wipe in thest bit. Stirwin was added to the fight, granting some relief.
Sylph died in the chaos, with Gnome soon following. Those two, thankfully, were the only toll taken. While the rest of them were in bad shape, the timer was on their side. Before anything else bad could happen, the Assault finished and they got to take the rewards.
This brought John up to level 239. The next two days he spent recovering and getting the new Lover Boy challenges filled out. Because two days entirely spent fucking meant he filled out the 50% maximum exp from Experience of Love twice, he was at 240 at the end of it.
He also got the next Perk of the ss.
Sexual Lifeforce seemed quite bad, especially next to Shared Road. What use was there in him being able to make his lovers life as long as he lived, through sex, if he could instead give them the power to be strong enough that they would be effectively ageless anyway? Centre of the World was as selfish as the name implied. It was really good, no question about it, but the Gamers choice was definitely Shared Road. With it, he had almost entirely eliminated concerns that any of his girls might fall prey to an average or even expert assassination attempt. Given they trained up to their new potential, of course.
He would concentrate on maxing out the ss regardless, be it only to tickle his perfectionism.
On thest day of the time dtion, he ran another 16-hours Assault. Same barrier, same strategy, a different oue.
To make a long story short, during hour ten, Sylph got killed by unlucky positioning. Since they relied heavily on the ss cannon and her ability to stay energized for the entire duration of the Assault, this boded poorly. Without the backing of the single-target thunderstorm elemental, Smander struggled to kill the important targets in time. This cascaded into more pressure on Aclysia, Beatrice and Gnome, which put more strain on Undine and forced John to make riskier calls with less mana and other resources at his disposal. Siena tried to fill the boss assassination role, but the burning forest didnt do her any favours and the grating they had installed against the deer worked just as well against her high heels.
At hour eleven and with several lifelines exhausted, John realized he had to call it quits and used Escape Rope. He could have killed himself to activate Fateweaving, but he preferred to not go through whatever death he would have needed to suffer.
This meant he had failed the final Quest out of the Augusta line but, given what was aplished overall, he couldnt be too mad. On the contrary, going back to Lydia and being soothed by her over his waste of eleven hours by lying on her thicker thighs, John knew what he had gotten was very much worth it.
One Quest being failed wasnt that bad in the big scheme of things.
Chapter 743 – Augusta Finale – Showing to the Harem
Chapter 743 C Augusta Finale C Showing to the Harem
Like usual, they came out twenty-four hours after the initial entering of the barrier. As they didnt enter at midnight, this was at around eight in the morning on the following Monday. Also, like usual, they had done their best to have schedules mostly aligned so they woke up at such a time that the reintegration into the normal flow of things was as easy as it could be.
Magoi and Mabirl were the first to step out and took their leave pretty quickly, only waving at the waiting girls of the harem as they passed them. Coming out shortly after them, John spotted Rave, Eliza and Metra. Scarlett was notably absent, but that hardly came at a surprise. He was then seeded by Lydia, Aclysia and Beatrice. The elementals followed in an incorporeal fashion. It was much quicker than having all of them clogging up the entrance.
Oh mah yussss, Rave eximed when she first saw Lydia step out of the I.D. Gate. For once, Johns entire greeting by his girlfriend was only a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, before she danced around him and inspected Lydias new curves with a groping embrace.
Oy, Johnined, especially once Metra and Eliza also went around him and directly to the extra attractive attraction. I just came out of a warzone, can I have some extra cuddles?
Nah! Rave dered, only to be slowly but forcefully pushed off by the queen herself. A rather difficult endeavour as the Gamers girl had been groping her butt intensely.
This amount of attention is wholly unnecessary, she decided. I also must insist that you do not harass me so aggressively. Blushing and sighing in a way that aimed to exorcise rising lust, Lydia crossed her arms under her chest. I have yet to fully control this increased Libido. Such a dramatic increase of bodily sensitivity is not mastered overnight.
Simrly, to that, Lydia had been getting more and more used to her increased physical capabilities. There she had made much quicker progress. In the first ce, she hadnt suffered from Elizas old problem of identally crushing things because of ack of control. She had been able to move easily within her old cap and slowly expanded from there.
Her change of body had alsoe with a change of style. A very miniscule one, but a detail that John thoroughly enjoyed. She no longer kept every single button of her shirt closed. The uppermost one was now usually open, with a second oneing undone indoors or when it was really hot. The result was a good view of corbone and a bit of cleavage. While thetter was more traditionally sexy, John found the former alone quite sensuous.
But youre so squishy now! Raveined and grabbed Lydias boobs. Theyre bigger than mine again, thats so nice!
Fuck me, you got thighs now, Eliza chimed in, getting handy with them.
Metra, only grinning aggressively, ripped Lydias shirt out of the confinement of her belt and looked at her midriff. Yeah, thatll do, she said, while inspecting the abs.
S-stop! Lydia stuttered, not out of embarrassment, but because Raves skilled handling of her boobs was making her pleasure rise quite drastically. She tried to get some distance again, but she was still, by quite a margin, the physically weakest of the group. Once she backed up against the frame of the I.D. Gate, her fate was sealed, and the three greedy girls had no intention of letting up. I do realize I got tangled up with a herd of sexually adventurousdies in this harem, but this amounnnnnn-
Herints were cut short as Metra slipped a hand into the queens pants. At the same time, Rave was moving in to kiss her. The effect of both was intense. Lydias newfound sensitivity in the throat area extended to her lips in some fashion. That was to say, while she couldnt get off from kissing alone, the queen certainly got a whole lot more affected by it than before. Eliza didnt make things better, getting caught up in the moment and biting Lydias hardening nipple through the singleyer of her shirt.
Alright, alright, John shouted and pped his hands. He wasnt entirely motivated by jealousy. Break it up, a child is about to be present.
Although they obeyed him, leaving Lydia panting and with all of her orderly sitting clothes pulled out of position, they were also giving him a questioning gaze. John then gestured towards the I.D. Gate. Slowly, Velka peeked her head past the stone and looked around.
Since John had received her, the Magryph had grown, but she still would have fit in both of his handsbined. Once Velka identified the grass before her as something she already knew, she was more willing to step out of that odd darkness she had found herself in. Carefully, she ventured out.
Lydia gave everyone a pissed and horny re while pulling her clothes back into position. Why did I expect anything else but being assaulted by you the second I got out of there? she asked.
Well ya know me? Rave didnt even try to defend herself. Dont ya worry, Ill make sure that tension gets relieved when were in the living room. Winking, the Lightbearer showed not the slightest sign of regret.
Lydia opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then pinched the bridge of her nose and let out an exasperated sigh. You best, she simply stated and skipped the effort of tugging her shirt back into her pants. Attention instead shifted to the Magryph, now one whole human step out of the door. The I.D. Gates door closed magically, but the animal didnt seem to bother too much.
After picking at the floor with the ck tip of her otherwise white beak, Velka raised her head and looked around. Over a week of exposure to John and she now had figured out a very basic view of the world. Well, John was pretty sure he understood that she got a very basic view anyway. It went about as follows.
He, John, gave her food, pats and (sometimes) shinies. Those were good, so John was good. The Gamer assured her safety and the closest thing to a parental figure, so she oriented herself by him. At this point, she trusted him enough that he had been allowed to keep her little treasures for the duration of the move.
Since John = good, Velka had started to look for signifiers for other people and their rtion to him. The Gamer had quickly realized, after that encounter with Smander, that Velka was way quicker to trust any of the girls after it was established that they belonged to John in some fashion. In other words, John showing intimacy with one of his girls before Velka let the chick understand that they were trustworthy by extension.
There had been a few more days for all the girls to gain Velkas trust on their own ord. With that, the Magryph was able to repeat the logical process with the new known elements at their centre. Since all of the girls had been so close with Lydia, Velka was somewhat willing to entertain them approaching her.
Shes so tiny! Rave eximed, kneeling down and offering her hand. Come here, Velka, I am Rave, but friends can call me Jane. She tapped the grass. Of course, John had given several picture updates over the days, so his girlfriend was mostly informed.
John was about toe to her aid, since he didnt really believe Velka would approach Rave, feeling somewhat safe or not. However, as so often, his girlfriend proved to be a miracle worker when it came to being charming. Taking one careful step, then two normal, and finally three more bold ones, Velka approached Raves hand. At first, she looked at it, then she sniffed a little bit, only to finally gnaw on it with her beak. The regr three stages of Velka getting to know someone new.
After the initial ritual, Rave poked the Magryph in the side of her head. In a theatrical motion, Velka fell over sideways. Man, shes fluffy, Rave remarked, as she engaged in a yfight with the chick. It was the fearsome, tiny Magryph versus the five fingers of doom and cuddles. Feathers and fur are an oddly satisfyingbination.
Copernicus, appearing from somewhere, tapped around his summoner and to the Magryph. I dont know if I should regard her as food or kin, the sun cat remarked and lowered his head to smell the chick.
For herself, Velka hadnt even noticed the cat until that moment and got startled the moment the sniffing started. Getting on her feet, she darted off. First into a random direction, then, once she spotted him, towards John. At first, he thought she would hide behind his leg. He was proven somewhat right, as she climbed up his leg instead.
Why something that has wings needs to be so good at climbing, I really dont get, John thought out loud, grabbing Velka by the neck. The skin at the back of it was, like a cat, specifically made to serve that end. Her ws, however, stayed connected to his pants for a fair bit longer than intended. Since they would repair on their own, John wasnt that worried about his clothes. They were Schattengarn, though, so Velkas ws were more likely to give in if he just pulled.
Instead, he had to shake her a bit. Something she reacted to with protesting warbling. Once he had her free, he slowly ced her down. Easily scared, that one, Copernicus remarked, while he slowly approached.
Dont me her, shes tiny, John answered and patted Copernicus to show that he was fine as well. The light elemental must have been in a good mood that day since he even purred a little bit when John did so. To her you look like a giant predator.
We shouldnt let her see me Unleashed then, the cat said and raised his paw. After Velka started gnawing on it as well, they were all set. Afterwards, Metra and Eliza also introduced themselves to Velka.
After about five minutes of ying, Eliza tried picking the Magryph up. At first the pretty little psycho just held her like a bottle. It wasnt a veryfortable situation for the chick, her head peeking out of one end and her legs dangling out the other. To prevent any aggressive siren calls, John quickly instructed Eliza how to hold her properly. The words like a baby made it immediately clear to the blood mage what to do.
Now resting in the gap between her breasts and the crook of her arm, Velka looked up and cawed happily. Eliza poked the ck and white chimera and was promptly poked back by her beak. Fucking shit, she is adorable, Eliza burst out and looked to John. She is like the cover art of some batshit crazy deathmetal band that was drawn by an anime artist on fucking mushrooms or something!
If you want, you can try feeding her, John promised. Since he had fulfilled the Quest, there was no need to make that an exclusive right to himself.
YES! Eliza shouted and Velka cawed after her. While there was no word, the rise and fall of the sound was extremely simr. Is she fu- Is she imitating me?
John felt a little tug at his heartstrings as Eliza immediately tried to suppress her cursing once she suspected she was in front of a child that could understand what she was saying. It was just one of those little things that made her such an adorable thing. She is smarter than a parrot, and those can learn to talk in a very limited capacity, the Gamer responded. Well, she is going to be smarter. She is pretty young, so I think the brain still needs to develop a fair bit.
Just a shame she doesnt get big enough to be ridden into battle, Metra remarked. I remember the original gryphons awesome critters.
She may get big enough, the Tamer ss says evolving is involved, John informed everyone.
Radical, the ancient weapon grinned, and the Gamer looked at her funny. What?
Just I would say the eighties called and they want you back, but I dont even know where you would pick up saying radical, John said.
Rave chimed into the conversation. I say it all the time!
At her side, Lydia shook her head. Not only is this inurate, you say Rad which is a more modern shortening, but your habits of expression are enigmatic beyond any affiliation to a time period.
Well, excuse me, princess, Rave retorted. Ya can kiss my ass, my crotch mark, tattoo, thingy and my clit, in that order.
Speaking of the Lovers Will mark, John pivoted the topic, I can give one to all of you now. Unlocked more than enough of them while I was grinding. Just to make it extra clear that he was being sincere, he raised his hands. They were covered with marks now, courtesy of the five elementals he had added. It was getting quite crowded and overly artistic, like modern reconstructions of tribal markings, but given their emotional significance, John didnt feel the want to erase any single one of them.
Eliza showed a gargantuan grin and then startedughing maniacally. Oh ye-he-he-ssssss, she eximed, gleefully striding after John, as he turned to relocate this entire thing somewhere that wasnt the roof of his Pce. This day just keeps getting so much better, what the fu- fudge!
Well get right on the marking, after we put Velka somewhere, John announced and told everyone his ns for Velka. For now, she would live inside the Pce. Since the modification of the Building only took some money and finagling with menus, and much of it was already cat/crocodile friendly, giving her a room of her own was no problem. For the first month, she would be locked in there. She would have plenty of visits; it wasnt like they were short on people willing to y with the tiny chimera, but having her run around was inviting trouble. At least before she got a bit older and fast enough to outrun the average human.
Which would be stage two. After the first month, or perhaps a bit after that even, when she had gotten at least as big as a cat and could fly, they would go out with her. Once they were sure she was ustomed enough to the wild of the Guild Hall (the only really wild part was the Midnight Forest), Velka would get herself some sort of pathway to explore on her own. From there on out, they would have to take very little active care of her. That was the theory, at least.
There would also be a need to move her outside of the Pce once she got really big. Although, if she stayed at one and a half metres, she could probably be allowed inside as long as she kept her wings to herself. They had the space in the rooms and the hallways for something that big. If she got up to two metresrge, then it would be too difficult for her to move around, being quadrupedal and all that.
That was up to a year away, though. For now, John just opened one of the many empty rooms in the Pce and modified it in such a way to be Velka friendly. Scratchable, climbable walls, a corner to sleep in, a box with kitty litter, lots of surfaces and corners to explore and some cat/dog toys for her to y with should she get bored. John also put in a radio and showed Velka what each button did. She pretty quickly figured out what to peck at so the music stoppeding.
This was all put in ce just so that Velka could do something against lonely silence.
Attached to that entire apparatus was a small kitchen and a bathroom, for food preparation and cleaning efforts. With all of the preparations done, they then had Eliza give Velka her breakfast (second breakfast, actually, but the Magryph was hungry from all the excitement in the morning). Once she was fed, Velka fell asleep. They left her on the bed in the corner and then parted.
Loving things had to happen afterwards.
Chapter 744 – Setting Marks and Priorities
Chapter 744 C Setting Marks and Priorities
cing the Lovers Will marks on everyone was an orgy thatsted until noon. Predictably, Eliza got almost as horny as Aclysia when she was finally obliged. Metra and Scarlett, after she crawled out of her working area in the skyscraper, were no less horny though. Not that having all of his harem branded with his magic didnt have a tremendous effect on Johns own state of desire.
Of course, everyone agreed to have the mark put on them. That they would be able to exceed their potential tremendously thanks to it was an added bonus to the general enjoyment of having such a mark (easily hideable, if desired). At this point, its guaranteed that this harem will be the strongest force, rtive to size, in the world, John announced in the shower, once they were done.
Like that wasnt true before, Rave answered, standing under her own stream of water to his right. They would have been cuddling, but they were in a genuine effort to get all the sexual fluids off them. For all the blessings her wild hair had, his girlfriend had to let the water run through it thoroughly to get all of the soaked and dried stuff out. Sex could be a nasty business.
Eliza was less concerned, currently having John balls-deep in her throat.
Well, it wasnt guaranteed before, the Gamer retorted. Thing is, now that Lovers Will increases your maximum level by up to 500, most of you can go from 600 up to level 1000. By virtue of our actual abilities, I think Romulus and I will still be a cut above you even if we were all at that level. Regardless of that, the statistics bear out that a single organization in the world having several entities of that power will have a gargantuan advantage over anyone else.
Are you saying youre going to rule the world one day, my king? Metra had walked up behind him and was now wrapping her arms around his neck. Her sexy, muscr frame pressed against his back. Lubricated with water, smooth skin glided effortlessly. John could still see her brand before his mental eyes. Hers was a shade darker than everyone else, more ck than blue, probably because her skin was darker as well. The Lovers Will marks werent all the exact same variant of dark blue. On their bodies, anyway, on his they were all the same.
I am saying that, as long as we survive long enough to train to that level, we are going to be the strongest group this world has ever seen, John answered. There was a broad grin on his face. Not only did that guarantee that his girls were safe, the idea of having a harem of unfathomably powerful women yed right into all the power fantasies he could have ever had.
Metra shared that in some capacity, letting out a long purring noise. Being your sex ve is never going to get boring, she whispered and softly bit his ear. At the same time, John came down Elizas throat. Life really was good.
The added bonus was that this shower sex wasnt even wasted time in terms of getting stronger. Since they were now all marked, having intercourse with any of them counted towards Experience of Love. Sure, it was less efficient than traditional grinding, but EXP gained was EXP gained. Because it was percentage based, it might just one day be more efficient, however.
Be a good sex ve then and get in front of me, John instructed. Obeying with that wonderful sexual docility he had instilled in her on his birthday, Metra walked around him and positioned herself in front of the shower handle. Pulling out of Eliza, the Gamer slightly changed his angle and pushed into the berserker babe.
What timing, John thought with a grin, but focused on the brown ass in front of him for the moment.
After getting his dick wet, then properly cleaned by a soapy handjob from Undine, the harem came out of the shower properly clean. The lust of the harem had, at least for the moment, been satisfied. Lydia used that opportunity to get back home. John, in the meantime, raised his hands to open his character screen. Hands that were covered in marks, but not symmetrically and not even equally on one hand by itself. John knew exactly which mark corresponded with which girl, by memory and by instinct.
Going finger by finger, the breakdown was:
Index Finger (Left): Siena and Beatrice
Index Finger (Right): Smander
Little Finger (Left): Undine and Sylph
Little Finger (Right): Empty
Middle Finger (Left): Empty
Middle Finger (Right): Eliza
Ring Finger (Left): Rave
Ring Finger (Right): Aclysia
Thumb (Left): Lydia and Metra
Thumb (Right): Gnome
Wrist (Left): Scarlett
Wrist (Right): Empty
The mark at the wrist was the only new one that was notable. When there was a second mark on a finger, it was simply represented by another heart shifted slightly upwards. Scarletts Lovers Will mark was a ring around the wrist, touching all of the lines that originated from the fingers, by virtue of the sinews meeting where the heavily stylized heart was ced. Were the lines that made up the design less stylized and of a different colour, they would have looked very girly. As it was, the disconnected lines that made up the whole looked pretty cool. Although John was biased on that end.
John took his eyes off his hand, he would get used to all the markings eventually, and looked at his character screen instead. Points were quickly allocated in Intellect, another 7 steps taken towards the 500 mark.
Only one more level and I reach that goal, John thought and stroked his chin. What then?
It was time for another session of thinking about his priorities. Since Lover Boy was only two more levels away frompletion,bining his nning of new Stat priorities with future ss priorities was only logical.
Lets check the list, John thought.
Did anything notable change since myst decision? he asked himself. Not really. Metracana Master is not a thing I currently want to chase and Tamer isnt a priority. Everything aside from Arcanist and Gamer was not a priority for John. Arcanist because it was the most likely boost to hisbat power and Gamer because it waspletely unique to him and should open some interesting paths going forwards.
Arcanist had the advantage of being part of working towards something John already knew he wanted, which was the Arcweaving melee ss. He had bought the Skillbook several months ago and it was still collecting metaphorical dust in his trophy room (actual dust was taken care of by the maids) because he hadnt cleared the conditions yet. Along with 5 levels in Arcanist, he would need 2 levels in Martial Artist.
In all due likelihood, if John decided to pursue Arcanist, he would get the full ten levels in it before changing to unlock this new ss. Arcweaving was always meant to counteract one of his weaknesses, it wasnt supposed to define his fighting style going forwards. John was very happy with his position as a backline support and strategist. The goal was to prevent himself from being a sitting duck since any enemy with half a brain would focus the summoner whenever possible.
He already was pretty secure on that front, but more never hurt.
However, exactly because he was already secure on that front, he really wanted to see what Gamer did for him. The ss Bonus by itself was this nebulous Event Chance. While Events werent well defined, they generally worked out to give John a good amount of experience or other rewards. Having more of those wasnt going to hurt.
In the spirit of adventurism, John decided to go with Gamer, once he was done with Lover Boy.
Now, for the Stats, he moved onto the more immediate topic. He was in the somewhat luxurious position that he didnt really need anything to be higher at the moment. That meant he was well-situated, but it also meant that he had no idea what to prioritize next.
He knew he didnt want to chase the Mental Stats further at the moment. When it came to mana, he was rarely found wanting. During some heatedbat situations, the elementals or repeated Arc Lance use could momentarily deplete his mana pool, but the high regeneration generally fixed things. That aside, John was fullymitted to get Wisdom higher whenever his expenditures against opponents started to deplete his resources on the regr.
That wasnt the case yet, so he had some love to spread to the Social and Physical Stats. Libido didnt need another increase. As much as John liked raising that Stat, making the sex more intense and showering him in wonderful Perks, it wasnt useful in any fashion. There was a case to be made for Charisma, absolutely. The effects were passive and hard to notice in specific instances, but John definitely had noticed a general trend in his social interactions.
This wasnt limited to just getting treated in a friendly fashion when talking or getting what he wanted when demanding it. Charisma also helped with minor things such as ending a conversation when he wanted to, avoiding general awkwardness, having an easy time chatting, making the delivery of his political speeches smooth, and so on. Particrly the public appearance thing was important. He was a leader figure and many people were judging him less by what he said and more by how he said it.
However, at 100, his Charisma seemed pretty sufficient at the moment.
Better to look into some of the Physical Stats. Since Strength and Agility get buffed quite a bit by Rising Annihtion, I should concentrate on Endurance for now, John quickly decided. Having more numbers between himself and death was a very good argument for that Stat at any time. That aside, John could view his health as an indirect extension of his mana pool, by virtue of disabling Particle Skin to just face-tank certain hits.
The future priorities were figured out. Starting next level, John would start investing into Endurance until it hit 250, or until he felt he needed to pivot to Wisdom to get his mana regeneration higher. For sses, he would max out Lover Boy and then move onto Gamer.
John dismissed his windows and stretched. Alright! he nearly shouted, getting everyones attention. Ill have to get back to my bureaucracy.
Already? Raveined. I thought we could have an hour to cuddle or something.
We had some deep pration cuddles for thest few hours, John pointed out.
Sure, but normal cuddles though. His girlfriend wasnt serious about her insistence and quickly changed tunes. But youre right, lots of stuff to do for me too.
What project did you pick up this time? He was genuinely curious. As unsteady as her actions were, whatever Rave concentrated on generally turned out to be better for everyone involved afterwards. Since inner-barrier transportation was pretty much solved now (well, the Hudson Brawl had thrown a wrench in there, but that had gotten fixed) he didnt know what she was getting up to now.
Im working on your redlight businesses to create some sort ofmon decency union, she informed him. Just some exchange of business practices, encouraging friendlypetition and . Ya know, so its easier to spot when some business is really shady. Rave shrugged. Suggested their customers wouldnt be too happy if there were some businesses that were into the ve trade in the neighbourhood. Once that whole thing rolls properly, they should be able to control each other without too much government intervention.
Oh, thats a good idea. John nodded along. Of course, that n only worked as long as the businesses in question were morally on the same wavelength as Fusions values. At the moment, that was most of them. He would keep an eye on that, which would still be easier than governmental supervision of everything. You keep doing that then. Eliza, the pretty little psycho perked up, youre on blowjob duty.
Thats a fucking thing now? she asked.
It means I get experience during work hours, so yes, its a thing now.
Wait a second, Eliza blinked twice. Your cum-dispensing ass is seriously fucking telling me that it is now my JOB to sit under your desk for up to eight hours a day, suck your fat, delicious cock, and be generally treated as an office tool that helps you farm experience?!
Its the job of whoever is avable and enjoys it, John rified. Generally, though, yes.
Im going to get fucking used! the white-blue haired girl eximed. For a moment John wanted to correct her to Im going to be useful! but the way she said it worked better. Are we starting right the fuck now or?
Im not doing home office, so no, John told her. Were getting to the Guild Bank. Mentally, he let Aclysia know that this was where he was headed. Whether she would join him there to help Eliza, do her own First Servant of State things or something else entirely was up to her.
They moved out shortly thereafter and John proceeded to have a pretty normal workday. Unsurprisingly, nothing had suddenly burned down during the one day he had been gone. All he had to contend with were changes to budgets and ns here and there. Nothing really intense or urgent. He also made a couple of phone calls congratting people that had won local elections. Nothing he had to do, but he had the time and it served to make him more popr with that crowd while also giving him the chance to check what grass roots movements may have been popr at the time or in certain areas. If several people got in on the same election promises, particrly across parties, then the Gamer should keep an eye on those topics.
The only kind of important thing he got underway was the formation of the Bureau for Drug Categorization, with the goal of giving John a list of things to ban and showing him whether that cocaine-esque thing he wanted to push Assaults existed.
He also came. A lot. Eliza was as enthusiastic as anyone could be about her job. She made an absolute mess of her face and hair over the hours. It would have been a problem if she still had to walk back to the Pce to freshen up. Thanks to thetest Transport Station Tier, however, he could ce Internal Teleporters.
They always came in pairs of two, connecting only to their dedicated partner, and several couldnt be ced in close proximity to each other. They also could only be ced in the confines of the Guild Hall. More niche applications than the other teleporters John had, but they were still quite useful. Especially because they were only pads on the floor, taking up rtively little space.
John had put a pair connecting his office and a room of his Pce. A room that also had extra safety measures. As it so happened, these Internal Teleporters could be used by everyone that was part of Fusion. Having someone use this shortcut to break into his home wasnt exactly something the Gamer wanted to entertain.
So, when Eliza had to take a break, be it to freshen up or because she wanted to check on Velka (the blood mage had an immediate interest in the tiny Magryph), she could do so without problems. It also made it easier for recements toe in and take her ce. While John did eventually reach the cap for the day, he did not tell the girls to stop. Except for the phone calls.
Chapter 745 – Lighting a Torch
Chapter 745 C Lighting a Torch
Haaaaaaaaappy Biiiiiirthday dear Saaaaaaaaallyyy, happy birthday to youuuuuuu! Sylph finished up her song. She had sung in three tones, wrong, loud and with enthusiasm. If the thunderstorm elemental had concentrated a bit more, she probably could have sounded quite beautiful. That was, however, like asking a tornado to only fly by and water the fields.
Regardless of any of that, John apuded, while he walked over to Smander. Happy birthday, he half-mused in agreement, embracing his fire spirit. It was already way into the evening hours of Tuesday. Just yesterday, they hade out of the grinding session and today there was another birthday to celebrate. There were another three after this one, but that was a thought for then and now was now.
Smander answered his hug in kind. The red of her breasts spilled against his naked chest with all of their supreme softness, harmless fire flickering between them. She was still taller than him, but less noticeably so than in older days. His right found the back of her head. Fingers parted the soft stubbles of buzzcut and the flickering me, golden red contrasting with the darkness of the night. In turn, she grabbed his butt with a cheeky smile.
If she wanted to say something, she pushed it back and prioritized a kiss instead. John didnt leave her much of a decision in that. Her red lips were already pulling him in and the moment of contact was the moment he lost control over his actions C at least for a few seconds. Faced with her heat, her body (soft in all the right ces) and the passion with which she prolonged their kiss, he simply had to indulge. Her oily saliva tasted sweet and smoky, mixed with his to reach a viscosity that could be easily swallowed. An all-around odd sensation, but not unpleasant.
The magic filling her ran hot down his throat like a strong liquor. It was intoxicating, although not in the sense of a drunken haze. It poured fire into his veins. Their kiss continued, right up until Rave suddenly intermingled in their engagement. This didnt end it, only made it so they were suddenly wrestling between three tongues.
It seemed that this was bing their birthday ritual, as Undine, Sylph, Lydia, Eliza and all the rest of the harem one by one became part of the kiss. All were vying for Smanders attention, wanting her to feel the collective adoration members for the harem had for each other. At some point, weighed down by the tight ball of sexy curves surrounding them, Smander and John fell down.
The sand was adequate enough to make their fall less of a painful interruption and more of yful inconvenience, before Smanders lips once more locked with his. Only for a short while, this time. They separated andid on their backs, all of them, sprawled out in the fine, clean sand of the Guild Halls beach.
Smanders birthday had been pretty tame. Until well into the afternoon, they hadnt even done anything out of the ordinary. John had worked, as had the rest of the harem that had anything to do, the elementals going after their individual tasks. This was all because the endme elemental had insisted on organizing her own party.
Thus, when day started to shift into night, they all came together at the beach where Smander, with the help of Gnome, had put up a stone formation that functioned as arge firece. Coals could simply be thrown in and removed as ashes via a drawer. Adding a metal grate on top was the only stop needed to make it arge grill.
Having enjoyed arge barbeque for thest two hours or so, the harem was therefore sated and pretty happy. The remains of the coals still glowed, the stone construction radiated heat and the haremy on cold sand, the heat of thete August day already sapped away. They wore either only swimsuits or nothing. A state that made John more than a bit horny.
It only took thebination of hot pants (or something even smaller) and a cropped top to make the Lovers Will mark inly visible for anyone. As someone who loved to show off what he had, having his brand disyed to the world on the sexy bodies of his harem was scratching all of Johns possessive and prideful itches.
Looking up to the sky with a broad smile, John felt the coldness of Undines body on his left and the heat of Smanders on his right arm. The Lovers Will mark was a wonderful addition to their bodies. The winding, dark blue lines integrated well next to the red ones that Undine already had. Albeit, the origin of thetter hade with a lot of pain. Where the brand didnt fit quite as well was the fact that it was made of many, separated lines, while the Lorylim scars were one continuouswork. A difference that John could only like to see.
For Smander, the colours matched up almost perfectly, the mark being an almost ck blue, but the curved lines were theplete opposite to the jaggedness of the already present marks. As it so happened, be it by fate, chance or design, the space the Lovers Will mark had taken had been left unimed by those ck lines. It was a tight fit, but it had the room it needed to sprawl out entirely.
Despite those previous body marks it all looked how it was supposed to. Past and present harmonized and John got to cuddle. Over twenty-five days had passed since the peace conference and since anything truly unexpected had happened. It was a period of peace. One that would eventuallye to an end, John knew very well, be it by his own machinations, people attacking what he had built so far, or global events that he simply got caught up in.
It wouldnt be this night though.
Hey, Smander spoke up, I do love you all, you know that?
Ja, Rave answered swiftly. Same, by the way. We say that a lot these days.
John stretched audibly, raising his upper body out of the sand. The advantage of simple times. Well, the birthday season doesnt help. He lied back down, although at a much different angle than before. His face pressed into Smanders tits. As always, they were doing quite a good job at convincing him that bigger was better. Well, to a degree. He still thought that E cups and upwards were way toorge, but he had definitely warmed up to DD.
The fire that normally served as her bra vanished, leaving Smanders chestpletely naked. In ordance with gravity, they slumped away from the centre. That was until John took hold of both of them and mashed them back together around his face. All the while, he was kissing the valley between her breasts.
If you want to fucking go, we can fucking go, Smander said, causing John to look up. Her enjoyment and lust were written in into the devilish grin on her face.
In the corner of Johns eye, he saw Scarlett rise to her feet and walk over to the table they had put up on the beach. We have a lot of booze that can be drunk out of cleavages, the Technomancer suggested. Just saying, we might as well make those squishy things useful for something.
As great as that sounds, I have something else we should do first. Johns hands were still kneading Smanders breasts while he spoke. It was just too much fun not to do it. I have a gift for you.
Can I burn Sylph? Smander asked in a clearly joking tone.
Hey! I am nice! Dont burn the thunder-fairy-concubine! the air spiritined regardless. I can give you big hugs and kisses! I will give you big hugs and kisses! Sylph jumped at the red-skinned elemental and gave her a full body hug. At the same time, her pink lips showered Smanders cheek.
Alright, alright, I wont burn you! Smanderughed, thusly molested. Just stop with all the fucking sweetness, its awful!
Audible gasp! Sylph eximed. There is no such thing as awful sweetness! There is only sweet and not sweet and sweet is always good and not sweet is sometimes good but mostly not!
Thats subjective.
No, its not!
You two can have your love-hateter, Johnughed and finally managed to take his hands off Smanders breasts. My gift is up there. He pointed to the centre of the ind. Even across the five-hundred metres, seeing the massive Pce was rather easy. What he was pointing at was slightly up from the building itself.
I think I can see where this is going, Smander said, following the angle of his finger. And I absolutely love it! She grabbed her summoner and jumped to her feet. See you in a bit! she shouted before suddenly flying off.
I would have appreciated a warning! John shouted against the wind. Well, not exactly wind, against the air resistance as they quickly rose upwards, that was the correct way to phrase it. He wasnt flying in any particrly pleasant fashion, dangling from only one arm, being held by his endme elemental.
You will survive! Smander cackled. To get some more stability, she also grabbed Johns other arm. That made things considerably less ufortable for the Gamer. It still was far from his favourite flying position. Then again, he didnt really have one of those. Every way of getting carried was awkward in some fashion.
If there was one silver-lining to this, it was the flight being pretty short for the speed Smander couldfortably get up to. John didnt have to tell her, mentally or out loud, where to go. The redhead had guessed correctly what he was up to or, if not that, she knew exactly where the gift he had nned to give her was supposed to be.
Theynded on top of the raised arm of Lady Liberty. John was quite happy to have solid ground under his feet again and supported himself on the greenish-grey pir that made up the lower part of the torch that the Statue of Liberty held. The upper part had been, since being reced in the 1980s, of a shining gold. In thest night, John had it arranged that it was stealthily reced once more.
The fire had the same general shape as before. Threerge tongues of me that seemed to flicker in the wind. The grade of detail was much higher, however, and the colour more of a red-amber than gold. More than that, it was no longer metal, but a giant block of crystal.
Smander continued to hover around the new me, inspecting it with curious gazes. Is this your present? she asked, once she had made a full round. Im missing something, arent I? Whats that material?
Its called Timber-Stone, John answered. Not the most creative name of all time C especially because its actually a crystal C but ah well, how about you try setting it on fire and I exin the rest afterwards? That was an announcement Smander didnt need to hear twice.
If you insist! she shouted and flew back a few metres. John brought as much space between himself and the me-shaped crystal as he could. Between her raised hands, Smander conjured a ball of fire. It started at the size of a clenched fist but quickly swelled to that of a watermelon. Dark grey flickered around a golden core. The endme that, as far as John knew, only Smander possessed continued to heat up.
Unleashing her pyromania on the stone, Smander shaped the energy into a beam. While the trajectory of it was straight, its outline had the unsteady flicker of all fire. There was a greater rhythm to it, a repetition in the steady flow of energy shing with changing air resistance brought about by the unleashed heat. John was entranced by it for a second, then looked with worry over to the Timber-Stone.
Where Smanders attack collided with the crystal, the me was absorbed. The amber colour intensified as the core of the crystal began to glow. Although he had researched its properties thoroughly before this, there was no telling whether it could actually survive a roasting by the endme elemental. Getting a fire mage of Smanders calibre for testing was hard generally and had been, with Johns current reach and timeframe, impossible.
As the crystals light grew intense to the point of painful brightness, John got ready to tell Smander to stop. That didnt prove to be necessary as his fire spirit stopped all on her own once the majority of the crystal was consumed by intense white, only the outer borders retaining the original amber colour.
Alright, so, whats up with this thing? Smander asked, sitting down on the railing next to John. Is it, like, a defensive material you put up so I can take my excess energy out and make the statue more impressive at night?
Partly right, I suppose, John answered, looking at the stone with a raised eyebrow. Timber-Stone is pretty useless as a defensive material because it needs to be used in prettyrge bs to work. You theoretically use it to cover giant golems or tanks or something, but there are materials that are more readily avable and do it better. Particrly because Timber-Stone explodes if you overload it.
Good thing I didnt do that then. Smander crossed her arms, bncing herself with only her feet (and the fact that she could fly). Guess the explosion isnt particrly impressive either?
Same principle applies, cheaper and better options avable, John said. Anyway, the whole point of giving you this is He was about to exin what he was waiting to happen, when it finally did.
Slowly, at first, then ever quicker, the Timber-Stone began to give off the same fire it had absorbed. Grey and gold radiated off the amber-white crystal. John raised a hand at the fire and ran it through. It was a little warmer than the outside of a modern lightbulb.
Thats the only proper use for these things, John exined. You can bombard them with fire and they will then leak it back out at a moderate heat level. Its pretty impressive visually speaking.
And you decided to double gift me that as a self-serving act to show everyone an actual burning torch on top of Lady Liberty? Smander asked.
Yes, John freely admitted and pped her right thigh. Dont you act like you dont enjoy having your fire at the centre of the Guild Hall, burning for everyone to see.
Chapter 746 – Changing Looks
Chapter 746 C Changing Looks
It was the following Sunday, the 26th of August 2018, and the group had another birthday to celebrate. Another two, in this case. A year ago, he had contracted Undine and Sylph. Whether this really qualified as their birth was debatable, new elementals were created as figments of their home nes power, but the difference there was negligible enough for John. The important thing was that they didnt y by the rules of humans, be it physical or mental growth, so the fact that they had only turned one year old wasnt questionable to the kind of rtionship they had.
Throw me in the air! Throw me again, John! Sylph eximed with such childlike enthusiasm that it became a bit questionable. Although the thunderstorm elementals curves didnt leave any doubt about her being a grown woman, her behaviour was a bit too carefree to call it adult.
Nevertheless, John obliged her, picking the elemental up underneath the arms and then throwing her up. Sylph rose up into the air and then fell back down,pletely in ordance with gravity. Normally, she had a hard time falling. With herbination of (small) human size and basically no weight, air resistance was enough to ignore gravity. And that was only trying to think about things in logical, physical terms as well; magic gave everything another threeyers ofplications. Especially since she was technically sapient air. The bigger question was whether her density was higher or lower than that of the gasses around her.
To get to the point: right now, Sylph was wearing a bunch of clothes. They weighed her down enough that, when John tossed her, she came back down in the normal fashion and he proceeded to catch her. The air spirit was enjoying that feeling more than the clothes themselves, which had been the gift.
They were enchanted with the illusionary properties that helped Eliza, Rave and Scarlett to blend in as normal people. A choker dulled the amber colour of her eyes to a human level and hid her elf-like ears. A pair of red ribbons, one behind the head and one towards the end of the ultra-long ponytail that was created, ensured her hair had a normal, strawberry blond colour and stopped swaying in its own winds. The way it was tied together just barely prevented it from being on a height that could get easily stepped on.
As for the clothes themselves, she was wearing a cropped top, a mini skirt, stockings and sneakers. All of the clothes were enchanted to be extremely heavy, letting her emte the weight of a normal person. Something that aided her in fitting in and not identally flying away out of habit. The general colour scheme was green and ck. It contrasted nicely with her skin, being more on the pale side. John had also picked the clothes carefully to show off her midriff and the Lovers Will mark.
Did that mean that Sylph looked like a short, slutty girl? It absolutely did. Did John think this was an issue? No. Mostly because he thought it was hot, but also because Sylph was a short, slutty girl. She was just also very loyal.
While John had picked the clothes, he had given her quite an arrangement. He didnt want to have to buy yet more thingse autumn and then winter, so there was an entire closet worth for her and each of the other elementals scattered around. Nothing had forced Sylph to go for this particr arrangement, she had just gone along with what John had intended without him needing to push her in that direction.
There was an argument to be made that the style would attract a lot of unwanted attention, should she take advantage of the clothes purpose and run around in reality with them. Despite her often-brainless demeanour, Sylph wasnt so stupid that he wouldnt trust her to take care of herself though. He wouldnt go to her to ask for life advice, but the thunderstorm elemental behaved especially thoughtless around them because she trusted all of them enough to basically switch off her brain. A thing she did because she, herself, knew that she was the least intelligent of the bunch.
She may have been a bit stupid, but she wasnt cripplingly so.
This is fun! Sylph eximed when John caught her. But heavy clothes feel weeeiiirrrrrd.
You can take them off whenever you want, the Gamer told her as he put her on the couch next to him. Todays birthday party was simply held in the living room. A few spared slices of cake stood on the kitchen table, along with cookies and other sweets, bearing testimony to the celebrations that had preceded the gifts. Just wanted to make sure they fit you. For the moment, the elementals could only benefit from illusionary clothes like that if they went outside the barrier with John since theycked the ability to by themselves.
John looked to the other elementals. Every single one of them, including Stirwin, had gotten their own clothes to hide their magical identity. John would have liked to scatter those out throughout the birthdays properly, but they had only been finished a few days ago. That aside, Sienas and Stirwins birthdays werent even in this month, so that wouldnt have worked smoothly.
The main gift Undine and Sylph had received had been, much like Gnomes, that they had gotten to spend the majority of the day alone with him. Alone in this case being the two of them or not alone. John had offered to take tomorrow off for one of them so they each got their day, but they had been happy with the trio arrangement. They had enjoyed the usual things, with Sylph speaking enough so that Undine could just sit aside, cuddle and sometimes throw some things in.
It had been a remarkably carefree day. John almost wanted to say innocent, but that wouldnt have meshed very well with the fact that they had been naked the entire time and John was either inside Sylph or one of many Undine clones surrounding him. There had been lots of eventless talking, cuddling and fucking.
Undine was looking quite nice in her new clothes. A ck choker transformed her hair from translucent blue into ck. With the it remaining unequally parted, her right eye mostly hidden by the silky-appearance of the illusionary hair, it gave her heart-shaped face a gothic feel. That her skin was white didnt help, neither the ck clothes that she had picked out of the arrangement that John had presented her with. A corset beset with frilly and decorative, semi-translucent bits covered her chest, confining her white skin into an impressive cleavage. For her legs, ck jeans stretched around them,pletely filled out by Undines volume.
The golden colour of her eyes was dulled in the same way Sylphs was; the droop-covered texture of her skin and the Lorylim scars were both hidden by the illusion. Getting a proper disguise for her had definitely been the hardest part C and John wasnt sure it had seeded. While the drops that ran down her form were hidden, they could still be felt. Same went for the dark blue horns, invisibly part of her head. The disguise fooled the eyes, but nothing more. Very risky conditions to use in a real-world setting. Too risky, if John was entirely honest.
Which was a shame, because she had that wonderful big tiddy goth gf aesthetic. In a darker sense than Cumslut, it had to be said. While the sex-crazed Combination elemental was definitely a goth-girl in appearance, she still had a bunch of lighter colours mixed in, not to mention a very pornstar-esque attitude. Undine looked properly mncholic, which went very nicely with the thoroughly ck clothes.
In summary, Cumslut was a sexy goth, while Undine looked like a proper goth that was sexy.
Next to her, Siena was wearing a teacher-likebination of white blouse and miniskirt. Per illusion, her feet had changed into regr looking high heels. A pendant and a pair of ck sses decorated her neck and face, each fulfilling the job of recolouring her hair and making her silver-white eyes a simple blue. Because they were both much looser items than a choker, John had given her two so the illusion had an emergency back-up.
Silver-blue skin had changed into milk-chocte colour, a bit lighter than Metras skin tone. Her silky, purple hair had assumed a dark red colour. Regardless of all changes, Siena continued to exude her dangerous aura.
Next to her, Smander had put on a in ck t-shirt and jeans. Simple clothes but, because she was sorge in all aspects of her hourss figure, they left her looking pretty impressive. From therge rise of her tits to the way her waistband stretched, leisurely worn and showing the string of her panties rising to the sides, she seemed like she would fit in as the tomboy friend of the local gang of bikers. Her red buzzcut, only a shade darker than before, and tanned skin only reinforced this. Like with Undine, the Lorylim scars werepletely gone. Her eyes had assumed a dark brown colour, as close to the pitch ck of her normal eyes as was possible in the human range.
Gnome went through no actual visual changes. The brte already looked like a human in all regards. That hadnt stopped John from throwing a bunch of new summer dresses at her. Especially since her new, magically provided outfit now looked impossible in the eyes of normal people. There was no way to staple autumn leaves together into a durable dress.
Having feasted his eyes on his girls, John looked down to Stirwin. The infinity elemental was currently in his big form and looked at the cor that John bought for him. It would make him look like a regr crocodile. Well, as regr as he could look with the longer limbs.
What am I supposed to do with this? Stirwin asked, raising the gift.
Put it on and have a disguise for the regr world? John asked, while his eyes darted back over to everyone else. He preferred their usual forms. Not only was it hotter fucking them in their true appearances, it didnt get any more naked than that, but John had developed more than a bit of a taste for monster girls. He had enough humans in his harem as it was and the ability to fuck some women with marginally different features was just nice. All of that being said, the novelty of their new appearances warranted an orgy in a bit.
Why would I need that item for that? Stirwins genuinely confused tone caused Johns gaze to dart back to the crocodile. It was just in time to see the adolescent shape of the water-dragon change. Legs were reduced in length, the scales along the back, tail and around the mouth grew dull and less pronounced, and the main body became a bit fatter. All the while, the gold, silver and copper went to greenish-ck, brown and fleshy pink. At the end, all that was left was a regr-looking crocodile. I am Tier 5, to put it in your Gaming terms, the light spirit responded to the confused looks all around. Elementals of this level have a secondary form they can assume to exist in the real world.
I did not know that, John said and looked over to Copernicus and Lydia, who had always been his main advisors when it came to elemental things.
Neither did I, the suncat announced and raised a hindleg to scratch himself behind the ear. I havent encountered too many Tier 5 elementals in my time. Cant know everything.
Lydia shook her head in a more apologetic fashion. While I, too, was ignorant about this, I feel like I should have possessed this knowledge previously.
John scratched the back of his head. It is how it is, then. He didnt take the news too badly. That was simply what he got for hiding the operation with mental barriers for the entire time. Even with that added information, the clothes could be useful. It would still be a while, for most of them, before they reached Tier 5. Only Undine was about to get there. A single Skill Level and a SEP were all that was missing to that end. Can you also leave barriers on your own?
No, although I should be able to once you be a master Elementalist. Stirwin changed back, clearly bothered by theck of opposable thumbs he normally had, and put the cor somewhere else. Although we might never achieve it. People that dedicate all the power you currently have to that craft would have enabled that ability by now.
Well, not like I dont want to invest more into Elementalist, John sighed. The ss Challenge remained unbeatable for him and clearing it didnt seem to be anywhere in the future. Whatever, now we know. He looked around and cracked a joke, Guess that means future clothes for youdies will cost me a lot less.
Only a few chuckles were had, it hadnt been that good a joke anyway.
Right, I wanted to announce another gift, he continued on afterwards. Since things are going pretty smoothly right now, I wanted to offer to send all of you back to your elemental nes next Monday. I would summon you back at the end of the month, so you can speak to Momo on her creation day.
That would cover a period of only four days, but that was already way longer than the 0 they had been back previously. Ever since John had contracted them, every single one of the elementals had been permanently summoned. They had often talked about John dismissing them for a period of time and now was better than any.
Count me out. Siena crossed her legs in a slow and sensuously sexy motion. You would need a considerable bribe to give me the motivation to see my mother again. She looked at John with hungry eyes. I have considerably more fun activities here. I would rather not be berated by her nails-on-chalkboard voice.
John had a feeling that this would get him the disapproval of the Mother of Shadows down the line. As he cared much more for Sienas opinion than the one of the primal elemental, which could be seen as pretty stupid but he wasnt in love to make smart decisions, he simply nodded. If it came to a conflict because of this, he would deal with that in the future. Best case scenario, Siena could talk it out the way Rave had with Nariko.
Id better start drafting up some worst-case scenario ns, he thought while waiting for the answers from the remaining girls. Smander, Gnome and Sylph agreed pretty quickly. None of them had any reason to fear going back. Stirwin seemed a bit torn on the matter, but ultimately said he would like to go back as well.
Which only left Undine, sitting quietly, hiding her thoughts behind a dampening wall. John put an arm around her shoulder and waited for her to calm her mind. Ever since the incident in Rome, the ocean elemental had made her best efforts to keepmunicating about her issues and being more open in general. If he just gave her a moment, she would certainly tell him what was on her mind.
I would like to go back as well Undine finally spoke up after about a minute of silence, her blind eyes staring straight ahead. However, I have concerns about my safety
Not entirely unfounded. Water elementals, despite making for the best healers and being of the element mostmonly associated with life, were stunningly brutal. They acted against impurity in their ranks with purging intent and were of a generally inquisitive mindset. Undine herself mirrored this, being capable of tremendous rage and aggressive berating. She just hadnt had a reason to aim either at John or members of the harem in a while.
They shouldnt be able to do anything permanent to you while you are still under my contract, John said. It wasnt meant to calm her, not primarily. It was a simple truth that he reminded her of to help her make her decision.
Yes, the single word came out as a single sung note. Even thoughtful, the water spirits voice was a beautiful melody. I propose that you summon me back after just one day, she then said. If my concern is unfounded, you can just let me go again. If it is, I will stay.
John nodded, that sounded good from his point of view. You sure you want to make it a whole day? he asked, just to be sure. Not an hour or something else smaller?
If they see me as a taint, I want to try and smooth the surface, Undine answered firmly.
If that was her will, then John would oblige. There was nothing further to be said and John was ready to let the rest of the birthday be just a normal day when a window suddenly popped up and opened a new opportunity.
Huh guess we should go outside, John announced, suddenly having an evolution to make.
Chapter 747 – A wonderful day for rain
Chapter 747 C A wonderful day for rain
Making an elemental evolution anywhere inside would have been asking for destroyed furniture. Instead, they headed to thewn on top of the fortress thaty at the base of the Pce. Doing it down by the sixkes he ced around the star fort would perhaps have been more topically sound, but that wasnt worth the extra stairs they had to descend to get there.
Alright, Undine, you ready? John asked, while everyone formed a big circle around her.
No, the ocean elemental responded honestly. Waiting for a follow-up, John took onest look at her current form.
The clothes were discarded, leaving Undine in her usual shape. She was a slime girl of an intense blue colour. Although she hid her sensitive bits, or simply hadnt formed them, her hourss curves were on open disy. Drops, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, steadily formed on the smooth surface of her skin and slowly ran down to her melded legs. Her hair was of a simr texture, unequally parted, fused and only splitting into a few separate tendrils in the lower half. Like most of her, her hair was translucent, barely obscuring the right eye, which it covered.
Four things interrupted her translucency: the dark blue, stubby horns that grew from her head, the Lovers Will mark under her navel, the Lorylim scars that wound over the right side of her body in a contrasting, bright red colour, and finally, her eyes, a bright gold and staring ahead. Although blind, they still indicated where Undines attention was currently directed towards. A learned behaviour, initially meant to hide the fact that she only saw through others and kept to makemunication a bit easier.
She was beautiful, primordial in some way; the mncholy written on her face a sign of steady thought, not sadness. Solemnly, she nodded. Now. Conjure the choices, John. An announcement that John followed by pressing that golden plus.
Pure water or two variants of water-shadow, John analysed the choices before him. Guess that fits with Undine. For himself, the choice between the three was clear. Deathwave elemental sounded like it would make her a mixture of Siena and Gnome, fighting style wise. While having someone with good damage and high tankiness was always useful, it wasnt worth giving up their main healer for.
Between truewater and abysstide, thetter just sounded more useful. Although John would have been a liar if he said his dick didnt enter the equation. Having Undine be physically immense, even if her curves stayed in the current distribution, didnt sound like it would please him. He had neither a fetish for giantesses nor vore, which was about all that could enable.
Shapeshifting though? Lots of applications for that in the bedroom. That aside, the liquid shadows sounded interesting. Healing at a distance had always been a utility John wished they had. They could somewhat mimic it by having Undine spawn another version of herself and have it go to where healing was needed to be done, but that was very limited in range, speed and the clone used itself up in the process.
It didnt specify how her range would be improved, but John just trusted Gaia that it would be substantial. Aside from that, it didnt seem like there would be any defining increase in power. The build in all three cases was the same as before, Undine switching between a supportive and an aggressive mode. The only real mix-up was that deathwave elemental switched the priorities around.
John was fine with this, Undine was a reliable part of the team and he didnt need herbat style shift in some way. An improvement was wee, that was all he was looking for in this evolution, and it seemed like he was getting it.
As much as he wanted to pick abysstide, though, this wasnt his choice. He looked up from the windows and to Undine, who stood there. Only the drops on her glistening skin moved, slowly going down, to be absorbed back into her by the time they reached her knees. She was taking her time thinking about it.
I choose abysstide, she finally announced.
You sure? John asked, ying devils advocate. This is thest choice you can make. If you are uncertain about this one, like you were going to Tier 2, and you find yourself tormented by this choice, there is no way C not even a reckless one C to fix it.
I am certain, Undine answered swiftly. It must have been exactly this question that she had gone through during thest minute or so. My problems then were because I was only useful in one way and it bothered me. It was exacerbated because I refused to talk about it, to solve it with all of you. Now I can be more than the one to heal you. My body can be a shield. If necessary, my Unleash allows me to take an offensive role. It was a pleasure to listen to her exnation, the beautiful melody of her words intertwining with the calmness of her thoughts and her admission of past faults. I will happily continue to be your healer. That aside, I dont want to be as big as ake.
Then we are in agreement. John smiled and raised his hand. There was a tingle in his spine and a fidgeting in his entire body. Finalizing the evolutionary path of one of his elementals pleased his innerpletionism and he couldnt wait to see how it would pan out. A press of the button and the evolution was decided.
John looked up, just to see Undine dissolve into numerous drops, drifting upwards, which then proceeded to fadepletely. Thats not how that usually looks, he remarked with a slightly worried tone. Something being different about thest evolution was expected, he just wished it didnt start with her getting Thanos-snapped out of existence.
After several seconds passed with nothing happening, John walked up to where she had been. Testing, he waved his arm around, hoping to hit something invisible. Nothing was there. He looked at the floor, hoping to find something else there. The grass seemed to darken.
Hey, did you schedule fuck-off rain for today? Eliza asked.
Rather than waste his time looking at her, John just looked up to the sky. No, he answered, following the rapid development of a cloud above. He also took a step backwards, filling the hole in the circle he had left.
The cloud started as a small thing above them, but it only took twenty seconds for it to sprawl out to the edges of the Guild Hall barrier. It had the deep grey colour of a thunderstorm. Not a single bolt of lightning descended, however, nor were there any shes within the cloud itself. It just roiled above, the surface first calming, then beginning to wave like an upside-down ocean.
It started to rain.
The first dropnded on Johns face, as these things tended to do when they got noticed. With the usual curiosity of man, he raised his hand and waited. Another dropnded on his hand. While it ran down like normal water, its colour was of a strong blue, with grey undertones. A second drop soon joined the first, then a third, fourth, fifth, and so on.
A steadily swelling sound echoed through the Guild Hall as the greyish blue rain grew from single drops to a steady fall to a thick curtain that consumed everything. John was drenched to the bone within seconds and was only able to see Rave and Aclysia at either side of him. Everyone else was a silhouette in the rain at best. The fact that it was day was almostpletely hidden by the density of the clouds.
It continued to rain for five whole minutes. When John started to consider heading inside, he noticed another oddity. Where Undine had vanished, the water didnt sink into the ground. Instead, it pooled into an invisible shape. Only now that a pair of feet had formed up to the ankles, did he notice that ongoing gathering. The beginnings of her mark helped in that endeavour.
Red, it started at her right ankle, and wound up her smooth leg as it formed. The colour seemed to have intensified, although that could have been an illusion thanks to the darker shade of her main body. As translucent as ever, the greyish blue water condensed into a more viscous fluid.
The shape of her body was much the same. Wide hips, narrow waist,rge breasts, a wonderfully curvy body, as tall as she wanted it to be. The Lovers Will mark was now pitch ck, mainly rising from the background due to itsck of translucency. Right of it, the old scars wound on in their red. The lines were finer than before, branched out more and covered her right arm and legpletely where they had previously stopped at hips and shoulder. Despite that, they seemed less intrusive. John realized that they were as see-through as the rest of her, unlike before.
Her head formedst. Full lips, a tad darker than the surrounding area (and sharing their colour with her exposed nipples and pussy), a fine nose, elf-like ears, and eyes of a brilliant gold, surrounded by a normal, white sclera. All sat in a fair face, resting in the usual, mncholic expression.
A noticeable change wasnt her eyes themselves, but the area around them. The darker, hardened slime that had mimickedshes and brows looked like proper hairs now, their colour more focused on grey than blue, with a shade running around her eyes like professionally applied mascara. It gave her mncholy a slightly more sinister feeling, emphasizing the gothic image he had found so fitting earlier.
The clouds tore open, the rain going with them. As sunlight touched Undine, horns and hair explosively shaped from her head. The stubby, dark blue things had bepletely ck and appeared like antlers of a medium size.
While her hairstyle hadnt changed much, its body-uniform colour had changed to the darker tones of her brows andshes. Its melded texture had been softened up, making it somewhat more like regr hair, but still staying close to its liquid origin. The unequal parting and the covering of her right eye had been kept. Where, before, it had split in the lower half, it now fell down her back in a fashion simr to long, straight human hair, ending in slowly narrowing tips.
Undine blinked, narrowed her eyes and looked around. They gave her a few moments to orient herself, moments John used to feast his eyes on her nakedness. While she was no less shiny than before, her skin looking like she spent the whole day oiled up, it seemed the unsteadiness of her surface was now gone. It was all smooth and glistening, even her antlers had a dull reflection.
She answered her summoners gaze with her own. Her mind reached out to his, to see herself through his eyes. At the same time, he saw himself through hers. I-I can see? Undine sounded unsure, but as she moved her head and eyes more, the truth of that became undeniable.
John grinned, that piece of news made him happier than her new appearance. It had never hindered her (or him, for that matter), but the fact that she had been blind had never set well with him. Seems so, he announced and ran a hand through his hair to get some of the water out. I might have to issue a public exnation because of this.
I am fucking SOAKED, Elizained, marching over to Smander and standing next to the endme elementals heat. All of the oddly coloured raindrops, hanging around on the grass, went on to be the usual clear colour of water. Did you have to do your look at me, I am now a SUPER FUCKING HOT GOTH CHICK! transformation with that much of a giant scene?! Are you some sort of attention craving edgelord? Are you Siena? The indirectly insulted shadow spirit just hissed at that.
It was outside my control, Undine assured, looking down on her hands and the marks on them. The scars spread, she remarked, only for those same marks to vanish up to her shoulder. Her eyebrows raised slightly, as she eliminated thempletely. A momentter, they reappeared. Sliding over the affected areas, she added, They became part of me. They no longer feel numb.
Doesnt exactly help the case against the edgelord image, John couldnt help but joke to himself, even if he found this to be another good point overall. You dont have to disy them anymore, if you dont want to, he told her, as Undine lowered her hand, indicating she was done testing.
She shook her head in denial. They are part of my history and they dont bother me anymore. I will keep them, be it only as a reminder. She looked good with or without them, so John didnt mind any of that.
All of a sudden, her surface changed entirely. The hairs went from blueish grey to in ck and her skin to a normal Caucasian skin colour, on the pale, northern side of things. While the red lines and the horns vanishedpletely in the moment, the brand above her cunt stayed in ce. The colour of her eyes also shifted from gold to in brown.
John went from looking at a very attractive slime girl to a very attractive goth girl, both naked, both with delicious bodies. The faking of the human appearance wasplete, from the round ears, to the erect, pink nipples, the individual strands of her hair and the horny blush that took hold of all of her. His dick was entirely fine with this development.
Not that she stopped experimenting there.
First, Undine went through various adjustments of her body as it was. Bigger tits, smaller tits, tighter ass, rounder ass, jigglier ass, her height changing through all of it as well. When she was smaller than Sylph and equipped with her usual curves, her other features shifted as well. Hair became red and differed in the path of the individual strands, skin became green and ears extended back to the elvish form.
Rather than Undine in any of her forms, he was now looking at a copy of the goblin Worlina. Although the features were all the same, at least ording to Johns memory, her expression and the way she stood were still clearly those of the abysstide elemental. What a peculiar ability, she said, her voice also the same, which caused a bit of an uncanny valley moment. A peculiar ability, she repeated but now she had the same voice, albeit not the tone, of the goblin as well.
While Undine continued to transform into several girls present and not present, Gaia, Eliza, Rave, Chemilia, to name only a few, John thought about the applications for this ability. In the bedroom, they were incredibly vast. Absolutely no question about it. In the real world, however, there was a hard limitation.
That being Undines acting ability.
Although she had a number of great attributes, Undine was neither used to acting nor did she have the Charisma to really pull that task off. At 20, she was above the normal human, but basically all of that was represented in her attractiveness and, probably, her natural ability as a songstress. When it came to her character, she had a hard time striking a conversation with anyone she didnt know C and barely any interest in doing that either.
In other words, her ability to perfectly mimic the looks and voice of any female didnt mean much if she couldnt copy a persons behaviour. There was also the issue of details. Birthmarks under the clothes, for example, couldnt be urately copied if Undine didnt know about them. Using her in stealth missions was not the smartest of calls, therefore. Because most things in the Abyss were locked with magical signatures or just general seals, copying thumbprints or retina wouldnt do much good either.
There could still be fringe applications. She just wasnt the perfect infiltrator. That was fine, Siena was doing more than well enough on that front.
Undine morphed back into her regr slime girl shape. It costs some energy to maintain transformation, she exined. Only a very small amount though, I could probably hold it for days. Although I am not sure I could maintain it while sleeping.
Well test thatter, John said. First off I want to-
Can I suck your dick? Undine interrupted him with a very sudden and very clear proposal. The question came along with her flowing in his direction. While her legs stayed where they were, melding together in the movements, her upper body went up to him. I feel desperate for something inside me, she confessed. No wonder, her Libido had more than doubled. A Stat increase fuelled by the fact that her overall scaling had gone from 6 to 7 per level.
The equally calm and desperate way in which she presented this request, the lust shimmering in her golden eyes, made it nigh impossible to refuse. I would like to run a few practical tests first, John somehow still managed.
I can do both, Undine assured and leaned up to kiss him. Two of her hands cupped his face while a translucent tongue parted his lips. Not that he put up any resistance to that, meeting the motion once it was inevitable.
The salty taste had dulled, but was still present behind a tempting, rich sweetness. At the same time, her body temperature was now normally that of a human, evident by her not thinking any of it and just kissing him as he was. A change to help in the copying endeavour, no doubt.
While her hands stayed on his face, a second pair started working on his trousers. While her lips were still pressed against his, a second pair pressed against the half-erect cock she pulled out of its confines. While her tongue still wrestled with his, a second one whirled around his head, quickly making sure he was fully erect.
John reached down and instinctively grabbed a horn of Undines double. His hand fit nicely between two splits of her antlers. Alright, you can do both, he mentally conceded, and the abysstide elemental broke the kiss with a slight, victorious smile. John pressed his teeth together as the clone sunk down into a fantastically tight deepthroat. The new shadow parts definitely had their effect, he thought to himself.
What was it you wanted to test first, Master? Undine asked, while her main body flowed back into its original position. The connection between herself and the clone separated entirely, leaving John with apletely formed slime girl that was sucking him off relentlessly. The telling difference was that only the true Undine had the Lovers Will mark on her. Something they had to consider inbat.
I want that Aclysia mumbled at the side. So many ways to please Master.
ITS NOT FUCKING FAIR! Eliza shouted in agreement. Fucking slime girl biology being able to split and all that bullshit!
Okay, before the first test I wanted to do, John kept as calm as he could, can you assume the goth girl form with only the clone C and keep the horns? She could, which meant that John was now balls deep inside a big titty goth harem member. One that, it was important to mention, still let the original body standing two steps away feel all the pleasure.
Undines mncholic expression was broken by a steady panting, a clear liquid dripping from her crotch. Simply letting loose, John came deep into her throat. While Goth-Undines eyes rolled back and her moans vibrated in the slime around his cock, Real-Undine tried her best to keep her bearings while the seed-fuelled orgasm rolled through her.
It didnt work all that well, her entire body trembled and the dripping of her cunt intensified.
Next test, John continued, almost to get a minor revenge on her. Does your healing work like before? It did, the green-tinged slime she created for healing hadnt changed. She created it with some difficulty, given the nerve-wrecking situation she was in. Alright, then lets see the liquid shadow. Thest spurt of Johns semen vanished inside the Goth-Undine, allowing her to concentrate properly.
The abysstide elemental took a moment to gather her concentration, then raised her hand. From her palm rose a ck mist. Some of it drifted out between her fingers and faded on its way to the ground, the rest condensed into a ck sphere. Undine looked at it with as much interest as everyone else. Simply following her instincts, she grabbed the sphere. It connected to her body like any liquid. Then, she turned her hand.
It dropped very slowly, like liquid rubber, and didnt disconnect from Undines hand at any point. When it touched the ground, it melded with the water spirits own shadow and stayed taut the way it was. In Johns stead, Aclysia walked over and tried to touch the liquid shadow. There was some initial resistance, like putting ones hand into water, but Aclysias hand went through without a problem otherwise. When her hand exited on the other side, a small cloud of ck mist followed after the motion. The connection seemed thinned out by this. After a couple more tests, the strand broke and dispersedpletely into ck mist.
John scratched his head with the hand not busy handling the pace at which the clone bobbed back and forth. How would you heal at range with that? he asked.
I am not sure yet, Undine answered truthfully. She seemed to have a rough idea though. Her gaze concentrated on Raves shadow. After a few moments, following a few conjuring movements by the abysstide elemental, parts of it began to rise. The liquid shadow stretched up by itself and changed. After a little bit, a third fully-formed Undine stood next to Rave. Given that she could form normal slime out of liquid shadow, she would also be able to produce healing slime.
It wasnt quite the RPG-esque targeted person heal John would have wanted, but this had its own sets of advantages. Particrly after they did some more testing with this. Undine didnt need to be the one seeing the shadow herself, she just needed to be able to pinpoint its location in rtion to herself. Since she was already used to relying on others for her senses, she could use the eyes of all the other familiars to extend her reach by quite a bit.
What she could always do was spawn a clone of herself in the shadow of one of her fellow elementals. Their interconnection made this quite easy. When it came to the Artificial Spirits, there were some rangeplications after over a hundred metres. That was also her effective range when it came to relying on others. Which was quite massive, all things considered.
She didnt need to create a full clone to heal either. After some experimenting, she got quite adept at creating regr slime tendrils from the liquid shadow in a short amount of time. Those could be used to defend someone or heal them. Like all of Undines abilities, the tentacles werent that great offensively, the best they could do wassh or strangle, but when it came to supporting, she had definitely stepped up her presence on the battlefield.
The one disappointment John found in the ability was that she couldnt switch which one her original body was. It would have been pretty advantageous if she had been able to relocate her true self whenever it was harmed. However, that required body contact between herself and a clone C at least a split second of parts of them being melded.
Regardless, she had much higher Stats, had be basically every hot girl John could imagine (her shapeshifting was not limited to copying real people) and a much broader toolkit. Also, she was sucking his cock with more enthusiasm than ever, while having retained the ability to ce her sensitive areas wherever she wanted.
Chapter 748 – The Blow-Job Logistics
Chapter 748 C The Blow-Job Logistics
John was looking at his character screen. Not for any really important reason.
But just because he liked the size of his mana bar nowadays. As nned, his Intellect had been raised to 500. That happened just about a week ago. On Tuesday, so six days, to be exact. The great thing was that, as long as he could ensure himself eight hours of sex a day, he got a level every two days. This had somewhat affected his schedule and he was more enthusiastic about doing office hours than ever before.
Office hours that he could set however he wanted, because he could just send Jack out to do public dealings in his stead. Sure, he couldnt get a blowjob while his double was doing actual tasks, lest the double creamed his pants in the middle of discussion. In all the time between those meetings, namely the travelling, the waiting, and the empty parts of the schedule, Jack morphed back into the Mand Sphere and John was able to enjoy his work time rxation.
Needless to say, his overall productivity was higher. Whether the same could be said had John been limited to one body, the Gamer doubted it. He could maintain regr typing speed for the majority of the blowjob, but orgasms slowed things down considerably and the sentences written during that time often came out quite jumbled. That aside, having a girl to y with under the table was a tremendously easy distraction. He resisted it for most of the time, but if there was a particrly boring 50-page document he had to get through, there was no way he couldnt at least dig his fingers into the currently working lover and give her a bit of a rough time. Or drag her out from under the table and throw her on the table.
Completely unrted, Johns office now had a decorative closet inside it. It looked like there would be more documents inside. If one were to actually open it, they would find a bed. Absolutely unrted.
The point was that John had concentrated more on his work when he only had Beatrice as his secretary. Eye candy was a stark difference to actually spending the majority of his workday balls-deep in someones throat.
Back to his Stats, crossing the 500 Intellect breaking point had raised his mana scaling from 11 per points in Intellect to 15. It wasnt a ridiculous increase, but it was fairly substantial. Satisfied with it, he had gone on to invest into Endurance. Both served to make John someone who was incredibly hard to kill, even for someone at the same level as him. Which was exactly the way John liked it to be. As the Synergy Perk, he had acquired another level in Third Eye. It was alright, if a bit limited.
Groaning from business and from pleasure, the Gamer fell back into his chair and looked under the table at todays distraction. Naked, wearing only a cor with a leash that was currently bound to the armrest of Johns chair, Scarlett did her best to stare back. Her eyes were ssy and reddened. With a gag, her eyelids fluttered, leaving only a slither of red to be seen. He still felt the stream of saliva running past her lips and dripping onto his balls. A feeling he didnt want to miss for a second, even though he had been blessed with it C or the movements of her lips over his shaft C for the majority of the past two hours. The only interruptions were for breathing.
John had lost all control over who was giving him head when.
In the beginning, the Gamer had scheduled the office hour blowjob slut job with hourly breaks in mind. That had worked for about four hours, then Eliza had insisted that breaks are stupid and had continued for the remaining four.
This had annoyed other girls in the harem, particrly Aclysia, Beatrice, Scarlett, Siena, Sylph, Lydia and Undine (in short: those that enjoyed giving head/serving/submitting the most) and minorly disgruntled everyone else. Lydia, with her limited hours, was the most vocal. Albeit, she was generally the most vocal when it came to righting things that rubbed her the wrong way.
A minor fight had ensued C in text channels. Which was always the worst channel to have a fight because every bit of tone was lost in chats. Even with everyone trying to think only the best of the rest of the harem, there was quite a bit of unnecessary aggression. While this was a wonderful topic to have girls fight over, he had to step in. John assured them he would keep the one hour segments in the future, and that solved the issue for the moment. That was Tuesday.
Then Wednesday rolled around and Rave suggested she could help him with the nning. With her usual charm and ability to reallymunicate with the girls in ways that he, as the centre of the harem and desires, just couldnt, she had made that day roll over wlessly. So wlessly that, on Thursday, he had basically just sat next to her without giving any input while she did the same thing again. By Sunday (or yesterday, or Sylph and Undines birthday, depending on perspective), all of the nning had been moved into some private channel that Scarlett had created on request of the Gamers girlfriend.
John could enter at any time, it wasnt like the redheaded Technomancer had taken away his admin capacity or overwritten it for that specific channel. It was hovering in the sidebar of the ever-developing Fusion Communication Program (official name pending) and John just decided to ignore it. For one, because he didnt want to rock the boat. There hadnt been a singleint about it since Rave took over on Wednesday.
For two, because the anticipation of not knowing who was going toe in and suck him off (and for how long) was absolutely wonderful. All he needed to know was that SOMEONE was going toe in and fulfil that duty. With the sheer amount of willing girls that was a given. He probably would have been safe with Eliza and the maid on duty alone. Adding about a dozen more to that mix only created a crowded situation.
Which was also why his girls sometimes came to serve in duos or trios. When those were elementals, they fused sometimes. Not all Combinations were into doing sexy stuff, but most were and that made for very interesting five to fifteen minutes. Even with that aside, there was so much room to mix and match, not to mention the supreme quality of the base material, that John could never get bored.
If the people knew that the head of their economy looks like this right now, John ridiculed Scarlett with a sadistic smile. Her eyes focused on him again, mustering something like a resistant re. It wasnt quite as believable, given the absolute mess her face was. Choked tears had run down the sides of her face, entirely self-inflicted. Saliva, phlegm and Johns sexual fluids had be a gooey cocktail that stuck to her lips and the surrounding areas. Her hair was sticking to her head, thanks to that mixture and just general sweat. On top of all of that, several loads hadnded on her face instead of pumping down her throat. Come on, answer, hemanded her.
Scarlett slid up his cock, her hands taking the ce of her mouth and throat. IF the people kne- She coughed, while still steadily jerking him off. If they knew, wed both be in fucking trouble, she managed to say, only to moan when the reward hit her.
Probably, John said and added a single, casual, Cum, afterwards. Scarletts hands stopped in their movements, as her entire body suddenly started shivering. Not a huge loss for John, he had timed it exactly so he was already pushed over the edge. The first jet of cum must have gone mostly over her head and hit some part of the table, but the remainders of the load added anotheryer of icing to her face. The few strands that she caught in her mouth only heightened her climax.
As much as John would have liked to pretend they were only sucking him off because they liked sucking HIM off, the fact that he could make any of them cum several times during the act was definitely a motivating factor. He had also done some experimenting with the sensibility increase that Lovers Will offered. Sadly, it didnt do anything for the girls who only derived psychological gratification from going down. In most other cases, it remained a very nice tool to have.
You might as well leave that document until tomorrow, Scarlett said, after she had calmed down and got her body back in control. Rather than resume working on his cock, she reached for a hidden drawer on the inside of the table. A clear sign that things wereing to an end. Not like you can get it done in three minutes. I could, but you are a cker that has to rely on his eyes.
John didnt even need to ask how she knew what was on his screen. Chances were that she had not only followed his work but also used the inte connection to hook up to her own servers and take care of things on her end as well. That was just the way Scarlett did things. Everyone has their own advantages and drawbacks, he replied.
Not really, some people are just better than others in every aspect. Scarlett pulled a washcloth out of the drawer and then closed it. You have a big dick, at least, so thats something I can appreciate.
Careful, John growled in a yful matter. His hand went down to his armrest, and he quickly unknotted the leash, only to pull on it. A simple tug, and Scarletts messy face was pressed against his cock. The slimy lubrication on her and the iron-hard shaft immediately mixed. Or you will have to take care of that big dick for some overtime.
Oh no, what a terrible punishment, Scarletts dry sarcasm was apanied by her giving his dick a long lick that slowly brought her up to the tip. It seemed like she would oblige him without any further need for sass. Then John jumped in his chair as the cold, damp washcloth was suddenly applied to his cock. As much fun as it is being down here, we have to get going C so stop being horny.
Already on it, the Gamer grumbled, while letting his dick, balls and groin get wiped off. By the end of it, he was on half-mast, with size deting further. The washcloth was still meticulously clean afterwards and Scarlett went on to clean off her own face and some other areas with it.
Getting a deepthroat for several hours on end brought with it a few moreplications than just the who and when, the two most pressing werefort and hygiene. In the name of both, the legpartment of Johns table had been heavily modified. The floor and underside of the desk itself were both covered with leather padding to make continuous kneeling less of a pain. In the middle of it all sat a bump. Officially that was just for hip support. Truthfully, it was a Sybian in disguise, the remote for which had been integrated into Johns keyboard.
On each side of the inside of the table was a semi-hidden drawer. Inside the left-hand one were all of the things necessary for hygiene. First and foremost, enchanted washcloths that allowed the girls to clean up the workce after them. They were always damp and any gunk on them just vanished, eliminating the need to have a sink nearby. It also meant they didnt need to be reced that often, as only wear and tear was an issue C one that Craft counteracted.
Aside from the washcloths, there were a bunch of other articles to help with things. Mouthwash to get the smell of cum out of the mouth, perfumes, dry wipes, deodorant,bs and so on. In a more general sense, John was in the habit of either keeping the windows open or some sort of incense burning in order to prevent any stuffy smells from hanging around.
For the right-hand drawer, it was where Scarlett put the cor after John took it off her. A bunch of other toys and extensions for the Sybian were resting in there. Aclysia or Beatrice went through cleaning every used one at least once every three days.
After herself, Scarlett wiped off all other traces of his cum and her love juices from the surfaces and then began to climb out. Instinctively, John put his hands on the curve of her hips, where Scarlett was the thickest, and leaned forwards. He just couldnt resist her lean, pear-shaped body. At the very least, he needed to feel the smooth skin of her t stomach against his lips.
Before he knew it, she climbed onto his chair. His kisses travelled to the littleyer of softness, representing her fairly t chest. You nned for an extra fifteen minutes, didnt you? John asked, before catching her nipple in his mouth.
Scarlett gasped when she felt his teeth softly rolling the hard, sensitive protrusion between them. Of course I did. The technocrat grinded her overflowing pussy against his barely cleaned cock. Within a few heartbeats, it was fully erect again. Who the fuck do you take me for?
Someone who told me to get less horny only to turn me on the next second so she can ride me, John answered, while raising her hips, aligning them with his cock and then pulling her down. Someone who just needed to tease me, despite also needing to have her aggressively submissive cunt prated so badly that she couldnt put it into words. Someone that wants my dick so much, she actually stops smoking and drinking for two hours to keep it in her mouth.
I picked my poison, Scarlett panted, only to be grabbed by the throat.
Did I allow you to speak? John wondered, before standing up and throwing her on the table. For a definitely unrted reason, there was a human-sized gap between theputer and the stacks of documents on the edge of the table. Pinning her down, choking her, the Gamer hammered into her gushing cunt with reckless abandon. Her moans vanished with most of her eyes, which rolled up her skull. She may have cleaned up her face, but her hair was as much of a mess as before.
Her legs closed behind John, a clear, needless and sexy sign that she wanted him inside her for as long as possible. After hours in the throats of so many girls, fucking a tight pussy nice and proper was somehow even more ecstatic.
More than one orgasm was had.
Chapter 749 – Home Planes
Chapter 749 C Home nes
I dont know if I find it hot or bothersome that I keep getting bruises from you, Scarlett said, inspecting her throat in the camera of her phone C the closest stand-in for a mirror she had around. You have strong hands, thats the only thing I sure as fuck know from that.
Well, then we share the same question, John said. Definitely find it hot in the moment, in the time afterwards, it bothers me a bit. He kissed her on the cheek, while Scarlett pocketed her phone and got back to buttoning up her shirt. I dont want to damage my property.
And I dont want to have breathing pains, Scarlett shot back in a matter of fact tone, her reddish pink lips stretched into a sassy smile. You dont want to know how much you really need me.
Oh, I am sure you will let me know whenever the next bill of one of thepanies you totally dont own flutters into my inbox, he mocked her in a friendly tone. Tell me, howe the market is suddenly flooded with shipbuilding materials, hm?
Demand drives price drives supply, Scarlett only recited basic free market teachings to him. It is absolutely natural that those materials would appear quickly, while Fusion buys it en-masse for higher prices.
Higher prices that copsed right back down to regr rates after the first wave of deliveries, John noted. A clever capitalist would have drained the bottomless pockets of the state with as much price maniption as possible.
Scarlett blew air out of her nose and stepped away from him. Youre talking about cronies, not capitalists.
Whats the difference? the Gamer asked, just to get a rise out of her.
One thinks in selfish, short term gains, the other thinks in greedy, long term gains, Scarlett returned. Cronies get the absolute best deal ever one time because they cheat, lie and swindle C capitalists get good deals all the time because they create strong business rtionships. Cronyism is pretty seductive, especially if you deal with feeble minded people that roll over whenever you suggest any fucking deal to them, but capitalism funnels human greed into all the right directions. As long as my life gets better at the end of it, I will make yours better. Thats the deal.
Since John agreed with all of that, he couldnt really muster a strong defence. Not without going stronger into the devils advocate position than he had time for. How does any of that rte to you pressing prices down so Fusion saves money though?
Im trying to get your middle-management to like my raw materialpany so it gets business deals in advance. Scarlett crossed her arms and rolled her neck, in an evidently pleased fashion. 25% less profit in one instance is a very eptable loss to be the first contractor people approach. Any money is more than no money.
Except if you dont get the losses back in, John remarked and got himself a raised-eyebrow stare. No, I dont think youre that stupid.
You better not, she retorted and ran a hand through her hair. It was still messy, that she had put on clothes and given it a basicbing didnt substitute a shower. I would prefer not to spend the rest of my life, apparently, with someone who is THAT wrong about something so obvious.
While Im looking forward to spending the rest of my life with someone who can take some of the thinking from me. John put an arm around her shoulder in a loving way. Now, lets go, I dont want to make the elementals wait.
Scarlett nodded, grabbed her jacket, and they stepped onto the internal teleporter pad in the corner of the room. One sh of lightter, they appeared in Johns Pce. It was a small, mostly empty room, with some dividers standing around and separating the walls into segments, each broad enough to hold a teleportation pad. John wanted to establish a teleportation hub around there. He hadnt really gotten to it yet.
Through a high security door, the same kind he had in the basement, John and Scarlett entered the hallway of the Pce and then turned left. To the right was the cluster of apartments, but he had no need to go there today. Instead, they walked to a previously empty room not too far away. It was easy to make out down the artificially lit hallway, thanks to the door standing wide open and the steady chatter of several girls echoing out from there.
Good evening! John announced his entrance loudly as he turned the corner into the room. It was barren and not particrlyrge, about the size of a low-ie households living room. It was more orderly than such a ce usually was, by virtue of its uncovered floor, walls and ceiling. Only amp, dangling from the ceiling, provided any sort of decoration.
Inside, he found much of the harem. Lydia hadnt found the time to attend, but everyone else was present for todays event C seeing the elementals off to their home nes. John reached into his inventory and took out a piece of chalk. The girls made some space in the middle of the room and he got to drawing. Not that he was in a particr hurry, he just had a lot of things to draw.
The circle also wasnt strictly necessary to dismiss them, but it would make things a bit smoother and he needed it when he wanted to call them back. Preparing it now meant he didnt have to bother getting it done when he had been deprived of their presence for several days.
Rave stepped backwards, while John carefully drew the perfect circle along where her foot had just been. Ya cant fit five circles of that size into this room, she pointed out. Although she had never bothered learning about proper summoning rituals, given that she just needed to put herself out there to attract elementals that wanted to be contracted, she had seen John get the contracts with the majority of his elementals. Aside from Smanders first summoning, she had been present for all of them, if the Gamer remembered correctly.
I only need one circle for all six elements, John told her.
I remember that differently
It was different.
What changed?
I dunno, he answered dismissively, finishing the outside circle and starting the process of adding smaller ones to the inside. Some ovepped, some squeezed in between two, all of them would be covered in sigils and signs eventually. The image in his mind was that of a veryplicated mixture between a mand and fantasy babble. Elemental Unity, Elementalist, having all six kind of elementals? Could be any of those or abination of them. Fact is, just like I knew how to draw each singr circle from the Skillbooks, I now know how to draw one central circle.
Ya said a lot there, but all I heard was Its a bunch of bullshit, Rave summarized it in such a ttering way.
Can we talk about the fucking fact that our resident money-vampire-bitch over here has used literal cum as her conditioner? Eliza chimed in.
Money vampire? Scarlett seemed more confused by that than bothered by the usation.
You have red fucking eyes and you like money. I can call you something else if you want me to. Eliza raised her hands and counted a few possibilities, Ungrateful sub-cunt, deepthroat SUBscription, money-masturbating-masochistic-androgynous-whore, greedy shidy, redhead c-
Might as well call me capitalist pig, Scarlett interrupted.
Urgh, Eliza let out a disgusted sound, followed by a prolonged, unstable giggle. Thats a fuckingmie insult, I wouldnt let that shit touch my tongue.
We may be friends yet. Scarlett nodded with a smile. It was ament to be taken with a fair amount of salt. Although the Technomancer remained fairly isted inparison to other girls in the harem, she was bantering along properly and without issue nowadays. By all ounts, she was properly integrated. She was just less sociable in general.
That aside, she and Eliza hadmon fetishes, so those two got along pretty well anyway.
John put thest few lines into the circle, then stepped back and looked at the product. On the smooth concrete floor, the ck chalk created a proper contrast. Visibility of the circle was important, something about elemental magic needing to be observable to function properly.
Wonder if thats the same principle as things changing as they get observed in physics ah, well, I dont know enough about that to make a real guess on it. Who wants to go first? he asked instead, turning to the gathered elementals.
I will take that offer, Stirwin announced, walking forwards on his four legs. That way, I wont have to listen to all of your sentimental goodbyes. He blew air out his nose, which came along with a cloud of golden mist that dissolved into fading sparkles. Wont have to witness the following three goodbye orgies either.
We had those in the morning, John defended himself, exactly as joking as the infinity elemental.
Careful not to blur any of the intricate lines with his movements, Stirwin got into the middle of the circle and looked at his summoner. What are you waiting for? he asked, tilting his head.
John followed a sudden impulse and scratched the scaly puppy under the chin. Bigger form or not, Stirwin was strangely adorable. Then again, if humans were as little afraid of crocodiles biting them as they were of their dogs attacking them, crocodiles would have been more popr outside of exotic-loving circles. It helped that Stirwin encouraged such actions by squeaking in an adorable fashion and leaning into the gesture. His tail wagged with heavy movements. If he had possessed normal legs, the drag would havepletely ruined the circle.
Just two more things, John said, reaching into his inventory and pulling out a raw steak. First off, catch. With that simple instruction, he threw the piece of meat at the crocodile. His jaw snapped at it with remarkable control. Teeth and protruding scales dug into it, then Stirwin threw his head back and gobbled the entire thing down in one piece, letting gravity do the majority of the work. Secondly, the Gamer continued, tell your father that Im thankful for his advice still C and that he should just talk to me normally rather than mimic being a voice in my head next time.
Will do, Stirwin answered, then he began to fade as John let go of the mental reins that he had been leisurely holding for the past months. Although he isnt my father, we were born at the same time, he is just the king of our domain. With those words, the light spirit vanished entirely.
The vacancy he left behind was odd. When Undine had broken her contract, the resulting gap had felt like a lost tooth. Whenever an elemental died, that was like one of Johns arms had fallen asleep. Having an elemental dismissed willingly was like the odd feeling one got when looking at their room after moving the furniture. Something was missing, but all was there and one knew that. Not too bad and John would get quickly used to it.
Alright, who is next? John asked and turned, only to see Sylph already flying up to him.
Me, its me! the thunderstorm elemental decided. I want to meet Mom already! I have exchanged so many funny gales with her! A gale was the equivalent of a tweet on Airter. I wanna see if I really look so much like her and I wanna tell her all about you!
Its gonna be pretty silent around here without ya around, Rave chimed in.
Ill have lots to talk about when I get back. Lots and lots and lotsa topics to discover! Wonder what the Soundrowned Wastes look like! Sylph buzzed up and down in the air like a hyperactive bee.
Alright, alright, Johnughed. She was so excited that he wasnt even able to present her with the gummy bear he had prepared. I wont keep you any longer then. See you in a few days. With those words, he let go of her as well.
See ya! Sylph waved with overemphasized motions of her small arm until shepletely faded from view.
G-guess Ill go next. Gnome stepped up afterwards. The autumn elemental in her dress was extra careful not to step on any of the lines. Not that her bare feet were any more of a risk than Stirwins had been. I dont even know if Ill meet my mom cant imagine shes interested in a pebble like me
Nonsense, Siena spoke up before John could. Stand straight and tell her shes a cunt if she doesnt want to see you. You went from just created to Tier 4 in a year AND you are contracted to one of the most important people that exist.
R-right! Gnome nodded and pumped her fists. Yeah, I can do that! Except for the cunt part
Not everyone has a terrible rtionship with their mother, John said.
But some mothers are just horrible! Rave had to add.
Trust me, yours got nothing on mine, Siena responded.
Dont think you want to make that a contest, the Gamer tried to put an end to that discussion. Anyway, if your mother is somehow interested in me, give her my regards. Also say thanks for me having gotten such an adorable cuddle rock.
I-i-I definitely cant do that! Gnome dered and started fading. You have to do that yourself! No- I mean- You shouldnt- UwUwuwuwuwu Her voice became quieter until thest adorable syble had vanished to another ne.
Alright, lets just get this over with, Smander followed up and hovered into the circle. I do wonder what kind of person the Mother of Fire is doubtful I will get to meet my actual progenitor.
Who knows, maybe Krieg is on vacation. John shrugged.
Maybe Krieg is just a massive name-changing bitch, Metra grinned and walked over to punch the endme elemental on the shoulder. Its going to be hard to kill the time without you around.
You survived seventy years in Elizas head, you will survive four days without me, Mat, Smander cackled and the two tomboys exchanged a fist bump.
There was no Beatrice in Elizas head, so its actually going to be a lot harder, the First of Wrath decided.
Statement: given the make-up of Elizas being, the chance of at least one Beatrice being in there is approximately 100%, the passive maid had to chime in. Addendum: if you mean purely the physical location, Id be worried if there was any other person in there.
Yeah Imma just fucking leave before I have to listen to more of that, Smander announced, and John subsequently let go off her as well. Later, bitches.
That only left Undine; the abysstide elemental came towards the circle without hesitation. First, she flowed in the usual fashion, then legs fluidly formed out of her greyish blue mass and she walked in withoutplications. John stood before her and looked deep into her golden eyes. Until tomorrow, he just said.
Until tomorrow, she responded just as simply and leaned forwards to kiss him goodbye. By the time she leaned back, she had started to fade.
Wish you luck with your family and all that shit, Eliza said. The water spirit gave a thankful nod towards her friend, then she was gone.
It was incredibly silent in Johns head.
Chapter 750 – Little Sin
Chapter 750 C Little Sin
Sit, John used hismanding tone C to no avail.
Only tilting her head, Velka looked up to his empty hands and then cawed. The Magryph had doubled her size in the past week, but that only meant she was now bigger than both of Johns hands put together. In total, she was about two weeks old now. Her wings started to change, the feathers bing sleeker, but she was still far away from being able to fly.
Another caw and John sighed. Sit! he repeated. Velka put her butt down, making it appear as if she obeyed. There was no window to confirm that he had beaten the ss Challenge. The second he did as much as move his hand, the magpie-cat chimera jumped to her feet and warbled excitedly. A very basic sign that she was expecting something shiny. Instead, John wagged his finger at her. Sit! he said for the third time.
Velka decided that the Gamer wasnt interesting anymore and turned around. Instead, her attention turned to the robe-wearing girl inside the kitchen. Eliza turned around just in time to see the pet tap up to her. Come here, cutie. The pretty little psycho sounded so stereotypical motherly, John almost felt like he was in a bad script.
Sprinting the rest of the way, the Magryph jumped into Elizas arms. With a sound that was half meow, half caw, she let herself be picked up. Kissing the beak of the small thing, the blood mage got a loving nibble to her nose in return. Then Velka continued to put her front legs on Elizas shoulders, propped herself up and rubbed her fluffy head against the white-blue haired womans cheek.
Awawa, Eliza let out a Gnome-ish sound as she gently squeezed the Magryph. John, I need another fifteen of her! Theres so much fu- freaking love! I want to drown in Velkas!
That undisciplined bird only treats you so nicely because she knows you will pamper her in return, the Gamer snapped back in an unnecessarily aggressive fashion. It was irking his pride more than a little bit that Eliza seemed to rece him with some Magryph hugs. This is exactly why I cant let another guy anywhere close to touching my girls outside of socially eptable boundaries, John thought, desperately trying to calm down. I would probably break his hand before the count of five.
Shes SO ADORABLE THOUGH! Eliza screamed and somewhat startled Velka, who wound in her embrace. Sorry, sorry, she hastily said and raised Velka up. Didnt mean to scream in your ear, Velka. I am just such a fuck- fudging bimb- scatter brained slu- idiot. As if to distract Velka from her barely suppressed slurs, the sickly-pale girl threw the Magryph into the air.
Not too high, just enough that Velka could excitedly cry out before Eliza caught her. They repeated this three times, then the chimera chick suddenly flew in Johns direction instead. It was a high-pass over a short distance, very easy to catch. Once he had her firmly in his grasp, John turned Velka towards him. If a beak could contort, he was certain the Magryph would have given him the biggest, shit-eating grin. The swaying tail signalled the same emotions instead.
I love you so much! Eliza said and collided with his side in a massive hug. I am so happy! John, John, you smell so good and youre so hunky and you make me feel protected and there is all this love flying around and and - Urgh, hard to say all of that sweetness without cursing like a sailor in a house that sellsdy favours, Eliza said, only to then let out a long series of insane giggles and rub against him like a purring cat. With her entire body. It went a long way in curing Johns thoughtless aggression. I want a baby!
Of course you do, Johnughed in a warm fashion. He wouldnt have dared to mock that, not in such a genuine moment. He kissed his masochistic lovers head and then ced Velka on top of a padded counter. But not yet, I am not ready. Lets continue working with the rtively easy baby we have here. Go get me her food. After that request, Eliza quickly returned to the kitchen to get both the syringe and the bowl with more dissolved cat food.
Velka was still eating primarily liquid things, although they mixed it up with ground beef and banana pulp sometimes. While she preferred meat, she was an omnivore, so they could give her just about anything. Especially once she had grown up some more and developed eating habits closer to crows or magpies.
Excited for food, the Magryph prowled back and forth in front of John. Sit, he said, not getting any response. All Velka was watching for was Elizaing back from the kitchen. When he was holding the meal, John repeated, Sit. At which point Velkas behind obediently plopped down on the surface of the counter. With a sigh, John added, Lay down. Velka pulled in her front legs as well, leaving her lying on her stomach. Roll. She even followed thatmand, doing a quick turn on her back. Her eyes didnt leave the syringe at any moment. Spoiled brat, John grumbled and got twoughing warbles in response.
It was always the same. Velka knew perfectly well what he wanted. As far as he was aware, she had the equivalent intellect of a four-year-old at the moment. That allowed her to, at the very least, learn about key words C as long as she had a demonstration going along with the word. She knew what he was saying, she just refused to do it without something being in it for her.
Which John decided he would no longer tolerate.
Stand, he said and was obliged. He put the food away and Velka cawed in protest. Sit, he demanded and crossed his arms. All he got was a caw. You can caw all you want, youngdy, John berated her and pushed her beak back with his finger. As long as you live in my home, you will follow my rules. Now sit.
She decided to scratch his hand instead. Something that John didnt take too kindly to. Firmly, he put a hand on top of her back and just held her in ce. He didnt hurt her or squeeze her in an ufortable way. All he did was remind her that he was the bigger, stronger animal and the alpha around here. After a few seconds, he released her.
Youre super lucky that Nia isnt around, Eliza said, fidgeting at his side. While she clearly wasnt enthused about Velkas treatment herself, the blood mage knew that intervening wouldnt do any good.
She would be punching me right now, John agreed and looked down at Velka again. Sit, he demanded, and with some protesting whimper, the Magryph obeyed. Good Velka, the Gamer said in a much more pleasant tone and retrieved the syringe from his inventory. He fed her about a quarter of it. Then he pulled it back under yet more rebellious chirps. Velka got on her feet and walked after the syringe. John pushed her back with his other hand. Sit.
Learning quickly, the chick obeyed, and John fed her a bit more of the syringe. When he pulled back the next time, she obediently kept sitting. Satisfied, he gave her the rest, then the second syringe she needed to fill her growing stomach. Just to make sure she wasnt too insulted, John then pet her for five minutes straight.
Afterwards, he tried themand again. Sit. The Magryph looked at him with consideration for a solid five seconds, then slowly obeyed.
Finally! John eximed, reaching into his inventory and retrieving a penny from it. He threw it to Velka, who snapped it out of the air and immediately ran off with it. The feeding counter was connected to thework of paths that filled the room through a wooden nk that ran along the wall. Following it delivered her towards a small cat tree she had to climb, on top of which was a cushioned bed. There were several of those resting spots throughout the room, but Velka had picked that one as the ce to keep her shiny stuff. John only picked up the sound of metal hitting a small mountain of other metal objects and a pleased warbling. His eyes were focused on the Tamer window. He put the level in and was promptly greeted by two windows.
Thats pretty neat, all things considered, John thought.
I guess that makes sense, John thought and turned to Velka. Her chosen nest was at the height of his chest, so it was pretty easy to just walk up to her and quickly scratch her head. Putting the Beast Binding into ce was strangely simr to Lovers Will, albeit immensely less intimate. Magic flowed from him to Velka and back again. It happened without any body marks forming, however. There was just some connection now. Nothing through which he could sense thoughts or anything. Just a nebulous link between them.
Velka tilted her head, nibbled on his finger for a bit, then went back to tending to her hoard. What had happened didnt seem to bother her in any capacity. John looked at the Perks window again.
I wonder if I would get a Perk choice per Beast Binding, if I had multiple? John thought. It was a question he would likely never find an answer to since he didnt see himself adopting another pet anytime soon. Between the Messenger Variant and the Gic Optimization, thetter sounded a lot more appealing. He had no need for a letter bird and a fully grown and healthy Magryph to potentially breed could be a good money source down the line.
To stay away from the analytical side of things, having arge gryphon of any variety was more impressive than having a small gryphon. As someone who liked to show off, Gic Optimization was the path to go. Picking it didnt show any immediate changes. Velka didnt even give off any reaction.
Now that I have her under contract, she may have gotten a proper character screen though, John theorized and tried Observe.
It was pretty simr to the elemental windows. The Stat Buffs as they currently were could mostly be traced back to Tamer. Except for the +10 in Charisma. John took a wild guess that it was something like a baby bonus. All around, she was incredibly weak. Didnt make her ws any less sharp, however.
Happy to have finally gotten that done, John gave Velka some more pats in the next few minutes.
Something that Eliza enthusiastically joined him in.
Chapter 751 – Clean
Chapter 751 C Clean
The Magryph eventually had enough of the attention and curled up to sleep. Leaving the little furball alone to rest and grow some more, John and Eliza turned away from thework of wood, stic and strings that was Velkas habitat and left. Once outside, it only took a little talk to decide the rest of the days happenings.
John had to get back to work and his maniac lover, being not on duty to sit under the table, split off to instead go after her hobbies. Namely being: watching trash TV and painting something. They would meet again in the evening for the resummoning of Undine. It would (hopefully) not be of any importance. The abysstide elemental would be around for a minute, say everything was alright, and hop right back into her home ne. That was the presumed course of things anyway.
Just in case that wasnt so, Siena and Eliza wanted to be around, being Undines closest friends in the harem.
If nothing else happened, at least they could go and feed Velka her dinner afterwards. The Magryph ate three times a day. Well, if she could have fed herself, she would probably have eaten all the time. That Velka got enough food and was growing properly, John had been assured after sending some pictures to Judith, his contact at the breeding farm.
Waiting for him in his office was, instead, his very own girlfriend. She tended to him for an hour, doing as a good girlfriend did and enthusiastically making him cum repeatedly, while joking and bantering whenever Jack was in some meeting somewhere. After her time was up, she was reced with Lydia. There was a ten-minute transition period where both of them worked on his cock. Nothing got done in that time.
Although John would have never said it out loud, the sessions with Lydia must have been his favourite. Since her ascension to an hourss figure and awakening as a blowjob slut, her skill and enthusiasm in giving head was just legendary. That only put her slightly above most of the harem, though, and John would have hesitated to call her the best. There were too many vours to choose from, after all.
Skill wasnt the main reason why he enjoyed the times with her under the table the most. It was the raw psychological thrill of it. Here she was, empress of another (much stronger) country, kneeling under his desk, vibrating butt plug in her ass, her red lips closed tightly around his shaft and drinking his seed greedily. John wasnt even sure if anybody, aside from her bodyguards, knew that Lydia was taking near daily trips over to him. Only a dedicated few nobles, upper administrators, and pce service staff knew that the newly erected pavilion next to the embassy was a teleporter that went straight to the other side of the globe. Nobody but Lydia and the Knights of Teuton could even verify that ridiculous statement.
If someone would have told him on his 18th birthday that he would have the queen of Germany sneak out of her pce every day to serve him, while she was getting off over and over again from blowing his rod, his smartass would have likely pointed out that Germany hadnt had a monarchy since the end of the first world war.
Regardless, she was there and she was urging him to continue his work through slightly unpleasant contact of her teeth with his dick. Once her limited time had been spent, John got into themon, but always wonderful, treat of a double shift of Aclysia and Beatrice. The passive maid was always eager to please him because she was in the room for most of all the other shifts. That John was getting sucked off under the table hadnt changed the fact that she was his secretary, sitting at her ss desk only a few metres away.
A ss desk through which he could often see one hand working between her legs.
Thest shift of the day then fell to Siena. While the novelty of her blowjobs had worn off by now, she was devilishly good at them regardless. John was really spoiled when it came to getting head. In his opinion, he had more than earned all of that.
When he put thest period to thest email he wanted to get done, he checked what else he had on overhang for tomorrow and found absolutely nothing. He had actually finished everything that had fluttered in throughout the day and his entire backlog. He couldnt remember when that had happenedst.
When he finally shut down hisputer, pulled out of Sienas throat, and left the office, it was no wonder that he was in an absolutely tremendous mood. It only improved when his post-work shower turned into a full body massage in the bathtub. Aclysia, Beatrice, Rave, Siena and Eliza, all five of them surrounded and rubbed him in all the right ways for about twenty minutes. Enough time for each of them to ride him once.
He arrived in the summoning room right on time, as clean as he possibly could be, rxed down to the soul and with nothing on his mind but the immediate happenings. What a ridiculously great day. John smiled as he inspected the ck chalk circle. Note to self, redraw with paint, he thought as he redrew some lines that seemed to have blurred out a little bit, despite all the care everyone had taken when leaving the room.
Only Eliza and Siena were there, everyone else was waiting back in the normal apartment for the news. John bowed down and used the Abysstide Elemental Summoning Skill once two of his fingers touched the circle. One second he felt the rtive warmth of bare concrete in the inside of a magically heat-regted building, the next it was the surface of shifting water.
The ground rippled from his fingers outwards, the tiny wave growing and recing the grey ground with the smooth surface of a deep blue ocean. An ocean that began to rise, just as the room vanishedpletely around him. As the water went higher, the surface crawled over Johns skin. It never truly connected, forming ayer around him. He was being submerged, but not truly let in.
Staying calm, instinctively knowing that this was normal, John let out all the air in his lungs before the water reached his head. He closed his eyes, felt the cold envelop him. Its on me to let the water in, he thought and took a deep breath through his mouth.
Water flooded him and with it a moment of alien confusion. His consciousness drifted into another realm. He opened his eyes and found himself in depths unfathomable. He was floating, somehow, in an ocean without end. The surface was an eternity away, the bottom non-existent and all around him was the vastness of the ocean. It was quite beautiful. Tiny elementals, appearing like baby squid or tiny jellyfish, floated around as tiny particles through the paths of light that made it past the surface. They werent steady. Whatever the light source was, it rose and fell in unsteady intervals, sendingnces of light into the darkness below. Where they couldnt reach, bio-luminescent elementals shifted.
As beautiful as it was, as a human, John couldnt help but be unnerved by the way the water limited his field of view. Aside from the elementals nice enough to glow, he didnt know what else lurked down there. This wasnt his natural ce to be and he wouldnt have been able to explore even if he wanted to. That required a much, much more extensive ritual, one he only knew was theoretically possible but didnt know how. The summoning circle only enabled him to create a temporary connection to this realm. That he was even able to dip into it with his own soul and perceive it was proof of his own level as an elementalist.
Instead of staying around longer than he needed to, he stretched out his magic and called out with his soul. The connection he had with Undine rippled in the nearby water.
That was all he had to do. The summoning circle was charged and the call was made. Wherever she was, she could perceive and follow it. If she had been an unruly elemental, he could have invested quite a bit more mana into things and forced her toe out. As it was, he could either leave and wait in the real world, forced to stay in contact with the circle until she popped up, or just wait where he was. This scenery was a bit more interesting.
A high-pitched sound rang in his ears. Am I getting soul-tinnitus? John wondered jokingly, checking his ears while looking around for the source. The ocean around him grew brighter. In a dash, as if caught in a current, all of the tiny water elementals around disappeared into the distant seas. Pressing one hand against his ear, the Gamer was now absolutely certain of something.
The noise was noting from within and it was growing louder. From a high-pitched tone, it grew into a myriad of different sounds. The scream of a banshee. The swirling of immense amounts of water getting disced. The titanic howling of currents around John as he felt himself getting raised by invisible hands. The oppressive beating of his own heart in his ears as he was face to face with the closest thing to omnipotence in this realm. He heard all of this as if he was in his flesh, as if he had developed to hear underwater.
Violently, he was ripped through the surface. The rain above was more oppressive than thepleteness of the ocean, falling in vast streams from a ck sky. There were less bubbles of air in the rain than water that fell. There was no sun, only lightning that danced endlessly over ck clouds. They illuminated a ck silhouette. John could see naught but the outline of her head, two gargantuan eyes of silver and a prismatic dot that sat in the middle of her forehead. He hovered in the air, somewhere between two unfathomablyrge hands, the rain getting forced into his insides through mouth and nose. Despite the ease at which he had breathed water earlier, he was now drowning C in a worse fashion than he could have ever imagined.
I CANT CLEAN HER! Her voice overpowered everything else, even the desperate beating of his heart. A beating that got weaker and weaker as Johns manifested body bloated and was crushed at the same time C a prison of water forming around him, the pressure increasing by the second. Just as he thought his skull would cave in, his eyes bursting like eggs, he was suddenly thrown back. The Mother of Water could no longer hold him in her realm.
His back hit the wonderful certainty of hard concrete and he desperately snapped for air. Confused, he looked around, felt around; his eyes were there but what he saw didnt make sense. The Mother of Water was burned into his vision, an image that did not let him go. Even now, he saw the rivers that made up her hair slither around like the snakes of Medusa.
send me back he heard someone sing in terror. His hands grabbed something wet. No, something that was entirely liquid. Something warm and familiar. Despite his momentary aversion to all things water, he grabbed Undine tightly. Dont send me back. Dont send me back. Dont send me back. Repeated over and over again, those pleads were a steady chant, a desperate chant for the tormented and fleeing.
Her fingers wed into Johns chest, as she felt her head press against his shoulder. Wet spots quickly grew there, caused by a bodily reaction to fear and relief that wasmon among all humanoid lifeforms. Slowly, John realized again where up and down were, felt his own panic settle and let one of his hands wander to the back of Undines head. Still, she was begging to stay.
Shhh, he made a calming sound and stroked her hair, you are home now. I am not sending you anywhere. You are safe here. You are home.
Dont send me back, please Her voice became quieter, but her desperate chants continued. She tore and tore, tore until nothing was left, but I couldnt die and so she just tore again. Washed me apart. Simmered me down. Diluted me and tried to remove what she couldnt. Dont send me back. Please, never send me back
I wont, John promised and put all of the truth that he could behind those words. With reckless abandon, he dived into her mind. It was a storm of fear, waves breaking on each other, uncertainties swimming around like leviathans hidden under the waves. He was tossed around by invisible currents, he had difficulty staying connected to his own mind. The intensity of her emotions threatened to throw him out and bar him from reentering when she needed him the most. Through sheer will, he stayed in there.
It wasnt until Sienas presence manifested in that ocean besides him that he was able to navigate, however. Physically, the shadow spirit kneeled down next to her fellow elemental and carefully put a hand on her back, as if she was touching a delicate piece of porcin. What was visible of her back anyway, much of the abysstide elemental had be a greyish blue puddle. Eliza was less hesitating, almost throwing herself on top and embracing Undine as strongly as she could.
Together, those actions calmed her a little bit, and with Sienas help, John dived into the crystal of imperfect ice that was Undines mental core. Cracks went through the translucent object, making it visible even underwater.
What his words failed to deliver, his emotions, pouring through their mental connection, could express. He sent her his honesty in the moment, memory of past adoration and images of where she was. Finally, Undine fell quiet, mumbling only a few more words in the elemental tongue. Something about them seemed to amuse Siena, but she managed to keep it to a small smile.
After five minutes of unmoving cuddles, Undine stopped trembling as well. Her body slowly reformed into her usual curves. Another five minutes passed, then she slowly raised her head and blinked. Bring me home. Her voice was so tiny and miserable that Johns heart sank in response. He just nodded and picked her up.
The walk back to his apartment wasnt too long. Siena marched ahead, opening the doors for them, while Eliza and John did their best to chat with Undine about something normal, whenever she showed signs of wanting to talk. By the time they were at the apartment, Rave was already on her feet and awaiting them.
Worried, the Lightbearer walked over and looked at Undine with concerned eyes. After a few seconds, she sighed in relief and put her forehead on the water spirits. Youll be fine, Rave stated and quickly kissed Undine. Right? Ya gonna be fine!
I think? Undine responded, more uncertain than weak.
Youll be fine. Rave smiled like the sun and then stepped aside to let John go on to the bath. Inside, Aclysia and Beatrice were already preparing the bathtub. It was only half full, but John put Undine in regardless. It may have been a bit underwhelming, but this apartment in the Pce was their home and this was her favourite spot. John couldnt imagine a better ce for her to return to.
Do you prefer it warmer now? John asked, looking at the faucet. It was set to a rtively cold temperature, close to the one she had when being an ocean elemental. She nodded and Aclysia quickly adjusted. Do you want your ships? The question came regarding the Christmas present she had receivedst year. A small armada of wooden ships, enchanted to sail around randomly. Undine usually liked to watch them while she rxed. This time, however, she shook her head.
Just hold my hand, please, John, she requested, her tone consolidating. She reached out, rested her arm on the rim of therge bathtub. Sitting down on the ground, John took the red-marked arm without hesitation. I Ill be fine, she decided, when she felt Johns hands around hers.
He kissed the back of her hand and sighed in relief.
Chapter 752 – Still Kingdoms
Chapter 752 C Still Kingdoms
Of all the people and entities John had ever made enemies with, an elemental mother was most certainly not someone who he would have chosen to have a feud with. Regardless of what he wanted, however, the Mother of Water was now firmly on the short list of individuals that he absolutely wanted to tear a new one.
It was one thing that she had roughed him up and threatened him. Actually, the Gamer had fully expected at least some amount of scolding. There was ample he could deserve it for and it wouldnt have surprised him if Undines mother had prioritized his failures over hers. Such was the behaviour of wrathful parents, that mended at the feet of the foreign elements, regardless of what the context was. He would have beenpletely epting of some amount of punishment there.
Undine getting tortured for an entire day was absolutely uneptable.
His adorable slime-goth getting a scolding for past actions was fine. Getting torn, splintered and reassembled for hours in the quest to wash away the perceived taint was most definitely not. Of course, John would have been angry about any of his girls getting mistreated like this. The only person that had done an equivalent, that he had ever forgiven, was Eliza, and she had a pretty good reason for what she had done to Rave. That and an extensive amount of regret had cleared that up eventually.
The Mother of Water seemed to simply be offended by Undines existence. Which meant that John now took issue with the elemental rulers existence. Well, not quite that far, yet. John would happily see an apology and then get into a strained but epting rtionship. The main point was that he was, in good old Telltale fashion, going to remember this.
The damage wasnt too bad, despite Johns intense emotional reaction to it. After an hour of soaking and getting tended to, Undine had calmed down to normal levels and was happy to just be back. As an elemental under contract, not even the Mother of Water could have permanently harmed her in her home ne. As long as the ne of water existed, Undine was spiritually immortal in this realm. As long as John existed, Undine was physically immortal in the other.
There were ample motivations for elementals to seek out contracts. John always guessed that ess to the physical realm was the main one, but effective immortality for beings of pure magic that didnt age certainly helped.
For the moment, John stepped out of the bathroom and left Undine alone with Eliza and Siena. Ill be nearby, the Gamer promised, as he would probably be right next door and y something easy to get the edge off. Thankfully, Undine nodded, while waving after her summoner, as well as Rave and the maids, all of which left the room.
Outside, Metra awaited them. Sitting reverse on one of the dinner chairs, her hands and chin resting on the top of the backrest, she greeted him with a small wave. I guess that makes for the third girl you have with mommy issues, the First of Wrath joked without a smile. John could feel her boiling rage through their recently established mental connection.
At least minorly amused, John blew air out of his nose and walked towards the couch. Aclysia did him the favour of taking the few extra steps to press the button on the Switch. Something Mario sounded like a good way to go about this evening. He was reying Dark Souls 3 at the moment, but getting engulfed in that seemed like a bad idea, while already pissed as hell.
I guess it does, he answered when his back bounced off the leather-d cushions. Rave sat down next to him and started stripping. John soon mimicked the motion. Not because they were going to have sex immediately, but because being nude at home was a whole lot more rxing. Wonder if I shouldin or be thankful that I dont have any girls with daddy issues.
From what Eliza said about her childhood, I think she qualifies, Rave threw in.
Eliza doesnt count, she has all the issues and deserves all the cuddles, John retorted and looked to Metra. He had gotten better at blending out her steadily seething anger, but it was resonating with him a lot at the moment. Youre taking this a lot harder than I thought you would, he pointed out.
Metra shrugged and did her best to form her easy-going smile. Im as deep into this love-cycle shit as the rest of you at this point. Undine and I may not have a lot inmon, and of the harem, I hang out with her probably the least, but I do care for her. With an overbearing motion, she gestured at Beatrice. I even care for that passive-aggressive bitch over there.
Appreciated, the maid stated and bowed her head.
Arent you going to shoot back with something unnecessarily pedantic?
No.
Wow, Metraughed and stood up. Unsurprisingly, she was already naked. Shows how tense these minutes are. With six steps and one jump, she sat down to Johns left. She only remained actually sitting for a moment, however, before sheid down. Her head rested on a pillow she grabbed and her feet on Johns thighs. By the way, the ideas going through your head right now, really fucking stupid C and incredibly hot if you manage to actually do any of it.
Rave, being the only one in the room without direct ess to her boyfriends brain, hummed and closely inspected his face. Lemme guess youre running mental gymnastics about how ya would handle the Mother of Water in the future?
I am considering if its possible to dispose of her, John freely admitted, fully knowing how ludicrous that proposition was. Its a stretch, but its theoretically possible at least if I got some information right. He looked to Rave and asked, Have you ever heard of Kingdoms?
Uh, no? His girlfriend blinked. Doesnt sound like ya mean the government form. Have we reached the point where ya have to exin Abyssal stuff to me?
Seems so, John answered and was handed the controller for the Switch by Aclysia. Two taps of the button and he was inside the Super Mario loading screen. Has to be said that I only learnt about these in a recent talk with Magoi. You know how fantasy races in our worlde from Natural Barriers, right?
Yeah? Faith leaks out and coalesces into forms of human imagination. Most are monstrous and a bit chaotic, generally non-sapient and all that jazz, and will just keep on feeding until they be sorge that they cause a mundane catastrophe and get consequently smitten by Gaia. Very few are sapient and/or humanoid and they make their way into the Abyss.
Right, John nodded, thats themon stuff. Those races can then theoretically procreate and, as long as they remain nearby to new sources of Faith, can just continue on living. They are lifeforms on a magical basis and so they need some form of magic, the rawer the better, to survive like we need oxygen.
Yeah, something, something, withering theory, can we loop back to what Kingdoms are?
Well, John switched between stages and worlds, looking for one he hadnt cleared with a perfect score yet, they are eitherpletely different worlds or Natural Barriers that exist outside of Earth. Magoi said he doesnt know, and if he doesnt know, I sure as hell dont.
Rave raised a hand to her forehead and groaned. So, wait a sec, she said and her eyes moved about as she thought. A little jingle yed when John picked a level and his girlfriend tilted her head. Are ya getting at there being worlds out there where fantasy races like elves and goblins and, I dunno, subi just hang out unbothered by humanity?
Yup, John answered nonchntly, pleased that Rave was following so easily.
And that theres a second way those people can get to our world? Rave theorized. Like, people in the Kingdom just decide to drop off and live here instead?
Yup yup.
How isnt thatmon knowledge then? Rave asked. How have I never heard of that? Hell, how have I never visited one, other worlds sound rad!
Rarity, John responded. How do you enter a Natural Barrier? You get in the real-life equivalent location and enter it through an easy ritual. Mario took a particrly long jump and John raised his arm upwards as if he wanted to cast Exit I.D. How do you enter a Natural Barrier that doesnt have an actual location on the?
Uhhh, Rave had to pause on that one, ya take a spaceship?
The Gamer giggled; he hadnt thought of that one. We are talking about invisible reality bubbles; how would you even know where to fly? That aside, thats not a very magical solution.
Neither are cars and we still got our driving licenses.
Fair point, John conceded on that front and got a quick kiss on his cheek as his reward. No, but the answer seems to be that Kingdoms ovey with earth at some points. When and where seems rather random, but I think thats more a question of things not having been properly mapped out yet. Im sure you could spot some patterns if you wrote down things long enough. Apparently, you can also enter some through specific rituals. He looked at her for a little bit. For the most part, you have to be at the right ce at the right time to enter one, and if you stay too long, you cant get back. That would exin why its rather exclusive information. It could also mean that the more famous fantasy races simply got stuck here early in history. They then made contact with early-day humans, when Gaia was less strict about separation of Abyss and mundane, and then they entered folklore, so now humanitys collective imagination is pumping them out sometimes. He shrugged. Thats a chicken and egg question.
Okay, but where do theye from?
I dunno, John answered floppily. Gaia got bored and created some experimenting ces? Parallel dimensions? Natural Barriers that bugged out and got shackled to their position in actual space rather than their rtive position on Earth, causing them to be left behind because the earth is circling around a big sma ball? All of the above? Your guess is as good as mine. Theye in vastly different sizes, from neighbourhoods to entires, and apparently have some sort of physical core. At least thats what Magoi said was the only ovep the few sessful Fateweaver expeditions ever found.
I get the feeling we should spread intel about this to more people, Rave mumbled.
Maybe. John wasnt quite so sure. He knew exactly why the Fateweavers had kept it secret. For profit and for safety. Exploring entirely new worlds was bound to produce some interesting things. Until they had actually figured out what Kingdoms in their entirety were, however, telling people they were out there was the same as sending a bunch of bored, adventurous people to their untimely demise or permanent separation from Earth. If we do, that has to be a slow educational effort. Anyway, to the point. Mario jumped through the star and the level was finished; John put the controller down. He tapped against his forehead. The Mother of Water had something in her head that looked exceedingly like the description of a core, a Hearthstone, that Magoi gave me.
Wait, so the elemental nes are Kingdoms?
Thatd be the assumption. John nodded. It fits pretty well, dont you think? The elemental nes cant really be essed by anyone. The closest thing we can manage is projection of our consciousness, using a specific kind of ritual that opens a sort of portal. Thats pretty reliable for a Kingdom, given what little I know about them, but it also seems like Gaia has bent the rules for them a little bit, pinning them into rtive proximity to Earth. If physical location is even a factor in all of this.
Rave hummed to herself and wiggled her toes. This sounds pretty exciting. She grinned her thrill-seeking smile. Here I thought I lived on a fully explored, now ya tell me there is all this other stuff out there.
All of this other stuff could be out there, John corrected her. Also, you couldnt pay me to go Kingdom travelling. Im not going to any other world, only to get stranded there.
Somebody has to find out how those things work, Rave pointed out.
That somebody wont be me, not in this timeline, John crossed his arms. Because somebody also has to deal with all of my political issues and I dont trust anybody but me to do that. That aside: I like this.
Okay, no dimension hopping then weirdo. Rave pouted in a joking fashion. Anyway, ya say the Mother of Water had one of those, but how is that important?
It means she has the very centre of the ne embedded into herself. I would guess thats the closest thing to omnipotence somebody that isnt Gaia could reach, John rified. Now, if you could take that away and give it to someone else thats more closely aligned with my interests
Aaaahhh, okay, yeah, I get it. Rave nodded. Much as I love the idea of that, sounds impossible.
Thats what I mean! Metra, having listened to all of that with asional nods and rising eyebrows, chimed back in. Itspletely ludicrous and I LOVE the idea.
Its just a theory, for the moment, John shrugged, a mental exercise should the Mother of Water ever be more than a very unpleasant one-time encounter.
It was good to have back-up ns.
Chapter 753 – Trio Date
Chapter 753 C Trio Date
Yawning, John sat at the breakfast table and resisted the urge to grab his phone. It would have looked like he was bored with the presence of his girls. Although there was a lull in the conversation, there was plenty to be entertained by. The actual reason why he tried to dodge looking at his phone was that there would be some notifications on it, guaranteed, that pulled him towards work. Some minor incident or twopeting administrators using each other ofpletely misusing thew and insisting that the highest authority in thend had to dere who was right. Something was always up.
Getting into the habit of looking at these things during breakfast was a shortcut towards never having rxed mornings ever again. Therefore, he left the technical device in his inventory and instead yawned a second time, before deciding that this was the morning on which he went for a fourth slice of toast.
Eliza, Undine, Siena, he suddenly spoke up, were going on a date today.
Sure fucking thing! Eliza just agreed, despite thising out of nowhere.
That does sound tempting, Siena sighed in her overtly sexualized voice. You will make it worth my while, I am sure.
In contrast to those two, the abysstide elemental did have some reservations about this. While nibbling on a piece of chocte, slowly melting it and absorbing it that way, she tilted her head. A momentter, John shoved back her inquiringly advancing spirit and gave her an amused look. Undine didnt show any change in her expression, tried a second time, and was pushed out again. A third try prodded around Johns mental defences, the water spirit trying to flow in under the door. To no avail, John was vignt, and Undine found her mind once more unable to connect to his.
Now she looked a bit annoyed, swallowed the rest of the chocte and stared at him. The ck, mascara-like shadow around her eyes emphasized the narrowing of her lids as she tried to punch through with a series of precise strikes. None of them went past, the Gamer was the master of his own mental facilities.
Finally, Undine gave up and resigned herself to the fact that she had to have the conversation out loud. Is this to cheer me up? she asked and leaned forwards.
In part, John responded and almost spread the butter over his hand, rather than the toast, as a big disy of glistening slime girl cleavage distracted him. Two magnificent orbs that spilled on the table. He managed to concentrate long enough to do things correctly and throw some meat on top of the melting, salted animal fat. Mostly, I want to take you out to the mundane world. I think thatd be interesting.
While Siena didnt have a way to hide herself through shapeshifting, the new clothes John had gotten her allowed her to participate regardless. If there was a single issue, it was that Siena didnt have body heat. She was as cool as the moon looked in the summer night. Which, metaphors aside, wasnt actually that cold. About 24 degrees Celsius, ording to a thermometer. Not cold enough to make Johns love-making sessions unpleasant. However, prolonged contact with a mundane person could lead to some minor issues. She would already have to keep her distance from others, otherwise someone could brush against her invisible tail.
John was willing to take those small risks.
Whats the other parts? Undine continued her inquiry.
I get to show off three of my girls to the public. John grinned and pointed at Undine, Eliza and then Siena in turn. The goth lover with the big tits; the emotionally unstable, submissive girl-toy; and the sadistic, chocte redhead. Those were in reference to their human disguises. Well, except for Siena, they were pretty much true regardless. AND, he finished his exnation, I get to have fun doing it, so its a triple win.
Still onboard, Eliza dered. Although I have no fucking idea what you have in mind.
Neither do I, but New York is big, well find something, John suggested and shrugged. Ill just leave Jack to do the paperwork. Beatrice, do I have any meetings I HAVE to attend to this afternoon?
Negative, Beatrice kept the answer simple. Although the blowjob schedule will be affected because of this.
Already on it, Rave mused, hanging on her phone. That was more than just her taking this burden off John, his girlfriend moving so the date would run smoothly was clear approval of it happening. Ya three will lose your timeslots this morning, cause, ya know, fair game.
Undine and Eliza nodded, while Siena grumbled something but kept any actualints to herself. After that, they finished breakfast and John went to work. It wasnt as quiet as he had hoped. With no backlog, all he got was what fluttered in throughout the day.
Today, one of those things happened to be a mediation between two (now locally elected) guild leaders that apparently had a bloody history that stretched back a few generations. Both seemed intent on continuing their feud by whatever means possible C except those that would cause John to send over Metra to eliminate both sides of the conflict. Because of that, there was no way John could have condemned either of them, and if he got rid of both over a fight that stayed verbal, that wouldnt have served him either.
The level of mutual hatred was high enough that even Johns outstanding Charisma failed to deliver any results in a timely fashion. For an hour, he had to listen to pastints, carefully navigate his responses to stay impartial and wonder whether it was even worth keeping them on his good side. Given that they were both going to be members of the House of Commons, the answer to that was yes.
In the end, John solved it in a rather basic way: he paid one of them topletely move out of the neighbourhood, so the two would never have to see each other on their turfs again. John also got a hundred-some Abyssals into the sparsely popted south that way, so it was a win-win. A very long-winded win, since both parties wanted to be the one to stay. Only after repeatedly and carefully sweetening the deal did one of them cave and agree.
When John finally put down the phone, he spent ten full minutes face-fucking Aclysia. Not only was he immensely frustrated that he had lost a full hour worth of experience, but that amount of time without sex left the Gamer horny anyway. Especially since the weaponized maid had waited under the table the entire time.
If he hadnt paid extensive attention to her afterwards, there was also a chance that Aclysia would have some colourful ideas about what to do with the two gentlemen that had prevented her from tending to her master for half of her two-hour shift. It wouldnt have been pretty. An Aclysia that had a vibrator stuffed into her pussy, got face-fucked andmanded to cum repeatedly, however, was a kind and forgiving woman. Another fifty minutes of regr serving smoothed over her remaining frustrations.
After that, the work day went on as normal and John called it earlier than usual, leaving at 14 oclock and teleported back home. He came into his apartment just in time to watch and help his dates get dressed. Eliza was the quickest since she liked to stick with the same clothes: ck leather pants, ck t-shirt, a tad oversized, and the ck choker that hid her hair and unhumanly paleplexion under ayer of brte and aprehensible level of whiteness. For shoes, given the weather, she went with sandals. No bra.
Siena also refused to keep her breasts contained. With her otherworldly body, sagging was less of an issue. That aside, John was a firm believer in the science that suggested bras didnt even help with sagging and should be, except to exercise easier,pletely ignored as a clothing article. Of course, he wasnt an actual expert on bra science, so that might be totally wrong as far as he knew. He just liked to imagine that it was false, because he liked to see things jiggle and nipples poking through shirts was strangely alluring.
Speaking of alluring, Siena decided that the best way to cover these huge breasts of hers was to wear a tank top that created an absolutely scandalous amount of cleavage. It was cropped as well, mostly because she needed to keep her lower back free to amodate the tail. The extra appendage being invisible was due to Sienas own powers, that it didnt look like she had a hole in her lower back was thanks to the clothes.
The white colour of the top elevated the milk chocte tan of her illusionary skin, the colour change active once she put on ck-framed sses and pendant. The teardrop-shaped amethyst nestled between her boobs. It was basically impossible not to stare.
John knew this would get him a bit angry over the course of the day because some sleazy gazes would linger longer than he found appropriate. However, between his possessiveness and his pride, thetter won out and he was much happier to show her off.
For legwear, she took a pencil-skirt in dark grey. Paired with the illusion of ck high-heels thatyered on top of her natural foot shape, she got something between the sexy teacher and sexy secretary look. The silky, dark red hair only helped to increase the impression.
Undine took the longest to pick her clothes. She wore a fusion between a t-shirt and a corset for the upper half. Thetter was mostly decoration; the criss-cross running strings did a little bit to emphasize her waist, but didnt have the restrictive properties of a proper corset. Not that there was anything to restrict anyway. If there had been, the slime girl could have just adjusted her overall body shape.
Although not quite as intense as Sienas disy, Undines boobs did their own work to stretch out her choice of top and create a delicious, pale cleavage. The clothes did a much better job at hiding the majority of it though. Unnecessary as its magical properties were for her, Undine also put on the choker and, finally, surprisingly normal pants. Not that it mattered, her hourss figure turned them into a deadly weapon regardless. ck shoes that technically ssified under high-heels, but were neither that high nor that pointy, rounded up the image.
She was ying a fair bit to Johns newly discovered taste for her gothic appearance and he loved her for it. Variety was very important, especially when it resonated so nicely with the ck hair and the natural mascara around her eyes. It was enough to be noticeable, but not nearly enough to look forced or too slutty. It was in the small area between casual and ssy.
John himself decided, after a shower, that he would go out in a light grey shirt and a pair of jeans. Asfortable as his suit was, he wanted to wear something else every now and again. All of that done, they headed out. A quick stroll over to the Transport Station and they teleported to the maind. John did NOT want to take the tourist ferry off Liberty Ind. Not only was it unnecessarily inconvenient, but seeing the real-world Lady Liberty up close made it feel inadequate, given the number of upgrades he had made on his end to the statue and her surroundings.
Instead, they emerged in Manhattan and just started walking. Once they hit the edge of the barrier, John left it and pulled his elementals with him. Since she was in his party and nearby, John was also able to take Eliza with him. Like basically everything else about the supportive or utility side of his powers, she could have resisted such a move, but then she would have needed to just follow them on her own.
Once in reality, John just strolled up Broadway. For the moment, they were walking separately. There were too many obstacles, signs, scaffolds, trashcans, not to mention the people, that they could have moved about as a three to four people wide unit. Instead, they moved in the typical group fashion, sticking closely together but separating if a particrly hurried person didnt feel like there was another path but through them. Which happened quite often. For more reasons than the hurry.
Did you really fucking have to put your tits on a showcase? Eliza asked after she was almost trampled over for the third time, being considerably shorter than the average guy and said average guy being distracted by something off to the side. We are trying to have a date; you are dressed like you want to be sold at the local lets-get-rid-of-old-shit auction as some sort of multi-use tool that contains a full knife set, fleshlights and two giant, useless jugs!
I think the people here know how to appreciate beauty, Siena purred, smiling at the third guy who clearly checked her out in passing. Looking down on Eliza, in a deliberately mocking fashion, she added, You know you could just grow bigger ones. You should be able to put a bit of fat tissue into your tits.
Yes, yes, and I could grow to be some woman that has legs like stiltz if I fucking wanted to, shut the fuck up, you stalking piece of shit!
Stopining about my body if you can change your own but dont, Siena nonchntly reached out to Undine mid-walking and cupped the breast closer to her. Equally rxed, she then lifted that jiggling thing a few times. Be like Undine here, a quiet and good girl.
The abysstide elemental indeed seemed to care fairly little. Neither about Sienas actions nor about the reaction this solicited from the nearby public. Not until Eliza dodged a fourth person and shouted, IF YOU TURN TOO DUMB TO OPEN A BANANA WHEN SEEING A CLEAVAGE, GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT AND GET A FUCKING DOG TO GUIDE YOU AROUND!
She got a very typical New York City answer with a less creative but just as enthusiasticbination of swear words. Grabbing Eliza, John forced the group to move on before the exchange could escte into an actual scene. While Siena snickered to herself in a quiet and devilish way, the abysstide elemental said, Your humour is childish as always.
Perhaps, the (currently) redheaded elemental said and continued to grin. I prefer direct.
Well, if you are going to directly annoy her, John put an arm around Elizas shoulder and kept at least her around as they manoeuvred through the crowds, I am going to give her the favour of protection.
HAH! Eliza let out a mockingugh, followed by a pause, followed by yet moreughter of the unsteady and crazy variety. Fuck, I hate crowds, she then dered, suddenly shrinking away from all the gazes. And I hate it here!
Extra too many people? John asked.
Undine dropped back a step to be next to her summoner and answered instead, Last times incident.
Right. The Gamer looked around. They werent too far away from where he had bought a mundane suit some months ago, and where Tamara had publicly harassed Eliza, reason suppressed by her blood addiction. That was a thing that happened.
Did you lose it in your mental archives? Siena asked. Asking whether he had forgotten would havee up with a definitive no, the Gamer didnt forget a whole lot of things and if he did, alcohol was usually involved.
I didnt have it assigned any high priority, he admitted and shrugged. Lets get off the main road then, Im sure well hit a few more pleasant parts.
Chapter 754 – There is always an envious artist
Chapter 754 C There is always an envious artist
After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around the blocks in the sweltering summer heat, the group was pretty sure they needed to get somewhere inside. 2018 is a stupidly hot year, John thought, checking his phone to find out the exact temperature. 33 degrees Celsius in a coastal city. I thought the ocean was supposed to moderate the weather, he grumbled, then wondered how bad it had to be ind. Going with the middle of the country, he looked for the current weather in Nebraska. It was colder. John was offended.
His annoyance with the fact that weather was nicer elsewhere aside, he still needed shade. By pure chance, the group stumbled by a music shop and decided that was as good a ce to check out as anywhere else. It was a family run shop of the variety that was already hard to manoeuvre with just four customers in the room at the same time.
This was only partly owed to the size of the shop, the majority of difficulties came from the absurd amount of merchandise stacked onto shelves and isles. A store clerk smiled and waved when they answered, but otherwise left them to their own devices as they checked out the items on disy. She was a brte of average looks who seemed content with her life and with reading things on her phone behind the counter for most of the day. John found that admirable, particrly because this meant they could get along splendidly without actually knowing each other.
Despite its cramped state, the shop was rather well sorted, with areas dedicated to different kinds of instruments. Primarily guitars, electric pianos and drum kits. Siena clicked her tongue, likely because she couldnt show off. No violins whatsoever.
Not quite true. John pointed out and picked up a guide book for violins that stood among others for various instruments. Waving it in her direction, he admitted, I mean, no physical violins, but maybe you can imagine things.
Given how fucking good she is at pretending she is some piece of hot ass and not hot garbage, I think Shadow the Edgehog here can almost imagine a violin into existence, Eliza pointed out, while Undine pressed a key on one of the pianos and drew her hand back when a high sound rung through the room.
Siena just chuckled at the insult, as if it was below her to answer, which caused the blood mage to hiss and John to follow the entire thing with bemusement. Those three had a much more aggressive friendship than most other people John knew. Not in the physical sense, Metra and Smander took the cake there, but when it came to throwing word shivs at each other.
Even Undine was caught up in that. You are both walking insecurities.
I am feeling very secure. Siena smirked. But if I tell you you are wrong, you are telling me I am deflecting, and if I tell you are right, you are just going to im you are absolutely right.
That is how the pitfall goes, Undine admitted.
Also, Eliza growled, YOU dont get to tell me who is fucking insecure!
A viewer doesnt have to know how to run perfectly themself to tell an athlete they need to jump when trying to win at hurdling, Undine pushed back.
Why are you even fighting? John wondered, although he knew the answer.
Because its entertaining. Siena walked by her summoner and ran a finger over his chin. A lot more entertaining than agreeing all the time, at least.
Also, lets not forget what happens when Siena tries to help people, the pretty little psycho spoke up and gestured at Undine.
In her singing voice, the abysstide elemental said, It wasnt a total disaster.
I disagree vehemently, John spoke up, but didnt go into detail thanks to the clerk being around. Instead, he looked to the moonshade elemental that now passed him. For a moment, genuine regret hushed over her face, then the amount of time thatid between then and now put a considerable ease on the emotion.
You should get some new insults already, that one is boring me, she stated in a sharp tone, tossing some hair over her shoulder.
Oh, I am sorry, star-queen MacMoonshit. Eliza threw herself down on a stool that was likely meant for people that wanted to test some of the guitars. Did you suddenly get better at helping people? Do I need to remind you of two weeks ago at the candle store?!
The moonshade elemental visibly shrunk back, looked over to John and hastily let out a clear, No.
John perked up, he had no idea what this was about and the reaction only made him want to hear this more. Do tell me what happened! he demanded. Siena hissed and Eliza started to tell the story.
So, we went out to buy a gift for Smander, because we are good fellow submissive gal pals and all that shit, Eliza started, already grinning ear to ear. Since we had absolutely no fucking clue what to get, we decided to just go to the concrete tube ce. After like thirty minutes, we found that candle store and were like Sally likes to burn things, so that shit will do and went in. Turns out, there was some elderly fucker already in there, unable to decide whether he wanted to have a yellow or a beige candle. Siena then hihiaahahaha Siena hehehehe
Eliza broke out into loudughter and, no matter how often she tried to continue the story, couldnt control herself. Only by desperately holding onto the stool was she even able to remain seated. Her upper body shook with spasms while her insane cackling ran its course.
Siena, Undine picked up where Eliza left off, decided that she wanted to help the guy. This meant that she attempted to have a dialogue in which she identified the problem that the elderly man had and then suggested some solutions. Correction: she only tried to get to the second part.
IT WAS LIKE A SPONGEBOB SCENE! Eliza screamed past herughter, and spoke in two different voices, oneedically oversexualized, the other that of somebody who belonged in an old folks home, So, why is it important which of these two shades your long, thick candle is? C I like both of them. C Yes, I also like it long and thick, but what about the shades of the candle? C I want both C Can you afford both? C Yes C Then maybe you should get both? C No, I have to decide which one I want. C Cant you store both of them in your deep, deep closet at home? C No, no, I totally can, big-titteddy, but the issue is deciding which candle I want. C Do you only need the one? C No, Ie here every month to get a new one. C So, couldnt you get hooked up with coc- I mean candles for the next two months? C That does make sense to me C So you can buy both and the problem is solved, right? C No, no, youngdy, I only buy one of the two shades. Eliza again startedughing uncontrobly, this time falling off andnding on the floor, repeatedly pping the carpet.
John looked to Undine for corrections. Largely urate, the abysstide elemental only said.
No way, the Gamer snorted.
It went on for 20 minutes, Siena hissed, clearly pissed off and embarrassed at the same time. We got kicked out of the store afterwards!
Yeah, because you lost control and knocked over aplete disy! Eliza shouted, still amused beyond anything.
John would have beenughing a lot as well if he hadnt had to quickly put an arm around Sienas shoulder and drag her a bit to the side. Tail, he whispered, while emphasizing the word with his mind. The prehensile, over a metre-long thing was already dangerous while moving over the walkway, but at least there was a lot of usible deniability when a lot of people were moving about.
The way it slithered about behind the worked-up shadow spirit, something John could see thanks to his lenses, was more than a bit dangerous. One idental swoop and she could send a whole instrument flying in a way that gravity could not exin. Doubtlessly, this was exactly how the disy had gotten wrecked in the story.
The tail froze mid-movement and Siena curved it up behind her in a way that John doubted was particrly pleasant. It was effective, but it would probably be tiresome after a while, like squeezing through a tight space with both arms raised.
Haaaa. Haaaaa Eliza managed to get off the floor, dragging herself back onto the stool. The point is, Siena, youre a fucking social retard, so I can keep saying you are for as long as you keep making that mistake.
I will make you squirm tonight, the shadow spirit threatened.
Come at me, bubble butt, the blood mage retorted. Which Siena did. She closed the distance with threerge strides, then the two made out for some reason. It had been clear before what was meant with squirming, but now it was abundantly so.
John nced over to the clerk, still unbothered and just sitting there. A really rxed mundane person, as Observe testified. People reallye in all shapes and sizes, the Gamer thought, walking up to Undine and putting a hand on her butt. He hadnt thought about it for a second, his hand had just felt empty.
Undine put her arms around his midriff and hummed happily. Siena. The addressed stopped dominating Eliza with her tongue once the melodic voice reached her ears. We should keep that forter.
I guess, the shadow spirit agreed and straightened back up, looking around. Still no violins though. I wonder what its like to have a second one.
No way to find that out here, John shrugged, but maybe theres another interesting instrument? He looked to the clerk. We can test the disy pieces, right? He only got a thumbs-up and decided to lead by example. He knew no songs for piano and had no idea how to find his way around a guitar, so the only really avable choice was the drum kit. He liked to imagine he had at least a bit of a sense for rhythm.
He grabbed the two sticks and hit the drums in front of him for a little bit. He immediately knew he was doing something wrong. Even though his speed and power, as well as control over both of them, was superhuman, what he did sounded powerlesspared to a real drummer. He also couldnt get the movements to flow correctly. Without the technique, even a mundane person was better than this than the Gamer was.
Wonder how long I would have to try until Gaia decides I deserve a Skill, John thought, then looked at his girls. Hey, if Im making a fool out of myself here, you can at least follow suit! he dered.
But its so much more satisfying to see you being an idiot, Siena sighed while walking up to a guitar. I can apply some fingering knowledge from other tasks, I am sure, she hummed, while trying a few grips and notes. She seemed unhappy with the result. Undine, can you give me a C?
She could; the disguised slime opened her mouth and produced a singr, steady tone thatsted for a few seconds, before she closed her mouth. Like that?
I meant on the piano, but feel free to show off that you know what to do with that pretty mouth of yours, Siena mused and gently turned one of the knobs at the end of the guitar. A few repetitions of thister and they did something like jamming together. The exact way this worked was that John discarded the sticks and went for a basic hand drum instead, working a very basic beat, Siena yed the guitar with a modicum of sess, and Undine sung with the brilliance of the starlit night in the days before electricity.
The level of skill was very unequally distributed.
The days run past and we run to thest. Chase what may be C realize what is and create a world from both of it, Undines voice formed some very basic lyrics. Things that sounded good and inspirational but were actually quite t and used because it came to mind so easily.
Eliza just sat at the side for a little while. Musical talent is un-fucking-fair! sheined and caused them to stop for the moment.
Implying I have that, Johnughed and put the drum down. Why dont you try something?
Because I cant, Im a useless bitch without any artistic talent!
Eliza, I have seen your paintings, John stated and crossed his arms. Please dont insult the tens of thousands of artists worse than you like that. You draw beautiful things.
No! Eliza eximed, then slowly shrunk down as three people stared her down. Maybe! she conceded. I still cant sing for shit though!
You can rap decently, Siena pushed against that as well.
No, I cant, shut up, Eliza grumbled and shifted ufortably on the stool. Thepliments were stressing her for some reason. Fuck you, stop liking me! Im big fucking trash!
Thats not possible, John sighed and walked over. Youre too adorable. Come here.
No noooooo, she weaklyined as John embraced her, pulled her up, and gave her an intense squeeze. First in the tight hug sense, then in the touching her butt sense. Dont give me what I want, you will make me even more needy! the blood mage warned.
I think that ship has sailed, the Gamer said and hugged her some more.
They continued to test some instruments. John in a purely joking fashion, while Siena and Undine actually browsed through the disy with genuine interest. By the end, both of them wanted new instruments. While Siena got a guitar and everything needed to transport it right there, Undine had to hold off on buying a piano. They COULD have gotten it in this store, but there was no easy way to get it back home. Better to just order it via the Abyss Auctionter.
No matter the amount of prodding, Eliza couldnt be brought to actually disy those rapping abilities she was supposed to have. John was left curious on that front, but there were worse things to not know. Im going to hear it eventually, he thought as they headed for the exit. Given enough time, he was bound to catch the pretty little psycho on a day she was in a sharing mood. He nned to spend a very, very long time with Eliza going forwards. Statistically, he was bound to seed at some point.
They left the small shop and were back on the street.
Music is so much fucking better than painting, the (currently) brte eximed while they searched for some ce to eat a little bit at. I cant carry a bunch of fucking paintings with me to show off whenever. All you need for music is an instrument, she looked at Undine, if even that.
Music is fleeting, the abysstide elementals voice resonated with her disagreement. No song can ever be made again. Pictures are forever, a finished thing that the world can profit from forever.
I am pretty fucking certain you can write notes and lyrics down, goo brain.
Thats not the same. Undine shook her head. Every performance is unique, every interpretation new. Music is fleeting, a specific moment in time you can never get back. Paintings carry forwards into the future and maintain their meaning. The water spirit brushed some of her ck hair behind her ear. They have more value than my voice could ever have.
Also, Eliza, Siena chimed in, you can just pick up a pencil and a sketchbook, not that much different. Crossing her arms under her boobs, she pushed them up and made yet another man that was walking by them lose focus on what was ahead of him. To Johns satisfaction, that guy ran into amppost. Although I think the sweet caress of music has more value than your skills.
Are all three of you forgetting that the inte is a thing? John asked. Paintings can be recreated a thousand times and one certain music number can be recorded and spread as often as wanted.
A close, but imperfect, copy of the real, Undine stated.
Yeah, that shit isnt the same.
What those two said.
I am not saying the recording is as good as the original, just that your rules of reach are antiquated, John rified.
They continued to have disagreements about this for the entire date.
Chapter 755 – How John met their Mothers
Chapter 755 C How John met their Mothers
John stood before the summoning circle with crossed arms and mentally wrestled with a decision. Looking to his left, finding his girlfriend gazing at him with questioning eyes, he exined, Im not sure if I want to just do the traditional summoning or if I want to peek into the other elemental nes. He rubbed his sternum absent-mindedly as the memory of the pressure the Mother of Water had put him under resurfaced. Not sure if I want to meet my other mothers-inw.
Kinda sure the other four wont be that bad, Rave suggested. That aside, not like they can permanently harm you.
Its still going to be wholly unpleasant if they decide to do things to me, the Gamer hummed to himself, his head swaying from left to right and back again. The circle repeated as he thought. Well, I know the Father of Light kind of liked me and I dont think I have done anything to change that. Gnome and Sylph have both evolved without problems so far. Really, only Smanders well, I dont even know if she would still qualify as her mother. I would go with yes, Mother of Fire sounds pretty universal, even if there is a step in between there.
Grandma of Fire just doesnt have the same ring to it, his girlfriend said. Anyway, doesnt seem like ya have to fear anything. She tip-toed over and slung her arms around his neck. When did my tiger ever back down from something he was afraid of anyway?
A couple of times, because I happen to think that fear can be a pretty good warning sign for things that you should stay the hell away from, he answered honestly. Next to him, his girlfriend let out something between a grumble and aining meow. What, you hoped I would push out my chest and give you the clich hero answer?
What if I did?
Then I would tactfully remind you that we both prefer me alive and that youre going to marry aplicated, well-intentioned politician of a nerd, not some straightforward, brave hero of a jock. He gave her a bemused nce. You knew what you were getting into here when you decided to spend time with thenky, smart guy.
I knew I was in for some fun, not a dedicated rtionship that would have me help conquer the USA in the middle of it, Rave defended herself. That aside, since when did ya get the authority to tell me Ill marry you?
I had that since you stole my heart. He winked. You were so distracted keeping that thing safe, I had the time to take something back in return.
Thats actually kinda creative for corny talk.
I have to keep you entertained somehow.
Im entertained by brave nerds with big brains and big ambitions. Rave pped his ass, something that made John stand a bit taller from the suddenness of the action. She also kept groping his firm behind for a little bit afterwards. Not all that unusual, in this household. Leaning up to his ear, she whispered, Lemme rephrase the earlier question: when did my tiger ever back down from anything because he was afraid of something?
Your tiger never did that, John answered firmly. The John Newman that didnt know you did. I know that fear is an emotion that should inform decisions, not cause them.
Rave kissed him on the cheek. Thats my boyfriend. She sounded oddly proud when she purred those words and he loved how her tone resonated inside him. After a second p on his ass, she stepped backwards and spoke loudly again, Now get on it, I wanna cuddle Gnome, chat with Smander during workout and C I know this sounds crazy C I miss Sylph babbling.
THANK FUCK! Eliza suddenly shouted. I thought I was the only one who was damaged enough to think that!
Just as long as she doesnt make a mess in my kitchen, Aclysia joked, halfway at least.
John kneeled down at the circle and reached for the outer circle. His fingertips made contact with the ck chalk. His mana flowed in as he activated the first Skill. The way he thought of it, the only proper way to do this was to go down the order of acquisition, which meant he would start with Gnome and work his way through to Stirwin.
It only took a few moments for the circle to react and pull him into the other realm. The transition he experienced was much different. Rather than the room filling with water and fading, it was him that fell apart. His skin, flesh and bones broke apart into grains of sand and chunks of stone. It wasnt an unpleasant feeling, especially once he closed his eyes to ignore the admittedly unnerving visual experience. It was like his muscles rxed beyond their physical ability. For a moment, he was nothing, just another segment of the sediment. A state of mind that he could have, with meditation, prolonged.
However, the Gamer was a person with a busy mind. Too quickly, his thoughts consolidated into the purpose he had and the thirty other things he had to do in the next few days. The earthen ne reacted to this firm mind by giving it a proper avatar. John burst out of the sand, wearing the clothes he wore in reality, and looked around.
He was sitting, lower body still submerged in sand, in a very small desert surrounded by a dense forest. Those two biomes do look very odd next to each other, John thought as he got up. The change from yellow grains to brown earth and green grass was so sudden, the Gamer felt like he was looking at an incredibly high-resolution version of Minecraft.
Other things about thendscape pointed to the same conclusion. Floating rocks, oddly shaped mountains and hills, and a seemingly random assortment of nt life were among the foremost things. What went against the idea, however, were the earth elementals walking around, tiny pebbles, living beanstalks and strange mud creatures among the most present, and the sky. It was still blue, but not because air bent sunrays, but because a gargantuan ceiling made of crystal had assumed the colour. The same crystals seemed to be the origin of light in this ce.
John sent out the same mental signal he had when resummoning Undine and waited for something to happen.
U-uhm, so, an equally royal and shy voice reached his ears from somewhere, and he looked around to find its source. Thanks for taking good care of one of my children t-they all deserve it and yeah, that! Bye! There was another dy and then the panicked voice said, Gnome, just go home already, this is embarrassing!
In a sudden but firm move, John was pulled from this realm and back into his body. He opened his eyes to see Gnome standing in the circle in front of him. You really take after your mother, dont you? the Gamer asked, very certain that he had just been addressed by one of the strongest creatures in the wider existence and that that very same creature had been too shy to show her face.
I-I guess? Gnome answered and then puffed up her cheeks in a mildly annoyed fashion.
Whats the matter, cuddle rock? Rave asked and walked up close.
I didnt want to stutter first thinging back the earth spirit answered and then let out a loud, Umu! when Rave threw herself at her. I missed cuddles with squishy warm things, she said while hugging the harem leader back.
John, meanwhile, shouted in a choked off fashion, as his girlfriends thoughtless indulgence in her hug-addiction damaged his summoning circle more than a little. He then sighed and, since the damage was already done, added himself to that hug. How was home? he asked.
Fun, Gnome answered with a big smile. Nothing to eat, but Mother knew who I was and cared to hear about you and so we had a lot to talk about! She is really wise and powerful! John expected a but there and it came a few momentster. However Not quite the word he guessed, but close enough, ...she is a bit of a recluse and very, very uhm closeted about sexual behaviour?
Ya REALLY take after your mother, dont ya? Rave repeated Johns earlier statement. d ya got over your pervy denial streak though.
Im not a pervert! Gnome raised her voice and got a bunch of doubtful nces. I just like u-unusual things, okay!
Stop being as fucking dense as a rock, you rock, Eliza threw her hands into the air. Being a pervert is basically a requirement to be with that love-ffel over there. She pointed at John. The most adequate reaction he had to that was to shrug and wave.
Uwuwu Gnome didnt have any further counters either. Instead, they cuddled some more and then she and Rave stepped off to the side. After about five minutes of redrawing damaged lines, John then went on with the summonings.
Next up was Smander. She was the one who had the highest likelihood of garnering him some animosity. There had been no reports of fire spirits reacting as negatively towards corrupted among their kind as their watery cousins did, however. Even more than that, fire elementals were, even ahead of shadow, the ones that had the highest amount of demons in their ranks.
What exactly a demon was still eluded John. It seemed to be more of an esoteric title given to things that were vaguely evil and had an affinity for contracts than an actual ssification. The thing was just that John hadnt heard of demons as their own thing yet. There were no warlocks that he knew of and no hell ne, just as there was no heaven ne to his knowledge. All demons and angels he had encountered so far had been in Instant Dungeons, the one that sometimes appeared in churches being the sole exception.
Whether that made them extremely rare or non-existent, John didnt know. He would definitely prefer to live in a world that had subi. Then again, he could have done without devils and things that preferred to feast on human organs. A difficult trade-off.
The point was that there was ample reason to hope that Smanders scars werent seen as something that necessitated purging. Only one way to find out, he thought and initiated the ritual. A storm of fire rolled over the walls, consumed Johns field of view and, extremely quickly, pulled back to leave him standing in an ashen field.
Whereas the ne of water had been creepy and the ne of earth surprisingly friendly, the ne of fire was simply deste. Large volcanoes endlessly erupted in the distance, making the sky a ck amalgamation of ashen clouds that rained their particles down to the craggy, greyndscape. Towers of obsidian and ss rose as sharp spikes from the knee-deep cover. asionally, an opening in the floor would send a geyser of fire upwards, creating intense gales of heat. Thanks to this being an astral projection, John didnt think anything of the warmth.
One would expect a realm dedicated to fire to be bright, but John found this ce to be even darker than the water ne. Sure, there were mes just about everywhere, but those contended with the ash rain, and few were so bright that they could illuminate everything under a ck sky. The horizon was a glowing line, orange at most stretches, with some areas that were blue, white or green, indicating at least a few different kinds of biomes.
John must havended in one of the deserted neighbourhoods of the realm as he saw no elementals around. They might be hiding underground, he theorized, when another geyser flickered up close to him. A bunch of tiny Smanders huddling together and pooling their powers to create an asional explosion sounded like a very fire elemental thing to do.
He didnt take the time to investigate, dropping the mental call and immediately seeing the orange of the distant horizon re into an intense crimson. It was too quick and too well-timed a change to be coincidental. More importantly, the light peeled out of the line of the horizon and rolled towards him like a rapidly expanding bushfire.
John didnt feel particrly great about that, but he decided to stand his ground and wait. Protectively, he raised a hand to his eyes. An unnecessary precaution against the wall of ash and dust that preceded the closing-in firestorm. Blinded for over a minute, the Gamer felt something gargantuan and very hot settle in front of him.
Arge hand swiped the storm away like John would have done with a waft of cigarette smoke. Towering before him and shrinking rapidly to a size moreprehensible sat a woman. Her skin was of a glowing orange, likeva or heated iron, and radiated extreme heat John felt despite hisck of physical presence.
Her body was surprisingly in. Attractive, yes, with an hourss figure and breasts that would have beenrge if she had shrunk to a humans size and basically small hills on her enormous frame. The Gamer couldnt help but wonder what it would feel like to be surrounded, with his full body, by those red-nipple crowned things.
Grinning exactly like she knew what he was thinking, the Mother of Fire looked down at him. She had a face with a pronounced jawline, sharper than John preferred but not in a masculine way. Her smile was devilish andrge, red lips revealing exclusively pointy, ck teeth. Her eyes were like Nathalias,yers of orange that heated up until they arrived at a golden-white core. Her ears were long and pointy. Eyebrows and hair were a steady flicker of multi-coloured fire. Red and orange were the most pronounced, closely followed by ck and only minorlypleted by all of the other colours that mes were found in. None of it was ever steady, aside from the wild shape her hair took, cascading down her back and shoulders.
Not on fire yet, so thats a good sign, the Gamer thought, looking up to the Mother of Fire as she leisurely leaned forwards. One of her legs angled, she rested an arm on her knee to better look down at him. John also got a good look of her crotch that way. Unlike her breasts, he did not have any real curiosity towards how it would feel to be surrounded entirely by arge vagina. He liked to remain outside of the bodies of giants.
In the middle of her stomach, where the navel would usually be, John spotted the prismatic gem that he had also seen on the forehead of the Mother of Water. Magoi had since confirmed that this was the usual look for a Hearthstone.
You seem to be the one, the Mother of Fire stated, her shark-like, ck grin making her inspection of him a fair bit unnerving. She raised her head and looked over her shoulder. Yo, Smander is- Whatever she found must have annoyed her as she clicked her tongue. Slowpoke, she dered and gestured in a way that John couldnt see a lot of, thanks to the rest of her body blocking the view.
He could, however, feel the entire realm shifting at hermand and Smander suddenly appeared next to John on the floor. Somehow, she still managed to stick thending and stood up next to John. Yo, she greeted in much the same fashion as her elemental progenitor. How do you like my home, John?
A bit too much fire for my gentle, human soul, he returned with a joke. Seeing that she was neither harmed nor worried put his mind at ease. Smander smiled and a chuckle from the Mother of Fire made the earth shake.
Steady nerves, I like it, the Mother of Fire said and introduced herself, I am sia, First of the Fires and mother of the same. I offer my name to you, John Newman, as a sign of respect. Understand that you are to keep it in your mind and your loved ones just as I keep your name to my realm.
Respectfully, he bowed his head. You wont find me in breach of contract, sia, I have honoured mine. Including the times it wasnt in my best interest.
And you wrote contracts so you can exploit them with your best interest, I have heard it all. the Mother of Fire made a tossing gesture and yawned. Not out of disrespect, John read from her still amused expression, but for ack of care for etiquette. Let me be clear, any enemy of the deep-dark-deep-down-bitch is somebody I fundamentally like.
News must have spread fast among elementals for Johns treatment at the hand of the Mother of Water having already reached her. Either that or the news of Undines corruption were so old that everything afterwards was just presumed as true. I dont really aim to have her animosity, the Gamer answered truthfully.
You would be an idiot if you did, sia cackled. Who would ever want an elemental mother as their enemy? The Faith-leech in his concrete imperium, maybe, given how much he has to gain from ying one of us.
Romulus doesnt strike me as someone out for unnecessary conflict.
I will let my son be the judge of that and continue dwelling where I belong, sia stated and shrugged. Not that I have a lot of choice in the matter. You obey the contract of names we put in ce and we obey thews of space that Gaia put in ce. Everyone obeys something C except her, arguably. Another dismissing wave of her hand. Whatever it is, I dont worry. I wished to see you for myself and show that not all of us are reactionary puritans like my younger sister.
Im thankful for that, the Gamer said earnestly. Every bit of assurance was a load off his paranoid soul. More than that, her being here and saying her name had gotten him quite the hefty Achievement reward. If I can ever be of service, Ill dly give it my consideration.
Oh, you will be of entertainment, if nothing else, sia said, only to disperse into a storm of crimson embers and roll away as a firestorm, just like she had arrived.
Chapter 756 – How John met their Mothers 2
Chapter 756 C How John met their Mothers 2
You ALSO take a lot after your mother or grandmother, technically? John said, once they were back. At least attitude wise.
Yeah, not that I amining, Smander agreed and hovered off the floor. Oy, Mat, how did you survive without me?
Same way I did with you, just slightly more bored, the First of Wrath returned, and the two greeted each other in much the same way as they had said goodbye C with a fistbump and some friendly wrestling.
There wasnt more to add to that front, although John actually had a question that now surfaced. Since I have two of you to ask now, did you find out whether you just have the elemental standard names? he asked and gestured at himself. You know, like Im called John, which is a super average name for an American?
Disappointing answer is yes, Smander said,nding outside the circle. Like every tenth elemental I met was called Smander, guess it was the same for you, Gnome?
Not quite that bad but there were a lot, the earth spirit confirmed.
Ah, well, at least that solves the mystery, John shrugged. He felt neutral about this, all he wanted was to satisfy his curiosity and that had now happened. Now he wondered how this worked with the summoning procedure though. Was there some invisible magical scancode to all of them? Was his Gnome Gnome#1337? I guess it fits since you also seem to fall pretty middling along your respective origins, personality wise. Not that I amining about you being an adorable, sexy and entertaining lot.
If its rxed and likes burning things, no need to deviate from a winning form. Smander grinned and looked around. Anyway, you should bring the airhead back already, I miss her ramblings. I know, crazy talk.
Totally is, ja, Rave nodded at the side, but were still all thinking it. Super weird.
Maybe its because she is exuding pure cheer all the time? John theorized as he sat down at the circle again. Thats got to be addicting in some capacity? He touched the circle and started the ritual.
His body dispersed into gusts of wind. Interesting that it''s the opposite elements that have simr phasing procedures, he thought. Water and fire both filled the room, air and earth picked me apart.
It was those very same thoughts that caused his consciousness to consolidate into an astral projection in the ne of air. Rather than sand, it was clouds that he rose out of this time. Solid clouds, at least in the sense that he could push himself out. They had the consistency of a very soft mattress and the colour of cotton candy.
John took a look around. Sparkling crystals hung in the air, some smaller than him, others the size of inds. Rivers curved through the sky, as did jets of mes and lightning. It was a chaotic disy, with a myriad of other details surfacing depending on where he looked. Something like a hurricane of flower petals waltzed over the horizon. A grey,pletely still area peeked out behind all the chaos. Looking at it seemed to draw the air from Johns lungs, so he moved on to look at the stream of golden sma that curved through the sky. It formed an ouroboros. Given that there was an actual maw on that thing, John guessed it to be some sort of elemental. Observe, sadly, refused to work.
Of all the realms he had visited, this one he found to be the most visually stunning. Not that he got to enjoy it for much longer. He dropped the mental signal and immediately was thrown back into reality.
Am back! Sylph dered, hovering in the air in front of him. Really great to see you! Really, really, really great! Did miss you! A quick kiss on Johns foreheadter, the tiny elemental zapped over to Smander. And you! The kiss was repeated, as was the zapping to her next target, Rave, in this case. And you! And you! And you! Each iteration came with a dart and a kiss. She had gotten through everyone before John stood up.
How was home? he asked the, now almost traditional, question.
Cloudy, too little gummy bears, lots of chatting, Mom is a sexy beast. Like, super sexy. She can be so tall if she wants to, but usually is, like, the size of me when I am big, so she is small by your standards. All air elementals seem to be kinda small by your standards. I also met my sisters Sylph, Sylphi, Sylphia, Sylph, Sylphren, Sylphenda and my brother Sullyvan. I dont like Sullyvan, he talks a lot of annoying stuff that makes no sense.
When thates from you, vacuum brain, I imagine a nerdy guy that talks about math all the fucking time, Smander said.
Before answering, Sylph decided to take a seat in the fire spirits cleavage. Warm andfy, she sighed, sinking between the twin hills. No, Sullyvan talks actual nonsense. Like, I now get what I must sound like to you sometimes, cause he goes like, and I try to quote but I am kinda dumb, so: Went tripping yesterday, saw bananas, like bananas, not quite the yellow of the egg but, you know, big bulging muscles donte from hanging around with spiders all the time. And I listened to all of that and sipped on some Discordwine, no idea why they call it that, and was only thinking, waaaaah?. Makes no sense, that dude.
John scratched his head, fending off the erection as Sylph did as he had wanted to with sia and vanished down to the neck between Smanders boobs. The fire spirit even did her the favour of squishing them together, to make the whole endeavour easier. Happy I didnt get someone of that variety. I like being able to understand what you say most of the time.
A single hand darted out of the cleavage. I solemnly swear I will improve my understandableness in the future! That was a horror, a genuine horror to listen to, what does it even mean that the ground is out flurps and the sses whisper with marbles? WHAT DOES IT MEAN! She pressed her head against Smanders left boob. World is cold, titty is warm and soft. I made my choice, Ill stay here! Forever! Most air elementals have, like, tiny boobs. I got big boobs for an air elemental. Thats so weird, I am like middling in this harem and I am the concubine! Not that being the concubine means I need to have bigger boobs
You dont get to stay there forever, Smander drily announced.
But youre so warm and big! Sylphined and kneaded the fire spirits boobs like a kitten did its mothers belly. And you feel so big and protective from this perspective! You would make a great mom, Sally! Super great mom!
Smander blushed a bit, which was a rare and almost invisible disy. The only reason John even noticed the slight increase in redness was because it came along with a very clear mental signal. We dont get to be mothers, Sylph, were elementals, so no need to say that.
Nah, we totally get to be, were Johns elementals. He got Perks suggested that said he can breed Acylsia, so he can breed us as well. Breed. Thats a fun word. Breeeeeeeeeed. I wonder if I would make a good mom. Oh! Audible gasp! Sylph turned to John. Mom wanted me to tell you that she likes you and that you are handsome and that you are doing a good job! Also that she would have loved to meet you but she is, like, super busy with a Lorylim infection at the edge of the realm or something. Regr stuff.
Right John couldnt quite wrap his head around the idea that Lorylim infections were a regr urrence. From what he knew, however, the elemental nes suffered from those a lot more regrly than the real world. The ne of air, being the one that mingled the most with the other elements, supposedly also had the weakest borders.
Im also supposed to tell you that her name is Tempesta and that you should keep it in mind and to those close that have your heart or something like that, Sylph babbled on.
Well, that was a bit anticlimactic, John thought and, by the name of the Achievement, was also reminded that the third book of the Kingkiller Chronicles still wasnt out. Which irked him. He really, really wanted to read that book. Anyway, now I got 10 kilos of both the strongest fire and wind metal wonder what I can do with that He had two ideas, both of which had to wait for the moment.
For now, he had one more elemental to summon and his life to resume the normality of before. He touched the circle and stretched his mind to the realm of light. The feeling he got in the process was more akin to wind and earth, his body dissolving, only to reform elsewhere. It missed the bit where he needed to stir his consciousness in order to acquire a body though. He suddenly just was.
This was the only realm he had seen before. A vast space, filled with light elementals of all sizes, filling the vacuum with their brilliant, multi-coloured light. From tiny dots to entires, they made it feel like he was standing within the night sky. Which was the only strange bit. Last time he had floated. Now there was a floor.
It was covered in golden tes and radiated softly. Oddly curved mountains rose in the distance, one looking almost exactly like the other. Between them was a zing ocean covered in darker fields, like the surface of a sun. It didnt have the same heat, though, or at least John didnt experience it. Otherwise, he would have simply been incinerated before he could have perceived anything.
As his eyes moved on, he noticed more strange repetitions in thendscape. The trenches were the same in girth, the gold tes had a rhythm to them and the floor was a lot longer than it was wide. Then he began to realize that he wasnt standing on a floor at all. By the time his eyes had spotted the tail waving in the distance, itself the size of a mountain range, he knew what was happening.
He had, by pure chance, materialized on Stirwins back. The infinity elemental was currently soaking in a sun. John turned around and looked in the other direction. If his light spirit knew he was there, he didnt show it, remaining still. For a moment, the Gamer considered walking up to Stirwins head, his ear more specifically, and have a chat, but that walk seemed like it would take days.
Yeah, he is never going to fit into any Illusion Barrier ever, John thought, rubbing his chin. It was incredibly hard to get a sense of scale, but John felt like Stirwin was big enough to dwarf even Nathalia. The same Nathalia who already had to shrink down to fit into most ces, preferring to move about as a humanoid most of the time. Kind of sad, would be awesome to see, but there are just physical limitations sometimes.
He gathered his mana and sent out the summoning pulse. The ground under him vibrated, as the gargantuan creature started to move. John somewhat hoped that the Father of Light would show up as well, but no such luck. Stirwin rose, and moments after, they both arrived in reality.
Well, hope you had a good time, John said to the tiny crocodile hatchling that sat in the middle of the intricate summoning circle. Sapped of the power his realm had fed him, the infinity elemental had immediately shrunk down to the usual size. Although that also put his brain down to the size of a peanut, Stirwin squealed affirmatively. Must have been nice to be home without being sealed.
Tiny scales rubbed against Johns hand as he picked up the hatchling. He was soft and pleasantly warm. Scratching him under the chin, John coerced a number of further squeals, while he moved towards the door. His mind was set alight with numerousmunications, tiny emotions and memories were exchanged, rifications sought and all of it happened inside of Johns soul.
He had been without most of them for a few days, and just like he had to get used to their presence, they had towork with each other again. A week wasnt enough time to lose the grip on what they had before, it was questionable if it could be unlearned at all, but some adjustments had to be done regardless. Especially since Johns head was so crowded; between Artificial Spirits and elementals, there were a total of nine people interconnected through his soul, ten if he included himself.
John embraced all of that happily. It felt right like this. He didnt have to listen to all or even the majority of it. Their presence alone was what he cherished. After all this time having shared his mind with so many other people, having had over half of them removed felt like living in an empty house. The awkwardly empty seats they had left at the breakfast table had only emphasized this.
Now things were as they were supposed to be and John could concentrate on whaty ahead. Which, in this case, was more paperwork and tomorrow. Indeed, tomorrow was a special day. It would be thest day of August, a month that had passed by with frivolous indulgence and great leaps forward. More importantly, tomorrow was thest birthday of the many they had celebrated this month.
Chapter 757 – Sassy Minx
Chapter 757 C Sassy Minx
John watched the little circle in the middle of his television screen as the connection loaded. Come on, pick up, the Gamer thought, ncing repeatedly at the time. They had agreed on it days ago and made extra sure to speak about the same time zone. He really wanted to talk to Momo and see her face while he did so. It had been too long.
Finally, the loading screen made room for the visual of Momo. Rather than have her smile at the camera or anything, he and the gathered harem bore witness to the artificial support narrowly dodging a fireball. Something in a Semitguage was shouted, John didnt understand anything of it. He hadnt looked into learning anything in the Arabic ballpark yet.
All he knew was that Momo herself was shouting something back in the samenguage. The angle of the camera changed a little bit, allowing John to see a second fireball shing against a translucent blockade of white mana. The wall red for a moment, absorbing the impact effortlessly, then was dismissed by the flying white-haired woman that had conjured it. On the ground below, there was a man shaking his fist at the sky, conjuring a third fireball in his left hand. The floor around him was covered inrge tiles of a red, ck-spotted stone.
Whats going on? John asked, hoping to get an answer. He was only minorly worried, since Momo had already disyed the ability to block the attack without problem. If things got dicey, she could always fly away as well.
Somebody doesnt want to share his wireless, the sassy support pointed the camera at her own face. She was as pretty as ever. Her round face, covered in a fair bit of dust and dirt, was framed by her incredibly straight, white hair. In an unexpected change, it was now so long that most of it reached beyond the frame the camera revealed, currently being her shoulders at the lower border. Only her bangs and the strands directly around her face had kept the old length.
I like your new hair, Ravemented, evidently not taking the situation all that seriously.
Thanks, Momo smiled and changed the angle a little bit to show more of it off. It was extremely long, going all the way down to her butt. The lower half of it was bundled together by a metal ring. On the asion of this camera change, John also got to see that she was hovering above some massive, beige building, with pools, decorative palm trees andrge windows. I decided I liked it longer.
Neat.
The third fireball crashed against another shield. John only heard it as Momo didnt even bother to readjust her camera. For a moment, she turned away to scream something towards the ground. John did not need to know the exact words to extract the meaning, being something along the lines of, Can you PLEASE chill?!
Why are you even hooked up to his wireless? John wanted to know.
Because I am broke, apparently, so I ran out of prepaid inte and now I have to rely on other things! Momo eximed, while hovering over the building. Angling the t roof between herself and the pesky presence, removing the guy from the scene. I had to fly all the way to Israel to find a ce that had both good wireless and was in a Protected Space.
Well, that answers about half of the where are you question I was going to ask next, John said and leaned back. He put an arm around Aclysias shoulder. It was odd to feel her warmth only through ayer of cloth, especially on this couch. In order to not be too distracting, the harem had put on some casual clothes (or hid their sexual bits otherwise, in the case of Siena and Undine). Would still like to know more specifics. Is that some sort of hotel or are you invading some rich Abyssals mansion.
Pretty sure its the former, give me a second, Momo flew back over to the court in front of the building and aimed her camera at the entrance. Despite the clearly eastern architecture, the entrance had that typical pavilion design that wasmon among hotels, especially in the west. Two rows of letters, one in the Hebrew and one in the Latin alphabet, spelled out the name as the Resting ce of Arames.
Notably, the fireball thrower was no longer there.
John put the name into the Abyssal equivalent of Google, while Momo flew back above the roof. Was just the first ce I reached, Momo exined. Dont think of anything bad is going on, see you calling me at the agreed time, try to ept and suddenly that ass is chucking fireballs at me! Who does that?
You know he might be running into the building to block wireless for you specifically? John asked, while browsing the website of the hotel. Founded by a person called Arames about 200 years ago, who came across the site and decided this would be a nice ce for a rest. I had hoped for some greater history behind that name.
Yeah, currently thinking about how to solve that, Momo scratched her head with the tip of her staff. Silver lines ran in jagged and spiralling patterns over the ck surface of the shaft, leading up to arge, equally jagged hook at the head of it. It looked somewhat impressive, but given that it was supposed to be a legendary artefact, TIolyst struck John as somewhat underwhelming.
A new fireball shed against Momos shield,ing along with a bunch of annoyed screams. The fireball thrower must have hurried to get onto the roof and was continuing his assault from there. You have a very persistent guard on your tail, Aclysia noted in a semi-approving fashion.
Why do you sound like you are happy about that? Momo pouted, the lower of her intensely pink lips pushing forwards.
If somebody was trespassing on Masters territory, I would be acting much the same, the weaponized maid exined.
I just need the inte connection! she looked down at herself. Although I wouldntin about a shower. I found a cave system yesterday that only existed on the Abyssal side of things. Thought it was a Natural Barrier at first, but nope. Nothing alive there whatsoever. Found some kind of pre-IBMA barrier maintenance device in there. Its only asrge as a shoebox, if you can believe that.
John whistled, his eyes glued to the screen of hisptop, darting up to Momo on the television (and the camera ced underneath it) asionally. Given the immense size of a regr IBMA, that did sound impressive. Howrge is the barrier?
It was about 2 kilometres across, Momo said. It copsed after I removed the device and left, predictably. Didnt find anything else of importance in there, only some dust that could have been paper at some point.
Kind of annoying that the site disappeared regardless, John hummed, leaning back after having sent an email. I guess thats just the nature of past Abyssal civilizations. They droppletely into the void and remain unfindable forever, once lost.
Really annoying, yes. Momo nodded and whirled her staff to create a new wall to block the next fireball. Almost as annoying as that guy. Oh, fantastic, he got some help on the roof now. Huh? She raised one of her white eyebrows and looked down.
That was pretty quick, they must have a Technomancer, John thought and looked over to Scarlett, who gave him a smug smile. Or mine pulled some strings. Whats going on? the Gamer asked in a yful fashion that made it clear he knew something.
Momo immediately read that and reported, in a dry tone, Some manager looking dude just went on the roof and is now waving me down enthusiastically. Almost as if someone has just sent over a giant check to give me a room and solve the problem with the wireless.
That someone sounds like a really magnanimous fellow, John giggled, while Momo went on a slow descent. The phone was put into a breast pocket, an addition that the Artificial Spirit could make freely to her outfit. It allowed the group to see, at a lower angle, what Momo was seeing.
I think he is a bit of a scheming dick, was thest Momo said before she switched into Hebrew and talked to the guard and the manager. Judging by their tone and expressions, John guessed that Momo was being a bit mean about the fact that throwing all of those fireballs against her shields was aplete waste of time and apologetic for using thework unannounced.
The guard seemed like he couldnt care less and marched off as soon as he was given permission to, while the manager guided Momo into the building. The inside was decorated with turquoise stones, gold-framed painting and illuminated by soft, magical light. It didnt take too long for Momo to be led to a dark, wooden door and handed some sort of key card. The manager then bowed and walked away.
Momo pressed the card against the electronic lock and entered. The rented room was more of an apartment. The first thing one saw when entering was a queen-sized bed, its covering and the carpet it stood on both having a burgundy red colour. Said carpet was an extrayer between the bed and the ck tiles of the floor. Beyond the foot end of the bed, separated by a steps distance and on top of a mahogany drawer, stood arge TV. At the far end of the room, several ss panes and a door showed a respectable balcony, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. To the right was an inbuilt kitchen, to the left a door that presumably led into the bathroom.
Momo turned towards the door, but not to walk towards it, instead stepping up to a table that had previously been out of frame. Like the drawer, it was made of mahogany. Aptop sat on top, looking to be of rather high quality. Opening it, the support said, Neat, that has a camera too, before sitting down on the office chair that came along with the table. Fat chance, but you didnt arrange this to be put here to take it with me?
Even I cant work that quick, John answered, but you can have one if you want to, it is your birthday Oh, right, happy birthday, Momo!
Ja, happy b-day! Rave echoed and so did the rest of the harem, one after the other.
Thanks, thanks. Momo ced the phone down so they could see her while she booted up theptop. Gimme a sec, I want to see if I can get onto the browser version of Discord on this. I can barely see you all on that tiny phone screen Oh hey, dont even need to get into the browser, its pre-installed. A few moments of soft tipping (and a minute of verifying that the new log-in was valid)ter and the angle suddenly switched.
The camera quality went up a notch, which only made Momo look more beautiful and dirtier. More dust and dirt stuck to her clothes, particrly her poncho. Something she was all too aware of, inspecting herself on the disy of her own screen.
I look terrible, she noted, but ignored it in favour of looking at the people she chatted with. You, however, look fantastic. Did you get even buffer since thest photos I got?
Oh yeah, raised my Charisma some more, want to see? John flirted back and teasingly grabbed the edge of his shirt.
Sure, I am confused why youre all dressed anyway, Momo said and winked at the camera. Aclysia, seeing you naked would be a great gift, you know that. Both the weaponized maid and John answered the request and lost their clothing. The Gamer didnt even bother with any pretence, he just strippedpletely.
Ah, this is way better, he sighed and kissed Aclysias now naked shoulder. Like what you see?
Youre more chiselled than all of the statues I found so far. Momos voice rang with genuine respect. Not that I ever really saw you before you got somewhat buff. By the time you created me, you had already invested somewhat into Physical Stats, but still C nice.
You know. John grinned. Anyway, since this is the first time you can actually see them, let me introduce Beatrice and Scarlett to you. He gestured at the passive maid, who simply bowed, and the Technomancer.
Momo clearly enjoyed the sight of having a second Aclysia around. While her obsession had, by her statements, diminished, it didnt change that she was attracted to the older Artificial Spirit. Not that there was any way to me her for this, Aclysia and Beatrice each had one hell of a body. Not that the rest of the harem was any different, which was why Momos eyes clearly moved all over her screen.
Scarlett crossed her legs and looked directly at the camera. I was told youre another smart girl?
Smart enough to recognize a hot redhead, but I think that doesnt prove much, given how obvious that is, Momo flirted with the Technomancer. Love what I heard about you, although you should quit smoking. It makes the kisses a bit ashy.
Maybe if you quit being useless overseas, Ill think about it, Scarlett announced. Depends on how good the extra kisses would be. Although that is also reliant on whether or not you decide to re-join this fuckers harem. She pointed at John with her thumb. I do many things, but I dont like to love outside this already oversized web of rtionships.
Ivee to a decision on that front. Those words had John lean forwards in a deeply intrigued fashion. Most of the harem followed the motion, eagerly staring at the screen as the silence grew. But I wont tell you yet.
John threw a hand into the air. You know I am 99% sure I know the answer already and that Ill like it. You can just tell me!
But its so fun to watch you squirm under thest 1%, Momo hummed.
Dick move! Raveined.
At least it fucking proves that our techno-angel there is some level of smartass, Eliza spoke up and got some confused nces. What? Everyst fucking smart person we meet is a giant, teasing cuntwaffle that likes to run circles around everyone with their superior intellect. Exhibit P. She pointed at the nude Gamer.
That is fair enough, Johnughed. I assume the P stands for pervert?
No, it stands for pussy-filler, cause you should cream me repeatedly until Im starting to bloat with cum again, you absolute cunt. BREED ME!
Again? Momo asked with a raised eyebrow. You managed to do that before? I know that spa day with Nathalia was really extensive, but beyond that
Cumslut got pretty ridiculous eventually.
Ah well, pivoting from Cumslut, I see that Gnome and Undine both evolved. You both look good. Like the new hairstyle, Gnome.
Thanks! the autumn elemental stated and, made self-aware, brushed through her partly braided hair. I-I really miss you, Momo, she mumbled, then repeated it louder, when they had to be afraid the microphone hadnt picked it up. I really want to spend some nights talking about nonsense with you again and I think youre sexy and smart and I just want you back with us, okay? Like, properly Embarrassed, Gnome fidgeted with her hands, pushing her fingertips together only to draw her hands apart repeatedly, and averted her flustered eyes from the camera. soI hope John is right about your decision and yeah
I uhm, Momo had not been prepared for such a heavy dose of earnest sweetness and stumbled for a moment. I miss you too, Gnome. Thats all Ill say for now, okay?
Okay. The autumn elemental nodded.
I miss you as well, Undine said out loud. You are a reliable voice of reason. We all need that sometime.
You lot are making me blush, Momo said, as if she wasnt visibly red already. Anyway,st I heard from you was when you called regarding that whole minister idea. Anything exciting happened since?
Nothing too out of the ordinary, John began, but also enough that is noteworthy.
A long, long conversation with many tangents ensued.
Chapter 758 – Sexy Minx
Chapter 758 C Sexy Minx
A long, long, long conversation indeed. Itsted for hours and most of the girls dropped out at some point or another. Although all were friendly with Momo, some were naturally more interested in talking to her than others. This was just the nature of any circle of friends, no matter how close, some cliques stuck closer together than others and some two people withmon friends onlymunicated with uncertain silence.
Thest part wasrgely eliminated in the harem, sex was a pretty great ice breaker, but the former was unavoidable. There was also the realistic limitation that having over a dozen people in a room, trying to have a conversation with someone else with a single microphone around was not the mode ofmunications humans were designed for. Afternoon rolled into evening and evening into night and the girls trickled away into their own rooms to rx, sleep or go after whatever they had on their mind.
In the end, only John, Undine and Gnome were left, with Momo sitting on the other end. Where it was dark outside their windows, the sun had already risen again in her hotel room. Just the nature of time zones.
At some point, Momo had figured out how to connect theptop with the TV. Now the former was sitting under thetter and the Artificial Spirit on the bed. It seemed a lot more pleasant than the wooden chair the first few hours had happened on.
She looked out of the window and frowned. Guess theyll kick me out of here soon.
Nah, John waved off, I booked for three days, no need to worry. He had taken the hand off Gnomes waist to make the gesture. Much like him, she was nude and the slime girl on his left side had long since formed her sexual bits. Only Momo remained clothed, a sign of remarkable self-control, given that she was clearly loving everything she saw. John had only caught her touching herself twice during the call. If you still use the same bank ount, I can send you some money too.
Momo sighed. I want to refuse, but Ill need it if I want to keep going. After a few seconds of pondering, she sighed a second time. I guess I can write you down as my sponsor for whatever interesting thing I find next. That way, I wont feel that bad.
No need to feel bad because I gave you some money for your birthday.
Yeah, no, I do though, the artificial support stated and then stretched. Well, regardless of any of that, I should really take that shower already. So, I guess this is where I say goodbye.
You should take us with you, John suggested outright and winked at the camera. A little bit of a steamy shower show, just for me.
And your present ensemble, you masturbation-invalid pervert, Momo pointed out in a jokingly sharp tone. Then she got up and walked to theptop, pressing some button and ending the call on that device.
The camera automatically switched to her phone; the program was still running on it after all. At first, John thought this was a mistake. He heard the sound of curtains getting drawn closed and was about to speak up to tell her when the phone was picked up and the shown video changed from the ceiling to the blushing face of the sassy support.
Im doing this for you, not the money! she eximed, as she marched towards the bathroom. The ck of her clothes already vanished under her skin around the shoulders and John couldnt wait to see the rest of her. His cock quickly hardened with anticipation. And you have to follow two rules.
Im sure I can do that.
Can you? Momo raised an eyebrow. I dont know if I trust you after half of your blood already went downstairs.
Then you should make me promise things before I get a hard-on.
You would just forget about them anyway.
Then you can never trust me and youre the idiot for obliging me.
I mean, thats just obvious. Momo stuck out her tongue and then cited her two rules, One, you cant record this. Since he hadnt nned to anyway, the Gamer just nodded. Two, you, and I mean none of you three, are allowed to pleasure yourself or each other before I can see you on the big screen again!
W-why?! Gnome stammered.
Because Im not missing out on you getting off to me, Momo dered and raised her camera so just a hint of her nipples was visible. Do we have a deal?
Yeah, sure, if it has to be this way, John grumbled, not looking forward to the immediate future. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make in order to get to see more, however. Implicit in the deal was a promise on her side that the show would continue past the shower.
d you can still see some reason. Looking around, Momo put down the phone, likely next to or on the sink, and stepped backwards. Her lean body was in view, head to knees, the lower bits cut off by whatever surface the phone was on. Can you see everything? she asked.
Not sure, John hummed and joked, maybe you should show off a little so I can be certain?
She obliged, much to his joy. In the artificial light of the dark-tiled room, her milky white skin seemed to radiate. Light pink nipples and the glistening wetness of her pussy lips added a few nice details to that colour. Soft shadows yed over her skin, created by the petite rise of her breasts, the little trench between sternum and navel, her spine, and finally those created by the delicious curves of her round bum. All of it was further decorated by the dirt, which had been nigh invisible on her ck clothes but stood out quite a bit now that she was properly naked. It gave her a wild note that was attractive in its own right. John still preferred his women to be clean though.
Her immensely long hair waved with every move. It appeared meticulous, no matter how the rest of her looked, and fell to the side at exactly the right times to show off her goods with emphasis. In one long stroke, she removed the metal ring that held the ends together, bowing forwards while she ced it on the edge of the tub. The straight strands parted equally down her spine, framed the spankable butt and the wet pussy as they stretched towards the camera.
Momo had made more adjustments to her body than just her hair. Her midriff had not been quite that marvellous before and her ass not quite that fat and round. Her figure was still bnced overall, closer to a column than a pear, but a slight shift towards bottom heaviness had definitely been made. Much to the Gamers liking.
John involuntarily groaned, Oh yeah, we can see everything. He tried to distract himself by keeping his hands on Gnome and Undine. An act that followed the same logic as trying to satisfy a craving for crisps by eating only a single one. Before he knew it, he was no longer just holding the two elementals but fondling their boobs. Undine let out a long, melodic moan when he pinched her nipple. The elementals, in turn, were barely able to keep their hands to travel from his abs down to his groin.
No pleasuring each other! Momo reminded them as she stopped her posing and stepped into the shower. With a great deal of willpower, all three of them managed to withdraw their hands. John had to literally sit on his, he didnt trust himself any other way. Drops of precum ran down his cock while he watched the full HD broadcast of Momo showering. She had picked a phone with a very good camera.
It was a sort of hybrid shower, a bathtub with a showerhead connected to the faucet, allowing for soaking and showering. Underneath the holder for the showerhead was a tip-up seat, currently folded against the wall. A curtain was off to the side and left untouched.
With a pull on the handle, and a few adjustments of the temperature right thereafter, Momo began to shower. The water ran over her, pulled the visibleyers of dirt with it, and had her hair stick to her curves. Like swirly lines drawn into the snow, the strands curved over her body as white on white.
Momo sighed contently while her hands travelled her body. Scrubbing at first, then leisurely, letting the warm water cleanse her skin. I havent had a shower in a while, she said.
You should treat yourself more often, Johnmented.
And let you watch?
I-if you want! Gnome enthusiastically chimed in. Youre very cute and and all that!
Finally came out of the voyeur closet? Momo wondered.
I I mean yes.
Good on you. Momo smiled over her shoulder, her white eyes reflecting her amusement. She bowed down to turn off the water again. It was a deliberately slow and teasing motion. She was performing for them and John was very certain that the inside of her thighs were slick from something else than water.
You like being seen, Undine let the rare treat of her voice be heard.
I guess so, Momo admitted, while her arm vanished in her inventory and retrieved a bottle of shampoo. Sparingly, she put some on her hand and her head and then started to distribute it. While the foam crown was questionable in its sexiness, her glistening body definitely wasnt. Her hips and chest wiggled excitedly while she talked to the camera, I definitely feel a lot more intense if I take care of myself outdoors.
John was so tempted to try and give her a sudden,manded orgasm, but he knew that wouldnt work through the phone. Instead, he asserted, You masturbated in the desert after taking that picture for my birthday, didnt you?
Yu-p. Thest bit came out with a pop of her pink lips and Momo put the shower back on. The soap ran down her skin. Thanks to her artificial origin, her hair suffered no degree of matting during the washing process. Im not embarrassed about that!
Didnt say you were.
Totally wasnt wondering what the hell I was doing or why it felt that good.
I believe you. Even if you are turning suspiciously red there.
The banter did wonders in distracting John from the torture that was his unattended dick. Back and forth, the exchange went, until Momo suddenly let out a lustful sigh. A cleaning gesture over her crotch turned into an explicit rubbing of her clit. Without any pretext, her other hand found a hard nipple and circled it.
How much hornier does it make you that were watching? John inquired in his smoothest voice. The more she yed with herself, the easier it was for him to slip into the dominant mindset. A familiar and pleasant perspective to have, contrasted with the patient withdrawal he currently suffered.
A lot, Momo moaningly made known, slipping a finger into herself. Although I cant really know how much ahhh better it is until I actually cum
How about we take this to somewhere you can really see me watch then? John suggested in a tone that made it less of a question and more of a friendly order. The sooner he got her back into the bedroom, the better for the sanity of him and the two beauties at his side.
Just a moment, the support gasped. A second finger soon joined the first and she masturbated fervently. Either that wasnt enough for her or she didnt fancy that particr vour of self-satisfaction today. Whatever it was, she soon stopped for as long as it took to lower the folded seat, nt her squishy ass on it, grab the shower head and redirect it between her legs. With the turning of some mechanism, she caused the water toe out in a more concentrated stream.
While the water stimted her pussy lips, her other hand rubbed her clit. Instinctively, it seemed, her hips rocked back and forth. John could see himself under her, letting her ride his cock. Perhaps Momo imagined something simr, as she closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. Throaty moanspeted with the running shower and the elerating movements of her fingers for the dominion of sound. The erotic echoes won, as her fingers blurred and moans turned to shouts.
Her spine bent, back pressing against the wall, only to arch in the opposite direction a momentter. With a loud nk the shower head fell from her hand. Outstretched legs pressed the heels against the rim of the tub, toes curled. Between her parted, smooth thighs, her pretty pink pussy clenched and rxed along with every spasm that went through her climaxing body.
Slowly, the orgasm ebbed away. Momos fingers stopped in their movements as she let the pleasure run its course. On the other side of the connection, John gobbled up the sight of seeing her first reduced to a panting, quivering mess and the gradual recovery to a beautiful, partly relieved mess. Whew, I needed that, Momo announced, ending the stream and putting the shower head back into the proper ce.
Were not going to stop here though, right? John asked, mildly afraid that he was about to get trolled.
Momo didnt give him an answer immediately. First, she grabbed a towel from somewhere offscreen and dried herself off. Hearing yourints would almost make that worth it, she teased, only to turn around and push her ass into the camera. There was literally nothing else to be seen but her butt, clean, white and firm, with one cheek getting pulled by the side, trenches appearing in the gel-like glory of it. Anyway, take a guess, she hummed, while a gooey strand of pussy juice slowly dripped down.
For the love of everything, please hurry back to the bed, John begged, not knowing how much longer he could ignore the pulsating in his shaft. That Gnome basically copsed onto him, her head burning with a voyeur induced fever, did not help.
And what if I dont? Momo asked, picking up the phone with a wide smile.
Then Ill have Undine here copy your looks and fuck her until I have vented my frustrations.
You do not have my permission to use my likeness that way!
I own this ce. The copyrightw is whatever I say and I say thats fair use.
You mistake fair use for using one of my girls to get off.
Sometimes both can be the same, John answered with a grin. Their whole bantering ended when Momo vanished from the screen for a second, only for the camera of the openingptop to snap into ce instead.
Good boy, you followed my rule, Momo purred when she saw him on the big screen again. With a step and backwards jump, the now clean Artificial Spiritnded on the mattress. Immediately, she started working on herself again. Go ahead, do as you usually would.
Undine reacted the fastest. While John was busy putting his hands in much more interesting ces than their sides and Gnome had troubles even formting thoughts, the abysstide elemental imed his lips for a kiss and his cock to suck. Two greyish-blue slime girls split from each other to that end.
Not one to leave anyone wanting, the Gamer immediately had Jack pull Gnome off the couch and bent her over the table, so she could still watch Momo while she got fucked from behind. A third Undine clone imed his empty side, while Jack pushed into Gnomes cunt. It was so slippery, he had no troubles getting all the way inside her with one stroke. She came immediately and it didnt take the Gamer or Undine long to follow suit. All the built-up desire required a quick venting.
Cum pumped into the mouth of the water spirit between his legs, a hole as sensitive, if not even more so, than Gnomes pussy, which got its own fill of their summoners seed. The lustful mist that clouded their heads was partly blown away by the sheer force of the necessary orgasms and the screams that went along with them.
Fuck, thats pretty hot, Momos voice went between the orgasmic screams. So thats your double in action, huh?
You havent seen half of it. John grinned, his lips separating from that of the left-side Undine. Ive be a literal sex god since you left.
You mean figurative.
Pretty sure I dont.
Pretty sure you didnt be the third human god and pretty sure a goddess of sex already existed, so yes, you do.
Maybe I did, John conceded that one. Okay, I definitely did! he added when Momo gave him a death stare for a few seconds. Enough about me, I want to see you do something sexy.
Hmm, I think Ill oblige, Momo purred and reached into her inventory. She received a dildo, the standard skin-colour version that wasnt all that fancy. With the one exception that it was pretty much exactly Johns size. As you can see, Im putting my inventory space to very good use. Her pink lips gave the tip of the phallus a kiss and then she started sucking. Her white eyes stared at the camera, while she gave service to the dildo.
And Undine, using the right-side clone to follow the events on the screen, synchronized her movements with Momos. A fact that spurned the support to give the toy cock way more attention than an inanimate object deserved. With kisses and licks, she thered the length in saliva, then took him into her throat. Her pussy gushed visibly, once it was inside her down to the hilt. That her fingers were once more working on her clit did wonders to that end.
While John had no control over the pace of the blowjob, he had a lot of other things to do with his attention. Keep watching the screen, most important of all, but also attend to the goth slime and her huge breasts to his left. With tongue, teeth and fingers, he yed with the squishy goodness. His mind also had to keep moving Jack along.
When it came to fucking Gnome, he hadplete control. The earth spirit was nothing but moans and flying eyes, darting from the couch to the screen and back. Bowing over her, the double mocked her softly, You dont know where to look, huh? Peeping pervert that you are.
I-Its all so so wonderfully depraved! Gnome defended herself, only for Jack to let out a series of throatyughs. elerating, his hard thrusts left her no time for further words, only moans and repeated climaxes.
How about you use that thing for what its intended? At Johns behest, Momo finally pulled the dildo from her mouth and moved it to her cunt. She didnt just push it in though. Instead, she grabbed a pillow, put the dildo on top and straddled both. It was the closest thing she could simte to actually riding him.
Stopping with the synchronized efforts, Undine resumed to suck him off at her leisure. She could have changed her position to follow the supports example and rhythm further, but would have taken Johns ess to the view in the process. More importantly, since he could have worked around that with Possession, she would have taken Momos view of him and that was firmly against the spirit of the exercise.
You just wait until I get back the support gasped thoughtlessly, then shouted as she was split by the size. Fuck yes ah AH! Her hips had barely made contact with the pillow and she immediately went up again. Fixing the toy in ce with constructs of white mana, she could ride it with rtive freedom. The bed started to creak as she took on a breakneck pace from the get-go. Tell me when! she shouted in lust, rolling her left nipple between her fingers.
With now two Undines pushing their full, delicious breasts against him and the way his cocks were treated by the girls insides, John didnt know how long he wouldst. A little while, that much he knew, as minutes passed in the same constetion. Not boring minutes by any stretch of the imagination. The ecstasy they all dwelled in filled the room with squelching sounds and loud moans, the usual sounds in John Newmans harem and as sweet as ever. They all watched Momo and Momo watched them.
The support was clearly trying her best to dy the inevitable. She was taking pauses. Heavily breathing and with clear difficulty, she held back her own orgasm by freezing, flirting, teasing and mocking, usually in equal measure. Regardless of her attempts, her moans grew ever sharper and higher in pitch. In a final effort, she changed positions, gaining a few precious seconds by slipping off the dildo and turning around.
Perhaps the idea was less to make herselfst longer and more to set him off sooner. Seeing her slide that phallus right back into her quim, followed by the repeated bounces of her jiggling ass, it definitely worked. Momo knew his tastes well and that he was an ass man was among the most fundamental things.
Im John inhaled heavily, as the lust threatened to overwhelm him. Like the sea before a giant wave, he felt a moment of rity. It allowed him to shout out the words, Im cumming! then the ecstasy washed over him.
He heard her more than he saw her. His field of view blurred with ck dots and white lightning, an effect on his vision that no amount of magical origin seemed able to fix, but her climax rang true through the speakers. More than that, there was a single word, squealed in such an intense, desperate tone that he could barely understand it. Johnnnn!
While the girl that shouted his name had tried to keep her orgasm aligned with his, the other two hadnt bothered to hold back. They had climaxed again and again. Regardless, this was the most intense climax of the night for them as well. While the repeated climaxes and aftershocks took their toll, vast quantities of his seed pumped into them, increasing their ecstasy with every spurt.
The sounds faded and the spurts grew weaker. The soft breasts, pressed against Johns chest, stopped to quiver in orgasmic delight, just as the intense grips of Gnomes pussy and Undines throat softened to milking pulses.
John regained control of his sight just in time to see Momo fall over backwards. I really needed that she panted, rolling on her stomach. Her flushed face, decorated with a wide, honest smile, and the twin hills of her ass were aligned in one beautiful shot. That was WAY better than just doing it on my own.
Always happy to repeat this, John promised.
Chapter 759 – Nya
Chapter 759 C Nya
The call had ended shortly thereafter, with John and Momo going on a final tangent about the size of her gifted budget. To his detriment, the Gamer managed to barter her into a higher sum. All of the tens of millions had to be derived from his personal ount, as was proper, but the Gamer was pretty well off these days, so that didnt matter. Turned out that, if he didnt use money to motivate political action on a personal level (a friendly way to say bribery), his coffers stayed pretty full.
Sure, there was the spending rted to new resources, but Scarlett had fiddled with the economy in such a way that no meaningful shortages appeared. Where she could, she had the raw goods imported and sold herself, where she couldnt, she pressured up and down the supply chain to spur thepanies not directly under her thumb into action. Having a genius that could give orders as quickly as her magic could convert thoughts into signals heading his economy was a boon beyond what most of his girls could supply in terms of raw value.
Elite fighters werent cheap or easy toe by, so all of his girls that fell into that category were still immensely valuable, but Scarlett was an extremely rare case of a nonbat ability taken to the same level of skill and power. As it currently stood, it wouldnt be an understatement to say that she was more important to Fusions well-being than he was. As strong and charismatic as he was, a figurehead could be reced.
Right, so keep yourself useful and those hands working, Scarlett sighed, while the Gamers hands rolled over her naked back. Lying on the kind of lounger used for massages, she was getting exactly one of those. Before I remember that I really fucking like power and knife you before you level up into an unstoppable ultra-superhuman.
I think we both know that, even if you suddenly started hating me and found an opportunity, you wouldnt take it, John said and kneaded her shoulders. It was a dry affair, in the sense that he wasnt using oil. They had no idea where the oil cloth was and Aclysia would have been majorly annoyed if they spilled anything on the floor or, worse, the furniture. As much as the Gamers apartment was designed to be easily cleaned of fluids, there was no reason to worsen things through thoughtless action. You value your life too much.
Having a vengeful Eliza on my ass does sound rather dangerous, Scarlett admitted. Spank me.
As you wish, Johnughed and gave her ass a nice p. The sharp moan and jiggle were magnificent. The sharp sound alerted the second reason in the room why they avoided using oil today.
Jumping onto the back of the couch to give herself a vantage point, Velka looked for the source of the new noises. Silently, she stared at the naked couple in the middle of the room. Her orange-red eyes blinked a couple of times, as her head moved in the typical, bird-like suddenness to get multiple angles.
They had taken her out of the usual room to give her a change of scenery. As much as her room was designed to the needs a cat-bird-chimera-thingy could have, it wasnt toorge and John had a bit of time this early afternoon, so he decided to spend that with Velka and Scarlett, who also happened to be avable for some cuddles.
John still wasnt sure how to behave around the young Magryph when it came to sex. He didnt want to have any while she was in the room, that much was clear. Not because he feared it would have any adverse effects on the animal, as smart as she may have been for an animal, she was still an animalrgely driven by instincts, but because it was just awkward. He had heard the stories of dog owners getting interrupted in the middle of action by pets that thought they were being threatened by their lovers, amongst other things, and he didnt want to risk that.
When it came to nudity in the (definitely more than four) walls of his home, though, he didnt have anywhere close to the same hesitation. That was just the natural state around here and Velka might as well get used to it. John was certain he wouldnt extend the same logic to whenever he had actual kids, but that was a problem for then.
Further than nudity was the question of flirting. Verbal flirting was no problem, but it skirted the line when things got more physical, as they tended to do. John was still exploring where he was in terms offort on that topic.
Velka meowed. For thest two days, she had favoured cattish sounds over her caws and warbles. Apparently, that was perfectly natural. As they grew up, Magryphs went through several stages of testing what their voices could do. Possessing both the syrinx of a bird and therynx of a mammal opened a lot of options. Sometimes those tests included a screaming phase. John desperately hoped Velka would skip that. If she wanted to, the tiny thing could produce some really unpleasant sounds and it would only be worse as her lung volume increased.
Come here, Scarlett said, sitting up and drumming on the corner of the lounger, as one would do to bait a cat. With a tilt of her head, the small beast looked at her target, the distance between herself and it, and then got on all fours. Wings pressed closely to her body, tail and tail feathers raised, she cowered down, wiggled her butt a little bit, and then leapt.
Gracefully, shended exactly where Scarlett wanted her. Good Velka, Johnplimented his pet. He reached into his inventory and retrieved a box of minced meat. Because things in his inventory didnt spoil, this was his current way of keeping treats for her around. He took out a bit, rolled it into a ball between his fingertips, and proceeded to feed it to the Magryph.
While Velka would have much preferred more than that, she was quickly growing on the treats. She had be remarkably docile since the Tamer ss had been unlocked. Whether this was rted to the ss itself, the fact that they had the Beast Binding between them or that he had engrained a proper respect for him was anyones guess. John, like usual in such situations, guessed that it was a mixture of all of the above.
Remarkably docile only meant that she was more obedient when it came to obeying requests, though. When something annoyed Velka, she let it be known, with caw and ws. John was getting better at reading her mood as well and, if nothing else helped, he just called Eliza. Velka hade to associate the blood mage with safety andfort.
Scarlett picked up the chimera and raised her like she was Simba in the Lion King. You are worth SO much money. The Technomancer grinned and tossed Velka in the air. The Magryph meowed happily, as she felt like she was flying for a moment, only to be caught again. A female thats going to be highly fertile thanks to Johns Perks. A second toss caused a second sound of jubtion. A natural ability to find valuable things. A third toss and now Velka purred like a happy kitten. Not to mention that you are adorable.
Scarlett pulled Velka to her chest in the usual fashion and scratched the soft belly. Something she got repaid for with friendly scratches and tiny nibbles. A bit awkward, as Velka decided the nearby boob was more interesting to use her beak on. Scarlett didnt really mind and the Magryph didnt know the difference.
Fluffy, warm, behaves like a very smart cat, whats not to love? Scarlett hummed. When you grow up, Ill have lots of work for you, you adorable value detector. The title was a reference to Velkas (or Magryphs in general) ability to find whatever was of the highest rarity in her surroundings. There was a limiting factor in that they would always go for shiny and, preferably, durable things, though. For example, a Magryph would almost always prefer a marble made from ss over a artistically decorated bathrobe. Sure, the bathrobe may have been more valuable overall, but the marble glittered in the sun, so that was all the reason she needed.
More important than their ability to draw distinctions between different items and their values was their ability to just find things with supernatural precision. John had yet to see that work in person, but he had heard that Magryphs had a sixth sense for detecting treasures. When she started roaming outside and had somewhere bigger to put her personal hoard, the Gamer intended to create a testing ground for her to search around in, just so he could get a better idea of things.
I took you for more of a dog person, John picked up the conversation.
What I like are smart underlings that work for me without needing to check back with me every two hours, that arent needy, that dont need to be trained too much and that are equally loyal and clever, Scarlett listed and moved her hand up until she was scratching Velka under the chin. So, I am neither a dog nor a cat person. I likepetence. Now, off with you, I want more of that massage.
Scarlett dropped Velka to the floor from an appropriate height andid back down. As much as John wanted to, he couldnt immediately get back to rubbing her smooth skin. While Scarlett was done with Velka for the moment, the purring Magryph was not done getting cuddled and decided that Johns leg was the best path towards more pats.
Something the pantsless Gamer very much objected to. The pain of her ws digging into his skin was tolerable, courtesy of his abilities, but far from pleasant. Especially since her scaling brought her en-route to his dick. No, bad Velka! he reprimanded and picked her off his leg by grabbing her by her scruff. No climbing peoples legs! With those words, he put her on the couch. While he was already moving, he also washed the fat residue from the minced meat off his hands.
Letting out a disappointed meow when he turned around without further scratches or head pats, Velka lowered her head and epted her fate. Instead, she took to exploring the world under the couch.
John knew she wouldnt find anything interesting there, not even dust, so he left her to it and finally got back to Scarletts back. His hands started on her butt. Not an area that needed rxation, but he had to treat himself as well as her.
Sighing in rxation, Scarlett stretched and closed her eyes. If I fall asleep, just let me, she mumbled. Maybe carry me to the bed though.
Did you not sleep after you left yesterday?
I had to coordinate a deal with the HTC and then it was already the next workday, so I threw a caffeine pill into my whiskey and decided that was good enough.
Scarlett, you need to sleep six hours a day, not four hours every two.
I think thats a mythos.
And I dont get how you can look this good with that little sleep, the Gamer said and bowed down to inspect her face. When she wasnt scowling or mockingly raising her eyebrows, her androgynous features were strictly adorable. Are you physically incapable of developing bags under your eyes.
Maybe. Or maybe Im a superhuman.
Youre not as superhuman as me and you would have to pay me to stay up that long.
I -aaaahhhhh- am paying me, she said, for once that wasnt a moan but a very long yawn. Johns hands travelled up her sides and stopped at the muscles under her shoulder des. You thought about my idea regarding Velka?
You mean your n to use her for governmental advertisement pictures? John asked.
For propaganda, yes, Scarlett put it in more direct terms. Ya should just get a photoshoot done with her and all the other girls, might as well include yourself. Send all of them to your press office and distribute the mediocre ones to the media and keep the great and goofy ones for government use to make motivational posters or some shit like that. The television screen flickered for a moment. Ignore that.
You shouldnt browse the inte with your mind when youre this tired, John told her. What if you identally post something somewhere with your business ount?
Just checking some stupid stuff. Im not engaging inmunications with anyone, Scarlett exined and yawned again. Ah-nyway, use Aclysia, Beatrice and yourself as Fusions public faces, use the elementals for festival posters, Stirwin specifically can pose with Velka for some adorable side stuff, Im sure Copernicus can fit in there as well, and so on. Do you know how much your soldiers love Metra?
I can imagine that a mostly naked woman that appears on your side to waltz through any and all enemy barricades with apparent ease is rather popr, the Gamer said. Although Im not going to put her inmand of a unit again, all her battle tactics are straightforward as all hell.
Smart call to ma- Scarlett stopped, the muscles in her back tensed under Johns hands. He pulled them back when she started to sit up, her eyes now open and concentrated on something outside of his senses.
Whats the matter? John asked, immediately rmed. Not many things could have the bloodsoaked technocrat move in such a hurry. Light danced through her red eyes in lines that resembledputer circuitry. He wanted to ask if they were being attacked, but those spections would have only distracted her.
Nothing bad, she quickly put him at ease, taking a few more seconds to verify whatever she had found. Look at the TV, I am pulling up a file.
John turned his head and the screen flickered to life, this time properly, across the living room. On the high definition disy, a single image was disyed.
The image had pretty terrible lighting. Whatever camera had taken it had not been prepared for the zing brightness of the sun in that area. Prominently featured were white, tall buildings at the left-hand side and a white beach to the right. Both were practically glowing thanks to the reflection of the rays. Between both was a strip of green, covered in small trees, grass and a little bit of hedge here and there. All three segments stretched far into the background, vanishing behind the horizon before actually ending.
While the lighting was poor, the framing was grandiose. In the middle of the photo were two figures. A cat sitting in the shade of a tree with all the natural grace a cat possessed and a human girl kneeling in the sun, reaching out to pet the animal.
Her dress reflected no light, yet was so purely white that it seemed more like someone had simply deleted the rough shape of her body, but only around her medium sized breasts and the front of her midriff. While all depth was missing from the skirt, its outline flowed with unnatural smoothness.
The dress was held by nothing, no string around her neck or zipper at the back. In fact, the back was entirely free to see, all the way down to the lower end of her spine. Simr were her feet, sticking out of the skirt. They were naked and unblemished, as if she had never taken a single step on dirt or pavement.
Where the trees in the background all stood still, the womans blonde hair appeared to have been captured by a strong breeze. Part of her hair, it had to be specified. Where the top and sides of her hair rested in a backwardsbed fashion, like a glorious golden field of wheat stuck with bent straws, the hair at the back behaved much differently. It was bound together directly behind her head and much, much longer. The ponytail would have easily touched the ground, were it not flying forwards in a long curve around her shoulder, the tip pointing towards the beach.
The blue eyes in the fair maidens attractive face seemed to be the only point of any emotion she could produce. Perhaps, this was just because John knew exactly what she would have thought in such a situation. Despite all her unnatural appearance, the girls eyes asked for nothing more than to touch the cat and scratch its ears.
They had finally found Nia Fae.
Chapter 760 – No time to be lost
Chapter 760 C No time to be lost
The news spread like wildfire through the harem and they all met in the living room within half an hour. Enough time for Scarlett to put another triple espresso into her system. While he really wanted her to get a good rest, this situation required her to stay around. They could lose her at any moment if they werent careful.
How old is that photo? Rave asked the obvious first question. Anything older than a few days was useless to them, no matter where it was taken. Nia wasnt exactly known for lingering at a certain location for a long time. The nks talent to appear at the right time did not apply in the opposite direction, making it hard to find her when one wanted.
Two hours, maybe three, going by the upload date, Scarlett answered. I was just browsing some cat photos for rxation, who would have thought Id stumble over her?
Of all the ways they had searched for Nia, putting out agents, informing their media team, random scans for her likeness by Scarlett and other, less proficient, Technomancers, it was by raw chance that they finally discovered her. It was just like her that it would be a picture of her petting an animal. The next question was also obvious.
Where was it taken? the Gamer wanted to know, already moving blocks and schedules inside his head.
Miami, Scarlett kept the answer short.
South, as Nia had said when she had appeared before Eliza a few months back. All the way down in Florida. An area under the control of unpredictable weirdos, as the rumours went. Unpredictable and weird does fit Nias description somewhat, the Gamer fought and weighed different risks against each other.
Elsewhere on the couch, Scarlett sighed. I have to advise against you leaving, but what are the chances youll listen?
Very slim, John mumbled his answer, only speaking clearer once he redirected his thoughts to saying them out loud. I get it. Me just appearing in the territory of a neutral party could be perceived as a threat. One false step and Fusions chances at peacefully integrating Florida diminish greatly.
Reminder, Beatrice spoke up, the first session of the House of Exceptionals is scheduled for Monday, third of September, two days from now. The House of Commons will meet the week thereafter to elect the Speaker of the Commons.
I know, I know. The Gamer bit the tip of his thumb as his mind continuously turned around the best ways to handle this. Could I just miss the session? No, its the first one, and if Im not there to oversee it, nobody will have any idea how the system is even supposed to work. Can I push it back? No, Ive invested too much time and work into making sure things get handled smoothly. I need to attend the House of Exceptionals meeting and everything afterwards. I cant be the hindrance of the system when its finally starting up.
He looked towards the Mand Sphere. This was exactly the kind of situation that he had gotten Ambassador Double for. Entering a foreign territory without all of his powerset present seemed like a somewhat bad idea, but he would have to manage. Jack was among the easier things to temporarily fight without anyway.
I have to take the diplomatic risk, he finally announced. No matter how he thought about it, there was no timeline in which John Newman did not chase after one of his missing girls. He would have needed either an assurance or a plea from their side to stay away. Now that we finally have an idea where Nia is, I have to go after her. The Mand Sphere will remain here and allow me to take part in the initial meetings.
As expected, Scarlett sighed and leaned back. You know youre awful, right? The first thought I have when you pull stunts like this is that I feel youre giving me way too much fucking work. She rubbed her eyes; coffee or not, she was obviously tired. Then that fades and all I feel is the lingering happiness, because I know you would go to the same lengths to find me. You have your ways to be addicting. Must be all the oxytocin you make me produce with all of the fucking and the cuddling.
I wont apologize for making you happy, the Gamer smirked.
Sure, you wont, she groaned and rubbed her temples. That you can be at two different ces will smooth most things over locally, at least. Her hand lowered from her face andnded audibly on the seat of the couch. For a moment, the redhead looked through the room. Eliza, you know you have to stay here too, right?
Yeah, the blood mage rolled her eyes, as if she had just heard something incredibly annoying. If someone feels threatened by Johnnding in their territory, what would they think if I drop down there, I get it. ying with the Magryph in herp, she grumbled, Not like I should fight anyway.
If their research is rtively old, they might be more afraid of Thana but that makes little difference at this point, John stated and looked over the rest of the room. The elementals woulde with him. He could have convinced some of them to bind to Jack instead but didnt see the point in doing so. Nobody else knew about this power and, even if they did, the Gamer would be surprised if there were people out there that expected a known Elementalist to appear without his summons.
The Artificial Spirits were a bit of a different question. Conceivably, they could distance themselves for as much as necessary. Taking them with him would definitely send the signal that he was around in full force.
Aclysia must have sensed his thoughts as she tensed up and gave him a pleading look. Whatever his decision was, she would oblige, even if it was clear that she would infinitely prefer to apany him. Although weaker in intensity, Beatrices convictions were much the same.
Weighing the potentially unwanted intimidation factor those two represented against the duality of theirpanionship and the protection they provided if things did go south, John had to think about this for a minute. Its a shame that binding them to Jack for mentalmunication range also makes my copy the target for the teleport cooldowns, he thought. I could keep them here and signal them to teleport whenever necessary otherwise. Always a little paranoid and resolving that their addition to the group wouldnt up the risk of being perceived as a threat by any tipping margin, John said, Aclysia, Beatrice, you twoe with me. Then he looked at Metra and added, in a sorry tone, You should stay here though.
The maids beamed with happiness, while the First of Wrath shrugged. It was stered over her face and her thoughts, both equally easy to read, that she had anticipated the decision, even if she wasntpletely happy with it. I guess my job is to be the emergency protection of the Hudson Barrier?
And Jacks bodyguard, yes. The Gamer nodded. If something happens and my double gets trashed, I wont be around to repair it and natural regeneration is a tad too slow for my liking. It would be inconvenient.
Diplomatically speaking, its also a good move. Scarlett yawned and decided that sitting was too much of a hassle. Lying down, she used Undines thighs for neck support, while putting her naked feet in Smandersp, making sure they restedfortably while also keeping them warm. Youre basically the face of our war efforts, especially when ites to rebel suppression of the rather brutal variety.
Hm, Metra hummed and leisurely threw an arm over the back of her armchair. Yeah, thats what I do, I suppose. Not my fault that the fuckers refuse to surrender all the time.
You just fight with ethics from another time, John pointed out. Although he reined in her worst excesses and had her mostly limated to the nicer way of war in the current period, when she was on the actual battlefield, Metra brutalized her enemies. Not deliberately, most of the time, she just didnt care for waging war in a clean way. If someone was her enemy, if they got in front of the bulldozer so to say, they would be ground to dust. That was all there was to it. He looked at his girlfriend. Youll just do whatever you want anyway, so are youing with me or staying?
Do ya really need to ask? Rave smiled broadly and brushed a strand of her wild, pink mane behind her ear. Better question: when are we leaving?
Right now, the Gamer responded. Scarlett, can you get us a flight?
If you take the teleporter to DC, there are somest-minute bookings I can make, the Technomancer informed him and the Gamer got up. Just remember that I cant fool the sensors all the way from here.
Right, John, dragging the clothes out of his inventory, posed the question to the Artificial Spirits. Do you want to use the teleport or are you fine with getting smuggled through in my inventory?
I will use the teleport Aclysia slowly stated and shook her head in an apologizing motion. I want to avoid that darkness wherever possible. Im sorry, Master.
Its fine, he assured her. As long as she stuck with him the following three days, it wasnt a necessary thing anyway. Jack will tell you when we have arrived there. What about you, Beatrice? While they talked, Rave went to put on her shoes. Unlike him, she hadnt been naked, since she came to this meeting straight from doing actual work elsewhere.
I can travel in the inventory, she stated and began to shrink down.
Alright then, Im off, John announced, quickly giving Eliza, Scarlett and Metra a kiss each. Youre going to take a nap while we travel, he told the Technomancer. And you WILL sleep once you cant help anymore.
So, Ill never sleep? Scarlett asked and raised her hands in a submissive gesture when the Gamer gave her a dark stare. Alright, Ill rest up somewhat.
You better, I want my property to be treated and maintained well, he said and then smiled. Just remember that I want you to be happy and healthy, okay?
Fine, fine, now get out of here, you dont have a whole lot of time.
The Gamer nodded and turned to leave. He picked up a miniature Beatrice on his way out and put her into his inventory. While his hastened steps carried him towards the door, the elementals went incorporeal. Only Rave walked behind him, the Mand Sphere transforming into Jack and sitting down next to Aclysia.
As quickly as possible without outright running, they got to the Transport Station and found themselves over at the White House. At this point, its fa?ade waspletely restored. Proud and clean, it stood above the masterwork of a war memorial that had been erected in honour to those that had fallen to Sigmund. The traditional seat of the US president was kind of smallpared to Johns Pce and definitely didnt offer the luxuries his game mechanic fuelled home could, but the symbolic value of it was intense.
As per Johns wishes, it had been restored as a near perfect replica of the real-world side of things, rather than a restoration of the extra-impressive version Abraham had made of it. That didnt change the silver and tinum coloured leaves of the nearby trees or the blue-tipped grass of thewn. It was a nice mixture of mundane and Abyssal history.
Not that John had too much time to marvel at it. He passed the tform always in ce for emergency press conferences. A couple of gardeners and interior decorators, going after their work to add the finer details to the restoration, waved his way. Not wanting to evoke the image of emergency, John waved back and slowed his step a little bit.
They went to the edge of the barrier and left. From there, they crossed a street and hurried over to a house in the area that John happened to own. He never really went in there, but he had really needed a garage for one of his cars. A ck SUV, basically a copy of the first car he bought about three weeks ago, stood there waiting for him.
The duo got inside, John took the drivers seat, and they drove as close as they could without getting tangled up in the traffic near the airport. John parked somewhere he was allowed to, then they walked the rest of the way.
All of that took almost the same amount of time as they needed to get through thebyrinth of the airport. Getting somewhat used to navigating these buildings, John and Rave found their way to their flight. Just in time to get into the queue for boarding as well, Scarlett hadnt lied when she said things would be tight.
Once they were in the machine, enjoying the extra bit of leg room first ss offered, there was no going back.
John looked out of the window as the airne started to roll. What do you think, will we find her? he asked and then turned to look at his girlfriend. She was such a beautiful thing, from pink hair, over to the blue in her almond shaped eyes, to the way her pink, naturally glossy lips stretched when she smiled.
I have a good feeling, she only said and grabbed his hand. I think well stumble into her, one way or another.
Miami is a big city.
And were big people. Rave stuck out her tongue, the piercing, currently only disabling the pink lustre in her eyes, adorned the tip of the surprisingly attractive muscle. John was pretty sure he was just conditioned to look at everything about her as attractive. Not that he wasining. We can do just about everything, as long as ya think about it and I keep nudging ya into being interesting, she asserted.
Am I not interesting enough on my own? John wanted to know, while the airne picked up speed.
Youre okay, but Im the real vote winner, his girlfriendughed. They leaned over at the same time to find each others lips for a quick kiss. They would have gone for something longer, but the take-off interrupted them.
The ne went towards the sky and carried them to another city.
Chapter 761 – Curbed and Odd
Chapter 761 C Curbed and Odd
The weather in Miami was, against Johns expectations, not all that different to New York at the moment. That was to say, it was quite hot and humid, sitting at 29 degrees and about 80% respectively, despite it being past 18:00 already. At least the minimal amount of clouds that hung around gave sporadic relief from the lowering sun.
Scarlett had identified the area the photo had been taken in. To be fair, John had a hunch without her, so it wasnt too difficult. By the way the things wereyered and the particr aesthetic, it had to be Miami Beach. What Scarlett was exceedingly helpful with was identifying the particr segment.
As John possessed no cars in this particr area of the USA, he needed to rely on a taxi again. While they waited for the one called to arrive, they made a quick barrier. Beatrice was retrieved from the inventory and Aclysia teleported over. Once they had driven over to the target area, the elemental girls also got to put on their human disguises, the clothes getting transferred from Johns living room to Florida through the two ends of his inventory in himself and Jack. They would be an extra five pairs of eyes, aiding them in their search.
Not that they had any hope that they would actually find Nia there. It was just the best (read: only) lead they had. If she had been a normal person, asking around for her would have been rather easy. As all mundane people were unable to perceive her, with the notable exception of the sense of touch, they could only look around.
Despite their enthusiasm, their search that day was without any results. Miami Beach wasnt exactly small and there wasnt any guarantee that Nia had stayed in the area. Since the nk didnt have to create barriers if she wanted to run at superhuman speeds, her mobility on foot was incredible. She could have been anywhere.
It was close to 22:00, when John sighed and said, Yeah, this isnt getting us anywhere, to his girlfriend, while also sending out mental calls to the others so they could all meet up. We need to change strategy.
They were standing, for the fifth time, at the exact point where the photo had been taken. Because it was the only ce they knew, for sure, Nia had been, they circled around there every so often. While the nk eluded them, they had at least located the cat. It was ck, had blue eyes, was very friendly and preferred scratches under the chin. It was also apletely normal cat.
Whaddaya have in mind? Rave asked, not even attempting to convince him to do another round around the block. Every step around the white hotels and rich folk homes was just another roll with a dice with near infinite sides. There was no point to engage in gambling of that nature if there wasnt a way to assure victory.
We go to sleep, John told her, and specified further before she felt the need to draw the information from him, Beatrice will hold out here, just in case. We will rest and see if Scarlett has anything new for us in the morning. The Technomancer had gone to sleep hours ago. Although she could have woken up any minute now, given her screwed up sleep schedule, John wanted to give her the opening for a proper nights rest. That aside, he was getting tired himself.
Whatever new intel Scarlett dug up, if any at all, was very unlikely to allow them to find Nia immediately. On the off-chance it did, Aclysia had the duty to keep watch on his phone and move on anything they got.
And if nothinges up whatsoever? Rave asked.
Then, John sighed, since this was another gamble, albeit one where he was guaranteed some oue rather than continued uncertainty, we ask for help from the locals.
________________________________________________________________________
They spent their night in a hotel. Being Miami beach in early September, they were basically all booked out. The good thing was then that John wasnt asking. A simple Illusion Barrier over one of the rentable houses and they had free ess to the bed and a roof over their heads. No running water, electricity or local inte, though. Those were allmodities that a normal Illusion Barrier did not provide. Since they only wanted to stay for the night, it wasnt really a problem.
They woke up pretty early, sleeping in unknown environments usually had the effect of light sleep and the two of them were no exceptions. At least the elementals had Johns soul to retreat to. They had some stored away breakfast from Johns inventory, checked in with Scarlett to see if she had any new intel (the answer was no) and then left the barrier entirely. It was time to see if they could establish contact with the locals.
Little did John know, the locals had already set up everything to establish contact with him.
John had literal cannons of the pre-industrial design shoot massive amounts of confetti into his face. Golden, silver, yellow, blue and red, the glittering strips of paper engulfed him and the trio. Because of the text of the system message, the Gamer just stood there and gave his girlfriend a calming gesture by putting an arm around her waist. That was enough to dissuade her from dropping into a battle pose.
While the storm of party decorations around him settled, John came to see a group of about twenty people stand before him. The only connecting attribute between all of them was that there was not even a bit of uniformity. Humans, elves, six-legged centaurs, eagle-winged men and presumed subi stood together, wearing colourful, odd, in or normal outfits. In the case of one of those subi, she was only wearing her birthday suit, which was quite a bit pleasing to Johns eyes.
There were three figures, deliberately at the centre of the group, that his attention naturally stuck with. Dead in the middle was a redhead with braided twin tails, each decorated with blue ribbons. The dress she was wearing was white, with blue stripes running over it horizontally. Its shape was somewhat off, being close to a French maid uniform, with the short skirt, the visible corset in the middle and an apron dangling from the waist, but with a frilly neck and fluffed up shoulders that suddenly narrowed, only to end in yet more wavy designs.
Whether they were extensions of the dress or another article of clothing themselves, the rest of her arms were covered by sleeves that went down to her wrists. They differed in design, being still white at the base but striped red, with the lines aligning horizontally. Her stockings, the edge of which ended barely below her skirt, followed the same design pattern. Her shoes were ck and looked practical.
Her body was well-bnced, breasts that bordered on big, hips that bordered on wide, but with thighs that definitely deserved the title of delightfully meaty, as the squish caused by her stockings proved.
Thats Wendy, Rave whispered.
Yup, that is Wendy, John confirmed. He sealed away the two most immediate questions he had. Being how it came that the god of fast-food was an attractive woman, rather than some supersized melon of a person and whether or not Wendys panties would follow the design of her dress, her stockings, or if she had gone for something outside of those two choices.
Instead, his eyes were naturally drawn to the person to her right. No, that wasnt quite right, John only realized when he was already inspecting the second person. Rather than this person being particrly interesting, it was that, whoever was on the left, was pushing his attention away. He would investigate in a second, for now this one deserved his own analysis.
He wore sses in a very Victorian fashion, a loose chain wrapped around his neck keeping them from falling to the floor, should they ever leave his nose. Under that smelling utensil sat a thick, brown mustache. His suit was simrly old-fashioned, the jacket being much longer than was standard nowadays and the shirt underneath joined by a vest. A bowtie decorated his neck. The truly odd thing about his outfit, however, was the top hat he wore. It had all the colours of the rainbow, spiralling up its cylindrical shape. It was about as unfitting as Regans usual manoeuvres.
At least that exins how we even got pulled into this ce, John thought. There werent many entities that could still forcefully pull him into an Illusion Barrier. The only ones that came to mind were certain gods, strong Fateweaver enchantments or a skilled Fateweaver in person.
John tried to look left and, the second his gaze passed Wendy, was hit by a feeling of aversion. It felt like he was stepping closer and closer to the corpse of a diseased cow. The further his eyes went, the more details he could make out, maggots crawling in the eye sockets, the smell of rotting flesh, the unpleasant buzzing of hundreds of flies. Except that he actually felt none of these things, instead they were all rolled together into a simple, instinctual want to get away from this thing.
And that thing turned out to be a woman. She was on the taller side of things, almost as big as John was, with ck hair that waved softly down to her hips. Her skin was as tanned as her clearly northern European descent allowed it to. With a face that crossed the nobility of an aristocrat with the adorableness of a farmgirl, she smiled in a calm fashion. As far as her body went, it was simply well bnced. B-cups, a normal waist, neither narrow nor showing any fat, and hips of normal proportion.
To make out more than the shape of her was difficult, however, as her dress covered the majority of her, with long sleeves, wrapping around her neck and flowing on as a long skirt that touched the ground. A dress that seemed to have no depth to it, only revealing minimal shadows. A dress that left her back free, as John realized when she turned a little bit. There were lines on her back. Fine and silvery, barely visible from a distance, like the veins on a leaf.
She was a nk. An immensely powerful one, going by the intense wish he naturally felt to get away from her. I guess Nia wasnt the real Maiden of Null around, then, John thought, hesitating to use Observe on this third person. Given that there had been no protests so far, he decided to risk it.
The mistake was immediate pain.
It felt like someone had hammered an ice-pick through his forehead, the tip of which was now expanding like a balloon, squishing his grey matter against the inside of his skull. The feeling swelled further and further, increasing the pain, until John found the pariahs eyes. As blue as a pure sapphire, she looked back and gave him a mischievous wink. Suddenly the pain was gone, and with it went a fair share of the alien aura he had felt radiate from her.
Around him, Aclysia, Beatrice and Rave all took a relieved breath, the same pressure being lifted off them. There was little to no doubt in Johns mind that this woman was the reason why Nia hade to Florida. A teacher to go after.
Hey, if you want to see something sexy, you have to look here, Wendy said and snapped her fingers twice to get his attention. Into tall t ones, are we? I heard so much about your love for beef in all varieties, I thought you would have an eye for quality.
Maybe he has, the pariah said, her teasing voice reverberating with some unknown ent.
If he is looking at your old, bony ass, clearly not!
All the nk did to respond to that was tough mockingly. Wendy turned her head back to John with such intensity her twin tails flew around. A moment of silence ensued, they seemed to expect him to say something.
John cleared his throat. Sorry for just appearing on your territory overnight, he started and was immediately interrupted by Wendy.
The goddess stemmed one hand into her hip and waved off. No, no, no, skip all of that, I dont need to hear it, were just happy you finally took the invitation.
Invitation? John asked, he didnt remember any such thing.
What, is your attention span so low you couldnt even finish it? Did the animation style not meet your standards? Dont like the fine arts of fan creations, hmmmmm? With every question, she had stepped closer and was now right up to his face, inspecting him. She had to get on her toes to that end.
I found the video pretty entertaining, but I might not be genius enough to get the messages therein. He tried to be self-deprecating for the sake of diplomacy, even if he couldnt keep a bit of sarcasm from oozing out with that. All I got from it was that there are more people in Florida publicly masturbating than in the rest of the USAbined.
Which means that were totally fine with a perv like youing about! Wendy dered. Duh, dont know how much clearer we could have made that. Video even says e visit our state!
Like halfway through, which makes no sense if that was the intended message overall. John kept that opinion to himself, as he was distracted by Wendy suddenly kissing him on the lips. She tasted like a cheeseburger prepared with 100% fresh meat. Surprising, but not unpleasant, especially since he hadnt had breakfast yet.
Greed, hunger and instinct paired up to answer her kiss in full force. Wendy was ovee by his assertiveness, as the kiss with the shorter woman left John in the dominant position. A position that he absolutely excelled at. His arm closed around her waist and he pulled her body closely against his, while he made his tongue work at leaving asting impression. If she tried to get sassy with him, the Gamer would let her know that he was up to the challenge.
A clearly audible moan escaped the fast-food goddess. Wendy pushed herself off his chest and stumbled backwards. Not bad! she dered with some hesitation, her legs quivering. With the back of her hand, she wiped away a trail of drool, as if it was some blood she had spat out during an anime battle. Youre pretty cute, despite being a bit vapid.
And youre probably delicious to eat out, John returned, slowly getting an idea of how things went around here (or her, at least). It wasnt that much different from home.
Hey! Rave saw the opening and spoke up, walking in front of Wendy and wagging her finger at the goddess stubby nose. If ya gonna kiss my guy, itd be courteous to ask me first.
He seems like a strong, independent guy who needs no dedicated woman, Wendy returned, then resumed her earlier stance of stemming one hand into her hip and waving off with the other. It seemed like she really liked that gesture. But fine, I guess I can give you a coupon over two chicken parts or anything. I think your boyfriends kiss is easy to get with two tender thighs.
Nah, Im taking something else, Rave decided and grabbed Wendys face with a big smile. The First Lady of Fusion and the patron goddess of Florida engaged in a kiss. This time, Wendy put on a bit of resistance and the two women were wrestling a fair bit. Rave was incredibly aggressive, however, not just with her kiss but with her hands as well. John caught the redheads skirt rising and then a high-pitched moan.
As a ssy gentleman, John could not just drop down to his knees to see what exactly was going on between those legs. As someone who could cast Possession with his feet, however, he also didnt need to. A simple expenditure of some mana, and part of his consciousness was now looking at things from the perspective of a square stone tile.
Raves hand waspletely inside Wendys panties and working with speed and skill at the only result that coulde about being in there. To answer the question John had earlier, her panties had the red stripes, not the blue ones.
The kiss broke, but Wendy didnt get away, only moaned louder and louder. Her back slowly bent backwards, Rave holding the goddess with an arm around her back. It looked like they were in a romantic dancing pose, just that the Gamers girlfriend was fingering Wendy. Even if she had beenpletely quiet, the wet sounds that echoed out would have left no doubt about that by sounds alone.
Soon, Wendy started to convulse and quiver, her moans cutting off, only to be reced by hacked off gasps and desperate inhales. Rave continued for a little while, then withdrew her hands from Wendys panties. They immediately showed a damp spot. The techno lover let go of the fast-food goddess, who barely managed to remain standing.
Now were even, Rave smirked and winked at her post-orgasmic victim. I thought if public masturbations are advertised here, ya wouldnt mind a public fingerbanging. She then turned around and went back to her boyfriend. If John wouldnt have had a sizable erection by watching that show already, he would have gotten it when Rave cleaned off her drenched middle and ring finger with a couple of licks and sucks.
While Wendy recovered, the rainbow top hat fellow took over the meeting. Youll fit in right in! he dered, opening his arms wide. He had a deep voice. Anyway, weve decided toe greet you and invite you to our headquarters! There we can discuss this, that
and Nia, the dark-haired pariah added.
Chapter 762 – Cheeseburgers in Paradise
Chapter 762 C Cheeseburgers in Paradise
John found himself in a jacuzzi.
That wasnt necessarily a bad thing, as a matter of fact it was a very good thing. He and Rave were sitting in the bubbling, hot water, looking out of a giant window. The view of the ocean was spectacr. The clouds from yesterday had concentrated into a thunderstorm that filled the morning sky with grey and the asional crackling of lighting. Rain rushed down endlessly, but wasnt thick enough to limit the visibility tremendously.
Simrly spectacr were the cheeseburgers Aclysia and Beatrice presented to him, prepared by Wendy herself in the nearby kitchen. Not only were they delicious to a level that overcame even Aclysias cooking, they also disobeyed thews of homemade burgers by neither dripping nor falling apart in any fashion. This was despite them being so tall that John just barely managed to take bites out of his.
The room they were in was on the highest floor of a building that was just short of deserving the title skyscraper. It was oddly shaped, having round lower floors and then separating into four rectangr towers. The building was primarily white, with silver frames encasing therge windows that dominated the outwards facing sides of the towers.
Close to the top, in between the four towers, hung a sphere of the same silver colour. A simple Observe had revealed it to be the buildings central mana engine. From there, all of the running water, electricity and other operations were being fuelled and overseen. How people got inside there, the Gamer wasnt quite sure. His money was on teleportation. It could have been that there were secret passageways. There was certainly enough surface contact with the towers to make room for a door.
This was the so-called Paradise, headquarters of the Florida guild and located on the south end of Miami Beach. It had been absolutely no wonder that they spotted him sniffing around this close to their base. Perhaps they had already noticed him when he hadnded. Whatever it was, he was now there and quite literally eating cheeseburgers in Paradise.
As much as the flowing water, the climate-controlled surroundings, the embrace of his girlfriend and the delicious food presented by his beloved maids intertwined to make him a fundamentally happy man, it was hard to properly enjoy the moment. This was because he still hadnt heard a single word about what they wanted to discuss (and Nia, consequently). The anticipation and impatience made it difficult to really enjoy what he had.
Almost as bad as that was the presence of the pariah, whose hair, John was now pretty sure, wasnt actually ck. Rather, it was a shade of brown so dark it may as well have been ck. The difference was subtle, but present regardless. Even after the earlier events and while being naked (as they all were, for the Gamersck of packing swimwear), the nk exuded a steady level of difort that made Johns hairs stand on end. He felt like he was sitting just one thick lead wall away from the Chernobyl reactor. Sure, he was safe for the moment, but the mere knowledge that this threatening thing was this close awakened a primal fear.
It didnt help that she never said anything. She just stared and smiled. Not overtly, not in a threatening manner, not small-lipped or happily. She just smiled. The silver lines on her back crept over her sides and spread over her torso, to her arms and legs, finally to her chin, only to slowly withdraw.
And ya sure ya dont want us to know your name? Rave asked, having a much easier time at getting used to the pariahs presence. Its kinda odd to talk to ya and being unable to call ya anything.
My name remains out of your reach, for now, the pariah said, stretching like a mixture between cat and otter, her perky breasts rising out of the water during the motion. Her thin body, as diforting as her aura was, was nothing short of delicious. Between her raised arms, a lightning bolt cracked through the sky and illuminated the white room more intensely for a moment. You may call me Vita for the moment.
Latin for life. Odd choice, but that shouldnt surprise me anymore, John thought and nodded, before looking around. While Rave continued to involve the pariah in a conversation, he looked over his shoulder.
The room was both surprisingly normal and very odd. It was filled with the people that had greeted him about an hour earlier, as well as a bunch of further individuals. The room wasrge enough to easily epass all of them. The odd thing about it was that, save for the toilets, everything had been rolled together into the same four walls. Living room, bathing facilities, kitchen, hobby room, they were all put together. Even the balcony was essible just by marching out of a gap between window and wall. This caused a bit of a puddle in that corner, given the amount of rain outside, but nobody minded and the white tiles werent worse off for it.
It seemed they had, without asking or informing him, decided to throw a weing party for the Gamer. A party in which he wasnt the focus and just left to sit in the jacuzzi, catered delicious food and stared at by the nk. He honestly wasnt sure if they were trying to honour or insult him.
Ultimately, he decided to just challenge the issue. Ill mingle with the other people for a bit, he announced and started to rise out of the tub. That left his naked body exposed to the guests for the time it took him to get out and dry up, about half of which were male. Not that this bothered John much, being a Greek god in all aspects aside from dick size.
Vita did nothing to stop him, so John dragged his clothes from his inventory. Ack of shame didnt mean he preferred to be naked around strangers. Questioningly, he looked at Rave.
Imma stay in the tub a bit longer, she said with a wink, ya have fun, tiger.
Scanning the room for someone to talk to, John pretty quickly found someone that piqued his interest and smiled. I think I will, he answered and walked away. As he began to walk, Aclysia put away the mostly eaten cheeseburger and followed him like a duck takes to water. Within moments, she attached to his side, rather than beside him, and John put an arm around her waist.
It took quite a bit to cross therge room and John noticed that nobody was actively tracking him. If there was a test veiled in this spontaneous party, it was hidden very well. Perhaps they were curious who he would approach first. In which case, John was about to confirm the stereotypes about his persona.
Hello, may I have a moment of your time? he asked, when arriving at the target of his interest.
She was a woman with greyish red skin. Her hourss figure was entirely und, revealing sizable breasts, a ho waist, wide hips and generally a body made to allure men. Small, decorative bat wings were folded behind her back and a thin, spade-tipped tail grew from above her thick ass. In addition to silky, ck hair, she had a pair of smooth horns that curved back like that of a goat. Yellow eyes, slit like that of a snake, focused on him.
More than just a mhhhm-oment, she genuinely gasped, pussy juice visibly dripping from her cunt the moment he stepped near her. Sssssssorry, she hissed wantonly and fidgeted. As impossible as it seemed, the flow of love juices only seemed to increase. My kind gets naturally horny around men of sizable powerrrr, she began to slur.
What your kind is is exactly the question that brings me to you, John said and scratched the back of his head. I would offer my hand in introduction, but-
NO BUTS! the gorgeous woman screamed and inched a little bit closer, raising a trembling hand. Her tail excitedly curved through the air. My name isssss Nashara. Nashara Depthdire.
About as demonic as I expected her name to be, John thought and took her hand, suppressing any hesitation he may have had. John Newman. He was surprised his introduction wasnt immediately drowned out by an orgasmic scream. Although that was the only thing that didnt go about as expected.
Nasharas legs buckled and trembled, several strong waves of pussy juice dripping down between them. For a few moments, it seemed like she would be able to keep herself standing, then she copsed to her knees with heavy breaths and barely suppressed moans. Her tail moved in jerking bursts, while she slumped forwards.
Perhaps rudely, John caught her by a horn before she could collide with his crotch. More contact only intensified the orgasm she was having and now she screamed properly. A liquid thicker than saliva was running past her wide-open lips.
As much as that made the Gamer wish to dispense with his pants and just plunge into her clearly avable mouth, he would not engage with a (presumed) subus until he knew what a subus actually entailed in the Abyss. He didnt want to feed her years of his life identally. Once she was sitting in a puddle of her own making, he slowly let go of her and let her recover.
Gulping, she eventually stuttered, S-sorry whew okay. Nashara looked up to him and offered her hand again. Can you help me up?
Sure? John asked, not quite sure what would happen next. This time, when their hands made contact, she only shivered, and once she stood, she stood remarkably firmly for someone that had just had a visibly intense orgasm.
Been a while since someones touch alone made me cum like that, Nashara hummed while crossing her arms and pushing up her sizable bosom. The dark red nipples were hard, even if she now seemed to have control over herself. It doesnt happen much to subi at my level.
So, you ARE a subus. John didnt even try to veil his ignorance on the subject. Its my first-time meeting one of your kind. I was getting conflicting information on whether or not demons were just a ss of corrupted elementals and started to wonder if you were real at all. Overtly sexual, he analysed her head to toe once more. Im d to see there is something like a true demon. Mind making things a little clearer for me C about your kind and demons in general?
Nashara smiled, revelling in the attention of a powerful man. Not at all, just tell me where you want me to start and Ill happily answer some questions.
Lets start with something general then: what is a demon? the Gamer asked. Because, unless you tell me you are descendents of elementals somehow, I dont see the rtion between them and you.
I think the confusion you humans have is born from the fact that demonic Kingdoms are interconnected, Nashara sighed. And that your corrupted elementals can enter them, while you and their pure siblings cannot. You can think of the term demon to mean something like European. Were a number of races living in proximity. Many of us have developed simrly because of that. Were not the same though.
That makes enough sense. John scratched his chin. Do you know why corrupted elementals can do that and normal ones cant?
The areas such elementals live in in their elemental nes are closely connected to our Kingdoms, the subus sighed, shifting her weight from one leg to another in a very suggestive way. It also seems they be somewhat simr to us in the process of corruption. How do I exin this they dont have the same origin, but they have the same vibe as us?
Like steel and concrete having a simr rate of heat expansion despite being entirely separate materials? John suggested.
Sure? Nashara blinked. Havent looked into building materials, sorry.
Maybe a bit of a forced metaphor, the Gamer conceded while wondering if this meant that Smander and Undine could visit those demonic kingdoms. This simrity in appearance and, apparently, underlying magical structure would also exin why these two fundamentally different factions both got summarized under the word demon. Do the elementals need to be free to travel over?
That seems to be the case, yes, the subus answered. At least I never met one that had a master.
That puts the alternative vacation ce for Undine out of reach then, John thought and suppressed a sigh. It was odd to think of them as demons anyway. Something he would dly cease doing now that he knew there was a fundamental difference between corrupted elementals and natural demons. That only left the question of Ifrit open, but he couldnt get a detailed answer on that here. Instead, he focused on the demon in front of him and wondered about something different. How did you end up here then? Were you summoned by someone?
No, I found a normal way to arrive in this world, got stranded and eventually decided to just stay, Nashara answered. Once you get ustomed to the rules, its pretty nice here. I never imagined the central world to be so restrictive when it came to magic. Came as quite the shock. I could have died pretty quickly if I hadnt been lucky enough to stumble over an Abyssal first. I think that happens to most of my kind. Theye over during a new moon, fuck some man for a snack and get wiped out by Gaia.
One would think she would engage in some education campaign for subi to prevent things like that, John mumbled. Does that mean none of you get summoned, by the way? Now that I see you, he gestured at her breasts, I dont understand how your kind is not something most people try to have around them. Do you suck out peoples lifeforce or what is the issue?
I mean, yeah, we do, but not in any lethal way. Nashara emphasized theter part with a raised finger. Think of us as symbiotic life forms. You give us a bit of your energy and the chance to have offspring C if we feel like raising one C and we give you as many orgasms as your body can handle. We dont want to kill our partners, thatd run pretty counter to our reproduction strategy. I think we dont get all that popr with humans because we are whores.
She used that word to describe herself like John would have used nerd. There wasnt a single iota of shame in her voice. It was just a statement that was true. Mind borating on that a little bit? the Gamer requested.
Well, she looked down to the puddle she had left, as you can see, our bodies react pretty intensely to powerful men. Whether or not they are virile and create strong children, thats just about all we care about in our partners. Long-term rtionships arent part of our program. Nashara shrugged again. I guess weck whatever makes you humans fall in love with each other. We just fuck to get food, pleasure or pregnant. The only way to keep a subus loyal is to make it so youre the only one with physical ess to her. If you tried that shit with me, I would bite your dick off after two weeks.
She smiled as if she had said nothing unusual whatsoever and revealed her rather sharp teeth. They were definitely capable of the task and John wondered if she was talking from experience. Good to know, he shortly said, and there are no exceptions to that?
Not in pure-blooded subi, no. That is to say, not in subi that have exclusively demon heritage. Nashara yed with her hair and purred. See, if you were to knock me up, my child woulde out either as a subus or incubus, former much more likely than thetter. That child would have the appearance and general attributes of my kind, but a few of yours, like this loyalty stuff, might get carried over into the next generation. She shrugged again. It seems like you humans value it when your partners are exclusive or at least mostly exclusive to you, so you stick to your elementals and your golems for magical partners. Other demons seem to have simrplications.
Yeah, I think Ill stick to thisne, John agreed in his thoughts and squeezed Aclysias butt. The Artificial Spirit was absolutely horrified by what she was hearing at the moment.
And I thought she was such a good contender for your attention when she orgasmed from your touch alone! the weaponized maid shared with him. Instead she presents herself as a freely usable cumdump, this is disgraceful!
It exins why people wouldnt bother to go down this route at least, the Gamer answered, although he wasnt quite satisfied with that answer alone. Is it difficult to summon a demon?
Kind of? Im the potential target of such a summoning, so I dont know a whole lot about it. The usual main problem is that my kind and the warlocks dont agree on what the terms of our stay should be.
Good old demon contract problems, the Gamer shook his head slightly. While this conversation had cleared up quite a bit, it had also taken a lot of the mysticism out of the subject. All he could see demons as now were unreliable contract workers. The only reasons to bother with them seemed to be greed and arrogance. He still wanted to sleep with a subus at least once, but any desire of maybe contracting or otherwise having one in his harem had basically vanished. I wonder why there is next to no avable information on this anywhere.
You can ask the virgin downstairs, Nashara hissed; this time her voice was openly hostile. Smashing and burning all of it wherever they find it. I can understand ying all of the aggressive demons, but dering war on the entire craft is just ridiculous.
Before John could ask what she meant by that, a handnded on his shoulder.
Chapter 763 – Measuring
Chapter 763 C Measuring
John expected it to be the hand of someone new, a previously unknown leader figure perhaps, but it was just Wendy. I got everyone covered, so now I have time for you, the redhead stated; her semi-mocking attitude had not gotten any less intense from the earlier humiliation. It seemed to simply be the way she talked. No loss on Johns side, he could deal with this much better than open hostility or subservient spit-licking. Lets go to the audience room, go, go!
Turning him around, she started to shove him towards the door. John mentally called out to Beatrice, only to find that his girlfriend was already right behind. Stark naked and smiling. Her clothes were in the inventory of the passive maid behind her, so her not getting dressed was a decision based on raw exhibitionism.
The party continued, escted even. With Nasharas attention no longer being taken by the Gamer and her sexual urges agitated, she turned towards the nearest male and started begging for a good dicking. Didnt take long for a small group of bored and desperate men to gather around her. Elsewhere, people just continued to talk like normal.
I still have questions about their reproductive cycle, John thought, feeling incredibly thankful that he had a perk to disable things on his side. Do subi get pregnant easily? Do they ever inform the potential fathers? Hell, do they even know who alles into question? John scratched his head and wondered how he would integrate a subus poption into Fusion. Depends on how many there are and how quick their numbers grow. If the answers are low and slowly then perhaps they could open a sort of specialized brothel? I would need some sort ofw enforcing that they clearly state which subus is going for a baby so that the customers could avoid those if they dont want to sire some future subus.
There were other health concerns that came in depending on how truthful Nashara had been about the life drain aspect of things and the question of how good subi were at sex. If they had ways to effectively enthrall men, then that was going to be an issue John had to contend with. It waspletely possible that he straight-up had to dere subi undesirable. Which was a nice way to say genocide or, at the very least, mass exiling. That was the final measure, but if they turned out to be an unredeemable force, born with instincts that ran counter to a healthy human society, then that was the only remaining course of action.
Given that the men behind him behaved rather normally, even while the subus was taking turns who she had her mouth/hands on, that seemed to be an unfounded fear. John pushed the option to the back of his mind. He would contemte the issue some more at another opportunity. It was important that he outlined very carefully when such an action was justified. An action only contemted at the moment of suggestion could easily be used too early or toote and the death toll in either case was something he wanted to avoid.
For now, he had something more pleasant to pay attention to, being Wendys miniskirt and the naked bodies of both his girlfriend and Vita, who apanied them as they left the room and went into the sterile, white hallway that connected everything. There were no paintings, no statues, not even any sort of carpet. The only things that gave the corridor any sort of personality were the doors, each of them looked different while keeping to a uniform size.
Wendy guided them diagonally across the hallway to a door that was ck and smooth. Inside was a surprisingly simple board room. The centre of it was dominated by an elliptic table, fashioned from dark wood, around which stood several, purple-cushioned chairs, and a tscreen at the back wall finished the typical business atmosphere. John looked around for any oddities or other surprises. All he found were the people already with him. Between Wendys dress, the maid and the nudes, he was the only one who looked like he belonged there. Vita somewhat eliminated that problem while getting dressed in the blink of an eye.
Literally, as John blinked and the naked pariah was suddenly wearing her clothes. The silver lines spread over her face for a moment, like some sort of war-paint. A breath and they were gone. That woman continued to be unnerving and smiled her empty smile at him.
He was also the only guy in the room. Not that he wasining. Your audience room is pretty business-like, John remarked in a casual tone, as he took a seat. He didnt wait for it to be offered since Wendy had already decided to plop her butt down elsewhere and just doing what came to mind seemed to be the usual course of action around here. His girlfriend decided that hisp was the best ce to sit down, while Aclysia and Beatrice stood behind his chair.
We can take this to the throne room, if you would prefer that. Wendy pushed her seat away from the table and then ced her crossed feet on top. Her blue gaze went over the tip of her shoes, just as Johns view travelled over the, still wet, hair of Rave. But I would be sitting on it. Think your ego can take that?
Barely, John joked and shook his head. I wasntining anyway, business suits me. After a moment of deliberation and looking at Vita, who was simply present in the room and sometimes walked from one spot to another, he remarked, I have to express genuine surprise that youre the leader though.
Im not, Wendy yawned.
Now the Gamer was confused again. So, am I not going to speak to your leader?
Cant speak to someone who doesnt exist, the goddess of fast food dered.
While that exined why John had never been able to gather who he actually needed to contact to engage in diplomacy with the Florida guild, he was still confused as far as the general situation went. But you are speaking in the name of the guild, right?
Totally, Wendy nodded. From her tone, he wasnt quite able to grasp if she was being earnest or sarcastic.
We have a leader, Vita suddenly chimed in and pped her hands. Therge screen, now to Johns left, activated. Minarchia, show Fred.
Showing Fred, a robotic, female voice in the style of Siri or Cortana responded. The image of a chicken appeared. It had brown feathers, the type of head-shape that identified it as female and looked overall in, standing in front of a wooden coop on a greenwn.
This is our current leader, the pariah stated.
Am I looking at some sort of shapeshifter or is that a genuine chicken?
Thetter.
Its a girl-chicken though, Rave chimed in. Why did ya call it Fred?
Because it is Fred, the Cosmic Chicken, Vita stated with a straight face, her steady smile having vanished in favour of a determined stare.
So it IS some sort of powerful entity?
Nah, were probably going to eat her next week, Wendy dered.
We are not, Vita disagreed vehemently. I will feed you to Cheshire if you fry our dear leader.
Wendy threw her hands into the air in a defensive motion. Oy, dont you joke about unleashing that Nevrest on me! Thats too scary to make a joking threat with!
Im not joking. The ck-haired womans empty smile returned, a pitch-ck knife suddenly appearing in her hand. You will not harm a feather on Fred.
She would be delicious!
And you would be reduced to nothing.
John let them banter on as he took note of something specific. Cheshire, huh? he thought and looked at Vita, not as an attractive woman but as yet another enigma. Thats a very specific mention for a very powerful nk to make. I imagined she would be blonde. She also looks pretty good for someone over 200 years old. If she is Alice, that is. From just a single mention, the Gamer wasnt willing to make the call, but it took no superhuman mind to establish the connection.
Not that ya two arent entertaining, Rave spoke up on the behalf of their entire group, but we kinda wanna know a few things here, so can we talk about whats going on? Ya said ya wanted to talk about this, that and Nia and were kinda, sorta, very eager about thatst bit.
Youre sounding a bit like Sylph there, John whispered into her ear.
I can talk a lot if I want to! she returned.
Right, right, the Gamer is a big busy boy with big busy pants. Wendy turned her attention back to them, while Vita resumed her prowling through the room. To exin things to your dough-brain, we here in Florida only have the guild as a central rules thingy. We arent really that organized.
I can dig that. John nodded. There would have been issues if the local culture was more tyrannical, like the Small Lake Pact had been. Funnily enough, the Floridian goofballs had the closest thing to amon sense mindset when it came to society he had witnessed so far mon sense by his understanding). Personal freedoms and rights, a central body ofw and, apparently, a very liberal leadership. But you DO speak for your guild in this meeting, right? He needed the rification. There was such a thing as going too far down the liberal rabbit hole.
We had a vote on a few things, so yeah, Im authorized on those topics. Wendy changed the position of her legs, leaving her panties visible between her meaty thighs for just a moment. Despite the situation, John felt his erection pressing against Raves butt. She started grinding against him. First by pure instinct, then with perverted intent, smiling over her shoulder. The carefree aura of Florida definitely had them acting even more brazenly than they usually did.
And what topics would that be? he inquired further, while embracing his girlfriend tightly. His right was around her waist, the sole purpose being to hold her close, while he grabbed her soft chest with the other. Or should I ask What do you mean by this and that to keep with your earlier attempts at being mysterious?
What do you mean attempt? Do you know what this or that is?
No, but if its that obvious, I dont call it mysterious. The term I would use is obnoxious, the Gamer pointed out and pulled gently at Raves nipple. Natural boobs this firm are just unfair to the rest of womankind, he thought as he followed the jiggle. Then he groped her firmly, listening to her moan. If anyone deserves to have this girl as his, it is absolutely me though. An entitled thought, but John couldnt help but mean it.
Just lose the pants already, tiger, Rave fidgeted in hisp. We just came out of a room where they had an orgy with a subus, theres no need to hold back, she preempted any second guesses he might have. The fact that the young goddess across the table had recently made close acquaintances with their skills as lovers helped.
John opened his character screen and was ready to go through the motions when his system suddenly began to fizzle. Letters were disced, parts of the windows went green or assumed any assortment of random colours, giving the impression of a graphics card defect.
Are you mortal?
John raised his hand to fire an emergency Mana de into the chest of the pariah that stood next to his chair. Although she had been openly walking around the entire time, the Gamer had no idea when she had gotten so close. His arm shivered, as did his girlfriends entire body. He felt strangely naked and had to concentrate to keep instincts from taking over and making him run as far from the alien presence as he could.
Stop this, he demanded. If she showed any more hostility, he would throw as much magic and power at her as he could. It would be a contest in her favour. Even though a nk could be made to fade if they had to neutralize too much magical force, there was no doubt they were the best mage killers around.
The giant smile on Vitas face was predatory, revealing her teeth in a primally threatening fashion. Despite that, she turned around and walked away, all of Johns systems and emotions normalizing the second her eyes no longer rested on him. Both he and Rave took a deep breath.
Vita walked around the table; the walls were partly visible behind her. She had turned translucent like a ghost. If nothing else, this confirmed that she had her limits as well. If Gamers Body, the second strongest of Johns abilities, wouldnt have taken any toll on her, he would have thought himself in the presence of a Romulus-level threat. Only Gamers Spirit was more powerful and that one was the foundation on which all of his other mechanics rested.
Im very much mortal, yes, John, his fear now swinging into anger, growled. Threaten me again like that and the oue will be regretful for everyone in our vicinity.
It is simply fun to tease the powerful, Vita mused and went over to Wendy. She bowed down, the nk and the goddess engaging in a kiss as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Quickly, the pariah regained most of her substance. Her kind often used physical contact with beings anchored to this world to restore their own connection to it.
Even seeing that, John did not regain the mood to continue where he had left off with undressing and instead just cuddled his girlfriend for some reaffirmation in life. My apologies, Master, Aclysias voice slipped into his mind. I we failed to notice her approach.
Cant me you, he tried to ease their hurt pride as bodyguards. She clearly has her ways to undermine attention.
If Vita wanted to pull something like that off again, it was now made incredibly hard by the two maids, Aclysia in particr, staring at her. Their emerald eyes were filled with an emotion bordering on hatred. Threatening John had that sort of effect.
Sorry for Vita, she does things, Wendy said once her tongue was no longer upied. As my apology, Ill stop beating around the bush. This and that is the basic question whether we join Fusion.
As much as I want to discuss that, John softly interrupted her, could we talk about Nia first? It wasnt a good look as a leader that he put his personal desires before the diplomatic questions, but this entire trip was born of that failing.
The two are tangled, so no, Wendy denied his request. Heres the thing, weve decided Fusion looks all dandy and thatd we like to join. A few conditions, though, seven, to be clear. She raised her hands and counted. We want to not pay taxes, we want to not be part of any army, we want regr shipments of prune cakes, we want the right to leave whenever we want, we want to talk to the Horned Rat, we want to get three IBMAs and we want a national holiday for the cuddling of animals.
Those are ludicrous demands, John stated and shook his head. In vastly different ways. I can grant some of those, but there is absolutely no way I can do the first two.
Right, so here is what were going to do. Wendy smiled. Youll face a series of trials andpetitions that we set-up. For every challenge, you can wager one of our conditions. If you win, you can discard it entirely, if we win, you have to ept it as we want it, if theres a tie or if were happy with your performance, we meet somewhere in the middle.
John raised an eyebrow. He wasnt fundamentally opposed to the idea of another tournament that helped him get what he wanted. Competitions in a controlled setting were always preferable to actual war. However, the rules of this particr one sounded awful. If he had no hand in the nning, he just had to trust that they didnt screw him over before he even set foot in the metaphorical arena.
Why would I agree to that? he asked, therefore, having a terrible inkling what the answer would be.
Because we wont tell you where Nia is if you dont. Wendy crossed her hands behind her head and smiled smugly. Dont worry, pal, we wont be unreasonable. We dont want to piss the Nerdolus off so hard that hees crushing us down the line. What we want is a proper look at who you are.
If it calms you in any way, Vita chimed in, sitting down on the table, right next to Wendys legs. This was my condition for training Nia and she agreed to it.
Which I just have to take your word on is what happened, John pointed out. He already had his mind made up on agreeing to this tournament. Before he let them know that, however, he wanted to see what he could get in his favour. Youll have to forgive me if Im sceptical.
Want to hear it from her mouth, then? Wendy asked.
Chapter 764 – Reconnecting
Chapter 764 C Reconnecting
They left the conference room again only to move somewhere else entirely. It was Vita who led them down the sterile corridors and flights of stairs. Thetter were stered with the motivational advertisements often used for public spaces. Parts of sentences stretched downwards, each step a new line. Being on the way down, John had rtively little opportunity to read any of it, but it seemed to tell a continued story of a guy named Drej. Whether this had any importance to anything, John could not discern.
Do not attempt to find this room on your own, the dark-haired woman told John. It might jeopardize her final lesson.
Fine, he agreed. If that was the condition, he needed to see her again immediately, he would take it. How much further do we need to go anyway?
Zero steps, Vita answered and smoothly opened the white door to her right. Only the humans may enter, she added when John and his entire group tried to follow her. She didnt leave them any window to force themselves in either, standing in the doorframe.
You expect me to leave my John alone with you? Aclysia asked. Although her tone remained rtively tranquil, her bodynguage spoke of open hostility. Her legs were positioned to allow her an immediate jump at the pariah, should she try anything. After what you did earlier?
Yes. The empty smile Vita responded with had the weaponized maid materialize her dagger. Without as much as a single word, Beatrice followed suit. Perfect and Salver glistened silver-white and sharply in the artificial illumination of the colourless corridor. Are you sure you want to attempt this? the dark-haired nk questioned and raised her left hand.
The space above it ceased to be. There was no energy that coalesced, nor did the nk tear some sort of hole into the fabric of the world. It was more like someone taking a brush and expertly drawing a weapon with a single stroke.
The knife was sleek, a single piece of ckness without a guard and no clear separation between de and handle. Like her dress, the way it looked in the light felt off, messing with depth perception and making it generally unpleasant to look at. Doubly so for John, as he averted his gaze and realized it left blind spots in his vision. They started aspletely ck holes, only to fade into a grey filter that slowly reverted to normal. It was akin to staring directly into intense light, something that John hadnt needed to worry about since his vision was reced.
Aclysia and Beatrice suffered from the same effect and took defensive postures. Being unable to look in the general direction of her weapon would be an extreme drawback. Just as long as they didnt focus on it for too long, they were able to keep the ck spots from forming.
Could yall chill for a bit? Rave stepped in between the hostile parties. Put the weapons away, were going to be friends and all that. No need to skewer each other over this. Having said that, the Lightbearer red at Vita. Although ya should apologize.
I apologize, the dark-haired woman immediately responded to the surprise of basically everyone, except for Wendy. The goddess was busy ying with her phone. Tilting her head in an intrigued fashion, Vita dismissed her weapon. That is what you wanted, is it not?
Ja, Rave said and looked back over to the maids. Come on, girls, theyre just weird, not actually out to harm us. The weird allegation was a tad weakened by the fact that a still nude Rave presented it. Completelyfortable being naked all this time, the Gamers girlfriend stemmed one hand into her sexy hips and wagged her finger at the protective servants. Rx a bit, Im going in there with him and I dont need more than these to be effective. She pulled the finger in to make a clenched fist.
Radiating their unhappiness, the maids listened to the head of their masters harem by first rxing their stances and then dismissing their weapons entirely. We obey, Mistress, they said and bowed in unison.
Only the humans, then, John agreed as well and Vita stepped aside. Thus allowed to enter, he and Rave stepped into the room, the door getting closed behind them.
It was even whiter than the corridor. Smooth walls curved into the floor, denying the existence of any corners and making John feel like he was inside some sort of stic capsule. An overabundance of light took the depth out of things. Light that had, as far as John could see, no origin. There were nomps anywhere, no hovering spheres of magic, no fires or anything else. The room was brightly lit, as if thews of the world demanded it so.
In that whiteness, John had trouble making out the girl at the opposite end of the room. In the dress of a favoured pariah, the same Vita was wearing, and with her fair features, she almost melded with the background. Only the bright golden colour of her hair and the pale blue of her eyes let John see her, as she rose from some sort of invisible chair.
Nia! he and Rave eximed at the same time, hastily walking forwards. With measured steps, the blonde came in their direction as well, her beautiful face as empty as ever. After about three steps, she stopped. John and Rave ran face first into an invisible wall.
John rubbed his forehead as he staggered and took a step back. Straining his vision, he was barely able to make out some kind of ss. A warning would have been nice, he said to Vita, who snickered in the background.
Havent we established that Im not here to be nice to you? the dark-haired woman asked.
Johns left eyelid twitched dangerously, but he had a much more important person to pay attention to. Hello, Nia, he said, putting his hand on the ss wall.
Hello, John, she responded. Her tone had changed a bit since hest met her C for the better. Rather than the unreadable, emotionally distant voice of the social and magical pariah, she now managed to express a modicum of emotion in her tone. It wasnt much, but it made it easier to understand her. Im d to see you. From a normal person, he would have expected a smile there, but Nias face stayed still. That hadnt changed in the least.
Instead, John looked for her feet. The front half of them peeked out of the flowing skirt of her dress. By the wiggle of her toes, the Gamer could read that her happiness was genuine. By the time he looked back up, Nia had ced her hand opposite of his on the ss. A thin wall separated them, but he liked to think he could feel her warmth regardless. We missed you.
I am not back yet, the nk pointed out, her right-hand wandering to her waist as if she could grab something out of a purse. I apologize if I will be hard to read without something to read my tone, she regretfully stated, making it clear that she had reflexively looked for the cards John had gifted her in Amsterdam.
Youve improved without them, John let her know. Maybe I shouldnt have given them to you in the first ce. Sort of removed the incentive for you to improve if you had a reliable crutch.
Several moments of silence ensued and the Gamer simply waited. With icy blue eyes, she stared, radiating her alien power. It had grown, but it was hers and John could be as little intimidated by her continued stare as he could feel genuine disgust for this mark of her powers. I love you.
John felt the butterflies in his stomach swarm out into the rest of his body as a warm and pleasant shiver at the sound of those three little words. As weirdly ced as they were in this conversation, hearing them from her was wonderful. It was the first time she had said them to him. I love you too, he said, and the unthinkable happened.
The corners of Nias mouth curved upwards slightly. It didntst long and it wasnt overt, but it was definitely a smile. Where it faded from her lips quickly, it stayed in her eyes for a while. She pressed her lips on the ss, and as awkward as it may have looked, John reciprocated the gesture. A momentter, she stepped fluidly to the left and repeated the gesture with Rave.
We got a new pet, Rave announced.
Suddenly Nia pressed her entire upper body against the ss as if she wanted to escape. Her voice was the slightest bit elerated as she listed, Turtle? Armadillo? Pangolin? Arkatheon? Pig? Basilisk?
A Magryph, John said with a big smile, watching as Nias butt wiggled excitedly. Although shecked the extreme curviness that most of Johns girls disyed, the gesture was adorable and attractive. As he was a connoisseur of all shapes of the healthy female, with a clear bias towards tall and athletic ones, Nias lean body was a bit outside his traditional desire but tickled a fancy that hadnt been satisfied in a while.
You look better, the nk pivoted the topic. She pointed at their faces, her arm slowly swinging back and forth between them like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. In face and body and soul. The mark connects you in an impossible fashion, like parallel lines that meet.
You can have one as well, John offered, once you return.
A long silence ensued, during which Nia stepped back from the ss and excitedly danced a few steps, ending in a pirouette. All of her movements were unrealistically smooth. To someone who was less used to them, they would have looked uncanny. The long ponytail flew after her in an uninterrupted fashion. John only now realized that her hair had been remarkably still this entire time. Perhaps the Nevrest wasnt around?
What is a Magryph? The blonde nk basked in the anticipation. That she changed back to this wasnt surprising, Nia had always been prone to jumping between topics, needing anything between seconds and days before she arrived at something she was sure she wanted to say about any topic.
I could tell you, but I think youd rather see for yourself, John guessed and got a bunch of heavy nods in response. A lot of things happened in your absence, Nia.
The Nirvana whispers such, she stated. You made your eyes return, this pleases me. I She suddenly stopped and walked up to John. Her hand wandered back to where his was. I apologize for leaving so suddenly. I was afraid.
Afraid of what? John asked.
Of fading away, she said and ced her forehead on the ss, closing her eyes as she spoke. A deep-seated honesty was in her voice. One day I will fade, I know it. I never feared it. I only thought that today was not the day. Then, when it threatened to rip me from you, I feared it. In the panic and confusion, I left to search for more strength.
And the Great Empty One brought her to me, Vita chimed in. To ease her fears and show her the love of the other side.
And who would be better at easing the fear of fading than the one person who has ever returned from the Nirvana? John wondered, feeling the Alice theory strengthen. His attention stayed with Nia, however. I understand and I forgive you, he said.
Nia fell to her knees like a ss of water whose container had suddenly disappeared. There was the important difference of her not bing a puddle. Thank you, she said, her tone empty of emotion again. I want to pat Copernicus.
Hes running around the building, Rave let the pariah know. Although the sun cat was remarkably independent, he couldnt go nearly as far away from his summoner as Johns elementals could. A hundred metres was about the maximum he could venture out from wherever she was.
He wouldnt be allowed to enter anyway, Vita reminded them, and then said, This distraction has gone on long enough. Ask her what you need to.
Nia tilted her head quizzically, a gesture that John had missed far more than he knew. Is it true that you agreed to be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations? he asked without any more dy. She was evidently safe and wasnt being mistreated in any fashion. Dwelling in this empty room behind some magical ss, John wasnt sure what the training was, but if Nia would have been unhappy with it, she would have behaved differently.
The genuine thing that irked him was that she had be, however slightly, better at/able to express herself. Showing the path to a better future and a happier tomorrow for his girls was his burden and his privilege. Others enabling Nias smile was almost offensive to him. Those thoughts had barely crossed his mind when an unhappy crocodile growled in his thoughts. Were it not for Vitas restriction, it was likely he would be feeling a bit of chomping at the nails.
Nia looked up from the floor. Yes. It helps us both.
Alright then. John nodded. He had a bunch more questions about the how and the why, but he trusted her enough to ignore those and just go along with what was proposed. If Nia had agreed to these terms, then that was enough of a reason for the Gamer to give the Florida guild the benefit of the doubt. Towards Vita he then said, I ept your little tournament.
And the dark-haired pariah smiled her empty smile.
Chapter 765 – At home
Chapter 765 C At home
so thats whats happening over there right now, the Gamer said, as he put his signature under another document. He was going through the most boring part of the work day, the one where he had to scribble his name, corrections or questions on documents. Once that was done, he had to scan the document, file the resulting image file properly on hisputer, then print a physical copy to file properly in actual files and then the original document would be sent back to whomever he received it from.
It was an incredibly repetitive task and he had to do it for about 73 separate pieces of documentation. It would have been great if he could say paper but most of these forms were stacks of five pages and upwards. If anyone ever thought that being the leader of any organization was exciting, they had not fought on the paper trail. The only entertainment provided on this battlefield was the sh of the scanner and the brrrrrr of the printer.
Normally, he loved to delegate all of this to Beatrice, who could do everything except for the signing. The passive maid thrived on monotonous tasks, while John was barely able to stomach the necessity for them. Any other assistant could have also taken this burden from him, it was low-skilledbour that only required basic knowledge about the filing system they used, but most of the documents handled were ssified in some fashion. Right at this moment, John was scanning the details of the newest military provided contact lenses, lining out the attributes of the new series that would go into mass production next month. That wasnt anything he wanted random peoples eyes on.
He would also have needed to wear pants, which was almost as big of an issue.
Of course, that girl over there could try helping me, but I think thatd do more harm than good, John thought and looked over to the person he had been talking to in the first ce. Bored, Eliza was sitting on Beatrices ss table and browsed the web. Alternatively, this one could do a lot of good, but I think she doesnt feel like it. His eyes wandered over to Scarlett, who was lying in the foldaway bed of the office, her phone in hand and likely going through her own workload. Both were very much naked. Neither of you seem particrly enthusiastic about this news.
The creepy blonde has been found, fucking hurray! Eliza eximed. I mean, dont get me wrong, Im actually happy that her bony ass is back on the menu, as weird as that literally soulless bitch is, but just hearing it said during your regr reports doesnt exactly inspire me to go all crazy happy.
Ditto, Scarlett just noted from the side-lines. Except she isnt literally soulless, Eliza, get that right.
Im sorry, literally has an empty fucking soul. Better, techno-cunt?
Better would be if you were the slightest bit respectful.
An Eliza that was promised to choke on dick for an hour but hasnt felt balls on her chin for an hour is a pissy Eliza, the blood mage grumbled loudly. Howe you cant fucking manage that, John?! You basically run two minds separate from each other, but you cant differentiate between two cocks?
Libido, the Gamer responded and sighed. He had put the paper into the scanner the wrong way around and now the thing was upside down. Scarlett, why does our work program not have a way to flip an image?
Because I cant patch everyst fucking thing so quickly, the Technomancer retorted. Also, because the rage mails the technical support gets because of it are hrious. Anyway, can you continue the exnation because Im actually wondering about that as well.
Well, see, if you have a Libido well over 100, it gets pretty hard to just ignore such impulses, he exined. I can keep myposure, but you lot make me feel way too good to ignore. That aside, even if I COULD do that, it doesnt change the fact that both of my bodies ejacte at the same time, meaning the main problems persist. He had gone through the motions and now had the document scanned the correct way around. I would personally love to see this patched. If you ask me, its pretty stupid that the most independent Extension is bound to the same ejaction and sleep timers. I feel like I should have an option to de-sync these things. Dealing with time zones is going to be a total bitch down the line.
Girls, say thank you, Gaia, youre the best, the Gamer instructed.
Did she just patch exactly what you wanted? The redheaded Technomancer perched up on the bed, likely wondering if it was finally time to get under that table. Since most of the girls were out and about right now, the blowjob duty fell on a limited few. It was very good that three of those were the two biggest masochists and the queen with the deepthroat addiction. Not that Metra didnt pull her weight when it came to taking shifts, being his sex ve and all that.
No, she is going to patch exactly what I want, he responded. After the first challenge.
Ah. Scarlettid back down. So, another day of only opportunistic dicksucking. Fantastic, just the kind of stress relief I was looking for.
How about you take the time to catch up on some sleep instead? John suggested.
I slept 13 hours today because you had Metra force me to stay in bed and I lost about 12 million because of it.
You didnt lose that money; you just didnt make it.
Whats the difference? Scarlett smiled at him, making clear she was just joking.
Eliza lowered her head until her chin rested on the table. I just wanted to spend my Sunday morning feeling the air in my lungs getting used up as I struggle to keep my doms fat cock in my useless little throat, the submissive whined. Why are you even working on a Sunday?!
Because sometimes people decide its best if they send every bit of half-finished work elsewhere on a Saturday evening, so they get the feeling its not their problem anymore over the weekend. A few moments of coordination between his two minds followed and the ambassador double smirked. Well, you might just be in luck. Im currently getting told where I can stay in Paradise. The challenges will y out over next week.
So, you dont have anything else to do over there? Eliza asked.
Except for fucking on Miami Beach, yes, the Gamer responded and tapped on the table, dly taking the excuse to stop with the constant scanning for a few moments. Break is about to be over, girls. Come here, I need to put the restraints back on before you get under the table.
Eliza was much quicker at hurrying over. Although she knew all the motions already, she stopped next to Johns chair and let him force her into the right position. Grabbing her by the arm, he forced her to bend forwards. Excitedly, the blood mage began to fidget. Stay still, John reprimanded, smacking her on the ass, once he had gotten up.
The fidgeting was reduced to a steady quiver, coercing little moans and a quickly growing wetness between her legs. The Gamer had to hold back to not take her over the table. Not only was this against the spirit of the work environment, but his actual body was still not in a private setting. He did his best to ignore the sweet beckoning of her purplish-pink pussy lips, and instead grabbed the restraints from his inventory.
It was a pair of leather cuffs, each with a sp, that he wrapped tightly around her wrists with a few skilled movements and then linked together behind her back. Those in position, he produced a butt plug as well, lubricated it with Elizas own love juices, and pushed it into her back entrance. Master, the masochistic submissive panted afterwards, can I have my gag as well?
Hmmm, he hummed, genuinely needing to think about it. No, I want you to use your lips and the ring gag would get in the way. She made a disappointed noise, and John pped her on the other ass cheek. Your master has spoken, what do you say, submissive?
Thank you for even considering it, Master, Eliza panted, only for the whole table to shake when John gave her a third p with all the strength his Extension could muster. It was enough for the blood mage to yelp and throw her head back. Thank you, thank you! she repeated feverishly, while John slipped two fingers into her cunt and brought her to a quick orgasm.
Under the table with you, before I forget myself, Johnmanded, and she obeyed, chasing after the rewarding pleasure of his magical orders. Scarlett, present yourself, he then gave another one to the redhead that had been waiting her turn.
It was more fun ordering Scarlett around because she always retained a bit of wilful pride even when she was following her submissive instincts. Seeing the slight scowl on her face while she pushed out her ass fuelled his lust in many ways. He put the cuffs and butt plug on her as well and, after a few moments of deliberation, added a blindfold.
No using your powers, except for emergencies, while you service me today, he told her. Do you understand?
Thats a waste o- A p on her ass caused her to stop talking as the intense gasp overpowered her words. Fucker, I- A second p. Listen to me, I have to- A third one. Before she could get any moreints out, he gently grabbed her by the throat with one hand. Not enough to properly restrict her breathing, but enough to send a signal.
Do you understand, Scarlett? John asked for a second time.
Meritocracy, the Technomancer stated that single word with authority, and John immediately took all hands off her, only lifting the blindfold so she could look at him properly. That was their safe word and he knew she wouldnt use it without good reason. Seriously, Im doing something important right now, so I cant oblige that one.
Shame, John sighed, as he would have loved having her undivided attention. Nothing else you want removed though?
Just continue on at getting me off, you magnificent asshole, she answered, and John pulled the blindfold back into position with a smile. He grabbed her by the hair and not-so-gently pulled her with him as he sat down. He groped her body for a little bit; except for her ass, most of her was pretty lean. After he had brought her to orgasm by kissing her and ying with her t tits, he shoved her under the table.
Eliza helped her fellow masochist settle in the right position; blind as Scarlett was at the moment, it would have taken her a bit of feeling around to face the correct position on her own. With a few nudges of the blood mages shoulder, they soon had their faces side by side and parts of their torso pressed together. Their mouths were wide open, tongues stretched out and tasting the air, thick with Johns cologne and sexual energy.
All the Gamer had to do was roll forwards with his swivel chair. Say Gaia is the best, girls, he said, keeping the desired cock just out of their reach. He needed to tease them for over ten seconds before they finally broke.
Gaia is the best! they eximed, and he went back to work, boxing them in under the table.
______________________________________________________________________
In Florida, the Gamers actual body felt a strong urge to lose his pants. Siena, could youe here for a second? he asked, and, slightly confused, the moonshade elemental strut over. As close as the elementals were to him, they could not directly sense what was going on with the Extension. Not if the double was that far away and not if they werent hooked up to it. Bend over, hemanded.
Oh? Siena looked down on the visibly pulsing tent in Johns pants and grinned. Why would I?
John did not have the time to barter with her. That she had been the closest when this necessity had risen had been a stroke of bad luck. Pick something you want, just bent over already! he demanded, not sure how long he could hold on. The pants vanished and left a dick ready to explode out for the viewing.
Licking her lips, the shadow spirit said, Ill do you the favour for the pleasures sake, while turning around. Her hands had barely connected with the back of the armchair when John grabbed her by the hips and plunged into her. For another drawn-out moment, he felt the tension in his body, then her hellish pussy assaulted him from all sides. Tiny tendrils wiggled, caressing him like ten-thousand tongues, rolling and contracting like pulsing folds and exuding steady lubrication. None of that was necessary to send him over the edge, as he came the second he pressed his groin against her squishy ass.
While he would have gotten off either way, it was undeniable that Sienas insides were heightening the ecstasy of the moment. Especially once his seed caused her to climax herself. Instinctively, her insides clenched around him and rippled, aiming to wring everyst drop avable from his shaft.
Whew, he sighed once it was over. Thanks could you let me go? Sienas tail had wrapped around his midriff and was now making it impossible for him to pull out.
Grinning devilishly over her shoulder, the silver-blue eyed elemental made her answer clear before she even said anything. Constetion covered hands held on more tightly to the couch. You will need my assistance again anyway in a few minutes, wont you? she asked in her sensual voice and gyrated her ass seductively, her folds doing their own work to bring him great pleasure. Spare yourself the effort, you are already right where you need to be.
She wasnt exactly wrong, so John, while feeling both Scarletts throat and Sienas cunt, just resigned himself to scanning his temporary home from where he was.
It was a charming apartment of medium size, the kind that a student graduate could afford after having the lucky break ofnding a job in their area of expertise but before the years needed to climb the corporatedder. A living room bordered on a bedroom. While thetter was barelyrge enough to contain the queen-sized bed and two nightstands, the living room had the space to amodate a wall system with standing tscreen, a couch, two armchairs and a minibar. Said minibar was fully stocked and located next to the kitchen door. Through Aclysias eyes, John spied that it could be essed from the other side of the wall as well.
I am developing a disdain for kitchens that are separated from the main room, the weaponized maid let him know while she checked the equipment. It wasnt anything fancy, but it had all the necessities and some extras like a toaster and a microwave, so they would manage. A housemaid should have the privilege to watch her master over the counter while she cooks and see the reactions of the crowd to the smell of her food.
I just want to see your smile while you prepared my meals, John gave his rationale why he preferred open kitchens. On a more pragmatic note, it was just easier if everyone could grab the food from the counter without having to funnel through the choke point of a door. That reason wouldnt have gotten the beaming happiness from his first maid, however.
Our reasons arent that different then, my John, for I want to see you whenever possible. She stuck her head out of the kitchen door to watch him instead. I desire Masters attention next, she announced.
You will have to wait for a little while, servant, Siena mocked in a friendly bantering way.
If my patience is drained, you will find that slicing bread is a skill that can be extended to make butts a whole lot tter, Aclysia warned.
Oh, you would deprive your master of one of his beloved behinds?
In the emergency case that it would be healthier for him, sure.
You mean if he doesnt give you enough attention to satiate your crazy side.
The weaponized maid opted not to answer, only cleared her throat and vanished back in the kitchen. John, in the meantime, shifted mental attention to Undine, who inspected the bath. Tiny tub, no jacuzzi, she told him when she felt his mind. Indeed, the bathroom was little more than a sink, a joined shower-tub unit, a toilet and a washing machine.
Guess well have to look for some sort of public bath then, John thought. That would make things slightly awkward with the post orgy clean-up. Orgies that would doubtlessly happen repeatedly because, aside from the general proclivity of the group towards them, they were stuck in a space too small for their numbers and the only distraction was a television. Thankfully, public sex was A-Okay around here, so they didnt need to confine their fun times to this area.
Well, lets kill the time until tomorrow, the Gamer said.
Chapter 766 – Tournament of Oddities 1 – Rules and Clarifications
Chapter 766 C Tournament of Oddities 1 C Rules and rifications
The Gamer spent the rest of Sunday exploring Paradise and having sex, often times both. A massive, Roman style bath house served as the recement for the shower back home. Thanks to having multiple pools, each of which was imable by a single group at a time, they had rtive privacy. Rtive due to the fact that ess for other people was barred but the view wasnt, leaving a bunch of people to watch them. Depending on the girl asked, that made it more enjoyable or didnt matter whatsoever. The opinion that it was a detriment had basically been eradicated in Johns harem. Only Gnome had the slightest bit of hesitation about things, and even she could be eased into epting the situation.
Aside from that, they had done some wandering on the beach, after the thunderstorm had cleared. Because the sand was still wet, the enjoyment was kind of limited. A beach just wasnt the same unless it was sunny and the wind was too weak to blow sand everywhere. Their time there was pretty limited and they opted to see what else the skyscraper had in store.
They found an 80s style arcade, an inte caf, a swinger club, a couple of restaurants, indoor gardens, mushroom farms and a bunch of other things. Paradise contained a very random and very active ecosystem of shops and other facilities. In the end, John and Rave had some fun on the roof, on thetters insistence. Getting fucked a hundred metres over the ground, against the railing, and publicly was right up her alley.
All of that done, they just went to sleep and then spent the morning of the following day waiting for them to be called. Sometime around noon, Wendy knocked on their door. Rise and shine, doggo, she said, when John opened the door.
I got two issues with those four words, which is a pretty impressive ratio, the Gamer responded. First off, Ive been awake for hours. Second: doggo?
Youve been running around fucking your bitches yesterday as if you had to mark your territory, so I say doggo is pretty urate, Wendy retorted.
Uh-huh. He didnt have anything to say in his defence. Under normal circumstances, he would have taken umbrage with someone calling his girls bitches, but Wendy just had that friendly banter sass to her that made it hard to be angry about what she said. Anyway, are we finally starting?
If youe right along, absolutely! the goddess dered and marched off. John followed after her, as did the usual trio of Aclysia, Beatrice and Rave. When it came to the elementals, they opted to follow in an incorporeal state instead. Only Copernicus was an unusual addition. That your cat?
Im nobodys cat, the sunlight elemental responded.
Wow, he just called you a nobody, the redhead turned to Rave. Must feel pretty awful to be rejected by your pet.
Hes not my pet, though, hes my partner. Also, a big tsundere, Rave responded.
John decided to drastically change the subject. Can you tell me what I can expect before we get there?
Yeah, Wendy said, and silence ensued.
The Gamer sighed. Are you seriously pulling the routine where I need to ask every specific question?
Maybe.
But why would you do that?
Because I actually dont feel like answering anything. I want to see the look on your face, so I need to buy time until we get to the right door C and we are at the right door, fancy that! Wendy gave him the biggest grin her glossy lips could muster and pushed down the handle. Resigning himself to the whims of his host, the Gamer followed.
They entered an extremelyrge room, the kind that could have fit a boxing ring and enough gym equipment for a hundred people. At the moment, it wasrgely empty, though, except for three notable things on the floor and the cameras flying around. Two of those notable things were massive kitchen blocks containing basically every utensil and appliance that found regr or semi-regr use. The third was a long table with three chairs, two of which were currently taken by people John already knew. Neither of which he was all that keen on seeing.
One was Vita. The pariahs downright hostile behaviour yesterday still rubbed John the wrong way. Her half-assed apology only made things worse. As she was Nias teacher and probably the most powerful person the Florida guild had, John didnt want to push back too much on her but he had alsoe to the conclusion that he didnt want to be around her too much.
The other, John had not seen in a while. He was a man with a massive amount of brown hair, all of itbed upwards and held by some extremely powerful styling gel. It gave his head an elongated appearance. The way he wore his suit was a bit goofy, the jacket being half a size toorge and flubbing around when he made overbearing movements. Looooooooong time no seeeeeeeeeeee, Gamerrrrrrrrrr! he shouted into the desk microphone, changing the pose and the way he held the microphone with every stretched-out word. You owe me a box of Shroomperotic!
Technically, Eliza owes you that. John crossed his arms. You are wee to try to get it off her, Jeff. How is Dra? He had a staring match with the announcer. John had encountered him twice before. The first time was during the tournament in Rome, the second time was in Amsterdam. Their personal connection was shallow, to say the least, they had never spoken in private and, judging by the cameras, that wouldnt change today.
No idea! The guy is an absolute pain! Hes impossible to find or contact! Unless he wants to be part of something, then he shoots me a message and just invites himself! Jeff threw his hands into the air for just as long as it took to create a dramatic pause. Almost like he doesnt exist between gigs, super odd, super annoying!
I would avoid contact with you as well, between jobs, the Gamer thought. Are these cameras on, by the way?
Oh yeah, all being livestreamed since the moment you entered! Jeff told him. They start the program before the program around here!
I thought you would be making more funny faces, Wendy sighed and walked over to the table, taking the empty third seat on the left-hand side (from Johns point of view).
I told you he is aposed man, Vitaplimented the Gamer and sipped on some kind of steaming hot tea.
I would just have liked a warning before I spill any government secrets in front of the camera. The Gamer crossed his arms and emphasized his confidence by standing straight with his shoulders back. In moments like this, he was very happy that he hadnt gone out of his way to create a public persona that was different from how he behaved privately. Anyway, since we cleared up that youll stream all of this to C I assume C everyone who wants to watch it, do you want to tell everyone what is happening and me specifically how today will go down?
If this was being disyed to the world, he at least wanted the audience to know what was going on. Making himself the one to point these things out would hopefully serve to have him appear, in some fashion, magnanimous. Just because he didnt have a fake persona didnt mean he wasnt calcting.
In response to his request, Jeff jumped on the table. OF COURSE WE WILL! BRING IN THE SCREEEEEEN! His left arm shot up towards the ceiling. Out of theplete darkness that enveloped the upper half of the room descended a gargantuan tscreen. Although its main body was that of a typical TV, it had white wings on either side of it. Impressive, isnt it? How we can just summon equipment out of thin air? Jeff asked, stroking his chin in a forcibly cool way.
John looked closely at the darkness and let his Vision of Cmity lenses do their work. Combined with a quick Observe, he discovered the truth of the matter within moments. Thin air, my ass, the Gamer thought. The entire trick to this was that the room had a ludicrously high ceiling, with several chutes in the upper half of the walls, which were presumably connected to storage rooms. An illusion of imprable darkness caused it to merely appear like they could call whatever they needed from nowhere. Its a nice party trick, the Gamer said and pushed the Abyssal Layer of his Phased Vision to the background, leaving him to mostly perceive what everyone else was seeing. Want me to exin it to the audience or will we get somewhere today?
Tsk. Jeff was obviously annoyed that John had already found out how things worked. As an, if goofy, professional, he moved on swiftly, continuing once he had gotten off the table. Here is the deal for the folks at home: from today until next Sunday, the Gamer will face one challenge every day. All of the challenges have been chosen by members of Florida. Once the tournament concludes, the Florida guild will join Fusion!
John sighed, wishing that this bit would have been kept under wraps for a few more days. Lets just hope nothing bad happens because people learn of this early, he thought. Theoretically, he was in the clear. The peace deal he had made with the Lake Alliance specified that Fusion was not allowed to expand through warfare, which this didnt fall under, whatever this was. Practically, John hade to know that there was always a chance for someone to appear and start making a fuss.
NOW, you might ask yourself: but what is the tournament about then?! Well, Florida has put down seven conditions on Fusion, and here C they C are!
Jeff spent a moment reading all of the conditions out for the audience at home, before moving on. As you may be able to tell from the structure of the image, the conditions as presented are not set in stone! After the rules of every individual contest are stated, John Newman will present Fusions demand. Should he win the contest, the demand will be implemented instead of the original condition. Should he lose, the original condition will be implemented without question. Should there be a tie or should the jury decide that the Gamer has performed well, there will be a meeting in between both positions.
A few things of that were new even to John, specifically the bit where he would only have to pick which bet he was going to make after he knew thepetition for that day. At least that means I can prioritize the things I definitely cant let pass, he thought.
Which two of them he meant was fairly obvious, being the no taxes and no draft bit. Contrary to initial expectations, this was not because John had any aversion to giving tax breaks or special rights in terms of army membership to newly joining Federation members. He had done both before, the Hidden Tradition and many of the Amacat CEOs enjoying their privileges and John their presence in his growing guild.
The problem here was ack of exclusivity. Although having an entire state with those privileges, there were other ways to get money out of a ce than taxes and an army career could be made attractive enough to make a draft unnecessary in all but the most desperate of times. If all of the current members of Florida were toe to enjoy these advantages, that wouldnt be a problem. That anyone and their mother could just join Florida tomorrow and also get those privileges meant that handing them out was the direct path to death for Fusion.
Everyst business with a brain would immediately move to Florida and enjoy being exempt from all taxes. During wartime, and even outside of it, everyst person that felt the slightest bit paranoid about being drafted would move down as well. Poption and economy in the local area would swell, putting a drain on the rest of Fusion, as free travel within the Federation meant that everyone just went to enjoy their lives in safety, while the coffers of the central government went emptier and emptier.
Internal strife and eventual copse were a given in that situation. It could not be allowed to happen.
I guess theyre also testing how opportunistic I am, John thought as he analysed the rules a bit more closely. Since the cases of a victory or a tie are both dependent on what I state after I know whether or not I can win, the rules naturally incentivize me to say something ridiculously in my favour. The question is not whether or not I will counteract the impossible things they epted, but what I will force on them when I have the opportunity. He looked at the cameras. Not sure if their idea to test me like that in the court of public opinion is clever or patently insane.
Any questions so far, John Newman? Jeff asked.
John had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from demanding that he would be called President Newman. Something about the way Jeff bbered on ticked John off, so he was tempted to forgo his usual preference on a casual attitude and demand a bit more respect. Maybe Lydia is rubbing off on me, he thought, only to answer the question, Only who that jury is made out of. I would assume its you three? He looked at Vita, Jeff and Wendy in turn. Seems a bit partial.
Is it though? Jeff asked and pointed at himself with his thumb. Im hired and have no stakes in the matter!
However, you are a massive weirdo and have been hired by the locals on remarkably short notice. Wouldnt surprise me if you got a bunch of friends around here, Johnmented in his mind.
Vita here is also so weird that we cant predict what shell do at all! And Wendy here will sass out everyone, no matter who!
Its true, the redhead said and stretched. Ill roast whoever underperforms C which will be everyone!
Ironically, I believe that the figurehead will be the most impartial, John scratched the back of his head. Well, lets say I believe that none of you have skin in the game, it still looks pretty bad.
The judging mechanism also shifts between contests.
Why even bother with the exnation then? the Gamer sighed. Alright, whatever, I agree to your terms, publicly as I have privately. He rolled his neck and smiled confidently. As my future allies, I trust that you will not do anything thatd cause me to hate you, as I hope you trust me in return.
Look at you being all leader-like, Wendy said and rose from her chair again, sort of defeating the point of sitting down in the first ce. Anyway, heres the contest for the day. Jeff, do the only thing youre useful for and hype it up.
Thementator mmed one foot on the table and raised one fist into the air. A pose as inspirational as they came, it waspletely wasted on the goofy announcer and his ridiculous hair. We! he started, emphasizing every word as if it was a revtion received by the one true Lord, Will! Have! A! BAAAAAAAAAAAAKEEEEEEEEE OOOOOOOOOOOOOOFF! He leapt over the table and in between the two kitchens.
Thats right, Vita chimed in from the table, her tone strangely simr to that of a weather forecaster. In todays contest, John Newman and his harem of pretty girls will be facing off against our very own Wendy in a contest of cooking. A dangerous glint entered her blue eyes. Originally, Wendy wanted to make this about serving chicken nuggets, but I told her I would erase her from existence if she harmed Fred. Have you seen Fred? The giant screen suddenly switched to a livestream of the guild leader getting fed some grain. Shes adorable.
Yeesssss! Instead Wendy will mercilessly outbake the Gamer in a contest to make an apple pie! Jeff made arge gesture towards the kitchen to Johns right, where Wendy had already taken position and was now giving her smuggest pose.
Smiling, hand on her chin, she looked at a low-flying camera and dered, None can stand up to the baking of the cutest fast food idol ever made!
That C is C rrrrriiiiight! Jeff roared. How could the Gamer possibly hope to challenge-
John raised a hand and interrupted the hype-man with a simple question, You know, this is absolutely not going to work, yes?
Huh? Jeff wondered.
Look, I can ept the jury looking pretty stacked in Floridas favour. I get it, you organized the event, you get to pick who sits on there. Having one of the contestants as a jury member though? the Gamer waggled his finger between Wendy and her empty seat on the jury table. Thats a bit much.
Uhm. Jeff and Wendy dered in unison.
I told you this was going to happen, Vita added. What was your answer? Right, none, you ignored me, because you were busy not nning for an alternative.
Of course, I ignored you, you had fun teasing me with that creepy aura of yours!
Your overreactions are hrious.
Siena? Undines voice suddenly reverberated in Johns head.
It only took a moment for the moonshade elemental to respond, Yes?
There is a soulmate of yours over there.
Perhaps, but its more stimting when I do it.
May I suggest something? John spoke into the banter and pointed at his girlfriend. Jane could take the third spot on the jury for this trial.
Ya mean I dont have to stand in the way while Aclysia does the baking? Rave wanted to know. AND I get to eat apple pie afterwards?
As long as you promise to be impartial, he responded, got a quick kiss as his reward and looked to Vita, as he didnt respect Jeffs authority whatsoever and Wendy was evidently unable to organize properly. Sounds good?
Sure, the pariah just said, and the Lightbearer started moving over.
Uh, right, Jeff cleared his throat and tapped back into the hype in his soul, aiming to spread it to everyone in the room and at home before their screens. Although Wendy will ABSOLUTELY destroy him in the baking challenge, without question, they still have up to two hours to make the pie. While the ingredients supplied can be used in anybination wanted, the shape is limited by the supplied pie te. The jury will then give each cake 1-10 points and whoever has the most points total wins. Now, there is only one thing left before we start: John Newman, ce your bet!
We should also mention that this is an adult program, Vita added.
Chapter 767 – Tournament of Oddities 2 – Overly long baking description
Chapter 767 C Tournament of Oddities 2 C Overly long baking description
Johns mind was racing to arrive at an answer. With the analytical speed of a super genius, he went through the most likely oues and what he was willing to risk. Normally I wouldpletely trust Aclysia when ites to a bake-off, but her opponent is the literal goddess of fast food. I dont think an apple pie falls under that specification, but its best to assume that her cooking skills in general are top notch. More importantly, she doubtlessly knows her way around vour enhancers, whereas Aclysia sticks to natural ingredients and generally healthy foods.
Half a second had passed and the Gamer continued to think, too quickly for his familiars to follow or weigh in on the topic. All that was managed to be shared was the cautious enthusiasm of Aclysia. The weaponized maid felt that she had good odds at winning this, based on a well-founded pride in her cooking.
I wouldnt bet the taxes or the army on anything lower than a 90% chance for victory. He went through the process of elimination to discern which one of the remaining conditions he wanted to wager today. Where those two are too important to give on anything Im not sure I will win, the prune cakes and the holiday are my get out of jail free cards for those challenges Im sure I will lose, so I shouldnt waste them here either. That leaves me with the secession use, the audience with Richard and the IBMAs.
Of those three, John found the secession use to be the least worrisome. There would be a natural way to leave the Federation anyway. It would be a whole lot harder than what the Florida guild demanded, but it would exist regardless. As such, this was better treated as another way to concede apetition without losing anything too important.
The IBMAs were something he wasnt as keen on giving up. He still had promises pending to deliver one to DC and one to Boston, with the former being almost finished and thetter in the early stages of development. Pushing those off for another month or two, after the Hudson Brawl had put a dy on things previously, was going to rustle some feathers diplomatically that John preferred to be happy and groomed. It wouldnt be a gargantuan loss, but some people would use it as an angle of attack and he should strive to avoid adding more of those to himself than necessary. This condition was best treated with caution.
In between those two nestled the audience with the Horned Rat. John had absolutely no idea what the Floridians wanted to talk about with Richard and that had him cautious. That aside, the Gamer didnt know if he could guarantee any such meeting. Contact difficulties aside, the god of future cmities might just decide it was funny to screw John over by denying any such audience. Even worse, unlikely as it was, the Horned Rat might take it as some sort of insult that he was being used as a bargaining chip in such a situation. As much as the two of them shed, the Gamer was much happier to have the god as an ally of sorts than an enemy of sorts.
Two seconds had passed and the Gamer arrived at a decision. It shouldnt be too bad if I lose and doesnt me anyrge benefits if I win either. Now, how to formte my counter-demand In opposition to the condition that I will guarantee a meeting with the Horned Rat, Fusion presents the demand that I will try to arrange and attend a meeting with the Horned Rat.
There were two specific things he achieved by putting things like that. Not only did he get himself out of the necessity to sessfully arrange that meeting, he also got himself the right to attend if it happened. On a less tangible note, he hoped it would be positively received that he obliged the spirit of the original condition. As he could make whatever topical counter offer he wanted, presenting that he wouldnt do anything at all was just as viable.
If he lost this challenge and the Florida guild were giant dicks about it, John would just point them to an error in the original wording. They wanted to be guaranteed they could talk to the Horned Rat. On that front, pointing out that they all spoke English technically sufficed.
A transcript of his words appeared on the screen. First, as a sign of technical difficulties, in front of the ongoing livestream of Fred the Chicken, then inserted into the proper picture. Im starting to think these quirks are features, not bugs.
The bet is ced; you can begin when you want to! Jeff announced.
Since two hours were ample time to bake an apple pie, neither party was particrly hurried to get started. John turned to Aclysia. Ill leave everything to you, then, he said giving his weaponized maid a motivating kiss. He put all his love in the simple motion, embracing her while he enjoyed her lips. Before he could indulge himself too much and turn her on by a distracting amount, he let go.
I will not disappoint, Master, Aclysia promised, and the two separated, leaving her to enter the kitchen and scan the ingredients provided. John watched for some ce to sit down, not feeling like spending the next two hours standing. After he made a request, a chair was flown in for him, allowing him to sit down next to his girlfriend, while Beatrice wasfortable standing next to them.
Wendy and Aclysia both spent the first ten minutes doing very simr things. They put into ce their tools and the ingredients of their choice. John saw the many different kinds of flour, sugar, apples and salt that were around. Even water came in different variations. Each different choice would have an individual effect on the final taste.
Along with the base ingredients came a bunch of spices. Cinnamon, first of all, but also paprika powder, herbal mixtures, peppermint and a bunch of other things. There was no need to use any of it, just as there was no need to use any of the dozens of magical variations of each ingredient. Thankfully, Aclysia knew her way around the influence magic had on the tastes of things.
Although the things Aclysia made all looked quite mundane, what they ate was usually of remarkably good quality. That was to say, the Newman households monthly food budget was higher than most peoples annual sries. Even though the weaponized maid could transform just about everybination of ingredients into edible food, the Gamer was not about to live below his standards. What was all that money and influence for if he didnt use it to treat himself and his women, after all?
Even after the initial scouting stages, what they did wasrgely the same. Both prioritized making the pie crust first. Even John knew that made the most sense since it would have to settle in the refrigerator for a little while, once it was finished. This was also right about the point that he bowed out of having anything but a rough idea what was going on. When it came to cooking, he had only assisted on some asions and never done more than follow instructions or make something as simple as throwing an egg in a pan.
What Aclysia and Wendy now engaged in had nothing to do with the simplicity of transforming raw bacon into crispy bacon. It didnt help that, while the thing they worked on was the same, the approach looked so vastly different.
Aclysia was using table and teaspoons to measure things, adding them to bowls before mixing them together one after the other. She acted out a clear n, an order in which things had to be joined to the pre-dough stuff. asionally, she would taste an ingredient with the tip of her fingers. Then she would shake her head or nod and add it to the slowly growing mixture in the machine. Different kinds of water were added at different stages.
Even though all of that was already far exceeding what was usually required to prepare dough, what was going on Wendys table was even more ludicrous.
Using test tubes, conical sks, tiny scales and other chemical equipment, Wendy was exactly measuring everyst one of her ingredients down to the milligram. Her kitchen looked more like aboratory than a ce where food was prepared, an image that was only reinforced once she started tossing certain things together into a wok and melting them. After all of the individual ingredients hadbined, Wendy poured the unified mass onto a te. It cooled quickly into a crystal carpet, which the redhead then hacked into shards, before finally adding them to the dough mixture.
John was watching the fight of a housemaid against the scientific precision of the fast food industry. Both had their merits and the Gamer, who had very much enjoyed both kinds of food at different stages in his life, had no idea who he would give the advantage in such a situation. Whoever won, it was unlikely to decide the war between those nourishment providing factions, if there even was a victory to be had over the stomach of mankind.
The crust was soon prepared. Wendy split hers into two parts, wrapped both in stic foil, and threw them into the refrigerator. Following suit, Aclysia made four parts instead, each kept in a bowl.
John expected things to calm now. The dough would need to rest for a little while and continuing on with the next few steps immediately would only cause the cut apples to be exposed to the air for an unneeded amount of time. While Wendy confirmed those things for him, only cleaning up her workstation and getting everything in order for the next step, the white-haired maid immediately continued with something else.
Am I allowed to use my own knife? Aclysia asked Jeff, who had been overlooking and, asionally,menting on things.
You can use your own equipment but not any new ingredients, yes, Jeff responded.
Peachy, the weaponized maid hummed and summoned Salver. Then, with Masters love, I shall continue to prepare the greatest pie. She held the knife for a few seconds like a cherished plushie, before using it to peel the apples. Of course, Salver had no inherent properties that would make things taste better, it was just a very sharp knife. A very sharp knife crossed with Aclysias de skills equalled an artful disy of apple peelsing off in continuous coils.
That was pretty corny, Rave giggled next to him. Ya heard that? Shes gonna harness the power of love for the pie.
I mean, love isnt an ingredient, but you tell me that that smile isnt going to make it taste better. With a simple gesture, John pointed at his weaponized maid. Adorably, she swung her hips and hummed to herself, while her smiling face portrayed the leisurely concentration that masters of their craft disyed when working.
I could do that, but Id be lying I want that pie already Rave whined.
A third of the apples were soon de-cored and sliced into pieces. They didntst too long on the cutting board, as they soonnded in a pot, along with some brown sugar, lemon juice, some green-tinted water and a pinch of salt.
Just as Aclysia tended to her apple sauce in the making, Wendy went back into movement. She grabbed a bunch of magical ingredients and started measuring them in her test tubes. Using syringes, knives, spoons, brushes and other utensils, sheyered some sort of mixture on top of a t te. John was extremely curious what it was, but Wendy, after working on it for fifteen minutes, only threw it into the fridge. Shortly thereafter, she started to cut her own apples. Her cutting skills were less honed, all around average really. John thought her only slightly better than himself. That made her apples look a fair bit worse, but wouldnt have any influence on the taste.
Half an hour had passed since they had made the crusts and now both were preparing the apples for the pie. Wendy had started earlier and was also done much earlier when looking at the time total. Although Aclysias knife work was much better, the precision she used to take care of her remaining apples meant that she was slower. Every slice had to be exactly asrge as the next one. She had carefully picked her apples to be of simr sizes to allow this to work.
Look at that, the maid Aclysia is using three different kinds of apples, what could she be nning?! Jeff hyped that fact up like it was the reveal of a new album from the Beatles, the news including the necromancy needed for that task. Regardless of his overenthusiastic tone, it was true. Aclysia had used one kind of apple for the sauce and was currently slicing the other two.
Wendy retrieved the spiceyered te from the refrigerator and put her apples on top. Once an adequate amount of the fruit slices were in position, she grabbed the edge of thatyer and pulled. It stretched like chewing gum and the redhead folded it above the apples until they were bagged up like some sort of translucent dumpling. Wendy threw the te into the refrigerator again and then made a second one just like it.
Having cut her apples to a satisfying degree, Aclysia finished her apple sauce by smashing it down into a very fine mesh. The dark yellow liquid was left to the side to cool a little bit while Aclysia retrieved two of the four bowls with pie dough she had prepared. Rolling them out into equally sized circles, the weaponized maid covered both of them in some syrupy liquid and thenid them into the oven.
From there on out, about an hour and ten minutes since the start of the contest, things went pretty quickly on both fronts. Both retrieved their crust dough from the refrigerator and did their work. Wendy did a whole lot more kneading than Aclysia, but both used one-part dough to fill out the pie te and the other to make the lid. In between those steps were some more differences though.
Wendy tossed the earlier prepared bag of apples in there, put some more apple slices on top and then peeled the extrayer of that chewing gum-esque stuff off the te and carefully ced it between the apples and the lid. The way she made it was in that often-seen criss-cross pattern, achieved by weaving strips of the dough together, the apples underneath peeking out through the gaps.
Aclysia carefullyyered the apple slices at the bottom of her pie. Due to their thinness they barely took up any space, even though Aclysia put them densely packed and in three perfectly circryers of rings. Once she had achieved the lowestyer, she retrieved the two circles of dough that had already been baking for a little while. Their surfaces looked zed, caramelized, and Aclysia quickly ced one above the apples. After sealing whatever tiny gaps were between the crust of the pie and thatyer, she applied some more ze to the surrounding area and poured in the apple sauce.
Once the liquid had settled, she put the secondyer in and ensured it was sealed in the same fashion. From there, she only had to repeat what she had done for the lowestyer with another kind of apple and seal it all up with the lid, formed from thest batch of dough. Whatever she had remaining in terms of apple slices and ze, she used to decorate the top. Once she was out of materials, she gave her unbaked work a final inspection. Then she nodded.
Both contestants put their pies into the oven and set their timers, then they had to wait.
Chapter 768 – Tournament of Oddities 3 – Tart
Chapter 768 C Tournament of Oddities 3 C Tart
Alright, the timers are ringing and both contestants are removing their pies from the oven! Jeff announced and moved back to the desk. Anyments before we begin the judgements?
I get to eat pie, Vita touted, swaying her head and the eating utensils she had gotten out of nowhere. I like pie.
On the other end of the table, Rave nodded three times and raised a finger, as if she was a teacher pointing something out. Way I see it, the problem here will be to withhold a perfect score from both of them. Fresh pie is, like, super good.
Hard to disagree with any of those wise words! Jeff sat down and gestured at the contestants. Now, if the opponents may bring the finished products to us! We will judge them in three categories: looks, taste and creativity! In that order! Every judgement will be made after both pies have been consumed with eyes, mouth and brain! Also, you will find a ss of water before you, specifically modified to act as the ultimate palette cleanser, do use it between taste tests!
Ya know were sitting right next to you? Rave asked.
Your screaming is annoying, Vita agreed and stared at the announcer. The ever-present oddity around her ramped up over two seconds. Where John sat, it was a mildly unpleasant feeling, like someone dragging chalk over all of his fingernails. At the centre of the table, Jeff leaned away from her as if she was a fire that continuously birthed ephemeral carrion beetles. Her dark hair was tossed around by some invisible force. I want pie.
Theyre already on their way! Rx, please, rx! It feels like my toenails are curling up, except all over everything! the hype-man begged and let out a sigh of relief when the pariahs aura ebbed away. Little did he know that another demanding woman was about to descend on him.
Aclysia stopped before the table and looked between the three judges and the tes in front of them. Where is the te for my Master? she asked in a sweet, somewhat demanding tone. Surely, you do not expect me to bake a pie for you and let you eat it while my John has to watch and wonder how it tastes?
O-of course not, Jeff immediately conceded with a stutter. One te for the special guest,ing right up!
John was mildly amused by this. If he had wanted any pie, which he most likely would once they were close enough to smell, he would have just grabbed some from Raves te. Seeing Aclysia act out her obsession over him in little ways like this was adorable in its own way though. That aside, he liked that it put Jeff on the spot. I wonder if hes that nervous because he is getting generally wary of the women in this room or because of Aclysias reputation with journalists.
Regardless of the answer, he was soon presented with what had been requested and things resumed. Wendy approached the table, and both ced their work down. While Aclysia folded her hands before her lower body and bowed before the jury, the redhead turned towards her opponent.
My pie will totally obliterate your pie! she dered with an overemphasizedugh. It will be a cake-tastrophe!
Cakes and pies are different kinds of baked goods, your pun is inappropriate, Aclysia countered and turned to face her opponent.
Oh, no need to be so stuck up about it. Wendy shook her head in a mocking fashion, making her twin braids fly. But before your pie-ty makes you touch little boys I-
Do not insinuate I would touch any male aside from Master in any sexual fashion, Aclysia warned and narrowed her eyes. I have no tolerance for such usations.
D-duly noted! the banter came to an immediate end, as Wendy had the social awareness to know when she had stepped on andmine. Let the pies do the talking, then!
The lid of her creation flopped about like a pair of lips, Yeah, you bloody wankers! Everyone, aside from Wendy, who stood in a boastful pose, stared at the apple pie. What, have you never seen a talking apple pie before? the baked good asked, steam rising with its every word, barring testimony to its state of fresh bakedness. It was a very hot apple pie, that was for certain. For some reason, he also sounded Australian.
Cant say I have. John cleared his throat, rapidly growing ufortable with the idea of eating something that could still talk. The Abyss still managed to surprise him on such asions. So, what do you think about being made to be eaten? Does that stress you? I want to know if I should feel bad about the fact that you smell delicious.
Aww, listen to this considerate cunt, the apple pie said with a smile, which was among the weirder things John had seen in his life. Yeah, itll be fine. Im made to be eaten, you get me? Was baked by that redhead beauty behind me and my whole lifes joy is to be tasty! Pretty sure Ill just die if I get cold anyway, so quit shitting like a dog and enjoy me while Im still fresh!
Can do, Rave nodded.
Im digging it! Jeff pumped his fist.
An interesting recipe Aclysia admitted.
Pie. There werent many words Vita had to add.
This is so weird, am I on drugs? John thought, while everyone else just epted what was going on. Have I been dreaming all of this from the start? Am I about to wake up and find out that I have to go to Ashcroft in a minute? Frank is going to bully me and Ill have arms like twigs again. Well, on the plus side, I wont be blind anymore.
While the Gamer experienced a minor existential breakdown, the jury judged on the first category. They looked at both pies. Rave was the first to speak up. So, neither of these looks all that impressive, she let her thoughts be known. Aclysia, your topping is a bit more creative, but Wendy went for that old-school criss-cross look and new is not always better. But, as I said at first, neither are all that great on the looks. Id give Aclysias pie a 5 and Wendys pie a 6.
I ept your wisdom, Mistress, the weaponized maid bowed her head.
His girlfriend appearing impartial like this was good for John, fundamentally. It wouldnt look great if she berated Aclysia at all points, that would make it seem like his harem was full of internal strife. As untrue as it was, everything could be bent if there were only snippets and a desire to put a certain spin on things.
Lets keep the scoring until we cut them and have seen the slices, Jeff told Rave. The inside of the pie is as important as the outside, after all. If you would cut your creations.
That was among the rare asions that John agreed with the hype-man. Everyone eagerly waited for the pies to end up on their tes. With some worry, John looked at the talking apple pie, but the semi-sentient baked good had no reaction to having several slices taken out of it. The Gamer wasnt sure whether he would have found it weirder if the pie had screamed in pain or enjoyed getting cut up, so the silence was definitely preferable.
Each of therge tes was loaded with a proper slice and John felt the saliva gathering in his mouth. The sweet smell of cooked apples reached his nose,bined with the sugary sweetness of the ze Aclysia had used and an exciting magical tingle from Wendys pie.
Oh yeah, smell me, daddy! the slice of the very hot apple pie eximed in a deliberately overexaggerated fashion, and John was immediately taken aback again. Looking over, he noticed that every individual slice had its own consciousness. It was weird again. Not just because John absolutely loathed being called that. The pieughed.
The Gamer discovered that he didnt like his food to have humour.
Hmmm, Jeff hummed into the microphone. I dont have any disagreements with what was said about the outside, but on the inside, Aclysias pie is way better. He took a fork and gestured for the camera, while John inspected things for himself. As you can see, Aclysias threeyers are masterfully made. Not quite sure what she used to make it so the apple sauce became this firm through the baking process. Jeff poked the middleyer, which had be like thick marmde. It allowed the sauce to stay, mostly, in itsyer despite being cut. Whatever she used, though, it looks fantastic.
I admire the craftsmanship of theyering of the apples, Vita added and gestured at the other twoyers. Very thin slices and equally spaced throughout, it makes for a very pleasant visual, now that they are cut at the ovep. Compared to that, Wendys pie doesnt have much to offer.
What they said. Rave nodded in agreement, and attention shifted to the creation of the goddess of fast food. The apples are just put in there in random sized slices, there are no extrayers and the only thing thats really stand-out is some sort of rainbow shimmering around all of it. Its kinda impressive, but it also reminds of an oil spill, and I dont like the idea of eating oil spills.
It likely originates from those two sheets she made with magical ingredients, John threw his opinion in there. They melted during the baking process and seeped into everything. If I was to take a guess, thats also where the pies ability to talkes from and why he will die once the entire pie cools down.
Fuck me sideways, youre a smart cunt too! the (now only) pretty hot apple pie dered.
So, Jeff kept things on track, I say that Aclysia wins handily on the internal decoration front. My final score on looks would be 7 points to her and 6 to Wendy.
5 and 5 from me, Rave let know. Probably because Ive seen her pies so often already, but Aclysias way of doing things doesnt impress me that much anymore. The oil spill makes me detract a point from Wendy though.
Ill give this one to Aclysia for the effort C 7 and 5 points, respectively, Vita added. These judgements put Aclysia ahead with 19 versus Wendys 16 points. Not a huge lead, but a good start. Can we eat now?
Yes, to the tasting phase! Jeff eximed and grabbed his fork. There was momentary silence as they all dug in.
John started with Aclysias pie, strictly because the alternative would take a jumping over a mental hurdle. He cut off the outer corner with his fork and loaded it into his mouth. The initial burst of vour was a pleasant note of light sourness, surviving in the apples of the lowestyer throughout the backing process. The apple sauce mixed with his saliva to soon fill his mouth with a middling sweetness. Finally, once chewing reduced all of it to pulp, the sweetness of the ze-covered crust and intense apple vour of the highest level mixed into a level of sugary goodness that left a pleasant aftertaste in his mouth.
Although it drove him to finish the entirety of that pie immediately, he had to go for the other one as well. After helping himself to a gulp of the palette cleansing water provided for his girlfriend, he went to try the talking baked good. Thankfully, it kept its lid shut while John took the bite.
The texture was interesting. All of the different chunks made for a slightly different feeling between his teeth. They were all small enough that they had cooked throughpletely, so there was no problem on that front. As far as the taste went, all of it was frontloaded and simply kept up while John chewed. The pie was delicious and tingled pleasantly in his mouth, notes of cinnamon, honey and sweetened lemon juice all mixing with the natural apple vour.
The jury was given time to extensively taste both pies. That was to say, Jeff didnt raise his hand to tell people to stop until they had all finished up and only crumbles were left on the tes. So, he cleared his throat in a way that was likely meant to hide a burp, those were both delicious and I will give both the full 10 points. I just cant make up my mind.
Rave nodded. Both were absolutely delicious, dunno what else to give aside from the full score.
They were pies, Vita said and looked down on her te, raising it to get a second serving. While Wendy and Aclysia obliged the request, the kind of hot apple pie spoke up again.
d to hear I was delicious! My lifes goal has been fulfilled! Now I can cool down in peace.
Well, as far as creativity goes Rave breached the final subject and gave Aclysia a sorry look. I really liked the tripleyer with different vours you were going for, but Wendys pie talks.
Both were pies that were well made, Vita munched on her second serving, but one of them talked.
Going from slightly sour to nice and sweet, covering the pleasant side of an apples taste spectrum, was really creative! Jeff echoed the initial statement of Johns girlfriend. But that very hot apple pie talked.
Were all delicious here, the baked good in question spoke, his lid slowing down as he cooled below the necessary threshold to sustain his sentience, but I talked
Somewhere in the back of his mind, John heard a thunderstorm elemental pay her respects to the talking treat. Aclysia received her scores for a total of an extra 21 points, while Wendy got the whole 30, putting the final count at 70 versus 76.
Victor is Wendy and Florida! Jeff dered the end result. This means that the condition goes through, unless the winning guild feels differently. What do you say, Wendy?
I say, I made a pie that talked and I am a goddess, the redhead crossed her arms and propped up her breasts a little, and that my body fluids taste like whatever I cookedst!
We didnt need to know that, but interesting nheless! Jeff shouted back at her. About the bet though?
Well, although she wasnt as good as me, Wendy gestured at her face as she smiled smugly, my opponent did tie with me in the taste category, and thats really impressive. Although youre also three people that are probably super easy to please. Anyway, I say we oblige the Gamer a little bit and change the implemented condition to: John Newman will try his best to arrange a meeting between the leaders of the Florida guild and the Horned Rat.
That meant that John wouldnt be in vition with the terms if Richard decided to be a dick. It also meant that the Gamer wouldnt have a right to attend that meeting. A gracious change, he nodded thankfully. Even if his paranoia whispered to him that they must have been nning something absolutely awful if he wasnt allowed to partake in it, this was still in his overall interest. Paranoia was best heard, not heeded.
And so the first challenge ended.
Chapter 769 – Tournament of Oddities 4 – Seat of Power
Chapter 769 C Tournament of Oddities 4 C Seat of Power
The House of Exceptionals was the upper house of Fusions parliament. The Dome of Power was a building on the southern tip of Manhattan, the area still covered by the Hudson Barrier. It had been stomped out of the ground in the past two months. With magic and modern understandings of architecture, something pretty impressive could be erected in such a timeframe. Even with a surprise attack setting back a lot of the foundation work.
The Dome of Power was a building in the neossical style used for the White House and the United States Capitol. What this meant was a lot of pirs, surrounding the circr body of the entire building. About two metres away from the actual outer walls, they were spaced so a pir was between every one of therge windows, which gave view of the empty offices inside. An impressive dome topped the entire structure.
Unlike the aforementioned buildings of the same style, the Dome of Power wasnt paintedpletely white. Instead, Gnome, provider of the majority of building material and designs, had gone with stones of a dark grey and red instead. That made the building a bit sinister, but also grounded a sombre and serious aura. John very much liked that.
The Dome of Power itself, although an impressive building, was surrounded on the left and right side by the end of the donut-shaped, second government building thatpleted the district. It had the same style and colouration, although it missed the dome in favour of having many moreyers to it. There was the base floor, freely essible at most points, withrge stone staircases ced at the end points of the interrupted circle and opposite of that gap. The stairs led up to arge terrace, created on the roof of the base floor by the stories further up being about half as wide. Both that terrace and the t roof that ended the building proper were decorated with luscious gardens that housed all kinds of nts, from simple decoration to proper food crops. Only that the main colour of everything remained green was of Johns concern. Among the nts, pathways and springs stood a number of empty sockets, for statues and the like. They waited eagerly for something historic to happen, worthy of being eternalized into stone.
It was the Fusion Capitol, in it were the facilities to hold the gathering of the House of Commons and the Parliament. Two broad walkways connected the Dome of Power to the Fusion Capitol, cutting through the green strip that started north of the dome and ended in the shared courtyard.
There was a lot of symbolism going on between those two buildings. Esoterically, the idea was that, even though the exceptional people were separated from themon, they were still part of the same circle and should never forget that they were surrounded by them. Which was also why the members of the House of Exceptionals were forced to enter the domain of the House of Commons to partake in government, rather than the other way around. Fusion was a ce where the reality of the strong was acknowledged, not one where they got to dominate.
On a humorous note, John had instructed the architect to make it so the grass strip inbination with the gardens on the roof would create the image of a giant, green power button from a birds eye view. He thought that would add a bit of charm to the overly serious ensemble. Life was aedy and a drama, as far as the Gamer thought about it.
A moreedic bit had just ended elsewhere.
Aclysia lost the bake-off, John informed Metra, as the two of them entered the Dome of Power through the north entrance. Over in Florida, his real body activated the desyncing. There was remarkably little difference. He had almost expected some sort of splitting of his consciousness (and feared some signs of developing dual personalities because of it), but virtually nothing changed.
Aclysia can lose when ites to baking? the ancient weapon asked honestly, while they walked through the empty hallway towards the exit to the central chamber.
The floor was polished, ck marble and the walls empty, making every step echo. Asplete as the buildings were and as furnished as the important rooms were already, the majority of this ce was empty. It was new, after all. The seat of apletely new government, with nothing to pull from in the past and no great aplishments ormissioned pieces of arts to hang from the walls yet. Those things would umte slowly.
As long as they continued to exist.
Well, one of the categories was creativity and her enemy made a pie that talked, so that was the deciding factor, John summarized the situation for her, while strolling right on through another open door and into the circr chamber at the heart of the building. It imed a rough fifty percent of the entire floors surface.
Where the offices making up the outeryer of the building went three stories high, the House of Exceptionals chamber went all the way to the dome. Six diamond shaped windows let daylight fall in, mimicking the shape of Fusions simplified emblem. John had to resist tinging the ss in the proper colours. It would have been style over substance in a giant fashion. Too much style over substance.
The chamber was separated into three areas. First and most importantly there was the floor, where the regr members would sit in whatever configuration they wished. The many rows of seats and tables were set on rails, so theyout was flexible and parties could easily gather up in clumps. People could also sit wherever they wanted, so that helped on that front.
Next was the governments seat. That was a series of desks on an elevated tform where John and his ministers could take their seat. Those seats were assigned and most of Johns cab was there. People that the Gamer had barely any personal ties with, mostly promoted for their ability in their fields. Some of which, as he had found out, didnt seem to like him much as a person, but were paying the necessary respect, if nothing else. At least Magoi was present as someone who would have his back.
Last in the list of ces in the chamber were the watchers seats. essible only from the second level and overlooked by security, those were seats for journalists and interested people. John was a tad surprised to see a good amount of people in there, even if they were mostly of the news seeking variety. He even saw Worlina and Harilia, the catgirl he had gotten to know intimately during the Small Lake Pact affair, up there. He did his best to ignore both of them.
It had to be said that the chamber was way, way toorge for the amount of people actually meant to sit inside it today. Fusion had a total member count of roughly 120000 people. Without the children, which werent counted for the sake of district drawing, and those that were too poor to pay taxes that went down to about 100000 people. There was a seat per district in the House of Commons, and a district was currently meant to hold 1000 people. In other words, the House of Commons, at this point in time, had 100 seats, which was a nice, even number. It also meant that the House of Exceptionals had its maximum set at 25 people.
The chamber could have held up to 500 seats easily and probably twice that if they used tables that were less spacious.
John stepped towards the governments seat and looked at the wall behind it. Arge, proper depiction of the Fusion emblem had been mounted onto it, each bit made out of painted metal. It looked impressive, which it really had to, given the amount of money he had paid to have it there. Among the elevated positions of the governments seat, his was the highest, for obvious reasons. It was a little tower in the otherwise fairly t room. Taking a little staircase up there, he plopped down in the supremelyfortable armchair and swivelled around for a little bit.
There was more than enough room for Metra to stand behind him. Arge mahogany desk, integrated seamlessly into the rest of the wood coverings that made the elevated position less of an eyesore, was currently empty of anything. John reached into his inventory, dumped a few papers with topics to discuss on the table and then leaned back. They had arrived thirty minutes early and John was just getting used to things.
He looked down at the chamber before him, at the wooden tables, the red-cushioned chairs and the marble floor. It was toorge, it had that almost artificial feeling that only brand new things could have and nothing bore the mark of history, but he was pretty happy with it.
Down below were the six Exceptionals sent by the state guilds, as well as some other members appointed by John or members of his governments as favours or due to necessity. None of them had a level lower than 50. That didnt sound like a lot to John anymore, but even the lowest among them was the strongest in a thousand Abyssals.
The maximum number of members for the House of Exceptionals was 25 right now, but they hadnt managed to fill even that. There were only fifteen, which meant that there were almost more people in the room that John had appointed for the Fusion Cab than there were members of the upper house of the legiture. The awkwardness of a state that was formed recently, out of nowhere and with a fair bit of force behind it.
Nothing to be worried about, today was only a gathering for practice anyway. John turned away to chat with Metra, in an effort to pass the time. You know, I was thinking about putting a giant quote above the emblem.
Really? Metra turned around and looked up, crossing her arms. I mean there IS space. I find it kind of sphemous to put a quote above your government symbol though. Makes it seem like the king is beneath what some text says.
We call that a constitutional monarchy and those did pretty well, the Gamer responded. Well, some still do, which is more than I can say about feudalism.
Yeah, yeah, message received, Im primitive and my morals are backwards, Metra waved off in a dismissive fashion. Eat my ass, Master.
Rimming is among the things Im not really into, I have to say, he retorted and she snorted with amusement. Anyway, I do get what you mean. While making the head of government subordinate to the rule ofw has been a pretty good development, having myself sit under a quote could send the wrong message. Particrly with the one I was thinking about.
Which one would that be? Metra wondered.
The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must, John responded and looked for something to upy his hands with. Without a keyboard or something else for his fingers to fidget around with, they were growing restless. The obvious solution to this would have been a pen or his smartphone. The Gamer (and also somewhat obvious) solution to this was the light-brown ass of Metra. Since she was still wearing her usual, skimpy clothes, and this was the centre of Johns power, it wasnt like he had any reputation to lose. He rolled up to Metra and grabbed her chocte behind.
You know we could just fuck right over that table? Metra suggested.
Look, I know this doesnte across as believable while Im groping your butt the Gamer said. He let go of the round cheeks to watch them jiggle for a second, before continuing with the fondling and the speaking, but I do have a minimum of respect for political proceedings. Then he kissed her deliciously defined abs.
I only have respect for you and youre making me really fucking horny, the First of Wrath growled. So either stop or fuck me over the table.
Youre my sex ve. If I want to take you, I will; if I tell you that you have to wait, youll patiently stand where I want you to, the Gamer tly stated and looked up, waiting for her to challenge that. Isnt that so?
He felt a rush of rage and amusement through their mental connection. Basically, everything that Metra felt came along with a rush of rage. Her entire being was programmed to find something to be mad about in everything. That she managed to control herself regardless was as remarkable as ever.
It is so, she conceded and sighed when John got back to solving his idle hands problem. Likely to distract herself, Metra continued the conversation. Anyway, doesnt that quote from the Melian Dialogue go against this entire structure youre trying to build?
You know where that is from? John was at least distracted from caressing her abs with his lips. With a raised eyebrow, he exchanged a nce with her. It certainly wasnt the case that he believed Metra was stupid. Aside from Sylph he would guess everyone in his harem to have above average intelligence. All of the levels and magic developed their brains in a purely physical way (well, magical physicality for most of them) that simply lent itself to thinking quicker and in more borate patterns than the average person. Not necessarily more logical or with less bias though.
I was there, Metra responded.
Oh which side?
Do you really need to ask?
Given that one side had ground the other to dust, he didnt really. You need to tell me more about the Peloponnesian War, whenever you have the time, the Gamer stated only to pivot back to where they had left off. Anyway, yes, the entire dialogue is about how might makes right, which is a reason why I didnt use that quote, but the sentence itself never sounded that way to me. I think the original meaning gets sort of lost in the trantion.
Metra, maybe having enough of standing or of only receiving attention on her behind, turned around and sat in Johnsp. Youll have to tell me what you mean by that, because I dont get it, she stated. Meanwhile, John moved his hands all over her, squeezing her toned thighs, midriff and small breasts.
Its the way its worded. The strong do what they CAN and the weak suffer what they MUST, he began his exnation. Why would it be can and must if the intended message is might is right? Shouldnt it be: the strong do what they want and the weak obey? The way it was tranted sounds to me like a rebuttal of the idea that the strong can do what they want. Its a sentence that closer describes that the strong nudge the world in certain directions and that the weak will band together and crush them if they take it too far. The strong only do what they can. What they can depends on what the weak must suffer to keep the paradigm working. After all, the weak and the strong need each other.
Do the strong really need the weak? Metra asked, purely for the sake of continuing the conversation. Her voice had a horny undertone and she moaned when John pinched a nipple through her thin top.
Well, unless you want to live in tents in the wilderness, hunting for your meal every day, I would say so, the Gamer whispered into her ear.
Dont think thats such a bad world, the First of Wrath lustfully grunted. Nothing to do but eat, sleep and fuck.
And die of papercuts while not having ess to videogames.
The first sounds like a problem for those weaker than you. The second, Im sure we could distract you from, you eternal lover.
Okay, let me find something you would miss right, no technology to forge advanced alloys with. That would mean no advanced weaponry, you would have to stay with stone knives.
That would be a prrrrr-, she took a rattling inhale, a big problem. John wasnt sure if she was still in the conversation or if she was talking about the erection grinding against her butt.
Mister Presideeeent, Magoi shouted up in a half-singing voice. Do control yourself a little bit, alright?
Good call. John gave a thankful nod and stayed his hands before anything more could happen. Alright, Metra, you just watch over me for the duration of this session. Once were home, bend over and beg for my cock. He made amand out of all of that, so she waspelled to obey and he had something to look forward to when he got back.
The first session of the House of Exceptionals began a few minutes after Metra took her position behind his chair again.
In Florida, the real John Newman was enjoying the good life.
Chapter 770 – Tournament of Oddities 5 – Present and Far Back When
Chapter 770 C Tournament of Oddities 5 C Present and Far Back When
John yawned.
Am I boring ya? his girlfriend snapped at him with a dismantling smile, immediately destroying the stern expression she tried to keep up. Then she gave his dick a long lick. To not interrupt the conversation, she continued with a handjob. She needed both hands to properly cover the size of his cock. No, but seriously, whatcha yawning about?
Can I not just be tired? the Gamer wondered. Putting a hand on her fluffy, pink head. She was currently giving him a blowjob under the table. Not in any hidden fashion, there was no nket to hide under. One table over, a group of ten was having a serious business dinner. One table further, the waiter was fucking a female customer up the ass. The mixture of proper and perverted continued all throughout the cantina and across its many differently shaped tables.
Thanks to his gift to just not care about what other people did, as long as nobody was being harmed, the Gamer phased all of that out and only looked at the table in front of him. Smander was lying on her chest,pletely nude, and had several strips of meat sizzling on her back. Around her, Aclysia and Beatrice were making sure the fire spirit was well oiled and the meat turned in the proper intervals.
Whenever something was done, they took chopsticks, using forks would have been quite unpleasant to the grill, and brought the finished meat up to their masters lips. It was steeped in the endme elementals magic, adding an intensely smoked aftertaste to everything. All the while, one of his girls was under the table and working on his dick. Rave had just taken over from Sylph.
John would have much preferred to do all of this outside, but it was raining again. He would haveined that it was just his luck that he visited one of the most famous beaches in the world in one of the hottest summers of his life on the few days that the weather was awful. However, his luck had been so good recently that he didnt feel in a position toin. Basically every man on the would have given their left hand to switch positions with him at the moment, so he had to be grateful for what he had.
Ya can be, but ya arent, tiger, his girlfriend asserted, her hands slowly pumping. Do tell me or Im not going to use my mouth anymore.
Then I would cum all over you and you would have to run around in those clothes drenched for a little while, John pointed out, as his girlfriend was still wearing her casual clothes, a cropped, blue top and yoga pants, with a gap between them that showed off a nice amount of midriff and the Lovers Will mark.
Rave took one hand off his dick and raised her index finger. First, I still have my body suit for emergencies, she raised her pinkie, either identally or deliberately causing her hand to take the popr heavy metal hand sign, and B, what do you care about that? You t-o-t-a-l-l-y totally would love to see me running around covered in your cum.
I think youre conting your fetishes with mine there, the Gamer pointed out. I mean, yeah, it would be hot, but Im not THAT big into that. I like cumming inside you a lot more. Meanwhile you C cum! C are getting increasingly exhibitionistic since identally shooting your first porno. He shifted his attention to eating for a little while, as his girlfriend was busy squirming from the orgasm he had bestowed on her with a casualmand in the middle of his sentence.
After about three pieces of meat, she had calmed down enough to continue the conversation. Fair enough, she panted and resumed the handjob. However, she only used one hand and rubbed his head in an almost painfully teasing fashion. Then gimme a reason not to cover myself with your stupidlyrge load. We both know ya wanna be inside me in some fashion.
She wasnt wrong about that. Although John would take a handjob over having nothing, he very much preferred the blowjob. I taste delicious? he therefore suggested.
Fair enough again No longer insisting on her original point, craving his cock like the perverted girlfriend she was, she leaned towards his dick. Her glossy, pink lips parted, around the head and she effortlessly slid down. Soon, her left-hand pressed t against his groin and his entire length had vanished into her mouth and throat.
Oh my Lord, The Gamer gasped and greedily guided his girlfriends gaping gob up and down his shaft. Without warning, she sprouted a pair of adorable cat ears. The left one flicked as she began to purr in anticipation for her cream. A purring that only elerated the pace at which she would receive it. Johns entire dick was surrounded by steady vibrations and his balls tightened.
Cum pumped into her, giving her yet another orgasm. An orgasm so intense it sent her eyes rolling up, as John cranked up her sensitivity through the Lovers Will connection. Without any regard to subtlety, he cranked it all the way up to the maximum, doubling the intensity of her sexual pleasure. Even her muffled screams could likely be heard through half of the room. Only once he was done feeding her, he let her slide back up.
Youre gonna be the death of me, Rave gasped and coughed, struggling to get the asional aftershock-fuelled spasm under control. You know what they will write on my gravestone, tiger? Stroke by orgasm.
I would say it would be: loving, sassy and perverted wife to John Newman and mother to, he stopped for a second, which Rave used to get out from under the table and grab the ss of water that stood on the table. She took a mouthful and swirled it around for a little bit, swallowing when John continued, dont know, how many kids do you want?
Ask me that again after the first one, the Lightbearer announced and slid out of her pants and panties, both predictably sticky. A momentter, she mounted her man and went to kiss him. Under normal circumstances, John would avoid kisses right after a blowjob, but they had made the discovery that the palette cleansing water removed any residue of his spunk.
Apparently, it was a creation by a local water mage, who John had alreadye to an agreement for monthly deliveries with. As far as water went, it was still and tasted slightly sweet, so it was pretty normal in that regard. When it came to allowing him to kiss his girls without feeling ufortable, though, it was a godsend.
While they were engaged on a tongue level, Rave guided his dick to her lower lips and then sunk down. The Gamer grabbed himself two handfuls of butt and both were getting served continuously by the maids, who chatted among themselves and the elementals hanging around the table or exploring the room. Namely, Gnome and Sylph were somewhere else at the moment. Sylph had wanted to explore and John wanted her to have a guardian. Mostly because he was afraid she might discover a room full of gummybears somehow and lose herself in it. One couldnt be too cautious around here.
John dialled Raves sensitivity down until he actually suppressed her pleasure a little bit. The magical machinations of the Gamer powers prevented it from ever bing normal even if he continuously left them at the maximum 100% intensified sensitivity. Insofar, there was no need to worry they would be dull to basic levels of sexual stimtion. He just liked to wield such powers carefully. That aside, it was easier to have a conversation when he had a way to counteract all of the passives that increased the provided pleasure.
So, what I was yawning about, the Gamer went back to what they had talked about before the tangent, the House of Exceptionals meeting is quite boring.
Government stuff can be not boring? Rave asked and rotated her hips, a thoughtful expression on her face. Unless youre voting on building some sort of murderdome, I cant imagine a topic thatd keep my interest. Whatre ya discussing anyway? Not like the House of Commons had a session to send anyws over already.
I made a list of topics and mockws to discuss, simply to test the waters and speaking procedures, the Gamer told her. At the moment, were having a discussion over whether or not we should tweak the taxes on individual goods, in order to incentivize the populous to shift to a lifestyle the state is more approving of and wow, I can almost feel you drying up downstairs. In reality, he just felt her bored gaze drilling into him.
Thats incredibly boring.
Its an incredibly important question from an ethics standpoint, John defended himself. Is the government justified to make such decisions? Can you trust it to make the right ones? What if we tax incentivize a product that turns out to bepletely faulty or causes a rivalling industry to copse under the unnatural shift in consumer interest?
What if ya just let people live their lives and talked about something more exciting?
Thats my first instinct as well. Im more in favour of supporting research and development in fields that I find promising. Doesnt intervene in the free market as much. Regardless, you got to know your tools. He hummed for a second to change the topic, kneading Raves butt like two globs of pleasantly warm jello. There was no greater destressing ball in the world than this perfect ass. More interesting topic then. Do you think Leman Russ was justified when he demanded the reprimand of Magnus the Red, ultimately leading to the Edict of Nikea?
Rave gave him a yful p and he giggled, feeling like a dog that had gotten to sit on the couch for a whole five seconds before beingmanded off. No Warhammer talk, she demanded.
Sure, sure, John obliged and groaned instead. Gaia be thanked for the desync thingy.
Right, Ive been wondering about that, how is it like being in two ces at the same time? She looked at him from several angles. Do I have to fear ya developing into two personalities anytime soon? Cause you seem to be present herepletely, but ya cant exactly have a debate without being there as well.
No, you dont, he immediately eased that fear. Its kind of hard to exin Well, we have to start with the fact that Im a big boy with a big brain that can handle both tasks simultaneously rtively easily. I sort of separated my thoughts into two different processors, if that makes sense, but all data still gets stored on the same drive. The me thats here and the me thats there might not be thinking the exact same things but we share the exact same memories without any dy. I might not actively listen to anything thats being heard by Jack, but I can recall it immediately if I want. Its pretty odd.
I, uh, I guess I get what you mean, but I have never really felt it, so I cant really understand? Rave sounded confused and for good reason. That wasnt a way a person usually operated. Doubtlessly, there were people who developed a mental state where they could split themselves and operate two different thought trains in parallel, but those were so rare that John knew none other than himself. Scarlett came close, but she was less thinking in parallel than juggling extremely many topics and ongoing analysis.
The Gamer shrugged, It is how it is, and kissed her neck. He was deliberating whether or not he wanted to take the time to raise her shirt, when a new person approached their table. Rave turned and froze first, causing John to rear his head and follow her gaze. Both of them werepletely surprised to see a duo stopping two metres away from the table.
One was a woman with white hair. The style was fairly messy, as was the thick braid she had made of it, falling down to her lower back. Her eyes and the entire upper half of her face were hidden by a metal construction that looked like the sigil ring of a giant, as intricate as its silver design and the shield at the front were. What was visible of the rest of her face was attractive. Fair skin, a cute nose and light pink lips. John wasnt able to make out much more of her, aside from a noticeable bosom, neither overlyrge nor particrly small, raising the chest area of her flowing, ck robes. That woman, John did not know and an Observe revealed nothing.
The other, however, looking at John with intense disapproval, he had met in the past. It was a disapproval she likely held for every debauched activity going on in the room, but was aimed specifically at him due to a past history with him and the pink-haired techno lover that had only just stopped bouncing in hisp.
She had dark red hair with the kind of lustre normally only seen in advertisement or the front of hair colouration packages. In slight waves, it framed her face and cascaded down to the middle of her back. Two particr strands were currently flowing over her shoulders and onto her chest instead. Between them sat her cleavage, formed by boobs a tadrger than those of the white-haired woman in herpany. In turn, in that wonderfully distracting bosom, sat a silver-white and golden pendant in the shape of a shield, dangling from a metal chain.
Her top was a white piece, sleeveless and held by strings running over her shoulders. It hid her midriffpletely and even covered the rim of the knee-long, ck skirt she was wearing. Although the top was different from the old shirt, theposition nevertheless reminded John of the school uniform of Ashcroft, the educational facility he had gone to before his life took a turn for the better.
Although she likely only wore those clothes as apromise with the hot weather, they made her look incredibly sexy. Her trained figure was enticing, the way her top clung to her athletic midriff almost more erotic than seeing it revealed. Her waist wasnt quite narrow enough to qualify for an hourss figure, but she was close. It was a trade-off made for a build that looked like she could outrun most men in a marathon, without looking overly muscr.
It helped that her face was no less stunning than her body. High cheekbones and a heart-shaped structurebined with a fine nose and pink lips to create a sight equally enticing and cute. Well, she would have been cute if her greyish green eyes didnt drill into him. Disapproval had turned into annoyance throughout the time it took him to check her out.
As I feared, you have changed for the worse, John Newman, Moira Brighton announced.
Chapter 771 – Tournament of Oddities 6 – Old and faint acquaintances.
Chapter 771 C Tournament of Oddities 6 C Old and faint acquaintances.
Then again, the fact that you decided to go with Collide meant you likely had a wed character from the start, Moira continued in the same breath and crossed her arms. So, its the raw power that likely corrupted you further. Both of you. You were at least decent enough to keep clothes on in public, Jane Hollmey.
d to see ya too, Moira, Rave chattered back. Reminds me that I never asked: how mad were you when you found out that was me?
Mad? I had no reason to be mad. You were a third-rate threat, both by courtesy of your groups low power and the fact that you didnt dabble in any arts too dark C until Travolta decided to ally with the Bloodfallen, of course. An issue that solved itself, much to the unnecessary hurt of everyone. Moira sighed and shook her head. That aside, I have to admit, I dont ever recall meeting you in the hallways, so all your name got us at the time was an easier time to track you down whenever you did cross the line.
I did a good jobying low and, ya know, skipping school, the Lightbearer joked and exchanged a nce with her boyfriend. They had a short, silent conversation with their eyes, then Rave got off his dick and both of them got clothed again.
When dealing with the kind of people that disapproved of the Gamers degeneracy, there were two paths to take. They could either continue as they were, effectively rubbing it in the face of theining party and riling them up, or they could stop (for the moment) and oblige the issues raised. Generally, John preferred to do the former, but he wanted to appear reasonable to the Warden.
If you want to, we can have a more in-depth discussion about things, he offered and waved at a nearby chair.
Moira raised one of her elegantly swung eyebrows. Although covered, the groin areas of both John and his girlfriend were an open disy of perversion, being raised in a tent and drenched respectively. It was remarkably difficult to convince his dick that NOT plunging right back into Raves pussy was the right course of action. Until Source of Satisfaction switched to regr mode and drastically debuffed his Libido.
Even with his boner slowly deting, there was still the naked endme elemental watchinging everything. They had stopped adding new food to her curves, so she had rolled onto her side to better follow the situation with a giant grin. John was pretty surprised that, at no point, Moira had blushed or looked startled by what was going on. She may have been strict, but she wasnt sheltered when it came to erotic matters. The same couldnt be said for herpany, who had turned almost as red as the Wardens hair.
Since an Observe on thatpanion had failed, John wasnt surprised when it also bounced off Moira without an effect.
I came here with the goal to talk to you, but not in these surroundings. Two tables over, an unrted woman screamed ecstatically her demands to get taken up the ass. Elsewhere, someone shouted that he wouldnt buy geodes at that price. Smander cackled, Rave shrugged, John scratched the back of his head.
Yeah, I can get that well, Im basically filled up anyway. Aclysia, see to it that the payment is made. Aclysia obediently lowered her head and walked away, while he got up and straightened his clothes. A walk then, Moira? I would say we have a lot to talk about.
We can talk in a minute, after Jane has changed her clothes, Moira suggested, evidently taking issue with the Lightbearers state of legwear. I suggest we meet at-
Just gimme a second, Rave interrupted, after rolling her eyes, and proceeded to strip on the spot. It drew the attention of the majority of the room. There were videos of her naked body avable, so the more porn-consuming members of the crowd had likely seen her curves already, but watching a woman with her curves and perfect bubble butt nude in person was something nobody wanted to miss. John just grinned and leered throughout all of it. They could watch, as long as they understood she was his and his harems to touch.
Once naked, ignoring anyints from Moira, Rave slipped back into her pink sneakers and they turned semi-liquid. Over the course of a few seconds, the pink crawled over her body and manifested into a stretchy, neoprene-like material. The bodysuit hugged tighter to her curves than any other clothing could have. It was basically like a second skin that closed in a turtleneck and left everything else covered while making her round ass seem absolutely fantastic.
It was an Artificial Spirit in itself, created with much weaker cores and programmed without any sort of actual consciousness. This had the advantage that the bodysuit was self-repairing and could be upgraded by feeding it newer materials. Something that John had engaged in rtively recently.
Torso, upper thighs and the majority of her arms stayed with the same pink colour as always. The fibre in those areas was enriched with L-Baelementium, providing a natural resonance with Raves light-based powers. A few darker lines cut through here and there, breaking up the monotony of the semi-shiny surface of tightly knit strands.
The cover on her hands had been reinforced since she had gotten the suit, but her legs now followed that trend, being covered up to the middle of her thighs. Those areas were ck and a bit thicker. The colour coordination came courtesy of Rave herself and had little to do with the metals that were part of the suit.
Everything alright? John asked, while his girlfriend did a few stretches.
Sits like afy full-body glove, Rave answered, grabbed her discarded clothes and tossed them at Beatrice, for them to be washedter. Just distracting myself from being horny. How does my ass look in this outfit? she asked, fully knowing that John had to give her bubble butt a smack afterwards. Good as always, got it, she moaned.
Are you mocking me with this show? Moira wanted to know.
A bit, Rave returned and threw her arms around Johns neck. Cause I got this man and ya dont and that makes me want to show off, ya know?
See, she says she got the greatest ass in the world, the Gamer turned to give the Lightbearer a quick kiss, but Im not sure whether she means her backside or her attitude.
Maybe I mean you when I say that, tiger, ever thought of that?
Im more of a dick then an ass. Anyway, John started to move and Rave switched from hugging his neck to his right arm so they could move more easily. Shall we go for that walk? he asked, already taking the lead. Beatrice followed immediately and Aclysia was on her way back. For the ease of things, Smander went incorporeal and followed things mentally instead.
Moira shook her head, but followed as well. Lorelei, return to our room, she instructed her white-hairedpanion. I think its best for you if you arent around this man for too long.
With all due respect, honoured Warden, Loreleimented, I feel like I have to be present for this and its the kind of feeling I have been taught to heed.
Are you seeing something? Moira asked in the kind of tone that made it clear there was more to seeing than for a normal person. Not that the ritualistic metal ring around her head didnt make this abundantly clear already.
Im seeing the influence of the Lady in this man, and his aura is brilliant to behold. The messy-haired woman took a trembling breath that almost struck John as turned-on. I want to keep watching him and see how she has blessed him.
Then you cane along, Moira agreed, sounding surprisingly warm and in no way paranoid.
Not big on the secrecy, it seems, the Gamer analysed, while they left the cantina of oddballs. At least those two, I shouldnt make any generalizations about the entire Golden Rose on the back of their behaviour. On the topic of what Lorelei actually had said, John wasntfortable with some sort of seer, or whatever she was, rummaging around in his aura for information, but if that was just the way she saw things, it wouldnt serve him to insist she couldnt tag along. That aside, if he voiced it, he would only open himself for the hypocrisy argument.
John guided the small group out of the building. The cover of clouds made the beach attached to the Paradise building deserted and as private a ce as could probably be found. Only a few people were taking the break between waves of rain to set out and take a swim. The Gamer steered away from them and they just quietly went along. Wet sand crunched under their feet as they wordlessly distanced themselves, neither party willing to start the conversation despite agreeing to have it.
They finally found a nice ce to sit, a grouping ofrge umbres that shielded an arrangement of tables and chairs around a public BBQ ce. It was deserted and dry, exactly thebination they needed. Once seated, John broke the silence.
So, he started in a casual tone, how are things back in Springfield? It was a fairly general and impersonal question. Although Moira had left an impression on John, given how early in his Abyssalte-blooming she had appeared, he actually knew fairly little about her. They had only had very few encounters, none of which John would have categorized as pleasant or unpleasant, before he had left for Europe.
Under control, Moira said two simple words. Oddly enough, thanks to you, in part. The Order of the Golden Rose had consolidated its new base of power in Springfield about the time you created a local power vacuum by setting free Thana. An optimal starting position to spread our influence.
While that confirmed what John had thought had happened, he had to take a pause regardless. You knew about Thana?
Not in the necessary details at the time, but we had some intel and webined it with what we learnedter. The Warden shook her head. My word probably seems like little more than virtue signalling after an entire year, but had we known what exactly the Bloodfallen were doing, I would have pleaded for my father to give you the support of the Order. With our help, it might have been less of a na?ve rescue attempt.
John thought about what that would have entailed. With the help of the Golden Rose, they probably could have gotten the tank out of there without damaging it, thus not setting Eliza free and instead handing her over to Herman. That could have easily led to a timeline with a whole lot more suffering for the pretty little psycho. Dont beat yourself up over it, it is how it is, the Gamer therefore said. It all worked out, somehow.
I wouldnt say that, Moira stated and her fingers danced over the surface of the white table. After all, it produced you and youre a bit of an issue, all around. Atebloomer, rising highly even for someone among your kind and with no limit in sight, continuously amassing power of all kinds. Your personal magic ability, your political capital, your web of rtionships, your wealth, it just continues to grow and you use it to build a massive federal state that promotes your kind of perverted decadence.
I have people in my administration that would condemn you for opposite reasons, the Gamer countered andid back. A guild that expands and rules only through hammer diplomacy, squashing whoever practices the kinds of magic they dont approve of and forcing their moral code on everyone in the mission to rescue humanity from the darkness. Also, your economic policies are horrible, as Im being told.
We do what we must to ensure that warlocks, necromancers and other practisers of dark arts do not harm the innocent, Moira pressed back.
I wonder if she is the virgin that Nashara was referring to, John caught himself thinking, at the mention of warlocks. In an effort not to derail the conversation, he instead continued on the topic. We disagree on what must be done to ensure that. Regardless, you have to admit that thends under Fusion are closer to what you would like to see than what I have found when I got there.
Yeah. Rave raised her hands to list off a few things. We abolish very wherever we go, promote civil rights and freedom of speech, were condemning practices that kill people and we enforce an equality under thew that the Abyss just cant have unless you have an ultra-powerful nerd with a softie heart in charge. We dont immediately bash someones head in because they summoned a demon or fiddled with some corrupting powers, if thats your issue.
Ill admit that you arent a terrible influence on the world. Moira seemed to have gone into this discussion willing to concede this from the start, given how easily those words passed her lips. If I thought you were absolutely horrible, I wouldnt have any interest in talking to you at all. I think you are just as misguided as the people in charge here. She gestured at the Paradise reaching up into the sky behind them. Debauched, perverted, insolent, with no respect for a proper society and well-mannered behaviour, but, ultimately, not an issue at this time. Her green eyes fell back on John. Creating a society on indulgence, however, will lead to decay and arrogance. The generation that follows the current one will be used to living in excess. For people like that, every taboo bes a seductive thing to be broken. Your wish to just do whatever you want, your ambition, could pave the road to a resurgence of people that do not care for what you have built, because a society that indulges bes selfish and those who are selfish will dabble in arts best left alone.
John felt an unpleasant tingle in his spine. Not because she had hit the nail on the head with 100% uracy, but because she was raising a very valid concern. That could happen, he conceded. Given that you found me fucking in public, I guess you have good reason to dismiss me when I say that Im not mindlessly gorging myself on the good life Ive managed to make for myself. Im reading philosophy, Im listening to the people and I try to give credit to my critics when theyre right. Again, what you say could very well happen, but treating it as a foregone conclusion will only get us on another path.
And which one would that be? Moira challenged.
The one where we do whatever you want, he asserted. Where your Order bes the only eptable authority on everything. If you want to protect people from themselves, you have to continuously control more and more of their life until liberty dies.
We would only get involved as much as we need.
Can you tell me exactly how much that is?
Can you tell me exactly how much you can indulge without it bing the road to ruination?
No, John conceded immediately. Thats why I made a parliament instead of keeping dictatorial power. I may have the intelligence to figure it out if I had all the data, but I cannot have the awareness to grasp every stream that flows through the culture. Even then, I have my biases, like everyone else. The ship sails best in the middle of the channel and I dont trust myself to be the sole navigator of everything. Whether we run aground on the shore of tyranny or anarchy doesnt really seem to matter to me. Im more concerned about keeping afloat. I think having every single viewpoint out there will have the ship sail in a very odd way, but it should generally keep us around the middle. He switched to a joking tone, kissing his girlfriend on her adorable cheek. That aside, I dont want to work that much.
Letting out a long sigh, Moira rubbed the bridge of her nose. I understand that idea; Im not sure if your methods will bring you there. I dont think another word than degenerate is fitting for the way you eat.
John shrugged. Then we should agree to disagree at this current point. Unless you think we can sort all of our differences in a talk right here and right now, its useless to shout at each other. He gave both of them his most charming smile. I would be happy to negotiate your integration into Fusion.
Despite being blinded, Lorelei blushed intensely. She clearly had some way to, if not actually see, then to perceive things urately.
If you were to redeem yourself, it might be possible, Moira carefully suggested. Fundamentally, the divine mission the Order and the Wardens have been given is one of protection of humanity. We do not seek to rule, only to keep things safe. If there was a sovereign we trusted would not hinder us in our mission, we could make some concessions on independence, if need be.
Is that so? John asked. Well, how would I go about showing that Im a good boy.
You would need to dial back on your impure lifestyle, Moira began. At best, you would disband your harem enti-
No deal. Those two words were spoken, with wildly differing levels of enthusiasm, by John, Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice and all five elemental girls, suddenly popping up only to make their disapproval known.
Then youre right and we should just agree to disagree C for the moment, Moira, slightly taken aback by the intense pushback she had just received, ended the argument. I came here in a diplomatic effort to talk to Florida. Since theyll apparently join you in a week, I decided to see how reasonable you were. Well, that and I wondered how you had developed.
Your evident distaste for my sexual appetite aside, you like what you see?
Spare yourself the flirts, you disqualified yourself as a potential partner the moment you found yourself unable to stick to one woman, Moira snapped back at his joke in an extreme fashion. The Golden Rose cannot be shared with the unfaithful.
Sorry, sorry, John made a mental note that the redhead was off-limits, I wouldnt say that I was unfaithful at any point, but Ill take the pointer.
If nothing else, youre tolerable. The Warden calmed quickly, having made her point, and leaned back. We may have gotten along well, if you had made a different choice.
I honestly dont see myself going down any path that doesnt involve at least a small harem, so I think we always would have had issues. The Gamer shook his head. Anyway, how are things at Ashcroft? Are Vanessa and Frank still in charge of everything?
I had to discontinue my education there a month after you left, Moira told him with a shrug. I never had time to care about those two before and I havent had since. I was there to learn and to keep an eye on Wentworth. Since that witch has kept her activities low for the longest time now, I havent kept up with school affairs. My duty as a Warden meant I had to travel and purge all threatening elements we identified. Her greyish green eyes focused him without any further words, the silent warning clear in the hard expression on her face.
Lets hope they all deserved it, the Gamer thought and only nodded.
The redhead seemed happy with that reaction and pushed herself off the table. Once standing, she announced, Well, Ill follow the other six challenges as closely as they let me. Show your best, John Newman, Ill tell my father and the council what my impression of you is by the end of it.
I dont think youll find anything new. John shrugged. Im pretty consistent when ites to my public record and I wont change now, not to look better to you and certainly not for some potential gain.
Your unwillingness to change is frustrating, but at least youre honest. Moira clicked her tongue and then turned to leave.
Hold up, a sec! Rave spoke up.
Chapter 772 – Tournament of Oddities 7 – A request for a banal duel
Chapter 772 C Tournament of Oddities 7 C A request for a banal duel
What is it? Moiras quizzical expression showed actual confusion.
So, first off, I wanna apologize, Rave responded, and John felt the need to clean his ears out. Regardless of how shocked he and Moira were, the techno lover was serious about this. Back when that whole Bloodfallen thing was going on, I med ya for stuff because I just wanted it to be true that Collide was just working as it always was. That wasnt fair. Sorry about that.
Apology epted, the Warden responded, showing a smile like someone that hade home after a rainy day to find a cup of hot chocte already greeting them. You seem a lot less confrontational since Ist met you.
A suddenly appearing Copernicus hopped onto the table. You might want to hold your horses with the impression, the suncat announced as he strolled over the surface, only to jump off at the other side and casually sit down at the edge of the dry floor.
Ya see, Moira, I kinda want to fight you right now, Rave opened up, clearing up what Copernicus meant. Like, not because Im still mad at you and your sanctimonious ways or anything
sanctimonious? Moira mumbled, while her opposite continued as normal.
I got kinda better at handling girls with sticks in their bums over the past year
stick in my bum?
cause Im hanging around with an actual princess, sorry, queen, that takes things way too seriously all the time and all that.
Yeah sure Now Moira looked like that cup of hot chocte had turned out to be some lukewarm, murky dishwater, something she only realized after taking a sip. So, what excuse do you want to give me to bash your head in?
I wanna reim the right to call you by whatever nickname I want.
You want to what now? Moira had to ask for rification.
A year ago, when we duked it out because I thought you were the kind of person that would set a bunch of Trap Barriers up to have us attacked and you wanted to reduce talking to me to a minimum, we made a bet. Ya would tell us whatever ya knew about who is messing with us if I won and I would have to address you like a normal person if you won. And you won. Ya still told us what ya knew, but a bet is a bet.
And you held to that oue for the entire year?
She did, in all public and private conversations, John backed up the nodding of his girlfriend. I honestly thought it was kind of silly at times, but my girl is an honest one, if nothing else.
Im a lot of things, including awesome! sheined.
Awesome, radical and gorgeous, the Gamer confirmed with a smile. He couldnt keep any insults, even yful ones, up for too long.
I just do not get you. Moira let out an exasperated groan. You have honour over something like this, yet your usual reaction to my mere presence was to throw multi-coloured punches in my general direction.
Ya always came in with things like: you arent allowed to be here, the Order must ensure the Natural Barrier gets cleaned correctly or I cannot believe you would buy marijuana or your petty crimes are an obstruction that will get you into bigger troubles one day, or other sanctimonious BS like that, Rave responded.
We did, I couldnt and they did, Moira asserted. Must I remind you of the troubles that can be caused for mundane people if a Natural Barrier is not cleaned properly? What if the drug had numbed your mind to the point that you used magic in the streets?
Spoken like someone who never ever was high. Rave rolled her eyes.
Moira ignored that. Your petty crimes eventually did cause you to ally with the Bloodfallen C or perhaps subjecting yourself to them is more urate - and do I have to remind you how that worked out for you?
Life has its ups and downs, Rave responded flippantly.
Life has its dozens of people died! Including Travolta!
Yeah, well, I lived, I learned and I moved on.
Lived, learned and moved on? Moira repeated after, slowly, for a second time in a row, bbergasted. I urgh, yes, I actually forgot that talking to you made me feel like this. She rubbed her temples as if she had a bad headache. Are you just callous to the loss of life or are you just terrible at expressing yourself?
John insists Im bad at exining, so its probably thetter, Rave conceded.
That was the second time in this conversation that Moira was surprised, this time around, John was just quietly observant. Those two really arent made to get along, but at least they both improved a little bit on the patience front, he thought and looked over at his girlfriend. My Jane improved more, of course.
Moira lowered her hands. I see, she simplymented and sighed. I probably should know better than to push back this hard, given your stupidly carefree attitude.
Or ya shouldnt talk about the devils lettuce as if ya knew what it did, the Lightbearer bantered back. Anyway, I want to duel you, to get the right back to call you by your old nickname. Ya game or not?
Whats in it for me? Moira wanted to know.
No clue, suggest something. Rave gestured around. I wont agree to everything. Even I know this is kinda stupid. Still, theres something small ya could want that I could give ya.
ying with the pendant around her neck, the redhead hummed in thought. If I win she said slowly, still figuring things out, I want you yes, I want you to give me a tour of your home base, when I have the time. You will guarantee my safety and youll have to be nice to me the entire time. I figure thats about as much pain for you as it would be for me to hear you say that ridiculous nickname again.
Personally, I think Moi-Moi is kind of adorable, John threw his hat into the ring and got himself the kind of smiting nce that would have made Lydia take notes on how to improve her evil re. Message received, he apologized and shut his mouth.
We have a deal. Rave smirked, offering her hand to shake on it. I should warn ya though, Ive improved a lot since west fought. Not sure if your Innate Ability will keep up with things.
I no, Ill just take a page out of your book and let this next part be a surprise. Moira decided and took the offer. A momentter, she said, We should at least take this into another Illusion Barrier. I neither feel like devastating this beach nor like someone snap photos and make this some sort of headline.
Good call, John agreed and so they left, went a bit further up the beach and set up their own little barrier. Once there, he gave Rave her headphones. I dont think either of you wants any extra rules for this, do you? His answer came in the shape of both opponents quietly walking several steps away. I figured. Since things were about to get messy, the Gamer retreated to the edge of the barrier with a few backwards steps.
Lorelei followed that imperative, both of them retreating to a safe distance. Well, about as safe as John thought it could get. When it came to his own safety, the Gamer wasnt too bothered, Particle Skin would neutralize any stray attack that could havee his direction.
Not to be rude or anything, John spoke up, but would you say its safe for you to be around?
The Lady would warn me if great danger wasing my way, Lorelei responded and folded her hands before her stomach in a diligent fashion. Although she had no eyes to fixate on him, she turned her head to look at him. As someone who used magical help to ovee his own blindness, the Gamer wasnt surprised. For small dangers, I would be grateful for your protection. The Lady has blessed me, but not withbat prowess like the rest of you. I suppose inparison to you Im rather fragile.
John nodded and two of his elementals manifested soon thereafter. Undine, stay ready to heal anyone, should there be any mishaps. Gnome, you, Aclysia and Beatrice should make sure that nothing hits her. Is it okay if I just call you Lorelei?
For someone as blessed by the Lady as you are, my name is more than enough, Gamer. Lorelei didnt use his title as any sort of mockery, but instead spoke it with veneration. It felt like the difference between a religious person speaking about a Matthew and the apostle Matthew. You may call me Lorelei, Varnik, Miss Varnik or Seer Varnik, whatever you prefer.
I will stick to Lorelei then, and John will also suffice, the Gamer assured her.
I, uhm, Lorelei shifted around a bit in an adorably awkward fashion, I can attempt to call you so, but please understand that my first instinct is to use your honorific title. It is the expectation of my line to be respectful servants of those carrying the Ladys approval.
Suggestion: refer to him as Master, Beatrice chimed in.
Now the seer turned beet red. I could never I mean I could, but no, that wouldnt be appropriate. Her supernatural inspection intensified to the point where John could actually feel it. The moment he started to get annoyed by this, it ceased. My apologies, I did not mean to upset you. Her tone was innocently honest, leaving him with little choice but to forgive her for the minor transgression. I was simply curious. Im not used to people paying this much attention to me.
How? Youre beautiful. John didnt skip a beat in presenting that fact. He had long since graduated from being the virgin that blurted these things out on ident. Now he made thepliment in an earnest tone, even with a bit of confusion. A beautiful woman was a beautiful woman, after all.
You tter me, honoured Gamer. Lorelei smiled, continuing to blush.
What were you trying to see in my aura anyway? the Gamer wondered. No, let me rephrase that, what CAN you see in my aura? If youre allowed to tell me?
I tried to see your intentions. I sense that you have desires for my body and you wear those inly, but it is unusual to find such carnal desires without sinister emotions. Yet your aura is its the proud purple of a king that is certain in his missions, wearing shadows as theyre needed, and it is the gold of an honest man, that stands for what he believes and wants to unite what is selfish with what is selfless. She tilted her head. There are many other facets to it, but those are the most pronounced. Youre the first man of such intense gold and purple I have ever seen, and youre d in clothes blessed by the Lady herself. I have She blushed again, even heavier than before, being as red as tomato at this point. No, that is knowledge I cannot share before I have confirmed it.
John decided not to press her on thatst sentence and instead activated his aura sight to look at his own hands. Steadily rising and flickering around him, like a mixture of smoke and fire, was the intense blue of arcane energy, with the asional flicker of elemental undercurrents. Your aura sensibility is a lot more developed than mine. So, you can read the true character of a person?
She shook her head. I can see the parts that make you up,bining it into a correct sum is no less difficult for me than it is for everyone else. Although I admittedly work with better information. I can see your power and I can read what entity it originates from. While the light of the Lady shines in all of us, her wise guidance leads some of us more than others.
Looking over, John now saw Loreleis own aura. It was a snow white with silver undertones and surrounded her like a frozen raindrop. It was beautiful, in many ways, but something about it felt like a cold responsibility. Intrigued, the Gamer moved his eyes onto the two opponents.
They had been chatting, just as John and Lorelei had, standing five steps apart from each other. His girlfriend had an aura that continuously flickered in multiple colours that ovepped and formed more intricate ones. Had it been actual light, she would have needed to carry around a seizure warning with her at all times. That sight was known, just as John knew that it became sunlight gold when she used Copernicus Unleash to strengthen herself. The entire thing moved steadily around her, as if she was standing in the centre of a candle me.
Moiras magical presence in the world was rigid. A perfect sphere that surrounded her equally, on all sides. It had the colour of raw Faith, the energy of Gaia, triangles of rainbow colours dancing under the translucent, white shell that surrounded her. A wall of purity guarded immense power, bestowed by the supreme deity herself, so her aura seemed to say.
Blinking, John deactivated his aura sight. It was still a fairly useless tool, giving him nice and distracting visuals that tranted into any number of interpretations. The only reason why he could even see that much from the people present was their evident power levels.
It seemed that their exchange of words hade to an end. Rave sprouted her cat ears and Moira pulled her pendant off her chain. In a clenched fist, she raised it upwards, and shouted something that doubtlessly contained the word Lady.
A beam of light descended from nowhere, blew away the wet sand under and around her, and temporarily hid the Warden from view. Rave was forced back a step and even John felt the gust of wind travel over his face. The light vanished left as quick as it hade, leaving Moira standing there in full battle regalia.
Her armour and weaponry were dazzling. Meticulously clean and polished, the interlocking tes glittered with supernatural light, forged with golden, silver and light grey metals. Doubtlessly, Elementium and its lesser parts were in use. The entire set exuded the holy authority of a pdin. Where the tes didnt cover her, primarily at the joints and the legs that had been left surprisingly lightly armoured, the underlying dark red bodysuit became visible. A tabard that disyed an intricate golden rose decorated her torso, but even that cloth did nothing to obscure the fact that the armour was sitting as if the metal had been poured onto her.
Her warhammer was a massive thing and different from what John remembered. The shaft was as long as her entire arm and the head segmented in three areas. One side had the proper, weighted head, a square block of silver metal that could crush anything under its t surface. The backside was a curved spike, perfect to punch through armour, and on the end of it all sat a thorn that gave thrusting attacks a viable lethality. Although it was a brilliant and polished weapon in appearance, its fundamental design was murderous. In all due likelihood, she had changed her old hammer for this one over the past year, be it due to growing physical ability or wear and tear.
Something about her shield was different from the rest of her equipment. Although it, too, looked different than the one John remembered, he wasnt as sure that she had exchanged this one. It had the same aura. As someone who had seen, and wielded, more than one transforming item in his time, John decided to run with his hunch and assume that instead.
It was a giant thing, a tower shield only slightly smaller than she was. It was a lean piece of armoury, curving into a broader centre and then narrowing again, ending in a tip that resembled a ttened V. At the middle of the front unfolded arge, golden rose, as if seen from above, surrounded by wing-like decorations.
The glow of the shield was more intense than anything else of her blessed armour. It even seemed like everyst bit of mour that covered her originated, in some shape, from that shield.
Although John was used to superhuman feats by now, seeing her move around effortlessly with those giant pieces of equipment was impressive. Neither size nor weight seemed to hinder her. She turned around her warhammer and let it stand in the sand for a moment, while her hand reached into the back of her shield. It was simr to how John retrieved items from his inventory.
A simple hairband was taken out and the shield dropped from Moiras arm, as if loosened by a mentalmand. The pointy tip split the sand and the shield stubbornly stood straight, despite the grounds softness and its own, outwards curved shape demanding that being those few centimetres into the sand wasnt enough to escape the pull of gravity. The clearly magical shield didnt care and continued to stand, until Moira had bound her red hair up into a ponytail. Once the Warden grabbed the handle at the back of the silver shield, straps appeared that let her lift it in a stable fashion. John followed all of that through the eyes of Sylph, who had gotten bored and was now zapping around as his effective camera.
Then we can begin, Moira dered and grabbed her hammer.
Chapter 773 – Tournament of Oddities 8 – Duel of the First Girls
Chapter 773 C Tournament of Oddities 8 C Duel of the First Girls
A moment of tension ensued, both of them staring at each other and waiting for something. Wonder if we would have ended up in this exact situation but in reverse, had I chosen Moira over Rave all that time ago. John rolled his neck to not get stiff from the anticipation. Unlikely, but an interesting thought experiment.
He had barely finished that sentence when the fight suddenly began. With a re of blue around her, Rave darted forwards at extreme speed. She was met with an uppercut swing of Moiras hammer. Reversing her momentum with a backwards jump, the techno lover pushed herself backwards.
An Aura of pure white ignited around Moira. Rave barely had touched the ground when the Warden took a single step and elerated forwards at tremendous speed, practically sailing over the ground. Although John didnt know that specific one, it was pretty easy to recognize a martial art.
She learned some new tricks, John thought, as he watched the high-speed battering ram close in on his girlfriend in a second. From her perspective, it must have been little more than the tower shield approaching at insane speed. A speed that even Rave found herself unable to react to on time, surprised as she was by it.
The impact sent Rave flying backwards, this time without any guided purpose. Back first, shended in the sand. Moira set right after her, taking a single step and then raising her warhammer over her head and bringing it down like a smith aiming at the hot iron on an anvil. It could have been the decisive blow, but Rave reacted in time.
The hammer met her outstretched feet. It wasnt a real impact, Rave only provided a counterforce to slow down the attack while still letting it descend. By the time her legs were almostpletely folded, the descent hade to a standstill.
Moira was still in the advantageous position, and shifted her weight to add the pressure her attack had just lost. Something that Rave had bet on, as she opened her legs in a split second. The hammer mmed down into the sand. John let out a relieved sigh when he realized her perfect butt had not even gotten scratched.
Proving that she was quicker, Rave rolled up and pushed herself off the ground. A motion normally only serving to get up to her feet in a showy manner now served tounch herself heel first at Moiras face. The upper edge of her shield was brought between them just in time.
A st of energy burst through the thick, magical te of metal. Only the scattered rest of it touched Moiras face, so little it didnt even make her blink. Copernicus blessing followed right thereafter, a ripple of light that spread from the impact outwards, but not even that bothered the Warden, standing her ground with stoic might.
John whistled, impressed, just as both brought some distance between them, to find better ways to engage again. While Rave prowled in circles around her target, cat ears raised attentively, Moira stood her ground and made sure the shield always faced her opponent. Both had their auras deactivated to regenerate some mana.
Have you, perhaps, underestimated our Warden? Lorelei asked. She had a soft and servile voice, the kind happy housewives stereotypically had. The Gamer couldnt help but wonder if he could turn her into something just like that. She was exactly the kind of woman he was normally attracted to: gorgeous, odd, interesting, kind-hearted and able to hold a conversation. Potentially submissive was just a cherry on top.
Not sure I would go that far John scratched his chin, trying not to leer too much at her breasts. Although neither absurdlyrge nor unveiled, her robe was very tight. I just didnt expect her to hold up to Rave. You did say you could receive visions earlier, can you tell the oue of this duel?
My gift, albeit potent, does seldom allow me such precise glimpses. Lorelei shook her head. Im a seer, my gift to find and tell prophecies outdoes most entities in the world, even many gods, but what I see is what the Lady lets me see. I may request help, I may touch rted items to trigger a vision, but the Lady remains what my gift is caused by and bound to.
The Golden Rose gets curiouser by the moment, John thought, ncing over back to the battlefield just in time to see his girlfriend raise her foot in a scarily familiar fashion. Her leg was angled at the knee, the foot and lower segment dangling in a straight line. Her aura ignited. Moira, perceiving a weakness in her enemys stance, charged forwards. Well, this is about to get serious, John warned and suddenly embraced Lorelei in a protective fashion.
Behind him, Raves Seismic Step caused the earth to quake. A fountain of sand exploded into the air from the sudden force. Small particles, pebbles and wet clumps all flew into the air and some of them bounced off Johns back. Once he was sure nothing else woulde down, he backed off. Lorelei was beet red again.
Sorry if that was a bit too sudden, he apologized.
It is of no concern! she assured him, a bit too intensely.
There was no time to be amused or awe-struck by her adorable reaction, there was a fight to be had. Sand was too heavy to stay in the air for long, especially after rain, so the dispersion of particles did little to obscure the view. John witnessed as his girlfriend managed to get between Moiras shield and hammer, courtesy of the redhead having her footing blown away.
The Gamer very much doubted that this had been Raves intention. Either the Lightbearer had decided it was time to do something or the song she was listening to had dropped and made her move out of loyalty to the rhythm. One would think fighting to a song would be predictable but, given that only she knew the song and that not even John understood how she picked which part of the ensemble she paid attention to, she was just a forward moving, chaotic bundle of focused fighting instincts.
Raves reinforced fists smashed against Moiras chest three times, to sparkling, multi-coloured and golden light. One punch in the gut, one to the sr plexus and a third to the corbone. Each attack caused sts of energy that were still visible behind Moira as shimmers in the air. Before she could aim at the Wardens head, the redhead shouted, LADY, GRANT ME YOUR PROTECTION!
A white-golden light red up in front of her face, blocking Raves punch and consequently exploding into a wave that threw Rave back. Her feet dug a half-metre trail through the sand, as the ground absorbed the kic energy. Oy, thats cheating! Raveined, once she came to a standstill. I aint calling Eliza here, so why do ya get to ask that sassy, prime-butt for help?
Im merely an extension of the Ladys power, Moira asserted, scoldingly wagging the tip of her hammer at the pink-haired, half-Asian bombshell. My channelling her aid through words is as much part of my powers as the rest of my abilities. If you do not ept this, you might as well use my entire Innate Ability to be cheating.
It kinda is, but fine, Rave rolled her shoulders, just gimme a second here, new song is about to start.
I dont think I will, Moira responded. Her white aura red up and she elerated in a moments notice. Rave stepped to the left side to escape the shield bash, hoping to get into her open right that way. A one-twobo of the redhead whirling her protection around in a sweeping gesture, immediately followed by a swipe of her hammer, covered any opening she could have had. Dodging both, Rave found herself in front of the living wall that was the Warden, who raised her hammer to shoulder height and stabbed.
Rave twisted out of the way, then had to take a step backwards as Moira advanced with a thrust of her shield. The motion repeated itself in exactly the same way. Three more times, four more times, the Warden did not let up. Using her hammer like a short spear, she acted like a single phnx. Although less optimized for the task, her weapon could fulfil it, and the shield protected her either way. All Rave would be able to see from her perspective would be the shield, Moiras head and the tip of the hammer.
John saw exactly what Moiras battlen was. For the sake of fairness, and because he knew Rave would have given him an earful if he intervened, he kept quiet. Step for step, his girlfriend was driven backwards. When she tried to dodge to the side, Moira threatened her with a swing. It was a short breathing period for the Lightbearer, but the redhead charged back into position and continued to press her into one direction.
Rave must have noticed what was going on when she felt the ground under her feet change from the wavy sand of the main beach to the muddy t of the ocean adjacent area. Moira was trying to get her opponent into the water. An old and almost always valid strategy.
FOR THE LA-! Moira began to chant, likely to conjure an energy wave that would catapult Rave into the ocean. Before she could finish up, Rave suddenly charged forwards. Adjusting her ns the Warden thrust her hammer as before. A single skewer to the shoulder could tilt the whole match more decisively than driving a supernaturally nimble fighter into worse footing.
Rave disappeared before the pointed tip could hit her. Immediately, she reappeared behind Moira. Shift had carried her to the other side of her opponent, and now Rave was turning around for a high kick. A few sessful blows, and it would be Moira who got to wade through the waves instead.
The Light Bearer, although more adept at them from the look of things, wasnt the only user of martial arts in this fight though. Twisting around at immense speeds, Moira knocked aside the kicking for her with her shield. Reacting quickly to the failure, Rave resumed a straight stance. The Wardens hammer came down, but was met by a st of multi-coloured light from Raves palm. Magic shed against enchanted metal, light became kic energy and Moiras attack was blown back. Out of bare necessity from the expenditures, Raves aura extinguished.
Controlled breaths would restore it, where theck of daylight failed, but it wouldnte quick enough. Lady bless me! this plea was answered with a sh of light that descended on Moira, as she suddenly advanced. The shield mmed into Raves torso and sent her stumbling back. Before she could regain her footing, the redhead followed it up with one of her elerated charges. Rave was thrown backwards and nowpletely off bnce. Two quick steps, another bash with the shield.
Johns girlfriend barely escaped by throwing herself to the ground. In doing so, she opened herself up for an ugly but practical kick to the ribs. They were in the sand close to the green strip now. Rave took a desperate breath, regained as much mana as she could, and a ray of light wasunched at Moiras face. It bounced uselessly off her shield, which the Warden brought down on Raves body, the t surface mming the Lightbearer into the ground with enough force that the nearby sand was blown away.
Rave only groaned in pain. It had done damage, there was no doubt about it, but not enough to be fundamentally threatening to her. The continued immobilization by the tower shield pressing her entire body down through the power of the Warden was another matter entirely. The redhead was half-lying, a necessity to hold her shield in such a way that she could keep the force up. For the moment, she had let go of the hammer.
Surrender, the Warden demanded.
Urgh, Rave groaned, trying to draw air properly, but unable to take anything but shallow breaths. Anything more and she could have regained mana for a counterattack.
Come on, I take no pleasure in drawing out your pain unnecessarily, Moira pleaded. Take your loss, well both live another day regardless of the thing you wanted.
Fine, Rave pressed out and got to inhale properly once the shield was lifted. Ya win! Bah! The Lightbearer kicked the sand in blind protest. Best out of five!
You want another four rematches immediately? Moira asked with a raised eyebrow.
No, this is your second win, we gonna make it best out of five sometime else! the Lightbearer exined herself as she sat up. Not that Im saying ya dont get what we bet for today. Just call me up whenever ya want to have that tour. Do ya have my number?
No, how would I?
No clue, but the Abyss is weird, so ya could have. Rave looked at the hand that was suddenly extended to her and took it, letting herself get pulled to her feet by the Warden. Ya got nicer, even if youre still sanctimonious as all everything.
And you got more patient, even if youre still insufferable, Moira returned and looked at John, Lorelei and the rest of the group as they closed in. You better kept your hands to yourself, Mr Newman.
Thats my father, you can either call me President or just John or just Newman, if you want to try and be threatening, John answered and stopped, only for Undine to flow past him and tend to Rave. There would be some unsightly bruises if she didnt get healed. You doing fine, by the way? Ive seen what Janes punches can do to people. Im surprised you arent spitting up blood or anything.
I was surprised to see she could punch through my protection, but Im made of sturdier stuff than the average person, Moira returned with a shrug, as she put her hammer back inside her shield. Martial arts are another way of power, its normal that they wouldnt be as decisive in battles against someone of equal or higher strength.
That basically went without saying. Moiras armour and shield were taken by a golden glow, intensifying over several seconds. Her body was only an outline of light for a few seconds, then all of it peeled off her in arcs of energy and condensed in her hand. Now back in the clothes she had been wearing previously, she held the shield-shaped pendant and hooked it back onto the chain around her neck.
Although, she added and pulled at the lower edge of her top, I would be lying if I said it didnt do any damage whatsoever.
In the middle of her gut was a quickly darkening spot, about twice the diameter of Raves fist, with a lighter bruise surrounding it like a ring. The energy of the Prative st had scattered inside her and then a second impact from Copernicus blessing had made it worse. Moira moved with no visible sign of difort, after pulling her top back into normal position. This spoke either to her discipline or for the bruise to look worse than it was. Probably both.
You sure you dont want help with that? John asked, gesturing at Undine. Wouldnt even be me who does the touching.
But you would share the sensations through your mental link.
Ah, well, maybe. I could give you my gentlemans word that I wont C I wouldnt even touch the memory.
I dont need to rely on your word, the Lady will have it fixed the moment I leave this Illusion Barrier, Moira returned, not too aggressively. Her doubt towards his honour was rtively small, it seemed. That was something to be happy about. She was right though, just leaving the barrier would fix most physical issues. John had his girlfriend healed purely forfort reasons. Now if you have nothing else to discuss, I would like to take my leave.
Just the number, John pulled a business card with his private number on it from his inventory. Send me a text there and Ill forward Janes private number to you. Id be much obliged if you kept official matters of diplomacy between our factions to the normal channels.
The Order will honour that, Moira promised, grabbed the card and raised her hand to leave. Lorelei?
At your lead, Warden, the seer said and turned to John for a second. It has been pleasant to make your acquaintance, John Newman man of gold and purple. With those words, both left the barrier.
Strange that shes focused on that particr aspect of me, John thought and walked over to his girlfriend, who was still standing. So, howre you doing? he asked, not too concerned.
Physically? Nothing Undine cant fix. Otherwise, Im absolutely disappointed in myself.
I can believe that. John took her hand. In your defence, its a cloudy day.
More mana wouldnt have let me win there, Rave shook her head, I put all I could in those three punches and she shrugged them off with basically no issue. Im quicker than her, but thats about all. Her cat ears disappeared and she took off her earphones. Without my Aura, even that gap wasnt too big. I need to be better. She winked at him. And thanks to your mark, tiger, I will.
Youre taking this pleasingly well, the Gamer hummed.
After dying to a crazy nazi experiment, getting barely resurrected by a blood infusion by the same, then going to Europe to meet my mother and consequently getting beaten up by her once, seeing a nuke go off in front of my eyes, returning to America and having to live through ya getting used to magical eyes, losing banal duels like this isnt that bad, Rave listed off a series of unpleasant things in the past.
That is fair enough still cant believe you were dead once.
I mean, it was like ten seconds tops. Still better than people that drowned once.
You just look really pretty for a vampire thrall.
Ya do remember that the traitor cunt, Rave spat the curse out with conviction, ripped all of that blood out of me, ja?
Still, youre a very pretty corpse.
Imma put ya ten feet under if ya dont stop this line of jokes right now and kiss me, Johnny!
If she threatened him with that nickname, he was happier if he did as she wanted.
Chapter 774 – Tournament of Oddities 9 – A minor vision of what’s to come
Chapter 774 C Tournament of Oddities 9 C A minor vision of whats toe
The rest of Monday had passed without any hups and the part of Tuesday dedicated to the tournament rolled around as quick as things could do without manipting time. So, whatre we going to do today? John asked, once more inside the room with the shadow-veiled ceiling. The jury table was untouched, but the kitchens had vanished. Instead, there was a single chair, standing in front of a small basin, mounted on a pole. It was filled with some sort of water that sparkled and moved despite theck of air movement or light sources to reflect in such a fashion.
Todays challenge will be one where you contest against yourself! Jeff eximed and looked at his notes. Because youll have to- Wait a second, you serious?
Still not in the habit of reading the show guide, despite leading the show, the Gamer thought and looked between Vita and Wendy. Either of youdies want to tell me what your hype-man is shocked by?
Your challenge will be to receive a vision, Vita told him. A prophecy, a simple snippet of the future, whatever qualifies, as long as we believe youve perceived something. The Gamer was about to think that this would be a supremely easy task, when the pariah tilted her head and creepily smirked. And you may not use the abilities of your contacts.
John didnt even need to question how she knew about the Vision of Cmities ability to conjure a vision of a short-term threat on demand. In the past, Nia had disyed the same capability, reading the enchantments of the goblin Ankleshanker and his equipment. Even further than that, she had suppressed certain attributes of the size-changing equipment to make it suddenly go to its maximum size. That a higher skilled nk was able to read the abilities of his lenses was just natural.
I dont think I have that ability, the Gamer said truthfully.
Yeah, you dont look the part, Wendy agreed with a smug smile, her head resting on her hand as she leaned on the table. Which is why we arranged some prophecy water -trademarked product- for you. As long as youre close to being able to make prophecies and you concentrate on that water, it should let you close that remaining gap. Temporarily.
John scratched his head and sighed. Yesterday had proven that the Florida guild wasnt unreasonable in its implementations. Ill just bet something I dont care that much about, he thought and finally nodded. Before I agree to this, I have a condition.
Youre always one to negotiate, arent you? Wendy rolled her eyes. What do you want this time? A pat on the head? A handjob?
We remind everyone that this is an adult program, Vita said, staring at one of the cameras. If you let your children watch this C what are you doing? Go teach them to raise some chickens. Like Fred. The screen switched to the livestream of the guild leader immediately. Fred the Chicken was busy walking in circles and bobbing her head, asionally pecking thewn. Adorable.
I would take the handjob, but my condition is different, the Gamer said. I want this to be taken off the air. On the chance that I DO have a vision and start babbling a prophecy, I dont want it out there. At least not without deciding first if it reveals anythingpromising. For all he knew, he could have leaked Scarletts true identity or stir up some other fuzz with state or personal secrets.
Yeah! Jeff shouted. Unlikely support, but John would take it. Prophecies have to be treated with some respect! No sane seer would just speak one in front of a live audience!
Urgh, everyone is always so uptight, Wendy groaned. Okay, fine, have it your way. Well keep recording and if you say afterwards that you dont ever want the prophecy out of this room, well delete the footage, happy?
Whats my insurance? the Gamer wanted to know.
Ill be your sex ve if it gets out, deal?
Ill treat you well, John said with a perverted smile and a nod.
I know, otherwise I wouldnt say that. Youve got a good reputation with thedies, at least those that arent horribly stuck up. Wendy leaned back and presented her body as much as she could without getting up or undressing. And if Im getting dominated, itll be only by the best guy on the continent!
Although his insurance seemed to have a bit of a vested interest in going against Johns wishes, the Gamer still took it. Marching over to the chair, he watched as Fred was taken off the screen and reced with the card that showed the current state of the bets.
Before we cut the live connection, we should at least let the viewers know what youll bet on today, Jeff dered and gestured at the screen above him. Last time it was the meeting with the Horned Rat, what will you be willing to risk this time?
Its either the prune cakes or the national holiday, the Gamer thought, since he wasnt sure at all if he could do this. Well, they did give me assistance, so perhaps I should bet something I want to change somewhat? Something Im not too sad about if it goes through as is? There was only one thing in the list that fulfilled that condition. Rather than having an unchangeable use in the constitution to leave immediately, the Florida guild will have the same right and process to split from the Federation as all other members. Thats the bet for today.
Alright, yall have heard it!
And now you can sit bored at your home, because the Gamer has to keep his secret, Wendy added and made a cutting motion with her hand. Some sort of pre-agreed signal, John was sure. Alright, were off the air, do your thing.
Lets see what my thing is, the Gamer responded and sat down. He grabbed the sides of the basin. By itself, it truly wasnt anything special. Just a bowl of copper on a pole from the same metal. The water, however, seemed more interesting the more he stared at it. Richard said it would take me about 1000 Intellect to get there, but he is as much guessing about my powers as anyone else. Given this crutch, there might just be a chance.
The water smoothed over after he had been looking at it for several seconds. Then it started to swirl. Intrigued, he leaned over the basin. The swirl shifted with the angle of his gaze, always allowing him to see just a tiny dot at the bottom of the bowl. He continued to stretch until the vortex was in the centre of the bowl, because this kind of symmetry just felt right.
Ya seeing anything? Rave wondered from the side. Cause ya seem mighty intrigued by some water.
John looked up for a moment. Cant you see the whirl? he asked, ncing down to make sure it was actually there.
Uh, no? Guess that answers my question with yes then, Rave said.
Peculiar, I cant perceive this either, Aclysia informed them. Neither with my own eyes or through your eyes, Master.
Peculiar indeed, he mumbled and already regretted not having bet on something more important. Well, it is how it is, he thought and calmed his mind as best as possible. Once more he leaned over the basin and stared only at it. Minutes passed and he erased more and more things from his attention, as they kept distracting him. Thoughts about the day, ways this situation could turn out to be a trap, wondering if and how Moira was following things, tiny buzzing thoughts that kept bouncing around in his head.
Overthinker that he was, extinguishing them all was a meditative exercise of medium difficulty. Still, none of that helped, until he pulled his attention even from Jack. The Extension was only sitting in his office at the moment, so all that had to be done to that end was to convince the girls under the table to stop for the time being. Once that was done, the thought capacity normally split between them, normally more than enough to analyse any situation even when halved, unified in him.
The whirl grew and showed the dried bottom of the copper bowl. Unlike what John saw through the translucent surface, that which the water gave way to was pitch ck. There was movement in the darkness, as if it was pulling closer and closer together. The vortex opened further, until there was only water at the edge of the bowl. Everything else was ckness. Then, Johns vision waspletely consumed by this dark, as if he had submerged himself in it.
A split. The darkness was a split in the back of a metal form. His vision zoomed out of the crack and showed the golden and bronze rim, decorated with veins of silver-white and spots of grey. The crack at the back was wide, reminding John of the discarded carapace of an insect.
I shall meet the hull of a hated man again. The words passed his lips and he knew exactly what he was looking at, understanding it beyondprehension.
More of the picture became visible. The metal body was a humanoid form, but its proportions were contorted and mutations wrecked what would make it identifiable as a man. An absurd number of wings, most crippled and shrunk like wilted flowers, grew from all over its back. The face was twisted into a four-way split maw, protruding outwards like a snout. The right arm was so long the wrist was on the same height as the knee and the needle-like ws dragged over the concrete floor. ck ooze covered the ground, spreading in awork that reminded John of mycelium. Stalks with teeth and eyeballs blinked and shifted into the other, growing from the ck.
Their attention shifted between the standing hull and something else. John willed his vision in the direction. And I shall learn, he retched, of the hated foe, two faces.
What he was looking at was the thing that had crawled out of the shell. It glistened, muscles and fat visible and bleeding, the skinless thing writhing. Its legs had fused and bloated. They seemed to possess no bones, the flesh pulsing again and again like a crawling snail. A dry, lidless eye stared with pain and fervour; a lipless maw snapped for air. The right of its face was covered in ck, writhing on top of the bones like maggots, and manifesting into a stubby horn at the top. More ckness spread from its ribcage, parts of it covered in fungoid growth that seemed like exposed gills. Gills that twitched sometimes, closed, and turned into eyes. They didnt see him, but they basked in their glee.
The corruptor and the corrupted he barely managed to press out, before the entire vision was ended abruptly by him bowing over to the right. Vomit sttered on the floor. John tried to keep the rest of his breakfast in. A new detail surfaced in his memory, the way more mycelium had pumped out of the decrepit arms and the bloated fingers, more boneless things that had oddly smooth tips. The parts of the hand that were still normal had their bones cracked by maws that grow on the skin.
With a second contortion of his entire body, John added yet more stomach acid to the floor. Before almost falling off the chair. Only Aclysia and Rave holding him with caring and calm hands kept him seated. They rubbed his back as he spat out whatever remained in his mouth. He had already made the mess, a bit of saliva on top wouldnt make it worse.
What the fuck did you see?! Rave asked, extremely agitated for obvious reasons.
John took a tissue out of his inventory and wiped his mouth off. He would have answered then, but Aclysia offered him some of that taste freeing water from her own storage, and that seemed like a higher priority. Once the bitter, salty taste of vomit and wasted bacon was out of his mouth, he took a quivering breath and mostly calmed. The vision he had seen quickly faded, the fundamental understanding and rity he had possessed went with it. For a moment, he had known everything about that scene, where it was, how it came to be, what made it be, all of the clues and things he had heard, be it only a little sentence at the side, that allowed him to draw certain conclusions.
Im notpletely sure, he told her and went through what he remembered. Jeremiah, most likely, getting consumed by Lorylim. His metal skin had been ripped off him. No, it was more like the flesh underneath broke out of the chrysalis C or maybe like metal and man rejected each other? He shook his head. Sorry, Im trying to make sense but He shivered. Give me like twenty minutes He looked to the jury. Sorry, but can we delete that footage C for appearances sake alone?
Y-yeah, Wendy nodded along, my word on things and all that! You go do rest, pretty sure you had that vision and won today.
Chapter 775 – Tournament of Oddities 10 – Recharging his batteries
Chapter 775 C Tournament of Oddities 10 C Recharging his batteries
The hell did I mean with two faces? he mumbled, chewing on scrambled eggs and the small pieces of bacon within it. Since Aclysia was still closely monitoring his nutrition intake, the second breakfast he got was much like the first. With some added bits and bobs here to help with refilling his stomach acid. The necessity of all this was questionable, given Gamers Body, but John did at least imagine that he felt better when he ate what his weaponized maid rmended. Could have been pure cebo. Did the skin be its own entity? Will I meet two different main aspects of the Lorylim?
He already knew that the Lorylim had a hivemind but also that it was far from unified. Every encounter that John had with them, particrly the first manifestation of Izha, had them as a babbling mess that spent a lot of time arguing with themselves. It stood to reason, then, that there were more and less influential personalities in thework. Izha was likely one of the most influential personalities. From the tranted binary that had appeared on the Observe windows, which had been a pain to remember and type in manually, he knew that Izha was or had been a man. Which meant, most likely, that humans could be part of the Lorylim collective. It could also have been that the Lorylim were fundamentally human and created by some strange experiments.
I really hope thats not the right answer, the Gamer thought. I dont want to go through the motions of exterminating them all only to find out they can be recreated by some asshole in his basement. Huh, now thats something I and the Golden Rose could agree on.
The Lorylim as a race were something whose genocide John was pretty sure was justified, as would be making sure any sort of research into the matter had to be stomped out as soon as possible. If some sort of benevolent personality surfaced within the hivemind, he might have to change his mind about all of that. Keeping that possibility open, as to not get possessed by an absolute conviction, he continued his second breakfast.
Who could the two faces be? He had his guesses, based on what either looked like. The flesh appeared to have been in the process of mutating (perhaps breaking was more urate) into a form simr to the Avatar of Izha that had greeted them after Smander did her intended corruption. The hull had an entirely different appearance. Less corrupted but no less changed. Although the mycelium had originated from the flesh, it had centred around the armour. There were a number of possibilities that came to mind for that entity, but he wasnt certain enough about any of them to make the definitive call.
There was one he regarded as the most likely. Based on interactions had in the past and that it had struck Jeremiah in particr. Although John was only convinced it was the Art Eater based on the metal shell. It was yet a possibility that he was wrong about that. Regardless, assuming he was correct, the name he arrived at was Tiamat. The goddess of chaos, vanquished by Gaia personally during the Tower of Babel incident.
The Lorylim had disyed a knack for talking to Metra specifically in certain ways, and if it was Jeremiah, then the origin of his sudden and intense corruption would be the bite he had taken out of the First of Wrath. A bite that had contained, among other things, traces of Tiamats scales.
That leaves open a ratherrge how though, the Gamer mumbled. The how was sorge that, although the evidence pointed towards the theory being correct, John didnt want to call it a solid one. He had witnessed Gaia eradicating someone from existence before. If the supreme deity let entities that she personally removed be part of some giant, deeply malevolent collective, then John had a load of questions about her methods.
It would also mean that Metra was a massive security risk. Through their mental connection, the Gamer was very certain that the woman herself was not corrupted. She was loyal to him, by the conditions of their pact, her love and her lust to be the warrior (and sex ve, in his specific case) of a strong leader. The question was rather if there was some sort of switch the Lorylim could flip at any point. Best case, the Lorylim only got this opening because the materials were removed from Metras body. Worst case, every single Metracana was a remote detonation bomb.
His mind started to drift away from the questions he had and onto the implications of specific possibilities. The easiest sign that he wouldnt get anything else out of thinking about this at the moment.
Well, if there is anything good about this, its that Jeremiah is probably in a whole lot of pain right now, he thought and closed that mental chapter. The Art Eater was a dead man walking anyway at this point, being both someone that had stolen something from John and a traitor. The former could be barely forgiven if proper amendments were made in time, but he had no patience for thetter. Traitors were the scum of the earth.
Scraping the remainders of food off the te, the Gamer looked up. His mumblings had gone ignored, the girls not wanting to interrupt his thought process. They were nakedly spread throughout the small room and asionally sent a nce his way. Not worried or concerned, they had lost reason to be either shortly after they had left the tournament hall, just curious when he was finished brooding.
Which was right about now. Alright, he dered, pushing the te to the side to show that he was done with it. Aclysia was already moving in to retrieve it. Im going to recharge my batteries for the rest of the day. So, its time to rx and He barely had said the word rx when a window popped up in front of him.
Gaia, how about you give me a new Quest for the tournament, instead of Achievements out of nowhere? heined out loud. There was no answer. Stuff like this is exactly why I sass you back all the time, big-booty goddess, he grumbled
You have my appreciation, firm butted idol of the world, he thanked the heavens and shifted attention to the room. Anyway, I was thinking we should go through the nice and innocent group exercise that is fulfilling the Lover Boy ss Challenges. He would have wanted to do that anyway, but now he had to hit one that could fit on whatever Florida would throw at him tomorrow.
The odd date request aside, basically all Lover Boy level ups were based on fucking in certain ways. Lasting a certain duration, teasing the girls in definitive ways, sometimes having sex in awkward situations including bossfights and such things. A lot of those Challenges COULD have been difficult, had he not possessed arge harem. Whenever there were Challenges that required arge number of girls or fetishes on the niche or extreme side of things, he had the luxury to sort things out in a way that made it enjoyable for everyone. No need to search for partners that would agree with what he had to do. On the time axis, since desyncing with Jack was now a thing, he didnt have to worry at all.
Which reminded John that he could now literally spend all day fucking and still work without issue. A quality of life improvement that was incalcble in its benefit. Not only for the obvious reason of that being an incredibly joyful lifestyle, but also because it made maxing out the benefit from Experience of Love even easier. He hadnt missed a single day since getting it, but it was still nice to have it be basically guaranteed.
As for why John wanted to clear the ss Challenges, that was also thanks to Experience of Love. Although he hadnt grinded in regr Instant Dungeons recently, he still got a level every two days and tomorrow he would hit 250. At that point, he could get Lover Boy to level 9. It was exciting to be so close to maxing out another ss. Just another 20 days of fucking around (literally) and he would have it. That was without any fighting, which he would still do once he got back home.
Sounds great, Rave danced over to him, whatre we starting with?
John looked between her legs. At the moment, his clean-shaven girlfriend was dry. As much as they hit the perverted lifestyle, they couldnt all be excited all the time, just because they were naked the majority of the time. Im feeling like getting some dessert, so get on the table.
As you say, tiger, his girlfriend purred.
_______________________________________________________________________
and thats whats happening in Florida right now, the other side of Johns consciousness reported. The summarization wasnt in favour of the blonde berserker currently bobbing her head in hisp. Metra had been surprised when John described the vision he had gotten to her, but had decided that it was either a coincidence or not worth thinking too much about until it actually happened.
Ive gotten old enough to take prophecies with a grain of salt, was all she had to say about the matter. Attending to his needs was evidently more interesting than overthinking things. That was his speciality anyway. Letting his left hand guide her movements under the table made more sense for both of them.
The report was instead meant for the person on the other side of the phone he was holding in his right. It seems you are in another eventful stretch of your life, Lydias voice echoed in his ear. She was sounding as controlled as ever, but he knew she was smiling by the tone. The soft piano music in the background meant that she was alone, practicing her powers by lowering the metal keys. It had gotten more intricate recently.
Like its greatly different for you, Johnughed. Ive read the articles that have been published about you recently.
Although it had taken a few days, courtesy of Lydias bureaucratic lifestyle, eventually she had appeared before the public with her improved curves and everything. She may have been able to somewhat hide the change, had the queen worn her clothes in a more conservative fashion. This had not happened. Instead, she kept the upper parts of her shirt unbuttoned, like she had done around John, revealing a fair bit of cleavage. It did little topromise her general image, the uniform and stern behaviour was all the same, but that only emphasized the importance of those few buttons.
The press had gotten wild over things. Having a more attractive monarch was always a thing people appreciated, it was some sort of national pride thing. How this transformation was possible, however, was the greater question on everyones lips. Especially since a considerable increase in her strength was noted soon thereafter, as the queen attended a traditional tournament and participated as a guest of honour. That Lydia had stagnated in power hadnt been widely known, but the rapid expansion was unusual, even in the Abyss.
Theories ranged from her having secretly found out how to do a second fusing, something impossible as half-elementals couldnt form a new contract, to her having removed a limiter she had always kept on herself for an unknown reason. There were some more valid theories, some of which even skirted close to the truth.
After getting Johns approval, Lydia held an interview where she told everyone of his involvement. She didnt say how exactly he raised her capacity or by how much, although she was honest in the training method used. They had relied on outside information themselves for that bit, so there was no harm in spelling it out.
That had been about a week ago and the press was still reporting on it. Granted, it was a pretty eventless time at the moment, but it was an odd thing to get hung up on. John very much enjoyed that there were rumours going around that sleeping with him allowed women to get more beautiful and stronger. He debunked it in a public announcement of his own, but the rumour still stuck.
Thats hardly exciting news, the people are simply bored, Lydia dered. I cannot fathom why they made the decision to blow this out of proportion in such a way.
But youre enjoying it, John pointed out. Theres no way you went on stage showing off your bigger boobs and thought nobody would notice. Youre too smart for that. Same for you showing off that youre stronger now in that tournament.
I certainly did want to demonstrate that I had improved physically, Lydia conceded immediately. When ites to my shirt, I simply do not feelfortable anymore if everything is tightly wrapped up. It gets sweaty and I dont like the way it feels when I breathe.
What, is it difficult? John wondered. That sounds like you would need new shirts.
I acquired new clothes, thats not the issue. The metal mage sounded a bit annoyed at the assumption he had made. I can breathe without issue, it simply doesnt feel correct if I dont have a bit of room.
I suppose thats a thing I just cant get without having boobs myself, John guessed. Must be like the problem guys have with the balls sticking to the legs or otherwise flopping around unpleasantly.
It could be like that, the reference is difficult to make, seeing that neither of us possesses both.
We could ask a transvestite or a really fat man.
Lydia chuckled. I dont think that will be reliable data in either way. There was a small pause, the scratching of a pen over a piece of paper apanied by the peaceful melody in the background. Regardless of my logical reasoning, it is certainly true that I enjoy showing what our association has gotten me. As much as I would like to im that Im not a vain person, showing that Im now one of the most attractive women on the face of the does appeal to the same base parts of me that brought me into your arms.
You should listen to those base parts more often, they seem to know what you should do with your life, the Gamer said.
Relinquish my titles immediately, forego all my duties, ept your offer to be part of Fusion and see whether or not my discipline can find application in aiding you in your cause and raising our children does sound pleasant, Lydia admitted without a moments hesitation. Then she cleared her throat. He could practically hear her blush. And although I think that lifestyle would be fulfilling, I still want to serve what my grandfather protected. At this point in time, such base desires must be denied.
Sounds like youre willing to leave the throne behind at some point though, John pointed out.
As it stands right now, me abdicating at some point is a foregone conclusion, the queen of Rex Germaniae said like it was not a big deal. Which it wasnt, as she exined. Assuming that our love continues to thrive, which no fibre of my heart doubts, and you will continue to level that Lover Boy ss, which a tingle in that brand you put upon me tells me you will do, guaranteed, I will eventually reach that realm of Romulus. While I might follow his example and your ideal and be an eternal figurehead, I have no intention of actually ruling for several millennia. Especially not if the current configuration of powers persists and my position here might put me at odds with you at some point.
So, once you feel like you served your guild and fulfilled all designs you had for it, you would resign ande to live with me forever? The Idea was exciting. It would take decades, most likely, but it was wonderful to hear regardless.
I think the path of a housewife has the same, if not more, potential at fulfilling my personal desires as being a ruler. Therefore, yes, once all is said and done, I shall try my hand at that.
Housewife, eh? Im not sure Aclysia will concede any of the housework to you. Shell fight tooth and nail to do as much as she can herself.
Given the size of your estate, Ill find something to do. If its not chores, then Ill just take lead over your several personally owned buildings. A short rustle of paper interrupted what she was saying. I might turn from the official ruler of one country into the unofficial one of another. As long as it upies me during the times we arent together, I feel that wont be a problem. I also notice that you havent raised any objections to the wife part.
Im going to marry all of you in some fashion at some point, the Gamer confirmed with a happy tingle on his skin. Im sure not all of the girls want a ring or a ceremony, but Im willing to give both to all of you. Just as long as we understand that Jane gets the first of both.
Hmm, I do not envy your position of picking the order of proposals afterwards, Lydia let him know. I will certainly be moody if you let me wait for too long. Id also have to put it into our marriage contract somewhere that it would be matrilineal.
We could joinst names, John jokingly suggested. Lydia Augusta the Fourth of House Hohenzollern-Newman, rolls off the tongue without any issue.
Perhaps if your name was Neumann, I would consider it, but this mixture of English and German irks me. Regardless, this is about my childrens im to my own inheritance.
Thats not particrly meritocratic of you, he pointed out.
The nobility has its value in providing a social frame thats hard to shake. Its their arrogance and belief to be of higher standard that needs to be kept in check.
You and Marie agree on that topic.
Ah yes, the French candidate. How did she receive my improvements? Lydia sounded like she was suppressing a series of chuckles. I try to not engage in such brattish behaviour asining about another woman, but knowing her repeated riffs on her superior looks, I do wonder what she said.
Would you say she looks better than you?
She used to have a more pleasing appearance than me, I will admit. She has been born with more attractive curves, albeit that gap has closed. Do you care for answering my question?
Well, not a lot I can tell you there. I had tea with her yesterday, but you didnte up. Im still trying to help her over her arrogance issues, so I think she is staying clear of the topic in case she upsets me.
A smart decision on her part, I would say, Lydia dered and they shifted to another topic.
The Gamer was talking to his gorgeous girls on both locations and was also having his fair bit of fun with their bodies, be it Metras throat, Raves ass or whatever other hole he wanted to im.
There was no better way to recharge his batteries.
Chapter 776 – Tournament of Oddities 11 – Before Challenge 3
Chapter 776 C Tournament of Oddities 11 C Before Challenge 3
Velka excitedly charged at the Gamers double as he entered the Magryphs room. Leaping from one of the tforms, she dropped on top of his head and cawed when he caught her shortly before his face. Her legs possessively wrapped around his hand, as she rubbed her face against him in an effort to mark her property.
Why is she so hyper whenever you get in here these days?! Eliza demanded to know. Previously, when the two of them hade to visit, Velka had always preferred to get the blood mages attention. The reason for that was pretty easy, as the Magryph understood that she got nicer treatment from Eliza. Four days ago, when he had left for Florida and his Extension had been put in charge of these visits, that had suddenly shifted.
I guess she senses that Im the Mand Sphere, John exined his theory regarding this. Since Im both a person she trusts and a pretty valuable object, she is instinctively drawn to me. Velka purred like a feline exposed to catnip, while gnawing on Johns fingers. Warbling happily, she proceeded to climb up his arm and then sit on his shoulder. She was just barely small enough that that was still possible. Another week or two and she would have outgrown that possibility, as she was already the size of a small housecat.
Maybe I should cover myself in glitter or some shi- stuff like that, Eliza grumbled, biting back the curses like usual. Love me! Her demanding cry came with throwing up her arms. Not wanting to disappoint the pretty little psycho, John moved in to hug her. Reading the mood, Velka proceeded to rub her soft furred and feathered hide against Eliza as well. Ehehehe, the white-blue haired girl let out a series of semi-creepy cackles in response.
Velka then stayed on Elizas shoulder and nibbled at the blood mages hair in some sort of cleaning service. Satisfyingly appeased, the baby-crazy beauty tip-toed over into the kitchen to give the bird-cat her Wednesday breakfast. It wont be much longer until we can stop feeding her, John pointed out.
Whaaaaat? Eliza sounded disappointed about that. But shes adorable when I feed her! I dont want to stop.
I mean specifically that we can stop pushing a syringe into her throat, John continued, as Eliza prepared to do exactly that by sucking up some semi-liquid bits of cat food. If you want to continue throwing treats at her, thats fine, but shesing to the end of her early life growth spurt. Basically, shes about old enough to get off breast milk. We should put a bowl with solid cat food somewhere in the room and see if she eats it.
A, I kind of like seeing her double in size every week. Eliza continued to be disappointed by the state of affairs. How the fu- fudge are you so sure about that shi- that anyway?
Look at her wings, John said and walked over to show what he meant. Currently immobilized by the feeding syringe, Velka couldnt really protest when the Gamer pulled open her ck and white wings and gently brushed over them. A few of the feathers were so loose that that simple motion made them fall off. Small and fluffy, they tumbled to the ground. Shes developing her flight feathers. Once shes about a month old, she should be able to fly and thats when the growth slows a fair bit. Well, shell still grow about a metre over the next year and then another ten centimetres over the year after that. Thats about 8 centimetres per month for the first year.
Since she would end up at about 1,60 metres in length, that was NOT including the tail or tail feathers, she currently had about 1,20 metres to go. John doubted that her growth would be neatly distributed equally throughout the months, but the average was the best information he had at the moment. His contact among the breeders had said it varied from Magryph to Magryph.
Anyway, thats also where in the natural lifecycle, as natural as things can get for chimeras, she would start hunting for herself. Therefore, she is going to get off liquid foods soon. He let go off her wings and Velka folded them back. Eliza emptied the rest of the syringe into Velka, then retrieved it, only to get a number ofining meows that roughly tranted to more!.
Once the belly of the hungry beast was filled, Velka was in for her usual morning regimen of cuddles, scratches and pats. It was important that the Magryph was entertained, just for her sanity. To that end, John installed a new toy for her to y around with when she was alone.
It was nothing big, a translucent tube made out of stic that had a bunch of sticks and little knobs inserted into it. By removing or twisting the protruding things, Velka could make a shiny pearl fall further and further down, until it rolled out of a little rail at the base, for the Magryph to im. It was a kind of toy generally designed for parrots.
The reward was something Velka immediately wanted to add to her hoard. The puzzle, however, was a bit too hard for her to solve at the moment. It was extremely easy for John, but he was also a bit older than three weeks and humans were also smart animals. Rather than bother with any of the movable bits, the Magryph just pecked at the top in search for some sort of lid or entrance. Of course, it wasnt that easy.
Eventually, she gave up and pecked at John once instead and let out a protesting caw. Well, just stop being stupid and solve the puzzle, he told her, before giving her a final few belly rubs. That reduced the amount of frustration the chimera chick disyed, but she still ran away eventually to curl up somewhere and sleep outside the reach of the mean man that presented her an unreachable shiny.
The Gamer rose and left the room, Elizaing with him. Think shell solve that easy fucking thing? the blood mage asked.
Give it two or three days, John answered. Once she realizes that she can remove one blocking part, shell get through all of them. Whenever she does, Ill get one thats a bit harder. Keeps her entertained and teaches her basic problem solving while also growing her little hoard. Everyone wins.
Speaking of winning, whats the next challenge of those fucking morons over in crazy-state?
Good question, John responded. Ill have to get back to you on that.
___________________________________________________________________________
His main body pulled out of Aclysias pussy. Quivering, his cock was unattended for all of half a second before Beatrice and Undine, in the shape of Beatrice, kissed either side of it. Aclysia turned around and kneeled, joining the other two in worshipping his manhood for the three seconds it took to finish him off. Cum flew up into the air,nded on the faces of the three white-haired maids, and was immediately washed away by the steady stream of water that fell on them from the shower they had cramped themselves under.
Satisfied, he turned the shower handle. The stream ceased and they got out. After drying themselves up, they got clothed (except for Undine, logically). It was that time of the morning during which they expected to get fetched at any moment. True enough, the moment John had his shoes on, there was a knock on the door.
John opened up to find Vita standing there. Who was sent to get them was wildly inconsistent. The first day they had been guided to the room by Wendy, on the second it was a random, and today it was only the pariah. Morning, he greeted. Are we ready to continue?
Just about, Vita responded. Her ck hair suddenly rose and twirled into a snail house pattern behind her. She paid it no mind and John did his best to not question anything. Weve received a request by Moira of the Order of the Golden Rose to personally attend the challenges from here on out. We would oblige, but figured wed better ask you first before we give our final confirmation.
That only came as a minor surprise. Moira had said she would follow the challenges as closely as she could and yesterdays censure had likely spurred her into action. Well, it depends, the Gamer answered slowly. Do you have any more challenges nned that could potentially show things Id rather keep secret?
No, we only have challenges that she will likely be unhappy to witness, Vita answered.
Then she can attend for all I care, John answered. Whatever Moira didnt want to see about him wasnt his concern. It couldnt have been as much of an affront as telling her he didnt want her around, anyway, so this was the smartest route to take diplomatically.
Alright, then we can start just about now. Vita pped her hands together and turned around. Silently, she marched ahead, and after exchanging a nce with his girlfriend, the Gamer and his group followed behind her.
John was excited about todays challenge, without knowing yet what it even was. This was because of the Quest he had gotten regarding it and the optional objective apanying it. He was to attend, win and fulfil the Lover Boy ss Challenge while doing so. Now, the ss Challenge he had arrived at after going through the easy ones for the remainder of yesterday was perfect for the current situation.
Gaia wasnt in the habit of giving him Quests he couldnt beat. Even if it turned out that today wasnt fit for beating this ss Challenge, he could just gin up the necessary interest by announcing another appearance on the CPDI or SSSN. Not that he would necessarily need to do that, as he got a free ss Level Up for Lover Boy if he just won whatever Florida had in store today.
If he, however, managed to fulfill all three objectives, then he could get Lover Boy from level 8 to Level 10 immediately, as he was on the cusp of level 250. Just a bit more fucking with the marked girlster today and he could max out the ss in one go. He couldnt hide his hopes for today and smiled as they approached the usual door.
The hall was emptier than ever before. That seemed impossible, given that yesterday had only seen a basin and a chair standing in the spacious room, but now the centre waspletely empty. Not even the jury was around. Neither Jeff nor Wendy were anywhere to be seen. Vita strutted over, passing under the hovering screen, and took her usual seat on the left-hand side of the table. The only thing that was different from usual were the two chairs in the corner in which Moira and Lorelei sat. The cameras flying around seemed to deliberately avoid getting them in their frame.
Given that the Warden didnt raise her voice or otherwise made her presence obvious, John guessed that they were already live and that she didnt want to appear on the screen. The Gamer did her the favour and looked away almost immediately. No jury today? he asked about the absence of the other usual suspect.
We told Jeff that todays activity would be in the afternoon, so hes still asleep, Vita told him. Either way, there is no need for a jury today. The challenge will end with someones surrender because today
today! the somewhat bratty voice of Wendy suddenly boomed out of the speakers as something fell out of the dark ceiling. Something quite wide, ck and with a square basended just a few metres in front of John and bounced a couple of times beforeing to a rest. It was a pool of some description, very wide and with a quite shallow outer rim, all of it made of rubber and stic.
More innocent minds would have taken it as a pool for children, but John knew what he was looking at immediately. Especially once two rectangr tanks hovered down from the ceiling and settled on either side of the rubber construction. Taps extended from the sides and valves turned automatically, causing a steady flow of a translucent, viscous fluid to descend.
TODAY! Wendys voice echoed out again and she suddenly appeared from the same darkness. Shended in the middle of the entire disy, just in time for the oil to spill around her naked feet. Her usual outfit had been reced with a white bikini, with vertical, blue stripes covering it. It wasnt the riskiest bikini, definitely not a micro variant, but even the average beachwear seeded at showing off her goods and services. She was every bit as delicious as one would expect from the fast food goddess. Were going to get messy! Youll face me in an oil wrestling match! Whoever makes the other surrender wins!
We remind everyone that this is an adult program, Vita added.
John sent a prayer of thanks to Gaia and her many great wisdoms. Before he waspletely consumed by his enthusiasm, however, he asked for a simple rification. So, the only condition is that we have to get the other one to surrender? Whatever way we do that is permissible?
No over the top violence orbat magic, Wendy specified. I know you need that said, because you always question everything, even if it is SUPER obvious where I want this to go.
We remind everyone that this is an adult program, Vita repeated like a broken record, pulling a bag of crisps from the space hidden from John by the tablecloth. Just make your bet already, I want to see something to masturbate to. Im bored.
The screen flickered to life and showed the usual table.
There was an inkling at the back of Johns mind that this could have been a trap. However, when it came to Physical Stats, he and Wendy were about evenly matched, andbat magic was ouwed. Although he assumed she knew her grease a bit better than him, John had engaged in more than one bout of oily fun in his career. That aside, when it came to making horny women surrender, he was a close-quartersbat monster.
He decided to go all in. Fusion demands that Florida pays the normal federal tax rates, he announced, and the words appeared on the screen. Then he quickly changed from his usual outfit into nothing but a pair of swimming trunks. He didnt have to get naked in the process. That would have to wait for just a moment longer.
I totally get what she meant with challenges that Moira wont be happy to see, Rave snickered behind him, his girlfriend pping his ass. Have fun, tiger.
Oh, I will, he announced and stepped into the ring.
Chapter 777 – Tournament of Oddities 12 – Slippery Victory
Chapter 777 C Tournament of Oddities 12 C Slippery Victory
The taps stopped and retracted back into the tanks. The oil was about five centimetres high at this point, more than enough for the activity they had in mind. In its entirety, the ring they had was about asrge as a standard boxing ring. They positioned themselves in front of the tanks, standing on the soft ground. Some sort of padding under the stic floor would make it rtively painless to fall down on it.
Once they were in their starting position, Vita counted down from three in a bored tone and the match began. There was no explosive start, the floor was way too slippery to make any sort of proper charge. Instead, they closed the distance with measured steps.
John was taller, by more than a fair margin, standing almost an entire head above her. As such, he had superior reach and would have an easier time to pin her down, even if they were about the same on a strength level. The moment she was in arms reach, he aggressively moved forwards in a shoving motion, sacrificing his bnce. He would fall, but that was an inevitability anyway. The sole important thing was that he was on top of her when they were down.
Wendy moved under his shove and tackled him, as best as she could. Sliding against his chest would have been more urate. Regardless of the sloppiness of the attack, it proved to be the one with more force behind it, and John found himself on his back a momentter. Oil sttered around him and the redheads tits squished on his chest in all their orange sized glory.
This wont be as easy as you think! Wendy warned him, her blue eyes dangerously close and sparkling with mischief. Those pink lips of hers already looked glossy with oil, despite both of them being mostly dry at the moment. Freckles and her heart-shaped face served for a mixture of adorable and sexy that John needed to kiss again. His cock immediately became erect.
I think this will be as hard as I like, he returned, just as the fast-food goddess tried to grab his arms and keep him pinned. Before she could seed in the grabbing part alone, he moved his hands around and took hold of her ass. It was a real piece of prime beef, fresh, firm and juicy. With just a bit of pressure, their genitals pressed against each other. There were twoyers of clothes between them, but an initial touch was always appreciated.
It wasnt meant tost for long. John tried to straighten up, intending to reverse their position by then falling on top of her. Not one to just wait for things to happen, Wendy tried to get out of his grasp. Given that he had prioritized that his handsnded somewhere pleasant over practical, she didnt have too hard of a time with that.
However, holding her had never been Johns true objective. Even getting two handfuls of her ass had been a mere side benefit. As she twisted to the side, his thumbs hooked under the string of her bikini bottom. Her own movements had the piece of swimwear slip off her groin and revealed her naked cunt. She was smoothly shaven, except for a decorative little triangle further up.
Pervert! Wendy dered.
Guilty as charged, John returned immediately, and the two engaged in the proper wrestling. Wendy tried her best to get on top and hinder him in his efforts to undress her. At first, she had medium sess with this, able to push him back. It didnt take too long, however, for them to bepletely covered in oil.
They tumbled over each other, until they hit the border of the ring. To Wendys misfortune, it was her who was on her back at that time. Acting swiftly, John pulled the bikini bottom past her feet and tossed it away. He didnt manage to do anything else, as Wendy rolled away to the middle of the arena. Her pigtails were dripping with oil and messy, her entire body was glistening. With a heated gaze, she devoured his chiselled form in return, stopping at therge tent protruding from between his legs.
Who is the pervert now? he asked and inched towards her.
Whats a pervert, really, if not an honest girl? Wendy returned and they shed a few momentster. Both kneeling, they pressed shoulder against shoulder and struggled for dominance. John won, but not because of physical supremacy. After a stalemate thatsted for several seconds, both of them struggling against their opponent and the threat of slipping away, John broke Wendys concentration by suddenly pressing his lips on hers.
It was true what she had said two days earlier, she really tasted like that apple pie she baked. What a peculiar attribute to have, the Gamer thought, as he devoured her lips and continued his advance.
Her resistance remained, but the aggressive way he made out with her had her neglect her bnce. One leg slipped to the side, and the rest of her followed. This time John went to properly capitalize on things and kept her down with his entire body. A series of struggling twists and turnster, John managed to sit on top of her.
Now I got you, he announced and reached behind him to rub her pussy. To an honestly struggling woman, that would have done nothing. When it came to clearly horny redheaded goddesses though, a bit of oiled up fingerbanging sapped all of the resistance right out of them. Especially when they were already so wet that they could have skipped out on all the extra lube they were wallowing in. Instead of trying to shove him away, Wendys hands tugged at the waistband of his trunks.
Enough of this teasing! A simple pull and his cock bounced to freedom. With a desiring gasp, Wendy stared at the magnificent size of the Gamer. Removing the trunkspletely was impossible in the current position, but she could pull at it until it was fixated underneath his balls. Finding that slightly ufortable, John simply unequipped the trunks once she let go. Gaia almighty, thats enormous. The fast-food goddess was too impressed to sass him for the moments it took her to grasp his shaft.
Oil and precum mixed, immediately making the long strokes of her two hands a slippery, wonderful experience. You really needed this, Johnmented, while his fingers were basically sucked into her cunt every time he moved inside her. He would oust her, he knew that both because he had spent all morning fucking and because she was panting heavily already. Her handjob was sloppy, the goddess distracted by her own pleasure. Come on, is that all you can do? he mocked her for a change.
Pffff, no, she returned, then moaned out loud, but -mhm- if youre that confident, just help yourself! Within a second, Wendy had pulled his cock between her breasts. Thanks to her bikini, it stayed down there, and once she squished her tits together with her hands, he was enveloped as well.
Her breasts werent quiterge enough for the task, unable to entirely wrap around his girthy shaft or even close to covering the entirety of his length. Regardless, she covered all the important bits, and with all that oil going around, he didnt have any issue thrusting either. Back and forth he slid over her torso. Each time his thighs hit the outskirts of her soft breasts, his cock almost touched her lips. She clearly wanted to taste him, but he pulled back just before she could.
It was a little game he yed, while continuing to finger and rub her pussy. Her cunt was swollen with lust, making it soft and firm under the pressing of his palm. Her thighs brushed against the sides of his hands,pletely enveloping them sometimes in their squishy warmth. All the while, his eyes stayed focused on her desperate attempts to taste at least a lick of him and her ying with her own breasts, kneading them as he continued to thrust. Even as she rubbed her own nipples, she stayed above the oil-soaked cloth of her bikini.
Johns hunger to see herpletely naked grew with every passing second. Fingering her grew more aggressive, quicker, until her head flew backwards and her spine arched off the floor. Pulse for pulse, the orgasm reverberated inside her. Three more seconds, he continued to masturbate her, then he suddenly pulled out.
While she was defenceless from that first climax, he would get rid of that sted top and finally see her in all her naked deliciousness. He got off her, turned Wendy over, pulled at the string at the back and had just undone the knot when she suddenlyunched at him with a vengeance.
Now naked, the two of them engaged in their wildest, least controlled bout yet. Slipping through each others embrace, they were less fighting and more attempting to feel as much of the other as they could. John grinded against her whenever he could, his oiled up dick slipping over the smooth skin of her thick thighs, t stomach and firm butt at numerous asions. His main focus was on catching parts of her with his lips. The brownish pink nipples atop her glistening breasts or the pink lips, upstairs and downstairs alike.
Seems like you finally caught on to what you should be doing, which is to serve my needs Wendy sassed him out, when she somehow ended up on top of him, and eat your meats! She straddled his face and her pussy descended on him without any further word.
The taste of apple pie was ever more intense down there. Cinnamon and sugar apanied the natural sweetness of baked apples. Although unusual, it was delicious and spurred John into action almost as much as his instincts did. A beautiful woman was on top of him. The logical thing to do was put his hands on her ass and dig his fingers into her butt cheeks, to pull her close and eat her pussy out with his nimble tongue. He had to repay womankind for all of the blowjobs he received on the daily, after all.
Any reason he might have had to forego this course of action was eliminated when he felt Wendys soft lips wrap around his shaft. She made her origin all honour, using the grease covering him to deliver her blowjob at an absurd pace. There was not even a hint of a gag reflex, she just slipped up and down his entire length with her slippery throat, effectively using his cock to fuck her own face. All the while, her intense moans reverberated in his shaft.
She was a sturdier first-time fuck than Cindy, Worlina or other girls had been, but the Gamers artful loving still took its toll on her. In many ways, the rampant way in which she sucked him off, as if he was a customer in a drive-through that needed to be finished off as quickly as possible, was just a distraction so she didnt getpletely lost in the bliss of his tongue.
John knew exactly how to please a woman. There was a bit of a learning curve to any individual one, figuring out where the most sensitive spots were, but there were a few things that just generally worked. Alternating between what areas were paid attention to, clit, outer lips, and all the different parts inside her that his tongue could reach, was important. As was to caress her skin, brushing over her butt, her thighs, her back and her sides, enjoying all the smooth, lubricated skin he wanted and could. Pleasing women was a bit more multi-facetted than just focusing on the genitals and getting as deep in as possible, but it wasnt rocket science.
That he was getting serviced at such an insane speed didntpromise the Gamers calm. He kept his thoughts serene and his approach tactical, even as pleasure mounted. The closer he got to orgasm, the closer he brought her. Only once he felt himself on the brink, he put his all into a few final moments of circling and prodding her clit with his tongue.
Just as her thighs pressed into the sides of his head and a gush of her delicious love juices entered his mouth, he felt her ludicrously paced blowjobe to a sudden end. He was all the way inside her throat; muffled screams vibrated around him and finished him off. With a reflexive darting up of his hips, he came deep into her mouth.
Which intensified the gushing into several waves, as his enchanted seed fuelled a secondary orgasm on top of the natural one he had given her.
He let his climax run its course, eating her out the entire time. There were sloppy attempts on her part to follow suit, but every bob of her head was only a pitiful movepared to the fervent customer service she had given him before. Once only ast few drops remained in his shaft, he moved her off himself.
Half expecting another sudden wrestling, he was met only with Wendy quivering in theke of oil. Lying on her stomach, she was seriously knocked out by her climax this time around. John checked his ss Challenge. It wasnt marked aspleted, but he didnt want to just descend on a half-conscious woman.
Whatre ya waiting for, you absolute stud? Wendy asked and pushed her ass up from the slippery floor. The round magnificence of her bouncy butt looked as smooth as polished ss. As much as an ass-man as ever, John could not resist and gave it a nice smack. It may have looked like ss, but it was every bit as soft and jiggly as he could have asked for. Fuck! the redhead yelped in debauched lust and looked over her shoulder. There were hearts in her eyes, literally, pink light in her blue eyes as if some marketing campaign had decided that it was a good look on her. The theoretic manager was absolutely right, it was irresistible. You can spank me more while you fuck me, if thats what you need to do!
Careful what you offer, Im an insatiable man, the Gamer warned, already grabbing her hips and aligning himself with her cunt, dripping much more than just excess oil. With one thrust, he was all the way inside her tight cunt. With a second thrust, her legs slipped away and left her lying in a straight line. Her lower half passed by under John, her arms were stretched out forwards and wed at nothing.
He reached up and grabbed her hair. Despite all that had happened, her twin, braided pigtails had held strong and the blue ribbons holding them looked unblemished. Grabbing both made for a surprisingly firm grasp. The position made it impossible to do that spanking he wanted to give her so much, but since he was now hammering her directly into the floor, he didnt care.
Pulling all the way out, he mmed all the way back in. Getting stopped by her butt was like mming into two gtine patties. There was next to no tension in her, making her behind only a squishy, jiggly, soft mass, while John repeated the motion and pounded her like he was on his way to McDonalds with his coupons running out in an hour. Unsure what else to do with his other hand, John circled her sphincter for a little bit and, when the moans encouraged it, put a finger into her bum. There was no shortage of lubrication.
Wendy screamed as she was fucked into an ecstatic haze. The continued cries and moans made her light headed from ack of air, a dangerous state to be in when getting hammered by a masterful lover with arge cock.
Not so sassy now, are you? John asked and didnt even receive an answer. He pulled her head back until he could see her eyes, her curved spine showing just how flexible Abyssal women were. The rough treatment made her grunt with pleasure, her teeth clenching and her pussy gripping him so intensely it threatened the hard and quick pace at which he fucked her. Surrender to me, hemanded.
The iid magic motivated her to answer. N-noooooo, she screamed. In her barely focused eyes reflected all her remaining defiance. It was nothing a bit of insistence couldnt break.
Surrender, hemanded a second time. There was no immediate answer, only the intense pping of his hips against her juicy butt. He let that pass for a while, focusing on softening her up. Only when he was about to cum for the second time, did he growl in his most dominant tone, Give up, Wendy, or Ill simply stop. Ive women that love me and know better, if you think you can find someone else to take you like this, be my guest. Surrender and cum.
I- I- aaaahhhh, she screamed as the constant ecstasy pouring through her nerves made every word a struggle, I surrreeendeeeerrrrrrr!!!
Barely, those words had passed her lips that she screamed louder than ever before. Groaning himself, John plunged into her three, four, five more times, then stopped, pressing against her ass and letting his balls tighten. Once he started filling her up, the scream vanished into silence. Her eyes rolled upwards, her tongue stretched out, she waspletely fucked silly and trembled as much as being pinned and held by John allowed her.
John grinned as he spilled a considerable amount of his seed inside her. Fucking a fast food mascot hadnt been on his bucket list, but having gotten his way with this sassy, pleasingly submissive piece of fresh beef was definitely everything he could have asked for in a quick, oil-drenched meal.
Her pussy pulsed around him, wrung out every bit of his climax-fuelling cum. Only when she waspletely done and her pupils were visible again, did he slowly ease her out of his grasp and pulled out of her. The white sauce that oozed out of her main course didnt look all that appetizing to John, but it had an entirely different appeal to see her creampied.
The ss Challenge was marked aspleted.
Chapter 778 – Tournament of Oddities 13 – The rewards
Chapter 778 C Tournament of Oddities 13 C The rewards
John left the spasming Wendy in the pool of oil and rose to his feet. With onest look down on histest sexual encounter, his cum oozing out of her cunt and mixing with the oil, and her fantastic ass, he said, Thanks for the meal.
Pleasshe cum ag-gainnnn, Wendy moaned as another post-orgasmic quiver took hold of her.
Another time. The Gamer smirked and left the ring. A slow and careful endeavour, until he was out of the slippery arena and stepped onto a towel Aclysia had carefully ced for him. Beatrice handed him a second one. Thanks, Bae, he mused and gave her a quick kiss, before towelling off the excess oil on him. Since he had little other things to do in the meantime, he checked out the reactions of the other women in the room.
Obviously, his present harem (Aclysia, Beatrice and Rave) was turned on. They wore that inly in their behaviour, flocking around him with flushed faces and lewd smiles. Being so open about it, they also had a seductive grace to them, in the way their controlled desires made their hips swing and their eyes longingly focus on his naked body. They were waiting for the moment they could approach without getting all oily themselves.
A moan made John look over to Vita. The dark-haired woman was pressed to the tabletop with her upper body and quivered repeatedly. While erotic in its own right, it gave John fairly little to see. Especially since he could only guess what was going on underneath the table, courtesy of the cloth that covered it. She wasnt even naked.
Well, maybe this impressed her enough that Ill get my turn with her in due time, John thought with a smile, as the two of them made eye contact. Shivering in something that looked to be a quiet orgasm, her gaze soon shifted to the side. Not out of shame, but from the usual climactic windings. Would certainly be one way to pay me back for her awful first impression.
Moving on to look to the corner where the two women of the Order of the Golden Rose sat, John was treated to two very different reactions. Moira was, expectedly, annoyed. Her heel jumped up and down, never making contact with the floor. Steadily brushing her thighs together, the redheaded pdin seemed to have gotten at least a bit turned on by what she had seen, but John doubted she would openly admit that.
Next to her, Lorelei was beet red and breathing visibly through her mouth. Continuously, she shifted on her chair, unable to find any position she wasfortable in. Once Johns attention focused on her, that intensified into a semi-ecstatic squirming. Her hands pressed the skirt of her robe between her legs, as if she could hold in whatever she felt. Then, she moaned so loudly John heard it across the entire hall.
To the Gamers amusement, the reactions to that were a surprised and sudden look from the Shield Warden at herpanion, Lorelei hastily sealing her pink lips with a hand and Aclysia chiming into his thoughts with the words, This one has an appropriate reaction to your presence.
Lets call it appropriate, John answered with half a mind to see if he could make Lorelei actually orgasm just by focusing his attention on her. Where the pleasure came from wasnt too much of a riddle. She had already told him she was sensitive to auras, particrly those directly infused with the power of Gaia, and given that his own was likely influenced from all of the investments he had made into sexual Skills, Libido and Lover Boy, his was likely radiating some sort of lustful vibrations at all times. Once she was properly turned on around him, those would be pretty hard to ignore.
As hot as the idea was that Lorelei (like a subus, which was ironic, given who the seer worked for) could orgasm from his presence alone, John decided to not push it and looked away. The moan alone could raise questions from the online audience and he didnt want to jeopardize their attempt to stay hidden. With his superhuman hearing, he just barely picked up a relieved sigh. The removal of his focus seemed to alleviate the pressure enough for the white-haired woman to control herself.
At this point, John had cleaned himself as much as he could with a towel. The excess oil was gone, which left him still slightly glistening and his tanned, defined body a tad darker than usual, but he no longer transformed every surface he touched into a frictionless mess.
Alright, thats about as long as I can wait, his girlfriend suddenly decided and, in front of however many viewers, dropped to her knees and grabbed his dick. Ya know its rude to fuck another woman in front of your lover, right? she asked in a sassy tone, moments before taking his cock in her mouth.
Your scathing criticism is a bit diluted, given that you immediately reward me by taking me balls deep into your throat, he told her, just finishing his sentence when her glossy, bubble-gum pink lips actually pressed against his groin. Rather than slide back up to answer, she just looked at him with mischievous eyes. That was the entire conversation they needed to have.
Master, may I have your attention? Aclysia practically begged, while grabbing his right arm. Beatrice had a kiss already and Mistress Jane is pleasing you, if you would obli-ah With a simple stroke over her privates, he had the weaponized maid end her plea. Although theyer of clothing separating his fingers from her sex was practically an extension of her skin, there was no difference in feeling for her to what a normal woman would have felt at the touch. Just that she had about six times the Libido of a normal woman, was horny and was being teased by her beloved Master.
While Beatrice moved to take hold of his left arm, John bowed down to Aclysia and kissed her. A few seconds of his tongue ying with hers passed. The Artificial Spirit was so wonderfully subservient that she let him dominate the kiss, pushing only back as much as was needed to make the loving caress of her lips a proper duet.
Then he suddenly pulled back and whispered, Cum, just loud enough for the three women around him to hear it. A gagged scream reverberated around his cock, Beatrice embraced him tighter and moaned his title, while Aclysias body began to shake. After about two seconds, the weaponized maid screamed out loud and copsed to the floor, her doubled sensitivity tomands making her climax that much more intense.
Masshtaaaahhhh, she slurred as she kept hold of his hand. Following a spontaneous wish, he made her suck on his fingers.
While they all rode out their orgasms, the Gamer looked over his shoulder. Wendy had fought her way into a sitting position, leaning heavily on the walls of the ring, while Vita now sat straight and smiling as if nothing had ever happened. I would assume today is over then?
The goddess of fast food looked over to herrade to give the answer. Sure, Vita just answered and pped her hands. This concludes todays challenge, the Gamer won and Florida will pay the normal tax rates. Have a nice day, everyone. Dont forget to pat your chickens.
The cameras hovering around everywhere retreated up into the dark space above and a window opened in front of John.
Fantastic, now I can finish off the Lover Boy ss immediately. I wonder what the rewards for that will be. He rolled his head and enjoyed the feeling of his girlfriend slowly pulling her head back, until his dick popped out of her mouth. Careful, he warned her, when she jerked him off at a high speed right thereafter, you might make me cum.
Do it, she gasped, her blue eyes reflecting mad lust, I want it all over my face.
Me too, Master! Aclysia positioned herself next to his girlfriend.
Mark us with your seed, Beatrice panted, her voice imed by desire.
All three opened their mouths wide. They might as well have given him themand for a change. Within a few seconds, he started spreading his seed over their faces, with some of it getting on their clothes. There was ample to go around. As his Active ss, Lover Boy increased his cum volume by 80%.
They only cleaned what threatened to run into their eyes or was directly around their lips. Everything else was left in ce, showing their debauchery. Okay, we need to go back to our room and I need ya to bend me over something and do whatever ya want with me, Rave suddenly announced.
Having a submissive day? John mused.
Totes, she nodded.
How about you crawl the way back, then? he suggested. I know cats dont really like leashes, but I think thatd get me going. Chance that Ill fuck you at least once on the way back is 100% though. The image of Raves perfect ass swaying while proudly making her way through the hallways was too enticing already. Jesus, being in a ce where public sex is both epted and kind of normal is really dangerous, he realized. I have to be careful to maintain some limits of what I do in public.
His girlfriend was still considering whether she was feeling submissive enough to be walked like that, when Moira walked by them. For a moment, she slowed her step, then she shook her head and just continued on her way. John waved at her and winked at Lorelei. There was no way for the seer to blush even more intensely.
We got away without a berating! the Lightbearer eximed enthusiastically.
I think shes learning that were a lost cause when ites to redeeming us on the perversion scale, John suggested and chuckled. Who knows, maybe shell get over it and we can get along?
Ya suggesting we can be friends with Miss I got an entire Lydia and her stick in my own bum? Rave wondered.
For a start, Im just hoping she will refrain from being a moral busy-body. We can take it from there.
Weirder things have happened, Rave conceded, even if she seemed a bit more sceptical about the idea. Rather than dwell on it, the Lightbearer scooped up some cum from her face and sucked it off her finger. Anyway, can we get back to the part where ya put a bunch of this tasty stuff inside of me, tiger?
They could. Rave decided that she would walk normally, in the interest of her knees, time and because she wasnt feeling quite kinky enough to do that today. Although she was an exhibitionist and had a submissive streak today, getting guided like a dog wasnt really her thing. Johnpletely got why. His girlfriend enjoyed being in the spotlight a lot - being publicly humiliated, not so much.
Once in their room, John got out his bondage equipment, bound Raves arms together and chained the resulting bundle to her ankles. She had to kneel, but could still spread her legs. That done, he literally tore everyst piece of clothing off her body, except the panties, stuffed an egg-shaped vibrator in there, sat down on the corner of the bed and told her to get to work.
Why ya no blindfold me? she asked in a memey tone of voice.
Because I might need your professional opinion on the Lover Boy Perks Im about to pick up, he told her. Plus, the Overclock spell and the Modification that I should get when the ss maxes out.
Oooohhh, new sex stuff! Rave eximed excitedly and kissed the engorged head of his dick. Just warn me before this thing suddenly gets twenty centimetres bigger in my mouth!
That better not happen, the Gamerughed and groaned when she did more than just kiss it. I wouldnt like it if your greedy little mouth could no longer fit around my dick. She hummed in a satisfied fashion, the maids massaged his shoulders, and John opened the ss screen to invest those levels. Well, level, singr. He had two to spend, but he needed to have a bit more sex before he was actually level 250. A terrible fate, really, he joked to himself and pressed the buttons to see the next Lover Boy Perk.
All three of these choices were not only viable but also incredibly potent.
Telepathicmunication was always good and adding all of the other girls currently not hooked up to his mentalwork to it would doubtlessly prove beneficial. Inbat, being able to exchange information at the speed of thought was one of the most powerful things one could ask for. In everyday life, it smoothed things out a lot and, however rare they were, fights between his harem members would be a lot easier to smooth over if they could just disy their genuine intentions, rather than rely on words. The range was impressive as well.
Charismatic Lover introduced scaling into Lovers Will, allowing him to have reliable control over how many marks he had ess to and how good they were. Right now, he had enough marks to cover everyone, including those girls that werent present, but who was to say that wouldst? The bonus to pleasure being a scaling thing was also appreciated.
Mutual Benefit was pretty good as well. It was easy to assume he could get the maximum every single day. Combining that with Experience of Love, he was looking at an entire level every day, just in sex. Nothing to sneeze at, especially once it wasbined with the benefit to his partners. Although small, it would add up over time to help them in their growth.
Regardless, it was the first he eliminated from the choices. Experience would eventually be useless and John didnt feel like he was in a position where he needed to squeeze everyst bit of EXP out of the world he could get. The Natural Potential limitation (even if raised by Lovers Will) made this even less appealing. He wanted to think in the long run, and in that regard, Lovers Connection and Charismatic Lover were much better.
At a quick nce, Charismatic Lover was inferior to Lovers Connection, but the Gamer felt drawn to the middle choice regardless. It didnt take him too long to figure out what it was that kept telling him to pick the middle choice. It was nothing short of pure, undiluted greed.
He didnt want to feel like he had to stop growing his harem whenever he couldnt get anymore Lovers Will marks. There was no hardw that stated he couldnt have permanent partners that he hadnt marked, but he would know the difference. They would too, given that all of Johns girls wore the mark openly, something that the Gamer encouraged. The Gamer wanted to grow his harem asrge as he felt like and treat all of them as equally as he could. To that end, he needed more of the Lovers Will marks and Charismatic Lover gave him ess to as many as he could ess with Stat Points, which were a lot.
Just pick the middle one already, tiger, Rave told him.
You sure? John asked, ignoring that she had just read all of the letters backwards through the screen. With enough time and sharp eyes, anyone could do that much. Feels a bit too greedy, even for me. Right now I could mark a total of sixteen women, thats including the nine familiars. Maybe I should be satisfied with that
Ja, ja, maybe ya should, but ya arent though, Rave made it rather simple and rolled her eyes. I know youd bite your foot off if there was just a seventeenth one and ya couldnt get her or give her the same opportunities as everyone else. That aside, its not even that selfish. Do I seriously need to remind ya that a Lovers Will markes with a substantial increase in potential?
Right, John nodded; he had somehow drowned out that fact for a moment. Mark or not, having one of my lovers age when everyone else doesnt would majorly suck for me and them.
There ya go then, Rave said and gave his shaft a long lick. The motion was made extra sexy by the fact that she couldnt use her arms in any way. With her shoulders pulled back by the bondage gear, every motion was exaggerated. Overthinker.
Lovely little cumslut, he returned, and she grinned before going back down.
He confirmed the choice for Charismatic Lover and they then engaged in about three hours of wild lovemaking. On the bed, in the shower, against the wall, over the table, the whole program. Eventually, the wanted window popped up.
And John got to pick the final Perk.
The choice here was a lot easier. World of Love sounded interesting, but with the Guild Hall and the teleporters, he didnt feel the need to create some sort of personal paradise. Shared Life was EXACTLY what he had dreamed of when he made the choice to invest in this ss. Endless Love was a bit too mind control-y for his tastes. It was mutual mind control, which made it feel a bit less awful in Johns opinion, but it didnt diminish the feeling enough that the Perk even entered consideration.
Shared Life it was and the ss was maxed out. The same trio of windows that hade with Puppeteer now appeared before him.
That one was pretty okay, all things considered. It synchronized nicely with Experience of Love. Every day he maxed out the 50% experience, he also got 25 GP. That would add up to allow him to buy some stuff. The Puppeteer Modification was better duringbat situations, but there was nothing preventing him from having the Lover Boy one active for the majority of his life. The only limitation in switching between these was once per day. If there had been an and out ofbat addition, this new Modification would have been a bit harder to sell.
It would take me 200 days of 8 hour shifts of sex to buy one Max ss Level, John thought, kind of amused by that calction. And I would get 100 levels in the meantime. Funny how all of that works. He moved onto the next window.
Oh hey, this one is actually usable, he said and moved it so Rave could read it easily. His girlfriend was currently lying on her stomach and taking a breather and cuddling a spaced-out Sylph.
We have to test that soon, she said after reading it. Like, massive orgy. Arent ya concerned about the drawback part though?
Quite the contrary, Im pretty interested in how well I would do without any of them, John told her and kneaded her ass with his left hand. Id be concerned if I relied so heavily on the pleasure increases that Im actually a terrible lover without them. Would teach me to go back to the basics, if nothing else.
How about ya pop it right now then? she teased.
Given the cooldown, I think that wouldnt be fair for anyone who isnt here right now, he told her and gave her butt a little smack. His cum oozed from both of the holes. If we can arrange it, well have a little orgy after this Florida business is wrapped up.
A little orgy? Rave mocked. Ya know how those usually end.
I dont think you can actuallyst the entire hour if I test out everything this Overclock has to offer, the Gamer let her know. And I wonder if the Geneva Convention even allows me to use that thing in tandem with Cumslut
Holy Gaia, the entire room would be buffed to like 1000 Libido Rave realized what he was getting at. That would be CRAZY.
It might unironically break some minds, at least for a few days, John asserted. Ill think about whether its worth the risk. His boner said yes, but that part of him got on board with every idea that involved writhing females. His mind had something else to distract himself with.
Jane?
Ja?
You want to have even more awesome sex or, whenever, wherever, we have kids, that those grow up strong and healthy? he asked. The ability to guarantee his children a minimum of power was incredible. Although the chance of someone with an Innate Ability having a kid that also had an Innate Ability was higher than the average person, it wasnt guaranteed to be powerful or to happen at all. The only ones that really got to be sure they inherited a good amount of strength from their parents were demigods. In other words, only the kids he would have with Nathalia were guaranteed to be powerful, with the children from Eliza being up there regarding whether or not they would be born more human or more god.
The answer to himself here was clear, but he wanted to have second opinions on this. Sending the same question out to everyone present, he got a unteral answer, which his girlfriend summarized.
Whenever, wherever, we have kids, I want them to be safe and happy, she said. We have great enough sex as is. Besides, therell probably be other ways ya can spice things up, if ya put your mind to it.
John nodded and picked the Breeder ss. Aside from its name being a bit awkward, it was the proper choice. No new Skill or other reward for this set of choices, he noted and checked the description of the ss itself.
Chapter 779 – Tournament of Oddities 14 – What the next Class should be
Chapter 779 C Tournament of Oddities 14 C What the next ss should be
Let me repeat your statement to ensure I understand this correctly, Lydia told Johns double, you have just acquired a ss that should, by the wording of it, allow you to impregnate every kind of creature its Perks include. Given that you were previously suggested simr benefits, this will likely include humanoids that should not be possibly to be bred, such as elementals and Artificial Spirits. On top of this, you are stating that it will have the capability to guarantee your descendants a minimum amount of natural talent, if not outright Innate Abilities?
That long-winded summary was delivered while they walked over a bridge that connected the air and water blessed Elemental Inds. Rather than spend all their day inside fucking, as fun as that was, the queen had suggested they go for a walk and just chatted about the happenings and exchanged some ideas. It wasnt the fanciest date, a debate could be had whether it even counted as one, but it was nice to do the simple things.
Although that stroll took them through a not so simplendscape. The living environment and flying spirits, taking whatever shape appropriate in the confines of their element, gave their mundane activity plenty of fantastic undercurrents. The background didnt help much either. When John looked to his left, he saw arge amount of clouds, greying out the sky and sending soft showers on the Hudson Barrier. Byparison, his Guild Hall had a wonderfully blue sky and was enjoying a moderately warm day, appropriate for the time between summer and autumn. The Weather Tower did good work.
As interesting as thendscape was, Johns eyes were still mainly focused on Lydia. Because of the warmth, she had left her coat at home, leaving her only in a white shirt that was orderly tucked away into her dark green pants. All of it was tailored to her and she filled her clothes out with all of the grace and beauty of a military queen. Only the nice bit of cleavage didnt fit the image, deliberately presented through opened buttons, but John was more than fine with that.
That is what Im saying, yes, the Gamer answered, as he extended his hand towards an air elemental flying close to them. It had the appearance of a green hummingbird with radiant wings. After a few moments of hovering around, itnded on his finger and he lowered it towards Lydia.
Careful not to startle it, the metal mage patted it a few times. When it flew away, their conversation continued as before. To put it in the usual terms, that is utter bullshit, Lydia stated and sighed with the usual resignation at his continued advancements. Not only will you be the centre of a harem that will be strong enough to dominate the world, you will also sire a bloodline of significant powers.
I guess your decision to choose me bes more justifiable outside of love by the day. John made a wide sweeping gesture at himself. If my seed is such a great addition to the Hohenzollern bloodline, that will shut up some of your noble critics. After a moment of reconsideration, he corrected, Critics among the nobility, I should say, I dont want to make it sound like theyre good people.
Unlike historical nobles, which mainly used bloodlines to trace inheritance and were focused around some sort of purity, the aristocracy in Romulus empire was focused around the cultivation of Innate Abilities. By grabbing everyone with promise from the popce and marrying them into families that were led by those with Innate Abilities for generations, those countries considerably raised their chances at having powerful children.
Johns presence in the bloodline would, if he got the Breeder ss right, raise that probability to 100%. At least for the generation directly descending from him, if not more.
Those in opposition to our rtionship are merely res of inconvenience at this point, Lydia responded, brushing her braid over her shoulder. Your rising political power promises wealth and your rising personal power convinces more and more people that you may really be the one true contender to Romulus hegemony. She gently scratched his back. I have made the correct choice when following my heart, my beloved John.
There was a happy flutter in his chest and he hummed in a content fashion. By the way, when was your birthday again? he asked, out of nowhere.
Third of next month, she said, and John snickered. What is so amusing?
Its just that I was sure that was it, but your birthday being the German Unity Day is just so fitting I cant believe it, he exined.
The chance is 365 to 1, not that unlikely, all things considered, Lydia countered, as if she had to defend herself for the day she was born on. Regardless, why do you ask?
Just wondering if I can get the gift ready in time, he answered.
You best not invest in anything outrageous, the queen advised in a stern tone. And I not only mean that you better avoid gifting me a negligee in public, but that you should keep your expenses within reason.
It wont cost me any money, but it will be something only I could give you, he cryptically answered.
Immediately cease whatever overbearing pandering your erudite mind is currently constructing!
What if I dont?
Then Ill be forced to lecture you on the value you are already guaranteed to provide me with. Lydias right wandered down to her lower body and stopped above the womb. Lovers Will to guarantee my personal power and now children of high potential. There is no material good you should ever need to supply me that has anything more than sentimental value.
Well, you can get into that lecture if you want, but if I want to give you something thats worth a small country, then Ill give you something thats worth a small country, John decided and felt Lydias magic surround him. Are you trying to bind me with my own clothes right now? he asked in an amused tone, the pressure parting around him like soft winds.
Clicking her tongue, the magic pressure ceased. It appears the enchantment that makes this possessed object your double is strong enough to properly ensoul it and give it natural magic resistance. How bothersome. The Mand Sphere was, obviously, metal and the Ambassador Double added a whole lot of magic to the mix. If you were present with your real body, I might fare better.
I doubt it would work with my normal clothes, John said and pulled at his clothes, a regr suit that looked almost exactly like the proper one he wore normally. Because the double would usually copy what he was wearing, John had started putting Jack into his own set of clothes the moment the whole blowjob routine had started. Otherwise, his double would have attended all of the meetings naked. Those clothes werent equipped, whatever magical properties they had were disabled or just didnt affect the double, they were just around. Apromise Gaia allowed him so he could have his fun. Because of the enchantment that links them up with Gamers Body, I would assume my suit is just as much linked to my soul as this Extension is. Otherwise, it would probably work.
The Suit and Pants of the Chosen were both primarily made from Schattengarn. Despite its appearance and tactile simrity to a silk-wool mixture, it was the highest grade of shadow-infused metal and also, ording to Observe, the most malleable metal in the Abyss. It was so high grade, nobody even knew how to create it. There was one like it for every element, and John, through these Elemental Inds, was the only one who could synthesize the slightest bit of it.
Ill need a whole bunch of it for what I nned though, John thought and considered his options. Maybe I can negotiate for the Mother of Shadows to tell me her name? If all else fails, I can always upgrade the thingter
What are you going to invest into, now that you finished Lover Boy? Lydia asked, switching the topic entirely. I highly doubt youre going to go directly into Breeder.
Given that the ss Challenge is to impregnate someone, yeah, pretty unlikely, John answered. In theory, that wasnt too hard to get done. Cum inside someone, wait for the pop-up, then have it taken care of with the morning after pill or something else. That felt pretty cheap, a bit dirty and pretty useless, however. At the point that investing into Breeder made sense, he would want to actually have kids anyway, so he could just keep that ss Challenge for then. Not quite sure, he answered.
Let us solve it then, what is theplete list of your currently avable sses?
Rather than ramble down all of the names, the Gamer just opened the table and moved it over so she could quickly read it.
The ones Im most considering are Arcanist, Gamer and Metracana Master, John told her. With potential other choices being Unfound, Tamer, Fateweaver and Martial Artist.
Lydia nodded. Lets categorize and eliminate. As I see it, Arcanist, Martial Artist and Unfound all serve to increase your personalbat ability. Metracana Master and Tamer increase the power of the Artificial Spirits or would be the path to making Velka a worthwhile addition to yourbat. Gamer would be for utility and a likely increase in your unique mechanics, with Fateweaver being simr, albeit less tailored to your specific powerset. My personal rmendation would be to dismiss the familiar reliant sses.
Yeah. John found himself in immediate agreement. His familiars didnt need the buff and neither did he want to introduce Velka into his core skillset. My personal power is prettycking inparison to what I COULD be doing by myself, so increasing it makes sense.
Taken in the entirety of his abilities, he was a one-man army that could likely win against anyone of a simr level. When he was isted, however, anyone that wasnt a summoner themselves could probably defeat him in one on onebat. It wouldnt be easy. John wasnt a sitting duck and had proven sufficient enough in singlebat to beat two close quarter specialists of lower but not insignificant power during the Hudson Brawl. Regardless, he didnt like his chances against someone in his own weight ss.
So maybe I should invest into one of the sses in the personal power category, he thought out loud. Although I will likely never be the favourite in a duel against someone on my level that has specialized in personal power, if I continue my hybridization a bit more, I should be able to put up enough resistance that finishing me off in a sensible time frame bes basically impossible. If I y it smart enough, I might actually win those duels.
If you can further increase your current ability to stall and add to it, however slim, the chance at genuine victory, then that is a good improvement to have, Lydia added.
On the other hand, John continued, Fateweaver and Gamer are likely to act as some sort of eleration in how quickly I get new stuff, so taking them early makes sense.
Indeed, Lydia agreed with him just as quickly as he did with her. Personally, my rmendation goes to the utility category and the Gamer ss. It ispletely unique to you and, aside from my own curiosity towards its contents, it might allow you to rapidly increase the potency of your stupendouste bloomer abilities.
Maybe Ill get a Max ss Level every 5 levels, retroactively, John joked. Wouldnt that be something?
Thatd be insane from a scaling perspective, Lydia presented. How many would that immediately reward you with? 25?
Yup, John answered. I wouldnt have to think too much about what to go after next, since I would just have that insane buffer and could fill out whatever I wanted with leisure.
Dont make a fool out of yourself, my love. Careful consideration would be required especially in that situation. When you have ample wealth, your spending habits should be no less measured than they are when you are poor. The reprimand waspletely expected and John just smirked.
Yes, yes, my lemon. He used the joking nickname he had given her a while back and immediately earned himself a deadly re of her steel grey eyes.
You stop that right now!
But youre so sour about things.
Im most decisively not! Logic is not to be taken as being sour.
Would you prefer being called shaker?
If your next sentence has even the slightest reference to salt in it, I will punish you.
Well, alright then He let silence grow between them, as they crossed over the next bridge. Then, suddenly, he said, Ill just be MINING my own business.
Lydia shoved him off the bridge.
Chapter 780 – Tournament of Oddities 15 – Grins to make eyes bleed
Chapter 780 C Tournament of Oddities 15 C Grins to make eyes bleed
John felt that something was off from the moment he entered. The first thing he noticed was that the centre of therge room was imed by two chairs, with arge distance between them. The second thing he noticed was that Wendy was missing again while Jeff, who was present this time around, was wearing a blindfold. The third thing he noticed was that the cameras were missing. Finally, he noticed that Moira was shifting ufortably in her lonely chair.
Vita prowled in circles around the two chairs, smiling her mischievous smile, and causing goose bumps all over Johns arms. Something terrible is going to be the challenge today, he thought and closed on in further, double checking that there were no cameras. So, what is happening today? he asked.
Carefully, Jeff grabbed his blindfold and spied outwards. Following a sigh of relief, he lifted it entirely. HELLO! he screamed and jumped onto the table, holding a deactivated microphone. Even without an audience, he was every bit as hyped as ever. John Newman, today you have my full condolences for what is about to happen to you.
That does bode poorly, John thought, only for Aclysia to step in front of him, Eclys already in hand.
You will not cause my John pain again! she dered, pointing the tip of her de at the dark-haired pariah whose circr path currently had her step past them.
If he wishes to avoid pain, he can concede, Vita told them and continued on, opening her silver-marked back to the de without any worry.
Aclysias body tensed, legs getting into the position to start an assault, until John put a hand on her shoulder and she turned her head to look at him. Rx, the Gamer told his first maid. Itll be fine.
She hurt you before! Aclysiained, still not lowering her weapon. Just two days ago, they made you experience something hellish! The katana followed Vitas movements. Her smugness makes me want to gut her like your next meal.
Were having fish today? John asked. Between trying to calm her down and genuine curiosity, he thought the question was appropriate.
I acquired some fresh barracuda a while back and it has been waiting in my inventory for consumption, Aclysia answered. As per the nutrition ns, today would be a good day for additional protein and selenium.
You know, I struggle to think of a day where you ARENT feeding me protein.
You have a lot of muscle activity every day, Master. Your body needs to be well maintained. Your performance in the bedroom must be boosted and maintained however I can. She lowered her de to raise one hand to her mouth and do a well-mannered clearing of her throat. My personal desires dictate so.
Alright, alright. John smiled, slowly making progress in rxing her. Now cing both of his hands on her shoulders, he gently massaged them. I know that she hurt me before, Aclysia, but being hurt is a risk I take whenever I do anything aiming to change the world. I dont get to create suchrge ripples in history without taking those chances. At least I get to have the choice here, so take it easy, okay? Can you do that for me?
The weaponized maid pressed her lips together. Perhaps we should just live in a cabin somewhere, safe from the world, she suggested. Just you, me, the Mistress and the rest of your harem. Women should know well enough toe to you, if they want to find true appreciation and satisfaction.
That would be a safe and probably satisfied life, John admitted, but its not what I want. I want to leave my mark on the world, for pride and for goodness sake.
Aclysia opened her hand, Eclys vanishing into the Adaptive dery before it could drop to the floor. For you, Master, she conceded and stepped aside.
Alright then. John stood as tall as he could and stared at Jeff, since Vita was obviously aiming at being a cheeky pain today. What horrible thing, exactly, would you have me do today?
As per todays challenge, youre to stare for one minute at the Nevrest that Vita will call, Jeff eximed and gulped so loudly that John could hear it across the room, even without the microphone working. I swear, they go out of their way to make sure that I dont get to see Wendy naked, but for this they call me!
Nobody wanted or wants to see you masturbate in the background while that hunk over there went to pound town with our cooking redhead, Vita responded.
I could have at leastmentated!
Ah, yes, how silly of me, the nks responses stayed absolutely dry, thats exactly what everyone wanted instead: a man, loudly shouting in their face, while they watch a porno. There were several seconds of pause and then she added, Are you into cuckolding, Jeff?
Cant say I am.
Then stopining as if you are. What kind of manins he wasnt in the room to watch another man fuck an attractive woman?
John, personally rather thankful that Jeff hadnt been around no matter what the justification had been, stayed out of the conversation in favour of turning to his entourage. You should leave the room.
Affirmative, Beatrice said and turned to leave immediately, only stopping after one step to look over her shoulder. Inquiry: what are you waiting for?
Why should we leave? asked Rave, and Aclysia made an unwilling grimace. It went so far that her face went from gorgeous to just pretty.
While the weaponized maid was at least distantly aware of what Beatrice had seen during the battle for Washington, Rave had no real idea what awaited her if she stayed in the room. All she got were stories.
Look,st time I just tried to REMEMBER what a Nevrest looked like, I got a nosebleed, he told her. And totally-not-Alice over there is probably going to summon the Cheshire Cat and Im just going to guess thats the original Nevrest, or something crazy like that. Vita turned her head. Silver veins crawled symmetrically over her face, centred around her lips and her ever-wider growing grin. Looking away, mostly because of the intense pariah aura she exuded, John continued, I have a particrly strong reaction to such things because of Gamers Body, but it still wont be pleasant.
Okay, but unlike those two over there, Rave pointed to the maids, I cant be erased by that, so Ill stay.
Jane, I
Ya dont want me to suffer, I know, she waved off and kissed him on the cheek. Were in this together, tiger, and I wont let you be alone in this.
The tone in her voice made it clear that her decision was already made, so John just sighed. I really dont deserve you.
No need to say the obvious. She grinned and they kissed again properly. Shortly thereafter, Aclysia and Beatrice left the room. John made sure even the elementals left, just in case their incorporeal states could be affected. What about ya, Moira? Rave shouted over to the redhead, clearly ufortable, but still staying in ce.
I hardened my resolve beforeing here, the Shield Warden said, her leg bouncing steadily. Lorelei saw what would happen today and wisely stayed behind. It would temporarily blind her to look at such a creature.
Okay, but why would YOU put yourself through that? John wanted to know.
I cant simply cease my pledge of observing you because there will be difort associated with it, Moira answered, her tone confused. For her, sitting through this was the most obvious thing in the world. That aside, it will serve as training for facing a nk inbat.
You have never seen a Nevrrest before?
I didnt have the displeasure so far but I have heard Loreleis description already. I trust it to be urate.
Well, if you insist. John shrugged and then looked to Jeff, who was opening his mouth. Fusion will not supply Florida with mandatory prune cakes, that is my bet for today.
His chances for winning this were ridiculously slim. He would still try, for prides sake, but this way he wouldnt feel too awful if he lost. The condition as presented by Florida didnt even say how often regr was supposed to be. If he wanted to stretch it beyond reason, he could say that once every one million years was regr.
The bet is acknowledged! Jeff shouted and pointed at therge screen, where the usual table appeared.
John and his girlfriend stepped up to the chair and held hands, both of them standing resolute as Vita got seated on the other one a few metres ahead.
You can sit if you want to, she offered, genuine niceness in her voice. There is no need to make this harder on you than it needs to be.
Im perfect where I am, he told her, pulling his shoulders back and interlocking his fingers with Raves. Lets get this over with.
As you wish, the pariah said. Her blue eyes suddenly rose from the background, as if highlighted. A momentter, the same happened to her hair. John only realized what was actually happening when her surroundings started to fade away. She was emanating her null energies, draining colour and then depth out of the things around her.
The area in space she dwelled in was temporarily erased. Only thin, ck outlines of objects remained. The chair, the table on which Jeff sat, they were reduced to something that looked like it came out of a skilled artists sketchbook. Only the pariahs eyes, hair and silver-markings were spared this treatment.
Hastily, thementator put his blindfold back on. A decision John could understand all too well. His own were already hurting from this little and he felt like someone was dragging rusty nails over a chalkboard, just without the sound. It didnt let up, only intensified with every passing second.
Inside the erased spot in reality moved something. Layers of light grey joined with the iprehensible white, all of it together pulling into a shape. John felt his knees weaken as the Nevrest fully manifested. The memory of how thest one had looked had erased itself with time, had be an empty spot in his recollections of that day. Now that he saw another one, one he instinctively knew wasrger and more powerful, he was sure he never wanted that memory back.
Like warts of polished ss, glistening orbs were half-sunken into its face, some of them fused together, slit pupils inside them shifting, until they all focused on John. It could have been as tall as a skyscraper or a tree, John couldnt find any true reference, he just knew that it was taller than he was, even lying on its side. One of its four legs, shaped unsteadily and changing in length as it shifted, supported its head. A rounded triangle, John would have described the shape, but failed to properly make sense of it to be sure.
Inhaling sharply, he resisted the urge to look away. Instead, he raised one hand to his face, more to help keep his chin raised than anything else. He felt something wet on his palm and the smell of iron tingled his nose.
The head of the Nevrest was not only grotesque because of the bulbous eyes. Horns and stalks sprouted between the irregrly ced eyes. Two particrlyrge protrusions may have been its ears, but John couldnt be sure of that. Its maw, arge cleft that was formed into a permanent, mad grin, parted and revealed sharp, liquid teeth. Their tips were connected and stretched, like rubber, but they had edges, John simply knew.
If youre gonna make it to the top, get a grip on yourself, the Nevrest vocalized. The words somehow formed in the ovep of toad and crow noises, underlined with the meow of a cat and the sound of tearing paper and ripping bark.
In response to the words, John felt his knees give in, and he hit the floor. Still strong, he felt Raves hand try to pull him to his feet, but his body felt sapped on every level.
Were all victims in-waiting. What would the Great Empty One think of you? Taking one of his favourite maidens and having her in love with you. The creature rose to its feet. As if to give his fracturing understanding a break, the legs grew to the same length. Against the wishes of his instincts, John looked after the Nevrest as it prowled around him.
Its body seemed elongated in one second and stout the next. It was striped and the stripes changed and swirled, like hypnotic patterns. For a few moments, the Nevrest was without fur, then it was like a white tiger, then it was like its hairs were insect legs or algae or feathers matted with heavy oil. Those few times were when Johns mind attempted to make sense of what he saw. The majority of the time, the creature was just a shape, t and unfathomably deep at the same time, gnawing away at the magic inside him.
Nothing, probably, the Nevrestughed. Such a forgetful fellow, an idiot with reverse omnipotence. Then again, limited by Gaia. Imagination is the only weapon in the war with reality, you see? Can you figure out whether we are the reality or the imagination? The creatures tail coiled around the two of them. A touch that he couldnt feel with any proper senses, he couldnt even see the tail, he just knew it was there and it made his organs shriek and feel like they wanted to escape out of his mouth.
Just barely, John swallowed the stomach acid, and the tails presence vanished. It should have been easier after that, but with that pressure removed, the Gamer felt his consciousness waning. He fought to stay awake, but the voice of the nirvana-born creature scratched at the inside of his thoughts.
Are we perhaps post-real? The nothing born from the imagination of the nothing Gaia dwells in? Or are you the nothing and we the imagination? All I know is that Im not from any sort of nothing around the dream. The Nevrest was suddenly in front of John and bowed down. Its grinning lips moved with impossible fluidity and expressiveness, following the example of a true cartoon character without any of the childish joy. Can you answer, little blessed light?
John did his best to grin, his mouth filled with the taste of blood and vomit. Spare the philosophy for the childrens books, Cheshire.
The Nevrest opened his maw wide. The liquid teeth snapped, each hardening into a pair of canine that surrounded the endless tunnel between its jaws. Segmented bypletely identical jaws, those insides closed and opened in rapid sessions as the catughed. His eyes were forced to understand the infinite, sapient nothing or fail at their task.
With no more will to muster, John embraced the darkness that engulfed him.
Chapter 781 – Tournament of Oddities 16 – Painting over White
Chapter 781 C Tournament of Oddities 16 C Painting over White
Im this close to stopping this entire tournament, acquiring a nuke and just dropping it on this entire, sted state, John growled rubbing the towel over his face repeatedly. He had just managed to wash all the blood off and that was trickier than it sounded. The pressure of the Nevrest had made them bleed in incredibly unpleasant ces. Eyes and ears were what he had expected. Gums and nailbeds, however, were not what he had signed up for.
His wrath wasnt aimed at his own injuries, however. Gamers Body, once the Nevrest had vanished, had fixed everything within a few moments. Same couldnt be said for his girlfriend. While her own reaction to the creature hadnt been as intense, she had only bled from the eyes and ears, and managed to keep standing through the whole of it, the damage had to be healed. Something that wasnt possible immediately. Despite having left the room, the elementals and Artificial Spirits all had passed out for as long as John had been, being a solid ten minutes. Another point that annoyed him.
That being said, Moira hade over and used what small healing powers she had to help out his girlfriend. ording to Rave, she had checked on them before taking care of herself. With no way to verify otherwise (and also trusting what his girlfriend said in general), the Gamer took that on the face of it without questioning.
Wasnt even that bad, Rave tried to calm him down. I mean, that thing was pretty terrifying, but its not the worst thing I ever went through. Youre just mad they didnt say ya won.
Two seconds! John threw the red-stained towel into the bin. It was supplied by the Florida guild, so he didnt care to give Aclysia the task of washing the blood out of it. I passed out two seconds before the whole minute!
Ya know ya would insist ya lost the challenge if ya had to make the call from their position, Rave answered and then, jokingly, added, Ya-ya-ya, I sound stupid.
Yes, I would, John sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. Just annoyed in general right about now.
Florida hadnt been that unreasonable, putting aside the fact that they approved that challenge in the first ce. Having dered it a narrow victory for their side, they implemented the condition as receiving yearly prune cake shipments of no stated size or quality. Basically, they had made it a quirky tradition that John would have to fund in the future.
What he had lost annoyed him less than the loss itself. It would have been a lot less infuriating if he had copsed after a few seconds. Far away from the goal, the loss wouldnt have stung so much and Rave wouldnt have gotten hurt as much. His stubborn pride was to me for both the way he had handled things and him now feeling extremely pissed about the way things went.
It certainly didnt help that Aclysia was ever-present in his thoughts, fuming even more than he was. She had already destroyed three cutting boards in the process of gutting the barracuda. Once again, they werent theirs, so she wasnt as cautious as she usually would have been. Having one messed up room in exchange for forcing someone to look at the (likely) most powerful Nevrest in existence was, in Johns biased opinion, a pretty good deal.
Crazy to think that Nia always has one of those running around behind her, Smander chimed into the conversation, when John and Rave went from the bath into the living room. Barely had she said that, when the endme elemental made the mistake of recalling what had happened about an hour ago, and immediately started writhing on the couch. Fucking Mother Fire! she shouted, holding her head in an effort to think about anything else.
Hey, hey, Sally, remember that one time when you took me out to the beach and you fired up a bunch of fireworks and it was super pretty? Sylph darted around the endme elemental, zapping from one position to the other like a lightning bolt. It was pretty, you do remember that, yes? It was pretty!
Yeah, Smander nodded and sat up straight, thanks for the distraction, Sylph.
The thunderstorm elemental blushed and floated around while happily rubbing her cheeks. Silly Sally, I dont want you to be in pain, just dont think about the grinning nightmare ca-ack! Sylph dropped to the floor like a dragonfly whose wings had suddenly decided to stop existing. Starting to get worried about her, John stepped closer, only for the air spirit to immediately dart up again. Never mind, Im better now! she eximed.
Guess your short-thought nature is advantageous in times like these, John joked and let the adorable fairy-esque elementalnd in his hand. He then proceeded to tickle her with his thumb. Her carefreeughter eradicated much of the tension in the room. Even the hacking sound from the kitchen grew a bit less aggressive.
Uhm, so, Gnome raised her hand to get everyones attention, I suggest we dont talk too much about this for at least a week? However long it takes for the memories to dull to the point that I dont feel like Im going to dry up into sand and crumble whenever I identally remember anything
Good call, John agreed. sted Alice, putting us through all of that.
Ya sure Vita is Alice?
About 99% sure, yeah, John returned. That thing was obviously the Cheshire Ca- He stopped when he, and every one of his familiars, developed a sudden and violent headache. It was as if someone set off a shbang in the middle of his brain. Oh, for fucks sake! he growled when he wiped a trail of blood away from under his nose. Okay,stment on the topic: once this is over, one of three things has to happen with that woman. One, I never see her cuntish face ever again. Two, I get to beat the shit out of her. Final choice, three, I get to hate-fuck her into the floor.
I get the feeling ya would prefer number three.
Honestly, right now, Im so pissed I would take two over three, he said, rubbing his temples. Ask me again tomorrow, then you will probably get the expected answer.
Big scary Gamer is mad, Rave mocked him in a friendly fashion.
Seething, he admitted and looked at the door. Honestly, I dont even feel like fucking right now. He looked out the window. There had been another thunderstorm earlier today, but that had passed and left everything hot and humid. Want to go out and explore Miami for a bit? he asked. Aside from the beach, they had done fairly little of that, and making some new memories toyer on top of the one they were trying to ignore sounded like a good idea.
Sure, Rave responded and the rest of the harem agreed just as easily. After they had lunch, they all got dressed appropriately, the elementals putting on their disguising clothes and the Artificial Spirits morphing into their proper shapes.
Appropriate, given the weather, meant rather skimpy. Sleeveless was the norm and most of the girls picked either hot pants or skirts that reached no further than their knees. Rave and Siena went so far as to even show off their Lovers Will marks, everyone else wearing tops that hid the midriff or summer dresses.
John was torn on that point. Normally, he was absolutely in favour of everyone showing off his brand. However, what was just another oddity in the Abyss was an outstanding reason for people to stare in their direction in the mundane world. They would already garner a lot of attention due to their attractiveness alone. Everyst one of them disying the marks on their crotch could have motivated some annoying questions. John guessed that the extensive markings on his hands would get him wrongfully identified as a member of some sort of gang, but he could live with that.
They went out and headed roughly in the direction of the first tourist attraction Google spat out. Not exactly hard-pressed to actually get there, they just did as the harem always did: walking and bantering the time away. John was usually at the front of the group, always one of his women under his arm. Which one changed throughout the walk. It started with Rave, but she eventually decided to have a chat with Sylph and Smander, so she dropped to the middle of the group. Normally, Aclysia would have taken the ce, but the maid was busy verbally fencing with Beatrice and Siena over some minor disagreement in the local style of architecture. Instead, Undine took the chance to cuddle up to him, but soon changed ces with Sylph, when the goth slime was called on by Gnome to help decide whether or not taking staircases was better than elevators, something the architecture discussion had devolved into.
None of them were having extremely serious conversations. A steady back and forth between friends and lovers, filled with jokes on their own and each others expense. Disagreements were yed up for entertainment, the girls that liked to curse cursed a lot and those that liked to berate gave advice. Neither did it so much that the other side would get annoyed. They all knew each other for a while now and wouldnt deliberately step on any toes.
Maybe it was because Miami was such a popr tourist destination, but people generally knew better than to try and flirt with any of Johns women. He assumed that, because this was a subtropical area where a lot of celebrities spend their free time, scantily d models werent that big of a deal. People were still taken by the beauties around him (and there were more than a few of those mundane models that looked in his direction), but he didnt have to deal with any entitled businessmen like he had in NYC. Perhaps he was just lucky, though.
That wasnt to say they went unmolested. Not because they were attractive, but because they looked like they had money. The people running tourist shops charged in their direction, basically shoved their wares in their hands and said something along the lines of, You like this, right? You should buy it! repeatedly, both in English and Spanish. Sylph bought arge hat at one such asion, but generally they got away. Those things also didnt happen too often.
It definitely helped that they stayed away from the crowded areas. With a group their size, it was too easy to get lost, so they only skirted around the famous malls and museums. They did visit the zoo though, for theck of anything else to do. To the entertainment of everyone, a giraffe decided that arge sun hat on Sylphs head looked like food.
One of the zookeepers secured the headwear after a bit. Less out of respect for Sylph, there was a sign warning about these things, and more because they had to make sure the animals didnt eat anything wrong. It was already chewed through and covered in giraffe saliva, so they just threw it into the trash. It had been an impulse purchase by the air spirit anyway and Sylph found it hrious herself. The advantages of having a lot of money was that an overpriced hat bought at a tourist shop could be sacrificed for cheap jokes like that without any worry.
It was starting to gette by the time they decided to get out of the zoo, so they went back to Paradise. Not to go after the usual recreational activities, but to find something to do close to their stay. Since the Florida guild headquarter was such a randombination of all kinds of things, they were sure they could find something to do.
This looks good, Rave said after opening a door and checking what was behind. The answer, as John found out when he followed her inside, was a bowling centre. There were tennes,ing in pairs of two, a reception desk and a small bar area that served alcohol and some basic food. John didnt get to give his opinion on the matter, as his girlfriend marched towards the reception desk and just decided this was what they would be doing now.
As his answer would have been positive anyway, he just tagged along. While he and the rest of the harem followed, Gnome tapped him on the shoulder. Ill be going to the toilet for a second and change out of these clothes, she said, gesturing at her mundane get-up.
Siena, her skin and hair already resuming their regr colours of silver-blue and purple, handed her choker and sses to John, only to point at a sign. Stripping encouraged, it read. Just do it here, the moonshade elemental suggested, her tail curving around amusedly, It would be rude not to show off, Gnome.
M-maybe it would, b-b-but I cant do that! the autumn elemental dered and darted towards the toilet. Everyone else was just changing into their regr forms and whatever clothes or other forms of hiding their nudity was provided by their nature. Only Undine stayed the way she was, likely sensing that John was really in the mood for some pale-skinned goth girl action today. All she did was fix her clothes a little bit so her cleavage was emphasised more. Maybe she even made it bigger, John was too busy staring at the round disy to notice. A contradiction, perhaps, but a regr one.
Alright, we can have twones, Rave said when she got back. Yall ready to get stomped by me?
Dont we have to wear provided shoes to protect the floor or something? John asked, never having been to an Abyssal bowling ce before.
Nah, Rave waved off, and John decided to not chase that any further.
How would I even go about that? Siena wondered, looking at her permanent high-heels.
To that, John had no answer, so they just relocated to their assignednes. Inside her autumn leaf themed dress, Gnome came after them before they stepped onto the smooth wooden floor. Here, she said, passing her clothes to John, for safekeeping in his inventory. Not that they stayed there for long. He was having Jack take them out on the other side and put away for washing whenever Aclysia returned to their home proper.
They sat down on the seats that came with theirnes, right next to the left-hand wall. We got the worst cement! his girlfriendined.
Why? John wondered.
Were furthest away from the bar, well have to walk an extra fifteen steps to get there!
But were closest to the toilets, so thats good, John pointed out.
I can hold my pee, Im not some little girl!
I mean, no, you arent, but you also cant, especially after you had two beers.
Look whos talking!
Hey, I never said I was better. John raised his hands defensively. That aside, I shouldnt even drink. Who knows what tomorrow will throw at me. Rave looked at him with a dangerous pout and John couldnt but concede at that. Alright, maybe a few beers, he sighed and started typing his name into the score tracking machine. Everyone else followed his example, giving him some time to look around.
The ce was rtively well lit. It was at a level where it was clearly intentionally less bright than the day, invoking a cosy feeling. Numerous bowling balls were stacked into specifically designed shelves. They stood along a waist-high wall that separated the ying from the bar area, with only cut-outs in the middle and at the sides allowing to get through. The furniture over there was of dark wood and the carpet a simple dark grey. The walls were a deep red and the roof, segmented into square tes, had so many excess lights in it that John had a feeling this ce had rave evenings. The speakers, way toorge for the soft music that currently yed, seemed to underline that.
The other eightnes were almost all imed. On the other side of the room was a group of three with no one else in thene right next to theirs. Other than that, there were always enough people to fill each pair ofnes.
Next to him and his harem was a group that, notably, was exclusively made of women. Most of them were big-titted and of slightly older appearance, the MILF type that John wasnt as much into as other men but he had to admit was attractive regardless. One of those women was some sort of minotaur, judging by the horns and the truly absurd size of her jugs. A younger looking, but no less stacked girl, was some sort of gnome (the race, not the earth elemental), and a dark-haired elf with an athletic, pear-shaped body closer to Johns taste was happily chatting with a hawk-winged, Asian looking woman.
Much like with Johns harem, there was a tendency towards the one theme in that group, but there was still variety. Wonder if that is pure chance or if there is someone missing? the Gamer asked himself, as he heard the bathroom door open and close behind him.
A momentter, he got his answer. Would you look at that, there is a celebrity present, he heard a familiar voice behind him and turned towards the separating wall. Leaning on top, with the cocky smile that seemed to apany him everywhere, a good-looking young man raised his hand in greeting. I thought I would run into you, buddy.
You could have dropped a message, John told Maximillian.
Chapter 782 – Tournament of Oddities 17 – Banter and Bowling
Chapter 782 C Tournament of Oddities 17 C Banter and Bowling
I was considering it, but then I remembered I had more fun people to hang out with, Maximillian responded swiftly and straightened up. So, I left it up to chance.
Ill have to fine you for a vition of the bro code, John joked. Would you prefer to take a punch to the jaw or buy me and my harem here a round of drinks?
What if I dont do either? the gravity king asked.
Then youll have one strike on your ount. At three strikes I get to vite the bro code once for free.
That sounds highly made up.
It totally is.
What would you even use that for?
Well, you do have an attractive sister.
For all I care, go for her, might distract her from all the giant things shes spending money on.
John sighed, Its no fun if you dont push back, buddy. Would you really sell your sister for a round of drinks?
I would give you a round of drinks if you can make it so I dont receive a text from Lydia every couple of weeks requesting me to talk some sense into Ria, Maximillian returned and was momentarily distracted by aughing woman running over to him and hugging him from the side. Herrge breasts squished against him in the process, a feeling that John knew well enough himself.
Whatre you letting us wait for, hm? she asked in a sweet voice, kissing him on the cheek. She was blonde, tall and the type of MILF that was likely not an actual mother and not quite old enough to develop any wrinkles but had that early-thirties aura of kept charm and starting wisdom to her.
In her specific case, the age John guessed was only five years younger than she actually was. In the Abyss, those things could often be misleading, but she was rather weak, at level 19, and her aging had barely slowed at all. It was safe to say that it was only theck of wrinkles that made her appear younger than she actually was.
I just ran into a friend of mine, Maximillian said and gestured towards the Gamer. Natasha, meet John Newman, John, Natasha.
A pleasure. He raised his hand in greeting.
Oy, Rave interrupted. Why dont we get an introduction!
Because the patriarchs are talking, Maximillian answered and then snickered. No, seriously, its because it would take me like ten minutes. That aside, I dont know two of you. No wait, Gnome, is that you?
Y-yes? the earth spirit answered as if she actually wasnt too sure about that, looking down on herself. Sorry if I dont like normal? Is that bad? I know Im in and
No, no, you look good, John is lucky to have you. Maximillian was smooth to ease her fears with his soothingly deep and youthful voice. You just look different from when Ist saw you. The dress is a dead give-away, and now that I actually look at your face, you havent changed that much. The hair was what had me momentarily confused. I like the way the braids unite at the back, makes you look verydylike.
Umu, Gnome let out a shy whisper and fidgeted in her seat, not quite knowing what to do with all thosepliments. Across from her, John just smiled. Depending on who it came from, he would have reacted quite differently to one of his girls gettingplimented. Maximillian was someone he trusted and the self-exiled royal wasnt using anything close to a flirtatious tone anyway.
If you dont mind me asking, who would she be? Maximillian continued, pointing at the goth girl two chairs down from John. Pretty sure I never saw her before.
You did, the elemental in questionmented, her voice turning everything she said into lyrics that only needed a few underlying instruments to be a proper song. To make it a bit easier, she momentarily dropped her shapeshift, showing her true nature of greyish blue slime with medium-sized dark antlers on her head.
Maximillian didnt need that hint; he was already continuing when he had heard her speak. Ah, Undine huh. Really like the gothic look, fits your personality. Hope you dont take that the wrong way. She didnt, instead turning her head and tuning out of the conversation entirely to listen to Sylph ramble about whatever currently held her attention. Likewise, the brown-haired man turned his attention back to John. Did anyone ever tell you that the fact that you can ascend your elementals reliably at such a pace is pretty bullshit?
Yes, that has been brought up before, John said.
Oh C my C self! Natasha suddenly eximed. Either she had spent the past minute in a daze or she had simply waited for an opening in the conversation. Youre really John Newman? I mean, you arent as famous as Max here, but I still didnt think you two were actually good friends!
Hey, whats that supposed to mean? Maximillian wanted to know. There was a very distinct smacking sound and Natasha perked up, as the man next to her was (likely) groping the butt he had just spanked. Are you calling me a liar?
Well, you talk a lot if the day is short, the blonde joked and earned herself a second p, moaning encouragingly. Harder, daddy, she gasped,pletely serious.
John hadnt been that interested in that woman from the start. After knowing she was here with someone else, especially someone he knew, he got his desire down to some instinctual ogling. Now, even that threatened to diepletely as she said the forbidden word. Well, whatever he likes, he likes, the Gamer thought.
Hey, is it true you can make women stronger by sleeping with them? Natasha asked. There was something about that in an article I read about how the queen of Germany suddenly became stronger.
There is a bit more to it than that, John answered, especially in Lydias case. The short of it is no.
Ah, sadness, the blonde sighed and looked at Maximillian. Thought you could teach that trick to my lover boy here.
Not everyone here is blessed to break the rules of magic as we understand them, the gravity mage said and leaned down. I think you will find that I can supply you with enough satisfaction as I am. The two of them kissed and John just let them have the moment. He had his arm around his girlfriends shoulder and was ying with her. As greedy as he was, he was happy to let other men have their fun with any women that were theirs. Even in front of him, for the most part.
The Gamer waspletely fine with this specific instance because he didnt know or want Natasha. What the two of them did was none of his business. He would have been a tad ufortable if they started fucking in front of him. Past incidents had shown that alcohol or certain social situations could erode even that feeling. It was also waning in general, courtesy of these things just happening a lot around him, particrly in their current environment.
What John would not tolerate was a woman he was interested in, Marie, for example, being even just kissed by someone else in front of him. Even if it would bepletely consensual, it would have irked him quite a bit. That feeling was true even for women he KNEW for a fact were sleeping around with other men, such as Cindy, Worlina and Wendy. They could do whatever they wanted when he wasnt there, not his call to make, but while he was around, he had his rules.
His actual harem was obviously only his under all circumstances. The only, potential, exception that existed was if any of them found a woman they were interested to bring home for a night. Some lesbian fun outside the harem was allowed, but that was it.
Anyway, Maximillian continued once his kiss broke, Ill take the fine and buy the first round of drinks. Unlike you, Im not so stingy.
Yay, free stuff! Sylph eximed. I want a pina cda! Everyone else handed out their wishes as well and Maximillian went to order. In the meantime, the pins were lowered by the machine and John, having been the first to put in his name, was also supposed to be the first to throw a ball.
He tried a few different ones. Weight was less of an issue than a proper grip. Once he felt like he had picked a fitting one, he went up to thene and tried to mimic what little he had seen about proper bowling form in his life. Therge sphere rolled over the wood, on aim to the centre of the triangr arrangement of pins. Then, on thest fourth of the way, it suddenly curved sideways and only hit the four on the left side. John clicked his tongue.
Ya arent all that good at this, his girlfriend pointed out.
Ive never been one to intuitively know my way around sports. John shrugged and grabbed another ball, not willing to wait until the machine spat the one he had used back out. Unless Gaia gives me a Skill for bowling, Ill have to try and learn this first. For all his Physical Stats, the fact that he was a nerd under all that muscle didnt really change.
He adjusted his form a little bit and thought more carefully about what he was doing. There was a spin to the throw that would influence its trajectory on the smooth floor. The problem was that John had no experience in bowling and could do little more than guess how much force he should put into things. In an effort to gain intel, he made a throw that he was certain was going to miss.
Being a superhuman sure shortens the amount of practice needed, but it doesnt rece it, he thought as he watched the ball roll off to the side and fall into the ditch, disappearing withoutting him any further points. The machine registered him four points for that round and reced the pins.
On thene next to his, Sylph raised aparatively tiny bowling ball and executed the perfect form. At high speed and in a wlessly straight trajectory, the sphere mmed into the standing pins, striking all of them down in a single hit. Yay! the air spirit eximed jumping on the spot. I did it, strike! Strrrrike! Strrrriiiiikeee!
The first round went down about as expected. Almost everyone present cleared thene in one throw, with the asional two. Only John, Undine and Gnome werent able to do that, and the earth spirit at least managed to clear it with two attempts, whereas Undine was just as bad at things as he was.
Maximillian returned, hovering all of the drinks ordered in front of him on arge tablet. We finally found a game youre awful at! he dered after having a look at the scoreboard. Johns beverage, a ss of gin and tonic, was floated upwards, pulled by a ck spot that hovered above the tablet and now went in Johns direction.
Thank you, Hawlper, John said to the sapient ck hole. He had no response for his buddy. Either he would figure this game out in time to turn around the score, somehow, or he wouldnt. In thetter case, he didnt want to eat any sort of boastful promations he had made.
No problem. The bass-heavy voice of Maximillians contracted gravity elemental reminded John of Jarvis from the Marvel movies. A Jarvis that had gotten a heavy injection of bass-boosting on an equalizer, to the point that it was more a tremor than a voice. Actually, his voice sounded nothing like Jarvis, he just had that general servant-like tone.
The drinks were distributed and John called to the second round. While his ownne was nothing but white pins, there was a blue and a yellow one on Sylphsne. Whats that? John asked Maximillian. Since the gravity king had been here for a little while longer, he expected him to know about any quirks of the ce.
Whenever you throw a strike, two enchanted pins get added to your throws for the rest of the game. If you get a spare, its only one, Maximillian said. Keeps the challenge up. Maximillian had just said that when Sylph threw her second ball of the evening. The white pins were tossed aside without issue, while the yellow pin slowly hovered upwards. The intention was likely to force quick throws, but Sylph didnt really know what the word hesitation meant, so it was caught up in the impact. The blue pin created some sort of minor barrier around it, but the ball just smashed right through it. In theory. For your girls, you might need some stronger enchanted pins than they have in this ce.
Well, maybe it will stack up enough to give me a chance at catching up? John suggested and got a pitiful nce from the gravity king. Fuck you, he grumbled, and his buddy snorted.
Not my fault that you decided to surround yourself with women who are basically all physically superior to you, Maximillian pushed back and then grinned when one of his girls came over, allowing him to show off a bit by groping her sizable tits. You should look for women that have their centre of gravity a bit higher.
Yeah, well, how about no. John grabbed his bowling ball and tried his best.
It would not be enough.
Chapter 783 – Tournament of Oddities 18 – Two Men
Chapter 783 C Tournament of Oddities 18 C Two Men
Hah! Maximillianughed out loud. The reason for his audible amusement was Johns bowling ball sinking into the trench at the side, having hit not a single pin. While the Gamer had aimed properly, he had not put enough force into it to ovee the energy wave that was thrown at approaching balls from the green pins.
What are youughing for?! John snapped back and gestured at the kings scoreboard. You have less points than me! Although that was true, he still wasntst in his game. Thepetition the Gamer faced was morepetitive and more able than the harem the gravity mage had brought with him.
Well, Im a cripple, Maximillian responded, tapping his bad, left ankle with his walking stick. Whats your excuse?
John picked up his beverage and grumbled a number of curses into his ss. There was no excuse he could make; he was simply bad at bowling. Either he threw the ball so hard it was inurate or he aimed so well that the impact wascking. He had managed two strikes in total and the enchanted pins he had gotten himself that way were absolutely ruining every throw since.
Just like the two men were busy bantering, so were their present harems mingling and exchangingments. The groups seemed to get along fairly well. It took a certain kind of girl to be willing to be part of a harem in the first ce, so they all had something inmon that made the ice thinner than it usually would be. Adding Rave and alcohol to that mix meant that any initial awkwardness was smashed and moved aside in a matter of minutes.
John finished his drink and ordered a new one through Aclysia, just in time to see a particrly intimate moment of bonding happening. For whatever reason, Undine and one of Maximillians girls had decided to both get rid of their tops and bras and do someparisons in the boob department through the scientifically proven method of squishing their chests together and just eyeing things up. Even though her breasts were the second biggest in Johns harem (going by the size she usually maintained), she was absolutely dominated by her opponent.
What the hell even is that size? the Gamer asked.
Im not switching topics until you admit youre losing that bowling game, Maximillian teased him.
Really? Are you really doing this right now?! Although John could feel that his outrage waspletely disproportionate to what caused it, he still let it go through. The tiniest of growls made him look down to his breast pocket, where a tiny Stirwin was temporarily halting his gnawing on a cocktail cherry to give his summoner a warning re. Fine! John spat out. I suck at bowling and Im losing, you happy?
Extremely, Maximillian chuckled and then pointed at the breastparison, which had since escted to Siena, herself a tad smaller than Undine, and Smander, the definitive biggest, weighing in. They were all found to be smaller, to the surprise of nobody, but they all enjoyed just having a swing at it. G cup, by the way.
Christ almighty, John mumbled. You really like your big tits, dont you?
Said the butt enthusiast to the MILF fan, the king drily retorted.
I can enjoy a nice rack.
And I can enjoy a nice ass. Remember Aletra?
John did, the ebony stripper from the Little Whirl was hard to forget. This was inrge part thanks to her perverted attitude and endurance. It was one thing to be that admitting of a slut, it was another to actually suck dick for hours on end. Inside the Gamers harem, that hade to be expected, but they were hardly average.
Her ass was definitely nice, but she was on the leaner side of things, John said. I would say it was a 5 out of 10. Good ass, nothing toin about, but also nothing too great.
Buddy, pal, what the fuck are you talking about? Maximillian asked. That was a 10 out of 10 ass. No doubt about it.
Okay, lets put that to the test. Jane! Could youe here for a sec?
His girlfriend approached with a raised eyebrow. Waddup tiger? Ya got over your loss yet?
Grrrrhm, John let out a bothered sound and was only appeased when sheughed and ran her hands through his short, brown hair. Ill decide whether or not I will develop an obsession with bowling once Im sober, he announced.
Cant live with being bad at something?
What do I have all of these Stats for if I cant even be a god at BOWLING in 30 seconds!
I think youre a bit spoiled, John, Rave let him know. What with all the Skills and stuff.
Probably, he conceded immediately and got a reinforcing squeal from Stirwin. The pride watch-crocodile was pleased by any disy of humbleness he could get out of John. Speaking of things Im spoiled for having, could you show off your best asset for a second?
Im already smiling, tiger, Rave responded with a cheeky joke, her glossy lips curved in a slightly smug fashion.
I mean your other best asset.
Ya want me to give ya a blowjob right here? Rave teasingly pulled at her cropped top, showing that she was just saying it for the fun of it. I mean, Id do it.
How does that even remotely trante to best asset?
Its the best way I could think of to show off that Im a good perverted girlfriend. Being up to sex often enough to keep ya upied is a value in its own, wouldnt ya say?
Point taken. John grinned, not taking any offense from this needlesslyplicated exchange. Okay, show off your best ASS-et, please?
Ooooh, why didnt ya start with that? Rave cheekily replied and turned around. John and Maximillian were both sitting in front of a medium-sized table between the twones that the Gamer had rented for the evening. A table that was quite low and that Rave now bent over, keeping her legs straight, until her hands hit the top.
See this? John asked and pped the heart-shaped, firm butt. It jiggled fairly little, the muscles being tensed and the hot pants taut. Rave moaned his name, out of reflex and to put up a bit of a show. This is a 10 out of 10 ass. He let his hands slide over the outline of the perfect thing. It was as round as it could be on her bottom-heavy frame, without bing ridiculous in its proportions. Firm, jiggly and kneadable all the same, the roundness was just unfair to the rest of womankind. Especially because Rave had the kind of ass that looked perfect in any state and at any angle.
Following instinct, John pulled down her hot pants, leaving her only in ckce panties. He kissed her backside and gave it a second p, just as she kicked the legwear away. There was a slightly darker spot between her legs and the Gamer just barely managed to keep himself from pressing his face in there.
Alright Maximillian conceded, Aletras ass wasnt THAT nice, you giant show-off.
Only look, dont touch! John warned. Not even his buddy was exempt from the rules of the Gamers possessiveness.
No need to tell me. The gravity king sounded downright insulted that John had even mentioned it. There is such a thing as a genuine bro code although I would call it something a little less ridiculous. Gentlemens agreement sounds much better. John just nodded and spanked Rave a third time, hypnotized by the ripples and the perverted grin she gave him.
I win, I win! Sylph eximed in the background, as the current round of bowling came to an end. As good parts of the two harems were intermingled at the moment, the next set of games were made with new groups. Neither John nor Maximillian made an effort to join any of them and Rave seemed rather happy having her butt fondled.
She had a 9 out of 10 ass, then, Maximillian asserted.
Buddy John shook his head. You clearly do not tread the path of the ass man. Do I need to continue showing you how wrong you are? The question was posed at the exact same moment as Aclysia returned and handed John his recement gin and tonic. He put it into his inventory, for the moment, to have his hands free. Aclysia, could you show Maximillian here one of the many reasons I love you?
Certainly, Master, the weaponized maid responded and bent over the table, right next to Rave. Her pants vanished under her skin in the process, leaving her in white, surprisingly innocent panties. Theyplimented her pale ass nicely, and seeing it next to the exotic tan of the Lightbearer, John got to show off two very nice backsides. Both of them were his in all the ways that mattered.
Aclysias ass was a tadrger and juicier than Raves and that worked to the maids slight detriment. There was such a thing as too much jiggle. It wasnt to any degree that was bothersome, otherwise Aclysia would have modified her body, but it was noticeable to a connoisseur such as John. That she kept it this way was that every w was, in moderate amounts, also its own beauty. If the Gamer wanted Raves perfect ass around him numerous times, he could have told the Artificial Spirits and Undine to copy it, but the differences between all of them was what made each stand out so magnificently. The only two butts he wanted to be exactly the same were Aclysias and Beatrices and that was for reasons of other kinks.
John gave Aclysias ass its own p. Master! she cried out in lust, a habit both she and the passive maid had firmly ingrained in themselves. The Gamer loved it just as much as the way her butt jiggled, then he dug his fingers into both presented backsides. Aclysias ass was definitely softer, caused by the already mentioned benefits and detriments.
8 out of 10? Maximillian asked, only to get himself a disappointed nce by John. 7? The Gamer shook his head. Come on, it was at least a 6!
If that makes you happy, it was a 6, John said, although he personally remained convinced of it being a 5. He just didnt have examples to the contrary around. The worst butt in his harem was that of Nia, who he would have categorized around a 6 as well. The pariahs beautyy mostly in her overall lithe appearance, her face and her unusualness than her curves. I do appreciate myself a lot of vours, the Gamer thought.
Happy to have won the argument, John wanted a bit more than just fondle the asses in front of him. After a moment of consideration, then hesitation, he put his pants into his inventory. As little as a few weeks back, he wouldnt have done this without being considerably more than two gin and tonic into the evening, but now he just didnt care that Maximillian was sitting right next to him.
The gravity king raised an eyebrow in surprise, likely less at what John did and more at the fact that John did. By his own admission, Maximillian had been part of at least one devils threesome in the past. He didnt have that bit of difort about other naked males that John had to wrestle with.
Seeing that John was in the mood, both of the women before him wiggled their butts enticingly. Feeling more in the mood for light meat tonight, John grabbed Aclysias hips and pulled her into hisp. One disappearing pair of panties (and other clothes)ter, she slipped over his dick. For a few moments, she just enjoyed having him inside her, then she put in the legwork and bounced on his cock. Her squishy backside ttened on his groin for a moment on every impact.
Picking the maid over the mistress is a mean decision, Rave pouted and plopped down in the seat next to his. Gimme that gin!
If it appeases you, John said and reached into his inventory. He took a sip out of the straw himself before handing the ss over to Rave. She took a sip and then leaned over to kiss him. Only to minor surprise, he found the mouthful she had taken toe past her lips. The bitter taste of tonic mixed with the sweet mint of her usual taste left him intoxicated in a whole different way than alcohol would on its own.
Seems like this mistress needs to get into her masters favour again, Rave purred in a sensual fashion, suggestively putting her lips around the straw again.
I love you, John sighed like a total fool and then kissed the back of Aclysias neck. The moment his lips were off the maids skin, the Lightbearer put another gulp of gin and tonic into him. It was a wasteful administration method, given that more than a few drops ran down their chins, but that was absolutely worth it. While the method on its own was also fairly slow, the fact that they didnt stop meant that the ss was empty fairly quickly. Shortly after Rave put it on the table, John emptied his balls inside Aclysia. They were immediately replenished by Source of Satisfaction, but it was a relieving feeling regardless.
If it would please my mistress, I would be happy to serve Master together, Aclysia purred, after she calmed down from the pleasure that riding him and getting creampied had brought. I aim to please both of you. I love both of you, after all, Jane, my John.
Youre just too adorable! Rave squealed, exchanged a long, sloppy kiss with the maid, and then took the suggestion. Both of them kneeled down on the floor in front of him. So Im giving that blowjob after all, joked the Gamers girlfriend.
John spread his legs open further to give both of them the space they needed, only to bump his left knee against Maximillian. Oy, the kingined, looking up from the titjob he was receiving from that G-cup girl. She was an attractive brte somewhere in herte thirties, appearance wise. When that had happened, John had no idea. To be fair, he had been distracted, and it would have been unreasonable to demand that his friend just sat next to him and not call one of his own girls to help out with his own erection. Natasha and the elf John had seen earlier were also around, waiting for their turns. Watch where you put your legs, there is art in the making here!
John would have been very interested in seeing how tits of that size spilled around his cock, but he wasnt willing to go through the awkwardness of staring at Maximillians junk to get an idea. Sorry, sorry, he apologized in a half-hearted fashion, moving down into the seat Rave had been in moments earlier. That way, both of them had the necessary leg space. In the background, Smander shouted victoriously, celebrating the fact that she had more points than Sylph for once. Right, Ipletely forgot to ask, John, not distracted by anything but the two girls worshipping his member, spoke up. What are you doing here in Florida anyway, Max?
Dont know what to tell you, buddy, Im just on vacation, the gravity king responded, being handed a beer by one of his girls. Been doing some acting, some producing, met a bunch of these lovelies at a few parties and decided that we could get away for three weeks. We decided we would either get into some of your areas OR we could enjoy some public sex in Florida. Decision was practically made at that point. One week in and suddenly you show up. Since I can call you whenever, I thought I''d prioritize this opportunity to have giant, careless orgies with me and all these beauties.
Understandable, John nodded. Dont think I would have done anything different Anyway, what are you producing?
An episode for a small Netflix series, he shrugged, nothing too big yet, but its a start.
John asked which one and they continued to catch up with each other.
Chapter 784 – Tournament of Oddities 19 – A theorem on duality
Chapter 784 C Tournament of Oddities 19 C A theorem on duality
The rest of the evening passed without anything noteworthy. John and Maximillian did their usual things, while keeping it to a moderate level of alcohol. When neither of them felt like they had anything more to say for the moment but both had the urge to get a bit more done, in the orgy sense, than what they really wanted to do in front of the other, they separated and went to their respective rooms. Whether they would meet up again while John was busy with the challenges was left open. As Maximillian had said, this vacation was mostly to the benefit of having fun with thosedies around him. If they met, they met, if not, then not.
John woke up the next morning with a light hangover, as did his girls. A good breakfast and some healing by Undine relieved the issue entirely. Notably, when his real body had a hangover or was drunk, the state afflicted his double as well. It was quite predictable, really, but John still liked to have confirmation about these things.
At least for that one, he had made the preparation to warn the girls what he was doing over in Florida. It had startled Scarlett quite a bit when Jack had not only reverted into the Mand Sphere, but the sphere itself had, for several minutes,id on the floor in shambles. Given the segmented nature of the thing, there were quite a lot of shambles to be had.
The reason for that had been the encounter with the Nevrest. John had guessed that it would interrupt his connection with his Extension, not that the double would entirely drop its transformation and its own enchantments. It had been good fortune that Scarlett was with him in his office at the time. The Technomancer had only gotten worried enough to give him an earful once the connection was back, dropping about 250 text messages in the minutes in between.
Had it been Eliza that watched his double disappear like that, there could have been more of a mess to clean up. With how prone the blood mage was to overreactions, especially when it came to him, the best case would have been if she only got a panic attack that he then had to cuddle her out of. Worst case, she could have gone on a minor rampage in search for answers. He liked to believe that she was stable enough these days that it would be the former of those two scenarios, but there was no way to know for sure.
That extra bit of aftermath from yesterdays challenge aside, the Gamer was more in bnce after he had spent the day doing the three things he liked most: dating, bantering and fucking. At least in bnce enough to resist the urge to strangle Vita when she appeared in front of their room.
Hello. His greeting was on the frostier side of things.
Hi, the dark-haired pariah answered with a happy little wave. You seem to be a bit tense.
Whatever could the reason for that be? John drily asked, ncing over his shoulder. Standing at the ready with her weapon, Aclysia kept a keen eye on the situation. Today, the Gamer did not feel like telling her to put it away. We do not react that well to being put face to face with things. He avoided any flowery description. Even that little mention gave him a small headache and he was afraid that he would properly remember if he chased the topic further.
You could have just surrendered, Vita answered with her usual smile. Did that even enter your mind?
I could do thousands of things, John growled and swallowed further words. Any threat he would have made would have been empty. He wouldnt attack her, not without knowing that he was above her in every single aspect. Even if he could beat her, which he believed he could, as long as she could take a single one of his girls with her, it was not worth the risk. Just lead the way.
Sure thing, future boss, Vita mused and turned around. John and the three usual suspects followed, the elementals hanging around in incorporeal form. When she continued to talk while they were on their way, the Gamer was mildly surprised. Usually, she seemed to only open her mouth when she could torment him in some fashion. Youre a smart man, the nkplimented. Attractive as well, I can see why Nia is interested in you.
I have my vices and my virtues, John responded swiftly, staring at the back of her head. She stayed firmly in the lead of the group, not showing her face. Why do you bring that up now?
Im fascinated by the wed, Vita responded with half an answer. The other side is full of ws. From the smallest Nulram to thergest of Vidwyrs, its dominated by the half-finished thoughts scrambled in the hearts of the Great Empty One. The Nirvana is a void of ws and potential. There is no true suffering, but you need to run as fast as you can just to remain where you stand. They can only think half.
You will have to excuse the fact that I only understand half of that, John told her, and Vita giggled. For once, in a fashion he didnt find creepy or challenging. It was surprisingly girly. Its hard to really get something about a world that hurts just to think about. There was a moment of silence and then, wondering if he could get anything else pleasant or interesting out of this woman, he continued, For a bunch of beings that can only think half of a thought, they sure figured out a lot. Nia once tried to exin what magic is, but us normal humans dont really get to hear that.
If you rid yourself of the but in every thought, youd be fascinated by all the things you could discover, Vita responded, swinging her hips more with every step. Naturally, it drew Johns gaze to her backside. The t white of her dress, usually eating shade and light equally, had a depth to it all of a sudden. It was still a thoroughly unusual piece of clothing, sticking to her without securing strands or tension, with a skirt that flowed more than it fluttered, but it now only seemed magical, rather than reality defying.
If I rid myself of the counterpoints in my thoughts and just continue to think away at things, Ill end up with a thousand jumbled possibilities and no certain truth.
All of them, Vita answered.
All of them?
You will end up with all of the answers across all vectors of reality and dream. The silver marks on Vitas back explosively forked out, until there was less tanned skin than thin lines. It looked like a leaf dominated by veins, alien and enticing. And in doing so, you will lose all contact to this one.
Seems like the short road to insanity. I rather like being grounded in this reality.
Im fascinated by ws, Vita circled back around to her original statement. You say it would make you insane, but to those things that understand more than one world, your binding to this one makes you the mad one. Bound by rules and the governance of reality.
That would mean that everyone is wed, John said, as they went down the staircase. If those who understand one reality are wed in their thinking and those that understand all realities in their thinking are both insane and the ways of thinking toprehend one or the other are mutually exclusive, then there is no such thing as sanity.
Yes, yes, yes, Vita answered and hopped down two steps at a time with each word. There are those with more and less ws, but all are strangers in unknownnds. They just havent found their way to the distant home yet. Some of the everywheres arent quite as everywhere as other everywheres though. Some can do whatever they want.
How about you? John asked, interested where this was going.
Me? Vita startedughing, and for a moment John got to see her face again, as she twirled around a corner tform of the staircase. Her face was covered as intensely with silver lines as her back. No, no, I may be a pariah to this reality, but Im part of it. Then again, Im not really. Us nks are born between two worlds. The pull of both gives us our blessings, the pull of both gives us our curses. We have powers that none others do and one day we fade. We are shackled to two worlds more intensely than anything else, we cannot think in either here or everywhere. We arent really here and although we understand the everywhere better than anyone else, we may never get there.
What does that make you then? John asked, following Vita with normal paced steps, as the nk raced ahead. Her dark hair bounced as she bounced further down. She suddenly stopped when she was in the middle of the next flight of stairs and stared up at John, who stopped at the same position one level above her. Framed by silver, her blue-eyes fixated him.
My own looking ss, Vita responded. Im the original Maiden of Null. Although I may never be an everywhere, it is easier for me to surpass the here. I can think in both terms, because my nature is in itself a duality and so she suddenly was behind John, her arms wrapped around his neck and whispering in his ear, the governance of reality is mine to question. I have been elsewhere and returned. I have in and shaken the Red Queen.
John had to do his best to not try and throw her off him immediately. Whatever she had just done was far above regr teleportation. Beatrices Twist Position only teleported in a direction if there was no obstacle in the way. The martial arts technique Shift only got one somewhere that could be reached through walking, failing when it came to height. Even his own Shifting Momentum didnt change the direction he was facing.
Not only had she emerged elsewhere, she had been in apletely different stance by the end of it. All without any sort of announcement by means of magic. How did you?
I decided to be elsewhere, she said and yed with his hair. Its surprisingly soft. Unlike your resolve. Everyone else I ever showed this ability tried to shake me off like a tarant crawling over their face.
That was a very fitting analogy for how John had felt in the first few moments, but the feeling was rapidly fading. Either Vita was reducing her powers or he was simply getting more used to her shenanigans. So, what are you, some sort of neswalker before the Mending of Dominaria?
I have absolutely no idea what that means, Vitaughed.
Im basically asking if youre an immortal C and I mean seriously deathless C superbeing that can just bend reality however you see fit and travel dimensions. John took a breath and then added, Of course, I already got you cant do thatst part.
The answer is no. Backing off and resuming her dancing down the stairs, Vita continued to lead them. John somewhat missed the feeling of her breasts against his back, but that was just his usual modus operandi. All I can manipte is limited to myself. My position in this world is something I can negotiate, because I own my empty soul. Where I ce its container and what I bring with me from the Nirvana, within the limits of my power, those are my choices. She let a hand glide over the railing. The mineralposition of the staircase is not under my purview, nor is the rest of the world. This maniption is not limited to teleporting C for theck of a better term C but it is the easiest application.
I cant help but feel that it barely strained you, John put forward, seeing a suspiciousck of fading on part of the pariah. Every other kind of teleport was on the definitive costly side of things. Beatrice had it the easiest, but she also had the worst one. I dont exactly feelfortable with the greatest anti-mages in the game being able to rapidly reappear wherever they want. If you also get a spell-reflection skill and the ability to burn my mana, Illin to Icefrog.
League is still better, Rave chimed in, having likely tuned out all the theoretical, philosophical fantasy babble.
I miss the old Gangnk, Vita sighed. The new one is so serious.
You y League of Legends? John asked with a raised eyebrow. Well, you DID say you were fascinated with ws dont think it gets a lot more wed than that trash fire.
Quite. They got out of the staircase area, walked through a ss door, and entered the usual corridor. John recognized the assortment of differently decorated doors by now. I apologize, once more, Vita suddenly continued.
Oh? John asked, the pariah now walking backwards to keep eye contact while she led them. For all the stuff you put me through?
Yes, no, maybe. For a moment there, John had hoped that she would be a bit more reasonable than before, but it appeared she was still herself. What I wanted to test of you, I have now found. The ws I saw are confirmed. Youre a prideful, smart, perverted, paranoid, curious, charismatic, attractive man. Where your steps go, Ill be interested to see from a distance and up close. Ill see.
See, if you were this nice from the start, we wouldnt have had any issues, John told her.
I have always been nice, Vita grinned her ufortably wide grin.
Sure. The Gamer let all his scepticism flow into that word. Anyway, Alice, are you the only nk that unlocked all of that potential or are there others? She didnt react to that question, only stared and smiled. John sighed. Totally-not-Alice, are you the only nk capable of such reality defying acts?
Yes, no, maybe, she responded. I havent checked on Nia today.
Before John could ask further things about that, the pariah opened the usual door.
Chapter 785 – Tournament of Oddities 20 – THE DOOR
Chapter 785 C Tournament of Oddities 20 C THE DOOR
John really wanted to be put at ease by the fact that the set-up for today was normal, but he just couldnt be. Even though the three judges, Moira, Lorelei and the cameras were all present, he couldnt consider today to be normal. I guess thats only natural, given the mixed experiences Ive had. The wrestling with Wendy was on an odd day, while the vision was on a day that started normal, so I cant really create a pattern, the Gamer thought as he analysed what was in the hall today.
There was a door.
It was a simple, brown nk of wood, decoratively carved. Set into a rectangle shaped frame, about two heads higher than the average person, it prevented people to go through. Only by pushing down a metal handle could one, presumably, open it and get on the other side.
That was what a door was.
With one eyebrow raised, John walked around it and towards the jurys desk, where Vita was taking her seat on the left-hand side. Hey there, stud, Wendy greeted him. Hope you had fun yesterday.
Depends on which part of yesterday you mean, John answered, looking at the cameras. By the way they were flying around, he guessed that the livestream was already running. He skipped out on mentioning Maximillian by name, just in case the gravity king had some people that he didnt want to let know where he was. The challenge, not so much, but I made up for it with the rest of the day. You know, going out on dates, stumbling over a friend in the area, things like that. And thanks to the Extension, I still had easily enough sex to get my experience and GP rewards for it, he added in his mind.
You could have visited me, Wendy sounded almost offended, shifting in clearly suggestive ways. I would have shown you a good time.
Rave giggled and walked up to the fast food goddess. In a leisurely fashion, she leaned onto the table corner next to the redhead and made a waving gesture. We thought about visiting ya, but we werent sure if ya could feel your legs again already.
Psh, yeah, he didnt take me THAT hard, Wendy crossed her arms. I doubt he even could!
Is that todays challenge? John asked with a smirk. Because Im certain I could beat that. Following his girlfriends lead, he positioned himself in front of the table and made himself as tall and broad as possible. If you think you even got half of what I can do from a little bit of oil wrestling, youre absolutely wrong.
Wendys smile was something between uncertain and lewdly ecstatic. Y-yeah, right! she returned in her usual smug tone, while shifting like a fidgety schoolgirl in front of her crush. Despite her sassy outward behaviour, she enjoyed being bullied, John found. As per usual with these kinds of things, only if it was all in good fun and not the kind of bullying the Gamer had sustained at school. Well test that some other time!
Its a promise then, John said. Ill call you.
You will?! Wendy eximed in a mixture ofmand and confusion. To say that he had her hooked would have been an understatement.
I wonder if I could get her into the harem proper or if shes too hooked on the partying life, the Gamer thought. He wasnt even sure yet if he really wanted Wendy around him all the time, he barely knew her, but the basic greed he experienced dictated that he considered it. She was, after all, an attractive woman and he was a guy whose balls were literally never empty. Every bit of his instincts was programmed to want her. As they were both sapient, there was a bit more to attraction than that, though.
Perhaps because he was ufortable with seeing them flirt or perhaps because he just wanted to get this show on the road, Jeff cleared his throat very audibly and then spoke up, As much as that will disappointment you, Mister President, your challenge today is not to make another porno.
The filming is pretty optional, so I would settle for just having sex, John retorted. Itd be nice if these challenges could be more about things Im good at. We could y chess, alternatively. Warcraft 3, maybe? Been a while since I booted that up, but Im pretty sure I could do some ghoul rush and take it from there. He looked over to Vita. I could beat you in a game of your choice and fuck you afterwards, that would serve to get rid of my frustrations toward you.
Ill consider it, the tanned pariah just calmly smiled away, that is to say, I have already decided. Normally, those kinds of statements made it rather clear what path a woman had chosen in regards to the Newman question. Vitas unchanging expression and tone made it difficult to read.
Im going to visit Nasharater, Jeff grumbled.
Well, everybody has tond with someone, the Gamer couldnt help but tease the man. Given that the caster was moderately powerful and the subus reaction to power, John couldnt imagine that it would take a lot of effort to get her to the physical part of things. If she makes you happy.
Its always a nice party with her. The hype-man didnt seem to be offended at all. Instead, he grabbed his microphone and admitted everything he cared to. Taking a bunch of drugs and then going to a swinger with a subus? Sign me the hell up every day of the week! Im a billionaire and I want to live like a billionaire, slinging my dick around!
We remind everyone that this is an adult program, Vita said, like she had done basically every day of these challenges.
And speaking of swinging! Jeff segued, his right hand pointing towards the door at the centre of the room in an overdramatized fashion, today you shall swing that bad boy open! Your challenge of the day is to walk C through C that C DOOOOOOOOORRRRRRR!!!
Johns eyebrows shot up and he looked at the door. Then he looked back at the jury. Vita seemed as cryptic as ever, Jeff was extremely hyped and Wendys smug smile was only interrupted by her words. What? You scared, Newman? Of a door?
Scared isnt the word I would use, the Gamer returned. Given that youre all varying levels of crazy, Im not sure if thats JUST a door. Also, you should call me John. We got intimate enough for that.
It is just a door, Vita assured him, making him even less sure about this whole thing.
Can I inspect it before making my bet? he asked, looking over his shoulder at the rectangle shaped barrier. For some reason, it looked somewhat menacing now. Keep the paranoia down and the logic standing, he told himself.
Sure, knock yourself out, Jeff announced and then loudlymented everything the Gamer did. John Newman, who has fought against multiple enemies of cataclysmic power AND was in the arena when Romulus fought the newly awakened Thana, is now approaching the door. He inspects it with wary eyes. Dear viewers at home, this man is currently looking at this door like you would at a te sized spider you suddenly found in your home. Unless youre Australian, then he looks at it like a drop bear.
John circled the door, waved his hand in the air around it in search of any magical strings or something of the like. Switching the settings on his contact lenses, he scanned for any illusions and found nothing. It cant be just a door well, it can, but I dont trust this, he thought and walked around it one more time.
He is prowling around the door like a cat around a mouse, absolutely unaware that he is not a predator staring at prey, but a grown man looking afraid of a wooden nk, Jeff continued. His breaths are calm, but his eyes dart over the little decorations on the door and the frame!
Hey, Wendy? John shouted.
Yeah?
Can I make Jeff shut up if he annoys me? By any means necessary?
No, the redhead denied him. Did you seriously think that? The dude still has to be able to shout about your bet and deliver his verdict at the end of the challenge! If you make him shut up, keep it to methods that leave him mostly unharmed. Wendy crossed her arms and propped up her chest. Seriously, think along, would you?
Aclysia, Bae, you heard the woman, John said and turned his back as his two maids jumped on top of the hype-man. Rubbing his chin, he sessfully ignored the protesting, the high-pitched sounds of a mishandled microphone, and Ravesughter at the entire situation. His attention stayed with the door in front of him.
Equipping Purgatory and making it engulf his left hand like usual, he glided his palm over the frame, the handle and some of the door itself. He hoped to find something with the Spellbreaker Attribute. Still, nothing. That was much more disconcerting than if he had found a death-trap.
He felt like he had arrived in an empty room with a save point, a merchant and some sort of HP recovery fountain, only to stumble into the next room and NOT find a boss. Something had to be here, his entire perception pointed towards it. Yet, all he found was a door, apletely normal door.
Well, that confirms that the door is pretty much normal at least, John thought and took two steps back to look at the surroundings. The rest of the floor was empty, as was usual. The only somewhat outstanding thing about the ground level here was the white-haired seer in the corner, chuckling about something. Moira leaned over. She must have asked what was so funny as the two exchanged a conversation so quiet John couldnt hear it. The Shield Warden then began to grin as well, as if someone had just told her a joke.
The Gamer took that information into ount. Neither Lorelei nor Moira had any investment in him getting hurt, the seer even seemed interested in him. Whatever the woman in her dark, ceremonial robe was seeing, it wasnt harmful to him. Even though he was 99% sure of that, John still found himself considering using the future sight capabilities of the Vision of Cmity lenses.
Lets look at this logically, he told himself. There are three ways this can go. Option 1 is that the vision reveals to me some sort of threat thates along with the door. The Gamer looked upwards to check if there was an anvil or something hanging under the ceiling. Nothing there. Some sort of threat that I, for the life of me, cannot find. Option 2a is that the vision shows me nothing, because the obstacle isnt actually threatening. Option 2b is that the vision shows me nothing, because this really is just a door, and Im looking like a giant idiot.
John looked over to the jurys desk, where Jeff was still struggling against his maids. Neither Vita nor Wendy gave anything away, although thetter seemed to be progressively more amused with the situation. That could easily be attributed to the forceful muting of the main caster, however.
Come on, tiger! Rave shouted. We have way better things to do today!
Do we? All I can think about is fucking, gaming, and walking around the building, he answered, just as loudly. Maybe all three at once. I did install Azur Lane again.
Ya just cant stop with the waifu collection games, can ya?
Thats your fault, you decided to have me watch anime with you until I started liking the genre, he returned. Or artform, or whatever, you know what I mean.
I know that fucking, gaming and walking around are all way more interesting than standing around here. Rave pushed herself off the table and crossed her arms. So go ahead and do what ya have to.
John nodded and, after a moment of deliberation more, decided to use the Vision of Cmity. He wasnt in any danger around here, so taking the time it took to restore the 25 Durability that using the Attribute cost wouldnt be too bad. He pulled the mental trigger, noticed his vision degrade from vastly superior to slightly above average and was then pulled into the vision.
He saw himself, still in this very room. Everything was washed out and the background blurred, but the details were clear enough. His back was facing the jury, as he continued to look at the door. Something flew at his back and he whirled around, smashing it into a myriad of pieces, manyrger than his fist. Then a cry of pain from the corner of the room, clearly Loreleis voice.
John returned to reality and looked over to the, still amused, seer. What he had just seen didnt seem to faze her whatsoever. This could easily mean that she was unaware, which in turn would have meant that the Vision of Cmity was a more powerful predictor than her abilities. Not willing to make that call, John turned towards the jurys desk. The projectile had clearlye from there.
The direction he was facing turned out to be more important than he thought, as the vision unravelled only a few seconds after he had it. In his continued struggle against the two maids, Jeff kicked the table with all of his superhuman strength. Flying at the speed of a car in the inner-city, it came straight towards John. Being somewhat on guard and knowing that smashing it would have unwanted consequences, John caught the entire thing in one hand and put it down.
He looked over to Lorelei, who nodded contently. Okay, so did she see that I would see things and therefore knew she was safe? the Gamer now asked himself. As if future sight alone wasnt confusing and inurate enough, now I have to deal with potential future sightyering.
Regardless of that problem, the door was still closed and his bet unmade. The vision had revealed fairly little, given that the event had happened before he had even pushed down the handle, but he was out of options to feed his paranoia with.
Lets just put a bit of faith into the Attribute and assume it would have prioritized something actually threatening over the minor inconvenience that would have been throwing a bit of wood at Lorelei, he made his resolution. As awkward as that would have been, I would just have apologized repeatedly and have Undine heal her. Nobody could say that was my fault. He then sent a mental signal to Aclysia and Beatrice to let go of Jeff.
Gaia almighty! he eximed and pulled his suit back into position. A task with limited sess, thanks to the deliberately goofy cut it had. That is incredibly rude! Are you always in the habit of silencing your critics?
If I was, you wouldnt be here, John told him. Youd be dead and Id beughing. Sadly, Im a person with morals, so I have to live with you most of the time. Sometimes, however, youre just annoying enough that I can justify shutting you up. Anyway, I want to make my bet now.
Alright, then! Jeff acted like he hadnt heard any of what the Gamer had just said and jumped to his feet, pointing at the screen above. Lets see what conditions have been cleared so far!
What do you want to bet today, John Newman?
Florida will receive the privilege to send its recruits to its own division of specialists, rather than be drafted to a regr formation. That is Fusions demand for todays challenge, he announced.
He was now operating under the assumption that this really was just a door. Everything he had tried pointed towards it and he had already crossed the point where it was silly to assume anything so bad it could have stopped him from getting through a door. As for the demand he made, John had figured that notable recruits from Florida wouldnt work that well in a rigid military formation anyway, so it was best to just put them into some other division he could stillmand. Everyone who wasnt a weirdo, which was likely the silent majority who just epted the public fucking without being a raving lunatic, could still choose to go into the regr army. It was the closest he could get to in terms of the best of both worlds.
The bet is made! NOW! WILL HE BE ABLE TO GET C THROUGH C THAT C DOOOOOORRRR?!
John turned to face his obstacle, although he still had his doubts. He took one more breath, then suddenly pulled his shoulders back and marched on ahead without any hesitation. It was important that he looked resolute now that he had made his decision. He grabbed the handle and pushed it down. The door was locked. Really? John thought and sighed, blowing out the lock with a quick Arc Lance. Creaking and swinging open at the next attempt, the Gamer stepped through the door.
Fusion Victory.
Chapter 786 – Tournament of Oddities 21 – The home affairs
Chapter 786 C Tournament of Oddities 21 C The home affairs
I suppose getting one Quest every two challenges is still pretty nice, the Gamer thought while he went through the text. I dont like the sound of those goals. I dont like them at all. Do they have some mechanism that can kill and then revive me or is it the traditional live for this amount of time kind of challenge? He sighed out loud and the window disappeared, when his actual body over in Florida pressed the button. Guess Ill see tomorrow. Not like I will be punished for failing the Quest.
He got the experience just for being there so, even if he immediately surrendered, he was guaranteed around two levels for something that he would have gone to anyway. The optional reward was something he seriously should chase after though. It would be a tremendous quality of life improvement and meant he didnt have to switch back to Elementalist all the time, just for the chance to get that sted Synchronize perfectly with three elementals at the same time challenge done.
Not that having the Elementalist ss on at most times was a drawback. It had the best passive bonuses of any ss, giving extra Stats to all his elementals, so he wanted it active anyway. It was just nice to have ease of mind with these things.
So that was that fucking thing, Eliza said from her position in hisp. Her back was pressed against his chest, his arms were slung around her shoulders and her tight, little pussy gripped his cock like a mould fit around a freshly cast sword. Except this case was constricting around him with pleasurable pulses as the muscles inside the submissive, pale girl twitched. Whats it like seeing yourself on the stream?
Not that much different from seeing myself in a video, he told her, enjoying just the entirety of the situation. Having a lover that was two sizes smaller than him enabled a level of protective cuddling that just pandered to certain instincts. No wonder most men tend to want to have shorter girlfriends, he thought.
You watch videos of yourself? Eliza asked in a mocking tone. How much of an egotistical ass can you be?
It helps with figuring out how to present myself properly, John told her, squishing her entire body, just because he could. Charisma gives me an intuitive understanding about these things, but its better to do at least some practicing, you know? He reached out to theptop, groaning a bit as the motion made her shift around him, and then dragged the timeline back by about thirty seconds. The picture changed on theptop and therge television they had in the living room. See this? This is the exact moment Imunicate to myself how I look on stream.
He was showing her the moment he turned to face the door and the little pause he had shown there. Because of the way he then seamlessly mustered his resolve, he managed to eliminate any feelings of hesitation the scene had and reced it with pure confidence. Pure confidence that the Gamer, in that situation, had not had.
A leader has to think of optics, he told her. There is an example thats often cited where Ronald Reagan met Gorbachev in Geneva. Although it was quite cold at the time, Reagan refuses to wear a coat and hops down the stairs as youthfully as he can to meet the Soviet leader. They shake hands and, despite being 20 years older, Reaganes across as more dynamic and energetic than his opposite, whose body is almost entirely hidden by the coat.
John stopped for a moment to indulge in one of his favourite things, smelling the hair of the girls he loved. Eliza had that natural sweet smell that well-maintained women had, just cranked up to thirteen. Whatever pheromones the human body could exude, the blood mages state as something gically superior to the average person made her natural aroma that much more enticing. Luckily, her evolution left her close enough to bear his children. Something extremely important for her and increasingly seductive to John.
I know that photo and its not that fucking impressive, Eliza told him.
John nodded, he tended to agree. I think the example is overblown, but the point stands. In the minds of many and, in a lot of ways, in reality, I represent the entirety of Fusion. If I look weak, thats an issue. Granted, any hesitation I showed at the end there is probably overshadowed by the entire overanalysing of the door.
Which makes you look like a totally overcautious jackass.
Sure, it also makes me look thoughtful, though, John told her. Careful to not wager anything important on a spur of the moment decision. Anyway he put on some nice jazz music and then got off theptop, lets leave the essays of how my behaviour was or wasnt appropriate to the journalists. Right now, I only care about you. He pinched her left nipple and got a tiny, lustful sigh from her. Youre adorable, he whispered into her ear.
No, stop! she shouted, blushing so heavily her pale skin went from a blue to a purple tinge. Im not cute or any of that shit! Im just a useless piece of meat that you find attractive for some reason. I dont deservepliments;pliments are for attractive girls that dont drown in depression and actually do productive fuckery with their lives. I
Eliza, John interrupted her, grabbing the underside of her chin and pulling her head back. His voice rang with mild anger. You know my rules C nobody gets to insult what is mine. And, just so we arepletely clear, remind me whose you are?
Yours, she answered immediately, her self-deprecating tone reced with lustful gasps. Im yours.
Thats right, good girl, heplimented in a much softer voice. He reached down between her legs with his other hand, rubbing her clit with slow, methodical movements as he continued to talk. Youre my Eliza. A girl with a killer body and beautiful thighs. Youre gorgeous, youre a submissive masochist that knows exactly how to deal with my vast urges. Youre a great artist, a person that continues wonderfully to recover from a lot of trauma and your presence alone is a great deterrent for anyone that wants to harm me. You have a lot of great qualities.
He had a lot more to say about what was lovely about her, but he stopped short due to her squirming in his arms. As ack of moans bore testimony to, she was genuinely ufortable with all of thosepliments. Before she got some sort of embarrassment attack from being treated too well, it had happened in the past, John decided to give her something she was morefortable with.
Now, ve, he growled in his bedroom voice, get on the floor and present yourself. Show me that you can at least follow orders, you wonderful slut.
Yes, Master. She sounded more relieved than horny and rose off his cock to follow his orders.
____________________________________________________________________________
Ehehehehehe, Eliza was smirking like the well-filled cumdump that she currently was. Holding onto Johns arm, she continued to giggle while they walked. Master used me good, hehehehe. It would have been a bit creepy if he didnt know her so well.
You try to be me and not constantly want to use you, John told her. Do you know how many men would give their left hand to have someone like you?
Anyone who would willingly cripple themselves to get the privilege of getting to deal with me and my issues is a giant fucking moron. Stabbing at his side with one finger she looked at him. Like you! That I want to carry your genes into the next generation is just as smart as an inquisitor whipping his wife for not telling him what his birthday present will be. As a matter of fucking fact, crossing your absolute idiocy with my bitching lunacy is guaranteed to produce some awful monstrosity.
Sure, but itll be our awful monstrosity, John joked and fondled her butt. In doing so, he didnt just touch skin, but also leather. As many times as he had cum inside her, she had needed to put on her usual outfit to keep the semen from drooling out, even after the shower. The thong alone would have done on that end, but it just looked better when she was also wearing the bra, and John had a definitive hard-on for those thigh-high leather boots.
I want to have your fucking baby so bad! Eliza suddenly cried out. No, fuck it, babies, plural! Give me eight of those! Just breed me with that giant cock of yours again and again until I forget what its like to not be pregnant! Taking her hands off his arm, she grabbed his shoulder and began to shake him. TALK TO ME, YOU SHITHEAD, WHEN ARE WE BREEDING!?!
Youre really moody today, he pointed out, unbothered by the way his field of view was torn left to right and back again repeatedly. His Extensioncked the biological parts that would have taken issue with such a treatment.
Urgh, sorry, Eliza let go and pouted, must be because I know youre not here I mean, you are. You absolutely fucking are right here. You smell the same, sound the same, fuck the same, but I know youre somewhere else. She reached down to the Lovers Will mark and her womb behind it. Also that youre shooting some magical recement and not the genuine stuff. Of all the fucking things my supreme senses notice that could give you off as a double, its the fucking fact that there are not even useless swimmers in this semen. Its just some pseudo-cum liquid. Its still fucking awesome, but its just not the same!
I could point out that I am not only shooting nks but youre also on birth control. However, youre clearly aware and this doesnt sound like I can talk you out of it with logic, John remarked.
Oh, right! Eliza must have remembered something. I wanted to ask you if you cared if I had the birth control removed.
Why? John raised an eyebrow.
Because its about as useless as a dismembered pantomime screaming in pain. Her metaphor was as flowery as they always were. The only one who I will ever let fuck me is you anyway. I may be a useless bitch, but Im a loyal bitch. Since you can tell your impregnation tadpoles to stay away from my eggs anyway, I dont really see why I should keep them locked up.
Good point John slowly admitted, wondering why he found himself with an immediate wish to reject her assertion. When he realized what it was, he said it out loud. It would be really dangerous, you know that, right?
Eliza grinned from ear to ear. Whatever could you mean, Master? she asked in her sweetest tone. Afraid that youll lose control, switch that shit back on during sex and knock me up without thinking about it? Because I totally dont hope that happens.
You remember we have an agreement, right? You get your baby after Rave gets her vows.
Yeah and the reasonable part of me understands that and that I shouldnt really have kids while a depressed goddess of genocide mopes around inside, too much of an unstable cunt to confront her growing humanity and stop annoying me with her shitty interruptions every few weeks, Eliza rambled down only to moan, but I really fucking want to be breeeeeeed.
Hard to argue with that, John returned and scratched the back of his head. Anyway, to your point, I dont mind if you take the birth control off. Excitedly, Eliza wobbled where she stood. If it happens, then thatll be on me and Ill take responsibility.
He couldnt deny that Eliza being basically one button click away from impregnation at all times gave him a giant hard-on. The ability to dictate whenever he was ready to knock her up presented a level of control he had never considered. It would be a struggle sometimes, but he thought himself disciplined enough to withstand the temptation. Which was just anotheryer of debauchery on his love life. That aside, she waspletely right. There was no need to wait until the engagement for her to get rid of whatever the Apothecaries had done to keep her temporarily infertile.
Yesssssssss, she hissed and got back to hugging his arm. Love you!
Just remember to only go to a female doctor or Medelnick! he told her. It was one of his admittedly illogical hang-ups that he didnt want any man to touch his girls intimate areas, even if it was for a purely medical purpose. If it was necessary, he knew he would cave fairly quickly. As long as they had the luxury, he insisted on it.
Medelnick, who he had first met when bringing Tamara over for inspection of her blood addiction, was an exception due to the notable fact that he was a eunuch with no Libido to speak of. He was less of a male, and more just a in human. Paired with a notable skill in his craft and a willingness to stay within the ethical boundaries that Fusion set, he was the perfect candidate to be Johns go-to Apothecary.
No need to get jealous, John, Eliza said and nibbled on his arm, for some iprehensible reason. I already said, the only one I ever want inside me is you. You and your stupidly fat, giant, wonderful cock. She pulled on him to make them continue their way down the hallway. Lets get going, Velka is hungry!
I think thats up for debate, John told her, and they continued on in their path.
The second they opened the door, there was an excited meow from the Magryph. Her ck and white head peeked over the edge of one of the higher tforms and she meowed a second time, before vanishing for half a second. Then she began to move with something in her beak. Jumping down one tform,nding on another one and then following the pathway along the wall down, she met them at the feeding table. Proudly, she put down a polished pearl, presenting it by nudging it toward Eliza.
You did it, you stup- fu- Eliza bit the inside of her cheek and fell silent for a second. Chuckling, John watched her attempts to keep the curses down. You did it, you bird! she finally got out a very iplete feeling sentence and reached out to take the pearl and look at it for a little bit. Velka had other ns, grabbing Elizas pinkie with her beak and pulling her towards her back. Good Velka. The blood mage didnt mind and gave the cat-sized chimera a nice series of back scratches, while John went to inspect the riddle he had put down for her.
She had indeed solved it. The removable bits had been stacked at the side in a surprisingly ordered fashion, with all the knobs and handles turned or moved. Alright, so she is capable of basic problem solving now, he thought. Eliza, remind me to lock the door when we leave, he told the blood mage.
Like you a- could wipe anything from your orgasm powered harddrive if you fu- FUCK! Eliza screamed and John turned around, concerned Velka may have scratched her or something. Instead, he found the blood mage mming a hand in front of her mouth and a startled Velka sitting on her butt and quietly warbling in a confused fashion.
What just happened? the Gamer wanted to know.
I got frustrated with the fact I shouldnt curse, so I cursed extra loudly reflexively Eliza mumbled and ashamedly looked down on the floor. You can give me a dunce hat now or something
Ill give you a spankingter, dont you worry, John joked and walked over to give her a quick kiss. In the first ce, he wasnt that concerned about Velka learning some bad words. That was a restriction Eliza had decided to put on herself entirely on her own. Anyway, look at that.
She followed the direction he was pointing at and spotted the bowl with normal cat food that they had ced there. Of the amount they had put in there, there was clearly a fair bit missing. Some of it had been scattered over the nearby floor, but not enough to make up for more than a quarter of it.
Aww, shes growing up. Eliza sounded equally sad and excited about that. Then she got back to giving Velka head pats. Once youre an adult, I wont feel bad about cussing like a horny sailor around you anymore.
The Magryph had no idea what any of that meant and only meowed and warbled because she was happy with the general attention. Who knows, maybe shell get strong enough to carry you, small as you are, John teased the white and blue haired blood mage and got himself stomped on the naked foot for that. Thankfully, she had enough control over her strength nowadays to do so without breaking his bones.
Youre an as- an a- an ace of spades! Eliza stammered in search of something to insult him with.
And youre precious, John told her and stroked her head with more intimacy than he could have ever mustered for a mere pet. He ran his hand over her soft, wild and silky hair, then carefully brushed a few strands behind her ear.
Apparently?! Her voice cracked as she answered.
Good thing youre willing to be mine forever, he said while bowing down. Because I cant give you up.
They kissed one more time.
Chapter 787 – Tournament of Oddities 22 – Going to Confession
Chapter 787 C Tournament of Oddities 22 C Going to Confession
Were not going to the hall today? John asked, when Wendy led them towards the front exit. It was the second tost day of the challenges, and he was rather thankful about that fact. He almost missed the paperwork at this point. Spending every day wondering what insanity would await him wasnt exactly de-stressing, despite the beautiful environment.
Especially this morning. He had spent the time from waking up until now wondering if he should use the Vision of Cmity again. Since the Quest had already given him a warning that there was something nastying his way today, knowing what it would be could have been advantageous. That he would have to sacrifice uracy in his sight to gain that knowledge, however, made it a trade-off he wasnt willing to take. Whatever he would be facing, he would face it whether he knew what it was or not. If he had to survive five minutes around it, a short vision of what it looked like and how it could harm him would do rtively little good.
Much better to keep his eyesight at superhuman levels.
Nah, Wendy answered.
Well, where are we going then? John asked. Id appreciate it if you would at least tell me where youre going to put me into life-threatening danger.
Wat? Wendy responded in a memey way. Today is going to be chill, dude, no need to be so paranoid.
John raised an eyebrow and used Observe to verify that she was saying the truth. Nothing about her emotions indicated that she was lying, but otherwise the window was pretty nondescript. In other words, the Gamer didnt get a confirmation either way. Slightly frustrating, but Observe has never been the most reliant tool, he thought as they left the building.
Outside waited Vita, Moira and Lorelei. The presence of the seer served to somewhat calm John. If something incredibly dangerous would have happened today, she shouldnt have been present. Unless, of course, that threatening thing was specifically tailored to him. John weighed his options again. If this was some sort of third-party involvement that threatened him, then using Vision of Cmity made perfect sense again.
But why would it be part of my Quest then? he wondered and decided to walk over to the two members of the Order of the Golden Rose. Before he expended any of his own resources, it was best to request some information from the person with actual foresight around. Alternatively, he could have asked Vita, but he didnt expect to get anything more than a non-answer and a headache when he tried to confirm things with Observe. Hey,dies, he greeted and got himself a surprisingly warm wee by Moira.
Which only meant that, rather than stare at him like someone she considered changing the side of the road for, she gave him a patient nod. A good morning to you too, John, she said and then looked over to his entourage, Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice, my greetings. The maids were actually positively surprised, Aclysia much more so than Beatrice, that Moira had taken the time to learn their names and actually greeted them as well. In unison, they bowed.
Sup? Rave asked in greeting and grabbed her boyfriends arm. I notice ya arent keeping to some corner today.
We were assured that there would be no cameras, the Shield Warden answered, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Like usual, she wore her hair open and some practical summer clothes hid as much of her body as she couldpromise with the heat. Thus, there is no reason for us to hide ourselves.
Wonder if that extends to our little seer here as well, John thought, devouring Lorelei with his eyes. The usual, ritualistic clothes were gone and reced with a white summer dress with a pencil skirt. She had way more in the hips and backside department than he would have originally guessed. This type of dress was already cut to sit rather tight and her butt stretched that to the limits of what could have beenfortable for her to wear. He also got to see a bit more of her face, although that extra bit, her forehead, wasnt exactly something he would call enticing. Her eyes were hidden betweenrge, pitch ck sunsses and her braided hair was covered by an illusion, masking the white as tinum blonde instead.
Like almost always when Johns attention focused on her, Lorelei started to blush. Cutely, she folded her hands in front of herself, pulling her shoulders together and lowering her head. What was meant to make her look as small as possible made her breasts stand out tremendously, as they were framed and partly squished between her arms. There was no escaping from the Gamers lecherous gaze.
John opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but was interrupted by Wendy. You can chat on the way. If you could follow us out of the barrier, then I would believe you have the very basic abilities of an Abyssal and half a brain.
Alright then. The Gamer obeyed, and all of them left the barrier. Wendy and Vita marched ahead, one looking like a cosyer and the otherpletely invisible to the public. Where is Jeff, by the way? Did you tell him the wrong time again?
No, he said he didnt want to bother tagging along for something he couldntmentate on. Cant me him, he was busy having a threesome with Nashara and some other slut, responded Wendy swiftly, causing Moira to cross her arms.
Fornicating with demons is tasteless, the Warden dered.
Shes just a bitch in permanent heat, that girl wont hurt anybody. The goddess of fast food stretched, clearly bored by that discussion. No need to get your panties in a bunch and apply hammer diplomacy. I know, I know, thats really hard for someone who is the exact opposite of delicate like a golden rose, but some things actually look better if you dont tten them with a weapon.
I didnt say she was in need of purging, Moira returned. If you were allowing demons of clear malevolence to live with you, I wouldnt be so courteous. I said it was tasteless.
Whatever. Wendy waved off, leaving the Warden to pay attention to John again.
To speak of tasteless things, I must say I was rather put off by the trial I first witnessed in person. Seeing you so eagerly have sex with a woman you barely know in front of your already considerable harem is not exactly behaviour I condone. John could have interrupted her with a quip there, but he felt that there was a follow-up iing. However, your conduct during thest two challenges I, personally, found rather admirable.
Really? John asked with a raised eyebrow. I copsed in one and spent like ten minutes inspecting a simple door in the other.
If you break it down to such simplicity, your actions seem pretty mundane or downright paranoid. Shaking her head, Moira made it clear that she did not see it that way. However, given what you copsed in front of, I begrudgingly admire your resolve. The blessing the Lady has seen fit to give you has clearly made standing up to one of these void catssss- She reached up to her head and sharply exhaled. One of those things even more challenging than for the average person. By the Lady, its like someone is distributing ss shards inside my brain.
Try thinking about something you like C visual at best, John advised her. The less you try to recall something you arent equipped to understand, the less it will hurt.
Rubbing her temples for a few seconds, Moira then nodded and sighed in relief. That does make it easier, thank you. Where was I? Blinking, she recalled and continued, Ah, yes, while your decision to inspect that door in so much detail looked rather silly, it was nice to have it confirmed that you actually do think a lot about what you do. It makes it easier to believe what you told me earlier this week.
Well, d it was somewhat useful then, John told her.
Alternatively, ya could, ya know, just trust me and my tiger here, Rave chimed in. We still did more good than harm on the world stage. WAY more. Fact alone that we helped stomp out themies and stopped the one-eyed battle maniac should count for something.
There really is no saying when Sigmund would have decided to make his merry way over to you, John added with a joking smirk. In a way you owe me something.
Maybe, we never encountered him so we do not know how much a threat he really was, Moira retorted and there was a moment of silence.
John used that to pivot the topic towards the thing he had wanted to know originally. Lorelei, would you mind if I pry a little bit?
That depends on the subject, honoured Gamer, she responded swiftly, her diligent tone unbothered by her earlier embarrassment. It looked like she had gotten a handle on it by now, she even smiled visibly while she spoke. If it is not covered by confidentiality, Id be happy to assist you.
I would say its about as covered as your curves are today, John took the opportunity for a little flirt. Sorry, I couldnt resist. The dress suits you.
I- thank you, Gam-
We had this already, call me John, Lorelei, he told her with his most charming smile. There is no need to be so formal.
I will attempt to be more friendly with you, J-John, she said, everything perfectly normal, if a bit embarrassed, until she suddenly stumbled over his name. Afterwards, she turned a bit red. I usually wear more modest clothes or those befitting of a ritual. It pleases me to hear you enjoy my sight.
Moira opened her mouth for a second, looked at the seer, at John and then just shook her head. What was that about? John wondered. It had all the signs of the Warden wanting to say something. Did they have a talk about her reactions to me, perhaps? I cant imagine Moira to be particrly approving of any potential rtionship I have with her seer. A confrontation on the topic was very unlikely to get him any answers, so he stayed with his original inquiry. To the point, I have reason to believe that Ill be in danger during todays challenge and I would like to confirm that its noting from any third party. Have you seen anyplications for today?
My own future is secure, to search for more, Id need your permission to scan your aura and ask for the Ladys guidance, Lorelei answered, her body shifting noticeably at the mention of his aura. If youd like me to, I could try, but Im afraid it might leave me distracted.
John wasnt sure if she actually meant that such a use of her powers would have a short-term detriment or if the detailed tangling with his aura would leave her panties soaked. With his current state of knowledge, thetter was a lot more likely. Which just motivated him more to do this. If thats the only drawback, Id like you to try C if you dont mind, of course.
It could also be that I receive visions of your written past, not just your potential future, Lorelei warned. I mighte to know things you would rather keep hidden. If I keep my touch light and only search for a general feeling in the future, rather than clear images, then I can minimize the risk.
Ah. John reconsidered for a few seconds. What was there to hide in his past? A lot of government secrets, but nothing so shady that he would be more than slightly irked if the Order came to know them. Otherwise, just embarrassing stuff, basically anything that was older than fourteen months. As long as Im agreeing to it, I dont mind sharing some space in my mind, he slowly said. It wasnt the entire truth, he still was ufortable with the idea, but he wasnt angry as he was at paparazzi or other forms of spies. If you want to, I would be willing to take the risk.
It would be my honour to aid you, chosen of the Lady. Lorelei bowed her head. To serve someone such as you is the privilege of a Varnik.
I really like her, Aclysia chimed in for a second. Her approval of the seer grew with every interaction she had with John.
Give me your hand and we can begin, the white-haired woman continued. This is not a ritual those unaware of the Ladys children can notice.
John extended his right towards her. The moment she took his hand between hers, he felt something odd around it. Her aura intertwined with his, calm, warm and friendly. For a moment, he expected that this connection would grow until he could share the vision with her, but she let go before the feeling could grow any more intense.
Her steps wobbled for a few moments, as if she was drunk or otherwise confused. Letting out a number of excited breaths through her open mouth, she seemed almost as turned on as she had been following the oil wrestling challenge. John wanted to offer her his arm. Protectively, Moira got herself between John and Lorelei.
If you touched her now, there would be a scene, the Warden justified her action, although it was pretty obvious she was just universally unhappy with how overtly sexual their interactions were in tone. Shrugging, John let her do as she wanted. Not only was he certain he would get more chances to test what kind of interest Lorelei exactly had in him (and how his own in her would manifest in time) but those two were obviously friends. Pushing himself past Moira to help the seer would likely have done more harm than good in terms of the Rtionship Score.
After Lorelei somewhat stabilized, John asked, Did you see anything?
The Lady showed me nothing of importance, Lorelei responded, which only confused John a whole lot more.
Okay, so Wendy seemed honestly surprised at the suggestion that there could be danger today, Observe was extremely neutral, Lorelei hasnt seen anything for herself or me, but the Quest makes it pretty clear that there is something that I need to survive. The only connecting element here is Gaia wait a second, could it be He had spent so much time talking and pondering that he only now noticed that Wendy and Vita were already on the steps of a small church. Is this where were supposed to go? he asked, having an extremely bad feeling about all of this.
Yeah, were going to make you do a confession, Wendy grinned. Cant imagine youre going to like that very much.
I wouldnt, but I think something else entirely is going o- he started, only to be interrupted by a sudden change in the air, coinciding with Vita perking up and a window appearing in front of him.
The entire group was gripped by an irresistible force that not even Vita could neutralize. They were pulled into the church, or perhaps it would be more urate to say that space was warped around them so they suddenly found themselves inside the church. Whatever it was, they allnded at the end of the aisle inside the small hall.
It was barely big enough for 40 people, the benches lined up between a small number of columns that gave the hall that Christian faith charm in decoration and cement. A stained-ss window behind the altar cast light down onto the hallway.
You always figure things out, dont you? Gaia asked, manifesting out of a momentary tear in space, directly in front of therge, wooden cross. The supernatural grip on the group faded and left them stand on their own two feet. A tad toote today, however.
The supreme deity hadnt changed since John hadst seen her on the morning after his birthday. A Mediterranean tan gave colour to the smooth skin of the rtively small woman. Her ck dress was covered in ever-shifting lines of ever-shifting colours, three of the four strands of its skirt hovering aimlessly around her, just like the illogically curly, wild torrent of green hair. It was like her very own tornado followed the movements of her head.
Thest strand that covered her modesty was pressed between her crossed legs, specifically her beautifully meaty thighs. Part of that truly divine ass of hers was visible through the slits of her dress, even more of it was visible thanks to the angle. It was the only ass in existence that John felt rivalled the one of his girlfriend. When it came to the chest department, she had more moderate equipment, which was a charm on its own. Her face was drop dead gorgeous, mostly southern European with slight Asian undertones. The green eyes with the two ck circles, crossed by seven lines each, stared at him, waiting for a response.
To be fair, I dont usually make you a suspect in the things going on around me, John said and pulled his shirt back into position.
My Lady, Loreleis voice was filled to the brim with veneration. I-I your radiance overwhelms even the snippets of your vastness that I perceived in my dreams. Next to her, Moira didnt even have words, simply falling to her knees like a knight before a king.
Yeah, yeah, I get that a lot, Gaia answered and smiled benevolently. Not as much as I should, though, youre a good girl, Lorelei.
Thank you, my divine Lady!
This next part isnt for you though, so Id ask you to stay put elsewhere. You can ask me that question burning under your nails over there. It wasnt exactly a request, as Gaia just snapped her fingers and Lorelei was gone as if she had never been there.
Im just going to assume you split yourself into two entities, given that youre still here? John asked the supreme deity.
Im omnipresent, I can be wherever I want at different or the same time, Gaia confirmed the Gamers theory on the matter. Not that it had been up for debate. Anyway, I decided to weigh in on this insanity you call a series of challenges.
Sounds like a bother, John sighed.
A giant bother! Wendy echoed.
You should be honoured to be tested by the Lady herself! Moira reprimanded more intensely than she had ever before. With what arrogance do you dare to dismiss her like that, you he-
Calm down, Moira, Gaia interrupted, and the Shield Warden immediately fell silent. This guy has never been much for respect towards me, hes a lost cause in that way. Luckily, hes also entertaining, so its alright. Not that I can say the same for grease queen over there. Wendy would have possibly responded with something, but Gaia made a casual pinching gesture and the fast food goddess mouth was glued shut. There is a misconception you have, however, Shield Warden. This isnt just a test for the Gamer C I decided that youre all due for a reality check.
Golden light filled the entire church for a moment, then quickly began to coalesce into a shape. One that John had never managed to get a clear view on, but was now granted asting presence in the material world.
The angel was a woman, that much was clear. Although her body missed most details, the form of it was clearly feminine, a bnced hourss figure with nothing about her immediately standing out too much. She clearly wasntpletely present, her skin was of a metallic gold, radiated softly and overall reminded John more of a mannequin than a flesh and blood human. Her hair was a white streak between fire and water, less a bundle of strands than energy attached to her scalp. Only her eyes seemed human, verdant orbs, the same colour as Gaias and of life itself.
Now then, Lucifrena, I have a task for you, the supreme deity stated and exchanged a long nce with the angel. It would be unbing for you to disobey, wouldnt it?
In answer, the angel sprouted six wings.
Chapter 788 – Tournament of Oddities 23 – vs Lucifrena
Chapter 788 C Tournament of Oddities 23 C vs Lucifrena
Jesus fucking Christ, John managed to exim and immediately drew the ire of the angel through his words. Hesitant or not, Lucifrena was going to follow the orders of Gaia and the Gamerpletely understood why. Regardless, seeing the metallic, golden wings of hers spread out was intimidating.
Each of them stretched out about two metres. Although impressive, they were smaller than the single pair she had manifested withst time he had seen her. Not a thought that lingered too long in Johns head. His previous suspicion about them being hollow was confirmed when the feathers of one pair of wings shifted positions like window shutters, all of the quill tips pointing outwards. His previous suspicion was almost confirmed, as the resulting gaps revealed radiant bones. Thin constructs of energy under the uppermost row of feathers, leaving everything else on the inside empty.
John immediately jumped to the side, and to his surprise, actually seeded in dodging the storm of lighting his way. Each of the hundreds of feathers turned their own thin, broad streak of golden energy. They all crossed through the point where he had stood, miraculously not colliding with each other, and then spread out into a cone.
Rolling off and immediately getting on his feet, the Gamer looked around. The rest of the group had also moved away from the centre of the room as quickly as possible, and nobody seemed to have gotten hurt. Aclysia, Rave and Wendy were by his side; Beatrice, Vita and Moira found themselves on the other. The Warden hastily put on her battle regalia.
John cast Possession on a nearby pir to keep eyes on the target, while checking the damage to the room atrge with his own eyes. All of theunched feathers were stuck in whatever part of the church they had hit. The bare part of the quill waspletely sunk in, no matter the material, with the rest of the golden feathers sticking out.
That doesnt look too bad, John thought, being cautiously optimistic. Then there was a sudden glimmer from every single feather and a sound like arge number of sses shattering at the same time. The feathers extended and changed into luminescent crystal crosses, cracking open the walls, splintering wood and extending their sharp points half a metre into the air and into the sides. The entirety of the church was ripped apart by the very same symbol it worshipped, minus the body of Christ. Nevermind. How are your eyes? John asked his girlfriend.
Uh, fine, why? she asked.
Becausest time someone looked at her with normal eyes, it had some adverse effects, to put it mildly, he told her.
Luci, Gaiained from above the proper cross, youre supposed to test them, not give them a warning shot. Get to it properly.
The angel hung her head, and John had the feeling that if there had been a mouth to vocalize with, she would have sighed. The second row of wings was dissolved, the feathers forming a t circle around her. All of the quills were pointing outwards, the angle slightly different between feathers.
COVER! John shouted the obvious, before hurriedly getting behind one of the many pirs. It wasnt broad enough to even give cover just to him. Aclysia and the quickly manifesting Gnome and Undine put their own bodies between the enemy and the less sturdy members of the group.
In an explosion of strands, the golden cascade of energy spread throughout the entire room. Gnome was forced two steps backwards, Aclysia three, and Undines spread out body looked like water that was frozen solid in the middle of boiling. Regardless, all three managed to take the hits meant for Rave, John, and the rest of the elementals now manifesting in his proximity.
Attack! hemanded mentally, and Siena, Sylph and Smander were on their way, with Rave close on their heels, cat ears sprouting from her head. As intense as her Spellpower was, Lucifrena had poor physical Stats. If they could rush her, there was a chance for a deciding blow before this could continue.
As they charged, the fired salvo of feathers exploded into crosses. As if the initial impact hadnt been bad enough, the growing crystals took further chunks of HP out of them, putting all three of them to below half. While they simply blew holes into Undines mass and then fell to the floor, the multitude of crosses were stuck in the two solid girls and prevented immediate regeneration. Over half a dozen were stuck in each. John got to quick work to help remove them. The quicker Undine could heal herself and them, the better. His mana flowed in aid of the same goal.
Im a cooking goddess, why did I get tangled up in this?! Wendy wanted to know, likely from Gaia, while she grabbed one of the crystal crosses and yanked it out of Gnome. The autumn elemental didntin, only feeling relief when there was no longer a foreign object lodged into her shoulder. If there was a silver lining to any of this, it was that there were no hooks or edges to those crosses.
Through the eyes of Beatrice, John followed the engagement of the angel. The passive maid was charging much like Rave and the remaining elemental girls were. At her side were Moira and Vita. None of them had been hurt in any fashion, although the pariah looked a bit more translucent than was pleasant. Wielding herrge, jet ck knife, the dark-haired woman seemed more concentrated than John had ever seen her before.
Unknowing of her exact abilities, the group of assants avoided the two pairs of energy constructs that remained of the otherwise depleted wings and attacked from the left front. A barrage of lightning and fire preceded a series of attacks by the rest of the group. A stab from Beatrice, an aggressive lunge from Rave, an overhead hammerstrike from Moira, all went down and shed against thest pair of wings. Having suddenly switched into the uppermost position on her back, the feathers ovepped into a protective cocoon. No matter how much they leaned against it, none of them were able to get through.
John barely noticed that Vita vanished, and a momentter, the protectiveyer of feathers melted together into a solid wall of energy that then ripped outwards at a massive pace. Combatants were forced back and blinded, John was thrown back against the wall just as he pulled thest cross out of Aclysia, and ultimately, the wall itself gave in. The church copsed all around him. Whateverbat awareness John had was buried under the omnipresent dust and rubble all around him.
It didnt take too long for some of his shared senses to allow him to get a hold of the situation again. At the speed of thought, hemunicated orders to his familiars, just as most of them burst out of the stone of the now ruined church.
Mostly ruined church. Perhaps as a miracle, or, more likely, by design of the angel, the altar had remained untouched. Even the copsed ceiling had avoided it, although that was more likely thanks to the supreme deity, who hovered above the cross and continued to watch over thebat. Neither she nor Lucifrena had moved one step since the start ofbat.
Vita suddenly appeared a metre in front of the golden humanoid, standing in the rubble without a speck of dust or a single cut on her. In return, the angel had a stab wound in her stomach that perfectly fit the shape of the pariahs knife. Likely, she had teleported underneath the defences and just stabbed, which caused Lucifrena tosh out. To no surprise, the nk was remarkably effective against an enemy entirely made from and reliant on magic.
I told you to take this seriously! Gaia chimed in again.
I dont want to know what serious looks like, John mumbled and turned to run. Not because he was afraid, but because he wanted to stand somewhere where he could delegate his mana to more productive tasks than serving as his protection. He would have hidden inside a building, but Gaia had reced everything but the church with a simple grassy in.
Vita, on the other hand, was eager to press her advantage. Charging in a straight line, the dark-haired pariah was willing to exploit her vastly superior speed to decide things as quickly as possible. A first stab at Lucifrenas shoulder was sessful, the angel simply standing there uncaringly. When Vita smiled and moved to drag the weapon through the reincarnated humans torso, her arm was grabbed and unable to move.
A pair of Lucifrenas energy bones had separated from her back and fused into a halo that was now hovering behind her head. The flickering of her hair trailed through the centre of the circle as it faded into the air.
Vita tried to pull back, but suddenly found herself physically inferior and at the mercy of the slightly smaller woman. [Eradication] The word the pariah uttered sounded like it did not properly belong in the category of sonic phenomena. It was the absence of power, like someone eradicated parts of Johns hearing to formte that word in their stead.
A thin, white wave of energy ripped outwards and separated the angels left arm from her body. It fell like a rock in the ocean, only slowly sinking as the energy drifted apart. WATCH OUT! Moira shouted at the pariah, who wore a triumphant smile on her face for just long enough for Lucifrena to stab her through the stomach with a spear of light. The tip of it was made by a closely intertwined double helix,pletely fused at the end. The weapon, like the halo, had formed by two of the bones fusing together.
Vita disappeared again, swallowed by simple nothing, and reappeared close to John. Blood spurted from the hole in her abdomen, an oddly light red fluid, with swirls of ck and white flowing within it. They took shapes moremonly associated with kaleidoscopes or LSD trips than running blood. How interesting, the dark-haired pariah just said. John wasnt even sure if she meant her own blood or the enemy, who he Observed once more.
Well, this is going to be an issue, John mumbled as he inspected the buffed Stats and delegated Undine to heal the nk. They would need whatever help they could get. Im mostly certain that we wont die here. Its not Gaias style and that Lucifrena angel, reincarnated person, woman, whatever, has been holding back so far. If Im supposed tost five minutes here, I dont like my chances.
Moira did not seem to share his pessimism. Taking a stance in the rubble of the church and beating her hammer against her shield. I will face whatever test you see fit to ce in my way, my Lady.
Good, I have expectations of you and the Order C high ones, Gaiamented, even if you serve less of a purpose in this reality than in others.
How far are we along with preparations? John asked into the mentalwork. Although the violent humbling of Vita was unfortunate, the current situation was developing along what he would expect. Gaia would have never thrown an enemy at them that the pariah on her own could defeat. That she wasnt exactly a team yer meant that she had been the most likely contender for first person smacked down to the floor, with Moira and her straightforward approach to things being a close second.
For as long as things continued to fall within his expectations, he could continue to execute a rough scheme. Detailed ns were bound to fail; predicting general behaviour and tweaking responses to end up in a desired position was the way to go. If rushing the enemy didnt work, then there were only two options: a single burst attack or fighting to dy the inevitable. As someone who liked to win, the former sounded a whole lot more enticing to the Gamer.
Ill need more mana, Sylph answered. Whole lot more.
Im in position, Smander joined up.
Resources prepared, Aclysia joined in, with Beatrice simply sending supporting intent.
Were healed up, Gnome added.
Jane, he shouted over to his girlfriend, who was now in her bodysuit and kneeling in some rubble. One of her cat ears turned his way, indicating that he had her attention, even if she continued to watch the Warden and Lucifrena. We will support Moira. Try to get as close as you can!
Got it! the Lightbearer answered and her Aura ignited, just as the redheaded Warden fuelled up her own and suddenly elerated.
Thrusting her remaining arm forwards, the angel met Moiras charge with her spear. To the surprise of almost everyone, the energy weapon shed against the shield without dealing any damage to it. John had expected at least a scratch, but the carriable wall of metal appeared to be indestructible in the truest sense of the word.
It did slow Moiras advancepletely, however. The Warden wasnt in any position to counterattack, but Rave was able to take advantage of the situation. With the silent grace of a cat, she leapt at the angel. Lucifrena moved in a frantic whirl, her heel mming into Raves side. Before she was catapulted away, Siena burst out of the Lightbearers shadow, attempting to slice at the opponent while she was off-bnce.
As much of a surprise as that may have been, against such a vastly more powerful and unknown opponent, it didnt lead to the desired result. Thest two wings of the angel were suddenly filled with a number of feathers again, a series of which aimed and then descended on Siena. Not only was the distance much shorter than John had been in the luxury of earlier, it seemed Lucifrena was a bit more cautious now. At a speed that Siena just couldnt react to in time, her body was riddled with feathers and, subsequently, nailed to the floor by crosses growing inside her body.
He felt Sienas pain and hurt pride, and both reverberated inside him. Both her and Johns n were effortlessly discarded, without any harm to Lucifrena herself. If there was any good to this, it was that the moonshade elemental didnt get finished off.
The wings continued to produce new feathers at a rapid pace. Most of which immediately turned into sparks flying towards the stump of her left shoulder. Segment for tiny segment, it regenerated, while she raised the spear and swung at Moira, who jumped back to not get hit needlessly.
Lucifrena had just finished the motion when the maids were back in action. Her much superior speed allowed her to react regardless, and the white wave of Masters Shield forced her to immediately focus on Aclysia. A stab with the back end of the weapon was enroute to m against the head of the weaponized maid, only to go straight through it C without causing any damage.
Having turned translucent, Aclysia sliced through her enemy in return. An attack that also did exactly nothing, courtesy of Reality Fracture. Masters Shieldsted just half a second longer than the three second reality shift did. A perfect synergy in this case, protecting the weaponized maid from damage while the angel waspelled to focus on her.
Noticing that something must have been up, Lucifrena moved from her spot for the first time sincebat began. She backed off right into Beatrice, but dodged even the attack elerated by Unsteady Limb by simply twisting out of the way. Aclysias attack rung uselessly in the air, the Dyed Cut hadnt hit, but ns rarely survived contact with the enemy.
Lucifrena had vastly superior speed on her side, but surrounded on four sides, even she couldnt make full use of that. Especially since her Strength wasnt that much better than the rest of them. At about 500, it was actually inferior to Aclysias. Not that it mattered much, the swipes were still strong enough to be threatening, especially once the angels second arm was fully recovered.
Gnome? John asked, keeping an eye on everything. He was close enough to add his own body to the melee, if necessary, but felt generally content just overlooking the situation and strategizing.
Ready when Sylph is.
Smander?
What the leader rock said!
Sylph? John didnt get an answer, only determined silence. The thunderstorm elemental was trying to tap into her Unleash to get the full potential of the attack. Ill take that as a go-ahead, he said and gave one second to allow for denial. GO!
Aclysia and Beatrice disengaged by suddenly jumping back. Rave reacted in the same breath. Moira didnt, not until her eyes fell on a leaf-winged butterfly that was between herself and Lucifrena. A butterfly that suddenly transformed into a thin pir of stone, with numerous others around doing the same thing.
Together they formed a semi-circle around Lucifrena. It wasnt a fully-fledged barrier and wouldnt be one quickly enough to box her in, but it did somewhat distract the angel and limit her movement options.
She must have been a seasoned fighter, not looking at the sudden change on the battlefield for longer than a moment. Instead, she whirled to look in the opposite direction, where Sylph and Smander were hovering a few metres above the ground. The endme elementals Unleash flickered over to the air spirit, a blessing that would increase the next attacks potency immensely.
With a straight and serious look on her face and no words, Sylph simply pointed her left palm at the target and let flow free all the mana she had in her and all that John had sent her. A blueish white torrent of electricity ravaged through the air, crackling and buzzing, surrounded by gold and grey fire.
Lucifrena raised both of her hands in defence. Halo and spear both separated and reattached themselves to her back. A steady storm of new feathers was produced by the energy bones, flew in front of her hands and formed a shield that Sylphs attack shed against. Ever more of the metallic fragments of golden magic fed into the defensive measure. The lightning screamed, as if to protest the fact that it was being denied ess to its true target. A scream that slowly began to fade and thenpletely ebbed away.
Lowering her hands, the six-winged angel stood tall, her wings bare once more but otherwise as unharmed.
Winning is not an option, John conceded that much.
Chapter 789 – Tournament of Oddities 24 – Fleeing Lucifrena
Chapter 789 C Tournament of Oddities 24 C Fleeing Lucifrena
Time - how do I fight for time, Johns thoughts raced while thest traces of Sylphs attack flickered in the air like embers of a dying fire. The meleebatants immediately went to confront Lucifrena again. With the trees of Gnomes Unleash now fully bloomed and melded into a proper wall behind her and the four womening from the front, she had nowhere to go. Cornering a desperate animal was often a bad idea and cornering an angel perhaps a worse one.
Three pairs of wings fused into one. Feathers spawned and spread with such immense force that all of the charging women were halted in their attack and the trees were blown to pebbles. A second shockwave followed, as the spell-crafted wings beat a single time andunched Lucifrena into the air. A streak of gold, she rose high into the sky, eventually opening her wings and hovering in a fashion that physics would have entirely disagreed with.
What are those, five, maybe six metres each? the Gamer couldnt help but think, his curious mind mingling with thebat strategy. Different facets of his analysismunicated bits of information between them in steady search of a strategy that could guarantee him his clearing of the victory condition. He wasing short. I have absolutely no idea what the limits of someone with over four thousand Spellpower is. All I can garner is that she has certain limitations on her wings.
Youre a wise decision maker, Vitaplimented, finally fully healed and standing next to John. Nothing remained of the hole in her stomach. The dress had repaired itself and the healing slime did its work wonderfully. Undine didnt get a moment to rx in her duties, instead having to tend to Siena, who had managed to both free herself and retreat back to Johns position, several dozen metres removed from the main battlefield. The moonshade elemental had been back for a little bit, but John had to heal the pariah first. A more begrudging person would have healed his woman first.
Siena wouldnt let me hear the end of it if I let love override the chance at sess, he told the nk, while keeping his eyes on Lucifrena. They only had the leisure of talking because she was staying still. Our enemy is pure magic, neutralizing of which is your speciality. Defensively or offensively, I need you.
You truly are an attractive man, Vita stated and smiled her empty smile. You takemand then, what should I do?
What should WE do? Moira asked, her and everyone else approaching Johns position. On a raised eyebrow, she added, Dont mistake my question for me joining your cause. As it is, you holdmand over basically all forces on our side of this test. It would be foolish of me to act on my own.
Alright, the first thing we need to all understand is that we cannot win, John told them. Level wise, that angel is closer to Romulus than to us.
That caused surprise among the three present women not directly hooked up to the Gamers mind. Seriously, tiger? The way we managed to get her on the ropes in melee doesnt scream Romulus to me
She has basically all her Stats in Spellpower, John retorted.
Oh, Vita looked up at Lucifrena. From her hair began to ooze a ck liquid that ran down her neck in winding patterns. Like poison ivy that climbed down, rather than up, it spread over her back and connected thework of thin silver lines. More of the dark liquid curved through the air in front of her face and formed a visor.
If there is one good thing about this, it seems that her powers are pretty predictable, John continued on his findings. He wanted to ask why Vita was only now putting her pariah vision into action, but that seemed like a waste of time and (depending on the answer) brain cells. I havent quite worked out at which pace the feathers restore yet, too few data points, but at least we know that she is limited to certain wing configurations that make her next actions more predictable.
I may have terrible news for you on that front, Vita said, just as Lucifrena began to glow. It started quite simple, a bit of golden light in front of the overcast sky, radiating from her body and wings. You know how you can lift a bottle of water without feeling any strain? The intensity grew to incandescent levels and soon it didnt matter how many clouds they were. A new sun hovered right below them. Thats just about how that one has been approaching this fight so far.
Fucking fantastic, John sighed, just as the light was discharged into new manifestations of power. Two new pairs of wings, just as gargantuan as the ones already present spread throughout the sky. Okay, listen, all we can do is dy. I have reason to believe we only need to get through another minute one or two of this. Our priority- He was interrupted by a sound like shattering ss and the wings all expanding twice in size. Singing metal and vibrations filled the air, and he had to shout to overpower it, -OUR PRIORITY IS TO KEEP THOSE WITH LOWER DEFENSES AT THE BACK. ALL OF OUR OFFENSES ARE TO BE SEEN AS DISTRACTIONS ONLY, DO NOT ENGAGE HEAVILY!
He sent arge series of mentalmands through his internalworks. As much as it pained him, he instructed all of the elementals to take the front lines, no matter what he had just said about defences. The elementals had one advantage nobody else here had, being that they just needed him alive to respawn.
In an effort to avoid casualties, hemanded everyone but Gnome and Undine to Combine. The feathers in the sky spread out, while the forms of Smander, Siena, Stirwin and Sylph coalesced. While the elements of fire and airplimented each other, the fusion came to be dominated by the shing powers of light and shadow.
The mixing souls birthed a single entity, too unstable tost long in this world. A woman of short stature and long, straight, white hair, interwoven with greyish pink streaks, now stood in the midst of their ensemble. She had a snow-white face and lips of grey. The absolute majority of her body was hidden under a dress whose ck and white colour shifted with every passing moment. Only her hands reached out of widely cut sleeves. They were pitch ck, with nails of white.
At least you use me when its necessary, Twilight hissed and immediately set her eyes on the target. Survive, got it.
Lucifrenas wings went through one final expansion and then, like the sun dissolving into a star-filled night sky, the feathers scattered everywhere. The energy bones were left as massive arcs of energy, all centred around aparatively tiny human frame. Each feather was a tiny dot, over a hundred metres above them, glowing.
DOWN! Johnmanded and threw himself to the floor. Everyone else followed his example. All of the mana that the recent lull had allowed him to regenerate had been flowing into Gnome in anticipation of this moment. As the entirety of the in grassndscape was hit by a cascade of feathers, a thick sheet of stone rose above the heads of the group and shielded them.
The quills themselves didnt prate deeply, that much John had learned at this point. As long as the stoneyer was thick enough to iste them from the consequent growing of crystal crosses, something not too fancy would do. His mana would not have been required for just that task. Instead, a hole opened underneath them. Under the cover of the defensive sheet, he aimed to vanish underground. If survival was the name of the game, there was no better strategy than being hidden.
His n was utterly foiled by two cracking sounds. One came from the sudden expansion of the quills into crosses,pletely tearing apart the structural integrity of the stone shell. The second was Lucifrenas arm ripping through the shaken shield and grabbing whatever she found first.
John was violently dragged through stone and then tossed away like an unruly child onto a bed. Except that this bed was a field of golden crosses of sharp crystal. To avoidnding stomach first on one of them, he expended one of his Shifting Momentum charges and teleported directly onto the floor. He was on his stomach, but that was quickly fixed.
Behind him, he heard Rave shout, I did NOT sign up for the Third Impact happening today!
John was not quite sure if this was the time for obscure anime references, but his girlfriend fired up all her buffs and engaged in meleebat regardless of what he thought. Her fist flew towards the nearly empty face of the angel and sliced through nothing. Lucifrena dodged without an issue, grabbed Raves hair and rammed a knee in the Lightbearers stomach. Letting her fall to the ground, Lucifrena then shielded herself with her three pairs of, back to normal size, wings from the counterattacks.
Light magic and weapon thrusts bounced off the shielding feathers as if they were tank ting. When Vita moved in to perhaps repeat her sess at stabbing the angel underneath her shield, the protective cocoon opened with a violent shockwave. The pariah had to disengage before she was caught up in it.
Lucifrena, by her will or Gaias nagging, was now taking this fight at least mildly seriously. The upper ceiling of her capabilities remained unknown, but she had now manifested all six wings in a feathered state and her halo. She had all the resources and the physical prowess to be untouchable while wiping the floor with them.
While dust, dirt and grass were scattered by the shockwave, the crosses were unfazed by the kic energy. Only two of them moved, when Lucifrena put her hands on them and pulled them from the ground, wielding them as a pair of swords.
They immediately were put to use. Vita appeared behind the angel, knife shing at her wings, only to find herself blocked by one of the cross swords. Colour faded away where the pariah weapon hit the golden crystal. That there was enough magic inside that crystal to even block the attack was impressive. Vanishing as quickly as her attack hade, Vita backed off.
Lucifrena swiftly switched her attention to the next closest opponent, pointing her sword right at Wendys throat. The redheaded goddess was just lying on the floor and raised her arms in surrender. Look, I just got caught up in this, Im here to sass and cook, not to get my knuckles dirty, she exined.
Simply nodding Lucifrena lowered the cross and shifted her attention to the Warden now charging at her. Backed up by a series of light spells fired by Twilight, Moira came like a battering ram towards her opponent.
Four of Lucifrenas wings changed shape, from those of a proper bird to something slightly more mechanical and pointier in look. Their movement felt like a stuttering video, sudden and with gaps between states of rest. As flexible des, two of the wings brought the charge to an end, the other two mming into the shield a momentter and throwing Moira back.
Without any warning, the angels attention suddenly shifted to John. The lowest row of wings extended, just as her verdant eyes fixed on him. Feather for feather, the wings dissolved and flew towards him. Not as a salvo of straight shots, as before, but as a steady and curving storm like missiles fired from machine guns.
John ran for it. A task made nigh impossible by the sheer amount of obstacles around. The pointy side of one cross tore through his pants as if they were cardboard. With a bit of resistance, sure, and had he stayed clear, it wouldnt have happened, but neither was it the biggest difficulty of the world.
The majority of the feathers stopped seeking him as their target after a few metres, but a few of them stuck to his back just long enough to embed themselves in it. John felt the minor pain, not much more than the prick of a needle, and braced himself for what would follow.
Skin, muscle tissue and organs were all ripped apart, ribs broke as a several centimetre-wide thorns expanded into and inside his body. It wasnt the pain that made John fall, he was used to and had Perks against pain, it was the sheer force of the expansion. Landing on all fours in the rubble of the church, he took a moment to appreciate that this had only reduced him to a third of his health and called out with his mind, Beatrice, teleport to me!
Hismand was heeded and the passive maid appeared by his side and used her speed to remove the crosses from his back as quickly as possible. Every second they remained there cost him yet more health points.
Vita, Moira, Rave, Aclysia and Twilight, they were all involved in a battle with Lucifrena and none of them managed tond any proper blows on her. Using her wings like additional arms, she kept most assants at bay, and where they failed, the swords and yet more feather storms did not.
It bought enough time for thest cross to be removed from Johns back before the golden figure decided to once more focus on John. Effortlessly breaking out of the circle of otherbatants by just beating her wings and rising up into the air for a moment, Lucifrena descended on Johns position.
As he couldnt survive as much as a second strike, the Gamer decided that it was time for a desperate manoeuvre. Really like to call a pattern on just two previous instances, John thought and ran towards the altar. Amidst the absolute havoc that her field-wide attack had caused, the one mundane cross had yet again gone unscathed.
John was still far away from the altar when Lucifrenanded in the rubble of the church and still several metres after the few seconds it took her topletely dominate Beatrice. Turning to face her, the Gamer stood his ground as if he was defenceless. The angel pointed both of her weapons at him and prepared herself for a lunge.
There was a second angle through which John saw the situation. The one from the pir that he had possessed all the way at the start of this. Although it was mostly rubble at this point, the Possession still held for thergest chunk of it. Jutting out of the remaining pieces of wall and ceiling was the intact half of the pir, giving John a view of the space behind him C the space behind the altar.
Lucifrena charged and John used Shifting Momentum to teleport several metres backwards. Suddenly it wasnt the angel in front of him, but the gentle, unscratched wood of the altar. Had she just smashed through the altar, she would have gotten him. Instead, her supernaturally quick lunge came to an abrupt and awkward end. Beating her wings and digging her heels into the ground, she just barely managed to prevent herself from smashing right into the mundane shrine.
Gaia pped her hands, still hovering above the altar. I suppose thats enough.
Chapter 790 – Tournament of Oddities 25 – Pacifists and Purposes
Chapter 790 C Tournament of Oddities 25 C Pacifists and Purposes
Seriously, Luci, every time I call you to be a little bit violent, you give it the minimal amount of effort! Gaiained, while everyone gathered in the ruin of the church. Hovering on her spot, the supreme deity seemed to listen to something that John couldnt hear, and then sighed. I guess that does make me the idiot. Anyway, off you go. I will need a bit more time to give you a proper body. A snap of the green-haired creators fingers, and the angel was gone.
She must have said something along the lines of why do you keep giving me those missions then? I guess, John thought and turned around to properly look at Gaia.
Look at you, using faith as your shield, the supreme deity immediately began to sass him. Tapping the top of the cross with the index finger of her right hand, she caused small ripples in reality just by interacting with it. Never took you as a religious man, but hey, the second youre cornered, youe running to Jesus. You know that only praying when you need something is pretty rude, right?
Ill write it down somewhere, the Gamer sighed. The not-so-subtleint from Gaia was that he almost alwaysined about things he didnt have, rather than thank her sometimes for what she did give him. Putting his arms around Rave and Aclysia, he looked up to Gaia. I have a good life thanks to the help you gave me. I am genuinely gracious for all you did he looked at the field of crosses around them, even if you can be a bit moody.
You had to ruin it, didnt you? Gaia wanted to know.
I would have thought it anyway, so there was no way to prevent you from knowing, John returned and then grinned widely. If you want me to thoroughly thank you, youre wee to visit me at any night.
You DARE suggest that- Moira started, only to be interrupted by her Lady raising a hand.
We did it before, rx. That announcement had the opposite effect on Moira,pletely stunning her where she stood. What? You thought I was a virgin deity? Gaia asked in an amused tone. Come on, you must realize that Im not about the chaste life. Just look at the side effects your own powers have, not to mention the extra spells I packed into the guidebooks of your seers. My highest priority is to see life flourish and thats pretty hard if you dont continue it C also sex is really great fun.
Moira was dumbfounded, and Rave used the opportunity to ask. What side effects?
You shall not! Moira snapped out of her daze only for Gaia to chuckle.
I wont tell. The deity with the perfect ass crossed her arms. Again, Moira, rx.
Im sorry, holy Lady, the Warden fell on her knees, I did not mean to doubt you. But if you will allow me one questions? A gracious gesture left the redhead to continue. You said that we serve less of a purpose in this reality than others what did you mean by that?
Exactly what it sounds like, Gaia told her. What is the core mission of the Order, Shield Warden?
To protect the innocent, she responded in a strong and convicted tone.
Right, and how many innocents are there in the Abyss? Dont answer that, its a rhetorical question leading into the revtion I want to get at. How many more would there be if I didnt erect a barrier between the magical and the mundane? There was a short gap. Literal billions, Gaia then answered her own question. Thats what I mean. In many, if not most, branches of reality that are simr to this one, I did not institute that separation. In those, the Order serves a much more needed purpose.
I understand? Moira did not sound like she really understood at all. Obviously, she got the concept, but John could see that she had arge number of other questions. Then what is our purpose here? If our true founding purpose is to keep the hands of evil mages from hurting the mundane, then our Order should what should it do?
Protect the innocent, Gaia seemed almost amused. I also told you I have high expectations of you and the Order earlier. Dont mistake the fact that you arent as important here to mean you arent important at all. Youre a powerful group of powerful individuals. Like all humans, you have decisions to make that will change the world for better or for worse. Keep that in mind and dont disappoint me. Even if I dont intervene, Ill be watching.
I understand, my holy Lady. Moira lowered her head in respect.
And why the heck am I here?! Wendy wanted to know. Im a cooking goddess, why did I have to fight an angel?!
If you dont want to be here, we can change that. A snap of her fingers, and the supreme deity had the fast-food goddess disappear from the barrier. Greasy bitch, thinks she can sass at me, Gaia grumbled and turned her attention back to John. Anyway, if I want to fuck you, Ille to you, its that easy.
Would you mind if I asked you a question as well? the Gamer presented an inquiry.
Its always the same with you children, I reveal myself for thirty seconds and you have three-hundred questions about reality, she groaned. Okay, go ahead.
I would just like to know what happens whenever the Gaia Dependency Factor reaches zero, he said and looked at one of his hands. My powers inner workings are basically entirely beyond my reach, will that ever change?
No, Gaia put it rather simply. You can interact with the way the Gamer powers work under the hood just as little as any human can actively interface with their metabolism. Your powers react to your desires though. I guess you could call it a wish fulfilment engine, she snorted, not entirely inurate, looking at your life. Then again, its not THAT easy either. No matter how much you want a Skill that would allow you to immediately kill whoever you look at, even if I wasnt around to limit something like that C which I dont, by the way C you wouldnt get it and you certainly wouldnt get it in a ss like Fateweaver. Thematic restrictions apply.
Huh. That basically confirmed what John had been guessing, but it was still ridiculous to hear. Wish fulfilment engine, I like the sound of it.
It sounds like bullcrap, Moira intervened from the side.
It very much is, John agreed and looked back up at the cross. The now lone cross, Gaia had taken off without a single further word, disappearing into thin air without any issue. Well, she goes like she came. Should we go as well? he asked. There were a few moments of hold-up, as damaged clothes needed to be changed out of or otherwise repaired, but after that they were right out of the barrier.
At least the area of Miami they were in was fairly peaceful. Low traffic and few people around to interrupt with the fact that they appeared in reality. Not that they would have noticed anyway, Gaiasws shielded them from that much.
Honoured Warden, Gam- J-john! Lorelei greeted them in a slightly surprised tone. Im d to see you back unharmed. It appears you have withstood the test.
It would be more urate that we got off easy, John reported, wearing an unhappy frown. To cheer himself up, he bowed down to his girlfriend and gave her a particrly long and particr deep French kiss. By the way she wrapped her arms around his neck to stretch it out even further, it was obvious she needed a bit of happiness-affirmation after what had happened. Neither of them liked losing, particrly in such an utterly one-sided fashion.
Eventually, they had to separate and the Lightbearer continued the conversation. Yeah this, what was she called, Luci?
Lucifrena, John told her.
Right, Lucifrena was like I wouldnt say holding back, although she was also holding back she went after random targets at random times, so she never finished anyone off.
She only fought because the Lady asked her to, Moira nodded along, a task to which she should have gone with more enthusiasm. Regardless, it turns out that observing your efforts has brought me more than one worthwhile thing already. The Warden smiled as if she had been blessed. Talking to the Lady in person, such a great honour. Were your talks with her enlightening, Lorelei?
The Lady was as cryptic in her words as she often is in her visions and words, although I have been granted a bit more rity in the scope of time involved, Lorelei responded and bowed before John. It will be an honour to meet you again, honoured Gamer. May your colours grow even more intense.
That sounded a bit more final than he would have thought, but John wouldnt have put all those points into Charisma if theyted him nothing. Just as she straightened up, he bowed down himself and took her hand, gently kissing the back of it. Im not known to disappoint, particrly not when ites to beautifuldies, he told her as he straightened back up, not letting go of her hand. Following a purely spontaneous wish, he reached into his inventory and retrieved a small ring. It was of a bronze colour, with triangr areas that were either lighter in colour or purple tinted gripping into each other. In their continuation, they formed a ring around the centre of the ring, surrounded by the bronze main material. Take this with you. Check it for spying enchantments first, if you want to, but I would be honoured if you wore it. He paused for a moment, winked and then said, This one on a finger without cultural significance.
She shook her head and took the little thing. Whether she already knew there were no enchantments on it or she just trusted him there werent, she slid it over her left middle finger right then and there. Any mundanes were too far away to see the Baelementium ring slightly shrink to fit her perfectly.
Im ttered, honoured John, she said and blushed, quite a bit but not as strongly as before. Maybe Gaia had given her some extensive love advice or maybe she was just getting better at handling these things because of repeated exposure. It was a bit sad to see her lose it, innocence was always adorable, but it made interactions a bit less awkward. Warden, I rmend that we leave now. Our work here is done.
Is that the Ladys will? asked the redhead, even as she began leading the way away from the group. The answer she received was too quiet for John to hear from a distance.
He got a full ten seconds of staring at Loreleis ass under that pencil skirt before his girlfriend poked him in the ribs. A: why did ya have a ring on you? she asked a slight note of jealousy in her voice. It had been a very long time since he had genuinely heard her put on a tone like that. She stabbed him in the ribs again. Two: why did she get it? Ya have a lot of girls here that would like some gifts from you, ya know?
Do I? Most of you dont really care much about impractical things. At least not the jewellery kind. John was genuinely curious there. I think I shower you in gifts already.
Your cum isnt a gift, Johnny. He swallowed the it kind of is joke. If Rave had a cat tail, it would have been moving in a threatening fashion right about now. I dont care for jewellery, okay, ja, got me there, his girlfriend conceded. A RING though.
Well, I had it because Im looking into making as best a ring I can. That one, while beautiful, did not measure up to the task I want to use one for. That wasnt to say it was a failure, it was a very beautiful ring and John had been deliberating what to do with it. He gave his girlfriend a long look to indicate what he would need an even more gorgeous ring for, without actually saying it.
Rave left her threatening pose and straightened up with a smile. Oooooh, okay, she grabbed his arm. Now youre raising my expectations.
I will meet them, he told her and looked over to Vita and Wendy, who were still hanging around. So, unrted but important question, what about todays challenge?
Just pick something and youll be the winner, Wendy waved off. This was supposed to be a freebie anyway. I dont care what you make of thosest two bets that much, really.
If you say so, John shrugged as best he could, his arms were now imed by Rave and Aclysia. Fusion demands that Florida will wait until federal development projects allow for the deployment of IBMAs in the area.
Alright, Ill spread the news, Wendy said and started marching off. You lot have fun doing whatever you want to do.
Thats a good question, what do we do? Rave wanted to know.
I would have a suggestion, Aclysia chimed in, leaning in to kiss Johns neck. How about we return to the hotel and reaffirm our status as living by letting Master repeatedly cum inside us?
I like that idea, John gave his obvious opinion. Lets do that, sleep, deal with whateverst insanity they have in store for us tomorrow, and then get the hell out of this state.
Rave kissed the other side of his neck, while Beatrice, in an effort to stay included, hugged him from behind and pressed her squishy breasts against his back. All around, he was the envy of everyst man, and a whole bunch of the women walking by randomly.
Dont ya like this city? his girlfriend asked. Kinda have to say that I feel happy around here. Weather is nice and hot, the people are fun and I really like the local dress code. Being, ya know, whatever ya want including nothing.
You would like it here, my beautiful freaky girl, heughed and kissed her on the forehead. I do like the dress code and the people have been alright, all things considered. So has been the weather. He looked at the cloudy sky. Not that we had a lot of luck with that this week. Anyway, my problem here is that this is just too much of everything.
Cant handle so much crazy for so long? Rave asked.
If I stay here for too long, Im afraid Ill get caught up in their crazy ways. Not wearing anything and having public sex and parties every day is very seductive, he admitted and then sighed. But I want my responsibility back and to solve problems. Just sex and fun, as good as it feels, isnt that fulfilling.
His girlfriend hummed. I get that, oddly enough. Dont feel as strongly about it as you do, but I also kinda miss doing productive stuff Will ya put a long-range teleporter down here though? For vacations and government purposes?
Whenever I get extra ones, I will strongly consider it. He nodded. Anyway, we should get back to the hotel and do the sex thing. Tomorrow, well get back home C hopefully.
Chapter 791 – Tournament of Oddities Interlewd – The cowgirl loving catgirl [Erotic Content]
Chapter 791 C Tournament of Oddities Interlewd C The cowgirl loving catgirl [Erotic Content]
They were on each others lips the second they made it past the door. Of course they had been making out sporadically on the entire way back, but now they went beyond what could be done while moving. It started with Siena receiving some attention, went over to the other elementals, the maids and finally stopped at Rave.
Her kiss was remarkably aggressive. The winding of their tongues for superiority was a proper fight. One that he thoroughly enjoyed, given her sweet taste of bubble-gum and those soft, glossy lips of hers. The tiny metal ball of her tongue piercing effortlessly gliding between their movements created a sort of focal point for John.
While he was taller, his girlfriend was still, thanks to supernatural power-ups, physically superior. A whole lot, especially once she manifested those adorable cat ears. Although she was on her toes, she forced John back step by step by the sheer power of her body pressing against him. The only alternative was falling. Which went from an alternative to the only choice when the back of his legs hit the bed and he tumbled down, Rave on top of him.
She immediately moved her arms down to his shirt and began unbuttoning it. For once, he didnt just open his inventory to help with that. Having a gorgeous woman undress him while he held her and their sloppy kiss echoed in the room caused a simple and primal satisfaction. Especially with all the other girls getting on the way too small bed, all eager to get his attention and willing to help each other out with their lust until they got it.
Thest button opened and Johns wrists were taken and nailed to the bed above his head, just as his girlfriend pulled up. Just a little bit, enough to put her lips in his field of view and separate him from the rest of the world through the curtain of her long, wild hair, a neon pink colour not too far removed from cherry blossoms.
A strand of saliva connected their outstretched tongues for one erotic moment, then they just stared at each others eyes. The blue of hers had been reced by a copper colour, a change that always urred when she changed into cat mode and went alongside the change of her pupils to vertical slits. Notably, the pink shimmer in her eyes was retained. Where it had been lost before, in recent months, it had developed an increasing staying power. At the moment, it was a heavily consolidated outline around her pupil, a hard manifestation,plimenting her determined stare.
Youre in a dominant mood today, arent you? John asked, and she smirked.
Yessss, she hissed lustfully, her legs straddling his stomach and grinding against his smooth abs.
It was a tad rarer than her submissive outbursts,rgely because John rewarded those so intensely, but his girlfriend was still a dominant leaning switch. What she needed to vent in that regard was usually funnelled into the submissive elements of the harem, since John didnt usually enjoy being in the powerless position. That was enough for her everyday desires, but some asions had her just wanting more. Something that her boyfriend couldpletely empathize with.
Then youre in charge for the next hour, he promised her with a wink. Being the submissive may not have been his cup of tea, but he was willing to do it every now and again if it made her happy. Arge part of that readiness to submit was that it was Rave. Their sexualpatibility had always been off the charts, and after over a year as a couple, hepletely trusted her to keep the femdom to a level that he still enjoyed.
That aside, there were perks to being the submissive for a bit. He got to remind himself how things he did felt on the other side. An inspirational process that let him think of things that would make it just that little bit worse for his own submissives when he was back in control. Control that would be all the sweeter for having temporarily lost it.
Thank ya, tiger, Rave purred, kissed him on the lips and then slipped into her role. Sitting straight up on her man, like a queen on her throne, she looked around. Yall heard that? she asked the harem atrge. Nods all around, along with a tiny shift in the rooms attitude. The centre of attention was no longer the Gamer on the bed, it was the Lightbearer on top of the Gamer. It was an easy switch for everyone to make; after all, they loved the lead haremette almost as much as they did John. Dont just nod, let me hear it, who do you serve for the next hour?
You, mistress, everyone, save Siena, answered immediately. The sadistic shadow spirit crossed her arms and gave a challenging re.
Dontcha worry, Sienya, she stopped for a moment, because of the almost embarrassing slip of her cat tongue, then moved on, youll be my assistant in this. Ya can tend to the other girls while Im busy.
d someone treasures my talents, Siena practically moaned those words and immediately grabbed Gnome and Aclysia. Presumably, she was out for a mixture of ruining innocence and getting some minor revenge on the maid. There was always some little, mostly friendly feud going on between those two.
John, gimme some rope, shemanded, and the Gamer obeyed. It took a second, he had to get to the bondage equipment drawer under the desk that Jack was currently getting served at hundreds of kilometres away. Once it was handed over, it took his girlfriend only a few more moments to expertly bind his wrists together. Good tiger, sheplimented in a sweet tone and rewarded him with a kiss. Now, drink in what ya can.
Her hands trailed over her curves. They started at her thighs, those legs that even a supermodel would be jealous of, long and, thanks mostly to muscles, thick enough to look and feel like something that was satisfying to grab, rather than those chicken stilts many had. Although hidden under the tight confines of yoga pants, he knew them to be silky smooth.
His eyes followed her hands up her side. He nced at the disy of caramel tanned midriff and the way the Lovers Will markplimented the darker skin tone. It would soon be colder and she would lose that colour, so he was adamant to enjoy the seasonal dish while he could.
Tantalizingly, her sliding fingers pulled her loose, cropped top with her for long enough to reveal centimetre by centimetre of her stomach and torso, each bit of naked skin its own tingle of eroticism. For a moment, he even saw thece bra that cupped her breasts. It was of a dark purple colour and supported their bnced size beautifully.
Her hands stopped at her neck and she fanned her hair out. Now, close your eyes C and dont open them until I allow ya to. Obeying, he soon saw only darkness. He even distanced himself as far as he could from the spirits of everyone else, to not identally see something through their eyes. Regardless, his girlfriend seemed unhappy and leaned down to hiss directly into his ear. What do we do when we obey, John?
We confirm by saying, Yes, mistress, the Gamer answered, having been in the reverse position often enough to easily get where this was supposed to go.
Dont forget it again, she warned him and then pulled back. The fabric of her pants rubbed against his pants. She hadnt stopped grinding against him. No matter how dominant she may have been, there were certain movements engrained into her at this point.
Yes, mistress, he said and kept lying there. The grinding suddenly stopped, her squishy butt rose from his midriff, but her legs remained pressed against him. Then he heard the wonderful sound of clothes tearing, getting permanently ruined for just a moment of erotic benefit. One long sound, then a short one. Then she moved. By the movement of her legs, it felt like she turned around. A suspicion that was confirmed when he felt her wet pussy lips against his cock, her descent down his shaft and the pressing of her perfect ass against his groin. Already?
Ahhh, just good for ya that your cock is so nice and girthy, Rave moaned. I just needed it inside me immediately. Fuck, ya make for such a good toy. Theres no way any other man or any other tool could fill me like this. Slowly, she rotated her hips, grinding him against different parts of her folds. There was a particr long moan, then he felt part of her weight shift onto her hands on his legs. Ah, youre such a good cock, I cant even keep my bnce properly. How do you like it, John? Being bound and underneath me, feeling my writhing pussy around your helpless, hard and wonderful cock?
It feels wonderful, mistress, John gasped, happy to y along with this. Byplimenting him all throughout, his girlfriend took the edge of his general dislike of the position. It was a much kinder version of being dominated and worked much better with his prideful character than humiliation would have. Your tight pussy is fantastic. Its so wet and clingy.
Youre making me very wet, yeah, Rave agreed with a purr, then slowly rose up his cock, only to m down with such intensity that the pping sound overpowered the moans of the remaining harem. They both moaned out loud and Johns hips instinctively shot upwards to thrust into her. Control yourself! his girlfriend berated sharply. Youre my toy to be used. Ya wont move unless I tell ya to move. Keep your toned, muscr body on the sheets.
Yes, mistress, Im sorry, mistress, John apologized and steeled himself for the next impact, to not repeat his mistake.
Good tiger, she eximed and then repeated the motion, a slow rise, until little more than the head of his cock was inside her, followed by a sharp drop. Her pussy practically gushed on impact. Do you feel it? she asked, while rising again. Her words were interrupted with moans from every impact. The way my pussy -ahhh- grips you each time I let you prate -mhm- me? How I want your obedient, pe-fuck- perfectly sized dick to stay inside me? Ahhh, it stretches me out from the entrance to so deep inside me. Just a little -ah- longer and it would be painful, but your size -yessss- your size is purrrrrfect.
Thank you, mistress, John gasped. Her repeated, tireless impact brought him close to orgasm at a rapid pace. By the way her pussy kept spasming around him, he knew that his girlfriend had already cum quite a few times. The power of the Gamers cock crossing with the satisfaction of intense, short-term desires made for an ecstatic result.
Do ya wanna see? Rave gasped, still keeping that steady rhythm. How my a-ah-ss keeps bouncing on you? Its s-ssss-mooth, round shape jiggles each -mhm- time I allow you inside me. Every time I sl-aaaah-am on your firm body, I can feel it spill on you for a meowment.
Yes, I want to see, mistress, the Gamer answered.
Beg for it. The demand came immediately.
Please, let me open my eyes and see your perfect ass, mistress, he eximed and stopped there. It wasnt the most in-depth begging, but he wasnt willing to do much more.
Ill let you in three, her hips rose, two, she stayed at the top for a moment, one!
His eyes flew open to see her perfect ass just as she plunged down. It was even more fantastic than he had imagined, and that imagination had been fuelled by a vast array of detailed memories. Tanned, round and taking the shock of thetest impact, her ass pressed against his groin. Her head flew back and she screamed at the ceiling as a sudden and intense orgasm rewarded her for her actions. The little used functionality of his pleasure-rewardingmands was that it actually worked on begging as well.
Several shivers went through her, and John had to clench his teeth to not cum inside her quivering quim. Such a good toy, Rave panted as she slowly calmed down. Even when you plead for something, you can pleasure me. She reached behind herself, pped her own ass and then pulled the left cheek to the side to give John even more to look at. Ya would love to p this ass, wouldnt ya, tiger?
You have no idea what Im going to do to youter, he broke character for a moment, unable to keep his true feelings from spilling out. Her butt and her perverted behaviour was just too enticing to keep anything hidden.
Rave only smiled broader because of that. That moment of honesty was, in a way, truer subjugation than anything else in thest few minutes. After all, he was still bound and under her, unable to act on his wishes. Later, not now, she teased and slowly rotated her hips. Even the shadows that yed over her lower back were hellishly attractive. Do you want to cum, tiger?
Yes, mistress, he answered, slipping back into his role.
Do you need to cum? Did looking at my ass perhaps put you right up to the edge and now youre holding back, because you know better than to disappoint me?
Yesssssss, he hissed through clenched teeth, forgetting the honorific due to the sheer amount of effort involved in holding back his badly needed release. Please, let me cum! he pleaded.
Where do you want to cum? Rave asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes. She was just drawing this out to make it that little bit more torturous for him. My pussy? My ass? My tits? If ya beg long enough, I might let you finish on my face. Let your thick, hot cum spurt all over me.
Your pussy! he almost screamed at this point. Let me cum inside your pussy, please!
Just one, she raised her hips, more, she stayed at the top for one second, plunge! Cum!
She mmed down on him and he was unable to keep control of himself. He thrust up into her, his cock prating as deeply as it could, and his cum shot into her with desperate intensity. Every tensing of his shaft and balls came along a series of white lightning in his field of view. Rave shouted as his seed pumping into her womb caused one more orgasm to wash over her. Their lustful vocalizations intertwined and John felt the absolute relief, before he slowly copsed into the bed.
Whew, Rave let out a quick exhale. Alright, good warm-up. She rolled her shoulders and her hips, continuing to ride him to milk thest few drops from him, before getting up.
She used the rest of the hour effectively C then John used her effectively.
Chapter 792 – Tournament of Oddities 26 – The last test’s prelude
Chapter 792 C Tournament of Oddities 26 C Thest tests prelude
John was only somewhat surprised when the final challenge did not bring him to the usual hall. Instead, he was brought to the conference room that he, Wendy and Vita first had their discussion about this entire tournament in. It was just like hest had seen it, simple and clean. Arge screen, a circr boardroom table, several chairs that shared the purple colour of their cushions with the carpet. The only change were the cameras. Whatever they wanted to do here today would be televised.
Calmly marching towards the right-hand side of the table, John drew back a chair and sat down without being offered. The intent of the action was twofold. He wanted to show that he was feeling friendly enough with the Floridians that he didnt need to be formal and that he was also done just ying along. After today, Florida would be part of Fusion and that made him their leader. By the federal nature of things, he was still a visitor, but he was no longer a guest, so to speak.
Rave took the seat next to him, but only because Sylph suddenly manifested in hisp and decided to sit there. I want cuddles! she simply dered.
This is serious business though, John warned her, even as he delivered andbed through her long hair with his fingers. Despite its wild appearance, the pale green streaks parted for him with ease. The feeling was as if he held his fingers into a strong gust, with the addition of something soft and smooth caressing his skin. You have to be quiet when people want to speak, yes?
Serious business is so boring, the thunderstorm elemental cheerfullyined, her legs swaying under the table. But fiiiiine, I will be a good girl C as long as you give me lots and lotsa cuddles!
Can do that, John promised and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her against his chest.
And we have funter!
Define fun for me, he requested.
Your pick! We can game or we can have the wild sex or the loving sex or the gaming sex or we can sexually game, I just want you to be with me. Can we do that? Can we? She sounded almost pleading at that point.
Of course, John told her with a smile. In light of her tone, he decided to give her a little more than that. We should have a date once were back in the Hudson Barrier, just you and me.
Really? Yay! Sylph would have bounced were she not sitting in hisp at the moment. Instead she just excitedly wobbled in his embrace. Her cute, round butt squished against him and her skin sent little lightning bolts into him. Rather than numbness or pain, a pleasant warmth spread from those ces. Elementals were weird in these ways.
Among his elementals, Sylph was the least human in behaviour. That wasnt to say that she was inhuman, only that she was a level of carefree more usually associated with children. At the same time, her body and other behaviour left no doubt that she did not belong in the category of growing people. It was one of the reasons why John more often felt her to be closer to a fairy than anything else, even (or especially) after meeting actual ones. Thankfully, she didck their disconnect to human logic. Sylph was something in between, whimsical like fairies but able to stay reasonable. Most of the time.
Really, he promised and gently bit her pointy ear. I know these serious affairs bore you, my beloved gale, so I think we can use some time being free.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Sylph continued to excitedly move between his arms. When Rave leaned over and scratched her under her chin, she gave her best impression of a cat. It wasnt really good.
John looked up and across the table, where the people of the jury patiently waited. Vita, Jeff and Wendy, the usual three sitting in the usual order. One might ask themselves if the Gamer is now done with his preamble, Jeff spoke into a microphone. He was the only one in the room with one and John had to wonder if it wasnt just a prop. He got distracted, and now all of us are distracted, how distracting! I dont think he is taking this seriously, but you folks at home can form your own opinion about that.
Its hard to take this seriously if you bring a chicken to the meeting, John pointed out just as, gawking and clucking, Fred stepped across the table. She pecked up, one by one, seeds that had been scattered across the table for her. The brown-feathered guild leader raised her head and focused on John for a few moments. The Gamer Observed back.
Is she just a chicken? Rave whispered towards him.
Apparently, John returned. A chicken so important she got a character sheet.
That is hrious.
She would be delicious! Wendy dered and jumped when Vita mmed her hand on the table and got up with a grim expression on her face. Fine, were not frying Fred but we totally should
I will feed you to Cheshire! Vita threatened, exactly like she didst time they had this conversation. Having now had the pleasure of knowing that mythical cat himself, John realized just how much of a threat that was. That maw, that endless, magic dissolving maw, like the deepest point of the Abyss itself.
John closed his eyes and took a slow breath in an effort to distract himself from the sudden headache. After concentrating on something else for a few seconds, it waspletely gone. Without nosebleed, he thought, thankful for the little things. Since youre as chatty as always, Jeff, the Gamer continued on with the program, why dont you fill me on what thisst test is about? He leaned back, waiting for the answer. At the same time, he wondered if Moira was following this from somewhere nearby or if she and Lorelei really had left already. They werent in the room, that much was for sure.
Foooor suuuuureeeee, Jeff stretched out his words for dramatic effect, only serving to annoy the Gamer. As you have doubtlessly already figured out, the past tests and the entireyout of the tournament was a way for us to make our own image of your character. Well, for these two to make themselves an image of your character, Im just here for the vacation coupons. He gestured towards thedies to either side of him.
Despite surrounding him, neither Wendy nor Vita expressed any real interest in the man. For obvious reasons, as John would say. There doubtlessly were some women who preferred expressive and energetic men like Jeff, to put his attributes in somewhat positive terms, but in general, John had him beat as a member of the same gender. He was more attractive, more powerful, more wealthy, more charismatic, more intelligent and a master of sexcraft.
Knowing all this, even after a year of it, he still didnt grow tired of any amount of attention thrown his way by attractive females.
You know, my public record isnt exactly short, John had to bring up. You could have just gone through that.
We did. Wendy crossed her arm. What, you think were just going to trust the media and your own propaganda machine?
First, I dont have a propaganda machine, I have state media. WHICH he had to shout the word to overpower the redhaired sass goddess, who was already opening her mouth, you COULD say is a propaganda machine. I get it, its naturally inclined to report positively on what I do, because it is an extension of my government and all that, alright, fair enough, I just would like it if you kept the propaganda word in your pocket until my state media does some serious fact bending. Otherwise, when it happens, that word will have lost basically all meaning and it will be hard to criticize people with it.
Duly noted, Vita said with her ever-empty smile.
Second, if you have ess to both, just look at the middle point between the adversarial media and the friendly media. The truth should be found somewhere there, usually.
Aint nobody got time for that, Wendy dered.
But ya do have time to host a week long tournament, challenge, thingy? Rave asked with a sarcastically raised eyebrow.
Do I have time to get extremely amused and fucked by one of the biggest stallions the world currently knows? Yeah, duh. The fast-food goddess rolled her eyes. Seriously, why wouldnt we do all of this to get a better picture of you? We dont have to rely on third party information as much, we get to do some funny negotiations and we know you have to ept because we got one of your beloved girls.
Who sought you out for training, which you provided, John added, with a nce towards the camera. Are you trying to cause a giant misunderstanding here or why are you wording everything so poorly?
I might be trying to create some headlines, because I need to get my entertainment somehow, Wendy answered with a shrug and a smirk. Cant me a girl.
Look, rather than feeding the sensationalist media, if youre feeling bored, just tell me. The Gamer pulled at his cor. The fact that the uppermost two buttons were open meant that he showed a fair bit of smooth, muscr chest. I will make sure youre satisfied for at least a day. We can start right here, on this table. Right now.
Teeeemptiiiiiinnnnnng, Wendy stretched out her words and gulped. Hamena, hamena No, well, a day is not overblowing it, I still felt those ten minutes in my legs the next morning uhm, Vita, back up, I need to change the topic to something I can sass him on!
Better idea, lets continue with the reason for this meeting, Vita stated and looked to Jeff. Do your work, announcer person.
I have a name.
I know, but I dont care, Vita told him and slowly rose out of her chair, only to start prowling back and forth behind Jeff, skirting his field of view. It was making the hype-man visibly ufortable, for more reasons than just being stalked in such a fashion. It was surprisingly refreshing to see the pariah bother someone else with her alien presence. Can you continue? she asked.
Y-yeah, sure, Jeff dered, if only to please the dark-haired nk. So, heres the deal, the final test will be that both Vita and Wendy will go through all of the previous tests and rate your behaviour during them from a scale from zero to five. That will be added up for a maximum of ten points for each round and a maximum of seventy points, sixty from the six previous challenges and another ten for general behaviour. You take an estimate on how many points you are going to get. If you guess correctly, you win yourst bet.
Is that so? John hummed and grinned. His mind had quickly suggested a way to stroke his pride a bit and also troll back those two women who had cost him a lot of nerves the past week. I bet that I will reach the full seventy points, he dered. Fusions demand is that, instead of a national holiday being introduced in honour of cute animals, there will be an extended four-day weekend dedicated to cute animals C every year.
Audible gasp! Sylph said what everyone in the room did.
In his office in New York, Jack suddenly had an end put to his blowjob. The Technomancer in charge of working on his dick had decided to put a sudden stop to things to give him an immediate and lengthy lecture about the amount of productivity loss associated with an entire Federation not working for two extra days every year and that petting kittens was not a sustainable source of revenue.
Thest bet was, even if the unofficial head of economics was currently berating otherwise, quite inconsequential. John was happy to use it to put his opposition in a bit of a situation. Of all the things that he had deciphered about the moody and borderline insane behaviour of the people of Florida, there was one thing that they had inmon with the rest of humanity. They loved their days off.
John had just offered them an extra two to three (depending on how Saturdays were handled) days off every year and all they needed to do was topliment him at every corner for this entire trial or, at least, swallow any bad words they had. Was it a respectable move? Not particrly. John was of the outspoken stance that he needed to be confronted with dissent, because he knew he was the type of person that could drift off into being too certain about his own solutions. However, because it was fun to tease the sassy Wendy and he still held a bit of a grudge towards Vita for her early behaviour, he made an exception to this rule. For his ego and his amusement.
Was it a smart move? Again, Scarlett was still busy chastising him for it, so that was questionable. It wouldnd him some favour with most of the poption though, so he tried to exin to her the bnce between good economics and pleasing the public. Being a quite ruthless businesswoman, she had none of it. In general, however, John was convinced that the slight loss of productivity every year was an alright sacrifice to make the people of Fusion more content with his reign. Little insanities like this by the ruler were charming.
Was it necessary to analyse this so much? Probably not, John answered his own question, but my mind goes there anyway.
The, uhm, the bet is set! Jeff dered and the screen flickered to life. The final condition is written down and so the final test can begin
once all thedies want to start.
Chapter 793 – Tournament of Oddities Finale – The judgement of John Newman by crazy people
Chapter 793 C Tournament of Oddities Finale C The judgement of John Newman by crazy people
So, how do we do this? Chronologically? Wendy asked the dark-haired pariah, who wandered back to her seat and slowly shrugged. That they hadnt bothered to finish the format beyond the rules left John cold. Any frustration he may have still had was overpowered by Sylph humming a surprisingly intricate tune. She must have utilized her abilities to help her in the endeavour. Vocal cords werent well known for being able to hold two notes at the same time.
He eventually recognized parts of the song. It was what the fairy on the boat ride from Europe had yed. Together, they had danced on a ring of ice to it. All around pretty lights and festive cheer. I wonder if I could arrange for something like that, the Gamer thought. Maybe I should ask Methenia or the bee-fairies on Servitude Ind.
Alright, chronologically, Wendy made the call. The first contest was the baking. What are yourments on that?
I wanted pie, I got pie, Vita answered, and for a few seconds silence hung in the room. Just when Jeff was about to probe her for more information, the nk continued, We got to see three pretty basic attributes of him. One, that he is not surprised easily C evident by the way he handled the revtion of things being streamed. Two, that he doesnt let easily spotted wrongs stand C evident by him demanding the jury be changed to not have you on it, Wendy. The redhead nodded, as if that had always been the n. Which John heavily doubted. Three, that he knows to delegate tasks to who is appropriate. Although, I think, putting your housemaid forward for a baking contest ismon sense.
Wow, John interjected in a dry tone. Didnt think I would ever hear you use the wordsmon sense. Thought that was a foreign concept to you.
About as much as shutting up is to you, Wendy took a shot at him, in defence of her guildmate. Anyway, yeah, thats all pretty fair. Also, while not about him, his girlfriend took the role of unbiased judge pretty seriously.
Ya can use my behaviour to reflect on him, Rave stated and pointed with her head at her man. Were an item, after all. Like two puzzle pieces. Or a knitted sweater. Or something else, dunno, Im not that great at metaphors. What?
Her question came in regards to John, who just made a really sour face. I dont know if I want it to be sanctioned that your behaviour reflects on me. People are going to use me of being way too good looking, charismatic and giving great blowjobs, and I dont know if I want that.
So, first, she raised the index finger of her left hand, ya look good too, so they cant use you of that because of me, ya formerly in Brainiac. Two, she raised the pinkie of the same hand, nobody will ever say that about ya, because ya keep dicking them over with your nerd brain. C, she poked him in the side, the only person anybody could hear from that I give great blowjobs is you anyway!
Ehhh, John made a doubting sound. There are our porn videos, I think my face in those makes a pretty clear case.
Fair point.
We remind everyone that this is an adult program, Vita suddenly stated, giving Wendy an opening to continue.
For what happened during the baking, well, you stood aside and let Aclysia do. I guess that shows when you know not to interfere. You also watched pretty attentively. Pretty sure that was only to check our tits out though.
Asses, John corrected.
Huh? Wendy asked.
Im an ass man, and while you both do have nice tits, thats not where my eyes go to when I watch beautiful women, John told her and quickly listed things. Face, ass, thighs, tits, hair, thats usually the order I look at girls.
I thought you were an ass man, why is the face on top of that? Wendy asked with a perplexed expression contorting her freckled features.
Look, you can get away with having a subpar body if you have a really attractive face and vice versa, but I would bet every man is attracted to faces first, he told her. If you have the body of a goddess but a face that looks like a craggy rock formation, you will struggle to get a boner from me. Which, for anyone out there feeling attacked by this, he looked at the camera, if you managed to get one guy interested in you in your life, you are not that ugly, okay? If you are that ugly well, nature can be cruel sometimes and Im an honest man. He shrugged, having nothing more to say.
Riiiiight, Wendy stretched that word with extensive vocal fry. Anyway, I guess there is also the fact that you were pretty careful in what you bet in that first contest. You took WAY too much time to think about it, but what you came up with was pretty decent. All around I will give you she hesitated and John smiled. She was obviously considering not only the actual number, but also the fact that she wanted John to win. five points.
Same, Vita just pulled along and reached under the table. When she pulled her hand back up, it was full of seeds. Come here, Fred, she said in that cute tone that people used when addressing pets or small children. Come and let me touch your fluffy feathers. It took a few seconds for the chicken to notice things, but then she came over.
THE FULL TEN POINTS IN THE FIRST ROUND! Jeff suddenly shouted, startling the chicken, and then had a lightless, ck knife on his throat. Without a seconds hesitation, Vita had teleported over. S-sorry, the announcer said, a whole lot quieter.
You better be. Vita swayed her weapon up and down in front of his throat. Her tone wasnt threatening or even mocking. It was simply factual and even a bit sweet. If you startle Fred again, I will shave your soul out of your arm. She smiled her empty smile. You would be able to cast again after three days, I would guess.
Ill remember that, Jeff promised, looking down at the de.
You are so very mortal, Vita whispered, before backing off. Tell us what the second bet was.
Ah yes, the second bet, John Newman had to receive a vision. The announcer swallowed his fear and continued in a professional tone. Which was really odd to hear the goofy caster use. Pleasant, but odd regardless. Due to the nature of the event, we will hold the details of what happened off-camera confidential.
Due to the nature of the event? Wendy blew air out of her nose. How about the part where I promised I would be a sex ve if we dont?
Ya want that though, Rave chimed in with a grin. Dontcha lie, we all know what happened in the next test.
One thing after another, Vita purred in a greatly pleased tone. The biggest reason for which was the chicken sitting in front of her. The purpose of the vision test was to see if you even had the potential to have them. We wanted to know if you are as multi-facetted in your magical talents as it is said.
Following a leader who can speak prophecies has a lot of advantages, Wendy added. Although I guess it is more urate to say that having a leader who doesnt sucks. Every other major power in the world is trying their best to make the prophecy that helps them the moste true and everyone who doesnt have ess to them is left being yed without knowing.
John looked down to his hands, ying with Sylphs hair. The thunderstorm elemental giggled, probably because of something she had heard in her mental conversation with the other girls. Although she was quiet, she hadnt stopped talking. It is, however, ultimately a curse as well, the Gamer gave his honest thoughts on the matter. Prophecies are spoken in a moment of rity, after which many things understood in the moment fade into instincts. It ispletely possible to be led to doom by a leader chasing the oue of a prophecy that they are convinced will fulfil their ultimate goal. Or one thats simply faulty. Prophecies are also based on the information that the person speaking is privy to, after all.
Yeah, well, as long you stay aware of that, we wont have too much to worry about, Wendy said and looked over to Vita.
Five points, the pariah just said, while patting the chicken. Four-day petting spree this makes me a happy nk.
Five points here too then.
Another ten points for a total of twenty, Jeff summarized and gestured towards the Gamer. Do you have anything you want toment on before we move on?
John thought about whether or not he wanted to jokingly remark that it was nice of them to not mention that he emptied his stomachpletely in front of them. Deciding against that, for reasons of appearances, he shook his head. Oh no, lets just get to the good part of this entire thing.
Test three then, which I did not get to attend, Jeff continued on with the list. The oil wrestling. Wendy versus John Newman. A contest meant to be won by whatever non-violent means possible C basic wrestling aside.
As far as preparations went, it was pretty straightforward, Vita began. Once you rified the rules and conditions, you were certain you would win and bet something you couldnt afford to let go. It was a good disy of caution and confidence. I liked it.
I loved it, Wendy stretched in her chair. Pounding of the year, ten out of ten. In this case, five out of five, I guess.
Was very nice to look at. Good amount of forey, domination only slowly escting to test just how much Wendy wasfortable with C everything, because she is a slut C nice attention to detail when ites to worshipping the female form
You cant just mid-sentence sass ME, you nd, predatory bitch!
I just did, so I obviously can.
I will Wendy started, pressed her lips together and slumped together in her chair, not threaten our guild leader again, because I want to stop imagining your mad cat.
Smart girl. Five points. Vita said that so casually that it took Jeff several moments to realize that it meant they were done with this topic as well.
That makes thirty points so far, the Gamer is on good course to get thatplete score, Jeffmented, much to the chagrin of a certain Technomancer who was now demanding to be properly ridden to be distracted from this loss ofbour hours. Challenge number four which I was there for but Wendy and the audience werent gazing at a Nevrest for a full minute.
Which I was two seconds short on and you graciously decided to somewhat oblige what I bet at the time, John growled, still annoyed about that.
Its just annual shipments of prune cakes, calm your balls, Wendy responded.
How about no? the Gamer shot back. What I bet at the time I did because I knew it would be unlikely that I would win, its the principle that irks me.
So, in principle, you still want to win when you fall just short of the actual goal? Wendy asked in a mocking tone. Sorry, wasnt aware we should all stroke your pride and give you unwarranted breaks to keep you from throwing temper tantrums.
I John started, then drew a long breath and exhaled to calm down. She was right, but that didnt make this thing less frustrating. I concede the point, he stated. You will understand that bleeding from my toenails and then getting basically nothing out of it is ruffling my feathers just a tad.
Speaking of your pride, Vita chimed in. It was assuring to see that you could shelve it if you thought there was something you could not do. You bet something ultimately inconsequential. At the same time, that very same pridemanded you to try your hardest even for an oue that, ultimately, didnt matter too much. Wisdom and determination are two very attractive attributes to have. Five points.
I wasnt there so Ill just mirror that, Wendy said.
And that puts us up to forty, Jeff continued on. And then there was test number five, the door frame. Which, if I remember correctly, is the test John spent the longest one. Aside from the baking, that is.
Its also the test during which youunched a table at me, reminded the Gamer.
Because you sent your murder maids at me! Gaze darting towards Aclysia, who wore a dangerous smile, and Beatrice, who looked absolutely uncaring about the situation and Jeffs life, the announcer rose a bit out of his chair. His agitation immediately dropped, however, as Fred cooed and walked over to some more seed in the middle of the table. There was no way he would risk annoying the pariah again.
Mostly, Wendy tookmand of the silence, it was the test that you spent walking circles around a totally normal door.
John crossed his arms in front of Sylphs chest. To be fair, you DID make me stare at a Nevrest the day before. You will have to excuse me for being a tad paranoid.
Yeah, thats the word I would use, paranoid, the fast food goddess agreed. Not overly cautious, paranoid. You tested that door in every single way possible, which was silly to look at. HOWEVER she went to counter her own point. John wondered if she was putting this much emphasis in the word so she could justify still giving him five points. once you had checked everything you wanted, you did make the smart decision. You bet on the armed service condition, because you were sure you were correct. Five points.
I have a question, before I present my answer and if its not a not a good one then I will have to give you 4 points There was honest torment in her voice, as if she developed a massively sore throat throughout that sentence. Why, of all things, did you not check if the door was locked?
I have more than enough ways to open doors. Once I was sure there were no magical traps around and I had confirmed that it was only a lightly reinforced door, it honestly slipped my mind, he answered truthfully. Aside from blowing the lock out, he could have also Possessed the door to make it open itself or set either Siena or Undine onto it to open it. Siena had the skills and Undine was a living liquid, as long as it was a in physical lock, they would be able to crack it open. There was also the final option of just kicking the entire thing down. It was such a low-tier issue that even my paranoia didnt go there.
Ah, well, that is good, on one hand, shows that it doesnt make you overthink things to a senseless degree, Vita stated. On the other, it was still a basic detail you missed regardless, I am happy enough to give you the five stars.
That makes for fifty out of seventy and, for the final test, you had to go to church and make a confession what do thedies say about that.
Were still alive, Vita responded. Five points for smart battlefield tactics.
I still have no idea why I was in there grumbled the redhead two chairs away. But yeah, five points.
Jeff looked back and forth between the two. Battlefield tactics? Alive? I thought you went to a mundane church?
You would have needed to be there, the pariah responded first.
Wendy shivered. Those crosses are burned into my memory
I will never look at feathers the same way, John added, his tone closer to a corpse than a man. He was acting it up for the camera, because it would be funny to have the entire world guessing what the hell happened at that church.
Alright then, that makes sixty out of seventy, leaving only the final judgement. How did you think John Newman behaved over the course of these challenges?
Wendy went first. While he did confirm his often-mentioned pride problems and his absolutely unquestionable status as a pervert, he also managed to show me that he will think A TON about anything that he has the time for. He is also determined, smart, wise, and a bettery than any other man I had the pleasure with. So yeah, five out of five.
Capable, direct, somewhat easy to anger, attractive, charismatic, a veryrge man Im happy to follow for the time being, Vita gave her own thought. Five points.
John Newman, you have proven yourself to Florida, Fred, the Cosmic Chicken, dered, her eyes glowing gold as she slowly rose from the table, engulfed in a ring of multi-coloured light. She had the voice of a benevolent, just goddess. You have withstood the tests and lived in the tower of Paradise like one of us. You were happy to act however you wanted, but never bothered anyone. Your character is wed, yes, and you might be your own brand of crazy, but you do not harm people and your qualities far outweigh your vices. Ten points.
I FUCKING KNEW THAT COULDNT BE A NORMAL CHICKEN! John shouted and mmed his hand on the table. The light suddenly vanished, Fred was back on the table and pecking away at seeds.
Tiger, why ya shouting suddenly? Rave wanted to know.
Did you not see that? John wanted to know.
See what?
Fred bing all cosmic and stuff? he looked around the table. That Wendy, Jeff and Vita looked confused could have been part of some ploy, but Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice and even Sylph looking at him with straight bamboozled expressions had him feel like a proper crazy person. No, no, I have enough trust in my mental faculties that this definitely just happened, he told himself and looked at Fred, What are you? Some sort of goddess of illusions?
He imagined she winked at him, but he had to clench his jaws and just take it. This would, possibly, already look like he was insane to the viewers at home. Whenever he was back home, he would give the video a second look. Sadly enough, Jacks eyes had been distracted with aiming his dick at Scarletts back entrance at that moment.
So ehm unless somebody wants to detract points for that? Jeff waited so long it sounded like an honest suggestion. The Gamer wins with eighty out of seventy points. Everyone nodded, the Gamer narrowed his eyes.
Why did you just say eighty? John wanted to know. I bet on seventy and thats the maximum achievable.
Oh a slip of my tongue, I would say, Jeff answered.
Are you in on this or did your mind get messed with? the Gamer thought, then sighed mentally. This is not good for my paranoia issues. Regardless, he changed the topic to make himself look reasonable, if this is my victory, then the final condition is as suggested by me. As leader of Fusion, I swear that the conditions will be implemented as is. You are hereby invited to join the Federation of Fusion.
A window popped up in front of the chicken. This was actually in keeping with what John had expected. Cosmic or normal hen, Fred was the guild leader. As per mechanics, the window would appear in front of her. That the chicken hit the right button with a curious peck the first time was a lot fishier.
Such a smart bird, Vita stated and produced some more seeds from under the table. Good Jt.
I want to get out of this state, was one of the two thoughts when the Gamer saw that Achievement. The other, a lot stronger and immediate, echoed with the impatience of someone who had waited far too long. I want to see Nia.
Nia Side Story – Faeding 1 – Where Nia Went
Nia Side Story C Faeding 1 C Where Nia Went
-A little over 2 months earlier, 24th of June, 2018-
Nia Fae slowly backed away from Eliza. Perhaps Thana? she thought, taking another step backwards. Following the pariahs meditation advice, the scary little girl had proceeded to sit down and then, in a cacophonic interchanging between screaming in a mindless rage and an equally insaneughter, started to tear into herself. Teeth getting ripped out, flying kidneys, tearing open her own skull, theplete program of self-muttion.
Just barely managing to dodge a leg that flew her way, Nia turned around and just walked away. Calmly, she got into the water, crossed through and picked up the white bag John had gifted her in Amsterdam. In an effort to protect the material and the paper cards within, she had left it on thekeshore, before swimming over to speak to Eliza.
Now that she had told Eliza that she was fine and what she was doing, she had a clear conscience. Albeit with some dy, the news would doubtlessly reach John. John, the name echoed in her mind and she looked over to the Pce in the distance. It was just a stroll away. She could visit him right now. John she thought the name again, probing at the emotions that created inside her. Longing, certainly; admiration, in some ways; uncertainty, because of what she did.
Love?
Yes.
I can see him whenever I want, Nia decided and turned away, leaving the barrier entirely. It wouldnt be effective to go see him now. Maybe it would please her heart, but she would only dy that she would need to go again. What she had to do, what she had to find, nobody but another nk could help her with. John would have only insisted on tagging along but his current state didnt allow that.
It was best if she removed herself from the scene. This was not a stretch in time during which she could make memories. She had found people that were her friends, that were even more than that. After all of her life spent without someone to call her friend, it had taken her a while to realize what the difference between those and lovers was. Now that she was separated from John, however, from Lydia and Rave and that pattable Sylph, she realized that she was in love with being part of that harem, in love with the Gamer and those that also were.
Because there was this swirling in her heart, mind and stomach. It was as if blue butterflies of magic swirled all throughout her. They urged her towards the Pce she had left behind, back into the barrier and into the arms of that man. At the same time, they fuelled her desire to go elsewhere, and seek the power she needed to protect that what she had finally found. That thing for which she had fought for Lydia.
Friends. Lovers. Family.
It was time to leave New York again.
____________________________________________________________________________
It took her several hours to get to the right spot and several more to adjust herself towards the next one. Nia had first noticed them in Washington DC, those little spots where the fabric of reality bore something simr to a scar. It wouldnt bother anyone else, it was doubtful they could even notice it, but Nia felt the presence of the Nirvana stronger there than anywhere else.
The anti-magical force was too gentle for that.
There were a lot of them, scattered across thendscape. They were spaced too regrly and reliably to be a random urrence. Someone must have ced them there, another pariah. Unless something unknown suddenly manifested, her fellow nks were the only ones that could wield the power of the other side in such a manner. To use it so deliberately, leaving asting mark on the world, it would take a particrly strong one.
A pariah stronger than her, a teacher. Potentially.
First, she had followed the marks north. This had turned out to be a mistake. The space between the thinned areas grew towards the north. Whatever her target was, must have been further south. Once she had figured that out, she had turned southwest and, eventually, corrected towards the southeast again. It was like following breadcrumbs across an entire continent.
It was hard not to get distracted and, whenever she felt like she had made good progress, Nia let herself be pulled off the road by the sight of something cute. A cat, most of the time. A veryrge one at one point, the kind that lives in mountains and asionally attacked humans. To Nia, just another cat, once she started rubbing her behind the ears.
Eventually, unavoidably, she ended up in Florida. The path she had to follow narrowed there. Insofar that there was only a single route of the little reality scars she could sense. As for the route itself, it was a winding path that sent her through swamps, cities, backyards and beaches. Environment and weather mattered slightly little to a pariah, so Nia just marched and ran, unbothered by anything, only stopping to pat cute alligators or other such things.
Even slowed by the path and indulging in the asional distraction, she moved quickly. The closer she got to her target, the more marks in the integrity of reality there were to follow. Unseen by mundane eyes, she ran at the speed of a car to cross thendscape. It only took her a few days to travel all the way from NYC to Miami Beach.
As it usually was, she arrived just in time.
In the presence of the final tear sat a dark-haired woman. It was easy to identify her as a fellow pariah. Aside from the white dress, covering so much more skin than Nias own, the woman formed a cut-out in the magical fabric even more pronounced than the actual cut she, undoubtedly, had made. Where she was, magic was not and reality curved away from her. It was for that reason that, despite it being a wonderfully sunny day, the bench she sat on was the only one the mundanes didnt get close to.
Hello, Nia said when she stepped up to the bench. She extended her hand, her face unmoving and her emotions calm. Whoever this was, she wanted to be found, there was no reason to be nervous approaching her. I am Nia Fae.
Nia Fae, the dark-haired woman spoke her name as if it was something she could taste. Nia Fae, she tilted her head to the left, Nia Fae, then to the right. Each time she moved her head, her long hair dangled twice. Once thanks to the momentum and once thanks to therge Nevrest on the other side. The new Maiden of Null, so they say, so they say.
Turning her blue eyes towards Nia, the dark-haired woman raised one of her arms. It was mostly hidden under the long sleeve of her white dress, but the tanned hand still reached out and took Nias. Only her back, hands, feet and her head were really visible, everything else was underneath the dress.
To Nia, that meant that the woman may as well have been naked. Perceiving or not perceiving that piece of clothing made from non-existence was a choice she could make at any point. Because she thought it would be rude, she kept perceiving her as others would and she felt her opposite did the same.
One shaketer, the dark-haired pariah tapped thrice on the empty spot on the bench next to her. Nia sat down on the bench, flipped her long ponytail over the backrest, and just remained still. They watched the brilliant blue of the ocean for several minutes. They do say that, the blonde girl finally said, a slight bit of her French ent shimmering through.
They do say what? the dark-haired pariah asked.
They do say Im the new Maiden of Null.
Ah why did you wait this long to say that?
Nia went through that question for a few seconds and picked the exact words she wanted to say. I wasnt sure if there was anything else I wanted to say in addition to it.
I see, I see, the tanned woman hummed. Once upon a time, there was a pilot. Suddenly, the engine of his ne malfunctioned. The left turbine exploded, the right one soon followed, and the ne hurled down into the rainforest below. It exploded on impact, but, somehow, the pilot made his way out of the fire and copsed on his knees at a safe distance. Oh my Lord he thought, Im safe!
Just as he thought that, a number of tribal people broke out of the underbrush, wielding spears and gutting knives made of stone. He thought them cannibals and thought Oh my Lord, Im fucked!
That was then a voice from heaven descended on him and said, No, youre not. Rush at the tribal leader, rip the spear from his hands and kill him.
And so the man did. He rushed forwards, ripped the spear from the mans hand and rammed it into his chest, one, two, three times, then the tribal leader twitched onest time andid still on the ground, dead. And now? the pilot asked.
Now, the voice responded, now youre fucked.
Nia reached for her bag and pulled the stack of paper cards out of its custom-made metal holder. She hadnt used them in several days, but she knew that the one she needed was rtively close to the top. It was one she used rtively often around John, after all.
That was funny, she spoke her emotions out loud, while holding the card up that had entertained written on it.
The dark-haired pariah raised an eyebrow. Youre an odd woman.
Nia tilted her head. She didnt think of herself as overly odd, but if even a fellow pariah said that, there had to be something to it. Yes, she therefore admitted.
Ive waited for around ten years for someone to figure out toe here, the dark-haired nk continued. Ive waited for over a hundred to meet someone like you. I thought it would take even longer. I left those tears whenever I travelled. Some more intense, some less, so they would be denser the closer you got to me. And here you are, Nia Fae.
I am, indeed, here, the blonde pariah confirmed, as she had nothing else to say in the silence. I need to be stronger.
I could help you with that, the woman said and got off the bench. For a moment, Nia thought she would walk away, but then it turned out that she was just prowling around the bench. The two Nevrest respectfully stepped away, to give her the space needed to walk her circles. Her presence on both sides was stronger than Nias was on either one, a ludicrous disy. What power do you seek, Nia Fae?
The power not to fade. She could answer that quickly because she had thought about it a lot already. That moment, that terrible moment in front of the White House, when a single magical strike had made her as see-through as a jellyfish, it had made her more afraid than anything else in her life. Not because she didnt want to go to the other side, but because this one had so many more memories to make.
Why?
Another question she had found answers for in thest few days. I want to keep living with those I love and I want to be a mother, she said without hesitation, without gestures and without any expression. All she did was shuffle through her deck until she hit the earnest card. There are many reasons I need to keep being here.
The unnamed pariah stopped behind Nia and the bench and plucked the card from her hands. Give them to me, she said, making a demanding gesture towards the remaining deck.
Several moments passed, during which Nia just stared up at the other woman. Why? she wanted to know, when she failed to find an answer.
Because I refuse to talk through cards when words are so wonderful, the woman responded and smiled a smile that felt warm. My condition to teach you is that deck. Give it to me. After a couple more seconds of thinking and staring, the tanned nk continued. You are a woman with an intense stare.
Nia only answered after she handed over the cards. People get nervous around me.
Maybe you should smile more.
This did not work in the past.
Show me, smile, the woman demanded.
There were several moments of nothing, as Nia reminded herself which muscles she needed to pull in order to create the wanted expression. Her upper lips pulled up, the corners of her mouth stretched to the sides, and eventually she grinned from ear to ear in a wholly overdone fashion, revealing her teeth and a fair bit of her gums.
The distorted copy of an expression ended when the woman chopped her on the head, right into the golden, backwards oriented cascade at the top. That hurts, Niained, raising both of her hands to her head, to protect the now aching spot against further attacks. nkly, she stared up. The protest in her mood was only visible in the way she pulled back her shoulders and there was nobody around that knew her well enough to read that.
The crutch of these cards leaves you untested. Crutches are bad, the woman dered. I will teach you what I feel like, and by the end of it, you will be able to get what you want.
Is chopping me necessary for that? Nia asked, still rubbing her head. The woman wasnt just a more skillful pariah than her, but also quicker and stronger.
For testing and for motivation, she responded, as she put the entire deck into the box made for it. I cannot teach you how to keep from fading, she said and threw the box into the air. There is no such knowledge. There are many other things I can teach you that should make it less of a risk, however, and not a final one way trip, if you y your Queen. She caught the box on the tip of one finger, then bowed elegantly. To make the two of us a little less strange, lets stop being strangers. I am Alice Pleasance Liddell, the name-sharing twin that the world forgot, but one man remembered when I came back from the rabbit hole. She straightened back up. Lets start by working on your smile.
Faeding 2 – Who Nia is
Faeding 2 C Who Nia is
Alice raised her right hand to signal it was time to stop, as she dismissed her non-existent knife. A flick of her wrist, and the manifested Nirvana energy vanished. Nia followed the example, her curved dagger and long-dednce losing their shape and then fading entirely.
Their weapons were gifts by the Great Empty One, just as their dresses were, and they worked in simr fashions. The objects of reality defying material were glued onto their presence on the other side and manifesting them on this one just took a little tug. Both the dresses and the weapons did not have a real shape. What set them apart was the intention the Great Empty One had for that figment of his realm. One was to protect his chosen from harm, the other to harm those that would dare to try to hurt his chosen.
In reality, that caused a difference in colour, white and ck. The exact shapes depended on the nk the items were gifted to. What covered their bodies would always be something falling under the umbre of dress but the details varied, causing the differences between Alices and Nias gowns. The category of weapon was more than a bitrger. Alice got arge knife, Nia ance and a curved dagger that was close to a sword in size. All of the weapons could be transformed into a sphere used to channel area attacks through, if so wanted. Otherwise, their shape was set.
However, what a pariah then manifested on the side that had colours and magic werent actually the dress or the weapon. It was the shape of those objects, a three-dimensional shadow, so to speak. They were made from materials that didnt exist on this ne and couldnt carry over. nks could never lose their weapons and their clothing always repaired itself immediately. Unlike other powers, maintaining those copies once made took no effort, only creating and then dismissing them. Their anti-magical and soul-cutting properties were extremely useful because they were baseline and using them didnt advance the fading, unless the pariah channelled some of her own powers to strengthen the weapons.
This is what they had done this day, sparring until Alice got a proper idea of where Nias limits were. Feeling exceedingly thinly attached to reality, the blonde would have stopped soon even if her teacher had wanted to continue. There was no use in learning how to avoid fading if the very lesson already sent her over into the Nirvana.
Alice sat down on the grass. Where Nia was as see-through as a stic bottle, the dark-haired pariah was only at stained ss levels of transparency. Lets talk for a bit while you shift back, she announced, tapping the ground in front of her.
Nia stood there, thought, and finally asked, Should I not search for a way to anchor myself quickly? It would be a much quicker process if she got something that was firmly part of this side to share sensations with. Patting a cat would do, but interacting with humans would be the best. Particrly in an intimate way. Nia preferred to kiss when it came to making sure she was still there.
No, use your willpower, Alice put it bluntly and gestured at thewn in front of her. Come on, sit down. The sun is nice.
Nia wasnt sure if she shared that opinion. Mostly because she didnt feel a whole lot of the sun. She is the first pariah I''ve seen with a tan, the blonde suddenly realized. Granted, her sample size wasnt particrlyrge, but Nia had been under the impression that her kind simply could not absorb sunlight in the necessary manner. If there was such a way, Nia was missing it. At the moment, the sun on her skin felt like the tactile equivalent of looking through several centimetre thick ss. Regardless of all the questions circling through her head, she sat down.
What are the three ways a pariah gets stronger? Alice asked, hands brushing over a little flower in the grass between them. It was a gentle gesture, far from the mindless plucking bored people usually did. Even if the flower was a mere copy of its original in the mundaneyer of existence, the dark-haired woman had respect for it.
Nia watched her y with the little daisy for a bit. Then she answered, I only know of two.
Exin them to me, Alice requested in a soft tone.
Body is how our human origin connects us to everyone else, Nias passive voice rung out in the quiet barrier. We can train our physique to be stronger, faster and more enduring.
Alice nodded, her blue eyes reflecting the smile on her lips. Notably, however, we cannot learn martial arts. Weck the traditional mana to do so. She looked up and stretched. People often say that pariahs are countered quite efficiently by proficient martial artists. I wouldnt say that the match-up is as much in favour of our opponents as many think they are, but its certainly true that we have less natural advantages against them than against people specializing in magic.
Yes. The answer was short and confirming, Nia didnt have anything to add.
Thats where you should nod, Alicemented. Makes you more emotive. Youre mortal, behave like it.
Nia thought a bit about that statement then, realizing what the lesson should be, slowly nodded. Yes. Her answer was just as in as before. Cold, likely, if her opposite wouldnt have known better. They had been together for a few days now and Alice had shown to be quite adaptable and was nice to get along with C even if she had her slightly sadistic moments.
The second way then, Alice wanted and gestured for Nia to continue.
The second path to power is to increase our unique powers as pariahs, the blonde stated.
Thats it? Alice asked.
Nia stared for a while then slowly tilted her head in a quizzical fashion. What else would there be? For that question, she was chopped against the forehead. Just intensely enough that it slightly hurt. Rubbing the aching spot, Nia looked at her opposite with expressionless eyes. Inside, she was pouting.
What is this? Alice asked and showed Nia the hand she had just hit her with.
Nia pondered about this for almost half a minute. Your right hand, intact, no scars, fingers are shorter than mine, orderly trimmed fingernails, she reported everything that finally came to mind.
Youre such an odd girl, Alice mused. At one point you look at things too broadly, at the next youre overly specific.
I was raised to be effective, Nia responded. Her mind darted over to her teacher for a moment, but then immediately returned. Getting stuck with him would only make her wonder what schemes of his were currently in motion. Even that tiny moment already made her wonder if the only reason why he had let her go to America with John was so she could meet Alice.
Knowing him, that was certainly a possibility.
The point is, the dark-haired pariah continued, unknowing of Nias thoughts, that you wouldnt say your body when I show you my hand. You have to look at our abilities as nks a bit closer to know what to train about them. Counting with her fingers, Alice listed a few things, Specific neutralization of enchantments, general anti-magic power, control over our alien perception, thinning the separation between this world and the Nirvana, they are all separate aspects of our power. A rising tide may raise all ships, but you can still train each of them. Her hands reached up into the air. Before I became a proper Maiden of Null, I was best at letting Cheshire y in reality.
To the mundane eye, her fingers scratched nothing, but Nia saw the Nevrest. The Cheshire Cat purred from its singr mouth and its many eyes extended from its head like the stalks of snails. Nia always found that Nevrests looked closest to cats but that was grounded only in the shape they had on average. As they were will-endowed anti-magic, their forms were steadily shifting. The length of limbs, the number of eyes, the location of the stripes, all of those things were fleeting at best. Despite that, there was some central shape to them. Like a gel cube in motion, there was a core to their form.
And that was a cat. A deformed, mutated cat, but a cute cat regardless. Nia thought so. She knew not even all pariahs agreed. That was alright though, some people thought spiders werent cute either.
I understand, Nia stated, looking at her own Nevrest. Most nks had some sort of Nirvana creature following them around. The Nevrest on her tail had been there forever. Although it was smaller than Cheshire, it was by no means a weak one. Not that it greatly mattered. She wasnt an elementalist of the Nirvana, the creature followed her because it wanted to. They had no deeper connection than that between friends. I am most skilled at counter-magic and specific neutralization, in my assessment.
You strike me as that kind of person. Alice smiled an empty smile, veiling what she meant by that. And that Nevrest seems to be content watching what you do anyway. Even when you pulled it over, it probably only stood around and caused general headaches in the area. Since the dark-haired woman had gotten all of that right, Nia felt no need to answer. Tell me who raised you, the topic suddenly shifted.
My teacher, Nia responded, the Horned Rat.
Oh. For several moments, Alice said nothing. Now I wonder whether he nned for this.
Possible. Nia nodded. This time she answered quickly, His influence on this continent is limited.
Mockingly, Alice blew air out of her nose. It was a surprisingly intense disy of emotions. Its not. Dont mistake him not exuding his influence for not having any at all. You know of the Small Lake Pact? Their whole culture is a remnant of his meddling. An experiment he ran overseas that he then left to run by itself. She crossed her legs. Its impossible to say what he is involved in. Could be anything, could be nothing.
Few things, Nia told her current mentor. The Horned Rat prefers to nudge the course of events, he doesnt really involve himself.
If you say so. Alices scepticism rang in her voice. That her teacher had managed to shroud himself in a mantle of schemes so thick that even the strongest of all pariahs thought that he had a hand in the entire history of the world was impressive. Alternatively, Nia realized, the Horned Rat had brought her up in a way to dissuade her from thinking that was the case. That exins why your face is a mask, the dark-haired woman continued. If you were raised by a creature
Please dont call him a creature, Nia interrupted.
By that god, then, Alice obliged. A god with a skull for a face that can only grin diabolically. You said he raised you to be effective. Weapon forging was more important than expressions.
Nia was silent about that for a while and eventually said, Maybe. He does care for me, though. While she wasnt sure whether the Horned Rat loved her like a parent loved their child, he had looked out for her when necessary. That he wanted an effective weapon out of her was obvious, but that didnt mean he was looking at her with callous disregard. From all her interactions, growing up and recently, she had never thought of her teacher as someone who used her.
Most pariahs have social issues. Such is the lot of a being whose own parents think her alien, Alice yawned loudly. Losing the ability to properly emote is something I hadnt encountered before, though. Congrattions on restabilising your connection.
Looking down on her hands, Nia saw the firm paleness of human hands. The translucency was gone. Thank you, she responded simply and followed the example of the fellow pariah when she got onto her feet. Both manifested their weapons and their sparring session continued. After about thirty minutes, Alice had pushed Nia to the edge of her capabilities again. This time, that included the physical limitations and, when allowed, the blonde nk fell down into the grass and sprawled out her heavy limbs.
Bowing over her student, Alice looked down. What is a Maiden of Null? she suddenly asked.
The strongest pariah? Nia asked, the hesitation born from her heavy breathing.
Thats themon use of the term. A diluted use. In reality, Maiden of Null just describes those favoured by the Great Empty One. Those recognized to have the ability to unlock the third way of a pariah to be stronger. She grinned, standing above Nia.
There was a flicker in bothyers. A rapid disintegration of the status quo of matter. Then there was nothing but air above Nia and the dark-haired womany next to her, extending her hand towards the sun. The silver veins crept outwards from Alices back, underneath the dress, until they reached her hands. Thin, silver lines that made her tanned skin look as if fine threads had been weaved through it.
When I faded, I was twelve years old, Alice said. I did it to escape the person who raised me, a gentleman who desired to marry me at that young age. I was happy on the other side, protected by the Great Empty One and his favourite pets. Curious whether or not I could return, I journeyed out. I found colour in my attempts to leave, lines between worlds blurring. The veil that was supposed to be sealed one way, revolted against my negotiations.
Nia perked up and listened carefully. This was the knowledge she hade for, even if it was just the story and not the exact skill.
I was aided by Cheshire though confused by shapes between real and nonsense. They were created by my own imagination. My subconscious mixed with reality to allow me to interact with those things that anyone that is stuck in oneyer could never hope to. I fled from the Queen of Hearts. I yed croquet and stole tarts, for knowledge and time and sanity. Then, all snapped into ce and I found my way out.
Minutes of silence ensued, during which Nia tried to pick away at what she had just heard. There is a third way for nks to get stronger. It is to disagree with the situation. Do I understand correctly?
Aliceughed, Essentially. Once we can bother the barrier enough and can get into the right state of mind, theyer between worlds will copy parts of us to negotiate. You must understand that its aw of magic that we engage with. It doesnt have a will. Yet, when we need it to, it will shape one from us for as long as needed. Suddenly, she stood above Nia again. Although the we in this is a theory. So far, it is only I. She offered her hand to help Nia up. Will you prove to be another exceptional individual or will I remain the sole Maiden of Null?
Faeding 3 – Why Nia succeeds
Faeding 3 C Why Nia seeds
She had smiled at him.
Nia felt like a goldfish that had been let out of the stic bag and into an all new aquarium. The world was just so muchrger now. Excess energy was unloaded by her striding up and down in front of the invisible wall that separated her spacious cell from the rest of the pure-white room. There were barely any sounds.
She had told him that she loved him.
Nia felt like dancing. However, she also knew that it would feel wholly inadequate on her own. Yearning for the day where John would put an arm around her hips and whirl her around again, she felt the tiny smile creep back on her face. Now that she had found out how, it feltpletely natural to let the emotion take over some of her features.
She had heard about the Magryph.
Nia felt like she hadnt scratched anything adorable in months. It had only been about a week, sure, but that was already torture. Before locking her in here, Alice had let her go around and pat whatever she could find, but that was only a final fix before withdrawal. Not even her Nevrest was around.
Almost stumbling over the tray that had held the food she had finished a few minutes ago, Nia reined in her excitement and just stood in front of the ss. The smile slowly vanished and she was left concentrating. She searched for that revtion, that particr state of mind, that Alice had told her about.
So far, she hadnt found it.
In the first ce, it wasnt clear what she was meant to do. Alices exnation had been convoluted and full of nebulous terms. People that were here and that were everywhere. On a philosophical and theoretical level, Nia understood. Understanding and implementing were two entirely different beasts, however, and on the practical front, Alice had no advice.
Youll either manage to think that way or you wont, she had said. And if youre powerful enough, the world will take issue with you wanting to break its rules. Thats the core of it. I give you a week.
A week that was, presumably,ing to its end soon. There werent any things that let her tell the time in the pure white room. By counting how often she had been brought food, however, she was able to make a pretty good estimate.
Nia considered putting her hand on the ss, but the gesture had proven useless even after three times, so she didnt do that anymore. To the same end, she wasnt lying down or kicking things anymore. She was where she was and no physical motions were of any use. Neither was desperation. The efficient way to go about things was to keep her calm and continue deconstructing her view of reality.
I am a nk, she thought. I cant be an everywhere but Im also never a pure here. I dont get wet when I touch water, dust doesnt stick to me. If I fade to the other side, I maintain a clear shape. I follow rules from both sides but not all of them I follow rules from both sides She felt that the breakthrough was there. She had reasoned herself to that point.
An everywhere does not think about but or except, Alice had exined. We cant do that, but we have to take a page out of their book.
The rules of both sides apply to me, Nia thought, not for the first time, and nothing happened. That had to be the answer, but she didnt quite believe it yet. It was difficult but, as Alice had demonstrated, it was true. She had been tanned, despite sunlight not applying to pariahs. She had returned, despite the veil being imprable from the other side. She had changed positions in a way that went beyond teleporting. Without a doubt, what Alice said about herself was true.
Yet Nia, no matter how hard she thought to break out of her understanding of realitys rules, had no sess. She hadnt felt any tingle of sess, she only estimated that this was the right course, because it was most in line with what her mentor had said. Something was missing from her thought process.
If calm failed, then desperation, perhaps, had its time.
Emotions she held back, because they meddled with her decision making, were left to flood through her mind. I want to see John again. I want to pat Stirwin. Eliza can cuss at me, thats okay. She felt a stir in the world around her. It could have simply been the chemicals pumping through her brain making her see things in the depthless white around her. Even so, it was the first change Nia had seen, so she continued out loud. I want Aclysias cooking and I want Copernicus fur, she said, the slightest bit of irritation echoing in her voice. I want kisses and hugs, adorable, sweet and wholesome things. I want to be called na?ve and I want to be pampered and I want to pamper.
Now there was a definitive change. There was a smell in the air like copper and paprika. Itid thick on her tongue, too thick to be imagined. Tossing all of her reason to the wind, she pressed her hands against the ss.
I demand out! she almost shouted and raised her powers at anything. It wasnt a guided effort. There was no magic to neutralize, no mana to extinguish. The majority of her supernatural might rushed up and uselessly receded back into her. Like a wave crashing against a pier, almost all returned to the ocean.
Except for the amount that found its way onnd.
Her perception shifted as her subconscious surrendered to her potential to defy the rules of reality. Suddenly, there was a path through the ss. Not a direct one, no, rather she had to bounce to another ce, but she had the right to be at another ce in reality. As long as she understood that, she could decide where she was. Where her soul was positioned was all that mattered, her body was hers tomand and to make follow.
She let go of the floor under her feet and reality screamed in protest.
With a sound like unoiled metal grinding, a creature shaped from turbulent air. Thin ws swiped at Nia, and the pariah barely managed to dodge to the side. All of the feelings of understanding suddenly vanished, but the wraith remained.
She was a humanoid of entirely blue skin. Spindly limbs reached from an equally thin torso. The curves were vaguely female, but calling her a woman would have been overstating it. The texture of her skin appeared like untreated leather. Long extensions grew from her shoulders and waist, invoking the feeling of a tattered dress, the end of which fluttered around her footless legs. The creature bnced entirely on the pointy stilts that extended from her knees downwards.
Her face was the withered husk of what could have been a noble visage. Eyeless sockets and dried lips parted to reveal nothing but an empty skull, over which her skin stretched. Bone-like outgrowths on the top of her head created something like a pointy crown.
If Alice had to y the Red Queen to negotiate with reality, then it appeared that Nia had to defeat the blue one.
Nia conjured her weapons while the wraith went after her. Screeching like the mmed brakes of a car, the Blue Queen mindlessly shed at the nk without any form or carefulness. The attack was just quick enough to allow Nia to react. Dodging out of harms way, she raised hernce and plunged it into the wraiths stomach.
A pariahs weapon did not cut or otherwise prate a physical form, it dealt damage to magic and soul. No wound and no trace of the attack being visible was expected. That the wraith acted like it hadnt been hit at all, however, wasnt.
The ck liquid of her visor manifested in front of her eyes. Her view of the world was reced with one that was more urate. Where she could only see shapes and textures before, she could now see magic itself. A blur of colours, a spectrum of lights, the magic in the air mingling and interacting.
While more urate, she couldnt see the Blue Queen through it.
She had immediately moved to rectify her mistake, the ck liquid fading away again, but the reality wraith already shed at her chest with her long ws. They cut through dress and skin like paper, and blood spurted, ruining both the perfect white of the room and the blue of the creature. Nia stumbled back, dismissed her weapons and concentrated on avoiding any further harm.
It was difficult to keep dodging in the tight space behind the ss, especially against an opponent that was just wild fury. The cascade of attacks didnt seem to end and Nia wasnt sure what to do. Driven into the smoothed corner of the room, she stumbled up the incline and wound out of the way of a prating kick from a pointy leg.
A minimal opening, but Nia took it. Darting forwards, she attempted to do with fists where weapons had failed her C and seeded. Her knucklesnded square in the Blue Queens face and there was a loud crack, like a dry piece of wood snapping. Her neck broke backwards and the reality wraith copsed like a scarecrow whose central elementals had been removed.
For one moment, Nia breathed lightly. Then, with an intense shudder, life returned to the Blue Queen and she rose with a renewed shriek. Now sure that she could hurt her opponent, the blonde backed away and looked for the next opportunity. With her opponents mindless fighting style, that didnt take too long.
One sloppy sh of the Blue Queens ws and Nia grabbed her by the arm. With a basic over-shoulder throw, the nk sent the reality wraith onto the floor. The simultaneous breaking of many parts made it sound like someone was twisting bubble wrap. Half a second, there was silence, then all about the Blue Queen snapped back into ce and she tried to get up.
Mercilessly, Nia stomped on her throat. The effective and quick tactic was always the best one. A snapping sound, silence, then a shriek, then another snap. Over and over, the Blue Queen died, was revived and killed again. It was a battle of her regeneration against Nias stamina and, the nk soon realized, she would be the one losing that battle.
There was no end to the power of the Blue Queen. As I should expect, Nia told herself, Im fighting the protest of reality. I dont have more power than thews of nature. There had to be another way to win this fight. A way to defeat the wraith without killing her. Nothing really came to mind. Nothing logical anyway. Perhaps I should do something illogical then? That could work, but no, no buts.
Shoving the hesitation and the denial from her mind, Nia stopped in her repeated killing of the blue creature. The second she was alive again, the reality wraith stormed onto her feet, more hovering than standing up, and attacked Nia again. Dodging the swipes of both arms, Nia then grabbed the Blue Queen by her upper arms.
As quick as she was and as sharp as her ws were, the creature was fragile and weak. Squeezing her hands too tightly would have caused the spindly arms to break. Immobilized by just a bit of pressure, the Blue Queen could only shriek and shriek. Her toothless maw was wide agape and her protest continued to ring out.
Then Nia started shaking her. Not in any hostile fashion, but like a friend that wanted to wake her up. The shrieks of the Blue Queen transformed into a confused gargling and then, slowly, into the pleasant chirping of a songbird. The thing Nia was holding shrunk and changed shape, became so small that shaking it was quite difficult.
At the end, a blue bird sat in the joined palms of her hands. May I get past the ss? Nia asked and got a small series of notes in response. The bird looked at her, confused. Nia put power behind the question, a bit more tactfully than the wild throwing she had done along her earlier demand. May I get past the ss?
The bird bounced in her palm, pecked at her, sang, then vanished. Nia looked up, only to realize that she was much closer to the door than she had been moments ago. Unsure whether she had seeded, she walked forwards, one hand extended in front of her. Until her fingers touched the actual wall next to the door.
I did it, she thought and felt relief and joy spread through her limbs. She touched her face, felt the wide smile there. Those muscles still felt odd to use, but she was able to do it. With relief and joy also came pain. The wound in her chest was now more present than ever. Red with ck and white swirls in it, taking symmetric shapes, it flowed from the gashes. Could I...? she wondered and tried to negotiate again.
The feeling was different this time. There was no manifestation to present her question to. She simply presented intent, power and rationale. She wanted to get healed. She had the necessary power to mend her wounds. She wasnt part of just this world so its rules didnt have to apply to her in its totality. Surely it would be eptable for her to mend the flesh attached to her empty soul?
Reality, reluctantly, agreed. Her wounds closed as if they hadnt ever been there in the first ce. Even the blood she had shed disappeared. The dress fixed itself moments thereafter and left Nia standing in the room, halfway faded but less afraid of the prospect than ever before.
Then the door opened.
Chapter 794 – Newman and the Maidens of Null
Chapter 794 C Newman and the Maidens of Null
My real name is Alice Pleasance Liddell, the dark-haired pariah stated, as they walked through the many-doored corridors.
Nobody was surprised, least of all John, who couldnt help but remark, Your middle name is rather ironic, given how obnoxious you can be. He only received a cryptic smile in response, so he continued with something that he actually wondered about. Are you the same Alice as the one I can find on Wikipedia or is there something else I dont know?
That would be my twin sister C who never knew about me, Alice responded. Getting through birth alone is quite a risk for a pariah. With a mundane mother, youre a crying infant nobody can hear. I was given the same name by the Abyssal who happened to raise me. I like it, so I kept it.
Fair enough. The Gamers curiosity was sated and he didnt want to drill much further. His mind was too exhausted from prolonged exposure to Florida men and women (mostly women) and he just wanted his adorable pariah back. Then he wanted to get somewhere he didnt have to wonder if the chicken talked to him.
They arrived at the familiar door and Alice stopped with her hand on the handle. I would request one thing, she said and looked at John and his entourage, that only John goes in there with me.
Afraid we might disturb Nia? Rave asked, to which the woman shook her head.
Either she seeded or she didnt. I told her all she needed to know, she can practice anything else by herself. I put a bit of pressure on her to help her get through the barrier; whether or not she has the potential, I have no idea. Alice shrugged and her gaze transformed to reflect a lustful hunger. I want to feel what Wendy felt.
Ah, the girlfriend of the Gamer made an understanding sound, then pped her man on the ass. Well, go get her tiger. Just keep Nias legs intact, we cant leave otherwise.
I will do my best. John grinned and stood a little more upright. Venting some of my frustrations into her cunt is exactly what I want from life right now, he thought. Of course, he wouldnt do anything if Nia wasnt in the mood.
Alice pressed down the handle and they both entered. They almost immediately ran into Nia, standing next to the doorframe, with one hand one the wall. Darting towards each other, the Gamer and the Maiden of Null embraced one another. John went deeper into the room with circling steps, whirling the lithe woman around him before putting her down to kiss her long and deep.
Have fun! Rave shouted, before Alice closed the door.
There wasnt any immediate reaction by Nia. She was too distracted by Johns tongue and moaning into his mouth. She tasted and smelled like nothing, leaving all his senses focused on the sensations. His hands travelled over the soft non-fabric of her dress, took in of her what he could and what he had missed over the past months. She was thin but still soft in the right ces. Her tits, her sides, her ass, back up to her hair, he wanted to indulge in all of her.
When they finally separated, it was on her initiative. Have fun? she asked, and her eyebrows moved the slightest bit to underline her mild confusion. Looking over to Alice, who was naked immediately, she immediately realized. Having sex, I understand.
We dont have to if you dont want to, John assured her, but Nias dress had vanished before he finished that sentence.
Its who you are and I want to be by your side, the blonde stated and stepped back, Alice joining right next to her. Blonde and dark-haired, pale and tanned, both with blue eyes and that odd aura to them. Nia was taller, had about a cup size bigger breasts and all around had that supermodel body. Next to her, Alice looked a bit more rural and all around a tad less attractive. Although that very well may have been Johns bias. They were contrasting in many ways, but simr in many more.
John didnt lose any time to discard his own clothes through the menu. Exposed to the air, his half-hard cock was slowly swelling. A progression that elerated to quickly when both women got on their knees in front of him. Their lips pressed against either side of his cock and covered him with little licks and kisses. They started at the base and slowly worked their way up.
Once up there, only one would get to take him into her mouth. As much as he wanted to get back at Alice, if there was one thing stronger than his irritation, then it was his love for his harem. Putting a hand on her head, seeing it mostly vanish inside her peculiar mane, he guided Nia towards the tip of his now fully erect dick.
He would have let her go slowly, it had been quite some time after all, but Nia had not forgotten how to properly suck him off. To warm herself up, get used to the sensation again, she bobbed up and down halfway on hisrge cock. Oh God, John groaned. Oh God! he repeated, louder, when she suddenly slid all the way down and took him deep into her throat.
She stayed there for a few seconds, Alice ying along and worshipping his balls with her lips and tongue. Then, Nia slowly slid back up, and close to the head, she let out a sharp moan. Your turn, mentor, she gasped, gooey strands connecting her lips and his shaft, already ruining the meticulously clean look the pale girl usually had.
Yes, Alice hummed, her dark lips pressing against his head just as John put his right hand on her head. There was less to grab, courtesy of the quite normal cut her dark hair had, but the Gamer still enjoyed guiding her down his shaft. She struggled to take his size in, that much was obvious from the widening of her eyes and the asional small gag.
Determined as she was, however, she got all the way down. THE Alice in Wondend is sucking me off, John thought, for one moment forgetting everything else and just taking in the ridiculousness of that statement. Then he slipped out of the fantasy and focused on what was real. The tongue pressing against the underside of his shaft and the intense moans reverberating around him. Is she a blowjob slut or something? he wondered.
The answer was much simpler. Like Nia, Alice slid back up after just a few seconds. I never felt something like that before, the fabled pariah gasped, as she leaned down and Nia went back up. Between licks and kisses of his heavy sack, she exined, Magic radiates off every inch of your body and deliciously oozes out with your precum. Odd and wonderful.
It had slipped Johns mind for a moment that horny pariahs felt pleasure from the magical prowess of their partners. Their sensibility at detecting mana was, like many other senses that regr people shared, put into overdrive during sex. With Gamers Body, Johns general power, sexual Perks and the general proclivity of love juices being rich in mana, for some Gaia known reason, it created a situation where he was an ecstasy radiating unit of a man. As long as it was sex with him, the two pariahs would, essentially, be sluts no matter what hole it came to. Even their skin was a potential erogenous zone.
I need to test that, John thought and sped things up. Rather than just let them suck him off, he thrust into their throats. Only Nias at first, knowing that she was fine with it, and into Alices once he got permission. In ten second intervals, he changed between them. Neither of the pariahs were particrly talkative and the featureless room left nothing to concentrate his eyes on but his cock vanishing between luscious lips.
Regardless of how awesome it felt, particrly once Alice had gotten more used to his size, it still took him almost ten minutes to feel the edge approaching. The Gamer could cum easily, particrly in the morning, but this wasnt one of those times. It didnt help that he had to do more and more of the moving himself, as both nks grew sloppy in their movements as his magic filled pre-cum made them moaning messes.
Oh fuck he eventually groaned, deep inside Nias throat. Grabbing her head with both hands, he fucked her face at a rapid pace. Get ready, I want to cum on your faces! he eximed. Alice pulled up, while Nia just had to wait until he had used her to finish himself off.
Despite his best efforts, the first spurt of his cum pumped into Nias mouth. The reaction was an orgasmic scream, mana and Libido Perkyering, that echoed once he had retreated past her lips. With a modicum of emotions, it seemed also her old problem of beingpletely silent during sex had resolved, much to Johns liking. More thick seed sted out of his engorged shaft andnded on their presented faces. Tongues stretched out, and eagerly waiting, both underestimated the quality and quantity of his load.
No sooner had the first ropes of white scattered over their gorgeous faces, than they were both lost in a scream of ecstasy. Their bodies squirmed and tensed, making subsequent stsnd on other areas. Each time, it renewed their shouts and the intense orgasm they were experiencing. Alice eventually toppled over backwards, unable to keep control over her limbs.
Nia didnt fare much better but somehow managed to nt forwards and get back to sloppily working on his cock. You became even better, she stated, a hint of disbelief and joy swinging in her voice. I love it, I love you. Even the barest bit of emotion in her taxed voice was enough to make John smile. It was such a vast improvement from her trying to sound sexy in her emotionless voice or just being quiet.
I love you too, he responded, while she worked to milk thest few drops from him. She was struggling to go through the motions, the little drops that hit her tongue visibly setting of aftershocks. Having being withdrawn from him for months and the vast improvements made in them set her up for an ecstatic reminder of what sex with John Newman was like.
Alice was slowly getting back to sitting, when Nia let go of his cock with a loud, erotic pop. Struggling to get up, she only managed to do so once John lent her a hand. Not managing to stand, she fell against him. He embraced her. Her moderately sized breasts were a soft cushion between their drumming heartbeats. His left hand travelled down to her ass and grabbed. It was soft, not as thick as his other girls, but still a nice and firm ass.
He was about to position himself to thrust into her, when Nia whispered in his ear. Have sex with Alice first, she told him. I want you to myself.
The implication there was obvious and John grinned. As you wish. Together, they sank to the floor. Niaid on her back and Alice crawled over. Get on top of her, Johnmanded, and Alice raised an eyebrow, likely feeling the magic inside the words. After a moment of analysis, she obeyed.
With her backside presented to John, she was on all fours above the blonde nk. Bent over in such a fashion, her ass looked wonderful and round. Her pussy was already glistening wet, there was absolutely no need for further forey, and the Gamer was looking for two simple things: to exorcise all his frustrations and to make her scream from the overabundant pleasure. Even an irritated John was still focused on searing himself into the memory of his partners.
Her cunt took his size with a lot more ease than her throat had. As wet as she was, he had no trouble sinking all the way inside and immediately starting to thrust. Any sort of warm-up or slow easing, he skipped it all. Tight as she was, thrusting into her was no problem, so he immediately went into full force.
Hard impacts and shouted moans echoed through the pure white room. Is this what you thought of when you called me capable? John let out a slight mock. He was keeping himself from doing some of the more rough things his instincts told him, like spanking her ass until it was three shades darker, but he had to do something.
Equally to his dismay and satisfaction, Alice did not manage to answer. His continuous thrusts kept her vocal cordspletely upied with screams. He wasnt even sure if she had heard him. With a shrug and a grin, John changed the angle a little bit, searching for those sweet spots. He found them, heard the screams devolve into graceless grunts and perverted gasps, until they were silenced by sloppy kisses. The two pariahs were kissing, while Alices body was shaken by each relentless and fast plunge into her gushing cunt.
If she didnt hear him, then a warning was useless anyway. John sped up as the pressure in his balls mounted and finally released in a shudder that started in his shaft and travelled up his spine in a wave of raw lust. Deep inside her, he released his cum, flooding her insides. He pressed against her as intensely as he could, imagining that he could feel all his annoyances leave his body along with each spurt.
Alice was overtaken by repeated shivers and only held in ce by Nia. The wet sound of plunging into her was reced by the pattering sound of her repeated squirting hitting the floor and parts of Nias body. Long before John was done filling her up, the rigidness of her form copsed into nothing more than a spasming, limp body. Her pussy kept milking him until thest drop. Then he and Nia, together, rolled Alice to the side and concentrated on each other. There were no more distractions.
They had a quiet understanding. Nia simply raised one leg and allowed John to use it as a handle to close the little distance between them. His cock fell on her pretty pink pussy, drenched with her and Alices juices. Softly he grinded against the heat of herbia and basked in Nias little expression. Her eyebrows were raised towards the centre of her forehead and her mouth just a little agape, leaving room for tiny gasps to escape her. Although the initial mana had been sapped from the cum on her skin, she was still very much turned on. Him smearing his pre-cum on her pussy lips didnt help.
Next to them, Alice was out cold from the pleasure. John had mercilessly overdone it and he was happy to see her tormented in a way that only he could reliably inflict on a woman. Revenge is sweet, he dered, then ignored the dark-haired pariah for the rest of the lovemaking, but love is so much sweeter.
What are you waiting for? Nia wanted to know, hooking the heel of her slender foot behind his shoulder. I want you inside me. In the past, dirty talk from her had been downright painful. Now the note of genuine desperation in her calm voice was the greatest song Johns dominant heart could have asked for. Please.
Can I put the Lovers Will mark on you? John answered with a question of his own. There was no reason to dy it and he wanted to see her pale skin decorated with his brand. As long as she epted it, her anti-magical powers shouldnt neutralize it.
Yes, Nia kept it short and simple. The answer was followed by an extended moan as John activated both the magic and pushed inside of her. Tingling, it flowed into her. Where his hands touched her, where their sexes joined, there was a moment of resistance, then a free flow. For one blissful moment, the magic made them part of the same circuit. A moment of love, passion and lust flowing through them undiluted and true. Then the energy coalesced inside of them. For John, it became another mark on his fingers, bing the first one on the little finger of his right hand. For Nia, the usual mark of winding but never meeting lines formed underneath her navel. The shape of a heart at the centre, it stretched over her womb in dark blue wonder.
John felt as if his cock went from rock hard to steel solid. Fully inside her, he took a blissful breath. You wont leave again, right? he asked. Youre mine again? He knew the question was selfish, but he needed to hear it.
Im yours, Nia assured, and for those words, the passivity of her voice waspletely reced with a level of earnest emotion that rivalled the greatest poetry.
With that, he slowly began to move. He leaned lightly onto her leg, forcing her to raise her hips a little bit and let him thrust deeper into her. The soft, smooth skin of her long leg felt wonderful against his palms and chest. Not quite as wonderful as the many folds of her tight pussy, but close. Her insides hadnt forgotten his shape, or maybe he had just been craving her for so long that whatever she felt like would have felt ecstatic. Whether the answer was idealistic or realistic, the only thing that mattered was that it was her and she was tight.
Revelling in each moment, he pulled out. Her insides clung to her, her sprawled out hands wed at the floor, her toes curled. Truly yours she gasped, happily, when John reversed the direction of his motions and easefully went back into her. The bulge his girthy cock created in her abdomen slowly stretched out until it reached just below the heart shaped centre of the Lovers Will mark. He was deep inside her, almost kissing her womb, but not quite. This was as deep as he could be without making it hurt.
My Nia, he sighed and pulled back out again. He elerated quickly. He wanted to hear more of this more expressive progression she had made. Lustful gasps caressed his ears with every move he made. It was more than just his moves that gave her pleasure; even with her anti-magical sensibilities, the Gamers skill at fucking was still what mattered most.
And he put what he knew to good use.
He hadnt forgotten any of Nias sensitive points, neither was he nning to try and discover new ones. Having already cum twice, he wouldst for a long time and he put it to good use. Although he didnt vary much in the position, he soon had Nia squirming in a way that supported little more than missionary, he kept interacting with the entirety of her curves.
He let his hands slide over her flexible leg, grabbed her firm ass, caressed sides and stomach, and wandered up to her breasts. They wererge enough to jiggle in a deeply satisfying fashion, as his intense plunges into her pussy shook her entire body. While multiple orgasms caused her spine to arch off the floor and her quim to quiver and clench around his cock, he grabbed her tit and lightly wed into it in a caringly sadistic manner.
Nia had always been malleable in her sexual tastes. It appeared that she hadnt quite made up her mind before meeting John and the intense domineering attitude had shaped her up to be quite receptive towards him. Likely an acquired taste, but a taste for light submission regardless, her cunt overflowed with love juices when he pinched her right nipple and pulled. The soft flesh of her mammary rose and then jiggled back into position after he had let go. He continued this and other yfully rough treatments for a few minutes.
Then he leaned even further forwards. Her leg was almost touching her shoulder as he bowed over her face. The hand that had yed with her chest wandered to her chin. Holding it, his thumb pulled down her lower lip. Presented with that single finger, she sucked at it. Mustering all of her willpower, she managed to focus her sapphire eyes on him.
Im about to cum, he said, his voice deep and strained. Do you want me to cum? She nodded. Do you want me to fill you up? Another nod, stronger this time. Let me hear what you want me to do. He moved his thumb to the side.
I want your cum inside me, John, Nia panted. Her voice wasnt nearly as wrecked by pleasure as he had hoped, but her strangely collected calm made for a nice contrast with the desperate desire on her face. Fill me up. A moments hesitation, then, in the same calm tone, Make me a mother, in the future.
A sane man would have stopped. John Newman had to massively pull himself together to not give into his base instincts, flip a switch and fulfil that sudden wish right there on the spot. With considerable struggle, he managed to keep that desire in check. All that unpredictable announcement had him do was ram his cock deep into Nias cunt onest time. Then his balls tightened and seed rushed up his shaft.
As her insides were painted white, Nias concentrated gaze broke. Her eyes slowly travelled up and her tongue stretched out along a loud scream. John followed the tune and together they roared their ecstasy into the featureless room. He came, felt the absolute relief and reality of having her back and marked with his love in every fibre of his being. Infertile or not, his cum filled every bit of her womb, and the knowledge that she was another one of his women ready to, one day, carry his child only made the amount spurting out of him that much more.
She squirted against his groin, her hands reached up to him, and instead of the floor, she wed at his back. Soft pain only ented the rush of pleasure that took hold in his body like white lightning that bounced around inside a bottle. Again and again, his shaft tensed and rxed, dropping another wave of seed inside her.
After almost a minute of ceaseless climax, it finally ebbed off. The spurts got weaker, until he was fully drained and satisfied. For the moment, at least. He took Nia off the floor and hugged her, while she calmed down herself. Her lithe body was light and fit nicely between his shoulders.
Thest separation that Sigmund had caused had finally been mended.
Chapter 795 – Home
Chapter 795 C Home
As John wanted, they went home quickly. The flight was already booked, including the extra seat for Nia. Of course she wasnt officially on the flight, but Scarlett had been careful to pick an airline that only cared that they got paid for the seat, especially if it was first ss. If they had booked from apany that actively gambled on people missing their flights and sold more seats than they had, they would have had a problem. However, they hadnt and so they didnt.
One flight to DC and a teleportter, they were back home. It was Sunday evening and they had little more to do than throw a wee back party for Nia. Jack was working on arranging things, so everything was about ready when they stepped out of the teleporter.
It went about as expected.
About time you swung your creepy ass back home, Eliza cussed at the blonde, even as she came close to look at her fellow harem member. Dont think you changed at all, same blonde bi- birch as always.
Nia didnt answer immediately, instead staring at the thing the pretty little psycho was carrying in her arms. Having her belly scratched and purring continuously, Velka was getting cradled like a little baby. She even was about big enough for one, although even if half of that were feathers. That is the Magryph C Velka? the nk asked.
Turning her head at the sound of her name, the chick looked at Niaing closer and warbled with interest. Velka has taste, so she probably wont like you, Eliza dered, while putting down the little thing. She was immediately proven wrong as the Magryph, as if she had known Nia for the entirety of her short life, tapped up to the blonde and leaned on her legs with a trusting meow.
Bowing down, Nia let the birdcat sniff her hand. Velka was taken aback, likely by theck of smell, proceeded to nibble at the hand and then rubbed the side of her head against it. The contact was established and Nia got to pick her up without problem. Just like Eliza, Nia cradled the chick in her arm, belly up and ready for some rubs. Which the nk immediately gave her.
So much love, Nia gasped, while her hand was attacked in a yful mixture of hug and scratching. I want to drown in this feeling.
John and Jack snorted, the Gamer remembering Eliza saying basically the same thing a few days back. You shut the F up! Eliza must have recalled as well. Dont even mentallypare me to her!
I apologize for taking this long for getting back, Nia said and bowed her head a little bit. Like so often, she responded to something said earlier only once she had fully formed her answer. I was training to make sure I could stay forever. I didnt get what I wanted, but I got something close. She tried her best at smiling. It looked clearly forced, not quite as creepy as in the past, but not as elegant as that natural smile she had shown a few times now.
sted fucking shit, you can change the way your face looks. Eliza was so stunned she forgot to not cuss for a second.
No, I cant, Nia tilted her head in confusion.
Okay, for a second there I thought you actually had changed, the blood mage snickered in relief. Same moron as before, all is right with the world.
I am d you are happy with the oue? The confusion rang in her voice.
Ya gotta stop being so mean, Eliza, Rave chimed in and threw an arm around Nias neck. The gangs back together! After a seconds thought, she rephrased, Complete harem re-acquired!
Lydia stepped in as well. Indeed, it is good to see you back, Nia. We were worried.
Thank you, friend, the nk said, looking for a while at the queen. Your looks improved.
Indeed, courtesy of our beloved. Lydia nodded and gestured at John, who was there twice.
A lot of things urred while I was gone. Regret slithered its way into her voice. Although, with the end of her training, her bag had been returned to her, Nia didnt reach for the cards. Partially because she would have needed to let go of Velka. Mostly, at least how John understood it, because she genuinely wanted to be able to emote like a normal person. Two Johns look nice. He also smells good again.
We did get the recipe for the old cologne. John grinned, while Jack morphed back into the Mand Sphere. There was, in theory, paperwork to do. That could wait for tomorrow though; he wanted to keep all of his attention to his girls tonight. I havent been able to ramp up production speed beyond what I need yet. Wonder if I should sell some once I have.
I advise not to, Lydia let her opinion be known. In an idealistic world, rulers should treat themselves as an equal part of the citizenry. To keep the respect of that very same citizenry, making certain decisions to at the very least appear above the majority is also necessary. The respect required to govern will not be given to someone that is average.
That shit will sell for millions though, Scarlett added. The marketing practically writes itself and the product is, she stepped close to deeply inhale his smoky and spicy musk, fantastic.
Ill think about it some more, the Gamer stated with a smirk, while attention quickly shifted back to Nia. Most of the girls had already done their hugs and cuddles back in Florida. Of those that had remained in New York City, only Scarlett and Metra remained to say their piece. Neither of them were the sentimental type, and in the Technomancers case, she and Nia barely knew each other. Scarlett had still been in her sheltered phase by the time the pariah left.
Compliments on getting some emotion on your face, Scarlett stated while lighting herself a cigarette. She seemed willing to change the state of being rtive strangers. If nothing else, the redhead had learned how the harem best ran smoothly and seemed to flourish inside that social setting. Makes you look less creepy. I could probably set you up with a nice modelling career.
Nias eyes drilled into Scarlett with the usual emotionless expression. Ah, a sudden dry sound, followed by the epiphany, that is what Eliza meant with changing my face.
Congrattions, you dense cu-tie. The blood mage didnt seem all too happy with her curse-dodging there, but John made her forget about it bying over and giving her a deep hug. Fuck yeah, she mumbled into his shoulder. Real John is best John. Give me all your love! Also kids!
I, too, want kids, Nia chimed in. There was a moment of surprise in the harem, but not a particrly prolonged one. All of the present girls had already made the decision that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with him and even those that had previously said they werent overly interested in having children were, at the prospect of him as the father, caving in on that front. Peer pressure could have also had something to do with it.
Get to the back of the line, paper face! Eliza shouted. Me first! I wanted it the longest, so suck it up and wait.
I will wait. I still want to be a mother, Nia answered.
Thats good, as long as were clear on that! The pretty little psycho continued to re, even as John picked her up and ced her in a nearby garden chair.
The Transport Station was located at the roof of the Pce, right under the feet of Lady Liberty. Where normally there was only a nice greenw to apany it, Jack had ced the proper number of chairs and loungers, along with a ludicrously sized contraption of a grill. Smander grabbed the five-kilo sack of coals standing right next to it and emptied the entirety of it into the metal monstrosity. A barbeque for over a dozen people had to be well fed.
Sylph joined Smander away from the main group, both tending to a quickly developing fire, and most of the harem, after getting in some appreciating words towards the nk, splintered into talking groups as well. Lydia and Rave were the ones that stayed with Nia, guiding her towards one of the round tables and keeping a conversation going. Velka, Copernicus and Stirwin were nearby, vying for the attention of Nias skillful belly rubs.
The usual trio of Eliza, Siena and Undine hung closely around, doubtlessly because the former wanted to be there whenever Velka grew tired of one kind of scratches and wanted another vour. Scarlett and Gnome talked about something that made the autumn elemental blush softly and keep gesturing around in denial. Aclysia was moving around, making sure all of the eating utensils were present, Beatrice got the tables in symmetrical positions and Metra overlooked it all, mocking their efforts in the typically friendly fashion.
Only Nathalia and Momo arent here, John thought as he scanned the gathering of his women. The bantering and flirting between them continued even as he just stood aside. Sylph and Smander made out in a very intimate fashion next to the fire of the grill, Lydia yed with Nias hair like only two lovers would, Siena got downright sexual with the way she physically and verbally teased her conversation partners, and a verbal fencing between Metra and Beatrice escted to the point that the two of them were wrestling in a lounger.
It was all casual and wholesome and John stepped over to the ensemble around Nia to join that conversation.
And that is why I advise that you look into starting rtions with the Mandate of Heaven, Lydia finished a little lecture.
Weve been so far ignored by their bureaucracy, John chimed in before his girlfriend could give a more joking answer. nting his butt down in the broad seat of an outdoor couch,plete with removable cushions, he put one arm around Nia and let the other open for whoever was quicker. Or, in this case, for Lydia, who was simply left to take the ce. Something about leaving the rest of the harem an adequate amount of cuddle time, no doubt. Apparently were too insignificant to get attention.
That is of little surprise, the Mandate of Heaven seldom engages with diplomacy with those that dont start with the position of a tributary, Lydia sighed.
The bigger surprise is that ya managed to actuallye here tonight, Rave changed the topic.
Nia nodded, looking up from the crocodile hatchling in herp to pay some more attention to the conversation. You have difficulty removing yourself from work.
I do not, it is just that certain people make more work for me by chasing after cats, Lydia defended herself while also delivering a small jab. Forcing me to find workarounds and make other arrangements.
I still fail to see where I made a mistake there. Nia made her most convincing expression yet (aside from those of sexual ecstasy) showing just how puzzled she was. I arrived when I needed to and you won the tournament, did you not?
The ends dont justify all the troubles in the meantime, Lydia responded by changing a moremon saying to fit the situation. For someone that is so straightforward when ites for battle tactics, you are oddly inadequate when ites to obeying timetables.
Timetables are for cogs in clockwork, turning in set intervals to keep a machine running, Nia responded in the usual neutrality, making the words almost sound harsh and scolding. I am not a machine; I am a human with purpose. I arrive when I mean to.
Living in a societal structure requires that we sacrifice some of our individuality for reliability, Lydia both pushed back and admitted that Nia had a point there with that statement. Before the discussion could continue, however, she just sighed. I suppose you arent exactly a normal member of society. As long as you keep being present where you are required, I suppose there is no issue. To answer the question originally posed: it will somewhat meddle with my sleep schedule, but I wanted to see Nia again. The auburn-haired queen reached over and took her fellow harem members hand. I may have brought you into this for selfish reasons, but I do care for seeing you safe.
Nia became a little bit red, a change incredibly pronounced on her fair face. My thanks. Her words were just that little bit stirred.
God, you two are adorable, John dered and pulled them both closer to himself. His lips pecked a quick kiss on their cheeks and then his lips were imed by not so quick kisses on their initiative. It was incredibly sloppy, as three-way kisses tended to be. A whole lot more tongue was involved than in the usual variety.
Grill is ready! Smander shouted. If you want something specific, tell me now or I will just throw shit randomly on there.
Get me the pepper sauce covered turkey steak, John responded out loud and Smander ripped open the packaging. Usually, Aclysia would have prepared the meat for them, in cut and what it was marinated in before they arrived. With the weaponized maid still on the flight back, John had to limit himself to the store-bought stuff. High end but still store-bought. Im feeling spicy things today, the Gamer whispered as he leaned towards Lydia, are you staying the night?
I hardly have a choice in the matter, do I? she asked, one hand gripping the package his bulging pants barely veiled. I reckon you will require all the aid you can get to tame your urges tonight. The more of your harem present, the more voracious your appetite seems to grow. Their lips met for a moment, and the Gamer then turned around to give attention to the nk softly tugging at his sleeve.
A deep kiss with herter, Nia said, That is no theory, that is a fact.
I merely prepare myself to satisfy all of you, John stated with a smirk.
And thats why ya need a blowjob service under your desk when ya do office work, remarked his girlfriend in a semi-sarcastic fashion.
Hey, you get off on it too!
Where would one be part of those services? Nia asked.
Do ya still have your old smartphone?
No.
Well get ya a new one tomorrow then; we n that stuff via chat, Rave quickly exined.
Is my body good enough? she suddenly asked, her gaze slowly wandering from Rave, to Lydia and then John. You all have improved appearances. Im so thin everywhere. Her mouth shifted into a little bit of a scowl as she looked down on herself. Legs and butt, mainly.
Youre still gorgeous. John didnt want any self-esteem issues to crop up when they werent warranted. Even if my inner ass man does have to agree that youre the least gifted of my girls in that apartment. He was also honest. Lying to make her feel better in the short term wasnt worth the long term issues it could cause.
How did you two improve this much? Nia inquired.
Martial arts, for the most part, Rave answered. We have a suspicion that Lovers Will may be involved, but thats nothing we have evidence for. We both got a lot stronger through martial arts, Lydia in a bit more of a burst than me, so thats what we managed to track.
That is a path I do not have ess too, Nia mumbled and Stirwin let out a bit of a whimper as the pats reduced in enthusiasm.
Cheer up, buttercup, the Gamers girlfriendughed. Ya arent doing any real exercise, right?
I keep my body healthy through long walks and a bnced diet. Nias response missed the point by a bit. The majority ofbat prowess stems from efficient usage of my powers as a nk, rather than physical strength.
Rave got up, turned around and presented her marvel of an ass. Look, I may have won the gic roulette as well but something like this ya dont just get. Gotta do a lot of butt sculpting exercise to make an ass as good as it can be. She winked over her shoulder. Ya can hit up the gym with me some time and I will show ya some good workouts. Might shave an hour or two every day of you training your headache inducing void powers, but it will get ya closer to the wanted shape. Putting her showcase back on the seat, she continued, Will probably take a few months until ya see the proper results, but it should also make ya a bit better duringbat. Well, if its the same for nks as it is for regr people that base strength helps a ton with the supernatural increases. Dunno if your anti-mana works the same way when ites to muscle reinforcement.
Nia didnt have an answer for that, instead pondering about the proposal for about thirty seconds. I shouldnt do it for looks alone, she stated, even while she nodded. As I had trouble physically keeping up with opponents in the past, this will be worthwhile regardless of it.
Alright, we gonna get Aclysia to put some more protein in your meals then, Rave dered and then blinked in confusion, somethinging to her mind. Huh, now that I think about it, its kinda weird how open you always were towards eating meat.
Nia blinked back in the same fashion. Why is that weird?
What with your rtionship to animals and all that, Rave looked upwards, seemingly more concentrated on looking inwards and going through memories than keeping eye contact with who she was talking to.
John also went through his mental archives. His were a lot more urate and orderly. I only saw you refusing meat once, he recalled.
Animals eat each other. When I have hunger and I crave them, I will eat them, Nia exined her stance on the matter. I refuse to eat the meat of animals that were ughtered before adulthood. That is my only contention.
Hmmm, yeah, that makes enough sense, John could certainly understand that. Personally, he wouldnt do the same, he foundmb too delicious, but the issue itself was reasonable. If you get stronger or get your figure to be even nicer - either way, I look forward to the results. He smirked.
The second he had said that, Nia took Stirwin out of herp, ced him on the table and got up. Her face was rxed, which, thanks to the natural arrangement of her feature, made it look like she was about to rip holes into someones soul with her stare alone. With that, she walked up to Velka.
The Magryph was currently getting attention from nobody, a rare state of affairs. Instead she was standing on the seating of a chair and looked down. It appeared she wasnt sure whether she wanted to jump or not. Slightly angled wings only underlined her uncertainty.
With a little caw, Velkamented on the fact that Nia picked her up. Raising her far above her head, it seemed, for a few moments, as if Nia would put the bird-cat on her head. Instead, the nk marched straight towards the edge of the terrace and tossed Velka over the ceiling.
That seeded in causing a generalmotion. In disbelief and shock, everyone ran on over. Nobody raised their voice in usation just yet, they had too much trust in Nia. Sylph, Smander and the Mand Sphere went past the railing. Ready to catch the Magryph before she could hit the ground, they all stormed into the air and then stopped.
Velka beat her wings. At first desperately, barely doing more than slowing her fall, then her instincts kicked in and she spread them out far. Falling was transformed into gliding and Velkas trajectory changed into a long curve. Then she beat her wings and gained a little bit of altitude. The whole harem watched in fascination as the chimera picked up speed and skill until she was high enough to aim at the crowd and fly back at them. Eliza caught her in her arms.
That was amazing! the blood mageplimented and kissed the adorable bundle of mischief and greed on her fluffy head. How did you know she was ready?! she then turned to Nia, demanding an answer.
She looked like she wanted to fly. It wasnt the most assuring response, but who were they to second guess Nias handling of animals. Instead, they all just clumped together in a giant hug around the Magryph and the nk.
It was her evening and it was the life of the harem.
Season 3 Arc 5 End.
Author’s Note – Season 3 Arc 5
Authors Note C Season 3 Arc 5
It.
Is.
Done!
Jesus fucking Christ on his throne in heaven, guarded by Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, someone shoot me in the head, this took way too fucking long.
This Arc in its entire 630k word length took me 10 months to write and its finally done. It is finally fucking done. I wont even pretend that I can go through all of the things that happened in it in here, that would just add another 5000 words to that length. Instead, I will make this one of the shortest Authors Notes I have ever left and just tell you a short tale. After simply listing all that happened in this arc, sorted chronologically:
-
Catgirl Interview
-
Small Lake Pact tournament and integration
-
Amacat negotiations and integration
-
Scarletts fake public persona
-
The Catch-Up buff, beating the first Raid
-
Johns birthday, with Nathalia showing her face
-
Item upgrades
-
Breakthroughs on the Thana integration
-
Gaia revealing the truth about the world
-
Momo calling
-
The Hudson Brawl and subsequent peace deal
-
The Guys night out
-
The Fusion Federation system
-
Visiting Johns parents in DC
-
The Birthday Season
-
The Augusta sub-arc
-
Goblin Interview
-
The dismissing and resummoning of the elemental girls
-
The Florida Tournament
- Niaing back
Altogether taking, in story, from the 28th of June to the 9th of September.
This was supposed to be one of the shortest arcs, which just goes to show that you should never ask me for an estimate of how long something is supposed to take. The estimation was born from me, mentally, focusing on the Florida end part of things. The Small Lake Pact and Amacat affairs were supposed to be rtively cut and dry and quick. The birthday(s) I didnt ount for, thats just how the dates lined up.
So many details that opened themselves up for exploration at certain times, so many little side plots to finish or borate on. So much goddamn stuff.
Im not going to sit here and pretend that I was torturing myself writing it. The few regr slumps that everyone has aside, I am very happy with how this arc turned out. That the Lucifrena fight was better in my mind than it panned out on the page would be my most pronounced regret. I also didnt know what to do with Marie. She was supposed to be a side character, then John decided to be a big old flirt about it, making her a potential haremette, and now I am most likely to make her a side character after all. You will see my final decision depending on how things pan out on the page in the next arc.
Because of the sheer length of this one, being LONGER THAN THE ENTIRETY OF SEASON 2, I hereby dere that I will be taking a TWO WEEK break. This is normally reserved for in-between seasons, but I want to unwind my fingers a bit. I am not burned out on this story, dont worry, my supernatural ability to avert writers block continues to serve me.
Its just that I wrote 6 BOOKS in this series, in effective word count, in the past 10 months and I want a well-deserved break.
If you want to support my efforts, go to my Patreon (). If you want to thank DraMr for continuing to make this readable, go to his Patreon ().
All my thanks also go out to my current proofreaders and those that already support me.
Here is a Velka picture.
This was Season 3 Arc 5 Flow Riding. Next Arc will likely have a bunch of side plots and character development that need some attention as well before we get to the part that gives it its name. Namely, I want to wrap up the aforementioned Marie situation and give some more attention to Nia, as well as concentrate on Sylph a little bit. Both of them deserve it and I think Sylph could really use some extra depth to her.
I hope to see you all for that and the things that will happen thereafter in Season 3 Arc 6 of the Funatic branch of the Gamer, CHYOA edition, called Stargazer.
If you want to give me some feedback, here is the usual survey you can quickly drop your opinions in:
Chapter 796 – Season 3 Arc 6 Start – Normality of Life
Chapter 796 C Season 3 Arc 6 Start C Normality of Life
John opened his eyes. He was lying in a shallow and still ocean. Above him, the stars stretched endlessly, forming dense clusters andnes. It wasnt the sky of his world. This feels like the scene from Infinity Wars, the Gamer thought as he lifted his upper body out of the calmingly cool water. Dipping his hand in it, he wondered if he could gather some sort of significantly powerful stone.
The water was of an arcane purple colour, making the movie reference somewhat weaker. Looking at his hand, John only found the liquid on it, running off him without leaving as much as a drop behind. Turning his head, he gazed back at the stars.
John opened his eyes. For a moment he was confused that he was lying again. In contrast to the scene that had just abruptly ended, he saw absolutely nothing. Nothing unusual there, he had removed his contacts before going to sleep after all. He was surrounded by a pleasant warmth, however. How peculiar he thought, yawning quietly as the reality of the situation settled in on him. Been almost a week since I dreamt.
Since he had disabled Desync yesterday evening, fully focusing his efforts on using his real body and double on pleasuring his harem in the orgy that had inevitably followed his return to New York City and Nia to the harem atrge, he finally had the capability to dream again. He hadnt even been aware how much he had missed it until he woke up just now. There was just something refreshing about seeing odd things, the asional invasion of Sylph or other elementals into his dreams aside. To that end, that final bit had, as far as the dreams of the night went, been quite tame.
He closed his eyes again. There was no need to expose them to the air if he couldnt see. Instead, he focused on the sensations on his skin and tried to guess who was directly around him. The room smelled of conditioner and shampoo, reminding him that he had finished the night with Undine in the bed, while the rest of the girls, even Smander, had gone to rinse off.
There was no nket on him, it was still hot despite being mid-September. Part of that was owed to the year having a major heatwave, although it appeared that temperatures had crashed in the week he was gone. Majorly, however, the reason was that his girlfriend had fiddled with the Weather Tower controls, disabling all clouds and setting temperature to the maximum the season allowed.
Taking the ce of a nket were the many women of his harem surrounding him. It was rather easy to guess where his girlfriend was, since he knew nobody else who would be fine with sleeping across his legs. A head rested on the Gamers lower chest. Given how light it was, it had to be either Sylph or Siena. The presence of particrly long and slender fingers besides it pointed to thetter. The silky texture of her hair only reinforced this.
Two women were in his arms. As he slept, he must have instinctively grabbed them by the waist, just as they must have instinctively ced their heads in the little depression between shoulder and torso. Sleeping together so often would naturally cause some habits like that to form.
He only had to do some curve inspecting to realize who they were. With her slightly raised body temperature and the fine bnce between being rtively short and curvy, Eliza imed his left side and giggled his name in her sleep. The giggle only rose when he gave her a kiss on the forehead. Even blind, he could do that little bit of aiming.
The right side was a tad more difficult. The size and firmness of the ass left him between two choices, Aclysia and Beatrice. It could have even been Siena, but the moonshade elemental was somewhere else, as already established. Just to make sure, John fondled the butt for a little bit. All three of them were on the pinnacle of round, fat and firm. However, where the maids had the gel-like firmness to them that made wing at their ass so fantastic, Sienas ass stood out due to the extreme smoothness of her skin.
Not that either party was severelycking in that department. Those were just the small differences that John noticed after the daily inspections of those near-perfect double-spheres that were his favourite part about womens bodies. Only Rave and Gaia had everbined everything into apletely wless and glorious back that gave all the optimal tactile and visual feedback.
Not that those two butts were the same either, they were just a tad better than everyone elses.
Back to the question who this is, John thought, still not quite sure if he was dealing with Aclysia or Beatrice. A simple inspection of her hair could have brought the answer, but John instead paid some more attention to her smell. The faint and inly sweet note brought the answer. Aclysia was in the habit of surrounding herself with very specific smells depending on the mood of the day, while Beatrice was generally happy to just keep to the smell of the shampoo she used. What perfumes she had ingested, she only used in tandem with the head maid for added effect.
Correct, Master, Beatrice entered his mind with the confirmation and leaned up to give John his reward for guessing right. Either that or she wanted to get her own morning kiss. Whatever it was, they were both pleased with that morning ritual. A bit too pleased, as things soon escted from a simple kiss to a very deep make out session.
The sloppy sounds soon caused stirs across the bed and the slow chain reaction of everyone waking up. Rising from its resting socket at the side of the bed, the Mand Sphere served as a way for John to observe the stretching of naked, athletic, lean, and curvy women everywhere. All of his harem was present, save for the two girls still missing, yet the round bed managed to give room to all of them.
Morning, Rave said as she stretched thoroughly. She smiled up at the Mand Sphere, knowing her boyfriend couldnt see her otherwise, while the rest of the harem echoed her greeting. The only girl in the room wearing anything, being Lydia in the lingerie she preferred over being purely naked, crawled over to Johns groin. His lips may have been imed but his cock was, miraculously, unattended.
I sacrificed my sleep schedule to spend this night, you best appreciate it, she announced, one movement away from reaching his cock. Suddenly, Nia vanished from the outskirts of the bed and reappeared between his legs. A frivolous use of that newfound power of yours, Lydia remarked.
It needs to be as easy as breathing. A seven second dy is deadly, Nia answered, while both of them bowed down and, without using their hands, worshipped his cock. Of course, Lydia was as much of an enthusiastic blowjob slut as she continued to be since her ascend in looks and power, but Nias own approach to sucking him off was no less energetic. Her technique was a bitcking, she hadnt practiced as much recently as Lydia had, but the fervour spoke for itself.
It appeared a second member of Johns harem had discovered that they were a proper blowjob slut. All of the harem liked sucking him off, but those two were going at it with a mixture of reverence and wild, carnal desires that was just a cut above the rest. Inequalities like this made his harem as a whole that much better to bask in.
Especially once more of his girls, shaking off the sluggishness of the early morning, began to coalesce around him. Metra and Siena joined the worshipping of his cock, Undine and Smander presented their boobs to his face, Rave straddled his chest and all around there was a good time. It was a very usual morning, with the only difference to a week ago being that Nia was back. A rather sizable difference.
Thirty minutes and some morning funter, they moved to have breakfast. After another thirty minutes of that, Lydia took her leave and their group began to disperse into several factions. Everyone was happy to have some time either with John back in the picture or going after their usual hobbies.
For his part, John decided to apany Rave and Nia to the gym in their home. Also tagging along were Metra and Eliza. Dont ya have paperwork to do? Rave asked her boyfriend in a genuinely curious fashion. John quite heavily doubted she didnt want him around while she worked out; past incidents had shown that she quite liked some post-workout rxation that left her even sweatier. It had also shown that John very much liked to worship her body when she was in a pretty petered out stage. She smelled and tasted delicious and exhaustion made her a bit more malleable.
Technically speaking, yes, but also no, John answered. Thanks to Jack, I didnt fall back on my work in any meaningful capacity, so I can afford letting some work stack up. Currently, Im having my double move around the Fusion Capitol. He rolled his neck and sighed. The first House of Commons meeting ister today. I want to keep my mind fresh for then. In the meantime, Im meeting beforehand with some people to read the mood. I dont expect anything too unusual, but anyone heavily opinionated could raise a fuss about me just going ahead and annexing Florida without notifying Parliament.
Why though? No war was dered, so ya didnt need their approval, Rave pointed out. Or did ya write something into the constitution that current members need to vote on letting people join.
No, I wrote that guilds in North America can join on my or Parliaments approval alone, either suffices, John told her. Still, they might raise something on point of principle. I doubt it. People are still on guard about my true intentions, and this being the first session of the House of Commons, theyre probably not sure what the difference between what the text says theyre allowed to do and what theyre actually allowed to do is.
rgh, Rave made a disgusted sound. Politicking, leave me alone with that.
Metra folded her hands behind her head and put a finishing mark on the conversation, They should just realize that you know whats best, my king, especially when its so fucking obvious.
John was torn between agreeing and disagreeing and he felt the mental presence of Siena and Stirwin both nudging him in certain directions. By the time they arrived at their in-home gym, he had decided to just drop the issue.
They entered the room and John raised an eyebrow. It was more a hall than a room, with a corner for changing clothes and an empty door frame leading into a shower area. Almost everything else was taken up by various machines or shelves with workout utensils. The only exception was some sort of out of ce bar that, John realized after a few seconds of looking, wasnt stocked up with alcohol but different kinds of protein supplements.
This ce seems to get bigger every time I visit, John said as he walked over and checked the work-out bar even more closely. The fact that everystbel was turned perfectly towards the room and aligned in a manner that went beyond basic perfectionism told him that Beatrice was in charge of restocking.
Ya did redraw the walls for me, tiger, Rave reminded him, as she walked over to the changing area. There was nothing to change out of; like usual inside their household, the girls were naked. Only Nia was wearing her white dress and watched as everyone else put on some stretchy and skimpy clothes, ideal to get sweaty in.
I did, John confirmed, ignoring his erection in favour of inspecting the machines. The weights on them were mundane, nothing outrageous like one would expect from the Abyss. Still surprises me that this ce expands every time I go in here.
If ya want me to maintain this body, ya gotta give me some space, Rave said and winked. She was overstating it, of course. The magic in her system would keep her muscles from diminishing in any sensible timeframe and that very same magic would make it incredibly easy to gain muscles to a certain and wanted extent.
Because Johns physique was unchanging unless his Base Stats in- or decreased, going to the gym, for him, was quite useless. The only reason he had ever spent time in the, much less expansive, gym was to train martial arts for a Quest. That was one of three kinds of workouts he knew were around in the Abyss. The second was also rted to martial arts, being meditating. By filling ones muscles with mana, their capacity to utilize it could be increased. The supernatural power and ki channelling capacity was trained that way.
The third kind of training didnt deal with martial arts whatsoever. It wasnt about practicing technique or deepening ones potential to use more powerful skills.
Get out of that dress, Nia, Rave dered while grabbing some of the many provided workout outfits and throwing them at the pariah. I need to see your figure while ya train.
Curious, Nia yed with the sports bra in her hand for a little bit. She seemed so taken in by its stretchiness for a few seconds that John wasnt sure if she would answer. Then the dress faded into nothing and left her naked. I understand, she answered and put on theyers of clothing. Sports bra, cropped top, panties and yoga pants.
Already, this trip was worth it. Nia had only ever worn her dress or nothing around him. Now that the alienating piece of beautiful non-cloth was gone, he got to see hernky figure in one of the greatest fabrics known to mankind. Mankind strictly referring to the males of the species, in this instance, but John was willing to let the lesbians join into the ogling as well.
She may not have been the sexiest of his girls as far as her curves were concerned, but John loved to see her in a new outfit all the same. Even without the unnatural dress, her hair kept being yed with by the Nevrest though. John realized that he was, most likely, standing where that creature wasyered on top of, or burrowed under, reality. He shoved that thought away as the useless fear that it was. They couldnt interact with each other, so there was no need to get afraid or otherwise agitated.
Alright, first question, can ya actually sap the magic from your muscles? Rave asked. Should have asked that before ya changed cant really do traditional workouts unless you can depower yourself.
That was the third kind of training avable: mundane workout. By doing the opposite of meditating, stopping the flow of all mana into the muscles, Abyssals could functionally depower themselves to mundane levels. Once depowered, they could also use normal workout routines to get the usual results of straining their muscles. Because it took just about a split second to open the magical channels again, it wasnt as much of a danger to the person as it sounded in the first moment.
Regardless, most Abyssals chose not to practice in this manner. In general, muscles were viewed as nothing but containers for Ki. Most Abyssals, who didnt dabble in martial arts, were simply healthy, neither fat nor thin, because of the natural effects of magic. Even martial artists seldom trained to go from fit to musclebound since they could use all but extremely specialized techniques at that level and time was better spent on practicing the supernatural side of things.
Increasing muscle mass was, therefore, limited to three categories of people. One, those that wanted to scrape together everyst advantage they could get. Travolta had fit into this category. With a low power ceiling and hitting roadblocks on all other paths to greater power, therge man had needed to train his body to the maximum. Two, people that had an ability, Innate or Acquired, rted to muscles. That one was pretty self-exnatory. Three, those that just wanted to look better.
Rave fell into thatst category. When it came to bing more powerful, going for technique or meditation training was way more efficient. As for the shape of her body, she had a workout routine she went through every now and again. If she cked off for a long while, she would still be athletic, but her muscles would be differently distributed. Since she had put a lot of work into her body, she wanted to maintain it.
As for Eliza and Metra, the blood mage was around to do technique training while the First of Wrath just wanted to move her body in some aggressive ways. Neither of them could gain anything from regr body training.
I can reduce the power of my blessings, yes, Nia answered after a while. Had to test it first, she exined the dy.
Great! Rave eximed and circled around the nk, grabbing the blonde by the naked shoulders and moving her towards a gym mat. Do that then, cant really exhaust ya with a normal workout otherwise. Need to get your muscles to hurt and all that. Were going to start with squats, kickbacks and lunges.
Muscles hurting sounds unpleasant, Nia remarked, with slight doubt on her face.
It totally is, Raveughed and pped her on the butt. Dont ya worry. If ya keep at it and drink plenty of juice, your butt and thighs should look better in a week to a month. Hard to say exactly, all bodies are different and magic and stuff.
I see. Nia just nodded while looking at Rave as she demonstrated the first few exercises.
Chapter 797 – House of Commons
Chapter 797 C House of Commons
The House of Commons had its meetings in the parliament chamber. Not because John was too stingy to give them their own room, but because the fundamental symbolism remained that the House of Exceptionals existed within a framework meant to protect the average Abyssal. As such, when parliament wasnt in session, the House of Commons upied the central ce of the legiture in Fusion.
Despite all of that, John felt that the architect had done a better job with the House of Exceptionals than he had with the parliament chamber.
Following the curvature of the Fusion Capitol, it being an interrupted circle of a building, the room had the shape of a nearly ttened U. It would have seemed simply rectangr, like almost all other rooms in the building, were it not for the scale of the thing, being easilyrge enough to fit 2500 representatives inside. It followed the same basic structure as the House of Exceptionals, being separated into three areas: floor, government seat and watchers area.
The first of those three stretched throughout the majority of the room. Each mahogany desk, like in the other house of the bicameral system of Fusion, was set on rails that were integrated into the marble floor, making rearranging things ording to party lines an affair that should take an hour at most. Unlike the House of Exceptionals, the tables were assigned to districts and their representatives, however. That made party switching between elections more difficult, but it was a necessary trade given that members of the House of Commons were likely to be reced at a much faster rate.
Because of the rails, the tables were also beyond orderly, surrounding, row for row, the seat for the government. It was, in itself, a monument. Made from marble and metal, it had three segments. At the back and at the lowest level were the seats for the ministers of Johns executive. They were deliberately positioned in such a way that it was easy to miss them since their role was purely attentive. They had no formal power inside the legiture, but they were expected to attend to keep up with current affairs and present the asional speech of what they were doing and why they were doing it. There was only one member of the executive, aside from John himself, who didnt sit down there.
At the front and elevated quite a bit was the seat for the Speaker of Commons. Since that was the person that not only headed the proceedings but also decided on the program of any given session, their position was naturally designed to be the first ce everyone looked. The position was isted from the rest of the monument through the way the metal outlines in the stone framed it and the sheer amount of room there was on there for extra chairs. The Speaker was encouraged to have advisors and the like by their side.
Up from there was Johns own seat as President. His position was only emphasized by height, allowing him to be seen from everywhere and look everywhere. Like the ministers, his main purpose was to listen and give the asional speech. Unlike the ministers, he also had the power to veto whateverw he did not approve of. That aside, he was still the head of state and people should see that. In this point, the symbolism and his pride went hand in hand.
Between the floor and seat of government was a single podium for speeches. Nothing unusual, just a ce for people to address the room.
John climbed the stairs that were skilfully hidden from most eyes by the walls of the monument to political power and reached his tform. It wasnt quite asrge as the one for the speaker, as was the nature of things that grew narrower with each level, but there was enough room on there tofortably let some of his harem be present. Namely Aclysia, as first servant of state and Johns chancellor, she took a seat to his right on the integrated desk. She was supposed to be up there. Beatrice, sitting down to his left, had her official position down with the ministers, as she was head of finances. A bit of protocol that they skipped out on in favour of symmetry and Johns love of being surrounded.
It wasnt like things could be taken too seriously, with both of them still in their maid outfits.
John looked over his shoulder and at therge g of the proper Fusion symbol in itsplicated design hanging behind him. Then he put both elbows on the marble desktop, folded his hands and rested his chin on them. His gaze wandered over the watchers area, a series of seats on a terrace that overlooked the parliament floor like the crowd above an arena. Burgundy red seats positioned along yet more marble.
The entire chamber was illuminated by sunlight that fell in throughrge, arching windows. The view was fantastic, either showing the gardens of the capitol or letting everyone see the Hudson in the distance. The floor of the parliament chamber was on the second level of the building, the watchers area on the third.
Everything was quite empty.
The enthusiasm that reporters had for the House of Exceptionals did not trante to the House of Commons. Maybe they had gotten dissuaded by the boredom of that first show session or maybe the Commons just werent as interesting to people. John could certainlye up with arguments for both exnations. Whether it was both, either or neither, the watchers area had only very few reporters among them.
The floor was, byparison, as full as it was expected to be, but because the chamber was built with the future in mind, it was currently so far beneath capacity that it looked barely used. There were 100 people in the House of Commons, a number that would soon be increased by the addition of Florida representatives to the mix.
That will be an extra thirty-five, John thought, while his maids putptops and papers on the table. At least if the Guild Window is mostly urate.
There had been an increase of about 37000 members when Florida joined. A tremendous increase. Doubtlessly thanks to its long period of peace and rtive order, they had a sizable poptionpared to the rest of the east coast. Amacat came close and Marnd wasnt exactly sparsely popted either, for Abyssal standards, but Florida took the cake.
When subtracting children and criminals, the number of total representatives needed was down to about 135. A pretty low correction, as John found, havingpared the amount of children (being defined as those under 18 years old for the purposes ofw) between his own poption with a US census. Fusion could only dream of the birth-rates of the real US, which put a pretty dire light on the situation. Hope was that safety alone would create a spike there, otherwise the future of Johns newly created state was poption decline. That would be a difficult issue.
Not one he had right now, he just had the data on hand and his mind went all over the ce. A drawback when one was both mildly paranoid and able to think several things at the same time. It also created the advantage of having already thought of answers to all kinds of situations. An advantage that John found more than worthwhile enough to ept the mild bother these tangents were.
John focused from the abstract of future issues to the reality of present facts by inspecting theyout of the room. Checking where which party was situated and how many seats they had was a basic thing he needed to do. The further left in the room (or right from Johns perspective), the more they were in favour of bottom-up solutions, and the further right they were, the more they were for top-down. A wed approach, but John had to pick one to make it easier for things to be visualized.
Leftmost, therefore, was The Free party. With a meagre two seats, they were as close to anarchists as they could be while still participating in the federal system. John had a sneaking suspicion they would stop doing so the second Fusion got weak, which was why part of his secret service was keeping an eye on their activity. The expectations for that party were that it would either step over a line and be dissolved or mellow out and get ustomed to the new state of affairs. Fusion still had only existed for several months, so some chaotic elements were to be expected.
With seven representatives, the Wrath party next to them was a tad more influential. Mostly elected by people from the small guilds in the Meltpot, they had named themselves after Metra and had a pretty might makes right kind of view of the world. Which also made them pretty anarchistic, albeit in a more militaristic fashion.
Next to them was Fusionsrgest party, called Individualists, with a total of 24 seats. They were basically independents that had clobbered together a party without a program or central vision. Largely speaking, they were libertarians and had a natural dislike for anything overly organized. Since there had been a limited time between the announcement of Fusions government system, elections and this first gathering of the legiture, they simply hadnt figured out yet who they wanted to join. That made them another party that John doubted would survive until next year. The members would, likely, one by one align themselves with other parties until the Individualists ceased to exist. Most of them, John reckoned, would be part of the party right next to them.
At 13 elected members, the Fusion Libertarians were those that had managed to actually put together a unified program and put in ce a basic party structure. They would likely be a pretty weak party as far as cohesion on most issues was concerned, but when it came to general principles, John reckoned they would provide a nice bulwark against overly authoritarian measures.
Up next, close to the middle of the arch, was the Economists party. As the name indicated, those were mainly wealthy businessmen who wanted to keep the regtions loose and taxes low. They were primarily elected by the Amaca Coast. John had them positioned more on the bottom-up side for now, but that could change pretty quickly depending how much they asked for government subsidies and market protection. As long as they were all about thepetitive market ce, they could remain left of centre. They had 14 seats, making them Fusions second strongest party at the moment.
In the actual middle of the distribution was the Stream Party. Those were what John, with his mundane upbringing, would have called cultural conservatives. The kind of people who went to church every Sunday and sometimes threw a bit of a fit when it came to certain issues, but stayed away from getting the government hammer involved into the solutions and wanted to rather have the conversation about what was appropriate. The members with moderation made for nice partners for a philosophical debate, those overly self-assured were more like preachers. At 13 members, they were fairly influential.
A tad right of them were the Centralists or, as Rave preferred to call them, the John-Newman-can-do-nothing-wrong-party. They were more loyal to Johns ideals than Fusions, from what their announcements sounded like. Basically, they respected his strength and decision making so much that they would support him for as long as what he did was even the slightest bit reasonable. Some, probably, would go even beyond that. Due to his personal pride issues, John was the most afraid of that party, especially if it grew anyrger. At eight out of a hundred seats, they were thankfully not big enough to allow him to push through whatever he wanted with impunity.
Leaning onto the right side of things was the Supernatural People Party. It consisted primarily of fantasy races with rtively small poptions that had special needs. Whether that was an increase in permanent forest barriers for elves, a special housing permit required for dwarves that wanted to dig outrge tunnels, or anything else, they had issues that required some top-down organization. They were fairlyrge, but because they were made out of so many different factions, what they wanted was even more specialized than the libertarians and unity came out of the raw necessity to get a louder voice. A pretty sessful endeavour, given that they had 11 seats.
Further right of there was Project Shield, a party that took the issues of the Stream Party and decided that debating these things wasnt enough. They were of the opinion that the state had to be involved in the assurance of cultural hegemony within its borders. They werentpletely without good arguments, it was certainly true that there had to be a somewhatmon culture for a state to function, but John wasntfortable with how far the more extreme elements took that. At least they kept it at cultural hegemony and policing; if they had been fantasy Nazis, John would have had to p them out of the parliament immediately. They also only had five members and John actually expected that to shrink, percentage wise, as time passed and Fusion became more solidified. People in favour of centralized measures usually became fewer the more secure a situation was.
Lastly, the most top-down party in the current alignment was the Crowning Party. It was the smallest group around, with only two elected members. They were basically the extremists of the John-Newman-can-do-nothing-wrong-party, wanting to put a crown on his head and just rule by decree of might. John didnt quite understand why there were people out there that wanted to give their politicians the tools to suppress them, but here they were.
John hoped that movement would die if he just said he wasnt interested in a crown often enough.
Historically speaking, most of these parties will copse into each other as time passes, the Gamer thought. Given that votes are only on the legiture, I dont think thebination of parties will continue until there are only two voting blocks left. I heavily doubt Ill get stuck with ten forever, though. It will probably increase a bit as more areas are added to Fusion and then decrease election by election until something between two and five major parties are left.
Aclysia gave John the signal that she was finished preparing and Beatrice, two secondster, let him know that the schedule demanded he opened things up now. Therefore, he stood up and raised his voice. Enchantments within the stone reinforced it and caused his words to smoothly reverberate in the room.
Thanks to everyone who joined today, he said. Usually, these opening addresses should be given by the Speaker of Commons, but we will only elect that person in a few minutes, so they can hardly do that. That aside, I want to thank all of you for joining the elective process. I realize that, for most of you, this is a hard switch from the previous and wild surroundings of the untamed Abyss. I hope you will find making a stint to this chamber twice every week a tad more pleasant. More hectic times may ask for more frequent and longer sessions, but your job here is only to decide matters on the level of the Federation. Local affairs will be handled locally, so our own burden should stay quite light. Now, he pped his hands, who wants to be Speaker of Commons?
Nobody interesting stood up to the task.
Chapter 798 – Influence
Chapter 798 C Influence
Johns eyes darted over the screen in search for a solution to the problem. If I ce this here, then I am screwed if I dont get a line piece anytime soon, he thought as he hammered the left and right buttons to prevent the block from immediately settling. I should really y a version of this that lets you buffer blocks. He ced the square in the niche to the side and smiled when he saw the line piece in the next block preview.
Then things shifted in the chamber below and he pressed escape, pausing Tetris until he could return to it at a more opportune moment. As a master multitasker, he fluidly pulled along as if he had been payingplete attention the entire time. Congrattions, he said as he stood up, leaving his podium to go down to the floor and shake the hand of a tall, green-haired woman, Miss Jumthek, you are the first Speaker of Commons.
She was unusual beyond her hair colour. Something like a fishs side fins sprouted from behind her ears, slits along the side of her neck indicated where gills were and her hands had webbing between them. Simply said, she was some sort of fish girl. She was still notably beautiful, which doubtlessly had helped get her elected, but the ornaments around her arms reminded him too much of wedding rings to even start getting interested.
He offered his hand and she shook it with a broad smile. John then guided her to her seat, only to return to his own. Jumthek immediately took control of the proceedings and John listened with half an ear. She was apetent speaker, but not particrly inspiring. About as expected, John thought as his attention returned to Tetris.
He already knew her. He already knew everyone in the House of Commons by as much intel as could be sensibly summarized about them. Knowing about them in every detail was, for John Newman, not an issue of memory space but of time allocated to the task. Watching the campaign recordings of every single one of them would have taken days that he could fill with more productive and fun things. Reading summaries provided by Scarlett and his growing intelligence agencies was a lot more feasible.
It had shortly crossed his mind to utilize that knowledge to make sure someone who he approved of got elected. An initial suggestion by Scarlett had been that she could run for office in the Amaca Coast state. That she would win was basically a foregone conclusion, but John discouraged her from that path. Questions of corruption and nepotism aside, he didnt want Scarlett even more upied than she already was. If she became more of a workaholic, he might only see her for an hour a day, and that was simply impossible to unify with his lifestyle. Being separated from Lydia for days or even weeks at a time was already bothersome enough.
He still could have influenced the election of the Speaker behind the scenes by just pulling some strings. In the current situation, John had deemed doing so unnecessary. That would probably change in the future. Politics was a dirty game and there mighte a time where he needed to punch through a piece of legition against quite a bit of resistance. Until it came to that point, he felt it better to keep the system as clean as possible.
As such, the election of Jumthek had happenedpletely naturally. Given that this was the first session and party dynamics hadnt formed yet, it was an election simr to that of a ss representative during the first year at a new school. Everyone just voted for the person who first struck them as most charismatic andpetent.
Basically, John expected her to get reced sooner rather thanter. Whether this would be due to party lines consolidating or just a more popr candidate surfacing, he didnt know. All he cared about was that the first Speaker didnt shake the boat too much, and she filled that role so nicely that John was getting progressively more bored the longer she spoke.
These are probably going to be your five minutes in the spotlight, use them well, he thought as he followed her announcement of her agenda. Since she was a member of the Supernatural People Party, she obviously kept to the benefits people with animal or other supernatural traits could bring to a human run society.
After that speech concluded, things quickly switched to discussions. The protocol for speeches, both nned and spontaneous, was exined to everyone. Rationale was given for why the rules were as they were, if anyone had a question.
Unlike the first House of Exceptionals meeting, which had been purely for the sake of testing, this current meeting had the theoretical ability to design its firstws. John discouraged this, he wanted each first meeting to be purely about people getting used to the new systems. Once the first parliament session had gone through its test run and any potential kinks had gotten ironed out, he was more than happy to just let things go ahead.
Convincing the eager members of that wasnt too easy, John thought as the calm session continued. Inside this chamber, he had, as far as the design of things went, next to no power. He could veto, but doing so too often would destabilize the system. He could request a speech, but whether or not he was allowed to hold one, nned or not, was up to the Speaker, since they decided the program. He could schedule an address before parliament without their approval, but that was a different program.
Outside this chamber, however, he was still the most powerful person in the Federation. He had spent the entire morning and, indeed, several days over the past week visiting the most troublesome elements among the representatives and making his case to make things sail smoothly. He didnt have power, but he had influence in this chamber. Lots of it. Being unable to suggestws by himself wasnt too much of a drawback if he could convince people through actions outside the session and speeches within to just legite in his spirit. Whateverw was then put together would first pass over to the House of Exceptionals, where he could once more leverage influence to have it tailored even closer to what he perceived to be the best version of it.
Which was both quite useful and incredibly dangerous, because of his own mistakes and biases. Something he hoped to have counteracted by other characters of skill and determination pushing against his suggestions and foregoing his influence where they thought it the best.
I will have to do my best to not despise them for it. Given how I often react to push-back, thats going to be a character-building exercise, he jokingly reprimanded himself, just as he finally screwed up in the Tetris game.
He started a new round and simply followed the on-goings on the floor.
_________________________________________________________________________
Wonderful, John mused to himself, leaning back in the chair as the chamber slowly emptied. Two hours of speeches and debates had passed. Some of the time had been a slog to get through, other stretches went by in a sh. Regardless, it was finally done and he got an Achievement for it. A very important Achievement. That makes four Guild Perks; I can upgrade the Guild Hall soon.
To give his good mood somewhat of an outlet, he kissed his maids on the cheek in quick session. Both blushed slightly. They packed up all of the things they had brought and put them in their inventories. Not a moment after they were down the stairs and off the monument, they attached themselves to his side, and John heard numerous photos being taken from the few present reporters.
Smiling for the cameras, he wrapped his arms around his girls as they headed for the exit. Aclysias happy face was reced with a warning re at anyone who held a microphone and started to approach her Master. Uninterrupted, John marched out of the front of therge doors, through the gardens on the terrace, down the massive stairs, over the stone pathway and towards the middle of the za, which the Fusion Capitol surrounded. At the dead centre, there stood a pavilion with an odd, blue floor that was simr to ss in substance, but not quite as slippery. It was a short range teleporter, and through it, John returned to the Guild Hall.
For once, when he was inside the Pce, he did not immediately strip down to his birthday suit. His clothes remained right on him and he even found his harem in his living room wearing clothes. Depending on the individual, that was scandalously little or just average. Nobody was overly dressed.
Jooooohnnnnn, Rave cried out in a bothered tone. Her boyfriend could only see her left leg, covered ankle to hips in the fabric of yoga pants. I dont want it to be colder!
Its still over twenty degrees and youre already behaving as if were going to see snow tomorrow, John answered in an amused tone, while the maids returned his earlier kiss with a simultaneously executed peck on both sides of his face. Then they departed for the kitchen. Its not even autumn yet, really.
Urgh, autumn, winter, spring, those are all sucky seasons. The leg went down and Raves torso shot up, so John could actually see her. Her and the stupidly happy Sylph she was cuddling. I want it warm, tiger, warm!
You mean boiling hot, the Gamer responded as he strutted over and made it a cuddling threesome.
Ehehehehe, Sylph let out repeated giggles while she got her head pat.
I mean a temperature at which I feelfy!
Which is when you can actually cook eggs on stones that lie in the sunlight, John retorted.
Yes, no, maybe, I dont care, I just dont want it to be cold! She leaned against his broad chest. Under normal circumstances, she would have turned around and embraced him tightly or maybe mounted him in a cowgirl position, but she was stuck between a thunderstorm and hard abs. Especially not where I live. We should have gone to the Philippines to make our home.
Well, I have good news for you then, John told her.
Ya bought a tropical ind for us to wait out the winter on? Rave asked.
No. Although thats not the worst idea ever. Now that she had asked, he found himself pondering the possibility. As far as he knew there was no true power in and around Australia. It was less wild than America was, thanks to the nature of Oceaniasndscape, but there was still nobody to object if Fusion created a tiny colony over there. If he owned an area, he could, in theory, teleport the Guild Hall over there. It was something he hadnt done yet and it had a one month cooldown, but it was a thing regardless. To the point, I got thest Perk necessary to upgrade the Guild Hall.
Okay and that rtes to my mise how? His girlfriends hair tickled his nose when she looked up to him.
Higher Tier Guild Hall means better Buildings, he reminded her.
Oh! Right, including the Weather Tower, she suddenly got it and eagerly nodded, right, awesome. Ya got all the materials to upgrade that thing though?
Im prepared this time around. John smirked. Since the upgrade to Tier 3, he had been checking on what materials he needed for further upgrades and bought them whenever they were at the auction at an affordable price. To be more exact, he had given Beatrice a list of things he wanted, who then had distributed it to people in the finance ministry who then checked once a day if things were avable. Through buying,missioning and hunting missions, most of the required things ended up in the Guild Hall.
Awesome! Rave wobbled with general excitement. Ah, I would give ya a reward blowjob or something, but youre reallyfy. You have all that warmth the day doesnt onlyying on Smander is better.
I would guess both the huge tits and her heat help there. The Gamer put his nose into her hair and took a refreshing whiff of her aroma. Holding you is reward enough. We got guests in a minute.
I dont think any of them will mind watching me suck ya dry, tiger. As she spoke, his pink-haired girlfriend shifted her position a little bit so he could feel more of her squishy backside against the sensitive parts of his lower body. Her hands trailed over the fabric of his pants. Two of them saw it before.
Well, we were all rather drunk, John responded. Chemilia and Ted aside, I would feel incredibly awkward doing anything in front of Elu. Its already weird enough that she is such a naughty grandma.
I hope youre prepared for somements about putting babies into Eliza.
That is what I guess will happen, yes, John sighed. My parents and her, they seem very enthusiastic about me having kids.
I am enthusiastic about you having kids with me, Nia suddenly popped into the conversation. Although it was unexpected and John had neither an idea when she had entered the room nor when she had walked up to the couch and kneeled down next to the armrest, neither he nor Rave jumped. Somehow, they were bing immune to being startled by Nia. Perhaps part of her alien aura announced her presence to their subconscious.
Right, which we should probably have a talk about. The Gamer scratched his head. When did that even start being a thing you thought about?
Nia tilted her head and stared. I dont know. The answer came after a little while. Can I have Sylph for a minute?
Sure! the thunderstorm elemental herself answered and flew out of the constant patting at the hands of two people to receive more by the hands of the nk. Ehehehehe, creepy tender fingers, she continued to giggle as she got her scalp massaged and her chin scratched.
I realized it was what I wanted. That is all, Nia finalized her exnation. Also, my legs hurt.
Well, ya did finish the workout, didnt ya? Rave asked.
Yes.
Then theyre supposed to hurt a bit ya probably going to hate tomorrow. Sore muscles and all that.
John hummed. Can Undine heal that? he asked, not sure of the answer. I would guess yes, since healing magic replenishes vitality, which trantes into mended flesh in the case of humans.
Best of my knowledge, does work, yeah, Rave answered.
No side effects like losing the muscle gain? the Gamer investigated a bit more.
Nia shook her head and John was happy to have a more reliable source than his girlfriend. Not that I know off. Healing magic is purely benevolent, no scars but all the advantages. Which is good. If I negotiate with the world to heal me, I can just reset to my corporeal norm.
Wait a second, you can restore yourself with that whole bending reality thing? John asked and got a simple nod as his answer. Fucking Alice tested me even while we were fighting that angel he grumbled, remembering clearly that she had wanted him to heal her. Does it take a lot of energy? he had a follow-up question, which got another nod. Well, maybe she was just conserving her power for other manoeuvres then
He was distracted from further questions by a knock on his door.
Chapter 799 – War-Gaming
Chapter 799 C War-Gaming
Why do we have a room for this? Rave groaned, watching John retrieve his Ultramarines from their vitrine. Like every other army, they were neatly stacked inside their own ss tower. They were sorted by size (and point cost) from the bottom up. The entire back wall of the room was taken up by vitrines like that.
In the middle was a medium sized table - big, but not so big the middle of it was difficult to reach. The top of it had a wooden frame running around the edges and the surface was covered in a green cloth. More vitrines at the left and right walls held all kinds of board pieces, statues, rubble, fallen spaceships, and other such things.
You get a gym, I get a wargaming room, its only fair, John responded, a bit more gleeful than he perhaps should have been. Something about the extreme aversion his girlfriend had to Warhammer just made it that much more enticing to y. Whatever entity had made it so people received a kick out of teasing their loved ones was a sadistic genius.
Ya get my ass being gorgeous out of the gym, and if Nia, the Lightbearer pointed at the blonde as she scanned through one of the rulebooks, has sess with the training, she will also have a nice and shapely butt. What do I get out of ya having this room? Her agitation copsed into a long sigh. A reminder that I am dating a total nerd.
Cry into your piles of money, woman, Elu croaked her way into the conversation. It was the scolding tone of a friendly grandmother, simultaneously impossible to be mad at and drilling in by the sheer authority of age. Like usual, her white hair was bound up into a singr knot, held by two crossing pins that had the shape of arrows. Simrly, she refused to wear Fusions military uniform and kept to her loosely fitting clothes of light leather, with a few feather decorations adding to her tribal look. Men always have weird hobbies, its why they die earlier. Her tanned, wrinkly face was dominated by a smile.
I dont have weird hobbies, Ted dered. It may have been meant as a simple protest to keep the conversation rolling, but his stoic tone made it sound so much more like a statement. It didnt help that the dark haired, dark eyed man was standing straight in his dark, greyish uniform as if he was about to address a Roman legion. It also didnt help that he was taller than everyone else in the room, albeit not much taller than John.
Well Chemilia, his wife and fellow general of Fusions forces, started and tapped one finger against her chin. She had pink hair of a noticeably lighter shade than Raves and was herself a gorgeous woman of European descent. A imed one that John tried not to ogle too much. there is this thing you do, going bouldering.
Bouldering? John asked.
Its like climbing, but onrge rocks instead of mountainsides, Chemilia exined in a matter of fact tone. She was more charismatic than her husband in her demeanour, but they were definitely carved from the same material. Also, those indoor climbing walls.
It is not weird, Ted asserted.
Its a bit niche, but I dont think its weird either, John agreed. If it would have been all that weird, there wouldnt have been so many ces offering services of that nature. Climbing was a thing people just liked to do.
Rave was of the same mind, That sounds like fun, maybe we should go do something like that sometime? Find a really tall rock and just go up it.
Hmm, maybe. John didnt see that big of an appeal in it, but making it a date could have alleviated his fundamental disinterest in sports.
Youre only hesitating cause ya know ya would be worse at it than me, his girlfriend pointed out.
Maybe, flippantly, the Gamer answered. Anyway, Ted, if you have time, you shoulde along with Max, Magnus and me next time we go out. You can share some stories. Pulling more people into the guys nights out sounded like a generally good idea. There was no doubt in Johns mind that he and Maximillian would remain the heart of whatever party they attended, they were just more talkative, charismatic and good looking than the average guy, but having a few more close guy friends would put a bit more life in the room.
Although Ted hadnt attendedst time, there was always another meeting. Since John knew the corrupting tendrils of his debauched lifestyle had influenced the two generals as well, he thought that the general would appreciate a night out in the Little Whirl and other establishments as well. Personally, he was more feeling something a little less perverted and a little more gentlemanly next time anyway.
Ill consider it, Ted responded as straightforwardly as he always did. If nothing else, John was pretty sure he and Magnus would get along.
Elu, in the meantime, had inspected all of the armies more closely. When you invited us to do wargaming, I didnt think it would be with sci-fi figures. The elderly woman giggled a little bit. I remember when that genre started to pick up steam. Times keep changing.
We can do traditional wargaming, but I thought Warhammer serves as a better simile to Abyssalbat, given how unequal different kinds of units are- Nia! John suddenly shouted, seeing which vitrine the pariah was opening. You are NOT ying Iron Warriors!
Why not? Nia wanted to know, but stayed her hand. The blonde was one of the people John had yed against before and, aside from himself, the only one present properly aware of the rulebook. As for the three generals of Fusion, John had sent them the PDF beforehand, but they had never yed it before and reading all of the rules without the practical application meant they werent really into the subject matter.
Because theyre still overpowered as all hell, you powergamer, John told her.
Nia stared, frozen in ce and position. It didnt even look like she had a pulse, soplete was her motionless state that not even her hand quivered. What set her apart from a lifelike wax figure was the awake glint in her blue eyes, set in a nk expression or not. She blinked, the frozen moment was broken. I win with them.
Most people would, takes little skill with that faction.
That makes them the logical choice.
Its about as logical as entering a martial arts tournament with a gun and then dering to be the victor after shooting everyone else. John crossed his arms in defiance and got a slightly puzzled expression in response. After a few moments, John realized where the nks confusiony. A mundane martial arts tournament, he specified since Abyssal ones would make guns a fair bit less effective.
Nia pondered about that for a little bit, only delivering the answer when she had thought it through, Maybe the other fighters should have brought guns instead ofining that someone else used the best tool avable. Rave snorted and the rest of the room, even Ted, followed suit in voicing some level of amusement. Not minding, Nia just continued, For your analogy to make sense, it is required that guns were allowed in that tournament. Iron Warriors are part of the rules. Anyone who doesnt use the most effective means to win at their disposal has no right toin when they lose.
Were ying for fun, John pushed back.
I thought we yed to sharpen tactical instincts.
We can do both.
I value utility over entertainment.
Iron Warriors are banned and thats it, John finally put an end to the discussion by making a definitive statement. Audibly blowing air out of her nose and pouting, Nia closed the vitrine and stepped back. Immediately weakened by seeing one of his women upset, John went into a constory mood. Youre fundamentally right, but whoever wrote those rules didnt do the bncing well and I want to simte some rtively equal battles. Warfare is seldom bnced, but for todays exercise, thats what we should go with.
Understood. Should we y the exact same armies then? Nia asked, slight curiosity swinging in her mostly calm tone.
I suppose that would work the best. John nodded and looked over to the three generals. You lot want to join immediately or do you want to watch us y the first round to get a better grasp on the rules?
Ill watch, Elu responded almost immediately, taking a chair and plopping himself down on it. I yed games like this in the past, but I have to say I was never too much of a strategist anyway.
Large scale strategy isnt my forte either, Ted mumbled and looked to his wife.
Fuck it, Im down. Chemilia stretched her neck as she walked up to the table. Im not as good at it as you are, John, but I can put up a fight.
Small armies, for a first round, then, John stated.
Small meaning that this game will only take three hours instead of forty, Raveined.
You know you can leave, right? the Gamer asked and pointed at the door.
But how would I poke fun at ya if Im not around? she shot right back, pouncing right into their usual yfighting routine.
You wouldnt, thats the point. After a second, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in an overly dramatic fashion. But then I dont get to look at your beautiful face, what a dilemma. Maybe I should get you muted?
Dont think they offer those kinds of services anywhere.
Strange, really, you would think men figured out how to improve their girlfriends by now.
Ya saying I would be improved if I was mute?
Maybe.
No moaning or singing or sweet nothings in the morning? Having to get all your bantering needs covered by your guy friends?
I rescind what I thoughtlessly stated, please forgive me, John bowed his head.
Rave waved him closer with a wink of her finger. Only if ya kiss me, she cheekily replied, and John wandered over to fulfil that condition. Ya would think women would have improved their boyfriends by always making them more submissive, she whispered.
Says the girl that always insisted I assert myself, John answered. But I suppose I could go back to being a wimp and just put down this entire state-building, world-changing and ass-spanking I like to do. Ill justze around all day, lose all my muscles and be a couch potato.
I rescind what I thoughtlessly stated, please forgive me, Rave echoed him, first with yed desperation, then a giggle. Picking her up, John kissed her like a princess he had just rescued from a dragon. Good tiger, she purred afterwards.
John put her back down when Nia tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. He kept things short and sweet, since they had guests and he wanted to keep his indulgences to the sensible minimum. Afterwards, they picked up a small Imperial Army and began cing thendscape. The look of the tabletop changed to match better with whatever pieces were put on it. A statue caused surrounding green cloth to mimic the grey stone of the socket, a destroyed vehicle spread around itself the appearance of a crater, half ruined buildings inspired simrly ruined streets, and so on.
It was a slow change, like watching a viscous fluid spread over a clean surface, and it only switched colours, not texture. Even that much cost quite a lot and had to be specifically tuned to what John had asked for. Mimic-cloth wasnt cheap or easy to produce.
Once all the pieces were in ce, they positioned their armies. What do you say, Nia, do we team up to take John out first? Chemilia asked immediately.
John just coolly looked first at her, then at Nia. This course of action was something he had anticipated. Them ganging up on him was a worthwhile strategy; given that he was the most intelligent and experienced out of the three, it was the smart decision to make in most circumstances.
Regardless, Nia shook her head at a speed that made it clear she had thought this through already. To get an idea as to what was going on inside her head, John used Observe.
He learned just about nothing and earned himself a stare by the pariah, who had noticed. There was a slight change in the air. Likely, she had conjured some of her more basic powers to block further such intrusions. I have my strategy, Nia announced.
Alright then, Chemilia responded in a slightly strained tone. Unlike John, she wasnt used to Nias alien aura and involuntarily stepped away as far as she could, without getting out of reach of her figures. Even Elu in her chair shifted ufortably. Ted, Chemilia and Elu, they were all staring at her like a mutated blob of flesh that had crawled its way out of their nightmares. All of that with Nia using just a bit of her power. She had definitely gotten a lot stronger since he hadst seen her.
Smarter too, the Gamer thought, somewhat surprised that Nia had managed to gain about 30 Intelligence. Probably because she got more life experience. She always had a pretty practical mindset, but what she applied it to was a bit odd. Battles aside.
Rave must have seen the tension in the room, as she suddenly spoke up, Howre the artificial limbs doing?
The sudden question managed to pull the generals out of their trance. Pretty good, Chemilia responded, moving her right leg around a little bit. If he listened really carefully, Johns superhuman hearing could pick up the tiniest sounds of machine parts whirring. Otherwise, it was indistinguishable from a regr leg. Same went for Teds left arm, covered mostly by the sleeve of his uniform, and an illusionaryyer hiding the rest. We had enough time to get used to them now. Using martial arts through them is still a bit iffy, but generally it works.
Training has been painful, Ted remarked, making and opening a fist. Very painful.
In terms of money or actual pain? John asked, as he did his first turn. Given the size of the board, they would take some time simply positioning themselves. He moved his more important or less enduring units around the side, while putting high defence and cannon fodder figures out towards the centre.
Since they were all ying the same army, the question of the battle was, fundamentally, who would be ground to dust first and how many important pieces each of the two remaining factions would have by the end of it to throw at each other. To that end, John wanted to have a brawl in the middle and try to have Nia and Chemilia sh with each other by trying to utilize the same cover spots.
Nia didnt y along with that, moving her entire army down the side towards Johns more valuable pieces. Neither of them was in engagement range yet, so the turn ended with just positioning.
Both, Chemilia answered. Your mechanic really likes to bleed people dry, you know that?
You can say her name, Elu knows about Scarlett, John informed them. It was bing more and more of an open secret and they were floating the idea of leaking the truth themselves whenever there was a particrly scandal free period. Just some rumours at first, slowly ramping it up so the outrage would be diminished by the amount of people that had already gotten over it. The counterpoint to this was that many of their enemies were still unaware of Scarlett and that was an advantage they shouldnt lose so easily. To the point, she likes money and youre walking around with state of the art arcano-tech limbs she gave you for free. That aside, I pay most of it through insurance.
Fair enough, its still less than pleasant to have them re-attached after they get fixed. Chemilia shivered. Connecting these limbs caused all of the nerves in the area and all of the circuitry simting nerves inside the arm to fire all at once to properly linked. This was an excruciatingly painful experience.
Since incorrectly applied martial arts caused some internal injuries that not even machinery was immune to, the limbs had to be removed entirely to be fixed in detail. At least John doubted that Scarlett would force them to take them off if it wasnt necessary. The Technomancer wasnt the type of person to waste anyones time.
You can go on, I skip my turn, Chemilia gestured in Johns direction.
Well, if two idiots are fighting, its smartest to just stand aside and let them, Johnmented on her decision and thought about his turn. After some deliberation about the how, he moved in Chemilias general direction but also kept his defensive lines closed. While he couldnt let the pink-haired general get away with not getting involved in the fight, he also couldnt afford to open his nk to Nia.
Along the same lines, Nia backed off from her aggressive approach on Johns lines and also moved her troops in Chemilias general direction. Clicking her tongue, the pink-haired general then looked around. By doing nothing, she had made herself the target and was now being threatened by ending up in a pincer movement. Rather than just stay where she was, she moved her troops to take up camp in a triangle around the centre of the board. It would take her two turns to get most and three to get all of her troops there. While that meant that both Nia and John could get some chipping damage in on her, it was the best position to have, if it came to a three-way brawl.
Chapter 800 – Fourth General
Chapter 800 C Fourth General
John was in a bit of a pickle.
Part of it was due to bad luck, but he couldnt solely me the dice for the fact that Nia had partly outmanoeuvred him. Chemilias forces had been, despite her best efforts, annihted between the other two armies. Nia hade out of it with more of her powerful units intact, while John had retained more of his cannon fodder. More importantly than that, Nia had managed to retain her high range units in a difficult to reach position at the back, allowing them to diminish the advantage he had on the close quarter front.
Not all was yet lost, however. Although his front line may have been under heavy fire, the purpose of those cheap soldiers was to draw enemy fire and they were doing that perfectly. More importantly, due to the nature of the rules, Nia had to thin out her own frontline to avoid shooting her own units with stray bullets. This allowed John to form something like an arrowhead formation and cleave her army in two.
It wasnt the most brilliant strategy ever devised, as a matter of fact it was rather basic, but by maximizing the attackable surface of the enemy frontline, he could leverage his superior numbers to minimize the difference in quality. At the same time, he took away any way for her to reposition anything but her back row, which was now being threatened by a number of directly charging, more powerful units.
Nia had no other choice but to concentrate her fire on those, and she did manage to eliminate them, but only on the cost of her entire frontline getting massacred in the meantime. The consequence of this was her long-range units against the swarm of simple guardsmen that John had remaining. Although they may have been inferior in basically every aspect, Nias remaining units simply could not fire quick enough to kill all of those before being charged.
Thus, John won, with only a few units remaining. Phew, he thought, not letting his relief show on his face. It would have irked him something fierce had he lost. Which he did,ter on in the day, as they yed a number of other games and, with more people and more dice involved, some situations simply could not work out in his favour.
Rave left at some point, only to be reced by a number of other girls that checked in to see what was happening. When they were ying thest round of the day, Scarlett was present and Eliza decided to join them with the (very loud) exmation, I NEED TO GET FUCKED!
Good evening to you too, John responded in a dry tone, as the pretty little psycho mmed the door closed behind herself and ran over to the Gamer. Grabbing him by the arm, she started shaking him with enough strength to make his head fly around.
You dont fucking understand! I feel so horny, I think my pussy is going to implode. I NEED COCK! Without any shame, she pulled the ck leather thong to the side and revealed her wet pussy. Aside from it, she was only wearing the fitting top and the usual ck robe. Ive let Aclysia fuck me, but its just not the same!
Thank God that Artificial Spirit cum is a fleeting liquid, John thought. Since the acquisition of all the Libido Perks and Jack, he had needed to rely rtively little on the Artificial Spirits to help out in the a couple of extra dicks to keep the girls he couldnt attend upied sense. This was especially true during orgies, where they never appeared anymore.
Aside from Johns own growing ability to easily pleasure a whole host of women on his own, there was also something to be said about growing intimacy between members of the harem leading to more lesbian action. Futanari mode was still engaged sometimes, when John wasnt around, but the Gamer had grown lessfortable with it as time progressed and it was falling out of favour because of it. The cum of the maids simply vanished after about five minutes and waspletely infertile helped the matter of ignoring it. It was little more than a climax marking fluid. Still, it would inevitably just fall out of usage.
To put it short, while Eliza was wet and her pussy clearly swollen from some recent pration, there was no cum dripping out of her. Which, as far as John was concerned, was a very inviting view. However, he didnt have the time yet. Soon, he promised her.
Joooohnnnnn, Eliza whined as she crept closer. Fill me uuuuuuuuup Her eyes darted over to the board. Who is the poor asshole thats about to get fucked by Bloodletters?
Are those the red devil looking things? Elu asked. In that case, that would be me.
Which of you cunts is bullying my favourite old person?! Eliza red daggers at everyone. It was a momentary distraction and John hoped she would be a bit less needy by the end of it, so he just let it happen. Is it you, creepy ass bitch?
Yes, Nia responded and pulled her shoulders back to stand tall in defiance. If it came to angering the blood mage, pronouncing height differences was a good way to escte the situation. Why do you never say my name?
Because Nia is too fucking short to throw any curses in there!
Id like it if you could refer to me properly at least sometimes. Nias defiant appearance waspromised when Eliza stomped over to her, the nk taking two steps back for every one the blood mage made.
Why the fuck are you running away?!
Youre small and scary. Very scary, Nia stated. This somewhat appeased Eliza, who went from stomping to walking. You have nice hair.
And I want to have your fucking skin, look at that smooth and beautifully clean bullshit. How this had suddenly changed to the two of them exchangingpliments, John wasnt quite sure. Talks involving Nia tended to be influenced by the odd way she thought conversation topics through. Dont bully Elu, she is widdling down Johns defences on when he is going to put a lot of fucking babies inside this worthless Eliza pig front.
Eliza,e here for a second, John chimed in and gave her a light, yful p across the face when she did. What are you being right now? he asked, while holding her jaw in a domineering w grip that squished her cheeks together.
Truthful? she suggested and earned herself an impatient click of his tongue.
A bad, self-deprecating girl, he answered the question for her and shoved her to the floor. On all fours, back straight, be silent. The series ofmands was heeded and John sat down on his improvised stool. A bit lower to the ground than he preferred, but stable regardless. Pulling the robes to the side, he gave her backside a few light spanks. I will punish you properly in a bit.
Honestly, you would have gotten what you wanted sooner if you hadnt barged in here, Scarlettmented, looking at her phone. Now you just dyed everyones turns.
Is it really necessary that I keep pointing out that having babies is a good idea? Elu wanted to know while rolling one shoulder. You young people are so odd, thinking you can find meaning in just living your own life and not creating some new.
Thats arger discussion to have than I want to invest time into right now, John simply stated, and they continued on with the game. Thankfully, it wasnt Johns turn, so he could continue kneading Elizas backside for a little bit. Anyone want to take a wild guess what ulterior motive I had with todays gathering?
You wanted to have an excuse to y Warhammer? Chemilia suggested.
Part of it, but no.
You want to look more closely at what we would do in arge-scale conflict, Elu asserted after a moment of thinking. In order to make better informed decisions on what task to assign us with whenever we find ourselves in a proper war.
I have pretty good ideas there already, so thats not exactly the reason for this gathering.
He wants to introduce you to Nia, Scarlett told everyone, having already seen through this charade. We need another general to be in charge of the special forces from Florida and she is the best candidate, in his opinion. She looked up from her phone. Personally, I think Alice wouldmand more respect, but from what I hear she is rather difficult.
Can you not give away all my secrets?
Id be less inclined to if you didnt make things needlessly obtuse.
I am being assigned as a general? Nia tilted her head, hearing this suggestion for the first time herself.
That is the idea, John nodded. I think you have the right mindset for it and you already have connections with people in Florida, so it makes the most sense. He got off Elizas back and walked over, taking Nias hand and kissing it. What do you say, mydy, are you willing to defend this country that has instituted a four-day celebration for patting animals?
You did that?! Nia asked, the excitement in her voice rivalling the intensity of Elizas earlier horniness.
He did, Scarlett grumbled, to the loss of several million dors in productivity every year.
Technically speaking, its not official yet. Were going to have the discussion about national holidays in parliament next Monday, John added. Given that it is a joining condition for Florida, however, I doubt there is going to be an issue.
Maybe I can bribe some people to stop i- FUCKING STOP THAT! Scarlett screamed and almost fell out of her chair. The entire room was dominated by Nias pariah aura. It was almost as strong as Alices had been when she had wiped out Gamers Body. To John, it felt like a bunch of praying mantises were crawling around in the back in his mouth and threatening to chew their way up to his brain. I wont do it, drop that shit immediately.
The feeling creeped backwards. Animals deserve loving, denying it is mean, Nia stated.
I understand, but that was still a bit much, John pointed out.
Looking around the room, Nia noticed the perturbed faces of everyone in the room. Oh, she bowed her head. I apologize. It is difficult to measure the effects.
Just dont do it again, Scarlett stated, magical circuitry dancing around in her red eyes. I think you just deleted twenty minutes of coding. Nope, I didnt identally shut down the machine, all is good.
To the point, would you take the position? John went back to the topic at hand. While Nia mulled over her answer, he turned to the already appointed generals. Would you ept her as an addition to the team?
They gave approval, either out of respect for her abilities or because she did manage topete (and dominate in some instances) in the wargaming. Finally, Nia herself nodded and said, Yes, I will be a general, and the matter was sealed.
With what had just happened and the discussion ending, the majority of the energy had left the room. Eliza wiggling her butt in a needy fashion didnt help. It was decided that they would just end the evening there. The guests took their leave and John started to clean up the battlefield.
Nia lent him a hand, while Scarlett watched and Eliza remained on the floor. The only change for her was that she went from being on all fours to kneeling normally. Cant you just leave that shit to Aclysia? Eliza chimed in.
Yes and no, John responded. For one, this is part of my ongoing effort to not getpletely pampered by her. More importantly, this is a thing I like doing myself. He turned the figurine of the guardsman he had just put into the proper vitrine so the gun aligned properly with his neighbours. Warhammer is one of these things that I liked before all of this went down and sorting these miniatures gives me some reflection. On that note, how goes the painting?
I continue to produce awful fucking things I wouldnt even feed to a trashpactor, Eliza responded.
Guess you will just have to keep them and show them to me, then, asserted the Gamer, smiling and closing the current vitrine to start working on the next one.
You might as well ask me to bash my own head in with a shovel, after I got done digging my grave to let my sexy body fall into.
And there is the mood swing, John thought and walked over to capitalize on the more self-confident phase she was exhibiting. Without much in the way of words, he gestured for her to get up and then got her into a deep hug. Dont even think about leaving me, my life wouldnt be the same without you, he whispered into her ear and felt her tense. I love you.
I love you too.
And your art is pretty fantastic.
Its okay
Hmm, you know what, I hereby officiallymission that you paint something for the Fusion Capitol, he told her. Something to decorate the halls, something decent and beautiful. Think you can do that? After several seconds without an answer, he added, For me?
For you, okay, fucking fine, I will try. The concession was all John wanted to hear, and he gave the back of her head a few rewarding strokes, before resuming the sorting task.
That was when Nia chimed back in. Did you acquire power from a third god?
No. Why are you asking now? John asked mostly to get a better grasp on her mind.
I was reminded that I am not up to the current state of affairs due to your mention of the holidays, Nia told him. Since Wendy is a goddess that is friendly with you, I wondered if you took her blessing and, if not, why not.
This was a thing John had thought about before. Because she was a minor goddess, Wendy may have refused to give him aid, whatever power she could offer him was likely to be a noticeable sap on her own might. However, he had decided to not even bother asking her for a simple reason. She is the goddess of fast food, thats why, he exined. I dont have any intention to get levels in the Disciple ss, so I will be stuck with three possible blessings for quite a while. Nathalia and the Horned Rat are both powerful and I got considerable passive bonuses out of both of them. I dont think what Wendy could give me would be worth it.
Perhaps the Cosmic Chicken could have given him something good, but John still wasnt sure what he should make of that short encounter and whether raising a fuss about it was worth it. When he next got to Florida, he would try to get a few minutes alone with that edible bird.
Nia silently evaluated his answer for a few seconds, then nodded. That makes sense.
And that was the end of the topic for her.
Chapter 801 – What was it?
Chapter 801 C What was it?
Progress is good these days, John thought, as he coordinated abo attack between Siena and Smlere. Mana intertwined a ball of molten rock and darkness,unched by the volcano elemental with a long hurl of her arm. It flew across the room and mmed into the chest of the boss enemy before them.
The short fur covering human-muscles was seared away by theva. Sticking to it like an adhesive, the darkness infused attack continued to injure therge creature. With a demonic bellow, more annoyed than in pain, it charged at Smlere, pointing its curved horns at the amazonian woman.
Hooves trampled over ck, uneven stone. The boss was something close to a minotaur, but more a goat than a bull in its inhuman part. Simultaneously, because of how broad its frame was and of the shape of its skull, John hesitated to call it a satyr. Either way, wielding a giant axe of a dark red colour, it was of an intimidating but fairly basic design. The same could be said about the encounter atrge.
Smlere had to back off; even she wasnt strong enough to withstand a swipe of therge weapon head on. Neither was she required to; the entire purpose between fusing Smander and Gnome in this encounter was that the boss wasrgely immune against fire damage. All Smlere had to do was to keep baiting out the enemys attention to give the other party members openings to attack.
The axe bounced off the indestructible floor, but gave Siena an opening regardless. Unleashing to maximize her speed, she jumped onto the haft of the weapon and used it as a tightrope. The boss attempted to swipe her away, but his arm was suddenly hit by a number of slicing gusts. Only mildly prating the durable hide, Sylphs attack did throw the interception entirely off course. Siena jumped off the haft and onto the boss shoulder.
You should be honoured that youre allowed to make my heels dirty, the moonshade elemental remarked as she raised her left foot and plunged the pointy back into the boss eye. The reaction was a predictably wild and angry iling. In perfect coordination, Siena jumped upwards and was caught by Jack, who carried her out to safety.
The boss had the right idea, when it started to back off into a corner of the room. Because its eyes were side-mounted, the loss of one left it with a muchrger gap then any human would have. Only by keeping its head permanently reared and its back to the wall could it hope to keep all of them in view.
Of course, as far as the Gamer was concerned, this worked perfectly. Raising his left hand, he pointed Purgatorys palm at the boss and unleashed the Arcane Ascension. There was a moment of energy gathering. Then, like bullets out of a machine gun, several dozen Arc Lances sted outwards. John only moved his hand slightly and the boss was turned into a needle cushion.
The boss was sturdy and quick; John had waited for a chance to unload his strongest tool in a reliable fashion. As expected, being hit by so many powerful arcane spells, not even that creature could survive. Its massive frame quivered, started to copse and scattered into ash when it collided with the floor.
John rolled his neck. Floor based I.D.s are nice to get back into it, he said, as he left the Demon dungeon behind without thinking a lot about it. Since there had been no loot that seemed immediately interesting, he didnt bother to check the Loot Basin. Progress is good these days but not good enough to make me really happy.
Probably because he had Experience of Love for so long now, he didnt really feel like the guaranteed level every two days was that much of an eleration anymore. Factually, it reduced the projected time he needed to get the remaining 746 levels he could from several decades down to about 1492 days, about 4 years. That was calcting only with Experience of Love, dungeons would further elerate the process.
John still doubted he would get to reach level 1000, his known maximum, in under three years. Maybe it was just his paranoia or maybe this was actually his Wisdom talking, but life had a tendency of having turbulent stretches. There maye a time where I cant grind or have sex every day He shuddered at the thought, as he stepped out of the I.D. Gate. In an optimal world, I will get ess to a few more levelling tools. Not that bing one of the strongest entities in the world, if not the strongest, in under three years is anything short of unfair I actually wonder how long it took Romulus to get to his current level of power.
The strongest man in the Abyss had continued to learn magic over the thousands of years he had been alive, but, ording to what Nathalia had told him, Romulus had already reached his potential when she had first met him. It likely was the case that the potency of his powers had teaued at some point and he spent the time since then increasing the variance of abilities he had avable. Unless John asked the Apex himself, that was just theory crafting.
Given how his powers work, its not that unlikely that he rose to maximal power pretty quickly. Especially since Remus could just conjure Faith based creatures to feed him with, the Gamer continued to ponder until he saw a ck dot in the distance. Hushing past the nightly illuminations of the Guild Hall, the dot flew around in random patterns. Johns vision zoomed in, as if assisted by a scope inside a video game.
The dot was Velka, unsurprisingly. As he had nned, the Magryph was allowed to go out of her room. Now that she could fly, and she had picked it up with the speed only an animal designed to do something could learn something, John trusted that she was safe enough to not end up getting caught by someone. Especially since he had made Velkas existence public now. He had figured that it might attract the attention of some unsavoury individuals, but he had also figured that Velka would be spotted sooner rather thanter. A Magryph wasnt exactly difficult to spot and the Gamer was pretty sure his name would serve as a reliable shield.
Smander? John reached out to the fire spirit. The moment the boss had been defeated, the elementals had split, as was usual. Can you go fetch her?
John did allow Velka to run around freely, but he hadnt yet modified her room in such a fashion that she could get in and out easily. Best he could do was leave the window open and that didnt feel reliable enough. Not with how many windows there were and how high she had to fly to get there. If she got tired, she would have to spend the night outside. It was still warm, but John didnt want her to develop the habit or, worse, feel alone and abandoned.
Smander flew off and John took a second to look over thend. It was as fascinating as ever, to watch the number of lights on the other side of the Hudson increase. Those people were there because of his actions and, likely, hopefully, happier because of them.
I will fix the issue with Velkas room tomorrow, John thought. Might as well, since I will be upgrading the Guild Hall. The warning that it would happen had been sent out earlier today. It was on rather short notice, but there was no Federation going along with it. The notification simply existed to keep people from being overly surprised. He could have also thrown another festival, but organizing and financing another one for that purpose didnt feel appropriate.
Stepping away from the edge of the star fort, he made room for Smander when she returned with Velka between her arms. Limp and loose, the bird-cat was surrounded by the endless warmth the fire spirits breasts provided. The second I picked her up, she fell asleep, the endme elemental exined.
Cant say I me her, John chuckled. From first hand experience, he knew just howfortable resting between those pillows was. Reaching out, he scratched the Magryphs head for a little bit. Did you exhaust yourself, hm? he asked, and received a dreamy cooing in response. Velka didnt open her eyes, she was as deep in thend of dreams as cats could be. Well, I wouldnt want to take her out of thefort zone. Can you take her to her room?
Sure thing. Smander grinned, stroking a little bit of the soft fur with her thumb. That was as much as she could do while still holding onto Velka. Lets get you tuckered in, you thieving little shit. The endme elemental wandered off to the Pce, as did the other elementals and the maids. Only one person remained up there with him.
Its beautiful, isnt it? Gnome asked, now walking up to the very edge of the walls. It was a sharp drop to the ground below, but that was of fairly little consequence for the earth spirit.
John found himself questioning whether the first of his elementals had engineered the situation. He dismissed the theory quickly. Aside from her not being the type, he would have noticed at least some mental currents. Completely hiding whole conversations from him, especially ones between several of the elementals and the Artificial Spirits, was difficult. Doing it on the back that he wanted to stay on the edge of the star fort for a little while longer, a spontaneous decision, was basically impossible.
While all of these things went through the back of his mind, his eyes focused on Gnomes elegant profile. I can name many things that are beautiful about the view, he responded, all of his attention focused on her.
She gave him a quick nce and blushed. Aside from that, she kept herposure. I mean the actual view, she said and made a sweeping gesture. Thend we have built, the forests we have made, the river that we have cleaned.
We? Even in this situation, John couldnt help but be a bit of a tease. He stepped up next to her, put an arm around her shoulder and asked, Do I hear an iota of pride there, Gnome?
M-maybe? she stammered her answer, then defiantly stomped once. Is that wrong?
Not really, no. He smiled and looked away from the lights of the civilization that was prospering under his rule and down to the nature that was blooming in its presence. If you have no pride in what you build, then why build anything at all? Just dont be someone like me, ready to throw a fit when what you build is being scrutinized too intensely or arrogant in expanding it. He chuckled, what he said was so widely known that he was able to take it with some humour. I dont think Fusion can carry more than me and Siena in this regard.
I wont. I just thought it is all so much bigger than what I could conceive when I was a little pebble, Gnome confessed, ying with her fingers. Slender and firm fingers, perfect for forming sculptures and caressing friends. It was hard to imagine from her looks alone how much power sat behind those tiny fists. You arent even looking at thendscape, youre just looking at me, she pouted.
You know who I am, heughed. If you want me to pay more attention to thend, my need to sense you needs to be satisfied otherwise. A small motion towards the floor and they made the silent decision to sit down. Gnomes head rested on his shoulder, as they stared outwards. Their legs dangled down the smooth stone walls.
Ive been thinking.
About what? John wondered. They were having a tender and serious moment out of nowhere, but he had long learned to appreciate these whenever they popped up. Having a harem of over a dozen girls meant that many took the opportunity for more earnest conversations as they presented themselves. That wasnt a bad thing. Really, it should go to their credit that they were this patient.
My innermost desire. You know, both Undine and Smander you had moments with them, that allowed you to evolve them to Tier 5. Only Undine got there yet, but I still wonder what would it take for me to get there? What do I want so badly that it makes our understandingplete?
There was a long silence after that. John felt like he had to say something, but he didnt want to intrude on her thinking too much. A simple joke was what it would be. I hope you havente to the decision that you, too, want to measure yourself up against the corrupting forces with way too many teeth and eyeballs.
Youre stupid.
Wow that actually hurts when you say it, John confessed and got himself a kiss on the cheek to calm down his slightly aching heart. The pain vanished immediately and was reced with a content smile. I take it you havent found anything at all then?
I want peace and quiet... but how would you give that to me? Gnome wondered and gestured again at thendscape. I also want you to keep building all of this. I want more than us to be happy because uhm b-because I love you for doing the right thing so Now it was his turn to calm her. A bit of repositioning and he embraced her that little bit tighter. That was all she needed. so I cant just ask you to stop. I want a world where I dont have to fight, but I know I have to fight to get there.
Hmm, John hummed, thinking about that statement and the past incidents that had allowed that gate to be unlocked with the other two elementals. Leave it up to me.
Wha-? This is my issue!
No, its not, he told her. Its our issue, Gnome. I showed Undine that I was able to focus my energy and my emotions in a battle. I showed Smander that I was willing to listen to my gut and passion over cold reason when I allowed her to face the Lorylim. I have to show you that I can construct a prosperous world through the means of the least suffering. At least thats what I think you need to see. He beat his chest with his left hand. If it is about me proving that Im worthy to call you mine, then you can leave it to me. For those I love, I will do and learn all I can.
Umu, Gnome let out a cutesy little sound and snuggled closer against him. I wont leave it all to you, she let out a meek protest, but Im happy to share this with you.
Whatever it was.
Chapter 802 – Soaking
Chapter 802 C Soaking
John stretched and got out of bed. The women lying around him were not still sleeping, nor did they appear rested. Instead, they were a writhing, moaning bundle of ecstasy and cum-filled cunts. Some were able to move but too upied withpping the wasted amounts of Johns seed off the bodies of their fellow harem members. Others were, by means of pleasure, physical exhaustion or both, immobilized, the asional shiver aside.
It was still Monday. Deep in the night, but Monday regardless. They had not yet slept, they had simply had the second of their two daily orgies. The usual day had more than two, but only the one in the morning and the one in the evening were guaranteed. While, usually, thetter of those two was celebrated in the living room, John had felt the urge for intense cuddles today. It was much easier for everyone to pile on top of him if he was on the bed.
After some forey, he had solo-double-teamed each of them in turn. They rode him while Jack took them from behind. He didnt get to see too much of their front since his face was used as the seat for other girls, but as an ass man that was pretty all right with him. Being pressed between thighs was a superb recement for not seeing tits jiggle.
Having been in a supremely horny mood, he had absolutely wrecked all of them in that process. The bedsheets were soaked with sweat and sexual juices, most of which were not his. He could have added some more, he knew that at least some of the girls were ready for more of a pounding, but he decided to let everyone take a breather and, in a rare asion, be the first person to leave the orgy.
Im going to take a bath, he told everyone. Heads rose off the bedsheets just enough to make clear they had heard him. Nobody had enough energy to follow him, not right that moment. Well, Aclysia is going to put them on their feet to put on new sheets at some point, the Gamer thought as he stepped away. There was next to no way that the weaponized maid would let him and the harem sleep on stained sheets. The only times that happened was when they all passed out then and there.
Given the average Endurance of his girls, they would likely recover pretty quickly, Eliza and the Artificial Spirits first, with everyone else following thereafter. Only Scarlett would maybe need some recovery help by Undine. The advantages of having a healer in the bedroom.
Strolling through the living room, he stepped up to the door that led into the bath. He heard the sound of flowing water from the inside and spied through the ss wall that separated the changing area from the bath proper. For a moment, he wondered if any of his girls had slipped out without his notice. The truth was a bit more humorous.
Two animals with a golden exterior, one scaled, the other furred, were hanging inside the bathtub. The water was steadily running, causing it to overflow and fall down to the tiled floor beyond. Given theyout of the room and the fact that John didnt have to pay for heating or water, he didnt mind that development. Stirwin was lying on his belly inside the tub. Most of him was underwater. Only his snout broke out of the surface. Not because he needed air, but because of the walls of the tub. Copernicus, on the other hand, was quite visible. His upper half rested on the edge of the tub, front paws dangling and chin resting in the steady stream of the overflow.
When John entered, Copernicuszily opened one eye and looked at him. He closed it again before John had bridged half the distance to the nearby showers. I was wondering why the moaning had stopped, the sun catmented and then yawned a silent feline yawn. I take it youre going to take your perversion here in a minute?
Probably, John responded and stepped under the shower. He still wanted to get into the tub, but doing so without first rinsing himself off would have been rude. I guess this wasnt quite what you expected when you made that contract with Jane?
Aside from the fact of how loud it is, it doesnt bother me that much, Copernicus responded. You probably noticed through that Observe of yours, but animal-shaped elementals like us dont usuallye with a particrly high interest in sex. Probably something to do with the fact that few humans would wish to have sex with beasts. Personally, I feel rather liberated by not being taken in by those desires.
It would be rather awkward if you two had an interest in my harem, John hummed in agreement, while running his hands through his short hair. Still, you have some sex drive. Do you just live that out when you get unsummoned?
Yes.
I would, Stirwin partook in the conversation for the first time, slowly rising above water. He looked less derpy now and more like an actual crocodile, searching for prey. If I managed to find someone my size.
That does seem like an issue, John stated and spent about two seconds wondering how many kilometres that sexual organ must be. I take it you usually shrink down?
I usually dont bother. Especially since I was sealed for the better part of ten millennia. The celestial devourer swam slow circles in the tub. It was designed to hold over a dozen people and be used as a jacuzzi, if so desired, so there was ample room for the rtively small crocodile to move. I can only really mate with dragons or other such rarities. Not worth the effort.
John had a hard time wrapping his mind around the concept of sex not being worth the effort, but he also had started with a rather intense Libido, courtesy of his mothers genes, so the differences between the two of them was rather stark on this point. Do you actually have children that way? the Gamer wondered instead, since elemental procreation was still a bit odd.
Energy is put into motion, causing part of the realm to awaken to consciousness. In a way we have children, in another were just helping a natural process along, Stirwin exined.
Think of the elemental ne like a campfire, Copernicus continued. For us, the act of mating is like fanning the mes and causing embers to rise.
Ah so thats what makes Smander a spark of Krieg. John rolled his neck and then pushed down the handle of the shower, making the stream stop. Now that the sexual fluids were off him, he headed for the bath.
Copernicus let out a displeased meow, when the Gamers body disced enough water to create a wave that reached up to the cats nose. It onlysted a few moments, though, and John scratched the elementals back to distract him. Soon, Copernicus started purring. Youre surprisingly good at this, the cat gave a rarepliment.
I do watch Nia a lot, John exined. Your fur is pretty soft despite being wet. Im surprised you even take a bath like this.
As long as its warm and clean, I dont mind the asional soaking, Copernicus stated and continued to purr, while John massaged the ce between his shoulders. A chuckle mixed into the ongoing hrrrrrrrrr.
Whats so funny? the Gamer wanted to know.
I wonder what would happen if I suddenly stated deeper, daddy.
I would fulfil your wish by drowning you in this tub, John growled his response. You know I can!
Probably ah, how times have changed. The sun cat slipped forwards, wet and already half out of the tub that was a quick motion, andnded on the ground. He shook, causing droplets of water to fly everywhere, just as his summoner entered. And therees the cum-coated queen herself, the feline sarcastically remarked.
More saliva coated, really, Rave responded, looking down at herself. Everyone was busy licking me up and down. Not that Imining. Lots of kisses on my curves. She looked down, as Copernicus strolled over and rubbed the side of his face against her ankle. Aww, Cappy, so ya do like me! she squealed and tried to pick up her light elemental.
Copernicus jumped back. Maybe, but youre arent petting me before you get under the shower! he hissed.
Ya just rubbed yourself against me!
I would smell it if your boyfriend had recently developed a foot fetish.
Point taken, Rave conceded and wandered over to the same shower John had used minutes earlier.
How is everyone else doing? John wondered. It wasnt that surprising that his girlfriend was the first one to recover, even if she wasnt the most regenerative of the bunch. When it came to taking his excesses, no one was better at it than she was. As Rave herself had put it, he had sexually broken her in a while ago, so now she could handle whatever he threw at her. A theory that had proven true so far.
Ah, well, ya know cumming, Rave responded.
Cumming, you say? John asked and leaned back in the bath tub. Cum, he thenmanded, taking a fair bit of pleasure of seeing her legs suddenly buckle and her hands m against the wall in search of support. Still turned on, are we? he asked, as if he didnt get an erection himself watching her perfect ass quiver with each climactic shock.
Of courrrrssseeeeee, Rave half-purred, half-gasped while she got herself back under control. Not like ya to just do that in front of Cappy and Stirwin though.
Well, Stirwin isnt a hatchling right now, John exined himself. And Im gradually losing my inhibitions in this regard. me Max and Florida, in that order.
Your boyfriend did start getting ya on that path, didnt he? Rave asked, while rinsing herself off. Sweat, saliva and love juices were reced with crystal clear water, making her skin glisten. Skin and muscles stretched, as she moved to scrub every bit of herself clean. In deliberately teasing motions, she turned to show whenever she was touching herself in particr ces. Every little detail wandered into Johns mental archives.
A little bit of rising steam caused John to look elsewhere. It came from Copernicus fur. The sun cat looked neither bothered nor embarrassed by the show Rave was putting on. He was simply drying his fur with a basic application of his powers.
My boyfriend, huh? John raised an eyebrow, distracted long enough from the Lightbearers beauty to allow some blood to return to his mental faculties. Guess I have your blessing then. Will you exin it to the girls when me and Max settle down somewhere in this is never going to happen-stan?
Aww, youd make such a cute couple though. Rave joked right back and threw her hair back, before ending her shower and stepping towards Copernicus. Can I pet ya now or would yain cause Im wet.
You may pet me once, Copernicus dered and sat down on his hindquarters like cats tended to do in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Taking what she could get, Rave kneeled down and gave her familiar a nice rub from his head to the base of his tail. He stretched into the motion and tapped away the second it was done, rubbing once more against Raves leg in the process. Ill be sleeping in Velkas room.
Dont forget to close the door behind you, John reminded the sun cat. He had no doubt that Copernicus could jump up to the handle and somehow turn the key that kept the Magryph from letting herself out. Kicking the same door closed behind himself was less certain. Not that Copernicus was a scatterbrain. Unpredictable was the more fitting word.
Yes, yes, I will think of it, the golden-furred feline answered with another yawn and tapped away, just as Rave got into the tub.
Can I at least pet you a bit more? Rave wanted to know from Stirwin, who had settled on the sitting space opposite of where she now joined John. For a moment, she wasnt quite sure whether to sit down on his erection or next to him. Ultimately, she chose thetter. There would be more than enough time for more sex. Byparison, giving attention to the two sapient pets of the household was a rarity.
Stirwin obliged, and as more of the girls poured into the bath, was subject to more and more pets. In a way, the sexual orgy that had been directed at John earlier had now shifted into everyone scratching the crocodile. Unlike John, however, the celestial devourer quickly had enough of this amount of care given to him and took his leave. Apparently, he preferred sleeping in the water of the Hudson.
With the pets removed, the orgy continued as usual.
Chapter 803 – Guild Hall Upgrade Pre-Lewd and Banter
Chapter 803 C Guild Hall Upgrade Pre-Lewd and Banter
Pina Cda, Scarlett demanded, holding out an empty cocktail ss. Lying on a lounger and wearing absolutely nothing, the androgynous redhead slowly raised her head and blinked numerous times to allow her eyes to focus on the situation. Before she couldin, Aclysia stepped up and took the ss. Youre the best, Aclysia, anyone ever tell you that?
Ive been presented with this or simr opinions before, yes, the weaponized maid responded, as she took the ss over to the sizable minibar. Does anyone else require a new drink? she asked.
John took his hand off Undines head to wave around with the empty bottle of beer in front of him. His eyes did not leave the scene under the desk, however, as he was currently getting a blowjob by Nia and an abysstide elemental mimicking the blondes appearance. Having sex with twins was a fantasy at the best of times, this was a step above that.
They were tending to his dick, Smander was tending to the grill, and the rest of the girls were busy either sunbathing or hanging around nearby. The sundeck of the Gamers yacht supplied ample room for activities. Despite a wealth of options, most of what John and the harem wanted could be summarized in three words: rxing, fucking or drinking. Usually all three at once.
As a sign of tant favouritism, John was handed his recement beer before Aclysia had even started mixing the next cocktail for Scarlett. Interrupting the Technomancers grumbling, the Gamer pointed out, You shouldnt get smashed so early in the morning.
I wouldnt need to if you just went ahead and did the thing already.
Cant do it, ind still hasnt beenpletely cleared out. In order to avoid anyplications that coulde from people still being on the ind when John started moving Buildings around, he had issued a temporary travel restriction to the ind yesterday. That took care of traffic, for as long as necessary, but a fair few people actually lived in Liberty Inds residential area as well. Not nearly enough to fill all the houses, but a fair few regardless. Ferries had taken them off the Guild Hall in waves and John had been ready to start about twenty minutes ago, but apparently some workaholic dwarves were still in the Mine. Jack was currently dealing with that issue. Not like you need to be here anyway, he teased.
Alright then, I will just swing my fat ass off the boat. Scarletts response was as dry as desert sand. Not like Im here because I should give some structural input on the infrastructure thats solely responsible for fifteen percent of Fusions entire GDP.
From when is that data? John wondered. Last quarter?
End of July, yes, Scarlett responded. Current calctions have it sinking to about nine percent in overall contribution. The more we develop other areas, not to mention the Amaca Coast binding into our economy properly, the less I expect the Guild Hall to dominate my pie charts.
Lets see how this upgrade influences that, John said, before groaning in lust and spilling a load in Nias throat. The climactic moans of the pariah carried him nicely through his own orgasm. Once he was done and Nia, reluctantly, let his cock slip out of her throat, he turned back to the conversation. Maybe you should swing said bubble butt over here instead? I have a lot better use for it.
Whatever distracts me, I guess, Scarlett mumbled, got up, and took her new cocktail from Aclysia while she strolled over. Nia and Undine backed off and allowed Scarlett to straddle over John on the bench. Sitting cowgirl was one of his more favourite positions. As she slid down his shaft, she picked up his bottle of beer. Are you sure you should be lecturing me on drinking when SHANDY?!
Only once she looked at thebel did Scarlett realize that John wasnt drinking real beer, but a 50/50 mixture of beer and lemonade. Anything wrong with it? he asked, personally finding it rather tasty.
What the fuck is this heresy? How are you supposed to get drunk off that awful fucking thing?
You arent, really. Thats kind of the point. Even as John exined, the Technomancer put the bottle to her lips and downed all of it in one go. Seeing her swallow the entire half-litre in less than three seconds had John oddly aroused. Perhaps because it reminded him of scenes where the bottle had been something more attached to him. Perhaps because he was already balls-deep inside her.
If you dont want to get drunk, just sip on some whiskey, Scarlett asserted after she casually ced the bottle back on the table behind her. Her t chest stretched enticingly in the process. John leaned forwards and gave the pink nipples a little bit of attention.
Thats an approach that only works for an alcoholic, he asserted while kissing his way from one boob to another. There may have been little in the way of squish, but John still got the main thing he was after: tiny moans from Scarlett. She may have been able to keep it together just sitting on his cock, but a little effort from Johns side and thatposure began to melt away. Lips on her tits, hands on her ass, John was greatly enjoying the situation. The plum bottom of hers was just an absolute feast to dig into.
Works for me, Scarlett mumbled and John spared himself the easy retort. Instead, he rolled her left nipple between his teeth. Her pussy quivered around him, overflowing love juices began to wet his groin. Anyway, you sssssshould, it took her audible effort to remain coherent now, should stay sober when building infrastructure.
Speaking from experience?
I was never that stupid.
If you say so, John cheekily responded and turned the groping of her ass into him forcing her to raise those wide hips of hers off his cock. About halfway up, his instincts kicked in and he thrust upwards before his manhood could leave her any further. Scarlett let out a high-pitched scream.
The conversation came to a stop as John suddenly stood up andid Scarlett on the table. Nailing her to it would have, perhaps, been a more urate description, as he didnt give her much of a choice in the matter. His hands were around her throat in a matter of seconds and he gave her a thorough pounding.
Once he came inside her, he sat back down on his seat and sipped on the new beer that Aclysia had brought him in the meantime. Twitching and moaning, Scarlett did not make for a good conversation partner at the moment. He looked around if anyone else was willing to take on the task instead, but most of the girls were, at this point, involved in a semi-heated debate between Nia and Siena. The one person who could have easily dispersed any disagreements, Rave, was still sunbathing. The next contender, Gnome, was still in the confused as to what was going on stage of her analysis of the situation, looking back and forth between them.
John was considering getting in and doing his best to mediate the conflict himself. There were two things that kept him from doing this. His harem was, usually, getting along without him needing to y referee for every conflict and he preferred it if it stayed that way. Best not to cultivate bad habits. More importantly, one of them realized he was effectively alone and peeled out of the group.
Look at you NOT having a hard-on for once, Metra pointed out, while sitting down next to him. The light-brown berserker babe was as naked as she preferred to be. Before she could beat him to it, the Gamer put an arm around her shoulder. If he wasnt proactive enough, Metra would show off exactly why they called her kind of woman a tomboy and take the position of the men herself in all things except for sex.
I mean, I can change that, John offered. Thanks to Source of Satisfaction making his balls bottomless, the only two limitations to the Gamers ability to have sex where his own mood and his state of nutrition. While he did cum a whole lot more than should have been possible, even he needed a drink sometime. He was sure that, if he measured what he took in against what was regenerated through HP and other mechanics, it would be rather skewed. That fit pretty well with video game logic, however, where eating a cheese wheel could somehowpletely heal stab wounds.
Maybe in a minute. Metra smirked and snuggled against him in a surprisingly girly way. Muscly and easily angered as she was, this kind of behaviour wasnt usual of her. Which only made John appreciate it all the more. I overheard what Scarlett said about the economic contribution of the Guild Hall to Fusion C those are pretty good numbers.
You care about economic performance? John wondered.
In detail? Fuck no, keep your ounting to yourself, Metra gave him a bemused response. As long as the economy works well enough to finance the ongoing wars, I dont care whats going on in the markets. I did learn millennia ago, however, that kings that let too much financial power slip from their grip didntst long.
I dont think thats that much of an issue anymore, John dared to assert.
Maybe, Metra shrugged, but I dont think it hurts if you have a good chunk of the economy in your hands. Gives you leverage when you most need it.
With a groan, Scarlett slowly sat up. You will love to hear fucking Gaia my throat is sore She reached for her pina cda. One gulpter, the recovering Technomancer continued, I shouldnt scream that much. Anyway, you will love to hear then that there is a massive disparity between the numbers on paper and Johns actual economic power.
Coming from where? the First of Wrath asked.
The fact that finished goods sell for a higher price than raw materials, Scarlett responded and took another sip. Most of what the Guild Hall produces is an effectively endless supply of ores, woods, herbs, oils and whatever else John can find in his menus. Those things stand at the very start of the economic chain. While the areas that refine those raw materials into something the average person wants create more economic output, theyre all reliant on the Guild Hall to actually do their business.
Which is more important as far as Im concerned, the Gamer noted at the end of the exnation. The fact that the Guild Hall can guarantee a certain amount of materials for most fundamental industries means that we shouldnt ever be able to be cornered by anyone who tries to drag us into a trade war. It makes Fusion incredibly difficult to control by outside actors. He smirked at Metra. You do have a good point though. Even if Im not too worried about my personal status within the Federation, the fact that the Guild Hall is located here solidifies the Hudson Barriers importance. A capital that produces nothing but bureaucracy is a recipe for disaster. People dont respect a nation like that.
I sure wouldnt, Metra agreed whole-heartedly. Anyway, good to hear youre staying on top of more than one lever of power.
Well, I cant economically dominate, but I can dominate the economists, John joked and gave Scarletts thigh a nice p. She groaned, because of her masochism in smaller and because his joke was awful inrger part. To the point, I may have created a system that allows people to do things without or in spite of me, but I still very much like being in charge of it. I need to have political capital, magical prowess and financial strength to keep just about everyone in line. As well as a huge dash of Charisma. He leaned back and winked. Currently, Im well positioned on all these fronts. Mat, can you give me the beer?
Sure thing, Master, she purred. Straying from the usual my king title had the, likely intended, effect of having his dick slowly rise up again. Metra helped the process out by giving him a handjob. The lubrication left on his cock from previous engagements was ample to that end. Once he was hard, Metra attempted to do exactly as Scarlett had earlier. John instead bent her over the table and the redhead.
Halfway through the following threesome, Scarlett found her throat invaded by the descending member of Johns double. Jack had returned, which meant that, theoretically, everything was in order now.
John opened the map of his currently Guild Hall and tapped on all of the Buildings to see if there was still anyone inside.
Thank God Im ambidextrous, John thought as he did both that and gave Metras firm behind a proper spanking. Whether real flesh or not, the sound of the repeated impacts was definitely genuine. As were the moans she let out. Although she still liked being on top a fair amount of the time, especially in the morning, she now had so much love and respect for him that she gleefully submitted herself to his desires.
He paid her back by changing his angle that little bit and hitting a particrly sensitive bit inside her. While the existence of the g-spot was scientifically unproven and highly unlikely, the fact was that there were certain ways to fuck a woman that they, individually, much preferred. While he distracted his body with the repeated movements, his mind turned to thest question that preceded the upgrade of his Guild Hall.
He had to pick where to put his Guild Perks. There were only two categories left, Patronage and Administration. When it came to what they enabled, neither was particrly urgent. Looking at them, however, John had an easy time making his choice.
He didnt have anyone who could have be Collide or Fusions Patron God. Florida may have had Wendy and Fred, but John didnt even care to ask for them to rise to the national level. He did not want the headaches associated with that. Nathalia could have been a contender, but she wasnt there, and Thana was, well, Thana. Aside from those, he didnt know anyone closely enough who fit the bill.
He could have asked the Horned Rat, but that sounded like an eternity of headaches and the god of future cmity was unlikely to ept anyway. What would happen would be that John made the offer and then gotughed at. A lot.
Administration at least had a number of things that were mildly useful. The Great Archive would help in catching organizations that tried to evade attention. How much it would aid depended entirely how much details came in with the name. Even without that addition, having more room for Core Members, people that could join Collide, meant that John could potentially help some more people to reach a higher level through the Training Hall, among other benefits. Magnus came to mind. The announcements were a general quality of life improvement. Only the Central Hall would likely be a tad useless.
Not like I need more space in my Pce, he thought and was presented with a new window, asking him if he wanted to upgrade the Guild Hall to Tier 4 now orter.
His hand moved to the now option.
Chapter 804 – Tier 4 Guild Hall Upgrade Part 1
Chapter 804 C Tier 4 Guild Hall Upgrade Part 1
All colours of the rainbow shimmered in the air, as if a giant soap bubble had suddenly decided to exist in a cylinder shape around the Guild Hall, quickly gaining intensity. Once its visibility was as firmly established as was possible with the overhanging sun, the borders began to move outwards. Although it was expanding at several metres per second, the raw amount of distance covered made it appear like a crawling growth.
How big do ya think itll get? Rave asked her boyfriend.
Well, its one kilometre across at the moment, so maybe itll double to two? he suggested, as the expanding border passed over and through them. The sizes were always difficult to predict. Such was the nature of things when they were left in the hands of a divine entity who got a rise out of screwing with him.
This was such an instance. Looking at the Mand Sphere suddenly darting off, elerated by a whole bunch of mana, the girls raised an eyebrow. Seems like this upgrade will be so meaty that the Guild Hall borders would reach ind. Gaia seems to not want the areas to ovep. He shrugged. Ultimately, that was in his interest as well. There were facilities on the shore that would have been a pain to have inside the Guild Hall and even worse to move out of it C the Fusion Trade Tower, for example.
Flying through the border, John moved his Possessions gaze to look inwards. What he was presented with was a very interesting duality of views. From inside the Guild Hall, it looked like the barrier was expanding normally, while the city around them also visibly grew smaller with every passing second. From the outside, the expanding barrier seemed to be static, but the Hudson bulged out in all directions, causing a visible circle to be created at the heart of the Protected Space.
By the sort of miracle only the supreme deity of creation could work, the surrounding city was unaffected in itsyout. Something that was quite ludicrous, given that the Guild Hall it now stretched around ended up at half the diameter the Hudson Barrier would have been on its own.
The Guild Hall had expanded from one to five kilometres in total diameter. Putting aside the fact that this was an absolutely ludicrous increase, it also meant that the Hudson Barrier,bining its own size with that of the Guild Hall, went up to fifteen kilometres across. That made it as big as Rome in surface area.
There was ack of floating inds and the poption of Rome absolutely dwarfed that of the Hudson Barrier, but John felt rather pleased to be catching up in at least this one aspect. The city is far away now, Scarlettmented while looking over the railing. Sometime during the expansion happening, John had cum inside Metra, and they were now concentrating on the important things. Your powers are pure bullshit.
Wonder what the final size of this thing will be, John hummed. I doubt itll go to 25 kilometres, but lets just assume its 10 this still means the Guild Hall is a teleportable category three Abyssal city the only limitation is a one-month cooldown and that it has to be conquered territory.
The fact that the Perk said conquered and not owned territory was of vital importance. If it had been just owned, John could only teleport in the areas that the Federation had a firm and acknowledged grip on. Conquered included those stretches ofnd that Fusion upied during war. The Guild Hall was the wet dream of every militarymander. A massive base with integrated supply production that could be relocated at a moments notice in frequent intervals.
It is quite possible that this is the greatest military structure in the world, even without guns or sentience, the Gamer thought. That he could now upgrade and ce new Buildings would likely only underline that fact. Even just the resources and respawning Sentry Golems made it a force to be reckoned with. I wonder what happens with all the water if I teleport it to somewhere onnd though?
That question was left unanswered for the moment. John instead headed towards the stairs that led to the bridge. The ind in the centre was now in need of anotherplete overhaul. The Guild Hall had grown to five times the former size and he didnt really want more than the outer rims of that to be water. Since it would have been bothersome to surround his own position withnd and then unable to drive his yacht out, he had to park elsewhere.
Once that was done, John gathered up the girls and all together they started to design what the ind would look like. Although John drew up, as best as the tools allowed him, the same circr base shape as he had done for the previous Tier, this was quicklypromised by the many inputs given by the harem present. Each elemental had a number of ideas of what their inds should look like and Eliza supplied some beautiful looking sketches that the Gamer then awfully copied over into reality. By the end of that process, they were less Elemental Inds and more peninss.
The Silicate Ind to the south went through a simple upscaling and an entirely new ind was added to the northeast, simply because John had the space and wanted to put something between the Harbour and the open sea. An extra position from which to defend anchoring ships, if nothing else. Two arms extended from thendmass. At that point it was basically impossible to sell the Guild Hall as circr.
After some more tweaks to coastlines here and there, they got working on the details. A decision was made, for no real reason other than aesthetics, that the star fort and the Pce in the middle of the Guild Hall should stand in a moat. From there, it was decided that there should be rivers flowing outwards. Those would give the scenery some more structure and charm. A particrly broad channel was made between the moat and where the Harbour would be ced. All of the rivers were navigable, given the right size of boat, but that one was the easiest simply because John thought it would be used the most. It would also separate the Industry from the Commercial district.
The presence of the rivers also made the Elemental Inds into inds again. Mostly. Dependent on whether or not one agreed that the rivers were broad and deep enough to count as a disruption of thendmass. John was torn there, since he didnt want to think of the Guild Hall as an archipgo, but Elemental Peninss just didnt have the same ring to it.
Ah, whatever, I make the rules for this space. He decided to just call the Elemental Inds what he wanted and still refer to the Guild Hall atrge as one ind.
With rivers ced, they went onto the finer details. Where which district was, where the already present Buildings would be ced, what to do with empty space, what colour the ground should have, where to ce trees and other decorations, and so on. The entire process cost so much money, John first emptied the entirety of his private savings and then most of the federal funds backed up in the Guild Hall. What remained he carefully calcted to be just enough to allow him to ce and upgrade the Building he wanted. Since individual ministries had already gotten their funds for the month, John wasnt too bothered. It would all roll back in thanks to the Guild Halls own productions and I.D. grinding.
Alright, lets see what were working with in terms of avable mana and Room Slots, John hummed and checked how the Tier upgrade had affected those numbers.
The base mana the Guild Heart produced went from 200000 to 500000 and the Room Slots went from 757 to 2257. That meant that the space he had to ce his Buildings had gone up by 400%, the ability to ce and upgrade Buildings had increased by 200% and the mana to keep those Buildings running by 150%. John knew he was looking at a pretty basic trick by game developers, limiting one specific kind of resource so he was forced to optimize what he did with the others.
In this particr case, he could sacrifice Room Slots in order to gain more mana passively through several Mana Factories, or he could put up just a few and have people produce actively what he needed. The former approach was safer, thetter allowed him to ce more Buildings that had proper uses.
By his cautious nature, John favoured the former approach. Being steadily dependent on other peoples input was more dangerous than he liked. Because he knew he would get a whole lot of Room Slots for free (1000 of them) when he finally finished the Quest to get Fusion a seat in the Divided Gates, the worlds ten strongest guilds, that approach was only further justified in his mind.
Having settled on his approach, John double-checked on the costs of the Buildings he wanted and which ones he had to push back to the next Tier or another time in order to ce enough additional Mana Factories by the end of this. Then he started with the Buildings at the centre of it all.
Pce District:
Guild Heart (Room Slot Cost: 0, Mana Production: 500000): The Guild Heart remained buried underneath the Pce and incredibly difficult to ess.
Pce (Room Slot Cost: 0, Maintenance Cost: 0): There were no physical changes made to the Pces outside. The new moat kept the threeyer construct of white star fort, main Pce building and Lady Liberty nicely pronounced even in thergerndscape. Under the surface, however, a few things changed. The secret tunnels inside the fort now led to some small piers that John attached to the tips of the star-shape, allowing visitors toe by foot or by sea. Additionally, he switched the Pce from the category Housing, which was a free-form Building category that cost a variable amount of resources, to Central Hall. He could only have one of those and its maximum size scaled with the Tier of the Guild Hall. Tier 4 was satisfactory to cramp the entire Pce in there C and even more. The Central Hall was apressed space, meaning that John could have more rooms on the inside than physics should allow. If he had a space problem, it would have been solved now. The more immediate benefit was that, as a Guild Perk Building, it didnt cost upkeep or Room Slots anymore.
Security Station (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 30000): There were now 10 Sentry Golems, all of which were level 50, and they could be set to operate anywhere within the Guild Hall or the adjacent barrier. Additionally, John got the choice to either acquire one level 125 Gatekeeper Golem, which could only operate within the Guild Hall and automatically teleported to situations where there was trouble, or a level 75 Sentry Leader, which would boost the intelligent response of nearby Sentry Golems. The choice had to be made at that time and was non-reversible. John picked the Gatekeeper, preferring the additional defence.
Cleaning Station (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 20000): The amount of active slimes increased from 40 to 60. John was also given a choice here. He could either make each slime a level 10 fighter or give them the ability to fuse into something called Trashpexus. The former would be a swarm that was more of a bother than a threat to any moderately powerful Abyssal formation. Thetter would get one level for each blob that made it up, so going up to level 60, and became permanently stronger the more trash the Cleaning Station slimes devoured. A very slow rise in power, ording to the description. However, a drip-feeding of power was still a feeding of power. Trashpexus could only form inside the confines of the Guild Hall, but John didnt much care about that. He picked Trashpexus, because the swarm approach was so incredibly vulnerable to area attacks.
Transport Station (Room Slot Cost: 20, Maintenance Cost: 50000): The cost for the Transport Station ramped up immensely, increasing by 40000, but John couldnt skip out on the upgrade. Endless range teleporters were simply too valuable and he was given another two of them. For the limited range teleporters, their number limit was lifted. This was of minimal consequence to John, since he already had enough in ce to reach most ces in the Hudson Barrier in a matter of minutes.
I.D. Gate (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 30000): At Tier 4, John finally found a reason to upgrade this Building. Upping the door count to seven was extremely useless, as far as he could see. However, along with that upgrade came another choice between two perks. The first was quite useful, being that any barrier he opened inside the I.D. Gate would have Fateweaving active within it, protecting him from one death per day. An extremely good insurance, yet between Escape Rope and Johns ess to Magoi, he found himself more attracted to the second option. With a cooldown of one week, the central door would lead to an unbound ce. Examples for such locations were Lady Liquors bar or Hermes shop. This was unique enough that John found himself taking that perk, even though he had no active choice as to where it would lead or even when it would be active.
Clearwater Fountain (Room Slot Cost: 50, Maintenance Cost: 5000): This was a huge but quite cheap Building when it came to keeping it running. Arge, artistic fountain, over fifty metres across, ced on a teau, that steadily produced perfectly clear drinking water. It was an extension of the Guild Halls ability to maintain the shape John designed it to have. There would always be water where he wanted it to be and the Clearwater Fountain guaranteed that it would stay perfectly clear. By the supernatural mechanics of the ce, dirty water would be teleported away, cleaned, filtered and then pumped back out. A waterfall between the two southern tips of the star fort let the excesses flow into the moat and the outwards flowing rivers, then spread it everywhere else.
District Bnce:
180 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 500000 mana, COSTS 145000 mana, BALANCE +355000 mana.
Chapter 805 – Tier 4 Guild Hall Upgrade Part 2
Chapter 805 C Tier 4 Guild Hall Upgrade Part 2
John continued on with his cing of objects in the northeast, since it was the district he had the least to do himself.
Commercial District:
Shopping Area (Room Slot Cost: Variable C Maximum 350, Maintenance Cost: Variable C Maximum 100000): Tier 4 had the very nifty feature that he no longer had to ce a bunch of Storefront Buildings himself. Instead, he could simply designate an area with a purpose and everything built there would hook up to the system automatically, given that facilities and resources were present. Thus, instead of just putting the same copy-pasted boxes everywhere, he was instead able to leave people to build up a more architecturally diverse neighbourhood. What changes had already been made over the past months, he simply maintained.
Fusion Administration (Room Slot Cost: 50, Maintenance Cost: 25000): This was, in reality, two Buildings. The good old-fashioned Guild Bank, in which John had been spending his office hours, and the newly acquired Great Archive. Since both were fundamentally ces for his administrative duties, the Gamer had joined them at the hips, so to speak. This made the Building evenrger, giving more office space to the financial ministry working from there. As per mechanical upgrades, the Guild Inventory was now essible from EVERYWHERE for John and the individual inventories for each member of Collide could be essed by them in all conquered territory. Furthermore, every member of the Federation could now create a 5-slot bank ount there, but they could only ess it if they were within the Guild Bank.
Embassy (Room Slot Cost: 0, Maintenance Cost: 0): No real changes, it just became a tad bigger.
Garden of Sinners: This was an extension of the Shopping Area that deserved its own short mention. Walled off and with only one entrance, the Garden of Sinners was a specific area into which the sexual industry was confined. John wanted the Guild Hall to be family friendly, but he also wanted to be true to himself. As such, this area was not only where all things perverted could be bought and sold, but also would serve as a sort of perverted amusement park where people could live out their broadly eptable fetishes.
Harbour (Room Slot Cost: 200, Maintenance Cost: 75000): The Harbour was an interesting case. It was difficult to say that it was actually part of the Commercial district. Taken in its entirety, the Harbours mechanics not only covered all of the two coastlines adjacent to the channel east of the Commercial district, but also operated the tworge gates that regted ess to that channel. That meant that it covered a water surface about half asrge as the Commercial district and was actually attached to two other ones. Regardless, since John got the Harbour done while working on this district, he counted it as part of it in this instance. There was also a development choice here between giving the Harbour the ability to construct small to medium sized vessels, materials and blueprints needed to be supplied, or massively increasing repair speed. John chose the former. It may have been a slow process, slower than the manual equivalent, but having a ce that automatically produced ships, particrly of the military variety, was hriously powerful. That it could only do one at a time was barely a limiting factor.
District Bnce:
600 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS 200000 mana, BALANCE -250000 mana.
Johns attention shifted west from there, to one of the tworge areas of the Guild Hall whose main purpose was looking pretty.
Newman Shire:
Midnight Forest (Room Slot Cost: 10, Maintenance Cost: 10000): Although John may have been better advised to NOT upgrade the Fairy Lantern and thus invite even more of the whimsical fairies into his domain, he did it anyway. He was the Earl of this court and his pridepelled him to have it thrive as much as the rest of Fusion. A base instinct, but the Gamer found himself at the mercy of it anyway. What he did, however, was iste the area from everywhere else by means of rocky hills and rivers, leaving only a few paths and a single bridge for people to find their way in. There would be a lot of warning signs around.
District Bnce:
10 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS 10000 mana, BALANCE -10000 mana.
Having pressed the single button Newman Shire had required, John continued on to the six peninss along the west coast of the Guild Hall.
Elemental Inds:
Elemental Shrines (Room Slot Cost: 6 x 20, Maintenance Cost: 6 x 15000): The upgrade only increased already present bonuses, but given what those bonuses were, that was all John could have asked for. First, there would be more elementals appearing in arger area and there would be more powerful ones. Second, the urrence chance for element infused materials increased in all Buildings that created raw materials. Third, the potency of the elemental essences would be doubled. John assumed this meant that the creation of Oblivium and the other five highest-grade elemental metals would be shed in half by this change, but he couldnt know for sure until he actually went there.
The Maw (Room Slots: 10, Maintenance Cost: 10000): The purpose of this Building was pretty simple. It was a giant pit into which items could be thrown and John would receive some reward in return. Essentially, it was a recycling bin for items he didnt want or found other uses for. The rpense would likely be quite moderate, but John wanted to have something like this around regardless. Because it was thematically appropriate, the Maw was ced on the Shadow Ind.
Galewind Tree (Room Slots: 20, Maintenance Cost: 10000): This had to be ced close to the air shrine as per the Buildings conditions. The leaves, bark, wood and sap of this tree were all harvestable and heavily infused with air properties, and the fruits were delicious, if the description could be trusted. John wanted it in order to have some guaranteed materials to use in his weapon industry. When it came to basic military purposes, Agility boosts, which air was most closely affiliated with, were among the most universally useful.
True Ice Peaks (Room Slots: 20, Maintenance Cost: 10000): This ce was simr to the Galewind Tree, except it was a formation of icebergs with water properties, boosting health and mana regeneration. The ice would alsost for a long time, even if left lying in the middle of a summer day, and was therefore perfect for cooling drinks.
Bleeding Mountain (Room Slots: 20, Maintenance Cost: 10000): A volcano which had two main products. One wasva that remained liquid at room temperature, until treated in ways that caused it to harden, making it a good base for all sorts of projects that required sturdy materials. The second was ash, which could be mingled with regr dirt to enrich the soil. It was more of a utility building than the Galewind Tree or the True Ice Peaks.
Elemental Depths (Room Slots: 50, Maintenance Cost: 25000): Although its main entrance was on the Earth Ind, the Elemental Depths had entrances and exits all over the other Elemental Inds, which changed positions daily. Peculiarly, this Building created awork of tunnels and rooms underneath the inds that summoners could use to face trials and strengthen their bonds to their elementals, potentially triggering an evolution. John would not directly benefit from this. The idea was that it would attract young talent in search of contracts to Fusion and they could then be convinced to join the Federation proper.
District Bnce:
250 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS, 155000 mana, BALANCE -155000 mana.
With the west coast done, John moved to the areas between the Pce and the Elemental Inds. The first of which was the Park.
The Park:
Magois Tower (Room Slot Cost: 20, Maintenance Cost: 5000): Unchanged in terms of equipment and rtive position to the centre. Magoi spent less than half of his nights there anyway, since he had secured himself a nice plot ofnd in Manhattan and had a mansion built there. Only when he had a lot of business with John, or if the ongoing construction of that mansion did more noise than he wanted to bear, did he spend time there. John could have feasibly deconstructed it, but it had been around for so long that he thought it was worth it for the nostalgia alone.
Floaters (Room Slot Cost: 25, Maintenance Cost: 500000): This Building had the theoretic capability to lift chunks of thendscape into the air, creating floating inds. Aside from that looking quite impressive, the reason why John had wanted this Building in particr was that it, at Tier 5, was able to lift up the entire Guild Hall. Keeping inds in the air was absurdly taxing on the maintenance, so it would spend most of the time inactive at the moment and likely most of the future. It was the sort of thing that would be manually switched on or off.
Weather Tower (Room Slot Cost: 75, Maintenance Cost: 75000): The Weather Tower was now able to create any kind of weather that was appropriate for the kind of biome the Guild Hall was in. ording to Raves wishes, John fiddled with the settings until he had made it so the majority of days would be summer days with little to no clouds, with the asional rainy day thrown in there for the mood. Manual overrides could always be enacted.
Menagerie (Room Slot Cost: 25, Maintenance Cost: 10000): More variety among the cute animals and they could now roam the entirety of the Guild Hall, unless settings were changed to keep them from doing so.
District Bnce:
145 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS 590000 mana (90000 without Floaters), BALANCE -590000 mana (-90000 without Floaters).
Moving slightly south from there, John got to the area of the Guild Hall where he rented out or gifted people room to stay.
Residential District:
Housing (Room Slots: 75, Maintenance Cost: 40000 mana): The ck apartment Buildings that dominated the Residential district werent as spacious or as luxurious as Magois Tower and therefore consumed a lot less per unit. They were still quitefy to live in, John made sure of that. Although he had a lot of room he could have expanded this district into, he stopped at a certain point. He had trouble getting the old number of houses filled and he doubted that would change anytime soon. The District Government, although designed morevishly, was part of the Housing.
Cherry Square: Not a real Building, just a park with eternal cherry blossoms that John ced in the middle of the Residential district to give it some more charm.
Green Greens: Also, not a real Building, just a charming clearing inside a small forest where he installed outdoor grills and stone circles for campfires. To be used by the residents as an outdoor partying spot or as a ce to put tents and other attractions during festivals.
Tilgun Bay: Not even a not-real Building that John had ced there. Halfway through working on the Green Greens, the icon of a sea serpent and the text simply sprung up. Either the high dragon was meddling with the Guild Hall or Gaia was screwing with John a little bit. Thetter was much, much more likely.
District Bnce:
75 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS 40000 mana, BALANCE, -40000.
To the south and across the deliberately cheesy named Freedom Channel was an ind that housed, in istion, one production facility.
Silicate Ind:
Silicate Fields (Room Slot Cost: 75, Mana Maintenance: 50000): Name-giving for the ind, the Silicate Fields dominated the western half of it. Here, rocks and crystals would continuously grow, to be harvested as building and enchantment materials. The increase in Tier added some more rare materials to the spawning chance and increased the chances for valuable ones from previous upgrades.
Counting Tower (Room Slot Cost: 10, Mana Maintenance: 5000): This was a lighthouse on the eastern peak of the ind, serving two purposes. One, it overlooked any ferries that docked on Silicate Ind over the day, a change made to put a bit less traffic into the Harbour, and two, it allowed lifeguards to coordinate their responses over therge beaches that the inds had. If people continued to abuse the endlessly good weather of his Guild Hall for their beach bodies throughout the winter, he would need some more avable stretches of sand.
District Bnce:
75 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS; 55000 mana, BALANCE -55000 mana.
And with all of those out of the way, John got to the two districts that made the Guild Hall the economic powerhouse that it was. He started with the one that was (mostly) about producing raw materials, localized in the south and stretching eastwards.
Production District:
Farm (Room Slot Cost: 70, Maintenance Cost: 50000): The Farm was extended with a few more fields for different kinds of grain, a fair number of multi-fruit trees that could grow anything sweet and edible that fell from trees, and a shrimp in the river. Otherwise, it only got an upgrade in the scope of already present operations. Turkheir would finally be on the menu at the next Tier.
Fishery (Room Slot Cost: 70, Maintenance Cost: 50000): Moving from being on the coast to being on a small ind surrounded by a parting river, the Fishery did as basically all upgraded Buildings did and simply increased the rarity of the catchable fish. John got to make the choice whether he wanted to increase the Fisherys passive yield or to have some fish spawn as giants, rtive to their normal sized variants. He picked thetter.
Herb House (Room Slot Cost: 35, Maintenance Cost: 20000): John added a few modules to the Herb House that allowed it to grow the ingredients required for health potions and some other basic alchemical concoctions. Otherwise, it was left as it was.
Oil Tower (Room Slot Cost: 40, Maintenance Cost: 40000): Simple expansion to Tier 4, increasing synthesizing speeds and the amount of options.
Perfumery (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 20000): Much like the Oil Tower, there was little to say about the upgrades. If there was anything interesting about it, it was that John decided to ce it in the Production rather than the Industry district. While it would be more fitting in thetter category, at least with how John drew the lines, it made fairly little sense to separate it from the Herb House and Oil Tower, given how dependent this Building was on the raw materials they provided.
Logging (Room Slot Cost: 100, Maintenance Cost: 70000): Upgraded growth speed for lower tier trees, more spawning chances for higher level trees. The usual, with a choice on top. Either John could fuse the Logging with the Midnight Forest, enabling Whimswood to be generated, or he could enable a 0,1% daily spawning chance for trees in the world tree category. Mostly because he thought the presence of fairies at the workce would drastically decrease productivity, John picked thetter.
Mine (Room Slot Cost: 75, Maintenance Cost: 75000): While, fundamentally, the further depths only offered rarer metals, there was also a warning of kobolds now. John got the choice to either add Tunnel Dragons (a rather weak subspecies but dragons regardless) to the lower floors of the Mine or decrease the power level of all monsters inside. A choice he did not make at that moment, opting to first find out how strong those kobolds were.
Tannery (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 20000): Because of a warning about the smell, John ced this at the edge between Industry and Production district. He wouldnt be able to do too much with it for the moment, since the only hides he could tan were what remained of Farm animals. Still, this allowed him to do something with those hides, so he liked having this new addition.
District Bnce:
450 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS 345000 mana, BALANCE -345000 mana.
Only one more district remained on the maind.
Industry District:
Brewery (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 20000): This ce made beer and other liquors. Not much else to say about it. Aside from Scarletts insistence that it was never bad to have a reliable alcohol supply, it was also true that booze was a product that was in pretty high demand all over the world at any time.
Weavery (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 20000): Refined wool and other materials to threads, cloth and clothing. Just another Building that diversified the Guild Halls spread of produced goods.
Foundry (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 25000): The main purpose of the Foundry was to smelt down the ores from the Mine into ingots, which would fetch a higher price and allow other Buildings to make use of them.
Transmutation Forge (Room Slot Cost: 0, Maintenance Cost: 0): The amount of stuff John could buy for money there increased further and now included all kinds of Baelementium. At a steep price, for sure, but it was, regardless, another reliable ess of the powerful metal that John now had.
Mana Factories (Room Slot Cost: 12 x 25, Mana Production: 12 x 60000): The Mana Factories were a simple necessity to keep everything else running. To keep up with increased demand, John not only upgraded them but doubled the count.
Mana Storage (Room Slot Cost: 30, Mana Production: 10000): The Mana Storage increased its saving capacity to 10 million Maybel, making it the Guild Halls lifeline should supply ever be interrupted.
District Bnce:
420 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 730000 mana, COSTS 65000 mana, BALANCE +665000 mana.
Finally, on the new ind to the northeast, John ced the newly formed Military district.
Scanner (Room Slot Cost: 10, Maintenance Cost: 10000): This Building wandered from the dissolved Transportation district to the new Military one. It was attached to the roof of the new Fusion fortress and served to, as the name implied, scan the surroundings for peculiarities and potential dangers.
Fusion Fortress (Room Slot Cost: 80, Maintenance Cost: 50000): The Fusion Fortress was itself made out of three Buildings. One was the aforementioned Scanner, the second was the Housing necessary to give space to military personnel, and the third was a wonderfully fittingly named Fusion Laser Cannon. At the cost of 2 million mana per shot, this massive construct would fire a devastating st with several kilometres of range. John got his very own superweapon and it made him very happy. It could have only been more awesome if it had been attached to the torch of Lady Liberty, from a visual standpoint. When it came to actual symbolism, he didnt like the image of the symbol of freedom crushing armies with a death ray.
Weapon Manufactory (Room Slot Cost: 30, Maintenance Cost: 30000): On the condition that blueprints and materials were provided, the Weapon Manufactory could steadily produce offensive equipment of any variety. While the quality was reasonably limited, it was still a reliable mass production and would allow themon soldier of Fusion forces to be the best equipped in the world. Abyssal warfare wasrgely decided by which side had the most powerful individual mages, rather than numbers. However, having the average person in superior gear was still a considerable advantage as they would operate as upying forces and, as heartless as it sounded, would be more effective roadblocks.
Training Hall (Room Slot Cost: 0, Maintenance: 0): This Building allowed all members of Collide to train up to level 50 and all members of the Federation to train up to level 25, regardless of potential. The upgrade in Tier simply increased the spread and effectiveness of training methods inside.
District Bnce:
120 out of 2257 Room Slots.
PRODUCES 0 mana, COSTS 90000 mana, BALANCE -90000 mana.
Total Bnce:
2250 out of 2257 Room Slots in use.
PRODUCES 1230000 mana, COSTS 1650000 mana (1150000 mana with Floaters deactivated), BALANCE -420000 mana (+80000 mana with Floaters deactivated).
The end result of it all looked like this.
(Authors Note: Same asst time, I am using a mapmaker tool C Inkarnate - with limited assets, so dont take the icons to be urate representations of the Buildings)
Chapter 806 – Exploring the Newman Place
Chapter 806 C Exploring the Newman ce
It was almost night again when Boating Seaquence pulled into the Harbour. John only needed to align the yacht parallel to the shore and a pier of wood and cobblestone magically constructed itself around the boat and made it dock perfectly. When John got back to the sundeck, his harem had already finished cleaning everything up. The grill was clear, the ash emptied out, any stains of sexual or food-rted nature removed, and loose furniture stowed away. A very annoyed Velka sat inside a cage and refused to interact with Eliza.
Scarlett looked somewhat weirded out by something, catching Johns attention. Whats up?
Not musch, she slurred slightly and cleared her throat. The entirety of the map designing and Building cing, she had been downing drinks. Even stretched over several hours, buffered out with food and fighting against her seasoned liver, the ethanol had managed to put a level of ssiness in her eyes. Even with the slight slur, she was still coherent enough to answer, Ish just that it feelsh fucking weird when the Guild Hall interacts with sophtware Im connected to.
Ah, John made an understanding noise. She must have been talking about the Harbour letting out the stairs of the yacht. What did that feel like?
Like a giant rod of sh flying by my head at the speed of a bullet train, Scarlett answered and walked in his direction, swaying a little bit. Reddened from alcohol and, perhaps, a level of embarrassment, she slung her arms around his shoulder and put on an adorable begging voice, Help me down the shtairs, please?
After you get dressed, John promised, brushing some of her red hair behind her left ear. She was clean and naked, repeated baths in the jacuzzi had assured that much even with several instances of sex throughout the day. What cum he had filled her with was too deep to dribble out. The amount for which that wasnt the case had either been washed or licked out. Eating his delicious cum out of another harem members cunt was amon thing, after all.
The rest of the harem looked about the same. As much as John was into the fucked stupid and used thoroughly look in the moment, he was thankful that the girls in his harem had a hygienic approach to their bodies outside of sex. A face stained with phlegm, precum and saliva was awesome, but clean lips and smooth skin was more enthusiastically embraced.
Hrrrmmmmm, Scarlett made a throaty sound of the unwilling kind.
Actually, Rave chimed in from the side-lines, the evacuation order is still in effect, right? What do we need to get dressed for?
His girlfriend made a good point and so they left the yacht as they were. All of them, even Gnome, who normally shied away from this. Even knowing they were the only people on the ind, the autumn elemental did still blush. A state that fixed itself through exposure after they had gotten the first kilometre behind them.
If there was anything about the state of the Guild Hall that John was now annoyed about, it was that the size, on foot, was actually bothersome. Tier 0 had been miniscule, Tier 1 easily circled in a short amount of time, Tier 2 was still rather small, Tier 3 had made distances somewhat noticeable, Tier 4 was finallyrge enough that it actually took time to get anywhere.
John made a mental note to introduce limited driving to the ind. The roads were broad enough to allow it and he didnt see much of a reason to keep cars off them. It would be a guided effort, he didnt want private individuals to have cars and start actual traffic, just some cabs and a few leasable vehicles. Excluding whatever cars he parked around the ce. As the owner, he would have certain privileges.
The first target they all went for was the Pce. Not because they had anything there they wanted to see, it was the least changed area after all, but because there was a Magryph warbling around inside her cage. It had been difficult to even get her in there, she had to be convinced with strips of salmon and a new piece of tiny treasure. John refused to let her out until he had shown her where she would live from now on.
They reached the moat and the north-eastern bridge. Crossing over the construct of brass and greyish white stones carried them over to a balcony that was carved out of the tip of the star forts corner. A wide-open gate then allowed them ess to the tunnels that had been in there already, and one staircaseter they emerged on the grass and cobble-road covered surface. Thetter were a new addition.
They followed the way south and eventually arrived at an outgrowth from the massive Pce, pointing towards therge stone formation on top of which the Clearwater Fountain rested. The waterfall was distantly audible, but nowhere near loud enough to be a bother.
That outgrowth was to be Velkas new home. There were entrances on the ground level and on the roof. Tunnels that were big enough for her to get through even when she was fully grown allowed her to also get inside the Pce. That was, unless John pushed a button that sealed all of the exits and locked her in.
Even if he did that, there was ample room for her to y, though. Her old toys were carried over, she got a sleeping ce that would trante better to her growing size, an interactive food and water supply, a self-cleaning litter box and a number of hidden ces where she could store away her hoard.
Once done setting things up, John let Velka out of her cage, scratched her behind the ears and then did actually lock her in there for the moment. Advice from the Magryph breeders in Australia was that it was best to keep a Magryph in a new environment for three days before letting them roam around. Otherwise they wouldnt sufficiently scent-mark their new home and may decide to set up their things somewhere else entirely. That could still happen after three days had passed and then demanded some more convincing, but the chance drastically dropped.
The harem then separated into three groups. There was Scarlett and Beatrice, who didnt care for exploring the new Guild Hall in any big capacity and instead decided to go to bed/go after their usual household duties. Nia and Eliza were more interested in ying with Velka than spending the rest of the night walking around. The elementals, Rave, Aclysia and Metra decided to keep apanying John on his way around.
Which opened the question of the order in which to look at things. Some of them were fairly simple. The Industry Buildings, for example, would only require a short look. Inspecting their looks and putting something onto the production queue was about all that was needed in their case. Things like the Mine would require some medium attention. The Midnight Forest and the Elemental Inds would, likely, require a bit more time spent on each.
In the end, they decided to n their route ording to expected difficulties. This meant they would start over at the Military district, move over to Commercial, then south to Industry, Production, finish up the regr Buildings by looking at the Silicate Fields and then curve up the west coast until they arrived at the Midnight Forest.
The eastern portion of that trip was expectedly quick. The Fusion Fortress was an impressive creation of dark red and ck colours, with a few elements of blue here and there. That made it look somewhat like the home of a dark lord and John waspletely fine with that. The military was a brutal but necessary tool and the base of operation should reflect it. At the same time, its luxurious look and extensive corridors were there to give it a glorious feel. The work of the military was brutal and necessary and, if used in defence of certain values, there was a justified pride in it.
Of course, everyone who ever glorified their military would say that their values were worth that glorification. John was well aware that he simply thought that he was right and that future generations may disagree. Time would tell. For the moment, the empirical results of his actions seemed rather promising.
Perhaps the feature that added the evillest re to the Fusion Fortress were the massive spires. Unlike the average fantasy setting, John actually had a purpose for them. The spires would act as channelling beacons through which theser cannon could be shot. The main energy would be summoned on the southwest end, between two spires that were connected by a curved roof, and then bounce around the sides. At the end, all of the energy would bundle up in the final spire in the north-east, from where the shot would then beunched at the target.
Metra asked for a demonstration shot, John had to deny the request. It would take weeks until the necessary mana was saved up, days if the manual contribution to the Mana Factories outstripped regr demands. You cant just dangle a giant fucking arcaneser in front of me and then tell me we cant blow something up with it, the First of Wrath growled, but epted the reality of the situation.
They moved onto the Weapon Manufactory, a smaller building of simr style. John couldnt activate that one at that moment, he had neither blueprints, an example weapon, nor materials to produce anything with. Regardless, it was interesting to have a look inside. The Training Hall they barely even looked at. None of them needed it.
From there, they moved to the Mine. The eastern gate of the Harbour served doubly as a bridge, allowing them to cross over directly. All there was to the ore-producing Building had increased in size. The mountain was still shy of really deserving that title in size but it was getting there, and the houses were a lot more impressive and supplied more equipment for the miners. The cave entrance was simple as always and led to arger mine elevator, which they took down directly to the lowest level.
Rave created a light in her palm, Smander ignited a fire and John waved around an excitedly squealing crocodile as a makeshift shlight. It didnt take them too long to find a kobold. It was a small creature with rat and lizard-like features and big, ck eyes. Equipped with a sack and a pickaxe, it had been hacking away at a vein until the group startled it. Its first instinct had been to run away. Interested in where it would lead, John had told everyone to just follow it. Eventually, they arrived at a corridor with a tiny hole, into which the kobold dived and subsequently despawned, along with all of the chunks it had harvested.
The second experiment was then to take the sack away from the kobold, to which it reacted with a fight. It was level 20, so quite dangerous to the average person but barely even worth a spell when it came to the harem. Metra kicked it, literally causing its head to fly down a hall. The body then disintegrated, leaving behind only the sack of ores. Once brought to the surface, the sack disappeared, but the metal chunks were still around.
Now knowing how powerful (or weak, from his perspective) these things were, John decided to take the Building upgrade that caused Tunnel Dragons to spawn. Level 20 was something that could be beaten by anyone who was part of Fusion and decided to spend the necessary time in the Training Hall, something he wanted to incentivize anyway. A strong poption was more resistant to foreign invasion, and in the Abyss, where police response was slowed by the circumstances of Illusion Barriers and such things, people being able to stand their ground was quite important.
He went back down and checked how powerful those were. The answer was level 40, which was still weak for him but considerably more threatening to even those that had maxed out in the Training Hall. They, however, only seemed to spawn on the 30th floor, which was the newest deepest floor. Kobolds spawned on floors 26 to 30. He would have some guards stationed on those floors in the future to measure people up that tried to mine there. Maybe even create a system to allow people to easily find mining partners. There was safety in numbers.
Logging was inspected in passing. There were many different trees and that was about all there was to it. John didnt have any incentive to fiddle with the settings of that Building, so they justmented on the odd looks of this or that tree as they went to the Tannery.
While the ce did stink, as the harem agreed on when approaching, the smell was thankfully contained to an area around it. When entering it, it was almost like getting pped, but leaving it was almost as quick. Here, too, Johncked the raw materials to put in and start the processes. Thankfully, he didnt have to carry things there himself whenever they did. It was enough for anyone else to ce animal skin in the designated areas. All John had to do was to set what they should be converted into. There were limitations, as was to be expected, on what the oue could be depending on the materials put in.
The same was true, on basically all ounts, for the Foundry, the Weavery and the Brewery. John put in the basic settings, which usually was just to refine the things into stackable shapes that could be worked manually into a final product, but did nothing else. Except for the Brewery. There he had a bit more ying room and no idea what to do with it. Since he had only ever drank store-bought alcohol and the expert opinion of Scarlett was currently snoozing, presumably, on the couch, he just went for some basic beer and ale settings. He would refine the details after taste testing.
The Fishery, the Farm and the Herb House were also just inspected in passing. Since he had decided what those would produce extra in the Building menu, he didnt even need to head inside. The Oil Tower was a bit of a different story. He had new options there, and now that he had some additional space in the synthesizing process, he set it to create a medium quality oil used in weapon production. He could have gone for a higher grade, but he first wanted to get everyone armed and then he could think about getting them even better equipment. Everyone having a helmet was better than some people having awesome helmets, was the logic.
In the Perfumery, he decided to start producing some scents for his girls, since his own needs were already covered. Sure, they all smelled fantastic, except Nia who smelled like nothing, but there was barely anything else to do with it. The capitalist inside him said to make their own perfume brand and start advertising with those first few bottles. If nothing else, Aclysia appreciated additions to her palette of sweet fumes.
They were on their way to the Silicate Fields, something that would likely just consist of them looking at crystals, nodding and saying, Those sure are more valuable crystals! when Rave suddenly grabbed him by the arm.
Uh, tiger, is thating from the volcano ya ced? she asked and pointed westwards.
Smoke was rising into the night sky.
Chapter 807 – Elemental Troubles 1 – (Un)encouraged Behaviour
Chapter 807 C Elemental Troubles 1 C (Un)encouraged Behaviour
The fire grew as they approached and quickly eliminated any doubt that this was, in fact, not the responsibility of John cing the trees too close to the Bleeding Mountain. Not that something should have happened even if he did that, theva of that Building shouldnt have been hot enough to just make living wood burn.
Illuminated by the freshly nted Green Greens burning away, the pir of smoke must have gained the attention of people in the city. They will probably just think that Im up to something and wont react in anyrge capacity, John thought as he looked over the situation through Sylphs eyes. Jack and Smander were close behind her. Everyone else was down on the ground getting ready for a battle situation.
With some protest, in Metras case. You know what the likeliness is of something forcing me to put on my armour? she asked, even as she followed her dered kings demands and the Astrotium covered her body. Segment by segment, ityered on top of her skin, giving it a look between scales and sci-fi-esque ting. Spikes, perfect to ram someone with, adorned the areas around most joints, making her a deadly weapon even if she, herself, wouldnt have been armed. Which she was, of course. Wielding the massive axe that Lakamun had once owned, she looked ready to plough through whatever frontline she was presented with.
Well, given that we have to deal with some sort of elemental force, Id rather not take any risks, John responded, as if there was any situation in which he would deliberately reduce his risk of winning. Raising his hand to his face and the thumb of his left hand in front of his lips, he conjured Elizas image in his head and then said her name.
A momentter, he got an answer. Fuc-dging flock, I had half a heart attack! her voice echoed out from his thumb. More specifically, the nail of his thumb. I forgot I even wore this sh-ooting little thing!
Well, I cant me you, John said. He genuinely wasnt surprised.
The Communication Crystal was easily forgettable. Part of that was that they were attached in an almost invisible fashion. As thin as a contact lens and translucent, the shape the Gamer had them created in attached magically to the thumbnail. At best, the average person noticed that the nail was a tad shinier than the rest, appearing as if polished.
More importantly, they were easily forgotten because they almost never used them. There were a whole lot of limitations attached to them. Only inside owned territory could they freely establish contact between crystals. Outside of it, thosemunications had a one-day cooldown and a maximum duration of ten minutes. Communications going out from the Embassy itself, the Building that provided these crystals, were a one-way street.
The crystals were also fairly brittle and had a tendency to break duringbat situations. Especially when it came to someone like Eliza, whose fingernails reshaped into blood ws in battle, that was a problem. Other shapes were avable, but not as convenient to carry. If several were broken at the same time, the Embassy could only rece them at a rate of one per day. John tried to keep an emergency supply ready, but there was only so many he could stockpile.
In almost all situations, a mobile phone was simply more reliable and allowed for text, video and pictures in addition to simple voicemunications. The only two instances where John favoured the Communication Crystals were when he knew the regr connection was being tampered with or if the person he tried to reach was not around their phone. Given that Elizas was somewhere inside the Pce and she was likely still ying with Velka, John had spared himself the trouble of trying to reach it.
Anyway, could you take your hands off Velka for a second and check the west side of the ind?
Sure, give me a second, the answer came a momentter. Complete silence apanied the wait. Another drawback was that any and all background noises were filtered out. It was a connection only between the people who were part of any given call. Its John C Outside, you creepy bitch C Fuck do I care?! The conversation she had with Nia was therefore a bit one sided.
Funny how I know exactly when she left the room based on the fact that she started cursing again, John thought. You see the fire?
Do I see the fire? How could I not see the fucking fire, half of the forest looks like my rtives during the holocaust.
John chose not toment on that joke. Could you do me the favour and meet us there? Im not quite sure yet what is going on and I would rather have too much force than too little ande dressed, please.
Alright Ill bring the t-ass girl.
Lowering his hand, he looked over to everyone else. People were in whatever clothes they usually fought in. Beatrice had arrived sometime while he talked to Eliza, reaching the passive maid through the mental connection had been a lot quicker. Alright, lets move, John told everyone and began running towards the fire.
The source of it was a fight between two or more entities. Crushing wood and groans of pain from different voices left no doubt about it. An asional giggle underlined things. What exactly was happening was impossible to say; under the cover of the smoke, all the flying members of the party could see was an outline here or there.
This was the first problem John dealt with. Setting the Weather Tower to rain, he had Sylph return to the group and thenbo her powers with Undine and two thousand points of Johns mana to elerate the process in the affected area. Clouds began to gather and burst into a local rainstorm. While that failed to put out the mespletely, it greatly reduced the scope of the burning and prevented it from spreading further.
It also caused something in the fire to groan in protest.
WHO IS INTERFERING?! a voice like a volcano eruption rumbled throughout thendscape.
The person whose home youre currently setting on fire! Jack shouted back. The actual Gamer and the harem had taken position about fifty metres away from the treeline.
It doesnt matter if anybody interferes, you would lose either way. This voice was feminine and both smooth and oddly scratchy, like the surface of an ice-skating rink.
WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU FRIGID BITCH?!
Ah, temperature puns, how creative of you.
Perhaps you should freeze his mouth shut? a third voice joined the conversation. You have the advantage now, with all the water around.
Which, I insist, makes our bet invalid. John knew this fourth voice and groaned upon hearing it.
Tilgun, John mumbled and gave a signal for everyone to advance. The higher dragons presence was unsurprising, this was right around the area where Gaia said he would be. It was also simultaneously annoying and ensuring that he was there. The Maw of Souls wouldnt harm him without good reason; he was too interested in where the Gamer would take his story.
Cutting through smoke and steam, the Gamer went into the ruined Green Greens. The rain ebbed off, but didnt disappear, as the Weather Tower ramped up but the input from Sylph and Undine ceased. Wet ash ruined the looks of shoes and pants.
They eventually arrived at a clearing. Not the one John had put there for festive purposes, but one created by virtue of all trees in the area getting smashed into splinters. The ground there was so soggy it felt like stepping into the outskirts of a marsh. A happenstance courtesy of the several half-melted ice formations around and the two elementals responsible for creating and unmaking them.
One was a woman of pale-blue beauty. Her entire body radiated a distant cold, from the way she hid half of her face behind the long sleeve of her kimono to how her translucent blue hair sparkled in the light of the remaining fires. Her eyes looked like a cracked sheet of ice, with no difference between iris and sclera. The pupil managed to barely stand out, courtesy of being a perfect circle among otherwise random cracks. She had a lean body.
Standing opposite of her was a creature between a stag beetle, a spider and the craggy exterior of a volcano. The gaps of its exoskeleton glowed dark red and orange, and its eyes were of a glowing white. Its maw was unlike either of the two insects, made out of several sharp splinters that were aligned to make a mouth that could close perfectly. At the moment, it was wide open and frothing molten rock, slowly dripping down to the floor, filled with tiny bubbles.
Behind thebatants were two spectators. One was Tilgun. The serpentine dragon had moved about half of his massive body ind. Disappointment reflected in the eyes that sat in his elongated head. Ultramarine scales and a bleak belly made it clear what the dragons natural environment was. The beak-like jaws of the dragon opened and he revealed his thin teeth as he yawned and settled his six-horned head down next to the other spectator.
She was another woman and only about 1,60 metres in height. Hair the colour of wet farnd clung to her head and ran across her face. It didnt hide her dark eyes or her grin, however. Her body seemed to be covered in some sort of mud, revealing that she was extremely curvy.
John let a number of Observes fly around and rxed. The ice woman was called Juniel (level 111), the fire insect Gragoth (level 112) and the mud girl Hemklia (level 124). Evenbined, they wouldnt have been a threat to the Gamer, let alone him and most of his harem. Given that fact, he took the lead and stepped even closer.
Would anyone exin to me why youre setting my property on fire? he asked and let a challenging gaze wander around. It did not achieve any of the wanted effect. Hemklia smirked; Juniel closed her eyes and ignored him; only Gragoth gave him an answer and it was not what he was looking for.
I OWE YOU NO EXPLANATION, TINY MAN! the elemental roared and lowered his horn. With all eight of his legs, he elerated into a sprint. The evaporating water of the rain made him leave behind a trail of steam as he charged.
John didnt move one step. Dont interfere, he told his girls and simply raised one hand. Catching the split horn with it, the Gamer felt the impact on his skin dissipate within moments and a chunk of his mana reserves vanish. Gragoth came to an immediate halt, as his force met an object that he could not move. Continuing to press with all of his legs, he caused more and more of Johns mana to be spent. However, the ongoing effort barely outstripped Johns mana regeneration. He could have stood there and let Particle Skin take the impact for another three hours at the current rate.
You done? John asked and received a growl in return. It was pretty obvious he was dealing with the kind of beast here that respected strength, so he decided to demonstrate some more. Raising his other hand, he aimed at a particrly thick looking part of the elementals exoskeleton. A ball of energy spawned in the Gamers hand. Even as it charged, the insectoid beast tried to win the contest of strength. Then the Arc Lance rushed out.
It wasnt even a clean shot. Johns goal was to establish dominance, not to hurt Gragoth. Regardless, even the grazing attack took with it a chunk of supernatural ting. That only served to enrage the insectoid further. John sighed, conjured another attack and aimed it at Gragoths left eye.
I can do this about five more times before I run out of mana, six if I can get you to stop within the first two shots, John warned as the orb in his palm slowly shifted colour from blue to light purple. Arc Lances power and range increased the longer it was left to charge, maxing out at 100% after as many seconds had passed.
That still didnt get the infernal stag beetle to reconsider. Only after John had blown off two legs and his horn, making the elemental unable to continue fighting, did he start to see reason. The surrender was still preceded by about five minutes of roaring and thrashing. When he finally growled, I yield, in a fashion suitable for talking rather than a screamfest, the Gamer was about to put another Arc Lance into him to drive the point home. You win this one, tiny man.
Newman, John corrected and pointed his palm at the floor. The crystalnce mmed into the ground. Since he couldnt cancel spells, he had to leave the energy elsewhere. He looked over to the other two elementals. Do you two want a go as well or can we solve this in a civilized way?
Im not a fool like Gragoth, the ice woman responded immediately, chuckling and dropping her sleeve a little bit. The beauty of the upper half of her face was disrupted by a grizzly maw of needle-like icicles, lipless and with cracks inside. I why did I even fight him? She quickly covered it again, seemingly in a daze.
I havent done any fighting since I got here, Hemklia said in a sweet tone that made John think more of carnivorous nts than innocence.
Fantastic, John spoke over the growling of Gragoth towards his previous opponent. Now, to repeat my question: would anyone care to exin to me why youre setting my property on fire? It was pretty obvious who the culprit was in terms of spreading the fire. However, given the signs of battle, John was more interested in the why than the who. Again, he stared at everybody. Again, he didnt get the wanted effect.
It was just a teeny-tiny fight, Hemklia answered with a dismissive hum. Nothing much, really, no big deal, no big deal at all.
Okay, Ive had it, John thought and turned his thoughts to someone who could teach some respect effectively. Metra, if you would-
Uhm, may I try to deal with the situation first? Gnome interrupted.
Oh, COME ON! Metra eximed out loud. The First of Wrath had already been lifting the axe off her shoulder. As thirsty for action as ever, the green-eyed berserker looked at all three elementals with a hungry grin. This could entertain me for an entire minute.
You really havent changed, Tilgunughed, milking whatever humour he could from the situation.
Do let her try first, John told the blonde Metracana.
As you wish, my king, she responded with a small bow of her head. John could feel how the anger she had fanned inside her was forcefully suppressed. He could also see Tilguns head rise a little bit upon hearing that title. She winked at the Maw of Souls. The significance of this action seemed to be even higher than John had thought, as the higher dragon pushed all four of his arms into the ground and suddenly leaned towards John.
Him? he asked and inspected John closely. Are you sure? I can see the potential; I cant see it manifested
Isnt this the one fucking thing in which you shouldnt dare question me, you perpetually bothersome serpent? Metra questioned.
No I mean Tilgun hesitated.
I swear on Sargons grave that my choice is made and that I will not sway until John breathes hisst.
I see There were several moments of silence. Interesting. With that simple word, TIlgun backed off. He was still around, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere now. There were clear implications to this king candidate thing that John still wasnt aware of.
For the moment, they had another situation to deal with. With somewhat robotic movements, Gnome wandered over to Hemklia, whose left eyebrow slowly but surely wandered up. So, uhm, the autumn elemental began and cleared her throat, I would have one, maybe two questions for you, if thats alright?
If you make it snappy.
Could you please just tell us what happened without being obtuse about it?
No, that doesnt sound fun.
Um, okay second question, youre made of mud, right? Would there be any problems if you were catapulted into the water?
Thats three questions.
J-just answer please dont want to murder anyone
Psh, youre stupid no, of course no-
Before she could finish her sentence, Gnome had already dragged an uppercut through Hemklias stomach all the way out through her head. Dark mud flew high into the air, sttering over thend and flying all the way into the distant water. H-have respect, please! Gnome eximed. Youre a guest here and all that!
Okay, I get it, by Mother Mud, the answer came out of the stump that was left behind. Over the course of about twenty seconds, Hemklia reformed her upper half. All that happened is that those two cant stand each other, she gestured at Gragoth and Juniel, so we egged them on to fight each other so we could have something to bet on.
Not exactly typical earth elemental behaviour, John thought and scratched the back of his head.
Fits perfectly for fire and ice though and Tilgun. I guess she is the type of mud that has some shadow in the mix?
Are you using me of being an instigator? Siena wanted to know.
Are you not? John returned in an amused tone, before continuing out loud, Okay, now that we have that cleared up, lets talk about everything else. Starting with who you are exactly and what you are doing here.
Large topics demandedrge investigations.
Chapter 808 – Elemental Troubles 2 – Pecking order
Chapter 808 C Elemental Troubles 2 C Pecking order
Undine and Sylph continued to put out fires while John listened to what the three powerful elementals had to say. For one, it was obvious they were there without a proper reason. They had seen an opening to switch over to this Guild Hall they had heard so much about and taken it. It was raw curiosity, nothing more. It also turned out that both Juniel and Hemklia were actually corrupted elementals. In other words, they were elementals who had previously been under contract, evolved in a bad way and became tainted in the process. The Lorylim hadnt permanently sunken their ws into them, they hadnt even gotten infected, it was just proximity that had left some mental scars.
While Hemklia seemed rather content with her state and wore her foul character on her sleeve, Juniel appeared to have more conflicting feelings of the matter. Regardless, neither were open to tell him more than just the basics and werent willing to look at themselves as damaged goods.
John wasnt about to start a counselling session, so he let them believe what they wanted. Him bothering to try fixing them depended entirely on whether he found the time and whether they would stay. Mending what had been broken by Lorylim corruption was a difficult task at the best of times. It could be possible, as long as there was nothing physically wrong with them, but John had more than enough issues to deal with already.
As for Gragoth, he simply loved to fight, wasnt the smartest, simultaneously stubborn and had a short temper on top of it all. He wasnt too dissimr to Smander in that way, although all the negative traits were upped to the annoying extreme. A fact doubly difficult to forgive because hecked the two round, bouncy arguments that made most things that Smander did bearable.
Equal rights were a thing the Gamer whole-heartedly believed in. Equal treatment was something he couldnt do no matter how hard he tried. No one could say he wasnt treating his girls fairly or he failed to give them a scolding when they deserved it, but his rtionship with them, and just attractive women in general, would always be different from his rtionship with Maximillian and other guys.
The problem at hand went deeper than just those three elementals. John had barely finished inquiring about their backstories when he noticed a literal tidal wave rise out of nowhere and crash onto the Fire Ind. The water dispersed into three parts, in order of biggest to smallest: there was a whole bunch of just regr water, flowing back into the Hudson or vanishing into the ground, then there were tiny water elementals that fled from the area, giggling like children, and then there were big water elementals who themselves split into two factions. Those that retreated with their smaller brethren and those that did not. Thetter were soon challenged by the disturbed fire elementals, who now had a genuine reason to get a bit heated. With the rain still going on, the water elementals stood their ground, even though they were on foreign turf.
John sent Smander to disperse that whole situation, and she did establish who was boss fairly quickly. A few thrown punches and valid threats and the water elementals retreated back to their penins. The problem at hand remained, however.
The Elemental Shrines had now be so powerful that their ranges extended far beyond the locations John had provided them with. Fundamentally, this wouldnt have been a problem if the elementals that coulde over were still of low or moderate strength. Even if they wanted to cause havoc, they werent really strong enough to do a lot. Adding more powerful elementals into the mix made everything moreplicated.
I can somewhat understand, John thought. On their home ne, there is pretty little to do except forvishing around with their kin. Here they can have some y fights with nothing on the line except a corporeal presence that can be reimed after some days or weeks. I still cant have it though, at least not so openly.
What do we do with them? Rave asked, just as John pondered over the same question. Smander, Undine and Sylph returned to where they were, and he put the Weather Tower back to sunny before answering. Even Nia and Eliza were around now, albeit that they really didnt have to be.
Well, we cant leave things like this, he started with the obvious and looked over the sea that separated the inds. They were currently at the connecting bit of the Fire Ind, where the ground went from green grass to yellow sand, and both to the south and the north there were movements. Even the generally more pacifistic nature of earth elementals could bepromised with enough boredom and agitators, it seemed. For the moment, we have to establish a pecking order.
A pecking order? Gnome asked. Obviously, she understood the concept, but she wasnt quite as sure what he meant in this specific moment.
If the smaller elementals get pulled along by the actions of thergest ones, then we just need to get thergest ones to submit to us or, more specifically, you, he looked at all of his elementals. Force is the ultimate authority. Before we can establish a more intricate system, we need to make clear that were in charge. To that end, Gnome, Smander, Sylph, Siena, you four should go to the inds affiliated with your elements right now and calm whatever stupidity the spirits are up with. Ill first go help Undine and Stirwin, and then, when everything is pacified,e back south to pick you up one by one and look at the situation. Alright?
Sounds like a n. Smander nodded and looked over to Gragoth. Youre tagging along with me. Try to keep up. With those words, the endme elemental took off and flew westwards.
I WILL! Gragoth disyed his rather dull nature with that return and went after her as quickly as he could. Although he was still missing part of his shell and his horn, his legs had healed at least. Smander was still quicker by a noticeable margin, but Gragoth could follow her shadow.
Been a while since I dealt with my kind, Siena hummed, as she faded into invisibility. This should prove to be entertaining.
I-Ill do my best! Gnome eximed and turned west. After a couple of steps, she looked over her shoulder. Hemklia, uhm, could you please help me? I think you might know names and all that
Youre nothing if not polite, arent you? the tainted mud elemental teased and remained still for a few seconds. Surrounded by so many superior individuals and feeling their stares, she eventually shifted ufortably. One pair of blue eyes attached to a certain blonde did certainly help motivate her to move along. Nias presence was one of two things John had ess to that could put a genuine end to an elemental, the other being Tiemarath, Aclysias massive cleaver.
I will go then, see if anything is up north. I mean north-north, double north from where we are, two inds up! Sylph bbered. Cant wait to see my rtives, hope they dont do anything stupid hope Sullyvan isnt there. Later! Turning into a bolt of lightning, the thunderstorm elemental dashed off into the distance.
Alright then, youll tag along with us, John told Juniel, who let out a cold giggle from behind her sleeve and nodded. The Gamer didnt exactly trust that, but he reckoned that he was safe as long as he kept enough mana around. Getting ready to move to the Water Ind, he was distracted when Nia softly pulled at his sleeve.
Do you need me? she asked.
In general? Absolutely, he responded swiftly and got himself the tiniest of amused noises in response. Recharging his stress batteries by leaning over and giving her pale pink lips a quick peck, he added, For this situation as it has developed, I dont, no. If you want to head back, feel free to. Sorry for calling you over in the first ce.
It is good to be safe, darling, Nia responded and stared at him, looking for some sort of reaction.
Darling I like that, John let her know and kissed her again, longer this time. Later, then, my lovely Nia.
Mmmh, she hummed in a pleased tone and then turned around. Eliza crossed her arms behind her head after waving and just stomped along back. I dont appreciate you calling my ass t.
In the name of whatever non-existent god is not out there, can you EVER react to insults in less than thirty fucking seconds?! Eliza wanted to know and then pointed out, That aside, you do have the ttest ass around in the New-ass-man harem, so get squatting!
You hurt my feelings.
Get used to it!
I dont think I can. Youre scary and small.
Fuck you!
John scratched his temple with one finger as he listened to the conversation fade with distance. There were many weird rtionship dynamics in his harem, but that those two did get along in any fashion was a miracle in and of itself. This is likely one instance where two of my girls could never have be friends if they didnt bond over me, he thought and looked over to Beatrice. Youre not going to head back with them?
Statement: Master is about to head into potentially dangerous territory. My mission is to protect you from unnecessary harm, the passive maid responded. In the background, Tilgunid down inside the bay that was formed between the Green Greens and the Fire Ind.
And what about you? the Gamer asked, just to avoid further surprises. Will you just keep lying there?
As long as the presence of fire elementals heats this water, I think I will, the higher dragon answered and stretched. Some joints in hisrge arms cracked so loudly John mistook it for another piece of ruined forest breaking under its own soggy weight. I love what you did with your ce. Is this final expansion?
What do I get for answering that question? John wanted to know and crossed his arms. Not that the Gamer wasnt known for teasing his fellow intellectuals, or anyone else, but getting something from TIlgun was basically tradition at this point. The Maw of Souls had made it a point to continuously be a dick over what he knew and what John didnt, so the Gamer repaid it in kind.
Hmm, a hint of your future for a hint of your future, equally small, would that be an eptable trade?
Given how tiny the information was, John couldntin about that deal. One more expansion. No idea how big it will be, but I would take a wild guess and say the Guild Hall will increase to ten kilometres across. About double what it is right now.
I see, I see, Tilgun hummed in an amused fashion and looked north for a moment. As per my end of the bargain, you will find that your shadow spirit will have an unpleasant time during her task. The serpentine dragon raised a hand in a calming gesture when Johns eyebrows pulled together upon hearing that. Rx, I mean in the purely nagging fashion of unpleasant. She wont be in any physical harm. Her mother is present, is all.
John had barely been informed about that when he felt some kind of darkness muddle up his mental connection with the moonshade elemental. Even with the assurance he had just gotten, he felt a moment of panic. His thoughts consolidated into a spear and thrust into the ckness. He got through and felt his shadow spirit again. Siena, are you in danger?
To kill myself, if anything, a nonchnt answer came moments before the darkness pulled around her thoughts and shut John out again.
A voice like nails on a chalkboard whispered with the sweetness of hot chocte into his mind, Youve gotten powerful, but you should respect family meetings. The Mother of Shadow doubled up on her defences around her daughters mind; John would not break through a second time. Come only once I call you and I shall give you a reward.
Thats not a nice position to be in, John mumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Fundamentally, he was someone who put the wellbeing of his girls above what would be the smartest decision. Given that this was an elemental mother, waltzing over there to interrupt a situation that wasnt even threatening would be quite stupid, however. He already had a feud with one of them, he didnt need to get more of them against him. Especially not the one that seemed to have the easiest time influencing the real world. Fine, just promise me you wont harm her.
My daughter will be safer nowhere more than with me, the Mother of Shadow responded and then vanished from his thoughts.
Well, that is happening, he sighed and scratched his chin. A bit short-term of an information, dont you think, Tilgun?
The next second is still the future, the massive lizard mused and settled down his chin on the shore. Let this be a lesson in dealing with certain foes, king-candidate of Tiamats high-priestess. You clearlyck experience in that field.
Johns left eye twitched and he rapidly went through a number of ways he could formte his apologies to Nathalia for nuking her brother into oblivion. Is Im really sorry, but he was a giant, noodly dick about it, too direct no, I think that works, the Gamer thought as he turned away from the water and went on his way to deal with things that were more important. Whatever he actually did with TIlgun had to wait until he could overpower the Maw of Souls.
Which would still take a while. Maybe if I find him a girlfriend hell be less of a cunt about things? John theorized. It was unlikely. When they first met, Tilgun actually hadnt been horny, despite sleeping for a long time and having a considerable Libido, and still had been a teasing annoyance. However, as John could say from experience, there was a big difference between not horny and satisfied.
In a way, John now felt a moment of pity for the dragon. The guy was several thousand years old, about as horny as John would be if Source of Satisfaction wasnt active and yet had sex less times than John had over the past year. With any single one of his girls. Humanoids were a bit easier to find than higher dragons, to be fair.
If I can get him either a way to transform into a humanoid or convince another higher dragon to couple up with him, I might just gain myself some valuable information. The Gamer was now adding this to the many projects he would look into at the side. Wonder if there is a way to track where higher dragons are on the Abyss Auction Anyway, one problem at a time.
They were quickly walking over to the Water Ind.
Chapter 809 – Elemental Troubles 3 – Necessity and Kindness
Chapter 809 C Elemental Troubles 3 C Necessity and Kindness
Tell me something, Juniel, John opened a new conversation as they walked along the road. What are you being treated like in your home domain? Your mother reacts exceedingly violently to all things tainted, so Im wondering how elementals like you are treated there.
The mention of this topic immediately caused difort to radiate off the two present water spirits. In the case of Undine, flowing by his side, literally through their connection. When it came to Juniel, it was a bit harder to grasp. Her posture became rigid and her fluid movements a little off. Shuffling along her steps, it seemed as if she was recalling past pain. It was pretty clear that she had gone through a simr experience to what Undine had.
The Gamer evaluated whether he wanted to keep pressing the issue. It would have been rude to remind her of past pain, but she had gotten on his nerves enough that he felt he could repay her in kind in some fashion. More importantly he cared for Undine. If there was something that could have persuaded him to drop the topic, it was her protesting. Nothing of the kind happened. On the contrary, she seemed willing to face whatever remaining trauma she had from her limited stay on her ne of origin. Since they had a feud going on with the oceanic medusa that was the strongest water elemental, John insisted on continuing the topic. Knowing was half the battle, as they said.
Tell me, Juniel, he insisted.
Mother speaks not her name and her children should be obedient, the ice woman answered with some cryptic phrase. It felt more like an idiom that she mumbled to herself as a reminder than an actual response.
Analysis: she is weak and afraid, Beatrice went straight for the proverbial jugr. Further details: phrase indicates that the Mother of Water and her children have a deeply unhealthy rtionship. Suggestion: seek professional therapy. Another hiss momentarily interrupted the passive maid, who continued in her straightforward sass unabated. It is clear that it would be difficult to get one of the strongest Abyssal entities admitted to therapy. Alternative suggestion: seek therapy without her. I rmend talking to Master about it.
Youre upsetting for a servant, Juniel voiced her annoyance. And you speak ill of Mother.
Fact: I do not serve you, I serve John Newman, a charming individual with good dental care, Beatrice returned. As for the Mother of Water, she deserves to be spoken ill of.
Noticing the beginnings of movement, John took a step to the right. A gust of cold air drifted by him as the tainted ice elemental whirled around her right arm. The trail of icicles that was created this way covered the floor, but ended before it could rise into an actual attack. Not for ack of intent on Juniels part, it was just that the movement of her arm was stopped by a nonchnt smack of Beatrices spear. Moving with greater speed and precision, the short-haired maid had mmed the shaft just underneath the ded tip against the water spirits wrist.
Rmendation: Do not, the passive maid stated and pulled back her weapon. I could have just as easily dismembered you. You are no threat.
Really showing off your charisma, Metramented.
The intent of my actions is to remind Juniel of her situation, not to make myself popr, Beatrice returned. Ultimatum: if Juniel does not wish to answer Masters question, she can be returned to the ne she does not wish to inform us about.
An excellent point, Beatrice, Aclysia nodded approvingly. Inviting herself to Masters domain and immediately causing a ruckus, only to refuse to answer some simple questions, it is obvious that such a guest could be demoted justifiably to trespasser.
John heard the crunching of snow and the cracking of ice. The sounds were immediately followed by several icicles falling out behind the raised sleeve of the tainted elemental. Well? the Gamer asked, finding no fault with the reasoning of his maids. Are you willing to answer my questions?
That depends on the questions, Juniel responded. Mother does what she has to and her acts of necessity and kindness do not deserve to be repaid with betrayal.
She tore you apart, Undine disagreed immediately. She tore and tore until only a sliver of you was left and put you back together, trying to take a little bit of what was wrong out in the process. Again and again and She stopped only when John exuded his soothing influence on her mind.
She cleansed me, Juniel insisted with a warning hiss. Mother might not be perfect and it may have hurt, but she does what she has to for the good of us all. Thankless child, do you wish our oceans to choke in filth and our ice to be tainted? The purity of our realm is the envy of all others.
Youre in support of your mother tearing apart your siblings? John was aghast at the idea. The mere echoes of memories by Undine made it entirely unappealing to him. Having been through it yourself?
I had be something else and Mother helped me return to who I was. Much of the damage the summoner that had tainted me had done was undone. In time, she will clean mepletely. Juniel narrowed her eyes of cracked ice at John. No one loves her children more than Mother. Do you think she takes pleasure in having to purge one of us? When a limb rots, you cut it off before it can spread disease to the rest of the body. A decision that has to be made swiftly and Mother has the will strong enough to make the decisions. She makes the decision over and over again, yet doesnt tyrannize us with overprotectiveness. The seas turmoil under the storms of her never-ending sadness and wrath. She allows us, her foolish children, to make contracts with you, because she knows it is our desire to know the greater world. It fills her with grief, knowing that some of us will be ravaged by the filth of your actions.
The Gamer and Undine were at a loss for words. It would have made everything so much easier if what Juniel said there sounded entirely unreasonable. Framed as she did it, however, there was apelling case to understand the Mother of Water. A parent that had to let their children go would justifiably be angry at those that hurt their offspring and they would try to fix what damage had been done.
Still, knowing just how much pain had been caused to Undine, John couldnt find it in him to think of the Mother of Water as right in her actions. There had to be a better way to go about things than just purging any sort of corruption by means of violent cleansing and outright annihtions. sia and Tempesta didnt run their realms with such a focus on purity and those nes hadnt copsed.
Maybe her anger is justified, but your obsession with purity leads to more pain than is necessary, John told her.
I would have hurt thousands of my siblings if I hadnt been cleansed, Juniel remarked in an amused tone, which slowly transitioned into a dark chill as she continued. The scars on my mind were vast, creating a sadism I cannot quite exin. Even now my patience ispromised and my aggression unnecessary. The damage to yournd came from my tainted feelings finding their outlet in fighting Gragoth. Would it not be better if I had them removed and found my way back to reason?
Did you choose to subject yourself to this cleansing? John returned a question of his own.
I was in no state of mind to choose, I had to be forced, the ice woman asserted. Now that I have been cleansed enough to make the choice, I will dly ept Mothers offer. I wish to be pure again, even if the price is pain.
John gnashed his teeth. Principally, he was against forcing anyone to undergo any painful treatment without their consent. Emotionally, he wanted to disagree with what the Mother of Water did on every level. Realistically, however, there was a definitive case here. There were people so mentally deranged that they had to be stuffed into an asylum as a preventive measure. On the rare asion, it was even justifiable to lock away people who were sane of mind. There was the case of Typhoid Mary, a woman that herself wasnt sick but was a permanent carrier of the disease. She hadnt agreed to be locked away, but was it wrong to force her out of public life?
Ideals and practical reality rarely got along.
For the sake of argument, lets say that I agree that you were in a deranged enough state to justify such actions, John gave some ground. I wasnt there, it might very well be. How would that make fine what was done to my Undine? She doesnt hurt anyone, she isnt unreasonable, she is in no need of a violent cleansing.
Juniel didnt have an immediate answer to that. Mothers wisdom far exceeds yours or mine, she eventually said, which wasnt exactly an argument. I will not im to know what spurred her to take such hasty action.
Obsession with purity, Undine asserted, her singing tone filled with notes of dark judgement, and frustration, when she failed.
You think ill of Mother, it saddens me, Juniel noted, her tone genuine. You are made in her image, more so than I am. The way you handle your emotions reminds me of her. A serene pond if you want to and a vengeful ocean when appropriate. About to interject with something less than friendly, John was interrupted by the tainted ice elemental presenting a simple question. Dont you find it telling that Mother has not told her children to ravage yournd, John Newman?
John was realizing more and more that his anger towards the Mother of Water had left holes in his reasoning that he did not like. That question was indeed a good one. Even without the Water Ind as part of the Guild Hall, sour rtions with the oceanic medusa could have hurt Fusion in subtle and direct ways. Why hasnt she, then? he asked.
I do not know, I can only tell you that no such order was given. I would not presume to know theplete answer, but it might yet be that she does not hold you in contempt. It is admirable that you care so much for your Undine, perhaps Mother can find it in her to forgive you for your mistakes, Juniel lowered her sleeve and showed off her nightmarish mouth of now cracked and damaged icicles. Rather than outright condemn them, you should perhaps ask yourself why Mother took such drastic measures.
John closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Everything inside him rebelled against that suggestion, which was a very good reason for considering it. Being driven so strongly by emotions led to rather poor performance in this discussion. Im not willing to forgive your Mother, but I will reconsider her rationale, he conceded and looked over to Undine. The abysstide elemental looked about as unhappy as he was, but the points were solid and so she nodded as well.
Juniel raised the sleeve back to her mouth. Perhaps you should send Undine to talk to her, then?
Dont stretch it, John growled, as the grass and pavement under their feet turned to ice and snow. They had finally reached the base of the Water Ind. If you want us to get along so badly, go to her yourself and ask her why she tried cleansing Undine. Depending on what we hear, we will make our decisions.
Mother is busy, Juniel told them. In the interest of mending the rtionship between her and thetest prodigy among her children, Im willing to heed your request. However, it might take me months to gain an audience, let alone an answer. If you yourself went, Im certain she would take the time immediately.
Last time she noticed, she tried to crush my existence, John pointed out. You will excuse me if Im not too enthusiastic about meeting someone with that little patience.
Giggling continuously, the ice woman stated, You ask of her an emotional calm that you yourself fail to attain. Perhaps if you knew what you truly did to your Undine, you would understand the wrath aimed towards you?
I hate how much sense that makes. The Gamer was well-aware of his own proclivity to anger when one of his loves was threatened. Just go ask her when you find the time, he pleaded with a sigh, admitting defeat in this argument. He absolutely loathed it, it went against every bit of his pride, but it was unquestionably true that there were some things that he was guilty of. That didnt mean that the Mother of Water was now innocent, just that he should try to not make the same mistakes.
I will, Juniel assured. I will be here, whenever I find an answer.
Chapter 810 – Elemental Troubles 4 – Pacification
Chapter 810 C Elemental Troubles 4 C Pacification
You are Mothers child.
Our seas are clean, our ice untainted.
I weep for the things Mother has to do for us.
Mother loves her children, all of us, more than any other elemental leader.
Mother carries the extremes of all of us. The ebb and flow of our emotions, she possesses on a cosmic scale. The seas turmoil under her wrath. It is not a positive thing, but it is a fact.
That was about the worst thing John heard as he asked around the water elementals they gathered. While he did feel a certain level of fervour in their tone, it didnt reach the level of indoctrination. They were thankful children, not ideologically possessed, their view was skewed but they were still able to see the ws. The way the Mother of Water actually ran her ne was less tyrannical than John had originally assumed.
It was, however, still a lot more puritan than what the other elements aspired to. Whether this was justified or not, John couldnt decide with the information he had at hand. For the moment, he remained sceptical. Both he and Undine were trying to take a more nuanced look at the situation now, but that was difficult with the experiences they had suffered at the hands of that oceanic medusa.
Also, Johns paranoia told him that he might have been sent a giant batch of loyalists who only came over to spread propaganda, but that was neither here nor there.
When it came to the actual pacification of the inds, it went exceedingly smoothly.
Gnome was faced with some minor troubles, but the general character of earth elementals was risk averse. They were happy enough to just see Gnome demonstrate her superiority once, acknowledge it and then go on their way. While very few were as shy as Gnome was, a veryrge number of earth elementals were loners of some description. Once the agitators were taken care of, everyone else just looked for a nice spot to sun their craggy hides on, or wandered the miniature mountain ranges.
Expectedly, things were a bit more heated when it came to the Fire Ind. Because the average fire elemental was more than a tad passionate in their conduct, everyone with even a flicker of power threw themselves at Smander. John could see the resulting firestorms for quite a while. It was the middle of the night, after all, and the multi-coloured mes shing lit up part of the horizon repeatedly. If all of them had actually concentrated on Smander, they would have been able to take her down. As it was, the fight devolved from one versus many to everyone versus everyone and Smander came out on top, establishing the pecking order well enough.
Where John, Undine and the rest of the group operated, things went pretty smoothly. Because of the way water elementals reigned over their emotions, either keeping calm or letting them rise to an unrelenting rush, it was pretty easy to just reason with them. All it took was to show that Juniel was obediently trotting along and everyone else just fell in line. That Undine, apparently, was so simr to the Mother of Water in demeanour did help gain some cred immediately.
They found onest elemental at the very tip of the ind that had something interesting to say. An elemental that looked almost exactly like a normal man in a trenchcoat, except he had no mouth and raindrops steadily pearled off him. You have her face and the colour of her dark days. You have her shape. Your scars are red where hers are ck, but you both have curved lines.
The Mother of Water has been infected by the Lorylim? John asked, to which that strange fellow shook his head.
Those beasts never got their roots into Mother. It is the thousands of us that she has cleansed that caused the scars to grow on her. Blessed be Mother, taking all our burdens onto herself.
The words had a greater effect on Undine than John. He felt that she considered going back to the ne for a brief moment, but the pain she remembered prevented her from even asking John with proper words. Without knowing she wouldnt be subjected to that again; she would not return to her ce of origin.
Although Undine somewhat suffered under her memories, Sylph actively suffered under herpanionship up north. This was because Sullyvan was there, one among her kin whos bbering even the Gamers whimsical air spirit found tremendously annoying. When it came to the rest, they got in line. Figuratively, of course. Factually, the entire ind was filled with the chatter of air elementals excited about something new happening, which meant they were talking even more and even quicker than usual. They darted from ce to ce and any kind of formation they might have taken was entirely coincidental.
Despite all of that excited buzzing, Sylph only got to talk to Sullyvan. The fellow was around the level of Juniel and the others, giving him some influence among his kind. John also got the feeling that everyone else shared Sylphs feelings on the guy, so they were naturally avoiding her as long as he was around.
Saaaaaveeeeeeeee meeeeeeeeee, the elongated plea echoed in Johns mind.
I cant, yet, John told her, while walking past the Water Shrine. It was a small pce of ice, more of a sculpture than an actual building. Carved spires of medieval design glowed from within in a cold blue light, originating from the singr room on the inside that held the pond of elemental essence. Im really sorry.
Instead of a real response, John heard Sylph copy something Sullyvan must have said in a mocking tone, The moon has such a beautiful white colour, it reminds me of the times I went to the mushroom kingdoms. Have you ever heard of the pearls, mydy? I hear they smell like cinnamon, a spice I love for its connection to trebles Eeeeeek! There was a moment where John felt nothing but disgust. He kissed my hand, he kissed my hand, he gave me a gross, sloppy kiss on my hand! Ew, ew, ew, ew, EEEEEEWWWW!
Put a thunderbolt through him, John grimly remarked and opened his menu. There has to be a ban list somewhere he thought to himself, tapping through the options. If there was a dimensional gate on his property, he should have the option to shut certain people out. Sexual harassment of one of his girls was more than good enough a reason to lock someone out. After some finagling, he actually found what he was searching for.
I already did, but he is sooooo weiiiiiiiird, Sylph whined back. Hes some sort of cloud and he just takes my attacks and regenerates. Hes like Undine, except not at all cute, a woman, sexy, well-mannered or other redeeming features. He can regenerate, restore, heal, be unfazed, super annoying, totally the opposite of adorable! There was a moment of silence. Now hes talking about how the sun is made of spiders!
John punched the name Sullyvan into the menu and was presented with over thirty different names with a level and a title attached. The one he thought to be the right one was right at the top, Sullyvan, The Cloud Sophistry, level 132, it read. That fit all the descriptions and the mental image John quickly made for himself through their connection. He pushed the button, confirmed his decision and got a relieved sigh from Sylph a momentter.
I was saved! she babbled, immediately twenty times happier. Can Ie over? Do I need to stay here? I really, really wanna see you and I want to wash my hand and I want to forget that ever happened. Ew, it was so ew, why did he kiss-lick my hand without asking? Thats so creepy!
Some men have bad manners, John told her. As someone who was thinking about all the perverted things he wanted to do at all times, the Gamer had nothing but contempt for those that just did it without gathering consent for it first. This was doubly true for all the years he had spent unable to do anything sexual and kept thingspletely to himself to at least have some quiet moments where he wasnt bullied in school. Whenever you next go home, tell your mother you want a restraining order.
Whatever keeps him. Can Ie over now? Can I? Can I pleaaaseeeee?
Not yet, I need you to grab some trustworthy people for some sort of council. Being at the top of the pecking order isnt enough for a proper social system, he told her. He had sent simr messages to the other elementals in the past few minutes. A pecking order was stable only as long as the person at the top of it was present enough to keep everyone else in line. In order to give things a proper level of longevity, there had to be trustworthy delegates and a system to punish transgressions that happened in the absence of authority. Police and court, to put it more easily.
Of course, they werent setting up a nation over there, so something small would be enough. A police force that operated on rules of decency, rather than a written-out code, and a court that executed swift bans. It would more resemble the moderation of a chatroommunity, but that should be fine. John trusted his girls to operate with wisdom, especially since they could lean on each other for advice.
Y-you want us to run the Elemental Inds? Gnome asked.
I dont see who would be more fitting for the job, John told her and everyone else by extension. The only elemental still at his side at that point was Stirwin. When he departed for the Light Ind, he had left Undine behind. The only one he could currently not reach was Siena. Whatever the Mother of Shadow was up to, she had not yet finished up. They are your people. I could do it, but I already have a lot of paperwork.
I-I mean Gnome somehow managed to transfer the sound of nervously swallowing through their bond, if it supports you, I guess I can do it? Maybe Ill even learn a thing or two about helping you in your regr business yeah, that could work! You can do it, Gnome!
Youre thinking publicly again, cuddle rock, Smander chimed in. Embarrassment filled the conversation like glitter out of a cannon. Anyway, sounds fun. If these guys dont behave, Ill just kick their fucking asses again.
Ill set up a tea party! A giant tea party! With cookies and gummy bears!
I will make it work, Undine got thest word in. Her state of mind was entirely calm. If the things they had learned over the past hour had still shaken her, John would not have left her on her own devices.
Well see how we deal with your area, John said and scratched the crocodile hatchling under the chin. Having taken his favourite spot for travel, sitting inside the Gamers breast pocket, Stirwin let out repeated squeals. Theoretically, Stirwin could govern over his area as well. Thanks to the elemental essence present there, he could assume a bigger form, but even it would have a lower number of Stats than the average elemental of his level. If it came to establishing a pecking order, there might be an issue.
Is what John thought until the Light Ind came into view.
A line of gold and a line of silver orderly stretched all the way from the end of the road to the temple. Sorted by colour and size, light elementals kneeled in whatever shape they took at either side of the path, on the golden grass beyond the reach of the waves. The smallest greeted them at the beginning, their tiny voices whispering, We greet the Celestial Devourer, once John carried the tiny golden reptile into the corridor of living light.
He walked further and the elementals he left behind rose to their feet, walking or hovering after them. Orderly separated gold and silver mingled, creating a trail of tiny specks of illumination that danced in the night. Every step the Gamer took, he heard the phrase again, We greet the Celestial Devourer.
The voices became less and less squeaky, the elementals speaking themrger and more divergent in shape. Humanoids, crystalline structures, sapient constructs of moonstone, shattered mirrors and animated constetions. They all echoed the phrase, We greet the Celestial Devourer, as John passed them. In respectful distance behind them, they joined the procession to the temple.
They were almost at the temple now. The structure of golden stone and silver decorations had gotten evenrger. It was set into the ground and reached ten metres deep. Thendscape surrounding it waspletely empty. John had done fairly little with any of the elemental inds, outside of shape, because he figured that most decorations would be added by the mere presence of the shrines. He had been right for the other inds, but for the Light one both the circr main ind and the halo surrounding it were empty.
The sky, however, was alive in apletely alien way. Burning with golden sma that danced between the incandescent stars, it became brighter the closer John got to the temple. We greet the Celestial Devourer. The night was now defeated and, in its ce, John walked through thendscape of a thousand tiny suns. We greet the Celestial Devourer. The chorus of worship intertwined with parts of the sma streaks that connected constetions taking up a cosmic image. We greet the Celestial Devourer. John followed one continuous streak of golden sma in the sky. It connected with others into a long line, then that long line snapped into ce with another, and another, they curved and eventually shed peacefully with calming silver, a conflict that seemed meant to be. We greet the Celestial Devourer.
The picture in the sky was so vast that John didnt see it at first. It was the torso of a man. More urately, it was the outline of a torso of a man. A bald man with defined muscles made from the void between the stars and a shape forged by starlight. He seemed simultaneously godly and non-descript, as if it was merely the base for a more detailed character. The Father of Light reached down the horizon and seemed to frame the temple with his fingers. Distant lips moved. The presence of the elemental ruler was too faint to transfer sounds.
Holy shit, Rave whispered. Although those words somewhat ruined the sanctity of the moment, it was the adequate reaction to what they had suddenly walked into. I keep forgetting that tiny thing is such a big deal.
You know, I dont, but this is still beyond what I expected, John whispered back, as he led the way down the stairs that brought them down into the basin of the temple. He walked down along the wall, arrived at a middle tform, turned to his right and walked down a second flight of stairs. Arrangements like this were ced around the entirety of the inner rim of the temple. Wherever there was a gap between the end of two stairs, there was a door that led into an undergroundbyrinth of mirrors.
John was not interested in that today. Instead he turned towards thest two elementals that were kneeling in wait of Stirwins arrival. Both reminded John distantly of hieroglyphs of ancient Egyptian gods, but neither actually was one. Standing, they would have been about three metres tall. They only wore sandals, decorated loincloths and severalyers of jewellery around their animal heads. Both wielded spears with curved des at the tip.
The left one represented the golden side of the road, but was actually more of a bronze colour himself. His head was that of an eagle and his fingers were ws with glowing talons. I, Ubun, greet the Celestial Devourer, he spoke in a tone of great wisdom and patience.
The right one was a dark silver, almost closer to lead, and had the head of a scorpion. The mandibles worked with slow but tireless motions and light oozed out as semi-liquid mist from behind pieces of chitin that covered his muscr form. I, Korus, greet the Celestial Devourer! He barely managed to keep himself from roaring, his body trembling with excitement.
Feeling, at this point, pretty unfitting to carry the star of the show so nonchntly, John picked the thirty-centimetre-long crocodile hatchling out of his pocket and ced him on the floor. With great veneration, the two level 200 elementals stared as the tiny thing waddled past them and dropped into the shallow pool filled with the elemental essence.
A body of magic, teeth and scales burst out of the pool. Bigger even than the two half-animal warriors, the Celestial Devourer stood on his hindlegs and roared at the sky. A continuous wave of sma torrented out of the copper mouth. Hooks of silver inside and sharpened golden scales around the maw made up the twoyers of teeth Stirwin possessed. The attack he unleashed harmlessly dispersed between his gathered kind, hovering in the air around him.
After several moments, the gargantuan creature, more dragon than crocodile, fell back down on his long limbs. Even inside this shiningndscape, the juvenile shape of Stirwin glowed. The webbed, wed hands of his front legs grabbed the rim of the temple. The massive tail moved absent-mindedly with such force that the ridge of its t shape could have sliced someone apart. Silver eyes, filled with wisdom and dominance where adorableness and innocence normallyy, focused the tworge elementals in turn.
I am lord of this ind, Stirwin dered, his voice reverberating in Johns very soul. It is my fief, entrusted to me by my summoner. You will respect him and his realm like you respect me, do you understand?
Yes, Celestial Devourer! everyst light elemental eximed and bowed their head.
Do not disappoint. Do your duty. Deserve your pride. Stirwin took two steps forwards and thenid down between the two still kneeling light elemental warriors. You may ask your questions. My mind may not be fully formed in this miniature shape, but I can give you some advice.
Advice? John blinked a few times, as the present elementals began to form a line.
Chapter 811 – Elemental Troubles 5 – Light and Dark
Chapter 811 C Elemental Troubles 5 C Light and Dark
There were many things John Newman did not know, and some of them, he genuinely felt bad about. Failing to look at the Mother of Waters actions from more than one angle? Na?ve, but understandable, given her actions. How he would allocate the budget for the next quarter? Not a pressing issue, but he should know about it. What to do with demons? Still not something he was sure about and still something that genocide was the potential answer to, as horrible as that sounded.
Not knowing that the asteroid-sized, golden-scaled, rip-and-tearing, grown-up crocodile-dragon he called his light spirit was actually a renowned advice giver?
That just showed that he didnt show enough interest in the private life of his male friends and family.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Stirwin hadnt spent the millennia previous to the contract with the Gamer just sitting around inside his seal. There had been a lot of time to think and a lot of time to talk to several elementals that came to visit him. First out of curiosity, then out of awe, they had sought him out. With time, Stirwin had turned into some renowned guru.
While waiting for the elemental girls to gather a few trustworthy individuals (and for Siena to be released from whatever her mother was doing), John followed the advice-giving. Most of it was the basic kind one expected. A little motivational talk here, a bit of listening and encouragement there, nothing too out of the usual.
At other times, Stirwin absolutely ripped people a new one.
Celestial Devourer, I just dont know who my heart belongs to. I love both of them and I dont know I can live without either, so I cant figure out what to do, a very suave looking elemental, basically a gentleman of a darkplexion with a suit of gold, confessed. What do you say, who should I stay with? How should I break the news to them that Ive greater interest in the other girl?
Do I understand correctly that you informed neither of them of the rtionship you had with the other? Stirwins growl was apanied by him rising to his feet. As suave as the gentlemanly elemental may have looked, it was only normal to be intimidated when four-metres of crocodile dragon suddenly shoved their maw into your face. The answer was dyed, as the advice-seeking male audibly gulped. ANSWER! Stirwin demanded, his deep voice reverberating in the air.
Y-yes, Celestial Devourer! the gentleman answered.
Raising his left front leg, Stirwin warningly ced a w on the smaller elementals chest. Listen closely. You deserve neither of them. What you will do is: you will gather both, get on your knees, confess what you did, and if they forgive you for what you did, then you can think about the future of your rtionship. You have built it on the lie of being true to one of them. Even if you intend to be monogamous now, you have rot inside your foundation. You will own up to your mistake and not repeat it in the future. Do you understand?!
Y-yes.
Goodd, Stirwin backed off, his tone switching from threatening to benevolent, return here once the affair is done. I will dly help you out further, no matter what may happen to you.
Thank you, Celestial Devourer! The gentleman disappeared into a trail of light, returning to his home ne.
There was a momentary lull in the people running up to Stirwin, as the crocodileid back down. People seemed to gather their courage, before running the risk of getting simrly curtailed in their excesses. In that pause, a certain cat tapped his way up to the magical reptile. Look at you, being useful for a change, Copernicus remarked.
Look at you, being tiny, Stirwin responded in a yful baritone. In this form, I could squish you quite easily. A revenge for all the times you yed mouse with me.
As if it didnt entertain you, Copernicus mused his response, walking up the tail of the muchrger elemental and finding afortable ce toy down between the ridges of his back. Funny that you have such scathing words for a gigolo while serving the greatest pervert of the age.
John is straightforward with his desires, otherwise we would have a problem, Stirwin told the sun cat. The Gamer expected some warning gaze to be directed his way as the follow-up of that sentence, but the crocodile just turned to the line again and waved for the next person to approach him. When it came to this topic, Stirwin had never been disappointed by John and so he saw no reason to even give as much as a word of caution.
John appreciated that. He hadnt gone through all of the troubles of being honest with his intention of building a harem to get lectured as if he had never given it any thought. The closest he had ever gotten to cheating on Rave was when he had decided to make Aclysia in the shape of A2. Creating himself a sexy servant before disclosing his harem building intent may have been rather crude. However, he had done nothing but create her before having the talk about this topic.
A couple more people came forward, asking for more milquetoast advice. Ubun and Korus kept standing at the side of the Celestial Devourer like massive guards. Of all the elementals, it seemed Stirwin would need the least amount of help to keep things running. Leveraging his previous reputation and the principled nature of light elementals, he would reign over a pretty peaceful court.
John looked up to the sky and yawned. Although it was still bright as day, the silhouette of the Father of Light had disappeared and he had been awake for quite a while. Thanks to his superhuman Endurance, he could have pushed himself to remain awake for several hours more, if not a few days, but that would be an unpleasant experience. Better to have an orgy and get some shut-eye.
His teeth snapped shut when the darkness that blocked his connection with Siena carved knowledge directly into his understanding. No words, no voice, just a series of meanings that told him that he was now allowed toe to the Shadow Ind. Without any hesitation, he began to move. The harem followed him, while Stirwin stayed behind. Copernicus assumed his item form, turning into a copper wristband around Raves arm.
It was another deceptively long walk. Getting used to the new distances continued to be a bother and, due to impatience, they decided to simply run the majority of the distance. It was only him, Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra at this point. Although John was the slowest out of that group, he still had 100 Agility, allowing them to cross the distance in a fraction of the time even a Olympian marathon runner would normally require.
The sky turned dark when they went past the decrepit stone arch that symbolized the entrance to the Shadow Ind proper. It wasnt a slow shift, as it was for the Light Ind or the Midnight Forest. Instead, the very moment he went past that gate, he was under a starless sky. What little light was around came from the neighbouring inds. Shimmers on the horizon, dulled due to a dark mist that was only visible while being inside of it.
It was as quiet as it was dark. The ground was a mixture of dark sand and grey moss, eating the sounds of their steps. Spooky, Rave said and raised her hand. Carefully, she created a ball of light in her palm. She was ready to extinguish it immediately. Last time she had done something like this, they had gone into the Midnight Forest for the first time and the residents didnt take kindly to the invasion of a small sun into their sacred night.
The shadow elementals that were uncovered by the Lightbearers illumination reacted more with curiosity than aggression. Fragments of shadow that stubbornly hung around even as the radiance vanquished their natural manifestations, the shadow elementals took the forms of shades that hushed over the floor. They ran tiny circles around them, touched their feet and then darted off like children that had gotten away with something forbidden.
They returned a few momentster, tagged them, and then vanished again. The pattern repeated three times and then John was sure of it. They want us to follow them, he said.
Lets do it then, might be interesting, Metra remarked. Were searching for their mother anyway, right?
Technically, were looking for Siena, but Id assume theyre at the same spot, John retorted as he went into the direction the shadows kept scurrying towards. It didnt take too long for more intricate shadow elementals to show themselves. Large insects, creatures of ck crystals, gorgeous women with seductive curves and sharp teeth, equally gorgeous men with mysterious eyes and hands that could crush skulls, birds, cats and other animals. Of all the elementals, the shadow ones came in the most varied shapes.
A whole group of those gorgeous women nested nakedly in a group of bleak trees. Pale bark and pale skin intertwined for a pleasing view and they cooed temptations in Johns direction. The Gamer ignored them; he had more pressing concerns and even more gorgeous women with him. He had gone through enough trouble taming the one shadow spirit he had and he still didnt know what kind of situation she was in.
Just like he had quickly figured out what the small elementals wanted him to do, John knew where they were heading after just a few minutes of walking. A ridge of mountains, darker and with more pronounced spires than those found on the rest of the Guild Hall, was clearly visible against the intense light from the temple to the north.
The mountain was filled with caves, but they ignored all of them but one. A particrlyrge entrance led into a tunnel so nted one had to be careful not to fall and slide down over a dozen metres under the surface. The deeper they went into that cave, the more the darkness and silence changed. They went from being the ambience of the environment to being that which dominated the space.
Thats weird, Rave mumbled, looking at the sphere in her hand. It gave barely enough light to show the outlines of dripstones on the ceiling and floor around them. I aint spending less mana on keeping this up, yet it keeps getting dimmer.
Thats expected, really, John said and narrowed his eyes at the ceiling. Somewhere around here, the elemental essence had to be located. You can feel the Mother of Shadow being around, right? He stopped when he finally caught the movement of droplets flying from the spikes on the floor upwards into a pool under the caves ceiling.
I gueeeeeee- Rave started and her word stretched out, causing John to turn around to check what she was startled by. Just barely, he caught a grey-skinned hand reaching out. Sharp, dark red nails tipped slender fingers, which closed around the sphere of light and extinguished it with the effort John would have expended to kill a fly.
For a moment, the darkness was absolute. Then, as if it was moved severalyers down in a photo maniption program, it took to the background and revealed a female shape.
The grey arm belonged to a body of the same colour. The persons curves were slender, her chest almost petite and hidden by a dress of dark, flowing mist. When she took several steps, her smooth, long legs cut through the long skirt as if it was a tender waterfall. Gracefully, she almost seemed to hover through the absolute darkness they now found themselves in.
She was beautiful beyond even a poets description. Her eyes were of a greyish blue, a surprisingly normal colour, and had an exotic almond shape. Her mouth was a luscious disy of sultriness, curved into a flirting smile, revealing a hint of teeth and the sharp canines. Her nose was an oddly cute button, partly hidden by a strand of white hair that ran across her face. It and all the other strands of her hair were so long that John couldnt see the end of them. They faded into the darkness, became one with it. Someid and dragged over the floor, others hung as if attached to something else in the darkness.
The woman moved up to John, put her arms around his neck, and stretched up. She did all of this with such fluidity that nobody even had the opportunity to do anything if they wanted to. Stretching past his lips, she reached his ear and whispered, Fade.
The sound etched itself into his mind, heart and soul. It wasnt a word, it was power vocalized, a meaning made clear through allnguages and understandable even in the absence of any. Under normal circumstances, John would have thought it an incantation, but the window that appeared persuaded him otherwise.
It was her name. The name of the Mother of Shadow wasnt just an assortment of sybles that she was called with. Her name was the very concept of something fading, vanishing into nothing. Her name had power beyond anyone else.
The oldest elemental slowly backed away. Keep taking good care of my adorable daughter. In person, her voice was the opposite of the presence of her mind. It was nothing but velvet and kisses on his ears. Disappoint me, and I will see you ruined.
With those words, she faded. The darkness around them lost itspleteness and the silence transformed into a quiet. The tiny sounds of drops of shadow essence uniting with the upside down pond was all that could be heard for a moment. Then there was a long, frustrated sigh.
Mother is such an annoyance, Siena announced her presence.
Chapter 812 – Elemental Troubles Finale – The Eight Courts
Chapter 812 C Elemental Troubles Finale C The Eight Courts
Look, all I am saying is that your mother is probably the second most pleasing elemental ruler I encountered, John told Siena, while checking the Attributes of the elemental essence. It was just a double-check, he had already put an Observe on the pool over at the Light Shrine, so none of what he saw really surprised him. sia was a bit nicer, but thats about it.
Tapping on the Infusing Matter 2 description, he inspected the details. 1 gram per 50 days with metal in the pool, 500 days without. It halved, same as the light essence, John thought and considered the possibilities. 1 gram every 50 days was still atrociously low, although how bad it was exactly depended on the metal in question.
Fundamentally, 1 gram of the six metals was the same in volume. Unenchanted and unworked, they had the same density. It was, of course, much easier to enchant Tempi, the strongest air-infused metal, to be lighter, but in the state the pools generated the metals, they all came out at an equal speed. However, because their areas of application were so different, what one got out of them was a bit more spread out.
Schattengarn, taking the example in front of him, was used as a thread and weaved into clothing. It could be shaped in different ways, it was the most malleable of the set after all, but that was the most basic application. Creating a shirt took, as could be expected, a lot less material than creating something more solid like a sword. Poseidury, the liquid water metal, was useful in extremely small amounts because its primary use was as a conductor. It paired nicely with Oblivium, which was the best at actually shaping magic. The ck metal had to be present in higher quantities, however. One, because it was solid and therefore provided a better base for the actual piece, and two, because it would hold the actual enchantments instead of fuelling them.
Purgatory was a good example for this. It was inrge part Oblivium by nature and had been upgraded with a whole lot more Mithril, a nice amount of extra Oblivium and only some Poseidury. The end result was a glove whose magical damage output was frankly ridiculous, especially since it scaled with the arcane power of its wearer.
Tempi was best for weapon forging and would therefore required high quantities to use, unless someone figured out a reliable technique to glue an edge of the ultra-sharp metal to an otherwise normal de. Solunian was best at defending against magic and therefore made for great tes. Terrium was simr, just that it was better at physical defence.
I wonder how their defencespare to Astrotium, John thought. Given the rarity of all of these metals, it was difficult to run experiments. Perhaps, once I have enough of all of them, I can feed them to Aclysia and see how much health she loses depending on which material she uses as her outeryer? The theorizing was interrupted by Siena hissing at him.
You only met half of them, so what do you know. The moonshade elemental continued to be annoyed whenever her mother was involved in any fashion.
Technically, I met all of them, except for Tempesta, John responded. Sure, those greetingssted, on average, fifteen seconds, but I did meet them.
Hardly enough to make a judge of character, Siena said, and made a cutting motion with her hands when John opened his mouth to respond. Enough of this. Lets talk about something more tantalizing. What happened in the time Mother spent annoying me?
John quickly caught her up on the state of affairs by speaking words and sharing memories. Once he was done with that, he tugged at the awareness of all of his elementals until they gave him the necessary attention. Alright, here is how I want you to organize things, he thought and then projected an image into their mental connection.
Its a very loose framework, John told them. Basically, the allowance I have been paying you up until now, I will increase that a fair bit and I will expect you to use it to do things with the Elemental Inds. You can run your own courts however you want, as long as you keep the elementals from rampaging around. As an obligation, I want you to oversee future summoners that might get onto the inds. Try to get them to join Fusion or at least pay a sizable amount of money for seeking out a contract here. You know, for using this location only I can provide.
Makes enough sense, Smander agreed and the sentiment was echoed by everyone else. And this Seventh Court thing is just a fancy way to say were meeting up for official business?
Essentially, John answered. I guess a lot of the elementals will get bored if we dont throw some stuff at them every now and again, so we might as well give them bread and games. I suppose you can also send representatives to delegate things otherwise. Whenever we reach thest Tier of the Guild Hall, Ill add a separate area just for this task. Until then, I suggest you hold your meetings in turns. Your choice though.
Uhm, just one question, Gnome spoke up, does this mean were allowed to modify the Elemental Inds?
As much as the Guild Hall mechanics let you, John responded positively. Ah, right, also, do me the favour of recing the metal I left in the shrines whenever its fully saturated and bring it to me. And guard it as well. That stuff is worth potential billions.
Roger, roger! Sylph eximed. I will tell my girls and my guys what we have to do and Ill do the stuffs, and with the stuffs done, I will organize a giant cotton candy party!
Ill take some time to pick up whoever delights me enough to oversee this ce, Siena chimed in and quickly ced a kiss on Johns cheek. Ill see youter tonight, she whispered, snapping her teeth next to his ear. I have a lot of frustration to act out.
Ill dly help you take care of it. John smirked and gave her a smack on the ass when she turned around. Seductively moaning, Siena smiled over her shoulder and then walked away. She was another woman that had, by prolonged exposure to the Gamers perversions, developed at least a bit of a submissive streak. It didnt lessen the fact that she was a sadist, but the two things could co-exist nicely in the Newman harem.
The other elementals also went ahead and put some finishing touches on their choices of peacekeepers. While they did that, John decided it was time to finally visit the original court of the Guild Hall, the so-called Bramble Court that he was the Earl of.
From the Shadow Ind, John went to the Newman Shire and eventually stepped off the road. There was only one easy way to get into the Midnight Forest, that being the bridge in the Commercial District, but for anyone with enough determination and superhuman abilities, climbing over a small mountain to avoid having to walk the extra kilometre was an easy feat.
He entered the fae-dwelling woods from the south and the sky above shifted. The moon was a sickle, not because the earth threw a shadow onto it, but because something else moved in front of it. John wasnt even sure it was the same moon. For the stars, he definitely knew they werent the same. Their position was different and they shone too brightly. Glittering like diamonds, they illuminated his stroll through the trees.
It was quiet. Not eerily quiet. Simply quiet. Quiet enough that he could take the time to marvel at the four women still apanying him. Aclysia and Beatrice both looked wonderful in the pale light. Their white skin had a pleasant glow to it, contrasting pleasingly with the ck parts of their maid uniforms. Rave and Metra were also delicious, even if their tanned looks werent elevated by the surroundings. Then again, he could only see Metras head, everything else was under armour.
Since everything was so remarkably peaceful, John decided to make that a topic of conversation. Hey, Jane?
Waddup? she asked, while inspecting a tree in passing. It was filled with tiny houses, but the fairies were nowhere to be seen.
Since we can now keep the Guild Hall in eternal summer, are you going to lose the tan or are you going to keep it? he asked.
Oh, thats a good question. Rave looked at her arms to inspect her tan. It was an intense caramel colour, the kind sunbathing Asians tended to get. Byparison, Metra was more like milk chocte, noticeably brown but more like a dark-skinned middle-eastern girl than someone from Africa. I dont really care, to be honest. I just wanna lie in the sun. Whaddaya think?
I like seasonal dishes, so I think I would like it if you let yourself go pale through autumn and then ramp it up during spring again, he told her, and his girlfriend nodded. As much as he liked seeing her tanned as she was at the moment, he did like light meat just as much as dark meat, so getting the change throughout the year was delicious. Same question in reverse, you think I should keep the tan?
Hmmm, I think ya should dial it down a bit and keep it there forever, Rave told him. I fell in love with the thin, pasty nerd, but ya look a lot better with some colour on your jawline but I cant decide that alone. Imma make a poll in the girls chatter. To this, John could only nod, all of that sounded pretty sensible. He also preferred it if he had a bit of colour, it elevated his Greek god body nicely. Showing off that he was still tanned in winter was also the kind of subtle disy of power that he loved.
Can I finally get this under my skin again, by the way? Metra asked, knocking against her chest with the back of her thumb. Or do you STILL think something awful is going toe out of the fucking woodworks.
Do I? he asked himself out loud and it was an honest question. With how oddly peaceful, not to mention empty, the Midnight Forest seemed at the moment, he was prepared for something to rain on his parade. However, Methenia was under his rule and loyal, she had proven that during the Hudson Brawl. If there was something hostile around, they should have at least seen signs of a battle. Then again, I shouldnt make assumptions about fairies Do keep it up for the moment.
Yes, my king, Metra groaned and tapped the shaft of her weapon on her shoulder.
Sorry, he apologized. I just assumed that this area would be the most trouble, so Im rather cautious.
I get it, the berserker babe said as she stomped over a patch of mushrooms. I find it slightly offensive that you think I, Metra, Breaker of Armies, couldnt beat some fucking fairies to pulp in the nude, but I get it.
Youd probably look fantastic doing it, John hummed, remembering the blondes naked body and how her muscles shifted around during movements. Those toned thighs, that magnificent midriff, her petite chest, they were all erotic to behold. Metra was pushing what was still womanly with how fit she was, but John absolutely loved that uniqueness in his, admittedly quite athletic, harem.
Pulling his attention back to reality just in time, John wandered onto the clearing where the Fairy Lantern stood. The floor was covered in golden leaves. They had the colour of autumn, but they were lively and not wilted in the least. By their sheer number, they made for a pleasantly soft footing. The actualntern was situated on top of a long post of a light brown wood, standing between two dark rocks.
The rest of the clearing was dominated by a circle formed by warped trees. None of the nts grew higher or lower than Johns waist and the branches formed an impossibly stablebyrinth. The trunks of the trees were hollow and open to the air. Out of them flew sparks of energy, golden and purple. Their colour had intensified since Johnst went to this ce.
I wonder if thats connected to the colour of my aura, the Gamer found himself thinking, now knowing about that thanks to Lorelei. It could have been a parallel, a phenomenon born because this was his court, or it could have been pure coincidence. With the amount of magic he encountered, meeting certain colourbinations more than once was basically a given.
Methenia danced on the maze, a sight of familiarity amidst the quiet Midnight Forest. Covered in strands of white silk that closely stuck to her body, she was a sight of elegance. Not, however, of sex appeal. She was t both up and downstairs, her torso and face oddly rectangr and her limbs long. She danced with the smoothness of mercury, but that was all that was sexy about her, from Johns perspective. The Earl has arrived, how pleasant, the Bramble Dancer remarked.
Just here to check what is going on, he told her. I notice the Midnight Forest is empty.
We heard your order to evacuate, so all went to other courts for the night and the day that follows, Methenia responded. I returned at once when I felt the change to my court. I could not have stayed away any longer, even if your orders were to stay away, my Earl. Tradition beckons, you do not need to understand.
No, thats fine, John responded and put his hands into his pants. So, nothing unusual is going on? The fairies will return tomorrow night?
They will return when the moon is but a circle, Methania answered. John wasnt exactly sure how long that would be, since he only had a rudimentary understanding of the way the celestial configurations changed with the passage of time in this space. You gave us a greater court, more room, more roam, and more space to monopolize and diversify. I am thankful, Earl. Yourmand of this court continues to be honeyful.
Im just going to assume thats a different way to say fruitful, the Gamer thought and rolled his shoulders. There will be noplications with new fairies moving in or anything?
The Bramble Court is distinguished. We respect the shadow of your moon, the daughter of shadows that manifests it in her body, her mother of dark, the whimsical dancer of thunder you contract and the many names you carry in your heart, Earl. Few lords would dare to make a ruckus here and they are not wee to walk through the brambles that I have been entrusted to dance upon.
Fantastic. That was all John had to say about all of that. Odd choices of words aside, that was understandable enough. I will leave you to it then. The evacuation order is effectively lifted. If anyone wants to return sooner, they are wee to.
They would never! Methenia screeched in response, as if John had justmitted a great affront. My foolish Earl, that
Careful, Metra growled.
Temper your tone, Aclysia warned.
Cease, Beatrice also spoke at the same time.
The three artificial women red daggers with their green eyes and threatened the onenguage and tradition that spun across all species: violence. Methenia shut her mouth and John sighed. If it isnt appropriate, then they shouldnt. Anyway, Ill leave you to it.
Even if thatst exchange wasnt exactly as smooth as he would have wanted, the Gamer was pleased that there were no negative surprises. After the elemental troubles, he wouldnt have wanted to deal with fae ones as well. They were just outside the Midnight Forest,when he looked over his shoulder and saw a stark naked Metra.
Not like there is anything left I would need the armour for, right? she asked with a challenging smirk. Stemming one hand into her hips, she emphasized her curves and those hips in particr. Behind her, the river that separated the Newman Shire from the Commercial District gently flowed by and past the small mountain they had just climbed over.
John felt a twitch in his pants.
Chapter 813 – Backdoor and Walking [Erotic Content]
Chapter 813 C Backdoor and Walking [Erotic Content]
Johns eyes were glued to Metra until his girlfriend approached him. Grabbing his crotch with one hand, Rave gave him a long kiss while massaging his growing erection through his pants. That was all she did, however, stopping once he was fully erect. Ill wait in the shower for ya, she told him and then turned to the maids. Come on girls, lets prepare home for Masters return.
Aclysia and Beatrice were all too willing to be pulled along under that pretense and walked left and right of Rave, who grabbed them by the waists and asses in a fashion very simr to how John usually walked. The Lightbearer was, without a doubt, his soulmate.
She even allowed him to mate with other souls, which was right up his alley.
Put down the axe, John told the waiting First of Wrath. Obeying immediately, Metra heaved the massive thing off her shoulder and effortlessly leaned it against a nearby boulder. Using that time to approach her, the Gamer bowed down to kiss her neck, once she was unarmed. His left hand explored her sides and wandered down to her ass, while his right wed into her hair. Get rid of the hairband, he demanded and felt it thin out under his grasp. Good girl, he grunted as he pulled her head back.
It awakened predatory instincts inside him, kissing and lightly biting her exposed throat. Metra felt it as well, her ever-present and usually suppressed wrath getting superseded by rising lust. Only lust and love could drown out her anger, John had found since their mental connection had been firmly established. It was little wonder that she respected him so much, given how hard it was to make her feel either. As a matter of fact, he was the only man who had ever let her feel both. She lusted after and respected Sargon. She lusted after, respected and loved him. Even if she still thought his deeds to be lesser, Metra was more his than she had been anyone elses in her millennia of life.
For that simple reason, John wasnt jealous of any past rtionships she had. What did he care? She was his now, all his, with no ifs or buts. Until he died or screwed up beyond all recognition of his character, she would be his. He kissed his way up to her right ear and asked, out of lust, What are you, Metra?
Your sex ve, my king, she gasped, her breathing already elerated. Your servant, your warrior, your toy to dump your delicious cum into. Whatever the fuck you want.
Good girl, he purred again and pulled back to look at her properly. When Metra had her hair down, she reminded him that much more of Rave. When the First of Wrath had formed her body, she had done so on the basis of his thoughts of the perfect woman and applied the vours of her first body to it. That made her golden mane just as wild as Raves hair was, untameable, high of volume, soft and beautiful. Her green eyes didnt have that Asian almond shape, but they sat in a face that was simr enough that they seemed like half-sisters. They were simr and yet Metra was a beauty all of her own. Undress me, he demanded and then imed her dark pink lips with his own.
Although they were of equal height, he absolutely dominated her with his body as she moved to unbutton his shirt. Muscr as she was, she was still bound to the frame of a woman, and the much-improved body of the Gamer was broader than hers, making embracing her an easy task. His hands trailed over her smooth back and butt; his tongue was deep inside her mouth. The responding movements were sluggish and filled with gasps. She had to concentrate on her fingers and getting each button through its tiny hole. A difficult task, given how little space there was between their bodies, made even more difficult as John slowly increased her sensitivity.
Her gasps changed into a sharp, muffled moan when John pped her ass. Mashtahhr, she eximed in between kisses. Positively surprised, John pulled away for a moment.
That you would ever pick something up from Beatrice, he remarked.
Even that passive-aggressive bitch has some good ideas. Metra smirked, using the opportunity to undo thest button and then open wide the view to his defined chest. Every time I think you already improved your looks beyond what should be possible, I remember how much you changed since I met you, she said and bit her lower lip for a moment. You could be a bit broader, but fuck me if those abs arent perfect.
Look whos talking, John mused and trailed a finger from her corbone, through the valley of her breasts down the trench in the middle of her marvellous midriff. t, defined, muscr, smooth and decorated with the Lovers Will Mark, her midriff and bordering groin were doubtlessly the most pleasing to look at in his entire harem. As always, that was the difference between near and absolutely perfect, and John indulged in all the differences.
She moved her hands up his side. They were soft, despite her nature as a weapon of war. The advantages of being not made from flesh were numerous. Arriving at his shoulders, she brushed the ck shirt off his shoulders. John did her the favour of getting out of the sleeves himself. Then he tossed the shirt into his inventory.
He could have used the menu from the start, but the whole purpose of the exercise was to enjoy the sensation of letting her do it. Therefore, he closed the window and greedily leaned back in to devour her lips once more.
Metras hands had much less to do now. His pants were a hook and a zipper, undone in just a few movements. The pants fell, and the underpants followed momentster. At that point, John was satisfied enough that he moved the legwear around his ankles and his shoes all into the inventory and was leftpletely naked.
He paused their making out session only for as long as it took tomand, Jerk me off, make me cum. This time, the words rung with magicalpulsion, causing Metra to shiver in anticipation. Her hands reached for his cock and the first drop of precum immediately drooled out. After just a few pumps, his cock was entirely lubricated. As she moved both of her hands up and down, the engorged head often slid over her abs, spreading the viscous lubrication on them as well.
John once more grabbed her open hair, holding her in that kiss. Intoxicated by her scent of burning incense and iron and demanding to taste more of the metallic sweetness of her saliva, he wasnt ready to break it. Not before his mind was cleared for at least a few moments. Until then, his other hand wandered downstairs.
His intent was to bring her pleasure with his fingers. He trailed over her pussy, as dripping wet as was expected. Only shallowly teasing her cunt, he drenched his fingers with her love juices and then moved around to her back. Pressing his hand between the two soft globes of her bubble butt, John smeared the juices all over her sphincter.
Metra moaned through all of it. The speed of her handjob increased to a blur. The wet noises echoed through the otherwise silent forest, heated to a pleasant summer night that was perfect for outdoor activities like this. When the Gamer felt his first orgasm approach, he pushed two fingers into her asshole.
The pration urred just as he came. Seed spurting against her midriff, the reward of fulfilling hismand was enough to send her over the edge. Moaning and grunting into each others mouths, they managed to stay standing, Metra only thanks to her kings embrace as Johns technique and skills made even this casual orgasm so intense that she lost feeling in her legs for the first seconds.
Johns cock was still quivering and dribbling the remains of his first climax when he finally broke their kiss and shoved Metra to the ground. Unprepared, shended hard on the stone. She was a sturdy girl, so he had no qualms about treating her with such roughness.
Barely, she turned her head to look at him, before John was already on top of her and pushed her head back down to the ground with all his weight. How many men have you let yourself get dominated by like this through the ages, hm? John asked, in part because he already knew the answer. Men like me, who you could shake off at any point, he straddled her hips, but dont because they make you feel too good?
Only you, you magnificent bastard, Metra gasped her response. Her spine arched up, despite Johns hold on her, a momentter as the Gamer pushed into her anus. Fffffuuuuuuuuuck, she let out a long scream into the empty woods. Fuck, your giant cock feels even bigger when you put it into the wrong hole.
As if your asshole has any other purpose than being fucked, you living cocksleeve, John responded and pushed her head back down to the ground with both hands. As sexy as her tensed form was, he wanted to utterly dominate her. You made your bodies with those holes in the first ce. You just wanted to get fucked, but now you revel in getting used, isnt that right?! His tone got more ecstatic as he started to move.
Yesshhh. Metras content hiss was apanied by the fluttering of her eyelids. Lying on the stone with the side of her face, she presented her ecstatically contorting expression as John slowly moved back and forth. The slickness of his cock had made the initial pration a simple thing, now he was working to get her sphincter used to his girth.
Whatever little difort this caused, Metra showed none of it. Pinned down by Johns hands in her hair and on her throat, she just grunted lustfully with every slow thrust that ended with him pressed against her soft butt. Slow thrusts that quickly elerated, until those cushioning spheres jiggled with every audible impact. Audible impacts in the form of pping and Metras cascade of moans. Moans that mounted to a loud scream.
As much as he tried, he couldnt keep the berserker babe pinned down when she threw her head up again. He continued to lean on her, increasing his pace even with her sphincter tightening and her insides writhing around his cock with each orgasm-induced spasm of her muscles. There was no difference between her artificial asshole and any real one. It was hot, tight and hellishly pleasurable. It said a lot of good and perverted things about mankind that the very first Artificial Spirit had been created with this capability.
Gritting his teeth, John managed to keep moving and avoid orgasm. Following a spur of the moment decision, he pulled out of her back entrance the moment she began to calm. No! Metra let out a pleading cry, sounding almost panicked. In a hurry, she turned towards him. You havent cum yet, I cant let my fucking king go blue-balled. What kind of-
Shut up, Johnmanded her, feeling the grim satisfaction of hearing her teeth snap shut reverberate in his dominant side. Especially once a pleasing moan echoed through those clenched teeth. Open your mouth, he presented his next demand and was heeded, only to hear another moan, louder as the rewards mounted. Squatting over her presented face, he grabbed her head. Youre a good sex ve, but I will use you the way I see fit and you will TAKE IT!
His cock plunged into her mouth with an echoing gluck. A wet sound that repeated in quick session as he went all out in mercilessly fucking her face. She was entirely his to toy with, just limply letting him handle her while hammering her throat. Both of her eyes were rolled up in her skull, the steady reverberations around letting him know that she, too, enjoyed this.
CUM! he roared, just as his balls pped against her chin onest time and tightened. Seed rushed out inrge quantities, only increased by the short period of denial. It pumped directly into her gullet, yet still John felt the instinctive gulping massage his cock. Underneath him, Metra writhed, only her head being steady, as she was wrecked by the doubleyered-orgasm mingling with the aftershocks of thest, natural one.
The energy faded slowly from her spasms, leaving Metra to wring thest drop from his cock with skilled movements of her tongue. Eventually, John started to slowly pull back. He enjoyed the sensation of his cock sliding out of her throat and over her tongue. Her lips closed tightly around his shaft, sucking as if she didnt want to let him go and leaving him as clean as was possible. With an audible pop, the head of his dick was exposed to the warm air.
Thanks for the meal, Master, Metra purred.
We arent done yet, John told her and gestured for her to stand up. Just look at the mess you made of my property, he joked and gestured at the ground. The wetness of the rain had long since evaporated in the normal summer settings of the Weather Tower, leaving only Metras love juices as the possible source for the dark spots on the light stone.
You mind? the First of Wrath mocked. If he did, that would have been a new one.
No. I said were not done yet, he told her and gave her ass a nice p.
Master! she shouted with a pleasing degree of reverence. Grabbing her by the waist, he got behind her and plunged right back into that gaping asshole. Fuuuck, thats still biiiiiiig, Metra purred. Youre making me a size queen, you know that?
Im going to keep fucking you until all of your sexual tastesbined describe only me, John mused in response. Now, how about we go for a stroll? It wasnt a question, he was already pressing against her with the intent purpose of taking a step.
Whatever you want, my king, Metra purred in a mixture of amusement and lust. She took a short and quivering step. John pulled right along, thrusting forwards so he wouldnt slip out of her. Not that it would have been particrly easy, with how tight her insides were holding onto his cock. They first took the small test walk to pick up her weapon and then moved on further.
Moaning and apanied by the pping of flesh against flesh, they moved through the trees. John had to keep driving Metra before him. ying with her sensitivity, he ensured that they kept moving, but also that the berserker babe wouldnt take a single secure step. Holding her by her upper arms, he felt the quivering of her biceps under his wing fingers. That was a part of the female body he had underestimated how pleasing it would be to grab, especially on such a muscr woman.
He kept her pleasure high, while also denying her release. Through Lovers Will, he robbed her of the ability to orgasm. Instead, her pleasure just rose and rose, with little breaks in between to keep her moving. Soon, they were out of the woods and on the street. When John showed no sign of stopping, Metra began to beg, Pleassheee, John, pleasssheee leet me cum
Oh, you need it that bad, hm? he asked, only to coerce more cries from her. It was like music to his ears, a marching tune to which he pulled her back against his chest and moved his hands to her pussy. Standing out in the open, he fucked her ass, masturbated her cunt and bit her ear, all to her steady cries.
By Tiamat, thank everytshing tshat I wash found by you, she screamed, as he let her find relief. She squirted all over the pavement. John didnt mind. Nobody would be around to find them and whatever stain remained would be taken care of by the cleaning slimes. Wave after wave of clear liquid gushed from her cunt and from between his steadily moving fingers. Dont you ever dare die on me after getting me hooked on sex like this, Metra panted with as much as a smile she could muster, once this climax began to fade.
As long as I can keep having sex like this, I dont n to ever die, John responded just as nonchntly. Lets keep going, he thenmanded and they took another step.
He waspletely aware how ridiculous they must have looked and, normally, something like this wasnt his cup of tea. However, because this was the single day on which the Guild Hall would be empty in the foreseeable future, this was the best opportunity to do something that was ridiculous like this. Normal domination was more his cup of tea, but variety was the spice of life, and John took a big helping this evening.
Eventually, they reached one of the many bridges, and thats where he finally stopped. Bending her over the stone railing, he ignored all gimmicks, all humiliations or other sadism. He simply grabbed her by the hips and fucked her as hard as he could. Scream for me, Mat, was the onlymand he gave.
Metra was all too willing to oblige. Screams of lust that echoed over thergely tndscape would have caught the attention of everyst person in arge radius. Instead, it was just them, the river flowing by underneath and the still summer air. Two naked bodies unified in lust in the Gamers domain. For a few moments, he had no responsibilities, nothing to worry about, he was simply the ruler of his space engaged in mindless ecstasy.
Culminating in one more orgasm that wiped all of that scenery from his awareness and left only the starlit, brown skin of Metras body. Her ass squished against his groin. He saw her quivering back, her wild, blonde hair and her trembling shoulders. Her wet pussy clenched around his cock. There was only her, the electrifying feeling of relief and the scream. That endless, loud and fantastic scream of someone absolutely mindlessly in love and lust with him.
After a while, other sensations set back in. The pumping of his heart, the heaving of his lungs, the smell of grass and other such details. Slumping forwards, he kissed the nape of Metras neck and whispered into her ear, Lets head back, I want to see you writhe among the rest of my harem.
I fucking love this life, Metra hummed.
Chapter 814 – A week of glossed details
Chapter 814 C A week of glossed details
It had been an uneventful week from there on out. There was some more ruckus on the Elemental Inds on some asions. Neers, unfamiliar with the only just forming rules, stirred up a fuzz, but the incidents were kept so small that John only heard about them after the fact. Otherwise, there had only been one notable thing per day, which was slow and pleasant business as far as John was concerned.
Tuesday had been focusedrgely on the resettling of localmerce. Since the entire district had been restructured, there were some people that were unhappy with where they had ended up. A swimwear business, for example, had ended up further ind and they wanted to be pushed further towards the northern beach. A shop that specialized in childrens toys was right across the Garden of Sinners. Tall wall or not, it was understandable that they didnt want to be selling things to children next door to the local sex convention. Another problem case was a smith who wanted to be closer to the south of the district so he wasnt too far away from the Foundry.
John spent the entire day listening, judging and resolving issues like this. The aforementioned cases were pretty reasonable, but as soon as he granted them, others had some more selfish requests. Expansion of their shop borders or relocating to a scenery that simply looked nicer were among the most usual. The work was long-winded, courtesy of the amount of conversations he needed to have, but he made steady progress and had arrived at a nice new configuration at the end of the day.
Wednesday, in turn, was then mostly spent on putting supply lines in ce. He had to hire transporters that moved raw goods from the Mine, Farm, Fishery, Silicate Fields, and Logging to the appropriate refinement Buildings or to craftsmen on the ind and the Hudson Barrier atrge. This came along with a few otherplications. First, he needed to expand the bureaucracy responsible for essing how much material had yielded to shoulder the expanded production of all new and upgraded Buildings. Then he had to have several meetings with the expanded bureaucracy to discuss the needs of each individual Building. The need to put up a partying office for the Mine, for example, and designing a system for which trees or crystals should be left to grow.
Because spawn rates for rare raw materials were naturally lower, it was in the Gamers best interest to not harvest them immediately, but only touch them once they reached maximum conceivable size. This had to be drilled into people because the Guild Hall was rather unforgiving with trying to gimmick a system. If even a single branch was removed of a tree, it immediately stopped growing entirely, so there was no partial harvesting. The entire thing should be taken down at the point of maturity and not a day earlier.
Thankfully, like many videogame mechanics, once something harvestable reached maximum size, it just magically stayed there. Hasty action would reduce profits immensely, but slow action would only lead to small inefficiencies caused by taking up the spawn point a few extra days. Given time and work experience, these inefficiencies would be lessened. Senior workers would be able to recognize what tree was fully grown and the experts John paid to keep tabs on all of the kinds of trees the Logging grew would further help with this.
With offices expanded, John could at least delegate the responsibility of hiring new people to someone else. What he could not delegate was the actually lengthiest part of this process.
Negotiating economics, a process that took the rest of that Wednesday and stretched well into Friday morning.
By this point, the quality of Guild Hall goods had be famous in the parts of the Abyss that were dedicated to crafting. Fusion, Collide and John Newman were brands known for reliable, regr and high-quality shipments. Abyssal metals, woods and foodstuffs were all highly sought after and usually difficult to get. The Natural Barriers these things were usually harvested from had a semi-predictable spawning pattern. Everyone knew where Natural Barriers were most likely to appear, but sometimes they just stayed away for a while or what was within wasnt the material currently demanded. Sesses in deliberate cultivation were a slow story. Abyssal nts were even moreplicated in what they needed to maintain health than roses were, wilting or losing their magical properties if things werent exactly right.
As much as the Guild Hall produced within Fusion, its share vanished in the vastness of the global market. It was the reliability he could lord over everyone else, not the quantity. Once all the yields were divided between interested groups, there was very little left to give to any single one of them. Equal division was a non-starter. Bureaucratically managed division was an absolute administrative nightmare, had to be updated every single time they sold stuff and could easily lead to corruption or other inefficiencies. A true free market solution would have been nice, but it had a fundamental issue: shipping was cheap.
Before the advent of ludicrouslyrge ships, shipping containers and proper engines, shipping had increased the cost of goods by such a margin that local businesses didnt have to greatly fear foreign influence. In the modern age, that was a tad different and the Abyss wasnt exempt from this. On the contrary, this issue could be greatly exasperated in the Abyss. Mobile Barriers were more easily maintained on the sea, where there were few others that could be run into and several Fateweavers were easier kept in a naval vessel than a car. Ships could be made muchrger with magic and supernatural alloys. Currently such ships were only used in warfare, but it was a possibility in civilian usage.
With shipping being so cheap that the costliest part of transportation was hiring a number of Fateweavers to maintain the barrier, foreign corporations could just buy up all of the goods. Fusion would get rich and could probably develop the infrastructure for arge service industry, but the Federation would be unpleasantly dependent on foreign money and manufacturing. This was a situation no nation should find itself in.
There wererge swathes of Fusion that didnt have the same issue. The further ind business was, the less applicable the shipping problem was. This was true for both to and from, however, which was why ind economies, albeit more self-reliant, were also rather small in the big scheme of things.
Fusion had five big economic centres: 1. The Guild Hall, with its magical resources. 2. The Hudson Barrier with its naval industry, the continuously multiplying small businesses and, yes, a noticeable share of prostitution and other sexual services. 3. Boston, funnelling the resources from Natural Barrier hunts into the open market. 4. Washington D.C., where the Marnd economy was focused, producing an even spread of services and refined goods. 5. Miami, which had arge tourism industry, even among Abyssals, and apparently a veryrge industry for alcohols, oils and other fun luxury goods.
Of those five, the Hudson Barrier and DC relied on the Guild Hall to continue their own prosperity. The Hudson Barrier more so than DC, predictably, but since John had taken the shackles of over-legition off the local businesses, they were expanding rapidly and the local economy had an appetite for more investments and materials.
Boston was running thepletely free market system whose problem John was currently contemting, but a lot of it stayed in internal cirction thanks to nepotism. Corruption was, oddly enough, not always a terrible thing for local wealth. Miami and Florida as a whole were pretty self-reliant and whatever John decided here wouldnt threaten tourism.
John had only actual authority to change policy for the Guild Hall and the Hudson Barrier. Both of those were Collide territory, where he governed as a de-facto dictator. There were a lot of positions that were democratically decided, but he could overrule anyone within these borders byw and sheer influence.
Whatever his decision was wouldnt immediately doom all of Fusion, that was the beauty of a decentralized model, but it could ripple outwards and hamper growth in areas directly affiliated. Politically, it would have earned him a lot of ire with other leaders if he sold too many resources abroad. Economically, he would make himself dependent on foreign people.
Therefore, it was best to NOT adopt apletely free market system. Having ruled both it and theplete administrative oversight of distribution out, the viable model had to be something in between. He needed to carefully engineer a system by which local businesses had an easier time to get his goods than foreign ones, while still allowing foreign ones to buy up whatever excesses he had to keep money flowing.
It also was a fact that there were foreign powers he wanted to sell things to in order to strengthen rtionships. A number of lengthy calls, group and single, with representatives from Fusions economic centres, the NTC, the Abyss Auction as well as council by Scarlett and Lydiater, John had cobbled together a basic system. It was designed to be adjustable and expandableter on and would doubtlessly need both.
Fundamentally, it was just ayered tariff system. People that operated their business within Collide paid no tariffs at all. Within Fusion, people paid a low tariff. Those that Collide or Fusion had trade agreements with, such as Rex Germaniae atrge and the NTC in particr, paid an average tariff. Lastly, those wares that ended up on the Abyss Auction had a high tariff. ess was also limited in that 50% of every yield was only essible to members of Fusion and only what was left after the locals had a few days to buy what they needed entered the open market. Originally that percentage had been 80%, but John had put it deliberately high, so he could let himself get haggled down.
Very few people were fully happy with this system. Scarlett admitted that she liked that she would be guaranteed an easier time on the market, but principally disliked such a direct involvement of the state in market affairs. Even if the state was the one producing things. Lydia was the exact opposite, principally approving of a degree of protectionism when it came to growing an independent economy, but pragmatically disliking that it was her market that was shut out of goods that she could buy cheaper than the rest of the world because of this.
The Boston corporatists were pretty happy, but they would have preferred if they actually had first ess to ALL of the wares. They wouldnt buy them all, but they wanted to be protected to the highest degree possible. Unhappiest of all was, predictably, the Abyss Auction. They wouldnt get a cut out of anything that wasnt traded over their website, which was now the majority of transactions. Only getting the scraps was far from what thergest economic force on the globe found eptable.
John would have loved to tell them to suck it up and live with it. That wasnt a possibility, as sad as it was. The scraps were, after all, still a massive amount of raw materials and he needed the Abyss Auction to get them sold to whoever wanted them. It was also far from wise to mess with a force that had more money than God. The Abyss Auction may have officially been a nonbat organization, but only an idiot would believe that they didnt have ways to cause problems of the violent variety if they didnt get what they wanted.
With that in mind, John instead diplomatically promised that he would be happy to enter negotiations about other aspects of the economy. Along his reconciliatory tone he dropped a few subtle and not-so-subtle reminders who Raves parents were. If he had to bow before the mega-corporation, he would at least do it in a way that potentially elevated people he knew within the power structure.
John himself was happy with the system. Not because he thought it was perfect or made him rich. If it had been about his personal benefit, thepletely free market solution would have been the best one. No, he liked it the most because it would help the small and local businesses the most. Becauserge corporations had a tendency to haggle over prices or lose themselves in forms exchanged between departments, the small businesses would be able to reliably swoop in first and get the small cuts out of therge pie each of them needed. Orders of kilograms were quicker agreed on and delivered than orders of tons, to put it simply.
A satisfied small business owner was a happy person that sang Johns praise. The Gamer did all of this because he wanted to keep Fusionrgely independent of foreign markets, but he also did it because he knew, without a doubt, that this would make him popr. The only thing that was more pleasing to his ego than positive entries in the history books were the whisperedpliments of his harem.
As always, John Newman was motivated by selfish reasons as much as selfless ones.
After this affair was done with, around 10 oclock on Friday, John got on a ne and flew over to Miami. He wasnt there to meet anybody, he just wanted to put down a long-range teleporter. With that ced, he had 4 out of 5 of them and no idea what to do with thest one. Which was nice. Having some overhanging resources rather than having to chase after new ones as the need for them arose was a wee change of pace.
He used the teleporter to get back home and spent the rest of Friday with regr paperwork. Thanks to Jack, even with all of these things going on, he hadnt gotten behind on that front at all and had the regr and rtively rxed read, sign and get sucked off-experience.
And that led to Saturday.
Chapter 815 – Dating Winds 1 – The little storm of thunder
Chapter 815 C Dating Winds 1 C The little storm of thunder
There we go, John groaned with satisfaction. The level up happily coincided with the end of his orgasm. The electric tingling around his cock also ebbed away, indicating that the person under the table had her own seed-fuelled orgasme to a slow halt. Enthusiastically, she was ready to continue, but John gently pushed her up his length. We can stop for now, Sylph. The experience maxed out for today.
His cock came free, only for the thunderstorm elemental to give it a long lick on her way to his balls. Taking a deep inhale, she let out a series of perverted and very girly noises, ending when she ced a kiss on his ever-full sack. You smell so gooooood, Sylph babbled. So manly and musky and stuff and you taste even better and Im totally soaked down here! Cant we do it some more for the fun of it? Cant we? We always did it just for the fun of it before!
Im not opposed to that at all, John mused, while quickly allocating his new Statpoints. The focus continued to be on Endurance. Next level, I will get the 250 Endurance scaling bonus AND can get my first Gamer level. Still have another free level up for that.
So we can go on, can we? Can we? Sylph asked, now working his shaft with her hand while continuing to kiss him. Seeing her adorably sexy face hidden half behind his cock was in itself a sight that John loved, especially with the make-up made of spilled precum and saliva. Being an air elemental, Sylph could deepthroat him for hours without seeming even the slightest bit perturbed. Although John still found the times with Lydia to be his favourite sessions, Sylph was also high on the list. Then again, Lydia only had the number one ce because of the ridiculousness of having a foreign empress suck him off on the near-daily. The number two spot probably went with whoever he was at the time. Even with all of their different styles and feelings, or perhaps because of them, John couldnt make a definitive ranking. All he knew was that he was cumming buckets every blissful workday.
We caaaaannnnnn, John stretched the word involuntarily. Sylph was licking her way back up and from her tongue spread out little discharges that tingled pleasurably within his cock. Whatever special brand of electricity the thunderstorm elemental was dispensing when they had sex, it was ecstatic. Buuuut, the Gamer wrestled control of his voice back from his lust, but you have to make that choice. Since the experience is maxed out now, our date night begins. He smiled at her. The rest of my day is all yours.
Sylph had already wrapped her lips around his dick and was now hesitating. Hmmmm, she hummed, and the sound intensely reverberated against his sensitive ns. Tilting her head slightly, John could feel the gears moving inside her beautiful head.
He had promised Sylph a date and he had told her that today would be the day yesterday, after he had gotten all of the economic stuff figured out. Aligning the blowjob schedule so she would be around when he would hit the threshold for the day had been no ident. It was to allow a smooth transition from work to fun. He had told Sylph all of this and she had seemed to be aware.
Which was something that John noticed.
In the past, Sylph would have forgotten something like this within the hour. The insides of her mind were a chaotic mess. Memories were whirled all over the ce and essed seemingly randomly and, often, inurately. This had somewhat improved with time. Sylph would never be a genius, but her intelligence had definitely developed along with Johns powers. Things like her tendency to be overly spontaneous or jump topics were ingrained into her character regardless of intellect, however.
How about one more blowjob then go? Sylph suggested through their mental connection, unwilling to depart from his cock already again. One more blowjob, then shower sex, then go? How much longer is the day? Do we have time for that and time for other stuff?
Its only sixteen hours, lots of time until midnight, John told her. If you want to start our date by sucking me off, I wont be protesting.
Every day is like a date with you and everyone, so why not, I say? I like sucking this, its big and hard and it goes sooo niiiiceee and deeeeeeeeep, thest words were emphasized as Sylph slid down his member.
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About thirty minutester, they were walking around in the Commercial district. John was clothed in the usual: ck shirt and pants of Schattengarn. Despite the colour, the intense sun rays that fell through the artificially cleared sky barely bothered him. The enchantments of the Chosen set made the clothes feelfortable no matter the weather.
Additionally, there currently was wind inside the barrier. Not a lot of it, just some localized gusts. Even that much was unusual in an Illusion Barrier. Even the Weather Tower wasnt able to create winds, yet. The source, instead, was Sylph, who was holding onto his arm and happily humming as she hovered along, her feet a few centimetres off the ground.
Her extremely long, green hair was bound up in a high ponytail. A red summer dress covered her body. Petite as she was in size, her curves were nothing but womanly, a small hourss with C-cup breasts and a nicely swung bottom. She was wearing these clothes in case they decided to switch into the normal worldter. Both the skirt and her ponytail were moving in the little gusts originating from her, filled with the sweetness of blooming flowers.
John found it fascinating that Sylph didnt even seem to realize what she was doing. Guess were slowly slipping into the echelon of power where we can identally influence our surroundings, he theorized. Well, I should say they are, I dont have the powers to directly influence the elements like that. Maybe Ill get some sort of intimidation aura at some point?
Hey, hey, John, did you know that your sleeve is super soft? Sylph asked, rubbing her face against his shoulder like a cat. Soooo soft. Its a wonder Velka doesnt try to steal your shirt all the time. Its a big treasure, a big, big treasure! Almost as big as your cologne.
I find it a bigger wonder she doesnt try to steal you. Youre a tiny treasure, after all, John responded with an admittedly cheesy and jokingly presented flirt. My tiny treasure, so Velka couldnt keep you anyway. I would take you back in a moment.
My hero, Sylph giggled and let go of his arm to float around him as he continued to walk. The only thing that was unusual about this type of behaviour was that she didnt scale down to her small form while doing so. A decision made to amodate her current state of clothing. Its super nice to have you to myself, super, super nice. I mean, its always nice to be with you, but you have so much to do all the time and even being under the table feels kind of lonely if you only do work at the side, you know?
Do you dislike it? John frowned, thest thing he wanted his girls to feel was lonely. I can easily pay more attention to you during those times. Hell, if you want to, we can arrange for something different than
No, no, no, no, Sylph waved off hastily. I dont need special treatment, Im a pretty happy haremette, a happy courtesan, super happy concubine, super, super happy nymphomaniac! Its just, urgh, sorry, am dumb She slumped together and lethargically hovered along for three steps. That was as long as it took for John to take action.
Plucking her out of the air, he ced the almost weightless woman in a princess carry. They were the centre of attention, being the ruler of this space and dashingly handsome made that inevitable, and so John overheard some wives and girlfriends around asking for simr treatment. Especially once he gave Sylph a deep kiss. His Charisma made the gesture equally affectionate and presentable for any theoretic cameras that could have been around. With the right musical score, it could have passed as a movie scene.
You might be whimsical and you might not be the smartest, John quietly whispered to her once their lips had hesitatingly separated. No, youre definitely not the smartest. In the analytical sense, youre the least of us, but you know that and youre upbeat, youre funny and you keep dragging all of us up when its so easy to be down. You are you and I love that C I love you. He pressed another kiss on her forehead and then they continued walking. Whatever you want to say, just try saying it until I understand. If that fails, just express it to me through our shared bond. Where words fail, we dont need to rely on them.
Giving her his most charming smile as he kept carrying her through the artificial summer day, he managed to make her blush to such a degree that Gnome would be embarrassed by proxy. The little winds her happiness had produced were now noticeable gusts that spread out from her like extensions of her heartbeat. Notpletely unlikely, since the equivalent of an elementals heartbeat was the magic pulse that kept their supernatural body manifest.
Uhm, awa, uwuwu, umu, ah, huh hmmmmmmm, Sylph stammered about in aedic fashion until she caught herself, copying some sounds from Gnome in the process. Pressing the tips of her index fingers together, she mumbled on, How do I then okay I think if I say it like this, then She mumbled a bunch of half-loud thoughts and then nodded to herself. So, remember how Iined about serious business before? When you suggested this date and I wanted lots and lotsa cuddles?
Hard to forget something so adorable, he told her, as they turned a corner.
The thing with that is that Im not good with your serious stuff. You know who I am and all that and that I dont like to think too hard aboutplicated stuff because I dont really get it. Like, why bother with all of this society and hierarchy stuff? We can just be happy, I know we can. You insist on making more than us happy and I dont really get it. Im kind of selfish that way, I know, but I dont really feel like were supposed to be responsible at all for anyone who isnt our friend. I think we can just all y along, you know?
John nodded. Although he thought that was beyond idealistic thinking, he knew the kind of mindset she was getting at. The problem here wasnt that Sylph was na?ve, she had been in enough conflicts to know that ying along meant that there would be violence at times. The idealism of this worldview stemmed from assuming everyone else would actually follow the same rules. Even if they somehow peacefully disassembled society, someone woulde along and make a new one. It was either that or they would be swallowed up by outside pressures.
What was true, however, was that the Gamer could be strong enough as an individual force to not care about organizations. While the world Sylph imagined for everyone could nevere to fruition, they could live by its rules regardless, because they were so powerful that they could bend the world to their desires.
But I get what youre doing, its kinda awesome seeing it happen too. Being with ya almost from the start, from that little house in nowhere to living in that big, biiiiig Pce now, its super, duper awesome! Sylph stretched her hands up into the air and drew an arch into the air by pulling them apart. Its just that you arent that same guy from back then and thats kinda hard to deal with sometimes. When I came to you, there was only what you wanted to do. Fighting the Bloodfallen? Your decision on your desires. Saving cute, adorable Jane from then very scary Thana, or Eliza, or na, or Eliana, dunno, name, that was aaaaalll you. Even when we went to help butt sluuuuuu
Sylph got hung up on thest syble of that word as John gave her a somewhat concerned nce. The insult she was currently voicing was one thing, taking jabs at Lydias fixation on taking it up the ass was basically tradition, but doing so in a decently visited public area was another matter entirely. The queen had enough to do without a mindless mention causing a media storm. John continued to be a hot-topic in the Abyss. It was only getting worse with time, in fact, due to Fusions continuous expansion. It wasnt every day that one got to witness the rise of a new world power and so the demand for news was high. Which negatively impacted Lydia a number of times a month.
Uuuuuuugging-super-duper-omega-awesome empress of the universe and all other stuffs Sylph, distantly aware that she had to be careful but not with such detailed reasoning, continued, even when we were with her, we still had lots of time to do what WE wanted. Most of our time was ying or training or having awesome amounts of sex and stuff. Then we came over here and you wanted to build stuff that now forces you to do things you dont want to do just so we can do the things we want to do, while not leaving us as much time to do other stuff. You changed since then, because of all that serious stuff.
Did I change for the worse? John asked more intrigued than worried. Sylph let all of this flow without any usation, demands or even as much as a hint of annoyance in her tone. Those were her honest feelings, but she didnt condemn him because of the changes.
Yeeaaahnnnoooo? Sylphs answer was decisively indecisive. I dont like it when you dont have time for dances and cookies. I dont like it when you sit in your office. I do kinda like it when I sit under your desk and I do like that you do shape a country, thats all impressive and cool and stuff. I just yearn C yearn, thats a silly word C yearn for those simpler times. I also dont want them back though.
She finally hovered out of his hands, only to twirl around in the air and take them. Now she pulled him along, not to walk, but to pirouette. He still remembered that day on the ice rink, when he had danced with her to the tune of a fairy orchestra. Thinking back, that travel back from Europe had truly been thest period in his life in which he had no responsibilities. Why dont you want them back then? John hummed, as he was led along, dancing in the public as if that was the most normal thing in the world.
Because, the thunderstorm elemental spoke in slow and thoughtful words, even if our time is less, it still is there. You have so many girls and you find time for us. You treat us all to a wonderful life. Even if you work your work, you still worry for us. Where you can, you give us little treats. What time we have is so much more precious and the path that you make is going toe to an end eventually. One day you will have done most of the work and then Ill still be here, right? Ill be there to be whimsical and fun when you need it, so you be serious and sweet and sometimes whimsical with me. Because I love you when youre just with me, because I love you when you are with all of us, I can love you even when you do that serious, boring, dull, dull, dull stuff.
How patient of you, John hummed in approval as they took three more steps and twirled out of the way of a taxi. It was one of the first cars on the Guild Hall, a test run. As for more words, he had none.
Sylph was one of his loves. She was imperfect. She spoke too much, she was chaotic, she was addicted to sweets and couldnt always read the room. He was the man that loved her. He was imperfect. He worked too much, he was an overthinker, he was addicted to sex and his pride drove him to chase things other than the happiness of his girls. Of course, there were things about the other that they didnt like. What rtionship was without its ws? What web of rtionships such as Johns with his harem could be?
They managed to dance and soberly talk through their troubles. How? Through a mix of extreme Charisma, mental connections and the luck of having found girls so willing to love him alongside others and, ultimately, each other. Happy with life and forgetting the people all around him, Johnughed and indulged in the dance.
John Newman!
Until a voice with a French ent pulled him back into reality.
Chapter 816 – Dating Winds 2 – Interruption and Recuperation
Chapter 816 C Dating Winds 2 C Interruption and Recuperation
The hasty steps caused the tanned womans hair to bounce as she approached John. Unequally parted, therger half was held in its ce by a jewel encrusted barrette, keeping the thoroughlybed, raven-ck tide orderly. She was gorgeous, as gorgeous as Johns girls, with dark lips and brown eyes. She would have looked better, however, if she hadnt been scowling.
Marie, John greeted her with a friendly bow of his head first and a kiss to her hand once she was close enough. She let it happen, but it felt more formal than usual. Something was definitely off about this current situation. She may have been the one of them that openly showed that she was dissatisfied, but John had his own problems with how she had just approached. He didnt appreciate having his loving moments interrupted. What brings you to me? He tried to keep his question neutral.
Ack of action on your part. Maries answer was a lot more hostile, and John looked around. They still had everyones attention. The shopkeepers werent openly staring or anything, but any confrontation would be noticed. The Illuminatis ambassador must have had the same train of thought. Lets get some privacy, she more stated than suggested.
Yes, Johns tone was getting frosty now. This had gone from an interruption of a tender moment to an interruption of the date atrge. He couldnt tell her off without causing the very scene he was trying to avoid, however, so he looked around and simply nodded in the direction of a pre-built Storefront that was currently vacant. Lets talk in there, he stated and took the lead. A few interactions with the Guild Hall menuter, he had unlocked the door.
There was only some basic furniture. A counter, some shelves along the wall and a couple of stools designed to help reach the upper areas of those shelves. Nothing around was really to sit on and nobody was willing to put their butt on the ck carpet. John refused to think the stay would be long enough to even warrant sitting. Shutters prevented people to spy through therge store window, but also kept the entire room in a dusky twilight.
I liked it better outside, Sylphmented, as she curiously flew through the room. She clearly had more to say, but kept most of it to herself. Once upon a time, it had been so difficult to keep Sylph silent for ten minutes it had counted as a ss Challenge. Since then, she had made some strides. Its stuffy in here. Not the fun, fluffy kind of stuffy, just kinda dusty and hot stuffy. She was still a babbler at heart.
Well get back out in a minute, John promised, his tone a lot warmer when addressing her than it was when he turned back to Marie. Exin to me exactly what you mean with there has been ack of action on my part, he demanded from the raven-haired noble. It took him quite a bit of effort to keep his bodynguage from betraying the depth of his current annoyance. Before he got mad, he wanted to see if he could de-escte this.
Is it not obvious? Since you returned from Florida, you have onlye to zee me for one shared meal. Marie crossed her arms and shifted her weight. Little bits of light reflected in the silver ornaments on her ck dress. Do you think zhat suffices to court me?
I have been busy, he responded with the simple truth. Im administrating the creation of a nation. Theres not a lot of time left for courting.
You seem to have the time to spend with other women, Marie pointed out.
I have time to spend with MY women. John now crossed his arms as well. Are you saying I should spend as much time with you as I do with my harem?
It is only right that you give some of that time to me, is it not? the pushback came swiftly. If you want me to join zhis harem of yours, you will have to court me, zhis is the agreement we have, is it not?
When I came to visit you this week, that was what I could carve out of my schedule.
If you can take zhe time for a date with a chattering gust, zhen I can demand
You can demand nothing, John interrupted in a grim tone, staring at her with barely held back fury. His patience was now drained and he wouldnt take any more of this interruption with a forgiving attitude. Have you learned absolutely nothing from what I told you during ourst date? Other people arent obligated to give you anything. This snobby attitude of yours will get you nowhere.
You call it snobby to demand that a man spends more zhan an hour a week with his woman? Marie responded.
You arent my woman yet, Marie. We have a mutual interest, but I have a harem already. A harem full of women that I love. They support me as I support them and they dont demand my time at the cost of each other.
Yeah! Sylph chimed in, flying around John. Were super supportive and we agree and its not always easy, but we dont barge into other girls dates. Thats super, duper rude. Like, putting sour cream on top of cakes levels of rude! You got to be more patient,dy, you cant be with big man John otherwise.
I dont need to be lectured in patience by one of your ever-childish kind, Marie snapped back. Im an aristocrat, Ive stood my vigil at the Arc of Triumph, while you struggle to stay your hands from a sweet jar.
I can stay my hands from the sweet jar, most of the time! Sylph babbled back in defense.
Marie, John was now irked beyond any interest in keeping the mood cool, apologize to Sylph. Immediately.
I have not said anyzhing that is untrue, the aristocrat responded.
Have you absolutely forgotten what I told you on ourst date? the Gamer growled. Or are you just so pampered that it refuses to stick? You dont get to put down everyone around you whenever they tell you that you arent perfect. Marie opened her mouth, but the defiant look made clear that it wasnt for an apology and so John refused to even hear it. The only petnt child around right this moment is you, Marie. You wanted to be courted C rein in your greed.
Marie pressed her lips together at that. We will talk again when you have calmed down, she stated and headed for the door.
That was the kind of final word John hated to take, but he let her go in silence. He had so many better things to do with this day than lose even minutes in such a petty argument. The way Marie handled the door on her way out, it would have mmed shut were it not for the mechanics around the hinges.
So, have to say, the thunderstorm elemental babbled before the silence could settle inpletely, Sylph with the professional concubine opinion, I think she might not be cut out for the harem life. What withining so much and not being able to take jabs or low dedicated time and all that and all this and all the other sacrifices.
John audibly inhaled and then answered with a sighed, Yeah, maybe, trying to exorcise all the frustration from his mind. He partially seeded. Ill have a talk with her tomorrow and see where exactly things should go. He started to mentally go through several courses that future conversation could go through. A habit he had that was seldomly useful and, given the subject matter, one of the few instances where his Intellect was an active detriment. Several dozen versions of the conversation yed out in parallel and, with the original affair just having concluded, almost all of them were negatively tilted. At the exact same time, other parts of his mind pulled back to past encounters with Marie.
There were always problems with her, problems of the ratherrge variety. When he was alone with her, he had been able to convince her mostly of trying to improve herself. Especially during the date he had thought he had managed to make her see what the issue was. Of course, the encounter with Metra they had while clearing out that little vers den was a lot less positive. In general, Marie being around people other than himself led to issues. Everyst encounter she had with one of his girls, even her mentions of them, had been dismissive at best and hostile at worst. As much as he wanted her in his harem, perhaps
Chi-pa-pa! Sylph suddenly shouted and stabbed his forehead with her finger. A tiny shock went through John, forcing his jaw to rx. Surprised, he took a step backwards. Chi-pa-pa, sho-sho, shi-ma-ma! the thunderstorm elemental continued to make weird noises and moved inedically jagged ways.
What are you doing? John asked.
Casting a spell to take your mind off serious stuff! You were serious all week, orgies aside, those were fun times, those are always fun times, no need to think too big on rtionships now, Sylph twirled and struck a wide armed pose with a smile. Is it working? Tell me its working. It looks like its working. A lot less of pondering, grim, grimdark look on your face, John Johnny Johnson.
I think it really is working, the Gamer chuckled; the negative thoughts had been blown away for the moment. Sweeping in, Sylph made sure it stayed that way by embracing him tightly. Her soft lips and chest pressed against his. Before their tongues met, she pressed a single breath into his lungs. The taste of honey filled his mouth, strong and sweet, and a little wakening tingle spread through him like an inside out massage.
You can follow your gut, yes? she babbled on inside his mind. No need to overthink all of this. Its your love life, a future concubine, a ymate, you shouldnt have to think all that much about your rtionship to just start it. You should feel it if you like her enough to put up with it, and if you have to think, think if you maintain that feeling forever. Maybe do think. Just dont think too much. Acting is important, acting is fun, acting brings you to the next thing after all the thinking. Their lips parted with an emphasized wet sound. Am I right or am I beautiful? No, wait, uhhhhh
Youre both, John told her and squeezed her round little bottom with the usual enthusiasm. Not sure if you give the best rtionship advice, but I know what youre getting at. Thank you. He leaned his head forward until their foreheads touched. They stayed connected like that for a few seconds, then John whirled around.
Sylphughed, loudly and whole-heartedly, as she was spun and spun and spun around John. Continuing to turn on the spot for as long as he could, John inevitably toppled over. There was a limit to how much even a superhuman could confuse their sense of bnce. Holding onto Sylph, he managed to just barely keep himself from falling overpletely.
They bothughed when the thunderstorm elemental then continued the dance they had so suddenly been interrupted in. Unsurprisingly, John moved as if he was dancing while doing a handstand. The world was a spin and Sylph dragged him along. The mighty Gamer, ruler of Fusion and leader of Collide, was nothing more than a fool stumbling around in an empty shop. His true identity and his behaviour didnt seem to match and that was exactly why John felt so much like himself in that moment.
The Innate Ability he had awoken hadnt just allowed him to make true all of the perversions he had dreamt of realizing. It also allowed him to find those friends to fool around with that a bullied childhood had robbed from him. He could act out in reality the little stupid ideas that he previously had only gotten to vent in stupid things he did in MMOs. Even over a yearter, he was still amazed at just how much more alive he felt.
Alright, alright, John eventually cried for mercy. Holding onto the empty counter for support, he waited for the swirling of the world toe to an end. Enough cheering me up, this is our date. We should do things that are fun for both of us.
Sylph sat down on the counter next to him and crossed her legs. Giving him a reserved smile and gazing with her amber eyes, she looked simply sexy. The wild bangs of her green hair partly covered her beautiful features. Cute nose and pale red lips, with pointy ears. In herrge form, she could have passed for a really small elf instead of the usual fairy impression. When she spoke again, it was slower than usual. Perhaps we should go to a ce of music and stories? she suggested. When she wasnt pvering at extreme speeds, her tone had a surprising simrity to Undines. There was something naturally singing in it.
Hmmm, I think an opera opened over in the Hudson Barrier recently, John told her. It was a piece of development that had entered his perception thanks to being a cultural milestone of sorts. For art to rise and cultivate to such a degree that an opera felt safe to open on his turf was testimony that people trusted the stability of his government. It could also be developed into a prestigious institution, although John was currently letting the free market sort that out.
Yes, yes! Sylph eximed, right back to her usual babbling. Lets do that, that sounds fun! Well, maybe the y will be depressing and all, and then I will maybe bawl and thatd be sad, but it could be fun as well! Before that, however she licked her lips and smiled more broadly in an openly seductive way, I can think of something else that we both will find fun.
Its not even been half an hour since west did it, John pointed out in an amused tone.
When was that ever a problem for any of us? Lets just have fun, sex, fuck, yes, thatst one! Sylph dered, already peeling out of her summer dress. Fuck me really hard! You like doing that, I like getting done like that! Her perky tits came into view,plete with the light pink nipples that so beautifully topped them. Im not a prude, Im a nymphomaniac! Total nymph! Being a nymph is fun, being a nymph thats always with you is funner!
I dont think thats a word, John pointed out with a giggle.
Then he had her over the store counter.
Chapter 817 – Dating Winds 3 – A little exception
Chapter 817 C Dating Winds 3 C A little exception
John entered an empty foyer. It had the same kind of look to it as the Fusion Capitol. That was to say, it was a building of extreme beauty, that many artisans had worked on, but with no historical value to it yet. Two rows of beige pirs close to the walls supported a high ceiling and partially hid ordinary looking doors in their shadow. Doubtlessly, those doors led into the actual opera side of things.
There were podiums and vitrines everywhere, currently taken up by vases or beautiful yet boring statues. John was under the honest impression that the vases would have looked better if they had been rolled around in the dirt for ten minutes. A few scratches would have made the marble hall feel less oppressively clean. Only a fountain in the middle of the room created some unique charm, the water dribbling down from the artistically curved petals of a stone flower.
Stepping around the fountain, the Gamer spotted arge reception desk. It was separated into three areas, the standard ticket selling in the middle and wardrobe services at both sides. The table was lower there, to facilitate the exchange of jackets, most likely. It also melded into the wall at the end of the curve. The space behind was partially carved into the wall, creating a cove that extended into the employee areas. While the sides of the reception were vacant, the middle was upied by a lone half elf with dark blue hair. A twitch of her pointy ears betrayed that she was aware of John and Sylphs approach, but she chose to keep her eyes downcast and focused on her phone.
Todays y begins in five minutes, the counter is closed. You have toe at least thirty minutes early to get in, she spoke in a bratty voice that immediately made John think of those stereotypical tsunderes that always seemed to appear in Raves favourite animes. No, we dont take reservations, so youll have toe back another time.
Thats unusual, John scratched his chin. Never heard of an opera not taking reservations.
Rather than answer, the elf pointed upwards. Golden letters were written along the softly curved cut-out of the wall. They were so heavily stylized that John had initially mistaken them for a simple part of the decoration. Now that he paid more than half a second of attention to it, he spotted them immediately. Art is for those present to enjoy it, he read out loud. I take it the person running this establishment is an entric.
Blowing air out of her nose, the half-elf answered, Yeah, hes a dumbass not at all cute or anything and his voice isnt sexy at all.
Well, regardless of that, do you think you could make an exception for us? John asked and leaned on the counter with a patient smile. A voice at the back of his mind informed him just how different he would be handling the situation if he was talking to a guy instead. Actively, the Gamer was very well aware of his hypocrisy and did not care. Just this once, I would be very grateful for it.
For just a moment, the womans eyes darted off her phone. N she started her reflexive answer, ready to dismiss him out of hand. Then she stopped movingpletely for half a second. John could practically see how the visual information arrived in her brain. What she had nced at sparked a realization that caused her to look at him a second time, more intensely. Finally, a new output order arrived at her mouth. Newman I mean President Newman!
Just John is enough. the Gamer couldnt help but wink flirtatiously as he said that. Observe told him that this woman may have been in love, but she was not in a rtionship.
I am Sylph, just Sylph, although you can address me as concubine Sylph, if you want to, and Sylph Newman, in some years, probably, when John marries Jane and the rest of us can follow up on that, the breathless elemental babbled her own greeting.
Dont worry, shell be quiet during the y, John promised the stunned receptionist. Assuming you allow that exception, of course, he added to appear more respectful. In his mind, it was a certainty she would let him in. Being who he was came with certain social perks. Given the amount of responsibilities I put on my shoulders, it bettere with advantages, were his thoughts on the matter.
O-of course, sir, that wont be any problem C I mean C she wont be any problem, not that she you know what I mean, President N- Word words she continued to stumble over her words until she finally shut up to gather herself.
A rather unfortunately timed stutter, John joked. It fell on deaf, pointy ears, the half elf going from surprised to confused and surprised. Right, that slur wouldnt mean too much to someone growing up in the Abyss, he realized. Different history, different kind of racism... then again, Lincoln was an Abyssal wonder how that historically yed out also wonder if Im about to invite an assassin on myself bying here. Never mind that, John waved off, as he put that thought process to the back of his churning mind, I would head inside then, is that alright?
Wait a sec! the receptionist darted out of her chair, having finally settled in the current goings-on. Weve sold out on the regr seats, but Im sure we still have a VIP lobby open somewhere. Let me show you the way.
We would be much obliged, responded the Gamer with a thankful nod. Strolling through the insides of an unknown building could have been a bit awkward.
Bigly obliged, hugely obliged, the biggest of obliges you have ever seen, Sylph added with wide gestures. Well, maybe not the biggest one, actually, but a lot of obliging will be had! Ill repay you somehow, Ill think of something at the earliest opportunity!
Thanks? the half elf said while jumping over the front of the reception desk. The skirt of her light red uniform fluttered for a moment, then shended elegantly in front of John. Will you need to leave anything with the wardrobe? she asked in a tone that indicated that it was a pure routine question.
No, John simply responded and followed the receptionist when she got moving. They went towards a door at the right-hand side and entered a staircase area. It stretched up and down, covering all of the levels of the opera. One each floor, there were two ss doors that led into a corridor each. All of those were the same, slightly curved hallways with evenly spaced out doors at one side. They ascended all the way to the highest level before the receptionist opened one of them and hastily stepped through.
Alright, there should be an empty lodge right about she mumbled as she looked at each of the doors. It didnt take John long to figure out that there was a colour code underneath the number that marked each door. He only saw two colours, red and blue. Since the dark-haired woman continued walking past both, they must each stand for some variant of upied.
John noticed the approaching footsteps before his guide did and turned to look towards the curve of the corridor. Like a ship drifting over the horizon, a person came into view. He was dressed in an outfit covered in multi-coloured drapes. They gave his lean body an odd feeling, as if he was himself a curtain for a y. He wasnt the most attractive fellow, but neither was he ugly. His ck hair was orderly kempt andposed in a ponytail and he had a nice amount of grit in his movements. Taking long, hurried steps, that made it almost seem like he was running, he approached them.
Mabelynn! His voice was sharp and singing as he spoke. Not as pleasant as Undines, but deep and imposing. The melodic undertone aside, it was kind of simr to Johns own tone of voice. A quick Observe revealed a rivalling level of Charisma as well. Why are you apanying an intruder?
H-hes a customer! the receptionist responded, immediately folding in his presence. The way she averted her eyes then gathered her courage to face him with a defiant gaze could have easily been misunderstood as disdain. Show a bit more respect!
People that enter after the allocated hours are invaders of my art-sphere, not customers!
Mabelynn took a couple quick steps towards her boss and pulled him as far to the side as she could in the corridor. Conspiratorially, the two bent forwards to have a discussion in rtive privacy. It was a valiant but useless effort. Even if he hadnt possessed superhuman hearing, Sylph was logically quite sensitive to sounds.
Look who were talking about, Lem, the half elf hissed. Its John Newman C John fucking Newman C you know the guy on whose ground weve built this ce?!
I purchased this ground so its mine now, Lem (whose full name was Lembert) responded quietly himself. John had a hunch it was more from dramatic underscoring then out of keeping with secrecy. Not that it mattered anyway, Johns hearing was too good to let a few hushed whispers pass him by. Im the king on this property. Take the intruder back out!
Urgh, youre such an idiot! Cant you think about the sess of your business just once?! Mabelynnined. This guys attendance is a cash cow! Milk him and make lots money and then you can expand your opera and follow that stupid art dream of yours of having a hovering opera not that I care about you being happy, or anything! Idiot!
Laying it on a bit thick, the Gamer mentallymented.
Hey, hey, John, those two like each other, right? Sylph chimed into his thoughts.
Well, Observe says they have a fancy for each other, if nothing else, the Gamer answered. The Skill had been revealing that much to him. Not that he had any idea what useful thing to do with that information.
Then its time to oblige back!
Already? John asked, ignoring the continued bickering that happened between Lem and Mabelynn.
No time like the present, no need to wait. A brilliant future for those two, we can create. Mate! Late! Something else that kinda rhymes, dunno, point is we should tots do it!
If you have any idea how to handle this, dont let me stop you, the Gamer responded, almost more entertained by the idea of what coulde next than he expected to be during the opera.
Hey, you two should kiss! Sylph did not disappoint. Suddenly between the bickering duo, the thunderstorm slung her arms around both of them before they could slink away in surprise. You should make out, yes, yes, make up and make out! Fighting is entertaining and all, but its always nicer when its followed by a smooch. She clearly wants it, you clearly want it! She pointed at both of them, and in the stunned silence they looked at each other for support. Their eyes met. Sally always wanted it, Sylph babbled on, letting the duo go and slowly drifting off. Silly Sally, wonder what she is doing right now.
Wha-? The receptionist was now blushing to the point that her face was contrasting her hair. No, I do not! I just think he should follow his dream and that he is cute when he does that what are you looking at me like that for?!
I never considered you could feel like that for me, Lem admitted. But, yes, now that its been stated so clearly to me, I see it in your eyes. It is as if the curtain has been lifted, the curse has been cured by a few simple words.
I am not THAT into you, idiot...
She totally is, John hurried this whole realization along. Amusing or not, the y would start soon.
The Gamer was about to give some advice on handling unruly girls, but Lem didnt need it. Lifting her chin with his hand, the taller man stared at the half elf. There was a moment of aggressive gaze aversion, then Mabelynn took one nce too many in the opera owners direction. She got hooked on his eyes. John didnt understand what she saw in him but he also didnt know either of them. Few moments of longing gazester, they were suddenly kissing.
The Abyss is truly full of weirdos, John joked to himself. He wasnt judging anyone, it was just a statement that was very true in his eyes. Counting the seconds, he waited for the kiss to end which, of course, it eventually did.
Thank you, kind intruder, for showing me true love where I thought I just had an unruly employee! Lem announced and gestured in such a way that the many drapes of his outfit impressively fluttered. Shaking her head, likely unsure what had just happened, Mabelynn pinched the bridge of her nose. Whatever annoyance she wanted to express was lessened extremely by the broad, goofy smile on her face. As repayment for your services, I shall allow you what is in my power, intruder.
The name is John Newman, the Gamer pointed out, slightly irked at theck of recognition. Would be a nice start if you could at least address me by my name.
Fine then, John, Lem bowed in an overemphasized way.
Opening his mouth to demand being called by hisst name, John thought better of it and just sighed. Well, since youre in charge of things here, would you be so kind to make an exception for me and Sylph?
Most certainly, right this way, Lem stated and turned on his heels.
I suppose that was my good deed for the day. Well, not exactly mine, John thought and looked to the thunderstorm elemental. Directly after her little babble, she had mentally reached out to Smander, and the two of them were now engaged in one of their usual conversations.
If John had to paint a visual representation of themunication between those two, it would be one person hammering a punching bag while the other sat on top of the swinging bag and ate ice cream.
Even if they were in love already, that went a tad too smooth is this some sort of ploy to get me to lower my guard? The Gamers paranoia surfaced and he actually tensed for a few moments as he analysed all of his surroundings. Seems like this really is just about two morons that needed a tiny push.
The Gamer was guided to a door that was marked by a green strip underneath the number. Lem opened it with one simple gesture, and John stepped inside.
The room was simple; one long table stood in the middle, surrounded by six chairs. A single candle stood on the table. While it was too weak to illuminate the room, their surroundings were still brightly lit. This was thanks to the balcony that reced the back wall, open towards the actual opera area. By sheer luck, they hadnded the room that was looking straight forward onto the stage. Given the incident with Marie earlier, it was nice to experience such a rapid session of positive events. In the span of five minutes, he got to stroke his pride, help the forming of a couple and secure himself the best position of viewership.
Oh hey, look, look! Sylph said out loud, as John continued to analyse the hall below. Raising his eyes from the packed rows of themon seats below, he first nced over to the thunderstorm elemental and then followed the direction of her finger. Standing next to a familiar blonde was an even more familiar lean but muscr guy with long, brown hair. Both wore fine clothes, which was normal for the man with his disciplined stance. The woman next to him, John had only seen in one other outfit and it had been rather skimpy byparison. Its Magnus and, uhh, not Nia, but almost Nia, simr name, also blonde. Not French though. Also a stripper.
Nina, John told his thunderstorm elemental. He would have interrupted earlier, but nobody below had done as much as raise their heads. If he had to take a guess, the red curtains that hung on either side of the balcony had some noise dampening enchantments on them. The couple failed to notice him even as he waved. He dropped his hand when he started feeling silly and stepped back. The y hadnt started yet.
There is a menu on the table, feel free to order anything. It will arrive when its ready, the half elf informed the two of them.
If you will excuse us, we have a rtionship to n, Lem added and closed the door.
You do that, John mused to the now no longer present couple. You know, Sylph, he said while walking over to one of the chairs, sometimes I think artists get so lost in writing characters that they lose touch on how real people behave.
What do you mean? the thunderstorm elemental asked as she took the only proper seat in the room C hisp.
I mean that this Lem fellow is horribly overacting everything, John responded while picking up the menu. Rather than some in old paper, it was an electronic pad that only ran one application. Nifty, as far as John was concerned. And that Mabelynn girl spoke so clich that I cant quite believe that she naturally behaves like that. They probably identified a bit too much with characters they read or made and changed themselves ordingly.
You sure? That soundsplicated.
Im making a guess, John told her while they looked over the offered items together. Ive only ever told two stories, so I dont know too much about it. Wouldnt pretend that Im wise to it. Anyway, I want something to drink, what about you?"
Chapter 818 – Dating Winds Finale – The Mad in a Dancing World
Chapter 818 C Dating Winds Finale C The Mad in a Dancing World
Green stood for unupied, blue for services have been ordered, orange for simply upied and red for do not disturb under any circumstances, that was what John read in the FAQ segment of the ordering app, while waiting for his order to arrive. He was somewhat uncertain what they could need the red function for, given sex in the lodges was actually forbidden by the terms of service. Something that John had wrinkled his forehead at in surprise. After a few seconds, hismon sense had kicked in and reminded him that it was, in fact, odd of HIM to assume that an opera would just allow him to have semi-public sex.
I suppose its in case there are private talks going on or something, he thought, half-heartedly listening to what was going on below. A single person had stepped in front of the red curtain and started to set the mood for the story. For a start, it was just the usual fantasy babble. Lots of big, magical words being thrown around. Even in the physics breaking world of the Abyss, it seemed a fable was the most popr kind of opera.
While he was somewhat bored of the, so far, quite standard tale, Sylph was hooked. The narrator was enthusiastic about his job, it had to be said, and the orchestra sitting in a trench in front of the stage was underlining his performance with a soft melody that spiked and swelled at the right times. It was a well-studied act.
and so it is that in the stable but imperfect kingdom of Leftfrania, King Kaloring sits in his throne room and deliberates his decisions, the narrator came to an end. He left the stage to the side and the curtain slowly began to rise. A moment of silence ensued, as the orchestra rested their hands.
Leftfrania? Kaloring? John was bemused by those names and chuckled a little bit. Turning her head to him, Sylph looked questioningly. Its a ratherzy renaming of the kingdom of West Frankia and the dynasty of the Carolingians that ruled it, he exined.
Ooooh, the predecessor to France thingy? Sylph asked.
Colour me surprised that you knew that. John chuckled a little bit more, especially when the thunderstorm elemental bloated up her cheeks. Sorry, sorry, I should bow to your knowledge, my cute concubine.
Yeah, you should! I fill my brain with all of this random history stuff you keep learning about and here you mock me for it. Mean John, very, very mean John! I demand cuddles! Since she was already in hisp, that was an easy thing to give. The concubine is appeased, she hummed after a few seconds of deep embracing.
She was about to be even more appeased as two knocks on the door warned them that someone was entering. Your order of two bottles of wine and a chocte cake, sir, a waiter stated as he fluidly entered the room. Literally, in this case, as he was some sort of slime lifeform of the green variety. John had never even imagined a male slime. If he had, however, it would have been quite a bit worse than what he was actually looking at. Inrge part, probably, because this slimy male wore clothes that covered his translucent torso and his entire lower body was one flowing mass with no genitals in sight. Only his face, the twirled moustache, inexplicably ck, and his voice gave away his gender.
With boneless arms, he quickly ced the order on the table in front of John and then bowed even as he flowed backwards out of the room. Thank you, John barely managed to say before the waiter diligently nodded and closed the door quietly behind him. Both of the wine bottles were already open, so John just had to pour himself and Sylph a ss.
John didnt fancy himself a wine drinker, but he also didnt fancy himself a particrly experienced drinker, period. As a matter of fact, he wasnt evenpletely sure if he ever had wine before. If he did, he had been so drunk he didnt recall it. On this specific asion, the red liquid pouring into his ss seemed adequate. Sylph, on the other hand, had insisted on getting wine from the start. All of this Discordwine she had drunk during her stay on her home ne had made her curious and now she was seeking something simr. From her description, it had been rather sweet, so he got her something along those lines.
Just drink in moderation, John warned her as he sipped on his ss.
Moderation is my thirteenth title! Sylph dered and downed half the ss in one gulp. Small mouth or not, this tiny girl could swallow. Very tasty, very sweet, kinda fruity, dunno how good it is inparison to other wine, but its nice. Very nice. Want more but! Moderation! Sylph ced her drink on the table. To her credit, she did actually keep her hands off it, instead following the y.
The curtain had risen at this point, revealing a set that looked like the inside of a medieval castle. Torches flickered on stone walls, with tapestry hanging between them. Each of the banners depicted a soldier in boots, carrying a scroll. The advantage of a magical set was that nothing was a mere look-alike, everything was genuine material.
There were three people on the scene. The king on his mediocre throne, a servantdy holding a salver filled with cheap bread and a noble in clothes so fine that, aside from the royal cape, they were more luxurious than anything the king was wearing. That noble stomped from the edge of the stage towards the throne, each step apanied by a heavy drumbeat. My liege, if I may have a word!
Sighing heavily, the king turned his gaze from the servant to the noble. It is not as if I could deny you, cousin. I am dependent on your taxes, after all.
While I am not dependent on your head wearing that crown! the noble spoke out loud, causing the servant to avert her gaze and stay silent. Have you heard of the peasants and their frivolous festivities?
Yes, I have heard and I am pondering, cousin, the king responded. They feast and dance and continue the species in degradation. I have great worry.
Great worry, why is that? the noble asked. Is it true what I have heard? That you n to rein in their excess?
Do you not approve?
Far from it, Kaloring, I forbid that you meddle. They feast on my grain and the children they bear so mindlessly will make easy serfs on mynds. All of that dancing is truly getting them in a mood that is great for our country!
Great for us or great for you? the king asked.
One and the same.
Do you bear the crown?
I bear the coin, gold enough to forge a thousand of your crowns.
Yet, only the one I wear will hold value among all of them.
What preposterous arrogance, that something has value because it rests on your head.
It is not my head that makes it royal, it is my face, my blood and my reputation, cousin. The king was clearly struggling to contain his annoyance at this point. The orchestra swelled as the monarch rose from his seat of power and stepped down to face the noble directly. They broke into song.
It was a battle between two baritones. The king sang about arguments to the societal copse that such frivolous activities would bring to the kingdom, while the noble continued to emphasize the benefit of the merchants and himself. Every so often, their arguments would break down into a refrain of two simple sentences shouted back and forth. I have the coin! I have the crown! repeated four times before they separated in an angry rush, only to end up on opposite ends of the hall and continue their argument as before.
Although the main melody of the song stayed steady, the supporting violins elerated more and more as the debate got heated. As logical statements were discarded in favour of past grievances being voiced and emotions being spouted, the noble shouted, Old tyrant you, of bent back and weary neck, would have us forget to dance if you could!
Perhaps I shall do just that, lord of gold! Without the dance to rouse appetite and lust, perhaps our people will remember what they must!
Stunned and with the discharge of music through the loud tones of several tubas, the noble stumbled back. Then the song was over. You cannot be serious, Kaloring!
If the dance is the source, to dance is forbidden. Servant, the quiet woman opened her eyes, inform the heralds, my decision is made. No more dances in Leftfrania.
As you so wish, my liege.
The curtain slowly fell and gave everyone a moment to chew on the event that had unfolded. Booo, Sylph dered her dissatisfaction, forbidding dances is mean! You shouldnt do that!
Its certainly tyrannical, John could agree without a moments hesitation. However, he added shortly thereafter, I get what the problem of the king is. Fundamentally, he is faced with a problem in society that he needs to solve, but his most powerful subject, apparently powerful enough to be in open disagreement, blocks his every idea on the matter. Since he cant do nothing, heshes out at whatever he thinks could solve the issue.
Yeah, okay, sure, but banning dancing isnt going to solve things! Why are people even that addicted to stuffing their faces and dancing, maybe he should look at that! How do you say, uhm, fight the illness not the disease? No, thats just audible sigh, thats just the same thing twice its ah, fight the disease, not the symptoms!
Youre right, John told her and sipped a little bit more on his wine. Most of the time. Sometimes fighting the symptom is very effective at fighting the disease. Especially if its a passing one. Well see where they take this entire metaphor.
The narrator stepped back out and informed everyone about what happened. The kings neww was spread throughout hisnds. It was popr with the old and unpopr with the young. Popr with the settled and unpopr with the adventurous. The adventurous that now had a lot of time and energy to focus on something that wasnt dancing C and there was just one man that wished to take advantage of it, in the name of all of the jealous nobility.
The curtain rose again and this time revealed a set that seemed to be a dark alleyway between two houses. Standing between two doors, the rich noble spoke to a man who moved in dancing motions without pause. The old king has gone mad, as you can surely attest?
For sure he has, for sure he has! the dancer dered. My Veitstanz is unending and the king made my very existence a breaking of hisw. I am exhausted and sick and now I am in fear!
Veitstanz? Sylph asked her summoner.
A German word for a phenomenon where people would dance until they would be too exhausted to continue or dead, John exined. Just an artist feeling creative and plucking a word from somewhere and using it almost correctly. More wine? Enough time had passed that he felt he could refill Sylphs ss without her getting too drunk too quickly.
Yes! she enthusiastically agreed. A momentter, they toasted. All the while the scene continued. It wasnt terribly interesting and could be summarized in that the noble pledged his support to the dancer as the head of a movement against the king. The following music number then had the dancer putting on a great show, into which more and more young people joined out of the nearby houses. The dance spread through the crowd, awakening repressed fervour, as the noble rubbed his hand with a content expression in the background. The song was lucid and unsteady, which fit perfectly for the absolute chaos the dance was. The choreography masterfully depicted the feverish and fractured unity of the mob.
The curtain didnt lower to transition the scene this time. Instead, the entire stage turned. The mob danced along, remaining on the rtive spot, making it seem as if they were running into the scenery of the castle. What is the meaning of this? the king shouted over and over again through the transition. Stop your dance, it is ouwed!
We will not, he cannot, the crowd shouted, so we will never. We are all the dancer now.
The king tried to stem the tide, but there were too many bodies. Eventually, he vanished between the dancing limbs and was not seen again. His crown, however, resurfaced on the head of the dancer. We are all the dancer now! he dered and the crowd cheered. It seemed as if the dancer tried to sit down on the throne, but his condition kept him from doing so. Call the nobles, call the nobles, let our supporters see their new king!
A new song started, this one erratic from the start. The dancing, writhing mob condensed around the throne as one by one nameless nobles were brought in. Each time, there was a pompous introduction and the list of their honours, each time that was ended by the refrain of the mob demanding that they too dance. Each time, the noble obliged and joined the mob, swelling its number as they went from unimportant lords to finally the so-called lord of gold.
The rich man stood before the mob, listing all his aplishments. By himself, he took three times as long as all previous nobles and two times he was interrupted by the mob by the usual demand. Finally, the dancer dered in a line so deadly that it ended the song abruptly, You will dance or you will hang!
For what could you hang me? With what authority?
I have the crown.
I have the coin!
I do not care for your coin. You are the mad in my dancing world. Now dance with us or hang.
And the lord of gold danced. Danced and danced until the people in the throne room started falling over from exhaustion, until only he and the dancer were left. The noble copsed before the dancer. In the end, even the new king fell and with him the curtain.
That was the end of the y.
Huh, John tilted his head. I liked that.
Shuuuuper on the face all alle allegory for collectivism, boring! More dancing! Sylph stumbled over her words. Its just about oppressed turning into oppressor, way too direct!
Well, I like simple messages sometimes, John mused. Sylph wasnt attacking his taste, it was important to understand, she just didnt like the y as much as he did. Neither of them made a statement about whether it was objectively well written at that point. They had watched it to kill time and each gotten a bottle of wine into their system in the process. John had also been regrly distracted by putting some of that chocte cake into Sylphs mouth. How about we watch a movie we know you will like once we get home?
Yessss, lets watch Hangover again! the tipsy thunderstorm elemental dered.
Chapter 819 – To resolve a question
Chapter 819 C To resolve a question
Whenever John looked at the Embassy, he couldnt quite shake off the impression of looking at an oversized bowling pin. The majority of the Building was a simple white cylinder whose windows were decorated with a blue trim. From the roof extended a massive antenna whose broad base steadily narrowed towards the top. To properly resemble a bowling pin, the Embassy would have needed a bulged-out tip and more roundness around the bottom part.
The Gamer let himself be amused by the mental image, before reminding himself of the purpose of his visit. Time to sort things out, he thought as he headed for one of the two entrances.
It was Sunday morning. Yesterdays date had ended well, with John and Sylph spending two more hours together, enjoying a movie in one of the private corners of the Pce, before going back to the main gathering point that was Johns apartment. Normally, he dedicated free days like this one to doing things he actually liked, namely videogames and orgies. Today called for at least one serious conversation to be had before he could get to that.
Once inside, John took firm steps towards his target. There was no use in dying this. All hesitation would simply lead to more problems down the line. Arriving at the door of the single upied ambassador apartment, John stopped and raised his hand. Three times, his knuckles knocked on the wood, then he waited.
It only took a few seconds for Marie to open the door. She wore a formal, blue dress today, one with long sleeves and skirt. Had she gone into the artificial summer of the Guild Hall with it, she would have been roasted within minutes, but the air conditioned inside of the Embassy eliminated such issues.
She looked him up and down, obviously searching for something and not finding it. Greetings, John, she said in a tone that was a mixture of mildly friendly with hostile undertones. Do you want to talk inside?
Id much prefer it, he answered with a slight nod. She stepped to the side and invitingly extended her arm. John stepped inside. The room hadnt changed much since hest came here. The furniture, carpet and even wallpaper were all of a renaissance style that fit for someone of an old European bloodline.
Take a seat, Marie offered once she had closed the door. Tea?
No thank you, John responded as he sat down, not particrly thirsty at that moment. Under other circumstances, he would have also wanted to spare his host the trouble. For this specific asion, Marie would have only needed to supply a container. A porcin pot was standing on the table, with a half full cup of tea and a book right next to it. It appeared the dark-haired French woman had been spending her morning reading a history novel about the fall of Burgundy.
Once the ambassador of the Illuminati was sitting down opposite of him across the round table, she remarked, I expected at least flowers as an apology gift.
I have nothing to apologize for Marie, John responded, and their casual greeting now transitioned into a long silence. The steady swing of therge grandfather clock in the corner kept informing the Gamer just how long each passing second was. Both of them wereposed, sitting proudly. Nothing is going to happen like this, he mentally resigned himself and continued speaking. We need to figure out if this can work, he stated the intention of his visit.
Indeed, Marie nodded and reached for the tea. Rather than drink it, she looked into the reflecting surface. I should start by thanking you, John. You did show me parts of myself zhat are imperfect and for that I am grateful, regardless of anything else.
It is my pleasure. I like talking to you, John told her, weing the change of tone. Youre intelligent, well-spoken and beautiful. It is just a shame that we seem to differ so much in our expectations of how this can go Stopping for several seconds, he asked the question straight out, Do you love me, Marie?
No, she answered immediately, but I know I could, in time.
Yes, that sums it up pretty well, John confirmed that those were his feelings on the matter as well. What you currently demand in courtship, I cannot give you. As I said yesterday, the majority of my time is spent on my loves.
Do you say I do not deserve that same time? Marie asked.
Deserve? No, you do not deserve my time, John told her, staring at her warningly as he said it. You are not entitled to my attention. Neither are you allowed to get away with insulting those that I love. I think youre a girl worthy to be paid a lot of attention to. As I said, youre witty and gorgeous, but that only excuses so much.
Zhen what is it that you expect me to do? the French woman wanted to know, now raising her teacup and taking a sip. His stare, she ignored without any issue.
Lower your expectations, Johns answer was simple. Youre not the most important woman in my life, Marie. I have a harem of girls that I all love dearly. Jane is my favourite, but even she doesnt stand tall above the rest. What you seem to want, the attention, the dedication and the sole focus, I cannot give it to you.
Emptying her cup, Marie diligently ced it back down on the te that came with it and slowly slid both off to the side. I was well aware of the fact that you had a harem when I showed my interest in you, she stated. Her dark eyes travelled from the table up to meet his gaze. I figured zhat I would rather have you some of the time than a lesser man all of the time. I still believe that, but I am forced to admit zhat my calctions on this matter were na?ve.
If you manage to rein in your excesses in conversation, Im sure you could get along with my girls, John said. We could spend a lot more time together then.
Oui, but it is not zhe kind of time I want, Marie shook her head. I have to work on that part of myself, that is without question, but I do not think that I deserve that I am worthy of as little as you can offer me.
The Gamer pressed his lips together. He didnt agree with the formtion, but he knew what she was getting at. It is a shame. I think we would make a good couple, he pointed out.
I agree, but your harem is simply toorge for a woman like me, Marie responded, visibly disappointed by this fact. It is not unreasonable of me to ask for my partner to spend time with me. No matter how much you insist zhat the way I think of it is wrong, this want I cannot change.
It is absolutely justified to want more time with your lover, John nodded, dont get me wrong there. I only take issue with you demanding things There was a pause as Marie poured herself a new cup. Either way I take it then that our attempts at romance are best put to an end?
I would not mind if you continued to court me, Marie responded. As a matter of fact, I hope for it. My heart wants it. Unless you fundamentally change your approach, however, the strength of your character will not suffice. You cannot conquer the world with a sliver of dedication.
Then it will stay as it is, I am afraid, the Gamer sighed and leaned back in his chair. A shame, a real shame
Can you so barely stand the thought of a woman not being yours? Marie asked, slightly amused.
I absolutely loathe the idea that someone Im interested in isnt mine,ined John out loud. I am a greedy, lustful, prideful sinner. I should be thankful for the fact that I have so many girls around me that are willing to put up with not being the one. I AM thankful for that. I just want even more. He looked to Marie. How does that figure into your interest in me?
It changes nothing, I was well aware of zhat, she returned, and they both smiled.
John wasnt happy about this oue, but the relief he felt at the topic being discussed was infinitely preferable to the uncertainty he felt after yesterdays fight. It appeared that Marie felt simr. Neither of their smiles were broad or even all that happy. They were simply not angry or frustrated anymore. In that vacuum settled a very odd kind of glee. John had never felt anything like it, but he had also never been in this situation before.
tonic even with that feeling the word had difficulty crossing his lips, a tonic rtionship it is then.
It appears that will be for the best, Marie nodded.
That little agreement changed something in the room. Something quite drastic. John still desired Marie as a woman. Her beauty was unchanged, the things that made her attractive were all still there. With just those few words, however, the desire to make her his was reduced to barely anything.
Thank God I decided to take things slowly with her, he thought. There would be a muchrger mess to clean up if they ever did more than kiss. He wasnt one to get immediately attached because of physical intimacy (anymore), but it would still make the transition harder. All that happened between them now was that they agreed that it would nevere to that point.
If you wouldnt mind, I would appreciate it if youe here every so often. I still want to chronicle your history, Marie asserted. That was the reason why she had originally desired to be the ambassador, even if it was a bit of a side upation of hers.
I dont mind at all, John assured her. Perhaps I will bring some of my girls to add their own perspective. With Marie no longer being a contender for the harem, he was less hesitant to expose them to each other. Him having friends his harem didnt quite like was much easier to justify than him having such a lover. As a matter of fact, the former was something that could be simply expected, while thetter, with the way his harem worked, would be an absolute disaster. Should be good training for you as well.
Marie blew air out of her nose in a somewhat udylike gesture and reached for her book. Perhaps I will appreciate it. For now, I would ask you to leave. She made an absentminded wave towards the door. Smoothly as this went, I would like time alone to think.
Of course, John nodded and got up. If you want to talk, just send me a text, he said his goodbyes and headed for the door.
I will drop by your office, the French ambassador countered with her idea. Its the walk of amon stroll, not a bridge that needs legends to cross.
Just remember to knock, John warned with a much-saying nce and then walked out.
In a sombre mood, he left the Embassy, headed back to the Fusion Administration and used the teleporter inside there to return home. He considered going to Velka for a moment to get some affectionate cuddles. This early in the morning, it was too likely that Nia and Eliza were there and alreadypeting for the Magryphs attention.
He decided to check on her around noon instead. Since she could now eat on her own and was slowly getting more daring in exploring the updated surroundings, the Gamer reduced the amount of times he saw her every day. As any other cat, independence was ingrained into her DNA. Since she was already used to him and recognized her home as the ce to get food and store her valuables, she wasnt about to be a stray.
I wonder when she will be able to move out of barriers on her own, the Gamer thought. Abyssal animals had some sort of mechanism that allowed them to migrate between Illusion Barriers. It took considerable effort for weaker ones and hatchlings were absolutely unable to do it. As far as John knew, only gods could do it without issues. Even Tilgun seemed to have difficulty moving around, considering how seldom he did it.
As John pondered these things, he walked into his apartment. Moans immediately flew in his direction. The origin was Gnome, who was lying on the breakfast table, with Undines face between her legs. Having turned her tongue into a tendril of considerable length and girth, the abysstide elemental was busy eating the older elemental out C and getting off while doing so. A creative application of her ability to shapeshift and allocate her own sensitive areas.
Gnome yelped a little bit when he entered, a sound equally of surprise and a sudden surge of lust. W-wee back, John! She quickly gathered herself. Did it go well?
Pretty well, he answered with a smile and broadcasted the results to those with the connection to hear them. No sooner than he finished doing that, he heard quick steps approaching from the bathroom. Comints from his girlfriend echoed out along with Aclysia bursting into the living room. The weaponized maid was stark naked, wet, and a retreating bump above her pussy indicated that she was using her dick moments earlier.
Generally, John didnt look at Aclysias ability to form male genitalia as more than a glorified strap-on (same was true for the other two Artificial Spirits he created). That was to say that he did not mind them having them around and using them to pleasure the rest of the harem, even in an orgy setting. However, he had absolutely no interest in interacting with them and he much preferred seeing them without. A clean cunt was infinitely more attractive to John than one with a cock attached to it. Especially with the Lovers Will mark in the mix.
Youre going to get the floor wet, John joked when the weaponized maid approached him.
I will clean itter, Aclysia announced, as she took his hand. Are you fine, Master? The scorning of that horribly unwise woman didnt leave you hurt, did it?
It was a really sombre decision.
Any decision made to not enter your harem out of pride is categorically incorrect! Aclysia insisted and earned herself a few head pats.
I appreciate the sentiment, but something like this was bound to happen at some point, he told her.
Ja, no biggie. Rave, also naked and also wet, entered the room with Beatrice in tow. Certainly not big enough to stop double teaming me in the shower over!
Jane, you cant just have fun without me! the Gamerined in the usual, non-serious fashion. He didnt even ask how she, whocked the mental connection, was so sure about the validity of what she had just said. The usual, semi-impossible intuition of his girlfriend applied.
When did that be a rule? She crossed her arms. Well, if ya dont want your maids to take care of it, ya can do the double pen on your own. I just know that I suddenly got m jammed!
Well, if you ask like that the nearby Mand Sphere started to morph into Johns double, who am I to refuse?
With or without Marie, the harem was plenty to be happy about.
Chapter 820 – The First Session of Parliament
Chapter 820 C The First Session of Parliament
John watched the members of both government houses pour into the parliament chamber. The members of the Commons were quick to find their seats, having sat on them just one week prior. Meanwhile, the Exceptionals had to search around for a little bit. While the House of Exceptionals meetings had no appointed seats whatsoever, the House of Commons and Parliament did. Members of the upper house had been given the opportunity to choose where in the political spectrum of the room they wanted to sit. The further left, the more they were principally against taking direct government action. The further right, the more they were for it. Of course, these were inverted from Johns perspective on top of the seat of government. It was also arbitrarily chosen as the system by which they sorted the parties.
Parties next to which the Exceptionals now sat down. Rarely, this was because of direct party affiliation. It was absolutely allowed for Exceptionals to have a public membership of any party, John didnt see the merit in trying to demand otherwise. It would just get aligned under the table anyhow and it wasnt like he could tell people they werent allowed to agree with certain perspectives repeatedly. Most of the Exceptionals, however, found themselves next to a party simply by dering that this was where they saw themselves, just about, on the sorting system. Theoretically, there could have also been those that failed to fill out their questionnaire and were ced at random.
Clicking around on the interactive seating order on theptop in front of him, John found that there was nobody in thatst category. The programs main purpose was to spare the Gamer the potential embarrassment of forgetting someones name. Hardly a likely urrence, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. The program was also avable for everyone else and to be used to spread that days discussion schedule. Being a slightly modified version of the (at this point almost finished) Fusionmunication app, it was also incredibly safe. Scarlett had guaranteed that much.
I shoulde up with some fancy name for the app, John thought and suppressed a yawn by slowly letting the umted air flow out of his nose. The press attendance today was moderately high and he didnt want to give anyone the opportunity for a bad photo. Somewhat bored, he looked through the schedule for the day. He had done so numerous times throughout the week already.
The Speaker of Commons had, on Johns advice, made a very simple schedule for the first parliament session. Every one of the ten present parties would send forward one representative who was going to present the core of their manifesto, if they had one, and their current positions on policy in about fifteen minutes. Given the reality of politicians, this would likely mean that they had to n for twenty minutes per person. Between that and the doubtless pauses and questions that would surface in between speeches, John would be surprised if they got done in less than four hours.
Thankfully, John could distract himself through one simple trick: he wasnt actually there at all. The body present was the Mand Sphere. The Ambassador Double was impossible to distinguish from his real self by all conventional and unconventional means. Well, that was what the text said, but John knew better than to assume that there were absolutely no means. As a matter of fact, he already knew two that existed. One, Eliza could detect that he wasnt giving her the genuine stuff when he came inside her as Jack and, two, Velka was more affectionate when he came to her as his double.
So, while half of Johns mind was quite bored attending the parliament session, the other half was busy doing the usual fun stuff. That didnt eliminate the problem entirely, he still had to be present enough to react to questions or other problems, but it sure beat simply sitting there. If there was any issue with this arrangement, it was that Aclysia and Beatrice were mildly unhappy that they were with his double, doing government stuff, instead of giving him a paired blowjob. He mentally sent them a promise for a quickie in one of the empty offices during the half-time break. That eased their frustrations somewhat.
John scrolled down on the order of business n. At the very end of it, there were a few items that they needed to decide on today. Namely, there was the issue of the prune cake shipments to Florida and, somewhat rted, they had to set the official holidays for Fusion territory. He had promised Florida that four-day weekend, but there were other days that had to get the official stamp as well. Christmas was an easy example. Only after that was decided would they close the session.
Somewhat ironically, Florida only had one representative for this whole thing. Because they hadnt held elections yet, they had only their local member of the House of Exceptionals to attend. Sitting on her own, her table joined with no others, Alice was positioned close to the middle and slightly to the right of Johns perspective, putting her closer to the libertarian side of things. She waved indiscreetly when he nced in her direction. He waved back and looked around some more to pass the time.
The other people sent by local governments were scattered all about. The North Lake states representative was sitting, effectively, opposite of Alice, being slightly to the left. She was sitting as a member of the Centralists, the party that was like Johns political fan club. In her maid outfit, the woman named Amethyst stood out quite a bit. She wasnt just a representative, but also someone who taught at Aclysias maid academy. An institution that was slowly getting rolling and had gotten considerable sway over local affairs. A somewhat odd development but, given the way he had reformed that area, not entirely unpredictable.
The Amaca Coast had sent a man called Drevlin, who seemed to be a suit with opinions who had joined with the Economists party. Given that this was also the party that got the majority of its votes from that area, thispletely fell within Johns expectations. He was also slotted to be the speaker for that partyter on.
Eugen had been sent by Marnd. Apparently, he had been a bureaucrat under Abrahams administration and part of the upper middle management. He was not powerful, but he knew how to make connections and push pencils. Essentially, he was there as a relic of the old system. John silently disapproved, but politics was about favours and there were some that predated his arrival in the Abyss by several years. It was best to just let Eugen attend and be reced whenever the local government saw fit to do so.
Widely more pleasing was the representative of the Hidden Tradition. Ahanu, the young man that had spoken as the leader of the Native American guilds when John had first negotiated with them, had now been chosen to take the guilds spot in the House of Exceptionals. Doubtlessly, he could have won a regr vote as well, but it did fit that he was put in a more permanent seat. He sat between the Individualists and the Fusion Libertarians, having specifically asked not to be put as a member of either party.
Last was a man called Horace,ing as representative of the Meltpot state. John found watching that person in particr quite interesting. He was seated among the Wrath Party, Fusions military enthusiasts, and himself clearly someone who liked to brawl. The scars all over his brawny body said as much. What made him so interesting to John wasnt any of that, however. It was the fact that he had been a very big fish among the small guilds to the south that Fusion had conquered. At level 70, he had been able to dominate most people in the area. Now that he was swimming in a bigger pond, that man was forced toe face to face with people like John, Alice and Elu. He wasnt nearly as big a deal as he had perhaps thought he was.
Those were the representatives of Fusions states. There were a few other members of the House of Exceptionals, those that John himself had put in there. Magoi, for example, who sat among the conservative Stream Party. Most of them, John expected to only ever deal with duringrge gatherings.
Jumthek, the fish woman that had been elected first Speaker of Commons, finally rose from her seat. I think everyone is present, save for Mister Tutlmakahn. He let me know ahead of time that he cannot attend as he expects his wife to go intobour today, so his absence is hereby excused, she started the program. Her tone hid quite well that she was reading off a script. Following the program without further ado, I would like to call the representative of the The Free party to the podium.
Someone stood up and walked up there, getting behind the single podium that stood in the otherwise empty space between the arch of desks and the seat of government. They only gave a dismissive nce towards the people up on the construct of marble and metal. John narrowed his eyes warningly in return. Ack of respect was to be expected from anarchists, but the Gamer was irked by it nheless.
What followed were ten minutes of the representative defaming Fusions government in numerous ways. Past actions were put into bad light, certainws of member states elevated to sound as tyrannical as possible and aggressive expansion defamed. Only in thest five minutes did they speak about actual policy positions and all of that revolved around ideas how to circumvent Fusions authority while still technically working within it. The chief demand that was presented was aw for people to be allowed to create Illusion Barriers that would act as autonomous andwless zones.
John looked extra impatient for the cameras, but said nothing. The hostile press will have a field day with this, he thought, already seeing the headlines. It will be something like: First session of Fusion parliament begins with passionate speech of freedom fighter. This whole mad raving is absolutely harmless, but its still going to look bad.
The Free party had nowhere near enough influence to put any of the things they wanted into action. With their attitude, it was just a matter of time until someone among them would try something stupid and John would be justified in barring them from participating in government. Until then, he had to just let his bodynguage make clear that he wasnt in favour of anything they said but let it happen in the name of open debate.
Up next was the Wrath Party. Although they were elected mostly by the small guilds of the Meltpot, there was no hostilitying from their speech. Their speech was mostly about the philosophy of might makes right and how they should enact policies that promoted some violent means ofpetition. On the extreme side of things, they actually agreed with the proposal of makingwless barriers at some locations, be it for much different reasons than the anarchists. On the more moderate side of things, they advocated for mandatorybat sses in school. Given what the Abyss was, that wasnt the worst idea John had ever heard.
From there things went rtively easy for a while. The Individualist representative presented a long list of policy positions that were partly contradictory. Given that the party had been cobbled together by people whose main uniting position was that they didnt have much love forrge organizations, that was of little wonder.
The Fusion Libertarians had many of the same principles but put forward more streamlined ideas. They were the first party to openly praise Johns current government. Regardless, they had a few suggestions. Most of them were rting to taxation, which they wanted to not rise ever again, and giving local governments more power.
The Economists partys representativepletely agreed with the previous speaker on the tax side of things. They also added praise for the recent change in Collides policy in the distribution of Guild Hall resources. The rest of the speech concentrated on the benefits of a more protected market and the need to establish offices that protected copyrighted material and such. Fusions patent bureau was still fairly basic, so John was happy to hear suggestions on that topic.
Arriving in the middle of the arch, the Stream Party delivered a long and methodical list of demands. They wanted the establishment of quality control offices, they wanted the establishment of a ministry for catastrophe relief, they wanted that rainy day funds were demanded byw on the federal, state and local level, they wanted the ouwing of certain addictive substances, they wanted clearerws on where brothels and other sexual businesses could operate and they wanted a whole lot more. Most of their requests were sensible, others were overbearing, all of them would require a lot of work and nning.
After that quite neutral but by the sheer number of demands negatively tilted speech, hearing the Centralists was refreshing. They praised John to high heaven, insulted The Free party with some offhandments and were generally pleasant for his ego. They also managed to spur the parliaments first shouting match, thanks to one of the members of the leftmost party taking offense to one of thements. They shut up on their own after only a minute.
The Supernatural People Party seemed to calm things down. They delivered a pretty milquetoast speech about their known desires. Special areas that fulfilled the needs of certain species, supply of necessary resources and money, such things. There was a moment of hesitation towards the end of their time and then they said something that John had not expected to hear. We also would like that pariahs be made an exception to the no discrimination amendment of the constitution, so we can keep them out of our spaces and businesses.
Oh? The single sound came along with a shiver that went through the whole room. Almost everyone froze in their seats. Only those with strong wills managed to look over to the dark-haired woman that was now exuding a strange aura. Pariahs arent human, is that it? The question was cheerful. The Maiden of Null leaned forwards on her table, resting her head between her raised palms and smiled her empty smile. Well?
The aura swelled from strange to terrifying. The shape of something cat-like flickered behind her and the whistling of tinnitus was torn into giggling bursts inside Johns ears. Those seated around the pariah suddenly fell unconscious, copsed in their seats or even fell to the floor.
John gritted his teeth and now regretted not being there personally. It was difficult to open his mouth. The anti-magic messed with the connection between himself and the double. ALICE! he managed to finally shout, and the pressure vanished suddenly. It was as if his eardrums popped. The entire parliament, from the strongest member of the House of Exceptionals to the reporters in the watchers area, took a collective breath. I understand that you take issue with that suggestion, but there will be order in the government, are we clear?!
I apologize, Alice mused, her tone making it difficult to believe that she was genuine.
Of course, they had to send the biggest headache as their representative,'' John thought as he turned to the representative of the Supernatural People Party. They were shaking all over, only standing by holding onto the podium.
I thought it was just a coincidence. Johns eyes moved to the part of the seat of government where the Speaker of Commons was located. A copycat or something else, but You cant tell me she is the Alice?
Alice Pleasance Liddell, the same introduced herself without issue. The one and only.
John allowed himself a groan of frustration. As countless cameras went off and eternalized the moment. And there are the next fifteen headlines, he thought. Well, the press wont be good, but at least people abroad will respect Fusion more if they learn that she is part of it. Raising his voice, he retook control of the room. It is obviously uneptable that pariahs be made an exception within the constitution because of the way they were born. I understand that they cause intense difort, especially for those who are magical by their very nature, but there are very few nks that are powerful enough to do anysting harm. They will be punished for crimesmitted like anyone else and they will have the same rights as everyone else. We can discuss a special use of harassmentw that pertains to nks using their auras in needlessly aggressive ways. He red back over to Alice.
The people seemed satisfied with that answer, and once they had control over their legs back, the representative hurried back to their seat. The Speaker gulped so intensely that John could still hear it. To her credit, she managed to keep her voice mostly steady. In slight vition of the protocol, I suggest that we now take the pause that has been scheduled to happen after the party speeches. We will reconvene in thirty minutes. Any disagreements?
There were none.
Chapter 821 – And the session continued
Chapter 821 C And the session continued
John was one of thest people who came in after the break. Its just way too easy to forget the time when youre busy fucking in two bodies, he justified things to himself as he marched towards the seat of government. Descending the long steps that split two party clusters, he first went to the lowest point in the room, then back up the construct of stone and metal. Soon enough, he was at the highest point on the floor, only those in the watchers area at an even higher elevation.
Statement: youre wee, Beatrice chimed into his thoughts as all three of them sat down. Ever the reliable assistant, it had been her that had pointed out to him they needed to get going.
I do very much thank you, the Gamer sent back and stretched to reward her with a few head pats. Good girl, very good girl.
She radiated happiness; the other maid radiated envy and shame. I do apologize that I failed to keep time in mind, Master, she voiced her regret.
Well, your mouth and mind were rather preupied, he joked. The conversation would have continued with further banter and innuendos, had the Speaker of Commons not raised her voice at that point. It was a short announcement of where they had left off, how they would continue and which party was to send their representative next.
There were only two left, Project Shield and the Crowning Party. The former of those two got to go first.
Project Shield suggested things that went quite heavily against Johns moral code. That was to be expected, he found himself in the centre on most issues, so both extremes were bound to attract his disdain. In detail, they wanted that any form of homeschooling be ouwed, while also making all other forms of school run entirely through the federal level. This was thenbined with suggestions that there should be one homogenous program for everyone, including, on the inoffensive side, math,nguage and physics and, on the more offensive side, philosophy and history.
It was entirely in keeping with Project Shields proimed goal to create a strong central culture. John was quite concerned that any culture that came about through top-down action, he would even go as far as calling it indoctrination, was going to be both too rigid and too easily hijacked. People that were just raised to believe something were too prone to not understanding why they believed it. This problem could be alleviated by having lots of different viewpoints that continuously shed and forced people to inspect the weaknesses in their knowledge. This alleviation was difficult to find when all schooling came from one central policy.
There were even further issues with it. The schooling n devised by a centralmittee could be fantastic and then everybody would get a fantastic education. Historically, even if this was the case, there came a time where the n would be in need of reform. Because the curriculum affected everyone, everyone would want something thrown in there and that would create a giant mess. In the unlikely case that they somehow started with a great program, it was going to fall apart with time and then everybody would get a horrible education. It was much better to leave schools topete with each other and have them figure out through trial and error what was actually needed.
That was the educational view of this. Politically, there was another thing to be cynical about.
Because the n would be devised by whatever party was in charge of the ministry of education, that party would naturally give orders to teach along their own values. This would increase their share of voters in the next generation considerably. Essentially, this was a great way to take a long but straight path towards the single party government. All of these factors made John oppose any sort of forced curriculum on the federal or even state level.
Of course, I am biased because I went to a pretty good private school before all of this happened, the Gamer thought to himself and scratched his head. Not that I would call any of my school years particrly pleasant. Then again, that had nothing to do with what we were taught and all who I was taught with.
Outside of that schooling issue, they also suggested stronger police, condemned degeneracy and agreed with the Supernatural People Party that they should be getting separate spaces. John got a whiff of segregation in the tone of the representative, but that could easily be his imagination because it fit so well with everything else they were saying. Rather, it fit so well with the kind of political ideologies John already knew to have simr viewpoints in the other categories. Inference was useful, but he shouldnt assume he was right just from it alone.
At the very least the Crowning Party put out nothing unexpected or annoying. They did as their name suggested and presented all of the advantages of a monarchy. That it was the most stable form of government. That the Abyss was naturally ruled this way, proven by the two strongest guilds on the globe, the Sons of Rome and the Mandate of Heaven, both being monarchies. Of course, that conveniently ignored that a whole bunch of the remaining Divided Gates, the Illuminati, Prometheus and the Sons of Odin to name some of them, were not governed by any royalty.
They had a case in that the strong tended to dominate the politics in all of them though. It wasnt as if there was no case for a monarchy whatsoever. Otherwise, Metra wouldnt have been so insistent that he would end up as a king. To the credit of the representative, despite their party being rather small, they had worked out aplete alternative system. It changed fairly little on the current government structure. It endowed John with some additional powers and privileges, but the federal, democratic underpinning would remain intact. When it came to unifying their wishes of having a monarch with Johns wishes to not be one, it was quite thepromise. If John had been willing topromise.
Have to give them credit for properly reading me, though, John thought. With all of the articles that were written either praising or attacking him, it was nice to have someone who understood what he was about. Even if they tried to convince him that he should change his perspective to be more selfish.
Thank you all for introducing your parties, Speaker Jumthek announced and pped her hands. John noticed the gills at the side of the neck spreading before she continued. He wondered whether that was a nervousness motion or if she could actually use them to supplement her normal breathing. Up next are our first official tasks as the federal government. President Newman has the word.
Thank you, Miss Speaker, John said as he got up. Looking around, he saw numerous screens all over the room flicker to life. There was one integrated into every desk and severalrger ones appeared out of holes in the ceiling, hovering in the air at visible positions. They had descended on the signal of Jumtheks p. John had requested their usage in advance.
First, because they were genuinely useful here, and second, because he wanted to show them off. He had only gotten themst week, being reminded of floating equipments existence after the Florida encounter. For reasons that John wasnt privy to, making soulless material float was way cheaper, mana wise, than it was for people. Good for him in instances like this, bad because he still didnt have ess to a flight spell. Confusing because the Mand Sphere and the Ambassador Double kind of broke that rule. To be fair, it was a Game Breaking skill.
As you all should be aware, I went to Florida recently, the Gamer addressed the parliament in a clear tone. Although it was not the intent of my visit, the local leadership and I came to an agreement C they would join Fusion under certain conditions. I would like to ratify all of the necessary conditions today. Beginning with this, Miss Speaker, I call for a vote on whether or not Florida is allowed to join the union.
Everyone, use the screen in front of you to vote, Jumthek announced. You have five minutes to deliberate the decision. Your decision in this vote will be visible in the public records.
John sat down and waited, looking at his ownptop. He did have an integrated screen in his desk as well, but it was much morefortable to open the page on theptop. A curved diagram made up of dots reflected the makeup of the room. One by one the dots flipped from grey to green. Except for the person missing, every single representative voted in favour. That the vote would have gone in favour of the addition of Florida to Fusion had been beyond doubt, but John had done some extra diplomacy to make sure nobody disagreed with it. It would just look better this way.
112 votes in favour, 1 vote absent, the Speaker announced. Florida is now officially part of Fusion. This entitles Miss Liddell to vote on the next few questions, upping the total amount of total voters present to 113.
A wonder that her action earlier didnt cause some opinions to flip, John thought, while also thanking the heavens that his efforts had been seen as more important than the pariahs outburst. He would have called it an emotional outburst, but he wasnt quite sure why Alice had done it. The dark-haired woman was prone to just doing things.
This means that our borders have now adjusted to look like this, Jumthek continued and pressed a button on her screen to make the image appear all the others.
Ill fix that gap soon enough. John didnt let anything rted to that thought show on his face. Stating outright that he was nning to aggress on what little of the east coast wasnt yet under his control would have been a bad diplomatic move. It would have also prepared his enemies and he didnt need to get into a fight with the press, the more pacifist elements in his government and his military. Best to just keep his mouth shut on his intentions C even if the world already knew.
Let us continue with the less serious subject, the Speaker said, once everyone had nced at the updated map. It has been agreed that Fusion will supply Florida with an annual shipment of prune cakes. The date for this has been set to the eleventh of November of each year, with the amount being set to 250 grams of cake per adult member of the Florida guild. The Economist party hasunched an inquiry about thisw. The word is given to Mister Ho.
A man in his mid-fifties rose up, showing that he had been hiding quite the gut underneath the table. It was the very rare view of a member of the Abyss that wasnt at least toned. John wouldnt have called him fat, chubby was more apt, but it was out of the ordinary regardless. Observe put his size down to being so weak that he barely rose above mundane standards, thus only saving him from obesity.
We would like to know why this has toe out of Fusions pockets. President Newman negotiated this deal and Collide has the resources to provide this by themselves. The federal budget shouldnt be burdened by wasteful spending like this, Mister Ho dered and sat back down.
John got on his feet in turn to answer. Two simple reasons. The terms of the agreement clearly state that it has to be Fusion that pays this. Furthermore, it will simply be easier to organize something that crosses borders through the central administration, especially when ships are involved.
Would the Economists like to respond? the Speaker asked, following protocol. The answer was no. Not because the party was happy with the answer, their faces didnt look the convinced part, but because they knew that having the debate would be useless. In this case, the vote is now open. You have five minutes to deliberate.
John once more followed things on the screen. The Economists flipped from grey to red, with three exceptions. The other parties went majority or entirely green. Perhaps because it was so ridiculous, some people grasped at any reason to deny this. Regardless, it came out positive.
84 votes in favour, 22 votes against, 7 votes withheld, 1 vote absent, Jumthek announced the result. The Act of Floridian Prune Cake Delivery passes with a clear majority. She put in a pause, both to gather her breath and to make clear that she was moving onto the next topic. The second point, tangentially rted to Floridas joining, is the official Fusion calendar. First, does anyone here object to making the Gregorian calendar the calendar of Fusion? There was none voiced. Splendid, then, to the allocation of the holidays. Amittee haspiled all suggestions sent in by you, the representatives, as well as popr suggestions made by the people. To start with, we are mandated to add a four-day weekend to the calendar, due to us agreeing that Florida should join Fusion. This holiday will be in appreciation of cute animals. The suggested name is the Fusion Pet Appreciation Festival, does anyone take issue with this? Yes, Miss Liddell?
Alices hand had shot up immediately. Not all cute animals are pets. The name is inadequate, she dered. Fusion Fluff Festival, thats what it should be called.
Anyments from the floor? Yes, President Newman?
If you take issue with the first name being inadequate for the reason of not all animals being pets, how does this not exempt all animals that arent fluffy? John wanted to know.
All animals are fluffy, Alice returned, speaking out of standard protocol. Nobody minded, as this hurried this discussion along.
I have a three-metre crocodile at home that would beg to disagree, the Gamer returned.
Stirwin is fluffy at heart. All animals are fluffy, Alice insisted with unshakable fervour.
Sighing, John turned to the Speaker. In ordance to the wishes of the representative of Florida, I request the holiday name be changed to Fusion Fluff Festival.
The request is heeded. Does anyone take issue with this new name? Bored silence. Then, as for the cement. The suggestion is that the holiday should ur every year on the first full weekend of June, encapsting the Friday prior and the Monday after the weekend. Does anybody take issue with any of this? Another ten seconds of silence. In this case, the vote is now open. You have five minutes to deliberate.
The holiday was voted in without any issue. There wasnt anyone going against it, but about a fifth of people withheld their votes. John rxed once that was done. There was now nothing that stood in the way of the proper integration of Florida into Fusion. Nothing could suddenly spring at him and ruin what had gone so smooth and had cost him several points of sanity.
Little did he know that the following discussion about the remaining holidays would be so much worse.
Chapter 822 – Bickering, Bureaucracy and Dispatching
Chapter 822 C Bickering, Bureaucracy and Dispatching
John now understood why bureaucracy tended to grow.
In his mind, it had been an easy discussion. What was there to disagree about? There was Easter, Halloween, Christmas and New Years Day, that should have covered the generally agreed holidays. Personally, he would have also added Independence Day, Emancipation Day and Valentines Day, but he could have seen that those wouldnt have had a big following in the Abyss.
He had been utterly wrong about most of that. Everyone was indeed in favour of Christmas and New Years Day, but Halloween and Easter didnt even enter the conversation. Valentines Day, however, was mentioned before New Years Day was. Those basic days quickly found their ways onto the calendar and that was when the Speaker of Commons started to go through the remaining list. A total of 90 additional holidays were suggested, many of themsting for over two days.
It was, obviously, untenable to have every single person in the nation on paid leave for half the year, so they had to agree on a hard limit on the amount of holidays there were. The number they agreed on was 30, with 3 already taken by Christmas, 2 by New Years Eve/New Years Day, 1 by Valentines day and 4 by the Fusion Fluff Festival for a total of 20 remaining.
That was when the bickering started.
Everyone wanted certain holidays in and things broke down more along local rather than party lines. Marnd and, surprisingly, Florida were the sanest in number and the reasons for their holidays, as far as John was concerned. The guilds of Amaca Coast, North Lake and Meltpot all had some weird ones to offer, but overall they were tolerable. Those sent by Johns own state, Collide, were also in that group.
It was the Hidden Tradition whose elected officials were almost entirely to me for the flood of holidays. Unlike anyone else, who had grown up at least in parallel to typical Americans, the Hidden Tradition was a group of Native Americans that had been pretty confined into its own culture for several hundred years. In the first ce, that guild was made up by a bunch of tribes who initially had only inmon that they had a simr intertwining of ancestor worship and specific use of necromancy.
All of those tribes had brought their own holidays into the Hidden Tradition and the Hidden Tradition now brought all of the gathered holidays into Fusion. However, formting it like that made it sound like there was a unified push among that guild, which also wasnt urate. They had be more unified over the years, but there were still distinct tribes within the Hidden Tradition. So, while everyone was arguing about the distribution of holidays, primarily against those in the Hidden Tradition, the people from the Hidden Tradition were also arguing amongst themselves.
Three hours passed like this. Three excruciating hours. John mediated when he saw a chance, but otherwise it was three hours of very considerate demands presented through proper protocol. Stupid as it was, the debate showed that the parliament had the temper necessary for a democracy and served to trim a lot of the fat out of the conversation procedures. They established a few new rules for impromptu debates, streamlined the question and answer process, and discovered some issues with the voice boosting enchantments.
They did not manage to conclude the topic. Instead, it was decided that they would postpone the discussion and set up a new office. Its job would be to cut down the current list some more andpile some suggested calendars. Once that was done, they would sit on the topic again.
No wonder it took the Thirteen Colonies years to actually agree on a constitution, John thought as he, along with everyone else, got ready to leave the sitting. Putting away theptop, he walked down the steps. In passing he said a respectful goodbye to the Speaker. He would have been ready to leave the parliament entirely, had he not been greeted by Ahanu at the bottom of the stairs.
The young man looked good, as far as his physical and mental conditions were concerned. Neither a stunningd nor an ugly bastard, Ahanu had a face that was too long to be considered beautiful. His hair was long and ck, with oiled braids weaved through. Although he wore a serious, blue suit, thebination of a ck bow tie and leather headband made him look somewhat goofy. The singr eagle feather tucked away behind the headband didnt help.
John, do you have a second? the Hidden Traditions representative asked, offering his hand.
Taking it without hesitation, the Gamer became the recipient of an incredibly enthusiastic yet professional handshake. Apanied by a warm smile and ending with a tap to the back, Ahanu gave theplete friendliness package. For you, I have more than a second, John responded jokingly. Although he wanted to swing his second body to the bedroom already, the chieftain was someone the Gamer owed a lot of thanks to.
It was thanks to him, inrge part, that Fusion hadnt gotten into an incredibly precarious situation after Sigmund had stomped around the White House. The Hidden Tradition had been the reason that the Lake Alliance had held off on going on the offensive immediately. Without their backing, an all-out war would have been inevitable. The extra time they had bought had made the Hudson Brawl, the only true battle of the war, a decisive victory in Fusions favour. Political debts aside, Ahanu had brought good news into Johns life when he had really needed them, so he felt personal gratitude that wouldnt vanish anytime soon.
What can I help you with? he therefore asked, even as they continued moving. Whatever conversation Ahanu wanted to have, there was no reason to stay in the buzzing parliament. Even if the chamber was way toorge for the number of representatives they currently had, over a hundred people still made a lot of noise.
Id ask that you consider that, if nothing else, the ys Day and the Ronoralor make it onto the calendar, the chieftain responded. I know its selfish to make this request, but my people regard these two days especially highly. I can likely convince the other chieftains that we should keep the majority of the other holidays within our own borders. Just those two, if you could promise me that, this thing should go a lot smoother when it gets discussed again.
I have no official power over the office John started his response and got himself an amused nce by Ahanu. They both knew why he had used the word officially there. Mind enlightening me what makes those two days so important?
Sure. ys Day is the most sacred day of our year, it is when we venerate the ancestors that lend us their power through the spirits that inhabit the bodies we entomb in y. I understand that the rest of Fusion doesnt share this cultural aspect, but my people couldnt feelpletely home in a guild that doesnt acknowledge this day.
Do you celebrate life as well on that day or just your ancestors? John asked, stroking his chin thoughtfully. This is going to be easier if you give me something about it everybody can get along with.
The birth rates tend to go up nine monthster, Ahanu answered the question with an honest smile.
John amusedly blew air out of his nose. Alright then, that should work. If you could send me a summary about the rites and themes of the holiday, Ill make sure it gets read very carefully and early by whoever ends up in charge of the office. What about Ronoralor? The chieftain raised an eyebrow and now it was Johns turn to smile, albeit in a more teasing fashion. Hey, I speak sevennguages by now, remembering the pronunciation of a single word isnt that difficult.
Dont get me wrong, I know youre a genius, you just dont have the aura of one, Ahanu responded with a chuckle before continuing. Ronoralor is the festival of unity. If all of Fusion celebrates it, it symbolizes that the Fusion isnt just an overarching government construct but an extension of the tribal confederation.
Oh, I like that, the Gamer nodded to himself, we should have a day or two like that anyway. A recement for the Fourth of July. It should be easy to put through, especially if the mood of the festival is jovial? He gave Ahanu a nce and transformed it into a question that way.
It usually starts with some mourning for thend we have lost, but I dont think that needs to reflect on the wider Federation, the chieftain answered. Ill send the details to you in an email.
Please do. I will do what I can to oblige you, John answered, just as they went out the door. Aclysia and Beatrice had gone ahead. A wise decision, which had given them enough time to force the crowd of reporters waiting outside to form a corridor. Although they were just two maids, they exuded enough respect that nobody dared to try to pass them.
They were, however, also in a different position as before. Miss Aclysia, as First Servant of State, do you have anyments on the first session of parliament? a reporter asked the weaponized maid. Do you think it went well? Badly? Anyments, please?
Aclysia kept her mouth shut, as did Beatrice when a few questions came flying her way as head of finances. Those two were no longer just Johns bodyguards. As people that were now in important positions, the Artificial Spirits had to face the journalists endless thirst for stories themselves now. Both were already hardened thanks to second hand experiences though.
Looking into the crowd, John suddenly decided that talking to the press every now and again was actually a good idea. Ill stay for a minute, what about you? he asked Ahanu.
I have other things to do, the chieftain excused himself without being too specific and simply waved as he kept walking. John responded with the same gesture and then turned to the journalists.
Alright, lets get out of the way, he told everyone and walked somewhat to the side so they werent blocking other people from leaving. Most of the journalists pulled along, with a few deciding that theyd rather take their chances with a smaller fish than be in a giant group around thergest. Aclysia and Beatrice continued to serve as a wall that kept people from just shoving their microphones in his face and shouting questions. You, your question please, John pointed at a random reporter.
How would you say the first session of parliament went? the obvious one was asked first.
I would say it went well, overall. I somewhat naively assumed things would go smoother, given the topics at hand, but it turns out that politics are the same no matter the time or the ce, he responded jokingly. You, next.
Do you think the Hidden Tradition has been overbearing in this discussion? Do you hold any ill will?
As you probably caught on camera, I was with Ahanu just a moment ago. I hold absolutely no ill will for the Hidden Tradition. They hold a special ce in Fusion both because of when they joined and because they have a different history than the majority of humans that are part of the Federation. Those differencesing out as more emphasized at times like these could be expected.
When do you n to discuss this topic next?
During the next session of parliament, next Friday. Now, you, John finally pointed at the blonde catgirl that had caused him to stop in the first ce. By putting some questions between himself and her, he hoped to make his intent less obvious or at least harder to prove.
I notice you have been withheld for most of the session, only really speaking up when things needed mediation, Cindy said in a soft voice, her lipstick glistening when she smiled, do you n to keep yourself uninvolved like this most of the time?
The short answer is yes; I am mostly attending as a figurehead. For the long answer, that would take an entire conversation, he told her with a wink. I am sure we could set something up.
I am sure we could, Cindy purred and shifted her weight, emphasizing her curves in the process. She was dressed more modestly today, but those tits of hers still stretched the dark blouse covering them.
John was enchanted by the jiggle for a second. Master, Horace is currently passing, Aclysias voice echoed in his mind. Do you wish to talk to him now orter?
I suppose now would be best. The sooner I get things out of the way, the better, he responded and looked at the journalists. I guess I cant really hide my intentions anymore after the way I just said things damn my flirting nature he thought and then said, I will need to talk to someone, so this will be all. Knowing better than to try and stop him, the journalists let him leave without issue.
He walked towards the exit, not immediately approaching Horace. Originally, John had intended to only go talk to him tomorrow, but if there was an opportune minute, he was willing to bend his ns. It wasnt as if he wanted to have a tremendously long conversation with the guy. Once they were out of the busy corridors, John elerated his steps and caught up with the Meltpots representative.
The man turned towards him. At first his expression was annoyed, then surprised. He must have heard someone approaching but hadnt guessed that it would be John of all people. You mind talking to me for a minute?
M-mister President, of course not! the much older man responded.
John still found it amusing and a tad weird how people reacted to him. To most people, he had be so strong that it was as if Caesar suddenly walked up to them at the dinner table. Maybe not the best metaphor around when Romulus exists, he reprimanded himself. Right this way, we should have the talk somewhere nice, he said, trying to ease the mans tension somewhat.
It was just a short walk to the terrace, just up some stairs and through a few doors. It was cool that evening, but not enough to bother any of the four of them. Stone paths led through the simple gardens that covered the terrace. Between the small trees and decorative bushes, they could see the za and the Dome of Power below, all of it encapsted by the Fusion Capitol they were currently standing on. More of that building stretched above them, the terrace had been built on the roof of the broader base floor, another two stories had been built on top of it.
How do you like it here? John asked.
Its great! Horace answered too enthusiastically for John to believe that he wasnt lying. That wasnt to say he wasnt saying the truth, just that this would have been the answer regardless of what his true thoughts were. It was motivated by John being the one asking the question.
I see. d you like it, the Gamer answered courteously. Since small talk wouldnt serve to make the situation any less tense, he cut straight to the chase. Look, I know you didnt join Fusion because you thought it was exactly the best decision, he stated. You made the decision to follow the tides of history. A smart decision that I can respect and I wont crucify you over it. I have no intention of testing your loyalty or to grill you over the coals. We all make decisions appropriate for the times. He took a pause to allow Horace to speak.
For several long seconds, the man didnt. They just walked on through the green garden, until Horace ran a hand through his short hair. Part of his hairline was chipped in thanks to a scar on his forehead. I cant say Im surprised you know all of that, he finally answered. Hard to disagree with joining someone who sends a sapient bulldozer into your living room.
I guess thats one way to describe Metra, John chuckled. Since Horace had used a nonchnt tone, the Gamer had no issue with it. An insult sounded different. I wanted to ask you for a favour. When you go back to the Meltpot, call up whoever you know in the neutral areas that hasnt joined Fusion yet. Try to get them to agree to a talk with me, if nothing else. Tell them that they have to make the choice where they want to be in the story of American unification. The Gamer stopped in his step and stared at Horace. Despite the scar-covered mountain of muscles being a head taller than himself, John felt as if he was looking down on the man. There are no easy paths, for any of us.
This time, it didnt take long for the Meltpots representative to nod. I understand, President Newman.
They parted with a quick handshake, and John was ready to move his second body home, when a window popped up.
I guess it has been eight hours, he thought and happily opened his ss Screen. This was level 260 and he had a free level avable for the ss he currently wanted to invest in.
Two recycled choices and one new one, John thought, scratching his chin. Master Key and On with the Grind both have good effects, but 80 Stat Points are almost 12 levels worth it also has a one next to it, so it will lead to even more stuff that increases my scaling. At the very least I will also get the points from my six to seven scaling increase, in the future Yeah, lets go with Reimbursed Stats.
The choice made, he opened up his character screen and then allocated the 87 Stat Points he had avable. Two went into Endurance, bumping it up to 250.
I think that covers my defensive needs for a little while. Looking at his remaining Stats, he pondered over what Stat to prioritize next. He was content with the amount of mana he had at the moment, so that wasnt something he wanted to push again. I think it should either be Agility or Charisma. Reacting quicker is more useful to me than punching harder and I dont need to be any hornier more persuasive could help me though
He decided to go with Agility for now. He didnt want to fall behind further on people using martial arts and his limbs shouldntg too much behind his mind.
Looks good, he nodded to himself.
Chapter 823 – Bantering and Near Future Plans
Chapter 823 C Bantering and Near Future ns
John heard a series of small cracks, followed by a meowing sigh of relief. Aahh, feels as if my back is finally straight, Rave purred, while her boyfriends oiled hands continued their slow journey up her spine. Ending at her shoulders, he moved from simply putting pressure on her to kneading the soft, rxed tissue of her neck muscles. The pink-haired bombshell continued to sigh, shifting a little bit on the lounger they had put up in the living room.
One of two loungers. The other, standing in parallel, had a deeply rxed Nia on it, currently being attended by Jack. The nk had an expression on her face that the Gamer wanted to describe as gooey. Open mouthed and ssy eyed, she was lying under his massaging hands as if he had just brought her to a series of orgasms. To be fair, with Jacks hands on her back, she likely was in some state of ecstatic trance.
When a pariah was aroused, her magic sensing capabilities, focused around the thin silver lines originating from their lower spine, transformed the reception of magic into signals of pleasure. Whether it was John and his Gamers Body or the Ambassador Double and his entirely magical existence, the Gamers touch radiated magic. Combining that with his extreme skill at giving massages created one tuckered out Nia.
Youre wee, John mused, taking his hands off his girlfriend for a moment to grab the bottle of oil. Graciously, he poured some more on her and then proceeded to rub it all over her back, butt and legs. Her glistening skin looked wonderful in the light that fell in through the open window. He looked up for a moment, just moving his hand on auto-pilot.
Not much of Johns remaining harem was around. Eliza and Beatrice were ying Smash Bros on the couch. Siena was sessfully ignoring them by reading a book while listening to music. Having borrowed one of Raves headphones and Walkman to that end created a bit of a culture sh. The moonshade elemental bobbing her head to heavy techno music, her silky hair confined by the baby blue headphones, just didnt fit the usual mental image. It was what it was, however. Aside from those three, there was also Aclysia, standing over in the kitchen with a washcloth and making sure everything was meticulously clean. asionally, she checked on the oven. The sweet smell of chocte cake filled the entire apartment.
Not members of his harem, but nevertheless present, were Velka and Copernicus. Bothzed around on the backrest of the couch,rgely motionless. Only their tails moved, asionally creating a dull sound when they pped against their seating. The Magryph was nowrger than Copernicus, but still kept her head respectfully low whenever the suncat looked in her direction. The two had wrangled earlier and the elemental hade out clearly on top.
Tigerrrrr, youre doing naughty things right now, Rave moaned and John looked back down to what he was doing. Absentmindedly, his hands had gotten stuck on kneading her butt. More than that, one was dangerously close to just slipping inside her. Her pussy was wet with more than one kind of slippery juice.
Hmm, John hummed and looked over to Velka, then back to Rave. He gave her ass a soft p. It jiggled even more than usual, thanks to how rxed every fibre of her being was at the moment. I dont really mind.
Getting over your inhibitions, are you? Copernicusmented and yawned.
Partly, John responded, while gesturing for Rave to turn around. As she rolled onto her back, he continued, Its true that Im having less of an issue doing lewd things around other guys, or males in general. He gestured towards the suncat and himself. Being as naked as usual he didnt feel the slightest bit awkward about being watched by Copernicus. Thanks to repeated hangouts with Maximillian, with and without alcohol being involved, his reluctance to have sex with other men present had also decreased drastically. The stay in Florida had served to finish thest lingering inhibitions in that regard. This is more about Velka being around though. The more she grows up, the less I care.
The Magryph was already more than used to nudity and showed no interest in anything that had to do with the massage. When John touched Rave in some more inappropriate ways, starting by giving her boobs some more attention, Velka perked up for a moment. By the time John started fingering his girlfriend, the bird-cats interest had already dropped again. It appeared she had only been wondering about the moans. The act of sex itself, the pet didnt care at all about.
Should expect that from an animal. Smart as she is, Velka is still instinct driven, John thought and his inhibitions dropped considerably. Now focused entirely on pleasing his girlfriend, he rapidly moved his curved fingers inside her. His wrist pressed against her clit, stimting it while he kept going. Soon enough, her hips tensed and rose from the leather-d lounger. He kept masturbating her until her orgasm faded away.
Imma return the favour when we wash off, Rave said in a whispery voice and winked at him.
Do you mean you will give me a blowjob or a handjob? he wanted to know.
I said Ill return the favour, so handjob it is. She sighed wantonly, when Johns hand resumed their proper work and gently pressured her midriff. He moved over to her breasts. They were sizable enough that the squishy meat rolled up under his palms all the way to the end. Her hard nipples were a nice contrast to the overall softness.
You sure I cant convince you otherwise? he asked, moving past her corbone. One hand, he put on her throat, the other went all the way up to her face. Caressing her cheek, he brushed over her lips with his thumb. They were pink and glossy even before oil spread on them. I do love it when you suck me off.
I already did it for an hour this morning though, Rave yfullyined. Not my fault ya ran out of paperwork before ya could satisfy your deepthroat addiction. Then again she extended her tongue and gave his thumb a seductive lick, I guess I could be convinced Raising her head slightly, she caught the finger and started sucking. It was a lustful act, emphasizing the wet sounds as she made it voluntarily sloppy in presentation but thorough in the movements of her lips and tongue.
John felt the throaty moan under the hand on her neck. Their eyes were locked. What should happen next reflected in her blue eyes and the pink lustre that danced inside them. The phone buzzed on the table.
Pulling back with a sigh, John grabbed a piece of cloth and wiped off his left hand. There was only one phone lying out and about in the room, the one that he kept for urgent calls. Beatrice stopped the game to pick the phone up and bring it to him. Who might this be? the Gamer wondered as the passive maid strutted over. Ahanu already got what he wanted and Horace just went back down south yesterday what other urgent business have I got pending? He took the phone when it was offered to him and looked at the number. He didnt recognize it. epting the call, he said, What do you want, Richard?
And how did you figure things out today? the Horned Rat immediately mused back. Did you catch another one of my agents and press my current phone number out of him? Must have been quite recent, I change these every one to seven days.
I just dont get a lot of calls by unknown numbers on this phone, so I took my chances, John responded, kneading Raves butt with his right hand as he continued talking. So, what do you want? Did you decide to finally answer my requests about a meeting? On the other lounger, Nia slowly shifted out of her trance and sat upright. Jack went effectively standby.
It is about that, yes, the Horned Rat responded. To start with, how are you treating Nia now that you got her back? I hope shes well. Shes rather valuable, you know?
Shes with me right now, I would say she is rather well, John looked over to the pariah. Nia, how would you say you are? he asked and waited for a response. Patiently, the Horned Rat waited as well. He would know how Nia ticked, having raised her.
Ten seconds passed during which the pariah just stared nkly at John. Her blue eyes were unwavering and would have pierced him like icicles, had he not known that Nia simply suffered from a particr case of resting bitch face. Splendid, her answer finally came in a tone that didnt reflect that mood at all.
You heard that? John asked.
I did. Thats good. Now it was Richard who took a pause. It was less characteristic for him. Tiny squeaks underlined his deep voice whenever he talked. To the point, I want to know about this meeting with Florida people that you promised to arrange between me and them.
Promised to TRY and arrange, John corrected. If you dont want to, Im not damaged in any fashion.
A smart insurance on your part.
To be fair, they did allow me to have it.
Ah yes, you lost that challenge, did you not?
It was a talking apple pie.
I am unconvinced that passes as justification for losing, but given how narrow it was. Although it was, indeed, the deciding factor for that particr challenge, the Horned Rat snickered, a sound that was fundamentally malicious. The high-pitched squeaking of rodents added an unnervingly cute note to it. Be that as it may, Im not here to give you my decision as to whether or not I will meet them yet. I would just like you to give me the courtesy of telling me what they want from me.
I dont know, John responded.
John, do you really want to y this game with me? the Horned Rat sounded more amused than anything else.
Listen, god of future cmity, the Gamer put every bit of seriousness he could muster into these words. Compared to the frail man he had been when the two first met, that was quite a lot. I ampletely honest with this. I have no clue what they want to talk with you about. I barely understand these people, and when I asked, they didnt tell me. I have absolutely no clue what that insane bunch could want.
I suppose that is Jas style
Ja? Wait YOU KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THAT CHICKEN?! John knew only how stupid he sounded, shouting in such an aggravated fashion, when the Horned Rat startedughing on the other end. Yes, yes, have your fill of my amusement on my cost, Richard, and then tell me what that Cosmic Chicken is!
A chicken, the Horned Rat responded and then hung up.
Motherf- Stopping himself not out of decency but because he didnt want to work himself up even more, the Gamer lowered the phone. Handing it back to Beatrice, the passive maid bowed and returned it to the table, immediately going back to ying Smash against Eliza. Due to Velkas presence, the blood mage held back on her own curses as she was subjected to abo. God, I hate that rodent.
No, ya dont, Rave pointed out.
Yes, I do, John insisted.
No, ya dont, she stated again, cheekily stretching out her tongue. Since there was only one way to end this argument, John descended on her lips and pinned her against the lounger. The sounds she made while they wrestled were a lot more pleasing to him.
Fu-dge this! Eliza shouted and tossed her controller onto the table. You suck, Beatrice!
Affirmative, I am trained in several techniques of sucking. Primary skills regarding this task: vacuuming and blowjobs, the short-haired maid returned, giving Eliza a small, mocking smile. Tasks not inside this category: utterly defeating you in video games.
Eat my aassss- shorts. Stupid, pseudo-sass sting female dog!
Please define pseudo-sass.
I will define jack, get bent.
This is an eptable alternative. Please define jack.
The double of the cock giver over there, currently busy standing next to Nia all naked and sexy and making me think of more fun things than talking to you, Eliza spouted and looked at Beatrice with surprise when the passive maid chuckled. Three littleughs, sounding as if someone rang a little bell. It sounded a lot like Aclysiasughter. The fuuuuuuuu-dge did you find funny?!
Reason: my congrattions for so quickly adapting to the chance of a pun. You will make a great father.
Mother!
Statement: I know what I said.
Joooooohnnnnn, Eliza cried, looking at Jack as his real body was now on top of Rave and fervently upied with cuddling her and staying just shy of putting his dick inside her. Can you please wipe Beatrice? I liked her more when she was a totally characterless doll!
No, you didnt, Jack said.
Yes, I did! she shouted back.
No, you didnt.
Fuck you, maybe I didnt, but youre all massive cunts! she burst out and mmed a hand in front of her mouth when Velka meowed. Look at what you made me do!
The phone buzzed again. Just one buzz this time. I dont think you should be concerned about cursing in front of Velka when Im having sex right now, Jack pointed out and pointed over at where John and Rave had finally settled in the missionary position. The lounger creaked a little bit. If you want to, I can wash your mouth though. Not sure its going to be cleaner afterwards, though.
YES! GIVE ME! Eliza screamed and jumped over the back of the couch. Darting across the room in a frenzy she fell down on her knees in front of him and had his balls pping against her chin in one swift movement. Her throat vibrated in a way that could have been moans or her trying to speak with her throat full.
Groaning the Lords name, Jack wed a hand into her hair and pressed her down. There wasnt a centimetre she could go deeper down on; it just gave him a nice sensation of control to hold her down like that. Greedy masochistic slut, the Gamers double said before turning his attention over to Beatrice. It was a bit harder to maintainposure with both of his dicks getting pleasured, but he managed. So, who is the text from?
Lydia has informed us that she is avable on Thursday, Beatrice responded. Follow up: should I inform Magoi that Thursday is the nned day of grinding?
Yeah, Jack answered.
Great, Copernicus mused. Another week of being stuck in that house.
If aaaahhh Rave tried to speak up, but John was making it hard on her by continuing to fuck her. Great as she was at withstanding an ecstatic meltdown, she was still at the mercy of her sexually overpowered boyfriend. Rather than try again, she must have just used their mental connection to talk, as Copernicus suddenly started to purr and rested his head on his paws.
Jack was now thrusting his hips, enjoying the debauched sounds Elizas throat made. They were second only to that thankful inhale she took whenever he let her. Control was an intoxicating thing. Barely the thought had crossed his mind when a distant crocodile peeked into his mind to check in what context it had urred. A momentter, Stirwin was gone again, evidently alright with him finding a substitute for tyrannical behaviour in dominant and sadistic sex.
Soon, both of his bodies mmed into the holes they were fucking onest time and dropped their respective loads deep inside. Shower or sex room? he asked, once he was done cumming.
Shower, Rave purred.
Wait a fuuuu- Eliza looked over her shoulder to see that Nia was ying with Velka. In her state of getting belly scratched, the Magryph wasnt listening to anything. -a fucking second! We have a sex room!?
Yes, I chained you up in there yesterday and left you on the Sybian for thirty minutes, Jack responded, confounded by her confusion.
Thats not the issue, you fucking moron, I just remembered that we were supposed to have a Sex Dungeon by now! A proper Guild Hall Building with all of the fucked up sexual torture shit I could ever be put on!
Ah, didnt I tell you why I skipped out on that?
NO!
Well, there are two problems. For one, I need ten Room Slots for it, and I only have seven right now. I could tear down some Storefronts or Housing for it, but Im not sure if I want it or a car park. Sighing heavily, he looked out the window. I really want that Sex Dungeon, but our current room is pretty well equipped already, so its hard to justify getting it over something thats generally useful.
Fuck generally useful, get something to better use me! Eliza dered. I want an actual fucking jail cell for some really nasty role ying where you chain me to the wall and then sexually torture me until I turn into a broken mess with cum dribbling out of all my worn-out holes! Something about abducting the princess of a foreign country and forcing her to make you an heir, which she gets super into twenty seconds after you take her virginity!
I mean, I do like the sound of that, Jack hummed and considered how much use a car park REALLY would bepared to a morphable Sex Dungeon. Growling, Stirwin let his summoner know that he was still watching. Ill think more about it. Anyway, shower or sex room.
Sex room! Eliza dered.
And so, the rest of the day rolled by.
Chapter 824 – When the Horned Rat trolls
Chapter 824 C When the Horned Rat trolls
Master Master
John made an unwilling sound as he opened his eyes and stared into the darkness of his blindness. It had been weeks since he hadst woken up in a manner that left him wishing he could close his eyes again. Usually, he either woke up because he was rested or because he was getting a blowjob. Either of these were things he could have only dreamt of before starting to eat healthily and gaining a whole slew of somewhat sex addicted lovers.
There had been one recent case where he had woken up because he hadnt been able to breathe. Cause of that was that his face had been buried inside Smanders cleavage. That had been out of the ordinary, but not unpleasant.
Getting shaken awake was not exactly his chosen way to start the day. His wishes were somewhat followed when Aclysia stopped shaking him. Instead, she presented him with a phone. All things he saw through her eyes, the Mand Sphere only just rose from its socket while he took the phone. Whatever the reason for this call was, it had to be urgent enough that the weaponized maid ran the risk of displeasing him.
John Newman here, what is the situation?
The situation, the Horned Rat responded in a nonchnt tone, is that youre a terrible disappointment. I just heard about your quote-unquote break-up with Marie. I hoped a rtionship with her would bind you closer to the Illuminati. It would ensure the alliance of our guild even if you grew to hate me. Instead you only fulfil my secondary objective of giving her a talking to about her attitude.
Im going to hang up now the Gamer grumbled and already moved the phone away from his ear. His mind was trying to decide whether he was going to scold Aclysia first or go back to sleep. The former won out. Spanking her ass was a great way to spend the morning and he wasnt that tired. The first rays of daylight softly illuminated the curtains. Around him, the harem was slowly roused to awake themselves.
Alright then, guess we will have the meeting without you, the Horned Rat cackled, causing John to freeze in his motion.
Youre going to need to send me some other princess substitute from the Illuminati thats a tad easier to deal with, the Gamer groaned and put the phone back against his ear. I can feel the hate growing by the second.
Tigeeeer, why are you talking to Dick first thing in the morning? Rave wanted to know, sleepily raising her head. Its not even seven. She blinked to find that she was now right in front of Johns groin. Oh, hello actual dick, she sleepily remarked and gave it a quick peck.
Hes decided to have the Florida meeting right now, the Gamer told his girlfriend, resisting the urge to brush his hand through her hair and encourage her sleepy instincts.
Do ya need me for that? Rave asked with a long yawn.
No, its fine if I go by myself.
Fantastic, see ya when Im awake. Her face plopped back down on her cushion, which happened to be Elizas thighs.
You might want to bring Nia. See you in Paradise, the Horned Rat said and then hung up on John.
But why does he need to do this before breakfast John mumbled, while leaving Aclysia and Beatrice to wake the elemental girls that werent sleeping inside their dwelling ce in his soul. Because he was going outside of even their ludicrously extended range of operations, they had toe along with him. The alternative was the incredibly unpleasant feeling of void and them having an urgent need to find him. Being shaken to wake up was at least mildly more pleasant. Especially since they could just go inside that soul-space and continue sleeping.
John noticed that Nia wasnt in bed and neither were Scarlett, Metra and Siena. Reaching out mentally to the moonshade elemental, he dropped the attempt immediately when he walked into the living room. There, Siena and Nia were sitting on the table and having some tea and biscuits. I see youre having a stiff morning, Siena hummed, making a nonchnt gesture towards his morning wood.
And I have no time to do anything about it, the Gamer sighed. Have you been keeping tabs on the situation?
Yes, Siena said and finished her cup of tea. She remained seated as John marched towards the bathroom. He could afford skipping the morning shower, but he could hardly show up to a meeting without brushing his teeth. Ive already told Nia about things.
Thats good, John shouted from within the bathroom, while fiddling in his contact lenses and Possessing them. Whyre you awake at this ungodly hour anyway?
Nia must have guessed the question wasing, as she answered right away, Siena showed me around the Midnight Forest.
Fairies are pretty torn on nks, Siena added, her sensual voice carrying her amusement. They like the odd nature but are tormented by Nias potential to erase them. A truly wonderful mixture of interest and terror.
Shometish Im reminded tshat you are kinda ehvil, John answered, moving the toothbrush around at the same time. Ignoring the little hourss on the cupboard under the mirror, the Gamer got done with brushing his teeth in less than half the rmended time and then stepped back into the living room. Thank you, Beatrice, the Gamer said when he was offered two gran bars and some jerky. Not the best breakfast ever, but he could eat it on the go. To the teleporters, I dont want to miss whatever the Florida people have to say to the Horned Rat.
Siena went incorporeal, Nia stood up and, together with the maids, followed John. After wolfing down the gran bars, John chewed on the jerky and put on his clothes. Both food items were homemade. Beatrice had turned her tendency to focus usefulness over taste into something that didnt just produce nutritional paste. Instead, she had learned how to make numeroussting foods. They werent as good as Aclysias cooking, but they did fulfil their purpose of being a quick and healthy snack quite wonderfully.
The maids and the pariah had an easy time getting dressed on the move themselves. For Nia it was just a mental switch, for Aclysia and Beatrice, it was a body process that took a few seconds. By the time they arrived at the teleportation room, John had finished his breakfast and felt mostly awake. There was that unpleasant, slight burning on his eyes, but otherwise he was fine.
Stepping onto the local teleporter, John was brought to the Transport Station in a sh. He had to stand there for half a second, before the Building registered his intent to move again. One second, he was looking at his Pce, the next he was standing before the skyscraper named Paradise.
Took you loooooong enough a yawning Wendy greeted him; her sass greatly diminished by the fact that she looked even more tired than he did. Urgh, juste this way, lets get this over with so I can get more of my beauty sleep.
You really dont need it, the Gamer remarked, while looking at her ass under the short skirt. The urge to tap it again was especially strong. Because he was so used to being balls deep within someone after brushing his teeth and especially after breakfast, his desire to fuck was spiking. His morning wood had settled, but now it threatened to rise again. Under such circumstances, he was even more direct than usual. How about we fuck after this meeting so we can both wake up properly?
Im down, Wendy responded and let out another long yawn. Not to wake up though, even your cock cant work that miracle. Just fuck me hard so I can pass out properly. Youll do great as a Nyquil alternative.
If youre that tired, why did youe to get me? John wondered while they entered the skyscraper through the front door. You could have sent someone else.
Yeah, as if anybody else is awake at this hour, Wendy mocked, and then grumbled to herself, Fucking rat,ing in after Ive been asleep for two hours, unannounced, saying he wants you in the meeting. What an ass.
A dick, John corrected.
No, I like those.
Fair enough, he conceded and hummed to himself. It was oddly pleasant to hear that Richard wanted him to be present. It took some of the annoyance out of the situation. What is this meeting about anyhow? he wanted to know.
I dont know, Wendy told him. Alice insisted on it, you go ask her.
Scratching his head, the Gamer stayed silent from there on out. They walked through the many-doored corridors until Wendy stopped and grabbed a handle, bursting into the room.
There, I brought the stud! she announced as they entered a room that reminded John of school. Wooden tables stood next to each other, with unnecessarily ufortable and small chairs next to them. There was no chalkboard or teachers desk, but even this basicponent reminded John of his terrible education experiences. He was immediately ufortable, his stomach twisting into a knot.
Now thats an interesting feeling, he analysed himself. Slow breaths, youre not fourteen anymore and you could p Frank silly now. No way could he take all the money you saved up to buy the new World of Warcraft expansion after school. By the time he picked a seat, the knot had mostly resolved, although a fundamental dislike for the environment remained. He gently moved into Aclysias mind to keep her from randomly smashing the furniture that made him so ufortable.
The Horned Rat was sitting behind one table at the right-hand wall, downsized to amodate the surroundings. Alice was sitting on a table at the left-hand wall, her legs dangling over the edge. Wendy and John sat closer to the left side and by the entrance, Aclysia and Beatrice standing behind their master. Nia walked into the middle of the room and stood there. Hello, she said, to no one in particr.
d you could make it, Alice said, her face a nk mask. John had always found her empty smile unnerving, but this was even worse. Exactly because he knew the first Maiden of Null could emote, her nk face carried all the threat that Nias still expression had lost through exposure to it.
Youre doing well, the Horned Rat remarked. Have you gained some weight? I feel like you were thinner when you left me.
Nia bowed down and grabbed the edge of her skirt. Pulling it up to barely socially eptable levels, not that this mattered around Florida people, she showed off her legs. Although not at a properly thick level yet, she had sessfully gained some definition over the past ten days. I am working out, she said and dropped the skirt again.
That will have little practical effect, but if it makes you happy, I suppose its a good thing, the Horned Rat remarked.
It makes John happy. He wants me to have a bigger butt.
With as much of a deadpan expression as a skull could have, the Horned Rat turned to look at John. Of course he does, he stated. You continue to aim low, dont you? The Gamer just shrugged. Is Nia maybe an eptable princess substitute to keep binding you to the Illuminati?
She is more than a princess substitute to me and I guess it does make it harder to stab you in the back if it will make her sad, he thought out loud. Congrattions, you managed to get what you wanted before you knew you wanted it.
Brazen of you to assume this wasnt my n all along, the Horned Rat responded, cleaning his ws of some minimal dirt. Anyway, as entertaining as all of you are, I have forges to attend to. Let us get on with this. What do you desire from me? Knowledge? Power? An exnation for some past perceived slight?
As the Horned Rat asked, he looked around the room in a thorough fashion. The red flickering in the otherwise empty sockets of his skull analysed every corner in an almost paranoid fashion. John had gotten the ability to pierce illusions from receiving some of the Horned Rats powers and the Visions of Cmity were capable of further dealing with them. Doubtlessly, the god of future cmity was a master when it came to information maniption. It was quite fascinating to the Gamer to see this being visibly search for anything wrong going on.
I wonder if this is rted to a certain chicken not being present, John pondered, still convinced, and growing ever more so, that Fred was something more. His current guess was that she was the goddess of illusions or something of that nature. His attention shifted to Alice when she finally opened her mouth.
None of that, no, she dark-haired pariah said. You can stop looking for someone else. I wanted this meeting.
And I still desire to know what for, the Horned Rat responded, focusing on the pariah.
To talk about you being a horrible parent.
Chapter 825 – When the Horned Rat gets chastised
Chapter 825 C When the Horned Rat gets chastised
Alice changed her location in existence, suddenly appearing behind Nia. Slinging her arms around the fellow pariahs neck, she rubbed the side of her face against Nias, like some sort of overly affectionate cat. In response, the blonde did absolutely nothing. She just stood there, not even moving her head in a questioning gesture.
This adorable sess is emotionally stunted because of you, Alice stated, squishing Nias face between the fingers of her left hand. While kneading the soft cheeks with circr movements, she continued, I had to teach her how to smile. To smile. What poor girl doesnt know how to smile? The tone the first Maiden of Null used was smooth like polished ss. It was as if she was delivering a thank you speech, not a chastisement.
I made her effective, the Horned Rat dismissed, tilting his head. It appeared the god was genuinely confused about the situation. As far as John was concerned, that was already enough reason to be d to havee there. Richards tail was upright and waved in a rigid fashion.
Effective is no standard to raise a child, Alice retorted and spread Nias lips out in something that resembled a smile. When I told her to smile, she showed her teeth like a bare skull. Wherever could that havee from?
Alice shifted her location again, now sitting on the desk behind which the Horned Rat sat. With a quick movement, she booped the gods nose. Like Nia, the Horned Rat didnt move whatsoever, just looking at the situation. I fail to see any issue, he spoke up. Shes strong and happy now, is she not?
I am less emotionally stunted than she is. My parent wanted to marry me when I was twelve.
I didnt want to do that, so I think theparison doesnt really apply, the Horned Rat stated.
Can you please get the point already? Alice hissed.
There was a ringing in Johns ears, a quiet whirring like a piece of metal getting dragged across a bumpy surface. Something pulled on the outside of his skin. Anti-magical energies swirled in the room, as the silver lines spread across Alices tanned face. Different lines appeared in the air. Simr to a heat haze in appearance, they drew an alien shape. The outline was just barelyprehensible, but already caused John to develop a headache. Cheshires croaking, crowing, meowingugh underlined the silence in the room.
I get your meaning, you overestimate the point you have, the Horned Rat responded and stood up, his size increasing to over two and half metres by the time he was on his feet. A size that immediately diminished when he menacingly bowed down. Put your Nevrest away, your aggression is unproductive.
Yourck of reaction is infuriating, the dark-haired nk answered.
You expect me to admit a failure of parenting, when I never aimed to parent, I aimed to raise, the Horned Rats amused tone echoed in the room with a dark undercurrent. You are overstepping the boundaries of your understanding. Keep messing with the rules you understand and leave me to my business.
I am too involved with your business to stay out of all of it.
You made the decision to tangle yourself in it.
Given how vast yours are, that isnt a fair thing to say. Alice narrowed her eyes and the vacuum of magic in the room grew. To counteract the effects, the Horned Rat increased the magic he exuded. John felt as if his brain was expanding inside a shrinking skull. The pressure rose and rose.
Until Nia appeared between the two of them and put a hand on both of their heads. The unpleasant energies originating from Alice and her alienpanion ceased. The Horned Rat suddenly perked up in surprise. It was the first time he had seen Nia use this ability and, evidently, had not expected that she could.
Confusion and surprise its nice to see that even the Horned Rat feels those things, John pondered, continuing to watch the entire scene in silence. It didnt feel like he had anything to add. Only Florida could coerce such things from that rodent maybe I should make it a habit of inviting people that annoy me to this ce?
This is unnecessary, Nia stated, while petting the head of both the Horned Rat and Alice. I liked my upbringing. It was full of read stories and physical activity. Something told John that those were stories on proper conduct on the battlefield and activities that directly tranted to training. Also, cute rats. Lots of cute rats and ck cats and fluffy dogs and crows. A lot of crows.
Alice backed off. If you say so, the nk said and smiled her empty smile, before vanishing. Ill leave you to it, she whispered into Johns ear. By the time the Gamer looked over his shoulder, she had already moved her position again.
I really dont like the ease with which she can do that, John thought. When it came to assassinating him, Alice would have the best shot at it out of anyone he had ever met. Even the Metracana that could be almost entirely untraceable still had to punch through Particle Skin first. Alice wouldnt have much of a difficulty in this regard.
Is this over now? Wendy asked with another yawn.
Seems so, John responded and stretched. Thanks to Alices little stunt, he was wide awake now. Getting up, he looked over to the Horned Rat and Nia. The two stood there in silence, Nia still having her hand raised and gently patting the skull of the Horned Rat. It was an oddly peaceful image. The aura around them wasnt anything close to father and daughter. It was closer to the feeling between teacher and student. Yet, it wasnt quite that either. It was a mixture of both, heavily nted in one direction.
So, youve be a genuine Maiden of Null now, Richard remarked.
Yes. Nia tilted her head, only stopping with petting the god when he straightened up and his head went out of reach of her arm. Slowly, she lowered it to the side. Are you upset to have lost me?
The value between you as my direct pawn and you as one of the queens of my knightes out as about equal. Halfway through saying that, he looked over to John. Not that there had been any doubt about who he meant by knight there.
I have never heard of the variation of chess where the knight rules over several queens, the Gamer joked back in a pedantic fashion. Also, why would I be a knight?
Because youre more valuable than a pawn but youre not yet a rook, the Horned Rat responded and looked over to Wendy when she yawned again. Perhaps you shouldnt stay up and party until three in the morning every day of the week, he advised.
Oh great, another stalker, the redhead sassed back and rolled her eyes, also getting up. The entire room was ready to dissolve the meeting. Look, I know my ass is fantastic, she spanked herself just for emphasis, but I have enough studs around me as is. Speaking of stud, can I gobble up your prime beef already? Staying here is entirely unnecessary.
Hmm. John was tempted to agree, but had something else to think about. It wasnt every day that the Horned Rat was around, so he naturally went through a lot of things he considered to do. There were a number of questions he had, but none of them he expected to get an answer for. What he could do, however, was perhaps do the Horned Rat a favour. Richard, I would guess you have nned in a bit more time?
I had estimated this meeting would take at least two hours, so my flight back is indeed a while off, the Horned Rat responded, looking at John with mild interest. Why do you ask?
How about Nia shows you around the upgraded Guild Hall? the Gamer suggested. Maybe you can see Marie while youre at it, talk to your ambassador.
Oh? the Horned Rat looked to the pariah he had raised, then back to John, and scratched his chin. His skull creaked when his teeth parted slightly. The sound apanied the forming of a smile. What an interesting suggestion from you.
As much as you cost me patience, I do benefit from our partnership. John shrugged and finally got up himself. I can be nice to you every now and again. You two should catch up. He winked at Nia. Dont tell him anything I wouldnt.
So, I am to remain silent for the entire tour? Nia asked, an incredibly weak smile indicating that she was joking.
Johnughed and half-turned towards the door. His good mood was being dampened by the surroundings even at this point. Youll find one or two things, Im sure. Ill see youter. He waved his goodbye and his beloved pariah waved back mechanically.
John lost absolutely nothing in this engagement. Through Marie, as well as his anonymous spies, the Horned Rat could find out most of the obvious and barely hidden things about the Guild Hall anyway. There would be some press about the Horned Rat appearing on Fusion turf, but nothing that would dominate the news cycle. Rtions between John and the patron god of the illuminati were already well known. It could even be to Johns advantage, as it would remind people that Fusion was more than just a quickly growing local power. Foreign rtions were a shield against stronger organizations that may have wanted to meddle in the Gamers ascend.
He was ready to leave the room when the Horned Rat suddenly said, Catch.
Johns body reacted to the dominating word almost without his input. Turning on his heels, he plucked the flying item out of the air before it could collide with his chest. After an unappreciative re at the god, the Gamer looked down and smiled. In his hands was a ck mirror, an exact replica of the Vision of the Ashen Lands that had allowed him to have a talk with Nathalia on his birthday. That was more than enough to make him forgive the minor instance of body control there. Thank you, Horned Rat, he earnestly expressed his graciousness, as he put the mirror into his inventory.
Dont waste it. Who knows when I will give you the next one, Richard responded and then made a dismissing gesture, as if allowing John to leave. I will let you go first. Deciding that having anymore y fights would be a waste of time, he just went along with it.
The moment John was out of the ssroom, he felt better about himself. Although the corridors and their many different doors annoyed the Gamer on a perfectionist level, they were infinitely preferable to the recollections of past bullying that swam around at the back of his mind while inside the room. No longer held back by any distractions, Johns eyes immediately wandered to Wendys lips and his hands to the butts of Aclysia and Beatrice. His pants pitched a tent.
Wendy picked up and seemed to forget the fact that she was tired for a few moments. Youre still packing, she said and hungrily licked those full lips. Wanna go right here or?
Depends, the Gamer said, while checking in on Jack. While he had been busy over here, his double had gone elsewhere. First, he had done the usual things of his morning routine, checking for emergency emails and such. When nothing turned up, he had decided to go see if he couldnt find the other two girls that had been missing from his bed that morning. Metra had been in the gym and Scarlett he only now reached inside her office.
While he was busy appreciating the three beautiful girls he had right there with him, his double was flirting with Scarlett and staring at her bubble butt. For some reason, likely Johns bad influence, the androgynous redhead had decided to work in only her bright red underwear.
Depends on what? Wendy asked the distracted Gamer.
Whether or not you want me to just fuck you right here or if you think you can stay awake for something a bit more tantalizing, John responded with a growing smile.
How tantalizing are we talking here? Wendy wanted to know, clearly weighing her choices.
What do you think about fivesomes, rope and ice cubes?
Chapter 826 – Red and White Attention [Erotic Content]
Chapter 826 C Red and White Attention [Erotic Content]
A long range teleport, a short range teleporter and a quick coffee to give Wendy at least some energyter, John arrived in his y room. Of course, that was just a nicer sounding term for the ce they kept all of the sex toys. There were several beds in one corner, a shower area in another and shelves upon shelves of orderly assorted gags, dildos, ropes and all other kinds of depraved equipment along the walls. Scattered about the rest of the room were sexual torture devices that put whoever was confined in them in equally unnatural and erotic positions. They were assistance, for when dangling the girls from chains on the ceiling wasnt enough to satisfy his creative desires of that day.
In the middle of the room, two modified loungers had been put up. They had the typical soft surface known from massage parlours, but the frame had been reinforced. Lots of wooden and metal bits were attached, all designed specifically to hold the ropes Jack was currently tying in ce. Already naked, the Gamers second body was currently putting the finishing touches on Scarletts confinements. The technomancer was slightly less nude, wearing a pair of stockings and a ball gag.
Wendy whistled in an impressed fashion, while looking around. John didnt give her a lot of time to take it all in. He had only taken two steps on the smooth, soft floor when he smacked the redheads bouncy ass. The skirt of her white-blue striped dress made the sound of the impact less satisfying. The feeling, however, was fantastic. As was the surprised gasp she let out along with it. The fu- she started, but was interrupted by him grabbing one of her twin tails and pulling her against his chest. Beatrice closed the door behind them.
Holding her by butt and hair, wing into both with dominant intent, the Gamer stared down into her blue eyes. When youre my guest in this room, the first thing you do is strip, he told the sassy, slutty fast food goddess. Remember that, if you want me to invite you here again. This is a privilege for someone who isnt part of my harem.
Its a privilege for anyone to tap my butt, Wendy returned.
I alreadypensate you for that with this The Gamer pushed her away with just enough force to fall down. Between the roundness of her ass and the sex-friendly consistency of the floor, she wouldnt be hurt C her Endurance as a goddess (nonbat or not) aside. The moment she looked up to him to remark something sassy, he had already tapped the button to undress himself.
The sight of his naked body left her speechless for a moment. He wasnt a giant, but he was quite tall and his muscles well-defined. Since raising Charisma to 100 had finally gotten him out of the lean category, he was the very embodiment of a young and virile man. Most of his skin was smooth and of an equally distributed, light tan. Only the few scars that Gamers Body couldnt erase interrupted that image. The bite mark on the left side of his neck and the red lines on his lower right arm that looked like shadows of his bones, they were born of unfortunate circumstances. The dark blue marks on his fingers were another interruption, but something with a jovial origin and outside of where the female gaze usually wandered.
Wendys eyes went from his brown eyes down his abs and got stuck on his ratherrge cock. It wasnt an inhumanely oversized member. It was girthy and twenty centimetres long, definitely impressive but nothing that had to worry most women. Combined with Johns legendary sexual ability and perseverance, it was a tool to make those females he had interest in cum their brains out.
Hamena, hamena. Wendy forgot her sass and opened her mouth as if offering herself for a blowjob. She was more submissive this time around than in their previous sexual encounter. Likely because she now knew what exactly awaited her when he got to do what she wanted. Suddenly, she shut her mouth and shook her head. Uhm, uh, yeah, stripping, give me a second.
John hadnt expected her dress to just vanish, apanied by a sound that reminded him of oil in a frying pan, but that was exactly what happened. Although her dress and panties were gone, the red-white thigh-highs, the red garter belt and the arm warmers still hid part of her limbs. The blue ribbons at the end of her twin tails were also still there, but John saw those less as part of her outfit and more as part of who she really was anyway. Wendy would have felt almost as iplete without her braids as she would have without the freckles that covered her face, shoulders and part of her C-cup breasts.
Much better. John grinned and helped her back up.
Figured you were in THAT mood, master, Wendy pointed out with a nod towards Scarlett. At first, the fast food goddess returned his smile in a mischievous way, then she looked past his shoulder. Whyre your monochrome maids ring at me?
They dont like it when someone uses that title sarcastically, the Gamer responded and guided Wendy towards the second lounger. And neither do I. I let you get away with it because youre charming. He put on his dom voice, Dont make a habit out of it, especially not here. He didnt give Wendy a chance for a sassy answer. Suddenly, he imed her lips. Keeping her confined through kiss and embrace, he manoeuvred the redhead onto the lounger.
He kept her pinned down. Greedily, he devoured the taste of her lips. She tasted hot and spicy, like a fresh curry. It was odd as always, but delicious regardless. His cock was grinding against her pussy lips. They were only slightly wet when they first touched, but precum and love juices were oozing continuously. Wendy moaned into his mouth, clearly ready for him to push inside. Her legs threatened to close behind his hips.
Before it could actually happen, Aclysia, Beatrice and Jack all moved in to expertly wrap bindings around Wendys limbs. Once everything was in ce, John pulled back and looked at the piece of art. Her hands were cuffed together at the wrists and secured by three different ropes, with her legs parted in a basic V-shape. The bindings were looser and more flexible than what John usually employed. Today wasnt about restricting movement, but about seeing the girls writhe under an unusual treatment. The ropes he did put on were just there to cater to his controlling side.
Aclysia, you will assist me with Wendy, Jack said, while John walked over to Scarlett. The hand of his real body brushed up the technomancers lithe curves, travelled over the shallow rise of her nearly t breasts and went up to her soft lips. The way they spread around the ball gag was enticing, but John wanted to hear her moan. It had only been there to sweeten up the waiting time, so he quickly removed it.
Happy to see me? asked John and got rolled eyes in response. Grabbing her by the throat, the Gamer gave the androgynous beauty a little bit of choking as punishment. Beatrice, you will help me with Scarlett, he assigned thest role in the room. Dutifully, the maids bowed and individually took their ces. Give me a shard, Johnmanded, with Jack echoing the order.
What both bodies of him were handed was clear as crystal and as cold as the winter. A piece of wless ice, only the slightly blue tinge differentiated it from regr frozen water or ss. John actually had to test if the edges werent too sharp before he wasfortable to use it. When it failed to cut into his hand, he was appeased.
They were pieces mined from the True Ice Peaks, the Building located on the Water Ind. The maids carried them around for the obvious purpose of cooling drinks, while John had waited for a time to use them in a sexual way. He had heard it was an interesting experience and he was all about new and creative ways of causing women to fall into orgasmic trances.
Scarlett and Eliza were his go-to pair for testing things like this out. While Scarlett had happily tagged along on the suggestion, John hadnt even bothered asking Eliza. When it came to ys that involved cold water, the blood mage always tapped out. It reminded her too much of the tank. She didnt (usually) get a panic attack anymore, but it just killed the mood for her. As a caring sadist, he respected the boundaries.
In the pleasant present, the Gamer took the shards and witnessed both maids getting hit by the reward of obedience. Beatrice blushed and moaned, wiggling her heavy bottom, but otherwise kept herposure. Aclysia became beet red, bit her lower lip and let out an elongated, throaty sigh. She had to support herself on the edge of the lounger to remain standing while she was brought to the very edge of orgasm. The synergy between his Charisma-Libido and her Sex Servant Perk created some explosive results. John could have made her cum with the ease of a single touch or word.
As a loving sadist, he decided to instead limit her and Beatrices ability to orgasm for the moment and voice a newmand, Stand by. Both of them started to squirm, one much heavier than the other. The on-going order would continue to bring them slight pleasure for as long as they obeyed. To add insult to injury, Jack gave Aclysia a p on her magnificent ass. Pussy juice dripped on the floor as she shouted his title in veneration.
Over at Scarletts side, John didnt have an empty hand to give Beatrice the same tap. Only now, he lifted his hand off the technomancers throat and allowed her to breathe freely. Fucking hell, are you going to start today with this? she asked, after swallowing heavily.
What she said! Wendy supported the sentiment, impatiently staring at the closer of his cocks. Although the Gamer was extremely horny, he hadnt done more than the little grinding against the fast food goddess pussy. For some reason, he felt very much like building up towards his first release of the day.
If youre that eager to get started, John mused and lowered the shards to his victims bodies. He started at a simple area: the midriff. The touch of the ice had both of them tense for a moment. Audible breaths apanied the smooth gliding of the objects over their skin. The movement was lubricated by the slow melting and left nice, wet trails. asionally, drops would form and pearl down their sides, like condensing water on sses of cooled champagne. In the red-tinged twilight of the room, it was a delighting sight.
Johns hands moved in random patterns, while he observed their reactions. The cold touch had the two opinionated women in silent attention. They shivered when he kept circling over their curves, careful not to dwell on any area for too long and allowing them to get used to the cold. The shivers intensified when he moved towards their private areas.
He went towards Wendys breasts. The little depression the ice pressed into the squishy tissue was a treat. More rewarding was the moan she gave when he circled her nipples. He went towards Scarletts pussy. The ice slipped over her clit and drew gooey strands behind it. Scarlett inhaled sharply, a sound John initially took as displeasure, but soon was released in a long sigh of lust.
Motivated to do something more, John pushed the ice a little bit into her. The heat of her pussy seeped into his cold fingers as he went as far as he could without losing hold of the slippery, shrinking object. Soon enough, the heat was sapped from her flesh.
Really craving something hot now, Scarlett gasped. The insinuation was obvious and John was interested just how far that craving went. However, he wasnt willing to use his cock quite yet. Beatrice, oblige her, hemanded, and the passive maid bowed down in response. Extending her tongue, she methodically pleased the technomancers pussy.
Jack was fascinated by just how hard Wendys nipples became. Arousal was one thing the Gamer frequently caused, but the cold had a very consolidating effect. They also caused a level of numbness, it appeared, that soon made the touch of the true ice dull. Cant youe up with something more fun? Wendy whined will writhing wantonly. I get that you want to freeze this delicious treat, but Ive been promised some ecstasy here!
Aclysia, warm up her tits for me, Jack ordered and thought about how to oblige the sassy goddess. Over on the other table, Scarlett let out a series of delighted sounds, her hips rising from the table and pressing against Beatrices mouth. Wendy had a simr, if less intense, reaction to Aclysias hot tongue following the watery trails.
The ice is good for teasing, but its not itself a source of a lot of pleasure, John summarized his current findings, looking at what remained of the true ice in his hand. Even though it did so slower, it did melt, and about half of it was gone at this point. The shard Jack was holding was a fair bitrger, but that wasnt surprising given what he had done with it. The initial enthusiasm of both redheads was slowly calming to the normal sounds of lust. Its really the intery between hot and cold that leads to things being exciting in that case
With both bodies, he pinned the remaining ice between his teeth and then rejoined the action. John bowed to Scarletts mouth, Jack to Wendys pussy. The cold kiss met upper and lower lips at the same time. Wendys reaction was a surprised shout, Scarletts a muffled moan. The Gamer used his tongues to y with the ice.
It was an interesting exercise. The presence of the ice inside the heat sharpened his senses. It wasnt much different from the usual in terms of eating Wendy out. Instead of searching for her sensitive spots, he kept the ice in motion. It was the same mini game with a gimmick. Even with the shard present, his main point of attention was her clit. The fact that his tongue was cold gave Wendy some pleasurable shivers.
Having the piece of frozen water inside the kiss was a lot more entertaining, as far as John was concerned. The usual fencing of the tongues instead focused on passing back and forth the ice. The extra water made the kiss a little more sloppy, the contrast between her tongue, her lips and the shard made for a heightening of sensations that invoked an intense greed for more. The ice melted quickly in both engagements, being gone before they could cool down to a universally numb level.
John wondered for a moment if he should get a new piece of ice. He certainly wasnt done experimenting with it. There was much to learn about how to optimally use the cold to sharpen the senses for the hot delight that followed. However, his dyed morning wood could not wait any longer, not with the maids suppressed orgasms writhing against his thoughts with a desperation for relief. Scarlett hadnt been allowed to cum either. Only Wendy had gotten in the luxury of some orgasms, while Jack and Aclysia had tended to her.
Both of them now retreated from the redheaded goddess. Within a few seconds, they had undone bindings around wrists and legs. Get up, Jackmanded, and Wendy followed instinctively. A drawn-out sigh escaped her when she was hit by the rewarding pleasure. Something much more intense was to follow.
Jack grabbed Wendy by the hips, turned her towards himself and lifted her up. Whats the n now, hot stuff? the redhead asked, focused only on the cock that was so close to her sensitive cunt. Going to fuck me standing? Those arms have to be good for something.
Youll get that passing out you asked for, Im just getting the position right for some assistance, Jack responded and carried her towards the lounger. Not toy her back down, but to give her back entrance easy ess for Aclysia, who had sat down on the edge of the pedestal. Hope youre ready for some double pration, he told her.
Ready to be the patty of a burger? Who do you think I ammmmm-mmmmhhhh, Wendys answer turned into a series of delighted noises, as her sphincter was stretched by Aclysias cock. Halfway down the artificial phallus, the redheads pussy was imed by the Gamers double. Her outer pussy lips still had a hint of cold to them, but that vanished within the first few thrusts.
Over on the other lounger, Scarlett had also been unshackled. John had turned her around and was now hitting her from behind, in two senses. He was fucking her doggy style and spanking her. Beatrice was by his side, recing the technomancer as his kissing partner. His right hand was wing into the maids butt, the left continued spanking Scarlett. Sharp noises and desperate screams echoed through the room. Only Wendy got to climax over and over again, all the other women were afflicted by the blessing of Lovers Will, which John currently used as a curse.
Youre just about to cum, hemanded between kisses. Although he primarily looked at Beatrice, his will directed the words at all three of his present lovers. Youre so close. You can feel it building and building, but you cant cum yet. You can cum only when I do. When I allow you to. Then all of this lust will release.
All he got in response was more and more pleading screams. Aclysia could do nothing but squirm as each spoken line sent intense pleasure into every fibre of her being. Her position put herpletely at the mercy of Jacks thrusts. Each time the double plunged into Wendys cunt, the goddess moved around her. Beatrice waspletely at the mercy of his words and his teasing fingers. He groped her butt, he teased her sphincter and pussy. Scarlett was beyond words. The bottled-up pressure of suppressed orgasms made her little more than a tight pussy around Johns hot, hard shaft. With someposure, she managed to remain still as John dominated her.
Cum! One word and theposure was annihted.
The Gamer mmed into both pussies onest time, lifting the limitations just as his seed rushed out of his shaft. Aclysias love juices gushed from her cunt, as she filled up Wendys other hole with her own faux-cum. With their kiss growing into a feverish haze, Beatrice slung her arms around her master, happy to be the one to receive his kiss at her moment of climax.
Scarletts spine curved intensely as she was filled up with his orgasm-inducing seed. Unable to resist his perverted intrigue, he grabbed her throat from behind and pulled her that little bit more to see her face. He knew that she was flexible enough. Although upside down, he was treated to the sight of her rolled up eyes. Her jaw hung open loosely; her tongue extended as she screamed. Intense bliss reverberated in every second it continued.
And it continued for a while. The Gamers first load of the day was evenrger because of the dy he had suffered between waking up and releasing it. Over and over again, his cocks tensed and fanned the mes of orgasms in Wendy and Scarlett. Aclysia and Beatrice somewhat started to recover already, but even they were still heavily breathing when their master was finally done.
Jesus, I needed that, he sighed and slowly pulled out. Watching his cum dribble out of the well-fucked holes was exactly what he needed on a sessful morning. You okay there? he asked Scarlett, who had copsed back onto the lounger. Giving him a weak thumbs up, she did about as well as he expected. Same was true for Wendy, whose limp body Aclysia lifted off her shrinking cock.
The goddess had been knocked out by the intensity of the orgasm.
Chapter 827 – Progress Raiding 1 – Gathering up the Girls
Chapter 827 C Progress Raiding 1 C Gathering up the Girls
John spent the rest of Wednesday drowned in work. He had a lot of bureaucracy to chew through, a number of calls to make regarding the holiday developments, and the House of Exceptionals meeting to attend. Now that the test runs were through, the houses of legiture met once a week each. The Commons met on Mondays, the Exceptionals on Wednesdays and Parliament got together on Fridays. In order to give representatives a fair amount of time to return home every month, these sessions were separated into one of three categories: regr, important, and urgent.
Regr meetings were going to be the vast majority of legiture sessions. Including discussions about minor topics andws, they allowed representatives to skip out on them without any stated reason. If they failed to vote on something that had local impacts, they only had their constituency to answer to. Important sessions, on the other hand, were when it was required that at least 75% of all members of parliament were present and those who werent had to give a reason to the Speaker. Those would be about business that had the potential for wide-sweeping consequences. One step up from there were urgent sessions. Those were for topics so important they trumped the regr schedule and demanded everyone attend, save for the most valid of excuses.
Right now, they were only having regr meetings. The House of Exceptionals had talked about a list of suggested locations for fantasy race reservations, sent over by the Supernatural Peoples Party. John had been quite enthusiastic about letting arge colony of slime people live inside the Hudson Barrier. The water was clean and slime girls were sexy.
There were also talks about some of the unused city getting torn down in favour of expanding some of the park areas into a proper forest. That would give room to elves, dryads and other nature loving species. He suggested taking Green Wood Cemetery and Sunset Park and expanding them towards the water. That would create quite therge green area, with the option to create a coastline. He would destroy a graveyard in the process but, given that it was just a replica, John didnt have any qualms about it. There were no real bones whose final rest he would disrupt with this action.
He had expected some pushback from the elves because that would put the newly formed forest right next to the Bae Circle, the Hudson Barriers ratherrge and prosperous red-light district. As a phone call after the meeting revealed, the elves did not mind at all. John even seemed to detect some thirst in the voice of the female representative he got in touch with. The elf denied any usation of being horny, only to then email John a question if they could wear their traditional garb inside the Hudson Barrier. The attached reference was something fitting for a strip club. There was, evidently, a sizable segment of elves that were incredibly horny.
When it came to fantasy races getting a dwelling ce in the Hudson Barrier, things shifted into Collide business. People like elves and slimes had a really easy time finding homes onnd of other Federation members as well because they had the advantage of being attractive to humans. Other species were more difficult to amodate because of unpopr eating habits and looks. They had some ideas that were promising regardless.
After that, John did as much work in advance as he could. Since most of his tasks were problems that fluttered in on that day, that wasnt too much, but it was still something. Then he went to bed early. Getting up before sunrise, this time as per n and along with the harem, he and his girls moved to the I.D. Gate.
The Building looked in as always. It was a wall of polished marble, with seven doors spaced out along its length. Around the middle door, the marble was ck with white veins, the opposite of the rest of the wall. That was the sign that this door would lead to some unbound ce the next time it was opened. John had first used itst week, shortly after the upgrade, and ended up at a smoke-filled poker ce where people gambled for really high-level stuff. Not interested in ying that minigame that day, he had pretty much immediately left. Today, hecked the time to do more than peek his head in, which would have been a waste of a cooldown.
I should put a Sentry Golem on duty to make sure nobody uses the door without my permission, the Gamer realized and quickly opened the Guild Hall interface to do exactly that. He didnt have direct control of this facet of the Building. Cutting off mana supply would work, but that wasnt exactly viable when he wanted to head inside himself.
While he finagled with the options, he said his hellos to Magoi. The High Fateweaver was alone this time around. The typical greeting small talk revealed that his wife was going to have a book club with somedy friends and would only join them in the barrierter that day. Its going to be nice to have a week to myself, the mask-wearing entric eximed, correcting the position of his top hat with his cane.
I believe that, John responded, as they opened one of the six regr doors and headed into the endless darkness that was behind it. Without any gesture by the High Fateweaver, the empty barrier transformed into a vast green in. Then he pointed his cane at three different locations. One created Johns house, the second Magois tower and the third the gates of light that John could use to create an Instant Dungeon, within Magois Illusion Barrier, which was inside the Guild Hall, which itself was nested inside the Hudson Barrier Protected Space.
Magoi had once remarked that this was the world record for barrier stacking. It had been previously aplished that a High Fateweaver managed to create a barrier allowing barrier within another High Fateweavers barrier allowing barrier, but that had only brought them to the count of three. Not the most impressive rule or record John had ever broken, but he would take whatever gave him another entry in the history books of the world.
How is Magnus doing? the Gamer asked the High Fateweaver, as they marched into the open field. For acoustic reasons, their dwelling ces were quite a bit apart, but they could share a fair bit of the path before it was necessary to separate. Havent seen him since I spotted him and Nina in the opera.
Well, he is no longer dating a stripper, which is nice, Magoi responded in a joking tone.
So, she quit her job at the Little Whirl? the Gamer asked, since the High Fateweaver would have sounded quite different if his son was single again.
Indeed. That bit I am quite happy about. Not as content with him using his influence tond her a student spot on our Fateweaver academy, Magoi sighed and scratched the side of his head. Thats a bit worse than me, even. Mabirl used to be my student, but I didnt get her in there
Is Magnus teaching her? John wondered.
Not as an official teacher, no.
Does she have talent for Fateweaving?
Fateweaving? Very unlikely. Magoi made a dismissive gesture. She seems to have some basic talent in putting up barriers, but she will have to work very hard to make it in this profession. She is proficient enough to make it into the basic workforce though.
Then I dont think there is a big issue. John rolled his neck. We need more Fateweavers that can do the basic work of putting up and maintaining Protected Spaces.
While every Abyssal could create Illusion Barriers, those copsed automatically when no more entities able to put them up dwelled within them. Protected Spaces had a prolonged existence that stayed even if nobody was inside. That had its limitations, but as long as a Fateweaver went in every now and again, things were fine. Those two kinds of barriers were the difference between a nomads tent and a proper house. The former was quickly put up and torn down, while thetter wassting but required maintenance every now and again.
I trust Magnus to not put her in any office she shouldnt be in, the Gamer continued. As long as we avoid proper nepotism, I dont mind some friendly dealings. There were several seconds of silence, causing John to give the old Fateweaver a nce. You still have some problems?
As someone who lived a while, Ive gotten a tad cynical about things, Magoi prefaced what he said next. I just hope she didnt get with him just for her personal gain.
Well, if she is a gold digger, she isnt enough of one to have shown up on my Observe, the Gamer told him. If that puts you at ease.
A little bit ah well, my son is old enough that I shouldnt worry about everything he does anymore. Magoi tried his best to sound joking, but John heard how much he had to force himself. Being a father was quite the challenge, no matter the time that had passed. That both intimidated John and made him somewhat impatient to face that particr hurdle in life himself. I hope you have fun with whatever youre doing today, the Fateweaver said and then turned right.
I probably will, John returned, going left. Most of the harem had already gone ahead to the house.
It was no longer Johns old Springfield home. As nostalgic as that house made him every time, it wasnt afortable stay for over a dozen people. Instead, Magoi had spawned him a mansion of modern design with deep purple walls. John had no idea where its original stood or whether it was made up from whole cloth. Regardless, he was met by Lydia at the entrance.
The queen beckoned him closer with the wiggle of a finger. Although the gesture wasmanding, the smile on her lipspromised the stern royals usual look of iron discipline. That she smiled like that when she was around him was one of the pieces of evidence that the Gamer was doing well in life. Those perfect red lips werent supposed to rest in neutrality or be stretched into frowns all the time.
The moment he was in range, he gently took hold of her chin and waist and pulled her into a kiss. They had been so hurried to get into the barrier and make effective use of the time dtion that they hadnt properly greeted each other yet. Likely, this was why she alone was waiting for him at the door.
Her lips tasted sweet, with a note of citrus and a hint of metal. With delightful tenderness, she answered his kiss. Their engagement was slow and loving, with only a hint of lust in the touching of their tongues. Lydia squeezed his firm back, pulling him a bit closer to her wonderful curves. In the end, they spent a whole minute there. Not a particrly effective use of our time, he whispered when they came to a close.
I agree. Youre a terrible influence on my work ethics, Lydia responded. As it stands, I required some deep attention from you. Now that this desire has been sated, lets make sure you properly nourish yourself, my love. I have been informed you didnt have breakfast yet.
Getting in here really was the top priority, time wise, he hummed in response and let Lydia lead him by the hand into the mansion. The furniture was pretty basic, looking as if someone had fancied up IKEA products, and the walls were barren. Given that this ce would only exist for about ten days, thinking about decorating it would have been a waste of time.
The harem had already spread out through the three-story house. Scarlett let Beatrice hand her a LAN cable, having just found the socket in the living room. Aclysia was putting the utensils she had brought with her into the drawers of the semi-connected kitchen. It was its own room, but there was a gap in the wall that allowed meals to be slid over. Eliza threw herself down on the leather couch and tried to withhold Velka from Nias greedy hands. Both the pet-loving Magryph and the pariahined about this. One with a lot more emotion than the other.
John had deliberated whether or not the bird-cat was supposed to tag along. Ultimately, he thought it was too early to leave her alone for a whole day. That aside, he wanted to take this opportunity and train her hunting instincts by opening some extremely low-level dungeons. As an animal, she would neverpletely lose her killing instincts, but John wanted her to have honed skills rather than basic ones.
Thanks to his mental connection to Metra, he knew that she and his girlfriend were upstairs. What had started as a simple exploration had apparently ended with the two of them making out on the bed. Much like her boyfriend, Rave couldnt keep her hands to herself for too long. After some fun, hunger would bring her back to the living room. Same was true for the remaining girls that were scattered about.
Lydia stopped in the middle of the living room, dragging her socks over the carpet. This will be nasty by the time we are gone, she pointed out.
Ill bring it up with Magoi for the next barrier, John promised. It wasnt too big an issue to make a fuss about. Every bit of spilled love juice would add a stain to the carpet. A limitation they would just have to live with. Hey, Scarlett, do you still need Baes help?
If she hands me myptop, no I dont, the technomancer returned and the passive maid consecutively pulled the device out of her inventory. Then she turned to John, who pulled something out of his private dimensional pocket.
It was a small aquarium, without the lid. Just four walls of ss and a sturdy floor, with a small staircase attached to the outside. Can you fill this up and put it somewhere Stirwin can reach?
Affirmative, Beatrice responded and grabbed the aquarium. Although they wouldnt greatly decorate the ce, the group of lovers was quickly turning the mansion into their temporary home.
Lets sit down, John said and pointed at the sole table in the living room. Unlike his own apartment, where the dining table and couch were separate entities, this room only had arge table in the middle of an evenrger couch-and-armchair formation. All of it was overlooked by arge television, which currently had dozens of lines of codes shing on its screen for every second that passed. Scarlett was apparently busy reprogramming it to properly connect to herptop.
Nudity is nice. Very nice, Sylph babbled, floating in the middle of their path. Weird to wear stuff for the few metres that we went from being naked at home to being nude here. Hey, hey, Undine! youre nude all the time, how is that working out for you?
Clothes are unnatural, the goth slimes voice echoed from the open bathroom door. That response was all that was needed to make the thunderstorm elemental ramble on her own for another two minutes.
John sat down in one of the armchairs, and Lydia decided to sit down on him. Her soft butt resting on his left thigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck. They almost went right back to making out, but the queen managed to stop herself to address business before more pleasure. It Is perpetually pleasing how effective your grinding sessions make the usage of my vacation days, she stated.
Tell me about it. Without these, I would only get you for an hour or a day here and there, he answered, lightly brushing up and down her leg. I probably wont supply you with metals this time around. I dont n to go into Assaults, unless the Raid proves to be too difficult still.
I wouldnt be so selfish to desire more than you have given me already, the auburn-haired royal responded, unbuttoning her shirt. Underneath, she wore a piece of lingerie that barely qualified as a bra. It didnt hide her nipples or much of her breasts at all. The white piece of silk and cloth was only emphasizing her delicious looking chest. Albeit I will use the time you are away to continue my training.
Are you still meditating? John asked.
Only as a supplementary regimen. The majority of my training is now active usage of my Innate Ability and attempts to master more martial arts, Lydia exined to him.
That so the Gamer hummed and leaned towards her. If you dont mind a little mystery, I will tell you that I have an idea, he whispered into her ear. I will reveal it after we had breakfast.
What will you give me to keep me patient until the revtion? the queen wanted to know.
Exactly what you want, he stated and hooked a finger under her belt. His lips pressed against her neck.
Her wanton moan was all the confirmation he needed to continue.
Chapter 828 – Progress Raiding 2 – To fight together
Chapter 828 C Progress Raiding 2 C To fight together
John swallowed thest bit of his breakfast and washed it down with a cup of peppermint tea. Putting the cup down with more force than necessary, he managed to direct everyones attention towards him and then grabbed it by clearing his throat. Jane, Metra, Lydia, he said and looked at the three women in turn, I would suggest you tag along in the Raid.
You think thats a possibility? the queen asked, looking over the rim of her own cup.
John nodded. I didnt want you or Jane to tag along for a while now because of our power differences. If you are only half my level, an Instant Dungeon is extremely dangerous. Fateweaving does a lot to diminish that problem and your levels
were not exactly equal, but youre not that far behind anymore either, he continued after throwing quick Observes around. In any regr RPG, I would say anything more than three level behind is a death sentence for group content. As my powers project them onto reality, I dont think fifty levels is an insurmountable issue. Doing a quick calction in his head, John hummed. You broke through the scaling barrier, Lydia.
Scaling barrier? the gorgeous royal asked, brushing a strand of her red-brown hair behind her ear.
Most people have five Statpoints per level, people that have immense talent usually get to six at some point or another, he exined. I think seven should also be possible. I have it. Romulus is the only person I have ever seen that has eight.
As if a superior level wasnt enough. The Apex of the Abyss continues to be an irregr entity, Lydiained and finished her tea.
I dont think youre in any position toin about power when you gained another fifty levels since I helped you, the Gamer responded. Since they were in contact almost every day, even if it was just a phone call, he knew that she had sunk quite a bit of money into acquiring more Mithril to ingest. Once the cost associated had be too high forfort, she had returned to regr methods of training. Proximity to me alone makes you an irregrity.
As my willingness to participate in this lust-ridden group clearly proves, Lydia stated and nced over at the exposed breasts of Siena with clear desire. As Observe showed, the queen was still horny and her Libido had increased even more since the initial burst of levels almost two months back.
Dont think levels were ever the issue with me, Metra chimed into the conversation. Hands folded behind her head, she bnced on the back legs of her chair.
The reason Metra had tapped out of fighting in dungeons with him was her specific ability. Metra was immensely powerful, gaining massively increased Stats depending on how angry she was. The limitation of this ability was that she had to fight on her own. Why exactly this was, John had no idea. However, given that she was created out of a hodgepodge of different divine ingredients, most of which came from the goddess of chaos Tiamat, certain oddities were to be expected.
That had been arge deciding factor, but there was another reason why John had opted to not take her along way back when. True, we have to work around your limitation to make optimal use of your potential, but I think that wont be an issue anymore. He smiled at her. I would say we know each other a bit better now, so we can coordinate things properly.
Teamwork had been an issue. When she had just entered the contract with him, Metra had just been a presence on the battlefield that brawled at the corner. Because any area attack could identally deactivate her ability, coordination had been very important. Several months had passed since and they had grown as close as two people could. They suffered from ack of side by side battle experience, which was in part why John wanted to get started now. However, this should be outweighed by their mental connection, so his rationale.
What do you say, Metra, do you want to fight with me? he asked and earned himself a growing grin by the First of Wrath.
The chairs front legs mmed onto the carpet and Metras hands onto the table. Standing with a hunger for excitement in her verdant eyes, she stared at him. Lead me into a glorious battlefield, my king. Metra straightened up and bowed her head in a subservient gesture. I will do as you wish.
Oy, Rave cried out. I was supposed to get the first proposal!
Sorry, seems like I broke that promise, John joked back. Anyway, I take it youre on board?
Are ya asking me whether or not I want to risk my safety fighting some monsters Gaia specifically created in order to be extremely difficult to defeat? the Lightbearer returned a rhetorical question. Duh.
Yeah, could have spared myself the question. Chuckling, the Gamer looked over to Nia. Sorry that I cant ask you to tag along. Because youre currently at a higher level than me, you would reduce the experience I get by quite a bit- He got interrupted by a window popping up.
-Well, never mind that, he corrected himself. Gaia just let me know she will pause that system within a ten level range, as long as I take someone weaker along as well. Which Lydia and Rave fulfil. So, you cane along too, if you want.
Nia thought about it for a little bit, then said, Yes. That was all the conversation he needed to have with her.
Once he was certain she wouldnt add anything else, Johns eyes travelled away from her and back over to Metra. I have a question for you, the Gamer stated. How strong do you feel? Like, are you as strong as you usually would be now?
Metra had let him know in the past that her contract with him had left her weaker than she actually was. Interactions between his mechanics and her nature caused her to be held back to his level. Ever since finding that out, John had wondered if she would also be pulled up along with him once they crossed her original ceiling. The only reference he had for where thaty was Seminaris level, which had been 212st he had seen her, with a contractor much stronger than that. Even making the fair assumption that Metra was the stronger of the two, the First of Wrath should have crossed or be close to her real level.
Hard to say, honestly, the blonde responded, making a fist and rolling it around, causing the pronounced muscles in her upper arm to shift. I spent the better part of a century without any power to use before I went under your contract. You know, being stuck inside a brain and all that-
Fuck you for reminding me of that. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, Eliza cussed her way into the conversation. Every curse came along a shiver, as if she had just risen out of ice water. John grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into hisp, before the pretty little psycho could have a proper panic attack.
He partly failed. By the time he was cuddling her, she had fallenpletely silent. Her purple eyes were zed over. Shhhh, its alright, he whispered into her ear,bing her wild hair with his fingers. Its safe and warm here. Youre free. For several minutes, John just kept holding her. Metra looked at the process with a mixture of guilt, uncertainty and annoyance.
John couldnt me her for that. Nobody enjoyed triggering Elizas memories of mistreatment, but the unpredictability of what would do it made dealing with her bothersome at times. A simple joke could be the cause of prolonged tending. They were all willing to put up with it, because they loved her and because she made the effort of getting better. Ufortable as it was, even their willingness to help was apanied by a feeling of inconvenience. How much varied between them. Both of these factors came along being imperfect people.
John didnt mind having these less friendly impulses, they had their validity. When a stranger approached him with his issues and kept loading them onto him in the waiting line of the supermarket, such annoyance would have been quite justified. When it came to handling one of his loves, he had all the patience in the world to counteract whatever part of him was irked.
You doing okay? Metra asked when light returned to Elizas eyes and she looked around, surrounded by the worried faces of John and the harem.
Yeah sorry for being such a useless cumdump, Eliza mumbled, cant even tag along with you all
Thats the opposite of you being useless, John told her with a well-meaning chuckle. Youre too powerful. If youe along, we dont get any experience points, thats the issue.
Also, SOMEBODY has to stay here with me, Scarlett eximed. Do you want me to get bored out of my fucking mind, all alone while everyone else grinds the day away? It was a thinly veiled white lie. Everyone knew Scarlett was an introvert more than happy to spend several days on her own. Most of her life, the technomancer had spent without much in the way of social contacts. Realizing this, Scarlett added a more fitting line, Do you expect me to take care of Velka the entire time?
Hearing her name, the Magryph softly meowed. Sitting at Johns feet, the young pet had noticed the distress of her favourite pampering food dispenser. Worried, she had kept looking and now yfully pecked at Elizas feet. If there had been space for her, she would probably have jumped up onto Elizasp. Instead, she just made big eyes.
See, Velka needs you, John said and kissed Elizas neck. Youre not useless.
Yeah, Im not the pretty little psycho mumbled, recovered from this panic attack. Wish I could reign in these giant fucking mood swings though
Well, you are getting better, given that you no longer break my bones whenever you get mad. No use in hurrying the development along, John told her and looked back up to Metra, wanting to restore normalcy to the room. So, you arent sure if you have reached your proper power yet?
Im sure Im around it, but I dont know if I am just below or slightly above, Metra responded with a d sigh. No fucking clue yet whether your bullshit powers keep me scaling along as well.
Could be that they dont by nature but now do because I got Lovers WIll before it became an issue. He shrugged. Ah well, some more grinding and we will have a definitive answer on the scaling.
You have a n for what we do if I dont keep levelling along with you? Metra asked and looked around in a rare sight of visible and extreme difort. Her shoulders and entire posture tensed, causing the motion of her sitting back down to be rigid. Anger and uncertainty radiated off her mind. Being who she was, John had an easy time imagining that she hated the idea of being the weakest person in a group.
If Lovers Will, for some odd reason, doesnt take care of it, I am sure a Metracana Master Perk will, John answered. That single line put Metra at ease. The berserker babe had always been pretty easy going about things. Anybody got any more questions?
Yes, Nia spoke up immediately, I need a reminder. How does your ability interact with us getting stronger?
As far as I understand it, the power you gain throughbat experience inside dungeons is entirely yours, John answered. What you get through EXP Potions or by defeating dungeon monsters is part of the system. That bit I am very certain about. Sadly, that does mean I have to split the ten levels I can bestow on people through the party system between you three. He looked between Lydia, Rave and Nia.
Focus on Lyly, Rave stated, pointing at the queen.
That would be the most efficient, Nia nodded along.
Sighing, Lydia tugged her lingerie into ce. I will not refuse your graciousness, but I will admit that this continuing special treatment is taking its toll on my pride.
I can distract you from that, John announced, changing Elizas position a little bit to reveal his erection. The table wasnt nearly high enough to hide anything and the blood mages butt too squishy to not get hard. Lydias gaze was immediately glued to his cock.
We should not spend too much time fooling around, the queen stated, in spite of her obvious desire toe over. Even though stretched, the next 240 hours will still be regarded as one day, when ites to Experience of Love. It makes little sense for us to engage in excessive coitus. Her words didnt carry quite the usual authority, courtesy of her shifting around in her seat and her pussy visibly bing wet.
You expect me to only have eight hours of sex in that time? John asked with an amusedly raised eyebrow. That might be the efficient thing to do, but do I have to remind you that we all have pretty extreme Libidos at this point? Being sexually unsatisfied would be quite the detriment.
That is true enough, Lydia conceded the point, swallowing excess saliva. Despite having just eaten, she was hungry for more. Regardless, we just had intercourse. I am satisfied enough.
I am not, John stated in his dominant voice. Lydia,e over here and worship my cock, themand rang with magical power. Sitting still for a few seconds, Lydia was visibly contemting whether she should obey or try to convince him that entering the raid now was the smart thing.
The things I do because of lust and love, she sighed and dropped down to the floor. On all fours, she made her way over to his seat. Velka ran away when the auburn-haired metal mage approached. The Magryph had likely spotted the pattern of when things got annoyingly loud around her owner. Lydia stopped in front of John, leaning towards his shaft. Yourmands are a tool that I should forbid by decree, given how much I yearn for the pleasure you bring me.
Nobody told you that you needed to crawl, you perverted queen, John teased, while Lydias tongue travelled from his balls to the engorged, pre-cum dribbling head. The motion pressed the upside of his cock against Elizas pussy. Unsurprisingly, the pretty little psycho started to get wet herself. Especially once Lydia loudly moaned, rewarded for following his order. Well get going after a nice little breakfast orgy.
Cant start the day without one, Rave agreed, even as Lydia rolled her eyes.
The orgy was followed by a shower, but they eventually made it out of the house.
Chapter 829 – Progress Raiding 3 – vs a Sickleman
Chapter 829 C Progress Raiding 3 C vs a Sickleman
Like a pond that had been disturbed by a thrown rock, the stone floor cracked open and sent pebbles flying everywhere. The impact of the chitin spear caused an echo to ripple through the Valley of Stone and Thunder. The group looked up from the impact site towards the shadow of the creature that had thrown it. A massive, humanoid shape with four arms and a neckless head.
It stood on the edge of the southernmost of the three teaus and soon vanished behind one of the many boulders that covered the craggy exterior. Looking around, John just barely caught the movement of a second monster on the teau to the northeast. From hisst visit here, he knew that there was a third on the teau to the northwest. The second they moved out of the spawn point towards any of the valleys that would, presumably, lead to the bosses, they would be in range of one of the spear-throwers.
Beatricended back in the safe zone. So, Sylph, Siena and Beatrice are quick enough to dodge the spears at maximum range, at least, the Gamer summarized their findings. Metra, if you can dodge, do so. If you cant, I want to see whether your armour can block the impact.
Roger that, my king, Metra answered and, for once, put her armour on without anyining. Having seen the impact of the previous three spears, she was respecting enough of their power to give it her all from the get-go. The moment the lead-grey tes hadpletely covered her muscr body, she charged forwards. About two secondster, she jumped to the side. Too slow to dodge, but quick enough to transform it from a hit to her chest to one to her shoulder.
There was a crunching sound, like a fly getting squished under a boot, and Metras shoulder was pushed backwards. Shards of the spear flew everywhere. The First of Wrath remained standing. Quickly she retreated to the spawn point. A second spear flew in her direction, but just barely missed her.
Would have been better if I hadnt tried to dodge, she reported, her voice echoing metallically underneath the malicious looking helmet. If it hit my centre, it wouldnt have thrown me off bnce as much.
John nodded and looked at where Metra had been hit. If there had been any damage to her armour, her status as an Artificial Spirit had already fixed it. When it came to her HP, there was a chunk of it missing. Although she didnt get skewered, the force of the impact still dealt damage. Not enough to cause any worry, however.
Even without her wrath-fuelled buff, Metra still had her nearly unrivalled defences to justify her presence in the group. That and her dimension tearing magic. Think you can just teleport up to it? John asked, looking at the Sickleman in the distance, once more hiding when nobody was watching anymore.
Would be easier if I still had Qiada, the First of Wrath answered, resting the crimson recement axe onto her shoulder in a nonchnt fashion. Not having a weapon that can store spells limits my range quite a bit.
Hmmm, well, if were lucky, something might drop for you, the Gamer hummed. Not that that solves the immediate problem. What distance do you think you can cross in an instance with a portal?
Fifteen to twenty metres, Metra responded. That wasnt a lot, especially when it came to their current superhuman standards. Using her magic to make her charge wasnt an option, it seemed.
What about the cliff, can your magic help climb up there?
That should be pretty easy, yeah.
John rubbed his chin and ignored the chattering in the background. While he was busy scheming, the girls talked about this and that. There was no need to be dead serious before the battle began and only a few of the girls were as interested in analysing the conditions of the battle as he was. Once he hade to a conclusion, there was immediate silence.
Alright, here is the battle n. John turned towards the gathered harem. Metra will charge in on her own. Well follow once she is up the cliff, he emphasized his words by pointing up to where the Sickleman hadst been seen. She wont take too much damage from the spears and should be able to hold her own until we arrive. Once I give you the signal, Metra, you immediately fall back to where I am. You will lose your extra power when we start attacking and I dont want that to happen while youre locked in a grapple or something. He looked at Undine. You will leave item form at that point and concentrate on healing people who get out of the direct engagement. Everyone, remember that Undine can reach you at range as long as your shadow is intense enough. This is true for all of you, except Lydia, Nia and Jane. You will also need to be in range of her sight for this to work, because youck the mental connection.
Sounds fun, Metra grinned, while Undine just nodded.
Once were in battle, we go through three battle phases, he continued. In stage one we fight cautiously. Only Aclysia, Beatrice, Metra and Gnome should go into melee range. Everyone else focuses on ranged support. Study the attack patterns, find weaknesses, get used to the terrain, all that. Once we get confident, we go into phase two where we exploit what we find. Cripple the most important limbs, take advantage of unnecessary movements or just crush it with numbers. If we can win right there, we do, if we cant, we go into phase three. Those of us who have extremely strong and reliable burst attacks will get ourselves in the best position to deliver a decisive blow. That should at least cripple the monster enough that we can finish it off using phase two tactics. Anyone disagree with that n?
He looked around and only saw shaking heads or other forms of denial.
Alright, Nia, I want you to focus on opportunistic attacks during phase two, the Gamer gave his final instructions. Lydia, you should offer support in all three phases. Use your Innate Ability to obstruct the enemys movements, shield us and all that. Jane, I want you to prepare Copernicus Unleash from the start. Best to have something avable for phase three immediately. He didnt need to give the rest specific orders since their mental connection would allow him to ry things even in the heat of battle.
Ya mean ya want me to go Super Saya-Jane, his girlfriend stated.
Please do not remind me of that terrible pun, John groaned.
Ya dont have the right toin about terrible puns, Mister I-named-my-yacht-Boating-Seaequence.
My puns are tasteful, yours are terrible, the Gamer asserted and looked to Metra. I suppose were ready when you are.
Just give me a moment, Metra responded, stepping up to the very border of the safe area. I should amp myself up for this.
You want some help?
As if I would need help getting angry, the First of Wrathughed. The sound ended abruptly. Searing heat rose at the edge of Johns mind. He had learned to ignore the basic levels of it. Now, the ever-present anger of Metra rose to above average levels. Conjuring multiple scenes and images from her memories, she caused some of them to flood past the boundaries of her ego and reach John.
He saw a ck ziggurat and a great procession of powerful, sorrowful and traitorous vassals. He saw a dragon with wings like the night, covered in stars. He saw a tower that grew and grew. He saw a hall with twenty-one open chambers and a rotting, living dragon bleeding salt water lying in the middle of it. Thats Tiamat? he asked himself.
The image didnt stay for long and John concentrated more on the present Metra. Ramming her ted heel into rock over and over again, the First of Wrath created an ever-deeper crack in the floor. The beat grew louder, angrier, was apanied by the tiny rattling of her armour segments against each other. Trembles grew to violent shakes and then, with a scream of raw anger, she started running.
She was almost as quick as Sylph at that moment. She was a streak of grey in the greyndscape. Only the glow of her green eyes added anything else to the monotony. Charging with anything but grace, she leapt in a serpentine pattern, dodging the repeated impacts of the spears. She mmed into the cliff as if she could make the entire teau topple over. There was a quake John could feel even where he stood. Metra dug her hand and axe into the stone and pulled with such power that she half flew up the vertical obstacle. There was a re in the air towards the end, then she was gone.
Lets go! John announced and everyone followed after the berserker babe. Beatrice, Nia and Rave all had to take the ground route. John, Aclysia, and Lydia got carried through the air by Smander, Jack and Sylph, respectively. Gnome, Undine and Siena were all following incorporeally. With this distribution, they minimized time between arrivals due to Agility differences. Regardless, Sylph was the first to arrive.
The Gamer got to see the Sickleman and Metra fight. It was absolutely brutal. Neither of the two parties were hurt yet, but the flurry of movements and how they ravaged thendscape was worthy of a chapter in a mythology book. Every strike of Metras axe cleaved apart rock. The monster dodged each time. It didnt look easy on the creature, but it could still fight Metra in her current stage on even footing, if not surpass her.
The insectoid giant dodged three swipes of the axe and then suddenly stopped moving. There was a moment it seemed bored, it even turned as if it wanted to walk away. Metra roared and charged to take advantage of it C or she was just incredibly mad about being ignored like that. The Sickleman whirled its thick, upper arm around. It mmed into Metras side and catapulted her into a boulder, which shattered on impact.
This is as good a time as any, John thought. Metra, stay where you are! Undine separated from Purgatory and flowed in Metras general direction. The First of Wraths health pool was barely depleted, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Bursting out of the pile of rocks, it took the berserker quite an effort to not charge her enemy again. The green glow in her eyes was extinguished, and with it any chance for her to duel this creature, when a lightning bolt by Sylph hit it in the side. Last time they had fought this enemy, her attacks had barely fazed it. Sixty levelster, the Sickleman at least looked inconvenienced by that single attack.
A spike grew out of the left shoulder of the hunched over creature, in the blink of an eye. Grabbing it, the spider-faced Sickleman pulled out what became a fully formed spear. It had a metallic shine, just as the monsters exoskeleton overall. Everyst centimetre of it was ttened and sharp. Only the specially formed hands of the monster could even hold the spear without cutting itself.
Drawing its arm back, the monster took aim at Sylph. Then its entire body rxed and it sat down against a boulder, avoiding a fireballing straight at it. Without any care, it dropped the spear. Then it tried to grab Beatrice in a motion so quick it became blurry to Johns eyes. The sickles on its lower arms snapped out like those of a praying mantis. Luckily, the passive maid had much better Agility than it, as well as reflex boosting Perks. With Unsteady Limb, she managed to take a step backwards quickly enough to avoid getting grabbed. A thick, saliva like liquid dropped off the spider fangs.
A disappointed, groaning sound echoed out from the creature as it set after Beatrice in a flurry of motions. Only when Aclysia threatened to hack away at its legs with Tiemarath did the monstrosity back off. After it was out of immediate fighting range, it hissed and took a stance. Metra and Gnome joined the frontline; the harem took formation in a semi-circle around the monster. John kept to the very back, using Jack to keep aerial vision of the battlefield.
The Sickleman dropped its guard and began to just stroll. Nobody immediately engaged again. They just watched, just as John had suggested they should. It fights like a cat, Nia remarked, as the Sickleman continued to walk as if it had lost interest in the battle.
While John shared that impression, it felt wrong to link the predatory style of a cat to something that seemed more like the unholy union of a spider, a gori and a praying mantis. Even less than that he liked the idea that he was being treated like a mouse.
Without any tell, the Sickleman grabbed one of the boulders and hurled it at the group. Everyone dodged sessfully, and the battle began anew. Several minutes of cautious exchanges passed. Although the fact that the monster would feign a loss of interest was unchanging, there were no clear intervals or tells when it switched between its moods. Even when pressed by all four melee fighters and harassed by back line attacks at the same time, the Sickleman had no problem just suddenly going from trying to kill them all to sitting down in a rxed way.
They dealt damage to it the entire time, but nothing that seemed to properly hurt.
The exoskeleton was durable against physical attacks and warded off all elemental attacks with equal reliability. On the few asions that they did corner the Sickleman, the creature dropped into the shadows to dodge. The first time this happened, they managed to score a good hit courtesy of Rave conjuring an intense sh of light that forced the Sickleman back out. This caught the creature off-guard, allowing Beatrice to capitalize. Her spear mmed into the joint area at the right side of the creatures hips, but only prated the outeryers of skin. That did draw blood, but the monster wasnt crippled.
They would have been fighting it all day this way, so John eventually made the call. Phase two! he shouted and looked over to Rave. His girlfriend caught his gaze and nodded. Fragments of mana were already hanging in the air around her. Usually, she would create them as a side effect of martial art usage. Going into melee was too dangerous, so she instead exuded them as part of her breathing technique. What was normally a sign of inefficient usage was a deliberate decision for her.
I would go for an Arcana Strike, but Im certain that thing is smart enough to relocate, John thought, looking at the Sickleman bending backwards to dodge a strike by Beatrice. Doing a backflip, the giant creature dragged its wed foot through Beatrices chest. Over half of the Artificial Spirits health was eradicated in one move and a feeling of searing pain. The attack had connected with her crystal core.
Rapidly, Beatrice fell back. The Sickleman set after her. With a sudden and strong focus, it chased. Depleted of resources, the passive maid couldnt get away. Arm stretched out, the creature was about to grab her.
Nobody likes stalkers! Smander screamed as she descended on the monster with a drop kick. That knocked the arm aside before Beatrice could be grabbed. It also left the endme elemental in a vulnerable position. The lower arms of the Sicklemanshed out. One of Smanders shoulders got grabbed by an extending sickle.
The other sickle refused to extend, something that left the monster confused for just a moment. Just barely, John could make out the wires that had been wrapped around the arm. They connected to bits of metal floating around Lydia. It took the queen visible effort to keep the strings pulled. Controlling such thin strands of metal must have been quite difficult. John had seen her do it before during the tournament, but back then she had lots of trees around to anchor the wires to and ultimately just controlled them as one constricting unit at close range.
Thanks for the save! Smander shouted and raised her free hand up to the Sicklemans face. An explosion of grey and gold fire consumed the view for a moment. Then the monster bowed down unhindered, its spider fangs descending on Smanders head. The endme elemental stretched out of the way. Instead of her head, they burrowed into the soft meat of her shoulders. Most of her health vanished immediately. Fucking ass Smander growled, conjuring fire ball after fire ball that blinded the monster while it kept its teeth burrowed with sadistic glee.
Aclysia and Metra swiped in an attempt to save her. The Sickleman blocked their strikes with arms and legs. Gnome tried to disrupt the monsters bnce by tackling it. The Sickleman twisted out of the way with its extreme nimbleness. Lydia tried to hinder it, but the steady pull of the wires was only strong enough to keep the opening mechanism of the sickle from working. Like the jaw of a crocodile, it seemed that particr muscle was weak. The arm and creature it was attached to, wasnt at all.
Shit Smander hissed, her body starting to disintegrate into sparks and then suddenly vanishing. Using her fellow haremettes dying embers as cover, Siena jumped at the enemy. She managed to gouge a single eye out, then was hit by a hammer-like fist from above. Almost immediately, her health bar depleted as well.
Three attacks hit the Sickleman in quick session. Perfect, Beatrices spear, flew across the battlefield. The Sickleman kicked it aside with the very foot he would have used to stomp Siena. Then a lightning bolt caused it to stare up to Sylph with its remaining seven eyes. A distraction thatsted long enough for a sudden tidal wave of dark blue water to rush all over it.
Undine screamed her anger into the battlefield through a song in anothernguage. Her golden eyes were consumed by red, as she channelled her Unleash into this single offensive action. Although it barely did anything to hurt the Sickleman, beingpletely submerged in moving water was clearly outside of its natural habitat and served to incapacitate it. Perhaps it just thought it was fun and let itself be swept along. Regardless of what was true, the water flowed towards the edge of the teau.
John saw this as the perfect opportunity. Jane?! his urgent cry echoed over to his girlfriend, who stared back for a moment, then nodded. Mana started drifting in the air, quickly elerating towards Copernicus open mouth. The Lightbearers pink hair turned golden from the root downwards, cat ears included. At the same time, Copernicus grew from a cat into a tiger. Im counting on you!
Copernicus jumped off the stone his smaller form had beenfortably sitting on. In this form, you can, the sun tiger dered and then started running.
Ill give it something that hurts, Rave responded with a serious face and followed right after her elemental. Her Aura ignited as a golden radiance.
John checked what of his mana remained and made his final ns.
The tidal wave had finally reached the end of the teau and turned into a waterfall. Managing to free itself from the waters grip by jumping off the cliff, the Sickleman was high up in the air. Sylph stormed up to it, a series of thunderbolts, stronger than anything else the air spirit had used up to that point, torrenting through the monster. Even Unleashed, Sylphs attacks had barely any impact. The exoskeleton of the creature absorbed most of the shock, it seemed.
Two spikes shot out of the creatures shoulders, both were gripped by its main hands and pulled out as fully formed spears. One after the other, itunched the spears. Both hit their targets cleanly. Sylph was torn apart like a dry leaf hit by a bullet, dying instantly. The second spear hit Undine amongst her tidal wave. Arge hole was ripped through her slime body, but she survived with half her health still remaining.
Two more spikes grew out of the shoulders. It seemed the monster was happy to use the entirety of its fall tounch spears at them. At this range, its uracy was ridiculous and up in the air, with all fliers but Jack now eliminated, they had barely any recourse.
Copernicus didnt care. Copernicus leapt up the edge of the cliff. Copernicus used every bit the grace of a cat he had to jump the Sickleman. The two turned into a tumbling mess of limbs. Although the Sickleman would win out, the sun tiger could put up a fight for several seconds. That was all they would need.
A second streak of gold right behind the first, Rave flew over the edge of the cliff. Fist raised, she started chanting. A solemn reign, to those few that rise up high
The golden glow that encapsted her hair and body grew in intensity until it was strong enough to rival the sun. Now, for the first time, the Sickleman seemed desperate. Separating from Copernicus with one swipe of its right main arm, it moved the other three to immediately meet Rave at its maximum length. Even though it didnt know what exactly the Lightbearer was doing, it must have understood that it had to leverage its superior range.
and we all fight Rave continued to chant through her Babel-Phrase. The words were understood beyondnguage, less sounds than raw power apanying the bundling magical energies at an almost impossible rate. The Sickleman punched and wed at her.
The arms connected, but not with Rave. They shed with something a lot harder. Hard enough to withstand the attack. You were a fun fight, Metra shouted so loud John could hear it. He was standing on an extension of the cliff, just created by Gnome with all of his mana. It had allowed the First of Wrath to run close enough to teleport up there and serve as Raves shield. Now, allow her to guide you to the afterlife.
The Sickleman screeched and drew its arms back as quickly as it could.
let our worlds collide.
Not quickly enough for what followed. Raves attack was instantaneous. Nobody could perceive its speed. No matter whose eyes he checked through, all John could see was Raves fist being raised at one moment and having prated the Sicklemans face the next. A massive st of energy exploded in the aftermath of the punch. Multi-coloured light burst out on the other side of the monsters body, creating a cone that went all the way down to the floor. John felt heat on his face as if he was standing next to a festival fire for a moment.
Then it was all over. The body of the Sickleman disintegrated as Instant Dungeon enemies always did. The gold drained from Raves hair as she fell. Metranded gracefully, as did Copernicus. The tiger then caught his summoner on his soft back, moments before he shrunk back to a cat.
They only had to do that two more times to beat the basic enemies of the Raid.
Chapter 830 – Progress Raiding 4 – A little breather
Chapter 830 C Progress Raiding 4 C A little breather
Hey Jane, John softly spoke to his girlfriend, while putting her down on the bed, you awake?
Noooooo, she groaned in response, looking out through her barely parted eyelids. Her eyes were entirely blue. Wanna sleep
Can you just tell your bodysuit to shrink down? he asked of her. In response he got another groan, but the pink, neoprene like material also started to retreat from her neck. It flowed down her torso and split into two streams at her hips. They went down the rest of her legs and, once they reached her feet, formed the pink sneakers she usually wore. John pried them off her feet and ced them next to the bed. The whole ordeal took about thirty seconds.
Copernicus had curled up there. John picked the sun cat up and ced him on the bed next to her. The two of them, too tired for bickering, just cuddled up to one another. Smiling, John yed a little bit with Raves impossibly wild hair, then got up. He stretched on his way back down the stairs and arrived in the living room.
There were moans echoing through the closed bathroom door. John recognized the voices of Lydia, Undine and Nia. The two (mostly) humans of that configuration must have asked for some help scrubbing the sweat of the day off them. From the sound of things, Undine was very thorough in reaching all the nooks and crannies.
Do you require service, Master? Aclysia asked. She and Beatrice were busy fixing what little disorder had been caused through the day by Scarlett, Eliza and (primarily) Velka. Either of the maids would have immediately dropped those few tasks in order to tend to Johns quickly manifesting erection.
Regardless, he shook his head. You two concentrate on doing what needs to be done. I want it to be clean here and I want to eat some of your delicious cooking as soon as possible, he told them and the maids both nodded eagerly. They continued to wipe down surfaces and remove tes. While they kept their maid uniforms on, a deliberate sh here and there showed off the fact that they did get rid of their panties.
John was in the mood for outfits at the moment, quite possibly because Eliza wore hers at the moment. A ck robe, leather bra and thong, both held together by being bound to metal rings, thigh-high boots strapped to her smooth legs with belts and a ck and a white scarf with ck lines on it. All of those items served to barely hide any of Elizas delicious body, especially not while she was lying on her back. In some ways, they emphasized the goods. Especially the boots helped underline her thick thighs.
Sitting next to her in an armchair, staring at herptop and sipping coffee, Scarlett was alsopletely dressed up. She wore a ck suit, with a red shirt underneath. That much John was used to from her casual day to day wear. Additionally, she had put on the red gloves and tie she wore to more formal asions C or if she didnt want to leave fingerprints. Even her hat was lying in arms reach.
Did you two strike an agreement to wear clothes while I am gone or something? John asked, while removing everything that covered his own body at the press of a button. The question was quite justified in his mind. It was exceedingly rare for anyone besides Lydia and Gnome to wear anything in the privacy of their home.
Sort of, I wanted to avoid getting pricked by Velka, Scarlett responded. As much as the technomancer enjoyed getting roughed up by her lover, she wasnt masochistic enough to enjoy getting scratched by a pet. Same was true for Eliza, but the blood mage didnt have to worry about small wounds in any capacity. Eliza just yed along.
The scarf still smells like you, the blood mage justified herself. It had been a present by John and the girls for Elizas birthday as well as Christmas (both fell on the same day). It wasnt just a piece of clothing, being also capable of masking her extremely pale, blue-tinted skin, purple eyes and white-azure hair from the view of most people. Although this capability had been rarely used, ever since the months had gotten warmer. A choker John had gotten her at another asion had been less conspicuous in these times.
Mhm, well, I like it, John told them. You two look good wearing that. Really good.
Eliza responded with an unstable giggle and a giant grin on her suddenly flushing face. Finishing off her cup of coffee, Scarlett had a more down-to-earth answer, It better, given how much money these suits cost me.
Theyre enchanted against stains, right? John asked, standing between armchair and couch and unable to decide which one of the two submissives he wanted to grab.
Even if they werent, Aclysia would get your cum out of them easily. She got all the fucking experience when ites to that, the technomancer stated and leaned back. Enticingly, she left her pink lips slightly parted. On her beautiful, androgynous face, those were one of the parts that made it easy to indentify her as a woman, full and pillowy as they looked. Slowly, she crossed her legs, showing the curve of her hips, contrasting with her t chest. You can fix them afterwards.
A giggle caused John to look over his shoulder, where Eliza was giving him puppy eyes, her robe a ck sheet under her pale curves. That she was shorter than almost all of his other girls only made her extra adorable. That she had a bnced hourss figure kept her upromisingly sexy. White, her hairid around her head. Further out, the strands all turned into a light blue. Her lips were still parted in a giant grin.
Since he was unable to choose, there were only two courses of action he could take. One was a route he had unlocked when getting his double, tending to both of them at the same time. The other was the privilege of every man with a loving harem. Scarlett, get up, Eliza, on the floor, he told them.
Momentster, he was sitting in Scarletts chair. Holding the redhead between his arms, his cock was pressed into her panties by Elizas tongue. It was a replica of what Lydia had made Eliza the recipient of this morning. John didnt mind the repetition. The feeling of tongue and swollen pussy lips engulfing his member with slippery wetness was too pleasurable for him to care.
Johns hands travelled over the silk of Scarletts suit. He had made her lose the pants, but everything else was still on. Finding her hard nipples behind the smooth cloth, he teased her while the forey continued.
How did you do today? Scarlett asked, distracting herself from her hastening breaths. Jane seemed to be knocked out.
She had a pretty taxing job, the Gamer responded; his deep voice right next to Scarletts ear caused the technomancer to shiver. Being deeply in love with him heightened the sex appeal every one of his actions oozed and Lovers Will added a few tangible percentage points on top of that. 34%, to be exact, 10% being baseline and 24%ing from it scaling with 1/10th of his Libido thanks to the 9th Perk of Lover Boy. She had to use her finishing move three times today.
Good progress, then? Scarlett asked and lustfully whimpered when John gently pulled at her earlobe with his teeth.
We got all three of the basic enemies beat, he told the redhead. First one went pretty well. Wasnt exactly a clean kill, but it worked out. The second and third were a bit more difficult. I guess they watched our fight from a distance and adjusted their strategies.
Both of the other two Sickleman had entirely ignored Metra when it came to ranged engagements and both had taken every opportunity they could to take swipes at Rave or Undine. While that didplicate things somewhat, it also opened up some alternative strategies. Thanks to Undines ability to create clones within shadows, they could use her likeness to bait the Sicklemen into certain directions. That wasnt something they could entirely rely on, since those clones were somewhat mana intensive and only survived a single hit, but it was an extra tool. Protecting Rave was what things mostly hinged on.
There was one encounter where the Sickleman had gotten Rave and John had tried to finish the monster off using Purgatorys Arcane Ascension. The creature had dodged the Mana de and then proceeded to execute its grabbo on John. While Particle Skin had held off the first bite, a second followed so fast that it had hardly mattered.
It had taken them several cycles of rest andbat to finally beat all three of the Sicklemen. Rave had brought her A-game to all fights, but the repeated heavy exhaustion that followed her using that lightspeed punch (which doubtlessly was not actually lightspeed, it was just really fast) had her knocked outpletely after the third usage. Since they had been upied the whole day with just those three encounters, they decided to continue tomorrow.
I got four levels and gave Lydia three, so I think it was all around pretty good, John continued. Each of the Sickleman had given him about 1 1/3 of a level and the girls not directly connected to his mechanics got the potential to level up once each. In line with their agreement, John only used this ability on Lydia. He could give her 7 more levels now, then he would have to wait until next month for the counter to reset. Well scout out the Raids bosses tomorrow, see what were dealing with.
Sounds like a good idea, Scarlett moaned, only for her voice to be sharp when Eliza wrapped her lips around the head of Johns cock. Pressing her milky thighs against the blood mages head, sheined. What do you think youre doing, you greedy fucking slut, huh?
Whatever Eliza answered was lost as reverberations in Johns shaft. As pleasurable as that was, John had to intervene. Get back to licking, you dont get to deepthroat me yet, he told her and got a disappointed groan around his dick as response. He waited several seconds, during which Eliza only moved her tongue, trying to convince him otherwise. Now he had no other choice but to enforce some discipline. Worship my balls, hemanded.
Whether it was the magic or the dominant tone, Eliza obeyed that time. Within a few seconds, she was moaning while she sucked and licked his heavy sack. At the same time, John reached down to Scarletts wet panties and moved them to the side.
When youre a disobedient girl, those that y by my rules get what they want first, he stated. Scarlett smirked and lifted her ass off hisp. The squishy warmth was missing for only a moment, then he was inside her and her bubble butt was sinking back down on him.
Fffffuuuuuck yesssss, the redhead eximed. They didnt do any further moving, at least not yet. John was happy to just sit inside her for now. The twitching of her tight folds around him was enough for the moment and Scarlett seemed to enjoy getting stretched out as well. If its that easy to get stronger, maybe I should tag along sometimes.
You wouldnt say its easy if you faced one of those things, John responded in a semi-serious fashion. Theyre huge and also so purely concentrated magic that not even Nia could cut through them. Theyre extremely bullshit enemies. He ripped open her shirt, the metal buttons unsping in a series of sounds, and wed at her tiny breasts. The lithe body of the bottom-heavy redhead was entirely under his control. And youre pretty fragile.
Do you enjoy the idea that you could break me at any second? Scarlett purred in the confident tone of a woman that knew her lover would never do such a thing.
Sort of, but only because youre one of the few girls in my harem that I can actually beat in a wrestling match, John responded with a chuckle. I prefer the part where you willingly submit to me
Thats a pretty tall assumption, Scarlett sighed and smirked over her shoulder.
and when you dont, I can just break you by fucking your arrogant intellect out of your body, the Gamer finished his sentence. Eliza, get on the table, seems like youre both bad girls in need of punishment today.
Another change of positionster, John was mushing Scarletts face into Elizas cunt while mming into the redhead from behind. Sloppily, she ate out the pretty little psycho, too distracted by Johns merciless assault. He even kept going while he was cumming inside her. Between the multiyered orgasms, Scarletts defiant attitude had no chance to surface.
Ssssssoooooo, Eliza managed to formte some words. What level are you now, my perfect, big-dicked Master?
265, John answered and cranked up Scarletts sensitivity to 200%, making her squirt every other thrust. Aclysia, do get me some water. Something tells me Scarlett is going to need to rece some fluids when were done here also get ready to clean the carpet.
As you wish, Master, the weaponized maid responded. I was thinking soup for dinner, would this fit your desires?
Perfectly I think you deserve a reward. Quickly, he checked on what exactly she was doing and then sent a single word her way. Cum.
A sharp moan echoed from the kitchen, as the long-haired Artificial Spirit experienced a sudden orgasm. Although he usually gavemands through his voice, there was nothing in the wording of either the Charisma-Libido or Aclysias Sex Servant Perk that dictated he had to say things. As long as themand came directly from him, it always worked. This meant that writing things down or recording his voice failed to achieve any results, but the mental connection was perfectly adequate.
Eliza had looked over when the sound had echoed out and now looked back to John with perverse adoration in her eyes. That you can just make us cum our stupid sex ve brains out whenever you want is so fucking HOT! she eximed and squished Scarletts head between her thighs. John doubted that she even knew what was going on.
I have to be able to satisfy all of you, what kind of harem owner would I be if I couldnt? John asked.
The evening continued as it usually did.
Chapter 831 – Progress Raiding 5 – Scouting the Valley
Chapter 831 C Progress Raiding 5 C Scouting the Valley
Getting the maximum amount of information out of the Raid before engaging in any further activity was what John insisted on. Standard game design philosophy told him that this Raid would have three bosses of roughly equal power. Otherwise, presenting him with three branching paths from the start would have made little sense.
Smander, Sylph and Jack were sent to explore the teaus, while the rest of the party trotted down one valley path after the other. Each was several kilometres long. In an effort to not waste too much time, they jogged most of the way. As a bunch of superhumans or otherwise extremely capable entities, jogging for them put them at over fifty kilometres an hour. Because of the texture of the floor, being wavy and craggy, and the amount of backtracking they had to do, exploring each of the three valleys still took them about two hours.
The first discovery he made was that the three teaus were all part of the same extendedndscape. Stretching out towards the borders of the Raid, there was nothing but rock. This meant that, contrary to Johns initial impression, the teaus were not an elevation, but the chasms depressions. Effectively, this made no difference and John wasnt overly irked about being wrong about this. Given the spawn location, it was all too easy to make that mistake.
As for the content of the chasms, the Gamers instincts had been exactly right. At the end of each of the three paths was a boss room. None of them actually qualified as a room, but gaming jargon had him use that term anyway.
To the north was a giantke. At least a dozen kilometres across and sparkling under the sun, it would have likely been a beautiful and very tranquil sight. The only issue with that was the steady waves caused by the gargantuan turtle in it.
Following good old clich design, the turtle had an ind on its back. The many shades of lively green were a nice change after the endless grey stone everywhere. Then again, the same grey covered seven spires on the turtles back. Six were curved and equally spaced out over the rim. The seventh was at the centre and grew straight upwards, like an obelisk. Each spire had a dark blue, crystal core and was covered with stone tes.
The turtle had an uncharacteristically long neck, making it seem like a snake was reaching out of its shell. Also odd was that the neck wasnt one continuous thing, but rather seven segments of stone that hovered in the air, connected through magic. The thick head of the thing looked vicious. On normal turtles, that jaw could have crushed watermelons, on that thing, John almost felt as if its diet had to be mountains.
Large as it was, the Titanturtle made theke feel less like something that almost qualified as an innd sea and more like a small terrarium. The scale was quite absurd. John wasnt even sure how they should start fighting that thing. He had an idea that the seven spires and seven head segments had to be connected somehow, but only trial and error would reveal that.
They turned around when the boss gave a warning shout that caused the walls of the valley to tremble. Finally, some proper bass, Rave had joked at the time. It had been a niceugh while they went back to the centre.
Next, they went east. Before they arrived at their target, the flying members of their party hit some majorplications. Both Sylph and Jack independently discovered a group of five Sicklemen in the north and south eastern corners of the map. They immediately retreated from those clusters upon spotting them, but they didnt seem to care or follow. Either they were just there for vour or they had a purpose John couldnt decipher yet. Whatever it was, they avoided them for the moment.
At the end of the eastern valley, they found arge cave. Perhaps hole in the ground would have been more urate. Either way, John just had to stare into the darkness for a little bit to make out the shape of the second boss. Arge creature that was simr to the Sicklemen in many aspects, but different in others. Rather than four arms and two legs, it seemed to have eight limbs that could serve as either. It was also twice the size and had an attached abdomen. John really didnt like looking at it.
If that thing can also sink into the shadows, that arena is going to be our worst enemy, John thought out loud, while they retreated to check out thest boss.
Tracking all the way to the southwest, they soon spied some sort of tower in the distance. White with red-tiled roofs, it seemed like the home of some sort of magus. For a moment, John wondered if they would face some kind of proper humanoid. Then their approach caused the spawning animation of the boss to activate.
The sky was darkened by suddenly appearing clouds. Lighting crackled in the sea of ck above. A thunderous roar followed the blinding impact of a single strike of electricity into the top of the tower. A crackling caw followed, as white and blue lightning rushed out of every window and arch the tower had to offer, all coalescing into the shape of arge raven that beat its mighty wings, circling the tower.
Not engaging with this boss either, the group then left the Raid for the moment to have a strategy meeting in thefort of their temporary home. John visualized a map of the area as he thought about things.
Any thoughts so far? he asked around the table.
If you are able to acquire a Worldturtle Hatchling through your ludicrous loottable, I will act the part of a proper sex ve for a week if you give it to Germaniae Rex under the pretence of a diplomatic gift, Lydia dered and looked John in the eyes to underline that she meant every word of it.
Define proper sex ve for me, John requested with a raised eyebrow. Im pretty sure we already have sex in all the way I wa-
Public impregnation.
You make an excellent point, the Gamer conceded and leaned back with a thoughtful expression. Through sheer force of will, he suppressed his imagination and prevented his dick from rising up. Having his lustful mind siphon blood from his proper brain at this moment could have been quite detrimental. Although I am not quite sure I want to publicly impregnate you. Something that intimate feels like it should stay in the bedroom.
It is your decision. Several other things are possible within that time frame, all of which I would give my consent for. I trust you to do things that will merely cause international scandals, she picked up her cup of tea and took a sip, such as writing anal queen on my stomach and iming me before a crowd of envious onlookers.
Are ya sure ya dont want this yourself? Rave chimed in. The exhibitionist leader of the harem was squirming in her chair, even more turned on at the mention of these things than her boyfriend was.
It doesnt particrly tickle my fancy, no, but neither do I mind it in principle, Lydia responded in her usual regal tone. Hounding journalists are what keeps me from agreeing to such actions under normal circumstances. I dont carry any shame for my rtionship with our beloved, in all of its facets, caring, saddening and ecstatic, as you all well know and experience on your own. She nced over to Aclysia and the weaponized maid poured new tea into the cup the queen was holding. On the promise of a Worldturtle, I will be able to stomach the harassment of the paparazzi and I am certain I can smooth over the disgruntlement of the great nobles on acquisition of this gift. In return, John gets to live out whatever he wants to do with my body.
Not a great number of things came to mind that John wanted to do that he couldnt do normally. However, the few things there were all made his male instincts shake his reason. You wouldnt also happen to promise me that you would only be there for me during that week, would you? John tried to find things to fend his perversion off with.
I would ignore Romulus himself during that time frame Lydia stated and moved in for the finishing blow. Her perfect red lips, glistening still from the hot tea, curved into a soft smile as they formed a single word, Master.
I John began suddenly, barely managing to stop himself and taking a slow breath. will consider it.
Congrats, Smander threw into the room. You didnt immediately cave to the promise of sex.
Siena giggled, her sensual voice almost finishing off Johns resolve. Always amusing how easily manipted you are by that still. Given how easily youe to it, one would guess you would be satiated.
Look, if it was any normal women offering that, I would be pretty clear headed about it, John retorted and gestured wildly over the room. But have you LOOKED at any of you? This is probably the highest concentration of quality women in history.
That is urate enough, Siena hummed.
Back to the topic at hand, John put an end to this tangent. Whether or not the egg drops will be a pure RNG thing. Im more interested in what that special condition is. My guess is that it does have something to do with the Ravenstorm or lightning in general, given the name of the special item.
Any way to confirm that? Rave asked.
Nothing but trial and error, John rolled his neck. Youre about to experience the wonderful thing that is dying to the raid boss over and over again to get a good grip on his mechanics.
Not really looking forward to that, his girlfriend sighed. Knowing that ya lost is super unpleasant. Specially if ya die to giant spider fangsing for your skull.
You get used to it for Raid bosses, John shrugged off. Death is a core mechanic. You yed Dark Souls, you know how it goes.
Guess so. So, we fighting the turtle first?
Depends on how we approach this, the Gamer raised both his hand in a weighing gesture. We only have nine more days, so I am not sure I want to spend all this time experimenting for an item that I might do nothing with. Just because its Legendary doesnt mean that its useful for any of us.
Ya can always make money off it, his girlfriend pointed out.
Uhm, Gnome raised her voice. Dont think it would be too wise to put super powerful items on the open market
Nodding, Scarlett picked up what the shy elemental was saying. As much as I love money, your loot is approaching the point where its better for our national security to lock it away in some vault.
John also found himself in agreement. Better to keep it around for the day we might use it or give it to our allies, he exined to those of his girls not yet understanding what they were getting at. If I just sell items, particrly weapons, that are absurdly powerful, that might cause problems. Granted, most of the more powerful weapons cant be wielded by just anyone, but there is no reason to put them into the hands of people I wouldnt approve of.
Right, so well just throw them into the Guild Bank? Rave asked.
The Gamer stroked his chin and hummed, Im thinking of building some high security facility to disy them.
Why would that be the chosen approach? Lydia wanted to know. However unlikely, you create a chance of having these valuables stolen. The Guild Bank ensures that there is no way for this to happen.
Why have all of that shiny stuff if I dont show it off? John responded with a question.
You are being guided by your pride.
He has a point, however, Siena chimed in.
Warningly, a crocodile hatchling squeaked from his aquarium in the corner.
Splendour does have its value, John defended his position. Anyway, we should debate this another day.
Honestly, John didnt care to debate this at all. He was quite certain he would do it already. He knew it wasnt the most logical decision he had ever made, but he really did want to show off what he got. Items just gathering dust in his inventory was all fine if it was a case of standard crafting materials. The Shiny Star of Gorgrammeth +12 deserved to be on disy.
Likely sensing that he was stone-walling the issue, Lydia took the discussion back on track. How do we deal with the Raid, then? Rather, I should ask, what is the minimum we hope to achieve within the remaining nine days?
I would like to beat at least one of the bosses, John told them. Optimally I would like to kill all of them, but I think thats too tall a requirement. My suggestion would be that we do five test runs with each boss, check whose mechanics we feel mostfortable with and see if any of them seem as if we can beat them in the time that remains. Sounds good? No disagreements were voiced.
They got to it after lunch.
Chapter 832 – Progress Raiding 6 – The Sobering First Impression
Chapter 832 C Progress Raiding 6 C The Sobering First Impression
They went after their five attempts in the same order they had discovered the bosses in. Following this logic, the first encounter was the Granite Titanturtle. The first issue was how they could even approach the boss, given that there was a vastke separating them. Swimming was the first idea, but understandably unpopr. Getting flown over was the second. That had the issue of the limited number of flying party members they had. It would take several trips back and forth until all of them were over there. Both solutions faced the issue of the vast distance. Resolving to just try to reach it by whatever means at their disposal, they entered the water.
Initially, things went fine. The Titanturtle only swam in small circles and asionally let out warning shouts. It turned out that theke was shallow enough to run for several hundred metres. There were no secondary beasts in view either, not even when they got far enough in that they had to swim. The water was lukewarm, not hot enough to befortable to stay in forever, but far from any stamina sapping coldness.
Once they were within a kilometre of the boss, it upped its aggression levels. Using its four fins, it created giant waves that only got worse the closer they got. It likely would have used its head as well, if Sylph hadnt distracted it on that front. ying a risky game, the thunderstorm elemental darted around and asionally threw an attack at the enemy. Although she was much faster than the giant head, a single mistake would have finished her off. That the turtle had aser beam in addition to its jaws and simple thrashing attacks made it quite dangerous.
Smander and Jack helped the less physically able members of the party out of the water and onto the back of the Titanturtle. They found interesting flora there: palms, birches, pines and all other kinds of trees existed next to each other,pletely disregarding that each of them preferred a different biome. They didnt get to enjoy it too long as they were suddenly assaulted by arge number of beasts.
Like the trees, the animals were of arge variety. Penguins, wolves, feral cats and other critters all assaulted the group. The unifying elements between them were stone shards that had melded with their skin and the fact that they were all level 250. That made them surprisingly easy, each one could be beaten by a single party member. The sheer mass was what made them dangerous. At least at first.
At some point during the fight, the Titanturtle loomed over them. Its long neck had rotated 180 degrees and now overlooked its back with rtive ease, ignoring any further harassment by Sylph. Its mouth opened and a shard of stone dropped from the inside. A shard of a creature measured in kilometres was a rather sizable thing. Landing between the trees, the rock pulsated with magic that buffed up the surrounding animals and made them incredibly difficult to deal with.
In an effort to get some immediate relief and try to destroy that rock, John poured a lot of mana into Smander. The endme elemental put the mobs and the surrounding forest to the torch. Surprisingly fragile, the trees around them were consumed within moments by the intense heat, as was the majority of the animals. A moment to breathe seemed to have been gained, then John noticed an intense re of light above them.
Momentster, he was murdered by the Titanturtlesser attack. He and the rest of the group found themselves back in the barrier proper.
They immediately moved back into the Raid, discussing their individual observations on the long way back to the boss. In the second attempt, they had a much easier time approaching the boss. Because John now knew that they could get rtively close before fearing attack, he felt confident enough to deploy some more advanced distraction. Combining Stirwin and Undine (and adding Sylph and Siena into the mix for extra power), John put Dendepthr on the battlefield.
The growing crocodile-pliosaurus mixture first aided them in bridging much of the distance by letting them ride it and then, once it became big enough, it assaulted the turtle. Even at maximum size, Dendepthr was merely about 130 metres. It attacking the Titanturtle was like a midget getting into a brawl with the world champion in cross lifting. As non-threatening as that was to the Titanturtle, it was cumbersome enough to bind its attention more strongly than Sylph alone had. The two giants fighting still caused waves, but considerably less annoying ones than those deliberately caused by the boss movements.
Dendepthr vanished well before they arrived on the turtles back, but the process had be a little simpler. The four elementals used to form it went incorporeal and returned to John. If there was anything easy about the boss fight, it was that the elementals could change between states unharmed for most of the approaching phase.
Sadly, the story on the back was much the same as the first time around. Their approach was a lot slower, as they wanted to test what triggered theser. It wasnt time, it wasnt dependent on how many animals they killed either. Even when they destroyed the stone shard, there was noser. They even got to approach one of the seven crystal spires on the creatures back without being molested by more than adds and buffing stones. That was taxing, but with proper resource management, they could do it.
They managed to destroy one of the pirs through extensive physical effort. Immediately upon the thing toppling, the entire surrounding flora wilted. There was an angry roar like a series of train cannons firing in session, followed by the sound of one of the Titanturtles neck segments bursting. Magically, this only caused the two adjacent segments to be shoved together, shortening the creatures reach but keeping the head otherwise attached.
Arms and legs burst out of the fallen spire, but John didnt even have time to contemte that as the boss opened its gargantuan maw and they were wiped by yet anotherser beam. At that point, John had a hunch on what triggered the attack and they sacrificed their third attempt just figuring it out. The moment theynded on the Titanturtles back, John had Smander torch the surroundings. Without fail, the Titanturtle immediately sted them with anotherser.
It seemed that the boss did not want to hurt the nts living on its back and would therefore avoid any area attacks unless those nts were already destroyed. Knowing this made the fight a tad simpler.
The fourth try was more optimized. John only used a three-way Combination, upping Dendepthrs duration from 5 to 10 minutes at the cost of some Stats. A lowerbat potential wasnt too important, as long as the boss was still distracted. On the ind, Smander took her item form. Since her usual attacks threatened to incinerate the surroundings, it was better to give John ess to the rapier and the more guided, if limited, ess to her me.
They again managed to knock down one of the seven spires and retreated back into the forest quick enough that the Titanturtle stopped charging itsser. While this meant they survived, they also got to encounter the mechanic they had only glimpsed at previously. Arms and legs split out of the fallen shape of the spire, allowing it to rise as anky humanoid golem. Seemingly at random, the creature of rock and crystal locked in on one of the party members, Nia in this case, and started stomping towards her.
The groups first instinct was to try and destroy the golem. If they could make the spire fall, surely the thing that spawned from it could be destroyed as well? The answer to that was that, yes, it could be, but it took them an entire twenty minutes of mindless hacking and shing, during which Nia had to run around in circles. Like all other enemies they had encountered in the Raid so far, her anti-magic wasnt exceedingly effective. She could have, perhaps, instantly deleted one of them, but normal pariah rules still applied. Killing a Raid enemy at the cost of her fading was not worth it since this form of dying was not covered by Fateweaving.
Not only did killing the golem take way too long, it also ravaged a whole lot of thendscape in the process, creating yet more areas on which the Titanturtle feltfortable to throw itsser at them. They were also still getting assaulted by the animals, although there seemed to be less than before. John theorized that less of them spawned the more of the ind was destroyed, so there was an advantage to it as well.
Regardless of the gathered information, they had seriously mismanaged that run. Half of the group was eliminated by one of the whiteser beams, when they tried to migrate to the next spire, and that spelled the end for that attempt.
The fifth attempt ended before it even really started. Dendepthr made a mistake in the opening moves, got caught by the Titanturtles jaws and had its head crushed. That instantly put Undine, Stirwin and Siena out ofmission. Losing the crocodile was almost a non-factor and Siena could have been handled in theory, but fighting without their only healer would have been suicide. Because Gnome was only able to supply any healing in certain environments, they couldnt rely on her.
With the agreed number reached, they moved to the Sicklebrood Matriarch next. Not having to swim to the boss was a nice change of pace. The inside of the cave was separated into two segments: a central arena and an elevated ring five metres above that. Both were made from a dark brown rock, a minor deviation from the ever-present grey. Large spots, up to two metres in diameter, of white broke the monotony of the inside of the cave. John would have happily taken a dull environment, once he identified that those spots were eggs, secured with silk. Sometimes it was just one egg, sometimes a cluster; regardless, it was an indicator that the fight would be add heavy.
Nothing that had the aesthetic of a spider seemed to ever be an encounter without broodlings.
Not that they even got to face any broodlings, as the first encounter with the Matriarch had them wiped within ten minutes of regrbat. Unlike the Sicklemen, the boss was relentlessly aggressive. Thanks to her ability to change her reach and speed depending on how many of her limbs she used as arms or legs, she retained some of the unpredictability. Combining that with extreme speed, strength and durability made her extremely difficult to control.
Metra was the first to be defeated. Although the Matriarchcked the ability to punch through the armour, just getting pped around and stabbed at by the boss was enough to eventually decrease her health. Someone else might have been defeated first, had it not been for the boss mindlessly focusing on only the First of Wrath. Once Metra was defeated, the Sicklebrood Matriarch picked her next target and one by one defeated all of them. Whatever chance they may have had was squashed by a Sickleman that appeared on the ridge five minutes in.
A straightforward confrontation having been ruled out in such brutal fashion, the party spent the second attempt looking for gimmicks. First thing they tried was kiting. Inside the cave, they had limited sess, so they tried to goad her to the outside. This only worked for about five minutes, then the Sickleman spawned in and started bombarding them with spears. Barely manageable. Another five minutester, a second one joined and at that point the encounter was unwinnable.
On attempt three, they went into the cave and prodded the eggs to see if that would cause any reaction. The answer was yes, a rather violent one. The Matriarch not only changed targets but wentpletely berserk towards whoever threatened her eggs. Oddly enough, she was easier to handle in that form. Because she would focus all of her limbs on attacks of opportunity, she didnt run as fast. Threatening other eggs while in her line of sight would cause her to switch targets, if the original offender had been driven away from whatever sack they had been attacking.
Actually, destroying the eggs caused whatever was gestating inside to immediately join them on the battlefield. In the best case, that was a swarm of hand-sized Sicklebroodlings. In the worst, that was a half-grown Sickleman,pletely capable of throwing spears. They tried to stay clear of popping any eggs, after the addition of a Sickleman caused them to wipe on their third attempt.
During their fourth try they then learned that the Matriarch would asionally go and rip eggs open herself. Because she hadnt done so on their first attempt; John quickly gathered that she would only do that with those eggs they had used to redirect the boss attention. Just counting had him realize that she would open an egg exactly a minute after it had been used to taunt her. Having used that mechanic liberally on that attempt had them getting swamped pretty quickly.
Attempt five, they tried to optimize their strategy, using as few eggs as possible to distract the Matriarch while also ying it safe. The end result of that, in both cases, was that they survived long enough for the Sickleman up on the ridge to spawn in. It seemed it was a fresh hatch as well, but it was at full size and power, nailing them with spears. They did find out that they could pop the responsible egg to weaken the spawn. Even with those mechanical understandings, they failed to do any meaningful damage to the boss.
John wasnt sure yet whether the optimal strategy would be to keep kiting the Matriarch until they destroyed all the eggs in the room, tiring her out while preparing a final, uninterrupted burst phase, or if they should focus her while only handling the adds as needed. Further tries would have been needed to find this out. For now, they put a pin in it and went over to the Ravenstorm.
Compared to the Sicklebrood Matriarch and Granite Titanturtle, the Ravenstorm was refreshingly straightforward. It was a giant raven made out of electricity that threw electricity-based attacks around. Attacking it was an issue at first, but they soon found that the inside of the tower held several tforms that gave a temporary flight buff. A thing that would have never been encountered in day to day Abyss, at least Lydiamented that the mana required for something like this would have been ridiculous, but Gaia evidently saw fit to deploy in the limits of his game mechanics.
Their first attempt ended because the non-Gamer members of the group had difficulty keeping tabs on how long itsted, causing several members to take a plunge to their death. The second to fifth attempt were all purely due to them underestimating the boss in one fashion or another. Reach, speed, intensity of attacks, opportunism, all of these characteristics had to be studied. Although the bosses of the Gamers Raids werent quite as shackled to mechanics as the usual video game ones where fire breathing always affected the same cone area, there were patterns in their behaviour. That much could be expected of anyone C even world ss martial artists had a few moves and strategies they specialized in.
So? Lydia asked when they had retreated from their trial attempts. They were having a pre-dinner snack. A bit of food and a short pause would calm their nerves and then it was right back into the fray. What is your judgement of our situation?
That was a good question. John felt somewhat annoyed with their current situation. The Titanturtle will take probably twenty tries just for us to get the moveset down. Because the Matriarchs add spawn locations are randomized, that entire boss fight will be a long fight of optimized reaction. Ravenstorm seems like the best bet we have, as long as there isnt some second phase that makes things harder than everyone doing their best individually. Well, its also difficult for Undine to heal us at range in the air He put a new slice of bread on his te and looked over the table for a topping. Im pretty sure we could beat any of them, Im just not sure we can do it in the current timeframe. I want to run a few more tests before we pick something to continuously die against. He chose his topping and waved it around for a little bit. Maybe well find some nice cheese.
Chapter 833 – Progress Raiding 7 – The Discovery
Chapter 833 C Progress Raiding 7 C The Discovery
What do you mean by cheese? Nia asked when they were back inside the Raid.
The question came about forty-five minutes after the statement. John was less surprised that she asked with such a dy than he was about her not knowing what he meant. As much as he liked to throw gaming terms around, he had expected this one to grace her ears at some point before. Maybe it had and she just hadnt asked. Regardless, he gave her a swift exnation. Basically, were going to look for a cheap but effective tactic.
A cheap tactic? tilting her head, the pariah had a nk look on her face as she continued. What is a cheap tactic?
Something thats too easy.
Isnt that part of what makes it effective? Nias neck had almost reached a 90-degree angle, when she asked this.
Yes, but its still considered dishonourable, because its the sort of tactic that sucks the enjoyment out of the game he trailed off and sighed. Through that entire sentence, Nias neck had tilted to the end of what the human neck allowed and then she had started to pull her eyebrows together in an ever more confused motion. Thats what I get for trying to exin this to a natural born power gamer, John scolded himself. Were looking for something that exploits the gaming design of this ce.
Ah, Nias head went back to being upright, I understand. Do you have any experiments in mind?
Two or three, John responded and got the group moving towards the east while he exined. First, I would like to test if I can aim Arcana Strike at the bosses and how effective it would be. It obviously wont work against the Ravenstorm, because its flying, but maybe the other two bosses can be hit with it. If it works against the Titanturtle, we can knock out all seven spires at once, given enough charge time, so that would be something. For the Matriarch, it might just do a lot of damage to her, but that would be worth it as an opener or finisher already.
John took arge step up a particrly sudden rise in the unsteady stone ground. Whenever they beat this Raid, he desperately hoped that the next one had a bit more going on when it came to the visual side of things. The Lair of the Onyx One had been simrly one-note, but a magma chamber was considerably more impressive than all of this grey.
Second, he looked back to Nia, who elegantly jumped up the same elevation, I would like to see if and how much you can weaken, ignore or nullify certain mechanics. I know that eliminating any of the mobs would be too much, but maybe there are certain things your anti-magic powers can exploit. Third is that I would just like to understand mob behaviour a bit better. All of the bosses are more or less under the open sky, so I wonder if there is a way to take advantage of that. His gaze brushed over everyone else around. If you have anything else you believe would serve as a good exploit, we should test those as well.
There were some ideas brought up. Lydia mentioned how she would like to try to bind the Sicklebrood Matriarchs name-giving sickles to her arms. That would reduce the dangering from her by a fair bit, as grab attacks would be denied. Gnome suggested that they should look into whether or not they could regrow or revitalize the nts on the Titanturtles back to avoid theser. That would also cause the add-spawn rate to go back up, if it worked, but it was an idea. Rave suggested they brought some glowing objects with them into the Matriarch fight to prevent the enemies from diving into the shadows. All small little advantages that they could stack up to optimize their approach to the encounters.
As for the experiments John wanted to do, results were mixed. To even use Arcana Strike, John needed to get on the back of the boss. He couldunch the charging sphere to hover up to a hundred metres away from him, but that was far from the kilometres he needed to reach the boss from the shore. Once on the back of the turtle, the issue with putting it out was simply that the boss moved. By the time the Arcana Strike was charged enough to do considerable damage, it would hover above an empty piece ofke.
Gnomes suggestion worked, which was an extremely useful bit of knowledge, especially once they found out it only required a single tree for the boss to immediately stop charging the attack. Encouraging Nia to use her abilities as much as she thought she could also revealed that she could intimidate the adds into temporarily leaving them alone, suppress the buff aura from the splinters and avoid the spire golems to chase her. Only her, sad as that was, but it was better than nothing.
The Sicklebrood Matriarch could be hit with Arcana Strike, but it was a bit of a chore. Since the spell always descended in a straight line, angling it down into the cave was, annoyingly enough, impossible. Using it inside the cave was the first solution John came up with, but the Sicklebrood Matriarch was then just triggered into the encounter. They did their best to just fend her off until the Arcana Strike had charged to a meaningful degree. When John then dropped it, it did manage to tear two limbs off the Matriarch, so that was good. It also popped all of the eggs in the room and caused a figurative tidal wave of young Sicklemen and Broodlings to wash over them, so that was bad. They wiped quickly afterwards.
Attempting another solution, John conjured the Arcana Strike in front of the cave entrance. If they couldnt bring the Arcana Strike into the fight, maybe they could kite the Matriarch into it or just charge it for so long that the shockwave was enough to kill the boss. John would have been willing to sacrifice an entire day to charging the thing and see if it worked. However, using Arcana Strike outside the cave triggered the fight as well. That was its own useful knowledge, but it did prevent him from looking at the mana-bar-emptying spell as a good tool.
Gaia had clearly learned from his past shenanigans and designed her Raid encounters to take into ount the most obvious gimmicks he liked to use. At least Lydias wire-binding trick had limited sess. Binding all eight sickles to the responsible limbs was incredibly difficult, but even just getting the frontal two decreased the chance of getting grabbed tremendously.
All in all, John didnt find anything immediately exploitable anywhere on those two bosses. A couple tries on the Ravenstorm also yielded nothing. After spending the rest of the second and all of the third day on some more tries on all three bosses, they agreed on concentrating on the Ravenstorm.
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The Ravenstorm spread its wings wide and screeched. Lighting rode on the soundwaves, crackling outwards in all directions and dealing damage that diminished with distance. Having anticipated the attack, the party in the sky had formed a cluster around Nia and Sylph. The thunderstorm elemental bent the electricity around them, while the pariah eliminated whatever magic slipped through the counter control. Combined, the actions diminished the damage received to almost nothing.
Immediately upon the raven shutting its beak, the group dispersed. Not a moment too soon as well, as the boss dove for them as a streak of yellow and blue. The drumming sound followed in its wake, as if a dozen lightning strikes had just hit in close sequence. Through the sessful dodge, the group had a moment to hit the creatures back with an array of ranged and melee attacks. Nias attacks were particrly effective against the purely magical enemy. Her weapons sliced through the living electricity with ease. It didnt prate deeply, at some point the concentration of magic became high enough that her weapon couldnt neutralize it quicker than she was moving her arm, but it was a sessful cut regardless. One that couldnt immediately be healed either.
Everyone backed off, when the Ravenstorm unleashed a shockwave of its feathers. Compared to other attacks, it was weak, but still nothing that should be taken repeatedly. Especially not since the boss attacks inflicted a stacking debuff that lowered resistance to further electricity-based attacks. Unless one was a pariah or a thunderstorm elemental, of course.
The boss flew arge curve, beating its wings as it rose back up into the sky. The ck clouds above gathered in some spots, forming bulges that pulsed with energy. Once the boss had reached the zenith of its flight, it turned around and hovered on the spot. Another p of its wings caused the clouds to unload. Each bulge was the source of a crackling lightning strike that split the air.
Sitting on the edge of a tform, John chewed on some crisps. Want some? he offered Undine, who shook her head.
Too dry, she responded, as they both watched the ongoing boss fight.
This was attempt number ten of the day and the twentieth overall. A neat thing that they had found out was that the Ravenstorm would bombard the tower with attacks if the majority of the group stayed inside, but left itpletely alone if most were out and about. As he had very little to add to the battlefield if he joined it, it was better for John to stay back, keep a distant eye on the situation to coordinate everything and save the mana that would have gone into Particle Skin otherwise.
The series of lightning strikes hit more than half of the party. None of them were aimed at anyone, but the sheer amount and speed of them made them near impossible to dodge in the moment. I think you can predict the course of the lightning strike by looking at the locations of the cloud bulges and the direction of the wing p, John theorized. This was only the fifth time he had seen that move, so he was still working things out. This was their most sessful pull yet. Normally, they got done in during the first barrage of attacks.
He also needed to upy his mind with battlefield analysis to ignore the fact that Siena and Gnome had just been finished off. Thetter just got hit a lot; the flight buffs speed scaled directly with Agility, so her high Endurance and even her moderate resistance against lightning werent as useful. The former was just, for the purposes of this specific boss fight, the squishiest member of the group. Normally that title went to Sylph, but her nature gave her superior resistance against the attacks the boss was dishing out.
Even if he knew they were fine at the end of it, John did not like seeing any of his girls getting defeated. In a hurry, Rave and Nia retreated to the tower. Undine immediately rose from Johns side to greet both of them with some healing. You would have another thirty seconds, Jane, John gave some quick feedback. A whole minute for you, Nia.
The words were in reference to the duration of the flight buff, being a total of fifteen minutes. That was quite gracious, all things considered, but they had to reset it every now and again regardless. If they did it all at the same time, that would cause the Ravenstorm to attack the tower and deal massive damage to everyone aside and, potentially, destroy some of the buff-giving tforms. Methodically, they were working out when who should return and refresh their buff.
Better safe than sorry, Rave stated and rolled her shoulder. Ya know, with Siena just dying. Plus, I needed healing anyway.
Nias reasoning must have been identical, as she nodded along. Since John couldnt give direct orders to those two or Lydia, they had worked out that each of them should pair up with an elemental, Siena and Gnome in their case, to orient themselves on their buff timers. An obviously imperfect system that needed at least a back-up n.
I know, just giving some pointers for improvement, John told them and looked out to the ongoing encounter. Well need to minmax this extremely.
The Ravenstorm shrieked, normally this time, as its electrical form lost some of its colour. For the moment, it had run out of juice to power its stronger magical attacks with. That didnt make the boss harmless, as it resolved to good old physical attacks. Diving down, it spun like a drill while aiming at Jack. By burning some mana, John elerated his double enough to get out of the way. The boss seared past the rim of its arena, only to open its wings and circle back around. Feathers started to fall from its wings. That was new, but Johns mind went elsewhere.
The vast majority of its attacks are pretty mindless AoE the thought urred intuitively and from there a number of things fell into ce. He turned around to Rave and Nia who were making out. Normally, inadvisable on the battlefield, but the pariah needed not only to get healed but also get some extra tethering to reality. This was the best moment for that. If John hadnt been so distracted with the death of some of his girls, he would have been ready for that action himself. Can you two do me a favour and try to take the fight north?
How far north? Rave asked.
Far as you can, John told them, while getting up to give the conversation a bit more urgency. I want to see where the boss de-spawn point is, if that makes sense.
Makes sense to me, his girlfriend grinned, I think I know what youre hoping for, tiger thatd be interesting if it worked
Well, less humming, more testing, John dered and gave both of them an encouraging p to the bottom.
As you wish, darling, Nia returned his affection with a quick kiss. Completely back on this side, she then stepped onto one of the t tforms that extended from the empty towers walls, like an extremely unsecured balcony. Electricity crept over her skin and she took off.
John followed right after Rave, when she had reapplied the buff. Ya tagging along? She seemed somewhat surprised to see him fly after her, even slowing down for a moment to ask that question.
I want to see if those feathers are a damage effect or if they replenish the flight buff, he told her, while they both moved in the general direction of the boss. Will be easiest for me, since I get windows for these things.
Makes sense. Ya know what ya do, mister strategist. With a wink, she then elerated. With her Agility, she reached the boss long before he did.
Not that his goal even was the boss. Heading for one of the softly glowing feathers that slowly tumbled towards the ground, he took his eyes off the actual fight for a little bit to count how many there were. 141. Seems like a pretty random number. He had expected a multiplicative of the party size or something. Well, first I should check if my video-game hunch is even correct.
The air where the boss had been smelled odd. It was probably ozone, but with magic involved he couldnt be quite sure. Since no debuff window popped up, he guessed it was probably fine. Whatever gas all of this electricity produced, there was enough air movement to keep it from being overly harmful.
When he finally reached a feather, his suspicion was validated. Touching the construct of firm electricity caused the duration of his flighty buff to increase by a minute. Since he had reached it under one, he also got to know that it increased over the original time limit. That could eliminate some of the headaches, he thought and went back to following the battle. Not that more than half his mind had ever stopped paying attention to it.
Lydia was going with the flow of the battle and the rest had received his order of trying to pull the boss north. They did. The cloud moved along with them. The boss moved on and on. Eventually most of the group had tond because their buffs ran out. One by one they were eliminated by stray attacks. Sylph continued in the mission for a long while.
Eventually she had pulled the boss all the way to the Titanturtle. John was only following things through her eyes at that point, but all he needed to see was the Ravenstorm throwing another lighting attack that hit the turtle and caused it to retaliate with aser.
I have found the cheese! he triumphantly dered to himself.
Chapter 834 – Progress Raiding 8 – A dash of Reality
Chapter 834 C Progress Raiding 8 C A dash of Reality
Armed with the knowledge that they could kite one of the bosses through the entire Raid, John switched gears. Not immediately, part of him was sure Gaia would swoop in at any second, but after a day of tries he was entirely convinced that this was an allowed way to clear things. Given the name of the special crafting material that dropped from the Titanturtle, the Heart of Stone and Thunder, it seemed as if this was the way to get it. How else to get something of that name than make the thunder boss fight the stone one.
Are we certain this is a wise decision? Lydia asked, looking at the battlen John had drafted up. Several basic maps of the area, each of them covered with notes, delineated the tasks of every member of their group. I imagine this approach is going to be tremendously more difficult than fighting each boss individually.
Depends on the way you look at it, John told her. I am quite certain that were under the appropriate level for all of the bosses at the moment. Another thirty levels or so and we could probably kill each of them in fifty attempts or so. What weck at the moment is damage and sustain. By getting the bosses to fight each other, we take a big chunk out of our damage requirements. He drew a line from the location of the Ravenstorm over to the Titanturtle. Then he moved his hand over to the east and tapped once. Were going quite cheesy there, but you are correct that this means we have to contend with a lot more mechanics. Well have to y optimally.
That is the origin of my inquiry, the queen of steel sighed. What I desire to know is whether or not we can do this in the time limit. We have about 130 hours left and the Ravenstorm alone would have been a formidable challenge.
John nodded a few times while she spoke, then put out his response, I have absolutely no idea.
My love, Lydia crossed her arms, her grey eyes drilling into him like a lead thorn, borate.
Because of my aforementioned feeling that were under the proper level for this Raid, Im not even sure we can defeat the Ravenstorm in this session. Johns hand travelled back west. We might be missing like 5% damage or mana regeneration to push through the fight. We havent pushed it far enough yet to see if there is a second or even third phase yet.
Although they were getting fairly skilled at kiting the Ravenstorm over, their tries usually ended fairly quickly after it and the Titanturtle started fighting. Getting on the back of the turtle was difficult under normal circumstances. Swimming through ake while a living thunderstorm and a sentient ind were throwing magical attacks at each other was a whole different grade of difficulty. As such, they hadnt done much more than confirm that the bosses would continue to attack each other, at this point. Only for as long as anyone of the group remained in the barrier, of course.
So, since Im not sure if we can win even on the easier route, I think we should go big or go home. As frustrating as it would be, losing here wouldnt be too bad. This is just a regr levelling Raid. We can try again in a month with a bit more power behind us. However, he grinned widely, can you IMAGINE the power spike I would get from defeating three bosses in one go? The amount of loot? If we manage to pull this off, its going to be incredible!
Go big or go home, is it? Lydia sighed again and looked around the table. Most of the girls were already with John on this. On the more cautious side of things were only the queen herself, Gnome and Undine. Even among those three, none of them insisted on the Ravenstorm knowing the Gamers rationale. If their chances were low in either case, it did indeed make more sense to go for the gamble with the higher rewards. As a group, they also felt more confident about an encounter that was mechanically difficult than about maximizing their damage output on a single target. As you wish then, I already got stronger from this trip, the queen conceded.
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Everyone ready for attempt 91? he asked the group.
Despite the many failures they had experienced over the past few days, the nods all around were firm. They had gotten exceedingly close to winning several times and, on request of John, Magoi had given them another days extension. Even Lydia stuck around, invested in seeing this through. Even with these concessions, they only had time for one, maybe two more attempts in this session. They had to make it count. There was twilight all around, the time dtion now prolonging a night so advanced the horizon was turning into dark shades of purple, greeting the oing day.
Alright, John himself nodded and turned towards the boss arena, where the Ravenstorm was already waiting for them. Smander, you ready too?
Give me the signal whenever you need me, the endme elemental mentally responded. She was the only member of the party not with them at this time. If this had been thest Raid, they couldnt even have entered the boss arena until she was there. Just another sign that this was intended game design this time around.
Without any great speeches or further wastes of time, John gave the signal to advance. The entire group broke out into a sprint. shes of lightning illuminated the dark clouds and soon the electricity rained down on their path towards therge tower. Sylph flew by their side, not yet allowed to engage with the Ravenstorm. Instead, she served as their early detection system.
Left, left, right, left, back! she shouted, always giving the group a small window to move in the demanded direction before the area they would have been in was struck by a crackling thunderbolt. Having jumped backwards, John was caught by his girlfriend and shoved forwards. Using that momentum, they lost as little time as was possible getting into the tower.
There was a moment of safety within the empty tower. A warning screech told them all that it wasnt going tost. Soon enough, electricity would start flooding the walls, dealing ever more damage as their resistance to that element was lowered. Fundamentally, that was bad.
It was also exactly the attack they wanted to coerce at that point. Almost leisurely, conserving their stamina, they strolled up the flight of stairs to where the flight-buff tforms were and waited. Electricity already crackled all around them by the time they arrived at the room at the top of the tower. The very same one that John and Undine had sat in earlier single boss attempts.
The entire group huddled together, each seeking to make it easy for Undine to heal them. Those who didnt get to enjoy pressing into the warm jiggle of the dark blue slime girl were connected via strands of liquid shadow. The pitch-ck material, simr to liquid rubber in appearance but impossible to grasp, spanned taut between Undine and the shadow of a singr person. Through them, she could heal people without touching them. It would have also worked if she just saw the shadow, but this solution was more mana efficient, if unusable without preparation time.
Soon, the crackling around them became stronger and their resistances dropped. What started as an unpleasant tingle on his skin soon grew into a numbing torrent that rushed through all of his muscles. John kept a close look on their health bars. There was a steady tug of war going on between the electricity and Undines healing. John supported her with his mana. At this current point, he had no reason to conserve it. Only Particle Skin he dropped. It was more effective to be part of the group heal than to prevent the damage, in this specific case.
When the damage started to ovee the healing, John made the call, Nia.
The pariah was already prepared. Her visor was manifested, her strange aura almost as unpleasant as the electricity. A colour-devouring wave spread outwards from her skin, leaving them in a ck and white bubble. Wherever the magical lightning hit it, it evaporated. Undine couldnt heal them inside either, but none of them were under three quarter health, so it wasnt an urgent matter.
Nia grew more translucent by the second. Nobody was worried about it. They had gotten through these initial parts often enough that they knew she could hold it for as long as was required. John kept steady watch on his debuff stacks. Currently, his Lightning Resistance had been reduced by 560%. Without new attacks by the boss re-applying the debuff, the stacks started to fall off after ten seconds. 10% were lost for every further second that passed. It served as Johns reliable clock.
Go! he shouted, once the debuff had gone down to 90%. The bubble copsed. They were all subjected to one more tick of damage, refreshing and increasing the debuff by one, then they were in the air.
John flew north, Nia followed him, the rest went upwards. While John and Nia engaged in the untraditional battlefield activity of making out, anchoring the nk in reality again, everyone else exploited a moment of weakness. In order to execute his tower-shocking attack, the Ravenstorm hadnded on the roof. Seated, it was an easy target for a wave of first attacks.
Every bit of aggression they could muster was unloaded. Undine Unleashed, using all of the damage she had just healed to turn into a devastating wave that disoriented the boss by rushing around his head. Weapons, fists, ws and magic all the while tore into the living lightning. No attack left permanent marks in the energy creature, but they did their damage regardless.
Angered, the Ravenstorm spread its wings wide and unleashed an attack. Its feathers glowed dimly, after the wave of electricity had passed through everyone. They werent nearly as incandescent as they had been at the start of the encounter. The spread wings immediately turned into a beating motion, once the boss had regained orientation.
Without a word of unnecessarymunication, the entire group turned north-east and started flying. The Ravenstorm chased, pulling the thunderclouds with it. Chasing with attacks by beak and dive, it ended up in front of them every so often. Always concentrating on dodging, the party just continued flying. They only took the most unavoidable damage and moved into the way for each other to prevent any new stack build-up. After ten minutes of this flight, their resistances were mostly back to normal and mid-flight heals had topped off health in most cases.
When they were down to six minutes, John started to charge an Arc Lance. Down to five, he suddenly stopped and threw it at the Ravenstorm. Even at double damage, the singr attack did fairly little, but the angry caw from the monstrous elemental, reacting to a short-lived hole being blown into its wings, was the agreed signal. The boss being so noise-happy made a lot of things easier.
The entire party stopped in their flight and moved back into fight mode. This time, without any gimmicks. They fought the boss as they did during their first encounter, albeit with a lot more experience. Getting into its range, they coerced it to use an energy wave. Clumping together and then dispersing, they forced out an inconsequential dive attack.
Storm iing, gather up! John shouted, verbally and mentally, when he noticed the storm clouds gathering into bulges. Without fail, the Ravenstorm turned histest dive attack into a sudden rise high into the sky. Following Sylphs lead, the group rose up with it. Then the Ravenstorm beat its wings and the lightning was unleashed. The thunderstorm element dove in a zig-zag.
Rising as one group had incentivized the boss to hurl the attack at an angle that made the attacks denser, maximizing the danger in the area but minimizing the size of it. By following Sylph and her ability to sense the direction of the lightning, they were able to dodge the initial attacks and then leave the affected area behind. Gnome was hit due to her rtive slowness and Lydia got hit because of bad luck, but none of them took lethal damage. Undine patched them up as quickly as she could, still relying on Johns mana.
The Ravenstorm looked extremely dull now, almost as if it was just a yellow-blue crow. Feathers started to fall off its form. Depleted of energy and hurt a sufficient amount, part of it was now so unstable they could use it to refresh their buff. The party stayed back. If they didnt agitate the boss, he would stay in ce for the majority of the shedding duration, making picking up the feathers easier. That, and John needed to count.
FOURTEEN! he shouted. It wasnt the actual number, that would have been 146, but the amount of feathers anyone who needed the buff was supposed to grab. Good luck for us, the Gamer thought to himself, feeling enthusiastic for a moment. The number of feathers that spawned was randomized between 130 and 150, so 146 was on the higher end. Although they would only pick up 140 of them, the extra density was nice. Having a minute less per person could have been an issue.
The natural flyers, Jack and Sylph, concentrated on distracting the recharging boss while everyone else got their feathers. Then they resumed their flight to theke of the second boss. It was impossible for most of them, at their current Agility, to make the several kilometre flight in fifteen minutes. By forcing the boss to expend energy and take damage at the very spawning, they got the duration during a halfway fight.
This, in turn, trivialized another issue. Not having to swim to the turtle was a tremendous time and energy saver. They had discovered this strategy only after a few attempts that were defined by a much less effective opener: Sylph alone kiting the Ravenstorm over after everyone else had engaged the Titanturtle. Aside from saving themselves the approach, they also didnt have to fight the adds on the turtles back this way.
Theke came into view. Already engaged in a battle itself, the Titanturtle was following a tiny, red, ck and gold dot that cut through the air above its head. Smander was keeping the boss at attention through asional attacks. In return, the Titanturtle kept looking at her. The giant boss was too slow to catch her with his jaws and Smanders attacks did absolutely no damage, but this configuration worked perfectly for the next bit. The next piece of optimization of thisbined encounter was to get the two bosses to fight each other as soon as possible.
Smander, were here! he informed her via mental connection.
Chapter 835 – Progress Raiding 9 – Valley of Stone and Thunder
Chapter 835 C Progress Raiding 9 C Valley of Stone and Thunder
About time! Smander enthusiastically dered, as several thousand points of Johns mana poured into her. None of that energy pooled inside her; instead, all was channelled through her raised arms. Just past her palm, the energy was still invisible, then it rapidly developed into the grey and gold fire that was unique to her status as an endme elemental. A ball of fire swelled from a little flicker to several metres across. Bigger! she gleefully eximed. BIGGER! The fire ball went to over ten metres across, then the mana source ebbed away. Itll do! she shouted andunched the attack at the Titanturtles back.
She flew right after it, indulging in the inferno that consumed a vast bit of symbiotic forest. Cackling, her pyromania itch scratched, Smander stomped the floor with her armoured boots a few times. The giant creature she was standing on wouldnt feel the red-skinned menace on its back, but it gave its attention anyway, for the predictable reason that part of its friendly flora had just been annihted.
Flying ever closer, John watched as the turtle first aimed at its back and then followed Smander up into the air. While the Titanturtle would only start preparing itsser once something threatened its back, it wouldnt stop preparing it unless they sought cover in the foliage. Two very important mechanical notes to have, when wanting the two bosses to attack each other.
Smander flew as quick as she could, both to angle the shot correctly and to dodge it herself. Light intensified in the depths of the granite maw of the boss, focused inside a crystal where the back of the throat normally would be, and was then unleashed as a powerfulser. Just barely, it missed the flying elemental, continued to cut through the space between the other party members and finally hit the Ravenstorm directly in the chest.
Perfect shot! Johnplimented through their mental connection. Even a grazing hit would have done, but a perfect hit was more damage and more damage was better.
The first few attempts, they had relied on one of the many area attacks of the Ravenstorm to hit the turtle. Until either one hit the other, the bosses had no interests in one another. This had caused arge variation of encounter sesses, based on how quickly they seeded. By having the Titanturtle identally hit the Ravenstorm, they bridged this issue entirely.
Being hit by its supposed ally had the Ravenstorm angry. John wasnt sure if these bosses retained memories between encounters like Lady Presta had. Even if they did, they were bound to their programming, just like she had been, and behaved the same now as they had in every past encounter.
Choosing his new priority target, the Ravenstorm dived down on the Titanturtles neck. Its feathers had long since recharged their former glow, part of which was unloaded in a retaliatory energy wave that burst out along with the impact of its talons. Massive arcs of lightning rolled over the back of the turtle, cutting trenches into the forest and obliterating one of the spires outright.
Vast amounts of greenery were already destroyed when the groupnded on the Titanturtles back. This led to less wolves, penguins and parrotsing their way than usual, all while going ignored by the turtlesser attacks, now aimed at the Ravenstorm. It wasnt all sunshine though.
Central spire first! John announced and led the way, as they cut their way through the unbuffed adds. They had to hurry. Although the destruction of the forest was useful in the moment, once all of it was gone, the Titanturtle would start to sink. Much like it wouldnt use theser unless it wouldnt harm its symbionts, it also wouldnt drown them. When there was nothing left to drown except its enemies, the boss would stop caring and effectively despawn. Theycked the tools to defeat it under the waves.
Aside from that, there were other issues.
There were distant quakes. One source was the fighting of the two giants, but that ceased when the Ravenstorm took off to once more use distant lightning over melee attacks. The second was quickly closing in, each rumbling step stronger than thest.
Practically sprinting, the golem created by the annihtion of the first pir chased after them. Blue electricity crackled between its crystallized surfaces. While the Ravenstorm took care of some of the spires for them, every time it did so the resulting golem was charged. It increased the damage they did but, more crucially, they were faster. Fast enough to catch up to the group.
Tagged, Beatrice announced, passive in tone, when the golem tried to grab her. Separating from the group, she kited the golem back towards the destroyed area close to the neck.
Another stroke of good luck, John thought and smirked. Beatrice was one of the quickest members of the group and she had emergency escape tools. For her to be chased by the first golem was quite good. Whenever the Ravenstorm destroyed the second spire close to the neck, it always happened at some point, her being the only one close to that area would guarantee that golem would also chase her. Upon firstnding, it was entirely random who the golem had picked while they were still up in the air.
They rushed to the middle spire and brought it down with little difficulty. Aclysia, Gnome and Metra continued to batter the crystal-stone obelisk while the rest of the group fended off the adds. They then moved to the pir on the middle-left of the Titanturtle. Their intent was to go a U-shaped route.
At least that was the intent for most of them. Well take off here, John announced, always having an eye on the flight buff. It was still active, so they could bridge the distance between those two spires quickly. For the majority of the group, they wouldnt get another refresher.
Alright, ya do your best! Rave shouted back. Together with the bulk of the group, she moved to assault that second pir and handle the second golem. A third was rising in the distance, a thunderbolt having just destroyed the second spire at the Titanturtles neck.
Only Lydia, Nia and Sylph were with him. Their tiny formation went up into the sky and watched the fight between the Titanturtle and the Ravenstorm in more detail. Three neck segments down, the reach of the turtle was greatly diminished, but theser was as threatening as ever. It cut through the air and the Ravenstorm. The body of the thunderbird melded within a second, as the boss rose to the sky. Bulges had already formed in the clouds. This time, they couldnt angle the lightning strikes at an advantageous angle.
Following Sylphs lead, the four of them wove through the rapid session of lightning strikes that hit turtle and water alike. While John was concentrating on dodging, he caught a feeling of panic, then part of his mental connections went dark. Gnome had just gotten killed, hit by a lightning strike and consequently grabbed by a spire golem that had been focused on her. The first death of this attempt. A semi-vital death, Gnome was a safety line John would have liked to have around, but she was not required for the attempt to be deemed a failure. Only himself, Nia and Sylph were absolutely vital to win, at the stage they were at.
More importantly, there were fresh feathers falling from the Ravenstorm. Forty, thirty, he told Nia and Lydia. They wouldnt need all of the duration increases that were dropped. Everything they got extra was pure insurance. They were still busy with that when the forces on the ground destroyed the fifth pir. Only two remained standing, three had been destroyed by the Ravenstorm and two by the party. Only the ones in the bottom right and right centre now remained. John didnt stay there to see them fall; together with Nia and Lydia, he made his way south-east. He had somewhere else to be.
Jack dodged the swipe of a golem, kiting it away from the group and the remaining greenery. Between the attacks of the Ravenstorm and the area wilting that followed after a spire was destroyed, most of the trees were gone. What little there still was only spawned a new, weak add every minute or so, but they needed it or the encounter would sink under the waves of theke.
Because Gnome was dead, they couldnt rent the trees. All they could do was pray the Ravenstorm didnt hit thest few strips ofnd between now and the next step of the n. Although they were ying their best, any raid encounter faced under the rmended power was alwaysing along a fair bit of luck. They were having quite a bit of good luck this attempt.
The second tost spire was destroyed ording to n. Some fended off the few beasts still spawning, some damaged the pir and some upied the golems.
The now six spire golems, three of which were supercharged, were currently chasing after Beatrice, Jack and Undine, with three going to the passive maid, one to him and two to Undine, one of which was the one that had killed Gnome. That there were some after their healer was somewhat unfortunate, but at this stage there was little damage taken, and Aclysia and Metra being left to their own devices was pretty good.
Being able to fly, Jack had an easy time to continue evading the golem even now. He had to carefully stay within its range, just flying away would have caused it to acquire a new target. All he had to do was flee and keep analysing the situation. He saw that the Ravenstorm was getting ready for another dive attack. The Titanturtle was waiting with an open jaw.
WAIT! he mentally shouted at Aclysia and Metra. The two were about to destroy thest spire and were now staying their hand. The Gamer had spied an opportunity for some shenanigans. Cut it down when I give the signal.
The two obeyed and waited. Jack looked at the Ravenstorm. The boss gained height through a couple of ps, then tilted forwards. When it pulled in its wings and started to drop, the Gamer gave the signal. The spire fell moments thereafter.
Aiming at the TItanturtles neck, the Ravenstorm had to find out that there suddenly was no more neck. Thest segment crumbled away, the head of the seaborne boss was magically joined with the shell and the open jaw was now the direct destination of the Ravenstorms movements. Alreadymitted to the attack, the electricity raven only managed to slow its descent, but not stop it before it was caught in the titanic turtle jaws.
Jack imagined he heard massive bones crunching, but it was probably just the massive force of the snapping causing stone to grind against stone as the lighting creature was chomped in half. Even the energy creature wasnt immune to being grabbed and stuck between the massive jaw; it was subsequently mmed into the water. The entire ind shook one, two, three times as the pissed off Titanturtle thrashed around. Golems and party alike found it impossible to move as the ground kept quaking.
Likely thinking it had stunned its enemy, the Titanturtle opened its jaw to finish it with one moreser attack. At that moment, the Ravenstorm was suddenly reinvigorated. A cry echoed through the air and a massive shockwave forced the entire sentient ind to drift a hundred metres back. Hovering upwards, wings and talons stretched out, the Ravenstorm was incandescent white, blinding lightning crackling around it. A second shockwave burst out when a second pair of wings appeared on the creatures body, stronger even than thest one. The white was consumed in the process, leaving the boss with the previous blue and yellow colouration.
The first shockwave had already swept their footing away. This second one had them tumble around like helpless seeds in the wind. Most of them managed to hold onto something. Jack worriedly looked at the bending trees. A mistake on his part. Whether or not the trees fell over was out of his hands and him knowing it would change nothing. Had he looked at Beatrice, however, he would have been able to warn her.
The three golems that were after her, particrly the two charged ones, were practically unfazed by the shockwave. Lean design and high weightbined to allow them to continue in their charging once the ground was stable again. Not yet recovered, Beatrice wasnt able to regain her awareness of all three golems positions before they were upon her. She dodged the swipe of one by jumping backwards, only to dodge into the kick of another one. In a disy of absolutely cruelbo ability, the kick delivered her into a downwards m that made her crack the granite floor. One more stomp and she was out for the count.
The trees remained standing, but theck of additional eyes on her situation had caused Beatrice to be unable to react. A small mistake with big consequences.
Jack couldnt dwell on it. Both bosses were now in phase two. All of the golems around were only important because they could be in the way of their next objective. Analysing the current position of the golems and his party members, he made the call. We use the neck entrance! Sylph, start kiting the Ravenstorm towards the Sicklebrood. Do it at a medium pace.
Roger, roger! the thunderstorm elemental responded and darted off.
The second phase of the Ravenstorm wouldnt be an issue for the ultra-fast air spirit to handle. That was to say, much like Smander with the Granite Titanturtle, she could dance around it for a long while, but also never be able to deliver threatening damage to it. As impressive as the transition scene had been, the four-winged Ravenstorm was essentially the same as the two-winged one. Magical attacks got more powerful and more frequent, with recharge times shortened. Those were the differences. It was difficult, yes, John was quite certain they couldnt have dealt with it in under 150 tries, if at all at their current level, but it didnt require any new learning. Sylph was still the ideal candidate for kiting, and it was urgent the Ravenstorm to now be removed from the area.
Not only did they need it at the location of the third boss for thest bit of the n, but they couldnt have the stronger lightning attacks threaten thest few trees. Not while they headed into the second (or third, if the skipped approach phase could be counted) phase of the Titanturtle boss.
When all spires were destroyed, a series of caves became essible all over the boss back, all of them connected to the same system. Those caves allowed them topletely ignore the golems, as they were toorge to follow inside. The Granite Titanturtle was undefeatable from the outside, at least at their current power level, but from the inside was very much possible.
They just had to find the heart chamber.
Chapter 836 – Progress Raiding 10 – At the heart of it all
Chapter 836 C Progress Raiding 10 C At the heart of it all
John, Nia and Lydia were staring down at the Sicklebrood Matriarch. They had been doing so for about four minutes already, using the remaining time on the flight buff to stay out of range. Simply waiting for her chance to strike, the boss sat at the entrance of the cave. Following her programmed behaviour, she had been coerced toe outside by the Arcana Strike that John had thrown up the second he had gotten there.
Through careful nning, he had arrived in front of the cave with an almost full mana bar. Now they were ying a game of how long can it charge?. This was the part of the n they had the least knowledge about. They had only gotten to this point two times previously. During the first, they had managed to defeat the Titanturtle, but didnt get the Ravenstorm kited over in time. During the second, the party in charge of finishing up the Titanturtle had wiped. Because they were fighting all the bosses at once, it only counted as a victory if they actually beat all three.
While the flight buff would protect them from the Matriarch for a while longer, the actual menace now appeared on the battlefield. Having hatched inside the cave, a Sickleman came strolling out. Dodging its projectiles for several minutes would be impossible for them. Which was why Nia was there.
The pariah hovered down at a quick pace, needing to move before the Sickleman grew out his first spear. It wasnt a close race; the blonde had a whole five minutes to prepare herself, after all. [Intimidation], she spoke a word whose sound felt inverted. Rather than reaching Johns ears, it was drawn from his mind, cutting a hole in his sensemaking that created the meaning in the negative. All of that was already an unpleasant experience, like someone sticking a vacuum cleaner in his ear, but the concentrated alien aura that followed directly thereafter was even worse.
Distantly, John heard the croaking, cawing meow of the Nias Nevrest. The air around her became fuzzy and stretched, as if he was looking through a blurry fish-eye lens. The several metres between him and the creature made it barely eptable. He breathed lighter when Nia moved even further away, following the backing off monsters on the ground. The Sickleman and the Matriarch stepped back until they hit the edge of the cave, at which point their instilled behaviour shed with their difort and they stayed where they were, hissing and spitting.
No matter how close to sapience they were, the monsters were still instinct driven creatures, unable to reason themselves into attacking because of their fear. Through this application of Nias aura, the party won another few precious minutes. John looked north, away from the stalemate and towards the approaching thunderstorm. Sylph had managed to coerce the Ravenstorm to follow her and was on her way. If they timed everything correctly, she would arrive exactly when Nia could no longer sustain her crowd control.
Then, he looked further than that, changing his focus to theke beyond the horizon.
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Jacks fist crashed into a wall of crystal. During the time his real body had set everything up at the third boss, the group of him, Aclysia, Smander, Undine, Siena, Rave and Metra had been carving their way through the innards of the Titanturtle. Not a lifeform in the traditional sense, the creature still had veins. They wererge tunnels, partially filled with crystal formations, through which energy streamed. To get through, they had to smash those crystals. asionally, this would cause energy blobs to form, effectively the anti-bodies of this system. They were more cumbersome to defeat than actually threatening. Obstacles, not enemies.
This was the fifth time they managed to get in here and they had learned most of theyout by now. The first three attempts had beenrgely dedicated to them taking unnecessarily long routes. The fourth had been the only kill so far. Jack was confident they could repeat that.
Recognizing the crystal formation ahead, the Gamers double gave a signal, and Aclysia took the lead. The weaponized maid rushed through the crystals, trampling them down in her path and bursting into the room behind a final wall. Immediately, a white shockwave spread out from her. Masters Shield taunted the thousands of tiny blobs that covered the floor, causing them to all rush to her position. More of them fell from the ceiling, hiding the white-haired tank from view.
Smander entered the room next, apanied by a wave of fire that eradicated the weak enemies. Then, the rest of the party followed and entered the heart chamber.
It was a cone shaped room, with a rounded tip. Several crystal lines reached out of veins at several levels of height, all of them connecting to a milky gemstone in the middle. Larger than a person, the heart of the Titanturtles unrefined surface pulsed audibly. Magical light swelled and receded, bringing the room phases of bright illumination and near darkness. The granite walls were covered in yet more of the tiny antibodies, all of them starting to move the second they got in. Their entrance manoeuvre had bought them the space they needed to get proper footing.
Were rushing to the final phase! Smander, you protect Undine, the rest of us focus on the crystal veins, he dered his ns. Although the tiny antibody slimes were annoying, they were only harmful if they got prolonged contact with a person. Best to conserve their resources while letting Smander clear them in an effective way. Siena, stay close to Smander for the transition.
Once Smander had burned away most of the slimes, they got to work. It was an intense but straightforward affair. Through flying, teleportation and sheer grit, each of them hammered away at the crystal veins. Jack was doing the least of it, not having the Strength required to just hack through these things as Metra or Aclysia did. The pulsing and Smanders mes gave unsteady light to the room, but the Gamer would have found his way if it waspletely dark anyway. A few minutes in this chamber and he had created aplete map of itsyout.
As quickly as they could, they had shattered all of the veins, and the gemstone fell to the ground with a massive clunk, thest bits of crystal sticking to it forming a reactive armour to protect it from the fall. The same thing would have happened had they tried to strike it without all of the veins destroyed. The walls secreted more antibodies, ast struggle of the boss body to defend against the invaders. If they reached the gemstone, they would harden into a protective armour. The light dimmed away with thest pulse.
Siena and Smanderbined.
Heat began to rise on every surface of the chamber as Shadowme used her Unleash. Any surface engulfed in shadow in an area around her became the fuel for lightless fire. Hissing sounds, like water hitting the surface of a hot stove, were the only confirmation they had that this was working. All of the new antibodies, quite dangerous in this absolute darkness, were getting spawn-killed. The party, thanks to the Guild Perk that turned friendly fire off, was getting away without any harm. They even had time to heal.
Then the light returned to the room. The heart of the Titanturtle suddenly glowed, brighter than ever before and no longer pulsing. Arms and legs burst out of the blurry white crystal and it rose up as a new golem. When it stood, a turtle-like head formed at the upper edge of the round torso, roaring. Roaring as electricity rushed out of the crystal stumps at the walls, remaining energy from the Ravenstorm that still pulsed through the Titanturtle. Some of it unloaded in area of effect attacks, several striking members of the party. More of them struck the Titanturtle Heartgolem and supercharged it just as they had done with the spire golems above.
Shadowme split into Siena and Smander, her purpose fulfilled. The lightning strikes faded, for the most part. Some of the stumps still crackled and asionally there would be discharges between two of them. Jacks job was now to keep a view on those things while the real fighters of the party did their thing.
The boss looked ufortably simr to Golem from the Pokmon games, except it was made out of crystal and didnt need to roll up into a ball to attack. Instead, it charged with a speed and power that overcame Metra at her peak fury.
Taking on one arm each, Aclysia and Metra were barely able to stop the charge of the monster, but not able to hold their ground as it continued to press. Smashing both of them into the floor, the boss turned to Siena after the moonshade elementals ws had scratched its back, cutting four deep trenches into it.
Threatening as it was physically, the final phase of the boss was a ss cannon with no mechanics of its own. It was a DPS check, a final phase designed only to test how much power they sessfully brought past the management phases of the Titanturtle boss fight. As long as they kept going, they could beat it. Thest difficulty, the antibody armour, had been removed. Now it was just damaging it while not dying, no great ns.
Which was easier said than done.
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I am here, I am here, this is getting difficult, very, very difficult! Sylph bbered as she darted past John and Lydia. Her left arm was gone, leaving a trail of pale green energy particles to tumble from the stump. I got hurt, I am hurt, I want cuddles after thi- LEFT, LEFT! she shouted, John and Lydia jumping to the side as a thunderbolt fell where they had just stood. Their flight buff had run out now, forcing them to stand on top of the cliff.
You will have all the cuddles you want once we get done here, John promised and looked up at the Ravenstorm. If the four-winged boss had been smart, it would have just remained up there and sted lightning at them until it won. Luckily, diving was part of its programming. All John had to do was wait until the Ravenstorm descended on them and then pray that the Arcana Strike did enough damage to finish it and the Sicklebrood Matriarch off in one go.
The problem was that they were at the end of the things they had experience with. They had never gotten this far. From there on out, most of it all would be improvisation.
John! Nia raised her voice in urgency, barely more present than a ghost. It was all the signal they needed. The alien aura vanished from the battlefield. A moment of silence followed. Then the now two Sicklemen and the Matriarch realized what had happened and stormed forwards with ravenous intent.
Tapped of all resources, all Nia could do was run towards them. She tried to dodge underneath a swipe, tickle out a few extra seconds. Exhausted and failure prone, she slipped up immediately. One of the Sicklemen grabbed her with both of its ws and tried to ram its spider-fangs into her head. She vanished before the blow truly connected.
Lydia! John shouted, as the Matriarch came climbing up the cliffside at an absurd pace. The two Sicklemen down below both pulled spears from their shoulders andunched them. John used Shifting Momentum to teleport out of the way. That was one free instance of damage avoidance. He had two more teleportation stacks and then he would have to expend mana to keep up. Although he hadnt fought for quite a while, his mana bar was practically tapped. All of it went to support the group fighting the Titanturtle, especially Undine.
He didnt have much of a choice, it was either victories everywhere or victories nowhere.
I got it! Lydia shouted, ripping both of her hands up and then bringing them down with force. Thick nails that she had buried deep into the edge of the cliff were now driven deep enough to cause the stone to splinter off. Falling rubble would have done nothing to the Matriarch, but losing the stone under her ws at least made her fall back down, buying them another few precious seconds.
Come on, dive! John thought, staring up at the Ravenstorm circling above.
A pained scream ripped John back into reality, as Lydia stumbled forwards several steps, a Sickleman spear having just hit her on the back of her shoulder. With disbelief in his eyes, he turned around, seeing a whole host of Sickleman approaching their location.
The Sickleman cluster he whispered and quickly looked over to the other side of the valley, where yet more of them took position. They didnt just have to deal with the spawns from the cave, but the extra spawns in the north and south corners had now joined them as well, triggered into action by something. They hadnt known this, they couldnt have known this, and now over a dozen Sickleman readied their spears.
Concentrate on dodging, Lydia instructed him before he could hatch a n, then she started running.
John had no idea what she was nning to do. With the spear lodged in her shoulder, her steps were far from graceful. Whatever it was, he had to trust that her spontaneous idea would work out, and started running. He couldnt stay on top of the cliff, that would have put him at melee range with several Sicklemen, so he followed Lydia, both of them running towards the edge.
The spears came flying. One hit John mid-air, but was deflected by Particle Skin, eating up his remaining mana. Everything else, he managed to dodge by teleporting thest ten metres of his fall andnding earlier than any of them could have aimed for. Turning around, he just barely saw Lydia jump past the Matriarch. The boss had already been back up most of the cliff.
Prating the queen of steel with her two front limbs, the spider-like monstrosity let out a series of triumphant clicking sounds. Then Lydias aura red up. Her lips were red, redder than usual, red with blood, as she smiled and delivered a kick to the boss chest. Something short of a Seismic Step caused a visible st on the other side of the Matriarchs chest. Yet, the creature sounded more inconvenienced than hurt, as both of them fell. Thin wires glistened in the few sunrays that drifted over the horizon. Then Lydia was defeated by a bite mid-air, leaving only John and Sylph.
RAVENSTORM INCOMING! the thunderstorm elemental gave the needed news just as the Sicklemen readied their second round of spears. Unbothered by the potential of being hit by her brood, either trusting their aim or simply too enraged to care, the Matriarch herself charged at John. The Ravenstorm behind him, the Matriarch in front of him and the Sickleman all aiming from above. Yet the Gamer was smirking.
I hope you like an orbital bombardment.
Chapter 837 – Progress Raiding 11 – 1%
Chapter 837 C Progress Raiding 11 C 1%
The Titanturtle Heartgolem smashed Sienas head into the wall and let out a satisfied grunt when that made the moonshade elemental disappear. Turning around, it faced what remained of the party and prepared to go after them as quickly as it could. Both the boss and the group were on theirst leg.
Glowing dimly and having lost an arm, the Heartgolem was covered in scratches and other marks. On the other hand, Aclysia was currently missing both arms, Metra was too low on health to risk any manoeuvres before she got either healed or had regenerated naturally, Smander was currently getting healed, Undine was scraping together thest mana she had and Rave was breathing heavily, trying to not sumb to a series of broken ribs. In that situation, Jack himself had to stand in front, buying time for as long as he could.
The Heartgolem charged at him. Even though he was way slower, the swipe of a single arm was predictable and possible to dodge. The knee strike that followed right thereafter wasnt. The metal tes under the magical skin bent and shattered. Great, now Ill have to listen to Scarlett after this is done, rushed through his head, while he used his ability to fly to prevent himself from being catapulted across the room. Instead, he flew back only one metre and then assaulted again. The boss was confused for a moment.
Sally, one move, he heard Rave groan past her broken ribs.
There was no time to ask if she had enough mana in the air. They just had to trust that it was going to work. Copernicus manifested, jumping away from her wrist, where he had rested as a copper band.
You got it, the endme elemental responded. Energy flickered over from her to the Lightbearer, settling as harmless, grey and gold mes around Raves right fist. Smanders unleash was a simple but powerful buff. The next attack would have to end it.
The Heartgolem managed to hit Jack in the side with a random il. This time, there was too much force for him to remain in ce. The Gamers double was catapulted into a nearby wall, his skin flickering over the broken tes of the Mand Sphere.
Flickers of mana across the room drifted towards Copernicus.
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There was a moment of bliss, for John. A feeling of triumph, even if he hadnt quite won yet. The windows hadnt rolled in, and distantly, he was aware that Jack was still struggling with the remaining girls against the Heartgolem. For his part, however, it seemed he had won. Something should have hit him if he hadnt. The purple energy that still hung around him must have done the job. 11000 mana charging for over fifteen minutes was bound to give some good results.
Yet, the Gamer was paranoid, refusing to sit down until the arcane veil settled and he knew, for sure, that there was nothing threatening around.
With good reason.
Two spider-like limbs cut through the energy fog, closely followed by two massive fangs. The Sicklebrood Matriarch descended on him, ready to finish him off right that second, ending this attempt at that moment. She could have seeded as well. She would have secured her grip on John with her mantis ws and rammed her fangs into his soft neck. Had it not been for the wire, thest, risky action Lydia had taken, and the thunderstorm elemental who Johns paranoia had forced to remain on alert.
John wasnt strong enough to escape such a grasp or quick enough to even avoid the iplete version of it, but abination of all their strength allowed Sylph to st in at her top speed and ram into his side. The Matriarch only tasted air and John immediately teleported further away and ran. Sylph tried to back away herself, but couldnt turn around fast enough. Already hurt, the thunderstorm elemental fell from a sh across her torso.
John would not let her death be in vain. Raising Purgatory, he used hisst lifeline, Arcane Ascension, to st a series of Arc Lances at the boss. He confirmed that three of them hit, one of them in the head, before the repeated impact pushed the body of the boss deeper into the purple veil and hid her from view. Still not rxed, even as the torrent of sts came to an end, John was once more confirmed in his paranoia when he heard pained, hateful hissing in the mist. He was now all alone with the Matriarch.
As the arcane mist cleared, it dawned on John that this wasnt as bad as it first sounded.
Theplete destruction of the Arcana Strike finally became visible. The cliffs were clear; if any Sicklemen had survived, they must have been sted so far away that they wouldnt be an issue for at least a few minutes. Electricity crackling around dispersed and destroyed feathers were all that was left by the Ravenstorm. As if to underline the confirmation, the thunderclouds above were quickly dissolving.
And the Sicklebrood Matriarch, although she had survived, had not gotten away unharmed. Not by the Arcana Strike and not by the Arc Lances. The former had done much worse damage, predictably. Five of her eight limbs were fully obliterated, ripped out of their sockets or simply burned away. Another one was crippled. Only the two uppermost ones had survived mostly intact, but both were held back by Lydias wire. Most of the Arc Lances seemed to have been neutralized by the carapace, but several holes in her abdomen and half of her face missing showed that they had had some effect. Saliva gargled as it sputtered out of her visible throat, as the boss started to crawl towards John.
Even the Gamer could outrun the Sicklebrood Matriarch, now that she had to drag herself over the uneven stone. Turning tail, he made his way as quickly as possible to the side of the crater that rose upwards. He didnt trust his Physical Stats enough to get into melee range of even a crippled boss. Despite all of his equipment, the risk of getting killed was toorge. Much better to stay away, wait for mana to regenerate and then kill her with some more spells. The many kills through Arcana Strike had raised his mana regeneration several times over anyway.
John only realized that he didnt have that luxury when the ground under his feet began to vibrate. It wasnt a rumble; it was far too steady for that. A million little quivers, rather than a series ofrge shakes. Not the steps of giants, but the uncountable skittering of thousands of Broodlings that came pouring out of the cave.
For all his paranoia, John had momentarily forgotten about the one mechanic they hadnt had to fend with in over a week. The shockwave from the Arcana Strike had reached the inside of the cave, and with the Matriarch still alive, so were all the potential adds stemming from her brood. He had just popped every single egg inside there. If this had been an MMORPG, he was certain that the number of creatures that came rushing towards him would have caused the entire server tog. A tide of metallic exoskeletons washed over the grey stone. At that mass, the fact that they were only half as strong as they could have been was absolutely irrelevant. The only good thing was that the raw force of the tide made it impossible for the Sicklemen in the crowd to draw and aim their spears.
John no longer had a choice, he had to defeat the Matriarch in meleebat and he had to do it before the skittering wave crashed over him.
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Jacks body was broken, bent and lodged inside the wall at a weird angle, forced to helplessly watch the rest of the encounter y out.
Rage reached his mind, strong from Metra, as always, but rivalling her was the absolute disdain Aclysia had for the boss that had dared to break even the copy of her master. Armless but by no means harmless, the weaponized maid, fuelled by her hatred, managed to pick up Tiemarath with her teeth and charge.
It was clumsy, it was mindless but it did buy yet more time. Executing a half decent strike with the heavy sword in her teeth, the weaponized maid scored a hit. It was not a great one, shaving an extra bit off the stump of the Heartgolems left arm, but an impressive hit nheless. Aclysia was hit by a right hook, the impact forcing her to let go of her cleaver. The Heartgolem continued on the motion until Aclysia mmed into one of the electrified crystal lines above him. Fateweaving kicked in at that moment and the weaponized maid was gone.
Copernicus had finished his meal and grew to his tiger form. A warm golden light emanated from his fur and Raves hair.
Metra and Undine both charged in at the same time. Out of mana, the healer could do nothing else but add her durable body as another line of defence. She couldnt even Unleash anymore, having done so too recently to do it again. Throwing herself between Metra and the descent of the gemstone fist, the abysstide elemental turned into a stter on the floor.
Swinging her massive axe at the boss side, the First of Wrath secured a proper hit. The left de cut deep into the milky, glowing Heartgolem. Metra went on to aggressively capitalize on the situation, pulling the axe back and going for a second swing. The boss could only block with his forearm. Having seen thating, Metra let go of the haft and dove down. Undines form recovered, creating a wall for the second time to protect the blonde berserker when her hands wrapped around the left-behind Tiemarath. Goo sttered across the room, lightning dancing between the drops as they vanished.
A solemn reign, to those few that rise up high Rave started her chant. No matter how much she wanted to hurry it along, she couldnt. Those words were power given sound and elerating them would have meddled with the spell work.
With a roar between anger and satisfaction at finally holding a good weapon again, Metra rammed Tiemarath into the boss left leg C horizontally. Then she ripped the weapon sideways, severing that limb. A moment of absolute triumph echoed through the mental connection, then pain and nothing as an unblocked strike from the boss elbow finally finished Metra off.
and we all fight
Copernicus jumped forwards, resolved to create thest few seconds necessary. Facing a vastly weakened boss, the sun tiger went into full aggression, wanting to maximize the chance for his summoner to deliver the final blow. Inrge part, this was sessful. wspletely ruined the Heartgolems face, teeth ripped chunks out of the shoulder and swipes kept the boss off bnce.
Now blind and cornered, the boss was simultaneously at its weakest and the most dangerous. The single arm flew around in wild iling motions. One of the strikes mmed into Copernicus side and tossed him across the room. Growling, the sun tiger visibly held himself back from going at the boss again. As much damage as he could have done, Rave would lose her chance to deliver the actual finishing blow if he died there.
...let our worlds collide!
The chant ended and Rave jumped forwards. Jumped forwards and, between torment and random chance, right into the path of the iling arm. Her punch may have been instant, but the path to it was not.
Smander rammed into the boss side, twisting the one-legged boss around. Instead of being in the trajectory of the random iling, Rave was now presented with the undefended left of the boss. Her fist was suddenly deep inside the boss and the room was consumed by light.
_____________________________________________________________________
John was about to die.
There was no denying it.
In raw desperation, he had run right up to the boss and was now faced by the creature looming over him like an upright millipede. The Talons of the Ravenlord and Purgatory both only scratched the exoskeleton and he didnt have the time to prepare an Arc Lance that was meaningful. The skittering drew closer, but it didnt matter. The two remaining limbs of the Sicklebrood Matriarch came down on him, prating the space between neck and shoulder on either side. His HP was still maxed out, so this didnt kill him outright. Whatever she did next would.
The single fanged, half-destroyed face came closer to bite.
YOU ARE NOT FUCKING THIS UP NOW! a female voice suddenly screamed from behind John. A ck-ted fist rammed into the Matriarchs exposed throat. Red lines on metal and ck lines on red skin, both changed colour to a fiery gold as Smander poured her endme into the innards of the boss.
John had no idea what was happening, but he fed his fire spirit with all of the mana he had. Every second, he regenerated over 100 mana and every drop of it waspletely at Smanders disposal. They doubtlessly went overkill. Fire leaked out of gaps in the carapace, exploded out of the holes in the monsters abdomen and turned the insides of the weakened creature into coal.
An absolute flood of windows opened as the boss dispersed into ash. The skittering vibrations vanished as they, too, were all transformed into nothing.
Not paying attention to any of the pop-ups, John raised both fists into the air and screamed. It was the nerd scream of the century. As his elemental, Smander knew what this was about and joined in. It was only the two of them, but it was beyond satisfying. A several day journey and one messy, lucky, skilful attempt, an attempt almost wiping at the figurative 1% HP mark, came to a sessful end. When his lungs had no more to give, John copsed onto a rock. He needed to sit down for a moment. He leaned his head back. He wanted to look at the sky. Instead, he rested the back of his head on her boobs. That was even better.
Were you talking about the boss or me? John asked, wondering about Smanders scream.
Yes. The endme elemental grinned.
Chapter 838 – Progress Raiding 12 – MVP
Chapter 838 C Progress Raiding 12 C MVP
Fittingly, the boss loot spawned in the middle of the Arcana Strike crater. There were four chests. One had the appearance of a craggy piece of granite with a liftable lid, somewhat like an unworked sarcophagus. The second was made from intertwining pieces of metal, lightning dancing between the four handles on top. The third was made from lots of pebbles, woven together with spider silk. Fourth, a fair bit smaller than the rest, was a chest that seemed as if someone had taken the remains of several Sicklemen and stuck them together in a rectangr shape.
Chests one to three were obviously in reference to each of the bosses. The fourth John had a good hunch where it came from, but he would need some kind of window to confirm it. Which required clicking his way through a murder of pop-ups.
16 levels, around 900000 experience, maybe even exactly that, John thought. He may not have known how exactly his experience form worked, but between the required number of his previous and his current level, he could make a good estimate. I dared to hope I would get like 50, but I shouldntin about getting this little. If I had run regr Assaults in the same time, I would have gotten about half as many levels and no loot.
While doing so, he checked over at Jacks location. In order to heal her wounds, Rave had left the barrier, leaving the Gamers double alone in the heart chamber of the Titanturtle. Unlike other bosses, it didnt despawn. Given that it had been more of a scenery than the actual enemy they were fighting and that ending a fight by dropping into the water would have been awkward, he fully supported the design decision.
Having Jack be active over a broken item was oddly unpleasant. John would have even gone as far to call it painful. Sort of like shovelling spades full of sand with blisters all over his hands. It started off awful and would only get worse. Reverting back to the normal Mand Sphere, after he put the left behind weaponry into his inventory, only made it feel like he had the blisters. Then he started to fly back to his real body to get repairs done as soon as possible.
So, John looked up to his gorgeous neck-support, how did you actually know that I needed the help?
Oh, I had no fucking clue, Smander responded. I just knew I would get sted to shit if I stayed in the room where Jane was doing her thing, so I made the spur of the moment decision to use the teleport. Then I saw that were about to wipe and rammed my fist up that disgusting bugs open throat.
Huh. Well, dont know what to say to that except that it was the perfect call to make, the Gamer stated and looked at the other windows.
Even Gaia agrees, he chuckled, while showing her that window.
Because Gaia is a smart girl, Smander cackled. Good to have that SEP, isnt it?
Nodding, John dismissed that window. Endme Elemental Summoning would max out in the next few hours, which was just another reason why he wanted to beat the Raid so badly. Thest Raid he had beaten had offered him to get 2 SEP as the reward, chances were he would get some this time around as well. He would have made looking for one his immediate priority otherwise.
Thunderstorm Elemental Summoning was going to follow in the next few days, but John and Sylph hadnt had that moment enabling the final evolution yet. Same was true for Gnome and Siena. Technically, he hadnt had it with Stirwin either, but that didnt matter as the infinity elemental was already Tier 5.
Arent we going to look at the loot? the endme elemental asked, understandably eager to see the full size of their rewards. After all the struggle they had been through, getting something out of it was so much sweeter. Which was exactly why John didnt get to it yet.
Lets wait until the other girls are back, he responded. Wouldnt want to rob everyone of the moment we all worked together towards. Already feels pretty unfair that they missed the kill.
They had to wait for a little while. Be it through Raves return or the fact that John and Smander still werent back, the wider harem must have realized that the attempt had been sessful and came back into the Raid Instant Dungeon. While their return may have taken less than five minutes, the way over to John, even jogging, took thirty. The Raid was done, but thendscape was still huge.
Hope there will be portals or something in the next one, John thought. Not a big fan of walking the duration of the attempt between attempts.
The wait time was spent in a pleasing fashion. John was halfway tempted to fuck Smander on top of any of the chests, but none of them had a shape that would have made for a good bed recement. At the same time, none of them were high enough that they would have supported doggy style. Doing it directly on the floor was an ufortable solution. Doing some standing stuff would have been the best, but John decided to just postpone the fucking in favour of handing out some rewards. Specifically, that meant eating the hovering fire spirit out or massaging her. Particrly herrge tits. The endme elemental liked it when he paid attention to those.
All of the girls, including Eliza and Scarlett, eventually arrived where the two of them were waiting. And thats about what happened, John finished giving them the breakdown of the entire situation, all the while still fondling Smander. Given that her breasts were so much fun to y with, he wasnt even sure if he was really rewarding her more than himself. They were, by a slight margin, the biggest in the harem and a perfect mix between firm and squishy. So I am going to prioritize rewarding our MVP once we get home.
Its pleasing to hear that my risky action wasnt in vain, Lydia announced while looking around the granite chest. Suppose there is a Worldturtle Egg in here, have you decided on my proposal by now? I have a facility on Fehmarn that could be repurposed for the task of raising it.
Well, we should check if its actually in there before I break my skull, the Gamer responded.
You mean before I break your skull, Scarlett chimed in. There is no way I will let you sell something THAT valuable for a particrly interesting blowjob.
Public impregnation. The two words turned Johns current erection from present into a steel rod. The queen smirked slightly at him and bent her back in a challengingly erotic fashion.
Scarlett crossed her arms. Look at the disciplined military queen, being all ssy, whoring herself out for some resources.
Considering what else I do with our love, I struggle to find this particr instance of whoring myself out greatly insulting. The stern woman straightened up, staring back at Scarlett. Red and blue gazes shed in a confrontation of wills. Although Lydia was looking at this more as a matter of national security, while Scarlett cared mostly about the economical advantages, both were interested in having a mobile ind around. A Worldturtle would be of great help in Germanys ongoing efforts of bingrgely autonomous from Romulus greater empire.
Over the course of five hundred years, or however long it will take that fucking thing to grow up, Scarlett retorted. Better to raise it in the Hudson Barrier. It will have ample ess to water there AND serve as a proper tourist attraction.
You would lower a Worldturtle to the status of a tourist attraction? Lydia asked.
Until it gets big enough to haul cargo around.
Not to pick sides here, John chimed into the discussion before it could consume the remaining day, but I have to say that raising it in the Hudson Barrier is a bad idea. Apparently Tilgun used to hunt these things for food, so keeping one around might give him cravings. Thats besides the point though. Before we decide what to do with it, we really need to find out if there even is one.
Open the chests then, Scarlett told him.
Kind of preupied with this chest, the Gamer told her, pinching Smanders dark red nipples and pulling them in opposite directions. My hands really dont want to stop.
That sounds like your is- Sweet fuck, what have you done to my creation?! Scarlett cried out when she saw the Mand Sphere hover down to them. Damaged, the flying object had taken all this time to make its way over. It looked less like a sphere and more like a physics breaking potato. Several dents ruined the perfect sphere it had previously been, and at the edges of the bent tes, the enchantment that allowed all of the tes to bepressed underneath one another failed. This caused a visual effect like someone sawing through stacked cardboard.
It was a necessary sacrifice, John told her, looking at his near ruined Extension with a thinking hum. Maybe I wont repair it.
Why not? Rave asked, before Scarlett could ask the same question. Her version would have had a few more words thrown in for colour.
Because I like myself to have trophies and this would do rather nicely, he answered, gesturing at the hovering Mand Sphere with his head. I can make a better one with new materials. Then again, that would take at least several weeks and I cant exactly function without my double for that long. He sighed, logic winning against emotional desire. With his brain in charge of his actions again, he managed to move the Mand Sphere into Creates repair space and stop fondling the endme elemental in hisp.
With a desiring sigh, Smander hovered away from him. Ill get you to myself,ter. She grinned.
If thats the reward you want. John found it easy to promise that. After your evolution or before?
After, lets ride in that new booty right after I get it, the endme elemental cackled. Im burning under the nails for more power. I wonder just how much stuff I can torch once I am Tier 5!
Just dont burn anything I like, please, John joked.
And stay the fuck out of my art gallery! Eliza warned, while the Gamer walked over to the chests. I spend way too much time making what I draw decent to have you light it up!
I wouldnt do that! Smander shot back. Im a controlled pyromaniac! I dont identally light stuff on fire anymore!
It was a dangerous time, Rave giggled. Dangerous and simpler.
I dont know if it was more dangerous or any simpler than our current situation, John stated as he pushed the lid off the first chest. Since everyone was on edge about it, he started with the loot of the Titanturtle. Alright, so here we have a gargantuan amount of money, he said, pulling a cheque from the stash. Even Gaia wasnt crazy enough to put over a quarter billion dors out in notes. The moment he put the cheque in his inventory, it dissolved for the proper increase of his personal wealth.
He pulled a few things out of the chest that none of them had any direct use for. They got every crafting material from the Common category at least twice. The Umon Worldturtle te, an armour carved from stone, had been dropped, along with the Boots of Everstone and the Shield of the Titanturtle. Then there was the Spire Spear and the Titanturtle Fin de, dropping twice, representing the Rare category.
Give this to Konrad from me, John told Lydia, handing her the shield. I think I should bribe your bodyguard to like me.
He already likes you, such offerings are therefore unnecessary, Lydia pointed out. When her lover only kept holding the stone-carved shield in her direction, she took it with a disapproving shake of her head. I wish you would be a less generous person, taking advantage of you would be more easily justified in that case.
But would you be in love with me?
Not that deeply as I am currently, I admit.
So how generous am I really, if I get something priceless out of offering you something that costs me nothing? he asked.
Rolling her eyes, the queen acted immune to his charms. John knew that she was simultaneously amused by what he had said and thought him a fool. What will you do with the remaining items? she asked.
As we discussed on the first day, I will give them to the military or use them as political gifts. Until I find use for them, I will keep them in the Guild Bank or whatever disy I will have built for them, the Gamer stated and pulled thest few items from the Titanturtle chest.
Of the two avable Epic items, the Worldgems had dropped twice. They came contained in a satin bag and sparkled with shifting colour. John thought he would have preferred the Terrium Ore, simply because he knew what Terrium was, but upon reading the description of the Worldgems, he was quite happy with this loot. They were used in the construction of heavily advanced Mobile Barrier generators. Not only would they serve to appease Magoi for the extra day they had asked for, but they woulde in handy in the construction of that Abyssal battleship that was still going on. Giving that thing a superior Mobile Barrier would be quite the advantage.
In the Legendary category, John was almost relieved to see that there was no Worldturtle Egg. Lydia and Scarlett both seemed disgruntled and Nia let out a disappointed sigh, but at least he was spared further arguments. They did get a Worldturtle Core Crystal, which had the fascinating ability to be able to fuse with the Guild Heart and permanently increase avable mana and Room Slots by 1000 and 10, respectively. Not a fantastic Legendary item in the moment, but it had nice long-term benefits. It also almost allowed John to get the Sex Dungeon he so desperately wanted. Almost.
There was also the Heart of Stone and Thunder reward for the particr way in which they had killed the boss. The item itself had very few properties, but as a crafting material its main value was what it could be enchanted with anyway. It had a particr affinity for lightning and earth rted Attributes, unsurprisingly, and also Spell Storage. That made it a good contender for the centrepiece of a new weapon for Metra.
Moving onto the Ravenstorm chest, John was presented with a whole lot more stuff he didnt have much use for. There was the money and three Lightning in a Bottle, which was a one time use item. Thrown like a Molotov cocktail, it would proceed to create a massive lightning strike wherever itnded. John would issue it as equipment to some special unit in the next conflict, just to get them out of storage space.
Lightning and Air Gems dropped twice each, giving some extra stuff to craft something with. They provided Agility bonuses and elemental damage effects to whatever they were fused with. In the Rare category, John got his hands on a Tempest Scythe and Lightspark Boots. For a moment, he considered recing his current shoes with those, but the Vergopunk Shoes were about equal in value, being an outdated Epic item, and fit his outfit better.
He managed to get his hands on two units of Tempi Ore and one Lightstrike Array. Thetter was a staff that had the ability to call down the same attack as the Lightning in a Bottle, but on a cooldown or on mana cost. Quite potent, in the right hands. Personally, he could do little with it, so it would wander into the vault. As a trade-off for three Epics, he didnt get the Legendary. For the pure meme potential, John would have loved to win a Thunderfury, Blessed de of the Windseeker, but if Thunderfury, Blessed de of the Windseeker, didnt drop, then he wouldnt have a Thunderfury, Blessed de of the Windseeker.
Even if it had dropped, it was unlikely to rece any of Aclysias current weapons. Metra may have used it, but that was about it.
The Sicklebrood Matriarch chest contained a whole lot of Edible Eggs that John refused to actually acknowledge as such. There were many weird things he was willing to put in his mouth if they were delicious, but spider-scorpion-mantis eggs were not among them. Eliza, Smander and Siena did not agree, so they were allowed to take them and eat them if they wanted to. A Reshaped Sicklespear was the single drop in the Umon category. After Observing it, John ruled that it was actually boring enough to just be put on the Abyss Auction.
For Rare items, he got a Callde and a Cullde. They were clearly twin weapons, looking the same except the Callde bent backwards and the Cullde curved forwards. The former was enchanted to create helpful spiders, while theter healed the wearer whenever they killed something. Together, they made for a pretty alrightbo, so John decided to put them into the vault as well.
He got both the Vilecloak, an item that made the wearer naturally unattractive to approach (among other less unique bonuses), and the Sicklespear Battery, arge quiver that continuously created Reshaped Sicklespears that would fall apart after two hours, in the Epic category. The Vilecloak seemed pretty useless, Stat bonuses aside. Perhaps, if the aversion was strong enough, it could be used to deter dungeon monsters from attacking him. That was the best application he could think of. Either way, he didnt like looking at it, so it quickly wandered into his inventory. The Sicklespear Battery was strictly powerful and he decided to give it to Beatrice as a back-up weapon.
Although he had no initial luck at a Legendary here either, opening the fourth chest, the one he got for killing all of the Sicklemen, turned that around. There were more Edible Eggs, one Matriarchs Poison, which was another consumable, and the Legendary item Skittersteps. That, finally, was an upgrade for John.
The drawbacks of these new boots were that they had no Stat bonuses nor the Impable Attribute. Losing some Stats and having to clean his boots was a worthwhile trade-off for all the things these offered. Better Acid Resistance was always nice and giving his kicks, as seldom as he used them inbat, a little bit extra reach and utility through fangs and venom was pretty good as well. Mind ve ensured that, although these shoes were technically alive, they werepletely subservient to his will while Lurking Appearance prevented mundane people from seeing them as something else than he wanted them to, which was whatever he used Customizable to make them seem as.
The true power of the itemy in the Adhesive Sole and Skitterstep.
Not quite as good as flying, it still gave John a degree of manoeuvrability he didnt have until that point. It would have been even better if the Attribute also affected his hands, giving him the full Spiderman experience. Beggars couldnt be choosers, however, so he resigned himself to use his hands in the regr climbing fashion.
The name-giving enchantment was pretty insane and justified the Legendary tag. Teleports were always good, there was no refuting that. Teleports that didnt require him to look anywhere and were almost free were even better. Although one second of invisibility and silence werent a lot, it would serve to confuse enemies, especially since it followed a second teleport. This Attribute made John a really slippery target, under certain conditions.
With all of the chests looted, one more pop-up opened.
John only considered the choice for a moment. The only thing he could have wanted from the loot was another chance to get a Worldturle Egg, but he wasnt really after that. He would be way happier to get a bunch of SEP stocked up, the GP and a Level Up were also nice extras. Giving Lydia a moment to try to convince him otherwise, John pressed the button when she gestured for him to do as he wished.
That was the end of the direct rewards.
Chapter 839 – Progress Raiding Finale – Distributing Power Points
Chapter 839 C Progress Raiding Finale C Distributing Power Points
Not wanting to rob Magoi of any more of his time, the group left the Raid and, after informing the High Fateweaver, the Illusion Barrier atrge. It is always good to hear that you were sessful, the masked man said, while they stepped out of the I.D. Gate.
All thanks to you agreeing to give us another day, the Gamer answered with a thankful nod. They emerged in the Hudson Barrier around 7 AM. Usually, they would havee out in the very early morning hours, almost night even, to have a seamless return to schedule. Two hourster than usual didnt do too much to throw them off bnce. If anything, it would be that they hadnt slept prior to leaving that would make at least that day difficult to get through.
The High Fateweaver stopped to chat for a moment. I can be helpful when I want to, Magoi joked, adjusting his top hat with his cane. Behind him, Mabirl checked her pocket watch. It seemed that they had other ns for the day, so John decided to keep it short.
Good for me you want to be helpful most of the time then. The Gamer reached into his inventory and retrieved the two satin bags containing the Worldgems. Here. You will know better what to do with them than I do.
Interested, Magoi tucked his cane under his arm to check what was inside the bags. Once he had caught a nce, the snout of his raptor mask went so deep inside John doubted the High Fateweaver could still see anything. Made curious by her husbands reaction, Mabirl stepped close, took the second bag, looked inside, and had much the same reaction. Sometimes, John forgot that Magois wife was learned in the field herself.
Bullshit, the unttering word escaped the housewife, once she realized he had not one, but two bags of the Epic-rarity gemstones. One of these things requires years of synthesization.
Not quite right, honey, Magoi retrieved one of the stones from the pouch and held it against the light of the rising day. It was a t, hexagonal thing, with a ck core and translucent edges, which were equally red, blue and green. The synthesization relied on Gehnigm first and the centralized nature of the Fateweavers second. With the Supreme Fateweaver gone and the Mountain of Time drastically reduced in importance and manpower, I think we should talk about decades.
Yes, yes, Mabirl waved off. Likely she had been aware of all of these things but had spoken her mind hastily. As was often the case between lovers and friends, her husband had then seen it fit to pver at her expense. That only makes the sixteen we have here more valuable.
John whistled to himself, happy to hear that his loot was as ludicrous as ever. So, we are looking at several hundred years worth of resources here?
Well, no, Magoi responded. We are looking at about sixteen years worth of resources here. Much like alcohol, you dont make one of these at a time. He turned the Worldgem a little more between his white-gloved fingers and then put it away. What do you expect me to do with them? I could turn them into a rather sizable sum.
How sizable? Scarlett perked up.
Between 16 and 160 billion, is my guess, Magoi responded. Scarlett grinned, John was taken aback, Velka warbled happily, the rest of the harem had simr reactions. Even in the world of absurd riches they lived in, that was a stupendous number. It once more made John wonder just how much money must be flowing around in the Abyss and why it didnt regrly totalled the real-world economy.
Thats a pretty huge spread, John pointed out, gathering his thoughts. Howe?
As I just said, the Fateweaver headquarters basically had a monopoly on creating these, Magoi answered, shaking the bag. Thest few batches will being topletion over the next years and then I expect a sharp drop in supply, raising the price something fierce. Taking the second pouch from his wife, the High Fateweaver finished his exnation, Of course, that will lead to people creating their own ones, so the market will stabilize in a hundred years or so. In the time between then and now, they will be rather valuable.
Is that the case? Lydia asked, thoughtfully stroking her chin. An idental counsel, how beneficial. I should look into this before it bes a problem for my people.
Same, I suppose, John looked over to Magoi who waved a single finger in his employers direction.
No need, John Newman aka. The Gamer aka. Mister President, I already had facilities built and Magnuspile a list of promising candidates. These, he raised the bag, are strictly speaking unnecessary. At least when ites to local demand, we should be able to cover Fusion pretty soon. Valuable as they are, Worldgems arent necessary for basic things. They are needed more for vanity things, such as building a Mobile Barrier into a giant, moving robot or a cruise ship. The examples were, doubtlessly, deliberately chosen.
Thats good then, John nodded along, only to shrug at the end of it all. What you do with them is up to you, as long as it serves Fusion in some fashion. Whatever you want to do, I trust you.
Hmmm whatever I want? Including destroying them?
Rolling his eyes, John grinned and crossed his arms. The amused tone of the High Fateweaver made it clear enough that it was not an earnest suggestion. He just wanted to tease John a little. Depends on why you want to destroy them.
The field of Mobile Barriers is still rtively young and research on Worldgems is generally limited. Magoi raised one of the pouches to head height and looked at it from a few different angles, as if he could spy through satin and gemstones and see some secrets beyond. Giving me a whole sixteen of them gives me some wiggle room to run some experiments that could destroy them without any direct benefit outside of data. Would you mind that?
I trust you to do whatever you think is best, John reiterated his position. You are one of my oldest allies, Magoi. You will do something that benefits everyone in some fashion. I believe in you.
Magoi went quiet for a minute. I am touched, was all he said. I am really getting sentimental in my old age. Ill get to it then, whatever I will do. The High Fateweaver turned around.
Just remember to keep clear notes. Dont want your research to be lost if you blow yourself up! John joked, while they made their goodbyes with a few simple waves. That out of the way, he turned to Lydia. As much as it pains to even suggest it, but dont you have to leave?
By deliberate design, I have the first blowjob shift of this day. Surely you agree that it would be a waste of time for me to teleport home, only to return so soon?
Absolutely, John enthusiastically nodded and, with no further questions asked, they relocated to the inside of the Pce. Eliza let Velka down once they were inside and, much like the Magryph quickly ran somewhere to the room so she could curl together and look cute, the gathered girls spread throughout the apartment.
Those interested in Johns Perk choices stuck closely to him when he sat down on a corner of therge couch construction. This time around those were Rave, Nia, Eliza, Lydia and Gnome, thetter watching on behalf of all elementals. Aclysia and Beatrice would have normally stuck around as well, be it only because they liked to be around him when anything was happening, but they were tasked with preparing breakfast instead. John kept his thoughts open so everyone who wanted could watch without further crowding the couch. Even now, John had a hard time to even move a hand, with all the naked or semi-naked women on top of him.
The smell was more intense and less sweet than usual. They hadnt yet had an opportunity to shower, following the Raid. It wasnt so bad to affront John in any fashion, however, and so he prioritized allocating his newfound power before doing anything else. Once they were in the shower, they would be stuck in there until urgency called. That was usually how that went.
Alright, so I have 2 ss Levels, 2 Skill Evolutions and 147 Stat Points to distribute, he told everyone, while opening his character sheet.
2 Skill Evolutions? Rave asked. Thought ya had four? One for Smander and? she looked on the screen that had just opened. Ah, Sylph, alrighty, go on ahead. Stats first?
I was going to start with the ss Level, John told her. I am still going with the Gamer ss, so its pretty likely I will get another Perk for the Statpoints I lost out on when going from 6 to 7 points per level. Cant get the second one immediately, which is a bit annoying.
Youll get it sometime today, his girlfriend waved off.
Yeah, lets hope the Challenges are easy enough, John agreed and proceeded to raise the one ss Level he immediately could. The Gamer ss rose from level 4 to 5 and the pop-up followed immediately thereafter.
Bah, repeated choices and an upgraded one, John snarled.
Piss off, you spoiled stud, Eliza cussed him out, poking him in the ribs. The upgraded choice is exactly what you fucking asked for.
I dont remember allowing you toin, the Gamer yfully reprimanded her.
I dont remember when I said I would give a shit, she shot back, only for the aggression in her eyes to diminish greatly when John took hold of her chin and pulled her towards him. What? she hissed, still defiant. You got a problem your big dick cant solve?
Its just been a while since you were this offensive, he told her. Its cute to see you cursing around like that.
Cute? What the fuck you on about, you total degenerated cumbucket maker?
John smiled a bit broader and yed with her hair. I prefer this over you being sorry for yourself. Its best if you rein in your excesses, but still, he leaned forwards and gave her a quick kiss, I love you.
The pretty little psycho started giggling. Quietly at first, then growing ever louder before it threatened to be painfully deranged in its volume. At that point, she suddenly froze, remained still for a second and then snapped her mouth shut with an audible sound of her teeth shing. You keep making me way too fucking happy, you ass! she dered, gently punching him in the stomach. Its shit-eating awkward! I still dont know how to handle being this ecstatic about being alive!
Paint some happy pictures, John told her. Or, this would be my rmendation for now, give me a handjob.
Why only go halfway when you could push that fat cock down my throat and double my neck width? Eliza asked, even as she slid down to the floor.
Because I cant hear your cute voicementing on the things I do when I do that, he told her. But if you want to do that rather than keep talking about my Stats, go on ahead.
She did. Probably to repay him for the loving words, Eliza pushed her lips over his erection until she hit his groin. For all her mood swings, it was pretty easy to predict a few things about the blood mage. Answering her crazy little outbursts, especially the aggressive ones, with a bit of patience and care always got him rewarded.
I think we dont need to have a discussion about what I should take? he half asked, half groaned, as Elizas tongue massaged the lower half of his shaft. Her throat took care of the rest of his cock. Barely managing to look at each of the girls, he got no pushback. His choice was dyed regardless, due to pumping a heavy load down Elizas throat. The tiny bundle of perversion was giving it the maximum effort. Her cheeks were caved in and her lips stretched outwards when she slowly slid up. The odd look of her blowjob face was only trumped by its eroticism.
Only once his orgasm had subsided, did he feel confident enough to hit the correct Perk. One release and 109 Stat Points richer, the Gamer was treated to Nia reaching underneath Elizas head and taking hold of his balls. The gentle rolling of her slender fingers only added to the moment. Desire rose across the room. That they hadnt celebrated their victory with an orgy yet became more apparent by the second. There was nobody in his harem that had a normal Libido and they were all thirsting for release. Rave and Gnome failed to withhold their desires any further and started kissing his neck. Lydia managed to stay somewhat on top of her Libido, merely shifting her position so that her sizable breasts pressed against the side of his head while she looked over his shoulder.
Buried under horny, devilishly attractive women, the Gamer could do nothing but grin. He still concentrated on the task at hand, but there was no rule stating he couldnt have fun while doing so. Having orgasmed once, his brain was working more effectively anyway. You will cum whenever I cum, hemanded those girls directly around him. Eliza didnt even need themand, her muffled, climactic screams had been reverberating in his dick since she started drinking his cum.
Against his male instincts, John pulled his character sheet between his eyes and the view of the pretty little psycho sucking him off. Looking over the choices he still had, he decided to continue with the SEP.
Possession, Mana de, Arcane Echo, those three are the candidates for an upgrade, John read out. Technically speaking, there were a few more. With how Skill Evolutions were supposed to be stronger if the Skill getting the evolving was maxed out, it didnt make much sense to consider them, however. I would just invest into Mana de and Arcane Echo, what are you thinking?
Possession works as it is, I support this, Niamented, speaking in his direction even while her eyes were glued to his crotch. A slight quiver in her eyebrows betrayed her discontent on not being in that position.
You havent been in a habit of using Mana de recently, Lydia observed.
Mana de is only really useful on the Mand Sphere, because it can spin around so fast, John told her. When I go into melee, using the swords Purgatory creates is much better in most situations. They cost me no mana and I can rely on them. More importantly, whenever I want to use Mana de nowadays, they get enormous and its a pain to wield them. When ites to burst situations, having several dozen Arc Lances is just overall more reliable and damaging then one big Mana de.
And Arcane Echo has always been kinda meh, Rave added.
It does its job. Its just that I dont often need an AoE wave, John defended the Skill. Its a reliable niche thing. Its just not a fight winner.
Skills that dont win fights are boring, get rid of it! Rave stated, only to giggle and get back to kissing his neck. If it hadnt been for Gamers Body, he would have been covered with hickeys by now.
It is one of your weakest ones so it does make sense? Gnomes assertion sounded more like a question. Tone aside, she was right. It was more a question of exclusion anyway. Since Possession did what it was supposed to (and John had no idea if he could even evolve it without breaking the numerous Perks associated with it), going for the other two was more reasonable.
He started with Arcane Echo.
Ah, yes, the typical three choices, John sighed. Full attack, full trap or mixture between trap and attack. He moved his hand towards Unstable Arcana, I would go with this one, anyone thinks otherwise?
All of them seem pretty powerful, Gnome hummed. You sure thats the best choice?
Arcane Torrent will have very few situations where its better than sending Smander or throwing an Arc Lance, John exined. Manacrystal Trap will need more set-up to work optimally than my current ystyle really allows for. Both are powerful, but Unstable Arcana just fits me the most right now. Its not the best AoE skill either, especially at range, but it works well enough and is a nice zone-control tool.
With his exnation out there, none of the girls disagreed and he tapped the button. Then he moved onto Mana de.
The only thing that could convince me not to take Arcana Ray is that its an endpoint, John mumbled and looked to the girls for any counter arguments. He got none. While cheap and probably potent, Elemental Infusion had a random element to it that could ruin clutch situations. Arcane Weaponry was just a better Mana de, but it lost in apetition against Purgatory because one cost mana and the other didnt.
Arcana Ray at least sounded as if it would serve him in the middle-range field. Its costs were high, but not so high that John couldnt use it. His Fencing and Particle Skin would keep him powerful at close range, Arc Lance was a winning Skill if he could hit it and Arcana Ray would serve as a permanent threat. Throwing Unstable Arcana in there gave him some area domination and Arcana Strike was an extreme threat whenever he could justify casting it.
How renowned is it? John asked, looking at Rave, then Eliza, Lydia and finally Nia. None of them had any visible reaction. Really? I feel that this is false advertising!
I might have seen some powerful Arcanists use it, but I could not tell you, the queen of steel responded with a shrug that made her soft breasts brush against him. I have only basic knowledge in the field. As you might figure, arcane magic is not particrly popr within Germany.
I have seen it before, Nia told him, her facial features unmoving. Her eyes were still focused on his barely visible dick. Strongly condensed mana. Was impossible for me to neutralize at the time. The Horned Rat guesses it was developed specifically against nks or other defensive measures. Its difficult to control mana so expertly - for normal people.
Well, I was never quite normal, John said and picked his second Skill Evolution. Now, what to do with 256 Statpoints? he hummed. Ive already decided to get Agility to 250, thats 40 gone, and I would like to follow up Strength with that, thats another 125. I would still have 91 after that. Any suggestions there?
Put it into Libido, Rave stated.
Youre talking with your ovaries, John pointed out, still being beset on all sides. Although he had kept their sensitivity low in an effort to keep the discussion atrge running, they had all orgasmed twice from hismand. Raising Libido doesnt make a whole lot of sense.
Nah, makes total sense, his girlfriend started to count the advantages, A: you will feel better during sex, second, you can impress Nathalia with it whenever ya use that shard to call her over, and also you should get all your Stats to 250, if youre already doing this.
First two are vanity points, but fair enough for the third although I should start with Charisma, in that case.
As First Lady of Fusion, Imand thee to invest in Libido first.
I dont think you have that authority, John chuckled.
And what if I do this? she asked and stretched up from his neck to his face. Their tongues met moments before their lips did. Her warm body nuzzled against him. Her firm, smooth midriff and her soft breasts both pressed against his side. One hand of hers gently brushed through his short, brown hair, the other guided his right to her squishiest part. It didnt take long for the squeezing of her ass to trante to the fingering of her wet cunt. The sweet taste of her mouth was underlined with increasing moans, which intensified in a sudden burst. Echoed all around him, Rave came at normal sensitivity just as everyone else around did. Gleefully, Eliza sucked everyst drop of his seed from his shaft.
Fine, John conceded afterwards. Libido first.
Good tiger, Rave purred, continuing to press her body against him.
Allocating the Stats caused a few more windows to open up.
Just a continuation of the Agility Perks as a whole giving him more spatial awareness.
Sounded useful, but realistically he had been immune to those attacks already. There was no way for anyone with low Stats to get through Particle Skin.
Well, thats an increase, John thought. Even with that, his Health Regeneration was still prettycklustre. Perhaps Gaia was stingy because he had picked a mage build, but the fact of the matter was that he would never really rely on his natural HP recovery. It was all about MP, to protect himself with Particle Skin and to replenish his health with Undine. Most of the time, HP was a resource he sacrificed to conserve mana. Just one of the quirks of a mage build.
Another defensive extra he didnt really need.
This was interesting and could help him fight back without sacrificing mana in some rare situations. Although not helpful to his core kit, he was happy to have it.
Alright, lets get to the showers, he stated, hovering his finger over the plus sign next to Libido. If I am going to increase my lust even more, then I want it to be in a situation where I can plunge into the first cunt I see.
And that was exactly what he did when he was inside the shower. Because Jack wasnt around, he had to satisfy the entire harem by himself. Which was less of a task or a challenge than it was a well-spent morning.
Chapter 840 – Unshared Boredom and the Fire that follows
Chapter 840 C Unshared Boredom and the Fire that follows
This is the absolutely worst day of my life, John thought as he listened to the rebuttal to the answer to the question about theint to the initial statement, regarding the re-addressing of the question of whether or not they needed both the Day of the Holy Fire on August first and Holy Fire Day on March second. John had barely any idea what either was about, beyond what the names suggested, but apparently there was a big disagreement as to the rites and date involved.
Although the office set up to sort out the holidays had done a tremendous job at trimming the fat and mediating between factions, there were still a lot of disagreements. Disagreements that people insisted to have on the parliament floor. Disagreements that took a lot of back and forth to make everyone feel that they had a fair hearing. Disagreements that they were slowly chewing through.
There were a few easy ways to end most arguments. One was to convince whatever factions involved, be it one or multiple, to address the issue on a lower level. That removed the discussion from the federal purview and left it to one of the member guilds instead. Because most of the problems stemmed from cultural differences, howeverrge or small, they could be solved with just some friction removed. Another way to solve issues was to give a bit of ground. Not to make something a fully blown, paid leave holiday but an officially recognized day of some importance. Basically, it was the promise to print the name of the days on calendars created in Fusions borders.
If they didnt back down on the issue even after those two were applied, a vote was called and whatever the oue was dered final. That did cause some annoyance, but John really didnt care. Not when he had to sit through all of this in person.
This is hell. This must be what hell feels like. The Gamers face was an unbroken mask of friendliness and patience, he even smiled a little. Behind that, he was annoyed, tired and wanted nothing more than to leave. Couldnt have busted my Mand Sphere on a better day. Cant use a recement either, because Extension has a one-month cooldown and I am not going to run around with a worse one for a month just because I cant take not getting my dick sucked while I listen to this Although I may have crumbled on that conviction had I known this was going to be my day.
He had already needed to stay a bit more reasonable than usual during the paperwork. As he had feared, actually working while getting a blowjob reduced writing and reading speed considerably. With his superhumanposure, he would have normally been able to keep things mostly straight regardless. There were typos galore when he wrote while having an orgasm, but that was about it. However, thanks to the massive increase in Libido he had let Rave talk him into, that wasnt working either. He would get used to it within a few days, but for the moment he had a very difficult time to stayposed.
Lydia had been disappointed when he told her to stop every so often. Understanding as she was about the fact that he needed to administer his Federation, she still was there to suck his dick and orgasm several times while drinking his cum. Ironically, the fact that he had increased his Libido led to less sex after the morning orgy. That he couldnt substitute his presence in parliament only made things worse. He was forced to sit there, with his entire mind dedicated to the ongoing discussion, listening to all of it while having an awkward erection under the table. It was as if he was in school all over again, except he had exchanged bullying for the sheer length of the session.
Exactly like school, so too did the session eventuallye to an end. They had to add another two days to the previously agreed maximum of days to get everything done. There were about a dozen annoyed members of the House of Commons who stomped over to the press by the end of it, but that would be the case with just about every decision. Someone was always unhappy with a decision. If the federal government somehow came up with a cheap cure for cancer and made aw for easy distribution, people with strong pharma presence in their constituency wouldin that their job market was beingpromised.
There just was no pleasing everyone.
More importantly, with parliament concluded, there was pleasing him. As quickly as etiquette allowed, he was out the front entrance. Maybe I should get a back entrance to my level of the seat of government, he pondered while striding towards the dome at the centre of the capitol. He had ced the teleporter pad there, allowing him and the ever-present maid duo to get home instantly. But that kind of sends the wrong symbolical message I am supposed to take the same entrance as everyone else
Yo, he was greeted by Smander before he could split his skull with more serious talk. Seeing her hourss figure and huge tits solidified the tent in his pants. You are VERY happy to see me, arent you?
I just sat through three hours of holiday debates, I need to fuck one of you, his response burst out immediately.
Lets get that fucking evolving done and Ill be happy to lend you these puppies, Smander said and cupped her breasts. Who knows, maybe theyll get bigger?
John stared at those squishy, firm,rge globs of fuckable, suckable meat and gulped. Although he generally preferred moderately sized breasts, like Raves or Lydias, he had discovered the charm of big tits a while ago. There was just so much to look at and so much to y with. He wouldnt want a harem filled withrge chested women, but those he had made him very happy. Perhaps one girl with truly enormous breasts was exactly what he needed.
Great, and now I can barely walk, Johnined, the single iron rod keeping up the tent in his pants.
Suck it up, your Gamers Body prevents it from being a problem even after 4 hours. Smander grinned and, at the same time, deactivated the golden flickering mes that hid her nipples and privates from view. Youll be fiiiineeeee, she teased.
Careful, or I will ravage you here and now, the Gamer dered, while taking steps as effectively as he could with hisrge cock rubbing against the inside of his clothes. All Smander did was cackle and, still naked, floated ahead of him. That did give him a wonderful view of her peach-shaped rear, but freed him of any further teasing when she turned a corner. Can you get the other girls? John asked his maids.
Affirmative, Aclysia answered.
Affirmative, will drag Eliza out of her atelier and-sh-or separate her from Velka, Beatrice put things in a bit more detail. The two maids separated to go to different areas of the house, while John walked towards the nearest elevator. Although the staircase would have been closer, there was no way he would take the steps right now.
Taking slow breaths, he tried his best to calm down, but a mischievous duo was taking advantage of his current weakness and bombarding him with lewd thoughts. Smander was already prone to tease him today and Siena was always willing to torture her summoner a little. That was the problem with having sadists in his harem. Albeit Smander was more of a sadistic leaning switch than a proper sadist. She was somewhat like Rave, but more centred. As centred as constant exposure to Johns fetishes could make a woman.
The problem was that Smander knew she could get away with a lot of things today, because she had won them the Raid. There were few things John looked at with such a mixture of lust and mild annoyance as a cocky Smander. When that girl thinks that things are going her way, she really takes advantage of it, he thought, after sealing his thoughts off and concentrating on something more interesting.
Because the Gamer challenges often were things that conformed with his lifestyle anyway, it was his ss after all, he had managed to get them beat during the Parliament session. A lot of it was just get a high score in this game or make progress in that one. ying on hisptop while he had listened to the holiday debate had gotten him through all of it. Now it was time to choose the sixth Perk for the Gamer ss. Usually, he would have done so with at least a few girls around, but he really needed the distraction right now. He tapped the button that carried him up to the roof of his Pce and then opened the menu.
For a sixth Perk, those are all surprisingly awful, John thought and went by his usual elimination strategy. Mark Customization was a big no-no. Part of the allure of the Lovers Will mark was the uniformity between all of his lovers. It gave it that feeling of a proper brand of ownership C even if it was supposed to be a manifestation of love first. There is no way Gaia didnt know what she was doing when she put it above the womb though, the perverted Gamer told himself.
Item Customization was just pretty useless all around. Sure, John didnt like wearing items that didnt fit his looks, even if they were powerful, but there were more than enough ways to recolour things with paint. Character Customization had some usability in picking the most attractive shape of himself. If nothing else, he would like to have ess to a tan slider. He went with that choice and hoped that the next set of Perks would be more impressive.
Emerging on top and stepping out of the pir that housed one of the four elevators, he was greeted by the already gathered elementals. All six of them were sitting in a circle, from the up-sized Sylph to Stirwin in his enormous Stage 3 shape. One of their own evolving had be a joyous asion for all of them. They were all connected and open towards each other, so sesses cascaded into a general mood improvement. It was sort of like the dopamine rush people got when their sports team won, except more tender and intimate.
Should we maybe Gnome spoke up, once John had gotten close enough, locate this into an Illusion Barrier in the I.D. Gate? You know, because of what happened with Undines final evolution?
Nah, Smander denied.
Uh, okay? Gnome blinked a few times, looking at John and Stirwin for support. We sure?
Sudden and impressive as it was, Undines monsoon didnt cause any property damage, John responded with a shrug. It might be smarter to do it out of caution, given that were dealing with some sort of fire storm now, but if Sally says no, then Sally gets what she wants. Of course, she will also have to clean it up if she sears Lady Liberty.
John pointed up to the statue at whose feet they were currently standing. For all the impressiveness of it, the Statue of Liberty was a hollow copper construct. Lighting a supernatural fire apanying the transformation of an elemental into a state few of them ever attained next to it was probably unwise. At the same time, it would look damn impressive. Smander wanted to show her fire to the world, pyromaniac that she was, and John just liked to give the people something to talk about.
The summoner has spoken, Stirwin remarked, all while shaking his head. Obviously, he didnt approve of such emotion-based reasoning, but it didnt offend him enough to give John a stern talking to. If things go wrong, hell just have to help rebuild the statue.
How did that get roped into this? the Gamer wanted to know.
As the final decision maker, you bear some of the responsibility of all things that happen with your familiars. The infinity elemental waved with one of his elongated crocodile front legs. Surely you understand that.
If you put it like that John sighed and scratched the back of his head. He had nned to help Smander anyway, he just wanted to have an excuse to be a bit of a teasing dick about it. If it even happened.
Heard my baby Sally is finally getting herst degree? Rave shouted, announcing her arrival. Walking up to her boyfriend, covered in her bodysuit, she nudged him with her elbow. Get it? Its a pun cause she is made of fire and getting stronger. Degree? Like, ya know, school degree and degree Celsius?
John had been pinching the bridge of his nose the entire time. The only reason why she even kept talking was to annoy him a bit more. Yes, I get it, he groaned. What did we say about terrible puns?
Its only funny when I do it? Rave suggested.
Its only funny when I do it, yes, John pushed back.
Am I allowed to make puns? Nia asked, suddenly standing next to both of them.
NO! Eliza screamed. Horribly creepy, skeleton thin blondes are not allowed to make puns, especially not when they appear right in front of me out of thin fucking air!
I walked here.
Well, I didnt smell you, so I dont believe you!
You cant smell me.
Sadly, I can still hear you bber the fuck on. You sound like a sick fucking cat.
Would that make me Nyaudible?
Absolute silence, thenughter all around by everyone except Eliza, who red as if someone had just eaten all her marshmallows and Nia herself. Instead, the pariah just had a slowly growing grin on her face that went from small, to normal, to finally being creepily broad. At which point it suddenly copsed.
By the timeughter had faded, Metra, the maids and Scarlett had all arrived as well. Do me the favour and stand in front of me, the technomancer told the First of Wrath, pulling a cigarette out of the box in her breast pocket. Im not as sturdy as the rest of you.
Surprised you even left your office for this, John gave his opinion.
I do like you people just enough to bother, the redhead responded with a smirk. That aside, redheads got to stick together.
Lets hope I am still a redhead after this, Smander cackled.
I will put a formalint in with reality if you arent, John dered, while they all got in formation. They made a circle around Smander C arge one. They had learned not just from the Undine evolution, but also from thest one of Smander. That me pir had been considerablyrger than expected at the time. No abomination to fear this time around though.
Difficult choice, John thought, scratching his lower right arm. The power of Banishfire Elemental would probably make things a whole lot easier?! Catching what he was thinking, the Gamer figuratively grabbed that voice and shoved it back into the selfish and greedy parts of his psyche. Disgusted by himself, he crossed his arms and shook his head until he felt a bit clearer. Difficult choice between Purgatory Elemental and Apocalypse Elemental, he thought something that felt more sensible. What do you think?
Smander also crossed her arms and considered the question for as long as it took for her to slowly roll her neck. Comes down to the question of whether we want to focus on destroying Lorylim or not.
Instinctively, John wanted to say yes to that, but he wasnt sure if that would be the wisest decision. This was Smanders final evolution. The Lorylim would be a foe they faced at some point; John was willing to go out of his way to ensure it. They had done permanent harm to two of his girls and himself, not to mention the general threat they posed for everyone.
We will face other foes, before and after we fight the Lorylim, Undine spoke up, her melodic voice strained. It must have pained her to take this stance, after what she herself had suffered, John guessed. Because she was an endme elemental, she will always be more effective against the Lorylim. Our past evolutions leave their traces. It is better to go with the option that fits best with the way we fight.
John generally agreed with all of that, but remained torn. Smander, however, made her decision. When a sister makes a good point, you listen to her, so the sorority works, the fire spirit cackled and turned to John. Apocalypse elemental sounds the most metal anyway. Purgatory will get confusing with that glove youre always wearing.
Hope the new Unleash has the same tactical uses as the old one, John just mumbled as he pressed the button. He looked up just quick enough to see Smanders form copse into a single ember.
The tiny, hovering speck glowed with incandescent intensity, like a single white pixel on a ck monitor in a dark room. It expanded with a burst, a sound like a gunshot and ck smoke apanying it. It reached the size of a person, then copsed again. Only the tiniest bitrger, the ember continued to hover. Twelve more times, this pattern repeated, then the ember had be asrge a football.
A torrent of grey and gold fire started to pour out of the ball. Even with the extra safety distance, none of them were spared. Thest thing John managed to nce at before the firepletely swallowed him was Scarlett. Wisely, the technomancer had sought her shelter behind the taller berserker babe and was now holding out her unlit cigarette.
She is way too ballsy for someone with that little Endurance, John thought, just trusting that Metra would get the redhead out of there if things became too dicey. He very much doubted that elemental transformations were part of the friendly fire use.
Surrounding him with an unpleasant but not harmful heat, the mes washed over him, further easing his worries. Just like with Undine and the heavy rain during her transformation, he was unable to see anyone else for several minutes. All the while, the sea of fire around him slowly transformed. The grey darkened into a menacing ck, ayer of earthy brown shifting between it and the consistentyer of gold at the core. Silver, purple, green and blue rarely flickered within as well.
Once all the colours had found their ce, exerted as much influence in the totality as the elements they were meant to represent, the fire stabilized. ck and gold, the colours of Smanders me, carried between theiryers the other five colours. Brown most of it all, as the description had prophesied, but the others were present regardless. From a torrent that engulfed everything, the me went to a controlled and soft rise, like a candle in a calm room. It slowly shrunk, revealing Smanders new form.
The ends of her limbs came into view first. Her fingers still ended in thin ws, appearing like long, sharpened, red glowing nails, but they were no longer part of te armour that covered her arms and legs. Instead, they were some sort of stone scales, taking that particr shape. Her toes ended in smaller, less dangerous looking hooks. Both transitioned into more scales that reced the te armour, stretched from feet to upper thighs and from fingers to shoulders. Although directly attached to the skin, those scales didnt have anything natural looking to them. Each was a jagged segment, separated by glowing red lines. A mixture of stone and metal, they shimmered like obsidian polished with oil. Elbows and kneecaps had spikes attached to them, long and sharp enough to disembowel people.
The gaps, it became apparent once parts of her torso became visible, were extensions of her Lorylim scars. Jagged and not always connected, the ck lines ran symmetrically over her fiery red skin. Where they bordered on the tes, they seamlessly continued, only switching colour from ck to a reddish gold.
The lines covered all of her. They framed her exposed, dark red pussy lips, two diagonal lines meeting at the space between it and her asshole. They outlined the edge of her pelvis. Ran around her ass, down the sides of her hips and split when they hit her thighs. Her midriff had the second densest concentration of the lines, covering visible abs and leaving just enough room for the Lovers Will mark to fit in there without interrupting the enticing pattern of her skin. Several lines crossed over her sides, joined those on her back or stood on their own. Those that fused with others eventually went back up over her shoulders, assisting those lines on the upper centre of her stomach in framing a pair of absolutely massive tits.
Her breasts had increased in size. So much so it wasnt even a remotely close contest between her, Undine, Siena and Nathalia anymore. She had them trumped by at least a cup size and then some. Those vulgarly huge tits slumped somewhat, at that size it would have looked more unnatural if they didnt, but they were round, they were bouncy, they looked firm and squishy and the dark red nipples that crowned them made them look deliciously perky. Two lines ended before they met in the delicious cleavage, two ran all the way up her back, over her shoulders and almost all the way to her nipples and two started and ended in jagged parallel to them. Aside from those few, universally symmetric, lines, her breasts were untouched. The roundness of those red funbags made even the straight lines look curved.
The lines seemed to end with one that ran around her neck, its circle interrupted by an indent on the front of her throat. Up on her face, concentrated solely on the left side of it, however, was the densest cluster of ck lines. They all originated (or ran into) her left eye. Where her curves, the lines and the scales were all perfectly symmetrical, her eyes were different. The left had a golden pupil, surrounded by a dark red iris and both confined by a pitch-ck sclera. The right had an iris, dark as coal, without a visible pupil, in a simple white sclera. The lines and her eyes had changed little overall.
John knew better, at this point, to take it as a sign that only the scales would be the new addition. A caution that served him well when a tail suddenly grew from her lower back, where the spine was meant to end in a regr human. It was thin at the base and only grew thinner towards the tip. It had a level of vertical tness to it as well. The lines and scales extended to it, creating a symmetrical pattern between mechanical precision and natural spots. It reminded John of the tail of a mundane smander. It also looked as if it would serve as a very mean whip, being about as long as Sienas was.
Looking back up to her face, past her short, pointy ears, John caught thest of the fire ebbing away and leaving her hair behind. Long and falling backwards in a wild mane, it reached to her upper back. Most of it was a bright orange, the same colour as the lines between the scales, but the strands originating where the lines hit were jet ck instead. Some unruly strands framed her face. The apocalypse elemental grinned and revealed her sharp canines.
Overall, John had to say, Smander had changed fairly little. Longer hair, bigger breasts, a tail and scales instead of te, none of that changed her design at the core. She was still a red-skinned bombshell with an hourss figure, covered all over with aesthetically pleasing lines, wearing only a bra and a thong made out of fire C if anything at all. John didnt mind whatsoever. There was no need to greatly improve on beauty.
Great, I am more like Siena now, Smander yfullyined, bringing her tail up to her face. The tip was made out of two scales jutting past the edge. It wouldnt be quite as good at stabbing as Sienas tail, but it would work. The scales disappeared off the tail along her arms and legs. For all three, that action left behind simple red skin with ck lines, reverting the inverted colour scheme that the presence of the scales had created.
Is that supposed to be an insult? the moonshade elemental wanted to know.
Maybe, Smander responded and stuck out her tongue. It was an overenthusiastic gesture, but John doubted she had intended the sharply pointed muscle to extend all the way to her breasts. Hurriedly, she pulled it back in. Thats going to be fun, she cackled.
It really will be, John could only agree. He already knew what getting a coiling tongue around his cock during a boobjob felt like thanks to Nathalia and Siena. To put the evolution ritual to an end, he threw an Observe at her.
Not a moment too soon, as Smander started strutting towards him. Without the scales or the fire, she was just an absurdly hot, extremely tall woman with glowing red, orange and ck hair, a round bottom and giant tits. Tits that jiggled magnificently with every step. Tits that he couldnt take his eyes off. Not until she stood right in front of him. Lets fuck.
Johns response was to im her lips.
Chapter 841 – Giant Hot Tits [Erotic Content]
Chapter 841 C Giant Hot Tits [Erotic Content]
A smoky aroma, burning incense and sandalwood, those filled Johns mouth and nostrils when kissed the slightly taller Smander. Soft, ruby red lips pressed against his, separated for less than a second, then connected again. Their making-out was heated from the start and only became sloppier by the second. Tongues intertwined, hers nimbly coiling around his with inhuman length. Drops of Smanders oily saliva slowly ran down her chin.
John controlled his urges for long enough to get all of his clothes put into his inventory. He wanted to get right to squishing those massive tits. Before his hands could wander, Smander fell backwards and pulled him down with her. Laying on the somewhat dry but not dead or ashen grass, the apocalypse elemental smiled up to him. Come on, stud, we both know we need it.
True, the Gamer barely managed to respond, grabbing his cock and aligning it with her pussy. Wetness wasnt the slightest bit of an issue. Smanders love juices were few byparison to what John did to the undergarments of his other girls, but they were extra slick. As such, John just pushed inside and groaned loudly when he was engulfed by her tightness.
It was a new feeling. Smanders cunt had always been odd in that her insides were like a fire that needed to be stoked. At first it only felt mediocre, but as the intercourse continued, it would ramp up until there were few things as ecstatic. Thousands of little ming tongues would caress his cock with every thrust, that was what he was used to. While that special property still seemed to hold true, only a few harmless flickers flowed around his cock, the new increase in earth attribute in Smander must have had an influence even on her insides. That was the best exnation John coulde up with as for why she was so incredibly tight. It wasnt as form-fitting as Gnome or Undine, but it got dangerously close.
Perhaps Smander would have made fun of him for his intense reaction, had she not been howling in lust from the simple pration herself. Spine arched, she caused her tits to droop towards her face. If she had wanted to, stretched her neck just a little bit, she could have sucked her own nipples. John noticed a few more, aesthetically bordering ck lines on the underside of her boobs, previously hidden under their sheer size.
The need to fuck and the need to touch wrestled, and the former ultimately won. Partly because the wish to see them jiggle was strong by itself, partly because the present harem stepped close and distracted him. None of them disrobed in their approach, respecting Smanders right to im him for herself for a little while. All they did was kiss him goodbye before they headed inside, something that forced him to remain somewhat upright.
Ill be waiting, tiger, Rave started, just as John began to move. She kissed him quick and deep and went ahead.
We wish you great satisfaction, Master, and remain ready to serve when youe inside, Aclysia and Beatrice said as one, quickly kissing him in turn. Their voices had topete with Smanders moans.
Fuck me hard,ter, please, Eliza whined after her kiss. John grabbed her by the hair and forced her into a second, slightly longer one and pped her ass when she turned to leave.
H-hope you have a lot of fun, Gnome stuttered, biting her lower lip as her voyeurism almost made her forget to kiss him. When she remembered, it was hasty and shy, barely more than a brushing of the lips. John found it satisfying regardless.
Come to me if you need to cool down after this, Undine seductively mused, before she found him in a kiss. Her liquid body jiggled, but not as much as the twin globes John could see through her translucent form.
Those are big tiddies, I wanna y with themter, but you can have them to yourself for now. Well, we can share themter, that would be the most fun! Sylph pvered, somehow managing to give John several kisses on his lips and cheeks while talking. Thrusts and Smanders writhing made the boobs bounce and swing in all directions. When they met in a circr swing, the sh of soft meat was perversely enticing.
Nia kissed him without any initialment. Her tasteless, soft lips imed him in a sudden, deeply caring motion. She brushed through his hair, tasted him and moaned from the tingle of his magic. Later, was all she said, before pulling back and then teleporting away.
Later indeed. Siena took her ce suddenly. Startling John, she managed to get the constant ps of his hips against Smanders thick legs and butt to a short halt. By the time they kissed, he had already resumed. We will have great fun tonight, she whispered when she got up, the tip of her tail brushing over Johns cheek with a gentle touch.
Treat your wives, sex ves and lovers well, my king, and we will be yours for eternity. Metra grinned and then pressed her lips on him for a particrly passionate engagement between them. Gushing around his cock, Smander screamed as she had her first orgasm. Her tits were rtively still, going along with her body bing rigid and tense at the height of pleasure. Every tremble of her body reverberated in them, regardless.
Ill have Siena bind me to something, Scarlett announced as she bowed down. Get to me within two hours, I have that much time in my schedule. Let me squirm as best you can otherwise.
Demanding submissives are a handful, Johnined once their kiss had ended, giving the redhead a p on her round ass, like he had done with Eliza. With a moan and a grin over her shoulder, the technomancer walked away. Only Smander and her summoner remained on the rooftop.
Putting both of his hands on her hips, he intensified the force and speed of his thrusts. More, Smander shouted. Now fully able to concentrate on the jiggle, John was absolutely hypnotized by the way those massive mounds of lust and dreams moved. More! Every thrust sent the nipples flying away from him. Every time he pulled back, they came jiggling in his direction. Differently angled thrusts gave him more and more to look at. MORE! Smander screamed, the lustful panting expression slowly shifting into one of raw ecstasy. MOARRRRRR!!!
Her tongue stretched out, her eyes rolled up and John lost sight of both things when he was suddenly pulled against her. Arms around his chest, tail around his midriff and legs locking behind his hips, he was confined by Smanders mindless embrace. Slightly repositioning, John felt her round ass between his thighs. Her tits pressed against him. Two hard spots among an abundance of searing hot softness. He thrust into her at a raised angle, pressing her down into the floor as if it was some sort of primitive mating ritual. Every plunge made his ears ring from her loving cries.
DONT SHTOOOP! I WANT TO BE FILLEEEEED! she shouted obscenely. POUND MY FUCKING CUNT, YOU GIANT COCKED BASTARD! I LOVE YOU! I FUCKING LOVE YOU! YOUR DICK STRETCHES ME OUT, REACHES SO DEEP! I WANT MORE! PLE-ASSSSHEEEE!
John felt his orgasm approach quickly. He had fuelled her fire for so long now, somehow holding on through all the kisses despite how horny he was. Now there was no more holding back. The heat inside her surrounded his cock, caressed it and heightened his sensations. Every thrust sent a growing tingle up from the tip of his cock up his spine. Every attempt to retreat was protested by the tongues of me that clung to and massaged him like a thousand folds inside her tight, well-fucked and wet pussy.
Cock tensing, Johnsst pration was elerated by Smanders limbs pulling him in and locking him in position. There was nowhere to go but deeper, and when her drenchedbia touched his groin, there was nothing to do but cum. A massive load poured into her. Each spurt was a wave of relief for John and a shudder of ecstasy for Smander. Her nails, thankfully short without the scales involved, wed at his back while her cunt twitched around him. The intensity of her insides rose and fell with the interchanging tensing and rxing of her body. John kissed her neck while grinding against her. With how tightly she held him, only little movements were possible. They were enough to give his orgasm that extra bit of pleasure and allowed him to feel yet more of her gigantic tits pressing against him.
Give me more, Smander gasped, when his cock had dribbled thest bit of seed into her. Your cum is so fucking hot inside me. I need more! Fill up my pussy, conquer every bit of it with your seed!
Getting in on the pregnancy demands? John wanted to know and got a warning bite on his earlobe in response.
Just fucking ravage me, stud.
If that was how she wanted to y, John was happy to go along. Let me take the lead and I will make you scream, he growled into her ear, using his dominant voice. The tight embrace around him loosened and he immediately took advantage of it. Grabbing her shoulder, he turned her around. The inferno of lust inside her rotated around his cock as she went from lying under him to being on all fours.
pping her red, hot ass, he pounded her from behind. ps and spanks echoed out, each apanied by a sharp moan, as he fucked her and mmed on her juicy butt with his open palms. Indulging in his love for the round behind, his merciless pace had her entire body shake in front of him. There was no use in holding back, he had already fucked her so much that her insides were assaulting his cock multiple times each second. The heat, the tightness and the steady quivers were all beyond what was possible with flesh and blood. A pleasure unique to her and her kind.
Of course, him going at her with such ferocity only made it worse. The Gamer continued with the uncaring ecstasy that only someone that could cum until he ran out of health points could have.
His cock and body soon became tense again. Both of them screamed, Smander squirted onto the grass. Flickers of multi-coloured fire departed from her hair. John resumed moving the second the intense brunt of his orgasm was over. Even though a couple weaker spurts shot out from the tip of his dick, he moved. The strength of his lower body was unbroken. His upper body copsed forwards, only partly by design. Her tail bent off to the side, so thin that it barely got in the way of their bodies grinding against each other.
Smander was secreting some kind of sweat recement. Like all of her bodily fluids, it was oily. John felt the slipperiness on her back. It soon rubbed off on him. Even with the ongoing ravaging of her cunt, the apocalypse elemental remained on all fours. Guided by simple instincts, John reached around her and finally touched her tits directly.
To call them soft would have been an insult. They were squishy, hot, pulsing with the beat of refreshing magic that kept Smanders corporeal form working. Although he was unable to see them, or maybe because of it, he only now realized howrge they really were. His hands were too small to even properly cup them. Abundant, juicy meat spilled between his fingers and around his palms. Pushed in as deep as he could. It felt as if his hand would melt into the supernatural heat, into the smooth and slippery skin of her tits. He kneaded and pulled on her nipples. Smander gushed and screamed.
He came, for the third time, this time he didnt stop moving at all. His gaze focused on her ecstatic expression, her lolled out tongue and barely focused eyes. His hands massaging those massive breasts of hers and his hips pping against her juicy rump, he had no means of stopping himself. He had no means of stopping to cum atrge. He had fucked her into such a feverish frenzy that she was now constantly drawing the seed from his balls. As a man, it was difficult to experience multiple orgasms, but fucking Smander was an almost guaranteed way there.
Giving total control to his instincts, John took his right arm away from fondling her chest and instead wrapped it around her neck. Establishing a very sluggish chokehold, he pulled her up. Both on their knees, both straightened up, they breathed heavily. As if topensate for the loss of tempo this new position demanded, Smander reached down to rub her own pussy. In reality, it was much more likely she, like John, had just shut down her brain and was going for whatever pleasure she could.
The Gamer tightened his chokehold, became more aggressive with his groping. Twisting and pulling her nipple, he harvested the screams she managed to get past the pressure on her throat. He bit her pointy ear and held her in this position, continuing to thrust. The earlier impression of the savage breeding ritual continued. All signs that they were civilized people were certainly gone.
John kept cumming and cumming until something snapped and he bent back forwards. Now pinning Smander on her stomach, he kept her directly on the ground while straddling her ass. With onest burst of speed, he fucked her. Each thrust was another heavy spurt of semen. Each thrust spurred Smanders own orgasms. The magical properties of his seed, her sensitivity to his mana as his elemental, they were both smaller than the sheer intensity of the lovemaking. All threebined to make her mind something John couldnt reach even if he tried to. She waspletely gone.
One more thrust and his own perception faded. He could feel how he pumped one absolutely massive load into her. Aside from that, it was just white lightning and the smoky, erotic smell of Smander. Very distantly, he was aware of the screaming, quivering body under him, of the orange glowing hair he wed into, keeping his lover in a submissive position. There was a tail wrapped around his wrist, lustfully caressing his arm. His balls kept tensing, pumping out the replenished seed.
The gigantic orgasm subsided and reason managed to worm its way into the remaining ecstasy. He pulled out of the hellish pleasure, pumped a few more strands onto her presented backside, and then, heavily breathing, sat down to recover. Smander kept lying where she was, herself calming down. Had she been a human, she doubtlessly would have had a stomach bloated from the absurd amount of cum he had filled her with. It all had been burned away in a haze of lust.
For over a minute, they just gathered their breath. Then, Smander managed to roll over on her back. That was exactly what I fucking needed, the apocalypse elemental gasped, a devilish grin slowly growing on her face. Ready for one more thing?
Depends on what, John answered, manually controlling his breathing to regain his stamina quicker. His cock was still hard, even if he was now feeling intensely thirsty. It wouldnt be long before the dehydrated debuff appeared. Without a ss of water and a pause long enough to reset that terrifying ecstatic inferno of her cunt, John doubted he could get back into it without it being a minor health hazard.
Cant call it a proper first time in the new body without you using these, Smander cackled and squished her tits together. Her oily sweat turned the massive globes into glistening mounds of delicious meat. The light of the setting sun reflected softly on the surface, the orange tinge harmonizing with her red and ck skin. Her fingers partly disappeared from view as she seductively kneaded her tits.
John was already crawling back over, when he said, That would usually be forey.
Fuck usual things, I needed to get fucked, Smander dered. Think of it as aftercare or some shit, just put that giant cock between these things! She shook them with hungry intent. Show-off that she was, she couldnt wait for this herself.
Hard to disagree with you, if youre that insistent, he joked and mounted her chest. His cock rested in the valley between her slumping breasts, then Smander squished them together. Groaning, John let her heat envelop him. It was all around his dick, whichpletely vanished between the massive globes of squishy goodness. Fuck, these are great, he sighed, reaching down to y with her nipples.
Smander moaned, writhing under him. The smooth skin of her tits glided over his cock with pleasurable friction. The oil of her sweat and the juices already drenching Johns cock mixed together into a perfect lubricant. It was as if she was made to get fucked into a frenzy and give service like this afterwards. Supernatural characteristics like this sometimes turned out to be so sexy.
Sensitive too, she gasped, when she began to pleasure both of them. By moving her hands and chest, she grinded against him. It didnt feel quite as good as being properly inside her, but the visual more than made up for it. While she dictated the pace of things, John rxed. asionally he flicked, twisted or pulled on her nipples. Otherwise, he just watched her pant and stare into her cleavage, where his cock sometimes poked out.
The alternating ways she shook her tits and the steady back and forth of her torso mingled to provide both a steady rhythm and lovable surprises. Sometimes he could distantly feel the pressure from her palms through the squishy goodness, at other times her hands only provided direction to the shaking. Almost as good as the friction was seeing Smanders fingers sink into her own tits and how the overabundant meat spilled between them. Softly, John started to thrust, adding a third movement into the overall scene. His cock poked out on the other side more often now, the full length of it in motion.
Smander stretched her head and extended her tongue. A regr human level sufficed to lick the tip of it. An immediate shout of lust escaped her, a sharp and delighted sound, her body going into a climactic quiver. The aftertaste of his seed must have set her over the edge. Her tits were truly sensitive enough to make her cum on their own.
Grinning, John took advantage of that. Recing Smanders trembling hands with his own, he once more got to knead her giant breasts. This time he had to hold back a bit, focusing on keeping them tightly pressed around his cock as he elerated his thrusts. Behind him, the apocalypse elementals hips squirmed around. She dug trenches into the dirt with her fingers andshed it with her tail, when her summoner fucked her tits at a fast pace.
Her tits werent just sensitive enough to make her cum, they were almost as sensitive as Undines when she decided to concentrate most of her erogenous areas there. You have such an erotic body, John groaned, only receiving screams of lust as a response. Every few times his groin pressed into the delicious heat of her boobs underside, he was rewarded with a quick lick by her pointy tongue. One of those times, the tongue followed after his cock.
Surprisingly quick, it extended and coiled around his shaft. An overflow of saliva and precum turned the tit fuck from well lubricated to absolutely drenched. Sloppy sounds underlined the throaty groans of both Smander and John. The tongue slid back and forth with his thrusts and in the spaces between the spiralling muscle, the softness of her tits still reached him. It was a fantastical pleasure, between fucking her throat and a simple boobjob. He sped up even more, until his movements were a blur. Then he stopped.
Onest load exploded from the tip of his cock. The head just barely peeked out of her cleavage. White cum sttered over her extended tongue and her face. Less powerful and massive strandsnded over her chest. Thest drops were all lost between her tits. The thick baby batter was a perfect decoration on her red, ck-marked skin.
Ass and tits, both were fantastic (even if one was better).
Chapter 842 – Needs more Cuddles
Chapter 842 C Needs more Cuddles
John got up, wiggled his head to get his neck in the optimal position and rxed. Closing his eyes, he just enjoyed the feeling. The support for his neck was both soft and form-fitting, like a mixture of gtine and memory foam. In the heat of the weather-adjusted day, it radiated a nice cool. Undine still wins, he dered and opened his eyes, looking up to the slime girl whose thighs he was currently lying on. Not that it particrly mattered which part of her fluid body heid on.
Fuck, Smander crossed her arms and squished her newly acquiredndmasses between her forearms. It didnt look like she had even intended to do that, their size was just so impressive it happened naturally. I thought I would finally win with these melons!
Yeah, sorry, John responded with a thoughtful expression, it goes: butt, breasts, thighs, Undine C in terms of pillows. Thefort ranking was assuming a good level of thickness in all categories. Obviously, Johns harem was full of above average butts, that was his favourite part of a womans body after all. Breasts were more diverse and, although he wouldnt say no to putting his head on Scarletts chest, there was no particrfort in it. As for thighs, nobody around was lean enough to make that a bony experience.
Not anymore, to be exact.
I am d my thighs were of pleasant support. Nias neutral tone and straight pose made her happiness a pure statement. One that John believed regardless, smiling at her.
Youve definitely improved a lot downstairs, the Gamerplimented. Nice and toned thighs, round and soft butt, your workout has been paying off. I love you for making that effort for me.
A few seconds of silence, then Nia responded with, I love you too, and blinked. To give her some sort of reward, John started patting her head. The backwards oriented strands on top of her head were just as soft as a cats fur. Leaning into the scratches, the pariah smiled softly as she enjoyed the touch.
She had been continuing her workout routine even during the Raid and was just about at the end of her journey when it came to muscle acquisition. Unless she started taking steroids to really bulk up, which John did not want whatsoever, she would only gain a little bit more and then maintain what she had by supernatural means. Which, with her body type, wasnt the most impressive figure ever. Her legs had almost doubled in diameter, which went more to show how spindly they had been before, and the ass naturally followed the lead. She didnt have the Chun-li thighs that looked as if she could squash watermelons between them, but they were really attractive. Often, it was enough for a woman to just be taking proper care of herself to be physically attractive to John.
Nia had the advantage of a gorgeous face, as did the rest of Johns harem, so she had to seriously let go of herself to be ugly. Her raising the desirability of her body, at least in his eyes, made him all the more thankful that he had this concentration of drop-dead gorgeous babes all deeply in love with him (and each other, to some degree). In order to keep all of them happy and secure, he would have to keep working to make himself a better man and the world a better ce. That was his duty, he felt.
Still surprised ya put buttsst, Rave, who had been the obvious subject for the backpack pillow, put out there.
Its really awkward to get a proper angle, John exined with a sour face. Its definitely nice, firm and soft, but either I have to lie on your legs or on your back ore in from the side, which is an awkward elevation its just kind of difficult. ess to boobs is just cuddling face-to-chest instead of face-to-face.
Rave hummed and turned on her back. Although she was naked, all of them were, John did not have the wish to climb on top of her and do what felt natural. Following the intense intercourse with Smander, he had made his way into the shower, where the usual had happened. It was now in the early stages of night and they were in the pre-bedtime lull, where they just hung out, talked and yed video games.
Before they could continue the discussion, an absurdly cute sound echoed from the bedroom. A series of barely held back squeals in an unsteady tone of voice, apanied by little tramples of feet on carpet. John had been about to retreat to one of the private corners of his apartment, the gaming room to be specific, and spend some alone time with a strategy game, but that piqued his interest enough to go check his bedroom first.
There, he found Eliza standing in front of the groups harem-sized bed. Still tip-toeing from one foot to the other, she hastily looked over to John and then pointed at the bed. On top of the taut and recently changed sheetsid Velka. The Magryph was adorable enough under normal circumstances, especially while she was sleeping. What made Eliza so fidgety was the way Velka grabbed a teddy bear in her sleep, however. Elizas teddy bear, one that she had gotten from the entity known as Kyonchist Christmas, which usually resided in her room or on the nightstand. Likely, Velka had decided that she wanted the extra headrest, especially since it smelled so much like the girl known to pamper her.
Bird-like front legs around the brown, fuzzy body of the teddy, the Magryph asionally moved in her sleep, rubbing the side of her face against that of the plushie. Her hind legs were extended, showing her dark toe beans. When they had acquired her, Velka had been smaller than the plushie, now she was over twice its size. The white and ck bird-cat warbled softly and opened one eye. Like all felines, deep sleep wasnt something she was particrly invested in. Once she spotted John and Eliza, she meowed louder.
AAAAWWWWWWW. Eliza tapped on the spot, her voice bing ever higher in pitch until it suddenly vanished and the blood mage charged at the bed. One quick jumpter, she grabbed a surprisingly willing Velka. Holding the Magryph, with the teddy still being held by the Magryph, the pretty little psycho let out a series of really girly noises. Shes just too fudging cute, John!
Are youining? John asked in an amused tone.
No, although my heart might melt and then Ill die but I can die like this, thats cock-eating fine by me! she bbered about, scratching and cuddling Velka with the adoration of a baby crazy housewife/sex ve.
What happened to no cursing in front of Velka? The question apanied him approaching the bed and climbing on top at a moderate pace.
I thought we were eating chicken today? the blood mage cheekily responded and caused John to roll his eyes. Ehehehehehehe, Eliza let out aughter that was both creepy and adorable. It came in reaction to her jest and to the Gamer wrapping his arms around his masochistic, submissive, one-day-to-be-the-mother-of-the-first-of-his-children,pact love.
Because she was so nice and small, John couldfortably hold her in his arms, making them a fouryered construction of hugs and, now that he was close enough, kisses. He and Eliza were halfmitted to making out, a will manifesting in a series of short pecks on each others lips and faces. Mostly kisses by John, the sexually dominant personality of the Gamer showing even in little engagements like this. Eliza was happy to be embraced and pampered, just as Velka was happy to be stuck between them.
Not wanting to be left out of all the kisses, the Magryph stretched her neck up and softly gnawed on Johns chin to get his attention. Obliging the young, thieving bird, John kissed her fuzzy head with the innocence that only a pet owner could offer to their pets or a parent to their children. Eliza followed the example and Velka started to purr. The sounds caused tiny vibrations that John felt against his chest. Under normal circumstances, nakedly cuddling Eliza would have been more to Johns taste, preferring smooth skin and squishy breasts to fur and feathers, but at that moment the fuzzball was exactly where he wanted her to be.
Uhm, so, I was wondering what was going on Gnome muttered when she peeked into the room. C-can I join in the hug?
Eagerly, John waved her closer. It wasnt cuddle season until the autumn elemental arrived. Gnome hesitatingly climbed on the bed, crawled the few metres towards them and, once she had arrived at the centre of the bed, put her arms around Eliza and John as best she could. With just the right mixture of firmness and care, the earth spirit joined the hug. Blood mage and Gamer both instinctively leaned towards the brte with the partly braided hair, enjoying her perfect, reassuring hug. None of them wanted to move.
Oh mahdy, Rave announced her entrance, a lot more loudly than Gnome had. This is almost as bad as consensual handholding!
Rebel that you are, you must join this illegal activity, John told her with a grin.
Dont mind if I do, Rave responded with a big smile of her own and soon added herself to the hug. To add to the degeneracy of the loving embraces and asional kisses between all participants, John did exactly what Rave had condemned and took her hand. Their fingers interlockedpletely.
Stirred by the Lightbringers loud mouth and the general weirdness of people one by one being swallowed by the bedroom without moans following, more of the harem members showed up. Those that had been on the couch with him were first. Smander and Undine came in, both moderating their body temperature to not cause any oddities, and put themselves in wherever they fit.
They had exceeded the level where everyone could feasible be in contact with everyone else. Because they all wanted to, however, there were the asional position changes. They were often slow, apanied by head pats and more kisses, and only urred where there was coordination with few or no words. Only Eliza didnt move at all, still holding Velka, holding the teddy. The Magryph was the biggest source of sound, happily warbling whenever another one of the women got close and ced another kiss on her well-groomed fur. Ears flicking and giving kneading steps of happiness to the squishy chests presented to her, the bird-cat was a constant stream of amusement.
Nia, who had just suddenly appeared in the mix, almost refused to move. Scratching Velkas belly and letting the pet y catch with her fingers, the pariah was entranced by the ck and white chimera for a long while. Then she suddenly looked up. Youre so adorable, the blonde said, while looking Eliza in the eyes.
Whatre you looking at me for while you say that?! Eliza wanted to know, her voice cracking from embarrassment.
Nia leaned forwards and, only moments before their lips met, stated, I like you. What followed was the longest kiss between two people in this hug-pile yet. Eliza even took a hand off Velka to answer Nias embrace. Although the blood mage often voiced annoyance with the pariah, the two did get along in their own way.
Beatrice came in next. She had to be goaded a little bit into the hug, disying her usual passiveness. Only when Metra came along and dragged the maid in herself, did Beatrice relent. She wasnt a particrly enthusiastic member of the hug-pile, but she warmed up to it enough to partake in it properly. Metra, just like Aclysia when she could put aside cooking for long enough to join, was a bit overly focused on being close to John. Even with that, they spread their love around. Being a servant and lover of John Newman made one, through time or natural interest, a happy lover of the remaining harem after all. People that couldnt share that lifestyle simply didnt get to the stage they were now at.
Sylph soon burst in,ining loud and long about how she had missed that this was even going on. Kisses and hugs between the courtesans without the concubine are unfair! Mean! Gimme all of them! Let me cuddle the cute gryphon, cat, panther, thief, bird, thingy! The thunderstorm elemental dropped into the middle of it all and immediately showered Velka with her attention. Several surprised and somewhat distressed warbles caused the hugs to stop for a moment. Then everyoneughed, seeing that Sylphs enthusiastic approach had caused the Magryphs hairs to charge. The ball of fuzz was now a puffed up ball of fuzz.
Sylphughed the loudest, and in thatughter,y a little revtion. She shared thatughter with John, who couldnt help but continue to grow more amused as he kept hearing it. The initial joke had long faded, but he was still giggling along, struck by the jolly mood all around.
Of all the elementals, it was of course Sylph for whom this message would pop-up in such a weird situation. John was too happy to be annoyed or ecstatic about it and just closed it. The embracing continued with Siena suddenly joining in. Getting the jump on John, wrapping her tail around him, she gave him a dangerous grin. Using your naked bodies for entertainment without me around? How disloyal.
Just join quicker, edge-queen, Smander returned and embraced John from the other side. John experienced a full body hug that waspletely new to him. Therge breasts and attentive, jokingly bickering women were as well-proven and pleasant as ever. Being tightly surrounded by not only arms and legs but also two long tails had a constricting rxation to it that was difficult to put into words. He was bound in happiness. It ended soon enough, as the shifting partners of the dense pile of limbs moved on.
Things continued for several minutes without interruption. John got hard somewhere in the process, an unavoidable reaction given all the attractive women surrounding and touching him, but the act itself stayed pure in intent. Any touching of the sexes was a pure incident of the situation.
I anticipate depravity and find a wholesome pile, how odd, a hard voice pulled everyone out of it for a second. With an eyebrow raised, Lydia stood at the foot-end of the bed and started to open the buttons of her shirt. The lingerie she always wore when staying showed underneath. By all means, continue, we will join you in a second.
Didnt know I became one of your subjects, Scarlett, who hade in alongside the queen, yfullyined. The two must have hung-out or the redhead had simply decided to take it on herself to give the queen a hand in getting through the teleporter. There was no need to know the exact reason, the fact of the matter was that both disrobed and joined the pile. They were just cuddling, kissing and petting Velka for almost thirty minutes.
Only when Aclysia announced that the food was ready, did they move.
Chapter 843 – Dreams and Schedules
Chapter 843 C Dreams and Schedules
John opened his eyes. He was lying in a shallow and still ocean. Above him, the stars stretched endlessly, forming dense clusters andnes. It wasnt the sky of his world. This dream again, the Gamer thought as he remained lying, only ncing to the sides to see if something had changed. The water around him was of an arcane purple and itself sparkled with silver light.
The Gamer expected to wake up any second now and just watched the stars. He wondered if he would find any figures in the firmament. Given that the astrologers of the mundane world had pulled some pretty vast stretches to interpret a lion into a constetion of brighter stars, he doubted he could do it in his dream, no matter how lucid.
Since Im aware Im dreaming now, shouldnt I be able to manipte things? he wondered and tried really hard to manifest his girlfriends butt as a constetion. He stared and stared and thought and thought. The stars moved. Something gazed down on him.
John opened his eyes and blinked a few times. In the darkness, there was only the slight tingle on his eyes that indicated that he should sleep on a little bit more. It seems you really do wake up if you try to force your lucid dreams too much, he thought and rolled onto his side. For once, he wasnt covered in girls, so he could sleep on his side. Doing so made him the big spoon for one of his girls. Siena, given that odd, cold smell that filled his nose, like a stroll through an empty park in early spring. The pillow under his head, a simple sheet into which Undine had retreated to make for the mostfortable headrest anyone could have ever asked for, reshaped topensate. He drifted back off into sleep.
_________________________________________________________________________
John stood in front of the mirror. In front of him was his recently acquired Character Customization menu. He put the tanning setting a fair bit lower and watched as his skin changed from milk coffee to the lightest of tans. Humming, he put it up a bit more until he had found a healthy-looking middle ground between the two. Staying as tanned as he had be during the height of summer was a bit excessive, but going back to being pale didnt suit his new image either. Does this work for you? he asked Rave and Aclysia, the two being with him in the bathroom.
Turning towards him with her toothbrush in her mouth, his girlfriend said, Yesh, ish good, and gave him a thumbs up.
Aclysia looked him up and down and then gave the predictable answer, The tone of your skin does not concern me, Master, you are attractive no matter what.
What if I do this? John mused and pushed the slider of his muscle density down until he was almost as thin as the day he had gotten his powers. Raising his Physical Stats had made him somewhat broader when it came to his bones, so he couldnt go all the way down. His clothes slimmed down alongside him and his better looks were retained, being managed by another slider. He wasnt his old in self, he was just a very thin, good looking rich person now. Someone could have gotten the impression that he raisedpanies with his little finger but would struggle to pick up a half-full ss of water.
Rave let hear an amused snort, only to cough wildly when the consequence of heredic indulgence hit her. Nose and throat full of peppermint-voured toothpaste foam, she was unable to participate in the conversation with more than a couple of desperate ps to her boyfriends side. They didnt bother him all that much. He may have looked as if a particrly vicious gust of wind could have carried him several kilometres, but his actual Strength remained the same.
After a few moments of hesitation, Aclysia spoke up again. While I stand by my previousment that I am attracted to who you are, my perfect master John, I must amend that I would indeed prefer it if you retained a more appealing physical form. The shade of your skin colour has, a pasty white and unnatural brown aside, no influence on this. Presence of muscles, however, has; so please, revert to your proper Adonis shape.
John did so with a nod and smile. Keeping a slimmer appearance coulde in handy if he needed to cramp through tight spaces or if it could lead an opponent to underestimate him. Neither were likely or useful applications. On the rare asion that he did need to force his way through somewhere tight, a few centimetres would seldom be the deciding difference. Needing it was an unlikely urrence in an already unlikely situation. Sending Undine through would be much better. As for thetter situation, John doubted he would ever run into a person that didnt know who he was that was also threatening to him. Not at this stage of his life, anyway. Better to just look tall, toned and charismatic. That went better with his pride anyway.
He had been fidgeting with his setting one bit at a time over thest couple of days. His hair and eyes had gone unchanged, they were only just deciding on a skin colour and the body shape wasnt much of a debate anyway. Really, the only thing he had done was to adjust the colour of the Lovers Will marks that covered his hands, changing them from dark blue to proper ck. Not a huge change, all things considered.
Ya dick, Rave cussed him out when she finally regained her voice. I was brushing my teeth!
Hope you were going for the full three minutes, John retorted. I want your smile beautiful and your mouth clean for kissing.
Yeah, right, his girlfriend rolled her eyes and reached for the mouthwash, for kissing, like ya arent concerned about clean BJ holes first. She filled a shot with the bright green liquid and a peppermint scent filled the room, even more intense than the toothpaste. Im brushing three times a day because of ya C the sacrifices of couple life.
Oh no, you have to take care of your dental hygiene because of me, how terrible. Johns dry remark earned him a pinch in the butt, while his girlfriend put the ss to her lips. Instead of swallowing, she swirled it around in her mouth and handed John the bottle and the ss. A few secondster, he was following her example. The mouthwash wandered back into the closet that stretched around the massive unit thatbined several sinks together. The ss went to Aclysia, who would have it reced and washed by the end of the day.
Once they were on route back to the living room, Rave continued on, Single life has its purposes, ya know? Staying up until 2 AM
ying video games without ns the next day John continued.
going to a party and smoking weed Rave suggested the pr opposite.
Not really my scene.
She ignored hisment and went on, eating an entire chocte bar and not bothering when ya wake up with stink breath the next morning. Sighing, she fell onto the couch and toppled over Gnome in the process. The autumn elemental had been deeply concentrating on a romance novel and was now making surprised noises as she was getting cuddled by the harem leader. Seriously, why did I give that up to be with ya?
Beats me, John told her and put his suit back into his inventory. Now that he was no longer testing his looks in front of the mirror, he was happier to join everyone else in the nakedness. He immediately joined the two women on that segment of the couch. Gnome was pinned under her summoners girlfriend and only let out a few hesitant sounds of the typical I want to but I am too shy to say it variety.
Johns gaze was focused on the perfect ass of his girlfriend and its round disy. It was thest week of September now and her tan was beginning to wane. At the moment, she was still a caramel skinned beauty, but the shade was a bit lighter now. In a few months, she would revert all the way back to the healthy paleplexion she had when he met her.
Spanking that beautiful behind, the Gamer was treated to a moan muffled by the two women engaged with each other. He was ready to take things further, already aligning himself with her pussy, but found her a bitcking in the wetness department. The issue would fix itself rtively quickly if he just waited. Since doing nothing wasnt Johns style, he moved one hand to her pussy and started working her clit. As the man with the (probably) most active sex life in the current day Abyss, potential gods who only fucked with changing partners aside, he knew well enough to do more than just thrust into his women. It was often the main focus, for sure, but he knew to use his hands in between things to give stimulus where it was needed.
About a minuteter, he licked Raves delicious pussy juices off his fingers and then pushed into her. As the shout of her lust echoed through the room, mixing with the moansing from Siena and Metra, who were scissoring on another part of the couch, and debauched noises from the bedroom, John looked over to the kitchen. It was a quick nce, allowing him to quickly order Beatrice over and still catch that enticing jiggle on impact with his girlfriends bubble butt.
Tease Janes clit for me, Gnome, Johnmanded, while the passive maid wasing over. The autumn elemental was already getting off, thanks to her voyeurism being catered to, so hermitting one hand to another womans cunt wasnt a big sacrifice. Especially since it was an order that rewarded her with more pleasure.
How may I serve you, Master? Beatrice asked, stopping next to him after she had circled around the couch. Deliberately, she had walked to the side that would allow her to join immediately. There was reason to believe John would ask for her to join them after all. The Gamer had other priorities at that moment.
Remind me of my schedule for today, he requested, adding the asional p to Raves bum to the steady ps of their shing hips.
Date: 26th of September 2018, Wednesday. Beatrice sounded like a humanputer, loading the proper file to answer him. Stating in chronological order: You are free until 10:00. Rmended use of time between 8:00 and 10:00 is to go through administrative tasks. Around 10:30, you are to appear in Green-Wood Cemetery and join an inspection regarding the nned creation of a forest in the area. This is supposed tost until 11:30. At noon, you have agreed to join a business lunch with semi-influential investors from the Amaca Coast. Around 15:00, the House of Exceptionals meeting is supposed to begin and will presumablyst until around 18:30. You are free until 19:30. From 19:30 to 20:00, you are expected in an administrative call regarding a recently discovered and used mana factory in the Meltpot. From 20:15 to 20:30, you are expected to give a speech at the battleship construction site, praising the workers who helped the process pick up steam again. From 20:30 to 22:00, you are free. Rmendation: more paperwork. Your workday ends there. Misceneous addition: Tempest Elemental Summoning is expected to reach level 100 over the course of the day.
Hmmm, John hummed, thinking about his day and delighting in the way he made Raves spine curve as she had her first orgasm. Without thinking much about it, halfway through her climax, he pulled out and pushed his heavily lubricated cock against her back entrance. Through the orgasmic shivers that tensed her muscles, pushing past her sphincter was a bit of a challenge. He managed, however, and she screamed. What is the discussion in the House of Exceptionals today?
Aw by the House of Commons regting subsidies for special need Illusion Barriers and the establishment of a bureau of education control, ensuring the baseline of school quality.
Considering, then reconsidering and finallying to a resolution, John told her, Scratch that bit from my ns today. I will do the evening administrative work in that time period instead and the workday after the speech.
Affirmative. Beatrice obediently bowed her head. Do you wish for me to inform someone of this development?
Do send a text to Magoi and Alice. Tell them Aclysia will be present, so I will still be informed about everything.
Affirmative, the passive maid repeated the word and pulled her phone from her inventory.
John sped up his thrusts and came inside his girlfriends ass with a satisfied groan. Through clenched teeth, throaty moans escaped Rave, until she copsed on top of Gnome. Heavily breathing herself, the autumn elemental had been cumming about half as often as the Lightbringer. Given the several passives associated with the Gamers sexual prowess, that spoke to an impressive level of horniness.
Letting both of them rest for the moment, John was happy to just look down and move the tiniest bit. His cock was still inside Raves ass and he didnt n to pull out soon. If he went in there, he wanted to get a shower before he put his dick anywhere else afterwards. As such, it had to be worth the effort.
Manifesting next to him, Undine wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the back of his head. The slime girl would have been another way to get clean, she would dissolve any unhygienic remains with no harm to herself or she could just conjure some water. Neither of these things happened, she just wanted to whisper in his ear.
Given the melody of her voice, having it right next to his ear was a wonderful caress of his mind.
Are you certain you want to not go? she asked.
The legiture is designed to work without me, my presence is not required, John told her. Its the third session, they should start to work without me around all the time. Nothing overly important is being decided today. Nothing I cant try and fixter anyway.
If thews were modified by the House of Exceptionals in such a way that John didnt approve of them, he still had a parliament session to fix it. Either by convincing enough people present to vote to send it back to drafting or outright denying it, the Gamer could keep it off the book. If all else failed, he still had his veto. In the case of these specificws, he had been present when they had been thought up on Monday, so he feared nothing.
Also, I feel like having a more rxed day, he responded with a smirk, resuming the fucking of his girlfriend.
The usual morning.
Chapter 844 – Thunderous Party
Chapter 844 C Thunderous Party
The inspection had been interesting, the dinner dull, the call informing and the paperwork a steady grind. He had learned about the tendency of elves to create certain tree formations, listened to a few basic economic proposals and learned about a newly discovered or formed crime organization. It was far from the first-time remainders of old ver guilds organized themselves inside Fusions borders and was guaranteed to not be thest. The bigger Fusion got, both in terms of people and the raw size of territory, the more inevitable organized crime became. Every society had an underbelly.
As long asw enforcement kept a steady eye and didnt get corrupted, those things should stay local. The interesting thing was that this discovered mana factory had been abandoned just recently. Either the people running it had picked a lucky time to migrate or they had gotten tipped off. Publicly, John believed in the former, privately, he was a more cautious fellow.
The paperwork was the same as always. Oh, would you look at this? John hummed, when he saw the signature on the letter he now held in his hand. A request by your best girl for gimme money so I can finance a sick looking magical monorail, he read out and then looked under the table. You know I have to archive this, right?
Rave chuckled, which was a pleasant vibration around his dick, and rolled her eyes. Perverted slurps apanied her lips retreat up his shaft. With both hands wrapped around his massive member in ce of her mouth, she continued to pleasure him. Dont be so stuck up about it, Ive been working on this for months! The prototype is already going back and forth between the Trade Tower and the Shopping Centre!
Well, that particr one I hijacked to transport goods from the docks to the market, John hummed. I am not against public transportation at all, though. Especially not against monorails. Maybe it was because John had grown up in a ce that only had busses, but the idea of an intracity rail created a more charming image of a city in his head than cars did. There was an argument to be made that underground tubes would be more efficient.
His girlfriend, however, had already put a lot of effort into the monorails. It would have been rude (and against his aesthetic interest) to deny her the project now. Even though his agreement to her joke of a formal funding request was a foregone conclusion, he wanted to tease her for a little bit.
Ya have all these people scattered across the city and they have to get everywhere by foot or by ferry, Rave told him. Not all that economic of you face or throat?
Face, please, John groaned and leaned back in his chair. Ropes of cum shot out and decorated the gorgeous face of his half-Asian bombshell of a girlfriend. It stuck to her hair, settled across her attractive features, spurted into her open mouth and dribbled onto her medium-sized tits. Rave moaned when the taste set a minor orgasm off. Searching with her hands, she picked up one of the Everclean towels and wiped off the cum that sealed her eyes.
Then she continued the handjob and the discussion. Ya funding it or not?
I cant really fund something that doesnt have a price tag, John told her, once more looking at the almost empty sheet of paper. You need to give me some amount of money you need.
Why? So I can get it, work on it, then suddenly need ten times that? Rave licked some cum from the corner of her lips when she finished saying that. Isnt that how all government projects go?
Not all of them, he grumbled.
Most big ones though.
Almost all big ones As he said that, John turned his mental eye towards the battleship project. As per schedule, his double was over there and delivering a short speech and some honours. That particr project had exceeded its budget about twelve times by now and was nowhere nearpletion. To be fair, John had just started the project to start the project and had absolutely no idea what it would cost. It had also been set back more than once.
Just give me a lot of money and Ill tell ya when it runs out, Rave purred. Combining a pleading, cute look with a little lick of the tip of his dick, the Lightbringer finally brought down his artificial resistance.
Only because its you, he rified. Ill spank you if I find out you spend it on something useless.
Oh no, the humanity, she responded in the dry tone of sarcasm. Then she winked and said, Thank you, tiger.
Youre wee. The Gamer scribbled a number on the paper, its purpose, his approval of the project and his signature. After scanning it, he got up and put it in the appropriate folder. Once the archival work wasplete, he got back to the table. Looking at the clock, he decided to not sit back down. Ill call it a day here, he told his girlfriend.
Gotcha. Once more grabbing the towel, she began the usual post-blowjob routine of wiping down the surface under the table. John grabbed a spray can and spread some flower scent through the room. Although they kept things pretty clean, all things considered, the smell of sex would still stick to the furniture if they just let it. By the by, how are your ns with Maxing along?
We got a date C a DAY, John corrected himself, but not quick enough for Rave to not notice and snort with amusement. We got a day picked out, this Saturday. Magnus found time to tag along, and maybe Ted wille along as well.
Thatll be a group, Rave hummed. The two young, proud charisma bundles and the two broody, older, stern guys. Whats the n? Ya gonna go to a strip club again?
Not the initial idea, but who knows where well end up over the course of the night. John rolled his neck. Well start ying some games in the saloons of the Pce and drink some whisky. After that, well see.
Hmmm, if its this Saturday, ya can drop by my club, whenever ya want, she told him. Rave was talking about the building in the redlight district that she owned. It had been Johns birthday gift to her and included a bunch of hobby facilities and a nightclub. The former saw daily use. Whenever she wasnt around her boyfriend, which was true for about eight hours a day, the Lightbringer was either training or going after her several passion projects. Whether that was making music, sponsoring art or overseeing public building projects, she did it all from that building.
The club part of the building was seldom used. Part of that was because of all the organizing affiliated with throwing a party worthy of such a building. Booze, security, DJs, snacks, tracks and games all had to be secured in advance. Spontaneous as she was, Rave had a hard time arranging herself with all that work.
Another part was that local businesses were somewhat afraid of Raves club. The name recognition drove so many customers to her ce, it sapped customers from everywhere else. This problem was slowly diminishing thanks to the hostess tightening the screws on who got in and who didnt. Unpredictability of schedule and difficult essbined to make her club more of a local event than properpetition.
John thought about that proposal. Doesnt exactly mesh with the idea of a guys night out, he stated.
Yeah, I get that, she nodded. Regardless, Ill be partying, so swing on by if ya feel like it.
Ill think about it, John responded. They cleaned up the rest of the office, got some things for the next day in order, and then teleported back to the Pce. There, they immediately hopped into the shower. It only took about two minutes for them to be joined by a very excited, green haired girl.
Hey, hey, hey! Sylph bbered as she blitzed around the ce. Its my day, right? My day to be concubine prime! Sylph is ready to absorb her siblings and attain her perfect form! Perfect Sylph! Misses Perfect Sylph!
You are not Cell, John reprimanded, grabbing the enthusiastic thunderstorm elemental by the leg as she flew by. Please stop charging the area. With some difficulty, Sylph repressed the steady stream of electricity that escaped her body. It couldnt hurt John or Rave, thanks to the anti-friendly fire Perk, but it was somewhat bothersome. Once she had that under control, Sylph started to tremble with her whole body. It was as if she was a sentient tuning fork. She even made a surging sound.
Hmmmmmmmmmm, just so excited! she dered. What will I be?! Will I get a tail too? Do I get a new haircut? Do I stay cute current me? So many possibilities! Maybe I will be taller and get giant tits! Thatd be fun! So much fun! I also like being tiny and adorbs-a-dorbs though and Sallys boobs are so big she cant even see her feet and thats weird. Isnt that weird? You look down and all you see is squish. Squishy, squishy squish-squish.
Never looked at it from that angle, John pondered.
Come here for a sec, Rave suddenly chimed in, waving him closer with her index finger. Stepping out of the cleansing stream of the shower, he took the one step towards her. Behind me, she specified. Now John was starting to get confused, but he went along anyway. The second he pressed himself against her back, she said, Now look over my shoulder and down.
What is oh my God, John finally realized what she was getting at when a shit-eating grin spread on his girlfriends face.
Now youre looking at boobs from that angle, tiger, she joked and then screamed. Her mildly annoyed boyfriend had grabbed the shower handle and cranked it into the cold area. Stop! No! No cold! she shouted in a mixture of genuine displeasure andughter. John did her the favour of putting the water off entirely. In the process he grabbed the bottle of shampoo.
Time to cleanse you of your sins, he dered. He proceeded to give her the most aggressive hair washing he could without hurting her. Then he continued to ther up her body. By the time he got to her tits, he had stopped being mad and was instead inside her. Sylph joined the fun immediately, licking Raves pussy and then getting fucked herself once John had cum once more inside the naughty Lightbringer.
Last time having sex in this body! Sylph dered, when they were finally out and on their way to the roof.
I dont know if youre the best one to ask this, but I always wondered how you elementals can be so happy about changing so heavily in such a short amount of time, the Gamer said while they climbed the stairs. Today, he didnt have an erection that was getting in the way.
Uh, well, you see, its kinda like, its just not important? Sylph struggled to put it into words. For a few more moments, she continued to stammer nonsense, then a little arc of electricity in the shape of a lightbulb shed above her head. A doubtlessly conscious decision. Would you beining about suddenly putting on muscle? Like, BOOM, now I am the ripped - destroyer of bench-presses!
I suppose not, John admitted. His own Stat-caused transformations had been sudden by human standards, but he still didnt see it as an equivalent to having his entire body reworked within a few minutes. To the elemental psyche, the increase in magic that caused these transformations must simply be seen as natural. That Sylph likened it to muscle increase indicated as much.
They emerged on top of the roof, where the rest of the harem was already waiting. Bar Lydia, everyone was present. Cant believe were doing this not even a week after I had my final evolution. Wasnt there like a month between the two of us reaching Tier 4? Smander asked the second they got up there.
Booo! Sylphined and zapped over. Waving her arms around in wild gestures, she returned with a torrent of words. Mean Sally, silly Sally, fiery ball of mean! Why you gotta ruin my day with logic stuffs! Logic stuffs is meanzies! Suddenly, she shrunk down and dove between the apocalypse elementals breasts. I take tribute for the mean question in the form of titty baths!
I never agreed to give you that, Smander responded, stemming her hands into her hips. Her tail extended past her shoulder and wrapped around the tiny chatterbox. Since evolving five days ago, the fire spirit had learned to use her tail with a lot of uracy. Part of that was thanks to Siena, who had helped her get used to the new limb, and the rest was instinct. Interestingly, Siena had better conscious control of her tail but Smander was much less prone to wave hers around when she was agitated in any fashion.
Boo! You are no fun since you got long hair! Sylphined.
Should I make it even longer just to spite you then? Smander cackled and ran a hand over the top of her head. Her orange glowing hair, ck strands included, increased in length as the motion continued. Unlike other elementals, she could freely adjust the length of her hair. Everyone else could put it into different styles, even Gnome whose hair came naturally braided, but trying to change the length was impossible. Because their bodies were purely manifested magic, hair regenerated to its natural length as long as they received new mana and had a bit of time.
People with long hair are stupid!
Smander stared at the fairy-esque elemental; the tip of her tail still coiled around her. You have the longest hair here your hair is longer than your body
Yeah and I am a moron! Point proven! Sylph retorted.
A-zbh-grgrhmmm, Smander made a series of odd sounds and then sighed in exasperation. Yes, you proved your point.
Yay, victory for Sylph! the thunderstorm elemental dered. Blitzing into the middle of the forming circle, she enthusiastically raised an arm, One evolution for reward please!
Coming right up, John mused and pressed the necessary buttons.
To actually answer your question, John said to Smander while he read the options, I think its because Elemental Unity maxed out, or its just because my mana spending ramped up with time. Or the Skill Levelling system is just a bit broken. With that said, he looked up to Sylph, Any preferences?
No, you can decide if I should go swoosh or zap, Sylph told him. Im fine with either or uh, is there a version of that saying that goes for three choices? If there is, pretend I said that!
I will, John promised and looked at the choices. It was actually rather easy. Sylph was not responsible for battlefield domination, that was Gnome and Smanders job, neither was she a support, that just didnt fit her personality, so Arcvolt Elemental was the way to go. A click of a buttonter and things went into motion.
Ooooh, this tingles, Sylph giggled, as she started to dissolve into fizzling bits of lightning. The words faded, just as her entire body had vanished. John looked around, waiting for something to happen. In typical air elemental fashion, he didnt have to wait long at all. The sky was overtaken immediately by massive, ck clouds. They didnt slowly grow, as it had been the case with Undine, instead appearing all over and blotting out the sky in a matter of seconds. Lightning visibly bounced around inside and around the clouds. Each time, the electricity arched back into the roiling mass. Even without striking the ground, the steady drum of thunder was deafening.
All of the arches fed into one central point just above them. Scarlett stepped behind Metra and ducked. A decision taken just in time to avoid the massive lightning strike that descended where Sylph had stood about thirty seconds earlier.
The lightning didnt fade, its incandescent brightness jumping between segments of the clouds, but never forking out and never leaking its energy into the ground. Instead, the energy was channelled into the slowly manifesting form of the Arcvolt Elemental. Small, naked feet, legs that were long and nicely thick for the body they belonged to. Moderately wide hips, right along a cute, round butt, a narrow waist and breasts of a middling sizebined into an hourss figure of the petite variety. Her midriff was nicely defined, on the less muscr side of his harem but t and with the little trench that ran from the sternum down the division of her abs nicely visible. Her arms were smooth and slender, her fingers pleasingly formed, with no outstandingly thick joints or other oddities. The face that came into view was somewhere between round and heart-shaped, a mixture of adorable and sexy. Red lips, a fine nose, long, pointy ears, like a traditional elf, they all manifested in the previously known configuration.
ck eyshes parted when Sylph opened her eyes. Out of the golden amber of her irises bounced a couple of electric sparks. The visual effect aside, the look of them was unchanged. Same was true for the massive torrent of green hair that was created from thest of the descending lightning, running all the way past her feet and only being saved from touching the ground by virtue of it floating weightlessly.
John expected something new, something odd, but was treated to argely unchanged Sylph. The lightning ebbed away, leaving Sylph with the same naked body she had before. There was absolutely nothing toin about, she had been sexy before and continued to be so. No extra appendage or change was needed. The Gamer hadnt even wanted any, but he had juste to expect something.
Only her clothes, when she manifested them, were slightly different. The silver pendant with the blue gemstone was now more of a choker. The rims of her clothes were now silver rather than gold, but green was still the sole colour of her leotard and dominated the lightning-decorated, shoulder-high gloves. Decorative strips of cloth covered her lower calves, which was new, but not a great change, all things considered.
I am still cute! Sylph dered in victory and threw her hands up in the air.
Yeah, congrattions for being the same old thing for three evolutions in a row, great achievement, Smander mocked.
Yeah, I know right? Sylph bbered, making it sound as if she didnt understand she was being made fun off at first. Turns out you dont go through massive changes if you dont mess with some weird horror from the outeryers of reality. You just stay adorable, super adorable! She posed around a little bit, looking cute or ridiculous depending on the moment. You even get to go sma- I CANT GO TINY ANYMORE! Audible gasp!
Huh, John blinked a few times. It wasnt a huge loss; Sylph had gradually changed to preferring to be big most of the time anyway. The arcvolt elemental didnt look too sad about it herself.
Orgy time! the air spirit suddenly dered.
You dont want me to give you a special evening? John asked.
No, orgy time! Its evening! she responded swiftly. I wanna be pet and I wanna be fucked and I want to be all around you wonderful people. You are wonderful people! I love you and you and you and you and you I really like, but I also love you and you and Each time she said it to someone, she zapped over in front of them and booped them on the nose. Not even Siena was quick enough to react.
Sylph was just that much of a speed demon.
Chapter 845 – Some evening grinding
Chapter 845 C Some evening grinding
John had one of his rare not that lewd mornings. Effectively, this meant that they stepped out of the orgy after only half an hour, had breakfast quickly and without an under the table blowjob, and headed out before the clock struck seven. It was a rare asion, extremely so. Between his absurd Libido, his youth and all of the willing, sexy women of his harem, being less than very horny was understandably difficult. However, the Gamer was fundamentally human and so he sometimes woke up in a peculiar mood.
His harem was understanding, since they experienced such things themselves sometimes, and engaged with one another instead. Once he announced he would go spelunking in a pre-work dungeon, several of the girls decided to tag along. The elementals came along for somewhat obvious reasons. Their connection would be able to stay up through him entering the I.D. Gate, but it would be somewhat fuzzy. Coming along was just more pleasant. Aside from them, Metra decided that she would rather fight than fuck. Aclysia and Beatrice wanted toe along, but had a lot of chores that needed doing before they went to attend their government duties.
Since he just wanted to do something rxed, he decided to look at the Arena Instant Dungeons. These were usually pretty fast and straightforward, even if the rewards were rather middling. There was a way to get a bit more out of them and John was feeling like a morning challenge anyway. Some people drank coffee, the Gamer thrived on sex and adversity. Do we want to face the audience? he asked.
Most Arena Instant Dungeons came with monsters looking down into the actual pit. Unless attacked, those onlookers did nothing but watch. Once triggered, however, they could prove to be quite difficult to handle, and quite often, a number of bosses were sitting in some separated areas, needing to be agitated separately. Those bosses were often designed tost for several level brackets.
John had only really used this feature once. During the tournament, Eliza, at that point still the sole fully formed consciousness in her body, had absolutely torn apart everyst enemy in the watchers area and most of the regrly spawning arena enemies. It had been that encounter that had caused Gaia to introduce limitations on exp acquisition in the first ce. For good reason, given that John had gotten a good amount of levels and great loot out of it, doing barely anything himself.
Not sure if we can battle the extra bosses, we might be too low level for that, but if we give Smander some space, we can probably have some fun there.
Yessssss, the apocalypse elemental hissed excitedly, her orange hair growing into a flickering me. Lets do this!
Be careful where you aim, John told her. If you disable Metras ability by ident, thatll be annoying. The little warning put a damper on Smanders enthusiasm and the fire went down. Suddenly she had gone from long hair to the buzz cut she had sported in her previous Tier.
I take it I get to fuck up the boss on my own then, my king? the First of Wrath asked.
Yu-p, John responded, letting thest bite out with an enthusiastic pop.
Radical, Metra grinned. See, this is why I want you to be crowned king of Akkad. You let me fight interesting things.
And that I am handsome, wise and powerful doesnt enter the equation at all? the Gamer wanted to know.
Not really, no. The ancient weapon rolled her neck, her broad grin still on her face and taking any resemnce of seriousness out of those words. How seriously are we taking this?
Not all that seriously, John told her and momentster found himself with the few clothes that Metra did wear getting pushed into his inventory by her dimension breaking magic. Now equipped with nothing but therge axe, the First of Wrath strutted after him in the nude. By the by, Ive been looking into getting a proper weapon for you.
You were going to use the materials from the Raid, right?
Partly. John nodded. Some of the crystals, the Heart of Stone and Thunder in particr, are definitely getting used. Ill have to see what else I can scrape together in terms of elemental metals though, most of it got used up in that other project.
Of the six elemental extreme metals, he had gotten a nice amount in the categories of fire, shadow and wind through the Achievements of learning the names of the respective Elemental Mothers. The Mother of Earth and the Father of Light had withheld their names from him so far, for reasons John wasnt quite sure of. At least for the Mother of Water he didnt have to guess too much.
Because John had made a resolution to use the first bits he got from all of those metals for a certain project, Metra didnt get into the luxury of getting most or all of it dedicated to her new weapon. At least what you get will get done a bit more reliably, he put a positive spin on the situation from her perspective, Marathyu should have a bit more experience working with that metal now.
The mad smith had just suddenly appeared on Johns front door a day after they had the talk with the Horned Rat in Florida. Having said nothing about what the rat god had him do or where his loyalties trulyy, Marathyu had simply asked for a new workshop to be provided to him. Given that John knew nobody else that could reliably work with high-end metals, the Gamer had obliged. Mad or not, the scarred smith was a valuable asset to have.
John quickly located the mans old assistants, additionally hired a few already renowned smiths and stuck all of them into the Guild Halls Weapon Manufactory. The intention was to learn as much as possible from Marathyu before he died, went so insane he had to be put down or simply picked the Horned Rat over John in some theoretical future conflict. Fusion would be in need of metal workers that, at the very least, could work with Elementium and Mithril without problem. Infused Mithril and the six elemental extreme metals were further out there. Astrotium was a far-off dream. As far as Metra knew, and John had found no info contradicting this, only Hephaistos and Enki could work that metal. Given that the former was part of Prometheus, the Greek member of the Divided Gates, and thetters status was currently shrouded in mystery but seemingly hostile, John could rely on neither.
To the point, even Marathyu had to learn how to work with high quantities of the elemental metals. Since they were so exceedingly rare, he hadnt done so before John provided them and many work hours were lost on the mad smith melting, forging, and re-melting the metal, finding out its exact properties. At one point, he had even blown a massive hole into the Foundry. Whatever intuition he had used when upgrading Johns, Aclysias and Beatrices equipment had either decided to sleep or Marathyu was deliberately choosing to suppress it to follow his curiosity.
John knew better than to ask. He would only get half-sensical dribble in response. Better to just wait for the final result, which he was certain enough would arrive in time.
It better not fucking break, Metra told her master. We arent using Mithril, right?
We are if I get my hands on some, John retorted. Otherwise, no. Just elemental metals. Ive been synthesizing as much Elementium as I can but the mana cost and time investment is really abhorrent Using all six of his elementals, John could infuse a regr block of iron (or other metals, for that matter) with enough elemental power to eventually be the strongest of the regrly attainable elemental metals. Because that infusion cost exponentially more for each elemental involved to create a quality product, there was a limit on how much John could feasible have produced. The elementals also had duties themselves, having to overlook their inds, so things went slow. Slow was better than the prices on the Abyss Auction, however.
If you put Mithril in there, make sure the guy doesnt cken it, Metra responded. I fucking hate ck Mithril. Some of the sharpest stuff out there, but fragile as all hell. White Mithril is WAY better. If it gets damaged, it just gets a dent. I dont like my weapons shattering into a thousand irreparable pieces.
Technically, I think you can glue them back together, but point taken, John said and stopped in front of the I.D. Gate. Id go with Trolls, anyone against that? The only alternative is Steampunk.
Im fonder of things that bleed, Siena hummed and, although the rationale wasnt shared, the rest of the group agreed to go with Trolls.
While John opened the barrier, he continued the conversation. What do you want again? Another halberd, right?
I can fight with whatever, but thatd be my preferred weapon, yeah, Metra stated, weighing the massive axe in one hand. Halberds are fucking fantastic pieces of weaponry. You can stab, sh and pickaxe someone, all with the same weapon and at a considerable range. Only drawback is that you are a bit open in hand to hand range. The metracana beat her chest and grinned in the usual carefree fashion. Not a big problem for this girl.
As long as it doesnt cost you another foot, John grumbled. He had meant to say it as a joke, but his mood had gone sour quickly. Until she was actually healed, joking about one of his girls getting harmed couldnt sit well with him, even if he said it himself, apparently.
Ill get that material back, Metra nonchntly responded. Although the ever-present anger rose a bit higher as she said that, she maintained herposure and a rxed attitude. For all her rage, Metra was one of the easiest to get along with tomboys to ever exist. A big part of her charm, in Johns opinion.
The Arena formed around them. It was a grand structure of Aztec-leaning design. Large blocks of stone, stacked on top of each other, were decorated with skulls of all shapes and sizes. Some of the skulls were simply carved into the stone, others were actual bone stered against the walls through some form of mud. The walls rose fifteen metres high and then transitioned into an incredibly steep watchers area. The wall bulged out and eventually curved back inwards. Rather than a ce to sit, it was a giant, egg-shaped construction. The top was open, letting ample sunlight fall into the structure and the battlefield in particr.
Hanging onto awork of ropes that were attached to the walls were the onlooking trolls. They had massive arms and stubby legs, their body shape somewhat resembling that of a gori. Where they differed rather drastically from those animals was in the massive tusks that grew from their lower jaws and the leathery texture of their dark blue skin. The mocking screams were deep and impatient.
Calmly, John put his hands into his pockets and scanned their situation. They were standing in the shallow curve of the egg-shape. Behind them was a simple wall, around them were the looking trolls, and all the way on the other side, at the pointy tip of the arena, was a wooden gate. Above that was a teau, the only ce where someone could properly sit, which was separated into two levels. The lower level had a single, particrlyrge troll on it. Aside from the size of him, that one stood out for the fact that he wore more than a loincloth. Some sort of primitive mockery of a human suit covered that trolls body.
Above him were three more. Two were females, different from the males only in the fact that their facial features were a bit softer and that they had breasts. Neither was enough to make them desirable. Between those two, on a throne of solid gold, sat the leader of this artificial civilization. Smaller than his brethren, but with longer limbs and a magical glow surrounding his ornamented form, this troll emperor radiated authority.
Authority that left John cold. The more powerful the Gamer got, the more he could justify his pride in his abilities and achievements and the less he found himself impressed by other authority figures. I suppose my subconscious is letting me know that I have less and less in the way of equals, John thought and waited for a certain reptile to admonish with as much as a warning squeak. Nothing came. Interesting. Is it because thinking that Im superior to most in terms of authority is an observation of reality and therefore not an issue of arrogance? That me realizing my position only is negative if I use it as justification to do what I want for personal gain over what I need to do for the world to improve?
While he thought that, he raised Stirwin up to his face. Disconnected from the Light Ind, the infinity elemental had reversed to his hatchling state. Letting out a single, confirming squeal, the crocodile then transformed into its egg shape. John looked up to the proper arena, while fixing the item form to his pants. All of the screams from the trolls came to a stop when the suited troll raised his voice.
Dere will be a fight, my mates, he spoke with a very unpleasant mixture between an Australian and Jamaican ent, both amplified to their stereotypical extremes. Creatd by our bloody, golden emperor himself and all that tossage
When some abomination of British ng entered the mix as well, John tuned out of the cutscene. If this had been a videogame, he would have hammered the escape button by now. Instead, he just observed the levels of the optional enemies, deemed them to be in the beatable range and turned to the assembled harem. Metra, you will go ahead and face whateveres out of that gate. Fight it in the middle of the arena. Smander, Unleash on the announcer. Once the rubble clears, we attack. With the n confirmed, John raised a hand up and fired an Arcana Strike into the air.
Sometimes battlens were really simple.
Chapter 846 – Lasers, Meteors and Thunder
Chapter 846 C Lasers, Meteors and Thunder
The Arcana Strike hung up above, slowly growing in threat. Looking down, John noted that the trolls in the arena were not triggered by this action. Their programming was either not as careful towards exploits or deliberately easier to take advantage of. A third possibility was that they would only be active once the Arcana Strike had grown enough. Whatever it was, they were free at the moment.
Fixing his gaze on the naked booty of Metra, he was distracted for just long enough for the Arena boss to finallye trampling out of the gate. It was some kind ofrge troll in dinosaur skull armour. Having seen so many different set pieces in his time, John just wasnt particrly impressed. Have fun, John told the First of Wrath.
I will, the same responded, before starting her charge across the fifty-metre distance.
Guess I will go do my thing as well then. Smander grinned and floated off.
You do that, John agreed and rolled his neck, the remaining five of them just standing there and waiting. At first, he kept watching Metra; watching a naked berserker babe battle a brute with arms as thick as her body was in itself entertaining. Admittedly, he was focused more on the way Metras muscles shifted around and how her athletic curves looked in motion. After some time, he decided to look up.
Smander hovered in the rtive middle of the opening in the ceiling. The lines on her skin shifted colour, from ck over red to the orange gold at the centre of a me. A fire of the same colour flickered from her left eye, as she raised both hands. Between her palms, an orb manifested. A thick ck rim surrounded a dark, dangerous red. It looked like an inversion of the eclipse John had seen the day he had decided to buy the Skillbook to summon her.
Crushing the sphere between her wed hands, Smander tossed the resulting fragments into the air. Each was like a blood red star. They fanned out, scattered above the apocalypse elemental. For a moment they hung in the air, then the apocalypse elemental ordered them to descend with amanding motion. Glowing and gaining mass, making a mockery of the reduction they should have experienced due to air friction, the fragments of magic turned into chunks of burning rock. A scattershot of meteorites turned the corner of the arena where the announcer and emperor sat into an absolute ruin.
Where a meteorite impacted, the kic force was the least of the worries. Once the solid stone hade to a halt, it exploded in a wave of ck and gold fire, quaking the earth and sting the crater even further open. As a primarily fire elemental, this part of the attack of the apocalypse elemental was the truly threatening bit. Trolls were consumed by the expanding heat, bodies catapulted from one explosion into the other, all to the insane, pleased cackling of the pyromaniac above.
Smander raised her right hand again. A new sphere appeared, ck and golden fire around a red rock, and added that extra meteorite into the mess she had created. From the way it formed to the impact, it looked exactly the same as the previous attack, just on a lower scale. This was because, simply, it was.
As an apocalypse elemental, she had three main tools of attack: fire, meteorites and earthquakes. It wouldnt require her Unleash to use one of her fundamental tools, that would have been rather odd. Instead, what had previously been a buff applied to other peoples attacks was now an asional, once every two minutes increase of power for her next action. While it usually was magic, she could boost her physical capabilities as well, if she so desired.
HahahaahahahaAHAHAHAHAHA! Smanders cackling grew into a maniacalughter when the third meteorite she created by hand shattered the structural integrity of the northern end of the arena. Between the initial series of sts ruining the tform and the deliberate attacks that followed, the egg-shaped walls started to crumble inwards.
Great to see that she is still having fun throwing those around, John thought. When Smander had discovered that she could throw exploding rocks instead of regr old fireballs, her ecstasy on the matter had been near orgasmic. He was even somewhat convinced that she liked blowing up giant things more than sex. Not that the good old fireballs were useless now. It was all a question of the kind of material attacked and the aim of the attack. As much fun as she was having with it, throwing meteorites wasnt exactly sustainable for suppression fire.
Uhm, are we going in yet? Gnome asked, as the cloud of rock dust spread out. With a giant hole in the pointy end of the arena, it got a fair bit brighter.
Not quite, John answered and looked up to the trolls in the watching area. They seemed a tad confused, hanging onto their ropes and staring at the destruction site. Smander tossed another meteor into the cloud of sand and dust. This time, there was no explosion. Suddenly, the area cleared, any obstruction blown away by a golden wind. The troll emperor stood tall, one hand raised and keeping thetest meteorite suspended in mid-air. Once he had cleared his line of sight, he brought the second hand to the defence as well. The magic swelled and, with a roar, the emperor caused the meteorite to beunched back at Smander.
Dodging the now simple rock quite handily, the apocalypse elemental looked down. The rubble of the destroyed arena began to stir, as several of the buried trolls made their way to the surface. Some had died in the initial impact and, notably, one of the emperors bodyguards was missing, but the majority of enemies had made it out of the initial scattershot.
Getem, the emperor said, his calm voice echoing throughout the entire arena. For a moment, it was calm. Then the announcer himself burst out of the rubble. Going directly into a sprint, the troll thankfully stopped in his chatter. The already odd-looking suit wasrgely destroyed. What threads remained strained and tore when the announcers body expanded.
Itd be a problem if that one picked Metra as his target over us, John thought. The First of Wrath was faring well against her single opponent and would likely win if given enough time. Which made it Johns job to give her that time. Sylph, you take on that one. Keep your attacks precise.
Caaaaaaaaan dooooooooooo, the arcvolt elemental responded and then zapped forwards. A streak of pale blue and green, she crossed the distance in a near instant. The brute of an announcer came to a sudden halt, trying to swipe at the little woman that was now in front of him. His arm cut through the air, but only travelled through a cloud of electricity left behind by Sylphs movement. First above then, dodging another attack, behind the enemy, Sylph threw lightning at her opponent. Currents crackled through the space between them, seared flesh and caused the monster to spasm. Regeneration made both a short-lived harm to the creature, but it was harm regardless.
Much like her appearance, Sylphs fighting style and tools hadnt changed. She was faster now, her electricity more potent and honed, but she still utilized them in the same fashion.
While Sylph was upying the special enemy, the rank-and-file trolls seemed to have picked John as their opponent. He didnt even bother looking in the direction of the descending enemies. His focusy on the emperor alone, who continued to hang back and just oversee the situation. The enemies are really getting smarter the further along I get, the Gamer thought. Gnome, if you would.
S-sure thing! the autumn elemental dered and stomped once. In a three metre radius around her, the earth suddenly shot up from the level ground, leaving them at a one-metre high elevation. High enough to break the tide of enemies into climbing waves, but not high enough to disincentivize them from attacking.
Siena, Gnome and John took their stance at enough of a distance from one another that the area they were defending didnt ovep. The wedge-like ws of the Talon of the Ravenlord slid from the back of his hand to the tip of his fingers, extending his reach. At the same time, Undine fused with Purgatory, effectively assuming her item form and allowing the Gamer to manifest an estoc made from ice in his left hand. An icy mist rose from the ck scales of the magical w, enveloping his lower arm and the de.
John raised his right hand and met the very first attacker with a sh across the face. It didnt kill the enemy, but it made them fall back into the dark blue mass of bodies that was now mouring to get on top of their ring. After a few moments of regeneration, that very same troll joined the assault once again. Stabbing and shing, John kept the trolls at bay. Although his physical Stats were not sufficient to finish any of these enemies off, he had bnced his sheet enough that he could hold them off. It wasnt easy, he was in constant motion, pushed to the brink of what his Agility and Strength allowed him to do, and only the presence of the Mand Sphere allowed him to keep enough of a view of the situation to y his attacks correctly. Regardless, he was doing it, and the more he hurt his enemies, the more Rising Annihtion increased the very same Stats he was relying on at the moment. Slowly the task transformed from nigh impossible to merely difficult.
Gnome and Siena were faring much better. Whenever a troll sessfully managed to climb onto the earth spirits third of the circle, they were met by a solid fist. A lucky troll merely had his ribcage broken, as he was sent flying back down into the arena. A less lucky one only had its head sent flying, Gnomes punch turning their brains into a sttering mush that turned into dust and ash before it could stain anything. Each time, the autumn elemental seemed grossed out by the result of her offensive action, but kept going regardless, unwilling to disappoint her summoner or let herself be run over by a mindlessly hostile crowd.
Where Gnome fought with reluctant brutality, Siena presented her murdering with a savage elegance. Always in motion, leveraging her superior speed, the moonshade elemental ducked away under swipes and weaved through punches, while retaliating only with strikes from her tail. What could easily be misconstrued as a motion of viinous arrogance was simply the most effective way to fight the trolls. Trenches cut with her ws werent deep enough to finish off the opponent immediately and healed after just a few seconds. The sharp crystalyer around the spade-tip of her tail could dig much deeper, actually severing heads and necks from spines.
Even though they were all faring well, the sheer number of trolls threatened to overwhelm them. There were about a hundred of them, all eager to join the fight. Climbing over each other, they came in unreliable waves. Just when it seemed that a few trolls would manage to get into the centre of the tform, breaking their formation, Smander swept down. A trail of fire followed her, as she flew over the crowd and then delivered a flying knee to the face of one of the assants. Just like that, the threat was demolished and their position secured again. Smander took off and continued to harass the trolls with fire.
For over ten minutes, that situation went on in that configuration. As they simply kepting, the group simply kept fighting. Although it got hairy sometimes and actually killing trolls was a bit of a challenge, they were slowly whittling down the number of assants. If this continues, I will eventually win without using the Arcana Strike. What will you do now? John thought, directing the attention of the Mand Sphere at the emperor.
Something simr must have gone through his head, as the leader of the trolls calmly raised his arm and pointed at John. The remaining bodyguard nodded and started to run, brandishing an ornamented stone sword. Going past both the battles of Sylph and Metra, the female troll was directed at interrupting Johns situation.
They may be smarter, but they are still far from thinking optimally, the Gamer noted. The emperor had to trigger the Arcana Strike. Even if he didnt know what it was, John wasnt sure if Gaia shared such information, it was a basic observance that it was something dangerous. The need to do something was self-evident, but John would have moved his extra pieces to support either the berserker or the announcer in this situation. Given the current circumstances, it would have worked much better for the trolls if they put additional pressure on Sylph or Metra. The rest of the group was already pinned and would continue to be so for a while.
Since interrupting his enemy while they made a mistake wasnt wise, John simply let the bodyguard approach and gave Metra a quick notice. The blonde babe swung her axe two more times, then discarded it in favour of simply charging at her enemy. Ramming her shoulder into his gut, she continued storming forwards and towards John.
The bodyguard leapt, Metra crashed into the back of the crowd and John let the Arcana Strike descend. Blue, muscr bodies were torn apart by arcane currents, when the well-charged attack exploded outwards. While the boss Metra had been fighting was finished off, already hurt from the constant barrage of powerful blows, John wasnt quite so sure about the bodyguard.
When the arcane mist began to clear, his suspicion was confirmed. At the same time, it was nothing to be rmed about. Among a host of other trolls, those on the outskirts of the impact site, the bodyguard had only barely survived. Even though their regeneration quickly reduced the size of their wounds, it wasnt powerful enough to rece half a body in the time it took Smander to conjure a new meteorite.
The bodyguards head was squashed and the dissolving body blown apart by the wave of fire that followed. Getting out of the crater where their tform had previously been, the entire group moved on to finishing off whatever trolls remained. Everyone but John, who turned and ran towards the emperor who was now charging them.
When the n falls through, raw aggression is thest path forwards, John thought, as the two of them met on the field of battle. A wave of golden energy shed against the Gamers Particle Skin. Having finished off so many enemies with Arcana Strike meant that John had a mana regeneration of 90 MP per second, with all costs already deducted. Under such circumstances, he was more than willing to just power through any attack.
He emerged unscathed on the other side and raised his left hand. Dropping the estoc, he pointed his index finger at the ornate trolls head. The emperor reacted just in time, moving to the side before a purple ray of energy prated the air where his head had just been. That wasnt enough to escape the Arcana Ray, however. John just moved his finger and the attack travelled along. A high-pitched sound, like a drop of water evaporating on a hot te, apanied the motion.
The emperor dodged further to the right, which was where John met him with a slice of the Talon of the Ravenlord. Empowered by the lightning Enchantment, the attack stunned the emperor for a moment. Then he was struck not only by the Arcana Ray of John but also that of the Mand Sphere. Slowly cutting holes through his leathery hide, the emperor roared defiantly. The blue skin started to shimmer in a metallic fashion. A precursor for some sort of counterattack, no doubt.
John simply used Shifting Momentum to get out of melee range. Not because he was afraid, but because he didnt want to be in the way when a meteorite and ance forged from lightning both hammered into the boss. Metra and Gnome followed up quickly and the emperor got dogpiled before any of his potential power could really shine through.
Dumb AI behaviour could trivialize a lot of encounters.
Chapter 847 – The Night of Poker and Booze 1 – Arrivals
Chapter 847 C The Night of Poker and Booze 1 C Arrivals
John turned thest ss he had ced on the counter a small degree and looked at the lounge he had prepared. Ebony wood and red cloth fashioned into furniture and carpet, with a bronze chandelier hanging overhead and framed ss showing the insides of the closets. Most of it was stacked with luxurious tes and sses, more assets to look good than items to actually be used. A bar at the back held a number of spirits, and a seamlessly integrated fridge, following the same dark design of the remaining furniture, held a number of non-alcoholic beverages. Their purpose was to serve in mix-drinks or rehydration.
A single,rge table stood in the middle of the room, currently under close inspection of the Gamer. The middle of the table sported arge, golden te. Around it, four sses had been ced, with a bowl between each of them. Containing various salty foods, nuts, crisps, pretzel sticks and the like, they were supposed to keep their electrolytes bnced while they went through the booze. In a fit of bored perfectionism, John turned all of the whiskey sses so one of their four corners pointed towards the seats of his soon-to-arrive guests.
Hopefully soon-to-arrive, John thought and looked around one more time. Taking out his phone, he put on some basic lounge music. Hidden speakers all across the room started ying the melodic tunes. Then he checked whether the venttion worked correctly. Hidden underneath the tes of the ceiling were several shafts that made sure they would continue to have fresh air. Something quite important, given that the room had no windows. Both systems were controlled via a pretty simple interface Scarlett had programmed for him. To be more urate, she had copied a system that she had been using for a while and changed what connected to what.
Having a woman that could basically think up code in his harem was a definitive help in his life. Whenever some piece of software didnt do what John wanted it to do, he just gave Scarlett a call and she fixed it in less than ten minutes. Usually less than ten seconds, but some code was so badly written that even she needed to take a pause and look at it. During those times, John usually was amused by her cursing like a drunk sailor and by looking at her butt.
His mind distracted by memories of the gorgeous, androgynous redhead and her ass filling out her suit pants, John managed to bridge the time, until he heard the knock on the door, with pleasing thoughts. Without waiting for his verbal answer, Aclysia pushed down the brass handle and opened the door for his first guest.
By Gaia, did you have to put your entire ISLAND on 30 degrees? Maximillian asked as he stepped inside. Like John, he wore a well-sitting shirt and pants, royal blue and ck, respectively, in his case. A suit vest that he had likely worn until he hit the heat of the Guild Hall hung over his arm. While Maximillians offense was well-acted, the suppression of his smile did not reach all the way to his eyes. I thought I was going to melt.
Jane has control of the tower-sized thermostat, not my fault, John retorted and gave Aclysia a thankful nod, before the maid bowed and closed the door again. Anyway, d you could make it. Old shirt?
Kind of new, actually, the self-exiled king answered and hung the jacket of his suit over the back of one of the chairs. Leaning his cane against the table, he sat down. Once he wasfortable, he asked, Why?
John pointed at the sleeve, specifically the right one, where one of the two buttons that regted how tight the end sat dangled from a single thread. Not particrly royal of you, buddy, the Gamer mocked.
Inspecting the damage closer, Maximillian first mumbled something unttering. Must have happened when I was around that new forest earlier, he then said and looked to John. You wouldnt happen to have stuff around I could fix that with?
Can you do it by yourself? John wondered and got a challenging gaze in retort. What? Its a justified question! he defended himself, while retrieving a toolbox from his inventory. Filled with screwdrivers, hammers and other manners of mundane tools, it was one of those things the Gamer carried around just because it didnt take away too much space while having potential uses. That it still looked brand new testified itsck of use. Regardless, John kept it around. He undid the safety sps on the lid and looked inside.
I may have grown up with maids and servants, but I know how to do things by myself, Maximillian retorted, while taking off his shirt. Seeing the kings naked torso messed somewhat with the regal feeling of the room, but so did the bowls with snacks and John didnt care about either. Pointing his chin at those bowls, Maximillian continued, Speaking of maids, Aclysia did a nice job of putting this ce together.
That was me! Johnined, while handing over a seamer, a sewing needle and some appropriately coloured yarn.
No.
The hell do you mean no?
I mean that I dont believe you, Maximillian responded while making a knot in the yarn.
I did though, John crossed his arms. I specifically wanted to do this by myself. Aclysia is only around to guide you lot to the right door.
Suuuureeee, Maximillian responded with such a level of sarcasm that the Gamer genuinely wasnt certain whether the gravity mage was messing with him or just did not believe him. Do you have a second needle and a scissor for me?
I have a pair of scissors, John returned in a smartass tone and raised a small one, appropriate for cutting yarn.
English is so stupid. The German man shook his head and then started sowing. There was more to it than John had thought. The button was removed from the shirt, an x-stitched in its ce, the button ced above the x, the second needle ced on top of the button, and then Maximillian actually sewed the button in ce. Going in an x-shape between the holes, he went through each six times, then removed the secondary needle, leaving some space, wrapped excessed yarn around the underside of the button and then fastened the entire thing up by stitching through the sleeve one more time and making a few knots on the other side.
Once John had his stuff back and the toolbox was safely stored in his inventory, he asked, What were you doing in the forest anyway?
I had a date with Feliunara, Maximillian responded, putting his shirt back on.
Thats one of your elven lovers, right? John asked. The name alone was a dead give-away, but he wanted to be extra certain. Brown hair, was with you in Florida?
Yeah, Maximillian confirmed. She wanted us to walk through the forest and see how things areing along while we pick up some wood for carving.
At the moment we are just removing the gravestones, really, John responded. While he did not mind destroying the copy of a graveyard, leaving the gravestones around would have felt macabre. Same was true for the mortal remains, but those, for whatever reason, didnt actually carry over. John assumed that bones were somehow special in order to prevent necromancers to just stroll up to a world war battle site and create thousands of soldiers.
I noticed, Maximillian sighed heavily. We were looking for organically fallen wood. He putrge air quotations around those three words. Forest elves like to carve, but only if the tree agrees with it or is absolutely dead.
so just about everything that lies on the ground? John asked.
You would think that, but no, it has to be so dead that, even if you injected magic into it, it could not sprout new roots, the royal sighed heavily. That limits things rather immensely, it turns out.
The things we do for love, John sighed. His first impulse had been to make fun of his friend, but then he remembered he let his heat-addicted girlfriend manipte the temperature in a several kilometrerge area.
At least its colder in here, Maximillian mumbled, likely having thought something simr. Where did you put the water? I dont want to start with whisky when I was melting on the way here.
Oh, so NOW you believe me that I put the water somewhere? the Gamer asked while he got up and strolled over to the fridge. Sparkling or not?
Sparkling, Maximillian requested and soon had a bottle and non-whisky ss brought to his seat.
Another knock on the door caught their attention, and a momentter, Aclysia guided Ted inside. The general arrived just like Maximillian, with his jacket over his arm but otherwise suited up. He added a white shirt to the current mix of ck and dark blue. Hello, he said simply, offering his hand first to John and then to Maximillian. Ted, he introduced himself.
Maximillian, the king responded and shook. Of course, they knew each other by name from both getting mentioned by John asionally, but they hadnt properly met yet.
Ted was about the same height as Maximillian and John and his dark hair was the shortest among the three of them, barely above a buzzcut on top and definitely a buzzcut on the sides. His dark brown eyes wandered to the table and looked over the surroundings. Aclysia did a nice job, he stated.
It was me! Johnined, to Maximillians snickering. I put this together! I designed the room, including the furniture, I bought the tes and filled up the fridge! Aclysia cleans here, but I made sure it looked nice for today!
Ted gave him a doubtful look. If you say so, he said.
I do, John insisted and then pointed at one of the empty seats. Please, do sit down. You need anything?
Whiskey on the rocks, Ted responded. I dont care what. I was told I could get drunk today.
Do you mean by me or did Chemilia let you? John joked. Unusually, especially in Johns circle of friends, Ted was the submissive in his rtionship. His wife was also the one that insisted on a harem, although theirs was a lot less binding than Johns or even Maximillians. The general couple basically invited other girls to stay in the bedroom but there was no real emotional attachment to those women.
You, Ted responded. My wife doesnt own me.
Right, right, John waved off with a smile on his face. He knew Ted for long enough now to know that the guy was often intense, with his unmoving face and therge scar on it, but rarely serious about it. Just as John returned from the alcohol closet with a bottle of whiskey, the door opened for the third andst time. Hello Magnus, the Gamer greeted the son of Magoi.
Evening, the Fateweaver greeted in a simrly short fashion as Ted had. The two men had some very simr behaviours. John was quite certain that this came from them also having simr walks of life. Albeit for different reasons, both Ted and Magnus had to work pretty hard to justify their positions in the world, leaving them with stoic behaviour. Max, Ted, John, he greeted each of them with a nod. Since he and Ted were operating in the same guild, they knew each other quite well. With introductions done, he looked at the room itself. I see Beatrice prepared the room nicely.
Why would you say it was Beatrice? John wanted to know, confused.
Aclysia isnt detail-obsessed enough to turn the whiskey sses in a way that the corners point at the seats, Magnus answered while he moved towards thest empty chair. While he had alsoe in shirt and pants, he had spared himself the trouble of wearing a jacket. His long brown hair was confined into a pony-tail.
I C prepared C this C room, John said very slowly, gaining himself a doubtful look for the third time.
You cant do things without your maids, Magnus stated. You have the household abilities of a first semester student.
Which means you can clean surfaces alright and prepare three meals: eggs, frozen pizza and noodles, Maximillian saw his opportunity and dug a little bit further in there.
asionally you will get fancy and manage to cook a very basic steak, Ted put some more salt into the wound. I guess you can arrange some bowls and put chips in there, though.
Thank you. Johns voice was dripping in poison. Wandering over to the alcohol storage, he grabbed a bottle of sweet wine. He had wanted to start with beer, but the situation called for something stronger. mming it and a fitting ss on the table on his return, he quickly started pouring himself a drink. Really, thank you all for keeping my ego in check. I will now proceed to destroy you in every game we will y tonight.
You can try, Maximillian cockishly responded, grinning as he sipped on his cold water.
Pass me the whiskey, Ted, Magnus just requested and subsequently filled his small ss with the amber liquid. Without asking, he stood up and also fetched himself an extra ss just for water.
The poker evening was about to begin.
Chapter 848 – The Night of Poker and Booze 2 – Playstyles
Chapter 848 C The Night of Poker and Booze 2 C ystyles
They actually continued to chat about this and that for more than half an hour before John got the cards out. By that time, he had ended hisrgely faked outrage. That everyone thought he couldnt even prepare a room without Aclysia did bother him somewhat, but not enough to actually get and stay mad. When he was shuffling the poker deck, he was as calm as usual. Maximillian distributed the chips they would y for around the table.
And how was the woodcarving? he asked, blending two stacks of cards together through moderately adequate movements of his hands. With his dexterity, it was possible for him to pick up professional shuffling without issue, but he hadnt done it often enough to do it with the ease magicians and casino employees did.
It was a thing, Maximillian responded. Not exactly my pastime of choice, but it was a nice experience. It is important to have a wealth of those, if you want to write any scripts thatre halfway decent.
You are trying to get into Hollywood, right? Ted asked, understandably somewhat out of the loop. John started to deal the cards. Theyout of the table was slightly suboptimal, he realized, with the bowls and sses in the way. Given that this was just a four-yer friend match, he shouldnt have minded, but he still connected his mind to the Mand Sphere.
To properly rx and to avoid any incidents once he was drunk, his Extension was resting in the bedroom. As he was only one ss of wine into the evening, he could change that very quickly to move Jack to one of theputers and order a proper poker table on the Abyss Auction. This may have spurred some questions with the girls, if any of them had been present. They were all either doing their own work, on their way to Raves party or already there. Even Aclysia would, now that she had shown the way to everyone invited, clean up somest few things and then head over there. John was having a guys night and the harem was having adies night. With Chemilia, some of Maximillians harem and Nina attached.
Networking was definitely happening.
Less trying to get into it and more moving up inside it, Maximillian returned and took a nce at the cards he had been dealt. His face was unmoving until he looked back up and continued the conversation. I already got past the door although, honestly, Im just about ready to bow out of Hollywood again and do something independent.
Too much in the way of nepotism and too little meritocracy? John theorized, checking on his own cards. It was a mediocre hand, which was the worst of all as far as he was concerned. With a bad hand he would have at least known to bow out immediately. Regardless, his face stayed unmoving, not letting know how he felt about his hand to his opponents.
That about sums it up, the self-exiled king nodded. That and some shady stuff I heard is going on with certain producers. He sipped on his whiskey and said no more about the topic, which was a pretty good indicator he was done with that part of it. Instead, Maximillian stared at Ted, who looked at his cards with a furious intensity. Did you get shafted or what are you gloomy about, Ted?
Im not sure if we should let John deal, the general announced.
Isnt it a bit early to use me of cheating? John wanted to know. With Possession, there were more than a few things he could do as long as he could get his hands on the cards. Well just switch every round. I could just Observe you if I wanted to make this easy on myself.
I did put on something that will let me know if you try, so dont! Maximillian warned. It was exceedingly unlikely that even the king could easily get his hands on something that could actually block Observe at this point. When it came to an alert system, however, John believed that there were rtively cheap things out there.
You mind if I smoke in here? Magnus suddenly chimed into the conversation with something entirely different. It was a question with a very obvious answer, since there were already ashtrays on the table.
The room has a venttion system, so it should be fine, John responded.
The Fateweaver nodded and reached into the air. There were a few ripples, like the flicker of heat above heated tar, when he put his hand into his dimensional pocket. Costly to buy and maintain and nowhere near as potent as Johns inventory, those folded spaces were still much better than carrying luggage around. Magnus withdrew a wooden casket.
Can I take one? Ted asked, when the long-haired Fateweaver ced down his box of cigars.
Yes, Magnus answered, took out one for himself and then turned the box around so Ted had easy ess. They only had one scissors and lighter between them, so it took a bit for both to be served.
I didnt know you were a smoker, John pointed out while he ced five extra cards face down in the middle to serve as themunity cards.
Not when I am sober, Ted responded, took a deep huff of the cigar, breathed out the smoke and then finished his second ss of whiskey. The liquid went to assault his liver and the smoke was quickly sucked out of the room by the venttion system. Always mix your drugs. An amused blow of air through his nose indicated that the general had just joked.
Not sure I share that opinion. John grinned. Anyway, ce your bets. In turn, they all ced a moderate amount of chips in the middle of the table and the Gamer then revealed the first threemunity cards. Ted folded in that round, the rest of them raised. The fourth card was turned upside and now Magnus dropped out.
John turned around thest card and kept a close eye on his friend. Frowning openly at the final card that was revealed, Maximillian suddenly froze, gave John a panicked nce and then resumed his frown as if that was what he had meant to show the entire time. Thats a bit too obvious acting, which means that he wanted me to catch that, the Gamer thought and looked at his hand. Even with what was on the table, his cards were still mediocre. A frown would mean that he has bad cards, but if he wants me to catch it, he wants me to actually think he has good cards, which means he has, in reality, bad cards! Both of them raised the bets and John presented his result. Two Pair, he announced.
Flush, Maximillian revealed in kind and won the round. Confused, John looked at the card, Maximillian snickered. Youre such a giant overthinker. I just wanted you to catch me pretending to have a bad hand, because I knew that would make you think I actually had a bad hand, when I had a good hand. That would work with NOBODY else. Stacking the chips orderly by worth, the king hummed to himself. I half expected you to go All-In.
When did you be so good at reading characters, huh? John wanted to know, grumbling and pouring himself another ss of wine. Once he had emptied that bottle, he was going to get more ice for his whiskey.
Im not, Im just good at reading aplicated simpleton like you, buddy, Maximillian continued in a good mood. The cards were collected and handed over to Magnus, who started to shuffle them after cing his cigar on the rim of an ashtray. So, how was your week? the gravity mage asked him. Things going well between you and Nina?
Surprisingly so, Magnus responded, shuffling with lightplications. The cards were new, but the Fateweaver just didnt have the dexterity of John and so his movements didnt make them blend as well as they could have. She is smart and hardworking. Doesnt cause a lot of issues. Cleans the dishes when I cook. Very reasonable woman. Looking up from his hands, once he was done shuffling, he gave John a thankful nod. Good pep-talk.
Was my pleasure. John rolled his neck. He was still irked that he had gotten outyed by Maximillian, but at least the sessful rtionship of a friend was something to boost his confidence with. At least we all have luck with women.
Do we? Maximillian asked in a joking tone. As far as I am concerned, I have really bad luck with women.
Dont you have like three big-titty elves you sleep with on the regr? the Gamer asked.
Sure, but I also managed to hook up with the mother of my best friend.
Ted spewed out the sip of whiskey he was drinking at that moment andughed. It was an oddly viinous sound, as if he was standing above the death machine that was about to chomp his rival hero into pieces he could feed to the carnivorous ducks outside hisir. You did what?! he asked, an extreme amount of amusement getting into his usually controlled tone.
We dont talk about it, John growled and cracked his knuckles.
We really shouldnt talk any more about it, the king was quick to agree. John wasnt sure why he had even brought it up in the first ce, only to relent so eagerly. Then again, Ted was stillughing and they were drinking at a pretty rapid pace. That was about all the reason necessary. With a slight smile, Magnus dealt the second round.
Nina aside, John changed the topic back. What did you do this week?
Im monogamous.
I asked what, not who. John rolled his eyes and then looked at his cards. An ace and a king, both diamonds, a pretty good starting hand. How do I even y this? he suddenly asked himself. If overthinking got him read by Maximillian and basic thinking by the other two, should he just not think at all? He might as well have written RNGesus take the wheel on his forehead if that was the strategy. Guess I will just have to work with what I have in each instance, he decided.
Been doing research on the Worldgems, Magnus responded. Father gave me two to test a few things on. Fascinating things. I havent found anything that is relevant to talk about yet. Been spending all the time in theboratory looking at the readings.
You keep working for the good of my republic, John mused.
Ill keep working as long as you keep paying me and giving me interesting things, Magnus returned.
Dont you think my republic is a bit of an oxymoron, mister dictator? Maximillian wanted to know.
Yes, but also no, mister monarch.
Hey, my country elects its leader.
No, your highest seven leaders and Romulus elect your leader, John responded. Few of which are elected.
Still more democratic than how you get to be head of the executive, Maximillian insisted.
Thats true, but my people can still do more on a lower level.
I guess you got me there. They both put down the discussion. By the way, you remember this Lucifrena you mentioned to me?
Hard to forget it if you are face to face with a seraph. Johns dry tone was only oiled once he finished his wine and raised his bet. Especially one that Gaia tells to p you around for a bit. What about her?
It sounded interesting, so I looked around for a little bit C discreetly, Maximillian said. I dont hear about a human that cane back from the dead as her Innate Ability all that often, especially not one that supposedly is around Romulus level.
To be fair, she might just have gotten that strong in this reincarnation, if Observe is to be trusted, John added in there and grabbed the bottle of whiskey on the table. After looking at the bottle for a moment, he deemed that he wanted some other kind and got up.
You sound remarkably uninterested about this, Maximillianined.
John looked over his shoulder and saw both Magnus and Ted nodding. Given all of the mystery that surrounded the periodic appearances of the angel, and the way she had dominated the Gamer in battle, them expecting a higher level of interest was understandable. The thing is that I can read helpful, prideful motherfuckers as well as you can read overthinking simpletons, John said as he looked through the over fifty kinds of whiskey (and other high percentage liquors) that had been aligned in the closet. If you had found something thats important, you wouldnt have waited until I drank a bottle of wine in he checked his smartphone and recoiled a bit, forty minutes to tell me on poker night. Jesus, I need to slow down a little bit.
Humbug, Ted dered and toasted in Johns direction. Drink more. He emptied another ss and then added more cigar smoke to the taste. Inexperience with tobo showed in a few coughs that followed an overly enthusiastic inhale.
Moderation is good, Magnus disagreed and sipped on his water.
John returned to the table with some ice harvested from the Guild Hall building in a bucket and a bottle of whiskey he personally found to be more tasteful in his hands. Using a metal tweezer, he threw three pieces of ice into the ss and then poured alcohol on top until it was half full. I guess I will just stay the course then, he dered and smelled the whiskey. That helped a little bit with taking care of shivers he often got when he downed strong alcohol too quickly. What did you find, Max?
Absolutely nothing, he said. Isnt that interesting?
It is, yeah, John agreed and sipped on the beverage. Once the ss was on the table, he continued. You would expect SOMEONE to have recorded the appearance of an angel. Yet, the only thing I can find thats even approximate is Lucifer before the fall. That doesnt work because she was female, rather human and didnt strike me at all as evil in any sense.
Nothing against Christianity, but I dont think the Bible is a particrly great source of historical facts, Abyssal or mundane, in the first ce, Maximillian said.
Some things are tangentially true, Magnus said. You know, like the flooding of the middle east.
Yeah, not disputing that, the gravity king nodded along. Still, not the greatest source to get to know the whole truth, is my point.
Its more an assortment of life-guiding metaphors than a historical work, John agreed. Anyway, where were you going with this?
Right, I wanted to say that I went home for a bit. Took a ne
You know I can teleport you over to Berlin within five minutes, right? John interrupted, the alcohol making it even harder to stay on topic than his tangent happy spirit made it in general.
Yes, I guess, Maximillian hummed. Ill hit you up next time. Anyway, went back home, told my sister to concentrate on the job, checked out the rebuilding progress of Prague, but, importantly for you, I visited the libraries of Vienna, Prague and Rome. Absolutely nothing. He made arge gesture that coincided with him throwing more chips into the betting bowl. Three of Europes C the worlds C greatest archives and nothing. What do you make of that, smart guy?
Appearances are too scarce to be written down, too far between to let a pattern be spotted, Lucifrena generally keeps a low profile and doesnt get involved in notable conflicts or Gaia doesnt want any records to stay, John quickly listed. Or you didnt dig deep enough.
Any of those, Maximillian agreed. Didnt spend more than an afternoon in each and I didnt go bbering to the overseers. If you want to look into this, I would guess you should try out Prometheus archives in Constantinople.
Whenever I have the time for something like that John mumbled.
Chapter 849 – The Night of Poker and Booze 3 – Of all things drunken
Chapter 849 C The Night of Poker and Booze 3 C Of all things drunken
John was mighty tipsy. He was well on his way to have a sway in his walk, but for the moment he still managed to nt one foot in front of the other while taking care of his bnce. Careful to not concentrate on a single spot for too long and increase the dizzy feeling of drunken movement, he made his way to the door and pushed down the handle. Im back, he announced his return from the bathroom.
About time, Maximillianined, still sitting in his chair. A light slur in his tone betrayed his own increase of alcohol in blood percentile. Magnus, always the more level-headed drinker, was sipping on a ss of water, like he did between every drink. Ted was lying on the table, head buried in the elbow of his left arm. With what remained of his Wisdom, John had ced a bucket right next to him.
One more round? Magnus mumbled past what remained of his cigar. They had been ying poker for hours, simply redistributing the chips whenever someone had gathered up all of them. The tally so far was three wins for Magnus, two for Ted and one for John and Maximillian each. The two young yboys of the group were so preupied with reading each other that Magnus and Ted with their simple and clean ystyles often ended up winning by default. Since Ted had eventually gotten so drunk that he had lost the ability to read his cards, he fell off in theter rounds.
Is he still alive? John wanted to know and, in an act of low moral fibre, kicked the leg of Teds chair. The rocking motion caused the general to groan and sluggishly wave his middle finger in Johns general direction. Apparently, he answered his own question. Hey, Ted, want to lie down for a minute?
Yesh, came the short answer, followed by a dangerously deep-seated burp.
Exchanging a nce with Maximillian and Magnus, the Gamer proceeded to help Ted stand up. Magnus also helped, carrying the bucket. Because he wouldnt have been much help, with his bad ankle and all that, Maximillian just waited and browsed his smartphone. With a bit more empathy, John asked, You doing okay there?
Im drunk, Ted responded, leaning so heavily on John he might as well have carried him properly.
I can see that, John joked. Im asking if youre good in your state.
Yesh, sir, jusht wannay down, shir, the general slurred. Alcohol tasted good funpany nice break from work
Thats good then. John pointed his head at the next door. Magnus opened it for him and they stumbled inside. It was a saloon much like the one they had left, with the very important difference that its furniture was definitely better for lounging, being dominated by armchairs and sizable couches. Moving Ted to one of them, he carefullyid down the general. Magnus ced the bucket in immediate viewing range and also left a ss of water on a nearby table.
John didnt exactly expect Ted to make use of either. More than likely there would be a rather disgusting stain on the carpet tomorrow. The honourable thing for the Gamer would be to take care of that himself. In reality, he was already dropping a text message to Aclysia so he couldnt forget about this. And this is why nobody believes you can put a room together on your own, he berated himself. Well be two doors down, when you feel better, the Gamer promised and then backed off.
Thanksh Terkal Ted mumbled, already half asleep C or as asleep as a drunk person could be.
Not knowing what to answer to that, John just opted to say nothing and backed out of the room. Once they were back in the corridor, Magnus asked, Terkal? His tone indicated that he knew the name, but clearly not exactly who it was.
Another one of the generals of the Marnd C he was killed by Sigmund, John responded, pinching the bridge of his nose. The alcohol made him more emotional than usual and he blinked a few times.
No such thing as a life without tragedy, Magnus said.
No, John just agreed and took a slow breath in and a long breath out. By the time his lungs were empty, he had regained hisposure. He had made peace with what had happened back then. At least to the degree someone who wasnt sociopathic could. It was just so unexpected it had threatened to overwhelm him for a second.
Thankfully, when they got back to the room, Maximillian wasughing out loud at something he was watching on his phone. Yo,e, look at this! More than the urging of the gravity king, John was intrigued by Elizas voiceing from the device, along with theughter of many other girls, some of which he recognized by voice alone. It stopped when Maximillian stopped the video and dragged it back to the start.
John and Magnus bowing over the back of Maximillians chair, they finally got to see what this was about. The stopped frame showed Eliza standing on top of a ck tform. Her almost naked body, d only in the usual bikini and thong, was illuminated by the many-coloured lights of the dancefloor in the cer of Raves club. Next to the white-blue haired blood mage, slightly lower thanks to the elevation of the tform, was Nina. A few other girls, of Johns harem and not, were standing or sitting around the area, frozen inughter or in the motion of taking drinks. They were also in all states of dress, going from the naked Metra and Undine to the still fully clothed Aclysia and Gnome. Notably, Nina was in an outfit that made it seem very much like she had been showing her fellow girls how to use a stripping pole earlier.
Kemia just sent me this, Maximillian exined and then yed the video.
The first thing that happened was Eliza slumping where she stood in an obviously drunk way. However they had managed to ovee her insane metabolism was a mystery to John, but he didnt have time to care. Nina was pping a simple beat, which had John wondering whether or not she endorsed what came next.
With a bit of a slur and sometimes failing to hold the note, Eliza sang with the ashamedness of a drunk person.
If youre a happy little sub, p your hands.
If youre a happy little sub, p your hands.
If youre a happy little sub, and you like getting fucked up, if youre a happy little sub, p your hands!
If you think you deserve his cock, p your cheeks.
If you think you deserve his cock, p your cheeks.
If your master loves your back and he also gropes your rack, if you think you deserve his cock, p your cheeks.
If you like your throat get used, present your mouth.
If you like your throat get used, present your mouth.
If you crave the taste of cum, want to be used lips to bum, if you like your throat get used, present your mouth.
If you want to feel the paddle, wiggle your bum.
If you want to feel the paddle, wiggle your bum.
If you want to feel the paddle, have your throat choked until you rattle, if you want to feel the paddle, wiggle your bum.
If you want the ropes and toys, beg for more.
If you want the ropes and toys, beg for more.
Put the ring-gag in my mouth, make me cry and moan and shout, if you want the ropes and toys, beg for more.
If he givespliments to you, panic now.
If he givespliments to you, panic now.
Get that shit right out of here, put that dick inside my rear, if he givespliments to you, panic now.
If youre a good little slut, shut your mouth.
If youre a good little slut, shut your mouth.
Let your master do the talking, do not get verbal unless hes asking, if youre a good little slut, shut your mouth!
The video ended there. Throughout the song, several women had joined or dropped out. Chemilia had stood, wearing only white underwear, in the middle of the room and never done more than swing her head to the melody. Nina had kept going throughout the entire thing and even sung along when she could. His drunk mind didnt go to ask about that, however. He was stuck with a more pressing, primitive thought than inquiring about the bedroom habits of a friends girl. Im going to fuck the shit out of herter.
Still weirds me out that she is such an ultra-masochist, Maximillian stated. Also, how do you keep finding these harem-crazy, submissive happy girls? Its like youre a masochist ma.
Thats just my dominant aura, John responded.
Dude, I genuinely cant tell if youre joking or if you have a Skill for that. You do have that orgasm onmand thing after all.
Which did help in training the more switch-y of my girls to get more submissive leaning, John returned. No, but seriously, its a mixture of luck, acquired taste and me just learning how to read people. Scarlett, for example, I showed that she was a masochist. If she had been more like Siena, chances would be we wouldnt have clicked immediately and she wouldnt be in my harem now. Siena is only really in because I had to help her get her shit together he stopped for a moment. Seriously, I am going to fuck Eliza cross-eyed when I next see her.
Magnus nodded next to him, John could imagine why, then they returned to their seats. I guess its sort of like how I mostly end up with women that have big tits. Thats just who I flirt with, Maximillian hummed, fiddling a bit more with his phone. With the words, I sent you the video, by the way, he then put it away.
Thanks, John could only imagine the amount of teasing he could do with that.
One more round? Magnus asked, once more holding the cards.
I dunno, the Gamer slurred his response, filling his whisky ss past the halfway point, with only a single ice cube still in there. A momentter, the ss was only a quarter full and he shivered. His body revolted against the extra bit of poison for one second, then he got it under control. Dont really feel like ying even more poker.
How about a single round but we actually bet something valuable? Maximillian suggested.
Like what? Magnus asked.
Ill let the winner stay in my castle in Prague for one week and act like he owned the ce, Maximillian suggested and threw a single, yellow chip into the bowl at the centre. And I will pay for catering, answer all the press inquiries and just generally let you ravage the ce like the Communists did in the Five Days War.
Ill give the winner 5 gram of each of the elemental extreme metals, John pulled along after a moment of hesitation. He was well aware that he was giving away something extremely valuable, both in time and money, but the alcohol numbed his capacity to care. Throwing a chip into the bowl as well, a dark blue one, the Gamer looked to the long-haired Fateweaver.
Hmm I dont have castles or valuable metals, Magnus hummed. What can I offer Ill honour the winner in front of every research paper that I publish in the next 10 years, how about that? The two younger men nodded and Magnus tossed a white chip into the bowl. Then he went back to shuffling his cards.
Thetest swig of whiskey started to really burn by the time that John was looking at his cards. While he deliberated whether he should try and pull his brain together or just y after the motto of fuck it, Magnus startedughing wildly. Confused, John looked up. The Fateweaver tossed the two cards he had been dealt next to the three that had been revealed. Royal Straight Flush, he announced, his deep voice raspy with amusement and cigar smoke.
Fucking card games, John mumbled and tossed his average hand onto the table. Maximillian did the same, although heughed along with Magnus instead of being salty. Howe you only get pissed when you lose to me, huh?
Because youre a giant dick, the gravity mage responded.
Chapter 850 – The Night of Poker and Booze 4 – Suffering in the whiskey club
Chapter 850 C The Night of Poker and Booze 4 C Suffering in the whiskey club
John was lying on his back. The ceiling refused to stop moving. Circling, moving left to right, swinging just as the still surface under him, the Gamer felt as if he was lying on a ship that was being moved by steady waves. Soft as it was, the steadiness still gave him vertigo. He would have sat up, but he hadid down in the first ce to escape the swaying of his upper body. The music, worthy of an elevator, seemed to mock his state of unstable rigidness with its calm tones.
His view was that of the underside of the table and his friends legs. Without even trying to exin himself, the Gamer had chosen the floor as his ce to rest his back on, rather than join Ted where the couches were. Since that view was pretty boring, he closed his eyes. Now the inside of his eyelids refused to stop spinning. Concentrating on his breathing, he listened to Magnus and Maximillian talk.
And another one goes down, Magnus remarked. John didnt have the energy to reply.
I mean, he did go through by Romulus, did he drink three bottles by himself? There was the sound of ss and Maximillian listing stuff, A bottle of wine and two bottles of whiskey, yeah. Gamers Body plus high Endurance, I guess.
Thats how these things go, the Fateweaver agreed. How are you holding up?
Probably going to slow down a bit and see if he has some kind of beer in the fridge. I dont think I need to even ask about you.
I know how to keep tipsy, Magnus responded. You lot just overindulge. I have ns tomo- There was a short stop, the sound of some fidgeting and then the older man continued, Today.
I mean, so do I, but I can do it with a hangover. Or I will get someone to heal me of it.
What are you doingter today then?
Ive been giving dance lessons on Sundays recently. Started as a favour to a producer, but I found out that its a pretty good way to get to know women.
Isnt it a bit immoral to date students?
If theyre adults that are, on average, older than me? No, I dont think so, Maximillian retorted and finally went to the fridge to check its contents. They continued to talk while he rummaged around. I am giving lessons in ballroom dancing. If they donte with a partner, I regard that as an invitation.
Fair enough, Magnus conceded the point.
There was a soft thud when the fridge was closed and Maximillian returned to his seat. Then came the hissing sound of a beer can getting opened. Whatre you doing then? More research?
Ill go into the Training Hall, he responded. Im a member of Collide now. I can train there until I hit level 50. This was a rtively recent development that came thanks to the increase with the maximum number of Core Members. It was a good idea since Magnus, despite having his potential capped at 35, could level up to 50 in there as if that wasnt the case. Although the levels gained inside there were more likely toe down as an increase of physical Stats or otherbat-supporting results, it was still something the Fateweaver could work on. His willingness to chase whatever he could to ovee his natural shorings was something that John deeply admired in Magnus.
You think John has something we can y while he is dead? Maximillian wondered. And dont say poker. Im not ying that with you ever again. Turn one Royal Straight Flush is just a sign from Gaia to not even try.
I dont think Gaia cares enough to involve herself in that situation, Magnus pointed out.
Of course she doesnt. If there is a deity that could do something that mundane without anyone noticing, itd be her though.
True enough. Chess, maybe? the Fateweaver suggested a game. I dont feel like going through all of the closets though.
John opened his eyes and raised a hand. That one, he croaked, pointing at a drawer close to the floor. There should be board games in there.
Oh, hey, youre alive, Maximillian remarked.
No, John responded and closed his eyes again. Magnus stood up, opened two drawers, apparently the Gamer hadnt pointed urately enough, and returned to his chair once he had found what he was searching for.
Good, if you continue to be dead, I wont have to y against you, Maximillian joked, while they set-up the pieces.
I thought you can read the overthinker? Magnus remarked.
I can, but I cant think five steps ahead, like this guy. There was a soft impact of a shoe against Johns leg. He groaned in protest and opened his eyes again. Now he was suddenly aware of how badly he craved water.
To the clicking of the pieces on the wooden chessboard, John rolled onto his side and slowly fought his way to his feet. Halfway up, his field of view split into two. Combined with the general disorientation he was currently experiencing, it was a wonder he didnt fall back down immediately. His body took an instinctive step, which was a horrible mistake, but he managed to suppress the second one and just stabilize by extending his arms to either side.
Are you training for the Olympic Games? Maximillian asked in a joking tone, halfway out of his chair. Once it became clear John didnt need the help, he sat back down. Quietly, Magnus did the same.
No just lost control over one of my eyes, the Gamer answered and tried to sync the contact lenses up again. Although the Vision of Cmity was a pair enchanted to make this task easier, he just didnt manage to. Maybe one of the lenses had slightly shifted position under his closed lid or maybe he was just too drunk. Either way, he couldnt be bothered to fix it at the moment. Fuck it, he said and opened his character screen. Unequipping the lenses, he pulled a normal pair of shades out and Possessed them instead. For a moment, his field of view was on crotch level.
You know, you make it very easy to forget you are blind, Maximillian remarked, looking into Johns milky, brown eyes, unveiled for once.
Good, took me over a month to learn it again, John responded. He knew that that was pretty short as far as rehabs were concerned, but it had still been quite the effort. Putting the shades on his face, he walked over to the fridge to get himself a ss of non-carbonated water. Maximillian and Magnus continued to y chess and he went back to sitting in his chair like a civilized person.
All things considered, he was feeling better now. It was as if lying down, even for how short it had been, had given him a second wind. Feeling pretty content and good enough to hold off on the liquor for a little while, John continued to drink his water, sip by small sip. A huge gulp felt like too much of a task at the moment.
Stop, Magnus suddenly turned in his direction, can you please drink like a normal person? That sound is disgusting.
This sound? John asked and took an extra audible sip. In the corner of his eye, he saw Maximillian looking at his beer bottle with dismay, likely saddened that he couldnt join in annoying the Fateweaver.
Yes.
Ah, well then, John sighed and concentrated on drinking normally. He was childish enough to tease someone over something that mundane, but not enough to draw out the joke when dislike was so strongly stated. Perhaps in a few hours, if the conversation went there, he would bring it up again. Until then, he would behave and find banter and teases elsewhere.
The door to the room suddenly opened and Ted walked in with rtive precision. Im back, he announced, closing the door with only a slight overuse of force. Sorry about that where is the beer? How long was I out?
I love that thats the order you ask things in, John giggled. Whether Ted remembered his earlier misstep or not, the Gamer wasnt interested in asking. That was one of those social situations that didnt need chasing, especially not between friends that knew the necessary details. Fridge and I want to say three hours?
I think you should drink water first, Magnus rmended.
I can drink water when I eat breakfast, Ted responded and grabbed a handful of pretzel sticks to sustain him on his way to the fridge.
We saw your wife in underwear, Maximillian tossed into the conversation.
I doubt that, Ted said and came back with a bottle. Getting handed the opener by Maximillian, he soon got ess to the beverage within.
Pink hair, lighter than Janes, a bit taller and Caucasian? the gravity king gave a very basic description of Chemilia. Like Ted, Maximillian had never really met her before, but since she often appeared next to John in broadcasts, he would have seen her a few times. That not her?
It is, Ted unwillingly responded and raised an eyebrow. Slowly, he met Maximillians bottle with his own in a quick clink. When they had both drunk, the gravity king showed the general the video of Eliza singing. Ted didnt outrightugh, he just smiled and the two clinked sses again after it had run its course, in a more friendly way this time.
Hope we can still be friends now that I saw that, Maximillian joked.
John saw my wife naked. Would be difficult to work for him if I held such a belief.
Wait, what? Did you walk in on her showering or something? the royal wanted to know. identally went into the wrong area of the hot springs while she was in there?
Do I look like a cheap anime protagonist to you? John wanted to know.
Well, you are definitely cheap, Maximillian said and waved his now empty beer bottle.
You like that beer!
And it is cheap.
You drank my one-thousand-dor whiskey!
Come on, buddy. We are both billionaires. Whats a thousand dors?
John let out a series of frustrated sounds and then just went on with the topic. No, we just first time we met, Jane convinced us all to get super drunk and somehow that expanded into an orgy.
You must have been really drunk to let that happen all the way back then. I know how touchy you were about other men being in the room while you have sex, much less naked ones. Maximillian stood up and got another beer. I guess it was less an actual orgy and more you fucking next to each other?
Basically, yeah. It was still he awkward, looking back at it, John responded.
Weird and good times, Ted mumbled and downed his beer immediately. Can you bring me one as well? Youre already on your feet.
Magnus shook his head. You will be back on the couch in an hour.
Im willing to risk it, Ted insisted, and momentster he and Maximillian were right back to drinking beer. John was still on his water and Magnus went to pour himself the whiskey that was to follow his own ss of rehydration.
Checkmate, Maximillian suddenly said. The Fateweaver looked away from his refilled whiskey and onto the chessboard with furrowed eyebrows. Inspecting the board thoroughly, Magnus had to concede defeat. Since I have won, I now get to dictate what we do next, he announced.
That was never anything anyone said, John told him.
By royal decree, I disagree, Maximillian stated, picking the king of the board and wiggling it in front of Johns face. Looking for help, the Gamer nced over to the other two men. They seemed more interested in where this was going than in stopping it in its tracks. The thing was that John already knew where the king would order them to go. Realizing that he already knew, he also wondered why he was against it. I suggest, in a kingly fashion, that we shall pack booze into Johns inventory tost us the trip and walk to the Little Whirl! Ive had enough of being surrounded by sausages.
Actually, not the worst idea ever, John now threw his support behind this. Striptease and blowjob sounds like exactly what I would want right about now.
Almost six hours, Magnus said.
Almost six hours what? Maximillian asked.
John knew what this was about. We managed to not give into our urge to fuck for six hours, he exined.
Is there booze in the Little Whirl? Ted asked. Because booze and strippers sound like a greatbination.
Magnus, my long-haired subject, Maximillian pointed at the Fateweaver with the head of the king he had taken from him, will you follow or do you wish to veto this move? You seem so reluctant towards perversion this night.
I just noted that youre horrible in keeping your cravings in check. I never said I didnt want to go to a strip club, Magnus responded with a smile.
And thus the move was decided.
Chapter 851 – The Night of Poker and Booze 5 – Men stumbling around
Chapter 851 C The Night of Poker and Booze 5 C Men stumbling around
Why are we going outside? John wanted to know, following Maximillian just as the other two men were. The teleporter is upstairs.
Were walking there, the royal decreed.
We cant walk there, were on an ind, you goddamn moron, John responded and pulled a beer out of his inventory. He had wondered why Maximillian had insisted on filling up his pocket space with all of that alcohol. Now he knew. With no bottle opener at hand, John just put his thumb at the edge of the cap and flicked it off. The grating of the metal over his nail was far from pleasant, but with superhuman power, none of that really mattered. The cap bounced off the ceiling andnded somewhere in the hallway. John had forgotten about it by the time the sound stopped ringing. Well just hit the coast.
Itll work out, Maximillian responded with total certainty.
What if it doesnt though? John asked.
The answer came immediately, Then well move up and go back to your teleporter and lengthen our drunken stroll. Giving you and Ted a little bit more time to sober up to the point where you can appreciate twirling womens bodies.
Point taken, John said and took another sip of his beer. With the water in his system, he was already feeling much better. Although he didnt n to stop drinking while they were walking, his intake had to decrease. Mixing drinks was impossible without stopping and a pain even if they did and beersted a tad longer when it had to be swallowed between steps. Hey, hey, Ted, he called us drunk, what do you think of that?
Guilty as charged, the general responded and made a demanding gesture in Johns direction. The president of Fusion withdrew and opened another beer. Then they moved outside. A soft breeze greeted them when they stepped onto thewn.
Why is there wind? Magnus wanted to know, immediately spotting the oddity of this.
Roaming air elementals, John exined, looking around and finally spotting a few green dots that flew westwards. Its a nice change from all the heat. Weather Tower cant make winds yet. Could make it rain though.
Were not in danger of some roaming fire elementals torching us, right? Maximillian asked.
Better not, Ted grumbled, with my current alcohol levels, Id burn too well.
They respect Smander too much to cause problems, John stated. Cause she got the biggest tits.
When I saw her new form, I wondered if you had finally seen the light of tit supremacy, the big-boob-fanatic Maximillian hummed.
Youre German, youre not allowed to talk about supremacy of any kind.
Ill do what I want.
I expected you to respond Im an Austrian!
Which makes me a German, Maximillian said, with a raised eyebrow. Im not a separatist. Id much prefer it if Germany was unified under Austria than under Prussia, but the unified bit is whats important to me. The gravity king took a sip from the bottle of water he had taken along with him. Of course, Im an Austrian before Im a German and a German before Im an Imperial.
Thats an odd way to say European, John said. Or is that what people of the Greater Empire call themselves?
Latter, Maximillian gave a short answer while they went down the stairs of the south-eastern tip of the star fort and then across the bridge spanning the moat. Dont you have ferries or something?
At this hour? No, John responded. People want to sleep, you know?
I think you can hire ferrymen without problems. Its not the most skilled ofbours, Maximillian pointed out.
Not my issue. The ferries are operated by privatepanies; if one of them decides that its financially viable to work through the night, they can do it no problem.
Ah, I thought you had a monopoly on transportation.
No, just a number of agreements regarding what they are obligated to do.
Is one of those obligations to ship your drunk body from one shore to the other?
Funnily enough, that never came up in negotiations.
Ah well, it will work out, Maximillian insisted. Youre on my side, right, Magnus?
I just like taking a stroll, came the simple response.
With many more words along the way, that was what they did. They had to stop a few times, courtesy of one man or another needing to take a leak. With nothing but trees and each other around, that wasnt an issue, luckily. They hit a spontaneous stop, however, when John saw something move between the trees. Something above the size of a fully grown cat, approaching the middle-sized dog breeds thatmonly roamed streets.
In a mood for cuddles, John squatted on the corner of the road and extended his hand. Wiggling his fingers, he waited for the being toe to him. What are you doing? Ted asked.
Attracting a ferocious thief, John told him and wiggled his fingers a bit more. Come here, he said in a tone betweenmand and request. Slowly, a certain birdcat tapped out of the safety of the trees. Warbling, Velka went up to the Gamer and smelled his fingers. It was the smell of the alcohol, in all due likelihood, that had her more cautious than usual. Once she had a bit of a nibble on his fingers, however, she was behaving like usual. Have you met Velka before? John asked Maximillian.
No, the king responded, as all four men came to stand or kneel around the small animal. They all had to go through the usual three step program of being inspected, being smelled and being nibbled at before they were allowed to pat her. I heard of Magryphs, but I didnt think theyd be this soft, Maximillian said, while scratching Velka under the chin (or the rtive equivalent on a bird head, past the beak).
Shes very soft, John agreed, taking his pet from the royal to scratch the base of her wings and coerce her to purr. To his enjoyment, she obliged. He bowed forwards. Velka stretched her neck to meet him and softly bit his nose. Johnughed. She pulled back and looked into his sses. Her head darted forwards and grabbed them at the bridge. The Gamers vision was suddenly plucked from his head. Using her cat instincts, she avoided her owners attempt to grab her.
John took a single step and immediately fell down, his source of vision bouncing in Velkas beak. The Magryph fled back into the forest, eventually flying away with a triumphant warble. Louder than that was theughter by the other three men. VELKA! John angrily shouted into the forest, but the Magryph was still flying away.
John separated the Possession and got up. Fantastic, now Impletely blind. A hand came for the back of his head. He caught it moments before it reached him. I still have supernatural senses Maximillian? he had to guess who it was.
Really, you can sense movements around you?
Thanks to my good connection to Sylph, I can sense the airflow a little bit, John exined. Same as I can do for the other elements. Also, my generally high Stats allow me to sense a lot of movements around me with my skin alone. Letting go of Maximillians hand, John scratched the back of his head. Still, this is annoying. Give me a second. He walked over to a nearby tree and Possessed it to serve as an effective mirror. Then he retrieved one of the contact lenses from his inventory and put it in. A momentter he did the same with the second.
Since he had sobered up quite a bit, the vision issue was now fixed again.
Truly a majestic thief, Maximillian hummed, looking in the general direction of Velkas flight.
A thief that will be punishedter today, John grumbled and they went back on their way. Rtively soon after this incident, they hit the water. Just standing on the beach, the four men looked out across the ocean. Seems like it didnt work out.
Seems so, Maximillian agreed.
They walked all the way back to the Pce, up to the roof and finally went through the teleporter. By the end of all of that walking, they were at least moderately recovered. From where John had put up the outpost for the Transport Station, it wasnt a long walk to the Little Whirl. They still had to pass through a fair bit of the Bae Circle district, but that was fine by them. The Hudson Barriers red-light district was busy as usual. Men were seeking out their favourite establishments to pay fordy favours. Women were happily offering those favours in exchange for money or just for the fun of it. Sometimes those roles were reversed, but the trend went as expected. Kinky couples roamed the streets together, entering shops that offered more distinct services than simple sex, be it renting rooms to go after more specific fetishes or stores for toys, drugs and other interesting supplements.
The four men were often recognized, but Johns public request to not be bothered was still being honoured. Only a few times did drunken women, be it on lust, alcohol or some other substance,e about to bother them. All of them. John and Maximillian were the more popr people to flirt with but Magnus and Ted werent left out by any description.
Those instances became rarer and finally dropped when they had made their way to the better part of the district. The buildings of the CPDI and the SSSN were around there. Although they werent establishments to be frequented, both still had lights on, and John saw a catgirl get fucked against a window in the CPDI building. Uncaring, he moved on. It wasnt too long a walk from where they were to the Little Whirl. Raves club was also quite close.
The long shape of the strip club with its cylinder-shaped attachments soon appeared in front of them. Feeling oddly patient, they stepped into the waiting line, but were quickly waved out by one of the bouncers and let in through the VIP entrance. Walking up to the reception desk, Maximillian did the talking, John did the paying and soon they had a lounge to themselves.
This is a nice ce, Ted remarked.
I know, right? Ie here whenever Im in the area, Maximillian enthusiastically responded, while ordering himself his personal stripper. Since they were four people, they could ask for five of the working women to join them here. One was to use the central stripping pole, while the other four were to serve one of them each. Alright, things you should know. The girls here wear chokers. White choker means that you only get to look, dont touch. ck choker means you can touch if they agree. Red choker means you can fuck them the moment they stroll in.
Noted. Im not here to have sex, Ted said.
Your loss, Maximillian hummed.
Let me guess, youre calling Aletra? John asked, remembering the ebony nymphomaniac who had served the kingst time. She had been an extremely horny and blowjob happy thing. Not that the submissive stripper, Lemia, that had tended to him had been much different.
If shes avable which she is, Maximillian grinned and pressed a button on his phone. What, you telling me youre not calling a red choker girl?
I dont n to, no, John responded. I think Ill just get myself an appetite and stroll over to Raves club and fuck Eliza once were done here.
What if they quit before we do? Magnus asked.
Then I will find Eliza in my bed and fuck her submissive cunt, John said it in an incredibly blunt fashion. Im really craving myself some Eliza right about now. ncing at the bar. Im also craving myself a Sex on the Beach. Guess I will call a white choker girl that mans the bar. What about you two?
If you do that, I wont call anybody, Magnus said.
Same, Ted agreed.
In Romulus name, you people are boring tonight, Maximillianined. Do I need to get youpletely drunk to have you do interesting things?
I think being monogamous makes me interesting, in these circles, Magnus joked.
Touch. I guess Ted isnt allowed to fuck another women without his mistress around?
I can, I just dont want to, the general responded in such a tranquil tone that it didnt leave an opening to mock the statement.
Im really disappointed that you leave me alone with my perversion in this, John. Just as he said that, Aletra came strolling down the staircase that connected this level, where the bar and the stripping pole was, to the level with the bathrooms and the beds.
Hope that wont stop you, Max, the dark-skinned stripper with the body of a dancer purred as she took each step with sensual precision. She was already naked, wearing nothing but a pair of ck high heels and her choker. With her small breasts and otherwise bnced body, the young woman wasnt Maximillians usual choice of partner. Her pure sluttiness must have won him over, especially since their rtionship was purely based on his trips to this establishment. I got ready for you the moment I heard you were in.
What a good girl. Maximillian smiled. No, it wont stop me at all. Disappointed my fellow men would be so limp tonight, but what can I do?
Bit weird you so badly want all of us to have sex in the same room, John confessed his feelings on the matter.
Hey, I just thought you might want to take advantage of the fine offers of this ce, but if you dont C you dont, the gravity king dered, his eyes glued on the approaching Aletra. Soon their lips met and Maximillian was mostly lost for conversations.
Well, since he is having fun over there, we should decide what stripper we want for the central pole, John suggested.
The Little Whirl was as interesting as it had always been.
______________________________________________________________________________
The evening fizzled out eventually. Maximillian got preupied with Aletra. Ted, Magnus and John threw some conversations around while they indulged in the view and the service. While John did manage to stay strong in terms of not fucking any of the strippers, he had a shot out of the strippers cleavage on more than one assion. After about two hours, the general passed out in his chair and the king retreated upstairs to take things from teasing and blowjobs to proper fucking.
Shortly thereafter, John and Magnus decided to finally call it a night. Exchanging a few messages with their respective partners, they found out that much of Johns harem and Nina were still in Raves club. They walked over and were let in by the bouncer without issue. There wasnt even a line anymore; Rave had closed her building to be a purely private endeavour hours ago. The bouncer was just there to inform people of that and because he was contractually obligated to remain until six in the morning.
Although they knew the girls were somewhere in the building, they had no idea where. Johns first instinct was to check the bar on the base floor, which was partly the right choice. He found Nina, Gnome and Siena there, having a rtively private chat about some things that John could only guess was emotionally loaded. Since they stopped talking the moment John and Magnus walked in, he only had the vulnerable expression on Sienas face to make that guess.
And theresh my shaviour! she slurred, tried to get off her bar stool, fell over and passed out.
I guess I will ask what that was about in the morning? John asked, while checking on the moonshade elemental. Simply mumbling in her sleep, the shadow spirit had not harmed herself in any way.
Yes, the autumn elemental responded, sounding both drunk and tired. Giveer here, Ill take her to bed with me to sleep Thatst part had just a tinge of panicked addition in it. Gnome was truly too tired to properly emote. John picked Siena up and handed her curvy body over to Gnome, who then went towards the room behind the bar and the stairs located there. In the meantime, Nina had a short talk with Magnus. The two of them also went upstairs, but only to get to the teleporter. They would spend the night in the tower John had built for Magnus in the Guild Hall.
Everyone else is downstairs in one of the side rooms, Nina told John before she left. He thankfully nodded and they said their goodbyes.
Now alone, John headed underground. Down there was the wet dream of every rave enthusiast. A dance floor with colour-changing floor tiles, aplete cascade of shing lights, massive speakers everywhere, severalyers to dance in a body grinding crowd or with a nice amount of space and side rooms that could be dedicated to more specialized tastes. All of it set in a noise isted undergroundwork that no police would evere and bother and under a government that allowed most drugs, no questions asked. One of them, alcohol, was readily avable on a second bar that was more optimized for beverages to go than the traditional inn design one upstairs.
There were traces of recent usage all over the ce. Empty bottles were scattered all about the ce, spilled drinks made parts of the floor sticky and discarded clothes were left here and there. Regardless of that, the main floor was empty, the non-essential lights out and the music reduced to a background beat. John strained his ears and listened for any voices. Pretty quickly, he picked upughter. A particrly manicughter, belonging to a person John really wanted to see right now.
He headed in that direction.
Chapter 852 – The Night of Poker and Booze Finale – A happy little sub [Erotic Content]
Chapter 852 C The Night of Poker and Booze Finale C A happy little sub [Erotic Content]
The room he found the girls in was a VIP lounge. Leather couches and seats stood around low, circr tables. It was more of a conversing room with techno music than a dance floor, but that didnt stop some of the girls there from shaking their bodies. There were about twenty people in the room still, about half of which were members of Johns harem. The rest were either Maximillians sex friends, Chemilia or simply guests. Notably, Worlina was there.
The majority of women were stark naked and more than a few werepletely upied with making out with one another. Others were talking normally. Things mostly broke down among harem lines, with only Rave and Chemilia having something like a spanking contest being outside of that trend. Johns arrival was noted, but alsorgely ignored. Some cheered, as if he was the bringer of fantastic news. Aclysia and Beatrice made motions toe towards him, but remained seated when he sent them a quick mental update that everything was fine. He searched for Eliza.
She was sitting in a remote corner, still wearing her minimalistic leather clothes, and hadnt noticed him yet. Between sipping on some weird, pink-glowing drink and talking/making out with Undine, her absurd senses must have been dulled considerably. Taking the rare opportunity to surprise her, the Gamer approached her from a blind spot.
Once he was behind her seat, he bowed down and put her in a headlock. For a moment, she went rigid, then her panicked inhale brought Johns particr scent to her attention and she rxed again. Ive been wanting to fuck you for hours, the Gamer grunted and dragged her small body over the backrest of the couch. You better be ready to get ravaged.
Pulling her head back with his left hand, he stared down into her eyes. Meeting his gaze with an absolutely manic expression of lust, the rings of her eyes distorted into the shape of hearts, she opened her mouth only for the Gamer to hook two fingers into it. An overproduction of thick saliva immediately started to flow down her chin, while her tongue curved to lick the part of him she could. Her dishevelled hair stuck to her face. She had clearly been sweaty before, and now her body was getting really heated.
As was John. The hours of wanting his happy little sub, the alcohol and the light sleep deprivation put him in a peculiar mood that he thought best described as a sadistic trance. Eliza started to answer him with a simple, Yesshhh, but any further words she may have wanted to vocalize were ended by him tightening the headlock.
Shut the fuck up, slut, he told her, pushing deeper into her mouth. Her pearly white, sharp and absurdly perfect teeth parted further to allow him. Who cares about the opinion of some whore who is drooling like a waterfall just because I shoved my fingers into her mouth? Youll speak when I tell you to speak; until then, all I want to hear is your moans. A throaty gasp was all the answer she could and was allowed to give.
John just barely noticed that the attention of the room was now shifting in his direction. Be it with surprise or envy, the women were observing his treatment of the masochistic blood mage. He barely noticed it. He absolutely didnt care.
Removing the headlock, he allowed Eliza to breathe, while he moved his hand down. If youre useful for one thing, its this sexy body of yours, he said while grabbing her tits. Through the smooth leather, he felt her hard nipples press against his palm. The piece of clothing was small enough that some of his grasp wed directly into her squishy tit. He kept groping for a little bit, then became impatient and simply ripped the thing off her. The metal ring that kept it all together fell to the floor with an audible clink.
John pped her tits, enjoying how the C-cups jiggled from his over-the-shoulder view. He pulled on her nipples, bit her ear and felt how Eliza grinded her round ass against the bulge of his cock. All the while, she panted through her open mouth like a bitch in heat. Her hands remained dangling at her sides, her legs were limp and her body ready to react to what he wanted to do with it.
He let go of her tits after onest twisting of her left nipple and quickly slid down her smooth midriff and into her thong. Here I thought you were drooling like crazy with this useless hole of yours, he said and stretched out her cheek, now I find that youre even more drenched down here! He prated her with two fingers. Immediately he started to masturbate her. Howling from the initial parting and the rapid movements, Eliza came suddenly and intensely. Undine had done a lot of the preparation and the situation atrge just made the perverted pretty psycho extra sensitive. That John cranked her up to 200% through Lovers Will certainly didnt hurt.
He kept going and going, the wet noises of his finger-fucking and Elizas ecstatic criespeting with the music. Moans from other women, witnessing the live show and getting off on it, either by themselves or through the help of others in the room, apanied the erotic arrangement. John opened his character screen with his left hand.
Youre entertaining to use, I have to give you that, he growled, almost as if he was unwilling to say it. Pretty face, one hell of a nice andpact body, easy to dominate - not to mention a totally masochistic nymphomaniac. He unequipped his clothes and tore off her thong. Parting her outer lips with his scissoring fingers, he pressed the tip of his cock against her drenched pussy. Youre definitely a nice, living cocksleeve. Ill enjoy putting you to USE! He thrust up and into her.
Eliza screamed, and immediately a wave of pussy liquid gushed from her tight cunt and sttered on the floor and the back of the couch. Quivering, tensing around his cock, her folds gripped him so hard it was difficult to move C even with how wet she was. With a little patience, he got it done regardless. Even in his current state of mind, he didnt want to brute force the pration.
He still went as quick and hard as he thought he could. Grabbing her throat and rubbing her clit, he controlled her while he fucked her where they stood. He had many more ideas what to do with her, but all of them went to the back of his mind as his own orgasm took precedence. He needed to cum inside her and was so delightfully close already that he just kept the tempo. The steady pping of his groin against juicy ass and the screams of lust that he allowed to escape her throat were now the true music of the club.
Speeding up as much as he could, when his orgasm became inevitable, he stopped deep inside her when his shaft tensed. Seed rushed out of the tip of his dick and into her womb. Elizas eyelids fluttered, her agape mouth silent as her eyes rolled upwards and made her mess of a face aplete delight to stare down into as he pumped his cum inside her.
Are you a broken mess of a sex ve, hm? John hummed while he pulled out of her. Grabbing her by the hair, he prevented her from copsing. Smashing her face into the upper edge of the cushions that served as the couchs backrest, he repeated the question, I asked you a question! Are you a broken mess of a sex ve?
Yash, Mashtahrrrr, she slurred and then yelped when his right handnded heavily on her exposed ass.
Louder, you cocksleeve! John demanded. Let the world know, what are you?!
IM A BROKEN MESS OF A SEX SLAVE! Eliza shouted and was ripped back into an upright position. John rewarded her with a kiss. Although it was less of a kiss and more him using her mouth and tongue to y with in whatever way he pleased. She had neither the energy nor the will to meet his offenses with anything, just submitting herself to the whims of his movements. After about twenty seconds of sloppy and slurping sounds, John grew bored of this particr activity and went to something more fun.
He just didnt know what. On one hand, he wanted to fuck and spank her ass until it was bright red, on the other, face fucking was exactly what he needed right now. Too bad youre only here once, John sighed, breaking character for a moment. He considered whether he should try to enlist someone else to join and, if yes, who would be submissive or at least flexible enough to keep up with his current mood. Most of the girls, to be fair, but the optimal solution actually presented itself on its own.
I can serve you, Master, an oddly melodic version of Elizas usually unstable tone reached his ears. Looking over to the source, John found a near perfect copy of the blood mage sitting on the couch in front of him. From the white and blue hair, over her curves, to the blueish-purple tint of her skin, it was all an urate representation of the original. Only the eyes had retained the golden colour of the abysstide elemental. If it would please you.
John normally didnt consider Undine for his more sadistic moments. For all the virtues of a liquid woman, there was no choking a slime girl and spanking her, satisfying as it was to see the impact ripple through her body, did not leave imprints of his hand. At this specific moment, however, having a second submissive, short Eliza was exactly what he wanted. Come here, he simplymanded.
Climbing over the back of the couch, Undine was hit with her first reward of pleasure the second she had gotten into arms reach. John grabbed her by the chin and stared deep into her golden eyes.
You will do the same as her, you understand? No talking unless I tell you to. You will moan and you will serve, thats it. Answer.
Yes, Masterrrrr. Un-Elizas answer became an extended, lustful rattle. John had made hisst demand into a propermand and that had been enough to send Undine over the edge. With a disgusted snarl, John pointed towards the floor. Hastily, the abysstide elemental dropped to her knees and opened her mouth. Grabbing her by the hair as well, John mmed right into her throat.
The exterior was a wonderful recreation of Eliza, but inside, Undine was still Undine. The throat he pushed into was a firm liquid that reshaped immediately to be a perfect mould for his cock. Lubrication was abundant, allowing him to get to facefucking her without any dy. Carrying through the sensitive slime, the vibrations of her muffled scream only added further pleasure to every thrust.
Now what do I do with you? John wondered and looked at the real Eliza. The anticipation in her eyes cast a smile on his face. Really just a set of holes that wants to be used, thats what you are, he scolded her, getting back into his sadistic trance. Masturbate, he ordered her and watched as Elizas hands wandered to her cunt and started working, one hand prating as deep as her fingers could reach and the other focusing on her clit. Turn around. Present yourself, he continued to givemands.
Eliza obeyed each immediately and was rewarded just as fast. However, where she should have felt the relief of orgasm, only the rising ecstasy could be felt. John knew, as he had currently sealed her ability to cum. Not daring to stop, too submissive and too loving of this treatment, Eliza kept fingering her cunt even as her pleasure rose beyond the normal boundaries.
Aiming to make it even worse for her and indulge in his second n, John acted with divided attention. Spanking the blood mages round bottom while fucking Undines readily avable throat, the Gamer used his ability to masterfully multitask to a self-serving end.
Smack! Smack! Smack! The repeated impacts of his right hand on Elizas presented ass were a second rhythm to the constant mming against Undines face. Glurk! Glurk! Glurk! The squelching of prating the slime girl was delightfully depraved. Breathless, her mouth could continue to be used without pause. Beyond superhuman, Eliza didnt fall unconscious from sensory overload where the Gamers sexual supremacy would have turned any regr slut into a twitching, unmoving mess.
Even she had her limits somewhere, however.
As John dropped a third load deep into Undines throat, Eliza copsed. She continued to masturbate, but her legs refused to carry her any longer. Sighing, John pulled out of Undines throat. Get on top of her, over her stomach, hemanded the abysstide elemental. A moment of repositioningter, he looked down on two Elizas lying on the floor in an X-formation. One, Un-Eliza, was on her fours, presenting her pussy and back entrance. The other was on her back, still following his order to pleasure herself. Both were looking for his next move. Stop masturbating, hemanded.
Eliza was hit with a moment of relief. A very short-lived moment, as the act of stopping itself brought her more pleasure and John still kept her orgasm bottled up. Before her lust could start dwindling, he reced her fingers with his and fingered her even quicker than she had. At the same time, he pushed into Undines asshole. Tightness and texture were expertly simted and John groaned with delight. Elizas desperate moans,ing in short bursts, were almost as rewarding as every thrust he took into that slippery backdoor.
Undine shouted with orgasmic delight, almost as if she wanted to make Eliza jealous. Although she carried the blood mages voice, her tone was unmistakably her own, as every single one of her debauched cries hit a perfect note. The contrast between the natural songstress and the unstable masochist was stark. John loved both kinds of noises that caressed his ears.
Do you want to cum, Eliza? he asked, causing the pretty little psycho to wind even more on the floor. Each time he said the word cum he made sure it was amand and each time all Eliza felt was the beginning of an orgasm, followed by yet more pleasure mounting inside her. Do you need to cum? Crave to cum? Are you a pretty little whore that needs to cum? Tell me, ve, if your unworthy little cocksleeve of a body needs to cum.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, Eliza screamed over all other sounds of debauchery in the room, dominated by lesbian engagements.
John released the mental barrier around Eliza just as he came inside Undines backdoor.
The pussy walls around his fingers contracted suddenly. Love juices gushed and squirted out in an intense wave and Elizas scream had a second, primal, wordless echo. Her hips shot off the ground, her toes curled and her eyelids fluttered. The absolute force of the orgasm started intensely and was about to unfold in all of its pent-up glory.
John put the barrier back in ce, just as his second spurt of cum pumped into Undine. Ignoring Elizas desperate whimpers as her ruined orgasm petered out, leaving her almost more bothered than before, the Gamer calmly enjoyed the rest of his fifth climax. Only when he had fully left everyst drop inside Undine, did he pull out and give attention to Eliza.
What kind of cocksleeve thinks she can cum without a cock inside her? he ridiculed Eliza, while repositioning himself so he could p his erect dick onto her swollen cunt. Several gooey strands connected them, more numerous and thicker with each time. The submissive ything shuddered each time as if something extremely hot was touching her. Undine, give her mouth something to do, he told the third member of their threesome.
Wordlessly, Undine obeyed, straddling Elizas face and presenting her pussy to be eaten. Likely wanting any distraction she could get, or just because it was her instinct, the pretty little psycho yed along. There were a solid three seconds of undisturbed, wet sounds, then John slowly pushed into her cunt. Once inside, he went straight to fucking her at a relentless pace.
Her pussy was absolutely crazy. As if her entire body understood the implication of what he had said, it clenched and quivered around his thrusts with the sole intent of wringing his seed from him. John wasnt intent on letting her wait long. After five loads, his urge for a proper bed was slowly winning over his need to fuck the living hell out of his fucktoy.
Almost unceremoniously, he just pushed into her onest time and started unloading into her. This time, he lifted the restriction for good, allowing Eliza to turn into a spasming mess that couldnt eat pussy even if she tried. Her hands jittered, fingers wed at the air and her midriff wound left, right, up and down in random, sensuous movements. Among all of that, her legs somehow managed to lock behind his hips and pull him thest few millimetres possible into her greedy cunt. Muffled screams were lost inside the hairless cunt of her double. Undine may not have cum from the sloppy cunnilingus, but the enjoyment of the situation still radiated from her mind.
John let that crazy pussy milk everyst drop from his cock and remained inside her for a little while longer than that. Her legs simply did not back off, the soft, meaty thighs remaining pressed into his hips, asionally tensing with yet another of the slowly weakening spasms that wrecked her body.
When she finally did calm down, John had to carry the blood mage to bed.
Chapter 853 – Reheating of the War machine
Chapter 853 C Reheating of the War machine
Ehehehehe, Eliza kept giggling. Eheheheheehehe, she snuggled closer to John, ehrhrhrhruhuhuahahahaaaaaaa, she tried to get her unstableughter under control, bwahahehehehahaha, she failed miserably.
John didnt mind, holding the blood mage in his arms and giving her a bted aftercare for yesterday. Sitting in one of the armchairs of his apartment, he recalled how yesterday had ended. Quite uneventfully, once he had used Eliza to the breaking point, he had picked her up and left the room he had entered with no words with just a few. His disy had left everyone hot and bothered, but he had been too tired to oblige anyone if they had approached him.
When he had woken up in his bed this morning, among the usual configuration of harem girls, Aclysia had informed him that the night had essentially ended once he was gone. Rave had been too tired to continue, and with her, the heart of the party was gone. While the Gamer waited for his breakfast, he had exchanged a number of messages with Maximillian. The gravity king was jokinglyining that some of the girls that had been present at that presentation of sadism had wanted to try and see what being in Elizas position would feel like. Likely, they would just do some dabbling rather than dive head-first into what had happened yesterday, but the Gamer still enjoyed this development. In his opinion, the world was better off with more sexually submissive women.
If nothing else, the world was better off with people that discovered and werefortable with their fetishes.
Unless that fetish is paedophilia, I have to say, he thought, quickly exorcising that ufortable topic from his mind by smelling Elizas hair and squeezing herpact body. Squeaking like a very perverted rubber duck (it would have been a pig if John had been in a different mood), she continued to giggle for several more minutes. There was something delightful about squishing her between his arms like this.
Ehe.. ehe ehem! Eliza finally got her voice under control and presented a question, Why were you that fucking worked up yesterday anyway? You waltzed into the party like a stallion that hadnt bred anything in a year and was ready to choke a bitch out to get his cock wet.
I only choke girls that consent, John made very clear and gave her neck a little squeeze to underline the point. Anyway, its because I saw the video of you singing.
Elizas smile dropped. What video?
Sensing the opportunity to tease the life out of her, John could not resist and pulled out his phone. Scrolling for a little bit, he eventually opened the video for Eliza to enjoy. While watching herself sing her drunken re-interpretation of if youre happy and you know it, Eliza became progressively redder. Halfway through, she had assumed a tomato red with a purple tint to it. She grabbed his phone and tossed it with as much strength as she could muster.
Luckily, with her position in hisp, that wasnt close to her actual maximum output and John had anticipated this development anyway. That was why Jack stood in the trajectory and caught his phone before it could smash against the TV, something that would have likely ruined both. While the destruction of neither would have been a mary concern, recing them would be a pain.
DELETE THAT! Eliza shouted.
Even if I do, it was filmed by one of Max girls, the Gamer told her. No way you can scrub that off the records.
You just watch me, you cocksucking little bitch! Eliza dered, still remaining in his embrace despite her hostile tone. I will learn to fuck your skull so hard you forget everyst syble of that shitty song and, more importantly, I will crush your capacity to even THINK of me singing.
I think you sing well, John told her.
No, you fucking dont, you cum hose! Let me gooooooo! Herints weakened into miserable little noises while John rubbed his face against her like a loving cat. Im maaaaaaad, she grumbled. John kissed her neck and watched the hickey disappear. Then he kissed her directly, and soon she rxed a little better. Ill never drink that shitty ass stuff again She still maintained some difort with the situation.
The words were doubtlessly in reference to the Aphrodites Chalice that she had hammered herself with. It was an alcoholic beverage that was mixed with a number of other ingredients to unfold its effect over an incredibly long duration or, if drunk by someone with a metabolism that usually churned through alcohol in a matter of seconds, over the course of a few hours. A link to the goddess was likely more tangential than anything else, as the drink also had the effect of serving as a mild aphrodisiac.
It wasnt the only way to get Eliza drunk, but of all the ones Rave had reported she had found, the blood mage had picked that one.
Dont worry, they wont spread that video around, John gave her a little bit of assurance.
Howre you so fucking sure of that, huh?! she wanted to know.
Because theres a fair bit of naked women in that frame that wouldnt enjoy having nudes of them hit the inte. Would cause a lot of drama, he told her. Plus, even if it does, Im sure Scarlett can do something about it. If she had been there, the Technomancer would have probably grumbled about the possibility of being handed yet more work. As she was currently in the shower, they were spared that particr bit of discussion.
I guess Eliza hummed.
________________________________________________________________________
The following Monday, John was working in an expectedly great mood. His life was good in general, the blowjob he received from Nia was proof of that, but a night out with his male friends did lift his spirits even a bit further beyond that. With flying fingers and a cheery tune, he chomped his way through the administrative tasks presented to him. A notable part of which was the current organization of the military.
It was the first of October. Fusions promise to halt any form of military expansion had run its course and now the Gamer was free to invade wherever he wished C at least as far as basic contracts were concerned. Not wanting to create the impression that he was a warmonger, John had held off on even mobilizing the military for any potential out-of-borders action until that date.
Fusions military had grown by quite a substantial degree, being almost two thousand people strong at this point. In terms of real-world military sizes, that wasughable. Compared to most Abyssal armies, it was respectable.
From his experience in the Five Days War, John knew that Romulus empire had been able to field 2500 people immediately. That was a strong and consolidated military force, all wielding abilities that aided them well in engagements.
When approaching things purely mathematically, about 1 in 100 Abysswalkers was a worthwhile member of the standing military. John had once crunched the numbers and calcted that about 47000 people in all of Europe had the individual power required for that.
The enemy of that war, the Blood of the Proletariat, had managed to get a fifth of that number by, inrge part, not actually tapping into it and instead just going for the rabble. Equipped with a few offensive items, a couple of thousand weak bodies could take out a substantial amount of more powerful people. It wasnt nearly as much of an equalizer as the gun was for mundane people, but it could still yield results.
Since John was looking more for a qualitative force than a quantitative one, he oriented himself more on Romulus numbers. Effective as it may have been to send wave after wave of disposable bodies to exhaust more powerful foes, John viewed that as a desperation tactic, not fundamental military doctrine. He didnt have the disregard for life to do something like that, not even in the name of his own ambitions. Only faced with elimination, would he consider drafting everyone and everything.
Until then, he was happy to look for those 1 in 100 people that made for a substantial fighting force on the basis of their individual powers alone. He already knew that the 2000 he had wouldnt measure up against the 2500 Romulus had raised at the start of the war. They were a cut above the different factions John had stapled together and, if Romulus had the time to gather more than the forces at the very heart of his empire, he could likely gather a force double, triple or even quadruple of what John had seen. It wasnt impossible that Romulus could have met the Blood of Proletariat with a simrly sized army with superior quality, if he had just enlisted everyone that could fight well.
Which was, of course, the second diminishing factor on army sizes.
Aside from those that COULDNT fight well, there were those that COULD but werent willing to. Pacifists, cowards, rebels or simply disinterested people all existed and many could not be baited into serving through the promise of wealth. That was how an empire spanning Italy, Germany, Spain and many other areas managed to only field 2500 men in its immediately avable standing army.
Despite his army being, for the moment, qualitatively inferior, how did John manage to enlist a number so close without recruiting from the weak members of society? How did he get 2000 people together out of a poption of about 140000? The answer was simply found in a difference in history. Because much of thend Fusion had absorbed at this point had suffered decades or even centuries of strife, the 1 to 100 was not a rule that properly applied to the poption. There simply had been less room for the weak to survive. Some areas were more forgiving than others, but it was all harder to navigate than the broadly tamedndscape of Europe.
Those that had survived and those that had been moderately powerful were already used to fighting. Presented with the opportunity to use those skills for some higher purpose and in exchange for wealth, many people dly joined the military. Because of this, John had been able to grow his forces about 50% above what could be expected throughmon wisdom. Again, Romulus army was stronger. Using numbers to illustrate the point, Romulus could afford to recruit people from level 30 upwards, while John had to put the bar lower at 25. A small but still substantial difference, taken in aggregate.
Comparing Fusion against the worlds strongest guild would have left Johns state looking the loser under any circumstance, but the Gamer had several points going in his favour. The Training Hall allowed people to train until they hit the very bottom of the necessary level to present a threat on a battlefield. Optimally, this meant that he would have a muchrger pool of qualitative manpower to draw from. Romulus may have had that superior army at the start of the war, but as losses mounted, the empire would have to fall to the standards of the rest of the world. A level at which John feltfortable his people could win out. Not only because of better, reality defying training, but also because the Guild Halls production Building would make it remarkably easy to equip everyone with above average armaments.
All of that said, it would be a long while until John was even considering fighting Romulus. Fundamentally, he didnt want to fight the Apex nor his empire, but at the moment even thinking about challenging the hegemon to push Fusions interests was foolish. For now, all he should do was to check what he had and how to organize it.
At the moment, Fusions army was organized into four distinct bodies. First was the navy, Fusions smallest and least important military formation, at least for the moment. Because of ack of ships and power to project interests into foreign areas, the navy was hardly needed at the moment. Its formation was purely in anticipation of future developments. As of right now, John himself was in charge of this part of the military. That was to say, he was taking care of it himself, as he was the suprememander of the armed forces in all cases.
Second of Fusions military bodies was the general army. It unified under it the people drawn from all across Fusion and drilled them on group tactics and battle ns. All of it was an expansion of the Little Marnds military structure, and thanks to all of the officers they took over, the formation had gonergely well. There were some specialized formations within it, such as the sabotage and trap experts of the former Small Lake Pact, but all were incorporated into the basic strategies Fusion employed. Chemilia and Ted were in charge of this, with the former being de-facto in charge of tactics and thetter in charge of leadership. The soldiers sympathized more with Ted, doubtlessly because he had been less blessed with talent than his wife and therefore kept working hard. Both were popr, however, and both got asional advice from the general of the third body.
The Eastcoast Defence Force primarily recruited from the Hidden Tradition and was born from Johns promise that they would not have to fight in any offenses. This was a privileged position to be in, but they had earned it, and because of how their unique school of necromancy worked, it was best to keep them close to their ancestorsnds anyway. Elu led this segment of the military.
Last but by no means least were the real special forces of Fusion. The odd and powerful were part of this formation. People like Alice, who wouldnt work well in groups or whose powers were so intense that even allies fighting around them would be affected. This body coordinated these individuals to go on special missions or assigned them priorities to chase, such as specific targets or resources. Nia was in charge of this bunch.
Between and within these four bodies, John had to establish a number of things. How did ranks work between the bodies of the military? Did a member of the special forces outrank an officer? A lieutenant? If someone died within a battalion, who was the next to take charge? If two were near depleted, should they be merged and how? What was the standard equipment and how did it deviate between the specializations of each formation? Where and how often could they resupply?
Many of those questions had been considered and answered in the past, but now that John got ready to use his military outside of his borders again, they deserved a second look. Along with those general questions, there was also the drafting up of specific ns and doctrines for different situations. Those, however, he would design along his generals.
Chapter 854 – Mysterious Neighbours
Chapter 854 C Mysterious Neighbours
John was looking over a table of Training Hall attendance. While using the Building was fundamentally free for every member of Fusion, people that wanted to join the military were obligated to use it for at least four hours a day in order to reach level 25 in a reasonable timeframe. Failure to do so would lead to expulsion due to weakness. They were also supposed to clock in their hours for proof.
The basic idea was that people wouldnt be admitted to more than the basic training that most people had to go through unless they were actually more powerful than most people. As for why regr folk had to attend training even though they were nonbatants, John wanted people to know enough about fighting to make smart decisions if shit ever hit the fan.
Aside from checking for attendance, the clocking in allowed John to draw up some statistics about general levelling speed. The Training Hall allowed people to check on their own levels, something else they were supposed to report on their way in and out. Through a basic calction, John could then check how many levels a person gained per hour. There were some inuracies here and there, based on whether or not a person was cking off, but the aggregate data was good enough to read general trends.
Progress falls off pretty rapidly after level 10 and 20, he analysed. It will take someone below level 10 only about a week to reach it, plus or minus a day depending on the starting point thats pretty amazing already. Level 10 mundane people are incredibly fit after all, so I can probably have a nation of above-average health. 10 to 20 takes no idea data points not conclusive. Longer than two months, evidently.
The Training Hall had only been in active use since the upgrade of the Guild Hall to Tier 3, when the Federation mechanic had kicked in. That had been towards the end of July, on his birthday. That it was difficult for people to even reach level 20 wasnt overly surprising. Laughable as it was to John, it was still far above the norm. With all of that said, there were a few people who had already reached level 20 and above.
The answer to that phenomenon was quite simply that these must have been the people who had a natural potential above 25, causing them to level quicker. Talent skewed results in such a fashion. The Pareto Principle in action, the Gamer thought, scratching his nose. 20% of the people training are getting 80% of the levels well, I am not sure its skewed that extremely, but the sentiment holds true.
Leaning back, he considered arranging the data in a distribution curve to see how close to the 80/20 rule the level share actually was among participants. At first, he disregarded the idea, then he reminded himself just exactly how the Pareto Principle worked. If I iste the top 20% of the top 20%, I get a pretty easy idea who thetently powerful are, he pondered. All I need to do with that data then is to seek them out with Observe and see what their potential is. It would be too much work tob through every single recruit like that, but a chosen few I could find time for.
The meritocratic process would elevate more capable individuals with or without his influence, but giving the most talented the resources to develop quickly from the start should have a noticeable effect. If nothing else, the preferential treatment would ensure that the most powerful elements of his army were more loyal. Of course, it also meant that John had to throw the regr soldiers a bone here and there so they didnt grow discontent. He wanted the army to be a well-oiled machine without internal strife.
Before he went to work on re-arranging that data, he took a little break. Reaching under the table, he let his hand glide through Nias soft hair. The pariah was currently kissing the left side of his cock. While he had been highly concentrated on his work, she had kept her blowjob fairly constrained. Nibbling, kissing and only asionally sucking on his cock, she had shown remarkable self-control. With how she could get off through exposure to his magic, not to mention Johns own arsenal of Perks to please women, only worshipping his cock in such a fashion was denying herself a fair chunk of pleasure. It wasnt quite simr to edging, however, since they both got off every now and again regardless.
Now that he was looking down into her blue eyes, Nia knew that she could fully indulge for a few minutes without distracting him from anything important. John had expected her to go crazy the second she realized this; with how much she loved to suck him off, that seemed inevitable. Once she had kissed her way up to the tip of his cock, she took a moment to tell him something first, You are getting a visitor.
Then she wrapped her lips around the engorged head and slid down. Greedily tasting his precum, she moaned at the deliciousness and the way his magic tingled on the inside of her throat. At least that was how she had described to John what she loved so much about sucking him off. Groaning, he closed his eyes and let the depths of her throat massage hisrge cock. He wed into her hair and held her down while his cum surged and pumped into her stomach. Muffled screams of lust reverberated around his member. An alien aura tickled his senses and made his hairs rise for just a split second before it was gone again.
Once his orgasm was over, John opened his eyes and looked up to find a second pair of blue eyes staring at him. They were as close as the dark-haired pariah could get while bending over the table. Hello, Alice said.
Hello, John calmly responded. The little warning and the odd moment in the middle of his orgasm had been all the tell he needed to know that the first Maiden of Null had teleported her way into his office. Under normal circumstances, he or Beatrice would have seen her, but he had been indulging and Beatrice was upied elsewhere, leaving her ss table empty.
If the dark-haired pariah was annoyed with theck of reaction, she didnt show it, just straightening up again and then dropping a thin folder onto the table. I didnt know you could teleport things along with you, John remarked, while pulling the folder closer towards him. It was ck and sealed with a piece of string, not the most secure way to hold information but enough to keep it from prying eyes on the way. The way you exined it to me, it sounded like you could only teleport yourself and things that were essentially part of you, like your dress and weapons.
If something is small enough, loose and not magical, I can smuggle it along with some difficulty. The world doesnt like it, though, Alice reported with a smile. This is the Death Zone intel you wanted. Arent I helpful?
I dont know yet, I half expect to find a nk sheet of paper in here because you went out of your way to bring it to me, John responded with a light-hearted joke. A joke that could turn out to be true. The folder was basically empty, that much he could gather even before he had undone the cord. His dick was suddenly exposed to the air and then Nia stood right next to him. Interested?
I am a general, the naked blonde said and wrapped her arms around his head. With regard to his preferences, she kept her stained face and breasts away from him. The Gamer was rather touchy when it came to the possibility of tasting his own sexual fluids. That didnt stop her from scratching him behind the ear while they looked at the contents of the folder though.
Thats all Florida could gather, Alice gave some context for what she had handed them. We had some intel here and there. You will have to judge how much of it oveps with what you already know.
Well, the very start of it already does, John hummed, as the first few paragraphs outlined several instances of people vanishing when moving into the area. The Death Zone should have been more urately called the Vanish Zone since nobody who ever disappeared there got confirmed dead. They just ventured in and didnte out.
John continued to read through paragraphs in the hopes of finding something. Because Floridas western tip bordered this enigmatic area of the map, there was good reason to believe that they had at least a bit more information than he had. Looking at what he had here did diminish his expectations quite a bit. Most of what he read were summaries of people knowing someone that had vanished. A few rare instances were first-hand experiences of people that had skirted around the border of the Death Zone and came back without experiencing anything. The longest anybody had stayed in the border area, at least ording to the persons recollection, had been two hours. They had driven down a road they hadnt realized led through there until afterwards.
John opened a text document and started to write down simrities between returner stories. The two most frequent ones he found were that people were moving steadily, usually at above mundane running speeds (cars and, rarely, bicycles), and that they didnt stay for long. Also notable was that, in the one story that included someone being in a call when they vanished, extremely loud interference noises could be heard before the connection broke.
Teleportation interference? John wrote into the text document and went through all the stories a second, then a third time. While he saw no more useful oveps between the stories of returners, what the left behind friends and families reported of their final updates showed a few more things of interest. Groups always vanished together. Neither elderly nor children were an exception. In a couple of cases, the wallet and a few other possessions were found in hotel rooms and returned, indicating that only the person and what they were holding vanished.
John rubbed his chin and thought. Its more than I had to work with previously, he hummed, wracking his brain for some more things that could be of interest. After a few moments, he wrote down, Illusion Barrier Status?
What do you mean by that? Nia asked.
That none of the stories mention whether or not they tried to enter an Illusion Barrier, John responded. I think that could be a necessary clue, not only to find out the nature of the Death Zone but also regarding invasion strategies.
What is your smart mind reckoning we are dealing with at the moment? Alice asked.
John hesitated and then prefaced his answer with, These are purely hypothetical, but with what I got, I see two no, three different ways the Death Zone could work. Having said that, he waited for Alice and Nia to nod before he continued. Theory 1: the entirety of the Death Zone is one gargantuan Trap Barrier, he stated. As far as we know, thats impossible. Thergest known Protected Space is Rome and thats 15 kilometres across. Even Romulus cant stretch that one further. If I was dealing with a logical situation, I would immediately dismiss this exnation, but since this is something we dont understand, the impossible has to be considered. Theory 2: the Death Zone is covered entirely by regr sized Trap Barriers. While this makes more sense when ites to what we understand of making Illusion Barriers, the manpower to uphold, maintain, and take care of whoever gets pulled inside is ludicrous. Someone should have blown a whistle by now. Theory 3: there is only one Protected Space in the Death Zone and everyone in the affected areas gets teleported into it through some kind ofrge-scale spell. This provides us with the issue of mana cost and Im not even sure if its theoretically possible.
Alice just smiled her empty smile, while Nia continued to scratch John behind the ear. It was nice and soothing, a steady motion from an expert pat-giver. He enjoyed the pleasant little sensation in the middle of this discussion. Then the nk spoke up, Why would the Death Zone have that shape, if it was a designed thing?
Maybe they were forced to spring their ns before they were fully ready or the shape is deliberately picked to avoid the feeling of intelligent design. Perhaps there are some environmental factors at work. Possible that Impletely wrong and this is just a very strange natural phenomenon. It bears none of the usual marks of a Natural Barrier growing out of control though. He stretched his neck a little bit so Nias fingers scratched another spot. The Death Zone just appearing one day also makes me think its a created phenomenon. Natural things dont have a tendency to start suddenly. They grow and change with time. Even volcano eruptions can be known ahead of time, if you know the signs.
We could not know the signs? Nia asked.
Then why there? John wondered. Its not particrly close to any leylines.
Neither is there anything of interest in the area, the pariah countered.
Which makes it perfect for some sort of entity that wants to be left alone, John responded. Nobody is going through the troubles of investigating a useless area that will likely have you vanish. He closed the folder. The main problem right now is that all of this info is recent and tainted through the lens of memory. All of this is just spection.
Specting is fun, Alice hummed. And since were already doing it, since you did the how and why do you have the who?
Atebloomer, a god, demons, the Lorylim, some sort of Kingdom gate, I honestly have no idea, John responded. People just disappear. As long as I dont know why they disappear, I cant begin to decipher what faction would be most likely to do it.
How dull, Alice sighed. You need better records then?
It would probably help, John hummed. Because this was intel from Florida, he wasnt surprised that it had only been gathered once he had requested it. They werent in the habit of keeping written records of things. Another faction bordering the Death Zone would have likely been in possession of more detailed documents. Especially if that faction was where the Death Zone had first appeared. Ill see if I can get the Gestalt guilds to send me something about this Ill probably have to visit in person to get anything good though.
If he did get that offer, he wouldnt be able to take it this week.
Chapter 855 – Love and Statecraft 1 – Dressing up for the Occasion
Chapter 855 C Love and Statecraft 1 C Dressing up for the asion
Do I look good? John asked, pulling his cor straight. His suit sat tight, the Suit of the Chosen for once in its jacket shape. It was as ck as the night, harmonizing nicely with the copper red shirt he wore underneath, sharing its colour with the suits inside lining and sleeve buttons. The Pants of the Chosen followed the same colour scheme and the Skittersteps made for a good finish. Shining, the flexible chitin that made up the outside of those shoes didnt look too different from polished, ck leather. Thin gaps between the tes were easily dismissed as decorative lines, having the same dark colour, but losing the reflective attributes.
Do ya really need to ask that? Rave asked and kissed his cheek. Ya put all of those points in Charisma for something, right?
I would have more than double what I currently have if I hadnt listened to you in prioritizing Libido, the Gamer returned with a smirk as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. His jawline was sharp and a lot more masculine than it used to be, albeit not so extremely square that it made him look rough. His hairless face, well-formed brows aside, was attractive beyond a doubt. He still looked somewhat in but the kind of it had shifted. From being the standard nerd who only got noticed when some bully wanted to tax his lunch money, he had transformed into what someone would expect on the cover of a ygirl magazine. A somewhat mon kind of attractive, but highly attractive regardless. The brown eyes and short brown hair certainly didnt help.
Ya can thank me for that this evening, Rave cheekily responded, putting a hand where her mouth had just been. Softly she directed him to face her instead. Enough looking at yourself, tell me how I look, tiger, she demanded with a smirk.
The answer was absolutely stunning.
She wore a dress from the same tailor that had made the one she had on when theyst visited Johns parents. Like that one, it was backless, shoulderless and sideless, leaving much of her smooth skin and even a considerable bit of side-boob exposed. It was a delicious view. Raves breasts were firm and decently sized, leaving quite a bit to be looked at even with the satin covering the indecent bits.
Looked at purely from the front, the dress presented a more elegant than sexy look. The top part of it extended from the waist to her neck, wrapping around the back of it to remain in ce. It hid her stomach and her breasts from frontal view, only showing a bit of her naked sides, most of her corbones and the entirety of her shoulders.
The skirt was separated into several triangr strands that ovepped around her hips. They were considerably shorter at the front only reaching to her kneecaps while going all the way to her ankles at the back. The dress was primarily copper red, keeping her in style with her boyfriend. ck and silver embroidery decorated all parts of it, taking the shape of waveforms.
Rave twirled on the spot, easy with the gracile ballet-esque shoes she was wearing, and the strands flew around her like an unfolding flower. Once she stopped moving, she brushed back her wild hair and smiled up with her glossy pink lips. I take it youre totally stunned because of how gorgeous your future fianc is?
You do know me the best, John smiled and bowed down to give her a quick kiss. You could wear a trash bag with sleeves and you would still be among the most beautiful girls at the party.
Rave understood that her onlypetition were the other harem girls and giggled, Lets not do that to Lyly though.
Yeah, lets not, John grinned and put an arm around her, guiding her out of the bathroom. Entering the living room, the Gamer was greeted by much of the harem in their best clothes.
Aclysia and Beatrice were wearing ck satin dresses, a few white lines running through to break up the monotony of the colour. The designs were sleek, shoulderless and neckless, the shiny fabric fitting their forms from the chest to their pencil skirts. Wearing ck chokers, they created the deep impression of submissive secretaries that did more than just bookkeeping for their employer.
Also wearing a choker, Eliza had taken great care in looking good for this day; she had even been openly enthusiastic about it. Her hair was thoroughlybed and put into a high ponytail and she wore a light purple dress the colour of her eyes. It was simple,pared to Raves, but not as straightforward as those the maids were wearing. Shoulderless and showing off a nice bit of cleavage, the dress sat tightly around her waist and extended into a straight skirt that was slit open at the sides. Little bits of golden embroidery gave it an extra ir.
The elementals were a mixed bunch.
Gnome was wearing her natural clothes and for good reason. The dress appeared as if she was wearing the very season of autumn. Gold and yellow, it was decorated by symmetrical ck and dark-brown veins that made it seem as if it was fashioned from fallen leaves. The rim of her short skirt only furthered that impression, taking the many shapes that leaves could. Only the two slits in front of her legs were straight.
As form-fitting as her dress was, most of her body was actually hidden from prying eyes. The dress began below her corbone, too far up to show any sort of cleavage, and while her shoulders may have been bare, gloves that fit with her dress hid her arms from high up to her fingertips. There was a little territory under the rim of the skirt where her light skin was visible, below that stockings and shoes hid the rest.
Her hair, too, was in its natural shape. A braid on each side of her head ran backwards and both joined at the back of her head to fall down along with the rest of her lightly waving, hazel hair.
Next to her, Sylph wore a green summer dress. The skirt was long and flowing and the strands holding it at the shoulders an irregrity among all of the fantastical dresses around. It showed off her cleavage, but didnt emphasize it overly. Same was true for the short hourss figure it covered. A summer dress was in itself a simple and seductive piece of clothing and on someone like Sylph, it just worked perfectly.
Undine had chosen to disy herself in her human disguise, leaving her as a pale, ck haired and curvy goth woman of immense beauty. The thick ck eyshes around her golden eyes eliminated any need for additional mascara and harmonized well with the ck dress she was wearing. In its sleekness and the texture of the fabric, it was simr to those of the maids, but it was only ck and continued all the way to her ankles. The top was also cut differently, showing an impressive cleavage and being secured through ck strands wrapping around her shoulders. The entire dress showed off her dark beauty and natural elegance.
Where Undines dress was mostly elegant and only deliberately sexy around the chest, Siena and Smander wore dresses that were almost entirely designed to turn heads. While this was in no small part because of their characters, there were also their tails forcing some designpromises.
The skirts of both of their dresses were slit not only at the front to allow easy leg movements, but also at the back to allow their tails to extend outwards. In both cases, this caused a gap that left part of their butts permanently exposed. It was much worse for Siena, since the base of her tail was much thicker than Smanders. The moonshade elemental was showing off essentially her entire ass. Because of this, the panties they both wore were essentially part of the dress. When it came to the remaining cut, they were quite simr to Undines, being tightly sitting and cleavage disying. This meant that Smander was equalizing herck of ass-disy by presenting her absolutely massive tits. Sienas disy was sharper, in every sense of the word. For the asion, Smander decided to go with long hair.
Her fellow redhead, Scarlett, had dressed up as well. Wearing a red shirt whose cor stood out from underneath a ck jacket, she showed a little bit of her petite chest by leaving the uppermost buttons open. A ck pencil skirtplimented the look of a businesswoman and also emphasized her bubble butt, the more pronounced feminine asset the androgynous technomancer possessed. She even wore ck high heels for the day, making her and Siena the only ones to do so. That Scarlett had been willing to wear something outside her usual suit had been surprising to John. It would have been good enough for today, but it seemed she wanted to go the extra mile.
Same was true for Metra, who was wearing more than her usual skimpy crop top and hotpants. A grey version of Aclysia and Beatrices dresses, with the white lines otherwise copied over, the brown, blonde berserker babe was rocking her formal dress with more than a tad of unorthodoxy. One may have expected her above-average muscrity to be what made her wearing a dress look odd. While one would have had a point with that, Metra wasnt buff to such bodybuilder levels that it was more than a momentary distraction. Fundamentally, her body was formed after Johns tastes and therefore still more leaning towards womanly than she was towards muscr. The real eyebrow-raiser were the sandals she wore with the dress. Secured with leather straps around her lower legs, the footwear looked like it belonged in a depiction of ancient Rome, shing with the modern look of her dress.
Regardless, Metra insisted on keeping them on. As weird as John may have found it, it didnt ruin anything, so he let it pass.
Lastly, Nia was wearing her usual dress from the nirvana. While it was what she always wore, it was also, like Gnomes dress, the best she could have possibly worn. Unique and beautiful, the colourless piece of non-fabricplimented her appearance. All John could haveined about was that the long skirt didnt allow her to show off her thighs but, given they were heading to an event of rtive publicity and expectation of decency, that was probably for the better.
The Gamer knew he was already pushing things a bit with this ensemble, given how openly his girls unted their beyond good looks, but he saw nothing too obscene in what anyone was wearing at the moment. Really, only Siena and Smander were pushing it and that was inrge part due to parts of their bodies that were just unusual. As far as he understood, it was eptable for humanoids with tails to show off their backsides. They didnt have much in the way of choice anyway, if they wanted to wear dresses. It was either creating a slit like they had or cutting in a somewhat awkward hole.
John smiled at all of them. He didnt have anything to say. Having helped each of them put their clothes together and get fully prepared over the course of the morning, he hadplimented them all thoroughly already. He could have repeated everything he had said, and he doubtlessly would at some point, but right now they were content. Instead, he checked his phone for the time and nodded to himself. They were moving along ording to schedule.
Alright, lets go, he spoke up, giving a second for anyone to voicest things they needed to get out of the way. Nothing came and so they went on their way.
It was dark outside, when they stood on the roof. The east coast of the USA was engulfed by night, to no surprise. Regardless, he and the harem were awake. They had spent the entirety of Tuesday lounging around and sleeping so they would feel as if they started the day at this very odd hour. This was,rgely, because they actually were. Stepping into the teleporter, needing to go in two waves due to the size of the group, they appeared over in Germany.
The sun there had risen already, glowing above the horizon and spending light to the morning hours. Gathering up in front of the house that served as Fusions embassy, the party was quickly approached by a servant already waiting for them. Her majesty is eagerly awaiting your arrival and is waiting in her quarters. Will you need me to show you the way?
That wont be necessary, thank you, John denied the offer with a friendly nod and then got moving. He didnt want to waste the servants time. The staff of Lydias pce would have enough to do today without needing to show him around. Although it was doubtlessly true that Lydia came to visit him more often than he came over to hang around her, he still took the time asionally. It wasnt just his choice that had created their current dynamic anyway. It was much easier for Lydia to keep their get-togethers discrete if they hung out in the privacy of his Guild Hall and its web of teleporters. When they wanted to have a nice day in Berlin, the eyes and ears were everywhere.
Aside from him, several of the girls also regrly went to spend a few hours with Lydia. Rave, who was the beating heart of intra-harem rtionships, Nia, Undine and Scarlett were all known toe over quite often. Siena and Gnome sometimes took the time when Lydia let them know that she had the time for tea or something like that, as the moonshade elemental and the queen of metal enjoyed having arguments regarding this or that topic. Everyone else came over when they felt like it. Everyone in the harem was on good terms with each other so everyone talked to one another, but smaller cliques forming was inevitable no matter how well arge group got along.
John reached the simple wooden door that led into Lydias apartment within the medium-sized pce and knocked. The door unlocked audibly and then swung open. Nobody stood on the other side, instead Lydia sat in an armchair by a clean and currently unused firece.
Lydias living quarters were spacious, but not overly so. Whilerge, the living room was not gargantuan. Same was true for the bedroom John knew was just one door away, and the balcony. Only the bathroom was considerably above what a normal person would have afforded. The hardwood furniture that stood on the equally solid floorboards was practical first and pleasing to look at second, all of it fashioned tost at least a lifetime. Thergest single piece of furniture was a truly gargantuan work desk with a multitude of drawers and shelves integrated under and over the main work surface. Metal sheets separated stacks of paper and allowed Lydia to immediately retrieve whatever information she needed without lifting a finger. A singleptopy almost reluctantly among the orderly arranged parchment and office appliances.
For all of her reformations in terms of political structure, the queen was rather unwilling to use modern technology in her bureaucracy.
As dominant as that desk was, the room wasnt purely focused around work. A piano with metal keys took up a corner with its presence, and where books and binders didnt need the space, the shelves, boards and other surfaces housed numerous nts. Lemongrass andvender were obviously present, spreading a nice smell through the room. By the sizable firece that Lydia was sitting at, a carpet was sprawled out under several armchairs.
Lydias living room was not arranged to house a lot of guests and it wasnt even her main office. It was her inner sanctum and not open for just about anyone to enter. John and his harem poured in without a care in the world. The Gamer only stopped to really admire her when they were all in and she stood up to greet them.
Her dress was a flowing piece of silver brilliance. A long skirt flowed along with every step she took, its rim decorated with ck embroidery that formed numerous words and sentences in Latin and German. It sat tightly around her waist and midriff, showing the curves that had been so noticeably improved with Johns help in August. The outline of her breasts was half visible, her cleavage on open disy and surrounded by yet more embroidery, this time forming the heraldry of the two-headed eagle among the decorative lines. The dress continued over her shoulders and as long sleeves that widened towards the ends. Although her hair had not been changed in basic style, the base of her braid held a gem-encrusted pin and the end of it was bound together by a golden ring, rather than the usual simple band.
The very same eagle that was depicted on her dress stood on the back of the chair she had just risen from. The colour of her feathers was remarkably close to Lydias hair, a red shade of auburn. Small dark dots lent more shades to the Reichsadlers body and the lowest row of feathers on her wings was ck. Both heads of the god of emperorship looked in Johns direction. With every new ruler, the deity was reborn, with a new body and gender fitting that of the leader of her patronized guild.
I despise dressing up in such unnecessary a fashion, were the first words Lydia had for her guests.
Its not unnecessary, not if you look this good in a dress, John told her and went in for a more pleasing greeting in the form of a quick kiss. That aside, you shouldnt worry about such things today. Just stay rxed and have fun. Today is all about you. It is your birthday after all.
Chapter 856 – Love and Statecraft 2 – To make things seem seamless
Chapter 856 C Love and Statecraft 2 C To make things seem seamless
Lydia straightened out everything about Johns suit, pulling on his cor, his sleeves and even making sure his shirt was properly tucked into his belt. Rxation about my birthday, what an original thought, she sarcastically remarked while she did all of that. This is the most stressful day of the year. Attention will lie entirely with me and each of my political rivals will be waiting for me to make a scene.
Ya still have those? Rave asked, walking over to the piano and hitting a few of the keys. I thought youd get rid of something like that when ya became queen.
I merely exchanged one set for another one, Lydia exined while continuing finishing up John with a few adjustments to his hair. With a light p to his ass, she deemed his looksplete. Be a pretty boy and sit down over there while I inspect everyone else, she joked.
I will not be objectified! John yfullyined, only for Lydia to grab him by the cor. Her ruby red lips closed in on him. He had just enough time to marvel at the perfection of their shape and fullness before they connected with his own in a passionate kiss. She tasted sweet, with a note of metal and citrus. Thest was more outstandingly present in the smell of her hair. Well, perhaps I can be objectified a little bit, he relented when she pulled back.
You will be my greatest source of worry and relief today, my love, Lydia stated, caressing the side of his face. Please minimize one and maximize the other. He nodded and she pulled away. I profoundly request that all of you be on your best behaviour. I have invited you all despite the scene it could cause that Im so publicly showing that I am part of the Gamers harem. This is because I care more about you than I care about the opinions of sensationalists. Everyone who meddles in the bonds of love we share can, to put it into Elizas terms, fuck themselves with a giant rusty dildo. She looked around the room and gave everyone a quick nce of her steel eyes to underline her words. With that being said, trouble should be avoided. Again, please be on your best behaviour during the festivities.
Ill do what I can, Smander said and bowed in an overemphasized manner.
Ill not chat as much as I have to and not with everyone I see, I promise, I promise! Sylph dered. Of all the troublemakers in Johns harem, she could have probably gotten away with the most things because of the particr reputation air spirits had.
Ill be a refineddy, for as long as is necessary, Sienas sensual voice crept through the room.
I wont punch first, Metra promised with a wide grin.
Ill just stick to John like dried up cum to pubic hair, Eliza dered, and when Lydia gave her a long stare, added, and Ill talk as if Brenda was around.
Those were all of the greatest sources for potential troubles promising they would keep a low profile. All of them except one. While even the other, less problematic girls promised they would make sure not to cause any scene, one person stayed quiet. When everyone looked in her direction, Nia turned around to see if anything was behind her. Finding nothing there, she pointed at her own face and quizzically tilted her head.
Lydia sighed and listed a couple of things, I must request that you do not needlessly teleport.
I do not intend to, Nia agreed.
And that you keep your pariah aura under control at all times.
I will not scare anyone.
Furthermore, you should not approach peoples pets without permission and just scratch them because you want to.
Nia, did you hear what I just said?
They want it too, the pariah presented her counterargument after a moment of thought.
That may be true, but their owners are influential people and you may annoy them if you approach their pets without their say, Lydia told her. Do request, but do not pester. Do it for me, please?
Slowly, Nia nodded. For you, friend, she agreed.
Clearly relieved, Lydia let out a long exhale and then walked over to Sylph to adjust any and all perceived imperfections about the way the arcvolt elemental wore her dress. With nothing else to do, John walked over to the two-headed eagle in the room and offered his hand to be inspected. One head went down, the other up, allowing the god to check both on him and his hand.
Of all the gods, John found the Reichsadler to be a very peculiar one. Her phoenix-esque ability to be reborn aside, the god of emperorship was the only one John had met that either didnt have the ability or strictly chose not to talk. Whatever it was, she allowed him to scratch her head. Did you give her a new name, by the way? John wondered, as he would have felt odd addressing the eagle as Reichsadler all the time.
In a way. My grandfather left me a notebook in which he often referred to her as Reik, when she was a he, Lydia responded, moving on from Sylph and now checking on Smander. The very first thing she did was pull the visible panties of the apocalypse elemental a bit further up. yfully, Smander moaned, and Lydia pinched her fellow haremette in the cheek to get her to behave herself. I have taken to calling her Reika.
I suppose thats a way to make the original title into a name, John hummed while scratching Reikas head. He had ample experience with birds thanks to a certain thieving one. Velka had been a bit upset with him the past two days, but as far as he was concerned, that was alright. Denying her favourite treats had been the only fitting punishment for her refusal to give him his sses back. Anyway, mind filling us in who you need to worry about?
The Knightlord of the Golden March, for one, Lydia responded and took a moment to gesture in the direction of her rapier. The weapon had been leaning against her chair and now hovered up into the air. The weapon of form-changing metal spread out into the shape of a map, showing a map of Romulus Empire. I trust you remember this map?
Yeah, John responded and waited for Lydia to continue. The queen let him wait for just one moment, having finished up with Smander and now inspecting Siena. Without touching the moonshade elemental in any fashion, Lydia moved onto the next woman. Last time I saw this you followed it up with a detailed map of Rex Germaniae.
Those were my concerns at the time. While internal affairs remain in flux, I have them mostly under control and unified under mymand.
Within Rex Germaniae, only the NTC and the Austrian Kingdom are entities strong enough to oppose me. However, I keep close counsel with Amalia and our goals tend to ovep. Our rtionship only went through a difficult phase because of you. Lydia gave him a sour nce.
John shrugged. He had smoothed over rtions with the leader of the Nethends already and apologized to Lydia in the past, so he saw no reason to act guilty. I needed to know why she offered me that boat ride and I needed that yacht.
Sighing, Lydia continued on, Austria is controble. Ria is a pain in my sides, but she can be convinced to follow whatever I want her to do through the allocation of some additional finances to her tinkering department. The Czech League is a different story. It is de-jure part of Rex Germaniae but de-facto governs itself. I maintain friendly rtions with the leadership, so they should not pose an issue tonight.
The map changed again to depict a different part of Europe.
While Great Viz and Africa are both de-facto and de-jure part of the Sons of Rome, the governors of those areas, the Great Duke of Viz and Lord Africanus to name only their titles, are influential enough to have a sway on the imperial court. That aside, we will have to deal with Romulus, Luna, Sol and Rodam C you already know how unpredictable they can be.
I somewhat look forward to seeing them again except Sol, John admitted.
Lydia blew air out of her nose in an amused fashion. Do not worry, she will be a pleasant conversationalist inparison to the Lord of Pontis,
Hes a cunt, the queen put it in unblemished terms. A corrupt bureaucrat who only stays in power because removing him would be even more of a pain than his tant misuses of authority are. Like the other two, Pontic is a direct part of the Sons of Rome, but holds an influential position. More independent are the tworge Iberian guilds.
The Golden March used to be the empires second strongest military faction, after the Sons of Rome themselves. With the ascendance of my guild in the 17th century, it eventually slid down to third and nowadays fields less than Austria on its own, arguably making it fourth. Regardless, they retain a rigid, militaristic andrgely feudal structure. Their pride is also intense. They see themselves as a state of knights and captains. The Seastrider Ports, or just Portugal, they go by both, are something between the NTC and arge bib. They excel on the maniption of marine life. The leaders of all of those areas are out to increase their own standing in the imperial court and a good way to assure they look splendid is by making me appear ipetent. Lydia pulled the map back together into the shape of her rapier. I would like to avoid this.
Noted, John said, since they had already given their word to minimize troubles. At this point, he was sitting in the chair they had found Lydia in, Reika lying in hisp and half dozing off under his gentle scratches. Nia hade over and joined him in caressing the soft feathers. She really likes me.
Why ever could that be? Metra wondered. Why would the god of emperorship like you, my king? I just cant figure it out.
Hush, John responded.
Im just saying.
I would fuck that attitude right out of you if those dresses didnt have to stay on, John growled warningly.
It had the opposite of the intended effect. Threaten me with a good time, my emperor, Metra grinned.
Lydia pped once to get their attention. As charming as I find your openly perverted foolishness, our preparations are far from done. Lydia had one of the metal segments of her work desk hover over to her and took a sheet of paper off it. Let us go through the entirety of the festival schedule.
Groaning, Rave hit a few keys on the piano and created a halfway worthwhile melody. We already went through that at home and once in a video call with you. Why we gotta go through it again? Its just a day of festivity stuff. Just enjoy it, Lylytina, its your birthday.
Must I repeat myself? There is no room for me to enjoy my birthday. We must navigate the numerous events of today as if we hadnt prepared for any of them and were just geniuses at reacting to social cues. She waved the list around. The court is like a mundane award show, except instead of some golden idols, the power to change the lives of millions is on the line. Speeches must be prepared and even the most unlikely of circumstances considered to maximize the appeal to nobles and public.
Ya know, I dont do any of that stuff and Im doing fine, Rave pointed out.
You operate as First Lady to the very founder of a country, Lydia countered. My position as an influential vassal is the product of thousands of years of history. Our circumstances cannot bepared.
Shes right, John cut into the discussion. Jane, you operate with a lot of freedom because what you do is mostly out of the bounds of government. Lydia and I have to be more careful about everything. Public perception is incredibly important, he looked over to queen, although I dont have to deal with a godlike overlord and nobles. A republic is at least somewhat self-correcting when ites to incredibly corrupt officials.
We will support where we are required, mistress, Aclysia added her own voice in support.
I mean, I dont really get all this political -, but Ill follow your lead, Lyly, Rave relented.
Thank you, Lydia expressed her gratitude with a militaristic nod and then looked on her list again. First item on the agenda
They had thirty minutes to discuss everything.
Chapter 857 – Love and Statecraft 3 – Arrival at the Festival
Chapter 857 C Love and Statecraft 3 C Arrival at the Festival
The door of the stretch limo was opened and John was the first to exit. He could do barely more than look at the surrounding crowds before he turned around and extended his hand to help Lydia out. It was a gesture for the pure show of it, but he enjoyed holding her hand regardless. Once she was fully outside, her almost unfittingly practical shoes nted firmly on the meticulously clean red carpet, the Gamer turned around and offered his elbow.
Lydia took hold with the usual stern expression and the two went down the path in lockstep. As per the queens instructions, he didnt look back. He could only direct his gaze ahead, at her or at the crowd close to them, to give them a friendly wave. That produced a few cheers here and there, but nothing like what their queen got when she gave a simple smile.
John appeared to be somewhat popr in Rex Germaniae, particrly among women and soldiers ording to polls, but most people didnt care about him. The distribution was something along the lines of 60% not caring, 25% liking him and 15% disliking him. Exact results varied between polls, of course.
While he couldnt use his head to look behind him, the Mand Sphere following the two of them allowed him to watch the rest of the harem getting out and following them regardless. Rave was right behind him, together with Aclysia, Beatrice, Eliza and Metra. The elementals all moved in a cluster, five beautiful women and one small crocodile that got carried by the green air spirit that darted over to the crowd and shook random hands. Nia and Scarlett walked past Sylph, just chatting about this and that. Everyone else just smiled and waved, letting the cameras take one shot after another.
Usually, John would have walked at the helm with Rave under his arm, but usually didnt mean much when it came to the Gamer and who he held as he moved. Since he never stopped trying to make every one of his girls feel loved equally (or at least to a level where his slight favouritism for some didnt cause any jealousy his Charisma couldnt ovee), he often led the crowd with someone else other than his girlfriend. Rave was fully supportive of this and often relented the position at his side. It was exactly because she was the type to give up that position sometimes that it had even been possible for him to build a harem with her at the start.
Because this was Lydias birthday, giving her not only the arm but the lead had been a reasonable and easy decision. There had been a few moments of considering whether or not he should walk with both Lydia and Rave under his arms, he had two of them after all, but this had been dismissed. They considered this a good time to underline the message that John loved the queen as ONE of his girls and not as one of HIS GIRLS. That needed to be repeated over and over again, after all, the people that were against their rtionship hadnt relented yet. At the same time, the presence of the harem signalled that he wasnt ashamed of his way of life.
Even that twenty metre stretch from the street to the entrance of the building they would be holding the festival in was nned through in such miniscule detail. When dealing with a semi-obsessive perfectionist like Lydia, that was just what happened.
As for that building, it was arge, circr tower of distinctly gothic architecture. It was roughly separated into two areas. The actual main body of the tower, a tall thing covered in stained ss windows, brass ornaments and decorative arches, was where the main festival was being held. Several guards around the entrances kept out everyone who wasnt invited. Around the base of the tower wrapped arge tform, which was connected to the gardens andwn around the tower through four flights of stairs. On that tform and through these gardens were spread simple tents and stands for themon people.
Just like John, Lydia had organized her birthday to be something everyone could enjoy.
They climbed the southern flight of stairs and were quick to the entrance. While Reika, who had been following the car in ways eagles preferred to move,nded on Lydias shoulder, John allowed himself a final look up the tower. It was a clearly Abyssal structure. Unsurprising, since they had never left the Abyssal side of Berlin. The further up the tower went, the more its walls were made up of stained ss, a truly impressive structure.
Without needing to stop, they stepped past the guards and through the open oak door. Passing the walls was like entering a different world. The outside noise of steps, chatter and cameras was reced with the soft fiddling of violins and a piano.
The base floor of the tower was a single room. At the centre of it were two staircases that wound around one another. Their railings were fashioned from gold and iid with glowing crystals that spread much of the illumination for the hall. The walls were of cobalt blue, royal purple and simple white, entirely made up of cut pieces of ss that were arranged in numerous images that seemed to tell the history of someone fighting a dragon.
Are we looking at a real story? John asked loudly enough that some people around may be able to hear him. Anyone around would have assumed he simply raised his voice so that the rest of the group may be able to hear him. In reality, Lydia had just instructed him to ask. He was to seem interested in the local culture. Not that he, with his steady curiosity about history, needed to be told to be interested.
No, these walls have simply been decorated for viewing pleasure, Lydia retorted with a somewhat disappointing answer. Romulus designed this building after the war. It was finished just this month.
Ever the architect, isnt he? the Gamer hummed as they went deeper inside therge hall. Although the size and beauty of the tower made it sound incredibly unlikely that the Apex of the Abyss could have had it built in a few months, that was only if John approached it with mundane sensibilities. With magic, great structures could be stomped out of the ground in a matter of hours and decorating them was then done by people who rarely had to rely on simple tools to fulfil their artistic vision.
As beautiful as the structure itself was, the first floor was filled only with those standing tables foundmonly in sports bars and festival tents and a couple of portable bar constructions. That was to say that the entire hall was devoid of actual furniture or contents. Taking out what had been prepared for the festival would have left it entirely empty. It was beautiful, but utterly without purpose.
John looked around the room for familiar faces. They had arrived early, but not first. The first familiar person he spotted was Mario, the swordsman that had been crushed by Eliza during the tournament for Rex Germaniaes crown. The dark-haired Italian only nced in Johns general direction for a split second, then acted as if he hadnt seen any of them and continued to chat with a bunch of people that wore a white and grey uniform like him. Fellow masters of the de, John reckoned.
The Gamer also let his gaze journey on, while the group moved out of the immediate entrance area. Mario was no threat to his or Lydias position and he had no interest in being friends with him either Cst time they had spoken, he had insulted Eliza and that was enough for John. Their paths had crossed once and now they could just stay away from each other. It had worked so far and would continue to work.
John spotted someone else with a Mediterranean tan who wore a vaguely militaristic uniform, except that his was gold and ck. He was a stylish, middle aged man with oiled, backwardsbed ck hair and a twirled moustache that looked like it belonged into the 18th century. The Knightlord of the Golden March, the Gamer thought and continued searching for more familiar faces. Unless they were approached or Lydia saw it fit to introduce them, something she might do depending on what happened over the course of the evening, John and the harem best stayed away from the influential power holders within the empire.
John spotted Maria in the crowd, Maximillians older sister who usually went by just Ria. The dark-haired woman had been squeezed into a dress and evidently wasntfortable with it. She kept pulling at the shoulder straps, leaning onto tables and getting a dreamy look that betrayed she would have much rather been somewhere where she could have counted screwdriver sizes, or something else mechanics liked to do.
While he was tempted to approach her, her curvy body looked attractive in that dress whether she wanted to wear it or not, the Gamer decided not to. For one, because she was Maximillians sister and he didnt want to be the hypocrite after all the anger he had felt towards his friend for other familial ties. Just as important a deterrent was what Momo had reported of her brief rtionship with the machine-obsessed women.
Nothing that had been said made John think Ria was a bad person C just that she was more in love with her work than she could ever be with a person. At least Lydia clearly loved him, she just took her obligations to her people more seriously than her emotions. He could respect that, because it was a prioritization of one kind of emotion over the other. When it came to her love, he was her only one. When it came to Rias loves, he would always be a distant number two behind her current tinkering project. As a man of pride, he couldnt live like that.
To his surprise, Ria didnt stay alone for long, though, as Maximillian himself appeared in the hall and joined his sister with some kind of joke, a beer and a hug. He also waved in Johns general direction when he spotted the Gamer. Waving back, John looked around some more and stumbled over a few other people that looked like Lydia had described the power holders. He saw some of the electors, princes and lords that marked their status with red coats that they wore over their suits. He saw Konrad, the leader of Lydias bodyguards. The veryst person he saw that he knew was someone he hadnt expected at all. It was a ck-scaled lizardman in a suit, who was looking through some sort of dictionary in a bored fashion. Mister Dra, the second of the two announcers of the tournament. He was apanied by a saurus (a bulkier race of lizardmen), who was dressed like a theologian.
Whats he doing here? John whispered towards Lydia, only pointing the direction with his eyes. It wasnt a question of disrespect, an announcer just seemed highly out of ce in this gathering.
Lydia noticed who he was looking at and pulled her eyebrows together for a second. I do not know. I did not make the guestlist.
Who did, then? John asked; this was a detail he had not been previously privy too.
Lydia was about to answer when the room in its entirety went silent and stared in their general direction. Not directly at them, but at the entranceway everyone else wasing through. This was because a certain, two-and-a-half metre giant of a man had just arrived. Wearing the appearance of a middle-aged titan, the tanned mountain of magical might and muscle towered over every other presence in the room. If anyone had even dared to oppose him, the stare of his green eyes would soon have demanded either surrender or obedience.
John chose to not fight the fight at the moment. To his interest, he found that a ratherrge part of him was irked by this. Is my pride growing or is it just bing more prevalent in this situation because I know Im getting ever close to being a challenge even to the Apex? the Gamer wondered. Deep inside, the part of him that loved to fight and test the limits of his ability wondered what a fight between himself and Romulus would look like. Keeping a cool head, he inspected these moods rising and falling inside him. The more about me changes, the more stays the same, the amused thought went through his head.
Behind Romulus strode the two goddesses of the prominent celestial bodies. Sol, a tinum blonde with a deeply tanned, copper-tinted skin. She wore a dress of gold, ornamented with metal tes of tinum and silver. None of the addition hid herrge bosom or seductively curving hips. Behind her head hovered a disk of fire, confined by a ck halo, and even where John stood he could feel the intimidating heat radiate from her body. Luna, with skin as pale as paper and hair of silvery white, like moonlight reflecting on a still pond. Her body was lean, curving in the right areas but to no degree that would have introduced jiggling into her flowing movements. The dress she wore was seemingly translucent in most ces, leaving her midriff and much of her legs to be seen. Around her chest and hips, however, the fabric darkened like the midnight sky. Stars and connected constetions were spread around the entirety of it.
One pair of golden and one pair silver eyes scanned the room like John had earlier. One pair of protective and challenging eyes and one pair of analytical and maniptive eyes. Sol and Luna followed their love, their contractor and their emperor, all unified in the same person, into the room. The music,ing from no source on this floor, continued on, while the entire room waited for the Apex to do anything.
Enjoy yourselves, Romulus voice reached every corner of the hall. It was amand, a request and a joke at the same time, something that could only be spoken by a man with authority beyond doubt. Chatter picked up throughout the room, even as all eyes followed the man over to where Lydia stood. My congrattions, Lydia, he told the queen in a familial tone. I hope this festival to the honour of your young years meets your approval.
Thank you, my emperor, the congratted responded in a diplomatic tone. There was no necessity for a festivity of this splendour to be organized by none other than you. Truly, your time and the money would have been more usefully allocated elsewhere.
What an interesting way to say that you do not want to be here, Romulus hummed, his deep voice making that simple sound worthy of being the backdrop of a blues track. A waste of time and money, you say? The typical Prussian mindset, I see you do note after your grandfather in this regard.
My grandfather had an intense distaste for wasting money, Lydia said.
But he did take great pleasure in festivities andrge rounds of discussion, Romulus countered, while extending a hand to scratch one of Reikas heads. The godly animal nibbled on his hand in a disy of trust. Then she seemed to have enough of attention and crowds and hopped off Lydias shoulder. Leaving the room on foot, she spread herrge wings and flew around once she was past the door. Let us dwell in memories of my old friend another time. Did the schedule for the evening reach you?
It did. Lydia narrowed her eyes. John could practically see her suspicion rising. The question of why he would bring up something he probably already knew the answer to was answered by what came next.
Splendid. I must inform you that all of it was a lie.
Rave opened her mouth toin about the extensive preparation she had now sat through for nothing. Already putting a hand around her waist, he pinched her softly in the butt to prevent more than a little surprised yelp from ever being voiced. Instead, they were all treated to a very long sigh by Lydia.
It could have been a perfectly usual day, she mumbled.
It will be worth your while, Romulus promised and gestured towards the ceiling. The levels of this tower will be my present to you. John heard that line and adjusted his own ns ordingly. The greatest present should be given at the very start. A night to remember, even if you may look at it with scepticism now, queen of Germaniae. A great festivity you, your friends, your lovers and the entire empire will find greatly illuminating.
I fully hope you are correct, Lydia responded and respectfully bowed her head, before Romulus walked away.
So, Rave finally spoke out, is being flippant with your liege, like, part of your image?
Challenging him is certainly part of my upation at court, Lydia retorted. As the foremost reformer of the empire, questioning the state and embodiments of power structure is what I do. That aside, Romulus will make sure the conversation is interpreted by those who heard it in the way he wishes it C at least when ites to public discussion. She raised her hand to her nose and slowly massaged the bridge of it. Be a dear and get me a beer, my love. Whatever Romulus ns for me, for us, are tonight, I will need something to steel my nerves.
How about liquor? Scarlett asked and pulled a small metal sk out of a pocket in her skirt.
One beer will suffice. Its a stress drink, not a way to get drunk, Lydia rified her intent.
Right, starter livers, Scarlett responded and unscrewed the lid of the sk.
Chapter 858 – Love and Statecraft 4 – Base: talking to many people
Chapter 858 C Love and Statecraft 4 C Base: talking to many people
John listened to Romulus as he exined to the rest of the party that the ns for the evening had changed. Despite most of it being information he had just given Lydia, the Gamer found himself carefully absorbing the words regardless. Being aware of the sway the Apex presence held over even him only increased that irksome feeling at his core. Over the course of the day, an ever-diminishing crowd will ascend through this tower along Lydia and myself. When I call, you all must be prepared to follow. With those words, the emperor lowered his head and ended his weing speech. He had needed no tform and no microphone.
The party returned to life and John watched Lydia empty half of her pint of beer, they didnt serve bottles, in one quick go. Noticing a journalist in the corner of his eye, John just barely heard the sound of a camera clicking. Ready to be titled an alcoholic tomorrow? John joked. Although Lydia had said she wouldnt drink more than the one, and John believed her, the sheer optics of her downing a beer like that before noon were going to be used by someone.
The photograph has not been taken at an angle that shows the time, Lydia retorted. There are no clocks around here, neither are we close enough to the entrances to show the daylight. Regardless, the alcoholic story would only sessfully enter the public interest if I turned out to be quite drunk at the end of the evening. I trust that more interesting events will transpire until then. She raised her half-empty pint and nked it against the one John was holding. Further, you are in no position to criticize me, my love.
I suppose that is true. John grinned and then raised his ss to cheer with everyone there. To Lydia! he led the cry and it was echoed by the present harem. Not everyone had a pint, giving Sylph over half a litre of beer was just asking for disaster, but everyone had a weak alcoholic beverage of some kind. Emptying their sses together, they stayed and chatted about this and that. By the time they were starting to disperse, Lydia at least had started to smile a little bit here and there, the initial tension and difort with herrgely invalidated ns beginning to fade. With the first round of drinks emptied, much of the harem dispersed to look at the rest of the festival, usually sticking in groups of two to four people.
While John was thinking about whether or not he should risk a second drink, he stared into Smanders cleavage. The way the few ck lines on her magnificent breastsplimented the colour of her dress and the shades cast in the deep valley between the firm jiggle could only be further improved if his dick was introduced into the mixture. Smander leaned forwards, fully on purpose of showing off.
Do not dare, Lydia warned them in a quiet tone.
Just looking, John assured, mustering all his will to keep his erection at half-mast. I need some sort of enchanted underpants that keep my erection from showing, he thought and pushed himself off the table. Ill go greet Maximillian, walk around for a little bit, all of that.
Remember to stay within fifty metres of me. I am relying on you, Lydia told him as he walked off. With a gesture of his hand, he made her understand that he had heard her. Then he navigated through the crowd.
The density had immensely increased since they had arrived with now over a hundred people in the room. Many of the most powerful people in Europe, magically, physically and politically, were gathered here. From beyond the continent, a few ambassadors were scattered about. People in distinctly Asian outfits, be it Chinese or Indian, as well as people clearly from the Middle East. Notably missing was anyone who gave John a French vibe. The rtionship between the Greater Empire and the Illuminati continued to be strained, even after the war they had fought together.
John approached the Habsburg siblings and knocked twice on the table when he wasnt immediately noticed. Hello there, he announced in a nonchnt tone.
President Newman, Maximillian raised one hand in a dismissive gesture. You are a bold one.
Ah, the memes, John hummed, truly the greatest thing toe out of Star Wars since the original films.
Cant say the sequels delivered where the prequels did, Maximillian stated.
Maybe thest film will give us something? John wondered. Episode Nine is still quite a bit away.
You think it could be good? Maximillian asked with a raised eyebrow.
With the world it has left to work with? Absolutely not. I just think it might be funny, John responded. Not that Ill watch it in the cinema.
Too stingy?
No C the opposite. Why would I go share a cinema with a bunch of people and get mediocre popcorn if I can be at home and get a blowjob while eating Aclysias cooking, the Gamer retorted. I have my home system, no need to go for the lesser experience. Wanting to include the older sister in the conversation, he turned to Ria. What do you think of Star Wars?
Im so happy that Rogue One exists, she responded immediately. The idea that the Death Star had such a ring construction error physically hurt me. My engineers pride was hurt! So hurt! I would never construct something that awful!
And immediately she brought it to her passion, Maximillian said out loud what John quietly observed, yfully pping his sister on the back of her head. Can you stop talking about your toys for five minutes?
Sure, when are you taking the throne back? I dont want it anymore, Ria returned, fidgeting with the cape she had to wear over her dress. Unlike Maximillian, who had always worn the medieval article of clothing with style, Ria just didnt manage to seem royal with it. It seemed more tagged onto her than anything else. ASAP is the answer I want to hear.
When I want. Im sure you can sacrifice your time for my wellbeing for a little while longer, given how much funding you free up for yourself.
Id rather have the time than the extra money.
Whatever you say, Ria.
Im serious!
I see you got yourself entertained here, Johnughed and knocked on the table again, feeling more like an intruder in an ongoing dispute than someone in a proper conversation C the initial sess at the greeting aside. Well talk moreter.
Sure thing, bud, Maximillian responded and immediately went back to arguing with Ria.
John looked outside the building and saw Nia among a pile of dogs, throwing her arms around in an attempt to pet all of them equally. The surprised owners justughed about the disy. Circumventing the issue of potentially irking nobles, the pariah had moved to indulge in the pets of the more lenientmon folk from the looks of things. A clever solution, all things considered.
Feeling someone approach him through nearby air movements, John turned around to be met by the scaled head of Dra. The ck lizardman had a series of small to medium sized horns protruding from the back of his head, framing his neck and creating the impression of a dragon. John was somewhat mystified how the elongated snout could produce regr human vocals without any distortion. Ignorant of his curiosity, the straightced voice reached his ears. President John Newman, a pleasure. He extended one hand. It was as scaled as the rest of his body, the ws at the fingertips treated with care and dulled down at the tip.
Mister Dra, John responded, not quite sure about the familiarity with which the lizardman approached him. Taking his hand, they shook once. I don''t think we ever spoke in person? As he asked, John tried to disengage the handshake C only to find that he was still being held. He could have freed himself, but just raised an eyebrow at the announcer.
I want to negotiate a future contract with you, Dra cut straight to the chase. I am sure Fusion will need something to bemented on in the future C tournaments, grammar finances, he stretched thatst word and then finally let go of Johns hand. I would be grateful if you would seek me out in the near future. I am reachable from thefort of your home.
Without any further words, Dra stepped away. Watching him go to someone else and approach them as if he wanted to make connections, John looked away when he felt he could do so without looking conspicuous. His fingers pulled in to hide a piece of paper in his palm, John walked away and to somewhere he was decently sure he wouldnt get seen. Then he looked at the business card he had been handed.
His behaviour had been somewhat unwarranted. What he was holding looked like a regr business card for an event announcer. Observe, however, peeled away the illusion for him and revealed a few other words on the card. Rather than Dra C Announcer it said Dramar C Founder of the Abyss Auction.
Now thats a twist, John thought and put away the card before someone else who could prate illusions could spot it. The Gamer could spot a wish for secrecy, especially if it was made so obvious in the short conversation. What could the founder of the Abyss Auction want from me? Why does he have a persona like this? Why would he contact me here of all ces? There were numerous answers John could havee up with for all of those, but nothing concrete. A fundamental question that kept bouncing around was, Do I even believe this is real?
For the moment, John chose to go with yes. If this was some sort of trap, it was a very odd one. The card had only two properties. An extremely powerful illusion and that it acted as an ess key for a room beyond dimensions. John had used a card for that purpose before, to get to Lady Liquors bar. If there was a trap, it would be in wherever this card led, but John could pick the time and could easilye with the insurance of his entire harem.
A fighting force that could beat him and all of his girlsbined wouldnt have needed to rely on such a roundabout way to get him somewhere. It seemed to be a legit attempt at contacting him. Throwing a few Observes at the cards Dra handed other people revealed that only the Gamer had received a special one. There was definitely some legitimacy to this.
Before he could continue pondering about this, he felt a light pressure against his ribcage. Itsted for just a couple of seconds and then disappeared. Turning away from the entire Dra situation, John walked to another part of the room. Looking around as if he was urgently looking for someone, he stopped the second he saw Lydia. Then he elerated his steps.
She was talking to a sleazy looking man with dark bags under his eyes. His ck, greying hair did not show even the attempt ofbing or other care, just falling down to his chin in dishevelled strands. Despite his hunched and thin figure, he exuded an aura of danger. All of it emanated from his red eyes and sharp canines.
eir refusal to pay their imperial tithe has cost them dearly, I saw to that, that man said, the tail-end of a conversation to which the queen only nodded. When she opened her mouth to respond, John was already interjecting.
Lydia, there you are! John said as if he had been searching for her. Coming up with a quick excuse, he continued, I need you to help me with something. There is this guy that wants to talk to me, but I cannot understand his ent for the life of me. A native tongue is required.
Being in Berlin, most people on the festival grounds spoke German, while those in the inside of the tower tended to use English instead to ovee international barriers. It was a believable enough excuse that Lydia nodded in his direction. For a moment, she turned back. Im sorry to leave your presence so suddenly, Lord of Pontis.
Oh, by no means, by no means, please do help your foreign man. Wouldnt want to keep his other women waiting, the power holder grinned as wide as an exposed skull as he delivered the insults in a sweet tone and walked away before they could. We will have other interesting conversationster, I am sure.
I think he knows that was an excuse, John dared to suggest, while taking Lydia towards the outside.
Certainly, he does, but I do not have an interest in his opinion, the queen mumbled back, too quiet to be picked up by even superhuman ears over the music. I stated my opinion about him earlier. Suel, Lord of Pontis, a truly bothersome man.
Why is it Lord of Pontis anyway? John wondered. The province is called Pontic, isnt it?
Just be thankful it is no longer called Pontiff of Pontis, Lydia responded.
Getting a religious title into the mix certainly would have been odd, John agreed, rolling his shoulder a little bit to get the piece of metal in the inside pocket of his suit more pleasingly aligned. Lets avoid your rivals for a little bit. I think your people deserve to see a bit more of their queen before she vanishes up the tower. Gorgeous as she is, that is certain to raise morale.
Forever a lovely sweet-talker, arent you, my love? Lydia asked.
I do more than talk, John responded and kissed her.
Chapter 859 – Love and Statecraft 5 – Court: in an elite circle
Chapter 859 C Love and Statecraft 5 C Court: in an elite circle
If John had a PR manager, he would have had no doubt that they would be very pleased with him right about now. For the past hour, he had been going around the festival and talking to people. Against his basic instinct, he had mainly talked to men, older women and wives. He still talked to gorgeous single women, but he reined in his desire to seek them out specifically.
It would have been easier a couple of weeks ago, before he started raising his Libido. Although John was perfectly content with the harem life and would survive never touching other women out of the fifteen he already called his, his sexual desires pulled him towards new conquests. There was just a part of him that desired to indulge in more. More women, more pleasure, morepetition of winding bodies on bedsheets and, ultimately, more victories. His Wisdom remained stronger than giving into these urges and let him follow his basic strategy.
While it was true that the Gamer was a relentless pervert and he didnt n to hide it, he wanted to show the public that he wasnt such a one-note character as the news often portrayed him as. Talking andughing with men, asionally making jokes at his own expense, listening to the stories of older women and having tonic discussions with the wives all let him highlight other parts of himself. ying the part of the down to earth person was easy for him, which John regarded as good news. His vigil when it came to staying reasonable in spite of his power was never ending.
At the moment, he was listening to a carpenter describe the different ways two pieces of wood could be joined. A pretty interesting topic, he found, partly because of who told it. The man was quite apt at describing things and was likely the centre of every pub evening he attended.
Putting two pieces of wood together should be such a mundane thing, but when you carve and saw them so they perfectly snap together without anything else, that moment is just pure The pause was so well-timed that John thought it was deliberate, until he noticed that the man was looking behind John. Turning around on the bench, John looked at the silver eyes of Luna just mustering him. She didnt say anything, just waited for his reaction.
John calmly stood up and gave the carpenter a friendly p on the shoulder. It appears duty calls, enjoy the rest of the festival, he gave his goodbye. Luna turned around and the Gamer followed. The two of them stepped around one of the many fires that had been lit to keep the cold of early October at bay. Not a lot was necessary, the temperature hovered around ten degrees, but people were still drawn to the proximity of the flickering heat. Something about humans was innately drawn to fire.
You are treating my little protg well, Luna started the conversation as suddenly as she had appeared. I was surprised when she one day returned and looked improved.
It was a pleasant change for all of us, Lady Luna, John returned, using the proper way to address her.
Your powers are impressive.
I can whole-heartedly agree with that.
History will put us at odds in one way or another.
John chose not toment on that.
Luna smiled over her shoulder. Youve be more patient since west met. Youre not quite as easy to read anymore.
I went through a lot, the Gamer responded. That aside, its been almost a year. For someone as young as me, thats a lot of time to change.
I dont think youve changed, Luna hummed in a thoughtful tone. Adjusted, is a better word, I think.
Not sure whether I agree or disagree with that statement, John returned. Fact is that Im not the exact same person I was back then. Ive lived, learned and moved on.
Thats an interesting life motto, the moon goddess said and then giggled. Ah, I still remember how shocked you and Lydia were when I called your rtionship. Good times. They walked up the stairs and stopped in the frame of the entrance. It was less of a good time when you had the Horned Rat visit you in Rome.
Its more urate to say that he visited me, John responded in a calm fashion, standing upright against Lunas gaze. The silver of her eyes seemed to intensify, like the moon in the settling night. A goddess of death, Luna could have killed him. As he was right now, he could have struggled but would have been ultimately defeated.
Luna waited for him to react with anything else, then closed her eyes and turned around again. I suppose it is Muris nature to be where he shouldnt be. They walked on.
Muris, thats an archaic way to use the Latin word for mouse, John thought. If the Horned Rat had a true name, that wasnt it, that much was for certain. Like Richard, it was just another title given to address the god. This one, John found even more deprecating than the one he used.
Please wait over there with Lydia. I will fetch the rest of your group, Luna stated and pointed him at a table.
That wont be necessary, John assured, having already sent out the telepathic signals to everyone else. Because everyone had broken off in small groups, everyone had somebody tag along that John was connected to. Calling them was an easy task. They are on their way already.
Splendid, I appreciate less work. Luna smiled and returned to Romulus. The second she was back, she got into what looked like a discussion with Sol that ended with the moon goddess suddenly kissing her fiery counterpart on the mouth. Across harems of any size, certain scenes repeated themselves with different people.
John noted just how little of the court had to return to the tower. Of the roughly hundred people, it seemed as if only the Gamer and his group had gotten out of their way to leave for any extended period of time. Anyone else just mingled with the other elites. Since Lydia hadnt voiced any concern about this, happily joined for the longest time even, he could only assume that she was happy being the exception to the rule.
Nia and Aclysia were thest to return to their table, the pariah showing as much disappointment with having needed to leave as her facial features allowed her to express. In order to keep her mood raised, John handed her Stirwin to pat and tend to, while they listened to Romulus raise his voice again. Noon hase and gone, the people have seen their leaders and now it is time that we indulge in a feast more substantial than alcohol. Those of you of my court and those of you invited by Lydia herself, please follow me upstairs. For the guests of honour, the ambassadors and my friends, I wish that you continue to enjoy each otherspany and the free drinks. We will return in a few hours time.
Having finished his announcement, Romulus stepped onto one of two stairs and climbed the radiant spiral, Sol and Luna right behind him. John offered his arm to Lydia and the two were the first to follow. The harem and the court followed. Of the hundred present people, about half stayed behind and a third of the new group was just John and his harem.
Big group with big butts, John happily thought while catching Maximillian waving from the floor. It appeared the currently-not king of Austria would have to stay behind. He hadnt been invited by Lydia and wasnt part of the court at the moment. As a guest of honour, he was excluded from the announcement.
A de-facto situation that Romulus didnt care about. Maximillian Franz the Fourth von Habsburg, the Apex used the entirety of the royals name, stopping in his ascent shortly underneath the ceiling. I expect you toe along.
John saw his friends lips move, but was too far away to hear what exactly was said. Given the smile and the fact that he started to move, it likely had been something along the lines of if you insist, my emperor.
The stairs ended in arge hole at the centre of the new level they emerged on. The radiant material used to decorate the railing of the stairs continued around the rim of the hole and illuminated the hall they found themselves in with soft, golden light. While it was the primary light source, it was assisted by candles that magically lit on top of every table that stood around. They were of the usual festive variety, round and covered with a white sheet. Silverware and tes were already arranged. Covered by lids,rge salvers sat in the centre of eachrge table.
The hall itself was smaller than the one they hade from, courtesy of a number of indents that made the walkable areas assume the shape of a cogwheel. Symbolism at the doors left no doubts that some were toilets, a necessary addition if they were to eat now. Two of the indents were different, however, with doors like elevators. Yet others had no immediately obvious purpose.
Ack of name tags or anything of the variety made it clear that they were to sit down however they wanted. Each table wasrge enough to hold up to six people. Lydia and John found a quick arrangement that worked for them. The elemental girls plus Metra took one table. Scarlett, Beatrice, Eliza, and Nia also shared one table and were joined by Konrad as well as a woman of visibly Iberian origin.
She had the typical tanned appearance of a southern European, ck hair and was of a rather short stature. That she was about as tall as Eliza only made her having an almost identical name, Elisa, more of a coincidence. She was High-Admiral of the Seastrider Ports, Portugals dominant Abyssal entity. Somehow, Eliza managed to swallow whatever curse she had on her tongue and made a socially eptable joke about the situation.
Anyway, I hope you do not mind me joining. Ivee without assistants, you see, and dont feel like talking to the men over there, Elisa gestured in the general direction of the other power holders settling alongside each other and their own subordinates. There were noints.
John only distantly heard all of that, while he sat down alongside Lydia, Rave and Aclysia. Beyond those three, they were joined by Amalia and, to his surprise, Sol. The sun goddess didnt seem too happy to be separated from Romulus. Ive been tasked to talk to you, arrogant upstart, dont get the wrong impression, she exined as she sat down.
Maybe Ill be charming enough that you wont call me that by the end of the meal, John managed to retort, before Romulus once more demanded the attention of the room.
At his own table, the Apex kept Maximillian, Ria, Suel and a stoic looking man that, like Romulus, wore a toga simr to those Romans were often disyed in. That left one seat open. It wasnt for Luna, the moon goddess had sat down by the Knightlords table. Instead, a very old man appeared from one of the elevators. He wore a brown robe and the left half of his head was covered in benign, crystalline growths of a mana-blue shade. Rodam of Oreh, chancellor of the Greater Roman Empire, had arrived. John had wondered where that man had been anyway.
Before he sat down, the old man addressed the room. His voice betrayed his age, being raspy, and had an odd ring to it. Regardless of both, it echoed through the room with rity. Im d you all could make it to todays celebration. The twentieth birthday of Lydia Augusta the Fourth of House Hohenzollern, Regent of Brandenburg, Duchess of the city of Lbeck, Protector of Prussia, Marquise of Pomerania and Silesia, Queen of Steel and of Germany. The second youngest ruler her kingdom has ever seen and reformist of our glorious empire. To her honour, my lord has seen it fitting to organize a feast.
Rodam snapped his fingers and all across the room, the lids disintegrated atop their salvers. The silver particles were driven away along a rise of steam and an explosion of delicious fragrances. Every table looked at a roasted pig, surrounded by a lot of potatoes and other side-dish vegetables. Gravy hovered down from the ceiling, alongside the utensils necessary to cut into therge animals.
John wondered for a moment whether they were expected to tend to this themselves, then a number of servants suddenly appeared from those same elevators (which John now realized must have been teleporter pads). There was one for each table, armed with a tray and a menu they presented to the guests. It was a list of all the avable beverages.
Enjoy your meals, enjoy yourpany and ready yourself. Once we are all sated and prepared, we shall give our presents to the queen, Rodam finished up and sat down.
The food was readily engaged in.
Chapter 860 – Love and Statecraft 6 – Court: food, sun and present
Chapter 860 C Love and Statecraft 6 C Court: food, sun and present
John did not overly enjoy the pig. The meat was of superb quality. The animal must have had a good life and been delivered a swift death. What had been made of it wasnt to the Gamers taste, however. Whatever sauce had been used to coat the pig while it was roasted tasted intensely of honey and had the kind of smoky aroma sometimes found in whiskey. Thebination was novel, John had to give it that much, and he didnt find it outright disgusting. He would have just enjoyed the meat if it had been less drenched in the stuff.
To the credit of the roasting, it had seeded in keeping the meat juicy. Long exposure to heat always threatened to turn meat into a dry chewing toy. As far as texture went, the pork was fantastic. John tried to ovee his difficulties with the meat by graciously applying the dark gravy to it. That did help, but not enough to get John to get more than a single slice of the meat. After that initial bit, he concentrated on the vegetables.
The entire time he was eating, he could feel Aclysias presence in his mind and how the gears turned inside hers. Every bite he took was another adjustment to what she would serve him the next few days. Aside from talking, the weaponized maid didnt have much else to do. The only thing she could have taken to eat from the table was the silverware.
So, John, Amalia raised her voice, your scheme to get my people to stay in your capital has been annoyingly sessful.
What can I say, I y the long game. John didnt even try to deny that was what he was doing. Several months ago, he had struck an agreement with Amalia that allowed him to invite Dutch naval engineers to work in the Hudson Barrier. Ever since then, he had put numerous incentives out to keep those engineers around even after their initial contracts to school some of Fusions uing workers ended. An agreement to stay for longer timeted luxurious housing, greater pay, ess to all of the Hudson Barriers advantages and funding for private endeavours, among other advantages. This way, John didnt even have to ask if they wanted to join Fusion over the NTC. Given time, enough would stay to keep teaching more of the local poption. Once that was assured, he would no longer need to brain-drain the Nethends.
Im sure you understand that I cant just let this continue, Amalia continued on. I think Ill end our contract at the end of the year.
Which was too early for John to have gotten out of it what he wanted. Looking around the table, he noticed the strategic reservedness of Lydia and the burning gaze of Sol. One clearly knew about Amalias n to bring this up, the other was being used as a witness. Amalia wasnt just threatening to end the contract, she was doing so in the presence of a person who both disliked John and had the political influence topletely nullify whatever he may have used to bludgeon Amalia back into an agreement.
Not that John had nned to use any underhanded methods. He had known this would need eventual renegotiating since signing the contract. Everything eventually did. Rather than put out what he had prepared to say if this topic had been brought up the normal way, being an email or a phone call, he turned to the celestial goddess. What would you say I would have to offer to solve this situation, Lady Sol? he asked in a respectful fashion.
As little as he liked Sol and her overly aggressive way of talking to him, the Gamer acknowledged that he was better off if he raised their rtionship status from hostile to amicable. Exerting a little bit of effort to that end, especially since he could go nowhere else anyway, was reasonable enough.
Sol raised an eyebrow in surprise at being included like this, but answered anyway, You could let the contract be terminated and work on it by yourself.
That is an option, but as you pointed out earlier, Im an upstart and so is my guild, he answered, being as humble as he needed to be. I need the foreign knowledge to elerate the growth of my own talent. What do you suggest I do in a situation in which a province of the greatest power in the world says they will no longer aid me? He gestured towards Amalia, who was following this entire bit with a knowing smirk. She knew exactly what John was doing, but because it wouldnt be to her disadvantage, she had no reason to stop it. Going for anything but the best wouldnt really serve me, would it?
Sols surprised expression melted into a mixture between pleased and calcting. It was exactly the reaction John had anticipated. For how long she had lived, Sol was remarkably easy to read. Much easier than Luna, that much was for sure. It certainly helped that John understood quite a bit of Sols character because her pride and her protectiveness of what she had were traits in himself.
The problem is that youre extracting value from her economy, while offering nothing in return, Sol finally put her thoughts on the matter out there. Easy as she was to read, she wasnt unintelligent, so her analysis was spot-on. The value of the NTC stems from the money and experiences the engineers gather and bring back. Wealth, newly discovered practices and intel about Fusions naval forces will all serve the Nethends in the long run. After all, knowledge about your war machine can be used to bargain with us. She gestured in her masters direction. The engineers staying with you diminishes that return value. You need to offer Amalia something that serves as its recement.
Would you agree with that? John asked, turning to the Lady-Protector of the NTC. To continue the contract if we can agree on something that acts as recement for the value lost by the engineers staying in Fusion?
That would be the minimum requirement, Amalia agreed.
John reached into his inventory and retrieved a tiny piece of metal, having the shape and size of a die. Reaching over, he handed it to Aclysia who, in turn, ced it in front of Amalia. Interested, the middle-aged blonde picked it up and looked at it from multiple angles. Light reflected on the equally silver and gold material.
What kind of alloy is this? she asked.
Its not an alloy at all, John gave his amused answer. Its Solunian. Amalia seemed thoughtful, then shook her head. The goddess of the sun one seat removed now seemed extremely surprised. That she knew about this material didnte as a surprise. Are you familiar with Terrium? Oblivium? Poseidury? Two times she shook her head, then she nodded. Its the same kind of material, just of the light variety, rather than water.
I see, Amalia returned the little cube. Do you usually carry such exceedingly rare goods with you?
Today is a special circumstance, John answered with a smile and took the cube back. More important is that my Guild Hall can produce this and the other five elemental extreme metals C as long as I remain alive, that is. He threw thatst bit on there casually, while watching the implications reflect on the two womens faces. John didnt actually know if the Guild Hall would shut down if he died. Given that it was an extension of his powers, it was a fair assumption to make, however.
That neither of them had heard of this did surprise the Gamer somewhat. Sol was so close to Romulus that he expected her to know everything his doubtlessly vast information gatheringwork could bring to the surface. Perhaps Luna was handling all of that and therefore left the sun goddess unknowing. Perhaps John had just revealed something he didnt strictly need to. He didnt mind too much; this was something that would leak sooner orter anyway. The true surprise here was that Lydia hadnt told Amalia about this.
How much? Amalia wanted to know, the profiteering intent was practically written on her face.
Not much, John kept it vague. Most of it is used up by private endeavours and research at the moment, but eventually it will hit the market. Of course, I will prioritize the local economy, but it would doubtlessly prove profitable to push this out to the wider world. He put the cube into his inventory. How about it, would an agreement to prioritize the NTC in the international elemental extreme metal trade serve as enough rpense?
The Gamer had by now worked out why Lydia was saying nothing, only sipping on the ss of water she had ordered to her meal. When she had first seen the Guild Halls ability to create these metals, she had asked that Rex Germaniae would get a monopoly on Fusions trade regarding these things. John had managed to decline. Now Lydia had managed to gain herself a lesser version of that pledge without getting involved herself. A prediction of this extent wouldnt have been possible if she hadnt known exactly how he functioned.
We will discuss the details another time, Amalia decided, registering that Rodam was getting up again.
Dear guests, I hope the food was to your liking and the vintage of the wine pleased your tongues, the old chancellor began. His voice was underlined by the steady music, violins and a piano working in harmony, whose origin John still couldnt find. It is now time for you to present your gifts to thedy of the evening. Rodam pped his hands and the tables began to rise, creating more space in the hall.
Understanding the spirit of the action. John got up and moved his chair so people could walk to the still seated queen without issue. Fairly quickly, a row began to form. First of all was Suel. I understand you like simple gifts, mdy, so I bring a simple gift, the unkempt man announced, lowering himself to one knee. John was a bit worried there would be an awkward scene for a moment, but Suel only kneeled as a form of respect and pulled something out of his personal pocket space.
It was a simple metal cassette, engraved with a recreation of the German eagle but otherwise undecorate. Flicking open a seal at the side, Suel revealed its contents: an array of writing utensils, screwdrivers and other tools, all fashioned from simple metals.
These tools will be practical for you to wield and the container can be controlled by your powers as well, Suel exined his thoughts behind the gift while handing it over. It may look cheap, but I assure you that the enchantments on these simple steel tools are of the highest grade. The longevity is guaranteed.
I thank you, Lydia said after having taken and inspected everything herself. She was thankful enough that not even a hint of the disdain she felt for the man slithered into her voice. A practical and simple gift indeed. Suel nodded, got up and made room for the next person.
The electors of Rex Germaniae one by one got in front of her and handed Lydia little pieces of jewellery or alcohol of rare vintages. Out of them, Ria was the most exceptional, instead giving Lydia a pocket watch that she had made herself. In a self-aggrandizing and joking movement, Maximillian inserted himself into the process by presenting his gift of apologizing for the troubles his sister was making. It helped to keep the mood from bing overly rigid.
A bald man with skin darker than the regr southern Europeans stepped in front of Lydia. He had something Arabic about him. Just a note that set him apart. John identified him as Lord Africanus. Apparently, those that governed that area of the empire changed their name to be the same as their title.
Refusing to bow down, he reached into his dimensional pocket and quickly handed over an overly ornamented dagger. John raised an eyebrow. Presenting the practicality loving Lydia with a ceremonial weapon was a barely veiled slight. Lydia took it and Africanus stepped aside without the two of them exchanging a single word.
How rude, that seemed, the next person in line said as he approached. Both his blue robe and blond hair cascaded brilliantly, elevating his pale, beautiful face. His voice was a sing-song that almost rivalled Undine. Objectively speaking, it may have been her equal, but John would have never admitted that. Dropping down to one knee, he said, I hope this gift will please you, and retrieved an item from his regr pocket.
It was a simple paper card. Raising an eyebrow, Lydia took and inspected it. After reading through it, she showed a light smile. Most gracious, she said and put it away. Im pleased that we can agree on this matter, Governor Rada.
Your arguments persuaded me in the end, the man answered and then rose to his feet.
Elisa was next and presented Lydia with a uniquemp. A carefully constructed, self-sustaining ecosystem of bioluminescent jellyfish swam inside a container resembling avamp. It was quite beautiful, all things considered, and hovered in the area between practical and useless, given how unnecessarilyplicated it was. Lydia epted it with grace regardless.
Last before John and Rave was Eduardo, the Knightlord of the Golden March. He, too, refused to bow. However, his gift was less hostile. Historical was a much better term. Calling two attendants, he had them stack a number of tiles in front of Lydia, each a work of art covered in amber. We have found the Amber Room while crushing a pocket of what remains of the Blood of the Proletariat in Brus, Eduardo exined. It is only right that this piece of history is returned to Germany. Albeit, it seems a few pieces are still missing.
Iplete history is better than no history at all, Knightlord, Lydia responded, touching the tiles as if she was in front of a sacred altar. You have my gratitude for this. I will cherish and remember this being returned to my people.
Eduardo nodded and opened the floor for Rave to step forwards. Tad awkward, that, the Lightbringer started, scratching the back of her head as Aclysia and Beatrice stepped up next to her. See, we knew it was still around somewhere thanks to John getting a Quest goal back during the war, so me and the girls spent some time sniffing around on the Abyss Auction, following leads, asking Momo for help when something was outside of a days trip range ya know, this is the result The maids now did as the attendants before and put more of the wall tiles of the Amber Room onto the floor. Hope that amounts to all of it.
Whether it did or not was unknown until it would be put together. For the moment, it was expected of John to present his gift. Stepping forwards confidently, the Gamer dropped down on one knee, took Lydias hand and kissed the back of it. You will receive my giftter, he promised. At the end of this.
Unconventional as always, are you not? Lydia sighed with disapproval. She had warned him to not spend an inordinate amount of time and resources on his gift. Likely she was nowpletely sure that he had done it anyway. Since she was powerless to change his mind, she looked over to Romulus. Would this meddle with your ns for the day?
Not enough to warrant intervening, the emperor answered, letting things pass as they were.
Instead, they went on with those ns.
Chapter 861 – Love and Statecraft 7 – Game: a large board
Chapter 861 C Love and Statecraft 7 C Game: arge board
They moved towards the teleporters and through them were brought to the third level of the tower. Once more, indents gave the room the shape of a cogwheel. The purpose of every one of those rooms seemed to be the same as before. Between them stood the tables they had sat on one level below, with the feasts removed but their drinks still intact. Just as the servants eventually followed them so were the chairs brought up from the lower level.
In the middle of the room was a golden, hollow circle. The continuous band of metal bordered the very tip of the indents and was covered in various runes. When Romulus stepped onto that thick outline, the engraved, magical symbols red to life like a regrmp that had been hooked up to a nuclear powernt. John was genuinely worried the entire construction might explode from the overabundance of energy, but all that happened was that a vast illusion suddenly flickered to life.
Where clean, stone floor had been, they were now presented with a map of a world. It wasnt earth, the continents they were presented with didnt resemble those of this in any way. It was all green and fertile, interrupted only by mountains, oceans, rivers and the many hues of farnd. At the centres of these farnds stood cities and viges. Some seemed poorly organized and small, others vast and rich. None seemed destitute. In a world of such lushness, starving seemed difficult.
Ive prepared a stage for you, Romulus exined, as he stepped into the illusion. Light flickered around his legs in the arcane colours of blue and light purple, where his movements interrupted fields and mountain ranges. A game for us all to enjoy. I am sure some of you will find this more to your liking than others, the Apex looked towards John, who smirked back until Lydia jabbed him in ribs to get him to behave himself, but I would like all of those who governnd in this world to y along.
May I ask about the rules? the Gamer spoke up. If he had to y a game, then he at least wanted to know what he was working with.
Certainly. Romulus nodded firmly. The giant of a man had just waited for someone to ask. Each of you will take hold of one of the settlements across this world C Danner. Through a wide gesture, he caused each of the cities and viges to be surrounded by a golden circle, making them easier to spot. Depending on your settlement, you have different starting resources and problems. Each of you will be face to face with your own illusion to interact with to solve them. Beyond that, you will be presented with random events.
John raised an eyebrow. I didnt know illusions could do random number generation, he put out there. The circle seemedplicated enough that it could hold and update limited information, for a dozen yers even an early 2000sputer could have calcted the necessary variables. The great thing about an illusion should have been the graphics, not the processing power. Although picking random events was far from impressive from a PC standpoint, the Gamer had never heard about enchantments being able to do anything like that. Even the most powerful illusions, such as the crystal used to copy him and other contestants during the tournament, were quite deterministic.
They cant, Romulus responded. I will be assisted in this endeavour by my lights. Sol and Luna shifted back into the general awareness. Taking position at opposite ends of the circle, they pulled out smartphones from dimensional pockets. Their summoner continued with the exnation. They will circle the field and visit you in order. Each time, they will choose one of three random events that the phone presents them with. They will then reward or punish you for your choices.
So, its a mixture of a grand strategy game and pen and paper, John thought. Sounds interesting enough. Lets hope the event-handlers are not too biased.
My emperor, Knightlord Eduardo chimed into the exnation, may I ask how this game is won and what the reward is?
Those whose civilizations remain under their control until the end of the game are granted the right to ascend further, along with their staff or harems. Everyone else is to return to the base floor, Romulus answered. We will continue to y until only five of you remain. Of course, Lydia moving on is guaranteed, but she should still be involved.
As you wish, my emperor, the queen diligently responded and then turned to the man at her side. Under these circumstances, I ask that we treat each other as bitter enemies until the game has passed, my love. It would be upetitive were we to ally.
That would certainly make things rather easy, John responded with a smug smile. That he was good at strategy games was beyond any doubt and Lydia had her own talents. Supporting each other would have led to simple domination. He was that certain of himself.
It would have also been smart, given that Lydia moving on was guaranteed, but he had to win for the entire harem to tag along. The queens present staff consisted only of Konrad, her bodyguard. Nobody else was present and he didnt feel like twisting words so they could say he and the girls were all Lydias harem. That went against his pride, reality and his principles. He would much rather win.
Thats how we will do things then, my enemy, Lydia joked and attempted to distance herself from his arm.
Before she could step awaypletely, John grabbed her and pulled her back for a quick kiss. She reacted lovingly, the two of them sharing a moment where they forget the surroundings over the sensation of their lips meeting. Taste, texture, warmth and tenderness were all so much more rewarding than this game of the court. When they separated, John whispered, I will conquer you again, my love.
You may try. Lydia stared back, thepetitive spirit now igniting in her eyes. With a rough movement, she freed herself from his grip and marched away. John couldnt help but swoon a little bit, while staring at her ass. That his women were often willing to submit to his designs was only valuable because he knew the strength of character they truly possessed.
Arent I a blessed man? he thought, smiling to himself, while his attention was drawn to a different scene. A few metres removed from him, Ria was trying to shove Maximillian towards the circle. I dont holdnd, I shouldnt participate, the currently-not kingined while he pushed back. Between him being a mage and his bad leg, his mechanic of a sister actually seeded in pushing him along.
Nobody here cares! Im just doing your job until youre done with your vacation! Ria responded. Like theres anybody here who doesnt know. Now go and y that stupid game, I have blueprints to think about.
She was right in that nobody cared which one of the two Habsburgs yed. In the end, Maximillian relented, partly because he noted ack ofment from Romulus, and stepped into the illusion. As did the other power holders and electors present. They scattered above the map and each sought out one of the highlighted settlements.
With no knowledge what the pro and cons of each were, John looked around for geography. There were two he immediately considered. One was on an ind and had the appearance of wealthy but corrupt hive, with high spires and little shags beyond the walls. The other was a little vige in a semi-isted valley. The former was safer than thetter, albeit both had fairly secure positions. Before he had familiarized himself with the details of the resources, he didnt want to be anywhere he could be assaulted.
While still thinking, he noticed Suel approaching. The man immediately stopped when John looked at him. Feel no hurry, I will take whichever of the two you dont, the red-eyed Lord of Pontis assured John.
Dont you think thats rather risky? John wanted to know.
I have my ways of making myself valuable, Suel assured with a wide smile, showing off his canines. It will not be your damage, I assure you.
Before John could decide anything, he needed to ask a question that was burning in his mind. Are you a vampire? He didnt care if that came out of nowhere, the Gamer just wanted to know.
Do I have a hypnotic gaze, am undead and sustain myself on the blood of other people? No, Suel answered with a shrug. Albeit, it is helpful if people wonder if I might be after all.
John raised an eyebrow in an amused fashion. I believe that, he said and stepped onto the vige in the valley. Once he was inside the golden circle, a confirmation window popped up. It had a golden rim and a grandiose font on a ck background. Fundamentally more impressive than Johns simple blue windows, but if he had to look at that design all the time, he would have preferred the blue. ck text on a simple background got the point across quicker.
As announced, Suel imed the ind city. If John expanded to the coast, the two of them would essentially be neighbours. It wasnt arge stretch either.
With his city selected, John finally got to see the menu. There were five main resources: food, manpower, money, production and science. There were also some special resources, such as wood, metal and stone, that seemed to limit what sort of bonuses he could buy. Clicking around, it all reminded him quite a bit of Civilization, just that things happened in real time, rather than turn based. There were also decisions he could take, such as probing the mountains for metals worth mining.
Finding a diplomatic tab, he realized he could send other yers resources. There was no way to attach a message, though, which meant that intentions either had to be guessed or publicly shared. Knowing that, John looked down at the map. The area his vige controlled was outlined with a dark blue border. It only extended to the very edge of the valley.
If I get some more money, I can afford some upgrades to my economy and then he started making his ns, only to see a sizable wad of cash suddenly being gifted to him. Looking up, he nced at the origin.
A sign of the friendship between our rising nations, Suel exined with a fluid bow that shed with his bony built. Let us prosper together, President Newman.
I suppose we can. John smiled in response. Even if he didnt trust what this was about yet, answering with outright hostility didnt garner him anything at this stage. Instead, he took the money and directly invested it into his army. Building up his economy had been to the end of getting a bigger army. Unlike Civilization, it appeared there was no penalty for expanding. In other words, developing hisnds may have been good, but it was better to control as much of it as he could before concentrating on it. After all, the majority of the map was, for now, nothing but uncontrolled areas.
John tapped the recruitment button and watched the money disappear. A bar appeared, counting down the seconds until the consumed resourcebined with manpower to give him a standing army regiment. That army regiment would need more money to be kept up and take up manpower to replenish losses. Very simple systems that continued to ovep to create aplicated whole.
Just as John resolved what kind of justification to use to attack the vige between himself and the sea, a window suddenly opened. It had a silver border and a thirty second timer at the top of it made it clear that he had to make a quick decision. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Luna standing on the rim of the map closest to him. It appeared she was manipting the illusion to send him that popup.
John quickly read over the message. It was an event offering him a chance to use a recently revealed masterful spy in his vige. He could send the person out to Suels vige to cause mischief, keep the spy at home and catch potential miscreants or keep the spy at home and use him to raise public opinion of the Gamers rule. John chose thetter and new manpower flowed into his pool just before he sent his men out to die fornd acquisition.
As the tiny representation of people poured out of their illusionary vige, John looked up to check more of his global situation. There were two electors and Africanus nearby, sharing a penins and the nearby mountain range with the Gamer. On the other side of the ocean, situated at the tip of a cape, Maximillian had situated himself. A couple more electors and Eduardo separated him from Lydia, who was at the rtive equator of this world, whereas John was more situated to the south.
Since he didnt even have ess to a dockyard yet, he doubted he would be able to muster any considerable naval force anytime soon. John decided to concentrate on getting an elitend army at first, best in the world if he could, and unify the penins. From there, he would see if he could expand eastwards and gather most of the continent and then choke out whoever he wanted by just burying them under his resources.
Sol approached, presenting him with a new event. A religious ceremony, and he was supposed to choose whether they were going to sacrifice some food and, if yes, to which deity. War or fertility, those were his choices. One boosted army performance and production of new armies, while the other increased manpower regeneration and food production. Following his current n, he picked the army performance.
Lets position ourselves nicely for the midgame, he thought.
Chapter 862 – Love and Statecraft 8 – Game: Larger People
Chapter 862 C Love and Statecraft 8 C Game: Larger People
John had adapted to everyst facet of the game within the hour that it took everyone topletely eliminate the non-yer areas. What resources were best generated by what province improvement, which way of governing his society led to what bonuses and how to stack severalsting and temporary bonuses for some truly absurd effects. He was producing a vast quantity of food, which allowed him to feed more people, which raised his manpower pool beyond reasonable. At the same time, mines all across the valley supplied him with vast amounts of metal and stone, allowing him to build fortifications and arm those men. The little vige he had started with now spread through the entirety of the valley.
Admittedly, he was somewhat short on the economic side of things. He could sustain his vast armies, but his society wasnt exceedingly rich. It was incredibly happy with his rule, however, as thews were just and infrastructure adequately distributed. A side effect from building roads everywhere to move his military around. What those roads connected were, for the most part, military outposts, however.
Having been sent wealth continuously throughout the game, John had little to no reason to chase after economic or scientific goals. He had thergest country on the map, no doubt about it. When it came to military power, he could see nobody who would be his equal. If he didnt start diverting his attention soon, he would fall behind in other ways, however. His knights would face cannons and then hed have quite a few problems.
To avoid this, he would either have to concentrate on internal affairs for a little bit or conquer some morends that could provide those resources instead. Nothing was more efficient than taking what someone else had developed over a long period of time. John turned his gaze over to Suel.
The ind city he had picked was even more impressive than it had been at the start of the game. It was also even more decisively divided. Outside of marble white walls and overseen by spires with cobalt tiled roofs, the small huts of the peasantry stood. Like anthills next to the New York skyline, they gave way to a steady stream of bodies that tilled fields and brought fish to feed the technocratic upper ss of Suels corrupt and sessful society.
Robbing the Lord of Pontis of his sole and prized possession would bring John all of the scientific breakthroughs he needed to remain in the dominant position for the rest of the game. Although bringing equality under thew to a ce where the unleashed minds of geniuses could wreck the lives of anyone they wanted in the name of research would reduce the amount of discoveries made, John would stille out able to equip his armies with some impressive improvements. The same scientific discoveries would go a long way to elerating his economic growth.
All he needed to that end was a navy. Luckily, he had been building one of those up for a while now. Backstabbing his donor had been a n since the very first payment. John would not be made dependent on another persons benevolence, not even in a game. Knocking out Suel would have the triple benefit of freeing John from that thorn in his mind, the threat of Suel backstabbing him and denying the Lord of Pontis the possibility to further apany them on Lydias birthday journey.
Oh my, President Newman, Suel suddenly spoke up. I see you have mustered quite the fleet over there. I would be thankful if you could keep it in the east. I wouldnt want you to threaten my friend Maximillian with it.
John raised an eyebrow and looked over to the gravity mage, who smiled back and shrugged while saying, I would indeed be thankful if you kept your military away from my borders. I wouldnt want to spend all of Suels money on fighting you.
I suppose I can understand that. The Gamer smiled back, pushing down the annoyance he actually felt. Should have known better than to assume Suel wouldnt take precautions against me. Hes using me as a shield to the east and Max as his shield against me. Taking out both of thembined is going to be a pain. Max navy is muchrger than mine.
I work with the winners, Suel mused, as if he had read Johns thoughts. With a small bow, he added, It will be my pleasure to further subsidize you, should you, like Maximillian, need some help.
I doubt it, but I regard that offer highly, John responded, keeping up the friendly fa?ade. He was quite certain he could win even a war against both of them, annoying as it would be, if nothing else was thrown his way. That Suel had been willing to so tantly show this card meant that he had other back-up schemes. Even if he somehow had nothing, John doubted that the other yers would just let an opportunity pass to gang up on the number one threat.
Turning his attention around, John immediately decided to dere war on the yer to his east. It was the secondrgest nation in the running right about now, headed by no one else than Africanus. The Mediterranean ruler raised an eyebrow. You think you can take me, Mister Newman?
Call me President, people who insult my Lydia get crushed, the Gamer stated and smiled. I could take you and your entire alliance. By all means, bring them on. He made a challenging gesture towards the other two electors and Elisa, all of which were on the same penins as himself and Africanus. It was more or less an equivalent of India and unifying all of it under him would give him a considerable power boost.
His attention was momentarily pulled away by an event. The choices all had to do with a minor famine and the following civilian issues. Paying a sizable amount of money, he managed to avoid a penalty to his manpower regeneration. Nothing that would help or harm his efforts in this war. Sol moved onwards and distributed events to the three people John had just made his enemies. Africanus smiled, having likely gotten something good.
To crush you, then, I have nowhere else to go anyway, the power holder dered and moved his armies to meet Johns.
The Gamer moved his armies with great certainty, then yed hesitation when he started to lose. Every engagement he was in, his troops were narrowly defeated. With great losses, his opponent overcame every contingent he sent their way, on every front, until it stopped being a push by Johns army and he had to retreat into his very ownnds. Diminished but victorious, the three enemies confidently pushed into Johns domain.
They continued to win. The Gamer seemed to overestimate his armies at every turn. While he could do more with less numbers, he failed to actually send enough at once to defeat his enemies. Greedily they stomped onwards, lured by straggling armies that had been meant to reinforce Johns struggling forces. They hadnt arrived before the defeat and now had to run along with their retreatingrades. Most of them fled sessfully, higher discipline and better gear allowing them to outmarch their opponents.
All three enemy armies unified at a strategic choke point created by the very same mountain range that isted Johns hearnds from all of this warfare. They were halted by thergest fortress in Johnsnds. They began their siege.
Then John gathered up his entire army and moved in for the counter attack. Everyone seemed confident they would win again and for a little bit it seemed they would be right. In the number of regiments, they were superior. All of the losses they had taken on their way, however, made their frontline look like swiss cheese. Outside of their ownnds, reorganizing had a natural malus, as did reinforcements. Johns army was still well-maintained and fully operational. The initial battle phases looked good for his enemies, but their armies soon broke, moral, stamina and men depleted.
Because this game didnt have a safe retreat mechanic, whereas armies could run back to a secure position without being attacked, John could fully abuse his new victory. As a popr ruler, he had the ability to spawn peasant reinforcements. Extremely weak regiments that were more of ast ditch effort and, while raised, made the ces they came from experience heavy penalties. They were awful to actually wage war with.
They were wonderful to block the retreat of enemy armies.
Africanus and the two electors had beenpletely outyed. If they tried to fight those peasant battalions, they would be caught by Johns highly functional army. If they just continued to flee, they would be chipped away at by those peasants in the strategy game equivalent of guerri warfare. Both tactics were chosen and both led to the almostplete annihtion of all three armies.
John dismissed the peasants, putting his economy back on track before the loss became too high, and then invaded the three of them. Separating his armies as much as he had to, he carpet-sieged the entirety of their countries as swiftly as possible. This way, he denied them the ability to recruit armiesrge enough to oppose him. The war was essentially over and now it was just a matter of fortifications getting cracked open.
This strategy had cost John more money, food and resources than invading directly likely would have. In terms of manpower, it had been much cheaper. Most importantly, however, it had been safer. If he had won every engagement from the get-go, other yers may have decided to meddle in an attempt to keep him down. By making it seem like he was losing at the start, he made the rest of the world ignore them until it was toote. Reinforcing a losing side was a reasonable strategy, helping one that had already lost all armies was not.
The Gamer annexed every bit of territory and was now by far thergest power on the map. Lydia had used the same time to unify much of her neck of the woods, and in the north, Eduardo, Amalia and the Czech elector all crystalized asrge powers in their own right, with the Governor of Great Viz staying as a minor influence. They were now down to eight yers. Three more had to be eliminated to end the game. Those who had already met their demise left the illusionary map and went to lick their wounds by ordering some more alcohol from the servants.
Letting several minutes go by in order to settle the unrest and devastation his newly acquirednds experienced, John just watched everyone else squabble for a little bit and assigned his priorities. As the leading power in the game and with argely secure position, he had the luxury of deciding who he wanted to eliminate next. The whole world had to get together to reliably eliminate him at this point. Invading hisnds was just too costly, due to the professional army, the forts and the loyal peasantry.
Suel, could you lend me some money to take care of the issues of my newly acquired subjects? John asked.
Of course, of course, the vampire-esque man responded with a smile. Money was transferred and John put it to use to buy off disloyal elements in his empire. Then he turned to Suel again. I will repay you in lead, he promised and moved his fleet west.
He had hoped that Suels grin would drop, but it only grew wider. How interesting that you would do that! I like your ws, John.
President Newman, for you, the Gamer insisted.
How about Emperor Newman? Suel teased, while Maximillians fleet started to flow around his ind.
Ignoring the Lord of Pontis, John looked over to his buddy. You know you could take him out yourself?
He could not, Lydia announced, looking from beyond Maximillian while her own fleet crossed the ocean to reinforce the happenings. I will not let the bnce of power be disrupted in such a fashion.
So many world powers fighting around my little city, Suelughed. Just a few strings and you prideful young people start attacking each other. Two who will not ally out of fairness make for great bargaining chips.
Cease your chatter, Suel, and continue sending your funds, the queen of Rex Germaniae demanded, but wasnt heeded.
Suel continued toment on every naval engagement they had around his waters. There werent a lot of them. John pulled back the moment the two fleets had joined. Maximillians fleet had already beenrger than his and, put together, the two German rulers had a navy three times the size of his. They confined his ships to their ports by blockading his entire coast.
Johns economy may have been mediocre, but at least it was self-sustaining. He was unable to break out of his confinement. At the same time, Lydia and Maximillian couldnt put together an invasion forcerge enough that it wouldnt get annihted onnding. They were at a stalemate after just a few minutes ofbat.
While those two kept him pinned down, a couple of highly modernized ships made their way north from Suels ind and to what remained of Radas nation. Few but extremely powerful troops knocked the Governor of Great Viz out of the game.
What do you say, Amalia, would you like my assistance in ending the game? Suel then shouted across the room. With Lydia and John upied with one another, the top two powers were unable to intervene in any other conflicts, and Maximillian, albeit not a world power, was in no position to stop anything from happening either.
Any of them, however, could have made a mistake at any given point and that would lead to Suels defeat. It didnt really matter who won out, just that, with the end of one of the three, the power bnce that protected the Lord of Pontis would be shattered. While the stalemate didnt allow any of them to expand further, it did give them time to focus on modernizing as well. By the time they had resolved the conflict, they would be in a great position to take on Suel.
John also wondered how much longer Suels society couldst. For all of the ruthless progress he must have made, the growing underss should have been quite revolt happy. With how unrest functioned in this ruleset, a chain of events would eventually be set in motion that set his ind in mes. Just took him to run out of resources or for either of the celestial goddesses circling the map to hand him a particrly negative event.
Under those circumstances, it was no wonder he now moved to end the game.
Sure thing, Amalia agreed happily. She had essentially been chosen to fill thest winners slot. Suel wouldnte out of this as the person with the most impressive or evensting empire, but he was the kingmaker. The only way to stop this from happening now was if John and Lydia banded together C something that would have gone against their initial promise.
Staying true to their word, they could only watch as thebined forces of Amalia and Suel cleaned up the northern hemisphere.
The game ends, Romulus dered.
Chapter 863 – Love and Statecraft 9 – Dance: A little entertainment
Chapter 863 C Love and Statecraft 9 C Dance: A little entertainment
The group was much diminished, when they ascended to the next level. The Lord of Pontis had brought no staff with him, Amalia only a single female advisor and Ria, who was eligible due to Maximillians victory, was on her own as well. John brought the entirety of his harem with him and Romulus was escorted by Sol, Luna and Rodam, so they werent entirely without additional elements. From the over fifty people they had been for thest two floors, they were down to about twenty. The servants that had brought drinks also stayed behind.
They found new people on that fourth floor, however. On a circr tform fashioned from a polished, red stone, they sported red suits, elevating both them and their location from the otherwise white and golden hall. They stood out even more thanks to their instruments: a piano and violins, all fashioned from an auburn wood. In them, John finally found the source of the music he had heard all evening.
Their tune grew a little bit louder when they noticed the people pouring into the room. They must have been starved for an audience, bored out of their minds as they yed for several hours. One of them was a dwarf, going by stature and beard, the other two elves, albeit one with much shorter ears than the other. The Gamers interest in the musicians was small, as he stepped along the ring that made up the space between the central elevation and the walls. Quickly he realized how much smaller this floor was.
The indents that had existed on the previous two floors had been reced by aplete ring, diminishing the size of the room considerably. There were doors, ced at equal distance from one another. Between them were extremely thick windows. Looking outside through them was impossible, and what little light shone through them, John wasnt certain came from the outside. Tinted ss that thick would have broken sunlight down to nothing. It was more likely that there was some sort of light source embedded within.
A simple little breather, before I unveil my gifts to you, Lydia, Romulus dered, while shedding the shape of the giant. The awe-inspiring, middle-aged man, whose hard face, raw size and presencemanded authority and respect was reced with a much younger, much smaller figure. Ate twenties man, with a strong tan and of such beauty that he may have set the ideals for civilization atrge. Perhaps the reverse was true and Romulus had attained this form inspired by those ideals. Either way, he changed his flesh in less than a minute, now standing only as tall as Sol did.
Where his physical presence was diminished, his green eyes remained a warning to anyone that would underestimate him. Beyond that, perhaps because John knew of the true power of this man, the Gamer felt the magical force of the Apex. It led him to believe that this morepact form was, indeed, Romulus at his peak performance. A scary insinuation, given that John had seen him and Thana tear open the walls of Romes arena with their sheer might.
A remarkable thought was that he would get to that level himself. He was creeping closer day by day.
A dance, Romulus spoke, his voice still deep but more youthful. A simple enjoyment of movement. No worries, no politics, no trials and no games, let us just be with love, enjoyment or both. He offered his hand to Sol who quickly took it. Leading by example, the emperor stepped further forward, past Amalia and Ria.
The two seemed somewhat perplexed, as they had likely never seen Romulus outside of his imposing regr form. Then again, I dont know if this isnt his regr form and the giant is just for public appearances, the Gamer thought as he looked to Lydia. Do you mind if we bury our strategic rivalry for a dance, queen of Rex Germaniae?
I suppose I can stomach contact with you for the necessary duration, Lydia retorted with a straight face, theughter only showing within her grey-blue eyes. From being hooked into his arm, she swiftly transitioned to having her hand in his. His other wandered to her hips, pulled her closer than was necessary and grabbed her butt a bit tighter than appropriate. Clicking her tongue, Lydia warned him without speaking a word, while putting her left arm around his side.
They swayed together on the spot for several seconds, getting ustomed to the tune they had only listened to in the faint background up until now. The melody, the rhythm, they listened for the repetitions in both and then, when John was certain they had it, he took the lead. A step was taken, then another one, all in service of a simple sequence that carried them a few metres along the circle. It ended in a turn around their own axis and was then repeated.
After a couple of times, John became emboldened. They had danced with greaterplexity before, there was no need to keep it simple today. From a straightforward sequence, their movements evolved to a flowing band of spontaneous steps, sways and twirls. Romulus had said this was to be a matter of simple entertainment and John found it incredibly entertaining to keep challenging Lydia to follow his lead.
The queen repaid him by, on thepletion of their first round, forcing him to stop and pressing her lips on his in a swift movement. Surprised but trained to please, John amodated her with glee. While their tongues intertwined and he felt the softness of her perfect, red lips, their dancing posture was reced by a wild embrace that hinted at the desire to undress. Sliding over the smooth fabric of her dress, John felt her curves, even copped a feel of her breasts. Barely, he managed to keep himself from pulling at her skirt and unveil her juicy ass. Equally difficult was it to not w into her hair and ruin that adorned braid of hers.
Lydia faced none of these issues, gripping his short hair and sliding the other hand into his pants. Indulged in the sweet, metallic taste of her lips and the smell of citrus that enveloped her, the Gamer shivered with delight. Her hand wrapped around his cock and squeezed. Their breathing elerated until they suddenly realized again where they were. Their lips slowly separated.
It seems I lost my capability for prolonged public appearances, Lydia panted, while pulling her hands out of his pants. Being discreet would haveted her nothing, everyone who could see it already had. That the crowd still around consisted only of people that wouldnt mock her for this behaviour was likely arge part of the reason she had dropped her guard like this in the first ce. Even Suel, although John could understand Lydias general distaste for the man, was not the type to be offended by perverted disys. At least when you are around me.
I guess I should apologize for being so damn sexy, John joked in response.
No, you should not. This is entirely a failing on my part, the queen of steel responded in an overly serious fashion. Looking down at her hand, she saw the glistening of a sticky liquid on her fingertips. If you would excuse me for a second, my love, I require to go to the bathroom, she told him and then walked off.
John wondered if she was going to wash her hands or lick his pre-cum off and then wash her hands. Either way, he doubted she would do more than that. Even if she had suffered apse of control, Lydia was still Lydia. She would suffer what she had to and likely suck his cock like crazy the second they got out of here.
For his part, John took a couple of breaths and adjusted his pants. His undergarments were a bit sticky now, but that was an unavoidable fact of life. At least his cock wasnt peeking past the belt. Next to him, Suel snickered in an amused fashion. Maximillian, on the other hand, rolled his eyes and turned to Amalia. May I ask for a dance? he asked the older women.
I suppose I might as well, the NTCs leader hummed and offered her hand to be taken. Curvy, blonde and in her forties (thirties by appearance), she was Maximillians type. A lucky coincidence, given that the gravity mage only had between her and his own sister to choose, when it came to single women in the room.
Ria and Suel stood next to each other, the former looking to thetter and thetter looking back with a smirk. I do not care much for dancing, he stated.
Great! Ria eximed and pulled a tablet out of her dimensional pocket to do something else than what was expected of her. Likely something involving calctions.
John kept his erection under control and extended his hand towards Rave. Lets dance, shall we? he asked. Since he was already here and they didnt often get the space and the music fitting for a ballroom dance, he wanted to offer one to all of his girls. Romulus stepped by, fluidly exchanging Sol for Luna, and continued on.
Sure thing, tiger. Rave winked and stepped into the same stance as Lydia had been in. With a giggle, she let herself be pulled against his chest. John wed into her magnificent butt without a care. Indulging himself in the feeling for a few moments, he soon softened his grip and then started to dance. Just like with Lydia, there were a few seconds of dedicating themselves to the tune. Then they started moving.
Both John and Rave tried to take the lead and in doing so reached a perfect synchronicity. Where they wanted to go, when they wanted to break form and when they wanted to twirl was all the same. John understood his girlfriend. He wanted to please her. She was very much the same in both regards. Even while trying to be the one in charge, he made the moves she wanted to. There was no shing in their flow. The two were parallel and intertwined, they crossed where they wanted to and flowed next to each other where they didnt.
Fully intuitively, they kissed and closed their eyes, still moving to the music. They trusted the music and each other to keep them upright, even as they stepped in circles around the tform and themselves. Only when John raised his arm did their kiss break. She made a final twirl underneath. Her skirt fanned out in a beautiful disy, the manyyers putting the most beautiful rose to shame.
The prolonged rotation ended with her taking a sudden step backwards. Aclysia fluently took the position and the Gamer had his arms on her after a moment. Humming to the tune, she offered her lips to be taken in the same fashion. John dly epted, as he led the dance. Theirs was simple and slow. A keeping to sequences, allowing them to continue the contact of their lips all throughout their circle around the room.
Aclysia was clearly hesitant to leave him, but did so regardless, making room for the next haremette. With elegance and strict fluidity, Beatrice took the older maids ce. The passive expression on her face waspromised by the mild curve of her lips and the joy in her eyes. The green focused entirely on John as she left herself entirely to his desires. She didnt offer a kiss, neither did she put any demands into his steps by moving on her own. Her hands were where they were supposed to be, his hands were where they were supposed to be and they danced.
Simple as it started, John ramped up the tempo and challenge, let Beatrice be an extension of his body and let his mind meld with hers. Every sessful step was a little pang of satisfaction to her. The more challenging, the faster their dance got, the more satisfied she became, the more John was enthused to lead her into even more difficult steps. Before he knew it, they had made two rounds around the tform. They were whirling around each other. John extended his arm, as if throwing her, and Beatrice twirled away to be reced by Metra.
The First of Wrath put herself on her masters body with aggressive want and was rewarded with a p to the ass and an immediate start of a tango. Their dance was half battle, half sexual teasing of each other. Their bodies met and disconnected, shed and seemingly fought for dominance, only for their lips to brush past each other and Metra to whisper obscenepliments as she basked in his scent.
At one point, their dance was a genuine contest of strength, which John only won by giving in at the right time and then catching the worked-up servant before she fell to the floor. He turned her around, kept holding her tilted body and made her lips his once more through a decisive motion. Tongues fenced and fought for what could have been three seconds or three minutes. Then he made the decision, lifted her to stand and gestured for her to walk away. Biting her lower lip, she did.
Where she had stood, Nia suddenly appeared. Silently, she and John took hold of one another and then began a simple round. Focused on grace and the flutter of her long skirt, their dance was a calm breather after the two previous hazes. Every step had purpose on its own and was merely a side theatre to the two of them looking into each others eyes. Not once did Nia look away from John, the calm blue of her gentle gaze focusing only on him. The swing of her butt, so much more pronounced since they hadst danced, shiftedvishly under Johns hand.
Nia had him for as long as she needed. At the end, she leaned in and gently ced a long kiss on his neck. Then she fluidly stepped away. Recing her with forcefully decisive steps was Gnome. Albeit she blushed and her eyes darted to the onlookers with difort, she still put herself in Johns arms. The Gamer, before takingplete hold of her body, grabbed her chin.
Just follow my lead, he instructed with a warm smile, then pulled her closer than anyone else. Resting her head against his shoulder, they were connected in something that was more a wandering hug than a proper dance. Their legs were too close for any grand movements or impressive rotations. Just firm steps and gentle swaying to the music.
I love you, Gnome whispered, when they had made their full round, and then stepped away.
Undine was next, showing a different kind of uncertainty. It was obvious she didnt mind being seen; for a woman that spent the majority of the time naked, that would have been somewhat odd. However, her slime nature put her at a bit of a disadvantage in this social situation. Walking was something she had learned well enough, but dancing had a level of intricacy she wasnt used to.
Not minding in the slightest, John pulled the attractive, ck haired form of the abysstide elemental against his chest. Her bountiful bosom squished against him when he started a very slow waltz. He took the time to carefully guide her through every movement. Theirs was by far the longest turn around the centre, but John didnt mind. Watching the goth-like woman struggle and stumble to keep up with him had a beauty in its own. On his side, he kept challenging her to moreplicated steps, as she became more secure with the basic ones. At the end of the round, she had at least gotten used to the slow steps.
From Undine to Siena, the contrast was stark. The moonshade elementals naturally high-heeled feet created a steady stato of sure steps as she took hold of John and immediately forced him into a high-speed chase of a dance. Smiling sadistically while he attempted to keep up, Siena kept upping the tempo. His struggle only she felt in the way he held onto her. Every time before he could lose his bnce or otherwise make a fool out of himself, she suddenly switched to a series of easy steps to allow him to regain hisposure.
John knew he was being toyed with and did his best to retake the lead. That only fired Siena up further. She was too fast, too graceful, to be overtaken by him. When they had made their full round, he felt more frustration than anything else. The challenge of getting to be the lead at some point excited him.
Before he could dwell on it, however, Sylph stormed into his arms and took him for a wild journey. Theirs was not a dance. The arcvolt elemental nevernded for more than a few steps at a time. Enthusiastically, she flew in circles around him like a whimsical fairy, pulling him along with her moods. Sheughed and so did he, while his sense of bnce faded and his feet just followed along with her. Sometimes they stood, sometimes they ran, sometimes he had to jump. It wasnt elegant in the traditional sense. It did somehow follow the rhythm set by the music.
Worked up by that wild exchange, Smander was the perfect follow-up. Escting things back to the levels Metra had earlier risen the dance to, the apocalypse elemental once more had John tango. With less aggression and more lust, Smander and John were getting as heated as they could without outright undressing each other.
He embraced her from behind. His arms pressed into her colossal tits. The squishiness spilled past the strips of her dress, her nipples barely hidden when he backed away. Her tail wrapped around his waist, she pulled him back when she turned around, hair flying and chest jiggling mad. A fiery reunion, John stretched his neck to kiss the slightly taller woman. The taste of her oily saliva on his tongue, sweet and smoky. Then a renewed separation. She ran two steps from him. Let him catch her hand and pull her back. His hands travelled down her t midriff and down to her meaty thighs. Smanders luscious body was a wonder to behold. The heat radiating from her agitated him to do more. He grabbed her tits and she moaned. She pushed him back with a smirk.
Not quite yet, she reminded him.
You dont make it easy for me to remember, John returned with a wink and then turned to suddenly grab Eliza.
Fuck that, nooo! sheined, while John put his hand on her back and pulled her along. He onlyughed at her little struggle and soon she just let him have his will. Forced she may have been, but Eliza was quick on the uptake. Furiously blushing and following his lead perfectly, she suffered through their simple round. All the time she was adorable and, had she not been so far down, John would have kissed her like the other ones. As it was, he couldnt without him bowing down breaking their rhythm.
Finding the perfect solution, John suddenly took hold of her entirely and lifted her off the floor. With superhuman strength, he tossed her two metres into the air. He caught her in such a fashion that her legs parted around his hips and her face was now in front of his. With insatiable greed, he leaned forwards and imed her lips, while carrying her back to the starting position.
Once there, he put her back down. Against her initial refusal, he barely got her to let go. The dance she may have disliked, but to him she was very much attached. John had one more girl to take for a ride, however.
No, Scarlett said, arms crossed.
You will not be the only one who doesnt dance with me, John stated and made a demanding gesture.
Not budging, Scarlett only raised her chin. I mean it, I wont dance. I have no idea how to and Im already struggling with these heels.
John sighed and stepped closer. Ive shown you a lot of things more interesting than money, Scarlett, I wont stop today, he whispered into her ear. Slowly but firmly, he moved to separate the lock of her arms. With a little nibble to her earlobe and some time dedicated, he got his will. With a little bit of firmness, he could break the stubbornness of the technomancer through the submissive side of hers he had reserved for himself.
True enough, Scarlett struggled through the dance, even more than Undine had. They took it very slow and sometimes they paused so John could give her advice. Dont look at your feet. Rely on me. Think of us as one unit. And so on. Particrly thatst advice helped her and by the end of their round, she didnt cling onto him with quite as much force as she had at the start.
They stopped and the dances were done.
Chapter 864 – Love and Statecraft Finale – Light: Historical Gifts
Chapter 864 C Love and Statecraft Finale C Light: Historical Gifts
Blue light swelled, reached a zenith and then quickly waned to ultimately disappear, all over the course of a couple of seconds. The doors in front of John and Lydia began to slide open. Try to not slip into my pants on this floor, he quietly joked while they stepped out.
I will see whether or not it fits my goals, Lydia responded.
You saying your little horny attack was on purpose? John wondered. If that was true, it had been well-acted enough to convince him.
The greatest lies are cemented in truth and I do so wish today to end and for your cock to be inside my throat, my love. Lydia cleared her throat to keep herposure. I attempted to make Suel think my weaknesses are more pronounced than they actually are. He might overy a future advantage, in such a case. A good benefit and excuse to touch your sex.
You are getting hornier by the day.
And whose fault would that be?
Mine. Im not apologizing.
Keep satisfying me and I will not ask for it. Lydia smiled lightly in his direction for a second, then put on a diligent mask as they stepped out of the teleport pad.
The highest level of the tower was a room dominated by faceted light. Stained, round windows, worthy of the greatest cathedrals, made up most of the walls, separated only by bits of stone in-between. Unlike the windows on the dancing floor, these were of the regr thickness and let the light of the sun fall in. Because the day was nearing its end, all of it was red-tinted and primarily came from the west.
The fractured, coloured windows guided that light into several prisms scattered across the room. Some wererge pirs, others just small pieces that dangled by thread from the ceiling. Speckled light of red and gold was thrown onto the ck and white dome of the ceiling.
Follow me, Romulus dered, once he had stepped out of the other teleporter. With firm steps, the young form of the Apex walked towards the centre of the room. There, a contraption John would have expected to see in video games stood on a circr elevation. It was a ck, metal pir with arge lever jutting out of one side.
Looking down, John saw a number of roman numerals etched in gold into the ck marble of the floor. The realization that they were now standing on arge clock, with the lever serving as aparatively undersized hour hand, followed soon thereafter. Romulus waited with his exnation until the entirety of the remaining guests had arrived.
In this hall of illumination, each of the twelve windows paints a different image upon the ceiling, Romulus began. The sun would be light source enough for all of them. However, as much as I can get my beloved Sol to agree to my whims, the celestial body itself is beyond even my control. An earthly solution had to be created.
Putting his hands onto the lever, Romulus caused some kind magical apparatus to spring to life. A bright, golden light cascaded through one of the windows as what likely was some kind of artificial sun formed on the outside. Albeit so much colder than the original aparison could hardly be made, it was still warm enough that the broken rays that reached the inside quickly heated up the room.
Everyone looked up to the ceiling. As Romulus had said, the many prisms across the room now directed and reshaped the light to make up an image. Hundreds and thousands of dots ovepped to create different colours and forms.
Above them was a man with a red beard and golden crown, projected into the curve of the dome. His eyes were of such vibrant detail that John truly felt as if an ancestor was looking down on him from the heavens. As impressive as that bit of craftsmanship was on its own, what truly humbled the Gamer was that Romulus had designed this room to project twelve different images like that by merely moving the light source.
Barbarossa C the founder of Rex Germaniae, Romulus continued his monologue. He was my foe at first. He led a rebellion against the rule of my empire, 800 years ago. Battle after battle, he won against my forces, until I myself decided that I had to face at least this danger to my people. On the day he was crowned by the pope in your mundane world, we duelled and I won. epting strength, he swore fealty to me, but only on certain concessions. Thus, the kingdom of Germany was born C even if some still cling onto the empire title he originally aspired to.
Without much in terms of visible strain, Romulus pushed the lever and the machination of the outside moved with the smooth sound of lubricated gears turning. The specks of light on the ceiling drifted along in a chaotic disy, until they coalesced into a new shape. Once the lever pointed at the roman two on the floor, the new image was as sharp as it could be.
The ceiling now held an image of the double-headed eagle, Reika as the goddess was currently called and gendered, in a fashion between stylized for a coat of arms and realistic. Her feathers were bright red in that form, a colour simr to the beard of the man that had been shown previously.
The god of emperorship had been on my court for a short time preceding Barbarossas rise. Perhaps that deity bing the patron god of the newly formed Rex Germaniae only reinforced the visions of their own empire some clung onto. Be that as it may, they both appeared before me in short time and found one another. A contract was made and peace was in my realm.
A simple shove forwards and the specks of light were once more reordered. The third image was one of a long table, with seven men with royal robes covering their medieval clothing.
Barbarossa, for all of his ambition, was not to be a long-lived man. The sting of a manticore he wished to y in singlebat robbed him of his vitality. Age imed him at young years, by the standards of powerful Abyssals. Before his death, he created the system of electing a new ruler. An elective monarchy, rather than one tied to a bloodline. My lordship was honoured through my presence in the votes and the tithes they pay me to this day.
A new image followed, depicting a king with ck hair on one knee before a woman so gorgeous the image failed to catch her true essence. Her hair was white, represented through gaps in the picture, and impossibly long. John recognized her to be Fade.
Long before Rex Germaniae, the German nobility were one of my military marches. The aristocrats were expected to fight. If there was peace, they had to fight one another. The second king of Rex Germaniae elevated this nobility further, by striking a deal with the Mother of Shadows. The other elemental mothers and the Father of Light soon followed.
The image switched to the fifth and depicted the same ck-haired man fusing with a body of darkness.
It wasnt long thereafter that the ritual to fuse a contractor with their elemental was developed. It wouldnt have been possible without the help of the elementals. Two became one, a stronger body, a new mind and more powerful abilities. For all the advantages, many shied away from it at first.
Image six showed a map of Rex Germaniae at the time. Austria hadnt bloated outwards into Hungary and the Balkans yet, making the territory considerably smaller. Image seven soon followed, showing the territories in two different colours.
Those opposed to the unification and those for it formed their own leagues. In a rare disy of historical patience, the differences were put aside with time. The cultural practice of unifying elemental and summoner won out, but not doing so was epted C even if it came to be looked at as an odd exception. People reigned and time passed.
Image eight slotted into ce as the lever was moved to the appropriate hour. On the dome was now depicted a number of gravestones. Different shapes of Reika sat on each of them.
There were times of trouble for Rex Germaniae when, through bad luck and aristocratic plots, six kings and queens died in the span of fifty years. Between each reign, the throne went empty for years, as the system of voting had been buried under unnecessary traditions that slowed the election down to a crawl.
Another shove and the image of a young man appeared above. He was handsome, but seemed to be dissatisfied with life on a level that reflected only in the pain in his eyes. Despite that, his smile was sympathetic and posture straight and controlled. His hair was white, rolled up into the twirls appropriate for the royalty of almost modern times.
Frederik when he was young, Romulus tone wavered, grief cutting through, he was the first king of Germany who saw me after the election was over not only to bring the tithe but to talk to me. He talked like an equal to me, sometimes poked me with his cane, a privilege he earned through diplomacy and sessful wargames. He was my friend and he was a great reformer.
The tenth image was that of an older Frederik, standing before a crowd of nobles. They had their arms and swords raised, clearly revolting against their leader. The king, in turn, held a map of Rex Germaniae, and an impressive writing quill. The feather was ck and white, the end beset with a metal extension that was more reliable than the sharpened end usually would have been.
Most of his time was spent on restructuring the fundamentals. The splinterednds that hade about through generations of inheritance were unified into more sensible chunks. Overarching guilds were established, titles streamlined, realms consolidated and the military reformed to better serve internal needs. He may have gotten even more done, had he not spent so much time following his art addiction. Romulus chuckled in memory of his friend before giving the lever another push.
It was like an extension of the previous image. At the very back of the crowd, a group of dark eyed nobles, arrogant militants and spiteful merchants bided their time and just watched with malevolence and patience. The colouration of the artwork was masterful, expressing more through shadows than through light and immediately setting the mood.
Even his time wasnt without its issues. Those you would call Nazis rose in that time in Abyssal prominence. Their ideology spread throughout the powerful of society and in their magical ability. Where exactly they originated, I cannot tell you, just that they spread through my empire with absurd speed. Dealing with the nobles atrge, this malignant growth was only noticed when it became too difficult to stop them. Taking advantage of the situation in the normal world, where their mundane brethren waged war, they eliminated the Abyssal presence of Great Britain and wrought havoc on many other corners of the world. It always was a point of great shame for both Frederik and me that we let this pass. We were good men doing nothing. When we started to move against them, they already had enough influence to pool all of their resources and move to the other side of the world.
Onest push and the image of Barbarossa returned.
Nobodys rule is perfect and yours will not be either, Romulus said, turning to Lydia. However, I have seen your ambition and deemed you able. Be it through help of other great people of this time, the Apex gestured at John, you have not only the strength of character but the might of magic to back it up. You shall inherit the authority to use both.
With one mighty pull, Romulus forced the lever into an upright position. A loud nk echoed through therge hall and then the entire pole began to rise from the ground, revealing a secret container within. An eagles cry followed immediately thereafter, as Reika appeared out of nowhere andnded on Lydias shoulder.
How? John wanted to know, looking around for any holes in the walls or something like that. Magic, I guess, he told himself when he found nothing.
In the meantime, Romulus had pulled two items from the hidden stash. The ck and white, artistic feather that Frederik had held and a piece of parchment that was both ancient and incredibly well maintained. The quill that was used to reform Rex Germaniae many times before and the decree that made it an autonomous kingdom within the empire, Romulus exined while handing both to Lydia. Use this authority wisely.
I shall, my emperor. The queen bowed at her waist and took the items with great respect and calm demeanour. She inspected both, the feather much more carefully than the decree, before putting them away inside her pocket dimension. I am honoured by your trust in me.
I have the power to reshape the world, but not the presence to do it in all the ways I want, Romulus responded. Where time doesnt limit me, my stubborn will does. Bring prosperity and power to mynds and I will honour the results. He stepped away from Lydia and directed his gaze at John. Now, John Newman, I understand this is where you want to attempt to give her something even greater?
It doesnt have the same historical value and I think Lydia will scold me more than anything for giving it to her, John mused, while his hand disappeared into his inventory. Already sighing, Lydia turned towards him and froze when she saw the weapon he pulled from his inventory.
It was a rapier that glittered with supernatural power. The long, thin de was currently hidden away in a golden sheath of pure Elementium. Grip and guard were primarily consisting of Mithril, the silver-white material cast into a minimalistic and defensively optimized design to protect the wielders hand. At the lower end of the leather-covered grip was a spike in drop-like shape.
Just with the materials already on disy, the weapon was worth a barony. Lydia unfroze and calmly took the weapon from Johns offering hands. Not going to put up any resistance? the Gamer asked in an amused tone.
Weighing the weapon in her hand, it was heavier than usually expected of a rapier, Lydia responded, I have been dissuading you from this expensive a gift for months. Were I to deny you now, I would just keep finding it in my quarters. She drew the sheath back a centimetre and then mmed it back shut. What would move you to such idiotic benevolence?
Love, first and foremost, John returned with a grin, putting his hands into his pockets. Gratitude, that would be another contender. A wish to see you safe, now and forever, is another great exnation.
Come on, let me see what that is, Suel chimed in.
I am rather intrigued myself, Romulus hummed. Although he wasnt a metal mage by nature, it was safe to assume that the Apex of the Abyss had learned the craft. Both him and Lydia would have felt the oddity of the metal under the sheath in the second it had been exposed.
Giving John a long stare, she properly drew the weapon once his unwillingness to take the weapon back was absolutely established. The prismatic metal sang several clear notes as the motion made it vibrate. Fundamentally see-through, its insides were separated into an endless number of triangles, each of a different shade of red, green, purple, brown, blue, silver and gold. Green and purple were the most present in the de, while blue, gold, silver and brown seemed underrepresented. Red was somewhere in between. The surface of the weapon reflected the light as an equally divided spectrum. Even without any of that, the raw power of the item made it glow softly at all times.
What is that material? Romulus asked.
An alloy of Terrium, Oblivium, Poseidury, Tempi, Schattengarn and Solunian, John admitted without any issue, since he had already told Sol what was necessary to stitch this together. Not an equal-parts one by any description. We used a considerably higher amount of Schattengarn and Tempi and less Poseidury, Solunian and Terrium. A specific name for this alloy wasnt chosen, but we call the overarching category of them Fusion Metals C or Fusionals for short. As for theponents, we havee to call them Collision Metals or Collimets. Rolls of the tongue a bit better than elemental extreme metals.
This self-aggrandizement of your organizations will make it easier for me to stomach keeping this, Lydia analysed. She was considerably less surprised. Likely, she had known that something like this wasing for months, allowing her toe to terms with the reality in a matter of moments. Interested, she tried to exert her ability on the weapon and the de stretched in response. Dropping the hand through which she channelled the magic, she saw it resume its original dimensions.
Since Fusion (and Collide in particr) was the only organization in the world that could guarantee a steady supply of these metals to teach future smiths with, John essentially had free reign on what he wanted to name them. Sure, the actual elemental extreme metals had been named aeons ago, but everything else was up for grabs. When it came to establishing his guild as a prestigious entity, eternalizing its name in naming conventions was quite high up there.
The smith named it Strimata, John said, not having any interest in even trying to refute Lydias im.
How was it created? Romulus wanted to know.
The Gamer bowed his head in an apologetic fashion. You will have to understand that I stand nothing to gain from telling you so. Fusion will guard this secret for as long as we can. Forging weapons like this will be an insurance towards the rest of the world.
Romulus begrudgingly backed off, while Suel stepped closer. Mind if I hold that for a second? he asked, showing greed and curiosity.
I wouldnt rmend it, John said.
Come now, there is no way I could steal it in this environment, the vampire-like man responded jokingly.
You can try, but it will slice open your hand if it thinks youre unworthy, the Gamer detailed further, and Suel quickly went back three steps. d that we agree."
Lydia sighed one more time and carefully sheathed the weapon again. I will keep this weapon hidden for this night. In ordance to your designs, John, the first usage shall leave an impact.
Just be careful to not kill anyone with it. I couldnt test it, it wont let me use it, but I could read the Attributes, John reminded her.
I will be as diligent to my obligations as I always am, the queen stated and put the weapon away in her pocket dimension. With it removed from sight, the mood in the room became less tense.
Romulus took control of the situation before anyone else could. That then ends what I had nned, Lydia, he announced, his form swelling again to that of the imposing giant. Shall we return to the festivities atrge?
We shall, the queen agreed.
For a couple more hours, they attended.
Chapter 865 – Cum-addicted Haremettes [Erotic Content]
Chapter 865 C Cum-addicted Haremettes [Erotic Content]
The door shut and isted the inside of the stretch limopletely from the cheering people on the outside. Lydia waved onst time through the tinted ss, then magic caused it to go from merely dark topletely ck. Artificial light softly rose in brightness. Lydia touched a panel along the wall and it switched from a calm blue to sensual red.
As far as colours went, there could have been none more fitting for the mood that settled on the inside of the car. It reflected on the numerous sses and bottles that were confined in the tiny bar that was lodged between two benches. Skin was tinted and cleavages highlighted. Chests rose and fell visibly, as breathing in the room became more heated. The smell of the harem girls intertwined with Johns masculine cologne and natural odour. Large as the space was for a vehicle, it was small and shallow by regr standards. The harem was cramped together, luscious bodies sitting shoulder to shoulder, with Aclysia and Beatrice right next to John when he had settled in the corner at the end of the limo.
John felt his suit on his skin, a bothersomeyer that was unnatural to him. All across the tiny space, the girls pulled softly at their dresses and their strings. The car started to move. Lydia slid open the window that separated them from the drivers cabin. Take the scenic route home, she instructed and then closed the separation again. Like the other windows, it tinted to a pitch ck and likely served to iste noise just as well as the door did.
Turning towards him, Lydia directed her gaze at John. In the red light, her grey-blue eyes had a pink tint. Same was true for every other pair of eyes in the stretch limo. All of them were directed at John. All of the girls were silent. They were finally all alone. A day spent keeping their hands off each other as best they could.
John could practically smell the pheromones they were all exuding. Combined body heat rose from flushed bodies, turned the room actually hotter and caused them to lightly sweat. All of that was born from a mood John very much shared. It made him drunk on lust, too much so to say anything.
I can not wait any longer. Lydia was the one to take the lead, as she had done for most of the evening. Two moves with her hands, and the dress she had worn all day came off as easily as a loose glove. Discarded, the artistic piece of clothing wasying on the floor and left Lydia in her underwear. She wasnt wearing a bra, only two adhesive patches that had kept her hard nipples from poking out. Now she pulled them off, throwing them to the side with a liberating movement. The jewelry in her hair soon followed. As drenched as her white satin panties were, she didnt take the time to take them off.
She tried to walk, but the ceiling was too low to do so gracefully and so John got to watch her drop on all fours to instead crawl through the entire length of the stretch limo. Still, all of the harem stared at him with lustfully burning eyes.
Arent you a needy little slut? John asked the approaching, self-degrading queen. He may as well have asked any or all of the other girls in the car. What would your people think if they saw you on the floor like that, hm?
I serve my people with my time and my ambition, Lydia responded now between his legs. How I serve you should be none of their concern-nnhhhnnn. Her reasonable sentence came to a gasping end when John pulled his clothes into his inventory. By some miracle, he wasnt erect yet, but that didnt seem to bother Lydia at all. With absurd need, she hastily bowed towards his groin. Saliva dropped from her extended tongue. It connected with his sack when she gave him one first lick. A throaty moan echoed through the tiny room.
John didnt even need to reach down. What remained of Lydias grace in her current haze was entirely dedicated to looking sexy while her lips pressed against his heavy balls and sucked on them with nymphomaniac delight. He felt her heavy breaths on his growing cock. Each was a long inhale, taking in his scent, followed by a bursting, half-moaning exhale. Still she stared at him.
Still the rest of the harem stared at him. Unlike Lydia, none of his regr girls had the decency to wear something to hide how their nipples poked through the thin fabric of their dresses. They were now breathing audibly, the steady panting of over a dozen gorgeous women filling the space. Yet they did not make anyrge moves, only pulling softly at their clothes and sliding their hands over their own or their neighbours curves. Their lust paralysed their minds or perhaps they were simply waiting for him to make a decision on how he wanted this to go down.
Johns dick had now reached its full size. Continuing to ther his balls with saliva, Lydia was unmoving, the erect member settled on her face. She shivered, moaned and cried wordlessly. Then the Gamer spoke a two-wordmand that broke the stillness of the room, Service me.
Dresses vanished, were taken or simply torn off in a matter of seconds, preceding a scramble of everyone trying to get to John. Aclysia and Beatrices lips lowered down to his neck, showering it and the muscles of his upper torso in kisses. Lydia finally licked upwards his massive cock and sucked him in the moment she was at the tip. Swiftly, the descent of her head turned into a heated bobbing.
Master, Nia purred when she appeared next to Lydia. Swiftly, the nk lowered her head to worship his unattended, seed-filled sack.
Master, Rave echoed when she managed to be the third who squeezed her way between his spread legs. Fuuuuck, she gasped, close to his groin. The wetness of her pussy was evident in her voice. Your cock is so hot. You smell so sexy you taste sho good! Thest bit was slurred, Lydia sliding up enough that Rave managed to kiss the side of his lower shaft.
Master Master! Mast-aaahh! Master. The word was repeated over and over again by the needful haremettes all across the stretch limo. They cramped themselves into the back third of the car, a writhing mass of smooth skin and soft curves attempting to get as close as possible. Albeit they all craved to touch him, they didnt get so close to obstruct his view. John was treated to a sight now utterly dominated by his harem. He could barely even see the rest of the car behind them.
Normally, the assortment of gorgeous women would have been all over each other to pass the waiting time. Something about the mood that dominated the room had them keep those engagements to a minimum. They grasped at each other and briefly teased nearby sexes, but never kept prolonged contact outside of the rubbing that the limited space mandated. Their hands were mostly used to touch themselves in ways deliberately meant to be tantalizing. They were showing themselves off to him and thus served him in the best way they could without physical contact.
Inspired by the moving fingers, he wrapped his arms around the two maids by his side. Palms sliding over the firm softness of their butts, he reached down to their pussies. His fingers travelled through their drenchedbias and then found their clits. For a moment, they stopped kissing him, both instead pressing against him with their pale, quivering bodies. Half-closed, ssy eyes in heads leaning against his shoulder reflected their lust as they moaned in perfect synchronicity. Their identical voices, usually separated easily by tone, were equally timed and rose in pitch at the same pace. All that separated the two was the length of their hair, the cement of their moles and Beatricesrger breasts. Otherwise, the maids made themselves the same. A perfect set of twins to pleasure his perfectionism. John loved every second of it.
While his skilful hands worked their magic in bringing the two to quick orgasms, Lydia was the first to climax. Hismand and the on-going pleasure it rewarded while the girls continued to abide by it certainly helped the cock-hungry queens lust to rise, but she was entirely able to cum just from sucking his cock even without any of his normality-shattering powers. With a body that had developed to love all of her holes to be used, Lydias muffled cries grew more intense the more she sucked him off.
With onest deepthroat, her eyelids fluttered and a scream reverberated around Johns sensitive cock. Vibrations and his own need to finally feel release intertwined to hasten his own climax along. His fingers sped up along his heartbeat. His cock began to tense and he grit his teeth to hold on just a moment. I will cum all over all of you, he pressed out a strained order.
Lydias mind was set to obey, but her flesh seemingly refused the idea. Even in this cock-drunken state, one was stronger than the other. Reluctantly, she pulled up, giving John a few seconds of delightful torture before his glistening cock popped free from her ruby red lips. Lydia, Rave and Nia all showered his hard cock with kisses and licks. None of that was needed, but it made the orgasm that much better.
Just as Aclysia and Beatrice shouted their lust into his ears, his balls tightened and pumped a massive load out. The first few strands shot out with such intensity, they covered the midriffs of many of the waiting girls. The following still had enough power to them that they hit their groins and then thighs. Only towards the end did the pressure be low enough for the trio actually sucking him off to receive some of his enhanced seed on their faces. Stopping to bask in it, all three kept their mouths wide open, while Rave pumped his slick dick with her hand to wring everyst drop out. The superhuman size of his load, twenty times that of the normal man, left enough even in thest few pumps for all of them to get a sizable facial.
The gasping in the room intensified when the girls started to scoop the seed off their bodies and suck it seductively from their slender fingers. It was all that was needed to send them into a climax, some of them intense from their sensitivity to the magically rich seed, others just a light one. They were all so close, after they had followed themand to get the cum on them in the first ce.
Lydia, let them clean you up, hemanded.
Yes, Master, the cum-stered queen sighed with lust and light disappointment, thest bits of cum dripping down on her sizable chest before she pulled away. Of course, she would have rather continued to worship his cock, but giving herself to the embrace of a harem ordered to tend to her was a close second in the present situation.
With her butt turned towards John, Lydia was assaulted by kisses and lustful grabs to areas that were or were not covered in seed. The white satin panties were beyond soaked now, the fabric above her pussy practically see-through. More of her love juices ran down the inside of her smooth thighs. Siena gave that firm butt a decent smack, before winding her tail around the metal mages left leg and grinding it against her cunt.
Even now, while they were following hismand to clean up the queen, the majority of attention of the haremy with John. They are in a really worshipping mood tonight, he thought, his mind somewhat clearer after that first orgasm. If they want to be servile sluts, then I wontin. Cum, he suddenlymanded and the entire space exploded into orgasmic screams. Cum for your master! he added, enthusiastically. CUM!
MASTER! Aclysia screamed, the loudest of them all, as the multiplemands ovepped to make her squirt all over the hand still working her clit. All over the room the title was screamed with perverted veneration, while women held onto each other and the minimal furniture that existed. For few of them, even that failed, and they copsed to the floor, screaming to please all of his senses. Only two were exempt from this.
Looking down on his groin, he saw Rave and Niapete over his cock. Neither of them were taking him in yet, only rubbing lips and tongue against either side while looking up to him. The vibrations of their own lustful screams reached his shaft, stronger on Nias side. While his girlfriend was no less enthusiastic about giving his cock all of the attention it deserved, the pariah was feeling constant pleasure from the seed on her face. Sloppy drops of saliva fell down her chin, showing how much she wanted for more.
Nia, he made his choice known and the pariah wiggled her way to the centre. Rave conceded the ground willingly, staring up to him with submissive intent and the knowledge she would get to suck his cock soon enough. While Nias lips wrapped around the tip of his dick, the Gamers girlfriend slid back down to the base of his cock to once more give attention to his balls. Despite the massive load he had pumped out, they were no less heavy than before.
Sylph was the quickest to take the newly opened spot, crawling with aftershocks into the gap between his left leg and Nia. While she bowed down, John announced that he had other ns. Sylph, on Beatrice; Eliza, on Aclysia; Undine, on me C make yourselfpact. Whoever of the rest of you grabs a bottle of champagne the quickest gets to take the third spot to worship my cock.
Fuuuuck yesssssss! Eliza screamed out her enthusiasm, while waves of simr joy hit Johns mind from the two elementals. They took their ces as swiftly as they could, cramping themselves in the curved seats and cing themselves over the naked, love juice drenchedps of the maids. Sylph to his left and Eliza to his right, the two kissed his lower torso while Aclysia and Beatrice continued to tend to the upper half.
Unable to climb into that mess, Undine turned into a flowing band of goo that only reshaped into the form of a woman once she was on top of him. The body she consolidated herself into was only about a metre tall. Her ass and chest, however, were the same size as usual, making her an incredible mixture of short and stacked. The valley of her gel butt surrounded the upside of the base of his cock, while herrge breasts swayed in his direction. She was so short that John could look over her and watch the rest of the harem and more translucent than usual, red marks, dark blue hair and ck antlers aside. Through the almost clear, blue-tinged body, he could see Nia devour his cock with a minimal bit of distortion.
The nk was incredibly greedy, seeming physically unable to slide more than halfway up his long shaft before descending and deepthroating him again. A bottle of champagne was reached around Undine by a red tail, while Smander took her earned ce. Open it, Aclysia, Johnmanded, his hands upied kneading her ass. With shaking hands, she managed to. Arge gasp came from her, when the obedience sent her straight to the edge. Let me drink. Dont spill a single drop.
Aclysia came, when the bottle met his lips, but somehow kept it steady and at an eptable angle. While John felt the sparkling liquid on his tongue and his lust rise to the point of no return. A slight movement by his head and Aclysia pulled the bottle back. John swallowed and then came deep into Nias throat.
In the haze of the orgasm and Nias screams of ecstasy, the Gamer didnt care to be any more creative with this particr unloading. He just continued to cum inside her until her tongue could coerce no more from him. Then Nia slowly slid up and said, in an apologetic tone, Im sorry for being so greedy, Master, your cum is too delicious.
All of him is so fucking tasty, Eliza added, softly nibbling on his abs.
Master is perfection, Aclysia panted, kissing his neck.
The most wed perfection there could ever be, Beatrice undermined her agreement with a bit of sass, but made up for it by moaning into his ear, while pressing her fat ass against his palm.
I love you, John, Rave panted, staring at him. Even through Undines body, the intense pink lustre of her eyes and the heart shape it currently took shone through. I love you so much. I need you. I need you in my life for now and forever. Ya make meugh and this cock is so tashhtyyy, she stretched her tongue and gave him a long lick, I need your cooock!
Nia, make room for Jane. Join the others in giving me a show. As the nk obeyed and Rave quickly took the centre spot, John scanned the room for who he wanted third. His thoughts were temporarily distracted when he groaned out loud. With one swift movement, Rave was down his cock, pressing her nose into Undines jiggly ass. Her tight throat massaged his shaft through twitches and little movements she made while remaining down there.
Before he could recover, she started to pull back up. Her tongue pressed against every single one of his weak spots with ecstatic uracy. What clearness he had gathered thanks to cumming twice already was ruined by how well his girlfriend knew to pleasure him. Her lips pressed tightly around his ns, her tongue swirled around his head, and suddenly he was cumming again.
His seed spurted into her in its absurd quantity. Some of it she had to swallow, there just wasnt enough room in her greedy little mouth, but most of it she managed to keep gathered. When he was done cumming, she backed off his cock and showed all of it. The thick white liquid threatened to escape past her pillowy pink lips. The repeated, orgasmic quivers that apanied the taste of his seed didnt help. Still, she took the risk to swirl it with her tongue until John gave her the order, Swallow.
Her mouth closed and she gulped visibly. Once it was open again, there was nothing but the hot insides of her serving mouth. Please, Master, may I have another? she begged and made big eyes. In the meantime, Siena had taken the ce next to her, having simply moved the quickest while John failed to make a conscious decision.
Smander and Siena wrapped their tails around his legs while they leaned forwards. The two big-titted elementals kissed his balls while Rave softly yed with the tip. Continuing to give him big eyes, his favourite girl managed to melt Johns resistance C for the most part. You may help these two get me off while they give me a boobjob, he stated, but you wont hog my seed to yourself. I want to cum all over you again.
Thank you, Master, Rave purred. Whatever lets me stay close to your magnificent cock.
Its almost as great as the man its attached to, Sienas sensual voice added.
I fucking love it, Smander moaned, giving it a quick lick with her inhumanely long tongue. Cupping her massive breasts, she pressed them against Johns shaft. Siena followed immediately thereafter. Undine moved up a little bit so she didnt get in the way, her slime sticking to John where gravity would have made the position difficult for any regr woman.
Red squished against purplish blue, the former dominating thetter through sheer size. Johns cock was stuck between the heat of Smander and Sienas colder than average body, settling where all four tits met. He was slick to start with, but as they began to move, Smanders oily sweat added even more lubrication to his saliva covered shaft. Bowing over them, Rave took what of Johns cock she could reach into her mouth. For a moment, it seemed she could stay at that level, then she must have remembered how much a cock-addicted, good girlfriend she was and moved even beyond what poked out of the elementals breasts.
Sinking her face into the squishy ocean of red and blue, Rave breathed rapidly while indulging herself. While she wanted him as deep inside her as she could get, she still moved in ordance to the shaking, rising and falling of the tits under her lips. Siena and Smander didnt mind, only panting while they serviced him. Their coiled tails caressed his legs. It wasnt pleasurable in and of itself, but John took great joy from the fact that he was almost entirely covered by horny females.
He could have pulled the shortstack goth slime on his chest, but instead decided to finally get the bottle of champagne to some more use. After getting Aclysia to give him another sip, he gave her a lust-fuelled order, Pour it over my chest.
Ice cold, the sparkling champagne ran down between his pecs. The trickling stream somewhat spread on his abs and was then quicklypped up by the two other short girls. Where the maids couldnt do anything with alcohol and concentrated on keeping his face and neck showered in attention, Eliza, Sylph and, in her own way, Undine were all too happy to drink up the liquid.
Where the arcvolt elementalpped up the champagne, the trail of her tongue and contact of her lips left John with a tingle more intense than the bubbling. Elizapensated for ack of special effects with sheer perversion, giggling madly while she wildly drank from his body and scent. What they missed was absorbed into Undine through contact with her, for that size, absurdly thick thighs.
Enjoying the many sensations that came along the slowly emptying bottle, John only interrupted his following of the happenings to take another sip. In the background, the girls were still mostly masturbating for his viewing pleasure. Lydia was entirely clean now, every inch of her body having gotten some degree of attention, and was making out with Nia while they both stared at him. Metra was doing a little show between dance and masturbation, both limited by the tight space. Scarlett had one leg up on the nearby seat, over which she bent to emphasize her bubble butt and the pretty pink pussy lips between her smooth legs.
Although Gnome was still trying to get his attention with her eyes, hers were darting all over the scene. She didnt stand, copsed into a puddle of her own love juices while she furiously and unashamedly masturbated. The sheer amount of carnal exaltation that she could follow was putting her voyeurism into an overdrive that managed to drown all forms of her embarrassment.
Siena and Smander dug their fingers into their tits. The soft, overabundant meat of the firm bags of mankinds hopes and dreams spilled past their grasp. They jiggled with each rise and fall. They shifted with the pressure put onto them to alternate the way they pleased their summoner. They took the impact of Raves overenthusiastic, cum-hungry self-facefucking with yet more delicious jiggles. While his eyes appreciated that bountiful feast, his hands continued to sink into the butts of Aclysia and Beatrice.
He closed his eyes for a little bit, let his pleasure rise and rise. His shaft began to quiver, his balls tightened. He opened his eyes again andmanded, Cum, just as he came. Raves head flew back, she shouted out loud and semen pumped into the air as the rest of the car followed her example. Gnome squirted all over the floor, her eyes rolling upwards. Siena and Smander extended their inhuman tongues to catch some of the Gamers cum. More of it, a massive amount,nded across their juicy tits, their and Raves faces, and the bodies of nearby haremettes.
Harder! hemanded, tilting everyones sensitivity up by 50%. Despite the absurd perversion of the situation, he hadnt used that tool at all in this ecstatic writhing so far. Cum! Scream your feelings.
Iaav yaaa! John, my love! Mashtaah! Master. You fucking sssstud! My beloved saviour. The king of my heart, my body. I love you. I need you. I dont deserve you and your fucking patience! My saviour, my Maaaasteeeer. My pashtient shhhoulma-aahhh-te. The best, funnest, perverteshesh man, Mastahhhh, yeshhh, yessssss! My John. Im yoursss, you made me yours!
The debauched cries, partly wrecked by ecstasy, partly controlled, echoed through the room and let John enjoy his orgasm to the fullest, while leaning back and indulging in the cries and worship of his body that followed. The flow of cum came to a slow end, as did the cries across the room. There was a moment of silence, but the aura of need still hung heavily in the moving car.
Siena, John announced who got to suck his cock next.
Lydia only told the driver to actually get them home when they all had gotten their turn.
Chapter 866 – Royal Treatment 1 – Arousing Awakening [Lydia Side Story]
Chapter 866 C Royal Treatment 1 C Arousing Awakening [Lydia Side Story]
Lydia had few days on which she didnt wake up horny anymore. Today was one such day and she knew exactly why from the smell that still stuck to her sheets. Strong arms were wrapped around her, the arms of the sole other person in her bed and the love of her life. She felt Johns breath on her neck and slightly repositioned herself. His morning wood pressed against her backside and his breath no longer tingled the hairs on her neck.
The former caused her desire to swell. Being around the Gamer usually left her both immensely satisfied and craving for more of him. It should have been an irritatingbination, this endless inability to ever be truly fulfilled, but somehow it felt just right. Thisbination kept her moving. It was the same feeling she had when working on her ambitions for her country. No matter how much she progressed, there was still more to be done. That was simply how it was and Lydia thrived on it.
Do I maintain control over these urges? Lydia asked herself, trying to make her horniness go away by throwing her sheer force of will at it. As much as she loved John and the girls of his harem, he and most of them were a bit too much guided by their carnal desires. She could understand, especially since her body had gotten its make-over, and she didnt mind indulging C as long as she knew she could stop.
As she wrestled for her calm mind to be the dominant force of her persona, other facets rose to throw up their resistance.
It would feel really good the nymphomaniac inside her pointed out. It was the same argument that side always made and Lydia easily dismissed it, but what feels good defines not what I must do.
I could take some time off in the morning added azy voice inside her. No, there is always work to do.
If I dont pleasure him, he might leave me, a scared, lonely little girl reared her head. Who will I have left if he is gone? The queen struggled most in the rare times that side of her surfaced. Whatever counterarguments she may have mustered were paralysed in a flood of memories. The end of her mother. The day her father had died in the eyes of that lonely girl and the day the reborn woman had ended that miserable mans physical existence. An act without pleasure and, with the adrenaline of the moment long removed, that knotted up her stomach. Although he had only been the father of half of her, the guilt was unavoidable. It had to be done. It distracted her from the initial topic.
Morning, the deep voice of her lover reached her ear, as he kissed her neck. A gentle brush on her shoulder, innocent in its loving caress, blew away her worries. Guilt, doubt and lust were all wiped away in an instant. How you feeling?
Supreme, she summarized with the best word that came to mind. Even after a night alone with him, apletely expected gift for her birthday, she didnt feel sore. Neither the submissive debauchery that had happened in the car nor the sole attention and traditional loving embrace that had followed had left her body taxed. Having ovee her natural boundaries helped in many ways and not having to be healed every intense night was one of them. How does Scarlett take her punishments with such ease? Lydia wondered.
Thats good, thats good, John yawned and smelled her hair. You showered after I went to sleep?
Lydia loved how he noticed even little details like that about her. Just a little bit of fresh shampoo and he knew what she had done. Although she wasnt particrly proud of it, she was taken by being given such attention. It was one of the reasons why she had fallen for him in the first ce. To every single one of his girls, John Newman paid as much attention as was necessary to satisfy more than a normal rtionship. How he did it was a mystery to her. Something about the Gamer had been created or developed to support his absurd love life.
Yes, she confirmed and gave him a rewarding wiggle of her bum. The groan she got in response sounded as if he only now became aware of the way his hard cock was pressing between her cheeks.
What are the odds youre going to be as nicely submissive as you were in the car yesterday and help me take care of this? John asked.
It is highly improbable, Lydia let him know. That was a particrly desperate situation. We all just needed it.
I need more of that every day, the Gamer joked and kissed the back of her head again. Well, if you dont have the time right now, it is as it is. The disappointment and understanding were both clear in his voice. Lydia understood he wanted her. John understood what he could and couldnt get. They both needed to make sacrifices in their rtionship, given their situations. Speaking of time, what is it? I would check but you know.
It is 6 AM, Lydia responded. She almost always woke up around that time, and for when she didnt, there were three clocks positioned around the bedroom. No matter what direction she looked into when she opened her eyes, she could immediately read one of them. I am required to be ready within 45 minutes. As much as it displeases my own urges, engaging in our desires at this point would leave me behind schedule.
Lydia knew John wouldntst for long first thing in the morning, but wasnt sure if they both would be fine after just one round. Their bodies had be so ustomed to multiple orgasms, she didnt think one quick blowjob would leave them satisfied. It couldnt be anything other than that, because it would have been too much of a mess to clean up otherwise. Last she wanted was to leak into her clothes in the middle of a meeting.
Yeah, I get it, John told her and slowly separated himself from her to put in his contact lenses.
Immediately Lydia missed his muscr body on her back, but sat up herself without saying a word. Sliding out of the covers, she stretched her body once she stood. Every fibre of her being felt smooth, none of her bones creaked or cracked. She was a human being beyond even the average of the supernaturally gifted. Much of it thanks to that mark above her pussy. It, almost as much as being touched by John, inmed her lust. Being marked in such a fashion was tantalizing in a submissive way no other man could have possibly coerced from her. Of all men it had to be him. She had no doubts about it and no interest in trying otherwise.
Will I see youter today? John asked, once he was done putting in his lenses. While Lydia answered, he slowly removed himself from the covers. He visibly shuddered and the queen couldnt help but be amused by this. As his Guild Hall was in a constant state of summer heat, the Gamer wasnt used to waking up to air below twenty-five degrees, usually hotter than that. Lydia preferred her environment to be consistently around twenty-one, especially since she wore clothes at home. The advantages of not having to be directed by Rave and her heat addiction.
I see you still refuse to simply open our schedule discussions, Lydia said.
I like much of my day to be a surprise, the Gamer responded with a wink. His clothes appeared on him, hiding his masculine shape from view. Not that he looked any less attractive in the suit. Whether or not I will be without you for long is one of the things Id rather know.
We will see each other around your afternoon hours, she informed him. An engagement to satisfy my desires, before I go to sleep.
Afternoon, hmmm he hummed thoughtfully, then sighed. Sadly, cant make up anything special for you today. Therell be too much paperwork for me to do than offer more than the usual.
It will suffice, Lydia told him, while wandering over to her wardrobe to pick out her underwear for the day. As you are well aware, I have certain fixations. A buttplug and time to worship your cock will be all I require from you to satisfy my urges, she said all of that as a simple matter of fact. She would be more heated about those things when the moment came to enact them, but at the moment she was clear-headed.
I love that you used the word worship there, John pointed out.
I know my position in sex and I revel in it. The queen of steel took a red pair of panties, satin as almost all of them were, and ced them on a metal tablet she made hover over.
It would be a waste of time to put anything on before she showered. A shirt, socks, pants and an overcoat were swiftly added. A bra was conspicuously missing. Lydia didnt mind the current weather much and usually preferred to run around showing a fair bit of cleavage. Not primarily to show off, albeit she had her own pride to constantly keep in check, but because it was morefortable that way.
If I am to take a more dominant approach to sex, I do not mind. Between the two of us, it makes the most sense if I am to indulge in my more submissive desires. Especially if I do not have the space to ride you. She put a metal ring for her braid on top of theyers of clothes and then started moving towards the bathroom. If I am to be on top, I want to be so physically.
That does sound like you, John hummed and followed her to the bathroom door. She was still naked; he was clothed and that wouldnt change quickly. If he joined her in the shower, that would just whet their appetites more. At the door, they shared a long kiss. It ended when Lydia felt she could no longer afford to continue. I will see youter then, he said.
Later, Lydia agreed.
_______________________________________________________________________
A couple of days passed and Lydia stepped out of the bathroom at 6:35 as she always did. Her hair was one that was styled with ease, in part thanks to its metallic infusions born from her part-elemental physiology. Where other women had to fight to make their hair dry and properlybed, Lydia could just rely on a hairdryer and take care of things in a matter of minutes. All she had to take care of was to stay clear of the ionisation button.
Finishing her braid, Lydia made the metal ring she had picked for the day hover upwards. It opened at an invisible seam and was guided towards the tip of the braid, where she then made it close tightly again. With a brushing motion, she checked for any imperfections in the weave. She found none and put on her weapons belt and overcoat. Once both were in ce, she looked at the rapier hanging over the firece.
The weapon her grandfather had oncemissioned was ceremonial in nature. The guard was artistically shaped, an intricatebination of several strands of metal forged to mimic the shape of vines. The sheath was ck, the tip and rim reinforced with enchanted silver. The de itself, while looking like simple steel, was a metal difficult to create called Ferforitum.
Difficult and highly unpopr.
Outside of the hands of a metal mage, it was essentially useless. Under enough impact, it didnt just shatter but actually sttered into liquid pieces. Even for someone like Lydia, however, it was hardly useful inbat. Its main usey in that it could take whatever shape she wanted, as well as change into a series of different colours. It made exposition a lot easier.
Today is the optimal opportunity, she reminded herself and extended her hand into her pocket space. Strimata, the rapier she retrieved, was forged from infinitely more valuable materials than even Ferforitum. Despite the glittering of gold and silver that came from the Elementium and Mithril, the weapon was forged into a solid, military appropriate guard. The weapon was also longer than her grandfathers rapier and at least three times as heavy. It wasnt a disadvantage for her.
Lydia took hold of the grip. The wrapped leather felt natural under her hand, despite her only holding the weapon a few times previously. The Swordmind made the rapier asfortable as it could be for her to hold it. As John had described to her, Strimata had a special enchantment that had evolved on its own from a lesser version. Whereas the smith had only intended to give it a Loyal Attribute, which would have made it return to whoever wielded it for seven consecutive days unless countermeasures were taken, it instead had Chosen Loyalty. The sword itself chose to be wielded by the metal mage with the strongest potential in the world.
It was entirely thanks to John that this was true about her, but it was true regardless. How the sword made this choice was somewhat beyond Lydia. A Swordmind didnt make the weapon sapient. Even sentience was doubtful. Its function to choose must have been simr to a nt growing in the direction of light. Why it had evolved such an enchantment without further input by the creators was another mystery, but when this much magic was bundled into so tiny a package, mysteries were to be expected.
Carefully, she drew the sword. The motion was apanied by a singing sound simr to the lower tones of a glockenspiel. The further the sheath was pulled back, the higher the note. Once it waspletely drawn, there was a sudden silence. Lydia turned the de so the side faced her. A tiny note apanied the movement.
Between the constant noises, pleasing as they may be, and the constant light the weapon emitted, it was unfit for any stealthy attacks. Even the reflection of the queens eyes on the prismatic metal and its broken colours was among a full spectrum of light. It wasnt arge disadvantage to Lydia, who didnt rely on sneak attacks or the like in the first ce. Regardless, she couldnt help but desire the weapon to be less shy.
As if it reluctantly agreed, Strimata reduced its constant glow until it was unnoticeable under the artificial light of themp overhead. The many-coloured triangles slowly shifted. It reminded Lydia of the Antic Fuse, the massive gathering of Faith energy that concentrated on one spot before flowing on towards Europe. A visual simrity that she didnt doubt was born from the absurd power of this weapon.
Carefully, she ran a finger along the de. She could feel its sharpness, but it didnt cut her skin. When she drew the finger back, several strands stuck like spider silk to her. Thin wires, barely visible despite their colour. Even forged into an alloy and put into the shape of a rapier, the Schattengarn within retained its property to be easily shaped into threads. Lydia drew her hand away and the wire extended. When she disconnected it via magic, the wire was drawn back into the actual de. Redirecting her magic, she pulled the pointy Mithril ornament at the lower end of the grip downwards. A particrly thick string kept it connected with the weapon atrge.
Lydia had been probing the weapon for its secrets a few minutes every day, wherever she found the time. I barely scratched the surface of the possibilities, she thought, while making the silver-headed string snake through the air. Looking at the clock, she redirected the ornament back to its socket and then sheathed the weapon. It protested with a deep, metallic note. Perhaps it is somewhat more aware of itself than a nt, she reconsidered her earlier position, before sliding the sheath into its proper position on her weapons belt.
Testing the limits of Strimata was near impossible within her room, at least if she wanted to both maintain secrecy and not identally cut into furniture that was up to six hundred years old. Going outside shed even more with the wish for secrecy. That came to an end today, hopefully.
There was a savage tradition honoured today that would be a great event to unveil this weapon.
Chapter 867 – Royal Treatment 2 – Rough Reality
Chapter 867 C Royal Treatment 2 C Rough Reality
Rex Germaniae was an old and vast realm. As powerful as it had managed to be over the near millennia since its inception, it was still part of an empire that was ancient and enormous. Rex Germaniae had wealth that could shift the bnce of the world and an army that could smash it. Romulus empire was beyond a need to count its resources and its army could likely only be stopped by an impossible alliance of the rest of the world. Rex Germaniae was home to many modern innovations and craftsmen that created prestigious works of science and art. Romulus empire was the home to the very fundamental forms that made magical research possible.
Rex Germaniae had long-standing and carefully craftedws that werepromised by arge amount of red tape and noble meddling. It had a history with great shames, great aplishments, many ups and downs and historical figures.
The Greater Empire had more statues of world-changing people than people could count scattered throughout its borders. Italy and Rome both were centres of great art. Its history was a long, convoluted mess that nobody would ever be able to fully sort out, due to ack ofplete records. Its legal code could hardly be called that. Every century, a whole battalion of schrs and administrators spent a yearbing through the entirety of thew books. They struck superfluousws from the books, kept those they deemed necessary and rified those whose wording was rather muddled.
So was the theory, but the sheer girth ofws sorted and people involved led to a myriad ofplications as to what was a goodw and what wasnt. In the end, much of the empires administration andw enforcement was usually left to more easily read localws. Consulting the libraries worth ofws was only done in high profile cases.
Traditions had a tighter grip on the empire. Celebrations and rites that had been honoured for several thousand years were not as easily reformed as the question whether butter bread with salt should truly be illegal because the governor of a province in south Portugal had said so in the 16th century. Most people were quite certain they wanted salt and butter to their bread and circus, which was why so many events stuck around. Be itrge feasts or the popr diatorialbat, used to keep the empires des sharp, the populous always benefited in some fashion. Regardless, Lydia found some of the events tasteless.
One of which was the celebration for the annihtion of Carthage.
Using her private ne, the queen had flown from Berlin to Afrika, a confusingly named city that upied the same space as Tunis. The city was named after Africanus, a title that had been given to Romulus for aplishments in the mundane worlds he had achieved under the guise of a general. The name was inherited, albeit the governors had no blood rtion to Romulus. Not since thest of his half-god children had died, at least.
Leaving the barrier of the city, she had been driven over to the site of Carthages ruins in secrecy. The mundane people seeing her would have been a problem. She did not exactly fit with the regr looks or cultural garb of Maghrebi. Once she was where Carthage had stood, that was no longer an issue. She entered the barrier.
The ruins of Abyssal Carthage were simultaneously more preserved and less honoured than their real-world counterpart. Being inside a barrier, the elements hadrgely left the ancient stone alone and the stone from which the mansions were fashioned had the further advantage of being magical in nature. The Abyssal city was a painstaking recreation of what had been the mundane counterpart, using new materials but keeping theyout and even dimensions of each building. Why one would go through the motions of rebuilding, brick by brick, the original city rather than just copying things was a question to which Lydia would never find an answer. Abyssal Carthage had been destroyed, from its people down to its history.
Fresh salt crunched under Lydias feet as she walked towards a massive colosseum that stuck out of the middle of the ruins. Its architecture, despite using the same beige stone, was distinctly different from the ruins. The cheers that could be heard from that direction certainly contrasted with the destendscape.
Lydia passed many golems who slowly walked around. Each three steps, they reached into a basket they carried with them and tossed either salt or dust onto the ground. They avoided getting any on her, waiting for her to walk by before tossing the handfuls of particles in their fists. Once she had passed, they moved with mechanical unity. Looking over her shoulder, Lydia saw humanoid shapes in the resulting clouds. Visible for only one moment, the outline of knights disappeared again. The enchantments of her bodyguards armour adapted quickly to the changing environment.
Soon, instead of golems, she was walking past people. The cheers grew louder, then ever-present, as she made her way into the colosseum. A handler soon spotted her and guided her towards the internal area where she was supposed to be. It was one of many tforms lodged between the general watchers areas of themon folk. t, rather than tilted for the maximum number of seats, it was home to several extra luxuries such as grilling spaces and bars.
Her appearance was noted with a number of respectful bows and she spent the next ten minutes shaking hands. Like always, people nced at her figure. Her curves were well visible, courtesy of her wearing her perfectly tailored clothes in as orderly a fashion as was possible. Uppermost buttons being open, revealing a fair bit of cleavage, aside. Unlike always, people were also looking at her weapon. Not only with surprise that she was wearing a different one than usual, but also with anticipation. Before she coulde to a conclusion as to what that might mean, she was distracted by a disruptingment.
Ah, the queen finally deems the event worthy of her presence, a sarcastic voice reached her from one of the bars. Lydia directed her gaze at a nobleman in a white suit. A constant airflow surrounded him, keeping any dust from settling on him and that suit as clean as the moment it was made. He was a great noble of Rex Germaniae, one of many aristocrats who held enough power locally that they could leverage on a higher level.
Although Lydias main problem nowadaysy in her political rivals that held positions of simr importance to her own, internal affairs nevertheless existed. Naysayers unhappy with her rule, from her reforms that took more power away from the nobility to her foreign connections, all served to keep a powerful coalition in steady opposition to her. The man that had addressed her, Franz von Wittelsbach-Mnchen (a cadet branch of the house that ruled over Bavaria), was one of the leading figures of that opposition.
Even as queen of Rex Germaniae, Lydia couldnt properly punish someone whose main holdings were in Bavaria. It wasntnd she owned directly. She could ask the ruler of that domain to do it in her name, but that was unlikely to be met with agreement. Nobles rarely punished their kin, keeping their family was part of what kept them in power as head. As such Franz was in a position where he could be the verbal attack dog of her detractors.
Did your foreign master finally let you go? Franz mockingly asked.
I have no foreign master, Lydia responded calmly, while walking past the man. Little exchanges were all she needed to give him. A courtesy, a little more than she would have given the paparazzi. Whenever she could, ignoring them was what she preferred to do.
Ah yes, thats why you looked like this when you drove home the other day, the nobleman pulled a photograph from an inside pocket of his suit. With a casual flick of his wrist and an apanying breeze, it flew over to Lydia. The queen caught the fluttering picture with rising annoyance and inspected it.
The picture showed her after her birthday party. Despite all the debauchery in the car, she came out clean looking. Johns habit to carry around steamed towels was what made loving him in all environments easier to justify. However, her dress and hair were not sitting as well afterwards as they had been before. Not even the few metres between her car and her door were an area where she could let her guard down.
Your obsession with my looks is rather crude, Lydia responded and tossed the photograph aside. Nothing on it was sopromising or insulting that it warranted tearing. Doing so would have just given it more meaning to the curious onlookers, who doubtlessly would be able to ess a digital version at some other point. You entertaining people to stalk me is frankly creepy.
We need to keep tabs on our queen somehow, given how often she trips over to America to be a good toy for her master, Franz ignored herints and continued toy into her. Atebloomer he may be, but he has no family history. What can John Newman possibly offer to Rex Germaniae?
Lydia rested her palm against the ornament at the end of her weapon. She could feel it vibrate under her touch, eager to be drawn. She could have sliced him open just as easily as she could have insulted him further. Neither were the course of action she found fitting for civilized society. Trade, she answered earnestly, opportunity, research, military assurance.
A cock in your ass? Franz suggested with augh, stroking some of his ck hair backwards.
If I desire so, Lydia retorted and straightened up, emphasizing the beauty of her face and body. That bit about her fetishes had gotten out to the public courtesy of Maximillian, in the time between their break-up and their fight in the tournament. I would not call my personal bedroom affairs of advantage to this kingdom of ours. They are strictly how I prefer to love.
However you want to engage with that blind dog is- Franz suddenly stopped, as if the air in his throat had stopped moving. Nervously, he continued. Just a single insult to your master and the mask slips, doesnt it?
Lydia stared silently. The amount of poison she wished this man to swallow couldnt be expressed in words and so she left it to her gaze tomunicate every bit of contempt. Although he maintained a smile, it got continuously more nervous and twitchier around the corners. Enjoy the evening, Franz. Her voice was as cold as winter steel when she turned away and walked towards the edge of the tform.
The fight against her political enemies was a never-ending one. She would have faced enough resistance over her goal of strengthening the meritocracy alone, but the rtionship with John did trulyplicate things. Because he continued to be a hot topic in the Abyss, as any rapidly rising power could be expected to be, a lot of things surfaced every given week. She couldnt count the number of times she had been asked about something happening in Fusion in a press conference about her own affairs. It also happened to John, but much less frequently. Part of that was that he was the builder of a society, while she had to continue one. Another part was that she, as a harem member, would always seem subservient to some degree. That was the natural impression the barely informed would have. It was also the impression the malevolent would reinforce whenever they could.
There was a particrlyrge oak chair with yellow cushions at Lydias destination. Aside from its size, the extension on top of the backrest and location at the centre of the row of chairs indicated it was for her. German continued to be spoken all around her, as she sat down and looked over the arena. There were a number of different tforms, each with the g of the area hanging down from it, surrounding a central battle ground. Every tform was filled to the brim with people.
How peculiar, Lydia thought. The event was popr with the people, but most of the ruling ss usually avoided it. They came every few years for the battles and, like Lydia today, almost none of them attended the salting ceremony that preceded thebat. Watching a bunch of golems get put to work, alongside a number of rites and speeches, simply wasnt that interesting. Today, it felt as if every important person of every corner of the Greater Empire was in attendance. Are they here just to fight?
Carthage was defeated but the empire was unwilling to reduce its martial tradition. Aside from salting the earth, this day served as yet another excuse for people to fight each other in diatorialbat. Lydia preferred drills andbat exercises over this spectacle, but it was effective in its own way.
Once she had crossed her legs in an equally nonchnt and controlled pose, she felt an impact on the back of her chair. Reika bowed down into her chosen royals field of view and offered (or perhaps demanded) one of her chins to be scratched. Obliging with one hand, Lydia raised the other. Within moments, a servant hurried over and asked, How may I be of service, my empress?
Lydia looked over at the youngd, someones third or fourth son most likely. Nobles were in a habit of sending their untalented and younger children to be high-standing servants to serve as political gifts and spies in equal measure. This was one of the few aristocratic games Lydia found herself in support of and wished to actually be expanded. It would serve the talented children well to learn some humility by having to serve for a few months or years.
Queen, she corrected the young servant. Your prioritizing of the fathend is noted, but this is an imperial event. Refer to me with the correct title, if you want to avoid blunders.
Y-yes, Im most sorry, my queen, the young man stammered. Either he was honest or extremely good at acting. Lydia leaned towards thetter.
Fetch me some raw meat from the cooks, she spoke her order and the servant hastily nodded and walked away with measured steps.
Lydia noted that, but looked away before anyone could wonder if she had any real interest in the young man. Cooing into her ear, the queens attention was pulled back to Reika. The goddess was looking around with one head and bowed down conspiratorially with the other. His performance is truly wellposed, but wed in the end, Lydia spoke, feeling that the eagle agreed with her take on the servant. She tapped her left armrest. Position yourself here, it will make the feeding easier.
Reika jumped and, without opening her wings,nded where she was meant to be. It was a nimble manoeuvre, especially for a creature of her size. Since Reika had been reborn for Lydia 9 months ago, she had grown from the size of a hatchling to that of a proper eagle. She would still grow a bit more, until she wasrger than all naturally found eagles, but she would never be unfathomably huge.
I should inquire if John or one of the girls may want to bring Velka the next time they visit. Both are guaranteed to appreciate the tumbling partner, she thought, ignoring the rising apuse thatmented on some feat in the arena below. She cared little for the fight or its depiction on the hovering screens overhead. Theck of an announcer helped to just blend out the scenery.
Here you go, Lydia, a displeasing voice reached her ears. It wasnt displeasing in tone, a tiny unsteadiness wasnt enough to truly earn that moniker, but the person it was attached to was to Lydias disliking. Suel sat down on the chair next to her reserved for one of the electors of Rex Germaniae. In mockery of their surroundings, he addressed her in fluid Polish. I caught that little liar who you tasked with getting this. Did you know he hopes to get a rich patron to fund his takeover of his house? The primary heir died in the Five Days War and all other children are equally untalented. What a poor fool.
Lord of Pontis. The queen kept her disdain barely veiled, while taking the bowl filled with raw meat from his hand. What moves you to leave your dedicated domain? she asked and gestured over to where the g of his realm was disyed. It was arge bat on a red background. Aggressive to look at, almost offensive, and introduced just within thest twenty years.
I wanted to flex my intellectual muscle for a little bit. Suel grinned.
Lydia took one piece of meat out of the bowl and offered it to Reika. The Reichsadler inspected it for a little while, using both heads to look between it and the vampire-esque Lord of Pontis. If he poisoned it, he will face dire consequences, Lydia whispered to the goddess. With that assured, Reika bowed down to have her meal.
As if I would poison a patron god. Suel sounded actually offended. I walk a tightrope between being useful and being a bother to be removed. Something that rash and useless would throw me in a very unwee spotlight. Sitting in the outer domain and pulling some strings, that is how I operate. He gestured around. Speaking of strings, I pulled a few, can you see?
That would exin the above average attendance of this event, Lydia analysed immediately, and why some people inspect Strimata with such interest.
My oh my, the Gamer did truly improve more than your body. Suel pped in an impressed fashion. It coincided perfectly with the apuse that announced the end of the current fight. You werent as fast on the uptake in the past.
My loves presence in my life did improve every aspect of it, she responded, another strip of meat getting picked out of her hand. More intriguing to me is the question why you would go out of your way to assure additional exposure to his most recent creation.
Because everything is connected, Suel responded, and the amount of projects I tinker with to gather my small advantages is vast. To start with, I may have manipted the flow of information to further incentivize a good target for you to y their hand today. He gestured with his head over the railing of the tform. My timing, when ites to this, is impable.
Lydia looked into the arena and watched Lord Africanus march towards the middle of it. The governor of this imperial domain was covered in a te armour of bronze colour. The way it reflected light made it clear that it was Baelementium. Under his left arm, he carried a helmet, a roman designplete with the red feather cap. His right hand carried a spear that shimmered silver-white, a priceless mithril weapon. Inferior to Beatrices spear, that much Lydia was certain of, but not by much and only by virtue of ack of Collimets. An additional armament, a sheathed short sword, dangled from his hips.
In the name of imperial purity, I demand a duel, Lydia Augusta the Fourth of Hohenzollern! he screamed.
Royal Treatment 2 – Rough Reality
Royal Treatment 2 C Rough Reality
Rex Germaniae was an old and vast realm. As powerful as it had managed to be over the near millennia since its inception, it was still part of an empire that was ancient and enormous. Rex Germaniae had wealth that could shift the bnce of the world and an army that could smash it. Romulus empire was beyond a need to count its resources and its army could likely only be stopped by an impossible alliance of the rest of the world. Rex Germaniae was home to many modern innovations and craftsmen that created prestigious works of science and art. Romulus empire was the home to the very fundamental forms that made magical research possible.
Rex Germaniae had long-standing and carefully craftedws that werepromised by arge amount of red tape and noble meddling. It had a history with great shames, great aplishments, many ups and downs and historical figures.
The Greater Empire had more statues of world-changing people than people could count scattered throughout its borders. Italy and Rome both were centres of great art. Its history was a long, convoluted mess that nobody would ever be able to fully sort out, due to ack ofplete records. Its legal code could hardly be called that. Every century, a whole battalion of schrs and administrators spent a yearbing through the entirety of thew books. They struck superfluousws from the books, kept those they deemed necessary and rified those whose wording was rather muddled.
So was the theory, but the sheer girth ofws sorted and people involved led to a myriad ofplications as to what was a goodw and what wasnt. In the end, much of the empires administration andw enforcement was usually left to more easily read localws. Consulting the libraries worth ofws was only done in high profile cases.
Traditions had a tighter grip on the empire. Celebrations and rites that had been honoured for several thousand years were not as easily reformed as the question whether butter bread with salt should truly be illegal because the governor of a province in south Portugal had said so in the 16th century. Most people were quite certain they wanted salt and butter to their bread and circus, which was why so many events stuck around. Be itrge feasts or the popr diatorialbat, used to keep the empires des sharp, the populous always benefited in some fashion. Regardless, Lydia found some of the events tasteless.
One of which was the celebration for the annihtion of Carthage.
Using her private ne, the queen had flown from Berlin to Afrika, a confusingly named city that upied the same space as Tunis. The city was named after Africanus, a title that had been given to Romulus for aplishments in the mundane worlds he had achieved under the guise of a general. The name was inherited, albeit the governors had no blood rtion to Romulus. Not since thest of his half-god children had died, at least.
Leaving the barrier of the city, she had been driven over to the site of Carthages ruins in secrecy. The mundane people seeing her would have been a problem. She did not exactly fit with the regr looks or cultural garb of Maghrebi. Once she was where Carthage had stood, that was no longer an issue. She entered the barrier.
The ruins of Abyssal Carthage were simultaneously more preserved and less honoured than their real-world counterpart. Being inside a barrier, the elements hadrgely left the ancient stone alone and the stone from which the mansions were fashioned had the further advantage of being magical in nature. The Abyssal city was a painstaking recreation of what had been the mundane counterpart, using new materials but keeping theyout and even dimensions of each building. Why one would go through the motions of rebuilding, brick by brick, the original city rather than just copying things was a question to which Lydia would never find an answer. Abyssal Carthage had been destroyed, from its people down to its history.
Fresh salt crunched under Lydias feet as she walked towards a massive colosseum that stuck out of the middle of the ruins. Its architecture, despite using the same beige stone, was distinctly different from the ruins. The cheers that could be heard from that direction certainly contrasted with the destendscape.
Lydia passed many golems who slowly walked around. Each three steps, they reached into a basket they carried with them and tossed either salt or dust onto the ground. They avoided getting any on her, waiting for her to walk by before tossing the handfuls of particles in their fists. Once she had passed, they moved with mechanical unity. Looking over her shoulder, Lydia saw humanoid shapes in the resulting clouds. Visible for only one moment, the outline of knights disappeared again. The enchantments of her bodyguards armour adapted quickly to the changing environment.
Soon, instead of golems, she was walking past people. The cheers grew louder, then ever-present, as she made her way into the colosseum. A handler soon spotted her and guided her towards the internal area where she was supposed to be. It was one of many tforms lodged between the general watchers areas of themon folk. t, rather than tilted for the maximum number of seats, it was home to several extra luxuries such as grilling spaces and bars.
Her appearance was noted with a number of respectful bows and she spent the next ten minutes shaking hands. Like always, people nced at her figure. Her curves were well visible, courtesy of her wearing her perfectly tailored clothes in as orderly a fashion as was possible. Uppermost buttons being open, revealing a fair bit of cleavage, aside. Unlike always, people were also looking at her weapon. Not only with surprise that she was wearing a different one than usual, but also with anticipation. Before she coulde to a conclusion as to what that might mean, she was distracted by a disruptingment.
Ah, the queen finally deems the event worthy of her presence, a sarcastic voice reached her from one of the bars. Lydia directed her gaze at a nobleman in a white suit. A constant airflow surrounded him, keeping any dust from settling on him and that suit as clean as the moment it was made. He was a great noble of Rex Germaniae, one of many aristocrats who held enough power locally that they could leverage on a higher level.
Although Lydias main problem nowadaysy in her political rivals that held positions of simr importance to her own, internal affairs nevertheless existed. Naysayers unhappy with her rule, from her reforms that took more power away from the nobility to her foreign connections, all served to keep a powerful coalition in steady opposition to her. The man that had addressed her, Franz von Wittelsbach-Mnchen (a cadet branch of the house that ruled over Bavaria), was one of the leading figures of that opposition.
Even as queen of Rex Germaniae, Lydia couldnt properly punish someone whose main holdings were in Bavaria. It wasntnd she owned directly. She could ask the ruler of that domain to do it in her name, but that was unlikely to be met with agreement. Nobles rarely punished their kin, keeping their family was part of what kept them in power as head. As such Franz was in a position where he could be the verbal attack dog of her detractors.
Did your foreign master finally let you go? Franz mockingly asked.
I have no foreign master, Lydia responded calmly, while walking past the man. Little exchanges were all she needed to give him. A courtesy, a little more than she would have given the paparazzi. Whenever she could, ignoring them was what she preferred to do.
Ah yes, thats why you looked like this when you drove home the other day, the nobleman pulled a photograph from an inside pocket of his suit. With a casual flick of his wrist and an apanying breeze, it flew over to Lydia. The queen caught the fluttering picture with rising annoyance and inspected it.
The picture showed her after her birthday party. Despite all the debauchery in the car, she came out clean looking. Johns habit to carry around steamed towels was what made loving him in all environments easier to justify. However, her dress and hair were not sitting as well afterwards as they had been before. Not even the few metres between her car and her door were an area where she could let her guard down.
Your obsession with my looks is rather crude, Lydia responded and tossed the photograph aside. Nothing on it was sopromising or insulting that it warranted tearing. Doing so would have just given it more meaning to the curious onlookers, who doubtlessly would be able to ess a digital version at some other point. You entertaining people to stalk me is frankly creepy.
We need to keep tabs on our queen somehow, given how often she trips over to America to be a good toy for her master, Franz ignored herints and continued toy into her. Atebloomer he may be, but he has no family history. What can John Newman possibly offer to Rex Germaniae?
Lydia rested her palm against the ornament at the end of her weapon. She could feel it vibrate under her touch, eager to be drawn. She could have sliced him open just as easily as she could have insulted him further. Neither were the course of action she found fitting for civilized society. Trade, she answered earnestly, opportunity, research, military assurance.
A cock in your ass? Franz suggested with augh, stroking some of his ck hair backwards.
If I desire so, Lydia retorted and straightened up, emphasizing the beauty of her face and body. That bit about her fetishes had gotten out to the public courtesy of Maximillian, in the time between their break-up and their fight in the tournament. I would not call my personal bedroom affairs of advantage to this kingdom of ours. They are strictly how I prefer to love.
However you want to engage with that blind dog is- Franz suddenly stopped, as if the air in his throat had stopped moving. Nervously, he continued. Just a single insult to your master and the mask slips, doesnt it?
Lydia stared silently. The amount of poison she wished this man to swallow couldnt be expressed in words and so she left it to her gaze tomunicate every bit of contempt. Although he maintained a smile, it got continuously more nervous and twitchier around the corners. Enjoy the evening, Franz. Her voice was as cold as winter steel when she turned away and walked towards the edge of the tform.
The fight against her political enemies was a never-ending one. She would have faced enough resistance over her goal of strengthening the meritocracy alone, but the rtionship with John did trulyplicate things. Because he continued to be a hot topic in the Abyss, as any rapidly rising power could be expected to be, a lot of things surfaced every given week. She couldnt count the number of times she had been asked about something happening in Fusion in a press conference about her own affairs. It also happened to John, but much less frequently. Part of that was that he was the builder of a society, while she had to continue one. Another part was that she, as a harem member, would always seem subservient to some degree. That was the natural impression the barely informed would have. It was also the impression the malevolent would reinforce whenever they could.
There was a particrlyrge oak chair with yellow cushions at Lydias destination. Aside from its size, the extension on top of the backrest and location at the centre of the row of chairs indicated it was for her. German continued to be spoken all around her, as she sat down and looked over the arena. There were a number of different tforms, each with the g of the area hanging down from it, surrounding a central battle ground. Every tform was filled to the brim with people.
How peculiar, Lydia thought. The event was popr with the people, but most of the ruling ss usually avoided it. They came every few years for the battles and, like Lydia today, almost none of them attended the salting ceremony that preceded thebat. Watching a bunch of golems get put to work, alongside a number of rites and speeches, simply wasnt that interesting. Today, it felt as if every important person of every corner of the Greater Empire was in attendance. Are they here just to fight?
Carthage was defeated but the empire was unwilling to reduce its martial tradition. Aside from salting the earth, this day served as yet another excuse for people to fight each other in diatorialbat. Lydia preferred drills andbat exercises over this spectacle, but it was effective in its own way.
Once she had crossed her legs in an equally nonchnt and controlled pose, she felt an impact on the back of her chair. Reika bowed down into her chosen royals field of view and offered (or perhaps demanded) one of her chins to be scratched. Obliging with one hand, Lydia raised the other. Within moments, a servant hurried over and asked, How may I be of service, my empress?
Lydia looked over at the youngd, someones third or fourth son most likely. Nobles were in a habit of sending their untalented and younger children to be high-standing servants to serve as political gifts and spies in equal measure. This was one of the few aristocratic games Lydia found herself in support of and wished to actually be expanded. It would serve the talented children well to learn some humility by having to serve for a few months or years.
Queen, she corrected the young servant. Your prioritizing of the fathend is noted, but this is an imperial event. Refer to me with the correct title, if you want to avoid blunders.
Y-yes, Im most sorry, my queen, the young man stammered. Either he was honest or extremely good at acting. Lydia leaned towards thetter.
Fetch me some raw meat from the cooks, she spoke her order and the servant hastily nodded and walked away with measured steps.
Lydia noted that, but looked away before anyone could wonder if she had any real interest in the young man. Cooing into her ear, the queens attention was pulled back to Reika. The goddess was looking around with one head and bowed down conspiratorially with the other. His performance is truly wellposed, but wed in the end, Lydia spoke, feeling that the eagle agreed with her take on the servant. She tapped her left armrest. Position yourself here, it will make the feeding easier.
Reika jumped and, without opening her wings,nded where she was meant to be. It was a nimble manoeuvre, especially for a creature of her size. Since Reika had been reborn for Lydia 9 months ago, she had grown from the size of a hatchling to that of a proper eagle. She would still grow a bit more, until she wasrger than all naturally found eagles, but she would never be unfathomably huge.
I should inquire if John or one of the girls may want to bring Velka the next time they visit. Both are guaranteed to appreciate the tumbling partner, she thought, ignoring the rising apuse thatmented on some feat in the arena below. She cared little for the fight or its depiction on the hovering screens overhead. Theck of an announcer helped to just blend out the scenery.
Here you go, Lydia, a displeasing voice reached her ears. It wasnt displeasing in tone, a tiny unsteadiness wasnt enough to truly earn that moniker, but the person it was attached to was to Lydias disliking. Suel sat down on the chair next to her reserved for one of the electors of Rex Germaniae. In mockery of their surroundings, he addressed her in fluid Polish. I caught that little liar who you tasked with getting this. Did you know he hopes to get a rich patron to fund his takeover of his house? The primary heir died in the Five Days War and all other children are equally untalented. What a poor fool.
Lord of Pontis. The queen kept her disdain barely veiled, while taking the bowl filled with raw meat from his hand. What moves you to leave your dedicated domain? she asked and gestured over to where the g of his realm was disyed. It was arge bat on a red background. Aggressive to look at, almost offensive, and introduced just within thest twenty years.
I wanted to flex my intellectual muscle for a little bit. Suel grinned.
Lydia took one piece of meat out of the bowl and offered it to Reika. The Reichsadler inspected it for a little while, using both heads to look between it and the vampire-esque Lord of Pontis. If he poisoned it, he will face dire consequences, Lydia whispered to the goddess. With that assured, Reika bowed down to have her meal.
As if I would poison a patron god. Suel sounded actually offended. I walk a tightrope between being useful and being a bother to be removed. Something that rash and useless would throw me in a very unwee spotlight. Sitting in the outer domain and pulling some strings, that is how I operate. He gestured around. Speaking of strings, I pulled a few, can you see?
That would exin the above average attendance of this event, Lydia analysed immediately, and why some people inspect Strimata with such interest.
My oh my, the Gamer did truly improve more than your body. Suel pped in an impressed fashion. It coincided perfectly with the apuse that announced the end of the current fight. You werent as fast on the uptake in the past.
My loves presence in my life did improve every aspect of it, she responded, another strip of meat getting picked out of her hand. More intriguing to me is the question why you would go out of your way to assure additional exposure to his most recent creation.
Because everything is connected, Suel responded, and the amount of projects I tinker with to gather my small advantages is vast. To start with, I may have manipted the flow of information to further incentivize a good target for you to y their hand today. He gestured with his head over the railing of the tform. My timing, when ites to this, is impable.
Lydia looked into the arena and watched Lord Africanus march towards the middle of it. The governor of this imperial domain was covered in a te armour of bronze colour. The way it reflected light made it clear that it was Baelementium. Under his left arm, he carried a helmet, a roman designplete with the red feather cap. His right hand carried a spear that shimmered silver-white, a priceless mithril weapon. Inferior to Beatrices spear, that much Lydia was certain of, but not by much and only by virtue of ack of Collimets. An additional armament, a sheathed short sword, dangled from his hips.
In the name of imperial purity, I demand a duel, Lydia Augusta the Fourth of Hohenzollern! he screamed.
Royal Treatment 3 – Dominant Deception
Royal Treatment 3 C Dominant Deception
Too long did you use the resources of your great guild to aid your foreign lover! Africanus continued, raising his spear towards her but moving his head to look at everyone else. Rex Germaniae is part of the empire and your obligations should be solely within our borders!
The speech continued and Lydia decided to let him have his moment, while she fed the remaining meat to Reika. This happening surprised her, but not too deeply. The dagger Africanus had gifted her had been enough of a sign that some kind of hostility was on its way. His reasoning for the hostilities was the odd part. Africanus never indicated he was affiliated with those that would demand internal hostility, she turned to Suel, waiting for him to exin. He had stated his desire to show his intellectual superiority.
Yes, yes, the Lord of Pontis squeaked, his red eyes flickering with amusement. That would be because he isnt, Lydia. Much like your grandfather when he attacked Austria with the excuse that no woman may be emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he is merely using a popr sentiment to justify a more pragmatic cause. The more trade from Germany flows out over the Antic, the less flows into the Mediterranean. He has personal interests, nothing more, nothing less.
Reasonable. Lydia nodded, just as she put the now empty bowl down. Konrad, a towel, shemanded, the leader of her bodyguards handing her something to wipe the meat juices of her hands. She stood up and was immediately surrounded by people loyal to her.
My queen, there is no need for you to fight, one of the loyal electors said.
Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary. I have been meaning to fight today regardless, albeit for a less serious reason, Lydia responded patiently, putting a hand on the heft of Strimata. The weapon reacted to the touch with the same excited vibrations it had previously. All of you should do as usual and let me deal with the problems that are mine. I will request aid if I deem it necessary and not before then.
The people backed off, while Lydia looked once more to Suel. She still couldnt figure out what exactly the man hoped to achieve by giving her a chance to curtail her political opponents and, at the same time, advertise Fusions creation. We will talk after this, the Lord of Pontis said, showing a remarkably toothy smile. It was familiar in ways she didnt corrte with the corrupt vampire-like man.
Queen Lydia! Romulus voice bellowed through the silent stadium. Do you ept this duel for your honour? If so, step onto the elevator and let your voice be heard by the crowd.
A tform of raw mana manifested beyond the edge of the tform. Lydia swiftly jumped on top and let it carry her down to the proper arena. Once down there, she raised her voice. The enchantments engrained into the walls picked her words up and reinforced them so they could reach the entire colosseum.
I tire of you selfish aristocrats, demanding where my heart may rest. Never have I, nor will I ever, put the good of my people second to my private indulgences, even if it may tear me apart. With every word, she got closer to the centre of the arena, where Africanus waited. Finally, she stopped in front of him. Back on the tform she came from, Reika screeched encouragingly. Since we are both aware that you pay no heed to what I say, let me simply hear your terms for this duel.
I demand that, should I defeat you today, Rex Germaniae ceases any preferential treatments of John Newman, Africanus stated.
Lydia closed her eyes. One arm behind her back, the other raised to pinch the bridge of her nose, she sighed, lightly dropping her upright posture. If that is your demand, we do not need to have this useless fight. I invite you to look through all of the trade agreements struck between Fusion and Rex Germaniae. You will find that, not only was I not involved in negotiating most of them, they are also universally based on equal benefit.
A duel to end your rtionship with John Newman, then! Africanus continued, keeping his zealous tone up considerably well.
No, Lydia smote down that suggestion. I will not be bullied on who I can or cannot love on the basis of ritualisticbat. She let go off the bridge of her nose and stared at the bald, tanned, Arabic man. Although Lydia wanted to fight here, she would not do so for stupid reasons. Present me something I would be willing to lose over something as silly as this encounter.
I merely wish you gave the Greater Empire the respect it deserved, Africanus dered.
Would it be agreeable to you that I, were I to lose, established a council of pro-imperial noblemen that could double-check my decisions? she suggested, wanting to move this along.
Yes, Africanus agreed swiftly. A council to control your reckless sending of wealth and ideas out of our border.
It appears Suels prognosis was correct. How bothersome, Lydia thought, as chatter throughout the arena swelled. She did not like to rely on him. My demand, then, the queen spoke up, putting both her hands behind her back. Neither you nor anyone else in your faction of harassers regarding my love life shall bother me in person about it. I wish to be left alone. What you whisper in backrooms I do not care about.
I have no power to change other peoples behaviour, Africanus pointed out. I alone would not be able to speak such a pledge.
A reasonable argument. Would it work if there were more people of your faction fighting alongside you? Lydia asked and, for the first time, made Africanus hesitate. The queen saw how he tried to read the joking intent from her face, but she remained upright and disciplined in stance and demeanour. Matter of fact was that she knew Africanus was a powerful foe. The imperial domain of Afrika was a march and martial skill was important for its leader. In fact, she had fought Africanus in a show match before C and lost. Quite one-sidedly, at that.
That was before the tournament.
That was before the Lovers Mark.
That was before Strimata.
Lydia had shown her improvements in public before, in show fights against much weaker opponents, and even since then she had improved. The fact of the matter was that people still werent aware just how bullshit the Gamers abilities were and how much of them influenced those so close to him. Everyone could see her physical improvements. Verifying just how much stronger she had actually gotten without something as handy as Observe? Difficult.
If you wish to fight against several opponents at once, I will agree to your terms, Africanus finally dered, taking the advantage where he could get it.
Lydia turned to the tform she hade from. You have heard my offer. Will youe and defend your views or will you continue to be a bothersome pack of giggling hyenas? The question echoed out with every bit of contempt she had for those people. The arena grew silent again, waiting for the response to that challenge. Lydia knew the oue before anyone even moved.
Either they didnt do anything and Lydia could leverage that inaction whenever they got uppity in the future or they agreed to her terms. Traditionalists that they were, they thought much more of these public duels than she did. Lydia agreed that honour was important, but she disagreed in what ways it was diminished or raised. For her, it was more about honesty and credibility than about proving oneself inbat. That was thest resort, not the first instance of negotiations, as so many Abyssals happily used it as.
Soon enough, a small group of ten noblemen rode down the elevator of manifested mana to the floor of the arena, headed by Franz. They walked around Lydia and took position opposite of her. We agree to your terms, Queen Lydia, one of them, the highest by title, spoke up. Lydia knew who it was, but his identity hardly mattered in the moment. All she needed to know about any of them was how their abilities would interfere with her ownbat.
The pledges are made, then, Romulus imposing voice boomed from his private lodge, elevated above all others. Take positions,batants, and wait for my signal.
Lydia turned around and took five measured steps forward, a simple ritual that her grandfather had taught her to do before great assions. It was meant to let her calm her nerves, but she had long exceeded the need for something like that. Now it was just something she did. A reminder of her journey to the self-controlled woman she had grown up to be from the thieving child and the metal elemental that wanted desperately to be flesh.
Turning around, she drew Strimata in one smooth motion. The sound apanying the reveal of the prismatic de swelled as it grew higher in pitch and finally ebbed away in one melodic note. The thin de, less than three fingers wide, was raised to point at her opponents, Africanus headfirst. All but him visibly hesitated in their own preparations upon seeing that weapon. The governor merely stared at the weapon with confusion, hidden in part by the helmet now protecting much of his head. Grabbing the Mithril spear with both hands, he got into a battle stance.
Slowly, the other nobles followed his example. The anticipation was thick in the air. Although themon people werent privy to the same rumours as the nobles had been, Lydia knew that everyone saw Strimata and wondered just what kind of weapon that could be. If nothing else, they were entertained by the violent extension of politics.
Ready yourselves! Even Romulus voice was swinging with intrigue. Had he perhaps hoped a fight like this would happen today? Lydia left that question for after the fight and instead concentrated on the way the mana flowed inside her. Begin!
Africanus drew back his arm and threw his spear. Attempting to move the weapon aside with her powers, Lydia found it to curve back in her direction. Something else was directing the weapon, something different than elemental magic. Possession, she thought as her aura red up. The colour of mana enveloped her, allowing her to suddenly Shift. From being about to be skewered, she now stood behind the spear. Before it could be redirected into her back, Lydia stormed forwards.
It felt odd seeing her enemies move. To the steel-eyed queen, it appeared as if most of them moved through gel. Hanging around monsters of speed like Sylph and Siena and wielders of absurd brutal force like Gnome and Metra made it easy to forget just how much superior she was to even the militarily respected nobility. Among the harem, she may be one of the weaker members. Here, she was the dominant force on the field.
Lydia lunged forwards. Strimata vibrated with a swelling sound. Africanus barely managed to draw his own de. It shone with the whitish silver of a Mithril alloy, of lower quality than his spear. The hurried motion brought the t side of this weapon between his head and the tip of Strimata. The note ended when Strimata shed against the Mithril. Africanus was forced back three steps by the impact. He seemed relieved to have blocked the strike. The remainingbatants closed in on Lydia. Before she turned her attention to them, she saw Africanus inspect his de and stare wide-eyed at the hole in it.
Strimata may not have sessfully prated the blocking weapon entirely, but the very tip of it had cut through. A second strike with more force could have gotten even through the Mithril alloy. It was the very same material that Eliza had spent several sets of teeth on biting through and she was considerably stronger than Lydia was even now.
You will serve me well, the queen thought and felt the weapon eagerly settle tighter into her grip.
The nobles surrounded her on all sides, three of them going on the offensive. Lydia extinguished her aura to let mana flow towards her Innate Ability. She had time for one breath, straightening out her pose and letting her left-hand stroke over the side of her de. When she drew it back, a taut wire stayed attached to each finger. Pulling continuously, she moved the near invisible strings between herself and the descending mace of her first assant.
Rather than just be stopped, the doubtlessly heavily enchanted weapon mmed into the wires and managed to push in a further few centimetres. Not because the wires gave in, but because the weapon did. Thin trenches were cut deep past the surface, as if it was regr steel exposed to a high-pressure water cutter. A momentter, the noble stumbled, the stopping force suddenly gone.
Lydia had separated the connection of the strings. Not to her fingers, but to the actual sword. The Legionmetal Attribute allowed her to separate anything from the des mass she wanted and shift the mass between the pieces as if they were still one. The de, due to its Dimensional Folding hiding the true mass contained within the weapon, only indicated a diminishing of material by a decrease of the coloured facets that gave it its prismatic beauty.
Although the mass of Strimata was easy to control, its shape was a different question. As much as Lydia would have liked to meet her second assant with a wall of deadly, taut string, that was a task of immense difficulty without anything to anchor it to. Instead, she shaped and pulled the separated wires into a t circle, which continued to grow. The second attackers strike shed against the prismatic sheet, while Lydia turned her main attention towards the third, a pale man with brown hair.
They were toomitted to pull back now and, despite being intimidated, the discipline bred into the empires nobility showed in them pulling through. Lydia side-stepped the overhead strike of the ymore. The correct thing to exploit that opening would have been to simply prate his exposed side or shoulder. However, Lydias intent to test and show Strimata gave the queen cause for some alternative manoeuvres.
A slice from the mans hips to his shoulder caused him to vanish in an instant. Fateweaving imed him, before his body could be split by the shockwave that followed. With the sound of a ringing triangle, a thin wave split the air and the ground, making barely any difference between the two. It continued over a dozen metres and finished off a second person in its path before petering out. The metal of the de amplified Lydias capability to cause these ranged attacks to an absurd degree.
The first two assants backed off before Lydia could turn around and end their participation with a simr shockwave. Joining the ring that had formed around her, the nobles and Africanus simply stared at her. Lydia separated a second piece from Strimata and made both hover behind her back. Forming intorge shields, they would let her defend against attacks from any direction.
Her enemies made the opposite decision and raised their hands, led by Africanus. Lydia faced her strongest enemy and the arcane bolt that came flying out of his palm. A quick cut by Strimata severed the aggressive mana and made it fizzle into nothing. Fire, water, air and light attacks all bounced off her shields. Even the Mithril spear shed against her defences, continuously flying on its own. They seemed happy to keep this up until either of them ran out of mana or Lydia made a mistake.
Not one to enjoy a stalemate, Lydia stopped another arcane attack by Africanus, before turning Strimata around and ramming the weapon into the ground. Letting go off the haft, she now used both of her hands to manipte the metal around her to block the continuous cascade of attacks. Gestures supported the intentions of her mind, focused them through motions that had a dancing flow to them. The prismatic shields whirled around in response to each spell that Lydia spotted as they spun around her.
Then she suddenly raised up one hand and several of the nobles screamed when a metal spike prated them from below. Before they could end like the victims of d the Impaler, Fateweaving took them away. The others had either been quick enough to react or lucky that Lydias aim was off. Directing nine simultaneous underground attacks, even in her zone of absolute control, was far from perfect.
Regardless, her enemy count had almost halved in one instant. Pulling all of the metal towards herself, she shielded herself in a whirling cocoon of multi-coloured edges. A storm of chimes apanied her advance, as magical attacks were shredded into nothing. The sorry remains of the circle broke when Lydia reached melee range.
Extending one hand, Lydia consolidated part of the storm into one new sword in her hand. Entirely prismatic, the new rapier refused to fit into her hand as well as the previous one. It sat well enough to allow her to reduce the amount of enemies to three, with a single additional strike.
Lydia stopped where her enemy had just stood and analysed the situation. The remaining three of her originally eleven enemies were getting away from her. Gathering what other metal she still had into ten smooth javelins, she raised them above and then sent them hurling forwards with amanding gesture.
One more noble was impaled by the storm of weapons. The weapon mmed into her guts and turned the dirt floor reddish brown with the blood that sputtered out. It was the first sessful attack that hadnt immediately caused Fateweaving to kick in. Lydia raised one of the javelins that had missed back out of the ground and used it to finish the noble off. All other javelins, no longer influenced by her magic, were drawn back into the main de.
Lydia saw Franz, who had managed to be thest surviving noble, run towards Strimata. Watching him run, she had to turn swiftly to knock aside the Mithril spearing for her head. Africanus charged at her from the other side andid into her with a flurry of blows with his short sword. She retreated several steps, and waited for her opportunity to strike. Africanus kept his eyes on her weapon. Albeit just a piece of Strimata, he still recognized it as dangerous. His fixation was what gave Lydia her opening.
Her aura red up, giving her the burst of speed and strength she needed to dodge a thrust towards her shoulder and simultaneously knock the flying spear aside once more. The defensive movements left her unable to retaliate with her rapier, but her legs were ready to twist into a sweeping kick. Her reinforced boot crashed into Africanus side and sent him flying. Lydia directed her eyes to Franz.
The noble had reached where she had left Strimata and extended his hand towards the weapon. Not needing to do anything, Lydia watched as a number of des burst out of the weapons handle and skewered Franzs hand before he couldy a finger on Strimata. Screaming, the noble jumped backwards, his palm more holes than flesh.
Despite this gruesome disy, Strimata was clean as before. Lydia calmly walked the distance, letting go of the imitation and allowing the material rejoin the proper de. It appears the gift of my blind dog of a master doesnt take a liking to you, the queen said and pulled Strimata from the ground. She sighed, I apologize, sarcasm should be beneath me, but you sessfully annoyed me over the past months. I appreciate that thises to a halt today.
Arrogant cunt! Franz screamed and used his functioning hand to hurl a gust of slicing wind at her. Lydia raised Strimata and brought it down in a straight sh. The resulting shockwave unravelled the weave of magic, transforming his attack into nothing but harmless wind. It continued to advance, apanied by pure sound, slicing everything in its path until an angry scream was brought to the sudden halt of disappearing.
It is not arrogance if I can reinforce it with action. Lydia kept thement to herself, not seeing the value in trash talking her opponent, and turned to face Africanus. Would you prefer to forfeit the match? she offered, extinguishing her aura. Although her mana was quite vast, she was working on a limited supply. To regenerate, she would have needed to devour some metal. Not that this battle had exhausted her so much that she would have reached for any of the energy-boosting vials inside her overcoat.
Africanus stood up and put his helm back on straight. You havent won yet, he growled, the spear flying to his side.
Your conviction is admirable, Lydia said and separated a javelin out of Strimatas de. It hovered at her side, following her when she charged at herst enemy. She lunged. Africanus dodged and swung at both her sides with his sword and possessed spear. Lydia blocked both with Strimata and javelin. Africanus circled around her, trying to get the sh of spears out of Lydias field of view. She had greater control over her secondary weapon, courtesy of its malleability, but Possession allowed one to sense through its targets. Where he could decide, she would have to intuit. Not a situation she wanted to be in.
With superior speed, she circled around Africanus, putting the shing spears behind him instead. Then she went into a relentless offensive. The governor tried to dodge as much as he could, but at the pace of the fight, instincts soon overtook judgement. He raised his sword in defence. Lydia aimed her strike at the already weakened spot. Impact and Strimatas sharpness broke and cut the de, leaving only a stump in the way. It slowed Lydia down enough that the spear could be brought in as a second line of defence.
Africanus dropped his sword and held onto the shaft with both hands, pressing it against Strimata. The strain on his face betrayed the amount of adrenaline rushing through his veins. Lydia continued to breathe calmly. Standing in a simple struggle of power, Lydia looked down on the slightly smaller man.
With a triumphant scream, he managed to push her back. From being pushed down, he managed to put their weapons on equal level. YOU HAVENT WON YET! he reiterated.
Lydia furrowed her eyebrows and nodded down towards their shing weapons. ncing down, Africanus got to see what she meant. Their weapons were locked, but Strimatas sharpness slowly made its way through the pure Mithril. For all of the enchantments and all of the materials natural hardness, it still couldnt stand up to the rapier. It simply would take more of an effort to slice through. A higher hurdle, not an impassable barrier.
Raising her unused left hand, Lydia ended the match in a different way. The javelin that had been dealing with the spear rammed into Africanus back, prating Baelementium armour. Fateweaving pulled herst enemy out before it could reach his heart. Standing victorious and untouched, Lydia let the pieces of Strimata unify before she inspected the weapon for any blood or other remains. In the background, she heard apuse and Romulus announce her victory. She ignored all of it and just looked more at the weapon. Versatile, can take whatever shape I desire, sharp enough to cut Mithril, untouched by elements, enables ranged attacks, burrows through earth without issue, she listed her current discoveries. Not as visually impressive as Johns abilities, but that suits me fine. The constant singing and glowing continue to be drawbacks. The de vibrated once, as if sighing, before being sheathed.
Lydia turned to leave, she had aplished her goals.
__________________________________________________________________________
Several hourster, she finally made her way back to her car. Romulus had wanted to inspect the de, Africanus had insisted on a second duel without weapons and magic, the press had insisted on just about everything. Discussions, exnations, pre-written statements and pping the governor silly with her bare handster, Lydia was finally on her way home without any more issues.
That was, at least, until she approached the car and found the driver missing.
Secure the perimeter, she said to her invisible guards, furrowing her eyebrows. Just as she said that, the window in the back of the limo rolled down and revealed Suel.
Yes, please go, the red-eyed man grinned at the seemingly empty air, I would like to talk to your queen in private.
The Knights of Teuton stopped following their initialmand to wait for re-confirmation. It didnt take a genius to realize that something was wrong about this situation. The window rolled up again and Lydia looked at Reika circling above. The goddess kept watch and she still wielded Strimata. She was about as safe here as she would be at home. Secure the perimeter, she repeated and opened the door of her car.
As you wish, Konrad responded.
The inside of her limo was untypically dark. The lights were off, but even with that the ckness in the corners seemed tooplete and contrasted heavily with the light of the fading day that fell in through the tinted windows. A meeting in the twilight hours, I couldnt ask for a better time to reveal the truth. Suel sounded immensely pleased. His eyes burned brightly, two red dots in the darkness, illuminating nothing.
The truth about why you decided to arrange all of this? Lydia asked, as she sat down a fair bit away from Suel. It wasnt just a trap she feared. Something about him seemed off. In a way far different from what made her dislike him. Not sleezy and corrupt but smooth and focused on something in the distance. The darkness around him felt as if it was crawling with insects, spiders and snakes. It was as if her impending doom could crawl out of these dark corners at any moment.
She had the urge to slide further away from him, but remainedposed and stayed put.
You could say so, the harbinger of the crawling feelings told her. The darkness pulled together around his head, increasing the difference between the red and everything else. Strangely, it failed to illuminate anything. Did you know that bats aremonly seen as bringers of bad luck? Suel asked, his voice growing deeper and squeakier at the same time. The red dots of his eyes lost their ck centre, turned into something closer to a consolidated mist.
Lydia was unable to answer. Her eyes opened wide as she was stunned by the revtion that began to dawn on her. Impossible
Sometimes, I make convoluted messes and sometimes its best to just hide in in sight. The creaking of bones apanied the amused voice. The trickster leaned forward and his bare skull peeled white out of the ckness. It wasnt human. It was a beast with an elongated skull and its teeth were sharp and contorted into an impossible smile, and on its head, it carried four horns.
We have many contingencies to discuss, Lydia, the Horned Rat said.
Chapter 868 – The largest hoard ever conceived
Chapter 868 C Thergest hoard ever conceived
Just how difficult was it to validate whether Dra (or Dramar as his real name apparently went) was really the CEO of the Abyss Auction?
It was absolutely impossible.
The Abyss Auction was the worlds leading deliverer of goods and services. Most sought after of all services on the Abyss Auction was the intelligence trade. That he found nothing about Dramar on there was something that somewhat credited the im of the business card. Only managing members of the Abyss Auction had the power to make things on there disappear, after all.
It could also be a pointer to a very shoddily crafted fake identity. Given the strength of the illusion on the business card, this struck John as the less likely option. Nobody who appeared on Romulus court to hand over an enchanted piece of paper that led to a ce that was everywhere and nowhere would slouch on making a couple fake pages. That they had thought one step further and deliberately avoided making pages was also a possibility.
While it was possible to buy intel outside the Abyss Auction, it was harder, cost more and would likely take several weeks to yield results. If they yielded anything. John wasnt willing to get that into motion, as he was already convinced enough that this was either true or put together with such skill that he wasnt meant to find anything.
Under such circumstances, John decided that he would just throw his lot into things being true and take his entire harem along for the expedition. Whatever or whoever they would be facing, it would be mutually assured destruction with Eliza around. The escape route also led directly to their home base. All in all, he had enough balls in his court that he thought it viable to take the risk.
Alright, everyone ready? he asked the gathered girls. Even Lydia was there, wanting to either protect him from an ambush or meet this elusive founder.
Just get the fuck on with it please, Eliza cussed at him. I had the best, shit idea I ever had for a painting and now my artists finger is itching and its as if someone put a drill to my patience and is keeping on fucking my brain with it.
Ill take that as a yes, John joked and pressed the business card against the middle door of the I.D. Gate Building. After two seconds of contact, the card disintegrated. There were no other visual indicators that it had worked. Not until John reached for the door handle and pushed it down, revealing the space behind.
It was an oddly normal entranceway of an apartment. A wooden wall with coat hangers and a little closet to leave their shoes bordered on a doormat. The group was toorge tofortably fit into the immediate entrance area. Unsure what exactly to do, John decided to just brush off what little dirt there could be on his shoes and then move on without taking them off. Everyone else followed his example.
They walked through an open door that led into a more spacious but still not particrlyrge living room. The furniture was European in design and of the timeless quality that rich people liked to afford. A dinner table, a medium-sized sofa, arge television and a second table with aptop on it, nothing really out of the ordinary. The only thing that was off about everything were the bodies that sat around the dinner table. They were all lizardmen of different appearances, filling out five of the six seats. John specifically called them bodies not people because they sat inanimate like meat puppets.
The ck lizardman that John was already familiar with peeked out of an adjacent room. Finally, you arrive, Dra said and entered the living room. He closed the door he hade through. John just barely managed to take a nce at the office room behind. The home office was starting to annoy me. If you would please walk through that door, he pointed at one that looked in no way different than any other, then we can have our proper discussion. With those words, Dra walked over to the sixth seat on the dinner table and, for theck of a better term, shut down.
John scratched his neck. This wasnt exactly the development he had been expecting, but he also wasnt sure what he had expected. At least he was pretty certain now that they werent in any form of danger. With the remaining bit of caution and paranoia, he walked towards the door and slowly pushed it open.
They pushed into a space that was massive in its dimensions. A dome far above simted the day sky. That it was an illusion was only visible thanks to its curve, making it appear like a massive fish-eye, through which a mimic of the sun slowly wandered. As per the walls or how far they were away, John couldnt even start to guess. This was because the entire floor was covered in valuables. Primarily, there was money. Mountains of dor notes rising several dozen metres high, with other currencies and books intermingling into the green to create an ocean of rich colours. Barely visible and serving as a foundation were neatly stacked bars of various metals.
John was looking at a somewhat unorthodox hoard. It was absurdly vast. It was likely the greatest gathering of wealth in the world. At the same time, there was a distinctck of items. Magical swords, holy artefacts, infernal arms or enchanted shields, none of the kind were anywhere around the mountains, at least from what the Gamer could see. The owner of this entire assortment was also missing from sight, although John knew that was about to change when part of the money mountains started to move.
Coins cked and dors tumbled, as a massive body rose from underneath the hoard. The neck came into view first, a long, sleek thing with a ridge at the top of it. Spikes that had rested t on the ck scales to avoid cutting the currencies extended and pulled taut dark orange membranes between them. The ridge led up to arge, lizard-like head. Attached to the back of the elongated skull were eight horns, four on each side, with the same membrane between them. They, too, stretched out when therge creature opened his jaw wide and yawned. Hand sized, white teeth came into view and then vanished again behind tar ck meat and scales as dark as coal. Notably, the eyes that looked at John were of a pure gold. They had no iris or pupil, were simply gold and glowed with power and heat. The entire being radiated aforting level of warmth.
It wasnt until a couple of legs showed themselves that John waspletely certain he was dealing with a dragon and not some extremelyrge serpent. A wing stretching and a tail brushing away some of the money on top of the Abyss Auctions founderpletely confirmed this. Most of the ck dragons body was still hidden under the piles of money. However, there was enough visible for John to know he was lying on his side and was of the ssical, European variety. If there was an oddity, then it came from the way the talons of his front legs were formed.
They were unmistakably dragon ws, the talons, scales and overall shape left no doubt about that, but the five fingered hands were oddly simr to human ones. Odd was also that, for a higher dragon, this specimen was rather small. Of course, Nathalias size was unfair topare to, but even next to Tilgun, this one would have seemed rather insignificant in sheer length. He couldnt have been more than thirty metres, tail included.
With another tired motion, Dramar raised one of his hands and snapped a finger. A tear suddenly opened in the space above his hand and arge metal keg fell out. Like handling an oversized soda can, the dragon opened the keg with the index w of his other hand and then poured the contents into his maw. A refreshed sighter, he put the keg aside and looked down to his visitors.
Hello, John Newman, the founder of the Abyss Auction said and then reared his head over to the rest of the harem. To you all as well. You will have to excuse me if I spare myself the trouble of saying all of your names. Except you, Queen Lydia. Your presence is slightly unwee, if I may be so direct. I had nned to get into contact with you on another day and over different matters.
Is that a demand for me to remove myself from this space? Lydia wanted to know.
I will leave that up to your lover. In other words, you can stay, Dramar remarked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. You may verify my identity through Observe, President Newman, I do not mind.
Given such a direct invitation, the Gamer cast the spell.
Alright, you are either the real deal or you are extremely adept at anti-information spells, John remarked once he had closed the window again. Your description has you marked down as extremely greedy that confuses me a bit, to be honest.
Howe? Dramar inquired.
I wouldnt expect a dragon so greedy he is called the greediest dragon to start trading his very own hoard, John borated.
Ah yes, that was a hard decision back in the day, Dramar admitted. It took me a few years to properly figure out markets. Eventually, however, I realized that I would continue to get more and more money as long as the funds kept flowing and more value was generated. His tail swept at a nearby hill of dor bills and caused them to fly through the air. That was the theory anyway, he grumbled. It functioned all fine and well, I built a fluid hoard that isrger than anything the rest of my species could ever think of with their stable ones. Then you people had to ruin everything.
What went wrong with it? John wanted to know. As far as he could see, that strategy had worked out wonderfully. Dramar had a hoard that was near impossible to ess without his permission and it was filled to the brim with cash.
Letting out a few wordless grumbles, Dramar caught one of the many notes in the air and brought it down for John to look at. Whats the value of this? he asked.
John inspected the single piece of cash. It was a Romanian Leu. Not a particrly important currency, all things considered. Whatever you can buy with it, I suppose, the Gamer answered, genuinely not sure what the dragon expected the answer to be.
Sighing, Dramar waved the note around a bit more around Johns face. What is the exchange of this for dors? he asked.
About 4 to 1, if I remember correctly, John responded.
Dramar nodded and let go of the Leu. He then picked up a dor. Whats the value of this?
Whatever you can buy with it, John repeated his first answer.
Exactly, Dramar responded in an annoyed tone. Whatever I can buy with it. What a joke. He disposed of the dor with a mindless throwing motion. You have to be aware of the story of modern money, right?
Abyssal or mundane? John asked for it to be rified. Because I actually know fairly little about the Abyssal side of things. I just epted that US dors are the currency of the Abyss.
Same, Rave echoed.
I have never found aprehensive gathering of reasons myself, Lydia added.
The reason is, Dramar said slowly, that I wanted it. Look. What is the value of this? he asked and pulled a gold bar from somewhere underneath him.
John had a slight idea where this was going now. Gold is a valuable material in and of itself, especially in modern times. Fundamentally, its worth what people pay for it, but it can also be further used to make jewellery or in certain technical equipment.
You forgot to mention that its pleasingly shiny, Dramar pointed out, but its a good enough answer. He put the gold bar down in front of John and then put a dor and some third currency next to it. For the longest time, every major currency on earth was made up of rare metals, the ck dragon stated, tapping on the gold with enough delicacy that no scratch was left on the bar. Then, people decided to use paper as a stand-in for the rare metal because it was easier to transport. He tapped on the two currencies. Brilliant idea. Superb idea. Made everything easier. Also made for a way morefortable bathing experience. Gold isnt exactly a breathable material. THEN, his voice rose to a roar, but calmed again quickly, then, most of you people decided to just print away and said that your currency would be exchanged for the US dor. Dramar took the third currency away from the gold bar and ced it so the dor was between the other two pieces of the visual metaphor. Paper had the value of paper which could be exchanged for gold.
This is when you pushed for the dor to be the Abyssal main currency, John guessed, looking at things. Since you are the heart of the worlds economic superpower, you would have had the influence to do so.
Yes, the only way to keep all of the paper in my hoard to trante into anything meaningful was to concentrate on the currency that still based its value on something shiny. BUT THEN, the dragon now shouted openly, the membranes between his horns stretching and turning into a bright red, YOU DECIDED TO DO THIS! He picked up the gold bar and ced it back in his hoard, leaving the floor in front of John to only hold two pieces of currency. NOW PAPER IS WORTH PAPER. WHAT WERE YOU PEOPLE THINKING?! Greatly upset, the founder of the Abyss Auction took two handfuls of cash out of his hoard and dramatically shook his closed fists, as millions of dors were tossed into the air. NONE OF THIS IS WORTH ANYTHING!
To be fair, its still worth what people let you buy for it, John tried to calm the ck dragon down. He only got a mocking harrumph in response.
I tried telling myself that. It worked at first. Nowadays, not so much. Dramarid back down on his side, visibly trying to rx. The only reason why this paper is still worth anything is because I keep so much of it here, out of the open market. Should I ever decide to do so, me putting my money to use would immediately cause hyperintion. The only reason your money out there has a sensible worth is because my money in here doesnt. I cant use it. The voice and body of the founder were rxed, but his tail still moved about in an agitated fashion and the red, even if less bright, was still present in the membranes. I am the richest being in existence and I might as well be surrounded by air.
Gaia almighty, that sounds horrible, Scarlett whispered with genuine terror in her voice.
John understood the sentiment, even if he didnt feel that strongly about it. And you think I can fix that issue? the Gamer asked. Several ideas of how went through his head, but Dramar made it immediately obvious which one he wanted to talk about.
Indeed. How would you like creating a new currency? the ck dragon asked.
Chapter 869 – The Centre of Currency
Chapter 869 C The Centre of Currency
John thought about that question for several seconds, rubbing his chin. Evidently offended by his hesitation, Scarlett poked him in the ribs with her elbow. Do I need to remind you of the kind of power being the currency controller offers? she asked with bared greed. She knew perfectly well that she could y him to get herself into the drivers seat of this. While he continued to think, Scarlett turned to Dramar. Without having known you previously, big fan of your work.
I respect the cut of your jib, Scarlett Thorne, the ck dragon responded, casually dropping the technomancers realst name. That he had managed to discover that information didnt surprise John (or anyone else in the room) in the slightest. If there was someone who could rival the Horned Rats information gathering capabilities, it would be the being who controlled the central information exchange hub. There must have been a reason why the only thing aside from currency and metals around were books. Had you joined the Abyss Auction, you would have been a valuable asset.
You could have recruited me, Scarlett suggested.
The thought did ur, but your situation never got desperate enough. I do not employ for anything but life. Dramar lowered his head. Mypany is an extension of my hoard. Surely you understand that I do not depart willingly with anything that is of value.
Why me? John asked, stepping out of his thoughts to get more information before he agreed to anything. There must be other people you can turn to in order to get this done. Sure, Fusion is getting more influential by the day, but if you wanted to enforce a global change, picking one of the Divided Gates as your partner would be more helpful, surely.
The Divided Gates, let me just count them all. Dramar counted them all on one hand, The Blood of the Proletariat, thankfully discontinued and shattered, who would have loved to seize all of my assets when they could have. The Purest Front, who would want to do the same just for nationalistic reasons. Odins Sons, who are too distracted with their worship and battles to get anything economical done. The Mandate of Heaven and their attack dog the Dangun n, both of which are so knee-deep in bureaucracy that convincing their leaders would be the mere preamble to a decade long process to get the project actually underway. Having reached the number of fingers on his hand, Dramar made a fist and went through the counting motions a second time.
The Great Sultanate puts such high tariffs on everything that I would loathe to give them any of my time. Rex Germaniae is under Romuluss sway and the Sons of Rome are much too conservative to agree to such a sweeping reform. That aside, their bureaucracy is only slightly more sufferable than the Mandate of Heavens, provided Romulus would even agree. Which isnt too likely, me and the Apex have a terrible rtionship. He paused for a second, then finished off with thest two entries. Prometheus might be an idea, but they are badly situated when ites to making a new currency based on actual value. Frankly speaking, they do not have control over enoughnd to get the metal to mint enough coins. Last and least is the Illuminati. I am sure I dont need to exin why I dont want the Horned Rats ws directly involved with my money supply. Hell meddle enough with things without me inviting him to.
Thats fair enough, John just nodded along with the exnation. Still, sounds as if you were better off trying with Prometheus or the Odins Sons than an ascending butrgely underdeveloped guild in America.
An ascending, underdeveloped guild with a capital that can provide endless amounts of metal, Dramar added a very important bit. Currencies were eventually decoupled from rare metals because there werent enough rare metals to cover currency demands. This will not be an issue with you, the ck dragon pointed at John, you have the ultimate value insurance. You bing the centre of a new currency means I dont have to deal with any of this again until youre dead. Which is good, because I have a lot of more interesting things to do.
The Gamer nodded. That was a reason he could understand. The Mine was unique on the entire earth, creating metals on the daily that otherwise had to be artificially created or harvested from semi-reliably spawning Natural Barriers. Same went for the other production Buildings, but the founder of the Abyss Auction was evidently focused on things that glittered. Still, he wasnt willing to just take this gift horse yet.
Sighing, Dramar continued in his exnation, It certainly helps that you are predictable. You have the potential to rival Romulus and are a schemer at heart. Youre also thoroughly human. I know what you want. You want to be written favourably of in the history books and you want your people to flourish. You want those who you love to be safe. This is why I can work with you and not with the Horned Rat. Nobody knows what that creature really wants.
So, to summarize, John ordered his thoughts, you chose to work with Fusion over every other organization in the world because of the drawbacks they have. Fusions bureaucracy is new and efficient. The Guild Hall guarantees you that this currency would always have material value and Im a controble element. Do I get that about right?
That would be the gist of it, yes, Dramar agreed.
John considered these things very carefully. Doubtlessly, Scarlett was right that being the centre of the new world currency was an absurdly powerful boon that was just dropped into hisp. Control over this currency would be limited, he couldnt devalue it in a hurry if he ever needed a quick cash injection. Doing so would have, without a doubt, pissed of this partner he was currently gaining himself. An agreement with the practical monopolypany to make sure this currency did get into use also had the drawback that he would tie his economy closer to the Abyss Auction than he liked.
Getting closer to the NTC, the fostering of international trade rtions and the building of Fusions own merchant fleet, they were all in service of not bing overly dependent on this dominating force ofmerce. He had national security and moral reasons to want this decoupling from this overbearing force.
However, because the Abyss Auction was so overbearingly wealthy there was no evading them anyway. Even with the drawbacks, limited control over the new worldwide currency was certainly better than paddling along with the USD. There was absolutely nothing he could do to exert influence over it and the revtion that Dramar could tank the value of it at any given moment didnt raise his confidence into the future of the currency.
I must consider a few things, mind if I take some time? he asked.
Sure, can I expect you before the end of the week? Dramar wanted to know. I seriously want to get out of home office. What do I have all of these extra bodies for if I dont use them?
Just a few minutes will do, John assured. I need to go through a few scenarios.
With a pleased hum, Dramar answered, Certainly, I will just take care of another matter in the meantime. The head of the dragon reared to the right and towards Lydia. Unless you mind that I discuss my matter in front of your friends C or whatever you want to call them.
Lydia raised an eyebrow. Given the world-adjusting discussion I am currently allowed to witness in spite of my own position, I do not mind those I trust to be privy to the topic you have in mind.
This currency thing isnt exactly a thing of secrecy. Not that I would try to keep it from you even if it were, Dramar rified that particr point, while changing his position slightly on his bed of gold and copper. I know humans well enough that he would tell you about this as soon as he could. Regardless, the matter I want to discuss with you is of lower importance. I have been told you do not mind the actions of my subordinate during the tournament for the crown?
I do not, Lydia responded. Even if I did, I would withhold my grudges in an interest to not ruin the life of my friends mother.
Yes, hello, Rave waved with a cheeky expression on her face.
Ah, I suppose such a familiar connection would change things. Dramar mustered the Lightbearer. Albeit the kind of rtion you disyed could easily motivate you to be especially vengeful, could it not? Would it perhaps better the Auctions standing with Fusion if I were to discard Nariko? The ck dragon tilted his head. Not that I am going to C I am just interested in your answer.
I mean, currently no, the Gamers pink-haired girlfriend answered. Give it a few months, maybe shell annoy me so much again that Id like that. Kinda dont want her to be unable to pay her tribute to the Koreans and stuff though. I do want to check out that n home we supposedly have.
Humans and family are the one bond I took the longest to understand. Dramar blew out an amused puff of smoke from his nostrils. As a being born of magic myself, I never really had such a thing. To the topic, I will fully reinstate Nariko then. Her abrasive personality is too useful a tool to not wield in negotiations. With that matter resolved, the founder of the Abyss Auction seemed happy to just wait for John.
Rave did kill the little bit more time he needed to present a question, Mind if I ask why ya werementing on the arena fights?
A mixture of entertainment, talent scouting and direct supervision of her suggested action, Dramar said. Not that she was aware who I was. She doesnt even know that I exist. The fewest even inside the Abyss Auction do. With a wave of his right w, the ck dragon added, If you ever want something to tease your mother with, you could hold it over her head that you know her ultimate boss while she doesnt. As long as you do not give her concrete answers, I do not mind.
Snickering, Rave admitted that she would do exactly that in the future. Next to her, John was rubbing his chin anding to the end of his various thoughts. He had simted a couple of things that could go wrong and what he would do if they happened. Not a single likely scenario he hade to had presented him with a reason to disregard the offer. The more he thought about it, the more he liked this new currency idea himself.
Aside from all of the things Dramar had said, John personally would have liked if his budget sheets had a few less zeros attached to them, purely for ease of filing. Controlling the money supply, or at least being the primary minter of coins, would also give Fusion simple ways to increase their power by going the same route as the mundane USA had gone during World War I. Just lending out money and pulling interest back from all over the world would increase their avable funds rapidly.
For all of the practical benefits, John still had a few moral dilemmas to work through. As much as I want to, I cannot agree to working closely with the Abyss Auction. Not unless I get a few concessions, he announced.
From amused, Dramars mood swung into something different. John first read the raised w and pulled back head to be annoyance, until the ck dragon scratched his chin with something that was obviously boredom. Even though a giant, winged lizard was a bit harder to read than a human (for John, that was), the Gamer was pretty sure he got that emotion right.
I guess this is about very, Dramar put out there. You feel qualms about working with a tform that sells people, is that it?
That would be my singlergest contention, yes. John nodded, not surprised Dramar had prepared for this point to be raised. Given how prevalent the anti-very agenda was in Collide and Fusions expansion, that was the predictable thing for the Gamer to object to.
If you agree, consider the people trading removed, Dramar stated.
Just like that? John wanted to know. Now he actually was surprised.
Its a dying market anyway, the ck dragon yawned. The w that had scratched his chin turned to catch another metal keg that dropped out of thin air. ves have be increasingly less popr. The European powers ouwed them over the past hundred years, the East Asians still havent formally forbidden them, but nobody buys them anyway. There are some small markets all across the rest of the world, but only the Great Sultanate and the Purest Front do still engage in the practice in arge fashion and I dont like either of these organizations. Dramar opened the keg and drank some of the contents. Now that youre taking America out of the market, its experiencing a pretty rapid decline in supply. The profits I can still get out of that are negligiblepared to having a hoard thats worth something again.
John would have been happier if Dramar had agreed for moral rather than pragmatic reasons. Given what position the ck dragon held and what he was, assuming he would have the same morals as modern day humans would have been asking for a bit much, however.
You do understand though that, whether or not I have that segment of the Abyss Auction taken down, the ve trade will not be eliminated? Dramar asked. The Abyss Auction is a middle man. We produce a lot of things ourselves, but in the ve trade we arent anything more than a transport service.
It will make things harder for these people. Thats a good start, John answered. I would also like to take down all products that were created by vebour.
That I cannot do, Dramar responded. Again, the Abyss Auction is a service between buyer and seller. It is easy to say and enforce that we no longer facilitate the trading of people. The Abyss Auction does not and cannot check on the origin of every item put on its marketce. It would cost a lot of money to do and would lose me a lot of money in the process. Do you have any idea how annoyed people get if they are unnecessarily checked at every juncture? I would lose my monopoly in less than fifteen years. Thepetition wouldnt mind and you wouldnt have gained anything.
John sighed, knowing all of that was true. Can you promise that the Abyss Auctions own production wonte out of forcedbour at least?
We dont currently and I dont n to change that. Personally, I have found ves to create things of subpar quality, Dramar responded. Is that all?
Fundamentally, yes, John nodded. If he could get these things guaranteed, then more general good woulde out of the deal than his own enrichment. That he managed to hit the very business while enriching Fusion was a godsend.
They then went on to talk about the details of their new currency.
Chapter 870 – Plans for currency transition
Chapter 870 C ns for currency transition
The nning of the currency took about two hours, during which the majority of the girls decided to go home and get some more interesting stuff done. Only Lydia and Scarlett stuck through all of the nning process. The former agreed to be an early adopter of the currency as a simple point of realism. Lydia knew that something mary being pushed by the Abyss Auction was inevitable. Scarlett stuck around because she didnt want John to screw this up.
The currency would take three shapes. As the rarest one, there would be coins minted from various metals. Copper, iron and gold coins would be the most basic ones in cirction. Above that were magical metals that were roughly equivalent in value. Those would alsoe in the shape of a coin and be minted with the same appearance to counteract the colour confusion, stemming from being made from different elemental metals and alloys.
More regr in cirction would be the paper notes. They could be exchanged at Fusion outposts for an amount of metal equivalent to their value and that promise was going to be printed on every single of those notes. The paper currency was a contract between the person holding the note and the government, essentially.
Thirdly, there was the number. Because this was the modern age, people preferred to pay via electronic (or even magical) means. It trumped both paper and coins in convenience by a mile. There was quite a bit of delicacy attached to this process, courtesy of the question of fractional reserve banking.
There were two fundamental jobs banks had, even inside Fusion. One was to hold money. The other was to lend money. The two were essentially linked. Banks, at least at the core of their design, did not have money themselves. They had the money of people storing theirs. Since sitting money was bad for the economy, someone at some point had the brilliant idea to lend it out at interest. Part of the interest trickled down to the people who saved their money at the bank, part of it was used to maintain the bank structure and the loan was used to keep businesses with a steady offer of cash to expand or be founded with.
Of course, that practice had a couple of weaknesses, the most obvious one being when everyone suddenly decided to pull their money out of the bank. Because the bank had lent out part of the money, they couldnt give it to the people that actually owned it. At that point, trust was broken, the bank would copse and a bunch of savers would suddenly see their entire finances vanish C through no fault of their own. Because the reward for keeping that money in motion was sorge, basically every country in the world was happy to take the risk of the asional copse.
From there, someone had an even brighter idea. If the recession and depression were virtually guaranteed to happen at some point, why not maximize the reward in between? Allowing banks to loan out even more money would certainly do so? How could banks give out even more money? Obviously, they couldnt be allowed to just make more money up, that was the governments privilege. There had to be at least some base guarantee. A guarantee that could then be multiplied.
That logicy at the root of fractional reserve banking. A bank was obligated by the state to keep to a reserve requirement. In the case of a reserve requirement of 10%, if a bank held 10$, they could lend out 100$. There were numerous more checks and bnces involving central banks and legition that came to make sure that idea didnt get too out of hand (as long as everyone actually did what they were supposed to).
All of this was an enormous simplification of what was often a massive spider web of transaction and reserves. Currently, Fusions policy was to keep things very simple and easily controble. There was a central bank in the Hudson Barrier and state banks. Private banks could open up wherever and could lend at whatever margins they wanted. However, they could only lend the money of people who had contractually agreed for their money to be lent out. Those who only wanted the bank to hold their money had to pay a sort of subscription fee for the numerous transaction services. Paying money to a bank sounded a bit unorthodox to John, but those people had their savings guaranteed so it made sense. Banks were still a business themselves.
Those who agreed for their money to be lent had the advantage of free services and part of interest flowing into their own funds. The typical bank experience. However, if the bank ever copsed or quit, their assets would all vanish along with it. It was the agreed-on risk.
John was happy with the current model, consenting economics were pretty important to him, but that wasnt to say he may not want to change things in the future. Every stance towards banks and what they were allowed to do carried with it numerous drawbacks and advantages. At the moment, he was going for stable growth, but maybe there would be a time in Fusions future where flooding the market with capital was necessary. Scarlett was constantly nagging he should let these things go freely anyway.
Dramar demanded that fractional reserve banking be banned in its entirety, alongside debasing the currency. The ck dragon had a very clear motive: keep the value of the money stable. Every bit of paper and every number on his bank ounts the founder of the Abyss Auction held had to trante to the maximum number of valuables possible. If you want to mint more coins, mine more metal, was the logic.
With the Mine being what it was, it wasntpletely ludicrous logic. Regardless, John wanted the wiggle room. There were economic situations he might need to react to and deliberately limiting Fusion wouldnt serve him. He and Dramar eventually came to the consensus that John was allowed to debase his currency in emergency situations, as long as he fixed the imbnce between money in cirction and metal backing it up as quickly as he could. Failure to do so would lead the ck dragon to crash his markets in a fashion that would do more damage than some currency mismanagement ever could.
In terms of fractional reserve banking, he had to relent and promise he would never let them do more than 50%. That gave him a bit of wiggle room to get that currency debasing out there. Best was if he would never need it.
With those basics agreed on, they had to discuss the actual transition phases.
Step 1 was to get Fusions parliament to agree to this n. John hoped that this would be rtively easy. The conservative forces in his government would surely approve of numbers that were easier to handle than having to think about every operation in the billions. More nationalistic leaning parties would be happy to have something that set Fusion apart from the world. Libertarian people might dislike this move away from the current global currency, because itplicated trade in the short-term. Them and the anarchists could surely agree that it was better to have money that had a tangible worth by itself, however.
The regtions that John had agreed to would be a bit harder to maintain throughout the entire voting process of the economy act. A few greased wheels and stating that he had the backing of the Abyss Auction for this entire thing should allow it to function. In the case that it didnt, John would just have to gather everything that was brought up as counterarguments, work to solve the problems and present the n again. Not that he could even suggest it. He would have to get the Centralists party to do it for him.
Having a section of the government that was loyal to him before Fusion may not have been the intended design of the system, but right there it saved him. Perhaps I should have been a bit less principled and built a backdoor in for myself to suggestws without going the extra mile. John considered the mistakes of the past. His aspiration of limiting his own influence had been noble, at least he thought so. Didnt change the fact that it could get in the way of him taking decisive action.
Step 2 of the transition n was to actually make the currency. ns were all nice and dandy, but designing the mints, making the casts, putting production facilities up and control agencies in ce all took time. It would require quite a beefy and effective data gathering apparatus to know how much currency was in cirction and how much metal they needed to stockpile to guarantee the value of all of it. With Dramar in their neck, applying fractional reserve logic to themselves just wouldnt fly.
Step 3 was to promote the currency. This was finally where the Abyss Auction stepped onto the stage. They would make it a secondary option to pay with the Fusion currency rather than dors. Eventually products exported from Fusion would have the dor as the secondary option. All the while, people inside Fusion would be promoted to buy foreign goods with the metal coins through Abyss Auction backed discounts. That would put the first wave of the currency into the wider world. People would be kept fromining through the Abyss Auction offering to buy the coins for dors, as well as shipping them around free of charge.
Step 4 would kick in once the coins were widely distributed and epted. People around the globe had to trust that Fusion had the metal to back its new currency. Once they did, they would be encouraged to switch to the paper and digital versions of it to, effectively, establish pre-coin Abyss Auction function. The hook would be constant reminders on the site that the dor had no inherent value, while the Fusion currency could always be exchanged for some amount of work materials. The most valuable Fusion coin was made from Elementium, so people were heavily enticed to put their eggs into this basket.
Step 5 was thest step of the actual transition. The dor would be phased out area by area as appropriate, until the Abyss Auction did all of its default payments through the Fusion currency.
Step 6 did not have to do with the n, but both Dramar and John were perfectly aware that it would happen. Since Fusions currency was based on metals, there was nothing stopping other people from minting their own coins with the same metals for the same value. John did not want this, Dramar did. John had national interests, Dramar wanted more shiny coins in his hoard and didnt exactly care where theye from.
Luckily, Dramar also wanted his paper money to mean something and the rest of the world had no permanently sustainable means of guaranteeing it. That was beside the point that people that werent part Fusion might water down the alloyposition to fake the value of coins. They came to an agreement that the Fusion currency would continuously be disyed as preferred and that Fusion should strike mintage deals with other guilds.
If Rex Germaniae wanted to make its own batch of coins, they were more than wee to. Fusion would send a few people over, test the purity of the metals, make sure they were minted correctly, and then dere them as approved for general usage C all for a small cut. Rex Germaniae got to make themselves a stack of cash, the Abyss Auction knew they were working with the real deal and Fusion got some money for very little work. They all won. Some more than others, but they all won.
Fusion would always be the main supplier of the currency; they were simply best positioned to that end. Where other people wanted to pitch into that supply, that had to be epted and they were best advised to take the role of quality control. Even better would be if they could just buy the metals of the would-be minters in exchange for the paper currency. That would be a zero for Fusion in terms of money, but they would keep a greater amount of control. Larger guilds were unlikely to y along with something like that unless they needed the money really quickly.
There were many other things that this transition would put into motion. Rival currencies would rise between step 2 and 6, without a doubt. Keeping Dramar on his side during that stretch would be vital to Fusions money to be the one that became the global currency. All of this may have been the ck dragons suggestion, but once the ball was rolling and the new currencies all followed the principle of anchored value, there was no reason for the founder of the Abyss Auction to shackle himself to John. Only honour and practicality would keep the businesslizard on the Gamers side and he had a feeling Dramar had a lot more of one than the other.
They were shaking up global trade practices. There were all kinds of chips that could fall.
I think that concludes what we needed to say, John ended the discussion with a happy smile regardless. He had enough faith in this operation to warrant some cautious optimism. If you dont mind, I have to draft some legition and spread it to the right people.
Just one thing, Dramar stopped him. You havent given it a name yet.
Huh, John let out a surprised sound. No I havent
Somehow, that hadnte up in the entire discussion. They had discussed theoreticals and schemes. Giving this currency a name would make it more real than it had warranted throughout all of that. Now that they were certain what they wanted to do and how to go about it, a name was more than appropriate. He thought about it. What was a good name for Fusions new currency?
The jester inside him wanted to call it a Thorn, in reference to Scarlett. That was a rather unfriendly name for a currency, however, and he shouldnt create such an obvious pointer at this secret they were still keeping from the public. Raves may have worked for the colour scheme of the coins, but was also too straightforward and his girlfriend would keepining about it. Haremoney? Odd to pronounce and too specialized again. Something simpler was better. Fusion Coin was too simple. Fused Coin had the same issue. Fusion Dor? Uncreative. Fusion Taler? Forcefully foreign. He continued to think and then the epiphany came. It was obvious. He was the Gamer, there was one name that was doubtlessly appropriate for any game currency.
The Token, he decided.
Chapter 871 – To patch a hole
Chapter 871 C To patch a hole
Feels good when things move smoothly, John thought while he walked out of the Fusion Capitol. In a pleasing disy of administrative efficiency, he had managed to organize an urgent, out-of-schedule meeting of the House of Commons. Despite it being on such short notice, everyone but two of the representatives managed toe in and discuss the Fusion Token Currency Act. It was passed onto the House of Exceptionals with minimal changes, who tended to it on the day directly following. In their case, the regr session was actually pushed back one day to make things line up optimally.
The House of Exceptionals grilled John a lot more on how he expected this to work. Unsurprising, since that setting was a bit more familiar, thanks to the lower headcount and longsting nature of the membership. John said what he could in public. The suddenness of the meetings and subject matter discussed attracted journalists from all across the ce. John noticed a distinct swelling in interest from the global press, made evident by the breadth of ethnicities represented in the watchers area.
Through a mixture of rhetoric and private talks during the breaks, he managed to get the House of Exceptionals to agree to the deal. It helped that they werent fundamentally opposed, they just wanted to know what was going on.
With those two instances cleared, the entire thing was brought to the parliament on Friday, which was the only bit of all of this that was on the regr schedule, and voted in after just an hour of further discussions and thoughts. As John had hoped, there was pretty much universal agreement that a movement towards a currency they controlled and had intrinsic value was better than the mundane dor.
Dramar will like this news. Good proof that he was right in going with me with Fusion as his pick. John tried to not think of the aplishments of his entire organization as his own. Given his position and proclivity for self-aggrandizement, he had both good reason to take a lion share of the credit and try to control himself. I mean, I was the one who wrote that entire twenty page proposal in two hours with Scarletts help and its not like I am going to be the one to mint the coins or even design them. Still, this entire thing is going underway because I agreed to it and the Guild Hall is an extension of my power, so this is really all happening because of me. And Dramar.
While he wrestled with himself about how much credit he could reasonably assign to himself. He noticed that he was being approached. Silently, oddly enough, but not silent enough to forego the Gamers keen senses. Once the person was close enough to grab Johns sleeve, he could already feel the vibrations of the steps on the ground and the vibrations in the air. It may not have been as sharp as Beatrices, but his spatial awareness was still far above even most superhumans.
Since neither of the two maids that were with him reacted to the approaching person, Johns quick mind already knew he was safe no matter what. I dont think I should let myself be seen getting surprised in public, he decided, knowing of all the journalists and politicians still around. Before the person could grab John by the shoulder, the Gamer turned around on his heels. In one smooth motion, he grabbed the hand with his own and began to shake it. Then his eyes registered who he was talking to, and in a friendly tone, he said, Horace! as if all of this waspletely normal.
The House of Exceptionals member had a frozen expression. It appeared the man had tried to get John by surprise. Perhaps it was an attempt of the man to prove to himself that he wasntpletely outssed. Brawny, scarred and at level 70, he had been a big fish in what was now the federal state of the Meltpot. He could have snuck up to whoever he wanted in thend he had previously dominated. John could break his hand if he decided to intensify the grip of their one-sided handshake. Squeezing just a little bit, he reminded Horace that he was supposed to talk as well.
Mister President, the state representative then blurted. Uhm may I have a word?
Of course, the Gamer responded, having half an idea where this was going. Its getting a bit colder these days, but there have been some evergreens installed on sections of the garden. We might as well have a look. Keep untrustworthy people from following us. Journalists, mostly, but House of Commons members and most Exceptionals as well, he sent an order to Aclysia and Beatrice. You know who we can trust.
Of course, Master, Aclysia answered. She and Beatrice followed the two men for a little while, then stopped at the entrance of the gardens.
The nts that covered the terrace of Fusions Capitol had lost much of their green. It was October and the leaves turned to a yellow coat that would soon tumble to the dirt and the stone paths that led through the gardens. An armada of gardeners ran through every day to make sure those that did indeednd on the pathways were swept away as soon as possible. It was a highly controlled environment.
Out of interest, what did you try to aplish there? John asked, once he was sure they werent being followed.
I just wanted to know if I could do it, Horace admitted and hung his head. Not in shame, John knew what shame looked like, more disappointment. The man was getting used to being a smaller fish, but it was clear he had preferred it when he wasnt surrounded by much more powerful people. John couldnt me him. Knowing what it felt like to lose control over his surroundings, he sympathized.
You cant, not if you target me, the Gamer gave it to him straight. Then he tried to build him up again. You are still one of the one hundred most powerful people in this federation. Not necessarily when ites tobat, but when youbine personal might and political influence, you are doubtlessly important. Fusion isnt here to be a hindrance to you, Horace. Its an opportunity to be more than a local warlord.
Right Horace sounded partly convinced, which was good enough for John. With any luck, those words would seep in and make him a truly valuable asset. More likely was that he would be another person that held office, just continuing the system without really harming or contributing to it.
The fragrance of pines enveloped them when they stepped into an area dedicated to these needle-wearing trees. They werent of the regr,rge tree variety. Thergest of those around were the size of Christmas trees, but most were closer to a potted nt. Simr to bonsai, even those small trees looked like the fully grown variant in shape. It was a semi-rare variant that John had imported. Gnome had suggested getting them, having seen them on the Abyss Auction. Together with Undine, she had made sure they settled into their new environment without issue.
John wasnt about to start an exotic collection on top of the roof. A cab of curiosities wasnt what he wanted to take his political strolls through. Beautiful flowers and healthy nts served the image he aimed tomunicate much better. Something like this, which was only somewhat unusual, he epted happily.
What would you have done if you had caught me by surprise, by the way? John asked another question. He wanted to read the scarred man a bit more. To the Gamer, Horace was a representative of a certain ss of people. Those that had done well in the old anarchy, but were hesitatingly epting of the new order.
Why are you asking, Mister President? Horace returned the question with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.
Pure curiosity, John returned. A shallow answer, but not a lie. Youre not in any trouble, I assure you. I swear on my honour.
Horace rxed visibly, which was already a fantastic tell that he thought the Gamers honour was worth something. Raising his hand to his neck, the member of the Exceptionals fixed his tie. I would have done nothing. I just wanted to know if I could do it. Thats really all there is to it.
Interesting. John made a mental note and then swerved the conversation over to the proper topic. So, you have a report for me regarding the task I set you to?
Yes, Horace answered firmly. With hisposure regained and John showing himself forgiving, their conversation was now running along smoothly. It took me a while, but I managed to arrange a meeting.
Already? The Gamer was genuinely pleased with that news. Today just keeps on giving. A month ago, he had asked for Horace to organize a get-together of the people controlling the area between Florida and the rest of Fusion. All of the small fries that were yet to be conquered and John wanted to give the choice to make this easier on everyone before he sent in Metra along other army elements.
Since Horace had contacts among those small guild leaders, he had been the logical person to put to the task. Given how little sess John had had in the task in organizing any grand meetings, he had expected this to take until the next year at least. He would have been happy to concentrate on internal development and dealing with the remaining organized societies around him in the meantime. Now that he was given the opportunity, he would be happy to get it out of his way earlier.
Horace smiled, evidently happy to have managed to surprise John in at least one way. Yes. I had to call in some favours and make some threats, but it worked out. Every major yer in the region has agreed toe to this meeting on some conditions.
I expected as much. I guess they want me toe alone? John asked.
Not exactly, Horace said carefully, as if he was about to upset John, just without Metra.
That makes sense, John nodded, anything else?
You arent bothered by this? Horace wondered.
Not really, no. John raised an eyebrow. What? I might be possessive and protective when ites to my girls, but Im not unreasonable. Metra was the blunt tool that I sent into the area to break resistance. That people would expect me to keep her from attending a meeting thats supposed to be peaceful can be expected, really. He extended his hand and brushed over the sturdy needles of a nearby tree. She wouldnt think it particrly fun anyway. Lovable berserker that she is.
Horace grumbled something that sounded vaguely insulting and stopped immediately when John looked in his direction. The tension was back. John realized that it was his fault this time. He was staring a bit too intently. There was no hostile intent on his part, but Horace was still oversensitive to stepping on the Gamers toes.
Anything else? John repeated in a calm tone.
They demand that you show respect when you arrive at the meeting, otherwise they will walk right on out of there, Horace continued.
They demand respect, is it? John hummed. I will oblige them, I suppose. The strong do what they can while the weak suffer what they must. Something more? He saw it in Horaces eyes.
While they are fine with you bringing everyone but Metra, they want only you in the negotiation room.
That so tell me, is there anyone among them that would have the power to challenge me? the Gamer wanted to know.
Not to my knowledge, no. Horace shook his head. If there was, I dont think we all would have been left to our own devices. The bnce of power in the region was only disrupted when you took an interest in it.
Then that is eptable as well. John nodded, while nning a few precautionary measures. The teleports of his familiars were currently off cooldown, so he could conceivably walk into a trap and it would only cost him his mana and some HP to defend himself. Because of Gamers Body, he could walk into the proverbial fire ande out intact. Unless it was hellfire. When is that meeting?
If I get back to them right now, I could set it up for tomorrow, Horace promised.
Do that then No, actually, John decided differently, set it up for Monday. I want to have a rxed weekend and I need to organize other things. And I dont want to give them too much respect, he thought. They holdnd without any natural resources and are in my sphere of influence. No need to rush things and seem overeager to meet them.
Monday then, Horace agreed, once he was certain John wouldnt change his mind again. Ill let you know time and ce as soon as possible.
Do that. Good job, Horace, the Gamerplimented and pat the older man on the shoulder.
Their positions were clear.
Chapter 872 – To the meeting
Chapter 872 C To the meeting
The weekend came and went without unexpected developments. Monday noon, the Gamer, along with a fair number of his girls, teleported to the White House. From there, they went to another part of town where John had rented a ce to store his cars at. It was a sizable garage filled with automobiles of the regr and magical variety. He shared the building with a couple other people of influence, Magoi, Chemilia and Ted to name a few, to have a convenient ce to keep their cars away from mundane eyes. It was a recently founded service that had sought out John and he was happy with it so far. Aside from providing a parking space, they also kept the cars clean and had emergency mechanics on hand. In return, they got a sizable bit of rent.
John needed all of that, since his car collection had only grown. He owned a duplicate of almost every kind of vehicle, from trucks to bubble cars, one of which he kept here in DC and the other around the mundane side of New York. The only thing he did not have two of was the vehicle they stepped towards right now.
From the outside, it was one beast of a bus. It was several metres tall and more than twice as long as a regr car. That still put it on the shorter side as far as buses were concerned, a deliberate decision. The longer the bus, the harder it would be to manoeuvre through inner city roads, with or without a flexible middle segment. As it currently was, the rectangr vehicle still managed to drive on four wheels. Low bridges would be more of a concern than intersections.
The entire thing was of a sleek design. Sturdy, dark blue coverings, massive wheels of thick rubber, ck painted bits of the barely visible chassis and darkened windows allbined for the feeling of a real celebrity vehicle. For all of its elegant design and rounded corners, the bus sadly couldntpletely shake off the feeling of a bread bin. The amount of extra that would have been needed to introduce to the outside to destroy that impression would have made it unfit for the road.
Beatrice, youre driving, the Gamer decided, while pulling the key to that truck out of his inventory. It was more of a remote with a metal stick attached than an actual key. A single press and the two doors of the bus unlocked, both at the right side of the bus, one at the drivers cabin and one towards the back. There was also a hatch at the side for a store room used for backpacks and the like, but none of them had anything to put in there.
To get inside faster, they separated into two groups. John, Aclysia, Beatrice, Nia and Rave went in through the front, Gnome, Undine, Smander, Siena and Sylph through the back. Leading the way, John walked up the staircase that brought him to the drivers seat. There was a single passenger seat next to it, existing purely so the driver could get somepany. The drivers cabin was equipped with all sorts of goodies and technical equipment forfort, driving security and adjusting the living conditions inside the actual truck. All of the buttons were smoothly integrated into the stic coverings. Faux wood broke up the monotony of simple ck.
Beatrice took the key from John and sat down on the drivers seat. John was momentarily enamoured with the way her fat ass spilled on the leather, then he managed to be instead enticed by the butt of Aclysia as she walked past him and into the living area of the custom-built bus. Both of them were wearing tight pants, making the disys just so mouth watering.
Aclysia will rece you after the first hour, John informed her.
Statement: I am anticipating my turn to be fucked, Beatrice bluntly responded while she adjusted the seat to fit her perfectly.
The drivers cabin was separated from the inside of the truck by a door. It led into a mundanelyrge mobile home area. There was a table, a small kitchen, a sofa, and a staircase that led up to the second story, all crammed together into the size of the truck alongside a bedroom, a bathroom and other necessary bits. All of it was luxurious and spacious enough that John felt he could have lived in this bus without any issues. Regardless, it wasnt the true extent of space avable. It was the mana free front if they should ever be inspected for whatever reason.
On the opposite side of the wall, technically behind Beatrice, was a control panel. There were the usual buttons for heat control, airflow and the like. One button, enchanted to be invisible to mundane eyes, depicted an expanding square. John pressed it and then walked away. The room they were in didnt change; it would have eliminated the reason to have a front if it changed into what they needed to hide. Instead, they headed upstairs.
They had to go through another door at the top of the staircase. Folded spaces were more mana efficient the better they were sealed off from the outside world. More than five timesrger than it should have been, the apartment they then entered into had another kitchen, couch, bedroom and everything they could have wanted, just without the cramped feeling.
Arge mana generator was set inside one of the walls, clearly visible from any position of the room. A blue LED bar next to it indicated how well-charged the car was. An industry grade mana battery was used to fuel both the dimensional folding and the engine. Albeit the bus waspletely able to run on gas as well, mana was just more convenient. It was necessary to keep the Mobile Barrier running as well.
The disy had them down to theirst third, so John strolled over and offered some of his mana to be absorbed. He had to just let the machine take what it needed, rather than actively pouring himself. Doing so could have busted the entire thing, due to the absurd amount of magical energy he had.
Most of the girls spread through the room, inspecting things. The furniture of the room was generally of some variety of stic or other light material. At the same time, everything that could be bolted in ce was. The idea behind those design decisions was to minimize the harm that coulde from a crash. A broken off piece of steel propelled to the speed of a car was something that could harm even the superhumans inside the car, as they currently were. That aside, it would just be a mess to clean up everything if they ever needed to apply the emergency brakes.
Im going to chat with Beatrice, Undine announced, currently in her gothic beauty shape, and turned to walk back down the stairs.
Ya mean youre going to friendly silence at each other, Rave joked.
She didnt get a response. Not from Undine, anyway. Silence isnt a word you just verbify like that, John needed to point out.
It is now.
Pretty sure you dont control the Englishnguage.
Pretty sure Im the girlfriend of the guy conquering thergest English-speaking area in the world, Rave returned. Maybe Ill just be the patron of the Fusion Dictionary and insist that they add silence as amon verb, hmmm?
Maybe you will, but you havent yet, John scolded her and gave her a nice smack on the ass. She was practically inviting him to, currently bent forwards to slide out of her pants.
Nia walked past them, already nude, and opened the fridge. Its fully stocked, she said, managing to deliver a sliver of her amazement at that fact through her voice. Pulling out something, she inspected the food item a bit more closely. Military rations?
As much as I would like to, I do not have the time to check the food in the bus every week, Aclysia answered, the ck draining from her hair as she discarded her mundane disguise. The elemental girls followed her example. As such, I stocked it with items that couldst for several years.
Thats because youre a smart girl, Johnplimented the weaponized maid, who received a headpat soon thereafter. The best, even.
Thank you, Master, she purred, while leaning into the motion. She continued to do so until her head rested on his shoulder. Do you desire me?
Of course I do, John said, now the only person in the room still wearing clothing. Lets sit down and cuddle a bit first though.
Also lets turn the thermostat up, Rave begged, distracting her boyfriend before he could get to the couch. Im freezing. Proof. She pointed at her hard nipples.
Cum, Johnmanded her. Raising an eyebrow, his girlfriend remained un-moaning. Just testing that you arent just horny, like usual, he teased.
If I was horny, Id be all over your dick already, tiger. She winked and wiggled her hips. She was turned towards him, but the shifting of her midriff and breasts was almost as attractive as seeing her butt jiggle anyway. Not like ya can resist me.
I totally can, John responded.
Oh really? she slurred and walked over. Already, he felt the confinement of his pants a bit tighter. Putting a hand on his chest and leaning against him, Rave made big eyes and gasped, John, I love you. His cock twitched, against his best attempt at putting his willpower against it. Youre all I will ever need. Every bit of me is aching for you. Please, just let me kiss you! She stretched up, her hands travelling downwards. John was ready to meet her sultry, pink lips halfway. Then his hard-on was grabbed. AHA! she triumphantly dered and pulled back.
Oy! he protested. No denying me kisses!
Too bad, I win, I get to dictate the rules, Rave cheekily responded, swinging her hips even more when she turned around and made her way to the thermostat. I say we pull things up to thirty degrees. Winter sucks.
Its fall, John drily pointed out.
There are only three seasons, silly, Rave said and counted on her hands. First, there is winter, which sucks and is cold and rainy and snowy. She extended her index finger. Her thumb followed directly after. B, there is pre-summer, which is a bit better but still not hot enough. She pulled the index finger in again and turned her hand into a thumbs-up. Finally, there is summer, which is the only good time of the year.
John had nothing to respond and was distracted by Siena suddenly pressing against his left side anyway. If you want a kiss, I can fill the part. Her seductively smooth voice reignited his horniness and happily he pulled towards her. Full lips parted to reveal dangerous fangs. I love you too. She held onto his arm and pressed her boobs against his shoulder. Youre too attractive and too powerful to bepared to any other man their lips were almost touching, daddy.
John pulled back, his boner sessfully weakened and a giggling Siena dancing away from him. What is this poison youre trying to inject into my mind?! he roared. Around him, a steady buzzing began to shake the room. The bus had finally started moving. Seriously, where did my harem of willing sex ves go? All of you were lets suck masters cockst time we had sex in a car! Can we go back to that?
Raves response was tough along with Siena; Sylph and Smander joined in as well. Grumbling, John decided to stay with the good girls for now and settled on the couch with Aclysia and Gnome. I would never deny you kisses, Master, the weaponized maid whispered before he imed her lips. That was a little bit of relief, at least.
I-I honestly thought it was kind of funny, Gnome let her thoughts be known, even as she offered herself for kisses with barely hidden want.
I, too, enjoy the asional toying with Master, Aclysia added, while Johns tongue wrestled with that of the autumn elemental. Admittedly, I would rarely do so myself. Serving you is my ultimate happiness.
Ya fucking know he likes it. Smander grinned, walking towards the couch and giving John something new to apply his lips to by bowing forwards. Her massive tits dangled in front of him. There was so much plot to put his face into.
I absholutehly hate it, his muffled voice rang out from inside of her cleavage. He was pulled in deeper by Smander, who ran her fingers through his hair. She radiated heat, elerating the process of warming up the room to the Rave-approved levels.
Sure you do, stud. She grinned, showing her own fangs.
John was distantly aware of another pair of hands, Nia judging by the calm movements of the slender fingers, opening the zipper of his pants. Momentster, his erection was deep inside her throat. And here I wanted to take it slow, but no, surrounded by total nymphomaniacs, he sarcasticallyined inside his mind. He managed to get his face out of Smanders boobs for long enough. Aclysia, could you be a dear and prepare some food? Well be on the road for a while.
At once, Master, the weaponized maid diligently responded, but inched away with a bit of a pout on her face.
Aclysia, prepare us some food, John repeated, this time as amand. If Im happy with you, I will give you a reward.
dly, Master, she responded with more enthusiasm. Her body was already flushing due to the effect his orders had on her and the anticipation of the reward. Although she could have sex with him whenever they both wanted, which was all the time, she was still easily pleased by framing in such a fashion. Aclysia was a hardworking girl and she wanted to earn his affection. John loved her all the more for it.
Ill try to help ya, Rave announced and followed Aclysia into the kitchen. Gotta make myself useful sometimes.
Mistress, this will not be necessary, the maid assured.
Sure it aint, but I still wanna do it, the Lightbearer returned, cing a quick kiss on the white-haired womans cheek. Just tell me what to do. I can do some basic stuff. Also dont call me mistress, ya lovable thing.
Alright, Jane. Aclysia smiled, the two standing round butt to round butt in the kitchen.
It was going to be a very short drive.
Chapter 873 – Control on other people’s property
Chapter 873 C Control on other peoples property
It certainly felt like a short drive. A mixture of sex, cuddling, movie watching and showering made the time fly by. John spent the ride all over the bus. Early on, he was confined to the table as they ate their lunch. Afterwards, he just went wherever he wanted, pleasing the girls, talking to the driving maids, all such things. Eventually, after about two hours of driving, they arrived.
I dont wanna go out, Raveined, burying her face in the neck of her coat. It was a long, baby blue article of clothing that simultaneously managed to hide most of her curves from view and sit just tight enough to leave no doubt about her athletic shape. The fur around her neck was a mix of light brown and white. Her bright pink hairyered on top of it to create an outline of multi-coloured fuzz around the visible upper half of her face. Its cold.
She looked at her boyfriend with big eyes, as if begging him to just change the season. As adorable as she was at that moment, he might just have done so if he could. He did the third best thing after it and having Smander heat their entire surroundings up by putting an arm around her. Its just a few metres, he told her.
Thanks to the Mobile Barrier, they had been able to make their way into the Protected Space that held the meeting ce without having to leave the bus. Driving into the building wasnt a possibility, however. The width of a street, a sidewalk and the length of a short walkway separated the backdoor of the heated, movable home from the, presumably, heated building.
Its the frigid in of death is what it is, she grumbled back and snuggled up against him while they crossed the street. The elemental girls followed immaterially, except for Siena who just went invisible. I should have gotten my winter jacket.
You mean the thing that makes you look like a giant puffball? John wanted to know.
Ye, she said in a rebellious tone.
But I like you in a coat, Johnined. You look goofy in that thing.
Tough luck, I aint freezing, not even for you, she responded.
I could just get you a coat thats magically heated, he suggested. Im sure there are enchantments for that. I mean, my suit has some. He pulled on the cor of his ck shirt to underline the statement. Or maybe we just put some Infernium into inside pockets.
I dont care how ya do it, just tell me why I dont have that already?! she wanted to know, her teeth cking. John wondered how she was that cold; they were still above freezing by quite a margin.
Because it didnte up over the summer and we werent rich enough to just get something like thatst year? John suggested. Honestly, I would have thought Regan would have bought you something like that.
Maybe Daddy doesnt love me, she whined, as the ground under their feet changed from street asphalt to the stone pavement of the sidewalk.
Well, I do, so youre getting what you need, John promised and kissed her on the cheek. He looked over his shoulder. You two are doing fine, I would guess?
Affirmative, Aclysia confirmed, with Beatrice supporting the statement with a simple nod. Both of them were in their regr maid uniforms. Their corbones and shoulders werepletely revealed, a ck cord that wrapped around the back of their necks being an almost ignorable exception. A white, frill-rimmed chest piece covered their breasts. It continued down to their midriffs, but was wrapped under a ck corset there and only visible at the front, where the cords ran criss-cross to ensure the uniform sat tight and showed off the seductive curves of their waists. From the shoulder downwards, they wore ck gloves that had the simplified symbol of Fusion imprinted on white hexagons that extended from the outwards pointing rim.
The only white thing about their legs was the disy of pale, delicious thighs that became visible whenever they took a step. Each time, the long legs cut through the slits that separated the strand at the front from the rest of their long skirts. Garter belt and stockings made everything from a thigh squish downwards a ck-tinted flow. Elegant, ck shoes finished the disy and little winding, white lines decorated the rim of each segment.
John would never get tired of looking at these maid uniforms. He had designed them well and the appearances he had chosen for the beauties wearing them were just as perfect. Albeit, he couldnt implete credit for that one, given that Aclysia and Beatrice had modified a few parts of their own appearances over time.
A fourth woman suddenly pressed against his open left side and John instinctively embraced Nia as well. The teleporting pariahs colourless dress was easily described. It was elegant in every non-existent fibre, the skirt separated by mere millimetres from the ground and somehow never touching it or Nias feet. It only fluttered along with every step, covered her hips, stomach and moderate breasts, while leaving her back, upper chest, shoulders and arms open. Thin-silver white lines, barely visible to regr eyes, spread over her back, shoulders and neck like a lightning strike mirrored at her spine. In the past, they had been static. Ever since she had returned to John, they expanded and retracted with the exertion of her unnatural powers. They retracted back down her shoulders, towards her spine, as she settled from the aftermath of her teleportation.
John couldnt help himself and grabbed the butts of both girls. For once, he liked what he grabbed in Nia more. The thick coat diminished the juiciness of Raves ass quite a bit, while Nias dress technically wasnt even there. That wouldnt have mattered before her workout, but now it was just fantastic.
They were now on the walkway in front of the building. It was something between a manor and a fortress. The tall walls were segmented into several terraces that could be used as defensive positions. At the same time, the windows and doors were of a luxurious design. The gold and copper on the frames had seen better days, but werent at a state yet that John would have called decrepit. The manor was in a state of decay, but not ruin.
They approached two guards leaning against the walls by the doors. Wearingpletely mismatched and casual outfits, they looked at John like the intruder he technically was. He responded to their narrowed eyes with a warm smile as he stopped between them. Could either one of you gentlemen open the door for me? My hands are preupied at the moment.
Sounds like your problem, one of them responded.
I suppose so, John sighed, now knowing what kind of attitude he was going to face in this meeting. Alright then, Aclysia, would you be so kind?
Of course, Master. The weaponized maid walked around him to open the door. John continued to watch the guards. They stayed still while Aclysia pushed down the handle. This told him that they were either respecting enough to not interfere or smart enough to not risk getting their skulls caved in. They went inside and the guards followed them.
The room they were now in was a sizable foyer. The white walls had a yellow tint to them and everything smelled of nicotine. Arge number of additional people, still without anymon thread between them, sat smoking scattered about on chairs and couches. There was tension in the room between the several dozen factions that were gathered there, clumped into cliques of two to ten people. Most of it was directed towards John once he was inside.
The door was closed and Rave breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Gaia, warmth, she said and unbuttoned her coat. She slid out of it as quickly as possible, not minding the hostile gazes at all. Underneath the thick, cold weather wear she wore an outfit of the exact opposite style. A sport top that wrapped tightly around her chest left the entirety of her midriff visible. The fading tan of her smooth skin curved down to tightly sitting yoga pants. The back of the spandex dug into her butt enough to show the perfection of it, but not enough to be ufortable. Rolling her naked shoulders and neck, Rave looked around the room.
Hostility remained and lecherous desire was added to the mix. You fine waiting here? John asked.
Why wouldnt I be, tiger, Rave answered with a confident smile. Ya afraid one of these guys might NTR you?
We do not speak of the forbidden genre, John said and looked around. Although a few of these would ssify for the other awful tag that usually goes along with it. Granted, I dont know if they were born out of wedlock, so I can only make certain statements about the physical appearances.
Thats not a nice thing to say, his girlfriend giggled while handing him her coat. He opened his inventory and put it away.
Anyway, I was asking because of the smoke, John told her. Its going to get stuck in your hair.
Well have two hours to shower it out on the way back, no problem. Rave grinned and pulled at her already slutty choice of clothing. The fabric stretched, showing some of the underside of her left boob. Not like imma keep these on anyway. She let go and pulled her top back into the proper ce.
True that, John gave her a quick kiss.
In the meantime, Aclysia red daggers at the entire room. Greeting Master and Jane with a room that stinks like this one warrants execution, she hissed.
Statement, Beatrice joined the older maid in threatening everyone with their presence, yes.
Dont kill them if they get bothersome, John told them. If he had been greeted by the guards in a more friendly fashion, he would have told them to cease the hostilities in their entirety. As it was, they deserved a warning. John let go of Nia and Rave. Ill be back as quick as I can.
Alrighty, Rave nodded and separated with a wink, Ill do the Jane thing and socialize a bit. Turning towards a random clump of people, she raised her voice, Any of ya have any games to y? She was met with confused silence. No? Clysia, ya got cards?
I do, but Im uncertain I want to expose them to the stench. The weaponized maids tone was friendly, since she was addressing her mistress.
Itll be fine, Rave asserted and put herself between two guys twice as broad as she was. She could have broken both of their spines at the same time. pping her hands, she asked, Alright, which one of ya big boys knows Texas-style poker? Nia, do you?
Yes. The pariahs answer caused half of the room to suddenly jump. Unnoticed by everyone who didnt know her, she had moved towards the opposite side of the table Rave was sitting at. Nia was happy to just nt her butt on the wooden floorboards.
Superb. Beatrice, youre gonna deal.
John grinned, watching his girlfriend take control of the entire room with her charm. That she was backed up by two hostile maids and an enigmatic pariah gave her words more authority than the casual tone usually would have carried. They had a hostile disposition towards him and, by extension, her. Raves way with people, particrly the less strict kind, and sexy, good looks took care of that second-hand aggression.
Do show me where I need to go, John told one of the guards still nearby.
Uhm, this way. He pointed him towards arge door on the left side of the room.
The Gamer nodded, Thank you, and walked towards there. Apanied by a cloud of cigarette smoke, John entered the neighbouring room. He closed the door as quickly as possible, enjoying the fresh air. The hall he was now inside of was dominated by a long banquette table that he expected to see in a movie about the nobility of thete enlightenment era. It even had the three-armed candleholders, currently empty and the metal tarnished.
Around the table, on wooden chairs of questionablefort, sat about twenty people. They were each between level 40 and 70, nothing threatening. Standing against the wood-covered walls or sitting on the stained red carpet were around thirty additional people in the level range of 20 to 40. John threw Observes as quickly as his eyes could move to validate all of that. He dismissed every window that had opened with a single wave of his hand. It must have looked odd to the gathered guild masters, but he didnt really care.
Explore the rest of the building, John told Siena. The moonshade elemental was still following him, her invisible form only visible to him. None of the people around would have been able to keep their gazes from wandering in the direction of the practically naked woman. All that covered Sienas hourss body was atex-likeyer of purple energy. John couldnt keep his eyes to himself either. Luckily, he could adjust the direction he was looking without actually moving his eyeballs.
I dont think I will, the shadow spirit responded with a gleeful giggle. She walked around unaware people, men and women, and gently curved her crystal ws next to their faces. Whatever will happen here will be all the more exciting, I feel.
John let her have her way. He was supposed to be the only one of his faction in the room. There was absolutely no way he would have actually agreed to that, not on enemy territory. All of the elementals were on standby. Anything that remotely looked like a trap, he had prepared for as best he could without being overt.
All he faced at the moment, however, was a hostile room and disrespect. Finally, youre here, the man on the far-off end of the rectangr table said. Apparently, he was the most important of the people around. He wasnt the strongest by level, from what John saw he was third in that category. Level and factual power didnt necessarily coincide and it could have been that he had thergest organization. Sit down.
John looked towards the sole empty chair by the table. It was a couple of seats down on the side by the windows. A random chair, with absolutely no significance to its position. Instead of walking towards it, the Gamer approached the sole person at the nearby end of the table. Would you be so kind as to let me sit here? he asked.
Theres an empty seat, Gamer, the person answered and gave John a challenging re. When they wanted to move their head back and signal the end of the conversation, they found that they couldnt. John had toggled on the Hypnotic Gaze of the Vision of Cmity.
Move to the empty seat, Johnmanded, and with robotic motions, the guild master stood up. The people in the room watched with mild confusion as one of their supposed equals marched over to the seat and left the Gamer to sit down on the more imposing position. Only once hismand had been fulfilled, did the person snap out of it and looked around with a confounded expression. John put the elbows on the thin armrests, folded his hands in front of his stomach and said, Lets begin.
They couldnt take control from him.
Chapter 874 – The Right to Conquer
Chapter 874 C The Right to Conquer
I was told to show you all my respect, John continued to assert himself on the gathering by dictating the conversation. Reaching into his inventory, he withdrew arge ck suitcase. It was the kind that was often used in movies or ys, but John had rarely ever seen one actually used in public. He ced it on the table, flipped open the sps and lifted the lid. Then he turned it around to show everyone the contents.
Aplete Fusion officer equipment set, he told them. Minus the uniform, of course. He picked out a couple choice items and lifted them up to show them off. Each time, he ced the item back in the suitcase afterwards. First, a small box, about the size of his thumb. Contact lenses C enchanted to dispel basic illusions and hide supernatural eye colours from mundanes. Next, he pulled out a knife and sword of bronze colour, shimmering with red, blue, brown and green. A Baelementium multi-purpose knife andbat sword. Third, he lifted an array of nice fountain pens up. Something to sign official documents with. Lastly, he raised a tightly packaged, ck bundle. A bodysuit enchanted for protection and flexibility, usually worn underneath the uniform. He closed the lid again and gave the case a powerful push, making it slide halfway down the table. My gifts to all of you here, separate them among yourselves.
He leaned backwards again and finally gave the room time to breathe and oppose him. You really think those gifts will be enough to respect all of us?! one of the guild masters cried out.
I hadnt been informed how many people would attend, John responded immediately. I could have perhaps prepared something easier shared, but that would have taken for all of you tomunicate with me in a better fashion. That aside, his gaze swept through the room, I am giving you more than you have given me. Keep your expectations in check.
We have gathered here for your convenience. That warrants a bit more respect than youre showing, the person on the other side of the table returned. He seemed to be the only one with enough willpower to not be intimidated by John.
No, thats not quite correct, the Gamer thought, seeing the white colour of the mans knuckles. He was in histe thirties, by the look of things. Some white peppered into the ck of his beard and a number of wrinkles surrounded his light green eyes. Hes just stubborn enough to talk despite being intimidated. Lets say I agreed with that, I dont have any more gifts I could give you. What would you want for me to show the depth of my respect?
One of the sleazier looking guild masters giggled and raised his voice. Well, you got a lot of nice wom-
For the love of fuck, shut up, Wesley, the leader of the assembly shouted hisrade down and nced over to John.
The Gamer was trying to keep a nice smile on his face, but he knew it looked stilted. By all means, let him continue, he offered, seeing Siena already behind Wesleys chair. The moonshade elementals sharp tail was aimed directly at the mans throat. If he really wants to say it, he can. That would just prove he doesnt know who he is talking to.
There was silence in the room as people looked back and forth between Wesley and John. The Gamer only focused on the likely ver and waited. Y-you got a lot of nice women, Wesley stuttered, his cocky attitude melted now that there could be consequences, surely you could give us some tips on flirting or something.
Ha! Johnughed once, genuinely. Good dodge. I will allow it. He looked back over to the leader of the assembly. Think that got our karma equalized, Ron?
Yes, the dark-haired man responded slowly. It was obvious he wanted to demand more of John, but his unruly allies had just ruined that chance. Lets just continue. I have a question for you, John Newman. The Gamer leaned back and folded his hands again, waiting. What do you want to aplish here today? Why did you have Horace arrange this meeting?
I want each and every single one of you to subjugate yourselves to Fusion, obey the constitution, and be integrated into the federalwork as a new state, the Gamer responded swiftly and calmly.
The guild masters broke out into a frenzied cavalcade of insults and deprecations. Remaining calm, John got asfortable as he could on the wooden chair and waited for the rage to simmer down. What makes you think we will agree to that?! Ron shouted the loudest and made everyone quiet down in anticipation of the answer.
You can either negotiate with me today or be conquered. I would prefer it if as many people as possible came out of this alive.
Shouldnt you say that everyone shoulde out alive? someone interjected.
Im not optimistic enough for that. Some of you will havemitted crimes that are absolutely unforgivable. The appropriate judgement will be given. John remained blunt in all of what he said. These people already thought the worst of him. Buttering them up would have worked if he spoke to them individually or in small groups. As onerge conglomerate, they amplified each others distaste. The negotiations had essentially been failed the moment the format was decided. Still, he had to say his piece. If you admit things to me right here and tell me what you would do to atone, perhaps most of you can walk away alive. We can talk about many things. The exact borders of this new state, your rights and privileges, what can be maintained and what needs to be reced. If you value your greed above everything else, I can bribe you to stand out of my way. Youll lead happy lives as long as you obey thew. John moved his elbows to the table and rested his chin on his still folded hands. Its your decision to make.
Go fuck yourself, one of the guild masters hissed, a couple others sharing the sentiment. Many more were silent and likely weighing their options.
Once more, it was Ron who put the discussion back on track. Is it really our decision when a foreign tyrant threatens to march on our guilds? he asked. What even makes you think you have the right, huh? For all of your talk about judgement and civilization, you are behaving like a brute yourself.
Correct, John responded. This does not mean my position is immoral, however. I have the right to conquer you through strength because you yourself reign only through strength. You call me a tyrant, yet you are one yourself. I sincerely offer you the choice to y my game of negotiations, wealth and equality, or y your game of power. He shrugged slowly. Its no secret that I will win in either case.
My, my, what a statement, Siena gasped inside his thoughts. All of this superiority is getting me so excited She reached the very end of the table and bent over the back of Rons chair. Even that man waspletely oblivious to the immediate death that could befall him. All of this criminal scum, trying to dominate you and struggling miserably. Ah, this is just exactly why I love you.
Behave, Siena, he told her. The moonshade elemental was putting her ws a bit too close to the mans face. If she got too cocky, that would damage not only the negotiations but his reputation. The only way he could suppress the news that he had broken his word would be if he killed everyone in the room, which was even worse.
Fine, she responded with a sexy sigh and backed off.
You could just leave us alone, Ron suggested. Wed pay you tribute.
John shook his head. No, you know thats impossible. Your tribute would be blood money, and even if you cant sell ves any more, you will still keep them inside your mana factories. Aside from the moral argument, I have pragmatic reasons as well. I need to link up Florida with the rest of Fusion and the exve of another great power cannot be allowed to form on these shores. Your geographic location is low on resources, but otherwise too important to ignore.
So, its your way or the highway then.
Indeed, John confirmed.
Id rather die and fight than subjugate myself to your bullshit, someone threw in.
You wont take my territory from me!
Yeah, fuck you.
Get lost, Gamer.
This is ournd.
Ron showed a grim smile. We will not go under without a fi-
Then fight, John interrupted him and the entire room fell silent to listen to him again. We will have it your way. I will end this squabble over territory in the same way any of you would if you could. The only problem all of you have is that it isnt you who will win.
Whatever you say, Gamer, Ronughed. It didnt matter if John was right or not. All that mattered was that they had their independence. These people werent acting on any principles, only on their own benefit.
Hmm, seems like this meeting only existed to get the front unified, John analysed. Doesnt really matter. If this is all they can muster, then crushing them will be more of a matter of finding them than fighting them might as well rip that band aid off. If youre that insistent on fighting, we might as well do it right now, the Gamer offered and stood up. All of you against me. If you win, I swear that I will leave this area alone for as long as I live. If I win, you will submit without furtherints.
If we win, well just kill you! someone shouted.
I wouldnt rmend that. Thana is still a thing, John returned and rolled his neck. Do what you want to though.
We wont fight you here, Ron shouted, gaining himself a few confused nces. Why would we face off against you right now and take your word? You already said you need thisnd. Better for us to just gather our men and beat you in the field for a true victory!
You mean a victory where you are less likely to be in danger, John thought, but instead nodded. Not the worst n you could have. What if I were to sweeten the deal? Opening his inventory, John pressed a button to immediately equip his battle set. People around the table jumped to their feet, ready to flee or defend themselves.
John calmly grabbed the ck guard on his left arm. Purgatory, an item forged from Mithril and Oblivium that grants a noticeable increase in physical power and synergises greatly with Elementalists and Arcanists. He ced the item on the table, then pulled off the massive metal glove on his right. The Talon of the Ravenlord. It limits your dexterity a lot, especially when the ws are at the end of your fingers rather than slotted to the back. As a weapon, its a threatening tool, able to push back assaults or infuse your attacks with lightning. The table creaked when he put it down as well. He slid out of his jacket and held it up. The Suit of the Chosen. An item that can be repeatedly infused with different enchantments and a gift of Gaia herself to me. He tossed it on the table as well. He took off his shirt and,pletely seriously, stated, Silk, and dropped it down on the table as well.
I will fight you as I am now, he exined, standing there shirtless and without weapons. One by one he held up the things he had discarded and put them away. Should you defeat me, I will give you all of these things, in addition to my earlier promise.
You might as well fight in your underwear, someoneughed.
Yes, why dont you lose the pants as well, Ron mocked, and theughter spread to everyone.
John wasnt offended. He would need to feel threatened by these people or doubt his attractiveness to feel harmed by their words. I take it this still isnt good enough for you then? he asked, Purgatory in hand.
I dont trust you to keep your word to leave us alone, why would I trust you to give us these items? Ron wanted to know.
A fair point, John conceded and tossed Purgatory across the room. Take it then. You may fight me with it.
The man caught the armguard and obviously couldnt believe that he was holding it. With slow, almost dreamy motions he strapped the thing in ce. There was fire when the item transformed into the obsidian w. It seared away the shirt that would have been in the way and made Ron panic for a second. Once he realized the fire wasnt burning him, he calmed down again. He looked down at the sharp tool of destruction his hand had be. With a basic gesture of his hand, he cut five trenches into the table.
John could see the envy of everyone. More than that, he could see the greed of Ron wrestle with his caution. It didnt take a genius to read that the Gamer was so confident in his ability to win, he was willing to give everything. S-still not good enough, Ron stated. What about that? he asked and pointed at the Mand Sphere.
Hmm, even if I offered it to you, it would be useless to you, John said. I will fight without it, I hope thats good enough for you? He now showed a bit of hesitation. Apparently, he needed to fake vulnerability. Only when they thought they could win, would they agree.
Almost. Ron thought he was the shark smelling blood, clenching his improved fist.
Every one of you who individually wants to submit without this fight, youre wee to opt out, John said in an almost pleading tone, as if the loss of the Mand Sphere left him in a situation where he could lose. Nobody took the offer. A true school of sharks, the Gamer thought. Well what else can I offer uhm I can fight you while blind in one eye? he took out one contact lens and put it into his inventory along the Mand Sphere. He deliberately slumped his shoulders to make himself look smaller, as if he was now afraid. His eyes darted around in a paranoid but stubborn fashion. If they buy into the worst rumours about my pride, they might just buy Im too thick-headed to quit at this point.
I think those conditions are eptable to us, arent they, boys and girls? Ron asked the room and got universal agreement. No reason to even wait any longer! he shouted and several people, already on their feet from when John had brandished his equipment, ignited magic and auras.
Well, its not my property. The Gamer smirked. His sudden return to confidence caused confusion all around. It created a moment long enough for him to raise his foot.
He kicked the long table with all of his might.
Chapter 875 – East Integration Domination
Chapter 875 C East Integration Domination
Over a dozen metres of wood were suddenly elerated in a simple forward motion. Everyone still leaning on top of or keeping their feet under the table were disoriented. While they only had to deal with irritated elbows and some leg pain, Ron had no such advantage. The edge of the table transferred the overwhelming power of Johns kick straight into his stomach. Along with his chair, the leader of this assembly was pushed backwards all the way to the wall and only came to a halt when he was firmly squished between it and the edge of the table.
The man bent over, clearly in pain. He attempted to shove the table forwards, but only squealed when John followed the piece of furniture he had so violently disced and put a single foot on the edge. All he had to do was press with a fourth of his Strength, and the level 65 individual was outmatched entirely.
Help, he more begged thanmanded.
Yes, help him, John looked at the people who stood frozen around him. Surrendering is also an option. You lost your chance to make a good deal with me, but I will still show mercy in this battle. He looked around. Just how many times did your emotions switch between confidence and fear in thest ten minutes? Three, four times? You shouldmit to one and stop being controlled so much by your instincts. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Seriously, right-hand side, you know I cant see any of you, right? Massaging the bit of bone, he listened to the excitedly rising breaths. Why would you be hopeful when I tell you that? Are you morons?
Distantly, John heard something snap. The continued pressure on his stomach must have broken one of Rons lower ribs. Perhaps a friend of his or perhaps simply desperate, one of the small fry-leaders charged at The Gamer. He heard the elerated breathing, felt the vibrations in the ground and the de as it cut through the air. He didnt care to block the attack. Itnded on his throat. A thinyer of cool touched his skin, failing to cut.
What the fu- the person began.
You know, whenever Im winning, I get this urge to monologue, John said. Absent-mindedly, he took his right hand off his nose and grabbed the hand pressing the de against his neck. For him, it was like oveing theziness to pluck the remote off the table. For his assant, it must have been too quick to react. This is going to hurt, but this is how you chose things to go. He clenched his hand and made the bones in the arm crack.
Looking up to Ron, John saw that the guy had finally passed out from the pain and his organs getting squished together. He took his foot off the table and pulled it back a little bit.
Siena, you have a lot of experience with wounds, right? Is he going to survive?
About an hour or two, worst case, the moonshade elemental responded.
That was good enough for John. So, this urge to monologue, the Gamer continued. Ivee to theorize that it might be part of my personality type. A problem of being a prideful intellectual. I just want to lord over you all that Im smarter than you. Its a really annoying side of myself. Reason I feel like I can bring this up here today is, for one, none of you are threatening me in even the mildest fashion. He let go of the crushed arm and the person who attacked him stumbled back. John had never even seen them. And, for two, Im trying to understand what personality type you all are. I encounter you quite regrly. Sleazy, immoral, self-assured, simultaneously woefully uninformed and in positions of power. Its like youre the sons and daughters of a rich CEO who pampered you your whole life, except it was the luck of the draw assigning you magical powers that elevated you above your peers.
John took a look around the room and all the frozen people. Several dozens of them and none of them were moving. Turning around, the Gamer casually toppled over the chair he had been sitting on. With a carefully aimed kick, he snapped one of the legs off. Once he had picked it up, he held it like a rapier, splintered end extended.
I suppose its proof that brain drain exists, John continued to monologue, closing his useless eye. I also suppose its proof that the crabs in a bucket effect exists. Every time one of you thought a bit more carefully about the situation, he must have either left or gotten ganged up on. It takes a very specific individual of power, charisma and great timing to create an organization of note, and as it gets easier to just join an already present one, less talented people have the drive to stay and carve something out of the risky territory.
Whatre you even on about?! one of his opponents shouted in a cracked voice. The desperate attempt to cover the fear in their voice had only been partly sessful. Testing, the Gamer swung the chair leg a couple of times. Their intimidation was almost physically manifest, yet they refused to just surrender. Every one of them refused to be the first to give in.
Again, I encounter you people quite regrly, John repeated himself. And I wonder how that keeps happening? I would guess that, in a cutthroat,wless society, the person that knows how to wield their power most intelligently rises to the top at a stupendous pace. Maybe the necessary level of power and intellect just doesnte about as often as I would imagine. Perhaps Im making a categorical error by describing a territory dominated by gang wars aswless. You do have a dominance hierarchy, so that is aw of sorts. Makes me wonder if something like a trulywless space can even exist? Depends on the definition ofw, I suppose.
John scratched the back of his head and waited for anyone to answer. Nobody had anything to say, which was about what he had expected. He had hoped for more, but these people were clearly talented in disappointing him in every regard. Putting his theories about how these social structures kept cropping up aside, the Gamer turned towards a random adversary and calmly walked towards them.
It was a young, ck-haired woman of the rtively attractive variety. She seemed to be of Spanish descent, probably mixed with a bit of native Mexican, creating a pleasant mixture of exotic and familiar. Her face and body were both far removed from the incredible beauty of Johns harem, but she looked good enough that John felt his base instincts tell him that hurting her really wasnt something he should do. That she backed off as he approached didnt help. He felt like a tiger attacking a rabbit for nothing but sport.
However, he knew he wasnt doing this for his own pleasure. He might take some from pping some arrogant vers around, but it wasnt his goal here. Surrender, he gave amanding offer to the woman, once he had herded her with her back to the wall. He was attacked by the rest of the room before he could get her answer.
Perhaps the rest of the men in the room felt the same base instincts he did. There was something base to almost every person and seeing a woman cornered would serve as a pretty good motivator for those. It just needed to be the tipping point for one or two people. Once a few were moving, the rest of the room was drawn in by crowd mentality. The emotions boiled over and finally the entirety of his opposition copsed on top of John.
John met the first assant by ramming the chair leg into their shoulder. Next was a swipe of his left fist, ending in the breaking of a ribcage. A roundhouse kick turned one person into a projectile that caused half a dozen to fall to the floor, like bowling pins. The chair leg splintered when John smashed it against the temple of a man who copsed immediately.
In the heat of the battle, the absolute wrecking of theirrades must have passed the people by, as they bombarded John with spells and the hacking of weapons. With the blue ring of mana, the attacks universally bounced off him. Unbothered, he stood there, finishing them off single attack by single attack. Even as the woman he had cornered drew a knife and attempted to drive it into his side, he remained where he was.
At least that makes this part easier, he resigned himself mentally and grabbed her wrist before she could pull back. He tugged at her, made her take half a step forward and right into his rising knee. She let out a disgraceful, almost burping, sound when her stomach waspressed by the impact. As she slid sideways to the ground, John let go of her wrist. A clenched fist, the very same hand smashed into the face of someone trying to attack him from behind. He could feel the nose breaking. It was a disgusting crunch that made him feel simultaneously sickened and fantastic.
It was dangerously tempting to toy with these people.
Lets end this as quickly as possible, he told himself, wilfully disabling Particle Skin as someone with a spear came charging at him. Knowing full well the quality of the weapon and the wielder through two quick Observes, John just faced him. He put his thumbs into his pockets, refusing to do so with his full hands due to the blood on his knuckles, and waited for the inevitable hit.
The tip of the spear rammed against his stomach. Just behind the tip, the spear splintered. Johns physical superiority to that person was soplete that his Synergy Perk caused the attack to be nullified C with or without Particle Skin.
John grabbed the spear and lifted it up. The attacker had the presence of mind to let go, but was far too slow to escape the downwards strike the Gamer then executed. Another piece of wood shattered on a skull and another body dropped to the floor.
Looking at the ring of people, unconscious or writhing in pain, around him, the Gamer raised an eyebrow. He hadnt moved from his position since they started attacking him, little steps taken during kicks aside.
The wave of attacks had finally let off, with people realizing the futility of their attacks. John looked over to thest twenty guild masters hanging around. They were either the lucky ones that hadnt found openings to join the crowd of assants or smart enough to see if there even was a chance to wound him.
Give me your power, Vecht, he heard a growl and looked over. The words hade from the strongest person still in the room. Another woman, less beautiful in Johns eyes than the Latina he had taken out, courtesy of her immensely square jaw.
I fine! the addressed answered. Everyone, gather your mana, I will channel it into Aura!
Some kind of rivalry being ovee to beat me? John wondered and started walking. Not towards the group, but to the windowless side of the room, where there were less bodies that could get caught up in the crossfire. Mana drifted from the entire crowd towards this Vecht and from him towards Aura. Abination of mana taxing and buffing his allies? Could be powerful but I could have gotten in there and started wrecking things three times by now.
Aura raised her hand to the ceiling and gathered all of the mana she received into a growing fireball. It started as red, but soon switched into a pale blue that shed with the growing heat. Hopeful murmurs echoed through the room. The flickering fire magic grew from the size of a volleyball to that of a small boulder.
Its not going to work, John told them. Spare yourself the renovation costs and dismiss that useless thing. Surrender.
Ill see you burn! Aura shouted back and tossed the fireball.
I guess Ill just take it head on, the Gamer thought. Could break the spell with Purgatory, but I dont exactly have it on me at the moment. If I fire an Arc Lance into it, its just going to explode before it reaches me and catch them. What a bother. John sighed and resigned himself to taking the fireball.
The heat intensified as the flung spell approached. Bundled together, the energy was unleashed into an explosion the moment it came into contact with Johns naked chest. He felt pain and the outeryers of his skin being burned to a crisp. It spread out from his upper chest, searing the entire front side of his naked torso and even part of his throat. His pants protected the parts of him he was less keen on letting get burned. While the pain wasnt strong enough to ovee his tolerance, the attack had managed to take a substantial chunk of his HP, about a fifth of it, in one go.
HOWS THAT FOR NOT WORKING, HUH?! he heard the woman shout, while fire still consumed his field of view. Shaking his head, John started walking. ARROGANT CU- She stopped when he broke out of the smoke. The wound on his chest disappeared just as he stopped in in view. How are you unscathed?!
Im not, John answered, brushing some scattered pieces of wood off his shoulder. It was a gesture meant more to express his uncaring attitude than to actually try to clean himself. The incineration had left most of him covered with ash and dust. Behind him, several of the chairs, or what remained of them, had caught fire. That joint attack did actually do a fair bit of damage. Well, considering I let you, thats not much of an aplishment. He activated Particle Skin again, an invisible change, but one that would protect him from further attempts regardless.
Again, Vecht! Aura dered.
We we dont have its useless! the man responded.
I said AGAIN! Aura screamed. ITS DEATH OR FREEDOM RIGHT NOW! That seemed to convince them to at least try and gather enough mana for a second attempt. They hadnt considered John in their ns, oddly enough. The Gamer picked another chair leg off the floor and hurled it like a spear. It mmed right into the side of Vechts head and made him fall over.
If you make ns centred around one person, dont make it so blindingly obvious who that one person is, John gave a mocking word of advice.
RAAAAAAAAAH! was the incredibly intellectual response of Aura when she ran towards him. With zing fists, she jumped at him from two metres away. Easily, John sidestepped the attack and then delivered a kick to her passing-by back. The speed of her lunge more than doubled and she was sent flying towards the door through which John had entered.
Loud sounds of splintered wood, then amotion andughter, clearly belonging to his girlfriend, apanied Auras entrance into the foyer. John followed, first to check if Aura was knocked out and then to look at the public reaction. All of the henchmen stared with big eyes. There was no way they could have missed themotion next door, but they had evidently resolved to stay out of it and expected a wildly different oue.
Congratz, tiger, ya finally mastered the Shirtless Fist, Rave said.
As if I needed any more experience in doing shirtless activities, John bantered right back.
Well, ya might need another minute to clean up? she suggested, looking past him and at the remaining people still standing in the conference room.
No, I think we are about done here. John looked over his shoulder, challenging anyone to disagree.
He only got nods.
Chapter 876 – Cleaning Up the Meeting
Chapter 876 C Cleaning Up the Meeting
Yo, Metra announced her arrival in the partly ruined manor.
Waddup, Mat? Rave returned. Hows your day going?
Ah, ya know, the fucking usual. Going around, kicking ass. She looked over the recently ventted room. Seems like I dont get any around here that dont already have a shoe-shaped imprint.
I took care of that. John grinned, running his hand through Sylphs hair. Still shirtless, he was sitting on one of the many couches in the foyer. The arcvolt elemental was sitting on his leg, Rave and Nia were on his sides, and the two maids were rubbing his shoulders. If he had been uncaring enough, he would also have received a blowjob for the full Gamer experience, but there were too many brawny and angry dudes around for him to properly enjoy that experience.
I can see that, Master, the First of Wrath said.
You lied to us, Ron hissed. There is no way she could have gotten here so quickly! The anger of the patched up small-time leader was redirected from John to Horace, who entered right after Metra. You guaranteed us he agreed to all of our terms!
Your term was that Metra couldnte to the meeting, John interjected, still ying with Sylphs hair. There was just so much tob through and simultaneously wild and smooth texture parted around his fingers like a cool breeze. Which she wasnt. She and the contingent you will find waiting outside followed me at half an hour distance and were to remain out of range of any direct actions. The Gamer kissed Sylphs shoulder.
What? You thought my super smart Johnny wouldnt prepare for all yall to go all we can win against you, duuuudeeee! on him? the air spirit babbled. I will let you know that he is a big brain. A very big brain. Of course, he prepared for every course of action you could have taken. Every single one, yes. Yes! You might ask yourself: but how would he prepare for my disintegration omega beam from outer space?! The answer, girl, small girl, is that he had his underpants ready and he would have totally cock pped you into oblivion if you tried that!
Sometime during all of that, Sylph had gotten stuck on looking at Aura, and therefore focused her final insult on that particr woman rather than the room atrge. She is not attractive enough for Masters cock, Aclysia asserted.
Statement: based on objective beauty standards, catalysed through statistical values and mathematical calction, Aura falls about three points short of entering Masters harem range, Beatrice said her piece. Addendum: beauty tastes are subjective. Someone of less wonder than Master may take interest in you.
See, normally I would tell them to stop, John added in. But you all are behaving so hypocritically that I just wont bother. That aside, you people keep trying to leave and thats annoying me. He kissed Sylphs shoulder again. There is another straggler trying to smash the barrier outskirts again. Could you be a dear and find him?
Roger, roger, Sylph answered in a semi-robotic fashion and blitzed away.
Truly, John only knew this was happening because Siena was actively watching that attempted escape from invisibility. She could have taken care of the problem herself, but he thought it more useful to keep her presence veiled. As long as he was around, control over the barrier was too tight for anyone here to brute force their way out in any sensible timeframe anyway.
As Sylph had said, John had foreseen this scenario. In fact, he had thought it the likeliest of those he had simted. Because of that, he had put together a task force that could drive to this location after the battle was concluded. It would have been idiocy to just trust that all of these guild masters would stay true to their promise. The good half was made of passive scoundrels and the bad half consisted of drug traffickers, vers and killers.
A lot of the henchmen were just as bad. Rave had told John that she and the other girls had broken a total of twelve hands before nobody tried to get handsy anymore. Nobody had actually managed to cop a feel; John would have been a lot less forgiving otherwise and Aclysia may have cut someone open.
In that situation, John had stayed in the manor, kept the barrier on lockdown and just called for his prepared reinforcements. In the meantime, he had interviewed a couple of the small-time crime bosses and tried to find who he thought redeemable and who he could put on the short path towards death row. Whatever he did with people, first he needed to transfer them to his courts. DC was the closest city with a judicial systemrge enough to process this entire flood.
You betrayed us, Ron hissed again, this time at Horace.
I did what was right, the member of the House of Exceptionals returned. I arranged a meeting. I got John to agree to the terms you wanted. Dont me me for your decisions. You made your choice of where you wanted to be in the story of American unification. Horace looked to John, a mixture of respect and approval. There are no easy paths, isnt that right, Mister President?
Indeed, there arent. John nodded. Those were the words he had said when first asking for this meeting to be arranged. It was nice to see that the older man was taking them to heart.
What the fuck are you people on abo- Ron started, but stopped when Aura tugged on his cor and whispered at him to shut up.
Ron was the only guild master who still had the courage to give John any back talk at all. Him being the first one to have gotten knocked out was likely to me for this. While he had been decisively finished off in a matter of seconds, Ron had also missed the utter domination that had followed. The entire rest of the guild masters was keeping quiet and behaved docile. Getting defeated by John, a mage, without a single spell fired at them had served them a giant humble pie on a knuckle sandwich.
Because of therge number of people in and around the manor, a couple few had tried to escape the barrier quietly. Of course, that hadnt worked. First of all had been Wesley, the ver who had almost suggested John offered his girls as a gesture of respect. The Gamer had taken the pleasure of personally dragging that guy back, but only after punching him in the face and then deeming the swelling of his cheek not worthy of Undines healing. It was only a slight pain the man had to live through. The courts would decide what further punishment he deserved.
Alright, scumbags, Metra shouted with a grin on her face. The First of Wrath had way less moral qualms about how to treat criminals. Everyone on their feet and into the vans. Its going to be a nice ride to DC. Youll feel like tuna in a can. Try anything stupid and Ill hack off a few limbs. Destroy enough cars that we cant transport all of you and Im executing you on the spot.
The emascted crowd let themselves be herded towards the outside. At the same time, John waved Horace toe closer. I want you to pick out a couple of guild masters you trust and iste them, he told the Exceptional. We need some people to spread the news of the takeover. If they need motivation, tell them I will leverage my influence to lessen their sentences or pardon them even C if their sentences arent too severe.
John knew that he was potentially letting murderers off death row there, but the expansion of a country rarely was a morally pure matter. Familiar faces bringing the news was likely to minimize hostile reactions and therefore the amount of resistance they faced. The quicker they integrated the rest of the east coast, the quicker the regr people of the Abyss, all those that were caught between the gangs, were safe. That was Johns main goal. He had to make his decisions with reality in mind, not just his principles.
Horace gave him a long look. It felt as if simr thoughts went through his head. Ultimately, he nodded. I know a few that only did what they had to. I think they can help us.
Us? Us is good, John thought and nodded. Do that. I trust you to get this underway.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Soon, they were in motion. Because they were in a mobile barrier, Sylph and Smander could oversee the caravan of prison cars from the air. Keeping up with cars was aughable task for Sylph and possible for Smander without any big strain. Gnome and Metra sat in the two cars with the strongest enemy members, overseeing all of their actions. Aclysia was driving and Beatrice was keeping herpany.
John was in the shower. The dirt ofbat ran off his muscr frame. Some required a bit more scrubbing, but he managed to take care of all that with a gracious load of soap. Opening his eyes again after the first rinsing, he saw Raves naked ass pressed against the outside of the ss cabin. Her bubble butt was ttened into two symmetrical ovals. Her pussy was only a pretty pink blur through the foggy ss.
Arent you supposed to do that from the inside? would have been the rest of the question, but he teetered off as his erection taxed the blood from tongue and brain. Fuck, thats beautiful, he mumbled instead,pletely enticed by her ass.
Want to see more? a passive voice asked, and John turned towards his right. The second ss wall of the corner cabin had Nias butt pressed against it. Narrower, not quite as bouncy, but no less firm and still wonderfully round, the pariahs pale behind added two more circles to the disy on the ss.
Want to feel more? Sienas sensuous voice teased as she pressed her ass against the closer corner of the cabin. Because of the ma-strip that allowed the walls to close, John couldnt see her pussy or asshole. He could see the blurred outline of her split, purple pussy lips, however. Simrly, he couldnt see herrge, spherical ass cheeks pressed on the ss, but he could make out their outlines.
Are you clean enough that we can join? two Undines asked in symphonic harmony, positioning themselves between Siena and the other girls, theirrge breasts spilling on the ss.
Yes, John kept it short. He hadnt wanted the girls to join him while he got blood off himself. Now that was no longer a concern. The girls backed off, Siena pulled the door open, and they all poured inside.
The water kept running, dropping out of holes in the ceiling to simte a feeling of rain. It provided a well-distributed cleaning, even as five bodies cramped into the space designed for one tofortably shower. Bodies grinded, soonpletely drenched. Rave turned up the heat and turned down the amount of water, reducing it from a proper shower to more an orgy in tropical summer rain.
John felt his pulse rise as the warmth filled every fibre of his being. His cock kept getting rubbed by hands and between butts or thighs. Somehow, while his tongue was wrestling with Sienas and his hands were groping Rave and Undine, Nia managed to get in front of him. Reaching backwards, she aligned his cock with her pussy. He slowly thrust forwards and sunk inside her.
Letting out a quiet but ecstatic moan, Nias chest curved against the ss as he filled herpletely. He had little room to move and so he simply fucked her with reckless abandon. Her wet back was a disy of art. Long blonde hair clung to her from shoulders to butt. Ityered on top of the marks of her back and created a beautiful tapestry of gold and silver. The ingrained patterns and chaotic strands sticking to her slender curves stimted the primal and intellectual parts of his brain with equal fervour.
He brought her to orgasm first, Undine and her sensitive breasts second, and finally came the first time himself, causing Nia to freeze as the magic of his seed made her feel wave after wave of climactic pleasure. Pulling out, he turned as best he could and immediately pushed Siena against the closest wall. Victory and domination made that woman unspeakably wanting of him and the mere act of pushing into her made her cum. Her hellish pussy clung to his cock and immediately brought him to orgasm himself. Every fold was made up of wiggling segments, which caressed his entire shaft. The shape of her cunt was perfect for him and him alone and shifted with each little movement.
John was unable to stop cumming inside her for just one of his regr orgasms. She kept milking him and Siena kept screaming. Eventually he overcame the ecstasy of the moment and started properly fucking her C even as he kept painting her insides white. Siena went cross-eyed and sucked gleefully on his thumb when he moved it to her lips.
Once he was done with her, he pulled out only for his dick to be immediately imed by Undines mouth. The abysstide elemental sucked him off with immense lust, utilizing her ability to ce her pleasure cells wherever she wanted to its maximum. He greatly enjoyed watching the girth of his cock vanish inside her translucent, dark blue throat. When he was ready to cum, he grabbed her antlers and fucked her face relentlessly. Undine came all the harder for it.
Not even the slightest bit tired, John happily took the final invitation. Rave spread her butt cheeks with her hands and presented her asshole. Lubricated far beyond proper, he pushed into her backdoor with no issue. Rave screamed of pleasure and love while he ravaged her. Surrounded by the other three beauties kissing and caressing him with their soft lips and luscious bodies, he fingered and choked his girlfriend. She came again and again, overwhelmed by his skill and stamina, and squirted when he finally filled her up.
A good old victory fuck.
Chapter 877 – Fusing the Coast
Chapter 877 C Fusing the Coast
John looked onest time over the ceremonial contract that formalized the annexation of the majority of the southern small fry by Fusion. It had only taken two days to get the boots on the ground and the parliament to sign off on the decision. The guild masters were still being processed by the justice system and it would take quite a while until the integration wasplete.
Because there was no central authority to hijack this time around, Fusion had to build everything from scratch. Government buildings,w-enforcement, bureaucrats, administrative apparatuses, businesses, Protected Spaces, Fateweaver offices, all of them needed to be erected or hired. Until then, those territories would be part of Fusion, but likely still suffer from quite a bit of crime. It would be fixed in time.
Since there was nobody who could give thend to John, the contract was mostly a ceremonial manner. The signatures given were by the three strongest guild masters of the territories, the Speaker of Commons, Horace and four other members of the House of Exceptionals and, the only one still missing, John. The imbnce between Fusion signatures and those of the conquered spoke to this being a subjugation rather than a peaceful acquisition.
John didnt mind. The tyrants were conquered in a tyrannical way. Those who lived by the sword died by it. It was all as one could expect things to go. He put his signature on the dotted line and was rewarded with a new Achievement.
Jesus I mean Gaia almighty, thats a pretty big one, John thought, dismissing the window for now and continuing the ceremony. Grabbing the signed contract, he stood up and held it high for the people to see. On his elevated position in the parliament, he could see the entire floor, and watchers area. Both were filled to the brim. For the historic asion, the floor had been opened to allow more regr people to pour in and watch the ongoing with their own eyes. Now everyone raised their hands in apuse. A few triumphant whistles could be heard as well.
John grinned, basking in the energy. The more sesses Fusion had, the more prestigious it got and the more wealth its members enjoyed, the more people developed a genuine bond towards their government. Being at the helm of something like this was a pleasure quite different from physical ones. It made him feel wholesome, as if he was moving along toplete his destiny. This was what made people get addicted to sess.
Fusion controls the east coast! he dered, when the apuse started to die down. It caused a secondary wave thatsted until he continued talking. In historic terms, the speed at which our great federation expands will likely be deemed ludicrous. To me, it has been a turbulent ten months. Since I returned to America in February, I have steadily worked in seeing the continent Ie from liberated. I have set the first stone, but the values and functioning of Fusion are not mine alone to take credit for. It is all of you, your hard work, he looked directly at Horace, your oddities, Alice waved in response to his gaze, your blood and tears, Chemilia and Ted nodded their heads, your traditions and principles, Ahanu and Elu smiled, your wealth, the representatives of the Amaca Coast bowed in their seats, and your love, he put an arm around Rave, who was up there alongside him and the rest of the harem, that made all of this possible. He picked up a ss filled with champagne that sat waiting on his table. Sadly, we dont have enough beverages here for all of you, but I trust you are all with me in toasting to our sess. Cheers!
Those who had something to drink raised their sses in unison to him, those who didnt were happy enough to cheer once more. John emptied his ss in one go. Then he looked at the screens all around the room. They showed two images in sequence, one recing the other every ten seconds.
One was the map of the east coast as it stood. Fusion was the absolutely dominating force in the area by every dimension. Size was a purely superficial one, there were plenty of times in history where the smaller country had defeated therger one. As somewhat of a perfectionist, John still loved painting the map with his influence. Seeing the way the word stretched across the disy reminded him just how vast his realm was now. Between nes and teleporters, the distance of things was pretty easy to forget.
The second was a map of Fusions internal situation. The newly added state had been given the name South Meltpot. The old Meltpot had been titled North Meltpot and been given thends east of its previous territory. There were two reasons for this decision. One, it split the burden of building new institutions between the federal government and the North Meltpot state and, two, the North Meltpot got coast ess out of it.
Its a good day for all of us, John dered.
________________________________________________________________________________
The parliament session came to an end about an hourter. It had evolved into more of a party and John was all fine with that. The building could use a bit of charm created through drunken idents. A bit of scratched wood here and there would go a long way in making the building feel less new. That aside, he wanted Fusion to be a guild that was built on being civilized and still allowing the harmless ecstasies in life.
For his part, the Gamer wanted to be with his girls rather than continue attending a party. With all of the rewards he had just gotten, he had a number of new opportunities and choices to chew through.
Hows the Charisma growing? Rave asked, once they were back at home.
Pretty well, John responded, while punching all of the newly avable points into that very Stat.
I am past level 300 now the incremental growth just keeps going. He grinned.
So, you got two ss Levels avable right now, is what I am hearing? Scarlett asked, while opening the alcohol closet. After taking out a bottle of red wine, she walked over to Aclysia. Open, please.
As you wish, Aclysia diligently responded, her left index finger transforming into a corkscrew. The transformative abilities of the two Artificial Spirits were seldomly used for more than clothing changes, but they still had the capability for them. If John had skilled them differently, they would have doubtlessly made for absurdly good infiltrators. As it was, neither Aclysia nor Beatrice (especially not Beatrice) made for good actresses.
Yup, John answered the question. He wasnt surprised they had read the window. They had all been right beside him when it had popped up and there were very few secrets between any of them. He had one extra ss Level from the Achievement and one regr one from having gotten to level 300. Which means I can get the Gamer ss to level 9 now. He opened the ss Window to check what his current Challenge was.
Well, thats one hell of a Challenge, he thought with a grin. Alright, Gaia wants me to absolutely screw all of you girls brains out using the Overclock thing.
Is that finally happening?! Rave asked, obviously excited.
Yup, John double-confirmed. In the Sex Dungeon no less. Ive got extra Room Slots and I will put them to good use.
Oh fuck yesssss! Eliza hissed. Everyone was naked already, they were home after all, but now the excitement properly rose. John had saved the first usage of the Lover Boy Overclock for a special asion. The unification of the east coast was very much up there in terms of things to be celebrated.
Imma go call up Lydia and let her know. Dont think shell want to miss this, Rave announced, walking to where she had left her clothes.
You do that. I, for my part, want to see if I can make this day even better. The Gamer reached into his inventory and pulled out a smooth piece of obsidian, polished to such a degree that it could be effortlessly used as a mirror. Maybe this will finally get her back.
_______________________________________________________________________
Still not good enough, Johns hopes were smashed in an instant.
Nathalia was sitting on a throne of obsidian, her image framed by the shards of the Vision of the Ashen Lands, conjuring a connection to her realm through fiery magic. Her legs were crossed, covered up to her thighs in obsidian scales. Between them glowed orange-red light, her godly energy steadily manifesting as the colour of magma. More scales framed the gemstone embedded in her corbone, covered the sides of her neck and the sides of her face. They went past the base of her incredibly long, pointy ears and finally stopped under her eyes. Orange at the outskirts and golden at the centre, her gaze was theplete spectrum of heated iron. Her eyshes were sharp like thin strands of ss and, like natural mascara, the eyelids and their surrounding areas appeared to be covered in ash.
Three ck horns extended from her head. Two grew from just above her temples, growing backwards and then curving outwards on thest third of their length. They were a lot thicker at the base than the tips, lightly segmented and offered numerous positions for hands to take hold of them. The third was shorter, thinner and sharper, growing from the centre of her forehead. All of them were surrounded by her magnificent, orange-red hair. A mane that nob could ever create, it was wild, silky, long, and glowed with divine power.
Usually, scales would have also covered her arms, the sides of her torso and half of her breasts, leaving only a V-shaped cut-out from below her navel up to her corbone visible. Three spikes,rger the closer to her head they were, would have covered her shoulders. As it was, all of her delicious, light-brown skin was visible. Her athletic midriff, herrge breasts, the dark brown, reddish nipples, all of it was on open disy.
Her dark red lips were contorted into a scowl, revealing displeasure and her extremely sharp teeth. Despite this, her face was absolutely gorgeous. For all of her wild and monstrous features, John found Nathalia to look noble first and foremost. She had an older appearance to her. Even though it waspletely without blemishes, she had the aura of an early-thirties woman, where the rest of Johns harem fit more into the early to mid-twenties category. The appearance of age was nothing but a visual thing for her, disjointed from her actual age by several millennia, but John enjoyed this particr vour nevertheless.
Iment this quite heavily, Nathalia assured, her expression mirroring Johns own feelings.
I unified an entire coastline, Johnined. I am level 300!
This is not a thing you can negotiate or reason, the dragoness told him with a sigh. Switching her crossed legs, she revealed her cunt for a moment. She was absolutely drenched, even more so than she had been at the start of this call. It was Johns sight and voice that had such an effect on her. Sex-starved as she was, the horny dragoness was fidgeting the entire time that they talked. If he had been there, it was highly likely that she wouldnt have been able to use her mouth for anything else but beg for or suck his cock. You will be worthy when you are worthy. My intuition will decide.
Do you at least have a hunch when that is? John whined, then took a slow breath and wrestled his frustrations down. He didnt want to sound like a spoiled brat that had his toys stolen. Not when it was so rare that he got to talk to her. I miss you, Nathalia. I love you. I need you by my side again.
I love you too, the dragoness responded as quickly as she could, using her mediocre English skills. John had no idea about what Draconian actually sounded like, but it must have prioritized very different lip movements given how much she struggled with hisnguage. Her husky voice, deep for a woman, waspletely ent free regardless. It was an oddbination of factors. I want you to mate with me, she gasped, one of her slender hands wandering down to her cunt. Her control was quickly waning. I want to live with you. Be with you. Wake up next to you. I want you to fuck me whenever you can. I want to embrace you and your other women. I have all of these desires for you even beyond lust to just be around you.
Her naked chest rose and fell quickly, while she struggled to keep herself from getting lost to her desires. The Gamer himself was stuck between the absolute lust he felt for her body and the love he felt for all of her. Standing up he walked toward the vision and extended his hand until he felt the heat of the projected image on his fingertips.
I want to know you better, the Gamer said. You are so many things. A nymphomaniac, that much you wear on your sleeve. A goddess of destruction, both your kind and your category are self-evident. A dragon, a proud one at that, for many reasons. A beautiful woman, one that I cannot believe loves me. There are so many other things that you are and that I want to help you be. A guardian of my people, perhaps. An icon of fertility, maybe. A mother, definitely, if I am to be your mate.
Nathalia shivered and moaned. Ast one, exorcising her overburdening lust for the moment. She withdrew her hand, let the scales cover her arms, shoulders and torso. Somehow, she managed to ignore her desires and became the aristocratic beauty she would normally be. You have grown so much since I first met you, she said, allowing herself a slight smile on her red lips. What a chance meeting that was C provided the Horned Rat didnt meddle in it.
Who really knows, John sighed and looked over to the clock. He had spent so much time talking to Nathalia about what happened since theyst met, they were almost out of it. We will see each other again soon. Albeit it will be more to indulge than to talk
John, Nathalias serious tone ripped him out of the mncholy he was feeling, it will not be much longer She closed her eyes, as the image began to fizzle out. Her face disappeared first, the energy dissipating from the centre outwards. Her voice, formed into English words with beauty only loving dedication could create, continued to reach him for a little while longer. youll have the power to forego my protection. Then I can return. Not for you to be my mate yet, but for us to be together again.
It was so close to what he wanted.
Chapter 878 – Absolute Lust [Erotic Content]
Chapter 878 C Absolute Lust [Erotic Content]
The Sex Dungeon was a fantastic addition to Johns arsenal of depravity. He had set the room up in such a fashion that it enveloped their previous y room, leaving their entire collection of toys, tools and torture devices right where they were. What the Sex Dungeon did change was automation and ease of storage.
When John walked into the room, all he had to do was open a window and press a few buttons. A wooden horse and several other devices disappeared into the Sex Dungeons inventory and were reced with a series of pillories. Arranged in a broken circle, the confinements of oiled and polished wood were additionally cushioned to allow for morefort than their medieval designs would have provided. There was even a bit of chest support for all thirteen of the stockades.
John had originally only owned one of these wonderful ebony wood bindings, but the Sex Dungeon was happy to just copy and paste the sexual equipment he had. If it had been a lower Tier, maybe the Building would have struggled with some of the enchanted stuff, but at Tier 4, it didnt show any warnings. The Gamer could mix and match all of the devices he possessed C albeit only the originals could be removed from the room. Not a huge problem, as far as he was concerned.
Another press of a button, and every pillory unlocked by itself. Get into position, hemanded, while the lighting dimmed to a sensuous twilight. It was supported by candles flickering to life on their own and the erotic smells of cherry, vani and sandalwood. Aclysia would no longer need to manually restock all of these things, which was another advantage. Just adding them to the Sex Dungeon inventory would take care of the positioning.
Rave, Aclysia, Eliza, Gnome, Smander, Undine, Sylph, Lydia, Nia, Siena, Metra, Scarlett and Beatrice, all of his nude girls followed his order with some chatter and teasingments. The moment they had ced arms and necks properly on the cushions of the pillories, the devices sealed shut. Wood fell on wood and iron locks snapped into ce.
The first moans echoed through the Sex Dungeon, as pleasure rewarded them for their obedience. John stepped through the sole gap in the circle and stopped in the middle of the pillories. All of the girls faces were directed towards him and on perfect face-fucking height. Manifesting on the other side, Jack made his rounds and allowed the Gamer to look at every butt in passing. For the moment, only Aclysia was dripping wet.
All right, does everyone remember their safe words? John asked and got nods all around. Good because this is the first time using this, I wont be using Cumslut. Wouldnt want to exclude Undine and Siena from the experience, he let all of them know. Your Libido will still rise by several hundred points to match mine. Should be enough to make this a fun time. You know, that and the plus 1000% increase in sensitivity.
Yes, yesss, it all sounds fucking fantastic, Masterrrr, Eliza groaned lustfully between snarl and veneration. Pleeeaseeee get on with iiiiit!
Alright then, John grinned and took a final breath. He was extremely excited about this. Not only because of the ecstasy of theing hour, but also because afterwards all his Pleasure Output bonuses would be disabled. It would be a very interesting aftermath and he relished the opportunity to see if he would still be such a legendaryy without all his unfair Perks.
Pulling a linen bag from his inventory, he whispered a small incantation towards the obsidian shards on the inside and then let go of it. The cloth burned away, as the shards melted together. Fire and red mana flickered and expanded, beginning to take a humanoid shape.
While Nathalia formed her avatar, John activated the Overclock Skill. It was the first time he had used either of the two he had avable so far. When words passed through his lips, power that wanted to be formed into sound, he simply let them.In pride and lust, I indulge, for I am the greatest of all men.
No sooner had the incantation finished than Nathalia had fully formed. Her avatarcked her more godly features. The orange gemstone in her chest was gone, so were her scales and the glow of her hair and eyes, thetter bing simple red snake eyes. The very first sound she made was a loud gasp,ing in perfect unison with the rest of the harem as the invoked aura of the Overclock engulfed the room.
The harem was a horny bunch. Each of the fourteen present women had a Libido far above the norm. For most of them, that came courtesy of the steady pleasure the Gamers presence in their life had been. For a few others, they simply were that way. Even the highest of their Libidos, currently Sylphs given Nathalias mere state of an avatar, however, was only a mere third of the 368 that John experienced.
From one moment to the next, every bit of self-control any of his girls had was wiped away by overbearing lust. He could see it in their eyes, how they ssed over. He could see it through their open mouths, tongues stretched out and ready to caress their lovers hard cock. He could see it in the way their asses wiggled and their pussies turned dripping wet in a matter of seconds.
John had expected to be overtaken by a wave of desire himself. His Libido didnt rise, but activating something like that had toe with a change. What he felt instead was an incredible rity. He knew perfectly well what he could do to all of them.
By my me, Nathalia managed to finally get a few words out. John this is not even my true body is this sensitivvvvv Her words ended in a long hiss when the Gamer started to up her sensitivity even further. Sadly, because she still didnt have the Lovers Will mark, he was capped at 300% for her. That was still way more than enough, all things considered.
The dragoness threatened to copse, her legs trembling. John slung an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. She was still a bit taller than him, but he could reach her ear without having to stretch too much. What should you call me, my beloved goddess?
Ma she started, but was interrupted by her own moan when John bit her long ear. Mas she tried again. A p down on her round butt stopped her. First she yelped with surprise and pleasure, then she gasped as John dug into the soft meat with his fingers. Her breathing was as steady as she could make it. Mas-ahhh, she failed once more. The rise and fall of her breasts caused her delicious, dark nipples to brush against his muscr chest. Massssst- she failed to pronounce the word properly, likely too distracted by the rod pressing against her dripping groin.
Nathalia struggled on, as John upped the sensitivity of every girl in the room to the maximum. The dragoness was too upied with her lust to even get out a single word. Despite going untouched, the rest of the harem wasnt faring much better. Their sensitivity was so high, even the feeling of air brushing over their exposed pussies was as if they were being touched by a vibrator. Jack walked in circles around, gently caressing their bums with his fingertips. Each time, the woman he touched stretched into the motion, begging for a prolonged touch. An overflow of pussy liquid made the insides of their thighs glisten. Yet, they could not cum. John forbade it through a simple mental switch.
Master! Nathalia finally screamed the word. Her scream transformed into one of raw lust and was echoed by the rest of the harem when John made her cum. As long as the Overclock was active, he didnt even need tomand them to. He willed it and, without warning, their bodies obeyed.
One thousand orgasms was an easy goal with such an ability, especially spread out among fourteen women. What a good girl you are, Johnplimented and sent out another wave of orgasms to reinforce the current ones. I love the way you look when you cum for me. He grabbed her chin, looked into her eyes and sent another pulse out. You must need me so badly dont worry, I will be the man you need me to be and take the real you the way you want. Nathalia could not answer. She could barely maintain eye contact. All that was keeping her upright were Johns arms.
The Gamer pulled his hips back, aligned his cock with her drenched cunt and swiftly pushed inside. He groaned, surrounded by her incredibly hot and tight cunt. She screamed and squirted all over him and once more the entire room followed her example. He had linked everyones feeling of pration. The genuine thing felt the best, there was no doubt about that. No amount of magic linking could rece their cunts actually being stretched out by his long, girthy cock. Especially not since they knew, at the very least subconsciously, that the sweet reward of his seed could only go to the one he was actually fucking.
It was a very close imitation regardless. Close enough to have the entire room moaning in unison when he started moving. Every thrust drove Nathalia forwards, until he had pressed the redhead dragon goddess against Raves pillory. Stopping for just one moment, he fidgeted with the settings, added afortable, short rest on top of the pillories and lifted Nathalia on top. He put her down, her legs immediately wrapped around his hips and she threw her chest out, making her tits jiggle magnificently. John ced his hands on them, kneaded them thoroughly. The light-brown, abundant meat spilled between his fingers. He let go for a moment, only enjoying the sight of the jiggle caused by his constant fucking. Then he grabbed her nipples and yed with them. Rolled them between his fingers. Flicked them. All of that only to go back to grabbing at the soft spheres of sinful flesh.
Those sensations, too, were shared with everyone. As urately as it could be, given the spread of sizes. The endless, ecstatic screams rose and fell in pitch and intensity between his thrusts and the way he handled her breasts. John could feel the hot breath of his girlfriend on his balls. They were swinging just in front of her mouth and sometimes her lips managed to kiss him when he was deep inside Nathalias tight cunt. The screams maintained their level, orgasm after orgasm wrecking the girls bodies. Then they stopped.
Nathalias ssy eyes opened up wide and rolled upwards. Yesssshhhh, she managed to weakly exim, while she was subjected to the shared feeling of her asshole getting prated. In reality, it was Jack pushing into Raves back entrance, causing her and everyone else to feel as if they were being double-prated.
John was the only source of sound in the room. His main body pped against Nathalias glistening wet groin. His double mmed against Raves perfect ass. All eyes travelled upwards, all tongues lolled out and all cunts gushed with squirt after squirt. They were far beyond multiple orgasms and thoughts. The baseline of their pleasure was what should only be felt at the very moment before release, every of his movements took the further.
Feeling the rush of his dominance over his harem, John increased the speed of his thrusts. Spasming, squirming, squirting, salivating, slutty sex ves werepletely at his mercy. He could make them cum with a thought, he could dictate their sensitivity, he could continue to break them with pleasure to such an extent that they would likely need the entirety of tomorrow to recover from this one hour. Fully clear of mind, John decided to do exactly that. This was a special ability. He would never let them forget the day he used it for the first time.
Finally feeling his own first orgasm approach, John put his hands on Nathalias hips and mmed into her with all the strength he could muster. On the other end, Jack did the same to Raves ass. His balls tightened; his girlfriends tongue thered them with lustful attention. The world was framed by little shes of white lightning, through which he could only see the fantastic bodies of the women he was cumming inside.
Nathalias hourss figure was a smooth-skinned piece of wonder. Seeing Raves hands and head stuck in the pillories elevated her back and ass to even higher attention. Long, luscious legs locked him into ce as he came. Both Nathalias cunt and Raves back entrance tightened around him, as he dropped spurt after spurt inside them.
While those two only made the asional throaty sound, the rest of the room found their voices again. Ack of movement was a moment of respite to them and they managed to take a few breaths and be a disunited choir of simple moans. The quivering of his shaft was enough to set off reactions from their oversensitive bodies, but nothing that resembled the ecstasy of the proper fucking.
Once his orgasm started to subside, John slowly decreased the sensitivity of everyone in the room to below-normal levels. A real moment to breathe. If he just continued like this for the entire hour he had the Overclock and Nathalia for, his girls would just pass out from the physical exertion. Even superhumans had their limits to how often they should climax in a few minutes.
Dont worry, therell be more, John told the trembling dragoness in front of him.
Chapter 879 – And further ecstasy [Erotic Content]
Chapter 879 C And further ecstasy [Erotic Content]
Bowing down, the Gamer imed Nathalias dark red lips. Smokey and sweet, he tasted her saliva, found her tongue and lustfully indulged in the sensation of wrestling with it. The redhead didnt offer much in the way of resistance. Just the contact of their lips made her sigh and the little ways in which Johns cock grinded against the inside of her walls had her spasm from aftershocks every now and again.
While John enjoyed more of her delicious reactions, Jack slowly pulled out of Raves back entrance. Who do I take next? he asked himself, giving his girlfriends ass a goodbye spank before moving on. She gave a pleasured shout in response, already recovered from the cascade of multiple orgasms. Among all of the girls, that made her one of the few and, despite her ability to stomach a whole lot of it, this was not because of Raves tolerance when it came to getting sexually ravaged.
The reason was, instead, the Libido 250 Perk. With his seed serving as a very effective energizer, Rave and Nathalia had been revitalized purely by getting their fill. It and the sub-drop prevention woulde in especially handy today, given the absolutely wrecking of their brains that was to ensue.
John slowly resumed his thrusts. Small, sensible once at first. They escted further and the sensitivity rose in equal measure. Speed and strength of his movements increased, until Nathalias lips broke from his. Retaken by the ecstasy, the dragoness screamed as every hammering impact made her wet, squelching pussy tighten with orgasmic quivers.
More! It was one of merely two words that Nathalia managed to press out. More! Master! More, more, more, master, mohre, mo-aahh--re, mhhhmmmmore, morrrrrrrrre, mashtaaaaaaahhhh! Her rambling melted into screams and got stuck as them as her brain was overtaken by the maximized sensitivity. John continued the extremely pleasurable but monotonous act of fucking her on the spot.
Jack made the rounds, appreciating the harems butts. Universally round and juicy but each with their own, slightly differing characteristics in shape, colour and size, he had to pick whose ass to stretch out with his dick next.
Pale, with a blueish-purple tint to it, Elizas ass was a tempting target. He gave it a nice p, watched the ripple spread over her tight butt down to her thighs. She came and she screamed with reckless abandon for any kind of decency, while a gush of pussy juice torrented down the inside of her clenched legs.
Jack moved on. Eliza still had all the energy she needed to continue. Because of her absurd regenerative abilities, it was doubtful she would ever need the extra power. Better to leave her squirming for it and tend to those girls who might be teetering on the brink of exhaustion.
Sienasrge ass greeted him next. Her hourss figure was as if made to speak to the fantasies of men, and the curve from her narrow waist to her wide hips definitely spoke to her ass-man of a summoner. It was round, meaty, and would ripple a lot under every impact. The silverish-blue colour, alien and enticing at the same time. Her long tail was raised to not impede view in any way and allow Jack free ess to her holes. Grabbing her tail in passing, his hand slid up towards the spade-shaped tip as he moved along. Almost as sensitive as her clit, there was an area where the tip and the proper tail were joined. He teased it expertly, letting his fingers trail over it. That was enough to set Siena off as well.
Her screams were a bit less energetic, but not in urgent need of help.
With narrower hips and a butt that didnt quite curve off her frame to such an eye-drawing degree as the rest of the harem (but still far from t), Gnomes behind was raised attentively. The voyeuristic earth spirit loved orgies like this. Stopping, Jack squatted behind that ass and extended his tongue. Her pussy had a calming, earthy taste to it, like that smell shortly after rainfall in autumn. It filled the doubles mouth in vast quantities, as a few prating movements of his skilled tongue were all that it took to get the usually shy cuddle rock to scream her figurative lungs out and squirt all over his face. She was feeling as if she was getting fucked, while she was actually getting her pussy eaten out, all while her Libido was raised by an absurd amount and amplified further by an equally absurd sensitivity increase.
With her high Endurance, Gnome took all of it with rolled up eyes and quietly, once her O-mouth went to only producing silent screams. Jack ate her out for only twenty seconds and his entire face became drenched with her juices in that time. He moved on after onest lick.
The pale ass he found next was just a tad smaller than Sienas and belonged to a frame that wasnt at all an hourss. When it came to overtly feminine features, Scarletts were clearly bottom-heavy in urrence. Her slender body curved a mouth-watering bubble butt and a nice pair of smooth legs that continued it perfectly. All of the fat in her body must have been deposited down there, surrounding a nice base of muscle thatbined to make for a deeply satisfying jiggle when Jack spanked her hard.
Her pussy gushed, her body trembled and her voice only produced a weak moan. Unsurprising, the Gamer thought and pulled her right butt cheek to the side. His fingers created trenches in the abundant meat, as he positioned himself behind. She has the lowest Endurance and doesnt have Sylphs enthusiasm.
He didnt know how else to put it and he didnt care to think too much about it either. He pumped his cock a few times. Pleasure wise, he felt nothing. He was incapable of masturbating, courtesy of Source of Satisfaction. It did help distribute the precum though, which provided the lubrication he wanted before pressing the head of his cock against her sphincter.
With all the time the Gamer spent training his girls, it was no wonder that her body only rxed when he started to push into her. Rather than clench up at the foreign object, the submissive slut that he had been thoroughly using to get off for months fully epted him. Stretching out her sphincter was a thing of patient advancement. The reason why Scarlett was so happy to let him inside her, even subconsciously, was that she could fully trust him not to hurt her in ways she didnt like.
Throaty moans and shivers apanied every centimetre he went inside her and the pussy juices continued to run down her legs in numerous trails of drops. He was fully inside her and just stayed there and groaned. While letting her grow more ustomed to his girth, Jack was getting massaged by the shifting of her twitching insides. Looking down on her sizable, round ass, framed between his hips and his hands on her waist, Jack simply waited. He basked in the milking sensation, while John upped his tempo to the pre-orgasmic frenzy and then stopped balls-deep inside Nathalia.
The second load was no less virile or thick than the first. One spurt and already Scarletts voice rose from a well-fucked whimper to a loud moan. With each further tensing of Johns shaft, her orgasmic scream rose in intensity. Like a battery, the technomancer was rapidly getting charged up through external means.
Are you feeling awake now, Scarlett? Jack asked. A vaguely affirmative moan came to a sharp and sudden end when he spanked the left side of her ass. It quickly began to redden. A third and fourth p soon followed, making the technomancer scream with renewed orgasmic delight. Give me a proper answer, slut, he snarled in a demeaning tone, showering her jiggling ass with more ps.
He could be as rough with her as he wanted, with the only limit being what they both enjoyed. Sub-drop was no longer an issue, and if sheined about being unable to sit tomorrow, healing magic was always avable. YESSSSSSSSS! she managed to scream between the pping sounds.
Good girl, John said, stepping in front of her. He had decided that he needed to engrain his cock into every one of Nathalias avable holes. Just making her give him a blowjob was a bit too in, especially in this setting. Instead, he was dragging her around by the horns. Whenever the proud switch of a dragoness attempted to struggle against this treatment, he just stopped giving her free orgasms with his mind. As wanting to be in control as she usually gave herself, the goddess was clearly getting off hard at being treated like that.
She may not have been back, but John was already training her to feel more inclined towards her submissive desires than her dominant ones.
Pulling Nathalia in front of him, he let her nibble on the side of his cock, while keeping it just out of reach of Scarletts lips. The technomancer was mindlessly struggling against the pillory, trying to reach his dick. At the same time, her lips were widely parted, her tongue kept t inside, inviting him to thrust in. Through all of her increased Libido and orgasmic haze, she only cared to please him and taste even greater ecstasy. She was a haremette purely guided by her instincts and moans echoed from deep within her presented mouth as Jack resumed fucking her ass.
John wanted to be extra certain theparatively fragile technomancer had the energy to keep going. Repositioning himself slightly, he allowed both redheads to attend to his cock. Soon, the shaft was licked clean of all pussy juices and remaining cum, reced entirely by the saliva they thered on it with their tongues. The hand on Nathalias horn kept guiding her movements, while Scarlett did the best she could with the confinement she was in.
asionally, John pushed into one of their throats. Both were remarkably skilled cocksleeves, letting him fuck their faces while cumming their brains out. Most of the time, he simply let the two of them service him, as Jacks constant fucking of Scarletts tight ass brought him closer and closer. He didnt care tost long, only held back as long as he needed to ce the head of hisrge dick inside Nathalias mouth. Do not swallow, hemanded her.
Her red lips sealed tight and she obeyed him. Cum filled her mouth in the usual quantity and quality. When he pulled back, the dragoness presented the entirety of his thick load. With pleading eyes, she waited for the permission to gulp it down. Knowing just how powerful an entity she was, even if her avatar came with only a fraction of that might, made Johns inner dom delight.
Share it with Scarlett, hemanded.
Nathalias inhumanely long eyebrows wandered towards one another, as if asking for him to reconsider. When he stayed silent, she slowly moved towards her fellow redhead. Scarlett didnt even notice the approach, her eyespletely rolled up from the mind-blowing orgasm that she had received along with his seed. When their lips met, the technomancers instincts kicked back in and the two swapped his cum back and forth until all of it had ended up inside their stomachs.
Grabbing Nathalia by the horns again, John dragged her to the next of his girls. On all fours, she obediently trotted along. John suppressed her sensitivity long enough for her to answer a question. Tell me, did any other man throughout history ever make you feel as happy to be submissive as you are right now?
No, John, only you, Nathalia sighed wantonly. Only you make me feel this content. This satisfied. I dont need to push you down and ride you until you satisfy me. You can make me climax again and again, youst even longer than I do C you are the only man who I could call Master, call my mate, and truly mean it.
That was more of an answer than he had bargained for and it turned him on so much that he stopped dragging her along. Instead, he turned her around, stepped over her chest and grabbed both of her horns. Then he face-fucked her hard and fast as a reward for her admission. The other girls moaned, their mouths wide open as if they were receiving the very same face-fucking. They certainly felt as if they were. All the while, Jack had moved on to therge, round ass that was Beatrices behind. Being identical to Aclysias, the maids butts were probably thergest in the harem and an absolute treat to fuck.
Even though she was getting her throat physically and her asshole empathically fucked, Nathalia still rubbed her clit and increased the number of orgasms she received. She only stopped when he pumped a dedicated load into her gullet and her body spasmed wildly in response.
John didnt give her time to recover. Once his orgasm was over, he swiftly pulled out and brought her before the next girl. Sylph was just as eager to help Nathalia suck him off as Scarlett had been and just as mindless about it. Her electrifying kisses were a great addition to the heat of Nathalias mouth. He did the exact same there as he had done with Scarlett, down to the point where they had to share his load. Then he moved on and, this time, Nathalia followed him on all fours on her own.
Her crawling was slowed down considerably by the several times she came during the short walks. Just as John switched the throat he fucked after every orgasm, so did Jack move on as well. Their targets were chosen quite randomly. John enjoyed a very odd and pleasing double-tongue fuck by Siena and Nathalia while Undine got her translucent, blue ass properly fucked. Then he moved to Smander, focusing on fucking her face while Nathalia got to worship his seed-filled sack. Still they had to share and gleefully did so.
All the while, Lydias moderately sized but incredibly shapely ass was prated, making the anal queen orgasm with such ferocious intensity that there was a puddle under her feet by the end of it. Metra was a lucky girl, getting both her toned, round butt and her throat used at the same time. Nias pale ass was shapely and a nice swing on her otherwise lithe frame. It wasnt quite asrge as Scarletts, but the greater bnce suited her. It felt great to fuck all the same, especially as Aclysia and Nathalia were slobbering all over his cock at the same time.
Despite being preupied, Aclysia managed to moan, Master Master! between her licks. It sounded as if she was savouring the taste of his title on her tongue each time she moaned it. MASTER! she screamed when he pulled out of her filled-up back entrance with a goodbye spank. He moved onto Gnomes asshole and Raves greedy, pink lips. Their natural gloss was overtaken by a stream of saliva that was depravedly dropping from her chin. Last, but absolutely not least, John gave Eliza what she craved and made her a lucky girl like Metra, using her on both ends.
With all of his girls having felt his cock at least once already, be it front or back, Jack floated into the centre. Get up, Johnmanded Nathalia, who did so as quickly as she could. Watching her try to stand on her own was a pleasure by itself. Although there was no new pleasure currently wrecking her, control over her limbs was clearly difficult. Eventually she managed, only to feel his cocks against both of her holes.
Jack grabbed her thighs and supported her back with his chest, as he lifted her up and onto his cock. Slowly, she sank down, her sphincter stretching to amodate his girth. She came immediately and hard, covering Johns groin with a fresh squirt of her love juices when he approached. A shower and the Sex Dungeons automation would clean anything up afterwards, so who was he to care?
He just worsened his own drenched state when he pushed into her pussy and double prated the slutty dragon goddess. Nathalia screamed with overflowing lust, until John put his hands on her throat and controlled the flow of her windpipe with a strong squeeze. Her tongue lolled out as he started to move, her eyes rolled upwards and she kept on squirting as the thrusts of the Gamer and his double became the only thing her oxygen-deprived mind could feel.
Sometimes simultaneously, sometimes in perfectly timed exchanges, sometimes with no rhythm between them at all, John and Jack hammered into Nathalia. Her orange-red hair shook, her toes curled, and her arms slung around the Gamers neck. He let go of her throat to momentarily indulge in her tits. Watching them sway was fantastic, but putting his lips on her nipples and sucking on them was even more satisfying. Being such an expert cocksucker, Nathalia hadnt dropped a single bit of his cum on herself throughout all of the blowjobs she had given. All her skin tasted of was sweet, salty sweat, her supernatural origin giving it a note of burning wood. Kissing the voluptuous flesh, pulling at her nipples with his teeth, he gave her a minute to breathe and scream.
Then he pulled back, squeezed down on her throat again and upped his speed until the pping of meat against meat was almost as loud as the cascading shouts of all the other nymphomaniacs in the room. He dialled down their sensitivity, kept them from being so overtaken by their pleasure that their lungs couldnt keep up with it. He wanted to keep hearing them. He sent out pulse after pulse of orgasms with the control Overclock granted him.
Then he raised their sensitivity to the max again, sent out a concentrated wave of pleasure to all of his girls and came. Just as his seed flooded both of Nathalias holes, the entire room became silent. He was rigid, his cock twitching inside the gorgeous dragoness. The sound of squirting falling on the ground and the creaking of the wooden pillories was all there was. Each spurt of seed was apanied by delightful, ecstatic silence.
Delightful, ecstatic silence that was slowly getting reced by the women and John remembering their need to breathe as their orgasms faded. At a crawling pace, a resemnce of reason set back in. Only for John, the rest of the girls were still overwhelmed by his Libido, but that was exactly how he wanted it.
Carefully, he put Nathalia down and let her lie there. Even with all of the energy his seed provided, she would need a minute.
And he would continue to ravage the entirety of the room for the rest of the Overclock duration.
Chapter 880 – The least lonely man – for once alone.
Chapter 880 C The least lonely man C for once alone.
John was absolutely, undoubtedly, certainly on his own.
Just as he had wanted, he had fucked his girls to a state that could well be described as sexually broken. It wasnt the first time he had done so, and unlike what hentai might indicate, he hadnt given them so many orgasms that they becamepletely different people. The only time he had managed to noticeably alter a part of a womans character was when he had fucked Metra so hard she became a proper submissive on his birthday, and that was, arguably, a change that had been bubbling under the surface.
No, it was simply that he had taken them all so thoroughly, their minds (and to some extent bodies) were in utter shambles. Logic was a faraway concept for them and their pleasure receptors had been so thoroughly overloaded that they would take a bit to recalibrate. Trying to hold a conversation with any of them was a thing of weak and dyed answers to the most basic of questions. When he helped them walk, he could get them somewhere, but they would need several hours of rest before they could think about moving normally again.
Under these circumstances, John had spent the two hours following their orgy getting them all to the shower room, helping them clean themselves up, get them to drink a fair bit of water, tugging them into bed and then giving each of them an individual good night cuddle,plete with little vows of his love for them tailored to the way he felt about each of them. Even with two bodies, doing all of that for thirteen girls (Nathalias avatar had burned out at the end of the orgy), cost a lot of time.
By the end of that process, each girl was at least able to listen to him making those vows, but they also fell asleep instantly afterwards. Even those that didnt have a physical need to rest were knocked out. Their minds needed that little reset that sleep provided. Maybe even more than that, but they would see about that in the morning.
John had gotten his girls into these states before. Admittedly not all of them at the same time, but individually each of them had been put into that over-fucked state at least once. All it took was a day where they felt like whipping Cumslut out or only a few girls having time to tend to him when he had an exceedingly horny day. A few hours of constant fucking and him indulging in the ecstasy of watching the sharp minds of his girls devolve into something that couldnt even pronounce the word cock was scratching all of his most debauched itches.
The haremettes also liked it. John could only take their word for it, but apparently being in that state was like being surrounded by fuzzy clouds, drunk andpletely awake at the same time C plus the constant orgasms. It was apparently a great stress reliever (which wasnt too surprising given the amount of endorphin that must get released during all of that) and the sleep they got afterwards was expectantly deep. Long too, which was a bit of an issue. John didnt expect any of the girls to wake up in under ten hours, not even Eliza or Metra.
When they eventually did, they would be sore, if their bodies were capable of feeling such a thing, and they would need to get used to controlling their motor functions again. They would also be adorably impressible, because their brains were still partly shut-off. John had tried (purely for science, one had to understand) how far that would go and once asked Lydia if she would gift him the Protectorate of Prussia. She had told him to shove it, in slightly more diplomatic words. Much like hypnotized people, it was impossible to get them to do something they truly didnt want to.
Once they managed to get out of bed came the urgent need for sustenance C fluid recement in particr. A thorough mealter, they would need another nap and then they were (mostly) back to normal. The main part of the recoverysted about a day.
Of course, there were also the asional aftershock-lite spasms, the intense aching for his cock, remembering the taste of his seed, yearning for his touch, getting a sudden rush of desire from a surfacing memory of the encounter, and so on. Nothing a bit of willpower couldnt handle, especially since sub-drop was no longer among these symptoms of being sexually broken.
All in all, it wasnt a horrible condition to be in, at least not with the Gamer being around and willing to help them through all of what he had so gleefully caused. It was just time consuming and often left them unable to properly work the next few days. Oddly enough, they were also usually more needy after they had recovered. One would think that satisfying them so thoroughly would sate them for a couple of days, but once they were no longer exhausted, they really wanted it.
Which would be very interesting given that John was now looking at a week without any of his Pleasure Output bonuses and then at more days with theming back one by one.
John strutted through the quiet living room. It was as calm in there as it was inside his mind. Nomunications reached him or ran through him, nobody was talking to him, nobody could even conceivablye and want anything at the moment. He was just alone, naked, walking through his apartment.
When was Ist truly alone like this? he asked himself. Must have been a few months at least if ever. I mean, I was regrly alone before I got these powers, but that was a different kind of lonely. Being at home and not actually having anyone to socialize with aside from Mom. Yeah, thats being actually lonely. Im just alone at the moment. Its not nearly that bad.
He went to the fridge and poured himself a ss of orange juice. He had already drunk enough to get rid of the dehydration debuff. That ss was just for the taste. While he contemted what to do next, he checked what the exact list of things that were now disabled even was. Opening his menu, he found aplete list of status effects.
Gaia and her wonky wording, Johnined mentally, as he looked up and down that list. He had fully expected to lose ess to Lover Boy, Sexual Mastery and Lovers Will, but all of hismand and cum rted bonuses being lost was not technically what he had been told would happen. He had been specifically told that Pleasure Output bonuses would be lost. Now, his cum causing orgasms was definitely an increase in pleasure output, but the actual modifier was not in use. Ah well, it would have tainted the challenge anyway, John got over it fairly quickly.
That even the perk that made his cum taste delicious was disabled was a bit strict, but he had wanted to see how well he fared in the sexual department without his sexual bonuses. To that end, having all of it disabled was actually necessary, even if the roughly 300% Pleasure Output was the core of it all. Even with that extensive list of banned items, John still had Source of Satisfaction. That didnt help him in terms of pleasuring his girls, but it meant that he retained his ability to cum an endless amount of times per day. Given just how many girls he had to satisfy, that may have been the most crucial ability of all.
Would be interesting to know how well I fare without it how often could I cum in a single day without that Perk? 15, maybe 20 times? I still have an absurdly high Libido and good Endurance. I would have to rely more on my tongue and fingers and stop between erections, but I think I could do it The Gamer pulled himself away from the theoreticals before his imagination could give him a solid boner. He wouldnt be able to take care of it on his own, so it would be quite bothersome. Also interesting that Lovers Will is thest toe back. Makes sense, given that All Pleasure is much better than just Sexual Pleasure, not to mention all of the other stuff attached to it.
He finished his ss of orange juice and then rolled his neck with a yawn. Blinking a few times, he wondered if maybe he should go to bed as well. After a moment of analysation, he came to the conclusion that he was in that in-between state where he would feel kind of tired while standing or sitting but wide awake when lying down. Spending a couple of hours gaming and watching videos would take care of things.
The decision made, the Gamer walked out of the kitchen and towards the door that led into the apartments gaming room. While the living rooms television was hooked up to all manners of consoles and a gaming PC, it was primarily used for party games or movie watching. It was where he spent the majority of his day because thats where his girls were and all of the surfaces were well optimized for immediate indulgences. It was the living room tailored to the Gamers lifestyle.
While the gaming room did have some design choices that were definitely inspired by Johns easy ess to blowjobs, the floor underneath the tables having padding being the primary one, it fundamentally fulfilled the purpose of actually serving as a gaming room. Several beefy PCs were standing on top of the tables, where they were safe from fun had underneath the ss tabletops. Arranged in four rows, simr to an inte caf, there were enoughputers for the entire harem to y, as well as a few guests. Cable management was thankfully automized, all of them tucked away inside stic boxes that sat behind or, in the case of the central two rows, between the tables.
John flipped a switch and the room was illuminated by multi-coloured LED lights, scattered about the walls. They pulsated softly, switching between green, red, yellow and blue and tinted the room in a pleasantly dim light. There was the regr, white electrical light bulb as well, but John preferred this. He had always thought all of the LED bits onputers to be unnecessary. Now that he had the money to install all of it, he found it pretty fancy. He theorized that it was his show-off showing, but he didnt care much if it was true or not.
He sat down on theputer capping the rightmost row. It was one of just three that faced the entrance and was closest to it. Because he was at home and because there was no depth to his depravity his girls didnt know about, he didnt care if any of them waltzed in and saw exactly what he was doing. This was one of the few ces where he could let go of his paranoia and just enjoy himself.
The chair he sat in had cost almost as much as theputer and started massaging his back at the click of a button. Another press of his finger and the PC itself started to hum with the quiet flow of electricity and water cooling. The four screens in front of John, three in a row and the fourth ced above, were all optimally ced and tilted for his viewing pleasure. Within two seconds, his desktop showed and the Gamer opened Youtube to put on a Lets y as background noise.
As the Smash Ultimate yer talked about the funny forward aerial, John opened his menu. Maybe it would have been better to wait with his Perk choices until his girls were back up to advise him. However, he just felt like giving himself these final two boons on a day of awesome happenings. If he was stuck on a decision, he would just not make it.
The eighth Perk of the Gamer ss was a choice John found easy to make, but still regretted to have to make. There was absolutely no way he would forego the Stat Scaling Increase. It was simply too good to pass up on, even without the retroactive application. Given previous Perks, that might very welle up, so at worst John got 700 more Stats until his max level and at best he got an additional burst of 300 sometime soon. Both were substantial.
Regardless, Fateweaving Rope was something he would have very much appreciated to have. Not being reliant on Magoi to safely enter a Raid would be quite nice. Because he had such ready ess to the High Fateweaver, his less-but-still-capable son Magnus, an entire school of uing barrier specialists and his own Fateweaver ss that would, doubtlessly, give him something simr eventually, the choice just wasnt pressing enough to make it.
Real Engine sounded like an incredibly dangerous tool to have, given the loyalty bit, but also incredibly interesting. The potential upsides to having a number of the incredibly powerful Raid bosses on his side were numerous and taking whatever friends he made during Kingdom Adventures back with him as well was nice.
Still, John went with the reliable and predictable choice. A Raid boss might as well go on a rampage once they escaped from their programmed reality and there was no guarantee John would ever make such friends in the Kingdoms or that they would want toe live with him in an entirely different dimension that left them unable to ess their original home.
With any luck, he would get a Perk that did simr things in the future.
Again, the choice was obvious. This time, John felt less conflicted. Fateweaving Rope was still good, but not good enough. elerationism was interesting, there was no doubt about it, and there was a good argument to be made that he needed to get stronger quickly. Getting the next 200 levels in half the time, roughly, had the potential to make the unification of the USA a smooth endeavour.
However, John already felt powerful enough that he could achieve this goal. He was already among the top one-thousand strongest beings on the, if not the top hundred. Those who he still had to fear where in or above the level range that elerationism would debuff him for. It fixed an issue he currently didnt have and then created er on.
The more I think about it, the more its actually sort of bad John thought and scratched his head. Well, there is no way I wont take the ss Level Scaling Increase anyway. This is exactly what I wanted and, honestly, kind of ridiculous.
Having picked that Perk, John only needed two more levels to get to the final Gamer Perk.
And he had a rough idea of how to get those.
Chapter 881 – Going on an Adventure 1 – Tucking in the Harem
Chapter 881 C Going on an Adventure 1 C Tucking in the Harem
Alright, girls, its ready, the Gamer dered, putting the food on the table. It wasnt great, just scrambled eggs, bacon, French toast and a halfway decent casserole. That was the best John could do in terms of cooking. Throughout the months, he had asionally helped Aclysia in the kitchen. That had gotten him a moderate bit of experience, but he was still a stranger to the craft.
It was good enough for the crowd though.
Thanks a powerless Rave mumbled, tiredly scrapping some marmde over her toast. John loaded some of the bacon on Elizas te in the meantime. Once he was done, the blood mage picked it up with her bare hands and lethargically raised it to her mouth. Chewing with an open mouth normally would have gotten her scolded by Lydia, but the queen was too upied with trying to sit halfway straight.
It was the morning directly after the orgy. None of the women were fit yet, as expected. Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra were still in the bedroom, not needing breakfast and only needing more rest. There was a distant feeling of guilt from the maids for not having helped in the breakfast preparations. It vanished regrly, as they fell asleep for ten to twenty minutes, only to be barely awake for five.
This will be the first day I miss appointments Lydia mumbled.
I dont even know what the stock market looks like Scarlett added her ownint. Neither sounded as if they had the energy to care. John filled their sses with water and they slowly reached out. They didnt look anymore alive afterwards than they did before. Thankfully, they werent depressed C they were just tired.
You can worry about it when youre recovered, John calmly said to both of them and the room atrge. Eat your bacon and sleep again. The world will turn without you for a day.
He walked around the table and put some scrambled eggs in front of Sylph. Without saying a word, the air spirit put them inside herself and then blinked slowly. She did it again. The next time her eyes closed, they didnt open again.
John carefully removed her from the chair and carried her back to the bedroom. By the time he was back, Gnome was hanging over her half-finished breakfast. The only movement was that of her chest rising and falling along her gentle breathing. Once he had moved her back to the bed, two other girls had fallen asleep. He was very careful not to stumble over Sienas or Smanders tail.
The human girls ate about half of what they would regrly have for breakfast before falling asleep themselves. John carried them back to bed and ced some smoothies in thermos cups on the nightstand. Water was brought in as well and then John had sent them off to their second rest as well as he could. He was alone again.
For the most part.
Quite the mess, I have to say, Copernicus remarked, jumping onto the table while John got his own breakfast. Quite the mess indeed.
I thought you would enjoy the quiet for a little while, so I sedated them all through expansive fucking, John responded with a joke, loading some scrambled egg on his fork.
How considerate. I do miss the scratching, but the quiet is kind of nice.
My pleasure to provide it.
I am sure it was, Copernicus responded in a semi-mocking tone. What do you n to do with the rest of your day?
Well, theyll be in and out of sleep, so I thought Id just stay around and watch over them, John responded. I already took the day off. Told the administration to keep things down to what is necessary today. Why do you ask?
To fully enjoy the quiet, I want you out of the house, Copernicus stated with a semi-serious purr. You sure you dont want to work? I am sure you could get a lot done, concentrating on your tasks without a distraction under the table.
Im sure I could, but no, John leaned back and chewed his eggs thoroughly as he thought about his day. If he wanted to, working was as easy as sending Jack over. There was nothing that forced him to remain in the building with two bodies. Yet, he decided to keep the Mand Sphere around. As I said, I took the day off. The only thing aside from gaming I could want to do is some grinding. The only thing I want more than rxing is that tenth Gamer Perk.
The sun cat tapped around the rim of the table. How about I keep watch here and you go out to do your levelling thing then? he suggested.
Hmmm. John considered it. It was, by some measure, his duty to oversee the recovery of his girls. For one, because he wanted to be a good man and, for two, because he had put them in that state to begin with. However, as entertaining as it would have been to idle away the entire day gaming and see them pull themselves back together, it wasnt a very productive use of his time.
Since the girls were now on their second sleep, they would wake up again with a moderate energy level. Aclysia would certainly have recovered enough to throw together something twice as delicious as his breakfast in half the time and with a quarter of the effort. Him being around wasnt technically needed. The harem would certainly miss him being around, but they would also understand that he had levelling to do. Some would support him staying and some him working. Given that he had helped them shower yesterday and the breakfast just now, he felt he had done what was decent. With Copernicus offering to keep watch, he had the choice to prioritize his desire to be around his harem or productivity.
Under almost all circumstances, John would have picked the former. Waiting around wasnt the most enticing way to spend time with his harem, though, and he really did want that Perk. Yeah, lets go with that, John finally agreed. Just let me finish my breakfast and Ill be out of here. You know where everything is?
I live here, the sun cat drily responded.
__________________________________________________________________________
John went outside about thirty minutester. The Suit of the Chosen was in its shirt form, covering his body in ck but leaving most of his arms bare. Buttons, of which the uppermost two were open, and threads were of a dark copper colour. The Pants of the Chosen shared the same colour scheme andbined to give the Gamer an elegant look. Elegant and a bit viinous.
Wearing some lighter colours would have likely made him appear more friendly in terms of first impressions. John didnt want that. His clothes were a supporting factor for his public image and he was happy to dress in a way that signalled a light threat level. If he wanted someone to get a positive vibe from him, the Gamer was quite certain that bodynguage was all he needed. In the meantime, creating an aura around him that demanded respect was serving him well.
Dressing like a good person wouldnt have fit with him, but going all the way and ending uppletely evil looking (or, worse, edgy) wasnt where he wanted to be either. He was happy in the middle ground. A in, ck suit of extremely high quality over a muscr body and supporting a charismatic man.
Im probably overthinking this, the Gamerughed to himself, as his steps carried over thewn. He had a pretty fantastic view from where he was. On top of his white-walled star fort, he could look over most of the western Guild Hall. The Elemental Inds, the Park, Newman Shire and part of the Residential district, he could see it all as he moved southwards. It was still quite early in the day, around 7 AM, so there was not a lot of movement going on. Even elementals slept. Only the Shadow Ind saw some movement, but its inhabitants werent known for showing themselves willingly.
You on your way? John reached out to the sole presence in his mind that wasnt hidden under theyer of sleep.
Swimming up the river, Stirwin responded. A nice instation. All of these waterways let me get to anywhere in the Guild Hall without having to walk.
You have long legs, that shouldnt bother you too much, John returned.
You can swim, yet I doubt you would ever choose to do it rather than take a boat to cross the Hudson, the crocodile said, his deep voice brimming with friendly mockery. Your soft body is designed for one environment, mine for another. It would make sense that I prefer to move through this one, would it not?
Touch. John conceded the point, as he approached the southern bit of his Pces foundation. How are you going to get up here though? Youre a bit toorge to use the stairs.
I was thinking about climbing up the wall, Stirwin presented the answer with a sigh. However, that would cause property damage. I will just travel incorporeally.
You could just do that instead of swimming, John pointed out, as he walked from grass to stone. A grey formation of melded rock, looking natural in the way it was ced, rose slightly out of the star forts floor. At its centre was a massive fountain. Water was steadily pulled from the edges of the Guild Hall through magical means and sent back into the central moat through a waterfall between the two southern tips of the fortress. Should water be removed from the Guild Hall, the Clearwater Fountain would have created new water instead, ensuring that the freshwater rivers all over Collides heart continued to run.
Swimming is too entertaining not to do it, Stirwin reprimanded. Ill be there in a minute.
Take your time. The mental connection was put back into its passive state, as John put a hand into the water and took a few sips. As per usual, the Guild Hall was hot and, even though his short-sleeved shirt was pretty breathable, he was feeling a bit sweaty. The Weather Tower made it so that even the sunrays felt like it was mid-summer. It would only get hotter through the day.
John was happy to have Stirwin tag along, especially since he didnt have to. Their ability tomunicate would be cut once the Gamer went into the I.D. Gate. Even that much was exceptional and only possible thanks to a long-distance connection Perk he had gotten from the Elementalist ssst Christmas. Without it, John would have needed to shake up all the elemental girls awake and at least get them to continue their sleep inside his soul.
Under normal circumstances, Stirwin wouldnt have been especially useful. He arguably would have hurt Johns chances to clear a dungeon more than he would have helped. The scaling difficulty would react to his presence, even though John still didnt have the mana to get him to a truly helpful power level reliably.
However, John wasnt going into a normal dungeon. He was going on an Adventure.
Having read the expanded description, John knew that these didnt have a difficulty scaling at all. Because he was visiting either simted or real Kingdoms, Gaia had to present him with people and entities that werent artificially empowered. Dropping a level 300 demon lord into a world just so a hero from another world coulde in and take care of it was a bit of a dick move. Instead, the difficulty woulde from the Quests he was given. That made it perfect for him to approach things in smaller or lessbat focused groups.
Granted, thatst bit was a theory. One that he was happy to test today. Because he could leave Adventures whenever he wanted (conflict situations aside), he wanted to take someone aside from Stirwin along for the ride.
Refreshed, John rose from the fountain and walked over to the southern tip of his Pce. It was an outgrowth with several entrances, on the sides as well as on the roof, of which John took the one best suited for humans. Walking inside, the Gamer was happily surprised when he immediately found Velka. The Magryph was currently pulling a lever by holding onto it with her beak. Once it was all the way down, dry food poured out of an opening in the wall and into a bowl underneath.
Velka didnt acknowledge his existence, not even when he kneeled down next to her. The best he got was an ear turning in his direction, as she lowered her beak to her breakfast. She poked at it a few times, evidently bored with what she was offered. John couldnt exactly me her. If he had found a non-messy way to store something aside from dry food for her to readily consume, he would have. Sadly, meat had a tendency of rotting, especially in these temperatures. Usually, Eliza or Nia would make up for this by visiting Velka and bringing her something more interesting.
Since neither were avable today, it was on John to give her something more interesting to chew on. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out a raw steak of the tender variety. Hey, Velka, he hummed, offering the chunk of meat.
The moment she smelled it, the bird-headed chimera turned towards him. After a few seconds of watching the steak dangle from Johns fingers, she carefully extended her neck. A little bit, a little bit more, she inched closer to the meal. Her beak parted slightly, showing her pink tongue. Then she suddenly snapped forwards and gripped the steak.
Just because he could, John held onto it. Velkas hindlegs pressed against the smooth floor as she pulled as strongly as she could. Protesting warbles apanied her futile attempts to overpower his grip. Come on, youre a predator, John challenged her, pulling her back a little bit. Work for your food.
The Magryph did. Pulling and pulling on the meat, she tried to pry it away from him for almost a full minute, before John decided she had won and slowly relented. When he let go, Velka stumbled backwards, but kept hold of her breakfast. She dropped it to the floor, put one of her birdlike front ws on it and proceeded to tear strips out of the raw meat.
John watched her. There was something darkly intriguing about seeing his pet rip apart her meal. Every piece was pinned with the tip of her beak, as she raised her head to make gravity do the work of delivering it down to her throat.
He was less enticed in watching her poop after she was done with the meal. At least the self-cleaning litter box meant that he didnt have to deal with it. A bird of hygiene, Velka then jumped into the shallow end of the pool inside her home and thoroughly groomed herself. John decided to help her out by grabbing a brush andbing through her dark fur, while Velka went through the feathers of her ck and white wings with her ck and white beak. Only her eyes were of a dark red.
Arent we two an aesthetically matching pair? John hummed as he put away the brush and stepped away from the pool before a drying Velka could cover him in flying droplets. Like dogs and cats, the Magryph shook her body at a high speed and made excess water scatter all over the ce. A few more beats of her wings, and she was mostly dry. Good on me for teaching you to like water.
Velka stepped over to her food wall and pulled another lever. A soft stream of water began to pour, arcing upwards and then falling into a drain. That she separated her bathing and drinking water spoke to her advanced intelligence. She still couldnt speak, but she was definitely smarter than a parrot and even some people. That intelligence didnt really reflect in advanced knowledge about math ornguage. Perhaps she would learn a few words in time, if she could figure out how to use her beak like that. The Tamer ss might offer a Perk to make it easier.
John was content with the amount of talking animals in his life, so he wasnt certain he would pick it if he had the chance. Having a pet that was just a pet was nice and simple. Sure, Velka was more than the average cat or bird, but she wasnt Stirwin. She had very good problem solving skills, but she was an animal.
John felt she was strong enough to take on a small Adventure though. In a good mood, the two months old Magryph rubbed her head against his knee. John scratched her between the ears. Her head was big enough now that his entire hand fit in the space between.
Youre pretty big for your age, you know that? the Gamer asked. Did you front load all your growth spurts? Velka was about 70 centimetres long (head to the base of her tail) and 50 centimetres high (shoulder) already. Commonly, Magryphs grew to be about 140 cm by the end of their first year and another 10 over the second, reaching their average size of 150 cm. Because of the single Perk John had gotten from the Tamer ss, Velka was guaranteed to reach at least that size and would likely be one of therger ones of her kind. That still meant she wouldnt get muchrger than 160 cm.
After a sixth of the time, she was already about halfway to the average of the first year. It was a sign that she was doing pretty well when it came to nutrition, if nothing else. Today, she would get a bit more than the usual excitement of running around. That was, if everything went ording to expectation.
Alright,e with me, John told Velka and headed for the door. The bird-cat waited for a second, then decided to obey the simplemand of her owner.
Together they walked to the I.D. Gate.
Chapter 882 – Going on an Adventure 2 – Into the new world
Chapter 882 C Going on an Adventure 2 C Into the new world
Sit, John told Velka, and the Magryph plopped her hindquarters down on the grass in front of the I.D. Gate. Making the final preparations, John made sure the golden egg was firmly hooked into the belt-sleeves of his pants. Ill make sure the other side is safe and then Ille and get you, he exined to Velka. With a little warble, she signalled understanding.
Giving her one more insistent stare, not quite trusting she wouldnt walk away the second he went out of sight, the Gamer opened the leftmost door of the I.D. Gate and went inside. Raising his hand, he let his intent to open an Adventure barrier shape the magic that flowed outwards. The empty potential of the dark space was filled with a new world.
Trees appeared around John. Just a couple of them, spaced out among rolling hills. Every avable surface was covered in farnd. He was on top of one of the higher situated hills, able to look down on arge city in the distance. Therge fortress at the centre was the only thing he could definitely make out at the distance. It had a high-medieval ir to it and was covered in banners that depicted a ck winged angel. The sun basked everything in soft light. It was hot, but not as hot as the Guild Hall.
Just like John was able to oversee thendscape, so too were the people on the fields able to see him. A couple looked towards him, raising their faces from their tasks. Men and women were bald, pale and hunchbacked, pieces of crystal protruding from their backs like withered tree branches. The only thing that differentiated those malnourished people in gender was the presence of miniscule breasts and the broader shouldersmon for males.
They didnt stop working, hastily returning to their work. John found the reason in the cors they wore. An enchanted piece of metal, made to heat up if one of the overseers desired it so. Said overseers were all over the fields, standing tall and wearing only baggy pants from which curved swords hung. This left their upper bodies free, showing the athletic shapes of their torsos and the generally shapely breasts of the women. While Johns gaze did temporarily get stuck there, he couldnt help but also notice the shimmering wings. They were much too small to actually allow flight for a humanoid or even support the magic fuelled variety they likely enabled. Crystalline and of ck colour, they were pretty, however.
First try and I get a genuine Kingdom, the Gamer thought, positively surprised by this. And the way I will go about things will influence what next Quest I get, huh? Makes enough sense. While the serfs continued their work and John pondered over the Quest text, several of the overseers began to approach. The Gamer Observed them and then simply left the dungeon.
Velka looked at him when he opened the door, having picked at the floor. Tilting her head, she waited for him to say something. Come with me, he said, and the Magryph got up. John held the door open for her, let her get inside, closed the door and went back into the Adventure.
The overseers had encroached further on his position, likely wanting to see if the suddenly appearing figure had left anything behind. When he popped up again, that caused many of them to stop dead in their position. Their levels were pretty average, 12 to 20, but their discipline was pretty good. None jumped back or drew their sword in a hurried panic.
Velka slightly opened her wings in anticipation of an attack, making herself look bigger. A warning hiss and pounce ready posture made it clear that she was ready to retaliate. Kneeling down, John scratched the back of her neck. Nothing to fear, he assured her.
Who are you? one of the overseers asked and stepped closer. John noticed they had feet simr to that of a bird, three front ws and one extending backwards. They were quite a bit thicker than the average bird, closer to an emu than a secretary bird.
Harpies, not angels, John thought. Also, how convenient that theyre speaking English. If they are. Could be another instant trantion situation. All worlds are connected as parts of Gaias dream, though, so maybenguage just gets recycled through the worlds? Could also be that Gaia picked a Kingdom that conveniently spoke English. John Newman, the Gamer answered truthfully.
Where did youe from? the same overseer asked.
Earth, he kept with the truth.
The answer caused an interesting reaction. The anchor world, he heard several whisper. Alongside things like, ce of a thousand innovations, and, from where the goddesses.
Dont worry, Im not here to cause harm, the Gamer continued, using the word harm rather than trouble deliberately. As a matter of fact, I just ended here by chance. I dont even know where this is. I would be interested in looking at your great city. His charismatic smile caused even the overseers to drop their guard a little bit. I hope I wont stand out too much, with myck of wings, he joked.
The overseers went from awestruck to light snickers, the Gamers overwhelming Charisma doing its job in disarming their hostility. Will you bring the world new innovations, John Newman?
Perhaps, he answered. There seems to be some otherworld traffic. Or perhaps they just have local legends about people getting stranded here bringing new technology with them?
If youre going to go to the city, you should cover your arms, a different overseer, one that looked a lot less impressed with everything that was going on, threw in.
Why is that? John wanted to know.
Revealing the upper body is a privilege of us Kyr, the response came swiftly. Do not forget. Our sacred traditions will be kept. Your ignorance isnt going to serve you as a shield for long.
As you say, then, John answered and, with the ease of a thought, made the sleeves of the Suit of the Chosen grow to the length of his wrists. Will this do? The overseers were silent for several seconds. So, enchantments arent widely spread in this world, John theorized. Could be an innovation they are looking for.
Yes, the answer finally came. On your way then.
Just one question, if I may, the Gamer interjected before they could leave. What did they do? He pointed to the mistreated ves, still farming away.
The overseer turned around with disdain in his eyes. They betrayed the world.
I dont think attempting a coup qualifies as betraying the world, John thought. Observe had already told him enough to know that the way the farmers were criminals of some descriptions. It hadnt been clear on whether or not their attempt to overthrow the ruler had been justified, however. John had asked because he wanted additional information. With what little he got there, he was unwilling to take any drastic measures at the moment. Thank you, have a nice day.
Walk peacefully, earthbound neer, the overseer said their goodbye and walked back onto the fields.
Velka had long since rxed and was simply purring now. Once she had registered how calm her owner was about the situation, she must have decided that she was truly safe. John took his hand away and the Magryph protested by trying to grab it and pull it back. We have things to do, the Gamer reprimandedughingly. Stirwin, if you would transform back, please?
Okay, the single-worded answer came in the squeaky tone of Stirwins hatchling form. The golden egg on the Gamers belt transformed into a band of light, which flowed towards the ground and manifested in the shape of a tiny crocodile.
John reached into his inventory and pulled out a sk, filled with a glowing liquid. Open wide, he said, after pulling the cork out of the top. He had to keep Velkas thieving beak away, while he poured the content of the vial into Stirwins open mouth.
It was a newly developed alchemical tincture. By boiling the essence of the Light Ind and mixing it with several herbs, shaved crystals and shredded wood, it could be concentrated into potion. On normal elementals, it served as a moderate power boost. For elementals above level 100, it provided a negligible power boost. For Stirwin, it allowed him to achieve Stage 2 of his transformation.
Stirwin grew from being less than half as long as Velka to being more than twice her length. More so than the length difference, the height difference changed. Because hatchling Stirwin had the short legs of a regr crocodile, but growing Stirwin got the long limbs of what essentially was a water dragon, he went from being incredibly close to the ground to being the shoulder height of Johns knees.
Ah, stretching my scales, Stirwin sighed, while extending his front ws and tail like a dog that had just woken up. This will make things a lot more enjoyable.
Provided I dont run out, the Gamer stated. The potionsted him three hours for Stage 2 and five for Stage 1. Higher stages could not be reached by the potion alone and John couldnt pump additional mana into him while he was Unleashed. In other words, the potion was pretty useless for any truly importantbat situation, but it served him well enough when going on Adventures. Why dont we start walking? he suggested and led the way. The overseers looked his way again, but werent interested enough in the suddenly present crocodile to approach a second time.
They saw more and more of the ves. Some looked better than others, indicating how long they had been assigned to their lot. All had their wings shaved down to branching stumps. John cast Observe on all of them, informing himself of the crimesmitted. Theft, murder, treason, conspiracy, they were all guilty of something. Only a few of the crimes were awful enough that John agreed with the way they were treated now, however.
Stirwin kept his distaste inaudible, only speaking to Johns mind, This ce reeks of injustice.
Yeah, things definitely arent clean, the Gamer responded. Im not sure if it is a malevolent ruler or simply the hostile traditionalism of a medieval culture yet. He grinned down at Stirwin. What do you say, first Adventure, we be legendary figures that cause the reform of an entire society in a day?
Blowing gold-coloured mist out of his nose, the crocodile responded in an amused tone, You could work that miracle. Ill oversee that you do so properly.
Not going to protest that I embed myself in their history?
If you do it for the right reasons and without misusing your power, I dont see why I would, the shiny lizard let his opinion be known. In any case, we should do our research first. Aside from the question of justice, we also need to be concerned with our safety.
Indeed, John answered. If the overseers were the elite of the military, then he was like a demi-god among men and could do whatever he wanted in this environment. If they were the standard strength forces, like they would have been on Earth, then there were more powerful people and perhaps even a Primarch-level individual waiting for him. Only thetter would put him in any true danger. At least youre well-behaved.
Hearing hisment, Velka looked up. The Magryph was trotting along so closely to his leg, her wing periodically brushed against it. Smart as she was, she knew that she should keep her more daring character traits in check in this unknown environment. That was, until she felt safe. Warbling, she rubbed her head against his leg.
What are you being all adorable for, hm? the Gamer chuckled. Buttering me up in case you want something in the future? Velka gave him the biggest kitten eyes she could muster. I figured.
He was trying not to let the environment dampen his mood too much. The very, for whatever reason it was being enacted, went against his core values. For now, he kept those emotions under control. When the right time came to let his anger loose, he would. He wanted to bring justice to a world, he wanted to be a hero and he wanted to level. This Adventure had the chance of being an universally pleasing experience.
They finally left behind the fields and entered the outskirts of the city. The architecture was rather interesting. Even the smallest houses had two stories, the ground floor always being several timesrger than the second floor. The rooftops were t and, as evident by several of the crystal winged harpies running around,pletely walkable. A couple of therger buildings had one or two additional floors. Between the roofs, wooden bridges stretched, creating a less popted and sunnieryer of the city.
John was momentarily enticed by the view of the harpies. The male ones were muscr and looked alright, but the female ones were real lookers. Well, actually, they werent a lot more attractive than regr human women. John realized after a bit that he simply filtered out the below average ones and was too easily drawn in by the fact that all of their athletic torsos were exposed, including their chests.
Many of the Kyr, their species name, were looking down back at him. Suits, with or without jackets, werent seen around here. Instead, the people on the ground level of the city were wearing robes with long sleeves, bound around the wrists and necks so no excess skin of their upper bodies showed. Hair was generally worn long, with the women letting theirs fall freely and the men having bound theirs up into a bob. Even if John had followed the local fashion, he was pretty certain he would have stood out, courtesy of the two animals at his side.
The kinds of people were quite interesting. There was a hodgepodge of different races. Dog girls, cat girls, goblins, gnomes, humans and lizardfolk, mostmonly kobolds, all walked through the streets. The further in John went, the more teeming it got. At all times, he noticed the nces of the Kyr from the rooftops. Their silhouettes and their bridges cast shadows on themon masses.
Some kind of caste system, it seems, the Gamer thought, moving effortlessly through the crowd. Everyone avoided getting in his way, for Charisma and simple appearance rted reasons. The Kyr are warriors and rulers and everyone else seems to bemon folk. I need to investigate this further. Do I use the Mand Sphere? Currently, his Extension was sitting in his inventory. Taking it out on the street seemed like a bad move. His earlier theory about enchantments being umon seemed pretty urate as he didnt see a single convenience solved through item-affiliated magic. He saw someone draw water from a well through gestures and someone else waved his hand to spread the scent of the spices he sold over the street. Mages were definitely around. Enchanters just werentmon.
Taking the Mand Sphere out in bridge-covered daylight wouldnt have been a smart idea under these circumstances. He couldnty low, but he didnt need to expose himself any more than he already had.
Lets start slow, he decided.
Chapter 883 – Going on an Adventure 3 – To Respectfully Play
Chapter 883 C Going on an Adventure 3 C To Respectfully y
John needed about an hour to learn everything he wanted about this world. Step one was to locate a library. Step two was to read history books inside the library, while sending Jack out to speak to people on the street. Step three was to buy Velka a banana to eat (she did prefer meat, but she was an omnivore). Step four was to read a few more books on history, philosophy and magic of this world.
The Kingdom was called ryles and consisted only of onerge in and an outer ring of water. The world was t, like a snowdome, and of a rather small size. The entirety of the Kingdom could fit into the state of New York. The city they were currently in was called the Winged Capital, which was a bit uncreative, but John didnt make the rules.
There was only a single nation in this world, with the Winged Capital at the centre of it, both geographically and socially. The Kyr were this worlds nobility, protecting the peace while being those that benefited the most from it. Justification for their right to rule were the crystal wings. They gave them the ability to fly, a tremendous military advantage which doubtlessly aided them in their unification of the world.
The head of the nobility and ruler of the world was the Great Winged Lord. Rather than by bloodline, they were chosen by the size of their wings. Which meant that they were chosen by bloodline, because one had been breeding for thergest wings for generations and was now established enough to pull in everyone who was born with above average wings.
It was a pretty backwards society, but it wasnt an unnecessarily cruel one. The ves on the fields were exclusively from the Kyr nobility. Everyone else was punished with the usual medieval things, being thumbscrews,shings or hanging. Mages were weak enough that they werent even given their own role in society and the history books mentioned nothing about any magocrats. Like enchantments, Innate Abilities seemed to be exceedingly rare.
However, there were monsters around. Greatest of them all, there was some sort of creature that asionally surfaced and ate entire viges. The description varied too much to make an educated guess of what it was, outside of veryrge. It was a legendary monster and sounded like the only thing in this entire Kingdom that John needed to be wary of.
Hmm, this world could use a number of social reforms, the Gamer thought when he closed thest book he had been reading. Its not a dire need though. If I leave it alone, it will probably take the Europe path and reform over the next several hundred years. Might as well hurry it along while Im here though.
What are you thinking about? Stirwin asked.
How to restructure the society without revolutionizing it so much that this whole Kingdom falls apart, John answered quietly, not wanting to be heard by the librarian. Whatever great ideas I have about how to better run this ce, they count for nothing if they smash the current stability. I suppose I could try to locate some rebels. Seems smarter to just talk to the king, though.
The crocodile hummed, while Velka yed tag with his tail. The floor was covered in a rough, dusty carpet. It was difficult to appreciate vacuum cleaners and modern looms without having seen the awful, difficult to clean mess that old weaves were. Perhaps it was just a statement about the library. Getting in had cost John a couple of his experimental Tokens. Metal had value across worlds, another reason to get that currency on the road. Finally, Stirwin spoke up again, Since this is a top-down society, it would make the most sense to start at the top. There isnt much sense in taking a long route.
Going straight into the pce and making the ruler my puppet? John rubbed the dust off his hands with a thoughtful gesture. I could be a benevolent Corts. The Gamer looked at his infinity elemental. Or would you rather I pose as something like a fated hero, bringing great wisdom?
Lets try that first, Stirwin said, his deep voice slipping slightly into a reprimanding tone. There is no need to rece the head before knowing whether it can think on its own.
Odd way of phrasing it, but I agree. John turned to leave. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me, he told the librarian at the entrance. It was just a nice gesture, as was the wave he received in turn. I now know the history of your world and I promise it will be forever bettered because of it, he added. The librarian froze. John stepped out of the door suppressing a snicker.
Was that really necessary? his scaly conscience whispered into his mental ear.
If I am going to be a legend, I might as well drop some lines that fit one, John answered. Some mysterious things that sound great in hindsight, you know?
As long as you mix in some good lessons in this religion you are starting in this feudal world, Stirwin told him. Dont focus on your entertainment too much.
Two birds, one stone, right?
Dont make me gnaw at your ankles, young man, he got a joke right back. So, what is your n, just waltz into the pce? Relying on their want to hear about new innovations could work.
I dont know, they dont seem THAT much into the idea, John told Stirwin. They didnt try to directly escort me to their ruler, so they must be only minorly interested in what I can bring. I wouldnt y to that strength. No, I think Ill earn their respect by doing things they should think are impossible. He set eyes on the keep at the heart of the city. And I have just the tools to do it.
It wasnt a long walk from the library to the keep. A hoard of knowledge was understandably close to the centre. The busy crowds that walked through the streets spilled onto arge za. Density was lost on the open field of cobblestone and the previously narrowing avoiding people now distanced themselvesrgely from the out-of-ce Gamer, as he approached the retractable, wooden bridge.
From up close a number of things about the fortress revealed themselves as fit for the nobility. There were several entrances on the second and third story, as well asnding pads on top of the towers. All only made sense thanks to the flying ability of the Kyr. For the average citizen, there was a walkway across an incredibly disgusting moat. Hygiene standards of this world were awfully low and much of what was passed seemed tond in the moat. Its vileness was doubtlessly wanted. Everybody who entered that water with the smallest of cuts was guaranteed to get an infection. It was a simple and effective medieval defence strategy, often paired with sharpened sticks under the murky surface.
People in the middle ages were pretty smart, even if they hadnt figured a lot of stuff out yet, John surmised. Well, and malnutrition would have sliced a lot of IQ points out of the average peasants brain, but thats neither here nor there. John didnt actually want to approach from the front. Not at this point in time anyway. Alright, I need you two to wait here, he told Stirwin and Velka. Just sit right here.
Tilting her head, the Magryph obeyed, as did Stirwin. Sitting a few steps from the bridge, the two impressive animals of light and dark colouration (or literal light in one case) were left behind as their summoner/owner left to find an exploitable spot in the castlesyout. He didnt have to search for too long. Disturbing as the moat was, it was seldomly more than five metres wide. All John needed was one open window and a piece of brick that had fallen out of one of the nearby walls at some point.
Activating Arcana Ray at a range so low that he could hide the purple energy beam in his closed fist, John let the mana drain from him. He kept a close watch on his interface, waiting for an icon to appear under his HP bar. Once it was there, he waited for a little bit longer. A two appeared on top of the icon. Then a three. Finally, the highest it could go, a four. The Arcana Ray was deactivated and John flung the now Possessed piece of brick across the moat with a casual toss.
Itnded inside the building. Then John was inside the building. Shifting Momentum came in handy in situations like this.
The teleportation skill had five limitations. He could only teleport up to ten metres, he had to see the ground he was teleporting to, he had to generate stacks by spending 1400 mana on spells, he could only hold a limited amount of stacks and the stacks would decay after 160 seconds.
What by the winds? he heard a patrolling guard whisper. They had seen him toss the rock, but were now wondering where he had suddenly disappeared to. John had followed the normal ten metres teleport with the two metre that the Skittersteps allowed him to do. His steps silenced and invisible for one second was enough to take two of them. He let himself turn visible for one moment, then teleported with the next stack of Shifting Momentum, Skittersteps and walked another two steps.
He appeared just long enough that the people saw him flicker into existence, but not long enough that they did more than rear their head and wondered if they had even seen anything in the first ce. By thest teleport, John stopped in a remote corner of the grey-stone building. Then he waited.
After about ten minutes, a patrol crossed that part of the building. Hello, John greeted him nonchntly, when he came around the corner, you will answer my questions. His immediate shock was overtaken within moments by the deep rxation the Hypnotic Gaze invoked in people whose minds were vastly inferiorpared to Johns Charisma.
Yes, the person responded sheepishly.
The Gamer looked at the soldier in more detail. His chest was just as naked as that of the overseers, but his muscles were covered in oil and swirling tattoos. They seemed iplete, as if to indicate that his body was meant to remind him that he still had further to go in life. Who are you? the Gamer asked, hoping he would get a bit more out of the answer than Observe.
Ikyr, 55th sword of the kings guard, protector of King Roykal the Sixth and his family.
And I am so happy you arent a woman, John thought, momentarily distracted by the imagination of oiled up harpy breasts and the smooth midriff just below. This is what happens when my entire harem is knocked out for half a day, he reprimanded himself. I go to a different world, try to y divine messenger, but all I can think about is sticking my dick into monster girls I really cant have without doing things Im rather ufortable with. At least if I want to finish this Adventure today.
You can concentrate on your sexual conquests in another Kingdom, Stirwin supported his train of thought with a well-meaning nudge. If you would please continue with your infiltration. Your teleportation shenanigans have made the guards fidgety. I am quite certain they wille out here and see what we are up to any minute.
Is a crowd gathering around you?
Not yet. Do you need one for your ns?
Not necessarily.
Then I will just keep sitting here and stare down into this disgusting cesspool they call a moat, Stirwin grumbled into his mind. What use is a moat you cant swim in? Opening his metaphysical mouth, John was cut-off. It fulfils its defensive purpose. I know, John. Continue your interrogation, that would get us closer to our goal right now.
Who is the closest confidant of your king? John asked.
His spymaster, Lencekyr.
Where is that spymaster right now?
The dungeon.
Describe the way to me, John ordered and was then given a lengthy description of which corridors to follow and which flights of stairs to go down. Good. Now listen to me and listen to me carefully. You cannot tell anyone about this meeting. Only by the seven times seventh year of your life may you write down your memories of this day. Only by the seven plus seventieth year of your life may you tell people about this meeting. Your lips are sealed and your mind in service to the divine whole. This is the demand the messenger makes of you.
I understand.
And if you shall fail to heed this demand, I shalle for you and I shall show you that what you did will bring about the fall of your nation and your seeds and you will see that I need not do anything to bring this doom about and you will know that it was your acts alone that did it.
Yes.
What was that about? Stirwin wanted to know.
Well, the hypnotism is going to wear off, so I have to rely on intimidation.
All you need is for him not to ring the rm. All of this not write about it until you are 49 stuff is highly unnecessary.
His memory will be fuzzy by then and make the scene sound more dramatic than it actually was. It will add to the historical mysticism, John defended himself as he charged up another four stacks of Shifting Momentum. Itbines practical effects with a bit of entertainment on my part.
The pride-watch crocodile growled into his mind, Dont treat these people like toys just because you wont ever see them again. What you just told him will have him stressed for the rest of his life.
John stopped for a moment and considered that angle. How would he feel if he had just gotten mind controlled and been told that a simple few words could bring about the end of the nation. Worry not, Ikyr. As long as your intentions remain pure and your heart serves the wealth of all, you shall never know harm from me. John pulled a ring from his inventory, just a simple piece of Baelementium, and ced it in the mans hand. This will bless you, wherever you keep it.
Better, Stirwin decided. Gaia shouldnt let you loose on worlds where you can act unopposed. You help, but youre a giant dick about it. You essentially turn into the Horned Rat.
That stings, John protested.
Am I wrong?
No, Celestial Devourer, he answered like one of the many light elementals that came to seek the crocodiles advice.
Great that we agree, Stirwin responded in a warm voice. Now go find that spymaster. Your n is sound, I just have to keep preventing you from bing too much of the enigmatic overlord.
A service that was greatly appreciated.
Chapter 884 – Going on an Adventure 4 – Appearing to Court
Chapter 884 C Going on an Adventure 4 C Appearing to Court
Jack stopped in the middle of the street and began to hover. To onlookers, it must have first looked as if he was simply getting on his toes. Only when his feet disconnected from the floor did the people realize what was going on. From trying to avoid getting into his way, the many-faced crowd went to suddenly stand still and watch him ascend. A society built on the idea that the nobilitys supremacy was manifested in their ability to fly reacted predictably to someone who disyed that ability C especially without wings.
The Kyr that had been watching from the rooftops followed his slow ascent with stunned gazes. Mana rushed through their wings, tinting them the colour of the midnight sky, as they too began to hover. From all over the rooftops, guards and nobles concentrated on his position. Several had their hands on their weapons, but didnt draw them yet. They reacted to the unfamiliar sight with an expected level of self-control, given the experience with the overseers.
Without a word, Jack began to fly forwards and the crowd, on the roofs and on the street, began to follow him. They were enticed by the unusual sight. After all the time he had spent in Earths Abyss, that reaction was refreshing. There was a level of uncaring in the magical world of his home, created by a mixture of higher power and exposure to heavily enchanted objects and information through the inte.
At home, John would have needed to rearrange an entire city block to even get acknowledgement that he was doing something. Here, he could just slowly fly forwards and the entire city had their eyes on him. It was the closest he would ever get to doing a reveal to the mundane world, he felt.
You are withstanding your urge to make a grandiose speech, I am proud of you, Stirwins approving voice reached his mind.
Im trying to take this seriously, the Gamer responded. Not exactly a sign of character that I yed around as much as I did.
Some ws can be removed; some are part of the soul and require constant vignce. You will manage, the crocodile continued to give him advice in a friendly tone.
It was definitely good for everyone around John that he had a constant reality check in his ear. Had he just gotten his way whenever he wanted to force it through, he probably would have been an insufferable person. That and he would have made disastrous mistakes based on arrogance a lot more frequently than he did.
Dont they say that a rulers greatest skill has to be picking his advisors? John asked himself. Pretty great for me that fundamental advisors have been assigned to me by elemental contracts. If Stirwin wasnt doing this job, Lydia or Gnome would have to. Everyone else has their own issues when ites to remaining grounded. Even with the two he had mentioned, it was doubtful that they could serve as effective an anchor as Stirwin did. Lydia wasnt quite as tempted by her own pride as he was, but that didnt mean she didnt suffer from her position of power and the corruption it exuded. Gnome was just much too agreeable to say things outright, if she could avoid it. Stirwin didnt suffer either issue. He seemed simultaneously humble and courageous C with more than a note of savagery mixed in to give his words the weight they needed.
These things went through Johns head, while he made his double fly across the city. Hended between Velka and Stirwin. Come with me, Jack told the animalpanions, as he walked across the bridge. Once he was past the gate and into arge courtyard, filled with military equipment for training and to fight off sieges, he was finally stopped.
Halt! one of the crystal harpies shouted,nding in front of Jack. A woman with a lithe body and tanned skin, her moderate breasts only jiggling slightly as she moved around. The majority of her torso was covered in tattoos, aplete picture of whirling symbols. The Gamer wondered if the lines extended past the belt of her baggy pants. Despite being loose and flexible, the cloth was remarkably stretched around her butt. Seeking to stay focused, he raised his gaze. The most prominent feature of her attractive face were her eyes. Sharp and surrounded by a ck paint that served as mascara and warpaint, their blue colour was as calm as a ss of ice water in the summer.
If John hadnt wanted to have his first normalized intercourse with his harem, he would have tried seriously to get into her pants. She wasnt a haremette level beauty, but she was easily an eight out of ten, and her exotic appeal was the cherry on top. Also, as Observe revealed, she was single. As it was, however, the Gamer had other things to prioritize. If you wish so, Ety, he said and stopped in his tracks.
Do not speak my name so casually, stranger. Who are you? What makes you think you are allowed to enter the pce? the kings guard demanded to know. She must have been quite famous, to not be surprised that the Gamer so easily knew who she was.
Im John Newman, a traveller from Earth, the Gamer introduced himself. I arrived in your world a few hours ago. With me I bring my Magryph Velka The chimera looked at one of the many pebbles that were lodged between the cobblestones, as if she saw something of value underneath. Repeatedly, she picked at the ground. and my light elemental Stirwin.
A pleasure, Stirwin greeted with a nod of his head. That did raise a few eyebrows. John had seen neither elementals nor talking animals around here, so that was another thing quite rare in this world, it seemed.
I have read the entire history of your people, Jack continued, or what I could find, anyway, and decided that I know things in all walks of life that would benefit you. I am a ruler, where Ie from, and a man of personal might. Politically, scientifically and magically, I can elevate your world and I n to discuss it with your king.
Ety mustered him for several seconds, her fellow kings guards creating a ring around John. You im many things, she pointed out. Some of which I can believe. You clearly arent from here and you have the power of flight C despite yourck of divine wings. She made her own stretch a little bit. It was a tiny movement, the individual crystals parting slightly and then settling together again. Regardless, I cannot simply let you step before the king.
I understand, but I have other things to do today, Jack nonchntly responded. I demand a conference, by the right of thest conqueror.
Like many medieval societies, this world had a number of rarely invoked traditions based on actions of heroic figures. One such was the right of thest conqueror, who had united the eastern and western Kyr realm. To gain ess to his rival, the ruler had challenged the leader of the kings guard and won, thus gaining him an audience.
That right is reserved for Kyr, Ety responded.
And Roykal the first,st conqueror, dered that any who could fly and beat the head of his guard should be allowed to stand before him, just as he once had before his rival, Jack cited from one of the history books he had read. The right is reserved to those who can fly, not the Kyr.
Ety hesitated and looked over the crowd. Hes correct, someone yelled down from the walls. Others soon joined. Theologians, nobles and proud soldiers all joined into a choir. What does it matter anyway? There is no way this stranger can win! someone shouted, a sentiment that quickly grew through much of the courtyard.
Jack continued to smile. Ety narrowed her eyes, suspicious of his confidence. She wasnt the only one with a brain, but it only took a couple of people to get a chant going. It wasnt as if she could dismiss his challenge. Not without besmirching tradition and her own honour, anyway.
I, Ety, first of the kings guard, ept your demand, she said, to the cheer of the people and Velkas annoyed warble, as the Magryph continued to peck at the ground. She drew her weapon and the circle around them grew to simte an arena pit. The topless harpy entered a battle stance, holding her curved sword over her shoulder, ready to immediately perform a massive cleave. As per tradition, he had to bring his own weapons if he wanted to use them. The Gamer felt confident with only this body.
Ety waited for him to make a move. Deciding to make this short and decisive, Jack walked forwards, hands in his pockets. The moment he was in range, his opponent moved. Her form was exemry but her speed was too inferior to be of harm to the Gamer. Casually, he removed his left hand from his pocket and caught the weapon between two fingers.
With one tug, he pulled the sword out of Etys grasp, tossing it to the side. We y in different worlds, Jack said and gracefully bowed down to kiss the womans hand. Using all of his Charisma, he backed off from the gesture
Ety seemed slightly confused as to what had just happened, but only in regards to the kiss. So it appears, she answered. She took her loss in stride, while much of the remaining court was still silent. You are not like the men from here.
Ah, I could have her, he thought. I could have her with just a few words and deeds of heroism. A woman like her is often looking desperately for an equal or a better. Sadly, not today and today will be all I aim to be here for. Please, announce my intent to meet him to the king, he simply requested.
I will. It should not take long. Ety stepped away, the crowd parting around her. Many even followed her as she headed towards the stone stairs on the other side of the courtyard, leading up to arge wooden gate. Wide open, he could see the hall behind it. The throne room was situated right behind the courtyard, it seemed.
While they waited, Jack bowed down to Velka, who was still inspecting the ground.
Is there something underneath that tickles your senses? he asked and got a drawn-out warble in response. The oddly mechanical sound of a magpie was quite good at carrying certain emotions. Distress and annoyance, first and foremost. Scratching her neck, John made her understand that one of them wasnt necessary in the slightest. Well investigateter, he promised. Magryphs were famous treasure finders. Whatever was triggering her sixth sense, it must have been worth looking into. Even if the item was something they couldnt keep, John wanted to train her in telling him when she sensed something.
Tearing open the pavement wasnt exactly the path of action of a friendly guest, though, so he stayed clear of that for the moment. Instead, he waited for the ten minutes it took for Ety to appear again. You are now invited to enter, John Newman.
Jack stood straight and gestured for hispanions to follow. Stirwin had to nudge Velka into leaving the ground alone for now. Together, the three climbed the stairs and went inside.
The throne room could have been a straight copy from the Game of Thrones set. Row upon row of long banquet tables and benches stood parallel to the grey walls to Johns left and right. Banners hung between the high-up windows. On ground level, there were only doors, leading to the further out segments of the keep. The asional carpet and animal fur decorated the ground and two currently empty fireces would have created warmth in the winter.
Behind the only desk whose broad side faced the entrance and up another three steps were two thrones. One was barely more than a glorified chair, having more wood and cushioning to it than anything else in the hall. On it sat a middle-aged woman with sizable, crystal wings. They still werentrge enough to even remotely support physical flight, but they at least approached the general direction. She had been good-looking once, without a doubt, but she had not aged well and had deep wrinkles all over her face. Massive tits were just about the only thing John would have been interested in, as the medieval, red dress she wore betrayed her narrow hips.
The other truly deserved the title of throne, being a marvellous seat, fashioned from stone and decorated with gold and thick, red cloth. Six ck, crystal wings, likely the remains of previous monarchs, were attached to the throne. They were all smaller than the pair of the man seated on the throne.
He was an impressive specimen of a man. Not particrly tall, nor small for that matter, but broadly built. Muscles and a barrel-like gutbined to create a man who looked like he could bench press a boulder. His face didnt benefit from this look. He had three chins, one because of the fat and two because of the deep cleft in the regr one. His cheeks were full and round, making the upper half of his head seem small inparison.
King Roykal, Jack nodded respectfully, happy to not see an incestuous blob of a man, Im John Newman, I travelled from another world, as you likely have been informed.
That I have, the king answered, his voice a bit on the higher side. I would demand that you bow, but you bested my greatest warrior. I have no way to force you to pay respect.
Do not worry, I respect you C as a fellow ruler, Jack said. I will hold you to the same standards as I would myself and I bring gifts of much knowledge to your civilization.
Good, good, were always eager to hear what people from the anchor world bring us. Roykal nodded.
Jack smiled sweetly and announced, I do not know if I trust those words, given how many you poisoned.
Chapter 885 – Going on an Adventure 5 – The Trial
Chapter 885 C Going on an Adventure 5 C The Trial
It is easy to say you ept reforms from othernds, if you selectively murder everyone who says something that doesnt fit your vision, Jack continued, nonchntly rolling his neck while the entire court was taken by silence. The kings guard, the gathered nobility, the heads of influential merchant guilds and the rare peasant representative, they were all looking at Jack with a mixture of shock and awe. Slowly, their attention shifted to the king.
Who sat there in silence.
It wasnt the worst reaction he could have had. Immediate, passionate denial would have probably gotten him out of the situation the quickest, but at least he didnt go pale and start stammering about how bold a lie it was. By your own admission, you have only been here for a few hours. What gall do you have to fabricate such an usation?
I can be more specific if you wish, Roykal, the Gamer announced. Ten years ago, a man with red hair arrived. He talked of his home and how republics reigned just about everything. You had his wine poisoned. Three monthster, someone else in a suit simr to mine and with ck skin appeared. He told you that the guild system is poison. Of course, you couldnt destabilize your economy in such a fashion, so you presented him with exotic fruits C which just so happened to be extremely poisonous. Then there was a blonde woman, about two years ago, who you had stabbed because she suggested your society should be more modest in terms of clothing. Jack stopped for a moment. Now, I can understand that people telling you how to dress are annoying, but having them murdered in a dark alleyway isnt exactly the way to go about the criticism, you know? I could continue, but I think my point is made.
Again, Roykal was simply quiet. In his head, he was likely ordering his responses to put out something that would make all of these usations go away. Why would I kill these people but leave so many others alive?
You mean those who you kept at court for as long as they were useful, before sending them out elsewhere to use their education to design you better farming equipment? Because not everyone who gets stranded here from another world is educated enough to really question this state of affairs. Jack rubbed his chin, as the Gamers mind veered off elsewhere. I wonder how ites that this Kingdom sees so much interdimensional traffic. Maybe its just the centralized naturebined with the rtive smallness of the world that makes it easy to spot everyone whoes over?
Stay on topic, visitor, the king reprimanded, and the Gamer dide back to the then and there. It would have been a mistake to visibly drift from the topic like that, if Johns goal had been to definitely out-debate the king there. As it was, the Gamer was just waiting for Roykal to say the one line the crystal harpy royal needed to in order to end this discussion. You are certainly informed about many things, that much I admit, but your usations are without proof. Do you expect my court to take the word of a stranger over that of their king?
Of course not, he immediately relented. Im merely demonstrating my knowledge. Just by looking at you, I can read your secrets. Jacks gaze wandered over to random members of the court. Like you, Martryk. You always wondered if you would live up to what your mother expected. Jeryli, the childhood dreams on which you had topromise to serve your country are still with you to this day. Halibel, you stress about financial things too much. Tzyial, your hunger will never truly fade and you wonder if its a bad thing. He continued to rattle on for a little bit,bining what Observe told him with simple cold reading statements. He didnt have to be specific to create a gloomy aura in the room. Ety, you doubt you could ever find joy in marriage, he finished up with the attractive leader of the kings guard.
You have well established that you know things, but that does not prove your lies, the king dered.
Factually correct, Jack once more conceded the point. Just because I know many things doesnt mean that I cannot hide lies among them. Scepticism is healthy. I do not think you a fool, Roykal. I do, however, think you arecent and unwilling to do what must be done to further the wealth of the people. I wish to rece you with a candidate of my choosing.
John already had someone in mind, having scanned the crowd for the person with the highest Stats inbination with the right character traits. Just putting someone intelligent in charge wouldnt do any good if they didnt also have the Charisma to smooth over the wrinkles that being installed by a random traveller would create. It had to be someone ambitious, wise and, optimally, young.
If the society had been more advanced, John would have simply opted to topple over the entire system and rece it with something better. Given what he had to work with, that would have created the kind of strife that would have seen the realm go up in mes. Nobles would be at each others throat with the uninformed peasantry getting thrown into the furnace.
People would get murdered to have one talking head reced with another one. Unwinged men and women bleeding into fertile fields, turning dirt into mud. Death and strife would destroy any social progress wanted. Total destruction of entire generations. Perhaps even racial purges as radical elements came to the forefront. Nothing, no corpse or child would be sacred. Social norms would all copse into heinous acts.
The aristocrats the king began.
wont ept it, you wont ept it, yes, yes, Jack interrupted with a dismissive gesture. I think I have established my knowledge and my power by now. If I wished to do so, I could remove you by force and there would be nothing you could do. The authority of his words was somewhat undermined by Velka resuming her inspection of the floor. The front ws scratched over the stone, as she warbled, annoyed that it didnt just give in under her digging. However, I do not wish for any unnecessary bloodshed.
If you are not willing to usurp me and put a traitor to the world on the throne, then you might as well leave.
I cannot do that either, the Gamer stated.
Then were at an impasse, John, Roykal pointed out the obvious.
Indeed, Jack said and stepped forwards. Ever so slowly he approached the throne. The kings guard stepped in between, but the Gamer just ignored them.
Stop him, the king unwiselymanded.
A particrly eager kings guard charged at Jack. Guess the king didnt quite believe what Ety told him, John thought and caught the de between two fingers, just as he had in the duel minutes earlier. Rather than toss it away, Jack made a statement this time around by taking the tip of the de with his other hand and effortlessly bending it until the curved weapon described a nted oval. At the same time, a second attack mmed into his side. That sword became misshapen by the impact alone, while Jacks artificial outside was left unblemished. Do we really need to do more of this? I havent even cast a spell yet.
Swallow your pride, King Roykal, Stirwin got involved, tapping forwards while Velka managed to cut the first trenches into the stone. Her ws were quite sharp, even if she didnt yet have the strength to properly back up her swipes. By Abyssal standards anyway. When it came to a fight between Velka and a regr person, John would have bet on his Magryph.
The crocodile advanced as much of the kings guard backed away. Only Ety stood between Jack and her king still. Knowing that she had no chance did not stop her from fulfilling her duty. John very much liked that. Let the golden creature pass, the massive monarch mandated, and the leader of his guard stepped aside. What do you ask of me, exactly?
To think carefully, Stirwin advised. My summoners intentions are written on his sleeve and not even all of your forcesbined in this ce are able to stop him. That much should be obvious by now. All you can achieve by continuing to struggle against his will is to get your country and yourself killed. Yet, you are given the opportunity to instead negotiate. Make him prove beyond the disturbance of your court that he brings change.
Jack was suddenly at the throne. Having taken a couple quick steps, he had moved at a speed impossible for anyone around to react to. Bowing down he whispered, That aside, I can provide proof for everything I said earlier C and more. Kinying isnt a good look, I would say.
Finally, he managed to make Roykal go a bit pale. Jack backed off, knowing the carrot and stick had been properly applied. Now it was just a question of how exactly the king would react. Clearing his throat, he quickly regained hisposure. It seems that leaving you at an impasse would be unwise for my kingdom.
Unwise for you, yes, John thought, but only nodded with a smile. The Gamer had gotten him where he wanted him to be. There was no need to further antagonize. The credibility of the king was damaged and now John just needed to raise his standing in a short time. Given the situation, the thing I would do was to try and get me removed from the scene for as long as possible, to find a political solution, or just send me into certain death.
A trial, then! Roykal dered and Jack had to suppress a smile. To prove your strength and wisdom, you shall do a great service to us all. If youre sessful, I will allow you to name a new king from the people in the court.
Works for me, Jack announced. What will you have me do?
You are to find the long-lost silver fur of the royal family, Roykal announced.
The what now? the Gamer thought, not having any idea what was meant. Whatever it was, it had not been mentioned in the history books he had read. I should have taken the extra thirty minutes to read about legends. As you wish, he said and looked at Stirwin. The light spirit nodded and poked Velka in the side with his snout. After a few more nudges, the chimera followed the elemental outside.
Are you not going to go with them? Roykal wanted to know. Doubtlessly, he had hoped to remove the Gamer from the premise to call an emergency meeting of some variety. You can hardly fulfil your trial without attending it.
You underestimate my power still, Jack sighed and shook his head. Thinking that I can only be at one ce is in itself a facy. Now, while we wait for myself to be sessful, how about I tell you all about the theory and practicality of separation of powers?
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John did not like the air in the dungeon. It had that moist, stale feeling that seemed to cling to the back of his throat. There was also the smell of iron, stemming from chains and blood, along with excrement. Canalization wasnt a widely applied system yet, so buckets were the way to go and apparently lids were too good for the prisoners.
Ignoring all of that, John kept up eye contact with the kings spymaster. She was a voluptuous woman, a Kyr who hid her well-nourished body under a thick robe. Perhaps she simply found it too cold in the dungeon to reveal her chest like the rest of her kind or maybe she was just entric. One more question: what is the silver fur?
Officially, the silver fur is something that was stolen from the royal family by the great legged serpent, the short-haired woman responded in the sheepish tone of the hypnotized. In reality, it was the first of many payments to the monster to ensure it would only attack when we ask it to, devouring the political opponents of our winged royalty.
Hmm, I see how do you reach this serpent?
I do not know.
That was inconvenient, but not necessarily a hurdle. How do you get in contact?
There is an entrance to a vast cave system in the depths of the dungeon. We deposit our offerings and a message there and the great monster takes what we give. If it is pleased, it fulfils our request.
Where is this entrance?
In the fifth cell to the left, you will find a trapdoor under the sleeping mat. This will lead you to the secret dungeon. In the secret dungeon, there is a staircase that leads to the deepest cell. Inside there is a wooden horse. Move it to the side to reveal an entrance to the depths.
Thank you. Now, you would be best advised to never speak of this to anyone, the Gamer said. Not until twenty years have passed, anyway. Then you may let people know what transpired today. If you do anything before then, Ille back and you will have to fear worse than temporary loss over your mental faculties.
There was a knock on the door and John stood up. With the eye contact broken, the spymaster snapped for air, as if she had been under the surface for several minutes. What what is happening?! she wanted to know.
Im changing the course of your world, the Gamer responded, while opening the door and letting Stirwin and Velkae in. The Magryph was visible panting, having had to sprint heavily to keep up with the crocodile. In order to keep anyone from tailing them, they had needed to get away from the court as quickly as possible. Thanks to themotion Jack had made (and was still making), the castles defences were basically non-existent at the moment. Did you already pick up on the silver fur, hm? Or did you sense a hoard, maybe? he asked Velka, scratching the Magryphs head while he let her cool down. I hope this isnt too much excitement for you in a single day.
Velka answered by leaning into his scratches and purring. She was clearly having her fun. The same couldnt be said of the spymaster. What do you mean?! Who are you?!
John Newman. You should head up to the throne room to get the whole picture, the Gamer responded nonchntly. Again though, no talking about what happened down here. I dont particrly enjoy having to use the Hypnotic Gaze so aggressively albeit I willpromise on my morals a bit to topple outdated monarchies.
I Ill just go. The crystal harpy must have realized John wasnt going to give her any straight answers and simply walked out of the door, where several people were lying unconscious. John hadmanded all of them to sleep to avoid unnecessary witnesses.
We should keep moving as well, Stirwin pointed out.
Chapter 886 – Going on an Adventure 6 – The Great Serpent
Chapter 886 C Going on an Adventure 6 C The Great Serpent
The silence of the dark caves was interrupted only by the sound of dripping water and the trios steps. Johns and Stirwins steps, rather. Velka somehow managed to keep her front ws from scratching over the ground, while her feline hindlegs were naturally built for silent movement. Byparison, even with his Agility, John was a big, clunky hunk of meat and Stirwin simply didnt care to be stealthy. With his presence he illuminated the absolute darkness of the caves, so that would have been a wasted effort anyway.
A shrine, or something quite like a shrine, appeared before them. A boulder with a top made even not through the careful work of craftsmen but the brutal strength of supernatural ws. Covered in trenches, the top was about as smooth as a twenty-year-old cutting board. Empty and of little interest to the trio, they left it behind.
Lead the way, Velka, John told the ck and white feathered chimera. Her red eyes rose to him for a moment, the pupils narrowing from merely looking in Stirwins direction. She tilted her head. Show us the path to shiny, the Gamer added and made a leading gesture. Lead the way.
The Magryph took two steps and then looked over her shoulder. John and Stirwin followed. Slowly, Velka faced the darkness in front of her again. The crocodiles glow illuminated several metres ahead, but left even more of the dark undiscovered. Beyond the cavern they were currently in were several winding tunnels that extended for unknown distances into the darkness. Proven by the appearances of the fabled monster all over this Kingdom, this was just the start of a vastwork of caves.
Velka advanced and, after checking one more time the other two were following her, led them towards the leftmost of the tunnels. Sometimes she stopped, sniffing and looking at her surroundings. The magical machinations of her treasure finding must have been rted to her other senses in some way.
Interesting, John thought as he passed by under Jack. Through Possession, he could feel the rtive position of his Extension. I suspected the hoard to be directly underneath the court. Guess Velka was just feeling the general presence of a way towards riches? He looked at Velka, who pecked at the ground a couple of times, before moving on. Or perhaps well have to move in some sort of downwards spiral.
The second theory proved to be correct. Through tunnels either natural and craggy or excavated by massive ws, they continued to descend. Cockroaches the size of cats scurried in the deep. They stayed away from the trio. A single one ventured into Velkas direction and was impaled by an Arc Lance before its feelers could touch the Magryph. Other, simrly oversized, creepy crawling insects hushed around in the dark. They became more numerous as the group approached an underwaterke that had a foul smell beyond stale and rancid.
Bones, animal and human alike,y scattered across the stone shore. Stirwin opened his mouth and spewed out a ball of sma with a loud thud. Itunched across the distance, revealed massive piles of bones melded into a dark mass. The insects rapidly retreated from the light and the piles, on which they had been gnawing. The smanded in theke and rapidly faded.
Poop, Stirwin stated. John snorted. What? The crocodile turned to his summoner with the most puzzled expression a lizard could muster.
Just funny to hear a several millennia old godlike infinity elemental say that word, the Gamer said.
It is good that you still have an inner child, Stirwins warm, deep voice remarked. With a concerned hum, he turned to follow Velka. The Magryph had no interest in the piles, nor did she feel anything at seeing so many humanoid bones stacked up. How did they end in the creatures belly, you reckon?
Raids and sacrifices, John named the two obvious causes. Obviously it eats when ites out of here, and when they want it to remain down here, they need to feed it. The light spirit nodded and they continued on.
They came across another source of water, a moving river, which was as clear as any natural spring could be. Velka stopped there for a moment and took several sips. It had been a few hours, after all.
Deeper and deeper they went into the darkness. John kept drawing a map inside his mind. While the Magryphs senses could guide them to their target, relying on her to get back was not necessarily wise. Even if his own intellect and Velka failed him, he could just teleport out. Depending on whether or not he entered again where he left, that wasnt a viable strategy, however.
I wouldnt want this to end like Minecraft cave explorations, the Gamer thought, not too worried at the moment. He hadnt raised his Mental Stats as much as he did to forget the way back. I guess I could dig my way out if all else fails. Just need to keep moving towards Jack.
They were almost underneath the Extension again. Before them, the tunnel opened up, growing suddenly from a pathway into a massive, natural chamber. They stood on top of a ridge that led down into a basin which was filled with things that reflected Stirwins golden light with polished brilliance. Gemstones, gold, silver and pieces which were artistically valuable. A true hoard and something that Velka eximed her excitement towards by warbling and meowing repeatedly.
Stay. John used his authoritative tone to prevent her from jumping down immediately. Obeying, the Magryph tapped on the spot and rotated in an eager chase of her own tail. The proximity of this vast wealth had her act as if she had just eaten catnip. Even her pupils were dted. Then the earth began to quiver and Velka froze.
The sound of hundreds of pieces of gold moving filled the cavern with a cascade of pleasing rings. Red scales came into view. A four-legged long body with a long tail and neck but no wings. A t, serpent-like head with two horns rose up to John. It was big enough to swallow him whole, but overall the dragon now before him was among the smaller he had encountered so far, if not the smallest. He would have to put a measuring tape to Dramar and this one to be sure which of the two was longer. Given that the ck-scaled founder of the Abyss Auction also had wings, he was going to win in total size regardless.
John Observed the serpentine dragon and immediately smiled. Level 107, regr dragon, nothing to fear, he thought. Hello, Ssassathrax C I hope I pronounced that correctly.
The dragon stopped in just mustering him to pull back. I dont remember ssharing my name with any misserable ssnack on thiss world, Ssassathrax hissed, his toothless mouth lightly lisping every word. Where do youe from?
Earth, John responded.
Ssassathrax tilted his head. That isss not a world I know, he thought out loud. Then he leaned forwards again, until his snout almost touched John. Which begsss the question how you know me, ssnack. His tongue extended, a forked thing that would have slithered over the Gamers face, had he not smacked it aside.
Im not your snack, the Gamer made clear, opening his inventory to equip his battle regalia. Level 107 wasnt threatening, but it also wasnt something he could beat with his hands tied behind his back. I know your name because I have ess to magic that tells me about those I Observe.
The red, serpentine dragon hissed even more at both of his responses. Then sstate your name and businesss, creature, he demanded.
I am John Newman and I will retrieve the silver fur on request of the king, the Gamer responded. See, Im doing a bit of a lets call it societal advancement up there and he doesnt want that, so he sent me down here. Presumably to have you kill me.
And you came knowing that? Ssassathrax inspected John even more closely, while the Gamer kept close eye on every of the dragons movements. Although the majority of his lean body was still down there, a quick snap of his jaws could have ended Velka, and that was something John didnt want to risk.
I have my safety lines, should you have turned out to be stronger than me, John responded. Which you arent.
Ssassathrax blinked slowly. Two lids covered and then revealed his green eyes again. Silence filled the cave.
The pink insides of the maw opened around John. Two massive fangs snapped out of the top half, dripping with venom. The bite was stopped by a purple sh. John barely felt the fangs and the lower jaw pressing against Particle Skin. Completely nullified by the expense of mana, the attack didnt make him move. Slowly, the red dragon pulled back.
Ssso it isss, he admitted with an unwilling hiss. Will you leave my hoard alone, if I give you the silver fur?
No and yes, John said. Ssassathrax tilted his head in confusion and Stirwin gave his summoners leg a warning gnaw. Not wanting to be bitten in earnest by a party member that could ignore Particle Skin, John borated. I have no real interest in the rest of your hoard. However, Ive made it my task to improve conditions in this Kingdom. To that end, I give you an offer:e out of hiding and serve future rulers as an advisor. The wealth of this entire world will be your hoard, on the condition that you do not keep all of it around you at all times and that you stop eating humanoids.
Ssassathrax made a sceptical sound and looked over his shoulder. Greedy and materialistic as they were, dragons were difficult to convince that wealth they didnt sleep on was truly owned by them. If Dramar was anything to go by, it could be a sess, however, if John made the case that a hoard in motion brought more shinies than a stagnant hoard. You would have me give up all I currently have to advise my no-longer ssnackss?
You wouldnt give up anything. Before I arrived, you were the strongest being in this world and after I leave you will be again, John argued. Manage the resources of the state and you will see that wealth keeps flowing back to you. Make the nation prosperous and more and more artists will take up the crafts and forge simple bars of gold into fantastic figures. You couldmission paintings of yourself and have cooks prepare the finest meals for you, rather than having to raid what you can get from the border regions whenever you are hungry. The Gamer stopped for a second, let all of the good points fall on pleased ears before he continued with the threats, It certainly beats having to risk the anger of the people, doesnt it? As powerful as you are, if ever the entire world wanted you gone, then they could kill you. You would take dozens with you, hundreds maybe, but eventually they would get you. I offer you a clean start and guaranteed security.
And what if I refusse? the red dragon wanted to know.
Then I use your head and your hoard to earn me extra clout. The Gamers blunt hostility caused Ssassathrax to snap back, as if he had just been pped across the face. I admit, John continued in a more casual tone. Its not much of a choice, but you should be happy I give it to you in the first ce. The list of your sins isnt exactly short.
If the dragon had been a human, John would have executed him on the spot. Hundreds were dead because of him. However, the dragon hadnt eaten people for any malicious reason. For him, it had been a simple point of hunger. It would have been a waste to put a creature to death if it had talents that could be channelled otherwise. The dragon didnt need to be reformed, just to be incentivized to work for the good of the world. Governmental systems worked best if they made awful people do the right thing for selfish reasons.
What do you say, Ssassathrax? John asked.
Chapter 887 – Going on an Adventure Finale – The Holy Bun
Chapter 887 C Going on an Adventure Finale C The Holy Bun
and that is why devolution of powers leads to overall advancement despite obstructing radical change, Jack ended his lecture. The feudal crowd was silent, trying topletely digest all of the post-enlightenment political theory he had just dumped on them. This is normally where I would take questions, the Gamer continued and reached into his inventory, but I just got what you wanted.
Reaching into his inventory, Jack retrieved what his original body had just put into it. An object of polished silver, the shape and size of a six-sided die. It had nothing in ways of direction, simply reflecting the light that fell in through the windows. Gazes inspected what he had just pulled out of thin air. Once the surprise that he had been able to even do that faded, there was only scepticism.
That does not look like a silver fur, Roykal announced.
True, true, Jack admitted and took three steps backwards and toward the door. Dont worry, Ill prove it to you in a second. I just needed to give myself a clue where exactly the courtyard is.
What do you even mean by tha-? the royal Kyr began, just as a cracking sound echoed from the outside. It repeated a second, then a third time, giving Jack all the time he needed to step off to the side.
With a fourth and final crack, the pavement broke. A red-scaled arm surfaced, grabbed the rim of the hole and widened it with a couple tears, before the entire body of the serpentine dragon fit through and Ssassathrax surfaced. The entire court was in uproar, as the earthbound creature approached the wooden gate. Several of the kings guard went into movement, likely aiming to shut the dragon out, but Jack raised his hand in a dissuading gesture.
Halt! Etymanded and her subordinates obeyed. She understood that he didnt want to cause harm and wouldnt need to call a dragon to kill everyone in the room. As intimidated as everyone was, the harpy with the crystal wings still managed to maintain a level head. The Gamer continued to regret he wouldnt kiss those dark red lips.
Ssassathrax barely fit through the door, but a narrow fit still meant that he was able to enter. Lowering his head, the red dragon revealed, to the audience, the three beings sitting between the spikes along the monsters back.
John held Velka in his arms, while Stirwin had been able to hold onto the back by his own merits. The Gamer and the infinity elemental jumped off the red dragon. Dont enjoy their confusion too much, Stirwin reprimanded, while John grinned at the almost unified left-right motions of the courts heads as they looked from John to Jack and back. Even the spymaster, who already knew of the ability, looked bamboozled.
Itll onlyst for a bit, John responded, while kissing Velkas head. The feathered pet didnt seem to overly mind her lower body dangling from his hugging hold. Hope you enjoyed the ride? he asked the Magryph, who chirped like a mechanized swallow in response. Great.
Hello, me, Jack greeted John, just for the show. They were two bodies, but no amount of character differentiation ever urred. Even when John split his mind to make operation of one body not overly impede the thoughts and analysing of the other, it was impossible for him to hold a conversation with Jack that was different from thinking out loud.
Hello, John responded happily. Want to switch?
Well, Im sure Velka is happier with me, Jack answered, which was based in fact. The Magryph almost always preferred to be around the valuable Mand Sphere than just the regr Gamer. She was dly handed over, but protested when John took the silver cube and walked away with it.
To address your question, Roykal, John addressed the court again, holding up the object. This-
Forget about the silver fur, how dare you bring the great serpent into my halls?! Roykal exploded with anger. A calcted move, John had no doubt about it. Now that the Gamer threatened to clear all obstacles, appealing to raw emotion to discredit him was the way to go.
Ssassathrax and I agreed on a deal, John told the court. In which he will give his entire hoard to the kingdom and serve as the treasurer for the rest of his life, in order to make up for all his misdeeds in the past.
Itsss true, the red dragon lied in support. The actual motivation were his life and the promise of more money, but to preserve the former and assure thetter, Ssassathrax had no qualms about making things up. John Newman hass sshown me how heinousss my crimess have been. I ssshould have never agreed to the deal that Roykalss ancesstors made with me C wiping out vigess hiss dynassty deemed unwanted.
Lies and nder! Roykal shouted and rose from his throne. I will not have any more of this! Guards, remove him! Better for us to die gloriously in service to Kyrkind than listen to this snake!
The kings guard wasnt sure what to do. Disciplined as they were, they couldnt have been enthusiastic about running into certain death. Regardless, several put their hands on the handle of their weapons and visibly contemted. Wait. Once more it was Ety that spoke up, truly demonstrating why she was head of the military.
Wait? WAIT?! the queen spoke up for the first time in all of this. Ety, are you betraying your king? Roykal gave an order and it is the duty of the kings guard to carry out his demands.
It is the duty of the kings guard to protect the monarch and his family, the athletic harpy returned, her naked chest proudly pushed out. A duty I have met over the past four years and will continue to uphold. However, King Roykal gave his word to abscond were John to bring him the silver fur. If it is true that he has done so, I am under no obligation to obey your orders.
Roykals head went from the red of acted anger to the deep red of genuine rage, but kept himself under control. Simply smiling and posturing his confidence, John let attention drift back to him. Then it is on me to prove I have seeded in the trial, he said and held up the die. In his deep voice, he went for his best Gandalf impression and shouted, Awaken, silver fur! Pushing mana into the object, he then quickly tossed it to the ground.
The die bounced off the stone twice and then came to a halt in the open space between John and the gathered court. Kyr stared curiously at the object. Those that supported Roykal, for traditionalist or selfish reasons, had fear in their eyes. Fear that grew when the die liquified. The cube lost all edges and expanded in size several times, until it was about asrge as a teacup. The metallic surface shaped itself into several segments. A fuzzy body, with four legs, the hind ones clearlyrger, a rtivelyrge, round head and two long, spoon-shaped ears all formed. Whiskers extended from a pink-tinted button on the front and above to slits that opened to reveal to round, ck eyes. All of the whiskers began to quiver, as the small bunny raised its head and looked around, sniffing and looking awfully adorable.
The Silver Fur, John now spoke of it not as a simple description but a proper name, as promised, I have brought it to you. Now, uphold your end of the bargain and let me pick who shall sit on your throne.
Roykal looked to the people around him. To the expectant gazes of his supporters, the curious expressions of the uncaring or hostile, and the hard determination of Ety. Ultimately, he realized that there was no way for him to go but down. Fine, have your way, intruder, the soon-to-be-former king spat out.
Doesnt even have the courage to do what he demanded of his guard, John thought and looked over the crowd. Quickly, he found the person whose Stats and personality Observe had to be revealed to be the most suitable candidate. Marikyr, you will be the worlds next monarch, the Gamer dered.
The ck-haired man seemed surprised, but anyone would have been in that situation. Stepping out of the crowd, he gestured for his wife to follow. Both were well-tanned people with dark hair and good looks. Why me? he asked.
Because your portfolio looks the best, John thought, which wasnt exactly a great answer. Gaia has revealed to me that youre the best choice, he instead said. Do you refuse the crown?
No, I will do what I think is best for the kingdom, Marikyr responded, the ambition in in his voice. He was young, but not so young that he was na?ve and not so old that he was too set in his ways. His Intellect was a bit lower than John would have liked, but his Charisma was good enough to prevent the reforms John was about to propose from being torn down by rebelling traditionalists.
Marikyr and his wife wandered over to Roykal, who begrudgingly handed over the crown and walked away with the former queen in tow. Not just from the throne, but the room atrge, leaving the new queen to pick up the Silver Fur. John wasnt too worried. The only being that he left behind that could, on its own, smash the system he was setting up was Ssassathrax.
The precautions John took against that were simple: lies and the dragons own self-interest. As long as the monster remained convinced that the Gamer woulde back whenever their agreement was broken, Ssassathrax would remain loyal to it. Hopefully, noticing his own profit margin would keep him convinced beyond doubt. If not, well, the people here had lived with the monster before and they were going to after. Every system failed eventually, there was no avoiding that.
As Marikyr ced the crown on his head and sat down on the throne, two windows opened.
Then let us hear what more you have in store for our world, John Newman, the new monarch dered. Tell us exactly how you envision this separation of powers to look like and what role the great serpent is supposed to y.
Sure. Whenever you hear something that wont work with how things are set up, do tell me. Also, someone bring me some paper and a pen please, I need to draft a constitution. With those words said, John began the lengthy task of negotiating the exact form of the new state with Marikyr. The ck-haired harpy male gave pushback on several asions, which was good for his image. Disagreement undermined the idea many would have that he was a mere puppet.
Sometime through the discussion, Velka was let down to the ground and walked over to the queen and the silver fur in herp. She allowed the Magryph to take it away and y with it on the throne rooms floor. Despite having the shape and intelligence of a bunny, the Silver Fur didnt have the fear of predators, so it joined in the y quite happily.
Negotiations ended sessfully, with both Ssassathrax and Marikyr seeming content with their obligations and the constitution John had drafted up. Once things were signed, the Gamer got the final window of the Adventure Quest chain.
Fantastic, now I just need the ss Challenges done for thest level and I got it, he thought with arge smile on his face. I suppose that marks the end of my visit here then, he announced and gestured over to Jack. Ill send one of my many secondary bodies here every now and again. If you worsen the situation of your people, expect to see me.
Your warning is heard, Marikyr stated.
Loud and clear, Ssassathrax added.
Good, John said and looked over to Stirwin. His infinity elemental had had nothing to say for quite the while and just gave an approving nod. Then he raised his w and pointed over to Velka.
The Magryph tapped over to John, likely having noticed the change in the mood. She seemed ready to leave herself, but there was a slight problem. On her head sat the Silver Fur, fitting nicely between her ears. The metallic colour of the bunny harmonized nicely with the ck and white of Velkas fur and feathers.
Thats not ours, you will have to leave it here, John told the Magryph, who put a beak to his belt and beggingly pulled while making big eyes. Really big, red eyes, with miserable little sound apanying it. The effect was doubled by the, likely clueless, bunny on her head also looking at John with its ck, button-like eyes. Greedy bird, John grumbled, wrestling with his heart as to whether or not he fulfilled Velkas wish. With a sigh, he decided to give in. If you lose it, its your fault, he stated and turned towards the new king. Can I take the Silver Fur with me?
Marikyr shook his head, No. The Silver Fur is a long-lost symbol of royalty. Handing it over to you for free is a service beyond what Im willing to give you. For all the advancements you brought ryles today, I thank you, but you seem to have gotten things out of it yourself already.
He wasnt wrong, but John still felt somewhat slighted. The presence of Stirwin entered his mind, He needs something in return, are you willing to give something valuable up to please Velka?
The question was distracting enough that the Gamer was able to push aside his annoyance and think about it. Continuing to pull on his clothes, the Magryph was a steady disy of pity and she was really cute with that bunny. At the same time, the only things that John had with him were emergency foods, some test Tokens and his own equipment. In that situation, there was only one thing he could give away that would satisfy the new king.
I suppose it will also aid this government in being stable, John tried to sweeten the deal for himself, as he pulled the Talon of the Ravenlord out of his inventory. There was basically noparison between the practical worth of the weapon and the bunny. I should just get out of here and buy her a golem made from silver, he told himself, even as he presented the ded glove to the ruler. This is a weapon from my own arsenal. It can cut anything I have found on this world and possesses protective and aggressive enchantments. An eptable trade, right?
Marikyr was silent. He probably couldnt believe this either. May I? he asked and tested wearing the weapon after John gave the go-ahead. With a swatting motion, he cut through the armrest of his throne. Yes, this trade is eptable, he muttered, looking at the smooth trenches in the stone.
Great, fantastic, John grumbled, still not believing he just did that. Before he could regret it, he took the bunny from Velka, put it in his inventory so it woulde with him guaranteed and, along the happy warbles of the Magryph, left the Kingdom.
At least he had gotten what he came for.
Chapter 888 – All in a day’s work
Chapter 888 C All in a days work
Hello, the returning John greeted the living room.
Lethargically, Rave sat up on the couch and said, Heeeeyyyy, tigeerrrrr, in a vocal frill and then plopped back down. Throughout the room, other girls greeted him with as much energy as they could muster. Siena was reading a book, Metra yed an RPG on the tscreen, Eliza was browsing on theptop and Sylph was lying with her back against the ceiling. In the kitchen, Aclysia and Beatrice were chopping up ingredients for dinner. Their movementscked the usual master-chef speed, although their precision was still far above that of a normal person.
Wee back, Master, the elder maid greeted the Gamer with a slight smile. Food will be ready in thirty minutes. Were having leek soup with ham.
Sounds lovely, John hummed and let Velka enter the room behind him. Thanks for holding the fort down, Cappy.
Call me that again and I will hold a pillow down on your head tonight, the suncat warned, tail flopping against the backrest of the couch he was on top of. Otherwise, you are wee.
Tapping over to Eliza, Velka poked the blood mage softly in the thigh to get her attention. Under normal circumstances, the pretty little psycho would have been doting on the Magryph the second both were in the same room together, but even Eliza was still recovering from yesterday. Hmm? she asked, closing theptop to look down at Velka.
And the silver bunny sitting on her head.
Wha-wha-whyyyy is there a bunny?! Eliza eximed with a sudden rush of energy and reached down with a quivering hand. Reaching into the fuzzy fur, she coerced tiny honking sounds from the adorable critter. With a quick squeal, she removed theptop from herp and picked up the Silver Fur. At the same time, she tapped her emptyp. Velka took the signal and jumped up.
Insanely happy giggles echoed through the room as Eliza rubbed her face frantically against both Velka and the bunny. More than happy to receive this treatment, Velka erratically wound inside the hug, gave Eliza little kneading steps like a happy cat would, and softly nibbled on whatever was in front of her. The tiny bunny, in the meantime, had climbed on top of Elizas shoulder and was now affectionately pressing against the blood mages neck.
I wonder if it can sense good will or if its just that trusting, John thought as he walked towards his girlfriend. Discarding his clothes, he sat down next to her and allowed her to rest her head on his left thigh. Is that evenfortable? he wondered out loud.
Ya use thighs as pillows all the time, Rave responded, looking up to him with a somewhat tired gaze. It seemed like she had slept too much to pass out again, but wasnt done resting yet.
Yeah, but you have nice girl-thighs, John told her. Nice and smooth. I have brutish man-thighs, defined and muscr.
Ya know what my girl-brain says to that? Hamena, hamena, hamena, huuu. Rave giggled by the end of her response. My neck says nice support, so I dunno what your issue is.
The enigmas of sex differences, John mused and brushed some hairs away from her forehead to get a better look of her beautiful face. What about the thing between my thighs, hm?
Rave dot exe is currently not responding to sexual advances.
Should I try turning you off and on again?
Cant turn me on at the moment. Libido in recuperation mode. Rave gave him an apologetic look. Must be torture for ya not having sex the entire day, tiger.
Ill survive. John grinned and bowed down to kiss her forehead. You dont need to feel bad because I have to go one day without sticking my dick into anyone.
Dunno, I feel like a housewife thats not cooking for her husband. Ya know, if cooking for someone gave mind-blowing orgasms. Rave stretched, her midriff curving off the leather couch in all its mildly defined and smooth glory. Her skin was down to a pink-white colour, the Lightbearer had lost most of her tan by now. Just feels weird not being horny for a day. With one more sigh, sheid back down and nced at her boyfriends dick. Somehow, John managed to keep himself at half-mast. It was impossible to not get turned on at all in this environment, but the Wisdom was mightier than the Libido.
Thats just how much of an animal I am, John joked and got lightly pinched in the arm by his grinning girlfriend.
Sure, ya total stud. Anyway, where did ya get that bunny from? she pointed over to Eliza.
Who is adorable? You two are adorable, the blood mages energy levels had copsed back down to the previous levels and now she was softly whispering to the two animals she embraced. Just as John was about to answer the question, Nia made her way out of the shower room, saw Velka and the Silver Fur, and immediately appeared next to the chair. Velka purred for two, as she and the newest addition to her hoard were thoroughly scratched behind the ears.
I went on an Adventure, John finally managed to get the words out, without being distracted by the disy. He proceeded to tell Rave everything he had done since breakfast. Every word was broadcast through the mental connection as well, so the rest of the harem went up to date quickly. The talk managed to wake Sylph up, while the other elemental girls appeared in the room one after the other.
And ya did all of that in twelve hours? his girlfriend wanted to know.
Ten, actually, John responded, I spent thest two getting the final Gamer Challenges done.
Ya can do that without getting your dick sucked?
Gaia was nice enough to give me challenges that amounted to: crack every highscore in the local arcade, John responded. This game isnt well bnced whatsoever.
Did ya keep that Perk for me to gander at, at least? Rave wanted to know.
Yup, John confirmed and watched Rave fight her way into an upright position. I guess Lydia left?
Yeah, stormed out as soon as she could feel her legs again, Rave moaned, the unsexy kind, as her head went vertical. In quick support, she leaned against her boyfriend. He put his arm around her narrow waist and pulled her close. Feeling her bubble butt press against him did threaten his zen state, but he managed to keep his lust at medium levels. Where did ya leave Stirwin? she asked, resting her head on his shoulder.
He decided he should look after the Elemental Inds and make sure nothing was afoot while everyone else is out. It was a decision John was most thankful for. The light spirit was as reliable as ever. Alright, you ready? he asked and got a weak nod in response.
Like thest two times, the choice was pretty obvious and the alternatives annoyingly attractive.
Why would anyone ever pick Overhaul? Rave wondered, once she had read through the choices herself. Seems like a t butt.
Well, it would enable a specific ystyle where one can focus on getting better and better sses levelled up, John analysed. The two Max ss Level loss isnt even that bad, honestly. Because I keep the Skills, Perks that gave me the summoning Skills for Siena and Stirwin are essentially refunded. Its not that great in my current situation because I havent unlocked all that many advanced sses, but I can see its value. Right now, its not that great though.
Sounds reasonable, Rave said. Dunno between the other two. Miracle of Stat is better, right? No, wait Bncing the Sheet is? Not sure.
Depends on how you look at it, John scratched his head with his avable hand, only for Undine to put herself against that side. The rest of the harem congealed around his position swiftly, all taking an interest in the final choice of the ss. Eliza got to hold the bunny, while Nia ced Velka on the backrest. The Magryph enjoyed pats from all directions for a few seconds, then decided she had better things to do elsewhere.
Miracle of Stat gives more power with time, the dark-blue slimegirl asserted. 305 Stat Points now, 695 more over the levels, plus whatever bonus there is on the chosen Stat. Bncing the Sheet only gives 303 Stat Points.
Metra hummed and the couch creaked when she leaned onto it with all of her weight. 30 ss Levels though, the ancient weapon pointed out. I think thats a bit more valuable a resource. Also, he can put those points wherever he wants.
Yeah, the Gamer agreed. I think Bncing the Sheet is the obvious better choice here. Miracle of Stat might be better by the time I reach thete game, but 30 ss Levels means I can get a whole slew of other Perks quickly that will get me all kinds of advantages right now. At least a few of those are bound to themselves be awesome in the long run.
Harem approves of the Bncing the Sheet choice, Rave dered and John pushed the button. With the finalization of the ss, two expected windows opened.
That was kind of useless to John. It was incredibly rare that he used the level granting feature in the first ce. Doubtlessly to Gaias satisfaction. If the mechanic had been easily used, the Gamer could have mass-produced soldiers far above the average power. If he ever found himself a protg he wanted to take the time for and carry up, the Modification mighte in handy, but otherwise John felt this was going to stay on the backburner.
Well, there is a choice Im not sure about, John mumbled.
What are you fucking talking about? Scarlett wanted to know, the only one with a proper amount of power behind her voice. Caffeine was the most likely exnation for that. Lots and lots of caffeine. Grand Strategy is the way to go, obviously.
Dunno, Scarly, Rave retorted. Harem Gamer does sound pretty nice. We already skipped on the better sex route after Lover Boy.
How, after yesterday, can ya POSSIBLY ask for better sex still?! Scarlett cried out.
Im a greedy gal, what can I say?
So am I and I like money, the redhead rubbed her fingers together.
Were already super rich, we dont really need the extra bit, Rave responded. We can get stuff elsewhere, but we only have the one John and I feel like we should optimize him for our pleasure.
And once more I get objectified, the Gamer let out an over-exaggerated sigh. Seriously though, I dont know either. Obviously Grand Strategy is the way to go when ites to ruing the advantages for Fusion, but it just feels wrong for me to not have a lewd path to advance on thats just not what my life is about. Undecided, he stroked his chin. Alright, well make this a democratic decision, he dered, please split into Harem, Strategy and undecided faction.
W-what about Pro-Gamer? Gnome wanted to know.
Uninteresting to me, John simply retorted and watched as his harem split into three camps. The Harem faction consisted of Rave, Aclysia, Sylph, Siena and Metra, while the Grand Strategy faction was made up of Scarlett, Undine, Gnome, Nia and, after a quick phone call, Lydia. Undecided were Beatrice, Smander and Eliza. In order to break the tie, Rave invoked the obvious choice Nathalia would have made, if she were there. To counter, Gnome brought up Momo. With that route exhausted, the factions turned to the undecided voters.
Eliza was the first to be coerced to one side, walking over to the Grand Strategy clique. Smander quickly went over to the Harem side to counter, leaving Beatrice to break the stalemate.
Calcting, the passive maid said, while she stood between the faction. Calcting calcting
The Guild Hall is a treasure trove, Scarlett argued. A literal mount of endless fucking supplies. Why the fuck wouldnt we go with the ss that makes it even better?! Why is this an argument were having?!
Calcting.
Cause were going to spend eternity together and it might as well feel as good as possible, Rave retorted. Aint that difficult to understand.
Calcting.
Therell be other ways to get his dick nicer, Scarlett crossed her arms. Some other ss will unlock, theres basically no doubt about it.
Calcting.
Reverse Uno Card! Rave dered. Just as likely hell get another ss for the Guild Hall eventually. Architect or something, I dunno!
Conclusion reached, Beatrice said and all eyes wandered to her as she, in turn, wandered over to Raves side. Exnation: future sses for both scenarios are indeed likely. However, as the base ss for sex, Lover Boy, has already been maximized, a new ss for buildings is more likely.
John nodded, Scarlett sighed but relented, and the decision was made.
The ss bonuses looked pretty nice on the face of it. John wouldnt invest into it in the near future, because the pleasure bonus would remain disabled until Lovers Mark went online again. No Overclock window popped up, which was weird, but John guessed that the Gamer ss just didn''t have one such Skill. It was the base one exclusive to him, after all.
Alright, so the Harem Party mechanic John opened a few tabs to check what that was about. Okay, so apparently everyone who is in a dedicated rtionship with me and knowingly part of the harem can now use Guild Hall Buildings regardless of guild membership status
Oooh, thats gonna be useful for Lydia, Rave remarked.
and every action made now counts towards level bestowal in addition to the progress they naturally make, John finished reading out the description. Its going to be useful in keeping you all caught up to my level. Some nice utility, but nothing else. He switched back to his character screen. Now to invest all of those Stat Points
The first dump went towards Charisma, bringing the Stat up to 250. That triggered its own little flood of windows.
That was something that could be immensely useful. If it wasnt useful, it was at least pretty awesome. John had long wondered when his wrath would cause people to feel proper existential dread and there it was.
Slightly annoying that it was immediately disabled, but John could live with it. At least Gaia was nice enough to unlock it earlier than it would have been, had he had it before Overclocking.
Things just keep happening today, John thought with a grin. That ss seems nice utility wise. Ill have to make a priority list of what sses I focus on next. Given that I now have 30 ss Levels to spare, I can push several along at once. Before he dedicated his mind to that task, however, there was the question of where to put the remaining 264 points. After only a short deliberation, he decided to dump it all into Wisdom. That did not give him another scaling increase, but his mana regeneration still rose from 33 to 47.
A very productive day, no doubt about it.
Chapter 889 – A Skilled Lover
Chapter 889 C A Skilled Lover
John awoke to the desperate moans of his assembled harem and the feeling of a tongue sliding over his morning wood. The girls must have woken up before him, an unsurprising development given how much time they had spent resting yesterday, and were now ovee by their resurgent Libido C just as John had predicted. Raising the Mand Sphere above the crowd and quickly putting in his contact lenses, the Gamer saw exactly what was happening.
All but one of his girls were in an almost orderly circle around him. With flustered expressions and ssy eyes, they were working their sensitive cunts. Unupied hands and lips asionally extended to their neighbours. Tit grabs, nipple sucking and kisses were exchanged along delighted whispers and lustful sighs, while the masturbating filled the room with wet sounds. There were stains all over the bed, indicating that they had been dealing with their urges at several points throughout the night.
Even the sole girl actually attending John was rubbing her own cunt. With her round, full, delicious and simply wonderful bubble butt raised, Rave presented her dripping pussy to the hovering Mand Sphere. The Lightbearer knew, without a doubt, that he was watching, wiggling her ass towards the Extension just as her eyes connected with Johns. The pink lustre in the baby blue moved around her pupils like a two-dimensional representation of the aurora borealis.
She kissed his balls, extended her tongue and slowly made her way to the top. John groaned, letting her know just how much she pleased him. Departing from his cock at the tip, she pumped his morning wood with her other hand as she purred, Morning, tiger.
Morning, Jane, he smiled at her, not losing any time, hm?
Cant wait any longer, she gasped, two fingers rapidly moving in and out of her pink folds. Been smelling ya all night. This kitty is in heat. Raves sex drive is on overdrive now. She bowed down and perversely pressed her face against his cock, inhaling deep through her nose, while her full lower lip brushed against the base of his seed-filled sack. Weve been masturbating and helping each other all night. Its just not the same without your cock.
Feeling every word brush over his manhood only made his own lust rise higher. Is that so? he asked, looking over to Metra, who presented her parted legs to him with no shame whatsoever. He knew it was true, but he wanted to hear it. Did you spend the night indulging each other?
Yes, my king, the First of Wrath panted.
His gaze wandered over to Gnome, who was upright on her knees and working her pussy with both hands. Looking at each other and me while you took care of your pent-up desires?
Yesssssshhhhh, the voyeuristic autumn elemental shouted, while cumming.
Rising out of shallow, wet dreams, to rub your cunts in a desperate attempt to feel just a bit of the satisfaction I brought to you two days ago? the Gamer asked Aclysia, the maid looking back over her shoulder. She had chosen her pose to present her fat, jiggly ass to him, including the butt plug she had inserted at some point over the night.
Yesss, Master, she cried.
Directing his attention back to Rave, whose breathing became heavier the longer she exposed herself to his scent, John asked, How did you manage to get the rest of our beloved harem to wait? He reached down, put a hand on the side of her gorgeous face. She leaned into the touch like a needy dog.
GF privilege, she hastily answered in turn. Her eyes crossed when she focused on the drip of precum oozing from the engorged head of his member. Naughty GF privilege. I get to test ya out without your sex Perks first.
Well, go ahead, John encouraged her. His cock was quivering with anticipation. He was just as needy as the harem, having not cum in over twenty-four hours. The big difference was that he couldnt take care of this himself. Something that Rave knew and grinned because of. Teasing thing that she could be, she was only slowly beginning to move..
Her lips kissed the lower half of his shaft, slowly going upwards. Still so hot, she mewled to the rising moans of the harem. The visual aid was helping the bunch of debauched women in their self-pleasuring. What Rave did, they imagined doing themselves. More than a few of the gorgeous sluts were sucking on their fingers to get at least a little bit of the feeling. Still so big, Rave continued, nibbling on the sensitive spot underneath the engorged head. Finally, she moved up and licked the precum off the tip. Salty, she remarked, been a while since I tasted that. Even Aclysia tastes more sweet than anything
Rave spared herself further words and John the question of whether she minded the taste or not by enveloping his shaft with her lips and going down. Slowly, she took him into her mouth, letting her throat get stretched by the girth bit by bit while her boyfriend groaned with delight. God, youre good at this, he whispered while her tongue massaged what didnt prate the back of her mouth. His handid in her soft, wild mane, but he let her dictate the pace.
She slid back up, her lips a tight seal around his erection. For a moment, it looked like she would let go entirely. If she wanted to say something, she must have decided otherwise. His dick was almost out, when she suddenly reversed the direction and went all the way back down. Fingers pumping, head softly gyrating, his cock was surrounded by the shifting and vibrating walls of his moaning girlfriend.
Something switched. From one second to the other, Rave went all out. Up and down, her head bobbed. First the entire length of his shaft, then only the upper half repeatedly vanished inside her greedy mouth. Her hand attended to the saliva-drenched, uncovered bit of his cock. It moved with slow rhythm, while her mouths furious pace caused a great number of lewd sucking sounds. Only her fingers working her cunt moved as fast.
Im cumming, John moaned and Rave slid up until her lips tightly sat around his ns. Her tongue pressed against that most sensitive spot, her hand went up and down in milking motions and brought him over the edge. His cum in its usual, absurd quantity started to pump into Raves mouth. A series of muffled screams came alongside the spurts, as her fingers came to a quivering halt. Whether by her bodys association of pleasure with the texture of his cum, sheer timing on the Lightbearers part or abination of both, she was orgasming while his seed filled her mouth.
Although she did climax, John could easily see the difference between what his cum normally did to her and what was happening at the moment. She was quivering and her pussy was drenched, but she wasnt spasming and gushing all over the sheets. She moved with lustful calction, rather than ecstatic instincts, as she kept milking everyst drop from him.
When she finally was satisfied with the amount of semen she had received, she raised her head and presented the thick white load. With a curious expression, she closed her mouth and swirled the liquid around with her tongue for a little bit, before gulping it down with some difficulty. Kinda bitter, she told him, way thicker than your spunk used to be and more of it too. She licked her lips. I still like it though.
Because youre a good girl, John remarked.
Nah, Im the best girl. Rave grinned while she turned around and straddled his hips. Imma get a really nice impression of this dick before ya show me how good ya are without the extra. Not dreaming of ever denying himself a reverse cowgirl by his bottom-heavy girlfriend, John just positioned himself morefortably on his pillow and watched Rave impale herself on his dick. Aaahhh, she let out a high-pitched sigh. Same big dick that made me addicted to sex sex with you Gaia, I just cant get enough of it its stretching me out so nicely yesss, thats it. She had him all the way inside.
Good that size wasnt part of the nerfs, John said.
I could dig it, its really the guy that this is attached to that I like. Raves response was underlined by a drawn-out moan as she rose just a bit from his groin and gyrated. Tight folds massaged his cock with every movement. Long as ya dont get the tiniest pecker ever.
I dont know if I can share that sentiment. Without this butt, how could I love you? John joked and reached down to give her backside a nice squeeze with both hands. The firm and squishy meat incredibly pleasing under his fingers and the trenches he pressed into it were a wonderful sight, even in the little light of the room.
Hmm, if ya like that butt so much, why dont ya marry it?
I am considering how and when to propose, John hummed and nced over to the desperate crowd still masturbating. How about we speed things up a little bit so the rest of our harem doesnt need to keep themselvespany for too long?
Sure thing, but ya asked for this. Rave smiled over her shoulder. Then she slid upwards and downwards, her pussy juices coating his cock and drawing gooey strands between her cunt and his groin. Upwards and downwards, she elerated her tempo, the affair growing wetter and more debauched with every second. Soon she moved so fast that she couldnt prevent herself from connecting to his groin with each descent. Upwards and downwards, she went beyond the speed and strength of regr humans. Her ass rippled magnificently with each bed-shaking m.
John was holding onto her hips, added tiny thrusts where he could, but was otherwise dominated by the physical superiority of his girlfriend. Pressed down by her delightfully fat ass, he could do little more than watch through both avable angles. Her decently sized breasts jiggled. One hand rubbed her clit, the other wed into her own thigh. Half-closed eyelids gave way to a hazy gaze. Her wild screams echoed through the room, grew louder and louder in pitch, then stopped together with her movements.
Tightly, her folds gripped his massive member while the asional climactic groan escaped Rave. Having ousted her, the Gamer already felt somewhat aplished in terms of proving his abilities without his Skills. However, he wasnt done until he sent his lover into a true moment of ecstasy. He waited for a little while, letting her calm down, before moving.
With a thrust upwards and a gentle shove, John made his girlfriend topple forwards. Quickly, he sat up, pulled his legs in and pulled out of Rave for just long enough to change positions. Her fantastic ass was now in front of him, raised and pushed out like it had been when she had sucked him off. The hand that had been working her cunt was now spreading it open for him. The well-fucked pink folds weed him back in with a series of post-orgasmic shivers.
He started fucking her immediately. pping against her round bottom and spanking both cheeks. Each time, she let out a loud cry of delighted pain. Flushed skin turned even redder where his hands had connected. John bowed over her, hid her athletic, bottom-heavy curves under his muscr frame. He kissed her neck, her shoulder, indulged in the sweet taste of her skin and smooth feeling under his lips. He kept away from her ear, knowing that she wasnt too sensitive there. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and mercilessly hammered her with all he had to give.
Oh-oh-oh-oh, she let out choppy sounds. Her gorgeous face was distorted into a nk expression of lust. Her mouth, agape, her eyes, barely open, her gaze, dull and perverted, all let John know he was going about this in all the right ways. Regardless, he slowed, moving to a more sensuous pace. He pulled her upright with him. All of her drop-dead gorgeous being was pressed against his chest and confined in his embrace.
I love you, Jane, he whispered into her ear and smelled her hair. Bubble-gum and peppermint filled his nostrils, while his hands explored a body he knew as well as only fourteen others. Regardless, each little rise and fall of her softly defined midriff was a fantastic experience. Cupping her breasts in his hands, one after the other, as great now as it had been the first time. He reached for her clit and listened to the sharp gasp that his skilful touch triggered as if it was a newly written symphony.
He was gentle or hard, wherever it was appropriate. He kissed and bit her, fondled her breasts and twisted her nipples, massaged and feverishly rubbed her clit, all while making love to and fucking her. Raves hands found his, lying on their backs with the gentle touch of a woman entranced. Just like that, she whispered. Keep keep going yessss
John obeyed her desire and made the final moments of their intercourse a tender affair. His right worked diligently on her clit. His left not only attended her breasts but brushed over the rest of her body as well. His kisses reached her cheek. His thrusts were steady, slow and deep. Each one brought him closer to release, yet he didnt elerate. He only listened to her.
Yes its so big so deep inside me I want you to fill me up I want your cum, tiger. Her eyes were closed, her body quivering and pressing against him. I need your cum to fill me Her words were steady, had a whining undertone. It was far from the rough finale John so often enjoyed, but no less ecstatic. Please cum, she begged, the quivering growing into a series of spasms.
Her pussy contracted around him one more time and John sank all the way inside her with a deep groan. Then his lust boiled over with an intense rise in his pleasure and he came. Spurted thick seed into her womb and felt her pussy gush all over his fingers while she squirted and drenched the sheets. Rave only moaned quietly; her body didnt spasm wildly, but the intensity of her orgasm was written on her face and the way her pussy milked him of everyst drop he had to offer.
Slow and heavy, their controlled breathing echoed in the room. Eager haremettes waited quietly for the resolution of the scene before them. Rave let out a long exhale and then said, Ya still got it, tiger, with a big smile. Time for the regr good morning orgy, Id say.
John kissed her neck and made the Mand Sphere transform. A splendid idea, he said, as the remaining women all crawled towards him or his double. He would have to satisfy all of them.
And he did not disappoint.
Chapter 890 – To prioritize and to forge
Chapter 890 C To prioritize and to forge
The harem left the bedroom a little less overtaken but no less satisfied and half an hourter than usual. Even without most of his sexual skills, he was still more than able to satisfy his women. Admittedly, the one thing he still had, being able to cum an unlimited amount of times, was rather key to making the morning of over a dozen loyal nymphomaniacs. It was good to know that he had the skill beyond his Skills to please the female physique, was all.
It served as a rather substantial ego-boost. He only had sex one time before he got Fucking and that had been the day he popped his cherry with Rave. It had been alright. He had almost blundered bying on his first stroke, but he had managed to remain hard despite that thanks to (for the most part) the Stats he was born with. The old Masturbation Skill had allowed him to cum more times a day than the average, but it hadnt guaranteed him the continued hard-on. That was just the Libido he already had.
Even with that boon, he had only managed to make his first time pretty good. That had been enough for him at the time, but the John Newman from back then was barelyparable to the one that he was now. Hundreds of incremental changes had formed a superior person. Superior even in sex, as this morning had proved. Pretty good sex just didnt cut it when it came to his lovemaking. His pride wouldnt allow it. His girls had to be so satisfied that they wouldnt even think about other men.
Is that my pride or my paranoia talking now? John wondered to himself and chased the thoughts off by grabbing some more of Aclysias delicious French toast off his te. It was a noticeable improvement of his own cooking from yesterday. Scarlett, Metra, I want you toe with me before you go after your own things today.
Getting your dumbass date Challenge done? Scarlett asked, still somewhat irked about his decision yesterday. Not enough to keep pestering about it, but enough to get the asional quip in. Because I have better things to do with my working hours.
No, Im going to focus on Arcanist, Unfound and Fateweaver for now, John told her. That was the trio of sses he thought deserved being raised the most, with Unfound being potentially swapped out for something else, should he find the Perks of the ss to not deliver what he wanted them to. Much as I like having a sex-focused ss, Im not raising it at the moment.
Which just goes to show how fucking useless that ss ispared to upping your infrastructure, the redhead grumbled into her coffee. In absence of his cum having awakening properties, Scarlett had to default back to caffeine.
It was very much the dumb decision, I went with my passion on that one. John gave her a disarming smile. You know how I am.
Downing the entire cup. Scarlett carefully ced the empty vessel back on the table and sighed, I cant stay mad at ya, you sex-absorbed moron. Grabbing knife and fork, she cut her own French toast into bite-sized pieces. If its not the date, what do you want?
I want to take both of you to the Foundry to-
Metra mmed her hands on the table and leaned over to her king candidate with a fervent expression on her face. IS IT FUCKING DONE?! she screamed her excitement. Her breathing intensified in anticipation, then in anger when John demonstratively sipped on his orange juice. Come oooon, sheined, Ive had to work with that shit axe for so long, I deserve a proper weapon!
I agree, but you wont learn things quicker if you interrupt me, he reprimanded her.
Sorry, sorry, sorry. Metra sat back down, fidgeting and drumming with her fingers on the edge of the table. Please continue, my king.
As I was saying, I want to take both of you to the Foundry to check on the progress of things, John told them. First, I want to see how the coin presses are doing and then, yes, Metra, I want to see if Marathyu finished your weapon. We might have to go to the Weapon Manufactory to check on that though.
The Foundry had the better smelting equipment, but when it came to actual forging tools, the Weapon Manufactory provided much greater variety and quality. A workshop had been manually added to the former Guild Hall Building, but Marathyu was naturally drawn to the best forges Fusion had to offer.
I dont fucking care where I need to go as long as you give me that ungodly powerful weapon! Metra dered. In her excitement, she started to y with her own body, different kinds of desires mixing to create a wave of lust. Strongest weapon in existence, that sounds so fa-ah-r up my alley, she gasped wantonly.
A confusing term, Undine chimed into the conversation.
What do you mean? John asked.
Strimata is strong C but strongest? What does that mean? What qualifies as a weapon? The goth slime tilted her head quizzically. Does a nuke qualify as a weapon? Does Lunas weapon form? Wouldnt either be stronger than Strimata?
Well, a nuke would definitely not be, John responded after pondering the question for a second. Destructive as atomic bombs are, they have a couple severe limitations. They are incredibly difficult to get to a position, difficult to produce and are gone after a single use. If you have a weapon that can kill one million people once or one that can kill a hundred people an endless amount of times, one may have more destructive capabilities in the moment, but I think the other is stronger.
Stronger being defined as uhm, Gnome held her tea with both hands, as she thought about the best formtion, as the ovepping of all attributes important to a weapon anding out on top in aggregate?
Thats how I would read it, yeah, John nodded.
Who the fuck cares?! Metra wanted to know. Give me something that can cave inds in!
Well, we arent leaving until Ive finished breakfast, so we might as well have the conversation. John pointed down on his half-empty te. Metra red at the half-full obstacle towards her new armament. Anyway, when ites to Luna I honestly dont know. Maybe she isnt being counted as a weapon because she is primarily an elemental or perhaps Strimata is actually stronger but Lydia being so far below Romulus level means it doesnt show yet.
Makes sense, Undines melodic voice formed her agreement.
Did anyone ever tell ya that ya say well a lot? Rave asked.
Smander snorted with amusement, Dont YOU of all people start about speech quirks.
______________________________________________________________________________
John turned the coin in his hand. It was forged from a water rted metal and had the expected azure blue colour. As was typical for a coin, it had a side showing the number it was supposed to be worth and one with an image imprinted into it. It was one sixth of Fusions symbol, the wateret that would have normally shed with the other five elementals to fuse, symbolically representing the name of the Federation. Elizas design carried nicely onto the metal, albeit looking less like aet and more like a water me,pletely on its own.
Add some ice to the design, John decided, you know, the kind of patterns you see in snowkes.
As you wish, Mister President. The administrator of the newly formed Currency Control Office nodded and wrote the order down on a notepad. From him, it would flow to the designers, woodcarvers and smiths, who would then adjust the mint. As a collector, John pocketed the test coin and looked over to Scarlett.
Bowed over the other coins on disy, she inspected each with a careful eye. There were a lot of them. There were eighteen coins alone for elemental metals, six of each element in three different rarities. Additionally, there were the mundane coins, copper, iron, silver, gold and tinum, and the non-singr element coins, Baelementium of the bnced, Light and Shadow infused variety, as well as Elementium itself. There even was a Mithril coin. The rarer metals were unlikely to be minted outside of festive asions, but the design had to be made either way.
The value of the coins was as objective as they could make it without going into the decimals. It may have been more urate to have 1 Ohkium trante into 1,13 Sylia, but it wouldnt have served well economically. Scarlett put the coin she was holding back down on the table. Well have to keep eyes on people trying to abuse the imbnce in metal worth for quick money.
Yeah, John agreed. I was thinking that smelting coins should be illegal outside of Fusion-approved facilities.
If there was an imbnce in real value of coins of the same worth bracket, someone who was already rich could exchange all of his coins into one variety. If bnce went so out of whack that one fire coin was worth twice all other coins, then one could just go to the bank, get all of the fire coins avable for equal exchange of value and then sell all of the coins as regr metal to the market at a two to one profit margin.
Should be enough if slowing actions are put into ce, Scarlett agreed. Because the Guild Hall produced a roughly equal amount of all the metals, prices should never deviate too much and any movements out of bonds quickly recuperate. National stockpile of metals to deploy an emergency fix would also be wise.
I already put a stockpile tax into motion, John answered. One gram per kilo mined in the Guild Hall will go to the Currency Control Office. By keeping a substantial amount of metal stockpiled, they could flood the market in an emergency situation and drive prices towards equal levels, foiling exploitative tactics in the process. The true value of the stockpile wasnt to actually use it, but that its existence dissuaded people from even trying.
Only two things that are certain are death and taxes. Scarlett was visibly unhappy that she was giving advice on expanding government influence on the marketce. Because nothing crashed free trade quicker than a non-functional currency, she was forced to swallow it, however.
Mint one of each of these and send them to the Abyss Auction, John told the present administrator. Designs aside, they will want to test the purity of the Tokens. Did we reach a decision on what we do with elemental metals between these three rarity categories?
We came up with two possible models, Mister President, the administrator responded. Either we create additional categories or we smelt down lower and higher-level metals and mix them until the internal energy levels have normalized into the currently approved categories.
Do thetter, the Gamer decided. We have the Foundry to automate much of that task. Better to not increase the administrative burden of the control instances by needlessly inting the number of values they have to check on.
As you wish, Mister President. The administrator scribbled another note.
That will be all then. Is Marathyu in the Foundry? Despite not being under the Currency Control Offices purview, John expected the official to know the smiths location. The smiths and the minters used the same facilities and the overseeing apparatus wasntrge enough yet to estrange the bureaucrats and craftsmen. If someone like Marathyu moved around, everyone in proximity would know where he was.
He left for the Weapon Manufactory two days ago, after taking the newest batch of Fusionals.
Sounds promising, doesnt it? John asked Metra.
Yes. Please. Lets go! The First of Wrath was visibly agitated about the dy. Why did we have to do this shit first?!
Maybe I wanted to give you a lesson in patience, the Gamer responded.
Patience is for traitorous bitch sisters, Metra growled.
Searing heat radiated on the edges of Johns mind as the berserker babes rage boiled past the point of internal containment. John distanced his mental presence from hers, before it could bother him or the other souls attached to his own in any meaningful fashion. Alright, lets go then. Teasing Metra any further would have meant that something got broken. The second she heard him, the blondes rage diminished. Scarlett, you want to tag along?
Im good, the Technomancer said, still looking at the coins. I want to talk a bit more about the nned procedures with the office.
That worked for John. She was the unofficial head of his economy anyhow and her true identity continued to be trickled outwards. At this point, it was quite the open secret. Certainly, open enough that a foreign power revealing it wouldnt have caused a massive scandal anymore. A scandal still, but not one that would paralyse his entire administration for several days.
John and Metra took the short walk to the Harbour, got onto one of the jet skis anchoring there and made their way over to the pier closest to the Weapon Manufactory. The dark red building with the ck, metal roof had aplimentary look to the equally red and ck Fusion Fortress in the distance. Much like Johns clothing, the colour scheme was chosen carefully. The military was a tool and the most dangerous one at that. Giving it any friendly appearance would have hidden that nature. At the same time, the architecture was imposing in the most positive sense of the word. There was also a sense of glory in a military career, protecting the soil on which one had been nourished. Both sides had to be recognized.
The Weapon Manufactory had arge number of chimneys, all of which were currently reaching into the sky with not a single bit of smoke rising from their width. The first delivery of standard military sets had been handed out and the second series would only go into production once feedback, change requests and materials had all been properly sorted through. Only private or unique endeavours were currently being chased within those walls.
Either he is done or he isnt there, John told Metra, as they went inside.
Sniffing a couple of times, the First of Wrath said, It has to be done. I smell fresh forging.
Interested, John tried to smell the same. There was cold metal, without a doubt. The kind of smell that hung around a ce that regrly fused or sawed iron. He couldnt make out a difference between this and the smell of fresh forging. Perhaps it was ack of experience or Metras senses as an Artificial Spirit were simply better attuned to smelling metals, like he would be for smelling food. Lead the way, then, John just told her, not having any idea where in theplex Marathyu could even be.
Her rage now pushed down to regr levels, Metra took confident steps through the stone halls. Not a single burnable material was used in the Building. There were hallways with individual workshops andrge open spaces for industrial forging. Smelters around existed solely for the reheating of already refined ingots, not having the size or heat required to melt metal out of ore. Anvils, hammers, tonsils, tweezers, presses and all kinds of manual and automatic tools were orderly arranged, their position and supply managed by the magical machinations that had ced the Building in the first ce. Only half-finished projects left behind disturbed the cleanliness.
Metras nose turned out to be an adequate tool for finding their target. In one of the open areas, Marathyu kneeled among tools before an elongated and malformed casket, the golden colour of Elementium. It was a block of metal itself worth hundreds of millions and able to be forged into several weapons of outstanding power. This time, it had been used as the most valuable mould.
Marathyu forged by creating a mould, adding the things to it, filling the metal in and then hammering the mould itself until he was satisfied with the shape of what was within. How exactly he made that work, the Gamer didnt question. Lunacy came with its perks, when it came to do things intuitively that should be impossible.
Is it done? John asked.
Yes, the smith with the scarred skin said, and I dare not lift the lid, for the beauty may blind me.
Then look away, Metra announced as she stepped forwards. I want it.
Yes yes, of course you do! Marathyu shouted and backed off, scratching at his cheeks but keeping his gaze focused. The breaker of armies wielding my newest masterpiece. A living weapon, the first of her kind, wielding the second of its kind. No, perhaps the first. I thought of this before Strimata. Is it the thought or the forge that makes something The rambling ended when Metra ripped the lid off the mould.
beautiful, the smith whispered and began to cry.
Chapter 891 – Rex Magnar
Chapter 891 C Rex Magnar
To the joyous weeping sounds of the insane cksmith, Metra bowed down. The weapon was lodged into the misshapen mould. Even the First of Wrath struggled to bend the Elementium into such a shape that she could pull her new armament out. Come here, you glorious hunk of metal! she growled, managing to dig her fingers between shaft and mould.
Metra lifted the shaft out of its confinement. It was of silver-white, the colour of pure Mithril, and beset on the end by a sizable thorn of prismatic beauty. The triangles that fragmented the inside of the see-through metal were of the seven colours spread throughout the Collimets. Brown for earth, blue for water, green for air, red for fire , deep purple for shadow and gold and silver for light. Red and brown were represented the most, gold, silver, and blue the least.
Metal screeched against metal, as Metra twisted the handle to free the head of the weapon as well. Other, seemingly misced sounds joined the mix. Repeated, heavy guitar sounds, as if a metal band was getting warmed up nearby. Metra mmed her sandal-covered foot down on the mould and received a prompt drum beat as an eager response. I SAID she screamed, the green of her eyes glowing intensely. The metal around the stuck part of the weapon also began to glow C just with heat rather than power. COME C OUT!
Finally, the mould gave way and the weapon cut through the air. The electric guitar sounds rose into an ecstatic shred, while pieces of glowing hot metal flew through the air and the creator cried with joy. Metra grinned widely and inspected her weapon. John did the same.
The head was that of a halberd. One side was a massive, curved axe de, the other a slightly curved spike that could ram through one temple ande out the other. Between both, at the tip of the weapon, sat a dagger-length de whose end extended past the upper edge of the axe. All three elements were made from the same Fusional as the thorn at the opposite end, but the t parts of the axe were also covered in silver and gold tendrils that served both as decoration and conductors for the numerous enchantments on the weapon.
In the middle of the head sat a massive gemstone, connecting the weapon elements. It was of a grey colour and had been polished into apletely smooth surface. John could see the asional bit of electricity rush through it. It was what had be of the Heart of Stone and Thunder, the bonus reward from theirtest Raid.
Metra swung the weapon through the air a couple times. Each time, the guitar notes reverberated in the air. After the Glockenspiel sounds of Strimata, they seemed simultaneously out of ce on a simrly created weapon and all the more fitting. For a weapon that belonged to the First of Wrath, clear bell tones would have been too harmonic to properly underline the brutality of her fighting style. While John spontaneously asked himself what music genre fit each of his girls the best, Metra said, Heavy.
Metal, very much so, I agree, the Gamer joked and then asked, Are you using the weight-adjustment enchantment?
It has that? the First of Wrath wondered and weighed the weapon in both and then one hand. Thats fucking awesome. Can it get heavier as well?
Well, it says it can. Up to seven times base weight.
Oooh? Metra got a dangerous grin on her face. John could see the slow transformation. From one hand, to both hands, to her muscles tensing more and more. It was like watching someone hold a bucket that was filling with water. Easily at first, but soon her biceps stood out visibly. The strain spread to her shoulders, down her back and to her legs, until she was using her entire strength to hold Rex Magnar up. As little as he was attracted to burly women, Metra manoeuvred the edge of what he found gorgeous even while she was doing her best holding it up. Clenching her teeth, John could see her amp up her rage to keep her Strength scaling up with the demands. By Mother Chaos, she eventually growled and the strain subsided. This thing is HEAVY!
How far did you get? John asked. Full 700%?
Triple, quadruple maybe? Metras answer had the Gamer raise an eyebrow. She hadnt topped out her rage buff, but she had also only held the weapon. Swinging it would be a whole different endeavour. You want to try and hold it?
John nodded. Unlike Strimata, the halberd didnt have the Cut the Unworthy Attribute, so he could hold it without issue. The rapier had only allowed him to carry it to Lydia and even then vibrated threateningly whenever he had touched the handle. When he did the same now with Rex Magnar, it only let out a curious string sound. I got it, he said when his grip was secure.
You sure? Metra asked with a teasing grin.
Mostly, the Gamerughed, something he was immediately interrupted in when the blonde berserker babe let go. The weight of the halberd almost had him fall over forwards. Letting his legs give in and pulling his arms up, he barely managed. Yeah, its heavy, he wheezed. Since he wasnt the chosen owner, he could neither make it lighter or heavier. What he was barely holding onto was the true weight of it.
Metra took the weapon and lifted it with both hands. Alright, I am going to take this baby for a spin. Whats its name by the way?
Quietly, Marathyu whispered, Rex Magnar.
King Magnar. Weird name, but alright. The weight diminished enough for her to rest it on her shoulder with just one hand. Are you going to keep on crying or do you want to tag along?
I have seen all I need to, the cksmith responded, and the two turned away. Marathyu would get up whenever he wanted. Dealing with someone who was both bonkers and valuable was not worth the discussion and there were no other urgent projects he needed to get to. Between Strimata and Rex Magnar, only a couple of grams of the Collimets remained. Not enough to start any new projects. John could predictably get two morerge servings by learning the names of the Mother of Water and the Father of Light, but otherwise they were now reliant on the generation by the Elemental Inds.
Lets hope that the Tier 5 upgrade, whenever I get there, elerates things further, John thought. Thest upgrade had doubled the potency and, by extension, halved the generation time of one gram from 100 to 50 days. Getting that down to 25 would still make things extremely slow but, with any luck, a final upgrade to the Mine would also make these metals ur on the lowest levels of that Building. At that point, John could hope to equip the rest of his girls. Rave, Aclysia and Beatrice could all use an upgrade and his own equipment would certainly benefit from a treatment with more than minimal amounts of just two Collimets.
So, do tell me what Rex Magnar can do exactly, Metra said, while they walked the way back they hade from. Unless ya want me to get bored and fucking smash something in here.
Thatd be rather bad for my purse. John unashamedly put one hand on her butt while they walked. The other brought up the Observe window again and tapped on the different Attributes. Pretty sure you know these two already.
Seems to be just better versions of what Qiada had, Metra pointed out. Spell Extension instead of Power Extension. The wording definitely makes it out to be an upgrade. Spell Hold is a change from Spell Storage, but I guess it works for me. I dont store spells for long anyway. She got a little bit closer, putting her own arm around his side. It was a bit odd for John when she did that, because she was almost better built than he was. His love outweighed that bit of oddity though and he just squeezed her round ass a bit more liberally.
Yeah, John agreed and opened a couple more Attribute windows. All of these are just what you expect them to be.
Fucking love that one, Metra grinned. No fearing this shit will break when I use it. She looked over her shoulder and at the de. Hear that? Ill swing you as hard as I can at everything that deserves my wrath. An eager series of drumming sounds reverberated from the weapon. This is the start of a beautiful friendship.
Keep your enthusiasm for what else it can do, John told her and opened thest three windows. First, we have a building electricity discharge
then we have the ability to wreck thendscape in an advantageous fashion
andstly I dont even know exactly what this would do. Some kind of magical rocket propulsion?
I wanna try, Metra whined and grinded against him in an excited fashion. Excited in arge number of ways, as John could verify the rage, impatience and desire through their mental connection. They were finally outside when John looked around.
Lets go over there, he decided and pointed at an area west of them, at the shore of the channel. Should be remote enough for a weapons test. He beat his chest with his right and gave her a smile. I might not be that strong on my own, but Ill do my best to give you a satisfying target. This body is still sturdy.
Seriously?! Yes! Metra practically screamed her excitement. In order to keep touching her butt while they walked, John had to elerate his steps. She was barely able to keep herself from just running at the prescribed location.
The Military district of the Guild Hallcked any kind ofndmarks. Trees and such seemed unnecessary or obstructive to the infrastructure tasks. If there had been more avable space, John would have considered building several dummy biomes for drill tasks. It was a thought he kept for the eventual final upgrade.
Here is good, John said, not wanting to go all the way to the channel and everything else was just green grass anyway. He let go of Metras butt and walked several metres away. Pressing the single button, he equipped the entirety of his battle regalia. The weight missing from his right hand informed him of the one item he had recently given away. Not that it was the only hole in his arsenal. Right Hand, Underwear and essory slots could all benefit from an upgrade. Now, I might inevitably lose, but I will fight back!
That doesnt sound like you, my king, Metra returned, lifting Rex Magnar from her shoulder and cing the thorned tip on the ground. In its entire length, the halberd was even taller than she was. About two metres, in total, if John had to make an estimate. Your warranted pride in your abilities should give you the confidence to dere your victory!
Maybe Im making myself seem weaker to lull you into a false sense of security.
That does sound more like you! Metraughed and ran a hand through her blonde hair. The strands fell back in front of her forehead almost immediately. What could be confined of her wild mane already was by her ponytail. Repeatedly, she stabbed the ground with the end of her weapon and coerced a drum beat from the halberd, each louder than thest.
It was a beat of war. Made his hair stand on end. Metras grinning expression changed from one kind of joy to another. She showed more of her teeth. Her gaze reflected a thirst for many things. Blood, violence, him, it all mixed, wrestled for dominance. The First of Wrath gave preference to certain things, let the differences in emotions irk her and her anger rise. Rise until she could no longer stand there and just beat the rhythm of war.
In one swift movement, she grabbed Rex Magnar with both hands and charged forwards. The only beat now was that of her feet hitting the ground at superhuman speeds. John conjured an Arc Lance in his left hand, but didnt attempt to aim. He didnt attempt to do anything. He let the long, crescent axe descend on him and heard the series of ecstatic metal guitar sounds. They abruptly ended in a short, annoyed note when the weapon shed against his forehead and caused a series of blue and light purple sparks to rise from his skin.
1500 mana from one proper hit, John thought and tried to back away. As he took half a step away, Metra kicked towards him. Her foot disappeared in a suddenly opened tear in space and appeared again behind John, shoving him forwards. A clenched fist was ready to greet him, but John had already raised his hand in anticipation. The Arc Lance sted point-nk into Metras face and gave him room to dodge her swift strike and roll to the side.
And here I thought you would be too fucking good to go for my face! Metra screamed, shaking her head to clear the cloud of arcane particles.
Hey, you went for my head! John returned. I guess this just shows how little you know me.
Both of them were smiling and Metra set after him. This time the Gamer did his best to dodge. He teleported with the just won stack of Shifting Momentum. He was behind Metra and rolled forwards. Rex Magnar cut through the air and then vanished into a spatial tear. John teleported again, this time with Skitterstep. Metra mmed into the ground from above, her weapon once more in hand.
The impact missed the now invisible John, but the ground was torn apart. As if water, thewn rippled like a wave. Then, it tore open in a ten-metre radius around the First of Wrath, separating the ground into a number of earthen teaus, eaching to a halt at a different tilt. John almost got his foot caught in one of the crags. It nullified his short invisibility.
WHO DOESNT KNOW WHO, HUH?! Metra shouted and immediately set after him. She swung the halberd in a wide arch and John narrowly escaped. Then he charged in. Metra greeted that approach with her knee. John let the counterattack bounce off Particle Skin and wed into her right shoulder with his bare hand. Five-thousand mana evaporated in an instant as he activated Arcana Ray on each of his fingers. Metra let out a sound of pain and joy while the base of her arm was molten at numerous points.
She rammed the shaft of Rex Magnar into his side. 315 mana gone, but Particle Skin let him stand there. She tried to knock his arm aside. 98 mana gone, still no issue. She gave him a headbutt. 221 mana eliminated. Each second drained 500 more, the Arcana Ray consuming it to great effect. Metra dropped her weapon and simply slugged him, a more effective solution at close range.
John dropped Particle Skin and let his health take the hit. Letting go of her shoulder, he let the impact catapult him away. Metra opened her fist and her new halberd mmed back into her grip with the eagerness of a weapon of war. She tried to grip with her second hand as well but, just as John had wanted, too much of the connection was seared away for her to have proper control over the limb. Sinews may not have been a factor when fighting an Artificial Spirit, but magical flow was.
Do you know how long it will take for me to grow this shit back together, you beautiful asshole?! Metra demanded to know.
About as long as it will take me to regenerate the mana I spent on it, John grinned. I know you down to the numbers, my gorgeous tanned sex ve.
I fucking love you, Master! Metra dered and mmed her weapon down on the ground. The earth cracked even further, the split travelling towards John and forcing him to move. Metra jumped through arge portal the same motion had torn open. Teleporting to the rightmost point in his field of view, John barely avoided a strike to the back. Skitterstep triggered, he distanced himself another two metres and had the ground swept away from under him as another shockwave rippled through the grass.
He caught himself, rolled, and got back up just as the invisibility faded. Relentlessly, Metra pursued. Exuding heat and growing lightning, Rex Magnar made each of her wild swings a threat bigger than thest. By keeping to her right, abusing the crippled arm, and using the other Shifting Momentum stacks, John kept evading her, but he had no win condition. There was no way for him to win against Metra. Not on his own. Maybe if he used the Arcane Ascension on Purgatory, he could have seriously harmed her. However, that was an action about as appropriate for their yfight as it would have been for her to manifest her armour.
When he was out of teleports, Metra howled triumphantly. She kept count. John wasnt surprised. For all her anger, Metra was a battle genius. It was the basis of her existence. Information she had was information she would use. He tried to get away and simply ran. Metra set after him on foot. Her mana was tapped from her own repeated teleportation. The only advantage he had over her in this brawl was the sustained usage of his magic.
Not a particrly big help when her physical superiority was this oppressing.
She was right next to him in a moment. John conjured one more Arc Lance. Not to hit her with it, just to spend the necessary mana to teleport again. An explosion of electricity hit where he had just been. He felt the aftereffects tingle on his back. He turned around, wanting to fire the already paid for Arc Lance.
He was met with the sight of Metra jumping at him again and a red pulse travelling through the prismatic des of Rex Magnar. A momentter, a torrent of fire and lightning poured out of the spiked side of the weapon, propelling Metra forwards. It was a messy flight, holding onto the weapon with only one hand made it difficult to steer and inexperience did the rest.
Metra mmed into John. Their bodies fell together. The Arc Lance uselessly fired into the air. The First of Wrath rammed the weapon into the ground above his head. He pulled at her hotpants. She opened his zipper with one hand and yanked down pants and trunks. He guided her wet cunt above his erection. She sunk down with one delightful moan. Sex ve duty time, she gasped.
Time to make you cum so many times you turn into a quivering mess under me, you mean, John responded, uncaring if someone caught them. Children werent allowed in this corner of the Guild Hall, which would have been the only issue. Youll lose this battle; we both know it. Might as well give up now.
Fucking make me! she shouted.
He did.
Chapter 892 – What lays beyond the border
Chapter 892 C Whatys beyond the border
Just one more, Metra begged when they were almost at the Pce. One more giant attack and then I am done testing!
John looked at the First of Wrath. Her skin was covered in sweat (or the Artificial Spirit equivalent thereof) from the steady mix ofbat and sex, her clothes and hair in a dishevelled state past the usual carelessness. Despite her pronounced tomboy appearance and the raw sexual energy that she exuded, she managed to give him an adorable, pleading look by lowering her head and pushing her lower lip out the slightest bit. It was one of those moments where John was reminded that Metras body was roughly shaped in Raves likeness, as the First of Wrath copied the begging expression masterfully.
Fine, John relented, feeling his reason surrender to his love. This is how men ruin themselves Well, I am reasonably certain she wont file a divorce im for 50% of my stuff after she took advantage of me for thirty years. Shes given me too much in return. But you arent punching me this time, my HP is getting too low for this, he managed to at least put his safety first.
Just the ground then, the beautiful blonde berserker babbled blithely and walked towards the nearest tip of the star. Halfway there she stopped, grabbed Rex Magnar with both hands and extended it behind her. The head of the weapon was close to the ground, spike pointing downwards. Slowly inhaling, Metra nted down her feet and exhaled. Excited drumming and shredded guitar sounds echoed quietly as small tongues of fire and lightning danced out of the back of the weapon.
With a mighty scream, Metra swung. An explosion of heat burst from the back, elerating the descent of the weapon. John stumbled half a step to the left when the ground was struck by the full potential weight of Rex Magnar. There was a moment of silence. Then a loud crack.
Whoops, Metra said, before the upper corner of the star forts tip became loose and slid down. Falling several metres, tons of mostly joined rock and dirt mmed into the crystal-clear water, disturbing the surface with a massive ssh. The gleeful grin on her face and the oddly satisfied guitar notes did not serve to make John believe she felt bad about what she just did in any capacity.
The Gamer stepped forwards to look at the full extent of the damage. The split the attack had caused went about halfway down the tall wall and a quarter along the side. It wasnt so dramatic that the entire spike of the star fort had been destroyed, rather, it looked like a chipped tooth. Spanking Metras ass, he made her moan in strong delight.
Battle-horny tomboy, he scolded her.
Yuuuuuu-p, the First of Wrath just said and earned herself a second p on her behind.
Put away Rex Magnar and then go to the Sex Dungeon. Prepare your backdoor and wait for me the proper way. He spanked her a third time and then watched her walk away with her butt swaying. It wasnt going to be much of a punishment, but it also wasnt much of an issue. Unsightly as it was, the damage would fix itself. He could spend money to elerate the process. For something as inconsequential as this, that wasnt worth the cost. Our destructive power increases ever more, John thought. I really need to be careful with that
That was a thing to ponder after he had his fun.
__________________________________________________________________________
The weekend came and went with an absurd amount of paperwork. Between the integration of thest East Coast bits, the Adventure and the weapon testing, a lot of Johns regr official work had been left in the dust and now came back to bite him. By working through Sunday, he managed to catch up with things. Monday, he still had more work than usual because he was dealing with both what he would usually be faced with and theplications of binding the new areas into the Federation.
He had to have correspondences, through text, call and in person, about where the police and voting districts should be, who should be in charge until the first elections rolled around, what the transfer of power looked like and all of that. At the same time, he had to actually set up the police, a task made doubly difficult because he had to share all of the names of people that had to be kept tabs on. Certain people that the judiciary let go were still shady enough that it would have been moronic to not at least check on them asionally.
All I wanted was to grind out some ss Levels, he whined mentally. Magoi said he wont have time until next week. Maybe, if I keep at it, I can squeeze out a few hourster today... but then I have to forego my rxing hours Physically undemanding as it was, working in the administration for up to sixteen hours a day meant he was mentally exhausted by the end of it. All he wanted when he got home was a shower, reverse cowgirl and cuddles. Even the prolonged blowjobs under the table didnt bnce things out.
They did help, even if they were slightly less enthusiastic at the moment. Nia, Lydia and Undine were the least affected by the change. Two of them were blowjob sluts regardless and one could feel sensitive where she wanted. Aclysia, Beatrice and Rave were still going about it quite willingly, but the lessened reward had a noticeable effect on how energetic they were about it. They tried to make up for it with conscious effort, Aclysia especially, but there was only so much the mind could force the instinct. Eliza and Scarlett were also doing quite well, thanks to their subby tendencies, but suffered from the same mild decline in desire. The rest were about equally affected.
That wasnt to say John wascking in under the table action. His harem wasrge enough to cover him consistently, even if a few women didnt feel like going at it for an hour. There was simply less energy in the way they worshipped his cock. Less mindless ecstasy from the repeated orgasms. It was all about dedication to making him feel good.
Which was doubtlessly pleasing in its own way. Knowing that the woman under the table was there to suck him off not for her own benefit but just to pleasure HIM stroked his dom instincts. However, he was still a lover first. Knowing that this was just a temporary state of affairs, he enjoyed it without a guilty conscience while also awaiting the day when things kicked back in. Having the orgasmic screams reverberate in his shaft while he pumped cum down their throats was just a special kind of awesome.
With a lustful sigh, he did thetter part. His balls tightened as seed rushed out and made his overboiling pressure calm for a moment. God, youre good at that, he mumbled and looked under the table, where Siena slowly slid up. Thank you for still doing it.
His cock was freed with a loud pop and Siena cleaned her lips. Its a worthwhile sacrifice to hear you moan, she giggled and gave his length a quick lick with her monstrously long tongue. Besides, its not too much to ask. As little as I like the true taste of semen, I do find the feeling of your member in my mouth strangely calming. Her snickers became thoroughly lewd. Perhaps it is how much I control your pleasure. I can take you into my throat Her lips parted and went down until they hit the base. and you cum, she finished the sentence mentally.
Without any interest in proving her otherwise, John immediately spurted a second load deep into her. The moonshade elemental could control the insides of her throat, make it hellishly tight, vibrating the folds or caressing him with little tendrils. Her mouth seemed to be made not for breathing or eating, but primarily to get him off. She was certainly inhuman, in this thoroughly sexual aspect, able to get him off in an instant if she so chose.
Not just once, as she proved at that moment, but repeatedly. The skilled working of her tongue and throat massaged massive load after massive load out of him. Over a litre of seed filled her stomach, before even his superhuman physique gave in and the pleasure turned into an oversensitive, unpleasant feeling. Siena continued just a little bit longer and then slid upwards again.
Concentrate on your work, shemanded, while winding out from underneath the table. Herrge, silverish-blue butt was right next to him after she got up, but she turned around before he could touch it. Instead, he was presented with her magnificent breasts, when she bent over the armrest. If you do a lot of work in ten minutes, Ill let you fuck me, how does that sound?
John was wrestling between telling her to mind her ce or ying along. In the end, thetter won. He got to be the dom all the time and giving Siena her moments to live out her own fetishes was important for the health of their bedroom rtions. Like Rave, Siena hade to exercise her dominant wants in a way that worked for the Gamer. Little to no humiliation and morepliments about how good he was at getting them off and having them dictate the pace of everything, with some mild bondage and edging mixed in.
As you wish then, mistress, he told her and turned to his work. With his bottomless balls as empty as they could be, he turned to his work with all of the concentration he had. That went for both of his bodies, as Jack was sitting on the secretary desk Beatrice usually used. The passive maid was currently out talking to the foreign office about their operations and budget.
Yes, be a good boy. Her sensuous voice caressed his ears like the soft touch of velvet on naked skin. Her tail stroking over his cheek as she walked away from the chair made him shiver.
Had I met you earlier, I may have turned into a submissive, the Gamer chattered. With how low a self-esteem I started out with, I could have probably been shaped into most fetishes. Well, I also think I would have always eventually turned out to be at least a bit of a dom, but my tendencies would probably be reversed. Having Rave tell me I should be assertive first and Aclysia letting me live out things second did set me up for certain tastes.
A little waste, but for the better, Siena sighed. Had I met you at that point, I would have sliced your gut open. She looked over the binders full of administrative information and pulled one out at random, looking over the information therein. And you would never have been able to save me.
Save you, John hummed, while hammering a barely courteous message into theputer. It was about someone criticizing that he had to be elected more than once while the Gamer got to reign however long he wished. Finding differences between the representative of a localmunity and the head and founder of the entire federation was rather easy. You mean that I saved you from your toxic mindset, right? Is that why you call me saviour sometimes?
Yes, Siena responded without shame, flicking through the documents. I dont need to remind you that your first reprimands fell on deaf ears. Once it started to dawn on me that you had a point, I didnt like it. Nobody likes realizing they have been wrong for much of their life. Now that it has sunk in and I see your sess, I feel ted. Liberated. Your way isnt perfect. It is an improvement from mine. My desires to torture, they are less pressing, and in their absence, I have more room to love you. She looked over her shoulder with arge smile, revealing her sharp teeth. A thoroughly more pleasing life, my love C my saviour.
I like it when you call me that. John smiled.
A reward for moments in which you satisfy me, Siena snickered while closing the binder and putting it back. She turned towards him. He barely looked at her, too focused to continue his work and earn whatever she had in mind for him. When her tail wrapped around his neck, he was pulled to the side. Dont misunderstand, John, her sexual voice was as sharp as the w she ced under his chin, we both know that there is absolute scum out there. For them, I reserve my hatred.
There is indeed, and if we find them, I will allow you to act, John assured her. They shared a long gaze, then she nodded contently.
Perhaps that would have been the moment at which he got that reward, but instead he heard hasty steps close in on his office. Siena let go of him and atex-like material exuded from her skin. It covered her arms up to the shoulders, the legs up to the upper thighs and most of her torso. It was almost as sexy as her naked body, but it did hide the indecent bits.
Shy? he asked her jokingly, while equipping his own pants.
Choosing who I grace with the full greatness of my body, Siena responded and turned towards the windows, opening one of them to let some fresh air in and blow the smell of sex out of the room. If we were having sex, that would be one thing, but I am not going to be casually nude for one of your bureaucrats.
That does make sense. He had just said that, as the phone on the table started to ring. The specific tune meant it was a message from one of the offices in Manhattan. Reaching for it, he gave Siena a nod to go for the door, which knocked a momentter. John Newman here, how may I help you? he asked.
Mister President, this is the treasury. We just got a peculiar distress message, supposedlying from the East Gestalt guild.
John looked up to the door, where Siena talked to an administrator of the internalmunications department. That person said effectively the same. Beatrice chimed into his thoughts, Statement: this current message is found in the foreign office as well. I verified the message to the best of my ability before informing you.
Please tell me everything you can about this message, John said into the phone, while calling out to all of his familiars and giving them certain tasks. Information gathering for most of them, but also to seek out Chemilia, Ted and Nia to mobilize a quick response force.
Something was moving beyond his realm.
Chapter 893 – War Room
Chapter 893 C War Room
Sand there is sand everywhere. A phantom of sand corrupts our vision. The East Gestalt formed outside of us. We need help, your help. We didnt want it to be like this. Not like this. Sand there is
The message repeated in a different voice. Then another one. Each time, pronunciation of the words was eerily simr. Confused, steady in volume but swaying in tone. It was like listening to someone who was recovering from a fall on their head.
The voice echoed through therge conference room,ing from several speakers hanging in the corners. Wirelessly, they connected to aputer sitting in the middle of a circr oak table. Red carpet and dark walls with golden decorations gave the space a luxurious re, but the practical design of the chairs and doors changed that to a militaristic appeal. John was joined by parts of his harem, Chemilia, Ted and, through a video conference, Elu. All of them listened intently to the words. He and a few sat, others stood around the table and yet others leaned against the walls.
Finally, the recording came to an end.
Quick working, good job, Johnplimented the technomancer in the room. He was a normal person with ck hair and brown eyes, a bit leaner than the average Abyssal but not quite thin. Gathering all of the recorded calls from our decentralized servers must have taken a minute.
Miss Thorne cant do everything on her own, the man returned with a bow of his head, directed respectfully at the redhead. For all her expertise, she is just one person.
Indeed. John nodded. Fusions Technomancer department was one of the first institutions to learn of Scarletts true identity. It was quite an easy reveal to make, since most of that department consisted of former Thorne employees. They hadnt been privy to her existence beforehand, but past experiences made it more believable. Because of this, they were also more loyal. Thorne, after all, had been a pretty stable and secure employer. Not without its issues, but a good way to survive the anarchic state before Johns arrival.
Having them on board was also going to be assuring during the eventual reveal to the broader public. A couple technomancers could direct conversations on numerous sites at the same time. John didnt like using such a tactic. It wasnt as bad as censoring things he didnt want said, but it was still dirty to artificially direct attention. Like many things he didnt like, he still had to consider it for pragmatic reasons. If he could, he would limit their influence to information gathering. Being prepared for the mostmon talking points was more his style. The best way to counter speech was better speech.
All of that was merely a sh of thoughts of Johns tangent prone mind. He clicked y on the supercut of messages and listened to them again. Twirling a pen around his fingers, he tried to discern any hidden meanings. Once they were through, he asked, All of these came in at the same time, right?
The calls began at the same time, but messages were only spoken once the receivers had let the speakers know they had connected, the technomancer let John know.
Either an incredibly well-coordinated hivemind or one that allows its member a degree of individuality, John mumbled. Anything worthwhile in the emails they sent?
More requests for help, among gibberish, and several coordinates.
Alright John stroked his chin. Have you asked the Lake Alliance if they received simr messages? A quick denial was all the Gamer needed to know. Alright, try to openmunications with them then try to contact the Heart of Lakes guild first.
As you wish, Mister President, the technomancer turned around and left the room, leaving the upper echelon of the military to make their decision.
Why the Heart of Lakes first? Nia wanted to know.
Scarlett, standing next to an open window, lit a cigarette while she answered, Because its closest to the Gestalt guilds.
Partly, yeah, but not the main reason, John told everyone. Of the elites we fought during the Hudson Brawl, Remia and Theron were those with the least amount of hostility towards us. I imagine we have the highest chance of getting an answer by going to them first.
Why didnt we try to contact New Libraria as well? Rave asked.
They never answered before and I doubt they will now.
Chemilia knocked twice on the table to get everyones attention. Regardless of whates of that, what are we going to do? she wanted to know and looked over to Scarlett. Could you do the thing?
Sure, the technomancer said, light dancing through her red eyes as if they were following circuitry. Arge screen hanging at the wall flickered to life and disyed a basic map of the southern region.
First things first, John tookmand of the conversation again by getting on his feet, Elu, I want you to align your forces along our border with the Gestalt guilds C both of them. Concentrate on the east, but keep some observing forces around the west. I dont want to be surprised by something that ovees their divide. Motions in front of the screen showed which stretches exactly he meant. Neither do I want to find out New Libraria is somehow involved in this and ready to spread it to us.
Roger that, John, the old woman responded in a serious tone.
Nia, I want you to arrange defences along the rest of the border. Just create squadrons that can react quickly to anything that invades Illusion Barriers on our territory. Since Abyssal warfare couldnt properly defendnd itself, worrying about the exact border only made sense for diplomatic purposes. When it came to actually defending areas, it was all about Protected Spaces of interest being either fortified or a highly mobile task force reinforcing it in time. It was unwise for an enemy force to just drive deep into enemy territory by mundane means, purely because they could then be caught from multiple directions, but it was a much more valid tactic than regr warfare would have made it. Do not task the people positioned on the Death Zone border with this. Same as New Libraria, I dont want anythinging out of that catching us off-guard.
Understood. Nia headed towards the door.
Dont you want to hear the rest of the n? the Gamer wanted to know.
I trust you, so this would be a waste of time. Better to get everything into position early. She gave him a quick kiss in parting. Update me when this is done, darling.
I will, John confirmed and looked after the white-dressed pariah vanish in front of the door without opening it. Effective as always, he thought, focusing his mind back at the task at hand before he could be distracted by the adoration he felt. Chemilia, Ted, I want you two to mobilize at least four battalions and move them south.
Wont you need parliaments approval to do that? Metra asked.
I will need parliaments approval to move them across the border, but as head of the military, I can put the army wherever I want inside our borders, John exined. While it wasnt inside his designated powers to dere war, he could do everything to prepare for it. Regardless of what happens with parliament, I can put some things into motion. Im restricted by the constitution, not neutered.
While John said all of that, Chemilia and Ted exchanged a couple of sentences, then the light-pink haired woman nodded and stood up. Ill follow Nias example and get to organizing. Ted will brief me on the rest once you are done here.
Imma head out too and start getting an emergency session together, Rave announced. Aclysia, could ya tag along and tell me who might need some talking to? Would be handy because ya can keep up with Johns thoughts at the side.
Affirmative. Aclysia obediently bowed, only to look over to John. Unless Master has other ns for me?
No, go ahead. Beatrice, I want you to join them but concentrate on getting to the airport in 45 minutes. Whenever Magoinds, he should get briefed as quickly as possible. We need to mobilize some Fateweavers for barrier control supremacy.
Affirmative. Beatrice bowed in the same fashion as the older maid. All four of them left the room, leaving John with a severely diminished cast. His familiars were still there, albeit incorporeal, along Metra, Scarlett, Eliza and Ted.
So, what the FUCK do we think is going on?! the blood mage wanted to know. Because Im sure your apex brain managed to get all of your think fluids out of your dick for once.
I have nothing concrete, John responded, stroking his chin. Part of the problem is that I know so little about the Gestalt guilds themselves. They mention their titr phenomenon, so it might very well be that this is just a local phenomenon run amok. He went through a couple other possibilities and arrived at only one that felt somewhat likely. The Lorylim might be involved, they are also a hivemind of some description so they would be able to send a message like this. Usually their thoughts are way too jumbled to put something this coherent together though. I also dont get how sand is involved in all of this. It was rather prominent in the message.
Dust Walkers? Ted suggested.
They are way to the west, I would sooner suspect the Golden Rose to be involved than them, John stated. And the chances for Moira and her lot to be tangled up in this are rather slim to start with. They dont strike me as the kind of people that would be secretive about their dealings. No, I think this is, most likely, something internal. Lorylim is the second and New Libraria intervention a third possibility. Everything else seems incredibly unlikely to me.
It knocked on the door and the technomancer from earlier came back in. Mister President, I can report that the Lake Alliance did receive the samemunications. They do not, at the current time, seem intent to do anything about them.
Thank you, dismissed, John said and the dark-haired man went back outside.
Does that tell us anything? Ted asked.
Nothing that greatly shifts my current analysis, but its interesting to note that this isnt exclusive to us, John responded. It drastically reduces the chance of this being some sort of trap meant for Fusion or me specifically. I would discount the Lorylim as the sender of the messenger because of that C although they might still be the ones who wrecked things.
I dont know, Metra hummed. I never heard of them being active in this part of the world. Not active enough to fuck around inside a sizable guild, that much is for sure.
Jackal is still running around and with him the possibility to turn a lot of people into flesh puppets for Izha.
Which I still dont understand, Metra mumbled. There were Lorylim possessed or worshipping alchemists in the past and none of them could brew something that would spread their influence. It was all done through exposure to parasites or whatever you want to call it when they eat someone alive.
Scarlett took ast huff from her cigarette and flicked the butt out of the window. Not to offend ya, she started while exhaling the smoke, but your knowledge isnt exactly reliable C when ites to things outside of fighting.
Its true, so whatever. Metra shrugged. Im not a nner. Remembering the details about how the Lorylim used to be doesnt really matter to me. Wordless skewering and corruption or chattering biting and MORE corruption doesnt make a lot of difference to me. Fungoid nightmare creature is fungoid fucking nightmare creature, with or without the teeth.
We can rehash what information we have on the Lorylim another time. John looked at the map one more time, then turned away from it. For now lets make clear what our path of action should be. Whether we help or not, all that.
Whats there to discuss? Scarlett wanted to know. You already decided to go in there. Theres no reason to stop you either, aside from concerns about your safety. Since I doubt youll let those stop you, all that remains is to convince parliament. The worst oue is that you just save some people, the best is that they join Fusion, which we need to get done sooner orter anyway. This would help future diplomatic efforts. The redhead pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her suit, looked at it for a moment, then stored it inside her breast pocket again. Of course, you could just stay with the army after saving them and forcefully annex them.
Well, thats out, John said. Just to add: the worst oue is that we save some people and we learn about whatever is actually going on inside their borders. Information has been scarce.
True, Scarlett agreed.
This better not be the sudden and shit-eating end of our calm and fucking happy streak, Eliza cussed. If you are going in there and lose even an inch of skin, I will tear the fucking continent apart.
Dont jinx it, Eliza, John warned her with a warm smile. Besides, Im confident nothing much is going to happen to me.
Yeah, well, you are an absolute retard who keeps jumping into obstacles that scream dont touch me, unless you really, really want to get gnawed on by the darkest secrets of the universe C also lots of fucking rats with such glee, the pretty little psycho ranted. What the self-hating cuntwaffle makes you think this time is going to be so different, huh?
That I am taking you along, my dear broken angel.
Chapter 894 – Executive Privilege
Chapter 894 C Executive Privilege
I therefore implore you, for our neighbours safety and our own ambitions, to allow me to use the army inside West Gestalt, John ended his speech and let the parliament follow procedure. The swiftness of the gathering meant that not everyone was present, but enough were there to make a two-thirds majority vote. As long as everyone there voted positively, that was.
For once, John was not blessed with luck when it came to the machinations of state. Most of the parties that would have doubtlessly supported him were present in only low numbers while those that disliked either him or Fusion in its entirety were almost fully represented. Something that, after some debate and swaying, ended in the parliament reaching an inconclusive vote. The support reached the majority, but it didnt reach the supermajority, causing the Speaker to announce an intent to repeat the vote tomorrow when the remaining representatives were present.
Sorry, tiger, Rave greeted him once he was outside. She, along with Aclysia and Beatrice, were the only haremettes currently around. Seems like I didnt grease the wheels enough.
I couldnt have done more myself in an hour, Johnforted her immediately. Ultimately, this isnt too consequential. Therell be another vote tomorrow and then the army will get moving. It just means people get a nights sleep at the location before they are allowed to cross the border.
So, what do we do now? she asked, as John headed down the stairs. Wait until tomorrow?
Some of us, yes, John told her and guided the way. Lets discuss the details elsewhere. They went silent, then chatted about random things to pass the time. Thatsted until they were through the teleporter and back in the privacy of the Pce. Whats going to happen is that I will head over there anyway.
Isnt that, ya know, against thew you wrote yourself? Rave asked.
It may be a bit against the spirit of it as seen by others, but there is a deliberate loophole I left for myself, John exined and pointed at himself. I am not a military asset. My highest rank is that of Fusions foremost representative in all federal matters foreign and domestic. In other words, moving around however I please is my executive privilege.
Rad. His girlfriend grinned. Makes enough sense. So, were just heading over there now? Watching him scratch the back of his head, she raised an eyebrow. Why do I get the feeling I wont like what ya gonna say next, tiger?
I would like it if you and Aclysia stayed, John told her.
Rave seemed more confused than upset by this. Why? Want to keep your absence a secret?
No, thats not necessary. Fundamentally, me having this executive privilege has been used before when I went to Florida or the Small Lake Pact. I just never went as the vanguard before. John shook his head. No, this is about the vote tomorrow. I want you two to attend it as my representatives. Aclysia is the First Servant of State and youre my girlfriend. Thats not really a political position but people respect you anyway because of all the public services you get underway.
Okay, that exins why I can be there, but not why I should be. She crossed her arms and flipped some of her mane to the side by a strong motion of her head. Aclysia could do things on her own. Cant ya? She looked over to the weaponized maid in question.
It appears that I am not particrly popr with the representatives, Aclysia responded. My reasonable prioritization of Masters goals and wellbeing may have led to me using methods and words that some people would ssify as harsh or ckmail at several asions.
Ah Raves gaze wandered over to Beatrice. As treasurer, the passive maid could have stayed with Aclysia instead. Without even putting the idea forwards, the pink-haired half-Asian continued the topic. So, Aclysia doing things alone might motivate the opposition, is that the reason ya want me to stay?
Aclysia stands for the executive branch and you take the potential harm out of her presence, yes. John nodded. It might be overcautious of me, I think tomorrows vote is in the bag already, but its better to be safe than sorry.
Urgh, fine, the Lightbearer agreed with an annoyed expression, but ya better not clear up all of the fun without me!
No guarantees, John told her with a smile. A kiss before I go?
Just one. She wrapped her arms around his neck and got on her toes. Slinging an arm around her waist, John bowed down and met her at the halfway point. Lips met, then tongues, as he held onto her athletic body for as long as passion lorded over urgency. Drinking deep of her sweet, minty aroma, he indulged as if he wasnt going to see her in months. Finally, when he felt that he would be stuck doing more than kisses if he kept going, he pulled away. Make me proud, tiger, Rave whispered and let go.
I wil- John started with determination but stopped when his girlfriend pped him on the ass while he turned. You cheeky little thing, heined.
I aint Eliza, Raveughed and gave him a friendly shove. Get out of here before I decide Id rather have fun than help your state building.
Yes, yes, Johnughed, only remaining for as long as he needed to give Aclysia her own goodbye kiss.
I will join you as quickly as is possible, Master, the maid said.
I know you wont disappoint me, Aclysia. After brushing some of her white hair behind her ear, he tenderly caressed the side of her face. I love you.
Aclysia put a hand on top of his and leaned into the motion. I love you too, Master, she swooned, the adoration radiating off her mind with unquestionable loyalty. As much as John wanted to remain, duty called and he finally turned away.
Beatrice in tow, he went back into the teleporter and, after two jumps, found himself somewhere else entirely. The Paradise tower in view, John stepped onto Florida ground. Military units, teleported over by Nia, Ted and Chemilia person by person, were organizing themselves into battalions there. John looked over the efforts and then left the barrier.
He and Beatrice had a short and hasty walk towards another barrier elsewhere. A smaller version of the car storage he had in Washington, built and maintained by the same people on his request. It was newer and not as well stocked, but he had enough cars there to pick onerge enough for the people waiting for him there. He heard them around the corner before they came into view.
How about you shut the fuck up, brain parasite bitch? Eliza asked.
Maybe Ill when you learn how to have a stable mood, Metra returned with a grin on her face.
Riching from the queen of fucking mad.
Im always angry, I would say thats a stable mood. My control over my rage is at least as good as you are tall.
So, its very short?
You said it.
Go fuck yourself.
Only if you watch me.
Statement: you both have issues, Beatrice announced her and Johns arrival.
Shut the fuck up, passive bitch, both shouted.
Fact: you are annoyed because I sass better than you, the passive maid remarked, while John passed all three of them to pick out a car.
The elementals can remain incorporeal, so we only need four seats, he thought.
Ill sass you, alright, Ill sass your entrails out of your fucking smartass mouth, Eliza cussed.
The muscle car? It would go the fastest, so that would probably be the best choice
I do not possess entrails.
We might have to go off-road though. Did I have a truck with a mana engine here? I think I requested something like that to be stationed He checked the segments of the garage until he found a truck and opened the hood. That sure does look like a mana engine. Better question is if it was already equipped with a Mobile Barrier
Youre not sassy, youre just pedantic, Metra growled.
Statement: these are not mutually exclusive. If you wish to broaden your vocabry, I rmend reading. I understand this task may be outside of your attention levels. Oh, Beatrices surprised sound was about as stilted as the acting in The Room, suggestion: imagine the books are fighting you. With your literacy, that should be a simple task.
One of these days I will force Siena and Undine to merge into Cumslut just so I can hatefuck your pretty, annoying ass, Metra threatened.
Please use whatever hole pleases you at that time, Beatrice remarked with a bow. As a fully trained submissive servant, it is my pleasure to serve.
Fuck you, now I want a cock up my ass, Elizained. Joooooohnnnnn, Bae made me horny!
The back of this truck does have a cage. I requested it for Velka, but I guess we could repurpose it as a horny jail, John joked from underneath the car. There is a Mobile Barrier generator I guess production did pick up recently thanks to the World Gems and Magois studentsing along. Useful enough for me.
He came back out from underneath, just in time to hear Eliza say, If you want me to turn into a total bitch in heat during the drive, we can do that.
What do you mean turn into? Metra asked. Youre both a total bitch and in heat already.
You know what, just for you, I will turn into the most sadistic cunt youve ever known, Eliza hissed.
Are you? Are you really? Youre probably going to smell Johns dick and instantly forget about anything you wanted to do.
Then Ill just set Siena on your ass!
Metra considered for a second and then admitted, Yeah, that could work.
There you fucking go! Eliza triumphantly dered.
Alright, alright, girls, John knocked against the door of the truck to finally interrupt their conversation, if you would get in here. Beatrice, youre driving. Metra, Eliza, youe on the backbench with me.
Yessss, the blood mage hissed ecstatically and came around.
The truck was of the pickup variety; chassis, suspension and wheels had all been modified to allow driving onmon off-road terrain. As with most of Johns cars, it was ck and of a sleek design. As sleek as the sturdy bulk of a truck allowed anyway. They all got inside and were greeted by a mixture of two fragrances. There was the typical new smell,ing from the faux-leather and stic covers, and cinnamon from a recent application by one of the attendants. John appreciated both.
Beatrice got on the left of the two front seats, while the remaining three got on the back bench. The Gamer was in the middle and, despite there being more than enough room for all of them, the two women pressed against him with shameless desire. The car slowly moved out of the cove it had in the garage system. Guided by Beatrices capable hands, the only input John had to give was to tap into the Mobile Barrier.
While they rolled out of the building, Eliza took a second to look over her shoulder and check out the improvised animal cage behind them. It doubled as thepartment, being modified to have the separating wall reced with bars and adding some scratch protection to the animal-exposed surfaces.
You would cramp Velka in there? Thats so mean! she dered.
Its better than a regr dog cage, John told her, not even bothering with the its a lot of space route. Any limited space for Velka would be cramped to Eliza. The odds of her having to go in there are pretty slim anyway. The Gamer looked at the seatbelt and decided to ignore it. If they somehow crashed, he was more afraid for the road than his face. Putting his arms around the two girls, short and tall, he said, You have to keep me entertained for the next nine hours.
The drive from Miami all the way to bama, where the East Gestalt was located, was quite long. So long that it had been a consideration to take a flight to a nearby city and walk the rest of the distance. By opening and closing barriers, they could have crossed the distance by running, which would have been almost as fast as driving regrly (when limited to Johns speed). It would also have been a hassle, however, and John wasnt sure about just flying into the middle of enemy territory. Going by car from his own border had the advantage that they could turn around and book it quite easily and Scarlett could, if they got stuck in a Trap Barrier, use the car as a beacon to find theirst location. Provided that they parked it outside a barrier, of course.
Note to self, put another long-range teleporter somewhere around the south-west border, he thought to himself. None of this would be in need of deliberating if he had a closer instant-travel option. He was distracted by his worries when both of the women by his side discarded their winter clothes, which they had put on to get to the car storage without standing out.
Youre really fucking sure you want me to tag along? Eliza asked, once naked. A sudden surge of doubt reflected in her eyes. I might, you know, do the usual and flip the fuck out because Im shit at self-control.
John kissed her on the forehead. If you do, Ill be there to stop you, alright?
Personally, I look forward to seeing you kick someones ass, Metra remarked. Ive never actually seen you fight. Best I got where those violin-esque sounds in the distance and some training.
Im pretty strong, Eliza mumbled.
Thats what I hear, but I want to fucking see, Metra dered.
Leave something alive for Metra to test her new weapon on, John said.
Rex Magnar and I will have fun, dont you worry. The First of Wrath grinned. The weapon was currently at home, but Chosen Loyalty made it so it woulde over whenever Metra needed it. A slight improvement from having Metras armament stored inside the Gamers inventory. Handjob sound good for a start, Master? she then asked, her expression turning lusty as John put his own clothes away.
I dont want anything to get on the seat, John told her.
Facefuck it is! Eliza dered and bowed down before Metra got the chance, taking the entirety of his already erect cock into her throat.
He was well entertained for the entire drive.
Chapter 895 – Corrupted Physicality
Chapter 895 C Corrupted Physicality
John was quite thankful for the cumload slider he had gotten. In situations like the drive, where theck of showers meant the mess had to be minimized, cumming just the normal amount was quite useful. The inside of the car and their bodies could be wiped down or cleaned up by Undine, if need be, but the extreme amounts of semen leaking out of the girls would have been more than a bit awkward. To avoid this, the loads were minimized and John tried to cum down their throats more often than not.
Because he had to keep the Mobile Barrier running, John couldnt sleep and continued to fuck for the entirety of the drive. They fooled around sometimes, encouraging Beatrice (andter Metra, when they switched for the second half of the drive) to drive next to the road for a few metres. The bumpiness of thewn made the experience of Eliza bouncing in hisp a little special.
When there was only about twenty minutes left of their drive, they cleaned themselves up and just cuddled. Eliza was as enjoyable as ever in that regard. Her small frame fit so snugly in hisp and she squeaked in such a delightfully insane manner when he squished her soft body in his arms. Gnome was the best hugger in his harem, there was no doubt about that, but when it came to being an object of cuddling, Eliza was above her. Maybe even the best. It was a contest between her, Sylph and Undine. Squishability and size were important factors.
John enjoyed the happy thoughts for as long as he had them. The closer they got to their target, the more his analytical mind took over until they only cuddled with eyes turned towards the ck tinted windows. They were rolling quite a bit off-road now, cutting across an empty field. Eventually, the rainbow-coloured disy of two barriers phasing together appeared around them.
Tense, the entirety of the group held their breath for an ambush. They were spared, at this time. Back up until we leave the barrier, and find the nearest parking spot, Johnmanded.
As you wish, my king, Metra obeyed and backed-off. Urgh, she made a deeply unsatisfied noise, while looking over her shoulder.
Am I sitting in the way? John asked. It would have been odd. This was a new and fairly high-tech car, equipped with a rear camera.
No, I just hate automatics, the First of Wrathined. Where is the fun if you dont work the engine yourself?
The fun is in just driving where the fuck you want to be, Eliza stated, as they left the barrier again. They all rxed at that point. Whatever awaited them, it wasnt strong or skilled enough to wrestle control of the Illusion Barrier from John. They could always flee.
You drive just to get somewhere, Metra said, as the wheels touched smooth asphalt again. I drive because its fun. The roaring of the engine, the speed, the way the eleration presses you into your seat. She let out a deep, eroticugh. Fantastic.
Dont understand, just want to be wherever the fuck I am supposed to be, Eliza agreed to the berserker babes hypothesis. With the topic effectively done, Metra just parked on a corner between the proper road and the fenced entrance to a field.
Here is good, my king? she asked.
Itll do, John responded, and they got, still naked, out of the car. Measuring the distance, John told them, Just put on your regr clothes. Ill make a barrier to walk the distance. Thest thing the Gamer wanted was to get into trouble with the farmers. Chances that they were the crazed get off my property-types were slim, but John didnt want to get stuck in any way.
Beatrice grew out her maid outfit. Metra put on her tiny hot pants and crop top, both were dark grey with partly see-through elements. Eliza wore her leather bra and thong. A metal ring between her boobs and two at the sides of her hips secured those in ce. If it hadnt been for the ck robe she put on top, she would have worn even less than Metra.
What John especially loved about the skimpy way they dressed was that the Lovers Will mark was tantly visible just above their legwear (which hardly qualified as such). It was simply satisfying.
As ast thing before they left, John scribbled a note and stuck it under the windshield wiper, alongside a twenty-dor bill. In case they were somehow in the way of whoever thatnd belonged to, that message would let them know they would be gone in due time and the money would hopefully keep them content. The only thing even worse than a bothered farmer would be a bothered farmer that towed their car away.
Finally, he discontinued the Mobile Barrier, only to open a regr one. They started walking back into the direction they had just been down. Youre fucked if someone looks under the hood, you know that, yeah? Eliza asked. Gaias stuck-up cunt will envelop you and you will wish you were only in the worst unbirthing porn ever.
I did take that into ount, but its exceedingly unlikely, John responded. Someone would need to find the car, take interest in the car, unlock the security on the hood and inspect the inactive mana engine with enough scrutiny to see it cant be a normal one. Taking a dramatic pause, he then added, In other words, it would just be my luck to have Gaias Ire pop up in the next twenty minutes, probably in the middle of the battle.
If it kills you, I am murdering the entire fucking world and then her, Eliza giggled with a bit too much seriousness in her eyes.
Which reminds me that I should probably freeze some sperm, John thought out loud.
How about you just dont fucking die? the blood mage suggested.
That is the n, but, you know, just in case. The Gamer smiled. Dont worry, I will do absolutely everything to give you a live breeding.
Eliza seemed satisfied with that answer and they continued to walk through the empty field. Whatever the farmer had put therest must have been harvested a couple days ago, as remains of nts still stuck out of the soft soil. The trees around the border of the field and in the distance were rid of most of their leaves, making the wavy hillndscape an orange and brown tinted ocean. It was quite serene. John could imagine living in an area like this or at least building a vacation home somewhere out here. Far away from the business of the city. Only the speed of the inte connection would be an issue.
Thendscape changed drastically when they entered the Protected Space they had sought out.
It was as if someone had taken a picture of the original area and done everything in their power to create a barely recognizable nightmare world from it. Trees were twisted masses of teeth, with fungal stems growing out of the gaps, recing branches. The ground was covered with a film of some sort of liquid, intermingled with grains of sand. des of grass underneath slowly receded and then grew again, as if they were part of a movie that was slowly elerating and then quickly reversed. Rather than the moon, above hung a massive human eye.
This was not here when we just drove i- John started, only for the entirendscape to flicker. The eye was reced by the moon and the trees went back to normal. Indeed, the trees were suddenly everywhere around them and were in full green. It was a forest in the middle of summer, untouched by any sort of human hand. Before their very eyes, those trees devolved from fully grown, to sapling, until they were absorbed back into the earth.
Everything flickered again. Massive canines grew from the ground in chaotic distances but always in pairs of four. Four equally sized, curved, sharp teeth, which grew more teeth on their insides, before all pressing together like a vile flower or a four-segmented maw.
The grains of sand on the grass crunched when Metra called Rex Magnar and swung the halberd to the sound of eager electric guitar chords. The air in front of her tore open and rippled outwards. The teeth disappeared, but the grass continued to recede and return. This is some advanced fuckery, she concluded. I tore apart some space maniption, but I dont know what the fuck causes that. She pointed at one of the trees before them growingrger andrger until it died of old age.
Several spells ovepping and creating some truly absurd effects, it seems, John agreed. He wasnt quite sure about the trees. It looked like there was something manipting time. Which was exceedingly odd. Time maniption seemed strictly limited to the dtion inside Illusion Barriers. It was a way of influencing reality Gaia seemed to have reserved for herself and the goddess of time. Yet, what he looked at bore no marks of nt rted magic. Sand the sands of time? The Gamer kneeled down.
What the fuck are you doing?! Eliza asked when he extended his hand to touch the slimyyer on the grass. This is some Lorylim fuckery!
No, its not, John denied, but still stopped to exin. At least not directly. Whatever spell Metra had broken had now refreshed, causing eyeballs to pop up all over the surfaces. A cluster of them once more reced the moon. Curious and red, they stared from above. Out of the pupils grew flowering fungal bodies. Their heads spread, covered the celestial ocr, only for it to vanish. This isnt what the Lorylim look like or behave. This is the imaginanings of someone that only knows the basic attributes of Lorylim. Which makes this weirder than an actual Lorylim attack.
How so? Eliza asked, while John put his hand into the grass.
So, it really is from the ce Nathalia told me about, John mumbled and got up, cleaning his hand with a cloth from his inventory. While he did so, his hand turned the pasty colour it had been before he had gotten his blood cirction fixed through increasing Endurance and Strength. That hand would have looked misced at the best of times, but with the still healthy, stronger andrger hand right next to it, it was especially egregious. Its odd because they have all the ingredients right, quite detailed even, but they just have the wrong version of it. John looked around.
He had meant to check whether or not the car had touched the ground here. They would have needed to hurry back and put it back into a barrier if that had been the case. While he did not find any car tracks among thesting footprints they left in the (most of the time) soft dirt, he found a mass sitting there.
He stared at it, the rest turned around as well. What the fuck is that?! Elizas disgusted cry represented his thoughts exactly.
It had, in the most basic sense, the shape of a frog. Its outline waspletely distorted, swirling apart into reds, blues and greens. Even the smooth parts of its skin boiled with ovepping, unmixing colours. Its eyes bent out of ce, duplicating themselves into other positions, only to vanish when it blinked. John blinked and it was gone.
Thats disgusting, Metra stated.
You can still see it? John asked.
I wish I fucking couldnt, it just grew a second head thats even uglier than the- thank every glorified toilet paper in the world that calls itself a holy book, its gone.
I can still see it, Metra reported.
Try to interact with it.
Alright. Metra mmed Rex Magnars spiked side into the dirt. It wasnt exactly what John had in mind, but he had no right to be surprised. Still there.
Blink.
Its gone now.
John turned around to find the forest grow around them again. The mass was nowhere to be seen. shing the air again, Metra prevented the quickly aging trees from turning into teeth-leaved mushrooms.
Are we sure we havent all taken a gargantuan dose of LSD and are currently having a fucking horror trip together? Eliza wanted to know.
As if LSD wouldst you longer than twenty seconds, John joked. As far as nightmarendscapes went, this was one of the least concerning ones he had visited. Sure, it was as if he had entered the horror trip of a college student, but nothing was trying to kill him, corrupt him or liquify his mind. It was simply disturbing. Whenever he found thendscape too displeasing to look at, he simply focused on one of hispanions for a couple of seconds. No matter what happened around them, it didnt affect them, making them points of sanity in the shifting grotesqueness.
Fair e-fucking-nough, Eliza said and wretched. There is that frog again, she said and pointed somewhere.
John saw it too, which was strangely calming. Whatever that trippy mass was, it wasnt a sign of individual corruption. It waspletely possible they were all losing their minds together. Alright, just for safety, the Gamer raised his hand and exited the barrier again. The control was still his. Lifeline remains secure, he said, after going back in. Because they were in a group, they would enter and leave with him. Outside of dungeons, that feature seldom came to be used, but in moments like this it gave him peace of mind. Lets find whatever is at the heart of this mess.
They advanced into the aging, rejuvenating, mutatingndscape.
Chapter 896 – Riddle me Hell
Chapter 896 C Riddle me Hell
John snapped a chunk of tooth off one the mutated trees in passing. The cracking sound was neither that of bone nor wood, but what he held a momentter was a simple branch. When it refused to change again, he dropped it into the slimy grass, where it rapidly withered, died, and returned to full health. All under the magical light radiating from Purgatory and Rex Magnar and what little the moon had to spend. During their long drive, the day had faded.
Only things connected to thendscape are affected, John hummed. Its best you dont materialize, Undine, he reached into his mind. Even if there is no Lorylim threat, I wouldnt want you to identally absorb any of the Sands of Time. It was doubtful that the grains permanently maintained their ability to alter time. Outside of the hourss or another source of recharging, their energy would eventually fizzle out. John had no idea how long that would be, however. Maybe Undine would be able to just clean herself by going incorporeal again, but who knew.
It was best to just avoid the situation.
What even is this slimy stuff? Metra asked.
Observe says its an alchemical by-product, John answered. Mildly toxic, but I dont think any of us need to be on guard about something like that. Metra and Beatrice were metal, he had Gamers Body and the idea that Eliza could be bothered by some kind of poison was almost hrious. How are your feet doing anyway?
Stable, the First of Wrath answered and raised her feet. The sandals she had been wearing originally had been discarded after just a few minutes of walking. Her feet themselves remained unchanged, thankfully. The effect of the Sands of Time on sapient beings and enchanted items seemed much diminishedpared to regr objects. Otherwise, Metra would have continuously had the shape of her soles changed. She had assumed more than one shape throughout the ages, after all.
Stable, Beatrice echoed, following much the same reasoning.
Fucking pissed, Eliza cussed and kicked the ground. Her naked foot dug a trench through the dirt as if she was dragging it through water. Earth and grass showered down on the path ahead. Fucking dumbass sand ruining my favourite boots, piece of shit who put this here will have their tongue pulled out of their rectum.
You have more of them back home, John tried to calm her. As much as he loved the ck leather, belt covered thigh-highs and how they made her already fantastic thighs stand out even more, they were not worth her ripping the head off the first person they found. If you want, Ill buy you a few more.
I mean I dont need any more of those fucking fantastic boots Eliza said, ncing over at him, then ncing away again, leaving something unspoken. She fidgeted with the ck piece of cloth sitting tightly around her neck, kept in ce by a sp at the back. She wore them regrly nowadays, only rarely those she had to obscure her rather unusual appearance, and John kept breaking them in the expected ways.
Ill buy you some more chokers when we get back. His promise was met with a gleeful series of giggles. It wasnt about what he bought as much that he bought her something. As stereotypical as it may have been, gifting Eliza with something always made her ecstatically happy. It didnt even have to be that costly.
M-my feet are doing fine if that question is still pending Gnome mumbled. Still hard to sense anything underground through all of this constant shifting. Its like trying to pick a sound out of white noise.
But you do feel something, right? John asked. With no other clues whatsoever, they had been following her guidance. Apparently, there was some sort of tunnelwork underground. At the moment, they were trying to find the entrance to it. We are on track, right?
Id say so, yes, Gnome answered, a concentrated expression on her oriental face.
Eliza ignited her Aura and raised her foot. Just need to stomp once and this shit is settled, she announced.
Id rather not copse our way into whatever kind of undergroundplex this is, John told her and the Aura disappeared again. Also, you might break the entire barrier if you use Seismic Step here.
I can control my dumbfuck self! Maybe? A little? the pretty little psycho got progressively quieter, I can be useful outside of being a cumdump
No need to prove that. John smiled at her.
Statement: I love you, Beatrice chimed in. You are appreciated.
Fuck me, even hearing that from an emotionless submissive slut makes me unreasonably fucking happy. Im about as deep as a puddle
It makes me d my words pleased you, emotionful submissive slut, Beatrice returned.
Fuck you for being nice to me.
You are wee.
I urgh. Eliza gave up trying to be offended and just trotted along as they followed Gnomes lead. After about twenty seconds of silence, she pointed at something in the distance. Theres that disgusting techno-colour nightmare again.
John spotted it in the distance. Think it might be trying to guide our way? he asked the rest of the group. It has been popping up in the direction of our path repeatedly.
If it is, it doesnt matter much, Metra answered. Id rather rely on Gnomes senses.
John was in full agreement with that and so they kept moving until arriving at a shed between two fields. It looked so inconspicuous that they couldnt have been sure if it was in any way important or just a copy from the regrndscape. Something is moving inside, Gnome warned. Should I?
No, Ill take the lead, the Gamer asserted, having a bad feeling about this. Usually this would have been grounds to send his physically sturdier party members ahead, but given a particr scratching on the bones of his right arm, he felt he was best equipped for this. Take a step back, he told the girls, who obeyed, and each went into a battle-ready stance.
He put his hand on the handle of the well-maintained door and pulled it back slowly.
Hehehehehe somethingughed on the inside. John. Joooooohnnnnnn. Undinnnnneee delicious names C terrible names C No beats, no drums C Eat the beats, eat the beast, make the foreign hearts stop. There was a snapping sound as the thing continued to cackle. The Gamer opened the doorpletely and calmly stared at the speaker.
It once had been a person. Pieces of that were still evident underneath the spongy outgrowths that covered the skin. They were ck and dark grey, extended from the limbs and the sides of the torso like mushrooms on a wounded tree. Two horn-like protrusions had grown out of the brain, cracking the skull open in the process and leaving part of the grey matter inly visible. The protrusions split into several veins, which crawled over the wall against which the broken body leaned. Veins extended halfway down the face, and when it spoke, gooey strands connected its partly liquified lips and puffs of spores rose with every word.
Newman C Newman C Newman C Newman C A fate better than the phantom C she was so unwise to keep her body there C Newman C Newman C Vessel C Vessel - Ves- the Lorylim chanted in pain, before John sted its head off with an Arc Lance. Then there were only gargles out of an exposed throat and the thing fell over, the synapses getting pulled off the wall with a wet sound. Its chest continued to tense a couple of times, as if it wasughing, before finallying to a stop.
Of course, they are involved somehow, John mumbled and scratched his right arm.
Fucking hell, that is disgusting, Eliza stated, while looking into the shed. Why do we keep running into things that look like they belong in the blender today?
Right, this is the first time you''ve actually seen a Lorylim, John realized.
Doesnt seem like theyre all they are hyped up to be, the pretty little psycho stated, stepping around John. Before he could stop her, she kicked the corpse in the side.
The chest burst open. An umbilical cord with a hood made of the shattered rips flew towards Eliza. A solid circle surrounded by unsteady gills sat in the middle. It narrowed as if blinking, turning into an opened maw surrounded by jagged teeth, ready to tear into flesh.
Eliza pped the thing with such overwhelming force that the entire shape turned into a stter of droplets so tiny, they evaporated into ck spores before they hit the ground outside. The rest of the girls were careful not to breath any of it in. It was a rather weak one, John said. Not exactly a proper Lorylim. More of a visible outgrowth of thework.
If there was a proper one, why is the representation of them so inurate? Gnome thought out loud.
More important question is if there are more of them, John said, looking at the spiralling staircase behind the corpse. With the Lorylim dead, the infections that had grown deformed like melting wax, spreading more of the spores. For the moment Smander, take care of this.
With gusto, the apocalypse elemental cackled, once she had materialized. They may have strayed from the anti-Lorylim path, but she still had been an endme elemental once and her fire retained at least a moderately raised effectiveness against the foul creatures. While she cleansed the corpse and the shed, John thought about the implications of this thing being there.
Its been a while since we ran into Lorylim he mumbled, and I dont think we ever saw one this weak.
Aside from the infection Undine had, we only ever dealt with this Izha consciousness? Gnome pointed out. We still know too little about them
And we know even less about what they are doing here, John said and looked over his shoulder. Whatever was happening here, the Lorylim had not been the source. It mentioned that I was a better fate than the phantom. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
Some cryptic shit that I wouldnt bother with, Metra stated.
Good thing Im calling the shots then, John returned with a smile. His guard was more raised, now that he knew what kind of power was involved in this whole affair. Despite that, he felt less threatened by the alien presence than usual. Perhaps because he had grown so much stronger that corrupting him would be a much more difficult task. Perhaps theyre just not focused on me, he added a more cautious thought to keep himself in check.
The shed had soon been reduced to a smouldering pile, with only ash still rising from it. Smander, item form, he told his me spirit. The red-skinned woman nodded and fused with Purgatory. Their minds intertwined, allowing him to wield her power as effectively as possible. The dragon w became engulfed in cleansing fire and the Gamer led the group down the staircase.
It was clean down there. For whatever reason, the Lorylim upstairs had remained there and not even tried to corrupt anything underground. As difficult as it was to read an insane, alien hivemind, it passing on the opportunity to infest something seemed rather odd.
They went deeper in. The corridors vaguely reminded John of the inside of a hospital. Simple, clean, straightforward, barely decorated and only as wide as they needed to be. There were lightbulbs under the ceiling, the long kind that continued on and on along the corridor. None of them were on at the moment. After they had turned two corners, nothing of the faint light of the night remained. There was only Purgatory and Rex Magnar.
Rrrrrrrrrooooooooooo
The group stopped when a resentful wail echoed through the corridors. There were no other sounds. John sent a fireball flying into the darkness. Nothing was ahead. He furrowed his eyebrows, and looked to Eliza. Where his senses failed, hers could seed. Yet, she shook her head.
Rrrrrrrrrr
The rolled noise sounded happy, almost like a greeting during family dinner. Almost. It rose into a hateful scream.
OOOOOOOOOOOooooo-!
And stopped with a sound like a bursting watermelon.
The group slowly began to move again, continuing through thework until they came across a puddle of alchemical fluids and sand. The same slimy mixture they had found so much of above. What the hell is this ce? John mumbled. Something he repeated when they found a door and violently opened it.
There was only a single thing in it. A machine, taking the shape of four seats attached to a massive ss tank that stretched between floor and ceiling. Each of the seats was taken up by a bloody blob, human bodies whose bones had been removed. What remained was a disgusting mass. Even the skin had been torn open.
John inspected the corpses closely. The blood was dry, but was still of a pronounced reddish-brown colour. They have been dead for a couple of days. Before the distress call. Whatever has been happening, its been happening for a bit, he analysed. He noticed that the epidermis had been removed not through simple skinning, but by tearing it off with small hooks or in a simr fashion. He had seen injuries, past and recent, like this before. This looks like Marathyus scars the Lorylim that had infected them was either killed or retreated. Thetter, given how the feet look.
Is this a mana factory thing? Eliza asked, looking at the machine itself.
Observe says its purpose is to unify the consciousness of several people and project their unified thoughts on the environment, John ryed what he read on the window that appeared in front of him. I suppose this is the Gestalt the guild named itself after. It also means there are still some people alive somewhere in here.
Some fuckers need to dream up that nightmare out there, Eliza agreed.
Rooooooooooooo They heard the wail again, much further away this time.
I honestly preferred it outside. I can deal with weird surroundings, but I hate cramped ces crawling with things I dont know about, Johnined and walked towards the door. He would have loved to look for more clues. Rescuing who was still alive was a more pressing duty, however, and smarter when it came to information gathering in the long run. Tell me if you see the frog. Chances are thats the joined gestalt of the survivors trying to get us where they are.
They went back into the hallway, kept their senses ready and their backs covered. Every door they found, they burst open and checked the inside. They found twelve more corpses, each in groups of four, amunal kitchen, a sleeping room and some kind of child raising facility. This had been a long-standing operation by the looks of things.
Deeper and deeper they went into theplex. Inside the hallways, they sometimes walked through slimy patches. What this wailing entity was that got them there was still unclear.
A hand peeled out of the darkness. Seven still fingers, thin like blood vessels without skin or muscles or the root of a young nt. John stopped, ready to throw a fireball at merely the sight of that thing. When it remained motionless, he carefully advanced further.
With an electrical buzz, the lights in the corridor flickered to life. It revealed a massive and dead Lorylim. Its long body looked like several spines fused together, with other bones thickening the construct or protruding from it to create the basis of limbs. Fleshy pieces of dry Lorylim matter kept everything from falling apart. John could only see half of the head of the thing. Human leg bones had been fused together to create an oversized jaw, while skulls had been conjoined to form the upper half of the head. The eye sockets still oozed liquifying Lorylim matter and spores.
The Lorylim was lodged into the walls. To be more exact, it seemed as if the walls had eaten it. Concrete was shaped into arms and at some points it looked as if it had boiled. There was not a single crack anywhere. John refused to believe a Lorylim wouldnt be able to break simple concrete. Yet, when he cast Observe on the wall, he was given no information that indicated he was looking at anything different.
The lights flickered and died, only toe back to life. From soft me to hard artificial illumination, the brightness of the corridor switched back and forth without control. Seriously, what the hell is-
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMUAAAAARGHHHHHHHH! The scream was raw anger. It was right beside him. Right in front of him. A shape of mud and slime. There was no time to move, to scream or even to Observe. Time wasnt a thing. Time
Time to get into the pool, Loseman, Frank said.
Chapter 897 – A collapsing thing
Chapter 897 C A copsing thing
John hated swimming ss. This always happened when the teacher stepped out for a smoke. Why would you even be allowed to smoke during the lesson? the pubescent boy asked himself and tried to make himself as small as possible. Legs pulled in, he kept sitting against the wall. He hoped, like always, that Frank would just go away.
By amon definition, it was an insane hope.
Yo, piggy bank, I know you heard me, Frank said and stepped on Johns foot, slowly shifting his weight. Puberty had elerated the differences between the two of them. Where the little nerd had turned into anky nerd, Frank had be a freakishly strong thirteen-year-old. To some degree, that could be exined by him being in the football team. Mostly, John was certain of it, Frank was stronger than him because that was how the unfair world worked.
This is why Im happy staying inside with my PC
Even with that cynical thought bouncing inside his head, John was surprised how far Frank went. Soon, the nerds foot started to seriously hurt. Frank had been slowly upping the violencetely. Their rtionship had always been hostile, but there was only so much damage a boy could do to a boy before the hormones kicked into high gear.
He heard a girly snicker from the side and made the mistake of raising his gaze. The clique of female ssmates looked at him with belligerent amusement. All ahead the blonde cheerleader Vanessa. It hurt almost more than the physical pain. It was only recently that he had started to get really interested in what girls thought of him and, so far, it had never been positive.
Shouldnt be surprised you have trouble getting up, Frank mocked and stepped off his foot. A brief sh of hope was extinguished when the blond guy grabbed him by the arm.
Jesus, can his mother afford food? one of the other boys mocked, when Johns thin body was pulled to his feet. Skeleton-man!
If he was my son, I wouldnt feed him either, Vanessa shouted, always eager to raise the heat in the room. Hes just a pathetic gamer. What made her pick on him so much? John would have loved to know. There seemed to be no reason aside from that sociopathic glint of satisfaction in her eyes. Not that he had experienced enough in his life yet to properly identify that being enough for people like her.
John wanted to defend himself, but no words came to mind. He was stunned. Then he was tossed into the pool. He was under the surface of the water. He came up again. He was shoved back down by Frank jumping on top of him. Pain shot up his spine. He came up again. He desperately snapped for air.
Mute and cant even breathe right. Franks mockery barely got through the water that had gathered in Johns ear.
Hell get bored soon, the young gamer told himself.
Here. Ill teach you, Frank grabbed John by his messy hair. Breathe in, Loseman. Before John could, he was forcefully dunked under water. He struggled. His lungs burned. He struggled more. Helplessly, his hands hit the surface. He was ripped out of the water.
The Gamer shot up into a straight position, breathing heavily. John? the worried voice of Gnome reached him and his mind quickly snapped back to reality. Shaking the vision of his past off with the wisdom of the present, he analysed the situation. Are you back?
Yes, he responded, watching as his body reverted to what Stats and effort had made it, filling out his clothes. They were absolutely drenched, sparing him the question of how they had gotten him out the vision. Thank you, Undine, he said, while letting Metra help him to his feet. The abysstide elemental hadpletely rinsed him clean with enough water to flood the entire hallway. Parts of his skin still tingled, but there wasnt enough of the Sands of Time on him to continue the debuff. Note to self, dont get any of that on your head, or you will experience shbacks.
Are you doing well? Gnome asked, holding onto his arm. Do you need a cuddle? A hot bath? A nap? She was so worried for his well being, she just said these in spite of their current environment. None of the gathered harem members were in a mindset to make fun of her for it either.
Ill take all three of these with you after we are out of here, John told her with a reassuring smile. Just some unpleasant memories. Nothing that I havent confronted before. Im not the boy I was back then. He looked around. What exactly happened after that thing appeared?
Cunt-ass-bitch-slime crashed into you and then stopped existing before I could get that done for it, Eliza cussed out. What the fuck was that?!
I dont know yet John answered, already having a few theories run through his mind. Lets not get stuck here theorizing. We dont know if it can form again, if there are still any Lorylim around or even exactly what killed them. Better to wrap things up here.
They easily agreed to that and continued on their journey. Siena insisted on scouting ahead now, but John forbade her to. Thest thing he wanted was to have one of his girls isted somewhere. Like Sylph and Undine, she was to remain incorporeal until needed. Gnome continued to sense for any vibrations in the earth, while Smander used her body heat to dry John off. They heard that wailing, Roooooo, one more time, but didnt encounter the creature again.
They opened more doors, aimlessly, until the fizzling frog creature appeared again and gave them a rough sense of the direction they needed to go. Finally, they found one gate that was heavily fortified. A symbol was engraved in the heavy steel, a frog, unsurprisingly. John hammered against it a couple times and waited for an answer.
Finally, there was a sound in the underground corridors, as the locking mechanism nked and snapped several times. The vault barrier opened with a hydraulic hiss. Nobody stood on the other side, so John entered and checked what all of this was about himself. What he found inside was, atst, progress.
Fundamentally, the structure of the room was simr to the other ones where they had found the corpses. There was onerge tank in the middle, surrounded by four seats, illuminated bymps. Unlike the other rooms, however, that tank opened like a flower at the top and ran along the ceiling in several intricate pipes, which vanished into the walls. John noticed that the tank wasnt empty, as it had been everywhere else, but instead filled with an alchemical fluid. The most important difference, however, was that the people in the seats werent sacks of dead meat. They were alive, slowly breathing with their eyes closed. All of them had shaved bodies and were naked.
Wel.. Wee, President Newman, ...ewman. Their speech was as disturbing as the rest of the ce. Noticeably out of synchronicity, their voicesyered into a barely understandable mess. They all spoke the same words, so John focused on a single one of them and ignored the others. Thank you for hearing our plea. You yourselfing humbles us greatly.
I have a great number of questions about what happened here, but lets get you out first, John asserted. Lets leave the barrier.
We cannot, the four people said. The gestalt must be maintained. We need your help to transport the machine.
Will you experience a deadly psychic bacsh if we dont? John asked, inspecting the tanks. The alchemical brew inside looked a lot like what covered the ground and, by extension, what the wailing creature had been made out of.
No. We must maintain the gestalt.
Why? the Gamer wanted to know, straining his eyes and seeing the tiny grains of sand swimming around inside the liquid. They gathered in tiny clusters. Its trying to form again here, John realized. Thats where the fluid went everywhere else. It escaped and then walked the halls. Why do you need to maintain your hivemind?
Recreating it will take too long. I dont want to be lonely. We must maintain the gestalt. Individual answers were given, only to unify into a central statement. We lost the other machines already. The final messages. Thest thoughts. We received them. We cannot lose each other.
John saw something else bubble inside the alchemical fluid beside sand. Streaks of ck that whirled around. Some of it consolidated into a grinning shape. Grew jagged teeth for a moment. He snapped back and shouted, Metra.
On it, the First of Wrath raised Rex Magnar.
NO! the four people shouted at once, their eyes flying open. It was far toote. The prismatic weapon smashed into the central tank and burst it open like a frozenke hit by a meteor. Coming spilling out as a wave of goo, the slime spilled over the floor, only to be met immediately by Smanders purging mes and turning into nothing before either the Sands of Time or the Lorylim inside could shape into anything.
The people finally rose from their seats, got on their feet and immediately copsed. John noticed the weak trembling typical for people that had been dehydrating and starving for several days. They tried to get to him, grabbed him by the sleeve with motions of helpless rage.
Do you have any idea of the damage you just caused?! They shouted as loudly as their parched throats would allow. Their connection still existed, though in what shape exactly, John did not know.
This machine was what got your brethren eaten inside out by Lorylim, not to mention the other weirdness going on here. John calmly grabbed the hand wing into his shirt and forced the person to let go. If you think you can retain your machines after corruption like that, you are delusional.
Mouths opened, but a distant scream shut them up, RoRoGGaFerkrona It echoed through the hallways. It sounded almost like crying.
Be mad at me all you want, but you dont have a reason to keep staying, John told them. Lets leave and get you something to eat. Then you will exin to me exactly what is going on.
That, at least, was an argument they subscribed to, and so John led the charge out of the undergroundwork. There was no telling where they would end up in the real world if they exited right there and John would only take that risk if they walked into that phantom again. Luck had it that it stayed in the deeper areas of theplex. ording to the group they had just saved, only twenty people were supposed to be in thisplex. Given that they had found a total of 17 bodies, 16 as sacks of meat and the one (formerly) living Lorylim above, that meant he had rescued what he could.
Whatever kept the gooey time phantom from reforming, it was not worth investigating in person at that moment.
They emerged on the surface and John took easier breaths upon seeing that things had reverted to the averagendscape. Trees were trees and grass was grass, even if both still went through odd time loops. Once they had left the barrier, even that was gone. John created a new one and they walked back to the car.
You three will need to run, John told the girls who couldnt go incorporeal, while fishing the unused note out from under the windshield. Because of the limited space of the car and the people they had rescued averaging level 15, there was no other choice but to have them follow on foot. Not a big problem with the Mobile Barrier around.
The East Gestalt members let their continued annoyance be known by not saying a single word as they entered the car. The Gamer wasnt interested in grilling them either way, not yet. Only when the engine was running and the barrier was up, did one of them ask, Where are we heading?
The next set of coordinates. Here, take this. He reached into his inventory and distributed water and some dried food among the people. Eat up. Gather your minds. Ill have a lot of questions before I enter the next one of your facilities. He took his eyes off the road for a moment to stare at the one person in the front seat next to them. The naked man shrunk in his seat while the Gamers Charisma caused an intimidating aura to spread through the car. I wont save anyone else before I know as much as I can.
You would forsake more minds-?
Yes. I dont screw around when ites to the Lorylim and I will definitely not take any more risks while there is something you set loose that KILLS Lorylim, the Gamer interrupted. If the Sands of Time phantom and the thing that killed them is even the same entity. He floored the gas pedal. In a terrain truck without traffic, there was no reason to pay attention to the speed limit. The girls outside kept up. I came to your aid with as little intel as I had because I had no choice, but I will not just risk my life and the life of my girls and people because you are too attached to your gestalt consciousness to shut down infested machines.
Sighing, John ended his little rant and concentrated on driving, while the people in the car started to eat. Whatever their thoughts were on what he had just said (disagreement with almost absolute certainty), they were too intimidated to voice them. John was fine with that. All he cared about was that they gave him urate information. Their opinion of him was only important insofar that they didnt lie to him. As long as he was the only one who could save more of their brethren, he was confident he would learn all he wanted to.
What do you want to know? the man in the front seat asked, once water and food had been consumed.
Start me with a summary of what exactly your guild is and then give me the timeline between the beginning of this situation and me arriving, John instructed. Give me all of the details you can recall.
Okay, Newman, the man said.
Chapter 898 – Gestalten
Chapter 898 C Gestalten
The Gestalt guilds got their name from a practice to synchronize their minds to achieve a shared consciousness or, at least, as close to a truly shared consciousness as separated souls could achieve. ording to what John was told, the West and East Gestalt had differences in how this unity could be achieved. After the sudden appearance of the Death Zone over ten years ago, those differing approaches lead to the split among the surviving members.
Fundamentally, both went after the goal of sameness by sharing their memories with other members, eliminating as many differences in experience and thus reaching a theoretical ovep of minds.
The east attempted to reach this goal by separating into groups of four. Four people shared their memories in one machine and created their first gestalt consciousness. Four of those gestalts then were channelled into the fifth machine, each of the four people on it standing for one of the lower levels. Four of those then sent the unified gestalt of one Illusion Barrier into a centralized barrier for the area. Four areasbined for the province and so on. The unification happened from the bottom and went up, culminating in one individual that carried theplete experiences of all members in them. A strict hierarchy of who was in what position assured stability.
The west arranged things top-down. One individual channeled their memories into four others, those four channelled into four more and so on. This created a wider spread of things, but everyone had something inmon with everyone. By mixing who was in what position regrly, they could further unify their consciousnesses. John got the propaganda version of this exnation, but he understood the gist of it anyway.
John had a number of questions about these practices, morally, pragmatically and safety rted. All of this struck him as some sort of cultish pyramid scheme. There was nothing inherently wrong with people deciding to share their memories with each other, but how much of a person was left after the first synchronization? How many memories of dead people swam around inside those minds? How could a person with a strong temperament reconcile the remnants of a meek person inside their mind?
Given how effeminate the men and how masculine the single woman in the car looked, the answer was found in equalizing more than just their memories. By alchemical and biochemical means, a lot of differences between people could be suppressed. John found the idea of surrendering his individuality like that deeply disturbing.
In a pragmatic sense, he couldnt but ask himself if he could use this memory sharing technology in a way that would allow craftsmen or soldiers to share skills and knowledge with each other. That would be infinitely more effective than teaching people verbally, perhaps even better than drills. That was, however, where the safety concerns kicked in. Because he was pressed for time, that was the only series of questions he raised directly to the group he had saved.
Run me through what happened, the Gamer said. What came first, the sand creature or the Lorylim?
We cannot say with certainty, the group answered, only to drift apart and speak over each other. All we know is.. With certainty, we can just say What we do know It appears that
Stop, John interrupted and pointed at the man in the seat next to him. Only you speak. Continue.
All we can say with certainty is that the issues began five days ago. An alchemist was dispatched from the central to refill our mind-fluid tanks. Shortly after that, the gestalt machines started to act up.
That alchemist would have been the only additional person in the barrier, right? John wanted to be clear about his deductions. When he got confirmation, he nodded. That means the Lorylim likely struck first. I found an independent one in the shed. That would have been the alchemist, in all due likelihood. They could have easily corrupted the fluid tanks and things would go from there.
A betrayer constant mind connection is needed No
John let the car decelerate to make the drive around a corner smooth and rtively safe. Then he floored the gas again. Continue. What happened after that? I assume you noticed issues but the alchemist assured you he would fix it?
Yes. We offered to help. However, in minds we are simr but in magic we are not. It was wisest to leave him to it.
Just another dangerous point of difference, John thought. What if you grow so convinced that you are a fire mage that you rely on magic you dont even have? And then?
We synchronized our mind, as we do every day. The gestalts were created. We copied them and created thendscape of our minds for the lower consciousnesses to enjoy. They reported mild issues, but we already had word it would be fixed. The same happened the next day. Then, three days ago, the Sands of Time started to act like they had never done before.
Wait, you used the Sands of Time regrly? the Gamer intercepted. They didnt just appear?
The Sands of Time are part of the alchemical concoction we use to conjure and share our memories.
Well, that certainly exins why I was thrown so deeply into one when I got it all over me, John thought. Might not be the intended way to use it, given that its toxic, but exposure is exposure. Alright, so it seems that the Lorylim infecting the concoction stirred some kind of presence inside into motion. He took a hand off the wheel to stroke his chin. How long ago did this gestalt praxis start?
Twenty years.
So, theyre all first generation, John thought, but that was more of a side observation. Its a wonder you got away with this for that long. The structure you have created is a perfect breeding ground for the Lorylim and you mess with things you barely understand. If this ends with anything less than theplete annihtion of your guild, then its only because two catastrophes cancelled each other out.
We do not need your advice, Newman.
You do not WANT my advice, but you clearly need it, John disagreed. Erasing all differences between each other and hoping you can get anything good out of it. At best you will be left alone forever and stagnate in abyrinth of memories. At worst, well, I dont need to describe what is currently happening. You mess with time to relive past experiences most urately and your machines manipte the very space you upy. Typical utopian arrogance.
We cured loneliness! The defence came immediately from everyone, a well-studied line shouted with moral indignation. Hard eyes and pale, pressed together lips met the Gamers nce.
No, you just exchanged it for a set of other issues that haaaah John sighed. This is not the time. So, when did you call me anyway? The room he had found them in hadcked anything in the way ofmunication equipment, and since they had been in there for several days, they couldnt have called him about ten hours ago.
We did not, we knew only that the contingency would be to call you, the man answered. Central would have called you. The true Gestalt would oversee it.
The true Gestalt, huh, John hummed, only to nce at his navigation and pull up to the side of the road. Weve arrived. He stopped the car and, when the Gestalt members made motions to leave, raised a hand. Youre staying. It would only hinder my progress if I had to drag you around, he told them and they resumed to just sit in the car. Ill have more questions when Im back. Where you got the Sands of Time from in the first ce, for example. Be prepared for that.
He got out and the three girls immediately surrounded him. Metra, Beatrice, I want you two to remain here and watch them. Eliza, youreing with me.
Fantastic, looking at more creepy crawly shit-things, the blood mageined, ncing at the car. Guess Id rather do that than stay with these collectivist cunts.
John wasnt about to argue with Eliza about how to talk to these people. For one, because he himself had so little regard for their way of life and, more importantly, because he knew very well that the pretty little psycho had a great set of reasons to despise collectivism of any variety. It shouldnt take us too long to sweep through this barrier. Now we know what were looking for, after all.
They left the car in a regr barrier and then followed the coordinates a hundred metres further west, where they then entered the next Protected Space. They were greeted by the same nightmarendscape as they had been in thest barrier. Time-distorted trees, eyes, mushroom stalks and teeth, the whole set.
John shrugged it off just as easily asst time. The two things we need to look out for are the Sands of Time goo-monster and any living Lorylim, he asserted while they advanced. They seem to be weakened by whatever went wrong here, but Id rather not risk corruption.
Ive enough voices in my head already, so count me the fuck cautious.
Im not sure thats a functional sentence, John joked. Anyway, Gnome?
Yes? the autumn elemental appeared, ready to track down the tunnels again. John had other ns.
We dont need to be as careful in our approach this time around. I want to get to our target as quickly as possible. Just tear us a way in.
Wouldnt that alert the phantom thingy? Gnome asked.
I dont think that thing reacts much to outside stimuli, honestly, John answered. It didnt seek us out. We were just there when it was angry. Either way, I have control over this barrier. Seems best to me to get in there and just he sighed, smash their tools again and get them to leave.
Are they really so fucking stubborn that they wont leave unless they can stitch their fucking memories together like Frankensteins mind monster? Eliza wanted to know.
It might be that the time goo has enough control over barriers to keep them in. There is quite a difference between them and us C especially me, John hypothesized, as they watched Gnome stomp around and try to locate their target by feeling for hollow spaces under the surface. After only twenty seconds, she stopped and took a visible breath. The disgusting filter on thendscape flickered around her, as the earth began to tremble. Tremble and rise, swinging outwards like a parting trap door, revealing a concrete construction underneath.
Gnome jumped down into the pit she had created and, with a couple of well-ced kicks, created arge hole in the roof. Getting through the concrete was less of an issue than getting through the steel mesh inside. Both technically fell in the domain of earth magic, but Gnome had much less control over them than regr dirt. Metal, especially, was something she could barely control.
They heard the distant, Rooooooo, already, but went down regardless.
Maybe you should send the Mand Sphere ahead? Gnome suggested.
John shook his head. Id rather not risk one of my greatestbat assets. The Mand Sphere was great at scouting above ground. In the corridors, its ability to hover would do fairly little. Whatever threat they faced down here, the Mand Sphere wouldnt be able to destroy it on its own. He was more willing to work on limited information than risk an asset, especially if he had to crawl through multiple of these ces.
For confirmation, they opened a couple of doors and found the expected sights. Sacks of flesh, robbed of their bones and skin, sitting around empty machines. After seeing that twice, the group decided to just follow Elizas nose towards the highest concentration of iron.
They had a long night ahead of them.
Chapter 899 – Saving what they could
Chapter 899 C Saving what they could
The group spent the next twenty hours constantly moving. There were two patterns to the operations. Either they found four survivors, universally those that were in the barrier specific gestalt unification machine, or they found none. In thetter cases, John only bothered to search two of the barriers. Once to gather information and a second time to verify. In both cases he found the dungeonpletely empty, save for the phantom stalking around.
The exnation of why some ces were saved in time doubtlessly had to do with the quality of their mind-connection fluid. As John had learned, it did contain Sands of Time, and if the power of the grains was depleted to a certain point, the time it would take the phantom to manifest in response to the Lorylim meddling was longer than it took the Lorylim to corrupt everyone inside the barrier.
John guessed that this still threw a wrench into the Lorylims ns. Given the ovepping reports he got, it seemed that the Lorylim had managed to take hold of the final consciousness nexus of the East Gestalt guild. From there, they sent a corrupted alchemist to each of the lowest institutions to tamper with the mind-connection fluid. If all went ording to n, the entire structure would be mentally corrupted bottom-up. That whole process would likely have been subtle at first and only been detected when it was far toote.
However, the Sands of Times had acted as a sort-of mental instion between the corrupted and the higher echelons, also leading to the perception that sand was the main problem. Then, between two and five days after their meddling, the Sands of Time manifested into that odd slime creature. The first few times, the Lorylim had tried to fight this (John had no evidence pointing at something else involved), but lost. In every case where the Lorylim could, they would have cut their losses, forced corruption directly on the people they could and moved the fresh meat who-knew where.
The good news of this: Johns hope that the two catastrophes would cancel each other was, somewhat, urate. The head of the East Gestalt guild was most likely corrupt. John didnt have hard confirmation for this, but every sign pointed towards it. The lower ranks had be Lorylim fodder in one sense or another. Everything between that would have gotten away with only minor mental disturbance, thanks to the entire system copsing before the corruption could spread up.
The bad news was that the raw bulk of the poption was taken. By Johns estimation, there were 6 degrees of separation between the top and the lowest ranks. Given the basic math he had to do (4 to the power of 5 and then times 5 for the final step) that meant that there were about 5120 dead people. An estimate but, given the strict organization of the system, unlikely to be too far from the truth.
If just 10% of them had been sessfully evacuated as fresh meatbags for the Lorylim, they were now 500 bodies richer. That was far removed from the entirety of the roughly 6484 people, but it was still worrying. Infestations had the potential to spread rapidly, given the right circumstances.
Of these 6484 people, John saved 64 and about 1300 (the theoretical membership of the middle ranks) werergely untouched by the ongoings. In that middle-management, he found who had contacted Fusion in the first ce. They were confused about the situation atrge, having been unaware of the Lorylim while their own repositories of Sands of Times had started to act up. The chain reaction was still on-going.
The end of that might just be the real crisis, John thought, while the prismatic light of entering an Illusion Barrier danced around his car. He pulled up to a cubical building with four rectangr towers. Everything had perfect angles and even the windows were symmetrically aligned and square. The East Gestalt was obsessed with the form of things. Alright, lets get you patched up, John told the people in the car, thetest batch he had saved.
He still felt a fair bit of animosity towards their way of life. The way they reacted to all the death didnt help. To say they were indifferent would have been inurate. It just didnt seem as if they were grieving for someone but rather something. Being intertwined on a remembrance level seemed to actually reduce the amount of investment they had in another person. They werent people who knew each other, they were additional experiences of themselves. It was their lifestyle being threatened, more than anything else, that coerced an emotional response from the people.
Regardless of all that disdain he felt for the way things were run, John believed he should do his best to save human life. He could berate them more after they had gotten nourishment and sleep. Thankfully, he didnt have to oversee these things himself anymore.
At the ss door of the building, they were greeted by a group of four that each picked out one of the four that John had brought. Himself, he was greeted by Beatrice. Report: the building continues to operate without issue. All Sands of Time stocks and other alchemical substances were moved out of this barrier.
Fantastic, so this is our safe haven. The Gamer moved into the building.
Are we finally fucking done running around? Eliza asked as they moved inside. I swear to cocksucking that I had enough of creepy, silent, odourless, screaming goo monsters. Undine is enough when ites to dealing with wobbling slime shit.
Its inconvenient, yes, but its of little risk to us and it saves lives. John led the group through the open entrance area. Just like the underground corridors, everything had that clean hospital feeling to it. When it came to having synchronized experiences even off the machine, the Gamer imagined that cleaning together was one of the more popr ones.
Honestly, these fuckers deserve what they brought on themselves, Eliza growled and snapped her teeth at someone passing by. Wisely, they tumbled back. Really great job at presenting themselves as a nice fucking meal to the alien giggle creatures. I guess even retards with the mental capacity of soggy bread can mould.
To pacify his pretty little psycho, John grabbed her, tugged her under his arm and carried her like a piece of luggage. Give them some respect. Idiots or not, a life is worth something, he reprimanded her.
Eliza didnt care about getting carried nor about what he told her. How about you try spanking that respect into me?
I think I would never get done with that.
Thats the idea, you fucking genius.
John stepped into a room where Metra waited for him. It was one of the sleeping facilities, with four beds rowed up together and a single window with four panels on the opposite side of the wall. The entrance area was narrowed somewhat by the walls boxing in the bathroom unit attached to this room. Another feature that reminded John of hospitals.
The four beds had been shoved together into a more harem friendly unit. Eliza flew about two metres towards it and came to a halt after bouncing once. Cheap fucks use thin mattresses, sheined. So, are we done for today or not?
Yes, John responded hesitantly. On one hand, it pulled him to get out there again and do as much as he could. On the other, he was no more than ONE powerful individual. If he tried to clean every bit of this up himself, he wouldnt stop driving between destinations before the end of the month and, by then, everyone still around would have died of thirst.
Not acting himself right now may cause the death of some, but if he didnt coordinate things with the resources he had avable as a leader, a greater toll would be paid. He moved towards theptop that Beatrice had set up for him on a simple white table and sat down on the stool before it. Theptop booted up and he quickly checked through his messages.
So, where do we go from here? Metra wanted to know.
The centre, John responded without hesitation. Then West Gestalt. If its true what I heard about their organization, well have to deal with a lot more difficulties on their end.
Why? Metra asked.
The Lorylim followed the strategy to corrupt the fundament of the structure and let it spread upwards. Thats a lot easier if the basic building block of the pyramid is one person, John exined. I also dont know if they have the same idental protection through the time phantom. It might be that the corruption over there waspleted. He shrugged. It might also be that they werent hit at all. In that case, I will move to annex them immediately.
Getting a lot more aggressive, are we, my king? the First of Wrath asked.
Only a fucking moron would let several thousand potential eldritch hosts sit around doing fuck all except looking fat and tasty, Eliza chimed in.
I wouldnt have put it quite like that, but thats about my thoughts, yes, John said and fished out his phone to make a couple of calls. The first one was obvious.
Waddup, tiger? his girlfriend asked. Wondered when ya would call.
John put on as energetic a voice as he could. Well, I did as quickly as I could, but you know how things are. I was pretty upied.
Ya sound tired, Rave pointed out, immediately seeing through his fa?ade. Ya doing alright?
The Gamer sighed, wanting to avoid worrying his girlfriend. Im in need of some sleep and eating. Only had water and a cheap gas station hotdog the past 26 hours.
Those are edible? Rave wanted to know. I always thought they came as decoration and for the cheap greasy smell.
Johnughed and leaned on the table. Well, I can confirm they dont kill you, he said and took a slow breath. Now that he had stopped moving about, it slowly settled how tired he was. Perhaps there is a subconscious reason beyond what I need to do personally and what I need to do as a leader that made me stop for the day, he thought and suppressed a yawn. I need sleep, sex and a proper breakfast. Ill rest in a minute, he promised. I just need to prepare myself for tomorrow. How did parliament go?
They agreed to the East Gestalt deployment, but want to talk again over the West Gestalt deal, the Lightbearer informed him. I tried to push them, but the Speaker put her foot down and said she didnt want to add that to the program on such short notice.
Thats what I get for dropping it in a text like an hour beforehand, the Gamer sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. From his perspective, this loss of time was incredibly foolish. Every hour could be another life lost unnecessarily. From the perspective of the politicians back home, it was a disregard of proper procedure. Even Johns fame and reputation allowed him only so much leeway before people reminded him what powers the system endowed them with.
Aclysia and Ill take care of it, dont ya worry, Rave assured him. Nia is on her way. Ya get the battle strategy?
I did, John confirmed. The generals had decided to split into three forces. One, led by Chemilia, was to join John at his current position as quickly as possible and expand this spot to a proper base of operations. The second, led by Nia, would scout out the coordinates they had been sent and conduct the experiments John hadnt been able to. Once they knew how powerful a soldier had to be to wrestle control of the barrier from the Sands of Time monster, segment three, led by Ted, would spring into action and start the widespread liberation efforts. They would have to look out for Lorylim remains, the average soldier could get infected by a few spores while John could shrug off even direct contact to a limited degree.
They got moving like two hours ago, so youll probably have to wait another ten before things really get into motion, Rave told him. Get some rest, tiger. Ill call ya tomorrow when we got the rest of thew stuff done, alright?
Alright, John confirmed. Love you.
Love ya more, she said, underlined with a kissing sound, and then hung up.
John took a quick nce at the bed and considered justying down. The next call, he didnt look forward to whatsoever. Nevertheless, he needed confirmation for a hunch. He punched a number into his phone and let it ring. When, finally, he heard the sound of the speaker clicking, he said immediately, Horned Rat, I need your advice on something.
Speak, speak, the deep voice of the god was apanied by tiny squeaks and fell immediately into a serious tone. What do you wish to know?
It was nice to know that Richard could react in a proper fashion if John used the proper tone from the start. Do you know what is happening in the East Gestalt right now?
I have heard of troubles, but nothing concrete has reached me yet, the Horned Rat responded. It is difficult to insert spies into an organization that synchronizes the mind, even for me. I expected to learn the details through the reports of your soldiers, reaching me one way or another.
That honesty was something that irked John slightly. It was also expected, so he didnt chase it further. The Lorylim struck.
Expected, given the Gestalt organization, the Horned Rat remarked in a calm tone.
You seem unfazed by this.
I have my reasons to view the Lorylim with more respect and less fear than others. It was an answer John decided to save close to his heart. That the Horned Rat knew more about this so-called first foe than he did was obvious. How much more and what exactly was something the Gamer would have paid quite a bit to know. A couple thousand more or less bodies for the Lorylim are of no consequence to my schemes. You wouldnt call me for secrets I havent given in the past.
Indeed. Did you know the Gestalt guilds used the Sands of Time in their alchemical concoction?
Yes, and that it seems to ur naturally in Natural Barriers in the area. Why do you ask?
It is manifesting into a will of its own C into an entity that seems lost between emotions, is powerful enough to kill Lorylim but doesnt seem to care to kill people, John finally got to the point and was met with an atypical silence. Only the grinding of bone against bone informed him that the Horned Rat was still there. The sound of splintering stone and a tailshing the ground. Horned Rat, you know the origin of our current framework of magic, right? Tell me the conclusion you draw. I need someone to tell me that what I think is happening is impossible.
No no, if the Lorylim have the Horned Rat sounded strained, thought out loud and stopped himself before letting slip something he didnt want John to know. It is possible Yes, yes the prophecy I spoke on your birthday, it dawns on me now. One brother has always been alone C he will rise as ivy and spring and bone. Yes, the signs align Another pause. Do you have confirmation?
Not yet, John responded. I will let you know when I do. We might have to tighten our allegiance if the worstes to pass.
I am pleased by your wisdom, John Newman. The Horned Rat sounded strained and John heard squeaks in the background, high-pitched voices muttering among themselves as they started to move. Preparations will be made. Do not tell Romulus.
As long as it is to my benefit. Until then. John ended the call and put the phone on the table.
The fuck was all of that about? Eliza wanted to know.
Making ns for the worst-case scenario, John turned towards her. There is only one known entity still inside the Sands of Time, Eliza, and if this phantom shouts the sybles of Romulus and Gaias name for any reason, then that leaves only one conclusion.
Remus.
Chapter 900 – Clarity
Chapter 900 C rity
We all stand on the shoulders of giants.
Among all of the sayings English offered, this was one John found to be among the most elegant in its simplicity. It wasnt anywhere near his favourite saying, but he appreciated it for what it was. A reminder, to everyone, that they relied on deeds of those that came before to stand where they were today.
John looked at himself through the Mand Sphere. All of the things about him that were the consequence of the actions of other people. The suit on his body, a design fashioned in rtively recent history, made possible through the perfection of sewing and, before it, the discovery of cloth. His contact lenses, their shape an innovation made on the back of sses, themselves made on the back of ss, which went back to the primordial ape that had first understood how to utilize fire. From that very same ape came his body. A corporal form shaped through endless hardships of generation after generation, improving through necessary adaptation enabled through random mutation. Muscle fibres, sinews, the serotonin system, the brain, skin, eyes, all of it were things created by incremental change.
Yet, there was so much more to Johns body and clothes than raw physical and biological reality. Magic pulsed through every fibre of his being. His eyes were an extension of his soul taking hold of heavily enchanted lenses. The metal of his jacket was softer than most cloth and yet so much harder. Supernatural things that were yet to be truly understood even by generations of sorcerers. At the foundation of all of this was Remus.
Remus, who hade up with the scheme to separate magical and mundane. Remus, who had thought of the system that increased the number of people born with Innate Abilities by channelling the very Faith of humanity back into the gestating children. Remus, who had made Gaia to enable all of this.
Well, at least if Gaia wasnt dreaming all of this. If she was, Remus would have been a creation of her own mind allowing her to create herself. A distinction without any effective difference to Johns situation. The only confirmation for the dream could be had if Gaia woke up, which would be a short-lived intellectual satisfaction.
What John did know was that Remus was a titan among the giants on whose shoulders he stood. He was also incredibly dangerous. Not himself necessarily. The story Romulus had told had presented his brother himself as a weak individual whose powery in creating things. He was the Godmaker to Romulus Godyer. The creator twin of the two legendary figures that stood at the beginning of the Abyss.
John stared at the gathered Sands of Time before him, gathered into a pool. Fine grains of light brown sand, dry and swirling in a circle without any external input. A tendril of sand shot out, assumed a form almost recognizable as a hand and mmed back into the surface, melding with it and vanishingpletely. It would be backter.
It had now been over two days since the call for help had arrived, being Wednesday afternoon. As John had anticipated, the Lorylim had universally retreated with what they could get, making the remaining rescue efforts something the rank-and-file soldiers could engage in. Embarrassingly, they still had lost a total of three people who hadnt given the devil its due and exposed themselves to Lorylim spores. Two of them had to be executed by theirrades before the afflicted soldiers turned on them instead. The third was lucky enough that they were in the same team as Alice, who had purged the harmful magic. The person was still left with Lorylim scars over half of their face.
There was value in that idiocy, given that the stories that made the rounds now would teach people to actually fear Lorylim like mundane people would fear radioactive material. Not that this was a widespread problem. Themon reaction of people seeing even a dead Lorylim was to distance themselves twenty metres and watch for five minutes to see if it wasnt moving after all.
Some people were born with the ability to not feel fear even towards things they didnt understand. That could be a useful trait. If it didnt kill someone, it could lead to some impressive discoveries. Marathyu and Smander had both interacted with Lorylim ande out stronger for it. Exceptions, however, proved the rule.
Again, something like a limb rose from the pool of sand and vanished.
Remus, or at least the phantom John assumed to be such, had repeatedly shown himself to the rescue teams. More often than not, there had been no issue. It seemed simply disinterested in interacting with people. On a few asions, it got aggressive but it never harmed anybody. Unpleasant visions of the past were all people were ever subjected to. If it truly was Remus, then he must have remembered the Lorylim as old enemies, while humans were at least roughly speaking familiar.
From the little John knew about Remus, it seemed the Godmaker cared for humanity. At the very least, he wanted to be the one who made everything better. Whether this happened out of a wish to be eternalized or out of benevolence, he needed people to help either way.
For a brief moment, a torso rose from the sand and iled around like a person afraid to drown.
All of this was assuming that the person that would eventually crawl out of the Sands of Time even was the same as Remus had been. John had yet to see even a scrap of flesh apanying any of the phantoms, indicating that Remus would have a new body at the end of all of this. After ten millennia outside of this world and entrapped in the Sands of Time, the psyche of that entity could have any level of stability. Perhaps he somehow retained sober sanity through all of that time. Perhaps he was stark, raving mad. Perhaps he hadnt changed at all, all of the time between then and now passing in an instant for him.
Whatever it was and whatever powers or body the Godmaker would disy once he was truly out of his confinement, it almost didnt matter. The world would change when he was back. Once Romulus learned of the return of his brother, there was no telling how he would react. Factions that stood in opposition to the current order of the world would likely pledge their support to protect the twin of the Apex.
In a way that could be good for me it takes the eyes off my activities for a while John thought, biting on his thumbnail as he pondered over all of the implications. Id rather deal with the state of the world as it is, though. Ive no reason to pray for arge upheaval of the currentndscape I guess this is how everyone looks at my rapid process.
ROOOOO! the scream echoed, then the half-formed head was gone again.
Ya still watching over this?
John turned his head and looked at Rave and Nia. The two gorgeous women didnt quite fit into the farm-dominatedndscape. Even in the long, magically warmed coat the Gamer had bought his girlfriend, her pink-hair and bodynguage made her stand out as a city girl. Nia simply didnt seem to fit wherever she was. That was part of her nature. It also made her rise from the background like a three-dimensional object in a two-dimensional picture.
Its not like I have much better things to do, John answered and slid a little bit to the left on the stone bench Gnome had made for him. The two girls came over and sat down at either side of him. They all stared down into the pool now. It was the only thing that disrupted the autumnndscape of the extensive farnd.
Its existence was inexplicable. John had any and all traces of the Sands of Time removed from their chosen base of operations. Having to oblige him, the Gestalt guild members had moved all of it into a different barrier. John had hoped to avoid the formation of local phantoms by storing it in such tiny quantities that not enough could interact to form any human-sized mass. The reaction of the Sands of Time to that had been to disregard physics in a fashion that made even most other magic blush. It ignored where it was supposed to be and gathered in a pool, separating itself from the alchemical fluids in the process. Even putting the boxes in different barriers hadnt prevented that phenomenon.
The chain of events the Lorylim had, identally or not, set into motion seemed unstoppable at this point.
You could help us with the operations, Nia suggested, her toneless voice having a soothing effect on Johns worry-addled mind.
The fact that youre here means you dont need my help, John pointed out with a bit of a smile. Whats the use in getting subordinates if I have to deal with the grunt work myself? No, Chemilia seems to have a handle on things. How far along the pacification are we?
She says we have checked about 85% of shared coordinates now. No anomalies have been encountered.
Well, thats good news at least, John sighed.
Sightings of the phantom are reducing.
And thats to be expected. The Gamers smile vanished and he rubbed his face. If other barriers werent enough to keep the Sands of Time from congealing, then all of it would eventually gather in a single spot. Distance was of little consequence. Its going to be a pain to clean this mess up. Extra resources for the Lorylim, the uncertainty of Remus and over a thousand collectivist morons who will insist to continue their way of life as if this has never happened. An external threat, a foreign policy crisis and internal issues, all served to me on a silver tter.
Ya dont get to choose when times get hard. Rave reached out and scratched the back of his head. Well muddle through.
Yeah, we will, John sighed. For the moment, we only have two definitive problems: cleaning up what remains of the Gestalt guilds and dealing with the people in the aftermath. Whateveres of Remus or the Lorylim will be a long-term issue that I likely wont have to tackle on my own. He leaned back and put his arms around his women, recovering from the stress through their presence. As little as some people may like me, they like the Lorylim even less. I can build a coalition against them.
The entire whirlpool rose up into a cone shape and then copsed back into position.
John clicked his tongue. He wasnt staying around here because he found the Sands of Time particrly interesting to look at. All he hoped for was a manifestation of the phantom thatsted long enough to cast Observe. The world refused to grant him that boon and thus kept confirmation of his theory from his grasp.
Didnt the Horned Rats prophecy say something about spring? Maybe well have a couple of months before Remus manifests, Rave suggested.
It said as ivy and spring and bone, not in, John responded. It might be a reference to the season, but I think its meant that he will form partly from water. A natural spring, you know?
Ja, Rave answered in German, for some reason. Guess thatd be a way to look at that They sat together in silence for a little while. What are ya thinking, tiger?
I think people shouldnt mess with manifested pieces of time magic they find in the wild to hook up their thoughts in an attempt to chase some utopian ideal, John joked and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Dont worry, Jane. I might be a bit stressed right now but thats just because Im letting all of the worst-case scenarios run through my head. He looked back to the Sands of Time. The problem is that there are a multitude of things I do not understand and cannot predict. Things areplicated and my set of information iplete. What spurred the Lorylim to act right now? Is it my expansion? Did they want to extract all of the resources from the Gestalt guilds before I could crack open their system and make it impossible? Was this just a coincidence in timing? How does their corrupting touch spur Remus into action? Are they connected? If yes, how? Are the Lorylim, perhaps, a creation of Remus as well? He shook his head. Is it even Remus? It might just be a time elemental for theck of another term. Would that be better or worse?
Nia slowly raised her hand to his face and tugged at his ear until it hurt just a little. If you have so many questions, you should stop asking and get the next set of information. You could ask all the right questions in the world and receive nothing, if you direct them at the empty air.
You do have a point, John conceded without an argument and closed his eyes for a moment. It would be much easier to just take my yacht and give the responsibility away to someone else, he thought and then chuckled. As if I could ever do that. If not me, then who else? Alright then, lets continue moving until a new chance to brood presents itself, he announced and stood up. Lets find out what exactly lies at the centre of the Lorylim attack.
That was something only he could do.
Chapter 901 – Izha’s Honesty
Chapter 901 C Izhas Honesty
The central hold of the Gestalt guildy in a remote ce outside the bounds of any cities and viges. John and his little group had to go hiking through one of bamas many forests to get to their goal. Makes you wonder how many Bigfoot sightings are based on someone stepping out of a barrier, John remarked at some point.
Doesnt the curly-hair-bitch make sure people ARENT surprised when somebody gets out of a barrier? Eliza asked. Because if she wasnt, Im VERY sure wed have to deal with a load of bullshit every time you get out of the Guild Hall.
Hmm, true might just be regr kookiness then? the Gamer thought out loud. Difficult to say. Knowing that the Abyss exists, I automatically try to tangle everything that was previously inexplicable with it, but maybe some people just believe in nonsense.
Rave let out a drawn-out sigh. Were currently heading up a hill because some people thought they had to fuse their minds together in the middle of nowhere.
A phenomenon that spread remarkably quickly, John pointed out. Makes me wonder about the state of affairs in this area before the Gestalt guilds came around. Did they hijack a centralized organization or did their shared characteristics allow them to just roll over other small fry in the area?
Mother Chaos, bless me with a king that wonders about less things, Metra grumbled.
Your Mother Chaos might be part of the reason why were in this mess, John told her.
Still thinking she and the Lorylim are tangled up in some way? the First of Wrath asked. Im telling you, I watched Gaia herself make Tiamat disappear. She stopped being, from one moment to the next.
I just assemble the puzzle pieces in the way it makes the most sense. John stepped around a particrly thick pine tree. Somehow, he managed to get part of the winter jacket he was wearing stuck on a branch. Even superhuman reflexes didnt protect against the asional malfunction in the human surroundings awareness software.
They may have been in the wilderness, but there was still a chance to run into other people. For that reason, they were all wearing passable cold weather hiking clothes. Maybe you should think more about where you are going than what might be behind the secrets of the universe, Metra joked.
I can usually do both, John grumbled, as they continued on their trail. Tiamat being connected to the Lorylim was just one theory he currently had about what exactly they were. While being the most functional one, it also failed to cover everything. Alright, I think weve arrived.
The forest opened into a sizable clearing, dominated by ake. The shores showed light signs of human influence. ck spots in circles of stone showed where campfires had been and some minor litter, ss bottles primarily, stuck out between the mossy stones and patchy grass around the shore. It appeared some people had chosen this ce for a yearly get together with nature.
A stark contrast to what the group saw inside the Protected Space.
A tall building stood in the middle of theke, four arms extending from a towering middle segment into theke and four bridges between them connecting the centre with the shore. Its shape with all of the angles and edges reminded John of uncreative builds in Minecraft. An impression only fortified by its boring, grey colour C raw concrete only interrupted by a couple of square windows.
Eliza wretched. Fucking collectivist shitheads, one like the other.
I guess she sees more ofmunism in the architecture, John thought, while inspecting the building further. The four arms of it ended in some kind of pump, likely with the purpose of extracting the Sands of Time from theke. At the moment, theyy inactive. There was no movement or light behind the ss. Ill go ahead, follow me at some distance, the Gamer said, aiming his steps at the nearest bridge.
He was barely halfway past the bridge when he heard the giggles eliminate theplete silence. Teeth-cking giggles from inhuman throats,peting with each other in an anticipating rise. They came from within the building. The volume grew the closer the group came, the creatures inside evidently unconcerned with hiding their presence.
They reached a wide-open door at the end of the bridge and then theughter stopped. John, he heard his girlfriends voice behind him.
Yeah? he asked and turned around. Rave was right behind him, raising her hand and touching the side of his face. A skittering, warm feeling filled with desire for his flesh. A second hand slithered under his sleeve and melded with the scars. The blue glow of Particle Skin apanied Elizas foot turning the blob of melded meat into a spray of gore that went flying off the bridge and stuck to one of the pumps.
John John The voice of Rave was now gargled and mocking. Then itughed. Laughed andughed, teeths and mushroom-like gills bubbling out from the fat and the exposed muscle, while the chunks dripped into theke. Kill me, kill me, kill me, it demanded, while its brethren inside resumed their ownughter. A disgusting beat of snapping bones and squelching flesh apanied the ecstatic joy.
John backed up and looked around, trying his best to ignore the scratching on the bones of his arm.
It didnt move at all? Corruption Resistance 1 must be doing its work, he wondered, while trying to find where that singr Lorylim hade from. He looked up the walls, but found nothing. Maybe that one was apt at invisibility? he theorized out loud.
Fantastic, invisible disgust thingies, Rave grumbled.
Yes John sighed, almost wanting to suggest they went outside and waited for him. It wouldnt have been the first time that he made that point, but his girls were stubborn. As much as he wanted to protect them, so too did they want to protect him. If he had begged for them to let him do this on his own, they would have refused. Ill be relying on you, Nia, the Gamer said. When it came to keeping everyone corruption free, the pariah was their only way.
With sharp blue eyes focused on their surroundings, the blonde nodded and followed him, along with everyone else, inside.
The building had been hollowed out. Inner walls and floors had been torn downpletely, the concrete shredded into mostly tiny chunks that were glued back together by a ck, gooey substance and made into chambers that covered the walls. John would have loved to call it a beehive, but that would have implied the orderliness of such. Instead he was faced with a disorderly assortment of holes that seemed as if maggots had emerged from the walls. The misshapen meat that once had been humans writhing within like oversized grubs certainly didnt help.
What wasnt covered in the hive was covered in a mixture of the ck fluid, teeth, thin membranes and human remains. Human brains had been separated out, brain matter unfolded, and turned into the centres from which ck roots and eyes formed and gills and fungal stalks grew.
In the middle of it at all was a creation that didnt fit into the chaos. Orderly chunks of concrete had been aligned like the benches of a church, directed towards an altar with a throne. On top of that sat a single body, arge cap extending upwards and connecting its head to the remaining structure.
Theughter stopped.
Come now,e, John, let us talk, a calm voice beckoned and the figure on the throne raised a hand. I havent had a single mind in ages. Talk. Talk to me.
Now feeling a natural kind of itching from his disgust response, John dug the nails of his right hand into his palm. The light pain helped him blend out the mild trypophobia, as he waited for Nia to follow him. She was the centre of their group and, as they advanced, her presence made the Lorylim roots covering the floor recede, avoiding her otherworldly influence.
We should just burn all of this shit, Smander growled.
We should, John agreed, but still kept on walking, but we need to learn more about them. You all stay ready while I indulge this things wish.
They arrived between the first rows of the clean concrete. Human skeletons sat orderly on the benches. Their skulls were broken in such a fashion that it betrayed that something had burrowed out of their brains. Only a singr, diamond-shaped hole was out of the ordinary. Not only for its shape, but also for the consistent location at the front.
The Lorylim on the throne did not share that same mark. It couldnt have, as the upper half of its head no longer existed. It had all been torn apart by thework of tendrils and gills that had, probably, once been the brain of the host. A small part of the nose remained, as did the mouth, albeit the Lorylim had long since gnawed its own lips off, leaving only tattered drapes of dried out meat to partly cover nk white teeth.
John grit his teeth, suppressing the hatred he felt for this Lorylim in particr. You again, he spat out, Izha.
Izhaaaaaa, the creature tasted its own name. Im so lucid right now, I almost expected you to use my original name. How odd, how odd indeed. Im uninterrupted, Im in control, Im me. I will continue to be me even after I am no longer uninterrupted. Ask your questions, ask them.
What are you?
What am I what a difficult question, so difficult indeed so difficult that I cannot answer it, Izhas Honesty spoke, his voice unnervingly serene. You will need to be more specific. Tell me what you want to know. What you, above all else, want to know. I know. I know you want to know.
John looked at the thing on the throne before him. At the tendrils that prated dead flesh and crawled over the concrete. At the burst skull. At the naked chest and exposed ribs, which were stretched by gills that breathed out spores steadily. The question he needed to ask was disgusting in its implications. Were you originally a human?
Yes and part of me still is.
The binary on the past Observe sheet had spelled it out before, but hearing that clear answer from that thing made things concrete that John did not want to be. Of all the things he had watched humans be, all the dark acts and forms they took, he had hoped it would stop somewhere. Izhas existence proved otherwise. And you did so out of your own volition?
I discovered the truth. Gaia. The world. The rules. There was no choice but to open my eyes to the one path.
And what is that one path? John asked, ncing at the nightmare around them. The grubs of flesh writhed in their chambers and looked down below with draconic maws, salivating wildly. Consume everything?
You are not looking low enough. Izhas serenity was broken with amusement.
Then is it to give you a new body?
You are not looking low enough, Izha giggled.
Do you want me to be your host?
You are not looking low enough! Izhaughed and his words repeated from the many mouths in the hive. What is the sense in anything? There is none. There is absolutely nothing. Where there is no sense, there is no reason. There is no difference between me destroying everything and everything continuing as is. Guilty or innocent are descriptions of the same thing. Lets devour gods, humans and monsters alike, all deserve it for being in this world. Look at the lowest point and find disappointment still.
The answer was so simple and yet silenced the Gamer in its honest maliciousness. What was the great reason of Lorylim to act? Ultimately, there was none. At least for what the consciousness of Izha nned, it all stemmed from raw nihilism. Hurting was in and of itself the goal. A mindless pursuit of dragging everyone else into the darkness that Izha himself hade to embody.
What are the Lorylim? John asked. Laughter all across the room swelled. Answer me! the Gamer demanded, wanting to solve what he could while this aspect of the fallen man sat before him. What are you now? What are you part of?
The first foe, Izha answered, once again clear and calm of tone, even if theughter continued beyond his own words. That which humanity faced first. That which murdered the tribe of Remus and Romulus. Ah, the hatred of the brothers. Endless, dangerous C delicious. You will suffer like they suffer. You will see things our way, after you did.
What do you mean by that?
Many things, many things beyond me. The ancient and the first, they intertwine and pull, vie for control of the ughtered masses. Only one of us worked for them. Albeit, that doesnt deserve anything. Izha rolled his head, the many tendrils stretching. One. You get one more question, John. Ask wisely. rity like this does note to me.
IT IS BOUGHT! a voice shouted from above.
With blood and bone and death.
A number of questions raced through Johns head. He could have dug more on the origin of the Lorylim or Izhas position in it. Perhaps he should have asked about the Death Zone and whether or not they were involved in it. Jackals location would have been good to know. His theory on Tiamat would have benefited from evidence. However, there was one question, above all others, that he wanted an answer too.
Tell me then, Izhas Honesty, how can I eliminate the Lorylim once and for all?
Two ways lead you to your goal, Izha said and a single block of concrete fell down from above. More followed, as the ck liquid above rescinded, unbinding the solid materials. It rained pebbles as the Lorylim shifted out of this ne of existence. The rules of all life apply to us. Make us spend more energy than we absorb and we shall eventually fade. A difficult and long task, for we have the power of a people as our base. Before Johns eyes, the Lorylim withered, turning more and more into a simple dried, if severely mishandled, corpse. Our power can be concentrated, however. If you were to find one host that could bundle all of the power at once and purged them from existence, so too would we vanish. Two ways lead you to your goal. We fear neither of them.
And the infested hive became a ruin.
Chapter 902 – The loss of the Gestalts
Chapter 902 C The loss of the Gestalts
Three dayster, John strolled through what had once been the centre of operations of the West Gestalt. It was an empty husk, a Protected Space that would soon copse on its own due to theck of maintenance to keep it up. Silence was as dominating there as it had been in every other barrier they had visited.
By the time Fusions forces had pacified the entirety of the East Gestalt and saved thest few survivors, the western guild had already been gnawed clean. John was the vanguard of the operations and he found nothing but the remaining shells. Some Lorylim spores still hung around some areas but, for the most part, the first foe had retreated.
In a little more than a week, the Lorylim had appeared, corrupted several thousand people, and evacuated them somewhere else. The speed was worrying, but the unique circumstances led the Gamer to believe that things went tremendously faster than they normally would have. As was already established, the Gestalt practice was fertile soil for a corrupting outside force.
What exactly the Lorylim had done with those infested humans was a question John didnt have an answer to. Whether they had been converted into meat for Lorylim to use for the manifestations or kept as corrupted hosts that could still manoeuvre in the mundane world, John didnt know. Thetter had many more worrying implications.
How do I stop the Lorylim? John mumbled, as he walked through the corridors. They had an absolutely incoherent design to them. Individual after individual had added their personal ir to the surroundings, each one being reced as per the West Gestalt scheme of having an interchanging origin of memory sharing. One would expect the design to grow more unified with time. Instead, it seemed to grow more confused. Mixing minds muddled into design choices that were internally as incoherent as they were between the contestants.
You fucker better not be thinking what I think youre thinking, Eliza growled behind him.
Depends on what you think Im thinking, John returned, for once at an actual loss what she meant and without even a clue what she was getting at.
Rave, with her almost uncanny harem-reading abilities, stepped right into the conversation. Ya know the whole absorb all of the Lorylim to kill them thing? Are ya thinking about that? The rest of the present harem, even those connected to his mind, looked at him with worried eyes. Of all the words of Izha, it seemed those had struck the most fear into them.
Im not and I wont be, John asserted, scolding himself for having not noticed their worry on this previously. Im trying to do the right thing and that means I have to put myself in harms way oftentimes, but Im not a martyr at heart. Id like to survive past the end of my story, he told them. Once Ive changed the world to be more like I would like it, I say we retire in the Pce and concentrate on making a family or twenty.
The joke didntnd, the harem was too busy letting out sighs of relief. John was left wondering if he underestimated how willing to sacrifice himself he seemed to be to others. Further than that, given that his dearest partners in the world had that reaction, perhaps he was actually more leaning towards martyrdom than he thought?
I will have to spend some time in introspection the Gamer thought, burning the relieved expressions around him into his memory. If there was a part of him that would rather die heroically for the good of the world than preserve the happiness of his women, then he needed to rein that part in. The only sacrifice eptable was the one to save one of them. Everything else was for a person better than him. For all my virtues, Im not willing to be nailed to a cross while people would cry for me. I love you C all of you, he said out loud, to make the depressing feeling in the air go away.
The destion of their surroundings was only a secondary concern.
When it came to unpleasant surroundings, the silent, empty building didnt even rank in the top 10 of thest seven days. There were no horrifying Remus spectres running around, no Lorylim lodged in walls, no confused thought constructs corrupting thendscape and no liquified human remains anywhere. It was just an abandoned building with the asional spore flying around C none of which were strong enough on their own to corrupt the bodies of the group. Whenever they found a denser concentration, either Smander or Nia could take them out with ease.
In the spirit of preserving their surroundings in their search for clues, John favoured letting the nk take care of things. For a long time, they found nothing but empty bedrooms, kitchens and other facilities to make lifefortable. They even stumbled over the machine that must have been used for the gestalt ceremony, ayered, cone-shaped construction with several tanks on each level that had been connected via now broken tubes.
No signs of the Sands of Time anywhere here John mumbled. Maybe they struck here before they went east and Remus only became active after they were done here? There was no definitive answer to the question, as no one that had witnessed the events unfold in total was there to speak to the Gamer. All they had for certain were the shattered remains and more of the confused building to explore.
Metra broke down another door for him, some of them were locked for some doubtlessly annoying reason, and stepped inside. She grunted in a surprisingly pleased fashion. Hey, John, look at this.
Peeking behind her, John echoed her joy at the contents of the room. It was small, barely big enough for three people to move inside. There were several screens stacked on top of each other, covering an entire wall. Taped to the wall next to an empty seat was a floorn and, right underneath it, a sheet with code numbers. Arge ss case on the right-hand side held a server.
All of it was currently offline, but it clearly was a security room. It being unharmed, from screens to server, was cause for some hope. Nia, can you make sure its clean? the Gamer asked. Lorylim couldnt infect software, but hardware was a surface like any other and thest thing John needed was to have spores sting out of whatever cooling mechanism that thing had.
Yes. The pariahs direct answer was swiftly followed by a surge of strangeness in the air. A liquid that devoured all colour oozed from her follicles, taking the shape of a visor in front of her face. I detect no magic. It is clean.
Alright. John nodded and pulled out his mobile phone. He shot a photo of the server, then called the person he sent it too. Scarlett picked up immediately, So, what would be the quickest way to allow you to search through this thing?
Cant you do anything by yourself? the redhead asked mockingly, the creaking of a chair in the background proving that she was moving around. Let me just pull this picture up on the big screen alright, seems to be a pretty standard server construct. Do ya see a power source anywhere?
I could try to locate it, there has to be a mana generator somewhere in here, John said and, cheekily, added, Cant I just put my phone on the server and you work your Technomancer magic?
Be happy I can still control advanced electronics through a wonky satellite connection passing into a magical pocket dimension, you ungrateful stud, the technomancer sassed back. If I was there in person, I could power the server and interface with it no issue, but even I cant work that tech miracle from a distance.
Yet, John said. I should power level you some time.
If you can figure out how to do that, more power to you. Sipping your Experience Potions will take a while though. Scarlett hummed, likely still inspecting the server image. If you can power it up, youd just need to get the phone into the samework as the server and I could do the rest. Cable connection would be easiest.
Right John stroked his chin. Of all the things he carried in his inventory, a cable for his phone and adapters werent part of it. Is there an alternative? I dont want to rely on finding an intact mana generator and getting the wireless running.
You could just take the storage out of the server and get it somewhere I can ess it, Scarlett informed him. I trust you can do that much yourself?
I probably could, but lets y it safe, John said, putting her on speaker and handing the phone over to Eliza. Ive built more than a few PCs, but this is a different beast.
Tech illiteracy disgusts me, Scarlett let out a disgruntled sigh.
We should spend an afternoon with you teaching me about connecting hardwareponents then, the Gamer joked, while breaking the lock on the ss case by giving it an intense tug.
____________________________________________________________________________
Day two of the kekekekehahahaha. The mocking, animal likeughter of the man echoed from the speaker as red lines formed on the bandages wrapped around his thin body. Day two of the corruption. Master Izha insists I let you know, John Newman, he insists I leave you something. So here I leave it to you. A little piece of the puzzle and my cut body. I minced my flesh, my foul flesh. I wish I could leave it behind. Izha insists, insists so strongly, that I still have use. Aahhh, Im so tired of bleeding. I want to end myself and so much more with me.
Jackal Bearings stepped out of the camera frame. The video went fast forward, slowed when he was seen again. John kept track of the date in the corner. Jackal struck in the West Gestalt five days before the corrupted alchemist arrived in the first barrier we visited, bringing the total time of the Lorylim operation up to about two weeks. That was still an insane pace to eradicate two entire organizations ofrge size, as far as Abyssal guilds were concerned.
And so end the Gestalts, Metra said.
Can I just say, Rave chimed in, that it bothers me a whole lot that its gestalts in English, but its a German word that would actually be Gestalten in plural?
Since when do you fucking care about grammar, seizure hands? Eliza wanted to know.
Since right now.
John thought while his harem bantered. Experience and power kept them calm to a degree that a regr human watching them would probably have found unnerving. Even with all the revtions of recent days, they continued to muddle on as always. A stressed mood was reserved for the actual dangerous situations they found themselves in from time to time. Watching a security tape in the safety of their temporary base didnt qualify as such. Only the harem was in the room. Chemilia and Ted were scheduled to join them, but had been held back by something.
Something that must have been resolved, as both of the generals came barging into the room without knocking. Bad news, John, the pale-pink-haired woman announced, once she had closed the door behind herself.
Weve got so few of those at the moment, the Gamer mumbled, his dry humour kicking in before his concern could. What is it?
The Sands of Time are disappearing.
John peeked up at that report. What do you mean disappearing? Are they diminishing inside the barrier we set up? A quick nod and the Gamer had just another thing to ponder about. Fantastic, now we cant be sure if Remus is actually forming a new body anymore. Ill have to update the Horned Rat on this and ask that he lend me some tight-lipped operatives.
Chemilia seemed unwilling. Do we have to involve that infamous god?
Better the devil you know than the devil you dont, John answered with a proverb. For all his scheming and enigmatic behaviour, Im at least certain that my and Richards goals run in the same general direction. Keeping tabs on Remus and whether or not he returns is too important to have qualms about things. Still, he looked to Nia, I will insist that those operatives report to you as well. Finding out if and where the Sands of Time are now gathering is your highest priority.
Understood, the general of the special forces said, bowing her head ever so slightly. What is the secrecy level?
Were keeping Remus potential return as secret as we can. Since his existence in the Hourss isnt exactly public knowledge, keeping the name under wraps should be easy. Rather than Sands of Time, the soldiers should be informed that it is Memory Sand. That it doesnt exist doesnt matter at the moment, well just have to deceive them about it. John sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Romulus cant know. Lord knows what he will do when he finds out. He might lead a crusade here and set up shop just to find his brother again. I want myself to be the only reason why anyone might follow things in America. That way they wont meddle directly. Theres also still the chance this isnt Remus at all
Are we keeping the Lorylim secret as well? Ted asked.
No, well be upfront with that. We got somewhat of a handle on it, after all, John told them. That aside, well have to introduce some stricter measures when ites to checking on new arrivals in our cities. The Lorylim have a lot of bodies now, I would be surprised if they didnt send at least a few our way. The exact way we handle that will have to be debated with parliament as will be what we do with the surviving members of the East Gestalt and thend of both guilds.
It was a cascade of tiring events.
Chapter 903 – Not Safe for/in this World
Chapter 903 C Not Safe for/in this World
A drumming sound waspeting with the ssical inspired video game soundtrack that ran in the background of therge room.
Thump-Thamb-Thump, floor, wall, ceiling, two simr noises encapsted a slightly different one in their order. The wall had a different thickness than the other two surfaces and was fashioned from a different kind of stone, causing the vibrations to sound ever so slightly different. The golf ballnded in Johns hand and he tossed it again, like he had done for ten minutes now.
The small white sphere had been removed from its socket just a couple of metres away from the small desk on top of which the Gamer currently sat. A couple pieces of paperwork were scattered on it, together with aptop whose only installed program was a media yer. The desk was seldom used for work and the technical equipment in the room existed solely to either y music or illuminate the trophies sitting pretty on top of pirs and under ss cases.
John was gathering more and more objects of emotional value in the room. A couple remaining drops of what had been the Construct of Order, the Godkiller Construct Romulus had destroyed during the battle of Warsaw, were arranged in a pretty circle on a red pedestal. A written treaty on the harems rules negotiated in Amsterdam, a simple sheet of paper that held almost more humoristic than sentimental value. Same held true for the contract that had given him ownership of his yacht.
Shining in many colours was a piece of polished ss that he had crafted recently to remind himself of the Antic Fuse. There was a piece of rubble with a red cable surrounded by a thorny branch on it, taking the shape of a wreath. A piece of debris that he had put aside during the demolition of a former Thorne building. Another piece of concrete was the orderly shaped tip of the old Illusion Barrier Mass Anchor, dmissioned after it was damaged during the Hudson Brawl.
From between those points in time were the remainders of Johns old Gamer set of equipment. A few ashen pieces of cloth and the melted bits of what remained of the first Mand Sphere joined the intact shoes. There were some of the photos, eternalized in ss, that his parents had gifted him for his eighteenth birthday. Many of them had been distributed between the harem, due to John feeling awkward about having them around, but a choice few he had decided to keep in this trophy room.
A single shard of Tietan, Sigmunds shattered sword, was kept in this room as well. Most had been used to let Marathyu upgrade his equipment, but that singr piece of ck Mithril he preserved for sentimental purposes. There was the peace pipe he had smoked from when making the deal with the Hidden Tradition. He still remembered that taste that had made the insides of his lungs scratch. An unpleasant memory along a joyous asion in a dark time. On a wall hung a painted picture of John holding up the contract making the annexation of the Small Lake Pact and the Amacat guild official. It had been gifted to him by an artist. John had insisted to pay for it instead, not wanting to owe favours.
A vast array of dungeon loot was scattered across the room as well. A couple of the weapons were quite powerful, but they were only there to remind John of particrly difficult challenges he had beat. There was a piece of wrinkled gold foil that had held the piece of chocte Thana had devoured before entering her current and, apparently, evesting state of quiet depression. Vials of Elemental Essence were arranged in a decorative circle. Two business cards with lipstick on them spelled out Cindys and Worlinas business phone numbers. The private ones were written on the back.
A discarded exoskeleton of Elizas transformation was propped up by a dummy. Four maps showed the evolution of the Guild Hall. There was a tiny silver bust of Velka when she had been just a hatchling. Next to it was a certain door handle Alice had brought him. Wendy had followed it up by giving him a pie recipe.
Copies of more contracts were framed and covered the walls. Trade deals, business agreements, tiny sesses and achievements he was proud of. The first and iplete versions of the tokens C an iplete arrangement thanks to Velka stealing one of them during transportation. John let her keep it.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
Of all those trophies, the one John held at the moment somehow held the most value to John. It was a golf ball. Nothing special on the outside or the inside. It wasnt particrly worn out, nor was it new. It was just a golf ball that had been used in Johns game against Abraham.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
Whenever the Gamer found himself unable to solve a problem satisfyingly, he somehow ended up in this room, with that golf ball in steady motions. Blindly, he tossed it in exactly the same way he had tossed it hundreds, if not thousands, of times before. It bounced off the floor, the wall, and then the ceiling, only tond perfectly in his hand again.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
There was something intensely calming about this well-studied motion. It had taken him a bit to master it. Throwing a ball so it bounced off three surfaces and ended up in its original position wasnt easy. It was even harder after he had acquired the habit of letting the Possession of his contact lenses go while enacting this little ritual.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
The steady sound and the darkness helped him concentrate. His mind was silent. There was some traffic of other thoughts running through his soul, but his girls tried to keep things to a minimum. When he was in this room, it was understood that he wanted to think. It was his own Fortress of Solitude or, if he wanted to keep things more grounded, the garage of his house. It was his space more than his living room was.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
Think, the single word surfaced. It caused him to hold the golf ball in his hand, his every motion frozen. Suddenly, he realized his mind had been empty for ten minutes. The Gamer couldnt think of thest time he had been thinking nothing for such a long time. You are avoiding the issue, the voice, that was and, at the same time, was not him, whispered. John resumed throwing the golf ball.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
It was that voice that spoke thoughts on its own. Subconscious was a word for it, but John didnt quite like it. The rger him was what he liked to conceptualize it as. His active mind was a mediator between the whole of him and the world. What parts surfaced of all he was, that was, at the best of times, for him to choose. Sometimes, thoughts and answers still popped into his head that he himself didnt actively think. Instinctual or non-deciding parts of his persona trying to contribute to his decision making.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
What do I do with the Gestalt? he asked his broader self the question his active thoughts hadnt been able to solve.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
There were too many of them. As cruel as it was to say, it was bad for Fusion that so many of them had survived. Over a thousand of them were still alive. All of them were muddled bundles of different peoples memories, without clear personalities except a level of in-group preference that any kind of cult would have blushed at. Anyone following their way of life was good, everyone not doing so an unknown risk impossible to trust. For the most part, they were weak, but there were so many.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
Ignoring them was impossible. John needed thend they were based on, if he wished to unify all of America. He needed to sift through their archives, trying to find out more about the Death Zone. Perhaps the worst, if he ignored them, they would perhaps find a way to restart their program, giving another thousand bodies to the Lorylim or fuelling another catastrophe. They could have told outsiders about the Sands of Time and the phantom and that news could eventually reach Romulus. Small as a risk as it was, it was still a risk.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
Integrating them was impossible. Even if he assumed that there was no way to restore their ritual now that the Sands of Time were coalescing somewhere out of reach, they still had gone through it for twenty years. None of them were an individual anymore. They were all some kind of amalgam of what had been themselves and many, many others. John had tried to speak to many of them. When he pressed someone to name themselves, he only got hesitating answers. Not only because they struggled to recall who they had been, but also because they loathed John.
The Gamer had made a clear tactical error when expressing his distaste for their way of life too openly. Because they all tried to keep their experiences the same, they had ceaselessly exchanged all information each of them received, with no secrets and no detail left out. What had spread was the truth of what John had said about them and a rapidly consolidating view that, somehow, John was to me for the disappearance of the Sands of Time.
It was an understandable mistake. John HAD ordered the Sands to be removed wherever he had found them and he refused to share his Remus theory with a thousand potential leaks. Regardless, it was false and made them even more hostile towards John. They wouldnt obey his orders unless forced to and they certainly wouldnt be part of what he tried to build.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
If he couldnt ignore them and he couldnt integrate them, what was he to do?
Kill them, his subconscious presented the logical but horrible answer. I cant do that, the Gamer told himself. Systematically ughtering a thousand people for my convenience what would I be then? What would separate me from the eugenicists? The number of people I cleansed, nothing else. If I cross that moral line, I have nowhere else to go but down.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
His active and subconscious minds both went silent, searching for answers.
I could exile them to somewhere outside America, John thought. That way they would be out of my hair. They could still fall prey to the Lorylim, if they discover another way to share their minds. How much do I care about that? Should I try so much to save them when they are so dedicated to their own demise? How much do I care about another thousand bodies for the Lorylim? He growled to himself in the quiet room. A lot. I will not give those things an ounce more influence on the world, if I can deny it to them.
Thump-Thamb-Thump.
Remove them, his mind suggested and John stopped.
That was the answer.
If he couldnt leave them where they were, couldnt put them inside his organization, didnt want to exile them and refused to kill them, then the only answer was to iste them from everything. He had to put them somewhere unreachable. A concentration camp? he asked himself. The term had horrible connotations, but it was what it would be: a ce where he kept all of the Gestalt members. He didnt n to do anything horrible to them, but if they remained in this world, he had to keep them confined and overseen to prevent them from building any mind-linking machines again.
Only if he kept them in this world.
Can I channel them into a Kingdom? he asked himself. No, no, I cant. I dont have reliable ess to one, and even if I did, I would have to find an empty one A regr barrier might do if I set it up through the I.D. Gate, it would be as secure as it could be and removed from the rest of the world. It also wouldnt be all thatrge
John looked at the pop-up. It wasnt the first time a Quest would have taken things from him forpleting it. However, it was the most severe one so far. It was also the only way to solve this while avoiding all catastrophes and leaving all parties aside. Historians would, likely, still look at theplete resettling of a guilds survivors with mixed opinions, at least. Given all of the horrible choices John had at the moment, he was willing to take this path, however. It was the best that could be offered. Nobody else would even have the opportunity. The detriment to his person was something he would take. What were a couple of numbers in exchange for a thousand lives?
He left the room and informed the girls of what he had resolved to do. They listened quietly, following his reasoning and clearly as unhappy as he was that this was the best they coulde up with. There was discussion. Then they went to enact the n.
John negotiated with the apparent leader of the Gestalt. They were distrusting of him but he left them basically no other choice than to agree. Between him telling them they would either have to be eaten by the Lorylim or have their way of life eradicated by Fusionsws, they epted his proposal for resettlement. A formal contract was signed, transferring all of the Gestaltsnds to Fusion in exchange for a space where they would be forever left alone. While they technically only stood for the east, the west fell, officially, under their influence as well.
It took two days to move everyone to the newly set-up Illusion Barrier in the I.D. Gate. They moved them through the teleporters, trying to keep this thing out of the public eye as much as possible. It wasnt outrage John feared, most people would know too little to form an opinion before the process was concluded, but meddling by other officials or the media. He didnt want to be stuck answering questions before he was done with everything. Still, he let a couple trusted sources attend to eventually testify how the move progressed. Going through all of the troubles of moving them would be partially useless if everybody assumed he had killed them. His conscience would be clean, but his image wouldnt be, and the Gamer needed both.
The Illusion Barrier he gave them started as a simple green in. Gnome created small mountains for them, Undine filled inkes, and together they created forests and fields. John organized some animals. Deer, wolves, rats, cats, butterflies, and whatever else came to mind, just to add more life outside of humans to the surroundings. With magic and force of will, they raised a vige into existence for people to live in, organized all of the literature needed to build a magical and a non-magical civilization. In a hurry, they left the raw resources there as well.
By the thirtieth of October, they had done enough. Not by Johns standards, but by the Gestalt, who wanted nothing more but to be rid of the Gamer as quickly as possible and return to their insted existence. Not knowing what else to do, John left them with the resources he had already organized and finished the Quest by kicking in the door that would have led to that Illusion Barrier. The frame was left empty and no repair alert came.
The Gestalt was gone and they all slept lightly, knowing they had done the least horrible thing they could.
Chapter 904 – Steadily Forwards
Chapter 904 C Steadily Forwards
John opened his eyes. He was lying in a shallow and still ocean. Above him, the stars stretched endlessly, forming dense clusters andnes. It wasnt the sky of his world. Lightly raising his head, he saw how the brilliance above reflected in the clear water below. He was the only irregrity in a world of light.
Huh, third time Im having this dream, John thought, dragging his hand through the surface of the water. He watched the ripples disturb the reflection of stars. It was slightly more interesting than just lying there and observing things he had seen before.
Impossibly, the waves grew stronger the further they went away from John. When they had reached about two metres of height, they froze and then coalesced into a pir. Getting on his feet, not sure what to expect of this lucid dream, John observed part of the water draining into the ocean and leaving behind a curvy body marked with red-swirling lines.
John? Undines melodic voice reached him, as she looked around. Where are we?
In a dream, the Gamer responded and noticed movement around him. All of the dots reflected in the ocean moved. Staring back to the origin, John was stunned. ck dominated the sky, with the endless dots having consolidated into lines. A slit pupil stared down at him and Undine with curious intent.
John opened his eyes and saw nothing.
The darkness was oddly weing, reminding him that he truly was awake. He rolled his shoulders and stretched a bit, trying to find out if he was perhaps awake too early. It had been nine days since the Gestalt situation began and this was the first night he could justifiably spend in rxed sleep. While he hadnt exactly seeded, brooding over his decisions and what he could have done differently nagged on his mind, there was no need for him to get out before he was well rested.
Undine, are you awake? he carefully prodded the abysstide elementals mind. A confirming ripple hit his mind, the mental equivalent of a nod. You were in that dream, right? Another wordless confirmation and a few images from her perspective reached him. Hmm the Gamer stopped stretching and rubbed his chin.
It wasnt unusual for the elementals to enter his dreams. Most of the time they meant to do it, but sometimes they just switched over by ident. It alone wouldnt have been reason for suspicion, but the repetitiveness of that dream and the observing presence he had felt before and seen first-hand this time made him guess that there was something more to this. Until he had that dream again, he hardly could do anything to confirm any suspicions, however.
Since he didnt feel any of the usual signs of tiredness, he deemed himself ready to begin the day. The Mand Sphere rose from its socket and allowed John to take a look at the bed situation. Most of the harem was still out, but nobody seemed to have a particrly deep orfortable sleep. The main way the Gamer judged that to be the case was the fact that not a single one of his girls were snuggled up to him. Everyone had been rolling around all night, it seemed.
John found that soothing, in a way. He would have been more concerned if they could exile an entire people to their own pocket dimension and feel good about it.
Carefully manoeuvring out of the bed to allow the girls gathered the sleep they could still get, he moved into the living room. He was somewhat surprised to find Gnome there. The earth spirit was sitting in one of the armchairs by the couch, reading a book and a cup of coffee on the table in front of her. Less surprising was the presence of Siena and Aclysia. While the moonshade elemental was just generally prone to waking up earlier, Aclysia left the bed early to have breakfast ready when it was convenient for everyone.
Morning, he said, after he had closed the door behind the slime girl that had followed him.
Good morning, Siena hummed, stretching on top of the couch with the elegance of a leopard. I hope you had a sweet night.
It was alright, John returned, feeling his cock twitch. Despite the odd dream that had ended his rest, his morning wood was an inevitable certainty. He hadnt covered the full eight hours of sex per day he usually had in over a week. There simply hadnt been the time. What he had in terms of intercourse had been barely enough to give him one level where he would normally have gotten four. He had gotten release every now and again, but now that stress was no longer an issue, lust made itself more fervently known.
Hey, Gnome greeted him, putting her book down. With a thoughtful expression, she reached down to her cup of coffee. The caffeine wouldnt do anything for her, she drank it purely for the taste. At that moment, she wasnt even drinking it at all. She just turned the cup in her hands. Keeping his dick from taking control of the situation and ploughing into any of the four women, as naked as he was, he waited for the brte to formte the thought that was obviously upying her. Will they be fine?
Unlikely, John gave it to her straight, knowing that she was talking about the Gestalt people. He walked over to the couch and sat down as close to her as he could. I dont think their system would sessfully trante into another generation when they actually could synchronize their minds. With it removed, I expect them to eventually run into the issue of human group limits. Their attempts to keep experiences unified will fail, fingers will be pointed, their current society will copse, offshoots rise and the game of civilization begins again. I dont think they will be fine. However, I think they will survive. It all is up to them now and we will, likely, never know. He put a hand on her leg and brushed over the smooth skin lovingly. Its uncertain and unsatisfying, but it is what it is.
Yeah, Gnome mumbled and sipped her coffee, which was still steaming hot. Not that she had a regr tongue to burn.
If they eradicate themselves, that is their issue, Siena chimed in, now lying on her side and supporting her head with her left arm. Her magnificent breasts caught Johns gaze, as they dropped slightly in ordance with gravity. Weve given them so much more than they deserve. The mess they left us, I wish I could have made them clean it up themselves.
Siena was, unsurprisingly, one of the least affected by the resettlement. When it came to necessary evils, the shadow spirit had an easy time getting over them. As long as she still knew it was a necessary EVIL, John didnt mind. Demanding everyone was equally depressed by any decision wouldnt have led to anything sessful.
That aside, John could agree with the general sentiment. It is what it is, he repeated and stood up. Want to join me in the bath and take care of this? he asked and gestured at his precum drooling erection. Thest of the debuffs wore off today, so I should warn you: you might not be able to leave the shower on your own feet.
What an odd way to ask to be sucked dry, Siena giggled and rolled off the couch in a deliberately teasing fashion. Slowly and while extending her smooth legs and deliciously thick thighs, sheid on her chest for one moment before tipping over the edge of the couch and fluidly getting up. When she stood straight, her breasts jiggled for just as long as she stood still, then she turned around and, with swinging, wide hips, led the way towards the bathroom. Her high heels cked with every step. Ill wait for you there.
Ill join you, Undine said, following Siena while John headed to the second, smaller bathroom to go through all of the other parts of his hygiene morning routine. Once he was done with them, he directly headed over. He found the bathtub,rge enough for most of the harem to fit in at the same time, already filled to the rim.
Ahhhhh, he let out a satisfied sigh, as he sunk inside. His body disced some of the water making it run over the edge with a calming, flowing sound. Clean me, Undine, hemanded, once he wasfortable on a bench along the inside rim of the tub, submerged to his chest.
Yes, Master, the abysstide elemental sung her desire with those two words alone. All debuffs had run out over the course of the Gestalt campaign, allowing the Gamer to once more utilize his voice to pleasure his women in ways that satisfied his dominant nature. To best heed hismand, Undine split into three bodies. Two shapeshifted into her human, goth appearance and positioned themselves on either side of him. The third, Undines true body and her usual, curvaceous slime-self, remained behind him.
All three bodies gently rubbed his body with their slender fingers. Arms, shoulder, chest and neck, all were rxed to their utmost. The slimes, disguised or not, had the same temperature as the water and Undine even absorbed some of it to let it run out of her fingertips as a gentle stream. While her main body grabbed a shampoo bottle, Siena stepped into the tub as well.
Ill keep this one to myself for as long as I can, she seductively sighed and grabbed his cock. The delightful pressure made John groan and it only got better when she straddled his hips. Her juicy tits were now right in front of his face and he could see them with his own eyes, rather than the disjointed perspective of the Mand Sphere. They rose when she inhaled and slowly fell when the breath left her body and she sunk down his girthy shaft. It is time she whispered in her sultry tone, half way down, for you to She was almost at the base now and the folds of her tight pussy were already massaging his entire cock like a thousand tiny tongues.
cum, John finished the sentence for her with amand. It reached both her and Undine and both howled when a sudden orgasm ravaged them. Simultaneously, he was brought over the edge by the hellishly intense pleasure of Sienas inhuman pussy. It quivered and tensed around him, milking the thick, first load of the day from his balls. A load that only intensified the height of Sienas climax.
Ill make you regret that, she hissed with a grin on her face.
___________________________________________________________________________
John aimed for a return to normalcy and the start of that was to have the political process return to its regr schedule. The members of the two houses of parliament were already informed about the details of the Lorylim outbreak and temporary measures to raise security were already in the works. Of course, there was nothing as permanent as a temporary government measure, so John would have to keep a close watch on the end result and the way it was meant to be discontinued. For the design process itself, he was happy to let the peoples representatives hash it out.
This wasnt purely a sign of trust. Because of the decisions he had made over the previous week, basically asking for forgiveness rather than permission to intervene in and resolve the Gestalt situation, he had to rebuild some good will with the legiture. For one that meant standing out of their way and it also meant he would let them take the credit for enacting the integration of the Gestaltnds. After the military had salvaged all information from it and the Fateweavers had closed every potentially infested Protected Space, thend would have to be settled in some fashion.
Letting parliament do all of that would let John avoid turning too much of his own Federation against him. Few would raise principled objections if he did everything himself despite insisting on a model that separated powers. More wouldin that the powers the constitution granted them werent properly honoured. Nobody, politicians least of all, liked feeling their influence diminish.
The only thing John needed to assure along all of that mess was that the governments press releases were carefully worded in how they portrayed the Gestalt, how they basically invited in the Lorylim and what Fusion had done with them. He didnt expect this to cause too much of a ruckus, although the adversarial media doubtlessly would find some way to deem measures improper in some fashion.
Not involving himself had an advantage, however. With so much of his paperwork in other peoples hands and him staying away from the press to not say anything that could be misconstrued as him taking credit, he had some time on his hands. Two days worth of time. Two days that were thest and first of their respective months.
The Gamer had many reasons to chase more power.
Chapter 905 – The preamble to the big Class Grind
Chapter 905 C The preamble to the big ss Grind
Strange times, eh? Magoi asked, ncing at the empty frame in the I.D. Gate.
When are they not? John returned and reached for an intact door.
True enough, the fellow answered from behind his raptor-skull mask, following John through the door. His wife was right there with him, as was Johns harem. Even Lydia had freed up the time. Initially, she had wanted toe over just to make up for the days they had been away from each other. Now she could spend three weeks with him.
Because of the circumstances, John hadnt been able to get his monthly grinding session in yet and, in order to get the maximum benefit out of things, he and Magoi had agreed to put two sessions back to back. That extended the usual ten-day program to twenty-one days (the one extra day being created from a couple percentage point above the perfect 1000% time dtion that usually went unnoticed).
The houses were created, as usual, and John quickly retreated to the western one. As was usual, the harem went through the motions of stowing things away. They started by leaving their shoes (and, in Lydias case, Strimata) in the entrance area. Once they were in the living room, they spread out a little bit to getfortable. Only the Gamer was feeling somewhat tense, as he gestured for the German queen to sit down with him.
Lydia wore a stern and worried expression when she gracefully lowered herself onto the couch. What have you been hiding, my love? she asked.
John blew air out of his nose in an amused fashion. Of course, she knows, he thought. He had been acting slightly awkward around her since she hade through the teleporter. Theres more to the recent events than I told you, he started. I didnt want to run the slightest risk of discovery, so the phone just wasnt secure enough
I understand, John, Lydia cut him off. I need no justifications for your secrecy. Reveal to me what you can. While she spoke, her eyes travelled up and down his body. Still hidden by clothes, she wouldnt be able to see too much, and so she gently ran her hands over it. She was searching for any wounds he didnt tell her about.
Ill tell you everything, he guaranteed her with a little smile and put an arm around her. There is nothing immediately worrying, but a thing that has terrible implications for the future.
Dy it no longer, then, Lydia told him, leaning into his embrace even as her steel grey eyes drilled into him.
Remus is likely going toe back.
Although she kept her expression straight, John could feel every single muscle in her body tense inside her body. A very slow and methodical breath escaped her. Tell me everything. John did. He told the entire tale of the Gestalt that had unfolded over the past nine days and left nothing out. Not his theory regarding Remus and not the things he had discussed with Izha.
John was still debating whether he wanted the wider public to know that the leading consciousness of the Lorylim had once been a human. While he personally abhorred censorship, this was the kind of knowledge that may have led people, particrly those critical of the Gamer, down the darkest of paths. He was leaning towards making it public, his faith in humanity was strong enough to believe that only those that would indulge in those dark arts with or without that information would be further encouraged by it.
After he had said everything, Lydia was massaging her temples with both hands. This could lead to the copse of the current world order.
Or it could be nothing, John told her.
Or, Smander chimed in, it could lead to the reunification of the two brothers. Nobody even bothered to grace that with a response that exceeded a look. Nobody but Sylph, who floated by at a crawling pace.
I think that could happen, yes, maybe, uncertainly, possibly it could. Maybe theyll be like BROTHER! I AM PINNED HERE! ITS A BAAAAAAANEBLAAAAAAAADE! She giggled a whole lot, before adding, No, but seriously, been ten-thousand years, what do you know maybe theyll make up? You dont know. I checked! I looked into your brains and checked! You dont know! Youre so much smarter than me and you dont know, so nobody knows whatll happen.
Drily, Smander said, Thank you, Sylph.
Sienas tail drummed on the floor. It annoys me when she makes sense.
Meanie! You arent supposed to be mean, Siena! Youre a big softie. A softie with big soft boobies.
To this day, I have not figured out how you function.
Wordse out here, Sylph pointed at her bright smile. Dick goes in here, here and here, she pointed at her mouth, pussy and back entrance. Her leotard conveniently disappeared in the process. Sometimes thoughts form in here, but I dont usually bother. You all take the thinking bit and Ill keep lifting the mood! We all do what we are good at!
Cant disagree with that, can ya? Rave asked, plopping down next to John. Both women were snuggling up to him with calm nerves and a generally happy mood. Sylphs babbling had taken the shock out of the situation. We live, learn and move on. No sense getting stuck on all the awful stuff going on.
Regardless, Lydia was too straighced to just let things go. While it may be impossible to predict a certain way these current events will peter out, preparing for the worst is wise. Your task force continues to search for the ce where Remus may rise, correct?
Mine and Richards, yes, John told her and raised an eyebrow when Lydia rubbed her chin. No protest? he asked. I expected you to throw me at least a minor lecture about not trusting the Rat.
You know as much without me berating you, my love, Lydia answered. Disregarding the issue of trust, the Horned Rat is likely to act in ways that will not harm our interests. That much Im certain of.
Johns eyebrow rose that little bit higher, but he decided to let the issue go. Well, the good thing is that you will have quite a bit of time toe up with your own measures regarding this. Kissing Lydias forehead, he pivoted the topic away from things they currently had no influence over. Unless I get an emergency call during our stay here, I n to get quite a bit done. For a start, I want to hack away at all of the ss Levels I have piled up.
How many were that again? Metra asked, her question underlined by the slow rise of a string cord sound. It reverberated from Rex Magnar, the weapon showing a level of glee from the way Metra polished its prismatic edges with a sponge.
30, John responded. Since getting the Bncing the Sheet Perk, he had only gotten the opportunity to fulfil a single ss Challenge C and it hadnt been enough to get the level. Raiding while he benefited from Magois Fateweaving was the usual approach of things, but in the current climate he would make the best use of the additional time itself. I still want to go do Instant Dungeon content, be that Raids, Adventures or Assaults, but first I want to clear early and easy ss Levels for everything Im interested in. That should take me a week or so.
Is Harem Gamer on the menu? Please tell me Harem Gamer is on the menu! You just got all of your magical dick powers back and I want more! More I say! Rile me good, Johnny! Ride this lightning!
Statement: thest dered sses of interest were Arcanist, Unfound and Fateweaver, Beatrice told everyone. Question: does Master wish to adjust this list, at this time?
Id say that I want to get at least one level in Negotiator, Martial Artist and Harem Gamer, just to check the Perks out, John added and then sighed. Just sad that the next two levels of Fateweaver wont get me anything I hope the rest will be great topensate The lost levels were 4 and 5, which were among the less painful to lose ess to. Perks from level 6 onwards were, usually, where the bread was buttered.
What about Metracana Master? Metra wanted to know.
What about fucking Breeder?! Eliza asked, temporarily stopping in her quest to kiss the Magryph in her arms.
Velka cawed, as if to ask about the Tamer ss.
Metracana Master is probably worth a consideration as well, John conceded that point. Bit hesitant to invest into it when I dont have any other Metracanas to put under contract, but I guess a couple more points there wouldnt hurt. Artificial Spirit should also max out in the next few hours, so thats another thing to keep my eyes on.
Alrighty. Rave got up from the couch and grabbed the lower edge of her top. If youre going to focus on sses, Ill take the days to do some of my own regr training. Imma go and get into my yoga pants.
Johns eyes would have been stuck following her walk away, had it not been for the ruby lips entering his field of view.
My love, Lydia sweetly cooed into his ear, the hands that had inspected him earlier now gripping his muscles in a demanding fashion, answer me truthfully, would you happen to have a ss Challenge that demands sexual attention?
What if I dont? John asked teasingly, sliding his hand between her skin and pants to feel her firm ass.
Then I will chase you out of this house with thorns of metal. Lydias threat was spoken in a lustful whisper, but the hardness in her eyes didnt allow any doubts about the validity of the threat. An expectant, clear sound rang out and Lydia pulled back to look at the rapier thatid next to her on the couch. Clicking her tongue, she pulled away and grabbed Strimata by the handle. With a series of protesting high notes, the prismatic rapier was carried back to the entrance area.
John heard onest note and the sound of the guard mming against the sheathe. About a minuteter, Lydia returned, the sheathed Strimata in hand. The weapon quivered in protest against bindings of metal strings keeping it in its confinement. Sounds like a glockenspiel a hundred metres away echoed softly.
It seems your weapon has an attitude, the Gamer pointed out.
Its mboyant insistence ofmenting on every aspect of my life with its ringing tones is making me almost wish to cast it into a st furnace, Lydia responded and pulled the strings a little bit tighter. Ast, panicked note was heard, then Strimata waspletely confined. Furthermore, it nullifies whatever debt I may have felt towards you for bestowing me with something as extraordinarily powerful and valuable as this weapon.
Thats good then, you shouldnt feel indebted for a birthday present. John grinned and was lightly tapped on the head with the blunt sheath.
Spare me your sass, my love, I get enough of it from this. She put the weapon on the table. asionally, it quivered, making it move over the table as if it was ced in a room with too much bass drums. Did I yet tell you how Strimata embarrassed me when I spoke at a meeting of minor lords from my domain?
Cant say you told me that story before, no. It must have happened while he was upied.
It decided to sing Hall of the Mountain King. I, at first, assumed it to be a simple choice of background music, but I soon had to discover my very own weapon was making a mockery of my speech. Lydia red at the weapon with fury so intense, Strimata managed to quiver a few centimetres over the tables surface. When I decided to leave it behind for my next meeting due to that urrence, it decided to utilize its relocation enchantment to follow me against my will.
Did it sing anything awful at that time? John wanted to know.
No, its tunes are quite pleasant, this is not the issue.
Shame.
Shame? Why would the one pleasant thing about Strimatas dispositions to annoy me be a shame?! Lydia was getting quite agitated, letting John know he really shouldnt say what he wanted to.
He did it regardless. Because that would make it an Ear Rape-ier.
While John, and much of the remaining harem,ughed, Lydia threw herself on top of him and grabbed his cor with both hands. You really are quite insufferable sometimes, my love, she stated, poison and love in her greyish-blue eyes.
And you are beautiful, John answered, putting his hands on her hips. Smart, powerful, strong of will, rich in wealth, influence and vocabry. Everything and more than I could ever want out of a single woman. Way more than I deserve, especially since you arent my only one.
Sweet talk will not get you forgiveness.
Then what will? he asked, fully knowing that the answery in the little gyrating of those royal hips on top of his groin.
Sex is a fantastic tool to exorcise anger and vent frustrations.
Chapter 906 – Big Class Grind 1 – Harem Gamer
Chapter 906 C Big ss Grind 1 C Harem Gamer
Before Lydia had finished her assertion, John had already tapped the button that removed his clothes. That the queen remained clothed for the moment, he didnt mind. He grabbed her juicy ass with both hands and leaned upwards to im her lips. Pulling away just the slightest bit, Lydia denied him his prize. What makes you assume that you may kiss me after all of that, my love? she asked in a teasing tone.
The privilege of being your man, he said and attacked her open neck. She sighed, doubtlessly sensitive after having had nothing but her own fingers and rubber imitations of his cock to keep herpany. While he kissed his way up her neck, her hips continued to grind against him in circr motions. Her lust-swollen pussy lips parted around his girthy member, John could feel it despite the twoyers of clothing.
Precum started to stain her dark brown pants. He finally reached her perfect lips and tasted her. Sweetness, iron and citrus aroma filled his mouth, while their tongues wrestled. Heat rose in their bodies, pressed so tightly together they could feel each others drumming heartbeat. Soon, Lydias own sexual fluids drenched her legwear. Superhuman Libido created an overflow beyond what the wildest horniness would allow.
Suddenly, John toppled Lydia over and made her fall on the leather-wrapped cushions of the couch. Before she could react properly, he had taken both of her hands and pinned them above her head with just one of his own. Lydia struggled, but didnt break free. She would have if she kept going. While John was physically superior to her, the difference wasnt enough to keep her down with just one hand C unless she let him.
And what makes you assume you may keep me down like this? Lydia hissed, ying up her anger to continue with their little y.
That youre my woman, John responded with his deep, dominating voice and tore open her shirt. Buttons flew and cloth ripped, the sounds repeating when he brutalized her bra, pants and panties in the same fashion. The regal queen shuddered, all of her intact clothing gone in an instant. Ill give you something to wearter, he promised, drinking in the tattered look. Then he sunk into her drenched cunt, going as quickly as tightness allowed him.
Lydias spine curved as she shouted lustfully from the slow pration. The upper edge of the Lovers Will mark showed between the shreds of where her shirt had been tugged orderly into the belt of her pants. John brushed over it with his knuckles, feeling the bulge hisrge cock created, and then travelled up to her breasts. He grabbed the soft, sizable meat of her left tit and twisted the nipple on top.
Simrly sadistic groping continued, as he began fucking her properly. Is this how you imagined getting rid of your anger, huh? he asked, pping her jiggling chest between the pping of his groin against her halfway exposed thighs and butt. Pinned down and getting abused?
Yes, Master! The well-trained switch gave the perfect answer and animated John to increase his tempo. The queen, whost had sex with him when all of his Perks were still disabled, was screaming from the multiple orgasms he so easily gave her. Each thrust made her pussy gush a little bit, each impact was a jolt of pleasure John could see tense the muscles in her hourss-shaped body.
Im cumming, he gasped, already on the edge.
Inside me! Cum inside me! the queen begged. Your hot seed C I need it inside me. Fill my cunt, my love! Her legs closed behind his back and left him little choice in the matter. Not that he cared about anything else than hammering into her pussy. With one final thrust that made the entire couch creak, he pushed into her quivering quim.
One tense moment long, nothing happened. Then a shiver and lightning travelled through his body and his cum flooded her womb. His whole body was strained, both from the rush of pleasure and from the attempt to keep Lydia down. The queen screamed out her ecstasy, spine arched and eyelids fluttering, while repeated spasms caused her to wind around under him. Grabbing her throat and keeping his weight on her wrists, the Gamer managed to keep her down while she felt his hot seed fill her for the first time in over a week.
Mounting pressure on her windpipe soon ended her shout and their orgasms petered out. As soon as Lydias thrashing stopped, John bowed down to give her more kisses and loving affection. Still mad at me? he asked, when the milking squeezes of her tight fold had calmed to a pleasing pressure.
Im appeased, came the vague answer. I have my doubts this was the actual Challenge, however.
Right, John nodded and pulled out of her. Even that little movement caused Lydia to sigh wantonly. It took a little bit of force to get her to open her locked legs. Im supposed to put the same hypnoticmand on three of you. Lets see
The room was filled with women doubtlessly willing to join. A few, such as Sylph and Metra, made that tantly clear by masturbating as they watched the Gamer do what he did best. A couple engaged with one another, Siena taking great pleasure in bullying an incredibly flushed Gnome. Most of the girls just continued what they were doing, but remained visibly ready to tag in whenever asked ormanded.
Because they would all receive the same hypnoticmands eventually, John hadnt gotten that Libido-Charisma Perk to limit it to a few of his haremettes, the question at this time was only who he lusted for at the moment. Of course, the answer was all of them, but not everything had to be an orgy. Wanting a counterbnce to the way Siena had wrung him out in the bathtub this morning, John decided to get some of the more submissive elements of his harem involved.
Eliza, Aclysia,e over here, hemanded. Aclysia stopped in her inspection of the kitchen to strut over with as much diligence as urgency allowed. By contrast, Eliza jumped over the couch andnded directly in front of his cock. Panting, she bowed down, stopping only when she was so close John could feel her every desperate breath on his wet shaft. With pleading eyes, she stared up. No, he told her and got up, while Lydia discarded her ruined clothes. All three of you, on the couch, chest on the backrest, ass up.
They hadnt been visibly wet before, but that changed by the time Aclysia and Eliza heeded thatmand. The weaponized maid was particrly rewarded for her obedience, moaning loudly as her pussy started to drip. A quick p on her ass made her cry out, Master!
Ready to submit to me, Aclysia? he asked.
Always, Master, the white-haired Artificial Spirit swooned. My services are yours C now and forever.
Lydia?
You already know mymitment to you, my love.
How about you, Eliza?
Use me!
John couldnt help but chuckle a little at the directness. He gave her ass a nice smack as well, and the pretty little psycho would have cum at that moment if John hadnt been keeping her climax suppressed through Lovers Will. Afterwards, he brushed over her hot, smooth skin.
Listen to my voice, the Gamer spoke softly, letting the magic of the Perk flow through his words. Close your eyes and be still, be at peace. Elizas butt was in the middle of the three. By courtesy of her smaller frame, it was the smallest of the bunch. Let go of your worries, your thoughts. You can follow them another time. Right now, all that is important is your wellbeing, my voice and my touch. His fingertips trailed over to Lydias butt. Although she and Eliza both had hourss figures, Lydias was more bnced. That made her ass feel a bit smaller, due to the proportions involved, and she didnt have Elizas almost absurdly thick thighs either. Regardless, it was a beautiful round rump, especially with his cum dripping from her drenched cunt. Take a slow breath in through your nose and hold it hold it hold it through your mouth, slowly let it go. Taking a second tour over Elizas butt, his hand soon reached Aclysia. She was by far the most bottom-heavy of the three. Her pear-shaped figure came both from the figurine used to make her and Johns taste in round and firm backsides.
As he continued to talk to them in the hypnotic voice, their positions slightly changed. From the clearly intentional exposing of raised rears, they went to a more slouched and rxed position. They were more kneeling on the cushions and resting their heads on the backrest than they were offering themselves to get fucked next. John was fine with this, it only showed that things were working.
Ill count down from five and with each number you will be more and more rxed. When I reach zero, you will be in a deep trance. My voice will be your thoughts and you will be eager to let my words imprint on you. 5 4 3 halfway there now, there is nothing but my voice 2 1 0 There was a visible slump between all of them, signalling that everything had gone without a hitch. Five minutes to get them in a trance could just be the trust they have for me, but I guess the voice helps a lot as well. In a moment, I will ask if you are under my control and you will be permitted to answer once. Are you under my control?
Yes, Master, the three answered in unison.
Good. Now. Each and every time, I, and only I, snap my fingers, he demonstrated the sound for good measure, and say the word trance, your mind bes clear and you fall back into this deeply rxed state. In a moment, I will ask if you understand. If you do, repeat what I told you. Do you understand?
Yes, Master. Each and every time you, and only you, snap your fingers and say the word trance, my mind bes clear and I fall back into this deeply rxed state.
Good. Now, I want you to remember the horniest you have ever been, he said, deciding to crank the heat back up. Jack formed on the other side of the couch, while the Gamers groping got a little more demanding. The perfect copy of the Gamer exuded his cologne, a smell affiliated with many lustful hours, especially if it came directly from his crotch. Take a deep breath, he motivated them further, hold it. Indulge in the smell. Let go. Remember the horniest you have ever been. Breathe in. Hold it. Recall the situation in which you most craved the release of an orgasm. Hold it. Recall the heat deep inside you, needing an outlet. Release. The exhales were audible sighs of desire. Recall just how wet you became and how much you wanted my cock. The butts under his hands wiggled and pussies started to drip. Now, each and every time, I, and only I, snap my fingers, he demonstrated the sound, and ask are you horny? you will be the horniest you have ever been. Beyond that, each and every time I, and only I, snap my fingers and ask are you horny? you will feel even hornier than before. You will be hotter and more bothered than ever before in your life and you know that only I can properly satisfy you. Now, he snapped his fingers, are you horny?
yes a tiny answer came from Lydia, the other two just moaned and all three groggily lifted their asses again. Minds switched from pure rxation to pure desire.
Snap. Are you horny? he repeated, keeping his hands to himself. Their little movements became more pronounced, their pussy juices started to drip. Snap. Are you horny? You get more hot and bothered each time I ask are you horny? C You cant want anything else than sex. Snap. Are you horny? Their breathing had elerated to a loud panting, animalistic sound of need. Another snap, a differentmand. Trance.
They all suddenly rxed and John opened his menu. The Challenge had been sessfully beaten, but he wouldnt have been himself if he stopped there. Before getting the Perk, he would take advantage of the situation he had now created.
In a moment, I will awaken one of you. You will snap out of your trance and be wide awake. Themands I imprinted on you during your trance will continue to work in your awake state. You will feel refreshed and be able to remember everything that happened. Now, each and every time I, and only I, start amand with the name or names of one or many of you, only those named will be affected by themand. Each and every time, I, and only I, snap my fingers and say the words wide awake, you awaken from your trance. He snapped his fingers, Eliza, wide awake. He waited for the middle girl to stretch and roll her neck. How are you feeling?
Great, really fucking great, somehow, the pretty little sub slut answered and looked to either side of her. So, this is how being skullfucking deep inside a trance looks like?
I think you have other issues. John and Jack grinned, as the former snapped and asked, Eliza, are you horny?
Her eyes immediately grew dull with lust and her ass shot up into a breedable position. Yes-sshhhh, she started with a normal answer, but her tone got slurred when Jack squished her pretty face between his fingers.
I couldnt hear you, I asked- Snap. -Eliza, are you horny? Her mouth opened to answer, but Jack already rammed his cock down her throat before she could. Another snap, while John positioned himself behind her ass, Eliza, are you horny? The answery in the overflow of love juices that ran down her thighs. Euphoric screams reverberated in Jacks cock, while the Gamers real body mmed into her hot, tight cunt.
Eliza turned into an excited mess in a matter of seconds. Her wild, white and blue hair was dishevelled even further while Jack wed into it to give his merciless face-fucking the proper force. Saliva dripped down her lips and chin, mixed with other, thicker fluids. A series of spanks made her pussy tighten and her bubble butt jiggle more than the heavy thrusts did. Her eyes rolled upwards, until only the lower half of her irises was visible.
The pounding continued at max tempo, even as John and Jack came. As wave after wave of cum filled the baby crazy submissive, her ass and face were still getting ravaged by repeated impacts. Pussy juice poured down on the couch in the first moments of her multi-orgasmic high. He let her take in all of his seed, then he snapped his fingers.
Eliza, trance. Themand was heeded as best she could. Her body continued to quiver from aftershocks and her pervert instincts were too strong to not lick his cock on the way out of her throat. Once he was out, she was mostly still, however. Another snap, and he said, Aclysia, wide awake.
Yes, Master, she responded instinctively, while opening her eyes.
He went through the same spiel with her. Aclysia, are you horny?
Always for you, Master, Aclysia sighed, stretching out her bubble butt. Please use my body to alleviate your lust.
Hmm, John hummed and smiled. No, no, I dont think I will. Snap. Aclysia, are you horny?
Yesh, Masterrr, her answer was now slightly slurred, the wiggling of her ass even more inviting. Ive made it my greatest joy in life to be your servant. Please, beloved Master, let me serve you.
No, I dont think you get it. John grinned and snapped his fingers again and again as he kept uttering the trigger phrase. Aclysia, are you horny? The weaponized maid breathed in bursts now, a gooey string of pussy juice dripping all the way to the cushion. Aclysia, are you horny? The wiggle of her ass was now almost demanding. Aclysia, are you horny?
YES! she shouted, dropping the honorific. My John, I need you to fuck me! Make me cum with your perfect cock, please, just let me orgasm over and over again. Cum inside me, ravage my throat, make me feel good! A pause and a smack on her ass. My John! she howled in frustrated veneration. Then her mouth was filled up.
Some selfishness is sexy sometimes. John grinned as he prated her from behind. Grabbing her meaty ass, he fucked her with powerful thrusts. Her throat, however, he left to her to fill with his cock. With a hand on her head more patting than guiding her, Aclysia was free to suck him off in whatever wild fashion the ripples of the repeated prations allowed her. Repeated orgasms made it sloppy and slow, but John still enjoyed it all the way until he filled her with cum on both ends. Once his orgasm was over, he snapped his fingers. Aclysia, trance.
He took a short pause and sat down next to Lydia. Once he felt ready for the final stretch, he snapped his fingers. Lydia, wide awake, hemanded, followed by, Lydia, are you horny? three times as she woke up.
Three seemed to be the magic number as Lydia barely managed to move. Her words were strained, but clearly formted. Do you insist on teasing me as well?
No,e here, he said and pulled her over his groin. With one swift descent, Lydia was impaled on his cock and howled at the ceiling. Already cumming? You really are needy. John grinned, taking a proper hold of her thighs and then standing up. Lydia held onto his neck instinctively, but her back came to rest against Jacks chest before she could have fallen over. This wouldnt be a return to form for me without taking your favourite hole, right, my perverted queen?
YEASSHHHH, she screamed in ecstasy, but it was likely more of a reaction to the well-lubricated cock widening her sphincter. Large as his phallus was, the anal-addicted pervert barely saw it as a foreign object anymore. She stayed entirely rxed back there, even as her pussy clenched, letting him stretch her asshole until he could fuck both holes.
Making her bounce with simultaneous thrusts, the Gamer kept a steady pace. There was no need for any more creativity in this situation, only to keep the pleasure and Lydia cumming. Her fingers dug into his firm back. It was only a barely noticeable wing, the short fingernails keeping it from being a painful experience. John silenced her with his lips. He tasted her, indulged her, satisfied her, and then came.
One more double-load of his vast quantity of magically enhanced cum splurged into one of his girls, filling up both of Lydias holes in one go. Completely sandwiched by the man she loved, his lips on hers and her neck, the queen was in a different kind of trance. She switched repeatedly and in unsteady intervals betweenpletely limp and rigid. She was silent, then she let out a muffled scream. Her eyelids fluttered, then she managed to focus for just a moment, before it slipped from her again. When thest drop had been drawn from his cocks, the Gamer pulled back from her ruby red lips.
Five minute break, then we pick the first Perk.
Chapter 907 – Big Class Grind 2 – First Perk
Chapter 907 C Big ss Grind 2 C First Perk
Huh, thats a pretty potent series of offers for the first Perk of a ss, John mumbled as he read through all three options.
Ya aint picking the third, Rave told him.
Is that a rmendation or amand?
Its girlfriends veto, the pink-haired bombshell exined and gave his shoulders a firm rubbing. Theres no way ya take a Perk that encourages ya to make me sit around. For all I know ya get the Harem Protector Perk halfway down the tree and then ya get super buffs for having us sit around. I aint about that damsel life.
John leaned his head over the backrest of the couch until he had an upside down view of his girlfriend. She had changed into her yoga pants and a cropped sports top that left her midriff and shoulders bare. At some point while John was engaging in his first ss Challenge of the grind, she hade back down from unpacking her bags and witnessed him doing his thing, leaving a suspiciously damp spot between her legs. Youre only about the horny life.
Im horny on main, as are you, tiger, she put her finger on the tip of his nose. Ya wont take the third Perk anyway.
Well, if you knew that, why waste your girlfriends veto? he asked, his eyes cross-eyed with focus on the slender finger gently circling the tip of his nose. It was a funny feeling.
I got a lot of those, courtesy of being pretty and nice and having cat ears when I want to. Just as she said that, they rose from her pink hair. The blue of her eyes,plete with the pink lustre, was reced by a light copper red, the pupils assuming a slit shape. Also, ya know, big booty girlfriend that likes reverse cowgirl and giving blowjobs.
I guess that gives you one or two vetoes. John grinned. The tip of his nose was now used to make her finger bounce by pressing down and then rxing again. How are we on a blowjob right now?
Ya seem to be covered. Rave raised her finger to point between his legs.
The five-minute break he had ended the previous foursome with had let the three girls get to the showers. In their absence, Sylph had decided to get his dick into her bbering hole. The same arcvolt elemental tried saying something, but all that came out were half-moaned muffles that sent pleasurable electricity through Johns cock.
Nah, ya can keep it to yourself, Rave answered. Another series of cock-suppressed mumbles. No, no, seriously, treat yourself, ya cute chatterbox. Ya kept Lydia from going all moody on us, so youre a good girl and good girls get rewards. Sylph hummed happily and grinned as best she could while her lips continued to slide up and down his shaft at impressive speeds. Anyhowzels
Not a word.
Totally will be after Im done with the dictionary
Im going to have aw passed that forbids partly feline annoyances in my life from partaking in the word-cataloguing industry.
Pretty sure I could throw your own supreme court against ya if ya try that.
Maybe I could bribe them?
Meowbe ya could listen to what I wanted to say? She flicked his forehead. Anyhowzels
Still not a word AND you switched into cat-speech there.
I have nya idea whatcha talking about. She stuck out her tongue. Anyahowzels
That one was on purpose!
Couldve been.
Mother Fire, just kiss already! Smander shouted from the side-lines. The week will be over before youve picked your first Perk if you keep on bantering!
Alrighty. Rave grinned and backed off from her boyfriend. Instead, she stepped towards the tall girl with the massive breasts. Im kissing someone already, alright? Right on her soft red lips. Practically jumping the final step, Rave was caught by a Smander who acted on instinct. Lightbearer and apocalypse elemental kissed with wild passion.
John kept watching them for long enough to let his orgasm rise up, then he turned his gaze to Sylph and let that view carry him over the edge. Balls tightened, cum pumped into her mouth, and Sylph took the first few spurts with the cock deep in her throat and slowly slid upwards. Massaging what her tight lips no longer covered with her hand, she kept the climactic feeling high for her summoner. After tasting some of it, she let his dick go and let the final few spurts, still twice the load of a normal man, shower her face.
Of all the tasty, tasty things that exist, your cum is the best! she eximed to the wet sound of her feverishly rubbing her pussy. Feels so good in my stomach, tastes so good on my tongue, smells so great, feels fantastic on my skin. Yes, yes, yes, Im a horny air spirit and I loooooooveeeee Master Johns cum C its so yum!
Continue sucking me off, Johnmanded with a smile.
Sure thing, boss! Ill get all of your hnnnghhh such a shame that I cant babble and suck dick at the same time. Mind-talking just isnt the same! Anyway, dick goes in here! She took him back into her throat and John groaned to show his approval.
Then he finally turned back to the window in front of him. Even without Raves interjection, the choice had been clear from the start. He could either get one level through sex while he stayed inside this time dtion or he could get a maximum of ten. It also meant he could keep up the excuse of being productive while having sex and the Gamer liked few things more than honest reasons to have sex.
Alright, up next easy levels I can get here He thought about the Challenges he currently had open and picked one that should be pretty easy. Hey, Rave, do you need a pen?
Not really? Rave asked, just as the previously fucked trio returned from the shower.
But how are you going to write Raves Cuntlicker on Elizas chest without a pen? he asked.
I just got fucking clean! the pretty little psychoined.
Shush, the doms are talking, Rave reprimanded her and pointed at a chair. Sit there and be quiet, I need to think.
Eliza looked back and forth between Rave and John, evidently not sure if this was a bit or a genuine continuation of lewd activities. Once she had deemed it to be thetter, there were only two words that left her mouth, Yes, Mistress, and she walked over to the designated chair. The white and blue haired woman usually needed a bit longer to obeymands by the other females of the harem. Not for ack of will, doubtlessly, as Eliza enjoyed submitting to just about anyone who knew how to give her just the right level of abuse, but for ack of training. Johns authoritative tone of voice was something she reflexively obeyed.
Good girl, Rave was pleased regardless. Alright, give me that pen.
One Token, he said.
Ya serious?
Im serious.
Raising one eyebrow, Rave turned to the passive maid in the kitchen, Bae, toss me one of my Tokens, I dont want to go upstairs.
Order acknowledged. Beatrice reached into her inventory and withdrew a purse, out of which she pulled one of the less valuable Tokens and tossed it over to Rave.
One Token, she said and flicked it to John.
He caught it and tossed the pen to Rave in return. Thanks, he said and looked at the Token a bit more carefully. The coins were still in development. While the designs were getting close to finalization, the exact value of the coins was still in discussion. Was the lowest value Token to be worth 1 Token or a percentage of a Token, like a 10 cent coin? John wanted to shorten the ridiculous prices of the Abyss by at least a few zeros, so cents were likely a good idea. Perhaps we should get some half-size coins? he thought. Quarter size as well. Sure, coins will eventually make room for paper money, but until then they should be easy to use
Soooo, what was that all about? Rave asked, while she scribbled her im on Elizas chest. Stop panting, you baby maker there ya go, now down on the floor and please your mistress.
Oh, so when its about getting your pussy licked, you lose the pants, but when I want a blowjob, thats not good enough for you? John let his absolutely earnest offense be heard. Simply chuckling, his girlfriend concentrated on sliding out of the tight fabric and then pressing Elizas serve-happy face into her cunt. To answer the question, John continued, while Rave moaned, it was the first Challenge of the Negotiator ss.
Ya getting another Perk right now? she asked.
No, Ill need another 50% ss Experience. He opened the window and checked on the requirements. Hmm, Aclysia?
Yes, Master? The Artificial Spirit had just resumed her work in the kitchen but was ready to return to attending his needs.
Come here, he told her, while getting up himself. They met behind the couch, with Sylph doing some lightining about theck of stretching in her throat. While she fixed that desire by indulging in Smanders bosom instead, John took both of Aclysias hands. Tell me, what do you want more than anything else, right now.
More than anything else? Aclysia asked and John could see the gears start to turn inside her head. What do I want more than anything else? Our happiness, doubtlessly, and my happiness is bound to making every second of your life a joyful one. It is the privilege of a housemaid to see her work please the person she loves the most. To please you is my highest calling, but to please you I need to please myself, and to please myself I need to please you and-
Aclysia, youre logic-looping again, he interrupted her with a gentle kiss on her lips.
Casting down her eyes and blushing softly, the weaponized maid mumbled, My apologies, Master. What I want most in this very moment is a wish I have harboured for a long time and will long for a while longer. I wish to be your bride, my John, but I know the order to such things.
One day, we will walk down that aisle, John promised and brushed some hair behind her ear. He leaned forward and imed her lips again. This time she was ready for him and they met with loving intent. He held her in his arms and gently brushed over the smooth skin of her back, not going lower than the tips of her hair reached. Jane, can you give me that pen back?
Sure? the Lightbearer answered and walked the couple steps towards him. John put it into his inventory. Was that the ss Challenge?
It was to get the pen back for less than half it was bought for, yes, the Gamer said. I just wanted to also cuddle Aclysia.
Dont let go of me, the weaponized maid let aining whisper be heard and put a hand on the arm that had just left her. I want more of you. You spent so much time working recently and those awful people arent respectful enough. She hugged him back. My John deserves to be listened to. Their selfishness is inexcusable, consuming time you could spend with me.
If you want, you could take over secretary duty for a bit. We would have more time together then, the Gamer offered. And dont be too mad at everyone else. They have their own priorities.
Priorities unaligned with yours are unworthy of your realm, Aclysia mumbled.
Its alright, he said andbed through her silky hair with his fingers. As long as I have your support, I will be fine.
They stood there, embracing each other and gently swaying to a tiny song Aclysia hummed, for several minutes. Then John picked his first maid up and carried her to the couch, like a princess towards safety.
If we want to make the world my oyster, well have to be a bit productive, he told her as he sat down.
Acquire the next Perk, then, Lydia chimed in.
Cant, Im now at 75%, he responded, but I only need one more kiss and meal to start my grinding to get a true flood of upgrades. He put his forehead against Aclysias. Can you give me that, my beloved servant? he asked, staring deeply into her green eyes. The love inside her was so much stronger than blind obedience or veneration. All of her was truly his, because she wanted it to be and nothing else. Her love was no less pure than that of Rave, Gnome or Eliza, just because she showed it in a fashion some would mistake for subjugation.
He got more than one kiss and the meal was the best he had eaten in a while.
Chapter 908 – Big Class Grind 3 – Early Acquisitions
Chapter 908 C Big ss Grind 3 C Early Acquisitions
About an hourter, John had run out of other things he needed to do and could finally concentrate fully on the acquisition of upgrades. While they all got dressed to show the dedication to actually getting work done, John quickly finished thest Negotiator ss Challenge and got the level.
These all kind of suck, John said and sighed. It was the exception, rather than the norm, that Perks before level 5 were exceptionally interesting or powerful, but this was still on the disappointing side of things. An incredibly minor Stat bonus, a fix for a problem I do not have, he brushed over his short hair, only in need of hygienic care to look basically the same every day, and one of these Perks that I feel border on mind control.
I mean Gnome looked over his shoulder, reading the text. Its probably just you bing more attractive that does it? It should say what it is about you that makes it rise by 5 in that case though
Exactly. t opinion increases make me ufortable, the Gamer responded. Its natural that people will be more inclined to like me because Im a well-spoken Chad
Never C ever C use that word again, Lydia interjected.
Im a well-spoken Adonis, John obliged her, just becauseparing himself to an ancient Greek myth was moreplimenting than an inte meme, with a muscr body and the smooth voice of a baritone singer. Its easily understandable that people would have a generally more favourable opinion of me. No weird, unexinable bonuses required. He took a short pause and read over the choices a second time, just to make sure he hadnt missed anything. Anyway, with two and three out, Copper Tongue is the only one that remains. Even if its pretty dull.
He clicked the button and suddenly had his shoulder tapped. Turning, he saw Nia look at him with her piercing blue eyes, Say aaah, she said in her toneless voice.
Aaaaaah? the Gamer obeyed with a questioning undertone.
After looking into his mouth for several seconds, Nia mechanically nodded. Your tongue isnt copper coloured. Good. Proceed.
John wanted to say that she didnt need to check that, but with Gaia, there was always a chance she may prank him in some way. Before they could lose themselves in some other banter, another window informed him that Artificial Spirit had finally reached level 100.
Alright, time to get you two some new tools, he said, turning to his maids. Lets start with you, Aclysia.
As you wish, Master. Aclysia diligently bowed her head. She stepped before him and, by using Create, John caused the usual little flood of windows to appear to let him customize his Artificial Spirit that little bit more.
Alright, that one is easy enough, John said, ignoring his reignited annoyance at the bars filling sideways. Strength, and thats done.
Well, I already know what Ill choose there, John thought and looked up at Aclysia to give her a chance to disagree. Juggernaut was a repeating choice and John still wanted it, as it could turn the tide of battle. There were enough restraints that Aclysia could need several seconds to burst out of or for which she would need that little bit of a bonus. Following that instant freedom with several seconds in which she was incredibly hard to stop and her extreme Strength meant she could turn into a true freight train of a maid, with her cargo being pain and punishment. Desperation Rush was simrly useful in tight situations, albeit John wouldnt have taken it between those two choices.
Sword Specialization 3, however, was what he did take when Aclysia nodded in approval. Last time they had skipped out on it because both of her main weapons, Marath and Eclys, at the time had rangedponents themselves. Since then, they had been reforged and Aclysia was left without effective ranged tools. Even a weak ranged tool would be better than none, especially since Aclysia didnt have a gap closer.
Would you protest if I picked Emergency Stasis? John asked his weaponized maid.
It seemed to be the obvious choice to him. Admittedly, First Servant of State was incredibly potent, but her role as such was, likely, temporary. As she had proven on numerous asions now, Aclysia was perfectly able to fulfil the role, but she didnt excel at it. Her veneration of his person over his cause made her alienate people that made good arguments on the basis of Fusions ideals. The maid was a servant, not a politician, and it showed. She was better suited to a secretarial role. The problem with that was that she would have to switch roles with Beatrice. While Aclysia was bad at dealing with situations that went against the Gamers interest, putting the passive maid and her factual sass-sting in charge of internal diplomacy was a sure-fire way to lose the support of the ruling bodies.
The person John wanted to head the assembly of ministers was someone smart, independently minded, simultaneously loyal to him and tirelessly working. Lydia would have worked fantastically, but she was the queen of another guild. Scarlett could have doubtlessly made the entire Federation richer, but she loathed the idea of working for the government. There was also the suspicion John had, a well-founded one he had from knowing what she had done before he arrived, that she would passws that would make the Federation overall richer, but the people at the bottom would have to work twice as hard to get the same, proportionally, as before. Scarlett wasnt a corrupt crony, she was true to her business deals and never swindled anyone who didnt try to trick her first, but she was a selfish capitalist. She would act in her own interests first.
This, together with her innovative attitude, made her a tremendous wealth-generating asset for Fusion and John would have kept her around even if he wasnt fucking her. Fact of the matter was, he wouldnt have been loving her if she was a selfish, irredeemable, corrupt moneyunderer. Another fact was that she was great in the marketce, but had to be kept out of the government. She had enough influence by advising him on certain questions.
There was a third woman John knew who fulfilled all of the categories John looked for. She was flying around the middle east and following her curiosity at the moment. Whenever Momo came back, putting her into a maid uniform and into Aclysias current role would be the second and third thing he wanted to do with her. First was sorting out exactly what kind of rtionship they would have, going forwards. Beatrice would be relinquished of her secretary duty and be able to entirely focus on her financial department.
John had time to think about all of that in the silence that followed his question.
No, Aclysia finally came to a conclusion. No, I would not. While protecting you from damage is my personal honour, the amount you are protected for is not enticing me enough to forego an insurance on my own life. Saving you is worth infinitely more if your life can be spent with me.
John nodded, agreeing with the entirety of that. Sure, the final sentence was formted in a particrly selfish fashion, but Aclysia being crazy in some regards was nothing new. He clicked the button and then, just for good measure, Observed Aclysia. She had barely gained any new Stats, but he liked the refresher.
Alright, Beatrice, your turn, he said, pulling Aclysia to his side. He was standing in the living room, ready to leave after this business was done. Until he had to get through the front door, having a woman by his side was a natural need of the Gamer. The passive maid obeyed with a silent bow and stepped before him. John used the same procedure and was greeted with two more windows than usual. The first one gave the exnation.
That should help her catch up the deficit somewhat, John thought and then looked at the first window.
I am calm it doesnt bother me I am calm I am calm John repeated to himself while pressing on the Swing button a second time and getting that awful window out of his face.
John stroked his chin. Sworn Weapon was a somewhat worse and somewhat better version of Adaptive dery. Aclysia had a minor dy between changing or equipping weapons, while Sworn Weapon was, apparently, instant. It was worth the thought just for the convenience of it, but not strictly necessary because Beatrice didnt have a fighting style that relied on ess to several other weapons. She only needed Perfect. Reverse Pendulum was an extra tool for resource management. While not particrly valuable at the moment, it could be potentter on. Each Reverse was generated when Beatrice had expanded 100 Swing. Getting half of that back, even if it came with a cooldown, was really good. IF she got any powerful Swing Skills, that was.
Needle Assault teased to be exactly one such thing.
John had dismissed exactly that Skill in the past. It struck him as a way tond a bunch of secure blows that would all bounce off the armour of an equally levelled opponent. In other words, it struck him as a way to waste a bunch of resources. Sure, cases existed where it could deal its damage in full or where it could catch an extremely fast opponent, but that wasnt necessarily valuable. Not when he had Sylph on his crew.
Bae, could you show me Perfect? John asked.
Question: perfection or Perfect?
Your weapon, not your butt. The Gamer grinned, squeezing Aclysias ass. The two were the exact same. Every day, Beatrice made sure she had the same proportions, aside from her chest, as Aclysia. It was all to y into the twin fantasy John so craved.
Statement: I couldnt be certain, due to your general horniness, the passive maid remarked. It was an honest dig at his personality. Beatrice herself wasnt horny whatsoever currently. That could have changed at a moments notice, if John wanted her to be in that mood.
As his girls were most of the few people allowed to make fun of him without recourse, a two-way street by all rules of rtionship banter, John just chuckled and waited for Beatrice to oblige him. The shaft was made of almost perfectly white ivory and led to a diamond shaped tip. The two sides extending from the tip were shorter than those running back together after the jagged corners. Silver-white Mithril des met in a sharp tip. The centre of the diamond shape was hollow, the inner rim decorated with blue and ck lines C Poseidury and Oblivium, respectively.
One day well upgrade this again, John promised, while opening the items description and then checking out a specific Attribute. While he trusted his (usually) perfect memory, he didnt trust it enough to choose a Skill immediately.
Yeah, that changes everything, John thought. Swing had a set maximum that could only be increased by Perks, such as the minor one he picked moments before. At the moment, she had 110 maximum Swing. 110 strikes meant Crescendo would trigger 9 times. Having awful base damage hardly mattered if it created 9 rays of energy in a moments notice, each one stronger as the users ability got buffed by 90% and got Beatrice close to Perfect by Design.
It was the easiest choice ever. The specific limitations of: 1. Beatrice having to wield Perfect and 2. being within 500 metres of him to keep Artificial Ascension active, were hardly limitations at all. No objections? he asked, while broadcasting his decisions to her mind.
Affirmative, no objection, Beatrice responded and John moved onto the next window after picking Needle Assault.
Copy Quality seemed like the obvious choice. Elemental Refinement was a worse version of what Aclysias Ultimate Body Perk had been in the past, as it gave no Stat bonus. Assuming it followed the same order of things, giving Baelementium next, L/S-Baelementium after that and finally the Metadermis, it would take Beatrice 3 Perks to catch up just to where Aclysia was right now. Body Furnace suffered from simr issues, even if it was more specialized.
In the spirit of allowing Beatrice to catch up, Copy Quality was the best choice. The speed of the refinement wasnt overly important in everyday life. That aside, it would increase the value of making Aclysias refinement even better. All around, John was certain it was the best choice. Therefore, he took it.
Okay, so Resilient Engine is out, John dered.
Statement: it would be efficient.
I dont care if its efficient, there is no way Im taking a Perk that makes it impossible for me to fuck you until your mind breaks down, the Gamer responded. I have so few pleasures in life, he continued to knead the ass of a very happy, long-haired maid, who rested her head on his shoulder, I need to preserve this one!
Statement: you are being very ungrateful for what you have, Master.
Its called sarcasm.
I detected it, but reject its application in this case. You ought to be thankful for Aclysia, Master.
True enough, John relented and gave the weaponized maid a kiss on her white head. Anyway, Emergency Stasis is the obvious choice. No objection?
Affirmative, no objections, Beatrice stated.
A push of a buttonter, John was faced with the final window of this upgrade spree.
Huh, some rebncing choice is clear though, John pressed the Reset button and was done with it. To put the finishing line under the process, he Observed Beatrice.
Clockwork Maid? John wondered, not having seen that Title before. Maybe the public is giving her that name? Ill have to ask around. He closed the window.
And then he turned to fulfilling a bunch of ss Challenges.
Chapter 909 – Big Class Grind 4 – The Goalposts
Chapter 909 C Big ss Grind 4 C The Goalposts
John had 28 more ss Levels to go and he had several goalposts he wanted to clear.
First, and foremost, he wanted to finally unlock the Arcweaving ss.
With the current overabundance of avable resources, it would have been foolish to push things off further in this regard. Taking the investment of two levels into Martial Artist was easily justified, especially since the other requirement, five levels into Arcanist, was along the path to his secondary goal anyway.
With the goal of increasing his personal power, after spending so much focus on his elementals, Artificial Spirits and girls in general, maxing out Arcanist was a clear choice. If the initial Arcweaving Perks looked promising, he would max it out as well. If not, then ss Levels for it would instead wander into Unfound. The blind mans ss may not have been promising in the general power department, but it was likely to provide immense utility. If initial Perks disappointed there as well, John would send resources towards Metracana Master. That wasnt personal power, but it was still power.
On the topic of utility, John also wanted to finish out the Fateweaver ss. It was unlikely that it would give him ess to time dtion as powerful as Magois. By the way the system had functioned so far, John guessed that one of the Advanced ss choices would be High Fateweaver and that would then enable him to pull some more phenomenal stunts in the barrier department.
Going by the most likely idea that he would at least be satisfied enough with Arcweaver to keep investing in it, the breakdown of goals looked roughly like this:
-
Bring up Fateweaver from level 3 to 10 C leaving 21 levels to be spent.
-
Bring Arcanist to from level 1 to 10 C leaving 12 levels to be spent.
-
Bring Unfound to level 1 C leaving 11 levels to be spent.
-
Bring Martial Artist to level 2 C leaving 9 levels to be spent.
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Learn Arcweaving and bring it to level 3 to check out Perks C leaving 6 levels to be spent.
- Spend the remaining 6 levels on Unfound, Martial Artist, Arcweaving or Metracana Master as best seen fit.
The argument could have been made that John should have been chasing straight for the level 10 in a third ss, rather than spread himself out. While the current Modifications and Overclocks he had werergely situational, every new one acquired may have been the extremely powerful one he could use in most situations. However, John was always tilted towards diversifying his move set, so chasing several goals with his current abundance of Perks fit his style more. He would gather information about sses right now and fill them outter with the regr Maximum ss Levels he got every five levels.
With those decisions made, he decided to go for the easiest goals first. That was to say, he went through a series of minor trials to fill out all of the early levels for Arcanist, Unfound and Martial Artist. Early ss Challenges tended to be trivial either by design or because Johns generalpetence was just so much higher than the average persons.
When the Unfound ss demanded that he blindly wandered a tightrope, that was far from an issue. John spent every morning blind, at the very least for the time it took him to go to the bathroom. Sure, most of the time, he supported himself with the Mand Sphere, but the Gamer sometimes wentpletely blind by his own volition. It had be a part of him, as little as he liked the way it came to be. Searching for a cure had been universally unsessful, so he arranged himself with what would likely be the rest of his life.
That was his specific circumstance. His generalpetence was his Agility of 250 and the rough awareness of elements his summoned spirits granted him. Walking a tightrope with either would have been easy. With both, even recent blindness wouldnt have been that much of an issue.
There is the Agility equivalent of that trash Copper Tongue Perk John thought, immediately dismissing it. The other two choices had to be truly awful for him to go with that. Not that he thought the Stat bonus was irredeemable. It was highly likely Perks that improved on that one would make it at least valuable enough down the line. However, with the other two Perks being good enough to consider, the basic iteration of the Stat improvement was simply swept aside.
Beginner Aura Reading introduced yet another aura rted term, which John loathed on a rity basis. There was the lowercase aura, which was the exuding of mana that marked Abyssals and made them easily recognizable for other ones. Everyone (with eyes) could just look at Abyssals in a certain way and see the aura. Some people were better at it than others, but everyone could. Then there was the Active Aura, which martial artists used to boost their physical abilities and get the Ki flowing. Now there was the Soul Aura, which John assumed was simr to what Lorelei did when reading emotions. It would certainly fit the fact that she was blind and this was the ss for the blind. That may have been a pure coincidence, though, the Gamer didnt really know what had taken the seers eyesight.
His issues with simr terminology aside, the passive was interesting, but its range limit made it rather unptable. Beginner Elemental Perception, while simrly weak, was a nice insurance policy. It meant his awareness stayed even if one of the elementals died or took a trip back home. Of the three choices, it was the most attractive one.
The Aura Sensing (letting him perceive regr auras without sight) was the sticking Bonus. That would be alright if that ever got range, but at the moment it was atrocious. John was nevertheless happy to invest more in Unfound in the future, with just those little tidbits of information. Just because his sight was technically better than most peoples already didnt mean he shouldnt sharpen the rest of his senses.
The first level of Unfound done, John went after the first two for Martial Artist. To that end, he needed the help of a few of his lovelydies. The physical power trio of Rave, Metra and Eliza were great at demonstrating new techniques to him. With Lydia around to supplement their greater talent at the application with her ability to exin things well, John managed to get through the Martial Artist Challenges in about an hour.
John found the title changes quite interesting. Titles were chosen by the system and usually aligned with what people called that person, besides their name. Guild Rank were the official positions, albeit John misused his for cheap jokes or tokens of his appreciation, depending on the mood.
He didnt have too much time to really think about these things as he was used as the sandbag by all four in their training. Eliza didnt grow naturally in power anymore. What exactly that was due to, John didnt know, but where her Stats may have been stuck, she could still acquire and deepen her understanding of martial arts. For that, she needed practice and repetition. John, being someone she could punch however much she liked without having to fear killing him, was an optimal partner for the practice bit. Same was true for Rave and Lydia. Metra just fought him for the fun of it.
With Particle Skin and his extreme pain resistance, getting tossed around for a couple hours sounded worse than it actually was. That he was unable to defeat any of the four in a physical fight was purely predictable. On the rare asions that he did get a leg up on them, it was nice that their brawl could naturally flow into an extremely sweaty outdoor sex session.
For Magois sake, Gnome had erected a wall around the improvised arena that she had also created. Combined with distance, it kept the noise in their corner of the shared space.
Their coitus breaks usuallysted only until John came once. If they had just indulged as they wanted, John would have lost a lot of time and he may have knocked the girls out by the power of his third leg. There was no debate over what the most powerful part of his body was.
Naked, exhausted and oddly fulfilled, John progressed through the ss Challenges.
The first set of Perks was extremely disappointing. Two of basic Stat Scaling Perks and a situational passive that would have been of minor support when he still counted his MP Regeneration in per minute. I shouldntin when picking up early Perks for what would be an early game ss under normal circumstances, he thought and picked Sturdy Body. A few extra Health Points had never hurt anyone.
Later on, he looked at those Perks. Mind of Work was the obvious choice, if only because he didnt want to deal with Active Aura. Fundamentally, the other two were also alright. Mind of Expansion provided a pretty good amount of EXP for sitting around, but John got scaling experience for fucking, which was considerably more fun. Mind of Quality was interesting as a way to, potentially, power level slowly progressing Skills such as Artificial Spirit. Even with that, John didnt really know when he would find two hours in his normal day where he would have time to meditate.
Whenever he had a considerable amount of free time, sex, dates, gaming or other ways of rxation seemed to be a better way to use it. If he was still feeling productive after a day in the administrative paperwork mine, grinding dungeons was a much better way to get experience and other rewards. If he could keep the concentration up while having sex, that would make Expansion or Quality more attractive. As it was, Mind of Work at least had the practical application of getting him through the dull parts of his job as head of government.
Another decision made, John tapped out of the physical arena and left it to the maids to help everyone train.
In order to chase after the next ss, he went over to Nia. The pariah had been training several metres away from everyone. Nobody had insisted she kept away, but if she was going to practice her otherworldly powers, it was for the best. When it came to purebat, she would have been wee to join.
Mind helping me with the Arcanist Challenges? he asked, once she had turned to pay attention to him.
The pale blonde stood there, back straight and her light-eating, ck weapons in her hands. One shoulder pointed at him, her blue eyes staring at him, located in an unmoving face. Strangeness surrounded her like a physical aura inspired by the tiny violins that preceded the reveal of the monster in a horror film. Slowly, she turned towards him, her colourless dress moving in non-existent winds. Slowly, she blinked, as if refusing to let him out of her sight. Slowly she tilted her head.
John smiled and patiently waited for her answer. He had grown so ustomed to her identally unnerving behaviour that only being hit by an actual disy of her power could make him feel ufortable. For specific cases like this, he knew that she was simply suffering from an inability to emote properly and was also prone to thinking a long time about her answers.
Can I? she finally replied with a question.
Might not be pleasant, John was fully honest. Ill have to hit you with some genuine Arcane attacks, some of which you might not be allowed to dodge or neutralize. I just assumed it would be good training for you both in the anti-magic and the reality-altering self-healing front.
After another fifteen seconds of silence, Nia said, Yes.
Chapter 910 – Big Class Grind 5 – Arcanist Rising
Chapter 910 C Big ss Grind 5 C Arcanist Rising
John had gotten the first level in Arcanist all the way back when the ss system had first been patched in. Back then, Rave had just joined him in Cologne, Eliza was still dead, Metra was still an enigmatic piece of metal and Lydia had barely given him the time of day. In other words, it was an eternity of events ago. In real time, over a year had passed. Which, given that he was somehow only neen still, was a fair chunk of his life.
Taking all time dtion into consideration and adding the extensive changes the rising Stats had made to him, categorizing him as a regr neen-year-old physically would have hardly worked. Regardless, that was his official age.
Levelling up Arcanist turned out to be a harder task than the previous sses. This was unsurprising, given that he was pushing into higher ss Levels than before, but a bother nheless.
John faced arge number of Challenges that were focused aroundbat orbat simtion. He had to perform a specific feat of skill against an enemy. Most of the time, Nia sufficed as that enemy. The only caveat was that she had to fight earnestly.
Seldomly had John felt so closely reminded of the fact that he was mortal as when fighting the pariah and Observe revealed exactly why.
Aside from her anti-magic powers being the counter to Johns whole existence being magic in some way, Nia, at that very moment, had somehow overtaken him in level. The totality of her Stats was lower than his, he scaled with 8 every level and she had the usual talented level of 6, but the higher-level number went to show just how much she had improved since her training with Alice.
It had to be noted that Nia was always one of the girls with an extremely high Potential Level, sitting at 666. Seeing those vast improvements, the blonde Miss Fae had made in such a short time made John wonder just how powerful Alice was in reality. It was a thought that urred between fights, as he was way too upied trying to evade her otherwise.
Nia made a mockery of every one of his usual battle strategies. Activating Particle Skin against her was a mistake. When her anti-magic weaponry collided with the defensive spell, it only blocked the attack due to the density of mana that was obliterated. What normally functioned as an efficient way to protect his health bar became an invitation to burn his entire MP reserve with a couple of strikes.
Trying to get her into traps was even more impossible. Using her third eye, she could spy the influence of magic on the environment and, using her powers from the other side, she could neutralize whatever threatened her. That was if he even hit her. While she didnt have the Agility of Sylph or Siena, she was far from slow. She was certainly faster than John. Pairing that with her pariah senses made her dodge attacks in uncanny fashions, like a phantom that shuffled through obstacles.
When he finally thought he might have caught her, she just disappeared, and a momentter he had her curved dagger on his throat or her long-dednce resting on his corbone. Both of the sleek, light-eating weapons would deal damage both to his HP and MP when they hit. Gamers Body protected him from physical harm and from falling unconscious when his soul was cut, but he took extra damage in the grand scheme of things.
Just to get things more fair, John had to call for backup. First, he called in Gnome, and was still handily beaten. Then he got Siena involved, and that helped somewhat. With Sylph also in the mix, they got the win rate almost equal. Smander tipped it to be 50/50. Undines and Stirwins involvement did fairly little to influence the odds. Only with either Aclysia or Beatrice involved as well was John the favourite to win.
That wasnt to say that Nia won in an overwhelming fashion. The more fighters got involved, the longer each fight took. Strategically minded, the blonde Maiden of Null simply knew that her only goal had to be the Gamer and treated everyone else as obstacles that needed to be dodged. As such, those that had Agilities matching or surpassing hers were the greatest issue she had. Aclysia joined as a considerable roadblock because of Masters Shield. The taunt ability took a moment and considerable power to break.
Nia won when she reached him and John won when they either exhausted the pariahs ability to neutralize magic without fading or if theynded a square hit on her. Because of Nias rtively low Endurance, a good hit by Gnome or Aclysia took her out instantly or did so much damage that she had to reset her body at a considerable cost.
Even with the entirety of his familiars active, Nia still won a quarter of the time. This was on a battlefield that became increasingly moreplex as elemental maniption after elemental maniption changed the shape of it.
During some brawls, John entirely ignored the objective of the ss Challenge and focused solely on winning. He was driven by a peculiar mixture of emotions. Pride demanded that he maximized his performance. Love made him so happy to see Nia fight so well. Fear told him that he would be absolutely screwed if a powerful pariah ever went for his head.
Training with anyone but Nia would have likely gotten him to the wanted results quicker, but thebat experience he got out of it was almost more valuable than an actual level would have been.
All in all, John felt incredibly blessed that the two strongest pariahs in the world were on his side.
Aside from those Challenges he got done by fighting Nia, he had to either head into a dungeon to defeat a Boss in a certain way or do something that was long-winded and repetitive. The former was at least somewhat fun on most asions, but thetter was just a mindless slog. It reminded him of farming herbs in World of Warcraft, just running in circles and clicking every highlighted nt in thendscape.
Overload had been in the first set of Perk choices for this ss as well and John liked it as little now as he had then. The damage increase looked potent, but the Gamer had faced too many fast opponents to favour a single powerful blow over casting twice. Knowledge of Mana looked a bit more interesting, but it was rare enough that he could get Whisper of Mana fully stacked. Since the passive relied on actually KILLING an enemy with an Arcane Spell specifically, it was the most useful in Instant Dungeons. The Gamer wasnt in the habit of killing his enemies in real life and he especially didnt do so in a row. That wasnt to say it could never happen, just that he wouldnt use up a Perk for it.
Mana Chain, however, was an extra spell in his arsenal. It had been a while since his skillset had gotten an addition that wasnt based on evolving something or improving it through a ss Perk. A shackle not connected to his own body would have been a bit more useful, since he was a ranged support sniper that primarily wanted to keep enemies away from him, but it could still have its uses.
Magic Machine Gun was another returner, although thest time he had seen it, it had affected Mana Ray instead of Arc Lance. This implied that Perks changed to amodate Skills they were meant to affect. That was useful knowledge to have, even if he had no interest in taking that Perk. The 50% cost reduction was potent, but John didnt see himself chain-casting Arc Lances to get there. His mana had so many uses that spending it in such an offensive action seemed unwise. In the rare cases he did need such a damage burst, Purgatorys Arcane Ascension filled the niche better.
Surface Chain did sound nice at first, but it was actually garbage when one thought about it. What was the cost of a single Possession? 1 MP per second. Did John care about preserving that bit of mana when he already regenerated 30 after all the regr expenses (familiar upkeep)? The answer was no.
Arguably, Interrupt Cast was still worse than that, because it had very little in the way of practical applications. The best thing John could think of, and only testing would reveal if that actually worked, was to cast Arcana Strike, Interrupt Cast it, recast it for half the cost and repeat that process to stack up mana on Stirwins Unleash. That being of any value seemed like wishful thinking at best.
Still, it was a massive quality of life improvement. Threatening enemies with an Arc Lance without firing it into the ground afterwards would be a possibility and unused Unstable Arcanas could be cleaned off the battlefield to give some of the stored value back. Also, he could use Arcana Strike as a threat and not actually deliver on it. He imagined the eradication of entire city blocks was a worthwhile tool in negotiations.
Considering everything, Interrupt Cast was the choice he wanted and could reasonably take as well.
The fourth Perk of the Arcanist ss offered him yet another repeat he immediately dismissed. Between Spiked Chain and Multi-Chain, John preferred the former. Neither were exactly bad and there were easy cases to be made for both, but the Gamers intuition told him that having more in the way of physical damage was better for the Skill than adding extra chains was.
Yet more chain upgrades, John thought, scratching the back of his head as he thought about things. I suppose the primary weakness of Mana Chain is that it can be broken by physical force, so taking Thorned or Hardened Chain feels like the most adequate decision. Thorns are better, I think.
That decision made, John felt the tingle of anticipation rise in his stomach. It was finally time. He retrieved a certain book from his inventory and pressed the necessary buttons. Then he looked at what he had unlocked.
Alright, lets get the First Perk for this then, John decided and went into an Assault. He only took Gnome and Undine along, aiming at keeping the enemies as weak as possible. Active Aura was a horrible Skill, because it cost him 100% of his MP Regeneration, so he didnt want to keep it triggered while he didnt have to. Having Gnome allowed him to focus on strategies that immobilized enemies, which he then finished off. Undines healing made the entire thing more secure.
John finished the ss Challenge towards the end of the third of the twenty-one days they were to spend inside this grinding barrier.
John barely even wanted to think about the choices outside of Magus Circuits, but, in the spirit of always finding the best overall option, he did it anyway.
Fundamentally, Active Aura was awful (for Johns fighting style). It was so awful; John had banished it off the list of Skills that showed on his menu. He had it, he even levelled it sometimes, but it was not something he would ever rely on.
With that background, Arcane Stance was an alright improvement. It reduced the cost by 75%, which made it usable for John. However, it also reduced the Physical Stats bonus he got from Active Aura at level 100 (which it wasnt but John could calcte from the increases per level) by 80%. It got usable, but, mathematically, it actually got worse.
Arcane Fist was theplete opposite of Johns fighting style. It locked him into a certain strategy for one minute and that strategy was to st everything he had into his opponent, using his own spells. Nothing, absolutely nothing, about that synergized with his elementals, his Artificial Spirits, or his focus on adaptive strategies.
Of course, both of them promised to get him on a certain path and John didnt doubt that further Perks would make those fighting styles viable. But why would I take something that fundamentally doesnt work with what I got going now? the Gamer asked himself. I suppose there is a point to Arcane Fist if I am to seriously step up my melee game. Picking this ss up came about because I didnt want to be helpless on my own the thing is that Im not anymore. My closebat weakness is not nearly as pronounced as it used to be and I will never win against dedicated melee fighters of my level anyway. Magus Circuits promises me more tools to take advantage of my high-range attacks and better mobility thats universally useful and helps in situations where Im stuck in a duel as well. Also 5% MP Regeneration is baseline good for me.
He nodded and made his choice.
Chapter 911 – Big Class Grind 6 – Basic Fateweaving
Chapter 911 C Big ss Grind 6 C Basic Fateweaving
Alright, time to do some less physical stuff, John decided when he left the house on the fourth day. After three days dominated by fighting and, mostly, getting his ass kicked, he wanted to do something that was rxing. His n outlined to get Arcweaver to level 3, but that didnt have to be done in a hurry. Instead, he could go with another ss in his line-up that would, presumably, not bombard him withbat Challenges.
It was time to grind up Fateweaving.
He breezed through the initial Challenges with ease. The ss asked him to do a lot of precision stuff that required mental fortitude. With Johns tilt towards Mental Stats, that was his area of expertise. Creating barriers with exact measurements, manipting the environment he created to include houses or otherndmarks, rapidly making, destroying and remaking spaces, all of that came naturally to him. The only Challenge he somewhat struggled with was adjusting a barrier after it was made.
Obviously, he wasnt as great at any of this as Magoi was. The houses he made were fit to be shelters, but theycked running water and electricity. Highly experienced barrier-makers had their ways to ensure these things, often involving carrying moreplex parts inside their dimensional pockets to be integrated, rather than thought up whole cloth. Magoi barely even needed to rely on that. The High Fateweaver didnt have to gesture to make or close Illusion Barriers either. He was, simply, on a whole different level.
One that John approached through incremental progress at a rate much higher than anyone else in the world could have hoped to. A wish-fulfilment engine might be a pretty good term for my powers, the Gamer recalled the way Gaia had described it before, as he finally reached the sixth level of the ss. Because of the Gestalt Kingdom Quest, he hadnt gotten any Perks for the levels 4 and 5. A loss that stung but ultimately shouldnt be too harsh. The powerful Perks of level 6 and upwards were still all there, after all.
Man, why does my wish-fulfilment engine make me pick between good things, John grumbled and sat down in the light-filled ckness. He had been doing his Challenges alone for the past hours. Originally, some girls had been with him, but watching him fill the empty spaces beyond the gates of light Magoi put up in the intermediary Illusion Barrier had proved too boring for them to all stay around. Only Aclysia and Beatrice would have been willing to stay, but John had sent them away to get more productive things done, like training with the other girls and cooking.
John forced himself to go through the process of elimination and came to the pretty quick conclusion that Barrier Sense was the best choice. He wasnt happy with that, but the other two were just incredibly niche. Living Loot served no practical purpose since he wasnt currently and didnt intend to be a Tamer build. Conceivably, he could sell the eggs and younglings he got, or enlist them to Fusions services in other ways, but that was dependent on many factors outside his control and it wasnt as if he was wanting for money anyway. Kingdom Explorer would spice up things, but spice alone didnt make it worth the pick.
Barrier Sense was almost invaluable as a utility. Finding Illusion Barriers usually required coordinates, a learned Fateweaver, determination or sheer dumb luck. With this Perk, that would be reduced to the general area for John to find a target. It would increase search speed and even allow him to find barriers out in the wild.
Resigning himself to the best choice, John clicked the button and resumed his Challenge grinding.
It took him the rest of the fourth day and the morning of the fifth to get to ss Level seven. The Challenges remained generally interesting but ramped up in time consumption. Being tasked with recreating specific buildings just from images wasnt that easy, especially when Gaia demanded even the texture and materials to be urate. Regardless, he managed.
Again three choices, all of which John wanted. Detail was the first choice to be eliminated, since finding a barrier in the first ce sounded more important than to know its category from the outside. That put the match between Distance and Pull Resistance. Having the ability to resist Trap Barriers was, doubtlessly, quite potent. However, it was of limited use. The number of people, gods and other entities that could still muster the power to pull in him was very small. That also was an argument in its favour, since it would be incredibly valuable when it did apply. John usually favoured general usefulness over specific power, so he picked the range.
Reaching ss Level eight was much the same when it came to time-consuming and repetitive tasks. He went a little bit past his schedule to get it done within day five.
The previous reasoning still applied. The bigger the range on the distance sense, the better. Since that particr passive was, apparently, only improved by further Perks and not by general usage, making it more powerful where he could was only sensible.
On day six, John spent about an hour trying to properly visualize the next Challenge C to no avail. All of his attempts failed due to the spike ofplexity in his target. He knew he could have gotten it eventually if he just kept hacking away at it. However, there was a way to hasten up the learning process.
So, you want me to help you? Magoi asked, sipping on his tea. The High Fateweavers raptor-skull mask was hanging by its straps from the backrest of the chair. Mabirls was sitting on the kitchen counter, the housewife currently upied with loading the dishes from their breakfast into the dishwasher.
If you know a way you can, the Gamer told him. I just get the feeling that this is something that should be easier if I knew how its properly done.
Hmmm, well, I cant really coach you, since I cant enter the barrier under the intermediary barrier without the two joining. Magoi stroked the chin of his hairless, scar covered face. I can try to give you some advice, however. Are we talking about originating creation or additional creation?
That would be the difference between creating something with the barrier or after its established, right? John asked, just to be sure. When he got a nod, he answered, Additional, in this case.
And you have to create from a picture?
A 3D model with a static viewing distance, to bepletely precise.
Alright, walk me through your process.
First, I visualize the thing I want to create in my head. Then-
Okay, stop, Magoi already had something to correct, you dont interface with the barrier first?
No, I do that after I have reconstructed the entire 3D model in my head.
Reconstructed the entire Magoi petered out, sounding more than a little bit baffled. Ive lived for a while, but Im still baffled whenever I see someone thats too smart to get something done properly. Youre not supposed to reconstruct the entire thing in your head. Youre supposed to reconstruct the entire thing in reality. You interface with the barrier first and then build the thing segment by segment. The High Fateweaver paused and continued in an amused tone. Were closer to artists than to printers.
Huh. John thought about that for a second. His method had worked wonderfully for lessplicated buildings, so he hadnt considered that the thought process in itself may be wrong. He probably would have in another few hours time, but Magoi pointing out the proper way of things spared him the time required to discover it. They spent another twenty minutes discussing some other mistakes John made, then the Gamer decided to put the things he had heard into praxis. Alright, Ill go apply that.
Normally I would say it should take you a couple of weeks to get that mental process down but youre not normal, Magoi joked. Have a good one, Mister President.
Its really weird when you call me that, Johnined, as he rose from the chair. Anyway, I owe you.
If you wanted to repay us, Mabirl chimed into the conversation. Our youngest is going to move here soon. You could help us get her well situated.
John recalled the third kid of the Magus family. She was a little younger than John, was leaning on the attractive side and had proven to be quite the introvert the one time they had interacted. I thought she was still studying at the Mountain of Time? John asked. Or is she done there now?
As it turns out, the headquarters of an organization decays rather quickly if the organization loses power, Magoi sighed. The quality of the education is plummeting and so is the funding. Id rather have her here. Im confident I can make the Magic Academy provide a more thorough education.
And I can make sure that shes not squandering her talents by ying video games all day, Mabirl added. Girl keeps insisting she would rather get into this useless e-sports thing.
John bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from starting a discussion with the housewife. It wasnt his ce to weigh in on these family matters. I take it she is not going to live with you when shees here?
No, shell have her own house. Shes old enough to look after herself, Magoi said. It would be easier to pick out a location if you weigh in on the process.
Magoi himself would get preferential treatment courtesy of who he was. This was, honestly speaking, a w in the operation of Fusion. Optimally, no one, not even John himself, should have gotten through the government apparatus quicker than others. In reality, no matter the system, people in power got through quicker than everyone else. This was because nobody would think it necessary to be entirely stringent about the identification process when dealing with public figures and because people were naturally inclined to do a quick and proper job for people that had more influence than them. Nobody wanted to lose their job for pissing off the wrong person.
Taking all of this into ount, Magoi would have gotten things sorted quicker than average, but John, who was in charge of the districts in the Hudson Barrier, could resolve it pretty much immediately. All he had to do was agree on a plot ofnd with Magoi and then sign a transferral contract, giving it to him, his academy or his daughter.
If the housing situation in the Hudson Barrier had been highly constricted at the moment, John would have been cautious about agreeing. With most of the liveable space still empty, any moral questions he had about weighing into the market with such obvious preferential treatment was discarded. Sure, we can get that sorted, he assured them. Just give me a list of locations and well figure it out over some coffee after this grinding session.
Good. Mabirl nodded, the dark-haired older, but nevertheless attractive, woman rolled her shoulders. Lee will be a handful as ever We understand that youll not flirt with her, yes? Mabirl liked John, she even liked most of his harem, but she did not want his lifestyle to reflect on her children. She had made that clear in the past.
No threat from me, I assure you, he said, raising his hands in surrender. He knew better than to mess with the wishes of Magois wife. There were many better ways to expand his harem, if he even wished to do so. After saying his goodbyes, John went back outside to apply the hints he had been given.
At first, like it so often was when breaking with an old way of doing things, the new way felt incredibly slow and awkward. After about an hour of figuring things out, he got the next Challenge done. From there, things progressed smoothly and with increasing speed. Magois metaphor held true: the Gamer had tried to just print the entire building into existence with mechanical precision. Going about it more like moulding a piece of y was a much better process. Careless manifestation of things sometimes set him back, but that was fine, overall.
Even greater range sounded useful, but Origin had an entirely different utility that John knew he wanted immediately. Now that he could already sense Illusion Barriers at a considerable range, upping it even more was falling in value. Origin would just smooth things out since it would tell him exactly who he had to point Siena at. Not a situation he thought would arise too often, but with the generalist tool already made to be quite useful, going slightly into the specialized route felt like a valuable detour.
The final Perk took another day to acquire, which was all around the same work as before. In total, it had taken John four days to get Fateweaver from level 3 to 10. A pretty fantastic time, all things considered. Anticipating the rewards, he pushed the button to level the ss onest time.
Greater Greatest Distance was out. Not because a 400% increase in the range was bad by any means, but because the other two had utility far beyond finding the Illusion Barriers. Trace was a potent upgrade of Origin and would definitely allow him to guide Siena towards a high priority target. However, that felt a bit too specialized toe up often. Much like the Trap Barrier resistance, it would be really handy when it came up and a dead Perk otherwise. Location seemed like a sensible middle ground, providing both another range boost and valuable intel before entering the barrier.
Three more windows popped up in front of John and he read them with glee.
This was both incredibly useful and quite niche. If Modification hadnte with the limitation that he could only switch between which one was active once a day, this one would have been a fantastic acquisition. Even as it was, he could at least stop worrying about having to put a Mobile Barrier generator into every single one of his cars. Hell, with this, I could actually just run the distance, John thought. It removes the necessity to create a new barrier every hundred metres or so.
This, too, was incredibly useful, but the limitation in the form of its cooldown really limited what John could do with it. I guess I can do one less effective grinding session without Magoi, John thought. If he had the Fateweaver ss active, he could achieve a total time dtion of 150%, which would rise to 450% with this Overclock Skill. That was less than half of the ratio Magoi achieved, but it was still a good chunk of additional time. Ill have to see if I can push that up a bit more before I spend the cooldown.
Of course, it ends with a difficult choice, John thought and scratched his chin. High Fateweaver was the natural progression of things and enticing. However, because it was the natural progression, John found himself dismissing that choice. Although it may be unlikely that he found someone just as powerful as Magoi to rece him, whenever the High Fateweaver retired fully, the general service he provided to John could be bought.
Invader and Space Protector were slightly different beasts. The former would assure him he wouldnt have problems dealing with fortified positions, such as he had encountered in the Five Days War, while thetter would make defending them himself easier. Do I favour offence or defence? he asked himself, slowly creeping towards the Invader option.
Then it dawned on him that Space Protector would at the very least up the defences of his Guild Hall. That tipped the bncepletely, especially if there was another ss after this that would offer him specialized extras to the Guild Hall. This promised ever good general utilities or a way to increase the functionality of the heart of his guild (along with appeasing Scarlett). He made the choice and checked out the description.
Wonderful, John thought.
Chapter 912 – Big Class Grind 7 – A little breather with the maid and the blank.
Chapter 912 C Big ss Grind 7 C A little breather with the maid and the nk.
The repeated pping of meat against meat came to an end while Nia spasmed on top of the cock filling her up. John watched her face contort ecstatically, as his magically potent cum sent her into a series of orgasms, through the Mand Sphere. His own eyes saw fairly little at the moment, primarily the soft, pale spheres of Aclysias sizable ass, into which his fingers dug. With his tongue, he brought the weaponized maid to another orgasm.
Once his orgasm ended, both women rose from him, the wood of the bed softly whispering in ordance with the shifting weight. A little more, the Gamer told them. Both seemed happy to continue. Without any need to say anything on Johns part, Aclysia bent forwards and presented her deliciously plump backside. Nia moved to the side, as if to say that it was the maids turn.
Master, my cunt is yours to use, she sighed, the offer itself making her feel a visible rush of satisfaction. When she felt his hand, she moaned. When she felt his cock, she shouted. It prated her wet pussy swiftly.
Touch me, please, Nia pleaded, her almost emotionless tone carrying only the slightest level of need. It was a surprisingly powerfulbo and John pulled her to his side. Fingering her cunt by reaching around her backside, John fulfilled that wish while he kissed her. His left was holding onto Aclysias hips while he thrust into her. The threesome continued with the debauched sounds of a sloppy kiss and the orgasmic screams of a maid whose pussy was shaped to perfectly amodate her Masters cock. A Perk whose choice she had enthusiastically agreed on.
The window didnt make John stop. There was no way he would stop. Not while he was bringing so much pleasure to the women he loved. Not while Aclysia submissively wiggled her bum, while he mmed into her over and over again. He could feel his orgasm rising already. The tight folds gripped him so tightly. He couldnt stop. Her pussy was just too good. He came inside her and caused the white-haired haremette to squirt all over the bedsheets, fucking her even as her artificial womb was filled to the brim.
Lust ebbed away, and a few minutester they were all lying in therge bed. It was a bit mmy, thanks to all of the activities of the morning, but the sexual rush prevented John from caring about it. He was too upied making out with both of the beautifuldies. The primary part of the coitus had concluded now that he had gotten the level. That didnt stop them from giving him a handjob. It did keep one hand away from Aclysias butt, though, while he invested his Stats.
He hadnt beenpletely diligent in taking advantage of Experience of Love these recent days. If he had been, he would have been half a level further into the current one. Between all of the Challenges, particrly the Fateweaver ones done in istion, he just hadnt taken a lot of sex breaks. Putting Jack out there to do the deed had worked for quite a bit, but sometimes the concentration required to get a Challenge done didnt allow for a separated consciousness.
Most important of all was (or had been) that he got the levels 310 and 315 cleared, as those gave extra Max ss Levels. With two weeks remaining inside the Illusion Barrier, that seemed like an easily attainable goal.
John felt Nias caress on his cheek. Albeit that she was smell and tasteless, the softness of her touch was far from ephemeral. Maybe you should grow a beard, she suddenly remarked.
And that makes two, John thought as he asked, Whys that?
I think it would look good on you.
I dont want anything on my face that could tickle while I get busy between your thighs, the Gamer responded, causing the pariah to fall in thoughtful silence. What do you think, Aclysia?
I think Aclysia said, her calm voice whispering in sensuous tones, my John she kissed her way down his neck and to his chest. There, she looked up to him with a loving gaze. would look good whatever he decides. She kissed her way back up and got to im his lips. More she whispered as their kisses got heated. I want more of you Master John my John More Please she whined with need for lust and love.
Im here for you, whenever you need me, John whispered back and pulled her on top of him. They both groaned wantonly as Aclysias dripping wet cunt enveloped him once again. The union of their bodies was a worldly extension of their love. Their minds intertwined in simple harmony as they came to share a slow rhythm. She was lying on top of him, her rtively small breasts squishing against his chest. They embraced each other tightly, albeit John kept one arm around the pariah by his side.
I love you, Nia suddenly started whispering into his ear. There was a fair amount of emotion in her voice. Dedication, love, longing and fulfilment, all weaving together into aplicated and beautiful mess of a woman that was content with her path in life and wanted to experience more of it. Darling, I want to be with you. Forever. I want us to be happy. Us two and all of the others that you and I love. Your harem, your girls, your women, whatever you may call them. I want the years to pass alongside all of you and I want to seed new life with you. A short pause, her fingers gently scratched through his hair, caressing his skin like her voice caressed his ears. I would like to scratch your beard; I would take the tingling.
John couldnt help butugh and stop his thrusts. Holding back all but a couple of giggles, Aclysia joined him. The erotic mood in the room was temporarily supnted by simple amusement, at least when it came to two of them. Nia slowly blinked and tilted her head. You say the weirdest things sometimes, the Gamer remarked. At the weirdest of times too.
I finished the thought, so I brought it up, Nia defended herself and earned herself a peck on the tip of the nose.
I know how you work, my dear, John hummed in return, resuming the thrusting of his hips. You still surprise me sometimes, is all.
They finished up with some more fooling around before getting out of bed and the room. Downstairs, they found the house empty. Aclysia had breakfast prepared long before anyone who needed food had woken up, hence why she got to spend such a long time with John. Only the Gamer and Nia had yet to eat and both were famished from the extra hour they had spent getting John that level. They also had quite a few fluids to rece.
What ss will you level next, darling? Nia asked.
Hmmm, can you say that again? John returned a question on his own in a teasing tone.
What ss will you level next, darling? she repeated in the exact same tone, or rather with the exact sameck of one.
Just thest word, if I may?
Darling?
With a bit more emotion.
Darling.
Just a bit more.
Darling!!! Nia went way overboard and almost shouted the word. Sadly, not in any attractive fashion, like the panting scream that apanied an orgasm, just loud and primitive. Does that satisfy? she asked, tilting her head and pulling her shoulders back.
John knew how to read her minimalistic bodynguage. Note to self, even Nia can be teased too much, he thought. Not that he didnt already know that. It was just in his nature to toy with those he loved. For the most part, that was an advantage since it seemed to keep his girls entertained. Sometimes he didnt know when to stop though. Sorry, yes, that will be enough, he said. I was nning to get Arcweaver to level 3 today and then max out Arcanist. Thatll leave me with another 9 levels to spend. Still debating if I want to spread that out between several sses or push another one to the maximum.
A certain pet decided to pick exactly that time to make her presence known or, rather, decided that she had enough of sleeping for the moment. Velka warbled softly as she raised her head from her bed. A quadratic basket holding a cushion, it was the same kind used for dogs but with a higher rim to evoke the feeling of a cardboard box. They had experienced a number of times what kind of ce Velka liked the most to sleep in. The answer was, perhaps expectedly, everything that was soft, resembled a box and had a single entrance hole, simr to a birdhouse. Thest was a demand difficult to serve for a birdcat that was still growing. Velka had needed quite a few pats when she found herself unable to squeeze into her favourite box.
Incidentally, that was the same box she was currently in, just with the lid removed.
Velka followed the warble with a couple of meows and chirping, as if she had to get her voice running. By the end of her little chaotic song, she reached down to her belly with her beak. Not just to clean herself, as little as that was necessary, but also to y with the bundle of silver snuggling against her.
Of all the items in her hoard, the Silver Fur always apanied Velka. Likely because it was the most valuable of all the things she owned, she refused to part with it and used the magical metal bunny like a kid used afort nket. Seeing her sleep without it, at least when it came to the kind of sleep thatsted several hours, was a rarity. Naps without the bunny were alright. If he had tried to take her along without the Silver Fur, John would have likely been pecked at a fair bit. Eventually she would have calmed down, but the rebellious Magryph wasnt going to be happy about the circumstances.
Nudged by its de-facto owner, the Silver Fur climbed on top of Velkas head and was carried out by the birdcat when she effortlessly jumped out of her sleeping box. Yawning and stretching like cats tended to do, Velka made herself adorable and then trotted towards the kitchen. Once she arrived at Johns legs, she bowed down and gnawed on his big toe.
Needy as always, Johnughed and bowed to scratch her. Youre lucky youre also fluffy! His hands worked with yful aggression on her head and the rest of her body. The Silver Fur jumped off her at that point, hopping over to Nia to be something for the pariah to fulfil her petting addiction with. Velka let out a series of short high-pitched noises. Happy chirps that apanied her ying fetch with his hands and nibbling on his fingers whenever he let her catch them. Are you trying to bribe me to get Tamer Perks, hmm? Too bad for you I wont. Its not exactly smart while youre still growing.
He picked Velka up and watched her body elongate, until her hindlegs finally disconnected from the floor and she dangled in the air. The scruff of her neck was pushed up, giving her a chubby appearance for as long as it took John to ce her on the kitchen counter. Nia ced the thoroughly scratched Silver Fur next to her, and the bunny instinctively hopped back over to Velka and hid between the talons of her front legs.
Do you wish to feed her? Aclysia asked, hands inside the fridge. Johns breakfast was already sitting on the counter, just a couple of steps away from the Magryph. Putting out fresh toast, buttered and covered with smi slices, would have been a pretty risky move if the weaponized maid hadnt been around. Nobody, not even a rebellious birdcat, was taking the risk of messing with Aclysias kitchen. I have numerous remains that she would likely appreciate.
Niabed through Velkas fur and feathers with her hands, smoothing out what John had ruffled. No, came the surprising answer. The Magryph was doubtlessly hungry, but the pariah looked to Aclysia instead. You should.
Are you certain? Aclysia asked, blinking a number of times in confusion.
Yes. I want you to be happy. Feeding Velka makes me happy. Nia rubbed the Magryphs ears, she purred loudly. Lets share. Sharing with people you care about is nice. We are haremettes. We should share all nice things, like we share our darling.
Our John. Aclysia smiled approvingly and then pulled a bowl out of the fridge. It was filled with meat scraps, parts she had cut from bones or that had otherwise been left over during dish preparation. Aclysia tried to avoid buying unnecessary things, so she further used anything she could. John had no idea what she may had nned with the meat scraps, but feeding them to Velka was as good a purpose as anything.
Aclysia ced the bowl in front of Velka. The Magryph looked at it and tilted her head. Warbling with uncertainty, she looked up to Aclysia, then back down at the bowl. The tiny silver bunny sniffed at the porcin.
Eat, the weaponized maid instructed. Amused, John watched the scene, eating what the maid had prepared for him. Sometimes the best contribution to a bonding moment in the harem was to say nothing.
Velka expects to be fed, Nia exined.
Now Aclysia tilted her head. Am I to shove it into her throat? she asked.
Shes bigger than that.
Then what is expected of me? The white-haired maid remained confused.
y with her.
ying with your food is bad manners.
Not if youre an adorable little Velka, Nia stated and pulled the Magryphs wings open. Adorable. Greatly adorable. Her tone left no room for disagreement.
Not knowing what else to do, Aclysia took one of the meat scraps and dangled it in front of Velka. Still somewhat uncertain, the ck-and-white chimera fixed her red eyes on the raw meat. Then she snapped forwards and grabbed it. Aclysia didnt let go, giving the small killing machine a bit of a challenge. When she let her have it, the sudden stop of resistance made Velkas head fly backwards. The meat wasunched into the air and then swiftly caught by the Magryphs beak.
She has her qualities, Aclysia agreed, when she doesnt urinate on the floor. The weaponized maid grabbed the next piece of meat. This is someone who said Master doesnt deserve his harem, she spoke slowly and softly to the Magryph, dangling the food just out of Velkas range. Someone who said Master is a bad person. What do we do with those that cause Master distress, Velka? Aclysia tossed the food at the birdcat, who caught it and wolfed it down in one bite. Very good.
John rinsed down thest few bits of his breakfast with orange juice. Are you fine with teaching Velka attackmands? he asked Nia in an amused tone.
Shell be big and strong. She should know how to fend for herself, Nia responded. Shell be a very effective asset. If someone harms her, they wont ever be an asset for anything ever again. John felt just the tiniest bit of creepiness simmer into the room.
Regardless, he supported those statements.
Chapter 913 – Big Class Grind 8 – Perfecting the Arcanist
Chapter 913 C Big ss Grind 8 C Perfecting the Arcanist
Returning to the Arcanist ss also meant that he had to return tobat Challenges. As much as furtherbat practice against Nia might have been valuable, John wanted to elerate his growth. Finishing all of the sses he wanted to and a Raid, while still inside this current grind barrier, was basically impossible. He wanted to take a gander at that Raid though, if nothing else. If it proved too hard to even y a single boss in a sensible time, an Adventure would also do it.
John had to invest another six days to get all of the Arcanist Perks done. As a positive aside, he got a whole lot of other ss Challenges done in parallel. That he no longer needed to have the sses be active in order to get their Challenges done aided him a bit in saving at least some time. Higher level Challenges were basically impossible to get done without focusing on them, but at least a few basic Perks could be acquired this way.
Such as the two extra Arcweaver Perks he wanted.
John had whistled quietly to himself when seeing these choices. They were all quite potent. Mana Chain Strike was perhaps the most interesting of the lot, given that it had two use scenarios. Shackling enemies together could be quite interesting. Particrly, John liked the idea of Possessing something and casting Mana Chain on his main enemy, just as he used the Mana Chain Strike. That would get both of them hindered in their mobility with a very quick and cheapbo.
Quick on paper, at least. In reality, when fighting enemies of his level, relying on a melee hit wasnt a smart tactic. If they were physically superior to him, it was a bad idea to invest in a Skill that relied on him getting into a fistfight. If they were physically inferior to him, he didnt really need the Skill. If they were about on par, throwing one of his familiars at the problem seemed like the proper way to solve the issue.
Magus Step had four advantages and two drawbacks. Leading with the bad, it had less maximum stacks than Shifting Momentum and didnt have the you gain a stack by spending 1000 manaponent. John liked the ability to spend mana in an emergency and get a quick teleport stack. However, the having no cost bit was definitely an advantage as well. Further was that the stacks didnt fall off and with the cooldown being rtively low, the Gamer would rarely be caught with his proverbial pants down. The range being doubled further helped elevate its usefulness and,stly, changing from John having to see the endpoint of the teleportation to having to perceive it was very interesting. If he paired that up with some Unfound Perks, it could be incredibly powerful.
Cheap Shot wasnt up Johns alley at all, but he acknowledged its usefulness. Essentially, he would get a free, 250 mana spell every time hended a Technique. However, to get use out of that, he would need to get a high amount of Techniques and employ them in his regr battle strategy. He didnt n to do that whatsoever.
Therefore, Magus Step had been the chosen Perk.
Cheap Shot was still out and the same arguments to exclude it applied to Arcane Resonance. That only left Punishment Chain as a possible choice. It wasnt exactly the best Perk ever, but it would have its uses.
The better Mana Chain bes, the more attractive the Possession Modification gets, John had thought at the time. Using that passive of choice, John could cast Possession with any part of his body and even through his Equipment. Casting a shackling spell from the floor was just that much better than doing so from his own palm. It was a good Modification in general, John just kept on the Lover Boy one because it gave him 25GP a day and that was a value in its own. Sadly, the same Perk that allowed him to get several levels worth out of time dtion through Experience of Love didnt apply to those GP rewards.
Oh baby John had thought when seeing those choices. Upgrades are good in this grinding session very, very good. They were so good he had trouble deciding again.
Melding Rays was interesting. Range and damage increasing equal to the amount of parts used was just the baseline that made it usable. The real kicker was thest bit. Direction being dependent on the way the two Arcana Rays intersected allowed a whole bunch of aiming shenanigans. Many of them would be incrediblyplicated and would doubtlessly require many hours of getting used to the trigonometry, but John was certain that he had the Intellect to make proper use of it in all the right andplicated ways. Aside from all of that, it gave him Magicka vibes, which his internal nerd just screamed for.
Immoveable may have been the most underwhelming of the bunch. Few enemies ever tried to throw him. Regardless, it was an incredibly fun idea to put the Strength of even the most powerful people on Earth (and beyond) up against his mana reservoir. Being the immovable object just sounded like an awesome time.
However, it was Chain Arcana that seemed to be the best. At the moment, Unstable Arcana was easily the least used of Johns arcane spells. Its uses were twofold: blocking corridors or dealing damage in tight areas. Adding a Mana Chain into that, even at 50% durability, was hriously powerful. Unstable Arcana pulsed up to twice per second. Bonus damage of the chain aside, this meant the Unstable Arcana would just be throwing out crowd control at an absurd pace. The random targetponent was slightly counterproductive during area damage situations, but the chain was still extra damage. When there was only a single target, they would be bombarded with chains, forcing them to stay in the area and be hit with more and more pulses, stacking more chains.
Presumably, all chains would fall off when the Unstable Arcana despawned, but that was a worthwhile effect regardless. The price increase was actually a discount for the regr Mana Chain. Put all together, there was basically no drawback to picking it and it elevated one of Johns less useful spells to an incredibly powerful crowd control tool.
The Chain Arcana choice made and some grindingter, John went onto Perk seven of the Arcanist ss.
Once more, John had to forego the Melding Rays in favour of the Unstable Arcana rted choice. Every thirty seconds was pretty high for a cooldown, but it was a free damage pulse and a free Mana Chain. Shackling people to John wasnt all that useful, but shackling people to the Mand Sphere was pretty damn good. The only drawback John could identify was that it could reveal who the double was, but given the toggleable state of the ability, that drawback could be avoided.
Immoveable was still categorized as meh, making the choice incredibly easy between the remaining two. This was because, frankly put, Steady Pulses was hot garbage C at least right now. As John had already noted and, between Perk acquisitions, confirmed: the Mana Chains spawned by Unstable Arcana despawned when the sphere throwing them out was used up and fizzled out. Doubling the speed at which the Unstable Arcana depleted itself would drastically increase its damage per second but it would also decrease its utility. Further Perks or Johns mana ramping up to a level where he could throw out absurdly powerful Unstable Arcanas regrly might alleviate this drawback. What it also did was reduce the Companion Arcana cooldown from 30 to 15 seconds. That was admittedly powerful, but not powerful enough for John to resist the call of Melding Rays.
Using angle calctions and a Magicka-esque death-ray was just too wonderful to pass up on.
Hit with repeating choices, the Gamer picked the most attractive upgrade: Joining Rays. It would be incredibly difficult to control the direction of the outgoing attack with five angles involved, not to mention the mana he would need to burn to keep such an attack active. It arguably had the same drawback as Steady Pulses, in that John couldnt possibly afford to get a lot of use out of it with his current mana. He felt more confident about Arcana Rays power going forwards, however. That and the cool factor justpelled him to pick it.
Interesting John thought and stroked his chin, finally done with all of the Arcanist Challenges and looking at hisst set of choices. Disco Sphere of Death is out, he decided pretty much immediately. Random directions made it unptable, given the thinness of each ray. Even with the maximum of 25 Arcana Rays fracturing out of the Unstable Arcana, John didnt see any guaranteed use from the Perk aside from burning very peculiar patterns into the walls of whatever ce he fought at.
Pulse Ultra sounded hrious and would be an absolute nuke in any swarm situation. Although none of them wouldst beyond the initial impact, each spawned Unstable Arcana would alsounch one Mana Chain. If there was ever an enemy that stood in a sea of cockroaches, this would blow them up in an arcane inferno that would be awe-inspiring to behold. Even with just a couple of enemies, the additional damage created by Pulse Ultra was incredible. It certainly had an immediate use and didnt require John to think any more about his current game n.
Fusing Rays was borderline unusable.
Activating an Arcana Ray cost 1000 mana up front and then 100 mana per second. Therefore, having 10 of them active cost 10000 mana and then another 1000 per second. John currently had an MP bar that could hold about 11000 mana and he regenerated about 34 MP per second. Arcane Ascension, Purgatorys enchantment, was no help in this situation. The way it worked, it would pay either three or five times, depending on the state of Rising Annihtion, Johns maximum mana for one spell. The problem was that each Arcana Ray was its own spell. He couldnt separate that out to make the enchantment finance the Fusing Rays.
It would take immense investments into Intellect and Wisdom to make it possible to use in even niche situations, where he somehow hadnt spent most of his mana on other things.
But that might be a good thing, John thought. Ive been without a clear goal when ites to Stats for a while now. Having something that motivates my decisions and keeps me focused in a certain direction could be valuable. He paused and inspected that line of logic. Thats probably motivated reasoning, he told himself and tried to take a more distant view on the matter.
Did he strictly need either Fusing Rays or Pulse Ultra?
The answer to that was no. Both in single target and area damage, he was currently well served. There was a slight tilt towards powerful area of effect tools, however. Arcana Strike, Unstable Arcana and, counting them as tools for the sake of analysis, Smander, Gnome, Unleashed Undine and Unleashed Stirwin were all fantastic at dealing damage inrge areas. When it came to single targets, Arc Lance, Arcana Ray, Siena and Beatrice were the greatest assets he would reliably have avable inbat. Sylph was hovering somewhere between those categories.
He wasnt underserved in either category, but there was a slight tilt towards one he may want to bnce out.
Was there a reason to dedicate his Stats to make Fusing Rays work? Was there a reason not to?
John assumed that it would take getting both Intellect and Wisdom to 1000 to make Fusing Rays a viable choice in situations it could be taken advantage of. Increasing his mana supply also increased his defences, so he wasnt pressed to increase Endurance in that time. The best use of his health bar, often enough, was to use it to prevent his mana from taking a hit.
Not investing in Strength and Agility would make him fall further behind physically skilled opponents, but that hardly mattered if he could blow them to smithereens. It was alright to be worse than others in some things, unavoidable really, as long as his specialization overpowered those differences.
Investing into Charisma and Libido was a luxury thing anyway. John was already more than charismatic enough to keep his Federation together through words and wit. More helped more, but getting to 500 Charisma wouldnt be a focus anytime in the near future regardless of what else he did.
Getting more mana was always good, no matter whether he used Fusing Rays or not.
Yeah, I think its still a viable choice, John concluded. It might not necessarily be the better one between the two, but its not so bad that its doubtlessly inferior. At least not in the long term.
He made the choice and looked at the three windows that followed.
The Modification turned out to be the same as the Puppeteer one, with the difference being that it allowed the casting of arcane spells, rather than Possession. Despite a greater list of castable spells, John found that to be the worse Modification. No spell came to mind that would be made better by casting it with another part of his body. Only the surprise factor was really worth anything. If he had chosen another path in Arcweaver, it could have been really useful.
The Modification may have been bad, but the Overclock was godlike. Using it would allow him to punch way above his weight, with itsundry list of bonuses and explosive finish ensuring his supremacy. The problem with it was that he had to end the fight in the ten minutes the Overclock gave him and he had to be sure that nothing else wasing afterwards. It left him with no mana to speak of, which meant that all of his offenses and defenses were gone. What he still had were his familiars, because they ran off percentage mana, and Magus Step would still be avable. Thatd allow him to be somewhat secure, defensively, but he would still be incredibly vulnerable. Potentially, he wouldnt even have the mana to keep his contacts Possessed.
It was a fantastic cooldown for desperate situations, but a cooldown for desperate situations regardless.
The choice of new sses was promising, if only because the passive bonuses were powerful as well. Between channelling speed, kic force and arcane damage, John favoured the channelling speed. John knew for sure that he had two spells that would benefit from it, being Arcana Strike and Arc Lance, both of which had a wind-up time. Wonder if it increases the amount of times Arcana Ray deals damage as well, the Gamer thought. It is a channelled spell would that also increase the cost? No, the cost is written as mana per second, not per damage instance. Then again well, I should just ask. Gaia almighty on your couch, John started, his hands meeting in prayer, please bestow upon me the wisdom that I may know if Silver Arcanist increases the cost of any of my spells.
Clouds gathered in the untainted blue sky of Magois Illusion Barrier. White, grey and ck, they appeared out of nowhere, spread out into a carpet and then condensed into three letters. Nah, they read.
Thanks, bootiful goddess.
Youre wee, the clouds spelled out before dissipating.
John hummed and turned back to the window. Passive bonus aside, the question was what he wanted to do with his arcane spells going forwards. Red and purple were different paths towards damage, which was valuable, yes, but not really what John looked for in his spells. More than anything else, John valued reliability. Having spells ready quicker and having Perks that helped with the fluid application sounded right up his alley.
Onest choice, and that ss was done as well.
Chapter 914 – Big Class Grind Finale – Allocating the remaining points
Chapter 914 C Big ss Grind Finale C Allocating the remaining points
Just eight days remaining, John thought and shifted a bit on the floor. Even with the cushion under his knees, the unfamiliarity with his current position did make it somewhat ufortable. And I have 7 more ss Levels to use up. Well, when I get to level 315. He pulled his tongue out of the pussy before him and looked over the quivering midriff and almost t breasts. What do you think I should invest intost?
Scarlett needed a moment to recover, her upper body writhing in the leather armchair. Holding onto her legs, he kept her from squirming around otherwise. He had decided to get some tongue exercise early in the morning and Scarlett had presented herself as a tasty target. Sometimes it was nice to return the oral favours he got continuously from all of his girls. Simrly, fucking the technomancer in a vani way was a nice way to vour their intercourse by itself. Not everything had to be bondage and spanking.
Eyelids still fluttering, hands and slender thighs caressing his head, the redhead quietly moaned, You should invest into my womb, you fucking mega stud. Johns erection became dangerously hard. Scarlett rxed, then suddenly tensed all over. Did I just say that out loud? she asked.
Yes, John kept the answer short and watched Scarlett honour her name by flushing as red as her hair. Unable to control himself, the Gamer let her wallow in uncertainty about his reaction for just a few moments and then asked, Soooooo you are joining the I want to be bred club?
Shut up. Scarlett closed her legs around his neck and squeezed. Get that fucking grin off your face! she demanded, raising her voice while she tried to strangle him with her thighs. All John felt was the satisfaction of their squishiness. If she somehow managed to actually harm him this way, that would be fine. Crushed by thighs would be his preferred way to go anyway. Scarletts were on the thinner end of his harem, but that still put her in the supermodel category. True supermodels, not those anorexic, pretty-faced, well-dressed scarecrows. Get that grin off your face and shut the fuck up!
But are you though? John asked, as best as he could while getting his face squished. Scarlett was incredibly weakpared to him, but she was still above the regr human. Keeping her blood pressure proper was important for a good workflow, had been the initial exnation. Nowadays, she also had a harem and its head to look pretty for.
Maybe?! Scarlett responded, her tone continuing to be uncharacteristically agitated. I hate it. I hate that I dont know. I hate not knowing things about me! She let go of his head and took a deep breath.
John ran a hand over the inside of her thigh and asked, in a calm tone, You want to talk about it? Teasing her any further would have been entertaining, but he got the feeling she was earnestly confused. As a good lover, it was his job to satisfy her urges, point out her weaknesses and listen to her when she felt vulnerable. He had thought this conversation would fall more under the second aspect, but he could switch to the third with no problem. I dont think its an issue if you want children.
But I do, Scarlett returned and crossed her arms. Not with the children bit, I think. Just the sudden presence of the want. Because its a change I dont feel in control of. Biologically speaking, I get what my brain is doing. Im a fertile young woman, right, and so now that I found a worthwhile man, she gestured at him with the overemphasized movement of the ranting, and Im feeling secure and happy, her arm flew around and pointed at the rest of the room and the gathered, silently listening harem in it, plus extremely wealthy, she tapped her own chest, my fucking subconscious is bombarding me with these hey, you should propagate your genes into the next generation thoughts. Your children would have a good survival rate, best do it now! Its the base instinct.
And that bothers you because you want your will to be stronger than your urges, John summarised.
Yes, that. Scarlett rubbed her face. It started with some maybe I should just be a bit more girly for this guy I love thoughts, that I was all fine with. Then I kept thinking if I maybe wanted kids, which I never even considered before I met you. Who the fuck has time for kids when I have an economy to run? Her hands ran through her hair. Then I was seriously considering kids and now I just identally blurt out shit lines like that. She went still for a second, let out a very slow exhale. I suddenly understand why some women poke holes into condoms and thats just never where I thought I would go with my brilliance. nning how to do something like that and how you wouldnt catch it.
If only he used condoms Eliza mumbled in the background.
Do you want me to try and give you advice or do you want to keep thinking about it? John asked, genuinely not sure. When he ranted, it wasnt often something he actually wanted an opinion on. Rather, it was to get a topic off his chest.
Ill keep thinking about it, Scarlett told him and crossed her arms. Its my problem its not even a problem, its just unpleasant and Ill have to figure out how I deal with the fact that I change because of things outside of my control. She rubbed his back with her heel, an idle gesture that was neither pleasant nor bothersome. I dont like being reminded that I dont get to choose all that I am. She raised one hand to her head and twirled a strand of her red hair. Womanly bullshit.
Growing older sure is an experience, John agreed with a sigh. Want me to fuck some of that stress out of you?
By Gaia, yes, Scarlett sighed and John got in front of her. Taking both of her hands, locking her fingers with his, he nailed her down on the armchair. The position was a bit awkward, but nothing he couldnt deal with. The harem returned to regr chatter among themselves. A few of them looked thoughtful though. Some or all of what Scarlett had said must have struck a chord.
The girls of the harem were all going through the same experiences when it came to wealth, love and safety. John himself had been getting considerably more interested in getting kids as the months ticked by, to the point where the idea of impregnating any of them had be a bit of a fetish. The want for children was simply part of the human condition. How they would integrate that desire into their individual characters and the group dynamic remained to be seen. John wasnt worried though. They were honest with each other and would find some solution, should a problem ever arise.
Worst case, Ill just put a baby in any girl who wants it, John thought and had to scold himself on how carefree he was with that idea.
_____________________________________________________________________________
After checking thrice that his fertility was still toggled off and cumming inside each girl at least four times, the Gamer went outside. It had been a pretty basic orgy. No gimmicks, no ropes and no choking C even the spanking had been kept moderate. Between all of the moaning, they had alsoe to an agreement of what John should spend the remaining ss Levels on.
It was to be Arcweaver. With the remaining ss Levels, John could max it out and then still have one remaining that he would consequently invest into Unfound. The idea behind those choices was to increase his personal power further and then get proficient enough in Unfound that he could use Magus Step to teleport through walls.
Arcweaver Challenges turned out to be both demanding and quickly done,pared to the other sses he had levelled in the past two weeks. It still took him about seventy hours in total, which tranted to four days of work with barely any breaks and only the minimum amount of sleep, but he managed to get through all of them and he got the Unfound Perk at the side. Since he hadnt had any doubt he would get to 315 at the time, he had started with that Perk.
Beginner Aura Reading was still alright. Acute Aura Perception could have its uses, but in a world where he had Observe and its Revealponent, it didnt really serve him. Filtered Perception was interesting from a design point of view, but John couldnt think of any practical application that was both likely and useful. At best it would inform him that he shouldnt smash someone through a wall in real space because a mundane person might stand on the other side. Fighting in the real world was nothing he ever nned to do. Gaias Ire was way too threatening to mess with.
By process of elimination, he picked Beginner Aura Reading.
Its Spellrip, John had thought when seeing that Perk for the first time, definitely Spellrip. Mana Chain Strike was a repeat and still not good enough to take. Shackle was a bit more interesting, but required set-up. Spellrip was just a handy tool to have.
John wasnt a big fan of any of these, but he knew that Shackle was out first. Between Disengagement st and Repositioning, John couldnt make a clear choice immediately. Both were highly situational in their usage. Without the cooldown, he would have taken Disengagement st in a heartbeat. With it, the two Perks seemed about on par in regards to what they achieved. Both existed to give him escape opportunities. Disengagement st would do so reliably, since he didnt have to hit anything. It did have the drawback that it was incredibly dependent on enemy action, however.
Because of that, John favoured Repositioning. Sure, he only had two Techniques at the moment (the basic ones that had been unlocked when he learned Active Aura) and, sure,nding them was far from guaranteed, but at least he could be proactive with it. Magus Step was also useful in more ways than just escaping from melee range and, between Martial Artist and Arcweaver, he could still get more Techniques to help him.
The sixth Perk of the Arcweaver ss had presented John with a mix of moderately powerful choices. Remnant Strike/Kick added two more Techniques to his arsenal, which was valuable because of the previous Perk and because they acted as a resource effectiveness multiplier, if he got to use them. Shadow of Arcana was situational, but could be pretty potent during desperate gambits. Higher Stats and an extra stack on the teleport were nothing to sniff at. Although, John had to say that the extra stack wasnt that useful, because the cooldown of Magus Step regenerated one stack at a time. The individual stacks didnt each have their own cooldown.
In a situation where he teleported around a lot, the difference between having two and three stacks would be pretty unnoticeable. It was only important that he had more than one, so he didnt have a wasted second during which no cooldown was running.
Arcane Resistance 6, while boring, was potent. Any t damage reduction was good and there was a funny mathematical thing where further decreases got more valuable despite shaving the same t amount from the total sum. The first 10% resistance against 100 damage reduced the amount of damage received by 10, from 100 to 90, which tranted to a 10% damage decrease. Going from 50% to 60% resistance against 100 damage reduced the damage received by 10, from 50 to 40, which tranted to a 20% damage decrease.
Things like that were why John loved to stack cost reductions in strategy games. It had exponentially hrious effects.
As potent as it was, John found that he very rarely ran into people who specialized in arcane magic, and with Arcane Resistance 5 and his own ability in the field, he decided that it would be a useless Perk. Shadow of Arcana was just a bit too situational. Therefore, he picked Remnant Strike/Kick, both because it seemed the best by process of elimination and because it resonated well with the Perk picked prior.
Either his previous choice had been wise beyond the moment or this set of Perks had been generated in response to it. Given the way the system worked, thetter was more likely.
Arcane Shard could, theoretically, cause an incredible damagebo. Using a spell that hit a high number of times for small damage and then hitting a Remnant Technique could annihte someone. Like all wombobos, ensuring its execution required a particr set of circumstances and John wasnt sure he could bring them about. To start with, he, currently, didnt have a way to reliably stack a lot of Arcane Shards. Then he wasnt certain about his ability to hit someone. He could probably assure a hit with Mana Chains, but why would he go for a risky melee attack in such a situation if he could just st their heads off with a well-ced Arc Lance?
Of course, all of that was true for the other two Perks as well. The difference was that both Arcane Rejuvenation and Arcane Gathering were much better in defensive situations. Landing a punch could give him the momentum he needed to get out of a sticky situation, which was better than relying on it for extra damage. Since John had very few Skills that had a cooldown, Arcane Rejuvenation seemed like the much better choice.
This was an easy choice. st Ray was clearly the best one among the three, even if it wasnt that great overall and John felt that it was pretty weak for an eighth Perk.
Scorched Earth suffered from being incredibly powerful in a situation in which he had, most likely, already won. John wasnt about to start every fight with Arcana Strike, devastating the environment and spending his entire mana bar, just to get a 300% MP Reg increase that wouldnt return the initial cost. Aside from being highly impractical, John had the ethical concern of not wanting to leave everything he conquered in ruins and killing most people.
Magus Body was just bad. Terribly bad. It was only of use when John deactivated Particle Skin and didnt cast any other spells whatsoever. He couldnt even send mana to his elementals. Why he would ever do that was a mystery. Giving it to Undine or even Gnome was guaranteed to give him back more HP than this.
Therefore, it was st Ray. Not fantastic, but it could have its uses. Especially if he couldbine it with Fusing Rays to explosive effects.
As if to reimburse him, the ninth set of Perks had been incredibly strong. Unmistakables value was difficult to put into mathematical terms, but it could spare John a lot of hassle by making the conveying of his emotions so strong, that it was impossible to ignore or even make people pass out. Untouchable was less exciting and doubtlessly the weakest of the three. Revenge mechanics were incredibly potent on tank builds, but he wasnt one. Uncatchable may not have been that useful in the middle or towards the end of a fight, where he was working off teleportation cooldowns as they came in, but at the start it was an incredible tool to have.
Teleporting five times meant he could cross a hundred metres at the speed of five thoughts. If he did it properly, he could even weave Skittersteps in there. He would be, as the name rightfully implied, Uncatchable.
As much as Unmistakable intrigued him, Uncatchable had been the best choice here, in Johns opinion. Which led to the final Perk of the Arcweaver ss.
Well, that answers if I would have died if my HP hit 0 in the past, John thought, already certain what he would pick. The ability to not die once a year was just incredible. There was an argument to be made that a situation in which he died and that he then had to face again 30 secondster was more prolonging the inevitable than a proper rescue mechanism, but John was willing to take his chances when it came to not dying.
Looking at what he gave up for it, he also wasnt too sad. Magus Flow was, unquestionably, powerful. Especially with Arcane Rejuvenation already picked. He could empty his mana into a target, be A LOT more powerful in the process and then punch them to get his mana back, empty it again, and so on. It just wasnt his ystyle. Invincibility Frame was a tad harder to give up on. Because the Perk didnt specify that he had to hit anything with Technique, he could just punch the air and evade absurdly powerful attacks that way. The amount of timing that would take, plus his still low count of Techniques, made it less attractive than not dying. Few things were more attractive than not dying. His girls were C not much else.
That was simply alright. A small Stat boost. Something to keep in mind if he ever got an absurd amount of mana for some reason, but nothing else.
That was a pretty modest Overclock, both in terms of its upside and drawback. Operating without Particle Skin was risky, but it wasnt a crippling debuff like the others tended to be. The limited active time of the Overclock also made it difficult to use at the right moment. John didnt see himself using it outside of very specific situations, but that remained true for all Overclock Skills.
John waited several seconds for the ss Maxed window, but nothing ever came. Maybe because its from a Skillbook? he asked himself. Whatever the reason, he wasnt given the choice to evolve it further. Nothing John was sad about, he was already spoiled for choices. There was a vast reservoir of sses he could diversify himself into in the future.
For now, the Big ss Grind was done.
Chapter 915 – Third Raid and the Supreme Deity Plays
Chapter 915 C Third Raid and the Supreme Deity ys
Four days wasnt a lot of time to get anything of note done, at least when it came to the options John had to spend the remaining time. For pure levelling, there were the tried and tested Assaults. Difficult as they were, Raids presented the greatest rewards. Engaging in an Adventure could be a worthwhile endeavour, but that would only be clear once they went in there.
Because they were curious, the entire party agreed quickly to check out the Raid and the Adventure, before letting John go to do his usual five to six-hour long Assault sessions.
John whistled as he looked at the scenery around him. They were standing on a t stone rooftop and the city sprawled out around them. It wasnt bustling with activity, although quite a few things were moving. The streets were empty, save for a few patrolling machines that seemed to be a fusion of stone and magic, their beige colour entuated by an arcane glow. For all of the spires and hovering pieces of architecture, John spied very little in terms of people moving about. It very much had the feeling of a set piece, rather than a real ce. Given what Raids were, that made enough sense. Why would Gaia simte beings beyond what he needed to fight? That was just unnecessary work on her part.
As impressive as the architecture might have been, what John found truly impressive was the arrangement of it all. The pop-up had said twisted, but the way the city encircled their position seemed incredibly orderly. They were in a bowl, or something like it, the buildings further away rising up and up, blocking the horizon.
John looked around the rooftop. A single path, down a flight of stairs the Romans would have blushed at for its extravagant design, led them downwards to a walkway attached to the side of a cathedral-like building. John could already see the first group of enemies standing there. Enchanted armours, two and a half metres tall, forged from a silver metal and sparkling in the sunlight. There were five of them, each with a different armament. A bow, a staff, a sword and shield, an axe, and, finally, one that had no weapons but an extra pair of arms instead. They just stood there, about a hundred metres away, and watched, blue mana flickering inside their empty helmets instead of eyes.
Interesting, John thought, after reading through the Observe window. It was pretty light on what to expectbat wise, but a little bit of information about history was always appreciated. I wonder if the Great Sultanate used the early jihads as a cover to bring its own troops in or if it started that series of wars itself Fascinating either way.
So, do we stand a chance? Rave asked.
We might, Johns answer came slow.
Ya dont sound all that certain.
Because Im not. Theyre level 325, which is only 25 up from the Sicklemen but there are five of them and I wouldnt be surprised if that, John pointed at the Ohmior Knight with the staff, is a healer. If we try it, well have to start with nuking him.
Orrrrrr, Sylph chimed in, we could just fly on past them, right on by them, just gonna do this and WOAAAAAAAAHHH! The arcvolt elemental hovered a little bit past the rooftop and was shot at by a whole volley of energy spears that reminded John a lot of his Arc Lance. They missed her narrowly and Sylph zapped over to John to cuddle him for safety. The city is shooting at me! Bad city! Very, very bad city!
Yeah, no flight gimmicks this time around, Smander remarked, carefully hovering around. It was all fine while she was close to the designated walkways, but once she went a couple metres past the edge, the next volley came flying.
That makes things more difficult Sylph, could you test for me how far up you can go?
Sure thing, Johnny, Sylph chirped and began her slow ascent. One metre, two metres, five metres, ten metres, then a sh of arcane discharges across the spires and machines below. Two dozen Arc Lances flew through the air where she had just been, the arcvolt elemental storming back down to regr heights the moment she saw somethinging her way. Not that, cant go high at all, she reported, saluting just for the fun of it.
John rubbed his chin. With her speed, Sylph might be able to go up regardless, but it would drastically reduce herbat effectiveness if she had to concentrate on dodging. At the very least, none of us can be carried anywhere, the Gamer thought, and its probably a bad idea to venture off the nned path, if we get bombarded this way. Pretty gamey way to keep us railroaded, but I can dig it.
Any further information that may be best acquired in advance? Lydia demanded to know.
Nothing I can think of right now, the Gamer admitted and looked at what would be the arena of their first fight. It was pretty in. A smooth cathedral wall to the right and balcony railing to the left, in between just a stone-covered walkway. The only gimmick that could be pulled off in such a situation was to throw one of the enemies off the tform. With simrly tall buildings nearby, John wasnt sure if that was even a worthwhile endeavour. The enemies could just climb back up. Better to keep to the right rise and make sure they werent the one to be thrown off instead, given the hostile machines around.
There was the entrance to the cathedral itself, a doorless arch, but John expected more enemies to be inside. It was generally ill advised to pull enemies deeper into uncharted territory.
Metra, I want you to take on the one with the four arms or the one with the shield, John told the First of Wrath. Ill cast the first spell in such a way that it wont hit him. Then its your job to get his attention and pull him somewhere where you can duel him.
Yes, my king.
Nia, I want you to try and iste one of them and keep that Ohmior Knight inactive for as long as you can. If there is no way for you to do it, attack the one with the staff instead.
Understood, Nia said, manifesting her visor and her weapons.
Everyone else, well just fight. Aclysia, Gnome, youll try to distract their frontline. Our target priority is staff, bow, whoever Nia is fighting, whoever Metra is not fighting and then whoever Metra is fighting. Jane, you should charge your finishing move from the start. Gnome, Smander, Stirwin, if its too difficult for Gnome alone to hold her own against one enemy, I want you to Combine into Smlere. He got confirmations all around. Alright, once you see the first Unstable Arcana pulse, were ready to go. Remember to stay clear of Metras target.
With that final warning, John turned to the Ohmior Knights and started walking. There was no reaction until he walked down the steps of the spawning tform. They brandished their weapons, a purple glow engulfing them, manifesting into an arrow in the bows case. John continued walking, getting closer and waiting for the attack.
Theyre remarkably reluctant to attack, John thought, then he was fifty metres from his target.
Two-thousand mana vanished, manifesting as a sphere of silver at the target. The Unstable Arcana immediately pulsed for the first time. A wave of sparkling energy washed over the polished foes. Enemy and spell had simr colours, but the arcane energy burned over their surface regardless. ced in the middle between them, the first pulse hit bow, staff, shield and axe-wielder at the same time.
Crouching down, the Ohmior Knight with sword and shield got ready to charge forwards. It had barely raised its foot when a thorn-covered chainunched from the handball-sized Unstable Arcana and mmed into its back. The spiked tip failed to prate the armour, buttched on with a magical force, as if attached through maism.
Pulling against the Mana Chain, the Ohmior Knight managed to shatter it only after two more damage pulses washed over it. The second chain wasunched at the bowman, while the thirdtched onto the soldier again, further hindering its attempt to take the battle to the frontline.
Pretty lucky there, John thought, while axe-wielder and four-armed Ohmior Knight charged forwards unobstructed. Rather than engage with that, John turned heel and ran. They caught up with him in a matter of seconds, but with Magus Step and the invisibility of Skitterstep, John brought enough distance between them that Metra could jump in. Literally, in this case.
A streak of grey armour, prismatic light and the ecstatic shredding of Rex Magnars brutal guitar sounds, Metra mmed knee-first into the four-armed Ohmior Knight. The impact drove it back a few metres, then it hit Metra with a hammer fist. Taking the attack, the First of Wrath managed tond on her feet. The dull grey of Astrotium shaped into the spiked, segmented armour of the Breaker of Armies made her seem like the viin in this situation. Artificial Spirits with eyes of glowing magic, green and blue, met in a sh of superhuman power. The earth trembled, as halberd and fists shed. Rex Magnar could cut through greater materials, but the amount of mana Gaia had pumped into these monsters made them harder even than regr Mithril.
Other parts of the battlefield were in steady motion. The axe-wielder continued to run after John, only to be confronted by Aclysia. An overhead swing of the two-handed, single-ded weapon shed with Tiemarath. The weaponized maid budged under the attack, immediately being forced to her knees. This was all the gathered Harem Party needed to witness to adjust their strategy to the enemies strength.
John tossed Stiriwin at Gnome, who ran past him. Smander flew down. All three elementals met at one spot, their forms blurring and their essences unifying. Smlere burst out, surrounded by incandescent, golden light.
The volcano elemental had a voluptuous body, abination of Gnomes bnced and Smanders abundant curves. Aside from her curves, she was harder than both of them, heavy on the Amazonian and muscr appearance, rivalling Metra in those aspects. She also shared the light brown skin of the First of Wrath, but that was where the simrities ended. Her eyes were brown, the sclera a crimson red and her braided hair had the aesthetic of avake, ck and glowing red, orange and gold. Her yellow dress was covered in ded tes, the skirt of it fluttering as she stormed at the soldier Ohmior Knight.
The three enemies at the backline had started to back away from the Unstable Arcana. Whether they just wanted to escape from the damage or if the constant Mana Chain spawns annoyed them, they had figured out that being next to it was a bad idea. Smlere prevented at least her target from sessfully repositioning, tackling them back into range and letting another damage pulse hit their target. The bowman tried to help itsrade, but before it could aim its bow, a damage pulse from somewhere else hit its shoulder.
The Mand Sphere spawned its first Mana Chain automatically and then emptied all of its Mana Storage, four-thousand points strong, into two spells. One was a second Unstable Arcana, on the other side of the Ohmior Knight, the other was a set of four additional, manually cast Mana Chains. All five of themtched onto the Ohmior Knights right arm.
Ill help here! Lydia and Rave eximed at the same time,unching their attacks at the axe-wielder. Clenched fist and rapier tip collided with the shoulders of the golem. One ruined the bnce enough that Aclysia could escape from under the attack, the other punched a hole into the armour. Strimata sang a cheery tune that didnt fit into the atmosphere of the battle whatsoever.
Ill leave it to both of you! John quickly eximed signalling that he wanted the two of them to continue helping Aclysia. He, Beatrice, Siena, Sylph and Nia broke through to the backline. As he left and the two human girls were shaken off by the axe-wielder, a golden glow engulfed that Ohmior Knight, melding the hole in its shoulder. And that confirms the healer.
Using its bow like a ive, the bowman smashed the five chains on its right arm and then quickly tore through the less sturdy ones that hadtched onto its other side. Just as another damage pulse was about to hit it, it stepped out of the damage radius of the Unstable Arcana. At the same time, the one that John had spawned originally fizzled out and with it the cascade of silver chains that hadtched onto Smleres enemy.
The soldiers shield mmed into the volcano elementals side, catapulting her against the wall. With the Endurance of a Combination, she took the attack, managed to collide feet first with the wall, and jumped right back at the Ohmior Knight as the rest of the party passed them.
An arrow of arcane energy came flying for Johns head. It was erased from existence, as it was sliced apart by Nias de. The pariahs aura intensified suddenly, just as it had intensified when she had intimidated the Sicklebrood Matriarch. Of an evidently higher intelligence, the bowman only hesitated for a moment, before hurling his solid-metal fist at Nia. The pariah dodged, by teleporting a metre backwards.
That throws a wrench in things, John thought. Nia, we switch targets! he announced. The pariah teleported again, appearing among the other girls who were charging at the staff-wielder. The bowmen quickly pulled at the string.
John used Magus Step to get into range, then used a st Ray to throw the bowmans aim off. The arrow was loosed and uselessly exploded on the fa?ade of the cathedral. With a metallic ringing sound that seemed to signal annoyance, the Ohmior Knight turned to John. The Gamer and his Mand Sphere lost no time, throwing several more Mana Chains at the enemy.
It was useless to focus on damaging his opponent while the healer was still alive. Buying time, eliminating them one by one, and building a cascading advantage was much better. Especially since John was certain enough he couldnt nuke this target by himself.
The Mana Chains did their job and, to that point, everything had gone wonderful. The technical execution and their teamwork were as true as ever.
Siena, Nia, Sylph and Beatrice, all four of them shed with a magical barrier that kept them from properly attacking the healing Ohmior Knight. Nia teleported through,nded a few sessful blows, only to be forced back again. Specialized for healing or not, the golem still had massive physical power, and on her own the pariah was in danger of being one-shot. Between the barrier and fending off Nia, there was no healing to be had.
They also didnt finish off the healer, however.
Its our loss, John realized as soon as he saw the stalemate manifesting. He tried desperately to avert it, but they were simply the losing party in a gridlocked situation. First, he ran out of the mana necessary to immobilize the bowman. Next, Smlere split into her parts. Aclysias HP began to run low.
They had a short window of opportunity when Rave used her Babel Phrase to blow apart the torso of the axe-wielder. At that point, the healer stopped blocking everything for ten seconds andpletely mended the wounds of that target. That would have allowed the group to deal quite a bit of damage, if the bowman and the soldier still had been under the pressure necessary to allow people to pile on one target.
They wiped.
Chapter 916 – Among Them 1 – Gaia’s entertainment
Chapter 916 C Among Them 1 C Gaias entertainment
John sighed and looked at the sky. Having just been imed by Fateweaving, he was lying back in the intermediary barrier, his HP nearly depleted. Since Gamers Body prevented that from being a debilitating issue, Undine was prioritizing fixing up those girls that had visible injuries. Fateweaving pulled away from the moment of death, but previous injuries were still maintained while they remained inside the Illusion Barrier.
I suppose knowing that Fateweaving triggers before my Second Wind is valuable information, he thought and sat up. Undine had split to tend to everyone at the same time and Johns mana regeneration aided her in that task. Once they were stitched back together, the harem discussed what to do next.
So, we trying that again? Rave asked the most important question upfront.
Hmm John crossed his arms and finalized his thoughts. He had considered the question while waiting and had a definitive answer ready. No, lets not, he said. We probably could beat that first mob pack if we tried a couple more times. I dont think thats an effective way to spend our time though. I doubt quite a bit that the rest of the Raid is going to be any easier, so lets revisit this during the next grinding session.
So ya gonna go Assaulting now?
Lets check out the Adventure first, John responded. We can check that out quickly, might be worth the detour. Plus, we might be able to take Eliza and Scarlett along. He got on his feet and pulled Rave up after him. But if that fails, its just Assault grinding, yeah.
_____________________________________________________________________
John scratched his head and looked over all of that. Then he looked around. They were inside a space station of some description. Everything had that sci-fi gleam to it, stic and polished metal being the dominant materials. There was a fair bit of charm to the furniture though, couches, wooden shelves and potted nts standing around everywhere. There were two gates, sealed by interlocking tes of metal. Evidently, they werent supposed to learn about the environment ahead of time. As for the button the rules mentioned, it was aicallyrge red one at the centre of a white conference table.
Circr windows of varying sizes let the group look outside. The vastness of the universe expanded beyond the ss, ck and covered with stars. Despite this, John and everyone else walked around as if this was earth.
To some, this was an odd experience.
I cant fly, I cant fly? I cant fly! Sylph bbered while hopping on the spot. Thats weird. I mean, I walked around normally before, but I could always fly if I wanted to. Would have been stupid, really stupid, but ya know how it is. Its weird, really weird.
Pretty weird, yeah, Smander agreed.
Unfamiliar to say the least. Siena looked at the shadow she couldnt sink into.
It is very weird, the Gamer agreed, holding his head. All mental connections were dulled to the point he could only sense their presence. By the way the rules were formted, John guessed he wouldnt even be able to feel them die. All of that was necessary to maintain the fairness of the game. Not even the Mand Sphere worked. His contact lenses still did, albeit without all of their enchantments.
Eliza sniffed, blinked and rubbed her ears, mumbling a number of curse words about the weakness of her senses. John could empathize with that as well. His own senses were vastly inferior to hers, but they were still superhuman. Now they were brought down to somewhere in the average human ballpark.
It was an odd experience, but it was also unnerving. Although he believed Gaia that she did this only to ensure the game was fairly yed, it still served as a reminder of her all-epassing power. Just by her willing it, they were demoted to regr people. All work, trials and tribtions amounted to nothing when the supreme deity wanted something.
Finding myself incredibly thankful for that non-involvement policy again the Gamer thought. He had been used and thrown around by many powers above himself. Difficult as it would be, retaliating against the Horned Rat or Romulus was at least possible. There was no defeating the mind that dreamed up reality. Do we want to y a game? John asked. Chances are we cant leave after it starts, but the rewards may be worth it.
My personal opinion on the matter, Lydia said, is that we might as well.
Yes, we should, a deep voice chimed in. Stirwin wagged his tail with anticipation. The crocodile was Unleashed in Stage 2, making him a very impressive, golden-scaled lizard. In terms of size, he was still in the reasonable category, but the long limbs and sharp teeth elevated him above the respect one would give a regr water dragon. A game sounds fun.
It does indeed, Copernicus added. The two light spirits seemed rather eager to engage in a round of deception. John understood that. They were honest by nature, so having a sanctioned way to go and cause some mischief was likely of interest to them.
I say, Sienas sensuous voice cut into the conversation, soft like a midnight ck veil settling on their heads, we need, she practically moaned that word, to y it. The shadow spirit just generally revelled in spreading confusion, so it was no surprise she jumped at the opportunity.
You are aware that you have a lower chance of being Imposter than Crewmate, yeah? John asked.
Im willing to take that risk. Siena grinned.
Regardless of Sienas m-m-murderboner, Gnome stumbled a bit over the embarrassing word (at least she seemed to find it embarrassing), we need to get the Adventure done to open the next one so we might as well?
Well, guess were all on the same page then. John looked around to check for anyst-minute disagreements. Lets y a game. He walked over to therge, metal table in the middle of the room. There was aically big, red button at the centre of it, covered with a ss lid. It was secured on the table on one side with a hinge, letting John lift the cover and then hit the button.
BEEEP!
The rm sound seemed to ring directly in Johns ears as he was suddenly teleported to another position at the table. No matter where in the room they had been previously, the remaining fifteen yers were all conjured to a position along the oval curvature. Copernicus was the only one who was summoned on top of the table, while Stirwin was given a podium to stand on.
John looked up from his window to see everyone else stare at something in the air in front of them. Just to confirm, you all got a Quest that rewards a level and some permanent Stats, yes? he asked.
Yup, Scarlett confirmed. Complete with a do not ruin this warning. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. Lets hope thisll be entertaining.
Siena clicked her tongue.
Alright, Siena is clear then, John thought to himself but kept that information to himself for the moment. There were four Imposters among them and there were a couple of women here that John knew coulde up with plotsplicated enough to smash his own. Worse than that, there were a couple of girls that would be impossible to read.
Imma go, go do my tasky tasks, tasks over in a part of the ship, yes, yes, Ill go there and get done and get this game won by doing my tasks! Sylph dered and started marching away from the table with rigid motions. That would have been incredibly suspicious with other girls. With Sylph that didnt differ at all from her normal behaviour.
Metra mmed the button.
BEEEEP!
Sylph was teleported back to the table. A menu opened before everyone, listing everyone alive and showing a little icon of their face next to it. Above the button hovered a cube, every side of it showing the same number, counting down from sixty. That seemed to be the countdown until they all had to have voted. John also found himself unable to move more than half a step away from his spot at the table.
Lets vote off Beatrice! the First of Wrath dered.
Why? John asked.
Because fuck her, thats why. The blonde berserker grinned from ear to ear. No, but seriously, I want to see what that ejection would look like and I think itd be funny.
Statement: Metra wasted a precious resource for a joke. Alternative exnation: she is trying to make herself look innocent by pulling a stunt early.
So ya saying Metra is sus?
Sus? John asked.
Suspicious but short and sweet.
Ah well, I dont think Beatrice said Metra is suspicious at all. She was just presenting different viewpoints.
As Master wisely presents, Aclysia chimed in, we must weigh the different possibilities.
I vote Beatrice! Sylph dered and hit the menu in front of her.
Fucking same! Eliza shouted.
At least some people have a brain. Metra grinned.
Deration: you have Sylph on your side and you do not possess a centralized nervous system. Talking about intellect is not suiting your side.
I agree with Beatrice, Aclysia remarked.
Stirwin chuckled, You are all insane, no offense.
Maybe we should vote off the crocodile? Copernicus suggested.
How about we vote you off, cat? the infinity elemental returned with a growl.
Undine tilted her head. Why did you instantly deflect?
Before Stirwin coulde up with an answer, Nia chimed in, No using the cute animals.
E-everyone...
Giving Stirwin and Copernicus carte nche will not aid us, Undine responded to the blonde.
You know what? This game is already catering to all my desires, Siena giggled.
S-seriouslyyou ne-need to listen
I still think we should all vote Beatrice.
Response: we should skip.
Aclysia shook her head. No, at this point Metra is making herself too suspicious. I say we vote her out.
Listen to me! Gnome raised her voice loud enough to overpower the chaos for a moment. Whatever you vote for, you need to do it now! Were almost out of time and if you dont vote at all, thats worse than skipping.
John had been so distracted with internally chuckling at the arguments that he had forgotten to check the timer himself. Hastily, he hammered the skip button, barely getting it in at thest second. The countdown finished and everyones icons appeared underneath whoever they had voted.
Most people hadnt voted at all, which meant their votes werent doing anything, but they also didnt counteract the votes someone else had umted. Only John, Gnome and Beatrice had voted to skip. That, as it turned out, was not enough to ovee the votes to eject the passive maid. There were the outspoken three, Eliza, Sylph and Metra. If it had been limited to them, then the tie would have meant that nothing happened. However, Siena and Smander had joined the vote.
A tube lowered down on Beatrice, out of nowhere. Ill be diligently finishing my Tasks, the passive maid said with a bow before being vacuumed out of the room at aically quick speed. Several screens across the room flickered to life, or just appeared in the middle of the air, showing the passive maid tumble through the nothing outside the space station. She was as rigid as a salt pir. That was normal though. She didnt seem to be in pain, despite what the emptiness of space should have done to her.
I guess Gaia is being nice to us for being her private game show, John thought while looking at Metra. He spared himself the question of why this had just happened. The First of Wrath was struggling to breathe, held onto the table as she keptughing. Smander cackled and Siena giggled behind a raised hand. All of it didnt hold a candle to Eliza crazily screaming her glee at the world.
Beatrice was NOT an Imposter! the screen spelled out.
My bad, I guess, Metra managed to say.
Yeah, youre bad, alrighty, Rave drily returned. Note to self: dont forget to press the skip button.
Despite the stupidity of the situation, or maybe entirely because of it, John couldnt help but grin. It wasnt as if they were going to lose anything valuable by ying optimally. They would all get the level, which was the best reward. The one extra Stat Point gotten by staying alive, at their level of power, wasnt worth any feelings of regret.
Well, lets keep that this just happened in mind, he said.
John is happy that someone was voted off, thats sus! Sylph dered.
Kinda is, John admitted. Anyway, we have too little information to work with, so I guess we should just go do our Tasks. Thats the sure-fire way to win the game anyway.
He didnt wait for approval and just moved to get his own stuff done.
Chapter 917 – Among Them 2 – When fishing, use appropriate bait
Chapter 917 C Among Them 2 C When fishing, use appropriate bait
This is pretty fun, John thought while shooting meteors with an obliteration beam. A VR headset let him look through a camera on the cannon, that way he could aim in first-person. His ears were covered as well, only letting him hear repeated pew-pew sounds while he hammered away at the minigame. It reminded John a lot of old-timey arcade games. Simple as it was, the form was fun, so he didnt mind the danger he was in. Im blind and deaf at the moment, I could be killed without knowing. Hell, there could be a corpse with me in the room right now, and I wouldnt know.
He had to resist the urge to take off the headset. It would reset his progress on this Task, plus he had a hitting streak going. The longer he went on without missing, the quicker the gun could reload.
John wasnt sure if the original game had the sameplexity, but he was pretty sure the tasks in it couldnt have taken as long as these did. Neither did he think that this Among Us game had maps asrge as the one they were in.
Using the weapons had been the first item on Johns Task list, but he had actually gone to fix the wires and eject the trash first. The former had been a simple match two minigame, where he had tobine the right cables with the right slots. In the case of thetter, it had been more of a problem-solving thing, where he had to rearrange a bunch of pipes so the trash could be blown out. Both had taken well over fifteen minutes. This current task, he had been hacking away at for about twenty minutes.
He had never gotten bored, but he couldnt imagine a social deduction game where so much of the time was spent away from the conference table. Most likely, Gaia had scaled things to amodate the many ways a reasonable person could behave in. That didnt just affect the length of the Tasks, but also the size of the map. A human could perceive a lot more than aputer screen allowed.
John had stumbled into a few people in that time. Each time had been a tense situation, as he and the other person eyed each other up for the potential death that could ensue at any second. So far, he had gotten away alive every time.
There had also been two Sabotages throughout that time. One had made all of the lights go out, reducing vision, and the other had reduced door opening speed drastically. Both had gotten fixed before John bothered to check where he had to go to help. From his rough estimations, just counting the time from when a Sabotage urred until it was done with, it seemed those emergency Tasks could be done within under five minutes.
John shot thest asteroid swarming around the space station and got a victory screen. Letting go of the controller, remarkably simr to an Xbox one, he pulled off the headset and stretched. Then he turned around on the swivel chair.
He was in a triangr room that waspletely dominated by steel. Steel tes, steel floor, steel railing, steel frames and steel suspension wires. All of it existed to keep a tform hanging securely above a sea of cables, which connected the control station to the gun outside.
There was some safety in Johns current position. He was in one of the few rooms that had no doors, the room was open towards two long corridors that angled away in opposite directions. Theoretically, anyone using those corridors could look down those straight walkways and see that he was there. That would make it an incredibly dangerous position for someone to kill him at.
Sylph emerged a distance down the corridor and looked around. Looking right, then left, towards him, the arcvolt elemental came running and dancing towards him. There was a very outstandingck of clothes on her, making blood rush from Johns brain downstairs. His body reminded him of the general sex deficit he had suffered recently. Not that he needed any excuse to get an erection when looking at one of his gorgeous women.
Master, Master! Especially when she addressed John in his favourite way while she came closer. Hows it going? Is it going well? Its going great for me! Super great!
Im making alright progress, three out of five done, John told her and decided he may as well y a little verbal game with her. There were three ways he saw this going. Either she was an Imposter and would kill him, in which case he was cornered but at least the chances of someone catching her were high, or she was innocent or she was an Imposter and her kill was on cooldown. What Task do you have next?
Sucking your dick! That was not an answer John had expected.
Sucking my dick?
Can I?
John hesitated. His mind was telling him no, but his body, his body was quite clear. you know what, yes. She wouldnt kill me here, right? Its way too risky, he reasoned to himself.
Yay! Master lets me suck his cock, Sylph got on her knees in front of him, as she more or less sang her pvering. Lets me suck his cock, his big, fat, heavy cock. She unzipped his trousers and the full might of his erection pped down on her face. Beautiful, hard cock. The singing was reced with perverted panting. Smells sho good, yes, yes. Those were thest words she said before wrapping her lips around his shaft.
Tightness, wetness and tingling electricity surrounded his cock as she sucked him all the way into her throat. Keeping her lips pressed against the base, she moved her head in circles. John groaned, feeling her slimy, tight throat all around the sensitive parts of his dick. She slid up about halfway, then mmed back down, repeating that over and over again.
Despite the loss of her absurd speed, Sylphs blowjob remained impressively fast. The tip of Johnsrge dick never left her throat. When he came, she embraced his hips tightly and sucked him in as deep as physically possible. His tensing balls emptied wave after wave of cum into the greedy little nymphomaniac. Her own orgasmic moans created vibrations and lustful shocks that heightened the experience.
By the end, John sighed with relief. I didnt know how much I needed that, thanks, Sylph, he said.
Youre wee! Sylph dered. Oh, also, uhh, kinda awkward to say, but, ya know, has to be done and all that. She backed off and tapped the tip of his dick with her index finger. Boop, youre dead.
John felt petrified for half a second. Not out of fear, that wasnt anywhere in the ballpark of emotions he felt in that moment. No, he was simply frozen. Then his body, as it was at the moment, fell over backwards and hit the ground without making a single sound. John looked down on his rigid form, dick out and with a resigned expression.
Yeah, dont know what I expected, he thought and sighed to himself. He had been fished with appropriate bait. While not a genius, even Sylph must have realized that a naked submissive girl, calling him Master and offering a blowjob was nothing John could resist in a normal situation. It would have taken something with higher stakes than a game for him to question that arrangement.
Also, the Sylph chaos factor still applied. For all he knew, she hadnt even nned this. For a nned murder, the ce was still awful.
You can be pretty psychopathic, you know that, you pretty little thing? he asked Sylph, who licked thest drop of his cum from her finger. She looked around, but only to see which way to go next. John reached out to her. His naked, ephemeral arm simply went through her. I guess I really am a ghost now, he thought out loud, while Sylph went back into the corridor she came from.
Since his task was in the same direction, John decided to tag along and see what happened next.
The corridor was long, but Sylph could have still gotten out of the area quickly if she hadnt been dancing about. John kept looking over his shoulder to check the distance. Man, Ive overestimated the ability of normal peoples eyes, he thought. After fifty metres, the body was already hard to recognize as such. The ck of his suit stood out from the metal enough to make someone check, however.
John heard the whispering of well-oiled machinery and a door to his right opened. Hopeful, he turned his head and saw Lydia stand there. The queen didnt know about his presence, but she did see Sylph. Why are you naked? Lydia wanted to know.
Oh, you know, reasons, many reasons, all of which you should understand. Being a fellow horny girl and lover of big John and his big John, you know how nice it is to be naked. Although you wear lingerie most of the time at home. Which is hot by the way, I totally support it! Concubine seal of approval.
Is that so? was all Lydia responded with, looking Sylph up and down. You appear to be rather agitated, in the sexual sense.
I did orgasm a few moments ago, yeah. Was a very nice orgasm, very deep orgasm. Am a horny girl, you know? Very horny, incredibly horny, an hour without orgasms should only ur when Im sleeping I wonder if I could have orgasms while Im sleeping Maybe if I get a vibrator inside me?
For heavens sake please, Lydia, just step out of the doorframe, John begged. The queen wasnt in any danger of dying, the kill cooldown would go on for another 9 minutes or so, but she had to actually discover his body. Once she did, she would spy his body in the distance, go to check and know who was responsible immediately. If Sylphs approach from that direction wasnt enough proof, then the fact that his dick was out and she was wet should have tipped Lydia off.
BEEEP!
NO! John shouted, as he, and everyone else, found themselves around the table.
Oh, YOU think youre fucking frustrated?! Scarlett, as see-through and naked as he was, growled. Ghosts cant smoke, this is bullshit.
Sylph killed me Undine mumbled, her voice a sad,ining song, She just walked up to me and killed me. Sheughed while she did it
Bitch just popped out and said Thanks for killing Bae by the way, not that that was nice, but it was helpful C Boop! and murdered me! Metrained.
Statement: you deserved it, a translucent Beatrice said.
Wait, did literally everyone here die because of Sylph? John asked. In the background,pletely unaware of all of them, the rest of the group was recounting what they had done. A big megaphone sign above Raves head showed that she had called the meeting. Apparently, she had found a body somewhere else.
No, Stirwin killed me, Scarlett rified.
Fucking Aclysia killed me! Eliza shouted.
The same weaponized maid was staring at Johns position in dead silence. She seemed very much unhappy that a fellow Imposter had murdered her Master, but kept her mouth shut.
Alright, so thats where everyone was, Lydia hummed and struck her chin. From the positions on the map, I dont perceive any immediately obvious targets. Yet, we must vote here.
Why? Stirwin asked. We could just skip.
No, we cannot, Lydia stated and narrowed her eyes at the crocodile. Celestial Devourer, I trust too much in your wisdom for you to miss something this obvious.
Im missing nothing thats obvious, the infinity elemental instantly deflected. Are you trying to cast me on me?
Ive said no such thing, Lydia responded, with her eyebrows almost meeting. Albeit I would now, given your odd behaviour.
Uhhh, why cant we skip? Sorry, am dumb, Sylph bbered. Stupid, I mean, Im not dumb. Im very talky. Very, very talky.
We are at ten people still alive, four of which are Imposters. We need to vote off someone right now, or they win with two more kills.
Ja, thatd be boring I say Nia and Stirwin are sus, Rave let everyone know. I say that cause
What did I do that was suspicious? I think casting me like this is incredibly suspicious! Stirwin intervened.
Cause of that, Rave said. Pure gut-feeling, gold scales, but youre behaving super sus. Also, Nia kept following me and Cappy around the entire game and didnt do a single task.
I just want to pet him, Nia defended herself with not a drop of emotion in her voice.
I believe ya dont wanna kill him and because we stick together, ya cant kill me either.
A true Nia would get her Tasks done as effectively as possible and return to petting once she has her obligations fulfilled, Lydia argued.
I would get them done in just the right amount of time, Nia disagreed. Like I came to the tournament at just the right time.
How would ya know ya can get them done in time if ya didnt do a single one? Rave asked. Ya did at least know when the tournament started.
I just do, Nia decided.
Were running short on time, Siena reminded everyone. I say we vote Stirwin first.
How about we vote you first?! the crocodile responded, his voice cracking. John didnt even know the magical crocodiles voice could crack.
Youre embarrassingly inept at lying, the moonshade elemental stated and hit the button. The rest of the crew followed suit. Stirwin ended up with eight votes. Only his own vote and that of Nia went elsewhere.
The giant tube came down from the ceiling again, sucking Stirwin out into the coldness of space. There was something humoristic about watching a crocodile as golden as the sun tumble through the nothingness. Chucklefucks, the ghost of Stirwin cursed, as he spawned at the table.
Chuckle my ass, you cigarette denying lizard! Scarlett cussed him out.
I was merely concerned about your health.
Im going to divert industrial sewage into the Hudson after I get out of here.
You would do to my waters what you do to your lungs?
I need my nicotine, Scarlett grumbled.
Scarlett, when we have some time, Ill make you quit smoking, John announced.
I stopped for a month before, I can quit whenever the fuck I want, the technomancer crossed her arms.
Then you shouldnt have an issue stopping forever, he returned. Dont worry, Ill make it worth your while.
Whatever you say Scarlett sighed.
Chapter 918 – Among Them Finale – Emergency!
Chapter 918 C Among Them Finale C Emergency!
Tasks, Tasks, I will do my Tasks! the murderous breeze dered and started to walk towards the door.
Wait just a moment, Lydia dered and John had the tiniest hope there would be an usation. It was fulfilled, but not in the way he thought. Nia, what is your next task?
There was silence for a long while.
Then sirens went off. John saw nothing change, but from the way everyone behaved, it seemed the lights had just gone out. The Gamer looked over to Stirwin, who seemed to dismiss a window. Did you just do that? John asked.
I might be an awful liar, but I know how to help, Stirwin responded.
So, how does that work? John was more interested in the technical aspect of things. You just open a menu and press a button?
Essentially, yes. You can only do the same Sabotage once per game per person though, Stirwin confirmed. And only one Sabotage per round. I would demonstrate, but we cant see each others windows. Plus, I just did it.
Seems like we gotta go deal with that now, Rave remarked.
Nia, Rave, Copernicus, I want you to apany me to that Task, Lydia dered. If Nia kills me, you can report it and throw her out immediately.
Sure thing, princess, Rave said and the four of them moved out. Imma trust ya to not double kill us.
Huh, they could lose right here, John thought out loud. Lydias earlier point on getting rid of Imposters was still valid. They were 3 Imposters, 6 Crewmate now, which meant the game was over if all Imposters got a kill this round.
Whether or not all of them realized that and got to do it was a whole different question. If John understood correctly, the Imposters would have a five-minute cooldown before they could do their first kill of the round.
I would trust Aclysia and Nia to have the necessary coordination to pull this off, John thought just as the weaponized maid talked.
I will do my Tasks, she dered in a hard tone.
You sound pretty annoyed, Aclysia, Siena hummed. Anything wrong?
My John is dead. Ill need a distraction.
Ooooohhh, your Master is dead, that is sad, Siena giggled while the weaponized maid turned her murderous gaze on her. Let us go then, Ill keep youpany, while we do our Tasks.
That was a suicidal y, but not necessarily a bad one. If Siena died, Smander would know who it was and Sylph had to either admit to it or cast me on herself as well. Unless Aclysia and Sylph managed to coordinate their lies. A doubtful circumstance, to say the least.
Aclysia left and Siena was right behind her. I suppose Siena could also see if Aclysia even heads to any specific Task, but my Aclysia is pretty good at moving around with purpose.
So, what are we doing? Are we going somewhere? Where did wee from? Where did we go? Where did wee from, cotton head Sally?
First off, its a buzz cut, and I like it, the, currently, very short-haired apocalypse elemental responded. Second off, wee from the elemental nes. Smander walked around the conference table. Third off, you dont get to call me a cotton head, you fucking airhead. She nted her plump red butt on the table. Fourth off, Im staying right here to hit the button the moment they get done. Sheid down on the table. Fifth off, why is there a we all of a sudden?
Weeeeeeeeee, was Sylphs answer, as she jumped on top of Smander.
Oooof, Smander made the sound out of reflex. Having sapient airnd on top of sapient fire wasnt exactly going to knock the breath out of thetter. Whats that about?!
Cuddles, its all about cuddles, Sylph informed her fellow Tier 5 elemental. Settling on top of Smander, their size differences were emphasized to an extreme degree. Their hips were at about the same point, Sylph straddling one of Smanders thighs. While the circumference of their legs and width of their hips alone was quite a way to show just how much smaller Sylph was, the fact that she could press her face into the massive red cleavage was a bit more telling. Greedily and shamelessly, Sylph kneaded the massive funbags.
This would have been a bit more difficult if Smanders me bra was still in the way. It wouldnt have burned her, especially not in the current environment, but it would still have been in the way. Sometime during Sylphsnding, the mes had disappeared, leaving the two of them equally naked. Can you be not horny for five minutes?
Nope! Sylph dered, grinding along Smanders legs. Not when youre so beautiful, Sally. Cant not be horny around you. Enveloping her head by squishing the apocalypse elementals boobs against it, she bbered, Also these are sooooo much fun!
Smander sighed and grabbed Sylphs chin. Im not going to let you distract me with sex. For all I know youre an Imposter buying time until your kill cooldown is up. Only a moron would fall for that. John felt slightly attacked when he heard that. Im pressing that button when the rm bells are off.
Can I at least eat you out? Sylph wanted to know.
No.
Suck on your delicious red nips?
No.
Keep kneading your tits?
Fine.
Kiss you?
Only if you finally tell me why youre staying here, Smander said and squished her cheeks, contorting Sylphs face into a stupid shape. You didnt answer me.
Everyone was like heyyyy, were moving in groups, so I was like I dont want to be alone, whos still avable? Oh hey, its Sally! My favourite sister Sally! so I thought imma stay with you.
Youre really buttering me up at the moment. Smander grinned. Come here, you chatterbag. Reaching down, the much taller woman grabbed Sylphs ass and pulled her upwards. The two of them engaged in a deep and loving kiss. The wind spirits hands even let go of Smanders breasts to embrace her fellow elemental properly.
John was following the whole thing with only a modicum of sexual excitement. Its not the same if they dont know Im watching, he thought and scratched the back of his head. He didnt get off on seeing things he wasnt supposed to. Not that these two would have minded if he saw their intimate moment. God, theyre cute Im so lucky to have them and all of these other women. He had a random moment of thankfulness for his life. As far as he was concerned, he should get them daily. Whenever he stopped, he would start taking things for granted that really shouldnt be. The chain of miracles needed to get a harem this size and this internally loving was improbable beyond belief. Only his Gamer powers made it even eptable to entertain the possibility.
SHES A FUCKING MURDERER, SALAMANDER YOU DUMB FIRECROTCH CUNT! Eliza screamed and kicked the kissing pair with her ephemeral feet. STOP STICKING YOUR TONGUE INTO HER THROAT AND STRANGLE HER!
I think sticking your tongue into someones throat would have about the same effect as strangling them, Scarlett pointed out.
Shouldnt you all be doing Tasks? Stirwin asked.
Tasks take a bit longer than I think well have, John responded. Unless Smander gets booped, wed just get there, shed push the button, and we would be yeeted out of it.
Just as John said that, the rm lights went off. Smander managed to free herself of Sylph for long enough to lift the ss lid and push the button.
BEEEP!
Lydia looked around. Ites to my attention that we now have two naked, wet elementals at this table.
You try not to get dripping when that sexy little thunderstorm grinds against your thigh, Smander returned.
Hihihihi, Sally called me sexy. Swaying happily where she stood, Sylph didnt contribute anything to the following discussion.
A good call by you to press the button before the kill cooldown came off.
Just because Im a hothead doesnt mean Im fucking stupid. The apocalypse elemental grinned. Anyway, were voting Nia, right? We have to get rid of someone to get out of immediate kill range and she seems the most suspicious.
The most sus, ja, Rave agreed.
Copernicus sighed, I dont like killing my source of scratches, but it appears to be a necessary decision.
Thats four, we need one more vote to make it a clear-cut case, Lydia said.
Ill vote with you, Aclysia said.
Same, Gnome agreed.
I love how this game makes everyone turn on each other, Siena grinned.
Huh, sorry, I was thinking about Smanders big boobies, Sylph snapped back into the discussion. We voting for Nia? Aww, thats sad. Oh well, Ill do it, Ill do it.
All the votes but Nias were cast and so the entire table looked to her expectantly. The pariah, in the meantime, just stood there. John could practically feel her efforts at finding an adequate response. Her expression was the facial equivalent of tabbing out of an online discussion to research studies supporting ones own position. She remained voiceless until the time was up and she was sucked out of the ship.
John could swear she still had the same expression when her body tumbled through space. Nia was an Imposter, the screen disyed.
Two to six now, Rave said, looking good and I trust Cappy.
I was under the impression you trusted me as well? Lydia asked with a raised eyebrow.
I trusted ya in that round, cause ya were looking to prove something. Might be thought that ya were throwing Nia under the bus because she was so sus and ya did it in an borate fashion so ya look like a good Crewmate. Rave grinned. Youre one of the people here who would pull a scheme stunt like that.
I admit I feel ttered rather than attacked by that assessment, Lydia stated, folding her hands behind her back. I will now attend my Tasks, if you wish to apany me, then that seems in our interest.
Ille along with you, Copernicus said. Jane can continue doing her Tasks.
Doing my Tasks is a good goal, John thought and turned away from the discussion. It seemed there was a rtive lull in the game for now, which meant he could chase after the remaining two things he had on his list. The other ghosts had already left.
John managed to get a whole other Task done before
BEEP!
There were two more ghosts around the table. A sighing Gnome and, more interesting, a disgruntled looking golden cat. The speaker symbol was above Aclysias head.
Lydia, it appears youre quite unlucky, the weaponized maid said.
Are you, in earnest, attempting to turn this around on me? the queen wanted to know. You eliminated him without remorse, right before my eyes, and now you dare to attempt to pin this on me?
I guess killers can also report bodies, John thought, thinking about the rules. There was nothing in it that said they cant.
Are we just ignoring that Gnome is also dead? Smander wanted to know.
I kinda think we have to resolve this situation first, Rave took the lead. So, imma use best girl powers here Aclysia tell me what happened?
I walked around the left part of the ship, as I happened to have a Task in the area. Unluckily for Lydia, I walked in on her just as she had killed Copernicus.
Okay, okay Lydia, whats your story?
I was finishing my Task, Copernicus was observing me. Aclysia struts into the room, eliminates him and immediately reports the body, Lydia crossed her arms. Copernicus came with me explicitly because I would be proven guilty if I was to kill him, why would I do so?
Aclysia had a swift answer, Because you thought you could get away with pinning it on someone with that excuse.
That IS the kind of fifteen-dimensional chess ya like to y with John, Rave hummed, but looked at Aclysia again. Youre smart too, though, Aclysia, so ya would know to turn around her standard turn around. Quick question: why were ya so agitatedst round?
The weaponized maid pressed her lips together and said, Because one of us killed my John.
Us? Siena asked.
Aclysia hesitated for just one second. Already too long. The general us, not us Imposters.
Sure, as ya say, Susclysia, Rave drily remarked.
Susclysia, Susclysia! Thats a funny thing to say! Sylph babbled, as the votes came flying in.
Aclysia was an Imposter, the screen read, when she was sent flying into space.
Master! The very happy ghost came flying towards him. She got something out of being dead, at least.
_________________________________________________________________________
A little whileter, John was done with all his Tasks and only following Sylph, as she jogged, nudely and happily, through the corridors. As the sole Imposter left, the arcvolt elemental had quite a burden on her shoulders. The Gamer wasnt fully convinced that Sylph was even capable of feeling stress or doubt, though.
Especially not as she just came across Siena, in the middle of a task, and instantly murdered her.
It seemed Sylph was ready to just walk on, when she stopped and raised a finger to her lips. I mean, I guess I should report this. Yeah, yeah, that could be smart, the arcvolt elemental babbled to herself.
How would it be smart, you backstabbing annoyance? Siena hissed, for some reason very annoyed with everything going on.
Would interrupt the Tasks and the Tasks are how I lose, right? Right. Right! Yeah, Sylph, you smart, you cute, you got this. It wasnt a response, just a coincidentally timed monologue.
You got to give her credit, John told the silenced Siena. That is actually pretty smart.
BEEP!
Found a body, a very sexy body, Sylph chirped to the very small assembly. It was only her, Rave and Smander now. Sienas big booty body. Seriously nice bottom. Just wanna press mine against that and bend over next to her while we get fucked from behind or we could go cheek to cheek and give a double buttjob to Johnny, yeah! Sexy rump, that one.
Lydia is also fucking dead, Smander noticed. Thats pretty bad. We need to vote here. Its two on one.
Yeah, Rave scratched the back of her head. Was about to say that we should just do our Tasks, but the second we get out of here, therell be some Sabotage and then were upied until whoever the Imposter is can murder us.
That sounds smart, that Imposter has to be smart. The smartest girl ever! Sylph babbled. I cast me on Rave! Its super effective!
Wha-? No, its not. Rave blinked a couple of time. Im super safe. I had Copernicus and Lydia back me up and I was instrumental in getting Nia and Aclysia voted out.
Uhhh, right but I dont want to say Sally is sus. Susamander does sound funny though.
Can we agree its not me? Rave asked, looking to the apocalypse elemental for rity.
Sure, she nodded.
That means we got a fifty-fifty between ya and Sylph, Rave remarked. Sylph, can ya tell me the Tasks ya did this game?
Ya know, I was at the guns, and at some wires, but I kinda just autopiloted the rest cause Task-brain Sylph kinda doesntmunicate with active Sylph, so there is really not much memory stored there, I just did it, you know? You have to know! You totally know, Sylph bbered words at high speed. Kinda went here and there and danced about, had a few orgasms here and there, was really nice.
Hmmm Rave looked over to Smander. Without asking anything, she just sighed. Ive actually got no clue which one of ya it is and Sylph is super hard to read.
Just go with your gut, you got that harem sense, Smander said. We need to vote now, whatever happens.
Fair point sorry, Im going to vote for ya then, Rave said and pressed the button.
Yay, victory for Imposter Sylph! the arcvolt elemental announced and Rave immediately sighed. Am so happy, I want to thank my mom, my Master and all of the other people I booped throughout the game.
You can be a bit of a fucking psycho, you know that, Sylph? Smander wanted to know.
The she was ejected into space.
Chapter 919 – Shadows Coalescing
Chapter 919 C Shadows Coalescing
Im annoyed and Im entertained, Raveined. One time, my mindreading failed me one time!
Victory! Victory for Sylph! the arcvolt elemental bbered, surrounded by the people she had murdered. Out of the eleven people that had died over the course of the game, Sylph was the cause for four of them. Aclysia had killed two, Stirwin one and Nia also one. The vote had killed two people unnecessarily. Victory!
Reckless luck, Siena hissed. The moonshade elemental was incredibly annoyed that she had lost. Given how much she had revelled in the chaos, she could assign a fair bit of the me to herself. Cooperation on her part would have made the game easier to coordinate. Then again, nobody had yed optimally.
Reckless victory! Sylph countered, still jumping around. Great victory. I got to suck Johns dick, I got toy in Sallys boobs, hurray for me!
Nobody seemed the slightest bit surprised at the news how John died.
Well, they do know me, John thought as he rolled his neck. That was a nice distraction, all around, he said and invested the free level he had gotten.
Hmm, Moonshade Elemental Summoning is going to max out any second now, John thought. He had kept an eye on it at the side, but had prioritized the sses until now. Usually, he would have tried to get an SEP in time. At the moment, it was strictly unnecessary. One SEP cost 1000 GP and as he had 2778 at the moment, he had a lot of currency to go around.
Before he spent his time unnecessarily dealing with that, he checked on Scarlett to see if she had gotten that free level as well.
All seemed to be in order. Scarlett had difficulty keeping up with all of them level wise. Part of that was herck ofbat ability. The majority was herck of worthwhile opponents within her own field. Technomancy, although quickly ascendant, was only popr for as long as the inte had existed. There were a bunch of people who had learned the craft because it was a good way to make money. Those with Innate Abilities fitting for the field were still rather scarce. Scarlett was all the more valuable an asset because of it, but without a proper struggle, she couldnt get much better.
Theworking, programming and multitasking she did all day were doubtlessly taxing, but they wouldnt help her exceed her current boundaries in the skill department. She was like a boxer training for her next match by hitting a sandbag all day. She got her body up to the task, but she didnt train for actualbat.
A lot of the levels she had gotten were thanks to John, Experience of Love, and the level bestowing mechanics. Maybe Ill get a Perk that lets me fuck her up to my level one day, John hoped and held that thought for long enough that the Gamer ability might notice it and formulize it into a Perk somewhere. The thought only ceased when he finally got the notification that Moonshade Elemental Summoning had maxed out.
He pped his hands to get everyones attention.
Alright, everyone, want to celebrate that rxing game by seeing Siena evolve? he asked, already buying the SEP. He had wanted to save up to either get 3 Guild Perks or a Max ss Level, but the short-term benefits of evolving Siena now seemed more important than holding back for a theoretical long-term boost. That aside, he didnt want to make her wait.
Everyone gathered in a circle around Siena. The shadow spirits mood visibly rose at being the centre of attention. She stood in such a fashion that her butt and breasts naturally drew Johns gaze to them. Still, his eyes moved on, truly stopping only when reaching that content smile of hers.
Lets see if you can improve me one more time, my saviour, she purred, speaking only with love and kindness. She closed her eyes and waited. I trust you to make the right decision.
I will, he assured her, ttered by the faith put in him. Thest time Siena had evolved, she had made the decision of what she would be entirely on her own. He had let her reach deep inside him and use the SEP without the mediary of the Gamer interface. This time around, she was letting her summoner do everything. It had been a long journey from where their rtionship started to where they were now. Sometimes tumultuous, ultimately satisfying, a path that John didnt regret taking for one moment.
Johns dick wanted to go with the first option. Johns mind managed to dismiss it through reason. Sienas fighting style wasnt focused around bursts of power. Arguably, a focus on short windows of extreme power was helpful when it came to assassinations. More often than not, the surprise moment was what assured the kill, however, not a temporary increase in power. Also, there was usually more than one target that Siena could go after and he couldnt imagine that taking blowjob breaks between assassinations was a viable strategy.
It sounded pretty hot while he was standing there in safety and didnt think that much about it. Practically speaking, it was a horrible idea though. Sure, she could make him cum instantly, but between her having to get back to him after every hit and the concentration break that an orgasm was, it sounded like a horrible idea in a high-stress environment. Then there was the ethical oddity that was having someone suck his dick between murdering people.
The Gamer wasnt squeamish when it came to killing people. Some deserved it and hesitating when it was the case would do more harm than good. He did not think that it was an action to be taken with such casualness that he should enjoy sex sandwiched between two assassinations. That prospect just reeked of a total disregard for the sanctity of life.
It would doubtlessly be hot to make Siena even more of an almost-subus than she already was, but it just wasnt worth everything else that was attached.
The Nighthaunter Elemental was easier to reason himself out of. Siena was a precision knife, not a mace. If he did send her to kill somebody, he wanted only that one person to be affected. When it came to ughtering a whole base filled with people, sending in Metra was the proper course of action. If widespread destruction was the goal, Smander couldunch a meteorite at the target and leave a burning crater.
That only left the Midnight Elemental. It sounded like a simple upgrade of what Siena was at the moment, which worked alright for John. Her ability to invade dreams was something he never had any use for, but the stealth and ws worked perfectly for him. He couldnt see her disagree with the choice either.
Everyone, be ready, he warned. They were all too familiar with the way the final evolution of an elemental could impact the environment. Then he clicked the button.
Still in her sexy pose, Siena suddenly became rigid. It was most visible in her tail, the additional limb had never stopped moving around, hanging in the air in an odd curve. Slowly at first, then quicker and quicker, like a dam of sand getting washed away, the shadow spirits form began to melt away. A ck mist and a light-eating liquid rose and flowed from her body. Both washed around John and the gathered girls. Within minutes, John could no longer see anyone else.
He reached out to both sides of him, knowing that Rave and Aclysia were in arms reach. Yet, his hands found nothing. The darkness consolidated. It went deeper and deeper until it felt even more absolute than his blindness. He looked down, at least able to still see his own body.
You continue to please me, a voice like velvet reached his ears. It made his skin shiver delightfully, as if he was a beaten and broken man experiencing his very first gentle touch. My unruly daughter, you made her whole. For that, let me show you something no mortal has ever experienced.
The Mother of Shadow stepped out of the all-epassing darkness, a stone of all colours embedded in her chest. Beautiful didnt even begin to describe her. She was the ideas of seduction, care and love made manifest into a simple face. Eyes of a greyish blue, the shape of almonds, luscious lips, a flirting smile and teeth with long, sharp canines. Hair cascaded down her face, parted around her cute nose, and lost itself in the darkness. Endless strands of hair connected her to unseen things below and behind her. Before her was only John. She reached for his forehead.
She was gone and he was taken. Pulled apart, unravelled and yet whole. He was joined with another consciousness. A deeply familiar one. All of him streamed outwards, following thin strands of string, hair and shadow. He was the darkness. The darkness was him. He and Sienas minds travelled together as she waspleted by the realm that had born her.
Millennia of knowledge were ingrained in the magic of the sentient ce. The experiences of all elementals that hade before her mixed with Sienas own, inspected her wants, inspected her needs, inspected her subconscious down to the veryst desire and came together before the ruler of this Kingdom.
Fade, the Mother of Shadow, took all of this knowledge, too vast for even her to understand in its entirety, and spun it into a single yarn. Focused, unified, the stream threaded through the entire ne, pulling together different aspects of the darkness and unifying them into a single shape. As the work continued, the ever-moving yarn broke outside the confines of the element and shifted to another ce. It drifted by the Father of Light, too quickly for John to make out more about the figure than his radiance, and took with it some of the ne. A speck of dust, in the cosmic order of things, but a brilliant, glowing star to the Gamer.
The thread returned, continuing its work. John tried to find the patterns, to understand them, but the vastness of the work was too much for his mind to trulyprehend. Magic was threaded into an elemental form and the elemental form was given life. To understand it even while being part of it was as if trying to understand his own genome at the moment of birth.
Appreciate the depth of this gift and try to convince her to visit home sometime, Fade whispered.
Then thepleteness of the ckness ended. It was simply dark. Then it was dusky. Finally, light took the dominant spot once more, breaking through the ck mist in golden rays, as all of it was sucked back into the point of origin.
The shape of Sienas body came into view first. Like an undecorated mannequin, it stood there, ck and shining like polished ss. It was almost entirely unchanged, from the erotic disy of her thick thighs flowing into her bubble butt, over the hourss curve of her t midriff and up to herrge chest, all of it was the same as before. Even her feet retained the shape of high heels. Only her tail seemed to be mildly different. It was thinner at the base and the tip elongated further.
The darkness began to part over parts of her body, coalesced into thetex-likeyer that covered her indecency with the base excuse of clothing. Tight like a secondyer of skin, it stuck to her torso. Covering only half of her breasts, the now pitch-ck material left exposed a delicious cleavage. It, like the rest of her skin, had changed into a darker shade. Grey was now the predominant colour, with a dark blue undertoneplimenting the feel of the night.
Like before, the swirling, semi-liquid clothes also covered her legs. Between her groin and the lower part of her soft thighs was a delicious gap of skin. Her shoulders were just as bare, the ckyer covering the rest of the arm.
Finally, the darkness retreated up her gorgeous face. Her lips were darker than her skin, noticeably so, and as pillowy as before. Her nose was as perfectly formed as that of her mother. Indeed, all of her face seemed to have improved in tiny ways that got her closer to the iprehensible beauty of Fade. The shape of her eyes, however, remained close to European. Her sclera was of a dark colour, surrounded byshes ofplete ck that eliminated any need for mascara she could ever have. Her pupils intensified in their silver, the colour of starlight. Just as they became focused on John, more silver dots and constetions appeared around her pupils and all over the ckness that covered her body and tail.
The shadows that had gathered on top of her head now exploded into a cascade of hair. ck as the darkest night, wavy and silky, it retained the previous length and extended all the way to her butt. Strands of it fell across her face and over her shoulders in fantastical and greatly attractive ways, elevating more features of her face than they hid and framing her chest.
Siena raised one hand to inspect her hair. Another change became visible from that motion, being her ws. They were like daggers fused to the top and middle segment of each finger, the thin, razor-sharp edgesing to a point after extending for several more centimetres. A secondary tip stretched above thest segment of each finger, growing out from the back of the des. It reminded John of her hands when she had been a tier 3 elemental.
A few approvable changes, Siena spoke, inspecting a strand of her own hair without cutting it. Her voice, always sensuous, also came closer to that of her mother, being like a loving caress of his eardrums. What do you say, John?
I want you to stay in my life forever, he responded swiftly, the smile on his face inspired entirely by her presence. He stepped closer and embraced her. Without thinking, he moved his hands. He reached around her back and held her by the shoulder. His left gently grabbed her tail a few centimetres away from the base. Their lips greedily met each other and Siena gasped lustfully. She tasted of the night. Of the cool breeze over a meadow and dew that was yet to settle.
Her new body felt more familiar than her old one. John realized immediately why that was. Being part of the creation process would give him intimate knowledge about the thing that was created. Even if he failed to understand theplexity of sapient magic with his active mind, the instinctual bits of his brain were able to pull along at least a few nuggets of worthwhile information.
wless, but with pointy nails unseen in his harem previous to this, her hands took hold of his ass. It was still a little odd that they found his backside as appealing as he found theirs, but he was d it was the case. Her tail wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer. Breasts spilled on his chest as the ckyer disappeared. He felt her hard nipples. His attention remained on her pointy tongue. The more he kissed her, the more heated their engagement got. That much was normal. Siena orgasming from a kiss alone was not.
Her muffled moans were a delight. Her trembling body was a luxury. Dominating her tongue and greedily devouring her lips was all John could want from life. He got so much more though. He pulled away when she started to calm down.
Seems like you got another erogenous zone, he pointed out with a grin. His hand wandered up to her ears. They were elflike now, another small change he hadnt noticed.
Figures that your influence would make me possible to climax by sucking your delicious dick, she hummed. You are in luck Ivee to like doing that for you, John.
I have way more luck than any one man should be allowed to have, the Gamer agreed.
There was more of her body to be enjoyed
Chapter 920 – Lovely Darkness [Erotic Content]
Chapter 920 C Lovely Darkness [Erotic Content]
John and Siena mmed against the bedroom door. They wrestled with lips and tongues, while Sienas sharp nails scratched over his naked back. The motion left hot lines on his skin,sting for less than a second before Gamers Body fixed them. He didnt mind the little pain too much. In some ways, it only heightened the sensation of the moment.
Her right leg was pulled up, the bare thigh pressing into Johns side. In turn, he pressed a hand into that firm and smooth meat. Sweet nothings and sighs escaped them between the erotic engagement of their mouths. Her tongue was smoother than a humans, firmer as well, but neither sensation was so alien that it distracted John from her taste or the way he made her tremble. Swirling around hers, his tongue asionally licked over her teeth. The sharpness excited him; he was just a moment away from cutting himself.
The Gamer was a sadist and a dominant, there was absolutely no doubt about that, but that didnt stop him from understanding what made his opposite tick. Quite the opposite, he needed to know. Most of the time to heighten the effectiveness of the way he treated his women, rarely because he was in a peculiar mood. Even he could feel submissive sometimes. There were two girls in his harem that were happy to assist him at such asions and one of them he was kissing right now.
Signalling this mood to the shadow spirit through their mental connection, the Gamer motivated several changes. The wing at his back grew a little more powerful. Siena straightened up as much as she could, while John let himself be pulled downwards until she was standing taller than him. Her leg went from simply pressing against him to wrapping around his lower half, keeping him where he was. Her tail, as dark grey as the rest of her exposed skin, wrapped around his neck like a well-fitting cor. These and other small adjustments changed the dynamic of their engagement from being between equals to being between a sub and a dom.
Siena ended their kiss by pulling outside the reach of his lips. What do you think of me, John? she asked in a sultry tone.
I love you, he answered immediately.
Are you mine?
Yes.
Am I yours?
Yes. Even if he was the submissive this time around, there were some things he wouldnt budge on. Siena only smiled at his answer. It was exactly what she had wanted to hear anyway. She understood perfectly what she could and could not do with him.
She leaned towards his ear and whispered, What a naughty, greedy man you are. Her voice sent pleasant tingles all throughout his body, ending in the pulsing of his cock. You know what you should call me, John.
Yes, mistress, he whispered back.
Very good, my love. She nibbled on his earlobe, caressed his cock with one hand for just a few seconds. It was enough to stain her hand with several drops of precum. He groaned as she pulled away. A naughty man through and through. Worship it then, the body of a woman that belongs in your harem C to you.
John was pulled down by her tail, guiding him gently but firmly towards her corbone.
Kiss me, Siena instructed, and John obeyed, his lips sliding lovingly over her smooth skin as he was dragged further down. Serve me. He had reached her boobs now. The pressure on his neck rxed, allowing him to reach her hard nipples. They were a darker shade than the rest of her skin and looked absolutely delicious. John sucked on them, rolled the tip of his tongue in a circle and just generally did his best to please her with his mouth alone. He looked up into her silver eyes and she returned his gaze, while licking her hand clean of his precum. Every one of her fingers, she made a show out of, as if she was warming herself up to take on his several timesrger cockter. Grab me. He was d to follow thatmand, squishing her thigh as firmly as he had initially and taking a nice hold of her ass. Ahh, yes, you are very good at this, she purred. Make me climax.
Yes, mistress. John gave her ass a nice p, causing the sadistic woman to yelp in lust and pain. There was no woman in his harem that didnt like a little spanking. His hand moved on towards her pussy. It was sopping wet. He pushed two fingers inside and Sienas moans became louder. Her eyes closed, the back of her head rested against the wooden door. Her cunt was cooler than that of a human and the tiny, wiggling bumps on her folds were definitely not normal, but John didnt care about either. He had been given an order and he would fulfil it.
Leaving wet trails all over her squishy breasts, he kissed and licked his way from one boob to the other. Her skin tasted sweet and slightly spicy, a bit like paprika, oddly enough. John didnt mind that at all and focused all of his efforts on her chest. That knowledge about her body that he now had allowed him to please her in all the right ways. Biting her nipple softly, pressing his face into her boob, it wasnt just self-indulgence to feel the softness.
Keep going keep going. Sienas high-pitched words apanied every sharp exhale. Her body quivered, her breasts rose and fell with every deep breath, their full-size jiggling in front of Johns eyes and lips. Then, all of the air escaped her in one drawn out shout. His fingers worked at a high speed, a clear liquid dripping from them as her pussy overflowed throughout her climax. Stop!
Yes, mistress. John obeyed. He pulled his fingers out, as little as her tensing and clinging folds seemed to want that, and just watched her. Watched her face, as that was all he could see from that angle. It was fascinating to see her regain control over her features. Fascinating and beautiful, just as she was.
Such a good man, Siena purred, such a good Master. Your perversion paid off in the way you can satisfy even women like me so easily. I doubt there is any other man who could create a harem this size and so diverse through love and lust alone.
Thank you, mistress. John grinned. This was exactly the kind of submission he could enjoy. Complimenting, careful, thorough, and only moderately tormenting. His cock was aching, rock-solid andpletely untouched. Even if he wanted to, he couldnt have taken care of it himself, thanks to Source of Satisfaction.
There is more of this body you own to worship, Siena said and her tail tugged him down again. He kissed his way down the valley of her breasts and to her midriff. The way her muscles were visible under the wless skin was delicious. Light fell in through a nearby window, casting soft shadows all over her. John was the first to ever kiss that midriff and only he and his harem would ever get to. A fantastic thing to know. His tongue brushed over the Lovers Will mark. On her skin, the manifestation of their mutual love was pitch ck.
John couldnt wait to taste her pussy.
The door opened with a soft, well-oiled whisper.
He suddenly fell forward. Not only did Siena stepping into the room ruin his bnce, but her tail pulled him and left him no other choice than to get on all fours. Follow me, shemanded and turned around. Crawling after her on, effectively, a leash was at the very border of what he wasfortable with. Given the softness of the ground, the shortness of the distance and the raw sex appeal of her ass, he was able to just obey her for a little bit and follow her to the bed. Lay down.
As you wish, mistress, he said and got on his back. The tail retreated from his neck. It felt oddly cold without it there, but for the most part, he didnt care for it being gone. What it was reced with, though, he loved.
Siena straddled his head. Her pussy lips were of a blue that bordered on ck. She reached down, spread herbia with her fingers and revealed the much lighter insides. He could see a few parts inside wiggle in inhuman ways, but that only made him more excited to get inside there. A gooey strand dripped down and he caught it with his open mouth. It was the first taste of her new pussy he got. It was a faint, cooling and sharp taste, like mint. You may grab my thighs, she allowed him, before sitting down on one of the two ces John found to be where his girls butts naturally belonged.
He took her offer immediately, as her legs pressed against the sides of his head, taking hold of her firm, smooth legs. Extending his tongue, he started eating her pussy. More of that sweet, cool and sharp taste flowed into his mouth. It was addicting. He could only hear the blood rushing in his ears and only see her plump ass. That was until Sienas voice reached into his mind.
Close your eyes. John obeyed. There is only me. Dont think. You can trust me, my John. Let go of your worries and let me take hold of you. A lustful giggle washed away his own thoughts. He let the wish to please her dominate his every action. Yes, just like that. Trust me fully. Serve me. Youll be rewarded Two fingers tapped over his chest. The rhythm and the pointy nails made it feel like he was the floor for a pair of high heels. Quickly, she reached his cock and brushed over it with the side of her hand. Then she pulled away. if I think you deserve it.
All he could sense was her. Her soft body on top of his head, her wet pussy drenching his face, the folds and tiny tendrils of her insides, the moans and words inside his head, and her breath on his cock. He felt a sharp nail travel down the length of his cock and to his balls. She took hold of them, cupped them, squeezed them softly and rolled them in her palm.
So full. You could breed all of us whenever you wanted to, no doubt. Would you like that? Would you like lining all of us up and using us as little breeding ves, hm? He didnt get to answer. Her presence was too domineering and the lick that followed the trail of her finger too pleasurable to think about the question. You will get to, dont worry. Ill submit to you, Master, if you show me that you can submit to me. We do own each other, after all. Her tongue coiled around his shaft. Ah, youre such a delicious treat. I wouldnt reward any other man with the service of my mouth.
John curved his tongue, reaching a particrly sensitive spot inside her pussy. His rewards were numerous. His head got squeezed by her meaty thighs and more of her honey flowed into his cunt-devouring mouth. Most importantly, however, Siena finally saw it fit to take his cock inside her. Somehow, she managed to suck him inside while her tongue was still coiled around his shaft.
If there was anything that could be adequately described as a mouth-pussy, it was Sienas throat. Tendrils and gripping folds surrounded the tip of his dick. For an elemental, eating was a luxury, not a necessity, and it seemed that this new form had fullymitted to her prioritizing the joy of sex over that of taste. Through her tongue and throat, she could massage the entirety of his cock. For the first few seconds, it felt incredible. Then her ability to control her insides was turned against him. Rather than increasing the pleasure, she made her throat feel just good enough to keep him going, but not good enough to get him off.
It was an unfair pleasure. Siena kept him at the brink while also giving him a deep and methodical blowjob. The Gamer had a hard time working with regr edging, but this was a whole other level. If she had backed off, he would have gone on through repeated frustrations, but at least there would be moments of calm. He didnt get such a break. She kept going and going, always leaving him one moment from orgasm.
His entire body was tense. He wed into her thighs, buried his face in her bubble butt and ate her pussy with endless fervour. The want to please and the need to cum intermingled, neither outperforming each other and both keeping him under her metaphorical heel. No matter how much he pleased her, no matter how many orgasms he gave her, she didnt give him the ultimate reward.
Please, let me cum, he finally begged, knowing that was what she wanted to hear.
Arent you forgetting something? she asked sweetly. My dear John?
Please, mistress, please let me cum! he begged again.
Suddenly all pleasure stopped. She pulled back and got off his face. His hands dropped to his sides as she moved down. It would be a waste to let you cum anywhere else, Master, Siena purred, now straddling his hips. Ass thrust out and smiling over her shoulder, she once more pulled apart her darkbia and showed the bright blue inside. She lowered herself just far enough that the engorged, pink head of his cock came in contact with her. Gyrating her hips, she asked, Do you want to cum inside me, Master?
Yes, mistress. He was entranced by the sway of her butt and the soft pleasure the motion sent through his sensitive cock.
Do you need to cum inside me, Master?
Yes, mistress.
Five seconds, Siena said. Youll have five seconds to do with me whatever you wish. Starting no-aaaaaahhhww.
5.
John thrust up immediately. Siena screamed in ecstasy, squirting all over his groin. Her pussy gripped him, every fold and tendril. It wasnt enough to set him off. She still didnt let him.
4.
His hands mmed down on her hips with superhuman speed and power. A loud p echoed through the room. John pulled back.
3.
Sienas scream continued. It rose to such volume that the entire house had to hear her when John thrust up with such ferocity her entire body bounced. Her huge tits jiggled, her ass rippled, and she slouched forwards.
2.
At the speed of a man driven temporarily insane by the need to cum, John sat up and got on his knees. She was in front of him now. She tore apart the sheets as she screamed and he pounded her round bottom at extreme speeds. The bed shook, the wood creaked, the mming of flesh against flesh echoed in the room.
1.
Now John fell forwards. He was past the point of no return. All that remained were the blissful moments before he would fill her up. He reached around her with one arm. Held her close. Bit her long, elf-like ear and squished her left tit. He tasted her. Smelled her. Felt her softest parts under his hand and against his groin, after he thrust into her onest time. There was a snapping sound and Siena came to be ttened under him.
0.
A stream of cum pumped out of Johns balls and filled Sienas eagerly waiting pussy with a load that was enormous even by his standards. All sensations aside from her pussy gripping him were distant. He couldnt feel his legs, he could barely feel his arms, he knew he was still nibbling her ear and that his whole body was tense. Dots of light dominated his field of vision, just as the thick white liquid he was painting her insides with dominated Sienas womb.
Johns orgasm started to weaken when Sienas devilish cunt gripped and milked him for all he had. He came. He came and all he heard was her shouting, MORE! while her overflowing pussy juices created a wet spot under her. Of no mind to disobey, John just kept cumming and cumming. For a solid three minutes, his balls kept tightening, and his mind remained at the height of pleasure. Synapses fried, his eyes rolled up, and he groaned into her ear with each new spurt.
Finally, they came to a moment of sensesting long enough to end the continuation of the synapse-frying orgasms. The pleasure waned to handleable levels, her pussy only milked what was normal for him to give. After another minute, John let out a relieved breath. He was still on top of her, in the middle of a mattress that now had a V-shape.
We broke the bed, he pointed out with a weakugh.
Chapter 921 – Rest of the Grind
Chapter 921 C Rest of the Grind
A silver stream of mana shot from Johns finger. Almost immediately, it was discontinued, leaving a thin st, about the length of a ruler, flying towards a powdery monster. It was a ghost that possessed bone dust and ash, manifesting into an oversized skull pulling a stream of raw magic and its particleponents behind it. Letting out a deep screech, it dodged by quickly flying to the side.
That was when a second st Ray collided with the first. They joined in mid-air and became a stronger one with an adjusted trajectory. mming into the monster, the spell unleashed the majority of its energy as physical power. The skull was sted apart, the powder flying in all directions and then disappearing.
God, I love this spell, he thought. It had taken him thest three days of the grinding to get a handle on it. There were several oddities and inconveniences involved with aiming fusing Arcana Rays. For st Rays, the first and foremost difficulty was that the speed of the attack wasnt adjustable. If he wanted to hit an enemy at an angle, he had tomit to it from the start. There was no way to just shoot the first one, watch it miss, and then fire a second one to adjust things.
The more general drawbacks had to do with angle calction and actually making two or more rays ovep. Since Arcana Rays were generally quite thin, colliding them was harder than one might think. Putting all of his fingers into the right positions had taken some getting used to. Even worse was the massive impact even small movements could have on the final trajectory. Luckily for John, he had steady hands and high enough Wisdom to stay calm in basically all situations. Otherwise, aiming the rays reliably, even with practice, would have been gambling on his pulse.
John walked around on the top of the stone tower and repeated the shot a momentter. The enemies, Dustskulls as they were so aptly called, were one of the three enemy varieties of the Undead Assault Instant Dungeon he was currently in the process ofpleting. Their wailing could be infused with magic,unching arcane attacks at people at a range. One of those attacks was only minorly threatening, but ignoring the Dustskulls meant there would soon be a lot of them. Being able to fly and keeping up high made them difficult to catch by the majority of the group. Their near immunity to magical damage, regardless of the kind, only made them more difficult to deal with.
Of their group, only Smander, with her well-bnced Stats, and John, with st Ray transforming Arcana Ray into a mostly kic attack, and Jack, being Johns flying Extension, were well-equipped to deal with these enemies. The apocalypse elemental flew around and punched the Dustskulls apart, while John stood on top of the fortified tower they almost always erected in Assaults and sniped what he could. The monsters having highly repetitive dodge patterns made things easier.
John let his mana regenerate for a little bit and looked around the battlefield. A shuffling mass of zombies, melded together into a shape closely resembling a slug, slowly made its way towards his position. It was the base monster of this Assault, the Crawling Horde. They were slow, but there were many of them and they could take a lot of damage. Smander took care of one of them whenever she could use her Unleash, but she alone wasnt enough to stem the tide.
Sylphs lightning, Gnomes ground maniption and Undines own Unleashbined to either kill the Crawling Hordes or at least push them away from their goal, being Johns position. Rather than wasting their time repeatedly hitting these damage sponges, the group had adopted a simple strategy: dy them and wait for the Combination cooldowns. Either Smlere or Shadowme were optimal to kill the Crawling Hordes, drowning them inva or taking advantage of the dark environment they found themselves in. It was a deste and coldndscape, with a sky covered by thick clouds that asionally let soft rain fall on the defiled, tombstone riddled ground.
Not exactly a ce for a vacation, the Gamer thought and shot another Dustskull.
Much of their strategy hinged on Smander, but even without her, they would have done fine. Aclysia and Beatrice whittled down the enemy numbers by descending on Crawling Hordes that got close to the tower. While Gnomes ground maniption wasnt as effective asva, it was still an effective area of effect tool.
Between the Dustskulls and the Crawling Hordes, they were prettyfortable. It was a smoothly progressing Assault. Something they could spend six to eight hours doing and know they would get out exhausted, but victorious. Even the boss monster hardly proved an obstacle towards that ultimate goal.
John heard a couple of clicks in his ear. Speaking of the devil, he said to himself, looking over his shoulder. The Vision of Cmity lenses inbination with Observe allowed him to reveal the monster standing behind him. It was an undead insectoid creature, with four legs, a spider-like abdomen, anky torso, long arms and an oddly human-like head with way too many, way toorge teeth. Perhaps the oddest part of the ghoulish monstrosity, however, was the extreme amount of dark grey hair that cascaded down to its hips.
Under the impression that it was still invisible, the monster reached up to the Gamer with its three chitin covered fingers. They were thick and sturdy, better for grabbing than shing. The Darthspider Phaser was a monster that shifted through walls and remained invisible to reach their target. They also had a habit of making excited sounds in the veryst moments before they attacked.
John let the monster believe it was still invisible, instead focusing on defeating yet another Duststkull. He had all the trust in the world that he would be safe. After all, there was an assassin standing behind his would-be assassin.
The only sound Siena caused was the surprised, pained yelp of the Darthspider Phaser when her tail burrowed its way into the monsters back. The tip emerged from the stomach of the creature before it turned slightly translucent and phased away.
Dont be shy now. The midnight elemental grinned, whipping around her tail and making purple blood stter across the stone floor. Like her ws, the spade-shaped tip of her tail was covered with smooth crystals, sharp and ready to cut. Im not done with you.
The Darthspider let out a high-pitched shout after manifesting again. The wound in its stomach was more of an inconvenience than deadly. The same would have been true for a lopped off head. This undead had enough endurance to survive many things it shouldnt.
Siena and the monster charged at each other. They seemed equally matched. The brutal strength that boss monsters usually had, the Darthspider had exchanged for its particr gimmick. While the swipes of its arms werent as threatening as Sienas ws, the fact that the creature possessed an extra pair of pointy legs allowed it to fight with four limbs against the midnight elementals three.
It was an exchange not of blows but of aggression between them. Two Agility based assassins, neither of them could afford to get hit, so they concentrated on dodging. There was no contact between them until Siena Unleashed. Her entire body turned into a mass of midnight blue, coalesced darkness, only interrupted by silver constetions and her intensely glowing eyes. Her Unleash, always usable and only costing her mana to sustain, boosted her speed beyond the lock they found themselves in.
Siena ducked away under a swipe of the Darthspiders arm and rammed her tail into the weak spot under the shoulder. The arm was cleanly separated, letting Siena wind away from the retaliating strike of the other arm. Wide open on its right side, the monster could only try to hit her with one of its legs, but the spider-like things were only good for stabbing, not up-close kicking. Siena just grabbed it with her left hand, dug the ws of her right inside the hole in her opponents stomach she had made earlier, kept the Darthspider from moving away and then mmed her raised tail against its neck.
Also a limb better at stabbing than shing, the impact only cut the outeryer of the monsters carapace. Finally, the Darthspider managed to whirl its second arm around and reach Siena. The shadow spirit dropped to the ground,nded on her upper back, let the arm pass over her, thenunched herself upwards feet first. A high heel mmed into the opened neck. Sienas momentum made the Darthspider topple over backwards. It hit the ground with the back of its head, only for Siena to stand over it and ram her second high heel into the functioning arm.
From there, it was just a bunch of tail stabbings to assure the death of the monster.
___________________________________________________________________
Good progress, John thought and rolled his neck. He had run six Assaults during thest three days, giving him about 3 levels, and Experience of Love had gotten him another 1 ?. That did give him another ss Level to spend, but John hadnt gotten to that yet. I think I can find the time to get a single ss level done somewhere
He wasnt especially convinced of that.
Im back, he announced his entry into the house. The rest of the harem, even the most productive members of it, were justzing around in the living room. Everyone ready to sleep one more time and get out of here? he asked.
No, lets stay for another three weeks, Rave responded flippantly. Dont wanna deal with all of the stuff going on outside.
Cant exactly me you, but it shouldnt be too bad, John said, getting naked as soon as Aclysia had closed the door behind him and the rest of the usual grinding party. We didnt get any emergency calls, so whatever is going on, its not outside of protocol. He rubbed his neck for a couple of seconds, then the weaponized maid was behind him and moved him towards one of the armchairs. Her own hands reced his and he let out a rxed sigh. Ill still have to deal with the potential Lorylim threat in some fashion. Lydia?
Yes, my love? The queen looked up from the book she was reading.
You wouldnt happen to have apendium over Lorylim knowledge, right?
If such a book were to exist, I would simultaneously cherish its existence and lock it within the deepest depths of Rex Germaniaes secret chambers, Lydia responded. What knowledge do you seek?
Primarily I wonder if there are any ways to identify a Lorylim spy or host outside of lunacy and their bodies liquefying, John told her. Usually, when those twoe into y, its already toote. I would run experiments, but its not like the Lorylim would just hand me a specimen to send to the Apothecaries.
That is partly incorrect, Lydia pointed out.
What do you mean? John asked.
You have ess to at least three specimens.
John cocked his head and furrowed his eyebrows. I still dont get it but I feel like I should
Lydia gave him a worried nce. Yourself, John. You, Undine and Smander. All three of you were touched by the Lorylim to varying degrees. Did it not ur to you to ever research the effects of that? Sitting upright, the queens nce transformed into a demanding stare. Stop scratching your arm.
John looked down to where he was currently working on the red Lorylim scar with his fingernails. The skin was reddened by the intensity he had worked on himself with. No, it never ured to me, he mumbled, doing as he was told. The itching on his bone stopped at the same time. Why did that never ur to me?
You should visit an Apothecary, Lydia told him.
John made an unwilling grimace, but nodded. Ill see if I can get Meddelnick to check on me. The eunuch was one of the few, if not the only, Apothecary John could get along with. He was simple, to the point and kept to the objective facts. He gave John everything he wanted out of an Apothecary, primarily because the visits were as short as they could be. There is definitely something weird going on with me for how long though? he asked himself.
The answer would hopefully be found in the hospital. For now, whatever had been happening with him, it wasnt a strong enough influence to ruin hisst few hours he had in peace with his harem. To conclude the grinding, he cast Observe on his girls, particrly those he hadnt paid too much attention during the rest of this double-length session.
And, of course, Stirwin deserved to be checked on as well.
And that was the end of that grind.
Chapter 922 – On a single string
Chapter 922 C On a single string
You sure you have the time for this? John asked Lydia, while he and the majority of the harem got on the boat. As much paperwork as he had to do, getting this Lorylim business checked out was his foremost security concern. If he waspromised, then the entire structure could have faults he wasnt aware of. The fact that his paranoia was only slowly kicking in about all of this only had him more rmed.
This is a happenstance that wont let me rest unless I have certainty on it, the queen responded swiftly and followed him onto the captains deck. They were on one of Johns smaller boats, meant tofortably hold no more than twenty people for only limited distances. It was the one he used to move within the Hudson Barrier. With all of the branches of the river that had been copied over, each of the Protected Spaces seven major areas could befortably reached by water.
Northeast were the government areas, administrative and military. Down the eastern areas were the growing elf forest, the Bae Circle and arge district that was dominantly dedicated to the housing of bachelors. Unsurprisingly, young people were thrilled to live around the red-light district and the races that dwelled in the forest were oddly enthusiastic about being employed there.
West, across a channel, was arge green area that was currently being divided between farmers and the park-nningmittee. Families and richer people didnt want to live so close to the louder parts of the city, so this space served as a barrier between those two facets of society. The farming space wasnt strictly necessary, it had to be said, but John wanted the city to be able to feed itself in case it was besieged by something. Due to magic and low poption numbers, that required far less space than it would have regrly.
The rest of the southern ind (it wasnt exactly an urate application of the term, but with thend connection being cut off by the border of the Illusion Barrier, it worked well enough) was covered with middle to high society things. Well-off houses, small businesses, another park, a sprawling district for families, a district for art (such as the opera he had visited with Sylph) and, at the north-east tip of that ind, the university. The majority of its buildings were dedicated to Fateweaving, as that was thend that John had given to Magoi originally, but other educational facilities were sprouting all around there. A centralized bureau to overlook all of it hadnt formed yet. John enjoyed seeing all of these schools pop up independently.
The same was true for the entertainment area that was across a thinner channel and on the south tip of the central, northwards sprawling ind. The further up one wandered that part of the Hudson Barrier, the more industrial things became. First was the Fusion Port, where Thornes old headquarters was located, home to the expanding trade business of the Federations capital. John was pleased to see ship traffic there, doubly so because several of the ships were flying Fusions g.
The construction of the navy was far fromplete, but at least a fair amount of small merchant vessels were now navigating the waves. Because of the scope of Abyssal trade, building giant freighters wasnt exactly necessary, but he still hoped to put at least one of them in the water. Better to have them than not, after all.
Further north was the district whererge corporations were buying upnd to ce their massive bureaucraticplexes to oversee what happened to the west. The Hudson forked around a small ind, one of the barriers two industrial centres. The other one was located southwest of it, on thend making up the western border of the Hudson Barrier. It shared that space with cheap worker housing, a harbour for private vessels, and a small area dedicated to the needs of aquatic species. Worthwhile to mention was also a sizable new Apothecary outpost around there.
Most of these districts werent set in stone since the Hudson Barrier was still dominated by empty space that could be filled inter. It was just that there were clearly observable trends. Society had a tendency to order itself into categories and it was more effective if all of the industry was packed together anyway.
As for where John was heading, his goal was the older Apothecary building on Ellis Ind. It was not only still active, but a lot closer to the Guild Hall. While he did have a teleporter in the general area, he knew that it was one almost always watched by a news crew. International news organizations were part of the big business that had taken up residence in the area. He would have loved to fix that by putting the teleporter directly into the Apothecary building, but the powerful nonbat organization had given him repeated dismissal on his requests to do so.
It was no wonder. The Gamer had repeatedly butted heads with the Apothecaries because of ethical differences. While John could have just done as he wanted, it was still his turf, he wanted to keep the rtions with the Apothecaries amicable. For all the crazy experimenters they had in their ranks, their services were still necessary. That was, until John could create a Fusion equivalent of their international conglomerate. A project that he had in mind but was, for now, too expensive in time and money to pursue. It would only make sense if he somehow got ess to a sizeable number of defectors.
The boat cut through the water and John let the autopilot do the rest, as he turned to everyoneing along. All of the girls save Scarlett were there, and the technomancer was very much still present through the smartphone in Johns pocket. Nobody was going to miss this development. There were too many questions associated with what influence the Lorylim had on John.
Its just a stroke of luck that it was finally raised, John thought. Although its sort of bad luck that it didnt happen earlier. I suppose if there is something happening with me, then those connected to my mind would be affected as well. Jane isnt especially observant, Eliza has incredibly little experience in the field, Scarlett doesnt think about the topic too much, Nia is well, Nia, and Metra ticks simrly to Jane. Lydia really is the person who would have pointed something like this out Lydia or Momo.
Throughout the short trip, they went more and more silent. Sylph and Rave worked together to keep the mood from bing too strained, but the anticipation of an answer was thick in the air. An oversight of such magnitude had to be resolved quickly. They all knew it. They all feared the possible answers as well. Aside from John, Undine was the most worried about all of this, for quite obvious reasons. Smander expressed some doubts as well, but the Lorylim never had properly manifested in her body. The time she had gotten infested, the first foe seemed more interested in using her as a bridge to get to John than actually corrupting her.
When the boat pulled up to Ellis Ind, John found Dokt Medelnick already waiting for them. The eunuch Apothecary was as much of an oddity as ever. The top of his head was a chrome dome. A literal, or almost literal, one in his case, as the bald area had been reced with a te of metal. The sides of his head, however, still spotted a surprising amount of ck hair, gelled up into a wall that shot straight upwards. Under his nose, he had a moustache that had the shape of a horizontal line. His eyes had been reced with reddish-brown sses, set into metal frames.
Given all of the things going on around the mans head, John wouldnt have been surprised if the fat body under theboratory coat would have hidden all manners of further modifications. The Gamer wasnt interested in checking, though, and Medelnick didnt seem interested in offering. Come in already, the eunuch growled. I have sixteen more experiments to run before I can justify a nap.
Go fuck yourself, Eliza shouted back. The blood mage had a general dislike of experiment happy scientists and Medelnicks tendency to be brash with all of them meant that they got along like oil and water.
Sounds like you want your fertility blocker back in ce. I will get that done when I take your blood again, Medelnick responded. Both were things he could very much do. Since Medelnick had his dick removed and had a Libido of 0, he was one of the few, if not the only, men John wasfortable with to inspect his girls in the medical sense. Because of that, he had more or less be the harems doctor. A basic thing he had to do recently was to remove the fertility blockers of everyone. A not so basic thing was that he was in charge of inspecting and administrating Elizas blood.
Since Tamaras appearance several months ago, a couple more people influenced by Elizas blood had appeared here and there. All of them had to get their fix or fall into a state of mind that could barely even be described as sapient. Since it would have been a pain for Eliza to be on call for such things, she let some of her blood be stored by Medelnick, who distributed it and noted the changes in the affected individuals. This was a part of the job the crazy eunuch rather enjoyed. Of course, John kept a close eye on what happened with that blood. Medelnick knew that John would have him killed if a single vial of the blood went somewhere or he experimented on it in ways the Gamer didnt approve of.
Come inside already, the Apothecary continued hisints. In order to appease the man, John skipped the proper anchoring procedures and just jumped off board. The rest of the harem followed.
Unusual for you toe out and greet me, the Gamer remarked.
Miss Thorne already told me whats going on. Tell me next time when something that interesting is hidden inside that impossible body of yours, Medelnick told him, while they headed inside.
John looked around for any people that might have listened in. Not because Medelnick had just dropped Scarletts properst name, that was within what John wanted, but because he didnt want to let the public know he may bepromised. There was nothing good that coulde out of that. Rumours would be overblown or taken out of context, and before the Gamer knew it, everyone would think he himself was a Lorylim. Well, not everyone, just everyone who doesnt like me, John thought. Which will justify their aggression towards me further in their mind which just cant end well.
Since there were people moving around, he opted to not say anything until they were inside theplex Medelnick alone supervised. The Apothecary had a substantial ranking in the organization, but he hated assistants and other people in general. That made him more trustworthy, oddly enough. John knew exactly why Medelnick put up with his demands, being money, and if there was any leak about any medical information about him or his harem, there was no question who to me for it. They had a very easy agreement.
Alright, what machine are you sticking me in today? John asked.
That one, Medelnick stated and pointed to an upright, milky white tube. Lose the shirt and get in it.
John appreciated the simplicity. More talkative doctors might have exined what the machine was or how it worked. This one just wanted to get this over with. If John wanted to know more about the machine, he could research it in his own time. After dragging his shirt into his inventory, he stepped into the tube. Several rings mounted on rails came to life with electronic buzzing and began to rotate while sliding up and down. The process took about thirty seconds, then John stepped out.
And? the Gamer asked, watching a 3D model of himself appear on the screen Medelnick was looking at. When he received no immediate answer, the Gamer raised his voice again, Dokt? What do you see?
Nothing, Medelnick spat out. Touching the screen, he rotated the disy, zoomed on Johns arm, and looked around. Your body is as odd as it has always been. More of a human elemental than an actual human, with your concentration of mana circuitry. Still, there is nothing specifically off about your armpared to the rest of your body. At least on this level of analysis. The Apothecary looked over to John, two dots of dim light showing the focus of his gaze. Describe your symptoms. In detail.
I couldnt tell you if I have any, thats the issue, John returned. There just seems to be a blocking of selective topics in my mind or a lessening of certain interests.
Sounds like a lesser mind control effect are you aware of what you are unaware of?
Only what has been pointed out to me and I feel it bothers me less than it should, John responded.
An indoctrination spell, that would require continuous effort to keep up, at least at lower levels, Medelnick grumbled and twirled both sides of his spacebar of a moustache. I need you to think about that thing during a second scan. John obeyed and kept his mind upied with theck of distress he was experiencing at the moment. Before he was even out of the tube again, he heard a satisfied click of Medelnicks tongue. What did you find?
You are infected.
I already know that, John drily responded. The Lorylim Corruption debuff was pretty clear on this. The bar only picked up from where it previously had left off, meaning that some amount of Lorylim matter was still in his system. He had just thought it to bepletely inactive. I want to know what the effects of this are and if you can treat it.
Medelnick stared at the screen. It will end eventually, I think, he said and opened the two scans side by side. Faint as it was, John could see the outline of his scars on one image but not the other. There was an expenditure of energy during the second scan. This means that the Lorylim matter left inside your body is consuming mana to influence you. Bar other sources of energy, Id assume it is consuming itself.
And until it has used itself up, my decision making ispromised? the Gamer wanted to know.
Medelnick shrugged. Assuming your description is the full extent of it, you should only find that certain reasoning is unnaturally motivated or suppressed.
John tapped his foot and thought about the implications of this new revtion, as did the rest of the room. I think that exins why my corruption bar didnt seem to move when that invisible Lorylim attacked me, he said. They were just refreshing what they had on me. Luckily, that appears to be very little. If I was a marite, theyd control a single string. Thats enough to tug me in a direction, but not more than that. He sighed. Not that that isnt bad enough. Undine, get in next.
Yes. The abysstide elemental had only waited for the call and was quickly scanned twice herself. Then Smander followed. The results were as expected. While Smander waspletely clear of corruption, some was still stuck to Undine. Less, however, than to John. That cant be right, Undine asserted. Unttering as it might have been, John tended to agree.
Get another Apothecary to tell you that. I read my instruments correctly. The amount of magic used up here is less, Medelnick dered.
John rubbed his chin. It could be the Lorylim just messing with us, he mumbled. We dont know if this is a conscious effort or one they just set. If its the former, its possible they just caught onto what we are doing and are now messing with things. Another logical exnation could be that they sacrificed a lot of the corruption on you to make you do something already, John made a sour expression, and I get the feeling I should know what that was, but I dont.
Another option was that the Mother of Water had been partly sessful, despite her deration that the cleaning hadnt been proper. John didnt like giving credit there, because of how painful it had been for his beloved slime girl, but the possibility had to be entertained.
I still dont know what to make of all of this, Rave chimed in. Should we be worried or what?
We should always be worried, but in this case, we need to just keep an eye on me and Undine, John said. The rest of you arentpromised. You just need to treat me like an idiot whenever its about something that might help me defeat the Lorylim. I would assume thats their primary angle.
So, I gotta treat ya like always, gotcha, Rave joked.
Pretty much. John grinned and crossed his arms. Their influence on us is limited. Thats the silver lining here. Problem is that this makes my job on a policy level a lot more difficult. He rubbed his temples. If there are people infected by Lorylim that dont even know theyre being influenced, there is basically no way to tell them apart from normal people and I can hardly put everyone out there through magical scans
This method wouldnt be effective for regr Abyssals anyway, Medelnick told him. Theyck your body.
Right John agreed and tried toe up with something to do about all of this.
How about ya up your resistance against this corruption stuff by doing the Corruption dungeon? Thats what thats for, right? Rave asked.
John blinked a couple of times.
Thats exactly what its for, yes, he responded.
Chapter 923 – Within and Without
Chapter 923 C Within and Without
John entered the Corruption dungeon with only Smander at his side. Knowing what was going on, Lydia had gone home and the rest of the harem just wouldnt be of use inside this dungeon. On the contrary, their presence was likely to make things more difficult, given that things scaled depending on group size. Since only John would directly benefit from a victory, theming along wouldnt serve anything. He also needed them to get back to work. Fusion wasnt in a crisis, but it was in a situation where it was beneficial to show people normalcy. He would have preferred to join in establishing the normalcy himself, but this situation was still the primary concern.
The reason why Smander stuck around, even though the rest of his elementals went after their duty to look after the Elemental Inds, was because she was the sole elemental that had both first-hand experience with corruption and hade out untainted. If all else failed, she would hopefully cut through the haze and get him to use the Escape Rope.
Now, what am I dealing with, John thought and looked at the entrance window.
Looks normal enough, at the moment, Smander remarked, as John dismissed the window. He could only agree. They found themselves inside the kind of corridor he would expect in an upper-ss apartment building. A light grey carpet and blue painted walls were illuminated by circr lights set into the ceiling above. All of them were simple but of high quality. What was missing were any sorts of doors or windows. It was just the corridor.
At the moment is probably the operative part of that statement, John said and got moving. Before and behind him was only the extension of the corridor. It wasnt as if he had much choice on the matter except to move in some direction. John chose forwards. Give me your hand.
Scared? Smander asked with a grin.
Cautious, John returned, feeling her hot fingers intertwine with his, and wanting for your presence.
Side by side, they advanced. At least they took steps that carried them forwards. It was difficult to discern how much he moved through the corridor with the stained, light grey carpet. Nothing ever seemed to change in it and nothing came into view in the distance.
Bored, Smander dragged a finger along the wall. It created a little sound, adding to the quiet of their footsteps. Two pairs of feet and the scratching on walls. John stopped and shook his head. When he focused his gaze again, the carpet was clean. Slow perception warping, he sighed. ssical thing for the corruption of minds.
Smander knocked on the silent walls. Tell me about it, she said.
You experienced it too? the Gamer asked.
Yeah, but thats not what I mean, stud, the apocalypse elemental retorted. I mean tell me about this indoctrination BS. Might as well keep your mind on it while we keep going.
John hummed in agreement and exined his understanding of the procedure as they advanced. Indoctrination is a generally slow process thates from someone feeding you a, usually deliberate, limited set of information and therefore warping your sense of reality. Repeated iteration of half-truths, initially, and lies,ter on, ensure that one is programmed to believe in an approved set of facts rather than reality. Traditionally, this happens by omitting redeeming qualities about the opposition. Their religion is entirely evil. Their policies can only end in catastrophe. Their culture leads to the breakdown of decency. Such and simr things. At the same time, ones own side is aggrandized and negative consequences left out. This creates a person thats less an individual and more an embodiment of a doctrine. The indoctrination is thereforeplete.
And why would anyone do that? Smander asked through ck, pointy teeth.
John took a slow breath and watched her reform to her usual shape. Individuality is often a bother for those in charge. A poption made of individuals is impossible to predict. A ruler wants to feel in control. They want to know that, if they move the levers of power, things that spreadsheets line out are the reliable oue. Making everyone as simr as possible maximizes that predictability. He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a couple of seconds, until Smanders tail whipped his butt.
Keep talking. Whats the process?
Easiest is to get to people through the education system, John mechanically formted his thoughts. However, it is actually surprisingly easy to nudge a society in a certain direction, given enough reach. Control the centres of information distribution and you can set the tone. Set the tone, echo it through enough sources, and moralistic individuals will repeat it. You nudge society in a direction, until the opposition gets whipped up just enough to get organized and then you stop. Then you wait. You defame everyone who is getting outraged about what you already did, since they clearly warn about things that will never happen. Then, when things are calm, you continue moving. Then you stop again. You repeat this, again and again. People dont like to be wrong, so they will keepmitting to the path.
They kept walking through the dirty corridor. Smanders trailing finger got stuck on a piece of the cheap wallpaper, partly tearing it off the concrete wall. Something tapped from the other side, but John ignored it. It had been there for a while.
The hand he was holding was d in metal. Smander having the bits of te armour that covered her arms and feet activated in abat zone was only logical. That her skin went hotter, as they trotted along, was only logical as well. The daughter of the war god had to be prepared tounch her mes at any who may oppose them at any moment.
They will keepmitting to the path he mumbled, feeling that he wasnt living up to that at the moment. Gravel crunched under his step. The light grey pebbles smelled of the ocean, of saltwater and rotting algae. The four walls of the corridor were beset with teeth, like a four segmented maw that would devour them and bring them to the promisednd C if only theymitted fully to feeding it.
The lights above changed with every step, until what had been lightbulbs were the shining centres ofrge, lidless eyes. They reminded John of a giant sea creature. They stared and illuminated his way. Expectations and the knowledge of what to do next. Unflinching, they judged him.
the path he mumbled again. Then abruptly stopped. A shiver went through the corridor. The Gamers mind stemmed against an umtion of walls inside his mind, barring him from forbidden thoughts. This is my mind, he growled at whatever forces were trying to recruit him for it. Slow or magical indoctrination, you can try to tug on me, but I decide what desires and knowledge controls me. OUT!
The entire corridor shivered and growled. Johns rejection of the corruption came toote for it not to have manifested already. The fish eyes, the teeth poking out of the ocean blue carpets, the gravel, it had all be as real as things inside an Instant Dungeon could be. A hellish stench rose from the direction they were headed.
Lets go! Smander shouted and turned around. She tried to fly, but found herself bound to the ground she already tread. She and John, both of them tried to hurry back the way they came from. An upwards slope and treading gravel, they fled from the teeth that now broke out of the walls and threatened to rip them apart C devour them by force if they werent going to offer themselves willingly.
The nt was so extreme John and Smander had to move on all fours. A tide of pebbles washed over them, made it nigh impossible to actually move forwards. A pained howl reached his ear as Smanders foot was skewered by one of the spikes.
Keep going! the apocalypse elemental growled at him when John stopped in his climbing efforts. Its just a dungeon.
I wont let you die even in just a dungeon, John dered and fired two st Rays at the spike. It shattered. Burying his feet as deep inside the gravel as he could, he grabbed Smander and threw her ahead. Then he pounced. Even with his superhuman abilities, half a metre was the best he could do, but it was enough to get him out of the immediate ugliness of the copsing corridor.
Ahead, Smander ripped the remaining shard out of her heel and extended her tail towards John. Pulling him forwards was a difficult endeavour, his weight pulling her back down the slope. Only by tearing into the wall did she get enough grip to move both of them up. It was yet another bit of distance that he put between himself and the teeth. Fuck, I love you, the apocalypse elemental shouted over the sound of an avnche of gravel.
Grey washed over them, battered them with a thousand tiny punches, served as their greatest obstacle while they kept retreating. The more they struggled forwards, the more the angry rush and foul smell faded. It went from nigh impossible to escape, to difficult and finally manageable, as even the slope of the corridor normalized. Before they truly knew what happened, they were crawling over solid ground and the only smell around was that slightly sweet fragrance of carpet cleaner.
We have to keep going, the Gamer stated.
Go where? Smander wanted to know. Because I bet you twenty-thousand tittyfucks that something just as bad is in the opposite direction.
Exactly. We have to find the bnce, John told her and shook his shirt to get the remaining pebbles out of it. The antidote to indoctrination is finding your centre. As time demands, you may sway to one side or another, but you always have a bnce to return to.
The two of them walked until the ground was even and the corridor was in the pristine condition they had originally found it in. There they stood and waited. This is kinda boring, Smander pointed out.
Yeah, the Gamer agreed, feeling the pull of both ends of the corridor. Now that he was acutely aware of the way this dungeon tried to mess with his thoughts, he knew how it maximized the human wish to explore. There was a certain torture, a horrible boredom, of standing somewhere that was just safe. Aspects of the human psyche demanded that he either discovered new things about his environment or at least saw to it that he developed his current situation in an advantageous way. Those desires were emphasized and they were stronger in John than the average person to start with. One did not start building their own nation without a lust for recognition and the unusual.
What John also had more than the average person was willpower. He crossed his arms, squared his feet and waited. He heard the sound of gravel approaching and backed off in one direction. The sound of whistling steam came from the other, and so he retraced his steps back again. Both horrible ends of the dungeon tried to get to him but neither seemed able to. Not as long as he stayed vignt, moved in ordance to what threatened him and kept himself under control.
Still, that didnt end the dungeon. Hmm, John thought and considered everything he knew so far. Then he raised his foot and used a Technique to kick the wall as intensely as he could. Concrete dust and chunks of wall fell to the floor, revealing a pitch-ck rat and a tunnelwork. John grabbed the monster before it could run away. It felt disgusting, like a jellyfish crossed with phlegm, but John held onto it anyway while Smander raised her hand and torched it.
Between the scratching and the destructibility of the walls, an unusual trait in Floor dungeons, he had known that something had to be hidden in them. That it was the only monster they had to y to make the dungeon disappear somewhat surprised him, however.
The window for the Corruption Resistance opened.
Chapter 924 – Uncompromising Himself
Chapter 924 C Upromising Himself
Thatll have to do then, John thought as he dismissed both windows. Following the acquisition of Corruption Resistance 2, he had immediately entered the next dungeon. That one had been more focused around the temptations of the flesh than the mind, which had made it a lot easier for John to resist. As horny as he was, he was also surrounded by the most beautiful women on the. Even if his appetite was endless, the willing buffet he could get on his own merits made it difficult to actuallypromise him in that regard.
It was the monopolization of things that John knew he had to be wary of. His desire to not share things and just decide things by himself, those were what he was most vulnerable to. Patience and cooperation were virtues he had to steadily remind himself to follow them. It only got harder the smarter and stronger he got. Listening to people who struggled to understand concepts he grasped instinctively and those he could kill by using only his little finger could get frustrating.
That frustration is how elitists are born, John thought and sighed. How much I would love to transcend those human ws. The second I think I do, I probably fall prey to them though. He scratched his scars, feeling the surface of his bones vibrating. The remaining Lorylim influence inside his body dying was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. It was like having a migraine in his arm.
He watched the Lorylim scar on his right arm. It looked a lot like a tattoo meant to show a shadow of his bones. There were four lines making up the entirety of the scar, running across the upper and underside of his lower arm. Each two joined at one side of his elbow. The entirety of those bones was affected by the pressing pain.
John kept an eye on the corruption bar and how it depleted. It moved at a moderate speed, like the loading bar for an oldputer game. A progress steady enough to follow but slow enough to be boring. Given the importance of the removed matter, the Gamer stayed vignt in his observation.
As the final slivers of the bar drained away, the crawling on his bones ebbed away and the scar changed. Like a chemical cocktail carefullybined to create a harmless chain reaction, the colour quickly switched from a bright red to a pure ck. Stealing my look, ey? Smander asked, watching the processe to its conclusion.
I guess so, John answered and conjured an Arc Lance. The spell hovered above his palm in the shape of a silver-white sphere. The Gamer wasnt interested in firing it, only in seeing whether or not his scars were identical to Smanders in all aspects. The answer was a clear yes. Just like Smanders ck lines turned golden when she channelled her fire magic through it, so did Johns turn silver when his mana travelled down his arm. The magic channels the presence of the Lorylim had upied showed their damage purely through that visual change. It definitely beats having my skin look like it was ploughed through by fish hooks, he thought and turned his attention deeper inwards.
Now cleansed of corruption, he tried to see what thoughts were no longer impeded. It was a difficult thing to test, given the fickleness and extraordinaryplexity of thoughts in a basic setting. That he found nothing in this test was a cause of relief rather than concern. As predicted, the grasp on his mind had been rather loose and removing it left him in the same state as before.
He pulled out his phone to write the conclusion of this affair into the harem chat. It felt odd to write such an important discovery into simple text, but he had to let everyone know. Just out of interest, Smander spoke up after he pressed the send button, what would you have done if Corruption Resistance had only given you resistance to new corruption?
I would have tried to stay out of as many important affairs as possible and delegated a lot of military and administrative obligations to people I can trust, John told her. Even now that might be a good idea. Lorylim seem to be able to stay in touch even with those they dont actively influence anymore, if Marathyu is anything to go by. The insane cksmith was just that, insane, driven so by the spore-spreading horrors. He was also clean, however; John had made as certain of that as one could.
John would have loved to know how Marathyu had cleansed himself, but getting a coherent story out of that man was strictly impossible. That also went to show whatever method he had used was ill-advised to apply on the wider public, in case of mass infection.
Ill have to consider if its worth reorganizing things for the moment, Ill go to my office, John said and looked expectantly at Smander. Youing along or?
Sure, Ill take the blowjob job. The apocalypse elemental grinned.
____________________________________________________________________________
No, thats just strictly impossible, John said, sitting in one of the many conference rooms of the Fusion Capitol. The room smelled of coffee and buttered bread, an incredibly pleasant mixture that shed vehemently with the gravity of the topic he was discussing. Scanning every single citizen of the Federation is logistically beyond our capabilities, not to mention that it goespletely against the values of Fusion.
What are those values worth if we all get wiped out? the leader of Project Shield pointed out. Next to him, the leader of the Wrath Party nodded. It was one of the many topics where the militarists agreed with thew-and-order party.
Those two were joined by the heads of the other eight major parties of Fusions current parliament and other influential political figures, such as Horace, in a meeting outside of the nned schedule. As the leadership of parties became more apparent and the number of people John had to actively negotiate with became confined to a few dozen people, backroom deals became easier. Even though the Gamer strived for transparency, there was no denying that it was more effective to discuss certain topics outside the public eye and the protocols ofw-making.
That being said, the party heads were all getting established but to John they were barely worth remembering. He knew who they were, his paranoia wouldnt let him rest unless he had a basic understanding of everyone with power, but they were all ideological voices. Rather than forging new paths or frameworks through which to interpret the reality they found themselves in, they all represented the one of their party. That wasnt a bad thing, that was their job as party head after all, but it made them rather dull in terms of personal interaction. They could have been any shape and nothing about them would have changed.
I continue to insist that we should mandate a monthly check of every person, the leader of Project Shield dered, tapping several times on a stack of paper. The fifty-five pages thick document outlined the draft of the Lorylim Defence Act that had been created while John was grinding. As per his ns, the Gamer had tried to stay out of it in order to show the legiture that they did have the power the constitution granted them. It was a gesture of goodwill and principle.
Now that the bill was getting ready to be passed, a backroom meeting had been called in order to make it fully agreeable. It wouldnt have been a good look on parliament if they couldnt get a defence bill passed and so they had to all agree on the oue of the discussion before it even started. Things like that werepletely normal in politics. Predetermining oues and discussing the exchange of favours, those were only the most basic games yed.
John had to engage in a lot of that because he didnt have any direct legiting powers. Still, this meeting hadnt been arranged by him. He had been requested to give the Presidents opinion on the final draft and discuss aspects of it.
I tell you that it is untenable, John returned. We wont agree on the moral issue here, so lets keep it purely pragmatic. Fusion does not have the administrative capacity and specialized expertise to check the entire poption for Lorylim infection every month. The best we could do is make it a voluntary check for which people have toe and seek out certain locations.
That would be a start, Project Shield agreed. We could take their names and countercheck them with the poption roster to see who is avoiding the voluntary checks. That would give us a good initial list.
Much of the room grew dissatisfied upon hearing that and the Fusion Libertarians were the first to put it into words, We are not putting our people on lists.
Lives are more important than a bit of privacy.
My life is worth very little if its not my own. Possessed by Lorylim or owned by an authoritarian state, makes fairly little difference to me.
Easy to say while your mind is not being liquified.
Gentlemen,dies. John knocked twice on the wooden table and instantly captured the attention of the room with his presence. He leaned back in the tall swivel chair and tried to exude an aura of rxation. Any subject of ruling would naturally get people heated, but he wanted to avoid things turning into a shouting match. Lets discuss realism before we lose ourselves in abstracts for the sake of morals. Such a counterchecked list wouldnt get us anywhere. Primarily because weck a proper way to identify any kind of infestation at the moment. For all we know, people who are infested coulde to get themselves checked but we dont find anything, making them thest we investigateter on. He made a dismissive gesture. It would be an intense waste of resources. He looked over to the leader of the Centralists. Please, lets resume the discussion.
The Centralists werent Fusionsrgest party, they werent even in the top five, but their name was reflected in their program. Having the most bnced manifesto of all parties made them the ideal mediator between the different ideas represented in the House of Commons. Hence, the Lorylim Defence Act they had put together was the one everyone agreed on enough to consider it for passing.
After a thankful nod, the Centralist representative raised his voice, I think I speak not only for my own party but the Fusion Libertarians, the Economists and the Individualists if I say that putting mandatory infestation checks in ce is not going to pass.
We maintain that these are only stopgap measures, the Wrath Party spoke out. Intensifying the check-ups on people migrating into areas with a poption density higher than 100 per Protected Space isnt going to find anyone. As you admitted, we dont have a reliable method of finding people whose infestation hasnt progressed past the mental stage yet.
The check-ups will allow us to investigate any oddity in their backgrounds, which is the best indicator we have at the moment, the Centralist returned. In order to be thorough with this, we have to limit the number of people we look into. That aside, the most important provision of this bill isnt the way we look into potential infected, its what we do in case an infestation breaks out. Picking up the paper, the Centralist waved it around. The creation of a nation-wide emergency n will hopefully prevent any infestation from spreading beyond local containment.
Itd be much better to prevent the infestation in the first ce.
Yes, but not at the cost of everyones freedom. The Lorylim are a threat older than any of us and they will probably outlive all of us. Thinking that we can just prevent them from ever affecting us is raw arrogance, the Centralist pointed out.
For what its worth, John chimed in, as I understand it, we can ease off on the measures as months ticks by. Normal hosts of the Lorylim sumb to madness or their influence with time, meaning that the number of bodies they have to infiltrate us with should decrease. It is the several thousand former Gestalt members which we have to be wary of. They are what makes Lorylim attacks so much more likely than what we should reasonably be afraid of.
Discussions continued for several hours.
Chapter 925 – Moralisation
Chapter 925 C Moralisation
Demoralisation was the first step of the Agitprop (Agitation and Propaganda) program originally employed by the Soviet Union. Its goal was, fundamentally, to program a generation of people to react positively to notions such as socialism and never get taught about the upsides of capitalist or western values. Utilizing the more forgiving nature of these western states, these ideologically contaminated people would then spread upwards through the institutions and subvert it from the inside. From the start of education to the demoralised person hitting the useful age, it took twenty years.
It was a strategy by which the Soviet Union had wanted to take over the United States without engaging in hot warfare. Arguably, its effects could still be felt to this day. Not that the USA hadnt used its own dirty propaganda tricks in its time. The woes and ideological battles of the mundane world were, however, not why John was thinking about Agitprop at the moment.
I need to keep the spirits high, he thought. Demoralisation was traditionally a guided effort, but there was no reason why stress or hopelessness couldnt create a particrly nihilistic outlook on the world which then propagated itself in society through continued pressure. In a way, the threat of the Lorylim was just as bad as the Lorylim themselves. People got crazy when they thought there was somethinging for them.
This natural demoralisation wouldnt stick for twenty years, but it could wreak havoc within society regardless. The good news was that, if things got too bad, humanity had a tendency of bouncing back through humour. When the ck death had ravaged across Europe, the humorous depictions of death skyrocketed in themon art. Times got tough and people got tougher.
Those people that survived.
Which was why John was thinking about ways to invert the Agitprop ideas. He had to moralize his people and elerate the building of amon identity. That way, he would hopefully be able to resist any copse of society.
Fusion was a house of cards he had glued together. People in Florida had incredibly little inmon with those in Little Marnd and both were incredibly civilizedpared to the downright terroristicpetition culture the Small Lake Pact had before John reformed them. It would take more than a couple of months to get over those differences.
With the looming Lorylim making everyone uneasy, it would only take a few unlucky gusts of wind to make the entire thing copse. It didnt even have to be the Lorylim themselves that attacked. Internal issues, natural catastrophes or a third-party invading all could make the mood boil over and cause Fusion to tear itself apart from the inside. Large powers rarely fell because of one issue alone.
As much as the Lorylim and associated dangers threatened to unravel the precariously arranged fabric of the Federation, it was also an opportunity. Standing up against an outside threat was the quickest way for any central authority to gain the trust of the people it lorded over. Failure was the death of Fusion, victory a leap towards consolidation. Rome had been forged by the veterans of the wars against Carthage. If confrontation was inevitable, then John had to arrange it so the old house of cards wouldnt copse but merely fall into a new order.
The four steps of Agitprop are demoralisation, destabilization, crisis and normalization, John thought. The opposite of that would be moralisation, stabilization, resistance and normalization. The final step has to be the same, I dont want to be stuck in a perpetual state of preparing for a new evil. Thats how I end up leading a military dictatorship.
Moralisation had to highlight the advantages of Fusion. It wasnt even necessary that the things he said were true, but because John respected his media adversaries and he had principles, he would stick to what was reality. I guess I need to increase my media presence.
Funny that you say that, Scarlett said, approaching the couch with a cup of iced coffee in hand. John was lying on his back, watching a movie on the tscreen. That was until Scarlett moved her naked body into the armchair next to him. From that point onwards, he was captured by her pink lips.
He had returned fromw drafting about an hour ago. They hade to a conclusion on the act and the final version would be sent to him via email over the course of the evening. He was as happy with it as he could be with a liberty impeding defence act. Since then, he had showered, gotten into an orgy, and been left behind by the rest of his harem who were now showering themselves. They were having lesbian fun in there, John could hear it, but he had been barred from entry by his girlfriend. Ladies time, she had called it.
Scarlett was the only one around because she hade in about five minutes ago from her own work. If John had still been busy with his girls, the chances that he would have in-depth thoughts about propaganda tactics rather than the perfection of their butts were rather low.
Two questions, John said. Since when do you drink iced coffee?
Since Im naked most of the time and dont feel like scorching my skin off, Scarlett responded.
Alright, and whats funny?
I was just having the same thought. You should go out there and put out all of your dirtyundry within the next week, the technomancer told him. My true identity, what your scar is, everything.
I was thinking more that I should espouse all of the good things about Fusion. John raised an eyebrow and sat upright to have the conversation eye to eye. Inverting the demoralisation that coulde from the Lorylim threat.
Scarlett mockingly blew air out of her nose. Of course, youd immediately lose yourself in theplicated long term. John, the current tense mood is an opportunity to depress everyone to the lowest point. As Machiavelli described, its best to get all cruelties done in one fell swoop and then distribute all of your benevolent actions across time. She ced both feet on the table. To put it in my jargon, a business that makes a moderate deficit every third year is less attractive than one that goes bankrupt every fifty. Dealing with repeated interruptions is poison to patience.
So, you suggest we drown them in bad news and then bombard them with everything thats good? John asked.
Exactly, Scarlett responded, cing her feet on the low table. As long as day to day things keep going normally, the outrage or annoyance will fade. Then we just continue as normal. You transition from the revtions to pointing out the advantages and get moralisation shit done. It will only look better after a week of awful news.
Its a bit risky, John rubbed his chin, we might create too much bad news all at once and undermine trust in the system.
Sure, but the alternative is that ites out when we do not control the narrative, Scarlett returned. My identity is a timebomb we set up ourselves and I guarantee you that we just got a few dozen new journalists looking into how Lorylim work. One of them will stumble over how Lorylim scars look on elementals and put two and two together while looking at some photos of you.
Right. John could only agree with that.
With the whole Gestalt debacle over, there would doubtlessly be researchers motivated to look into all of the facets of the topic. Usually, Lorylim were a thing the normal person didnt care about. Because the media ultimately sold a product, getting into information nobody cared about wasnt in their interest. Very few people in Ennd would care about a magazine describing volcanic activities, until one suddenly appeared in the middle of Wessex. Same was true for an eldritch horror that several generations of people didnt encounter.
Better to have a positively spun confession now than a negatively spun scandal in the middle of a moral upswing. He rubbed his forehead and went through the library of newsworks. I suppose I should break this in a neutralwork. If I go somewhere with softball questions, thatll just make me look worse. He sighed. I wished I could go to SSSN or CPDI with this. That would at least be fun.
You can after the initial reports, Scarlett suggested. As you say, you should up your media presence. Remind people who you are, Master, and dont let the scandal be what defines your public image. Acknowledge it, keep the story from being spun away from the narrative by reiterating the points in interviews, and we should be golden. She emptied her cup. You better fucking do this right; political instability is bad for business.
I dont have 250 Charisma to fail at some interviews, John joked. That aside, we dont have any overly dirtyundry. The perks of leading an honest life.
You should write a biography we can emergency publish at some point, Scarlett suggested and then a loud sound dominated the room.
John was confused about the pre-recorded, church-bell like sound for a moment. It came from the speakers of the television and repeated two more times, as per the program, before ebbing away. Once he realized what it was, he got up. That must be the first time the doorbell is more than decoration, he thought out loud and opened the Guild Hall menu.
A screen opened in front of him, showing the person that had just rung the doorbell. A woman with straight, ck hair, wearing a business outfit with a pencil skirt, looked, slightly taken aback, at the screen that opened in front of her. Because the Pce was part of the Guild Hall, certain game themed oddities were to be expected. John had adjusted the settings so she only saw a series of volume bars, while he could observe all of her.
Hello, John Newman here, the Gamer greeted in a friendly tone. May I ask who you are and what brings you to one of my front doors?
Im Ka Keens, reporter from the American Abyssal Weeklys women magazine, interview and podcasting, she introduced herself.
Usually, Aclysias reputation keeps the press from bothering me in my home John thought, already opening his mouth for the instinctive answer. Im sorry, but if you want to talk to me, please reach out to me through the official channels. While he wanted to increase his media presence, he didnt want to encourage anyone to bother him in the privacy of his castle.
He was already moving to close the window, not really interested in hearing whatever justification she may have had for being an exception, when she said something unexpected. With all due respect, Mister President, Im not here to talk to you. I want to talk to your girlfriend, Jane Hollmey. She doesnt have a publicly avable contact.
That was true and John furrowed his eyebrows. Could you inform me what you want to discuss with her?
Id be interested in writing an article about her. During the recent Gestalt situation, she was an impressive disy representing you in parliament. We at the AAW believe our female audience would really appreciate hearing more about and from her. She is doing a lot of good for the Federation, after all.
That could be interesting, John thought. No reason why I have to do the moralisation alone and Jane does deserve some recognition Wait a moment, Ill ask her if she is interested. The reporter nodded and John closed the window. You wouldnt happen to have anything to do with this?
Scarlett shook her head. Just a convenient coincidence. Anyway, Ill be listening through your phone. No need for me to get dressed.
Isnt that convenient for you, John hummed while he walked towards the shower rooms door. The moaning got louder and louder still when he opened the second door that separated the changing area from the actual bathing one. All of the girls were inside the jacuzzi, partly stacked on top of each other or underneath the surface. Scented candles were burning along the rim.
Oy, Johnny, I told ya itsdies hour, Raveined, looking over her shoulder. Her tone and expression made it clear that she was serious about that. Even with all of the perverted stuff going on in the background, there were doubtlessly serious topics to be discussed. Harem meetings are important for girls to get along when sharing a man, ya know?
I know, I know, John assured her. Its just that there is a reporter at the door that would like to speak to you.
To me? Raves expression shifted from mildly upset to confused.
She says she is from a womans magazine and would like to write an article about you. If you dont care, I can send her away or I can give her another time.
Hmmdies, ya fine if I check this out? Rave asked and got universal agreement from everyone around. Alright, Gnome, ya keep mediating, yeah?
Ill do my best. The autumn elemental shook her fists in a self-motivating gesture.
John and Rave left the bathroom behind. Can I ask what needs mediating?
Just Siena and Aclysia having a disagreement about where Siena leaves her chocte treats. Siena is a tease, Aclysia is being strict, ya know how it goes.
I do indeed, John agreed and didnt ask further about the matter. Every so often, he was pulled into these conflicts and rarely did he feel bothered by it. It was part and parcel of being part of a social group thisrge and multi-facetted. The harem making up among themselves smoothened out a lot of his day, though, so he was infinitely thankful that he had a girlfriend to take charge of his social life. Alright, Ill go tell her wereing. You get dressed.
Im already wearing my best suit, Rave said and grabbed a towel from one of the many shelves in the changing area. She quickly dried herself. The white towel travelled up her hairless legs and curves, transformed her healthily tanned body from a glistening to a simple work of art. Her nicely shaped thighs, her absolutely perfect bubble butt, her athletic waist and her decently sized chest all got the necessary attention. Once her almost impossibly wild and beautiful, bubblegum pink hair was freed of the majority of moisture, she was ready.
John just smiled and shrugged. As you say, he said and opened the doorbell camera again. Well be on our way. Ive unlocked the door. Feel free toe in and then enter the second room to the left. The ground level of the pce had a multitude of conference rooms and the one he had just pointed her at was good for a small gathering. He put on his suit.
Not gonnamit to being naked with me? Rave asked.
I dont want to send the wrong signals to the reporter, he told her.
Whatever suits ya.
This suit does suit me, John joked while they walked through the living room.
Rave rolled her eyes and then looked over to the redhead in the armchair. In passing, she said, Yo, Scarlett, swing your delicious bum into thedies meeting. I wanna cuddle ya and talk about things.
Things and stuff dont really interest me, the technomancer returned, by now on theptop that controlled the living rooms entertainment outlets. You have fun without me.
Rave stopped for a second. Seriously, I want you to be part of it, the Lightbearer spoke slowly. You can leave if it gets too tiresome for you, juste talk to us about things for a bit. Girls got to help each other sort girl things out, right?
After a couple of seconds still working on theputer, Scarlett sighed. Alright, I guess I got ten fucking minutes, she said and headed to the bath.
Wouldnt want to let her deal with the whole I kinda wanna be pregnant situation on her own, Rave exined to her boyfriend, who had figured out as much.
As much as he had his own, fairly strong, feelings on the matter, it was doubtlessly true that the nature between men and women in this situation were different. All the talks he had with them about those things were fulfilling in one way, those they had with their fellow haremettes in another. Theirplicated web of rtionships was its own house of cards. More resilient even than the Federations political system, that much John had no doubt about, but still reliant on everyone to stand strong in order to be fully functioning.
Im so happy I can share the mess of my life with you, John confessed, leading the way out the apartment door.
Rave suddenly grabbed his arm and pressed a long, loving kiss on his cheek. That might be my favourite way ya said I love you so far, she whispered into his ear. Stomach fluttering with happiness, he put an arm around her body.
Her naked skin felt fantastic beyond primitive arousal.
Chapter 926 – An icon for all to see
Chapter 926 C An icon for all to see
John opened the door for his girlfriend, who gave him a smile, a wink, and the view of her fantastic ass swinging seductively as she walked into the room. Following her quickly, he closed the door behind himself. The reporter was sitting on one of the many chairs. Like all of the rooms dedicated to meetings on this floor, the aesthetic was burgundy red, ebony and crystal ss. Since it was one of the smaller ones, it only contained one tall closet, a table, four chairs and a couch.
When Ka looked up and was greeted by a nude and clean Rave raising her hand and saying, Ya asked for me? the reporters first reaction was to blush and blink repeatedly for two seconds. The Lightbearer paid no mind to that, and sat down in the chair opposite to Ka. John made his way to the couch. Standing behind her would have given the meeting a needlessly aggressive air and he wasnt sure he could keep his hands to himself if he sat down next to his girlfriend. Dont be shy now, ya got this far, Rave teased.
Ka cleared her throat. Shyness is not the emotion Im feeling right now, she rified and reached over the table. Ka Keens, pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Shaking the offered hand, Rave said, Likewise.
If you dont mind, I would like to know why you decided toe naked, before we start with the actual business, the reporter ran a hand over her carefully styled hair, once she was seated again. Her eyes continued to look all over Raves upper body. It was the gesture of a woman that knew she was thoroughly outssed in the looks department and it was also the gesture of someone who wanted to look good in front of a person they admired. Rumour has it that you are rather exhibitionistic. Is that the reason?
Nah, the gorgeous pink-haired half-Asian waved off, I mean, I am exhibitionistic, but I aint getting off just because a reporter sees me. Ya visited me in my home and I didnt feel like putting clothes on for you. Shrugging, Rave added, A home is a womans ce to be free. Down with the yoke of clothing. Right, tiger?
Absolutely right, John responded with a grin. Sure, he was acting against that statement at the moment, with his suit pants and shirt covering most of him, but that was just a minor contradiction.
Not like I got anything to hide either. Rave smirked and leaned back.
Great confidence and great looks, yes, youre definitely icon material! Ka dered and got both Rave and John to raise an eyebrow. I guess I should start up slowly the American Abyssals Weekly is a newspaper founded about two months ago. Weve made it our goal to be Fusions most well-known, homegrown, dedicated and national newspaper.
John was aware of that much. Since founding the media arm of the executive branch of government, he had been getting regr updates and a registry of active newspanies. Most Abyssal informationworks operated globally and had outposts at several ces. They had arisen, for the most part, from organizations that sold non-specialized information on the Abyss Auction and had eventually grown to something that closely resembled their mundane counterparts.
However, these differing origins meant that most news organizations in the Abyss were globally oriented, reporting on outstanding developments anywhere in the world. This was the biggest difference to mundane news, which were generally focused around local affairs and added only the hottest topic of the globe. This reversal in nature also had some other effects, such as Abyssal news usuallying with a gimmick C such as being half news and half fucking hot catgirls C in order to make their reports stand out from the rest. They were also almost universally subscription based, since very few ces in the Abyss had the necessary centralization to fund a newswork.
Because of all of these factors, John was quite eager to see homeworks grow. He had been briefly considering a central televisionwork, but in the age of the inte, that seemed like investing into a dying genre. If he did create a centralized system, it would be something like YouTube.
Rave wasnt aware of any of that and just nodded. Okay, so ya want an interview because that would sell or what?
Yes, but also more than that. Are you aware of the two jobs of the press?
Ya mean informing people and being dirty smear merchants? Rave asked in a joking tone.
In the industry we call it editorializing, Ka responded with a littleugh. The press has to report facts, but it also has to decide which facts to present and in what way. Of course, that then enters the realm of opinion pieces.
Ya say ya have to, but do you? Do you really? Rave wanted to know.
To the same extent that police has to exist, yes, Ka stated. Think about it, what would happen to a nation that didnt enforce itsws through, as the word says, force? Another faction that is willing to apply violence wille along and supnt the current authority. Thats not me making a moral argument, thats just fact. To the same end, a nation that doesnt have a press that editorializes its content towards a narrative will eventually be invaded by a press that does put a spin on things. At that point the honest journalists will have to run a counternarrative, which is editorialization in and of itself. The best you can ever get, in terms of honesty, is a panel with a clear structure, separating truth and opinion.
Rave looked over to her boyfriend, who nodded. So far all of that sounded correct. A bit aggrandizing towards the press, but correct regardless. The media did wield the power to shape perception of reality and it was important for the cohesion of a nation that certain things were agreed on. Whether that was the holiness of the pope, the power of capitalism or the greatness of waffles, a nation was better off with a central narrative.
So ya want to shape Fusions culture? Rave asked, grasping onto these things much quicker than she would have a year ago. Saying his girlfriend had been a stupid person would have never been urate, but she had been quitecking in education about social structures. She made up for that by actually getting social interactions, something that John had a decisive deficit in before meeting her. They had learned quite a few things from each other.
We want to do our duty as the press and provide a hopeful ideal that the people of Fusion can strive towards, Ka put it in more propagandistic terms. Since Fusion is the creation of your boyfriend and you are involved in many phnthropic projects, it only makes sense that the ideal woman would be you. Im here, as a representative of the American Abyssals Weekly womens magazine, in order to ask for the opportunity that we may make you into an icon.
Youre aware she leads my harem of cute and sexy girls, yeah? John thought, but spared himself bringing up the point. All he would get would be confused nces. Both of these women had grown up in the Abyss, what was wrong or ridiculous about that state of affairs didnt even cross their minds. Granted, harems and particrly harems of his size werentmonce in the Abyss, but they were certainly more epted and regrly seen than they were in the human world.
So, youd make me the general role model for the women of Fusion? Rave asked.
That depends entirely on how often you want to appear in our magazine or other programs, Ka pointed out, conveniently skipping on the idea that Rave could go to other publishers. And we wouldnt try to advertise you as a role model. The goal isnt to convince people to follow the same path as you, the goal would be to make sure your way of life is appreciated. The former might follow from thetter, but its not what we aim at from the outset. Wed also like interviews with the other women of Johns harem, she respectfully nodded in his direction, and give them simr treatments. Our ruling family should be part of the cultural fabric of the Federation.
I guess I can see where youreing from Rave paused and hummed thoughtfully. Could ya leave the room for a bit, I wanna talk this over with my boyfriend.
Of course, Ka said with a wide smile, disying openly how pleased she was with herself to have gotten this far. Ill be waiting outside the door, if that works for you?
As long as ya close it. Rave said that as a joke, but to John that was an important detail. The room was properly soundproofed to a degree it took Eliza-level superhuman hearing to know what was happening inside. Once the reporter was outside, the Lightbearer took her round bubble butt off the seat of her chair and strutted over to John.
John weed her in hisp and held her tightly. Their lips found each other in a kiss thatsted for as long as it took his right hand to travel down her side and between her legs. Look at that, you really didnt get excited about being seen naked, he teased her.
I told ya, Rave returned.
Technically you told her. He used his head to point at the closed door.
Factually youre a smartass, brainiac, Rave returned swiftly. Exhib is a bonus to sex for me, its not something Id do on its own. I aint some creep in a trench coat.
You couldnt be a creep in a trench coat if you tried. Nobody would call the police because an incredibly sexy woman was going around showing her naked body to people. People only discriminate against male and ugly peoples nudeness.
Wanna bet that other women would call the cops on me, while only other men would call the cops on you? Rave asked.
Hmm, might just be ugly people nudeness then, John conceded. Anyway, the offer, do you want to take it?
I dont see a reason to not at least try it. Rave scratched him behind the ear. It felt incredible in ways his own fingers would never have managed to achieve. Compared to hers, his hands felt almost wooden in their movements. That was despite the Gamer knowing very well that his Agility was far above average. Im a public person, she continued, de-facto First Lady of Fusion, or whatever; I guess it makes sense to have at least somewhat of a media presence.
It definitely makes sense, yeah, John nodded, his lips almost touching the skin of her neck. Scarlett and I were talking about me upping my media presence earlier. Itd make sense for all of us to get a bit more public with our personas. She overstated the role of the media a bit, but it is true that news has an important role in shaping the culture. If Fusion is tost, we need a few topics everyone is involved in. Whether they like us or not, everyone has some interest in how and what we are doing. We rule over them, after all.
Would make sense for me to take the charge of us girls there. I was on your most popr interviews. She cheekily nibbled on his earlobe. I guarantee they were mostly watching for me, she whispered.
Well see if youre still that popr with clothes on and when Im not fucking you silly. John lightly pped her jiggly ass and she gave him a satisfying gasp in response. You should know that Scarlett and I want to drop a couple bombshells on the media over the weekend. Where my scares from and her true identity, for the most part.
Oh, that is finally happening? Rave asked and pulled back from his ear. With a move of her head, she made her pink mane fly over her shoulder as a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. Want me to get involved with that? Like, if I give an interview right now, I can drop a few teases here and there. If I then appear on some actual programs, Id probably be asked about that stuff too, ja?
You and your Ja, John giggled.
No mocking my speaking habits, we went over this!
And I never agreed to any of it, the Gamer pointed out. Anyway, thats all your call. If you want to try and be more public, youll doubtlessly get asked about things I do all the time. Thats just natural given the power dynamic between us two.
Ya mean the pinky and the brain? She tapped his forehead.
Johnughed out loud and his girlfriend quickly joined. Not because she wasughing at her own joke, presumably, but because she heard himugh. John could only assume that was the reason, as her jovial tones prolonged his own joy. Youve been keeping that one for a while, havent you?
Nope, all spontaneous Rave action, his girlfriend insisted. Anyway, I get it. Youre the president and Im well, Im the First Lady. Kinda hitched my wagon to yours there.
Were getting hitched, alright, John promised her. Just give it time.
We better. Rave grinned. Anyway, ya trust me, right?
Until the veryst star fades in the sky, John promised.
Didnt know tigers were known for eating corn, but there ya go, being corny like that. She tried to deliver that line as drily as possible, but the growing smile made that near impossible. Alright, Imma give Ka here an interview right now and well see whates of that. Youre going to start the bombshell releases today?
Ill talk more about our strategy with Scarlettter, so tomorrow at the earliest, John told her. We want to put out all the dirt and then do a bunch of nice things.
Good thing ya have me doing all of the nice girl work then, Rave told him. Im sure I can start some more beneficial projects with our private funds. Make for good PR, I get to do something productive and the people get happier. Everyone wins, right?
I always win around you, the Gamer said and they kissed again.
Chapter 927 – Media Releases
Chapter 927 C Media Releases
It hase to my attention recently that rumours are going around about my lover Scarlett Evelith truly being the secret head of the disbanded Thornepany. As a matter of rity, I must, at this point, admit that this is true. Scarletts real name is Scarlett Thorne and she has been kept secret from the world by her parents. She approached me, shortly after Inded in New York City, and helped me unify the city and the surrounding areas by feeding me intel and unifying my opposition together into an unprepared coalition. She also,ter, yed a supporting role in the joining agreement of the Amaca Coast, then American-Canadian-Trade, as you are likely aware due to her public appearance at that time.
I understand that many of you, particrly those that were once employed by Thorne, might be angry about this deceit. I wont apologize for the action taken. What we did was in the interest of preserving as many lives as possible. The best war is a swift war and a war can only be swift through overwhelming power, overwhelming cruelty or overwhelming precision. Acting with thest of these three is what I aim to do whenever possible.
I refuse to apologize and Im not ashamed of these deeds. They were necessary at the time. That time, however, has passed and rity is another thing I engage in whenever possible. Scarlett and I have been considering when toe out with this truth and now, in these difficult times Fusion faces, seems to be the best opportunity to be as honest with you, the people, as ever. With the uncertainty that pressures us from the outside, we must be able to trust our neighbours and our institutions. As the head of Fusion and Collide, I must lead by example and reveal all I can.
Due to this principle, I must alsoe clean about another thing. As many of you may have seen previously, I have a peculiar marking on my arm. This is not, as you many would understandably assume, a tattoo. In truth, it is a scar that I carry following an encounter with a Lorylim I had several months back. Due to the specifics of my Innate Ability, scars I sustain from their corruption appear simr to those that elementals develop. Smander and Undine have also had previous encounters in this fashion, although my fire elemental was never truly infected.
In light of the recent events with the overtaking of the Gestalt guilds, I was forced to discover that this scar made me minorlypromised. The Lorylim were able to influence my behaviour in minimal ways. I want to dissolve any panic that maye of this before it starts: all of my decisions, particrly the important ones, were always made after having discussions with people that were notpromised in the slightest. Whatever tiny ways they may have influenced the creation of the institutions, if they did at all, was counteracted by the influence of those I love and those you, the people, elected. An independent board is currently scanning through all passed bills that I was involved in for corrections. While they, almost guaranteed, wille back short on actual signs of corruption, Im sure they will at least find a number ofws and policies that could use streamlining. That will be a value on its own.
As for future developments, I can assure you that I found a way to rid myself of their influence. The way I did this is enabled by my Gamer powers and can, therefore, not be used by other people, sad as that is. This entire exercise gave me some idea on how the first foe operates and how to counteract them. As it stands, minor information as it might be, I can share with you all that red scars on elementals seemingly stand forsting influence, while ck scars mean it has burned out.
I know that all of this is a bit much to just release on a Sunday through a simple text. I will give further context and exnations over theing week, by appearing on numerous broadcasts and interviews.
Please be patient and remain calm. These secrets being out changes nothing about my dedication to creating a prosperous realm in North America.
_________________________________________________________________________
John had released that message yesterday, and since then he had been answering a steady cascade of emails. Fewest were from supportive individuals, who believed in John and what he did. As per usual, positive emotions were less likely to create an outspoken response. Few were from politicians, something he had ensured by sending them a release ahead of time and giving the more influential ones a call to clear up the air. A few of the less powerful officials still insisted on sending messages either because they felt slighted or because they hadnt read the original message. Many more of the emails were from disgruntled private people. To both them and the supportive individuals, John sent direct answers. It was important that he remained in touch with the people and that he was also perceived to remain in touch.
Most of the messages were from mediapanies that wanted to get all of the advertisement they could by having the quickest and most exclusive info about this development. John carefully picked who he went with there. From tomorrow onwards, he would appear on a vast span of programs.
For today, he got to read initial reaction articles. Generally, the mood was as expected. Nearly everyone was shocked to some degree, some carried water for him and provided possible exnations, others highlighted that this new information was a difficult to forgive breach of trust. John appreciated both narratives. He nned to appear on a semi-adversarial program first. The kind that disliked him enough to ask the tough questions but didnt properly hate him and wouldnt waste his time asking loaded ones.
The reason why he was dying things was so that Scarlett could go through her interviews. Scarlett being Scarlett, she had as much interest in public opinion as she could buy with it. In order for Johns image to be maintained, she had to go out there for at least a couple of interviews, however.
While he was still answering emails through Jack, the Gamer decided to take a little break and pull up another website. He had to pay fifty bucks just to ess one article. And this is exactly why we need the Token, John thought, shuddering at the absurd prices. Since theyre so interested in taking part in the cultural side of Fusion, maybe I could convince them to pick up the new coin early
The site he was visiting was the American Abyssals Weekly, specifically the womens segment. While he found the entry fee absurd, he was too interested and too rich to not pay it. The sites design was nothing special, the typical header with the category selection and the article in the main body. The release schedule had him somewhat confused. Given the weekly in the name, he had made understandable assumptions, but the online library had articles from all kinds of dates throughout the past seven days. He found the exnation in the sidebar, advertising the physical release of the magazine. He looked around a bit more. Out of sheer curiosity, he clicked on the beauty tips segment.
He had vaguely assumed that publications aimed at the Abyssal woman wouldnt have such a segment. Because of the near-permanent fitness, such things as diets had to have way less of a market. He waspletely right about that, but his limited experience with normal women clearly showed in the fact that he hadnt thought about more than that. While he didnt see a single article about diets, there was a whole slew about dress types, hairstyles, what kind of bracelets were in at the moment and how to otherwise improve ones skin.
Abyssal or mundane, women cared quite a bit about their looks. As a man, he very much cared about womens looks as well, so he supported the notion atrge, even if a lot of fashion seemed rather absurd to him. Never thought Id be reading a womans magazine, he said, while going to the article he had actuallye for. It was right at the top of the page. Didnt think I would do it because my girlfriend was being interviewed. He leaned back in his office chair and looked under the table. Definitely didnt think I would do it while that beautiful woman is sucking my dick.
There was a loud popping sound when Rave stopped sucking him off to answer. In the absence of her lips, both her hands wrapped around his lubricated shaft. Ya should have known that would happen from the moment we hooked up, she yfully scolded him. Im the best girl.
Yeah, you are, John groaned. You ready?
Ya know me, she purred in response, stretching out her tongue while the movements of her hands elerated. Within seconds, heavy spurts of cum sttered all over her pretty face and chest. Her previously messy visage turned defiled in the most erotic sense with his seed. She kept jerking him off, caught what she could with her wide-open mouth andpped thest drop from the tip of his dick when he was done. Giving him a bit of a show, she swirled the thick liquid around in her mouth, before swallowing it all with an audible moan. Her entire body was radiating the heat of her own orgasm.
John snapped his fingers. Are you horny?
Yessshhh, Rave gave a slurring answer when the phrase did its work and intensified her desires. His entire harem shared a set of hypnotic suggestions that went beyond the meagre two he had initially created. Through them, he could manipte them in all the ways they epted. Which, given their loving trust in him and the roles they had established in the bed room, was quite extensive. His favourite ones were those that got them in a specific sexual mood.
He snapped his fingers again. Are you my butt slut?
You cant just do that to meee, sheined, pressing her messy face into his groin and kissing his balls. Now I really need your big, hot dick in my ass. This buttplug wont do.
I dont think you answered my question. John hummed and snapped his fingers for the third time. Are you my butt slut?
Yes, Master, Im your butt slut, Rave gasped. The verbal response came entirely from her. When it came to the response of her body, however, that was programmed into themand. Predictably, it was about her getting into an extremely anal-preferring mood. Each time John repeated the phrase, that focus would be a bit stronger. She got hornier as well, but that was more of a side effect of making her think about sex. Please let me sit on your dick, tiger. I wanna kiss ya and cum my brains out!
If you want to kiss me, you have to clean yourself first, John reminded her.
I dont have that kind of patience right now, thanks to SOMEONE using their BS Innate Abilities inbination with hypnosis to give me a really potent case of sopping wet pussy. Rave licked up the side of his cock, unable to stay away from him even as she tried to yfully berate him. Ya find a girl thats already horny, make her a total nympho through a year of blowing her mind basically every day and then ya decide to also program her a bit. Totally unfair.
First off, you were the one that made the case for getting Harem Gamer, so you cant me me for getting even better with my sexual bullshit. Second off, you let yourself be programmed, thats how hypnosis works. Third off, all I did was ask, he snapped his fingers, are you horny? She gasped, her eyes bing ssy. He snapped his finger again. Are you my butt slut? Her hot breath on his cock was an incredible sensation. One final snap and a previously unused suggestion, Find your release.
Rave didnt need to hear that one twice. Barely had John backed off enough from the table so that she could crawl out that she was already standing. She turned around, the buttplug removed, and descended on hisp. It all happened so fast, he barely got to appreciate her ass before it jiggled from the heavy impact on his groin. Ample lube, an already stretched out sphincter and raw desire made that a quick affair.
Haaaaaaahnnnnn-Aaaah-yyyyeeeeeetiiigrrrr, Rave shouted a bunch of semi-sensical sybles while a massive squirt of pussy juice rained down on the stone floor and the padded confinement under his desk. It would have been a properly messy affair had she squirted hard enough to soil the actual surface of his workce. Everything else was in the confines of what the maids were expecting to clean at the end of his workday.
John put his arms around his thrashing and spasming girlfriend, holding her and kissing the back of her neck while her perception of the world was temporarily erased by the intensity of the experience. The find your release phrase made the recipient orgasm when they performed their next sexual action. The intensity of the orgasm depended on the amount of previously used suggestions as well. The nifty thing was that John had found that he could integrate an automatic spike in the Lovers Mark sensitivity increase into such things.
There were several release phrases that were meant to clear out any currently ongoing suggestions with one intensely rewarding orgasm. Find your release let them decide on what to do themselves, even if that action was almost always informed by previous suggestions. Work for your release meant they had to finish John, or someone else, off before they got their reward. Show your release caused them to take care of things in a nice solo action. Count from X to your release set it on a timer. More would be added as John had ideas. The beauty of hypnotism was that he was only limited by imagination and reception. With his crowd and abilities, reception wasnt much of an issue.
Calmed down? John asked when Raves body forcefully rxed and turned into a heavily breathing mess in his toned arms.
Ya know that I totally love ya? his girlfriend asked in a pleasure-drunk tone that reflected in her eyes. As was sometimes the case when she was feeling especially frisky, the pink lustre in her eyes had taken the consolidated shape of a heart. It was a bit of an odd disy, especially since it wasyered on top of her pupil and hid it. It looked like she was literally blinded by lust and love. ording to her, he had once asked her in a post-coitus cuddle, there was no actual change to her vision.
I do know Im the luckiest man alive, yes, John responded with a hum. Anyway, lets read that article, shall we? He moved back to the table, ignoring the wetness on the floor.
If ya want, Rave responded, softly gyrating her hips. Since he had to look over her shoulder to see the screen, she couldnt bounce on hisp. By Gaia, I love that dick C your dick, she whispered, an honest statement and one she emphasized to please him. When the things were to genuinely tter him, both of these things would best be true.
With or without any hypnoticmands, Rave visibly enjoyed all about her current situation. Covered with his cum, his dick up her rear and held in his firm embrace, John knew his girlfriend well enough to please her intense sex-drive. He could have snapped his fingers again and made a suggestion to intensify her arousal in any broad or specific way. Another are you my butt slut? question would have made her enjoy the current situation a whole lot more. A bit of rxed and lewd cuddling had its value though. Satisfying as they were, orgasms werent all sex was about, especially not between long-term lovers.
Well, Im happy to keep stretching out your tight bum, John whispered into her ear, then finally turned his attention to the article. A simple introduction preceded the proper interview.
On Saturday, I had the honour of speaking to Jane Rave Hollmey, the girlfriend of our President and founder of Fusion, John Newman. While I initially went there only to get her contact data, I was allowed a thirty-minute interview with her at that time. Miss Hollmey has assured me that she will soon have a public email for the requests of other journalists and I was obligated to remind everyone that she, John and their harem do not appreciate unannounced guests at their door. The audio of the interview is avable for our premium members.
Miss Hollmey, John snickered.
Do not call me that again or I might just suddenly turn fifty and get wrinkles.
Pretty sure youll look a lot like you do right now when you turn fifty, John said.
Ya know what I mean.
Indeed, I do, Miss Hollmey. He let out a slightly pained sound when she pinched his thigh. Mostly, he wasughing. As a non-premium member, John had to keep reading.
Ka: Alright, the tape is rolling, thank you for having me, Miss Hollmey.
Rave: Youre wee, but call me Rave. Miss Hollmey is my mom and Jane is reserved for my friends and lovers.
Ka: Rave it is, then. To those few who do not know who you are, would you introduce yourself?
Rave: Sure, Im Jane Hollmey, although almost everyone calls me Rave. Someone called me that because they kept finding me at such ces and it kinda stuck because my Innate Ability is light control and I like to make my fights shy. Im also the girlfriend of John. Main girlfriend, I guess I should say, for the readers who dont know how our harem is structured. I also engage in phnthropic endeavours on the side, like the Hudson Barriers public transportation system.
Ka: Id like to follow the harem aspect of this for a minute. Are you satisfied with your position as, what essentially is, a housewife?
Rave: Huh, I actually never thought of myself like that. Wouldnt say it really applies either. I dont do much in the household, thats mainly Aclysia and Beatrice. Taking thatbel out of the question, yeah, Im perfectly happy with my position in our rtionship. He has to go out into the bureaucratic paper mines and I get to stay home, chat with all of the harem, pursue my training and, ya know, just generally do what I want. Dont think Im missing out on anything by not having a proper job.
Ka: Yet you do a lot of actual work, as you hinted towards earlier.
Rave: I wouldnt say I do a lot of work. On a motivated day I spend eight hours getting some projects along. Generally, I just get balls rolling and funding secured, though. I find people that do the actual work.
Ka: Eight hours is a regr workday though.
Rave: I guess it is? Tiger [John] works eight hours minimum a day, so it doesnt really feel like that much.
Ka: If he works that much, you must not see him a lot.
Rave: Nah, me and the other girls see him plenty. Were closely tied into his work schedule. He has a lot of urges, ya know?
Ka: I think I understand, yes You seem to have a very sexual rtionship.
Rave: Were borderline sex-addicts in this household. One of the reasons why this harem arrangement works. It takes a particrly manly man, like my John, and a particrly awesome group of nymphos, like me and the other girls, to create a harem this great.
Ka: Do you mean great in terms of size or how it feels to be part of it?
Rave: Ja [Yes].
Ka: Hahaha, that is fair enough. I think it is of interest to the reader to mention here that you are currently naked.
Rave: Its my best suit, what can I say? Had it since my birthday.
Ka: You doubtlessly have nothing to hide. Before the interview, you mentioned you just didnt see a reason to wear clothes in your own home. Are you always naked at home?
Rave: Me, the other girls and John, yeah. We usually only get dressed when we have to go out. One should feelfortable enough in their own home to ditch the clothes. Thats one of many things I love about what John does, he wants to build a ce where everyone has a home thats their castle.
Ka: Although you dont have an official position, your status as the presidents girlfriend, your personal strength and your wealth does give you a fair amount of influence. Just recently we saw you taking Johns ce during a parliament meeting. Can we expect more political involvement from you in the future?
Rave: Honestly, Ill try to stay clear of politics where I can. For one, Im gonna be obviously biased towards my tiger [John] and I also just dont feel like sitting in conference rooms and bickering over what way is best to regte the length of candles or whatever. Im pretty happy using what influence I have for other specific projects.
Ka: Anything specific you have in mind, at this time?
Rave: Not confirming anything, but Id like to do some work outside of the Hudson Barrier. Obviously, the public transportation isnt quite finished yet, but it doesnt really need more of my attention to keep going. If we get our Mobile Barrier supply high enough, I think Id like some kind of ferry route that connects the Hudson Barrier to the North Lake state. Sure, people can use flights to get there faster, but I would like it if the Abyssal infrastructure wasnt entirely reliant on the real world. Ya never know when the mundane USA hits hard times and suddenly all their roads suck andmercial flights stop because there is someone invading the airspace or something. Also, a ferry route would probably look awesome. Also, also, just thought of that, maybe Abyssal engines will get good enough that we can have some sort of hyper speed ferry. Thatd be pretty rad.
Ka: It sounds like youre thinking about things both in terms of practicality and appearances.
Rave: I care a lot more about how things look than most of the other girls or John. Its a healthy bnce between all of us, ya know? Lets use together at a sensible middle.
Ka: Yes, I do understand that. Aside from such projects, how do you see yourself influencing Fusions future?
Rave: I dont quite know yet. Im currently considering getting a bit more involved with public life. Organizing events, attending gs, giving some more interviews, maybe starting a small modelling career, such things. Fusion is still finding its ce in the world as a growing guild and Ill ensure its the kind of ce I like.
Ka: And what kind of ce would that be?
Rave: Somewhere people can be themselves, is the most basic answer to that. Obviously there have to be some restrictions in order to maximize liberty, such as making sure that stronger Abyssals dont just bully the weaker ones into doing what they want them to. In general, I want people to all have the opportunity to do what they want to and I want to live in a ce where those that are best at something get plenty rewards for it.
Ka: Alright, our time is getting short. Id like to ask two more things.
Rave: Hit me.
Ka: First off, do you have any advice for our readers?
Rave: Assuming Im speaking to other girls here, this being a womens magazine and all, I think my specific rmendation for yall is to look in unexpected ces. This goes both for whatever dreams you may have and for what partner you may be looking for. In my case, I found the love of my life on total chance. It was way harder to fall for the guy back then too. Theres a lot of time, kisses, tears and blood between the nerd he was back then and the president you all know today. I spent and shed all of that with him. I get that not all of you are primarily looking for a man in your life, I wasnt either. It just worked out that way for me and Im really happy about that, but take that with you even if youre just looking for an opportunity to achieve something. It wonte unless youre willing to stick to something and invest a lot of time, kisses, tears and blood into it.
Ka: Alright, my final question then, is there any great motto you would like to share with our readers?
Rave: Live, learn and move on.
Ka: Well, that was a quicker answer than I expected, so I guess I get to ask a third question. Doesnt that sh with your outlook on emotional investment?
Rave: No? Live, learn and move on is about not letting the bad times shackle you. You will live through them, you will learn something from them, and you have to move on to achieve something more. Its the motto of my family.
Ka: As much as I would like to ask about that, our time is up now. Anything you would like to say at the end?
Rave: Hmmm, well, theres a lot of things I could say, but I think its better if John reveals them. Therell be a few things over theing week thatll be said, I think.
Post-release note: we havee to the conclusion that Miss Hollmey was talking about the public statement President John Newman released two hours after this article went public. You can find the coverage of our main sitehere.''
John ignored the hyperlink; he had read all he wanted to.
Chapter 928 – Impossible Approval
Chapter 928 C Impossible Approval
Im asking if this is a real poll, John put his question into explicit words. Walking up and down in his office, for once in his full suit, his movements were followed by an unhappy little sub that waspletely naked and looking forward to her multi-orgasmic blowjob duty. As it was, Eliza had to wait for John to put aside the stapled stack of show notes and the phone stuck between ear and shoulder. Do you know how high 92% approval is? Its an absurd number.
Absolutely absurd, the president of the mediapany agreed. If I was to task my team to fake a number, I would knock it down by at least 25%.
John kept looking through the notes and pacing up and down by the wall. He was moving towards the third day of steady media appearances. By a rough estimate, he had spent four of the past forty-eight hours in front of running cameras, another twelve getting ready to appear in front of those cameras and another two getting to the ces where those cameras stood. This current endeavour fell into the middle category as he was getting briefed about the structure of ate night show he was to appear on.
John hated that kind of program. Not necessarily because of the contents, that depended entirely on the skill and credibility of the host, but because of the structure. As a guest, he knew the amount of script that went into thosete-night episodes, even for the interview sections. The setting itself he found even worse. Sitting on the stage and being bombarded by show lights, having to keep everything within the narrow screen time, it just didnt work for him. Podcasts remained his favourite way to be interviewed, but they were time consuming.
Thanks to Jack, time was less of an issue for him. While he was out, engaging the media, his double allowed him to keep up on the bureaucratic side of things. His harem also contributed to his sess, in more ways than ever before.
Aclysia decided she would support him in the media endeavour. Cautiously, John had agreed and managed to talk Gnome into apanying the weaponized maid on her interviews. Charismatic and beautiful as Aclysia was, she had even more issues being nice to journalists than she had respecting the members of the political opposition. It would be very dangerous to send her to even minorly hostile papers. John feared she might show a bit too much of eitherponent of her yandere personality. Threatening the reporter with words or de were not parts of the image he wanted to cultivate. Her swooning about him was wee, however. Essentially, she was going to fuel a lot of fluff pieces. Harmless,rgely uninformative articles that served to make him look nice and rtable.
Undine and Siena had both agreed to try their hands at some media appearances. Particrly, they were going to utilize their music experiences to startposing a few things. They were going to start small, just direct a few eyes towards them, get a few entertainment magazines to pay attention to them and make a few interviews. If that seeded, they would keep upping the importance of their projects.
Although she refused outright to be interviewed in any fashion, Eliza pledged her support to Johns cause in the form of drawing things for his media office. Most of her previous art had been done by physical means, but she had adapted to the usage of digital tools within the day.
Rave pulled her weight, and then some. She had been to as many interviews as he had and managed to manoeuvre even the most hostile interviews with a rxed demeanour and charismatic attitude. If she was being treated nicely, she reciprocated; if she wasnt, her answers were filled with dry sarcasm. All of the hours bantering with him had taught her one or two things about how to dismantle the arguments of people that were trying to be smart with her. It helped that nobody that tried to get her in a linguistic trap was halfway as intelligent as John was.
Smander, Sylph, Nia, Metra, Scartlett, Beatrice and even Lydia supported them in the background in whatever capacity they could. Some more overt, such as Sylph steadily updating the public towards any new appearances through social media, and some more withdrawn, like Lydia sending John some of her media research. Most of his girls had made themselves avable for the media arm of the executive, making their gorgeous faces appear on all kinds of announcements.
All of it culminated in a steady stream of content with both high production value and the asional little mistake that prevented it from having that almost alien corporate look. The amount of art, music and clips that was produced was actually somewhat insane, in Johns opinion. He had always appreciated Undines musical talent, but he had thoroughly underestimated how quickly a good song could travel through social media. Especially when it came along a cover drawn by Eliza, who had spent most of the time not with John over the past months drawing and watching trash TV.
Even knowing all of that, 92% approval after he had revealed two secrets that had to be shocking for a lot of people was beyond stupendous. Can you tell me how this number came about then? the Gamer wanted to know, theatrically swinging around the notes. He should have been happy about this, but news that exceeded even the best-case scenario of his ns, in only three days since the release of the message no less, made him more nervous than anything else. If things went bad, he could at least try to iron things out or search for whoever was scheming against him. Everything going along more than perfectly made his paranoia scream that someone was scheming to get his hopes up and then take it all away C like a ck swordsman burning down the White House.
Who the fuck cares about your stupid ass numbers?! Eliza shouted impatiently. FUCK M-urhnnhhhnnggghh.
What was that? the president of the mediapany wanted to know.
Just my sweet little Eliza forgetting her ce, John said and tightened the grip he had on her throat. Lifting her up with one hand, he pressed the masochist against one of the many bookshelves that covered the offices walls. The folders within shook from the impact and Elizas mouth opened to pant with what little breath she could draw. Her hands wandered down to her pussy, but John red at her with hard eyes and shook his head. Clenching her fists, the short woman was left to delightfully suffer in silence. Back to the question, John continued as if nothing unusual was happening.
From his perspective, there really wasnt.
Ehem yes, the president cleared his throat and then continued, its an aggregate poll of all the ones taken since the start of the week. Some of them may be individually wed, but the aggregate is the closest we have to an urate representation of public opinion. Numbers are likely to change over the course of the week and the month, but for the short-term it should work well enough.
Maybe John said and handed the show notes to Beatrice. The passive maid was quietly working on the secretary table. Unlike the massive wooden thing John had, Beatrice had one with a translucent ss tabletop and simple metal legs. The entire purpose of it was to leave as much of her, or anyone else on secretary duty, avable for his gaze. Employing only members of his harem for such work allowed him to make workce policies that would have been otherwise extremely inappropriate.
Beatrice read through the pages for him, sending him what he needed to know through their mental connection. Meanwhile, his now empty hand moved to properly hold his phone. He had considered fingering Eliza, but it was more entertaining to watch her pussy drip. He let her take a quick breath, then pushed her back against the shelf with all the force necessary to block her windpipe.
To be perfectly honest, I dont put a lot of trust into polls, he said.
To be perfectly honest, we dont either. Polls usuallye out biased due to the way the pollsters go about assembling their data. Be that because they loaded the questions, they picked a biased sample of the poption or just messed with the results, the president responded. It was the kind of honest answer he could only get from the top of the totem pole. Normally briefings like this were a job for an organizer or the host. Given Johns importance, normally didnt apply. More often than not, these corporate suits used the opportunity to brief him to actually get to know him. High society was all about who one knew. An aggregate is usually pretty reliable though. Even if we assume this is way too high a number to be urate, we can, at the very least, say that the public is more positive towards you than not. Wouldnt you agree?
John didnt answer immediately. His mind was immediately drawn to a story he once heard about a well-meaning dictator. Charismatic and liked by the people, he swore to actually improve things for the people. He gave the orders but a dictator is only as powerful as the people who obey his demands and everyone around him conspired to keep things as they were. A poor poption is easier to control, after all, especially if there is a charismatic but na?ve guy at the top telling them that things will be better.
Whenever the dictator wanted to see the improvements his regime was making, the people would stick him in a car and drive him out to a city. It was clean, the buildings luxurious and the people happy. All of it was also entirely fake. The houses were empty props, nobody actually lived there, and the enthusiastic people were just actors. Because of security threats the dictator was never allowed to walk around and so he only saw the illusion of sess.
John didnt want to fall prey to an illusion. Sure, he answered regardless, just to move the conversation along. Ill wait for some additional polls toe out over theing days before I fully believe anything. Thatll roughly be my answer to the question apanying that data as well.
That works wonderfully for us, Mister President, the media leader said. Id also like to talk to you about the appearance of Undine and Siena during the band break. As I understand, both can hide themselves very well, so perhaps-
You should discuss that with them directly, John interrupted. Not because he was strictly against taking messages for them, but because there was a sudden knock at the door. While Beatrice went there, he moved to finish things in a friendly manner. Im certain I already sent you their recently created contact information.
You did indeed, but it would take a moment to reach them, Im sure. The president didnt seem to get the obvious signal. If you wouldnt mind, Mister President, Id really like to discuss all of the details with you, personally. Its guaranteed to be the highest rated show in my organizations history, if we n this thoroughly together.
Maybe, but Im not here to make your program a sess, John thought. He knew when he was being taken advantage of to increase the fame of an organization. Lending his name to such a cause was cheap, but now he was being asked to provide his brainpower to that end. Since the nice avenue hadnt worked, John decided to be a bit more direct. As ttering as that is, I have other things to do.
He nced over to the door, which Beatrice now fully opened. An unknown woman with white hair came walking in, wearing a suit that was clearly bought off a shelf and a nervous expression. Upon seeing John choking Eliza, that expression mixed with amusement. Bafflement would have been the usual reaction, but the Gamer had no doubt that his reputation had spread to whoever she was. He didnt even need Observe to tell him that this woman had a good reason to be there.
I see, the president sounded scorned with an intensity only rich businessmen who could leverage their influence to get what they wanted could be, given the lightness of Johns rebuttal. I hope this wont reflect negatively on your appearance on my program, Mister President.
Itll be as good as it can be, John responded simply. I wish you a good night. He gave the man a chance to respond, but nothing ever came. After confirming that the call had ended, John mumbled, Lots of people only have manners when things go their way. Then he turned towards the white-haired woman. Sorry for the odd wee, he nced at Eliza and the growing puddle under her dangling legs, and the mess. He had no intention of letting go. The lewd expression on the submissives face was too delightful.
No worries, youre known for stuff like that, the woman said, pulling at the sleeves of her suit. After clearing her throat, she added, Hope that didnt sound respectless or anything, your presidentness?
John will do. He tried to calm her with his rxed tone. Please, have a seat. With a simple gesture, he pointed at the chair Beatrice had fetched from a corner of the room. Once she sat, he got to business. So, Observe tells me youre here as a representative of the remaining small guilds on Fusions western border. Observe also told him that she was chosen because she was the best looking among them and there, apparently, was a rumour going around he was really into white hair. John could not refute that allegation, given the way he had created all of his Artificial Spirits.
Does it also tell you why I came here? the woman, named Janna, asked.
Its rather vague on that, John responded truthfully. Observe was, as so often, an imprecise tool. I wonder if there is a hidden dice that rolls how good the intel I get is he thought, while denying an offer of Beatrice to just tell him what had been briefly discussed at the door. That would have taken the fun out of the discussion. Having a talk with a good-looking woman while strangling a masochistic gorgeous one satisfied some base urge. What exactly can I do for you?
So, to put it simply she started and looked at him for a little while. John could see the way she was evaluating him. To what end, he wasnt quite sure. There was no overt sexual interest there. It was the kind of long stare one gave before making an important decision. Then she opened her mouth again.
we would like to join Fusion.
Chapter 929 – To a simple expansion
Chapter 929 C To a simple expansion
Ask me again, Siena instructed, after the movement of her bubble-covered hand stopped. Her right still rolled Johns balls in her palm. Her soft breasts still rubbed against his back. Her tail continued to slide all over his soaped-up body. Her voice was right by his ear. Did you not hear me? I told you to ask me again.
With a sigh between desperation, lust and exasperation, John did his best to snap his wet fingers and asked, Siena, are you my mistress?
Yes, I am, she purred into his ear and resumed the pumping motions of his aching cock. Slow, tight strikes up and down his hard meatpole kept him close to the point of no return. Do you crave release, hmm? Do you want me to stop edging you? Did you hope I would let you cum quicker when you told me that I had to work for my release? She giggled and suddenly the speed of her hand intensified. Cum for me, John. Cum all over the tiles!
John had expected more teasing, but felt only relief at this sudden development. It washed over him like the hot water of the suddenly turned-on shower. His cum shot out into the air, apanied by Sienas orgasmic cries and the steady wet sounds of her handjob. After several minutes of edging, the load and the bliss he felt were equally above average.
Why did I even make thatmand? he asked himself as his orgasm started to subside. The answer was obvious. Because he was apletionist. Since the hypnotic suggestion of are you my sex ve? existed, the counterpart needed to be made.
Despite hisints, it wasnt as if he actually disliked using themand. Getting the girls to be more dominant could be entertaining. With Siena, it changed fairly little. Already big on taking control and sadism, using themand on her only made her enjoy herself more, especially if it was paired with a reliefmand. Putting it on someone like Gnome was more interesting. Having the cuddle rock do her best to take charge of a situation was adorable in all the sexually charged ways.
What the fuck, Siena?! Eliza cried out, while thest drops of cum were wrung out of Johns cock and ran down the drain along the water that washed off the soap. You cant waste Johns seed like that, I fucking need that!
Its still not time for you to get pregnant, Siena responded.
Thats not the point, Shadow the Edgehog, it tastes fucking fantastic! Eliza continued herints. At least tell me when you make him cum next time so I can drink that shit!
That would be a reward he hasnt earned, Siena hummed.
Im about to im what I deserve, John growled warningly, done with being submissive for the day. If I had more time, Id push you against the wall and fuck your ass until you pass out.
We can try thatter, Sienaughed.
As for you, John stared at Eliza and then nodded towards the floor, if you want any of that cum, you know what to do.
Hmmheheehehehe Eliza stepped out from under her own shower and into the middle of the shower room. Soon she got down on all fours and started licking what she could find of his cum off the bathroom tiles. Thanks to Aclysias steady work, the Gamer had no doubt that the floor was as clean as the tes they ate from. Yesshhhh, the blood mage panted while the enchanted taste of his seed gave her a few light orgasms.
Watching the submissive degrade herself like that made John a whole lot happier. If they hadnt had somewhere to be, he would have walked over and fucked her round ass. As it was, he let Siena massage every inch of him until he was clean. That was another factor that tingled his dominant side. As much as she might have taken the lead in cleaning his dick, she was still giving him a service.
After Eliza hadpped up all the cum she could smell and all of them werepletely clean, they headed out into the living room.
Usually, the living room was a perfect example of a clean household. Aclysia wouldnt allow any ce he inhabited for a prolonged time fall into a state that could be described as even minorly disorganized. Today that cleanliness waspromised thanks to ayer of clothes that covered every avable surface.
Johns harem was assembled in the room. Most of them had already made their choice of attire for the evening. Fine dresses dominated the selection, with every girl showing as much skin as she thought appropriate. Notable exceptions to the trend were Scarlett, who stuck to her suit, and Smander, who wore a tight leather top and jeans. It gave the apocalypse elemental a biker tomboy look, even despite the long hair she had chosen to sport this evening.
The few that hadnt picked something to wear yet were only in their underwear (a trend Siena and Eliza mimicked). Because they were rich and because they all wanted to look good, it was all lingerie of the mostfortable and sexy variety. One of them also added garter belts and stocking to thatbination. It was Lydia, who was using her metal control powers to make pieces of metal fly into the dresses and then picking them up. They hovered over to the person currently being advised on what she should wear for the day.
Nia stood there and let herself be mustered by thebined gazes of everyone else. For a moment, John wanted to ask why they were trying to dress up the pariah when her natural dress was already beautiful. Then he had seen the pale-skinned blonde in her white lingerie and decided to keep his trap shut. It would be nice to see her outside the usual binary of dress and nude. The way the colourless panties stuck to her significantly improved backside made him doubly aware that they had no more time for sex.
He put on his suit and reminded everyone else of that fact, We should head out in ten minutes.
It appears Ill be spared ying the fashion doll, then, Lydia dered and stood up to pick out what she wanted from the harems collection. Because most of their clothes were enchanted to be form-fitting, anyone could wear almost anything. This led to the current sprawling disy of high-quality cloth lying around the ce.
Lydia quickly picked out one of Metras dresses. It was jet-ck silk and held up only by the tightness with which it clung to chest and midriff, leaving both almost visible. The pencil skirt was short, very short. If it rode up a few centimetres, everyone could have seen her panties. As it was, all one saw was the garter belt, a hand width of delicious thigh, and then the ck stockings.
You sure about this? John asked. There will be photographs. People at home willin that you dressed like a hooker.
That is the beauty of my current situation, my love, Lydia dered and threw her bra to the side. With the nature of her dress, its straps would have been in in view. Just when John had thought she couldnt look any better, he was reminded what a wonder unrestricted breasts were. If the noblesin, they go against their previous word. If they do so, I have every justification I need to cut them down in another duel. A quiet rattling came from the corner of the room where Strimata was resting against the wall. Let the people talk about my appearance, I got nothing to hide. She stemmed a hand into her hip.
Indeed, you dont, John said, giving the curvy queen a lecherous gaze. The internal affairs of Fusion had turned important enough that she could now appear on official events with him and it wouldnt be seen as beneath the leader of one of Divided Gates. Perception was all that was based on and only the reaction of the remaining world would show if it was true.
I like this one, what says the harem? Rave spoke up and John deliberately kept his eyes away. He didnt want to be spoiled on the looks until Nia wore it. While everyone gave their agreement, he instead watched Eliza wiggle her round butt into the confines of leather pants. A ck top and choker were soon added. With little time, the blood mage just picked what she usually went out in. They werent exactly festive clothes, but they were fine enough for the asion.
Siena also picked her usual dress. She and Smander were confined in their choices due to their tails. The skirt of her dress was slit twice at the front, allowing easy leg movements, and once at the back, parting above the base of her tail. That had the side effect of leaving her big, delicious bum in in view. Most of her tits were also visible, a sharp V-cut going all the way down to her navel. The strips of cloth that covered her breasts also wrapped around the back of her neck.
Looking good, Nia, Rave said approvingly and let John turn around.
It was a little bit odd to see Nia in a dress that wasnt white, but the sky blue harmonized perfectly with the colour of her eyes. Decorative ornaments, sparkling like tiny gemstones, covered the sides of her chest, midriff and waist. Simple strings over the shoulders kept all of it up. The skirt was shorter at the front, ending just above her knees, and longest at the back,ing at a point between her calves.
Do I look good? Nia asked John, twirling around once to show all of her.
Always, and especially today, the Gamer responded without missing a beat, getting a smile to bloom on her face. Then he nced over to the clock. As much as I would love to look at all of you, we have to get going. The host is thest person that should bete.
That wasnt entirely urate, in this specific case he had hired so many helpers that most of the evening could have happened without him, but it would still look odd if he came inte. With all of the impably dressed gorgeous women in tow, the Gamer moved to the teleporters and soon they all emerged over at the Fusion Capitol.
The teleporter was set inside the Dome of Power, the ce in the capitol where the upper house of Fusions federal government, the House of Exceptionals, held its sessions. It was a circr building in the neossical style that had also been used for the White House. In practice, this meant that there were a lot of roman-esque pirs and an impressive dome on top of it all, giving the building its name.
The corridors that connected therge hall in the centre with the offices that every member of the House of Exceptionals was given for their government work were empty. Not in the sense of decorations, the walls themselves were works of art and slowly being filled with artworks and podiums for statues. Simply, there was nobody but John and his harem inside it. The same could not be said for the za they walked out to.
The Dome of Power was located at the centre of the rectangr green strip that interrupted the ring shape of the proper Fusion Capitol building. Two walkways led from the dome to the tips of the capitol, but Johns attentiony with the za at the centre of the circle. Arge crowd filled it, buzzing around between stands and tables John walked towards without worry. The moment he was spotted, cheers broke out.
So, this is what 95% approval sounds like, John thought, taking his hand off Raves waist to wave at the people. The other hand still held onto Lydia. If the ruby-lipped queen attended the public event of a lesser power, she would have front row seats.
Two days had passed since John had been skeptical about his aggregated approval numbers. Since then, the only thing that could have made him believe in his poprity had happened: a sizable portion ofnd wanted to join Fusion of their own ord. They hade to him already agreeing on the minimum of Fusions constitutional demands, and with the worst elements of their localmunities either exiled or captured, to be handed over to the authorities after things were made official.
A sharp observer could have pointed out the obvious: that John had done nothing to get this oue. Since he had done nothing to create the situation, why should he get approval for it happening in the first ce? It was a valid chain of reasoning, but it didnt resonate properly with the human experience. Whether things went good or bad and whether or not they were involved at all, opinion on the leader always changed by the whims of the situation.
At this moment, the people of Fusion were on edge because they reportedly had an eldritch threat around them. However, things were going well, the economy was still flourishing, the government was taking measures that would let the people know they were being looked after (whether the measures worked or not was almost secondary), and nobody inside Fusion had died yet. The reveal of the secret information was what John had anticipated to crash his approval, but instead it had risen. After these recent developments dominating the news cycle, it had gone up a little bit more. It helped that he had decided to make arge event out of it. Seldom did one get the opportunity to celebrate peaceful expansion. That aside, Johns office wasnt the appropriate ce to decide such things. Both in terms of grandeur and because of legitive matters.
The absurdly high approval couldntst forever. Most approval polls asked the specific question if people were happy with the way he handled current ongoing situations. With nobody getting their head chomped off by Lorylim, approving of him was likely the default answer. The bad news was that concrete policies and time would wear that down. The good news was that going down from absurdly high approval meant he would still have very high approval.
I must inquire on which cloud you are currently hovering, Lydia asked, rubbing his back with gentle motions. They continued to walk until there was no longer stone under their feet but the thick cloth of the red carpet. It led them up a flight of stairs. This must stroke your pride immensely.
Its dangerously exhrating, the Gamer confessed and stopped at the top of the stairs. He turned around, looked down to the people that had a better life because of him. A saint would have been happy having aplished that. John Newman would have lied had he said that the apuse he got from simply waving at these people wasnt part of the reason why he continued. He wanted to do the right thing and he wanted the glory. I would say its cloud sixty-nine. He grinned at Lydia.
The queen rolled her eyes and pinched his buttocks. A joker as you always are, my love, she berated and nodded towards therge ss gate. Two guards stood there, waiting for their president to walk inside. Will you be able to peel yourself away from the adoring masses?
Just barely, he was.
Chapter 930 – Waiting for other guests
Chapter 930 C Waiting for other guests
The hall that opened up before John was evenrger than the room dedicated to the House of Commons and parliament. essible from both sides of the building and stretching so much that the curve was noticeable along its length, it was the singlergest room inside the capitol. On normal days, it served as the entrance hall, letting people see the growing splendour of Fusion and manned by receptionists who helped the people with the grievances that brought them to the heart of federal matters.
Like the outside of the building, the inside was dominated by white marble. A decorative fountain was located in the middle of the room. The water that sprung forth into the room flew several metres high. Rather than be confined in height like the offices in the building were, the entrance hall went all the way up to the roof. The presence of the two floors above the first one, on which they currently stood, was still felt in two sets of balconies curving along the walls. The extension of the second floor was smaller than that of the uppermost third one. Both were held up by pirs, helping the room to stay in line with the neossical style John had wanted.
There was a ground floor underneath them, which they had skipped out on by climbing the stairs attached to the outside of the building. Down there were all of the things that made the event run smoothly, but didnt look all that morous. Store rooms for the tables and decorations, kitchens to feed the mouths of bureaucrats and, today, fill the tabletops with luscious disys of food both to go and to eat while sitting. Other things were down there, such as the pump for the water fountain, a respectable number of offices, the water and electrical regtion, all of the things arge building needed to have somewhere.
Being the designated dwelling ce for the named guests for the day, therge hall was less filled than the outside. People had ample room to stand together in small groups and hold conversations in rtive privacy. At the moment, this led to the vast room feeling somewhat empty. John expected that to change, given the amount of people he had invited to this event.
Ill go get ready, Undine told him. Can you send Jack with me?
Sure, but why though? John wondered.
Ill have to undress and want to have the dress ready up here to put it back on, sheid out.
Ah, right. John wished she would peel out of the ck, cleavage happy thing for fun activities right here and then. However, as she was currently in her human appearance, that would have been a bit distracting. He gave her a goodbye kiss, then sent the Mand Sphere with her. After having one of the doors opened for her by the staff guarding it, Undine left the hall.
The Gamer looked around a bit more. He noticed much activity on the upper balconies. People were putting up their camera equipment, ready to film the events of the evening. Since room was plenty and the media world of the Abyss small, he had allowed anyone who filled out the official form to go up there. It would have a special charm to have the shaky camera of an individual holding their smartphone show angles of the event not found in widespread footage. It also served to better Johns image.
He was resigned to the fact that his current approval rating was unsustainable, but he was going to try to keep it as long as he could.
The lower balconyyer waspletely empty. Both could be reached through stairs by the walls and from corridors on the appropriate floor. John headed for neither, instead searching for any familiar faces. He found none, and decided he might as well eat something in that case. A lot of chatter would precede the official events.
On the way to the buffet, he took a short detour to drop Stirwin into the fountain. The hatchling sized light spirit hopped into the water, swimming around happily in the half-metre deep basin. You better be ready, John told the currently restricted mind, while giving Stirwin a little scratch between the eyes.
Ye, he got a simple mental answer back.
John then headed to a nearby table and sat down. Dibs, Metra dered, quickly grabbing the nearest chair and pushing it even closer to him. Wordlessly, Aclysia took the other side. Beatrice was fast enough to grab for herself the third best spot, standing behind his backrest.
The maids, as was usual, wore identical dresses. Elegant was the theme for today and the flowing silk of symmetrical, swirling ck and white patterns certainly embodied it. Both retained the long gloves of their regr maid uniforms, with Fusions simplified emblem on the upper border, just below the shoulder. Their long skirts were slit on only one side, sacrificing some of ease of movement in favour for making the view of their thighs, the stocking and garter belts included, that little more exclusive. Metras dress was almost identical, being part of the same work order. The differing factor was not skirt length, the exhibitionistic First of Wrath had decided to go with a long skirt for once, but in the colour. Silver and gold, rather than ck and white, made up the patterns. All three were wearing ck chokers. It was bing a bit of a trend among the more sexually submissive elements of the harem.
If I may choose your food, Master? Aclysia asked, and John granted it to her with a smile. It was a barely veiled request to feed him and being doted on by the three women only increased the sess-high he was on at the moment. After they were done here today, John knew that he would take everyone willing to the Sex Dungeon and probably stay active there well into the morning. Victory on the diplomatic battlefield thrilled him almost as much as Metra got excited on the warpath. Honestly, victories in general did it for both of them, but John was turned off by the loss of life and Metra by the length of dry discussions.
That wasnt an issue today and the First of Wrath inched closer, while Aclysia grabbed one of the many avable tes and loaded it with food. Fish, pork, beef, peas, and a ss of milk all appeared in front of John while Metra nuzzled against his side. Themon theme of all meals was protein. Aclysia knew very well what ecstasy awaited her tonight and prepared his body ordingly. Beatrice rubbed his shoulders with a soft massage. Metra came even closer, grabbed one of his hands and directed it towards her thigh.
The invitation was obvious. John felt his brain roll a Wisdom check and the diended in a state of failure. His hand slid into the gap of her skirt. Travelled up her defined, right thigh. Arrived at her groin. Pushed into her panties. Two fingers curved into her damp twat and she let out a lustful coo while he fingered her.
He knew he shouldnt be doing it. With the cameras being set up above and the semi-public setting, the only guard he had against his actions being noticed was how close they sat together at the table. It, the tablecloth, the chairs and their bodies were all that obstructed the view. It would have been a scandal, a minor one but a scandal regardless, if his debaucheries reached this level. Everyone knew and, for the most part, epted that he was having sex between every meeting and him getting serviced during office work was an open secret. At least during public events, he had stayed clear, however.
Metra moaned a little bit louder, not caring in the slightest about that boundary. Shut up, ve, he mentally chided her. Her jaw did shut, but a renewed sound of lust reverberated inside her throat. It was just quiet enough that John let it pass, while he increased the speed at which his fingers moved. And keep your hands to yourself, he gave another instruction when Metra was about to grab his crotch. He was feeling risky, but getting a handjob would have taken it too far.
Soon, he had rubbed Metra to simple orgasms. The ancient weapon spasmed lightly in her chair, rubbing her legs together and letting out a mixture ofughter and groans. He followed every intense breath she took and let go, while wolfing down what Aclysia fed him. The maids never stopped in their service. What their Master wanted to do in public, he got to do.
It was incredibly tempting to continue and see just how far he could take things without getting discovered. The second Wisdom check, however,nded high enough and he stopped there. Being caught was one reason not to continue any further, the other that the cleaning enchantments of the dress could only work so fast. One issue of being transcended above even sex gods and being surrounded by a harem of gorgeous superhuman women was that the amount of leakage involved created a lot of evidence of recent ongoings.
Best to keep things at moisture levels the panties can absorb, the Gamer thought, trying to useically drynguage to distract himself from his boner. Source of Satisfaction had to kick in and reduce his Libido again every second now. Snatching a piece of salmon off the fork and raising it to his mouth, John had another question. Howe nobody stopped me?
There were at least a few women in his harem reasonable enough to stop him, and if that failsafe wasnt avable, Stirwin at least had an eye on him. The answer was found in the people that had stayed at the table with him. The ever-hungry Eliza, babbling Sylph, approvingly winking Rave, and silent Nia, those were all that were still around. Everyone else must have decided they werent hungry and walked away from the table.
That, more than the threat of the scandal, made John scold himself, Pay attention to your women, you horn dog. It waspletely eptable for them to go somewhere else, having a conversation with over a dozen people at the same time was impossible, but there was no excuse for him not knowing what they were doing.
Part of maintaining a healthy harem was letting everyone know and feel that they were loved. His superhuman Charisma let him take shortcuts that regr men couldnt, with the internal synergies between the girls and his ability to also fulfil them sexually doing the rest. For longsting rtionships, orgasms were a healthy addition to a strong emotional foundation, in Johns view. Therefore, the worst thing he could ever do was to give any of his girls the impression they were being ignored. It was doubtful that was the case here, but letting small things slide could lead to big things falling into ce.
He wiped his hand off with a handkerchief from his inventory and made a mental note to either initiate a wholesome, non-lewd hug pile in the near future or have a series of individual cuddles. For now, he just ate and cuddled who was around him. He also groped their butts a bit while he was at it. That minor disy of public lewdness, at least, he had normalized.
As for why Stirwin hadnt intervened, the crocodile hatchling was too distracted swimming in circles.
It zeems I have arrived quite early, a thick French ent suddenly hit his ears and John turned his neck to see a woman approaching. Her ck hair wasbed orderly and held in an unequal parting by a gem-encrusted barrette. Under her dark blue dress, covered in white and silver ornaments, was a nicely bnced body. It was almost as beautiful as her face, out of which dark eyes gazed at him with intelligence and a hint of aristocratic snob. Her putting her nose that high was a shame for how cute it looked. Zhis g is a well-looking affair, mypliments, John.
Thanks, Marie, the Gamer said and he meant it. Every nice word she gave had to be encouraged. Although his investment into her bettering herself had, unsurprisingly, dropped after their mutual agreement that she could never function as part of his harem, he still had some appreciation for her. Not as a potential lover, not even as a friend, but as a close acquaintance. He still saw her every now and again to let her chronicle his deeds, as was her original reason foring to Fusion as an ambassador, and during those meetings they talked about this and that. John didnt let the distance between them grow too short, however. For one, because he had been interested in her once and he could easily be again and, more importantly, because of her close affiliation with the Horned Rat.
Both of these influences on their light rtionship sat in the air. One came in the way the harem casually nced at her. They didnt bother to intervene in their conversation, not even Metra, who had previously shed with Marie. As she was no longer a prospective member of their lover-based clique, nobody but John had any investment in her. Perhaps Lydia had a few things to say to the Frenchwoman, regardingments about Lydias then lesser beauty, but the queen wasnt around. The second factor was physically manifest in a rat-person standing right next to Marie.
I see you brought someone else? John asked and mustered the skaven male more closely. Having run a few dungeons filled with rat-people, John knew the differences between the sexes close enough to make that judgement from the way his face was shaped. It was a bit difficult, as he was admittedly on the cute side of things. Light brown fur, almost white around the chin, with big round ears and dark round eyes. The ck whiskers quivered as the skaven sniffed, an almost steady motion, making his light pink nose and the tall top hat he wore tremble.
As for the rest of the body, only the skaven-typical wed hands, feet and the long rats tail were visible. Everything else of his surprisingly straight body was covered under robes, which in turn were covered in tacked on parchment. In a very unorthodox method of paper transportation, the skaven had a bag full of it dangling on a stick that he carried with him.
Can you introduce us? John continued his question.
I was nning to, Marie confirmed and pointed elegantly at herpanion. This is the Hobomice, a wandering scribe of the Horned Rat. Zhe god of future cmity decided zhat he wanted him to represent the skaven at this dinner, as he himself is unable toe today.
Shame, John said and he meant that as well. He and the Horned Rat had much to discuss, best in person, regarding the Remus situation. Only lightly joking, he turned his eyes towards the neer. Am I supposed to believe this Hobomice isnt the Horned Rat in disguise?
Big Horned One Said You Would Say That, Yes, Yes, the Hobomice spoke in a peculiar fashion. Every word was carefully and wholly pronounced, removing any potential of misunderstanding. It gave the words a bit of a hacked feeling, as if each of them was the first in a sentence, but it wasnt overly distracting. There was also the typical skaven-speech pattern. Said, Said To Show You This Image, He Did, Did. The Hobomice reached into his bag and pulled out a miraculously uncrumpled, piece of paper.
Written With His Talon He Has That, That, the Hobomice made clear. Talon Of A Cruel Bird, Terrible Being. With sses, Yes, Yes!
John just nodded, not trying to decipher what all of that meant. Well, youre wee to partake in the feast.
Ooohhh, Free Food, Will Do, Do! Chronicle All The Tastes I Will, Will!
The Hobomice wandered off.
Chapter 931 – A short talk with Maximillian
Chapter 931 C A short talk with Maximillian
Shut the hell up, buddy, Johnughed. That did not happen.
No, Im serious, Maximillian responded while spreading some butter on his bagel. I went to the Gobbo Nation and checked out the Great Sex Arena and requested to be the only man in a public orgy.
Who would invite you to an orgy? the Gamer poked friendly fun at his buddy.
A bunch of green-skins with big tits and standing at dick sucking height, he said swiftly. To name only the easiest crowd to be swayed by my sheer masculinity. More surprised that you didnt ask about the Great Sex Arena.
I know the Nympholympics are a thing, so the fact that there is an arena for something like it doesnt surprise me whatsoever, John stated and leaned back into the fantastic cushion of Smanders bosom. Being a much greater boob enthusiast than he was, Maximillian had already done as much with his single date for tonight. She was the same elf, with the giant tits, that John had met before. It was fairly obvious they were only together for the lust of it. Ive actually been asked if I wanted to participate. Didnt you watch my interview with Worlina?
Believe it or not, but Im not interested in watching porn with you in it.
There is a sizable interview section thats mostly safe for work.
Believe it or not, but Im not interested in listening to your smug baritone for more than I have to, Maximillian immediately switched to the next excuse. Worlina is a fucking great dicksucker though.
I guess so, John kept his answer brief, out of a mild feeling of difort. That the former king had also slept with the goblin interviewer was pretty unsurprising. Worlina was a slut in every sense of the word and promiscuity may as well have been her middle name. With her as with all other women John only had flings with, he preferred to know as little about their other partners as was possible.
Much like Johns aversion towards fucking his women in front of other people, even his friends, Maximillian chipped away at this barrier. Are you not going to give me another lecture about how her blowjob skills are only a six out of ten, like you did for asses?
If I did, I couldnt prove it, John tried to steer away from the topic of Worlina. I can show you the butts of my women and then we can agree what is and isnt fantastic. Im not about to let you test my ims that Nia gives way better head. Normally, his prime example would be Lydia, but given the former rtionship status of the two, that was another slightly awkward line for John.
Yeah, I wouldnt ask for it either, Maximillian made clear with a dismissive wave. Your women are your women C a slutty goblin is a slutty goblin. They seem to have one of the most sexual cultures on earth anyway.
Which is pretty interesting to me, to be honest, the Gamer followed another non-Worlina route. Goblin society is a fever dream. The men cravebat and business, the women crave sex and business. The men go out and be mercenaries, the women be prostitutes. Somehow that works out for all of them, and when they decide to settle down, theyre just loyal to each other. Unless there is some written agreement that they can see other partners or something.
And they still only have children with each other in those situations, Maximillian added, while pouring himself a ss of the many offered juices. Not that it matters much, female goblins only give birth to goblins, apparently.
If you tried to build a human nation on mercenaries and the prostitution of young women, that thing would go up in mes in less than ten years, John put his thoughts out.
Totally. What would you rate Worlinas blowjobs, though, honestly speaking? The grin with which the skilled actor ended his sentence clued John in that he was doing this very deliberately.
Sighing, the Gamer just pushed his hesitation to the side and answered, Seven out of ten sounds about right? Honestly, blowjobs areplicated, so I have no idea how to properly rate those. Dedication, technique, deepthroating, texture, tongue usage, all of those are important.
Tongue usage is a lot of fucking fun, Smander agreed and stretched hers out until she almost licked her cleavage, only for it to quickly slither back into her mouth.
What are the odds I could find an elemental like you if I learned fire magic, Smander? Maximillian wanted to know.
Honestly, pretty high, the apocalypse elemental responded and squeezed Johns shoulders. Us elementals that are contracted to this guy are pretty quintessential representations of the average spirits of our respective domain. Stirwin is probably the most unusual out of all of us and thats saying a lot.
Youre using quite big words there, Smander, John mocked lightly.
Her tail hit the side of his leg with a warning p. Fuck you, youve seen my Stats! Im smart, Im just not wise! She turned her unequal eyes, one ck as coal, the other red and orange in a dark sclera, to Maximillian. Anyway, chances are that you could get a fire elemental that has big tits and an attitude half as awesome as mine. No guarantees on the tongue though.
With your luck, youll probably get an elemental as unusual as Hawpler though, John pointed at the gravity elemental. The sapient ck hole was in the process of eating spaghetti, which was a hrious sight. The entire mass of noodles and sauce were swirling around the ck sphere, slowly getting pulled underneath the light-eating surface. Because of the selective pull the magical being enacted, all of that happened without any mess getting spluttered over the polished floor. That is, if you even seed in learning enough fire magic to allow a contract to happen.
I might as well try, Maximillian said. Not bing one with Hawpler is leaving me a bit weaker, but it also gives me ess to a few different opportunities.
John nodded. Melding with an elemental left one as a much stronger entity, as the power of two was consolidated under one mind and in one body. However, in doing so, a couple of things were lost. The elementals lost their immortality, that which made them return to their respective nes whenever they were without a summoner. That they were willing to pay that price still struck John as odd, but elementals were, just like goblins, only human-adjacent. There was more than enough ovep between the two groups to get along, but there were pronounced differences as well.
For humans, the fact that they became half elementals meant that they could not contract any new ones. Elementals could not summon other elementals and that rule stuck.
Wouldnt it be smarter to try and learn water magic though? the Gamer asked. There was much about magic that wasnt deciphered yet, but a popr model of categorizing the Innate Abilities of people was the soul-type model. ording to this, there were eight types of souls. The four basic ones (water, fire, earth and wind), two basic mixtures (light being made from fire and wind, and shadow being made from water and earth) as well as the two oddities, being the life soul type (such as Eliza and her blood magic) and the empty soul (encapsting pariahs, such as Nia).
This model had its obvious ws. The life soul type was a muddled mess of things nobody quite understood yet, having only the maniption of biological matter inmon. nt magic was more expected in the water and earth category, yet it was bunched up with blood, bone and germ magic. This wasnt due to a philosophers musings about what belonged to which category, but because people had observed that it was much easier for someone who knew how to manipte their own flesh to stimte the growth of nts than it was for someone who knew how to move water. The observation was sound, but clearly iplete.
John personally theorized that the life types were, in reality, connected via the convoluted mess of all elements that was necessary to create life. nts were easily thought of as needing only water and soil, but the correct level of heat, light, shadow and wind all yed into their health as well. Simrly, people might have thought of blood as a thing mostly rted to water and fire, given its liquid status and warmth, but given its job of carrying oxygen and nutrients, things were obviously moreplicated.
The biological connection was merely an outgrowth from there, so John thought. He wasnt a schr in the field and had only done shallow research in the matter. At the moment, he was a lot more interested in devouring more works on political philosophy. Those were a lot more applicable to his current path in life, albeit that might change in the future.
Another obvious w in this eight-type model was that it didnt include people with a talent for the arcane or martial arts. A natural ability to pick either of these non-elemental categories of magic up was not widely agreed on to be an Innate Ability. For martial arts, the argument was that it couldnt be an Innate Ability because it often came along with elemental talent. To this point, John could only shake his head. Elemental Innate Abilities mixed to create an easily identified result. Mixing martial arts with elemental magic could have devastating effects as well, as Rave regrly demonstrated. It just wasnt understood within the traditionally used categories.
Arcane magic on the other hand was a point of widespread argument. Many argued that arcane magic was just raw mana and the Innate Ability was therefore just a reflection of naturally more developed magic circuits. Being that this was a physical state, it had to be counted outside the soul types model. Others argued that the potential for arcane magic was an Innate Ability every human possessed, to differing degrees. The most Innate Ability, one could say.
Those problems with the eight soul types model and humanitys still fledgeling understanding of magic aside, it was at least pretty clear when it came to the six elemental types. As the model clearlyid out, shadow was adjacent to water and earth. I get that Gnome is not your type, but I think you could work with a slime girl of your own.
That does sound like a good idea Maximillian hummed and looked up to his date. What do you think?
Whatever sounds good to you, the elf answered with a carefree smile.
John didnt like that expression. It was all too obvious that this woman wasnt invested in Maximillians future and therefore couldnt give a damn what he spent his effort on. The gravity mage hummed with an empty face and turned away from his date. Yeah, those two arent going tost a lot longer, the Gamer thought, feeling even more appreciative of his harem than usual. All their bantering, berating and even the devotion were signs that they cared. When Aclysia told him that she trusted his judgement, her smile would never have been so devoid of investment.
Why not both? Rave, stepping up to the table, suggested. Come on, ya just got out of Hollywood. Not like ya dont have time to spare. Try the triple elementalbo!
Hmmm, Maximillian rubbed his chin, I guess I could but I also dont know if this is wise regarding my future ns.
John nced at the date, considered being respectful, but decided that it wasnt going to matter. You mean the bit where you want to have just one partner when you are actually married?
That was how I aim to live my life, yes, Maximillian fingers moved further to scratch his neck. At least I wanted to carefully consider whether this polyamory is sustainable in a rtionship. Not everyone can or wants to live like you.
John nced over to a certain French woman. No need to tell me. His gaze returned to Maximillian and he grinned. If you were me, you could also consider just marrying the elementals. I have my ways to get them pregnant.
Yes, yes, no need to lord your superiority over the rest of us superhumans. Maximillian waved a number of times. I am seriously thinking about practicing other elements, regardless of what spirits I might contract. Diversifying and expanding my powers sounds smart especially in times like this.
It is, John affirmed. There were three reasons why Maximillian was there in the first ce. The obvious one was that John had invited him. The second was that he, as nned, had recently broken with Hollywood and was now reorienting himself. The third was that he wasnt foolish enough to live somewhere isted while Lorylim were on the prowl. Until further notice, the self-exiled king was going to stay around the Hudson Barrier. Potentially, he was going to serve as a broker between John and parts of the Sons of Rome. The Gamer was still intending to build a coalition against the corrupting threat.
I was gonna take a trip over the Elemental Inds over the next couple days, Rave chimed in again. Cappy and I are looking into whether or not we can boost him to Tier 4. Maybe ya should tag along? The Lightbearer nodded at Smander. Im sure one of us can introduce ya to the elementals that hang around. Ya should get some basic idea about the magic types out of it, if nothing else.
That sounds like a good idea.
Whatre ya sounding surprised for, huh? Rave asked in a yfully challenging fashion. Im the icon of femininity, Ill have ya know, I give great advice!
Careful, your pride is swelling faster than mine, John giggled. Youve only been giving interviews for a week.
He had more to say on the matter, but a new group of arrivals caught his attention. They seemed out of ce. Their clothes werent as fine, they didnt wear them properly and just generally they looked like deer in the headlights.
The most important guests had arrived.
Chapter 932 – Dazzling is Elementary
Chapter 932 C Dazzling is Elementary
You should move to the balcony, John rmended, before knocking twice on the table and standing up. The loss of his neck cushion was, while saddening, inevitable. By putting his arm around the apocalypse elemental, he got to enjoy her curves in a different fashion. Well meet you up there.
Dont tease them too much, Rave joked.
While the group at the table started relocating, John and Smander started walking towards their new guests. Although the people immediately locked eyes with him, they didnt approach and just stood near the entrance. It wasnt a sign of disrespect; John could easily read that from their demeanour. Rather, the uncertainty that was reflected in the way they moved and dressed also extended to their behaviour.
John kept his stride slow and collected, not wanting to seem too eager. During the fifty metre distance, he had time to grab Smanders big bubble butt. The blue denim of her jeans was an eptable obstruction between his palm and the hot and juicy meat underneath. Her top stuck tightly to her magnificent breasts, creating a deep cleavage that drew the eyes of everyone they passed. Her partly visible midriff only enhanced her attractiveness.
The almost biker-like look wasnt exactlymon during gs, but when one had the devilish good looks of the apocalypse elemental, that hardly mattered. Her long hair flickered as they walked, tongues of me extending from the torrent of glowing orange hair. A few of the mes were darker, or evenpletely ck, depending on how close they were to the ck strands of Smanders hair. When she had long hair, part of her hairline became an extension of the jagged lines that covered her body and the left half of her face. It was an interesting ent to her backwards oriented hairstyle.
Smander grinned at him, her own hand around his back and her lizard-like tail curving happily behind them. It was always a bit odd to John to have a smile in his level field of view. Smander was one of two women in his harem taller than him. The difference had shrunk to a mere two centimetres, but it was still a difference in her favour. Nathalia, being 1,91 metres tall, would have been more noticeably taller. He would have loved to experience again how that felt, but the goddess of volcanoes remained outside his reach.
Just another thing I would have liked to talk to Richard about, John thought and forced his gaze to wander away from the many desirable traits of Smander and towards the new arrivals. Despite their inexperienced behaviour, they were the most important guests he had. Good evening, he greeted them happily, extending his right hand to shake the hand of everyone in the group. It took a moment to register, but after the first person did it, the rest were quick to follow. They each presented their own little greeting. I hope the escort was to your liking?
Like the handshake, the question hovered in the air for a little bit as the group of thirteen people looked at each other. John waited with a patient smile for them to sort out who should speak for the group. What they saved him in time by showing up today was almost iparable to the slight hup of niceties he experienced there and then. That aside, it wasnt as if he had nothing to do while he stood there. Smanders butt was as squeezable as ever.
In the end, it was Janna who spoke up. Expected, given that the woman had been the one chosen to represent the small guilds in the first ce. Yes, the drive was lovely. There was no need to send a limo for us, we would have found a building thisrge I mean grand.
John chuckled. It is veryrge, he said and halfway turned towards the open hall. Please, follow me. There is something Id like to show you, before I let you judge if the work of our chefs matches that of our architects. The Gamer made sure everyone agreed, then guided them towards one of the staircases along the wall. Get ready, Undine, he sent out.
Are there not further guests to arrive? the abysstide elemental asked.
The important ones are here, the Gamer responded. Everyone else can only me themselves foringte.
Among the many things John believed in was the idea of incentives. Most people behaved ording to environmental stimuli, whether those were artificial or natural. A person who was pped every time they gave a homeless person money was likely to stop fairly quickly. Someone who was praised every time they killed for their faith was likely to be more fervent. It took a fairly rare kind of person to continue through pain and raise continuous doubts at themselves.
That also wasnt to say that this rare kind of person was superior to the simpler environmentally guided ones. Someone tilted towards excessive freedom could look at normalized charity with disdain and renounce the entirety of a religion because facets of it struck them as disagreeable. Nobody liked sheep in peoples clothing, but nobody liked contrarians either. Statistically speaking, it simply struck John that there were more people willing to follow than there were people who liked to disagree. The fact that society existed in the first ce seemed to support that thesis.
Incentives were the way to create, continue, and propagate a society. If the culture and institutions of a nation made people do the right thing, then that society prospered and the people were, generally, happy. The difficulty was discerning what the right thing was and what incentivised people to move towards that thing.
In the case of today, John could answer these two questions fairly easily. The right thing, from his perspective, was for more guilds to join Fusion of their own ord. This was why the press had been given the best seats tonight, so that all that was recorded looked the best it could. All of the things he had nned, every bit of splendour, had to reach as far as possible so that everyone currently wondering if they should join Fusion was dazzled by the disy of wealth and power.
This evening would serve as a festival for the people, a proper weing for the new members and to show the carrot to every prospective member on the continent. The stick, Fusions military, had been shown often enough at this point.
They reached the lower row of balconies, where his harem, save for the elementals, and a number of other special guests, Maximillian, Magoi and Magnus among them, were sitting in a row of seats along the railing. There were more tables up there, a quiet retreat for the special guests. John directed the leaders of the small, western guilds towards the seats.
Everyone ready? John directed his thoughts at the elementals. Smanders answer was a quick kiss. Sylph waved from the balcony on the opposite wall. Gnome and Siena also signalled their understanding. Undine needed a few moments more, then she too made clear that she was ready to start. Stirwin let out an approving squeal. Begin at your leisure then, Siena.
What a dangerous suggestion, the midnight elementals sensuous voice whispered into his mind. Perhaps I will never start?
Dont tell me you will let the opportunity slide to impress everyone with your fiddling skills, John responded.
Hmm no, I will not be that easily manipted. Give me something more.
John nced over to his guests. At the moment, they were eagerly waiting. That eagerness could quickly switch to nervousness if the silence persisted too long, however. In his heart of hearts, John knew that Siena would y along before it came to that, so he could have just waited her out. His curiosity spurred him to at least ask, however, What do you want?
A shared dom session. You, me, and a submissive Aclysia, at a moment of my choosing,
Deal, John responded immediately. Letting Siena join him in giving Aclysia thorough attention, he was more than willing to give. Aclysias consciousness stirred at the edge of the conversation with exceeding expectation. The maid and the shadow spirit had their asional issues, but by andrge they were still friends. Further, Aclysias serving lifestyle had led to her fully embracing the submissive role in the bedroom. She could switch when appropriate, but it was clear which vour of sexual roley she appreciated more. Albeit her vour of submission was usually more about active serving than Elizas wish to be used as a toy, Metras eagerness to bemanded as a sex ve or Scarletts sessions of having the sass punished out of her.
No sooner had the thought reached Siena than a series of quick violin sounds suddenly echoed through the room. A cascade of notes drowned out the conversations all over the room with their feverish pace, slowing as gazes focused on the magically boosted source in the centre of the room. Their ears perceived what their eyes couldnt at first, people blinking in confusion until Sienas invisibility came slowly undone.
Sienas form manifested in a crawling fashion. The white wood fiddle she carried and her hands came into view first. They were joined quickly by her smooth shoulders, her neck and her face. The silky river of her ck hair was unveiled from root to tip in a running stream, bouncing softly with every firm stride she took. Her chest came uncovered next, jiggling in the tight ck dress that covered her dark grey, blue-tinted skin. As the music slowed further, her narrow waist, her wide hips, her long legs, her long tail with the elongated, spade-shaped tip, all of it became visible. The disy was made decent only by the thinyer of cloth that so elegantly stuck to her hourss curves.
Her near unparalleled beauty sent shivers down Johns spine, even now. Those that watched her undoubtedly felt the same, especially as her sharp, vampire-esque teeth became visible behind the smile of her dark lips. Eyes as silver as the stars, surrounded by dots and lines that reminded of constetions in her midnight ck sclera, wandered from one onlooker to the next and intoxicated them with their presence. John was thest one she looked to. It wasnt until thest, long, long note ended that John realized he was holding his breath. The lights everywhere dimmed.
The entire room was silent.
Siena yed a tiny note and the base of the fountain behind her shed with a soft golden light. Siena yed a small note and the base of the fountain pulsed with a soft golden light. Siena yed a note and the soft golden light pulsed up with the water, falling back down on the two tforms above the pool. Siena yed a long note and the soft golden light illuminated the entire fountains water from the base to the highest point, down to thest drop that formed the umbres of water cascading back down into the base. Siena yed a near endless note. Then she suddenly broke out into another feverishly paced melody.
Water infused with the very essence of light flew across the room as Stirwin broke through the surface in his adult form. He wound his long body around the pir of stone at the centre of the fountain, and roared towards the ceiling. The deep elongated sound of the fantastic creature became the base for many other sounds. Fire and wind shed above his raised head. Heat was guided by tunnels of air into the outlines of flowers, forming the petals with mes of ck, which carried gold and the colour of all elements at its core. Smander and Sylph circled around the upwards stream of the fountain, continuouslybining their magic to the impressive disys. The hissing of the water was a beat. The height the water reached became lower and lower. The volume of Sienas melody quieter and quieter until it threatened to cease again.
The fountain wentpletely inactive, the music waspeting with Johns breathing for what he could still barely hear. Stirwin remained still. His body and the magic he bled into the water were the main source of light still remaining in the hall. The asional flicker of the flowers of fire exchanged that golden glow for a red tinted sh. Each sh came with a momentary rise in volume. It neversted. The surface of the fountain came to aplete still.
In the quiet, in the darkness, from the stillness of the glowing water, rose a form. Gold transformed into greyish, dark blue, red lines swirled over the right side of a deeply attractive female form. Naked, but missing those sexual markers people could be offended by, the water spirit raised one hand as her ck antlers and dark blue hair formed. With her hands rose a high-pitched, wordless note. A crystal-clear worship of nothing but the capabilities of the voice.
Undine kept that note. Underlined with it a slight rise in volume of Sienas y. Another flower of fire red above, another spike in volume urred and a second Undine rose from the still waters. She, too, raised a hand and lent her voice to her first body. Like following the path of a clocks hand, one by one, Undines appeared from the water. Their voicesbined created a single note of such intensity that Johns ears could scarcely stand its beauty. ss vibrated under the onught of the sirens endless call. Sienas y kept up with the volume.
Then it ceased.
All of it ceased.
Silence and flowers of me.
Four of the twelve Undines sang. Still wordless, it was a proper song now, not just the simple holding of a note. Despite this, it felt less whole than the note had been. Circr pedestals of stone rose before those four Undines and the abysstide elemental moved those four bodies to those pedestals. Once they stood on the marble, each tform barely higher than the floor, their voices stopped.
Four of the eight Undines still in the fountain sang. They sang in unison of joy, of life, of prosperity and the deep mncholy of being. Of the calm that was misced in times of not knowing ones path and the anger that was misced in times of problems. Their song was beautiful, words and voices, but still iplete. Circr pedestals of stone rose before those four Undines. Once they stood on the marble, a step above the floor, their voices stopped.
Four Undines still in the fountain sang. Their voices and words wove into a mix of wordless notes and wholesome songs. They sang of love, a topic of endless depth and never-ending wonder. Johns heart cheered knowing that she was singing about him in many passages, even when she called him a fool for loving someone as wed as her. Those lines that described the happiness she had in life around him and his other women, those he ingrained into his heart. Circr pedestals of stone rose before those four Undines. One by one, they flowed onto them in jumping arches. Once they stood on the marble, a metre above the floor, their voices stopped.
The amber eyes of all twelve Undines opened as the fountain suddenly reactivated. Water shot high into the air, cutting apart the final flower of fire. As the flickering fire faded the thirteenth, final and true body of the abysstide elemental manifested within. Before gravity could im her, Smander and Sylph came to hold her hands and hold her high, while Undine started the wordless song of the first four bodies. As soon as they had gone through one verse, she switched to the song of the second group. As soon as they had gone through one verse, she switched to the song of the third group.
Worded and wordless notes wove into a delicate fabric of musical perfection, the songs finally knowingpletion in the canon of voices and the careful drawing of the bow across the violin. Stirwin stayed still, Smander and Sylph stayed still, Undines many bodies moved only ording to the part of theyered song they were dedicated to, Siena was the only truly moving part, threading through the pirs as if she was the needle that bound this fabric together.
John dropped into the music. He let his active thoughts dissolve until only the words and the melodies filled him. He fell deep into it. Deeper than he had thought possible, in fact. He came to understand everything about this disy, despite not having been involved in its making. He had asked for it, ounted for it, known about the necessities for it, but he hadnt known the structure. Yet, he felt every note in its entirety. From the simplicity of what his ears could perceive, over the difficulties of maintaining thirteen bodies singing three different songs, to the strain of continuing the wless moment without thinking about it, and finally the worry of overseeing everything and making sure it all worked. Undine, Siena and Gnome, he felt all of their influence in the music, the overt songstress, the violinist and the organizer of it all. He was there for all of it. He lived the song in its entirety.
The finale came too soon, despite John knowing that it must have been at least five minutes. This sacred unity experienced in theplete song, it was almost like a revtion. If eyes were the window to the soul, then music like this was the soul itself reaching out and mingling with all willing to hear.
A final voice, a final word, a final note and a roar by Stirwin to end it all, then there was silence once more.
Johns eyes were open, but he didnt really see as he slowly rose from his trance. Barely he noticed the lights going back to normal and barely he saw the window in front of him. As apuse started to wash through the room from the stunned watchers within and the listeners without the walls of the hall, John blinked at the words before him. It was difficult to read, his mind still recovering from the experience, but the words were clear.
Barely, he managed to remind himself to p as well.
Chapter 933 – Hardworking and Lusty Ladies
Chapter 933 C Hardworking and Lusty Ladies
After all this time, this was not the moment John had expected that window to show up. Adding a pleasant surprise to the current circumstances, though, only served to elevate his mood to further heights. He dismissed the window, as a steady chatter reced the thunderous apuse. Most of it was aimed at him.
That was incredible! Thanks for the show, Mister President. What a way to be greeted. Mypliments, truly. These and simrments caressed his ears.
John responded with a wide smile. As much as I like being ttered, it was hardly my work. He stood up and gestured down the railing. While he was being crowded by the small group of guild leaders, the entirety of Fusions upper ss seemed to coalesce around a now reunified Undine and Siena. Despite their contributions, Smander, Sylph and Stirwin wentrgely ignored. There were some that came topliment everyone for their visual contributions, but it was clear that the two musicians were at the core of interest.
John could hardly me them. Mean as it may have sounded, the fire, the light and roaring were all things that could be achieved by different means. The violin and, especially, Undines multiyered voice work were much rarer.
If you want to, I can introduce you, the Gamer offered. This is a g to your honour, after all.
Several of them took the offer, while others decided that theyd rather mingle with the people or descend on the buffet. Rave decided to take it on herself to cater to that middle group, while Aclysia and Beatrice did their best to keep thetter onepany.
Once John had delivered the people to the musicians, he left them to be teased by Siena. Undine, as she usually did in social situations, kept her words to an absolute minimum. It wasnt a disy of shyness, Undine wasrgely over that emotion, but just her general disposition to speaking less than most. The same could not be said for the sixth elemental involved in the brilliant disy of artistry.
Dont you want to take your share of the glory? John asked, approaching Gnome who stood far outside the crowd.
The autumn elemental softly shook her head and said, I didnt do anything special.
Coordination is an important task, John disagreed. If it was something just everyone could do, we wouldnt need trained conductors. They wouldnt have any influence on the sound of the orchestra either. He put a hand on her head and stroked her warm, brown hair. You did really good there.
Gnome cast her eyes down and smiled diffidently. Thanks she said, not knowing any other response. John put his arms around the adorable cuddle rock and held her for a little bit. What appreciation she denied herself by keeping the amount of work she had done in the background in secret, John would give her. love you she mumbled into his shoulder, while answering the embrace. That firm and gentle way she held him was reward enough for his own kindness.
I love you too, he hummed and kissed her forehead. Come, lets go to the balcony. No need to stand down here. He transformed his hug into keeping an arm around her waist as he guided her to the stairs. Her body under the hazel brown dress may not have been as luscious as Smanders, but her bnced proportions had a beauty all to themselves. in as the brte may have looked among his harem, she was nevertheless a woman whose attractiveness could only bepared to the fellow members of Johns harem and a select few other females around the globe.
Still, it wasnt her gorgeous look that John loved her for. It helped C it helped a lot, in fact, because John was such a thoroughly sexual person C but it was the way she nestled against him and gazed at him with her brown eyes that transformed lust into love. She made him feel cared for. As if there was nothing ever to worry about while she was at his side. They held each other and John knew he could have leaned onto her with all of his weight and she would keep them walking.
I truly love you, he repeated, as it couldnt be said enough. The earnest tone of his words was backed up by the depth of the emotions he opened up to her through their mental connection.
Gnome blushed, but continued to look at him. I dont know how I deserve that, she whispered, but but I like it so we can keep going together?
John chuckled at the odd hesitation in her words and kissed her a second time. His target was her light red lips and he imed them with no pushback. They were his, just as his were hers. That their power bnce was off because John had so many more women didnt matter. He wouldnt have ousted or reced her for anything in the world. As long as she knew that, as long as she knew how dear she was to him, there was no strife to be had. Only the sacredness of their unity.
He didnt even notice when he pushed her against the wall, but he did feel her nudging his side. Not here, she whispered when she pulled back. Later. Ill be happy to help you ehem c-celebrate.
You need to stop being so adorable when I know just how depraved you really are, John murmured his teasing response, and then they finally made it up the stairs. He sat down next to his girlfriend. Within moments, he was surrounded on all sides again, Gnome taking the chair to his left, Eliza plopping down on hisp and Lydia standing behind him. Ladies,dies, there is enough of me for all of you.
If the circumstances were different, you would be in a world of trouble, the queen of steel told him with a straight face. We might tear you apart. Love guides to foolish things.
Maybe youll tear each other apart instead? John suggested.
No, Lydia dismissed the suggestion.
We actually like each other, ya know? Rave chuckled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. If ya wanted to continue the harem despite ya not being able to, youd have to suffer for it.
Guess Ill have to either maintain or exceed current abilities then, John stated with a grin. What a horrible fate, for a man to have to live up to the expectations of his women. You know that, in return, I demand you all to make my life heaven, yes?
Fuck, there is no way I can help with that, Eliza grumbled. All I do is use my monster ws to tear into your perfect life with the shit stain grip of a useless trash heap of issues and ineptitude.
Youre very much part of my perfectly imperfect life, John asserted and squeezed the small women between his arms. The cuddles with Eliza were a different kind of satisfying. Protectively embracing a vulnerable being just tickled his dominant and masculine instincts. Emotionally vulnerable, it had to be said. It would take something incredibly dire to physically hurt Eliza. What did we say about you insulting yourself?
I can do whatever the fuck I want? the blood mage asked.
No, John growled, as if he disliked repeatedly instilling this lecture into her. Youre mine, Eliza, and you dont get to insult what is mine. Critique yourself all you want, better yourself where you can, but dont diminish your importance. You have value to me. An appropriately high one, at that.
Appropriately high when describing me is an oxymo- Eliza started, only to have her mouth sealed by Johns hand.
Not another word from you. He reached into his inventory with his left and covertly pulled a butt plug from it. It wasnt a small one either, and vibrated quietly in his hand as he charged the internal mana engine. Once that was done, he pushed it under the waistband of her tight leather pants and into the crease between her pelvis and lower body muscles. Afterwards, he pulled her ck shirt over. Although her look was simr to Smanders in its simpleness, the differences were pronounced enough to give Eliza a bit of a slouchy and clearly more gothic look. It hardly mattered to the g, but in this moment the less tight nature of her top came in handy.
The shirt settled on top of the base of the butt plug. The sex toy was hardly invisible, but the way it was lodged against her pale, blue-tinted skin at least obscured what it truly was. Elizas breathing elerated and she looked at John with literal hearts in her eyes. The golden dots and lines had reshaped inside the fractured purple of her supernaturally brilliant irises. This sometimes happened when she was incredibly turned on. John very much liked seeing it, not only because it meant she had switched out of her self-loathing mode.
What you will do, is go to the bathroom and masturbate silently and unseen until you have lubricated this enough to slide it inside you, John ordered her. You will not C absolutely not C bring yourself to orgasm. Once its inside you, youlle right back here. Youll beposed, youll make no hint towards what you did or that there is a butt plug vibrating inside your tight little ass. You wont get to cum either. Not until I bind you on the wooden horse tonight. He bit her ear with enough force for his canine to leave a momentary imprint. Her regeneration power had it removed before he returned to whispering. Now go.
Yes, Master, she gasped when he removed his hand. She jumped on her feet and started walking as quickly as she could get away with. Her high boots and leather-d ass made that a thigh jiggling disy of wonder.
Lydia took the opportunity before anyone else could and plopped down on his now emptyp. The question hovered in his mind why she wasnt scolding him for this. Telling Eliza to wear a butt plug in public was several steps below fingering Metra at the table, but it was still in the same indecent category. When she grinded her backside against his clear erection and he felt something hard between her soft cheeks that wasnt her bones, he knew the answer. Lydia was many things (a fair few of them negative, as it was with every person) but she was not a hypocrite.
Arent you being a naughty girl? John wanted to know.
I came here for two reasons: to support you and to enjoy your services, the anal queen responded, ending her grinding now that he had noticed the toy in her own back entrance. Ive prepared myself ordingly. She nced over at the buffet. A shame, the buffet does look rather appetizing, but the risks are not worth it.
John didnt need to ask what she meant. Even if it felt fantastic, anal sex had certain risks associated with it. On the hygienical side, their superhuman bodies took care of most things, but there were certain filthy aspects that were best avoided out of instinct alone. Even those were somewhat mitigated by who they were. Yet, without a minimum of precautions, he maye to push stools in that werent the kind one sat on.
The realities of the human physique were often unpleasant to think about and so John decided to direct his mind somewhere better. Lydia made that easy by asking, I spotted a window appearing before you earlier. What was it?
I beat the Elementalist Challenge, he told her. Mostly by ident. Still, a win is a win.
Oooh, nice, ya were stuck on that for a while, Rave remarked. Ya gonna get the next Perk right now?
The crowd below didnt seem like it would disperse anytime soon, and even if it did, John didnt expect anyone to bother him. Until the signing and validation of the annexation contractter, he should only have to do the basic socializing. That aside, it wasnt as if there was any doubt regarding what he would pick. Yeah, lets see whats on offer
It was a harder choice than John wanted it to be. Of course, he would take Combination 3. Hispletionist brain didnt give him any other choice. There was no denying that Boiling Down and Borrowed Ascension were powerful though. The former diminished his advantage in numbers, but the payoff was a steady ess to Combinations that could punch way over their pay grade. The reduction in cooldown by 25 minutes was almost more potent than the Stat boost. For thetter, it gave them a heap of damage cooldowns that coulde in beyond clutch. Notably, it was a way for Stirwin to be immediately useful.
The five-kind Combination had a longer cooldown, but John was also convinced that the reward would be more potent topensate. Neither the potential nicheness of these Combinations nor the warning about control difficulties could convince his wish forpletionism to abate. He pressed the button and it was done.
He would look into the details of what he had unlockedter.
Chapter 934 – Peaceful Expansion
Chapter 934 C Peaceful Expansion
John let the evening roll by him with thepany of his girls, his friends, his people and a ss of gin tonic. There were many interesting moments to be shared. All of the fruitless ways in which Eliza tried to cope with her instructions. Acting as if everything was alright was mostly sessful (mostly because next to nobody dared to even approach her, outside of their circle of friends). That she was now publishing pictures had done fairly little for her reputation as an overpowered gremlin with anger issues and the goddess of genocide inside her. All of that being said, she certainly had to keep her moans down and sometimes vanished to the bathroom.
He sent Jack after her at one asion, just to verify what he already knew. Despite knowing better, the pretty little psycho was masturbating right up until the point of no return, where she then stopped. As much as her body begged for release, she couldnt get it without her doms go-ahead. Therefore, she always came back more bothered. As the evening progressed, she stuck to John in more and more desperate ways. The Gamer made things worse by touching her in teasing ways.
Although none of the interactions with the rest of his girls were that sexually charged, there definitely were temptations. Every time Lydia, or another woman with a short skirt, decided that hisp was the ce to be, he was reminded how easy it would be to just pull up that tiny dress a bit further and slide right into them. They knew he was tortured by those actions, which was exactly why those lovably cheeky haremettes did it. Physical teasing was backed up by verbal banter and he forgot to breathe because of them numerous times. Whether that was because they were beautiful, aggravating, brilliant or funny didnt really matter.
His friends and confidants were less beautiful, but the other three terms described them well. John spent a good chunk of time with Magoi and Magnus. The three of them were drinking red wine and eating bits of sushi. More urately, John and Magnus were sipping on their drink and asionally eating a bit of fish, while Magoi gorged himself on both and got increasingly chattier. He told stories from his youth, rolled up and showed some of the scars on his old and thin body. Some made John roar with amusement, others had him close to tears, especially when he realized how few of the people Magoi talked about were still alive.
Thest one particrly struck him, despite how short it was. It must have been twenty years ago, Magoi had said, looking at his te. His dark eyes were both dull and exceedingly sharp, as if he was looking at the surface at the pond, fascinated by its reflection. Gehnigm was missing from his office. It was far from an unusual urrence that the Supreme Fateweaver did what he wanted, but I had a scheduled thing with him that day about testing a new variance of time dtion that ultimately didnt go anywhere. I asked around where he could be and finally was pointed at the mundane world. The Fateweaver base is on Mount Everest, I think you remember that much, John, so it struck me as very odd that he would leave our base to take a casual stroll through the mundane snow. I followed him and found him, ultimately, carrying a passed-out climber down the ice. As it turned out, Gehnigm had been helping random, daring mundanes down to safety for over a decade. Doubtlessly that brought its share of bad luck with it. Even if near-death makes people hazy, Gaia would have some Ire for his actions. Still, he did it. At least once a month, he searched Mount Everest for climbers at deaths door a shame not all of him was as great as that selfless act Magoi had suddenly raised his head. Ah, enough of my rambling, Ill get some new food.
That was the point at which John left the table. It had been odd to hear such a detail about a man that had been his enemy. Gehnigm had been the Supreme Fateweaver, the one who let the Blood of the Proletariat invade Abyssal Rome with a nuclear weapon and the same Metra killed when she first awakened as his servant. That was about all John had known about him. Although he was wise enough to know that there was more to most people than their malevolent actions, hearing tales of the good they did was still an unusual experience. It was a facy of the human mind to think of the opposition as nothing but evil, even if things were almost never that simple.
Things continued on a more light-hearted note as John was pulled aside by Maximillian to participate in a number of games. That soon sparked the interests of others, and before long they had an impromptu chess tournament. John won twelve games and lost three, which he still felt wasnt good enough. Before his loss to Sylph, of all people, could cause him to flip a table and use her of pulling tricks he knew she was too chaotic to even consider, he headed outside.
He mingled with the people. With a bit of alcohol in his system at this point, he asked questions that PR managers would have advised against. Primarily, he wanted to know of those that talked to him what they thought he did wrong, and he wanted them to be thorough. The answers sobered him somewhat on his approval rating. As he had guessed, people thought he was doing a generally good job, but had a lot of grievances on other issues. Whenever one of those topics became the focal point of the national conversation, the Gamer could expect his approval to drop rapidly.
Still, it was good to hear these things. He heard a few things talked about with such passion that he gave them more urgency than he had done previously. Others he hadnt heard of at all. Had neither of those experiences urred, the value of having his pride curtailed by the revtions that not all was perfect in the state of Fusion was high enough on its own.
Then he went back inside and spent about an hour sobering up to eptable levels. At the same time, he got involved in a bunch of conversations and games with all kinds of guests. Notably, he was tangled up with his minister of domestic affairs for a bit. John didnt spend a lot of time with his ministers. Tactless as it may have sounded, he thought of them as expendable. Few of them were in their positions because he liked or even knew them. He just hired them based on merit and political opportunity. Aclysia and Beatrice were basically the only exceptions.
John kept that evaluation of them to himself and talked to them in a friendly fashion. Atrge, he was happy with the work or, rather, he was happy with the work he didnt have to do because of them. Listening to their briefings was more pleasant than the mountain of paperwork he would have to go through himself if it werent for their offices. Even if he didnt like all of them personally, he was at least thankful for that.
It had to be said, however, that John fully expected all of them to be reced whenever his first choice for chancellor came back to him. While Aclysia reigned as First Servant of State, he picked all of the ministers himself because he feared the weaponized maid would surround him with a bunch of yes-men. Momo wouldnt be nearly as kind. Which, incidentally, was exactly why John needed the most independently minded of his Artificial Spirits to be his closest official.
When the clock struck ten PM and the evening seemed to be at the rxed point between excited and exhausted, John jumped on one of the tall pirs that had been left by the concert. A microphone attached to his cor distributed his voice through the room. It was the best solution they had avable at the moment, as making a violin that was in tune with the sound-carrying enchantments had been of a higher priority. Technical or magical came out to the same result, being that him softly tapping the ss of champagne he was holding carried a crystal-clear note through the room. All went silent and soon their gazes rested on him, directed by the adjusting spotlight.
It doesnt seem necessary for me to wish any of you a good evening, John started his speech. Ive said that to most of you in person already and I can read a room well enough to know when people are having a pleasant night. Let us dispense with the formalities and the long-winded talks. We can keep those for a special asion on another day. Instead, let usmence what we havee here to do: officialise the addition of the small guilds on our western border as a new and consolidated guild of the Fusion Federation.
He reached into his inventory and withdrew three pieces of paper. All of them were identical in their design, fine, beige-tinted parchment with gold decoration on the rim and letters written in perfect calligraphy using pitch-ck ink. A watermark of Fusions detailed emblem sat behind the words, the washed-out colours just strong enough to make them out and add to the artistic value. The papers were equal parts historic document and art.
One contract for the state, one for the Federation and one for the archives, John exined. Drafted by and with the blessing of the Houses of Commons and Exceptionals. He stepped off the tform and gave Gnome a mental signal. All of the raised bits of stone were pulled back to surface level. Then, a new podium arose, the kind one could speak or write on. The Gamer withdrew a fountain pen from his inventory and ced it and the three contracts on the podium. All it requires now is the signature of the guild leaders, the Speaker of Commons, and myself. If you would please step forwards.
He made room at the podium. The previous uncertainty of the thirteen guild leaders had since been somewhat eased. Exposure and booze made them more confident in stepping forwards. The clicking of cameras could be heard from above, as each and every person came forwards and signed the document.
It was wonderfully messy. John had only nned for a maximum of six signatures on the document. With so many more present, the two options he had was for it to get cramped or to only give four people the honours. As someone who had looked at his fair share of historical contracts and treaties, John knew that a lot of them were messy. Struck through paragraphs, people putting their names in the wrong ce, notes at the side, additions made by different hands, and a whole bunch of other mishaps could be found on historical documents of all kinds. To that extent, them struggling to put their signatures into the limited space and adding their own lines or brackets to better fit it had its special charm.
People dont like sterile politics, the schemer in John thought. Things have to go off without a hitch but not without a speedbump. If things look too clean, people get bored or suspicious. Bored and suspicious people look where those in charge dont want them too. Being the one in charge, he couldnt help but look at the merits of this. He didnt even have anything to hide in this instance, but paranoia and his position just got him thinking about such things.
After the guild leaders, the Speaker of the House of Commons stepped forwards. It was still the same aquatic woman, Jumthek, who had been originally elected. She had held herself longer than John had expected. Perhaps she would make it even to the first re-election in three years. Then again, there would be a new Speakers election once the elected officials from the new member guilds were in. The whole parliament was looking at a rebncing in the near future. John would need to have a finger on that pulse.
Last, John stepped forwards. Well, lets see where I can squeeze my name in, he joked and everyone close enough to see the mess of brilliant and scraggly signaturesughed. It was hardest on the first document. Through three iterations of signing their names, people had be more orderly with each step. What a wonderful showcase of human adaptability, John hummed and made a tinypromise to make his name fit on the page.
Usually he signed with John Newman, but today J. Newman had to do. He made a note to self to leave a publicly avable statement somewhere that this was deliberate. Thest thing he wanted was to deal with a secessionist in 200 years that decided the contract was illegitimate because of an unusual signature.
The ink dried quickly on the enchanted parchment and John carefully rolled each contract together, secured each with a silver cord, and then slid them into three tubes made from marble and sealed on both ends with Baelementium. They were ceremonial objects through and through and John held each of them up before handing them over. The first contract to the new federation guild, to Pacificia, he dered and gave it to Janna. The name had been chosen from a list of suggestions the guild leaders had been asked. It was derived from the Latin word for peaceful. A simple reference to the way they had joined Fusion. A bit boring perhaps, but better than naming a state after a virgin queen in Johns opinion. The second contract to Fusion, he continued, putting the tube in his inventory. The third to the archive. That one he handed to Aclysia, stored it in her own inventory. And a toast, to the Federation, John dered, raising his ss of champagne.
Cheers echoed once more in therge chamber and the ceremony was done.
Chapter 935 – And what would be next?
Chapter 935 C And what would be next?
I may need to create a new word that goes beyond horny, John thought when he woke up the next morning. The debaucheries of the past night had gone far beyond a simple state of lust. Raw desire had pumped through every vein in his body by the time he tumbled into the Sex Dungeon. What dresses or other clothes the girls still wore when they got in there were either torn or so thoroughly drenched in bodily fluids that their cleaning enchantments were overloaded. Using Cumslut and a criminal number of toys could have had no other results.
As promised, Eliza had been put on the wooden horse. She had also been thest to enjoy a one-man triple pration. Between Jack and Cumslut, John had the ability to wield three cocks by himself. A power no sane man should have ess to. Aside from the amount of pleasure that sent into his brain, the things he could do to his women by stuffing all their holes at the same time was simply unfair. Luckily, he was neitherpletely sane nor did he think that sex should be a fair engagement.
All of the women could sing a song about that, lying passed out on the floor of the Sex Dungeon. He had taken them all so hard, none of them had made it to the beds or the shower. That did include himself. In a desperate attempt to drag him down with them, all of the girls had piled on him with thest of their energy. Their champion in that endeavour had been Sylph. The arcvolt elementals habit to maintain her hyper status until she suddenly crashed hade in clutch and allowed her to ride him with such reckless abandon that he must have cum inside her momentum-reactant pussy faster than he would have inside Sienas. He had made a mess out of her, out of all of them. It had been glorious.
Despite that, the Sex Dungeon was clean. Some of the smell of sex was still around, rising from the passed out haremettes, but incense dominated most of it.
Thank god for the self-cleaning function, John thought and carefully removed Sylph from his chest. He looked around for any sign of sapient life, but all he saw were women in a post-sexa. I might have broken a few of them, the Gamer thought, feeling a little bad about the queen that was cuddled up into Undines bosom. Hope she took today off.
It was doubtful the recovery period would be as long as it had been after the Overclock orgy. Using Cumslut just once and distributing his lust evenly among all of his harem was enough to get all of them to copse, but it shouldnt be as deeply striking an experience. Regardless, when the girls eventually woke up, getting cleaned up, fed and feeling back into her legs might take about an hour. Two if there were any incidents in the shower.
Waking them up ahead of time sounded cruel, so John left the Mand Sphere and headed back to his apartment to get himself clean. Showering alone made therge room feel a bit empty. It also let him finish up in about ten minutes. Rinsing off was a whole lot quicker when he didnt get a handjob during it.
Afterwards, he checked his own schedule. It had been a while since he had to do that. Lets see today is paperwork He sighed at the prospect of spending the entire day at the desk. Yeah, Im definitely an adult now Then he looked around himself, at all the highlights he could afford, and remembered that he would work with a beloved partner under the desk. definitely an adult, yeah. Thats not that bad.
He continued looking through his calendar. Even just for today, things were a bit more detailed than paperwork. All of the forms and emails he had to fill out and send were just all unified in the theme that it was work that was done primarily on paper (or data that would be printed as a physical backup).
Sunday had a more interesting point. Right, my interview with Cindy and Worlina. The Gamer grinned in anticipation. After a little bit of organizational difficulties, John had decided to make things easier, and probably more entertaining for himself, by holding a joint session with both of them. It would be a podcast, like before, with an interview and an attached porn recording. That was all he had nned for that day as well, so John fidgeted with anticipation as he got dressed and headed out.
If he wanted to enjoy his Sunday as best he could, he needed to get as much of his paperwork done as possible.
___________________________________________________________________________
The expansion of Fusion continued and John found it to be a true thing of beauty. In terms of space upied, the Federation wasnt thergest guild on the North American continent yet, but that hardly mattered when looking at their realistic situation. Fusion controlled all of the major poption centres of the east coast, which was itself the most densely popted area of the continent. He had the people and, thanks to the flow of the leylines and the Guild Hall, the magical resources to oupete anyone else.
As John understood it, The Wanderer was less of a guild than a set of customs created by someone who kept marching through that massive area of space. It was likely some kind ofte bloomer with an ability rted to ice or fire, making them able to survive up there. Northern Canada was one of the ces on earth where civilization was still rather sparsely distributed, after all.
That wanderer also hadnt been seen in a while. Personally, John considered that Sigmund may have gotten to him. What the truth was wouldnt be clear until the Gamer actually got up there, which wasnt high on his priority list. He wanted to fill out the borders of the USA before he did any meaningful expansion beyond. It was a silly priority, one wholly created by his upbringing. He was well aware of that. Still, it was a good way to keep his ambitions confined and channelled in a singr direction. Overextension was a sure way to threaten the stability of any undertaking.
The Fleshcleansers, to the Wanderers east, were, thankfully, not quite as bad as their name implied. They were just a unity of roaming, violent gangs that had stapled together a certain code of honour when it came to how they piged settlements and enved the locals. To put it in historic terms, they were the Mongols, except they were riding bikes and were really bothered by how cool things sounded. Here, again, John had a personal opinion. Namely, he guessed that the people that had originally tried to sell him to a mana factory had been from this ce, or at least inspired by it.
He would let them know the overwhelming force of civilized conduct at some point.
Thest remaining two guilds around Fusions weight ss, going by size, were the Lake Alliance and the Golden Rose. As he had already beaten and crippled them in a war, John didnt fear the former. Thetter he was more wary of. He trusted Moira to not do anything inhumane, at least on a grand scale. However, he had no idea about the rest of her guild, its military capabilities, its ambitions and its reach. The Golden Rose had continued to expand, sadly ruining its mildly flower-shaped borders, and be a middle-American thicket that he had to ovee in time.
As it currently stands, my three remaining routes of expansion are the Lake Alliance, New Libraria and the Death Zone John thought to himself, looking at the map on hisputer screen. He was taking a break from all of the administrative work to think about his future ns. A bit difficult with a fair bit of his blood concentrated between his legs, but absolutely possible. As enthusiastic as Eliza was about sucking him off today, he was still generally used to the sensation. Handling work and pleasure at the same time was a gift. He just wished that Mind of Work, the second Martial Artist Perk he had taken, would also work while he was getting served in such a fashion. Pleasure, as it turned out, did not mix well with a meditative mindset.
By process of elimination, he was best advised looking into the annexation of New Libraria next. The Death Zone remained an enigmatic danger. It also remained unmoving, so it wouldnt be a problem anytime soon. Unless something unexpected happened. Which often happened, but not often enough for John to be paralysed by his fear of it.
The Lake Alliance was also an option, but he held out hope for a peaceful annexation. Their peace deal had been carefully crafted so the poptions of the three guilds wouldnt feel slighted, and because of their organization structure, they were somewhat used to the federal model already. John had been using Scarlett to tie their economies together and was doing his best to make himself an attractive friend. Whether the pen was truly mightier than the sword depended on the situation, but the pen didnt have to draw blood to get to the desired result. Therefore, John was happy to use it where he could.
New Libraria was, because of this, the best target. There were other reasons for prioritizing it. In Johns mind, there was very little doubt that the Lorylim were somehow involved with the Death Zone and he still didnt know what had happened to all of the people whose bodies they didnt find. There had been no unordinary surge in poptions anywhere in Fusion, as far as the administration had been willing to gather so far. Having a potential hiding spot on the border was dangerous. With the Golden Rose, he was certain he would have a neighbour that would stomp out corruption with even more fervour than Fusion would. That would create other issues, but they would be better than mind-eating parasites.
The problem with New Libraria was that John knew next to nothing about it. Their diplomatic stance seemed to be dont and any attempt to contact them had ended in stonewalling. I guess that means I have to lead an expedition force or something, he thought. Under the pretext, and genuinely worrying assumption, that the Lorylim had invaded them, he could justify requesting a scouting mission. He would have to do it in a closed session, though.
He closed that map and looked at the new one for Fusions internal structure.
The internal map now included the new state of Pacificia and the FCZ, which stood for the Fusion Colonizing Zone. Because of the way the Gestalt guilds had ended, all of thatnd was effectively empty. Although Fusions numbers were high for an Abyssal organization, Abyssal numbers were still generally low and there was more than enoughnd along the east coast that could be taken up by members of the Federation. Because of the way Abyssal colonization worked, using Protected Spaces to make ones permanent home, people naturally tended towards areas that were already wealthy in reality.
If one could just pick a house and copy it to own it, most people would pick a mansion or somethingparable. There were a few limitations on it. Trying to copy a mansion that had a particrlyrge green area around it might lead to one having to invade the private property of mundane people to get to the edge of the Illusion Barrier, which was hardly sustainable long term. Gaia ensured people didnt find it odd if people disappeared into barriers but she also didnt like it if people used that to repeatedly mess with mundanes. If someone insisted on ying the poltergeist for too long, they would eventually learn why that was a category of undead.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Abyssals didnt like upying houses that were then surrounded by empty ones. That was just a psychological thing, few people liked the feeling of a ghost town. Still, that drove most people into wealthy suburbs where they could confine the barrier easily to a house and the surrounding small garden. It was either that or people went into category 3 Abyssal mega-barriers, such as the Hudson Barrier.
However they went about things, fact was people were drawn to easily avable infrastructure and the east coast of the US had, aside from all around good road quality, ess to the ocean. That was quite the important factor, given how much money and effort John had pumped into boosting the naval engineering capacity of the Federation.
All of this led to there being basically nobody avable to settle the former Gestalt territory. Which sat right with John at the moment, as he was still scanning it for potential Lorylim remains and the Sands of Time. Having civilians meddle in there could lead to leaks he didnt want to ur.
Maybe Ill pull a Homestead Act, or I will givend there as a reward for service in the military, John considered the long term. For the moment, it serving as a giant military base to oversee the Death Zone works just fine with me. With that he returned to work.
And looked forward to the interview.
Chapter 936 – The three-way Interview Part 1 – The actual interview
Chapter 936 C The three-way Interview Part 1 C The actual interview
John watched Cindy stride through the room. In doing so, he did exactly what she wanted. The way she strutted along the shelves, its quadratic cut-outs filled with books of various topics and perspectives on them, was clearly meant to be for his viewing pleasure. Her round butt swung enticingly inside her pants. Teasingly, she pulled her well-sitting tank top back into ce. Both articles of clothing were pure white, rising from her soft tan, and were adequate for the hot weather inside the Guild Hall.
Turning around, she inspected the chairs closely, leaning forwards in such a fashion that John got a deep insight into her cleavage. Cindy had D-cups, rivalling Sienas breasts in size, and her choice of top created a hanging disy that made it clear, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that she was not wearing a bra. Despite the gesture being clearly there to entice him, her inspection of the chair, and the round table in the middle of the room, were also genuine.
When she looked up, John had the decency of meeting the gaze of her red eyes. Cindy was beautiful, but expert make-up elevated her to gorgeous. The Gamer felt somewhat conflicted about that. Generally, he preferred it if women did not wear any make-up. Given the superhuman attractiveness of his women, that was an easy position to take, John realized, but even before he had gotten his powers, he had thought that way. Putting paint on their faces was maniption of men, to put it rather crudely, and he would rather they didnt. However, he couldnt argue about the effectiveness of it. With the thinyer of make-up on her face, the mascara around her eyes and the treated eyshes, Cindy did look much better. He was torn between knowing that maniption he disliked in the first ce worked on him and him not caring because the result looked so damn good.
For today, he just indulged in thetter.
Where did you get these from? Cindy wondered about the furniture. Her hand slid over thecquered wood and the many holes and extendable hooks it had. Every one of the three chairs in the room was a tiny work of art, able to be adjusted in every way a chair could be adjusted. Despite this, they didnt look overly bulky, only unusual. Albeit, everyone who knew something about bondage had an inkling what they were designed for. They seem useful.
They are, John nodded, Worlina told me where to get them. Theres a goblin craftsman that specializes in making them.
Hmmm, that does sound useful, the blonde catgirl said and straightened up. Maybe we should get some ourselves? Anyway, you have a nice set here. Surprised you went with a carpet, though.
Its a special fibre, Worlina introduced me to that as well, John reported.
That so? Cindy clicked her tongue, looking around. I wish the CPDI was a bigger inspiration on your set than the shelves.
Its a mixture of several podcast sets I looked at, John returned and gestured at one of the potted nts in the corner. I decided that some pottery might be nice though. Then he pointed at several ck drawers inside the red shelf. Also we decided to hide the sexual items.
Items is a weird way to say toys, Cindy suggested.
Its not just toys, John returned. I added aphrodisiacs of varying potency to the arsenal.
That does sound enticing. Cindy sighed thatst word. Maybe we should test some of them, on this asion? She hooked a finger into the top rim of her top and shed her tits. In general, we could pass the time by having a bit of fun, dont you think?
Before John could respond, the door opened and his second interviewer arrived. 1,36 metres of sex-appeal entered the room, her tits bouncing more than the red, silky strands of her hair. Her chest was a tadrger than Cindys which made it look enormous on her tiny frame. Her ass was equally stacked, giving her an almost absurd hourss figure.
Like Cindy, she was dressed for the artificial summer of the Guild Hall, a short-sleeved, red blouse and a ck pencil skirt covering her. The stockings she wore in addition only existed to bring her sexy teacher look together. The sses on her nose, however, were genuine, although John wasnt sure how bad she really needed them.
Ooohhh, I like almost everything in here, the short, stacked green-skin announced, her blue eyes dashing about the ce. They first got stuck on John and the Gamer grinned, enjoying being devoured by her eyes in the same way he appreciated the female physique. When they finally moved on, they got stuck on Cindy. Almost everything, she repeated.
Tsk, the blonde clicked her tongue and flicked her left cat ear in a disrespectful fashion.
John found the sudden switch fascinating. When they werent around each other, neither Cindy nor Worlina seemed to have anything against the others species,work, or person. Only when they were in the same room did their rivalry really re up. It was like watching a wrestling show. Which, John knew, was the point.
Grinning, John said, Youll like each other soon enough, Ill see to that. He leaned slightly to the side to check that Worlina wore her ear piece. Like the porncast sets of theirworks, Johns own set-up had cameras at all angles embedded into the wall. That had the advantage of both letting viewers decide their own camera angle and the Gamer could ignore the technical crew one room over. His media crew, even when it came to porn, contained men and John really didnt want anyone he could make idental eye contact with while he was ploughing Cindys bubble butt. He didnt think it was weird that males would be cameramen in such a scenario, a job was a job, but he still didnt want them directly around. It was just afort thing.
The ear piece was necessary to stay in contact with the technical crew. Luckily, a microphone was not required. There were enough microphones all over the room that it was certain the sound woulde out of the stream as clear as the boxes of their viewers could handle. Modern technology allowed a lot of great things, especially when it was handled by technomancers.
Well, where were we on the aphrodisiac thing? Cindy purred. Worlina raised one of her eyebrows with interest.
You know that you wont leave my Pce today, right? John tilted his head with a puzzled expression. Just likest time, after Im done with you, you wont be able to stand. There is a reason why there are guest rooms all around this one.
Well see about that, the somewhat squeaky voice of Worlina stated with a level of pride. Its our second attempt and you dont have your back-up around. We can take you, together.
John opened his mouth to try and persuade them, but he noticed the look in their eyes. They were both serious about this. They probably want to prove they can take me. Given that theyre part sex workers, they must have some level of pride in their ability to blow mens minds, it urred to the Gamer. Well, Itll be fun to see what happens either way. Either they blow my mind or Ipletely obliterate their minds for the next few hours. As you say then,dies. Look away.
Why? they asked in unison, even as they did follow hismand.
I want to keep the surprise for the start of the podcast, John exined, kneeling down to ess one of the drawers. He pulled out two things and shortly hid them under his seat. The position and number of the chairs had been chosen for the three of them. Partly because he was an orderly fellow and partly because he didnt want Worlina to hold them up by having to adjust the height of her chair. John was on one side, the two women would be next to each other opposite of him. Hey, service, can we get three wine sses? he asked and looked over to the now curiousdies. Why dont you sit down? We should get ready to start soon.
We could have started ten minutes ago, were it not for someoneing inte, Cindy dered, as she plopped down on her chair.
Im right on schedule, you thirsty pussy, Worlina shot back, while climbing hers.
As if you want it any less, John had an amused thought, while the dedicated maid brought in the requested sses. They were ced alongside the water bottles, normal sses, and small array of food on the table. Thank you, he said, once everything was in position. The maid bowed her head and obediently marched away. Aclysias academy isnt exactly operational yet, but that maid is doing fine. The thought ended abruptly when Worlina bent over the table to reach for the water bottles. With the uppermost three buttons of her blouse open, her green tits pressing against the tabletop were a fantastic and, once again, braless sight. John licked his lips, feeling his appetite rise. Should we begin? he asked. The sooner they started, the sooner they would get to the second half of the show.
Yes! Worlina responded enthusiastically, once she had all she needed in her shorter arms reach.
Ready when the crew is, Cindy responded, slightly turning the tablet she had in front of her. There was a simr one sitting before Worlina. They were used to watch the livechats andments from theirworks.
As ast preparation, Johnnded the Mand Sphere on a custom-made socket standing on a shelf. Alright then, take it away, John ordered and heard a voice in his ear respond positively. He looked at the one camera that was overtly visible as a ck ring in the wall, being the one to be used for introductions, and waited for the countdown to end. Then he spoke up. Hello there,dies, gentlemen, multi-sexual and anything else of Fusion, to this special Sunday program. To get the warning out of the way, this podcast is not suitable for minors in any way, shape or form. With me are the reasons why that wont be the case, the lovelydies that I will tumble with after the interview, Cindy Caithsin from the Catgirl Perverts Do the Interviewedwork and Worlina Smickl from the Shortstack Sluts Searching Newswork.
It will be a pleasure to be here, Cindy purred.
Definitely will be, Worlina squeaked her enthusiastic agreement.
Ill make sure it is, John joked and then continued with the introduction. This podcast is being streamed from my Pce, but I will be taking questions as if I were the guest. The footage is being streamed to bothworks and I dont own any of it. Cindy and Worlina will take turns asking questions and both will stick around for the traditional end of it. He looked to the catgirl. As the one who I visited first, Cindy gets to start.
The blonde smirked and gave Worlina a smug side nce, as if this was a sign of immense favour. Thank you, John, she said in a suggestive tone. Thank you especially for letting use to the upper floor of your Pce, since this is basically your home and all of that. I guess my first question would be about this room. I know why you have it, but the viewers have to wonder: why is there such a great podcast set-up in your Pce?
John nodded, thankful to have an opportunity to exin. Aside from being just a wonderful opportunity to hang around with you two, this stream is going to serve as a test for this set-up. Ive been considering the idea of my harem and I starting our own podcast. Its the age of the inte and there is no reason why the politicians shouldnt have a direct line to the people. He took a short pause. Not that this theoretical podcast will be entirely political. Its mostly going to be just us having fun. Thats why this room is in our home, we n to do all the technical stuff ourselves eventually. Well create a simr setup in our media office soon enough. It has to be said, he grinned widely, that there are fewer fun things that can be done in an official podcast than there can in a private one.
I suppose there is some decorum that goes on around government, Cindyughed and looked over to Worlina, signalling that she was done with that question.
To start with a simrly light-hearted question, before the program began, we asked you to take out some aphrodisiacs. Can we see them now?
Yes, John grinned and reached under his chair. First we have this. He ced a bottle of wine on the table. A bottle of Pinkberry Wine, vintage he looked at the etiquette, 1987. This is supposed to increase ones sexual drive slowly. I thought itd let us concentrate on the serious questions early and then softly lull us into the right mood forter. Sound good?
Sounds fantastic, Worlina answered and the blonde next to her nodded.
Great, Cindy, if you would pour us all a ss, he instructed and then bowed down to get the second aphrodisiac. Catching the way Worlina looked at Cindy in the same smug way the catgirl had earlier, while the blonde filled everyones sses, he couldnt help but chuckle.
Worlina also took the time to ask a follow-up question. Do you have a lot of aphrodisiac alcohol, John?
Its a growing collection, John responded. Elizas extreme metabolism doesnt get along with regr alcohol, but pairing it up with certain aphrodisiacs somehow makes it easier for her to tell her body to ignore it. Also, I have several drink-happy women in my harem, so it works out for them as well. Anyway, here is the second aphrodisiac. He ced another bottle on the table, this one was clear and filled with an oil. This is Fae Daemonica body oil. I had some fun with this and Nathalia in the past. If youre up for it, we can use itter.
Both women looked at the bottle and gulped with both obvious lust and nervousness. John couldnt me them, it was one of the most infamous Libido increasing massage oils out there. Well see how we feel then, Worlina said and took her first sip of the wine. A pleased expression bloomed on her face. This is delicious!
d you like it. John smiled, as he and Cindy drank as well. The wine was sweet in his mouth and a bit smoky in the aftertaste, as if someone was burning incense nearby. He looked to Cindy for the next question.
The simple pleasantries out of the way, the catgirl said in a more serious tone of voice, we should start talking about the topics of the past four weeks. There is certainly a lot that has happened. Id like to go chronologically, if thats okay with you? She looked to Worlina for that question, who nodded. Alright. On Monday the 22nd of October, you led a small force into the then East Gestalt territory due to a distress call from them. If you dont mind, would you walk us through why you did that, how you went about it, what you found and what you did about it? Most people are already aware, but your perspective, especially in hindsight, is going to be interesting for all of us.
For the why, the answer is simply because I was asked, John started his exnation. I, Collide, and Fusion are dedicated to the principle of helping those we can. Of course that doesnt mean that we just blindly stretch out our hand. There had to be cautious advance, which is partly the answer to your how. He consideredining about the initial block by parliament on his request for troops, but decided against it. There was nothing to be gained by that political strategy, at this time. As you say, I led a small force of myself and a couple of my haremettes into enemy territory. At first, we found somewhat unnerving corruption and then we found seriously unnerving corruption. Namely, we found Lorylim involvement.
You found primarily dead Lorylim, correct? Cindy interjected. Returning soldiers interviewed by otherworks reported that much.
Correct, John nodded.
What killed them? Does that have anything to do with the sand phantoms that were also talked about?
The details of that are, currently, unknown, John responded with a half lie. He had a very good hunch on what had happened, but he hadnt witnessed it himself so he didnt factually know what was going on. He was still keeping details about the Sands of Time under wraps. The sand phantom is a mystery we cannotpletely exin yet either. We do know it came about as part of the usage of that sand in the Gestalts alchemical mind-melding.
I see. Please continue, Cindy said.
Following our scouting, we started a massive sweep of the area, saving who we could and cleansing what we couldnt. On one asion, I interacted with one of the, if not the, major consciousness of the Lorylim hivemind called Izha. I learned a couple of things about the Lorylim during that dialogue.
Things you can believe? Worlina chimed in.
In this specific case, yes. Johns answer came swift. I know that sounds absurd, especially given the corruption of myself that we will doubtlessly talk about in a minute, but I have more than enough reason to believe that it, or he, told me the truth about things there. He took a sip of his wine before continuing. That put aside, the pacification of the East and West Gestalt territory went off without anyrge surprises. The problem was what to do with the survivors. Their lifestyle enabled aplete takeover of the Lorylim through corruption of only a few key individuals and they refused to change it. As such, I had to take some sort of drastic action. Luckily, my system came to my aid and I got to create a Kingdom for them. This came at a personal cost to me that Im not looking to ever pay again. Not that Im even sure I can.
Do you not have control over that?
My ability is extremely potent, but theres certain reliability issues when ites to aspects of it, John exined. To not lose ourselves in the details, there are powers I unlock that I can use as I see fit and there are the mechanics to unlock these things. Thetter usually react to what I wish for, but its not guaranteed. This time, they gave me a power that I could use once, I used it to create a new Kingdom for the Gestalt survivors and now I would rely on the system to unlock that power for me again.
I understand, Cindy nodded, ceding the floor to Worlina again.
The next big event would be your press release about Scarlett Thorne and your personal corruption. Both are important, but I think thetter has more gravity to it. Could you walk us through how you got corrupted and what you did against it?
Its a long story as for why that even happened, but I got corrupted because Smander decided she had to deliberately corrupt herself in order to prove something and, in the process, she managed to reject corruption, but part of the Lorylim manifested in me instead, John summarised it as best as he could. We cleansed the overt corruption but, as I learned pretty recently, some of what stuck around still had some minor psychic effects. Now, again, my own powers gave me a unique path to confront that.
Any chances a solution to such a problem will be avable to the wider public? Worlina asked.
We have people working on it, but its more historic research than scientific experimentation, John told her. We arent going to get people deliberately infected to see what works. Its inhumane and remarkably dangerous. If we caught some people already fully infected, we might be able to do some research, but it is unlikely.
I see Cindy, you can continue.
Alright then, just this past week
One second, John interrupted. Dont you want to know about the Scarlett story?
I think you adequatelyid everything out there in past interviews, Cindy let him know. Unless there is something you want to add at this juncture. To both tter and insult you, John, you are known as a schemer. Past the surprise of who was involved, there having been some nebulous ongoings even in your early conquests are just to be expected.
Its like being surprised by a goblin who knows how to sharpen a knife, Worlina added.
Fair enough then, John gestured for them to continue.
Alright, for the final of the serious topics, this Friday the small guilds to the west joined Fusion by consolidating into a new federal guild. How exactly did that happen?
To be honest, I was fairly uninvolved with that one, John told them. Of course, Fusion has been trying to have diplomatic interactions with our neighbours wherever possible, but them approaching us came pretty much out of the blue. Im happy that the Federation expanded in a peaceful manner though.
Is there any risk that they are a covert operation by the Lorylim? Cindy asked.
Not as far as we could determine. Which means, if they are, and we werent able to detect it, then the Lorylim could infiltrate every rung of society anyway, at which point we are so absolutely fucked that we dont even have to worry about it. Because it would be utterly useless.
Alright, thats the basic news recap of the past month done it was a pretty turbulent month, wasnt it?
Not the most turbulent one of my life, but its up there, John confirmed.
Anything you would like to announce for the near future? Aside from the uing podcast?
Yes. the Gamer looked straight at the marked camera. I hope that someone from New Libraria might hear this: please respond to ourmunication attempts, or Ille to you in person. Ille with peaceful intent, but I have to know what you are up to. With the Lorylim slithering around, I cannot take the risk of a silent neighbour. My announcement to my people is to expect some kind of development there.
What about the Death Zone? Worlina followed that up.
Were looking into that as well, but thats a bit harder, as you may imagine.
I can imagine a lot of hard things the goblin mumbled and sipped on her now half-empty ss of wine. Her face was a darker shade of green as before. The aphrodisiac alcohol was slowly getting on. Is it your turn or mine, Cindy?
You go ahead, the cat girl allowed.
Right. Ive actually been sent here with a question by the Gobbo Nation''s government, Worlina revealed. How is the Tokening along and how would a guild go about opting into it early?
The Token is ready to roll out by next week, John responded. Well, Im still not entirely happy with the minting design, but the metal in every single coin will be consistent, so we can start spreading them next week. As for the how, you can opt in early, you can simply pass aw that allows it as payment in your country or appeal to people to use them on the Abyss Auction, since thats the primary way for the Token to spread outside of Fusions borders.
Cindy picked up her tablet. A fan question, she said, suggestively licking her lips. By Omnius, which are your favourite kinds of monster girls?
Always wondering how that is not an offensive term for them, John thought, but answered swiftly. I would get in trouble with some of my girls if I didnt answer elementals first, he joked. Along dragons, golems and small submissives with a potty mouth. With the obvious ones out of the way, Im quite partial to catgirls and goblins. The interviewers chuckled. To talk about monster girls I havent slept with yet I suppose I have an interest in harpies, subi and the sinfully delighting curves of a golden entity he had seen a few times shed before his mental eye, angels.
Im not aware of any angels being around, Cindy stated.
Oh, Ive seen one, John said with a grin. Lets leave it at that, dont want to upset her.
A question for me, Worlina downed the rest of the wine ss. How much do you cum in a single load? Did you ever test that?
100 millilitres, my powers let me cap it there, although Im theoretically capable of a bit more.
You could seriously fill up my stomach, huh?
Slightly more serious question, Cindy interjected, getting down to thest quarter of her own ss. New parliament members are due to join both houses of government starting next week. Do you expect any great developments because of that?
Not really. The majority of new members wille from Florida and, weird as much of their leadership is, the people living there are mostly normal and in line with Fusions values.
Cindy bit her lower lip, her eyes glued to the bit of muscr chest he showed by leaving his upper two buttons undone. Are you considering any term limits? Wendy was elected as governor of Florida, and critics are worried she might just get re-elected endlessly.
Maybe there should be a limit on consecutive terms, but if I were to impose such a limitation, it would only be in Collide. Other states and the Federation are out of my hands.
You say that but someone of your might Worlinas voice gave in for a moment and she reached for the water. When her breasts brushed against the edge of the table, she gasped audibly. Next to her, Cindy squirmed and emptied her ss of wine. John echoed the motion, waiting for the goblin to get herself under control.
He could feel the effect of the wine himself. The windows that popped up were easily ignored, but the growing fire in his loins wasnt. He had been almost fully erect for two minutes now and his cock was aching for the touch of a woman. Not even the idental rubbing of it against the inside of his pants brought him anything remotely like pleasure. Source of Satisfaction saw that as a form, however minor, of self-pleasuring and he was barred from that.
Someone of your might, the goblin started again, doubtlessly has ways to get what he wants into the legiture.
I can apply pressure, in public or in private, John admitted to the obvious, but I shouldnt and will not, unless I see it as absolutely necessary. I will not undermine the system I penned myself just because it is convenient for me.
Admirable, Cindy gasped and distributed the rest of the wine between their three empty sses. Worlina emptied hers immediately and stared at him with ssy eyes. It was clear the interview part had already ended in her mind. The blonde next to her remained a bit more invested. A final lightning round of questions, if I may? she suggested.
Hit me, John responded and sipped on his half-full wine ss.
Is there any potential conflict of interest because of your ties with Scarlett and Lydia?
Potential? Yes. Factual? I will do my best to avoid it. If Scarlett doesnt do the best job she can, she wont get the best jobs. Her knowing that is part of why I love her. She doesnt ck off just because she could. As for Lydia, thats a bit moreplicated and part of why we rarely make contracts with each other directly. It has to be said, though, that she, as a monarch, doesnt have to worry about conflict of interest as much as I do. That form of corruption isnt seen as valid to the same degree there.
Where do you see Fusion in ten years?
Among the greatest powers in the world.
Isnt that overly ambitious?
Not really. In history, powers often rise to prominence in a very sudden way, especially if they have a lot ofnd around them to expand into. The Mongols would be an example, Alexander the Great another, Denmark to a lesser degree, with the Kalmar Union. The Timurids and Mughals, maybe. Anyway, powers rise quicker than they fall.
What do you say to your male fans?
Eat healthy, think for yourself, know how to protect what is dear to you and only hitch yourself to a woman you are certain will be a good mother.
Are you saying childless rtionships are invalid?
No maybe? John hesitated for a second. The biological pejorative of humans is pretty clear and thesting union of a man and a woman follows from it. In that sense, I guess Im saying rtionships to have children are more valid than others. I would never tell anyone that they shouldnt get married at all, even if they do not want to or cannot have children. Its a difficult topic. Fundamentally, every individual should be free to make their own choices, however, so dont take my advice as anything more than it is.
What would you like to say to detractors?
Depends on the detractor. If you have genuine criticisms of me, please continue. Im not perfect and keeping me in check is good for all of us. If you hate me with your gut and you would do everything to get rid of me, no matter how awful you have to get: stop. Get some help. Start with taking a walk and try to see things from the other perspective.
What is your favourite part of a woman?
As is well documented, Im an ass-man. After that it would be thighs.
So boobs are third?
Third or fourth, not sure if theye before or after midriffs.
Do you think I could raise your appreciation for tits a bit? Cindy squished her breasts together with her upper arms, as she leaned forwards.
John put the empty ss in his inventory. I think I appreciate breasts quite a lot already, he told her with a smile, but I wouldnt mind the attempt. In response to that, Cindy and Worlina exchanged a nce.
Dear viewer, Worlina said, but stared at John while she did so, well end the interview section here. Well continue after a short break. A voice in their ear confirmed they were off-air for the moment. Fuck I NEED your co-
Shut up and sit still during the break C both of you, Johnmanded and reached out to the table, picking up the bottle of Fae Daemonica oil. The women blushed intensely, as they were hit by a wave of obedient pleasure. While they sat there, John opened the Guild Hall menu and tabbed around until he found their current room. The Pce was a Building, a special one at that, and, as such, he could manipte quite a few things. With the simple tap of a button, the table disappeared.
With a second tap in another menu, his clothes followed suit.
Chapter 937 – The three-way Interview Part 2 – The Whores’ Overconfidence [Erotic Content]
Chapter 937 C The three-way Interview Part 2 C The Whores Overconfidence [Erotic Content]
The voice confirmed they were back on air and John immediately said, Show me what you want me to appreciate.
Yes, Master, Worlina immediately switched into submissive mode and undid two more buttons of her blouse. Her green chest popped out of the red cloth as a wonderful, squished together disy of soft meat.
Cindy was quicker about it, grabbing the lower edge of her tank top and discarding it in one swift movement. Her tits bounced from the enthusiastic stripping. The top flew across the room, making the pink-crowned jiggle-bells even more delightful to observe.
Both women were already turned on to the degree that their nipples were as pointy as they could be. Their gazesnded swiftly on his cock, which was erect to the point of quivering in anticipation. Biting and licking their lips, pink and red, both painted by lipstick, they eagerly awaited their nextmand. Both knew what type of lover he was and both delighted in serving.
Come here, both of you, hemanded while lowering his chair and lowering the backrest until he was more lying than sitting. The two hurried over and he gestured for them to sit down on either side of his groin. At this point, they were already gasping, the aphrodisiac kicking into full force and hismands rewards doing the rest. Still, there was a way to go a bit further on the sexual need scale and John had already decided he would utterly ruin both of them tonight.
Mess with the bull and you get the horns. Mess with the Gamer and, if you are an attractive woman consenting to it, you get your mind blown by his cock.
Go ahead, make me appreciate, John said and watched the two women take a resolute nod. Just like he had resolved to fuck their brains out, they resolved to at least mess him up as much as he would them. They must seriously think not having Jane around is going to help them. As if my girlfriend hadnt been the one who took care of me when their legs gave in.
Worlina hastily undid the rest of her blouse and then the two of them wrapped their tits around his respectably sized member. Because of their height difference, this wasnt a perfectly symmetrical undertaking. Cindy made herself as short and Worlina as tall as possible, but still the catgirls tits were noticeably on top. They ran with it and John was far from displeased by the way the breasts squished together, a healthy tan meeting vibrant green at a dominating nt. Once they cupped their juicy breasts and put pressure on his cock through them, the pleasure began to build.
Do you appreciate that, Master? Cindy asked while Worlina only gasped like an absolute slut. It was clear who was part of the news service that did porn and who was part of the porn service that did news.
Very much, John groaned, letting them shake breasts for a couple of minutes and just taking in the view. His cock vanished repeatedly in the stacked cleavages. The women moaned desperately. Their nipples slid over the juicy chest of the other and their sensitive skin was steadily in touch with his hot, hard member.
Feeling good, Master? Cindy purred again.
Think you can take us? Worlina added with a hint of arrogance in her tone.
Well see, John gasped, feigning weakness. Think you can take this? He shook the bottle of body oil he was still holding. They nodded eagerly and John flipped the stic lid open. The clear liquid poured down into the girls cleavages and was quickly distributed all over the titifuck by their continuing movements. Almost immediately, he felt a pleasant heat on his skin everywhere the oil touched. He knew that it would only get more intense.
I should have the Wisdom to remain in control through all of this, he thought and looked down on the audibly panting pair on either side of his hips. These two, though? Well, itll be fun. They had brought this upon themselves and John would feel no remorse about drowning them in pleasure.
The shaking of their breasts grew more heated over the next two minutes, the body oil unfolding its basic potential. Up and down their chests went, luscious flesh gliding over luscious flesh, the two sluts shaking their hips while their hands kept kneading the sides of their tits. Fingers pressing in and the way their breasts spilled against each other showed just how squishy those moderatelyrge chests were. If John had any doubts, they were clearedpletely by the heavenly softness that enveloped his cock and pressed against his groin.
With utmost glee, he listened to their panting bing moans of a higher and higher pitch. Each time their hard nipples met in their unnned and wild service, they both let out loud and lewd gasps. They bit their lower lips, their eyes darted from each others eyes, to the cock that repeatedly vanished between their tits, up to John. Continuously groaning, John let them know they were doing a fantastic job. The friction of their glistening breasts was fantastic and theck of coordination between them added to the experience. John was so used to his harem, where everyone was in tune with each other, that it was a novelty for him. His girls were still better than Cindy and Worlina, but he definitely enjoyed this beyond basic pleasure.
Part of it was watching these two sluts orgasm just from servicing him with their tits. Almost simultaneously, they tensed up, their titfuck growing sloppy while they shouted in ecstasy. Their eyelids fluttered, their wide-open mouths a mixture between desperate cry and perverted smile.
John let them calm down before asking, Do you think you can take it if I remove the limit on my cum load?
YES! Cindy shouted enthusiastically. Worlina didnt seem to register the question, her perverted, aphrodisiac-drenched brain too concentrated on resuming the proper massage of the Gamers massive member. All of it, give me all of it!
You sure? The aphrodisiac will make my load evenrger.
All of it, Master! Cindy wiggled her round,rge ass. I want to swallow all of your delicious cum!
Ill punish you if you fail, the Gamer growled warningly, already putting the slider to maximum. Then he let out a particrly long sigh and closed his eyes. Worlina, let Cindy have it all when I cum, hemanded.
Yesshhh, the masochistic, submissive green skin responded, the authority of his enchanting voice cutting through her haze.
Three seconds, John announced. The buff was already maxed out, but he wanted to feel their desperate attempts. Focusing solely on the sensation, he counted down. Three. Both upped the shaking of their tits to a frantic pace. Two. John could feel the jiggling, their intense heartbeats, the air brushing over his periodically revealed head. One. Cindys breasts pulled away a little as she enveloped the head of his cock with her soft lips. Like a proper whore, she sealed tightly around his ns, sucked her cheeks in and caressed him with her tongue. Worlinas slippery, juicy tits still massaged his shaft. Im cumming!
The first spurt splurged from his cock head with intense force. Opening his eyes, he watched the lustful impression on Cindys face mix with delighted desperation as the second and soon third spurt soon followed. It was three times his usual maximum,ing up to over a third of a litre. That quantity kept pumping into Cindys mouth. She desperately tried to swallow, but she couldnt keep up with the supply. Not while its enchanted taste also made her climax herself.
With a cough, she pulled her head back, causing the remainder of Johns load to shower down on the joined cleavages of the slutty interviewers.
What a bad girl you are, John scolded in an amused tone and grabbed Cindy by the chin. The cat girl had issues looking at him, her eyes dull and unfocused. You said you could take it all. Seems like you need to be punished. His tone hardened. Back on your chair, slut. Give me a show, hemanded. Then he let go and re-adjusted the slider. There would be enough of a mess.
Yes Master. Cindys answer was interrupted by a final gulp. Slowly, she got up and turned around. John wasnt certain if she did so hoping he would change his mind or to give him a show. When he saw her sopping wet cunt, he realized that it most likely was that her legs were simply weak.
Once she was sitting in her leather padded seat, the catgirl started masturbating. Rubbing her pussy with one hand, she scooped up spilled cum from herrge tits with the other. Seductively, she sucked it off her fingers, moaned genuinely as the fresh taste hit her. Her hips bucked against her fingers as she brought herself to another orgasm almost immediately.
This has fulfilled its purpose, John thought and ced the oil bottle in his inventory. Then he fully gave into the moment and grabbed Worlina by the base of her ponytail. Firmly, almost dragging her, he guided her in front of his chair. Soon she kneeled between his parted legs. One girls punishment is another girls reward, wouldnt you say?
Whatever pleases you, Master, Worlina said. The green skins face was already messy with sweat and some amount of semen, the white drops clearly standing out against her unusual colour. It got a whole lot messier when Johnid his cock across her face. Immediately, the cock-loving nymphomaniac crossed her eyes and opened her mouth wide.
The invitation was clear and John guided her lips to the tip of his dick. Unrelentingly, he pulled her down. Willingly, she took him in. There was no gagging, just a smooth pration of her throat. Her pillowy lips closed tightly around the base. Holding her down, the Gamer considered his options. He could either let go of her hair and allow the famed blowjob addict to do her best, which he already knew was only good by his standards, or he could takeplete control of the situation.
There was no long deliberation. With the steady gluck gluck gluck of a ravaged throat, John manhandled Worlinas head. Repeatedly he hammered her down, sheathed his full length inside her. The bulge his girthy cock created was a delight to see, using the alternative angle of the Mand Sphere. From there, he could see a whole lot more, her jiggling tits, the way she kept her arms behind her back, as if they were locked, and her pussy gushing as orgasm after orgasm made her eyes roll up.
It was almost too easy, but John revelled in ying the asional game where he got matched with beginners. Rising lust motivated him to stand up, fuck her face even harder than the mere pull of his hands allowed. Soon he was standing, the repeated thrusts of his hips against her face sending depraved echoes through the room. Faster and faster, harder and harder, he prated her tight throat, only stopping when he knew he had to let her breathe. At all other times, the dominance with which he handled her made the masochist squirt all over the carpet. Muffled moans reverberated in his shaft.
Lustful shouts reached his ears and he looked up. Cindy had cleaned herself off and was now working her cunt with both hands. Rubbing her clit and fingering her pussy with feverish speed, she made the tits squished between her arms jiggle continuously. Master! she gasped, knowing she had his attention. Mashtehhrr, I ho-ahh-pe you like thi-
He wasnt interested in hearing her dirty talk. Cum, he instructed her and the blonde threw her head back as her body suddenly convulsed. Harder. Cum! He repeated themand and Cindy spasmed in her seat, having no control over herself at all. John reached the point of no return, watching the slutty interviewer scream, and plunged one more time into Worlinas throat. His balls rested against the goblins chin and then tightened. Cum!
Worlina squirted heavily while her stomach was filled with Johns cum. Knees buckling, John had to fight to remain upright while white lightning danced through his field of vision. It became difficult to concentrate, difficult to keep his sense of bnce, so overwhelming was the pleasure of the moment.
As quickly as the orgasm hade, so did it begin to fade. While John regained control over himself, the living cocksleeve he was still holding had now turned into a fully spasming mess. With a content smile, he looked at what he had made of the woman, so proud in her sexual abilities, in the span of ten minutes.
And you were so certain of yourself, John hummed while he pulled out of Worlinas mouth. Instinctively, the short and stacked whore sucked him clean on the way. By the hair, he pulled her up, then put a hand around her torso and held her in a less painful fashion. His hand sank into her abundant bosom. Do you want to end up like this, Cindy? he asked and walked over.
Yesssshhhhh, the catgirl shouted, still rubbing her own cunt.
You know Ill reduce you to a quivering mess, yeah? You wont have any chance to knock me out anymore, John ced the mindlessly fucked goblin on top of Cindy. Bowing down, he pulled a few levers on the intricately designed chair. It rose to the height of his hips and lowered the backrest. Worlina spasmed, her head resting between Cindys tits. Do you want this? Do you want me to scramble your brain with my cock?
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Worlina screamed, her pussy gushing and contracting orgasmically around Johns suddenly prating member. Wordless, mindless, the goblins high-pitched voice only grew louder when John pped her fat green ass. From the start, he fucked her as quickly as he wanted.
We couldnt take you! We cant take you! Cindy moaned, her eyes fixed on the ecstatic expression of her fellow interviewer. Youre too magnificent! I dont care what you do, just please break me! Shatter my mind tonight! Pleaasshhheee, Mashtaaaaahhh! Her plea transformed into a climax-induced scream as the Gamer answered it and rammed into her sopping wet cunt. He gave her ten quick, strong thrusts. That was all it took to make her squirt. While her pussy juices gushed out, John slipped back into Worlina.
Alternating between the two tight cunts was a wonderful experience. Whores or not, these two took care of themselves and their pussies gripped his cock with their wet folds. To no surprise, Worlina was tighter and squishing her womb in was the kind of pleasure he could only enjoy with her. For most humanoids, that would have been an unpleasant experience. Not for the shortstack whose whole species had evolved topensate forrger partners.
It was so delightfully easy to make them cum that this was the way John decided when to change who he was fucking. Each time he plunged into either of them, both of them shook. Worlinas rippling ass and Cindys ecstatic face were all he needed to see. Their shouts said the rest. Back and forth, he switched, fucking them into a multi-orgasmic haze. All the while he remained in control of himself. It was a bit more difficult with the reduced Wisdom, but far from a mindless overtaking of his instincts.
The same couldnt be said for the two repeatedly squirting sluts in front of him. Cindy and Worlina were both unable to emote anything beyond the pure bliss he hammered into them. He kept going and going, recklessly filling them with his entire length, working hard on filling them with something else.
Then, finally, he felt it build. He continued going regardless. His balls tightened, cum started to pump, but he kept fucking them. The first few ropes of seed shot into Cindys eagerly waiting pussy. The catgirls spine arched as she squirted heavier than she had at any point before. A momentter Worlina threw her head back as John swiftly changed the holes between two spurts and pumped the second half of his massive load into her cunt. With a satisfied grunt, he pressed against her fat bubble butt and rode out the remainder of his orgasm.
It would be far from hisst one.
Chapter 938 – A sore morning
Chapter 938 C A sore morning
You know, in every other household, I would have to live with a lot of res right now, John joked at the breakfast table. The reasons for that statement were both currently drinking their third ss of water. There was a lot of rehydration to do for Cindy and Worlina. The two interviewers barely reacted to his words. They were in the typical post-absurd sex mind-freeze.
It was odd to see Cindy and Worlina without their make-up. Their lips were less outstanding, or had an entirely different colour in Worlinas case, their eyes less brilliant and their colour less perfect. They did look worse, it had to be said, but John also appreciated the honesty of regr femininity. The literalyer of sticity was peeled away and the ws had their own charms.
Imma give ya a bunch of res for abusing these poor girls, if ya want, Rave joked.
You say that as if you werent partly responsible.
Oh please, if anything we helped! Rave defended herself with a wide grin. The second half of the interview had been slotted tost for an hour, but Cindy and Worlina were at the edge of copse after about thirty minutes. Not simple overfucked, mindless ecstasy, actual physical copse from the physical strain. John was used to different circumstances, but he was still aware that even most superhumans were not made to orgasm 150 times an hour.
His harem of utterly depraved girls had been watching the livestream. That was no surprise whatsoever. In order to have their lifestyle, they all had to enjoy it, and if his girls hadnt at least been somewhat voyeuristic, things would have been difficult. Not everyone could be as satisfied watching as Gnome, but they at least had to derive more pleasure from it than they did difort. A girl that would have been unhappy or jealous about seeing him fuck others would have not fit with his harem. That was the majority of women out there but, to be perfectly fair, most men struggled to keep just one partner happy so they shouldnt have looked to get more than one.
Really, John was just as lucky as he was exceptional.
That exceptionality was mirrored by his girls, both in their unusual characters and their extremely attractive forms. These two attributes, or sets of attributes, had been onplete disy when his girlfriend had picked up another few volunteers and decided to join the set with a small impromptu orgy to get the remaining time done. This made it the third out of three instances were John had just obliterated the interviewers and spend the remaining time fucking Rave and, in this case, Metra and Smander as well.
It had been a lot more satisfying than fucking Cindy and Worlina, John had to admit. He wouldnt say that out loud while they were around, though. Perhaps he wouldnt say it at all. His harem doubtlessly knew that he loved them more than his promiscuous encounters. It was nice that they allowed him to have them, but he knew exactly why they were a rare side indulgence. Other women just didnt satisfy him the same way. The fact that their bodies could withstand him was one thing, but love was the most of it. Love made the air fresher, the food tastier and the sex greater. There was just no denying it.
The interviewers had still partaken in the orgy, after a sizable break and some water, but his girls had made themselves the stars pretty easily. Want to make a bet? John asked, shifting the topic.
Depends on what, Rave responded.
The butt.
The what?
I said the butt.
You said the butt?
I said to what the butt, yes.
Rave snorted and suddenly startedughing, What are we even?
Three rings away from married? John suggested.
Are ya not going to wear a mangagement ring?
For one, I dont want to hear that term ever again, John stated and got supportive nods all around the table. For two, if I wore a ring for every one of you, I would run out of fingers pretty quickly C and Im pretty sure Equipment Slots wont let me anyway. He wiggled his fingers, most of them covered in one or two marks from Lovers will. This is as close as well get there, Im afraid.
But ya will have one wedding ring, ja? Rave asked, her forehead wrinkled.
Of course, John assured her swiftly. Itll be the let me run the math quickly 31st best ring in existence, assuming the harem stays the current size and I give each of you two rings.
If its supposed to be a ring for all of us, it better be the bestest darn ring ever made, Rave demanded.
Doesnt feel right to put the most valuable thing on me John hummed.
Then ya shouldnt wear just the one ring for all of us, his girlfriend stabbed him in the shoulder. Anyway, lets keep the marriage talk for another time. She nced over to the two interviewers who managed to disy a modicum of interest. Friends of the harem or not, journalists were journalists and marriage news on the Gamer would sell like hot bread in a world that had only ever experienced edible sponges. What butt were ya talking about?
THE butt, John said.
So my butt? Rave wanted to know.
Is there another one as perfect?
Gaia, or so ya say. The Lightbearer twisted her neck to look at her seated behind. Cant exactlypare in the moment. Would have to get Copernicus and Gaia to cooperate so the perspectives work.
I will not stare at human butts, the suncat meowed from the couch.
More for me to visually devour. John shrugged. Anyway, you know how yesterday was livestreamed and recorded?
Ya seriously asking if I remember 75% of the reason why I came so hard?
You can be pretty stupid. I mean, you just forgot about 99% of the work I did.
Sure thing, tiger. Rave rolled her eyes in faked mockery. Go on then, ya biiiiiiig stud.
Well, since you decided toe on in with premiere boob queen and midriff ve, Smander and Metra grinned, I was wondering whos going to be talked about the most. My bet is on Smander.
My bet is on myself, Rave responded confidently. I think most guys actually prefer ass over tits.
I have less faith in humanity, John sighed and returned to his breakfast.
Soon after they had finished eating, people from the two newsworks came to fetch their workers. Because of the state they had been in at the end of yesterdays tussle, this had to be postponed until then. They still didnt look brilliant, but at least they could walk and were no longer covered in cum.
With them out of the house, John looked to his duties for the day. After about thirty minutes he found himself in his office and did the usual paper mining. Several hours passed. Then two entire days of the usual mix of sex and administration. Wednesday threatened to be much the same until one of the two maids under his table paused in her cock worshipping duties. Reminder: you wanted to attend the House of Commons session today, Beatrice said.
Yeah, I did. The Gamer nodded and checked the clock. In a couple of hours, the first session with the new house members from Florida and the Meltpot states would ur. The Pacificia representatives would follow a couple of weekster. Bureaucracygging behind real life events was hardly anything new, so a couple of weeks was actually a quick time for a new state to hold elections. That was thanks to their peaceful integration, leaving little to no internal friction to the processes of democracy. The weeks still dedicated to the transition existed both to let Fusion administrators double check the election processes and to allow the potential electees to campaign.
In a showcase of realpolitik trying to overpower what was efficient, several of the parties had pleaded with John to push back the arrival of the new representatives and the elections in Pacificia by several more weeks. The motivation for this was as in as day: power. Parties that were currently sessful didnt want their share of seats in the parliament to be diminished because of new arrivals. Simrly, parties that thought they could be sessful in the new member guilds wanted to have the time to spread their influence. Whether that happened via recruiting people already in the running or just spreading their influence via the establishment of local branches didnt really matter that much.
John had resisted those requests at the time, which the party leaders had been somewhat miffed about. Their annoyance was a price he was willing to pay, if it meant avoiding the setting of a precedent. Every system eventually copsed under its own weight, as injustices, exceptions and rification piled onto the basic framework, and John wanted to keep things clean as much as he could. Knowing everything eventually broke down was realism, just letting it happen because it was inevitable was nihilism. John was not going to be part of thetter category, especially not with how invested he was in the current state of affairs.
Was it an African proverb? John thought out loud. The young men that wont be weed into the vige will burn it down to feel its warmth?
Aclysias lips slid up his cock until it plopped out into the air. By the time she started her answer, Beatrice was already taking him into her throat. His diligent maids would never leave him unattended. I believe so, Master. What makes you bring it up?
Just considering the woes of modern society, John told her, and how to avoid them. In order for people to care about their home, they need to be positively invested in it. To be positively invested in something means that one has to feel at least a degree of control over its direction. I guess thats why centralized systems eventually get unstable. Power gets too concentrated, more people are or feel disenfranchised, and then they grab the tinderbox. He reached down and patted her white head, the strands of her hair feeling finer than the finest silk under his palm. Lets hope Fusions culturees together fast enough that we dont get blown apart the second our economy stops booming.
An orgasm for him and three for the girlster, they headed towards the House of Commons. Jack was left behind to do more paperwork.
The chamber was still incredibly empty. Designed to hold up to two and a half thousand people, the many rail-roaded rows of seats of the floor were stillrgely unimed. The addition of 46 seats to the previous 100 helped minorly. John looked down from his position on the marble seat of power and beheld the newyout of the House of Commons.
Going from the leftmost, which was the anti-state power side of the spectrum in Johns nning of the chamber, to the rightmost, the state-empowering side, the breakdown was as followed:
- The Free party, representing the wish to abolish almost all of Fusions institutions and leaving it as a shell in which the pre-Federation anarchy could be allowed again had gained no seats. With outside threats and internal prosperity, people werent likely to vote for something that wanted to abolish the central hierarchical structure. Seats: 4 out of 146.
- The Wrath Party, speaking for people that clung to the might makes right motto even asmonw was being applied, had gained two new seats. They had also lost two seats to people defecting from them and joining the Project Shield. Seats: 7 out of 146.
- Newly added was the Revealers party, dedicated to liberating people from cumbersomews and questioning unnecessary cultural practices such as wearing clothes all the damn time. They were almost entirely elected by Florida and, because that was the most popted state in the Federation, they came in as a fairly influential party from the get go. Seats: 12 out of 146.
- The Individualists had been and still were Fusionsrgest party, but their goals as a political entity remained equally muddled. For the most part, they leaned libertarian, thus their position on the left side of Fusions political spectrum. Theck of a central program or set of clear principles made them little more than a temporary gathering of people that had not or would not join any of the established parties. While they had gained five seats in this set of elections, they had also lost four in the meantime due to defectors. Seats: 25 out of 146.
- The Fusion Libertarians were, as the name clearly stated, the established libertarian party. The problem with this, as every other libertarian movement, was the question of what constituted the proper size of government. This party had outlined what they wanted the boundaries to be, but for some that was too strict or not strict enough, which was why they hadnt fused with the Individualists. It was also why they were a smaller party than the Individualists. They had only gained one seat, not from the election, but from a defector. Seats: 13 out of 146.
- The Economists were a party primarily elected by the people in the Amaca Coast state. They were categorized as centre-left, but their outlook was a bit more muddled than that binary outline implied. What they wanted was to have a marketce that was free of all regtions C except the ones that benefitted them, of course. On the side that John understood, that included tariffs, keeping foreign actors from meddling too much in the internal market. Further out there were stringent production regtions that would empower big businesses and raise the bar of entry for smaller ones, thus limitingpetition. For a party that represented the richest donors, that was understandably the goal. They, too, had gained one seat from an Individualist defector, but none in the elections. Seats: 15 out of 146.
- In the centre of Fusions current political parties was the Stream Party, representing conservative ideals such as a sturdy central culture, promoting family ideals, and localmunities ability to live without the central government meddling too much with them (while also being a potential help in tough times). They had gained an additional three seats, two from the election and one from a defector. Seats: 16 out of 146.
- Leaning right of the centre was the Centralists party. Colloquially called the John Newman can do nothing wrong-party, they were staunch loyalists to Fusions cause. That was fundamentallyudable, in the Gamers eyes, the problem was that they were so loyal to the institutions that they cheered their expansion on. Because of their unofficial moniker, they also got to ride the wave of Johns current poprity. They had grabbed thest defector from the Individualists and been voted into another nine seats, giving them an additional ten seats in total. This made them the second strongest party in the current House of Commons. Seats: 18 out of 146.
- The Supernatural People Party was a conglomerate of many fantasy races that didnt necessarily have a lot inmon when it came to values. However, in order topete in the politicalndscape, they had banded together under the things they had inmon. The most pronounced was their often unusual, by human standards, living conditions. They were categorized as a party on the right due to their steady requests for state-funded Protected Spaces made to cater to their wants and needs. They had alsoe to cater to the human voter by talking about general social measures and welfare. This managed to gain them an extra seat. Seats: 12 out of 146.
- Project Shield, Fusions prime advocates for a strong and heavily militarized central state, were heavily benefitting from the current situation. For one, any outside threat would make people flock to the party that had consistently dered that arms were the ultimate authority of the state. Second, the South Meltpot state was a breeding ground for people that looked up to the central authority. With John having ended their local game of strongmen, all that was left were people that thought he was right because he was strong. In the North Meltpot, that had driven them to the Wrath Party. It spoke to a more authoritarian character that they decided to go with Project Shield instead. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, John didnt really know. Neither of those two parties really stood for his personal beliefs. Seats: 14 out of 146.
- Thest party, the Crowning Party, simrly rode the wave of Johns poprity and the Lorylim threat. Their established party program was to dismiss this entire silly idea that an Abyssal republic could ever be stable and wanted John to just end the charade of all men being equal and take his rightful ce as the benevolent dictator. Until he epted the crown, they were happy to just infuse the executive with more powers where they could. They had previously been Fusions smallest faction, with a mere two seats, but had swollen considerably, getting another eight seats in the recent elections. Seats: 10 out of 146.
John observed this current trajectory with a bit of worry. The scale was not out of whack yet, but people clearly leaned towards empowering the state at the moment. It was no wonder; when the state did a good job, the intuition was to give it more power. While the Gamer hade to think that if it aint broken, dont fix it also applied to institutions that were doing their job at their current size, the average person was either not as informed or not as invested.
Which also didnt mean that they were wrong. Intuitive responses could be a lot more reasonable than deeply thought-out ones. There were ideas so utterly idiotic that it took a very educated mind to believe them. Lysenkoism came to mind.
Mister President, you have the floor, the Speaker of the House said, beginning that days session.
John had more than one reason to attend the meeting today.
Chapter 939 – A matter of national security
Chapter 939 C A matter of national security
John rose to his feet and the two maids, the First Servant of State and Fusions financial minister respectively, followed suit. They stood two paces behind him, their poses and uniforms exactly the same. Hands folded in front of the long, slit skirts of their maid outfits, they seemed unfitting for a government role and were simultaneously a regr sight on official events of this particr federation. The differences between them were only in the length of their hair, a slight difference in cup-size, the position of the mole under the lip (being right for Aclysia and left for Beatrice) and where they looked. The long-haired maid looked lovingly at his back, while the short-haired one stared passively ahead.
The Gamer saw all of this through a knock-off Mand Sphere he had possessed in absence of the real one being avable. He had a habit of using it to make sure he was looking good. Optics were half the speech. Nobody respected a speech about environmentally friendly industry that was held in front of a coal nt. Well, that depends on the framing, he thought to himself, pulling his shoulders back to emphasize his muscr figure a bit more. The days in which he lookednky no matter what he wore were over. Regardless, his build was on the thinner side and he had to stand right to look truly impressive. He looked better without clothes, due to the almost totalck of body fat. One of the few blessings he had previous to his magical improvement.
Honoured House of Commons, Speaker of Commons, my attending ministers, he nodded down to the members of the executive that sat to the side of the seat of government, its a pleasure to be here with all of you today. Your faithful attendance and steady work for the people of Fusion shows that this federation I started can prosper beyond my limited range. Thews you introduce, be they made with my blessing or not, show the freedom we can enjoy and the differences of opinions we can express, from which progress is born.
While he took a breath, apuse was heard all over the room. John had to keep control over his face to not show his annoyance with that fact. What vanity to apud at me aggrandizing you, he thought. This cuts into my speech time too. Keep your ps for the end of the speech.
Should I silence them, Master? Aclysia reached out.
No, John was swift to respond.
Inquiry: are you keeping your ps for my butt after this? Beatrice wanted to know.
Ill definitely give your ass some attentionter. The Gamer now had to withhold a smile, and solemnly continued the address, I want to wee today the new representatives to this fledgeling body of ours. In particr, I want to say hello to the new party that has joined us. As I understand your program, you are here to question what the government does and see if you can liberate us all a bit more. I do very much enjoy the time I spend in Florida, so maybe it will be good for all of us to be a little bit more like you. The democratic process will decide and our lives will surely improve in the long run.
Again, cheers, this time in a pause that John had intended for that. As they ebbed away, he leaned forward, rested his knuckles on the marble tabletop and tried to look all around more urgent. Once it was silent, he raised one hand to carefully gesture with. This federation we have needs to be protected from our enemies, whether those are terrorists, criminals, or malicious entities close to a force of nature. Prosperity is built on stability, stability is built on safety, safety takes from individual freedom and ack of individual freedom ultimately threatens safety. The art of statecraft is one of fine bnce, of being careful what precedents are set and when we, those that make or execute thew, reason ourselves into mistaking personal gain for public benefit. It is the tightrope of privileges, rights and duties. Today, I wish to speak about a duty I have.
John straightened up again, but kept his eyes downcast, as if he was regretting what he had to say next. Inside, he was almost sickened by how good at acting he had be through all of his Charisma. He knew exactly what he was doing, how he was framing things to look as good as possible.
New Libraria has failed to respond to any of the contact attempts we''ve made, he said slowly. Whether it was the foreign office the minister or even myself we found no way to contact them that resulted in an answer. We tried finding phone addresses or emails, we enlisted the help of information brokers and even sent carrier pigeons. Heughed drily and shook his head. Nothing. As you know, during recent interviews, I publicly requested for them toe to us. Still, the foreign office has yet to hear from them in any capacity.
Three breaths long, he paused, let a heavy mood descend on the entranced crowd. When a beautiful young man with superhuman Charisma and a baritone like butter on freshly baked bread spoke, people listened. They listened very carefully indeed.
You may call me paranoid, but after the crisis of the Gestalt guilds, Im not willing to have neighbours that refuse tomunicate. Whether they have a Lorylim problem or not, whether wee to sh with them or not, whether they have something to hide or not, we cannot afford the risk of having a potential gathering ce for enemies right on our borders. We need to know who governs New Libraria, if nothing else. To that end, I beseech you, the representatives of themon people of Fusion, to sanctify me leading a small elite force into Librarias territory for a military expedition. We will find out who or what they are and act as we have to.
He let his gaze wander over the crowd, established eye contact with random members of the House of Commons. A good speech meant he wasnt just speaking to a mass of people, but every individual of that whole. In order to have a secure nation, we must think carefully about the drastic actions we take. Regardless, drastic actions must sometimes be taken. If we are unprepared for the storm, we will surely be broken by its winds. Thank you for your attention.
People apuded all across the chamber, either out of respect or because they were genuinely impressed by the speech. Even the Free party, traditionally Johns biggest detractors, lent their pping to the crowd. As much as they wanted to be left alone, they also didnt want to die. A sensible choice of self-preservation.
The Speaker took control back after about thirty seconds of apuse and proceeded with the protocol. First, people were allowed to respond to the speech or to ask questions. Predictably, people wanted to know howrge this expeditionary force was supposed to be and who was in it. When John announced that Aclysia, Beatrice and Rave would be apanying him, the question of who was in charge in the meantime came up. The answer was that, after himself, the chancellor, the treasurer and the firstdy, temporary decision-making powery with the head of the House of Exceptionals. Currently, that was Magoi.
If it were that John had died, he would be reced by a prettyplicated system that allowed a new president to be elected from a short list of candidates. As much as John wanted to create a proper democratic republic, he knew that the person at the head of an Abyssal system had tomand the power to guarantee its cohesion. Being the leader of Fusions military was not, at least not yet, enough for that.
Following the questions, the vote was held and the supermajority easily achieved. Since this wasnt a joint session of parliament, the House of Exceptionals could theoretically intervene in the legality of this. John didnt expect any troubles from the smaller and, by the nature of it, more elitist body though.
In the first ce, all of this wasnt exactly necessary. John could have just moved with executive privilege again and used the official reason of going there for diplomatic purposes. Having just managed to mend the rtionship with the House of Commons, he didnt want to damage it again. Repeat offenses were seen as worse, additionally, and he didnt want to imagine what he needed to give in order to appease them next time.
__________________________________________________________________________
Things moved fast from there. John had already drafted a scouting n. They would start from the southernmost border and advance north, visiting all major poption centres they came across. Because of New Librarias stretched shape, this was the most effective way to travel all of it and, since they had no idea where any of their outposts or their headquarters were, the group would have to rely entirely on information they found during the operation.
It shouldnt be too difficult. With Johns recently acquired Barrier Sense, they could discover Illusion Barriers without having to y a game of minesweeper with several thousand square kilometres. With mines of unknown size. And without numbers that hinted at their location. And them having to walk hundreds of metres per click.
In short, it would be a whole lot easier. Usually, they would have had to take a learned Fateweaver with them to achieve this. Now that John was a learned Fateweaver, this would not be an issue.
Following the Gestalt affair, and because of the potential troubles still in the area, John had ced his fifth endless-distance teleporter in the Fusion Colonization Zone. That came in handy to get them there. Their bus was already parked in the area, courtesy of Johns scheming, so all they had to do was get on-board, throw on the mobile generator, and start their drive north.
As for who they were, the answer was: him and the harem, bar Scarlett and Lydia. For all the acting that had been in the speech, John was genuinely worried about what they might find. After the Gestalt, he wasnt willing to hedge his bets. There was too much uncertainty going around.
Of course, the action in the bus hardly reflected that.
A loud p echoed through the bathroom, closely followed by a loud cry, Master!
What are you? John asked, his neck turned to watch the naked maid stand next to the jacuzzi. While he was enjoying a hot bath in the bubbling tub and the steady bouncing of Nia on his cock, he was fondling the big butts of the two maids. Both of them were at his beck and call. At the moment, that meant that they were just standing there, growing more needy as they were touched so close to their sensitive cunts, watched their Master fuck another woman and listened to the cries and his words. Beatrice, what are you? he repeated his question.
Your horny, passive servant, Master, Beatrice answered. Master! she shouted his title again, when he spanked her butt another time.
And do you like it when I p your fat ass?
I love it, Master! she cried out, her usually passive voice distorted with delight. Master! Master! Master! she continued to cry out each time he hit her jiggling rump.
He kept going there, enjoying the cries too much to stop, but moved his eyes from Beatrice over to Aclysia. The weaponized maids emerald eyes met his head on. Her desire was written into every facet of them. While her body atrge was still, offering itself to the greedy kneading of her bubble butt, feeling exactly like a regr humans would have, her pink lips were slightly parted and quivered. She was contemting whether it would have pleased him more if she stayed obediently quiet or if she begged for more of his attention.
Cum. That single word eradicated all thoughts John guessed she had as her controlled posture copsed. Fresh pussy juice gushed from her tight cunt and she leaned forward, supporting herself on the rim of the jacuzzi that dominated the bathroom. Even with magically erged space, many would have said that fitting a ten-people jacuzzi inside it was a waste of space. The Gamer, arge enthusiast of whirlpools, did not share that opinion in the slightest.
Masthtehhhrrrr! Aclysia slurred when he gave her spasming ass a nice p. He absolutely adored that habit of theirs, to cry out his title whenever he spanked them. It enticed him to do it so much more. Which was exactly what they wanted, gorgeous, naughty maids that they were.
He kept fulfilling their wish, kept thrusting into Nias tight pussy, and kept rxing in the tub. Through the open door, he heard theughter and theints from the rest of the harem in the living room.
It would be a wild ride, even if nothing happened.
Chapter 940 – An empty and disgusting church
Chapter 940 C An empty and disgusting church
John was not a big fan of American churches. This wasnt ament on religiosity or organized worship, but purely on the buildings. After having seen glorious cathedrals and even the stone churches of Europe, the wooden constructions that decorated smalltown America just felt inadequate. Many of them seemed like a two-family home that had a cross and a belltower pped onto it.
I suppose something good could be said about the homely feeling that gives the entire thing? the Gamer tried to y devils advocate while walking towards the white-painted building. The town and fields around it were devoid of all activities. Under normal circumstances, the winter might have been attributed to that. The simpler, if supernatural, exnation here was the fact that they were inside a barrier. Which was also why his entire harem could tag along as he walked, with their magical appearances and their far from conservative clothing.
They were still in the south of New Libraria territory and that put them in the outskirts of the Bible Belt. John thought better of his fellow Americans than throwing stones at a scantily d woman, but the particrly zealous folk were at least going to give them the stinky eye. Especially since they were heading towards the church. Avoiding those people was a value in and of itself.
The bus was parked behind them and Beatrice was tasked with defending it from potential nasty surprises. Simrly, John tasked Sylph to fly up and oversee the perimeter, while Metra, Aclysia and Gnome were to look over things on the ground. Siena went invisible and snuck around the back entrance of the church. The rest of the group headed for the front door.
While nothing seemed off about their surroundings at the moment, John was not about to take advancing into an unknown Illusion Barrier as a light matter. There were very few obstacles that could stand up to the fighting force that was his assembled harem. Still, a minimum of precaution had to be taken until they knew what kind of people were in charge of this territory.
A fucking church, Eliza cussed, when John knocked on the door. Why did they have to take a house to the imaginary asshole and make THAT their base?
A good question, John hummed. The reason why Eliza was asking it was that she was raised by abusive, highly religious parents. That had understandably caused her to despise everything to do with religion and Christianity in particr. Because of this, her question was more rhetorical in nature. The Gamer was honestly curious.
It did work out for them that this particr building had been chosen because it was right by the main road. However, it was still odd to pick a church as ones base of operation. Especially since this one was so mediocre. There were a bunch of nicer houses around, including some sort of half-mansion with arge garden.
The immediate two reasons that John could think of, for an Abyssal to take this particr building, were essibility or entrapment. Being next to the road did mean that a person could drive out with a mobile generator without issue. It also meant that anybody, like John, with a mobile generator could stumble over it.
That would mean the person who made this barrier wants to be found, though, the Gamer thought. Alright, Ive had enough of waiting, he dered and raised one leg. A momentter, the two halves of the entrance door flew into the foyer behind it.
John tensed up immediately. Not because of what he saw, it was a lovely little room that he would have expected his grandparents to have decorated, but because a specific smell reached his nose. An iron stench that he recognized as something sinister. Next to him, Eliza growled. All of them hasted through the next pair of doors and into what would usually have been the mess hall.
What had been a copy of a ce of worship had been turned into a twisted mirror of itself. Shackles hung off the walls, which were decorated with symbols drawn in blood. The benches for visitors were covered in phalluses and the many stains on the carpet made it clear they were not a very peculiar choice of armrest. Where Jesus would normally be mounted to the wall was an incredibly detailed pentagram with the face of some kind of demon depicted in gold in the centre.
Guess that answers the why they picked a church, John mumbled and walked up to the basin that would have usually been filled with holy water. While the marble thing was empty at the moment, the toilet smell wafting from it left little doubt about what usually went in there. Defiling a sacred space like this is pretty disgusting.
Whatever floats their fucking boats, Eliza stated, ncing at the bloodstains. Not defending the torture or any of that shit, but why shouldnt people be allowed to piss all over religion?
Allowed, yes, John responded and stepped away from the basin. Im not about to tell people what they can do with their bodies, but you have to agree that this, he gestured at the stinking den dedicated to demons, is utter degeneracy. If they kept it to STD-tested orgies to the glory of Satan, I would be halfway on-board. For all I care, people can be into watersports. Pissing into holy water and making a mockery of religious gatherings is in poor taste, to say the least.
Eliza didnt respond to that, but neither did she seem to feel as strongly about this as him. As understandable as her hatred for religion was, it did make her wed in entirely different ways. Today wasnt the day to unwrap this.
They prated deeper into the building by using a door at the back. Immediately they were back in a normal looking house. Everything was exceedingly orderly. However, where a normal person would have potted nts and pictures, the person living here decorated their surroundings with axes, swords and sex toys. I wonder if this is how people think I live? the Gamer thought, trying to keep himself from getting too alienated by his surroundings.
So, whatre we dealing with? Rave asked.
A sociopath, a demon worshipper, a demon, or abination of these factors, John told them. I dont exactly have more info than that shrine Also, it seems theres nobody else in this Protected Space but us. Gnome, Sylph and Siena havent found anyone yet. They would have to be exceedingly good at hiding to trick all of us.
How could someone who isnt a sociopath create that mess? Rave wanted to know.
Nia had the answer at the ready, Could be their own blood.
John nodded and added, Wouldnt surprise me if a sermon that included sitting on a dick and being blessed with urine also included blood harvesting. Doesnt require sociopathy to have ideas like that. The Aztecs sacrificed tens of thousands of people for religious reasons and ancient humans used to create holes in their skulls for some unknown reason.
Gross, Ravemented.
Pretty much, John agreed and opened another door. He found a disorderly bed and an open closet inside. Clothes were randomly thrown all over the ce, many resembling the garb of a nun but given the stripper treatment, with a roughly rectangr spot being left open on the foot end of the bed. Someone was packing their bags.
I found something, Siena let him know and sent him a mental image of aputer.
Well, turn it on, John told her and turned away from the bedroom to head to her location. At this point, he was fully rxed. He was in some sort of deliberately defiled, demonic and degenerate den, but he wasnt somewhere dangerous. There were a load of questions he had about New Libraria though. Was the guild tangled up with demonic worship or did this ce exist independently or merely by toleration of the governing entity?
Siena was upstairs, in a small office they then all squeezed into, including the girls he had originally left to check the outside. Only the midnight elemental got to sit in the office chair, courtesy of arriving first. I like this, shemented on a hole in the backrest, through which she could thread her tail, a bit narrow though.
I think its meant for a species with a thinner tail, John pointed out.
A subus? Nia suggested. Would fit with the outfits.
Potentially, John agreed.
Hmm, we might have an issue, Siena said and gestured at the single screen. Unless any of you know the password.
Inquiry: should I call Scarlett? Beatrice chimed in.
No, John responded. Type 800851E5. Sienas nimble fingers danced over the well-used keyboard and a momentter the password screen disappeared. Everyone looked to John for an exnation. Look, were dealing with some degenerate sex demon, not a genius, he pointed at a whiteboard to his right. It says the password right there Boobsies in numbers, capital E.
Worlds greatest detective right here, Rave remarked in a dry tone.
Better than you, honey, the Gamer grinned. Anyway, whats on there.
Steam, Siena responded, as she tapped the surface of the table repeatedly. The PC seemed to be an older model and was positively cluttered with autostart programs. Boredly, the midnight elemental continued to list program names until everything had concluded and she closed the Adobe sh update request. Then she clicked on the start icon and opened the local files. Lets check the images first! she dered with sadistic enthusiasm.
The room atrge groaned and was swiftly validated as they found a heap of visual records on the ongoings of the defiled mess. Looking away as much as he could, he still learned several things. One, the people sitting on the benches had been predominantly male. Two, the owner of this church was a ck haired demte with red skin and an exceedingly muscr body. Three, the blood used to paint the walls had been harvested by flogging the people that seemed very okay with that situation.
Okay, so we are only dealing with absolute degenerates, John pointed out. That made things somewhat more ptable. Even if he was personally disgusted by what these people decided to do with their bodies, they were still their bodies. Can we please look at something else? If I wanted to torture myself like this, Id watch Two Girls, One Cup.
I suppose this avenue of pain has been exhausted, Siena giggled and closed the image view. Lets see what else we have here She clicked through the registries in search of something eye-catching. Work files an attempt at a romance novel oh, a diary want me to skip to the most recent pages?
While John was positively surprised she didnt just bombard them with unnecessary details to sadistically harvest their reactions, he did have to deny that one. Do the early pages say something about who she is and where she came from? he asked. Demons were such a rare encounter that finding one running a church in the middle of nowhere tickled his curiosity.
Name appears to be Yumeni, Siena told him as she nced across the document for further details.
Inquiry: should I call Scarlett? Beatrice chimed in with the same question she had earlier, albeit for a different reason this time around. Exnation: our time could be used more wisely.
Maybe, but I dont really want to expose her to all of this information, the Gamer told them. I make her do enough without scooping through the private files of a muscle girl subus with a watersports fetish. That aside, were in no hurry. If theres no signs of Lorylim activity this far down south, Im not afraid of anything.
Says here she is a fiend, actually, Siena finally got back to him. More of abat-oriented demon, I guess?
My demonology is no better than yours, John told her and looked over to Nia. What are the chances Richard taught you about demons?
He did.
How much?
A bit.
Can you tell us about fiends?
The blonde stared at him for several seconds, then exined, Fiends are generally humanoids with red or blue skin. Rarer or more powerful specimens can grow an additional pair of arms. They have a tail of up to 75 centimetres in length. Usually, they have goat-like horns. Females often possess male reproductive organs.
Well, this one doesnt, John grumbled.
Apparently there is a semi-stable Kingdom connection to some demon world further north, Siena continued. At least the writer ims thats where she is from. New Libraria mages tried to summon her through and she obliged.
So New Libraria are a bunch of demon summoners? Rave asked.
Could just be degenerate fucking nerds that needed to summon themselves some pussy, Eliza suggested.
Now you agree with me that they are degenerates? John teased.
I never said they werent, just that churches can fuck off and burn.
John rolled his eyes and smiled amusedly at the same time. At least they were in agreement that this was beyond thefort of their fetishes. The Gamer was reallyfortable with the level of bondage they went into and didnt want to expand on the pain or filth front. Anal sex was about as dirty as he wanted things to be. Anything else? he asked Siena.
Not that I can see immediately the midnight elemental responded and scrolled through the pages. Was summoned, partook in an orgy, was recruited into the militia, had freaky sex with a bunch of people, saved up enough money to move away from Neo Alexandria C does not mention where that is aside from further north C and opened up this ce.
Okay, so Neo Alexandria is their centre of operations and they have a way to bring demons into this world John scratched the top of his head. That could exin their secrecy. I cant imagine their operations were particrlyrge though. Otherwise, this would have leaked to the outside world ages ago He kept his questions about logistics and secrecy to himself for the moment because Sienas bodynguage suddenly shifted. She became stiff and leaned towards the screen, reading carefully. What is it?
Latest entry mentions that she is going north because of a message she received about New Libraria being invaded. That was six days ago.
The Lorylim? John asked. It would be a suspicious dy.
No invasion from the west by people in heavy armour. She turned in the chair to look at John. Seems like your redheaded friend had the same idea you did.
The Golden Rose attacked New Libraria, John realized.
Chapter 941 – Weighing in on foreign wars
Chapter 941 C Weighing in on foreign wars
John pulled out his phone and called Scarlett immediately. The phone clicked and the technomancers voice rang sarcastically from the speaker, Not even one day and you already need me for tech issues, dont you? Cant you do anything yourself?
I really wanted to, but things just got a whole lot moreplicated. The Gamer quickly exined the situation to her. I need you to scan through theputer for any hints of Neo Alexandria, confirmations of the Golden Rose moving, or any other bases that may be mentioned.
Hook me into theputer, and Ill get to it, Scarlett gave the answer. John was already on it, connecting the PC and the phone through a simple USB cable. Soon, windows were popping up and vanishing in a matter of seconds. Fucking Gaia, you werent kidding when you said there was a lot of shit on thisputer, the redheadined and the monitor went dark.
Did ya just ragequit? Rave asked.
No, I stopped the PC from loading graphics because it was way too slow, Scarlett told them. Also, thanks for all the things Ill never unsee. I knew that cunts were stretchable, but I didnt need visual confirmation that unbirthing is a fucking thing.
Ill pay you back in basic cuddling, handholding and loving sex when Im back, John told her. Never before had he craved the vani vour of intercourse as much as he had after seeing the depths of depravity. Maybe even some simple flirting whileying in bed. Sound good? He was owed an answer. Scarlett?
Sorry I just threw up.
Smander cackled. I know that handholding is the ultimate degeneracy, but that seems a bit much.
I wont even start to describe to you what just appeared in my fucking head, so yeah, sure, lets run with that bloody bullshit and pretend I didnt just Everyone could hear the loud gulp over the phone. Fucking Id rather stand between Nia and Alice and stare at their Nevrest than data mine this PC. The sound of ss being ced on a table interrupted her words. Then the running of liquids.
Whisky? John asked.
Spiritus, Scarlett croaked and audibly took a shot of almost pure ethanol.
Despite her clear suffering, the technomancer managed to muddle through theputer in the span of ten minutes. The reward for it was meagre. Scarlett managed to enter her email ount thanks to the password being locally saved and through that confirmed that it was the Golden Rose attacking. The exact location of Neo Alexandria and other important outposts remained obscure.
The most detailed bit of information they got was intel on how the demon situation was kept under wraps. Apparently, each demon summoned was put under a magically binding contract that would erase part of their memories if they ever decided to leave New Libraria. Apparently, demons had a particr susceptibility to magical contracts like that. It fit with the folklore image of such entities, so John epted it at face value.
The question of how the human side held back intel was still open, but he wouldnt get answers to that by sitting in this defiled church. Im going to get drunk and hope the hangover erases the memory of this, Scarlett said but then sighed. Youll probably need meter, wont you?
Most likely, yeah, John answered. Maybe Ill stumble over otherputers that need a quick decoding.
He had considered just leaving instead. With the Golden Rose already on the offensive, it may have been wiser to pull back and let the situation y out. Whether Fusion or the Golden Rose came to control New Libraria mattered fairly little in the short term and in the long term their factions would sh in some fashion. Thisnd was, most likely, not going to matter a whole lot. Not with how Abyssal warfare functioned.
As the situation was right now, he didnt have enough information to know whether or not the Golden Rose was justified in its attack. It may have been that New Libraria was full of people who made human sacrifices willingly. It may also be that the Golden Rose was about to instill oppressive order on people who were just entric.
Staying blissfully ignorant of the possibilities and retreating to avoid an immediate confrontation with the Golden Rose was certainly a politically moderate course of action. Personally, however, John felt incapable of taking that route. He was too curious about this stable Kingdom connection and unwilling to take the gamble on things just working out without him. If the Golden Rose was morally correct, supporting them would let him learn more about them. If New Libraria was morally correct, he had a duty to intervene in the conflict. At the very least, he could siphon some refugees off the conflict to settle in the vast emptynd he had. Curiosity, personal responsibility and opportunism, he could cater to it all if he kept going.
Fantastic, so I cant bleach my braincells with alcohol, Scarlett sighed. At least make this a worthwhile profit margin.
Ill do my best.
____________________________________________________________________________
John and his travelling harem were lingering on the long couch in the living room. Their legs were outstretched on the extension pulled out from underneath the sofa, usually meant to transform it into a second bed but currently used purely forfort. A number of nkets covered all of them. While the heating system of the bus worked wlessly, there was a general want to cuddle and nakedly being stuffed under a warm nket was a pretty intimate way to go about that. Sadly, a nketrge enough to cover all of them was impractical, so they had to separate into cuddle clusters.
There was a lot of movement beneath the nkets. The haremettes were touching and kissing each other in a number of more and less lewd or loving ways. Compliments, friendly insults and general banter were exchanged while the group atrge barely paid attention to the movie running on therge tscreen mounted to the opposite wall. asionally, theyughed or talked about a scene. Generally, they were too engaged with each other.
John was no exception to this. Sharing his nket with Metra and Beatrice, he had a purely kind and cute time, snuggling up to the two of them. Neither of them was the hugging type. Metras violent mindset and sexual submission to him didnt mix to create anything of the sort. Beatrices passiveness and general servitude didnt yield anything in that regard either.
While that meant that cuddling with them wasnt as satisfying as it would be with Gnome, Aclysia or Sylph, it was still far from a displeasing affair. Their general sentiment towards body contact may have been to disregard, but when love was involved, such things often changed. As such, they were a happy bundle of slung around arms, kisses and sweet nothings. Most of thetter came from him, Metra only said a chosen few things and Beatrice said almost nothing, but it was still nice. They were leaning on either of his shoulders and pressed their naked bodies tightly against his sides. Hands travelled up and down his abs, just as his own caressed the swing of their waists, hips and thighs. The groin areas were generally avoided for the moment.
Like what you feel? Metra whispered into his ear, his left hand currently pressing against her abs. As someone who valued athleticism in his partners, her midriff feeling hard was somewhat of a turn-on for the Gamer. Soft bits were nice, but John was happiest when the jiggle was concentrated around the butt and thighs, with additional consideration being given to breasts (he was perfectly happy with small ones, though). A bit of fat on the tummy could be attractive, he admitted, but he preferred t stomachs and softly defined midriffs to that.
Metra was more than softly defined, especially in the midriff area, but that was only a splendid variation in his harem. Extremely so, he whispered back and then leaned down to kiss her. She tasted metallic and sweet, an odd but familiar and pleasant taste. Come here. He grabbed her with a bit more force. A momentter, she was on top of him. Not to ride him, that wouldeter, just for a more intimate hug that more than just he could enjoy.
Changing her position, Beatrice quickly embraced the two of them. Passive and silent as she seemed to be in that moment, the adoration in her eyes was absolutely true. Who do ya think youre looking at, sass ster? Metra hummed amusedly.
Someone I love, Beatrice responded swiftly and leaned up.
Should be illegal for you to be sweet, the ancient weapon mumbled and reciprocated the advancement.
John grinned, as he watched two of the many beloveddies in his life engage with each other. Tongues, usually used for verbal fencing between the two of them, were tangled together in a very enjoyable way. His half-mast rose to a full erection, inevitably, but he remained quiet and appreciated the romantic moment.
Someone slid under his nket, iming the open spot at his side. John didnt have to look over to know who it was. The smoky smell and rising heat under the nket was all he needed to know, and the giant mounds of soft flesh pressing against him a momentter cleared up the rest. Got some space for me, stud? Smander asked.
Always. John grinned and gave her all the affection she could ask for.
The harem continued to remind one another of the way they preferred to love one another. Jack sat in the drivers cabin. The radio was on, but rather than y the news of any mundane station, out of the boxes came the words of a political work. A modern theory on howmunism could be properly and peacefully transitioned into, the Gamer wasnt too great a fan of it. It dripped of naivety and utopian thinking. The broad strokes being disagreeable with him was unsurprising. He knew his biases, although he was certain he was right when it came to collective ownership being a horrible idea. Exactly because he was so certain of it, he needed the belief to be challenged every now and again. Digging ones heels in was easy, but not the path to wisdom.
This work failed to convince him on any of the great benefits of collectivization. However, it at least reminded him why people were drawn to it, what problems it addressed and gave a few ideas what to do about them from the state side of things. Many of these ideas were interventionist to the extreme, but every tool had its time.
Love being in two ces, Jack thought, dwelling in the sensations of the cuddles exchanged above. The memories between his true body and the double were updated with minimal dy. Therefore, despite the desynchronized consciousness, there was no time or need to grow jealous. Jack wasnt his own being; he was an Extension of John. Even if the two thought streams werent actively crossing, they were part of the same mind.
While the main body concentrated on forgetting all the truly defiling imagery he had been subjected to on theputer, Jack got to listen to something that would have made Eliza raving mad if she had been around. He also got to mull some more over their situation.
How many demons can I expect? The double tried to make an educated guess, but came up short with any way to calcte this even approximately. Demons being rare was self-evident. To date, John had made contact with two, maybe three. There was Ifrit, the apparent god of demons, and Nashara, the subus currently living in Miami. Arguably, Undine was a demon, due to being a corrupted elemental. The borders of the term were pretty vague, describing a collective of races with simr characteristics but no shared heritage or history. Like the term vegetable, the cut-off line for what was the characteristic of a true demon wasnt fully agreed on either. Certain was only that there were certain species everyone instinctively agreed upon were demons.
If there was any one certain characteristics of demons, then it was the ability to be summoned. Not that the Gamer was entirely certain of that either, given theck of such conjurations. By Moiras admission, the Golden Rose had been doing its best to stamp out such knowledge wherever they stumbled over it. Either they werent the only ones following such an endeavour or they were extremely adept in doing it. Both seemed likely.
All I can say certainly is that there cant be too many demons, Jack thought. Contractually obligated amnesia or not, if arge number of demons came streaming out of a certain area of the map, it would show. It would have to be an incrediblyrge number, given the size of New Librarias territory, but even anything more than a few dozen would raise eyebrows. My investigative forces have reported nothing like that.
Fusion had task forces for many things. To be more urate, Fusion had a few task forces assigned to many things. Finding people that were trustworthy andpetent was a difficult task for a recently started Federation. Largely thanks to Chemilia and Ted, a few teams had been cobbled together and were researching a number of things that were shrouded in mystery.
The Death Zone was on the top of the list, for obvious reasons, but there was arge list of topics the previously shattered and squabbling forces upying the area never looked into. The exact paths of the leylines, Natural Barriers that contained rare resources, Protected Spaces that remained from previous North American unification attempts, remnants of ancient trade routes that dated back to the start of the Silk Road, locations and poption numbers of fantasy races, potential Kingdom entrances/exits, and, following from thest two, research on the origin, varieties and sociability of demons.
Ever since meeting his first subus, John had been worried about what a sizable number of demons could do to society, if introduced to it. Nashara had been upfront about her inability to feel love and that her kind only cared about fucking for food and reproduction. Fundamentally, John wasnt overly opposed to that. If they were gically equipped to deal with single motherhood, the only issue with such offspring was if the man went into it expecting either nothing or more. Both cases could be solved by just obligating information or public education. The potential enthrallment of men was a bigger issue and one that wasnt clear on how big it would be.
The size of the issue went along two dimensions. One, how strong was the attraction regr men felt towards subi and, two, how many subi were there and how quickly did they reproduce if given free ess? If the answer to the former was not supernatural to weak, then there would be no issue whatsoever. If it was medium to strong, then the second dimension came into consideration. If there was a small cluster of subi that enthralled men, that could be a problem, but it wasnt a nation-threatening one. If there was arge group or if they reproduced at a rate outpacing normal humans, then John was looking at the difficult situation where his poption would eventually be entirely reced by subi and incubi. Going by what Nashara said, and what the researchers backed up, half-breeds overwhelmingly retained demonic characteristics.
Was gic mixing a problem? Generally, no. Could it be a problem if it came about because men were intoxicated by supernatural charm by demons who only wanted them for their cum and whose offspring were, by human standards, tilting towards sociopathy? Quite possibly, yes.
Question is what several generations of cross-breeding would do, Jack considered the worst-case situation of subi having extreme magical attraction and popping out a kid every year. If theyre mostly human in behaviour but with horns and tails by the fifth generation, its not that bad. If they cant feel love no matter how many generations pass He sighed, knowing that situation had the same set of solutions as the Gestalt one had. Istion, exile or genocide, he summarized, liking not a single one of those words.
That was just the matter of subi, albeit he expected it to be the mostplicated one. Extermination through sex wasnt something most people would immediately consider or even think realistic. If fiends turned out to be demons that just couldnt stop murdering, then applying summary execution to them would be easily justified. It would be simr to eradicating cholera.
Except theyre sapient or, at least, sentient beings the Gamer warned himself. Categorizing thinking is dangerous. Any species being irredeemably evil has to be carefully proven. At least when ites to fiends, the diary showed they arent mindlessly brutal. They might be universally perverse though. Degeneracy of that level is disgusting, but definitely not a reason to exterminate a species. If that was the standard, I get the feeling that Id have to be very tyrannical to kill everyone who deserves it. He sighed again. And people think being on top of the world is fun. When I was a shut-in nerd, I at least didnt have to contemte when its genuinely necessary to consider genocide. Well, I guess I wondered if its justified to murder all orcs or Tyrranids in 40K before. Then again, the answer there isically obvious.
He shut the book on that topic for now. As of this moment, there was only one species he knew for sure he should kill everyst member of and that was the Lorylim. There, at least, was no reason for doubt. One may be revealed in the future, but so far there had been no evidence, personal or historical, that the Lorylim were anything but malicious. Instead of this, he concentrated on the pleasing texture of Aclysias long hair.
They drove for over a day, until they found a barrier of importance.
Chapter 942 – Righteousness 1 – Observer
Chapter 942 C Righteousness 1 C Observer
God, I love the Barrier Sense, John thought as he raised his hand. Knowing in advance that he was going to be in control of the space gave a sense of security that was outmatched by almost nothing. Any confrontation he didnt want, he could instantly flee from. Dont let that make you cocky.
The Illusion Barrier was a farmhouse somewhat off the road, meaning that they had to leave the bus inside its Mobile Barrier. Because John was a paranoid person, he had left Aclysia and Beatrice to guard it. The key was sitting safely in his inventory, but the Gamer didnt want to take any chances. At least if something went south, the maids could immediately teleport over.
Around them, the barren winter field transformed into an ashy, hot hellscape. That was less to say that it looked threatening and more that their surroundings were dominated by infernalndmarks. The ck dust that covered the scorched earthy thick and fine enough to rise in a dry cloud whenever any of them took a step. Gnarly trees with long branches like skeletal hands reached up into the air with their smoothly scarred bark. The clean house was reced with an obsidian tower whose sharply pointed roof resembled interlocking teeth.
In this dark and drearyndscape stood a party of three shining individuals. One wore a white robe with golden embroidery in the shape of a thorny thicket, their face obscured by a cloth that covered all but their blue eyes. One donned basic armour of polished steel, or a metal of same appearance, and had a handsome appearance, short brown hair and dark eyes harmonizing with the leather straps tying everything together.
Thest, and clear leader, of the group wore full te armour. It was of a marble white colour, not the silvery white of Mithril, decorated with a few elements of gold and silver. A sign on the shoulder pad had the clear shape of a rose, a thin ring surrounding it and likely informing of rank in some way. A red tabard covered the chest te and groin piece. Everything else, even the head, was fully covered by the armour. The knight held a shield and sword, both of fine quality and both clearly used before. It was the shield that seemed more decorated, with another golden rose decorating the centre of its rectangr shape. Grime and ash stuck to these people, ruining their polished, clean look. It did not seem like they minded.
To the feet of this party, whose affiliation was beyond obvious, kneeled four people and a corpse. Three were demons of inhuman skin tones, wearing next to nothing, only decorated by their horns, tails or scales. Two of them were men, the other a hermaphrodite. The fourth person was a woman in a robe as ck as tar. The corpse was a man whose head had been cut off, his robe decorated with red string and the same blood that dripped from the knights de.
There was silence in the field as the kneeling Librarians looked at him with wide-eyed desperation and the standing Golden Rose party with calcting curiosity. John Newman, the knight spoke in a deep tone. Leader of the Fusion Federation. The chances to run into you at this moment... the Lady blesses us in mysterious ways.
A minor chance indeed, John agreed and made a quick number of calctions. If a Golden Rose strike force had already prated this far south, this likely meant the main resistance of New Libraria was already broken and troop concentration further north was no longer necessary. If they were going around cleaning up, stumbling over a party in the middle of their work wasnt that unlikely from his perspective. I must admit that I have no idea who Im talking to, however.
This was, for once, true. Not because John thought he couldnt find out with Observe. It would have taken an absurdly powerful enchantment or anti-intelligence mage to block Reveal, but out of cautiousness. Him not getting information was highly unlikely. Them having an enchantment that would rm them of that fact was, however, highly likely. Unless he got permission or the situation turned hostile, he would keep that tool to himself.
Im Sir Lloyd, a knight sworn to the service of Lord Brighton and the Order of the Golden Roses shield branch, which he leads. The answer came promptly and in a long construction.
So, Moira really isnt the highest authority at the moment, John thought. Good to have that confirmed. Been a minute since Florida.
For a shield branch, ya looking pretty aggressive over there. Rave gestured casually at the corpse.
Lloyd cast a smiting gaze down at the deviants to his feet so intense that John could see it despite the closed helmet. Ive been sent to scour out whatever demonic rats still corrupt thisnd with their foul presence. Challengingly, his eyes wandered to meet Johns. I act on the authority of my lord. I judge their cases, hear their sins, and I take the life that I deemed to have strayed from our Ladys grace.
Thats a nice way to say judge, jury and executioner, John thought. What was his sin, then?
Overseer, Lloyd said and looked to the robed man. What his purpose was remained somewhat unclear, but the title gave a rough idea.
Reciting from memory, the woman, judging by the voice more so than the appearance, listed, Practicing and teaching of the dark arts, nting of Darkshed Trees, possession of grimoires, human sacrifices, and envement.
None of that is true! the kneeling human cried out and was immediately met with another intimidating re by the knight.
John sighed. Fundamentally, he wanted to be on the side of the underdog, but he was too smart to think that the person forced to kneel was always in the right. If none of that is true, why are you living in a field with ck, dead looking trees with three demons? he asked. Im not someone who you can fool for your convenience, witch. Ill judge this situation ording to the truth. Having said that, John returned his attention to Lloyd. Mind if I pick your case apart for a little bit?
Lloyd didnt answer immediately. Tell me first, President Newman, why are you here?
Ivee to New Libraria to assess whether they are a risk to Fusion or not.
That they would be, were it not for my lords decision to neutralize them.
Ill be the judge of that, the Gamer made clear. In any case, I happened to stumble into this situation and, for the moment, Im only observing. Certainly, you did nothing that you need to hide from me?
No, we did not, Lloyd responded with the rity of the righteous. Squire, take my shield and hand me a cloth.
At once, Sir. The squire quickly helped the knight unstrap the shield and then handed Lloyd a simple clean piece of cloth with which to clean his sword.
Whether they respected Johns authority or simply his power, it was evident that they were going to fulfil his requests. With his harem in tow, it was unquestionable that he could get what he wanted anyway. Smander, Undine, go check out the inside of the tower, he instructed the two smartest elementals.
The two got moving, John waited for Lloyd to object, but all the knight did was finish cleaning his weapon. Once it was sheathed and his hands empty, he took off his helmet. There was a quiet sound, as if pressure was released. John was somewhat surprised to see a middle-aged man with the first signs of grey in his red-blonde beard. The voice of the golden-haired knight had sounded a lot younger.
Ask your questions, Lloyd invited him, tugging his helmet under his left arm. I swear to the Lady that I will be truthful in all matters pertaining to my judgement.
Could you borate on each point of your judgement? the Gamer wanted to know. It was less a question of proof, the proof was obvious, but why these things were supposedly bad. Except for the human sacrifices and envement, I dont require an exnation on those.
Practicing and teaching the dark arts, Lloyd repeated the first point of the list of sins. In this case demonology. Demons are beings of a malevolent nature. Select few may be redeemable, but as a collective they are a blight on the Ladys greatest and central work. Bringing them to Earth is evil and spreading that knowledge is, therefore, equally repugnant.
John was not wholly convinced that this was grounds for execution. Religiousnguage aside, it was obvious that at least the present demons were sociopaths. Observe made that much clear and supported a general trend on the matter.
nting Darkshed Trees, the knight continued with the second point. The particr nt you see around you serves as a great source of sustenance for demons. They also taint leylines. Down the stream of our great Ladys magical pathways, demons may enter from their unholy Kingdoms into the Natural Barriers. Rare as such an asion might be, especially with this few trees, we cannot forgive the spreading of such malignant growths.
This was both less and more valid in Johns estimation. Inviting demons wasnt necessarily immoral, that depended on the individualing over. Since he epted the premise that demons were, by andrge, dangerous, however, this was the leyline equivalent of dumping toxic waste in a river. Natural Barriers were hostile enough without a sapient predator running around in them, unable to return home.
Possession of a grimoire, the knight got to thest point John was curious about. A list of instructions written on human skin on how to summon demons. Such a book must be burned wherever found.
That so? John asked. Are the instructions inherently corrupting?
They are temptation, Lloyd firmly stated. Pressing his lips together, his eyes judgingly flew over the haremettes. You would know quite a bit about this feeling, I reckon, President Newman.
I do and I know its quite dangerous. I also know that Im above most temptations, John raised his open palm. Ill be taking the grimoire off your hands.
That will add to your sins, Lloyd warned, like a grandfather who knew better. Arent pride and lust enough for you? The Lady has given you so much and here you are, squandering her gifts.
I dont exin myself to you, John stated in a warning tone. Arguing this case with a religious zealot wasnt going to work. A religious zealot hergely agreed with, but a religious zealot nheless. Ill take the grimoire, report it to Moira or her father, add it to my sins, I dont care. If I am to understand demons and whether or not there is a way to live with them, I need information.
Even if its drawn on the skin of our kin?
Thats absolutely disgusting, but its not like burning it will bring them back to life.
Yo, I think I found it, Smander informed him and sent him a mental image of a tome wrapped in wrinkly, stitched together leather, a ck pentagram seared into the hide. Screams demon book, at least. I also found this.
More images entered his mind, of bones arranged into shapes, skulls with holes in them and rusty tools that fit those holes. Undine backed that up by showing three skeletons half-embedded into the wall at the ground floor. With the human sacrifices, and likely the very, confirmed, John no longer needed to wonder if the execution was justified.
Bring it here, John requested. I guess you wanted to destroy it by copsing the barrier on it? he wondered, while Smander came flying out of the building. His hands felt yucky the moment he touched the book.
John considered pressing the button on the confirm button just to trick the Golden Rose people that he had changed his mind. It would destroy the book immediately and without trace. However, John had no interest in investing into demonology. Not when he knew that the sexiest demons were incapable of doing more than wanting his cock. That was a ttering feeling, but nothing he would invest into a ss for. Generally, hisbat potential was better raised in less infernal ways.
The book would serve better as research material for him and the task forces.
We were going to burn the entire workshop down, with all of its artefacts, then copse the barrier on top, Lloyds strained voice continued reporting the truth. Were still going to do that, with or without that sacrilegious book.
Youre wee to, John told them and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Im not going to meddle further than taking this grimoire, at least for now. If you so desire, Ill apany you to your leader and discuss that decision with him.
Lord Brighton is eager to meet you, I can assure you that much, Lloyd pressed out. May I continue with my judgements, President of Fusion?
Guilty, John said and pointed at the witch, whose eyes almost popped out of her head. She aided her master willingly in sacrifices. Guilty, he pointed at the hermaphrodite, of rape, albeit I do not know about anything else. Guilty and guilty, the two male demons quivered in helpless fear, in aiding the envement, helping in sacrifices and also of consuming human flesh. That is what the power your Lady gave me tells me. Verify and judge, their trial would be longer in my Federation, but the end result would be the same. He pointed over his shoulder. Ive parked a bus in a barrier about 120 metres in that direction. Ill wait for you there.
Welle when we are done, Lloyd guaranteed.
Chapter 943 – Righteousness 2 – Bright Lord
Chapter 943 C Righteousness 2 C Bright Lord
An impressive vehicle, Lloyd stated with begrudging respect. His annoyance at Johns recent action was clearly still present, but the knight was dedicated to at least appear chivalrous. Now that he was out of his armour and in a regr suit, the emblem of the Golden Rose sewn on the breast pocket, his behaviour was the only way to really signal his knightly status. His squire followed him in a less impressive suit, while the overseer had left the scene.
Why thank you, the Gamer responded, knocking on the closed door that led up to the drivers seat. Cost me quite a fortune to get. Anyway, I hope you have the space necessary to amodate us three? He gestured towards Aclysia and Beatrice. Youll have to understand that I want a guard, heading into unknown territory.
I understand the want, even if there is no need, the knight told him. However, if you prefer it that way, President of Fusion, then I am in no position to correct you. He folded his hands behind his back. Overseer Liliana is already reporting back to Lord Brighton. I must also inform you that we will have to rely on public transportation. He gave the Gamer an expecting look.
Thats fine by me, he said and made a long-winded gesture. Please, lead the way.
Sorry, I have somewhere else to drive, John thought,vishing in his bed. There was no way he would have personally gone into the lions den. For the Gamer, not wanting to go personally didnt mean he wasnt going to be personally present, however, and so Jack had been sent along.
Lloyd soon left the barrier, Jack and the maids followed and the rest of their expedition party was left in the cosy warmth of the bus.
Alright, what next? Rave wanted to know.
Now we follow them at an appropriate distance, John told her and everyone else in the room who didnt already know the n thanks to mental connections. We will get directly to the heart of the matter, Ill get to talk to Moiras father, and we get to find out the current state of affairs. Maybe I can even get a map of New Libraria out of this. Ill win whatever happens.
I know religious people are fucking stupid, but theyll guess that were tailing them at least, Eliza pointed out.
Doesnt really matter, my dear broken angel, John said and pulled her into a hug tight enough to temporarily squeeze the irrational hatred out of her. Whether they have their suspicions or not wont change what they will do. Me and Moiras father talking is also in their interest. They might set the location up so I cant glean a lot of information about the state of the war from them, but thats about it. Its not even all that important whether they believe its me or my double.
____________________________________________________________________
The Gamer had a lot of thoughts about what the Golden Rose was.
Righteous, that was the first word that came to mind. Righteous with all of its benefits and all of its drawbacks. They were an organization zealously convinced of the necessity of their cause and that created the moral justification for potentially heinous acts. The apparent ease with which they punished the guilty was one such thing.
Honesty, that was the second word John thought of when he walked through the Golden Roses camp. An honesty for their case, ack of lies that was almost sickening. Screams echoed from the depths of the four-star hotel. The spacious barrier the Golden Rose had erected on top of the building encapsted the cers and those were currently being used for torture operations.
Cruel, yes, the Gamer thought the Golden Rose was cruel. Not in a sadistic way. At least from what he had seen, cruelty to the Order was a tool to extract information from their enemies and dissuade subjects from rebellion. There were likely those that derived pleasure from punishing the wicked, but John hadnt seen any of them so far.
Jacks steps carried him away from the screams and up the stairs, following Lloyd and being in turn followed by his maids. The honesty of the Golden Rose had them invite the Gamer right to the heart of their strategic operations. It could be a sign of trust or a sign of arrogance. He wasnt quite sure yet.
They walked through corridors lit by ever-burning torches. It appeared the Golden Rose didnt have the necessary Fateweaver know-how to hook up a temporary base to the electricity grid. Either that or they were not staying long enough to bother. The people around were certainly few and in an immense hurry. When John looked outside one of the windows, however, he was met with a different picture.
Somewhere between three and four hundred people were standing in wless order outside. They were broken up into a dozen sub-groups that stood in triangr formations, each headed by a knight in the same armour as Lloyd had worn. Each row behind these knights was less well equipped than the one before it, with the back rows only having armaments, a shield, basic leather armour and a tabard. White, gold, silver and red were all used in the design of their items.
It looked like a fighting force straight out of a high-fantasy game, and it was waiting for something. For a drill, there was too little movement.
Are we on top of New Alexandria? the Gamer theorized. It looks like they are just waiting for a battle to start. Barrier Sense didnt extend to his double, annoying as that was, so he had no way of knowing until the bus caught up with them. The real John floored the pedal in the bus while Jack was brought to the door of the hotels breakfast room. The knight knocked twice, then a deep voice answered.
The breakfast room retained much of the splendour a modern hotel disyed. However, in the name of practicality, the long wooden tables had been pushed together, creating a muchrger surface for the many documents and instruments put on top. The Gamer was incredibly interested in those, especially therge war map thaty there. Instead of so openly directing his gaze there showing his priorities, he let Beatrice do the analysation of what was on the table. He and Aclysia instead looked over those that sat and stood around the table.
There were two familiar faces. The Gamers eyes were drawn to the one he found most attractive first. With flowing, somewhat unkempt, white hair, Lorelei Varnik sat on a lone chair in a corner of the room. Despite the metal ring that snugly wrapped around her head and hid much of the upper half of her face, her face had him enthralled. Sometimes, soft lips curved into a smile was all a man needed to feel wanted. When he saw the ring he had gifted her on the little finger of her left hand, his want to talk to her rose higher. Their acquaintance had been short, but the chemistry had engrained the meek, adorable and wise young woman in his memory. The curves of her bnced hourss figure, somewhat obscured by her dark robes, did their part as well.
He would have loved to inspect her more, but his eyes had to move on. Simrly, Lorelei lowered her head, blushing from his concentrated attention. She busied herself by braiding her hair.
The other familiar face was, as could be expected, Moira Brighton. The redheads hair was of a natural and thorough red and softly waved as it fell down to the middle of her back. Many strands framed a face that was, while no less attractive than Loreleis, made less interesting to John by the disapproving expression she wore and the hard eyes that darted back and forth between him and the seer. Moira could have been cute, without a doubt, if she didnt scowl all the time. Why this didnt bother him with Lydia was a mystery he couldnt quite solve.
The Shield Warden was in full battle regalia. Armour tes were strapped on top of a wine red bodysuit, their colour a silvery grey and decorated with gold trims. A strand of cloth dangled from her hips like a banner, the end decorated with dark gold embroidery of a golden rose. The armour was both protective and incredibly sexy. John was quite certain Moira just wanted to have something that fit her perfectly, but because she had such an athletic, well-shaped body, that ended up making her fully armoured form quite stunning.
Her weapon and shield were missing, but the Gamer remembered the silver-white and gold pendant on her neck being a sealed form of thetter capable of carrying the former within it.
There were three more knights and a butler in the room, but John only cared about the grizzled man right next to Moira. His face sported several scars and deep trenches caused by stress and age. The blue eyes, however, were still wide awake and met the Gamers gaze head on. The hardness of the daughter was only surpassed by the unwavering will of the father, it seemed. Withbed back hair and a full beard, both of the same red as Moira, his status couldnt be questioned. His armour was thick and, oddly enough, less decorated than that of his subordinates. There was just a single golden rose in the middle of his chest. A sword of impressive size was strapped to his waist.
Milord, I return with John Newman, President of Fusion, as announced, Lloyd said, as he lowered himself to one knee. He brings with him his servants, Aclysia and Beatrice.
Lets use the title the Lady has given him, Lloyd, Lord Brighton reprimanded, his voice deep and filled with authority. Whatever sins and stupidity he maymit to, the Gamer is doubtlessly blessed.
Yes, milord, Lloyd said, keeping his head low.
Come closer, Gamer, Lord Brightonmanded.
Jack put his hands into his pockets and stared back. I really dont like being given orders, he thought and only approached once he thought that point had been made silently. I didnt catch your first name, Brighton, the Gamer said.
You will address our Lord-Protector with respect, one of the knights warned.
My Master was just insulted, he owes you no respect whatsoever. Aclysias voice sliced like a de of ice into the conversation. Take your judgement of my Johns sins and stupidity and shove them into the opening that I will create in your-
Aclysia, Jack finally interrupted her when it became clear she wouldnt stop on her own.
My apologies, Master. The agitated maid lowered her head in a little bow and then concentrated on keeping her aggression internal. One of the sins John regrlymitted was his harem, Moira had made that clear before. Aclysia would never give anyone that saw the Gamers harem as something wrong anything but disdain.
You have poorly disciplined servants, Lord Brighton chastised the Gamer. I expected more. This woman doesnt know her ce.
Jack narrowed his eyes and leaned forwards on the table. Are you certain you want to y this game with me? he asked in a threatening tone.
In the Ladys name, Moira finally spoke up, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Father, this is not the time to make enemies with one of Her chosen.
The Gamer looked over to Moira for one moment and bit back a snide your daughter is poorly disciplined remark. Instead, his gaze returned back to Lord Brighton. Both men stared unwaveringly at each other. Even as he spoke again, neither of them backed down. William. My name is William Brighton.
A pleasure. Jacks voice was dripping with sarcasm. Before their conversation could go further south, he steered it back on topic in a diplomatic tone, Id expected that you would meet me in a shack outside of town. Im ttered that you would let me into your current base of operations.
Theres no need to hide anything from you, William dered with the nearest hint of a smile. Should you wish to involve yourself, it will only be to your detriment. Youre toote to change anything anyway.
Arrogance it is, then, the Gamer thought. I suppose youre just waiting for the barrier to copse then?
Precisely. New Alexandria, this filthy scar on the Abyss, will be unmade like Babylon, the Lord-Protector spoke with calm conviction. Well make certain no one can ever take advantage of this Kingdom connection ever again. However, enough of what we are doing here, Gamer. Why are you interrupting our operations and saving sphemous texts from the pyre?
Pure chance, Jack responded and stepped back from the table, and curiosity. He put his arms around his maids and pulled them to himself. They responded by snuggling up to him and resting their heads on his shoulders. All three of them smiled at the leadership of the Golden Rose, disapprovingly ring at this disy of disrespect for their righteousness. Ill inspect this grimoire. If the demons are as bad as you make them out to be, then Ill join your side in this crusade.
I do not trust your judgement, William Brighton dered.
Father, for all his faults, John Newman isnt someone who needs to be our enemy, Moira chimed in again.
You still have much to learn, people who unt their power like him are all the same. Lord Brighton made a tossing gesture towards the Gamer. Unable to understand that they should submit themselves to the Ladys gentle touch.
I have felt the Ladys gentle touch, I assure you. Jack grinned widely.
Williams lips lost all colour, while he stomached that response. It seemed he had learned, through Moira, of the truth of that statement. She may approve of youpared to the other wickedness in the world, but that doesnt mean you dont fall short of the perfect being that you could be.
The being you think would be perfect. Unless youre going to reveal your omniscience to me here, your perception of the perfect state of being is as wed as mine. The Gamers hands wandered down from the maids waists to their butts. He gave them both a nice squeeze and they sighed in an overyed fashion. Im sorry, I respond to moralists with teasing.
Unable to find an immediate answer, William instead looked to Lorelei. What do you make of this, seer?
I Loreleis soft voice barely prated the room. When she raised her gaze to look at Jack, her face immediately turned red. I find his grace too evident to doubt it, milord. The Ladys work is often so mysterious that She would have to study it Herself to truly understand it. Yet, I feel that John has been chosen by divine reason.
Furrowed eyebrows underlined that this wasnt the answer he had been looking for. Before things could escte again, Moira took control of the situation. Are you going to give that book back, John? she asked.
No, Jack answered with respectful quickness.
Will you interfere?
That depends.
Depends on what? Moira wanted to know.
The bigger picture.
Chapter 944 – Righteousness 3 – Dark City
Chapter 944 C Righteousness 3 C Dark City
New Alexandria was so incredibly different from the city of St. Louis that John had to assume the barrier was older than the mundane town. The buildings around were an odd mixture of demonic outposts, renaissance farm houses, medieval castles and mansions. Fine ck particles covered thendscape like grass and dust usually would have, doubtlessly falling off the Darkshed Trees.
Thendscape was a giant bowl, with a massive mansion sitting at the centre of the depression. The mansion had the shape of a pentagon, with the outside rim being t and surrounding a nted roof of ck crystal. Standing at the very edge, John could see that the roadwork of the city was shaped like a pentagram. Because of the red tear glowing menacingly in the sky, he very much doubted that this was a decision purely to stay in theme.
This was a city of demons.
A lot of them, as John could see from the people bustling around. By quickly counting the houses he could see, estimating a number of people per household and then separating this number into segments ording to the people he saw on the streets, he arrived at a total poption of about five-thousand. About a tenth of that seemed to be human, the rest was made up of different kinds of demons: subi, primarily, fiends, as second most numerous, and devils as thest notable group. There were some other demons, but they werent numerous enough to be statistically relevant.
In Abyssal terms, this was a respectable number of people. Yet, despite them being so many, John had no doubt the Golden Rose would split this ce like a cleaver would a log. There was no military unity here and, even if there had been, the levels were so low that their resistance would be broken on Moiras shield. Although the exact level of the Shield Warden and the other knights of the Order were outside Johns knowledge, he did know that the blessed redhead had been strong enough to defeat Rave a few months back. If Rave could have dominated this ce then, which she could, then Moira could as well.
This ce was going to fall, unless John decided it deserved to exist. Lets see who is in charge here, he told his gathered harem and started walking at a leisurely pace. They were in no hurry. The Golden Rose was trying their best to get in and they would likely have seeded in the next thirty minutes, had John not taken control of the barrier. Now the meagre efforts of their mediocre Fateweavers were shing against his extreme willpower. As impressive a fighting force as the Golden Rose could muster, when it came to the utility side of warfare, they seemedcking. Until he slept, had his concentration seriously disrupted or relinquished control, New Alexandria would stand.
As they walked through the streets covered by the ash-like particles, they caught more and more attention. Their colourful little group stood out among the poption by being, for once, too normal. Between the infernal looks of the many demons, with their horns, tails, scales, ws and whatever else, they were simply too human. Sure, many of the demons around, particrly the sexual deviant variety, were visually human enough that Smander and Siena could have mingled with them, but many more were bulky monstrosities or mouthless horrors. The humans around universally wore ck robes with different levels of decoration to them, signalling their rank.
If they had somehow gotten a set of those robes, they might have been able to just barely blend in. As it was, there was no chance. Not that John cared all that much for people noticing them anyway. He just continued on his path towards the centre of the pentagram, analysing the tear in the sky as he walked.
Observe called it the Crimson Rift, an uncreative but urate title. Its blood-red outline wavered slowly, like an eversting Aurora Borealis, and in its centre images from different worlds shed up. That alone meant that it couldnt have been a regr Kingdom connection and Observe confirmed that there was something to the pentagram that kept the rift this wide and sustained. Where exactly it led, however, was beyond the revtions he got through his Skill.
Further answers had to be sought out.
You. John pointed at an attractive subus in passing. Like many demons, even the less visually pleasing ones, she was naked. The only demons that seemed dedicated to wearing things were devils. Everyone else forewent the opportunity or wore fairly little. Follow, hemanded and the subus was quick to do so.
She moaned out loud when she reached him, struggled to keep walking as clear juices ran down the inside of her thighs. Even if he hadnt used his Libido Perk to motivate her to obedience, his presence alone would have caused her immense pleasure. Subi were instinctively turned on by the aura of powerful men. The opposite was likely true for Incubi, given the lecherous gazes with which they stared at his women.
The Gamer was fine with other men taking some desiring gazes at his women, but there was a line beyond which things turned disrespectful. That line was certainly crossed when he heard a wolf whistle from somewhere in the curious crowd. All of the anger he felt at this obvious lust towards his women seeped out into the air and immediately silenced any murmurs. Those who stood closest wentpletely pale. A particrly weak set of men even fell to their knees.
Let that be a reminder, John thought, before toggling off the Perk. Exuding his emotions in such a way was a shortcut to get his point across. His eyes turned to the subus who was, rather than fearful, openly drooling at him with both mouths. Fingers digging into her cunt and sizable breasts, she stumbled along walking and masturbating. From the look of things, she came every couple steps. Her ck hair trembled and her dark grey skin started to glisten with sweat. I cant have a conversation like that. Stop touching yourself.
Yeshhhh, mhhmmaasssterrrrr, she responded, hit with one more orgasm from the obedience.
John gave her a minute to recover, before requesting, Tell me about yourself. Who you are, how you came here, what you do, that sort of thing.
I came because of your glorious words, Master, the subus purred flirtatiously, reaching for his arm. Rolling his eyes, the Gamer pulled away, and a secondter, Siena was in that position instead. The midnight elemental transformed into her Unleashed version for a second, an embodiment of the night and its constetions, and hissed warningly. Her tail dragged a trench into the dust. I-Im Teruria, a grey subus, the demte stumbled over her words. Whether it was the rejection or the warning that had her taken aback, she managed to properlymunicate. I was summoned to this ce about 30 years ago. Im one of the cum dumps and breeding ves.
She says that almost as proudly as Eliza in the middle of a session, John noted. I guess that would be somewhat of a dream job for a subus. He threw a quick Observe at her, just to validate what he had heard. For 85, she sure looks like mid-twenty despite her low level John noted and asked out loud, If you dont mind, could you tell me why you still look that young? My experience with demons is limited.
There is no question you have to be afraid of asking, the subus stated. As a subus, I receive vitality through semen, simple as that.
So, youre immortal as long as you keep wringing out men?
Not immortal, but Ill live a whole lot longer and Ill stay beautiful the entire time, Teruria exined. Subi only age under the surface C unless were going for the MILF appeal.
Are there simr conditions for other demons? John wondered.
Fiends slow their aging by spilling and drinking blood, but I dont know about everyone.
That could be a problem, John thought. Longevity was another factor in the question of whether subi could outbreed humanity. On that matter, the Gamer could now get rity. So, you say youre a breeding ve C so you have sex every day with the goal of getting pregnant?
Correct, at least five times a day.
And how many children do you have?
Two, Teruria revealed, and seemed rather proud of that fact.
With that, Johns worries were blown away. There was no way a species that had two children when trying continuously for thirty years could ever oupete humanity in the poption department. Especially if they started from a few a hundred people.
And when an Incubus impregnates a human, the childes out mostly human anyway, John thought. When it came to demons, the species of the mother seemed a lot more influential than with humans. I dont think the asional pair of horns is any issue. Integration of people that cant feel love might be, but thats where the interbreeding question kicks in again. Your children, do they have human parents? he asked, doubtful to get a conclusive answer.
Yes, Teruria responded firmly.
You seem pretty sure of that, despite the raw number of people you must have slept with, John pointed out.
Im a breeding ve with standards, not some lilim, the grey subus scoffed. I keep a book on who I sleep with on what day and from there we did a fatherhood test. Cant have my little girls fuck their father by ident.
Not sure if thats a moral concern or a practical one regarding inbreeding, John thought, but he had other questions. A lilim would be?
A lesser subus, shorter, more easily influenced by auras and weaker C generally. Teruria shrugged. We keep them indoors. They wouldnt stop masturbating in the streets otherwise.
Right, that reminds me, how popr is scat, gore and watersports around here? John wanted to know.
Wha- Eww, not popr, the subus told him.
Oh thank God, John mumbled. Fetishes like that werent grounds to deny someone refugee status, but it would have made the experience lessfortable. Back to your daughters C you are a pure subus, yes?
That is a true fact.
And your daughters are half human C would you say they took over some notable human characteristics?
They care more about their fathers than I do, I can tell you that much, Teruria gave him the desired information. They get tangled up with your human feeling stuff. Its a minor bother.
Alright, so subus procreate slowly, they, at least somewhat, take over some of the fathers attributes, and they dont naturally have any strange fetishes C theyre just supernatural whores, John listed in his head. Alright, that definitely crosses them off the list of genocide candidates. He breathed a sigh of relief.
You sound stressed, master, the subus purred. Want me to suck your dick?
Who would need you? Siena reminded the demon of her presence with those mocking words and puffed her chest out. Her tail wrapped around his waist. Youre here to answer questions, lesser one, know your ce.
Youre being quite jealous today, Siena, Johnmunicated with her mentally. Didnt know you were this bothered by me looking at other women.
I dont care how many you approach as cum dumps as long as they know that they arent part of your harem, Siena told him. These demons just ooze disregard for our arrangement and I despise it.
Since John had chastised the incubi not too long ago, he couldnt disagree with that statement. Why do you call me master? he instead continued his questioning of the subus.
Dont you like it? she asked as sexily as she could get away with.
Yes, but it makes me wonder if your loyalties lie purely with who is strongest, the Gamer told her.
My loyalties lie with who my contract is with, being New Libraria and the Demon Lord. I just call you master because men like that.
She was definitely right in regards to John.
I assume your Demon Lord lives there? he asked his final question, pointing at the mansion they were heading to. If he had been wrong this whole time, it would be best to find out before he started walking through the corridors. He wasnt pressed for time, but he also shouldnt linger forever.
Yes, came the swift answer.
Alright, you can get back to what you were doing, John told her. The subus opted to stay close, basking in his aura for as long as she could keep walking while her fingers returned to her cunt. Once she fell behind, one of the human men quickly dragged her aside. Momentster, an ecstatic moan echoed from an alleyway.
Theyre being prettyx for people under siege, Smander stated the obvious.
Might just be the local attitude towards life, John told them, or maybe they have something that makes them believe everything will work out? I should have asked about that. He considered calling another subus to answer that question, but they were already so close to the mansion that he didnt feel the necessity.
A cloud of ck particles rose and quickly fell whenever anyone took a step, behaving more like snow than ash. The proper ground underneath had ckened from years of exposure as well. The exception to this was the gleaming stone path that started in front of the mansion and guided Johns step through a field of grey grass and bloody redkes. Before him rose a three story building, with the intertwining forms of two subi making up the arch around the ck door. The walls were made from purple bricks, the mortar a pure ck, and the windowsills highly decorated pieces of gold. Obsidian spikes, shaped from shattered ss, rose from the rooftops rim. The pentagon-shaped building screamed luxurious evil.
The sides in this conflict are almost hriously stereotypical, John thought as he approached the door and the person standing in front of it. She was another hermaphrodite, which John could make out clearly by the bulge in her panties. Wearing something that could barely be described as a maid uniform, being essentially just lingerie with a theme, the red-skinned, white-haired demon was an afrit. John knew that word to be a different trantion of Ifrit, who was a very specific entity. Apparently, it had been used for a kind of demon in categorization. That hermaphrodite opened the door for him.
The Demon Lord awaits you, Master Newman, she said.
Interesting, John thought and wordlessly wandered into the mansion, where another afrit, the twin sister by the looks of it, greeted him with a bow. She was purely a woman, otherwise they looked the exact same. I wonder what the percentage of hermaphrodites among demons is. Clearly much, much higher than it is in humans. The Gamer had purely academic interest in the topic. Everything beyond a glorified strap-on was outside his sexualfort zone and he didnt want physical contact with even those.
The corridors of the mansion were as full of splendour and darkness as the outside. John ignored the oil paintings of debauched and gruesome scenes. Ancient Greek pottery, broken Roman pirs and hieroglyph-covered tablets of sandstone were certainly more interesting. The Demon Lord either had a long history or was very interested in it.
The infernal servant guided the group straight to the centre of the building. Through one long corridor and past a gate of ckened iron, they entered into a space dominated by hellish heat and red light. Through the roof of darkened crystal, made up by five nted surfaces, fell the crimson light of the Kingdom connection. In opposition to the rising ceiling, the ground nted downwards. Candles and incense burned on the manyyered steps that brought people downwards. At the lowest point stood a cyclopean throne of ck stone. Its smooth surface was interjected with shards of ck and red crystal, rammed into the tall backrest in a pattern that seemed random at first nce. Red runes covered the floor around it, pulsing with energy that bled up the steps in a steady, desperate pulse.
Given the supernatural sights of the room, the modern medicine equipment scattered around the throne was incredibly out of ce. Breathing apparatuses, blood purifiers, bags for intravenous delivery, all of them were connected with tubes and pipes to the old man sitting on the throne.
The Demon Lord barely managed to look at John.
Chapter 945 – Righteousness 4 – Dark Lord
Chapter 945 C Righteousness 4 C Dark Lord
The Demon Lord was a human. That much was clear and unsurprising. His broken body, however, was nothing John had expected. His chest was bare, a simple cloth covered his legs, and his skin was barely visible under all the medical equipment. What had caused his current condition was obvious: two half-seared, half-scarred stabs that wentpletely through his chest. Each was a finger wide and about ten centimetres long. The wounds were perfectly aligned, with a hand-wide gap between them.
John knew exactly which weapon had created that wound. There was only one double-ded weapon that was shaped like that or, at least, there was only one wielded by a person capable of creating a wound like this. When did Sigmund attack you? the Gamer wondered, while using Observe.
His empathy for the mans situation had been fairly low from the get-go. Someone who led a guild like this couldnt himself be a morally upright person. Now that John had confirmation, he sat down on one of the many steps without any care for the Demon Lords wellbeing. John wouldnt do anything to worsen it, but he also wouldnt feel bad about it. If anything, the current state of thiswful evil warlock showed that Sigmund had always been chaotic neutral.
It wasnt quite clear which was scarier.
Which was why John only cared about the when. If it was before the 26th of June, the day he had used Thana to mortally wound the man, everything would be fine. If it was after, it meant that, somehow, Sigmund had both repaired his weapon and recovered enough to defeat Galku.
In the summer, the Demon Lord barely managed to answer, past all of the medical equipment and in spite of (at least) one prated lung. That the spotty, grey-haired old man was still alive was a miracle in and of itself. Given his profession, perhaps calling it a curse would be more urate. Existence for him surely wasnt a hopeful thing.
Can we get a bit more detail on that? John asked and looked towards the two maids that had followed them. A date.
The 18th of June, the solely female one of the maids answered.
John nodded and returned to the matter at hand. You wanted to see me?
Yes the pained voice rung out, mylegacy I need you to take it
Undine, help him, John instructed. If they were going to talk over the steady pain of the Demon Lord, they would still be there tomorrow.
As you wish, Undine responded and flowed over. If the Demon Lord had any protest, he wasnt strong enough to voice it. Splitting into two, the abysstide elemental put her hands on either side of him and started to cast her healing magic.
A jolt of energy went through the warlock, so intense that every instrument he was connected to ttered from the sudden movement. All of the bodily aches the old man experienced were fixed in short order. All but the two stab wounds in his chest. Not even Undines potent healing abilities were enough to ovee the Hellfire damage sustained. As a result, what relief the slime brought was temporary. The issues created by having two lethal stab wounds that were only sealed by machines would return quickly and required Undine to keep the healing magic flowing beyond the initial gift.
Haaaaaahhh, what a splendid feeling. It was enough to give Galku the power he needed to speak clearly, however. His voice was deep and coarse, somewhere between a bass singer and the onset of throat cancer. How undeserved that I will never know this rity of body again.
ording to Observe, you wouldnt be deserving of any kind of eternal fitness, John said in a dry tone. Human sacrifices put you on my short list. Especially since I can guess where you got your sacrifices from. Murder and very are ouwed in Fusion.
Weakness andcency are encouraged, then. Galku rolled his neck. A yground where the kittens tumble and the tigers have to pull their own ws out. What a disgusting waste of power.
John looked around. What a degenerate foregoing of responsibility. Leaning back on the stone, the Gamer let out a theatrical sigh, We can disagree philosophically for as long as Undine keeps you alive. Fact is that you will not survive the month.
True, Galku responded with a bothersome smile. The Gamer had wanted to get a hit in on the arrogant old man, but it seemed the Demon Lord was well aware of his circumstance. Once I die, the barrier will fall to the Golden Rose and the city will burn like the great parts of Alexandria before.
Your people seem rather rxed about that, John noted.
My subjects falling into a state of panic would be counterproductive, so I told them things will work out, Galku stated with a shrug. They know better than to question me.
Crusading lord on the outsides, tyrannical lord on the inside, what a fantastic day, the Gamer thought, even if he already knew who he was siding with in this particr conflict. Tell me about this ce, he requested.
The ancient warlock raised an eyebrow. I expected you to ask about how I expected you first.
We can start there if you want to, but the fact of the matter is that this civilization soon will no longer exist C for the better. The Gamer leaned over and blew out one of the many candles. I wont cry for this ce, every street corner here seems to be drenched in blood, but I would do myself a disservice if I didnt know the history. Burning away and hiding the darkness of humanity just makes it easier for future generations to fall into the same pitfalls.
They could very well be inspired to strive for my heights. Galkus old face developed even more wrinkles from his wide grin. Simply shrugging, the Gamer waited for the warlock to tell his story. Are you familiar with the Great Library of Alexandria?
Depends. The mundane building, I know a bit about. On the Abyssal side, I fear my knowledge is limited.
It was once a beautiful ce, the warlock sounded nostalgic, a ce of true magical research. Romulus had withdrawn into the depths of his pce, but the decree he had made about how much of the empires ie was to be dedicated to the library was still in effect. The research he had wanted to personally control was funded beyond anyones wildest dreams and without prying eyes. While I was hired only as an assistant, soon mytent power blossomed and I reached my rightful ce as the head of the demonology research.
Youre ate bloomer? John asked, just to be certain.
That I am. My ability increases my power the more demons I surround myself with. His grimace reflected his spite for the world. It also made me rather talented in the field in general. This power motivated me to enact a n
You would summon demons to grow stronger, the Gamer interjected. Thus allowing you to summon more demons, thus allowing you to grow stronger, and so on. A pyramid scheme to grow your might. He took a short pause and the warlock nodded. Let me guess, you used the funds of Alexandria to acquire all of the necessary ingredients and human lives to start that project right there. I cant imagine the locals took too kindly to that.
The plebians always insist that they are worth more than the crops they farm, Galku sighed. What a delusion, nobody is worth more than the weight that they can pull. Intrinsic worth to human life whoever thought of that deserves a long night out in the wood with ten invalids.
And yet humanity has developed in that direction, John pointed out.
Truly understandable, the lesser will mour for things they havent earned. It is in the nature of parasites.
Why do I even try? John thought and pinched the bridge of his nose. So, they chased you out of Alexandria and you came here?
I tried to set my project up on several corners of the world. Each time some righteous mind woulde to stop me. The Golden Rose is thest in a series of heroes out to stop me. Galku let out a pained groan as he shifted slightly. What a joke that a brute with arge sword and Hellfire would be what ends my ambitions. I was so close. Finding this ce took time and a fair share of luck. A stable connection to the demon worlds, this ce was perfect to set up shop. Theck of people around here slowed initial operations, but eventually I stabilized the crimson tear. I trained apprentices to help me with the rituals. Created a society based on the propagation of demons. Utilized every trick Id learned in my life to keep this ce as secretive as is possible. Just another twenty years and I would have been past the breaking point I would have been so strong the tide of demons could have been endless
Yeah, that was never going to happen, the Gamer thought, sparing himself the verbalization of things that would only be met with draconian nonsense. You getting that close was a pretty big historical fluke. Any n that requires a sizable and expanding operation to remain secret for several years is going to catch attention eventually. If it hadnt been Sigmund, Fusion or the Golden Rose would have stopped you C simply at a higher cost to our organizations. In the extremely unlikely case you would have seeded, you would have drawn the ire of Romulus sooner orter and an army of demons is just an army of nourishment for the Godeater
I was so close to boundless power. Galku didnt consider any of these faults, simplymenting his fate. Foiled by a barbarian. The god of demons lending his support to that brutish moron, what apse of judgement.
It could never be your fault, could it? That snidement rolled off his tongue before he could stop it. Quickly, he followed things up with, Anyway, did you want to thank me for getting Sigmund hiseuppance?
You didnt even finish that job, Galku spat out.
Eliza suddenly snapped into the conversation, Go fuck yourself, you wasting sack of bones.
Rather than answer, the warlock rolled his eyes and then focused them again on John. I knew that you wereing thanks to your brilliant decision to broadcast your war deration.
It wasnt a war deration; it was a vote on an expeditionary fo- you know what, never mind, the Gamer sighed and stopped himself. It wasnt easy. Usually, he had a st teasing people so extremely certain of their position. Jack was enjoying it a whole lot at the moment. Between Lord Brighton, who reacted to every critique with self-righteous indignation, and the Demon Lord, who kept acting as if he was above it all, thetter just annoyed him. Both were brick walls, but one twisted entertainingly in attempts of retaliation, while the other just kept growing taller for no reason. Tell me then, what do you want?
For you to preserve my legacy.
John raised an eyebrow. You know I wont continue your little project. I find all necessary to enable it abhorrent.
And yet you will take some of it and allow it to continue, Galku spoke as if he knew exactly how John ticked and, as he continued talking, it became apparent that he understood at least the rudimentary parts. A person like you, someone so focused on helping the lesser people, would never let the Golden Rose do what they will once they get in here. We both know that they will take one look at my city, my work and my records and dere everyone inside this barrier a sinner. Everyone is present. Do YOU think everyone here is guilty?
The answer to that was obvious. Even if the demons here were brought into the world through human sacrifice, they themselves were not inherently evil. Statistically speaking, they would make for rather poor neighbours, but that didnt mean John could just let them die. Not when he had the power and resources to help them without hurting Fusion.
In order to assure that the people of Fusion wouldnt be hit with a sudden and avoidable spike in murder cases from migrating demons, John had to vet them all. A problem on that front was that he had to do all of that before he got them out of the New Libraria territory. Unless the memory deletion, and the subsequent elimination of all evidence, could be discontinued. Can you free them of their contracts? he asked.
I cannot, Galku responded. That could have been a lie. Since Galku was guaranteed to die, he only seemed to care to leave as much of a mark in history as possible. To that extent, every demon that survived was in his interest. John had no way to verify if he was truthful or not. Until he closely inspected the grimoire and figured out how exactly these contracts worked, he just had to take his word.
All of this would be much simpler if I knew that I could make the demons follow the same orders as I gave the fairies, John thought. Murderous tendencies dont matter a lot if I can get it in contract that they have to kill themselves if they ever harm an innocent person. Exact wording pending.
Well? the Demon Lord asked in an almost mocking tone. He already knew what answer John would give. The question was just if the Gamer even wanted to attempt to judge all of the people in the Illusion Barrier before evacuating them or after, when they had lost their memories. The exception to that rule were the warlocks, but John had a difficult time imagining any of them were innocent. Judging them would, at least, be easy.
Fine, John growled, never having been more unhappy to save people. Having his hand forced always sat badly with him, but given the quality of people he had to save didnt make it easier. However, the Gamer knew that this was the right thing to do. Anyone could stand in defence of the innocent, it took very little moral fibre to do so. Helping those who were wed to their core and expecting nothing back, that was the kind of thing that he hoped would have him written down as a good person.
Of course, a truly good person wouldnt even have considered that aspect. The Gamer was either too wise, not wise enough or too paranoid to disregard that aspect. As a human and a character driven by aplishments, the angle of personal enrichment simply could not escape him.
A sudden tremble in the fabric of reality distracted John from his thoughts. Did you? he started to ask, then he felt control of the barrier slip from him. Usually there was a struggle involved in that, one magical might wrestling with the other. During friendly transfers, it was like a mental handshake. This felt as if a piece of oiled ss slipped out of his fingers while he wasnt looking. The control was simply gone. What the?
Then the thunder of armoured boots echoed in the distance.
Chapter 946 – Righteousness 5 – What must be done?
Chapter 946 C Righteousness 5 C What must be done?
Johns consciousness was split between four parts. Two were the usual, the original stream of thoughts and the one in charge of Jack. Another one was the mediator,municating between the two all the information that could be important. That aspect of his mind was employed during times such as these, where a lot was happening all at once and the usual memory unification just didnt cut it. The fourth part of him was actively calcting what to do next. To make that call, he needed more intel on what had just happened, and there was one ce to get it.
What did you do? Jack asked, looking out of the window. Before his eyes, the border of the hotel barrier turned prismatic, like a high-colour intensity soap bubble. That was the usual effect for the melding of two Illusion Barriers, but this wasnt the same situation. The Illusion Barrier they were currently in ovepped with New Alexandria. Beyond the barrier wall, the buildings of the demonic hearnd came into view, but more should have been where the courtyard was.
A fact that this copy of reality also soon realized.
Like a game experiencing a heavy-handed graphical glitch, the entirety of the courtyard below began to jitter around the already moving army. Battalions were broken up, as people were removed from where walls should be. The space simply bent to nudge them out of the way. Then the barrier wall burst into tiny fragments,pleting the picture of a bubble, and a second shiver ran through reality.
Jack stared down into the yard where numerous buildings had spawned within therger hotel. Rather than fuse, the forcefully united buildings were separated by multi-coloured lines of spectral light. The two barriers were in the same ce now, but the two individual barriers hadnt been properly unified. Barriers melding together was hardly something new in the Abyss, before the invention of Protected Space it had been impossible to have multiple barriers in the same spot for anything beyond a few hours, but it didnt usually happen like this. Objects didnt fuse when two barriers copsed into each other. Whatever upied a space longer removed the other, that was the norm.
We forced our way inside, Lord Brighton gave the obvious answer, a hint of glee swinging in his voice. Why does this surprise you this much, Gamer?
Because these things are rare, he thought, as he figured out what exactly had happened. If he asked Magoi if a Fateweaver could force a melding between two barriers in such brutal a fashion, his answer would probably be yes. The normal version of an Abyssal siege was to create arger barrier on top of the one that was to be invaded and wait on the outer perimeter. That was done to avoid the scrambling of positions John had just observed and because it was easier on the Fateweavers who did the besieging.
However, the Golden Rose had no Fateweaver of such power. If they did, Magoi, and thus John, would have heard of it by now. Therger guild was a shell of itself, but the personal connections between the remaining High Fateweavers was still strong. None of them were unounted for.
Where live people werent avable, items could still be. Objects enchanted by Fateweavers were incredibly rare. The level of mastery of both fields that one needed to possess to create anything worthwhile was incredible. Further, they were usually one-use only, had a very limited effect or a lengthy recharge time.
What exactly the Golden Rose had just used was beyond John, but the effects could seemingly be summarized by the current barrier crashing into therger one and universally removing control of it. The way things felt on Johns end made it clear that not even the user of the item would be able to leave. They were all stuck together. The question was for how long.
Sir, we should join the troops, Lloyd stated.
Indeed, Lord Bright said and started to walk. The ttering of his armour was apanied with a steady ring, almost like a small bell, exuding a purifying sound. Aside from him and his daughter, everymander put on their helmet.
Lorelei went rigid in her chair.
Wait, Jack spoke up, causing the gathered room to slow down. The maids stood to either side of him, facing the room while he still looked out the window. What are you going to do with this city? he asked.
What is just, William responded with grim conviction.
Dont make me tease these things out of you, the Gamer growled, hearing the first screams in the streets. War cries and desperation alike reached his superhuman ears. What are you going to do to this city?
Itll burn, the Lord of the Golden Rose told him. Every sphemous building, every Darkshed Tree and every sinner will be purged from our Ladys creation.
And the innocent?
Among demons and warlocks? William sneered. No such thing exists. All will be judged.
Jack kept staring out of the window. Lloyd had been willing to at least put the appearance of a fair trial on when they met. Lord Brighton didnt even care for a ceremonial trial. I must inform you that Ive struck a deal with the Demon Lord. The demons of this city will be tried by Fusion and granted refuge by me. Pull your troops back.
He tells the truth, milord, Lorelei chimed in.
A use of your double? William wondered, narrowing his eyes at Jacks back. Or perhaps a contingency n between sinners?
Lord Father, I do not approve of all he does, but you know that John Newman wouldnt sink so low to beparable to the likes of the Demon Lord, Moira interjected and then looked to Jack herself. It is not your ce to mingle in this conflict, Gamer. The guilty will know punishment, we will see to it.
I trust you to know who is guilty, I do not trust you to know who is innocent, Jack dered. By the authority of the man who rules this guild, the demons are now subjects of Fusion C subjects of me. Pull your troops back.
Lorelei trembled with her whole body and repeated, He tells the truth, milord. Her blind eyes could likely guess what went on inside the Gamers head. Consider his statement carefully.
Who cares about the authority of a warlock? William shot back at the Gamer immediately. We will proceed with the purge. The Golden Rose will deliver.
I see, Jack said and whirled around. Mana from the internal storage of the Extension flowed into the tip of two fingers and exploded outwards as two streaks of silver magic. They collided shortly before his hand, two st Rays bing one that went on to fly at the Warden Lord. Everyone had expected the Gamer to do something, but aside from Lorelei, everyone seemed surprised at the decisiveness.
The spell mmed into Williams side as he drew his sword. His armour served him well, the te not budging to the arcane might. The kic energy of the st threw him backwards. As he had been within five metres of John, the Punishment Chain Perk automaticallyunched a Mana Chain at the Warden Lord. It connected to the flying knights side and Jack immediately yanked it back.
In the meantime, everyone else drew or manifested their weapons.
The three other knights and Moira, all started charging towards John, but were immediately intercepted by Aclysia and her Masters Shield Skill. A ring of white light expanded from her feet, fading after five metres. In addition to these four individuals, the butler in the room was also caught in the effect,pelling everyone to attack the Artificial Spirit.
With all of the Strength his copy could muster, the Gamer pulled the chain. Either dazed orcking abilities that would have allowed him to manoeuvre the air, Lord Brighton was helpless as Jack twisted around and mmed the Lord-Protector through the window. The double jumped right after William. Avoid killing them! hemanded while he took the fight to somewhere Lorelei wouldnt be in the line of fire.
It was an awfully prescient thing to say, as the butler had the same thought. Him moving to get Lorelei out of the room, and consequently out of the room, triggered the threat condition of Masters Shield. The two maids had just held off the first series of attacks when Aclysias being surged with power. Now that a target had ignored the imperative of focusing her, her next attack would deal 1000% more damage.
Aclysia swung Eclys at Moiras shield. The Warden, instinctively knowing what woulde next from the way Masters Shield warned its targets, raised the massive b of Gaia-blessed metal even higher. Moira turned into a heavily ted projectile that was catapulted off her feet, through several walls and ultimately out of the building. Then the two maids turned around and followed their Master.
Down in the courtyard filled with half-fused buildings, Jack was beset on all sides. He had seeded in his objective of taking the fight away from Lorelei, but in doing so had delivered himself straight into the armys core. Many of the soldiers, particrly themanding knights, that had started their assault had turned around immediately upon seeing themotion at the headquarters. Now they witnessed Lord Brighton shattering a chain of silver energy that connected him to a hovering Gamer.
Their hostility was as clear as the de pointed at Jack. The leader of the Golden Rose was seemingly unharmed by that entire opening. As the ring of soldiers grew tighter, maids and knightsnded next to those they followed. Lord Brighton raised his voice, John Newman, you have turned from the Ladys light!
Spare me the sermon, inquisitor, the Gamer shouted back. All I want to do is save who I can. If that means acting in discordance with your Imperial Truth, then so be it.
Imperial Truth? Lord Brighton seemed confounded for just one moment.
Its a reference to Warhammer 40k, a sci-fi, fantasy world created by Jack started.
Stop your bbering, the redhead demanded.
Id much prefer the bbering to whates next, the Gamer said as a thunderstrike descended on a nearby street. I do not want to fight you, but I will if I have to. He looked at all of the soldiers around. All he was met by was hard gazes. Whether everyone here shared the depth of the Lord-Protectors conviction was doubtful, but they would obey his orders.
The Gamer truly didnt want to fight and he didnt need to either. Defeating Lord Brighton was the pathway to his goal with the highest likelihood of casualties. It was much better to stall things out until he regained control of the barrier. While Jack, Aclysia and Beatrice held back the majority of the enemy force, his real body and the rest of the harem would take control of the city and channel everyone towards the centre. Once the intruding effect of the item ceased, they would all evacuate at once.
A simple and effective n with very little risks for John himself.
If you stand in the way of what must be done, then you will face the full wrath of the Order! Lord Brighton dered, taking his massive sword into both hands. For the safety of the world, it would be best if you were to be removed from your growing control of North America anyway.
And reced by whom? You? Jacks mocking answer came back. He hoped that would keep Lord Brighton talking, but instead the grizzled pdin barked his orders.
The knights sworn to the Lady, assist me in this battle; everyone else, continue operations as nned!
Bothersome, Jack thought, the information immediately flowing from his mind to that of the nning facet of his mind. He must know how little good small fry would do in this battle. Lets settle this in a duel, coward! the Gamer shouted, already knowing the answer he would get.
A sinner isnt worthy of a duel, Lord Brighton announced while his orders were obeyed. The circle around them thinned, until only ten individuals in total remained on Williams side. I will allow you to surrender and return to your country in shame, however, if you do so right now.
Eleven against three, Jack stated, trying to cast Observe on any of the knights and partly failing for all of them. He was given names and minor backstory, but the Stat and Level segments were hidden. I will take those odds, he dered, regardless.
Then the Lady will guide us against you, sinner! Lord Brighton shouted and raised his sword to the sky. From far above, pirs of light descended on the fighters of the Golden Rose, basking each of them in a golden cascade. Beatrice stormed forwards, ready to interrupt the enemy leader in casting his buffs.
Her thrust was met by a downward swing, causing her to jump back. Objective failed, she reported, perhaps superfluously, as the pirs dimmed away and revealed each of the knights. A holy glow now emanated from their te armours, particr the golden ents and the rose iconography.
For the Lady! Lord Brighton shouted and charged.
Chapter 947 – Righteousness 6 – The many fields of battle
Chapter 947 C Righteousness 6 C The many fields of battle
Ill see how that develops before I send support, John decided, keeping a close mental eye on the fight of his copy and maids against the knights and their lord. For the moment, it seemed even enough. Both parties were fighting defensively, not quite sure of the enemys full capabilities. Being careful in that situation was justmon sense. I guess its good to see they have some of that remaining, the Gamer thought and sighed.
The aftereffects of today would beplicated. Fundamentally, he didnt want the Golden Rose to be his enemies. With all of the vers and murderers he had fought, a faction that took justice too seriously was a nice change of pace. That being said, he was a firm believer in the innocent until proven guilty model. That meant he had to give everyone a fair and equal trial with a high standard of evidence. As William ckstone had said, it was better that ten guilty people escape than that one innocent suffers.
The Golden Rose seemed to operate on the opposite ideal and it wasnt as if he couldnt see the argument. Letting the ten guilty escape surely meant more suffering for the innocent who could then be affected.
Personally, John justified his stance by delineating between misfortune and tyranny. A murderer getting off once because of a high standard of evidence and killing again was incredibly unfortunate. A government having the ability to jail people on suspicion or very little evidence was tyranny. The former was saddening, thetter was depressing.
Also, people of a power-hungry mindset had a tendency to get in charge of even the nicest forms of government. Giving them tools to easily persecute whoever they liked was just a recipe for disaster. John would go so far to argue that the current situation was absolute proof of that.
If William Brightons eagerness to burn the sinner didnt underline the Gamers argument, then the iron fist with which the Demon Lord ruled surely did. Sure, he kept his subjects happy with semen demon breeding ves, but beyond that this was a literal hellhole. Anybody who wanted to leave it was either killed or had their memories wiped. Not exactly the kind of society John wanted to live in.
I suppose it works for demons, he thought. Maybe theyre inherently morefortable in an authoritarian structure? He left that topic forter and turned his mind back to overseeing the current ongoings.
Smander and Sylph were flying over the city, Siena was scouting things on the ground level, Gnome was busy erecting walls, Undine continuously split into as many bodies as she could sustain and Metra pushed back whatever strike forces the Golden Rose sent their way. All of the actions of his familiars were taken in an effort to guide the ongoing evacuation. They informed the people, fought the enemy and healed the allies while trying to keep casualties to an absolute minimum.
For that reason, Metra was sparingly used.
For that same reason, Eliza was the only girl still with John in the pentagons chamber. It had been a long while since the pretty little psycho identally crushed kitchen appliances, but John didnt trust her to measure her power against enemies she could kill by shouting at them with too much energy. Especially given her incandescent hatred for religious fanatics. If all of that wasnt enough of a reason, then the potential of Thana deciding it was time to rear her head again, given all of the death around, definitely was.
As for the other two girls not directly connected to Johns mind, he wasnt sure where they were. It wasnt Nias or Raves style to just sit around and do nothing. He trusted both of them to do their best to help with the situation though.
Again, he checked in on the battle with Lord Brighton. Things still seemed to go smoothly. If Moira weighed in, things might get dicey. There was no way to know for sure. The powerful anti-scrying enchantments certainly neutered his guessing ability. At the same time, he didnt know if Williams careful approach showed respect towards his strength, a general careful attitude on the Lords part, or that the timer was much longer than John wished.
He hoped it was the first.
Siena, new orders, the Gamer reached out via mental connection, I want you to try and find whatever was used to invade the barrier. Should be around the oddly phased area C probably underground.
Ill see it done, Siena answered.
If nothing else, shell find who they were torturing down there, he thought to himself and leaned back. In the process, his gaze fell on the grinning Demon Lord sitting on his throne. And what are you so happy about? John asked in an irritated tone. Your city is being invaded, the people you want me to save are in danger and none of this was part of your miserable little n.
I suppose I suppose I should be bothered by the loss of my legacy Galku spoke with heaving, failing lungs. Without Undine around, his wounds were quickly sapping the little vitality he still had from his frail body. However as a dead man worry about the future is far from my mind
John was of half a mind to end the plight of the warlock immediately. It would have been an act of mercy for Galku and for the Gamers mind. However, he yet needed the mans authority. The demons were all channelled into the mansion, and whenever one doubted the story that John was there to save them, the Demon Lord was there to reinforce the truth. Aside from such questions, everyone stuck to the mansion proper. Galku seemed to have drilled a deep respect for the centre of the pentagram into his people C to the point that none stayed there longer than they had to.
Sylph, move east and create a fuss. I want the Golden Rose people to take a special interest in the outskirts.
Roger, roger, Sylph responded in her best mechanical tone and carried out his orders.
John turned his thoughts off, as best as his paranoid mind could, and just let information flow through him. It was difficult, if not impossible, to keep track of the entire situation. New Alexandria was a small Abyssal city, but it was still a city and stretched across roughly five kilometres. Even with two eyes in the sky and several more on the ground, the amount of intel he could get was limited in its scope both by distance and the chaotic ongoings of a battlefield.
Just like Rave and Nia, John had no idea where Moira was. He would have loved to send either Siena or Sylph on searching duty, but the things they had to do were of higher priority. Knowing the time they were under lockdown and saving lives were more important than the Shield Wardens position. Not by a lot, the Gamer had to admit, Moiras presence anywhere would meddle intensely with the control I have of that area well, Ill have to deal with it when I deal with it.
John pinched the bridge of his nose, sent out a new wave of repositioning orders for everyone and then focused on Sienas mind in particr. The shadow spirit was now in the cer of the hotel and skulked through the rooms. They were universally vacated, even if little amounts of fresh blood still showed that the torturing hadsted until recently. A single corpse was all the Golden Rose had left behind down there. The, presumed, warlock seemed mostly unharmed. Whatever means the Golden Rose used to torment their prisoners, they were clean in the physical sense.
At least that makes it more likely that the item used is or was down here, John thought.
How does ack of people get you to that conclusion? Siena wanted to know, ducking underneath a pipe. As was typical for underground rooms housing water heaters and the like, things were cramped and the ceiling too low for people of rtive tallness.
There were things happening when I first went in there, but everyone vacated just in time. Whoever was down there is not part of the fighting forces. There was a coordinated effort to get the prisoners out before the battle started.
Could have just been a scheduled thing. Siena leaned against one of the doors in an attempt to hear if something was happening on the other side. She could have easily sliced the lock open with her thin ws, but doing so would have made her presence rather obvious. For the moment, her body and her movements were still veiled, made invisible to the naked eye and inaudible to the unrefined ear.
For a schedule, there are too many bumps in the execution, John analysed. William doesnt strike me as the kind of person who sits in his office until thest second. Maybe the item has some kind of unreliable charge time?
Then how did they move out before it activated? Siena wanted to know.
Good question. Warning signals up to sixty seconds before random activation? John gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. I guess Im just specting on its function. If it even exists. Could be that we are dealing with a peculiar Innate Ability.
Siena heard some movements behind the door and grinned. Maybe we can find out, she purred.
One w swipe and a barge of her shoulderter, the midnight elemental invaded the room. Arge water heater in the centre of the room made it clear what it would have been for in the mundane case. The Golden Rose had appropriated that mundane machine, cut open a bunch of the pipes and the central barrel, and introduced a bunch of magical add-ons to it.
A total of eight people stood inside the room and looked at the door with wary confusion. They wore white robes and masks, the same clothes as the overseer John had previously encountered. Siena kept them in the figurative dark, charging at the farthest enemy with all of her speed. Perhaps they were just distantly aware of the cking of her high heels or maybe they were just straining their sight enough to peel through the outeryers of her invisibility. Either way, the people followed her as she ran by, but were not able to catch her or intervene.
Sienas clenched fist sunk into the stomach of her first target, causing them to bend forwards. In a flurry of movements, she stepped back, rammed her knee into the persons face, then grabbed the neighbouring person by the neck with her tail and mmed them against the wall.
By the Lady! several of the other people in the room shouted as theirrades copsed onto the floor. To them it must have seemed like a ghost had quickly disposed of their fellow Golden Rose members. Siena giggled with superiority as she dropped the invisibility.
You wouldnt mind telling me what you''re doing, would you? she asked, crouching slightly and seductively running a hand down her thigh as she spoke. Now that she knew how much stronger she was than these people, the ambush tactics were no longer necessary and she could fully indulge in her sadistic nature. Itll spare all of us a lot of trouble. That should make it worth your while. She straightened up slowly, ying with her hair and her curves.
We will not be tempted by a demon! one of the overseers dered.
Demon? How rude, the midnight elemental giggled, casually slicing through a metal pipe with her tail. I have more ss than a subus. Her grin revealed her fangs. And my bite is a lot less pleasing. Her whispering voice caused two of the people to take an involuntary step backwards. Now tell me what this is for.
Never! one of them dered, faking the bravery to invigorate their heart.
Well see about that, Sienaughed and Unleashed.
Remember, do not kill them! John warned as the shadow-engulfed midnight elemental advanced on her opponents.
They had daggers drawn and their gloved hands glowed with magic. Siena didnt care for any of that as she simply stormed at the first of the six remaining enemies and grabbed them by the throat. Overwhelmingly fast, she tossed the person at another overseer, smoothly transitioned into a roundhouse kick that sent a third person flying and then jumped over a sh. Rather thane back down, Siena held onto the ceiling. Her hands and feet stuck to the nk concrete through the power of magic and she scurried forwards, her tail grabbing the fourthbatant by the neck and dragging them along.
Like a child handling a racecar, she easily mmed the person into the wall. Then she dropped down, jumped on the fifth overseer. Her thighs wrapped around their face in a fashion that, in other situations, anyone would think they were lucky for. At that moment, it was the start of an overexaggerated wrestling move. Keeping them in the thigh-headlock, Siena did a cartwheel and then mmed the enemy down on some pipes.
The one person that she hadnt attacked yet finally managed to conjure a spell. A sh of golden light flew in Sienas direction. With a grin, she let the bolt of energy approach her, dodging in the veryst second by sexily bending out of the way. Then she stormed forwards, dodged under the slow stopping strike of the enemy, and grabbed the extended arm. One overhead throwter, the final enemybatant was on the ground.
All of this had happened in such a short time that the two people she had made collide still hadnt gotten up. The brutality of her actions and sheer supremacy of her physical abilities had knocked most of the enemies out. Those two were the only exception. Sienas tail grabbed one of them by the ankle while she took the other by the cor with one hand. Soon, both were dangling from her limbs, one upside down and the other getting pressed against the wall.
Feeling talkative now? Siena asked, leaning towards the hand-held overseers ear. I can have a lot more fun if you say no. Her teeth audibly cked. The overseer pressed his lips together in a defiant gesture. Do I have permission for torture?
John rubbed his forehead and considered. Because he couldnt cast Observe through his familiars, he couldnt verify what the construction in the room was for. The chances were fairly good that it was at least rted to the current state of the Illusion Barrier, but guarantees were something nice to have. To that end, torture was a necessary step towards confirmation. However, his goal to remain amicable with the Golden Rose after this was over remained and that would be quite a lot harder if he tortured their operatives. Not yet, hemanded. Destroy the apparatus and stay there. If the effect doesnt cease, well have to consider things.
As you say, Master Siena sounded a little disappointed but obediently dropped her captives.
Then she wrecked the ce.
Chapter 948 – Righteousness 7 – A fist bearing light [Rave POV]
Chapter 948 C Righteousness 7 C A fist bearing light [Rave POV]
This was exactly what Rave had hoped for before going on this expedition.
Well, not this precise scenario. Suddenly intervening in a conflict between an order of self-righteous pricks and immoral, life-defiling warlocks wasnt something she had imagined to happen. It was, however, exciting and that was exactly what she was after. Great as her day-to-day life with her John and their harem was, the funky Lightbearer still craved unusual and dangerous situations. It was in her nature. It was part of what had driven her to her boyfriend in the first ce and part of why they made for such a good duo. Theypleted each other.
It had to be said that the current conflict was far from dangerous to her, though.
Rave zoomed through the streets, raising a cloud of ck dust in her wake. Under normal circumstances, such a line would have given her position away, but she didnt expect John to bepletely certain. After their experiences during the Five Day War, the pink-haired danger craver understood one or two things about battlefields. One of which was that, in everyrge scale engagement, the fog of war inevitably rose up.
The cloud she trampled into existence joined the other scattered particles. Flying fireballs, close quarter engagements with superhuman might, light spells, shadow spells, lightning dancing across the sky and arcane might all contributed to disturbing the ckyer that covered the ground. The more of it scattered, the less things could be understood from an outside perspective. Inside the fog, the line of sight was limited. To Johns eyes in the sky, they would be little more than outlines illuminated by shing lights.
If you want him to find you, just fire something into the air, Copernicus advised, from his position around her wrist. The copper band was the only piece of decoration on her bodysuit. Most of it was a bright pink, a colour simr to her hair, but thebat gloves and thigh-high boots that were melded to the protective equipment were of a ck colour. All of it sat as tight as a second skin. Only the headphones around her neck bounced a little bit. He should recognize your light.
Aww, thats a romantic thing to say, Rave responded.
Its a factual statement, the dry response of the suncat came swiftly. Normally light spells are golden or white, not scattered across the colour spectrum.
I prefer techno-coloured, Rave responded and turned a corner. With the momentum of a car driving on a highway, she jumped at a heavily armoured invader. Her knee collided with their chest te. Raves suit, despite being more flexible, proved to be the sturdier of the two materials. The immense force of the impact put a dent into the thick metal, but the primary effect was that she rammed the soldier through the wall of a nearby house.
Elegantly, Rave stopped on her feet and looked down at the person. Judging by their build, thebatant was probably a woman. The armour erased most proper hints in terms of gender. It wasnt as intricate or powerful as the full te the proper knights wore, but it was just one step below that. While most of the knights were upied with Jack, these officers had themand over the forces.
Thought she might put up just a bit of resistance, Rave thought with minor disappointment, poking the shoulder of the officer with her foot. In some ways she missed the days when she was talented andzy. There were certainly more difficult fights to be had before she became one of the strongest people on the face of the. Raising her head, Rave looked into the eyes of a surprised warlock and two demons. Ya should get to the pentagon, mansion, thingy, she gave them the quick version. Your creepy old Demon Lord struck a deal with my tiger, so ya cane with us. Once this barrier control stuff fades, that is.
Sure, the warlock agreed pretty swiftly and walked towards Rave and the hole she had created. In passing, he reached for the dagger, giving the unconscious officer a vengeful re. That was where he kept it at.
The people outside the building werent about to let them leave. A small group of Golden Rose soldiers united into a simple arrow formation and faced Rave as she walked out back into the fog of war. I just kicked your boss through a building, ya should know better than that, the Lightbearer told them, while giving the people she had rescued a dismissive wave. She didnt need them here. Just go sit over there until this is done, kay?
Those who defend sinners will be treated as such, the head of the formation growled.
Rave rolled her neck and sighed. Arighty, she just stated and activated her martial arts aura. It was a set of internal procedures that she had gone through so often, she barely even noticed them anymore. The breath, the mana distributing through her body, permeating all of her until the excess escaped as blue light from her pores, all of it was just normal to her. Gathering the mana in her ankles and then forming it in such a specific fashion that she instantly moved a couple metres forwards, that came with minimal dy.
For an enemy like this, a minimal dy was of absolutely no matter. All of the soldiers barely got to show the surprise on their faces before Rave mmed her fist into the frontman and caused all of them to fall over like bowling pins.
Strike, sheplimented herself.
Given that you needed two attacks to finish off this group, Id say its more of a spare, the cat in her head told her.
I see youre wearing your smart fur today, Cappy. Rave looked at the people on the ground and sighed. Dont make me break your legs so ya stay down. I like winning, I dont need to be cruel about it. She turned around and walked back to the unconscious officer. In the process, she looked over her shoulder and grinned. Even enemy soldiers couldnt quite help themselves but stare at her bubble butt. Given the skin-tight bodysuit, she would have been surprised if all of them could have averted their eyes. The Lightbearer knew what she had. Here, if ya need an excuse to stay out of it, she grabbed the officer and carried her over to her group, ya go see to it that I didnt mortally wound her. Would certainly make me happier.
What do you care if any of us die? one of the people asked. Youre supporting sinners.
And youre burning down a city and everyone who lives in it, dont ya give me a speech on morality. Rave rolled her eyes. I aint a preachy girl, so spare me with all of this. I just dont want people to die needlessly. Ya got that? Some of her enemies looked confused, others defiant. At least they got some individuality, I guess, Rave thought and then sprinted off into a random direction.
Making sure they followed her suggestion would have been a waste of her time. She was better advised running around and interrupting enemy operations. The squad of seven she had just defeated was just one of a myriad of strike forces all running around the ce. ording to her boyfriend, the enemy army had 300 to 400 people in it, so her stopping one fraction of that wasnt going to amount to much. Simrly, shecked the mental coordination of Johns familiars, so partaking in the wider rescue operations wouldnt be particrly efficient either. Instead, she was going to be the wildcard, jamming enemy ns against Johns nned movements by appearing out of nowhere with no rhyme or reason.
Trying to orient herself would be near impossible without calling one of the elementals for help anyway.
Through the ck clouds, Rave spotted a familiar bright light. With unsteady flickers and of jagged shape, the lightning cut through the fog for just a few moments. Alright, if Sylph is working over there, Im running into the opposite direction, she decided and took a hard turn right.
The streets in this segment were littered with corpses. Warlocks, primarily, with a single low-rank member of the Golden Rose joining as the source of the crimson spill that turned dirt into mud. Rave noticed the clouds her breath created. Why cant every city have a heater? she whined in her head. Better question, are demons freeze immune or something? I couldnt run around naked in this weather!
She jumped over a corpse and continued on her path. The death all around didnt bother her whatsoever. Rave was a child of the Abyss, violence and the abrupt end of life were nothing outstanding to her. She was more interested in the low number of demonic victims. This was around the first area the Golden Rose had hit, before John had sent anyone to interfere with their purge. That they managed to waltz through here and kill everyone was to be expected.
It was just that the corpses lying about didnt really represent the local poption all that well. Rave hadnt observed the distribution between humans and demons as closely as her boyfriend had, but even a rough nce told her that the losses didnt line up. The Golden Rose wasnt universally exterminating the demons.
At least not on the spot, Rave thought, cautious about being hopeful. She didnt particrly like Moira, for a lot of personal reasons. One of her issues was that Moiras view on honour was TOO rigid. Mass murder didnt strike her as something that fit in there. Yet, the Golden Rose was advancing all the same. Either she had misjudged Moira, there was dissonance between her and the Order of the Golden Rose, or there was more to the current conflict than she knew.
Doubtlessly thatst one was true. Rave had sprung into action after a brief exnation by John. One could use her of being negligent, given that she was storming into a conflict she didnt really understand. Rave would have shrugged at that usation. She wasnt nearly as concerned with morals or ethics as her boyfriend was. She went by her guts. She had her ownpass of what was right or wrong, grounded in her life experiences rather than books on philosophy. That made it less well grounded, but Rave didnt mind too much. She knew what she wanted and she knew who she could trust. That was good enough for her.
Rave noticed that she was gradually moving out of the fog of war. That told her that she was getting out of thebat zone, so she considered turning around. Nearbybat, however, goaded her into a different direction. Seems like theres a party outside the disco, she thought and effortlessly leapt up to a nearby rooftop.
Manifesting her cat ears, she listened closely. Despite being just hair, they somehow worked as if they were the genuine thing. Four ears were obviously better at locating the origin of any sound than two, particrly if the pair on top of her head could rotate a fair bit.
There were the many sounds of the battlefield behind her. Then there was the sound of metal shing repeatedly one or two hundred metres to her right. Looking over in that direction, she saw the copy of her boyfriend fly around. Hell call the girls if he needs help there, Rave thought and turned her left ear towards the closest source of sound.
Skipping over a couple of rooftops brought Rave on top of a side street where two groups were currently shing. Therger group of demons and warlocks was torn apart by the advancing arrowhead formation of the Golden Rose fighters. A single blue-skinned, four-armed fiend put on some resistance, but everyone else seemed rather inept at fighting.
Rave descended onto that battle with a dropkick that immediately took out theirmanding officer. Alrighty, this where ya surrender- She was interrupted in her entrance line by a fist flying towards her face. She caught it with her palm and kicked the assant, a female squire, in the stomach. Lemme spell that for ya, she continued while the rest of the enemy formation came at her. S-U-R-R-E-N-D-E-R. Surrender. Thats what yall should do.
By the time she had finished speaking, thest of the enemies went to the ground. Most of them were still conscious and tried to get to their feet. They had guts, Rave had to respect that much.
A mad cackle behind her caused her to turn around. One of the warlocks she had just saved drew their knife and immediately plunged it into the throat of the officer. Die, you Gaia-sucking cunt! the warlock screamed and raised the knife for a second plunge. Those would be theirst words.
Raves foot hit the warlocks head with such intensity that the skull shattered and the neck broke. What flew off to the side was a gory mess of flesh that the Lightbearer didnt need to look at as it was catapulted into a nearby alleyway. The FUCK is wrong with some people?! she cursed and hastily got down on her knees. The office whod been cut was still alive, albeit the hole in their throat was far from pretty. She knew that she wasnt aiding the exactly honest side, but killing someone she had already put out ofmission was simply too low.
A voice reached her while she thought about how to keep the person alive.
Do you see what kind of people you sided with, Rave?
Chapter 949 – Righteousness 8 – A shield of pure metal [Moira POV]
Chapter 949 C Righteousness 8 C A shield of pure metal [Moira POV]
Moira burst out of the rubble. The Gamers allies do leave quite the impact, she made a dry joke to herself while rising to her feet. Dropping her warhammer for a moment, she brushed a number of pebbles out of her hair. The shield, magically attached to her right arm, was as undamaged as the rest of her armour. The enchanted te the Order used was the pride of the organization, each a piece of art that had been perfected over the generations. Not even that armour would have been able to take a hit that catapulted a grown woman over a hundred metres away from the impact point. The artefact that Gaia had bestowed on her bloodline, however, had no problem with something like that.
If there was something indestructible in this world, then it was the shield she was currently wielding.
Rolling her shoulders, the Shield Warden oriented herself. The hotel was not too far away and aiding her Lord Father was certainly her duty. Yet, she was not particrly pressed to get back. Moira knew exactly why the Gamer had decided to take the fight outside. His interest in Lorelei was as clearly written over his face as the white-blondes reciprocation had been in private conversation. Generally, Moira wasnt too happy about this circumstance, but in this specific situation it assured that her friend was out of the line of fire.
Heading back would have only meant that the battle between her Lord Father and the Gamers secondary body was decided earlier or that more of his elementals came to Johns aid. The Order had long since analysed all avable material on the Gamer and his fighting style. They could predict with rtive certainty how he would act. A problem arose that John Newman tended to make either the best or an unconventional choice when it came to strategy.
Those were, however, not the main reason why Moira held back on aiding her father.
To put it simply, she had disagreements with how he ran things. Moira admired her Lord Father. He had raised her with discipline and love, weathered the hardship that was the loss of her mother, and kept the Order stable even as they moved the entirety of their branch to a new continent. Certainly, his willpower and loyalty to the cause were something Moira strived to mimic. That being said, ever since she hade of age and was getting more closely tied into the leadership and operation of the Order, she had be more disillusioned with aspects of hismand.
Force was all too popr a tool with her father, Moira found. The policy of punch first, ask questionster, didnt strike her as adequate for an organization as powerful as theirs. This current battle was a perfect example for this. Moira could certainly agree that it needed to be burned to the ground and the barrier copsed. Those that put up a resistance doubtlessly should be viewed as enemybatants and be dealt with as such. Making the execution of all members of the enemy faction the basic policy of their invasion, that was a step too far.
We are fighting warlocks and demons, her father had said, when she voiced that point of view. If you treat them with honour, you will have a knife in your back.
There was a certain truth to that, but was it not their duty to take that risk? Honourless or not, demons were part of the Ladys creation. With firm guidance, they had to be some good that could be drawn from them. Her Lord Father had made the concession that they would fight for victory, not extermination. Who could be taken in for judgement, would be.
With that, Moira had backed down on the issue. For the time being, she was not the leader of the Shield branch of the Order of the Golden Rose. As a Warden, she was powerful, extremely so, but she was still inexperienced. Once her father was confident she knew the burdens of leadership, he would pass on the torch.
This is no longer a battle against New Libraria, but against the Gamers resistance, Moira thought and considered her path forward. She had certainly prepared herself to follow her fathers orders, but with him upied and the situation having changed so drastically, another path could be taken.
Moira stepped out of her pile of rubble and was quickly assaulted by a group of demons. With just a few swings of her warhammer, the assault was broken. She was in a hostile environment and the demte that had attacked her now begged for her life. Both her resolve to break this city and to spare who she could was only hardened.
Stay down, the Wardenmanded. If there was just one innocent in this city, she would prefer them spared. In that, you and I are likely aligned, John Newman, the redhead thought as she started running down the street. We happen to disagree that it is worthwhile to keep this city standing to save that one life.
Running with a massive tower shield and an equally oversized warhammer wasnt exactly easy, but Moira dealt with it and quickly made her way to the front lines. She broke through a line of spell-flinging warlocks on the way. Spines and skulls shattered from the swings of her weapon.
The demons around quickly ran away when theirmanding summoners had been executed. Moiras allies, led by one of the few knights not currently helping her Lord Father in his battle, attempted to follow them, but the Shield Wardens voice stopped them, Halt. Let them get away.
Everyone stopped, looking at her with confusion and then at the knight. Officially, Moira was still below a knight in the chain ofmands. Realistically, she was the equivalent of a saint in her organization. Going against her wishes, publicly no less, would leave the soldiers conflicted. May I ask what motivates this order, Warden Moira? the knight asked.
Theres no need for us to waste our power here, the redhead answered swiftly. Control over the barrier remains broken and will for a while. It is highly likely that the enemies will evacuate to one area and wait until they can flee. If they are all holed up together, we can arrest or execute them in a swift movement once we gain control over the rest of the battlefield. She looked the knight hard into the eyes. We should focus on victory. Our enemies have gained an ally too powerful to make the purge our first priority.
The knight nodded. Understood, mdy. Ill pass your orders along.
Moira let out a slow breath of relief as she returned the nod. The exnation had been good enough. Now she just needed to ensure the enemys surrender. As eager as her Lord Father might have been to fulfil their divine mission, even he wouldnt order the attack of people who hadid down their arms. Justice would be the wall between the innocent and the sword.
Moira turned away and started running. The fog of war started to rise over the city. With themunication equipment built into the armours of the knights and officers, her orders would spread fairly quickly. Their obedience to her word was guaranteed and so her mind turned to the ways she could win this battle.
There was the option to smash everything until there was nothing left for the Gamer to save, but that went counter to her own ambitions. Second was to seek out his real body and defeat him, but her chances there were slim. She was certain she could take him in a battle, with or without his elementals, but there were two people in his harem she was not so certain about. One was Eliza, who was a titan in her own right. The other was doubtlessly the source of the creepy feeling she felt in the west of the barrier.
The Maiden of Null is best avoided, Moira thought just as a massive lightning strike red up in the distance. And that is clearly bait, she thought and turned away from the thunder and the depths of the fog of war. Moving around the outskirts was best until she knew exactly what she had to do. The Gamer cares for what he owns. Perhaps the quickest way to get him to surrender would be to leverage one of his women?
That thought had barely run its course when she heard a familiar voice nearby. A momentter, sounds of battle from that direction ceased. Moira turned the corner just in time to see the warlock drive a knife into the throat of one of the officers. The way Rave stood between the warlock and the rest of the Orders knocked out soldiers made it seem as if she was giving protection to the act. Before Moira could call out this cowardice, Rave whirled around and obliterated the mans head.
Cussing and hurried enough to miss Moiras presence, the pink-haired woman went down on her knees, inspecting the wound. Do you see what kind of people you sided with, Rave? the Warden asked, as she hurried over herself.
Can we skip the part where we irritate each other? Rave asked.
Moira answered that with diligent silence as she put weapon and shield down to press her hands on the mans throat. Lady, grant me your mercy, she whispered, feeling the power of the goddess rush through her. The Warden wasnt well-learned when it came to healing magic, but the miracles of the Lady were numerous. Divine light outlined her gauntlets and the cut in the officers throat. Quickly, it was sealed shut.
Lady Moira the person started speaking, only to cough up the blood that had already filled their throat.
Do not waste your power speaking. Take your subordinates and find a ce to rest, Moira instructed and grabbed her armaments again.
And ya should probably flee to the centre of the pentagram, Rave told the members of New Libraria still around. On your way, hush-hush. Both women stood up, staring at each other as they were rapidly left to be the only two in this city block. So, whatre we doing now? the Lightbearer asked. I doubt ya would just let my tiger do what he wants, right?
I trust him as little to judge these sinners adequately as he trusts us to give them the mercy they might deserve, Moira shook her head, not to mention that the Order cannot let this meddling be sessful. We are a sovereign guild in whose affairs you are not to meddle.
Guess its a fight then. Another duel between us, Rave stated and turned around, taking the demonstrative five steps. Moiras eyes were quickly drawn to the magnificent butt under the skin-tight bodysuit. Hastily, before the Lightbearer could notice, she regained control over herself.
I cannot let the drawbacks of the Rose distract me, Moira thought. This is not the time. When Rave faced her again, the Warden spoke up, You should know that I will beat you here and use you as leverage to make the Gamer surrender.
Rave hesitated for one moment. Thatll probably work, she admitted and rolled her shoulders. If ya can win, that is.
Moira couldnt help but let a shortugh escape her.
Ya can do that? Rave wondered, with a grin on her own face.
Your honesty is as infuriating as it is refreshing, Rave, the Warden returned. A more cunning opponent would try to get away following that announcement.
Aint that just a roundabout way to call me stupid?
You may take myments as you wish. What I need to do does not change, the redhead stated and got into a battle pose.
Ya sure youre ready to do this? Rave asked and put on her headphones. You didnt tie your hair up.
Im as ready as I need to be, Moira dered and charged, shield raised.
As ya say! Rave stormed forwards as well.
Rubble crunched under Moiras feet as they closed in on each other. Both activated their auras shortly before they would have shed.
Moira stopped one step before Rave, raising her hammer. The massive swing was too slow to hit a fist fighter in front of her, but the Lightbearer wasnt standing there anymore anyway. The weight of her top-heavy weapon elerated her turn and served as a direct threat for Rave, who had appeared behind her.
While Moira had perfectly read the opening gambit of her opponent, Rave had taken the potential answer into ount. Jumping up, the shaft of the hammer flew on by underneath Rave. Moira tried to cover the opening this created by bashing her opponents legs away with her shield. Rave reacted with absurd quickness, first stepping on the upper edge of the tower shield and then on Moiras ted shoulder. The second foot pulled forwards and mmed into Moiras chin.
The blow, more humiliating than painful, made Moira take three steps backwards. Rave jumped off into the opposite direction,nding gracefully on her feet. She tapped her heel ording to the beat booming from her headphones. Tiny circles of light spread out from her foot, following each impact. I know its kinda bad manners to strike ady in the face, Rave bantered, but thats just how I get when ya dont give me the basic bit of respect, ya know?
Moira sighed and ced her hammer down, upright on the floor. I did think you couldnt have possibly improved enough to keep up with the strides I made since ourst duel, the Warden admitted, her blessed shield dropping after she pulled a hairband from the space connected to the back of it. I suppose that was arrogant of me. She bundled up her hair into a ponytail. I apologize.
Apology epted, Moira, Rave rolled her neck. Ya know the terms, ja? I win, I get to call ya the chosen nickname again.
If it must be like that, the Warden sighed.
Then they charged at each other again.
Chapter 950 – Righteousness 9 – Funky and Divine Light [Moira POV]
Chapter 950 C Righteousness 9 C Funky and Divine Light [Moira POV]
Moira clenched her teeth and braced for impact. Three shockwaves hit the front of her highly adorned shield. One was the initial punch of the Lightbearer. The second was the martial arts technique Rave used to prate armour. The third was the ripple of kically charged light that apanied all of her attacks. The first uselessly pearled off her unyielding shield, the second dealt minor damage to her arm and the third was between those two.
Digging her heels in, Moira advanced. She could barely even see her opponent, the shape of the right corner of her shield allowed her to look over it, but that didnt change the fact that her blessed armament was one massive obstacle to her sight and her enemy. Thetter advantage far outstripped the disadvantage, in almost all cases.
When she felt nothing resisting her forward charge, Moira rammed the v-shaped tip of her tower shield into the ground and severed the magical connection that glued it to her arm. Quickly, she turned around and saw Rave trying to hit her with a kick. The Warden didnt even attempt to block the attack, her opponent had the edge on her when it came to speed.
Raves heel smashed into her side. The martial art she used in conjunction sted a hole into the red tabard Moira wore on top of her armour. The te itself withstood the strain and Moira ignored the bang of pain under her skin. Her body was sturdy enough to take these things. Sore spots, torn tissue and broken bones, all of these were minor sacrifices when it came to serving the Lady.
Having taken the attack Moira seized the opportunity by grabbing Raves leg before she could pull back. With all of her might, Moira lifted Rave up into the air and then smashed her back down on the hard floor. Give up, Moira demanded. She had a grip and she would leverage it as strongly as she had to.
Aint going to be that easy the Lightbearer responded with a smirk. Ya know, I usually get the redheads under me.
Moira ignored thatment and lifted Rave up a second time. A st of light hit her in the face, blinding her while she swung the Lightbearer back down. That she hit the floor a second time was clear, but the Warden was blind to the heel that hit her hand with enough force to numb it for a moment.
Moira squinted her eyes in an attempt to at least make out the rough shape of Rave. Instinctively, she went for her shield. The divinely attuned armament leaned into her motion to connect back with her and the Warden got it between herself and where she hadst seen Rave just in time to block another kick. From the angle of the impact, and the following shockwaves reverberating in her arm, she could tell that Rave was still on the ground.
The shield swinging to the side, Moira brought down her warhammer. Earth scattered under her might, but her target had gotten away. For the Lady! Moira shouted, raising her shield up. From the heavens descended radiant light, filling her with rejuvenating energy and conjuring a wave that spread outwards that sent the desecrating shedding of the unholy trees flying outwards. As the honest, brown earth under her was discovered, her temporary blindness was quickly alleviated and showed her the Lightbearer stemming against the fading shockwave.
Heat surged through Moira, leaving parts of her tingly. She shoved the sensation aside while turning to her opponent and thrusting the sharp tip of her warhammer at her opponent. It didnt have the reach of a proper spear, but the weapon was designed with this alternative usage in mind.
Rave dodged to the side and leaned in to retaliate with a punch. Both activated their aura. Doubtlessly, the Lightbearer tried to strike before Moira could pull her shield in the way. If they both boosted their speed, the difference remained small enough that the redhead could do so in time. Another shock in her right arm that reverberated in her bone followed the impact.
Can ya stop putting this mobile wall in my way? Raveined, throwing several more punches at it. Between two, Moira swung her warhammer. Trying to copy the manoeuvre that started their fight, Rave jumped upwards. Moira didnt make the same mistake as before, raising her shield to a higher angle before attempting a bash. That did make it easy for the Lightbearer to simply use it as a springboard, but Moira dly gave her the opportunity to retreat over being kicked in the face.
When Moira lowered her shield again, Ravended on top of the ruins of a nearby house. Fragments of mana were in the air all around her. Aura flickering away, the pink-haired beauty shook her wrists. The undecorated pink sleeves of her tight bodysuit and the ckbat gauntlets all stretched like a secondyer of skin.
For normal opponents, the torn mana would have been a sign of using martial arts in an ineffective way. Moira knew exactly why Rave was letting this happen, however. She had done her research. Keeping her eyes away from the Lightbearers luscious lips, the colour of bubblegum, Moira advanced.
Seriously, Rave continued whining, that thing is super annoying. Cant ya dual-wield your hammer instead or something?
Ill never forsake the blessing the Lady gave me, Moira responded in a serious tone.
Rave clicked her tongue. Ya seriously need to rx. Whatsbat without some banter, huh? Maybe watch some anime, thatd teach ya the value of midbat conversati-
Using the Shift technique, Moira was suddenly right in front of Rave and once more lunged with her warhammer at the Lightbearer. Because of the difference in elevation, all she could aim at were the knees. A valuable enough target, in the grand scheme of things. Rave didnt let her hit it either, jumping over Moira.
Ravended quicker and after a shorter distance than regr gravity would allow, but Moira whirled her shield around all the same. Once more, the Lightbearer had to dodge, then struck the shield with a series of quick punches. Moira advanced and the Lightbearer backed away.
Seriously, ya need to have some fun! Is the only way ya can enjoy sex up your butt or something? Is that why ya keep a stick in there all the time?
Moira needed to suppress a heavy blush at thatment. Lady bless me! she shouted instead, another pir of light descending on her. Her speed rose sharply, allowing her to keep up with Rave for several steps. A flurry of blows followed, back and forth, with Moira continuously chasing after the Lightbearer who just barely avoided being crushed. Retaliating blows struck Moiras shield, mana scattered in the air and Moira felt the tingle rise to a warm heat in her core. This was part of her Ladys blessing, albeit Moira usually felt it more of a detriment.
The improvement of her power discontinued, Moira just offered herself as a target for more and more of Raves attacks. Youre way too sturdy, Raveined. Isnt your arm tired yet?
I wont budge, even if your aim is true, Moira returned. That aside, you hardly get to tell me Im too enduring after the way I mmed you down.
My back, Rave struck the shield again, still, she tried to get around, but was immediately faced with the mobile wall again and had to hit it another time, hurts! The Lightbearer suddenly jumped back with as much force as she could muster. Ill return the favour, if ya dont mind.
This is a battlefield, Moira simply returned and readied herself. All of the mana particles around started moving to somewhere on her left. She nced over, saw a gold and copper furred cat sitting on top of a building and absorbing the mana into its open maw. The cat suddenly expanded into arge tiger. At the same time, Raves aura switched from the regr blue into a technicolour disy that almost deserved a seizure warning. Moira fired her own up again, the pure white engulfing her. Bleeding out from the roots, Raves hair turned a golden blonde, cat ears and all.
Here we go then!
LADY, GRANT ME YOUR FAVOUR! Moira shouted as both the tiger and Rave came at her. She was entirely engulfed by the divine light, shielding her from the initial attack. Power seeped into her armour and her being, alleviating the pain, raising the tes protective property and filling her with the merest figment of the supreme deitys boundless might. The internal warmth gradually increased as well.
The light ebbed away, only for Moira to immediately be assaulted by Rave again. It was almost a shame to put a barrier between them, but the Warden put her shield up anyway. There was a sh and Moira turned around to face their typical dance. In order to get behind her, Rave would have used Shift. The ankle Technique allowed someone to move in any direction almost instantaneously, but didnt change where they were facing.
What Rave had done wasnt that. She wasnt behind Moira, she was beside her, ducked down and ready to attack the Warden. Movement Transformation, the Warden realized. A spell basic in concept butplicated in execution that allowed someone to temporarily transform their entire body into an element. This had all kinds of benefits, usually movement rted. Expectedly, those in the light category of spells were the fastest when using this spell work.
Moira just barely managed to escape an uppercut. She backed up into a paw mming into her back and stumbled back forwards to keep her bnce. Raveid into her with a series of punches that were barely visible to the Wardens naked eye. My Lady, I beseech thee, she pressed out between grinding teeth.
A reverse pull of light copsed into Moira from all directions, boosting her speed a little bit further. With a wide-arching swing, she forced Rave to retreat. A bash of her shield sent the tiger flying backwards. Sorry for the double-team, the Lightbearer spoke up, but an elemental user should use their elementals.
There is no dishonour in that! Moira shouted back at the gorgeous woman charging back at her once more. Raves form was wless. Her breasts outline swung perfectly into a waist between narrow and firm. She was sexy, but not so thin that she looked like she would break from a little force. Her figure was bottom heavy, her hips seductively broad to give that round ass of hers the space it needed. Her golden hair waved in the wind, a cascade that would have looked brilliant still and between Moiras thighs.
The Warden would have liked to believe that the heat concentrated down there was the reason why she got punched straight in the face, but she had to admit that Raves current speed was simply impressive. Still, all Moira did was take half a step back, refusing to cede anymore ground, even as she felt the impact of the martial art rattle the contents of her skull.
Ya know your face isnt supposed to be a shield? Rave wondered.
In response, Moira swung her blessed armament at the Lightbearers side. Rave backed off, but immediately went back in. Darting around the shield, she struck Moiras side. Using the full extent of the Ladys favour to increase her physical capabilities, Moira still wasnt quick enough to keep up. Especially not with the opportunistic sr feline in her back.
While she wasnt able to react to everything in time, Moira still did her best. She turned on the spot, strained her body aching with unwee sensations, took the punches and the drawbacks of her blessing in stride. It was easier to drive back the tiger, usually, as he was the muchrger and considerably slower target. He quickly learned that and goaded her attacks. Each time she swung her shield or hammer at him, she left herself wide open to Raves attacks.
And she could never take her eyes of the Lightbearer, for the Warden knew what would be the crescendo.
Ya looking pretty exhausted there! Rave teased, ducking under a wide swing. Ya doing fine?
Moira was panting. Not exactly because she was getting exhausted, she was too disciplined to breathe through her mouth until her stamina waspletely depleted. Rather, the mixture of exhaustion and her blessings drawbacks was getting her mind into a muddled state. She was in a trance of pain and desire, of aching muscles and pleasurable sensations running up her spine whenever she repositioned her legs.
The trance loosened her tongue. As if you will be able to sustain this much longer.
Guess ya got me there. Rave grinned and jumped back.
Moira wasnt exactly able to rx, not with the tiger still swinging his paws at her. With his summoner temporarily out of the picture, the elemental went into a frenzy of swipes, keeping the Warden from attacking the Lightbearer.
A solemn reign, for the few that rise up highThe words that left Raves full, pink lips were bereft of her usual teasing, banter, or any emotion. It was doubtful if they were even truly words. They were power, raw magical power,pressed into sounds and understood in everynguage. An incantation apanying the refinement of it all into a specific and devastating weave of spells.
Moiras beating heart cut through the haze. Through the pain she experienced from the battering she had taken over the past minutes and through the lust that had so clearly taken hold inside her. She shoved it all aside. I am the Ladys Warden of the Shield, she told herself. Remember your obligations, Moira!
and we all fightThe chant continued. Each word was a number in the countdown. All of their previous engagements led up to this, to enabling an advantageous position for either of them at this pivotal moment. One mistake and it all would be over.
Moira let out a desperate cry and swung her warhammer at the tiger. It was a sloppy hit. The head of the hammer barely connected, most of the shaft did. Moira didnt care either way. She let go of the hammer, let the remaining momentum throw the tiger off bnce. Still, his paw hit her head as she turned away from him. Her ears rang, her blood rushed, both of her arms attached to the back of her shield.
Let our worlds collide.
Heat. Heat and power mmed against Moira. As often as she had listened to reports of this punch, watched the video of it from the Small Lake Pact tournament, she still couldnt believe the power of it. It pushed her back, made her feet drag trenches into the dirt. Something inside her right arm cracked. She could smell the tips of her hair searing, even as she hid behind her shield.
The shield that did not break.
Moira breathed heavily, truly from exhaustion now, when the force that pushed her suddenly disappeared. Carefully, she looked over her shield and onto the concentrated destruction in the attacks wake. Earth had turned into ash and sand, sand had turned into ss, nearby buildings had been pulverized by the shockwave. Yet, the Warden stood.
Ya gotta be kiddin me, Rave stated, looking with wide eyes at the redhead, who resumed her advance. The gold drained from her hair, the cat ears dissolved, and the tiger shrunk down to a cat. Ya know, there should be a limit on how sturdy someone is allowed to be!
You improved a lot, Moiraplimented. Last I was informed, you would pass out after that attack. The Shield Warden continued relentlessly.
She had thought about how to handle this attack numerous times. The two of them shing was as certain as the sun rose, after all. Moira knew that her shield could be relied upon, being the physical manifestation of Gaias will. With this ultimate barrier, all she needed was timing. A simple thing in thought, but in practice moving exactly so Rave wasmitted to the attack already and also having the shield in position was a very narrow window.
We know that dedication is the only way to our goals.
I suppose youre right in that sense. Rave gave her the weakest smile. It seemed regretful. The Lightbearer must have known what would happen now and what would follow because of it. Still, she didnt surrender. Nothing good is ever easy! she shouted and ran forwards.
Thest thing Moira expected was for the small suncat to jump at her face before they made contact. She saw nothing but fur for a moment, but it was a minor inconvenience at worst. The short ws didnt have the sting required to truly bother her. Not with all of the other pains and needs coursing through her.
Moira plucked the cat off her head and tossed him away, just in time to see Rave hit her in the stomach. It was a simple punch. No shockwaves, no Martial Arts, no nothing. Moira still took half a step back because of it. Youre truly impressive, Rave, she admitted. Would you do me the favour and surrender?
Youll have to hit my pretty face, Rave responded.
Moira sighed and swung her left fist at the pink-haired beauty. With all her strength increases depleted, while Moira still had her blessing and aura active, Rave was finally the slower out of the two and the Wardens gauntlet collided with her opponents head, sending her flying to the side.
Dropping her shield, Moira caught Raves limp body before she could fall to the ground. Dont look at or touch her butt, the Warden told herself, while putting Rave over her shoulder. All of the beneficial effects finally deactivated, the horniness at least didnt rise any further. Youll indulge yourself when this is done and not a moment earlier.
Repeating that to herself, Moira went on her way.
Chapter 951 – Righteousness Finale – Courage and Honour
Chapter 951 C Righteousness Finale C Courage and Honour
John could feel control over the barrier, ever so slowly, slip back into ce. If the loss of his grip on it had felt like trying to keep a tight handle on an oily piece of smooth ss, then the current state of affairs was like thatyer of oil getting rinsed off without soap. There was progress, sure, but without lye, breaking apart the unwanted fluid would take a while.
As for the item causing the effect, it was a peculiar sphere Siena dug out of the repurposed heater. It appeared to be made from some kind of gold-brown wood and was iid with silvery-white lines, the colour of pure Mithril. Whatever it was and however exactly it worked, it was doubtlessly valuable. John would have loved to Observe it and, potentially, whisk it away. Like many other things he refused to do today, that would have gone counter to what he wanted to achieve today.
As for the fight of Jack and the maids against the forces of the Golden Rose, it continued to be a standstill.
William Brighton swung his two-hander at Aclysia. It sailed right through her, the weaponized maid turning ephemeral and then swinging her dagger, Salver, at the Lord of the Order. It, too, passed through its target. The difference was that Aclysia wanted this. Both opponents jumped back. Aclysia so she wouldnt be hit by the massive sword on the upswing and William so the Dyed Cut wouldnt hit him.
For all the chinks and scrapes the armour of the Lord and his knights sustained, few sesses on cutting through them had actually been achieved. Because of the desired non-lethal terms of the engagement, Aclysia was barred from using Tiemarath. The cleaver would have been the weapon of choice to crack open armour like that, but with the amount of momentum a weapon like that had, any hit could have been a death sentence. Most sessful armour prations had been achieved by Beatrice and her spear Perfect. Thanks to the Forever Fall enchantment on the weapon, the passive maid could spot weak points on her enemies. Aclysia had to rely on Dyed Cut to get underneath the armour, as that slice urred simultaneously along the trajectory of the original slice.
Problem with that was the one-minute cooldown, of course. Because their strategy was to dy, it wasnt a huge issue. John was just happy it was enabled in the first ce. The intery between Dyed Cut and Reality Fracture could only ur when Artificial Ascension was active. That, in turn, was only active if the wearer of the item was an Artificial Spirit still bonded with its creator and within 500 metres of the same. Johns real body was about two kilometres away. Luckily, Jack counted as his presence for the effect. Normal possessions and, oddly enough, the non-transformed Mand Sphere wouldnt have sufficed. It was part of the Ambassador Double Perk, not the Extension one.
A really odd mechanic, John thought, conjuring an Arc Lance. It sted back one of the two people about to attack Aclysia from the rear and allowed the weaponized maid to take care of the other one with a high-rise kick. Garter belt, stocking and a scandalous amount of leg were revealed as her kick connected andunched the knight two metres to the side. Although Aclysia specialized in des, her raw physical Strength was enough to overpower many opponents.
About ten metres away, Beatrice was weaving through assaults by six opponents with the grace of a butterfly. Hammers, axes, swords and shields were all swung at her, but through abination of her immense Agility, Unsteady Limb, Twist Position and Perfects Endless Step Enchantment, allowing her to take 3 steps on the air as if it was solid ground every time she dodged, she escaped all of it. When she found the tiniest opening, she stung like a bee. Needle Assault activated, sheunched two dozen attacks at an enemys right arm in the space of a second. Two Crescendosunched from Perfect during that time, taking the shape of blue energy rays that travelled through their target. It was an odd attack, the closest John couldpare it to was a beam of radiation. It did damage in a line, no matter what was in the way, but materials that were struck first and that were denser usually took the brunt of the damage.
The rays entered as a bright blue on one side and excited in a fading colour on the other. While the armour took the majority of the damage, the flesh and, particrly, the bones underneath were the next avable target. Needle Assault would have likely been quite lethal if Beatrice used it to the full extent of her ability, which was why she had to keep it to smaller bursts.
For all the holding back the Gamers side did, he got the feeling that the Order was doing the same. Aside from buffing themselves and the asional demobilizing spell, they didnt use any magic. This could be understood as the knights not having any, which was quite likely, but they didnt use much in the ways of martial arts either. People of their physical prowess had at least some tools in their arsenal beyond raw strength and speed.
Their weapons were swung with the intent to hit wherever they could, but given that the knights knew they were fighting golems, that could hardly be seen as a confirmation that they werent holding back. Are they aware I cut their barrier meddling short? John wondered. Would they fight more aggressively if they did? Better not test that water.
Jack was still hovering above the battlefield, giving the maids the advantage of situational awareness and providing the asional backline spell. While the Extensions Mana Storage was exhausted, the Gamers own MP regeneration wasnt used for anything else at the moment. The vast majority of the evacuation had already gone through and the elementals had scarcely needed the support to start with.
Just as that line of thought finished, the Gamer noticed movement in a nearby street. The glistening armour, the radiant shield and the red hair immediately clued him on who he was looking at. The bright pink body slung over her shoulder drew his eyes more, however. Come down here, Gamer! Moira shouted, causing the entire battle to calm itself as they realized what exactly was happening. All of Johns split thought-processes synchronized into the one mind. Few other things could matter more than what was happening now.
Jack hastily descended, too worried about the consequences to disobey. Jane, how did you get yourself in that mess? he thought in a mixture of mild annoyance and extreme worry. Ill do what you want, he didnt even try to put on a brave front, not at that moment. Dont harm her.
Come closer, Moiramanded.
Splendid work, daughter, William eximed, while Jack approached the Warden with slow steps. He didnt want this to seem like he was going to pull anything. Rave was too dear to him to risk anything, her life too fragilepared to the elementals or the Artificial Spirits. A hostage will get this sinner in li-
The Wardens father stopped in the middle of his sentence, just as dumbfounded as John was as Moira simply handed over the knocked out Lightbearer. Looking at her face, inspecting her for any wounds, the Gamer took a sigh of relief when he found nothing obviously disconcerting. Then he looked at Moira.
The redhead had some singed hairs and her armour was in a thoroughly damaged state. Her tabard was more holes than red cloth, the te was dented, melted and even shattered at some ces. Somewhat oddly, the Wardens face was a bright red and she seemed to struggle breathing through her nose. The way she shifted her weight from one leg to another closely resembled ways Johns haremettes often moved in more rxed situations. That struck him as odd, but he wasnt in the space of mind to question it.
William came stomping over while the Gamer held his girlfriend close to his chest. Before either of the leaders could say anything, Moira continued on. I believe that you have honour, John, Moira stated,ing half a step closer and meeting his gaze with steel wrapped in the emerald of her eyes. I demand your surrender.
The Gamer tensed up. Factually, he had no reason to give up. Moira had just handed back to him the one hostage they had. Doing so had been a sign of immense trust. It was a courageous act of good will, to give up ones bargaining chip before entering negotiations. John could have taken full advantage of this and simply flown away with his girlfriend.
What would that make him?
After months of dealing with forces that would have only negotiated with him when he had a knife on their throat, he was now face to face with someone who honoured him. Moiras demand would have carried so much more weight if she was making it with Raves head under her hammer. If he didnt reciprocate the respect here, he would never be deserving of it in the future. Taking advantage of this in the short term would have shattered, in an instant, any hope there could ever be at trust between him and the Order. At the same time, he would be betraying his principles.
He had to negotiate as if Rave was still in Moiras hands and Moira could negotiate from a morally upright position. This was the world he yearned for, was it not? One where prisoners of war were treated well, where opposing sides talked with mutual respect for one another and where trust was the norm, not the exception. He couldnt break with this just because it would be convenient in this situation.
You win, Jack therefore said. He hated those words crossing his lips. Inside him, a voice screeched that this was undeserved. He had done everything right. A few more minutes and he would have won. Just a few underhanded methods, that was all he needed. The love for his girlfriend and the pride he took in being principled were stronger than the pride he took in victories. I yield.
Moira nodded, as if she had known this would happen. Part of him was bothered immensely by this, the majority was ttered. You put a lot of trust into this sinner, William voiced the same question the Gamer had.
That the Lady and Lore no, never mind, Moira spoke and let out an almost moaning sigh. Something was clearly making her less rigid than usual. The Lady, alone, would not be supporting him with her light and garments of her making, were he as bad as you seem to insinuate, Lord Father. I have faith in her, and because of it, I have faith in him. He may be a schemer, but he is not malevolent. Thats all there is to it. She looked back to Jack. We should discuss the terms of your surrender. I take it you have concentrated all of the survivors in a single spot?
Just say yes and keep them upied for long enough that the barrier meddling breaks. Even if I dont do anything, control reverts to Galku, the weaselly voice inside John spoke up. That was a slightly less dishonourable trick he could y, but it would still break the trust between them. The only way he could get away with that was to have Siena murder everyone who had seen her. He just wasnt ruthless enough to do that, not to the Order. I did and I also destroyed the machine you used to meddle with the barrier, he truthfully reported.
That took both Moira and her father by surprise. You destroyed the blessed Sphere of Lightshire?! William roared.
John was reminded how thoroughly good guy the Orders naming convention was. No, the sphere itself is intact, Jack responded. I destroyed all of what was around it, what seemed to keep charging it. Regardless, the control of the barrier will revert to the Demon Lord in a matter of minutes.
A bluff, the Lord stated. The overseers would have informed us.
Jack raised an eyebrow. Do you think me inept enough not to take care ofmunication equipment first? You have it standardized right here. He stretched one arm around his girlfriend to pull on his cor. Takes the shape of a pin for members of the overseers. The Gamer hadnt even needed to torture that information out of anyone. Neither had he needed Observe. There were things that every organized fighting force tried to have and a reliablemunicationswork was quite far up that list. Naturally, Siena had taken away all of them from her hostages.
At least, here, John found himself in a bargaining position. Im willing to exert control over the Protected Space myself, preventing escape, on three conditions.
Lets hear them, William growled. The Lord-Protector was clearly unhappy about this, but he was at least present of mind enough to negotiate now that things had fallen into ce this way.
One: you will end this battle. Most of the survivors are concentrated in one spot and they cannot oppose you. Ill do what I can so they see their loss, so there is no need to kill them on sight. Two: you will let those you deem innocente to Fusion. Three: I will keep the grimoire.
Moira looked at her father, whose jaw was grinding with little circr movements. You will not interfere any further with the Orders judgement? he asked.
That was what the battle was about, wasnt it? Who gets jurisdiction over the residents of New Libraria. Jack shook his head. I conceded that battle. Little as I like it, they are yours to judge now.
Father, there is no reason to ughter them if they surrender, Moira spoke up.
I acknowledge that, Moira, William responded and pressed his lips together. As I understand it, the demons will lose their memory once they leave the territory of New Libraria. Well give those deemed innocent the choice to stay with us or go to you after we are done. Does that sound agreeable, Gamer?
Jack nodded. That was surprisingly fair by the Warden Lord. Maybe, under all that prideful zealotry, there was still a reasonable person. Even with their memories wiped, the demons were most likely to choose to go to Fusion. If a regr person was asked whether they wanted to live in a liberal, federal republic or a morally pure monastic order, John guessed about 30% would choose to go with thetter. Generally talking, more people liked to be free than orderly. Asking the same question of demons, John was fairly certain that the rate in his favour would be approximating 100%.
On the grimoire, I cannot relent. It is an object of pure evil and must be destroyed. William crossed his arms.
The Gamer was fairly certain that he could press the Warden Lord on this. There was no way he would risk losing the entire citys poption because of one, admittedly infernal, book. In the same vein, John wasnt so attached to the grimoire that he wouldnt give it up. Especially not under the current conditions. The need to understand how to bind demons decreased sharply if all of the bad ones were purged before they entered Fusions borders. Fine, he relented and reached into his inventory.
William took the grimoire from Jack, only to immediately drop it. Lady, of whose blessings we are not worthy, remove these unholy texts from your creation and purge the human remains on which they were written, that they may find your graces liking again, the Warden Lord mumbled a simple prayer. White light shed outwards from him and the tome caught fire. Then, stand by our bargain, Gamer, William stated, looking at Jack with a minimum of respect.
At least the Gamer won that.
Chapter 952 – Road Home
Chapter 952 C Road Home
John hadnt been aware that they had a punching bag in the bus, but he was really happy that he had something he could hit at the moment. Despite being convinced that he had made the right call and the best he could with the situation, he was feeling a general frustration that only time and violence could properly exorcise. Since the primary target of that frustration, William Brighton, wasnt avable, this piece of leather had to do.
Your form is actually pretty good, Metramented from the side lines. The First of Wrath was sitting on the couch, a sour expression on her face. Defeat of any kind bothered her more than anyone else in the room, and that was quite something given the other contenders. Smander was zapping through the television channels, repeatedly tsk-ing at all of the programs she couldnt stand. In a nearby armchair, Siena tried to read a book but never got more than a page done before she raised her gaze to stare at her surroundings. From the bathroom, a slow and quiet song of aggressivement could be heard from a slime that took a cold bath. Aclysia wasnt directly bothered by their loss, but Johns bad mood influenced her enough that her cooking was a louder process than her usual grace would have made it.
Gnome, Sylph, Eliza, Beatrice and Nia seemed to be alright with the situation. The first was trying her best to cheer people up, the second was too happy-go-lucky to care, the third just moved on, the fourth was passively driving, and Nia might have been bothered but she didnt show it. Priding himself on understanding the often-enigmatic pariah, John guessed that she saw no sense in getting angry about their current situation.
That left Rave, who he had left in the bedroom. Even after she was healed, the Gamers girlfriend hadnt woken up, but Copernicus was around to clue them into what had happened. By the end, some of Johns frustrationsy with her. For reasons he kept until she woke up. Her sleep was doubtlessly induced by the post lightspeed punch exhaustion.
As for where they were heading, the answer was obviously home. There was nothing left for them to do and any prolonged stay was just likely toplicate things. That aside, he would have enough to do with the politicians. Several people would take offense with him taking such drastic actions. Further, there was a risk that his loss would be perceived as a weakness by rebellious elements. That he was as strong as before hardly mattered if the unrest was widespread enough. Thest thing Fusion needed at the moment was internal instability.
His fist mmed hard enough into the magically reinforced punching bag that the thing swung backwards. When it came back at him, he caught it with both hands. Then he saw movement in the corner of his vision and he turned his head to see Rave step into the room. She was as naked as the rest of them, at least that was normal.
Hey, she said in a timid tone.
You finally woke up, John said and couldnt help but be relieved. Been about three hours. I know you usually pass out after you use that attack, but that was still worrying.
Moira got me good, what can I say? Rave gave him a weak smile in return, obviously happy that he and the rest of the room werent overtly angry at her. Cappy got me up to speed I really screwed up, didnt I? The suncat strut across the room to the kitchen, seemingly unbothered by things.
Yes, you did. John didnt mince his words. They werent in the kind of rtionship where they had to sweet talk each others mistakes. Having a harem thisrge meant that everyone had to have the kind of patience that let them hear and ept the honest truth. If you had just ran away or decided to follow a battle strategy that was focused on dying rather than winning, in line with our overall goal, we would have gotten out of there as nned. This loss, and the fact that the Golden Rose gets to execute whoever fails their rigid understanding of justice, is on you.
Yeah Rave hung her head in shame. It was rare to see her like this, so incredibly vulnerable and small. From the moment he had met her, the techno lover had always actedrger than life. Right this moment, she was incredibly small. With just a few more words, he could seriously damage her ego, if he so desired.
Of course he didnt desire that oue whatsoever.
He walked over to his girlfriend and put his arms around her. Like a helpless kitten sheltered from the rain, she snuggled against his chest. It is what it is, he mumbled, gently scratching the back of her head. Its not like I did everything perfectly either. Perhaps I could have ended the battle much earlier by focusing on defeating William rather than go after evacuation. That n would have been based on a gauge of Lord Brightons strength that he didnt have, but it could have worked out regardless. Lets sit down.
Alright, Rave mumbled and walked alongside him to the couch. There, Gnome was quick to sit down on the Lightbearers other side and Eliza awkwardly approached, only to stand nearby and look helplessly. Ya looking kinda lost there, Rave pointed out.
I want to fucking cheer you up, but I dont know how! the blood mage eximed. Seeing you sad is so fucking unnatural, I dont want it. Pressing her lips together, Eliza suddenly looked angry. Listen to my selfish cunt face, eximing how Im bothered because youre sad. Fucking shit, Im the worst.
Alrighty, just shut up ande here, ya adorable mess, Rave demanded and opened her arms towards the blood mage. When she didnt oblige immediately, the Lightbearer said her name, Eliza, in amanding tone and a momentter held a pretty little psycho in her arms. There ya go, now I got something to stress-squeeze, Rave joked and repeatedly tightened her hug.
John leaned over and gave both of them a kiss on the cheek. Well live, well learn, well move on, right? he asked.
Ja, Rave responded with a slightly wider smile. It vanished when she spoke up again. Still though, this is a really bitter pill. I really thought I could take her this time around. She didnt seem to be really serious until the very end
She looked pretty battered, John said, to cheer his girlfriend up a little. That it was the truth made saying it a whole lot easier. I wouldnt say that it was a narrow victory on her side, but it definitely wasnt easy either. He resumed scratching the back of her head. That aside, as much as it pains me to admit, this is probably for the best.
Whaddaya mean? Rave asked, the slur mostly born from confusion. Me losing sucks. It sucks hard.
Well, itll motivate you to train harder, so thats good, he dared to answer with some small banter and she rewarded him with a chuckle. No, I mean in terms of Fusions overall situation. It is probably for the best that we lost, on multiple levels.
Okay, and whys that? the predictable follow-up question came. If youre just saying this to cheer me up, imma punch ya.
No, I mean it, John assured her. We actually find ourselves in a better diplomatic, logistical and long-term stability situation because of this oue. He took a short pause to give the other girls a moment to stop whatever they were doing and listen to his exnation. Lets start with the diplomatic angle. The Order, despite our differences, isnt exactly our enemy. If we had won, we definitely would be hostile afterwards. We would not only have snatched away an objective they bled for, we would have done so under the nose of the majority of their forces. That breeds widespread resentment. The opposite way around, because it was only us in opposition, he gestured at the room atrge, we wont have any forces inside Fusion calling for hostile actions to be taken towards the Order. The motivation just doesnt exist this way around.
I think this Lord Brighton hates you though Gnome put into the room.
Honestly, given our characters, I think that was inevitable, John told her. People like him just make me want to mock them. Anyway, I dont think it actually matters too much if he hates me as long as he thinks Im powerful and not as bad as people he wants to burn. Given that he was willing to give me quite good terms, I think that much is safe to say. Also, Moira is more reasonable than I thought initially, and she seems to hold a lot of sway over the organization atrge. He gestured for Aclysia to bring him something to drink. All around, why my rtionship with the head may have turned out to be pretty bad, the Order itself shouldnt be overly negative towards us. Unless any of you did truly atrocious things on the battlefield, it should, at worst, be salvageable. If we had won, we could be in a cold war right now.
Aclysia returned from the kitchen with a ss of water. We sadly ran out of orange juice earlier, she reported.
Thats alright, John said.
Can I have a beer? Rave asked. Need something to smooth over the disappointment.
Affirmative, Aclysia said and expectantly looked at the rest of the harem. Within moments, other alcoholic orders came flowing in. It maybe wasnt the healthiest way to digest a defeat, but it was certainly a way. I will prepare everything shortly.
John sipped on his water and then continued, On the logistics side, we have two aspects to consider. First is getting enough judges into the area to finish the judgements in a reasonable timeframe. Fusions legal system is pretty efficient by necessity, but several hundred demons, all of which have incentive to lie, would still take several weeks to reach a verdict on C at least. Hitched to that is the need to move a defensive force into the area. I said the war with the Golden Rose would have gone cold, but it could also be that they would have aggressively chased after the warlocks and demons.
We could have just moved them away, Sylph bbered. Take them from here and move them over there. Over there being somewhere in Fusion.
Yo, airhead, Smander chimed in. Did you already forget about the memory loss? If we did that, we wouldnt just have demons that are incentivized to lie, we would have demons that dont know if they did anything that we find objectionable.
John nodded. We would basically just be prodding them for what they find instinctively eptable to do and thats not exactly grounds for any penalty. Wed get an alright grasp on their nature, maybe, but who knows how much demons are affected by the nurture side of things. We havent even unravelled that field of psychology for humans and we are talking about several species of demon here. He rubbed his forehead. Moral situations get even muddier if you consider that some who are absolutely vicious killers at the moment could bepletely harmless and upright members of society following the memory wipe. The demons that were summoned to New Libraria will keep the memories of the time before, but those born there will essentially die and someone new wakes up in their bodies. Might be that the new person is almost exactly the same in terms of character. Very hard to say.
That sounds like some shit we should be happy not to have to deal with, Eliza stated.
Kind of, John agreed. It also leads into the third category. See, the thing is that Fusion would release someone in case of shaky evidence, because our principle is the preservation of the innocent, he reached for the water and took a huge gulp to oil his vocal cords. The Golden Rose, he continued, cing the ss back down, leans towards the punishment of the guilty. This means that they will enact their punishment even if the evidence isnt 100% clear. Little as I like it, we benefit from their overly cautious approach because the demons that ultimately reach us will, almost guaranteed, be only those who are truly innocent. There will be fewer of them, there wont be unconvicted murderers on our streets and we wont have to deal with any of the long-term drawbacks. He sighed again. Well benefit from our neighbours overzealous judicial practices. Wee to statecraft where the power over thousands of lives meets harsh reality and bad decisions.
Yet you dont seem that bothered at the loss of life, Siena pointed out.
Because of Immanuel Kants order of maxims, John said and knew that he now owed a whole different exnation. Kant suggested that people should live their life ording to principles that could be applied to the entire society, or maxims as he called them. ssic example would be do not kill, thats something everyone interested in a working society can agree on. You have the right to self-defence is another one. Obviously these two can sh, so you have to assign an order of priority to your principles. Are you willing to break with the principle of do not lie if the lie you tell is going to save a life, is a ssic dilemma there.
Aclysia returned to the table with a salver full of beverages. Beer was distributed to everyone who wanted it, including John, who finished his ss of water and exchanged it for the bottle. Thank ya, Aclysia, Rave said.
Youre wee, Jane, Aclysia stated and stood next to the table for a few seconds. Then she said, Let it be known that I dislike that you disappointed our John and that I fully understand and that Im angry and that I forgive you. The weaponized maid sighed. I apologize, this situation is making me feel a confused cocktail of emotions.
Ya can berate me a whole lot in private after we get home, if ya like, Rave offered with a serious expression. I deserve it, so you can pour your heart out.
Appreciated. I will consider it. Your understanding of your failure strangely infuriates me, so I will retreat to my sanctuary. Aclysia turned towards the kitchen. Lunch will be ready in approximately ten minutes. Were having leek soup with homemade bread.
Sounds fantastic, Rave told the weaponized maid and then looked over the rest of the harem. It was an open offer to throw their own statements at her, but nobody else took it. Maybe they would have to dwell on their own thoughts on this for a little while longer before they had sorted this out. For his part, John was willing to let this go, even if the bitter aftertaste was still fresh. Tiger, ya were going on about philosophy?
Right. The Gamer nodded and ordered his thoughts. It was a very involved answer. One of my highest maxims is that one should preserve life. In conflict with this is that the guilty need to be punished. In the mundane world, the death penalty is arguably unnecessary. With how difficult it is to detain Abyssals, particrly the more powerful ones, it bes downright necessary.
Now, the fact that New Libraria was crawling with people that are abominable is hardly a secret. My attempt at getting them under my jurisdiction was made to act in ordance with my principles, not because I like the people. Everyone is motivated to save people they approve of, there is nothing outstanding or surprising about that act. I acted because it was the right thing to do ording to what I believe in. At the end of the battle, that wish to preserve life shed with the maxims of one should strive for their personal happiness and one should conduct themselves in a way that builds trust. These maxims interact with each other to formte not just the person I am but who I want to be.
I dislike the unnecessary death of those I would have deemed innocent, but those potential innocent lives arent worth losing yours, Jane. Not ording to my hierarchy of maxims. He took a sip, lowered the bottle again, and slowly turned the cold ss between his two hands. I suppose that you could say that I just care more about you than them and that principles get thrown out of the window because of that. I like to think that Im better than that. Maybe Im not. Maybe this is just one long justification for me breaking with my principles to preserve something I couldnt live without. He let out a long sigh. Ill have to think about that more. Fact of the matter is that Im not that sad about having failed because the people I failed, I didnt know and I didnt like. I certainly think Galku deserves what the Golden Rose did to him.
The Demon Lord had screamed, to the best of his ability, at John for how much of a failure he was. In the middle of that tirade, William Brighton had shoved his sword through the ancient warlocks skull. A swift end for an absolutely awful person. All John could have grieved for there were the aeons of knowledge inside the scrambled brain.
Itsplicated, as moral philosophy tends to be, he finished.
Chapter 953 – Unpleasant and Friendly Affairs
Chapter 953 C Unpleasant and Friendly Affairs
It took the whole day to drive back home. Because their tour through New Libraria had brought them quite far north, the travel time back to the Hudson Barrier was a mere 11 hours. They arrived in the past-midnight hours of Saturday and immediately went to bed. When John woke up the next morning, he took his remaining frustrations and exorcised them in the usual way: through wild sex. For the entire drive, he and the majority of the girls hadnt been in the mood. The familiar walls and a bit of time changed that.
Saturday was a pretty unpleasant day regardless of that homely feeling. He had to notify all potentially affected parties of what had happened and to make preparations for the eventual arrival of the demons. Dering this a matter of Collide, rather than Fusion, allowed John to ignore several hurdles and simply carve a reserved block out of currently unupied Hudson Barriernd. That meant this would have to be paid out of his own pocket. Which, ironically, was actually good for him.
The Token distribution in the Hudson Barrier was in full swing at this point and every excuse he got to mint and pay with more coins was wee. Being in full control of the money supply made things hriously easy. It was no wonder so many rulers fell repeatedly into the intion trap. It worked perfectly to keep ones head above water C until it didnt, of course.
Arge faction he had to inform of the chain of events were the members of parliament. Because it was Saturday and calling an emergency session just for a war report would have ruffled additional feathers, John opted to just call the party leaders and choice members of the House of Exceptionals. This was, generally, an unpleasant affair.
People were getting reallyfortable in their positions of power. This was good since it showed they had enough trust in the system to believe that the Gamer wouldnt juste around and kick them out when they did something he hated. It also meant that they felt confident enough to berate him. This meant that John had to listen to several people, who hadnt been there and operated solely on hindsight, tell him what he should have done.
John had pushed back, as friendly as possible. He wasnt about to be reprimanded by pencil pushers, especially not in his current mood. It was fine that they werefortable in their positions, but it was best if they remembered who he was. A modicum of respect was expected and the Gamer made that clear. That reigned most of them back in. John was just worried about what they would do behind the scenes, if they felt overly offended.
After he was done with the party leadership, he reached out to the press. There was absolutely no way any of this would remain under wraps for more than a couple of days. Between the party leadership distributing the information down the hierarchy and people noticing his return from the publicly announced deployment, things would reach the right and wrong ears. It was better to get ahead of the curve.
Because of this, he wrote a public statement, sent that to broadcasters of influence or personal favouritism, gave some of them a promise for an interview in theing days, and then published that same public statement two hourster. That made the press feel honoured but also didnt give them enough time to publish a proper article on the matter before he did.
With all of that out of the way and his Saturday basically over, John had nothing to do but wait for public opinion to catch up with the news cycle. In the meantime, the Gamer had a few other things to sort out. First of all was the level he had gotten from the usual work hour services.
I have another 2 Max ss Levels avable, John thought, and Gnome is maxing out soon. He leaned back to look at the autumn elemental currently engaging him under the table. She was so concentrated on her work that she didnt even notice his gaze, slobbering all over his respectable size. That was something incredibly empowering about seeing the easily embarrassed brte so shamelessly devouring his cock. Bending something purely to his will, that was the closest formtion he coulde up with. Her constant moans certainly fuelled his enjoyment.
For the matter of her evolution, they had a slight problem. They still hadnt had their moment of true understanding, enabling that final step. With Undine he had it on the battlefield, Smander when he obliged her absurd request to face corruption, Siena when they had their moment in the midnight forest, and Sylph from cuddling (whimsical as all else about that woman). Only with Gnome, he still hadnt struck that understanding. It was a worrisome matter, but they were certain they could work it out. Their love for each other was unquestionable.
The ss Levels, John wasnt sure where to put. Elementalist was the obvious choice, but the newest ss Challenge was to synchronize his mind with five elementals at the same time. With how much he had struggled for the three, that was a near impossible task. It didnt help that it only gave 50% of the required ss Experience. This meant that a six elemental synchro was very likely.
With that road barred, the other contenders for ss Levels were Martial Artist, Unfound, Harem Gamer and Negotiator. Martial Artist just to hone his physical capabilities, Unfound to boost his additional senses to the point where he could use Magus Step to teleport to the other side of obstacles, Harem Gamer for the obvious reasons, and Negotiator to make his political life easier. There were also Metracana Master and Space Protector, but he wanted to keep the Advanced sses for when he was fully satisfied with his base build. If he had points to dump, there was also Tamer.
Unfound has the most tangible goal, so lets start with that, John decided. Not that this decisionted him anything. He didnt have the time to chase after the Challenges at the moment.
He wouldnt have tomorrow either.
______________________________________________________________________
Remind me why youre tagging along, buddy? John asked while he and Maximillian looked over the crystal-clear water of the Hudson. Anybody living in the real version of New York would have sworn that clear and Hudson were two words that couldnt belong into the same sentence. Luckily, the Abyssal side had ess not only to the Guild Hall, but also to ms the size of garden sheds. Natures filtration system had removed all of the gunk from the river and left it in pristine condition. Through the swirling surface, John could even see the riverbed.
Because you decided that you wanted to go see the old man before your bestest friend, the gravity mage returned, waving his arm in a dramatic gesture that ended at his chest. Truly, Im offended that you would do such a thing.
Say that to Lee foring here in the morning hours, John responded. Lee Magus, Magois youngest daughter, was finally moving to the Hudson Barrier. They had sorted out the where a few days after thest grinding session. After that, it had only been a question of when she would move over. The answer hade about in an unexpected haste. Had things with the Golden Rose gone differently, he would have missed the asion. Not that it was a particrly important one.
Ill tell her all kinds of things, Maximillian grinned.
First off, what happened to the MILF-hunter I know? John asked. You know shes about as old as I am, yeah?
You know Im only two years older than you, yeah? Maximillian asked. Im allowed to be interested in younger women too.
Second off, John just ignored that valid point, I wouldnt rmend trying to get close to her. Mabirl doesnt approve of our lifestyles.
Ah does Lee care?
Honestly, from what I hear, she might hop on your dick just to annoy her mother, John answered truthfully.
Well, Im not desperate enough to exploit a girl with mommy issues
Also, you might get pped by Magnus on his birthday.
He wouldnt break my jaw in the process, so that could be worth it.
Also, Magoi would probably be pissed.
THAT, however, is scary, Maximillian admitted. A High Fateweaver wasnt physically imposing, but they had other means to get back at someone. Magoi especially, given the influence he had inside Fusion and his personal contacts across the rest of the globe. Wouldnt want to mess with the guy who maintains my new home barrier.
How are you settling in anyway? John asked. After ditching Hollywood and in response to the Lorylim threat, Maximillian had decided to move into the Hudson Barrier. In a disy of royal privilege, the exiled king had hired a constructionpany to build him a mansion without paying a penny. Providing the pretext that he would be the ambassador of Austria, he had sent a request back home. His older sister Maria, the currently acting queen (although princess-regent would have been more urate), obliged on the condition that he would pick up some of her administrative work. Once they agreed on that, she contacted John, who only had to point at a piece ofnd.
Maximillian had insisted it to be on the eastern coast. Close to the ferry that could take him to the Guild Hall, he exined in public settings. In private, he was fully open towards the fact that he just wanted to be nestled between the forest races and the red-light district. Elf girls with big tits and strippers, that was the long and short of it.
A mansion fit for a (self-exiled) king and for the parties he was doubtlessly going to arrange wasnt built in a few weeks, however. Houses in the Hudson Barrier came in three variants. Quickest to be inhabited were the repurposed mundane houses, which only needed to be hooked up to the Abyssal resourceworks. New houses erected with the materials of the Hudson Barrier also came about quite fast. Because of the Guild Hall, stone and metal were cheap and easily avable and basic structures could be raised up in a matter of hours. Details such as windows, instion and electricity took the most work there. Then there was the desire for extravagant mansions, which had to be built with specific materials and were decorated extensively. They still went up quicker on the Abyssal side than in the mundane case, magic helped quite a bit there, but it took a while.
Until that was done, Maximillian stayed in the Embassy in the Guild Hall. That Building met his needs for the moment. Also, it would be nice to have him that close. Having a male friend that he could meet after work for a couple of beers was refreshing. Magnus was always busy and Ted wasnt someone John liked to be alone with. The guy was alright, but trying to have a conversation with just him was like swimming through tar.
Of course, he wouldnt hang out with Maximillian at any given opportunity, they both had harems that were usually more pleasantpany, but just the option was refreshing. Previously, getting together had to be a tightly scheduled event. Now they were practically neighbours. Even after he moved to the mansion, John could just hop into the teleporter.
Its going alright, Maximillian responded.
You dont sound all that enthused, John noted.
Marie is a weird neighbour, the gravity mage told his friend. Im not sure if shes interested in me, hates me or just wants to write down interesting things about me.
Shes aplicated one, for sure. John nodded. I would personally advise to keep away from her too, unless youre going to be together with only her.
Does she have a mother out for a partners head too?
No, she just doesnt have the temper for that life, John told her. In that regard she is a normal woman.
Ah, alright then. Maximillian rolled his neck. Guess Ill just say hello to Lee then and wait for you to get done with showing her around.
You could just go to the Elemental Inds on your own, John told him.
Sure I could, but that sounds less entertaining, the gravity mage responded. I went with Jane the other day and that was at least a nice afternoon. Your girlfriend is pretty awesome.
I know, right? John puffed his chest up, as if that was apliment directed at him. Although she did screw up massively just two days ago.
Yeah, yeah. Public hasnt really digested it yet, have they?
Opinions dont really form in less than twelve hours. Itll probably take until Wednesday for us to have a clear picture.
Also, while speaking about your women, plural, Maximillian looked around on the ferry, where are they?
They took the teleporter.
Why didnt we?
I thought you preferred the ferry. You know, after you made us run around in search of onest time we were drinking. Also its been a minute and I like yourpany, John admitted and got himself a friendly punch to the shoulder.
And you ask me why I dared to tag along, buddy, Maximillianughed.
Chapter 954 – My High Fateweaver’s daughter couldn’t possibly be this cute
Chapter 954 C My High Fateweavers daughter couldnt possibly be this cute
John had to admit that his resolve not to flirt with Magois daughter was shaking a bit when heid eyes on her. In the eight months since he had seen her for the first and only time, she had developed into a deeply appealing direction. All Magus kids came more after their mother in the looks department and Lee was no exception to that. Long, straight hair a shade of brown so dark it bordered on ck, a face full of attractive and symmetrically sorted features, dark eyes and full, pale pink lips, she had all the hallmarks of a beauty. While that had been true then, she had developed quite a lot in all of these departments in subtle ways that elevated her.
What truly appealed to John was the way she disyed herself. Dark clothes that were simultaneously baggy but stuck close enough that he got a good idea of her bnced curves. She wore no unnecessary extras. Her hairstyle was incredibly simple, the most styled thing about it were her bangs and those were clearly the work of whoever cut her hair. When it came to taking care of it, the simple brush treatment seemed to be all she needed. Her skin was appropriately pale for the season, but John had the feeling it came from her spending the majority of her time indoors. In her hand, she held her smartphone and was rapidly tapping away at something that covered too much of her screen to be a keyboard.
To put it in and simple, she was a gamer girl. Not a fake one, the genuine item and one that happened to be attractive to boot. Previous to his eighteenth birthday, John would have immediately been struck by her. Past his eighteenth birthday, he would have had the confidence to actually talk to her. Today, he managed to suppress his desire to get to know her intimately.
Youre way too easily enticed by attractive women, John told himself, while bridging the rest of the distance. Magoi, Mabirl, Magnus and his girlfriend Nina were already present to greet the new arrival. They were joined by a few of Johns haremettes, namely Rave, Aclysia and Gnome. Wee to the Hudson Barrier, he said and extended his hand in greeting.
Yeah, thanks, Lee responded, looking up from her phone long enough to shake his hand. Somehow that asocial behaviour just intrigued him more. The hasty way with which she sneaked nces at him and how fast she was to retreat her hand, they were suspicious in a way. You didnt really need to go through the trouble of giving me my own house though.
Well, your father insisted, John told her and looked up to the recently created amodation. It wasnt particrly impressive, a single-story house with a cer, one and a half bathrooms (one only containing a toilet and a sink), one kitchen, one bedroom and three other rooms of varying sizes. The walls were simple white, the windows squares, and the door a reddish-brown wood. A small green area surrounded it, but nothing had been nted there except grass.
The location was more important than the house itself. It was within throwing distance of the Fateweaver university. To be more exact, it was within throwing distance of the university grounds, which were still expanding through numerous private facilities popping up in the cluster. For a student, it was the optimal location.
Thats nice, I guess, Lee said and finally pocketed her phone. I mean, thanks for giving me my own ce, but some random t somewhere would have done. I dont need the gifts.
I can respect that, John said.
Its not a gift, young woman, Mabirl chided her way into the conversation. Its a token of expectation. Concentrate on your studies and make something of yourself.
Lee rolled her eyes like only a rebellious child could. Sure. Ill keep studying Fateweaving. Whatever shuts you up, Mom.
And you better mean it, Lee, or you will never hear the end of it!
Itll be fine, honey, Magoi tried to calm down his wife. No need to make a scene.
John could practically hear how the strict mother pressed her lips together behind her mask. Fine, she said and then looked over to the other man John had brought along. You must be Maximillian. Ive heard about you.
Only the best, I hope, Maximillian said and bowed elegantly. In doing so, he raised his walking stick for a moment. Despite being a healthy young Abyssal, the gravity mage still maintained a foot injury, caused by Thana during her first awakening. Like the scar close to Johns neck, the goddess of genocides power only preventedplete healing. That was, if her will got suppressed long enough for the original wound to be mended. Otherwise, the bleeding would never stop.
I would call it entertaining, Mabirl said. Youre definitely a friend of John Newman, I mean that in all of theplimenting and berating ways.
Im also the reason your son met his better-looking partner, Maximillian added with a grin. By that he meant that he had picked the strip club Nina used to work at. The Little Whirl was not an establishment John would have ever picked for a meeting between guys. Not while he was sober anyway.
Lets not talk about that too much, the older woman suggested. Mabirl didnt exactly like that her son had hooked up with a stripper, but she liked Nina too much to raise that point repeatedly. For all of her stringent stances on social matters, the housewife was open-minded enough to marry what she wanted to happen with what had actually happened. John found that admirable, even if he found himself disagreeing with her every so often.
How about we get inside? Lee backed up her mother, for entirely different reasons. The Gamer knew the look in her eyes, he had had the same feeling every time his grandparents hade over and he was expected to stay downstairs until they left. There was just so much more gaming to do and the quicker they introduced her to her home, the quicker she could set up her PC in it.
Not that she would need to do that. Yeah, lets go, John backed her up. Part of that was because he was attracted and that made him quick to butter her up, but mostly he said it because he wanted to free her. She clearly wasntfortable with all of these strangers around.
Hope youll like it here, Rave said and put her hands on Lees shoulders. Lets go then, go, go! The Lightbearer must have also sensed the youngest Magus childs want to get this show over. Either that or Rave was just using her social intuition again. Somehow, Lee didnt seem to mind the handling and let herself be pushed into the building she wanted to enter anyway. That she seemed alright with the prolonged physical contact was the bigger surprise there. All Lee did was blush a little, but it seemed more of the happy variety.
John got half a view of Lees ass in the process of moving into the house. It was rather mediocre. Attractive, as most womens behinds tended to be, but mostparable to Nias before her training. Squats could doubtlessly fix that; Lee struck him as the kind of person that only looked fit because magic allowed her too. Observe reinforced this.
Regardless of whether or not squats could have fixed what little issues John could currently spot with her figure, he was happy to have a reason to be less attracted to her. Even if his Wisdom was high enough to resist temptation, it was easier if she wasnt so much of what he wanted.
Once they were inside and had all slipped out of their shoes, John started the tour. As you can see, the house is fully outfitted in terms of necessary furniture, he said, pointing at a light-brown closet that stood against the red-painted wall. Enough to store your clothes in. If you want pictures or carpets, you will have to get those yourself though.
Eh, wood is easier to clean anyway, so I dont mind. Lee kept her eyes away from him, while he guided her from the entranceway to the living room. Once there she looked around the spacious andrgely empty room. There was a couch, a low table, a television, some chairs, and a dinner table right next to the counter that acted as the barrier between this room and the adjacent kitchen. Is that a Roomba? she asked pointing at a circr robot docked to its station.
Yep, John responded and then pointed at a simple desk nearby. And thats a gaming PC. I got you two monitors to go along with it. The chair has an integrated massage function.
Awesome, Lee dered, her enthusiastic tone getting her mother to sigh.
You get a house and the only thing youre thankful for is theputer? Typical.
I mean, I get it, John told the housewife. More space is just more space to clean. Most of us gamers are pretty happy to have a bed, a table, a kitchen and a bathroom.
They dont call you the Gamer for nothing, Lee said to him with the hint of a smile.
Exceedingly dangerous, John thought, already forming a smooth reply. Between earning all my money and expanding my political sphere, I do have some time for entertaining things.
Theres a pretty big catalogue of articles about your entertaining lifestyle. Lees dark eyes finally met Johns. Their gazes connected too long for a simple look. Was there just a hint of sexuality in there, perhaps? What kind of articles had she been reading? Could she have grown an interest in him since their first meeting? While he had already been impressive back then, as Magois daughter, Lee had probably met her fair share of above average individuals. John was, by now, a supreme entity in terms of power. His Charisma had increased by 200 points as well, which would do one or two things.
Lee Magus face started to grow red, but she kept stubbornly staring. John only noticed how small she was now,pared to him. She was bigger than Eliza but smaller than Rave. By nature, she stood at an angle that gave her gaze that adorable upwards angle. John looked back with his natural confidence. For a moment, he forgot who he was looking at and openly smiled.
E-HEM! Magoi cleared his throat in a threatening fashion and violently pulled both of them back into reality. John hastily looked away and Lee mimicked the motion. If you would continue the tour, John, the High Fateweaver said in a hard tone. Although he was less strict than his wife, the married couple shared a lot of the same views on social matters.
Yes, of course, John kept his voice steady. Catching a glimpse of Maximillian, he saw his friends mockingly raised eyebrow.
Did you not warn me to not do exactly what you are doing right now? his expression spelled out.
Well, how was I supposed to know she would give me a bunch of signals?! he wanted to throw back. After that moment they had just had, the Observe window painted a very obvious picture of whether or not she was interested in him. Rather than dwell on that, he kept going on as if nothing had happened. Do you want to inspect the kitchen or should we skip that and move onto theundry room?
Ah yes, giving a woman the choice between making dinner or washing clothes, Lee responded in a dry, deep tone. That her voice was otherwise so perfectly feminine made the sarcasme across that much cleaner. It seemed her vocal cords had quite the range. ssic.
Oh my God, she is sassy too John took a pause to digest that. Why do you dream of such a tempting world, Gaia? Youre putting a pudding in front of me that is delicious and filled with poison. I guess looking at a tumble dryer isnt that exciting, he conceded.
I disagree vehemently, Aclysia stated. The model chosen is the newest in a fusion of magic and technology. Not only does it dry clothing in less than thirty minutes, it can also scent them in a variety of ways.
Really? Mabirl asked. That sounds handy.
It most certainly is, Aclysia exined to the fellow housekeeper. I personally upgraded to a Titan series model recently. Its not necessary for the normal household, but its increased load capacity and ability to switch from washing to tumble drying in the same session are truly helpful.
That does sound splendid. Why have I never heard of this before?
They were a smallpany until a few months ago. I invited them to the Hudson Barrier, promising investment if they did so.
John was vaguely aware that Aclysia had been undertaking projects like this with her allowance. It had started with the weaponized maid trying to get her own ie, so she didnt have to take from her Master. After some talks about investments and revenue streams with Scarlett, she had started building her own little economic realm of advanced household appliances.
Alright, lets just say that the stairs are right there, John said and pointed at a corner of the room.
Lee looked at it and tilted her head questioningly. Not only was there no stairway, there was a sizable lowboy standing next to the wall. Is this some kind of hidden room? she asked and approached carefully. When the sound of her steps turned hollow, she hummed. Give me a second, she requested and looked around.
John enjoyed watching her figure out the lock. The design decision existed purely to maximize living space, a second door at the back of the house allowed ess with a regr key, not to serve as some kind of riddle. Still, at this moment, it served as a minor game.
First, Lee figured out the dimension of the affected space. Then she looked at the lowboy. There was an odd moment where she squatted down, only to give John a nce and then go on all fours. While she had the clear purpose of inspecting the legs of the lowboy, that she was pointing her rear at him could not have been an ident. The gesture did not miss its mark.
With her slouchy top pulled a bit upwards by movement and her jeans stretching, the form of her ass became more pronounced. John had to upgrade his earlier judgement of mediocre to above average, which still put her below any girls of the harem. The shape of her hips was all that he needed to estimate that a dedicated set of squats and lunges every day would do a lot on that front though. The Gamer had developed an eye for such things.
With a bit of a guilty conscience, John moved his stare away from her behind before Magoi could take offense again. The guilt there was not born from him looking away. Rather, it was because while his eyes may have looked elsewhere, his gaze was very much still resting on her ass. Because his sight came from the Possession of a pair of contact lenses, he could readjust where he was looking without moving anything about his head.
Usually, he kept that magical view straightforward. That was easiest for the human brain to handle. That didnt just include his, but also that of people he had a conversation with. His eyes just staring nkly ahead would decrease his likeability.
Today, he made an exception to sneak a peek at Magois attractive daughter. She clearly wanted it, but that didnt make him feel less bad about it.
So, the legs are fused to the floor, Lee remarked, getting back up as if she had done absolutely nothing wrong. All of her blushing seemed toe from ack of experience in sexual matters, not daring. Honest uncertainty and obvious flirtations, an absolutely lethalbo for someone such as John. Couldnt let me choose where I put the lowboy, huh?
And she is still sassy, hemented in his mind. Im sorry, he bantered back instinctively. Does it offend you much? Do you need a cocktail and a massage? Ill leave and send someone to provide you both in a hurry, if you need it so bad. He wanted to offer doing it himself, but there were three pairs of eyes drilling into his backside. Even Magnus was getting bothered now. Maximillian and Rave snickered in the background. Reign yourself in, Newman.
A-ha! Lee let out an uncharacteristically loud and triumphant sound when she found a rectangr button between two segments of the slider. The wooden floor under her began to sink in, each board bing a new staircase.
Its called Shiftwood, John told her. We harvest it over at the Guild Hall.
What, you do it yourself?
Once or twice, I did, the Gamer said. Its a nice break from the paper mines and good for my public image. He had to raise his voice to keep talking as Lee went further in. So NOW you are interested in theundry room?
More the room than theundry, Lee shouted back and returned pretty quickly. Barren down there. Do you prefer it that way?
John had made a tactical mistake. Even if he kept his biggest flirts to himself, the usual banter had obviously emboldened Magois daughter where she asked that with a coquettish smile. There was no way to misinterpret what she meant. The rest of the Magus family first looked at her and then at him.
Lets keep going, John just ignored the question.
Chapter 955 – Fleeing from the trouble to a teaching
Chapter 955 C Fleeing from the trouble to a teaching
At the end of the tour, John tried to remove himself from the scene as rapidly as was appropriate. Well, if you-
Did anyone ever tell you that you say well a lot? Lee interrupted him, crossing her arms in a friendly teasing fashion. Because you do. I dont mind, but you really do.
Yes, a few people told me that before, John admitted. Anyway, if you need anything, dont hesitate to reach out. Ill make sure yourefortable here.
Alright, Lee hummed and tried her best at a wink. It was hesitant. It was slow. It was awkward. It was incredibly adorable. It threatened to shatter the already precarious bnce of the room. Seriously, thanks for the house. I know you only gave it to me because of my dad, but its still nice.
If you want to repay me, work hard, John at least got to say something that was both honest and non-flirting. You have talent and I can always use talent.
Well see what I do. Lees response was flippant and allowed the Gamer to finally head for the door. Once he stood outside, he waited for the rest of his entourage to follow.
Ya can call me too, if ya want, Rave said, while following her boyfriend. If ya get lonely, Ill set up a party for ya. Ill take any excuse to put one together anyway.
The youngest Magoi child gave that an unsure smile. Not a fan of loud noises and lots of people.
Well see if we can lower the volume and get the right people, Rave promised with augh. Have a nice first day in the Hudson Barrier.
Uhm, you cane visit the Elemental Inds too, if you feel like it just for sightseeing, if you dont want to talk! Gnome offered, before quickly running out the door.
As a fellow neer, I hope you will settle as well here as I did, Maximillian said with a little bow. Ill contact youter, just so you have my number. I dont offer you parties or anything, but having more friends rarely hurts.
I guess, Lee conceded the point and then looked up to Aclysia. Noticeably taller, the white-haired maid was almost imposing.
Then she opened her arms and gave the young woman a hug. Lee was stunned, first because of the gesture and then of what Aclysia whispered. She said it carefully, so the Magus family wouldnt hear it, and stood in such a way that her moving lips were hidden from them by Lees head. John picked it up with his superhuman hearing.
Your interest in my John has been noted. I approve of your honesty. You are encouraged to seek me out if you need something. Then the weaponized maid straightened back up and reached into her inventory. To spare you the trouble of ordering food, please take this, she said and handed over a box filled with leftovers that were too good to throw away. I hope you readjust your position on cooking. It is splendid work to provide for loved ones.
I guess? Lee was still overtaken by the multiple surprises there.
John took that window of opportunity to get going without furtherplications. Have a nice day, he said with a smile and a wave, turning away. Soon, the door closed behind their little group and left only the Magus family and Nina inside the little house.
It only took thirty seconds for the grilling to begin.
And there he is, everybody, Maximillian led the charge, tapping Johns leg with his walking stick. The man, the legend, the guy who told me NOT to flirt with Magois daughter - Magnus sister - and then went ahead and did it himself anyway.
I did NOT start it! John defended himself.
And shes pretty good looking, Rave added, ignoring her boyfriendsment. Bit snarky, likes to inspect problems, open with her emotions and stuff. Tiger will have a really hard time defending himself.
I have this thing called self-control, John continued his defence.
Not towards attractive women, ya dont.
If that was still true, wed still be having the Marie problem.
I-I think, Gnome spoke up, John can handle himself pretty well. Beautiful women just make him a bit less logical but he is smart enough.
Raveughed and gave the brte a soft tap on her bottom. Thats the fact, but that doesnt let me tease him as much.
Master has every right to flirt with her given that she initiated it, Aclysia said. Her parents demands that Master has to restrain himself, shaky as they were from the start, became null and void from the moment she showed her interest. They must adapt to the situation.
That is kind of true, John sighed, since that being the reasonable stance made things even more difficult. Couple of problems there, though. For a start, little as I like to think of it this way, I need Magoi more than I need another lover. If he says no, I cant go against his will. Not unless I want to worsen the lives of thousands of people. I believe Magoi is reasonable enough to cede the ground if Lee keeps showing she wants to be with me. More importantly, I dont think shell stay interested in me for too long.
Whaddaya mean?
Shes a fan of John, Maximillian exined. Getting into a rtionship with fans is weird. They have a mental image of you. Its pretty easy to exploit that for a one-night stand, but if you want it tost, you have to show them that you are actually a living person. Its the whole never meet your heroes thing, except never date fans you dont know and that dont know you.
Speaking from experience? John asked.
Multiple, Maximillian answered swiftly. In the positive sense. Ive had enoughmon sense to not touch anybody I didnt get to know first.
Uh-huh, the Gamer made an extra doubtful sound, just to make fun of his friend. Anyway, the point is that shell probably stop flirting with me once she settles in and realizes that oh no
What? Gnome asked.
I just realized that Im the quintessential representation of the perfect man. The only thing that shell realize is that shell want me more. While everyone around (except Aclysia) groaned, he put a hand on his face in an act of despair. Woe is me for being this attractive.
The funny thing is, Rave said, youre kinda right. If shes attracted to your public persona, all shell get to know is that you act that way privately as well.
Well, maybe shell back down when the harem angle dawns on her? John suggested. It felt incredibly odd to argue the case. On one hand, he obviously wanted her to not mind the harem lifestyle and keep flirting with him. On the other, it would spare him quite a bit of trouble if she didnt. Or maybe shell turn out to be a cunt?
Eh, you know her parents and Magnus, Maximillian said. Thats not really a family that raises dysfunctional people.
Worst ya could get is another girl with mommy issues, Rave joked. Thatd make four of us? Does Eliza count? Then itd be five. She was talking about Siena, Undine and herself, for the other three. Anyway, guess were ying the slow game with her?
Were not ying any games with her, John decided. If theres anything happening, its because she keeps going after me. I wont try anything that her family could say is inappropriate. I respect them too much to do that. He put his foot down and ended the topic. Thats the first time I really spoke to her, lets not lose ourselves in some fantastic spections.
Aww, but those are fun, Raveined, putting an arm around him. First impression is that I like her.
Thats a good first step at least, John agreed. Anyway, were going to the Elemental Inds now, he said, the teleportering into the view down the street. Whatre you up to?
Im heading over to Scarletts office for the weekly cleaning, Aclysia reported. Afterwards, Ill meet with Beatrice to work out some treasury rted issues. Nothing of importance, but work that must be done regardless.
Gnome scratched her head as if she couldnt believe what she said next, I have to do some conflict solving leader of the Elemental Inds and all that
Youre doing a fantastic job at that, by the way. Thepliment was apanied by a pat to the head. I dont get anyints and the Production District workers are happy with the nice things the elementals do for them. All thanks to your work.
Umu-umu, Gnome leaned into the head pat with a pleased sound. Wasnt easy to convince everyone to do nice things. N-not that I would im to have done it all by myself! Rather than meet that with a response, he kept patting her until she started blushing and let out the traditional sound of embarrassment, Uwuwuwuwuwu.
Imma tag along for a bit, but Im going to the Light Ind, Rave told her boyfriend. Cappy and I decided that we should really be pushing for his ascension to Tier 4. Thats the most sensible way to be stronger right now. She took a pause to look at her hand, clenching it into a fist. Cant lose to Moira a fourth time, now can I?
I wouldnt rmend it, John nodded. The next confrontation they had with the Golden Rose, if it turned violent, could very well turn out to be the one that decided whether Fusion or the Order got to be the dominant power in North America. The Federation was running out of space to expand into while the Order still had the west coast to push towards. While John was confident that Fusion would turn out to be the stronger economic power by its government ethos alone, if the Order had ess to enough bodies, it would likely turn into a formidable military force.
That was a problem for the distant future though. Immediately they had the Elemental Inds to think about, then there was the meeting with Eliza he would haveter in the Sex Dungeon, and in the short-term there was the public opinion and the demon situation to think about. One thing after the other though.
They stepped onto the teleporter and all warped to the Pce. From the main Transport Station, they made their way to the hub room where John had clustered all of the inter-Guild Hall connections. Only Aclysia stayed behind on the main one and used it to teleport to Scarletts office. The rest of them split up to the different teleporters that brought them to their ind.
See yater, Rave waved before she disappeared in a sh of arcane light.
I-I wish you great sess! Gnome told Maximillian before she went to her ind.
As for the two guys, they didnt immediately go for any teleporter. So, buddy, what element are we going after? he asked. You wanted to go after either fire or water, right?
Earth entered my consideration as well, Maximillian said, stroking his chin. As you pointed out, it would be easier for me to learn such a thing.
You dont seem all that attracted to Gnomes type though, John pointed out.
I mean, dont get me wrong, Id really like an elemental with big tits, but thats not actually why Im doing this. The gravity mage made a tossing gesture. When ites to incapacitating my enemies, my magic is extremely powerful. Dealing damage to them is a bit more of an issue. Making rocks fall sideways isnt going to help me against opponents at my current level, much less those on yours.
Regr rocks are more likely to break on me than the other way around, John agreed. Unless an earth mage reinforced the strength of stone or earth, crushing such an attack just required John to stand still. I suppose the question bes how aggressive you want to be. Combining water with gravity magic will let you go for some nasty drowning rted strategies and boost your defensive capabilities. Woulde down to an attrition warfare style. Fire will probably have less synergy, but it will definitely help with your offensive power issue. John paused for a moment to let that sink in. Of course, thats just thinking with the general applications of the elements.
Which is a wise policy to start with, Maximillian hummed and crossed his arms.
Which element would he choose?
Chapter 956 – Max Splash!
Chapter 956 C Max Ssh!
Ill pursue control of water, Maximillian made his decision. Better to go with what is more likely to work and have synergy, before I try something else.
John nodded. I would go with the same. Anyway, through this teleporter then.
The two young men emerged on the west side of the Guild Hall, right inside the Water Shrine. The air inside the small pce of ice and ice-like crystals, less an actual building than a downscaled representation of one, was blood-freezing. After going from the usual winter of the Hudson Barrier, to the artificial summer of the Guild Hall, being thrown back into a surrounding where their breath crystallized was pretty unpleasant. The enchantments in their clothes kept it from being as painful as it could have been.
While the Water Shrine usually exuded a level of coldness, the source of the current sub-zero temperatures was a half-sphere of white snow that sat in the middle of the room. A hole on top of the wless igloo let the brilliantly blue liquid that formed on the ceiling drop down into the upied space.
When John and Maximillian stepped closer, a pair of light blue eyes appeared on the igloo. They had a mean shape, heavily nted and without irises. They reminded John of cartoons he had watched when he was very young, especially once they turned round and nice, after recognizing him. Earl Newman, a casual voice came from the igloo, along with the sound of crunching snow as the elemental changed its shape.
Fruh, John greeted the snow elemental, watching him assume the form of a humanoid torso with oversized arms and a swirling pir instead of legs. I told you, you dont need to call me Earl. Thats what the fairies of the Midnight Forest call me.
Ah, but it is such a good title for you, Fruh remarked and backed off to the side with a somewhat goofy bow. Ive been doing my best to protect the essence, as Undine the Daughter tasked me to.
Imanded you to not call me that, the voice of the abysstide elemental rang through the little pce. A momentter, Undine rose from a nearby puddle. ck antlers extended from dark blue hair, golden eyes sat in a deeply attractive face. The vast majority of her body was slime and a shade lighter than her hair. Only her lips and fingernails bucked that trend. Usually, her nipples and toenails would have joined that proverbial rebellion, but Undine shaped neither her sexual markers nor her feet. Her conjoined legs instead ended in a puddle of slime, giving them the appearance of a tightly sitting skirt. Her nicely defined midriff and otherwise clearly bare breasts shed with that impression.
Red lines in a swirling pattern curved over her red side. The highest point, ending below the eye, was somewhat hidden by the unequal part of her hair. The lowest swirls reached all the way to her ankles. An additional mark was ced above where her pussy would be. Albeit the design was somewhat simr, the lines were more consolidated and interwoven, forming, in blue so dark it bordered on ck, a heart with lines to either side that symbolized the shape of the womb. Not that Undines transparent body had a womb.
You are a great daughter of our Mother, though, Fruhined, his tone reflecting his somewhat simple mind. It is a title of utmost hono-
He suddenly stopped when Undine tilted her head. It was such a tiny gesture, causing her hair to fall and leaving her right eye uncovered. More than the gesture, it was the colour of her eyes turning from gold to a crimson red that silenced the snow elemental. Her dark blue lips opened, forming a couple of words in thenguage of elementals. They were so unnaturally calm that John got a chill despite not understanding any of them.
U-understood, Fruh stated and turned into a pir of snow. Likely he tried to stop himself from saying anything else that was stupid.
Undine blinked, her eyes reverting to their usual golden colour. It was rare to see them be red, especially nowadays. It was a holdover from her Lorylim corruption. In the past, they had surfaced whenever she had Unleashed, but that had then also apanied her sanity slipping for the duration of it. Just like she had control over the swirls nowadays, she seemed to be able to manifest the red eyes whenever she wanted. Seldom, they surfaced when she was extremely agitated.
Her training the other elementals to see it as thest stop sign seemed to have worked, John thought. He was well aware of what his elementals did with their inds, even if he didnt follow all the intricate details of the policies. Part of what each of his elementals needed to do was establish their authority and, often, that involved violence. Although Undines aggressive capabilities were rather limited until she Unleashed, she was still powerful enough to subjugate any of the lesser elementals capable of using the Elemental Inds to travel between the two dimensions.
Hello, Undine, he greeted his water spirit.
Rather than answer, Undine flowed over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips met quickly, Undine greedily extending her slippery tongue and John reciprocating with just as much enthusiasm. Soon, he held her by waist and ass. Undines legs formed only so her butt had the proper shape for him to grope. She raised one and pressed her thigh against his side.
Pulling back was no easy task. For one, because her lips were delicious and her body so much warmer than the environment. More importantly, Undine didnt want to let him go. Sorry, Max, but what my women want, my women get, John thought and leaned back into the kiss. He went more aggressive, forced her to submit to his tongue. When he pped her ass, she moaned. That seemed to be enough to finally satisfy her hunger. I love you, she said while pulling back. Every syble was like a crystal-clear note.
I love you too, he responded. Thank you foring to greet me.
I yearned for your presence, Master, Undine responded and looked over to Maximillian, and I thought I would offer help for his second attempt at finding knowledge about my kind.
You have my gratitude. The exiled king bowed his head. Going around with Jane was entertaining, but not that productive.
As it often is with the leader of this harem, Undine said with the hint of a smile. Tell me what you seek.
Just someone who can help me with understanding basic water magic, really, Maximillian said.
That wont do, Undine denied, giving John a quick nce. The Gamer understood and, as little as it pleased either of them, they disconnected. Now with legs, Undine walked over to the gravity mage while John went to the centre of the room. A pir of stone with a basin on top stood there; in it pooled the liquid that dropped from the ceiling. Elemental Essence of the water variety, likely some of the most potent of the world. While that was reason enough to protect it, the real valuey in the thin, light blue cube of metal that floated on the surface.
John carefully took the tiny cube, smaller than a die, and quickly put it into his inventory. Poseidury was like mercury, turning liquid at rtively low temperatures. Prolonged contact with his hand alone would have made it start running and it would have been a pain to get off the floor. Fruh really is the ideal bodyguard for this, the Gamer thought. That the snow elemental cooled down the metal to a degree that it remained solid was a nice bonus, but it was really his strength that he had been given this task for. His dull nature masked it, but Fruh was level 201. He was among the strongest elementals that had visited the inds so far.
With how valuable the Collimets were, leaving their spawning pools unguarded would have been foolish. If worth alone hadnt been enough of an argument for John, then the crawling speed at which the conversion took ce definitely made him want to make sure nobody meddled in the process. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out a bag. It was filled with cubes of iron, each cut to be exactly 1 gram. The Elemental Essence converted that mass into one of the Collimets over the course of 50 days.
Technically, the one he had just retrieved wasnt quite done yet, but since he was there he might as well grab it.
After dropping the new cube into the basin, he looked up to Fruh. Good work, he told the snow elemental. He was unlikely to hear it from Undine. Not with how often he seemed to identally call her the Daughter. Given the bad rtionship they had with the Mother of Water, that title was not something either him or Undine wanted to hear.
Thank you, the snow pir responded, a smiling mouth forming on the snow. Like his eyes, the ck blob reminded John of aic depiction of a mouth. All that was missing were the perfectly angled teeth. Its veryfortable sleeping here, Earl.
Youre wee to stay, John said and stepped back. The moment he had distanced himself enough from the basin, Fruh turned back into the igloo.
A teacher, favourably a female slime but at least a woman, Undine summarized the description Maximillian had given her. Many possibilities.
Thats not aplete sentence, Undine, John lightly mocked his water spirit, while putting his arm back around her narrow waist.
He understands, the slime girl responded with a neutral look on her face. The gold of her right eye shone softly through her translucent hair. It was incredibly beautiful. I shouldnt need to say everything at length.
It would be a good habit, he told her. Keeping Undine speaking with more than the absolute minimum number of words was often a challenge. She was more obliging if people were listening that she couldnt mentallymunicate with, but that didnt change her nature as a withdrawn spirit. Not that John needed her to invert into an extrovert, just for her to be sociable. Which, to be clear, she absolutely was by now. John liked teasing her, was all.
Perhaps, was all Undine had to answer and stretched towards his mouth. Kiss me again, then we go.
Once outside, Undine told the two young men to step on top of a tform in the snow. Its form was too deliberately round to be an ident, and the ice railing that popped up around them definitely wasnt natural. Neither was that they suddenly started sliding across thendscape at the speed of a golf cart.
It was a strange scenery they found themselves in C strange and beautiful. While the sun kept shining down on them with the heat of the summer, the bluendscape of the Water Ind preserved the feeling of winter. Only a few ces were covered in snow, many more had the glistering hue of ice. For the most part, the ind was empty. The arms, shaped like segments of a snowke, expanded into partly frozen water. Water elementals moved about the ce, all of them in tune with the serenity.
What kept their snow tform moving was a chain of medium-powered elements that kept shoving it along the white areas of the ind. They moved up the spine of the ind, ever closer to the tip. They stopped where thest two arms of the ind branched off towards the Hudson.
Am I in heaven? Maximillian asked; it was a very justified question.
Between crystals small and tall, of colours between ocean and azure, flowed, stepped and rested slime girls of many shapes and colour. Common was a simple, watery blue, but others had to them a green or red hue. All of them were grown well, the apparent age of an adult or older still. The child-like form Undine had when she was Tier 1 could not be found anywhere among them. Most of the slime girls kept to themselves, rxing with their backs against the cold-exuding crystals or sitting in the many small ponds that littered thendscape.
That was until Undine raised her voice. Rather than shout anything, the abysstide elemental sang a series of three long notes. Their high pitch reverberated pleasingly in Johns ears and spread wide over thend before them. Slime girls everywhere raised their heads and started moving.
Where are all the slime men? John had almost said boys, but that sounded incredibly wrong. Wonder why it is that calling women girls works but calling men boys is just insulting at best, he thought.
Somewhere, Undine told him. It is humanitys collective imagination that influences our shape. Not many seem interested in liquid men.
John agreed with that instinctively. Technically, any slime girl with shape shifting capabilities could have altered her looks to be masculine. It wasnt as if they had chromosomes or other such questions to worry about. Then again, even shapeshifting elementals have a base shape, he thought, and Undine is locked into her sex. That might just be because of my influence though wonder if she would be more in-between if I was bisexual Well, Ill never find out.
Heaven came closer to the three of them forming a tide of slime girls that inspected them with curiosity. Watching all of the effectively naked women glisten in the sunshine was a special kind of pleasure to the eyes. John knew that he had the best of them right next to him. Sure, they were all different from one another, but none of them were quite as beautiful as Undine, none of them were interesting in their appearance besides their liquid state and none of them had Undines voice. In return, the slime girls, most of which had seen him before, were more interested in Maximillian.
Introduce yourself, Undine told the gravity mage.
With pleasure, he said and stepped forwards, leaning stylishly onto his cane. I am Maximillian Franz von Habsburg, he said, temporarily bereft of titles, as I take a vacation from my throne as king of Austria.
The crowd of slime girls start murmuring amongst themselves. The eyes, coloured in the many shades of the ocean, looked at him with great interest. His status would have meant fairly little to a water elemental, but his name carried weight. As one of the leading dynasties of Rex Germaniae, the Habsburgs were famous among the elemental nes.
He seeks to learn water magic and an elemental who he could form a contract with, once he learns enough, Undine picked up. There will be no fusing.
We will get close in other ways, Maximillian dered with a smile.
Guess that answers whether or not hes going monogamous eventually. John waspletely unsurprised by this development, knowing who Maximillian was and that the Abyss was pretty epting of rtionships with elementals and Artificial Spirits in the first ce. It was essentially viewed as bringing a maid into the marriage. Not everyone wasfortable with that, especially if they didnt like the maid. The personality was usually the greater hurdle than the fact that there was a sexual rtionship there. If the elemental or Artificial Spirit was happy to submit to the wife/husband of their contractor/creator, then there were no issues.
The tide of slime girls went into a collective excited quivering. There was so much boob and butt jiggling, lesser men would have fainted from visual overstimtion. Those willing and able to teach, please speak up, Undine said and was greeted by a chorus of slime girls singing their enthusiasm. There was an above average feeling for rhythm there, but Undine had been better than any of them even at that stage.
My Undine is a great talent. John was pleased with himself, especially after his paranoid side was done inspecting his memories. Since he didnt raise any objections to his own conclusion, that must have meant it was urate.
I repeat, Undine didnt seem pleased with the answer she got, those willing and ABLE to teach. The enthusiastic song died down somewhat as the slimes reconsidered. Crossing her arms in such a way that her boobs were pushed up, the abysstide elementals annoyance was made manifest in a way that gave John a rather sudden erection. Decide.
About two-thirds of the slime girls backed off immediately, intimidated by their effective ruler. There were no red eyes necessary to make them reconsider. If Undine went that far, perhaps none would have stayed. The ocean of gooey sex-appeal ebbed away further, more of the water spirits breaking under the pressure of prolonged silence.
Laralia, Undine spoke up when two slime girls were about to leave. They both reacted to the call and, looking at them, it was immediately obvious why. With their white-blue colour, they stood out a little bit among the crowd, like the foam on top of a wave. What truly made the two of them special, however, was that they looked exactly like each other.
Observe told John that she was a gemini elemental, one soul in two bodies. Splitting was a pretty normal ability for higher tier slime-rted elementals to have, but Laralia was only tier 2. This meant that this was her early specialization, just like healing had been for Undine.
Stay. The single word caused the gemini elemental toe back and bow her head.
We are honoured by your trust, Lady Undine, they spoke in unison. Their voices didnt quite have the beauty of Undines, but the synchronicity was nice in its own way.
Is she your favourite tond with him? John wondered.
Her multi-bodies nature will allow her to serve well as his shield. With ame leg, he will need it, Undine gave the reasonable answer first. My other favourites didnt leave the remaining crowd. Maximillian, you have a dozen remaining candidates to teach you, the abysstide elemental said out loud. Make your choice.
Make my choice how? Maximillian asked. It was highly unusual for someone not naturally talented in a field to have a choice between this many elementals. Thebination of the gravity mages handsomeness, his family name and the capabilities of the Elemental Inds enabled this circumstance.
Do you need it spelled out, buddy? John joked, knowing where this was going. However you please. Undine and I will be waiting over there. He pointed at a recluse cluster of crystals about fifty metres away.
I see. Maximillian raised an eyebrow and looked at the crowd of slime girls. They looked back anticipatingly. You girls fine if I get a bit morefortable? he asked, testing the waters. There was resounding support for his notion. Youll have to keep me warm,dies.
John had already turned away when he heard the sound of a zipper.
Chapter 957 – A Cascade of Desire
Chapter 957 C A Cascade of Desire
John shoved aside all thoughts of the outside world the second he was in the rtive privacy inside the cluster of crystals. It was incredibly easy given the beautiful slime girl that he was there with. The time it took him to unequip his clothes was the time she needed to form her sexual features. It was incredible what difference a pair of nipples made, and Johns already erect cock jumped at the sight. Yet, it wasnt her breasts that he indulged in first.
With rough but demanding movements, he pushed her chest first against the smooth surface of one of the polished crystals. Her lustful expression reflected in the light blue colour. John didnt get to see it for much longer. The Mand Sphere was being used for paperwork elsewhere and his real body went down to his knees. Thank you, Master, Undine gasped, for pleasing me.
The Gamer gave her ass a nice p. Jiggling fantastically, the blue bubble butt before him only came to a halt when he grabbed both cheeks with his hands. Sing for me, he demanded. His hands sunk nicely into the soft, firm slime of her behind. Parting the spherical goodness, he looked at her cunt. Already, Undine was panting.
Her pussy was dripping wet, quite literally. Juices fell in gooey strands from her dark blue mound, swollen and ready for whatever John wanted to throw at her. More ran down the inside of her thighs, making her smooth skin extra shiny. John didnt hold back and immediately buried his face in her fantastic ass. Yes, the brilliant songstress gasped as he parted her folds with his tongue.
Her honey was more watery in consistency than normal pussy juice and it was also delicious. Sweet, with a hint of salt and hotness, her mixed nature of a gorgeous woman made from water and shadow could be experienced in an extremely pleasant manner. Wildly, he gorged himself on her wet cunt. Her fat ass pressed against his face with all its softness as Undine thrust her hips back to give him deeper ess to her folds. They were tight even around his tongue, those folds that had been shaped to pleasure him and him alone perfectly.
Yes Master Master! My John! she moaned melodically, her pitch reacting to the movements of his tongue and hands. By her conscious choice, her butt was just as much a sensitive zone as her pussy was. Groping, kneading and spanking it were all sources of pleasure for the incredibly perverted, big-titted goth slime. It was incredibly easy to make her orgasm, and John took every advantage of it to taste more of her sweetness and hear more of her ecstatic song. I want to pleasure you too, she whined, showing that she was well-trained as well. Please, Master, let me pleasure you too!
As long as your delicious cunt stays put, he answered her mentally, giving her another hard p on the backside. The sharp smack echoed in his ears, but her shout was louder. If Undine had any proper answer for him, it was lost among the quivering of her legs and the gush of honey into his mouth.
He felt a heated kiss on his balls, quickly transforming into the same mouth sucking greedily on the seed-filled sack. A tongue extended from a second mouth, sliding up the length of his pre-cum dripping cock. The Gamer didnt need to look down to know what was happening. Using the shadow he cast, the abysstide elemental was creating copies of herself. They wouldnt be fully formed bodies, but a head was enough to suck him off and the ess angle was perfect.
Reaching down with one hand, he found the left antler of the Undine clone that was sliding up his shaft just as she reached the tip. Immediately, he sunk deep into her throat, pulling her close while thrusting forwards. The abysstide elementals real body screamed. The doubtlessly sensitive throat vibrated all around him. While she copied the texture and slimy feeling of a usual deepthroat, everything else made it more deserving of the title mouth-pussy. Monster girl mouth-pussy, to bepletely urate, as Undines throat was full of tiny bumps that massaged him in ways inhuman and incredibly pleasurable. She was showing every bit that she and Siena shared at least some of their nature.
John didnt have the mind to care. Buried to the nose in her round ass, sheathed entirely in her greedy mouth and with his balls being worshipped like the greatest holy relic to ever exist, the only thing on his mind was pleasure. Without dy, he started to fuck her throat. Her screams swelled in volume. It rose even more when he redoubled the efforts of his tongue. They raced towards the finish line and crossed it together.
Cum pumped down Undines throat. The clone between his legs formed arms, just to wrap them around his hips and press her face more intensely against his groin. Each time a new spurt of seed filled that Undine, the main one convulsed. These spasms were the gaps between the notes of her orgasm and each of them flooded Johns mouth with a new gush of her delicious juice.
As his seed stopped fuelling the secondyer of her orgasm and the one created by his skilled tongue ebbed away, the honey continued flowing in its regr quantity. John gave it onest slurp before kissing his way across one cheek of her jiggling ass and rising to his feet. Both copies moved with him, keeping his cock sheathed until he reached the height of her ass. The tongue thering his balls kept moving even while he drummed his shaft on her butt.
Do you want me? John asked. The answer was obvious from her bodynguage alone. The lustful stare over her shoulder, the soft wiggling of herrge, round ass and the trembling of her entire shape, eager for what woulde next. It was the storm of need that her mind radiated that John enjoyed the most. Undiluted lust, flowing from her soul into his, where it mingled with his own desires. Still, he stayed where he was, smacking her jiggling backside with his massive member. Speak up, Undine.
Yes Master The slime girl sounded hesitant, knowing that her words were inadequate in formting the depth of her desire. I want you. This slutty, wed slime wants you to fuck her. Take me in any way you desire, my Master. I am yours. He rested his cock in the depression of her ass and she quickly changed her movements from a simple wiggle to a back-and-forth slide. Please, put your hot, hard rod inside me.
He snapped his fingers. Are you my sex ve?
Yes! she eximed, her willing submissiveness suddenly spiking. Ever so subtly, she changed her posture, making herself seem smaller, more vulnerable and more willing to listen to whatever he had to say. Im an instrument to your pleasure. y with me however you wish, I want all of it. My body exists solely to take shapes that you desire.
Any shape I desire, hm? John hummed, feeling a sudden craving she could easily satisfy. An image red up in his mind and Undine started to take its shape. All of her grew smaller, but while her size decreased greatly, her tits and ass only changed to prevent any grotesque disproportion form urring. While her legs diminished in length, she formed a cube from her own slime underneath her, allowing her butt to remain level with his cock.
Shorter but no less stacked, Undines ssy, golden eyes stared at John. Does this please you Mashtaaah? she drifted towards slurring, just from Johns dominant stare at her small, submissive body. Am I a good sex sve?
A fantastic one. The Gamer grabbed her by the hips, slime spilling between his fingers with all of the softness and satisfaction of genuine flesh, and mmed into her ready pussy.
MASHTAH ISH INSHIDE MEEEEEE! the shortstack Undine sang towards the sky, her head flying back as she climaxed. Her pussy was no less tight than usual, that would have been impossible for the form-fitting hole, but the rest of her body was more receptive towards pleasure. Less surface area meant a higher concentration of her sexually sensitive slime and John lost no time smacking her sensitive butt with repeated thrusts and his hands.
You like this a lot, John remarked and reached for her head. Compact as she was at the moment, shorter even than Sylph, it was easily within range. He hooked two fingers into her mouth with his left hand, grabbed the right antler with the other one, and pulled her flexible body until he had an upside-down look at her face.
Ye-ah-ah-ah-ah, she answered, perfectly hitting the exact same note, as he kept dictating the rhythm of their engagements. The steady smack of his ass-rippling thrustsbined with her moan for a rhythm that was incredibly primitive in its structure and equally beautiful in its execution. The mouths servicing his balls had to cease, unable to keep up with the prolonged and fast thrusts.
Make me cum, hemanded.
He got what he asked for. Undines perfectly shaped cunt swirled and vibrated all around his cock. What was previously in a wonderful bnce between tight and slippery, maximizing movement and pleasurable friction, suddenly gripped him so tight he couldnt move. Every sensitive spot on his cock was simultaneously assaulted. With mindless ecstasy, Undine screamed, the service she was giving him getting her off. Then he started to cum and the reward for hismand mingled with the attributes of his seed.
It was oddly satisfying, as always, to see his cock through her body. Buried up to the navel inside her backwards bent body, his member tensed as his load pumped into her. Each ejaction shot thick white strands into her body. If it hadnt been for the Perks, just being filled with it would have had the slime experience raw bliss. Being what she was, however, she could taste the magic dissolving inside her. Energy, the perks of seed and voice, and their regr engagement, theybined and made Undine squirt wave after wave.
While her lower mouth provided an excess, her upper one went silent. Wide agape, her shout ceased as the pleasure became overbearing. Her golden eyes rolled up until John could barely see them through the fluttering lids. Grinning down at the sight, he decided to make it just a little bit worse for her.
The deliberate grasp of her pussy had loosened to the climaxing tightness. A tiny difference, all things considered, but enough of one that John could slowly pull out. Desperate grunts escaped Undine as her mind howled, No, no, stay inside, John, I need you to cum inside me!
The Gamer had no intention to disappoint one of his women. When he was almost out of her, he mmed back into her. Undines body quaked under the impact and a scrambled series of tones escaped her as the intense pleasure renewed the force of her multiple orgasms. Because he was on the timer of his own climax, John only managed to pull that stunt off two more times. When the post-orgasmic sensitivity kicked in, he just stayed inside the fun-sized slime and let the remaining drops of seed be wrung out by her pussy.
It was literally made for it. Pulses travelled from her pussy lips up Johns shaft, massaging even the smallest bit of cum from him. He gasped a couple of times from the near-overstimtion. When there was nothing more to take, Undines folds rxed for the most part, sometimes contracting when an aftershock made her let out a rattling moan.
Ten seconds of gathering his breath, that was all the Gamer needed to be ready again. He took his right hand off her horns and snapped his fingers. Are you my sex ve? he asked, feeling the soft nod of the still dumb-fucked Undine through the fingers still hooked into her mouth. A good sex ve wouldnt leave me uncleaned, now would she? he said, before snapping his fingers again. Do you love my cock? Are you my cum slut?
He didnt have to give her any propermand to get her to do what he wanted. The second he pulled out of her pussy, Undine turned around. He had given her the hypnotic suggestion to be submissive twice, and had just now added the one that made her wish to worship his cock and the one that made her crave the taste of his cum.
Tha-ah-nk you for the opportunity-iah- to pleashe you, Masterrrr. The short Undine leaned forwards and took his cock into her throat. It reached behind her breasts, showing just how ridiculously stic the insides of goblins had to be to take someone his size. While she bobbed back and forth, two copies of her formed from Johns shadow again. This time, they had enough room to fully manifest Undines hourss figure.
There was a momentary problem as the number of antlers around made it more difficult to move than it should have been. Undine solved this by simply unmaking the ones on the head of her true body. Purely out of instinct, she changed the form of that one to her human disguise. ck hair and pale skin, with eyes that were a natural shade of amber rather than brilliant gold.
John had noints about this change. His cock was being serviced by a shortstack goth and two incredibly sexy slimes with hourss figures. All of them were directed by the same mind, all of her craved to kiss, lick and suck on his dick and sack. With three mouths, Undine could cover all of his member even while her pink lips slid up and down the entirety of his shaft.
Standing there, doing nothing but watch Undine throat-fuck herself to repeated climaxes, John was reminded of the cold environment. The sun on his back kept him warm, but without movement to upy him, the temperature on the ground did distract him a bit. Closely intertwined with his mind, Undine immediately reacted to his predicament.
Several more of her split from the already present bodies and surrounded him. It was an ocean of panting slime, pressing her hot curves and particrly her tits against him. After all of the attention he gave to her butt, rightfully so given the roundness of Johns favourite body part, getting all of her breasts applied to him was a splendid addition to the session.
Hard nipples and soft bags of extra squishy slime pressed against his sides, his back, his chest and his shoulders. He extended his hands into random directions. Temporarily obsessed with servicing and sucking him, one hand was quickly imed by the mouth of one of the bodies, licking his fingers. The other reached around an Undine by his side. She turned around so he could grope her chest.
He looked at the bouncy bags that he cupped and fondled. Pulling and twisting a nipple, he coerced moans from the many mouths. His mind was so upied with pleasure that he barely heard all of that. He felt it most clearly in the reverberations from Undines throat on his cock. He loved the feeling of her tight lips, sealing tight as she smoothly slid up and down his shaft. Her tongue liquified, swirled around him and massaged him while he slid into the clenching tightness of her throat.
Every Undine around had the same expression. The eyes tried to focus, but rolled back up whenever she sucked him all the way down. nk and ecstatic, her faces resembled the state of her mind, a sea in debauched turmoil. John stopped massaging her soft tits for just long enough to snap his fingers onest time. Work for your release, he said. Then he pressed his hand back into the fullness of her bosom and his lips on hers.
The trio on his cock went into a wild frenzy of service. A wild need to make him orgasm overtook the goth slime, her own capability to do so sealed by the hypnoticmand. The shortstack at the centre no longer went all the way up and down, keeping at least half of him inside her at all times. While hundreds of tendrils formed inside her throat, the two normal Undines at the sides concentrated fully on working the base of his cock and worshipped one of his balls each.
The thoughts of the Gamer and his water spirit tied closely together. All of the Undines moans synchronized, went higher and higher in pitch the closer she knew he was getting to release. She needed him to cum, to do it with her mouth, to taste his seed. Master Master! MASTER! were the final three shouts of all the slimes around before his balls tightened. Then everything went silent.
Silent and very, very tense. Everyst Undine around him vibrated, as if every non-existent muscle inside her many bodies was strained to its extreme. Pussies squirted, tongues extended into the quiet, and Johns orgasm became one with the massive wave of pleasure that washed through theirbined minds. Like any wave inside a limited container, the ecstasy kept bouncing around within the confines for a wonderfully chaotic and mindless stretch of time. All hypnotic suggestions became undone and John emptied a third massive load into the receptive abysstide elemental.
The chaos began to subside, the sea calmed, and Undines many bodies began to unify back into one. By the time thest drop was gently massaged from his shaft, there was only one Undine kneeling in front of him. She was back to her regr size, but still wore the human goth disguise. Either form was beautiful, to John it was just a difference of vour.
When she slid up his shaft, she sucked tightly. With a loud pop the minorly deted member finally left her mouth. Clean enough, John? she asked, just to be certain that he was done.
Oh yes. He grinned widely.
Chapter 958 – Humble Start
Chapter 958 C Humble Start
They stayed behind the crystals for a little longer, only to cuddle and exchange information on how their day was going. Despite their mental connection, they only knew the rough of it. Keeping tabs on each other on every waking moment was impractical and would have limited their interactions quite a bit. Talks were somewhat boring if topics discussed had already been experienced through the other.
Therefore, it was better to keep the others thoughts close enough to only feel strong emotional development. They knew when there was danger or something else noteworthy, and could shift their mental gaze to inspect on such an asion. Otherwise, they stayed away or only did random check-ups.
Could happen, was all Undine had to say regarding the Lee situation. She shared Johns perspective that it was useless to specte after only the first meeting. She also shared Aclysias perspective that, if Lee was the initiator, Magoi and Mabirl would have to live with it.
Could happen, indeed, John just agreed and kept cuddling her. Because of the environment, he had put his clothes back on. Otherwise, they were as close as possible. Her back rested against his chest, and even if the semi-wet ground and the hard surface of the crystal didnt make for a particrlyfortable seat, he took it happily if it meant he got to hold her.
Most of her body was squishy and that made holding her a peculiar and interesting experience. If he tried to squeeze her as tight as he would have Eliza, Undine would have been deformed. That was entertaining, but not the goal of the exercise. John had to moderate his strength to enjoy her gooey consistency to the maximum. Alternatively, the slime girl could have increased her density until that issue ceased, but hed rather do it his way. It just felt more satisfying, plus her boobs and butt felt absolutely fantastic at this level. They had the heat and the softness of flesh and retained the feeling that he was handling a slime girl.
Much as John enjoyed the bodies of human women, the reason to have monster girls in his harem was to enjoy all of their unique traits.
Running a hand through her hair, John indulged in the feeling. It was as if he was parting a soft stream of liquid silk with his fingers. Every part of you is so beautiful, John mumbled, his fingers trailing around the smooth membrane of her neck and down the path of her scars. I love all of this. Undine turned her head 180 degrees and raised an eyebrow. Johnughed. He had long since grown insensitive to such disys. He didnt want them in the bedroom, but in casual conversation they didnt creep him out. Dont make things weird when Ipliment you.
No, Undine kept her answer short, her head rotating back to normal. She repositioned herself slightly to rub more of her body against him. It was less of a sexual gesture than it was an attempt to optimize their cuddling. Then she began to sing a little song for him. It had no words. Undine was usually morefortable just singing notes and she insisted that she wasnt great at improvising texts anyway.
John didnt share that conviction. Neither did Siena, Eliza, or anyone else that had ever spent any time making music with her. Maybe I should go to a studio with her sometime, the Gamer thought. Not for anything useful, just as a date. Itd probably be fun to make her frustrated at how awful I am at singing. He didnt bother suggesting that to her. Enjoying her song for a little while was a much preferable way to keep their moment. When there was a break in her song, he softly suggested, Shall we head back?
The moans had ebbed away a little while ago, so Maximillian was probably done over there. A particrly heckling part of Johns mind insisted that it was a problem that the gravity mage hadsted longer than himself. Reasonably, Maximillian not only had arger crowd to satisfy, naturally adding to the time, but John also could have continued for as long as he wanted if he and Undine had so desired.
Well just continueter, he told that horny, prideful part of himself and spied around the crystal. Maximillian was where he had left him, together with only the twin pair of white-blue slime girls. Your favourite won, the Gamer told Undine while waving at Maximillian.
There is no victory in teaching alone, the songstress responded.
The Gamer took that for what it was worth. When he had reached his friend, he switched to a more sarcastic tone. So, you chose the one that could sit on your face and your dick at the same time, huh?
That was a motivating factor, Maximillian freely admitted, but its not as if I just fucked them and immediately made my decision, buddy.
Sure, sure. John waved off, as if he didnt believe that at all.
It is true, the duet of Laralia chimed in.
He knows, Undine informed her fellow slime girl. He is being flippant.
Ill teach you all about that, Maximillian promised with a smile. Provided you teach me, of course.
I will do my best, only one of the gemini elementals bodies responded this time, the other flowing around her potential contractor. It should not be too difficult, since you already know about shadow magic.
Well see. Myst attempt was fruitless, Maximillian admitted and nced over to John, who sat down on a conveniently shaped crystal. I appreciate your help so far, John, but you dont have to stick around for this bit.
And rob myself of watching you fail? John giggled while Undine sat down next to him. The slime girl obviously hadnt had enough cuddles yet as she made not one but two copies of herself to sit on either side of and behind him. A one girl, full harem cuddle. He barely had time to continue his answer, between the attention he had to meet her kisses with. Seriously though, Ive never watched someone learn elemental magic. I cant do it myself, at least not in the traditional way, so I thought this would be interesting.
What? You cant practice and learn these things? Maximillian wondered.
Well, maybe I could. John reached around the side-Undines waists. I think control of the elements is something I would have to get through ss levels at this point in my development. The system doesnt like giving me Skills for simply trying things anymore. It was more generous when I had nothing to my name. To the point, though, if I tried this, I would just fail until I seeded and, at that point, Ill be able to reliably replicate it as often as I want. My Innate Ability makes things pretty binary. He readjusted the way he was sitting a little bit. The back Undine was rubbing his neck and it was really pleasant. Its just interesting to see people learn things.
Mhmmm, do as you please then, friend, the gravity mage nodded, I just dont want to keep you from things.
I should be doing some stuff, John admitted. The ss Challenges or just a simple grinding session were definitely something more productive for his personal development than this. However, he just felt like witnessing this right now. I wont stick around for the entire process, but I got a minute or three. He made a gesture. Please, just act as if I wasnt here but stick to the training.
As you wish, Earl Newman, the speaking Laralia told John and bowed towards him. Then she proceeded topletely ignore him. Her other body moved around Maximillian, inspecting his posture. What I speak of to you now is the instinctual knowledge of teaching that us water elementals are born with, an echo of when our great Mother Water decided to help those with the first gifts to master the craft and contract her children. A selfless act by our beloved mother, a sacrifice to endanger her children for our freedom.
John and Undine kept quiet at that. Even if this was their little realm for water elementals, the truth was that the vast majority of their kind venerated the Mother of Water. Among the six elemental realms, she was easily the most worshipped leader. The Gamer liked to think this was because of indoctrination, but he realized that he had motivation to give his reasoning a certain nt. The Mother of Water was certainly more involved with her children than the others. The Father of Light seemed to be the distant parental figure. sia was the fiery and dangerous biker mom. The Mother of Earth was withdrawn and governed from a distance. Fade struck John as the type to only intervene at choice moments. When it came to Tempesta, the Mother of Wind, John could easily surmise that she was as predictable as the arc of lightning in a bottle.
Im honoured to be taught, Maximillian responded diplomatically. He didnt have Johns reason to despise the Mother of Water. He did know about it though. There was no reason why the Gamer wouldnt have shared that story with a friend.
Let us begin, then, Laralia said, her second body guiding Maximillian towards a nearby puddle. Sit, she said while walking alongside him.
Inside it? the gravity mage asked, with a joking but nevertheless curious undertone. The gemini elementalughed with both bodies. Ive had other umon methods applied to me. I had my rebellious streak.
In front of the puddle will do, Maximillian, Laralia said.
Max will do nicely as well, the gravity mage suavely responded as he sat down and crossed his legs.
As you wish, Max. The gemini elemental manoeuvred both bodies around her potential contractor, kneeling down on either side of him. She spoke in turns, her voice a hypnotic lull. Reach out to the water. Reach inside it. Close your eyes. Feel where the membrane separates liquid from air. Feel the way it saps the heat from your hand. The difference between your skin and the water. You are not the water. But you may be closer to it than you are now. Just concentrate on it for now. Get ustomed. Get cold. Getfortable.
She continued with this back and forth of her voices for a solid ten minutes. The intertwining of positive and negative messaging was a trend that went throughout all of it. Already, this seemed more professional than the hurried attempts at getting random elementals to teach Maximillian which Rave had described.
Now, reach for your magic. Let it flow up your arm. You are strong. You are talented. This is new, but this step is old. Let it exude from your palm. Mana seeps from your body into the water. Keep it useless. Do not use what you already know.
Thest two sentences came in response to bubbles rising from the water. Not the hollow soap bubble variety, but spherical drops of water. They started to rise as if the surface of the puddle was in contact with outer space. When Maximillian discontinued that magic, they all fell back down.
It is something new you seek to learn. Water and shadow are closely rted. Gravity affects earth and water more than air and fire. Your mana must be less weighty, Max. Keep it simple, for now, keep it close to your skin. Your skin is a membrane. A membrane you can extend. Extend it from your palm. Just a little bit. Shape the mana from your palm, concentrate it as a barrier. The membrane between the water and your water. Raise your hand.
The unified voices demanded to be obeyed and Maximillian obliged. His hand slowly rose from the puddle. Water dripped from it, as could be expected, but a notable amount stuck to the bottom of his palm. It stayed like a thickyer of translucent skin.
You kept your eyes closed, good. You know to listen only to what is said. Slowly turn your hand around. Keep the mana steady. Do not let the water move. Do not let it- Laralia stopped when the surface of the water suddenly returned to regr and the liquid ran down Maximillians palm.
The gravity mage clicked his tongue. I slipped up there, he admitted, but still kept his eyes closed. Do I repeat the same process?
Yes. Laralias duet guided him through the first steps. They had to try two more times, until Maximillian sessfully managed to turn his hand without the water returning to its natural state in the process. Good, youre doing well. Your prior knowledge aids you. You keep your emotions under control. Your frustration is well masked, ready to be unleashed at what deserves it. Keep it for now, those thoughts have their uses. Keep control. Expand the membrane you have created. Put it between your skin and the water. It is still your membrane. It is still your water. Make it rise. Move the membrane of the water and the water will follow.
What started to rise from Maximillians hand could best be described as the soggy pancake of magic. It certainly was magic and the water did certainly rise a few centimetres. It had an unsteady, t shape, sloshed around like a water balloon suffering from vertigo, and finally copsed again. Regardless, it had happened.
Open your eyes, Laralia said.
Maximillian obeyed there again and was quickly met with both bodies leaning in and cing a kiss on each of his cheeks. I take it that I am doing well? he asked with a charming smile.
Very well, Max. You apply your prior knowledge with great understanding, the gemini elemental responded in duet. These are the basics. From here, it is repetition, learning and acquisition of skill. To learn to form water. To learn to move without first touching it. To make these processes subconscious.
A good thing that I n to spend my day here, then, Maximillian remarked and nced over to John, when the Gamer started moving.
That was interesting, but I think this is where I best take my leave, he exined the obvious. Undine will check up on you every now and again. When you want to use the teleporter to go home, just tell her.
Will do thanks for the opportunity, buddy.
Dont mention it. John waved goodbye, for now.
Chapter 959 – Jumping Continuation
Chapter 959 C Jumping Continuation
John felt a bit weird about what he just witnessed. Not because of any privacy aspect or because it felt like forbidden knowledge, but simply because it reminded him just how odd his Gamer powers were. Somehow, he felt robbed of the opportunity to learn things through incremental improvement. Of course, he wasnt. His powers werent so all defining that he got a Skill for literally everything he did. Otherwise, his Character Sheet would long ago have turned into a list the length of the bible.
It begs the question though if I would get a Skill for anything I did if I tried hard enough, he thought, and, by extension, if I have a hard ceiling for things that I do not have a Skill for. Whether or not that was the case, when it came to things that he really invested into, he didnt really learn in the traditional way. He fulfilled a prerequisite and then he simply knew how to do it properly. All mastery on his side was the application of a Skill, not the execution of it. Arguably, even the application only came from him having raised his Stats to the point where they were their own prerequisite.
None of this was bad by definition and John wouldnt have exchanged his powers to regain this sensation of incremental improvement. It just reminded him how odd he was, progressing in clearly measurable steps. When it came to Skills and Stats, those were small enough that he didnt mind on a day-to-day basis. sses, however, the leaps were pretty significant.
John had a few hours to kill, which was a rare pleasure. There were many things he could have filled that space with. Video games and sex were the top contenders, but the Gamer was feeling productive. Even on a busy day, he took time out of it for thetter anyway. If he had been more stressed, video games would have definitely been an option. Thest thing he wanted was burnout. Right now, he was feeling healthy and could put some extra work hours in.
Technically, he already was doing that. Jack was hammering away at providing feedback for a 2500-page document regarding the economic development ns of the Federation. Fundamentally, Fusion was a free-market economy, which meant that there was not too much central nning to be done. However, Fusion, or Collide to be the most exact, was also highly unusual in that the government actually produced something. Because the Guild Hall provided a steady outflow of resources and (now that the Token was starting toe online) cash, Fusion had the option to invest into infrastructure projects without raising taxes higher.
It was quite unfair to other states of the world. When they wanted to get something of arge scale done, they either had to ask or extort their poption for additional money. Fusion could let capitalism workrgely unhindered (a modicum of safety and quality regtions made sense) and still gain some of the benefits of central nning through the Guild Halls production.
John didnt want to put the endless resources of the Guild Hall inpetition with the market though. Careless intervention could crash a market he only meant to prop up for the short term. It was best to limit the resources of the Federation to projects investors would only hesitantly pick up. Something like developing an unstable neighbourhood or setting up the foundations for a new town. Those things usually needed a shove, like a still heart could be reanimated by a powerful jolt, and then went on by themselves. Matthew principle and all of that economical wish-wash.
Joining his double in that task would have doubtlessly raised his productivity. Knowing that he had to do more paperwork next week anyway, John opted out of making his Sunday another weekday. He could have gone into a few Instant Dungeons. Assaults would be way less effective when he went in there on his own, though, and he didnt really need anything outside of EXP at the moment. A Skill Evolution Point might have been nice, but he could always buy one, if he and Gnome managed to sort out what was blocking them. Starting a new Adventure in hope of getting one didnt seem worthwhile.
All of those potential activities eliminated, John was left with one good choice: getting this Max ss Level filled out. Because he had already locked on Unfound, he didnt have to consider what to go with there either. He could just start doing it.
The Unfound Challenges were generally easy for John. They took many shapes, but always involved him doing something without his sight. Gaia manifested a lock for him that he had to open with only his hands and ears. Then she gave him the task to sort forty noise-exuding objects in the order of their ascending tune. Bothbined took him about an hour. Because his senses were generally superhuman, things like these were more of a time challenge than one of skill.
Since this was only the third level of the Unfound ss, John didnt think this was anything to brag about.
Interesting choices, but Basic Elemental Perception clearly wins, the Gamer thought.
Extended Perception wasnt bad, but the Mand Sphere just didnt get the same benefit from those senses that he did. It wasnt nearly as important for Jack to sense an ambush, because the Mand Sphere getting destroyed was little more than a mary loss to John. By now, he had a recement sphere lying around that was an exact replica of the one he currently used. Losing both in the same month could be an issue, because of the cooldown, but otherwise it really didnt matter.
Basic Aura Reading was going to take him closer to Loreleis ability to perceive emotions, John reckoned. That was valuable, but John wasnt certain that was where he wanted to take the path of his ss Perks. With Observe offering much of the same functionality, it only served to force enemies to wear two kinds of protection against his information gathering. That aside, the range was pretty limited.
As for Basic Elemental Perception, it had the disadvantage that its bonus was a bit nebulous. The passive bonus the Unfound ss offered for the Elemental Perception had been minimal so far. The description just went from basic to clear and now, at level 3, stated detailed. Because John didnt usually keep the Unfound ss active, he hadnt benefitted from those bonuses for long enough to really notice the difference.
Fact of the matter was, though, that this was a passively growing bonus to his senses and it was in line with his current n. If he wanted to sharpen the supernatural senses to the point he could perceive the other side of a wall well enough that he could Magus Step through it, then this was likely a necessary step on that path. Therefore, he took it.
Following this set of easy Challenges and the easy choice, John was subjected to the worst ss Challenge of all time.
___________________________________________________________________________
And then he said that he was interested in my cloud.
No way.
Yes way.
Your cloud?
Did anyone check out what Methenia was doing today? I think I had an appointment with her. Something about building some flower houses with her. Or maybe it was flour houses? I am not sure, was I supposed to be a baker or a breeder or a seeder or a renter?
My cloud. My fluffy wuffy cloud.
Is very fluffy wuffy. I am also interested in your cloud.
Has anybody seen the weather forecast for the day? Shiny hot weather! Love the shiny hot weather, but maybe it could thunder around here some more. I miss the crackle from home. Oh, oh, maybe Ill go home for a week or fifteen.
You are cute, so you can be interested in my cloud.
Did you know that puppies are absolutely adorable?
Theres a sale over at the Earth Ind. Theyre selling lots of adorable cuddles for free! Can you believe that? Cuddles! Adorable cuddles! The ruler there is a cuddle season!
Like cloudy weather nice or sound-drowned wastes deafening?
Did you know Mother Thunder banned Sullyvan from her court? Creep totally deserved it, yes, yes.
Preach it, sister! Anyway, where were we about those puppies?
Did you know that cotton candy is a THING?! I always thought that was just, like, dream substance. Like Lady Sylphs hair. Sylphs hair is so nice!
Preach it sister! all of the wind elementals around agreed immediately.
John was feeling his sanity getting chipped away by the constant buzzing sound of the air spirits chattering on all around him. That was the Challenge, to sit perfectly still in the Air Shrine and just listen to them do their usual babbling for an hour.
It was torture on several levels.
To start with, although he had gotten a lot more sociable since his eighteenth birthday, the Gamer was still an introvert at his core. Prolonged social interaction with strangers exhausted him mentally. Listening to all of them could hardly be called interaction, but at this current level of sheer sense-overburdening noise, that didnt matter.
That was the second dimension as well. The sheer variety of sounds. Most of the air spirits were female, but their voices were distinct enough from each other that they didnt blend together. There was also the steady buzz of electricity in the air, gusts of winds flowing over the floating rock on top of which the Wind Shrine was located and the random beatboxer drifting by.
If all of that wasnt enough, the air spirits also continuously prodded him with their tiny or normal sized fingers. A different kind of people would have eventually grown bored with the meditating man that didnt react. Not so the wind elementals. Every 30 seconds or so, they were interested in him again, like a bunch of flies that had forgotten they had spent thest three seconds already bumping against that wall.
He was used to all of that behaviour, in a limited fashion. Sylph embodied her kind almost too well, after all, and spent most of her time babbling and being a buffoon. What made the arcvolt elemental digestible, her immense cuteness and the fact that there was only one of her, was absolutely trashed by the swarm of pver around him.
Truly, air spirits were something best enjoyed in a limited capacity.
Luckily, the one he loved was also the ruler of this ce, and came to his rescue after a little while. Alright, girls, and the few boys here, I guess, if you care about that, I can just call you all girls like guys call their female friends guys, cause humans are weird Anyway, pack it up! Master Johnny John is mine to poke and cuddle!
Yes, Lady Sylph, the immense chorus of voices unified for those three words before breaking down into a thousand conversations again.
The rest of the meditation was more pleasurable. Largely because Sylph decided to feel up her silent contractor. Something that gradually transitioned into her sucking on his knob and then to her sitting on his dick. That was not against the spirit of the Challenge, as long as he kept listening.
Onerge crack in his sanity and many orgasmster, John got the fourth Perk of the Unfound ss.
And there it is, John thought, reading through Advanced Elemental Perception. Given that the other two were repeats, him taking that was already guaranteed. Or, well, its at least the basic enabler. This will only allow me to sense that there is another side of the wall. Ill have to check if its enough to actually teleport through.
He made his choice. He tested it.
It wasnt. Most of the time, anyway.
He attempted it throughout the Pce. His own home was the perfect testing ground. Because of the sheer absurd size of the building, there were more unused parts to it than otherwise. Sure, every one of his girls had their own apartments, but when one built a home into an expanded foundation for the Statue of Liberty, space became a superfluous resource. Especially since the entirety of the star fort below was avable for potential rooms as well.
Most of these unused rooms were currently sealed off. If he gave them a door, Aclysia would have felt obligated to clean them every now and again. Since he could limit the thickness of the walls with only a mild amount of cash, he could check exactly how thick a wall had to be in order for him to ignore it.
The answer was: about as thick as a finger. Any more and John was able to perceive that there was a room, but not enough of what was inside it for Magus Step to allow him to teleport through. That made this currently untenable, very few ces had walls that thin, but it was a good start. While solid walls remained an obstacle, doors were now an obstacle he could easily clear. Particrly the kind that didnt sealpletely and left some air flow between two rooms was easily jumped through.
Advancement to my goal is always nice, whether thates jumpingly or steadily, the Gamer thought, wrapping up the testing. Then his steps carried him towards the Sex Dungeon.
He had an appointment with Eliza.
Chapter 960 – Ultimate Submission [Erotic Content]
Chapter 960 C Ultimate Submission [Erotic Content]
John found Eliza waiting not inside but in front of the Sex Dungeon. The way she stood was already pleasing to him. Usually, Eliza was erratic in her movements. Her legs jittered, her bodynguage was confrontational, closed or simply non-caring, and she stomped about with whatever emotion took hold of her mood swings at the time. Massive improvements had been made in her mental stability, but Eliza was still Eliza.
Because of thatmonly erratic behaviour, her standing so still when waiting for her dominant was especially enticing. Her ck robe was closed, in itself a highly irregr urrence, hiding most of her under the loose cloth. Her feet were covered by the ck of her thigh-high leather boots, her hands folded maidenly in front of her hips. Only her expression failed to uphold her submissive posture. Her eyes were gazing directly at him and her mouth quivered from an impossible to suppress smile.
John stopped in front of her. What do you think you are doing? he asked in a stern tone. Their eyes locked. As adorable as John found her upcast gaze, as beautiful as the shattered facets of her purple eyes were, as a dom he could not let her get away with this. Who allowed you to look directly at me, Eliza?
Im sorry, Master, the submissive, short girl said and hastily directed her eyes to the floor. Her voice was anotherponent of this that was so sweet about their sessions. All of the cussing, all of the screaming and all of the unsteadiness of her tone was eliminated when she yed her role. The smile she tried to suppress formed fully.
Are you? John growled and grabbed her by the throat. He shoved her hard against the smooth wall of the corridor, dragged her up a little bit until her feet no longer connected to the ground. Her simple ck choker pressed into his palm. Golden dots and lines in her iris reshaped into the outline of hearts when she looked up at him again with great lust. Her white hair, transforming into azure blue from chin-length down, framed her beautiful face. Keep your eyes down, slut. The Gamer pped her across the face, hard enough for there to be a sound, but not hard enough to make her head fly to the side. Sadism was an art of moderation. And wipe that grin off your face. You are mine and you will only act in ways that I approve, understand?
yes, Master Eliza pressed her weak answer past the grip on her throat. She obliged the eye-contact part immediately. The smile was a bit harder. John pped her twice more before it was reced with the agape mouth of someone panting in heat. The usual blueish-white teint of her face was getting more and more red, from the choking and the lust ensuing from her treatment.
You just cant control yourself, can you? John asked in an amused tone, tearing open her robe. Underneath, she wore the typicalbination of a leather thong and bra. Both articles of clothing were bound by metal rings. One was located between her moderately sized breasts, the other two were on either side of her wide hips. Between the thong and the ck, leather boots, a delightful amount of her thick thighs was visible. Youre lucky that your body pleases me, he told her, pulling down one half of her bra to pinch the hard, purplish nipple underneath.
He twisted and pulled at it. Eliza grit her teeth and groaned with lust and pain. He gave her second tit the same treatment, then leaned down to kiss her. While he dominated her willing mouth with his tongue, his hand travelled down her side. The muscles of her athletic midriff shifted under the hand, gliding over her sensitive skin. Her dangling legs pushed against the wall, she tried her best to push against him. The submissive was craving her doms body.
John pulled away from the kiss. It seems I wasnt clear enough, he growled, his hand slipping into her thong. The inside of the leather was drenched with slick fluids. You only get to behave in the way I want you to. Keep still.
Yes, Master, Eliza moaned, his fingers prating her eagerly waiting pussy. She went back to just dangling there, trying her best not to squirm while he fingered her.
Looking down her small frame, John could not help butment, God, youre so beautiful. I cant wait for the day I get to properly mark your womb as mine. He could feel her pussy contract around his fingers at the insinuation. Smiling, he added, Dont get too excited. We both know I will knock you up. We will have a child together. Not today, though.
The rification didnt change anything. Just the suggestion that he found her to be highly valuable breeding stock was enough to make Eliza extra sensitive. Her body spasmed, as pussy juice overflowed from her thong and ran down her thighs. Keeping her pleasure high throughout her first orgasm, the Gamer kept the speed and rhythm of his fingering steady until she started to calm down.
Carefully, he loosened his grip on her throat. When he left her on her own two feet, she slid down the wall, heavily panting and struggling for air. Aftershocks made her quiver and her eyes were glued to his crotch. Not here. Follow me, he told her and opened the door to the Sex Dungeon, in the way that befits a submissive.
If it pleases you, Master, Eliza moaned and got on all fours. She followed him into the room like a leashed animal.
The Sex Dungeon wasrgely empty at the moment. All of therger toys were stored inside the rooms inventory. The smaller ones were orderly tucked away in decorative shelves and vitrines along the wall, proudly disyed behind the ss. Pleasing aromas filled the room, wafting from candles and incense that ignited at the press of a button.
For no other reason than that he could, he grabbed Eliza by her hair and then tossed her at the centre of the room. Shended on the firm mats that covered the floor. They were hard enough to provide proper support, but also soft enough that no physical actions on top of them would cause difort.
Stand up, hemanded her. Eliza hastily obliged. Confusion hushed over her face for a moment when she didnt feel any pleasure from it. Undress me, he gave her anothermand, and the submissive was quick to obey that as well. He kept watching her while she unbuttoned his shirt. She kept her eyes down and her expression mostly neutral. Only the confusion surfaced asionally in the move of her eyebrows. What did we meet here for today, Eliza? he asked.
You wanted to use your submissive, Master, the pretty little psycho responded.
Indeed, and I want to see you submit to me absolutely. This is why I decided to make today special. He paused for a moment, let her pull his shirt off before grabbing her face. Look at me, hemanded, while putting his shirt into his inventory with his other hand. Eliza obliged, lovingly staring at her dom. For this session, you will not feel any physical pleasure. Ive sealed it. His left hand tapped against the dark blue mark above her womb. You will serve me and the only pleasure you will derive from it is that you get to submit to me. Do you agree, ve?
If it pleases you, Master, Eliza gasped, almost hyperventting in response to the announcement. The gold in her eyes retained its heart shape. She was more into the idea than John had anticipated. He let go of her.
On your knees. Take off the rest of my clothes. Less than a minute after saying that, he waspletely naked and the pretty little psycho waited for his next action. Her eyelids fluttered as she tried her hardest to keep her eyes down and away from his cock. Good girl, you learn quickly, Johnplimented her. Now, how do you want me to fuck your insensitive body?
My body belongs to you, Master, it is your choice, Eliza responded, her voice almost tranquil. Thebination of extreme desire and inability to even feel pleasure was doing interesting things to her mind. John was intrigued to observe these developments.
Your behaviour is a bit shaky, but you know how to pick your words. John yed with her silky hair, watched her nostrils re and her lips open in response to his cock being so close to her. Tell me honestly, Eliza, what you think right now. Speak freely.
Fucking use me, Eliza immediately blurted out, almost shouting, still facing the floor. Just rough me up, you brilliant slut-breaker. I want you to ravage all of the holes that you own, as if I was nothing but a fucking tool that you whip out when you feel like it. Fill my womb with your seed as often as it pleases you. Fuck it, fill all of me. Just empty your balls with all you can, asshole! She startedughing crazily. Dont even know why I called you that there, John! Just hammer me without regard! Her irrational tone copsed into a sickly cuteness. Im yours, yours, yours, please, please, please, use your cum bucket. Please! Im a fucked up, kinky little slut and I want to be-
Thatll be enough, he interrupted her. Back to your best behaviour.
Yes, Master, she responded.
Wordlessly, John bowed over Eliza and tore the robe off her. They had many more where that one came from and destroying something indulged his primal parts. For her boots and underwear, he moved more delicately, removing them without damage. Then he withdrew an armlock and a leglock from the Sex Dungeons inventory and put both of them on her. Her hands, he fixed in front of her, while her legs were simply bound at the ankles.
Your mouth first, John decided, finally putting his cock up to her lips.
Eliza leaned in and let his dick slide into her mouth. She was slower in this than usual, only taking in the head and thoroughly working the sensitive spots around his ns with her tongue. Seeing the little submissive work the tip like this let John see just how big his dick was inparison to her body. That she regrly took it all the way down on a daily basis was a sign that she, just like the rest of his girls, was well trained in these regards. They had their gag reflex removed over the months, just like Johns tongue had gotten more dexterous.
In Elizas specific case, it was noteworthy that she loved filling her throat with his cock. Inrge part, this was due to her masochism, but how her early blowjobs had gone likely also had an influence. Back when Eliza had not been in full control of her strength, she had just sat there and let him throat-fuck her. Ever since that first time, the majority of her oral offerings quickly devolved into wild and messy deepthroating.
Not today. Today, she kept things calm and steady. She bobbed up and down half his length, kept her lips tightly sealed and, when she did let his cock pop out of her mouth, she took care not to let anything drip. Her lips brushed down the side of his dick, she kissed his balls, then she licked her way back up and wrapped her soft lips around his member again. She rotated her head softly, adding additional friction to the work of her tongue.
You really know what to do with your mouth, John sighed. As much as he loved the wild and sloppy sex they normally had, this attention to detail was its own kind of pleasure and both had their time in his day. When he put a hand on her head, it was only to feel her soft hair, not to guide her. Keep going, Eliza. Please your master.
Eliza moaned and went a little bit deeper. Finally, he entered her throat. With that barrier crossed, she steadily went all the way down. Her nose pressed into his groin. John could see her raised ass wiggle. When she slid back up, he saw her tits squished together between her locked arms. His cock was free for a moment, Eliza showering it in kisses. Even now that it had been in her throat, things were fairly clean.
She moved to suck him back in, but John stopped her. Ill have you properly now, he said and gave her a little shove. Eliza let herself topple over, just like she let John manhandle her into the position he wanted. A small post appeared from the ground. John hooked her leglock into that constraint, so that her ankles were bent behind her head. Then he undid her armlock, only to put it back into ce after he had pulled her arms under her butt.
The final result was an Eliza that was reduced from short to onepact fuck bundle. Her raised ass was only one rolled up stomach away from her tits. Those two fun bags, in turn, were framed by her bound arms and legs. Her head was propped up by her folded feet. John loved this pose, both for how deliciouslyid out everything was and for how well it showed the flexibility of his girls.
It was also one of Elizas favourite positions to be in. Look at me, Johnmanded, and was once more greeted by her heart-filled gaze. Im going to use your pussy now.
Please use whatever of my holes pleases you, Master, Eliza answered.
John grabbed his cock and angled it properly, then he sunk into her tight cunt. The lustful scream that this was usually apanied by was missing. This did not, however, mean that Eliza was an emotionless doll that he inserted his cock into. The pretty little psycho was busy panting, keeping eye contact with him while he prated her fully. Her tight folds clung to his dick and pussy juice continued to flow. Do you wish to feel pleasure again? he asked.
I feel the pleasure of serving, Master, Eliza said.
Such a good girl, John hummed and grabbed her by the chin. His extended thumb brushed over her lips and soon vanished between them. She sucked on his finger, kept giving him the lustful, loving stare, and he started moving.
He fucked her with the sole intent of getting off. In the situation he had created, the only things that mattered were her submission and his own bliss. Her pussy was no less pleasurable than during regr intercourse. The regr spasms of multiple orgasms were missing, but that allowed John to move more freely as well.
I love thish, Elizas words slipped out. Her body shook without consequence, yet she seemed more turned on by the second. S-sorry for speaking, Master.
Continue, the Gamer grunted, moving both his hands to her legs. He needed the support to keep the speed up anyway. What do you love so much about being my cock sleeve?
You usually fuck me so good, I forget where things are, Master, Eliza confessed. With this, I can keep watching you. I love how my ugly, useless body pleasures you.
Eliza, John growled, dont insult what is mine.
Sorry, Master, the pretty little psycho moaned. Ahh, your cock is so fucking big so big she repeated without the curse. More, I want to be stretched out more. I want to be the reason you cum. I submit to you, John, I want to serve you, I want you to abuse me, I want you to-
Her words were cut off when John decided to oblige her requests and put both hands on her throat. Squeezing down on her, while he hammered into her for the final spurt, he watched her mouth go agape in anticipation of his orgasm.
When he mmed into her onest time, when his seed started to paint her pussy white, an expression of pure satisfaction formed on her face. The pleasure block wasnt lifted, not even weakened. Just being filled up with her doms cum brough her enough gratification that the pretty little psycho felt a whole different kind of relief.
John loved to see it. This different kind of bliss born from nothing but submission. He drank deeply from the knowledge that she enjoyed serving him to this degree, let it rush through every fibre of his being while pulses of pleasure tingled up his spine. Shot after shot of cum filled up her pussy and the Gamer groaned to let her know just how good he felt, emptying himself inside her.
Hmm, that was interesting, he hummed, when he pulled out of her. Because of the angle, his seed stayed put inside her for the moment. He had no n of unbinding her. At the very least I know now just how depraved of a submissive you are.
Was there ever any dou-aaaaah! Eliza screamed when he hit her ass. The impact was pain and renewed pleasure. It was the announcement that the ban was now lifted. Fuuuuuck, she couldnt help but scream when he spanked the other cheek of her round butt for good measure.
Very little, but I like confirmation. The Gamer grinned, while moving around. He wanted to use her throat next. Ill repeat this sometime. For now, I prefer watching you turn into a stuttering, well-filled rag, he told her.
Eliza cackled madly before his cock was shoved down her throat.
Chapter 961 – Bursting Ascension
Chapter 961 C Bursting Ascension
S-so, I should tell him to? Gnome asked.
To leave, yes, Stirwin responded, his ws tapping on the edge of the Light Essence pool in quick session. I appreciate that you are slow to banish people from your realm, but sometimes a series of small incidents are more detrimental to amunity than arge one. If said individual refuses to change, despite the warnings, then you must act.
Yeah but I dont like it
Good, the Celestial Devourer hummed and stretched. His scales bristled with energy. At Stage 3, the infinity elemental was more akin to a glorious water drake than a mundane reptile. The shape of the head, body and tail still resembled a crocodile, but the long limbs, almost human-like hands and thinner build all gave him a more draconic vibe. The ever-present light exuding from his scales didnt hurt. Where the scales were gold, the light was gold; where the scales were silver (primarily his belly), the light was silver, and the bronze spots all over followed the same rule. Even the copper flesh inside Stirwins maw seemed to glow. Whether it was the copper itself or the energy deep within him that illuminated his white teeth and protruding scales, acting as an outeryer of teeth, hardly mattered. Fact of the matter was that Stirwin was an impressive sight.
Good? Gnome asked.
You are the one of us that is to embody patience, Stirwin told her. The primary attribute of the elemental earth is to endure that which must be endured. If you were keen on taking action, then you would suffer in your role. It would disrupt our bnce as those who watch John. Speaking of which, Stirwin looked over to his summoner, a splendid evening, John.
To you too, Chompy, the Gamer responded in a friendly fashion. Good work, Ubun, Korus. He also nodded towards the two high level elementals guarding the pond. They had simrities to how ancient Egyptian gods were often portrayed, humanoids with animal heads (an eagle and a scorpion in this case), but they were also infused with the glow that apanied all light elementals. And youe right here.
John and Gnome were quickly in an embrace and a shy kiss. Shy entirely from her side, obviously. The Gamer grabbed her butt while they greeted each other the loving way and kept one hand there even after their lips parted again. Evening, my love, the autumn elemental said, smiled, and turned beet red. S-s-sorry, just felt like the right thing to say.
Definitely was, John hummed and looked up to Stirwin. So, if shes my patience, what does that make you?
Your virtue patrol, Stirwin joked. Or your control. Your order. Your regted pride. Call it as you wish.
I asked Stirwin for advice about a summoner that keeps bothering the earth elementals, Gnome exined the situation to him. Dont worry, I got that under under control, yeah! She pumped one fist, as if to reassure herself.
You do, yeah. John believed her and ced another kiss on her cheek.
Uwuwu a tiny embarrassed sound echoed from her pretty mouth.
Why did youe here in person to ask about that though? John asked.
Its just nicer to talk in person and its pretty here, especially at night.
John could hardly disagree with that. The Light Shrine was set a good ten metre deep into the earth. It was a rectangr court with walls fashioned from silver and gold stones, arranged in a distantly roman-greek style, and a shallow pool at the centre of it. Soft light radiated from everything around them, yet the sky above was filled with undiluted stars. Stars of varying sizes and colours, in formations that wouldnt be found in earths view of the Milky Way. They moved about, sapient dots of light that shone onto the Guild Hall from another world.
Theres like four skies above the Guild Hall, depending on where you are, the amusing realization dawned on John. Theres the regr earth sky, the Midnight Forest, the Light Ind and the Shadow Ind. I wonder if the other elemental inds will follow suit on the final upgrade. Anyway, Im here to check on Jane. I assume shes in thebyrinth?
Indeed, Stirwin said and gestured at one of the many doors that led into the inside of the Light Shrine. Ive kept visitors out for the day to give her the space to meditate.
I heard about that, John hummed. He had used the hours between the end of the session he had with Eliza and now to get some more ss Challenges done in advance. During that time, he also had to deal with the asional phone call by a person of import and, once, with aint by someone who wanted tomune with light spirits. John just told them that Stirwin was in charge there and that he trusted his elementals reasons. Very angry person, that one.
I should have pointed them at the Fire Ind, Stirwin grumbled and blew glowing mists out of his nostrils. Anyway, you will find Jane whatever path you follow. The infinity elemental moved his head to the side and John followed his gaze. Behind the Gamer, the row of advice-seekers was growing. Whenever Stirwin rested in the Light Shrine, people were drawn to this location. At first, only light elementals had wanted advice. However, as more people frequented the Light Ind and spoke to him out of curiosity, soon all kinds of inhabitants of the Hudson Barrier were drawn to the wise crocodile. He was bing somewhat of a tourist attraction. If you wouldnt mind, I have people to help.
Knock yourself out, John said and bowed his head in goodbye. While they walked away, Gnome hesitatingly disconnected from him. You have to go?
Yeah responsibilities
John clicked his tongue. Wouldnt have given you any, had I known that would mean I couldnt cuddle you all the time, he said, only tough. Im joking, Gnome. Well see each other at dinner.
Yeah. Gnome smiled her innocent smile and wrapped her arms around him for a quick, squeezing cuddle. Later.
John remained where he stood to look at her ass while she looked away. Her short skirt waved from side to side. The motion escted as the swing of her hip became more intense. Gnome tried her best to put on a show, but shecked that natural daringness to do so seamlessly. The swing was awkward, too wide, and ultimately, she stumbled. She caught herself and looked back at John with an embarrassed frown. The Gamer sent her mental head-pats, then she walked away, normally, into the crowd.
As if she needs to pose to emphasize her hips, John thought. Sure, Gnome didnt have the most impressive figure in his harem, as a matter of fact she had the most bnced one all around, but she still had a fantastic set of hips to her frame. Any way she moved would have been sexy to some degree. And now to look at my favourite ass, John thought.
Through one of the many entrances, he stepped into thebyrinth that extended outwards from the Light Shrine. It was a structure made entirely from gleaming mirrors. John turned one corner, and he was surrounded by infinite reflections of himself. Walls, roof and floor, all were made from silver and gold mirrors. At least that difference of colour gave him something to orient himself.
From previous ventures into thebyrinth, John already knew that its size didnt make any sense. At times, one arrived at another exit after just two corners. On other asions, he had walked more than one kilometre in one direction. By proper logic, that would have meant he had to be inside the water. Instead, he had walked back twenty steps at one point and arrived back at the entrance.
As the ruler of the space, John had no worry that thebyrinth would send him into an eternal circle. He may notpletely understand what was going on, but the Gamer knew that the Guild Hall would not harm him. Not unless he built something that exchanged limbs for experience points. Not that he had even unlocked such a Building.
Carefree, he walked in a random direction and just kept on walking. His surroundings barely changed and he didnt pay attention to most of it. By courtesy of the Mand Sphere, he saw himself from multiple angles most days. He knew he was a muscr man of slim build and handsome features. A bit on the in side when one looked closely at him, but only in the sense that he had a face that looked like it belonged on the front of a ygirl magazine. It was a bit too perfect, almost as if it was an aggregate of handsome people or had been carefully adjusted for maximum effect. Given the nature of Johns powers, thetter wasnt even that unlikely.
Whatever it was, John had seen it before and he wasnt the kind of egomaniac to care about his looks. His beauty only mattered because it pleased his beauties. The only thing about his reflections John cared about was if the one in front of him was getting closer. Running into a mirror would have been embarrassing even if no one was around to witness it.
The Gamer walked and walked, humming to himself. His mind shifted over to Jack for a moment, who had taken a pause from the paperwork to appreciate the work of his secretary. Luckily, Beatrices table was very sturdy. John indulged in the shared pleasure for a little bit, then turned another corner.
And stopped.
He stood in front of a cave entrance. Aside from it attaching so oddly to the mirrorbyrinth, the tunnel was also notable for the way it wound into the distance. Twisting endlessly, with crystalline pirs connecting opposing sides that were oddly smooth in the otherwise craggy tunnel, it felt like John was looking down the double helix of a DNA strand.
Following his intuition, John jumped down into the cave. It was three times as wide as the corridor he came from and three times as deep as well. The little fall failed to threaten his superhuman physique and hended in front of one of the crystal pirs. Silver and gold, they continued before him. Their ovep blocked his view into the far distance.
Seems like the Elemental Depths connected to thebyrinth today, John guessed and started walking on the smooth area, surrounding the bases of the early pirs. The Elemental Depths were an ever-shifting Building whose primary entrance was on the Earth Ind. It was for pilgrimages and general trials for elementalists and shamans. For people that wanted to try their hand at the craft, it was the best ce to go. Likewise, for people that wanted to evolve their elementals, it may give trials helping to fortify the bonds.
Rave had gone into it with Copernicus before C to little effect. Because of that, they had decided to pursue regr methods first. Despite that knowledge, John had a feeling he was heading into the right direction.
Perhaps I should go in there with Gnome sometime? he asked himself, while navigating the pirs. The shape of the room had made John hope for a moment that he was dealing with some reality bending fun. When a room like this appeared in video games, it was almost standard that walking straight forward also let one follow the spiralling motion, somehow. Instead, he had to climb through the many obstacles.
Gradually, it changed from him weaving through the pirs to using them as steps on adder. The tunnel became steeper, until it practically went vertical. John hadnt been keeping exact track, but he was fairly certain that he should have been somewhere above the earth a while ago.
He emerged from a hole in the ground and entered some kind of cave forest. While that was an interesting environment, John mostly noticed the burn and w marks around. Rave and Copernicus fought here, the Gamer analysed. Copernicus was in tiger form did they fight each other or did the Elemental Depths throw something at them? The Building on its own shouldnt have the power to create such entities. Then again, the Building also doesnt cost enough upkeep to allow dimensional meddling to this degree. Probably something regarding the inds'' connection to their respective realms?
He continued through another tunnel at the side of the room. Again he had to weave through a helix and again he emerged in a chamber. That one was filled with water and moss. The enmity he instinctively felt inside that room practically confirmed his thoughts. I can feel you, he growled at the water. The pond reflected his visage and the crystal that illuminated the cave. The hostility ebbed away and was reced by a feeling of forgiveness. That annoyed John in a whole different fashion and he was fast to continue on.
The structure continued on. Corridors that wound through impossible distances and rooms that bore the marks ofbat or other trials. Earth, water, then fire, wind, and finally shadow, each of those five elements had a chamber dedicated to it. It appeared that the other elements had taken at least a moderate interest in the Gamers girlfriend.
Ultimately, he emerged in the most impossible ce of all. Dropping out of the corridor, the final stretch had been a descent for a change, hended on a tform. It was shaped from translucent, glowing crystal, shaped from a mosaic of silver and gold. It was about five metres across and hovered in an endless, light blue skyscape. The hole of the corridor was an impossible cut, more of a portal than a tunnel.
In the centre of the tform was an elevated area. There sat Johns girlfriend. She was in her bodysuit, but that piece of equipment had been so thoroughly ravaged that, after over a year of use, it had finally given in. Whether it was out of energy or material to use its self-repair function, it showed in its gaps a bruised and bloodied body. Her knuckles were bare, painfully so; not just the suit but the skin as well had worn down and revealed white bone. Her face, despite being cut on one check and covered in blue spots and dirt, was calm and beautiful. Rave had assumed a standard meditating pose, her legs crossed and her hands folded in herp.
Copernicus was wrapped around her. At least John assumed that the distantly feline shape around her was Copernicus. Gold, silver, copper and bronze, the spectrum of the usual light elemental, swerved over fur that moved as if it was underwater and was too long to belong to either his regr or his tiger form. It was difficult to make out his exact shape in any way. He seemed to have blended together into a semi-metallic mass of light magic.
Is this how ascension normally goes? John wondered. Skill Evolution Points acted as the catalyst in his case, so there was a likely chance that Raves meditation provided the power to achieve the same here. Whether or not that was true, John thought it unwise to make any sound. Instead, he just sat down, informed Undine that he would need her to take care of Rave when they were done here, and waited.
Figments of energy appeared in the surrounding air and drifted into Copernicus fur. Each time this happened, the hairs grew a tiny bit longer and the spectrum of colours slowed down a little bit. Slowly, steadily, patches of ck sneaked into the mix. The mass of hair grew until John could only see Raves face in the middle of it. Then the long, waving strands drifted away, like a shedding winter coat imed by the winds. They broke apart as they sailed, vanishing into nothingness.
The glow of Copernicus fur diminished steadily as it shortened to the sensible short coat one was used to of cats. Dark spots covered his new, groomed coat, giving Copernicus the appearance of a jaguar. His size, by the end of it all, fit the same. No longer could he wrappletely around Rave, forming more of a half-moon around her.
Where a jaguars spots would have been white, his where silver, where they would have been brown, his were bronze, where they would have been orange, his were gold. His ears didnt quite fit the appearance, being pointier andrger, more like an upscaled housecat than the rounded ears of a jaguar.
Silver whiskers trembled, cheeks pulled back and Copernicus yawned with the carefreeness of the typical cat. His teeth were gold, an unusual but not unpleasant colour in the copper flesh surrounding it. There were more of them than a regr cat would have had and they seemed more fitted for an omnivorous lifestyle.
John expected Copernicus to open his eyes at that point. Instead, once he was done yawning, the light jaguar ced his head on his paws and continued snoozing.
He was, although noticeably bigger, still a cat, after all.
Chapter 962 – Trust in Love
Chapter 962 C Trust in Love
John was having a progressively worse time just sitting there. Patience was a virtue he generally possessed, but there were several ways to corrupt that willingness to wait. One of the most effective ones was seeing a person he loved, especially a haremette, hurt. Rave was far from fragile and none of the wounds was threatening, but her visibly injured state still bothered her boyfriend. It bothered him a lot.
Concentrate on her breathing, the Gamer told himself. Despite the bloody and bruised state of her body, Rave was showing no signs of overt pain. Her steady in- and exhales were a calming insurance that she was fine. He would still have preferred it if she rose from her meditation already. Undine crawling through all of the tunnels would take a while, assuming she even found the entrance. Thebyrinth was weird like that.
Disturbing her wasnt an option either. For all John knew, there was still some adjustment of Copernicus body going on at a magical level. Thest thing he wanted to do was mess with a process so close to itspletion. Especially one so vital to herbat development.
Impatiently, John waited. He kept his fingers still, his lungs from pressing out a sigh and his foot from tapping on the crystal ground. asionally he averted his gaze, tried to distract himself with the fantastical scenery. Its beauty was difficult to appreciate, given the blemished state of the gorgeous woman sitting at the centre of it.
In order to keep his mind from circling around Raves wellbeing, he extended his thoughts to the rest of the harem. Aclysia was currently inside her wing of the Pce, picking out the ingredients for dinner. Beatrice was still in the Fusion Administration Building, currently busy checking on their tax settings. The Guild mechanics allowed John to automatically pull a percentage of a persons earnings into the Guild Bank, with the limitation being that they had to be part of Collide, a vassal of Collide, or a member of the Federation led by Collide.
This made tax evasion effectively impossible and anonymised the entire process. The only thing that was disyed on the receiving side was the guild the taxed person was a part of. Generally, this was an advantage. It kept the necessary bureaucracy small and John could still keep a pulse on where the majority of economical action was happening. If he ever jacked the taxes up, however, people wouldnt just try to dodge them, they would have to leave the Federation entirely. That could cause some issues.
The majority of the elementals were busy wrapping up their affairs for the day. Only Undine and Siena were exceptions. Undine because John had called her, and Siena because she apparently was in a minor feud with a messenger from her mother. Not an unusual thing, really. Metra had some more interesting stuff going on, but John had no need to go into her mind to find out more about it. He could just look down as Jack to find the First of Wraths head bob in hisp.
The eagerness of his willing sex ve to satisfy him distracted John properly, while he waited.
Even if he was in somewhat of a blowjob trance, the Gamer did not miss when Rave finally started to move. A little stirring behind her closed eyelids preceded her raising her arms and stretching. The sound started satisfied, like waking up from a good nap, but soon transformed into a displeased grunt. Copernicus only had to deal with the first part, his manifestation was unharmed.
Everything huuuurtsssss, Raveined and opened her eyes. Oh, hi John?
Why do you sound that doubtful? the Gamer wanted to know, finally standing up and approaching his girlfriend. He inspected her wounds a bit closer.
Dunno, some final test? Rave asked, finalizing her stretch when her spine made a cracking sound. Whether that was satisfying or worrying, John wasnt quite sure.
For what? You already seeded, Copernicusmented, causing his summoner to turn her head.
By Gaia, ya got big, Rave blurted out, eyes and hands travelling all over the light spirit. To show off, Copernicus made his fur glow. With the hollow shape of therger, ck spots on his middle-section, it almost seemed like he was covered in reverse eclipses. How am I supposed to carry ya if youre almost as long as Im tall?
Copernicus sighed and let the light ebb away. Im quite certain I am longer than you are tall.
Tails dont count.
You always seemed rather insistent on being precise on tail length.
I didnt start as a size queen, I just got a handsome boyfriend whose dick grew, Rave retorted. Hmm, your fur got less fuzzy and more smooth. Dunno if I like that. She put both hands around his ears and started scratching more intensely. A, but ya got way chubbier, thats cute.
Im not chubby, I just got bigger and have more skin, Copernicus growled. It urred to John that the cats masculine voice now sat in a body that definitely fit it better. The growl had a more threatening ring to it, despite being the exact same as before on a pure audio level. That threat level was diminished quite a bit by Rave rolling his checks, however.
Whatever ya say, she grinned.
John, as little as he wanted to ruin their moment, could no longer just keep watching. How badly hurt are you? Can you walk?
Dont ya worry about me, tiger, Rave turned to him while hugging her considerably upsized elemental. As revenge for the non-serious treatment, Copernicus started to gnaw on her neck. Just had to defeat five strong elementals in sequence and then go through an inquisition by Light Daddy.
Did you call him that to his face? John wanted to know.
She did, Copernicus answered, between yful mauling attempts.
And he still helped you with the Tier-up?
He didnt mind, Rave told him. Not everyone is as weird about that word as you are, ya know?
Thats just a straight-up falsehood. They are either normal and ept its weird or they arent and think its neutral or okay, even.
Dont ya remember the 11thmandment, tiger?
I mean, Moses dropped them, so I cant remember what isnt written down.
It goes Thou shalt not shame the kink of others.
Given what God did to Sodom, I highly doubt that was part of his manifesto.
Nah, Im totally right. Now kiss me for my sess! she puckered her lips and he didnt have any choice but to oblige, really. Even with a blue streak under her eye, she was still too beautiful to leave her lips unimed.
Tasting her blood in the process did reduce his enjoyment greatly. Lets get you out of here. Undine is waiting at the exit, he told her.
Ya dont need to get me out of here, Rave chuckled and tapped the tip of his nose with his index finger. I aint a damsel C I just fought some kind of small tree dragon, a floating jellyfish, a magma blob with ss teeth, some kind of horror show, and a talkative curvydy that tried to stab me.
Did you get thest two mixed up? John asked. He knew that shadow had been the theme of thest chamber before this one. The second tost one had been wind.
Nope, wind elemental was some kind of fog made out of metallic gas? Really creepy thing. Kept poisoning the air and ring out distorted sounds.
I suppose there have to be some non-chatty air spirits around, John conceded while giving Rave the space she needed to get up. If she said she didnt need his help, the Gamer believed her. She proved it quickly as well by jumping into the cave/portal that had led them there. No other way back was apparent. He and Copernicus were quick to follow. So, what did you talk about with the Father of Light?
He was checking my vibes, Rave told him. Ya know, regarding how I like to seek out danger, how Im handling the Moira stuff, and some such.
Any epiphanies there? the Gamer asked. When I talked to him, it was a pretty illuminating experience C no pun intended. Showed me in detail how much my pride had grown.
Dunno, Rave responded.
You dont know if you had an epiphany? John asked.
Ja, no idea, the Lightbearer responded. I feel like I realized something about myself, but Ive no idea what to do with that.
That is always how that goes, Copernicus chimed in, as the three of them climbed up the vertical shaft. The pirs served as their footing, which meant that they had to move with the sr jaguar as the slowest member. Cats were extremely good sprinters and they could scale trees no problem, but they were not made fordders. As to why he didnt just follow in spirit-form, John guessed that Copernicus wanted to move his new body around. If every personality w was fixed upon realizing it, the world would be a much different ce.
Theres also the question of what is a w or not, John echoed the sentiment. Your daring nature has helped us out before. Most importantly, had you not been such a straightforward girl, we wouldnt be together now. Its a high risk, high reward lifestyle.
Speaking of high risk, high reward, Rave said. Theres one thing I did realize.
Which is? John wanted to know.
I have to beat Moira. At least once. I kinda need it for my fulfilment, ya know?
I know, John confirmed. It was like he had needed to punch Maximillian in the face or how he wanted to see everyst Lorylim eradicated. Granted, thetter would be a benefit to the world as well as personally satisfying, but the emotional foundation existed beyond that. Therell be another time you can challenge her. Our paths will inevitably cross again.
Yeah and if I do something stupid at that time? Rave asked. Like, really moronic? Just like I did at New Alexandria?
Then Id let you, John responded honestly. Because you wont lose a fourth time.
Rave didnt answer immediately. Their steps on the crystaldder echoed in the cave. You dont know that, she said slowly. I lost three times and thatst time cost us. Not dearly, you reason it might even be better for us that we lost, but the fact is that we were pushed back because of me. If we sh with the Order again, chances are the stakes are going to be even higher.
And I would still let you, John told her.
You trust me that much?
Jane, Ill say this with every fibre of me that loves you, John said, picking his words carefully. Id take any risk of a setback, sacrifice any scheme, lose any war, and offer any of my resources, if it meant that you got to pursue something that lies by your heart. You are the love of my life and there is nothing I would not give for you. All of that, however, does not matter to this case. You will not lose a fourth time. No matter the circumstance. Because you are Jane Rave Hollmey and I love you. Those are the only two reasons why you will win.
Something dripped down on Johns hand. He did not have to look to see that it was translucent. A second drop fell past him. Then he heard a sniff. Thank you, tiger. I needed to hear that, she whispered. Then she cleared her throat. Alrighty, Ill win then. Gonna be a challenge, but thats the fun of it, right?
Ill whip you into shape, Copernicus purred.
Heck ya mean, whip me into shape? Ya got all big, so I no longer need to feed ya to let ya participate in fights. WE are going to get into shape.
My contract was clear. I give you the power to fend for yourself and I get toy in the real sun. That was the bargain.
Howe ya keep helping me when I need it then, ya big tsun-cat?
If you get depressed, you might lose the drive to buy me tuna.
A, Aclysia buys the food, not me. Rave let one leg dangle to show that she was counting. Second She suddenly pulled herself up with enough intensity that she flew over the next three pirs and thennded on the part of the cave that was tilted just enough that she could stand there, while using one of the beams as support. She raised two fingers. since ya got so chubby, putting you on a diet might be a good idea.
That wouldnt even work! Copernicus roared and jumped right after her. He wasnt tall enough to reach the pirs for support, but he also didnt need them. With four sizable paws. He could bnce that elevation level on his own.
She lived and she learned, John thought. They had invoked that saying directly after Rave lost to Moira. It hadnte true yet. His girlfriend was living the spirit of the saying, trying her best not to let past unpleasantries weigh down the rest of her life. That did not mean that they just had to forget everything that had happened. In order to truly move on, Rave had to sort things out her way.
For that, she would need to get even more powerful.
Chapter 963 – New Fur
Chapter 963 C New Fur
Velka was incredibly excited about Copernicus new form, much to his chagrin. While the young Magryph was only about half his size, she had all the tools to annoy him. Climbing all over the sr jaguar, nibbling at his paws and warbling into his ears, the curious chimera inspected every bit of him that she could. The only obstacle she had in this, and the only reason why Copernicus let this treatment continue, was the pariah whose hands were thoroughly scratching him.
They were getting ready for dinner. Rave had been healed up and was currently in the shower. The tattered remains of her bodysuit were in Johns inventory. The two cores of the semi-sentient suit had been permanently damaged. Create, or at least the version of it that John could currently use, did not have the power to restore the suit to full Durability. The Gamer would have someone with actual experience in the field look into it. If it remained impossible to fully restore, then he wanted to at least harvest the remaining materials from it.
John saw it as an opportunity to upgrade his girls gear, whatever happened. The bodysuit was good, but it was below their modern means. He had long wanted to get her something new, but Rave had been happy to just feed the suit better materials and that had worked well enough. This was the time to supnt well enough with only the best for his girl.
Copernicus finally had enough of Velkas constant nibbling and put a paw on her head. Ears turned back, Velka walked backwards in the awkward way that cats did when something was blocking their vision. When she was finally out of reach of Copernicus paw, she pounced right back at him. The sr jaguar swiped her with enough strength to stop her jump.
That was the signal she needed to understand that she was pushing past the boundaries here. Rather than cede the ground, the cheeky bird warbled miserably and turned to the one person she could cry at for sympathy. Running across the room, she jumped into Elizas already open arms.
What the actual fuck do you think youre doing?! the pretty little psycho wanted to know. Hit my baby again and I will turn you into a wall decoration, guts first, pelt after I am done ripping your sorry ass to shreds!
Calm down, Eliza, John scolded her and walked over. He grabbed Velka by the scruff and pulled her off the blood mage. Neither was happy about that. If Velka wants to be annoying, shell have to live with the consequences. Not like Copernicus couldnt have done worse. To verify just how much worse, the Gamer turned his gaze towards the light spirits. Now that Rave was healed and cleaning, he had the peace of mind to actually inspect their progress.
The power of the cat had more than quadrupled through his Tier ascension. John would have called it an unreasonable jump in power, but as someone whose steady growth was basically guaranteed by the mechanics of his ability, he shouldntin. Essentially, the ascension had allowed Copernicus to reach the level of his summoner.
Velka cant do anything wrong, Eliza dered. Shes too fucking cute!
John looked at the Magryph, who dangled passively from his grip. Her beak lowered; she gave John the most melodramatic, adorable stare she could. Her pupils were dted to the point where there was more ck than red in her eyes. It certainly seeded at tugging at his heartstrings. Shes an undisciplined thief, is what she is, he held his ground, even as he pulled her to his chest. Smart and maniptive as she could be, Velka rubbed her cheek against his and purred while she held onto him. He supported her with both arms, one under her hindquarters, the other scratching her neck.
No, shes the greatest thing since the invention of chocte, is what she is. I thought you were good at pattern recognition, you cock-controlled retard. Eliza turned to Nia. Creep, support me!
I thought you wouldnt curse in front of Velka? the pariah asked instead.
Shes practically in her teens now, who the fuck cares?! Eliza responded at a level above what was appropriate indoors. Answer the fucking question!
Nia didnt, for a solid minute. Animals establish hierarchies. Some rough and tumble is part of things.
Nothing thats mean to my Velka is part of anything, Eliza insisted.
We dont want her to be spoiled, John told his most submissive haremette. Then he ced the Magryph down and said, Sit. Knowing what was good for her, Velka agreed. Do a barrel roll, John gave another order and watched the Magryph roll on her back. He also saw Eliza do the same thing. Good girl, heughed, addressing both of them.
Eliza cackled manically, amused at her own idiocy, and then grabbed Velka before anything else bad could happen to the harem pet. At the same time, Copernicus decided he had enough of sitting on the ground and relocated to the backrest of the couch. It had been his favourite spot before the transformation and, although he now had to situate his legs differently, it was still wide enough to carry him.
Looks like yall are having fun, Rave announced, returning from her shower.
And, how much stronger did I get? the Lightbearer asked. Whether she saw the window in front of him or if she just knew that he was Observing her instinctively, she had made the right guess.
Not a whole lot, John answered truthfully. About ten, maybe twenty levels. A noticeable jump, but nothingpared to Cappy here.
It was about him getting the Tier, so that makes sense, Rave conceded and rolled her shoulders. Well test what we can do now morrow, right, Cappy?
Sure, the sr jaguar responded, while Rave yawned.
So dinner and somezy missionary to tuck you in? John asked.
Yaassss, pleasseeee, Rave responded with the enthusiasm of the deeply tired.
_________________________________________________________________________
Johns mornings were usually covered in erotic scenes and this one was no different. It all started with how the day greeted him. Today, Metra, Aclysia and Beatrice had decided to put their heads together and awaken him with a good old blowjob. The moans and movements that caused woke up the remainder of the harem bit by bit, which escted into their usual morning orgy. Things transitioned from the bedroom into the shower. After the shower, they took a pause for breakfast.
Depending on the time and energy, things could have gone on from there. With Rave showcasing her increased powers, they stopped after only a little more fun in the bedroom.
John had a certain pariah pinned under him with her ass up and face down, while he watched his girlfriend get dressed for the day. The way she slid into her clothes was incredibly enticing. Part of it was clearly a show, particrly the way she swung her curves while she picked out what she would wear for the day. When it came to actually putting her clothes on, she didnt need to exaggerate anything.
She started with the top. Sparing herself the bra, she pulled the tight shirt on fairly quickly. Then she grabbed her silk panties and stepped elegantly into them. The white clung to her perfect ass. When she pulled the panties up into proper position, she let the waistband snap back. It was an erotic sound, but not as erotic as the sight that came next.
Jeans cut short into hotpants found themselves in the Lightbearers hands. Again, she stepped into them with grace, before pulling them up. By virtue of what they had to epass and by the design of the denim, it wasnt as easy to pull the hotpants on as it had been with the panties. The legwear only slid up centimetre by centimetre, slowly advancing up her pushed-up ass through a series of enticing wiggles of Raves hips. Her bubble butt was a mouth-watering sight through the entire process.
Past the highest point of her backsides roundness, the hotpants went the rest of the way with ease. At the same time, John plunged into Nia onest time. His gaze ripped away from the fantastic backside and concentrated on the blondes gorgeous face instead, while he came inside her for the fourth time that morning.
Nia let out throaty moans while she drooled all over the bedsheets. Her irises were mostly hidden behind fluttering eyelids and her spasming form was kept pinned down by Johns weight. She was having her own intense climax while his magic rich seed filled her. The thin, silver lines on her back shimmered softly, revealing their wless,plex symmetry.
When John looked up again, he first saw Raves ass in her hotpants. The lower edges of both cheeks were nakedly visible, but the majority was hidden from his lecherous gaze. When his gaze travelled further up, he saw that Rave had turned her upper body halfway and was smiling at him. Onest taste before we go? she purred. Nias gonna need a minute anyway.
Absolutely, John agreed and pulled out of the pariah, who gasped lewdly when her tight pussy was left empty. Moving to the edge of the bed, the Gamer let his girlfriend sit down in front of him. Careful not to get anything on her clothes, she milked thest few drops of cum from him. The taste made her moan, and she moved on to clean him with her mouth as soon as there was nothing more to gain.
With long, deep bobs, she took him deep into her throat and then went all the way back up until her lips were tightly sealed around his ns. Her tongue never failed to stimte his weak spots, no matter where it currently slid past. Things gradually elerated. John just leaned back and enjoyed the show, while his girlfriend became more and more entranced by the blowjob she was giving. Her moans, fuelled by the hard cock in her mouth and the fingers dancing inside her pants, only heightened his enjoyment.
When he was ready to cum, he just let loose. No warning, no attempt to prolong the experience, nothing. Rave hastily slid up until only the head of his dick was inside her mouth, then masturbated his slick cock with her other hand. Gulp after gulp of thick seed, she massaged from his shaft.
Think you might have to switch into new pants now? John asked with a grin.
We didnt invest into self-cleaning panties for no reason, tiger, Rave reminded him, after she had licked thest drop from his tip.
One can never be too sure though.
Ya just want to see me wiggle into another pair of pants.
And what man would me me?
Or woman! Sylph bbered her way in. I demand representation, representation as big as Janes butt. No, wait, bigger than that, as big as Aclysias butt! Big, round, fat, jiggling, squishy representation is what I demand!
And who would ever me me? John corrected his exmation in ordance to the demand made.
I would, Copernicus announced his presence and sat down in the doorway. I want to know how exactly I can increase her strength and keepzing around, so if you would. Rather than wait for an answer, the eclipse elemental transformed into a streak of golden light. It wrapped around Raves right arm and consolidated into the copper wristband that was the sr jaguars item form.
With a little more banter, they went on their way.
Chapter 964 – Cat-abilities
Chapter 964 C Cat-abilities
They moved to a testing ground: an Illusion Barrier that was nothing but an empty green field. Thanks to the I.D. Gate, they only had to get on the roof to create such a space. The entire harem piled in there, even Lydia who joined them via teleportation. As luck would have it, she had scheduled to take the first blowjob shift of the day. Arriving half an hour earlier wasnt too much to ask, even if she still grumbled about it.
Youre wee to start right now, John joked, moving his hands to his zipper.
We have a matter of import to observe, so keep it in your pants. Lydias response was as straightced as usual. There is a time and a ce to tend to your insatiable needs, my love.
You are right there, John said and looked over when a sh of light signalled Copernicus reverting to his corporeal form. The duo to be tested stood side by side. Do you two have anything you want to show first, or should I go down the list of whates to mind?
Ya got the gaming brain for this, tiger, so ya go ahead.
You are, indeed, a nerd, Copernicus supported Raves assertion and proceeded to lick his paw. John found the motion oddly fascinating. Jaguars had thicker limbs than themon housecat. Perhaps this was because they had to swipe at more sturdy targets than birds or perhaps that was just a misconception because themon housecat was thenky kid with rich parents of the animal kingdom. The jaguars were more like the Hells Angels, out to crack some skulls.
Well, time to use my nerd brain the- John said, only to be interrupted by the sound of a smartphone ringing. Pulling it out of her pocket, Rave gave all of them an apologetic nce, before looking at the disy. Who is it? the Gamer wanted to know. Since this was her private phone, she should have known who was calling her.
Unknown number, Rave responded and picked up. Yello?... Oh, hey! ...No, bit awkward right now, t-b-h. The voice on the other side of the connection became loud enough that John could vaguely realize it as female. No, no, no, its fine, really, we just gotta make it quick. Sorry, was kinda preupied yesterday, battling elementals and stuff Hmm? ...Ja, thatd work Ive time around lunch, that work for you? ...Awesome Ya sure ya want this more than the party? Raveughed at whatever the answer was. Well see how awkward you are after Im done with ya. Anyway, see yater then. Ill swing by your ce Have a nice one. She put down her phone. Guess who called me, boy and girl toys?
Lee. John didnt have to take more than one guess.
Rave knew better than to be disappointed at her boyfriends deductive abilities. Still, she asked, How did ya get that?
You mentioned the party, I heard a female voice, she says she wasnt interested, thats about all I needed to narrow the results to one person, John responded. Interesting that she would call you already though.
Interesting indeed, Rave hummed in a conspiratorial tone. Wants me to show her the city.
Do you have time for that? John wondered.
Ill make time. Gotta find out if Magois daughter is a bit cray-cray or not. Rave was about to slide the phone back into her pocket when she noticed John extending his hand.
Were about to dobat tests; unless you want me to buy you a new phone soon, you should give that to me, he exined and caught the phone when Rave tossed it at him a momentter. We should look into buying you a dimensional pocket.
Did the prices drop by now? the Lightbearer wanted to know.
Aside from the process of tethering a dimensional pocket to a person requiring specifically trained dimension mages, it turned out that the supply of them had copsed recently. Like many other things, this could be traced back to the death of the former Supreme Fateweaver. Local dimension mages would just have to attach what he had pre-fabricated. What supply had still existed had been bought up by the Divided Gates within a month, leaving the rest of the dry. Unless John was willing to pay an absolutely exorbitant amount of money, that was.
No, but Magoi said he finally got someone who is talented in that department, John responded and slid the phone into his pocket. Big perk of ruling over an ever-growing organization is definitely having ess to all kinds of talents. Anyway, he pped his hands, Copernicus, lets start with you. Feel like you can do anything new worth noting?
Aside from no longer being afraid a casual swipe of one of you monsters is going to annihte my physical existence? Copernicus meowed while brushing his head with the recently licked paw. I dont think so. My Unleash is still the same, I know that much instinctively. Otherwise He turned to the side and opened his maw. A casual goldenser beam shot from his maw and blew a hole in the dirt where it hit. It was a purely kic affair, with no smoulders to be seen. I suppose I have improved in the self-defence department.
Not all that much, if I see that right, John said, inspecting the crater. It was about a metre deep and one step across. Threatening, by any means, but not impressive whenpared to his own spells and elementals. How much power did you put into that? Was it a casual shot or properly charged?
Casual. Lets repeat that, Copernicus said, rising into abat ready pose. Evidently, he was bothered by Johns assertion that his power hadnt risen that much. Opening his maw, the sr jaguar fired a secondser.
Chunks of dirt andwn exploded into the air,ing back down in a shower of brown and green. John stood close enough to the explosion that some of it covered him. Brushing the majority off his sleeves was one thing, but the tiny amount that had made their way under his cor was somewhat bothersome. When the Gamer gave Copernicus an annoyed nce, the feline just purred mockingly. Rather than pursue that feud, John inspected the second crater.
It was more respectable, about three times the depth and twice the width. Ill have to learn to focus that properly, Copernicus remarked.
I still think its somewhat weak, John confessed. Compared to how high your Spellpower is, it makes me think you should be able to do more, at least. I guess most of your proficiency remains in buffing up Jane?
That is what we should test next, then, Copernicus responded and looked to his summoner. Here, have my blessing, his tone was almost bored as small lights flew from his fur. Five attached to each of her limbs, clustered around the ends, and then became invisible. Thats already a change, he noticed.
Yeah, it used to be one per limb only, Rave said and boxed the air a couple of times. When nothing happened, she raised her foot and stomped down on the ground. A shockwave of light expanded outwards from the impact, leaving the grass untouched but pushing against Johns legs when it reached him. By that point, it had petered out so much that it was only like a stream of water washing around his soles. Hmmm thats the same old.
At least it looks that way, John agreed. Can you switch anything? Notice any mental buttons you can push? By looking between the two of them, he made clear that this was a question for both summoner and elemental. Rave shook her head and looked over to Copernicus, who sat there a little longer.
The orbs of light around Raves limbs suddenly appeared again, ring up with light. Their outline became pitch ck, making the glow at the centre stand out that much more. That should do something, Copernicus remarked.
Rave stomped again, only for the usual light wave to remain unseen. Doesnt seem to do anything.
Oh no, it definitely does something, Copernicus told her, his ears flicking. I just received some mana.
Wha- alright, that changes things, Rave looked at her hand where the light spheres had disappeared again. So ya mean we can stop with the whole shtick where I have to deliberately be bad at using martial arts?
As long as that modus is active, it seems so, Copernicus remarked. Hold on
The spheres red up again, the ck wandering from the outside to the centre. Each speck of light was now a small eclipse. Now whats that gonna do? Rave wondered and resumed her mistreatment of the floor. No shockwave, and judging by his silence, no mana for Copernicus either. Alright, now Im getting mana, the Lightbearer unravelled the mystery. Gonna help if were fighting indoors.
Thats a non-dangerous method, right? John wanted to know. There were many methods of mana regenerations, usually those that could be learned without specific talent, that had the drawback of requiring specific timing. Rave, for example, used a breathing technique to regenerate her mana. When she did so at the same time as casting magic, however, the cross-flow in her magic circuits caused unpleasant and downright dangerous issues. Nowadays, she also had her ability to absorb sun light to lean onto, which didnt have that issue. Why, John couldnt exin in detail, but it likely had something to do with Innate Abilities making it easier on the soul.
Lets put that to the test. Anybody up for being punched? Rave asked.
Sure, sounds fun, Metra grinned and stepped forwards, and dont ya hold back on me, sis!
I aint your sis, girl.
I aint your girl, friend.
I aint your friend, sis, Rave shot back,pleting the small circle.
Well, you two look the part, John chimed in. When Metra had formed her body, she had done so by applying her usual features to the image of Johns perfect woman. Because of this, Metra looked, in many ways, like the blonde, Middle Eastern half-sister of Rave. Anyway, if you would go at each other.
Sure thing! Rave shouted and suddenly charged forwards. Her aura ignited and she mmed her fist into Metras abs. Even the First of Wrath involuntarily folded at the impact, and a burst of blue energy red up behind her back. Hard enough for ya? Rave asked.
Arent we being cheeky? Metra growled, an equally ecstatic and happy grin on her face. Her pronounced muscles bulged, very little of them hidden by the greybination of crop-top and hotpants, when she raised her fist in a retaliatory punch. Rave backed off just in time to escape the fist. The two engaged in a dance of flying fists and swiping legs.
John watched them duke it out for a minute or so. If he had gotten the feeling that they were getting lost in the brawl, he would have stepped in. Before it came to that point, however, they stopped. Both sides executed a high-rise kick, aiming at the others head. Their legs shed, the forces neutralizing each other.
If this had been a serious fight, Metra would have likely overpowered Rave in that instance, but that would be dependent on just how mad the ancient weapon was at that time. Also, on whether or not Rave used any techniques in the process. In this sparring instance, they just backed off and Rave extinguished her aura. Does not interfere, no, she said the obvious. If it had done damage to her body, they would have seen it by now.
Alright, thats three different effects so far: shockwaves, mana generation for Copernicus and mana generation for you, John summarized. Do we have a fourth one? He looked expectantly to the cat, who nodded.
The lights showed again, the re pushing the remaining light out and leavingpletely ck dots behind. Their outline was undefined and shifting, like a fuzzy object in the distance. Rave stomped again and nothing happened.
Hmm, John hummed, looked to for his hunch, just by the previous pattern, this should be some kind of inversion of the shockwave power. My first guess would have been that things are pulled towards the impact point, but we would have seen an implosion in that case. Second guess it is then. He gestured between Metra and Rave. Continue your fight for a little while. Cappy, switch to the full light on my signal. I suspect that the ck dots save the energy for a massive shockwave.
The two battle-hungry women didnt need more than one excuse to go back at throwing punches at each other. Rave spared herself the aura this time around and Metra kept her rage under control. That still made the berserker babe the physically superior fighter, herck of magical power was bnced this way, but their difference wasnt so high at that moment that Rave couldnt keep up.
Grinning,ughing and bantering, they kept going at each other. I really like my crazies, dont I? John thought. While it wouldnt be correct to say that all men enjoyed fisticuffs, the percentage in that half of the human poption was definitely higher than the opposite one. Yet, John kept being attracted to women who had a knack for violence. To be fair, many of them werent exactly human.
Rave executed a somersault, flying over Metras punch and then bringing her heel down on the brown-skinned womans head. By simply advancing another step forward, the First of Wrath dodged that counter. In retaliation, she whirled around. Her outstretched leg shed against Raves defensively raised arms.
That was when it happened. A circle of ck manifested where their limbs met. Lines of darkness manifested all around and consolidated into that circle, only for it to vanish. John felt nothing where he stood, but he knew Metras speed well enough that she would have pulled away by now.
Rave seemed to be too surprised by what had happened to capitalize on it. They simply disengaged, giving John the opportunity to ask, So, how did that feel, Mat?
Gravity magic, was the short answer she had for him. I felt heavier, but more specifically, I felt like I was being drawn towards the impact.
Alright, so I was closer with my first idea, John hummed. It pulls enemies, but its not a shockwave and the trigger is to take damage rather than dish it out. There seems to be some charging condition on it as well, given that it only triggered on that one attack
Feels kinda weird that there is gravity magic in my fighting style, Rave confessed.
To be fair, thats not your magic, its his, John said and pointed to Copernicus, and he did be an eclipse elemental, so that makes enough sense. If you would fight each other a little more so we can find out the charging condition? he asked, and he received. A couple minutester, they had worked out that the primary factor was simply time. After the switch to the ck dots and between each activation was a minute. The intensity and range of the pull seemed to be static. So we have four stances: push, pull, mana for Jane and mana for Cappy.
Not gonna lie, pull feels kinda useless, Rave said. All it does is minorly increase my window of opportunity for counterattacks. It triggering when I get hit is also kinda bad.
Its niche, but better to have it than not, John told her. Is that all in the upgrade department?
Its all I can show at the moment, Copernicus meowed, thoughtfully. I think Ill be able to influence each light individually but that requires training first.
Alright, since you said your Unleash is unchanged we can spare ourselves that what about the cat form though? As I understand, that came about via Rave tapping into your elemental essence, so that could have changed somewhat?
Lets see here Rave hummed and turned her attention inwards. Definitely more to grasp at here than before she mumbled, exining why she didnt switch immediately. and here we go The cat ears sprouted from her head, her eyes changed from blue to copper, with slit pupils, and a pink cat tail made of light extended from above her perfect ass.
Thatst part was new.
Feels meowr potent, Rave said, randomly punching and kicking the air. Dunno, nothing solid though.
God, thats adorable, John said, watching Raves new tail wave around. The pink had a couple gold-tinged dots on it.
Mhrrrmm? Rave half hummed, half purred, and noticed her new appendage. Aww, I finally got the full catgirl set, thats nice, she eximed, wagging her tail consciously now that she had noticed it. It was too short and it didnt seem that she had detailed control over it, making it little more than a decoration. Still, its presence meant that something had changed. Ill tell ya if I learn something meowr, Rave let everybody know, before deactivating that state again. Think we got to go work now.
Indeed, the pencil-pushing called.
Chapter 965 – Short work with Sinners
Chapter 965 C Short work with Sinners
The week passed.
It was unnerving and it was calm. Johns assumptions about what would happen were both proven correct and overly paranoid. He had thought that everyst one of his internal enemies woulde out of the woodworks, motivated by the news of his loss. Instead, what happened was that the boldest and dumbest of the bunch took uncoordinated actions that could be squashed in a week. Usually, John didnt even have to get involved himself. Local army regiments orw enforcement took care of the issue.
Only one incident stood out there. A sitting member of the Free party used one of the inds in the North Lake state tounch an assault on Servitude Ind. To their credit, they were smart enough about it to tear down the long-range teleporter and they were also strong enough to stand their ground against the locals. They had two days of fun with their rebellion, then John and Aclysia had made their way over and rooted the issue out. Aclysia would have been enough on her own, but the Gamer had to tag along to repair the teleporter.
A beaten traitor was the perfect utensil to shift the public attention away from Johns failure and towards the strength ofw enforcement. Especially since the Gamer had his doubts about the Free partys loyalty for a while, something he had never outright stated in interviews but alluded to in subtle and not so subtle ways.
One traitor wasnt enough to ouw the party, but it was a start.
On the bad news side, Aclysias ind being attacked caused his weaponized maid distress and that soured Johns mood. Over the weekend, they would take a trip there together. John wanted to see how her project wasing along anyway and it had been a while since he and Aclysia went on a date. This would either double as both or transition from a tour to a date. That remained to be seen.
More importantly, the fact that he had lost did not leave the news cycle immediately. Not since Sigmund had he sustained a loss and, although that one had been more personally harming, it had still led to the expansion of Fusion. It had also urred at a time where Fusion was a lot smaller and easier to govern centrally. People were less prone to rebel when their ruler was a one-hour bus ride away. Especially when that ruler was the human equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction.
With arger poption under hismand, there were more people invested in him losing. His approval took a sizable hit, almost 10%, making John wonder just how many people approved of him primarily because he was winning. That there were politically uninformed people that just went with what appeared to be working was nothing new, but John felt like he had underestimated the whimsiness of that crowd.
So, while everyone was talking about him, and nothing really happened, John went about his usual business with only the asional interview reminding him of the circumstance. That should have given him room to rx. Instead, he was anxious. His paranoia kept telling him that the worst was yet toe. Most of the week, he felt like he was in an ongoing online argument C the kind that got him stressed out for no reason.
Luckily, John had the best two stress-venting mechanisms of the world at his disposal: love and violence. The former came in the usual shapes, while thetter was done through dungeons (and the one rebellion suppression). Sex and Instant Dungeons came with levels.
He had reached 1000 in Wisdom, which had given him a couple of other benefits. First of all was the expected milestone reward. A sizable mana regeneration increase that was big enough to let him keep channelling one Arcana Ray continuously.
From there flowed a semi-expected Achievement.
Which in turn awarded him an item.
The Millennium Trousers were noticeable in a bunch of ways, but there was nothing about them that had an active use inbat. Their defensive capabilities were so absurdly high that Johns groin was now the most fortified area on his body. Given his lifestyle, that wasnt a big surprise, but he wouldnt haveined if the rest of his body could be shielded to the same degree.
Since he had also cleared past 335, he got another Max ss Level. He immediately got to put it to use as well, thanks to clearing the Challenges when he had time on Sunday. The advancement through Unfound continued.
The choices had been, for theck of a nicer term, absolute dogshit. Reaching Aura Reading had at least moderate uses, letting him feel Abyssals without seeing them at arger range. It synergized well enough with his ongoing effort to be effective through walls.
Gaia had also seen fit to give him a new Quest at that time. It was one he was rather happy to see.
The failure state was inconvenient, but John believed in the pact he made with Dramar, and so he had epted the Quest. In ten years time, he assumed money from dungeons and the like wouldnt be a necessary bit of his ie anyway.
With all of this figured out, he had nothing to do but the usual.
You did a lot of work this week, Nia noticed, currently taking a break from her under-the-table service. Very impressive. While her lips were away from his cock, her hand scratched his short-haired head. It was almost as good as a stress relief. It did have the advantage of not being as distracting.
Ive been giving Mind of Work some time to test, John exined, his hands rushing over the keyboard at over 200 words per minute. The meditation passive had been the second Perk of the Martial Artist ss. While it allowed him to concentrate at work and stay enthused for as long as he wished, the state of mind required was sadly broken by pleasure. In order tobat what stacked up on his desk in his absence and the additional work that was produced by recent affairs, he had decided to give it a prolonged trial period. It is absurd how well that works. Even as he spoke, he was reading an email with one eye, tracking what he was writing with the other, and holding a press conference with Jack. One m of the enter key, and he had finished another public statement. It might be worth investing more into Martial Arts just to see if I can get a Perk that improves this.
How much work do you still have? Nia wanted to know. The desire to return to her shift was evident. She was as enthusiastic about her work as he was about his. That his Perks made women crave sucking his dick for hours on end was definitely a great boon in his life.
Nothing, Ive been finishing things whose deadline is next week for the past two days, John confessed. Anybody who ever stepped into bureaucracy knew that it was unusual for things to get done at the first deadline set, much less before then. I keep thinking that I should do just one more document. Its as if my strategy game mindset has been transferred to my work. Its atrociously efficient. I dont even feel tired somebody should stop me.
Nia didnt need to hear that twice. Her hand disappeared from his head, a feeling of weirdness filled the room for a second, then the pariah was under the table and kissed the most sensitive spot of his cock.
His concentration crashed into a series of typos that filled the document he had started next and John groaned with frustration and pleasure. Mostly thetter, admittedly, as he leaned back and sought out the golden, backwards oriented wildness of Nias hair. The short strands on top were so much fluffier than the extremely long ones at the sides and back, which she usually confined into a ponytail anyway.
Oh yeah, work cant keep up with that, he groaned while guiding her down his shaft. Mind of Work was a bit dangerous because it was so effective at blending out all distractions that he almost forgot what he worked for in the first ce. It turned him into a true work-addict, doing tasks for the tasks sake. With his Wisdom, he was still able to snap out of it if he wanted, but that was often a difficult decision to make.
Then stop doing next weeks work, Nia told him, the scolding intent written ever so slightly into her tone. I want to pleasure you, darling.
That tug right at his lust and heartstrings, and he was left wordless while she gave him a blowjob that left his vision shaking. Assaulting his member with all of the skill she had cultivated since her return, she had him gasping and at her mercy. Usually, it was the other way around, but John was happy to have his thoughts wiped out for a change.
Five minutester, when he was done cumming down her throat, Nia licked him clean and then tended to his dick in a more casual fashion. Her face was bright red from her own post-orgasmic haze. Theres so much power in this part of you, she said, giving the length of him little kisses. John would have returned with banter, but he could read from little tells in her behaviour that she was still thinking. Do you want to work more?
I honestly should, John told her. If I get just a few more things out of the way, I can take the entire next week off. Well, Ill still have to be on call for emergencies and probably will have to send Jack to a few interviews, but I myself can spend a week just sitting on my couch and do what I want.
Who you want, Nia added with a tiny lewd smile.
Arent you turning into a greedy minx? John hummed, scratching her behind the ear. Like a cat, she leaned into his touch.
I get better at expressing it, darling, she returned with another kiss. I support you taking time off. We could visit the Menagerie together.
That sounds like a nice way to spend a morning, John hummed in support.
Before they could make any other ns, a mental signal reached John. Statement: your presence is required, Master, Beatrice spoke when he shifted his attention to her. Along with her words, she sent the mental image of a certain duo, standing in the middle of the Harbour. One had red hair, the others mane was white, both had a holy aura to them that stood in stark contrast to the demonic crowd behind them.
Already? John thought and looked down at Nia. We have to go, he told her. The Order is bringing the demons in. They are at the Harbour.
She blinked up at him, considering her answer even while he pulled back and both of them got dressed. I demandpensation for my lost time.
Youll get as much as you want, John promised her and handed her a bottle of cleansing water of the Floridian variety. After drinking it, not a bit of cum would stick to her mouth. Combining it with a self-cleaning towel let her clean herself up in a matter of seconds. It was not as thorough as a shower, but it did the job.
John went over to the Harbour through two teleporters. He and Nia stepped off the pad and into a crowd that had spontaneously formed at the Harbour. The reason why became immediately apparent: the Order of the Golden Rose had arrived on a golden, sparkling boat. John wasnt sure if it was a battleship or a yacht, size and design lent themselves to both, but given the presence of numerous armaments, the former was likely more correct.
He spotted two knights, each of which stood as the endpoints of a chain of squires. Shields and weapons brandished in the style of a military parade, they created between them a corridor down which demons poured onto the ind. The infernal humanoids seemed more fascinated than confused by their environment, a respectable stance towards things, given that none of them could have had memories more than a couple days old.
At the end of the delegation, overseeing the demons gathering into a crowd, stood Moira and Lorelei. The Shield Warden wasnt in her usual armour, instead only wearing the tabard over a wine-red bodysuit. It was an incredibly sexy outfit, given how tight it sat, but John didnt keep staring at her for a prolonged period. His interest in her was purely physical, at this point. Lorelei, however, he had genuine attraction to. Especially given what she was wearing today.
Presumably to cope with the summerly temperatures of the Guild Hall, the seer had exchanged her usual robe with one that revealed more skin. It was still ssy, hiding her breasts, midriff and hipspletely from view. Fashioned from only oneyer of cloth and sitting a lot tighter than the usual one, the dark grey robe left all of her proportions to be deeply analysed, however. The skirt of the robe had decorative holes on each side, giving a teasing view of her naked, pale thighs. A moderate amount of squish was immediately apparent. He had seen her in a more revealing summer dress before, but this semi-religious garb tickled a different fancy. The ring covering the upper half of her head was the same as usual.
Lorelei turned redder with each second John stared at her. Rather than direct his focus elsewhere, the Gamer tunnel visioned with all of his lecherous intent. The closer he got, the stronger his attention focused on her, the heavier the effects were. Her seer powers were a blessing but they also made her overly apparent of what certain people were thinking and Johns attention had a particrly stimting effect on her.
Usually, good manners would have made John a bit careful about this power he had over her. Right now, he used it to punish the unannounced intruders. Lorelei started to quiver, her legs shaking and her pink lips parting in a heavy pant. Rather than try to hide, she took half a step in Johns direction. That finally made Moira notice him as well.
John Newman, she called out, somewhat warningly, and the Gamer finally moved his eyes from the adorable, white-haired seer.
No he heard Lorelei whisper under her breath. She moaned when that made him nce back to her.
Whatever I am doing to that woman, please never let it stop, John thought and nted his feet firmly in front of the two. Moira Brighton, he extended his hand in greeting, wee to the Guild Hall. I hope you had pleasant travels.
Moira looked between her agitatedpanion and John, then carefully took his hand. Pleasant enough, she responded sternly and loud, for the crowd. Quieter, she told him. Why do you make such a scene of poor Lorelei, Gamer?
Why do youe without a warning? John responded in a simrly quiet tone.
No warning? My father Moira groaned and John took a deep breath, both of them having the same realization. The Shield Warden raised her voice for the public again. Sorry that we arrived earlier than scheduled.
Well, it is unsurprising that you would have your things in such good order, John responded with well acted ttery. If you wish, I could show you where to get some water? Yourpanions must be roasting in the unusual weather.
That would be most appreciated, Moira responded.
John took the two leading figures somewhere less public.
Chapter 966 – No words for Gamers
Chapter 966 C No words for Gamers
John took Moira and Lorelei through the teleporter and then guided them to one of the conference rooms on the ground floor. On the way, he called out to Aclysia, letting the weaponized maid know that she should take care of the new arrivals. Although they hade sooner than anticipated, the necessary actions to amodate them had already been made.
Also treat the Orders knights nicely, he had specifically told her. We dont need a scene.
As you wish, Master, she responded, herself still on the way to the Harbour. Beatrice and Nia were doing a good job overseeing them in the meantime.
Moira took a seat on the burgundy cushion of the ebony wood and jumped right into the topic. And you are certain you received no message?
Absolutely, John responded, taking one of the chairs and pushing it towards Lorelei. Please, there is no need for you to stand. Would you like something to drink? A snack?
I uhm Lorelei bit her lower lip when he gently touched her to push her down into the seat. The feeling was mutual. Touching her smooth skin had an electrifying effect on Johns senses. He brushed over her shoulder for longer than was appropriate. Despite this, the seer managed to gather herself. For all her sensitivity to his presence, she wasnt weak-willed. Something cool, if you could provide, Gamer.
John will do, as you know, Lorelei, he reminded her and slowly backed off. Partially to keep his own desires under control, mostly because Moira was clearing her throat in a warning fashion. He wasnt intimidated, but they did have to talk business. His steps carried him to one of the closets around and to the many sses that were disyed behind the translucent doors. They were made for whiskey, champagne and other ssy spirits, but the container did not dictate the beverage. You want some too, Moira? he asked, reaching for the sses.
Water, she stated, hard, and looked over to Lorelei while John ced three sses on the table. Did he tell the truth? she asked.
Yes, Shield Warden, Lorelei answered swiftly. John could feel her psychic gaze inspect him, while he opened the seamlessly integrated fridge. He let a little bit of anger swell inside him to warn Lorelei to not look further than he allowed her too. Their interest was mutual, but they were still members of different guilds. That was putting aside the fact that the Gamer despised being spied on. John did not see a message, the seer reported, while keeping her gaze as shallow as needed.
And Im not one to leave my mails unchecked, John added, finally putting a cold bottle of water on the table. He poured each of them a ss. Moira and Lorelei were taking their sips, before he sat down on the table. After lubricating his own vocal cords, he continued, I cant say Im surprised that your father would toy with me like this.
My honoured father has never been this petty, Moira returned, but sighed, albeit, I must admit, that you seem to coerce the worst from him. You two are too simr.
Indeed, John agreed immediately.
Moira raised an eyebrow. You do not disagree with that?
No, its true, were both prideful, headstrong men at the top of a powerful organization, with visions for the world around us, John listed the obvious ovep. People like him and I butt heads at the best of times. As it so happens, you are moralizers and Im a liberator. That just spells out the recipe for disaster.
The redhead on the other side of the table rubbed her forehead, but spared herself the obvious returns. It was clear they hade to an impasse when it came to discussing their worldviews. Fusion and the Order have crystallized as the supreme powers of North America, she stated. If there is no diplomatic solution between us, the blood of good people will flow.
Are you willing to yield, then? John asked. Let your territory be broken up into several member states and join Fusion?
No, Moira gave the expected answer. The Order of the Golden Rose willmand its own destiny.
Understandable. Although, the Gamer looked over the rim of his raised ss, I hear that the branch in Germany agreed to operate under the lead of Rex Germaniae.
The Sword Warden operates within thews of Rex Germaniae, Moira corrected in a firm tone. Laws that are agreeable to our mission. Subordination to the local power is only eptable if it doesnt interfere with our values.
John smiled as he took a sip. She had run directly into his rhetorical trap. A local power, he said slowly, headed by none other than my Lydia. If they take no issue with having one of my girls as their rulers, then certainly you can adjust to having the centre of the harem as your overlord. The ck of ss on wood underlined his words and was the only sound in the thoughtful silence that followed.
Perhaps concessions could be made, Moira conceded, because she couldnt without throwing the German branch of her organization under the proverbial bus. As someone who valued her principles andradery, that wasnt something the Shield Warden could even consider. As it stands, there is no need to consider.
As you say then, John waved off. Pivoting to another topic before Moira coulde up with a counterargument, he said, To our business then. The Order dealt with the demons quicker than I expected.
The Order has perfected the art of judgement, the Shield Warden stated. I appreciate your stern desire for evidence, but if one has ess to seers, the number of fringe cases diminishes rather vastly.
John nced at Lorelei, who sat straight and quiet in her chair. So, you oversaw the trials? he asked her.
I, and the lesser seers, weeded out the most obviously guilt-stained individuals, Lorelei reported. It was a vile society you tried to protect, John. I understand why you did it but
Theres no need to lecture me about what I tried to do, the Gamer interrupted her calmly. I know who I tried to help and what the consequences of my victory could have been. Lets not dwell on that. He paused for a moment. How many demons did you bring me? How many stayed in the Order?
94 and 3, respectively, Moira had the exact answer.
Out of thousands, John mumbled. Did you execute the rest?
Most. Some cases we judged redeemable. They are under observation, while they adjust to the memory loss, Moira responded, her facial features softening somewhat. Yourpassion is admirable, John.
The Gamer poured himself another ss of water to wash down the lump in his throat. He wasnt about to cry, he wasnt misty-eyed either, the weight of his failure simply pressed on his chest. I try to preserve what I have of my humanity, he mumbled into his ss. Lord knows that I will struggle with that, through the eternal life that lies before me.
Do you worship, John? Moira wondered, a genuine question in keeping with the mood that settled in the room.
No, I just say Gods name because Ive grown up with the phrases, the Gamer told her. Although you could say that I act as if he exists, given that I still keep in line with values that very few people could punish me for breaking Was their journey peaceful? he switched back to the topic at hand.
Surprisingly so, Moira told him. They let themselves be brought to the ship without issue. I do not understand how a crowd can take the impending wiping of their memories with such calm demons arent humans, John, that much is clear.
They agreed to the contract, I suppose they were prepared for this oue from the start. John leaned back in his chair. How many of them have memories predating their arrival in New Libraria.
None.
I suppose that puts my previous statement into partial doubt, then, John sighed. Much like a Canadian could hardly say that he had agreed to the social contract with the Canadian state, a demon born into New Libraria would have a difficult time refusing the conditions of their home. Given the secrecy Galku had aimed for, those that wanted to leave had to take the contract to forget or were murdered on their way out. So, you bring me only half-breeds, I would guess?
Correct. How did you know? Moira asked. Demographically, half-breeds were still in the minority, even among those born into New Libraria.
Ive found out that demons be more empathetic the more they mingle with humans. They understand love, develop bonds to other people, are less attracted to raw power to put it simply: they be more like us, John told her. If there was a fraction of New Libraria that would escape your judgement, then I would expect it to be those that had at least an inkling of morality in that awful ce.
They have forgotten their whole lives C and many of them are better off for it, Moira told him. Even those with a speck of innocence are not treated well in a ce that worships selfishness and power.
I suppose you can look at it like that as well, John agreed. That framing made the fact that he was dealing with a bunch of memory-wiped sons and daughters a bit easier to digest. I guess most of them are subi and incubi as well?
Moira just nodded; she did not have to ask how he guessed that. Those demons that had the most intercourse would naturally bring about the most offspring. What will you do with them? she felt obligated to ask.
For a start? Keep them isted from broader society, John told her. They dont have families or memories, so just sending them out into the world would be cruel. For a start, I will encourage them to find a surrogate family in each other. Then we will see what we can do with them. I imagine most of the sex demons will naturally be inclined to start working in the Bae Circle. He shrugged. If they integrate well there, thats for the best of all. The demon blood will continue to dilute until nothing is left of the naturally born sociopaths and they turn into a segment of society with horns, contract obsession and a higher likelihood for extreme pragmatism. For the other types of demons, I will find work for them that matches their natural inclinations.
At least you have things nned out, Moira begrudgingly admitted.
I always have things nned out, John tried his best at a dry joke. The question is just how good the n is C it is brilliant by the way, most of the time. Speaking of brilliant, his tone lightened the mood in the room on its own, what is that sparkly monstrosity you parked in my Harbour? Your base of operation is ind. I get that Springfield has a navigable river, but thats a bit much.
The Blessed Lady has been sitting uselessly in said river since we arrived in that city, Moira responded. Ive never actually seen it be moved aside from maintenance. My father took it with us when our branch of the Order moved from Britain.
I suppose I shouldnt be surprised that the former Brits still have ships around, John admitted. Im more surprised that you moved in the first ce. Dont get me wrong, the USA was in need of cleaning up, but with Britainsck of major powers, Im just confused that you would move your base of operations to another continent, rather than consolidate your grip on the soil under your feet. I think you would rather have that than the current state of affairs.
Great Britains power vacuum had recently been filled by the Illuminati. During the peace deal of the Five Days War, the primarily French guild hadid im to all of it. More important than the historical irony John felt at the French governing the English was that one of the main powers leading the Illuminati was the Horned Rat.
My fathers choices are beyond you to question, Moira gave the tight-lipped answer. Whether she knew herself or not, she refused to let him know what it was.
John let the topic go. It was something he was curious about, but not a thing that ultimately mattered. Instead, he turned to Lorelei, the white-haired seer being a sight to behold. So, you called the others lesser seers. I knew you were special, but just how talented are you? he asked.
There is no need to tter me, John, Lorelei said, but smiled and yed with the tip of her messy braid.
I think Ill be the judge of that, the Gamer returned. A draft of air and the quiet whisper of well-oiled hinges caused him to turn his head. Through the door frame stepped the most beautiful woman in the world, her wild pink mane bouncing with each enthusiastic step. And here I was trying to hide my date from you, Jane, he joked.
Ya couldnt hide your cheating butt from me if ya flew to Australia, Rave bantered right back. With light steps, she made her way over to John and ced a quick kiss on his cheek. Standing behind his backrest, Johns girlfriend wrapped her arms around his neck and held him lovingly as she greeted the other two. Hey, sorry for beingte. First Lady stuff and ya came in unannounced.
Yes, I will make my father aware of that misgiving, Moira said. Youe in at an opportune time. As I recall, you still owe me a tour of this Hudson Barrier. She crossed her arms. The tiniest of smug smiles appeared on her lips. As much as you investigate us with every sentence, Gamer, it is only just that we get to see your infrastructure.
Knock yourself out, John made a gracious gesture. Our next sh is inevitable, but Id like to get along with you until and after that. If that is, at all, possible.
The feeling is mutual, Lorelei chimed in, fidgeting a slight bit in her chair. The Lady has aplicated rtionship in store for us.
Oh, so our rtionship is wanted by Gaia, is it? John asked, using a considerably more personal tone than Lorelei had. Once more, his attention drilled into the seer. She turned progressively more red. I wonder what state her panties are in and if shes going to think of me for a prolonged period tonight.
Moira let out a resigned sigh, a sound that often apanied or interrupted the Gamers flirts with the seer. Speaking of sh, the redhead brought up, Ill need some time to change into my armour, given how this tour will likely conclude.
Nah, dont worry, Rave waved off. I wont challenge ya today.
Moira raised an eyebrow. I cant say Im displeased by that development, but I must ask. What brought it about?
I would lose if I challenged ya today, Rave put it inly. I wont lose to you next time we fight. Thats all.
You do work and you learned patience, Moira shook her head. The wonders of the Ladys blessings are boundless.
The wonder here is the boundless number of orgasms this guy can screw into me thanks to the Ladys blessings, Rave responded swiftly.
Moira turned red.
Chapter 967 – Inhumanely Flexible, Inflexible Creatures
Chapter 967 C Inhumanely Flexible, Inflexible Creatures
The rest of the Golden Roses visit went off without any incident. Regrettably, Moira dismissed Johns suggestion to stay overnight. He didnt care much for her, but the haste with which she got back on her boat meant that the Gamer had no opportunity to flirt more with Lorelei. He wanted to pursue their connection more. Although he didnt believe in fate, destiny or any such preordained notions, him and her felt like something that was meant to be.
Moiras meddling with their rtionship was odd. Most of the time, she seemed resigned to their mutual interest. Whenever she could use proper procedure to throw a wrench into their flirtation, she did. It had all the signs of someone begrudgingly letting a friend go into a rtionship they thought was a mistake. John wondered how these two talked about him in private.
He didnt get to ask. Neither did he get to send them off in a way that looked good. The Gamer didnt care for journalists poking their noses in his life and Moira didnt care to even suffer their presence. Once the tour was done, before John could gather a press conference to take good looking photos, the Orders ship was sailing back out of his Harbour.
John kept a close eye on the military vessel. Not because he particrly feared the Order pulling somest-minute stunts, but because he still had a few questions about how it had gotten there. A fair chunk of those were answered when the ship just popped out of existence when it hit the river. The Golden Rose didnt have a Fateweaver capable of maintaining a Mobile Barrier. They relied on an enchantment to move the entire vessel in and out instead. Presumably, theybined that with either basic invisibility, camouge or mundane disinterest enchantments to keep unwanted eyes off it. The Order wasntcking in funds and crafters, but they had an apparentck of non-military specializations.
John would exploit that when he got the chance.
Saturday then passed by with John giving all of the necessary press briefings on what had happened, that it totally went as nned and that Fusion and the Order of the Golden Rose were enjoying a stable rtionship. Stable, not friendly, being the operative word there. Although John did make it clear in the interview that he did find the Order to be the least objectionable foe he had found on the continent so far.
William Brighton was a right, proper knobhead, but he didnt have to say that to the public.
Interviews rolled by, John did some more work, and when Sunday came, the Gamer found himself in the certain position that he could take a whole week off. Yes, he still had to be avable for emergency calls and, yes, new work that required his signature would pile on while he was gone. The unenviable part of being a boss was that he never truly had free time. Vacations were just periods where he didnt sit in his office. If something knocked on Fusions border, which could happen at any given moment, he had to get right back into the drivers seat.
Onest thing he decided to do before starting his vacation was to check on the demons. He had skipped out on that yesterday due to other ongoings and to let them settle in. What he had expected to find was a bunch of semi-confused demons awkwardly speaking to each other.
Instead, he found a household filled with moans,ughter and people sticking to themselves. They inhabited a sizable house, located in the area of the Hudson Barrier officially owned by the military. Like everywhere else in the city, the district had a lot more space than people to inhabit it and many mundane houses that had been copied over. Building a wall around a set of them hadnt been an issue. Equipping it ahead of time had luckily worked out as well.
John was there on a surprise visit, so the demons hadnt been gathered or anything. It just so happened that around half of them were located in the lobby of the central mansion when he entered. Fifty demons, the vast majority of them subi, with incubi as the distant second, were all around the massive room. Even as someone who liked his open kitchens, John found the fusion of foyer, living room, kitchen and bar that he found himself in a bit too spacious.
The demons didnt seem to mind. Many of them lounged on the massive couch, watching TV, others were in the process of using the blender to make themselves some cocktails. Many partook in the excesses of pleasure C in purely hygienic ways, as John approvingly noted. Few sat in corners or on barstools, reading books or things on the smartphones they had been provided with. Their loss of personal memories didnt seem to have impeded their tool use or their social skills whatsoever.
John scratched the back of his head, while the demons started to notice him. In particr, the subi became aware of his presence because they instinctively were attracted to his power. They hurried to be closer to him and moaned when that alone brought them pleasure.
If nothing else, subi know how to behave around you, Master, the weaponized maid noted approvingly. Aclysia was the only one apanying him at the moment, in part because of where they were headed after they were done there. Although their instinctual reaction likelycks the proper loyalty.
Yeah wonder how that will change through the generations, John responded mentally. If thats something that persists, could be that the cheating rate among subi and incubi descendants is abnormally high if its something they can concentrate on someone, Id guess they will be some of the most popr partners around ah well, thats something for future statistics. He gazed at one subus in particr.
She was of the particrly demonic variety. Her skin was a dark, blueish grey, her eyes red in pitch ck sclera, and her goat-like horns pronounced. Those very same horns were also perfectly shaped to be grabbed, her soft tits and fat ass both equally inviting and her bat-like wings exotic. The thin, leathery tail curved excitedly in the air and then stopped when that subus copsed to her knees. Cock, cock, cock, cock, she stammered, while the Gamers attention was making her spasm from repeated orgasms.
A lilim, John corrected himself. This sub-species of subi was generally regarded as lesser. They had less self-control, were less powerful inbat and could generally be described as natures cock sleeves. They also tended to be shorter, if Johns limited research was to be trusted. His gaze wandered over the crowd of semen demons around him and he asked a question, So, how are you settling in?
Well enough, stud, one of the subi, a redhead with pale skin, answered and stepped closer. All demons had been supplied with clothes, first by the Golden Rose and then by Fusion. Despite this, most of them were naked. This particr individual stood out because she had fashioned herself improvised fetish gear from torn strips of other clothes. It had a primal appeal. Especially once she pressed her breasts against Johns chest. Bit boring in here though. Isnt there more exciting stuff out there?
John was once more reminded that these werent humans. At least he didnt expect the average human bereft of his memories to do this well less than three days after the start of their new life. Stress, confusion, and a lot of questions would be on their mind. The demons seemed content with the basic exnation of the situation and the chance he had wanted to give them to build up familial bonds forfort was wholly unnecessary. Even though half-breeds did have friends and were more attached to their families than pure demons, they did not reach the average human levels of empathy. Even this filtered assortment seemed to barely escape the confines of sociopathy.
Given that observation, John decided to pull ahead the schedule somewhat. I suppose there is, but we have to make arrangements before we just let you go out there, he stated truthfully. I could make arrangements that some entertainment reaches you here though.
The subus finger travelled up and down his muscr chest. I think some entertainment could be right here. The tip of her tail brushed over his pants.
As enticing as the suggestion was to just fuck this crowd of demtes, John had other things to do this morning. I have ces to be, he told them, but Im sure some of the local garrison would appreciate your services. Fusions soldiers were expected to be the embodiment of discipline while on duty, but John didnt see a reason why they couldnt have had some fun with exceedingly willing women in their off time. Many of them, the young men especially, were marching over to the Bae Circle when they had time anyway. If you swear you wont try to get pregnant unless your partner agrees before the intercourse, Ill let them know what youre offering.
He was given an enthusiastic choir of promises and then told the subi to go spread the news. Pretty quickly, they had established one house of the little vige to be the makeshift brothel and the majority of sex demons moved there in anticipation. Fusions military wasnt exclusively male (or straight, for that matter) so the incubi were also invited.
John wasntfortable enough to immediately unleash them on the Bae Circle. This arrangement would do fine to test the waters. Maybe I can keep them around as the armys dedicated brothel service, if things work out? That would probably do wonders for morale, the Gamer considered, but ultimately didnt n further from that idea. If he were to set up such a military-exclusive service, he wouldnt force the demons to stay in it. He might advertise it, but taking away the freedom of choice wasnt something he wasfortable with. That aside, how the sex demons would integrate into society beyond their obvious choice of upation remained to be seen.
Setting up the whorehouse took care of 73 of the 94 demons Fusion had been left with. The remaining 21 turned out to be the true oddballs of demonkind. One of the saving graces of sex demons was, doubtlessly, their specialization. Although the Order of the Golden Rose looked at promiscuity with disdain, they didnt think it was something to execute a person over. As such, even sex demons that leaned more towards the sociopathic side of their nature had the chance to get away without evermitting any atrocities.
Byparison, a fiend (a kind of demon specialized towardsbat roles and brutality) had several times the opportunity tomit a crime worthy of execution. Murder was the foremost example, but torture, muttion and all of that horrible stuff were also amply present when ones job was to be a sapient murder device. In those circumstances, all that had escaped the Orders retribution leaned extremely towards the empathetic side.
They still had their inhuman sides. None of the fiends John spoke to seemed to show any sadness or distress over the loss of their memories. They did have both a natural distaste to kill or hurt people needlessly and an instinctual craving for violence. It was a slightly odd bnce. John could appreciate it though. A lot of societal conditioning was just making people understand that violence wasnt the go-to answer for problems. If the fiends understood that, their inherent desire could serve them well in other ways. John suggested to them that they could attend some military drills and promised he would send teachers of moral philosophy over. The fiends seemed more interested in the former.
The devils, however, were highly interested in the teachers. These were the kinds of demons that people would generally call dealmakers and they were also those that generally stayed secluded. After having a few conversations with them, John found that they reminded him of Scarlett. Selfish and generally uninterested in human contact, with a knack for contracts and business. Where their pure-blooded origins would have likely done the demon-typical thing of using every single loophole in their deals to rob the partners of everything they could, the devils that John talked to were either preaching the importance of long-term sustainability or that it would vite the spirits of the contract if the other person wasnt satisfied.
Those friendly fiends and devils, John was certain Moira meant when she had said that this new life was a mercy for them. In the empire of power that Galku had lorded over, their empathy had made them targets for exploitation, no doubt.
It would be harder to find a definitive field to introduce the devils to. Dealmaking was a less distinct characteristic than being a naturally born whore or brawler was. The Gamer would look for advice from Scarlett about where they could send some moral businessmen and women. Perhaps he would recruit them for his administration. In the end, it would be the devils choice.
After all of that, there were two more demons left. One was a Keeper of Secrets, a rare variety of demons that found their gratification in the pursuit of knowledge. He had some avian features about him, blue wings and taloned feet, that gave the man somewhat of a harpy-esque feeling. For the moment, he seemed content to also attend the lectures John offered. He seemed to be more interested in definitive knowledge, like history and maths, than the esoteric though. John guessed that he hadnt been too keen on cataloguing the horrid rituals of New Libraria in his previous life.
The veryst demon around was an afrit. These fire demons were praised for their loyalty to those strong enough tomand them. They would fulfil everymand their masters gave them, turning into their right-hand that cut down their enemies with cruelty. The red-skinned, white-haired, one-horned maiden that John spoke to didnt strike him whatsoever as someone who could cut down someone, much less do it with cruelty. She stumbled over her words, shifted around, seemed generally apologetic and affirmed regrly that she wanted to be a good girl and that she couldnt serve bad people because of it.
After a short exchange, Aclysia took over that conversation. You remain steadfast in your wish to serve?
Its in my nature, isnt it? the afrit woman asked.
Your nature does not have to define you, Aclysia responded firmly. You may be born a servant but only your choice to be one will let you flourish in the role. I assure you, if you are uncertain about dedicating your life to the wellbeing of someone else, it will be misery for both you and your chosen superior. The weaponized maid gave her Master a loving smile, before continuing, If you wish to be a maid, I have a ce for you. If you do not, there are plenty of upations to dedicate your life to. I ask again: do you remain steadfast in your wish to serve?
The afrit was quiet for a whole minute. Neither John nor Aclysia wished to hurry her. The white-haired maid had been certain that she wanted to continue on her path when her mental faculties had developed enough toprehend her nature. While she had never doubted the validity of her path and found her fulfilment in it, the artificial guardian had also never doubted that it was her choice. She was a maid because she chose to be. She wanted to offer more people this path. Everyone had to make their decision though.
I wish to try and be a maid, the afrit finally confirmed.
Chapter 968 – The School of Servitude
Chapter 968 C The School of Servitude
There were 25 inds of notable size in the North Lake guild. Sorted from smallest to biggest, they were given to the top 25 performers in the tournament that Fusion was to host every couple of years. It was an institution John had brought to the area, based on the previous hyperpetitive duels the local Abyssals had fought overnd ownership. Making it an event with a set frequency and binding rules greatly decreased the lethality of that tradition and it let the fighters enjoy their spoils for a little while. They were heavily encouraged to keep training to maintain their hold on that ind or even rise up the chain to get a bigger one.
The top of the 25 inds somewhat broke with the pattern. It wasnt thergest of them all and it couldnt be won by simply scoring the top position in the tournament. If the champion of the tournament wanted to try, they had the right to challenge Fusions president. Otherwise, it would remain in the Gamers possession. With that arrangement, he didnt have to crush lesser Abyssals every time the tournament came up.
Technically, whoever managed to take the ind from John also had the right to make the North Lake state secede from the Federation, but that was an issue the Gamer didnt expect toe up anytime soon.
Savage Ind, that had been the name of it when Aclysia defeated the leader of the Small Lake Pact. Following the Gamers consolidation of power in the area and his decision to leave this space fully in her charge, it had been renamed to Servitude Ind. Aclysia had promptly announced her ns to make this a school to train maids.
Despite Aclysias numerous other duties, she had put enough work into it to get the basic premise off the ground. Part of that was thanks to the previous inhabitants of the ind. Few of the forty women that had lived there previously were cut out for the servant life. Sure, John had enjoyed a particrly wild orgy with all of them wearing maid uniforms, but anyone could put on an outfit.
Arriving on Servitude Ind, for John, was like stepping in his personal paradise. A tall wall surrounded the shore of the vertically stretchedndmass, with a cut east and west letting one step onto a beach and a pier respectively. A respectable mansion was right next to the teleporter. It had been visibly improved since the harem had originally built it, but John still felt the connection to it any human felt towards the fruit of their ownbour.
In the summer, there had been a beautiful flower field around. At the moment, they were in the colder months of the year and so flowers were rare, popping out of the healthy grass. John spotted the asional bee, a scout of the bee-fairy courts they had settled elsewhere in the barrier.
Nature and civilization being in harmony within the confined space was already a good move towards paradise, but what truly made it were the women around. Aclysia had no qualms about this being a ce to train maids, not butlers, and so John was the sole man on an ind where everyone wore and lived the ck-white uniform of the female servant. In ordance with the season, the women wore versions of the maid outfit that were less revealing. Longer skirts, stockings, overcoats and hats modified the usual perfection ofce, frills, and elegant cuts of the uniform.
The way they walked alone was enticing to John. It wasnt that there was anything inherently sexual to their movements, just that the dignity of every measured step tickled his fancy. Looking closer, he found that there were certain women whose uniforms were a bit more borate and whose grace was closer to Aclysias natural servitude. One of those maids, a blonde with a lean figure, approached John and Aclysia.
We are pleased you found time for us, Master Newman, Headmaid Aclysia, she greeted the two of them with a respectful bow. How may the maids of Servitude Ind be of service?
Aclysia was the one to answer, raising her voice with authority. Prepare a room for a new apprentice, she instructed and made a simple gesture towards the white-haired demte at her side. This one has shown interest in mastering the way of the servant. Master and I will give her a tour, then she will decide whether to join or not.
As you wish, Headmaid, the blonde responded and looked over to the afrit. What is your name?
AAmelia, she responded hesitantly.
A nervous stutter shall I quarter her with Lemilia?
For a start, that works, Aclysia confirmed, and the maid bowed her head again to walk away.
Am I in trouble? Amelia asked nervously.
No, the weaponized maid firmly denied, which only served to make the submissive demte even more unsure. Lemilia is the speech teacher of the school. She will be working on removing your verbal tics, such as stutters.
I dont want to cause unnecessary work the afrit mumbled.
A fundamentally proper stance to have, for a servant, Aclysiamented. After all, it is our calling to solve the issues of our Master. However, this schools ambition is to teach the worlds greatest maids. Cause the unnecessary work here, so that you may learn all you need to in time. The weaponized maid gestured invitingly and the three of them started their walk west. At the moment, this school houses twenty apprentices and ten teaching maids, myself and Beatrice excluded. As you notice, the teacher to student ratio is high. This is deliberate. Every one of the maids that finishes their training here is a unique servant, not just a person who learned the craft.
John hummed approvingly, catching up to his first maid and putting an arm around her waist. Leave it to my Aclysia to cure the world of its maid-deficit. He ced a quick kiss on her cheek and she lovingly snuggled against him. As best she could while continuing to walk, anyway. He looked left and spotted one of the signs of damage from the recent conflict. Several of the trees in the garden had been destroyed. While the upper parts had since been removed, the trunks still remained burrowed in the ground. A trio of maids was in the process of unearthing one of them.
They stopped in their work to respectfully bow before their Headmaid and John. Following an acknowledging nod by Aclysia, they returned to digging and hacking away at roots.
The work of a maid is filled with physical activity. From simple tasks such as cleaning to the exhausting demands of gardening, we have to be skilled at every challenge that a household could face. Aclysia took a moments pause. As a biological entity, it is rmended that you always use the correct equipment and wear gloves. Take good care of your hands. A maids grasp should be firm and gentle and her palms soft.
Amelia needed a couple of seconds to realize that she was expected to respond. Y-yes!
Yes, Headmaid, Aclysia corrected. Always address people by their fitting honorific, especially in public.
Yes, Headmaid! Amelia almost shouted her answer.
Aclysia made a slightly displeased face and resumed the tour. You are certainly in need of verbal training. Lemilia will take good care of you.
Why dont you exin the teaching practices here? John asked while they approached the bee-fairy courts on the westernmost point of the ind. They lived in a series ofrge stone barrels. There was more traffic between them than there was to the rest of the ind. Given the season, they likely kept themselves busy with hive politics. One of the barrels had been destroyed and out of the cracked walls grew an impressive structure of yellow wax.
A little podium had been erected in front of the homes and was serving as the staging ground for a public debate. Another trio of maids observed the tiny, ck and yellow fairies enact an overdramatized version of noble politics. Like the previous trio, these three took a moment to acknowledge the visitors existence and, like before, they continued once Aclysia gave them a respectful nod.
In this school, apprentices are subject to two different kinds of official lessons, that being the lectures and the caretaking. The former is what you can currently observe. Aclysia stopped at the necessary distance so that her own speaking wouldnt meddle with the ongoing lecture. These are scheduled events that specifically exist to teach the maids in a subject. What the maids get taught each week is decided by the teachers, specifically their overseer, which leads us to thetter category. Aclysia resumed the walk, John felt the motions of her artificial muscles under the hand he had shamelessly pushed between the slits of her skirt. Arge part of your lessons will be practical and, as such, you are expected to take care of the ind. You will apany one fellow student and your overseer and go over the tasks for the day.
So my overseer would be Lemilia? the afrit asked.
In the beginning, yes, Aclysia confirmed. Your overseer changes monthly depending on what the school identifies to be your biggest weakness. Each overseer also teaches in the lectures, so you wille to know all of them. You have free time in the evenings and while such a lecture is going on. Provided you are not scheduled to attend it, of course. The weaponized maid took a pause while they passed the pier. Master, we may require an upgraded harbour.
Hmm, John hummed and looked at the simple stone construction. It had suffered some basic damage. Nothing immediately worrying, but certainly something that went against the wless look of the ce. You could use an update a new boat as well Ill talk to Gnome and see if one of the vessels we are currently constructing can be relocated.
My thanks, Master. Aclysia kissed his cheek and they continued their tour. The caretaking will take up the majority of the day. Whether you are in charge of cooking, gardening, farming, sewing, fishing or anything else, you must tend to your given task dutifully. The lectures are mostly about additional education. Although the maids decide for you apprentices what you get taught in each week, you do get to decide what kind of education interests you. At this moment, we offer extensive lectures for engineering, rhetoric and philosophy. We are trying to extend our offers with additional topics that are either practical or would be mentally stimting for Master.
Uhm a question, if I may, Headmaid? Amelia carefully raised her voice again.
Back straight C ask with a firm and respecting tone, Aclysia chided the potential apprentice. Choose your words deliberately. We do not want to waste time.
Yes, Headmaid. Am I to serve John Newman, by the end of my apprenticeship?
You may serve a master of your choosing. Aclysias response reflected some unhappiness. My John certainly deserves every maid he wants, but it is not necessary for you to pledge yourself to him. Simrly, it is not necessary that you are open to his sexual advances while you remain here.
I value consent more than my fetish for maid uniforms, John promised with a smile.
There are, however, sexual lectures you are expected to attend, Aclysia reported. I expect one to be going on at this very moment. We will arrive there in a few minutes.
They trotted down the path in rtive silence. Past the arena, in which the tournament for the inds was carried out, and past the long inactive mana factory, they went. John made a mental note to tear that building down for good while they patched the holes in the wall. It had served a temporary purpose as a makeshift prison, thanks to the mana siphoning apparatuses inside, but he had no more use for it.
When they crossed the halfway point of the inds length, the surroundings transformed rapidly. The spaciousness of the area around the mansion was reced with a cluster of houses that stretched along the western wall. Each was big enough for a small family. Wooden fences separated the green areas around them.
You will be given one of these houses, Aclysia exined as they walked by. You are expected to take care of it and the garden, in addition to your other duties. There will be inspections of the way you live. A maid that does not take care of her own household will make for a poor bride, and we cannot have that. Aclysia turned left, towards the eastern wall. Fewer and muchrger houses stood there. These are the houses of the overseers. Lectures are usually held in there.
Aclysia led them into one of thoserge houses. It had a lot more in terms of character than the semi-improvised constructions the Gamer and his group had originally erected in a couple of days. The specialization of the overseer was clear immediately. All over the walls, standing in the shelves, decorating window sills, were representations of the female form. Tasteful representations, as John found, nothing ludicrously perverse or extremely explicit.
The lewd moans that echoed through the corridors were more tantalizing than any of the visual hallmarks around. Closer and closer, they came to those sounds of female delight. Aclysia stopped before a door and knocked twice. The moans did not stop and soon a sultry voice responded, Enter.
They stepped into a candle-lit room in which a total of four maids were already present. Three of them, the apprentices, were naked and writhing seductively on cushions. They were at varying points in their twenties and yed with themselves as they rode dildos. Even after noticing the presence of the new trio, they continued unashamed. The fourth maid was still in her uniform, albeit John could hear the steady buzz of a vibrator from underneath her skirt. She was in her thirties and doubtlessly attractive.
Headmaid Aclysia, the maid bowed her head respectfully. Sorry, the girls are concentrating on their task.
They are forgiven, Aclysia said. I only wished to give this potential apprentice a quick look at the sexual training.
That so The sex teacher looker over Amelia, who observed the ongoings with a lustful blush. A demon, that is new. She isnt shy about sex, so thats a good start. Hey. The maid snapped her fingers to get the afrits attention.
Y-y-yesssss? the demte stammered and hissed wantonly.
The maid raised an eyebrow. Lemilia will have to teach you a few things. Tell me, what is the most important trait for a maid to have in the bedroom?
Submissiveness? Amelia responded hesitantly.
A popr one, but no, the sex teacher responded. The answer is honesty. Men, at least those that are worthy of a loving maids services, are only truly satisfied if they can pleasure their partner. I will teach you how to take care of someone, how to give them sexual service, but always remember that your master will want you to feel good too. Let them know how to do that.
Yes! Amelia responded enthusiastically. She sounded genuinely impressed with that advice.
You never tell me how to pleasure you, John joked through his connection with Aclysia.
You never needed to be told, you always knew how to make me happy, Master, the weaponized maid retorted.
They continued their tour, first leaving the building and then going south. There was less of import to show there. Houses made room for fields of wheat, berry bushes and fruit trees. Aclysia named all of them, made clear that a proper maid was expected to know what was in her garden and to have the knowledge to at least grow her own herbs. Fresh mint was always better than some store-bought stuff, she insisted. The fields were also part of the caretaking efforts.
Soon, their tour brought them to the southernmost point of import: a watchtower that went far above the walls. Although there was nothing up there, Aclysia still guided them all up to the top, letting Amelia see the entirety of Servitude Ind sprawled out under them. Our education will be thorough and demanding, Aclysia finalized the tour. Are you certain you want to attend this school?
Yes, Headmaid, Amelia said; she sounded calm for the first time this tour.
Good. Return to the mansion. You will be provided a set of uniforms and assigned a house.
Alone, Headmaid?
Alone, Aclysia confirmed. Master and I wish to enjoy the view for a little while longer.
Amelia tried her best at a bow and went on her way.
Chapter 969 – Diligent Love
Chapter 969 C Diligent Love
And what do we do now? John asked his weaponized maid.
Whatever you wish, Master, Aclysia responded swiftly, smiling ever so softly while gazing at his face. My subordinates have been working better than expected on fixing up the ind. We may not need help with most of the repairs after all.
Gnome will still have to patch the wall though. John pointed at one of the several holes their brawl with the rebels had caused. Ill have her bind to Jack ande over here in the next few days. He looked around the ind. Might be a worthwhile endeavour to add a bit morendmass to the ind while she is at it.
A pond would be most appreciated, Aclysia told him. A maid should know how to treat and purify water.
A maid needs to know a lot of things, in your view. John gave an amused hum and took a step forward. One leg after the other, he swung over the stone railing, sitting down on the edge. The drop was several tens of metres, yet John felt no dread from it. The human mind was adaptable and such a fall was no longer threatening to him. The excitement of being close to a drop remained, however. An area forbat training might also be worthwhile.
I had no luck in finding a teacher forbat yet, Aclysia admitted. She followed her Master and soon her own feet were dangling over the railing.
Maybe Metra cane by once a week? She doesnt have any official duties, so she should have the time, John suggested, while putting his left arm around Aclysias waist. They inched closer to each other, until their previous snuggling was reinstated.
Metra could teach them proper form, but I would prefer someone who can teach Martial Arts. The weaponized maid ced her head on his shoulder. It was a light sensation. Aclysias ess to the impossible metadermis material, a practically perfect faux-skin that was made entirely from metal, had made it easier for her to manipte her weight to be in line with humans. Her reshaping was also fast enough that she could spend the majority of her day with bones of a semi-hollow structure, cutting down their weight to expected levels. Only the thick encasing of her hardest avable metals around her core was ever-present.
Hmm, well, proper form is a start at least?
I am in contact with Lydia in order to ascertain whether she knows servant-minded individuals that can teach Martial Arts and arcane magic. I would prefer this over Metra spreading her aggressive attitude among my pupils.
Metra is very servant-minded, John countered with a smile ying around his lips.
Indeed, she is, Aclysia agreed swiftly. She does serve you. It is not the specific mindset I appreciate, however.
John couldnt argue with that and just silently sat there. The little pulses of magic that travelled through the Artificial Spirits body reverberated like heartbeats in Johns own being. Her chest rose and fell with steady breaths. They were unnecessary, all Aclysia needed air for was to push it past her vocal cords. It was just a habit she maintained.
He took a deep breath himself. The air was cold, less so than on the ground, but cold regardless. The limited space of Illusion Barriers and their wind-free state meant that the excess heat did rise to the top. There wasnt a lot of it, though, and whatever mechanics Gaia employed to keep air within appropriately fresh also kept the heat levels from rising endlessly.
What warmed him up, if he needed to be warmed up at all, was her scent. An adventurous mix of chocte, raspberry and a note of cinnamon. Those were what she meant to exude, oils that she had drunk and which she now let rise from her skin like normal people would sweat. They were apanied by the homely smells of grease and meat. Their breakfast had been a rather impressive meatloaf and the fragrance of making it still stuck to her hair. John didnt mind at all. She smelled like his maid and she smelled like a housewife. A naturalbination.
Aclysia responded to his persistent beholding of her beauty with a loving gaze of her own. Her eyes were locked with his, their emerald filled with so much more beauty than his in brown. That she decided to be with him was the ultimatepliment. Yes, he had made her to serve him. Not in a sexual fashion originally, more asbat support (with the sexual part being wantedter on but not strictly necessary).
As time went by and Aclysia went from being strictly obedient to her programming to intelligent and wise enough to be realized as her own person, that serving became voluntary. Granted, because her base was still grounded in servitude, her being attached to that style of life was predictable. Though serving was ingrained in her, serving him specifically and loving him were not. She was with him of her own free will. John wouldnt have wanted it any other way. As great as the idea was of creating a guaranteed loyal servant in the moment, the Gamer had long since deepened his understanding of what an individual was. He didnt want to be served by dolls. He couldnt love dolls either.
Master There was a twinge of misery in Aclysias voice.
What is it? John asked immediately rmed by that tone. Are you unwell?
No, my physical status is wless, the weaponized maid responded tly. You fell silent. This saddened me.
Sorry, he raised his right hand to her face, I was just taken in by your beauty.
Aclysias smile bloomed once more, her pink lips spreading wide and showing some of her pearly white teeth. I hope my sight will please you forever.
You dont need to hope for that, my Aclysia, he whispered as he leaned in. Their kiss was simple, direct and caring. Lips pressed together, tongues intertwined lovingly, without heat or want for more than the contact they had at that moment. She tasted like the aromas she exuded, making the kiss sweeter than eating any treat in the world.
The quiet, wet sounds of their smooching was all that could be heard. In his arms, the maid quivered with intense happiness. She held onto him. For all the power they had, for all the peculiarities of their bodies and of their rtionship, they were a thing that was incredibly straightforward andplicated: in love.
When their lips finally parted, they didnt pull away from each other further than a few centimetres. In unison, they lowered their heads, their foreheads touching as they sat there. It is on you to decide how we proceed, Master. Do you wish for my body?
Not right now, John whispered back. Right now, I just want you. The hand that had rested on her face slowly brushed over her neck, felt the smoothness of her skin. I want to be next to you. I want to see you smile. I want to hear your loving voice. He moved the second arm around her and now they hugged as deeply as they could while still losing themselves in each others eyes. I want you to call me by my name, Aclysia.
John, she obliged so eagerly. My John.
Your John, for now and forever, the Gamer confirmed. You can call me that regrly.
I could, Aclysia confirmed that she knew as much, but left the rest of her exnation silent. If she didnt enjoy calling him Master, she wouldnt keep doing it. That John enjoyed being called such went without saying. It only made her possessive little outbursts more adorable, that she usually referred to him in such a reverent fashion. For today, I will oblige, John.
A good servant should be rewarded for their obedience, the Gamer hummed and went in for another kiss. That one onlysted shortly, as he continued to talk. And my second wish is the usual, he presented in a joking tone, tell me what you want, Aclysia.
I want you to talk to me, the weaponized maid confessed willingly. Despite their mental connection being deliberately weak at that time, he could feel the swelling intensity of her emotions. I want you to be all I feel, John. I want your aroma to fill my lungs. I want your warmth all around me. I want to lose myself in your eyes. A radiant sun of love and, to a noticeable degree, obsession basked his mind in its glorious rays. I want your voice in my ears and nothing else.
Youre so dangerous to me, John whispered, the intensity of her adoration swelling his ego. I love you.
I love you too, John. I love that you are mine and I love that I am yours and I love that we will be together for all eternity. Side by side, you and I, forever, there was a hint of craze in her eyes. She hid it so well, usually, his first maid, just how deeply she had fallen for him. How much she moured for his recognition.
When had she turned into an addict for their love? It certainly was something she had developedter on. After they had been separated for several months, perhaps? Maybe because she thought Momo didnt love him enough? Or was that feeling that she didnt appreciate him itself an early sign of these tendencies?
Wherever her honest obsession hade from, John didnt mind it. Yes, it was, in all due honesty, a w and sometimes he wondered if it would make her do something incredibly stupid at some point. That was alright though. He didnt need the perfect woman. He was already blessed that he got a harem of such beautiful and brilliantdies. That they loved him and each other, that was all that counted.
Youre so dangerous to me, John repeated and pulled her into hisp. Her back faced the drop, her face to him, and her thighs pressed softly into his sides. I care for you too much to let this high opinion that you have of me not get to my head.
I could only hope to love you less if you were to be a lesser man, the weaponized maid was quick to respond, her arms wrapped around his neck. Do you think I could be anything less than truly, deeply desiring to be with you, my wonderful John? When you work this hard to better yourself? I served who you were and I keep falling for who you be. It was not always a clear thing, if that is what you need to hear.
It is, John confirmed. Tell me that you could lose faith in me.
I dont want to Aclysia whispered back. It hurts to think about it. That you could disappoint me, it pains my soul.
I need to hear it, Aclysia, the Gamer insisted with a little smile. You are not my doll, you are my Aclysia. That you love me is one of the greatest treasures in my life. That this love is not mindless is the source of my sess. You are the sturdy pir that I can lean on, but you are also the demanding force that keeps spurring me to greater heights. As a good woman, I need you to bemitted to both, even if you are morefortable with one than the other.
My John. Aclysia took a quivering breath, having great difficulty formting what he hated and desired to hear. If you were to turn cruel, if you were to turn loveless, if you were to turn narcissistic, then youd be unworthy of my diligence, she hastened those words out and then lowered her head on his chest. Never do.
I will do what is necessary to stay worthy of you, Aclysia, he promised and kissed the top of her head. The silky strands felt pleasant under his lips. Thank you. You are my foundation. All of mydies help me stand up to the expectations of the world. Each of you makes me love life in a different way that I just wouldnt be able to see if I was just taking care of myself. You are the one that will make sure that, no matter how dark the times may get, that I will stay who I am.
My John.
Your John, the Gamer hummed and stroked through her hair to calm her down. Im sorry to make you think of such dark potentials. Would you like me to tell you another dream?
No, Aclysia whispered back, raising her head again. The obsession in her green eyes had diminished, although it didnt vanishpletely. She was so honest right now, so vulnerable and beautiful. There was as little of a mask on her expression as there was a barrier between their souls. No, I do not want to lose myself right now. I only want you.
Only me, hmm? Johnughed a little bit. I could talk about a lot of things. I dont think all of them will be interesting though.
It doesnt matter, John she swooned. I dont care much what it is. Your voice, you being passionate, thats all I want to hear.
A list of things that I love about you, then, the Gamer announced.
Chapter 970 – Camping with the maid
Chapter 970 C Camping with the maid
John wasnt quite sure why he got swept up in the chain of events that led to him and Aclysia sitting alone by thekeside in a Natural Barrier. Chronologically, it was all rather clear. They had been hanging out on top of the tower. John had continuously praised his love-crazy maid, as was natural. Eventually John had to oblige the call of his dder, due to the limitations of (even super) human biology. After he left the bathroom, he was informed that a Natural Barrier had formed on the east side of theke. He had decided to take care of it. The Natural Barrier had turned out to be filled with fish. Level 5 to 20 fish, some of which could threaten the average Abyssal, but fish nevertheless. John and Aclysia had dedicated themselves to cleaning out the barrier. Then the maid suggested she prepare some of the fish. John had joked they would need all night to eat all of them. Aclysia returned that all night sounded nice and suddenly John hadmitted to sleeping outdoors tonight.
Not that he wasining about it. The Natural Barrier had spawned between two small settlements on the rocky shore of Lake Chamin. That effectively isted them from civilization, but neither mundane houses nor Servitude Ind were far enough away to say they were having a proper night in the woods. They also had several modern-daymodities. The boat that had brought them there, sitting a couple metres out in the water, was the most obvious. A sleeping bag, numerous outdoor cooking utensils, and a tent were the usual luxuries. A single sleeping bag, of course, nothing more would be needed. All of that had been moved over through Jacks inventory.
The same Jack, who John had used to exin the situation to the girls. None of them seemed annoyed with the fact that he would spend his night with a specific one of them. His women knew that they had to allow each other their special moments with their man. Really, the fact that they wouldnt have ess to Aclysias cooking for three meals seemed more of a concern among everyone. Practically, they all still got to spend time with him, given his doubles status as a wless extension of himself.
And youre sure you only need the salt you brought? Nothing from the kitchen? John asked while watching Aclysia prepare their meal. It was, in line with their excuse to spend a camp night alone, only the fish and the minimum of herbs they could scout out in the environment. Because this was a Natural Barrier, some of the mundane nts had spontaneously ascended into magical bushes. That was not universally a good thing, but Observe was a reliable way to tell what was poisonous or not.
It is the appeal of a night spent in nature to only use the usual natural ingredients, Aclysia responded while gutting the fish. Despite its magical status, it was only the size of Johns forearm. After all of the inedible parts were removed, the remains would have fit into a particrlyrge supermarket package. With the quantity of fresh ingredients essible and them being novel to the cook, Aclysia cut away more than was perhaps necessary. To no real loss, all things considered.
The weaponized maid was using Salver and a particrly smooth stone to prepare the strips of fish. She then sprinkled the meat with salt and finely chopped herbs. Every other one, she rubbed with a paste of squashed berries they had found. It was messier than her usual kitchen work, but that was part of the charm.
John, for his part, had gone through a number of side tasks. Number one, put up the tent. Harder than one would think in the forest, but he found a space big enough between some trees that he could clear. Yes, they were superhumans, but sleeping on pebbles would still not be pleasant. Number two, get a fire going. John made it a point of principle to do this only with the things nature provided. Extreme Agility diminished the aplishment of starting a fire with two sticks and friction, but he still liked that he got it done. Number three, sharpen some sticks. He splintered a rock and used that as an improvised knife. Another unnecessary, but nice exercise.
Aclysia took the sticks and skewered the fish on them. It was rarely a clean process. Crudely sharpened wood was a less reliable pration tool than metal or other kitchen appliances. The filets sometimes fell apart, despite the maids best attempts.
Even if John had cared, he would have been too distracted by the way Aclysia looked. The weaponized maid had changed into an outfit better fit for outdoor camping in this season. A jacket, a shirt, and thick yoga pants with hotpants on top, all in her usual ck and white colour scheme. Strictly speaking, those clothes were less appealing to John than her maid uniform, but they were on theme and cute in their own right. John himself had also changed into casual clothes, just a shirt, pullover and a thin jacket on top, with jeans for the leg covering. Wearing unenchanted gear felt almost nostalgic.
Soon a ring of skewers surrounded the ring of stones John hadid around the campfire. They sat more than a dozen metres away from their tent and a respectable distance from the water. Where they were, between rocky beach and trees, the ground was damp and as cold as the rest of the day. The temperature was just below the freezing point, but the sun was present enough to keep any frost from actually setting in. They used Johns jacket to separate them from the ground.
The two of them sat down by the fire, their backs towards the water, and gazed into the forest. Were it not for the fish guts scattered across the shore, they would have looked out over the vastke instead. The leafless forest was its own tranquil sight, however, especially with the me flickering so nicely before them.
The fish only cooked slowly, exuding a terribly enticing smell that grew more intense as they heated up. Not as enticing as Aclysias hair. The white-haired maid was leaning against Johns chest and happily hummed a little song. What tune is that? John asked, finding the melody familiar.
I dont know, Aclysia responded honestly. I picked it up when I helped Undine with a recording session. It was an improvised song to test the equipment.
Ever the musical one, our Undine, the Gamer hummed.
Ever working towards your prosperity, John, Aclysia added. As most of us are.
Fusions prosperity, he corrected softly. One of the pieces of wood in the campfire cracked and copsed into a swarm of rising embers.
Do you truly believe that all of us girls would work for the good of this nation if it wasnt yours? Aclysia asked, one her eyebrows raised and her emerald gaze meeting his.
No, I suppose you wouldnt, John conceded the point hastily. You, Beatrice, the elementals, Jane, Eliza, Metra I dont believe any of you care particrly in what country you live. Well, Metra probably was attached to Akkad, but the sands swallowed that empire aeons ago. Scarlett cares for Fusion, at least as a market. Nia likes the values of the federation. He chuckled softly, Lydia probably cares about maintaining a strong ally across the pond.
She cares about protecting you, Aclysia said and closed her eyes. Her head leaned against the side of his neck. Continuing with a whisper, she said, Fusion is your project and I admire it. It is a good ce to be. It is you carving your values into the fabric of society. It is your mark on the itself. As your first maid, I will certainly do my best to maintain and expand the power an extension of you possesses. Her hand lovingly brushed over his leg. Were you to dere it lost, however, I would not hesitate to cut it down. Im certain the other girls feel simr.
Probably. The Gamer bowed down and kissed her exposed neck. Even her skin tasted of chocte and the hint of smoke in the air added to the experience. With this much power connected to me, I cannot ever truly be a democratic representative though.
No, you cannot, and I fail to see the issue, Aclysia told him. They should be happy to have you as their ruler. President, king, dictator, those are titles signalling your value. The reality does not change that you are their benevolent overlord.
The ruler tyrannizing his people for their own good is the worst of all, John quoted something that resonated deeply with him. The robber barons desire for wealth and blood can be sated, if only temporarily. Those who will oppress people for their own good will never stop, because their mission is neverpleted.
It is because you know that you have these ws that you can be the ultimate ruler, Aclysia responded.
I know it until I dont, Aclysia. John shook his head. You are usually blind to your worst mistakes until you make them. This isnt about me abstaining from spirits as a former alcoholic, but about me being convinced that I do the right thing C only for thousands to perish at the ease of a few sentences.
Reality is cruel, Aclysia agreed.
Indeed. He gave her a kiss on the lips. Perhaps I can do it if I just live up to your expectations.
You can do everything you set your mind to. That is what makes you my John, she swooned with arge, happy smile on her lips. Nostrils widening, she sniffed a couple of times. Then she opened her eyes. The first fish are adequately cooked for consumption.
You can just smell that? the Gamer wondered. To him, the aroma of herbs, fish and smoke had been gradually intensifying, but there was nothing notable about this particr moment.
A good housewi- maid has a feeling for the preparedness of all dishes, no matter the type. Aclysia moved out of her masters embrace and got on all fours. While her hand reached for one of the nearby sticks, her big bubble butt pressed against Johns abdomen. In the harem, her ass was one of the fattest, juiciest around. John was tempted to eat it instead of some skewered fish.
Hunger made him withstand that emotion. He still paid more attention to the way it, clearly deliberately, grinded against him with all of its round softness than the process of pulling the sticks out of the ground. You almost said housewife, didnt you? he asked in a teasing tone.
I was hasty in my formtion and let slip what I will be, rather than-
What you wish to be, John interjected teasingly.
-what I am, Aclysia finished her sentence unabated, only to immediately turn her head and answer him. Are you insinuating that I am not allowed to be your wife, John?! Her tone almost became shrill, anger and panic surging in it.
Just a simple joke, he was quick to assure her, seeing the crazy in her eyes.
This is not a subject to joke about, she pouted, calming down as quickly as she had be worked up. Turning around, handing him the stick she had retrieved, she voiced a miserable confession. Our marriage will be the happiest day of our life. If I were denied the opportunity I do not know what I would do.
John was certain she meant that literally and took her by the chin. You will be my wife, he stated, his voice carrying enough authority tomand the world itself. Aclysia Newman, that will be your name and you will give me beautiful children.
Yes, Aclysia responded ecstatically, almost tearing up at the suggestion. He couldnt imagine how beautiful she would be on the day he made that promisee true. A thousand times yes. She nuzzled back between his arms and looked up as he took his first bite of her fish. An explosion of vour filled his mouth. The richness, simr to cooked salmon,bined with smoke, salt, and numerous faint forest herbs. Does it please you? the weaponized maid asked.
Always, the Gamer responded, wolfing down the delicious fish. By the time he was finished, Aclysia had already brought him a second, then a third skewer. Only by the eighth did he start to slow down. The eleventh was thest he managed to get down. The entire time, the two of them chatted about this and that.
The food hit the spot. John thought her usual cooking to be better, but there was something nice and simple about fresh and only lightly seasoned food. Especially some he had caught and killed himself. The connection with nature made things more delicious. It satisfied the primal instincts he had.
Maybe I should get into the habit of hunting our food, he thought out loud. Im sure there was a Building that introduced game to the Guild Hall or maybe therell be a special hunt for food barrier in the Housekeeper Perks?
Investing in that ss, at this time, would be a waste, Aclysia said, while they watched the fire dwindle.
Definitely maybe I can pick up fishing though, John hummed. That Building already exists and itd be nice to have a few hours every week just sitting around and looking at the environment... maybe Max or Magnus can tag along sometime.
Ill dly cook whatever you bring me, the weaponized maidmented on his idea. If you think it will be beneficial to your mental health, I rmend this course of action. If it wouldnt, Im going to dissuade you from that course. Thest me flickered, leaving only glowing wood. Time you spend at work is time at which I can visit you.
The purpose of those visits is also very important for de-stressing. John grinned and looked up to the sky. The fading light of the campfire left them to the stars above. Although no cities and no towns blotted out the universes illumination with their artificial light, it wasnt nearly enough to transform this early winter night. John could still see fine, thanks to his supernatural vision, but even he noticed the stark difference between the night in civilization and the night in the wilderness. It was dark. Incredibly dark. No wonder ancient humans were afraid of the night. Anything could lurk in these vast shadows.
Should I warm you, my John? Aclysia asked.
He wasnt cold, but he nodded anyway, and the two of them got up and walked towards their tent. It was a small thing, barely wide enough for two people, andpletely mundane to boot. It was one of the kind that was ready the second it was thrown into thendscape. Inside was a simple camping mattress made of foam and a single sleeping bag.
The two of them undressed C the manual way. John just felt like it and Aclysia was, for once, wearing actual clothing. She hade to do this more frequently for things she didnt expect to fight in. As for the why, the answer was simple: because John loved tearing the clothes off his women.
Naked they slipped into the sleeping bag. They were ready to get intimate. Sharing a sleeping bag with a woman as attractive and willing as she was basically forced his hand. Before they went beyond kissing and blindly groping each other, however, their eyes once more fell on the stars.
Somehow, they had ended up with their head towards the open entrance and were now looking upwards. Between the dark treetops, most of them leafless, shined the silver stars. The branches almost looked like cracks in the firmament, only a few basked in enough moonlight to reveal their wooden texture. The true sky stretched above them.
Everything has a trade-off, the words left his lips on their own. Humanity exchanged the beauty of the night sky for the light in their cities. Even the most worthwhile of decisions has a drawback.
What would you take in exchange for me? Aclysia wondered, the light joking intent swinging in her voice.
Hmmm, one of you for two perfect copies, John responded with equal humour and got three little chuckles from her. Herugh was like the purifying sound of a bell.
They sat up together, a bundle of closely connected love, and pushed back the desires of their flesh a little bit. With only their heads visible, the hood of the sleeping bag covering most of their hair, they sat in the entrance of the tent and just gazed outwards together. They whispered sweet little things into each others ear. They touched each other in innocent and not so innocent ways. They kissed.
They were happy.
Chapter 971 – Vacation Week 1 – Morning, Returning, Determining
Chapter 971 C Vacation Week 1 C Morning, Returning, Determining
In the early hours of the next day, when the sun was still so far away that it might as well be night, John sat before the rekindled fire. With one hand, he held the skewer of reheated fish. With the other, he fingered the naked maid next to him. Keep standing, hemanded her.
Yes Masterrrr, Aclysia panted and obeyed, even as the rewarding surge of pleasure made her legs quiver. She threw her head back and howled into the cold forest. A stream of pussy juice gushed around Johns dancing fingers as she orgasmed with maximum increased intensity.
Keep C standing, Johnmanded again when she threatened to copse. That only made it worse for Aclysia. Which was the entire point. Her head flew from side to side, instinctive motions of her body to try to distract herself from the overbearing ecstasy. You would never disappoint me. Right, my beautiful, slutty servant?
Nooo, MasteCaaaaahhh---rrrr." Her response was almost incoherent. Clit teasing certainly didnt help there. Soon her knees buckled with the repeated spasms of her multi-orgasmic experience.
At that point, John decided to give her a break. Rx, he allowed her and Aclysia unceremoniously copsed into the dirt. Watching her twitch and cover her pale skin in damp dirt was enticing. The Gamer, for his part, was still sitting on his jacket. Even if he was as naked as she was.
They were in the final stages of their little camping exercise and this had to include some carefree outdoor sex. Fucking out in nature was a special form of liberty, especially if there was no one to watch them. While John understood the thrill of exhibitionism, he didnt share it. Barely the doing it while being observed part and certainly not the risking getting caught bit. Neither added much to his experience outside their uniqueness.
Suck me off, John gave the nextmand and Aclysia was hasty to obey. Half climbing over his left leg, she descended on hisp and started her dirty work. Lazily, his unupied hand guided the bobbing of her head. He didnt have to do anything. Aclysia worshipped his cock as if it was the most delicious treat in the world. This was technically true for the thick seed that soon pumped into her hot mouth, giving her another orgasm.
John stared at her raised, wiggling butt while he filled her throat. The right side of her body was covered with spots of brown. The cold air contrasted intensely to the heat of her vibrating throat. Their lewd sounds and voices were the only things to be heard in the forest.
Tossing thest skewer to the side, John grabbed Aclysias head with both hands. He kept her pinned to his crotch, while he stood up, and then fucked her throat mercilessly. Then he had her stand against a tree, thrusting herrge ass out. First he had her cunt three times, then he filled up her back entrance once. When the sun finally started to rise over the horizon, he was halfway satisfied.
He put a leash on her, made her follow him around on all fours, only to squat over her rear and im her again. Carrying her, he jog-fucked her for one round between the trees. He whipped her ass with thin, flexible sticks and just generally subjected her to a naturalistic variant of his already present sadistic dominance. They finished things off with a facial that, courtesy of his massive loads, covered her like a bukkake.
Afterwards, they took a quite unpleasant bath in the freezing coldke. It had crossed Johns mind to return as they were. Showing a cum-coated Headmaid to her pupils and employees certainly did tickle his fancy. The main problem was that they had to bridge some mundane space. He also didnt want toe on quite so strong to the future maids of Fusion. Therefore, ice water had to do for simple cleaning. Onest dip in nature, before they returned to the conveniences of civilization.
He was not so horny anymore, after he got out.
They dried themselves by the fire and then hopped into the boat. The Natural Barrier copsed when they left. A bit of a shame about the remaining fish, but whatever, John thought. Soon thereafter, they were back at Servitude Ind. A couple of teleports and walkster, they were in Johns apartment. There, they immediately hopped into the shower.
Lake Chamin had sufficed to rinse the sexual fluids off, but it took a proper, civilized stream of hot water for John to feel really clean. For all of the magic of the moment, spending a night of cuddling and deep-contact cuddling in a sleeping bag was also a damp experience. He needed a very thorough cleansing, an assessment that Aclysia agreed with. If only to have an excuse to rub down every inch of him with soap.
It took them so long to get that done that the rest of the harem gradually came to join them. Jack was doing the usual morning shift things, but knowing that the genuine John was two rooms over did cause most girls to switch positions. Even if his Extension was a perfect copy, the real him was still preferred. That was oddly ttering, in a way.
Eventually, John found himself in the jacuzzi, with Undine sucking on his nuts and Siena riding him. His hands were upied fingering Eliza and Rave in the meantime. Satisfaction spread through the gathereddies, as the Gamer did as the good head of a harem would and brought them all to repeated orgasms. Then they spent about ten minutes cuddling, basking in the afterglow, only to finally transition to breakfast.
During which Sylph decided that his dick was a more interesting meal than food. John didnt tell her off. Usually, he would have needed to keep an eye on the situation and prevent it from escting, lest he was dyed from working. That wasnt an issue that morning.
An entire week off, hm? Rave asked, her voice raised in pitch and quivering with lust. Even while she ate and spoke, she masturbated and watched Sylphs skilled worship of her summoners cock. Hey, Eliza, can yae over here and eat my pussy?
The blood mage shook her head, both of her cheeks stuffed with scrambled eggs. In fifteehn minutesh and if you ashk nishely, fahcking maybe.
Ya sure ya dont want to lick tigers fresh cum out of my pussy? Rave provided an incentive and then moaned with delight and surprise. Alright, looks like someone else was hungry instead, she purred and John looked away from his own service to spy a certain blonde pariah burrowing her pale face between Raves thighs. OhGaia this is the life the half-asian bombshell panted, rubbing her clit while Nias tongue worked deep inside her.
John watched his girlfriend writhe in the chair. Soon, she stopped eating altogether, only focused on the pleasure her fellow haremette was bringing her. It was incredibly hot to watch two of his women engaged in lustful activity with each other. Any sign that the harem was still healthy was fundamentally satisfying. As a bonafide pervert, this kind just pleased him especially.
He and his girlfriend crossed their gazes, following the oral service the other received. Sylphs electrifying blowjob was a fast and reckless endeavour. Over and over again, she slid up and down the entire length of his cock, her tongue working tirelessly at teasing the sensitive spots. Moans reverberated in her throat, energy tingled and pleasured him. Raves shouts became more and more ecstatic.
At almost the same time, both the Gamer and his girlfriend reached down, grabbed the hair of their oral partner and pushed them down. Then they came with delighted groans.
Phew, Rave blew air out. Alright, thank ya, Nia.
The pariah licked along Raves pussy lips one more time, then vanished from down there as quickly as she had appeared. Back in her seat, reaching for her ss of water, she spoke with her emotionless voice, It was my pleasure.
John, meanwhile, kept benefitting from Sylphs steady service. He had just a tad more experience in concentrating while getting oral service, however, and resumed his meal.
So, where was I ah yes. Any ns on what youre gonna do with your week off? Rave asked.
Pray that nothing explodes so I can enjoy it, the Gamer joked, while spreading butter on a slice of bread. Aclysia had baked it herself, but it wasnt a fresh batch. That would have made it that little bit extra delicious. Not that it was anything short of delightful. He only needed to eat enough to restore what he had burned over the past hour of orgy anyway.
Metra giggled. The First of Wrath was leaning back in her chair and watched them eat. Dont you spend every week praying for that?
Yeah, but this week Im not just avoiding extra work, but any work at all, John told her. Important difference. He grabbed a couple of slices of pepperoni. Anyway, Gnome and I will head into the Elemental Depths after breakfast. Across the table, the autumn elemental gave an unsteady nod. Otherwise, my only ns for the week are to do whatever the hell I want. If thats grinding, gaming or fucking all of you senseless, I have no idea yet.
Ya cant spend time fucking me senseless, I actually have a lot to do this week, Rave responded with a wide smile. Youll have to book an appointment with my secretary.
Which, somehow, is me, Scarlett chimed in with a grumble. Never promise someone youll take care of their schedule.
I mean, yeah, John blinked a couple of times. Why did you do that?
Scarlett here wanted me to appear in advertising material for one of herpanies, the Lightbearer exined. I told her: Sure, if ya sort out my schedule. And that was that.
Howe you can oversee my blowjob schedule but you cant n that?
Because thats fun and having to agree to which hour ya get to pose as a model isnt, Rave shot back. I mean, the modelling itself is fun, but the going there isnt that much. Anyway, my schedule aint thatplicated, so Techno-Red here can track it for me.
If its so easy, do it yourself, you fuck, Scarlett cussed.
A-actually I think Ill be pretty busy this week too Gnome said.
Same, Smander agreed. We decided to have a series of events this week. You know, as elementals.
There was something that could be described as a nod between Johns legs, Siena shrugged affirmatively and even Stirwin confirmed this. What about you? the Gamer asked the sole elemental that hadnt chimed in.
Im supposed to write on a new album, Undine just told him.
Ill do the usual, Metra chimed in. If you need me, my king, Ill be happy to serve you at any hour you want.
Ill just be in my room, fucking around with paint and calling the resulting scatter-gore of shitty colours artwork, Eliza reported on what she had nned for the week.
Maybe ya should paint with less brown? Rave suggested with a giggle.
I barely use brown, that shitty colour isnt the problem, its all fucking colours, Eliza responded. Its fucking impossible to mix the perfect blue. Whatever I try looks like I am dragging dead pixels over the canvas some poor fucker made only so I can ravage it with my piss-poor inadequate drawing skills. I might as well drink the paint, ram two fingers in my throat, throw up and call the puddle artwork. Quality would be about the fucking same.
Eliza? John asked.
What?!
Tomorrow, you wont draw anything, he told her. Ill tie you to the bed, blindfold you, and use you every time I feel like it. We clear?
Yes! Elizas initial response was enthusiastic. Then her mood swung to suspicion. But why though?
Because I need a cumdump while Im on vacation, John started with a joke, then got a little more serious. No, really, it sounds like youre getting close to an artistic burnout. I think you could use some time away from working. She shrunk down when he said that and John quickly guessed why. I know you want to be useful to me, but you dont need to torture yourself to produce some great art for Fusion. You do your best work when you are yourself. Doing too much is almost as bad as doing nothing at all. So, I will treat you to something you love, alright?
Alright Eliza mumbled.
You love being my personal cocksleeve, dont you? he asked, trying to coax the good mood out of her.
Yes, fuck me, I guess she started, with an unsteady smile ying around her lips.
Hey, Eliza? he asked and got her to look deep into his eyes. I love you.
The pretty little psycho blushed with such intensity that an outside onlooker may have gotten the impression this was the first time she had ever heard those three words. Stammering something incoherent, she ultimately skipped responding to anything and just happily giggled while she stuffed more of the food on the table into her mouth.
John looked over to Aclysia and Beatrice. He could spare himself the trouble of asking if they had work. As his servants in government matters, they were upied with all kinds of affairs and some of the work that he wasnt dealing with this week got stuck with them. Lydia, who was not present at the moment, also did not require any digging. The queen was chronically busy. The wonder was that she found time for him as often as she did.
What about you? John asked Nia, thest girl on the table that hadnt spoken up yet.
I have some animals to pet, the pariah responded after about half a minute of thought. And I was going to meet with Leeter. She wanted to work out with me.
John slightly raised an eyebrow, but didnt ask about that. Magois younger daughter had popped up every now and again in conversations, particrly when it came to the harem members telling John what they did with their day. It was an ongoing trend that had started with Rave showing Lee around. Peculiar but, given how recent Lee had arrived, not all that surprising. The Gamer had a hunch why Lee, a girl that had very clearly flirted with him, was trying to get friendly with all of his haremettes.
Shes a nice girl, Nia finished.
Shes a good gal, Rave took that one step up. Nice to hear she took my advice on working out. When ya going at it? I might join ya.
Oh, so you have time to work out with the girl that I cannot even consider romance with, but not for your boyfriend?! John asked with faked outrage.
A, dont worry, Ill do my 9 to 5 and, if ya greet me nicely, ya can give me a nice ne.
Shouldnt you buy ME a ne in that story? John asked.
Dunno, ya do enjoy giving me pearls, Rave purred, cupping her tits tellingly.
She was absolutely right about that.
Chapter 972 – Vacation Week 2 – A Path without Destination
Chapter 972 C Vacation Week 2 C A Path without Destination
The entrance to the Elemental Depths was almost disappointing in its look. A simple cave opening at the side of the small mountain range that covered much of the Earth Ind, the only obviously impressive thing about it was the rapidness with which the inside turned pitch ck. Even Johns vision could not pierce further than twenty metres into the cave. Beyond that, it was as if a curtain of darkness had descended, swallowing the light touching it.
Next to the Gamer, Gnome swallowed nervously. Something the matter? he asked.
I just its you know? She made a couple of vague gestures.
John understood. Despite being by far the most normal out of his elementals, their true bonding moment refused to happen. Perhaps it was because she was so normal. Smander, Undine, Siena and Sylph, the understanding with them hade about because John shared a moment of them that was hitched on their character. Indulging in Smanders need to prove herself against all odds. Sharing with Undine a moment of merciless concentration of what must be done. Bringing Siena to a more moderate understanding of the world, culminating in her epting that she could be truly happy loving someone (which had crystallized in a blowjob of all things, but John wasntining). Lastly, engaging in the same whimsicalness as Sylph for cuddles.
It was all in line with their quirky characters. What particr quirk did Gnome have? Her shyness? Adorable, yes, but also something that had only surfaced when she evolved to Tier 2 and had since diminished to more manageable levels. Her patience? That was the virtue disyed when she had reached the elemental wisdom of earth, but he had a hard time imagining how he could share a truly patient moment with her. Did he just have to wait? Gnome didnt seem to think so, given her own eagerness to find their true connection.
The Autumn Elemental Summoning Skill had maxed out, he could buy an SEP whenever they needed it, all they needed was that spark. Uncertainty about whether or not it existed was far from a pleasant feeling. John had reassured Gnome a while back that this wasnt an issue for him. He hadnt lied then. He wasnt going to forsake his adorable earth spirit because they were experiencing difficulties in getting her to thest Tier. It was, however, a hindrance and they acknowledged that.
Well, standing here wont get us any further, John said and gestured at the tunnel. Shall we?
One moment, Gnome requested and took a deep breath. Pumping her fists, she muttered to herself, You can do this! You can do this. You can do this? Yes, you can do this! She got progressively redder as she went through her little ritual. By the end of it, she grabbed John by the arm and pulled him along as she hastily strutted toward the tunnel.
John obliged with a smile, freeing his arm from her embarrassed w-grip at the first opportunity and putting it around her waist. Alone together, they stepped into the darkness.
The ground under their feet changed from stone to a level something. It was hard like stone or concrete, but there were no echoes as they continued on. It reminded John of the void of an empty Illusion Barrier. A space that had the potential to contain anything conceived in Gaias dream. All that John could and could not imagine.
We can do this, he whispered to her as they continued walking through this impossible space. Only well learned or extremely talented Fateweavers could usually create it, and having it exist, without clear separation, inside arger Illusion Barrier should have been unachievable. Much about the Elemental Inds and the Guild Hall should have been impossible. Whether this spoke to the inconsistency of the rules, a breaking of them, or that they just didnt understand them properly yet was up for debate. John leaned heavily towards thetter, despite knowing what this reality was founded on. The middle option was also likely, given other abilities John had.
The depths swallowed the light of the tunnel behind them, fully engulfing them in ck. There were many different kinds of darkness John had encountered, friendly and hostile, and this one justcked any emotion at all.
Nobody seems to be watching us? Gnome raised her voice in a confused tone.
Indeed, John could not help but be simrly surprised. The attention of the leaders of the elements had been obvious in the trials Rave had been presented with. Right now, they were given no attention at all. It is no, irritating isnt the right word the Gamer tried to put a finger on why this seemed odd to him. I just thought they would be more invested in us.
Yeah, the autumn elemental gave a firm response and they continued on.
With nothing else to do, they kept walking. Walking and walking. They chatted about this and that at first, but eventually they ran out of things to say. Talking for talkings sake could have worked, but Gnome wasnt the type who enjoyed that. They just continued on.
For hours.
Neither of them brought up the possibility of turning around. John would have been fine with it, but he could feel that Gnome refused to leave without any form of progress made. The uncertainty they felt originally grew more and more intense. nless movement was against Johns nature. Gnome needed something. Her body felt more and more rigid in his embrace.
There was some relief when the world around them finally started to change. The immaterial ground under their feet began to crunch. Crystals of light appeared along invisible walls. Distant sounds of waving water and flickering fire reached their ears. The air carried the smell of flowers and a touch of electricity John could feel in his short hair.
Spreading out in a cone shape as they advanced, thendscape peeled out of the retreating Abyss. A path of dirt and sand under their feet cut through a growing ocean. It was incredibly shallow and came surging forwards in small waves, as if the flood had just begun to supersede the ebb. It never progressed enough, however, to reach the duos feet. The spume of each wave was a line of fire. Whimsical winds yed with the tongues of fire and moved clusters of golden crystals along. Beyond thisndscapey the darkness. It never left, only ceded more space to the other elements.
They continued on. Stubbornly, patiently, uncertainly, they kept walking, waiting for something to happen. John lost track of time, listening to the calm waves, holding his first elemental. He closely noticed her growing more and more strained, however, as they kept marching on. Mentally and physically, she kept growing more distressed.
Their path of sand led them to a mountain. It was impossibly tall to fit under the Guild Hall, much less the Elemental Inds. Sand was reced with solid dirt as they ascended up a crack in the dark brown and grey rock. Some parts, they had to climb over. Others, they could just walk. Neither served to calm Gnomes nerves.
In the end, they arrived at a cliff. A sudden drop, past the tip of the mountain. A balcony attached to its back, that overlooked a desert. Spheres of light, golden, purple, red, blue and green, were visible in the darkness that swallowed the horizon. The wind yed through long strands of cloth and crystals below, singing as if brushing past chimes. A calming melody, yed by the forces of nature. Tranquil, clear, andpletely unpredictable in itsplexity.
John stepped up to the edge and peeked down. About halfway down, a dune leaned against the mountain. The angle was perfect to gradually slow a fall. Should we just drop down? he suggested and then turned around. We can keep go- He stopped immediately when he saw his Gnome.
The brte stood there, her bare shoulders trembling, the skirt of her dress of fused autumn leaves swaying in the wind. She was beautiful, her brown eyes downcast, her yellow-gloved hands rising to her face. I dont get it, she said, rubbing her eyes between rapid blinks. What is it? Why dont I understand what I need?
With two quick steps, the Gamer was by her side and embraced her just as the first tense sob pulsed through her body. The sound her red lips formed when she hid her face in the crevice of his shoulder broke Johns heart. So miserable and weak, filled with uncertainty. It didnt stop at the one. Gnome kept crying, without stop, even as John guided her to sit with him.
Each new sob wrenched his heart. He felt helpless, just holding her while she held onto him. I dont get it, I dont get it she whispered over and over again. The uncertainty of the trip, of thest few months, it all unloaded in these few minutes. Grains of suffering piled into a desert of sorrow. Do I have to do something reckless? Do I need to expose myself to corruption?!
No! John was hasty to nib that thought in the bud. No, no, Gnome, dont suggest that in a hurry. We dont need to do anything reckless.
Yes, we do! Gnome shouted, raising her face from his stained shirt. More tears immediately ran down her beautiful face. I want to be the best I can for you, John! We cant dy that.
I wont mind if it takes you longer to figure out how we can get there, John pushed back. It doesnt ma-
Yes, it does, John, Gnome interrupted him with a sniff and a defiant expression. She seemed angry with him. Genuinely pissed off by what he said. The Gamer didnt even know how to respond to that emotion radiating from her. When had the earth spirit ever been wrathful? It does matter. You cant lie to me, I know youre irritated. Dont act like none of this matters!
Im irritated, yes, but thats not whats important! John pushed back the second he found his voice again. I just want you to be happy, Gnome. If you need time, then I will give you time!
I KNOW! she screamed and copsed into a miserable pile, slumped against his chest. Her fists drummed on him with impotent strength. I dont get it, John I dont get what I need your patience hurts me and I hate that. I hate that it makes me feel that way. Her punches stopped. She raised her face again. Desperately, she tried to wipe away the tears. Why? Why cant I just understand what is going on? Why do I want you to be mad at me for something I cant do anything about?! An intense sob burst out of her, an ugly, guttural sound, so in contrast to how beautiful she was. Please dont hate me.
John didnt know what to say. Assuring her did nothing good and confirming her suspicions would have been a lie. All he could do was hold her and say what was evidently true. Im here, he whispered into her ear. Im here.
I dont get it she mumbled. I just dont get it. I love you. I want to do the best I can for you. I- I cant keep pushing this off. I hoped this would be the day but I dont know anything Mother anyone tell me what I need to do
Her pleas remained unanswered, the presence of the elemental rulers missing. It was just the two of them, sitting atop andscape that could have been generated at random or with purpose they didnt understand. John made calming sounds, swayed her in his arms and waited for her tears to end. No sooner could his heart be mended.
Suddenly, she shifted in his arms. Her hands moved to the zipper of his pants, her head down. Her intent was clear before she had even freed his dick from the firstyer of clothing. Gnome, John said in a stern tone. This isnt going to work.
It worked for Siena, Gnome shot back stubbornly. It was as if all of those bad sides, sides that never would have surfaced in their happy, daily life, came out to rear their ugly heads at this moment. With furrowed eyebrows and tears still rolling from her eyes, she defiantly moved between his legs. I can-
You are not Siena, John told her off. There was no way he could entertain this scene. Even if he did let her go on, he wouldnt be able to perform. Not even he was enough of a sadist to get off on watching a woman, especially one of his dearly beloved, suffer in this manner. Youre not Sylph, Undine or Smander. Youre you! What worked for them wont work for you! He didnt mean to shout, but the agitation of the moment got to him. You wont be happy this way.
Gnome knew that. She dropped the attempt with another sob, buried her face between her hands and cried tears of shame and agitation. I dont get it, I do not get it She sounded so tired about the world. John would have conquered a thousand kingdoms to bring her the answer she sought. Why Why do you even wait for me? Why do you think you can just tolerate such a miserable loser like me? First of your contracts andst to even gain the potential to evolve Im just a failure I dont get why why would you?
Because I love you.
For this answer, he didnt need to conquer anything. He didnt have to search outside him. He didnt even have to look inside him. The answer was always right there, on the tip of the tongue at every moment they spent together.
There was more, much more that he could have said. He could have flooded her mind with his emotions, let her feel the depth and earnesty of that emotion. Yet, he just let those four words ring with all of the truth the human voice could convey and hoped that would be enough.
Gnome stared at him. Blinking the tears away, unsessfully. Opening and closing her mouth, uncertain what to answer to what she already knew. Then, slowly, uncertainly, she put her arms around his neck. Slowly, uncertainly, she leaned closer. Quickly, certainly, John pulled her into his embrace. Quickly, certainly, he made her look at him. Slowly, certainly, their lips came together.
Sometimes, it was the sad moments that had to be understood the most.
Chapter 973 – Vacation Week 3 – Lady of Seasons
Chapter 973 C Vacation Week 3 C Lady of Seasons
One could have thought that the two of them moved soon after that window popped up. Instead, they were bound there for a while longer, John holding her until the tears subsided. Tears that kept flowing, albeit they changed from those of confusion and anger to relief and love.
When, finally, the streams did stop and he had dried her face, they stayed there until the red in her eyes disappeared. Only then did they make their way back.
It took a while, albeit not as long as it had taken them to get there. The path down the mountain and over the sand was the same, but the darkness that they had spent hours in was shortened considerably.
In the end, whether or not they had needed the Elemental Depths to sort out their issues was debatable. There was no challenge inside that they had faced, neither was there anything about the environment that had given them the clues they needed. Its existence alone had enabled the situation where Gnomes bottled emotions had exploded out. For that, John had to thank the Elemental Depths, if nothing else.
It only took about a minute of walking through the darkness, before they were able to see the end of the tunnel. There was a light at the end of it, a bright light that shouldnt have been possible at this hour. John and Gnome had spent most of the day in there. Even if the Weather Tower made it so the climate of the Guild Hall was always summerly, it couldnt change the course of the sun. It was thest week of November and, in the northern hemisphere, the days were almost the shortest they would be all year.
The light greeting them was no other than Rave, making her hand glow with a shifting disy of red, blue and green. It gave the cave walls a techno-party feel, while the Gamer and his earth spirit stepped out of the supernatural ck. There they are! Rave shouted, a bunch of other figures appearing around the cave entrance.
Unsurprisingly, it was the harem. Whatever responsibilities and jobs they all had, they had gotten done with them for the day and were now waiting for the return of the two. The moment they stepped out of the Elemental Depths, Gnome and John turned into the centre of a cuddle pile. The mental connection had never broken off, so albeit they hadnt involved themselves in any manner, the other girls knew what had been going on. Logically, John just got second-hand cuddles of approval while Gnome got all of the loving, supportive cuddles the harem had to give. Which was, by all ounts, a lot.
Even Scarlett and Lydia got in on that whole affair, thetters presence being somewhat of a surprise. Are you well? the queen of steel asked, following her embrace of the brte. The question was apanied by a number of inspecting touches.
Better than before, Gnome responded with the kind of firmness a shy person could only muster once in a full moon. Much better John?
Yeah? the Gamer asked, busy holding an Undine in each arm.
Since were all already here do you want to?
John understood the implication, as did the rest of the group. They didnt wait for his nod to start backing up from Gnome. From the very start, the decision was clear. Opening the Achievement Store, John selected the Skill Evolution Point option. 1000 GP were withdrawn from his savings and he immediately pressed the golden + that appeared next to Autumn Elemental Summoning.
The choice was obvious immediately. Reaper didnt fit Gnomes role inbat or her personality. Fertility was hot, but that wasnt the choice he was making here. Season elemental was the natural progression from where she was and fit the role she had in their group dynamic. Gnome was the leader of the elementals. Even if she didnt have the temperament to assert herself on daily matters, she was still the one who made the final call. She was the first of them and everyone liked and respected her.
John looked up to see his earth spirit give a confirming nod. Then he pressed the button.
The earth rumbled and opened up underneath Gnomes feet. Before she could fall, the earth fountained upwards and swallowed her whole. Pebbles and dirt consolidated into a stone pir. The surface never smoothened, though, remaining bumpy and covered with trenches, which elongated as the pir became thinner and taller.
It stopped once it was a stone spike with the texture of bark. A branch exploded out, apanied by a weak tremor that could likely be felt through the entire Earth Ind, if not the entire Guild Hall. A second branch soon followed, along a second tremor. A third, fourth, fifth, too many to count, as the branches spawned, grew and forked off; the tree of stone grew more and moreplex with each passing moment. Its colour shifted slightly, consolidating in an honest brown that could have been used to describe either rich earth or the bark of a hazel.
Whenever the tree reached the greatestplexity that could be supported by its size, it experienced a sudden growth spurt. This repeated often enough that the circle the gathered group had made around Gnome came to bepletely filled by a trunk ten metres across. Massive branches above shook with the power of their own expansion. The tremors, frequent as they were, remained unthreatening in their intensity.
John heard the gathering of the inds inhabitants and visitors all around them. They didnt talk, didnt wonder what was going on. The earth spirits must have instinctively known what was going on from the moment the first tremor shook the ind. Perhaps they even perceived it as a call to watch. The tremor or the news must have spread faster and wider than John would have first guessed, as more and more elementals arrived not only from the Earth Ind itself, but also the other Elemental Inds and the ne of Gnomes kind itself. Bodies manifested, seemingly out of thin air, all beholding the massive tree.
A tree that blossomed.
Four leaves, each time, tworge and two small ones, formed from short-lived flowers of pure energy. Each cluster of four had its own colour. Gold, purple, red, blue or green, they lit up the tree with their soft, elemental light. Every twig and every branch was crowded with leaves. Their multi-coloured lights covered the world around with spots, as if each was focused through a coloured lens.
Then the leaves began to shiver. With another tremor that made the tree and Johns being quiver, hundreds of butterflies made of leaves took flight into the night. A second tremor and a second wave followed. A third, a forth, a fifth, and so on, until the leaf-winged butterflies filled the night sky and spread their light far past the Guild Hall and into the Hudson Barrier.
In a fluid transition, the tree itself began to disperse into butterflies. Bark peeled away, revealing underneath more of the same, and turned into brown-winged leaf-insects. They followed their earlier siblings into the night. Wave for wave, the tree shrunk, the tremors bing visible as every butterfly bounced up and down in the air as if affected by it. Circle after circle spread through the loose swarm that covered the sky.
The tree was only just the trunk by the end, smaller even than that which had swallowed up Gnome originally. Last vestiges of bark cracked and crumbled away, bit for bit revealing underneath a humanoid form.
They all watched as Gnome peeled out. Visually, she was almostpletely unchanged. Her body was the same, her proportions well-bnced and simple. Her legs were long, her thighs slender but not thin, her hips and ass inviting, and her chest decently sized. Equally, her face was the same as before. She was a fair woman, her chin and jaws on the rounder side of things, her eyes brown and almond shaped, her hair hazel, long and slightly wavy towards the tips. Two braids ran across the side of her head and were tied together at the back.
The sole difference John could spot was her dress. It remained of a particr design, as if made of melded together leaves. It still left most of her shoulders and neck bare, and was continued by gloves on her arms and stockings on her legs. It did remain yellow, with veins, like those on a leaf, spreading out from the middle of her torso and over her chest. In addition to all of what was the same, some of those veins pulsed magically with the colours of the other elements. Some of the leaves, particrly around the edges, were a winterly blue rather than the golden brown and yellow of autumn. Subtle changes, but changes nheless.
With thest of his elementals reaching Tier 5 came an Achievement.
Good thing I already took the week off, John thought, repressing a sigh. Doubtlessly, there were some nerfs iing. He couldntin about that too much, Gaia only nerfed him as he could handle it and, factually speaking, it was her taking the training wheels off his Innate Ability. As for the other rewards, they were pretty amazing.
The Elemental Court required that John have all Elemental Inds built, which he did. However, the Room Slots and upkeep required to maintain it were not something he could afford at the moment. Its effects were numerous, primarily boosting the strength of elementals that could step over from their respective nes and the speed at which the Collimets formed. Both boons he wanted to have, but none he was so eager to get that he would restructure what he currently had over it. Thest Tier of the Guild Hall would be achieved in its own time.
Getting 100 GP and 1 SEP effectively meant that John had been paid 100 GP for this final evolution. A small boon, but nice nheless. The Max ss Level was more a quality of life boon than anything else. John hadnt beencking ess to Max ss Levels since the scaling had doubled in frequency. Having the level for Elementalist, of all sses, guaranteed meant that he could pick it up whenever he finally beat thosest Challenges.
John smiled when he looked up and saw his six elementals. Gnome, who had evolved thepletely normal route. Smander, who stood there proudly, having recklessly fought what she had to in order to ascend. Undine, who had forced a double evolution once and caused a mess because of it. Sylph, who was such a perfect representative of her kind that she got to skip Tier 2, but had otherwise evolved without dangerous happenstances. Siena, who he had contracted at Tier 3 and with her wanting to stab him, who had only let him choose herst evolution and who he now had a truly healthy rtionship with. Finally, Stirwin, the Celestial Devourer whose true potential he still couldnt awaken.
The Gamer hadnt tickled all of the power out of his elementals he could. They could always get better at teamwork,bining their powers or their bodies to fit situations they hadnt yet thought of. Only time would tell what thest level of the Elementalist ss truly offered. Thest Perk was very likely to be thebination of all of his elementals, but the Modification and the Advanced ss that stemmed from it would be a different story.
This avenue of evolving them, however, had reached its final destination. It felt good to get done with one aspect of his powers. Thepletionist inside him rejoiced and his mind could stop considering the possibilities there and turn to other options.
Ehem, Gnome cleared her throat, trying to get everyones attention. So, uhm, if I could maybe make this night about me?
Of course, John was quick to confirm. It was basically tradition that he gave the recently evolved elemental his exclusive attention for however long they wanted. Its all about you, my beloved cuddle rock.
Umu, Gnome made a pleased, slightly embarrassed sound. She nced at her fellow elemental girls, one after the other. So here is the thing she started.
And suggested a magnificently perverted scene.
Chapter 974 – Vacation Week Interlewd – Voyeuristic Stone
Chapter 974 C Vacation Week Interlewd C Voyeuristic Stone
Gnomeid in the bed before John, naked, heavily blushing, and already teasing her sexy bits with her hands. They werent alone in the room, far from it. Smander, Undine, Sylph and Siena were all with them. The entirety of Johns elemental harem was gathered in their bedroom, the rest of the harem waiting outside. The sole exception to this was Rave, who had been invited by Gnome to be the stand-in light elemental for the evening. In that spirit, Johns girlfriend had manifested her cat-features, the ears and the pink tail both glowing softly for added effect. Those five stood next to the bed, waiting to be invited onto it.
With a smile, John raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. Are you horny? he asked and was immediately met with a series of confirming moans. I dont think I heard you. He snapped a second time. Are you horny? The moans got louder, but the Gamer still wasnt quite satisfied. A third snap, a third time the question was raised, Are you horny?
The five by the bedside, so patiently standing in wait before, were now all quivering. They grabbed whatever sexy bits were the closest to them, be that their own or of those standing adjacent. Confirming gasps and ssy eyes reached a level of depravity John was finally satisfied with. Before him, Gnome stared at his erect cock and reached down to her quim with both hands. John grabbed her by both wrists and pinned them above her head before she could properly pleasure herself.
W-why that wasnt the she stammered, greedily and reluctantly looking at the shaft hovering about her quickly wetting cunt. Swallowing, she interrupted herself.
That wasnt the what? John hummed. Do tell me exactly what kind of scene you want. I want to hear it from you loud and clear. My memory isnt the best, you know?
L-liar! Gnome cried.
using your Master of lying? John made a stern expression and raised one hand from her pinned wrists. Whether he used one or two to keep her crossed arms down didnt matter. She was strong enough that she could have broken free of either version whenever she wanted. He snapped his fingers again. Are you my sex ve?
Yes. The answer came from every woman in the room, even Siena. It didnt have as big of an effect on her, but the midnight elemental knew that she could find pleasure in some minor submissions.
You lot, be quiet, hemanded the five by the foot end of the bed. You will be used when I want you to. Stand there, keep your hands still and be pretty for your Master Siena, you can prepare them for me. He threw a favour in there for the heavily dominant leaning shadow spirit, who graciously took the opportunity. Then he turned back to Gnome. As a good sex ve, you will answer my questions, right, Gnome?
Yes she mumbled.
Louder, perverted slut, he demanded.
Yes, Master!
Thats a good girl. He smiled and gave her an approving pat and the side of her face. Now, tell me what you want from this engagement.
I w-want to watch as you take them one by one, Gnome finally came out with the exnation. I want to see them get driven to mad ecstasy by your big dick, Master. C-can I see that? Pl- pretty please?
That was the scene she had suggested and John would deliver C in his style. And as you watch me fuck your fellow sex ves, he paused shortly to snap his fingers, Gnome, will you pleasure yourself?
Her hands tensed under his arm, rising from the cushion for a moment before she remembered her ce. Yesh, she slurred, growing more needy by the second. This time, courtesy of him specifying who themand was meant for, it only affected her. Yesss, I will masturbate I will finger myself to orgasm after orgasm.
And why is that? he asked.
B-because I like that? Gnome answered innocently.
John clicked his tongue, snapped his fingers. Are you my sex ve? The submission inducing suggestion found fertile soil all across the room. Sex ves pour out their honest depravity when I ask them a question, so, again. He snapped. Are you my sex ve? Why do you enjoy masturbating so much? Why, another snap, will you pleasure yourself?
Because Im a perverted, embarrassed little slut that loves watching her Master fuck other girls! Gnome shouted, horniness overriding shame. Because I love seeing the women and the man I adore be in so much pleasure. I love it, I love it so much!
John grinned and nodded, satisfied. He let go of her arms and her hands dashed between her legs. Panting desperately, she followed her Masters every movement as he turned his head. Rave, Smander, Undine and Sylph were standing in a row by the foot end, thest of which was currently busy getting her cunt fingered by Siena. All of them were dripping wet and exceedingly eager to be the first to be picked. The Gamer had already decided on an order.
Smander C Serve, he instructed, inviting her onto the bed with a simple gesture of his head. The red-skinned apocalypse elemental had only just moved onto it, when John grabbed her by the arm. Forcefully, he yanked her onto the harem-sized mattress, pushed her down and shoved his cock towards her lips. Without any form of resistance, not even surprise, she opened her mouth. The hypnotic suggestions had not only made her more willing but also increased her submissiveness, and so instincts kicked in and she allowed her summoner to push into her mouth.
John started with shallow thrusts, letting her oily saliva lubricate the tip of his cock. Her buzzcut was soft under his fingers. She was hot as always, both physically and in the beauty sense. John loved the harder, almost militaristic look it gave her when she wore her hair extremely short like this. Her unequal eyes stared up at him, waiting for further instructions, while he pumped in and out of her mouth.
Get on your back, Johnmanded. His cock was free for a couple of seconds during which he gave Gnome a nce. A wet spot was already growing where her little round ass touched the sheets. The more she watched, the more fervently her fingers worked. Turning his gaze back down, he looked at the fire spirit, whose face was directly underneath his cock. He snapped his fingers. Smander, do you love my cock?
Its so fucking big, she gasped in return and opened her mouth wide. I wanna shuck it, she slurred with a stretched-out tongue.
Snap. Smander, are you my cum rag?
Im whatever you want me to be, Master, the apocalypse elemental gasped.
Then, another snap, I will use you for our release.
She shivered in anticipation. Thest twomands John had given her were to make her crave the feeling of cum on her skin and to make her climax intensely when he next came using her body. With those things established, he put both hands around her throat and manhandled her into the perfect angle to push into her eagerly presented, ruby red mouth.
The feeling of prating her throat was as fantastic as always - hellishly hot and monstrously tight. Under his grasp, he could feel the bulge he forcefully created. In at first, out a momentter, as John lost no time to fuck her face.
He didnt have to be concerned for her safety in any way, a fire spirit didnt need to breathe, and so he could just mercilessly keep on going. Obediently, her mouth was kept wide open. The repeated gluck, gluck, gluck, of deep throat pration echoed perversely through the room, underlined by the moans of the two elementals on the bed.
Smanders spine curved off the bed. She writhed, still not touching herself after the earliermand, wing into the sheets, kicking and angling her legs at random, tail curving in spasmodic intervals. Swinging and bouncing, her massive tits were Johns focus. A glistening sheen soon covered them, Smanders oily sweat making all of her so delicious to look at in the erotically faint light of the bedroom.
With unchecked greed, the Gamer took his hands off her neck and gripped those overabundant globes of soft flesh instead. Extremely sensitive as they were, him taking hold of them made Smander scream all over his cock. He massaged, groped and squished them as he liked. His hands sank deep into them. Then he grabbed both of them by the nipples and pulled, watching just how far such massive knockers could be stretched. He let go, they jiggled back into ce, only for him to go right back to iming what was his.
Smander climaxed over and over again and John eventually found himself nearing his own edge from the continuous ecstasy. At the very edge, he pulled out of her throat and hastily mounted her chest. Reacting immediately, Smander raised her head, her expression one of lustful glee, and squished her oiled-up tits together. She rubbed his dick with quick movements of her enormous chest, while he thrust back and forth with a slow rhythm.
Soon, he grunted and felt his cum surging out. The first strands sttered across her face, further covered her neck and cleavage, giving her a white ne that covered the red skin and ck lines. The very first rope of seed also triggered her hypnotic suggestion. All of those given were released in one explosive climax, making the apocalypse elemental scream and writhe and ultimately copse, asionally spasming with aftershocks.
John lovingly picked her up and moved her to the side, before calling on the next of his women. Jane, on all fours.
Yes, Master, his girlfriend purred in the sweetest, most submissive tone she could muster. She positioned herself so Gnome could see her profile, while John moved behind her. Knowing exactly how to show off, Rave lowered her upper body, thrust out her perfect rump and smiled over her shoulder with a wink and a flicking cat ear. Her short tail curved, then straightened forcefully when he spanked her jiggling ass. Nyaaaeessss! she screamed.
Naughty kitten, John growled approvingly, pping the other cheek for good measure. Her skin maintained the hint of a tan, but most of the brown she had acquired over the summer had fallen off by now. On that considerably paler flesh, the red outline of his hand became visible delightfully quickly. The cat tail was a wee, little ent to her backside, but it remained her juicy and round butt that John was so entranced by. It was so wonderfully bnced between size, roundness, squishiness and firmness, that the Gamer felt like praying just for getting to put his hands onto it.
Grabbing her by the hips, John prated her in one slow advance. Her pussy gripped him tight. Sexual fluids dripped from her deliciously pink lower lips. Raves submissive gaze was reced with fluttering eyelids, guttural gasps underlining how bad she needed her boyfriends cock. Her ass squished against his groin.
A couple minutester, it was jiggling under repeated, heavy thrusts. John had upped the tempo gradually and stopped at a medium pace. Ample of time between each sudden and hard pration of her quivering quim to p her round ass time and time again. She screamed with tormented delight each time he hit her now red ass with his palms or his thrusts.
On the final stretch, he changed position slightly. He squatted over her eagerly offered ass, pinned her head down and rammed deep down into her cunt with each thrust. The bed shook from the depraved impacts. One final time, he sheathed himself inside her pussy and pumped his second load deep into her.
The hypnotic suggestion he had used for Smander, he had deliberately let affect everyone else. The fucking, the cum-fueled climax and the hypnotic suggestion, all intertwined to make Raves eyes roll up and her voice copse into an ecstatic rattling. He painted the insides of her womb white with the absurd quantity of his thick cum.
He was letting her spasming pussy wring thest few drops from him, then pulled out and moved Rave to the side as well. Behind him, Gnome let out a sharp cry at the scene. John ignored her for the time being, it would make it all the more glorious if he saw what kind of mess she was once he was done with the other three.
Sylph, on your back.
Yes, finally, Sylph time! the arcvolt elemental bbered and jumped onto the bed. Time for Sylph to get the dicking she needs! Needs I saaa-aaaaaaahhhhH!
Her pvering was swiftly interrupted as John lost no time to push her down into the missionary position and prate her. For a while, that kept her quiet, limited to shouting lustfully while John was engulfed by her stormy insides. The intensity of his first and the following prations were reflected in the way her supernatural cunt writhed around him. Twisting gales of massaging folds, exuding pleasurable electricity, made him feel pleasure in a unique way. John loved how different it felt to fuck any of his girls.
The Gamer put both of his hands on the bed as support and just fucked Sylph. With how tiny her frame was, the mere act of being on top of her felt like one of domination. Her hourss figure was still enticing, her decently sized breasts shaking with every thrust, her cute ass cushioning the impact, and her soft thighs enveloping his hips, feet locked behind him.
Oohhohho-o-o-oooohhh, Sylph let out a series of ecstatic sounds, her face a fully depraved expression. Her extreme Libido and Sienas teasing must have done wonders. She squirted all over his massive member, while Johns heavy-handed pounding kept her pussy insanely delightful. John wasnt going tost and he didnt n to either.
Wanting to hear more of her cries, to dominate her body more, the Gamer let his upper body drop. Sylph immediately clung to him. Her fingers wed at his back, her tits pushed against his upper abs and her chin poked into his shoulder. He closed his eyes, unable to see her buried under hisrger frame anyway, just felt and heard her. Sylph was staring at someone else, as became clear when she found her words again.
Gno-hhmmm, Gnomeeee, he ish fucking me shhoooo arrrddddd, she slurred. Cumming, cumming, cumming! I cant shay it quuiiiiick enough to keeeeeep uuuup! Master Master ish making me feeeeel shooo gooood! I wanna break! Im addicted to his big, biiig coooooock! More, more, I wanna be ussheeeed! John is fucking me! Feeelsssh shoo good! Looking at you finger your beautiful cunt and waiting for John to fill me up is shoooooo gooood!
The Gamer could hold on no longer and climaxed. Squirming, spasming, screaming Sylph ascended into the heights of mind breaking ecstasy while he filled her up with his cum. The storm inside her was a wonderfulpanion, massaging his dick the strongest at the beginning of his orgasm but gradually weakening as the spurts of cum did.
Moving Sylph on top of Smander, John got to see the two of them go at each other with raw instinct. They kissed and groaned, fingering each other, while John turned to the remaining two women waiting for his attention.
Siena, on top of me, hemanded.
As you wish. The midnight elemental obliged, backing off thest girl toy she had avable. Johnid down and just watched while the blueish grey skinned woman straddled his groin. She knew how to ce him, facing him with her big bouncy bubble butt. Her long, subus-esque tail curved and shivered along the rest of her when she grabbed his slick cock and dropped down on it. Ahnnnn, she groaned, such a good cock.
Those were all the words she had for him before she started to ride him. Siena retained much control,pared to the other girls. Rather than a wild up and down, enchanted by the hypnotic suggestions John had already used, Siena swung her ass with sensual slowness. Osciting, circling, rolling her hips, always keeping him at least halfway inside her, the shadow spirits ck hair softly swayed while she enacted half a belly dance on his cock.
Her pussy clung to him when she barely moved up and down and released him when she let him slide out a bit. Leveraging her control over her sexual areas, the midnight elemental brought him intense pleasure, but skilfully kept him from approaching climax too quickly. She had waited and she would have her fun before the hypnotic suggestion turned her into a quivering mess.
John was pleased to let her have her fun and restrained himself from thrusting up. However, he couldnt resist messing with her at all. Catching her jet-ck tail, he pulled the tip towards his mouth. There was a thick centre, where the end of the main tail broadened out into the elongated spade-shape. Licking around there, teasing it like he would have her clit or pussy lips, he coaxed surprised and pleasured yelps from the gracefully riding Siena.
A grace that was, progressively, lost. The Gamer transitioned from just licking and kissing to nibbling and finally biting the tail. It was a sturdy piece of her body, despite its sensitivity. It took a very sexual situation for her to feel pleasure from there, but when she did, it worked wonders on demolishing her feeling of control. Soon, she was reduced to the same mindless, satisfaction-seeking state as the others. Soon, her rapid movement caused him to cum inside her.
Sienas head flew back, her tits jiggling fantastically, and her ass dropped down one more time. The lower end of her abundant hourss figure spilled on Johns groin with all of its bouncy size. John watched her twitching form, held upright by the repeated tensing of her muscles, through the white lightning his own intense orgasm created.
Eventually, she copsed. John caught her on his chest, then gently ced her aside as well. He moved to the edge of the bed and just sat there, looking at Undine.
There were no words necessary to present hismand. Undine stepped over on weak legs, her pussy dripping wet in the truest sense of the word, and fell to her knees. Her mouth opened, greedily taking him inside. Grabbing her antlers, he proceeded to ravage her face. Unlike Smander earlier, whose job had been purely to lie there, the abysstide elemental was all too happy to impale her face with her own supportive movements.
Undines muffled voice made for wonderful moans, even muffled with a cock balls deep in her throat. Her slime body eagerly took the entirety of his length into the tunnel she had created only to fit him. Her chosen area of sensitivity, she also came repeatedly while he watched his cock slide deep into her semi-translucent, greyish blue body.
She didnt split, enjoying him with a single mouth for once. That this was a deliberate decision was doubtful, a steady flow of fluids dripping from her chin from the start. Figuratively starved for cock, she wanted to do nothing else but keep sucking him until he spilled his seed inside her. It was easily read in the depraved way her golden eyes met his.
Her need for his cock escted further with each passing moment. Eventually, John let go of her horns. The water spirit was sliding up and down faster than he could force her. Then she stopped moving altogether and wrapped her arms around his waist. Hugging his lower half tightly, her soft lips pressed against the base of his dick and balls, she refused to let even a centimetre of him leave her again. Instead, she manipted her insides to pleasure him. It was almost on the level of Sienas hellish pleasure.
To no wonder, it also achieved the same result of making him cum in a couple of seconds. Every single one of his weak spots was assaulted and massaged by a throat that fit his cock like a glove.
His cum spurted inside her. Undines eyes first went wide, as she screamed in ecstasy, then rolled upwards, the scream quickly turning silent. The previous expert maniption of her insides turned into a primitive masturbation. Tight rings of pressure formed behind her lips and rolled up to the tip, each time coercing a massive gush of seed into Undines eagerly waiting body. Over and over again, she came, tasting his cum and soiling the floor in front of the bed with the love juices gushing from her cunt.
When he was done, John had to grab her antlers again and slowly push her off. Her mind was temporarily shut down from all the pleasure and her body didnt want to let go of his erect dick. With a wet, squelching sound, he finally left her cocksleeve of a mouth. When he let go of Undine, she slumped onto the edge of the bed, a goofy, well-fucked smile on her usually serene face.
Finally, John turned to Gnome.
The season elemental came merely from the two of them establishing eye contact. It didntst long, her brown pupils immediately focusing on his ever-erect cock. Her body glistened with sweat, the insides of her thighs and her hands were entirely soaked with pussy juice.
John snapped his fingers as he approached. Do you want to get fucked?
Yeahrheesssshhh, a garbled, half-screaming answer came from Gnome. With what little willpower she could muster, she managed to stop masturbating and spread her swollen, smooth cunt, revealing the pretty pink folds inside.
John aligned his cock with her pussy, making her squeal just through the contact of their sexes. One after the other, he grabbed her legs, rested her feet on his shoulders, and then bowed forwards. He pushed her into a delightful bundle underneath him, while prating her.
Eyes rolled up, tongue lolled out and screaming her lungs out, Gnomes mind was shut down the moment he properly sunk into her ready cunt. Her hair was a dishevelled mess, the braids mostly undone and many strands sticking to her glistening face. A truly erotic sight. Jesus, what level of pervert are you to rub yourself into such a state, hm? the Gamer asked in a ridiculing voice. Do you even understand what I am saying? he got no answer and he shook his head, a giant grin on his face. Lovable voyeur. He leaned in and imed her lips.
Muffled, ecstatic cries echoed through the room, when he hammered her pussy at a rapid pace. The repeated pping sound of smooth skin against smooth skin underlined the depraved noises. Her thighs took every impact, her breasts curved against his chest, her hands wed at the cushion under her head.
There was no need and no patience for anything aside from continuous, intense pration. John kept going and going. Gnomes pussy had its own elemental properties, being less wet but naturally smoother topensate. Now he could feel faint influences of all other elements around him as well. It reshaped even as he fucked her, making each bit of her the most pleasurable it could be at that particr moment. Each time he prated her, the squirming and pulsing of her tight cunt got more intense. The harder he took her, the quicker and more hellishly pleasurable the adjustment.
And still John kept going with all of his might C until he could no longer.
A load even more massive than thest five painted her insides white. She squirted all over their joined sexes and the bed, fully soiling sheets already drenched with her fluids. Absent-mindedly, the good girl tore open the cushion her head was resting on. Absolutely depraved grunts escaped her throat. Her mind was being scrambled with each renewed spurt of cum that flooded her.
John felt his energy seep away while he came inside her. Not in any supernatural sense, just that the excitement that kept the scene going was finally drying up now that he had crossed the finish line. Rxing more and more, he let her dry him of everyst drop, before rolling off her.
He looked at a bed filled with heavily panting and partly recovered women. Smander grinned at him, clearly ready for more. He gave her a signal that he needed two minutes.
After those, he received a boobjob.
Chapter 975 – Vacation Week 4 – The Bondage Slave and the Gaming Companion
Chapter 975 C Vacation Week 4 C The Bondage ve and the Gaming Companion
John looked proudly at his work. Eliza was covered in a proper shibari rope construction, the erotic bondage style originating in Japan. The rope used was designed for human usage, recently oiled, and covered her body in a decentlyplicated pattern. It was the base onto which he had attached a number of other restrictions, keeping Eliza confined.
The original n, to tie her to the bed, had been discontinued after they realized that the bed was simply too big. Sensibly, only the simple kind of bondage, linking limbs together, could be enacted on a mattress that had to carry an entire harem every night. Usually this was enough for their day to day debaucheries, with more specific cravings finding their outlet in the Sex Dungeon. Today, that wasnt so simple.
Instead of the bed, Eliza was now confined to a construction that was a mixture of adjustable metal frame and lounger. It wasnt quite asfortable as the bed, but it got close. Also, it had a water-resistant surface and allowed John to change the way Eliza was confined over the course of the day, among a number of other advantages. If Scarlett had a few hourster in the day, there was enough room to add her as well.
It had been a bit of a pain to set it up in the living room, even with the inventory and all that, but John was more than happy having gone through the effort. The result was, after all, Eliza, with her limbs sprawled out (a sensible start to the day), wearing nothing but the shibari, a choker, a butt plug, and a leg strap that held the receiver that connected via cable to the egg-shaped vibrator in her pussy. Two more were secured on her nipples with skin-friendly tape. Personally, John enjoyed the sight of naked breasts too much to cover nipples up during usual y, but today was an exception. He would leave her there, squirming, for quite a stretch of time.
All sitting tight andfy? John asked.
Yeaaaahhhhh, Eliza let out a drawn-out moan. The vibrators were still off, she was just enjoying her situation.
Can you reach the emergency button? he asked. Said button was her phone, sitting in a case that could be secured anywhere on the frame. If she kept in contact with it for five seconds, it would send a notification to Johns phone, letting him know that she needed something. Whether that meant that she was ufortable, wanted to eat something, was overwhelmed by pleasure or needed a potty break didnt really matter. No BDSM was proper without a way for the submissive to opt out.
Yes, I can reach the useless fucking button, Eliza cussed back, stretching her hand out to demonstrate.
An obnoxious sound echoed from Johns phone and didnt stop until John brought his phone close to Elizas. You call it useless, but we both know you might need it.
Fuck no I wont.
John was of half a mind to prove her wrong right then and there. They both knew he had the power to. He put a hand on the Lovers Will mark above her womb, dark blue lines that intertwined into an erotic mark, a heart at its centre, and then trailed up.
As you say, he then conceded and smiled at the disappointed groan that followed. The masochistic sub wanted to be broken, just a little bit, but the Gamer wouldnt fulfil her wishes so easily. Certainly not when it was so early in the day. There had to be build-ups and pay-offs. That aside, it was half an hour past their early morning orgies. Just because they were the only ones in the house didnt mean he had to immediately use her.
John put on the finishing touches. The blindfold went on first, then the mufflers and finally the gag. It was difficult to find the correct ones for this task. Senses far above the average human meant that Eliza had to be covered with equipment that were more intense in their isting capacity. For the gag, they had to rece the usual ring gag with a proper ball one. Leaving her mouth exposed to the air all day just didnt sound pleasant.
Once the sensory deprivation was in ce, John looked at the remote-control app on his phone and put the vibrators at a third of their power. Eliza started to squirm immediately, moaning as she shifted in her confines. Well just a little bit wouldnt hurt, John thought and moved around to the bottom end of the construction.
He pulled out the vibrator, climbed into the metal frame, got on top of her, and fucked her helplessly exposed body until he came inside her once. Then he pulled out, put the vibrator back in, used her mouth for a preliminary cleaning, put the gag back in, and then left her to the devices. Wondering when, throughout the day, he should whip out the heavier tools, he wandered to the bathroom. Once his dick was clean, he went to the gaming room.
This is going to be my entire day, John thought, happily. Torturing Eliza and gaming maybe this whole nation building thing was a mistake.
_______________________________________________________________________________
It was nice to have peace of mind and just click buttons on the screen. Because of the ongoing patch, John didnt even have to feel guilty about wasting time like this. Who, in their right mind, would go out and do something while it was only at 50% effectiveness? Better to just wait until things were in order again.
I suppose there is an argument to be made for urgency, but I dont have that right now, the Gamer thought to himself and watched the money trickle in. He was taking a break from ying y the Spire by letting a clicker game run while he watched a video on the left of the four monitors. The integrated massage function of the chair rubbed his back. It was a far cry from Aclysias skilled hands, but it was still rxing.
John jumped in his chair when his lull was suddenly interrupted by the ringing of his phone. It wasnt the obnoxious sound of Eliza requesting attention, but the simple signal that someone was calling him. The Gamer picked up and looked at the disy. An unknown number was calling him.
If this is Richard presenting me with some drama, I will flip out, he thought. This was, after all, his private phone. The work phone sat next to it on the table, but had been delightfully quiet all day. epting the call, John put the phone to his ear. Hello, John Newman here?
Ehm hi, John? The Gamer furrowed his eyebrows. He didnt immediately recognize the bashful voice that reached him. All he knew was that it was incredibly cute. Its Lee.
Oh! he eximed. Wow, you do not sound the same through a phone. And with a shy tone like that, he added mentally. Seems like she isnt thatfortable calling people? Or is calling me specifically?
Dont I? Lee cleared her throat on the other end of the line. Hope I am not keeping you from anything?
Cant say you are, no, John told her and paused the video. Just watching my heroes level up. Clicker Heroes, if that tells you something.
Wow, I didnt know you were a fucking casual.
Suddenly, she sounded exactly like John remembered. Oy, I resent that. I am still ying on a PC.
A casual from the glorious master race is still a casual, Lee insisted. You can y Minecraft on a GTX 1080, doesnt make you any less of a normie.
To be fair, its still going tog, somehow, the Gamer countered and did his best not to wonder if Lee was as naked at the moment as he was. Talking with her was as dangerous as ever. Anyway, what can I do for you?
I, uh, I was wondering if you could tell me whats up with Nia? Lee shifted back into her mild timidness. We were going to work out, but she opted outst minute. Not her style I think?
No, that doesnt sound like Nia, John agreed and grabbed the work phone. While he kept talking, he checked new messages. I mean, she has a tendency to suddenly appear at, as she would say, the right moment, but she wouldnt usually break on agreements. Did she say she found a cute turtle or something?
No, she just said she couldnt make it, Lee answered.
Hmmm, John hummed and finally found the exnation in his recent notifications. Well
You really say that a lot.
Well, thats your opinion, the Gamer responded immediately. Anyway, so I have good news and bad news. Good news, Nia skipped out for a totally sensible reason. Bad news, I cant talk to you about it. State secret. Apparently, there had been a new lead on the whereabouts of the Sands of Time. Nothing to be too excited about, people found temporary concentrations semi-regrly, but still something Nia had to investigate.
Are you saying Im not trustworthy? Lee said in a joking tone.
Im saying youre not part of the military, John responded seriously, not wanting to give her the impression this was something that could be discussed. You can ask about this if you take Magois or Magnus ce. Until then, you wont get an answer on this topic.
There were several seconds of silence, during which John wondered if he had been perhaps a bit too harsh in his tone. When Lee did speak up again, she didnt sound hurt in any fashion. It is how it is then, she let out a long sigh. Man, now I have nothing to do the whole day
I rmend using the gaming PC I gave you, John told her, leaning back in his massaging chair. Or you could dedicate yourself more to your Fateweaving studies.
He heard the half-mocking sound of air getting blown out of Lees nose. Yeaaahhh, riiiight, she said in a deep, dry tone. You are a decently smart guy, yeah?
At the very least, yeah.
Did you ever do more schoolwork than you had to?
Well, no, he admitted immediately. My schoolwork was a little less exciting than setting up parallel dimensions though.
Sounds exciting at first, isnt really when you are the best in ss without trying and 90% of lectures are about theories, Lee told him. So, Ill start up some LoL or something, I dunno. What about you?
I was thinking about sitting around and ying Minecraft, he told her.
Dont you have a country to govern?
Im on vacation, he told her.
That so so you have nothing else to do all day, like me? Lee asked.
It clicked immediately with John what he was expected to suggest next. The younger him would have missed the semi-obvious signals here. Current him knew not only how to read people, he also remembered the obvious flirts Lee had thrown his way in theirst meeting.
Those flirts were also the reason why he was hesitating. If he suggested they spend the next few hours gaming together, they would doubtlessly get to know each other better. That was, in and of itself, dangerous. Still, John found himself tilting towards making the offer. Sure, they werent supposed to get into any kind of romantic or erotic entanglement, but not getting to know each other at all would have been a bit too extreme. Surely, Magoi wouldnt be offended if John and his daughter became friends? What damage could one gaming session do?
Since we both have nothing else to do, want to y some stuff together?
Sure, Im game, Lee responded in a tone that was a bit too sweet and excited. Facecam?
Yeah, facecam sounds good, he answered, semi-distracted. In Johns mind, an image of her being his prey popped up. He was chasing her through the forest. He caught her. Then he did all of the things to her that he always wanted to do to attractive women. I may have made a terrible mistake, he told himself and looked down on himself and his erection. Just as he said, Ill need to get Lee spoke up as well.
If you could just give me like
Both of them stopped. They chuckled into the awkward silence. After you, John was the first to speak up again.
Was just going to say, if you could give me like 30 minutes. I need to get something to eat first.
Sure, I need to get some stuff done as well, the Gamer returned. I have to look after Eliza.
Is she sick? Lee wondered.
Bound and getting used, John told her. It did ur to him that it was a bit weird that he was so openly telling Lee that he was about to go and fuck another woman. He didnt care though. The Gamer was always truthful when it came to the harem conduct. She was stressing out, so I decided it was time for her to spend a day in bondage. Course that also means I am fucking her every now and again.
Thats hot he heard Lee mutter under her breath. Uhm, anyway! Ill call you again in thirty minutes, I guess?
Sure, John said, a little befuddled, amused and aroused by what he had just heard. Seriously, she finds it hot to hear about me keeping Eliza confined and using her as a cumdump? Why must she be Magois daughter of all people?!
Cursing fate, John went over to the living room and spent the next twenty minutes filling Eliza up with fresh cum. Lee didnt really enter his mind during that process. He wasnt the type to think of other women while being inside one. Eliza deserved nothing short of hisplete attention.
Once he was done with her, he rinsed off quickly and grabbed some clothes. If he was going to go on camera, he didnt think it would be appropriate to be nude. When he came back to the gaming room, wearing a casual ck shirt andfy pants, he sat down and waited about three minutes for the call. Lee was exactly on time.
She wanted to use Discord at first, but John instructed her to use the Fusionmunication application that Scarlett had written instead. It was already installed on herputer, Lee had just assumed it to be some kind of pre-installed anti-virus software, and it took a few minutes to get everything to work. Not because Lee was too stupid to find the wrong buttons to press, but because they had to fiddle with the usualputer problems of microphone and camera not being immediately recognized.
When they did get it running, John was greeted by the view of Lee in her gaming chair.
The young Fateweaver wore a ck hoodie. Open, the front zipper let John see the grey top she was wearing underneath. It wasnt overtly sexual, but its lean design stuck to her waist and petite breasts, underlining what little John could see of her feminine form. His eyes wandered up to her face.
He was slightly miffed by what he saw.
Was she attractive? Absolutely. She came after her mother, in the looks department. The shape of her face was worthy of a model, from the swing of her jaw to the elegant bridge of her nose. Her hair, a brown so dark it almost categorized as ck, was long, wellbed and barely styled. Only her bangs seemed to have gotten some dedicated attention during herst saloon visit. Her eyes were of a simrly dark brown. Her skin was pale, but not unhealthily so. She had the body and the looks of a gamer girl that took care of herself.
However, she had somewhatpromised that by painting her naturally pink lips red and highlighting her eyes with mascara.
You usually wear make-up? John asked, unable to hide a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Cant say I do. Why? Does it look bad? Lee leaned towards the screen, probably inspecting herself in the camera. I think I did a good job.
I wouldnt say it looks bad, no cant say I like it though, John took a pause to order his words. I dont like it when women wear make-up. Its an act of maniption.
Lee looked taken aback for a second. If she had put it on for him, his reaction to that would naturally bother her. Whether or not it did, the young Fateweaver didnt make it obvious. Instead, she pushed back on his assertion in a sassy tone. Maniption? Really? And only when women do it?
Okay, yeah, its also maniptive when men do it, the Gamer conceded that point immediately. When ites to the point of principle, at least. Im just not personally bothered by that because, one, men dont tend to wear make-up and, two, Im not attracted to them so it doesnt affect me.
Maniption still feels pretty brutal for just some lipstick, Lee grumbled, moving the arm of her mic-stand around.
It is a visual lie, John returned. Not that I cant sympathize with the want to present one. He took out one of his contact lenses for one moment, to show the milky, blind eye that was hidden underneath. Covering up scars is a good reason to want to wear make-up, but you are still telling the world the lie that your body is wless. In doing so, you make people treat you differently than they would could they see what you really look like. That is a form of maniption, John put the contact lens back into ce. Simrly, artificially making yourself more attractive than you actually are is a form of maniption. Whether thats painting your face, wearing a push-up bra or I dont know, wearing an undershirt that makes it look like you have abs? Theres probably something like that. Anyway, you do these things to be noticed in a way you naturally wouldnt be.
I mean, I guess? Lee conceded the notion. Feels like a pretty vast generalization though.
It totally is, John didnt care to pretend otherwise, its still generally true though. Of course there are different levels of egregiousness. I would say pretending that you have abs, for example, is up there. You are faking something that you could naturally achieve. Covering up the natural look of your face is middling. I dont like it, at all, but its not like I can fault people for wanting to be more beautiful than they were born. Covering up scars is pretty low. You are artificially covering something that remained from some kind of incident and thats not truly natural to your looks. You, Lee, don''t need to do any of that. Definitely not.
Pretty convenient order for you, Lee pointed out with half of a growing smirk on her lips and a raised eyebrow.
I suppose so, Johnughed and raised his hand. I spend way too much time thinking about this. Its not as if wearing make-up is worthy of any kind of punishment. At worst, its a very minor moral failing. Purely personally, Id prefer it if people just looked like they looked. In a perfect world, people who are ugly or scarred would be able to get some kind of fix for their problems, rather than cover it up. In reality, I can just say that I personally dislike it when they try to paint things over.
You also seem a bit obsessed with working with true information, though, Lee said.
Huh, John thought about that angle, I took this more about my hatred of being manipted extending to pedantic base levels, but thats probably part of it as well, yeah.
Look how well I know you already, the young Fateweaver said in a dry tone and took off the simple, ck headphones she was wearing. Alright then, mister schemer, let me just wipe this off quickly and we can start.
You look better without it anyway, the Gamer said, although he doubted she could still hear him. And she just indirectly admitted she put it on just for me, the happy thought rose and he had to try very hard to not grin because of it.
This was going to be a difficult day.
Chapter 976 – Vacation Week 5 – LoL, MC and BDSM
Chapter 976 C Vacation Week 5 C LoL, MC and BDSM
Okay, you convinced me, well y Minecraft after this, Lee surrendered while she waited to revive.
Oh, what? I thought that was a normie game, John poked fun at her, happily clicking around the map. They were having a good old round of League of Legends. The sixth round, to be exact. It also appeared that it would be their sixth victory. John had been out of the meta for a while, but he still had the basics down. With Lees exnation on what important things had changed and his absurd reflexes, he was carrying himself splendidly. The sassy gamer girl was basically on a pro level, even without her own increased reflexes.
Because League of Legends was a game filled with awful design decisions, that was and wasnt enough to make them dominate.
Im just sick and fucking tired of dying to mushrooms. Who the fuck fed Teemo?! Lee, tilted beyond belief, cried out and beat her desk several times.
I cant believe Teemo is still in the game, John agreed, clicking on the tower and stretching while his character hit the building. That would have been inadvisable, had they not just won a team fight. Basically, all that remained at this point was to finish things off. Maybe you shouldnt y the squishiest character you could find though?
Akali isnt squishy!
She is if you have nothing to hit.
Youre just ying tanks, you coward.
Hey, if nobody picks CC, then I will pick CC. A goodp is how you win. That statement had Lee without retort and the Gamer smugly stared at the face cam. She was, John had to admit, less sexy without the make-up. She was cuter though, the pale pink of her lips harmonizing better with her white skin. Naturally dense, her eyshes did the majority of the work mascara would have anyway. The highlighting of her eyes wasnt as intense, but John preferred the simplicity of the soft outline.
The victory came about a minuteter, at which point Lee asked. So, we game for Minecraft?
Why does she have to use that word, Johnmented mentally, the fantasy of dominating her after a chase surfacing again. The problem here was that she seemed so willing for it. There was absolutely no way she didnt know about Johns kinks. Not with how she had apparently be a fan of him since they first met and not with how clear John was with what he did between games. Sure, let me just check on Eliza.
That what you call it now? Checking on her? Lees dry sarcasm called him out. Come on dude, just tell me which hole is next.
So, you can y with that one while I am gone? the Gamer wanted to say, but bit the inside of his cheek. Meanwhile, Lee bit her lower lip in that awfully erotic way, giving him the answer to his question. Why does she have to be so incredibly straightforward with her signals? If she was coy, this would be way easier. Fucking dream girl right here and I cant touch her. John sighed out loud by ident. By quickly continuing, he made it look as if he was merely resigned to give her an answer. I was thinking about some gentle throat-fucking.
Gentle, she repeated, gesturing her sarcasm with air quotes, throat-fucking. The motions made her hoodie part further at the front, revealing clearly erect nipples poking through her shirt. Go ahead then, tend to your subby slut. Unbothered, even smiling a little, she waved dismissively.
Do you mean her or you? John bantered back out of pure instinct and saw Lee blush at his flirtatious blunder. Shit, why does she make this so goddamn easy?! he shouted inside his mind. As if her being attractive and a fellow gamer wasnt enough, Lee just had the easy-going character type he was generally attracted to. Add a dash of sassiness and clear sexual openness on top and John just couldnt help himself to treat her like she was destined to join his harem.
Basically, their chemistry was through the roof.
I mean Lee hesitantly answered, pulling and twirling the tips of her hair in a girly fashion, I wouldnt mind trying rough stuff with the right guy or girl, really, I dont mind both, even.
She looked directly into the camera.
RETREAT! John thought, channelling what very little of his awkward teen years remained. Hope you find someone like that! he eximed, clearly aggravated, pulled off his headphones and fled the scene. Just barely, he caught Lees stupefied expression. He also noticed toote that he was walking with a massive and visible tent in his pants. There is no way she doesnt realize that Im also interested, hemented. Gaia, kill me now, I dont know how much longer I can resist this temptation.
John considered and ultimately refused the Quest. It wasnt worth it after all.
In the living room, one very clear reason to stay alive was sitting in her proverbial cage. John had switched her position three times so far. At the moment, she was kneeling, arms tied together vertically behind her back, Sybian between her fixed legs.
She was mewling helplessly, spasming on top of the buzzing toy between her legs. No matter how much the short, blueish-white girl tried, she couldnt shift away from it. John had left her like that for the past forty minutes and the Lovers Will Mark on her crotch prevented her from finding release in the sexual torture. Sweaty, drooling and sopping wet, the blinded, gagged, and deafened girl was too deep in her hell of pleasure to even smell John. She only noticed him when he ran a hand up her thigh.
The moment she knew he was in the room, her moans became louder and overbearing. Like most people, Eliza only disyed her emotions so openly if she knew she was being watched. She shuddered and tried to lean into his touch. John pulled the mufflers from her ears. Do you want to cum, Eliza?
Spasming, zealous nods and desperate screams were Johns answer. They cleansed the Gamer of his current worries. He indulged in hearing them for a few seconds longer, before also taking her gag out. Please, please, please, let me cum, Master! she screamed. Masterrrr, mhm-AaaahHh!
John teased her breasts with his hand, causing her to cry out. I dont know. Should I allow you to climax? Difficult difficult He grabbed her face and turned it around, inspecting it as if she was some kind of farm animal. Why dont you tell me exactly what you are?
Im your ve! Your personal cumbucket! she cried out immediately. Master, please use me however you desire! My cunt, my ass, my pussy, they all belong to you. Just you, Master, only your cock can soil this useless sleeve. Fill me up with your baby batter however often you want!
Good girl, John hummed and walked around her to work on her bindings. Loosening the rope attached to her cor allowed her to slump forwards. When she was at the height of Johns crotch, he secured the rope again and got back to her mouth. Whether she was panting or if she was keeping her lips parted in anticipation of his cock made little difference. Either way, John pushed inside her throat and undid the seal.
John rocked the pretty little psychos world. It only took ten seconds to get her cross-eyed, but he kept ravaging her throat for a little while longer. His cock in her throat, the Sybian still buzzing between her rope-squished thighs, he reduced her to the happiest mess in existence.
When he was done, he took her off the Sybian and bound her back down in a more rxed position. Every high had to be followed by a low and he was far from done with her. The gag and the muffler went back into position and the phone ced within reach of her new position.
Then John did as he always did: clean his dick, grab a snack, get dressed again and return to the PC. Lee was awaiting him, munching on some pizza that looked like it had spent a night in the fridge. Neither of them brought up their final exchange.
With a mouthful of cheese, toppings and crust, Lee asked, You shetting up the sherver or what?
Less of a setting up and more of a booting up, John retorted and opened the admin console of the gaming room. Courtesy of Scarlett, the harem got to y Minecraft on hardware that would usually be used to power a World of Warcraft server. Let me just create a new world and then we can go at it. He nced at the clock. Had it really been seven hours already? Between talking to Lee and using Eliza, the Gamers day had trickled away with continuous glee.
Take your time, dude, Lee told him, using her deeper intonation. The way her vocal cords travelled all over the ce, while remaining generally pleasing in their tone, was strangely enticing to John. I have the bestpany of all times at the moment.
Why thank you, the Gamer responded instinctively, while clicking around the settings. That was a tonic enoughpliment.
I am talking about the pizza. The young Fateweaver shook her head. Its true what they say: you do have an arrogance issue. Who in their right mind thinks they are better than pizza?
Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra, John answered immediately. Know why? Lee cocked her head, too busy munching to hazard a guess. They cant eat it. Lee snorted, mildly amused. That transformed into a wild cough. Maybe Im a betterpanion than pizza. At least I dont try to kill you.
Lee did a series of unwomanly things. First, she tried to rinse her throat clean with water. Then she burped from the air she had swallowed in her haste. Finally, while she tried to get her coughing under control, she held her middle finger up into the camera. All John had in response wasughter. Fuck off she finally cussed.
If you insist, the Gamer said and reached for the escape button.
Oy! I thought you were some kind of gentleman, the young Fateweaverined immediately. What kind of gentleman leaves ady to game on her own?
What kind ofdy games all day and has a box of tissues conveniently sitting next to theirputer? the Gamer asked, watching Lee pull two out to clean her fatty fingers.
Im just being hygienic! Lee defended herself a bit too strongly for John to believe that.
Suureeee, he gave his obviously unbelieving confirmation. How many other hygiene articles are in your drawer, I wonder? She got a little bit red; John grinned, then his reason kicked in again. Why did I say that? Why did I say that? This girl is crazy brazen, shell actually show me!
If you HAVE to know, Lee confirmed his fears by rolling her eyes. She grabbed the webcam and pulled it over the edge of the desk. Not only did this reveal that she was wearing really tight leggings, but she also pulled open the lowermost drawer at her desk.
Holy pervert the Gamer thought. To start with, he hadnt expected her to actually keep any toys at her desk. It took a special kind of brave to keep ones toys in a ce strangers could stumble into by ident. What he saw there, however, made things even worse.
There were quite a few sex toys in there, each of them kept in their own, clean and neatly assigned segment of the drawer, separated by movable walls of stic. There were the more standard things, a bottle of lube, an egg-shaped vibrator and a multi-purpose massage wand. Then there was the umon stuff, a butt plug, anal pearls, a bottle of aphrodisiac, and a dildo. Admittedly, a dildo would usually belong in themon category, it was just that John knew the shape of this one intimately.
He didnt have to guess how the shape of his cock had made it on the sex toy market. There was a Technomancer in his harem that had made one before and that wouldnt skip on any opportunity to make money. The uracy was scary. Even the balls had the right size, even if the silicone didnt mimic the shape properly.
Whatever you do, do not recognize the dildo, John thought. He felt like he was in a warzone and Lee was trying to manoeuvre him in a position where he had to admit he noticed her interest. Maybe I should just confront her? The question surfaced, but he somehow reasoned himself out of it. Problematic about this whole perverted flirting was that he didnt want it to end. Aphrodisiacs, for yourself?
Dunno what to tell you, Lee responded with well-veiled nervousness. I got curious a couple of months ago so I ordered some. Dont take them often, hardly at all, really
Please, Lord, keep her from describing what she usually does.
but, you know, sometimes you wake up so horny that the air around your nipples makes you aroused. So, horny as you are, you throw in a pill, react way harder to it than the description would indicate, put in the vibrating butt plug and spend the next hour rubbing your pussy and testing how deep you can throat your favourite dildo.
With that dildo being a recreation of Johns cock. He gulped, swallowing the question of how deep she did manage to go. For a moment, after the beet-red Lee had put the webcam back on top of her main screen, John feared she would suggest to show him. Quickly, before she could show just how brazen she was yet again, he said, Well, I wake up every day that horny. Benefit is that my women also do and they seem to share the conviction in the throating department.
L-lucky them, Lee half-stuttered, half-purred. Her dark eyes darted between her camera and screen. She bit her lower lip again. Her breathing was almost audible. Her face still red. Her fingers yed with her hair. I really want to know what its like to do it with another person a dude would be really nice. Shouldnt be just anyone though.
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! the highly aroused Gamer shouted in his mind. Alright, server is set up, he said with a calm smile on his face. Just urgh Jane switched my skin again.
Does that matter? Lee was harem-fittingly quick to switch into the newne of conversation.
Matters a lot if your girlfriend decided you are supposed to look like Brainiac.
The Superman viin?
Yeah.
If this was the Red Son universe, she would be our girlfriend,rade.
Nah, I would have joined Batmans rebellion.
Didnt think you the type to read semi-obscureic books, Leeughed.
John shrugged. You know how it is,rade, he said in his worst Russian ent. Sometimes you study socialism, sometimes socialism studies you and sometimes you get so sick of readingmunist thought that you look up whether or not Superman evernded in the Soviet Union.
It do be like that,rade, Lee agreed with a militaristic nod. Anyway, how long are you taking to pick out a skin for Minecraft?!
Its important to pick the right one, the Gamer insisted.
Just pick the base skin. Why paint over your natural look, right, mister anti-make-up?
Is that how were going to y this?
Im game, Lee grinned and John started to wonder if she knew about the hunting fantasy that urred every time she said that. Ill poke fun at you until you drop dead.
That a promise or a threat?
Depends on how much you like me.
Leaning towards decently much at the moment.
You game seven hours with every girl you decently like on the third meeting?
Maybe, John managed to give a nonmittal answer. Anyway, made my pick and he hit a few keys, here is the IP.
They both logged in and looked at each other at the spawn point. Is that supposed to be Roboute Guilliman?
Yup. John didnt need to ask how Lee immediately recognized that. Aside from her being an obvious nerd, her own knowledge of Warhammer 40k was apparent in her own skin. I see you went with Yvraine?
I really like her design, Lee told him and smirked. She didnt evenment on the coincidence here.
While Warhammer 40k was a grim, dark setting filled with savage war, the Gathering Storm story did have the leader of an Eldari (essentially space elves) faction revive one of the twenty sons of the God-Emperor of Mankind. Aside from the Imperium not looking favourable towards any Xenos, this act was eternalized in themunity through several memes of the Primarch and Yvraine being a couple. Of course, none of that was official lore.
It did bode ill for Johns sanity, though.
Chapter 977 – Vacation Week 6 – A truly free day
Chapter 977 C Vacation Week 6 C A truly free day
They only yed about thirty minutes of Minecraft before Johns girls started trickling back home. When he did say his goodbye, he wasnt sure if he was relieved or saddened.
John got a girlfriend, Rave teased him, while he fucked a still bound Eliza. Her legs were attached to the legs of the lounger now, making it easy to take her from behind or give her a nice spanking in passing. While the day was slowly approaching its end, the Gamer wasnt releasing his cocksleeve until he was ready to use her as a pillow for the night.
Yeah, I have one, and she is currently wondering if shes asking for Jack or taking Elizas mouth, John returned.
Ya know me so well, Rave grinned and pped his naked ass. Ya smart, ya loyal C and its just a matter of time until ya sleep with Lee.
John groaned, because he didnt have the energy to convincingly disagree with her. Is it that obvious?
Rave put her crossed arms on the frame of the BDSM lounger and grinned at her boyfriend. I mean, she is totes your type.
Cackling Metra stepped next to Rave and mimicked the Lightbearers pose. She does have three holes, after all.
Oy, my standards are higher than that, Johnined and took one hand off Elizas hips to gesture about the room. Most of the lovelydies around werent paying attention to him at the moment, too busy speaking to each other. They were in their social exchange part of the day, where they talked about events that had urred, discussed interests and philosophy, and gave each other advice about what to do tomorrow. Look at all the smart, beautiful women we gathered here.
Naked women, Rave added.
Wet and willing to get fucked at your call, my king. Metra lewdly giggled.
A loud SMACK echoed through the room, when John hit Elizas ass with faked frustration. The submissive masochist screamed into her gag. Yes, it is a harem of smart, beautiful, perverted women that all love me, he answered with a grin. Do you two have an issue with that?
Ehh, dunno, the loving ya part is debatable, Rave teased, only to nce over her shoulder when Jack appeared behind her. See this handsome youngd right here? This is who I love.
Im literally me, Jack whispered into Raves ear. They aligned her bubble butt with his erection.
Debatable. That was the final word Rave dropped into the conversation, before he prated her eager, tight cunt. It was incredibly easy to fuck her into a wordless stupor. Without the blowjob shifts around, his girls were more needy at the end of the day.
Lee is a good girl, Aclysia, walking up to the left side of Elizas confinement, chimed into the conversation. Her interest in you, my Master, is highly approvable.
Shooo goooooood, Rave moaned, her big butt cushioning the impact of each thrust.
I really dont want to get into trouble with Magoi though, John groaned, mostly because he got close to cumming. His thrusts synced up and he pumped both Eliza and Rave full of hot seed. That aside, why are you so sure this wont be another Marie case? He knew the answer already, but he had to at least try to convince himself.
Ya fucking kidding me? Metra mocked him. Come on, its so absurdly clear. Marie is a stuck-up cunt.
Wanting to monopolize my John, Aclysia shook her head.
Gaia Ahh Marie Rave tried to say something between climactic convulsions. She only wanted to get to know you. Lee is hanging
Shes hanging out with us, Smander came to Raves rescue, who was all too happy to resume in her simple moaning. And shes a great gal. Almost unbe-lee-vable, really.
There were two waves of groans that went through the room. The first from everyone who heard the joke and the second from everyone who heard the groans and had to ask what they were about. Sylph burst outughing, Smander cackled proudly, John rolled his eyes. I guess, he conceded and cut off the topic there. Hey, Nia.
Yes? The blonde looked up from the book she was reading.
How did the Sands of Time search go?
Progress was made, the pariah reported swiftly. We noticed that the sightings ur in consolidating areas. The centre hasnt been found yet, but it reduces the search area. I have a handle on it. After a second of thinking, she added, Please enjoy your vacation, darling.
Ill do my best. John grinned and came inside Eliza another time.
_______________________________________________________________________
The next day, John was left more to his own devices. The anti-burnout treatment had worked splendidly for Eliza and she had retreated to her room with the spark of inspiration in her eyes and words of minor self-deprecation on her lips. Given her usual modus operandi, that was a massive improvement.
Metra was theoretically avable, but John didnt want to keep her around needlessly when she could be productive. Large as Fusion was, some muscle would always be needed to make the job of the growing police force more secure. Realistically, Metra really wasnt necessary as support for any raids or operations that were currently going on. Her presence in those operations, particrly as the one who led the charge, did serve to make the police force more loyal to Johns cause though.
When one wanted to make sure that amunity was happy with ones rule, it was important that the localw enforcement spoke well of their overlord. Because Fusion recruited their police out of themunities they were policing, at least in the optimal cases, those peacekeepers became pirs of the localities they patrolled. If they had good things to say about the way Fusion did things in maintainingw and order, then that spread good word of mouth and kept grassroots support for the government high.
If there was a disadvantage to things, then that Metras appearance tended to spread the influence of the Wrath Party. John could imagine what about seeing the ancient weapon bulldoze a crime syndicate in a few hours made people believe that militarism was the logical consequence of government. It might also be because the people that lived under a crime syndicate for a while came to believe that might makes right.
The police were far from the only way to make sure members of a localmunity were happy with the central government. Good infrastructure, low taxes, streamlined bureaucracy, helpful officials, clear paths ofmunication, all of those things raised the general opinion of the government. As a rule of thumb, the state was most popr when it was barely present and highly capable in the few things it did. If the government wasrge, took on more and more responsibilities, then it would inevitably fail at some tasks. Because people always focused on negative aspects, that would be all that stuck.
Didnt help that government was usually quite slow to reform itself, but that was more of an exasperating than fundamental factor.
When it came to the rest of the harem, Aclysia and Beatrice were going after their usual work. Nia hadst told John she was going to the Menagerie, which meant that she was likely drowning in cute animals at the moment. The elemental girls (all elementals, actually, since Stirwin was also present) were hanging out on the Light Ind. Apparently, Lee was also there, which was dangerous but John could do nothing about it. Lydia dide over for an hour, which they used extensively. That was some treat during the day, at least.
Finally, Rave was in a meeting with business people to secure some donations for her next phnthropic project. The way she had described it to John, she wanted to help finance art houses in Fusions major and medium poption centres. Self-servingly, those would include discos. With Fusions more easy-going culture, John was all fine with that. If they werent meant to be, they would go bankrupt in some years and the property would be repurposed for something else. That was just how the free market sorted things out.
Rave was also busy nning another party for tomorrow. Once again, Lee was involved. It was not the party to her arrival that Rave had originally proposed. Instead, the party happened because the Gamers girlfriend made it a point of principle to organize a girls night whenever John organized a guys night.
Do we have everything straight for tomorrow? John asked over the phone.
I mean, not sure if I would say three guys going into a whiskey bar is straight Maximillian grumbled, the whispering of paper in the background. The self-exiled king was still living in the Embassy. If John meant to, he could have had this conversation in person with a ten-minute walk. However, that meant leaving the house and John felt really good about indulging in his own gamer habits.
Even if he wasnt in the gaming room at the moment.
You need to do something about your strip club addiction, John stated drily.
Its only a problem if I run out of money, the gravity mage joked. Anyway, whiskey bar doesnt even sound that bad. Its just we could have whiskey and tits and ass and pleasantpany in the Little Whirl.
Maybe I dont want tits and ass.
Sacrilege! A loud m of a palm against wood, likely Maximillians work desk. Actually, on second thought, please do turn gay. I call dibs on your haremettes.
Lets be real, you couldnt handle them, John smugly answered.
Where there is a will, there is a way, Maximillian dered. Anyway, why the whisky?
I just think its neat.
I do hate you, buddy.
No, you dont, Johnughed and made a turning gesture with his hand. It was not meant for Maximillian but for the birdcat John was ying with while the call was going on.
Velka obediently dropped to the ground of her cabin and rolled on her back. The three-month-old Magryph was the size of a middle-sized dog. She was about 90 centimetres long, tail not included, and 55 tall. Her growth had slowed recently. Since she was supposed to reach her full size only after a year, and there were another 70 centimetres to go there, John wasnt worried about that. Velka was already quite big for her age.
She was also adorable. Rubbing herself against the ground, all four of her legs raised, tail and tail feathers flopping and fluttering, wings spread out, she was a disy of soft ck and white fur. Expectant warbles came from her beak, as the perfect blend of Australian Magpie and ck caty there, staring with her upside-down red eyes at her owner.
John repeated the turning gesture. This time, Velka did a proper tumble, ending up on her back again. Such a cute little thing, the Gamer thought, not speaking out loud due to the call. His right hand reached out to Velkas belly. He had just started rubbing her when her entire body sprung on his arm like a mouse trap. As if to punish him for theck of treats, she worked him with her back paws and front talons while her beak nibbled at him. Being licked by a bird tongue was always a peculiar experience.
John took the mild pain in stride and kept scratching the fluffy belly. Anyway, was just calling to make sure were still on.
Totally. Just you, me and Magnus this time around, yeah?
Yeah, Ted is upied. Apparently, he and Chemilia have date night or something.
Incredible, Maximillian said in a deeply disappointed tone. How dare he?
I know, right? Bros before hoes.
Hes just not the same since he got hitched.
Hes been hitched since you hit puberty.
And he probably hasnt been the same, Maximillian countered. What are you doing contradicting me? I thought we were having a bit here.
Sorry, I just like proving you wrong more than I like acting like a dude-bro.
I do get the feeling that proving me wrong is just about the only thing you care about in life, Maximillian hummed. Anyway, you didnt answer the whisky club question. If you just want to have a night drinking, we can do that in your Pce.
Yeah but that feels different, you know? I want to go out, waste some money, and be in a semi-public setting. I think thatll be more fun.
I guess but why a whisky club? Maximillian grumbled. A normal club would at least have girls. A whisky club is where rich men with a cigar addiction hang out.
Well, Magnus likes the idea.
A C whisky club C is C where C rich men C with C a C cigar addiction C hang C out, Maximillian repeated slower, as if he was talking to a total mid-wit. Of course Magnus is happy about it. Not only does he not want to flirt, monogamous guy that he is, he also fulfils all of the other target audience requirements. There was a pause in the conversation. Maybe Ill at least get entertainment from the two of you having a fight.
Why would we fight? John asked.
Depends on whether or not one of you brings up his sister.
What do you know? the Gamer asked in a grave tone.
Mrrew? Velka made a disappointed noise when the hand stopped scratching her belly. For some reason, that also meant she had no more casus belli on his arm.
A lot more, given that answer. Maximillians grin was audible. So, how many nudes did you get already?
None! John was quick to deny. We just gamed all day yesterday and fuck me sideways, Max
Ill pass, he managed to fit a quip in there.
that girl is WAY too hot.
And you cant have her.
And I cant have her, Johnmented, picking up Velka with one hand and pressing the purring chimera against his chest. Meanwhile, she clearly wants me. She showed me her sex toy collection. What kind of girl shows a guy her sex toy collection during their first gaming session? And she does this adorable thing with her hair when she gets flustered, where she ys with the tips. Its torture.
Man, on one hand, I feel you, Maximillian responded. There were a lot of girls I couldnt flirt with because it would have been improper for someone of my standing. Luckily thats currently not an issue He paused for a thoughtful second. The Schadenfreude is sublime though.
You are a true friend, John drily stated.
And, as a true friend, I willugh when you fall on your nose and then help you up, Maximillian dered. Anyway, paperwork to do. See you tomorrow.
Yeah, tomorrow, John agreed.
The rest of the day was spent gaming.
Chapter 978 – Vacation Week 7 – Whisky Side Boys
Chapter 978 C Vacation Week 7 C Whisky Side Boys
Well, its been nice catching up, John told Marie, after looking at the clock. It was the early evening, around 18:00, and he had somewhere else to be.
Indeed, the Illuminatis ambassador agreed with a graceful nod. Your story continues to be highly interesting. Even if I do not get the whole truth.
The Gamer shrugged. State secrets, what can I say?
Not everything, but zhat is fine. Her French ent reverberated attractively in the renaissance-styled room. I will get to write my personal and historical ounts of you. It will be a splendid addition to my lifes work. My visit here will have been personally enlightening as well.
d to be a pleasant acquaintance. John smiled and rose from the round table. Since they made their resolution to remain tonic, Marie had made slow but steady advances to being more sociable. Honestly speaking, they were good enough that John knew they could work as a couple now. Despite that, neither of them tried to flirt again. Along with her personal improvements, Marie seemed to have also consolidated her view that she did not want to be part of a harem. The Gamer was happy to back off and Marie was content with keeping things on a purely friendly basis. Have a good night, Marie.
I will, the ambassador responded. There are many people in your empire to meet.
It is not an empire, John retorted.
Not in name, zhat you make sure of, Marie responded mockingly and stood up herself. We will see where your path takes you, Mister President.
To a whisky bar, tonight, John hummed and walked through the door Marie helped open for him. They waved at each other for a final goodbye and the Gamer walked a couple doors over. Then he knocked. Yo, Max, get off yourzy ass, we have our livers to destroy! John wasnt quite sure why he felt like shouting that, but he just did it. Its really interesting how different I behave depending on the person I talk to.
The door opened a momentter and Maximillian stepped out. Like John, he was wearing a custom-tailored suit. Whereas the Gamer wore ck with dark red underneath, Maximillian had gone for abination of midnight and ocean blue for his jacket and shirt. He also wore a tie, on this asion, made of silk and of the same blue as his shirt.
Id rather feast my eyes on beautiful women, the impably dressed gravity mage answered, pulling at the cor of his suit. It was all in ce, he just did it for impact.
Are you seriously still salty that we arent going to the Little Whirl? John asked, gesturing with his head towards the nearest staircase. Maximillian stepped out of his apartment, which locked magically behind him.
Why would I ever not be salty about that? the self-exiled king wanted to know. The two of them continued to banter back and forth while they made their way to the teleporters. From there, it was two jumps and a short walk to Magnus house. They rang the door on the rtively humble house, close to the universitys research facilities, and waited.
Nina opened the door for them. The tall woman was wearing a stunning silver dress. Sparkling, the colour contrasted harmoniously with her golden, voluminous locks. There you are, she said, shouldering her pouch. I was thinking I would runte.
I told you, you could leave ahead of me, Magnus shouted from within the house. The Fateweaver stepped into the corridor a momentter. He had made his appearance extra orderly for the asion. His long, dark brown hair wasbed thoroughly, the straight strands bound together above the neck. His suit was a in ck, the shirt underneath white, and the bowtie the same green as Ninas eyes.
Id rather leave the girls waiting a couple of minutes than you alone, Magnus, Nina responded in a husky voice, grabbing her boyfriends bowtie and nudging it into the perfect ce.
Sweet of you, the short-worded man answered with an honest smile on his lips. The tall couple exchanged a quick peck on the lips. Before Magnus bowed towards her ear and whispered, loud enough that John could hear it, Dont forget our agreement.
How could I? she whispered back and the two separated. Have fun, boys.
Please, Nina, we are visiting a whisky bar, Maximillian responded, while the blonde walked away. We are men.
Sure thing, Max, Ninaughed and turned right when she hit the street.
Whats that agreement about? John asked. They had said it loud enough that he could have heard it superhuman hearing or not, so he thought it adequate to ask. Something lewd, I guess?
You know how the girls parties turn lesbian usually?
John nodded. Of course, he knew. Aside from the time they had drunkenly stumbled into the end of one after they had gone from a poker evening to another visit to the strip club, he did have the honesty of his harem to rely on. The agreement they all had was that he and his girls were allowed to fuck other females, as long as they were all truthful about it and listened to theints someone might have to such a rtionship. For example, if John somehow got the opportunity to hook up with Liz, Raves sister, it would be against their agreement, because Rave objected to it. However, Rave was allowed to sleep with Nina, because John saw absolutely no harm in that.
She wasnt allowed to sleep with Magnus (not that she ever would) because John was possessive and didnt want any other males in lewd contact with his women.
The vast majority of sexual interactions of anyone, including himself, in the harem was with other members of the harem. If he did spot a girl he wanted to spend a sweaty half-hour with, he could do so on a clear conscience. Rare as that was in the grand scheme of things, it happened vastly more often than one of his women seeking out an outsider. As a matter of fact, John knew it only urred when the harem was throwing a party with close friends. Even during those, the groups that came together for the party mostly stuck to themselves when it came to sex.
Theyre probably going to have a drunk orgy, what about it? he asked.
She isnt allowed to orgasm until she gets back to me.
Oh, thats just mean, John grinned and pped his fellow dominant on the back, I love it.
Great, fantastic, Maximillian grumbled. Our women are having an ecstatic time feeling each other up and I have to drink whisky in a room filled with rich guys and cigar smoke.
Its called having ss, Max, the Gamer told him. I know thats a new term for you.
The gravity mage threatened his friend with his cane. I am the product of a bloodline that spans back millennia, Newman, he bellowed in his best angry monarch voice. Given his acting career, it was quite convincing. I have been born and bred for the most eloquent behaviour, to be a ruler of mankind and see my people prosper economically and culturally. I know 37 ways to ce the fork on the table, 12 different openings to a royal ball and a definitive path towards the happiness of men.
Is it called the Little Whirl? Magnus asked.
YES! Maximillian shouted and sighed. ss, I am not in self-imposed exile for ss.
How many of your girls were even invited? John wondered. Not to sound like a dick
You do that whether or not you try, Maximillian sneaked the quip in there.
but your harem hasnt exactly been stable as ofte. Something new here? In the first ce, John knew all he did about that situation from previous conversations with Maximillian.
Not really. I keep just falling out of contact with my women, the gravity king shrugged, cant say Im bothered about it. Not like I ever got with them out of emotional attachment.
Magnus dodged around a street sign. It was all about the tits.
Precisely. Maximillian snapped his fingers. Big old MILF breasts. A splendid way to spend debauched nights and days. He rolled his neck and sighed. Since I have responsibilities again and I am spending effort on learning water magic, I dont have the time to see all of them as much as they would want to. Therefore, the social group is breaking apart. Predictable and ultimately inconsequential.
How are things going with Laralia? John followed that line of reasoning. The double-bodied slime girl was both Maximillians instructor and his candidate for a contract. She would keep you busy.
Personally, things are going absolutely fantastic. A smile grew on the gravity mages face. Shes really cute and delightfully simple in all the right ways. Not stupid by any means, just clear in her desires. Magically, things are going well. Im making progress, but not enough to contract her yet. He amusedly blew air out of his nose. Not that she could join the party even if she did. Some of us have to obey the regr range at which the contract is stable.
Sucks to be you, John responded, making Maximillian roll his eyes in an overexaggerated manner. With the end of your temporary harem, perhaps you should search for a proper girlfriend?
Well see whates or does note about. The brown-haired man shrugged. Im not in any hurry to get hitched. I just want some female partnership in my life and Laralia seems like she will do nicely there.
Thats a nice way to say fuckbuddy, John pointed out.
I only say things in nice ways, Maximillian stated.
Their conversation stayed focused on their women while they walked. It was a topic they all liked to discuss. Not only were women generally pleasing to talk about, their individual opinions on what shapes and characters they preferred provided ample opportunity for quips. Sometimes, they slid intoints about their current or past partners, but that was generally rare. The three of them were exceedingly happy with their lot in life. John thought they deserved that. They had all worked hard to get where they were.
Eventually, they reached the whisky club. It was in a more artsy, upper ss area of Fusion. The building their target establishment was located in was arge, highly decorated cube of white marble. It looked as if someone had taken the White House and pressed it into the shape of a cube, retaining all of the windows and roman-esque pirs.
There were other things inside there. A spa, a restaurant, a badminton field, a minigolf club, to name only a few of the offerings. Basically, it was a concentrated block to satisfy all of the needs of high society.
Posh, Magnus pointed out.
I like it, Maximillian added.
Oh, now youre happy with my choice? John wanted to know.
Anything that annoys Magnus.
Im not annoyed. I like it simpler.
Well, lets see how simple it is on the inside, John said and headed for one of the many entrances. There were no lines waiting around, yet each door was overseen by a gatekeeper. The Gamer spared himself his introduction, only stopped in front of the red cloth that dangled between two golden posts.
The gatekeeper mustered him, then reached out to unhook the cloth and wave them inside. Wee to the Ambrosia, Mister President.
Thank you, we will be on our best behaviour, John promised as the three of them headed inside.
Marble white walls decorated with silver-framed paintings encapsted the cigar smoke that quickly enveloped them. The floor was covered by a purple carpet. Soft music yed from hidden speakers. Along the walls were numerous coves, couches and chairs arranged around dark brown tables, all of them meant for small groups and lending rtive privacy. A bar tastefully stretched through the middle of the rectangr room, surrounding a pir covered with shelves that held a myriad of different whisky bottles.
The narrow, entrance-facing end was manned by a cute woman with short brown hair and grey eyes. Her uniform was that of a bartender, the white shirt stretching tremendously over her ample bosom. When she bowed, they jiggled and enraptured Maximillians attention. John stared only for a moment, impressed that there was someone around with breasts the size of Smanders.
Wee to the Ambrosia, she greeted them in a friendly, adorable voice. Do you have a specific whisky in mind or do you require a rmendation? Do you wish to see our cigar menu?
Magnus was the first to answer, Ill take a Tuljermur. Please give me the menu.
Just give me something thats a soft start, John said. I dont want to be adventurous tonight.
Im open for a rmendation, Maximillian said with a charming smile.
Given her attractiveness, the bartender doubtlessly got flirts on the regr, yet she smiled back honestly. Maximillian was still a charming man with power, influence and good looks. How about an Amber Drop?
That sounds splendid, dear? Maximillian let the question hang in the air.
Hera, she introduced herself.
Like the goddess? John asked, with a raised eyebrow.
A coincidence, I assure you, she sighed. I know it sounds strange, given the name of this establishment. I am not and have not been married to a lightning wielding god who seduces maidens for a pastime.
John used Observe to verify that fact. Damn paranoia, he thought when it turned out she was telling the truth. It really was just an odd happenstance. Anyway, just bring whatever you pick for me to our table. Just make it on the rocks, please.
As you wish. Hera bowed her head and the three of them went off to their table.
You know,ing here was a glorious idea, Maximillian said, enthused due to two very obvious reasons.
Just remember that the best you will get is her number, John told him discreetly. If you try to nail her in the bathroom, Ill throw you out myself. This isnt that kind of ce.
I do have some ss, you know, Maximillian yfully scoffed while they sat down.
Doubtful, Magnus added to the conversation.
While they gotfortable in their seats, John wondered how the girls were doing.
Chapter 979 – Vacation Week 8 – Past Girl’s Side [Lee POV]
Chapter 979 C Vacation Week 8 C Past Girls Side [Lee POV]
It had been an interesting ten days for Lee Magus, to put it mildly. More than that, it had been an interesting month.
That her parents would eventually call her to Fusion had been a foregone conclusion the moment she heard about the first teacher packing their bags. Lee had spent the majority of her life in some kind of school run by Fateweavers. Whether that was a small-scale operation like the outpost in Ennd she had grown up around or the Mountain of Time where she had been schooled once she hit puberty.
Thanks to the time spent there and who her father was, Lee got to know all of the most powerful Fateweavers that were currently alive. She got to see the leaders of world-renowned guilds in the corridors. The Enlightened Lady of Korea. The heir of the Mandate. Lady Luna of Romulus Empire. A Valkyrie sent by Odins Sons. Generals of the Blood of the Proletariat and the Purest Front. She got to see a spark of Prometheus me during a delegation. Was flirted with by a son of the Great Sultan, eager to expand his harem. Her father had not taken well to that. It was not the only incident she had seen in her time at the Mountain of Time. The world over, the services of the Fateweavers were coveted, the attention of Gehnigm greatly valued.
When the first person packed their bag, she knew the Fateweavers as an institution were done. More soon followed. The studies she always found dull became painfully slow as the number of teachers dwindled down to the mediocre and the sizes of the sses swelled to enable the schedule.
Lee had always been faster than anyone else in her ss. She didnt know why, raw talent she guessed, but she grasped what was talked about instinctively. While everyone else was slowly munching through the texts the teachers gave them, Lee had read them twice and still had enough time to pull out her phone and start up Tetris. She didnt take notes, didnt learn outside of ss, and still alwaysnded in the top 10 of the ss. It didnt matter that she didnte first. If she ever did try to get a good result in a test, it was only to get her mother off her back for a few weeks or because her father promised her an increase in her allowance if she did.
Magoi and Mabirl cared more for her education than she did.
So, it didnte as a surprise when they pulled her out of there. Early in the month, they told her they had gotten things in line and that she would be moving in two weeks. Lee hadnt minded. She had no good friends among her ssmates. She wasnt exactly anti-social. She could hold conversations just fine, could even be charming or funny. She just didnt care about any of them. Not enough to forego gaming hours, certainly.
That was the lifestyle she had thought she would continue.
Then her parents had told her that John Newman would personally greet her.
What was the view Lee Magus had of the president of Fusion? That wasplicated. During their first meeting she thought he was just another powerful character. Like that sultans son, out to amass benefits for nobody but himself. Usually, that would have been the end of her interest. Because he was her fathers employer, however, she did read up on him. Only a little bit at first, checking what he did this month. Then the tales of his exploits expanded. As did the amount of people reporting on it. Soon, there was an ocean of tales about him.
Lee read it all.
Sometimes she had wondered if she had turned into a crazy stalker, but it wasnt as if she was obsessed with him. She was perfectly fine with letting some stories pass her by and she didnt keep a photo of him on her at all times. The worst she did was make sure she always had certain video files at hand.
She was a fan of him, that was all. John Newman seemed so genuine to her, in all that he had. His exploits amused her, his goals resonated with her, his quips during interviews had her chuckle and he was just so incredibly attractive. As were all of the women he surrounded himself with. There was little on most of them in the media, but Lee got to know a fair bit about Jane Rave Hollmey and, at the very least, what everyone else looked like. She became incredibly interested in Rave as well.
Sometimes, Lee wondered what it would be like to be part of that harem. They were the nightly fantasies of a girl that had some REALLY horny days. She always left it at fantasies. She didnt delude herself, neither did she fall in love with Johns image. She understood that she was watching a person on a screen. What she saw could have been far removed from who he truly was. Refusing to fall for anything but the genuine person, Lee went on and just watched him for some sinful entertainment.
And then she had met him. John, Rave, Gnome and Aclysia, all of them had looked even better in person than on her 4K screen. He was every bit as charming and genuine as the videos had made her believe. Something had clicked during their meeting and she had just talked to him as if she had known him for years. She made shameless jokes in front of her family, acted suggestively, and only felt disappointed when he didnt reciprocate as intensely as she had expected.
Afterwards she realized that she had, on the second meeting, actually fallen for him.
Welp, she had thought with a delightful knot in her stomach, thats going to be difficult to ignore. What else was she going to do with that emotion? Embrace it? Absolutely impossible. I could never be part of a harem. She had started her PC, tried to concentrate on gaming. She didnt have a lot of fun. She couldnt sleep well either. Or could I? the question surfaced the next morning.
Until, after several hours, she spontaneously realized that, yes, she could. Was she fundamentally opposed to being part of a clique of incredibly attractive women that all loved the same guy? No, that just depended on the women and the guy involved. Since she was already pretty certain on the guy, the girls were the only open question. They had already offered her an in as well.
Lee only had to ovee her anxiousness about initiating the process. Several hours deliberating if this really was a good idea, if she cared enough about this to cut into her gaming hours. Surprising herself, she did.
One call to Rave, and Lees ten tumultuous days started.
Hanging out with the Lightbearer was the first time in her life Lee felt that there was a point to having friends. Rave was charming, she was quippy, she responded to banter immediately, she was beautiful and she oozed confidence. Talking to her wasnt the kind of dull conversation she was used to from people she only knew because she was **** to sit in the same room as them. Lee could be as witty and sassy as she wanted and Rave just pulled along seamlessly.
Somehow, their conversations flowed back and forth and eventually Lee just dered, Youre lucky you have the most fantastic ass in the world.
Usually, people call my tiger a dick, Rave hadughed.
No, moron, Lee had rolled her eyes. I mean that down there. She pointed at the magnificent double-spheres that marked the transition to Raves long legs. My butt is pretty t.
Cause ya sit on it all day, Rave had said. Ya know Nia? Lee shook her head. She didnt, not really. Nia had an average butt too. Ya know what fixes that? Workouts! Little Miss Magus had not been convinced by that statement. The only time in her life she had ever worked out had been during exhaustive family trips. Magic was the entire reason why she was still thin and fit. She was well aware that she would be at least ten kilos up, given the amount of greasy pizza she consumed.
Before the day was over, she was not onlypletely certain that she, if nothing else, wanted to have Rave as an actual friend but was also introduced to every other girl in the harem, save for Lydia. None of them seemed to have anything wrong with them, at first nce. Some were more sympathetic than others, but somehow she just knew she wanted to get to know all of them better. They were all just so interesting and friendly.
Somehow, she agreed to work out with Nia the next day. Lee wasnt even sure if she agreed because she wanted to keep going on this social experiment or because Rave was just so charming.
The day after that, Lee had felt as if she was dying. Shame might have done it, if the sheer physical exhaustion after working out hadnt made her too out of breath to be embarrassed about anything. Working out with Rave, Nia and Metra was absolutely nothing short of frustrating. Lee felt no connection to sport itself, but she did refuse to give up while these girls were watching. Not with how much she immediately liked Rave, not with how Metra challenged her to go on and not with how Nia continuously cared for her.
Nia, who she would hang around a lot in the days that followed. Rave was often busy, as was Metra, but Nia somehow had a few hours for Lee every day. After two days, Lee came to the conclusion that she liked Nia even more than Rave, however that was possible. The enigmatic way the pariah behaved engaged Lees problem-solving skills. Even if the two didnt talk a lot, Lee was always entertained around Nia. It certainly helped that the blonde sometimes did the most surprising things. Like cuddle Lee while she recovered from thirty minutes on the bike machine or pull an absolutely adorable mixture between magpie and cat out of nowhere.
When she wasnt hanging out with Nia, Lee had often visited the Elemental Inds. Hours she could have spent gaming, she instead spent getting to know these other girls. The reason, to find out whether she could be in a harem with them, never fully vanished but it did lose its importance with time. The primary motivating factor became getting to know these interesting, sexy girls. Ladies that she could have called her friends.
At one point she talked to Stirwin. It was a visit more out of interest of what the crocodile was like. Little did she know that the Celestial Devourer was an expert advice-giver. One way or another, their conversation came to Leesck of work motivation.
Perhaps you should apany Beatrice on her work for a day, Stirwin had told her. Im certain I could arrange that. Your school will not mind, I will make sure of it.
Lee had been confused how that would help her in any way. Having met the passive maid, the young Fateweaver did not think watching her work would help with her own morale. It was an excuse to get out of the ssroom for a day though, so she took it.
Beatrice turned out to be every bit as intriguing as Nia was and watching her did give Lee an epiphany. Watching her, working for her and having to deal with Beatrices sass. Statement: as a gamer, I expect you to be able to sort this table in less than 10 minutes. Statement: you are experiencing muscle soreness and require protein intake. Advice: stop with the pizza. Question: are you certain looking up the answer would not be quicker?
Lee, for the second time that week, felt absolutely inferior to somebody and it was awfully enticing. After all of these years wasting away in boredom in her ufortable school chair, she finally came into contact with real work. Office work, admittedly, finance, in particr, very much boring stuff but boring stuff that needed to be done. Something that had a tangible impact on the world. Not only that, but she did it alongside Beatrice.
On first nce, the passive maid seemed to be just that: an emotionless servant. Over the course of the day, and thanks to all of the sassy berating, little Miss Magus realized that Beatrice took pride in getting her work done. It wasnt exactly the work itself that the woman with the short, white hair found her fulfilment in. It was being useful. That helped Lee realize why she had never liked going to any form of school. It wasnt that she particrly disliked Fateweaving or working. She just despised learning for arbitrary, theoretical tests to no real end. She wanted her powers to be used practically, not spend years honing them under guidance.
It was the school system itself that she disliked. Knowing that made her more eager to get done with it and start doing her own thing. Not really a help with her motivation at the moment, but it did make her happier to look to the future.
Lee and Beatrice had hung out beyond that work as well. For all of the sass she had given, Beatrice had received in equal measure and apparently that warmed her up to the young Fateweaver. That led to the end of her first week in the Hudson Barrier.
Monday had passedrgely like the days before. Lee just realized how much her mood had improved In less than nine days. She hadnt even known that only gaming on her own had been dragging her down, but now she was flying on cloud nine. By then she was absolutely certain: if it were these girls, she could be part of a harem. No, she WANTED to be in a harem with these girls.
Then she had somehow got to game a day with John himself. It was awesome, it was embarrassing, it made her incredibly horny and it left her confused. Sure, she wasnt exactly a peoples person, but she could read the Gamer well enough to know that he was clearly interested in her. Yet, he switched back and forth between flirting with her and trying his best to avoid anything remotely romantic or sexual. She was almost saddened by this, definitely mildly frustrated. Now that she was so certain that she wanted to be among his girls, would she not get to because the Gamer himself wasnt interested in her?
Lee wasnt going to give up because of some small setbacks in what had been, otherwise, an awesome gaming session though. Through those hours, she had gotten to confirm everything that she had read and what the other girls told her. Not absolutely everything, sure, but the day to day of his character. The parts that were easily faked for the media.
Lee loved what she saw. Did she love him? Hard to say. Certainly, she was convinced that her infatuation was justified. No man that kept so many awesome girls around could be secretly rotten at the core. His abilities as a lover were self-evident. If nothing else, losing her virginity to him was something she was definitely willing to do. She also wanted to stay with him and see how they worked out in an intimate setting. If that worked for a prolonged period, which Lee thought it would, then she would be set for life.
With all of that weighing on her mind, Lee arrived at Raves party.
Chapter 980 – Vacation Week 9 – Classy Guys’ Side
Chapter 980 C Vacation Week 9 C ssy Guys Side
John waved away some of the cigar smoke that wafted his way. A fruitless gesture, as the majority of the air in the room was already pregnant with the heavy smell. The venttion in the ceiling ensured that there always was air to breathe, but it seemed adjusted in such a fashion that some smoke always stuck around. Presumably, they kept it as part of the whisky clubs aesthetic.
Noticing his gesture, Maximillian gave him an amused look. Thats what you should have expected, buddy, it seemed to say.
I did, he responded by rolling his eyes.
Stop being so bothered by some smoke, Magnus grumbled into their non-verbal conversation, taking another huff of his cigar.
Give me half an hour, Ill get used to the air poisoning my lungs, John retorted, while Hera came over and ced the whisky in front of them. Each ss was a work of art, faceted like a diamond and with the establishments logo, a cube of marble, engraved on the side. The Gamer took his ice-cold ss and carefully sniffed at it. It had that typical whisky aroma, with a hint of peppermint of all things. He nipped at it and his mouth filled with a refreshing mixture of alcohol, smoke, ebon wood and that particr taste good whisky had. The cooling dice of metal inside the drink cked when he put it down. Good choice, heplimented the bartender.
Thank you, Mister President, Hera said, bowing her head.
John will do fine, for the evening, he told her.
Max, the self-exiled king suavely followed suit, if it pleases you. He nipped at the drink and made a delighted sound while swallowing. This drink definitely pleases me. A fantastic rmendation.
Hera was about to respond when the oldest of the three followed the trend in his typical, stern voice, Magnus. The cigar menu. He held out his palm and was handed the menu a momentter.
Whenever you need something from me, please ring the bell, she said, pointing at that golden handbell attached to the wall-facing end of their table. Then she bowed, gave Maximillian onest nce, and took her leave.
Yo, Magnus, cant you let a man flirt? the gravity mageined.
The addressed didnt even think that worthy of a retort, just opened the menu and checked the assortment.
What do you even need the cigar menu for? John investigated. The Fateweaver had brought his own box of five cigars and there was no way he would churn through all of them this night. Even if he was eagerly huffing from the one he had lit up the second they sat down.
You never know what rare brands ces like this have. Magnus turned another page. cing the cigar on the ashtray, he reached out to the empty sses and pitcher of water in the middle of the table. They had been brought along without even needing to be requested. This was an establishment to taste whisky, not one to get drunk, and many of the little things reflected this.
Maximillian sighed, likely because he had no girls to talk to anymore. Alright then, lets behave appropriately for the surroundings, he decided. How is the economy, John?
Pretty good. The first official trade vessel returned from its trip to Europe yesterday, John responded. Which will do wonders for our import-export bnce.
It does make you less dependent on the empty storages of peopleing here to sell, Maximillian nodded. Whenever someone traded between two points, it wasmon sense to want to carry something on the way to and on the way back from the destination. Returning with an empty ship meant that half the trip was without profit and merchants were, in no age, known for leaving an opportunity for earnings unimed.
That did mean that wares did leave Fusion, despite them not having a merchant fleet to speak of. The problem was that the pace of export was entirely dictated by importers. Not a situation John considered sustainable for long. Personally, I hope that additional shipyards will soon be constructed in Miami and Boston. The Hudson Barrier cant produce the entirety of the Federations sea-faring vessels. Not when I need it as the main harbour for our military.
I think you overestimate the importance of ships in modern Abyssal warfare, Maximillian pointed out. You can get everywhere via ne. Its all about striking enemy bases of operation with elite squads and Fateweaving sieges.
I dont think you realized that we are now transitioning into a new paradigm of Abyssal warfare, John responded while shaking his head.
Magnus closed the cigar menu and raised his whisky. In the future, all airports inside big powers will be locked down via Trap Barriers. The Mobile Barrier will be the primary movement option for Abyssals. He nipped on his ss and looked at the self-exiled king. The fact that Fateweavers are now scattered between individual guilds means that such tools are more readily avable.
Which leads to their increased use and former strategies bing unavable, Maximillian realized, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. I hadnt considered that. Previously, factions had mediocre Fateweavers in their own ranks, at best. If Magoi oversaw a Trap Barrier at the NYC airport, even elite invaders would be stuck.
Stuck deep in enemy territory, John added, with a position impossible to reinforce. Hell, if we are backing Magoi up with numerous Fateweaver enchantments and apprentices, we might even be able to separate the attacking force into its individual participants. Divide and conquer C or repel, in this case. He swirled his ss in his hand before taking a hearty gulp of the cold alcohol. Abyssal warfare is going to gradually move away from relying on mundane transportation and more on Mobile Barriers. They have no predictable schedule, are almost impossible to invade, nobody but skilled Fateweavers can sense them and you can fit a lot of people in them.
Why fly 5 elites into a trap when you can put 500 soldiers on an invisible boat? Magnus posed a question.
A boat that you can use as a base of operations to siege every location of import along the coast, with little to no possible recourse. Maximillian nodded along.
And that, ifrge enough, can be filled with enough magically enhanced nts to function as its own supply base, John put the cherry on top. With the nationalization of the Fateweavers, we are entering a new arms race. Those powers that have more Fateweavers, more Mobile Barriers and diversified vessels will have a massive advantage over the others. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at Maximillian. This is why Fusion is in a perfect position to be the world hegemon. If my Federation controls the east and west coast in addition to the Panama Canal, we can dominate the seas of the world. The Guild Hall produces all of the resources required to build the strongest navy the Abyss has ever seen.
Our program to find and train new Fateweavers is among the most ambitious on the globe, Magnus added.
And we are researching additionalnd and air vessels, John finally boasted. The main thing holding us back is time. The wars of consolidation take the majority of attention at the moment, but Fusion will eventually enter a years long period of peace. Then we can catch up on all of the big toys the Divided Gates have.
Are you certain you should tell me all of that? Maximillian asked, bemused. Vacation or not, I have been and will be again king of Austria.
Im not giving you any top-secret intel or details, just what everyone can see if they spend three seconds looking into it. John shrugged uncaringly and took another sip from his whisky. Then he decided to finally pour himself a ss of water as well. The strong alcohol made him shiver. That aside, I dont n to challenge Romulus. I have no need to. He is and will likely remain the strongest individual on the, save for Gaia. Between Lovers Will, my Guild Hall, and my understanding of modern administration, I can create a realm that will be stronger than his.
So, youre saying your realm will out-scale his, Maximillian summarized and shook his head. A preposterous notion that you think you can ovee the Apex.
Watch me, friend. John pridefully grinned. The numbers dont lie and the winds of history blow in my favour. Nothing remains uncontested forever, and if there is anyone who can do the impossible, it is me.
I am inclined to agree, a fourth voice suddenly entered the conversation.
It belonged to a man of slightly below average stature. His build was eagerly middling, covered by a three-piece suit of a creamy brown colour, a ck shirt underneath and a red tie between it all. Brown hair, strictlybed and gelled backwards, covered the top and sides of his head in a slick disy. By his face, he seemed no older than thirty. He had a stern look to him and oozed an air of superiority. He grabbed a chair.
John raised one foot and prevented the unknown visitor from cing the chair at the table. The table became very quiet as two pairs of dark brown eyes stared. The Gamer disliked immensely how this man looked at him from above and something about him seemed familiar. Familiar and disgusting.
May I sit down? the man asked after five seconds.
John moved his foot. For a couple of minutes. This is a private meeting.
Thats what I wanted at least, Maximillian chimed in, his tone joking but slightly strained with annoyance. Pride was a sin both of the younger men on the table possessed. John insisted we have to visit a public establishment.
A happy coincidence for me, then, the man said. I have been interested in meeting you, John.
Thats President Newman for you, the Gamer insisted.
I am not one of your subjects, so I will refuse there, the interloper said and rxedly leaned back in his chair. Do not mistake that for ack of respect though, John. I greatly admire you. Truly, you are an incarnation of the potential of your people. Everypliment by this man made the Gamer feel like the inside of his ear was being brushed with something slimy. You also seem so terribly na?ve.
I did let you sit down at this table, so I agree, John responded flippantly.
The interloper smiled sourly. I was referring to yourck of centralized power. Your people need the guidance of a centralized authority, John. You refuse to firmly grasp the reins and direct their efforts to themon good. Ive followed your exploits with close interest. You are smarter, more driven and more powerful than your subjects. You are a tiger in a world of sheep. Certainly, you should lead them.
Tigers dont lead sheep, tigers eat sheep. The Gamer grabbed his whisky ss. To start with, I dont agree that the people are sheep. If we go by that analogy, however, Id be a shepherds dog.
The man scoffed, furrowing his eyebrows, A degrading position for someone of your power, is it not?
To watch and direct the herd in their prosperity? I could not disagree more.
You will not be able to enforce their prosperity if you simply watch.
You cannot enforce prosperity, period. Extensive welfare failed in Rome and every system that tries to dictate the perfect citizen inevitably crumbles. John narrowed his eyes. Whatever kind of authoritarian hogwash you want to sell me, you will not find me eager to buy. I know my principles and what would break them. Convenience is not among them.
Is it a desire of convenience to create an orderly society in which the best and brightest lead? Where everyone knows their role for the welfare of the state?
The best and brightest do not lead a society in which power is concentrated. John shook his head. You want those with the most merit to lead, yes, but you never know who the one with the most merit is or where theye from. Any centralized system to that end will inevitably be faulty. Make the politics too powerful and society itself will be sick. John emptied his ss. I think it would be best for you if you left now.
The interloper pressed his lips together. Then he smiled and extended his hand. Perhaps we can discuss this again another time, John.
The Gamer looked at the hand. A number of advising voices inside his head all went silent while he reached out to take it. They were all ready to do more than justment. John and the interloper just shook hands.
If you insist on wasting your time, the Gamer told him. The man rose and left without another word. John waved his hand around as if he had just touched something disgusting.
Cant believe you took his hand, Maximillian said.
Thought it would be the quickest way to get rid of him, John admitted to his sole reason. Any idea who that was?
Both of the men on the table shook their heads. Sounded like he was just visiting, Magnus pointed out. Didnt Observe tell you anything?
It waspletely blocked, the Gamer told them, which had both raise an eyebrow. Whoever that was, he is important he sighed. Ill look into that tomorrow.
All of the girls in his head returned to their own party.
Chapter 981 – Vacation Week 10 – Happy Harem Girls [Lee POV]
Chapter 981 C Vacation Week 10 C Happy Harem Girls [Lee POV]
From one moment to the other, the tenseness that had suddenly gripped several of Johns girls vanished again. Lee wasnt quite sure what had happened. She got a rough idea when Rave asked, Everything going well with John?
Master was approached by an unsavoury character, Aclysia responded, it appears to be solved.
Ahhh, the mental connection, Lee unravelled the mystery. That exins who tensed up and who didnt.
Alrighty, just tell me where he is before yall teleport over, if theres trouble, Rave reminded her fellow haremette.
They were in one of the many cer rooms of Raves club. It was a decentlyrge room, adequately popted by the harem and its guests, filled with leather couches and low tables. There was a bar in the corner, fundamentally self-service but currently manned by Beatrice. Everything about the floor and the walls had the glistening look of smooth stic to it; neon light seeping out through the gaps between tiles and multi-coloured bulbs behind square shields softly pulsed in rough ordance to the techno music that yed in the background.
It wasnt Lees first time in a disco. She had tried the scene twice before, purely to hang out with some new acquaintances that tried to get friendly with her. The first time she had obliged them. The second time one of them had tried to feel her up. She walked out and went home to watch anime instead. That was a better use of her time. She had not much use for being molested or ringly loud, trashy techno. Why the club had insisted on ying what was a glorified bone-rattler of a beat over some more intricate synthwave, Lee could never understand.
The music here was a lot more her style, the kind of techno she liked to have running on the side while she was gaming. Herpany was also miles above hormonal adolescents.
Johns harem had all put on clothes that were appropriate for a rave and all of them looked incredible in them. Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra had all opted to wear the same shoulder free, one-piece dress, their skirts ending so shortly under their hips that Lee could see their panties whenever they took a step. The only difference between the three was the colour, the silky fabric being white, ck, and grey for Aclysia, Beatrice, and Metra respectively. All three were also wearing ck chokers.
Scarlett was honouring her name by wearing a fiery redbination of blouse and slightly darker leggings. She was currently speaking to Siena, the tailed elemental wearing something that almost left the realm of clothes and entered that of leather lingerie. By far the simplest clothes were those of Smander: the red-skinned girl covered her massive tits with a ck shirt and her spectacr legs with tight jeans. Sylph flew around her fellow elementals, the long skirt of her green summer dress fluttering around as she moved.
Far more daring than Lee would have guessed her to be, Gnome was wearing a top that, in its style, reminded the young Fateweaver of a virgin killer sweater. The material was closer to silk and not even a little bit see-through, but the side-boob remained a reality. She paired that revealing top with a short, pleated skirt and stockings.
Undine wearing something revealing was far less surprising to Lee, but the slime being in her human form was a new sight. A decently tall and deliciously shaped goth woman, she wore a ck corset alongside full-arm gloves and ck leather pants. Eliza mimicked the pants, even if her top was a simple ck t-shirt. Rather than gloves, the adorable, white-blue haired woman opted for a choker for her essories. She was currently busy cussing at Nia, who had traded her ever-present white dress for a blue blouse and ck yoga pants.
Lees gaze travelled to the woman sitting next to her on the couch. Rave wore a baby blue crop top and spandex hotpants. They were so small that Lee could see a good half of the Lightbearers bare ass. When she angled her legs in a certain way, there was even a fair bit of camel toe. At every point, little Miss Magus could see the Lovers will mark on Raves midriff.
Like what ya see? Rave asked and pulled Lee out of her mindless staring at Raves body. She looked at the glossy pink lips instead. They were curved into a seductive smile and closer than when Leest checked. The young Fateweaver only now realized that Rave had put her arm on top of the backrest of the sofa, behind Lees head. It was almost an embrace. Hmmm? she hummed, insisting for an answer.
I mean, how could I not? Lee gave the honest one, blushing just a little bit. You all look incredible.
Said the cutie to the host, Raveughed and eyed up Lee.
How the Lightbearer looked that hungry, Lee wasnt quite sure. Possessing no true going out clothes, she had just grabbed what looked like it went decent together. The result was a in ck shirt and ck jeans. There hadnt been many other colours to choose from in her wardrobe.
Eh, I look okay, Lee shrugged off. Still got a t ass.
Give it a couple of weeks, itll get better, Rave assured and got a little bit closer still. The side of her chest was touching Lees now. Really happy ya decided toe in the first ce. Its hard enough to get John to parties and I can motivate him by sucking his cock.
The image of just that happening flickered up in Lees memory. Rave had gone down on the Gamer with more delight than anyone should be able to experience by sucking a long phallus into their throat. Since first seeing it, the young Fateweaver had tried to emte it. To moderate sess.
Can you motivate him with something you give him willingly all the time? Lee poked fun at Rave, while cursing herself for not putting additional panties into her pocket dimension.
Tiger is a very good man, he knows he should be thankful for things he gets daily, Rave purred, gesturing with the beer bottle before taking a sip. There was nothing overly suggestive about the way she did it. Simply the way her full, bright pink lips pressed against the ss was enough to make Lee shift a bit in her seat. Aaahhh Tiger also gives us girls a lot to be thankful for, I should say. Not like this is a one-way street. She winked. Ya know, takes a very special guy to keep a harem.
He is pretty special, Lee agreed instinctively, only to follow it up with some mild sass. Special kind of a dork.
Raveughed. Yep, exactly that, she stopped and said, lovingly, my special dork, thats my tiger. The usually teasing voice of the pink-haired techno-lover turned incredibly soft while she spoke those words. Heartbeat fluttering, Lee realized that she wanted to feel exactly like that. To be so deeply in satisfied love to say something honestly in that tone. Oh, there she be! Rave suddenly eximed and jumped off the couch. Wait a sec, I need to introduce ya to someone.
Following the hostess, while she strutted through the room, Lee had to **** herself not to look at that perfect bubble butt in motion. Instead, she looked ahead and at who Rave was approaching.
She was a tall woman. Granted, most of Johns harem was above average in height, but this particr female was above 1,80 metres. Her lips were ruby red, her auburn hair confined into a single braid, and her hourss shape covered by a long-sleeved, golden shirt and practical, dark grey pants. The way she was dressed and moved gave the feeling that she was going to attend a business conference right after the party. shing with this was that Lee could clearly see the womans cleavage between the two opened buttons of her shirt. That and the way she and Rave greeted each other.
Casually, Rave walked up to the stern-looking woman and raised a hand to her chin. Despite being a fair bit shorter, the leader of the harem seemed inplete control, making the neer bow down and give Rave a kiss on the lips. Not a short kiss either. The moment they started, Rave wrapped her arms around the auburn-haired womans neck. Their engagementsted a whole minute, during which Lee sipped on her drink.
It was only water, as she was careful around ****. Lees body had the habit of reacting incredibly strongly to ****, be it **** or anything else. Water was exactly what she needed at this point though, since it helped keep her cool in the incredibly hot room.
Eventually, Rave returned with the neer, who focused on Lee with interest. Her eyes were a mixture between the metal of sharpened sword and the summer sky, hard and beautiful. Of course, Lee already knew who this was before Rave introduced them. Lydia, Lee C Lee, Lydia, she simply said gesturing back and forth.
A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lydia said, lightly lowering her head.
Likewise, Lee reciprocated the gesture, honoured to be in your presence, really. Ill just say that now, before I put a foot in my mouth sometime through the evening.
Fortunately, I am well acquainted with social norms being broken, Lydia made a dismissive gesture towards Rave, it is a side-effect of thepany I chose.
Was probably a bad decision then, Lee responded in her sarcastic dry tone. Horrible, to be surrounded by attractive, fun-loving women.
Quite so, Lydia nodded.
Well, excuuuuuse me, princess, Rave rolled her eyes in a theatrical fashion. That Im so attractive and fun-loving. Ill remind myself to be less of both next time ya beg John to stretch out your backdoor. Lydia sighed, shook her head, and finally yelped when she got a quick p on her butt. Anyway, Ill leave ya two alone, and get me a new beer. Ya want the usual?
Indeed, Lydia confirmed, evidently not minding the treatment of her butt. While Rave walked away, the monarch sat down next to Lee. The distance between them was appropriate, which almost felt odd after Raves closeness. For all the years that I had business rtions with your father, I never met you, she started a conversation.
Dad didnt usually take me along on his business trips, Lee responded, cing her empty ss of water on the table. Thank Gaia, I would have needed more handheld games.
I disapprove of such ax work ethic, Lydia shook her head. I hear you have formidable talent.
And yet I dont use it, yes, yes, Lee waved off, Mom likes to say all of that, in a bit of an angrier tone. Dont worry, Im stepping up my game. If I can convince my dad that I shouldnt be in school.
By stepping up my game I assume you mean in the Fateweaving regard? Lydia asked. Rumours reached me that you were going to chase an e-sports career.
Uh, dunno who told you that, but I wasnt really chasing anything. I just looked into some low-level tournaments because I was bored out of my mind in school. Lee shrugged. Dont know how you feel about it, but I think school is raw ****. I could be a lot more useful if I was allowed to learn things on my own.
Is that so? Lydia asked, sternly mustering the young Fateweaver. Ive met many people that chased self-study, only to procrastinatepletely outside the bounds of duty. It takes a rare mind to do that. Lee opened her mouth in retort, but stopped when the queen raised a hand. Let meplete my statement. It would not surprise me if you possessed such a rare mind. You seem interested in many unusual pursuits.
I mean, I guess? Lee quizzically looked at the queen. Was that supposed to be apliment.
No, it was an observation. Lydia shook her head. If you work hard for the good of Fusion, the two of us wont have an issue with each other. As the greatest talent in Fateweaving John can hope to find in the next generation, your worth should not be diminished by ack of self-discipline.
Hey, if youre going to mimic my mom, could you stick thending and tell me that cking off is bad for me?
If you cking off only hurt yourself, I would not concern myself with it, Lydia responded directly. It is you being not as good as you could in service to the man I love, that I take issue with.
Dont ya worry, I got reasons to work hard for Fusion that I didnt have when it came to doing my homework in time.
Is Lydia giving ya a hard time? Rave asked, arriving back at the couch with one bottle in hand and two more dangling from between her fingers. She ced all three on the table. If she behaves like she got a stick in her ass, ya gotta ask why she didnt choose a smaller butt plug.
Jane, I am attempting to interrogate her. Lydia shook her head disapprovingly. Listening to all of your ounts, it appeared you were not properly investigating the stability of her character.
Stability, shmability, Rave dismissed and plopped down on the couch again, incredibly close to Lee. I like this gal and I got good people skills. Ive only been horribly wrong twice and one time the guy in question fooled literally everybody, so I can hardly be med.
Why would you even care about my stability? Lee wanted to know.
Lydia took her bottle and looked at Rave. The Lightbearer nodded. Lee was confused, then Lydia started speaking, As Aclysia revealed to you, your interest in John has been noticed. Simrly, it did not escape our attention that you attempted to get to know us. The queen gestured at the room, where the harem spoke with each other and a number of other women that had been invited. As you got to know the harem, so did we talk about whether you could fit in with us, should ite to pass that John reciprocates your interest.
Quietly, Lee blinked rapidly in confusion. No, confusion wasnt quite the right word. None of this surprised her and she couldprehend all of it. She had known that something like this was going on. It was just that, hearing it so directly, her brain refused to acknowledge information that had been so obviously true already. And? she asked the only important question.
Ya have the confidence of most of us, Rave opened up to Lee. I really like ya, the other girls like ya, Nia and Bae basically love ya, Lydia here doesnt really know ya and she is a mood killer.
I am cautious, Lydia disagreed.
Whatever ya wanna call it, princess, Rave giggled and cked beers with her fellow haremette. The two of them drank. Anywayzels
That is not a word, Lydia and Lee pointed out at the same time.
Look at that, ya two will be the greatest of friends, Raveughed, putting her legs on the low table. Like all of us in this fantastic horny group are. Anywayzels, I brought ya a mixed beer, she tapped the third bottle with the side of her foot, if ya dont want it, thats fine, just thought Id offer something light.
So wait Lee was still churning through the intel she had just been given. Youre giving me the green light for joining the harem?
Essentially, Rave nodded.
I prefer to know more about you before I give my word on this. However, I do trust everyone else enough to admit you on their rmendation, Lydia added and shrugged. I see potential in you. You may try.
Wanna toast on that? Rave asked.
Lee did.
Chapter 982 – Vacation Week 11 – Straight Talk Guys
Chapter 982 C Vacation Week 11 C Straight Talk Guys
My lungs feel as if I am running a road roller through them, John wheezed, trying his darndest to keep his lungs from being rejected by the rest of his body.
Stop smoking then, weakling, Magnus mocked him. His stern tone made it sound harsher than it was likely meant to be. And dont draw it into your lungs. That isnt a cigarette, thats an 1842 Geralson.
Over the past two hours of engaged discussion and whisky-sipping, John had ended up ordering a cigar himself. It was a truly decadent move, a waste of more wealth than most people earned in a month on a thing he just wanted to test out while he was tipsy from equally pricy alcohol.
Interestingly, he discovered that the whisky tasted better after his mouth had tasted the cigar smoke. It was too bad that came alongside that absolutely horrible piece of burning, rolled nt matter.
If you dont finish that cigar, I will sabotage your next IBMA, Magnus threatened. You are smoking history.
History sucks then, John retorted, partly just to rile his friend up. While he seeded, the Fateweaver scoffed, he did not get any entertaining rage. You and your self-control.
Yeah, Magnus, live a little! Maximillian chimed in, pouring whisky into the air. Rather than dropping to the ground, the ss worth of amber fluid was pulled into a swirl that led up to the centre of Hawpler. The sapient ck hole that was the gravity mages contracted elemental had decided that he wanted to try some whisky.
There was a tingling at the back of Johns mind that it, perhaps, wasnt wise to subject a magical gravitation well to alcohol. He was too busy teasing Magnus to care, though.
Rather than chide me, perhaps you two should reign in your excesses, Magnus returned and downed his seventh ss of whisky. He quickly followed it up with a ss of water and a huff of his cigar.
As you say, as you say, John rolled his eyes. There was a moment of silence as all three worked on their respective cigars. The Gamer coughed, Maximillian seemed rather unimpressed and Magnus leaned back with absolutefort. Ive been meaning to ask: any interesting research recently?
The Fateweaver tapped his cigar against the ash tray and nced over to Maximillian conspicuously.
You might as well say yes, buddy, the gravity mageughed. Hey, if its ssified, you can talk about it tomorrow.
Its de-ssified now, John said. Tell me.
You sure? Magnus asked. Its a big deal.
Am I sure that I, John Newman, President of Fusion and guildmaster of Collide, have the authority to de-ssify whatever I want? Pretty sure, yes, John stated. If it was such a massive thing, you would t-out refuse to talk about it.
Magnus hesitated. Truth be told, I want to brag about it.
Go ahead and brag then, John invited and took a sip of his whisky. Anticipatingly, Max did the same.
They were halfway through their respective sips when Magnus, quietly, said, I found a way to make Mobile Barriers without Fateweavers present.
PFFFSSSSSHHH! the two younger men on the table spluttered their high-cost whisky into the air, followed by them coughing so intensely they almost fell from their chairs. sses and ashtrays rattled on the table, while they held on for support. W-what?! they stammered out in unison.
Illusion Barriers were a steadily developing technology. They had started with Gaia, giving everyone in the world the ability to call on her power to create a space away from mundane eyes, where Abyssals could take their supernatural conflicts. Even if the power to create small parallel dimensions was strictly borrowed, some people were more talented at exerting and maintaining control over them. Those barrier specialists would eventually be so sophisticated in their maniption that they invented the Protected Space, Illusion Barriers that stuck around even if no one was inside them and that didnt meld with others in the same area. Later on, they developed Fateweaving, a technique to manipte the makings of a barrier to translocate people inside them a moment before they sustained lethal wounds. Thest major invention was the Mobile Barrier engine, which allowed a Fateweaver to maintain an Illusion Barrier on the move.
Magnus took a calm huff of his cigar. It was thest one that one had to give and he pressed it down into the ashtray to give the two of them time to calm down. I said it was a big deal, he kept his voice down.
Scratch big deal, that would revolutionize Abyssal traffic, John answered, ecstatic but keeping his tone simrly quiet. He looked to Maximillian, who also stared back to the Gamer. His expression spelled out that the gravity king would have been fine if they dropped the topic there. Trusting his friend was one thing, revealing details another. The worst damage, short of handing over the research documents, was already done though. How have I not heard of this yet?
Its not in a worthwhile state, Magnus revealed and tapped on the table. The Mobile Barrier is norger than this and not stable for more than 15 metres. I havent told my father yet. For the moment, its only my research.
How did you do that though? Maximillian wanted to know, then waved off. Dont answer if you shouldnt.
Tell me though, John demanded and leaned forwards, so Magnus could whisper in his ear.
The Fateweaver obliged, and a momentter, he revealed. Remember the 5 grams of the Collimets that you gave me? John nodded. It had been a drunken bet during theirst poker game and the Gamer had kept his promise. I managed to do it with them and a World Gem.
I see, John said and leaned back. Not exactly fit for widespread public use then.
Not as it stands, Magnus nodded.
That makes it less exciting, the Gamer calmed down considerably and returned to what remained of his whisky. Because Fusion was investing so heavily in the next generation of Fateweavers anyway, limited ess to Mobile Barrier generators that didnt require their input was a niche without real benefit. If the state, the only entity which had a considerable number of Mobile Barrier engines at the moment, needed a Fateweaver to apany a mission, they could get one.
It was the average person that could benefit heavily from this. Everyone having ess to their own Mobile Barrier vehicle was an immense increase in freedom of movement. Transport prices for goods would also drop if all it took to keep a ship in a permanent Mobile Barrier was a machine. All of that was only valid if the price to create a Mobile Barrier engine was lower than it was to raise a capable enough Fateweaver.
Given the necessity of World Gems and Collimets, that was absolutely not the case. It was too costly to deploy in widespread use and seemed to have no additional benefits. If this allowed Mobile Barriers to benefit from time dtion, then that would have been an argument to bother to make some. As it stood, there was nothing there.
New technologies are often initially inferior to their predecessors though, the Gamer thought. The bow was used quite a bit before the musket had be reliable enough for widespread use. Whether this develops into something splendid or not, that discovery will make it into the history books of Fateweaving, he said. Incredible find, Magnus.
Incredible indeed, Maximillian backed up.
The usually stern man grinned widely upon hearing that. He hid it well, usually, but Magnus was all too aware that he was the adequately talented son of an incredible man. Whether he would ever reach the same heights as Magoi remained uncertain, but this, at least, must have given him the feeling that he was a worthy sessor. I do what I can, he tried to be humble.
Tell me if something morees of it, John said. I officially re-ssify it. Here, a gift from your superior. Graciously, John offered his barely touched cigar.
Magnus took it withoutints. Ill save this historic cigar from your unappreciative hands.
You save me from throat cancer while youre at it, the Gamer teased.
Cancer, Maximillianughed. Who cares about cancer in the Abyss? Brain aneurysms you could have a problem with, but if its any long-term health problem, the Apothecaries probably have a fix.
Depends on the source, I would guess, John chimed in there, poking Maximillians bad foot with his own.
True enough, the gravity mage conceded and reached for the bell at the end of the table.
How are you dealing with your limp? Magnus asked, perhaps worried John had touched a proverbial nerve.
I would be lying if I said Im content with having it, Maximillian openly disclosed with a shrug. It is what it is though. Im still holding out for a miracle cure, but if I have to go the rest of my life with a cane, Ill manage. Its a pretty minor inconvenience, considering I can fly.
I must point out, Hawpler interjected, his voice as if someone had forced the backdrop of a drum and bass song into vocal form, that you cannot fly. You can stand on objects which you can make fall sideways.
Its close enough, Maximillian said and rung the bell. I need a new whisky, what about you gents?
Same, John confirmed. Magnus just nodded. While they waited for the bartender, the Gamer continued, A miracle cure would be really nice. Having my eyesight back would be really nice.
Your magical sight is better than ours anyway, Maximillian pointed out.
I could use both at the same time, John retorted. Id just like to wake up in the morning and look at my girls with my own eyes dunno, there is no effective difference, but it bothers me sometimes. Tangentially rted, I talked to Lee about how I dont like faking how my eyes look.
Why do it then? Maximillian asked.
Because I like the milky look even less, John exined. Also, people look at me funny when I have them out. It makes interactions awkward.
That is fair enough, I guess, Maximillian said. Anyway, away from our cripple status and hello to the beautiful maiden here to bring us our drinks.
Hera reacted to that by blushing before she could even stop by the table. Stop it, she responded, her expression making it clear that what she said was actually thest thing she wanted to happen.
Im afraid you would have to make me, Maximillian hummed and smiled. Sadly, it would take a longer talk to convince me of that than your work would permit us to have. Perhaps we should take a momentter this week?
Ill think about it. Hera put on a highly professional demeanour and looked at them. Do you have an order?
They all just requested one more of what they had already had, continued their conversations for a little while, and waited for the bartender to return. Soon enough, she was back. The service here is magnificent, the gravity mageplimented. All he got in return was a view of Heras shoulder while she bowed down next to him to ce the sses on the table.
Once she was gone, John said, Someone has been given the cold shoulder.
If you want to call total sess the cold shoulder, Maximillian hummed and waved with a slip of paper Hera must have quietly given him. He put it into his breast pocket.
Another promiscuous conquest for you then, John conceded, disappointed he couldnt poke more fun at him.
Speaking of promiscuity, Magnus stared at John, you mentioned you spoke to my sister?
Purely tonically! The Gamer realized that he reacted suspiciously quick toote and one of Magnus eyebrows shot up in response. Urgh, John reached for his whisky and took a sip. Whatever. Why try to hide it, he mumbled to himself. Magnus, your sister wants to sleep with me.
You begging for a p, John? the Fateweaver growled. That he was the older brother of two sisters was written all over his face. Despite their power difference, Magnus might actually try tond that hit, if John said something else so poorly formted.
Ive done nothing to deserve it, he returned.
Yet, Maximillian added and giggled when both of the other two men on the table gave him a silencing stare. Alright, alright, solve it between you two. I dont have a dog in this fight, he said, holding his freshly filled ss like a bag of popcorn.
We had a gaming session on Tuesday. I haventid a hand on her, the Gamer rified what had happened. Im trying my best to respect you and your parents wishes, but she is not making it easy for me. Shes way too adorable and flirtatious.
You barely know her. Magnus grasped at the first argument that came to mind.
Are you telling me that your sister is a secretly horrible person? John instinctively tried to put his friend on the defensive in this argument. Only after he said it, did he realize that the alcohol was making his tongue a bit too loose.
Luckily, Magnus wasnt someone who immediately reacted passionately. Slowly sipping from his water, maintaining eye contact the entire time, he only spoke when the ss hit the tabletop again. Dont y these rhetorical games with me, John.
Fair, the Gamer conceded with an apologetic nod. Its just look, you definitely have a point that I barely know her. My initial interestes from one quick meeting, but we did talk over the course of seven hours on Tuesday and that did not help things on my side. The Gamer sighed. More talks wont make that better. You should know, things with you and Nina started the same way.
Magnus groaned and ran a hand over hisbed hair. I want to say thats different, because I only have Nina and you already have a harem so you cant possibly love another woman properly. I do know you better though.
John was thankful for that degree of trust. I wont pretend Im not interested in her, I clearly am. If you want us to stay tonic, you have to tell her that though. Shaking his head, the Gamer looked down at his hands. Im a weak man when ites to attractive women, but I have a modicum of self-control. As long as she doesnt flirt with me every time we meet, I can keep my hands to myself. With the way things currently are, me rejecting her continuously will be stressful for me and hurtful to her.
Gaia, I was afraid this could happen, Magnus grumbled and massaged the bridge of his nose. I just didnt think she would take an immediate interest to you.
Seems like she had an interest in me before she even came over, John told him what he understood the situation as.
What do your girls even think of this? the Fateweaver asked in a desperate tone. It sounded as if he was trying to unearth any angle with which he could talk John out of this.
Apparently Lee has been hanging out with all of them over thest week. John raised his hands defensively. Had nothing to do with me. She just took Janes offer to show her around and things cascaded from there.
It is how it is then Magnus let out a really long sigh and leaned back in his chair. I wont lie, I dont think my sister is making the smart decision, bing part of a harem. I dont have any right to stop you though.
Well, its never been about the right, John presented his view on the situation. I have the right to eat a turd for breakfast every morning. You not associating with me because I stink like shit is the problem. I C Fusion cannot afford losing you and your father.
So, youre just keeping it in your pants because of politics? Magnus asked.
Politics, economics and respect for you two, the Gamerid down. I wouldnt just immediately budge if you removed the first two reasons, Magnus. You are my friend, Im not just going to hecked for a delicate word, engage with your sister without trying to smooth things out first. I will bepletely honest though: the attraction is mutual. Im only a man. At some point, I will reciprocate her advances. Expecting anything else is moral tyranny.
Magnus growled. Not at John, just a deep-seated sound of general frustration while he rubbed his forehead. Fine, I guess, he waved off, having nothing to retain his position with. I dont like it, but I will get over it as long as she is happy. He took his ss and emptied it in one gulp. You better do this properly.
I always do, John attempted a joke.
Eh, Maximillian poked back into the conversation. Debatable.
Chapter 983 – Vacation Week 12 – Horny on Main Girls [Lee POV]
Chapter 983 C Vacation Week 12 C Horny on Main Girls [Lee POV]
Lee was very tipsy.
She had tried her best to stick to the mix beers and, to her credit, she hadnt actually held anything else besides such low alcohol drinks in her hands. The problem was that there was a literal harem of attractive women doting on her. Offers to take sips from their favourite drinks were plenty and Lee found herself unable to deny all of them. Fewer and fewer, as a matter of fact, the more the evening progressed and the more sips she took.
This is probably the drunkest Ive ever been, Lee disclosed looking at her own hand.
Nia tilted her head and remarked, Youre still very coherent.
Aww, thanks, guess it doesnt kill my brain cells that fast, Lee responded swiftly and grinned at the pariah.
Do you require water? Lydia asked from the young Fateweavers left. While Rave had left to talk to some other girls, the queen had stuck around Lee for most of the evening.
Since when do you try to be nice to me? Lee asked with a friendly, teasing spread of her lips.
I call it basic human decency, Lydia responded. Do you or not?
Nah, Lee denied and instead took another huge gulp of beer. It tasted sweet and lemony. Im doing fine. Just fine. A sudden wave of happiness overcame here and did little tramples with her heels. Aaaah, Im so happy! I want to flirt with John more and you will let me!
That is the appropriate formtion, Lydia stated. Letting you. I will not yet support you.
Why? Nia asked and wrapped her arms around Lee, as if she was a turtle that needed protection. She is adorable.
Thank you, Nia.
Youre wee.
Because I still dont know if Lee is truly genuine, Lydia exined and sipped on her gin and tonic. Despite putting more and stronger drinks into her system than Lee, the queen of steel seemed entirely unbothered. I will agree that she strikes me as cute and entertaining though.
Its because he just seems so I dunno, worthy of my attention? Lee tried to put into words what she was feeling. Her tongue was loosened by the drinks, making the process a fair bit easier. He has so much going for him. Obviously, he is rich, powerful and handsome. That helps. More importantly, I like what he did with himself. I like the way he talks to me. I like that he is still just a somewhat dorky gamer behind all of that splendour. I just want to she stopped and wondered what she would say next, want to experience what he does with my body and then cuddle with him afterwards. I want to talk to him about interesting things and pick his genius brain. Under her breath, she added, Getting choked would probably be nice like, really nice
You will fit in nicely with us, Lydia dered and raised her ss. Lee understood the signal and the two toasted.
Yo, Rave chose a few momentster to return to the couch, Siena and I wanna dance, ya tagging along?
I suppose I could use the exercise, Lydia agreed, Nia nodded, and eyes wandered to Lee.
Eh, sure, why not, the gamer girl dismissively agreed. She wasnt sure why they couldnt just dance where they were, a couple of the other guests were doing so (in rather suggestive fashion, usually). Rave probably wants the music to be louder.
The group of five migrated from the VIP lounge to the corridor. Lee could see the dancefloor through one of the open doors. It wasrge enough tofortably hold over fifty people and up to two-hundred if they decided to get cramped. The walls were covered with seats. Four pirs supported the weight of the ceiling and somewhat segmented the room. A bar in the corner made sure they still had ess to alcohol. In the exact middle of the room stood a tform covered with technical instruments, the ce the DJ would have upied.
Lee felt a bit ufortable about so few of them entering such arge room.
It just so happened that they didnt, though. Instead, Rave guided them to one of the many locked doors attached to the corridor, punched a security number into the panel next to it, and then stepped inside. Lee was thest to follow.
The room they entered was less than half the size of the VIP lounge. If they wanted to, the entirety of the partys attendance could have squeezed into it. As for what was in it, it was rather simple. A minibar, as was a steady design feature of Raves club, several leather chairs and simple tables, and an elevated tform they were all facing. In the middle of that circr tform was a polished, silver pole.
Oooh, thats what you meant by dancing, Lee realized. Couldve been more specific, you know?
What, ya dont wanna be around? Rave grinned while finagling with a terminal in the wall. The lights all around dimmed, except for the ones that highlighted the stage. Simple white illumination was now apanied by the soft flickering of multiple colours.
I didnt say that, Lee returned with her own smile and sought out one of the leather chairs to fall into. Rave sat down next to her, Lydia and Nia took to one table over, leaving Siena to climb onto the stage first.
The ck-haired elemental grabbed the pole with one hand and strutted in circles around while the music Rave had put on rose in volume. Swaying her hips with every step of her high-heel-shaped feet, even the midnight elementals walking was hypnotic. Her minimalistic leather clothes left nothing to the imagination. Her tail guided the gaze with swaying movements.
After three rounds around the pole, Siena suddenly jumped at the polished metal. Climbing up, she wrapped her long legs around the pole and fluidly leaned downward. Upside down, chest thrust out, she let her hands creep over her curves. Up her legs, until she hid most of herself from view, slowly rotating. Then, suddenly, she turned into a whirl of movements and hair, twirling down the length of the pole and ultimately ending on the floor.
Siena was on her knees, shaking her chest and ying with her hair to the rhythmic beats of the techno music. Siena fell on her side, rolled onto her back, disyed her ass, opened and closed her legs suggestively. She rolled again, this time towards the stripping pole. With both legs and one hand, shetched onto the metal; with the other she held her tiny leather top.
Lee stared at those magnificent, freed breasts. Nipples, darker than the surrounding skin, crowned jiggly spheres of considerable size. They didnt droop any further without the clothes than they did with, and were so delightfully firm yet clearly bouncy.
Dismissively tossing her top to the side, the midnight elemental ced her feet firmly on the ground and curved her upper body against the pole. The silver vanished between her tits while she suggestively licked the length of it. There was a lull in the music during which she did nothing but disy herself in slowly transitioning poses, always close to the pole. All the while, she undid what held her bottom piece in ce.
When she pulled the final string, theplicated piece of leather just dropped to the ground, leaving the midnight elementalpletely naked.
Lee gulped,pletely entranced by the rhythmic movements that followed. Her hard nipples rubbed against the inside of her shirt. She rarely bothered wearing a bra and today wasnt an exception.
Soon, the song ended. There was a short lull, during which Lee tried to cool herself down by taking another sip of her beer. It didnt exactly work, thanks inrge part to the midnight elemental that jumped off the stage. Still naked and still moving with grace, she was no less sexy on the floor. Exchanging a few words with Lydia, she soon imed the queens chair.
The auburn-haired monarch took off her boots and socks, then got on top of the stage herself. The next song started soon thereafter.
It was obvious from the start that this wasnt Lydiasmon method of dancing. Whirling elegantly around the pole, her measured steps seemed more fitting for a ball than a striptease. It was equally clear, however, that she wasnt unskilled in this.
Unbuttoning her shirt between swings of her tall form, opening the ring that held her braid together, pulling at her waistband, she progressively corrupted her orderly look. When her shirt was fully open, she grabbed it by the sides, used it to purposefully show and hide her decently sized breasts between artistic movements.
She lost her loosened pants before her shirt, pulled it off as quickly as she could to keep up the rhythm. Hastily, she grabbed the pole and twirled around it. Her redce panties harmonized nicely with the cascade of mildly wavy hair that fluttered along her shirt. She stopped on her feet, back turned to the audience, and let the shirt fall off her shoulders but not past her elbows. Her hips swung to the beat, her butt barely visible.
Then the music picked up; Lydia tossed the shirt aside and turned around. Her back leaned against the pole, showing off her less curvy but no less sexy body. One of her eyes was hidden by her dishevelled hair. Seeing the disciplined queen like this had Lee squirm in her seat. While Lydia pulled down her panties in wiggling movements, Lees hand found its way into her own pants.
In her semi-feverish state, Lee barely noticed when Lydias show ended and Nias began. All she barely managed to notice was that Siena and the queen were making out in their chair, but Lee was too busy looking at her anti-magical friend to really pay attention to things outside the stage.
The pale, blonde woman looked almost ephemeral, as if the stage light was shining straight through her. It was strange and it was beautiful. Nia had a tiny smile on her lips, swaying only slightly while she looked at Lee. Her eyes were as blue as her blouse.
Like running quicksilver, she moved with alien smoothness. Swaying like a belly dancer, Nia put on a simrly graceful disy as Lydia had. She barely utilized the pole, just danced on her bare feet to the rhythm of the song. She took one step and suddenly was on the other side of the stage. The top she had just worn dropped down, left behind.
Lee moaned, seeing the pale pink nipples of the woman she had so rapidlye to call her friend. Fingers rubbing her clit, her tipsy brain was too addled with alcohol and oxytocin to really question what she was doing at the moment. She wasnt a sexually shy person to start with, but tantly masturbating in front of people was one step up.
Nia continued in her teasingly wiggling motions, the mild smile on her lips. With her chest bare, she did utilize the pole a little more though, grabbing it to make her rounds. Twirling around it. In a particrly depraved moment, she pressed her groin against the pole. A camel toe wasnt the only result, a visible wet spot forming above where her pussy was. A momentter, Nia disappeared again, only for the empty pants and panties to drop and the fully naked pariah to shake her pale ass to the rhythm.
It was so enticing. The lean woman showed all that she had to offer. Her long, golden hair flew around whenever she twirled. Her pretty pink cunt was dripping wet. Under the table, Lee stretched out her pants with both of her hands.
The music stopped and Nia vanished off the stage.
Its our turn, Rave whispered into the ear of the panting young woman. Ya ready?
S-sure? Lee wasnt sure at all. She couldnt dance, she desperately needed an orgasm and it just caught up with her what she was actually doing. Regardless, she let the Lightbearer manoeuvre her up the stage. So, uh, what do I do, Rave?
Ya call me Jane, the pink-haired, half-asian bombshell instructed, and ya wiggle your hips and look sexy.
Lee wasnt sure she could do that, not next to this perfect piece of ass. Before she could get cold feet, the music started and Rave had a hand on her hips. Leading by example while also nudging Lee into movement through contact, the two slowly wound up their movements.
She felt stilted next to Rave, who twirled and showed off, all the while instructing her. Put a bit more emphasis on your ass. The Lightbearer squatted down halfway, circling her backside in an equally suggestive and elegant manner.
Not really worthwhile with my backside, Lee mumbled.
Rave interrupted her dance to flick little Miss Magus on the forehead. It hurt and snapped her out of the moment. If ya dont use it, it aint getting more impressive, the Lightbearer reprimanded. Come on, just let go and exhaust yourself. Its just us.
Lee looked down to the floor, where the other three women returned her inquiring gaze. There was nothing but lust in their eyes, no disinterest in herparatively unremarkable curves or inexperienced disy. Beyond just letting her attempt to try to get into the same harem they were a part of, these girls epted who she was. Lust and love surged inside her chest and Lee thought, Fuck it.
Grabbing the stripping pole, Lee was somewhat surprised when she found out that it was turning under her hands. That they worked this way was slightly disappointing news to her, but she still went ahead and made a fool out of herself by giving it her best suggestive lick. Quickly, she transitioned into dancing around it. Dancing along Rave, whoughed approvingly and soon followed it up. Dancing against Rave, who took the clear lead.
Lees heart drummed with excitement, feeling the other womans hands all over her. She reciprocated, for the first time in her life touching someone in such an overtly sexual manner. Within moments, she was addicted. Raves firm ass under her fingers was a sensation that seared itself into her memory. Her sweet smell of bubblegum and peppermint filled her lungs. Her soft hair and decently sized breasts were a pleasure to the touch. All the while, Rave brushed over and under clothes, teasing her skin and nipples, but never invading her pants.
What little remained of reason was stripped away when the Lightbearer grabbed her own top and simply tore it open. The ruined cloth was tossed aside, Lee soon got rid of her own shirt, albeit the civilized way. Her skin prickled with anticipation. Without shame or hesitation, she continued to dance. Not caring for how inadequate she might lookpared to Raves fluid motions, she just kept moving. Craving more, Lee quickly wiggled her way out of her pants and panties. Raveughed and followed suit.
Only the pole and some air was between them as they swayed to the music, holding each other. Lee could not resist. As much as she wanted to keep touching Rave, she still craved pleasure. A hand travelled to her crotch and she slipped two fingers into herself with a loud moan. ssy eyed, she slumped forwards, staring at Rave.
The Lightbearer bowed down, her glossy pink lips glistening in the artificial light. Anticipating what woulde next, she closed her eyes.
Only to hear Raves voice next to her ear. Would that be your first kiss?
Yeah-ssss, Lee whispered back. She moaned, rubbing her cunt even quicker. Just a little more she gasped.
Look at me, Rave demanded, one of her hands grabbing Lees chin. Obediently, the gamer girl opened her eyes. There was something new in the Lightbearers eyes, a sexual hardness. Stop, shemanded.
The domineering tone made Lee shiver and obey. Fuck, she cursed, as the sexual frustration hit her along the rush of wish fulfilment. Please, mistress, I need to cum!
You really are a proper little pervert, Rave hummed. What videos did ya watch to pick that up, I wonder? Lee would have turned red, had the lust and the panting not already made her as flush as could be. The left of the Lightbearers hands brushed over Lees sopping wet cunt, working her clit until her eyelids fluttered and stopped before the final bridge was crossed. My tiger will get your first kiss, the pink-haired woman decreed. Hell have your first everything. I wont make ya cum tonight. Moving her left to her mouth, Rave tasted Lees honey.
I really need it! Leeined. Why this torture?
Cause its delightful, cause ya enjoy it and cause I think ya should be sober when ya fully lose yourself in our awesomeness, Raves grinned. For tonight though I refuse to make ya cum, but Ill allow ya to keep doing what you were doing. She took her hand off Lees chin and little Miss Magus slowly dropped to her knees.
On the floor, centimetres away from Raves pussy, she resumed rubbing herself. This time, she wasnt the only one. Dancing just a little, swinging her wide hips, the Lightbearer masturbated alongside the submissive young woman. Can I cum? Lee wanted to know, craving more of this new world of sexual interactions she just barely tapped into, yet knew so much about. Please, can I cum, mistress?
No, Rave denied, leaving Lee mewling. The leader of the harem rubbed her clit frantically, devouring the smaller woman with her eyes. No touching was involved, just sight and a power dynamic. No, Rave still denied, but her body quivered and when she was finally there, she said that blissful word, Cum!
Lees world turned into lightning and clouds. Gravity seemed like a distant concept. Convulsions wrecked her form and her field of view. Her fingers kept moving. She found herself on the floor, rapidly blinking. Rave stood above her, Nia now next to her, the two making out while the Lightbearer came. Still, Lees fingers moved. They moved even more rapidly, in fact, chasing this high that only aphrodisiac had ever allowed her to even approach.
A series of intense climaxester, she copsed at the party.
Chapter 984 – Vacation Week 13 – Going Home Guys
Chapter 984 C Vacation Week 13 C Going Home Guys
The evening was petering out.
Whisky and the passage of time made the three of them drowsy. Magnus, most of all, was incredibly drunk. His usual discipline had beenpromised by the earlier talk about his sister and he had been downing whisky like cheap beer since. The result was that John and Maximillian had to help him out of his seat, when they did decide to leave.
This should be enough, John said to Hera, cing several Tokens on the counter. The bartender inspected them. Any problem?
Oh no, she denied. I just like looking at these. Every time a new series of Tokens hits the market, the design gets more interesting. Anyway, looking good. She pulled the coins over the countertop. In the process, she looked over at Magnus. Is he going to be fine?
Well get him home, John answered. Not sure if he will survive the next morning though. Hera chuckled, even if she must have heard that same joke a million times before. About ready to leave, the Gamer had just one more question. Longshot, but you wouldnt happen to know who the brown-haired chap was that visited our table earlier?
Actually, I do know that he goes by Felt. Hes been showing up here every now and again for a month or so, Hera told him. Hes often hanging around other visitors tables.
That so? John did not like the sound of that. A foreign spyworking with the upper ss, maybe? he theorized, but found himself too tipsy to continue that line of thought.
Was there a problem with him? the bartender asked.
Nothing of note, just a personal disagreement, the Gamer presented a half-truth and then raised his hand. Anyway, Ill get Magnus out of here before he stains your floor. I wish you a good night.
A good morning to you, John, Hera responded jokingly.
Maximillian awaited him eagerly, one of Magnus arms slung around his neck. Why do you leave the cripple to do the carrying, huh? he wanted to know.
Were both cripples, buddy, John reminded the gravity mage, even as he took over the role of supporting Magnus.
The taller man noticed what was happening and grumbled something that sounded like, I fucking hate you, which John found rather charming.
Your legs still function, so you can walk and I can tell you where we are going, blind buddy, the self-exiled king pointed to the door. Start with walking forward and answer my question.
Well, most importantly, its because I have Tokens, John answered.
Stupid new currency, Maximillian grumbled.
Less importantly, the Gamer continued, once they were outside, youre just salty that I got thest word with Hera.
Damn straight I am. Ive been working on that girl all night.
You already got her number Magnus chimed in to the best of his ability. Every word sounded like pure torment. Take the win asshole.
I did not know you got offensive when youre drunk, Maximillian chuckled at his friends impotent insults.
Am drunk and pissed Magnus stumbled along with Johns steps. Because the Gamers Stat spread was nicely bnced, he had the physical strength to easily carry the lean Fateweaver. Realistically, all Magnus had to do was keep his bnce and drag his feet. Some fuck is sleeping with my baby sister
Trying to, John corrected.
Cunt, Magnus continued cussing. Their steps brought them through one of the unpopted streets now. In a good part of town like this, everyone who was still up drinking at this hour was doing so inside. Whether that meant in their mansion or in one of the semi-exclusive clubs didnt really matter. Taking advantage of how young she is
Shes like actually, how much younger than me is she? John wondered. Whats her birthday?
New Years Eve, Magnus burped. Ill never forget that day I was so annoyed that I had to spend it in the hospital I was twenty-two? He blinked a couple of times, his strained breath creating clouds in the cold air. John mustered the man against the backdrop of the mansion property they passed. He still looked like he was in his mid tote twenties, but he was actually forty. Turn of the millennium I had a date and she decided to arrive just on that day I forgot all of that frustration when I held her and she grabbed my thumb
The sentimental recollection ended rather suddenly as Magnus ripped himself away from John and quickly stumbled over to a nearby bush. Just barely, he managed to keep himself from falling into it by holding onto the fence. The ck iron was a sturdy barrier, letting him stabilize while he vomited in the direction of the dirt.
John scratched the side of his head, while Maximillian kneeled down next to their friend and pat his back. Good job not vomiting on John, he gave a jokingpliment.
I thought about it. The Fateweaver tried to smile at the self-exiled king, but had to turn back towards the bush to let more of his stomach contents fall down into the decorative bush work.
John opened his inventory and checked what he had on him. I suppose that will do, he thought and pulled out a box of homemade beef jerky. The Gamer always had some rations on him to survive a couple of days, should he somehow end up getting cut off from any form of supplies. It was a policy he held ever since they had been besieged in Warsaw.
He gave Maximillian the box to hold and then pulled out a medium bottle of water, offering it to Magnus. Taking it, the Fateweaver washed out his mouth. Then he spewed one final time. He washed out his mouth again. Then he actually drank some water. Then he stepped away from the fence, took two steps away from the scene of his ident and sat down on the sidewalk.
Jerky? Maximillian offered, having already opened and taken from the box.
Yes, Magnus responded and took two of the orderly sliced and equally seasoned strips of dried meat.
You cant just offer him my jerky as if it was yours, Johnined as he joined Magnus on the sidewalk. Maximillian followed the motion slowly, relying on his cane on the way down.
Lets be real, its Aclysias, he pointed out.
Tastes like Aclysias, Magnus reinforced, gnawing on what he had taken and rinsing it down with some water.
Yall are bitches, Johnined and grabbed some of the jerky his weaponized maid had so lovingly prepared for him.
Were going to a less pompous ce next time, Maximillian decided.
I thought you liked the ce? John was confused by that sudden announcement. Poshness is usually right up your alley.
I like the splendour, the self-exiled king said, and I definitely like the service. What I dont like is a ce that doesnt offer food with their drinks. I need my salt when I am drinking.
I guess pretzel sticks dont fit the image, John thought out loud.
Let me order steak, then, Magnus grumbled, wolfing down the jerky. Throwing up had clearly helped his lucidity and the following meal did the rest to get him mostly back to reality. Youre an only child, right, John?
Yeah, the Gamer wasnt surprised by this topic change. It was more of a return to an earlier topic anyway. I dont even have cousins really worth mentioning. My family situation atrge I dont know how to say it properly. Estranged, maybe? Theres no tension anywhere, but I dont really know anybody well outside of my parents.
So, you never held a new-born? Magnus asked.
No, John shook his head.
I held Lee when she was this big, the older man showed with his hands the rough size of a baby, I watched her learn to walk and talk and how she turned from a bumbling moron into a sharp-witted girl you should have seen fathers face when she first made a joke at his expense. He was so baffled and proud.
That does sound like Magoi, John chuckled along Magnus.
And now that tiny little thing wants tomit herself to being one of your women, he quickly brought it back around. What remained of his rage was covered under resignation. I just really want the best for her. He looked to Maximillian. You have a sister, right? You probably understand where I aming from.
Kind of, but not to the extent you are presenting here, Maximillian confessed. Probably because she is older than me or maybe because we are so much closer in age, but I dont really care what she does. As long as she is happy and doing her thing, I dont want to meddle. Im more concerned that she might spend the entirety of our treasury on giant robots.
Magnus let out a deep hum and said nothing.
Ill treat her well, John assured.
I know you will. Thats why Ill let it happen in the first ce, Magnus told him. My parents and I are conservatives. Speaking just for myself, I dont like a lot of things about your lifestyle. That Lee will be part of it is disappointing.
Itll be her choice though.
It will be her choice though. Magnus nodded. As I said earlier, socially, I dont like it, but if thats what she wants to do, thats on her. With you, it wont be a mistake. Thats the sce I take in this.
Thats a pretty bigpliment, John said.
Fuck you, Magnus shot back, trying his best tough and be angry at the same time. Youre trying to bang my sister.
Factually, she is trying to bang me, the Gamer thought, but tried to keep that to himself.
You two are aware that Lee is at the party though? Maximillian asked. A party that Rave is at.
And? Magnus asked.
Dude, Maximillian stared nkly at the Fateweaver and waited for the realization to settle in. It didnt happen, so he exined slowly, Your sister, who is enough of a perv to want this guy, he gestured at John, who did a sarcastic little wave, with his harem, is hanging out with that harem. At a party, with booze, that usually ends with lesbian orgies. Take the wildest guess what is happening right now.
Right. Magnus didnt say out loud what they were all thinking. Likely because he, as the older brother, still found all of this pretty awkward. John could only specte on the reasons though. Lets keep going, the Fateweaver said. I want to see my girlfriend and sleep.
I can get behind the sleep part, Maximillian agreed. He was thest one to his feet, getting pulled up by John.
The three walked to Magnus house first, dropping the guy off there, and the remaining two made their way to the closest teleporter. They arrived on top of the Pce and stepped off. Neither of them was in the mood to even suggest checking on the girls party.
Pretty long evening, Maximillian just said while they took the elevator down.
Yep, John agreed.
Even though it was an extra mile, he walked Maximillian back to his temporary home at the Embassy. Still tipsy, he walked back home. The girls were still not back. They must have had more energy or they had a more eventful evening than he did. Either way, he was alone. After taking care of the usual evening rituals, brushing his teeth and taking out his lenses, he made his way to his bed.
He fell asleep on his own.
Chapter 985 – Vacation Week 14 – Dangerous is the overly honest woman
Chapter 985 C Vacation Week 14 C Dangerous is the overly honest woman
John woke up in the midst of his harem.
His nostrils were a bit offended by what they found. Because they were all so diligent in their personal hygiene, the only smell in the bedroom was usually that of their shampoos or perfumes. That was before the morning orgies set in, admittedly.
This morning it reeked of cold smoke and sweat, creating a mixture that John could tolerate but would rather have banished from his private quarters. Since the prative smoke smell came from him, he could hardly me his girls though. His clothes had cleaned themselves, but the stench still stuck to him, his hair most of all. He needed a shower.
He carefully maneuvered through the still deep asleep girls of his harem. When they hade home was beyond him and he didnt want to disturb them anyway. A few touches here and there, he couldnt resist. Thest girl of the bunch was Eliza, who had slept at the very edge of the bed. She growled in her sleep, as John reached out to her. He took that to mean that she had a nightmare and got closer to soothingly pet her.
The growling turned louder, animalistic, serving as the warning John needed to save his fingers from the unconscious snap of Elizas sharp teeth. John backed away. The growling stopped and the pretty little psycho remained in her slumber. I must smell really bad, he theorized and instead turned his gaze to the door.
The Mand Spheres gaze, that was. Like usual in the morning, the Gamer used his Extension to give him elevated sight. He was in no rush to put in his lenses. Even without the out-of-body sight to rely on, he knew his home well enough to move through it blindly. The mild headache the alcohol left him with did nothing to change that.
I should shower first, he thought, as he entered the living room. He closed the door and flicked the light switch. Artificial light flooded the room, contrasting starkly with the winter morning darkness. Cant have it that I cant touch my sweet little Eliza.
Hhhmmm, the unwilling sound of waking up reached Johns ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. Hastily, he made the Mand Sphere fly higher in the room, trying to find the source of the sound. It didnt take long. Less than a step away from him, separated only by the backrest of the ck leather couch shey on, was Lee Magus - naked.
She was absolutely gorgeous.
Her curves were more delicious than John had guessed. Openly disyed by the girl whoid on her back, John could not help but devour the sight. Her breasts were b-cups, their shape firm and just enough meat to them that they looked fun to squeeze. The pink are on top were nicely proportioned and harmonized with her pale skin.
Her midriff was a bit disappointing, courtesy of ack of muscles present. John wasnt big on overbearing muscles, but he didnt like the absence of them either. Still, she was thin and her waist narrow. If her chest had beenrger, she would have had quite the hourss figure. What John was presented with instead was more to his personal tastes.
She had wide hips, giving her body that overall pear shape that John, as an ass man, delighted in. Thighs, a bit thin but long and smooth, caught his attention beyond that. Pussy lips of a more intense pink than her nipples sat between her legs. Basically, all of the little things he found suboptimal about her body could have been fixed with training effort. Her body was absolutely impable otherwise.
Hrrrmmmm, Lee let out a deep sound that brought Johns gaze back to her face.
Despite the doubtlessly rough night that had brought her here, her ebon wood hair looked no less flowing than usual. Given that her usual style was minimal care, this wasnt exactly surprising. The hair framed her face beautifully, bangs and strands contrasting with her pale face, her pale pink lips slightly parted as she breathed. Her eyelids quivered, then opened.
Lee stared at him. John didnt exactly stare back. He was facing in her direction, but he didnt exactly make eye contact with her.
Shooting up, the young woman first looked down on herself, then looked over to John. Only when she looked him up and down did he remember that he was naked himself. He would have had ample time to tap the button in his inventory, had he not been so struck by her beauty. Now she was giving him the same treatment he had given her. Her eyes got stuck on his erect cock. It had started as morning wood, but its prolonged presence was only because of her.
Morning, Lee said, still staring at his cock. A hand crept between her thighs, but stopped before she actually got to hide or indecently touch anything.
Morning, John answered, purely because he could not think of anything else to say. There was not even an ounce of awkwardness in the air, just raw sexual tension. Wild night?
Youuuuuuuu Lee drew out that word, blinking a number of times. Memories must havee flooding in, following the question. You yeah, you could say that Scratch could you definitely can say that. Wildest night in my life. Most booze too. The other girls told me I could sleep here.
You seem pretty fine, John pointed out, an eyebrow raised.
Yeah, dont ask me. Lee shrugged, making her pert tits shift and jiggle ever so slightly. Dad always said he never got hangovers when he was young. Didnt think I inherited that too.
You really only got the best genes from your parents, huh? John mumbled in a more flirtatious tone than he had aimed for.
A slow grin spread on Lees face as she crossed her arm on top of the backrest and leaned up. At first towards him then, when she really noticed his milky brown eyes, towards the Mand Sphere. She didnt seem shocked by the disy of his blindness. She was prepared for it or she didnt care. Which one it was, the horny Gamer was in no state of mind to consider.
If you think so, she purred in an exceedingly feminine tone. Aplicated mix of emotions swelled in Johns chest. Impatience, lust, infatuation and disbelief culminated in a frustrated sigh. Something wrong? Lee asked, back to her usual voice.
Slightly or majorly, depending on how you look at it, the Gamer sighed a second time. After the talk he had with Magnus yesterday, it felt wrong to put this off any further. Lee, what are we doing here?
Chatting nudely? Lee drily pointed out the obvious.
Yes, he agreed. Should we do that?
Why not? Doesnt look like either of us is ufortable. Quite the opposite really. She pointed at his erection. In the process, she revealed her hard nipples.
John walked around the couch and to one of the armchairs. He wanted to befortable for what he had to say. I figured you would grow disinterested in me or that the harem aspect of my life would scare you off. Lee just nodded to that, probably having considered the same things. After two weeks of her interacting with his harem and (to a lesser extent) him, it was clear that wasnt an issue. You dont mind and I, honestly speaking, adore you. Youre incredibly attractive to me, both physically and from what I know about you. Lee visibly grew ecstatic upon hearing that. But I cant simply be with you. She copsed into a shocked expression.
Why?! she wanted to know.
You know why, John rubbed his forehead, its because of who your parents are. Fusion needs your father, Lee. As much as I want, I cannot start a rtionship with you unless he approves. He ced his hand back down.
Thats not fair. Lee crossed her arms, seeming more angry than upset at this news. Willpower was not something this little beautycked. Perhaps stubbornness would have been a more urate term.
That depends on your perspective, the Gamer said. Is it unfair that you have to live up to your parents expectations after they raised you? Is it unfair that I obey their wish to keep my hands off you after all Magoi did for me? That I have to listen to what my friends tell me if I want to keep them? Dont get me wrong, I wish it was easy but we have to acknowledge the reality of the situation. His fingers nervously drummed on the armrest. The good news I have for you is that I spoke with Magnus and he was unhappy to let us be a thing, if it came to it.
Now it was Lees turn to sigh. What a bunch of bologna, she grumbled, making Johnugh. What?
Just a weird phrase to use here, he responded.
It fits, screw me C oh wait, you cant, youre too afraid of my dad.
Sue me C oh wait, you cant, I am head of state.
Under your pseudo-republican constitution, I could sue you, Lee retorted.
Not for keeping my hands to myself. I havent introduced the bill that makes usage of female sex ves mandatory yet.
Being used sounds so nice, but I dont want to be property byw, how about, Lee started and then stopped. Fucking Gaia, what are we doing?
Chatting nudely? John suggested and got a weak kick to his shin in response. Chuckling, he steered the ship back around. I thought we could skip on this talk at first but youre just too fun to hang around with, Lee.
Gee, thanks, dude, she rolled her eyes. Ill sit over here and be fun for you. You could call it my friendly zone.
Youre not in the friend zone! John protested. I want you! Everything dismissive I did, everything I said, it was purely because of the circumstances we are in.
So, if I sort my parents out, we can be together? Lee confronted him. I can be part of this harem of incredible women?
Yes! John answered enthusiastically. Thats the only barrier between us. Time alone would tell if were aspatible as we feel right now, but we can never know the future, so who cares about that? If we existed in istion of circumstances, I would pin you down on the couch right this moment and make you mine.
Little Miss Magus stared at him and John put in his contact lenses only to meet her gaze. Eventually, she scowled. You better mean it. There was a little quake under her tone. If this is a giant excuse to get rid of me, I will do something!
In another situation, John would have made a joke. Here, he just nodded. If I didnt want you around me, I would just say that. Im an honest man. Most of the time, anyway, he added mentally. I think that was all that needed to be said
I guess what now? Lee wanted to know.
I dont know, the Gamer said, only to remember the stench in the air. I, for my part, will go take a shower. The girls are still asleep, probably for a couple more hours. What you do is only your decision.
Alright so if I decided to hop into your shower after you and then hang around until the other girls wake up, thats only my decision, right? Lee asked with a smile between daring and mocking.
John rubbed his temples. He had expected her to immediately take her pretty face to her dad and demand that this be righted. Youre bad for my health, he told her, miserable and still attracted by her feminine form. I wont protest though. That aside, there is no reason for you to go into the shower after me. Come, he got up and pointed her towards the door of their bathroom.
No fucking way, Lee said, when they entered the changing area, isted from the actual showers via a ss wall.
How do you think an entire harem gets clean every day? John asked her.
There has to be a lot of sweating in this household, Lee conceded the point and then stepped through the ss door John opened for her.
I probably should have led with this, but where are your clothes anyway? the Gamer presented another question.
Still in the club, she told him. Who even cares about clothes? All my homies hate clothes.
I tend to agree, but if youre staying for a couple more hours, were not staying naked. My heart will not be able to take it.
Dude, just rub one out whenever you get horny. Ill watch, Lee told him. Now that their mutual interest was confirmed, the young Fateweavers flirtation had gone from obvious to beyond tant. Its what I did yesterday.
Care to borate? John asked, knowing that he would regret asking.
Jane said I wasnt allowed to do more than watch. Something about keeping my first kiss and virginity for you.
God, I love that woman, the Gamer thought.
Lee stepped under one of the showers. Over the sound of the running water, she repeated her question, Why dont you just masturbate?
I cant.
What? Think even that is too much if Dad finds out about it?
I mean, yes, but we are already naked so I would be willing to take that little extra step, John told her. I mean I physically cant. The same Perk that allows me to cum an infinite number of times per day makes it so I dont feel any pleasure from taking care of myself.
Huh guess thats a worthwhile trade when you have a harem.
Extremely, John answered, busy staring at her even as he cleaned himself. Watching her skin glisten and her hair darken to a near proper ck from the wetness was a sight he wanted every morning. Better yet, he wanted it alongside every other showering woman in his life. Greed agreed with lust that this was something he deserved. He was so distracted watching her that he missed her asking another question. Pardon?
I asked if you want me to help you out, Lee asked. Just a little handjob.
Please, John whined, I already told you that we shouldnt.
Yeah, but fuck my parents expectations, I want you, Lee retorted in a brash tone. Plus you already said we can go a little further.
I shouldnt have said that, I really shouldnt have said that. John turned the shower several degrees colder. Little bit further would be watching each other masturbate, okay? No further.
That so? Lee turned the shower off and grabbed the bottle of body wash that was the closest. From her tone, John already knew what she was going to do. A momentter, the sounds of soaping up wereplimented by fingers dancing between legs. John couldnt look away and his erection didnt subside despite the cold shower.
Alright, time to get dressed, John told his teasing guest and pointed at one of the many baskets in the changing area. It had been empty when they entered and now contained one of Johns shirts and Raves pants. Thetter, because she seemed to be the closest to Lees size and the former because the Gamer thought she would look adorable in a gaming shirt that was way toorge for her.
Lee didnt need to ask how this had happened; the existence of Jack was public knowledge. Instead, she grabbed the towel on top of the clothes and started drying herself. That she was quiet for more than ten seconds meant that she was nning something else. Mind giving me a massage first? Ive got really stiff shoulders. She gave him a deadpan look. Would really hinder my gaming performance, you know?
It barely even qualified as an excuse, but the reason didnt matter anyway. All that mattered was whether or not John was willing to oblige. I shouldnt, he thought, looking at her pear-shaped body. At that smooth, pale skin, still slightly reddened from self-care and the hot shower. I really shouldnt. He saw the adorable way she looked up at him, while drying her hair. but shouldnt I? Okay. Lets be clear though: Im only using my hands.
Whatever ya say, buddy, Lee grinned.
Chapter 986 – Vacation Week Interlewd 2 – Magic Hands [Erotic Content]
Chapter 986 C Vacation Week Interlewd 2 C Magic Hands [Erotic Content]
Lie down, John told his newest love interest, gesturing at the massage table he had ced in the living room. It was a simple, white, leather-d thing with three segments and a specific ce for the head. Two of those were always stored in one of the closets around since Aclysia and Beatrice offered massages as part of the daily routine.
I was actually just asking for some shoulder rubs, Lee said, looking at both the table and the bottle of oil John ced in arms reach. Of course, she wasnt entirely truthful there, she was definitely asking for more than shoulder rubs, but John believed her that she hadnt expected a real oil massage.
If were doing this, were doing it right, the Gamer told her. Now C Lie down, this time, he made it amand. Face down.
Lee waspelled to obey and did so without further hesitation. A moan echoed in the room the moment she ced her head in the hole. Fucking... I heard about that, but
What you hear about me, when ites to sex, never measures up to the real thing, John told her, squirting oil generously over her back. Her only recently dried skin quickly glistened again when he spread the oil with his palms.
Lee shifted under his caress in minor ways. His Sexual Mastery Passive was increasing the effectiveness of his masterful movements for heavenly results. The music in the background, simple tranquil sounds, filled the quiet. Mimicking a decent masseur, John concentrated on her back at first. He rolled skin and muscles under his caress, learned about every centimetre of her surface and the shape of her bones.
Jesus, she might actually need this, the Gamer thought, amused. Her body had all kinds of minor strains in it. Even an Abyssal was only immune to a certain degree against bad posture, it seemed. Not what I set out to do, but I might as well while I am at it, he mentallymented, before cing his knuckles between her shoulder des and exerting gentle force.
Oh Gaiaaaa, Lee gasped with raw relief as her upper spine let ring a series of long overdue cracking sounds. Experiencing second hand satisfaction, the Gamer pushed on until he hit the edge of her neck. Jooooohn, I loooove youuuu, she eximed, amidst the cracks, in a clearly non-serious fashion. Their infatuation was mutual, but they werent deluded enough to jump straight to that point.
Save it for the honeymoon, he joked and went back to silently oiling her up. He stayed in the safe areas for now. From her back, he went to her neck, from her neck to her arms, from her arms to her legs. He shortly touched her butt, but didnt dwell on it. He covered her sides, brushed against her breasts out of necessity, but stayed away from sexually pleasuring her. That wouldeter.
Part for part, he softened up her body. It must have been the first time she got such a massage and thus he had an incredibly easy time to get her into a state of total physical rxation. The mind naturally followed. A nice state to ask some questions.
So, where did you hear about my sexualmands? The Gamer maintained the tone used for casual chit-chat. If he kept things nice and cosy, he could coerce a lot of honest answers from her, without the usual teasing. He essentially had her hypnotized.
I read it on the CPDI site, it was an article about Cindy describing her experience with you.
How did you happen upon that article? he asked, finally making his massage a bit more sexual. His hands didnt directly touch sensitive areas, but he spent more time on her upper thighs and the sides of her torso than anywhere else.
I saw it while rewatching the videos of you on the side, Lee answered tranquilly. Her breathing was asionally entuated by high-pitched sighs.
Did you watch all the pornos with me in them?
Yes, theyre exactly what I like. Lee got more and more excited as she talked, courtesy of her fantasy as much as the hands now kneading her ass. Middling as her butt might have been, it was far from dissatisfying. He poured additional oil on her, teasing her back entrance and her pussy by brushing over them. I love submission. I always knew I wanted to be dominated in bed. I always wanted to act slutty but the dudes werent really worth it you, though I stumbled over the porn after I read the news articles about you I couldnt believe that you were also into the things I was into and Jane Jane is so hot in those videos I wanted to sleep with her too
On your back, Johnmanded and Lee quickly obeyed. She moaned, the rewarding pleasure making her spine arch. The Gamer pressed her back down, while he spread oil all over her midriff. He gave her a prolonged lull, during which he once more stayed in safe areas. He caressed her arms and legs again, spent some time on her feet, then turned to her breasts. He rotated between rubbing them, the surrounding area, and teasing her nipples. You love submission, what about bondage and masochism?
I dont know, Lee told him. I would like to try both. Bondage appeals to me a lot.
John considered giving her a taste. It wouldnt be difficult to get some ropes through Jack. However, he decided to keep it nice and vani for today. You want to be a submissive slut?
I want to be your submissive slut, Lee gasped. I want to know what its like to be used by a real man. Not just suck on an imitation of your cock. An orgy C I want to be part of an orgy I want to be dominated by you and Jane.
God, she was practically made for me, John thought and ran his hands down the little line that marked the middle between her barely existing abs. Thats what I get for being famous, there are women who will identify exactly with my preferences who seek me out. Please, for the love of everything, Magoi, let me be your future son-inw.
His hands parted around her quim and reached for her thighs again. He rubbed them up and down, always ending near her pussy, stimted the blood flow in the area and gradually made her more sensitive. When her breathing was quick and heated, he finally touched her clit. Her body jumped with pleasure from the singr contact.
Was there ever someone else who made you cum? John asked.
No, Master. Lees voice was still tranquil. Why she switched now to that title he didnt know, but John approved. Only myself.
Do you want me to make you cum? he asked.
If it pleases you, Master.
That was even better than a simple yes. With a smile so intense it reverberated in his voice, he said, It would.
He curved two fingers, middle and ring, into her honeypot. A mewling sound echoed from Lees throat, desperate and pleading for more. Giving her what she wanted, John fingered her cunt. Slowly at first, but gradually elerating. He probed her tight cunt, until he found a particrly sensitive spot. Pinning it between his fingers on the inside and his wrist on the outside, rubbing her clit with his well-oiled palm, he had her moaning loud in a matter of seconds.
Ooh fuck fuck she cried, her hips rising from the massage table. Her glistening body trembled, the artificial light reflecting softly on her curves. She was gorgeous, heavily breathing, a near perfect incarnation of one of the many appetites he had for women. He kept reapplying oil with his other hand. The excess soaked into her sprawled out hair. Im Im
She couldnt finish the sentence, too intense was the pleasure John brought her. Shouting, her legs angling, her hips rising higher, her hands wing at the edge of the table for whatever limited support she could find, she came. Her virgin pussy mped down around Johns fingers. Fresh pussy juice ran down the oiledbia. John kept wiggling inside her, silencing her shout, the pleasure bing overbearing. Behind closed lids, her eyes moved around rapidly, her cute lips parted widely.
He had to stop himself from exploiting all he could do. If he wanted to, he could drown her in a hell of pleasure within the minute. Instead, he kept his motions moderate, pleasure reasonable.
Ultimately, her body went from rigid to trembling and her breathing resumed as heavy panting. John let her catch a moment of respite, then resumed his movements. If you want me to stop, just say so, he told her. Otherwise, Ill repay you for all the teasing, you health hazard!
Lees only answer was a gutturalugh followed by an ecstatic cry. There was no way she would beg him to stop until he brought her to the brink of copse. The Gamer knew when he was looking at a pervert and, if her Libido hadnt been enough of a pointer, her confessions and current behaviour were all he needed toe to the conclusion that she was hooked.
He wanted to hear it out loud. Do you enjoy this?
Yeeessssshhh! she shouted, another orgasm rolling through her. The proverbial floodgates were open and the literal flood was steadily continuing between her legs. Its so sooooo much better than what I do by myselfffff. Her heels dug into the leather.
Are you going to cum again? John asked.
Yeeee-ghrrrr, Lees ecstatic cry suddenly copsed into a frustrated gargle when John pulled his fingers out of her pussy. Why?! sheined, her eyes opening.
John growled, not liking the tone she used to ask that question. Here I thought you were a natural sub, but it seems youll need some training after all, he scolded her. What did you say when I asked you do you want me to make you cum, Lee?
If it pleases you, Master she folded immediately.
Correct, so if it pleases me, I will deny you any pleasure I can give you. He nced at her thighs, desperately rubbing together. Stop that, he told her, amand without the magic. Hesitantly, she obeyed. If you be mine, truly mine, Ill train you to know better than toin.
Lees eyes were hazy with lust and shame. Im sorry, Master, she said, only to cry out when he reached back between her legs.
What do you say when I reward you? the Gamer wanted to know.
Thank you, Master! she shouted, his fingers sinking back inside her. Ecstasy quickly overwrote the shame on her face and frustration once more overwrote the ecstasy when he stopped. This time, she gritted her teeth and said nothing.
Better, John thought, far from satisfied enough to give apliment out loud. Turn around, hemanded, reaching for the oil bottle. Quickly, Lee obeyed, a wanton cry escaping her when the reward took her straight back to the edge. Youll need a lot of training if you want to please me. Both as a submissive and for your body. He spread fresh oil over her back and butt. I value my property a lot. If you want to be one of my submissive sluts, you better take care of yourself. I wont be pleased if what is mine is anything less than as good as it can be. He gave her ass a little tap and watched the barely existing jiggle. Understood?
Yes, Master, Lee responded in absolute earnest. She had already started training, John knew that much, but he wanted her to be motivated to achieve the best result she could. He wanted to see a more defined midriff, a bubble butt and thunder thighs. Maybe her arms could be a bit thicker too, to bnce the look, but John wasnt exactly bothered about that area.
Good girl, he purred, feeling her entire body shudder at the sound of those two words. Now, Ill give you a proper taste of what being with me is like. Do you think you can take that, my Lee?
No, but I want to experience it anyway, Master, Lee told him, giving him the happiest, loving, most depraved stare that he had seen in a while.
Ass up, Johnmanded, and watched her raise her hips again, this time voluntarily. Again, the reward hit her and, again, it wasnt quite enough to send over the edge. He put one knee on the massage table. His muscr right reached around her hips, fingers connecting with her clit, the left went directly to her pussy.
Prating her swollen cunt with two fingers, he rubbed her clit with the other hand. The first contact was enough to set the overdue orgasm off. John ignored the delighted howling and continued. He explored her tight folds at this different angle, found new effective spots to tease, and worked her clit all the while. Wide as her hips were in proportion, Lee was still smaller than him and a woman. The arm wrapped around her confined her to where she was. Only minimal wiggles of her oiled-up body were possible.
Cumming cumming Lee shouted and John still upped the pace. She screamed in climax, but the pitch of her voice only rose further. Fuck fuuuuuuck what is what is happeninnng!? Even as a mild masturbation addict, Lee would never have pushed her body to the extent John was currently pushing her. Solo action tended to stop after relief was achieved. Even though Lee had doubtlessly heard of multiple orgasms before, her recollections of such tales were lost somewhere in the whirlwind of ecstasy currently toppling over every thought in her pretty little head.
John still wasnt done. He kept her slippery bottom from escaping, no matter how much she trembled and screamed in delight. Her clit and pussy were steadily assaulted by his nimble fingers. Then, finally, he reached his goal.
Squirting all over his hands, her thighs, and the oily leather, Lees shout rose to a massive, primal scream. Her head flew upwards. Through the Mand Sphere, he saw her dumbfounded, ecstatic expression, nothing but nk pleasure on it. Pleasure he regted, through his continued movements. He kept the climax of multiple orgasms going for as long as possible, and then slowly ebbing off when her scream died down.
He let her hips drop back onto the massage table. After cleaning his hands, he resumed massaging her in the previous decent fashion, as if absolutely nothing had happened. Aftershocks ravaged her in unpredictable intervals.
Suck let me suck your cooock, Lee pleaded, exhausted, delighted and hungry for more.
John was almost ready to give in. He had already gone further than just nudely chatting with her, already further than showering with her, already further than watching her masturbate and already further than just giving her a naked massage. He was halfway down the slippery slope.
And he had to stop.
No, he told her, against every bit of lust in his body. This is as far as we go. If you want that again, he brushed over her drenched cunt, if you want more, he gestured towards his precum dribbling erection, then we have to sort things out with Magoi first. There is an order to these things and we already stretched it a lot. He gave her ass another tap. Also, if you want to make me really happy, do some more squats.
Deal, Lee gasped, not wholly content but epting.
Chapter 987 – Vacation Week Finale – The Invitation
Chapter 987 C Vacation Week Finale C The Invitation
Dude, just attack Japan already, Lee berated her gamingpanion.
I wont attack before my administration cored mynds, John responded. This isnt a world conquest run.
Okay, but how are you going to save the world from anime if you dont culture convert all of it?
I wont.
Really? Youre going to let the world suffer like that?
My girlfriend would kill me if I prevented anime from existing.
Totally worth it.
Why dont you gamble your own life away, huh?
Because thats not as entertaining, Lee shot back, her voice underlined by a sharp moan. It wasnt her own.
For the love of god, can you PLEASE stop watching porn?! the Gamer cried out, desperately trying to get his erection down.
Nope, Lee responded.
You arent even masturbating.
What, cant ady enjoy a leisurely erotic experience?
Ady can do whatever she wants at home, not right next to me, John said and hit the spacebar, pausing the game before turning to his left. Plus, youre not ady.
Lee swivelled in her own gaming chair and the two faced each other. The good thing was that she was no longer naked. The bad thing was that she looked incredibly cute in the oversized, ck shirt and stretchy yoga pants. She didnt wear anything under either. Whenever she had gotten horny over the past four hours, something that had happened repeatedly, she had put the pants away until she finished taking care of it. While that did keep the borrowed pants clean, it did leave John with repeated erections that he could do nothing about.
Oy, why dont I get thatbel? the gaming girl asked in an incredibly brash fashion.
Ady is a title earned by particrly dignified women, John told her. Just because you have a cunt doesnt make you ady. Ladies dont carelessly unt their sexuality or be this happy about goingmando.
Three things. First, you can exin to my mom that she failed raising ady.
You are NOT shoving that off on me. Not only as a point of banter, but also because John earnestly did not want to be the one who had to lead that conversation, he refused.
Second, Lee continued unabated. Panties are shit, all my homies hate panties. Underwear is overrated.
Thats what a tomboy with small tits would say.
Thanks, the small-breasted tomboy responded with upbeat cheeriness. Third, I dont carelessly unt my sexuality, I do it entirely on purpose.
And the purpose is to torture me, John let out an exasperated sigh.
Leaning forwards, pulling at the cor of her oversized shirt, Lee gave John a nice view down her torso. Precisely, she grinned.
You really will fit in nicely with my girls, John groaned, then turned when the door opened.
There you are, Scarlett said, strutting in naked. The redhead raised an eyebrow when she saw the two of them. There you two are, I should say.
How are you alive again? Lee wanted to know. I saw you down two bottles of whisky.
It was a Thursday evening. Scarlett shrugged.
Thank fucking god you are here, John blurted out, distracted by her pale curves, and practically jumped out of his chair. Against the wall, now! hemanded.
Somebody sounds pent up, Scarlett denoted, while obediently turning her chest towards the wall and sticking her ass out. What did she do to you?
Four hours of teasing.
Hope you didnt have a hardon the entire time, stud, that gets dangerous.
No, but I still need this, John growled and pulled down his pants. That he was crossing another line here, having sex right in front of Lee, he didnt care about. Neither did Scarlett, who didnt care fundamentally and likely even less so, given that the harem seemed to have already epted Lee as a member.
He rubbed his dick against her pussy, waiting for it to be wet. Even if his presence and aptitude greatly elerated the process, Scarlett wasnt automatically dripping down there just because she saw him. If they had always been leaking around him, that would have caused a fewplications in their public life.
That being said, once the switch was flipped, she was in a ready state quickly. Superhuman physique and Libido dide with the rapid production of sexual fluids on both sides of the engagement and John prated her as soon as was pleasurable. What followed was an unimaginative, rough fucking of Scarlett against the wall. It only ended when John had dropped three loads inside her.
He pulled out and the thick white liquid soon spilled out of the gaping cunt. Thats a morning Scarlett panted, struggling to remain upright. John helped her into one of the nearby chairs. Like the floor, they were treated to be easily cleaned, so her leaving a puddle on it hardly mattered. Phew great, I might as well take another shower.
How are the others? John asked.
Dying, to varying degrees, Scarlett told him, or still asleep. Ive ces to be, so I got up before thosezy asses.
Lee, panting a little bit herself for obvious reasons, chimed in, Is that ce to present your ass to the man over there.
His cum is better than coffee, Scarlett said, spreading her pussy lips a little. Wanna try, new girl?
Before the offer could be taken, John said, She isnt part of the harem yet.
That exins the useless fucking clothes, Scarlett said, scooping up some cum and sucking it off her finger. Are you trying to keep a pitiful remainder of distance or something?
I owe Magoi that much, John said.
Hmmm, Scarlett thought about that for a second, I guess my father would have sent some hired knives if you touched me without his approval.
Really reassuring. Johns dry voice apanied his plopping down back in his chair.
Think your father was as protective as mine? Lee asked.
Were you allowed to leave the house? Scarlett wanted to know.
Uhm, yes? the young Fateweaver didnt know what she waspeting against here.
There ya go, I win, the redhead dismissively stated. I couldnt leave the house on my own until my parents died.
That sounds kinda horrible, Lee said.
Nah, it was totally reasonable to keep me safe. Being the strongest technomancer in the world does make you the target of some unwanted attention. That aside, it wasnt as if I was kept locked in a dark room or anything. I had a whole skyscraper modified to my needs. Scarlett shrugged. Its all in the fucking past anyway, now I got this guy to protect me. She kicked Johns leg. And to be used as my boy toy.
Really? I am your toy? John asked. Want to do your work today from your station on top of the sybian?
Of course youre my toy, John, Scarlettughed. I let you use me however it pleases me. Its a mutually satisfactory agreement, isnt it?
It is if Im in power, John growled yfully. He looked over to Lee. If you turn out to be masochistic, dont behave like this brat.
Scarlett mockingly blew air out of her nose. Like you dont enjoy breaking me. Speaking of which, I demand to get the Eliza treatment today.
So you do want to work from on top of the sybian? John asked.
Whatever the fuck you think of, I really dont care. Scarlett leaned back and crossed her legs. I have to keep my feet still for a day and let some stocks develop.
Investments going well? the Gamer inquired.
No, actually I made a miscalction and now Im down a couple of millions C thanks partly to your currency transition, she waved off. We can talk economy after you get back from vacation. I dont want to distract you with that shit.
How considerate of you.
I try - for you, the scarlet technomancer said. Appreciate it.
I do. Smiling, John stood up again and lifted Scarlett up princess carrying style. I dont know what I would do without you.
Of course you do. Scarlett rolled her eyes, even as she wrapped her arms around his neck. As if we both didnt y through the what-if scenarios several times. Compliment me properly.
Always so demanding, John grumbled. You have fantastic hair. The short stylepliments your androgynous yet feminine look. You have a thick ass and your petite breasts are cute. He stopped his cascade ofpliments to turn to Lee. What do you think of my Scarlett?
Uhh Lee didnt react well to being put on the spot like that. Resorting to her honesty, she blurted out, Id fuck her.
Scarlett snorted and John joined her in herughter. Embarrassed, Lee scratched her cheek and waited for them to calm down. Shes teasing you and she can banter, she will definitely fit in nicely with this depraved fuckfest, the redhead dered.
____________________________________________________________________________
Lee had left shortly after that. With more and more of the harem waking up, John had to tend to them and thus was out of time to game for the moment. Once the girls were through breakfast, many of them either went back to bed or got to work. As requested, John tied Scarlett down in the living room. Otherwise, he was left to his own devices and, eventually, returned to gaming.
He had both phones by hisputer. One for work emergencies, one for private calls and the rm Scarlett had ess to. He checked thetter one regrly. Not because he thought Scarlett would use the rm, but because he expected some sort of message to pop up any minute now. He was wise enough to look at it with a stoic level of detachment, allowing him to enjoy his time despite the slight nervousness he felt.
Hours passed. Afternoon turned into evening. Evening into night. It was well past nine and John was starting to believe that nothing woulde of it today. Perhaps Lee was still gathering herself before talking to her parents. She didnt strike him as the sort of person who needed to work herself up, but he didnt know everything about her yet. Maybe Magoi wasnt somewhere she could reach him. It could also have been that the High Fateweaver himself wanted to think about this for a little while longer.
Then the phone finally did buzz. The ringtone identified the caller, without John needing to look at the disy. He braced himself for whatever was toe and epted the call. Hello Magoi, he said in a sombre tone.
Hello there, John Newman, a.k.a. the Gamer, a.k.a. a man of a truly debauched lifestyle. Magoi sounded like he usually did, an odd mixture of serious and quirky. The end of the month ising up, isnt it?
In about three hours, yeah? John agreed, a bit confused that this was the route being taken. Was Magoi genuinely calling because of that reason or was this a roundabout way to lead into the topic at hand?
Three hours, plenty of time to meet up at the I.D. Gate, wouldnt you say? Magoi said. We wouldnt want to dy your grinding session longer than necessary, now would we?
I suppose not, the Gamer knew where this was going and yed along. Ill tell my girls to be prepared.
Splendid. Dont worry, Ill add an extra day to the usual schedule, because of the rashness of it all. Thatll give you the time topensate for lost sleep and other things that will upy you.
I see Magoi, just be clear with me, should I expect the session to end earlier than usual?
There was a moment of grave silence and a sigh. John, you can at least count on all of this ending without harm done to our work rtionship. Magnus talked to us before Lee did.
Thank you, buddy. John sent a prayer up to whatever god may listen, that good fortune would reach his friend. Alright then. Ill see you in three hours.
Yes. Oh, and bring your best fishing rod.
Chapter 988 – Fishing with the potential father-in-law
Chapter 988 C Fishing with the potential father-inw
John only possessed a fishing rod to have something to store in one of the many side-rooms of his Pce. After throwing it into his inventory, he and the girls soon made their way up. Scarlett wasnt amused about her usage time being cut short, but she epted it given the situation atrge. They all met with Magoi, Mabirl and Lee on top of the Pces fort foundation, at the agreed time.
The initial meeting was cordial and cold at the same time. Lee kept her distance, likely due to the overbearing presence of her mother, standing between her and John with her arms crossed, while Magoi had a soft smile on his face and a patient glint in his eye. The unusual thing about all of this was that neither of the two Magus parents wore their mask.
The meeting was torture, because absolutely nothing unusual happened. Magoi simply opened up the barrier, created the houses and the gates of light that let John create his Instant Dungeon attached to the Intermediary Barrier, and then told him to get a good nights rest. Mabirl stomped off wordlessly, Lee gave him a little wave, and Magoi just walked away, tapping his cane.
On his own, John would have failed to sleep that night. Surrounded by his loves, however, the Gamers mind was at ease. Whatever happened with this, he would still have all of them. There was great sce in that fact, found in the arms that embraced him as he slumbered.
The next morning, after breakfast, there was a knock on his door.
Dressed and already awaiting something like this, John opened the door for the three waiting outside. Good morning, John, Magoi greeted, carrying a fishing rod in his left and a crate of beer together with his wife. Mabirl, for her part, seemed less disgruntled today than she had the day before. Lee, however, seemed annoyed at something. Perhaps at all of this taking so long. Care to join me on a fishing trip?
I mean, sure? John knew that this was where things were going, but was no less confused about why this was the route being taken. Going with the flow, he offered, Want me to take that? He was referring to the crate.
If you would be so kind. Magoi let out a relieved sound when the physically superior, younger man took the beer from him.
Thank you. Mabirl sounded a bit choppy when she said that, but it was honest gratitude.
Can we hurry this along already? Lee wanted to know.
You be quiet, youngdy! her mother snapped back immediately. Well take this at the proper pace.
Proper, sure, Lee rolled her eyes. Whatever pace you find proper.
Clicking her tongue, Mabirl tilted her upper body to look past John and into the room. Would it affront the otherdies if we were toe inside for a cup of tea?
Nah, is all good, Rave shouted back. Right, Aclysia?
I would be delighted to serve the finest tea I can offer, the weaponized maid confirmed.
John stepped out of the house, letting the two women join his harem for their talks. Good luck, he couldnt help but say to Lee.
Youll have the easier job, she whined and nced over to Magoi. I like him in one piece, Dad.
Ill leave him in one, then, Magoi responded.
John could have pointed out that there was no way for the High Fateweaver to harm him anyway. It wasnt good manners, however, to put down a father before their daughter, especially not a friend. He swallowed his cheeky pride. The door to his house closed behind Lee. He turned to Magoi.
Lets go fishing then, the High Fateweaver said and nodded towards one of the many gates of light.
Sure. Holding the crate of beer in front of his chest, he followed after Lees father. He could have deposited it in his inventory, but it did hold some symbolic value. The clinking of the ss against the stic apanied his every step.
They stepped through the gate and into an already fabricated Illusion Barrier. It was a sereneke, wonderfully blue and clear, settled in a rocky greenndscape that was surrounded by hills and boulders. The scenery could have served well for an Irish vacation advertisement. A fish jumped out of theke, sending sparkling water flying into the moonlit night. Even this space was beholden to thew that the movement of celestial bodies was parallel to their real equivalent. The temperature was nice and mellow.
The fish, a silver-scaled thing, sshed back down into the water. How are there fish here? the Gamer couldnt help but wonder.
People often forget it, but Fateweavers can mimic Natural Barriers.
Right, John recalled. It had been a while since he had considered that. The unnatural part of his instant Dungeons was not that he could make barriers with monsters in them but that they scaled to be so incredibly powerful and that they left behind items. I guess we cant eat these fish then? he asked.
Magoiughed. No, we kill them and they dissolve. With another gesture, he directed John towards arge rock that jutted out of the shore and created a small cliff. It was almost unnaturally smooth. Little wonder, since Magoi had created thisndscape with certain goals in mind. Most of it was likely put together by mental shortcuts, with few additions being deliberate to ease essibility.
What if we bite them while theyre still alive though? John wondered.
The magic burns your gums, Magoi exined. Best case, you spit it out, worst case, you swallow what bes dust and magical energy. I almost starved once and made the attempt. It doesnt work.
When did that happen?
When I was about your age. Magoi pulled two folded chairs out of a dimensional pocket, cing them down with about a metre between them. I hadnt yet been discovered by the Illusion Protectors and the Abyss where I grew up was rather unfriendly. Staying alive as a barrier maker wasnt easy back then and the mundane world had less food in thete 18th century. Particrly in north Crimea.
Huh. John couldnt help but respond to all of that with that simple sound. It had never urred to him that Magoi could have been from such a badly off part of the world. At the time he grew up, Crimea would have just been conquered by the Russian Empire, after hundreds of years of being an Ottoman vassal. Complications that grew from such conquests aside, the Cossacks would have held influence in the area. That was only looking at the mundane side of the equation, with the Abyss doubtlessly having its own dangers.
Magoi having led an eventful life was well known already. Every time John heard something new about it, he couldnt help but wonder just how much the old Fateweaver had seen. Whenever Magoi did finish his memoirs, the Gamer would eagerly read all of it. Do you know how to fish?
I think? John ced down the crate of beer between the chairs. Cast out the line, wait for something to bite, gently reel in the fish, that about it?
That does sound like the basics, Magoi chuckled, only to pull a box out of his dimensional pocket. Theres a bit more to it though. Here, let me show you.
Thirty minutes passed during which the bald, scarred man showed the much younger Gamer a number of tricks. Quick as he was on the uptake, John enjoyed being shown what a bobber and a floater were for and how to secure them on the line. Listening to Magoi talk about the advantages of live and stic bait, about stories of the biggest fish he had caught and sipping on cold beer during all of it was a pleasant way to spend the morning.
John underestimated sometimes how human he was. For all that he hade to be, having someone he respected talk to him in a fatherly tone about useless things was still soothing. Guidance was not something he was used to and, as a young man, it was nice to have it every now and again.
Eventually, they both sat in their camping chairs, a beer in the holder of the armrest, their fishing rods propped up by additional utensils Magoi had brought. They looked over the water. Nothing bit. The moon glowed above. The windless air was only disturbed by the jumping fishes, rising and falling from the shining, smooth surface of theke.
When I first learned that my wife was pregnant, Magoi eventually spoke up again, do you know what I was feeling?
Joy? John took a shot in the dark.
No, Magoi chortled, panic. To this day I couldnt tell you why exactly I was so afraid. It wasnt an ident that she was with a child. We had been trying. That was its own series of events, to convince me that I wanted even one kid. Regardless of why I was so afraid, I realized that men are never truly prepared to be fathers. That doesnt change that bing one is its fulfilment.
Of the biological imperative, the cynical part of John thought. He tangled with it, then shushed it away. It didnt really matter if the fulfilment was a purely pre-programmed emotion. The human urge to eat was also a base instinct and eating something delicious was, generally, not something sinful.
I never knew my father, the High Fateweaver continued. Even if I had, he would have likely died young, like my mother, long before he could have ever seen his grandchildren. Partly owed to howte in life I had them. After Magnus, I knew I wanted another kid fairly quickly. After Stefanie, we continued to try for a third. We werent blessed with Lee for a dozen years. Now were both too old to hope for a fourth one.
Magoi reached for his beer and raised it in Johns direction. The two clinked their bottles, likely sending every fish that was getting interested in their bait swimming away at the unknown noise. They drank. Sat there. John waited for the High Fateweaver to continue.
My little Lee, Magoi sighed. She was always an odd one. She always loved herputer more than people and I was afraid that she would grow up to be aplete loner. The problem was that she was never bratty. She never demanded anything or even asked for much. It would have been easier for me to raise her if she had been wed, I must say. The only way I could have forced her away from her electronic wonder-box would have been to be a tyrant. I love my children too much to be a tyrant. Magnus was odd himself, starting as a horribly loud kid but eventually turning around to be the disciplined man you know today. Stef well, she liked her freedoms a bit too much. Because she overstepped boundaries so often, I had ample justification to punish her. Lee, Lee just sat around alone. When Mabirl tried to shove her out the door, we would find her sitting on a park bank, reading something or ying on her mobile console.
Ive honestly been pretty simr, John dared to chime into the monologue.
I can imagine, Gamer, Magoi chuckled back, exchanging his empty beer for a new one. What Im trying to tell you is that I care a lot about my children. They are my world. I am invested in Fusion not out of an obligation for you or for my own welfare, but to give them a space to flourish in. To make sure that my grandkids have a stable foundation from which to start their life from. Do you understand that?
John nodded. Him not having children yet was due to simr reasons. While he was still conquering and expanding his realm, that foundation didnt strike him as firm enough to start a family on. Especially since, once he had the first kid, he expected at least a small cascade to follow. It wouldnt stay the one and it wouldnt take long, between over a dozen women, for the second one.
My objections to your lifestyle, when ites to how many women you love, theye from two ces. One is the logical one. A society cannot function if polygamy is the norm.
Frustrated young men burn down a society that doesnt serve them, John nodded, I know. Its hypocritical of me, but Im going to continue advertising monogamy for the masses. Its going to help them, ultimately. I dont think that the average man can handle more than one woman.
Most of us dont deserve more than one, Magoi put it another way. To grant you that much, limited polygyny can work and I dont think your harem is a soulless breeding institution. He opened his new beer. My second reason to object to your lifestyle is emotional. My father had many women, so my mother told me, and I never got to know him. I dont want my son to turn into an absent father or my daughters into abandoned mothers. Least of all, I want to leave another child born into this world with the uncertainty thates with never knowing ones own parents. Without any help or wise words from imperfect men.
Magoi turned the beer in his hand. Do you trust me to be there for her? John asked.
Otherwise, we wouldnt be having this conversation, the High Fateweaver said. Lee would already be sitting in a ne back to the Himyas and I would be in a hurry to set up a marriage for her. I know a few people who have raised goodds. Maybe it wouldnt be love, but at least she wouldnt die alone, with a son too unruly to appreciate what she has done for him.
The Gamer had nothing to retort to that. It would be a horrible situation and Lee would probably despise her father for it for years toe, but he fully understood where he came from. Leaving her in the Hudson Barrier, around John, would inevitably lead to an oue he wouldnt approve of, in the scenario they were currently contemting.
My wife shows it more openly, but she actually feels less intensely about this than I do, Magoi confessed. Theyre probably having a splendid time over there. Mabirl wants to know who she is leaving our little girl with Meanwhile, I am tormented. I like you, John. I like you a lot and I think youre a decent person. The boyfriend of my daughter, though? I have a difficult time digesting that.
I understand, was all John could say.
Magoi took a slow breath. In and then out. Its not like Im so na?ve I didnt think this could happen, he mumbled. That she showed interest in you from the word go was surprising though. I guessed you would be unable to keep it to yourself all the time. A couple charming words at a party or perhaps connecting over your videogames, thats how I thought this would go. Warhammer, maybe, since thats about the only hobby of her old man that she was ever interested in. Instead, she went right to you. He kicked a pebble into the water. As her father, I have every right to stop her.
Do you? John couldnt help but ask.
Magoi gave him an amused and berating stare. You will understand, whenever you have children, that theyre incredibly stupid and that they stay stupid until theyre in their thirties. Young people dont make good decisions. Which is fine, mistakes are how you learn. The greatest challenge of being a parent is to let those you love the most stumble, fall and to only help them up when they need you to. He sighed again. Which is why, after all, I will let you two try. I trust you enough to not leave her on her own, if you do work out. You will love her, because my little girl is a lovable one. Even if she is a bit of a tomboy. Sipping from his beer, he gave the Gamer a long stare. If you dont work out, she will be wiser for it. If you hurt her
Ill deserve everything thatsing for me, John finished for the Fateweaver.
You will indeed. Magoi put his beer down. And you better treat her with some romance! he dered, reiming his joviality. If I hear you just went straight back home and tainted her right then and there, I will do something bad!
I promise to give her only my best, the Gamer solemnly swore.
Chapter 989 – Waiting for the date
Chapter 989 C Waiting for the date
John and Magoi headed back only after the beer was empty. They had caught a few fish, but always tossed them back into the water without care. Their main reason for staying was to sit there and talk. The two of them had always been friendly with each other. Being in a rtionship with his daughter was a different thing than just having good business ties, however.
So, they had talked. About each other in more personal ways than before. About what Magoi demanded of their rtionship. About when John thought he was ready to marry and have children. About what should be demanded of Lee in this rtionship. If nothing else, Magoi seemed to hope that having a man in her life would motivate her to try harder at excelling in her natural talents. If that didnt do it, perhaps being the weakest member in the harem would.
When they did depart, they had said everything they needed to. Tipsy, they split up outside of the barrier. Mabirl was already waiting for her husband, and the two walked to their home tower together. For his part, the Gamer had a couple dozen of metres to consider all that happened in thest two days. He felt gleeful and mindful of the responsibility he now had. It weighed on his shoulders, but this additional burden was nothing he couldnt carry. Treating his women right was deeply engrained in his nature, after all this time doing it actively.
Opening the door to his home, he was met with all of his girls doing what they usually did. That was to say, they were sitting around, ying video games and with each other. Expectantly, they were all naked, including Lee, who was sitting between Nia and Eliza as if there was nothing unusual about that. Admittedly, there soon would be nothing unusual about it anyway.
Closing the door behind himself, John found the entire room pausing in what they did and waiting for him to say something. Thinking about the best way to put things, John slipped out of his shoes and walked into the room. Mattresses covered the floor everywhere, making the collective hanging-out experience cosier. Putting it simple is best, I suppose, he thought out loud. Magoi gave the rtionship his blessing.
Yeah! Rave was the first to cheer and the rest of the room immediately followed with apuse and happy outcries.
Sitting there with a huge grin stered across her face, Lee yelped when her position on the couch soon turned into the centre of a big hug pile. There wasughing and congrattions and protests from a gamer girl who was suffocating among the sexy bodies of those she would soon be able to call her fellow haremettes.
Albeit, not quite yet.
Ehem, John cleared his throat, putting a pause in the celebrations. That being said, Ive decided to not yet indulge in this rtionship C Let me finish! he pre-emptively stated that when a bunch ofints, led by Lee and Rave, came flying his way. To start with, I cannot make you part of the harem right this second because I see those that have the Lovers Will mark on them as part of it. He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers, showing the dark blue brands that covered most of them. To do so, your Rtionship Points must be 180 or above.
And where am I at right now? Lee asked.
129, the Gamer told her.
Yo, thats straight up terrifying, the young Fateweaver mumbled. You can fall even deeper in love?
Dont ya worry, its really nice, Rave hummed.
If the guy reciprocates, Siena added with a small giggle.
Which this one does, Scarlett yawned, sitting by the couch, only minorly involved in the hug pile. Its one of his better features.
Thank you for that ringing endorsement, John drily stated. Anyway, next point, Ive promised your father to treat you with romance.
Dude, I just really want you to fuck me already, Lee pushed back.
The feeling is mutual, but Im not going to give into that desire so easily. John crossed his arms and smirked. Like it or not, I will make your first time more special than just taking you right here and now. Well have a date. Ill earn myself your heart in its entirety, now that I no longer have to try to push you away. Then and only then, when I have your rightfully earned adoration, will I make you fully mine.
Lee rolled her eyes. Great, so its like a month of us hanging out until your system gives you what you want.
John chuckled and walked over. Confident, he pulled her out of her hug pile and took hold of her chin. You read so much about me, he spoke deeply and quietly, oozing every bit of Charisma that he had grown since getting his power, watched so much of me, his thumb brushed over her pale pink lips, desired me for so long. You think now that I can have you, you will be able to resist me for more than one day? He bowed down to her ear. Youre talking to the man with thergest, most powerful harem in the world, he whispered. One you wish to belong to. You got to know all of them already and you know you cant turn back. Getting to know all of me will cement your decision.
Straightening back up, he looked down at the smaller woman. Her brown eyes were open wide and hazy with desire. She loved every second of his strongmanship. At least youre confident, she tried to put up some resistance.
John brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and continued the motion by brushing through the dark, ckish brown until his hand reached the middle of her back. She shuddered throughout the entire process and even more intensely when he pulled her against his chest. You will be mine, he asserted again.
When? Lee asked, with a mixture of impatience and gleeful surrender in her voice.
Once were out of here, he told her, holding her and disrobing at the same time, using his menu. I have my ten days of grinding and Im not going to waste them. Lee was getting more and more turned on. For all her perversion, herck of experience and natural submissiveness made her easy to influence. You shouldnt either. He took a handful of her ass. Then he backed off. Letting go of her, naked and fully erect, he sat down on the couch. Aclysia and Beatrice quickly upied his sides and Rave took position between his legs. She was facing Lee and gave his dick a quick peck for show.
Alright then. Lee got the obvious implication, checking herself out as best she could. So, you wont even kiss me before we go on that date, right?
Correct, John nodded.
And you expect me to get myself in shape, yeah?
It would certainly fit someone in my harem to be the best they can be.
Eliza cackled, pulling the attention of the room towards her. Was haha I was just thinking about the unnecessary fucking pfff the giant assload of a lecture Lydia is going to give if she doesnt try to better herself anyway.
John wasnt quite sure what was so entertaining about that, but the sentiment ran true. The entirety of the harem, to some extent, demanded of their fellow haremettes to make of themselves whatever they could. This was in all regards of life. The harem was to be healthy when it came to their bodies, to their minds and their interpersonal rtionships. Lee was clearly doing well on thest one and adequate on the second, but only her nature of an Abyssal was preventing her from being quite the pudgy character. Efforts had been made, John was informed that far, but he wanted to pressure her into excelling further.
Okay, guess Im moving in with my parents for the ten days then, Lee decided, venturing off to fetch her clothes. Ill give you what you want, but Ill keep it hidden until that stupid date.
Good, John put his arms around his maids, I was about to propose something simr.
Already proposing to me, are you? Lee asked, stepping into her panties.
Yes, the Gamer unashamedly responded. You should ask the other girls here to teach you about Aura though. That would elerate your growing process, if you can learn it. He deliberately used other girls when he spoke. Just saying the girls would have framed her as an outsider.
Im a Fateweaver, not a martial artist, Lee pushed back.
Metra tossed Lees shirt at her. No harm done in learning to meditate properly, if youre doing physical exercise anyway. Besides, arent you some kind of genius? Surely you can learn some proper fighting on the side. You Fateweavers should be able to defend yourself anyway.
Meditation is easy, Rave threw in.
If you got a good fucking teacher Eliza mumbled.
Oy!
Seizure hands, you fucking SUCK at teaching. Keep sucking cock instead!
Dont mind if I do. Rave turned to her boyfriends dick and started giving it little kisses. Partly as a performance, John groaned out loud.
Lee, perhaps because she didnt want to be subjected to what she couldnt have for another ten days, hastened getting into her pants and headed towards the door. One more thing, John spoke up, when she was just about to turn the knob. Dont masturbate.
Ill do whatever I want! Lee answered, but the look she gave him was all the assurance John needed. See you on our date.
On our date, John confirmed.
_________________________________________________________________
John had a days worth of Libido to unload and the more submissive section of his harem was riled up from his handling of Lee anyway. Generally, him showing the ropes to a nearly-introduced new member of the harem seemed to have put everyone in a more subservient mood. Which, in turn, served to make John incredibly horny.
About three hourster, he had filled everyst womans cunt to the brim. Red butt cheeks and sweaty forms surrounded him. After facefucking Metra to onest orgasm, heid down on the couch and closed his eyes.
He woke up. It was still night. The clock said he had slept 45 minutes, but with the time dtion in ce, that meant it was closer to seven and a half hours.
Most of the harem was still unconscious. Aclysia was up, using the kitchen to prepare breakfast, and Beatrice was doing some basic cleaning. Because this space wouldnt exist anymore in 10 days, they didnt care too much about it being meticulously clean, but they didnt want to live in filth either.
What had woken him up was not these two quietly going after their work, nor was it any of the other haremettes who he had tangled with yesterday. Instead, it was the German royal straddling his hips. His cock was already aligned with her pussy, the pretty pink of it framed by the ckce of her panties. Its design left a gap for her cunt to be freely essible, making it useless for everyday use and perfect for their lifestyle. It joined a garter belt, stockings, and a thin silk veil that covered her top for a lingerie set that was deeply attractive.
Good morning, my love, Lydia greeted him, moaning as she slowly impaled herself on his length.
Good morning, he reciprocated and stretched, deeply satisfied with the way her tight pussy enveloped him, first thing in the morning. I didnt expect you to join us so soon.
It was an administrative challenge to create two vacation days for me with such haste, I admit. Lydia stopped speaking when she was all the way down. Her eyes closed and she gyrated her hips. She seemed more intrigued with the way he stretched her out than to talk to her, at least for a few seconds. Mother Metal Im already so close, she mumbled.
It was worth it then, John pointed out.
I am in no mood to tease you my love C Yes, it is worth it with every fibre of my body and soul. Attempting to raise her hips, she dropped back down after less than a fifth of his size had left her. Ahhh, I just want to enjoy this feeling of your hard cock inside me.
John ran his hands up her thighs, up her sides, and under the thin veil. A new gimmick? he asked.
I have a distaste for bras, as you well know, Lydia told him, her hips slowly swaying back and forth. Her tone stayed as steady as it could, even as the friction brought delightful pleasure to both of them. The pitch of her voice was asionallypromised and went quite a bit higher than usual. I thought this silk would provide its own charm.
It does. John grinned. He was a great fan of the birthday suit, but Lydias habit of wearing sexy clothes during their private time was one he wholeheartedly supported for the uniqueness of it. Whenever he wanted to get rid of even that much, tearing it all from her body was no issue. You missed the resolution of the Lee situation.
Aclysia already informed me of this. I do not mind missing the talks, Lydia gasped. I demand being present when you truly initiate her, however.
There are only two ways it could go, the Gamer hummed. Either I take her in close istion, dedicating myself to her first time, or I take her among all of you. Since she seems to be dedicated to being part of the harem, the decision makes itself.
My wise love knows to please us all. Lydias praise was apanied by satisfied moans.
Indeed, I do, Jack whispered into the queens ear, pushing her forwards. Catching on the chest of his real body, he felt her breasts. The silk added a slippery softyer between them. John quickly pushed it up, wanting to feel her bare skin on his. Simultaneously, his Extension pulled the buttplug out of her backside. Without further words, he pushed inside.
Lydias orgasmic howl initiated the morning orgy.
Chapter 990 – Mechanical Adjustment
Chapter 990 C Mechanical Adjustment
Man, I could be a level higher John thought,menting that even Experience of Love was affected by the ongoing patch. Which should be done any second now, really, heined mentally. Gaia did not react to that in any fashion, so he sighed. It was past midnight, the patch was overdue, and John didnt want to waste his time going into whatever he would do during this grinding session before the patch was done. This is really poorly optimized. The things I do for new love.
Rather than keepmenting to himself, John opened several menus. He had barely started looking at them when Smander moved next to him. Her movements were apanied by sshing and the water around John turning noticeably hotter.
Due to the continued difficulty that came with funnelling over a dozen freshly fucked and sweaty women and one sweaty and kiss-covered man through one shower, the harem had decided to create themselves an outdoor facility. It was hidden from the Magus family through tall, stone walls, and took the form of a simple, shoulder-deep pond that had a bench submerged along the wall. Fresh water was provided by Undine and heat by Smander. It wasnt the most effective construction, but it worked well enough.
What are you checking out, stud? the apocalypse elemental asked. The redhead wore her hair long today, showing the ck strands that extended from the jagged lines that covered much of her body. Before John could answer, she leaned against his arm to look at the windows. He was distracted by the phenomenal view and feeling that was his arm disappearing between her bountiful boobs. She read the windows. Thinking about sses?
Pretty much, the Gamer confirmed, causing the rest of the harem to flock to his position. Them weighing in on his choices was tradition, after all. Since they were all there now, he exined further. Im considering whether I want to spend the ss Level now or keep it forter.
What would be the reason to dy it, Master? Aclysia wondered.
Well, either I spend it now on Harem Gamer orter on Unfound, the Gamer exined. He had cleared the Challenges for Harem Gamer by sheer ident on the side, while pushing Unfound off during his vacation. I think Ill get Harem Gamer.
Wouldnt the next level of Unfound be level 6? Scarlett asked. You should prioritize that.
Sure, but its probably going to be something about perception, John told her, so that wont be important for what we do during the grinding session and I fully expect to get at least another five levels, so it doesnt exactly matter.
Everyone considered that point. Most of the harem was happy with him picking Harem Gamer anyway, but the more practically minded liked there to be actual reasons for him to go into these vanity sses. Alright then. Scarlett made a gracious gesture, as if she was allowing him to invest.
Alright, I am regretting that decision, John sighed, as he looked over the choices. They were, all three, useless and boring. Having formidable furniture would be nice, but it didnt measure up to what John demanded of his Perks. It is what it is, he mumbled. I think the choice is pretty obvious, yeah?
Cuddlethrone! Sylph shouted.
Casting Room, Aclysia disagreed vehemently.
No, its the Harem Couch, John said and exined his reasoning to those women around that thought otherwise. The Cuddlethrone sounds nice and all, but I dont think some additional fatigue relief is reason enough to get it. The Casting Room is for someone who wants more additional partners. I prefer expanding the harem only when I meet a particrly outstanding woman. Itsrge enough as is.
So, whatcha saying is that ya think ya have enough bottom-heavy women already? his girlfriend asked. Her question was apanied by her stepping through his windows and then, axiomatically, turning around and nting her attractive rear end on his cock. John groaned, mildly surprised by the suddenness with which he found himself inside her and further pleased by the immediate service she gave him by gyrating on his cock.
Shouldnt you be a bit more afraid ofpetition? John wondered.
Rave blew air out of her nose, obviously finding the mere insinuation ridiculous. Ya cant quit me, Im cute. Smiling over her shoulder, her hair sticking out in its usually wild fashion despite its wet status, she started to bounce in hisp. Also, Im working really hard to earn my ce here, ya perv.
Youre right on both ounts, John sighed and leaned back. Even the muscles of her smooth back turned him on, somehow. He raised a hand above the surface of the water and snapped his fingers. Rave, do you want to speed things up?
If ya want me to, Rave purred. From riding him at a moderate pace, she elerated until she sent steady waves through the water with her intense movements.
Ill never get tired of these, John thought. Influencing the girls behaviour through these hypnotic suggestions was a special type of domination that went beyond physical bondage. It also went nicely along with physical bondage, it had to be said. Anyway, the Harem Couch also has the advantage of being customizable and Im just going to assume thats going to make it very amodating of ropes.
With no further objections raised, John picked that Perk and then enjoyed the service he was getting. Rave continued to one-up herself in terms of speed. The hypnotic suggestion rewarded, for the most part, based on ones own subconscious. The only exception to this were the releasemands, which also came along with automatic pleasure amplification through Lovers Will. For the regr ones, the more the person thought they were in ordance with a suggestion they willingly followed, the more they would find their experience elevated.
This culminated in Rave using her superhuman speed to bounce on his cock. She screamed from the repeated orgasms, induced by therge cock repeatedly prating her tight quim and her hand fervently rubbing her clit. John closed his eyes and held on as long as he could while he listened to her cries. When he finally did cum inside her, her orgasm rang in his ears in the most pleasurable way imaginable. It was underlined by the moans of the rest of the harem, engaged with each other, spurred on by their sight.
Opening his eyes again, John was greeted by a new window.
Great, fantastic timing, he grumbled, having looked forward to a continuation of the morning orgy in the pool. Alright, patch is done, he said out loud to inform everyone. They echoed his dissatisfaction. Some simply didnt stop, not interested enough to stop so close to orgasm. I could dy it, he considered. The Gamer won out over the pervert, though. He had taken enough time off.
John pressed the button and looked at the notes presenting themselves to him.
Thats quite the list, John hummed, excited for and dreading the changes. Lets see what you got then, Gaia.
Ooofff, John gasped, physically feeling the math hit him in the stomach.
Whats so bad? Rave wanted to know, unwilling to stop fucking him for long enough toprehend what was written. Just because he was not having an orgy didnt mean he had to stop having sex.
Lets just say that my Sustained Costs just hiked up a lot, John told her. Ill spare you the numbers lets just say that Im losing mana at the moment.
You what now? Rave wanted to know.
About 1 MP per second, he told her.
While Gaias math was urate and the cost between his five corporeal elementals came out to 77,92 MP per second, there were further costs to be considered. Even incorporeal, Stirwin cost him an additional 7,79 MP, the two Artificial Spirits still imed 10% of his mana regeneration and the Extension took up another 10%. This came out for a t cost of 85,71 and a percentual cost of 20% (or 21,01 after being applied to his mana regeneration of 105,07). In total, he was paying 106,72 mana each second, while regenerating 1,65 less than that.
If Stirwin had also been corporeal, this situation would have looked even worse.
Thats bullshit! Raveined on his behalf. No, wait, its blocking your BS, so its anti-BS, really.
I would call it aeuppance, Lydiamented. His ability to keep six elementals summoned at negligible costs has always put him abovebatants equal to his level.
Yeah, Lydia is right, John supported the queen. As unhappy as I am about being nerfed, realistically it is pretty absurd that I could add eight additional bodies to the battlefield, nine if you count Metra, and still cast powerful spells myself. Not to mention my defensive capabilities. He groped Raves firm butt, which let hime to terms with the situation quite a bit easier. The only one who was simrly ridiculous, having five elementals and a Metracana himself, was Sigmund. He barely cast any spells though and he used most of his elementals in item form.
Mhurrrmmm, Rave made a displeased sound. Tiger is supposed to be the strongest!
I still am strong, I just need to consider my options more carefully, John told her. Juggle which of the elementals are corporeal, bnce my need for mana regeneration with the need of having more bodies on the field, deciding what item form could be useful, such things. Just need to use my brain a bit more.
Then Rave smash, his girlfriend dered and resumed riding him.
Your vocabry is degenerated enough without you mimicking the Hulk, John teased her.
Watch yourself, brainiac, or I will make ya forget how to speak, she warned him with a wink over her shoulder.
Sorrydies, John said, before opening the new menu. As the system announced, there was a slider for each of them, but also one that set the rate for everyone. He dragged that one down to 90%, lowering his total expenditure to 98 mana per second, but also reducing every elemental girls All Stats by 5%.
Boooo! Boooo, I say! Sylphined. I am slightly less horny and noticeably less fast! Boooo! BOOOOOOOO! GAIA! BOOOOOOOOOOOO!
At least for the Main Stats, the drawback is offset by the Elemental Unity passive and the Elementalist ss bonuses, John tried to calm her.
I am, and curse me for agreeing with the airhead, not fucking amused, Smander grumbled.
Who is ever happy about nerfs? John asked.
Youre calm about them, Gnome pointed out, herself less irked and more resigned. Which was exactly how John was feeling.
I saw iting a mile away. Really, the thing to be thankful for here is that I decided to increase Wisdom to 1000. If I had gone with Intellect instead, prompting this patch that way, I would have to reduce the slider even more. He paused for a moment. Although it could be that Gaia is secretly a nice girl and only gives me the patches as I can handle them at the time.
Ridiculous, Eliza spat out. Tiny little fuck with her weed-green hair is too stoned off her t tits to make any nice decisions.
There was nothing too unexpected here. The st of light sounded like an upgrade from what he previously got, which was a rather weak, short-ranged blinding sh with pushback capabilities, scaling with the power of the spellst cast. For the unequipped segment, John couldnt see it being useful anytime soon. He would need to increase his mana regeneration tenfold. If he did manage to do that, however, he could achieve better results with Stirwin more regrly. That at least gave him something to work towards.
That was pretty boring and John doubted he would ever use much of it.
John found the excuses pretty flimsy for a deity that oversaw Gaia-knew how many nes of existence, but it was what it was.
There was some useful stuff there, at least. How little the Gaia Dependency Factor went down surprised John, but he had no idea just how much Gaia was doing on the backend of his software. As for thement about Artificial Spirits, he wasnt surprised.
Alright, some more sex and then Ill be productive, John swore to himself.
Chapter 991 – Pre-Raid Math
Chapter 991 C Pre-Raid Math
Do you truly think it wise to approach a Raid immediately after you have been diminished in power? Lydia asked, while they walked towards the light gate.
De-facto, I havent been diminished in destructive power, John pointed out. I was given tighter constraints in terms of resource management, but my actual damage output is basically the same. My MP pool is more valuable now than before, given that it doesnt replenish quickly. Not sure yet if that means I should continue on my current path of investing more into Intellect or Wisdom. He rubbed his forehead. Do I increase my buffer or do I try to get my mana regeneration back to extreme surplus levels?
You should probably split your attention a bit? Gnome suggested.
Smander nodded in support. The new form makes the mana cost for each elemental go up by 0,046 per level, for a total of roughly 0,25.
Each point of Wisdom adds 3,5 mana per minute to your regeneration, Undine added, or 0,058 per second. In other words, you will have to invest 4 to 5 points into Wisdom, per level, to keep up with demand.
And I only meet it at the moment thanks to equipment, John sighed. His character sheet usually disyed his Stats with all of his equipment bonuses considered, even if he wasnt wearing them at that moment. This was something John had set-up himself, utilizing the options and the pre-set menu, because it was generally more useful. When it mattered, he had the items on him. The inventory made sure of that much.
Between all of his items, John reliably got the following passive bonuses: All Stats +20%, MP Reg +20%, Max Mana and Health +200, and HP Reg +40%. Those were all from the World Ender set. Due to the patch, John had taken a moment between the bath/orgy and them moving to the levelling activity to re-adjust the Suit and Pants of the Chosen.
Thanks to their Modify Attribute, John could switch out thest four of the Suits and thest five of the Pants Attributes as he wished. Luckily, these werent bound to hiscking enchantment skills. Rather, the Attributes had to be simr in power. John had exchanged All Stats +5% on both for Wisdom +10%, giving him an effective 10% bonus there while losing 10% everywhere else, and a number of defensive bonuses he had going on both for some other things that boosted his mana supply. They amounted to another 40 bonus Wisdom, 10% and 60 t mana regeneration, and 5% Max MP.
The Elementals Stats were also slightly diminished, courtesy of John switching his active ss to Arcanist. The 4,5% All Stats for them was reced by another 10% bonus to mana regeneration for John.
The most quantifiable difference from all of this was that he lost 400 points of Max HP, in exchange for boosting his mana regeneration to 134,80 per second. Less clear was what the losses of such things as Acid Resistance, Sturdy, and points in all non-Wisdom Stats exactly meant. Inconveniently, John had no form to check how much his reaction speed was impeded by the drop of Agility or how much RP was shaved off by the minor dip in Charisma. They were all minorly affected, so John wasnt fearful of any noticeable consequences, but he still liked to be able to put a number on things.
The new 134,80 regeneration was subtracted by (adjusted due to percentile costs) 112,67. In other words, John had found a way to solve his issue by utilizing his equipment. 22 mana per second wasnt even a third of the 70 surplus he had before the patch. A surplus was a surplus, however, and John was just happy the quick workaround had been avable to him. While Stirwin was equipped (which he was most of the time inbat), John had another 7,79 MP per second open for other things. Double that if he equipped another elemental. Undine or Smander were the obvious choice there, due to Purgatorys Attributes.
And, as the elementals pointed out, if I want to keep up with things I have to keep investing in Wisdom, he thought.
It was a totally reasonable change. Under the old, percentage-based system he could have, had he so desired, put all of his points into Physical Stats. Making that a ystyle without drawbacks for a summoner would have been an odd choice.
4 to 5 points a level, John mumbled. And thats just to keep the current difference going I get 8 points per level, so I could still increase other things on the side. They finally entered the gate of light and emerged in the darkness of potential within. He looked over to his harem. What do you think, how should I approach this?
What was your n before ya had to deal with this again? Rave asked
Raise Intellect to 1000, then up the Physical Stats to 500, John reported. I like the bnce in my build.
If you want to maintain the bnce, you will have to deal with the consequences, my king, Metra told him. If I tried to carry every weapon I wanted to use, Id get weighed down by it too.
Yeah, John agreed, he didnt care to be annoyed by this fact. He couldnt have everything and demanding that would have been absurd. Still though, 4 to 5 points per level to keep up with rising costs is a lot. He ran the calctions again in his head. Well, actually, taking my MP regeneration bonuses into ount, I only need 3 to 4 points.
How high would that bonus be? Smander asked, after clicking her tongue.
45% extra, from all Passives and items, John told her. So, its about 0,084 mana per second per Wisdom.
2434 Shwurbels per durbels kernubels, Sylph bbered, her head spinning. All this math makes Sylph a silly girl.
Youre always a silly girl, Smander said, took the air spirit, and tossed her as strongly as she could. A green streak, Sylph sailed through the nothingness,ughing and unable to intercept the fairly important conversation. Lets just go with 4 per level, so you still have an increase in the difference over time.
Thats half of my decisions gone.
Maintaining a build that lets you keep six elementals summoned at all times is a decision, Lydia disagreed.
Ya say that like we could live without the five beauties and tigers pride regtor around, Rave said. Which is, to say it like you would, an utter disgrace of an assumption.
John chuckled at the spot-on impression. Yeah, we cant do that, he backed up the point. Technically speaking, I also get mana regeneration through Intellect, but its quite negligible.
How much are we talking about? Siena wanted to know. Like all of the elementals, she could have gone burrowing in his memory or subconscious for answers. Unless he actively thought about it, talking was quicker though.
3% of my maximum mana per minute. I get 15 MP per Intellect, plus 10% from bonuses, for a total for 16,5. That means I get 0,012 mana per second for each point of Intellect. About an eighth the amount.
Its still going to help.
Yeah. Primarily, it will help offset the 20% I need to withdraw at the end of this entire calction for the Artificial Spirit and Extension cost.
Gaia, okay, I need this to stop, Rave cried out. Can ya finalize your damn math already, brainiac?
Sure, the only important point of this is the question of how much Wisdom I need every level to keep up with the demand and grow a little that would be He ran the number in his head. 0,25 divided by the multiplication of 0,084 times 80% that equals 3,725369458. So still 4 points per level.
Why did ya have to start with this after we left the house, his girlfriendined. Shouldnt ya crunch numbers like this with Scarlett or subject Eliza to that kind of torture?
Fair on both ounts, Johnughed. Anyway, with all of that math in mind, I will be putting the necessary points into Wisdom in the future and increase Intellect at the side. The alternative, as I see it, would be to single down on Wisdom until the next efficiency increase. Given the patterns up until now, that would be, if it exists at all, at 2500 points though.
Striving for that goal would inhibit your growth in other areas for a considerable time, Lydiamented.
Pretty much, John nodded. For the moment, Ill concentrate on two things. One: find a number of Perks and Passives to incrementally reduce mana usage. I still got one Elementalist level to go, which would cut the costs of all elementals by another 5%. Well, 5% of the original costs, so about a tenth of the current cost. Then I could look into Metracana Master for ways to cut the Artificial Spirit and Extension upkeep and Silver Arcanist for general mana things. Ill do that, likely, after Im done with Unfound. Second: well have to adjust our fighting style with the new restrictions in mind. Which is why, he looked to Lydia, finally ready to answer the question that had started this whole tangent, were doing the Raid now. It should be challenging but also fairly beatable. We out level the first mob pack now.
A fair point, the queen took the exnation in stride and they finally entered the Raid.
The Twisted City of Ohmior was exactly as they had found it. Despite its name, the Gaia-created scenery was far from disorderly; hundreds of buildings, all connected with each other in some fashion through passageways and bridges, slowly rose the further away from the spawning tform they were. The entire city seemed to have the shape of a bowl. A beige and purple bowl, filled with artificery, uniting magic and science in hovering spires and k that would fire on any of the party members that distanced themselves too far from theid-out path.
It was a very game-y solution to the flyers in their group, but Gaia could do what she wanted in these Raids.
Their group moved along the single avable path. Down an extravagant flight of stairs, then following a walkway that was attached to the side of a cathedral, until they arrived at the first group of enemies. The Ohmior Knights, fiverge golems that had the shape of armour forged from silver metal, each had uniquebat equipment. A bow, a staff, a sword and shield, and an axe rested in the respective hands of four of them. The fifth held no armament, but possessed an additional pair of arms instead.
They were all level 325, fifteen levels lower than John currently was. Last time the group had attempted to fight them, they had stopped after one try, due to time constraints and them being of a lower level at the time. For Raid enemies, they were remarkably passive, only watching the group from a hundred metres away. They guarded an arch in the cathedral wall to Johns right C doubtlessly the continuation of the path.
Alright, here are the two most important differences in our fighting style from now on, John said, turning to the elementals. First off, I am not supporting you with as much mana as before. Ill back you up when I see the tactical advantage, but otherwise you should use your own resources. Secondly, were going to use Combination more often than before.
A Combined elemental only cost the upkeep of one, no matter how many were part of it. This made Combination not only a superb tool to put a stronger piece on the board, be that to equal the ying field with an otherwise stronger opponent or to exploit the specific power of onebination, but also to give Johns mana pool some additional breathing room.
Uh! Uh! Can we use five-kinds? Sylph asked.
Lets stick to four or lower. John shook his head. Aside from the cooldown, being a week shared between all five-kinds and a month between the uses of a specific one, John was wary of the whole may be difficult to control warning. He had read the descriptions of all six of them and it was clear which ones would be the rebellious ones. As it usually was, those were also the damage dealers in the crowd. Well mostly use the reliable two and three kinds. Smlere, Sylfrena, Shadowme, Staran and Edge, their powers are useful in generalbat. Everyone else well Combine as is appropriate for the situation and environment. Although well mostly stay away from Stirwin Combinations, because its less effective to get rid of his mana cost. Alright?
Alright, the elementals responded as one.
Okay then, heres how well engage with that pack
John exined the strategy.
Chapter 992 – The Surface of Ohmior 1 – Knight Encounter
Chapter 992 C The Surface of Ohmior 1 C Knight Encounter
They carefully approached the pack of Ohmior Knights. When there were only fifty metres more between them, the enemies brandished their weapons. The entire group stopped then. They were tense, waiting for John to go ahead and initiate the fight.
Got to get this right, John thought. If he ced the AoE wrong, it would make everything a tad moreplicated than it had to be. Three two one he counted down. GO!
The Unstable Arcana spawned at the same time themand rang out. A wave of silver magic washed over the backline of the semi-circr formation of enemies. Picking a target at random, the Unstable Arcana threw a Mana Chain at the bowman, while the staff and sword-wielding Ohmior Knights were only subjected to the damage.
Standing outside the area of effect, the four-armed and axe-wielding enemies started charging first. Shredding guitar and drum sounds apanied Metras warcry as the First of Wrath met the extra-armed golem with Rex Magnar. yful glockenspiel sounds yed to Johns right as Lydia followed Aclysia and Beatrice into engaging with the axe-wielding enemy.
John fully trusted that those four would be able to keep those enemies busy. Metras buff and Astrotium exterior would allow her to keep one enemy upied on her own. Aclysia would tank the other one, while Lydia and Beatrice dealt the supporting damage to keep them in ce. Undine would stay around to heal that group C or Metra, if things got so desperate that she would die otherwise. Even if the buff was disabled by that intervention, if taken out of the fight, she wouldnt be able to do anything.
While the frontlines shed, the rest of Johns party moved through the centre of the walkway to assault the backline. They would have been met with energy arrows and magic, had it not been for the continuously spawning Mana Chains hindering the movements of those two. By pure chance, the sword and shield-carrying Ohmior Knight had not been hit by a single Mana Chain and was, by now, outside of the damage range of the Unstable Arcana.
Now, John gave the mentalmand, causing Gnome and Smander to fuse mid-run. Emerging out of a blur of bodies and energy came a curvy, tanned warrior woman, wearing a yellow dress beset with grey des and te. Her braid fluttered in the momentum of her charge, glowing like the surface of ava pool.
Smleres fist crashed against the shield of the Ohmior Knight, stopping the advance of the enemy. Raising its sword, the golem was ready to punish this sh. A quick assault by Rave put an end to that n, the Lightbearer dashed around the shield and punched the Ohmior Knight in the side.
John was a bit worried whether her knuckles could take it. Her bodysuit had been ruined during Copernicus ascension to Tier 5 and the recement was not ready yet. What she currently wore was the best stand-in gear the Gamer could fashion in the hasty preparation for this barrier. However, he didnt have the time to stop and check on her.
With the three melee enemies distracted, John, alongside Siena, Nia, Sylph and his Mand Sphere, went to the backline. The Unstable Arcana continued to pulse twice a second, bombarding the two with Mana Chains. Although they kept breaking them with rtive ease, it did keep them stationary in the continuous damage pulses and an easy target for the assault of the group.
The majority of the group went to assault the enemy healer. Siena and Sylph dealt raw damage, Nia interrupted whatever shields or heals the enemy tried to cast, and the Mand Sphere cast another Unstable Arcana with the mana stored inside it. This added to the Unstable Arcana John had originally ced and the Companion Arcana pulse that continuously hit both the healer and the bowman with two regr damage pulses and an extra, cost-free one every 30 seconds. Every single one of those pulses created a Mana Chain.
They also continuously applied Arcane Rejuvenation to his enemies.
John first followed the rest of the group to the healer, but retreated after he hit it once with Remnant Kick. The Martial Arts Technique, unlocked by Arcweaver, dealt damage ording to how much mana he had spent on Arcane spells in thest minute. With more than three quarters of his almost 12000 MP sunk into Unstable Arcanas, that was a hefty chunk of change. The kick sted a golf ball-sized hole into the leg of the animated armour.
Although helpful, that was not what John had been primarily after. The sessful hit with a Technique meant that every stack of Arcane Rejuvenation was consumed. Another Perk gotten through Arcweaver, that one let him regenerate 0,5% of his maximum mana per stack, with stacks being generated each time an enemy was hit by one of his arcane spells.
John used Magus Step to teleport away from the healer and in front of the other enemys drawn bow, about two metres up from the floor. The arrow hit him square in the stomach, dispersed on Particle Skin, and took a fair chunk out of his regenerated mana pool. It hardly mattered, as he hit the bowman with Remnant Strike. That dealt next to no additional damage. While the two Techniques didnt share their 1-minute cooldowns, they did share the damage stored. All that mattered here, however, was that he consumed the Arcane Rejuvenation on this enemy as well.
0,5% of Johns mana pool was about 60 MP. A damage pulse by Unstable Arcana cost 200 MP. John hitting two opponents with it meant that there was 120 MP per pulse that he could reim. The Mana Chainunched with every pulse counted as its own damage instance, upping that by another 60.
Johns passive mana regeneration had been considerably diminished, but he had active ways to deal with this.
Of course, this active way also put him in harms way.
The bowman adapted on the fly, using its ded bow, a design that could only fit into a fantasy setting. With Skitterstep, John teleported back to the ground before the retaliating strike could hit him. Using half of his regained mana, he created another two Unstable Arcanas. Damage pulses and Mana Chains continued to shower the two enemies.
Out of the safety of short-term invisibility, John threw a simple punch at the enemys leg. The retaliating kick was predictable, and John used another one of his five Magus Step stacks to get behind the enemy. He got another jab in, then he had to use Skitterstep. Purgatorys ws dug visible trenches into the silvery-white te.
Another teleport, escaping a swipe this time. The Ohmior Knight moved fluidly into a sweep. It caught John before he could Skitterstep. Particle Skin kept him unflinching, at the cost of his mana. The short jump of Skitterstep and 1 second of invisibility that followed saved him from getting grabbed. Enough Mana Chains had formed at that point that the bowman had to deal with breaking them first.
As sessful as John was in dancing around his opponent, utilizing the primary teleportation from Magus Step and the bonus teleportation from his shoes, he was nothing more than the distraction. Even with Purgatory, it would have taken him minutes of working on one spot to w out a considerable chunk from the animated armour. In the meantime, even with all of the measures taken, he was losing mana.
The cost for Unstable Arcana was upfront, the pulses and applications of Arcane Rejuvenation spread out over time and all of it gated by his Technique cooldowns. For all of the dodging he could do with teleportation, he was still much slower than the Ohmior Knight and did get hit asionally, with Particle Skin taking its appropriate toll. It got considerably harder after he hit 0 stacks and had to cast Magus Step on its 10 seconds cooldown.
Can I do this on my own? John wondered, feeling his Stats grow with each passing second. Even if he didnt supply them with mana, his elementals still counted towards Rising Annihtion, as did the Artificial Spirits. Their attacks and his own punches all increased his Physical Stats, up to a maximum of half his level in each. Even maxed out, he wouldnt be able to dodge, much less block, the attacks of the bowman.
The real benefit was in what else Rising Annihtion enabled.
Even while dodging, Johns mind was fast enough to check on his buffs and track when it finally maxed. As soon as Magus Step was off cooldown again, he teleported backwards. The Ohmior Knights fist crashed into the pavement. It saw John, several metres away, raising his left arm. With his vastly superior speed, the golem pulled back its bowstring, the arrow manifesting in the process.
One purple arrow flew. At the same time, John activated another enchantment of Purgatory: Arcane Ascension. Usually, it cast one of Johns spell as if he had used three times his maximum mana. With Rising Annihtion maxed out, it instead cast it for fives times the maximum while reducing the one-day cooldown to thirty minutes.
A thousand mana each, a barrage of almost sixty Arc Lances shot out, a split second between each of the silver, crystallized manifestations of arcane might. The first few shed with the arrow, destroying it and themselves, but the rest mmed into the Ohmior Knight. The adversarys breastte rattled under the repeated impacts, then cracked. More and more of the armour sted away.
When the torrent of spells came to an end, the pitch-ck core of the armour was in in view, drifting away like dark mist. Still, with shaking limbs, the Ohmior Knight readied another arrow. It was battered and broken, but it wasnt dead.
It wouldnt really be a Raid enemy if I could defeat it on my own that easily, John thought and just stood there. The arrow came for him. Then a devouring de cut through it in mid-air, deleting the magic from existence.
Jack, Sylph, Siena and Nia had defeated the healer. Between their damage ability and the continued AoE by John, them winning had been a foregone conclusion.
Could have timed things better so I got another Arcane Rejuvenation out of it before it died, John thought and ran in to do exactly that with the bowman. The Remnant Strike had little force behind it, but it did give John 30 seconds worth of stacks, plus the several dozen hits via Arcane Ascension. Ignoring the item for the sake of average calctions, if John had the necessary mana to keep the Unstable Arcanas running without pause, that would have meant the Ohmior Knight would have had 90 stacks on him (60 from the pulses and 30 from every second Mana Chain hitting him, on average). That would have tranted to about 5400 mana. To cast an Unstable Arcana thatsted for 60 pulses, John would have needed 12000 mana, however. That was not only more than what he had, it would have also left him without a buffer for Particle Skin. Intellect would increase my recovery margin and allow me to cast bigger Unstable Arcanas. John realized and looked to the rest of the fight.
With the backline defeated, the battle was firmly under their control. The best thing John could do now was to hang back and make sure his mana wasnt unnecessarily spent on Particle Skin. The rest of the party first reinforced Smlere and Rave, defeating the sword-and-shield Ohmior Knight after a couple more minutes. Then they all flowed on to the axe-wielding one, which was defeated in a matter of seconds. Lydia had managed to string the enemys legs together with Strimata, leaving it easily defeated.
Then they all watched Metra battle it out with the final enemy. The First of Wrath was insistent on duking this out her way. John wanted to respect her wish, but when she was almost thrown off the battlefield, he finally had Aclysia intervene with her taunt ability, Masters Shield. From there, the entire group nuked the enemy.
FUCK! Metra cursed, mming Rex Magnar against the railing. The weapon, one of the strongest forged in human history, bounced off the stone with an angry screech, akin to a broken note on an electrical guitar. SHITFUCK! the ancient weapon screamed, in her rage attacking the stone several more times. Since this was Gaia-crafted scenery, it only took minimal damage. The supreme deity didnt have to care for the fact that Metra should have been able to shatter stone with a casual kick.
Calm down, John said. Usually, that would have just caused an angry person to get angrier. With the rtionship between the two of them, it convinced the First of Wrath to at least stay her weapon for the moment. Her helmet opened, retreating into her cor segment by segment. John walked over and gave her a hug. You almost got that one, good job.
Almost is for lesser warriors, Metra growled, but let herself be embraced. She wasnt exactly angry at the lot of them for intervening. Knowing her, she was also angry at that, but the primary source of her current condition was that she still had the rage that had raised her buff, while the buff itself had been disabled. Robbed of the satisfaction of victory and a body that was weakened considerably by the end of the beneficial effect, she just needed to vent.
We won without casualties, which is the mark of a sessful battle, John told her. Whats more important to you, your pride or my sess?
Your sess, my king, Metra conceded and let him im her lips. By the time their kiss had ended, she was mostly calm again. If they hadnt wanted to keep on going, he would have instructed her to peel out of her armour then and there.
This worked about as well as I expected, John then reported to the group. Arcane Rejuvenation works pretty well for enemies that dont care to dodge I may have to massively invest in Agility in the future though.
Increasing the reliability of your Mana Chains would also be a sensible approach, Lydia pointed out.
Right, John agreed. Doesnt really matter how I do it, as long as I can hit enemies with cheap spells and Techniques. Maybe Silver Arcanist will give me something that can be used for reliable stacking
Rave snapped her fingers in front of Johns face a number of times. Keep the build crafting for dinner and lets keep going before I die of boredom.
Right, right how are your hands, by the way? he now had the time to inquire about his earlier worry. Everything working alright, even without the bodysuit?
Rave raised her hands, the gloves he had given her in tatters. Sorry there, tiger, but these wont do. Blew them apart with my martial arts.
but are your hands fine? John was more worried about her physical condition than some throwaway gloves. Throwaway by his standards, admittedly. The L-Baelementium used to Create them was worth a fortune to the average person.
Im a sturdy gal, I can punch metal for twenty minutes, Rave joked. Or kick it. Anyway, just some joint pain, nothing Undine cant fix.
John let out a displeased sound from deep in his throat. Alright then he epted the situation, since there was nothing else he could do. That she got a little bit hurt during fights wouldnt stop her and John wouldnt demand that she sat this one out for that reason anyway. I should have a stern talk with Magoi about this whole thing. Theres no reason why we needed to attach the grinding session to our rtionship talk.
That does give Lee the time to work out though, which works out for us, Rave pointed out, leaving her boyfriend silent. What? Ya dont want her to have thunder thighs during your first time?
Not if that means you get hurt, John grumbled.
Raveughed and kissed him on the cheek. Arent you being an example boyfriend today? Ya know what good boyfriends do?
Throw their girlfriends at fantastic beasts crafted by the entity that dreams up reality, for the purposes of challenging and growing their abilities? the Gamer asked a rhetorical question.
Ya know me so well, Rave swooned.
Chapter 993 – The Surface of Ohmior 2 – A traditional design
Chapter 993 C The Surface of Ohmior 2 C A traditional design
It took them almost the entire day to clear their way to the first boss. That they were over-levelled for the encounters sped things up considerably, as did the growing familiarity with the encounters. The main enemies, in terms of difficulty, were the packs of Ohmior Knights. Whether they patrolled or guarded certain spots in the city, the animated armours were tough as groups of five. The strategy the group employed had to be slightly altered depending on the exact make-up of the packs. The weapon types were consistent, however.
In addition to those packs, there were also singr Ohmior Knights standing here and there, ghouls, and ghosts. All of those were pretty free encounters. Being careless could still lead to unnecessary deaths, but they had to try really hard to wipe against those. They were time consuming, more than anything. John wouldnt have called them time wasting because they still gave a nice chunk of experience.
Simrly, the scenery they had to traverse was so pretty that John didnt mind that they had to spend up to fifteen minutes between trash packs walking. From the spawn, they made their way through a cathedral; out of the cathedral, they were guided through numerous streets; and up a climb of stone tforms, they reached what seemed to be a marketce. They fought the majority of the ghouls, and ghosts there. It seemed they were meant to simte the deceased poption of this artificial ce.
What John didnt appreciate were the stretches of the path where they had to run through a bombardment zone, dodging the distant magical cannons. Those segments, he neither got to take in the scenery nor was he rewarded with experience. If there was anything good about them, it was that they didnt trigger a second time after he made it on the other side. Always him, annoyingly enough, otherwise he could have just had Sylph deal with every single one of those.
Beyond the market and through a barrier made out of arches, the group emerged on arge open za with a cobbled floor. It was confined by rectangrly ced walls, invoking a feeling between an arena and a fortress.
John knew he was inside a boss room before he got the pop-up warning him that proceeding would trigger the fight and cut off their retreat. As for what the boss was, the Gamer could easily guess that the twenty-metre-tall statue in the middle of the za was involved. At that moment, it had both been inert and yielded only an item description via Observe. Still, the massive tower shield and halberd it carried were too detailed and the armour too much like the pdin-esque appearance of the Ohmior Knight for John to ignore.
The group called it quits there for that day though and returned home for food, sex and rest.
John was level 342 at that point, meaning he had gotten two levels out of the trash packs. Given the level difference and the low time invested, that was a pretty good yield. If he could have, farming the Raids trash would have been a worthwhile consideration. With them not respawning, all the group could do on the start of the second of the ten grinding days was to get directly to the boss room.
Gaia is a merciful goddess, John prayed, after emerging on the other side of the teleporter that had been created on the spawning tform. The first Raid had been so small that the walk to the boss room between wipes had been negligible. The second Raid had been annoying, due to the immense amount of time lost between tries to get back to the Ravenstorm. Walking, especially through empty tracts ofnd, was not part of what made a Raid engaging, even a real one. Gaia had deemed it fit to address thatint by installing a teleporter that brought them to the boss rooms. At least John assumed that it wouldnt just stay with the first one.
Well see how you think about that after we spent our whole day dying to this thing, Smander remarked.
E-everybody ready? Gnome did the final check and, once met with confirmation, the group advanced into the centre of the militaristic structure of grey and beige stone.
Exactly as John had expected, the statue came to life. Its stone surface cracked. Shards, thin inparison to its overall size, fell off the giant form. They shattered on the pavement, a steady pattering that underlined the mighty footstep the boss took.
Looks like a pretty standard introductory boss, the Gamer took his time to think, loot seems pretty average too. I mean, sure, I wontin about powerful weapons or raw ingredients, but the only unique thing there seems to be the blueprints. Is that a gift boss?
In MMORPGs, it wasnt umon to encounter something that was incredibly easy to kill. Traditionally, it was the first boss of a dungeon or raid and functionally acted as a gear dispenser. They existed so that even groups that barely reached the required skill floor could hope to get SOME loot out of their encounters.
The thing with that design philosophy was that it was made for games that had a weekly reset.
John was suddenly hit by an arrow. He wasnt the only one. From every direction, energy projectiles mmed into them, striking true for most targets. Worst of all, one of them connected with Sylph, almost killing the ss-cannon of the group outright.
The Gamer made sense of the situation within a second. Along the boss, numerous Ohmior Knights had spawned on the walls of the structure. Most of them were of the bowman variety, and aimed from their position on the middle segment of the structures. On the left and right of the rectangr architecture were further elevated tforms. Additional Ohmior Knights had spawned up there.
While he analysed all of that, he also noticed stairs that, step for step, formed out of the walls. One such staircase was at the north of the wall, behind the Tower Knight. Another two were in the southern corners of the structure. The wall of arches they had stepped through into the boss arena was nowpletely sealed by some magical power.
Alright, first try is always a bust, John announced, speaking hastily. y defensively, focus on dodging and information gathering. Split over the staircases and scout out the kind and number of enemies. Smander, Sylph, check if there is a ceiling on the arena and if you can reach the upper levels via air.
What about the boss? Metra wanted to know, everyone looking at the Tower Knight raising his massive halberd.
Ignore the boss! John shouted and got running.
The statement was made purely in strategic interest. As the Observe sheet had insinuated, this was a very traditional boss design: tanky guy in the middle, ranged support adds at the sides. Specifically, this design seemed to be straight up ripped from Demon Souls. If Gaia was overly inspired, this meant that the main boss barely did anything while the adds were cleared out. If the supreme deity enacted some additional precautions, then it would be good to know what shape they took and if they could be countered otherwise.
The group split into four very uneven parts, three on the ground and the two fliers, and rushed to their designated areas. John kept tabs on the boss with the Mand Sphere. The tip of its halberd mmed down on where they all had just been clumped up.
At first it seemed like the Tower Knight would chase after the party members heading for the northern stairs, but the moment they were up the stairs, the boss lost interest. Instead, it chased after those that still had to cross the majority of the boss room back to where they hade from and use the stairs there.
John was in that group. A sudden cut in his subconscious informed him that Sylph had been teleported out of the fight. A second arrow must have hit her. Nothing unexpected there, he thought, heading up the stairs. He felt the thundering steps of the boss behind him. They drew closer. Then they stopped.
With no more enemies in the courtyard, the Tower Knight just stood there, waiting for something or someone.
In the meantime, John and his splinter of the party found themselves face to face with an axe-wielding Ohmior Knight. It wasnt waiting right on top of the stairs, but it wasnt particrly far away either. The corridor on top of the walls was only five metres wide, but they still managed to run past the enemy and proceed around the corner.
They got to continue to the first bowman of the spawned in enemies when the Mand Sphere followed the Tower Knight turning his gargantuan weapon in his hand. The tip pointed at the group, then prated the nigh indestructible stone. A st of energy rolled outwards, the purple of arcane, growing in strength as it continued on.
Alright, so the boss cant be ignored, John thought, moments before the Arcana Strike-esque attack consumed him.
Ten attempts of trial and error passed.
The second attempt they had dedicated to finding out how that supermassive AoE worked. It would be cast every minute of the fight, they had found, no matter the situation. However, it only killed everyone if it got to pick up enough steam. Members of the party could stand inside the st zone to soak up the initial damage, preventing the spell from rippling outwards and increasing in power. Furthermore, that initial damage was split between everyone in the area. A single person would die instantly, but five would only take a decent amount of damage between them. Where the Tower Knight had used the ability, an arcane aura would be left that dealt continuous damage to any member of the party.
The third attempt was dedicated to scouting out more of the arena and testing who the best people to stay on the base level were. The obvious choices were Aclysia, Beatrice, Metra, Undine and John, to soak up the damage. All of them had reliable ways to recover from damage taken. The problem with that line-up was that there were no tanks left to aid those who went to the upper levels, which were quickly defeated by the several Ohmior Knights they aggroed.
The fourth to seventh attempts were spent tweaking the form, until they found something that worked. A number of discoveries were made along the way. Flying above the height of the middle level walls caused cannons beyond them to shoot at whoever was flying around, so Sylph, Smander and the Mand Sphere had to be careful. There seemed to be no way to give Metra space for a one on one, so she had to fight alongside them. She was best used soaking damage in this fight. A singr person, even if they died, would stop the Tower Knights st from rippling out. Ohmior Knights defeated during an attempt would respawn for the next one. The Tower Knight was slow and always focused the nearest eligible target for melee attacks, throwing in the asional arcane bolt. Both kinds of attack were clearly telegraphed.
The eighth time, they had found a group configuration that worked decently. Metra, Undine, Beatrice, John and Nia took on the Tower Knight. Aclysia acted as the tank for one group and Gnome for the other. While Aclysia was the better frontliner in terms of damage and self-sustain, Gnome, as a season elemental, did have healing abilities. What damage dealers either of those two were apanied by was still subject to funing.
They still werent actually fighting to win, at that point.
The ninth time, they managed to fully map out the middle level of the battlefield. In total, there were 14 Ohmior Knights on that level. Two bowmen to the north, four on east and west, and one axe-wielder in each of the four corners. While that sounded like a whole lot, each of them was ced far enough apart that they could be engaged individually. Once they noticed someone on that level, they would chase them until defeated, so taking them out one by one would be the preferred strategy.
For the tenth, final, scouting pull, they forewent that strategy and just did their best to break through to the upper levels. Thanks to the flyers, they already knew that the upper levels had 3 Ohmior Knights each, the make-up being 1 bowman and 2 sword-and-shield variants. Even those were far enough apart that they could be engaged individually.
With the entirety of the battlefield scouted out, it was time to strategize.
Chapter 995 – The Surface of Ohmior 3 – The Tower Knight
Chapter 995 C The Surface of Ohmior 3 C The Tower Knight
Alright, strategy meeting, John announced after the tenth attempt. Also, lunch break, its been a couple of hours. Even if the teleporter diminished the walking time, it did still exist and every attempt had taken its own chunk of their day.
From the centre of the Intermediary Barrier, where they always spawned when Fateweaving imed them, they walked to their house. Aclysia and Beatrice went to the kitchen, one cooking the food and the other preparing the ingredients. The rest of them cleared a space in the middle of the room, at Johns request. The Gamer then grabbed one of the board games they had brought with them and used the pieces within to model the encounter map as best as he could.
I wish I knew what the fuck you were dealing with over there, Eliza said, staring at the map. Can you get on my level already so I can spend some time bashing the shit out of things that stand in your cock-smacking way?
Whenever we get to that level, the Raid enemies will be so powerful that even you wont be able to bash the shit out of them, John told her, inspecting the map. Just so she and Scarlett could partake in the discussion, he quickly broke things down. So, this here in the middle is the main boss. He does a massive area attack that must be absorbed and the damage is split. About five people do the trick there. The attack also leaves a zone that deals continuous damage. Then we have a bunch of archers and axemen up on the surrounding walls and two more archers and four additional knights, armed with swords and shields, up on the upper levels. They can all be engaged individually. We dont know yet if theye downter on.
Scarlett mustered the map with that information in mind. Flying?
Only to a limited height.
Scaling the walls?
The walls move to p people away. Oh, and the stairs only form after the boss fight starts as well. Its best to just stick to them.
How dangerous are those archers?
Too dangerous to ignore them during a prolonged engagement. They pick targets at random and are fairly urate. If all twelve of them are left up, there will be unavoidable casualties.
There was a moment of silence, while the strategists of the harem contemted their options.
Lydia spoke up first, It appears, to me, that we have three avable approaches.
Three? I was thinking of seven, Scarlett returned.
Three general approaches that can be further sub-divided, the queen borated further. My first option would be to focus on the boss itself. The second would be to send a single group up the walls to make aplete round. The third would be to send two groups. Do any of your four additional options not fall into these categories?
One of them. Carry fighters to the middle levels via flying, Scarlett said. Sitting in a nearby armchair, the naked, androgynous beauty crossed her legs and rested her head on her fist. She would have seemed bored, had it not been for the intensity with which she mustered the battlefield. Admittedly, I am working with lower information theories here.
What were the other three approaches? John asked.
They were about where in the central za you want to fight the boss, the technomancer exined. As urate as the archers are, they will still be less likely to hit if the distance isrger. If you send one group up, which path does it take? If you use two groups, what paths do they take? That dictates which part of the za you should fight in.
John nodded. Lets start with reducing the number of options. I dont think solely focusing the boss will work. The archers cant be ignored the entire time. The best configuration we found for people remaining on the ground was Metra, Bae, Undine, Nia and I. People that have high regeneration or other ways to prevent magical damage.
We could call Aclysia back into the za if we went with a single attack group, Lydia pointed out. Gnome would operate splendidly as the single guardian of that force.
I dont know if a single group is the proper way to deal with this, John hummed. This isnt an MMO and the corridors arent that wide. If the group gets too big, you just get in each others way. Id rather have two archers dead every five minutes than one every three, if that makes sense.
What you rather or not doesnt matter, only whether its effective, Scarlett stated. If you have a single group, you pull the boss along the wall they are clearing, she gestured a rectangle with her foot, that makes you as safe as can be from the archers still alive and gives you space to ce the damage areas.
With two groups, we could clear the walls symmetrically, giving us a bigger area to be safe, John said. The boss normal hits are slow, but still dangerous.
If you can bnce the damage properly between the two. Scarlett shrugged. Its your face youre smashing into the grindstone. If ya waste your time, Ill be annoyed though. You arent useful to me if you are weak. Smiling sweetly, she took the sting out of those words. You want to be useful to me, right?
You might need another spanking session to be reminded of your ce, John stated.
Siena bowed down behind the redhead and wrapped her arms around the technomancers neck. Give me thirty minutes and Ill have her properly disciplined.
Scarlett didnt acknowledge either thement or the contact, only switched which of her legs was on top in the crossing. When Siena got a little pushier, moving her lips close, the technomancer did lean into the kiss, however.
Who else is avable for the clearing of the walls? Lydia thought out loud. Aclysia, Gnome, I, Jane, Smander, Siena and Sylph, correct?
Jack, John reminded her. A total of eight additionalbatants. Could be split pretty well into groups of four. A group of eight would be too much for the space and the flyers cant go around distracting the archers reliably because of the outside cannons.
Two groups then, Scarlett conceded the point.
I should tag along Gnome, Smander spoke up. We can beat the archers down pretty reliably, but itll be good to have Smlere ready to fuck up the axemen.
Would be good for my mana as well, John agreed. Ill need all I can get, if Particle Skin has to soak the sts every minute maybe you should carry Stirwin as well, for extra power?
The duration would be lower, but the cooldown is the same Gnome hummed. Itll cost you extra mana between engagements if he isnt in item form though.
John considered the situation. He could get back to me in incorporeal form, he proposed. You use Smlere on the first axeman, split immediately after you are done there, then continue on the archers without him. If you go to the upper levels in the meantime, Combination might be off cooldown by the time you hit the second axeman.
That could work, Smander agreed.
Should I go with Siena then? We could go Edge and totally incapacitate our opponent, yes, yes! Sylph bbered.
Would that work? John wondered. Doesnt Edge need to ingest the blood of her target to Unleash?
Anything thats, effectively, the lifeblood of a being works, Siena told him. If Edge could bite them, then that should work.
I cant imagine Ohmior Knights are used to pain, so the effect would be incredibly crippling, John mumbled. The way Edge worked was that she inflicted pain even on beings not made to be able to feel it, so there was some effect, provided she could Unleash, guaranteed. Plus, again, more mana saved. So, sure, we can try that. Jack should tag along your group then. Between you two and Aclysia, you have the stronger single target damage dealers out of our party. He looked to Lydia and Rave. You two go along Gnome and Smander, then.
Sounds good. His girlfriend nodded along.
As you wish, my love, Lydia confirmed as well. The question remains of which path we take.
Id suggest, John took three more tokens out of the board game box and ced them on the za, that the two anti-archer groups move up the northern stairs. That way, the first enemy you encounter is an archer each, giving us some immediate relief in the ranged area. It also removes the only two who stand at that angle, which eases things up in a different way. He gestured along the walls. Then you just continue on. Well have to test if the melee adds on the upper levels can be ignored. If they cant, well, youll have to defeat them in addition to the archers up there. Assuming we cant or shouldnt ignore the Ohmior Knights, youll also have to defeat the axemen in the southern corners. Then you go back down the stairs and join us for the Tower Knight.
The five of us that remain on the za will pull the Tower Knight to the upper left corner of the arena. Each time it deals its area damage, we reposition along the wall. We want as little and as unobstructive of the battlefield to be imed by the fields as possible. Therell also be a rtively safe area in the upper third of the battlefield, after the first two archers are dead, thanks to the way they are positioned on the walls. He gestured towards the southern two-thirds of the za. Thats the area we will have when fighting the boss proper, hopefully.
All of this needs to be adjusted depending on the extra intel we get on future pulls. Might be that the boss has a second phase that requires us to totally rethink this. Well see.
They headed back out after some additional discussion, lunch, time to let lunch settle, and a shower to rinse of the sweat worked up during the inevitable orgy. About an hourter, they were back in the thick of it.
Their strategy worked nicely from the get-go. As before, the people on the base level soaked up the area attacks. It wasnt exactly pleasant work, but it was simple. John couldnt afford to spend any mana on anything but his own defences, so the only times he got to cast a spell was when Rising Annihtion was maxed out. That was once, with a thirty-minute cooldown in between. Otherwise, he wed at the Tower Knights feet.
On the walls, things were more exciting. A single Ohmior Knight wasnt a great challenge to the groups they had put together, particrly not the bow variant. The true challenge wasnt the first Ohmior Knight or even the second, melee focused one. It was to fight ten of them in sequence, bncing their own stamina with the need to beat them all before they ran out of room in the central za.
Predictably, their first pull was poorly optimized.
While their general approach worked well all around, there were a number of small mistakes. They could be found in the way the clearing groups fought the Ohmior Knight and in the way the Tower Knight group pulled the boss to the wanted spots. Sylph got overzealous one time and almost got herself killed. Luckily, Undine could spawn a clone of herself out of the shadows of other familiars to heal at range.
The real point of sub-optimal y was when they discovered why they couldnt ignore any Ohmior Knights. After John battered the boss with Arcane Ascension, all of the melee-variants of the additional enemies switched their weapons for staffs and healed the boss. All of the progress they had made was nullified in a matter of seconds, the armour left as gleaming and wless as it had been at the moment of spawn. Once the boss was fully restored, the enemies switched back to their original armaments.
Little mistakes mounted, until they were simply out of gas. Whether it was their mana that was empty or their endurance came to an end, the group had to admit defeat.
John was fairly certain they could beat the boss, though. All indicators showed that the fight would only get easier as it continued. If there had been an issue, then it had been that they were putting too much pressure on the clearing team.
The twelfth attempt was taken a bit more slowly. Rather than sprint up the stairs and between Ohmior Knights, the clearing groups took their time to recover properly between engagements. At the same time, those in the za below only focused on dodging. That would have been boring in a video game, just getting out of the way of a swing every thirty seconds or so, but in real life the smacking of a gargantuan halberd on stone created a respectable adrenaline rush.
That attempt failed because the Tower Knight group wasnt good enough at dodging arrows yet. It was mostly Johns fault. He had gotten hit one too many times and died upon soaking another AoE, which ended the Raid for everyone.
The thirteenth try ended simrly, causing them to make a minor adjustment to their line-up. Jack was only a minor damage asset anyway, so the Mand Sphere would instead patrol the airspace. John would use that eye in the sky to keep tabs on the archers and draw some of their fire away from the people on the ground. It did leave the Aclysia group one member short, but they had the damage to deal with that.
The fourteenth attempt ended because Aclysia was distracted. Because the Gamer was no longer right next to her inbat, the weaponized maid got a bit pouty. She apologized profusely after they recognized the reason for her worse performance. After a cuddle and kissing session, she was appropriately charged for the next attempt.
Try number fifteen was incredibly sessful, with the clearing groups killing more than half of the Ohmior Knights, but ended much like attempts twelve and thirteen due to John getting hit when he couldnt afford to.
Try sixteen, John decided he would just concentrate solely on dodging arrows, stay out of range of the Tower Knight at all times, and use Magus Step to teleport into the area attack when necessary. He felt like he wasnt pulling his weight, given that little participation. It was better to feel that way than to be the reason they failed every time, regardless.
They failed that time for no clearly discernible reason. There were just some more kinks that needed to be ironed out.
Try seventeen, they seeded.
It wasnt a particrly glorious or interesting victory. Their strategy simply paid off. Everyone fulfilled their assigned role well enough that they defeated the Ohmior Knights one after the other. Nobody died out of carelessness. The two clearing groups reinforced their attacks against the boss. There was no second phase, so they just had to continue what they had already been doing with more people. All of them taking the area attack together made the damage so negligible even Sylph could survive it.
The first boss had fallen after 17 tries made over the course of just 1 day.
Chapter 996 – The Surface of Ohmior 5 – A seal well-guarded
Chapter 996 C The Surface of Ohmior 5 C A seal well-guarded
Ehhh well, I guess the choice is pretty obvious, John analysed his choices. The goal of the Perks was still to allow him to teleport through walls. To that end, Detail Perception C Elementals was useless. In general, it was incredibly niche. It was incredibly rare to deal with an elemental that was not, by the physical manifestation, obviously an elemental. The connection was a tad better, but John needing to have both targets in range made it awful again.
Aside from his preference to stay in the backline, there was the fact that his contact lenses could already deal with this. The Connective Gaze Attribute let John see the line between not only an elemental and its summoner, but between all kinds of familiars and their summoners, creators or contractors. It was a strictly worse version of something he already had.
I guess its made with blindness in mind, he tried to justify what something this weak was even doing in his choices of level 6 Perks. The second Perk, Motion Reading was at least functionally an upgrade. Agility 250 had given him rough awareness of things going on in a metre around him. Motion Reading was more detailed, warned him of attacks earlier, and had arger range. If he had been a melee fighter, it would certainly have been attractive to Daredevil it up a bit. With his goal and build in mind, thest option was clearly what he should go with, however.
Sensing light levels in areas he couldnt see was going to be useless in most situations, but he figured it wasnt as niche as Detail Perception and more helpful for his build than Motion Reading. Therefore, he went with it. Afterwards, he had Gnome construct a couple of obstacles for him to see what he could teleport through now.
Obstacle 1: the simple thin wall. This one was ovee easily. John had been able to do it before, so it was more of a warm-up.
Obstacle 2: the isted thin-walled room, possessing no doors or windows. This was ovee easily as well, which was a pleasant surprise. Previously this had been thest obstacle he managed to clear. If the air of two ces was connected, that usually made it easier for John. Now, his supernatural awareness of the darkness within the hollow space gave him enough details to work with that Magus Step let him teleport into it.
Obstacle 3: the isted thick-walled room, possessing no doors or windows. This was ovee with a minimum of concentration. The thickness of the wall was roughly equivalent to street-facing facades of brick houses and the stone used was denser as well.
Obstacle 4: the isted room with walls two metres thick. This was not ovee and existed purely so John could test the limits of this new ability. He was vaguely aware of the thing behind the wall. He could definitely feel that there was a hollow core. It wasnt enough to get inside, though.
Alright, looks like I got what I wanted out of Unfound, John announced to everyone.
Will you max it out? Undine asked.
Good question, the Gamer considered. Because of the nerf, he had considered getting into Silver Arcanist next. Since he had adjusted well to the changes, going for another response measure was not strictly necessary. Maxing out Unfound, getting ess to the Modification, Overclock and Advanced ss, could be a worthwhile endeavour. Lets go with yes. Its only 4 more levels.
That decision made, John checked out his current status.
As wanted, his effective mana regeneration was up ever so slightly. 23 wasnt much better than 22, but it was better.
I could up that by another 1 if I invested the SEP, John thought. He had the one lying around since Gnome evolved. No, that would be wasteful. Even investing it into the Artificial Spirits would be a better usage.
Skill Evolution Points had, roughly, 3 uses: 1. evolve a Skill, 2. grant an Artificial Spirit a Special Perk (with the cost permanently increasing by 1 for the next time this mechanic was used on that AS), and 3. buff an elemental. Options 2 and 3 were clearly filler that existed only to drain resource surplus. John didnt think of having 1 unused SEP as enough of a surplus to waste it on mechanics like this.
Instead, he kept it for when Mana Chain got maxed out. He did so much with that Skill, he wanted to see what an evolved version looked like. There was a risk in evolving the Skill, due to all of the Perks associated with it. That risk was also part of the reason why John wanted to do it. He wanted to see how the system would react to something with attached mechanics changing.
John looked over to Magois tower. It had now been about an hour since Rave left, the time split between him indulging himself and him going after, pleasantly easy, Unfound ss Challenges. There was nothing holding them back anymore now, so they would soon resume clearing the Twisted City of Ohmior Raid.
Rave, either by pure coincidence or through her uncanny ability to read him, suddenly appeared in the premises of the tower and came jogging their way. There I be, she said. Ya want another quick BJ or are we going in?
Want? Always. Weve wasted enough time though, John said and led the way towards the entrance of the Raid. He couldnt quite suppress his curiosity and asked, So, how is Lee doing?
Girl is smart, she got the Aura figured out. As per physical improvements I shall keep my lips zipped.
Tease, Johnined, as they stepped into the darkness. Maybe I should try prying your mouth open, hm?
Ya would stuff it quicker than I could spill the beans, ya big ol horny nerd, Rave bantered right back. Plus, ya got to love the wait. Ya did it to yourself.
I suppose I did, John conceded. Momentster, they were on the spawning tform. One march through the teleporter and they were in the cleared-out boss arena. From there, they entered the next segment of the Raid. After the Tower Knight had been defeated, part of the structure had opened up as a new corridor.
The first thing they had to contend with was one of Johns much hated jump and dodge the bombardment segments. Beyond that, they were faced with the same old Ohmior Knights. Notably, these were five levels higher and came, at the lowest, in groups of three and, sometimes, in groups of six. That was a mild difficulty increase from the previous segment. With them still having a higher level and being really used to dealing with this type of enemy, the group still advanced with rtive ease.
John noted that the surrounding architecture was more militaristic than before. The buildings were still stacked on top of each other, the colour scheme of beige and light purple remained consistent, but the flowing artisanry was reced with hard edges and wide roads optimal for supply deliveries. Several buildings were either damaged or reinforced with bs of simple grey concrete. Some parts were even trapped, with des and needles darting out of the walls or floor as the group advanced. There was also a dearth of ghost or ghoul enemies. There were only Ohmior Knights.
The narrative of the Raid seemed to say that this part of the city was forbidden from the regr citizens. John was interested to see where it would lead them. He would remain interested for two days, as they explored their way through the military district, filled with dead-ends and small fortresses. Neither were filled with items of interest. The additional enemies to fight were a good source of experience, however.
Halfway through day 5 of the Raid, and another 4 levels stronger, 2 thanks to the enemies and 2 thanks to Experience of Love, John finallyid eyes on the next boss arena.
Hidden underneath a grey concrete dome, the boss stood in the ray of light that fell through the sole hole in the ceiling. The room was dull in every sense. The walls were undecorated and rough. The floor was cobblestone, covered in soot and turned ck. The boss was only marginally more interesting to behold. An unarmed Ohmior Knight, not even equipped with extra limbs, he was covered in marks of battle and ash. The lights that flickered behind the visor of others of his kin were inactive.
The only interesting sight inside the dome, visually speaking, was the door behind this knight. Large and ck, a polished colour, not the forced dark of burned remains, the two wings of the gate were surrounded by a silver frame. Arcane energy covered the entirety of this gate with chains of glowing light purple, all focused around a metal seal at the centre. It was segmented into four runes.
The group only stood in the entranceway of the dome, wary to not activate the boss ahead of time.
If this wasnt a Raid, this is where I would turn around and not touch anything rted to this until I was like level 600 at least, the Gamer thought. Mindlessly messing with ancient seals without knowing what was behind them or why they were ced was something only stupid anime protagonists did. Thankfully, this ce was just created for him (or for Gaias entertainment, depending on perspective).
Anything interesting? Siena asked.
Kind of, yeah, John said. A lot of the loot table is recycled, so thats unfortunate, but therere four somewhat intriguing things in here. The Ohmior Armour Instructions, which will probably show how one could forge these sets themselves, the Ohmior Sentry Schematics, which I have no clear idea what they are supposed to teach, and the Spellbook. Been a while since I encountered one of these.
Not that you look around for a lot of them, Smander pointed out.
Most Spellbooks describe incredibly basic spells that I have better versions of, the Gamer countered. Bothering to find one that might let me learn something worthwhile would cost me more time than to get another ss Level.
Doubt this one would be basic Gnome mumbled. I mean it is a legendary drop.
Which also means we probably wont see it, John said and scratched the side of his head. Wonder what Guardians Resolve is as well, but I got no clue. Anyway, everybody ready for the first try? The agreement was given all around and Aclysia sent to lead the group.
They walked in carefully, John in the middle of it all, looking around the dull dome some more. Absolutely nothing else of interest could be found. He forged a simple map in his head.
Ill adjust it as necessary, he thought.
Finally, the boss warning popped up. The group continued further, until they were twenty-five metres in, about halfway between the entrance and the motionless boss.
One more step by Aclysia, and the Guardians eyes suddenly burst to light in a sh of arcane purple. Ash and dust dropped from its damaged armour as the form quivered. The screeching of rust simted the years of waiting this created enemy had suffered through in terms of symbolism. While its limbs straightened and moved in snapping fashion, a tendril of energy reached out from the seal to the boss. The moment it connected, the skeletally sudden movements grew smooth and controlled. The gaps in the armour shone with soft blue and purple.
The left of the seals four runes was extinguished as light oozed from the hands of the Guardian. In its hands grew a crystal, gradually forming into a long shaft with arge axe-de at the end of it.
Lets see what you can do, John thought.
Chapter 997 – The Surface of Ohmior 6 – Tagging in and out
Chapter 997 C The Surface of Ohmior 6 C Tagging in and out
Aclysia, engage the boss. Metra, go left. Gnome, go right. Smander, I want you to attack that seal, John gave specific mental orders while shouting out loud, Scatter through the room. Be wary of area attacks.
Hismands were heeded. He stayed near the entrance, now closed by an energy wall, while the rest of the party took positions that worked well with their abilities. The three tanks remained close to the boss, ready to charge at it from different angles. Nia, Beatrice and Siena, the almost purely melee focused fighters in the group, were only a few metres behind. At a medium range, Rave, Sylph and Lydia positioned themselves, able to use their magic at a moderate range and not clump up the melee further. Usually, Smander would have joined that rank. Copernicus also stuck around his summoner. Thest line, fairly far away from the boss, consisted of John and Undine, staying out of harms way.
Aclysia took the first hit of the Guardian. Its axe hammered against Eclys, neither crystal nor Mithril giving. While the weapons were equally matched, the two fighters were not. Aclysia was forced to crouch from the overhead blow. Despite being of the same size and, damages aside, same design as the other Ohmior Knights, this one was doubtlessly stronger.
Try to hold as long as you can, John told Aclysia, who dug in her heels and mustered all the power she could in an attempt to ovee the boss immense physical strength. Just how strong it was, John would have liked to have an educated guess on. How the enemy reacted to attacks while engaged with an attack was also important.
The answer to that came fairly quickly: the Guardian of the Seal was ignoring ranged attacks and took only swings of opportunity at other meleebatants. Even while he was pressing down on Aclysia, his superiority was so immense that he could kick back Nia when she approached from behind. That was some hefty damage on the pariah, but nothing Undine couldnt quickly fix. It also clued them in that the boss had some supernatural level of awareness of its surroundings.
While metal particles, heated light and slicing gusts of wind rained down on the opponent, Smander reached the seal. With her ted left, she punched the metal at the centre of the seal. A wave of arcane energy was unleashed, simr in density to Johns Arcana Strikes, ripping more than half of Smanders HP from her and catapulting her across the room. Her trajectory sent her on a collision course with the Guardian, who reacted immediately. It took a hand off its axe and mmed its fist into Aclysias side, sending the already kneeling Artificial Guardian flying onto her side. It turned around. The two-handed axe described a wide arch. Smander would have been eliminated from the fight had it not been for a quick, shared reaction by Beatrice and Metra.
Beatrice charged in utilizing her Skills, jamming the tip of her spear into the enemys shoulder. That slowed the momentum somewhat, but Metra did the majority of the work. While she was doubtlessly the boss lesser in terms of strength, Rex Magnar alleviated this difference through its enchantments. Extreme sma Burst did exactly what it said on thebel, creating a torrent of fire and lightning that burst out the tip at the spike-side of the halberd. Shredding metal music apanied the elerated strike, stopping the boss attack before it could connect.
Smander, you doing fine? John quickly reached out to the retreating fire spirit.
After Undine is through with me, the apocalypse elemental responded.
Alright attacking the seal, terrible idea, noted, the Gamer, with rtive safety confirmed, turned back to analysing the encounter. If anyone else had been in the area, they would have been hurt as well Hey, Beatrice, can you get into contact with the connection between the boss and the seal?
Affirmative. The passive maid immediately darted away from the boss and left Aclysia and Metra to their own devices. Two metres away from the main action. She stretched to touch the stream of energy, connecting to the boss neck. A bolt of energy shocked her, making her take a fair chunk of damage. It was nowhere near as dramatic as Smander had endured, but it was in the best avoided category of threatening.
Beatrice had to retreat hastily, when her actions directed the ire of the boss towards her, and fell in the process. Whether it was specifically because or despite her nature as a mana-fuelled being, the shock had actually numbed her limbs to the point that she couldnt move properly. Gnome tried to get between the boss and the passive maid, but she was too slow. Aclysia was too far away to use Masters Shield. Metras cooldown had been spent. Beatrice could only look at the business end of the axe and vanish when it would have cleaved her apart.
Shit, John growled. Deaths during first tries were nothing unpredictable, but he still hated that it was hismand that had caused it. He couldnt dwell on it. Sess was built on failure and he needed to gather more intel. Jane, Copernicus, try to touch that arcane stream next! I need to see if humans and elementals get stunned.
Roger that, Rave shouted, her and her sr jaguar taking off.
She had only crossed a couple of metres, when the boss started to spin in a fashion worthy of video games. Bncing on one leg and elerated by magical force, the Guardian rotated on the spot. Purple sparks and arcs darted away all around it. First, it remained stationary, forcing all meleebatants away. Then, the boss suddenly dashed to the west side of the room and then made five rounds along the edge of the dome.
While he was safely far away from most of them, the energy connection to the seal was a clear danger. It was anchored in the middle of the room, before jumping further to the boss, and changed its arch every three seconds. The result was a damaging and, universally, stunning beam that cut through the room in a circle. Everyone had to dodge it five times. Some had unique abilities that made it easier, but for most of them the dodging consisted of jumping or ducking, depending on how the energy curved at that moment.
Because they werent familiar with the timing, several people were hit. They were ready for how the energy ray approached them, but not for the regr and random reposition. Sylph, Smander and the Mand Sphere could dodge the mechanic entirely.
Everyone stunned was a target for the Guardian. After the spinning had ended, he leapt to the closest, immobilized party member and hit them with his axe. One hit and he moved on, even if that hit didnt kill immediately. They were practically unable to stop him. Worst of all, Undine was killed by that final strike.
Alright, thats the first wipe, John thought and let himself be killed.
Afterwards they had a quick strategy meeting. There were several things obvious about the fight. First and foremost: it would take a lot longer to beat than the Tower Knight. The mechanics of the fight werent as straightforward and, from the look of the seal, there would be four phases to it. Depending on how different each phase was, they had to learn each phase on its own.
They got to work immediately.
The second try, John dedicated to the good old question of: can I cheese this with Arcana Strike?
Expectedly, the answer was no. Gaia had seemingly added a condition that every Raid enemy, that did not possess another form of counter, gotser-focused on John with relentless aggression. Since Arcana Strike took all of his mana, that left him at the mercy of a much stronger opponent in a limited area. Basically, it was unworkable.
Tries 3-9 took the remainder of the day. During this, they learned all about Phase 1 of the fight.
The Guardian used a two-handed axe as his weapon of choice. He had three spells. One he used every two minutes, being the spinning attack he had employed to wipe them. The second was a simple energy wave that dealt low damage but forced everyone back. The third was aser-eye attack heunched randomly at people if there was no one in melee range. It was near impossible to avoid, so staying close to him with at least one person was important.
During the 8th and 9th attempt, they even managed to get to the second phase, but they died pretty quickly when they got there and decided to resume the next day.
Try 10 was just a warm-up, aimed at refreshening their muscle memory. Everyone in the group was decently skilled at dodging the energy ray now and Aclysia had gotten the knack to time Masters Shield with the end of the spinning. Even if someone was hit, the boss did not execute his jump attack, instead focusing on Aclysia. It served as a true interrupt, the Guardian did not continue thebo after the taunt ran out.
Armed with that knowledge, the first phase was quite a bit smoother.
Tries 11 to 26 were all dedicated to learning about the second phase. Twice out of those attempts they lost enough or key members during the first phase. Otherwise, they needed about ten minutes, on average, to get to the second rune of the seal discharging.
There was a short intermission phase during which the boss was invulnerable. Its axe shattered into exploding fragments, each of which was only a small damage pulse. In aggregate, it was threatening, however, particrly to the squishier people in the group. The damage could not be blocked or avoided, but it could be negated. Nia was the core of the strategy during the transitions, everyone huddling together behind her and taking refuge in the magical wake she created.
Phase 2 of the fight had mechanical ovep, but all of the details were changed up and a new passive added.
The Guardian of the Seal manifested two crystal swords, each elegant and long. The spin attack now spawned a phantom image of the boss, which had its own connection to the anchor at the centre of the room. Rather than changing the position, the beams were steady now, but circled in opposite directions. It was easier to predict, but the amount of dodges needed had doubled and the amount of time had grown slightly shorter. In general, the boss was faster. The energy wave always preceded the Guardian jumping to a random fighter on the battlefield. The eyebeam was now castpletely randomly, but dealt less damage. It kept Undine always busy, however.
As did the new passive of the boss. Each time the bossnded a melee hit on a member of the party caused that member to have a shard of arcane energy to form around them. Whenever they were hit by one of the boss spells, those shards mmed down on the person with the stacks.
Because everyone in melee range was hit, guaranteed, by the weak energy wave, this mechanic was difficult to deal with for the tanks. Letting too many shards build up was a guarantee to get burst. Between each damage pulse, they had to swap between all three tanks, let them get hit by the wave to cleanse the current stacks, and then do their best to get in as much healing as they could.
The majority of mastering this phase was around Undine (and Gnome, to a lesser extent), coping with the heavy damage on the tanks and the side damage to their damage dealers. They got in the habit of having Undine switch into item form during the spin segments. As good as she got at dodging, it was best topletely eliminate the risk of her getting stunned or dying given her importance to the groups survival.
On day eight of the grinding, they finally got into phase 3 and 4. After clearing the second, that wasnt as great of an achievement as it might have seemed. Phase 3 was incredibly short, a mere two minutes to the respective ten for the former two.
First came the same intermediary phase as between phase 1 and 2. Then, the boss manifested a staff andunched arcane projectiles randomly through the room. They came in four varieties. High-arching, slow ones that would explode on impact with the ground. Quick, target-seeking ones. A cone-shaped swarm that would, after three seconds dy, deal damage in a sixth of the room. Finally, an energy wall that circled once through the entire room.
Most damage could be avoided. Even if they were mediocre at that the first time around, they made it through the phase, and the following secondary intermission, mostly alive. They had to deal no damage during that phase, it ended simply on a timer.
The final rune extinguished and the boss was armed with a sword and shield. The ever-present purple glow now shone brightly from its heavily damaged and dented armour. All of the marks created during thebat were slowly fixed. Clearly, there was some self-healing involved.
The usual three mechanics resurfaced and a second passive was added.
The spinning attack was now permanently active, enacted through a mirage that always circled around. Height adjustments were made on every go around. The anchor of the energy ray was the boss rather than the middle of the room. The energy pulse now dealt damage in a cone, like one of the attacks during the magic phase. Every time a ranged attack hit the shield, the cooldown of that attack was reduced (this being the new passive). The eyeser was now separated into one massive arcane attack that exploded and a bunch of smaller ones that were unavoidable. This also mimicked attacks used during the magic phase.
Because it had only one sword, the Guardians stacking damage condition was easier to deal with. The tanks had a somewhat easier time. Everyone else had to steadily move around, to the point that it was almost impossible to heal. Two or three missteps would spell doom for most members of the party. The flyers had a somewhat easier time, but not much.
They kept retrying the boss all throughout day eight and nine. It was challenging and John found the boss to be alright. If it had been a boss in a normal game, it certainly would have been criticized for its boring and lengthy first and second phase. As with the Tower Knight, it being a real-life affair saved it. The slowly ramping pressure was nice, all things considered.
After 47 tries, they had learned all there was to the first three phases and only had to perfect their engagement with thest one. The forty eighth was the first try of the tenth day.
Everyone, get ready! John shouted, the intermission between phase 3 and 4ing to an end. Nia, incredibly translucent, concentrated on remaining anchored in this world. John put an arm around her and kissed her to help with that endeavour. The rest darted around her and immediately covered the boss in their strongest abilities in a well-studied sequence.
Undine Unleashed, covering the boss in a torrent of water. Gnome sprouted her trees of stone behind the boss, preventing it from moving while the other attacks descended on it. A meteor mmed into the chest of the armour,unched from Smanders hands. Sylph tapped into the frustrations she had developed over seeing her loved ones fail so many times, Unleashed herself, andunched a massivence of electricity. Siena conjured a de of manifested shadow, the edges screeching over the sentient armour. Beatrice used a fully charged Needle Assault, the tiny amounts of damage ramping up courtesy of Perfects enchantments. Aclysianded the three blows of Cutting Flurry. Metra mmed down Rex Magnar with the eleration of its enchantments and the maximum avable weight. Lydia drilled into the armour with carefully pre-ced shards of Strimata. As a 4-type Combination, Syrwinde bombarded the boss with an intense wave of green fire. John raised his left and bombarded the boss with the Arcane Ascension, still holding Nia with the other arm.
Finally, Rave jumped at the boss. Her fist was pitch ck, surrounded by a corona of blinding rays of every colour. Her chant ended. Her fist snapped forwards at untraceable speed. Heat exploded through the room with such intensity that John had to narrow his eyes to prevent them from drying up.
Everyone, having spent their attacks in such a perfect sequence that the boss didnt get to react at all, looked at the Guardian with bated breath. It was covered in holes, its helmet mostly melted away, one armpletely removed, the other molten into a solid unit that still held the sword.
The boss took three steps forwards. The healing kicked in. Before everyones eyes, the boss began to regenerate. The mirage spawned, and started circling around the room, breaking down the trees of stone in the process.
Sturdy fucker, Metra growled, the first to ready her weapon again. It didnt matter if all of that still wasnt enough, there had to be a way to ovee this. Even the healing had to end somewhere.
Everyone ducked under the energy beam and charged. Rex Magnar howled with anger and jubtion, a discordant chorus with Strimatas almost mocking singing. Everyone who could deal damage did. Even Copernicus got involved in the melee, jumping on the boss shoulder and biting away at the thin, half-dissolved edges of the neck. Headless, the boss still fought on. The arcane attacks spawned from its stump rather than eyes. It shambled towards the middle of the room, guided there by Aclysia. More attackable angles meant more damage.
.Rrrrrrrrrrrrr the boss made a rattling sound, like a cooling unit ramping up. The healing factor quickened to degrees that rivalled Eliza, restoring the armour by several centimetres a second.
Shit, the anchor was in the middle, is that a quicker healing area? John theorized as the Guardian of the Seal, despite all they did, came to be fully restored.
Sword raised, the boss withdrew more and more power from the seal.
The arcane chains rattled.
On its own, the presence of the spell hurt the group.
The seal cracked.
Swinging it down, the boss was about to undo them all.
The gate burst open, darkness and tentaclesshing out and gripping the boss limb mid motion. An inhuman, metallic scream echoed from the Guardian of the Seal, as it was ripped backwards and into the ckness. The sound of failure and rage echoed away into the ckness beyond the silver frame, now holding two splintered pieces of wood that were barely attached to the hinges.
Ah, scripted events you got to love them, John thought as the levels rolled in, the chest spawned and several windows opened.
Chapter 998 – The Surface of Ohmior Finale – Done with the Surface
Chapter 998 C The Surface of Ohmior Finale C Done with the Surface
Air was continuously sucked into the pitch-ck darkness beyond the broken gate. Like ck fog, the lightless depths seemed to waver. To beckon them inside. Stranger things dwelled in that imprable nothing.
The group, who had seen their fair share of impressive and horrifying visuals in their life, went to the chest. John directed everyones attention towards the window that had appeared, before they raised the lid. I guess Gaia decided to do another small change under the hood.
Any thoughts on the reward I should pick?
Isnt it obvious? Siena asked. Since when did we greatly care about items? Stimte your level growth, it will serve us better.
Fair point. John nodded, but gave the rest of the harem a moment to bring up another argument. There was none and so the choice was made.
So that brings the total yield of levels during this grinding session up to seventeen, he thought, while distributing the new points between Wisdom and Intellect. Thats pretty average for a Raid session almost a third of that is from Experience of Love as well ah, whatever, progress is progress.
Can I check the loot? Sylph asked, excitedly jumping up and down on top of the lid. I wanna look at the shiny, shiny stuff in there! There will be shiny stuff, right? There is always shiny stuff! It might be kinda useless shiny stuff, but its still, you know, very, very cool and shiny!
Sure, John gave her the go ahead. The small woman squatted down on top of the lid of the decoratively dented metal chest and grabbed the front edge. Her long, bright green hair fell all the way to the floor when she leaned backwards and pulled.
Sylph tilted, the lid opened and John managed to stop thinking about how simr that pose was to her riding him long enough to catch her before she could hit her head. Hmmm, the attentive, strong man catches me, the arcvolt elemental purred in a surprisingly deep and sultry voice. Perhaps he wants to catch the attention of his finest concubine? Maybe? Just a little? A reward would be in order, yes, yes?
A reward for me or you?
However you want to look at it, Master, Sylph giggled. Her bright, anticipating smile and the desire in her eyes was too much for the victory-rush Gamer to handle. A couple of secondster, he had lost his pants and was lowering Sylph on his cock. The 1,50-metre bundle of sexy curves, boundless energy, and a tight pussy, made from writhing winds and massaging electricity, moaned without any shame when his 20-centimetre cock impaled her. Her arms slung around his neck for support, her tits pressed against his chest. Johns pants aside, they were both still clothed. Sylphs unitard had just gotten moved to the side.
The other girls around were universally distracted by the disy. To start with, Sylph was sexy. Partly because she was so small, there was just something enticing about petite females, and partly because she had an hourss figure despite her smallness. The harem got to see Sylphs cute, round butt jump on the only genuine cock around. The same cock they all wanted to get involved with. Hard-fought victories were always a turn on.
E-hem, Lydia cleared her throat. While most girls were just regretting that they hadnt taken the first opportunity to seduce John, she was still (mostly) focused on the task at hand. We shouldmence with the appraisal. Afterwards, we can enjoy our victory properly.
You mean we can have an orgy? John grinned, taking one hand off Sylphs soft thighs and moving it to her backside. He slid one finger into her asshole. The implication of what he wanted to do with Lydia was clear.
The queens skin, from cleavage to the root of her copper hair, became visibly flushed with desire. Indeed, she stated outright.
John walked over to the chest. The air spirit bouncing on his cock moaned incoherently with every step. Aclysia, could you lend me your hands? Mine are upied, he said when he stopped next to the chest. To show off, and because her pussy felt better depending on how much force he put into his movements, he hammered Sylph so hard that the pping sounds echoed in the dome.
Certainly, Master, Aclysia obeyed and kneeled down next to him and the opened chest. She reached in and retrieved the first item. She also gave Johns balls a series of kisses while she presented it to him. That wasnt part of what he had asked for, but he was far fromining. They continued with that arrangement, the items ending up in Aclysias inventory after everyone had a look at it.
The chest, much bigger on the inside than the outside, contained many more things than should have been possible. The Common and Umon items barely were worth mentioning, given the amount of ovep. The Ohmior Armour Instructions dropping was nice but, given their rarity category, far from surprising.
Rather than a single Guardians Resolve, they got two more of the Rare Ohmior AS Crystals. John decided to keep one for himself, just on the off-chance he ever wanted to make another Artificial Spirit. The other, he nned to give to Scarlett. In a stroke of luck, they dropped all three Epic items once. Stable Arcane Essence was another thing that Scarlett or some other crafter would be able to do something worthwhile with. The Mithril Ingot was still reserved for Raves recement suit. The Ohmior Sentry Schematics turned out to be an unlockable upgrade for the Guild Halls Sentry Station. It would make the Sentry Golems resemble the Ohmior Knights, but it also was only applicable to a Tier 5 Sentry Station. John would put it in the Guild Bank.
The Legendary Spellbook did not drop. This was somewhat disappointing, but expected given the amount of Epic loot they got.
Lydia imed some of the weapons and a copy of the instructions as the reward for her participation in all of this and then they prepared to go back to base.
Are weing back for that? Smander asked, pointing back at the open gate.
Not in this session, John told her, having to talk over the moans and ps stemming from the continuing walk-fucking of the horny little air spirit. We only have about twelve hours left. I want to celebrate victory, sleep and maybe get the Unfound levels in. While he was just shy of level 355, he didnt need to fight for the remaining experience.
The orgy would get him there.
__________________________________________________________________________
John was pretty proud of himself and very happy with Gaia. The Unfound Challenges had been a bunch of things that, while themselves not inherently lewd, could be done in a lewd setting. Blindly finding his way around the house? Sure thing. Pinpointing specific points on aplex form, like the human anatomy? Absolutely possible, especially with his dick as the pointer. Studying the breathing and heartbeat by closely analysing them with nothing but his touch and hearing? With an ancient weapon riding him, everything was possible.
After two hours of fucking, he had gotten the seventh Perk of Unfound unlocked.
All three of those were pretty decent. Instinct Observe was useful because it not only let John keep tabs on gatherings of people, but because he could check out people he wasnt directly looking at. There was the caveat to this that it was very rare that he couldnt look at an opponent since Observe could also be cast by all of his Possessions, including the Mand Sphere.
Seeking Aura would have been trash had he not gone into Arcweaver already. Active Aura had been a useless Skill to John, so everything that required it would have automatically been a low-tier pick. However, Active Aura had been reced by a permanent Passive. By virtue of that, Seeking Aura would also be a permanent effect.
Sharper Senses would have been the weaker but more reliable version of Seeking Aura, had it not been for that Arcweaver Perk. As it stood, it was strictly a worse choice.
Between the remaining two, John had gone for Instinct Observe. He had already gotten what he wanted out of the detail-level of his supernatural senses and they improved with each level of Unfound anyway. Doing something unique with his Gamer abilities just struck him as more interesting. Being able to, literally, read the room upon entering it was worth a lot outside ofbat as well.
Another three hours of fucking, a level, and more sexually mastered Challengester, he goth the eighth Perk of the ss.
All three were, again, solid choices. John was already certain he would take Ultra Instinct Observe. Constant mood updates were not only immensely potent duringbat but also during negotiations. Anyone who couldnt counter Observe, he would have a much easier time manipting. Even if they noticed the Skill working, it wouldnt help them that much. It might even add to the intimidation factor.
Regardless, the other two were solid. Performing under Pressure was the worst for John, due to his mage build, but its potential could not be denied. If his Aura Sensing had been specialized on range, he would turn into an army-busting machine. Companion Senses was a nice utility and wore its value on its sleeve.
The harem agreed with Johns choice for the first Perk. So that was the choice he made, before going to bed.
Beloved, it is time to rise, Lydias voice nudged him out of slumber the next morning.
John groaned, not feeling entirely ready yet. Hey how am I supposed to get up without someone on my dick? heined, noticing ack of upper or lower lips wrapped around his shaft.
If you may recall, we overstretched our timetable yesterday, Lydia informed him. We have no time to indulge this morning.
But Lylyyyyy, Rave, who stirred among the other women in the living room, cried out in protest, I wanna sleeeeeeeep.
You can sleep in your Pce, Lydia told them.
Get up youzy bitches, Scarlett backed up her fellow workaholic, already wearing her suit and fixing her tie. Vacation is over. Back to the grind.
Its SUNDAY FUCKING MIDNIGHT! Eliza threw a pillow at Scarlett. The technomancer was forced two steps back, but remained standing. Unamused, she stared at Eliza, whose scream had caused everyone to be awake now.
John sighed and resigned himself to his fate. Blessed as he was with his harem of nymphomaniacs, there wasnt always time to enjoy it all. There was the work to do to keep them all safe and wealthy and then there was the general thing that they were, even if some of them fashioned themselves that way, not his sex ves. They were his beloved haremettes and sex with them wasnt something he could get merely because he demanded it. It was an act of mutual desires that he would always be thankful for.
Reminding himself just how good he had it, John rolled off the mattress hey on. They hadnt even made it to bed. After five to six hours of near uninterrupted victory celebration, sleep had imed them wherever they had been at the time. The room reeked of the unappetizing mixture of cold sexual fluids. John was thankful that his nose had grownrgely used to it over the night.
They all had to hop into the showers one after the other to rinse that smell off them before they went out to meet with Magoi to leave the barrier. Where is Lee? John wondered, eager to see the results of her own training over the past ten days.
She left a couple of hours ago, Magoi informed him, the smile behind his raptor mask could almost be physically felt, let alone heard. To quote my little girl: the dream dude can wait to see his trophy gamer wife until he has that date organized.
Keeping me on edge until the veryst second, huh? John sighed. Well, I deserve it. I wont let her wait too long.
Just make her happy, Mabirl demanded.
Chapter 999 – An Artificial Calm
Chapter 999 C An Artificial Calm
John did not get to work immediately upon getting home. Instead, he went to bed. He fully desired to finish up Lees initiation that day and to do so he wanted himself and his girls to be at their absolute best. That started with them getting their rhythms properly sorted. Lydia left at that point, but only after John told her the hour at which he saw todays date ending.
When he woke up for the second time that day, at the sensible time of 7 AM, the Gamer was exhrated with the potential of the day. That feeling of something exciting happening soon filled every fibre of his being. It sweetened his breakfast, warmed the shower and elevated the morning orgy to intense heights. The feeling was clearly shared among the harem. Everyone was excited for the new addition.
This level of anticipation is definitely what should precede someone new in my harem, John thought, as the morning rituals petered out. Despite, or maybe because of, this general excitement, they were done after only one hour. Everyones looking forward to one more person to love and share their life with. If therell be any more women in the future, they better induce the same feeling in my harem.
After all was washed and all were sexually satisfied, the harem found themselves on the Couch. The TV was on, but only showed a simple visualizer that went along with the soft beats Rave had put on. They were all gathered around the low table and all lounging on some part of the Couch. Even Scarlett and Siena, who sat in armchairs, were sitting on the Couch.
Because this was no longer the exquisitely crafted, somewhat enchanted, but ultimately normal leather-d couch they had before. This construct of ck leather and cushions was the recently acquired Harem Couch. It had been assigned the space around the table, essentially arge U facing the television, and was utilizing it to the best of their wishes. Quite literally, as it reshaped as was necessary.
John had enabled an option called Adaptive Rxation and now the Couch became whatever was optimal at the time. First ced, it had been just one U-shape unit. When the harem had wanted to sit down, the Couch parted to allow them simple ess to the seats. When they sat down, those that preferred armchairs had their segments transformed. Simrly, those thaty down found themselves with a headrest forming at the perfect spot. Those that cuddled had the backrest of the Couch stretch into a semi-circle, making the nuzzling a bit easier. The Couch could even broaden and do away entirely with the backrest, essentially transforming it into a leathery bed.
So, while they may have been on their own segments, they were all technically on the same Couch. I love this thing already, John mused while stretching his feet out. He only had to wait a moment for a footrest to form. Watching leather flow like water and expand in an impossible fashion was a bit odd, but nothing too unusual for him at that point.
I concur, Copernicus purred. Despite not being a part of the harem, the Couch reacted to him and created a pedestal for the sr jaguar to lie on. Because cats would always do cat things, it was almost two-metres high and allowed the eclipse elemental to look down at everyone else, when he wasnt sleeping. Velka, who got her own, smaller and lower, pedestal chirped in support.
Same, Rave joined the chorus of universal approval, nuzzling a bit closer to his right.
It will certainly reduce the required cleaning, Aclysia said from his left.
Both were resting their heads on his shoulders; their feminine curves were pressed against him and their hands lovingly brushed over his chest. While everyone in the harem was equal, there still was a hierarchy to certain things, as there was with every social endeavour. Those two usually got to im his sides. The beauty of their group was that, when one of the girls really craved or needed the attention, either Rave and Aclysia would make room. Mutual respect and appreciation was a must.
John sat at the centre of the short-side of the U-shape and, thus, could oversee the entirety of his harem. Sitting on their own, in loose or tightly knit groups, all awaiting what he would say next, all naked and beautiful, two cuddled up directly with him. To say that he felt like a king at that moment would have been an understatement. No king ever had this brilliant of a life, he thought and smiled. As beautiful as they all were, as good as Aclysia and Rave smelled, he still remained mostlyid.
It was time to concentrate.
Alright, just one thing before we get to the date nning, John spoke up. Artificial Spirit just reached level 50, so I am getting some Perks.
The girls seemed a bit disappointed by that announcement, even the Artificial Spirits themselves. Between new Perks and Lee, it was clear where everyones hearts and minds were at. John wanted to put a mild buffer between the orgy and the date nning though. Give everyone some more time to get their reasonable faculties activated.
Lets start with Aclysia, John said as usual.
Strength and done. The minor choice, being nothing but a tiny Stat upgrade, was always easy to get through.
Two choices were new, one a repeat (that being Juggernaut). The repeat was also Johns favourite of the bunch. Because Aclysia wasnt particrly mobile, she had neither the Agility nor the movement Skills of Beatrice, her getting restrained was a steady worry. Anything that allowed her to break out with ease was a boon. The resistance against mental effects was also quite nice, albeit not as necessary thanks to high Mental Stats and the Mental Bacsh Attribute.
All of that being said, the two new choices were interesting. Support Servant sounded like a solid Devotion builder. Just how solid depended on what exactly ssified as enabling. If it was enough that Aclysia fought someone in an area where an Unstable Arcana was pulsing, it was essentially a steady resource generation. She could also weave in and out of engagements to refresh the effect, rather than stay put.
Maid Knight Aura was the weakest for generalbat purposes, but it could be really potent in the right circumstances. On its own, it was a 5% Endurance buff for Aclysia, assuming the aura also affected her. In terms of harem-rted fights, it was also a Sword Specialization 1 and 5% Endurance buff for Beatrice. That already made it good enough for consideration. The more maids inside the aura, the better it would obviously be. John couldnt imagine that the rest of the harem had the time or motivation to put in the work to qualify as a maid, but there was, probably, going to be a squad of lesser maids that would eventually join Aclysia to keep the Pce clean. That was part of the reason why she had started her little school.
That had not yete to pass, making it a less effective pick. The choice wasnt his to make, however.
So, what do you think? I am leaning towards Juggernaut, he asked Aclysia.
Aclysia hummed, both looking at the window and kissing his neck at the same time. The calming fragrance ofvender rose from her at the moment. Id like Support Servant more. I want to be able to use Masters Shield more frequently.
John chuckled and sighed at the same time. Of course, she would prioritize the Perk that would let her keep him safe better than the one that ensured her own wellbeing. As long as she could still use the Skill that made her the target, it didnt matter whether she was rooted or not. I can hardly tell her she is wrong the Gamer thought, trying toe up with any arguments to make her see things his way. Immobilization is too infrequent an issue to convince her that having a countermeasure is paramount. Alright then, he conceded and picked the passive.
Exhaling slowly, John deliberated the presented choices. He had waited for a long while for the next set of enrichment Perks to roll around. Earliest, he had thought they woulde when the Skill hit 100 again. Not only was he now presented with a potent set of choices, they were doubly important because Beatrice, through Copy Quality, would benefit from all body-adjusting Perks Aclysia got. Her refinement speed would only be half as the drawback. Not a big one, considering Beatrice would still get her own Perks.
I need some expert opinions here, John said and made the window fly over to the next seat over to let Metra read the choices. Once she was done, she waved it along. Because they were in his Harem Party and because John let them, they could move his windows. One after the other, the girls read the contents, until the choices were back in front of John, Rave and Aclysia. Thoughts?
Is there any reason why we would even consider Arcane Mysteries? Smander asked.
It may lead to Astrotium, John told her. This is how I perceive these choices, at least. Arcane Mysteries concentrates more arcane energy inside Aclysia, obviously. Mithril and Astrotium are arcane metals. Mithril more so than Astrotium, as far as we know, but Astrotium is so rare that we here in Fusion have some of the most reliable research data in the world.
It was such a boring fucking day, Metra grumbled, leaning onto her clenched fist. After the Hudson Brawl, while they checked exactly what the chunk that was missing meant to her health, Metra had spent a whole day being analysed by whatever experts they could gather. Very little data had been gathered. The procedure that had created Metra, the very first Artificial Spirit, was too archaic to be entirely understood by modern instruments. Simrly, Astrotium had too many barely understood properties that messed with readings. The best they could do was establish some likeness with Mithril. Both metals had simr structures and both could be found exclusively within Natural Barriers. Mithril was usually guarded by some kind of dragon as well. What made it so those two things often spawned alongside each other was a mystery.
Knowing this and the choices presented, Smander asked, Any reason to believe Draconic Secrets may not lead to Astrotium as well? It gives Mithril right now, so thats a pointer in that direction, right?
Id guess that Draconic Secrets will have less of an overall yield and different side benefits than Arcane Mysteries, John presented his theory. One will go into Mithril and Astrotium, the other into Mithril and, most likely, Oblivium. The Shard of Destruction is mentioned explicitly. A shard of Nathalias core. The earliest Oblivium I got is associated with her. He made a simple gesture. Theory-crafting aside, Arcane Mysteries also has a tangible bonus. 25% upkeep reduction, applying to both Aclysia and Beatrice, is pretty hefty. It reduces their costs from 10% of my mana regeneration to 7,5%. Whenever their costs get adjusted by a patch, itll be even more worthwhile, I guarantee it.
What about Elemental Body? Gnome asked.
The bnced choice, Scarlett answered before John could. Doubtlessly goes into generating all elemental extreme metals.
Collimets, John corrected.
That desperately needs a rebranding, Scarlett groaned. Doesnt roll off the tongue at all. Even Col-metals would work better. Col-metals and Fuse-alloys. Those are terrible and still fucking better.
Thats a discussion for another day, John grumbled, somewhat attached to the names he came up with. Lets stick to the Perks. Aclysia, Beatrice, what do you two think? Your opinions are the most important.
Both remained silent for several more seconds. John could feel the back and forth of opinions between the two going through his soul. Beatrice spoke up first. Statement: I only care to provide maximum value and have no emotional attachment to any of the three choices.
John nodded. He had expected as much. Then he looked over to Aclysia, who was still pondering.
By process of elimination, I view Elemental Body as dispensable, the weaponized maid let her thoughts be known. Even assuming that Collimets will be generated by a follow-up Perk, the Guild Hall already produces them reliably.
We should take that out of the equation, Gnome spoke up. The Mines also yield tiny amounts of Mithril on the lower levels. The Guild Hall produces moderate amounts of both and will produce more once it reaches Tier 5.
Shes right, John confirmed that bit. To put it simply: Arcane Mysteries may lead to the rarest metal. Elemental Body may lead to the Collimets. Draconic Secrets supplies Mithril now and may lead to very interesting things. We do not know what these following this path parts really mean, but Gaia wouldnt put them there for fun and games.
Weeeell Rave threw it in, okay, no, probably not into Perks. Silence settled on the room again. Oh,e on, Aclysia, ya already know what ya want to pick. Ya wanna go with Draconic Secrets.
The white-haired maid looked over to the head of the harem with confusion in her eyes. Yes but why? Asking how Rave knew that was unnecessary. It appears to have the least long-term benefit.
Come on, ya know why, Rave teased.
Personally, I want to click it because it has that Special Path next to it, John admitted.
No, thats not it. Aclysia shook her head. I think it is because I admire Nathalias strength, the weaponized maid shared what she figured out. I was paralysed by her mere presence the first few times we met. The world obeyed her whims. What she wanted to achieve or protect, she could. I want to be like that. I want to have all the power I can, to shield what I value.
John looked over to Beatrice. Do you agree with Aclysias choice?
Answer: to protect you is the highest of values. If Aclysia designates Draconic Secrets as the proper path to find the might needed to that end, the choice has my full support.
John confirmed Draconic Secrets. An orange glow suddenly emitted from both of the maids, a particrly intense line spreading out from their corbones and crawling over their skin. Heat and a fizzling sound, close to a campfire flickering, apanied the disy. It wasnt hot enough to burn John, but Aclysia still distanced herself while it continued. After less than thirty seconds, the orange light had reached her fingertips and ebbed away.
Everyone, including themselves, inspected the two maids. Two changes were immediately apparent: a thin, orange crystal was embedded above their sternums and their ears had taken on a pointier shape. They werent elongated, like an elfs or Nathalias would have been, but they were definitely out of the human category. A third change became clear when Aclysia looked over to John: the pupils of her eyes were now vertical slits, like a reptiles.
I didnt expect immediate physical changes, John confessed, looking at her. Aside from those mentioned things, she was still his beautiful, pale-skinned, white-haired, bottom-heavy Aclysia.
Do they bother you, Master? she asked, already knowing the answer through their mental connection. I can sense that this, not the figurine you used to create me, is now my base shape. I can still adjust myself to your liking. Just to demonstrate, she made the Shard of Destruction disappear back under her skin.
John put his arm around her side and pulled her back against his side, where she belonged. Youre as beautiful as ever, he said to her, looking deep into her emerald eyes. I never minded myself a girl that is supernaturally exotic either. He looked over to Beatrice and waved her over. At the same time, to make room, Rave got up. She knew perfectly how to read the room. When the passive maid joined them, he quickly pulled her against his right. Youre both incredible, he whispered and kissed them.
One after the other first, then in a pretty messy three way that consisted mostly of tongue action. He got the feeling they had gotten longer and nimbler with theirs, but there was nothing definitive there yet.
Alright, lets continue, we still have Baes Perks to go and a date to n, John interrupted their little session, before it could get out of hand.
The choice here was Swing. To date, these Minor Upgrades were the only way to raise the cap of the resource, so investing in it was the most sensible choice.
I think Sworn Weapon would be good, John said. Sunder sounds pretty powerful in a lot of situations, but Id like it if you could arm yourself instantly.
Agreed, Beatrice stated and the choice was made quickly.
Sometimes he got roughly equivalent Perks and sometimes he got one that was so clearly better than the other two that the choice made itself. Sex Servant was incredible, he already knew that for certain because Aclysia had it, but it was nothing he should take while it was next to actually useful Perks. Treasurer did not meet that threshold. Would it be nice to have? Yes. Did Beatrice currently fall short of her duties in any way? No. Therefore, she did not need it.
Copy Quality Better increased the speed at which she generated Mithril. Money put to the side, making the legendary metal the primary ingredient of her body faster would be an immense boon to her physical safety. Therefore, it had to be that one.
John thought so hard about that choice, he actually moved both hands in front of his head and rested his chin on both thumbs. What do you think, Beatrice?
Statement: Making it her Own.
I tend to agree, John hummed. Perfect Copy Quality and The Greatest ttery both suffered from taking away from Beatrices choices. They had traded this in order to let the passive maid catch up with Aclysia, as far as refinement Perks went. Now they were given the choice to not only opt out but to do that with another hefty bonus. Copying Ultimate Body with even half the Stat increases was a bonus of 10% to All Stats. It was a Perk that John had gotten considerably earlier in his Gamer career and that was obviously overtuned, but Gaia had never nerfed it. Even applying half to Beatrice was an immense boon. Hmm how about some trickery first? he asked with a grin.
It was a rhetorical question, he was already moving to do some minor exploiting of the way the system worked. He moved the Beatrice Perks to the side, without making the choice, and turned back to Aclysia. He had 3 SEPs, which meant that he could give Aclysia two additional Perks. Any of those being further body adjustments meant that Beatrice got them as well. It was pure value maximizing by making his choices in the right order.
Welp, thats not what I was looking for, but alright regardless, the Gamer thought. Any preferences?
I believe Strong Inventory will scale the best, Aclysia said.
Yeah, same, John just made the choice. Since Gaia had already assured him he would get something out of it, he went ahead and spent the other two SEP on another Perk. The next time he wanted to buy a Perk for Aclysia, it would cost him 3 SEP, but he wasnt too bothered by that prospect.
You want to be like Nathalia, right? Indulgence of Destruction it is! John said, raising his finger in a dramatic fashion.
No! Aclysia grabbed his hand. I dont want to be like THAT side of Nathalia.
Johnughed, not being serious from the start. And I dont want you to have a lizards head, he told her and kissed her on the soft lips. I was just teasing you.
I do not appreciate that, Master. The weaponized maid pouted.
Statement: I do not want to have a lizard head copied to me, Beatrice chimed in, grabbed John by his right cheek and pulled. Criticism: the joke went too far.
Alright, alright, I apologize, John relented immediately, even if the pull wasnt strong enough to induce any difort. Draconic Tendencies it is, right? Both maids nodded. John confirmed the choice.
The orange glow returned and once more crawled outwards from the, now visible, shards above their sternums. By the end, the maids hands and feet hade to be covered in ck dragon scales, with sharp ws ending each finger and toe. The Shards of Destruction were slightlyrger and their ears slightly longer. That was the extent of the changes, however, and after they got rid of the scales and ws, obviously a detriment during work and cuddling, there was little difference to their first transformation. They looked more fully than half-elven now, given the ears.
John picked the Perk for Beatrice, which caused no further physical changes to ur. It was purely a boost to her Stats.
Alright, that done lets get to nning this date! John announced.
Chapter 1000 – A date worthy of the occasion
Chapter 1000 C A date worthy of the asion
The nning of things took a couple of hours, then John reached out to Lee via text and finally was in front of her house in the early afternoon. He heard activity within the house, before he even reached for the doorbell. Lee must have seen him through the window and hurried toe out. Patiently, John waited. Even when all movement conspicuously stopped after she had arrived behind the door. After, likely, gathering herself one more time, Lee opened the door.
Y-yo! she stammered.
Hello, John answered calmly and gave her a suave smile. Lee was as beautiful as ever. A face between cute and sexy, with pink, full lips and dark eyes, looked up at him. She was smaller, considerably so, than John. Her hair was long andrgely un-styled. She might have given it some extrabing today, but nothing seemed explicitly out of the ordinary. So dark in its brown that it was basically ck, unless the light shone directly on it, it was long enough to reach her lower back. Her bangs, the only part of her appearance that did seem styled, were both wild and perfectly cut, covering her forehead and some of the space between her eyes, but not bothering her otherwise.
The Gamers gaze wandered further down, in search of what results her training might have had. He was blocked by therge coat she was wearing. A felt thing that covered her from cor to knees, wholly appropriate for the weather. It was warmer than early December might have indicated, above 10 degrees Celsius, but it had also been foggy all day, with the asional light rain to boot.
Lee Magus
RP: 127 C This woman is infatuated with you and thinks you are the one to fall for.
Emotions: Excited, Nervous, Horny
The information entered Johns head. He hadnt thought Ultra Instinct Observe woulde in handy so early.
You look fantastic, the Gamer started with apliment.
You havent even seen what I worked for yet, dude, Lee told him. You look alright, by the way.
John, wearing his usualbination of ck suit and dark red shirt, only continued to smile. Sadly, Im always impably dressed, so I cant up myself for the asion.
Ill survive. The young Fateweaver stepped out of her doorway, a pouch slung over her shoulder. The ck shoes she wore were quite in for a date. John would have been surprised if she owned something proper for a date night.
We will see about that. John grinned and offered his arm. Shall we?
Lee looked at the extended elbow for several seconds, before it clicked and she reached out. It was absolutely adorable. The hesitation with which she came closer and the blush on her face when she did hold onto him were priceless. Can you stop grinning like a fucking donkey? she cussed at him, so obviously embarrassed.
Precious little cinnamon bun, never change, the Gamer returned.
Dont be creepy, dude, Lee grumbled.
If Im so creepy, you can leave whenever you want, John hummed and got moving.
His date walked along.
____________________________________________________________________
A restaurant? Really?
They stood before a fairly simple and extremely luxuriously designed building. The simplicity came through the rectangr shape, light on decorations and dominated by windows. The luxuriousness came through the furniture, the soft golden light, and the cleanliness of everything.
A restaurant, really, John confirmed and took her to the waiter manning the weing desk.
The man did a little bow. President Newman, we have been expecting you. He looked over to Lee. Do you require ess to our wardrobe, Miss Magus?
The way Lee wed into Johns arm informed John of the level of cringe she felt at being called by the title she thought reserved for her mother. I, urgh, guess, she surrendered to the situation and let go of John. A nearby waitress took Lee to the wardrobe, while John was brought to the table. He waited there, standing alongside the waiter, the two of them engaging in idle chit-chat. John liked talking to the working people of Fusion, it alwaysted him some interesting titbits.
I hope the taxes arent too hi- John started on a joke, but stopped the moment he saw Lee step back into the main room.
The dress she wore was simple and sleek. Its very light pink colour wrapped around the back of her neck as a thin string, leaving her shoulders and a bit of her pale cleavage open for view. Her waist had slimmed just a tiny bit, John could already make out that much, with mild definitions of muscles visible underneath the tightly sitting cloth. The skirt was slit open on both sides, the resulting strands dangling down to her knees.
Her thighs were on open disy. Her thighs were absolutely marvellous. The training had paid off remarkably, leaving her with legs that truly deserved the designation th. They jiggled a little bit with each step. Same was true for her ass. From being average, it had be round and juicy, perfectly fitting on her frame and being delectable to behold. The curve of her ass stretched her dress in all the right ways.
John was incredibly thankful to the Mand Sphere, that he could take her in from multiple angles.
Incredible, the Gamer said, fully meaning it, when she reached the table.
Lee smirked, clearly pleased with herself. Thanks be to martial arts and all of that, she said and moved to the chair. Swiftly, John pulled it back for her. While it was meant to be a gentlemanly motion, John fully intended to exploit it to get a view of her rump in the seating process. The only reason this worked was because she consciously decided to lower herself in the most suggestive way that was still decent.
Ass pushed out, showing just how much rounder it had gotten, she slowly ced herself on the chair. This is why everyone needs to work out, the Gamer thought. Screw health benefits, juicy butts are where the world is at.
Once Lee wasfortable, John circled around the table to his own seat. The waiter lit a candle between them, handed both of them the menu, and left them with a bell they could ring to show they had made their choice.
It does make you wonder, John said, while opening the menu, just how little care you took of yourself before I forced you to train, given how thunderous the results are.
Dude, I thought I would die. Lees dry tone and choice of words didnt fit at all with their environment. Spent all day every day training. Barely even got to y games. The torture is real.
To be fair, thats not a training regimen you should enact if you dont have ess to magic, the Gamer told her. Im happy you went through the torment for me though.
Screw doing things for you, did you see the ass I got out of this? Lee asked, pointing under the table. Do you know how much morefortable sitting is now? I no longer have my bones right on the cushion, its fucking awesome. She flicked a page of the menu. Ill have to buy new pants though. Nothing fits anymore.
Oh no, John sarcastically rolled his eyes, I am Lee. I am dummy thick and my thighs are too giant for my pants.
Drop the sarcasm, its a real problem! Lee reached for the bell. Do you know how hard it is to pull the waistband over your ass when its this round?
Yeah, its the best part of my morning to watch Jane struggle into her pants, John told her. While Lees ass was shy of the perfection of his girlfriends behind, John couldnt stretch enough what the work squats had done for her. From a 5-6, her butt had been elevated all the way to a 9. Courtesy of her being smaller, it wasnt asrge as Aclysias or Sienas, but the juiciness she did have was all around bnced and worth salivating over.
At least someone is being entertained. Lee rung the bell.
Who said I was ready? John asked.
Nobody asked, so think fast. His date stuck out her tongue. You drag me to some posh restaurant, you better know what you want. The waiter was at their table a few momentster. Smi pizza and water, please. She was at least well-behaved while speaking to the worker.
Steak, medium-rare, John added. Water and a ss of red wine. Chefs choice.
The waiter bowed and walked away, leaving the two to resume their banter. Seriously though, Lee took the lead, a restaurant? I thought this was supposed to be the date that makes me head over heels for you and you drag me to a boring, public ce?
Everything in order, the Gamer told her. Were not staying here. I just want you to have the energy for all thats happening today. He leaned back and raised an eyebrow, a mocking smile on his lips. What did you think we would do for this first date? Hang out in my apartment and game until I get you in the bedroom?
Id be game, Lee told him.
John chuckled. She has no idea how right she is. Of course you would be, but Im not the partner to pick for such a simple life, he told her. I am the Gamer and, sure, that involves a lot of gaming and sex in my downtime hours. Im also the President of Fusion and I have an official life thats filled with boringness and mour. If you may, you can take this ce as a rehearsal for what its going to be with me in an official capacity. Even Eliza sometimes attends festivities with me.
I guess. Lee shrugged, not bothered nor enthused about those prospects. As long as I dont have to mimic the prim and properdy, I dont really care.
As long as you dont mind the side-eye you get for acting out of ce, you dont have to, John responded. Speaking of the joke that is you behaving like a properdy
Get bent, Leeughed between his words.
Im surprised you own a dress like that.
I dont, little Miss Magus told him. Mom gave it to me. If you arent going to live like ady and arent going to behave like ady, then you can at least dress like ady. Even that depraved pervert will appreciate that much, the old harpy said.
She knows me so well, John hummed and felt a sudden worry rise inside his chest. You or she dont have any emotional attachment to that dress, right?
Nah, its just one that fit and that showed off my new assets. Lee was in the process of looking impatiently towards the kitchen. After turning back, she asked, Why do you care?
Reasons, John dodged the question with a conspiratorial smile on his face.
Look, if you just want to skip all of this BS and rip it off me, we can be out of here immediately, Lee told him.
Youre really eager to lose your virginity, arent you?
Dude, Im not even a closet pervert, and Im finally sitting across a guy thats actually interesting, Lee told him. Hot, smart, all of that, you are those things, okay, and Im really fucking horny. I havent cum since we did the massage thing.
Arent you an obedient little thing, John whispered in his dom-voice. Thirsty as well. I will oblige you, after I make sure you like me and not the vestiges of what you project on me. After a day to remember. He rxed his tone and demeanour. Youll be mine by the end of the evening, but it wont be as simple as a bed and two writhing bodies.
Lees RP ticked up five points in the silence that ensued. If John had to hazard a guess what caused that, it was probably that he asserted both care for and ownership of her. Both would have been creepying from a random guy, but with his presence in her heart already established, both were seen as sweet instead.
I guess I can wait a little bit longer, Lee shrugged and looked over her shoulder again, as long as I get some food.
Look who is suddenly so eager we are in a restaurant, John mocked.
Wanna bet that we could have had better food if we hung out at your ce and let Aclysia do the cooking? Challenging him to take the offer, she crossed her arms.
No, Id lose that bet, the Gamer smiled.
They got the food soon thereafter.
Chapter 1001 – Two Talking
Chapter 1001 C Two Talking
Lee had about as much ss eating as she had in conversation. That this was a high ss restaurant meant nothing to her. After cutting her pizza into eight slices, she then proceeded to stuff them into her face with her hands. The miracle of it was that she managed to do so without getting anything onto herself. When she was done, she wiped her face and fingers off, downed her water and waited for John to finish his steak.
Sated? John asked, taking his sweet time cutting everything up into neat strips.
Yeeaaaah, Lee said and leaned back with a satisfied sigh. Food is pretty great. She raised her hand and had the barest decency to keep the burp covert. Her eyes darted around afterwards.
After all of that, youre afraid someone will be offended by your burping? John asked, amused.
I can be selectivelydylike, the young Fateweaver responded. How about you worry less about me and more about how slow youre eating. She took her fork and reached over the table. Swiftly, she impaled one of strips of steak on the Gamers te. She wasnt nearly swift enough to ovee his superhuman speed and he locked her down with his knife.
Seeing this as a challenge, Lee tried to steal this single piece off him, while John finished off the rest of the steak with his other hand. When he was about done, he finally let her have it. Giving her the smuggest of res while emptying most of his wine. It had been hand-picked to go along with the meat and tasted incredible because of it. Want thest bit? he offered to Lee.
I really shouldnt, she declined. Dunno why, but Im really sensitive to substances.
Were going to take advantage of that at some point, John said and rose from his seat. Since youre so eager to get out of here, we can go right now.
Dont we have to pay? Lee wondered, still offering her hand to let him pull her up.
I paid in advance, John informed her and guided her towards the wardrobe. Once there, he helped her into her coat.
You know, I can put on my own clothes, yeah? she asked, even as she slipped into the sleeves that he carefully kept sprawled out for her.
Yes. The Gamer slung his arms around her before she could close her coat. Bowed over her in the rtive istion of the sideroom, he kept her locked with one arm across the stomach. The other moved up and he grabbed her left breast. If I just let you, I couldnt get this close to you, though, he whispered into her ear.
What happened to being patient? she challenged him, simultaneously leaning against his chest. Her nipples hardened and John pinched one through the dress. Reflexively, she shrunk together; the sharp pleasure must have been an intense sensation after her period of self-deprivation.
Im being patient, John told her, I also dont have to hold back anymore. He kissed her behind the ear and then backed off. Theres a great many things I wanted to do to you while you so recklessly flirted with me. Reciprocating feels like justice.
I am feeling mighty non-vited, Leeined and closed up her coat. At least nobody could see just how excited she was, while they headed for the exit. What people could see, however, was that John was a lot closer than he had been on entering. Rather than offering his arm, he now had it put around her, his hand resting on the curve of her hip. Scratch that, I am feeling mighty vited, she said when they were outside, her face beet red.
Youre just a walking bundle of contradictions. Amusement was still the strongest emotion in his voice. Do you care about what people think or not? Do you want me to get sexual or not?
I dont care consciously, but I cant help it if Im not used to stuff, okay? Lee fired back.
You actually can help it. Just expose yourself to what embarrasses you, the Gamer said and groped her butt. Do you think I was always this daring? I used to be an introvert who would blush at the mere thought of kissing a girl in public. He grinned at her. Youre much better at the whole flirting thing than I used to be.
How the fuck did yound with Jane then? Lee wanted to know.
Well, the Gamer thought back on the chain of events that had led them to dating, I was lucky that she was single and I had interesting powers that gave her free ess to danger.
Shes a daredevil.
To put it mildly. John nodded and squeezed Lees butt some more. There was a satisfying amount of flesh to hold onto. God, that really paid off for me.
It really paid off for ME, Lee corrected.
You keep believing that, John retorted immediately.
Lee rolled her eyes. Youre one possessive guy, arent you?
Absolutely. If I wasnt, I might have been able to quit you. They walked along the street, few people crossing their paths and fewer still as they left this popted part of thergely empty city. Its bad enough for me if I cant have something C to not have something I could have is so much worse. To not be able to be with someone whose feelings I reciprocate would be pure torture. Someone as entertaining, sassy and beautiful as you belongs by my side.
Blushing in a different way, Lee poked her dates stomach with her elbow. Shut up, dude, she said with a giant happy grin on her face. She kept her eyes focused on the floor. You should be carefulplimenting a girl for her sass, youll never hear the end of it.
Good, John gave her behind a small p and Lee gasped in surprise, I want that in my partners. I dont take myself too seriously. Doesnt really work out if you get criticized from all directions.
Speaking of criticizing you, the smaller woman smoothly transitioned, why are we walking?
See, the thing is, humans inhabit a physical world and in order to get from a to b we must move our feet.
Very funny, dude. Lees dry, deep tone waspromised by the remainder of a grin she still had on her face.
I know, I am hrious.
Youre a clown, yeah.
John remained silent, then suddenly snorted at his own thoughts. When he noticed Lees questioning gaze, he said, You dont want to know.
Dont pull that timewaster on me, Lee groaned. Typical people behaviour. Do something that makes everyone wonder what you are on about, then go you dont want to know to make everyone curious what you were thinking and then cave at the slightest amount prodding. Just spit it out, asshole.
Alright then, John conceded and went, Honk C honk, while squeezing her butt twice. Lee groaned, Johnughed some more. Sorry, sorry, he apologized in earnest. I told you C you dont want to know.
Yeah, that might be the worst thing Ive learned about you so far, Lee grumbled.
John didnt verify whether that was true or not. He used the passive Observe window sporadically. It made things a bit too easy and he trusted his intuition enough to sort things out. The beauty of this whole thing was that Lee liked who he was, so all he had to do to make her feel stronger about him was to keep behaving like himself.
He had her figured out, at least in the broad strokes. She liked to be bullied as much as she liked to give sass, she liked it when he bantered with her and she adored his physical presence. Since he had put an arm around her, she had seemed incredibly ufortable socially, but she also kept close to him and walked with confidence. She felt secure at his side. That was an incredibly important thing.
You know what the worst thing about you is? John asked her.
That I y League?
John had already opened his mouth, but the words had been stolen from him. That is exactly what I was going to say. Well done.
Just because Im azy, vulgar, aggressive little gremlin doesnt mean Im not self-aware.
Those are all traits the average League yer has, John agreed. Clearly, you should switch to the superior game: Dota 2.
Oh yeah, Ill change from beingzy, vulgar and aggressive to elitist, vulgar, aggressive and Russian! Lee agreed enthusiastically. Privet,rade support, have you been stacking creeps dutifully, forrade core?
Why am I not surprised that you know the jargon?
Because Im a multi-talented gaming wonder, Lee boasted, and youre a boring tank yer.
No, I fill and make sure the team is well-bnced, John pushed back. Not my fault everyone always ever only picks what deals damage and nobody cares about CC or being able to engage. Really, I should be apuded. I pick the heroes that charge in first and I sacrifice my KDA so that others may carry. Im practically gaming Jesus.
Dude, you just fill, get off your high horse. The dry tone of Lee apanied her slowly putting an arm around him. She pulled herself as close as possible against his side. Also, stop dodging my question: why are we walking.
Do I need to repeat the a to b thing?
You literally have quick travel enabled in real life. She gestured at the Statue of Liberty, poking up above the distant shore. We can just go to one of your teleporters and get over there instantly.
We could, but we wont, John told her. I want time to just talk to you. Theres nowhere we have to be at a specific time.
You booked nothing else? Lee asked. No horse-drawn carriages or extravagant processions?
No, John told her, simply walking on with her at his side. I wanted us to have the energy for the day and therefore we started with a restaurant. To make the rest of the day an unforgettable experience, I dont need to buy you anything or enlist anybody else. Ill just be with you.
You think just talking and groping my ass will be enough to make this a legendary evening? Lee challenged, only to yelp when he swept her off her feet. Lying across his arms in the often seen princess carry, the sassiness of the dark-haired woman made room for stuttering surprise. W-what are you doing?!
Reminding you just what you got interested in, the Gamer said, rxing his hold on her. It was a feint, he only cared for her reflexes to kick in. Instinctively, she held onto the first thing she could. Both her arms slung around his neck. He secured his hold again and leaned towards her face. Daring, powerful and a tease, I would say that summarizes me fairly well.
Dont forget being a giant, prideful asshole! Lee shouted back. Urgh, sorry, that was a bit much.
Eh, 4 out of 10 Elizas, he joked. Ive had to deal with much worse insults. Honestly though, Lee, do you want me to put you back down? He held her highly, carrying her softly as he walked along. Her hair and legs dangled on either end and her dark eyes dashed between his face and their surroundings. Their path had taken them to a street that went along the water. Here, there were people again. People who fished and people who used this route to go for a walk.
Were being watched, Lee pointed out, not immediately answering the question.
And? Weve got nothing to hide. Im just one man carrying a woman he adores.
Eh, uh, hmm, ahh Lee made a series of embarrassed, stuttering and ultimately futile sounds, before ending it all with a resigned grunt. Just carry me wherever you want to take me.
With pleasure, John hummed and they quietly walked along the water. It was the first time on the date, perhaps the first time since they had met each other, that they were silent together. It had always been chatting or bantering about this or that, getting annoyed with game mechanics or flirting in whatever ways they could with her family breathing down Johns neck.
This silence was important to John because it wasfortable and neither of them forced out something for the sake of conversation. Chemistry between people was often measured in how well they bounced off each other. That was a valid way to look at it, especially when it came to the initial couple of meetings. For a long-term rtionship, partners had to be able to be content with each others presence alone. Life couldnt be all about chatting. Not even Sylph believed that.
He carried her all the way to the pier, where they caught the ferry in a stroke of luck. The dozen other people there werent surprised to see their president. For that to be the case, he walked around the Guild Hall and Hudson Barrier too often. John ced Lee down as the boat began to move.
Theyre staying away, Lee noted. Dunno why, but I thought people would keep running at you, heckling or praising you or something.
Nobody heckles me, have you seen my approval ratings? John joked. Leaning onto the railing of the ferry, he gave a more serious exnation. No, Ive made it clear a while ago that I dont like to be disturbed while Im walking around in a private capacity. The vast majority of people respect that.
They do?
Dont be too surprised. Wherever you go, you find a lot of decent people. Perception gets skewed by the loud, the obnoxious and the tactless. Tapping the railing next to him twice, he made here closer. What do you think of this view? he asked and gestured out.
Beyond the crystal-clear water was a city covered in fog. The weather obstructed somewhat the vision he wanted her to see, but the city that had once been a mere copy of the Big Apple still peeled from its mists with its forests and fantasticalndmarks. Beyond it, the mundane city still existed as hollow copies of whaty outside the Hudson Barriers expanse.
Its a city, Lee said.
Johnughed out loud. Yeah, yeah, it is, he told her. Sorry, I shouldve expected that answer. Im like that with many things myself. To me, however, this city is something special. I consolidated it. I cleaned up the water. I gave the people the opportunity to strive for their own happiness and they took it. Its a monument to my sess. He looked over to Lee, brushed some of her hair behind her ear. Im not a great leader. Thats not the goal of what Im putting together. I wont be the one who shepherds them into the light. All I ever want is to create a world where everyone can walk their own path.
As far as Im concerned, that makes you a pretty decent leader, Lee gave him a rarepliment, ying with the tips of the hairs he had touched.
That means a lot to me. He straightened up and took a slow breath. Enough about me. Tell me something about you, Lee Magus.
Like what? Lee leaned down further on the railing. Im not like you. Im not interesting. Sure, my parents are interesting. Even my siblings are greater. Magnus is admired by everyone for having ovee hisck of talent with dedication. Stefanie found her calling elsewhere and is now an influential person in New Antis. Im just an introverted schoolgirl. Everything of note that ever happened around me happened because of someone else
Does that bother you? John wondered.
Funny thing that, it hasnt, until a couple weeks ago, now it does. Lee looked up to him. Turns out I do want to do something with my life. I just have no idea what that is. Got to thank Stirwin and Beatrice for that one.
I hope you find that something, John said.
I got a couple of ideas. Lee tapped the Mario theme song with her fingers. For a start, I want to add love, cuddles and deep-contact cuddles to my private life. You know, rece masturbation with a dude who keeps my interest sad that I cant find someone like that.
Yeah, real shame, John hummed. What if you theoretically managed that though?
I guess Ill actually use all of that talent I have and see to it that people remember me not for who Im rted to or because I look good, but because Im awesome. Lee grinned, as they crossed through the barrier of the Guild Hall. Also, Im incredibly hot now.
Thats what the eternal summer will do to you, John took her coat.
Chapter 1002 – Finding a calm place
Chapter 1002 C Finding a calm ce
The ferry stopped at one of the piers located in the channel between the main Guild Hall ind and the southern Silicate Ind. Going to the Harbour was, for purely civilian purposes, an extra mile that the ship could spare itself. John offered to carry Lee again, but she declined.
Her coat was already in his inventory and he soon put his jacket in there as well. There was a definitive increase in squishiness under his palm, with the thickyer of winter wear removed. John enjoyed it whenever he could.
They went to the crystal fields, across the bridge, and into the residential area of the Guild Hall. It was a beautiful Sunday inside the Guild Hall, courtesy of the Weather Tower, and a respectable amount of people had elected to spend their day outside. They lounged on the green grass around the luxurious apartment buildings, grilling or just lying about. A couple of children frolicked about. At one point, John had to catch a ball flying towards his head. He simply tossed it back.
Not going to y up how great you are and do a bunch of tricks to impress the brats? Lee wondered, making a bunch of gestures that might be interpreted as her juggling a phantom football around.
Well, I dont think I could pull that off convincingly, John told her. Ive never been particrly apt at using my own body. Sure, Im going to learn it a lot quicker than other people, because Im a superhuman and all of that, but if I tried to improvise on the spot, Id make a fool out of myself. He gestured towards the kids, who went back to kicking the ball back and forth between them. That aside, theyre brats. Theres at least a 50% chance that they react to me showing off not with awe, but withints that they want their ball back already.
Look at that, a truly wise thing you said, Lee stated. How much longer are we going to keep walking, by the way?
What, already exhausted? the Gamer wanted to know.
Im not exhausted, I hate walking around in the first ce. Im a couch potato. Lee shifted around a bit and John had to slow his step to not drag her along in an unpleasant way. Youre the Gamer, you should know what my ideal day looks like.
Sitting in your room, ying video games, with nobody talking to you and John looked over his shoulder to make sure the kids were not in hearing range anymore, porn avable to masturbate to three times a day.
Exactly, you know what changed since I met you?
Itd be nice if I was also in the room.
Exactly! Lee poked his side.
Alright, thats nice for the days you want to meld together, John told her. You know, the time you waste because you have enough of it. I agree though, we moved around enough for now. Lets take a break over there. He pointed at the park they were currently passing. Named the Cherry Square for its hedge-outlined shape and the eternally blossoming cherry trees that were nted all across, it was a decorative piece of nature in the middle of the residential area. If one preferred the green of genuine trees, either the Park to the north or the forests separating the apartments from the Production Districts Buildings provided ample of such to look at.
Is there a restroom around? Lee asked, for obvious reasons. Their visit to the restaurants had been over two hours ago now. Time had flown by while they talked, but neither the Hudson Barrier nor the Guild Hall were so small that they could be crossed, at regr walking speed, in a short time.
There should be a public one over there, John said and guided his date towards a small building with the telling symbols indicating which of the two doors were for women and which for men. He took the opportunity to go for little presidents himself.
One alleviation of biological burdenster, they sat down on a bench. So whats that for? Lee asked and pointed at an empty socket in the middle of the park. It wasrge enough to hold a respectably sized statue.
Not sure what to put there yet, so its just sitting there and waiting for something historical to happen.
Okay and whats THAT about? her finger wandered over to arge blob of dark blue slime that was currently crawling over to one of the many trash cans. It was already filled with garbage, slowly dissolving inside it. The cleaning slimes you have around are a lot smaller.
Oh, thats just Trashpexus, John informed her. Its a special cleaning slime that gets morebat power the more trash it eats. Ive set it to primarily patrol this area. He gestured at the apartments. Wins out over the beaches when ites to trash production.
The Guild Hall is full of weird stuff, Lee remarked.
Itll get even weirder when it reaches the final Tier, John chuckled. Its full of weirdness C and luxuries. To demonstrate, he rose from the bench and plucked a ripe cherry from one of the trees. They were always in bloom and they were also always producing fruit. He offered the dark red cherry to Lee and she snapped at it. With a cheeky grin, she spat out the core. The challenge was clear in her eyes.
They spent the next thirty minutes chatting andpeting who could spit cherry seeds further. John had the edge from the start, having both the superior physiology and a lot of experience in using his mouth. The advantage persisted, even if Lee did her best to distract him every time it was his turn. Eventually, she conceded and just aimed at Trashpexus instead.
They moved on, after they had enough of eating cherries and sitting on a bench. Much to Lees overacted chagrin, this meant they had to walk again. Their destination this time around was the Pce. Even when they were there, they did not head inside.
Instead, John took her to the Clearwater Fountain, the spring of the rivers that flowed through the Guild Hall. It was located between the two southern tips of the star fort, its endless waters falling down the gap. For the spring itself, it was arge, renaissance-styled fountain on top of a naturalistic stone formation.
They werent the only ones there. A certain birdcat was frolicking around in the water.
Velka! Lee shouted, causing the ck-and-white chimera to turn her head and warble at her owner and his date. Spreading her wings, she flew out of the water,nded on the rim of the fountain, and then pounced in their direction.
Halt, Johnmanded and the birdcatnded in front of their feet, rather than directly in Lees arm. Big, red eyes looked up at the Gamer, as if to ask why he was being so harsh. Youre wet. You would ruin her dress, John told her.
Velka had figured out a lot of words by now, even if she wasnt yet smart enough to grasp all of them. Rudimentary understanding of knowing what wet meant and her owners disapproving tone must have been enough to clue her in on what was expected. The dog-sized chimera spread out her wings, puffed up her feathers and shook her entire body. Droplets of water were sent everywhere.
You mischievous little John tried to be mad and kneeled down. Triumphantly warbling, the Magryphunched herself at him. He blocked her assault with his hand. She proceeded to hold him with her front talons and gnawed cutely at his thumb. You know exactly what youre doing, the Gamer reprimanded her, with a smile on his face, seeing the intelligence in the animals eyes. He shoved her back and descended on her. You shiny seeking little annoyance, he said, as he rubbed her exposed belly.
Velka warbled and purred, doubling up on thetter noise when Lee joined the fun and scratched the Magryphs ears. Rolling around in the grass, nibbling and scratching the hands that pat her, the chimerabined cuteness with the threat of cutting someones palm open. Smart as she was, Velka knew not to be quite as harsh with Lees hands as she was with Johns. Whether she could just sense that the young Fateweaver was more fragile or that she just erred on the side of caution with rtive neers, she did spare Lee any unnecessary harm.
Tail flopping and tail feathers vibrating, Velka descended into a state of deep rxation. Eyes closed, limbs finally still, she justid there and purred, the slowly sinking sun illuminating her fur. The Gamer kept a close eye on the development of the sky. Alright, youe here, he said to the Magryph and picked her up.
At first, Velka was still too pat-drunk to do anything but let her owner hold her against his shoulder. Then she snapped out of it and decided that she would much rather stand on top of him. Chirping triumphantly, she half-climbed on his head.
Hahaha, Leeughed at them. The mighty John Newman, defeated by a pretty bird.
Britishly speaking, I feel like I get defeated by pretty birds every day, he responded, keeping his head tilted so Velka could standfortably. Not at all an easy thing with her size. Shes lucky I have such a great sense of bnce. With the Magryph on top of his head, he climbed over the stones of the Clearwater Fountain. You should get out of your shoes, he advised while putting his own into his inventory.
Sure? Lee cautiously agreed.
In the meantime, John whispered into Velkas ear, Ill need you to give me some space, alright? while rubbing it between his fingers.
A conspiratorial meowter, Velka jumped off his shoulder and then ran for the edge of the star fort. Aww, the fluffy bird is gone, Lee let her disappointment be known, shoes and socks now in hand. She was the best thing about this date.
I really should look into giving myself cat ears, John sighed. All of the girls seem to dig them.
They wouldnt fit you at all, dude, Lee snorted. Youre more of a fedora type actually, you used to have a fedora, right?
Yeah, I lost it because of Sigmund, the Gamer told her.
Oh sorry to bring that up, Lee lowered her head.
No need to, thats an old scar, he smiled at her and extended his arm. Come with me.
Lee took the offered hand, but still warily nced at the edge. Especially when John took her closer to it. Where are we going? she asked.
To a nice ce to watch the sunset, the Gamer told her and smiled over his shoulder. Dont worry, Im here. His feet stepped into the water.
As imposing as the waterfall looked from a distance, the stream leading up to the edge was rather soft. By following first the rim of the fountain and then a series of stepping stones, one could keep their feet either above or just a few centimetres below the waters surface. John led the way, Lee followed and he was ready to catch her should she slip.
Their path took them to a boulder at the very edge. Lee breathed a little lighter when they were on it. Solid ground eased her a lot, even if she was still wary of the drop. Afraid of heights? John asked in a serious tone, afraid he might have made a miscalction in his ns.
Afraid of falling, Lee made a somewhat strained joke.
Ill catch you, he assured her again.
You cant fly though, she pointed out.
I cant, he gestured towards the Mand Sphere that was hanging around above them, but I can.
Fair enough, she conceded, now almost fully rxing while John took her the final three steps towards the edge. There, they sat down. The water split around the rock. Nice view, shemented on the in fact of what was before them. Framed by the two tips of the fort was the Guild Hall. Specifically, the Production District sprawled out before them. The Farm with its fields. The forests. The Freedom Channel sparkling red under the evening sun. Silicate Ind with its many crystals. The Hudson beyond that, still covered in the fog of the regr weather. A stark contrast to the clear sky within the Guild Hall.
I wondered a lot about the perfect date with you, John confessed then and there. I did consider something artistic, like a visit to the opera, or a ball, or a concert. I did genuinely consider a carriage ride or something else that might make you feel like a princess. Maybe going to the beach could have worked. Maybe I could have taken you out on an Adventure, exploring a different world with you and showing off my capabilities. In the end, I realized that you probably want none of these things. For all the luxuries I can offer you, your father could have given them to you already. You dont want much and you especially dont want to show off to the public. So I decided to keep it simple. Just you and me, talking. He smiled at her. Tell me truthfully, Lee, did I earn your adoration today?
Youre just being the guy I always thought you were, the young Fateweaver pointed out, ying with a small bump in the stone. She raised her head and their dark eyes met. Thats a pretty tall order.
You didnt answer my question, he insisted, e on, tell me, do you think Im worth the trouble after today?
I urgh she drummed her naked heels against the stone, Im just gonna say whateveres to mind. Sorry, Im not good at this flowery romance shit. Nodding, John waited for her to sort her thoughts. I didnt think I needed today. I was perfectly fine believing that you were awesome from having talked to all the girls. But yeah I do love just having these chats with you. I know I dont exactly show it, between all of the sass and all of the please fuck me already rhetoric, but I just have fun talking to you. I dont want to stop talking to you. Id rather do it while we y Minecraft than walk until our feet are t, but Im game with either as long as you or the girls are around yeah I think thats about it.
John embraced the flutter in his stomach and the smile on his face. Are you willing to fall deeply? he asked, slowly leaning towards her.
Knowing, or hoping, what woulde next, Lee stretched in his direction. Ive never wanted to do something so reckless so much, she whispered. To be yours.
You wont merely be mine, he said, a hand on her cheek and their lips mere centimetres apart. Ill be yours and youll be part of all thats mine. Im falling for you, Lee. I already have, far enough to ask this question: are you ready to be part of my harem? To bear the same mark as all of them?
I would love to, she said. I love them I love you.
I love you too, he said and finally imed her lips. The initial moment was almost awkward. Lee was taken aback, not by the act itself but likely by the unfamiliar feeling on her lips. Then reality settled in for both of them. What they had desired came true, her soft lips pressed against his, and they embraced each other. There was no shyness to the kiss, only inexperience and fulfilled longing. Soon, she began to experiment, opening her mouth and challenging him with her tongue. John dly obliged.
All the while, magic streamed out of John, into her and back. The conditions were met and Lovers Will took root inside her. She moaned softly into their kiss, while John felt the tingle of an additional mark forming around his right thumb.
When the magic ebbed away and the sun made room for the night, their lips separated. Lee reached up to her own lips, brushed over them, glossy and full, as if she couldnt believe what just happened. I didnt think that would feel so magical, she admitted.
Its hard to imagine, just how wonderful kisses are, John agreed.
Dont give me that, you kissed hundreds of times before.
Each time is a new height.
Oh really? Prove it. She grabbed him by the cor.
With pleasure, John smiled and let himself be pulled down into their second kiss.
Chapter 1003 – Willing Gamee
Theres a lot of Sentry Golems around, Lee noted while they made their way to Newman Shire, the forest north of the Park.
Theyre making sure its only us around, John told her as they crossed the final bridge.
I guess that makes having my first time outdoors eptable, Lee said. After many kisses and sweet nothings exchanged, John had eventually told her that they needed to move one more time.
Amused, the Gamer asked, Is that all you think this is about? Instead of a bed, we have sex on the grass? They stopped by the water. His tone switched to the one he used during his dominant sessions. Run.
Lee took a trembling breath, an instinctual reaction before asking, What?
You heard me, John looked at her with hard eyes. You know what kind of man I am. You know what I like. I know thats part of what attracted you to me. He reached out and possessively brushed through her hair. You get a three-minute head start. Make it worth my while and you will never forget tonight. He let go of her hair. Run.
Again, the young Fateweaver took a quivering breath. That there was only excitement in her eyes was thest sign John would ever need that she was made for this life. She trusted him wholly that this would purely be an exciting, not a terrifying thing. Without any further words, she started sprinting into the nearby woods.
Johns eyes were glued to her bouncing bubble butt, until she vanished between the trees. After the three minutes were up, he started to calmly walk in the direction she had taken. Ill have to give her some time to gather her breath, he thought and started his search.
It didnt take long for him to locate her. Between the Mand Sphere up in the sky and all of his supernatural senses, he knew that she was kneeling in a ditch fairly quickly. Acting like he hadnt noticed her, he avoided looking in her direction. Then he suddenly turned and ran directly for her.
Lee jumped into movement like a startled deer. Any efforts of her to outrun him were naught but a thought. John could catch up to her whenever he wanted. If not due to his sheer physical dominance, then because Magus Step would allow him to.
His arms slung around her, he aggressively kissed her neck. Tearing at the front of her dress, utterly ruining the light pink cloth, he revealed her tits to the open air. He cupped a feel of the petite, firm flesh and shamelessly rolled her nipples between his fingers. Between struggle and delighted writhing, Lee tried to escape his grasp.
He let her, she dropped into the dirt and quickly went back to running. John chased after her. No words, no teasing, just a hunter and his prey on their path to a blissful end.
The Gamer kept his sprint at a mundane pace, letting distance build between them as they emerged on the walkway that segmented the forest. Only when Lee threatened to take a turn left when he wanted her to go right, did he sprint with all his speed and cut her off. He had somewhere to shepherd her to.
Whether she realized that or not, she went along with his designs and turned. Barely between the trees, John caught her again. He wanted to chase her further, but he also wanted to feel more of her. The rivalling desirespromised with him ripping the long strands off her dress, leaving her only with some torn frills as her skirt. Finally, he got to see her round ass in all of its glory. Unblemished, pale and taut skin, as firm to the eyes as it was to the touch. Nothing but a ck thong covered it with its minimalistic design. All of it looked fantastic in the leaf-filtered twilight of the faded day.
John held her by the hair while his left glided over her ass. Over the swing of it, starting with the hips and gradually transitioning into the thickness of her thighs. John grabbed her legs first, felt the mixture of muscles and fat squish under his grasp. Pushing her ass out, Lee practically begged for what came next. A quick p to her rxed ass echoed between the trees, apanied by a sharp yelp.
John tore off her panties, felt the wetness of the cloth between his fingers and saw the origin glistening between her legs. Tempted to go further, he instead let the desire to chase win out again. He let go of her; Lee nced at him for one moment, then darted north.
He gave her a head start. He waited until she hid. Then he acted as if he had to find her again. He could hear her panting so clearly. In and out, her excited and exhausted breaths pumped oxygen through her system along with adrenaline and a whole cocktail of other excitement-inducing hormones. He approached her slowly. Once more she ran. Once more he caught her. He ripped the entire dress off her, leaving her with nothing but her shoes. Naked, wet and thrilled, Lee continued storming away while John tossed the ruined dress away, to be eaten by a cleaning slime at some point.
The terrain transformed slowly, from forest to the rocky surrounding of the miniature mountain that John had put between the Newman Shire and the Midnight Forest. Teleporting in front of her, he once more blocked her path. He didnt want to deal with fairies this evening.
Lee dug her heels into the dirt and turned west. He followed. He matched her speed, maintaining the distance between them. Then he gradually ramped it up, catching up to her ever so slightly. Finally, when they hit the point where mountain and forest met with the northernke, John caught her for thest time.
The grass was soft underneath them, so John had no issue just throwing her down before getting on top of her. She struggled, as he pinned her arms, ready to continue despite the heavy heaving she did to maintain her breath. Only when John leaned down beside her ear, did she realize that the hunt was over. Good game, heplimented her.
Too short on breath to make a proper response, Lee just chuckled and groaned at the pun. He bit her ear, coercing a sigh from her. The first of many, as he then proceeded to kiss and grope his way down her slender body. He took a short pause to remove her shoes and marvel at her. Her petite breasts looked marvellous, crowned by pretty pink and hard nipples, the are neither toorge nor too small. Her midriff was lightly toned now, not muscr but athletic enough to see the outline of the muscles that quivered from strain at the moment.
The newest addition to her body since he hadst seen her fully naked was the dark blue mark between her belly button and clean-shaven cunt. It had the shape of a heart at the centre, formed out of sleek, interwoven lines that stretched horizontally to roughly follow the outline of her womb. All of her body had a light sheen to it from the sweat she had worked up, and all of her raised Johns desire to extreme heights.
He removed his clothes, at the click of a button. Lees eyes went wide, taken by the man that would soon deflower her. They only went wider when she noticed over a dozen people closing on their position.
The entirety of Johns harem, as naked as Lee and the Gamer were, formed a circle around the pair in the grass. Some remained standing, many went down on all fours and crawled close. Leading the pack, cat ears and cat tail manifested, Rave purred, Ya didnt think we would miss this, did ya? she asked.
F-fuck Lees horny mind was not in the state to formte a proper response to the situation that didnt consist of her eyes dashing all over the ce. The Gamer was now bowed over her cunt. Before his eyes, she went from wet to sopping. Oh GAIA! she screamed when his tongue touched her pink and swollen pussy.
John did her a favour and reduced her sensitivity. Both a virgin and subject to Johns skill and Skills, even this fervent masturbation lover wouldntst a long time if he went all-out from the start. Even diminished, the pleasure caused Lees spine to arch while John teased her clit. He sucked on it, coerced loud cries from her, and prated her tight cunt with his tongue. Her honey gushed into his mouth, a note of sweetness and the salty taste of sweat to it. He had already made her orgasm once.
Ya can use your mouth for better things than gasping, Rave decided, moving her perfect ass on top of Lees adorably contorted expression. John was reimbursed for the blocking of her face by the view of Raves magnificent backside and the numerous moans that came from around them.
While John ate out the delicious cunt in front of him and Rave purred approvingly at the inexperienced treatment of her own quim, the rest of the harem indulged in the situation in whatever way they saw fit. Aclysia and Lydia found some more space to get directly involved, each taking care of one of Lees breasts. Their fingers moved between their legs, masturbating just like Gnome was in the background. Ever the voyeur, the season elemental was getting off on this situation almost as much as Lee was.
Next to her, Undine and Sylph engaged in some simple scissoring. Having shrunk down to fit the fun-sized arcvolt elemental, Undine was the perfect partner. Siena had both Eliza and Scarlett at her mercy, working them with her tail, fingers and tendrils she formed out of the darkness of the night. Nia and Metra kissed, the blondes masturbating each other as they tried their best to remain standing. Thest two of the bunch, Beatrice and Smander, were doing like Undine and Sylph, rubbing their pussies together and watching what happened at the centre of the orgy.
John had continuously been increasing Lees sensitivity to regr levels. As she came from his clit-teasing tongue action for, probably, the fifth time, the Gamer decided that it was time to get on with the show. Shes ready, he said and leaned up. Truthfully speaking, she had been ready from the start, but John wanted to indulge himself.
Gonna need some training on how to use her cute little mouth though, Rave yfullyined. She raised her wless ass up regardless. Whatever training she wanted to impose on their newest conquest, this wasnt the time. The leader of the harem sat down in the grass and pulled Lees head onto her thighs. Ya did a good job training, girl, she grinned down on the pussy-juice-coated and dishevelled neer, time ya get your reward.
Aclysia leaned up to Lees right ear. Your interest in my John will be rewarded, she whispered.
Lydia took to the left ear. Frustrating as he can be, our beloved deserves that you do your best for him. Both of them took one of Lees hands, intertwining their fingers with hers. Rave adoringly yed with Lees hair.
Y-yes! Lee stammered, her eyes first darting to each speaker and then to the respectably-sized cock hovering above her drenched pussy. Fuck thats big, she eximed.
Dont act like you havent toyed with exactly the same size before, John mocked her, drumming his erection on her cunt. Gooey strands connected them.
Its different! Lee said. That was just a dildo C your actual cock fuck, it just looks so much bigger on you.
Itll be quite a different experience, John agreed with her and angled his cock. Stay rxed, he gave her advice and amand in the same two words. It would make it easier for her if she waspelled to obey and rewarded by pleasure. Lee bit her lower lip, let out a throaty moan, and nodded.
The head of his cock prated her outer lips readily. He stopped for one moment to grab her by the hips. His extended thumbs framed the Lovers Will mark. Slowly, he sunk further inside her. Lees mouth opened wide as she shouted blissfully. Caution had beenrgely unnecessary; she was taking his length and girth without issue. That wasnt to say her pussy was loose C far from it. Her folds gripped him nice and snug, while also letting him slide inside her without issue. It was as if her, likely daily, engagements with her favourite dildo had left her cunt in the perfect shape for his cock.
Watching her facial expression shift was almost as enjoyable as her quivering folds. Long graduated from simple pleasure, she was panting, her eyes ssy and her shouts of a high pitch. Yes yes yeeeeeeees! she moaned her ecstatic approval, barely managing to keep her gaze on the process of her defloration.
Something snapped inside her when John was all the way inside her. She came with spine-bending intensity. Her head flew back, her skin was taut from midriff to corbone and her neck was assaulted with kisses by the maid and the queen that still held her hands. Rave reached between her legs and masturbated as well as she could while still serving as Lees headrest.
John grinned and slowly started to move. The orgasmic clinging limited his speed, but he didnt n to start off hard anyway. With long, slow thrusts, he repeatedly prated her eager cunt. Its soooo hoooooot, she shouted. Her toes curled. Her legs pressed against his sides.
Ya better get used to it, Rave purred. This is just the entry level.
Aaaahhhh! Lee screamed, another orgasm rushing up her spine.
John upped the pace, little by little. He would have loved to get rougher with her, to turn her around perhaps spit roast her between himself and Jack. Doing so was a sure-fire way to make her pass out, though. So he maintained this almost mundane position and pace and just enjoyed the adoration with which the harem treated its newest member. A sweet ending to the excitement of the hunt.
His stamina was endless in this situation. Fucking her at this pace drew little from him. However, his lust was going to burst at one point or another. Her pussy gripped him tight, her body was a delight to see, especially framed by Aclysia, Lydia and Rave. All four women moaned his name, sweet nothings and ecstatic cries. Lee kept cumming her brains out, her sensitive body unable to resist his sexual prowess.
Im cumming, he finally announced. The reward for this phrase came swiftly. Lees legs, busy spasming the majority of their first time, wrapped around his hips and pulled him in. It happened somewhat prematurely, but John didnt mind. He remained inside her and let the contracting of her internal muscles do the rest. It was a delightfully slow way to be brought over the edge.
When he finally did cum, his seed pumped into her with the ferocious, backed-up want of several weeks. Lees multiple orgasms came to their ultimate climax. Her eyes rolled up in her pretty face. Her scream went to deafening heights and then ceased. Pussy juice squirted all over their joined sexes and the grass.
Bowed over her, John studied her reactions while he filled her womb. Incoherent words left her throat, formed into messy slurs by her outstretched tongue. Each spurt of cum that filled her caused her entire body to shiver, another pulse to go through her pussy and wring out yet more of the thick fluid from Johns shaft. The cycle perpetuated itself, until he had no more to give her. Still, she continued to spasm from the aftershocks of her slowly fading orgasm.
Before she finally fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.
Chapter 1004 – Continuing the Initiation
John woke up on Monday in the usual fashion. He was in his bed, lying on his back, and his cock was pleasantly enveloped by someones pussy. Judging by the moans, he knew it to be Beatrice who got the first ride of the day. What was different that day was one of the two women lying by his side. On the right was Aclysia, gently kissing his chest. On his left was Lee, still deep asleep.
They had gotten home via a teleporter in the Newman Shire and gone to bed early, after only a small orgy in the shower. This meant that they were all wide awake at a very early hour, it was about 4 AM, but that didnt matter all that much. Lydia had, after the shower, gone back to Germany. Otherwise, everyone was there.
Despite having been the first asleep, Lee was thest person in the bed to wake up. By the time she opened her eyes, John had already put his contact lenses in. Looking around and blinking rapidly, she seemed at first unbelieving of the situation. Oh, its real, John assured her and kissed her on the lips to prove as much.
I dont believe you, Lee returned, blushing furiously at not only the kiss but the sight of the passive maid continuously bouncing on the Gamers cock. Got to hand it to you, yesterday was quite something.
Ya better get used to a life of quite somethings, Rave purred, having crawled up to the young Fateweaver. Laying down behind her, the Lightbearer whispered, Now that John had all of ya, I can finally indulge myself, and found Lees lips. That meant that Johns girlfriend was kissing the newest haremette and that the half-Asians fingers were rubbing her recently deflowered pussy.
Lee didnt have the immediate response to this yet, growing wet out of a habit formed after months of morning orgies, but as a fellow person of high Libido, it didnt take her long to be wet. Eagerly, she made out with Rave. They were putting on quite the show, two incredibly attractive women making out, equally for their own enjoyment and to please all of those watching.
Their kiss broke eventually due to Lees writhing transforming into a series of orgasmic spasms. Arent we sensitive? Rave giggled and licked her glossy, bright pink lips. She made a head gesture towards the rest of the bed. Everyone understood immediately.
While Rave continued to finger the gamer girls pussy, one after the other, the harem kissed and weed their newest member.
You will serve Master well, Aclysia made the start.
Hope you like being happy for no fucking reason every day. Eliza sounded almost nervous as she cackled those words.
Im s-so happy you joined us! a gleeful and extremely turned-on cuddle rock dered.
Thank Mother Fire that you got in shape, youll need it, Smander cracked a joke.
A joyous asion, Undine kept it simple.
Oh yeah, another small fun package, like me! Well, youre not quite as small and not quite as fun, but you are a package. A package with really nice thighs and boobs. I like small boobs and big boobs and medium boobs, Sylph pvered, not only kissing the newest haremette but also her nipples one after the other. This was Lees first contact with the pleasuring electricity flowing from Sylphs mouth. Did you like that, did you like it? I know you did! Well have sooooo many orgasms together and well watch stupid movies and ride Johns dick and itll be so nice!
Nia intervened, softly pulling the still talking Sylph to the side. This is a good ce, the nk simply stated, before giving Lee her own kiss.
A group full of lovable tools and idiots, Sienaughed, licking Lees neck with her long tongue before making out with the young Fateweaver.
Youll fit right in, Metra assured and gave Lees ass a light smack while moving away.
Having mind-blowing fucks every day is great for work morale, Scarlett said. Im looking forward to your training.
Statement, Beatrices tone waspromised by post-orgasmic quivers, having just been filled with the first load of the day, this training will happen next to a bound Scarlett. Regardless, Im looking forward to our future together.
Itll be a long one, John finished up the series and kissed Lee again.
It better be after all this trouble and heartache! the gamer girl dered once she finally had her lips to herself again. Her eyes darted to his cock, still hard and currently unattended. Can I? Ah, screw the asking. She weaselled herself out between John and his girlfriend and hastily positioned herself between his legs. Lucky me, she hummed and gave his cock a long lick. Oh Gai-ah, ish delicioush. Her words were slurred, her tongue still thering his cock with her saliva.
Can you taste Beatrice and my cum on my cock? The question only caused Lee to groan with delight and lick him with more fervour. d that you appreciate the taste, its one you will encounter daily. Now, he put a hand on her head, you did practice for this, right?
Yesh. Letting herself be guided to the tip, Lee wrapped her lips around the engorged head and slid down. There was a moment of hesitance, about halfway down. A genuine cock was a tad different than a dildo, even if they shared the same dimensions. Still, Lees training paid off and she managed to take him all the way down into her throat.
She looked up for approval, and John gave it to her with a wide smile. Good girl, heplimented. Youll still need some training though. Nia, why dont you show her how to do it properly?
Yes, darling. Nias calm, only mildly lustful tone had the perfect inflection for those two words. Lee made room for the pariah to get on all fours beside her. Pulling upwards, Lee seemed like she wanted to say something sassy, but was blocked by a sudden cough. Watch, Nia instructed and gently grabbed the base of Johns cock.
Using her tongue on the way down, Nia slowly took him inside. Her path down was not straightforward, small bobs and gyrations mingled with the sucking of her tightly sealed lips. When she finally was all the way down, she gently moved her head to provide some pleasurable friction. After about thirty seconds of that, she leisurely came back up. His cock popped out of her mouth with a satisfying, loud noise.
Alright, my turn. Lee took the invitation and went back down. Her tongue provided a bit more stimtion this time around. The bobs and gyrations, she copied with a bit of a wooden awkwardness to them. She was skilled at taking his size inside her mouth, but there was hardly any training how to provide stimtion on a toy.
Simrly, she had only tried for depth, not endurance. She couldnt keep the foreign object inside her throat for as long as Nia and came back much faster. The pariah swiftly took over, continuing what would be a continuous back and forth between the two.
Lee was a quick learner. John helped her by overemphasizing what he felt through groans and gasps. Gradually, she figured out his sensitive spots and how to best reach them. While she didnt reach Nias current skill level, that would have been unreasonable, her blowjob graduated from decent to really good.
When he came, Lee, even as the cum-induced orgasm rushed through her, reacted by sliding up and letting his seed gather in her mouth. Her eyelids fluttered from the intensity of her climax and she lost a fair bit of his cum between her quivering lips. When it was all over, though, she offered a kiss to Nia, who dly epted. The two swapped his cum back and forth while Metra and Aclysiapped up what the neer had spilled in her inexperience.
_________________________________________________________________________
Lee wobbled her way to the bathtub, only able to walk by supporting herself on the wall. When she had reached the rim, she took a graceless nosedive into the hot water. The other girls sitting insideughed at her legs, sliding after the rest of her under the surface. Once she was fully submerged, she dragged herself into one of the seats along the rim.
How do your legs still work?! she wanted to know. I feel like my thighs have been reduced to slime.
Correction: the slime is doing much better than you. Beatrice gestured towards Undine, who only groggily nodded. Water spirit that she was, she could and didpletely rx in this environment. You are just weak.
Thanks, Bae, Lees dry tone returned. Anything else wise that you want to share with the ss?
Not at this juncture.
Figured. The gamer girl rubbed her legs. Seriously though, how?
Uhh, I got to experience all of the increases as they happened, so I just kinda took it as it went up, Rave said and looked to the rest of the harem. The majority of the girls had simr stories, having joined before Johns stacking modifiers had reached their current, quite ludicrous effectiveness.
You just learn to deal with it, Scarlett, one of the few women who were rtively recent, stated. Typical human stuff, your body adjusts to the burdens you put on it.
So, will I be less sensitive to deal with that? Lee wondered.
Nah, Rave waved off, dont ask me how it works, but the Perks he has both prevent that you build resistance against feeling that good and that ya get utterly ruined by it. Wiggling her fingers suggestively, she added, Might not be quite as ecstatic, but we get each other off plenty.
Alright, so we just have to keep doing it and Ill eventually survive more than fifteen minutes of direct contact?
Yes, Scarlett confirmed, stretching her legs enough that the smooth, pale skin broke the still surface of the water. Just be happy that his cum prevents sub-drop nowadays. Not an experience I wish on anybody.
What is sub-drop? Lee asked.
You get so high on endorphins during sex that your body actually depletes on them, the redhead exined. Which means that, about a dayter, you get a serious depressive episode. Ever had depression?
Nope, Lee denied.
Neither had I and I seriously dont wish it on anybody, Scarlett stated.
Master is a treat without drawbacks. Aclysias voice beamed with happiness. In general, her mood was high whenever someone else acknowledged her Masters supremacy and she also currently got to wash his hair and massage his shoulders. It was the whole package for the diligent servant. I hope my hands are found to be to your satisfaction.
Absolutely so, John sighed. A side effect of the growing draconic traits of the maids was that they had a degree of control over their body heat. Not only was he being rubbed by skilled hands, but by skilled hands that were pleasantly heated to match the temperature of the water. Can you turn the bubbles on?
Certainly, Master. Aclysia obliged and a momentter a series of sighs escaped everyone in the jacuzzi. Jets of air pressed rxingly against everyones backs.
By the way, Aclysia, Bae, you look different. Did you do a model change or something? Lee asked, with reference to the new features of the maids. They only maintained the changed eyes and the orange shard above their corbones, but those were telling enough to make a difference.
New Perks were acquired, John told her.
Rave shrugged. Ya get used to it. Were all developing into some of the strongest fighters the Abyss has ever seen and sometimes thates along minor or major physical transformations.
I used to be this fucking small, Smander joked, gesturing at the length of her hand.
You also used to have hair, Siena joked and sighed.
The buzzcut is entirely my choice and you know it.
Its such a waste, the shadow spirit sighed. There was so much to hold onto.
I like that Sally got bigger boobs! Giant kahoonkers! Mega magma milkies! Voluptuous volcanic titties! Sylph dered.
See, someone is having a positive view on things, Smander said.
Sylph doesnt fucking count for a positive view, Eliza chimed in. The only things bouncing around in her empty dumbass of a head are Johns fat cock, his baby-batter-filled balls and the question which cunts shell stick her babbling lick-stick in today.
I am thinking you! Sylph dered and dived at the blood mage.
GET OFF ME, YOU CUNT-WAFFLE! Eliza screamed, only to sumb to the shower of kisses andughter she was then subjected to.
One more or less woman, the harem remainedrgely the same.
Chapter 1005 – An enigmatic world
Its back to work now, John sighed after returning from the bedroom. As hard as she had tried, Lee had to sumb to pleasure-induced exhaustion yet again. The second round of the morning orgy, followed by a delicious and nutritious breakfast, had been too much for her and so she had made her way back to the bed for a nap.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Was John bothered by this? Not really. He had underestimated the effect he would have on someone who was only minorly above mundane athleticism. That his sexual capabilities regrly ruined women of immense power was something he derived great satisfaction from. Living with the drawback of this, that his dick was literally too powerful for the average woman to handle, was a mild bother but he could deal with it. Lee was, luckily, not an average woman and would eventually be able to enjoy their engagements without John holding back.
Magoi was likely to be somewhat annoyed that the first day of John and his daughter being together led to her missing school. Since he was also wise, he probably expected as much. There was something to be said about taking Lee out of the Fateweaver university altogether, given her evident distaste for book learning. That was, however, something she had to initiate on her own. John would support her in her decisions, not make them for her.
Back to work right fucking now or ter at this cum-soaked day? Eliza asked while John walked up to his chair.
There was only one way to properly answer that, John decided, and it was taking the blood mage by the arm. She rose quicker from her chair than he could pull her. That she had hoped for this oue was written all over her delighted expression. Taking her over to the Harem Couch, he bent her over the backrest. It swiftly reshaped to provide her with emergency support.
He slipped into her eagerly waiting cunt. Immediately she moaned with unshackled desire, growing only louder when he hammered against her blueish, pale ass. Fuck yes, I love you! Eliza screamed, retaining her potty mouth in this particr situation. You and your perfect fucking cock! Aaahhh, I love getting my useless c- FUCK! A heavy p on her behind interrupted her monologue.
John pulled her up, hand on her throat and mouth by her ear. How often do I need to tell you that you dont get to insult what is mine, Eliza? Her pussy tightened; her expression shifted to reflect gleeful ecstasy. Lustful and loving fulfilment were both reached in that moment and it left the pretty little psycho in a state of giggles and adoration.
Sorry hehe sorry, John you make feel so fucking good. Im yours, Im sorry for insulting what is yours, please keep fucking my tight little cunt! Overflowing pussy juice and irregr contractions apanied her surrender. Harder, please, John, harder! Pound my pussy as much as you want! I want to be your cumdump!
Ill grant you all you could desire, he whispered, I love you, Eliza. Her giggling was intermingled with the steady shouts of pleasure. He stopped fucking her for just one moment to turn her on her side. One leg dangled over the edge of the couch-tform, the other John used as a handle. Her foot rested on his shoulder. Her erotic body was helplessly sprawled out before him. Her decently sized breasts, her wless, if oddly coloured, skin, her t midriff and fantasticallyrge thighs, all belonging to a woman that was in his beloved harem.
Her purplish lips were spread in a wide, open-mouthed grin, her pearly teeth so perfect and white no tool could have adjusted them to look better. Her purple eyes were aplicated disy of supernatural factors, appearing facetted like broken ss and with golden marks inside them. The right had a golden, uninterrupted ring around it, with seven golden dots further in. In the other eye, there were only two such dots, the rest having turned into lines that crossed the golden ring.
With each thrust, the eye contact they had threatened to dissolve for good. It was interrupted, her eyelids fluttering as her tits bounced and her ass rippled from the force of the Gamers relentless appetite, but the pretty little psycho made the effort to always return to staring at him with her mad, lewd grin.
John took it as a challenge to break that conviction. He hammered her with ever increasing speed and intensity. The Harem Couch was able to take all of his superhuman strength and Eliza could take much, much more than that. Upping her sensitivity and his efforts, he tore down her concentration bit by bit. The gaps between her refocusing turned longer and longer, until they were longer than the periods of eye contactsted.
Finally, Eliza threw her head back and screamed in surrender to the multiple orgasms. John, youre messing me up! Shhhhhfuuuuu---ck! Itsh tooooo gooood! Cant think! Cum! I wa- aaahhh- nt your cuuhhhmmm, deep inshide meeeeee!
John obliged her without a second thought, filling her up just as her words and contracting folds demanded. It was the next after several dozen orgasms he had already had that morning and it wouldnt be thest of that day guaranteed.
They both panted heavily when he pulled out of her. Thanksssss, Eliza said.
As if you need to be grateful for something like this, the Gamer chuckled and bowed down to kiss his pretty little psycho. You need a minute?
I need a fucking baby is what I need. The blood mage recovered almost as quickly as John. Her regenerative powerspeted with Gamers Body and it was still a close call. Deposit that virile fucking cum right here. She poked at the Lovers Will mark with both index fingers. Im fallow over here, you asshole! Ploughed and ready to be seeded with dumbass nerd shit. Your awful fucking dad jokes would atst be justified.
Tempting, John tried to downy his draw to the idea. As always, the thought of finally obliging her had him harder than an iron rod. Great, now I need to take care of this, he thought. Someone had already positioned herself to follow up on Eliza, thankfully.
Sit down, Smander said and shoved John in the direction of the Couch. Before hended, that segment had transformed to catch him in a broad armchair. Once he was on his butt, he gotfortable and waited for the apocalypse elemental to climb on top of him. He was promptly obliged. Therger woman impaled herself on his cock and shoved two tits the size of his head in his face.
That was a very pleasant way to lose his vision.
About two hourster, at roughly eight in the morning, John finally made his way to his office. He was apanied by Aclysia and Beatrice. Neither tagged along because they would take the first shift. They simply had their own duties to attend to in the Guild Administration. John had decided that, in order to settle back into work, he wouldnt have anyone attend him during the first two hours. There was too much he would have to look through and several administrators he needed to check up with. It was doubtful he would even sit in his office for those first two hours.
Teleporting into it after a week was an almost nostalgic feeling, in the good sense. John felt alleviated at the revtion that going back to work was pleasing to him, in a way. Last thing he wanted was to start hating his work. Him performing badly would have far-reaching consequences, so he couldnt have that. Luckily, even aside from the lewd ones, he connected good memories with this ce. Dull as it could be, bureaucracy was often a nice break from geopolitical scheming or fighting on some distant battlefields.
I dont look forward to the day this bes my sole obligation though, John thought while he walked past his clean desk and towards the door. Did Romulus be obsessed with tournaments because he would be bored out of his mind otherwise?
The room was exactly as John had left it. All of the fresh paperwork he had to contend with was with the rest of the administration in the neighbouring rooms. John didnt want anyone to have ess to the many documents he kept in his office and had therefore locked the door. While he trusted each person directly underneath him with the matters of their respective office, what gathered in the Presidents shelves were the ssified documents of all offices. Only himself, his women, the generals and the ministers could be trusted with ess to those. Honestly speaking, John had his doubts about thest of those. Many of the ministers were appointed out of pure necessity, John didnt know them personally and just grabbed who he thought was the best avable person for each job. In a few cases, he had to forego meritocracy in favour of appeasing some of the more powerful parties.
He wasnt exactly proud of it. Appeasement was often how the first rot settled in systems. The cost-benefit analysis he had made at the time had brought him to the conclusion that it was alright though. Those ministers may not have been the best, but they werepetent enough that nobody would raise an eyebrow. Indiscriminate hiring of fools for nepotistic or ideological reasons, that was the real danger to look out for.
Alright, Ill see you soon, John told the maids when they parted, with kisses, on the hallway. He went right and they went left. His first stop was the office of the middle-management. The primary task he had there was to announce to everyone that he was back and that they could resume sending him whatever needed his approval.
There was a general air of relief in the room when he said all of that. Although they had fared well without him around, it appeared they were much happier to have him there than not. Another good sign, as far as John was concerned, as that made him feel like apetent boss.
In quick session, he visited several of the ministries. Those that usually had more pressing matters first, namely the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Justice. The former needed John to sign a lot of things because he was the head of Collide and Fusion and much of thend was still in governmental hands. While he had managed to weasel himself out of having to sign absolutely everything by delegating the authority to grantnd below a certain square-metre threshold to lesser officials, there were many projects that still required his approval. There were also noise concerns and waste to take into ount. As for the Ministry of Justice, Fusions legal code was still full of holes. The first document John had drafted had, due to time constraints and the sheer nuance of reality, not contained every single case they were currently dealing with.
John had solved this issue by implementing the Executive Right to Halt a Trial of Significance. It was a pretty tyrannicalw by the wording of it, allowing John to postpone a trial until legition fitting it could be passed. If he so desired, he could postpone a trial indefinitely, keeping the person in custody, or pressure parliament to pass a hand-craftedw that would have whatever punishment John desired in it.
The alternative to this right was that dozens or hundreds of people would be judged too harshly or too leniently. Because John only trusted himself with his power, he had to be presented with every single one of these cases and judge them ordingly. Then he had to inform parliament of these circumstances, give a rmendation and then stay out of it. The only part that prevented this from being a tool of absolute power was that he didnt actually have the power to suggest or implement legition.
John was about done with his announcements when his work phone buzzed. After he checked the number and saw that it was from the military, specifically Teds office, he excused himself from the room he was in at the time and entered the empty hallway. John Newman here, he said, not sure who exactly was calling him.
Ted, the few-worded general responded swiftly. I have bad news.
How bad? John wanted to know, annoyed that this was the final note of what was otherwise a pleasant return to work.
The Death Zone is expanding.
Thatnded an extremely on the bad scale.
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